KD: We must say we're really saddened by the lack of reviews. We had this same problem with our last stroy. Lots of people reading, favoriting and all that, but no one reviewing. We're hoping that will change. Reviews are what keep us interested in continuing the story after all. So anyway, hope you enjoy the chap.

Chapter Four: No Tail

Song for chapter:

This is Living –Steven Strait

As expected, the next morning Seto did not wake in the best of moods. His head was pounding and his stomach wasn't in the best of conditions either. He couldn't remember anything that happened after being dragged into some stupid Karaoke bar with Joey and his weird friends. He sat up and found Joey sleeping next to him. Seto rubbed his eyes which ached from being exposed to the morning light. "Stupid mutt didn't even bother closing the curtains before going to bed." He forced himself out of bed and began making himself some coffee, and soon the room was filled with the potent aroma. As the coffee was perking, the pup stirred awake.

"Mm, morning," Joey said, sitting up and giving a loud yawn. "How ya feeling?"

Seto glared crankily at him in answer.

"Yeah, that's what I figured," Joey mumbled before getting out of bed. "So what do you remember from last night?" Joey asked, he figured it was not the greatest of all question for the cranky CEO, but he figured it was the best way to get the brain moving.

Seto poured his cup of coffee and began to take several gulps of it. "I remember going to the Karaoke Bar." Seto paused to pour another cup and drink it, it was almost like the gin erased all coffee from Seto's bloodstream and he had to replenish it. "Then I remember Bakura and I making a bet and that's about it." Seto drank another cup of coffee and noticed Joey seemed to be relieved about something, "I wonder if I said something that the mutt doesn't want me to remember. I can tell by his body language that he obviously is relieved about something, but what is it." Seto poured a third cup of coffee, "Why do you ask Wheeler?" Seto saw the Joey's body tensed up as he paused for a few minutes before speaking.

"No reason Kaiba, just trying to get your brain running is all. Hangovers are never easy. Well at least it seemed that way for my old man." Joey finally said after his moments of thought. Seto drank his coffee not pleased with the blond's response. "Ya know Kaiba, if you knew how to control your ego, this wouldn't have happened."

"I don't need a lecture from you about the foolishness I took part in last night." Seto grumbled after drinking his coffee and seeing the pot on the table no longer had the dark liquid in it. "Then again, if we just stayed home as usual, none of this would have happened." Seto thought, keeping the last bit to himself. His head pounding and a spat with Joey would not bode well right now.

Joey heard his phone on the nightstand go off and he used that as a perfect excuse to distract himself from having to make up any more excuses. He picked up the phone and saw he had a new message. He opened the message and what he saw surprised him.

It read: "Thanks for bailing on me. Hope you're happy with your new gang."

Joey stared at the message in confusion. Who would…? The hand holding the phone tightened its grip over the plastic. Tristan. "Um, Kaiba, I'm gonna head out for a while," he said as began heading out the door.

"Shouldn't you at least change first?" Seto asked him. The mutt hadn't even bothered changing into pajamas and slept in the date clothes. Joey didn't hear him as he was already out the door. "Stupid mutt," Seto muttered as he took the last gulp of coffee.

Joey had high tailed it straight to Tristan's house, not even bothering to hitch a ride, thinking it was better if he didn't arrive in a limo and raise more questions. He instead used his bike which saved him a chunk of time that he would have lost walking. During his trip he tried to sort in his mind what he was going to say to his friend. He still didn't fully know the situation or what Tristan believed what was going on. Whatever the case, he didn't want to just leave Tristan hanging, or guessing.

Joey finally reached Tristan's house and rang the doorbell. He waited a few minutes and a familiar face opened the door, "Hey Joey, long time no see." Tristan's older sister said as she opened the door. "Tristan is not awake yet from my knowledge, but come on in and I'll get him up."

"Thanks." Joey stepped in the house and took off his shoes before entering the living room. Joey heard the paws of the chocolate lab running down the hall wanting to jump on top of him and lick his face.

