Kaiba woke up in a good mood on Saturday morning, and, surprisingly enough, that mood lasted throughout the day.
He spent the morning relaxing around the house and playing games with Mokuba. Neither activity was something that he engaged in often, and he had to admit that it was nice not to be in charge for a while. Not that he intended to start doing it on a regular basis.
In the afternoon Mokuba dragged him out to downtown Domino to do some Christmas shopping. On top of Christmas shopping they bought decorations for the house - which led to Kaiba's evening. They spent the early evening setting up lights and garland around the house. After dinner they even put up a tree - something they hadn't done alone before. It was a fiasco, and Kaiba had to 'save' Mokuba from getting crushed by the tree twice.
"You're overreacting!" Mokuba laughed, brushing some pine needles from his sweater. "I would have been fine."
Kaiba retorted, "It's instinct."
Around nine Mokuba took out the outdoor decorations and dragged Kaiba out to decorate. They were outside until nearly midnight... and Kaiba enjoyed it. It was a little alarming, but even when Mokuba had shoved him into the snow he had a good time. There was no reason to keep his guards up, every reason to enjoy his brother's company - even if they were back in Domino, in 'the heart of the beast', so to speak.
On Sunday morning Kaiba regretted all that fun; he woke up sick. Not just sniffling sick, but sick with a pounding head, sore throat, AND sniffling. Mokuba ordered him to stay home and rest… not that Kaiba intended to obey. Once Mokuba was out of sight he got dressed and headed out to the garage.
His car was gone. Crafty kid.
Kaiba tried to contact his driver, only to learn that the man was given the day off. There didn't seem to be a single person in the household that was willing to drive him down to Kaiba Corp. Mokuba was a little too clever for his own good. Or perhaps Kaiba was entirely too predictable. He gave up and retreated to his den; he could at least get a little bit of work done there. He was worked uninterrupted until a loud knock interrupted the silence. Kaiba looked up at the clock: eleven. "Yes?"
Wheeler opened the door and looked in, grinning smugly. "The day Kaiba takes off… Who'd believe me if I told them?"
"Did you come all the way here to be wise-ass?" Kaiba could have thought of a more biting remark if he had been feeling better.
"No, I need you to look over this contract." Wheeler held up a manila folder like a peace offering.
"Oh. You finished it?" Wheeler nodded. "Have a seat." The blond obeyed and sat in the chair on the opposite side of the desk from Kaiba. Once again he had proven his worth in work, and once again Kaiba was impressed. Wheeler handed the folder over the desk, and Kaiba opened it, examining the contents. It was misfortunate that he couldn't concentrate; his head was throbbing so bad he couldn't focus on the words, and he when he did manage to focus, he couldn't force the meaning of what he was reading into his head. Damn it, where had his terrific immune system gone? He used to go days with sleep, without food, and never got sick, but now a couple of hours out in the snow… He fumed, glaring at the papers he was holding as though they were somehow offensive.
"You sound like shit."
Kaiba scowled and looked up at Wheeler. "What?"
"You sound stuffy."
"How so?"
"When you talk… hell, when you breathe. Are you sick?"
Kaiba blinked. He hadn't noticed that he was breathing any differently, and it rubbed him the wrong way that Wheeler had. "A little."
"Did you take any medicine?"
Was that concern that Kaiba heard? Ridiculous. "Why does it matter? Shut up, I'm trying to read."
"Dumb ass." The name caught Kaiba by surprised, and he glared. Wheeler continued, "You've been on the same page for nearly five minutes. You didn't take anything, did you?" Wheeler sounded like a mother scolding her child. Kaiba was no one's child; he was a perfectly capable adult, and he didn't need to be fussed over.
"For your information," he growled, "I didn't."
"You're never going to get better," Wheeler warned. "Go take some."
Kaiba bristled. "It's not your place to give me orders in my own home."
Wheeler rolled his eyes. "Fine!" he said exasperatedly. "Tell me where it is; I'll bring it to you."
"Nice try, but there's none to be brought. It's no use keeping cold medicine if I never get sick."
"Obviously 'never' is an overstatement. You're such an idiot. Wait here; I'll be back." Before Kaiba could argue Wheeler was gone.
What the hell was that all about? Since when did Wheeler care if he was sick? More intriguingly, why did Wheeler think it was such a big deal that he got better? The Wheeler HE remembered wouldn't have cared if he lived or died. Hell, way back when Wheeler probably would have encouraged his death and pissed on his grave out of spite. Kaiba frowned, both from the mental image and the thought.
