"I need to talk to Yugi," Joey said impatiently as he and Yami sat down to lunch.

"He's still afraid to come out. What's so urgent? Maybe I can help."

"No, you'd just laugh at me." The rest of the gang, including Ryou came over and sat down.

"I resent that remark. I would never laugh at you, especially seeing as how important it seems to be," Yami responded.

"What are you talking about?" Tristan asked.

"Nothing," Joey said. He started to eat his lunch as if everything was normal.

Across the room

Kaiba sat with his back to the group, fighting urges to turn around and make eye contact with Joey. Their meeting seemed to make him nervous with every second that it got closer. That, he couldn't understand. He hadn't experienced nervousness since he was a little kid waiting for someone to come adopt him and Mokuba. After the first few rejections he'd decided he wouldn't let the next one have time to think about rejecting them and he'd put everything aside, the expectations, the fear of not getting them answered...he would MAKE them want him and his brother. He decided then that those things only left room for heartache and he was done with feeling let down. He needed to stay strong so that Mokuba would stay strong, and that was that. So why was he even doing this at all? How had he let it get so far?

He stood up and went to leave the cafeteria, pausing at the door and glancing at Joey before exiting.

Back with the group

"There's nothing wrong with liking another guy. People say that you can't help who you fall in love with," Ryou was saying. Joey started to join in on defending Yami's confession of Yugi liking another guy (after A LOT of bagering from Tristan and Duke), but he saw Kaiba leaving the room and it made him stop. ' This is really going to happen,' he thought again. ' He's not letting up.'

Duke looked from Ryou to Yami and back again.

"Does this mean..." he started but Ryou saw where it was going and blushed.

"No, it's not me," Ryou objected. "I just don't see anything wrong with it. Um, I gotta go. I forgot I had to return a book to the library. See you guys later," he saidgrabbing his books and rushing toward the exit.

"Does anyone else think that..." Tristan started but was interrupted.

"I need to see you in private," Joey grabbed Yami and pulled him outside. Duke looked at the two remaining friends.

"Maybe it's Joey," he said.

"Nah, Joey's not like that," Tristan said, standing to throw his trash away.

Outside

"You could have been a little gentler," Yami said straitening his sleeve out. Joey started pacing in a small circle next to him.

"Maybe next time," he said not really thinking about what he was saying. Yami stopped and looked at his, obviously distressed, friend.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"He's not backing down," Joey said. "He...he...wants to meet me after school."

"Who..." and then he understood. "Kaiba. Really? I never would have thought he'd go that far."

"Well he did and I don't know what to do."

"Well maybe it's not as serious as you're making it. Maybe he just wants to scare you... From the looks of it, it's working pretty good," Yami said smiled.

"I knew you'd just make fun of me. That's why I need Yugi." Yami sighed guiltily.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm sure...it's nothing. You'll meet him, he'll tell you to go to hell and it'll be over. Then you can tell the teacher that..."

"No, that's not all of it."

"It isn't?"

"No... I've been thinking about this a lot and...the more I think about it...the more I think I WANT it to happen. Am I crazy?" Joey stopped walking and sat down at a picnic table nearby.

"I think... Wait, was that rhetorical?"

"Did it sound like it was rhetorical?"

"I think that was rhetorical too. Joey, calm down. It's Kaiba. You hate Kaiba. This play has just gotten everyone confused. I damn the teacher for ever suggesting it. Well not really because Yugi would kill me...well maybe not seeing where HE is right now..."

"You're not helping," Joey looked at him crossly. Yami sighed.

"Maybe you do need Yugi," he paused. "Well let me just ask you one thing. Is it the situation itself that you find so alluring or is it really Kaiba that you're attracted to?" Joey stopped to think about it. He HAD been really upset about the whole ' everyone has somebody but me' thing. Maybe it WAS just the idea of being that close to someone, even under the circumstances. The play presented the opportunity to feel what everyone else around him was, even if it was just acting and would only last a few short seconds. He'd let himself get so depressed that even the thought of Kaiba seemed appealing. So maybe he didn't really LIKE Kaiba, maybe he just liked the IDEA of being with someone. He thought about Kaiba and his whole cross ' I hate the world' attitude, and smirked. Joey had always wanted to find the Kaiba behind the wall. He saw the way he was with Mokuba and knew there was a caring person back there. He'd always wanted to be the one to break that person out... His smiled faded and he looked at Yami who was leaning on the wall waiting for a response.

"I... I don't know," Joey said letting concern seep onto his face. ' Maybe I AM really attracted to Kaiba... But what would that mean?'