Disclaimer: I still don't own anything…it's so unfair!

Title: Out of the Closet

Pairing: Seto Kaiba/Joey Wheeler. Yay. Tristan/Serenity, Yami/Yugi. Again, yay.

Summary: Joey's life has just gone from bad to worse; his father is becoming more abusive day by day, his friends ignore him, and he's even starting to lose his duels. Not to mention the fact that he's locked in the school supply closet with Seto Kaiba. Yaoi! JS

Warnings: All right kiddies, I've been warning you about yaoi-ness for a while now. But this is the kissing chapter. Whoo-hoo! Um…I'm not sure if I should change the rating or not. I don't think so, but if someone tells me I need to, then I shall. So ya, mentions of abuse, Kaiba and Joe-Joe neckage…fun!

Author's Notes: More reviews. And oh my gosh, I'm on peoples favorites list!

Kai-Kai-san: Why?

Because they like me…they really like me! Oh and you guys too.

Joe-Joe-kun: I'm liked! -jumps up happily-

Err…yeah. Oh and a note, I finished my other ficlet, 'Misery Medley', Kaiba/Joey. (sighs) I need to stop writing for this couple. It does something…strange to your brain.

Kai-Kai-san: What braing?

Watch it mister.

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Chapter Four: Not So Bad

Kaiba sat in his spot in the supply closet, sneaking looks at the blond every now and then. That isn't the first time I've seen him with a bruise, he thought to himself. He allowed his head to lean against the wall, his mind drifting to earlier incidents where he had spotted a few markings on the other teens neck or arms during gym class. It had never been anything really noticeable; nothing that have every caused him to give it a second glance. After all, it was Joey. He wasn't always the most graceful of creatures.

Still, if it had just been something he'd gotten from a clumsy accident, he wouldn't have been so defensive. There's something else going on. I know it. Maybe one of his old gangs or something? he mused. It was a possibility. He'd noticed that in the past few weeks, the seemingly unbreakable bond Joey had had with his friends had been steadily dissipating. That arrow-haired freak…he meant Tristan, had been spending all of his time chasing around the mutts sister. Yugi had been completely wrapped up in his new found love with his Yami, which, as far as he could tell, had broken Tea's heart, causing the girl to throw herself into her dancing; anything to get her mind off of the other two boys. Which left Joey all to himself.

It wasn't as if the others didn't care; they were just a bit too pre-occupied with either being crazy in love or wallowing in self-pity. It made sense that Joey, feeling rejected, might go back to his old ways. That would certainly explain the bruise. He could have gotten in some type of fight or something.

But…he knew that wasn't it.

A possibility, yes, but the answer? Something just didn't feel…right. He could have easily believed that. Set his mind at ease -why was he even worrying about the mutt anyway?- by simply pretending that yes, indeed, Joey had gone and done another stupid thing and gotten himself beaten up by some gang rivals.

It was something deeper. Somehow, he knew. He sensed it. Whatever pain laid behind that bruise wasn't all just physical; there were some emotional scars on that cute, blond little psyche.

Did he just call him cute? Making a soft growl from the back of his throat he mentally slapped himself. He was trying to figure out something important damn it!

Now, where was he?

Emotional scarring. Damaged psyche. Oh yeah.

There had been pain in those honey eyes when he glanced at him; venom in his words. And as harsh as they had been, Kaiba had noticed the soft yielding in them. Almost as if the blond was begging to be touched.

Bad -well, not so bad, actually- mental images. Stupid, one-track, dirty little mind.

Begging to be held, to be cared for, desperate -and if he was willing accept this from Kaiba, he meant desperate- for anyone to allow him to spill his troubles and sooth away his tears.

And that…that was just ridiculous. Kaiba wasn't the sort of person to do that for anyone; let alone a blond mutt. Scowling he sighed, wishing he could be a bit more self-assured with that last thought. He wasn't going to go soft now. Now after everything he'd been through and worked for. He wasn't going to let it all go to waste by showing some type of weakness for the mutt. He wouldn't.

With that vow firmly in mind, Kaiba decided that he was just going to give up on his musings for now. After all, it wasn't his problem. He didn't care where the bruises had come from, or what the hell went on in Joey's psyche. It wasn't any of his business. He didn't care.

Not at all.

Not one single bit.

Really.

So if not a gang…then what?

Joey sat on his own corner of the closet, staring at the concrete flooring. His situation, for lack of a better and more detailed phrase, sucked ass. All right, so it probably could have been worse. Instead of having his friends basically forget that he'd existed, he could have never even had any friends to begin with. Instead of failing duels because he just couldn't find the will anymore, he could have never had that will in the first place. Instead of his father hitting him every now and then, well, his father could have done a lot worse.

