Okay I know some of you guys may have read this already but I decided to break up the chapter into two so that it would make more sense. Trying to force all that content into one chapter wasn't a good idea for the writing process anyway.

So I had been feeling really down lately. I mean besides, Trump getting elected (still can't believe that shit) I can't believe 2ne1 disbanded, I thought I was going to slit my wrists over that. I felt like 2016 was just a mistake, one giant mindfuck year and the biggest blunder of the world's colorful history. But then… this happened:

Today I would like to share with you what happened when I saw Vamps live in NYC in November (Nov 13, 2016). I camped out for two whole days in brick as hell weather, frigid as all fuck, and as I slept on concrete giving myself scoliosis I thought I was going to die of hypothermia. They don't make parkas the way they used to. The only thing that would've made it worse is if it rained. Thank god it didn't. Still prefer this to camping out during the summer months where birds poop in your hair (true story, happened to the girl who was camping out right next to me for the miyavi concert) and mosquitoes give you the zika virus. (I didn't get the zika virus but I shit you not I was bit like 17 times in one night.) But it was all worth it because not only did I get second row, I touched Hyde's nipple when he got close to the crowd. That's right, Hyde freed the nipple and I touched it. I don't know if you heard me. I TOUCHED HIS NIPPLE. And it was a pleasantly plump nipple slightly moist from all the sweat.

Now I see why moist is such a dirty word.

I'VE GOT HYDE'S DNA ON MY LEFT HAND! NEVER WASHING IT AGAIN!

NIPPLE LOVER OVER HERE!

And thus… the year 2016 was saved.

Disclaimer: I own the feeling of Hyde's nipple against my fingertips. Just saying.

Happy Thanksgiving, HELLO BLACK FRIDAY!

Billionaire Birthday Blues

It was his first day on the job and Joey's expectations were already blown away. Entering the huge office building was a little intimidating for Joey. The building alone was larger than life, he stood in front of a marble cut skyscraper with enormous pristine glass windows that led all the way up that he couldn't even see the top of. The front of the building was very clean, not even a speck of dust stained the sidewalk in front of it. The handles were made of pure gold, the revolving door entrance was gigantic and a powerful wind was created through its passing. Kaiba Corp seemed to shine and sparkle with every passing moment.

Joey was immediately met with Roland who gave him a mini tour of the building. Of course, it would be impossible for Roland to show him every floor so he showed him the ones relevant to his duties. He then told Joey what he would oversee. Saeko was not only involved hands-on in many projects as well as personal managerial tasks. Unlike Saeko, who had great business sense with experience in production and finance, Joey didn't have any other experience other than mechanics. Kaiba was quite impressed with the way Joey had gotten Mokuba's piece of junk Mustang up and running again. He thought that he could harness that ability for his company somehow, by letting Joey have a little bit of involvement when it came to the machinery of Kaiba Corp and the blueprinting for the latest inventions. Kaiba Corp worked with the best and the brightest minds, but Joey could offer skills that one couldn't find at the end of fancy college degree, as well as the opinion of a former world class duelist.

So, Roland was tasked with the job of making Joey an asset to the company, not just to Seto personally. Joey would have to spend most of his time at a desk outside of Kaiba's office on the top floor, answering calls, setting up appointments, and sifting through paperwork, but he would also be able to do what he was good at; building things and testing out dueling new merchandise before anyone else did. It was a wonderful fit for the young man and the purpose behind it was to keep him busy and fulfilled enough that he wouldn't have time to think about his father. Roland smiled to himself, he wondered just who this person was to Kaiba to be receiving this much care from him.

Joey was introduced to many people on his first day, too many people to keep up with. There were so many departments, so many employees. Already he was having a headache, he couldn't imagine what it must be like to be in charge of them all. There was Takeo of the 15th floor, charged with creative management, Elaine of promotions on the 49th floor, Aoi of the finance division on the 28th floor and the list went on and on. The building had 88 floors in total of which Kaiba's office was on the top of, the first ten floors where just for product marketing alone. Joey probably would've found it difficult to spend so much time on the 88th floor were it not for his experience with construction. The view from the 88th floor was virtually unmatched save Dungoen Dice Enterpirses, whose building was slightly higher than Kaiba Corp's.

He then met the person who oversaw the engineering and mechanics division on the 11th floor. Her name was Momo, an eccentric blue-haired woman in her mid-30s who donned coke bottle lenses and a lab coat. Her hair was disheveled like she had been working through the night. She sneezed upon Joey's arrival and looked up from the computer at him with a smile.

"Is this the new person that will help us with the mechanics?" Momo sniffled before shaking Joey's hand. "I'm Momo, nice to meet you! Where are you from? How old are you? How tall are you? What's your weight? Can you lift heavy things? When can you start? Today? Great! I have a ton of things for you to do. You can start with-"

"Joey has places to visit today, but he'll be here to help tomorrow." Roland interrupted the woman from her ramblings, seeing that Joey was overwhelmed by her nonstop questions she didn't even give him a chance to answer. Joey smiled and nodded politely.

After Roland finished his toured he was briefed on a few other things before Roland left him at his desk. Joey had gone around and introduced himself to all the other workers quite cheerfully. Joey had always been a welcoming of new social situations and was warm to anyone and everyone who wasn't Kaiba. After that he had gotten his schedule from the scheduling secretary, Puma. And then for the rest of the time he had been organizing what documents Kaiba had to sign vs the ones he wanted him to throw away.

