YUGIOH

Dealing with Adulthood

Chapter 11.

"There ya are!" Joey called, as he approached. "It's about time ya came out!"

"Get lost, Wheeler....I'm busy." Kaiba snapped, trying to move even quicker away from him, without out-right running.

"You aint going no where, Kaiba....we need to talk, right now!" Joey blurted, as he grabbed for the sleeve of his school uniform, to make sure he couldn't keep going.

"There's nothing I have to say to you!" Kaiba hissed, wrenching his hand away, as if Joey had somehow burned him.

"What, don't tell me you forgot about the deal. I know you could never forget that...." Joey said.

Kaiba stopped for the moment, looking at Joey as if he was insane. Why would he even bring that up? Joey couldn't possibly want this torture. "Consider it dropped."

"What?" Joey asked, totally stunned.

"You heard me....count yourself lucky, this time. Personally, I have better things to do than waste my time babysitting you." Kaiba snapped coldly, forcing himself to make it sound like a burden.

"But....but you said....y-you made that deal. If you didn't...." Joey stuttered out, still confused.

"You can't actually be arguing with me about this. Incase you didn't realize it, I just let you off the hook. This is something I would expect you would be happy over. Now get lost....go chase your tail or something." Kaiba turned away, mentally cursing himself for saying something he knew would only agitate and bait Wheeler into fighting with him. Why did he continue to do this to himself??

"Forget it!" Joey snapped, causing Kaiba to hesitate his stride. 'Forget what?'

Joey swiftly moved in front of him, saying, "A deal's a deal, Kaiba. Maybe you made this part of the deal....but the fact is you agreed to this, and so did I. So, I don't give a shit if you got the time or not. You made the deal, and you gotta respect it. You got that?"

Kaiba blinked. "Let me get this straight. You're....'demanding' that I torture you for a week??"

"Joey Wheeler never backed down from anything, and he never breaks a promise, neither. I made this deal, and I'm gonna take it like a man, rather I like it or not. Now, when does it start, so I can get this over with, already!" Joey snapped.

Kaiba still looked stunned. Joey wasn't going to 'allow' him to let it go? Why?? "Stop being so stupid for once, and take what I'm offering you! I'm letting you go, there is no deal....now 'go away'!!"

"I don't know what you're playing at Kaiba, but you're full of shit! What's your real game? You think I'm that dumb that I don't really see what's going on??" Joey snapped.

"Yes!" Kaiba replied automatically, forcing himself not to look panicked. But inside, he was terrified. 'Did he know? He seemed to be taunting me during the entire duel. Gods, he can't know!'

Joey growled, causing Kaiba to actually back a step away for once, unconsciously....and Joey didn't catch it, either. "Jerk! I know about you prying into my life. The teachers told me about you calling for my so-called job! But then, you probably knew I'd find out about that too, huh??"

'Shit!' Kaiba thought. Kaiba was so consumed by what was happening to him at the time, he didn't even think about the fact that the school would probably approach Joey about it. He really was slipping to not cover his ass, like he normally would do.

When Kaiba didn't give him an answer, Joey added, "And you made that phone call to my sister Serenity too, didn't ya?? And don't even think about denying it, Kaiba!"

At that, Kaiba turned white....he did know, Joey knew. He knew he had feelings for him, he knew he had power over him. Of course, that's why Joey was fighting Kaiba about this week, because Joey wanted to be the one to torture 'him'.

Another step back was unconsciously taken, this time noticed by Joey. 'Is he backing up? What's his problem? That's weird, he looks almost....scared....'

"You seem to know all the answers. So, what do you want?" Kaiba asked, harshly.

"What do you mean, what do I want? For one thing, if you make some kind of arrangement to torture me for a week, that don't give you any right to try and use my personal info against me, that's what! And don't be talking to my sister, upsetting her with some lies about me being gay! Just cuz you get ta own me doesn't mean you get the right to do anything ta her, you got that!" Joey snapped.

Kaiba was stunned. 'He didn't get it???' It was inconceivable. 'Even Joey can't be that stupid!' Kaiba thought, then began to reconsider....maybe he could.

Kaiba then gave out a slight chuckle, as he spat out, "You really must be the stupidest person on this planet. Dumb mutt....just do yourself a favor and go home."

"You heard what I said! A deal's a deal, and I'm taking it rather you want to do this or not!" Joey snapped.

Kaiba looked at him sternly, and answered, "No. Like it or not....you're a free man, or should I say dog? So, what are you going to do, now? You can't 'make' me torment you."

