I do not any way, shape, or form own Yu-Gi-Oh! or its characters. The OC characters Darren, Kili, Aya, and Trin are of my own creation and I own all copyright to them.

This story is rated Mature as it contains adult language, situations and a sex scene in this chapter.

Nor do I in any way make profit from this story.


Chapter II

Joey and Yami sat nervously in the legal office of Kaiba Corp, wondering what exactly they'd been left by Kaiba. Despite the sorrow they felt over his loss, the first thing that had crept into both of their minds had been he was posthumously suing them for some ridiculous reason. Joey found he was not surprised that his mind had gone there, given Kaiba's generally vindictive nature.

When the lawyer ushered them into his inner office, the young men both took seats before the polished mahogany desk that was devoid of any sign that the man had a life outside his job. "Let me get right to the point, gentlemen. Mr. Seto Kaiba left both of you substantial portions of his estate in his will. To Mr. Joey Wheeler, he has bequeathed to you the Kaiba mansion and his duel deck. Additionally, guardianship of Mokuba Kaiba is to be transferred to you immediately."

Joey's eyes widened at this information. "There must be some kind of screw up. Kaiba would never leave all of that to me."

But the lawyer shook his head. "I admit, this is quite surprising, given your history with my late employer. But Mr. Kaiba made several last minute changes to his will in the weeks leading up to his passing."

Joey fell silent at this, sitting back in his seat and trying to let it all sink in.

"And for me?" Yami asked, now thoroughly confused as to what he could possibly getting after Joey's inheritance.

Looking back down at the paperwork before him, the lawyer took a moment to find Yami's name. "To Mr. Yami Motou, Seto Kaiba leaves you... Kaiba Corp."

Both boy dropped their jaws at this. Kaiba Corp?! This place was Seto's pride and joy. Why would he leave it to someone he detested. "Why on earth would he leave me his company? Joey I understand actually. But me..."

"All the will states is that Kaiba felt it would be best left with you due to your experience handling empires. It will take a few more days to draw up all the paperwork, at which time you will be contacted."

As the young men rose to leave, the lawyer handed Joey a letter. "Mr. Kaiba left this in my care, to be given to you upon his death. I do not think he intended for you to receive it for many years though, so do not burden yourself with the idea that he'd been planning this for some time. By all accounts, his death was a sudden impulse on his part."

Joey took the letter from the lawyer but didn't open it. Part of him wanted to, but another part was worried it might cause him him more pain. Kaiba had been so much to him for years now, and for the surly brunette to be dead, it was almost more than he could bear. "Thank you," was all he said as he and Yami left.


Both young men were deep in thought when they left the Tower, and didn't say anything even as they climbed into Darren's waiting limo. "So how did it go?" Yugi finally asked, trying to break the silence. "You guys are so quiet."

Yami took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. "I was given... Kaiba Corp."

"Kaiba Corp?!" Yugi exclaimed, looking out the tinted window to the skyscraper. "You inherited Kaiba Corp?"

The Pharaoh nodded. "According to his will, it was because I have experience running empires. But an ancient civilization flowing with magic is much different from an international corporation."

"I can help you on that front," Darren said. "I've had considerable experience in that field." Turning to his lover, the prince asked, "And what did he give you Joey?"

When the blond didn't answer, he asked again. "Joey?"

The youth still didn't answer. And it wasn't surprising to the Atlantean. Joey hadn't said a word to him since the night he'd come home from the hospital. He was really starting to worry that perhaps, with Kaiba's death, their relationship had died as well.

Finally, it was Yami who answered for his friend. "Joey has inherited Kaiba's mansion, and his duel deck. And guardianship of Mokuba."

Mokuba looked up at the sound of his name. "Me?"

Joey's honeyed gaze turned to the smaller teen and he nodded. "Yeah kiddo. Looks like your big bro felt I was at least good enough to watch out for you," he said with a sad smile.

Darren thought for a few moments on this bit of news. If Joey had Kaiba's house, then with how he was currently acting, he might decide to take Mokuba and move in. Were such a thing to happen, it would be highly unlikely that Darren would ever see the blond again. So it was time to take a bit of a stand in these matters. "If I may make a suggestion. Mokuba, as Joey has been given guardianship of you, perhaps you would not mind me adopting you?"

"Wouldn't that make you my guardian then?" Mokuba asked.

"Yes, but I was thinking perhaps both of us could. You already see Joey as family, why not make it official? We'd be more big brothers than parents to you of course. And this way you can simply continue living at my manor in Kyoto. I know you'd probably want to go back to your brother's mansion, but I would not advise such a venture just yet. Believe me when I say the pain would be too great right now, given how your last exchange with Seto was less than pleasant."

