Chapter 11 Never challenge a fan girl
Seto was in Joey's room which the blond so far hadn't even seen. It was pointless anyway, now that Joey wouldn't need Seto to help him have a nicer place. Joey was probably right when he had said that he was nearly as rich. Definitely rich enough to get everything Seto had gotten for him, apart from the duel disk that Seto had created and built himself. He would have to find another way to charm his little puppy to give in and finally be his.
Seto was startled a little when he heard Mokuba in the room next door that was his own. He gave a sigh and walked over and into it, knowing that Mokuba would get a peek at Joey's room. But it wasn't like it mattered anymore.
"What can I do for you, little brother?" Seto asked and saw Mokuba's eyes go past his face and into the room he came from.
"What is that room for?" Mokuba asked and Seto could see his suspicions on his face already. He also knew that Mokuba didn't approve and probably thought it to be too much, considering the way he glared at his older brother and had his arms crossed over his chest.
"It's nothing now, I guess." Seto said and sat down on the chair at his desk. "And now tell me, what brings you to me at this early hour?"
"This." Mokuba said and passed a newspaper over to Seto. It was opened already and Seto saw that there was a little picture of himself which wasn't too unusual but with him was Joey. One of Joey's fans must have taken it. They were sitting in the café and they both looked like they were flirting a little maybe. It could of course just be Seto who saw it, since he remembered the teasing and playful tone in Joey's voice. The words above the picture said 'Seto Kaiba in love?' The short text under the picture read: 'Seto Kaiba, the CEO of Kaiba Corporation has been seen with a young man in a café. The young man is no other than Joey Wheeler. A former duellist, who rivalled the two top duellists Seto Kaiba and Yugi Muto but left Japan two years ago, in an attempt to become a famous rock star in America. Two years later the young man returned with money, as well as plenty of American fans. In America his career has practically started over night and he is a big rock star over there already. A fan of his said, that Seto Kaiba seemed to be sexually interested in the blond ex- duellist, who is currently dating another former duellist called Mai Valentine. One of Joey's fans stated that Seto made his intentions very clear.
Will this be the end of the relationship between Joey Wheeler and the beautiful blond Mai Valentine?'
"Hopefully it will be," Seto mumbled, "but I sort of doubt it."
"It does look good though," Mokuba said. "I wonder what he thinks of this though. He might not be too pleased about it."
"Neither am I," Seto said, "I really didn't want anyone to know about my feelings for him, until I got him but I guess trying to get rid of those fans of his was a mistake."
"Never underestimate a fan girl," Mokuba said. "I told you that before. You remember when they tried to break in here?"
"Roland stopped them." Seto said unimpressed. He didn't usually care about his fan girls and simply ignored them.
"Oh did he?" Mokuba asked. "You do realize that there are pictures of this room online? By the way, do you still have those strange pink boxers?"
Seto blushed slightly and mumbled "What pink boxers?"
"The ones with a heart." Mokuba said.
"Now I know how they got in here," Seto mumbled. "Remind me to get Roland to set security even higher. Whoever took those picture of this room must also have left them, and no, I most certainly don't have them anymore."
"Don't forget, Seto, as much as they like you and as much they're scared stiff by you, be careful," Mokuba warned. "Joey is spoiling his fans rotten with autographs and pictures with them, because he relies on them. He wouldn't get a cent if they wouldn't buy his stuff. They're not scared of him and they don't know you. They'll take this to a whole new level for you."
"Don't worry, Mokuba." Seto said, "I'll deal with them if I have to."
"I hope that won't be a mistake." Mokuba said. "But I´ve got more news for you. Serenity told me that there is an art exhibition and Joey tried to talk her into going with him. He doesn't want anyone to know that he's into art and usually pretends to accompany her and being the one who got talked into it but she said she wouldn't have time. So he won't be going, unless of course someone else might go with him, and just so you know, Mai isn't into art."
"Where and when is it exactly?" Seto asked, already looking up online to find the right one. He needed to know where he could ask him to go out with him.
"She doesn't know where, just that he wanted to take her after the live interview tomorrow afternoon." Mokuba said. "And it's called fantasy worlds."
"Thanks, that should do," Seto said. "And I'm really grateful for you to help me."
"My pleasure, as long as you'll be less cranky." Mokuba said with a cheeky smile.
