Right then, guys... Time to publish chapter 10! I'm soooo curious to hear about how you find this... be sure to notify me! BTW, I was struck by inspiration for a later part of the story (where it gets romantic, yes) and have already written that, but to make sure that the transition won't be (too) rough, I'm still working on chapter 11... bear with me, it could take a while, depending on how much school's gonna stress me...
kikioblack: -lol- I guess Mokuba just got carried away a bit, the little sweetie! ;-) (God, I really love that kid, he's too cute!) Heh, it'd take much more than just a fire to kill good ol' Joey :)))
YaoiFan87: Yup, finally! Be sure to tell me what you think, okay? -pretty please-
Side note: This first little part just serves the purpose to describe what everyone went as, and I like this way more than just a mere listing... that would be so listless...
Around seven, the doorbell rang, and Mokuba and Joey were there right away to open up.
"Hi guys!" they exclaimed in unison as they opened the door.
The doorstep was full of people, all of them in costumes. Nine people, nine different faces of Halloween.
"You think we can guess who everyone is?" Joey asked Mokuba with a grin.
"Let's try!" the boy agreed.
"Tristan!" Joey said, pointing at the biker among the guests.
"How did you know?" his friend asked.
"You were the only one who gave away your costume beforehand," the mummy said.
"Oh, right," Tristan muttered and entered the mansion, giving a high-five each to Mokuba and Joey.
"Ah, Bakura!" Seto's brother cheered, pointing at Ryou's darker half.
"I would have declared you blind if you hadn't noticed," the white-haired boy said as he swept inside.
"What're you supposed to be?" Joey asked, not detecting much of a costume aside from some blood (fake or real?) splattered on the shirt, even on the jeans. A gleaming knife was strapped to the black belt.
"I'm a murderous psycho," Bakura explained huffily with a roll of his eyes.
"In other words: himself," the one who was wearing a pumpkin for a head added, and the whole group burst out laughing. Bakura sulked at first, but then graced them with his usual slightly insane grin as he found that he couldn't really take that as an insult.
"Hey Yugi, what're you?" Joey asked, looking at his friend.
"Toxic waste (1)," the small boy explained, referring to the slightly glowing green paint he had smeared himself with. He had also stuck the well-known symbol for radioactivity on his front.
"Whoa, that's scary," Joey commented. The others chuckled in response – true, though it wasn't anything like a zombie, it was indeed frightening if looked at in the bigger picture.
Mokuba noticed Yami, who was a vampire. "Ooh, do you have plastic fangs?" he asked eagerly.
The Pharaoh flashed him a revealing smile, but replied all the same: "Yes, but I'll probably take them out soon. They're quite bothersome…"
Joey took his time regarding the rest of them and noticed the slightly insane look in the eyes of one of the remainders. "Marik?" he guessed.
"Took you long enough," was the sarcastic response.
"I had to guess whether you were Malik or Marik."
"Whatever." The dark side of the tomb guardian entered the house too, well-dressed as an escaped prisoner, complete with the black-white-striped outfit and broken handcuffs.
"Tea's a mummy!" Mokuba declared, pointing at the wrapped-up girl.
"These things will probably fall off later…" she sighed, plucking at the old shredded curtains she had used as bandages.
"No matter! You came dressed up, and that's what counts!" Mokuba told her brightly.
The only ones left were the three whose faces couldn't be seen. Joey checked again, thinking who hadn't been called out yet, and took another look. The one in the middle who looked like a cat with the fake ears strapped to the head wore a black mask with a matching half-veil that covered the face, but he saw the eyes.
"Sister?" he exclaimed happily.
"Hi brother!" she squealed excitedly and hugged him.
"Boy, it's good to see you!" Joey beamed and hugged her back.
"It's been awhile. Are you doing okay?" she asked worriedly – she had always been worried about him staying with their father when their parents' ways had split.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Come on in."
She complied, and that left only two more.
"One of them has gotta be Ryou…" Mokuba muttered as he did a short selective game before pointing to the ghost. "You?"
