The next day at school, I was there and you sat next to me in the grass at lunch. "Hi," you said a bit nervously.

"Hey," I said softly back, not looking up from my book.

"Where were ya yesterday?"

"Just...stuff...um, I was wondering. Joey...would you like to...t-to come over after school?"

You were so excited, I was a bit taken aback. I only smiled, though, mystified, as the bell rang, signaling we had to get to class.

At the end of the day, I found you sitting on a bench outside. "Hey, you ready to go?" I placed my hand gently on your shoulder.

You jumped up and grabbed my hand, dragging me along. "Come on! Lets go!"

"Um, hold on, Joey. I have us a ride." I stopped you and pulled you over to a limo. "My... Mr. Kaiba has me travel in this. For protection, I suppose."

The limo ride was fun for once, since I wasn't in it alone. The way you poked around at things and the look in your eyes when you found a full- stock mini-bar were classic. You turned to me, bottles in each hand. "You have all this alcohol to yourself and you don't have any parties?"

I smiled at you, crossing my arms at you. "And just who would I invite?"

"Me, you dork," you said laughing, putting the bottles away. You bounded over next to me, staring at me, interested. "You know, Seto, I've never really had a lot of friends. Mostly just, you know, buddies."

"Your 'posse'?" I asked, staring out the window.

"Well, yeah...kinda... I used to be in a gang."

I turned to look at you, eyes wide. "What?!"

"Yeah, see, that's one of the many reactions I normally get." Your long blond bangs covered your eyes, looking down at the floor. "Another is people don't want to be near me. It's just...one of those things I had to do. I don't...my home life isn't ideal. My dad likes to drink. He's been going to AA meetings, though, so things are getting better, but we got a lot of debts and such. A gang meant...I had a real family. And...ways to make money."

"Wh-what happened to your mother?"

"My parents divorced when I was 10... She took my sister and left. I was so angry...I guess I just couldn't take it."

I wrapped my arm around your mid-back sympathetically and we fell silent for the remainder of the ride.

When we pulled up to the mansion, your eyes widen and you jumped from my grasp, staring out the window like an excited puppy. "This is where you live?" you started, talking so fast, I didn't have a chance to answer. "Wow, it's so big, and wide and oh wow! Do you really live here? There's probably--"

My hand shot to cover your mouth. "Quiet, silly." We locked eyes and sat quiet for what felt like forever and yet like it had never happened when we stopped. I felt lifetimes tick by in the time we stared, but it was probably only a few fleeting seconds. I broke your gaze, moving my hand from your mouth and grabbing my knapsack from school. "Come on," I said a bit huskily, climbing out of the limo.

I led you through the cold, perfect house to my slightly more used room. Your eyes traveled to a large mural on my wall. "That's a cool looking dragon," you said, peering at it.

"It's the Blue Eyes White Dragon," I said from my bathroom where I was changing out of the school uniform.

"The what?"

"Blue Eyes White Dragon. From Magic and Wizards?" I asked you, coming from the bathroom.

"Never heard of it. It some kind of TV show?"

"No, just a card game. I'm working on becoming a champion; I'm entered in a tournament."

You turned to smile at me, lost. "Okay, whatever. What other cool stuff you got?"

"Not much, really."

You wondered over to my large floor-to-ceiling window and peered out. "Wow, what a view. You can really forget about the city from here."

"Want to go out? There's a small porch." I began to open the window as we spoke, but your hand grabbed mine forcibly.

"No. Please no." My eyes looked up at yours. "I have this thing...about heights..."

I smiled and continued to open the window. "Come on," I said softly. "I won't let you fall."

I nudged you out. You took one look at the ground two stories below us and tried to get back inside, but I held my ground. You backed up against me and I wrapped my arms tightly around your stomach. "Relax," I breathed into your ear. "I won't let you fall. You mean too much to me."

Your head turned to look back at me, suddenly forgetting your fear. "What?" you whispered back to me.

I turned you around fully, staring into your brown puppy dog eyes. Unable to form how I felt into words, gently tilted your head down into a chaste lip-on-lip kiss. Your lips were so soft and gentle and fit perfectly with mine. But when our kiss didn't break and began to feel my body fill with dread and fear. My knees began to grow weak, scared of what you were going to do. I didn't dare open my eyes and I began mentally bracing for your hit. You were in a gang, I had to remember. And even though I knew I could take you, I also knew I wouldn't want to and I would be willing to take any bit of pain you felt the need to deal me.

It was about this time my knees finally buckled, but you caught me. My eyes opened, staring up at your smiling face. "I thought you promised to catch *me*," you said softly.

