DISCLAIMER: These characters do not belong to me. My writing is purely fan-based and not written for profit or to offend. Etc etc. If I were a genius, I would have been the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh. I'm not. xDizz.

This contains YAOI (aka Slash etcetc) if you don't like, don't read. Also: LOTS OF SWEARING. More than a mere T-rate should allow. Teehee. And explicit kissing. Not-quite-lime, though, but close stuff. And BakuraxDuke fluff. And a little violence. But not really.

A/N: This is the first fic I've ever posted. Second one I've written ever! Constructive critisicm and R&R's much appreciated.

Ps: some of the references/jokes ("a children's card game") are from LittleKuriboh's Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series, which was my inspiration for this fiction. Check the series out at yugiohtheabridgedseries dot com.

And lastly: I realize that I miss-dated Kaiba's parents' deaths in this, and don't mention his adoptive father who owned Kaiba. Its because I ran out of creative juice. Actually no, I was just lazy, and upon rereading it, realized my mistake. Sorry for all you die hard Yu-gi-oh fans out there who probably aren't reading this because you think that Joey and Kaiba would nevereverever date. Well you're wrong. At least in the fictional world. Yu-gi-oh canon (and many other canon in general) is just as fictional as its fanfics. Anyway, yeah, I know that Kaiba's parent's died at different times and when he was a lot younger, but get over it. That's fictional too. And I bet those of you who are reading this don't care that much. Correct me if I'm wrong.

And most of all ENJOY!

--moi

---

(The Game Of)

Dragon Versus Dog

"Good morning, guys! Guess what? My little sister's eyes are all better! She can see again. The operation was over da weekend!"

As per usual, Yugi Mutou wasn't studying, nor was the others. Instead, Tristan and Teá were crowded around the pointy-haired hobbit and Bakura, who sipped some steaming tea into his small, flower-mimicking lips. Between them, on two desks, lay a children's card game. Duel Monsters. Joey shook his head.

"Hello? D'ya guys hear me? Nah. Who cares? Only my dream came true, it ain't important," muttered Joey, flopping down into a chair next to Bakura.

"Hallo, Jou! We thought maybe you'd gotten run over. Actually, Tristan was just joking—" Tristan shrugged, embarrassed "—but it's fantastic that you weren't. And bloody brilliant to know that your sister is well, too! Trust me; I'm quite excited for you." The others looked up, having missed Joey's entrance. However, they covered their surprise by nodding more than necessary, solemnly looking into Joey's eyes. After about fifteen seconds though, Yugi turned back to the cards before him. Bakura grinned and winked at Joey quickly. Rolling his eyes, Joey succumbed to the interest of an oft played children's card game.

"So, I'm assuming Yugi's winning?" Tristan smirked at Teá when Joey asked, and nodded.

"Duh! Who did you expect to be ahead?" Teá twitched her nose and crossed her arms, glaring at Tristan.

"Oh, Tris, you can't blame me for having faith in someone other than Yugi once in a while. I mean, Bakura's my friend too!"

"Since when?"

Teá stuck her tongue out in reply.

"Mature," Tristan added; snickering as Yugi hacked off 500 of Bakura's life points, leaving the white-haired Brit with only 200 points left.

"Would you two can it? I'm trying to beat Yugi Mutou here and—" he was cut off by an impossibly tall, slim, fit figure.

"And it's not going to happen, trust me." Enter Seto Kaiba, richest kid in the town, nineteen years old, and grown-up in all senses but one: his obsession with a certain children's card game. Which, judging by the town's love of said game, didn't say much about his sophistication—adults played it just as often as the kids did.

"Oh, hi Kaiba," Yugi said, finished off Bakura in one more move. "What are you doing here? I thought you normally skipped homeroom on…all days of the week." He collected his deck as Teá patted Bakura on the back. Bakura didn't particularly care; he wasn't obsessed with Duel Monsters, perhaps because he was pretty much a foreigner. Anyway, Yugi Mutou had won the title of King of Card Games the previous year. A non-enthusiast could never beat him.

"Mokuba's first day in the lower school. I've gotten tired of having him tutored. Too much money. Had to drop him off. On time. Guess I'll be in homeroom everyday for the rest of the year." Kaiba raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Now if you'll excuse me, I could use the next thirty minutes to prep for a lunch conference I've got today." He swept away, carrying his trademark, glossy briefcase, billowing coattails rippling after him.

"Righteous little pig," grumbled Joey. "Just ruined my day! Ooh, I hate having Mokuba tutored. Too much money! I mean, who does he think he is? The CEO of Kaiba Corp? Oh, right. Bastard. Doesn't he realize that he and Mokuba are only on scholarships because the school knows they could bring it down in seconds?"

"Probably, probably enjoys it too," Tristan piped up, now sitting on the desks between Bakura and Yugi. The latter was oblivious, however Bakura had scooted back.

"As much as I love the view, Tris, could please more your arse off the table? I've got to use it for my stuff during third hour!" The boy flicked his strangely cut, light bangs out of his face; several girls spying from the opposite corner of the room sighed. Teá nodded in disgust at Tristan.

"Yeah! The only one whose butt deserves to be anywhere near me is Duke Devlin!" Her friends blinked up at her. Bakura shrugged and shoved Tristan off the table. For someone who carried himself on a rather feminine form, Bakura had some muscle, probably left over from Ryou's occupation of his body. Teá didn't notice the awkward silence as Tristan picked himself up. "Or Yugi's gorgeous alter-ego, Yami. But that's weird. Because it's almost like its Yugi's butt. Hmm. What you guys?" Bakura, Tristan, and Joey were all struggling to keep straight faces, while Yugi looked positively grief-stricken. Before anything could be said, though, none-other-than the-Pegasus worshipping, huge-gobs-of-eyeliner wearing, younger, cleaner-version-of-Jack-Sparrow acting, dice-earring wearing, and supposed-creator-of-Dungeon-Dice-Monsters plagiarizing Duke Devlin sauntered into the room.

