Three weeks.
It had been three weeks since the day Joey had told him he'd think about things, and all Kaiba had left to remind him of the accident were some faint scars. Those didn't bother him so much.
Mokuba was preparing to leave that evening, and there Kaiba was, sitting in the little café, talking to Mokuba about what they would do when the holidays came around. "Seto, are you sure you don't want me to come here? I mean, traveling halfway across the world for a month… Won't that be bad for the company?" he asked.
"It'll be fine; it survived fifteen years; a month won't kill it."
"Well, if you're sure, then that sounds great. Man, I can't wait until you meet Mei; she's excited to meet you."
"I'm sure you've had nothing but good things to say," Seto replied, raising an eyebrow. Leave it to Mokuba to exaggerate his virtues to some innocent girl.
"Of course." Mokuba grinned, and a waiter came over to take their orders. As Mokuba ordered, Seto spaced out. Three weeks…
"Seto. Seto!" Kaiba looked up, and it was Mokuba's turn to raise an eyebrow. "I ordered for you – are you sure you'll be okay when I leave?"
"Of course – I'll finally be able to take two steps without you babying me."
Mokuba smirked and said dramatically, "Well, maybe next time you'll think before you go and ruin your car, okay? Just remember these past few weeks every time you even consider it."
Kaiba had to chuckle at the admonition. "Fine, fine."
"And no more drinking."
"Alright."
"And you should ban Yugi from Kaiba Corp."
Kaiba didn't respond to that – it wasn't a half bad idea. But he didn't think about Yugi too much; since getting out of the hospital, he hadn't seen him, nor Bakura. That was for the best, Kaiba supposed. He also hadn't seen Joey, but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
More than once Kaiba had been more willing to give up than to wait. He couldn't remember ever waiting so long for such a simple answer, and he hated that it was so hard for Joey to decide. At the same time, he was a little proud that Joey was taking so long, just to consider him… Then there was the possibility that thinking had just been Joey's excuse to get out of the room, to get away from Kaiba. Whenever Kaiba thought like that – and was foolish enough to share his thoughts – Mokuba would remind him to keep hope.
When had Kaiba's life been so dominated by faith?
They made it through lunch normally, eating more than talking. Well, at first, Kaiba did about the same amount of talking as eating, which wasn't much in either case. Somewhere in the back of his head, he remembered Joey constantly trying to convince him to eat more, warning him that he was going to get sick if he didn't keep a good diet.
He ended up eating all his food.
"I'm driving," Mokuba said as Kaiba paid for lunch; the elder scowled at the announcement as he handed over his money.
"You can't keep me off the road forever," he protested.
"I can as long as I'm here," Mokuba replied, and Kaiba shrugged – it wasn't worth fighting, and he didn't particularly have the will to. If Mokuba was that eager to take care of him, who was he to say no? Besides, as much as he abhorred how careful Mokuba had been, he'd miss it when it was gone. He always did.
Mokuba went into the driver's seat the second they reached the car.
"So," Mokuba drawled, starting the engine, "have any plans for today?"
"No, why?"
"Oh, nothing," he replied. "Just making conversation."
Kaiba sat in silence for the rest of the drive – there were things on his mind more pressing than his lack of plans. First, there was Mokuba leaving. It was always hard to see the boy – man, Kaiba once again had to remind himself – leave, even if he knew that he'd see Mokuba again in a few months.
And then there was always a spot in Kaiba's thoughts for Joey – not that the spot was always a good one. He'd made good use of Joey's 'thinking time' and done a bit of thinking himself. Admittedly, he wanted Joey back; he was finally able to tell himself that without cringing. He could even manage to tell Mokuba. He knew that the slim chance that he and Joey would end up back together rode on rational thought, and he should have been happy that Joey was taking so much time. But more irrationally – emotionally – he wanted Joey to hurry up and give him an answer so they could get on with life… Whether that was together or not was a completely different topic.
"Hey, Seto," Mokuba said, interrupting his musings, "I forgot to get some things for the flight – think I could just drop you off at the front gate?"
