Joey had just gotten off his part-time summer job and decided to chill in one of Kaiba's living rooms in his mansion as he sifted through the paperwork. His head laid on Kaiba's lap as he played a limited edition of Mario Kaiba received as a gift through connections.
The two seemed to be in their own world. For a couple that fought like cat and dog, they strangely felt relaxed around each other and often passed their afternoons this way if Kaiba didn't have some last-minute conference or Joey didn't take extra hours at his summer job.
Kaiba never failed to feel astounded by the peace he could find with this loudmouth.
"Joey,…" Kaiba began as he found a brief stopping point in his paperwork. "For an idiot like you, you sure could use all the studying you can get." Kaiba enjoyed his pass time with Joey in his own way, but it was already insufferable enough that he was dating an overly emotional sort, and to top it off, he was an idiot too. He never even had to mention something so obvious to his little brother. He then sighed in disgust as Joey continued to play his game without a care in the world.
Finally, as a prolonged response after completing a level, he looked up at Kaiba and responded. "Hey now, I pass, that's all that matters right? Besides, I study duel monsters between work and school. Since I am going cash it in big with duel monsters, I don't really need to go to college, do I?" At that moment, he broke into a smile as he realized he had somehow unlocked a secret level within a secret level.
Kaiba shoved Joey out of his lap as he picked up another batch of papers, causing the already unkempt blonde to tumble to the floor.
"Sh*t!" Joey turned to Kaiba whilst shifting to rub his throbbing bottom from the fall. He then turned to Kaiba, "Hey Kaiba! What's the big idea!? I could've broken the console!" he shouted animated-ly.
Kaiba sighed while grabbing his forehead. "You can't be serious. How could someone without tact and discipline ever hope to become a champion? You honestly hope to make it to the top with this naivety?"
Joey lightly scratched his face while looking down nervously. "You know I can't afford a higher education Kaiba, and I assume you know my situation even with ya feignin' disinterest. All my money goes to food, and I don't make grades nearly high enough to be recognized by any schools." He then defeatedly glanced up at Kaiba, while still planted on the floor. "It's not that I don't wanna go…." His feelings were complicated.
Kaiba scoffed, "Do you not know who I am? Why couldn't you go to college? Granted it would be your job to pull your grades up and not make a fool of yourself."
Unbeknownst to Joey, Kaiba had already gone behind Joey's back and paid off their landlord to cut the cost on their rent in order to lift some of the burdens and hold sway over his decision. Of course, Joey's dad wouldn't get suspicious considering he's drowning in debt.
"That's not what I meant Kaiba. I don't need your money, and your connections, and all the strings you could pull to get me in." Joey quickly adopted a serious tone, "My father may not be livin' an honest life, but that ain't me. A man needs to find honest work for himself."
"But a wise man would make use of his resources." Kaiba calmly replied.
Joey shook his head, "Ya just don't get it do ya?" Still sitting on the floor, he leaned in and rested an arm on Kaiba's lap. "There are some things that I can only accept if through my own effort. Ya should know this best." Joey waved his hand. "And you'd definitely look down on me as a man more than you do now." He then shifted his body around to face Kaiba. "You should also know this best."
Kaiba scoffed, "Am I really getting lectured by a mere mutt?"
Joey's tone took a turn, he snapped back to his hot-headed self. "Ya think you're so high and mighty just because you walk around like mister "money bags"?!"
"See? You still only know how to bark." After speaking those words, for the first time, his laugh didn't feel like that of a snob.
Joey shoved the papers out of Kaiba's hands as he dramatically jumped into Kaiba's lap with the thought of landing a punch to the face. "Ya never take me seriously! I'm tired of you purposely makin' me mad!" He held Kaiba's collar as his knee was situated on the couch between Kaiba's legs.
Joey's punch never made contact of course. Kaiba simply caught Joey's arms as his laugh returned to that of his usual eerie grin. He peered into Joey's eyes and at his face that seemed to turn red with anger.
Joey had slightly calmed from the sudden change in mood. It gave him time to realize he had overreacted. "Kaiba you—!" He stopped mid-sentence, then let out a deep sigh. Kaiba does not speak to him nearly as cold as he does everyone else (excluding Mokuba) and was trying to help in his own backward way.
"Only if you win. No one cares for 2nd place and certainly not 3rd place." Kaiba chuckled smugly.
"If I didn't know any better, I would think yer havin' fun with this third-rate idiot." Joey smiled triumphantly with a look that said, 'I see right through you', but Kaiba did not seem to care.
"Nice try, your little mind has a long way to go before becoming worth a glance."
"Whatever." He waved a hand and Kaiba caught his wrist.
Kaiba then leaned in for a kiss, tugging at the arm in his grasp.
