It was just another Monday, and Kaiba was at his desk working – thinking – like always.
He had no illusions. Life had taught him to be cold, calculated, aloof, and prepared for any misfortune that could come – and misfortune had a strange knack for finding him. When anything good happened, it was his natural reaction to expect the worst. It was a weakness to hope that for once what appeared to be a good thing wouldn't turn out to be a bad thing.
But he didn't want to be dispassionate with Joey... not that he could have been, not even if he had wanted to. Granted, the emotional reaction wasn't always pleasant – Kaiba hated confusion, and hope was almost as bad – but still, the reaction was definitely there, eating away at his well-placed guards.
Just because of a kiss and a couple of well-spoken words. Kaiba shook his head to himself. What a fool he had become.
The door opened, and Kaiba looked up to order his visitor away. His words died before he spoke them; they always did when the visitor was Joey. "Are you busy?" Joey asked, standing in the doorway of his office.
"I'm always busy."
Joey nodded. "True. You want to take a break for lunch?"
Kaiba looked up at Joey questioningly. All things considered, it was a bold request. "With you?"
"Yeah. There's a deli nearby, nice casual place."
"Fine." Kaiba sifted through some papers. "Let me finish this." Joey nodded and took a seat on the couch, not speaking for the entire ten minutes it took for Kaiba to reach a stopping point. They were down the hall and in the elevator before Kaiba broke the silence. "Is this place within walking distance?"
"A couple of minutes."
They made it down the street, into the deli, and to the table with their food without more than three words passing between them. Just when Kaiba was going to ask why he had been invited – as he could just as easily have eaten in silence alone – Joey told him, "You should eat more."
"It's not in my nature; this is enough." Kaiba took a bite of his salad as though proving his point.
With a sigh, Joey continued, "I really don't get you. I mean..." He paused, focused on his sandwich.
"And just when I thought we were going to talk," Kaiba intoned.
"Where does everything put us?" Joey blurted. "New Year's, Saturday... Where does all that stand?"
Kaiba shrugged. "I don't – "
"Care," Joey interrupted crankily. "Right, I forget you're pretty hard to ruffle. Hell, I probably just looked good that night, on my back and wheezing for air."
Kaiba shook his head. There was nothing sexy about gasping for breath. Well, maybe, in another situation, Joey would have looked good on his back and out of breath... "I was going to say 'know'," he explained, abandoning his previous train of thought.
Brown eyes stared at him in awe. Joey uttered a small, "Oh."
"Trust me," Kaiba continued, "you're not an easy person to figure out, certainly no easier than me."
"Sure I am," Joey replied with a smile. "I'm a simple guy."
"Hardly. No 'simple' man would flirt with another man when everything about him indicates he's straight."
Joey had to fumble for an answer on that one, giving Kaiba some time to eat his salad.
"Well, yeah... But..." Joey slumped, ate some food, and tried again. "I guess I am. Straight. Or... well..." He rested his elbows on the table and cradled his head dramatically. "Fuck, I don't know."
"Not a very good state of affairs," Kaiba replied calmly. "That's something most adults know."
"I did until you came back," Joey retorted. "Any doubt in my mind is completely your fault."
A couple of kisses and already Kaiba was blamed for Joey's shortcomings. If anything DID come to pass between them, Kaiba had the feeling it would probably be the stupidest thing he'd ever do. "What an honor," Kaiba threw back sardonically.
"Look, I don't mean to be..." Joey sighed. "I don't get it, alright? Yugi I would have understood; we've always been close. Tristan, gay as he is... or hell, any of my friends, I could have made sense of things if it were one of them. But you... man, I couldn't stand you, but then you come back, you're less of an ass, and you..." He paused his rant. "I wasn't drunk New Year's."
"I know."
He took a deep breath and continued, "And I don't think that you really regret it."
"I should."
"No... you shouldn't," Joey said, as though he were admitting some sin. He looked as serious as Kaiba had ever seen him, and their eyes met. "I told you, I've never kissed anyone without meaning it."
How sentimental of him. "And what does a kiss mean to you?"
