YUGIOH

Dealing With Adulthood

Chapter 3.

Weeks had gone by since Kaiba had broken up with his so-called girlfriend, and his body was still playing evil tricks on him….making him stare at people he didn't mean to draw attention on. At one time, he even had the Mutt turn and snarl, "What are you looking at, Kaiba??"

With a subtle smirk, Kaiba simply replied, "A nobody dog. Why do you ask?" It quickly resulted in Joey yelling to the point that he ended up with yet another detention.

Joey was never actually a problem for him, no matter what was happening with himself. Joey would always be Joey and Kaiba never found him a concern to deal with. If anything, the staring only gave Kaiba more pleasure to see Joey react more towards him.

The problem was when he started to do that towards other people he normally didn't talk to.

During a more awkward moment, one of those people happen to be a guy in his Calculus class. He was a smart quiet kid that normally kept to himself. He was also originally one of the kids he looked at before, which led him to think maybe he was simply looking for an intellectual challenge. From what he had seen of him, though he was very bright, the kid could be lacking some times when it came to the simplest of things. Sometimes even common sense could elude him.

Unfortunately, Kaiba's staring was not one of those things which were left unnoticed. As Kaiba's eyes had drifted on the kid, thinking about the student's strengths and weaknesses, he noticed a curious eye from him glance back Kaiba's way. The kid raised an eyebrow, as if offering Kaiba a silent query, and Kaiba quickly looked away, pretending to have never been looking in that general direction.

Later after school that day, Kaiba had left his final class, when he actually got approached by the same kid. He came up to Kaiba, muttering, "Excuse me....Kaiba?"

Kaiba turned, keeping his mask in disinterest on, as he asked, "What is it?"

"Um....I'm sorry to bother you, but I forgot to write down the homework assignment on Calculus today, and I was hoping to get it from you....if that's not too much trouble." He said, with a strange sheepish look on his face, trying to avoid eye-contact.

"Why don't you ask the teacher?" Kaiba asked.

"I tried, but I couldn't find him anywhere." The kid answered.

"Your friends?" Kaiba added.

"They already left." The kid said, looking even more nervous, now.

Kaiba was getting a strange vibe from him, like he was making excuses for some reason. So, instead of merely pulling out the assignment and writing it down for him, Kaiba said, "Come with me, it's at my locker."

Kaiba went to his locker, in the hallway that was now empty since all the school kids were piling outside towards their buses. Kaiba then opened the locker, and hesitated before finally looking down at the kid. "So...what did you really want?"

"I....I'm sorry?" The kid stammered.

"You insult me by thinking I don't see this as some lame excuse. What do you want? If you're looking for a tutor, you should know I'm not interested...."

"No, it's not that!" He said quickly. Then realizing he just interrupted Seto Kaiba, his head lowered and blushed, stating, "Oh....I'm sorry."

"Then....what is it?" Kaiba asked.

"I heard about your breakup with that cheerleader after one day. I guess you didn't like her very much." The kid said.

Kaiba didn't like gossiping and was ready to throw that in the kid's face. But he hesitated, remembering he was one of the kids he had kept drifting off to, in order to stare at him. So, let it slide for now. Kaiba turned away, answering, "No, she wasn't my type."

"Or....maybe not your sex?" The boy asked.

Kaiba quickly looked the kid's way, surprise on his face which quickly turned to anger. "You dare approach me to make up accusations??"

"No no, it's not like that, at all!" The kid said, hands up defensively.

"Bullshit!" He snapped, now fuming at this kid. "As if there's not enough morons gossiping about my personal life, that's all I need is some other loser to come along and...."

"I have a crush on you!" The kid suddenly blurted out, but quickly covered his mouth with his hands. His face was beat red, as he looked around to make sure no one heard him other than Kaiba.

Kaiba just stared at him, having trouble registering what was just said to him. The boy then looked back down, saying, "Sorry....I was just hoping that maybe...."

"You think I'm gay?" Kaiba asked. "Why would you think that?"

Kaiba tried to keep his cool, but was now beginning to wonder if he was perhaps giving off weird vibes of his own that some people might sense about him. If that was true, that could cause problems….especially since he was certain he was not that type. Then again, he 'was' gawking at him today....perhaps that did it.

"Well, it's just....you were staring at me today, and I was just hoping that, well...."

So it 'was' the staring. He really had to watch himself more closely. But now that Kaiba thought about it, didn't the boy just say he had an open interest in him??

"I'm sorry for making such a stupid thought that you might....please don't tell anyone. I'd probably become even more of an outcast then before...." He said miserably.

Kaiba stared him down for a long moment, before adding, "How do I know you're not from the yearbook, trying to get a good story for school, or maybe even the press?"

"Are you crazy? Why would I want to do something like that? Don't you get it?" He asked, in almost a whisper. "I'm not really popular in this school, already. All I'd need is some stupid rumor like that about me, and the bullies in this school would never leave me alone! No one in their right mind would do something that stupid. It's just....I was just being hopeful. I had a date for a while, but that was a year ago, and he moved away. I've been pretty alone with what I am ever since, and....I guess I was just hoping to find someone else like me, you know?"

Kaiba paused looking down at the kid, then turned away towards his lockers, seeming to look for something. He said, "I seemed to have forgotten my assignment at home. You'll have to come over and pick it up."

"You left it home? But, how....?" The kid was starting to ask, seeing the idea of today's homework assignment being home impossible, then noticed the look Kaiba was giving him and it began to sink in. "Oh! Uh....yeah, not a problem. When can I, uh....pick it up?" He blushed.

"8pm is fine with me." Kaiba answered. He pulled out a sheet of paper, jotting down his address, and said, "Here, this is my address. And your name is?"

"Oh, I'm Martin. Pleased to meet you." He said, holding out his hand.

Kaiba looked at it, but didn't take it. He closed his locker, saying, "Be on time. Don't be too early, either." He then brushed passed him, heading to his limo.

After he left school, Kaiba sat inside the car wondering why he just invited the kid to come to his home? What did he think he had to gain by bringing him over? He had no idea. It was just a feeling. But for some reason, after what Martin said, he felt he wanted to see him again. Maybe the kid was the key to help him figure out what's wrong with himself, and why he couldn't seem to stop staring at certain people.