"Correct," the muffled voice came, its softness right away indicating that it was indeed Ryou. The holes in the sheet he had used weren't that big, and the light had only helped shadow his eyes even more, otherwise he would have given himself away a while ago.
"Then that must be Malik," Joey said with a glance to the one with the pumpkin-head.
"Yes, it's me," the Egyptian replied, "I'm the Headless Horseman."
"Far out!" Joey whistled, and now the last one of them entered the house.
"So, where's it gonna be? Not that we have little choice, anyway…" Tristan asked.
"There's this big party room, we'll take you there!" Joey told him, and he and Mokuba led the way. As they passed the stairs that led to the upper floors, Seto appeared there in his usual superior pose, looking at them.
"Hey, it's Seto! Look, big brother, everyone came!" Mokuba cried, noticing him.
"Great. A bunch of people in costumes. Wheeler, remember what I told you about this party!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, Kaiba."
"I see you forgot your costume! Or is that what one wears if pretending to be a snobby billionaire?" Bakura sneered.
Seto narrowed his eyes. "Considering that you're in my house now, you should choose your words more carefully, you psycho."
Bakura grinned madly. "I'll take that as a compliment, seeing that you found out what I am. And you should know that I don't care where I am when I say this and that…"
"Please behave!" Ryou hissed reproachfully, tapping his dark side impatiently on the shoulder. Bakura snorted, but silently gave in anyway. He and the brunet exchanged glares once again, then the CEO swept out of sight again.
"So much for that…" Joey muttered and led them on. When they reached the room, Bakura didn't participate in admiring the makeover the room had been through as he asked Joey:
"What was that git talking about? What did he tell you about this party?"
"He told me to keep it under PG-13 for all it's worth."
Bakura burst into laughter. "Ha! Does he honestly think that's possible?!"
"Tell ya what: I have my own doubts, but let's try to keep it the way he wants it as long as possible, okay?"
Bakura just waved his hand impatiently.
"Let's put on some music!" Tristan yelled.
"I made a CD!" Joey announced as he went to the sound system.
"It had better be good!" Malik called.
"Hell yeah!" was the response, and a moment later, music blared from the loudspeakers. Joey selected a random volume level, assuming that anyone who would be bothered would stop by to complain. Mostly, he thought about Seto in that regard.
Like all parties, things needed a bit of a warm-up, so basically everyone just did what they wanted to. Joey had a long-overdue talk with his sister; Tea was hanging around with Yami and Yugi; Tristan and Marik were having a staring contest, betting on which of them looked "tougher" (Malik observed this with interest), and Ryou and Bakura simply were making out after Bakura had flipped back the sheet from his Hikari's head. Mokuba (and this would have horrified Seto) was watching, a look that was a cross between curiosity and revulsion on his young face. After a while, Joey said:
"Let's play something!"
"Like what?" Yugi asked.
"Hide and Seek?"
"Get real!" Marik yelled.
"I'm not done yet!" Joey snarled back and added: "In the dark."
"Can you scare somebody if you find them?" Bakura asked eagerly.
"Yeah, that's the point," Joey said, "And when you find someone, you stay together."
"Anyone I happen to find must leave the scaring to me!" Bakura announced loudly. This declaration was acknowledged merely by a few glances and a mutter or two.
"Right then, just run off, and I'll switch out the lights sometime!" Joey told them and watched as most of them took off with a happy squeal. He waited a while, then pressed a switch that made the lights go out. A few screams sounded out, but then all was quiet. The game had begun.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
It took them quite a while to find each other, for the Kaiba mansion really was big, and although none of them really went a long ways in the dark, they had scattered well before the lights had gone out. Bakura almost scared the living daylights out of Ryou and Mokuba – especially Mokuba. Ryou was already used to his at times really scary dark side (minus the scaring methods), but Mokuba wasn't, and he clung to Ryou whenever the tomb robber attacked a new unfortunate victim. The last person he startled was Joey, who was leading three others. Then they made their way back to the party room and turned the music back on.
"That was great!" Bakura exclaimed happily, "I like Halloween!"
"Why am I not surprised?" Malik wondered with a grin.
"Drinks, anyone? Help yourself to anything in the fridge!" Joey said.
