I've noticed that although around 10 hits have been made to the last chapter, I have not had one review. But to be honest, I'm not especially sure I care anymore. So I'll continue posting, even though my writing skills are so appallingly bad and the plot is so dire I don't even get flamed for my turd like efforts.
Disclaimer: Lots of things I don't own today, including the usual Yu-Gi-Oh! For this chapter/episode/part I don't own "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Lord of the Rings", "The Exorcist", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Donnie Darko", "Pulp Fiction" and "The Thing". The songs I don't own are "This is Halloween" by Danny Elfman, "All the things she said" by t.A.T.u and "Strange and Beautiful" by Aqua Lung. Phew, what a lot!
Warning: There's going to be a small amount of sex stuff in here. Not sex but…oh you'll see. Also some swearing, but don't be surprised, considering what happens to Joey...poor old Joey.
Note: Thankies to my sister Luff who wrote the sex (sort of) bit. I would have written it but it was crap and it was all my idea, including what happens and the words, she just put it together. (Luff: WHAT! That's not right! She only wrote words for the last bit! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) But I did give her the rules, which she stuck to. (Luff: Hmm...)
"Blah" is speaking, #blah# is thinking and songs/blah/ is emphasis and ((blah)) is mental link between Yugi and Yami. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.
If you remember the end of the last chapter, Yugi mentioned something about a sleepover. So here it is, the sleepover. But it's not your average sleepover, in fact a couple of interesting things happen today...
This might be another long one unfortunately…
Chapter four: Happy Times
"Bakura, are you going to the sleepover?" Ryou asked as he sat on Bakura's lap at his house. He was happy; he had found someone who cared for him. So what if he was a boy too? He liked to be cuddled, if he was with a girl/he/ would have to initiate everything. It was nice to just sit there and talk.
"Yeah, you too?" He replied, kissing Ryou on the neck. It was nothing sexual, Ryou had laid the law on that early on in their relationship but didn't mind him doing that. Bakura couldn't resist anyway, his skin was so pale and pure…
"Hmm… Bakura, can I ask you something? I've been thinking about it for a long time now." Ryou said hesitantly and frowning at why he would do that, Bakura nodded his head. "I…I've been thinking about everyone else."
"What about them? Are you worried that they suspect something?" It had happened a few times before but Bakura had always managed to show Ryou that it was just him being paranoid.
"No, it's not that. I think…it's time we told them."
"Told them what?" Bakura asked suspiciously, although he had a feeling he knew what it was.
"The truth. About us." Ryou said quietly, taking Bakura's hand in his. "Please don't be mad…"
"Ryou, you know I can't get mad at you but…" This had never been brought up before, yet from the sounds of things, he /had/ been thinking about it for some time. How long had he been contemplating it though? "I don't think it's a good idea. They'll react really badly and I'm just not willing to let anything happen to you."
"I don't know Bakura, I don't think they'll react that badly. I mean when we found out about Marik, everyone seemed ok with it."
"Yes but that was only you Tristan, Joey, Yugi and Téa. What about Yami? And Kaiba? Their opinion on us wouldn't be much less than disgust." Bakura remembered telling Ryou about what had happened between him and Kaiba but Ryou always had the bad habit of forgetting at the most convenient times.
"Well the likelihood of Seto coming to the sleepover is quite small. I mean the last time he was at Yugi's house there was that whole thing with you and him." Ryou said rationally, seeming to be light hearted in the face of what was happening.
#How nice of him to remember that little incident at last. I wonder what he'll say about it?# Bakura hoped that Ryou would be put off doing anything if he remembered how Kaiba had been acting.
"Bakura? He won't be there will he?" Ryou said, trying to make his words sound more like a statement.
"I think he is coming. We can always find out from Yugi tomorrow though." Ryou remained silent to this, as though deep in thought. Then it came to him.
"I know what we can do. If it all goes wrong when we tell them my Millennium Ring can make them forget."
"You're going along the assumption that we're telling them Ryou." Bakura pointed out, although he got the feeling he wouldn't be able to dissuade him from his idea.
"But I want to tell them Bakura! Why can't we tell them? I've already said if it goes wrong I can use the Ring. They'll forget whatever I want them to."
"What about Marik and Yugi? Will they forget too?"
