Repemt-Sorry for such the long wait, I still need to update everything else O.o I've had finals and stuff, did okay but that's mostlywhy I havn't updated. And I have writers block for moths at a time...so sometimes my writing comes in clumps with huge breaks inbetween.

This hasn't been beta-readed yet...since I still can't find a reader! -- everyone who offered lost contact with me, so I'm still looking. Currently this is my favorite fic, so woot to that. And I thought maybe you guys deserved a trat so it's nine pages O.o usualy I just do five...so you got two chapers in one!

Enjoy.

Oh and I just thought I'd add...I MADE ADVANCED BAND!


College Life

Chapter three- In Which Joey and Seto have a more than average business meeting, the police are called, and a trip to see...

O0o.o0O

Joey, to say the least, hated business trips. First came the angry arguments with his Highness CEO of Kaiba Corp, then the glares and the grueling snipping all the way up the elevators and stairways. They usually ended in Seto pushing Joey up against a wall and kissing him when no one else was around, then Joey would fluster a bit, straighten out his business suite, slay something coy, and they would walk into the meeting room together. That done, Seto would make a joke if they were late, they would take their places and Joey would sit for hours as stiff men in jackets and blazers argued about what was 'in' and what was 'cool' for people Joey's age.

This trip, was no exception. It started with Joey's choice of dress, a black blazer and white under shirt, instead of the suite and tie that Seto insisted he wore. As usual, Joey lost and was forced to wear the two-hundred dollar suite he hated, with the tie he loathed. The car ride was stiff and thick, Joey slouched in one corner on the passenger seat with his arms crossed, not looking Seto in the eyes. Seto himself would scowl, and try and cover the thick atmosphere with music. This was much like pouring perfume over your pants that a skunk sprayed. The result was to make things...worse.

So they argued again, going from clothing, to Kaiba Corp, to Joey's choice of college, even broaching the subject of Joey's father, until they where at the point where Joey was ready to open the door at the red light and just get out in the middle of traffic. Seto, finally realizing he'd taken things too far, started to apologize and promise to take Joey shopping afterwards. Joey then accused Seto of trying to buy him off. Things went from bad to worse, and ended up with them yelling at each other in the parking garage.

To say the least it was worse than most fights they had, and the walk to the meeting room was longer than it should have been. When the halls cleared, Seto got his chance. He pushed Joey up against the wall and leaned forward seductively, he pressed his lips against Joey's in a lusty kiss. This time, however, instead of blushing and saying something smart, Joey pushed Seto off of him.

"Don't touch me right now Kaiba." He hissed, marching into the meeting room.

Seto stared at him for a monument, then followed, trying not to scowl too much more than he usually did. "Sorry to be late." He said with a grin, waving to the ensemble. "The wife." He said through gritted teeth, staring pointedly at Joey.

The committee gave a collative, genuine laugh, giving Joey sideways glances. Seto, smiled, cursing his own stupidity that was not a way to fix things. He smiled tightly again and took his place at the head of the table, Joey settling down on his right, trying not to rip Seto's head off.

The meeting started, and a few of the younger board members stood up and gave the reports on current stalked, talked about the new games they had launched from Japan, and then they came down to the grit of it.

"Western Wings Games Inc wants to strike a deal with us." Mitch Hahullar said at last, running a hand through his hair, he was only a few years older than Joey, right around Seto's age, meaning his hair wasn't yet flecked with gray as others in the room were.

Seto leaned forward, interested. "Really? What do they want?"

"They propose we merge the new Kaiba Land with them, since they have the land near where we want to build, with our combined incomes we could buy everything in-between and spread both of our parks out to meet in the middle, become the newest San Francisco attraction." Hahullar said, clicking the next screen on his 'Power Point' presentation that showed a lay out of the blocks in-between Kaiba Corp land and WWG Inc. It was a few warehouses, dinners, and a park, mixed with your average San Francisco souvenir shops.

