Well, it is me again, Seren147, and I bring with me a new chapter! Isn't that lovely? Well I hope we all agree that it is. Sorry that it took me so long to get it out, but I had final exams at school for the past three weeks! So most of my "free" time was taken up with studying…but anyway, school is almost ending for me, it ends this Friday (yey!) and then after that no more school until August! Yey! Lol that will be good. I don't like school very much but then who does? So when does school end for everybody else out there? And what are your summer plans? Mine are to probably finish this fic (there are still many more chappies on the way) and just laze about I guess. You know, it's strange, but I think that chapter 12 was my favorite chapter that I've written so far. I don't know why, but I just love that chapter. (lol!) Well anyway, hope you enjoy this chap and just remember that I do not own YGO or any of its characters, just this plot!
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
13. Chocolate Does it Every Time!
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Serenity panted as she rushed through the hospital's doors. 'Oh no…' she thought, glancing down at her watch. It was fifteen minutes after four. 'I'm late!'
Making her way down the familiar path to the elevator, she quickly pushed the button and got inside. Her heartbeat started to slow as she allowed herself to rest as the elevator took her up. She had rushed the whole way to the hospital after leaving the apartment that she and Joey shared; and it had been one hectic day.
'I hope Kaiba's not mad…' she thought, then smiled to herself. 'In order for him to be mad though, he would have had to have been waiting for me…' The thought that Seto might have actually been waiting for her amused her. 'Yeah, maybe in my dreams…' As the door opened, she stepped out and took in a deep breath. Resuming a normal pace in her walk, she continued on until she came to Kaiba's door. Hesitating as she always did before she came to see him; she finally knocked on his door. All of a sudden, it flew open while her hand was still raised in the air. She felt someone grab her arm roughly and pull her into the room, slamming the door behind her.
"Where the hell have you been, I've been waiting for over an hour!" Recovering from the shock of having been pulled roughly into the room, Serenity now felt a new surprise come over her. 'What…?' she thought, 'He was waiting?'
"You…you have?" she asked in reply.
Pulling up the sleeve of his black shirt to glance at his watch, Kaiba answered her. "As a matter of fact, I have. I've been waiting forever to get out of this place."
"But…I thought you don't get released until tomorrow?"
Kaiba rolled his eyes as he gazed down at her in irritation. "I don't get released until tomorrow. But just because I don't get released until tomorrow doesn't mean that I can't leave today."
Serenity looked up at him, slightly confused. "What do you mean…?"
Sighing and then crossing his arms, Kaiba looked down at her before replying. "What I'm saying is, let's go. They finally gave in and are letting me go out for awhile today. So let's hurry up and get out of here. They won't let me leave without a damned escort, so let's go already."
Surprised at his response, she nodded in agreement. 'Ha, he does need me.' she thought in her mind, amused. 'Bet no one's ever been in this situation before.'
"Alright then, let's go." she said aloud to him. Smiling as he swiftly moved towards the door, she then snapped out of her daze and hurried to catch up with him.
As they quickly made their way down the hall, and then, to Serenity's dismay, the stairs, she repeatedly tried to ask him what the plan was. 'Just where is it that we are heading?' she thought, trying to catch Kaiba's attention. No such luck though; this was one place that he wanted the hell out of and fast. Kaiba kept going, ignoring everything in his path as well as Serenity who struggled to keep up with his fast pace, until they finally reached outside of the hospital grounds. It was there that Kaiba finally paused, looking around.
As Serenity finally caught up to him after his fast walk without her, she finally was able to ask the question that had been on her mind. "So where are we going, anyway?"
Seeming not to notice her, Kaiba continued to look around and then reached in the pocket of his trenchcoat in search of his cell phone.
Serenity frowned at his action, or rather, his lack of action in regards to her. 'Guess I was only his "get out of jail free" card' she thought rather bitterly. Crossing her arms in front of her while she waited for Kaiba, she let out a sigh. 'What am I supposed to do with…this?' She continued watching Kaiba as he frantically went through all his pockets systematically.
"Damn it." he swore, as he finally gave up his search.
