15th June 2013
V
"Honestly moneybags, how much longer are ya planning on torturing me?" Joey asks, "Please give me a break."
"You need to learn this mutt, so focus." Kaiba says.
"But I'm gonna be late." Joey whines.
"For what?" Kaiba asks with a glare.
"A date." Joey replies cheerful. "I'm going out with some of my friends. Like Tristan and Duke."
"Does that mean that I have to send V to visit you in a hospital again?" Kaiba grumbles, "Like last time you went out with Tristan? I really can't afford any delays. You need to learn this if you want that job."
"But I promised them." Joey grumbles. "And V will be grumpy like you if I don't go with him."
"V?" Kaiba mumbles, "I thought you're going with your friends."
"I get that you're not familiar with the whole concept of friendship," Joey grins, "But it is possible to make new friends. And you remember how he wanted to show me his flirting skills when he's more serious than with me?"
Kaiba glares at Joey for a moment. "One condition. You're back here tomorrow afternoon to finish this."
"Do I have to?" Joey whines.
"You're the one who complains that the class I sent you too is too advanced, so you'll learn a bit here once a week to catch up." Kaiba explains his reasons to keep Joey again. By now he lost count of how often he had to explain to the blond why he had to stay there.
With a sigh Joey says, "Okay, I'll be back then but can I go now?"
"Fine, run off with your pack." Kaiba grins, "But if you're not here by 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon I will make you wish that you stayed."
"Yeah, yeah." Joey grins back, "See ya."
Joey quickly escapes from Kaiba's office, leaving his own laptop which he had to bring there. He'll most likely sleep until noon after the night out anyway so why bother taking it home with him? "Let's go, V." Joey says as soon as he's out to the waiting man. "Before grumpy changes his mind and ties me up."
"That's not a bad idea." V muses and turns towards Kaiba's office, "I should suggest it to him."
"Yeah, right." Joey says rolling his eyes and grabs V's arm to drag him to the elevator, "Wait until tomorrow, I have to come back then anyway and Tristan will get really grumpy if he has to wait for us. Especially if it's because of Kaiba."
"You wouldn't mind if he tied you up?" V seriously says after Joey's cool reaction.
"I wouldn't mind you suggesting it, because he won't do it." Joey replies once they´re on their way down. "And in case he does, I'll be happy that I don't have to type anything on that blasted laptop. I'm starting to wish back the surveys I had to do."
"You mean the pointless ones that he threw out again?" V asks grinning.
"He what?" Joey stares at V in surprise.
"All the real surveys are online." V explains while leaving the building and walking towards the gay bar that isn't too far from the office. "That way he doesn't have to pay someone to make a statistic out of them. A programme is doing it automatically and much faster anyway."
"I guess he would also save my salary that way." Joey grumbles. "But why is he making me do it then?"
"Well, he does pay to have them up at games. The people filling them out are getting a reward from the game then. No one will go online and look for surveys to do if he doesn't get anything out of it." V explains, "But it's still cheaper and faster. I don't know why he lets you do those, since you clearly don't like them. But then again, it isn't easy to make up work where there is none."
Joey grumbles something unintelligibly, clearly angered about the situation until he asks, "The games, wasn't that serious work or did he make that up too?"
"They were already prepared for marketing and past the actual beta state. I suggested to let you beta something that still is in the beta state but he didn't want to let you see anything less than perfect from him. He probably wanted to impress the love of his life." V replies with a grin. To be honest, Kaiba explained the games by stating that Joey would probably just mess things up if he lets him do too much serious work but V knew him well enough to understand his true reasons behind the excuses.
"Don't you think that he'll get mad that you told me?" Joey asks slightly worried that he get's V into trouble if he talks about this with Kaiba.
"Maybe a little." V shrugs, "But I'll point out that you will notice eventually now that you'll actually learn about the company and the work he's doing. So what's the point of keeping it a secret?"
"Good," Joey replies, "Because now I can kick his ass for it."
