hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since my last update, i've been dreading using my crappy dell laptop. It's like a thousand years old and takes 20 minutes to open a word document. My mom told me that gmail lets me create documents though, so i thought i'd give it a shot. Hopefully all goes well.

Anyways, please enjoy the capter! Disclaimer: I do not own yugioh.

Joey had fallen asleep the night before with difficulty. While Kaiba had retreated to his room, claiming he needed to think and that no one had better disturb him (under penalty of a pink slip), Joey was left in the front foyer, a thousand shopping bags gathered at his ankles, and more than a little conflicted.

He had held the jerk's hand! Sure all that logic he went through in the limo made sense, and he did owe Kaiba for all the stuff he bought for him, but still!

"God, what is wrong with me today?" He hissed to himself. He gathered the bags in his arms, brushing off any of the staff that offered to help him (he refused to be treated like a spoiled little prince, he could carry his own damn things) and stomped up the stairs.

Mokuba and Marie watched slightly crestfallen.

"Man, Seto was doing so well before! What happened?" Mokuba turned to Marie, who tucked her new novel under her arm so she could ruffle the boy's black hair.

"Rome wasn't built in a day kiddo, it's gonna take time."

"But Seto only has a month! And Joey's so stubborn, it's going to take a lot to get him to put his guard down. What if Seto doesn't have enough time to change Joey's mind about him?"

Marie cast a thoughtful look to the stairs, Kaiba's office was in one wing, and Joey's was in the opposite. Two people who deserved the happiness of finding someone more than anyone she had ever met, yet they were completly clueless as to how to meet halfway. All Kaiba knew how to do was advance, but this only repelled Joey like a magnet, and made him retreat farther. Joey had come a little closer during the car ride home, but if such a small step had taken all of almost a week to accomplish, then the chances of Kaiba succeeding in this bet were slim.

"Your right, Mokuba," he started slowly, "He won't have enough time...on his own." She turned to wink at her young charge, "What say you we give your big brother and Jey a push in the right direction, Savy?"

Mokuba blinked for a moment, then grinned. Both of them did their secret handshake which they have me sworn to secrecy not to tell you how it goes. Hence the secret.

/

Deciding he was too tired to put them away just yet, Joey dumped his brand new clothes, bags and all on the floor and collapsed onto his bed, burying his face in the pillows and screaming as hard as he could. The material vibrated, but all that could be heard was a comical muffled bellowing.

Not exactly the most conventional way of releaving stress, but it at least made him fell a bit better. Lighter in a way, enough for him to roll over and stare at the ceiling. His head was full of so many confusing things at the moment, so many what ifs, replaying what happened in the limo over and over again.

This wan't supposed to happen; he wasn't supposed to get close to Kaiba! He was supposed to cause the brunet as much trouble as possible until Kaiba realized that his 'feelings' for Joey were unfoudned. Kaiba and him, Kaiba and the whole gang period, had never been friends, and frankly Yugi was the only one that really expressed any want to change that. Joey was perfeclty happy staying as far away as possible, and when it came down to it, exchanging bloodthirsty banter with the CEO. The only time he ever wanted to be in the same vicinity as Kaiba was when he was dueling him because that meant he might beat him and finally show that rich punk he wasn't the greatest thing since sliced bread.

But things were taking a turn for the worst (in his opinion) and Kaiba was being...well not exactly nice but not exactly cold either. He didn't know what to make of this new, flirtatious Kaiba that wanted, quite obviously, to get into his pants. He had the decency not to resort to rape, which was more than what Joey had expected (he had always thought Kaiba was the type of guy that 'took what he want because he wanted it and if you didn't like it, tough Tacos.') And although he had an annoying habit of invading Joey's personal space, he had honored his word that he would in fact, wait for Joey to be 'ready'.

Too bad that time would never come...right?

Joey closed his eyes in an effort to calm himself, and ran his fingers through his tangled blonde mop of hair. What if Kaiba was right? What if he started feeling urges for Kaiba that he had always thought he'd have for the opposite sex...eventually. What if he started to think Kaiba was (gag) attractive? what if he started letting Kaiba do what he wanted with him?

What if he actually started to like it?

Before he could scream into his pillow again, there was a knock on the door.

"G'way!" he shouted, shoving a pillow over his face.

