Summary: What if Kaiba did the unthinkable? What if Joey called that last attack and defeated Marik? Who would have thought two what ifs could change…everything.
Italics= thoughts
WARNING:eventual Puppyshipping, so for any non-yaoi lovers this fic may not be for you.
Chapter 11
Joey growled, loud and proud.
He banged, kicked, yelled, and threatened.
Nothing worked.
Kaiba wouldn't open the damn door.
In the end the blonde gave up. He slumped down and leaned back against the doors. At least his frozen self was beginning to warm up. Trust Kaiba to have good heating.
He was still very cold to start with though.
The blonde shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, brought his knees up, and sunk down further into himself to conserve heat. If the CEO wanted to be a jerk then he might as well catch up on sleep.
Kaiba rubbed a hand over his face as his desktop powered down. He always overdid it on work on the few occasions Mokuba wasn't around. His little brother had recently made a new friend and was busy showing them off to his other friend. As long as he was home by midnight then it was okay by him. An indulgent curfew for a thirteen year old, sure, but he was being tailed by bodyguards and serviced by a driver with an extensive military background in spec ops. Young he may be, Mokuba was smarter than most and Kaiba trusted the men he had on his trail to keep his little brother safe. Heads would roll otherwise.
The brunette stood up, deciding to stretch his legs and go down to the kitchen for a glass of water. While he hadn't forgotten about Wheeler he hadn't expected to find the blonde slumped up against the door he didn't open, eyes closed and chest rising rhythmically in a show of sleep.
Kaiba sighed, something he wouldn't dare have done if the blonde was awake. He had been in a bad mood to start with when the mutt first showed up and didn't feel up to dealing with him. The mutt simply didn't know the meaning of no however so he decided to play with the dog a little and found himself smirking at his response. Wheeler's outbursts were always interesting. He fully expected the mutt to have given and gone home though. He stared down at the pitiful state of the teen and gave in. With a shake of his head he cursed the mutt for being a bother even in his sleep as he turned back into his office and draped his trench coat over a chair. He walked back over to Wheeler and picked him up with relative ease. Ice-King he may be he wasn't heartless.
Joey let out a moan of approval, head lolling to rest against his rival's shoulder and hand coming up to lay upon the wide chest. His warm breath tickled Kaiba's collarbone even through the turtleneck.
The brunette didn't hesitate in his steps though a frown marred his features. He set the blonde down gently on one of his plush couches (it pays to have the fine things). For almost a minute he hovered over the blonde, mind drawing alarming conclusions.
For starters the blonde was lighter than he'd expected, not starving light but still lighter than average even with the muscular build. He was also a shy cold to the touch which forcibly dragged a sense of guilt out of him. But the alarming part came from looking at the sleeping blonde itself. He'd never come across Wheeler when he wasn't yapping or drooling buckets when he fell asleep at school. This was almost a different side to the blonde. He looked… peaceful. Even to himself, Kaiba couldn't admit the true word. The golden hair needed a trim, the clothes cried for help, and the blonde needed a bath to scrub off the smudges of dirt but all in all, Wheeler was attractive. Kaiba loathe to admit it but the damn mutt wasn't ugly. 'Although,' Kaiba thought as he straightened himself. 'An attractive mutt is still a mutt.'
His anger simmered as he glared down at the blonde sleeping on one of his couches in his home office. This is the same mongrel that cheated him out of his chance to gain Ra and changed the tables on him by throwing the win of Battle City his way. The same mutt that had been barking at him at all times before, hankering for a duel, a fight, a verbal spar; almost anything to draw Kaiba's attention his way.
Kaiba had finally given him that attention. The brunette had even looked forward to the finals, looked forward to their duel (to prove his superiority and gain Ra of course) and Wheeler had then decided to throw it all away. The mutt decided it wasn't worth HIS time.
Nothing had ever infuriated the brunette so much. How could Wheeler dare mock him? When had that come about, this change? Was it brought out by the conversation they shared in his private control room on the blimp? Or had it been festering since he saved the ungrateful dog from a watery grave back at the docks?
Did that mindless action of his change everything?
The brunette scoffed.
He was over-analyzing this. But, one thing was certain. Kaiba would be the one that won, in the end.
He took his coat and left.
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Joey didn't recognize where he was when he awoke. He almost didn't want to leave the comfort of the couch or the thick blanket wrapped around him but he had to figure out where he was.
The pieces came to him slowly as he sat up, not unlike the lifting of a fog. He remembered the assignment, Kaiba's impeccable manners, and falling asleep against the doors. But, he hadn't awoken against those doors so why…?
