Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh doesn't belong to me. Only my small collection is here to keep me company…
Notes: SetoxJoey, shounen ai, blah blah. Same-old same-old.
I'm BACK! After being out for quite some time I've finally decided to write another chapter on this, since I hadn't started it and therefore didn't loose anything (for anyone who didn't know, I lost all my stories, I have only the old backups from months ago. That was why I was gone for so long).
~*Beauty and the Beast*~
Joey smiled slightly to himself as he watched Seto sleeping peacefully. It wasn't nearly as late as he had first though, so he had time to kill before he figured he should wake him. An hour, to be technical…he'd had trouble sleeping. Besides, Seto looked so cute, sleeping so peacefully. He'd noticed how adorable he really could be the night before, but he wouldn't dare tell Seto that.
He jumped as Seto's alarm went off, glancing over at the time. It was only 5:30, a good half-hour before he would have figured to even THINK of waking him up. Why in the world would he need to be up so early anyway? It couldn't take him very long to get ready; it didn't even take Joey that long.
Slowly he snuck towards the door and hoped Seto wouldn't kill him for being in his room at 5:30. It was obvious that Joey wouldn't have known to wake him up so early, so his presence would have been quite suspicious. However, as his hand rested on the safety of the door handle, Joey blinked and noticed that Seto had yet to move. The alarm was already starting to give him a headache, how in the world was it not waking Seto up?
Letting go of the door handle Joey moved back towards Seto's bed, glancing around for some way to wake him up. He didn't want to get smacked, so he considered staying as far away from him as possible a good idea. Carefully he picked up the alarm from next to Seto's bed and pressed it as close to his ear as possible. With his natural instinct to turn off the alarm he could only hope that Seto wouldn't reach over and smack him instead of the clock.
After a while of that not working Joey set it back on Seto's desk, crossing his arms and trying to think of what to do. "Think he died in his sleep?" he asked aloud, looking around the room for some other way to wake him up. He was slightly worried at this point. Seto had been truly sick the night before, and now he wasn't waking up. If he couldn't find a wake to wake him up he'd have to wake someone else up and have them check and see what was wrong with him. He didn't want to catch whatever and die, too.
Walking over to the window carefully Joey opened it, breaking off a fairly good-sized twig and picking off the little branches sprouting from it. He hoped Seto wouldn't kill him for that, either. He had to wake him up, though. He was pretty sure Seto WOULD kill him if he missed school.
Carefully he poked at the sleeping boy, hoping he would wake up. He didn't want to find out he'd been trying to wake up a dead guy this entire time. That would just be twisted and sick in a way only his mind could imagine at the moment. Thankfully Seto moved after a while, pushing the stick away from him and turning on his side to burry his face in his pillow.
"Hey asshole, wake up already! I've been trying to wake you up for ten minutes now!" Joey screamed, tossing the stick outside so he wouldn't get in trouble for having it inside of Seto's wonderfully organized house. Seto refused to move again and Joey stomped his foot in annoyance, reaching over to pull the pillow away from Seto's face so he'd wake up.
He screamed as Seto grabbed his wrist, falling to his knees and trying to pry his hand off. "Hey, jerk, that hurts!" he screamed, panicked eyes staring up into dangerously narrow blue ones. Suddenly Seto's eyes widened and he let go, moving to turn off his alarm clock, a tiny blush appearing on his face. Joey didn't even notice as he examined where Seto's fingers had dug into his wrist. That was definitely going to bruise.
"Sorry, it's a reflex," Seto offered, hand resting on his alarm clock, not daring to move. He was making such a fool out of himself, it was absolutely horrible. Now he'd just shown Joey what a paranoid freak he really was.
"I understand. I just hope Tristan doesn't notice," Joey offered with a small smile. Seto turned to stare at him and Joey blinked a few times. "Tristan's normally the person I turn to when I get into trouble, so he's sort of…possessive," Joey offered carefully, feeling like he was being interrogated or something, even though Seto wasn't saying a thing. "If you want, I'll leave and go over to Tristan's after school today," he offered as he stood up, getting the feeling that Seto was implying that he should leave if he had someone else to turn to.
"You don't have to," Seto offered coldly, standing up and walking over to his closet. "If you want to you can, of course, but I'm not going to kick you out." Joey nodded and moved to leave, feeling that he should find himself something to eat. Seto paused as his hand touched his closet door, taking a deep breath. "I'd actually like it if you stayed." Joey's smile widened and he nodded, opening the door carefully.