"Joey? Can I come in please?" Mokuba's chidlike voice called from outside. Joey stiffened and steeled himself to tell the boy no, there was no way in hell he could talk to someone with all the confusion he was going through.

"Fine, but just for a while!"

Dammit.

Not botherng to lift the pillow off his head, the blond listened as Mokuba opened the door and closed it behind him. However, he had no way of preparing for what the boy would do next.

"Cannon ball!"

Suddnely it felt like an elephant slammed head first into his stomach, and all the air in his lungs exploded out of him like a popped balloon.

Joey coughed and wheezed, the pillow falling off his head as he sat up to glare at Mokuba.

"What's Marie been feeding you? Rocks?"

Mokuba mischeviously stuck his tongue out, but crawled off of Joey to sit cross legged on the bed across from him.

"You seemed kinda down, so I thought i'd try and lighten the mood a bit."

Joey rolled his eyes and allowed himself to fall back on the pillows, "Yeah, who wouldn't be jolly after having a 12 year old body slam them into oblivion."

Upon hearing the boy snicker, Joey reached out and grabbed him in a choke hold, being careful not to hurt him of course, and started rubbing his knuckles against his head,

"Call uncle, runt, before I sand your scalp down to nothin!" he shouted playfully while Mokuba struggled in his arms,

"Uncle! Uncle! Ow!" Mokuba shouted, but his pitiful cry for mercy was marred by the unmistakable sound of laughter in his voice. Joey let him go and pushed him gruffly to the other side of the bed, a fond smile on his lips.

"So what's eatin ya, kid?"

Mokuba rubbed his head, which still ached a little from his atomic noogie, and gave the most innocent, most puppydog eyed stare he could manage to the older boy.

"Joey, why dont you like my older brother?"

Joey coudn't look away in time, he felt the weight of the gaze ram into him like a freight train. He looked down and scratched his head awkwardly.

"Aww come on kid, ya know me and your bro dont exactly have a happy history."

"But he's changed a lot Joey!' Mokuba continued, shaking the blond's shoulder like it would make him listen to reason better, "He isn't the same guy who tore up Mr. Muto's card, or who said all those mean things to you at duelist kingdom. He really truly cares for you, he just has trouble showng it in normal ways."

Joey huffed, "Well let's see, he kidnapped me, forced me stay in his house, gets a little more friendly than you think every chance he gets, and forced me to move out of my own house. Yeah Mo, I totally see the difference."

Mokuba groaned in an adorably frustrated way and grabbed one of Joeys pillows, proceeding to beat the other boy with it about the head and neck.

"You! (whack) Are! (whack) So! (whack) STUBBORN!(whack whack whack)"
Joey took cover under his arms, shielding his face from the plush weapon, unsure if he was supposed to laugh, or take heed of Mokuba's growing wrath.

"If you'd just give Seto a chance, I know you'd see there's more to him than all that. He had reasons for doing all this, and you know it, now stop acting like such a kid and just GO with it!"

Joey scrambled for words, but when a pissed off Mokuba is holding a pillow in a very threatening manner to your face, they tend to escape you.

"But I- and he- I never asked for any of this! I never asked him to-"

"My brother is a good person, a little anti social," Mokuba interrupted, and faltered a tthe look Joey was giving him, "er, ok, very anti social, and kind of domineering, but I know that he could make you happy if you'd just let him try!"

Joey could only stare at Mokuba, mouth opening and closing as he continued to search for something to say.

"Meh," was the best he could come up with.

Mokuba's silver eyes softened noticeably and he let the pillow plop back on the bed.

"Please, Joey, please just give this a chance? Not only could he make you happy, but I think you're the one person who can finally make him happy too."

Swallowing the urge to say 'no' immediately, Joey paused to mull over everything the younger Kaiba had said. Kaiba? Happy? Could those two words be legally used in the same sentence? He really, really, REALLY didn't want to give the prick the satisfaction of playing right into his hands, but Mokuba's pleading expression was digging into his heart with a spoon.

Why a spoon? It's blunt, so it hurts more.

Joey blew a piece of his hair out of his eyes moodily, "Fine kid," and Mokuba brightened, "Let's make this clear though, I ain't doin' this for moneybags, I'm doing it for you."

Mokuba hugged him and Joey ruffled his black hair despite himself.

