Kaiba often found himself contemplating the intricacies of human relations, doubly so since he had returned to Domino. For instance, how could a simple change in how a person addressed someone have such a drastic affect on how they treated each other?
Of course, he was referring to himself… and Joey, who he had taken to calling by his first name. Somehow that had changed their "relationship"…
Kaiba hated the word "relationship;" it seemed too formal for the loose ties he kept. And Joey was one of those loose ties.
He wasn't sure he'd call them friends, but it was more than a mutual truce. Maybe an understanding… or an almost-friendship? In any case, things were definitely different. Too many times Kaiba had found himself in Joey's apartment - or Joey in his home - on business, but the two had lingered together longer than necessary, sometimes talking, sometimes without saying anything. More than enough times they had found themselves on the topic of raising children, or once in a while Joey would tell Kaiba about things that had happened while he was gone: well-loved shops that went under, high school fiascos, people who moved away, people who moved in…
The most amusing thing was that they were so different - Kaiba didn't think they had a single thing in common. He liked to think in peace, but Joey needed constant noise to keep his brain working. Kaiba didn't like TV, but Joey's was always turned to some sitcom or cartoon or movie. Kaiba didn't do chitchat, but Joey would talk about every thought that crossed his mind. The list could have gone on for days. The only thing they did agree on was that Kaiba Corp. wasn't a family-friendly job. Not that Kaiba pitied Joey - he had been given a fair warning before he took the job that it wouldn't be easy.
At work things were always the same - there was no change in their professional relationship, and the roles were always the same. Joey was the employee, and Kaiba was the hard-ass boss. It lent itself to irony that they only ever met outside work to discuss work, or to do some work that hadn't been completed in the office.
The whole concept of a "relationship" with Joey outside work was odd - and Kaiba didn't understand why it had all come with a change in how he addressed the blond. Perhaps Joey was just insane. Kaiba could make sense of that.
More important than things with Joey, there was the impending Christmas holiday on its way; it was already the twenty-third. Amazing that before Mokuba had returned Kaiba had waited eagerly for the holiday, and now that Mokuba was with him, he dreaded its pass. Mokuba already had his plane tickets for his return trip: the third of January. Kaiba would be alone in Domino again. Not that Mokuba agreed.
Kaiba stopping typing momentarily, frowning at the memory.
"You know, Seto, you're not really gonna be alone here."
"What makes you say that?"
"Well, Joey is here at least twice a week."
Kaiba grunted noncommittally. "That's business."
"Hm, right. Business."
"Stop smirking."
Kaiba grunted and continued his typing. If Mokuba meant to imply that Joey could take his place, then the younger Kaiba definitely had another thing coming. It couldn't be done - and even if it could have been, Kaiba wouldn't have allowed it.
It was all too frustrating to consider, especially when there was work to be done. It would figure that he had to have Wheeler around to do it. He eyed the clock on the opposite wall. It was eleven. Everyone was still awake at eleven. He searched his database for the phone number - he prided himself on not knowing it - and called without hesitation.
"Mgh. Hello?" Joey grunted.
"Are you busy?" Kaiba demanded.
Joey yawned. "Define 'busy'."
"I want to discuss this merger."
"Again?" he groaned, but continued before Kaiba could retaliate. "Fine, whatever. Give me some time to get dressed."
Kaiba hung up, completely ignoring the small twinge of guilt he felt about waking the blond - and he obviously had; he may have been insistent, but that didn't make him stupid. He printed out what he was working on and headed to the living room, the unofficial headquarters of at-home work. It was half an hour before Joey entered the room with Alex wrapped in a blanket and sleeping against one shoulder. Kaiba scowled - cute as Alex was, whenever he was around it took ten times longer to get anything done. "Yugi couldn't watch him?"
Joey grunted and set the toddler into an armchair. "It's late, and I don't make a habit of calling anyone after ten unless it's important," he grumbled, obviously irritated. "He's asleep - it'll be fine. Well, hand 'em over." He dropped onto the couch, holding his hands out for the papers that Kaiba was holding. Kaiba set them on the table; Joey retrieved them. A minute passed, then two. "I swear, Kaiba Corp. breaks more laws than I knew existed," Joey finally sighed. "And gets away with it too."
Kaiba grunted in response. If no one challenged him, who was he to care about laws?
"And why are you even assimilating this piss-ant company, anyway? If no one's taken you out yet, they definitely won't."
Kaiba smirked. "It's the little ones you need to be wary off."
"Freak. That's all that could describe you," Joey's voice trailed off, and Kaiba realized that the blond was dozing off.
"Wake up."