"What's wrong, Seto?" asked Serenity, as she saw him look angrily back at the hospital building.
He looked back at her and then replied, "What's wrong is that I left my damn cell phone in that hellhole behind you. Now I can't call my driver, and I don't expect that you have a phone on you, now do you?" He smirked when he saw her look embarrassingly at the ground. "Yeah, I didn't think so. And for the record, it's Kaiba."
Serenity's gaze shifted from the ground to Kaiba's face. "Huh?" she asked, confused at his last statement.
He let out another irritated sigh. "My name is Kaiba to you. Not Seto. Kaiba."
Serenity felt her cheeks heat up as he said this. "Well yeah, I mean, I know. I know that everyone calls you Kaiba. But…you know…I just thought that—"
"You thought what?" Kaiba interrupted impatiently.
Feeling even more stupid while the pink blush still spread across her face, Serenity diverted her gaze once more to the ground and muttered the last part.
"I guess I just thought that since we were friends I could call you by your first name. Pretty stupid, right?"
Still standing with her head bent down, she waited to hear his insidious agreement. When he didn't say anything after a few moments had passed, however, curiosity got the best of her. She looked up. Kaiba was still standing there looking at her, however, the anger seemed to be gone from his face and in its place was a rather amused look. 'Is that good or bad?' she thought. She didn't know, or maybe she didn't want to know, so she decided to forget the whole thing and move on.
"So…Kaiba…what do you want to do then? Do you want to go back and get your cell phone or…maybe you want to go somewhere…I mean, what were you planning on doing before I arrived?"
A look of irritation once again crossed his face. "No, I do not want to go back in there. I am so fucking tired of that place that I never want to see it again in my life. And I was going to go by my office to pick up some paperwork but I guess that that is out of the question now. It will just have to wait until tomorrow." He sighed once again and turned his gaze back to her. "Well, it's not like it matters anyway. I can fix all the problems that those imbeciles at my company made when I 'get released' tomorrow." He shook his head. "Damn. I'm going to have so many things to fix once I get back to KaibaCorp. That's why I don't want to waste my time around here."
Serenity looked at him and nodded. "I understand. I mean, I know it must be awfully frustrating for you when you're so used to being in charge and running your own corporation and everything…but still, sometimes it's a good thing to sit back and relax a little…" she finished, as she tried to smile reassuringly at him.
"Yeah. I guess." came the arrogant reply, "You can do that. As long as you're prepared to take all the losses that will come from all the time that you've wasted."
"But Seto," Serenity pleaded, trying to make him understand, "You can't work all the time. Sometimes a little relaxation is what is needed to get a person, or a company, up and running again. Taking a rest every once in a while will help you to do even better work."
When he didn't respond, Serenity suddenly realized the mistake she had made. "Oh. Right. I'm sorry…Kaiba." She looked down awkwardly and wished that somehow she could have made this day better. 'What is there that I can do…?' she wondered silently, watching the tall CEO in front of her. They were both still standing outside the hospital grounds, appearing as if they were waiting for something. 'Come on, think, Serenity, think! He can't call his driver…and you can't use your car for various reasons, one being that it's a hunk of junk and two being that it also belongs to Joey…so…what can I do…?'
Gazing at her as she appeared to be in deep thought, Seto's face softened a little. 'Well…I guess it's not so bad…' he thought, 'I mean, there are worse people that I could be stuck with. At least it's this Wheeler and not the mutt.' Looking down at her, he felt the corner of his mouth turn upwards slightly. 'Damn it,' he thought, 'she's doing it to me again.' Preoccupied with his thoughts, he suddenly felt a hand on his arm.
"Come on, Kaiba, I know what we can do!" Kaiba looked down at Serenity pulling on his arm. Narrowing his eyes, he asked her what anyone would in his situation. "Are you crazy?"
'Come on Serenity, just go with it…' Mentally pumping herself, Serenity decided to just go for it. She laughed at his reaction and started walking down the street, trying to pull him along with her. There was a little resistance on his part.