So yeah, it wasn't picture perfect, but it wasn't as if he couldn't go on with life anymore. He wanted to live. And when he looked at it, he actually had a pretty decent life. He knew eventually his group would get back together, which would inevitably proceed in him regaining his want to duel again. And his father was getting help; not that the help was actually helping, much anyway, but like people said, it's the thought that counts. If he could stick it out, things would get better. His life was built upon that one, simple principle, and up until now, it worked for him.

He had only one, simple little flaw in his one, simple little principle.

And this flaw was none other than Seto Kaiba.

It seemed ridiculous that even with everything going on in his life, Joey could handle it; but when it came to the blue-eyed, brown-haired, arrogant CEO, he was at a complete and utter loss. The moments when his friends were so wrapped up in their own lives to notice him making amateur mistakes in a small duel, or the bruises on his wrist, those he could take. But the second Kaiba walked into a room and threw one insult at him, he wanted to snap.

He was like the icing on the cake; or, actually to be more specific, the salt on the wound. That was the most frustrating thing in itself; the fact that he could bring himself to deal with everything else, just not Kaiba. It was so stupid, just so…laughable and idiotic. It may have been all of those things, more even, but it didn't change the fact that it was true.

He didn't know how to deal with Kaiba. He didn't know if he could 'stick it out' and wait for him to get better. He didn't understand the way everything else could cut only so deep -his friends, his family, his failures-, those things could only hurt him so much, and Kaiba could come and push the dagger so much further.

When had what Kaiba thought come to mean anything to him? Since when had a few insults come to hurt him more then his own father throwing him against a wall and giving him a black eye? It didn't make sense; not one bit. The people he loved, truly and utterly cared for hurt him continuingly, not even knowing it, and somehow the one person who tortured him knowingly -who even seemed to get some sort of friggin kick out of it no less- was the one that hurt him the worst.

Did that mean he felt something for Kaiba? Something more than…love? But…ack! That would mean he loved Kaiba! And he didn't. He hated Kaiba; with a passion, in fact. And if there was one thing he'd ever learned from Yugi, it was that love was always stronger than hate.

Maybe he was just in some sort of alternate dimension, and hadn't realized it. That would explain a lot actually. It was like he was in…opposite world. Yeah! That was it! He was in opposite world where hate was a feeling stronger then love, and that was Kaiba could hurt him so much.

He groaned softly and banged the back of his head against the wall. Opposite world? What the hell was wrong with him?! Must not be getting enough oxygen to my brain…or something.

A slight groan pulled Kaiba out of his thoughts, causing him to open his eyes and look over at the blond who was currently banging his head against the brick. He watched blankly -though he did find it highly amusing when Joey hurt himself. He didn't know why, of course. Maybe he really was a sadist, but the blond was cute in pain- as the duelist continued to hit himself.

"Wheeler, stop."

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"I mean it."

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Cut it out already!"

Bang. Bang. Ban- "OW!"

Joey raised a hand, gently rubbing the back of his poor, abused, blond little head. Kaiba shook his head and stood up, dusting off his pants as he stalked closer to the other youth. He kneeled in front of him, trying his hardest not to smirk.

"I told you to stop," he said nonchalantly.

"Yeah well, I wouldn't a hurt myself if you hadn't been talkin to me."

"And how so?"

"I woulda been able to concentrate."

"How much concentration does it take for you to not crack your skull against a brick wall?!"

"…a lot more den you'd t'ink, actually."

Kaiba felt like banging his head against a wall. He sighed heavily and reached forward. Joey kept staring to his side, barely noticing the brunettes movements until he felt cool fingers brushing against the skin of his abdomen.

"EH!" he yelped -rather girlishly, actually, much to Kaiba's amusement- and recoiled as much as he could.

"Relax," the brunette murmured. "I just want to take a look at that bruise again."

Brown eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Oh yeah? Why?! Gonna try and make it worse?"

"You might need medical attention," he reasoned.

Countering with his own brilliant response, Joey stuck out his tongue and pulled away even more, wrapping his hands around his shirt firmly. Kaiba rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Well if you wouldn't let me look at it, at least tell me who did it."

"Why do you care?!" he yelled angrily.

"I never said I did."

"Then why do ya wanna look so damn bad?"

"Why do you want to hide it so damn bad?"

"Because…I just do, okay?! I don't wanna talk about it, not with you, not with anyone. Can't ya just go back to ignoring me or something?" Joey asked, trying not to sound too desperate. All he wanted was to be left alone with his thoughts -yes, he does have thoughts- and wallow in self pity alone. Was that too much to ask?