"Boo-ya!" Tristan cheered, and he, Marik and Bakura right away took off to the kitchen.
"We're in for it now," Yugi commented at their departure.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
When it was close to midnight, Seto paused for a moment as he leaned back in his chair. The computer screen was the only source of light in his study. He blinked a few times, then squinted at the screen. Vaguely, he wondered whether he should call it quits for today… and then he heard the dull booming. That sound and those faint vibrations that came from the bass. Seto sighed. He was glad that he owned such a large piece of property – music had to be turned up really loud to bother any neighbors.
'I wonder what they're up to… I might as well go and see. We'll see if you obeyed my orders like you did last time, Wheeler…' he thought as he got up, shut his laptop down and then left his study. Outside the room, the booming sound was even more apparent, and with a furrowed brow Seto followed it to the "party room", as Joey had dubbed the place he was using for the celebration. When he had almost reached the door, the booming died down as the song ended, immediately followed by another one. Moving carefully, Seto peered through the door crack, dreading what would meet his eyes.
The new song sounded South American, and that was the dancing style that was acquired right now: he saw Ryou and Bakura skillfully weaving around each other, their steps being in perfect time with the rhythm. Tristan was dancing with Serenity, and Malik with Marik. Figures. Mokuba, Joey, Tea, Yugi and the Pharaoh weren't too far away, so he could even hear what they were saying:
"What kind of dance is that?" Mokuba asked.
"It's called salsa," Tea pointed out, "Very common for Latin America."
"Is it hard?"
"Not really. Shall I show you how to do it?"
"Yeah!" the boy cheered.
Tea laughed and took his hands. "Okay, now, the beat is very important. Then you go like this…" She demonstrated with the basic steps. Mokuba stuck out his tongue a bit, thus displaying his undisputed concentration as he tried to copy her moves.
"Aw, that's cute," Joey laughed.
"Can you do that?" Yugi asked.
Joey shrugged. "No idea. I've never tried. I usually do freestyle – just the way it comes." (2)
"Hey, this is fun!" Mokuba remarked in-between. He seemed to be really getting the hang of it.
Seto stared at them. He couldn't believe it – his brother was learning how to dance! Somehow, he wouldn't have guessed that his younger sibling would ever show any interest in that, and now look: he was even having fun!
"Hey Serenity, look!" Tea called. Joey's sister looked, and laughed with adornment as she saw Mokuba. "Can you take him for a while? I'll teach Joey how to do this too…"
"Sure!" Serenity agreed. Tristan wanted a little break anyway, so she gladly took over, and Mokuba continued to practice his steps with her as she helped him out a bit more.
"Tea!" Joey protested as the brunette took hold of his arm.
"You can't do freestyle all the time! Look how much fun Mokuba had!" she tried to convince him.
"Go for it, Joey!" Yugi cheered while Yami smiled encouragingly. Meanwhile, on the dance floor, the others had noticed Mokuba's progress, and Seto saw Bakura throw a compliment to the youngster, who brightened visibly at that. Then the CEO shifted his attention back to Joey and Tea. This would be interesting…
"Hey, you're quite good!" Tea remarked barely a minute later.
"Guess I'm a natural," Joey grinned. Amazingly, he had gotten the hang of it very quickly.
"Ooh, my brother's doing it too!" Serenity giggled.
"Really?" Mokuba turned and laughed when he saw the blond "scarecrow". "Wow, he's good, too!"
"Go on to him," Serenity told him, noticing that Tristan was "ready to go" again. Mokuba complied and scampered to Joey, who took the boy's hands with a laugh, and they even could do a few steps together before the song ended.
Seto smiled to himself. He knew no other word to describe that than "adorable". So not only his brother could dance, but Joey as well… To his slight mortification, a thought pierced his mind; a picture of him and Joey dancing that fiery Latin American dance… He shook his head jerkily a few times, then looked back in.