"You wanna bet?? There aint no one to hold me back this time, Kaiba! Mebbe it's about time you finally got your ass kicked!" Joey snarled at him, acting like the rabid dog that he was.

Joey looked incredible....every word, every sound, every movement was like music, an inescapable song that he simply could not pull himself away from. It only made Kaiba more angrier at himself to be constantly losing so much control around him.

In frustration, Kaiba snapped back, "Fine, mutt....try it, and see what happens to you! You obviously have a death wish today, so go ahead!"

"Fine! It's go time!!" All of Joey's own frustrations built up to a peak, and he lunged towards Kaiba full-stride to teach him a lesson, to make him pay for always tormenting him....even in his dreams.

Kaiba was more than his worst enemy, he was his obsession. Ever since he faced him at Duelist Kingdom, he had never been able to get him out of his mind. Kaiba would always be there in his thoughts, like slow torture.

He had no idea why his thoughts on Kaiba would never leave him alone. But Kaiba said things to him after he defeated him that fateful day. He told Joey he would always be afraid of him, that his duel with him crushed his pride and would make him not want to duel ever again.

That's not what happened….what happened was that he was even more determined to fight Kaiba again. But he believed that duel did effect him. His thoughts of Kaiba would never let him rest again. But he knew the cure for it….or he thought he did.

If he could finally put Kaiba in his place, all would be fine once again. But until that happened, he could never rest, until the day he was finally able to beat Kaiba in something.

So in rage, Joey lunged at him. He swung, easily missing....he swung again, unable to even touch him. Again, and again, Joey pushed forward trying to land a punch on him, take that smug, er....glare off his face. Which was also strange to Joey. Normally when Kaiba 'played' with him like that, he gave that cocky grin. So, why did Kaiba look so miserable?

But that only reminded Joey of the worst insult ever that Kaiba had been giving him....he'd been ignoring him. How 'dare' he be ignored like he was nothing! His entire life rotated around trying to finally find some way to beat Kaiba, and this guy now decided to treat him like he didn't even exist? He would remind Kaiba that Joey Wheeler was not someone to be ignored!

Growing only angrier, Joey tried harder against Kaiba....exerting all his energy to try and land a punch.

Finally, Kaiba had enough. He caught his fist. So, Joey tried with his other hand, and Kaiba caught that one too, quickly pinning them both painfully behind Joey's back. Kaiba's arms were wrapped around him, making Joey practically helpless. But Joey thrashed around like a caged animal, unexpectedly forcing them over as Kaiba landed on top of him....still pinning Joey in his place.

Kaiba's eyes were twitching now, seeming momentarily paralyzed as he stared coldly down at Joey. He didn't expect himself in this position so close to him. And he wanted so badly to connect with him. But somehow his pride and will continued to keep that barrier up from Joey, preventing Kaiba from doing something stupid. He hated him….he hated Joey for what he did to him, what he felt because of him.

And Joey had no idea what he was doing to Kaiba. He had problems of his own. He tried so hard to show Kaiba he was atleast worthy to be at an even level with him, only to end up on the ground with Kaiba pinning him into almost immobility.

Joey looked into those eyes with a feral rage that was beyond reason, and was wondering why Kaiba was just laying there and not hitting him, yet. 'What, he's now insulting me by taking it easy on me? That bastard, I'll kill him!!'

Helpless to pull his arms up and do any harm to Kaiba in this state, Joey then blurted out madly, "What! What the fuck are you waiting for! Do it, already! I dare you, ya fucking coward....do it!!"

The dare was too much. It finally snapped something in Kaiba, and what little resistance he had left he was clinging to for dear life shredded to nothing from Joey's words. Kaiba lunged at Joey in all his fury, but not the way Joey had expected. He was expecting a painful retort from Kaiba, but instead his mouth violently connected with Joey's own surprised open mouth, devouring it with his tongue.

It was like time had stopped, and for that moment in time....Kaiba had found heaven, a heaven he never knew existed. But that moment lasted only that long before time and reality quickly rushed back, realizing....not only was he kissing Joey, Joey wasn't kissing back. And if Joey didn't know about the secret he was trying to keep from him, he would definitely know now.

Kaiba immediately pulled back in horror over what he had done....he crossed the line, and foolishly did the one thing he would have never believed in his worst nightmares that he would do: hand someone complete power over him. He might as well have just given Joey a knife, showed him where to stab him, and encourage him to twist it for a more painful result.

Joey simply stared back at him in total shock. But he didn't give Joey time to recover. Kaiba stood, turned, and quickly rushed off, grabbing his suitcase on the way....and never looked back.