"Blankey!" she shouted and the lab dashed past her and knocked Joey down onto the wooden floor.

"It's fine Clair," Joey said and he started to pet the dog's face, and avoided the pink tongue that kept wanted to give him kisses.

"Ok Joey, I'll be back in a min then." She left the living room headed up stairs to Tristan's room

"I don't wanna talk to him right now!" Joey heard Tristan's voice echo through the quiet house. He was hurt that his best friend said that, but didn't blame him. He would feel the same way if Tristan was sneaking behind his back with friends he didn't like or know of.

"Joey came all the way here to see you. If you won't go down to see him, then I'll bring him up to see you." She huffed and slammed the door behind herself. When she came back down she told Joey, "Go ahead and go on up."

Joey nodded in thanks before going up the stairs to Tristan's room. When he tried opening the door, he found it was locked. "Tristan, open the door."

"Go away."

"Come on, Tristan. We need to talk."

"You weren't very inclined to talk last night when you left me hanging to go to the movies with Kaiba, Ryou, and some other guy!"

"Tristan, I'm not having this conversation through a door," Joey said irritated.

"Too bad, cuz I'm not opening it," Tristan said as if he were a pouty five year old.

Joey was considering kicking the door down when Tristan's sister appeared beside him with a key. She unlocked the door and threw it open for him, much to Tristan's annoyance. "There you go. Now please do me a favor and get him out of the house. When he's in a mood like this he starts blasting his stereo."

"Uh, thanks. I'll try," Joey said not making any promises. He went into the room where Tristan was sitting on his bed with his comics. "Tristan, just let me explain."

"You have five minutes," Tristan told him.

Joey sighed. What should he tell him? The truth? Considering how he was acting right now, Joey wasn't sure that was a good idea. "Well, first I wanna know what YOU think is going on," Joey asked, hoping to buy himself some time.

Tristan glared at him before sighing. "I don't know WHAT to think, man. I mean, I thought you HATED Kaiba. So why would you want to go anywhere near him, let alone go someplace WITH him."

'Crap, I'm no good at this,' Joey thought. "It's not that I hate the guy," Joey said slowly, doing his best to choose the right words. "It's just we don't see eye to eye."

"Oh, so what? You guys are best buds now?" Tristan asked skeptically.

"Of course not," Joey answered. Saying that did pain him a bit, but with this tirade Tristan was on, the whole truth didn't look so pleasant at the moment.

"Then why hang out with him?" Tristan demanded.

"Would it really be that bad if I did hang out with him?" Joey asked seriously.

Tristan stared at him as if he was crazy. "I can't believe I'm hearing this from YOU of all people."

"Look, I was there as a favor, alright? That's all it was," Joey said impatiently.

This caused Tristan to look confused, so Joey took the opportunity to go into deeper explanation. "That other guy you saw us with is a friend of Bakura's. I met him a while back and he's a cool guy. He really wanted to go the movies."

Tristan interrupted him. "But that still doesn't explain what Kaiba was doing there."

"Part of the reason I've been busy is because I'm helping Mokuba test out some of the new game systems he gets," Joey said. "And he told me he wants his big brother to get out more so…"

Tristan must've have been irritated to the point of not even caring anymore because finally he just said, "Yeah, fine. Whatever, man."

Joey felt really guilty, and he wanted to make it up to him. Tristan was his buddy, and he didn't want to lose that. "Come on, buddy. What's say we hit a pizza joint and then the arcade, my treat?"

Tristan considered for a few moments. "Alright, I guess I could take you up on that. I was gonna go meet someone there today anyway."

Joey was confused and did a double take in his mind on what Tristan just said, "Wait. Who?"