Joey panicked but could not fight the flow of a sudden kiss as he lost balance.
Kaiba playfully nipped at Joey's lips. Joey was pissed but his shyness battled with his willfulness to win. He almost placed his arms around Kaiba's waist but changed his mind after hesitance. Just as he started to pull away from light kisses Kaiba dove deeper and the double doors to the living room flew open.
"Seito!" Mokuba cheerfully shouted across the room in the doorway. "It's Yugi!" He turned to a not yet visible Yugi, "See, I told you they would be here!"
Joey flung himself off Kaiba but bounced back up elated with the thought of seeing Yugi. "Yugs!?" His voice almost cracked with obvious excitement until he heard the wrinkle of the papers he shoved to the floor under his feet. He suddenly was overcome with embarrassment as he observed the papers on the floor and remembered what they had been doing just before they dropped in. Nervously, he peered back at Kaiba, and then back at the floor. Before he had realized it, Mokuba had already leaped onto the couch and Yugi stood right in front of him.
"I guess you guys made up a long time ago?" Yugi tilted his head up at Joey as he sighed with relief. "I'm sorry Kaiba for getting in between you guys last time, I'm glad you worked it out."
"Awe Yugs, ya didn't have to worry about that. It happens all the time, ya know?" He nervously scratched the back of his head.
"But you're my best friend Joey, how could I not worry?" Yugi replied with a kind smile.
Joey then leaped onto Yugi with a bear hug. "Hey now, you're gonna make me cry!"
Yugi patted Joey's head but was interrupted with a loud clearing of the throat.
Both looked in surprise as Mokuba laughed at the overly dramatic display of friendship, but Kaiba stared intensely with silent rage.
Kaiba crossed his leg and tapped his finger in agitation.
"Oh sorry, I forgot you hate seein' mushy stuff, Sorry Kaiba." Joey let out a goofy laugh but still showed no signs of letting Yugi go.
Mokuba quietly observed the peculiar situation, then turned to Kaiba, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Hey Seito, was bringing Yugi home maybe a bad idea? Um….. I promise we'll knock next time!" He searched Kaiba's expression for a sign of forgiveness, only for his head to be lightly fondled by Kaiba.
"It is of no concern, no need to worry." Kaiba's expression seemed to be stern, but his eyes and voices were filled with tenderness.
"I'm sorry, I was trying to spy on him to find a weakness you could use during a duel, but then he spotted me and we kinda hit it off you know?" Mokuba timidly fiddled his thumbs.
Kaiba placed his hand on Mokuba's head and smiled…. That is, until they were loudly interrupted by a fit of laughter.
"No way Yug's, he actually said that!? Wait 'till I see him, he'll never live this down." Joey spouted as he wiped the tears from his eyes. "By the way, Yug, you wanna drink? This place is loaded with all kinds of snacks, I don't even think Kaiba himself knows all that is in his kitchen!" Joey obnoxiously threw Yugi's back a slap.
"Where do you get off treating my place as if it were a hotel? What happened to the manly pride you boast of?" Kaiba mumbled, then crossed his legs. "And what happened to your manly hood stopping you from getting help from me?"
"Aw come on Kaiba, don't be so cheap!" Joey whined, completely ignoring his inquiry.
"Um, Joey, why don't we just calm down for a sec. I mean…. He probably wasn't even expecting me to arrive as a guest." Yugi flashed a nervous smile.
"Oh, sorry Yug's, I just get easily excited. Yah know?" He then turned to Kaiba. "Sorry 'bout that Kaiba. I'll treat ya to somethin' sometime. Though it won't be much." He turned his head down in shame.
Kaiba could no longer handle his subservience to Yugi, who seemed to have control over something that clearly belonged to him. He may have beat him in card games, but no further. He stood quickly, strode over to Joey, still downtrodden, and grabbed him by the arm. "Yugi, do not presume to know my mind. THIS is mine, I will instruct him as to what is right and what is wrong."
The room fell silent. Mokuba sat looking dumbfounded. Joey gasped, but then his expression followed with embarrassment. Yugi only stared into Kaiba's eyes in silence.
"Joey and I are only friends. Don't refer to him as a child. You shouldn't talk about him like that." Yugi suddenly looked determined, and once again stood his ground for Joey.
"Yug's." Joey was now embarrassed for a different reason all together.
This only served to further infuriate Kaiba. He released Joey, then grabbed Yugi by his collar, his feet swiftly parted from the floor. His usual cold stare was nothing compared to the intensity of his eyes as they pierced daggers into Yugi.
Both Mokuba and Joey, were lost for words.
In nearly an instant, Kaiba was met with a different foe. The soul residing within the millennium puzzle.