31st August 2013
Picked up
"Joey!" A cheerful voice screams, causing Joey to wake up. A little girl with a blue-eyes cuddle toy is jumping up and down on his bed and it takes him a moment to realize that it's Joe.
"Joe-Joe? How did you get here?" Joey asks confused.
"Grumpy wanted to pick you up and see his niece so we flew all night to come and see you all and then take you home with us tomorrow and we'll fly all night again but I still have to go to kindergarten." Joe explains happily. "Grumpy said we could stay home if we wanted to but I want to see the baby. She's so cute. Aunty Ren had her on her arm and Unka Moki was there too when we came just you're still sleepy. Grumpy told me to let you sleep but I sneaked off."
"And I'm not even surprised to find you here." A voice from the door says and Joey looks over to see no one else than Seto Kaiba standing in the open door to his room. "Good morning, Joey. Sorry that I couldn't keep her busy."
"It's fine." Joey says with a yawn and looking towards the alarm clook. It's past nine anyway and usually he would be up already. But Mokuba took a few days off and told him to do the same to help Serenity with Sapphire until she completely recovered from giving birth. Serenity insisted to be fine but doesn't really fight the guys being around and seems happy enough for the help anyway. She does tire easily but that's probably because she has to get up during the night to feed the bottomless pit as she calls her little girl. Serenity always claims Sapphire to have gotten her appetite from her uncle Joey. "How's your big bro?" Joey asks looking at Joe.
"He's fine." Joe said, "but he seriously doesn't get the meaning of weekend since he brought school books with him."
"Really?" Joey says surprised. "I thought he wouldn't like his school books. Don't tell me the teacher found something interesting for him after all."
"The teacher didn't." Joe cheers "But Grumpy did."
With a sigh Joey wonders if Seto might be the better parent for the kids after all. He clearly can help Seth with his studies better than anyone else. "You should get dressed. Seth is looking forward to see you." Seto says and Joey stares at him in surprise. "He missed talking to you."
"Sure." Joey say cheerfully. "And you little rascal, go and play with your brother while I get dressed okay?"
"Can I go to aunty Ren and play with Sapphire instead?" Joe asks.
"I think Sapphire is a little too small to play yet but you can go and see if you can help Serenity with something for her or something like that." Joey says and watches her run off to find the cute little baby while Joey grins at Kaiba, "Did I just see a little pink spot on that dragons left wing?"
"Don't even dare to mention it." Kaiba says slightly irritated. "It's the third one I bought for her."
"How did you switch them?" Joey asks.
"I claimed to send them to the dragon cleaners to have it cleaned and promised her that it would look like new after that." Kaiba grins and remembers how those ruined dragons burned. "I fear that it's pointless though. No matter how hard I try to at least keep pink stuff away from her, she manages to have it ruined all the time. Which reminds me." He moves out of sight for a moment just to return with a vase filled with pink flowers. "Joe picked out those for you." He says and walks in to put them down next to Joey's bed.
"Weren't there flowers before?" Joey wonders distinctly remembering that there were some yellow flowers next to his bed when he fell asleep.
"Serenity made space to give me that vase when she saw the flowers I bought for you." Seto explains.
"I thought you said you'd stop if it really bothers me that much but you never stopped." Joey says with a blush.
"You didn't say that it really bothers you again." Seto reminds him, "To be precise, you didn't talk to me since Sapphire was born."
Joey just looks away and wishes that he was already dressed. Not that it's the first time that Kaiba sees him only wearing his boxershorts but he still would feel more comfortable if he was dressed while trying to talk about the issue of Kaiba's flirting.
"Either way, you should get dressed." Kaiba says and turns to leave for now. "And before I forget it, Joe insisted that we all go out for dinner tonight."
Joey stares after him for a moment and wonders what on earth he's supposed to do if Joe starts to wish for both of them as her fathers. With a sigh he decides to simply try and not think about it. He doesn't love Kaiba and there is nothing he can do about it. Sure he starts to see him as a friend but that's all.
After Joey got dressed he walks down towards the sound of Joe-Joe's voice coming from the living room. "Hey girl." Joey says cheerfully after entering and then smiles towards Seth who apparently got talked into watching Spongebob with her and now sits in front of the TV with a book in his hand. "Hi Seth, how are ya doing?"
"I'm good." He replies. "How was your time here? I hope you learned something interesting."
"Learning and interesting don't usually get along in my book." Joey informs the boy, "But it was fun anyway."
Seth doesn't look up from the book in his hand. "Whether learning is interesting or not is determeind by the learner and whether he chooses to learn the right thing."
"I'm starting to wonder if I chose the wrong thing." Joey sighs.
"It is the right thing." Seth states drily. "You'll earn lots of cash soon and once your training is done you'll probably be working part time, which will leave plenty of free time."
"Does that mean Joey can play with me lots and lots?" Joe asks sounding happy.
"I assume he will." Seth replied. "Considering I didn't missread his character which is possible as you know, he'll spend more than a fair amount of time amusing you."
"If he's got time and money he'll be our daddy." Joe states happily, before looking a little more sad again, "But what will happen to Seto?"
