Chapter 5: Car Trouble

"…Sorry again for all of the crazy text messages last night, Sis. I, uh, was doing a bit of drinking last night," Joey rubbed the back of his neck with one hand as he walked, holding the cell phone to his head with the other hand.

He nervously awaited the scolding he would receive from his sister. Serenity may have been younger than Joey but that didn't stop Serenity from putting Joey in his place. He couldn't blame her for it—there were times where her scolding was warranted.

"Yeah, I had a hunch you were probably drunk. Do you not have work today?"

"Nah, I don't actually. The old man decided to give me a Saturday off for once, can you believe it? I'm strolling around downtown Domino to pick up groceries with all people that work normal work hours. It's kinda nice," Joey looked around and smiled. He felt comfortable in a crowd full of people, perhaps because he spent so much time alone. Working at a gas station was 30% working with people and 70% working with cars. Joey living alone thrown on top of that meant his time spent with other human beings was limited. Not to mention that the energy of the city was different during the day on a Saturday than it was during the week, when most people were in their offices working. It was rare for Joey to have a weekend day off.

"That's good. I wish you hadn't decided to get drunk though…" Joey sensed worry in Serenity's voice. He quickly tried to remedy those feelings.

"Hey, it's all good. I didn't get too crazy last night," Joey stopped walking when he went over the events of last night in his head. Although he had blacked out during the second part of the night, the first part of the night was starting to come back to him.

Joey groaned to himself, "Oh man… except for the fact that I totally ran into Kaiba last night."

"Wait, what?! You ran into Seto Kaiba while you were drunk? Where? How? I didn't even know he was still living in Domino City!"

Joey leaned against a street light on the edge of the sidewalk as to not get in the way of pedestrians as they walked by. He leaned his head back against the metal, cursing himself for having gotten drunk in front of Seto. The events of last night were coming back to him the more he thought about his interaction with the young CEO.

"It was weird. I ran into him at a bar. I forget why he was there but he ended up sitting next to me and we talked for a long time, I think," Joey scratched his head as he tried to remember what they discussed. What did they talk about for so long? Joey smiled when he recalled part of the conversation, "Oh yeah, he told me his brother is a freshman at the University of Tokyo! He just started taking classes there this summer. You should try to find the little guy and let him know I say hi if you see him… I may hate Kaiba, but his brother is a good kid."

"Mokuba goes here too? That's so cool! Yeah, I'll definitely say hi to him if I see him. Although I imagine he's not much of a kid anymore if he's attending college." Joey didn't think about that but it was true—Mokuba was probably not the little guy that he was six years ago or however long it had been since he had seen Mokuba. Mokuba was probably all grown up now; perhaps he was even as tall as Seto. Joey stood up straight all of the sudden.

"On second thought, maybe don't try and find Mokuba or say hi to him. If Mokuba is anything like his brother, he probably grew up to be handsome and the last thing I want is for you to fall for a Kaiba brother with social skills."

Serenity laughed on the other end of the phone, "Oh Joey, you won't need to worry about that. I'm not about to fall in love with a freshman. That's gross."

Joey was relieved. In the back of his mind, he was always worried about Serenity and dating, though he tried his best not to verbalize it. The worry of Serenity potentially falling in love with a Kaiba, however, would've caused Joey nightmares for months. He was glad to be reassured that Serenity would never fall for the younger Kaiba brother.

"Yes, I'm glad to hear that. Dating Mokuba would be gross. In fact, how about we dub dating in general gross and call it a day?" Although Joey couldn't see Serenity's face, he could imagine perfectly the way she was rolling her eyes at such a comment. Joey liked to dream of a world in which he could forbid his sister from dating but he knew he couldn't. Instead, he would continue to poke fun in hopes that his suggestion would one day stick.

Joey looked up from his feet and on at the people passing by. He cracked a smile when he saw a teen and his younger brother walk by, the younger one holding Duel Monster cards in one hand, and his Dark Magician-themed backpack in the other. The two boys had to be 15 and 10, as far as Joey could tell. It may have even been the first time they were learning about Duel Monsters by the way their faces lit up staring at the cards. It warmed Joey's heart to see young, budding duelists.

"You know, speaking of dating… you didn't happen to text or call Mai last night, did you? You know, during your bender?" Serenity asked, fear in her voice, "I know things have been rough since you guys broke up. I just hope you're giving her the space she needs."