"As long as they don't realise I'm going to do it. If they do, they might be able to put up a protection barrier. I don't know how well they can use their Millennium Items though." Ryou explained and Bakura gave the idea some thought.
"How do you know you can make them forget? And the right amount too?" Bakura asked.
"I've done it before, several times." He replied casually.
"On who?"
"Just random people, if I've ever done anything embarrassing in front of them, I just make them forget."
"Isn't that abusing your power?" Bakura frowned, this sounded very unlike Ryou. It could be that he was stretching the truth of course...
"That was a long time ago, before I realised what I had. I haven't done it for a while now but it's one of those things that you can't forget once you've learnt it. Like riding a bike I suppose."
"/Just/ like riding a bike…" Bakura muttered. "Are you sure you want to tell them?"
"Yes, I don't like being so secretive around them."
"But even if we tell them, you know we'll still have to be secretive. There's a difference between telling your friends and the whole wide world." Although he tried to be serious, he saw Ryou's smile and had to laugh. "Ok, we'll tell them but only if you're sure you /will/ use the Ring on them if necessary."
"Thank you." Ryou whispered, turning so he was straddling Bakura's lap. "We'll tell them at the sleepover when they're hopefully all together."
"Yeah…" Ryou leant forward and sealed his lips over Bakura's in a kiss; Bakura marvelled at how soft they were, almost like feathers.
"Lie back…" Ryou said, pushing Bakura down on the bed. "I want to try something." Bakura stared at Ryou in confusion as he laid down on top of him, leaning forward again and capturing his lips in another kiss. This time he was able to react more readily, and tried to push his tongue into Ryou's mouth. Ryou opened his mouth slightly and allowed him access, deepening their kiss as Bakura's tongue circled and caressed the inside of his mouth. Ryou moaned softly before reluctantly pulling back, sitting up on Bakura's waist.
"What do you…?" Bakura watched as Ryou bent his head down, wondering what he was trying to do. He held his breath as he felt something warm, wet and soft insert itself into his navel, feeling something that he was sure he had never felt before. "Ryou…" He murmured as he felt his hands tickle around the waistline of his trousers.
"Just relax." Ryou whispered as he slowly unbuttoned them, trailing his finger down his groin as he then undid the zip.
"Have you ever done this before?" Bakura asked, slightly worried as the strange sensation he had felt before returned to him. Was it pleasure?
"No…but there's no harm in trying." Bakura's eyes widened.
"Uhh…I hate to be a spoil sport Ryou, but…do you even know what you're doing? I've never-" Bakura stopped, embarrassed.
"You've never done anything like this before?" Ryou smiled gently. "Well, we can learn together then…" Ryou started to pull down Bakura's trousers, unsure of what he was going to do once this was complete.
Ryou stared down at Bakura's boxers, not sure how he would react if he touched him there. He started as he felt Bakura take his hand, and watched as he led it towards his groin.
"What do you want me to do?" Ryou whispered, looking at him uncertainly.
"Well," Bakura whispered back, "you can start by taking them off, I suppose." Ryou blushed before obediently pulling them off, staring at his now exposed groin through half closed eyes.
"Uhh…" Ryou leant down hesitantly, before poking his tongue out and touching the tip of Bakura's penis with it. Bakura gasped, surprised by how much he liked the sensation. He sat up slightly as Ryou ran his tongue down the full length of it, groaning as softly as he could as he tried to control his emotions. Encouraged by this, Ryou continued with his pleasuring, but going further this time as he took the whole shaft in his mouth.
Bakura threw his head back and gasped, moving his hips slightly as Ryou continued to caress him with his tongue.
"Ryou…" Bakura groaned, worried that he might make too loud a noise.
"Hmm?" Ryou sat up quickly, only to yell as he toppled and fell backwards off the bed.
"Ryou…" Bakura said more desperately this time, crawling urgently after him onto the floor. He didn't know why, but he felt anxious for Ryou to continue.
As soon as Bakura was on the floor, Ryou leapt on him and started to kiss him fervently; soon they were rolling around on the floor, seeming to brand each other with their touches. When they were finally still, Bakura was lying underneath Ryou, who was bending down at Bakura's groin. He began to lick at his still hardened member, causing him to shudder with delight. He kept quiet as Ryou continued his 'treatment', instead expressing his pleasure in his facial movements; his eyes were closed, and his mouth was wide, as if he were trying to swallow something that was too big for it. Ryou noticed this and smiled to himself, rubbing his tongue as hard as he could against the erection in his mouth. He could feel the shivers of pleasure run down Bakura's body more frequently, his hips arching underneath him.