He watched as the gang danced their way through "The Wilbury Twist" and "We used to be Friends" and many more. Of course, all the while, people frequently left the room to get a drink, and as time went by (it was close to 1 am now), especially Bakura, Malik and Marik were showing strong signs of being tipsy. That didn't stop them from joining in the fun, however. And when "All Night Long" boomed from the loudspeakers, they started to really "come on to" their dancing partners. Ryou was blushing a bit as Bakura made some quite explicit movements around him, but nobody was deceived; the shy boy actually liked that. Seto watched the action that accompanied that particular song with a heated feeling. Some of those things were definitely not under PG-13 anymore, and nobody was even trying to make sure that Mokuba didn't see such things! He saw his brother watch for a bit, then the youngster seemed to ask Joey something, who answered with a merry laugh to which Mokuba grinned. Seto sighed and prayed that the puppy would remember his orders…
'Oh no, here I go again!' he cursed mentally. Why, oh why…?!
Rainbow made way for Robbie Williams with "Rock DJ". Seto leaned against the door, deep in thought. Should he ask Mokuba to leave the party right now before more things would happen that he wasn't meant to see quite yet? Or would that be unfair…?
"Hey Joey, where are you going to?" Yami asked as the blond started to walk off to the doors.
"I'm gonna go see if I can get Kaiba to show up!"
"Just don't piss him off!" Tristan advised him.
"Even if I did, what'll he do, bite my head off?" Joey asked jokingly, to which everyone laughed. Then the blond left the room. He was just about to round a corner when Seto spoke up:
"Looking for someone, Wheeler?"
Joey turned around, surprised, and when he saw the brunet standing there, only dimly visible because it was quite dark outside of the room, he smiled and sauntered back to the door.
"You, actually," he answered, "C'mon in and have some fun!"
"I don't do fun," Seto retorted.
Joey cuffed his shoulder playfully. "Oh, don't be such a square! Remember our play-fight? And at the pool? And –"
"I get the idea," Seto sighed before the other could carry on.
"Good! Then come on! Let's dance!" He tugged impatiently at the black sweater the CEO was wearing.
"I don't –" Seto started to say, but Joey had already dragged him through the door.
It was remarkable how Seto's appearance was noticed right away by everyone. Those who were dancing faltered for a moment, and everyone looked surprised.
"Big brother! You came!" Mokuba exclaimed happily.
"He was –" Right outside the door, Joey wanted to say, but a glare from Seto shut him up.
"What a surprise it is to see you here," Tea commented. Seto just huffed and looked away. Serenity came dancing over, and she beamed at him as she said:
"By the way, I want to thank you for allowing my brother to stay with you! Everyone said there was no way you'd ever do that for anyone, but I'm glad you decided otherwise!"
"Whatever…" Seto muttered, shrugging curtly.
"Lighten up, Kaiba! This is a party, there's no room for bad moods here!" Joey took him by the arm and led him some ways out onto the dance floor. The others who were there resumed dancing in order not to make Seto feel entirely out of place or like an animal in a zoo. The brunet stood there, unmoving, and watched as Joey started to move in time with the music, making use of his afore-mentioned freestyle.
"C'mon, why don't you just let yourself go for once?" Joey asked, never quite stopping his moves.
"And make a fool of myself? No thanks," Seto replied icily.
"Oh, relax already! Look, everyone's having a good time; you won't make a fool of yourself if you just play right along!" Malik advised him as he and Marik went spinning past the two.
For a moment, Joey could have sworn that Seto was pouting, but then the blue-eyed teen finally was convinced: "Oh, fine, if it will shut you up…" And then he really started dancing too.
'For a guy who doesn't do much aside from work, he dances darn well,' Joey thought as he watched him.
"You're pretty good, Kaiba," he said, voicing his thoughts.
"I could say the same about you," Seto replied, "I never would've guessed that you can dance salsa…"
"You saw that?!" Joey asked faintly and blushed a bit.
"Yes. You and Mokuba, you both surprised me there."
"Gee…" Joey laughed a bit nervously and scratched the back of his head.
Meanwhile, Bakura had just gone to the kitchen to get himself a drink. As he sauntered past Mokuba, he remembered something.
"Hey kid," he said, turning to the younger Kaiba, "Is there any chance that I might get to scare someone again?"