"Interesting." Seto frowned, leaning back and strategically placing his hand over Joey's, acting as if it was nothing. "What-" Joey slipped his hand out from under Seto's angrily, and set it in his lap. Seto coughed to hide his annoyance. "Excuse me." He cleared his throat. "What do they expect in shares?"

"They've proposed a fifty-fifty split in profits, no difference in which original park makes the higher present of profits."

Kaiba laughed, "Please, I know how badly WWG Inc. is doing. Even with the Kaiba empire paying for half of that land they couldn't afford to pay the complete other half. And what do they plan to fill this new land with? WWG inc. hasn't come out with anything new in ages. It would be gaming made off of Kaiba money, then profits scored by WWG for doing nothing." He frowned, scratching his chin for a monument. Joey watched from the corner of his eye and notice Seto hadn't shaved in a while, in fact a beard was stating to grow on the older man's chin. Joey covered a foul look. How disgusting, he'd have to make him shave tonight.

Seto sighed, snapping Joey back in attention of the problem at hand. He frowned, finally deciding to voice his thoughts. "What if we split it seventy thirty, that way Kaiba Corp would be able to get back the money we spent on buying land and filling the amusement rides, and WWG would still make more than they are now. Let's face it, Kaiba Land is going to make four times as much as WWG did, kids will be flocking from everywhere to ride the rides and play games. We're the next Disney Land!"

The board, surprised at Joey actually voicing his opinion, looked at Seto for an answer. Seto shook his head. "It won't work quite so easily puppy." He murmured quietly, almost seeming embarrassed that Joey had thought of it. "They won't want to have such low percentage coming in. They'll have to take a loan out for the land, and they'll have to pay it back so until they do that they may make less than they did before."

Joey scowled. It was one thing when Seto corrected him, he didn't really care, but it was another thing when he called him 'puppy' in front of a group of Co workers and was so obviously rolling his eyes at him.

"No." Seto shook his head. "I say we swallow them up. We can afford it and the land in-between...hell if all else fails we can just make the Kaiba Corp metro rail connect the two parks. We may end up making it do that any way. Find out about the land costs, and how much WWC stalk is selling for. The minute it starts to drop, I want you to buy. If it keeps falling by the end of this week we'll have all that land and be thinking up a new name for WWG Inc. How does the West Wing of the Kaiba Corp Empire sound to you? Guarantee when we get our boys working on that company, stalks will rise like crazy. Everyone will want a piece."

Hahullar nodded, flipping his computer off and turning the lights back on. He took his seat at the other end of the table, feeling rather contented with how his project was turning out.

"Alright, how is my wonderful train coming along? The metro rail getting started up fine?" Seto smiled, seeming as contented as the other young businessman.

"It's going good sir; we'll have it up and running with in the year. The trains are looking very good; I just went to see them yesterday. They were finished, nice and shinny sir." That was Garber Wiles, he slid a manila folder down to Seto, who opened it and looked at the picture inside.

Four shinny new rail cars were sitting in the huge warehouse, the ornamental grate on the front was covered with a gold KC emblem on the first train, a silver SK on the second, and the third train's emblem was black. The folder was snapped shut before Joey had a chance to peer at the last train.

"Alright then." Seto said with a smile. "I suppose that's all for today!" He stood up, cueing the rest to follow suite, closing their folders and smiling as if they'd accomplished something. "Thank you for coming gentlemen." He grinned, shaking hands and saying goodbye to everyone in turn as they exited the room. Joey had stood up, and was now stacking his folder neatly. He shook hands with a few of the older men, they'd winked at him and told him he was on his way to the business world, it just took a little more practice.

Seto shut the door with a snap. "Joey..." He said quietly, sighing slightly as he walked over to the shorter man, as if humoring a child who had just told you the moon was made of cheese.

"What." Joey snapped glaring up and tapping the documents on the table irritably.

"What's wrong?" Seto said with a true sigh now, sitting on the table in front of him and getting comfortable.