Joey was struggling with all of the paperwork given to him on his first day. He ran an entire mechanic shop and he had never seen this much paperwork in his life. Plus he was sleep deprived having spent all night making business calls sounding like some sort of awkward sycophant for hours on end. It was now a new day, his first official day with the company, and it could be because of his resilient work ethic that he wanted to make a good impression on everyone there. He didn't want them to think he was just given the job out of pity even though he was astoundingly unqualified in his opinion.

Kaiba walked past Joey's desk and into his own office as he loosened his tie. He had just gotten back from the board meeting and all in all it went pretty well. Not a lot of people knew this about Kaiba but though intimidating others came second nature to him, it was pretty exhausting. He now had to check the Kaiba stocks as well as submit next month's business proposal. He was a whole month early for it but it was better to give the company more time to shape up the new virtual game disks before anything else. His designers and traders were always pleased with his punctuality these days of bringing things to them well in advance. Then he would be able to continue his work with planning the carnival, the carnival fast approaching was becoming one of Kaiba's main priorities.

But for the moment he was trying to figure out why he was so on edge. Sitting down at the computer rubbed his neck before getting started. Once he started typing he realized that he did not get his morning coffee, that's why he had been so uncomfortable. When Saeko was assisting him, one of the things she was very diligent about was making sure he had his coffee.

Joey walked in right at that moment. His mood was suddenly corrupted by seeing Kaiba face and he put on a scowl. They hadn't spoken since last night, and their last conversation was still leaving a bad taste in Joey's mouth. The tension was thick, could probably cut it with a spoon if one wanted to. Wordlessly, Joey did a moderately quick shuffle to Kaiba's desk and dropped a piled of unsigned documents in front of Kaiba before turning around to leave.

"Coffee." Kaiba said briskly. "Black."

Joey stopped in his tracks. "You're getting rather confident, aren't you? How do you know that I won't poison your coffee?"

"There are only two things in this world that I have the upmost confidence in." Kaiba replied. "The first would be my skills as a businessman, and the second would be your willingness in good faith to do any job you set out to do, which includes getting me my coffee."

Shit. The bastard is right about that. "One of these days, Kaiba… you won't be so confident anymore." He muttered as he left to go retrieve Kaiba's coffee.

"Who does she think she is really?"

"Yeah, she thinks she's such hot shit because she's dating the boss."

"Mr. Devlin really has such questionable tastes."

Every morning when Megumi walked the halls of Dungeon Dice Enterprises these were the kind of whispers she would hear. These were the sort of whispers that had made her reject Duke in the first place. But she had grown to a point of not caring what others think. The only thing that mattered is what she and Duke thought and she was massively happy with their relationship at this point.

She went to her cubicle and turned on her computer, trying to pull up all her work from the day before and was having a difficult time finding it. After scouring the computer, she noticed that her primary folder was missing. Looking around, she noticed that some of her coworkers were in a corner snickering to themselves.

Erumi was one of the people Megumi had been close with when she first entered the company. She oriented Megumi, showing her the ropes and teaching her everything she would have to know about the job. However, ever since she started dating Duke Erumi immediately stopped talking to her, became cold and distant, and finally outright tried to sabotage and undermine her at every turn. And now Erumi sat in the room looking smug as ever.

Megumi fumed. Erumi was allowed to say whatever she damn well pleased but this sort of thing was a step too far. She stood up and walked over to the person in question before grabbing the woman by the wrist and leading her to the copy room and closing the door behind her.

"Let go of me!" Erumi protested, ripping her wrist away from Megumi's. "How dare you put your hands on me?"

"Why is there a folder missing in my computer?"

"Why are you asking me?" Erumi gave her a scandalized look.

Megumi crossed her arms with authority. "Don't play dumb. That folder was there last night and you are the only person who knows my login information." Reason being that months ago Erumi was the one who had given it to her in the first place.

Erumi rolled her eyes before fixing her short dirty blond hair. "What does it matter, anyway? It's not as if you'll get fired for losing a very important document like that anyway. Since you're screwing the boss, you have nothing to worry about at all. All you have to do… is just keep spreading your legs."

To Megumi that was a passive admission to what she had done. After all, she had never told her she was looking for a document inside the missing folder. Megumi very calmly, raised a hand and slapped Erumi across the face, much to the latter's astonishment. She didn't know that seemingly kind sweet innocent Megumi had that side to her. "You know, I really don't care what you think of Duke and me, I don't care what anyone thinks. But to put our whole project at risk, because of your unchecked jealousy is where I draw the line."

Erumi held her cheek where it still stung from the assault, stepping backward. "Jealous? Of who, you? Don't make me laugh!"

"You put DDE at risk, and you deleted months' worth of work because of what?"

"Because I couldn't stand how uppity you are." Erumi's heels clicked against the hard floor as she came closer to Megumi and got in her face. "Some of us had to work hard to get to where you are today, but not you. You just came in, charmed the boss, and found your way into his bed. You think we couldn't do that? You think we couldn't have seduced him just to get ahead?"

"Have you ever considered the fact that I could actually care about that guy? That I could be sincerely falling in love with that guy? Don't push your assumptions onto me just because that's what you would do if you were me." In her anger Megumi didn't have time to check what she had just admitted out loud.

Erumi didn't like the notion of being called a gold-digger.

"You know, I really respected you. But that was before I knew that you could damage the company's projects over some silly petty interpretation of my relationship. Say what you want about me, I don't care. But if you do something like this again, if you put DDE at risk again, I won't let you off with just a slap next time." Megumi touched the door before pausing. "Oh, I forgot." Megumi pulled a USB stick out of her pocket. "I found that folder, after all."

Megumi opened the door and was surprised to find Duke standing there. He looked incredibly furious signaling that he had just heard the entire unpleasant conversation. Erumi who was feet behind her, looked like she had just seen a ghost.