"Excuse me?" Seto said. "I really don't see the connection."
"Duke said that if someone gets laid they'll be less cranky." Mokuba informed his brother.
"Remind me to have a little chat with Duke." Seto said, aggravated by the thought what Duke was talking about to his little brother. No matter how mature Mokuba might have gotten, talking about the sex life of an older brother should be against the law.
"Oh come on, Seto." Mokuba said, rolling his eyes. "I'm not a kid anymore. Oh and I heard you'll be picking up Joey from the airport today?"
"How do you know?" Seto asked.
"Serenity," Mokuba said, "I'll be going out with her the next two nights. Tonight, so I´ll get to talk to her about how to hook you two up some more and tomorrow, to make sure that she won't have time to go to the art thing. I'll get to be with her all day tomorrow thanks to that."
"You like her, don't you?" Seto asked.
"I don't really know her that well but she is cute and really nice." Mokuba said with a little blush "But don't worry. Joey should be fine with it. I'm not her first boyfriend. She isn't quite as innocent as she looks."
Seto smiled at his little brother "Just make sure to be nice to her and don't do anything I wouldn't do."
"You mean I shouldn't do anything you don't get to do?" Mokuba said with a cheeky smile but walked towards the door quickly. "Oh and Seto, you should be happy that I can talk to Duke about such things, imagine I would ask you about sex."
Seto blushed, while Mokuba closed the door behind himself and left Seto alone. He still would have to talk to Duke to take it down a little with the sex talk but he was happy that Mokuba had others to talk about such things. He really didn't want to talk to Mokuba about this more than absolutely necessary.
Seto had found out about the art exhibition and would make sure to ask Joey when he picked him up tonight.
A few hours later Seto was waiting at the airport. He was waiting in the VIP area and was nervous. He was dressed in his usual outfit with the white coat. It was still early and Seto got out his laptop and did some work until Joey would finally land.
He was so focused on the work he did, that Seto didn't notice that Joey was there until said blond suddenly grabbed his shoulders and said: "Hey, jerk."
Seto turned to him and tried not to show that he had scared him a little. "Hey, mutt. How did the interview go?"
"Great," Joey said "Until the questions about my supposedly new lover started."
"What lover?" Seto asked, feeling the jealousy rising.
"Have a guess," Joey said, "I´ll give you a tip, it was in the newspaper."
"Oh," Seto said, feeling much better now that he knew that it was just about the rumours between them. Which unfortunately were just that, rumours. "You're talking about me."
"Yeah." Joey said. "Guess it had to be my biggest fan."
"How do you know what fan it was?" Seto asked.
"I know her," Joey said, "And she is nutty. You better be careful."
Seto looked past him and saw three guys with Joey "Is she scaring you that you got more bodyguards now?"
"Not her alone," Joey said, "But it's all over the internet and some want to talk to me about it and will definitely be at my place. The address is already online again."
"Why don't you just tell them to back off?" Seto suggested.
"Because I need my fans," Joey said. "Unlike you they pay for my living by buying my CD's."
"And?" Seto asked. He wished he could tell him that he could pay for his living too but Joey was currently taken and to push him too much might not be the smartest thing to do.
"Just do me a favour and be good," Joey said. "I love this job and I don't want to lose it. And now let's go. I'm tired and have to get up early."
"And here I thought the life of a rock star would include another party every night." Seto said teasingly. "You must be getting old already."
"Yeah, right." Joey mumbled "You'd be tired too. This isn't as much fun as I thought it would be. But I still like it, even if it can be really hard work at times. Especially all the promo stuff is annoying. But a tour is great fun and I can't wait for the next one."
"You'll be gone for a while then, won't you?" Seto asked, sort of upset. It won't be easy to find an excuse to stay close to him, while Mai can just hang around all the time.
"Yeah," Joey said, "But I'll be back."
"Wasn't that what you said to Yugi when you visited your mom?" Seto asked.
"And here I am." Joey said, "A little later then planned but I did come back." Seto was surprised when Joey took his hand and started to pull him towards the exit.
"Are you saying that it can happen again that you just suddenly run off?" Seto asked, trying to hide the fact that the thought unsettled him.
"Not really," Joey said. "I missed everyone too much just run off on my own again. I wouldn't have done it without a good reason anyway."