"Oh absolutely nothing is wrong, Seto...I'm hunky dories...thanks so much pumpkin for caring." Joey snapped again, glaring angrily.

Seto sighed, trying to change the subject he took the papers from Joey's hands and quirked an eye brow as he scanned through them. "Ahh...college papers? Joey some of these classes are hard...aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?" He looked up at the blond, frowning slightly.

"Insulting my intelligence isn't helping you get out of deep shit Kaiba." He glared, snatching the papers back.

"I'm just saying Joey, after loosing a year of school...don't you think you may want to...try for something a little more in level?" Seto sighed, shaking his head.

"I got just as high of marks as you did in high school. It's not my fault I missed a year, so don't go around acting like I'm stupid." Joey hissed, starting to walk towards the door.

"Wasn't your fault my ass...Joey we all know you could have helped it." Seto glared.

Joey whirled. "Oh yes." He snarled. "We all know it was my fault my father decided to start drinking again."

"You could have gotten him in a program."

"Right, in-between the times he'd hit me or when he lost his job so we had no money? Oh but wait...I guess him beating me was my fault too."

"Joey you know that's not true."

"Well then why the hell are you saying it! I had no choice...I couldn't do anything else Seto...I had to get a job even if that meant dropping out of high school."

Seto started at Joey evenly. "You could have left, lived with your friends." He said looking at hms placidly from over his pair of reading glasses he'd neglected to take off from the meeting.

Joey's jaw was still clenched, "You know I would have never apposed myself on them like that...they had their own problems. I wasn't about to turn my father into the police, if that's what you're thinking Kaiba. Unlike some, I still believe in my family even when they make mistakes, I know what it's like to be stuck between a rock and a hard place." He growled. "I lived on the streets for half that year, as you very well know, and the rest of the time I worked too hard and I hurt too much to get insulted by a stuck up business man like you, money bags." Joey hissed, turning around and marching around and out the door.

"Joey I...wait...Joey!" Seto yelled at him, but Joey had had enough.

He took the stairs at a run, fighting the tears that wanted to fall from his eyes. He clenched his jaw shut, running past the elevator and going down the emergency stairs at a run, bursting out into the daylight in the back alley. He wrapped his arms around his waist, clenching his eyes shut and leaning against the wall next to the door. His chin fell to his chest and tear started to spring up from his hurt felt eyes. He took a monument took to control himself, getting his emotions under check, before walking out of the alley and into the business district of San Francisco with fifty bucks in his pocket, a debit card, and a envelope full of college class sequels.

He was so stupid to think that Seto Kaiba, the ruler of such a vast empire as Kaiba Corp, would care about him. The scared boy from the Domino gutters. It was Joey Wheeler against the World, once again.

O0o.o0O

"YOU AREN'T LISTENING TO ME!" Seto yelled into the phone. "No...no he's never been in the city before...yes I looked for him, who do you think I am?" Seto rubbed his temples as he talked to the officer on the phone. A beep sounded in his ear, signifying that there was a call on the other line. "Just wait a second...yes...I have an incoming call." Seto pushed the call waiting button and growled into the phone. "Kaiba."

The voice on the other line was small and quite. "Seto."

"Joey? Oh thank god Joey, you're okay...hold on a minute I-"

"No...No listen Seto...I'm not going to hold on at all, okay." The voice still held it's so sad edge, but it was stronger now. "I called my sister...I'm at my mother's house right now, they live about forty miles away, north of there. I'm going to stay here until school starts...we'll...we'll see where it goes from there." Joey faded off at the end.

Seto was silent. "Where...it goes...it as in...us?"

"Yeah...it as in us."

"So...what?"

"I don't know Seto...I really don't know." It sounded like Joey was crying now; the sad in his voice had grown so much, and he'd faded to a whisper.