"Please…I don't want this to stop…" Bakura moaned as he pushed himself further into Ryou's mouth. Despite his pleading, Ryou slowed down to a torturous pace, running his tongue along Bakura's length.
"Beg for it if you want it so much…" Ryou whispered, pausing in his actions. Bakura gasped in distress, wriggling under Ryou to make him continue.
"Ryou…please…don't stop…" Bakura's words grew louder as Ryou slowed his actions further, enjoying the fact that he had managed to bring Bakura to his knees so easily…
"I didn't hear you, Bakura…" He whispered huskily, running his finger down Bakura's member.
"Ryou, please!" He groaned, worried that Ryou's excessive torturing was going to result in him screaming…which was not good on their part.
"Good boy…" Ryou bent low and took the shaft in his mouth once more, nipping and sucking it to get a satisfying reaction.
"Ohhh…Ryou…" Tears stung his eyes as he felt his release nearing; he had never known anything like this before. He moaned profusely, thrusting himself into Ryou's mouth as he pleaded for more.
With one final hard suck, Bakura released with a strangled moan into Ryou's mouth, before collapsing onto the floor in exhaustion. Ryou grimaced as he swallowed the cum, almost feeling the need to throw it back up again.
"Ryou, why did you do that?" Bakura asked, gasping slightly as he looked at Ryou with curiosity.
"Because I wanted to. I hope you liked it." Ryou said softly, climbing on top of him and kissing him gently.
"Ryou I…" Bakura whispered, a little speechless from the whole event.
"Shhh… Just don't expect me to do it again any time soon, it tastes disgusting." Ryou whispered, pulling a face to show his distaste. He smiled gently as he kissed Bakura's cheek.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Bakura asked with concern, gently rubbing Ryou's face.
"Yeah, I'm okay."
"As long as you're sure." Ryou nodded, cuddling up closer to Bakura's chest.
"I love you."
"Love you too."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I've got lots of food for everyone, videos and games too." Yugi said cheerfully as the group were sitting up in his bedroom. "We can eat first or watch a video…"
"What do you have?" Joey asked.
"Well I've got…" Yugi wandered over to the pile and looked through them. "'The Nightmare Before Christmas', 'Lord of the Rings', 'The Exorcist'-"
"How the hell did you get 'The Exorcist'? That's an eighteen!" Malik yelled, grabbing the box from Yugi, just to make sure it was real.
"My grandpa got it for me only on the condition that no one gets nightmares from it and that you don't tell your parents you watched it." Yugi explained, smiling when he saw the huge grin on Malik's face.
"Hell, I can do that…" He said happily. "Well this gets my vote!"
"Don't you have anything…not so scary?" Ryou said gingerly, eyes widening at the things he had heard about the film.
"'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'Donnie Darko'…" He continued through the boxes. "'Pulp Fiction', 'The Thing'…"
"I like the look of 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'." Marik said, looking slyly at Yami.
"Yeah, we should watch that, seeing as it's Christmas." Tristan added.
"This one it is then." Yugi said. "Shall we get some food first though?"
"Yeah, food!" This unsurprisingly came from Joey and Yugi rolled his eyes before standing up.
"Seeing as you're so eager, you can help me bring it all up."
"What? That means moving!"
"Well duh Joey. Come on, or you'll starve." Yugi pulled Joey up, much to his disgruntlement.
"Now surely you wouldn't let me starve…" He said as he followed Yugi out of the room.
"If that meant you not eating all of the food then yes Joey." Yugi's voice drifted up the stairs and the others laughed.
Soon they were back with what seemed like a week's supply of food and they staggered into the room, practically throwing everything onto the floor. Well Joey did anyway. Luckily he had nothing particularly breakable, Yugi hadn't trusted him with the pizzas or popcorn. Everyone grabbed what they wanted and when they were ready, Yugi put the video in and pressed play.
As the credits for the studios rolled past the screen, lilting strings softly appeared in the background as a picture of a clearing seen from the top faded into view. The camera floated downwards and at the bases of the trees you could see various pictures. Just as you could clearly make out what they were though, the music was interrupted by a voice.