"Well, it's a beautiful day, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, you know, all that normal, every-day beautiful stuff." She laughed again at the look on his face when she said this. "Come on, since we don't have a car, let's just walk. We'll find something to do along the way, I mean, it's gotta be better then whatever is back at that hospital, right?"
Smiling as he finally, although reluctantly, agreed with her, she managed to get him to start walking beside her. Still holding onto his arm, she looked up at him and smiled. 'Maybe if I act happy, he'll become a little happier…' she thought, hoping this would prove true, if only a little bit.
Looking back down at her, Kaiba decided not to shrug her off. 'She'd probably cry or something if I did that…' he thought. Deep down, though, he knew that it was just him not wanting her to let go. It felt kind of…kind of…nice. Even though he would be the last person to admit it.
"Kaiba?" a voice interrupted.
He shifted his gaze to Serenity beside him. "What?"
"Thank you."
As she smiled sweetly up at him, Seto felt a warmness spread throughout his chest. He stopped the warmth before it could show on his face, and simply nodded curtly at her as they continued walking down the street.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"Well, Joey, I must say that I am quite impressed with this little dinner you put together here." Mai paused as she took a sip of water out of her glass. "Or should I say I'm quite impressed with the way Serenity prepared dinner?" She smiled sweetly at him from across the table as a slight blush began to creep across his face.
"N-No, she did not prepare this dinner," Joey stammered, as he tried to hide his embarrassment. "I mean, come on Mai, a deal is a deal, and I said that I'd do it, ok?" He looked up at Mai, hoping that she had bought his story. Or at least some of it anyway.
"Un-huh." Was Mai's simple reply, as she continued to stare at him coyly.
Joey decided to remain silent, and returned her stare with one of his own. 'Geeze, how long is this gonna last?' he thought to himself, as the minutes ticked by and Mai's gaze didn't budge. She was remaining cool, but Joey…well, Joey was losing it fast.
"Alright!" Joey finally screamed. "She cooked the dinner! Are you happy now!" He let out a sigh and slumped forward on the table. "Believe me; it was better for both of us that way."
Joey looked up suddenly when he heard Mai start to laugh. "What's so funny?" he asked.
"Well," Mai started to say, in between her laugh, "you really crack under pressure, don't you Joey Wheeler? I mean…you couldn't even take me staring at you for two minutes!" She continued to laugh as Joey's face became red once more.
"I-I could to!" answered Joey, blushing even more, "and it was a lot longer then two minutes, so stop laughing already!"
"S…Sorry…" Mai managed to squeak out, still laughing.
Joey waited while she finished up. When it had seemed like she had gotten a hold of herself, he said, "Are you finished laughing at me already? I mean come on! Give a guy a break! I helped out with the dinner…well…kind of…I mean, I attempted to and all…"
"Joey, sometimes you are just too cute."
"…huh?" Joey stopped his explanation of how he "helped out" with dinner and started to blush again instead. "Oh…well…it was nothing and…umm…"
Mai smiled. "Instead of babbling, how about you tell me what's for dessert tonight, huh Joey?"
Joey stopped rambling once again to answer her. 'Dang, what is she doing to me?' he thought to himself.
"Uhhh…sure, umm…let's see. Oh yeah! We've got some chocolate-frosted cupcakes for dessert. Now the bakery made those Mai, so I hope you're not too disappointed in my 'cooking'."
Mai shook her head and smiled at him once again. "No, Joey, how could I ever be disappointed in you?"
Joey stood up and reached to clear the dishes. "Well…uhh…dang Mai, why're you bein so nice to me all of a sudden? You're actin too weird for me." He smiled at her while he took her plate. "I mean, maybe Marik's got you under some kind of mind control or somethin, cause you're actin really strange, that's for sure."
Mai scowled at his back as he turned to put the dishes in the sink. "Hmmp." she said, "you don't know anything." She crossed her arms and turned her back to him to give him the message. "Stupid Joey...can't make anything pleasant…" she muttered.
"Oh is that right?" came the reply from behind her back. "Well I do know that you'd look a lot better with chocolate all over your face!"