"Then I guess I don't have much of a choice." Joey's mind rejoiced as he shut the door behind him. He was actually wanted here, always an up. Now he'd just have to convince Tristan that nothing was wrong. However, the bruises on his wrist were going to be hard to explain. Thankfully they weren't turning out very noticeable, and the school jacket was probably long enough to cover them. If he was lucky Tristan wouldn't notice.
Seto slammed his fist against the wall as Joey left, cursing himself. What was wrong with him? He was acting like such a...a…a wuss. Why couldn't he have just told Joey to leave and had this all done and over with? Then he wouldn't have to worry about any of this anymore. It just seemed like he was making all sorts of mistakes recently, especially when it came to a certain blonde classmate of his.
"Hey, aren't you up a little early?" Joey asked as he ran into Mokuba in the hallways, taking his wrist gently and stopping him. Mokuba stared up at him and shook his head slowly. "Really? You weren't up this early the other day," he offered and Mokuba shook his head again, pointing down the hallway.
"I'm going to go see if Seto's alright. He was really sick yesterday so I want to check on him," he offered and Joey nodded, letting go of his wrist. Mokuba really did remind him a lot of his sister sometimes.
"He seemed fine this morning," he offered in reassurance and Mokuba smiled, nodding once. He was thankful that Joey had offered to take his place and look after his brother; he'd really needed the sleep. He'd been having trouble sleeping recently and his teachers had already contacted them about his slipping grades.
"Thanks for your help!" he cheered as he ran off down the hallways, wanting to say 'good morning' to his brother now that they were both awake.
He stopped running before his brother's room and knocked on it softly, not wanting to startle him. He knew that Seto was a bit jumpy sometimes, and lately things hadn't gotten any better. He'd fallen behind and was still working on catching up, while trying to keep constant watch over Mokuba and attending High School. It had been no surprise to Mokuba at all that he had collapsed yesterday.
"Come in." Mokuba turned the door handle and pushed the door open carefully. "Hey," Seto offered with a tiny smile as Mokuba shut the door behind him, being careful that it latched completely. Mokuba smiled and walked over to where his brother was working, staring at the pile he was currently examining.
"Morning. You feeling better, big brother?" Mokuba asked cheerfully, looking around the room to see if anything was out of place since Seto hadn't been organizing it yesterday (a hobby he'd taken to whenever he got bored). Seto nodded and set everything down, standing up.
"Of course. Thanks for your help." Mokuba nodded and smiled brightly, following his brother as he walked over to the door. "You'd better eat something or you're going to starve before lunch. What are you doing up so early anyway? I thought I told you not to do that…"
"I know, but I wanted to make sure you were okay. I wasn't sleeping anyway," Mokuba offered in his defense. He wasn't really lying; he'd been half away when his alarm had gone off, so he probably wasn't going to get any more GOOD sleep that night…
"I don't care if I'm dying, next time stay in bed. You know I can take care of myself just fine," Seto offered in a commanding tone. He was worried about his brother's grades. He was a smart kid, really, but with everything that happened between the two of them it didn't show as well as it should. He couldn't really use that as an excuse either, because it was his own fault they were in this mess and no one else's. He didn't want Mokuba to struggle when he got older.
"But that's why you were sick! You don't let anyone help you!" Mokuba whined, burying his hands in his pockets and staring at the ground as they walked. He had a point, but Seto wasn't going to change for him, no matter how much he worried about him. It was just a part of him; he was always going to be stubborn like that, doing things his own way. It really got on Mokuba's nerves sometimes, but at the same time it was a part of what he admired in his big brother.
"I know, but it works most of the time." Mokuba sighed and gave in. It wasn't his right to question his brother anyway. "Hey, you want to see if we can get some real food today?" Seto asked as they continued down the hallway. He was getting sick of a strict coffee diet, as he was sure Mokuba was of his constant cereal breakfast. Sometimes you just NEEDED something different. Unfortunately, there was hardly anyone awake at this hour. They were both up way too early for anyone else to be up and working already.
"Real food sounds good," Joey offered from behind them, causing both Seto and Mokuba to jump, turning to stare at him. He laughed and pointed to the room he was staying in. "You two were loud enough I could hear you so I came to join you guys," he offered with a smile.
Without even thinking Seto reached out to grab Joey's hand, holding it up to the light and looking it over carefully. Joey blinked a couple times before laughing nervously. Yeah, it sort of showed, even through the uniform jacket…just his luck. Tristan would probably notice.