"I assume he'll be living alone again unless he manages to charm Joey into dating him, which isn't very likely, considering the differences between them." Seth muses.
"I bet they'll marry." Joe-Joe cheers. "Seto can make him happy."
"Thanks for your confidence in me sweety but you're making Joey uncomfortable, so how about you talk about something else?" Seto says walking into the room through another door and holding his baby niece on his arm.
Joey stares at him for a moment. He'd never been able to picture Seto holding a baby in his arms and even though it was strange to see him smiling towards the baby girl on his arms. Joey couldn't deny that the kid suites him rather well.
Joe runs towards him right away and Seto gets down to show her the little baby girl again and tells her to sit down if she wants to hold the baby. Joey just stands there while Joe sits on the couch and Seto sits down next to her, passing the baby to her without completely letting go of the fragile little thing. Seto's hands are still supporting the little girl and helping Joe to hold on to her. "She's the cutest." Joe smiles towards Seto.
"Together with you she is." Seto says with a smile towards the older one of the little girls.
Joe smiles at the little baby. "Can she draw yet?"
Seto chuckles "No, not yet sweety. But maybe you can teach her when she's a little older?"
"She is cute." Joe says with a little frown. "But sort of boring right now."
Joey has to laugh while Seto doesn't even give a chuckle and says. "It will change. When she's older she'll probably get into lots of trouble with you."
"How long until then?" Joe asks curious.
"I'd say at least one and a half years, maybe three years until she's really turning into a little trouble maker." Seto replies.
"That long?" Joe asks.
"Don't worry, sweatheart." Seto says with a smile. "Once that time has passed it will seem like it was nothing at all. After all, time is relative."
"What does that mean?" Joe asks and Seto looks thoughtful for a moment.
"Playing your game for just five minutes until going to bed seems really, really little time." Joey suddenly says, "Being punished for five minutes by sitting on a chair seems like a really, really long time."
"Or when it rains." Joe says getting what Joey means. "When we play outside in the sun kindergarten always ends so fast but when it's raining and the minders want me to learn a little in between playing the day never wants to end."
Joey just smiles at Joe who jumps up and runs to Joey to pick up her white dragon toy that she dropped with excitement when Seto entered the room with a baby, while Seto saves Sapphire from Joe's arms just in time and only because he was holding on to her as well to begin with. Seto also walks over towards Joey and asks, "Serenity said you never held your niece yet!"
"I don't think that's a good idea." Joey says. "I mean, I love her and all but I've got no idea what to do with a baby like her. She can't even play yet."
"Don't tell me she's boring now because we've been over that one." Kaiba replies with a chuckle.
"No," Joey says reluctantly, "But breakable."
Seto grins, "Don't worry, the look is deceiving. A baby is actually rather sturdy. It won't break that easy as long as you are careful and don't drop her."
"I never held any baby." Joey points out blushing.
"Want me to help you?" Seto asks, "I can show you how to hold her."
"How do you know anyway?" Joey asks.
"Mokuba." Seto replies, "After he was born my mother used to let me hold him with her help like I did with Joe. That way I learned to watch out for his head and so on."
Joey watches a slight bit of melancholy break through Kaiba's usual mask. "Fine." Joey mumbles trying to get Kaiba into a better mood again. "Do I have to sit down too?"
Seto chuckles again. "I think you're strong enough to hold her like this already. After all, you're a big boy, aren't you?"
"Very funny." Joey mumbles while Kaiba passes over the little girl and helps Joey to hold her properly before letting go of her himself. "Don't let go." Joey mumbles, "What if she moves?"
"Don't worry." Seto says and moves a little around Joey to look at his niece over his shoulder. "She won't wiggle that much yet." One of Kaiba's arms moves around Joey and his hand slowly moves over Sapphires head.
The little girl yawns and opens her perfectly blue eyes to look up at Joey. With a little smile Joey wonders if they will stay this pretty shade of blue. A lot like Seto's just maybe a bit warmer. Without moving his head Joey's eyes wander towards Seto whose head is right next to his. Seto's baby blue eyes on the little girl in Joey's arms. 'Pretty' Joey thinks, He feels a blush creep onto his face and quickly looks back towards the girl, trying not to think about Kaiba's arm around him or how it makes him feel. "The girl suits you." Kaiba muses, "You'll have to adopt a baby at some point."
"But I want him to adopt us." Joe suddenly pipes up and Seto turns to her, picks her up to look at the baby in Joey's arms again and says, "And here I thought you might like to be a big sister one day. Wouldn't you like a baby sister or brother at some point?"
"Maybe." Joe thinks about it for a moment before she asks, "Will I have to wait as long for my little baby sibling to play with me too?"
Authors Note: Thanks to XxDeathShadowXx, Cascade00, Angel Dove1, theabridgedkuriboh, Violet-Eclipse, Othello, sherabo, dancing elf, SailorDeathMoon and mandapandabug for the reviews.
Next chapter will be up on the 6th and cover how Joey will feel being at work with a flirty Kaiba as well as where and how he'll be living for the time being since as you might recall, his place burned down and Joe suggested to move in with Kaiba but Joey refused so let's see what will happen now.