Joey's eyes shifted from the boys to a man, dressed in all black, maneuvering through the crowd of people on the street. Joey's eyes followed him all the way up until he saw the man snatch the backpack from the boy's hands and take off. Joey sprung forward.

"I gotta call you back," Joey hung up and started running, taking to the edge of the sidewalk as he ran to keep from having to shove people in his path.

His eyes never left the man dressed in black, the backpack dangling in his hand. At one point the thief looked back and his eyes made contact with Joey's. Joey made sure to memorize the features of his face and ran even faster—the space between him and the thief was becoming smaller. Joey reached out to snatch the thief by the back of his shirt when Joey's target made a sudden left turn into a busy intersection.

Joey halted at the crosswalk, watching as cars zoomed by. The light was green for the opposing traffic and, as much as Joey wanted to, his feet wouldn't budge. He didn't want to get hit by a car, but it pained him to watch as the thief got away. Just as the man was about to reach the other end of the intersection to escape…

WAM!

-YGO-

Of all the places Seto hated, the grocery store was possibly the place Seto despised the most. Pushing his cart through crowds of people, having to say 'excuse me' or 'thank you' in the instances where human interaction was required, and seeing people in general were some of the few aspects that Seto hated about grocery shopping. Saturday was also the worst day to go, which Seto supposed was his own fault for waiting until the last minute. Although the world had become delightfully automated, considering that most day-to-day necessities could be found and bought online, Seto forced himself to go to one public place a week per Mokuba's orders.

"Nii-sama, you need social interaction when I'm gone. You can't just be cooped up in the manor until I come back to visit. You have to promise me that you'll go to at least one public place a week while I'm away," Seto remembered Mokuba saying on the drive up to the University of Tokyo.

"What do you mean I need social interaction? I get social interaction all the time at the office," was Seto's reply.

"You know that's not the same as social interaction. Are you going to promise me you'll do it? I mean it when I say once a week and going on duelist forums to tell people why their dueling strategies are utter crap isn't going to cut it. I need you to see people in real life and interact with them, even if it's just at the grocery store or gas station." Seto shook his head just thinking back on the conversation.

Mokuba meant well, of course, but Seto wasn't sure why he agreed to such a ridiculous request. Nevertheless, there he was, paying for his groceries and avoiding eye contact as he said 'thank you' while taking his bags. He promised himself that next time he would go to a library instead of a grocery store for his 'homework' the following week.

Seto pulled out his phone as he walked out of the store, considering calling Mokuba to tell him that he was keeping up with his promise. All that he wanted was an excuse to call Mokuba, but he was faced with the same dilemma as he was last night—he wanted to be a good big brother and give Mokuba his space. Remembering last night caused Seto to groan in frustration when he thought about running into Joey at the bar.

Seto put his phone back into his pocket and continued towards his car. He didn't want to call Mokuba or think about talking to Joey last night. He unlocked his convertible Maserati that was parallel parked on the main road and threw in the three bags before closing the door. When he looked up from his car, he saw two boys across the intersection, laughing and looking at Duel Monster cards and a Dark Magician backpack in their hands. Seto unconsciously smiled, thinking only of Mokuba when he saw them, especially the younger boy. Seto could tell they were brothers by the way the older boy was talking to the younger one.

Seto's smile disappeared when he saw a man dressed in black snatch the backpack from behind and take off. Seto didn't know how he could stop this thief, considering there was a busy intersection and lanes of traffic going both ways between them. Seto's eyes followed the thief and saw him look back which caused Seto to follow the thief's gaze—it was Joey that was tailing him. Seto's initial reaction was that of annoyance, wondering how and when Domino City became so small. But he didn't have time to read too much into it; the thief made a sharp turn onto the street and was dodging oncoming traffic.

Seto considered his options as the thief was approaching the other end of the intersection, closer to where Seto was parked. Seto made a split decision as the thief approached the other end of the intersection by jumping into his car, turning it on, and speeding right into the man before he could reach the sidewalk.

WAM!

Seto slammed on the breaks just as the car made impact, causing the man to flip onto the windshield, roll over the front window, and land onto the front seat of the convertible. The thief was in complete shock and his body appeared frozen. His eyes didn't blink when Seto grabbed the backpack from his hands and sighed when looking at the cracked windshield.

