KD: Hope you all enjoyed the April Fools Day chapter. I hope you have it burned in your memories because we're never posting that thing again. For those of you who missed it, better luck next year. Here's the real chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-One: January 25

Birthday – The Beatles

Joey slowly rolled out of bed as his alarm clock started beeping. With a yawn and big stretch Joey remembered what today was, January 25, his 17th birthday. His friends were taking him to the arcade, for gaming and pizza, then to Yugi's house for hanging out. Joey almost half-wished that Seto would spend his birthday with him. Then again, he was not one for celebrating, period. Joey opened his phone to see if perhaps he got a happy birthday text at least, but that was not the case.

He finally got ready and headed to the arcade to meet up with his friends. As he stepped into the arcade he saw Yugi, Tristan, Ryou, and Duke all huddled together around one of the dance machines watching Tea trying to be her own high score. "Hey guys!" Joey said heading over to his friend ready to play some games and spend time with them.

"Happy Birthday, Joey," Yugi said with his usual enthusiasm.

"Ya, man, Happy Birthday," Tristan said grabbing Joey by the neck and giving him a noogie.

"Happy 17th, Joey." Ryou added sweetly.

Joey got a goofy grin. "Thanks, guys. Now let's play some games." Joey excitedly ran off to the other side of the arcade with Tristan to play a zombie shooting game together. Ryou followed along watching them and cheering from behind.

After the two teens lost all their lives, they placed the blue and red guns back in the holsters and gave each other high fives. "Great game man," Tristan started. "I've never seen you play that great before."

Joey scoffed. "Well I am Joey Wheeler." He turned around to Ryou, "Do you want to play anything, Ryou?"

"I think I'd like to have a go at that zombie game, if that's alright," Ryou said with a smile.

"Eh, if you're sure," Joey said handing Ryou the player 2 plastic gun.

"You two have fun, I think I'm gonna try the Guitar Hero," Tristan told them before wandering off.

During the first round Joey completely smoked Ryou who laughed forebodingly. "Hm, I think I see how this works now. Let's have another go."

"Sure thing, buddy," Joey said, though secretly wishing for more of a challenge. He got his wish. Ryou made a glorious comeback, scoring over Joey.

"That'll make those zombies think twice, eh, Joey?" Ryou asked good-naturedly.

'I swear, sometimes the guy freaks me out,' Joey thought. "Great job, Ryou. You're a really fast learner."

"Thanks, Joey," said Ryou and his smile turned into a smirk. "Though I suppose the same can't be said for you."

"Lemme guess," Joey said, his face falling into a frown. "Bakura, right? What are you doing here?"

"You don't sound very happy to see me," Bakura said in mock hurt. "I'm here on my vessel's request. He said that something has been off with you lately; so he wants me to talk to you."

Joey was taken aback, he never realized how observant Ryou really was, nor did he understand Bakura fully. "Come here," Joey said grabbing Bakura's sleeve and pulling him towards the men's room.

"What do you think you're doing, mortal?" Bakura demanded gruffly, not appreciating being touched by the blond. He got enough of that from his companion.

"This isn't exactly a conversation I wanna have out in the open," said Joey as they entered the bathroom, checking to make sure no one was inside.

Bakura freed himself from Joey's grasp. "Let's get this over with. So what's the problem?"

"Well, things have been going good for the most part, I guess," Joey said rubbing the back of his head. "But… I dunno. I don't really know where either of us is standing. We're going through all the motions but…"

"You're not sure if there's any fuel to go with that fire," Bakura surmised.

"Ya, I guess. I know he is not one for words…But still…how am I supposed ta know how he really feels if he's only conveying through actions alone?" Joey paused for a brief minute. "I know they say actions speak louder than words, but how am I 'possed to know the thoughts behind those actions?"

"You virgins and your insecurities," Bakura sighed with a shake of his head. "It's perfectly clear to me that you simply can't stand the neglect."

"Huh, whaddya mean?" Joey asked feeling insulted and embarrassed at the same time.