Megumi smiled sweetly. "I'm glad you're here, Duke. There's something I need to discuss with you."

"In a minute." he said staring daggers into Erumi.

"It's about the dice design for the current project." Megumi tried again.

"I said in a minute." He reiterated.

"It really can't wait." Megumi said, this time pulling him away from the copy room and into the elevator leading to his office.

"What the hell are you doing, Megumi?"

"I should ask you that. Don't get involved, it's only going to give everyone a worse opinion of me than they already have."

Duke scoffed. "I'm already trying to devise a way to fire her without ripping her face off."

"Don't!" Megumi exclaimed. "She's a good worker. And if you do that, it means I lose."

Duke eyed her, perplexed by her last statement. "Lose what?"

"I'm going to beat her in my own way. I'm going to show her, I'll show them all. One day I'll be in a position much higher than them, through nothing but hard work and determination." Megumi grabbed him by the hand and held it. "And besides, if that's the price of being with you then it's a small one. I'm not afraid."

Duke kissed her hand. "Am I not allowed to get angry when I see you being treated in that way? Am I not allowed to use my power to protect you?"

As they stepped out of the elevator, Megumi couldn't help but hug him. "Right now, I need you to protect my pride more than anything. Everything else, just let me handle it."

Duke patted her hair. He wasn't happy about it but what could he do? "Just promise me, that you'll tell me if anything else happens."

Megumi nodded slowly.

Kaiba didn't understand his own feelings. Joey had been living with him for a little more than two weeks and there was not one sex dream, not one inappropriate thought about the blond. When Joey wasn't living with him he thought he would die because of those things. Before, he would hear and see Joey even when he wasn't there. Kaiba even thought he'd have to be heavily medicated just to control himself. But day after day he was able to work efficiently with astounding piece of mind. No need whatsoever to put those pills Ayame gave him to good use. The mental pivot made him wonder what he had truly wanted in the first place. Maybe just having Joey by his side was enough for him.

Moreover, Joey had happened to enter the company at an incredibly hectic time. For the last eight days they had been working non-stop on the Kaiba Corp Carnival, something that Kaiba put a lot of time and energy in for the sake of poor and disadvantaged kids to gain free entry and having access to Kaiba Corp products. When Roland oriented Joey on the project and informed him of this special reasoning Joey could hardly believe it, but it certainly motivated him to be of better help to everyone.

Joey fell into this routine of going to the company in the morning and working there all day. Most of his day would be comprised of organizing and sifting through paperwork, a task that he was surprisingly good at given his horrible grades in high school. He was also in charge of organizing staff meetings and being the liaison between Kaiba and all other different departments. However, perhaps the only thing he did better than the former PA was his task of testing out the new products and using Kaiba Corp's dueling technology given his extensive background in duel monsters.

He also spent a significant part of his day working with Momo in order to build Kaiba Corp product designs. It was a wonderfully exciting job task to him. Joey didn't really understand all the math involved or the complexity of the creative process but Momo would ask him things like 'how do I make this machine run the holograms smoother?' or 'what the right amount of metal to hold the dueling arena in place?' The two had a very compatible working relationship and Momo was always happy to see him, especially now when she was putting things together for the carnival.

After he finished all of his duties at Kaiba Corp, he would work at the construction yard all night and not come back until the early hours of the morning. Then he would sleep for a few hours before repeating the cycle all over again. On the weekends, he worked part time at Takeshi's restaurant.

But the chief part of this routine was avoiding Kaiba at all costs. Unless he absolutely needed to confirm something with Kaiba he tried his best to keep contact with him to a minimum. This was due to still being ticked off at the way he ended up in this situation in the first place. Joey was pretty bad at holding grudges, that's why he had to avoid Kaiba so that he wouldn't forget why he was so angry. This was the one thing he would never forgive Kaiba for, using his father's and his situation as some pawn to get Joey to do whatever he wanted, using Takeshi's disappearance in order to manipulate him. He was afraid that if he got comfortable with Kaiba he may forget those treacherous actions and get betrayed by his own expectations of the man again.

On this particular day, Joey was at Kaiba Corp late, working late into the rainy evening on things for the carnival that was scheduled to open the following day. He was already so late that he would not have time to stop at the mansion and rest a little maybe grab a bite to eat, he would have to go straight to the yard. The finishing touches on the carnival's grand opening were creating a lot of paperwork for him to sift through and calls to make. He had to go over the contracts of the brokers that would be there and leave them for Kaiba to sign. When he was finally finished he and Kaiba were the only ones left in the whole building. He walked into Kaiba's office and wordlessly dropped the stack of papers on Kaiba's desk before turning around to leave.

"Where are you going?" Kaiba asked without looking up from the computer.

"The yard." Joey replied curtly.

Kaiba raised a brow as thunder clapped. It was completely torrential out there. "You're going out there like that?" He eyed him momentarily. "Are you an idiot?"

"Don't start with me." Joey snapped. "I can take care of myself. Since when did you ever care about what happens to me anyway?" To Joey, all Kaiba ever cared about was getting what he wanted. That was the last thing he said before walking out the door.

Kaiba sighed. Well, I shouldn't be too worried about him… Joey had the unique ability of turning stupidity into a shield.

Kaiba himself was far too busy to pay attention to Joey's antics anyway. He began typing furiously on his computer and remaining in the same spot well into the night. By the time he was finished it was 11pm at night. He had just hit the send button on all the emails he had compiled and stood up taking a well-deserved stretch rubbing his sore neck. He picked up his jacket from the coat rack and headed towards the door. Upon reaching for the door knob he heard his office phone ring. Looking back at his desk he saw the office phone button flashing and it rang again. Then a third time.