"Just... something. I never much thought about it."
Kaiba rolled his eyes and ate his salad. "That's not very reassuring."
"Well, it means I want to kiss you again, if nothing else."
"What if I don't want to kiss you again?" Kaiba challenged.
"Then it sucks to be me." They ate together in silence for a while, but Kaiba was well aware that they would run out of food soon, and then they'd have to find a new excuse not to talk. Luckily before the situation got that desperate Joey asked, "Well, do you want to?"
"Yes." They stared at each other. "So that brings us back to the original question."
"I..." Joey blushed – again. Kaiba wondered how many times he intended to do that. "Want to come over later?"
"Why?" It was a tempting offer, but Kaiba knew that if the invitation was just for the sake of fooling around, then nothing would be resolved; he knew enough about sex to know that it had a nasty habit of distracting him from the important aspects of life.
"Well, I've still got to kick your ass in that game, and we need to get back to work."
Kaiba nodded. "Fine."
"Come in!"
It was the first time that Kaiba walked into Joey's apartment without having the door opened for him – not a particularly significant fact, but different nonetheless. Joey was already on the floor and playing a game – not the fighting game, but what looked like a child's game; colored balls kept bouncing around the screen randomly, occasionally hitting each other and popping. It was like a cartoon, complete with squeaky voices of triumph. "Mature," he commented, closing the door behind him. He couldn't quite bring himself to step further into the apartment.
"I was just killing time; sit down, I'll change games in a minute."
Kaiba moved to sit beside Joey on the floor, discarding his jacket onto the chair along the way. Joey ignored him for a minute, then two... Kaiba felt ridiculous, sitting on the floor like a child, all for the sake of being near Joey. The blond had no idea how much he really affected Kaiba.
Finally Joey paused the game and looked over. "Where's the kid?" Kaiba asked.
"Asleep. I guess he had a busy day."
And then Joey's lips met Kaiba's, silencing any words that might have been lingering there. He pulled back about as quickly as he had moved forward. "Sorry," he murmured. "Muscle spasm."
Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "Happen a lot?"
"Oh yeah," Joey replied with a nervous smile, licking his lips. "All the time."
Fine – two could play at that game. Kaiba pulled Joey towards him, finally taking control of the awkwardness between them; he had been sick and damn tired of nervous kisses. His lips were bruising against Joey's, tongue brushing only the blond's lips, enticing him to let Kaiba in. After all, he had never asked nicely for anything; why would kissing be any different? He was accustomed to taking what he wanted, and Joey on the living room floor was starting to seem like a mighty tempting idea...
Joey didn't resist, opening willingly to Kaiba's silent demands, hands reaching out to pull him closer; Kaiba's natural reaction was to shove Joey onto his back – he couldn't think of many other ways to get closer – as he explored and tasted the mouth offered to him. It was a little frightening that he loved every second of it.
"Wait," Joey suddenly gasped against his lips, catching one of Kaiba's wandering hands, which had made it as low as Joey's side. Kaiba glared down at him. If there was ever a time he WASN'T in the mood to talk... "I... Are we friends?"
Joey needed some sense knocked into him. Hard. "No, I always do things like this with people I can't stand," Kaiba replied sarcastically. He leaned in to kiss Joey again, but the blond evaded him.
"Are we... uh... more than friends?"
Kaiba sighed. "I don't do this casually, if that's what you're asking."
"So that's a yes?" Joey inquired nervously. He looked like he had been faced with some daunting task, and Kaiba wondered if he was really that frightening.
"...I'm sick and fuckin' tired of being hurt."
Of course. How could he have forgotten? "Are you interested?" It was a ridiculous question; Kaiba was sure he knew the answer to that. Then again, he thought he knew all the answers many times before, and he rarely did.
"Yea, but... I don't know..." Joey moved to sit up, and Kaiba retreated to his spot on the floor. He had a feeling it was about to become the sort of conversation that was going to require personal space. "So I guess we discussed it a little over lunch..."
"That would be?"