Teá went all mushy. Bakura failed to catch her because he was feeling strangely mushy too. In most areas of his body anyway. Yugi wasn't watching either of them; he was glaring furiously at Duke for stealing his future girlfriend, while Tristan pointedly turned away form the scene, dragging a monstrously jealous Joey along with him.

"Can't touch this!" Duke chanted, dancing languidly across the floor to drop his bag in the midst of a gaggle of giggling girls. Half of them collapsed with shrill giggles and sighs. He shrugged, another girl fainted. The still conscious ones (a few of whom only barely clutching to reality in the presence of the Duke Devlin) circled around him to watch his sleight of hand. Others soon joined. Teá, who woke when Yugi nearly smashed her head in as he stomped over, was one of them.

"Show us everything, Duke!"

"The cup! The cup!"

"What's your secret?"

"Oh, Duke, you do wonders with your hands!"

"Yes, its magic!"

Not wanting to hear anymore horribly unsubtle double entendres, Yugi reversed his forward progress and went to follow Joey and Tristan out of the room. He passed Bakura, who'd gingerly snuck to the edge of the group around Devlin, and now leaned against a desk, watching the other boy intently.

"We're level now, Joey, my day just got ruined too," Yugi admitted when he found Tristan and Joey hanging out in the hallway. Tristan shrugged and offered around some bubble gum. Joey shook his head.

"Nah, Yug. Now that Devlin's appeared, my day's been double-ruined. He's almost as bad as Kaiba!" Four girls rushed by, causing Joey to pause and grind his teeth when they gasped and went into the homeroom. "He's got it all. Both of them. Except Kaiba's a total asshole! Devlin just speaks one language: the "I'm too sexy" language. That's his problem. Or defining trait. I'm not sure which.

Tristan loudly munched on his gum for a minute. "But Kaiba doesn't have lots of gossipy fangirls. He only turns heads 'cause of the money on him. And he's a total asshole."

"He's got good looks though."

"Sure, Joey," Yugi skeptically replied. "But what about Bakura? He has fangirls. Why aren't you jealous of him?"

"Because the girls are just wasting their time liking him," Joey shrugged, morose.

"One could say the same thing about you. If you had any fangirls, that is." Kaiba was back, book bag swung non-chalantly on one shoulder, shiny briefcase in the other hand.

"Case in point," Tristan whispered to Yugi, who nodded, as they both gripped Joey's arms.

"Asshole! Bastard!" Joey pulled furiously against his friends' grips. Kaiba looked beyond pleased. "Richy rich bitch! Orphan!" The smug expression vanished.

Tristan and Yugi immediately released Joey and side-stepped away. Joey collided into Kaiba, who was ready, arms raised to block the other boy's body. A fight, and more expletives than a simple M-rating should allow, broke out.

Duke heard the scuffle, but Bakura beat him to it, pushing the unsuccessful Tristan and Yugi aside. "Bloody hell!" was all he could manage when Kaiba whacked him in the mouth for interrupting. The Brit seized the flailing arm and, with the help of Duke, they dragged Kaiba off a pulpy, dominated Joey, who Tristan and Yugi managed to grab hold of at that point.

Kaiba wrenched himself free and snatched up his things. A bell rang. He glared down at Joey. A growl emanated from the latter's throat, but was silenced by Kaiba's deafening roar: "I'll get you, dog." He spat. It seemed like fire to those watching. "Don't bother to watch your back. You can't escape. See you around, mutt." As he stalked off down the corridor, Joey whimpered in pain behind him.

Twenty minutes later Bakura, Joey, Duke and Teá occupied the infirmary while a nurse tended to the first two's wounds. Despite only being hit once, Bakura had managed to bite his cheek and crack a lip; his mouth dripping with blood. Joey was worse off with two black eyes, his own bleeding mouth, and sore body parts all around. Teá had barely noticed them; she couldn't believe Duke was honoring her with his presence. He wasn't so wild about hers.

Duke had only come because Teá was incapable of helping to support Joey. He didn't really like Joey, but Bakura couldn't support him all by himself. However, on the whole, Duke felt that although Joey wasn't horrendous (like Kaiba, for example), he was the sort of guy who only spoke one language: the "too cool" language. Sure, Kaiba was an asshole, but Joey could act worse than that if he thought his coolness was endangered. Too bad it was already extinct. No wonder the guy had no fangirls! He fought with Seto Kaiba—no one fights with Kaiba except Yugi Mutou, and only in children's card games—and then he'd lost. Even Bakura had fangirls, and he barely did anything, and he certainly didn't care about children's card games. He had a funny accent too, and looked excruciatingly effeminate. Although those things seemed to be Bakura's attractive attributes. Especially the way he could actually make femininity look hot. Being sexy was all about the looks and the intrigue. Duke would know. He practically invented it.

But now, sitting on a chair looking at Bakura holding a paper towel-wrapped icepack to his split lip and ignoring Teá, all Duke wanted was for the Brit's mouth to stop dribbling red so he could leave knowing that the guy was all right. Teá's incessant yammering was getting older than constantly playing children's card games, especially when she'd failed to help her friend after he'd been completely dominated by none other than Seto Kaiba.