#'Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems
In a place that perhaps you've seen in your dreams
For the story that you are about to be told
Took place in the holiday worlds of old.
Now you've probably wondered where holidays come from.
If you haven't, I'd say it was time you begun!#
The camera sat in front of a tree with a pumpkin etched into the tree before the nose turned and the door swung open to show black. In the distance, an orange object came closer to the screen, which soon turned out to be pumpkin and the light fell upon it, showing it in its full view: a scarecrow with the sign 'Halloween Town' proudly sat upon its head. Leaves whipped cross the screen as the scarecrow turned, its bony arm pointing the viewer onwards into more darkness. As the leaves continued to skim around, a door suddenly appeared and opened to the sound of people, or at least assumed to be people, singing.
#Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange
Come with us and you will see
This our town of Halloween#
#This is Halloween
This is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night
This is Halloween
Everybody make a scene
Trick-or-treat till the neighbour's gonna die of fright
It's our town
Everybody scream
In this town of Halloween#
#I am the one hiding under your bed
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red
I am the one hiding under your stairs
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair#
#This is Halloween
This is Halloween
Halloween, Halloween
Halloween, Halloween#
#In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song#
#In this town
Don't we love it now
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise
'Round that corner, man
Hiding in the trash can
Something's waiting now to pounce and how you'll
Scream#
#This is Halloween
Red and black
And slimy green
Aren't you scared
Well that's just fine#
#Say it once, say it twice
Take a chance and roll the dice
Ride with the moon in the dead of night
Everybody scream
Everybody scream
In our town of Halloween#
#I am the clown with the tear-away face
Here in a flash and gone without a trace#
The next line was drowned out as Ryou shrieked and grabbed onto Bakura, burying his face in his hair. He was shaking badly and Bakura put his arms around him, trying to calm him down.
"Shush Ryou…don't worry, the clown's gone now." He had forgotten about Ryou's extreme fear of clowns, which was possibly worse than his fear of the dark. The others had of course noticed this and Yugi stopped the video as they turned to face them.
"Ryou, Bakura, what's going on?" Yugi quietly asked and they suddenly realised what they were doing.
"Well, it wasn't exactly supposed to happen like this…" Bakura muttered, making Ryou smile as they kissed each other. They eventually broke apart and Ryou looked up at Bakura.
"How are they reacting?"
"Silently." Ryou turned around so he could see them and Bakura wrapped his arms around him protectively, pulling them closer together.
No one was quite sure what to say, either that or they didn't want to break the spell by speaking. Most of them didn't express any anger though, they just looked surprised. They probably wondered if Ryou was brave enough to be with Bakura. Either that or they wondered how Bakura managed to be so caring about someone. Eventually Bakura felt he had to say something, the silence was starting to scare him. That and the glint in Kaiba's eyes.
"Well what are you going to do now Kaiba?" He said, staring straight at him as he stared back while Ryou looked from one to the other.
"Bakura, what do you mean?" Ryou asked, his voice a lot higher than usual as he twisted to look at him properly.
"He said if he ever found out, he'd take me away…" Bakura explained, still staring at Seto.
"Bakura, don't go." Ryou's eyes started to water as he hugged him, his grip tight and unrelenting. "Please…"
"It's all up to him now." He merely said, not responding to the hug.
"Seto, don't you dare!" Téa chided, her eyes glowing with a fire that only a woman could achieve when angry. (Luff: Yeah! Go Téa!)
"Fine then, whatever." Although he didn't like to admit it, Seto had always been slightly scared of women. Probably because of their mood swings.
Bakura looked over at the only other person who would have a fit about this: Yami. But surprisingly, he wasn't looking at them; he was looking at Yugi instead. He was trying to decide something, could it have been that Bakura's suspicions about his depression was right?
"Yugi…" He whispered and they looked at each other, with what Bakura quickly recognised as love. That had been a bit of a sticky subject with him and Ryou, he never responded to that word at the beginning. But now things were different and they were a lot closer because of it. He realised that Yugi and Yami were now hugging each other although they hadn't kissed, they seemed content holding each other. Somehow he had always imagined it would be like that.
But the biggest surprise came when they heard a crash and became conscious of the fact that Malik was on top of Marik, kissing him for dear life. Hadn't Marik been in therapy because of this though? How had Malik managed to persuade him?