Mokuba grinned. "All in the Halloween spirit, aren't you?"
"Hell yeah! It's the perfect holiday for me!" the tomb robber replied with his trademark evil grin.
"Hey, I have an idea! Tell me what you think…" He beckoned for Bakura to come closer and whispered his suggestion into the spirit's ear. To Tea, Yugi and Yami, who were standing close by, it was a bit creepy to watch the thief's facial expression go from confused to utterly delighted – after all, usually things that grossed others out or were otherwise peculiar were exactly what delighted him…
"Hey, that rocks!" he remarked, "I'll go ask!"
He went over to where Joey and Seto were talking, whilst trying not to get run over by Malik, Marik, Serenity and Tristan.
"Hey, Blondie!"
Joey spun around, frowning. "What the hell did you just call me?"
"Don't sweat it," Bakura told him dismissively, "Listen, Kaiba's brother had a good idea, and I think we ought to do it!"
"An idea? Like what?" Seto asked, suspicious.
"A game!" Bakura explained it to them.
"Good grief…" Seto sighed afterwards.
"I think it's great! Yeah, let's do it!" Joey agreed eagerly before bounding to the stereo to turn off the music and thus gain everyone's attention. "Hey guys, how about another game? Bakura says that Mokuba had a great idea, it's this: we'll play tag, but," he said loudly before Marik could make another comment like he had before, "all the lights will be turned out, and the one who's 'it' is blindfolded!" (3)
A ripple of excitement swept through the room, and he heard a few of them go: "Ooh!"
"So, who's in favor of doing it?"
Basically, nobody disagreed, though it was impossible to tell whether Seto's silence meant that he agreed or not.
"Who's 'it' first?" Malik called.
"Dunno…"
"Hey, Pharaoh, make yourself useful and have the first go!" Marik suggested.
"Me?!" Yami asked, looking a bit taken aback.
"Yeah!" they cheered.
He sighed. "I guess I can't say no…"
Mokuba brought him a piece of black silk fabric he had used to hang on the walls, and then Yugi's darker half blindfolded himself, frowning as he heard Bakura and Marik snigger gleefully.
"Happy hunting, I'd say!" Joey announced the start of the game, and a second later, he turned off the lights.
Yami heard the scuffling sounds of shoes against the floor as the others scattered in utter darkness. He swallowed, concentrating on the game, then he held out his hands like a blind man and stumbled off in search of someone. Anyone.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Half an hour later, they were still at it and nowhere near getting tired of it. The silk cloth was exchanged quite often – because it was so dark, it was almost impossible to avoid the one who was 'it', and quite often it just so happened to be someone you randomly bumped into.
Joey edged along the wall, taking care not to make a noise. The game made him feel almost giddy with excitement, though he didn't wish to be 'it' again. Suddenly, he bumped into someone, and that someone roughly grabbed his wrist, making him give a wince of pain.
"Wheeler?" a familiar voice asked quietly. It was too dark to even make out a silhouette. All that was left for orientation were noises and physical contact.
"Kaiba?"
"I sure hope you're not 'it'…"
"I'm not; I'm kinda trying not to get caught…"
"Good, so am I. Come on!"
Joey felt a tug at his wrist; not a rough one, but rather softly demanding. He stumbled after the CEO, and his sneakers squeaked on the floor.
"Take them off!" he heard the brunet hiss.
"Alright, alright…" he mumbled and shakily rid himself of his shoes. All the while, Seto kept on holding his wrist as if for support. No sooner had he taken off the shoes when he was being pulled again, making him feel like a child with his mother at an amusement park.
A thump sounded out from nearby, and a muttered tirade of curses told them that Bakura had most likely stumbled over something – most probably one of Joey's abandoned shoes.
"By Ra, how much longer do I have to be 'it'? Where did they all go to…?!" they heard him hiss. The last time he had been 'it', they had heard someone scream, and judging by the evil cackle that had followed, he had successfully scared somebody. But his momentary frustration suggested that he hadn't found anyone for quite a while now.