"Are you going to get in trouble for that?" Seto asked, letting go of his hand as if it had bitten him, burying his hands into the safety of his pockets. Joey blinked and examined the marks on his wrist carefully. There were even slight fingernail marks around them; there was no bullshitting his way out of this one.
"My friends will want to know what happened," Joey explained, pulling his sleeve down even further. If he was lucky Tristan wouldn't ask about his personal life first thing today and he could avoid having to talk about it. He'd have to make up an excuse just in case, since Tristan rarely left without coming home and immediately asking what was going on with Joey. Everyone knew he was pretty hopeless without Tristan around sometimes. "Tristan probably already knows I'm not staying at home. He might even know I'm here. He's pretty smart sometimes, when he needs to be." Seto nodded slightly.
"Sort of like you, then." Joey laughed and nodded, burying his own hands in his pockets. "If he worries about you so much, maybe you should go stay with him," Seto offered as they walked down the halls, feeling strangely alone even in the company of his brother and Joey. Joey sighed and stared up at the ceiling.
"I guess that would make things easier, but I like it here. I mean, not just the house, but you're all right when you're not calling me names." Seto glanced over at Joey a moment before staring back at the wall. Why did he feel so absolutely helpless? He had so much power, money, and authority, yet he couldn't do anything to keep Joey around…he couldn't even understand why it was that he wanted Joey around in the FIRST place. "If I told him I was staying here, though, I don't think he would mind," Joey offered after a long silence, broken only by Mokuba's whistling from up ahead.
"Then…I don't care if you tell him, but not anyone else. I…have my pride." Joey nodded and continued to walk slowly next to Seto. A sort of uncomfortable silence followed, but neither one dared break it. Seto found it comforting, a time to organize his thoughts and regain his normal composure. Joey was too afraid that he might upset Seto with his constant rambling if he talked, so they both walked in quiet, listening to Mokuba's cheery little tune.
Seto stopped as black pulled in from the corner of his eyes, making him feel hot and dizzy again. Reaching a hand out to the wall he pressed the other to his forehead, wishing he'd never gotten sick. Things would be so much easier then, but now he was running into all sorts of problems.
"Hey, are you okay?" Joey asked, turning to take Seto's hand gently, pulling it away from his face and feeling his forehead. "I don't think you're well, yet," he offered with a sigh. Seto blinked, staring into Joey's eyes as Joey continued to make sure he was all right.
"Joey…" he managed in a demanding town, wanting him to look at him. He didn't know why but he wanted Joey's attention…he wasn't so very uncomfortable around him now.
"Huh?" Joey's eyes snapped up to stare into Seto's, feeling suddenly self-conscious, being so close to him. Pulling his hand away he took a step or two back, blushing slightly. "Sorry, I was just worried. Are you sure you want to go to school?" he asked after a short while spent standing silently in the hallway. Mokuba's voice drifting farther and farther away.
"Of course I'm sure. I can't just miss school for no reason!" Seto snapped, having regained himself again. Being sick must have really taken its toll on him if he was having troubles being an asshole.
"Being sick is a reason," Joey offered, stepping forward to accent his point. "So it's not like you'd be skipping or anything."
"Okay then, tell me the number to the school and I'll call in sick. Wait, I forgot, I'm not old enough to do that, yet. I guess I'll have to go get my parents and have them call for me. Wait, I forgot about that one, too. That's right, they can't," Seto snapped harshly, brushing past Joey and storming quickly down the hall after his brother.
Joey sighed and brushed blonde bangs back from his eyes, watching as Seto stormed off. Couldn't he even try to understand? He was just trying to help. It wasn't like he was purposely trying to make him flunk out of school. There were hundreds of people working here, he was sure SOMEONE could call in sick for him.
"Take it no one's awake," Seto offered as he walked into the kitchen, grabbing the coffee from its resting place on the counter. Mokuba nodded and pouted. He hadn't wanted cereal, why couldn't everyone else go to bed earlier and wake up with him and Seto. At least ONE person would be nice. "Sorry. Maybe Saturday we'll go out somewhere." Mokuba cheered up and nodded happily. He wanted something different, and he could wait until the weekend for something REALLY different. It was rare that he and Seto ate out at ALL!
"I thought you were going to eat something different?" Joey asked, watching with vague interest as Seto once again went through his daily routine of harshly making coffee. Jam the plug in, jam the filter in, fill it, slam the lid on, slam it all together, jam the start button. It was a daily routine of poking and slamming things, basically.