Joey, who'd been about to complain that Kaiba'd left him in charge of Mokuba, had relaxed when Darren suggested they both should adopt the youth. The blond looked over at the man who had been so kind to him these past months, had become his lover. Did he still want these things with Darren? They hadn't spoken in days, but Darren didn't seem to be pushing any issues about it. Joey knew the prince liked to give him space to work things out for himself as best he could. He should say something. "But then who's going to take care of Seto's place?" was all he could think of at the moment.

Darren's teal eyes swept over the gathered party in the limo. "Why not Serenity and Rebecca? Given Rebecca's genius, I'm sure she'd make great use of the technologies lying around that mansion. And this would also get Serenity far away from your mother's harshness."

"But shouldn't Yugi and Yami take the mansion since Yami runs Kaiba Corp now?" Joey asked.

"One would think so, but they also have the Kame Game shop to run. And since they live in the apartment above it, I doubt they'd really care to leave it?" he said, aiming the last sentence as a question to the married couple.

"He's right Joey," Yugi said. "There's just no way I could leave the shop. It is where Yami and I first met, after all," he went on, referring to when he first completed the Millenium Puzzle in his bedroom above the shop years before.

"I guess that's alright, then," Joey said, sitting back in his seat.

"Sweet. We get to have mansion all to ourselves," Rebecca grinned. She leaned over and whispered something in Serenity's ear that had her lover blushing beet red.

"That's settled then," Darren said with a nod. "We'll work out all the paperwork and such to get everything squared away and then you girls can move in."


Later that night Darren and Joey were both ascending the stairs to their bedrooms. As Joey came to his door and began to open it, Darren placed a hand on the door, pushing it closed. "We need to talk Joey. You've been avoiding interacting with me. We haven't spoken in days. I know we only agreed to give this a try between us, but if you're done trying, I at least deserve to know."

Joey sighed and leaned against the door. He'd known this was coming, and honestly, he wasn't sure he knew what to say. "I honestly don't know if I'm done. I can't... I can't think straight these days. I'm just so upset about living through all this and him dying."

He ran a hand through his golden locks. "I just don't know anymore, Darren. I'm sorry. I don't want to hurt you after you've been so kind to me, but I just... I don't..."

Darren placed a finger against Joey's lips. "I understand Joey. This is hard for you, so much harder than I honestly can grasp. But I am always here for you, imora. I love you. No matter your choices, I love you." He leaned in to kiss the younger male, but Joey turned away. Sighing, Darren pulled back. "Good night Joey," he said, retreating to his bedroom.

Locking his door, Darren put his head against the cool wood and sighed. Why was everything he had always taken away from him like this? Aya couldn't be with him because of his brother. And now Joey wouldn't be with him because of Kaiba, maybe. "Leviathan give me strength," he muttered before pushing away from the door and stripping down for bed. As he climbed under the silk sheets, he pulled the pillow Joey used closer to him, just to catch the lingering traces of the youth's scent.


Joey sank down onto his own bed, not bothering to undress. Rolling onto his side, he looked over at the couch where he and Darren had sat his first night here. Thinking back on it, he vaguely recalled sobbing against the prince at the end of the movie they'd watched. Crying on a guy he barely knew... Had a part of him even then wanted Darren?

Darren and Kaiba, polar opposites when you compared the two. Darren was kind, understanding, and incredible in bed. Kaiba was cold, opinionated, and probably would have been a very selfish lover. Darren put those around him above everything else, Kaiba only concerned himself with business and Mokuba, often in that order.

And while Darren had gone and visited the graves of his two closest friends, Kaiba had been descending into madness. Then there was that Derek kid. Somehow Kaiba had found him again, and as much as he wanted to deny it, Joey knew that something had made Kaiba kill the boy.

He needed to try and work this out with Darren. Yes, he was still upset and guilty over the fact he was still drawing breath and Kaiba wasn't, and on some level he always would be. But Darren confronting him like that made something click in his head, and his heart. Forcing them to talk like that showed Darren really did care. The prince was worried about him, about them.

But this wasn't going to be easy. If he suddenly told Darren he wanted to be with him the way they used to, he might not believe him. As he tried to think of subtle ways to make his decision clear, Joey drifted off into a deep slumber.


Joey watched as Kaiba warned Yami that slaying the Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon would send him plummeting to his death. Now, he wasn't the best duelist in the world, but even from where he was standing, he sincerely doubted that would happen. Sure Kaiba was standing on a parapet, but if Yami took out another of the Dragon's weakened heads, Joey was pretty sure the monster would just fall over, and that would be the end of the match.