"Freeze!" Seto's advice was given in a whisper that even Joey barely heard. The blond complied right away, though for reasons he couldn't quite explain, he grabbed Seto's hand in the same moment. Like two statues, they stood there in the dark, listening attentively, both thinking that the excited pounding of their hearts would give them away. They even held their breaths for good measure. When all was totally silent, they could hear Bakura breathing; the spirit came closer and closer as he groped through the blackness. He would find them any moment… But no touch came to be, and they both heard the faint rustling of the thief's clothes as he walked right past them, his hands coincidentally leaving the wall. If the lights had been on, it would have looked quite amusing. Seto and Joey remained unmoving where they were until Bakura's breathing couldn't be heard anymore. Then they finally exhaled.
"That was cl- mmpf!" Joey protested fruitlessly as Seto's other hand clamped itself over his mouth. Once more, the brunet guided him as they slowly inched their way along the wall. Then Joey felt some soft fabric lay itself against him before Seto lowered his hand again. He also felt slight dismay at the fact that the other's warmth was gone from his face.
"Where are we?" he muttered, keeping his voice as low as possible.
"Behind the curtains," was the equally quiet response.
"You really don't wanna get caught, right?"
"Exactly. Now shush, or he'll find us!"
Joey had half-expected to hear another request like 'Let go of my hand!' or something, but nothing of the sort was heard from Seto. Instead, he thought, it felt as if Seto was holding it even tighter. Like reacting on some instinct, he inched a tiny step closer to him – now they were so close that he could ever so lightly lean against the taller boy. With a small sigh, he closed his eyes; since it didn't matter anyway because it was dark all around, what was the use of keeping them open?
Meanwhile, Seto was feeling completely warm and undeniably satisfied. It was the same feeling like the one he had had after the play-fight with the blond and after the hug on his birthday. It was as if the voice of the part within him that cared for Joey had seized its chance to speak up. And because he had found out that he actually enjoyed this little game – particularly since he had bumped into Joey – he didn't protest against it. Gradually, the two boys got caught up in the moment, taking no more notice of the game…
Gently, he pulled Joey closer to him. He felt the other take a deep breath, then relax completely. Seto smiled to himself. 'So, you like this, then…' Softly, he ran his thumb across the blond's knuckles. For a moment, he even imagined kissing him; the thought appeared quite exciting to him – there was some thrill in the darkness that surrounded them, making eyesight utterly useless for a change and thus forcing one to rely on other senses…
Joey felt consumed by bliss when he felt how Seto was touching him. Vaguely, he wondered what drove the brunet to such actions. 'What if he'd like me… eh, Kaiba, liking me?! That'll be the day…' he thought, but enjoyed this unexpected and most certainly affectionate moment nevertheless. It simply made him feel safe and happy. He was about to respond to the gentle touches when a voice sounded out startlingly close:
"Hurry, Yugi, or he'll catch us!"
"But he can't see…"
"Indeed, but he can hear! Come, now!"
Joey felt the curtains shake violently as Yugi and the Pharaoh brushed against them. Suddenly, he felt the ancient spirit's hand touch him, and he yelped, startled.
"What the…?" he heard Yami exclaim.
"Joey, is that you?" Yugi's voice piped up.
"I'll get you, Pharaoh! You're very close, I can feel it…" Marik said from somewhere close by. They could all just picture him groping about wildly in the darkness, hoping to catch Yami, who had obviously fled with Yugi in tow.
"You gave us away!" Seto hissed at Yami – or at least, he aimed his voice in the general direction where he guessed that his rival was standing.
"No time for being angry, Kaiba! Quick!" Joey muttered, and now he was the one who was leading as he gripped the CEO's hand even tighter before leaving their hideout behind the curtains. They weren't a second too late, he figured, for Marik sounded even closer now.
"More victims! I'm bound to catch someone now…!"
"Not if we can't help it!" Joey said with a sudden giggle of excitement and blindly ran off into the darkness with Seto in tow.
"What are you doing?! You don't know where you're going!" Seto protested, though he sounded excited too.
Joey laughed. "I know one thing for sure: not where Marik is! Anywhere else, just not there!"