"I hope you have a good lawyer because replacing that windshield is probably going to cost more than the funds in your checking account," Seto huffed.

The man was silent, still processing the impact Seto's car had on his body. Seto turned around just as cars were stopped on the street, staring at the scene. Some pedestrians had even taken out their phones and were filming Seto as he watched Joey ran up to him.

"Kaiba, what on earth are you—" Seto tossed Joey the backpack before Joey could ask his question.

"Here you go. Can you make sure those boys get that back? And someone should probably call the authorities about this."

Joey opened his mouth to answer but sirens were heard. Two cop cars and an ambulance pulled up and parked. A sudden urge to flee the scene came over Joey as the officers approached but then realized he wasn't actually in trouble. He looked down at the backpack in his hands, feeling strangely at a loss of what he was supposed to do next.

"Oh good, someone already called them," Seto remarked.

The police officers walked over and stood on opposite sides of Seto's car, looking down at the thief that remained motionless. Seto turned to one of the officers and said, "He looks bad but he's just in shock. I think he's fine, for the most part."

Joey was dumbfounded watching all of this unfold as the police pulled the man out of Seto's car and cuffed him. Seto raised his hands as another officer approached him with handcuffs. Joey felt concern swell in his chest as they twisted Seto around and link his arms together.

"Wait, Kaiba was only trying to stop the guy from stealing a kid's backpack! He's not the bad guy," Joey stated, stepped forward to stop the officer from cuffing Seto. Seto motioned for Joey to step back while the police approached.

"Calm down, Wheeler. They have every right to arrest me. I assaulted a guy with my car which is a crime that I should be arrested for." Seto held out his hands and willingly let the cops cuff his wrists.

Joey was confused with the entire scene that was unfolding in front of him. Did Seto really just hit a guy with his car so a kid could get his backpack back? Was Seto really about to be driven away in the back of a cop car? Could it be that Joey actually cared what happened to Seto? There were too many questions Joey had to process all at once.

Seto snapped his fingers and got Joey's attention, "The kids are here. Give them their backpack and you should probably go splash some water on your face when you get home. You still look like you're hung over."

The officer behind Seto began to recite his rights as he moved him towards the back of the cop car and let him get in. Joey looked back down at the bag in his hands and turned around at the two kids that were staring at him, wide-eyed. Joey handed the backpack over to the boys.

"Thank you so much for getting our backpack for us! I'm sorry your friend got arrested," the older boy said.

"He's not my friend," Joey responded. The two brothers looked at each other with confusion and then back at Joey.

"Oh… well, I guess thanks for getting our backpack from that total stranger that broke his car. Bye!" the younger boy replied and then walked away with his older brother.

Joey felt a pang of guilt from saying that he wasn't friends with Seto but the response came out so naturally and did have a ring of truth to it. Joey also couldn't figure out whether it was really a pang of guilt he was feeling or another migraine coming on, inspired by the killer hang over that had subsided during the chase. Whatever it was, Joey had to admit that he was impressed with Seto's actions. It was probably the nicest thing Joey had ever seen Seto do for anyone other than his brother.

He watched as a tow truck approached to pick up Seto's car. The windshield was completely cracked, a large indentation could be seen where the thief's body had made impact with the windshield. Seto's Maserati was in perfect condition aside from the windshield, it was almost tragic to see it with a windshield like that. A police officer came up to Joey as he watched the tow truck driver hook the Maserati up to his truck.

"We have a couple questions for you regarding the crime that just took place. Would you be willing to give us your witness testimony?"

Joey nodded before recounting to the event to the officer. His eyes were still distracted, watching the car get hauled away by the tow truck. Joey couldn't believe he saw Seto Kaiba willingly slam his car into another person. It was remarkable, and a little cool, though Joey would never admit it.

-YGO-

A/N: Wow… so I was not joking when I said I was heading into a busy month last month. It was so busy, in fact, that I almost didn't believe that a month had already gone by and that it was time to update again this weekend! Where does the time go?! And will I need to start putting reminders in my calendar for these chapters? Tune in next time to find out… But in any case, thank you to everyone that has read and reviewed or just read or even marked this story as a favorite. You're all too kind! The biggest shout out goes to Rena Redhead for being the best beta reader ever. This month is also her birthday month and she just recently updated her story, "Defying Destiny." Go show her some love because she deserves it! Until next time, stay classy and have a great day!