"No," Joey whined, eyes still closed. "You're a psycho. Do you ever sleep?"
"When I need to."
"That's a no," a voice rang out from the doorway, and Kaiba turned to see Mokuba standing there, half-eaten apple in hand.
"Do you sleep?" Kaiba countered.
"Yes - I'm headed to bed here in a minute. I just wanted to come by and say goodnight. Good luck, Joey."
"Thanks," Joey sighed, opening his eyes and focusing on the papers. "Well, you fired your board of directors, so we don't need to worry too much about THAT… and I don't want to even think about the situation with shareholders," he mumbled to himself. Finally he looked up at Kaiba. "Everything looks in-order. Do you really need me to look it over word for word?"
"Yes."
Joey let out a noise that seemed to be a mixture of a moan, a sigh, and a whine. "Do you have any coffee?"
Kaiba usually would have had someone else make some, but his workers all left at ten. Go figure. "I can go make some. Read while I'm gone," Kaiba ordered, standing. He was in the kitchen ten minutes - just ten! - but when he returned Joey wasn't reading. He was out like a light, feet up on the coffee table, head fallen against the back of the couch, and papers lying ignored in his lap. Kaiba scowled and set the coffee mug on the table. "Wake up," he ordered. Joey grunted but didn't rouse. "I swear I'll fire you."
"Oh, stop being so mean to your friends," Mokuba said, standing in the doorway again.
"I thought you went to bed," Kaiba retorted accusingly.
"I got distracted by the TV. NOW I'm going to bed; I just happen to be passing by."
"Well, we're not friends. He's my employee; it's his job to be awake and working."
Mokuba rolled his eyes. "It's almost midnight; cut the guy some slack."
"Are you begging?"
"Yes."
"On his behalf?"
"Uh-huh."
Kaiba sighed. "Fine." Someday he was going to find a way to say no to Mokuba… Someday. He looked at Joey again. Blinked. Looked back to Mokuba. "But I'm not tucking him in." He left the room and headed towards his den.
The sun was just beginning to invade Kaiba's den when there was a tentative knock on the door; it was opened before Kaiba could respond. Not that he had intended to, engrossed as he was in the computer. "Uh, thanks," Joey said humbly, taking his usual seat across from Kaiba.
"Oh," Kaiba said sarcastically, not looking away from the computer. "You mean for not making you do your job?"
"Well, uh, yea, I guess. And the coffee." Joey held the mug up to show Kaiba, as though validating his story. "I looked over the papers when I woke up - everything's fine. Why do you even need lawyers? You can obviously do it yourself."
"Overpaid proofreaders," Kaiba responded distractedly.
"Yea, well, it's fine." There was silence. Kaiba was ignoring Joey, and Joey was shifting in his seat, looking uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for fallin' asleep - I didn't mean to…"
"I'm not angry," Kaiba retorted sharply. "But I will be if you don't stop interrupting me. I'm glad you did your work. Go home and get some rest if you're so tired - you still need to be at work today."
"Yea…" Joey stood, started to walk away, stopped. He looked at Kaiba intently. "What are you working so hard on?" He was standing behind the computer chair before Kaiba could close the window. Joey stared for a minute, blinked, and then laughed. "THAT'S what you're so distracted about? Solitaire?"
Kaiba scowled, moving the ten of spades without looking back at Joey… who was still laughing. "Did I ever say I was working?"
"Well… no, but you're always so SERIOUS when you're at the computer, I just assumed…"
"Assumptions get people into trouble," Kaiba snapped. "Even I need a break once in a great while."
"True. Move the eight."
"I saw that," Kaiba replied. He scowled when Joey leaned against the back of the computer chair… but he didn't order him away either. They sat there, Joey watching Kaiba play the game, occasionally pointing out moves, always to be told that Kaiba had already seen it. It wasn't a lie; he always saw the move a second before. But there was something strangely peaceful about it. Kaiba never much liked company - and he definitely didn't like having someone looking over his shoulder - but overall the situation was… well, not bad.
"Hey," Joey said suddenly, breaking the pattern Kaiba had grown used to in the past quarter-hour. "You wear glasses."
Kaiba shrugged, one finger idly running over the thin frame of his glasses. "Well, if you stare at a computer screen enough, your eyesight will deteriorate." He only needed them when he was on the computer, and he didn't like to advertise his glasses - another weakness, really.
"I imagine. I just didn't know."
"Most people don't."
They fell back into the usual solitaire pattern for another five minutes before Joey broke it again. "Is there any reason we only get along after we work?"
"Probably not." It wasn't as though Kaiba hated Joey when they weren't working, he just didn't have a reason to see him otherwise… not that he was looking for reasons. Kaiba had better things to do.