Kaiba didn't go back to ignoring him. Instead he just sat back on his heels and stared at him, his intense blue gazed fixated on the blonds face. It was rather unnerving, and Joey couldn't help but squirm slightly beneath the look. His fingers itched to punch him again, but he wouldn't resort to that. He wouldn't be much better then those losers he used to hang out with, or his father if he resorted to violence.

A few more minutes passed in an almost excruciating silence -on Joey's part, at least- while the CEO continued studying the other youth. And suddenly, something seemed to click in that over-sized brain of his, because he sat back a little more and a look of understanding -momentary anyway- passed over his face.

"Your father," he said softly, almost as if speaking to himself. For a moment, he wasn't even sure if the other heard him say it.

But he had heard him, and Joey's head snapped up, his eyes finally meeting the others after what seemed like hours. "W-what?"

"Is that why you don't want to talk about? Why you try to hide it? Why your so defensive?" Before Joey even got a chance to say anything, Kaiba interrupted by continuing, "Yes, of course it is."

"How…d-did…how did you…?"

"I'm a genius, remember?" he questioned, tilting his head to the side a bit. "I know that I'm not the only one at this school who works, Wheeler. It's kind of well-known that your father just so happens to be a drunk. I'm not as oblivious to the real world as those little friends of yours. I can put two and two together," he stated as nonchalantly as he could, though his voice had an edge of bitterness in it. The blond picked up on it, blinking a bit.

What did he mean the real world? Had he…? Had Gozaburo…?

"It's not that bad," the blond found himself murmuring softly. "Really it's not. He's even in AA. It's just…sometimes he forgets to go to his meetings, or has a bit too much to drink. He's not half as bad as he used to be…"

"It doesn't matter if it's not that bad. It's not the point," Kaiba growled.

Soft spoken, almost shyness forgotten, Joey glared at him. "What is the point then?!" he yelled angrily.

"The point is that your still hurting and not doing anything to stop it!" he screamed, anger rising. "It's really just wonderful that he's getting help, Wheeler, really it is," he spat sarcastically. "But obviously it's not helping enough."

"He's doing the best he can!" the blond shouted, his eyes nearly brimming with tears.

The brunets eyes blazed, hardly believing what he was hearing. "Well then I guess it's true what they say about the apple not falling far from the tree," he hissed. "Because just like you, dog, his best isn't nearly good enough."

The air was tense after that. Both boys sat, breathing heavily and glaring at each other. There was confusion in each gaze, swimming underneath anger and bitterness. It seemed not even Kaiba knew if that last comment had been an insult. It was supposed to be comforting…it just hadn't come out like that.

Perhaps he shouldn't have added the 'dog' part.

Joey was ready to punch him now. The stupid jackass. He always had to do it, didn't he? He always had to make whatever situation he was in just that much worse. His jaw clenched, holding back all the curses and insults that were ready to fly from his mouth. He knew that would do nothing but get them in a fight, and right now, all he wanted to do was get Kaiba to leave him the hell alone. But…what's the one thing I could do to get Kaiba to back off?

Now, Joey was rather upset -pissed off to the point of no return- and when in this state, he didn't always think too clearly. In fact, he pretty much went with any idea that popped into his mind. And, whether it was their proximity or the intensity of their gaze, the fact that there wasn't enough oxygen in the closet, or the fact that in the back of his mind, he'd actually wanted to do this for a while, he didn't know. All he knew was one minute he was ready to pull out one of the CEO's bodily organs or something, and the next, he was kissing him.

Kissing Kaiba. That was like, some type of oxymoron. A sign of the Apocalypse. As inconceivable as Mai ever actually wearing pants! Or at least, it had been, until he'd found himself pressing his lips against Kaiba's own roughly.

Kaiba almost fell backwards in surprise when Joey kissed him. Not in a bad kind of way, or anything. He blinked a few times, not sure if it was actually happening. As soon as the fact was confirmed, however, he wrapped his arms around Joey's waist and pulled him into his lap, returning the kiss eagerly.

Now it was Joey's turn to be surprised. He didn't really know what he was thinking when he initiated the kiss. It had more or less been a way of freaking the CEO out and making him retreat to his own side of the closet and leave him alone for the remainder of their imprisonment. He hadn't actually thought that Kaiba would kiss back. He hadn't actually thought that he would enjoy it when Kaiba kissed back. He hadn't actually thought past the whole 'hey, maybe if I kiss him he'll go away' part of the plan.

Maybe Joey didn't always have the most brilliant of plans.