Seto was locked up in his office at his house trying to get his work done, but was getting nowhere. His head was still hammering from the other night, making it hard for him to concentrate on his work. Taking his glasses off he began to rub his temples hoping to alleviate some of the pain. "I'm not going to get any work done today." Seto opened one of his desk drawers and pulled out a bottle of Tylenol and swallowed two of the pills dry.

Knock Knock

"Come in" Seto said hoping that the door really was being knocked on, and it was not his head pounding.

"Sorry to interrupt your work sir…" Roland said stepping through the door, "But the paperwork for the Vegas project just came in so I thought you might want to look over it." Roland was holding a thick manila envelope in his hand. Seto got up and grabbed the envelope from Roland and started to pull out the papers. "It there anything else I can do for you Mr. Kaiba?" he asked knowing his boss was probably not in the best working state this moment. "If you need me to I can finish looking over the plans for theNYCKaibaLand." He offered.

Seto sat back down at his desk and put his glasses back on and began looking over the papers that were in the envelope. "That would fine Roland. I'll upload all my work so far to your computer."

"Will that be all then sir?" Roland asked once more.

"Well I didn't get much out of Wheeler this morning." Seto thought putting down the paperwork. "Roland how did I get home last night?" Seto asked the older employee looking straight past the sunglasses and into his eyes.

"Well sir. Mr. Wheeler called and said that you were not feeling well, so I came to pick you up." Roland said being honest as usual.

"Did I do anything out of the ordinary last night?" Seto asked, "I know Wheeler was hiding something from me this morning. His body language said all I needed to know. And if Roland was there, he knows what it is."

"No sir, you didn't do anything out of the ordinary last night." Roland continued, but in the back of his mind, he knew what the young CEO wanted to hear; he just did not want to be the one to have to say it.

"I know I did something last night that while I was intoxicated. It happened two years ago, so I know something happened last night. Just tell me what it was." Seto said to Roland hoping he would finally get an answer.

"Well Sir I did not want to be the one to have to tell you this, but it was not what you did. It was more of what you said." Roland paused for a moment to look at his employer, "Well sir technically it was two things you said. First, you persisted that Mr. Wheeler and I call you by your first name. you were quite adamant about that." Roland left out the age comment; he didn't think it was of that much importance.

"What was the second thing I said?" Seto asked a bit annoyed because he was imagining Roland and Joey calling him Seto, Mokuba was the only person he allowed to use his first name, so it was not a pleasant image.

"Well sir." Roland paused, "I really don't want to have to say this last one." He paused again, "You told Mr. Wheeler something about being top." The room got deathly silent after Roland said the second thing.

"You can go back to work now." Seto said dismissing him, "Everything you need should be on your computer now." Roland left the room without saying another word, but he was thankful that Seto didn't seem that angry over what he told him. "I wanted him on top." Seto thought knowing that he would defiantly not get any work done now. "I really doubt the pup did it though. Even if I did want it, he would be too nervous to. But what if he did? I really doubt it though, it is Wheeler. There is still always a chance though."

"Duke Devlin!" Joey exclaimed. He and Tristan had just arrived at the arcade, and who should be waiting for them but the dice man himself.

"Why hello, Joey," Duke said with his usual I'm-all-that-and-everyone-knows-it smile.

"This was the guy you were meetin' with?" Joey asked Tristan, jabbing a thumb at Duke.

"At least he's better than Kaiba," Tristan stated.

'That's questionable,' Joey thought.

"Now, now, ladies, we're here to have fun, right?" Duke spoke up. "How about we start off by shooting some hoops?"

The three teens got themselves each a large pocket full of tokens and began hitting the games. Joey learned that Duke was really skilled at games such as hoops, skiball, football tossing, air hockey, darts… so pretty much anything that required good aim and a steady hand. He sucked at ping pong and foosball, however, which made Joey feel better about himself as he was really good at both of those. Also he wasn't quite as good as Joey and Tristan with the fighter and driving games. The three of them avoided the DDR altogether.