Minor pandemonium erupted as the former quietness of the room was disrupted with a loud scuffle as people darted around in the darkness, either scared away from their hiding places by others or running from Marik himself. A tangle of voices filled the air, too: giggling, laughter and cries of surprise along with Marik's repeated promises to catch someone.
Finally, it was Ryou who stumbled and crashed into the wall, pressing the light switch in the process. The room lit up again, and everybody froze. First, though, Seto let go of Joey's hand. Everyone's gazes swerved to Marik, who had his arms outstretched like a zombie. The person standing nearest to him was a few feet away, so he probably would have been 'it' for a while longer. Most of them had flushed cheeks due to the excitement, and particularly Joey and Mokuba looked as if they were having the time of their lives.
"…I suppose that the game's over now?" Tea asked with a smile.
The others agreed as Marik tore off the blindfold. Seto turned to Mokuba:
"Time for bed, now."
"Aw, Seto, I'm not tired!" the boy protested.
"I know, but still, it's very late, and I don't want you to get your sleeping routine all mixed up…"
"But I'm all wound up! It'll be impossible for me to go to sleep! Please, just a little longer!" Mokuba begged.
"Actually, he has a point," Serenity said, "Perhaps he should stay just a bit longer and go to bed after calming down a little."
Seto sighed, knowing that that was absolutely correct. "Alright, agreed. But promise me to calm down now, okay?"
"Yes, big brother."
"We should all calm down a little," Yami suggested.
"That was cool, though!" Tristan exclaimed gleefully.
A few people laughed in agreement, and after the music was turned on again (though this time not so loud anymore), they hung around as they let themselves calm down while having relaxed conversations with each other. Somewhere along the line, Mokuba suggested that they should take a picture to remember the event, and that was exactly what they did. He promised to send a copy to each of them, of course. 30 minutes later, Seto finally put his brother to bed, and although Mokuba still wished that he could have stayed a bit longer, he gladly kept the promise he had made to his older brother, whom he thanked to have been allowed to celebrate as well. Seto just smiled and ruffled his hair fondly before wishing him a good night's sleep and then returning to the party.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Around 3 am, the others finally went home. Some of them were a bit unsteady on their feet, but they all assured Seto and Joey that they would get home fine. So goodbyes were exchanged, and after yelling 'Get home safely!' after them once more, Joey closed the door and let out an exhausted sigh.
"Tired?" Seto asked with a little smirk.
Joey yawned a bit and stretched. "Yeah. But it was great, though, huh? Admit it!" he grinned.
Seto pretended to have a great debate with himself before answering honestly: "Alright, you got me; I admit it."
"I knew it. Just give those things a chance, I bet there's a lot more you'd like."
"Like what?"
"Ice-skating, maybe? Making a snowman… sledding…" Clearly, Joey's thoughts were very preoccupied with the upcoming winter season. During their conversation, they had walked to the staircase, and as they stood at the foot of it, Seto asked:
"Don't you want to get rid of the straw while you're still down here?"
"Oh yeah, good idea." Joey tugged at the sleeves of his shirt, and the straw came tumbling out at his wrists. He also shook his head, ridding himself of a few pieces of straw that had stuck in his hair up till now. Seto thought he looked quite funny as he even started hopping up and down on the spot to get rid of as much as he could.
"Come on, puppy, let me help you," he suggested with a laugh and made the blond stop his hopping. That would have happened anyway, for Joey stood quite still as he looked at the brunet, both brown eyebrows raised in question.
"…'Puppy'?" he repeated. His voice sounded like a cross between disbelief and wonder.
Seto pursed his lips for a moment. That had slipped him by accident. 'Then again, it would have happened sooner or later… maybe it's for the better…' "You heard me right," he confirmed with a nod.
He would have expected Joey to get angry or at least irritated, but there was a faint yet unmistakable trace of amusement in the other boy's voice as he replied:
"How often do I have to tell you that I'm not a dog, Kaiba…"
"What makes you think that I mean it in a bad way?"
"…Because you've always meant it like that so far, maybe?" Joey suggested sarcastically, raising his shoulders rather helplessly.