He wrapped one hand around the brunettes neck while the other hand rested on his shoulder. What the hell am I doing?! he screamed at himself. He shouldn't be doing this. Like, really, really, really shouldn't be doing this. It was wrong on more levels than he could count. And ha ha, yes, he could count to many levels. And what the hell is he doing? Why is he…? His eyes -which had slid shut at some point in time that he couldn't remember- widened when the arm around his waist pulled him even closer, causing the kiss to deepen considerably. Kaiba's other hand was busy having a mind of it's own as it ran down the front of the blonds chest. Suddenly his eyes narrowed and his anger flared.

Kaiba must have caught on to him. After all, as he'd mentioned previously, he was a genius. He must've figured that the only reason Joey had kissed him in the first place was to make him go away -never mind the fact that the logic wasn't exactly working out to well now. And that was the only reason he'd kissed him. At least, that's what Joey convinced himself of. Absently running his hand through brown hair, he wondered what he should do. He'd pretty much backed himself into a corner. If he pulled away now, then he'd lost whatever kind of game the two had started.

Well, he didn't want to lose again, right? So there was only one real option.

To continue kissing Kaiba.

Brown eyes drifted closed again, and idly he wondered when he was going to have to pull back to breath. After a few more moments, they both had to break the kiss, gasping for air a bit as they did. There was a pause in activities then, neither really knowing what to do. If this was a game, then Joey didn't want to lose -he'd lost to the CEO too many times already. And stopping would probably count as losing, right? Right! So he found himself lowering his head, nipping softly at Kaiba's neck…an action he only did so that he could win. Not that he was enjoying any of this. None of it, in fact. Not one single…

"Kai-Kaiba…"

No, that was not him moaning. Not at all.

OK…maybe it was. Wasn't his fault that the brunette had decided to do that with his…oh…that was nice. Not that he liked it at all…nooooo.

Kaiba cupped the blonds cheek, moving from his neck to kiss him again. Joey couldn't help responded -didn't want to lose the game, after all. That's it; that's all this was about. Some twisted little game they were playing.

Just a game. I'm not losin to dis jerk again! He t'inks he can sit dere and insult me 'an my family, he's got another t'ing coming! But soon, complete thoughts, filled with revenge and malice towards the brunette he was kissing somehow turned into mmm…Kaiba taste like chocolate…chocolate good… And so forth.

Kaiba was in his own happy little hentai world as he broke from the kiss again to -regretfully- breath. He began trailing soft kisses across the blonds jaw, congratulating himself inwardly when the other gasped a bit. He didn't really know what had possessed the blond on his lap to kiss him, but whatever it was, he was thankful for it. He reached the blonds ear, nipping at it gently when he did.

"…Joey," he whispered, pressing a kiss to his neck. He moved to kiss him on the mouth again. But instead of the mouth which he'd easily gotten used to, there was nothing but air.

He blinked in confusion several times. What the hell…? Had he lost it? Had it finally happened? Had he finally gone insane? After a few more moments his eyes finally landed on a wide-eyed blond, causing his tense muscles to relax slightly. What a relief, he wasn't crazy.

Well…not completely anyway.

Then he blinked again, surprise turning into anger. Why did he move? He watched with clouded blue eyes as Joey stood up -still breathing heavily, he noted, mentally patting himself on the back- and stared down at him. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out. He could only stand there, stare, and blush madly.

"Wheeler," Kaiba said, his voice the same emotionless tone as always. "What…?" he began to ask, but was cut off.

"Just don't…say anything about my father…all right?" he questioned, almost softly as his eyes strayed to the ground. "It's not really that bad."

The brunette watched, hurt flickering across his eyes as the blond went back to throwing himself against the door, once again trying to break them out of the closet.

---

-blushing- Did I just write that? Heh. Guess I did.

Joe-Joe-kun: -staring- I…you…me…

Do you think I made Kaiba to nice in this chapter? I think I'm turning Kaiba soft. Oh well. And about him figuring out Joey's dad; OK, I've noticed that like, every character in almost every anime is a bit oblivious to what's going on. I mean, see how long it took people to notice when Yugi changed to Yami. Come on! He gets taller and...err I'll stop now. But Kaiba's a genuis, so I figured that he would be able to figure it out. So uh…what'd 'ya guys think of the lime?

Kai-Kai-san: I never thought you'd actually write it, you sick, twisted, disturbed little freak. -smiles happily- Whoo-hoo!

Joe-Joe-kun: -still stuttering-

So um, yeah. Review please. I got so many nice ones for the last chapter, I hope I get some for this one too! I'll love you forever (non-gaily) if 'ya do! Peace out homies! I'll have the next chapter up…err…as soon as I write it!

Joe-Joe-kun: You…with…and I…and he…I need a shower!