"No one's awake," Mokuba offered, rinsing out his glass and watching with disinterest as the coffee machine started working, needing something to do. "I'm trying to learn how to cook but everyone says I just get in the way, so it's not going very well," Mokuba offered again, stepping away from the counter and following Joey instead. It was something better to do, after all.
"You mean neither of you can cook?" Joey asked, sort of confused why they were living 'alone' and neither of them knew how to cook. You'd have figured at least Seto would have learned.
"Seto can, he's just not good at it. Everything he makes tastes funny," Mokuba offered, sticking his tongue out with a tiny giggle. "I don't mind it that much, really." Joey tried not to laugh at the thought that Seto was a bad cook. He never would have guessed. "I mean, you can live off it if you have to."
"Mokuba." Mokuba shut up and covered his mouth, trying not to laugh. He knew he'd probably embarrassed and pissed of his brother, but the look on Joey's face was funny. Seto would only be madder if Mokuba laughed, though, since it looked like Joey was trying not to laugh at him as well.
"Sorry. I'm just enjoying the thought of you in a frilly pink apron," Joey managed, trying his hardest not to fall over laughing. He would KILL to see that…and to have pictures to prove it, of course. Seto blushed and fumed silently. He thought Joey was nice only a few hours ago, but now he was just being annoying. He was stupid to have thought that someone would actually be nice to him for more than a day. Joey blinked a couple times and poked him gently, having calmed down a little at the look on his face. "Geeze Kaiba, it's just a joke. Imagine ME in a frilly pink apron. It's a funny thought, huh?" he asked with a tiny smile. Seto smiled a little bit at that thought, and Joey nodded. "See? Told you it was fun."
Mokuba blinked and stared up at his brother. He was smiling even just the tiniest bit. It was something he wasn't used to, seeing his brother happy while other people were around. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous, while at the same time massively relieved.
"Anyway, had you waited a bit I could have made you something. You don't have to be in such a rush, you know," Joey offered, poking Mokuba gently. "Next time wait a while, alright? It'll be part of my payment for you guys letting me stay here, deal?" Mokuba nodded and Seto just crossed his arms stubbornly, leaning against the counter, smile wiped from his face.
"Do what you want." Joey laughed nervously and nodded, dragged out of the room slowly by Mokuba. He wasn't sure why he was being led out of the kitchen, but he wasn't about to ask, either. He was sure Mokuba would explain that later. Although, he was sort of hungry and wanted to eat something.
Mokuba led Joey into his room and shut the door carefully behind him, letting go of his wrist (thankfully the one that wasn't bruised). Joey looked around slowly and wondered what in the world Mokuba wanted. He wasn't cruel enough to drag him away because he didn't want him to eat…was he? Joey hadn't thought so at first.
"Do you like my brother?" Mokuba asked suddenly, looking hopeful. Joey blushed and almost fell over, eyes growing wide. What in the world…? How could Mokuba have noticed it and not Seto? Was Seto just dense or was Mokuba just really observant? But…that hopeful look in his eyes. Maybe Mokuba hadn't figured it out at all, was only hoping he did.
"Um…sorta," Joey offered quietly, staring at the ground. What in the world was going on here? Why in the world would Mokuba want to know whether he liked him or not? Wouldn't he be freaked out if he were?
"Then please, I'm begging you, help him out. He tries too hard, I want someone to make him loosen up again. Please, I don't want him to keep on working himself like this. He scares me sometimes. Even though he's normally so nice to me, his cruelty to other people scares me." Joey blinked as he stared at Mokuba, who was staring at him with pleading eyes, hands clasped before him as he waited. He'd been trying to find someone that would help him for so long now, but Seto was always so mean to everyone that no one would dare attempt to be nice to him.
"Of course, I don't like his frigid attitude either. It seems like he's a really nice guy most of the time, am I right?" Mokuba smiled and nodded, hugging Joey suddenly. Joey blinked and rested his hands on Mokuba's shoulders awkwardly. He was so much shorter than most of his friends (not including Yugi)…he wasn't used to having little kids like him.
"Drop me off here," Joey almost demanded as they drove towards the school, leaning forward and staring out of the window carefully.
"Why?" Seto asked as the car came to a stop, curious. They'd agreed that they would drop him off three blocks away from the school. Joey still had a good 12 blocks to walk at this point.