"That's fine."
"Great! I'll see you in a bit then." Kaiba looked around and realized that they had stopped at the gates. He smiled weakly – he hadn't realized that he had been so lost in thought.
"Bye." Kaiba was surprised by how quickly Mokuba left, as though he was in a hurry to go somewhere… or simply to get away. How odd. Kaiba punched in the security code at the gate, noticed that the security guard was asleep at his post; Kaiba made a mental note to fire him later. But more importantly, he noticed something very out of place on the estate…
There was someone sitting on his front porch.
Even from a distance Kaiba could tell who it was, just by the way the guest was leaning back on the steps, the shifting of his legs as he waited, the mop of blond hair that he kept shoving back from his face... Kaiba remembered all those little impatient motions too well. His step faltered for a second, and he almost paused… Thankfully, he regained his composure quickly, walking calmly until he was just a foot or two away from Joey. In turn Joey looked up at him. The blond was flipping his lighter in his hands.
"Heard you got your stitches out this morning," Joey said.
"Yeah. I had heard you were trying to quit – I take it that didn't work out?" Kaiba asked, gesturing towards the lighter with a nod of his head.
"Ah… Yeah, I didn't – I guess I couldn't find a better way to handle nerves. It's been…" Joey took a deep breath and flicked the lighter on and off one last time before shoving it back in his pocket and asking, "Can we talk, or are you busy?"
"I have time. Come in." It felt weird, having to invite Joey into the house where they had once lived together, short time as it had been. Kaiba walked up the steps past Joey, and he frowned at the relief he felt when Joey followed him without even a moment's hesitation.
Despite himself, he couldn't help being a little hopeful.
They went into the kitchen, and Kaiba got a glass of water as Joey took a seat at the table in the corner. "Thirsty?" Kaiba offered, and Joey shook his head. Kaiba nodded and took a seat across from the blond. They stared at each other silently for a second. Kaiba couldn't help but remember the last conversation they'd had in the kitchen – so long ago it seemed.
"What happened to the good ol' Kaiba, CEO with a heart of ice?"
"I never had a 'heart of ice'."
"I know."
Kaiba wondered if Joey still knew it, or if he had forgotten. Joey was just watching him, not speaking; he didn't even look like he was going to move to speak. "How's Alex?"
"Good; he keeps asking when we're coming back." Joey smiled nervously and looked down at the table, tapping his fingers on it rhythmically.
"You haven't been basing your decisions on a toddler, have you?"
"No, not at all," Joey assured him. "I've been seriously thinking – you know, on my own." He sighed and leaned back in his chair, still not quite looking up at Kaiba – sometimes he looked just a little past him, but mostly, he stared at the table. "We started circling each the second you came back, huh? Looking back on it all, it's sort of funny. Even when we were together, the circling didn't stop."
"It came naturally."
Joey smiled. "Yeah, it did. But you know, even with all the fighting, I was happiest with you. In retrospect, I guess everyone was right to tell me I was stupid." He gave a little humorless laugh. "I was. But when we used to lay in bed, I'd tell myself to enjoy it while it lasted. It never occurred to me that it could just last, especially considering how completely weird it was. In the end… it's all very ironic."
"Why?" Kaiba asked. Joey finally looked up at him; their eyes met, and it surprised Kaiba how serious he looked, how the smile was gone from his face.
"Because back when you left, when we were 17, I actually celebrated, and now I'm miserable without you."
Kaiba had to remind himself to breathe. Still, he wasn't about to fold just because it sounded good. Feeling miserable didn't count for much; what really mattered was intent, and Joey hadn't relayed what Kaiba needed to know: "Exactly what do you want from all this?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Joey asked, frowning a little.
"Spell it out for me – I don't feel like translating today."
"I want to try this again," Joey said, biting his lower lip. "Seriously – no more starting fights, or anything like that."
"So you suggest that I should stick my neck out for you?"
"If you want to."
"Don't think about what I want right now," Kaiba snapped. "I know what I want, I need to know what you want."
