Chapter 11
Joey didn't like to think of himself as the worried sort. He didn't let things get under his skin as most people did, and such things like that. He found himself terribly, horribly, hopelessly wrong when it came to his cousin.
In his defense, she shouldn't be trying to get out of the bed the day she finally woke up after a two week comma when she got shot and nearly died.
And Nadine was such a sweet girl, strapping her to the bed so she couldn't escape/get up/hurt herself. However, even she found her endless patience indeed coming to an end as the woman kept slipping her ropes.
Ryou liked Alisa, he really did. However, she was nearly as bad as Joey, who couldn't sit still for a minute even when his life depended on it. He was this close to bashing her in the head with a frying pan so she wouldn't get up.
Mokuba was worried about her, sure. She was nice to him, and she took care of Joey. But really, she couldn't heal if she didn't stay down!
Kai, of course, lost his temper and shouted that if she didn't rest, she'd get a spanking. That had only earned him laughter from the spectators and a small, amused smile from the bedridden woman. He'd then threatened to carry it out. When she'd attempted escape again, she'd earned herself three sharp smacks that kept her cowed.
For all of five minutes.
Seto, whom had yet to say anything at all on the subject, came in to find Joey and Kai holding her down as Ryou and Nadine attempted to tie her up again. He frowned. "This… seems counterproductive."
"A little help?!" Joey asked quickly, yelping as his cousin began to squirm and squiggle anew.
"Why not just let her up?" the brunet asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, she'll probably get more hurt struggling with you than she would if she just gets up and walks around."
Ryou frowned and rubbed the back of his head. "You know… he has a point."
"Freedom!" Alisa, seeing a distraction, ducked the hands grabbing at her and made her escape. Loop loped out after her, letting out a pathetic whine for her to wait up.
There was a moment of silence as the others merely stared at where she had once been before they turned simultaneously, sending the brunet acidic glares.
He took a step back, then began to back away. "Um… I'll just… go make sure she doesn't hurt herself more, then," he stated, before stepping out of view of the poisonous glares he was receiving.
Joey let out a frustrated roar. "How is she supposed to heal if she don't lay down?!"
"I say we drug her," Kai muttered, flexing his hands into fists. "Drug her and strap her down!"
Nadine let out a whine and looked up at her brother, frowning. "She's trying to hurt herself before you guys can get married!"
"Married?!" the two altered males exclaimed, horrified at the thought of being family.
"Ummm… Let's leave," Ryou stated, grabbing her hand and whisking her out of the room.
"…I say we tie them all up and leave them in a closet for a few days," Kai muttered, falling to the bed. "Or we tie them up and make them sit in a room with each other while a turkey his hopped up on caffeinated corn."
Joey raised an eyebrow at him. "That… was stupid. I'm going to go make sure Alisa's okay."
"I'm going to take a cold shower," the feline replied, standing up again and walking toward the bathroom.
The blond frowned. "Um… Why?"
"Because I just spanked your cousin and it made me hot, okay?"
Joey watched the door slam shut, eyebrow raised, then sighed and rolled his eyes. "Horny bastard." He continued downstairs to find his cousin and his—what? Friend? Boyfriend? Fuck buddy?—Seto sitting on the couch, eyes glued to the news. "Um… what are we—"
Alisa raised her hand to silence him without looking away from the TV. "Shh!" Seto lifted his gaze and sent the blond a slightly apologetic look, then returned to watching the news.
The blond frowned and fidgeted his fingers for a few seconds, feeling left out and at a loss. Whatever silent agreement the CEO had with his cousin, it must have been a good one. He felt his ears wilting. His cousin currently liked Seto better than she liked him. He turned his sad, lonely gaze on his feet and turned to walk into the kitchen.
A startled yelp escaped his throat as he was suddenly dragged backward onto the brunet's warm lap. "Yeep!"
"Don't make such a heart-broken face, puppy. I might just take you into the bedroom and give you a reason to make a different expression." Seto leaned his face into the blond's neck and sighed, making him shiver at the feeling of hot air against his skin. "…Besides, Kai got me thinking. Maybe… I could give you a spanking."
Joey blushed and covered his face. "Don't say things like that, you pervert!"
"I will tie a knot in yer vocal chords," Alisa stated threateningly, shooting them a scathing glare, before looking back at the television.
The two younger teens could only stare at her for a few minutes before Seto scooted away from her. "What's her problem now?"
"Are you kidding?" the blond whispered back, frowning. "Did you not notice that she always knows everything? Watching the news right now is probably the only thing keeping her from going into a full-out panic attack. She's always been like this; if she doesn't know everything that's going on in the world, she can't take care of the people she cares about."
"…You could have just moved the freaking TV up to her room, you know!" the brunet hissed, then sighed and shook his head. "Oh, never mind."
"…Hey." Joey frowned and looked off to the side, cheeks tinting with red again. "When we go back—go home—can we go on a date? A real one?"
Seto raised an eyebrow. True, they'd be going back to Domino soon, and Joey would be going to live with Alisa. There would be no more close contact, no puppies to play with and no fiery red-headed cats to tease, and no more sex. Well, okay, so maybe sex wouldn't end completely, but still. He'd bet his company that if Alisa had a say in it, there wouldn't be sex more than once a week.
He'd need to get Kai and Nadine on his side. If they could keep her distracted, he could whisk his puppy off more often.
-z-z-z-
They got maybe two seconds once the returned to Domino before Ryou was whisked off by his dearly beloved Bakura with a promise to kill all parties involved in the stealing of his hikari. Joey had then been accosted by his tiny friend and dragged away. The blond had flung apologies over his shoulder and exclaimed that he'd come to cook for them at the mansion later okaythanksbye.