Seto cracked a small smile. "Believe it or not, but times change, Wheeler… and so do certain attitudes."
"How am I supposed to understand that?" Joey asked.
The CEO shook his head. "Go to bed."
"If you help me get rid of the straw first, like you said you would."
"Fine." Seto stepped up to him and reached down into the collar of the shirt, brushing some bothersome straw off Joey's shoulders. Then he plucked out a bit more from the teen's hair. "Is that it?"
"I think so," Joey said, making some shifty movements to test whether he was straw-free. Satisfied now that the itchy feeling was gone, he yawned again and climbed the stairs, followed by Seto. Their bedrooms were on the same side of the corridor, so they still walked together awhile before they reached Joey's bedroom. The blond stopped, but hesitated as he reached for the doorknob.
"…Kaiba?" he asked softly as he turned to face the brunet again.
"What?"
"Um… remember during that game? Behind the curtains? What–?"
"Don't ask," Seto interrupted, though not sounding harsh at all.
Joey was puzzled for a moment, but then he smiled. "I kinda liked it, you know."
Seto smirked although he rather felt like smiling genuinely. "And what, per say, do you want to tell me by that? That you want me to see you off to bed?"
"That'd probably be asking too much, I guess," Joey mumbled, looking at the floor while his cheeks turned pink. However, he heard Seto say almost jokingly:
"As long as I don't have to sing you a lullaby, I might as well…"
"Seriously?!" Joey exclaimed.
"Yes. Now keep it down, or you'll wake Mokuba up! Go on," he said, making an inviting gesture to the bedroom. Grinning, Joey swept past him and proceeded to quickly change into his pajamas. Seto waited outside of the room until that was accomplished, and when Joey lay down in his bed, he entered as well.
The blond smiled at him – and it actually looked quite sweet, for he no longer looked wide awake like he had just moments ago; it was beyond clear that he was tired. Seto graced him with a small smile and sat down on the bed's edge. Joey stretched just a little bit, then he let his left hand fall right onto Seto's. Was he mistaken, or did the elder Kaiba just start ever so barely noticeably? Whatever the case, Seto ended the moment of touching just for a second as his hand reclaimed the position on top.
"Happy, puppy?" he whispered.
Tiredly, Joey nodded, still smiling. "Yeah. Thanks for allowing the party, by the way."
"Don't mention it."
Joey sighed and closed his eyes as he drifted off to sleep. While Seto watched him, he subconsciously started caressing Joey's hand, like earlier that evening behind the curtains. Thoughts whirled around in his head again, and for a change he didn't regard them with discomfort:
'Now you've done it; now I really want to keep you. Look what you've done to me! Were you aware of doing that, or were you oblivious, as you usually are? I wish I'd know if you have this odd feeling too… if you feel the same thing that draws me to you…'
He gave Joey's hand a gentle squeeze, to which the other boy responded by burying his face a bit more into his pillow.
"Goodnight, puppy," Seto whispered.
Joey mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'Mmh… 'Night…' without opening his eyes. Seto felt his cheeks heat up with a faint blush, but it wasn't one of the uncomfortable type. He stood up, let go of Joey's hand and lightly brushed a disturbing hair strand out of the other's face before leaving the bedroom to get some sleep of his own. As he started to fall asleep himself, he thought:
'The party was a good idea after all…'
FINALLY... I've been itching to write something like that, though it was essential to wait until now. Ah, I totally dig romance...! -happy dreamy sigh- (It's like what Bryan Ferry says in one of his songs: "Love is the drug"! Although, the way my life's going right now, it's puppyshipping, to be more specific... :-D)
Oh yeah, before I forget: apologies if this chapter was too horribly long, but I just couldn't bear the thought of taking it apart. I hope this is like some kind of reward for you guys because the last two chapters were quite short...
(1) Took that idea from Calvin and Hobbes (I don't own that, BTW). Ah, such a great comic... :)))
(2) That's pretty much what I do when there's music at a party - I can't dance salsa or anything, it's much more fun to just do... something. ;-)
(3) Ooooh, I'd love to play that...! Fat chance for that, though...