Kaiba had a incredibly strong urge to ignore it and have the person leave a message but he couldn't. The whole prospect of the thing made him overwhelmingly curious. Who could be calling him this late at night? Kaiba slowly walked back to his desk and picked up the phone call. "Kaiba Corp."

"Is this Seto Kaiba?" A male voice that Kaiba didn't recognize was on the other end of the line.

A wave of eeriness passed over Kaiba. "And who might you be?"

There was a somewhat pregnant pause. "My name is Miura. Takeshi Miura."

Kaiba's eyes widened in surprise. He was taken aback by the man's identity.

"I heard that you were looking for me. And know we've worked together in the past but I can't imagine why it would be the case that you're looking for me." Takeshi said.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Kaiba." Miura's brown eyes twinkled though jet black bangs hiding a mischievous look behind them as he took Kaiba's hand and shook it.

Kaiba recalled the memory with a sharp gasp. This man wasn't just saying he was Takeshi Miura, that voice really did belong to him. "You're… alive?"

"So I am."

"Where are you?"

"I can't say. I'm in a bit of a dangerous situation right now, that's why I had to go into hiding. Why are you looking for me?" Miura asked.

"I can't say. I'm in a bit of a curious situation right now." Kaiba repeated his own words back to him. The response caused laughter from the other end of the line.

"Fair enough." Miura acquiesced.

"If no one is supposed to know where you are then why did you call me?" Kaiba asked.

Miura sighed. "That, of course, would be because I need something from you."

"Coming!" Joey spent the entire morning answering phone calls and running around the building trying to prepare for the carnivals grand opening. The carnival would only be up and running for a short time before the rest of the new Kaiba Corp products were distributed into Domino stores.

Kaiba Corp staff welcomed Joey Wheeler with open arms. He had only been there for a couple weeks but all departments in the building already loved him. The stark difference between Joey and Saeko was the fact that Joey was incredibly earnest. He was always eager to help everyone not just Kaiba, like Saeko had done. If they asked him to grab them a cup of coffee, make copies, or make reports, he would always do it for them no matter how busy he was. Most of all he was funny and cheerful, they all loved that about him. Sure, he didn't know everything there is to know about running a corporation but he was a fast learner, and what he DID know he was an absolute expert in. He excelled in the mechanics of everything. He always seemed to understand how machinery was built, giving the most proper insight as he was looking at the blueprints of their latest carnival project. It was such a shame he never went to school for mechanical engineering.

Around one o clock Joey and Kaiba had received word that the carnival opened without a hitch and Joey finally breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't slept for 28 hours straight and he was exhausted as he plopped down on his chair. Now all he had to do was the report that the tech department asked him to do and he'd be finished for the moment.

Kaiba was pacing in his office. The conversation he had with Miura the night before had him contemplating all morning whether he would tell Joey about it or not. Dismissing it temporarily, Kaiba finished his work and decided that he was going to go out to the carnival in order to make sure everything was running smoothly. Upon grabbing his coat and leaving his office he found Joey sitting at his desk upright. Kaiba looked at Joey's sleeping face as the latter was unsuccessfully trying to stay awake sitting upright in the chair. He was on a downward lean to the side. "Idiot. You spend all your time worrying about other people, when will you ever have time to worry about yourself?" Upon examining him, Kaiba could tell Joey had exhausted himself, doing more than he could handle. Perhaps he would speak to his staff and tell them not to bother Joey, that should be a joy preserved for him and him only.

His thoughts were interrupted when Joey sneezed and then subsequently coughed. He looked very cold and was shivering slightly. Kaiba went over to Joey's desk, putting his jacket over Joey. Upon closer inspection, Joey really looked paler than usual. Something about the state of him kept him from being able to walk away. Slowly, Kaiba put a palm unto Joey's forehead and was inwardly surprised to find that it was red hot. Joey coughed again and gripped the jacket closer to him. Was he sick? Kaiba's hand fell to Joey's neck. Scorching hot. Kaiba pulled out his phone at once. "Roland. I need you to come to my office and transport Wheeler to the limo. Bring him to the mansion and have the doctors look at him immediately."

Kaiba turned to leave and then paused, looking back at Joey's shivering frame one last time. He exhaled deeply. Just who the hell was he kidding?

The next thing Joey knew he was in his room in the mansion being poked and prodded at. He was hooked up to an IV drip shivering something terrible, and no matter what he did he could not get warm. It was then he realized that he was sick, he hadn't been sick in years. It was the worst possible thing that could ever happen to him. In fact, to Joey being sick was one of the worst things in the whole world. Ever since his mom and sister died, he was afraid of falling sick and what the result of that could be. Mainly because he thought that he if he fell sick again, this time he could lose his dad. And then he remembered that he had already lost him.

Joey half-delirious opened his eyes and saw Kaiba there, holding his hand. Why did the man have such a worried look on his face? "No… Get away from me..." Joey whispered to him.

"Say that to me when you're well enough to walk." Kaiba said ignoring him. He squeezed water out of a cold towel and placed it over his forehead. "Then again, if you have the energy to make demands then it must not be fatal."

"Get away, don't come near me…" Joey said breathlessly.

"Is this how I wasn't supposed to get involved in your other jobs?" Kaiba asked suddenly. "I know you were at the construction yard last night, working in the rain all night without a jacket. Just what did you think was going to happen? And just how am I supposed to keep silent about it when it affects Kaiba Corp.?"