Seto cleared his throat, but the lump that had formed there wouldn't go away. He put a hand over his mouth, feeling like he was going to throw up. He slipped down the wall of the hotel room and sat staring at the other wall blankly. "Your mother...is...um...alright with you staying there?" He said stiffly.

"Yeah, took me a few minutes, but she's fine with it. I met my step-dad...he's pretty nice you know. Serenity likes him at least." Joey sniffed, a rustle like he was sitting down or leaning against something.

"That's...good...I'm happy for you. You're sure you're going to be okay?"

"Oh yeah...I'm fine. I just feel like I'm goanna to throw up." He laughed awkwardly.

"Going to." Seto corrected, wanting to say he felt the same. But he kept silent.

"Okay then...I'd better go, mom's making dinner. I'll call you in a few days. Are you goanna go home...or stay there."

"I'm...I'm...I'm not sure...I'll call you. And it's 'going to' how many times do I have to say that..." He smiled slightly.

"Bye Seto." Came the wary voice from the other line.

"Bye." Seto whispered, and the line went dead. He pushed the call waiting button again. "Hello?...yes, it was him. Thank you for all your help. Uh huh...good bye." He let the phone slip from his finger and fall to the ground next to him. His head lulled to the side and he stared at the blank wall, tears willing up in his eyes and slowing making trials down his cheeks.

It was Seto Kaiba against the world...and for the first time...he was afraid the world would win..

O0o.o0O

Joey sighed, sitting at the counter and resting his chin in his hand. "Thanks so much for letting me stay for a few days mom."

The woman turned around from what ever she was cooking over the stove. "Well...I couldn't have you living on the streets. I don't know if I could live with myself if I knew you were eating out of a gutter in San Francisco."

Joey sighed, looking at the palms of his hands and shaking slightly. "Yeah...well...thanks mom." He murmured.

"And as for that good for nothing father of your, where is he when you need him? Letting you free load off of me. He's probably happy to not have to spend any extra money on you." The woman looked her son over coldly. "Not that I can blame him."

Joey gave a grave smile, looking at his mother sadly, he wished she knew how bad hre words hurt him. But he shrugged his shoulders. He gave his painted smile that didn't match his eyes, and played the part that he was given. "Me neither...me neither." He murmured, running a shaking hand through his hair.

Maria Thompson (once Maria Wheeler) rolled her eyes, going back to the soup she was cooking over the stove. "Well...while you're here there are a few ground rules. You're not allowed to be out past eleven."

"Mom...where am I going to go?"

"And you have to help out around the house, cleaning and excreta."

"I know ma."

"And you're not going to take Serenity out any where. Just because I wanted you to get a good American education doesn't mean that I want you around my daughter. And they boyfriend of yours is not allowed over. Period. You're father is not to call the house, and you're to be up before nine every morning." She was speaking with out even looking at him. "And ABSOLUTELY no alcohol allowed in this house. You can feed your addiction some where else."

Joey sighed. "Mom...I don't drink, I'm going to be taking a bus down to the school soon anyway, so I won't be too much of a bother to have around. I haven't spoken to dad in ages...I thought I told you about what happened." She'd forgotten the phone call...how could she have forgotten...or was it she didn't want to remember? Joey frowned, looking into his hands, those useless things, the actions which they did were never care for.

Maria turned, staring at the boy. "What in the heck is that suppose to mean? Don't play this poor little me act Josephs, it wont work around here." She snapped.

"Mom..." He said weakly. "I told you that it was bad...he hit me mom...why didn't you bring me here?" A single tear made it's way down his face, he looked up helplessly at his mother, eyes full lost and empty.

Maria stared, blinking at her crying son. "He...hit you?"

Joey's hand was over his mouth now, he couldn't believe he'd let it slip...he'd let her know... He started to shake, his lithe shoulders quivering and his whole body shaking quietly with grief and fear. He stood up, looking for a way out of the subject. "I...I..." He whispered helplessly. We all know you could have helped it. Those were Seto's exact words...it was his fault. He'd let these things happen.