"Joey," Bakura was speaking, and Duke was pleased to see that he was getting up," I hope you don't mind, but I've got to get to class. I feel I jinxed you when I said I was happy about you being ok and all. Oh smack! I might've jinxed your sister. Anyway, I'll be going, but we'll check in on you later if you're still here." Bakura patted the blond on the hand, smiling as best he could, wincing when he felt the crack on his lip separate a bit. "Feel better. Cheers!" Joey nodded slowly, first at Bakura, and then at Duke, who nodded back. Teá continued on in hopes of impressing Duke, without a backward glance at Joey, who groaned in annoyance when they were gone.

"Hey." Duke stopped in front of Bakura, who looked up, surprised. Heat surged through him.

"Yes. What?"

"I just thought I'd say sorry for all the trouble, and your lip." Duke hadn't really thought past the hey.

"Oh, that wasn't your fault. No! Joey just can't stand Kaiba. Poor, lifeless, unshapely blond vs. rich, work-life only, muscular brunette. They're bloody opposites. I'm surprised Joey isn't completely incapacitated. The poor bloke. He really hit a nerve, so Kaiba hit him everywhere," Bakura smiled warmly, his pale cheeks coloring a bit.

"Yeah, well," Duke fiddled with a hair, trying to ignore Teá's beaming eyes. "Anyway, I'm Duke. If you don't remember, I transferred a few months ago, a while before the summer break." He held out a gauntleted hand.

"Yes, I know who you are. I'm Bakura. I came here from London at the beginning of last year." He shook Duke's hand, praying that Duke wouldn't notice his sweaty palms. Was Duke Devlin really touching him?

"Uh-huh. Well, catch you later, Bakura. You're always welcome at the game shop, if you'd like to visit it." Bakura wondered if Duke's words were meant to be so forward. Teá's smile slowly faded.

"Your game shop? That sounds fantastic. I'd like that." Before anything could ruin the moment, Bakura waved and walked briskly off. Duke did the same. Teá didn't bother to follow. What was it with boys and their stupid need to bond over children's card games?

Kaiba neatly cleaned his cheek over one of the porcelain sinks in a men's bathroom at the school. Though he'd never show it in public (even with no one around), he was hurt, and the cuts and bruises didn't help. Secretly, somewhere in a place he'd taught himself to lock, he felt like crying. But he wouldn't. He seethed and hissed as he dabbed at the cut on his face and felt his sore jaw. Stupid mutt. He thought he could show up Seto Kaiba? Wrong. He wiped away the last of the blood and splashed a bit more water onto his face before drying it on a scratchy brown paper towel. Finally, he composed himself and exited the lavatory. Joey would be paying dearly for his mistake.
But first lunch! All manner of students from age 11 to 19 roamed about the school building, some of the older students left it, and all of the students took the time to feed themselves before another two hours of classes. Mokuba noticed his brother leaving the cafeteria and he rushed up to him.

"Se-to! Big brother!" Though only a few might have noticed, Kaiba's features softened a fraction as he looked down on his 12 year-old brother.

"What Mokuba?" His tone was just as terse and downgrading.

"Nobody likes me," Mokuba whined. "They all think you're a big jerk, so they think I will be too!" The poor kid was quite distraught. Kaiba didn't seem to notice.

"You get used to it, Mokuba. They don't deserve our friendship. Find people who are worth it. I tried."

"But Seto, you don't have any friends," pointed out the child, rubbing his nose and glaring at a passing kid, who laughed and pointed.

"Hey you! Make fun of my brother again and I'll go Pulp Fiction on you and anyone else who joins in," Kaiba turned back to his brother and put a hand on his shoulder. "My point exactly, Mokuba. No one is worth it." He turned and left the stricken, lonely kid in the hallway.

Just then, Joey, Tristan, and Yugi walked by. They waved at Mokuba before continuing to the cafeteria.

"All I'm sayin' is, Yug, he's gonna get me! He's Seto Kaiba for eff's sake. I'm dead." Tristan pondered Joey's worries.

"Well, Joey, it's a dog eat dog world. You tried to eat one dog, but he's stronger, so he's eating you." Tristan apparently thought this was some sort of consolation. Joey was too worked up to think the concept over.

"Sure, but Kaiba's like a dragon! I'm doomed."

"So why'd you try to eat the dragon in the first place?" Tristan pushed his luck with the weird metaphor. "A dog is not going to succeed at eating a dragon, especially not a Kaiba Dragon!" He'd pushed it too far.

"Shut up, Tristan, you're not helping." Joey scratched his head despairingly. "I'm giving myself a week. Less if the lunch conference of his goes badly."

"Joey," chimed in Yugi for the first time, "knowing Kaiba, he's just going to challenge you to a duel and whoop your. Oh yeah. Right. Equivalent of death. Oh…hi Teá." Teá didn't notice the surly note in Yugi's voice.

"Hey guys. What're you talking about?" All of them noticed how she was half focusing, while her eyes searched for a certain devil.

"How Joey is going to die when Kaiba beats him at a children's card game. We were trying to think of plans to stop Joey's imminent death and defeat, but we don't have any ideas. Joey's in trouble," Yugi summarized, not making eye contact with Teá as they selected their lunches.

"Well," Teá started, and noticing the immediate glazed-over look they got when she spoke, she snapped, "I'm not giving a long rambling speech! Anyway, you could just tell Kaiba you're sorry. Probably won't stop imminent death, but might prolong your life. I use it whenever needed." She grinned. All of the other's laughed.

"Teá, you can't just say I'm sorry to Seto Kaiba," Yugi said, chuckling.

"Oh, why not?"

"He's volatile. He'd probably bazooka Joey's head off before he'd said a word," Tristan inputted.

"Thanks, Tris. I'm excited now. First I'm being eaten by a dragon, and then I'm getting blown up," Joey grumbled.

"I don't know," Bakura sat down beside them and having heard the last snippet of conversation, felt he must weigh in too. "It's worth a try, Joey. If it doesn't work out you'll just be back to square one. Nothing to lose. You've already gotten on his bad side."

