Joey: Thanks to Angel Dove and Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai for their pleading. I get to keep my leg! At least for now so please don't let her change her mind it's still an option!

Chapter thirteen

Seto was once again sitting in the chair to the right of his Puppy's bed. The accident was half a year ago. Joey had been in a coma ever since and it didn't look like he was going to wake up any time soon. Since the accident, Seto had been in the hospital every single night for at least a few hours. He worked during the day and slept a bit before going into work and after work before going into the hospital. And if you could believe the doctors he might never wake up and the machines where pointless, even so he did still breath on his own even more regular than before and his heart worked without help, too. But he was fed with an IV and would not be able to live without it. But Seto would do anything to keep his Puppy alive, he needed him he couldn't let go even if it was selfish. Seto just sat there on his chair, this time holding his hand. After all the wounds all healed a long time ago. The leg was completely stiff but it hadn't gotten infected and was healed for now. They hadn't risked to set it while Joey was in a coma. They were too worried that he´d just fall deeper into the coma and stopped breathing and his heartbeat might stop, too. The risk had been too much in their opinion and since Joey needed to sign for it now, since it wasn't an emergency operation they couldn't have done it anyway.

Seto saw the moonlight shining on his Puppy's beautiful face and once again felt helpless and this time around he couldn't even count anything really. So all he could do was watching the beauty in front of him, unable to help and unable to do anything at all but to watch and pray that he would wake up soon. That he would wake up from his coma and not lie there like he was already death, pale and unmoving the only prove for him still having some life in, being him the peeping of the heart monitor and the quiet breathing. Like every night for the past half year he pleaded with his Puppy and said "Please Joey please wake up don't leave me again. I miss you so much my love. I need you, please come back to me."

All Seto could do was to pray that soon he would once again be able to hear his voice and look into those honey brown eyes and see the smile that outshone even the sun. Seto took another deep breath and couldn't believe that once again he needed to fight the tears from coming down his face. It wasn't like him to cry like a baby and he hated to look weak but he was terrified for Joey to never wake up, to have lost his only hope to be with him, he was afraid that he had already lost him with no chance of finding him this time. He didn't know how he should deal with it, if he really would never wake up from the coma and maybe even die, without ever waking up. "Please wake up Pup, please don't leave me behind, my love." He whispered and laid his head next the their hands onto the bed. His lips gently kissing the tip of Joey's fingers. He closed his eyes, trying to imagine how it would be if Joey opened his eyes. Seto prayed for it to happen but at the same time feared it a little and hoped it would happen after he had left and one of his friends was at his side. Even after what Serenity had said, even after deciding to give them a chance, to give himself a chance at being with the one he loved and feared to hurt him with it, he was still worried. Serenity could have been wrong, Joey could have fallen for another guy shortly before he disappeared or just having said to Serenity that it was him, so she wouldn't find out who he really loved. If that's the case, it was most likely Tristan or Duke, since both of them used to hit on her and Joey might have been to embarrassed to tell his sister that he loved a man, that loved her. That she was his competition.

He hoped it wasn't the case, he hoped that once he was awake, he would get to kiss him for real this time. Not a stolen one, like the first time he had left him for the day. Not one where he hardly dared to touch his lips of fear to hurt him. He wanted to kiss him till he was breathless but knew that even if he woke up, he couldn't do that just yet. He was still weak, after all he had been in a coma and been unmoving for two years. It was like he was gone again for them, just this time Joey wasn't anywhere for him. The time would be stolen. He had come close to losing him twice in a row. First when he was in hiding and now to the car, he needed to be careful with his puppy until he had his strength back and not risk losing him again. Still he couldn't help but imagine what a future, in which he was with his beautiful Puppy, might hold.