Alisa placed her hands on her hips and huffed, then turned to the rest of them, raising an eyebrow. "…I'm going home now. I'll… see you later," she stated, then turned to go.
"Uh, we'll walk you!" Nadine exclaimed, then looked up at her brother pleadingly. "Won't we?"
The redhead looked down into her pleading purple eyes, then sighed and trudged to be level with the woman. "Alright."
The raven-haired girl squeaked in delight and dashed to grab both of their hands, hurriedly dragging them away. "By Mokie! We'll see you later!"
"By Nadie!" Mokuba called back, waving after them, before turning his gaze on his brother and blinking. "Sooo… now what?"
"Now? We go back to life the way it was before." Seto frowned, then turned to get back into his car. "Let's go get groceries before Joey comes to make dinner."
The younger boy frowned. "How? I mean, he's the one that chose all of the food last time."
"…I have never had a great disliking for the 'eenie meanie minie mo' method."
"And you're supposed to be a genius?"
Seto shrugged, then frowned and turned toward his little brother. "What sort of animal were you fused with, anyway?"
Mokuba blinked innocently, then smiled, making sure to show his teeth. The brunet watched in horrified fascination as his brother's teeth sunk back into his gums before another set reemerged, sharper and much more lethal.
When his brother snapped his teeth playfully, he reared back in disgust and tripped into his seat in the car. "Oh, God, that's gross!"
"I've been spliced with a shark," the raven-haired teen stated, placing his hands on his hips, and snapped his teeth again. "I can breathe underwater and swim like a fish!"
"Ew, ew, ew! I just saw shark teeth in my baby brother's mouth!"
-z-z-z-
"Never. Again," Joey stated coldly, storming into the Kaiba mansion after having to beat off reporters and paparazzi, squeezing through the tiny gap between the gates that the guards had allowed, and walking up the half-mile drive.
Mokuba frowned in concern. "Did any of the paparazzi hurt you, Joey? I know sometimes they get a little desperate…"
"No, it's not even them!" the blond complained, grimacing as he allowed his ears and tail out again. "Oh God, that hurts."
Seto wandered out of the kitchen and frowned, munching on a carrot stick. "What's going on now?"
Joey blinked at him for a moment, just absorbing the fact that the CEO had a towel stained with various foods around his waist and was wearing the ever casual jeans and t-shirt. "Uh… What are you doing?"
"I sear a good steak," the brunet replied, rolling his eyes. "I just have trouble marinating the mushrooms and steaming the vegetables."
"…You put the vegetables in the top part—" the dog-boy began, making motions with his hands of opening a pot and placing something in.
Seto scowled. "I figured that out, smart ass," he stated, turning to stomp back into the kitchen.
Receiving a confused stare, Mokuba smiled. "We found a cookbook and decided it would be fun to make side dishes for the steak!"
"I see." The blond smiled as well. "Let's eat then! I'd like to sample some of this 'Kaiba food!'"
"So what were you saying that you never wanted to do again?" the elder Kaiba asked, sliding one of the steaks onto a plate and scooping a bunch of mushrooms onto it, then lifting his gaze to rest on the blond's face.
Joey's smile immediately faded. "Oh. Well, Yugi and Yami wanted me to prove that I've got a string of dog DNA in me, and when I finally freaking did, Yugi pounced on me and wouldn't stop fondling them. I swear to God, he almost made me want to put my ass in the air right there."
Mokuba squeaked and grabbed the plate as it slid from his brother's suddenly limp fingers. "Ah, Seto! The food!"
"…No one gets to touch your fucking ears except me," Seto stated finally, pointing at the blond's ears and viciously stabbing another steak.
"H-hey, no need to get rough with the food!" Joey exclaimed, holding his hands up to show he meant to harm. "I mean, I wasn't planning on letting them touch again!"
The brunet narrowed his eyes at him skeptically. "…You better not," he stated finally, his voice threatening something that could be assumed might be a spanking if he wasn't obeyed, before he turned and began scooping some steamed carrots, broccoli, and cabbage onto the plate.
Mokuba smiled at the blond innocently. "That's Seto's way of saying he cares about you!"
Joey gulped as the brunet slammed his plate down in front of him, then looked up at him through his bangs. "Um… Thanks."
"Whatever."
He hesitated before lifting a fork of steamed cabbage and broccoli to his lips. He was sort of frightened of what it would taste like; after all, Seto and Mokuba had been living off cup-of-noodles for a while. His face brightened as he found he didn't immediately find he wanted to vomit and he cheerfully began eating like the teenage boy he was.
The younger Kaiba smiled and looked up at his brother fondly. "See? I told you he'd like it!"
"…Shut up, Mokuba," the brunet muttered, then shoved a piece of steak in his mouth.
"Isn't it cute how he wants to impress you?" Mokuba continued, only to wince as he got smacked in the back of the head. "Ow!"
"I said shut up!" Seto hissed, shooting his brother a glare, before going back to his meal.
Joey giggled and shrugged. "You guys are so weird. I look forward to getting to know you better."
"…Yeah, what are you guys going to do when you go on your date?"
"Well I'm sure we're going to go on more than one. Isn't that the point?" the brunet asked, looking up at the dog-boy for confirmation. When he received a nod, he looked back at his brother. "Yeah, so I figured first we could just do whatever Joey wants to do and then next we could do whatever I wanted to do, and switch off like that."
The blond smiled sweetly. "I'd like that." He blushed and suddenly frowned, ears folding downward. "As long as I'm back at Alisa's by ten each night."
Seto raised an eyebrow, then smirked. "I'm sure we could manage that."
Joey tilted his head, worried by this expression. "Why are you looking at me like that? Mokuba, why is he looking at me like that?!" When the younger boy merely laughed, he really began to worry. "What's with the expression? Huh?! Guys!"
Oh, it was the start of a beautiful relationship indeed.
