Chapter Twelve: Bump in the Road
Song for chapter:
Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds
"Good Evening, Herr Kaiba," the irksome voice sprouted from around the corner. Seto didn't even bother looking up from his book, since he already knew whose bothersome voice it was.
"What do you want, Zeigfried?" Seto inquired curtly.
"Vhat a temper, vhat a temper." Zigfried said with a finger wave. "I came here for a reason, Herr Kaiba." He continued with a pause, "I'm here to give you one more chance to leave now, vithout the shame of losing to me." A smirk grew on the German's face as he began to taunt Kaiba.
"Please, what makes you think that you will win this deal?" Seto scoffed, "Your no-name company will crumble before me, just like it did with Pegasus."
"Please, Herr Kaiba, ve all know that you stole my ideas all those years ago." He snapped back to the arrogant brunet, "If ve never vere introduced to each other by our fathers, you vould have never gotten this far."
Kaiba stood up from his chair. "What are you talking about Zigfried? I never stole your ideas." Seto started as his temper began to rise, but was soon interrupted by Zigfried.
"Don't lie, ve all know that you stole all my ideas. You are nothing but a copycat and a criminal…"
Seto this time interrupted Zigfried, "I think you are just jealous that my company has been, and always will be, superior to yours. Save yourself the embarrassment and just drop out before another mark of failure is added to your list." Seto declared remaining cool on the outside, but on the inside it was a different story.
"Another mark of failure?" Zigfried questioned, almost laughing, "Your track record is not so perfect either Herr Kaiba." A gleeful smile danced upon his face as thoughts turned in his head. "Your marks of shame are much vorse than mine. How vould you feel if the vorld found out how an orphan really got the rights to a multibillion dollar company?"
"I have no clue what you are getting at, Zigfried." Seto said becoming bored with the conversation.
"Don't play dumb vith me Herr Kaiba. I know that you are the one that killed your father after a corporate takeover. Then you turned around and backstabbed all the people that brought you to the top. I'm villing to bet you vould even go so far as sacrificing your own brother before losing all that you have. You're a miserable, vretched, unfeeling…" all of a sudden Seto saw Zigfried on the ground, and a blond teen, that he knew all too well, with a fist out. Seto looked to the ground and saw a red mark on the German's face. Then not even two seconds later, Joey was on the ground on top of Zigfried punching him none stop while blood was tinkling onto the carpet. Seto realized that Joey must have heard everything, and something Zigfried said must have pissed him off. Feeling his own temper reach its peak, Seto grabbed the back of Joey's collar and with a single, solid tug, hauled Joey off of Zigfried. The blonde was still trying to get at Zigfried when a few moments later, hotel security came in to apprehend him.
"What's going on here?" A different manager that Seto did not know said coming into the lounge to see what was causing the disturbance.
"That mongrel attacked me," Zigfried exclaimed pointing to Joey. Joey was berating heavily, his head hung low as his eyes drifted to Seto, only to see anger and almost embarrassment.
"It's true, sir," one of the security guards stated. "This kid quite literally came out of nowhere and physically assaulted that man there."
The manager glanced between the three teenage males before looking at the security guards. "Please escort the injured party back to his room, and as for you two," he said looking to Seto and Joey. "I'll have to ask that you come with me."
As Zigfried was led away he shouted, "Just you vait, Herr Kaiba. You'll be hearing from my lawyer!"
Joey and Seto followed the manager to his office where he asked both to sit down before settling himself in the chair behind his desk. "Names, please," he requested while turning on his computer screen.
"Seto Kaiba and Joseph Wheeler," Seto spoke stiffly.
"Ah, yes, two of our special VIP guests," the manager said pulling up the names from a list. He turned from the screen and looked at the pair. "Might you explain to me why our VIP visitors are exchanging blows?"
"I apologize," Seto said in a very grating voice. "I can't give any justification for this incident, but I can assure you it will not happen again."
"Let's see that it doesn't," the manger told him warningly. "My hotel doesn't need bad publicity. You may both go now."
Seto rose from his chair and walked out of the room, with Joey silently trailing behind. The entire way back to the room Seto didn't say a word, wouldn't even look at him. When they got back to the suite Joey followed Seto inside and shut the door. Joey felt like he had done something truly horrible, something that sorry wouldn't be able to fix, but he felt he had to at least try.
"Seto..." the blond began, turning to the CEO who had his back faced to him.
Suddenly he saw Seto's body turn, and his hand fly out. Joey reflexively turned his head just in time as the back of Seto's hand made contact with Joey's face. The blond stumbled back in shock, his face lightly stinging as he stared in shock at the teen multimillionaire. Joey had never seen Seto's eyes filled with such wrath and for the first time the blond, for just a split second, feared for his safety. However, the brown haired teen silently turned from him and stalked off to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.
Joey felt a heavy weight inside his chest as he placed a hand to his stinging cheek. Had he not turned his head, that blow definitely would have left a bruise. Joey never would have believed Seto would actually hit him. His eyes burned as he felt tears building up in them. He quickly shook his head and closed his eyes. He wasn't going to cry, not in front of Seto. Joey tried to calm himself down, tried not to think thoughts like the possibility of Seto dumping him and leaving him in Las Vegas to fend for himself. He went over to the couch and curled up on it; he knew there was no way in hell Seto would want to share the same bed with him tonight, or any other night in the near future.