Someone would have had to have carried him to the couch and thrown the blanket upon him. He ruled out Kaiba before the name truly came up. Maybe Mokuba? He hadn't seen him earlier but the mansion was clearly huge. He doubted the little guy could carry him though… but, maybe Mokuba stumbled upon him, took pity, and called in the help.
He nodded. Yeah, that made sense.
Getting to his feet he decided he might as well poke around.
The sight of the double doors gave him the guess that he was in the room Kaiba had denied him entrance to earlier, much earlier by the looks of it. The panel view of the windows clearly indicated it was late into the night. He could tell. Sleeping outside often gave one the ability to estimate the time almost correctly by the shade of the night.
He was in an office, of sorts. A large office/ gameroom/ lounge. The office part took up most of the space. The desk was centered in front of the largest window in the room, drapes currently drawn. It was distinctly L-shaped, the long part of the L a mess of several desktops and a single keyboard while the short side only held a stack of papers and folios neatly piled to allow for face to face interaction. The nearest wall was line with built in bookshelves and filing cabinets. The opposing side of the room held an immensely large TV screen with several game consoles hooked up to it and cocooned by a huge U-shaped sprawl of plush couches. That wall was lined by old-school arcade games.
Joey wasn't truly interested in much of all that at the moment, merely curious. He still had to find a way out. There was one thing thought that caught his wandering eye. He picked up the picture frame that was on the desk and turned it to catch the spill of the moonlight. His breath immediately hitched.
It was a photograph of Mokuba and Kaiba. Or maybe… Seto was a better name in this instance. He certainly wasn't Kaiba in this picture. The two were young, real young. Kai- Seto couldn't have been more than 8 years old. The two were playing a game of chess with each other and both faced the camera. Mokuba had on a bright grin and Seto… was smiling. The little brunette had on a happy, genuine smile. He was so different from the surly teen he was today. That in itself made him wonder and feel a prickle of sadness but none of that was what caused his breath to hitch. It was the place the picture was taken. He recognized it. The picture was taken inside of an orphanage and not just any. It was that one.
The blonde set the photograph down gently. His silhouette was cast against the glow of the moon. He wasn't sure how he made it out but he managed to find his way through the front doors and left at a sprint. He arrived home in time to catch another sliver of sleep. The break in sleep completely ruined his cycle but it was better than nothing.
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"Wake up mutt."
A flick to the forehead was a rude awakening. The sting caused honey eyes to crack open blearily.
They fell to slits when he realized who it was that woke him. Mr. Stick-in-the-ass himself.
Kaiba didn't give him the chance to open his mouth.
"My place at 5:00 pm. We'll finish this in one go. Don't be late."
Joey glared at the brunette's back as he walked away to his own desk. Who was he to give him orders? He'd shown up yesterday, they could have been finished by now and out of each other's hair, but nooooooo.
He had to be stuck with the prick.
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"Sit down on the couch mutt. I'm just about done."
"I'm not a dog Kaiba," the blonde muttered angrily as he flopped down heavily on the same couch he'd awoken on in the wee hours of the morning. He stared at the bookshelf directly ahead. Kaiba was working at his desk to the left.
Joey couldn't help it. He got bored. He tapped his foot impatiently as his eyes roamed, taking in all the details he hadn't been able to focus on in the dark.
"Quit your staring Wheeler and come over here so we can get this over with," Kaiba snapped after a short amount of time had passed.
The blonde growled as he took his seat in front of the desk, as though he were in a meeting or an interview.
"We could have had this done by yesterday ya know."
Kaiba's glare warned him to shut up.
Too bad Joey wasn't the type to listen.
"Don't give me that richboy, it's true."
"Pipe down mongrel or we'll never finish this."
The blonde bared teeth.
"Stop calling me a dog moneybags!"
"What did I just tell you Wheeler!"
"Why don't you follow your own advice and shut your mouth Kaiba!"
"How dare you, you filthy ingra-"
"HOW DARE YOU!" Joey roared. "What gives you the right to call me whatever you want? What gives you the right to make fun of me! To degrade me!"
"Degrade? That's a big word for you, isn't it?"
"Enough Kaiba! Lets just get this done! I don't have all day!"
"I didn't realize dogs had so many places to be."
"I have work tonight you-"
"Tonight?" Kaiba sneered. "I wouldn't have thought you'd lower yourself to walking the streets at night."
"What is wrong with you?! I would never-" Joey's face reddened impeccably, more so than it already was. "That's not what I do!"
Kaiba sat back in smug amusement.
"Well then, please, educate me in what it is that you do," he drawled sarcastically.