"Why?" V asks. "He did help you with it. He was worried after seeing how much weight you lost and was furious at your friends for neglecting you that badly."
"I don't want charity and he knew that." Joey complains. "If he's paying me then I want to do something helpful in return."
"You did." V says after a moment of thought, "They really did need help in the shop and he is in a much better mood since you're around. It helps him to have someone around that he likes and trusts. And now you're seriously working too, aren't you? And would you ever have agreed to this if you hadn't started the way you did?"
"Probably not." Joey grumbles, "But I'm still going to give him a piece of my mind."
"Oh and about that picture I made," V changes the subject before Joey can work himself up about this whole thing any more than he already did, "I tried to mail it to you but grumpy hacked me."
"Do I now have your permission to kick his ass?" Joey asks grinning.
"Not necessarily." V grins. "I still have it on my camera and if you want I can move it onto your laptop some time, or to be safe, straight onto a USB stick. But I'll wait a bit, just in case he's watching out for it. But you'll get it eventually."
"Thanks." Joey grins and gets out his phone to show V the picture of a sleeping Kaiba. "By the way, I made one that day too."
"There you are!" Tristan complains as soon as V and Joey walk through the door. "We're waiting for ages, what took you so long?"
"Kaiba." Joey replies with a shrug.
"Hey, I'm V, and you must be Duke and Tristan" V says extending his hand while analyzing Joey's friends. They seem nice but V knows from his chats with Joey and grumpy-pants that one of them tries to hook Joey up with someone else besides his boss and that is so not happening. "So how did you guys meet?" V says after noticing the obvious 'touch my man and your going down' look he gets from Duke.
"Duke got Tristan drunk the night before Valentines day." Joey replies before Duke has a chance to do so himself, causing a little blush on Tristan's face in the process.
"He asked how we met and not how we got together." Tristan points out, trying to get back at Joey. "We met when Duke had a bet with Joey about a game and Joey lost and ended up as his slave and had to wear a dog costume."
V nodes smiling, he likes Joey's friends right away and enjoys the conversation with them while they sit at a table and have the first round of beer along with one round of laughter after the next.
After a while he lets his eyes travel across the bar while the guys are talking about their friend Yugi, who apparently has a hard time getting over his ex. That's when his eyes land on something and a grin spreads across his face. This night just got interesting. "Joey, we need to find you a man, see that hot blonde over there? Well I'm going to flirt with you to make him jealous and then I'm going to go to the bathroom and he will totally make a move on you."
Joey looks at him suspiciously "I thought you're set on hooking me up with grumpy."
"Who's grumpy?" Tristan asks curious.
"Moneybags." Joey states before looking back to V, "So what happened with that plan?"
"Is he crazy?" Tristan stage whispers, "He can't be serious about that." But neither V nor Joey give him a reply.
"Well, you're my friend and you deserve to be happy and I'm going to do whatever I can to help" V says, giving Joey a hug and splashing a huge grin on his face. "So lets get to it, shall we " V says placing his hands on Joey's chest before shoving him into a kiss. When they separate Joey is wide eyed and V sends him a wink before walking off into the direction of the bathroom.
V just entered the bathroom when a strong hand grabs him by his arm to presses his back against the cold wall. "You better explain your actions fast if you want me to re-hire you because right now I'm planning an ad for a new secretary."
"Chill out grumpy, I'm helping you. Well it's more like my special way to tell you to get your ass in gear and get your man before someone else does." V replies nicely before getting really pissed. "Now you total bitch, how could you think I would do that to you! And don't even give me that 'find a new secretary' crap you and I both know that no one else in the world can do this job!" V pulls the speechless CEO into a friendly hug and whispers "Now that we understand each other I'm going to go out there and tell Joey that I'm sick and that I called someone. You are going to be the good best friend to me that we both now you are and come and get me and then I will beg Joey to come with me for moral support and you two will bond. Got it?"