Joey was quiet for a while. "I'm sorry." He said finally. "I'll be more careful next time." Joey eyed Kaiba's hands which were still holding his hand. "I'm still furious with you… and I still hate you. But I would regret it always if you became sick because of me. I don't want you to catch what I've got so please, get away from me. A lot of people… are depending on you, you know?" He said attempting to pull his hand away from Kaiba.

Kaiba was surprised. Even in this position Joey was still worrying about other people. "I can't do that." he said tightening his grip. "So long as you're a member of Kaiba Corp., I've got an obligation to make sure that you are in tip top shape for the company. If you're sick, then I have to take care of you. That's the way it works; company policy." he lied.

"Is that the way you are with all your employees?" Joey asked cynically.

"Just the ones that work directly under me." Kaiba replied. In other words… just you. "So stop creating more work for me and get better already."

Joey breathed in and out deeply. For some reason it was getting easier and easier to breathe properly. Maybe the IV drip was starting to work. He was already having nightmares about the paperwork involved, paperwork Kaiba should be doing instead of being here with him. Now that he actually started working for the company, he was capable of understanding and was intimately aware that it was incredible amount of work Kaiba does on a daily basis. He wasn't able to write it off as snobbishness anymore, doing that much everyday was quite scary to him and he was not yet used to it. "I'm sorry, Kaiba." That last thing he ever wanted to do was be a burden. "I didn't mean to create more work for you… when you have so much to do already." That was the last thing he said before he drifted off to sleep.

Joey heard something he never thought he would hear in his entire life.

"You did a great job."

Joey spit out his cup noodles in shock. He blinked a couple times and shot a confused look at Kaiba. He was red with suppressed wonder.

"What?" Kaiba asked abruptly. The carnival was turning into a huge success in part because of Joey's unexpectedly useful involvement. "I'm only praising you, is it that embarrassing?"

"Shut up." Joey looked away. "It's just that I'm not used to getting praised by you, that's all. I didn't expect you to say that."

"So such a thing can turn you as red as a tomato. I marvel at how simple you can be."

There was the Kaiba Joey knew and hated. "Better than being complicated like you."

Kaiba smirked. "Regardless of what I think of you personally, I know how to acknowledge and appreciate hard work. When it comes to my company I reward people who show effort and produce results. And this time you've exceeded my expectations. Well done. Take the rest of the day off."

Joey widened his eyes in surprise hearing Kaiba compliment him again and turned even redder. "That's okay, I can keep going." Joey said looking away. He already felt bad missing two days of work and being a burden to everyone. He covered up a cough.

"Go rest. That's an order."

Yesterday's memories were still swimming around in his head when he returned from the company that evening. Unlike the day before there was mountains of work waiting for him when he returned that morning. It had been a long day serving Kaiba's every wonton need at Kaiba Corp. The stress of the new job had totally drained him. He was highly annoyed that he was too tired to go to the construction yard and make some real money. He couldn't wait for this carnival to be over. Now he understood why Kaiba was such a rigid person. If the stress was this high for a mere assistant, he could only imagine what it would be like running the whole goddamn operation. Joey didn't have time to analyze his sympathy before he heard a knock and looked at his door warily, hoping that he wouldn't encounter someone unpleasant on the other end of it.

"Yo, Joey!" Upon opening the door Joey was greeted by a cheerful Mokuba who had just come back from a local live only to find out that Joey would be living with them full time. He was quite excited about it. Mokuba had always liked Joey. He had always told Seto that he thought Joey had grit and character.

"Hey, Mokuba." Joey said dejectedly, walking away from the door and plopping on the bed. "What brings you here?"

"Well I heard that you'll be staying here for an extended while. I figured I should come and see you in all your glory." Mokuba laughed at the look Joey shot him.

"After running me ragged for weeks that asshole is already gloating about it… fuck my life."

Well that's only because you came at the busiest time of the year… But Mokuba was surprised by how miserable Joey seemed. He always knew Joey to be an incredibly cheerful person. "That chip on your shoulder looks quite lovely. Why are you so on edge, Joey? You should treat this as a vacation, you don't have to be that stressed out about it." Mokuba said, concerned at Joey's unyielding anger at Seto.

"Well I am. I have every right to be." Joey said crossing his arms defiantly. "In fact I ought to be angrier about that jerk lording things over my head and keeping me prisoner here."

"How do you figure?" Mokuba leaned against the doorway tilting his head to the side at Joey's attitude. "Have you ever stopped to think that my brother may actually be trying to do something nice for you?"

Joey looked at Mokuba as if the guy had three heads. "What was it that he called me? Oh yeah, a return on investment."

"Hahaha!" Mokuba laughed for a second time, holding his stomach in mirth. "I can't believe it, Seto hasn't changed at all!" His laughter continued until he was almost wheezing. "So awkward!"

Joey's eyes narrowed. "Well I'm glad SOMEONE is finding this funny because I don't see the humor in it at all."

Joey threw a pillow at Mokuba's head but Mokuba caught it. Seto is still such an awkward guy… still so dishonest with himself and the people around him… His laughter had died down considerably. "Joey, don't be so angry about it, okay?"

"How could I not be?" Joey asked.

"Your dad's really sick, right? He could even die, right?"

Joey was stunned at Mokuba's knowledge of his family crisis. "How did you–"

"Seto told me." Mokuba thought recalling the conversation he just had with his brother a few minutes ago.

"What? Joey's living here?" Mokuba raised a brow at the new information.

"Yes." Kaiba replied curtly.

Mokuba shrugged his shoulders. "I mean you know that I've always liked Joey and I don't mind having him around but I don't get why he's actually living with us. Did his house burn down or something?"