"And what was that reason?" Seto asked, hoping that it had nothing to do with Mai.
"I wanted to get rich and famous. But nor for the reasons you might think." Joey said.
"And what reasons would it be then?" Seto asked.
"I'll tell you another time." Joey said, "Now where's the car? Like I said, I'm really tired."
"Fine." Seto said with a sigh and lead Joey to the car and drove him home more or less in silence. He didn't want the talk to continue where it had stopped. He didn't like to even think about his Joey running off again. Seto wished he could tie Joey up to his bed and make him stay forever. The leash would be long enough to walk around the house to keep him amused, while he was at work but not long enough to leave it. Unfortunately Seto knew that it would never be possible. Joey was much too outgoing to be in his mansion all day long.
They were already close to Joey's new apartment when Seto tried to ask him on a date. "By the way, I heard about an interesting art exhibition and was wondering if you would mind accompanying me there?"
Seto was surprised at the smile on Joey's face. He had hoped to see him happy but his smile looked rather evil. "Sure why not? What sort of art exhibition is it?"
"About fantasy worlds," Seto said and kept an eye on Joey, from the corner of his eyes, while driving him the last few meters and then parking. He didn't want to leave but Seto hadn't seen Joey carrying around any stuff, apart from a small backpack. He had only been gone for one night, so he could hardly offer to give him a hand with getting his stuff up.
"Would you like a coffee or something?" Joey asked. "As a little thank you for picking me up?"
"Sure," Seto said, happy to have gotten the invitation.
It turned out to be really good that Joey had three bodyguards. There were much more girls in front of his apartment than the day before at the studio. The girl Seto had met there was one of them and Seto remembered that Joey seemed to know her a little better than he had hoped before. He even knew that it had been her he had talked to, just because she had been there at the studio. That was if Joey's assumption about that were correct.
Seto watched him talking to some girls and even writing some autographs. After a while they reached the girl that had dared to talk to Seto. "Hey there," Joey said to her with a joking voice. "Are you still collecting pictures and autographs from me?"
"Sure. You're sexy." She said with a seductive smile.
"I heard you had a little chat with my pal Seto?" He said still smiling. "Just to let you know, you shouldn't take him too serious, he was just kidding, we're old classmates, that's all."
Even though Seto had said himself that this girl wasn't worth getting jealous about, he did get jealous. "Then what is he doing here?" She asked, looking disgusted at Seto.
"Oh, he was nice enough to pick me up from the airport and we hadn't talked much since I'm back and I thought I have a coffee with him and a chat, as a thank you for picking me up." Joey said still smiling and added in a whisper, but loud enough to be audible for Seto, "but I guess he's going to try to talk me into going to an art exhibition with him."
"I guess then I´ll have no reason to be jealous." She said jokingly. "He doesn't even know what you like. But about a coffee, I would like one sometime too, with extra cream."
Seto nearly got sick at the seductive look and tone she tried to do.
"Tempting," Joey said, only making it worse. "But I'm tired today and like you see, I have a guest."
Seto took his time, staying close to that girl while Joey walked on talking to some of the others and writing so many autographs that Seto wondered how other stars managed to ever get anything done when just writing their name all day long.
Once Joey was out of easy hearing range, Seto said quietly to the girl: "By the way, we'll see who really knows him. A fan that only knows the face that poses on a stage or in front of a camera, or the one who went to school with him for years and who's kid brother is out with his kid sister at this very moment." Seto said, "and just to let you know, no matter what he might assume, I wasn't kidding. And he will be mine!"
Seto was just getting close to Joey, who actually had managed to reach his door and unlock it, when Seto felt something hit the back of his head and then running down his body, he turned around to look who had hit him with what felt like a water bomb and saw another one flying at him already and hitting him at the side of the face, not even fully turned around yet. He nearly exploded when he saw the pink paint running down his body but the girl was already running away, laughing. Seto would make damn sure to get her with his lawyers but she definitely wasn't worth losing his composure. Especially since Joey was standing right behind him. "She's going to regret this big time," Seto mumbled and felt Joey taking his hand.
"Come inside," Joey said and Seto could hear that he was clearly amused. "I told you, she's nutty."