Suddenly, everything froze. Nothing was moving in the memory except for Joey. As he looked around, confused, a figure appeared between the two duelists. Wearing only a pair of billowy silk pants, the person had a thick, muscular body. He was tall, nearly seven feet from the look of things.

But it was the face of this stranger that shocked Joey the most. Shoulder length teal hair left to flow and fall about the face. Teal eyes, and a resemblance of features so strong, this could only be one person.

"Trin?" Though Joey'd never seen him, he knew who it was instantly.

"Right in one, kid," the ancient knight said. He strolled over to where Kaiba stood frozen on the parapet, looking him over. "Don't know what you see in this guy. He's attractive I guess, if you like those 'everyone is just a shit stain on my shoe' types."

"He was rough, yeah. But right here, he was willing to sacrifice himself to save his brother," Joey said in defense of his dead crush.

"No he wasn't. He was forcing the other guy to surrender so he could be guaranteed passage into the castle, all because he's too big a coward to ask for help. A man like Kaiba never plays fair in this sort of thing. He knew that if he died, he'd never be able to save his brother. It was a bluff, and your friend fell for it."

"What would you have done in his place?"

Trin shrugged. "I would have beaten the crap out of all of you and taken what I needed by force. But that's just me. Darren... he would have explained the situation, asked for those star chips, then helped you get more before he went into the castle."

"I don't understand, why are you even here? You're dead. And I've never met you before, so how can you be in my dream?"

"Funny thing about being dead, one has a lot of free time on one's hands. And I just couldn't move on until I was sure my prince was happy."

"He is happy. He's got me," Joey snapped, slapping a hand to his chest.

"Ha! You really think I'm falling for that crap? I've never once, in over ten thousand years, ever seen that man actually happy. There's always some weight on his shoulders, some worry behind those eyes. If he really had you, you'd see it every time you looked at him. And from what he told me at the cemetery, you guys were getting close. But then jackass over there went and jumped out a window.

"See, I was considering calling it case closed and moving on, but you got all sullen and withdrawn, like everything you had in the world had just been snatched away." Trin's tone was getting angrier now. "Guess you're one of those folks who can't see the forest because there are too many damn trees in the way. Tell me this kid, name one thing Kaiba did for you that has earned this loyalty from you."

Joey opened his mouth automatically to list all the good Kaiba'd done for him and his friends, but then he paused. Kaiba hadn't ever actually done anything for them. All his actions had been self serving. And often, he got himself into situations that they'd had to pull him out of.

"That's what I thought, nothing. Now just think about everything Darren's done for you and for your friends. I know you've got conflicting feelings about all this crap. You're young, it happens. But I tell you this now, you don't owe Kaiba any loyalty whatsoever. I don't know what happened with him, and I don't care. I merely came here tonight to give you a warning. You hurt my prince and I will make your life an ever living hell."

"I thought you wanted me to make him happy?" Joey asked.

"I do, but you gotta commit to the notion kid. You can't go off and be all conflicted about if you want to be with Darren or not every time something comes up. So tell me Joey, are you going to be in this for the long haul or not? Because if you don't think you can be, you need to tell him when you wake up and spare him the pain of thinking you want to be with him when you really don't."

Joey looked at Trin for a moment. "Why are you so insistent on this? It's gotta be more than just you being his knight." Then it hit him. "You were in love with him weren't you?"

"I was yeah. So was Aya. But Darren was ever the prince about it. Ever the gentleman. He didn't want to choose either of us so the other didn't feel left out. I've given you a lot to think about, so I'll just leave you with this..."

The frozen images around them vanished and were replaced with the night when Joey and Darren had first made love. Without another word, Trin vanished, leaving Joey to dream on and consider what he wanted.


In Domino, Yugi was having a little crisis of his own. Or at least, he was worrying too much about Yami's new job. He was sitting at the small table they kept in the kitchen, a cup of untouched tea in his hands. "What's wrong, aibou?" Yami asked, coming into the kitchen and kissing his husband's forehead gently.

Yugi sighed and pushed his tea away, looking up at the pharaoh. "I'm worried about what Kaiba Corp's going to do to you," he said softly.

Yami frowned a bit and sat on the edge of the table. "What do you mean Yugi?"

"Look at what it did to Kaiba. What if you become like that, too?"

Yami offered a gentle smile to his petite lover. "There's a big difference between me and Kaiba, my love. I was raised from birth to rule a vast desert empire. While Gozabura did teach Kaiba much about running the corporation, Kaiba's own arrogance made him steal the company from his adopted father before he'd learned anything."