"That I... Well, I usually do this sort of thing with chicks... But you're..." Joey paused. "I'm not trying to say you're a chick or anything like that, but... Kissing you is nice. I like it. I like it a lot. It's just a little bizarre. But when I think about... other stuff, it doesn't make much sense to me. I just can't grasp it, and I don't want to rush into something only to find out too late that I can't handle with it. It wouldn't be fair to either of us, really."
"Hm," was Kaiba's only response. He had no intention of trying to push Joey in either direction. He knew which direction he preferred, but that was beside the point.
"Then there's that relationship thing..." Joey seemed to shudder for a moment. "Is that even legal?"
"What, relationships?"
"No. Well, yes. I mean, you being my boss and all."
Kaiba smirked. "Weren't you the one that told me that Kaiba Corp. breaks all the laws anyway?"
"Good point."
"Besides," Kaiba added, "work life and personal life are two completely different things that I don't intend to combine."
"Good..." Joey bit his lower lip, looking from Kaiba, to the floor, to his hands. If the conversation was over, Kaiba was going to –
"Could I convince you to stick with this whole kissing thing for now?"
Kaiba blinked, surprised by the sudden request. "You're kidding, right?"
"I..." Joey blushed and shook his head. "It's just a little strange."
"Fine," Kaiba said, much calmer than he felt. It was one thing to be impatient; it was quite another to be too forceful, and he'd be damned before he did that. Besides, the way Joey talked about sex and past relationships, it couldn't be too long of a wait. "Are you planning to change games?"
Joey smiled and kissed Kaiba again. Tease! Kaiba groaned inwardly, the sound echoing in his brain as the kiss ended.
"Just exploring new territory," Joey admitted. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Kaiba gestured to the game, but his thoughts were on an entirely different topic.
"Right... Wait! Does this mean that we're – "
"Yes," Kaiba answered exasperatedly. "Do you always ask this many questions going into a relationship? No wonder they never worked out for you."
Joey ignored Kaiba's feeble barb, and his lips moved silently over the word 'relationship'. He was smiling.
Kaiba wondered what he had gotten himself into.
- notes -
Many thanks to Sarasusa, who has beta'd. Great patience & ideas, that one has -- she rocks. ^^
So, we have an established, vocalized relationship... you know what that means. ... I was talking about drama, you perverts. ^_~
lol, anyway... So I have a few issues with Joey in this chapter; he seems to be of two minds about everything (which you will see much more of in upcoming chapters), which is a pain in the ass. Hmm...
Oh, the game of colored balls: Bust-A-Move. Another SNES game that was too much fun. XD
Other than that, I can't think of much to say at the moment. x.x Haha. Hope you enjoyed. :)
..::responses to reviewers::..
darkmus: lol, I like Yuugi (*cough*especially with mokuba*cough*). We shall not contest Kaiba's dorkiness. XD As for that kiss, just some random person who I don't think we hear about again. After all, Kaiba's got better kissing material now, ne?
shadowfire, Regann, lightning sage, tanya maxwell, ColeyCarissa, alecto perdita, tadashi, angel-belle, gyrrlgenius, eyes0nme19, ranma higurashi: *bow*bow* Thankies.
Fire Dragon of Darkness: ooh, happy birthday! ^^ Erm, belated, of course. lol, yeah, over-complicated, but looks like a great time.
yami) white rain: really? It would have felt horribly inconclusive to me if I had ended there. After all, they're still pretty stubborn characters with some unsolved issues, ne? :)
Kaneda-Shotaro & Yami Tetsuo: no worries. ^^ Thankies.
Elsalhir Erestar: haha, yes, it backfired on you hardkore. Don't cry about Yugi! Trust me. ^_~
ReMedy10: thanks. aww, i'm sorry it made you cry. ^^;;;
Nenya85: lol, I didn't think of that -- heart of the scrabble tiles. I ought to bust that one out next time I play scrabble, just to see what happens. Glad you liked it. ^^
Chronicles Bailey: I dont want to be in the States, lol -- I just got back, and I'm about ready for another 4 year hiatus. ^^ Aww, sorry to hear about the sprained ankle.