"That's okay for now I guess," Mokuba said into the blond's t-shirt, "Just make sure you do it for yourself too."

After playing aorund a little more, Mokuba finally left Joey alone to his thoughts. Which was good, because he was just as confused as he was before the kid had come.

Not bothering to get changed into his brand new silky pajamas (because he had a feeling it would piss Kaiba off, which however way this ended he would always take every opportunity in doing,) Joey threw his jacket off so it draped over a chair nearby, and switched off the light. He didn't really feel like eating dinner.

Oh, look at that, half the readers just passed out from shock.

/

Kaiba stood outside the door to Joey's room the next morning, going over, once again, what his plan of attack was. In his hand was a brochure to a fancy Italian restaurant, which Marie had flung on top of his paperwork as she went about the cleaning of his office last night.

Marie was the only maid allowed in there, mostly because she threatened to come in there with a pressurized hose if he didn't let her clean it (she could get away with it, because, well, she's Marie.) It was also an unspoken way of Marie offering her help without him sacrificing his pride in asking her. Because we all know too well Seto Kaiba is all aobut pride.

She'd come in, and with her keen sense of emotion, would know when Kaiba was troubled. She wouldn't press him though, just clean the room a little slower than usual. She did this just in case he ever needed advice from her or wanted someone to talk . He never did, because he's Kaiba. But even though he didn't admit it, he appreciated it all the same. He knew how often Mokuba would have nightmares about their past with Gozaburo, and Marie would always be willing to comfort him late into he night and even sing him to sleep. In a way, her assurance was plenty for him.

This time though, she seemed to be just a smidge pushier with the advice she willingly gave out. While he was working, she came in, humming a Weird Al song under her breath, then plopped the brocure at his side, and set off to cleaning.

Seto, of course, picked it up after a moment. He probably could have ignored it, but that would only mean that the maid would get confused and, thinking he hadn't seen it, would probably pounce on his back and twist his face towards it, (yes, it's happened before...)

It was the perfect romantic dinner setting, Marie had probably envisioned the both of them in the classic lady and the tramp scene (as of how he knew of this scene, well, Marie liked to watch them on her days off, and sometimes would force both brothers in with her, claiming she was 'lonely') And it said that the crowd there was 'welcome to diversity" so there would be no problems of haivng two boys on a romantic date.

So here he was, readying himself for the impending battle, he had no doubts they would go on this date. Seto was patient, but not that patient. The trick was trying to convince Joey to go willingly, instead of forcing him along...again.

He adjusted the lapels on his trenchcoat, his way of clearing his head, and rapped confidently on the door three times. He heard a rustle and presumably a sleepy groan from Joey on the inside. That was close enough to an 'enter' for Kaiba.

He entered, closing the door behind him and strutting towards the bed.

"Wheeler, it's noon. Get your ass up."

Joey cracked an eye open under the pillow he was buried under once again. That was probably the closest to a good morning he would ever get.

Since Kaiba had barged into his room, it surely meant he had yet another plan for this whole crazy date thing. Joey's first instinct was to glance over at the window and judge whether or not he could jump out of it and make his escape...but they were on the second floor. And not even Joey Wheeler was that good (shocking I know.)

Besides that, he had promised Mokuba he'd try to be a bit more open about this whole thing. So, begrudgingly, Joey dragged himself out from under the pillow and turned his head to face Kaiba.

"Whaddaya want?"

Hey, he said he be more open, that didnt mean being nice.

Kaiba's lips however quirked into a smirk, and Joey bit his lip, oops he forgot Kaiba liked it when he got rowdy. The CEO sat and crossed a leg over the other, handing the brochure over to Joey.

"We're going out to dinner tonight, to the finest restaurant in Domino."

Joey looked blankly at the brochure in his lap. He supposed that was Kaiba's version of "wanna go on a date with me?" Again 'hell no' danced tantalizingly along his tongue, just waiting to slip out of his mouth. But before it could, Mokuba's pleading expression popped into his head, and he swallowed the words. He tok a deep breath, and let it out slowly, dragging his hands along his face in the classic 'why me' expression.

"Say I don't WANT to go to this place. What then?"

Kaiba's eyes were icy as always, but he still looked smug, "then you would be breaking our bet. Which is I let you live here with all the comforts in the world, but only if you agree to let me attempt to court you."