"But weren't you just a kid when you took the throne? Kaiba was only twelve when he took over."

"Both true. But in ancient Egypt, it was not uncommon for a ruler to take the throne fairly young. For a youth of Kaiba's age to gain sudden control of an international business that dealt heavily with arms dealing, he simply was not ready for it." Yami reached out and gently cupped Yugi's chin. "I'm not saying I will not be stressed at times. Ruling over anything can be a burden. But my comfort will be knowing I have you to come home to each night, and hold in my arms."

Yugi's eyes watered with feeling as he looked up at his husband. "I love you," he said.

"And I love you. Now come to bed,aibou. I have just the thing to take your mind off all this," Yami grinned, gathering the smaller male into his arms.

"You're insatiable," Yugi giggled, wrapping his arms around Yami's neck and kissing him as he was carried off.


A few days later, Joey still hadn't told Darren in any way that he wanted to try and work things out between them. And every day Darren seemed to grow a bit more distant, like he was trying to shield himself from what he felt was inevitable pain. Joey realized he couldn't try and do this subtly at all. He'd just have to come out and do something big. Something Darren couldn't not grasp.

And somehow he knew he was running out of time to get the message across. Ever since that weird dream where Trin had appeared, Joey thought he saw the knight every so often when he looked in the mirror.

He strode into Darren's study, where the prince was working on some important paperwork for his company. Taking a deep breath, Joey gently closed the study door and locked it behind him so they wouldn't be interrupted. Then he drew up to the desk and waited until Darren noticed him standing there.

Darren looked up from his papers, a bit surprised to see Joey standing before his desk. "Joey? Did you need something, imora?" he asked, rising to his feet and coming around to Joey's side of the desk.

Reaching up, Joey took Darren's face in his hands and yanked him down to capture his lover's lips. Groaning at the missed taste of Darren's mouth, Joey pulled back after a moment. "I need you."

Pushing away from Darren for a moment, Joey swept his arm across the desk, knocking everything to the floor. He bent over at the waist, gripping the far side of the desk with his hands as he looked back at Darren. "Please..." he pleaded softly.

It took Darren a moment to work enough blood back up to his brain to respond. The mere sight of Joey bent over like that, begging was just too much to let him think straight. "O-of course, Joey. Just let me grab some lubricant first..."

"No!" Joey exclaimed, shocking the Atlantean for a moment. "I don't want lube, I don't want to be prepped. Just yank down my pants and fuck me. Please Darren, I want to be punished for how I've treated you lately. Don't hold back. Take me as hard and fast as you want." Joey bit his lip for a moment. "Please... I've been such a bad puppy."

Any lesser man would have come in his pants right then and there. Darren as it was barely managed to hold himself in check. "As you wish Joey," he said. Moving behind his lover, he reached out with slightly trembling hands and yanked the blond's pants down to his knees. With one hand braced against the youth's lower back, Darren unzipped his own jeans, freeing a part of his body that had been aching for his lover for weeks.

The prince took himself firmly in hand and placed the tip of his pulsing, leaking erection at Joey's star. "Are you sure you want it like this?" he asked, not wanting any regrets made in this on Joey's part.

"I'm sure," Joey said with a nod. "Darren... I need it. I'm sorry I've been so distant lately, I just..."

"Shhh," Darren said, placing a finger against Joey's lips. "There will be time for talk later. Right now, let me give you what both our bodies need." Groaning as Joey took that finger into his mouth and began to suck on it, Darren surged his hips forward, sheathing himself in the tight passage of his younger lover.

They both cried out as Darren filled Joey's body. It hadn't been more than a few weeks, but it felt like forever since they'd been like this together. And Darren wasted no time giving the boy time to adjust. As Joey requested, his lover didn't hold back, slamming into him over and over. It was all Joey could do to hold onto the desk and suckle that finger to keep from crying out at the top of his lungs and alerting everyone within earshot as to their activities.

Darren was taking Joey harder than he ever had before. And to his amazement, he was finding he could fully sink himself to the hilt inside Joey's sheath. The feeling and sound of their flesh slapping together quickly built their combined pleasure. Darren leaned over and placed soft kisses on the back of Joey's neck as both men drew to the climax of their pleasure.

As they came, both Darren and Joey threw their heads back and cried out:

"JOEY!"

"KAIBA!"


Author's Note: A lot of interesting developments in this new chapter huh? And it looks like Trin is back in the picture, in some capacity any way. I wonder though, how is Darren going to react to Joey screaming out another man's name, his dead rival no less, as he climaxes? You'll just have to wait and see. And of course, as always I ask that if you like the story, please leave a review.