Joey didn't miss a beat. "Then why don't you and Mokuba join us at Yugi's place on New Years?"
"We tried this holiday thing once. It didn't work out, remember?"
"That was Thanksgiving; New Years is different. It could be fun. And it's gotta be better than staying home and playing solitaire."
"I like solitaire."
"But New Years is a party holiday."
"I don't party."
Joey sighed. "You're hopeless. Why does everyone try so hard to like you?"
Why are you? Kaiba didn't dignify either question with an answer.
"Well, at least I tried - the invitation is open if you change your mind."
"I'll remember that," Kaiba answered dryly. "If you hurry home you can get an extra hour or so of sleep."
"See you in a couple of hours. Red seven."
"Saw it already."
"Right. Oh, by the way: Merry Christmas. You know, in case I forget." Joey shook his head and left. Kaiba frowned to himself, moving the red seven.
New Years…
Not a chance in hell.
- ashes thinks... - (*gasp!*)
"I don't get it," you might be thinking.
"I think it was supposed to be a little funny," I'd reply, but in reality I'm not much more sure than you.
Really -- I suppose that this was actually supposed to be funny, so if it does nothing else (which it SHOULD have done something else, heh), I hope someone laughed.
Before we get into this part, I'm going to share a thought. So as we're waiting for Kaiba & Joey to hop into bed (believe me, they don't make it easy, lol), it occured to me -- getting them together is only half the battle. That being said... I'm beginning to wonder how long this story is going to be... Geez, how did such a small idea get so out of hand? I guess it's like lighting a match in a room filled with gas. At least it's fun! XD
A quick short story -- my computer tried to be anal and not let me open the document, and for a ten minute period I despaired and thought all was lost (not entirely lost; i have most of the rough stuff in my notebook, but still, a lot of stuff gets changed from notebook to computer...). Luckily, I'm smarter than the computer, and the document was saved. Everyone dance!
I have discovered that it is largely a pain in the ass to try to write Kaiba's reflections and what he's doing at the same time -- and I love every second of trying to do it, lol. So hopefully that's working without too much confusion. ^^;;
So I actually HAD to do research for this part (I've been avoiding it as much as possible; these law books are horribly boring, lol), and I'm beginning to suspect that Kaiba Corp. breaks more little laws that conceivably possible, lol. But hey, it's a fictional company, so it's not too big a deal -- I just wanted to poke a little fun at it.
Solitaire! Well, I figured broody as he is, even Kaiba needs a light side, and he needed a small break from broodiness. Credit on the idea of Solitaire goes to Hanachan -- I was originally thinking Tetris. But you know, there's something deep about the game solitaire, especially considering it's Kaiba playing it. So ten points to Hanachan! I wonder if she thought of that, or if it was just a whim...
Kaiba and glasses... well, that was explained there in text: even the great Seto Kaiba's eyes are subject to the laws of... damage? Is there a law about how computers can ruin one's eyesight? Hmm... but anyway, just seemed like something that could have happened over the years.
So I found myself wondering why Joey was inviting Kaiba to another holiday when we all can guess that the last one wasn't so pleasant. Then I realized it -- it's very simple in the fact that Joey is the one inviting him. When Yugi invited Kaiba over for Thanksgiving, Joey sort of blew it off as payment for wasting Kaiba's night. This time it seems that he was making a genuine attempt at being friendly (and getting shot down, lol). Exciting stuff.
..::responses to reviewers::.. (lovely people that you are! *heart*)
tanya maxwell, black luna, ranma higurashi, tadashi, denisse, lady kaiba, angelstarfire: :) thanks. (I need a new word for thank you. like, omfgiloveyou or something. lol. ...right, I keep forgetting, not funny ^_~)
angel-belle: arigato. and people are a little too hard on jou for being... *cough* a little special sometimes, lol.
pestilence GH: is joey/seto like an epidemic or something? (actually, I'm sure there are people out there who would argue that it is -- any takers?) XD that'd be a disease I'd be willing to die of. ^_~
evil windstar: it is a funny world. but thank you! ^^
fire dragon of darkness: no worries on length of review; I have nothing better to do with my time, lol, and it's fun to read people's thoughts. and yea, you made sense.
iteria: hai, we're headed the KaibaxJou route here in the near future. thanks for reviewing! *bow*
nenya85: why thank you. ^^ I liked the ending of the last chapter (though I think I already mentioned that); I figured Kaiba wouldn't go easily into being nice. strangely, the christmas tree thing just happened -- originally I didn't even mention that there was a Christmas tree at all, but it snuck in when my back was turned or something, lol. XD