I began to fight against you, wanting to die. I tried pulling from your grasp, but you fought right along with me, determined as I blindly began knocking you away. We ended up on my carpet, you holding my wrist down on the ground and I kept my eyes shut, scared of what you were going to do. I felt something grace my cheeks, then suddenly you pressed your lips against mine, holding my face in your hand. "Relax," you whispered before lifting your other hand from holding me down.

You were laying on top of me, holding my face in your hands, pressing your lips against mine. I felt unbelievably happy yet still terrified, wondering what you were going to do. You stopped kissing me, and lifted up a bit, still holding my face in your hands. I opened my eyes slowly and peered up at you. "Why aren't you...hitting me?" I asked softly.

"Because I like you, Seto." You brushed my bangs out of my eyes and continued to smile. "You like me, right?"

"I-I...y-yeah...yes..." I stumbled across my words, unprepared with the idea that you might actually like me back. Suddenly it hit me and I threw my around you, hugging you. "I like you a lot!" I said excitedly.

You leaned back, pulling me into a sitting position, hugging me. "Good, because I was afraid I was the only...I didn't want to be the only one here to..."

"Be gay?" I offered, my voice low and slightly muffled by your arms.

You loosened your grip and looked me in the eyes. "So if I like you, that makes me...gay?"

"I...I don't know. Does it matter? I like you. And we're both guys. Are things like that really suppose to matter?"

"I think so, Seto. They wouldn't have separate names for being gay and straight if it was normal."

I looked down, unable to meet your honest glance. You tried to get me to look at you, but I refused. Finally, I said, "Please, we can't let anyone know."

"My...my father already knows...that I like you. He's not too happy. But, uh..." you smiled at me despite the sad look in your eyes. "It will be okay."

I couldn't help but smile back at you. "Okay then."

We sat quietly, not looking at each other or talking. Finally, you carefully took my hand in yours. Your strong fingers folded my hand into yours, squeezing ever so slightly. "Seto?" you whispered softly.

"Mmhmm?" I murmured.

"Will you go out with me?" I nodded, not trusting my voice. I could feel you looking at me, but I refused to meet your gaze. It felt nice being alone with you. I leaned my head against your shoulder and wrapped my free arm around you in a semi hug. Your other arm wrapped around me and pulled me closer. "Something's wrong, isn't it?" you whispered. When I didn't move or speak, you dropped my hand and began running yours through my hair gently. "Please tell me, Seto." You pulled me into your lap and held me close.

"I...you... Does your father...ever do anything...besides hit you?"

"I never said he hit me, Seto."

"But he does," I whispered. "I know he does, Joey."

You were quiet for several minutes. I began worrying if I had made you mad. You finally whispered, "When I was younger. A lot younger. He used to. Right after my mom left, he molested me." As you continued talking, your voice began to grow stronger and slightly louder. "He'd get really, really drunk and call my mom and beg her to come back. She usually hung up. then my father would come and get me. He always did it on the couch. Never anywhere else. Just...something I noticed. He never remembered doing it afterward. He still doesn't. Sometimes I wonder if it even happened. It's almost like remembering a dream. But I read somewhere that kids don't imagine things like that unless they've already been through it. I tried to ask him once. He said he may hit me to--"

"Toughen you up," I whispered.

I felt your eyes look at me strangely. "Yeah...but that he'd never... How did you know?"

"That's what Kaiba-sama says," I whispered. "He adopted me so he'd have an heir to his company. So now he needs a prodigy. And I'm too soft and 'full of dreams' for him."

"Does-- Does he ever do anything else?" you whispered, almost begging, in your voice, for me to say no.

"Yeah. A lot more. Toughen me up. I'm just happy he doesn't hurt Mokuba. I'd...if he hurt him..." I tightened my fist against you and you brought me closer.

"You shouldn't stay here. I'm sure there's somewhere else--"

"I'm not going back to the orphanage!" I nearly scream. "Anywhere but there. It took me ten years to get out of there and I'm not going back. No one else wants us. They always wanted me. But not us. I was smart and clever and I guess a nice-looking kid, despite my ethnicity. But Mokuba never looked right and he wasn't 'smart enough.' Which is bullshit. He's smart. No one ever goes to an orphanage looking for more than one kid. I wasn't going to leave him."

"Your a very noble brother. I was angry when my mom took my sister. I was also glad she wasn't stuck here." I understood what you were saying. But there was nothing I could do. You can't scream "rape" and expect everything to work out. Kaiba-sama owned half the town.