It took a minute, but Joey finally said softly, "You."
"Why?"
"Because…" Joey sighed, closed his eyes. For a second Kaiba wondered if he had pushed too hard, if Joey had given up, but after another moment the blond's eyes opened again, and he spoke firmly. "Because I love you, and I'm willing to take a few risks for that. I want to make it work instead of waiting for it end. I want to wake up in the morning and not wonder if I'll leave that day."
It was Kaiba's turn to close his eyes. The ball was back in his court… and even he couldn't find another way to argue with that, another question to push – he didn't know what else he could possibly ask for. He could spend hours interrogating associates, enemies, and he could argue better than anyone he knew…
But even he was finding it hard to argue with the instincts of his heart.
"Don't screw up this time," he warned, his eyes still closed. "Do you understand?" He looked up to see Joey nodding… smiling.
"Yeah, I get it."
"Good, because if I have to say it again, you won't have another chance." He stood and crossed over to Joey, pausing before leaning down to kiss him softly. It was something he'd been dying to do for so long, something he had missed. It felt nice, familiar, comforting, heartwarming… Maybe that was what coming home was supposed to feel like. Joey's hand tentatively traced over Kaiba's cheek, then up through Kaiba's hair to pull him closer, deepening the kiss.
Kaiba was disappointed that it had to end.
"God I missed you," Joey breathed, his hand falling to rest on Kaiba's shoulder, his eyes still closed. "You wouldn't believe how much."
Yes, I would. Kaiba moved to go back to his seat but remained standing, and Joey looked at him curiously. "We still need to talk about a few things." And we're not going to get anything accomplished while I'm close enough to touch you.
"Oh, yeah. So… how do you want to work this?"
"Work what?"
"Well, I'm still stayin' with Tristan. Should I go out and look for an apartment? We could go back to the whole commuting thing; that seemed to work pretty well."
"No," Kaiba interrupted. "It's also inconvenient. Why would we go backwards from where we were?"
"Just checking, I guess." Joey sighed, and despite what they had resolved, he still looked nervous. "Did you… Did you miss me?"
Kaiba blinked. Of all the dumb things to ask… "Are you an idiot? Do you think that I'd even bother with you with if I didn't?"
Joey smiled, and shook his head. "No, I guess not."
"Good. I still have some work to do, so I'm going to assume we're done for now." Kaiba hesitated over his next words. They felted a bit rushed, but he'd spent three weeks waiting for Joey to come to him, and now that he had, he wasn't looking to waste time. "I expect you'll be back this evening?"
"You mean… Yeah. Tonight's fine." Joey stood, stretching and yawning. "I guess that means I'm gonna go get my stuff together, tell the kid the news. He's gonna be thrilled." Kaiba just nodded – he wasn't sure what to say about that, and he would be damned before he admitted that he had missed Alex too – it was just a little too strange to say. It felt very domestic.
Joey started to leave, and Kaiba realized that there was something he had forgotten to say in all his haste to make sure Joey was really coming back. In one movement Kaiba caught him by the wrist and pulled him back, wrapping his arms around the blond's waist. That was another thing he had missed doing: holding Joey, taking him by surprise.
It was odd to have missed so much.
Joey didn't move for a second, but after a second he loosened up a little in Kaiba's embrace. "Need something?" His hands covered Kaiba's – not pulling them away, just holding them.
"I just needed to add something." There was a nervous tension in Kaiba's stomach. It was ridiculous – he only had words to say; he shouldn't be getting worked up like a teenager. He leaned close to Joey's ear and whispered, "You're not the only one in love here. Keep that in mind."
He heard a soft sound – perhaps an intake of air, or a slight gasp – pass Joey's lips, and it was another moment where they didn't move. He could practically hear the gears turning as Joey tried to think of a response. In the end, he liked the one Joey came up with.
"I'll be back."
Kaiba held him one more second, repressing the smile that tugged at the edges of his mouth as he let Joey go. He only had one thing to say to that. "I'll be here."
(everything is at the end of the epilogue)