Mai narrowed her eyes and started to turn around to ask him what the hell he was talking about when a hand came from over her head and smushed something right into her face. It went everywhere…in her mouth, in her nose…
Meanwhile, someone was laughing hysterically behind her. 'A dead someone,' Mai thought. She sat there with her arms crossed and the chocolate frosting from the cupcake smeared all over her face while Joey continued laughing behind her. Slowly, she turned towards him. To say that she was seething would be an understatement.
"Joey…Wheeler…" she said through gritted, chocolate-stained teeth, "I hope you've prepared your will 'cause YOU'RE GONNA DIE!" She lunged for the pink box he was holding in his hands while he was still bent over from laughing. Tearing it from him, she opened it up and took cupcake after cupcake out and smashed it wherever she could on him…the top of his head, in his ear, on his face…
'Now this,' Mai thought, 'is kind of fun.'
When she had ran out of ammo, she dropped the box and stepped back to admire her work. Joey had somehow fallen down during her assault and was now seated on the floor, his whole head and the front of his white shirt simply covered in chocolate frosting. "Man, Joey, if I turned off the lights I wouldn't be able to find you!" she laughed.
As she looked down at Joey, who only sat without moving and stared at her, she began to feel the teensiest bit afraid. 'Maybe I went overboard…' she thought.
"Umm, Joey?" she questioned hesitantly. "Are you alright…?"
Staring up at her, Joey suddenly began to laugh again. "Mai…you…you really got me good there…" he said to her, in between his laughter.
Relieved that he wasn't mad, Mai began to laugh as well. "Yeah, well, you deserved it kid. You messed with the wrong girl. Touch Mai and die. Remember that."
He only continued to look up at her and laughed even more. "Here," he said, reaching out his hand, "if you're finished with ruining our dessert already, help me up."
"What? And get more frosting on me? I don't think so. You can help yourself up."
"Is that so?" Joey answered, reaching up to the counter and pulling himself up. "Well I'll show you!"
He suddenly lunged at her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him and his chocolate-smeared body.
"Wh-what?" Mai stammered, surprised, "What are you doing Joey?" Realization of the meanings of his actions dawned on her and she began to struggle to get away. "No…no…you are not getting that mess all over my nice clean clothes!"
As Joey began to rub his cheek across her face and smear chocolate across her shirt with his own, she finally gave up her protests and started to laugh along with him. When he finally pulled his face away from her, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're gonna pay for that." she told him, "You know that right? You messed up my nice outfit that I wore especially for your dinner."
"Is that right?" Joey asked, as he tightened his grip around her waist, "Well that's just too bad."
He smiled at her as she smiled back and, although it was not awkward, the moment seemed to last forever…
"Well you know what, Joey?" Mai whispered to him softly.
"What's that?" Joey whispered back.
"Since you didn't make dinner yourself tonight, then that means that you still owe me for your bet."
"Well I don't know about that, Mai. I mean, I did have dinner for you and all…"
"Doesn't count." Mai interrupted.
"Doesn't count?"
"Nope…"
"Well then," Joey replied softly, "How 'bout I make it up with this…?"
He slowly leaned towards Mai and gently kissed her on the lips. As he felt her grip around his neck tighten, he softly pulled away and smiled at her. He watched as her eyes fluttered open and then kissed her on her chocolate-smeared forehead.
"How's that, Mai?" he asked her softly, "Will that make up for it?"
She smiled and then nodded back at him, and he felt a joy spread throughout his body.
'Finally…' he thought, 'finally…I can tell Mai about how I feel for her…or I can show her…'
He smiled at her again and met her lips once more with his own as they stood standing in his kitchen, wrapped up in the sense of love…and each other.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"So this is where you wanted to go?" Seto looked incredulously at the theme park that now lay before him. "You can't be serious."
He looked down at Serenity and shook his head. "Absolutely not. I've got better things to do then waste my time at an amusement park."
"Like going back to a boring hospital?" Serenity asked, looking up at him. "Come on, Kaiba, this is at least a little better. Be adventurous for a change." When he didn't respond to her prodding, she started pulling on his arm once again to make him walk and smiled up at him. "Come on, I promise it will be fun."