"Whatever." Joey found himself thinking about Kaiba again. The smug smirk, the confident saunter, the whole coattails thing. He was an ass, but at least he was classy. Too bad he wanted to kill Joey. Joey was, frankly, scared. Kaiba had power like no other, and Joey couldn't help but shiver at the thought of Kaiba exerting more of it than usual.

Bakura's phone buzzed. He pulled it out. Teá had sent him a text. Odd, she was sitting right across from him, why send a text? He opened it with a mechanical beep.

-If duke invites u 2 his gameshop u shud say no and then say that I want 2 come bcuz im very in2 children's games. Genius no? it's what friends do!-

He snapped his phone shut. There was no way that Teá was accompanying Duke to the game shop. He ignored her as she desperately tried to make eye contact. Yugi was already doing the same. Tristan was too oblivious to notice the tension. He was annoyed that Joey's sister could see again though. It meant that he'd have no chance with her. She wasn't big on his looks. Or anything about him for that matter. His thoughts were cut short when Teá giggled loudly. Duke had entered the room.

"No effing way," Joey groaned as the girls noticed the monstrosity. "Its go time, gang." Yugi and Tristan made to get up, but Devlin motioned for them to sit down as he came over to Bakura.

"Just talking to Bakura. Glad you're ok, Joey. Anywho, hi Bakura. I heard on the grape vine that you're really good at math. I was wondering if you could do me a big favor sometime, if you can spare the time, to help me. I'm like, the opposite at good. I'm bad. Naughty, you might say." Teá giggled again at the joke. Duke also ignored her.

"You mean, like a tutor?" Oh smack! How the crap could you say something so stupid? Bakura smiled cheerily, trying not to sound like a total idiot after the fact.

"Uh-huh. I can pay you or something if you'd like. I'm worth it." He emphasized that, the girls with in ear shot swooned. Teá was saved by Tristan, but he was in the middle of taking a sip of his drink when he caught her: juice went everywhere, including her face.

"No, no, that's quite fine, uh…" Bakura stumbled over his words, "But yes, emm, if you need help, I'd love to be with you—I mean, you know…"

"Help me? Thanks." Duke winked at him and was gone. For once Bakura was on the receiving end of a delightfully gorgeous wink. A juice splattered Teá was more than jealous.

"I don't see why he wants your help, Bakura," Teá whined, after pumping him for information about his first lesson with Duke about a week after the math-help request. "I mean, why ask you? I'm one of his devoted fangirls!"

"He needs help wit' math, duh," Joey snapped.

"He could have asked me!" Teá squealed.

"I thought you were terrible at math," Bakura innocently asked, as only Bakura could: oblivious to Teá's not-quite-hidden jealous rage. Apparently, that was a mistake.

"Who cares?" she screeched. "I don't want to teach him to make him good at math. I'm good at poetry. I'd gladly write that hottie all the best poetry in the world just from me to him."

"I'm sure he'd enjoy that," Joey laughed sarcastically. He, Tristan, and Yugi didn't want to hear about Duke Devlin anymore. Joey had his own worry. Its name was Seto Kaiba.

"Ser-iously! Have you seen the looks he's been throwing me in homeroom? If he could shoot lasers with his eyes cliché cliché I'd be quadrupley dead! I passed him in the hall and I think he was imagining blowin' me up!" Joey looked at the muted TV in Yugi's living room. "Hey Yug, you're on TV!"

"He's always on TV," Tristan drawled, "Its reruns of the Duelist Kingdom contest on Pegasus' island. You know, from last year. We skipped a lot of school and Teá and I stowed away on the ship and didn't get caught. It was fun. Aside from all the times we nearly died and stuff."

"Kaiba beat me in a duel with his new duel disc system when we was there. He landed in a helicopter. Pegasus had captured Mokuba and Kaiba was there to rescue him, and I was stupid and challenged an angered Seto Kaiba."

"Kind of like what you did last week, Joey? Except this time it was physical domination, rather than skill-at-children's-card-games domination." Joey glared at Yugi, but didn't push it. "Whatever. Might as well try what Teá suggested. The apology thing."

"I am not going to Kaiba and telling him I'm sorry," Joey glared around, swiping the air with his hand in a gesture meaning no.

"Are you even sorry?"

"No. Not really, pssh," Joey shrugged an exaggerated shrug that said quite the opposite.

"You're sorry," Teá cut in, momentarily taking a break from moping about not being noticed by Duke, "So tell him!"

"For da last time guys: no! I'm gonna go home Yug, seeya tomorrow." Joey slammed the door on his way out.

"Big brother! Look, it's that tournament that you went to when I got kidnapped again." Kaiba ignored Mokuba. "Except then Pegasus captured you too, and so Tristan rescued me and then—"

"Shut up, Mokuba!" Laptop out, typing away, and Kaiba didn't need or want to be reminded of one of his many failures. He definitely had better things to do. Like running Kaiba Corp. He checked his notes again and continued to type. Mokuba looked up at his brother hopefully, but Kaiba no longer saw him.

"I'll just go order dinner."

"Shut—oh. K thanks," Kaiba roused himself for a moment, but without fervor, and quickly sank back into the mulch that was his work and his life.

Several dinners later, the Kaibas were rather more comfortable, Seto having wrapped up a deal during his free fourth hour at school. However, the elder Kaiba's mind was unsettled. He still hadn't dealt with Jounouchi, and as much as he wanted to spear the kid's head (aka beat him at Duel Monsters), he couldn't. He was too wiped out for it, too hurt by all that went by, and more than a little surprised by Joey's actions of that day. Picking over the gourmet foodstuffs at the fancy restaurant (he'd promised Mokuba a night out once he'd closed the deal), all he wanted to do was go home.