"Oh come now," Bakura said pointing at Joey. "You're the type who thrives on attention, be it good or bad, but dear Seto is so preoccupied with his other love interest that he can scarcely find time to give you either."

"I don't need to be the center of attention, Bakura." Joey knew he was in denial, but was not ready to admit it. "And I know how important his work is to him." Joey sighed. "But…but…"

Tristan opened the bathroom door, and saw the two teens in there. "What are you guys doing in here?" His eyes scanned back and forth between the two teenagers curiously.

"Uh…Tristan, don't you have ta use the bathroom?" Joey quickly asked hoping to distract him. He didn't want his best friend to hear what he was talking to Bakura about. As Tristan stepped to the bathroom, the conversation abruptly came to an end, but Joey did get something out of it. He did live on attention; he wanted people to recognize him, whether it was in Duel Monsters or his love life.

Joey and Bakura who was now reverted back to Ryou returned to everyone else to play some more games. "Let's play a game, Joey," Duke said from behind the blond. "Two player pinball. What do ya say?" There was a slight seduction to Duke's voice, but Joey was too oblivious to it, thinking about what Bakura said to him.

"Ya, Duke, sure." Joey followed him to one of the pinball machines. Duke didn't seem as bad as he did at the Halloween party to Joey, but then again, his other friends were around them watching the start of the pinball game.

After they were done at the arcade and had their fill of pizza and soda, the gang went to Yugi's house for cake and presents.

"Make a wish, Joey," Yugi said as he placed the cake shaped like the back of a duel monster's card with seventeen lit candles on it.

Joey thought for several moments. "Let's see, I wanna get to see my little sis more often, my dad's debt's all paid off, my own place, and… I want Kaiba to acknowledge me. Oh ya, and my own race car." Then he took a deep breath and blew the candles out.

"So, whaddya wish for?" Tristan asked.

"If I told ya, it wouldn't come true, would it?" Joey replied smartly, wagging his finger back and forth.

"Guess not man," Tristan said with a sigh, wanting to know what it was about. Yugi cut up the cake and began handing it out. It was a marble cake with mint chip ice cream filling.

"This cake is amazing," Joey said between bites, going for a second and then third piece. Everyone watched and laughed as they were still on their first slices. They had to hold back their laughs a bit though, they didn't was the birthday boy to realize that black and brown frosting was covered on his face after the second slice.

Yugi's grandpa came in the living room taking in the festivities. "Yugi there is a young boy down stairs that says he's here to give something to Joey. His name is Mokuba. Do you know him?" He asked quizzically.

"Bring him in, grandpa," Yugi said cheerfully. His grandpa left down the stairs back into the game shop and a few moments later Mokuba came up with a sky blue gift bag in tow.

"Hi, everyone." Mokuba said while looking at everyone in the room. "And happy birthday, Joey."

"Would you like some cake, Mokuba?" Tea asked getting a plate ready for him just in case.

"No thank you, Tea. I can't stay long. I just came to drop off Joey's gift and wish him a happy birthday." He lifted the bag up incase no one noticed it. "Well, I better get going. The car is still running down stairs and I don't want to keep Roland waiting. See you later, guys." Mokuba waved good bye before running off down the stairs.

"Well, since Mokuba brought his present, let's do everyone's gifts now," Tea suggested as she placed the blue bag on the table with the rest.

"Sure," Joey said after consuming his fifth and largest piece of cake.

"Mine first!" Tristan quickly said as if it were a contest. He grabbed the small box wrapped in black and red stripped wrapping paper and shoved it in Joey's face.

Joey ripped off the wrapping paper and there was a black leather watch in a clear box. A Red Eyes was imprinted in the center of the watch. "Thanks, man, it's great," Joey said taking the watch out of its box to look at it better.

"Well, you have had that same watch since Junior High. So I thought it was time for a change," Tristan had a big goofy grin on his face, feeling accomplished that Joey liked the watch so much.

Yugi handed Joey his gift next; it was 12 packs of cards. Joey opened each pack excitedly and actually got a few decent cards to put in his deck. "Thanks, Yug, these cards will be great in my deck."