Kaiba frowned as he reluctantly walked with her into the park. "Fine. But don't expect me to do anything." he said.
"Alright." Serenity smiled at his compromise and began to look around as they walked through the park. "Oh look Kaiba! There's the merry-go-round."
"Don't even say it." Kaiba answered her. "I am not about to get on anything, let alone a child's ride."
"Well who ever said anything about you riding on it?" Serenity asked.
Kaiba looked down at her with a surprised look on his face. He hadn't expected that response. He had thought that she would whine the whole time at him to do this and do that…but she wasn't.
"Why don't you wait here while I ride on it? I mean, that is, if you don't mind Kaiba." Serenity looked up at him sweetly and waited for his response.
He sighed, looking back down at her. 'What am I getting myself into?' he thought.
"Fine…I'll wait…"
"Ok! Thanks Kaiba!" Serenity said enthusiastically as she let go of his arm and rushed to get on before the ride started again. He watched as she boarded the platform and picked out a duel monster to ride on.
"Look Kaiba!" she called to him, pointing at one of the duel monsters near her. "A Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
'How old does she think I am, ten?' he thought, as he nodded at her. She smiled back at him and got on it. As the ride started up, he watched her go around and around. She looked so delicate compared to the Blue-Eyes she was riding on, yet she laughed and laughed. "I really don't see what's so funny…" he muttered to himself.
As the ride ended and she made her way back towards him, he looked at her expectantly. "Well?" he asked sarcastically, with his trademark smirk intact, "Did you have fun?"
"As a matter of fact I did, Kaiba. Maybe you should try it sometime." She smiled up at him and then started walking again. Confused by Serenity's actions, Kaiba followed.
After they had walked through most of the park, neither riding any more rides, Serenity suggested that they walk towards the exit. "It's about time." Kaiba agreed.
As dusk approached and they closed in on the exit, Serenity suddenly stopped. "What's wrong?" questioned Kaiba.
"Umm…nothing…" she answered, and then looked up at him with pleading eyes.
'Oh no…' he thought. 'What does she want from me now?'
"Yes? What is it? What do you want?" he asked her again, impatient for her to be out with it.
"Well…it's just…whenever I come here, I always ride the ferris wheel with Joey before I leave…" she looked over to where the ride stood before the exit. "It's just kinda tradition, you know? So I just thought that maybe…you know…we could maybe ride it…together?" Serenity bit her lip and looked up at Kaiba in expectation. "Please?"
Kaiba looked back at her unwaveringly. "First of all, don't ever compare me with that mutt. Second of all, didn't I tell you not to expect me to do anything when we entered this park? Why do you think I'd suddenly change my mind all of a sudden? Just because you have some silly tradition?"
"Well, I was just hoping, I mean, you don't have to be so rude." Serenity felt herself starting to get angry at what Kaiba had said to her. "I mean I did keep you company today and all."
"So you're trying to guilt me into it, is that it?"
"No! Not at all! I just meant that it would be nice…at least I thought it would be nice."
Kaiba cut her off. "If it's so nice then why don't you go on it yourself?"
Narrowing her eyes at him, Serenity felt so much anger that she didn't know how to respond. She didn't know if she even wanted to respond. Instead of answering him, she simply turned her back on him and walked away.
As Kaiba watched her leave, he sighed to himself in frustration. "Serenity!" he called, quickly walking after her, "Serenity! Wait!"
He had almost caught up to her when she suddenly stopped and turned around, causing him to bump into her. "What?" she yelled. He looked down at her and saw tears in her eyes.
"I'll go on the stupid ride with you." he muttered down to her. He said it so low that Serenity couldn't make out what he had said.
"What?" she asked.
"I said I'd go on the stupid ride with you, ok? Are you happy now?" He sighed in irritation and avoided her gaze as she started to feel the anger leave her.
A tiny smile on her lips, she asked him, "And why would you do that?"
