Slam dunk

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Warnings/notes : AU, Yami/Yugi, Seto/Joey, Otogi/Honda and possibly slight Bakura/Ryou, oocness.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 25th february 2004, by Misura

Thanks to the people who reviewed the seventh chapter! I'm sorry for not putting in any individual responses, but I really wanted to post this today.

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"Guess who brought back my ball yesterday?" were the first words Joey spoke when he dropped down in his seat, next to Yugi and Otogi. It was still early, meaning most of the students weren't there yet.

"Kaiba?" Otogi hazarded, an odd note to his voice. Yugi couldn't quite figure out what it was, but he sensed that somehow, Otogi wasn't half as pleased as Joey with the recovery of his ball.

Joey blinked, then grinned. "Yup! How did you know? Anyway, doesn't this prove he's not as bad as you always say he is? He's really a nice guy!"

Otogi sighed. "Listen, Joey, don't you think you're taking this whole obsession just a tad little bit too far? I mean, come on, be reasonable! How could he know it was *your* ball? What would he be doing on the basketball-court late in the evening? How would he be able to find your house?" Ticking off the points on his fingers, Otogi shook his head. "It doesn't add up."

"Well, I must say you *do* have a point," Joey admitted. Yugi eyed him curiously, somewhat surprised at Joey's easy agreement to Otogi's words. "I have been wondering those things too. But well, I guess I'll simply have to ask him, won't I?"

"Right." Otogi rolled his eyes. "All you need to do is ask him and he'll tell you the whole sad and tragic tale of his life."

"I'm not going to try and pry in his past. That's his own business," Joey declared. "I mean, sure, if he wants to share it with me, I'll listen. Unlike *certain* people, I'm not judging a person by first impressions."

"*First* impressions?" Otogi sounded incredulous. "Joey, I've known him for as long as you do. Kaiba is and has always been an anti-social bast- guy. Not 'nice'! Not 'misunderstood'!"

"You know what your problem is? You don't look beyond the surface. You only see the act, the mask," Joey persisted doggedly. "Think of Kaiba like Yugi."

Otogi stared at Yugi, one eyebrow raised. Yugi shrugged helplessly, not quite knowing what Joey was getting at either.

"If you see him sitting there, you wouldn't say he was a natural talent at basket-ball, now, would you? And yet he is. Even Yami would say so," Joey explained.

"You're crazy," Otogi stated. "Not that *that*'s anything new."

Joey shrugged, apparently not insulted. "Think what you want. I'm off to ask Seto a couple of questions. See you guys in History!"

Otogi sighed. "Some people just won't take a hint. And I'm still not sure whether that's a good thing or not."

*****

Seto had seriously considered not going to school this morning. It was true that he didn't really *need* the classes and that practically everything he heard in them was information which he either already knew or would never need, but neither of those things had been his reason for not wishing to attend.

When he was honest with himself, Seto knew there was only one thing that had made him want to stay away. Or rather : one person. Joey Wheeler. The mutt.

Undoubtedly, the blonde would know that it had been Seto who had found and delivered his beloved ball. Joey might not be very bright, yet it didn't take much intelligence to figure *that* out. Which meant Joey would probably want to thank him. At the very least. If Seto was lucky.

More likely though, Joey would consider Seto's action as a sign of caring, of finally having managed to break through his defenses. As a sign of weakness, that he would, consciously or unconsciously, try to exploit.

While Seto was willing to concede that Joey had the best of intentions most of the time, that didn't mean he liked the person Joey tried to turn him into. He hadn't survived this long on his own without learning that to be soft was to be defeated. If Joey was too daft to see that (or, perhaps, hadn't yet experienced that for his own), that wasn't Seto's problem.

"Seto!"

He sighed, bracing himself. In the end, he had decided he *had* to go. To remain at home would have been the act of a coward.

"Mutt." He turned around, wishing he hadn't. Normally, he ignored Joey, until the other did something that made it impossible to keep doing so. Of all the times he could have chosen to actually encourage the mutt, this was probably the worst.

Stepping sideways with an expression of disdain, to prevent Joey from glomping him, Seto tried to force the blonde to tell him what he wanted by glaring at him. He had a pretty good idea of what had brought on Joey's sudden determination to rumple his clothes, but Seto *hoped* Joey hadn't jumped to any hasty conclusions.

"You finally admit that you love me too!"

Then again, this *was* Joey. Seto sighed. He should have known. He should have come up with a different way to return the ball, except that he hadn't felt comfortable with keeping it too long. And all other methods he had been able to think of hadn't absolutely guaranteed that Joey would actually get the ball. So many small things could go wrong if one depended on others.

Seto would never have forgiven himself if he'd have been responsible for losing or damaging Joey's lost property. However, that didn't mean he was in *love* with Joey, now, did it? Of course not!

"I have no idea what you're rambling about. All I want is for you to leave me alone." Was that a flash of hurt he saw in Joey's eyes? Impossible. He was merely imagining things. "Just because I brought back that worthless toy of yours ... " He practically saw Joey perking up again, the glow returning to those honey-colored eyes. Oddly enough, it made him feel relieved.

"I love you!" Joey's arms were firmly around Seto's waist, before he had seen the hug coming. Joey's face was very close to his own all of a sudden too, while he could nearly feel the warmth of the mutt's body through their clothes.

Soft lips brushed past his cheek in a shy kiss. And then Joey broke away almost guiltily, mumbling something about people waiting for him and turning away. Which wasn't like Joey at all.

It was *Seto* who ended their 'meetings' by walking out on *Joey*, not the other way around. And Joey never, ever kissed him. Glomps, hugs and declarations of love, yes. Kisses, no.

Wondering what had changed between them -and, more importantly, how he was going to undo that change and get things back to 'normal'- Seto stared after Joey.

The mutt. The puppy. The nuisance that yelled 'I love you!' at him at least once a day, right from the first day the two of them had ever met. *That*, more than anything else, had convinced Seto that Joey was just fooling around. It was silly to believe in love at first sight, which was why Seto didn't do that.

Every time Joey told Seto he loved him, Seto knew it was a lie. Joey wasn't in love with him at all. And if he found out that Seto was starting to like him, even just a little bit, all he would do was make fun of Seto for it.

~tbc~