Yugi just smiled. He knew his gift was predictable, but it made Joey happy and that's what mattered. Tea grabbed her light purple bag and handed it to Joey, he took out the tissue paper feverishly and saw a brown leather bound book. He opened the latch and it was a day to day calendar/planner.

"I thought since you have been doing so much better in school you would find this useful."

Joey dug in the bag a little more and found a pocket book full of practice problems for college exams. Joey was confused on how those two things qualified as birthday gifts, but took them with a smile and thanked her.

"Mine next," Duke said handing a small package to Joey that was wrapped in newspaper. Joey opened it and blushed feverishly hiding it behind his back.

"What is it Joey?" Yugi asked confused what could be causing Joey's face to be so red. Tristan grabbed the small package from behind Joey's back and started laughing.

"Well, Joey, Tristan told me you had a girlfriend so I thought you might find them useful."

"Like Kaiba would ever use sex dice," Joey thought to himself, but soon heard Tea scolding Duke once she saw what the gift was, still leaving Yugi in the dark.

"Check to see what I got, Joey," Ryou said anticipating.

Joey was a little worried but went ahead and opened the gift. There were two things inside. One was an electronic doggie giga pet, and the other... "Hey, Battle Royale. Thanks, Ryou."

"Don't forget Mokuba's gift," Tea reminded, handing the bag out to him.

Joey opened the bag and pulled out two things. One was a wrapped box and the other was a gift card for iTunes to put music on his i-pod. Joey pulled the wrapping off the box and opened it to reveal a dog tag necklace. Joey let out an audible wow as he saw the front of the dog tag had his name and beneath it a compilation of his favorite duel monsters (Red eyes, time wizard, scapegoats, and his graceful and skull dice cards) engraved into the metal.

"Whoa, that's cool," Tristan murmured trying to hold back his irritation. "Must be nice to be able to afford stuff like that."

Joey smiled and put the necklace on.

"Thanks again, everyone. Everything is really great." Joey started to put all his stuff together in one bag that way he wouldn't lose anything (even the dice). After everyone talked for a few hours and a few card games were played, everyone decided to call it a night since they had school in the morning. Tristan and Joey started to walk home together when they left the game shop. "Thanks again, man, but why did you have to tell Duke about my girlfriend?" Joey said there was a slight pause before the word girlfriend, but Tristan didn't think much of it.

"Duke and I have actually been hanging out when you're at work. He's actually an Ok guy once you get past his ego," Tristan replied, "I kinda told him about your girlfriend on accident though. Sorry." Tristan was laughing, his hand behind his head.

"Well maybe this means Duke didn't think too much into the Halloween party then," Joey thought before answering his friend. "It's ok, man. Well, here is where we part." Joey waved bye as he approached his apartment complex. He opened his front door, only to see his dad asleep on the couch. Joey quietly shut the front door and headed into his room. He dug through his bag and pulled out the Battle Royal book to start reading it, but noticed that the book was just pictures, of both man and women in different positions on beds, couches, tables, even in bath tubs and showers. "WHAT IS THIS!" Joey turned back a few pages, and saw the title on the front page of the book, 365 Days of Sex. "Bakura," Joey thought remembering it was from Ryou. Joey's anger was delayed when he noticed his phone was going off and flashing One New Message, Joey opened the text.

To: Joey Wheeler

From: Seto Kaiba

You better not lose it, Wheeler.

Joey shut his phone. "Lose what?" He looked down at his new necklace that he thought was from Mokuba. For a moment he thought it might have been from Kaiba, but knew his feelings about birthdays. "Maybe it is…" Joey grabbed the tag and examined it more closely looking for any sign that it was from Kaiba. He turned the tag around and noticed in small print at the bottom of the tag: Property of SK.

Later that evening….

"Bakura!" Malik's scream could be heard all throughout the apartment. "I can't find my book! I know I had it yesterday!"

"Oh, I'm sure it's around somewhere, keep looking," Bakura said with an evil smirk.

KD: Yay! See, Kaiba can still be nice and still be kept in character. Anyways, happy April everyone! Stay tuned and we'll see you next time!