He shifted his gaze back to where she stood in front of him and didn't say anything for so long that she thought he wasn't going to respond.
"Because…" he finally answered, staring off into the distance. "Just because…"
Serenity smiled at him while he continued to look off into the distance. "Ok." she said, as he turned to look at her. "Ok."
As they stared at each other under the setting of the sun, Kaiba felt a sort of affection for Serenity come over him. "You really are something, you know that?" he told her.
As she continued smiling at him, he suddenly snapped back into his "normal" mode. He got a hold of himself and quickly set his mental attitude as well as his body language back into its usual guarded demeanor. "Well let's go already!" he said harshly to her, hoping that she hadn't noticed the shift in his change of voice.
"Ok," Serenity answered him gently, linking her arm in his, "Let's go."
"Hmmp." came the reply, as he started walking briskly towards the ride, practically dragging her along behind him.
'Act as tough as you want, Seto Kaiba,' Serenity thought affectionately as they approached the line for the ferris wheel, 'but I just saw the side of you that makes me want to fall in love with you…I only hope I can bring it out. Please, Seto, you've gotta try. You've gotta stop being this false, angry person that you put on as a front…and just be yourself.'
As they both reached the line and stopped to wait for their turn to board, Kaiba glanced over at Serenity and then gave her a strange look. 'What is she staring at me for!' he thought, wrenching his arm out of her grasp. 'Damn, I never should have said those words to her. Now she probably thinks I have some kind of feelings for her or something.' He smirked. 'Little does she know, I do. Feelings of contempt, that is. I don't need her. I would never like a lowlife Wheeler like her.'
"What are you staring at?" he asked, scowling at her.
"Oh, nothing." she replied, smiling up at him.
He felt the scowl disappear off of his face and quickly looked away. 'She is kind of cute when she smiles like that…' he thought, and then mentally slapped himself. 'No shit, Kaiba, what did you just tell yourself about never liking a Wheeler like her? After you go on this silly ride with her, you better back off quick and get her the hell out of your life before she messes it up even more.' Mentally agreeing with himself, his smug smirk made its way back onto his face. 'Yeah,' he thought, 'that's exactly what I need to do. No sweat.'
"Next!" called the guy at the gate entrance to the ferris wheel, motioning to Kaiba and Serenity to step on the platform and board the cart he had waiting.
"Come on Kaiba!" Serenity cried, grabbing his hand and pulling him up with her. He let out a cry of surprise as she took his hand in hers. 'Serenity…' he thought, as she pulled him up to the lift cart with her. Seating himself beside her, he watched in surprise as she still looked over at him happily even after how cruel he had just treated her.
"I can't believe you're still here with me." he stated simply, in a monotone voice, wondering what her reaction would be.
"Kaiba…I'll always be here for you." she said simply. Her response once again left him feeling a sort of shock, and he was left with nothing to say to her. Instead, he merely shifted his gaze off into the night as the ferris wheel began its ascent upwards. Serenity watched all this transpire, knowing how confused she must be making him feel. 'He expects me to be mean back to him…but I can't do that if I want to bring the real Kaiba out. I need to show him what it's like to have a friend…and to be loved…only then can he experience it for himself.'
Still staring off into the distance, Kaiba tried not to notice as Serenity studied his face…and kept her hand tightly entwined in his.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Alright, so yey that was the longest chapter that I have written for this story so far! So what did everybody think? I hope everyone enjoyed it! I'm not going too OOC on Kaiba's part, am I? I hope not! But you know what? I feel like this is the best chapter that I've written so far. I don't know why, I mean, I really liked chapter 12, but I also like this one as well! I think that they are getting better as I go along, probably from more experience since this is my first multi-chaptered fic. But anyway, I like how it's going, and hopefully you all do as well! As for gifts to give out this chapter, well…..I give you all a pink bakery box full of chocolate-frosted cupcakes! Yum yum! Mai and Joey had fun with them so hopefully you will too! Yey! Well, that is all for now, so please review and tell me what you think! I welcome all comments, questions, ideas, criticisms or praises, anything to help me make my story better! Thank you again!
~Seren147