Joey laid there, listening to the sounds of Seto taking his shower, while flexing his right hand. His knuckles were beginning to throb from hitting Zigfried too hard... or maybe not hard enough. No matter what anyone said, that jerk needed a punch to the face. Joey heard the shower water turn off and after a few minutes, Seto came out of the bathroom with his hair damp and wearing just his pajama pants. Joey watched from his curled up position as the CEO strode over to the couch, reached down, and grabbed Joey by the front of the shirt, hauling his upper half up.
"We need to talk." His voice still sounded as livid as it did in the office.
Joey swallowed before simply nodding 'okay'.
"What were you thinking hitting Zigfried like that?" Seto started, but soon corrected himself, "Were you even thinking when you hit Zigfried?"
Joey really didn't want to look Seto in the eye when he answered this question, "I wasn't thinking." Joey's eyes were still averted, looking at the floor instead, "I just overheard, what he was saying, and I don't know." Joey swallowed, not sure really how to explain this, "What he said just struck a chord in me, and well my fists thought before I did."
"Do you realize what beating up Zigfried like that could do?" Seto snapped back, obviously having no sympathy for Joey's answer. "I could lose this deal now because of the stunt that you just pulled."
"Work?" Joey questioned, "Work!" he was now riled up, his sadness soon turned into almost an animosity, "I just hit a guy, cause I LOVE YOU and all you care about is your work!" Joey was so upset at Seto that he didn't even realize that he said 'I love you' to Seto for the first time.
"Why do you think we are here, Wheeler?" Seto said, ignoring the 'I love you' comment completely."We came here so I could make a business deal. My competitor is Zigfried and you just beat him up. If the higher ups hear about this, they will hire him. They don't want a lawsuit on their hands, and I'm positive that if he does not get picked, he will try suing them for the stunt you pulled."
"Why does this deal matter to you so much anyways?" Joey asked, leading the conversation away from its original point. "You already make enough off of your Duel Monsters gadgets, why do you need this so badly?"
"You are getting off topic, Wheeler," Seto stated, a headache soon starting to form. "I should have never changed my mind about bringing you here."
Joey stayed quiet not sure where the conversation was going anymore. All he knew was that he had never felt worse than he did today. Not even what happened with Duke hurt like this did. His heart felt heavy, and it stung; Seto's words hurt him more than the backhand to the face.
"I'm going to bed now." Seto then left Joey alone in the room, thinking to himself, "Only an idiot could use those words so loosely."
Joey curled back on the couch, knowing that he was not wanted in the bedroom at all tonight. While staring at the ceiling he thought back on the spat that the two teens had. "I will never understand why he is so obsessed with his work…I don't think he even heard me."
The next morning Seto woke up and went to his next meeting without even giving Joey a second thought. "I'm not going to lose this deal." Seto said to himself knowing that he would not lose to Zigfried even with this small bump in the road.
The rest of the trip wasn't exactly what either would call enjoyable. Neither boy spoke a word to one another unless it was absolutely necessary. Seto ended up making the deal after Zigfried mysteriously withdrew. This, for reasons Joey couldn't comprehend, put Seto in an even further bad mood. Since the deal was closed, they were able to leave early, which Joey didn't feel too broken hearted about. The trip back home was the longest and most uncomfortable trip of Joey's life and he was grateful to be back where he and Seto could have their space, which Seto was quick to jump on. When they arrived at the mansion Seto went straight to his study and locked the door without even saying hello to Roland or Mokuba.
"Joey, what happened?" Mokuba asked the teen as Roland worked on unloading the car.
"I don't really want to talk about it," Joey muttered. It would take too much explaining, plus he'd feel embarrassed telling the kid he lost his temper and beat up one of Seto's rivals.
"Come on, Joey, it can't be that bad," Mokuba said with a smile. "And I'm sure that whatever you did, Seto will be over it eventually."
"What makes you think I did something?" Joey stated defensively.
"No offense, Joey," Mokuba replied sheepishly. "But you do have a knack for upsetting my brother."
Joey heaved a sigh, knowing the teen would keep pressing until Joey caved, so he might as well just tell him now. Joey reluctantly explained the incident at the hotel and Mokuba's eyes grew wide in shock.
"I'm kind of torn, Joey," Mokuba declared after Joey was finished. "A part of me wants to congratulate you, but the other part of me wants to say 'you idiot!' What were you thinking?"
"These two are more alike than they give each other credit for," Joey thought darkly. "I don't understand… he got the deal, why's he still so upset?"
"Seto isn't the kind of person who enjoys winning by default," Mokuba told him. "And that doesn't even include what other problems this will cause."
"Whaddya mean?" Joey asked, still not understanding what the big deal was.
"If I may, Mr. Wheeler," Roland interjected, as he placed the last of the luggage out of the car. "Mr. Kaiba is probably concerned because it's possible that you're in great danger now."
"Zigfried may not be as powerful as my brother," said Mokuba seriously. "But he's got all kinds of connections, and there's no way he's gonna let something like this slide. He's gonna try to find a way to get revenge on both you and Seto."
"What's the worst he could do?" Joey inquired with a nervous laugh. "I mean, it's Kaiba we're talking about. Besides Yugi, I've never seen anyone get a one-up on him."
"Mr. Wheeler, you can't compare duel monsters to a situation of this level," Roland inputted in his usual sober manner. "My suggestion to you would be to tread with caution… both inside and outside the house. But there is good news."
"Oh really?" Joey asked in disbelief. "And what would that be?"
"We finished the pool yesterday."