Life was so complex. True, his life was all about the company, but that only added more complications. He couldn't afford—no, afford wasn't the right word. It wasn't quite about the money—to have any other life. Not even Mokuba (on the surface) was as important as work, except for the fact that one day he would take over. No, there was a reason Kaiba was chained up in a life of luxury. But he'd never let anyone know that was how he felt about it. Not even him. Leaving a credit card on the table, he motioned to the waiter.

"I'm going to trust that you know how to do math and how to work the mailbox. If this isn't back to me by next Saturday, don't expect to go to work the following Monday. Warn your manager too. You mess up and no one's going to work. Come on, Mokuba." Without another word, he got up and briskly walked to the door. Mokuba made to protest, thought better of it, and got up to follow his brother. Why did he even bother to ask Seto for nights out? At least at home he got to finish his food.

Joey was pacing up and down the lower school third year homeroom, which was Mokuba Kaiba's homeroom. The long haired 12 year-old Kaiba walked into the room, but the area remain devoid of Seto. After waiting to see if the older boy caught up, Joey turned to the younger version.

" 'Ey, Mokuba, where's your brother?"

"Oh, he had another conference call, so he couldn't walk me to class. Why'd you insult him and try to beat him up, Joey?" Mokuba loved his brother no matter how he was treated, and he hated those who opposed Kaiba. Especially Yugi Mutou and anyone connected to him, even though Mokuba was on good terms with them when Kaiba wasn't pissed off.

Looking down at the boy, Joey groaned. "Honestly Mokuba? I dunno. Whatever he desoived he didn't desoive what I said." Mokuba nodded slowly, he liked the guys, they just wouldn't stop pissing off Seto. "So, Moke, do ya wanna tell me where I can find him? Your brother?"

"Uh, check the library, but don't interrupt the call! It's important!"

"Ok, have fun at school and stuff." Joey bit his lip as he walked off to the library.

Sitting in the back with a headset on and a laptop in front of him, Kaiba argued furiously into the mouthpiece, becoming more agitated with every exchange. Joey stood behind a bookshelf, watching the brunette struggle to keep his voice down as the conversation took a turn for the worse.

Maybe this isn't such a good idea, Joey thought as he watched Kaiba pace around, hands clenching and unclenching, teeth gritted. But for plot development and Joey's inability to stop watching the mighty figure before him, Joey did not budge.

"Jesus! Don't hang up—don't! Shit." Apparently the other end had hung up. Kaiba flung the headset onto the table and slammed down into a chair, hands covering his face as he grumbled. "Oh fuck," he intoned quietly.

Joey stepped into the alcove of shelves. "Um, hi," he began, heart pounding like a Hebrew slave's as he did work for the Pharaoh in Ancient Egypt.

"Why the crap are you here?" Kaiba's eyes swept over the boy, up and down. Joey felt naked. "What do you want?"

"Well, uh," Joey dropped his bag and leaned against on of the bookshelves. "I know what I said, when you know, before you beat me into a pulp," he chuckled darkly, "I know what I said wasn't right. I mean, you may be a total asshole, but you don't desoive more crap that being called an asshole."

"I'm not sure where you're going with this, Dog, but no where positive."

"I'm not done! I'm not done. Just shut up, ok?" Joey felt bold, though he also wanted to pee his pants and run away. "Look, I just, I'm s-sorry ok? I'm trying to say that I'm sorry about what I said, Seto. I'm sorry." The words were out, hanging between them. Two heartbeats hammered away, though both men were aware only of their own. Joey stared pointedly downwards, surprised by how vulnerable a despairing Seto Kaiba looked, and by the strange way the light hit those narrowed, blue eyes. Suddenly, those eyes closed.

"Did you just call me Seto?" Joey gulped. He'd overlooked that slip. Kaiba jumped up, the chair falling aside as he sprung forth, grabbing Joey's shirt, scraping the skin beneath. "Did you just call me Seto?" Joey slowly nodded and stared up into the glistening orbs of blue. He winced as Kaiba shook him.

"I've been an orphan for five years, you'd think I'd have come to terms with it," Kaiba whispered, releasing Joey and turning quickly away, running his long, lithe fingers through strands of his thick, chocolate hair.

The bell rang. Both boys twitched in surprise and relief. "I'm really sorry, Kaiba. Yeah, I think I'm gonna go?" Joey slung his bag onto his back and dashed madly for the door. Behind him, Kaiba once again rubbed his hands over his face, this time to wipe away a few tears.

"Hey chums, do you mind if Duke sits with us today?" Bakura slid into a seat, his vegetarian meal looking anorexic next to Duke's heaps of everything. Teá beamed ecstatically and giggled an affirmative reply, opening her mouth to some long rant involving Duke being the coolest thing ever. "He's getting a bit tired of his fangirls," Bakura continued, giving Teá a meaningful look. He turned to Duke: "I had a few when I first came, still do, though they stalk from afar. Ugh, bloody awful. All they do is talk about my accent. And my hair!" Duke laughed appreciatively.

Joey kept throwing furtive glances over to a corner table where, surprisingly, Kaiba was sitting, daydreaming or something of that ilk—he certainly couldn't be concentrating on whatever Mokuba was saying, not while staring off into space the way he was. A knot in Joey's stomach tightened, what if Seto—Seto? Since when had he been Seto—if Kaiba was thinking about him? The brunette turned his head and blinked in Joey's direction. Joey blushed and accidentally knocked his spoon to the floor. When he returned from under the table, Kaiba was grinning, once again unfocused.