To the brunette's surprise the blonde flushed for a whole different reason and looked away.
"It's not of your business Se-to."
That wiped the smirk off of Kaiba's face.
"Don't you ever call me that mutt."
Joey grinned maliciously.
"Is that so? Well, why not, Seto? Seto! Seto! Seto! Seto! Se-ommph!"
The blonde fell out of his chair and onto the floor. His hand sprang up to cup his cheek where Kaiba had slugged him.
"Ya bastard!" Joey screamed as he got to his feet and fired off a shot of his own.
Or, he tried to that is.
Kaiba caught his fist, switched his grip to the wrist, yanked the blonde forward, caught the other wrist and slammed the smaller teen back onto his desk. The brunette pinned Joey's hand above his head (though not together) and leaned over so the two could look at each other face to face.
Kaiba paused then as he had a… moment of confliction.
The brunette was a healthy seventeen-year old male. Translation- he got urges from time to time. He's never once acted upon them, but they existed. His control was great but it didn't reach far enough to prevent his hormones from acting up.
That being said the male was also gay. It wasn't a secret, not truly. He simply hadn't come out to the world. He didn't care enough to. Mokuba already knew so why did anyone else matter?
That however brings him to his present problem.
Kaiba was gay and currently had another male under him, one who was also gay and who'd the brunette had already admitted was attractive, deceptively so. The fact that it was the mutt normally would have caused an instant cease and desist action to his thoughts but the damn idiot wouldn't stop wriggling and had already, inadvertently, grinded his leg up against Kaiba's groin, twice.
For one wild moment, Kaiba pictured giving in to his urges. The mutt would surely never tell about their escapade. The challenge itself was enough to excite. He was sure a little seduction on his part would lead the two to writhing on top of his desk.
That is until he realized what he was thinking and who he was thinking about doing that with.
Joey on his end was partly scared and partly confused. Very few things could distract from anger, but lust was one of them. And that was lust he saw swimming in Kaiba's eyes. The blue hue had darkened to a color one normally couldn't find unless they dived down to the deepest reaches of the ocean. The look in those eyes brought out the blonde's own excitement and spiked his confusion.
The blonde wasn't dumb, not truly. Kaiba may be gay but he'd made it painfully clear that Joey hardly qualified to lick crud off of his boots much less tempt him, so why…?
Kaiba shook his head and grit his teeth behind closed lips.
Damn.
Damn the mutt!
He was to do the cracking, not be cracked by his own hormones!
Eyes flashed to ice as they glared down into honey eyes.
Attractive enough to tempt him. Fuck.
Well, all is not lost.
Physical attraction wasn't too big a deal.
Now that he recognized it, admitted it- he could control it.
Kaiba smirked and in doing so realized another little tid bit.
The attraction went both ways.
Joey held his breath as Kaiba leaned down, keeping their eyes locked.
'Oh man! What's he?!'
The blonde froze as he felt hot breath tickled his ear. His heart slammed against his rib cage as he felt a twitch from below.
"Listen and listen well Wheeler. Don't you ever forget who I am or who you are. I'll do and say whatever I please. Now," he paused and moved in just the bit closer.
Joey bit back a moan.
'Why is he doin this?'
Kaiba's body was pressed up against his. He could feel the wide and thick muscles of the brunette's chest and legs press right on his own. The CEO was more defined than he'd given him credit for.
The blonde couldn't deny it. Everyone could agree that Kaiba often boiled down to 2 things: a massive jerk and sexy as hell.
In their current position, one move from either could count as an attempt to hump.
"About our project, I'll keep it simple so even you could understand. I'll write the report and you provide the visual aide. Got it?"
At Joey's nod, Kaiba stepped off and back, letting the blonde go. Joey leaned up warily. His legs were shaky as he got to his feet.
He looked up to catch Kaiba watching him with a haughty smirk.
"What are you waiting for? Leave."
The brunette's smirk stretched as he watched the blonde spit fire out of his eyes and slam the door hard enough that it vibrated through the walls.
He'd had to make the mutt leave right then and there. When he'd backed off of Wheeler the expression on the blonde's face caused a fissure of heat to surge through his, ahem, lower regions. It took great effort on his part not to let his control slip.
Not until Wheeler slammed that door closed that is.
Kaiba sank into his chair and rubbed his face, keeping his hand planted there as he stared at the door through his parted fingers.
Damn…
Geez!
Longest chap by far!
And so loaded too.
More hints and unanswered questions but riddled with Joey/ Seto goodness.
I don't know why I love torturing them so.
What can I say?
Stay tuned!