Kaiba took a break from typing, leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling before closing his eyes. "Joey's father is really sick and could possibly die. And all the people he used to rely on aren't around anymore. Who knows what would happen if I left that idiot by himself…"

"That's a lie, you just made that up." Joey said dismissively. "Kaiba doesn't give a damn about me."

"Look, I'm sure he may not have delivered it in the nicest way and I'm sure he deserves some of the hell you've been giving him for that but believe it or not, at the end of it all he's just worried about you." Mokuba said.

"Worried about me?" Joey reiterated somewhat dubiously.

"He didn't want you to be alone at a time like this and he wanted to make life a little bit more comfortable for you."

Joey was wordless as he looked up thoughtfully. He felt the anger that he was trying to hold on to for so long slipping away.

"Not even Seto's girlfriend of a year lives with us, that's how much he values his space. Trust me, I know my brother like the back of my hand. He'll almost never be straightforward about it and lives in abject denunciation of every normal human feeling, but I know that you wouldn't be here if he didn't have a good reason for it. This is just Seto's clumsy way of caring about you, so try not to be so upset about it and just enjoy it." Mokuba got his back away from the wall. "Well, it's great seeing you again. I for one am glad you're here, even if you're not." he said at last before throwing the pillow back to Joey and closing the door behind him. Maybe there'll finally be some peace in this house if Joey knew what Seto's true intensions were.

Joey caught the pillow and held it to his chest, sitting there in silence for several moments. Unable to process the new information at a speed he was comfortable with, he fell sideways onto his bed and contemplated some more. And actually it was the first time he actually sat down and thought about what Kaiba's motives could've been. He had simply written it off as kaiba being a jerk, but for the first time he asked himself where he would be if Kaiba hadn't stepped in.

If Kaiba hadn't done what he did, he'd be on the streets of Germany right now. He'd be fighting the cold weather in some light jacket on some street alley or park bench somewhere, sleeping with one eye open where anybody could attack him at any time. Here, he was safe, sleeping on a soft comfortable satin bed with a closet full of new clothes and food in his belly.

"Don't start with me." Joey snapped. "I can take care of myself. Since when did you ever care about what happens to me anyway?"

If you are sick, I have to take care of you. That's the way it works."

"Is that the way you are with all your employees?" Joey asked cynically.

"Stop creating more work for me and get better already…"

Ugh… I can't believe I said that… But what meant more to him than anything else was that upon doing all of this, he was still searching for Takeshi for him. And even while he had thought he would have to pay for it with his body, Kaiba hadn't even tried to touch him in at all, making him relieved enough to think that meaningless sex was not what Kaiba was after. Looking back on it, Joey felt embarrassed over what he had said. He should've tried to understand Kaiba more, he should've trusted him more. As he drifted off to sleep, he was finally starting to realize just how much care he was being given, by one Seto Kaiba.

"Duke, when will you ever stop being so worthless?"

Duke blinked. "I don't know. When will you start being a mother?"

"Why haven't you kept in contact with the Okners? We have very important business dealings with them."

"I wish to have nothing to do with that family unless I have to. If it bothers you so much why don't YOU keep up appearances with them? DDE doesn't need a bunch of shady litigators calling the shots."

Dawn Devlin sighed from the other end of the speaker phone. "You never fail to disappoint me. I will not have a selfish idiot brat like you disrupt this deal. The next time Erika calls you pick up her call and take her out to dinner."

"What? What's dinner got to do with anything?!"

"Do as I say! Or don't bother to call yourself a Devlin anymore!" the woman screamed.

Before Duke could even respond there was a click and then a dial tone.

Megumi was standing outside the door about to bring Duke some paperwork. She didn't mean to eavesdrop but she had overheard the entire conversation. She knocked but when she didn't get a response she opened the door and went in. Duke smiled at her but she could tell it was a fake smile, she could tell that he was really hurting.

Her footsteps echoed towards him. It became harder to smile the closer she got to him. She put the papers down in front of him and seconds later he grabbed them, sifting through them while pretending like nothing ever happened.

"Are you alright?" She asked after a few moments.

Duke scoffed. "Why wouldn't I be? Same shit different day." He said nonchalantly.

"Yeah?" Megumi asked before snatching the papers away from him. "Well, if you're not up to this I'll just have to do it myself."

"What are you doing?" a bewildered Duke responded before reaching for the pile in her hand. "Give that back."

Megumi moved out of his reach. "Nope."

Duke got up from his chair and tried once more, causing him to reach over her but she maneuvered out of his grasp again. Duke was starting to get frustrated. He lunged at her causing her to lose her grip as the papers began to rain all around them and then before he could fall forward she caught him and pulled him into a hug. "Don't smile in front of me, when you feel like crying on the inside. I can't stand that."

Duke fell silent. He wasn't willing to admit that his mother made him feel that way.

"When you're sad, when you're upset tell me. Don't just keep it to yourself. All of your feelings… share them with me."

Duke slowly reciprocated the hug, and his somewhat erratic breathing became calm. "Megumi…"

"I know." Megumi was becoming increasingly aware that Duke and his mother had a very toxic relationship. She knew he was very easily hurt by the things his mother always said to him. "I know you're not okay."

Duke buried his head into her shoulder. "I just needed a moment like this." He gripped her tighter.

"But I also know what you'll do." Megumi said. "You'll show her, won't you? That you're the best in the business… that you're someone she can be proud of."

Duke rolled his eyes at the thought of his mother. "This thing is, I really don't give a damn what she thinks." He pulled away just enough to be able to look into her eyes. "I only care what you think. Am I someone you can be proud of?"