Yugi and Duke chatted a bit about their respective game shops and children's card games, while Teá flirted animatedly with Tristan (hoping Duke would notice). This more than freaked out Tristan (although he didn't mind too much), leaving Joey to mope and Bakura to ponder. Except then Bakura noticed Joey moping.

"Jounouchi?" Joey looked up, "Are you alright? You look positively exhausted. Did you sleep at all last night?" Joey shook his head. For the past few days, he'd mostly been awake, thinking about his exchange with Kaiba. Not that Bakura needed to know that much. "Oh, that's not good at all. There anything I—we, if they're listening" Bakura gestured his hair at the others, who were indeed not listening, "could do to help?"

"Nah," Joey said as Kaiba suddenly got up from the table (Mokuba stopping mid-sentence, staring at his brother). Bakura nodded and said the usual well-let-me-know-if. Joey wasn't listening. Kaiba had done it again: walked to the cafeteria door, looked over his right shoulder, and stared directly into Joey's eyes. He'd done it every time since the talk in the library, that backwards more-than-glance as he left. The look wasn't smug, or angry, just a question. A what-does-it-all-mean sort of question. Joey didn't know the answer. He was too busy watching Kaiba's coattails.

A week after that, Bakura got worried. He'd been walking to Duke's game shop when he passed Joey's apartment building and thought he'd drop in and invite Joey, who'd been sick the past few days. A math lesson and some children's card games wouldn't be too stressful. After all, Joey liked the latter. Bakura rang his friend, but when it rang five times and clicked to the machine (Hello, you've reach Jounouchi aka Joey), Bakura took the lift up to the Katsuya-Wheeler apartment. Joey's sister, Serenity, answered the door.

"Hello, Bakura! It's been a while since I've seen you. I'm not blind! I suppose you're here to see Joey?" Bakura nodded, smiling.

"Wow! I'm so glad your eyes are better!"

She grinned. Though she wasn't the most beautiful girl on the planet, she was better looking than Teá. However, when she spoke to Joey's friends she often acted as though she was talking to four year-olds instead of some sixteen and seventeen year olds, older than her by at least two years. Bakura followed her, but ignored her until she began talking about Joey's "extreme illness."

"Wait? What? Jounouchi's deathly sick?"

"Oh," she giggled in her high-pitched voice, "He's not exactly sick, but he hasn't been sleeping so he's exhausted. He practically passes out after dinner, but he wakes up around midnight and can't go back to bed. Strange, he told me you guys knew about it. Said it was, like, going around at school or something?"

"I don't think insomnia is contagious," Bakura said, knocking on Joey's bedroom door. A grunt came from within as well as a muffled shuffling. Finally, Joey opened the door looking like hell. His hair was matted down on one side and there was drool crusted around the corners of his mouth. A thin shadow of a shadow of stubble rimmed his chin. He wore only a pair of ratty old pajama bottoms; however Bakura was too shocked to admire the in-shape, but not quite muscular torso that presented itself in a crumple.

"Joey! Are you alright? No! How dreadful. You told us you had a cold! Don't you sleep anymore?"

"Why are you here? Little sis, I thought I said not to let my friends in! Ugh! I fucking want to go to sleep. Bye, Bakura." He slammed the door, nearly smashing Bakura's finger and definitely snagging some strands of his hair. Bakura shook his head, winced as hair was wrenched from his skull, and left the building.

Duke didn't have much to say on the subject except to make funny noises about the hair, as only Duke would. Honestly, Duke was getting pretty good at math ("Bakura's a brilliant teacher" he'd joke, mimicking the accent), but they both liked the excuse to hang out. However, Bakura was very tense. Even when Duke had the techies change the music playing in the shop to a song by Son of Dork, Bakura's favorite boy band, Bakura was still 100 worried about Joey.

"Bakura, I changed the music."

"Oh, that explains it. I thought it was familiar."

"I did it for you."

"That's nice of you, thanks."

Pause.

"Duke?"

"Yeah, Bakura?"

"What do you think is up with Jounouchi?"

Despite feeling and looking like hell, Joey wanted to go back to school. Seeing Bakura had reminded him that there were other people in the world besides Seto Kaiba. People worth seeing. Groaning, he stepped out of the shower—clean shaven—and dressed. When he showed up at Yugi's door, the short boy gave him a hug.

"Thank goodness Joey! We thought you died or something!" He told Joey about how worried Bakura had been and in turn how worried the rest of them had been.

"Or something," muttered Joey.

At lunch there he was, Seto Kaiba, sitting his corner, half-listening to his brother over cheap cafeteria food congealed into a cold lump. When Joey walked in, he instinctively looked over. Kaiba nodded at him, just a fraction, but a noticeable one. Joey felt like fainting.

Twenty minutes later, Kaiba got up to leave, and once again he turned and looked at Joey over his shoulder. This time he mouthed one word. Come.

And so Joey did, leaving a mystified and still worried group to stare at his progress.

Kaiba led him back to the library alcove, though this time he was sitting on the couch across from the tables when Joey caught up. Kaiba rested his head in one hand, the other lay out over the armrest. Dejá vu.

"Hello, Jounouchi." Joey got more delirious with every heart beat.

"Hi, Kaiba," he returned coldly and this time he didn't make a mistake. He once again leaned on the bookshelves. Just because he was freaking out inside didn't mean he had to give it away. He kept his cool.

"Look," Kaiba stood, walking slowly over to Joey.

"No! I don't want to look. Or to listen!" So much for keeping his cool. "What do you want from me? So I insulted you beyond belief, tried to beat you, failed, and then apologized! You're on top in this one. You're Seto Kaiba! You're the dominate one! You're the dragon! I haven't slept barely at all for the last nine days thanks to you. You're all I can think about! You and—and I don't know," he racked a breath, tears squeezing out of his eyes, "You and your eyes! What the fuck are you doing? You're messing with my head!" Joey grabbed fistfuls of Kaiba's shirt and glared up into Kaiba's eyes. Those eyes. His own were more than full of tears. He was much too tired for this. He dropped his hands, tried to step back, but couldn't: there was a bookshelf there.