Joey's face collapsed into his hands once again. "Court" him, he actually used the term 'court'? He knew there was a lot more on his mind than just a dinner date.

"This is my attempt to go slow Puppy," Kaiba said offhandedly, glaring at the wall, "Don't make me regret it."

Joey slowly emerged from his hands, instead running them through his hair, which Kaiba noticed was a habit Joey had when he was thinking hard about somehting. The blond couldn't argue with Kaiba, with any rlationship you always started with a date, so at least Kaiba had enough social understanding to know that. If Mai were here, she'd probalby be nodding her head approvingly at Kaiba's course of action. If Joey were a chick, he'd probably agree with her. But he WASN"T a chick. That was the point. Hed have been happy with burgers at any old place, then going to do something fun afterward.

Kaiba waited, seemingly frozen in his poised position on Joey's bed, when he heard the blonde mumble somehting under his breath.

"What was that pup? You'll have to bark louder."

Joey glared at him for a moment, then looked back down at his lap, "I said fine. I'll go."

Kaiba blinked, admittedly surprised. He knew they were definitely going, he just hadn't thought it would be that easy.

"What, no snarling, no growling, no futile threats of violence?" Kaiba asked with amusment. Joey scoffed.

"Ya dissapointed?"

"A little."

Joey pulled his legs in to sit cross legged, "Let's get one thing straight. I ain't doin' this for you. Even I'm getting tired of this game a cat and mouse, so for my sanity, not yours, I'm gonna see how this plays out. Don't expect me to go along with everything just like that though, like some obediant puppy." The blond turned with a huff towards the window.

Kaiba stared at him a few moments, then reached forward, so his fingers ever so gently brushed the side of Joey's face,

"Now what would be the fun in that?" Kaiba said softly, and Joey felt himself freeze up at how tender it sounded, so loving. He stared wide eyed at Kaiba, but all he saw was the normal icy glare. He must have been imagining that loving tone.

Joey, unsure how to react, twisted his face out of Kaiba's reach, "Would you cut that out already, it's freaky. Now get the hell out of my room!"

Kaqiba smirked and folded his arms, "Technically this is my room, as is every room in the mansion. I dont have to leave if I choose not to."

Joey glared, feeling the fight rise in him once again, "Oh yeah, what if I force you?"

Kaiba looked over at him, giving him a condesceding and smug look, "I admit, I would absolutly love to see you try."

Without a second thought Joey lunged to his knees, using the force to push himself forward into Kaibas back, trying to shove him off the bed. Kaiba had to uncross his legs, he'd give Joey that much, but all he had to do was brace them on the carpet, and Joey was left flopping back onto the mattress as the force in his jump fell drastically. It would have been foolish of Kaiba to expect Joey to give up. He heard Joey grunt as he kept pushing at him, even going to far as to get off the bed and run at him. Kaiba simply dodged at the last minute as Joey dived, ending up face first in a pile of covers. His body seemed to flop in defeat.

Kaiba reached forward and ruffled his blond hair bravely, "I suppose if I were not, well, me, that could have worked, Wheeler."

For a moment it looked like Joey was quivering with rage, but Kaiba suddenly heard the unmistakable snicker that Joey had. The blond seemed to realize what he was dong the same moment Kaiba did.

He was laughing! He was having fun! Fun with Kaiba...

Holy shit!

"Just get the hell out Kaiba, wouldja?" Joey soudned tired.

Kaiba smiled at his blond puppy, and decided this once he could give him mercy,

"I have work to do anyways. I expect you to be dressed and ready to go by six this evening. I'm sure Marie would be elated to help if you need it."

With that, the CEO stood and left, leaving Joey much as he had found him earlier. His hair in disarray, disgruntled, and buried in covers and pillows. Joey lay there for a few moments, contemplating what just happened.

"...Mokuba, you'd better hope what you said about your brother is true."

Agh! Finally done! Sorry for the long wait guys, first there was graduation, then all the other college preperation stuff. And for some reason this chapter was really difficut to put together. I mean i knew what i wanted to type, the problem was getting it out of my brain and into a decent word publisher.

Joey: Will they have burgers at this restaurant?

Kaiba: Absolutly not. (hands menu)

Joey: I can't READ anything on here! It's all in Italian!

Kaiba: I know, thats why you have me here (smirks.)

Please read and review!