Joey still wasn't sure about Duke, but the guy seemed to be acting pretty normal. As a bonus, Tristan's mood had improved greatly with the passing of time and games.

After hours of playing and competing, Joey arrived at one of his personal favorites. "Ah, pinball. I missed ya buddy. Hey, Tristan, ya think I could beat my high score?"

"Duke already did," Tristan told him with a laugh before taking a sip from his soda.

"What?" Joey asked in disbelief.

"I happen to be a bit of a pinball wizard myself, Joey," Duke told him, twirling a strand of his ebony locks. "But feel free to try to catch up to me."

Joey's competitive mode went to full throttle. "You asked for it. I'll blow your high score out of the water." Joey immediately got to playing, becoming completely absorbed in the game while the other two watched him.

It wasn't long before Tristan hit the bottom of his soda cup. "Hey guys, I'm hitting the little boy's room. Be right back."

Joey barely even heard him. He was too into the game to pay much attention to anything else. He was down to his last ball but he was close to getting the ultimate high score. Just a little further and… He went rigid and suddenly he felt a hand grope his butt and Duke's husky whisper.

"Hmm… no tail."

"What the hell, man?" Joey said losing all focus in the game being short only 350 points to the new high score. "Did you just grab my…my…" Joey couldn't force himself to say it out load. Although the arcade was loud you never know when someone might listen in. "Kaiba has never even touched me like that before. Why the hell is Duke?" Joey thought remembering the intense slap he once received from the CEO. However, this gentle grope felt so much more sensual than Seto's.

Duke leaned in even closer to Joey with a smirk on his face, "Well, it was so perfect on you at the party, I thought it might have been permanent."

Joey's face flushed with anger, he forgot about the costume and the party for the most part, it was not the happiest memory.

"What are you guys whispering about over there?" Tristan said seeing how close Duke was with Joey.

"Just enjoying the fact Joey lost to my high score by 350 points." Duke said turning around, his usual lock of hair wrapped around his finger as usual.

"Really man? That sucks only 350 points what happened?" Tristan said consulting his friend with a pat on the shoulder.

"Uh…someone just bumped into me and it made me loose me concentration." Joey said being partially truthful. "I really need to stop telling partial truths like this to Tristan. He's my best friend, but if I told him about any of this…I don't even want to imagine what he would do or worse…say."

"Too bad man. Well I'm all outta tokens. What about you guys?" Tristan said pulling out his pockets to show no coins left to play games. Both Joey and Duke nodded in agreement to having no coins left.

"Well I'm starving. Playing videogames works up an appetite. " Joey's stomach grumbled wanting food. He left the mansion so fast he never ate breakfast, so he defiantly needed something to eat soon. "And I promised to treat ya to pizza." Joey said specifically to Tristan. After the incident with Duke moments ago, he felt a bit uneasy around him.

"Ya I could eat. What about you Duke?" Tristan turned to look at his new friend.

"Why not. Joey's treating." Duke said, the twirling of the lock of hair was starting to drive Joey crazy.

"I don't remember every agreeing to pay for Duke. But if it will make things better between Tristan and I guess I'll pay. " Joey thought not wanting to sound like a jerk in front of his best friend. "Ya my treat Duke." Joey said with a fake smile towards Duke.

"Well let's head out then." Duke headed out of the arcade and Tristan followed. Joey sighed and slowly followed behind the two other guys, hoping that Duke would not do anything else the rest of the day while Tristan was out of sight.

Joey finally got back home from his day with Tristan and Duke, and he was mentally tired. It was fun spending time with Tristan, and Duke was not acting too weird after they left the arcade, so it was overall a good day. However, his good mood was soon spoiled when he saw an annoyed Seto setting in the living room reading the newspaper. "Kaiba, you're home from work early." Joey said sitting on the couch near Seto.

"Didn't I tell you before the movie yesterday we were going to have a long talk?" Seto folded up the paper and placed it on the table next to him

"Of course Kaiba, remembers that." Joey thought to himself and was wondering if Seto started to remember anything else from the other night.