"I normally meet Tristan a few blocks down from here. I can't break our tradition or he'll be mad at me," Joey offered with an apologetic smile, opening the door and climbing out, leaning back in to grab his bag. "Thanks," he offered, closing the door and running off towards their meeting spot. He was probably going to be late, but that was nothing unusual. He was normally late.
"Hey, you're actually on time today," Tristan offered as Joey ran to greet him, catching his breath. "I guess there's always a first time for everything, huh?" Joey glared up at him and Tristan laughed, poking him gently. "You know I'm kidding. Anyway, should we get going?" Joey nodded and gripped his bag harder, standing up. "So…where are you staying?" Tristan asked after a while, genuinely curious. "I tried to call you last night but your dad said you weren't allowed home for a week." Joey sighed and buried his free hand in his pocket; unfortunately it wasn't the bruised one. It would have been so much easier to hide if it hadn't had been on his right hand.
"I'm staying with Kaiba, but I'm not allowed to tell anyone but you." Tristan stopped and grabbed his friend by the shoulders, turning him to look at him harshly.
"Seto Kaiba, the asshole?" Joey blinked and nodded slowly. What was so wrong with him staying with Kaiba? Sure, they didn't get along very well, but… "Has he hurt you? Touched you? Said ANYTHING mean to you?" Tristan asked, worry obvious in his eyes. He was the only person to ever see Joey crumble, and he didn't want to repeat that experience. It had been one of the most pitiful things he'd ever seen.
"No, he's actually really nice to me," Joey offered slowly, blushing a little bit. Tristan's eyes widened and he titled his head so he could see Joey's face again. "What? Everything's fine, really. I'd tell you if it wasn't, you know that." Tristan sighed and let go of his shoulders, crossing his arms stubbornly.
"Yeah, I know. But it seems like there's something more going on, and I KNOW you can keep a secret if you want to. You also give a lot away," Tristan offered, grabbing Joey's hand and pulling it up to stare at the bruises there. "You don't normally keep your wrist so close to your body," he offered, letting go of his arm and sighing. "Tell me what happened."
"It's nothing, I swear. It was all a big misunderstanding, alright?"
"Misunderstanding or not, he hurt you, right?" Joey's hand clenched tightly around his bag, sighing. He couldn't make Tristan understand without embarrassing Seto, and he was aware that Tristan, no matter how much he promised not to tell, would probably end up telling everyone about it in a matter of minutes.
"No. I was just messing around yesterday and it happened, all right? You don't have to worry about it!" Joey snapped, continuing on his way towards the school. Tristan blinked and ran to catch up with him.
"I'm sorry. Geeze, are you even listening, I said I was really sorry, but I worry about you. You're my best friend; I don't want anything happening to you. Do you want to come stay with me after school today?" Joey stopped and shook his head slowly. He knew Tristan was only trying to help, but sometimes it almost bordered on babying. It could really get on a guy's nerves after a while. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Seto's really not that bad, you know? When he's out of school he's a decent person, he just doesn't trust anyone. Everyone has a defense like that, from getting hurt. I…want to get past that and really know him. This is the only chance I have at that." Tristan blinked as Joey smiled sadly at him, brown eyes sincere. He sighed and pushed him gently, continuing on his way.
"Do what you want, but you can come over whenever you want, you know." Joey nodded and ran after his friend, pushing him back. What was fair for Tristan was fair for him, right?
Seto sighed from where he'd been watching the two of them, leaning back in his seat and rolling up his window as they started up again. He was only one of many cars stopped at the light next to the two of them, but he was the only one who'd been paying any attention to the two kids messing around outside.
"You're such an idiot," he told the ceiling as they continued towards school, closing his eyes and sighing. This was one hell of a mess he'd made for himself.
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I FINISHED! I've been working on this chapter FOREVER but I'm finally done! *does happy dance*
I'm not really all that proud of it, but at least it's finished now ^_^;;
MANDATORY MOKUBA KIDNAPPING PART4:
Tristan: Joey, stop hanging out with such an asshole
Joey: Leave me alone
Seto: I'm not an asshole. .
Psycho gurl: Tristan's over-possessive
LotR obsessed friend of PG: I think we should fix him…
PG: GREAT IDEA!
Tristan: O.O HELP!!!!!!!!!!!
Joey: O.O
Seto: O.O
PG and LotR friend: *chase Tristan around the room*
Tea: At least they're leaving me alone…
Yugi: I need something to drink. Bag, can you go jump in some boiling water for me?
Tea: .