Wheeler wasn't the same. Wheeler was still hotheaded, still loud, and still impulsive - as that little show had proven - but he obviously wasn't as dumb as Kaiba suspected. And he didn't act like he harbored any ill will towards Kaiba at all. If Kaiba remembered properly, they hated each other because their personalities clashed. They didn't butt heads anymore… Had they both changed so much? And who had changed more?
Kaiba was still considering the answer to those questions when Wheeler returned and set a mug of thin-colored liquid in front of him. "What's this?" Kaiba asked warily. Maybe he was wrong about Wheeler not harboring old hatred, and it was all an elaborate plan to poison him. Wheeler wouldn't have been the first…
"Good stuff; it'll clear your head up in no time." Wheeler took his seat. "So, how sick are you?"
Kaiba lifted the mug, eyeing it suspiciously. He sniffed the contents. Lemony. "Sick enough," he answered before taking a small sip. He grimaced. "This is awful."
"It's good for you. You don't gotta drink it all at once," Wheeler offered. "So, did you get any reading done?"
Kaiba shook his head.
"Headache?"
Hesitantly Kaiba nodded. Wheeler smiled and reached forward, taking the contract.
"Will you be able to follow if I tell you what it says?"
Kaiba paused for a moment, staring at Wheeler in surprise. Thankfully that surprise didn't register in his voice; it came out as mild annoyance. Interesting: he seemed to do that automatically. "You're going to read it to me?"
"Do you mind? It needs to get done one way or another."
Nice rationalization. Kaiba answered, "Go ahead." Wheeler began read, and Kaiba settled into the role of drinking his medicine and taking notes on things that would need to be altered or omitted. Before long Wheeler stopped. "Is there a problem?" Kaiba asked, irritated by the sudden pause.
"Any chance that you're hungry?"
Kaiba rolled his eyes. "By that you mean to tell me that YOU'RE hungry, right?"
"Uh… yea."
Kaiba finished his medicine and stood. If Wheeler was going to go through the trouble of reading him his work, he could at least feed the man. "Come on, then; I'm sure there's something in the kitchen."
Kaiba had never seen someone look so grateful - odd to have the emotion directed at him. "Thanks," Wheeler said as they walked.
"I should thank you." That didn't mean that Kaiba intended to; by his reasoning he had said enough.
Wheeler laughed. "Let it never be said that you're ungrateful." It was somewhat relieving that the statement sounded slightly sarcastic.
They walked to the kitchen, silence punctuated by the occasional low rumble of Wheeler's stomach. When they arrived Kaiba gestured to his cupboard and offered, "Find something." He took a seat at the small table in the corner, watching as Wheeler examined the contents of the kitchen. It didn't take long for the blond to find everything he needed for a sandwich; Kaiba wondered if the man had some sort of built-in food radar.
"It's weird," Wheeler commented, his back to Kaiba as he assembled his sandwich.
"What's weird?" This sounded strangely familiar.
"Us, sittin' here, me eatin' your food like it's normal for us to be friendly."
Kaiba shrugged and stated the obvious. "It's not normal at all."
"Nope." Wheeler chuckled nervously. Kaiba didn't blame him; the whole conversation was decidedly odd. "It's not bad… I guess I just imagined that you'd always be a prick, you know?"
"I always thought you'd be an imbecile."
Wheeler cringed and laughed shortly. "I think I liked the friendly talk better."
"Just being honest." Kaiba wasn't apologizing.
"Yea… Hey, aren't you gonna eat?"
"I'm not hungry," Kaiba assured him. Wheeler shrugged and sat across from Kaiba, sandwich in hand. He took a bite and stared off in space for a moment.
"It's nice."
"Pardon?"
"Not fighting. I didn't think there'd be a day when you weren't an asshole, so I guess I didn't expect much from you. But this friendly thing… it isn't so bad."
Kaiba didn't know how to respond to that. After a few minutes he came up with a simple question. "What about you?" Not much of a response, but it would work.
"Hmn?" Wheeler's mouth was full.
"You've changed too: developed basic intelligence, calmed down." Now that Kaiba rethought what he said, that almost felt like a compliment. It wasn't how he intended it. "What's your excuse?"
Wheeler swallowed his food and shrugged. "Just typical growin' up, I guess. School, work, the kid; just life." Another bite of his sandwich, another moment of silence. Strangely, it wasn't uncomfortable. "What about you? What happened to the good ol' Kaiba, CEO with a heart of ice?"
"I never had a 'heart of ice'," Kaiba protested gruffly.
"I know." Wheeler smiled sneakily. "Anyone who saw you with Mokuba knew. But that doesn't mean you weren't a jackass. Why did you finally repent from jackass-ism?"