Seto followed him inside, still glaring in anger. He would make her pay for this. He would let her bleed for covering him in pink paint, right in front of Joey. "You know, pink suits you." Joey said once they were inside and he laughed. "I never thought your blue eyes would come out in pink, too."
"She's going to regret this," Seto mumbled. "I'll make her feel the pain dearly for this."
"Oh chill," Joey said, "you can have a shower and I´ll get you some of my stuff that might fit you."
Seto followed Joey to his bathroom and walked inside to have a shower, while Joey got him some clothing and placed them on a chair in the bathroom.
There was already a cup of coffee ready by the time Seto came back out in a white track suit that was a bit tight on him. "Thanks." He said and sat down on the couch and had a drink. "Are you living alone here?"
"No, dad is living here too but he's out tonight with some buddys of his." Joey said, "and I bet you know where my sis is."
"Somewhere with my kid brother," Seto said.
"Yeah, kid brother," Joey mumbled with a chuckle. "You mean back in the good old days where they were kids."
Seto smiled a little and said: "By the way, you haven't answered my question about the art exhibition, will you accompany me?"
"Sure." Joey said with a grin, just as evil as the one in the car. "You knew I wanted to go there, right?"
Seto blushed and said innocently: "How should I know?"
"Easy," Joey said. "Mokuba is your brother and he's spying for you. So why is it so hard to believe that Serenity is a double spy for me, only giving you the informations I want you to have, while finding something out for me?"
"And what was it that she was to find out?" Seto asked, "Because you could just ask me."
"No," Joey said, still with an evil smile. "You could lie. But she already is sure to have the answer right. I might tell you tomorrow. At the art thing."
"You got sneaky." Seto said with a little smile. He sort of liked that side of Joey. He really was a bit of a challenge, even though he had looked like he had missed him just as much when they met in front of kame game shop.
"Where is your girlfriend?" Seto asked, keeping the disgust he felt towards her for being with Joey, out of his voice. But he needed to know how close they were, to find out how bold he could be in his advances.
"She's at her place in L.A." Joey said and sounded to Seto like he didn't really care either way.
"How comes that she isn't with you?" Seto asked, trying to find out more about their relationship.
"She needs to be there," Joey said with a smile, "business related."
"I see." Seto said. "Is she moving here at some point? I mean you must miss her."
"Nope. She isn't going to move. She loves L.A. and the sun and all." Joey said, still smiling.
"So you're having a long distance relationship while you're back here? Or are you planning to return there as soon as you can, to be with her?" Seto asked, hoping that he wouldn't move there.
"No I guess I´ll stay." Joey said, still smiling. "We have something planned about the distance thing though. I might be able to tell you tomorrow. It's still all super secret."
Seto watched him for a moment. It was really hard to figure out what was going on in his head. He had looked like he still loved him the other day but he was still together with Mai and even telling him that they had a plan about the distance. Which would be troublesome when neither one would move. It would be to Seto's advantage though, if there was a lot of distance between them.
Seto finished the coffee, wondering a bit why Joey was dating Mai, if he seemed so careless about the fact that she was so far away, while still clearly having feelings for him and even have Serenity spying on him.
Once the coffee was done, he mumbled: "I better get going. Before even more rumours spread."
"Would that be so bad?" Joey asked with a teasing smile.
"Not for me." Seto said. "But your reputation might be ruined."
Joey laughed for a moment and then added: "Let me give you a 101 on rock stars. Everything that would ruin your reputation, will save mine. And the other way around, too." But Joey stood up to lead him to the door again. Once he walked out, Joey said for all his fans clearly audible. "You know what Seto? I'll have to thank that fan for splattering you with paint."
"And why would that be?" Seto asked, trying to hide the fact that he was really upset by that statement.
"Because that way I got to see you without that annoying coat," Joey said. "You really have to stop hiding that sexy butt, my dragon."
And with that the door was closed and Seto was thoroughly confused about what Joey really wanted and thought. For once in his life it felt like someone was playing with him and he really disliked that feeling. He would have to figure out this game that Joey was playing soon.
Authors note: Thanks to Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai, LovelyRose5001, Leviathan of the Sea and Nagareboshi-Lover for the reviews.
I wish I could see Seto covered with pink paint looking like he's about to kill someone. And by the way, he's going to meet that fan again in the next chapter, you'll see what he's going to do then! And one more chapter and then Mai will be gone for good...hopefully.