Megumi smiled. "If I didn't believe in you I wouldn't be with you. But if you don't believe in you, then it's not going to work." She kissed him lightly before rubbing her nose against his. "So let your mother know who she's underestimating. Because everyone here, except you, knows that you're the greatest."

Duke could feel all the dark negative emotions leave him at that point and could feel himself genuinely smile. He kissed her again and as he kissed her he felt the solace of her warm arms and realized that there was one last thing he had to tell her over dinner that night.

He had to tell her how much he had fallen in love with her.

Kaiba had no idea what Mokuba said to Joey but their dynamic changed dramatically after that. Joey started to greet him every morning, and he always made sure he had his morning coffee. And he was back to his usual cheerful self around him, for some reason he was visibly happier. Kaiba was reminded that that was his true nature, insufferably jovial, idiotically merry, and a temperamental busybody. He didn't even notice how much it had made him feel strange to see Joey sulking the way he had been doing until the blonde was back to normal. Joey also stopped pointlessly avoiding him like he had done since he started working there. In addition to that Joey put it upon himself to make sure Kaiba ate all his meals bringing him breakfast and lunch even though he was never asked to.

"You can't just drink coffee morning noon and night. You've got to eat more." Joey asserted.

See? Joey was a busybody by nature. "Since when are my caffeine habits your business?" Kaiba scoffed. "What are you, my mother?"

"You obviously need me to be." Joey retorted. "And of course it's my business, I'm your assistant remember?"

"Never seemed to concern you before," Kaiba reminded him, picking up his coffee and taking a sip. "Who was the one who got sick, again? And here I thought idiots couldn't get sick."

"Shut up." He threw Kaiba's bagel breakfast onto the table.

Kaiba didn't even bother to look at it. "Your report?"

"Ah shit. I knew I was forgetting something." Joey said scurrying to his desk. "I'll get it to you right away." he called to him on his way out the door.

An hour later, a little before noon, Kaiba left his office and was on his way to a meeting. Joey handed him the report on the way out the door.

Joey sat back down at his desk with a contented sigh. Finally, work was slowing down. It was the last day of the carnival, Kaiba was out of the building, and he could finally take a breather, maybe even take a short nap and go to the yard that night. He leaned back in the chair picking up a Kaiba Corp. beginner's manual, opening the book, placing it over his face and crossing his arms.

"Hey, Joey." Roland greeted him, bringing in some paperwork for Kaiba that he left on Joey's desk.

"Hm." Came Joey's grunted response.

"Have you figured out what you're going to do for Kaiba-sama today?"

The manual slid down his nose. "Not scowl at him for being a perpetual stick in the mud?"

Roland raised a brow. "What kind of birthday present is that?" He just assumed Joey had something special planned. He knew Joey was the type to care about things like that.

Joey sat up startled. "Birthday?"

Roland became surprised by his surprise. "Yeah didn't you know? Today is Kaiba-sama's birthday."

"That guy… he didn't even say a word about it." Joey could kick himself for forgetting. Then again it had been four years since he last gave a damn about it. What was he to do now? Kaiba was scheduled to be in meetings all day.

Roland looked a bit sad just then. "I don't know, Kaiba-sama has been really busy as of late, and he has seemed a bit secluded. And for some reason around this time and on this day in particular he always gets into a really foul angry and depressed mood. I'm really glad you came to live with us, since you came around his spirits have lifted a bit. I just wish he'd stop and celebrate his birthday a little."

Joey jumped up. "Don't worry, Roland. Leave it to me, I'll make sure he does just that!"

Seto was four when his brother was born and Seto was overwrought with jealousy. Until then he had his mother all to himself and now he had to share her. His mother could sense he wasn't happy about it and decided to make him part of the new experience. "Come here Seto, this is Mokuba, your little brother." His mother said handing him the infant and supporting Seto's arms while he held him.

Seto looked at him like he saw something nasty, but the second Mokuba left his mother's arms he started to cry. Seto was surprised and scared, he didn't know what to do and he looked up at his mom while she shushed the baby. Seto shook Mokuba's tiny hand gently. As he reached for the infant, the boy's tears had stilled. Looking up at his big brother he began laughing, wrapping his tiny fingers around Seto's finger. Seto looked at Mokuba, relieved that he had stopped crying.

His mother was so proud of him. "Already you're such a wonderful big brother, promise me you will always stay that way." Ashamed of the bad feelings he had felt towards Mokuba he nodded, making a vow within himself that he was going protect his little brother for the rest of his life.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday my Seto, happy birthday to you!" Seto looked at a cake with the number five candle lit on top of it and smiled. A beautiful brown-haired woman sat on the other side of their small brown coffee table with baby Mokuba in her arms. "Hurry up make a wish and then blow out the candles, Seto!"

Seto closed his eyes and prayed deeply to the candle. 'Please, let these days last forever.' Seto excitedly blue out the candles.

"Yaaaay!" The woman said as she and his little brother clapped. Mokuba jumped up from her arms and crawled towards him. She patted Seto on the head and gave him a big warm hug before cutting him a slice of the cake she had made. The sweet vanilla flavor he loved filled his taste buds, he didn't know it at the time but it would be the last time he would get to taste this flavor, it is a flavor he would grow to despise.

His brother crawled into his lap cooing and laughing, sticking his hand in Seto's plate grabbing a fist full of cake and smearing it all over his mouth. "Se! Se!"

Kaiba had just finished having his last meeting and was collecting his papers so that he could go home. He looked at the date posted on the wall, October 25th, and then realized why he was having such memories.

On Seto's sixth birthday it had rained, and it had rained all day. It rained as he and his one year old brother stood in front of an orphanage hand in hand. Mokuba looked up at Seto questioningly. "Where's mom?"