"Do you have any idea how long it's been since someone besides Mokuba has tried to console me about my parents? About anything?" Kaiba began as though Joey had said nothing, hurt emanating with every syllable.

"Uh," Joey had no idea. He sniffled.

"Five years, two months, and twenty-six days. That's how long my parents have been dead."

"Uh..."

"Ssh." Kaiba held up a finger and backed away to the other side of the tables. "No one likes the Kaibas. We're rich, spoiled assholes. That much is true. But we have hearts too and our hearts can be broken. No one remembers that. Why do you think I went all the way to Pegasus' island myself when I could have sent a whole army to get Mokuba back? Because he is my family. He is the only one who cares."

"But I ca—" What was Joey saying? Since when did he care? He'd just chewed out Kaiba and tears were streaming down his own face and he was saying he cared?

"Fuck!" Kaiba wheeled around and slammed his palms on the table; Joey shivered. "You don't know how hard this is, do you?"

In the game of Dragon versus Dog no matter who goes first Dragon always wins. He gets extra points if Dog goes first. In this particular game, Dog had. Now Dragon was having his moment and boy it upstaged Dog's by millions. So Dog just shook his head.

"Fuck! Look, my heart broke ok? My heart broke when my parents died! You will never even imagine that pain. And there you go, bawling your head off about how I'm an asshole and an—" Kaiba's voice broke off and then continued in a whisper as he slowly advanced towards Joey. "An orphan. It hurt. So much. Everyday I deal with work like it's my life because without them it is. Just Mokuba and work. Work. Work. More fucking work and so I'm wondering why I have to take crap from you when you've actually got a life. Why did you have to go messing in mine?" He stopped directly in front of Joey, their bodies almost touching, blue staring into brown, perfect caramel brown, melting with Joey's enraged, confused tears. Kaiba slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them, a foreign tear fell onto Joey's face, hitting his lips.

"I'm sorry," murmured Joey, raising an arm half-heartedly and letting it drop to Kaiba's elbow. "I told ya, you didn't desoive it. I'm sorry, really. I'm—I'm just exhausted."

Kaiba nodded and slid down to the ground as Joey slowly collapsed. Both boys were crying. "I know," Kaiba whispered, encompassing Joey in his arms. "That's why I'm here."

"Nyaargh? What?" Joey choked on his breath. Since when was the air tangible and spiky?

"I've never had the courage to make a life since my parents died. And suddenly here you are, with your insults, and your—oh—your apologies, and gawd, your attention! Your care, your semi-understanding. Do you ever wonder why we're always clashing heads? Perhaps because I find you interesting?"

"You…"

"Shush! Fuck cheesy lines, I will use them if I want. You're a reason for me to want a life. You're the first person to act like you care about me." He was sobbing, watching the tears still flowing from Joey's eyes as well.

"I am so confused. I can't sleep because you like me? Kaiba, I'm a boy." Joey was too tired to understand it.

"No! But I think—I think I care about you too."

"Kaiba," Joey repeated, crying, eyes flittering from open to closed, mouthing the words almost sensually, "Kaiba, I'm a boy."

"Shut up, I know that," he mumbled huskily, leaning over the blonde and caressing Joey's cheek. At first, Joey jerked back, slamming his head into the bookshelf, but when he reached his hand up to rub his head, Kaiba descended.

His lips slid over Joey's, gently making acquaintance with the foreign skin. Taking hold of the hand Joey had put up, he settled in on his knees, pressing Joey up against the books. Several fell out. They were ignored. Kaiba pushed a little bit harder, his kiss a little more demanding than it was before. Joey answered with overwhelming ardor, grunts escaping him. After a moment, Kaiba drew back, admiring the boy beside him, cheeks still wet, panting in surprise at the action and the respite from it. The rich boy made to get up, but Joey pulled him back down, his hand hooked around the collar of Kaiba's shirt.

They lost their balance and Kaiba smashed Joey and his own head into the bookshelf. More books dropped to the floor on both sides. Joey didn't seem to notice the pain. He thrust his lips up against Kaiba's as the other boy's head came down, causing their noses to collide. With his unoccupied hand Joey traced unknown symbols inside Kaiba's collar, just below his neck, snaking his way into the shirt. His other hand dug into the back of Kaiba's, shoved up against some books.

Groaning at the contact of flesh to flesh on more than his lips and hand, Kaiba opened his mouth, allowing Joey to invade. He slipped his tongue between the lips, meeting Kaiba's teeth, inner cheeks, his tongue. A war between them, fought with their mouths. Joey's hand roamed up into the dark strands of Kaiba's hair, twisting; the back of his head falling and banging against the spines of unimportant books. Kaiba forced his tongue past Joey's, almost choking him as his head hit the second to last bookshelf.

At this point, Kaiba had fallen against Joey's chest, their legs sprawled out in a tangle behind them. Still with a hold on Joey's hand, he lifted his lips away, forcing Joey to push himself up in order to keep the contact that both boys were thoroughly enjoying. In this moment, Joey shoved hard on Kaiba's chest, reluctantly breaking the kiss, stumbling over on top, and straddling the CEO's thighs, provoking an obvious growth in both boys' need. Kaiba raised his head and kissed Joey's neck harshly, causing a guttural growl and a whine before Joey fell upon him.