When Seto opened his eyes, he was holding his Puppy in his arms on his own bed and they were kissing Seto could feel his Puppy's hands on his own chest gently wandering over his skin he felt Joey's lips on his neck nibbling and sucking and enjoyed the skilled lips of his Pup. He was happy and wished it would be like that for all eternity. "Don't worry Seto no matter what happens I'll always come back to you." the blond in his arms whispered. "I don't want you to come back" Seto said and saw surprise and pain in his puppy's face so he tried to explain and added "To come back you would need to go and I don't want you to go in the first place." A smile formed on the younger ones face and he said "Silly I already was gone, but I won't leave you again. I promise." Seto felt the hand ruffle his hair for some reason. Part of him wanted to say 'don't mess up my hair' but it felt so good that he just closed his eyes for a moment.

The next thing Seto suddenly noticed, after he opened his eyes again, was that the light had changed ever so slightly. The sky was brightening up. He must have fallen asleep without even noticing, it had been a dream his Puppy in his bed in his arms, all a dream and Seto was still in the same position, still with his head next to Joey his hand in... and that was when he noticed that the light wasn't all that had changed. His hand might still be next to Joey, but it was empty, Joey's was no longer in it. Joey's finger where instead moving slowly through his brown hair, just at the front, ruffling it just like in the dream. How could it be? He couldn't move it at all for more than half a year, but he did now. Seto stayed in the same position for a short moment, once again unsure of what he should do next.

But even so he was unsure if it was right, he still needed to see if Joey was truly awake. He needed to see his eyes, so he moved his head up slowly, staring down onto the face of his beloved Puppy, looking right into half lidded, tired looking honey brown eyes. "You're awake." Was all Seto could get out as he pressed a button to call for a nurse. "Jeez moneybags, you really have a way to state the obvious." Joey said with a small smile. His voice was weak since he hadn't used it for so long, but Seto could understand him well enough and couldn't help but smile at the joking tone his Puppy already had. It seemed like it really did take more than one car to get him down. At least in the long term "I was just surprised, after all it took you long enough." Seto couldn't help but tease him a little. But kept smiling lovingly at the blond beauty in front of him. Finally not a sleeping beauty any more.

"Could you maybe be so kind and tell me how long that was and what the hell happened in the first place? I mean, I get that I'm in a hospital." Joey asked, causing Seto to get nervous again. He didn't want to be the one to tell him about his leg, bad enough that he probably couldn't get around telling him how much he had missed again. So he decided to just tell him what had happened to him and not what the doctors had said. "It was just half a year, I know its a long time but it could have been worse. And had no one ever told you to be careful when you cross a street, you got hit by a car." Seto took his hand again, very gently having his own more under it than really holding onto it. But Joey squeezed his gently and he held on a bit more too after that.

"Why are you here? I mean, I always thought if I ever end up in a hospital and be out for a while, well I thought you would be the last one I see when I wake up." Seto saw a blush spreading over his skin and had to smile. It just sounded too cute, in his opinion and Seto knew that didn't mean much but the blond sounded a little unsure, but his Puppy seemed to be happy that he was there. At the same time Seto got even more nervous, for this was the moment he had feared, the moment to tell his puppy the truth, it was now or never. "Why wouldn't it be me?" He asked, trying to get a little more time to find the right words. To say it the right way, so Joey would understand and so he wouldn't upset his sick and weak little Puppy.

"Why not? I thought you're the one for the obvious? I mean, you hate me everyone knows that. It so obvious that you do. And yet you're here and didn't even unplug any of the peeping machines that get even on my nerves." Seto saw him looking angrily at the heart monitor that gave a little peep for every heart beat, and only said "They don't get on my nerves, I actually started to love that peep." Joey looked at him confused and said: "How can anyone love that peep? But at least it explains why you're here, even so it is strange to stay in a hospital too hear a peep."

Now it was Seto's turn to look confused. Okay, he had said that he liked the peep but even Joey couldn't think he would stay just for a peeping noise. His brain must still be only half awake. Seto thought for another moment about how to explain, pressing the button for the nurse once more, wondering why no one came to give him a second to think about his words. "I'm not here for the peep and I love the peep because every one is a prove that you are still alive." Now Joey looked even more confused.

"Okay and again why do you like that? I mean you hate me. You always did." Seto took a deep breath, there was still no flipping nurse. What the hell were they doing? If this would have been an emergency, Joey might have died by now, so why the hell is it taking them so long? "What makes you think that I hate you?"