Wheeler was teasing him. Joking like friends. Kaiba wasn't sure how to feel about that either. He was so unsure of a lot of things… probably just the damn cold. Or the medicine. Perhaps a combination of both; that seemed somewhat likely. "Things just change."
"That's a shitty answer."
"It's my answer nonetheless," Kaiba told him, tone firmly and unwavering. He had no intention of pouring his heart out to Wheeler.
"Eh, whatever." Wheeler finished his sandwich in what had to be record time; Kaiba had never seen anyone inhale food like that, not even Mokuba. "You ready to get back to work?"
Kaiba nodded, standing. They walked back to the den in silence.
Sometime before Wheeler finished reading the contract Kaiba realized that the medicine had worked; he was feeling a bit better. He still couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that Wheeler was being helpful. Then again, hadn't people always tried to be friendly with him? He didn't understand why they kept trying. In reverse situations, he never would have been nice to himself; he would have left himself to rot. Sort of depressing when he thought about it.
"So, how is it?" Wheeler asked when he finished reading. Kaiba handed over the page of notes.
"That's what needs work." Wheeler looked at the page and snickered. "Is there a problem?" Kaiba demanded icily. He wasn't accustomed to being laughed at.
"No, it's just funny; you're always so neat, but your handwriting is worse than mine."
"You're easily amused."
"Maybe. I'll get to work this." Wheeler gathered up his papers and stood. He seemed conflicted about something, glancing from the door to the desk. After a few seconds he said hesitantly, "Take care of yourself, Kaiba; I don't want to make this house-visit thing a routine. The medicine is on your kitchen counter."
Kaiba paused. Why the hell did Wheeler have to start acting so damn nice? It threw him, and he didn't like to be surprised. Well, so long as Wheeler was being nice, he could give it a shot too… "Joey." The blond looked back in surprise, and Kaiba continued, "Thank you." If nothing else, it proved that anything Wheeler could do, he could do too. Better than Wheeler did it.
Wheeler smiled. "Don't mention it. Just get well."
Kaiba looked at the monitor as Wheeler left. He could see his own reflection in the inactive screen, and he glared at himself reproachfully. Apparently he was not only going soft, but he was getting sentimental too. He studied himself in the monitor.
At least his glare still had all it's potency.
- author notes -
"Hey! He finally called him Joey!" you might say excitedly.
I would nod and bounce.
I figure it'll go a little faster from here, you know? A part of me sort of wishes this whole thing could be seen from Joey's POV; he's doing some ca~razy stuff, and I bet it'd be interesting to see why. I don't know. lol. But in any case, I'm not about to switch POVs in the middle of the story, so it may be that we'll never know. ^^
The original version of this chapter included the more detailed events of Saturday, and it was... all fluffy. Crazy stuff; walking in the park again, playing in the snow. I decided that it didn't fit, and I wasn't sure where I was going with that anyway. So I restarted it. I dont know, I have mixed feelings about that first part -- I just think that even Kaiba can't be a sourpuss ALL the time, lol, and if he's ever going to be in a good mood, it'd be while spending the day with Mokuba.
As for that sick thing... well, I seem to like the idea of people being taken care of. So this was really cute for me -- I thought Joey deciding to read the contract to Kaiba was cute. Maybe I'm strange? But they finally did some friendly talking, and I was excited by that.
Jackass-ism. Say it with me; it's fun. Actually, there were two other lines before I settled on that one, but they all sounded way too serious for Joey. So finally the word "jackass-ism" popped in my head, and I used it. Fit well with repent. "REPENT! and Ye shall be saved!" Sorry -- ace ventura moment.
Anyway, moving on... So on Kaiba having bad handwriting. I actually figure he would, if for no other reason than I bet he would rush everything, and his handwriting would suffer. That and it's just amusing.
I love the last two lines. I think they're fun. So all-in-all this chapter was actually a little more amusing than anything else -- I mean, it did have a plot point, but it's a lot of random fun stuff. Or stuff I thought was fun. ^^;;
..::responses to reviewers from chapter five::..
Nenya85: whoa -- I figured that chapter five would be the chapter that bored the hell out of everyone, lol. So it's great to hear that you thought so highly of it. And you know, I'm not quite sure what's going on in Joey's head; rumor has it he went to give Kaiba his jacket, but the question THEN stands why did he give a damn if Kaiba froze to death or not? So I suspect he went out to find Kaiba on purpose. ^^
Tanya Maxwell: I'm not brilliant, I'm insane! lol. Thanks. :)
Moi, Pestilience, alostblackcat, ranma higurashi: Domo. :)
Zelda-Jewel: Well then, I say we have ourselves a deal! XD
Tadashi: haha, sorry for the visual, but it was too good to resist. XD Thanks :) belated 2004 to you too!