"Well, Wheeler, it's time for that talk." Seto continued. "So why didn't you bother tell me we weren't going to be alone on our outing?"

Joey was finally taken away from his thoughts when Seto asked his question, "The reason I didn't tell ya Kaiba is because if I did tell you other people were coming you wouldn't want to go. You would have just suggested we stay at the house as usual."

"Of course I would have Wheeler." Seto replied back icily. "Why did you want to go out with them anyways?" Both Kaiba and Joey were doing their best to avoid using the word date around each other. Neither of them has ever used that word before when talking about their outings, and they were not starting now.

"I still don't even know why I agreed to the idea. It really just sounded like fun, and normal." Joey was thinking and intensely scratching his head while he continued thinking.

"Come on now Wheeler. Don't tell me you don't even know why you wanted to go out with them." Seto scoffed as he got up from his chair while Joey was still lost in thought. He went into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee and grabbed a Coke for Joey. He came back in the living room, drinks in tow, and sat on the couch next to the blond. He placed the Coke in front of Joey and leaned back on the couch. "I'm waiting Wheeler."

Joey opened the Coke and took a big gulp, "I just wanted us to go out like…like…a normal couple. Do something different."

"Wheeler." Seto groaned and could see the puppy ears begin to droop. He grabbed Joey by the head and leaned it into his body. "Next time you want to do something stupid like that again, just tell me."

"Really Kaiba? You promise to seriously consider it?" He saw the blond puppy ears once again begin to rise.

"I'll consider it." Seto confirmed. Joey began to snuggle his head in deeper into Seto's body. It was times like these Joey knew that Kaiba didn't have a heart iced over, and really did care. If only Kaiba showed this side of him all the time. "So Wheeler, how was being on the top?" Seto said out of the blue after Joey had finally gotten comfortable into Seto's torso.

Joey's body immediately shot up and his face was bright red, "What are you talking about Kaiba?" Joey had a feeling it was about the drunken ramble, but was praying it wasn't.

"Roland told me what I said while I was not in my right state of mind." Seto said back, his fingers absent mindedly playing with Joey's golden locks. "So how was being on top? Or did you lose heart half way and realize that only your master could ever truly be on top."

Joey quickly shot up from the couch and glared at Kaiba, "I didn't lose heart Kaiba." The brown and blue eyes were now in a deadlock, "I told myself that I would only be on top if you could remember it."

"Really, Wheeler, you actually think you can be on top?" Seto chuckled and he folded his arms across his chest.

"Yah, Kaiba, and you will take it and enjoy it." Joey fought back. This argument was on the ridiculous side; then again, the pair did have more ridiculous arguments than this.

"I'd like to see you try." Seto's ego and cockiness was at an all time high. "Like the mutt can live up to those words. It would be amusing to see him try though." Seto was egging Joey on, there and now. If Joey really wanted to be on top and was so sure that it would be the most amazing experience of Seto's life, then he could do it this very moment. "I'm waiting Wheeler."

Seto's impatient was aggravating Joey. Even though Seto was giving Joey and open invitation to try being on top, he was still controlling the situation. "I'm not going to do it now Kaiba. I'll do it when you least expect it." Joey said smuggle as if he actually did win the spat. Seto stood up from the couch to tower over smirking as if he was the one who won the spat. "What are you acting so smug for?"

"It's nothing Wheeler. It will be interesting to see you try. If you ever do." Seto ruffled Joey's hair like the puppy he always saw his as, and headed out of the room. Joey quickly followed Seto angrily behind spouting how he will, and he's not a mutt, and all bickering soon came to a cease when Roland and Mokuba got back home.

KD: Duke, you naughty boy! Yes, Trsitan was a bit of a whiner here but, the poor boy is confused so he's got a right to be. Thanks for reading and please review! Seriously, with our lives we NEED the motivation.