Joey rolled his eyes a little, but not much since they where still half lidded and still looked tiered. Which caused Seto to once again wonder, where the hell the nurse was and he pressed the button for the third time. "Okay, I take that back, with you having to state the obvious. You always fight with me, call me dog names and tell me I'm worthless and need to learn my place. You always look down on me with everything. Need anything else why I know you hate me?" Seto looked him in the eyes for a moment, thinking about how to explain that one. He knew why he had acted like that but even Mokuba had seemed to not really get his point. How was he expecting Joey to get why he had picked on him? An example might be the best, one that was recent at least for him and maybe the easiest to understand.

"Do you remember when we met in the Game shop? I mean, the first time you saw me after your little disappearance stunt?"

"Sure, that was one of the many times you were picking on me, which is my point exactly."

"I know, but do you remember before I started the dog comments? You were down and didn't want to say what had happened while you were gone and you looked lost and sad and just helpless and to be honest I wanted to make you feel better, but I didn't know how or what to say. I had never been good with comforting someone, ask Mokuba, he will be able to confirm that I made him feel worse more often than not, when I tried to comfort him. So I thought that instead of making you feel less down by comforting, I just take your mind off things and get you all feisty again, that's why I said that then." Seto blushed a little, he knew it wasn't the normal way to deal with things but it was what he had done and what he thought had been the best at the moment. And he still believed it to have worked. Joey looked at him in disbelieve and said: "Just so I get this right, you insulted me to make me feel better?"

Seto looked him in the eyes and had to admit: "It does sound a little strange when you put it that way, but yes that was the plan."

"Sounds a little strange?" Joey asked and continued with: "It's more than a little strange. Man, if that was the idea your strange mind came up with, then something in there is way off, like your brain isn't wired right. But to be honest, it did get me into a different mood, not happy.. far from it, but not so down either so, thanks, but please don't try that again. But now lets say I got the point and I'm not sure I totally get your high wired brain but lets say I do and believe that you don't hate me, I still don't understand why you stayed here during the night and say things like that you like this stupid peeping sound just because it proves I'm alive."

Once again Seto took a deep breath, he just didn't know how to say it best, so he had to just say it blunt as it was. He had to say that he was there because he loved him but in that moment the nurse finally entered the room, holding a cup of coffee, so instead he said "What the hell took you so long? I pressed the button three times and still had to wait! What if it would have been an emergency? You're lucky he is awake or I would make sure that you´d never find a job as a nurse in your life again, you incompetent fool." The nurse flinched under the death stare that came with his angry words and quickly said: "I'm sorry, I assumed you just wanted another coffee like the other times you called during the nights, I'll go and get a doctor immediately, it will only take a second." And with that she put the coffee down on a table close to the door and rushed out.

"Poor nurse", Joey mumbled "She was so nice to get you a coffee and you shout at her and you really shouldn't use them as your personal butler, they have better things to do, you know?" Seto watched his face, worried that he might be angry with him but he had a little smile around his lips, so Seto thought he could tease him a little "I needed to stay awake somehow and didn't want to leave you. At least not until I have a leash to make sure my cute Pup doesn't run in front of a car again."

Joey looked at him in confusion again and said: "Thanks for getting back to the topic at hand, how can you make dog jokes and call me cute at the same time? And why have you been here so many nights? It sounded nearly like every night."

Seto looked him deep into the honey eyes and hoped that he had thought of the right words to say. He needed to say more than just "I love you", he wanted him to know everything now. He wanted him to know that it was him that had helped him and that had gotten him off the street. He wanted him to be the one, who was there for him and so he said: "Because you´re cute when you get feisty like a little pup that lived on the street and tries to defend a bone, when clearly in the disadvantage but still in fighting spirit and never giving up, it's because I love seeing the spark in your eyes whenever you fight back after I call you names, and because I don't want to lose the love of my life ever again after, it took so long until I found you, or rather until my private detective Ed had found you. And I just couldn't bare to lose you again, most of all knowing that I couldn't see you ever again."

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