"And here I thought you knew me by now." Kaiba replies with a smug grin while freeing himself from the unwelcome embrace, wondering not for the first time why he puts up with V's constant need for hugs. "And just so you know it, I'm still mad and will most certainly not join this so called party, so forget your plan."
"Well if you insist on joining us I'll gladly run and tell them" V said with a grin. "Oh and Seto, I doubt anyone knows you as well as me. But hopefully we'll change that oh so very soon." V said with a grin.
Kaiba gives a sigh, "If you think to know me, then why are you still trying to get me with Joey Wheeler?" Kaiba asks, "And I said that I won't join, not even to be that super best friend to pick you up. Because I'm NOT your friend. I'm your BOSS. And I do have an image to keep."
"Because even if you won't accept it, I am your best friend and I want to see you actually happy for once, even if you treat me like crap sometimes. So stop caring about what people think, and let me help you for once. I'm not saying go out there now and kiss the life out of the poor boy, I'm saying ease into it." V began to walk towards the door "And I'm trying to get you with Joey, because I know you so well. Anyone who does, can see that you love him. Well that's enough of the heart-to-heart for one night, see you tomorrow...boss" V says rolling his eyes.
Before V can leave Kaiba holds on to him once more and grumbles, "If you really want to help me, then stop getting him with me to make me happy. Make sure that he's happy, that's all I care about. And kissing him just to make a point sure as hell isn't going to help him. What if he falls for you and you're just trying to get him with someone else. How do you think he'll feel?"
"I didn't tell you? I told him I was going to kiss him to make someone jealous and it totally worked. He's only happy now because of you. He needs you, he's just too stubborn to realise it yet. He keeps telling everyone about this perfect guy he's looking for and he just describes you over and over again. I'm not saying change for him, I'm saying find some way to be in his life on a more personal level, he needs to start seeing you as more than his boss and lets face it, I've got that down so who else would be better to help? As much as I'm loving this personal conversation we're having, I really need to get back there before they start to worry, so maybe we can pick this up in the office. Unless you want to come with me?"
"Whatever." Kaiba grumbles, still clearly upset, "I doubt that I can talk you out of it but don't expect me to help you with your foolishness. We both know that he can hardly stand me at work. Just make sure that no one is going to hurt him, or you will regret it. Because you should know me well enough to know that I put his well being above anything else, and that includes mine as well as yours, no matter how much you believe I like you. I will not risk you hurting him." After that Kaiba leaves first and doesn't bother to stick around to watch any more. Expecting that it would only result in V getting more crazy ideas to make him jealous and possibly hurting Joey in the process, because no matter what he told Joey. Kissing him like that in a surprise attack might change how Joey sees him and Kaiba just prays that it didn't already do just that.
By the time V returns -still wondering how anyone can be as stubborn as Kaiba and what he can do about it- Joey managed to nearly get rid of the blush that appeared after the sudden kiss but only nearly. Tristan on the other hand grins towards V and says, "Your plan failed big time. No one came over to flirt with Joey, because they all probably think that he's taken since you looked a little too cosy. But if this is your way of hooking up Joey with anyone, I'm not even worried that you want to see him with Kaiba, because he's probably the only one who is nearly as stubborn as Joey. You'll never get them together."
V, who doesn't know Joey nearly as well as Kaiba at this point, stares at Tristan and mumbles, "He's nearly as stubborn as Joey?"
Tristan and Duke laugh while Joey complains, "I'm not more stubborn than that jerk. I'm as stubborn as he is at the worst."
And with a sigh V is wondering how on earth he can help them to find the happiness they deserve, because he definitely isn't going to give up.
Authors Note: Thanks to theabridgedkuriboh, Chronover, Goddess Alexandria, Angel Dove1, LovelyRose5001, Violet-Eclipse, Eriasa Jun, dancing elf and mandapandabug for the reviews.
The next chapter will be up on the 21st and it's about Kaiba trying very hard to teach Joey a little bit and V will find out if Tristan was right or if Joey isn't as stubborn as grumpy.