The elder slipped a finger into Joey's gasping mouth, marveling at the slick, agile tongue that licked and caressed it. He moaned at the wet heat of the other boy's lips and opening, inserting a second finger before flipping Joey over with ease, smothering him and sucking at the whining boy's Adam's apple. Kaiba removed his fingers and trailed them to the bottom of Joey's shirt and up onto his bare stomach, enjoying the shudders he caused in the body beneath him. Having lost his mind with this simple pleasure, Joey mumbled nonsense, making Kaiba smile as he kissed up Joey's ear and chewed on it. One of Joey's hands was once again attached to Kaiba's, pinned to the ground near his head.

"Oh, you're the-Dragon!" Joey's head rolled back, he arched against Kaiba's body, panting in bliss. "Dragon!"

The Dragon hummed and laughed against Joey's jugular. Joey moaned in ecstasy. Kaiba laughed again causing Joey to buck up excitedly; Kaiba threw his head back and hissed, then once again pressed him lips to Joey's, his free hand holding up the boy's head, feeling Joey's hand knotted in and tugging on the hair above his right ear. Both boys wished they could scream in want and joy as they clung to each other, however, in a library, that was just not possible. Instead, they dug their nails and teeth into each other's flesh, quietly enjoying the simple satisfaction of the touch.

Kaiba released Joey's hand and slowly broke the kiss, feeling his lip free itself from Joey's as he moved it across the boy's cheek to whisper a few incoherent, perfect words into his ear. Quietly, he clambered upright, allowing Joey to move from underneath him, both mourning the loss of contact. Joey stared at him, breathing deeply, his heart pounding as he looked at the boy sitting in front of him. He leaned forward, but Kaiba turned: the kiss landed near his ear. Joey left his lips there for a moment before drawing back to say something.

"Well, dat was a little unexpected." Moment crusher. But it earned Joey the kiss he'd tried to get as Kaiba chuckled against his lips. Joey leaned his head against Kaiba's heaving chest. "Nice, but unexpected."

"Just shut up," Kaiba slurred, standing up. Joey's head fell to the floor for the third or fourth time. The poor dog jumped to his feet, grinning sheepishly.

"So," he rubbed his sore cranium, "I'll just be going, Kaiba."

"Seto."

"What?"

"It's Seto, just Seto." Kaiba walked up behind Joey and wrapped his arms around him, kissing the top of the shorter boy's jawbone lightly, then rubbing his cheek against it. Joey turned into Kaiba, licking his throat longingly.

"Ok, Seto. I'll see you around then?"

Kaiba smirked down at him. "Oh yes, Pup, you certainly will." He kissed Joey once more and left, strutting past the small mountain of scattered books, his coattails swinging behind him. Joey continued smiling, wistful, but happy.

When Kaiba got home, he took an hour to play a game with Mokuba and listen to all his brother's troubles. After that, he did work, but couldn't stop thinking about the exciting experience he'd shared with his Dog.

Meanwhile, Joey went home and, that night, got to sleep the minute he hit the pillow. A smile curled up on his face as the happiness it signified passed from reality to his dreams.
The next week, on a Saturday, Duke's father closed the game shop at eight, much earlier than it normally closed. After pizza at the next door pizza place Duke, Bakura, Yugi, Teá, Tristan, and Joey headed over to the shop. Duke's father even invited Yugi's grandfather, and the two adults were arguing furiously; having great fun with it.

Yugi was back on comfortable terms with Teá (who hadn't noticed the switch either way), and she seemed to have gotten over Duke a bit, or at least learned to control her need to babble about him. Laughing, they opened the extra four boxes of pizza ("You never know" was Tristan's excuse) and proceeded to have a mad party and play with anything and everything in the shop.

At around nine, music came on. It was Liz Phair's "Why Can't I". Duke ran back from the tech hallway, beaming in pleasure as Bakura squealed like a fangirl.

"I love this song!"

"I know. And so do I. It sort of," Duke shrugged, winking and taking Bakura's hand, "It sort of mirrors how I feel about you." Bakura squealed again, hugging Duke, both absolutely delighted. Teá's head pretty much overloaded on whatthecrap and exploded. Tristan took his two middle fingers and tapped them together, which caused Yugi to die laughing at the immaturity of the gesture. Joey, on the other hand, congratulated them, and told everyone else to shut up there was nothing wrong with being gay, and certainly nothing wrong with being in love.

Yugi nodded, and then asked Tristan how much water would've come out of his nose if he'd been drinking at the moment Tristan had gesticulated. Joey grabbed a glass and poured it onto Yugi's spiky little head.

An epic food fight ensued. Just as Teá nailed Joey in the face with some cake and frosting Mr. Devlin walked into the cafeteria opening.

"You've got another guest, son," he said, making a gesture to the invisible newcomer. Everyone looked up quizzically as Seto Kaiba, briefcase-less, appeared next to Duke's dad.

"Dragon!" Joey jostled a pizza-topped Tristan out of the way to hug Kaiba, who held the blond at arms' length before licking frosting off his nose and kissing him, savoring the chocolate on Joey's lips.

"Hello, Jounouchi," he said, grinning as Joey traced a heart onto his Dragon's cheek with a finger covered in frosting. They kissed again.

The others looked on, not quite sure what to say or do.

"What do I think is up with Joey?" Duke reiterated Bakura's worried question from a few days previous, beyond pleased that he finally had an answer. "Why, Bakura, I do believe he's in love with Seto Kaiba."

I hope you liked it!

I spent a while on it. Normally I hate longish fics, so thanks for bearing with me!

Feedback is much appreciated. Sorry for any errors (spelling/grammar etc).

If you have any editing ideas (like how I could fix up the whole Kaiba-orphan stuff) I'm listening. R&R.

Yeahh.

Yu-Gi-Oh the abridged series is amazing, btw.

--moi