Maria took a step towards Joey. "Joey, did he hit you?" She repeated, reaching out to hold onto his shoulder, trying to steady the shaking boy.

Joey took a step back, bumping into one of the bar stools, his sneakers catching on the seem where the kitchen tile and carpet met. "I...I don't know...I mean..." He stuttered, looking at her with horror, her futures were changing, darkening. Oh no...he'd triggered it.

"How bad did he hurt you Josephs!" Maria demanded. Joey shook his head, his mouth closed tight. "ANSWER ME." Maria yelled angrily.

"I...can't." Joey whispered, he felt he was going to throw up any minute now. "Mom...you need to calm down..."

"DON'T TELL ME WHEN TO CALM DOWN YOU LITTLE SHIT! ANSWER ME NOW!" She screamed at him, her hand came up and down, slapping Joey firmly across the face.

The sound echoed through the living room, and Joey stood, rooted with fear, his cheek red with the fresh slap, as he stared at him mother stunned. "Mom..." came the small whisper, the small sad forgotten whisper of a child. "Mom..." He tried again, calling her back. "It's okay momma."

Maria was frozen, looking at the son she'd just slapped, her mouth slightly a gape.

"Mother!" Serenity open the door suddenly, looking from her mother to Joey. She's seen her hit him, seen the terror in his eyes, seen her mother freeze up. "Mother." She breathed out, rushing forward and setting the groceries she'd just bought on the counter. She hurried to the cabinet, grabbing a pill box. "Mom...stop...you forgot to take your pills that's all." Serenity cooed, getting a glass of water and putting an arm around her mothers waist.

Maria was crying, knocked out of her trance state by Serenity's entrance. Her hands were over her face and her knees buckling. Tears ran trails through her makeup, now a mask of her own horror and self loathing. "Oh Joseph...I'm so sorry. My baby boy...I'm so sorry." She sobbed.

"It's alright mom...it's okay." Joey whispered, reaching out to her and bringing her into a hug.

"Shh...it's okay mom...it's okay." Serenity forced the pills into Maria's hand. "Here mom, take these alright, that a girl." She gave a smiled when Maria took the pills and set them in her mouth, then took a sip of the water. "Why don't you go take a nap now okay?" She took her mother from Joey's arms, steering her towards the bedroom hastily.

Joey stood in the same spot, staring after her with sadness in his eyes. A few minutes later Serenity came back in. They looked at each other for a monument. Joey looked down. "I thought you said the new medicines were working?"

Serenity, looked down, rubbing her own arm with her other hand. "Yeah...well...I knew you wouldn't stay if I told you they weren't. Any I really wanted you here Joey...I just...I." She trailed off at the end, looking back up at her older brother. "I'm so sorry. I thought that you two would be fine for just a little bit, I thought it might be good for her..."

Joey cupped Serenity's cheek in his hand. "I know, I know...it's okay. It's my fault, I should have know she wasn't being herself...I got emotional...I shouldn't have. I'm sorry."

"Joey...I...please stay."

Joey gave a week smiled. "You know I can't Serenity, I wish I could. You know it's not good for mom to have me around, it triggers these kinds of episodes."

Serenity nodded, biting her lip. "Big brother..." She whispered

Joey sighed, pulling Serenity into a tight hug, he felt his t-shirt getting slightly weighted down by her tears. "It's okay, I'm here...I'm always going to be right here."

To be continued...


Well...I haven't updated in so long I thought I'd give you a treat. I wasn't sure about posting this chapter because it's different than how I wanted Seto and Joey to spend their vacation. But it'll still work.

Yes, Joey's mother is Bi-polar, that's what I'm using as the reason she couldn't take Joey with her to the States, too many people triggered it, for some reason Joey does more than others.

I also cut out Mokuba from this chapter, because there was really nothing to report on, maybe next chapter we'll see the middle of his party...maybe we'll cut him out again. Who knows...I don't even know.

Thanks for reviewing!