Before Seto could reply the doors of the orphanage opened and they were ushered in by a middle age man with missing teeth. The man had a mean look on his face and he motioned for them to follow him. Seto had been plenty scared but he wasn't allowed to show it lest his brother would be even more frightened. Seto became hardened very quickly, he scowled at the man, giving him a blank look while Mokuba huddled closer to him, then hugging his teddy bear to his chest.

They were led to these cage-like rooms as they passed by so many children. Many of them looked as if they were starving, some of them looked angry. Upon the many faces they passed, not one child looked happy, each one of them in their own way looked miserable. Seto assessed the situation and very quickly realized that he and Mokuba were all they had in this world, that it was up to him to protect Mokuba's smile and get him out of this place. He gripped Mokuba's hand firmly. If they just had each other, everything will turn out alright. Even if it didn't, it would be enough just to keep Mokuba safe. And so, Seto's four years of hell began.

On Seto's tenth birthday was allowed to play a very interesting game with a man who came to visit the orphanage. The orphanage was a horrible place where they beat you up for the most minor infractions and all the kids were entrusted with earning their way through the day. There was hardly any food, everything the children could till from the land is what they lived on. So they were hardly allowed to play games. However, on this day, perhaps because it was his birthday, he was allowed to play a game he had only read about in books. It was called Chess. He was told that if he won the game he could get anything he wanted. Mokuba came down with the flu and was sick at the time, Seto thought that if he won the game he would be able to buy the food and medicine needed to make him well so he was incredibly motivated. Even though he had never played it before, he was desperate to win this game.

He studied the man's moves and quickly caught on to how he could win. Gozaburo had made the promise of adopting anyone who managed to defeat him, believing he was unbeatable at the game. However, Seto turn the tables in the last minute and checkmated his King with only three pieces left. Gozaburo realized that the child was some sort of genius to be able to beat him this having been his first time ever playing. Gozaburo announced that he would be adopting him, which Seto wouldn't agree to unless his brother would be adopted as well. But it was a whole new start of difficult times when on that day, they were adopted by the most diabolical man to ever live.

Seto's first girlfriend was a young girl named Midoriko. She was kind and sweet and very clumsy. He had started dating her out of curiosity. He had reached that age where he had become curious about girls as all guys naturally would but he felt as though he couldn't trust anyone in this world. See, he had lived a life shaped by abandonment and betrayal and was molded by Gozaburo to believe that feelings for other human beings were just unnecessary weaknesses he had to rid himself of. Gozaburo instilled in him that he must use everyone around him to his advantage in order to get ahead, to stomp on the less fortunate in order to make it to the top, that doing this was the right of the powerful. And there was a part of Seto that agreed with this.

So when Midoriko confessed that she had fallen in love with him he couldn't believe it. After all, he was someone who was not even loved by his own mother, how could anyone ever possibly love him or have feelings for him? But upon reading a letter she wrote to him, a letter he had torn to pieces before even attempting to read it, he found that it had said the most curious things. First of all, his name was mentioned in the letter approximately 72 times, it was so curious a thing to him that he actually counted it. She mentioned the way she felt when she first saw him, and how he had incidentally held the door open for her and stopped her from falling when she tripped. These actions she was describing were so normal and ordinary, yet she described them as if Seto were something invaluable to her. Thoughts of him, thoughts filled with him she wrote them down in such incomprehensible ways. He just could understand it.

And so a lot of their relationship was spent with Seto always trying to analyze her, with Seto always trying to test her. He would grow upset and moody with her at a moment's notice. Skip dates with her just to see how long she would wait there for him. He would give her large swaths of money and tell her she could buy whatever she wanted, yet everything she bought was always related to him in some way, she would happily go on a shopping spree buying him more than he could ever possibly need while forgetting to buy a single thing for herself.

He would disappear for days without saying anything just to see what her reaction would be. She would cry, yell, and talk about how worried she was, thinking he had died somewhere. Making her cry bitterly like that, gave Seto the feeling that he was genuinely being missed and genuinely being loved and he felt great about it. Anytime he wanted to relive that feeling he would find a way to make her cry, because he knew that her tears were for him. He shared a lot of firsts with her as well. His first kiss, his first cuddle, his first time making love all of them had been with Midoriko. Those experiences were ingrained in his every cell.

And then just when he thought he could truly care for her, just when he thought he could trust her with his heart. On his 16th birthday, she left him and moved away. "I know that this is the best thing I can do for you." was the last thing she ever said to him. Just as incomprehensible as her love for him had been, was her reason for leaving him. And he could do nothing but silently watch her go, after all it wasn't like he had been particularly good to her, but it reinforced what he knew all along; that people would always leave him. And to be hurt by that would be a terrible weakness he must overcome.

Kaiba opened his eyes finally, and sighed. He reminded himself that he was not weak. He was no longer the weak little boy that cared about these things. It's just that this day always left a bad taste in his mouth. There was a certain heaviness in his chest that he just couldn't help no matter how hard he tried, leaving him wishing that the day would end as quickly as it started.

23 pages: And so finally I rewrote this chapter and I'm really happy that I did because anyone who read the first version knows that I basically jampacked a lot of it into one chapter and didn't elaborate on a lot of things, that's why it felt rushed. I also elaborated on why I called this chapter what I did. I bet a lot of you guys wanted to know the significance of Midoriko and why I had written a whole chapter about her so I think I did outline their relationship a little bit better for background purposes. And lucky for you guys I already have chapter 15 written and ready to go, just got to spruce it up a little bit, I think. Which gives me more time to write chapter 16. So read and review, I'd love to know what you guys think.