"Well well well, you all seem to be getting on like a house on fire." Duke suddenly said, causing Malik and Marik to stop and blush as they sat up. "And how long have you been hiding this?" He asked innocently, eyebrow raised.
"Three months."
"Nearly six."
"And you, Bakura and Ryou?" Bakura frowned, he wasn't actually sure, it had seemed so long. Ryou giggled when he realised this and hit Bakura playfully on the arm.
"Trust you to forget! It's been just over nine months." Ryou answered, causing Téa to gasp.
"Really? And no one ever suspected a thing!" Joey sighed loudly and they all looked at him strangely.
"It appears to be that I'm the only straight one here…" He lamented, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, what about us?" Tristan pointed out.
"Well you and Duke are close…"
"Not like that…" Duke explained, although he looked away from Tristan as he said this. "Tristan, can we talk?" He frowned and nodded his head, standing up and following Duke into the en suite bathroom where they locked the door.
xxxxxx
"Duke, why…" Tristan wasn't exactly sure what to say as he sat down on the lid of the toilet. He knew why they were here but couldn't think of a reason why it should have been brought up.
"I just want to know." Duke replied, refusing to look at him.
"Do /you/ like me in…that way then?"
"I don't know, I just want to find out." He mumbled, his posture becoming awkward.
"How?" Although Tristan constantly acted dumb he was quite intelligent but this was really messing his brain cells up. He had always thought they were friends and nothing more.
"Can I kiss you please?" Now that was unexpected. Duke turned around to face Tristan and he could see the glow of embarrassment on his face, even in the gloom.
"Why?"
"Just so I know what it's like." He replied hesitantly. "I'm sorry, I know you don't want to."
"Just one? And I can stop it as soon as I want to?" He saw Duke look up in surprise. Tristan couldn't really see the harm in one kiss; after all, as Joey said, they were good friends.
"Yes." Duke stood in front of him, not sure how to do this and so Tristan pulled him down so they were both sitting on the toilet, although Duke wasn't in his lap. That would have been too close for comfort.
Their lips came together and although Tristan responded to Duke's actions, his mind was wandering elsewhere.
#Is this it? And they make such a big fuss about your first kiss… It's nice but nothing amazing.# He thought as he pulled away. "I'm sorry Duke but I just don't feel that way about you." He saw Duke's eyes flash with disappointment but soon he was smiling again.
"I know, I just wanted to see. I'm not sure how I feel… I feel a great fondness for you." He said, laughing at the stupidity of his words.
"I think it's the fact we're friends. I don't know about you but I think we're really close." He paused as Duke stood up. "Can we still be friends?"
"Of course, we're partners in crime!" Duke said and they high fived each other. "I wonder if anything's happened to the others… Maybe Joey and Kaiba have got together."
"Yeah right. I think Joey would rather kill himself than be with Seto, you know what they're like. Always throwing insults if not punches." Tristan pointed out as they left the bathroom, only to find a shocked room and one near traumatised looking Joey.
xxxxxx
"Well you know what's going to happen now…" Joey commented gloomily as he saw Duke and Tristan leave the room. In a way he was jealous of Duke, Tristan had always been /his/ best friend and now they didn't spend that much time together. At least he had Yugi, or so he thought, until he found out about him and Yami. Now he had no one.
"Well Seto's still here…" Yugi said, he knew what Joey was thinking and he felt sorry for him.
"Yeah, well he's barely human so he doesn't count." He didn't notice the look of hurt which appeared on Seto's face although everyone else did. Joey was never usually like this, he just yelled a lot and waved his arms around.
"I'm sorry you see me like that Joey." Seto said sadly, as he rummaged around in his bag. He took out a card and a square shaped present before handing it to Joey. "Here, I got you in the Secret Santa. I hope it's the right one, it took me ages to find."
Joey looked up at the package in his hand and was surprised when he saw Seto so close to him but even more so when he then kissed him on the cheek. He frowned, when did he…? He never got the chance to find the answer his question though as Seto suddenly stood up and spinning on his heel, walked out of the room.
"Wait Seto, don't go!" Yugi shouted as he ran after him. He saw Seto at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at him. "You can't just kiss him and then leave/Talk/ to him." Yugi said desperately, he wanted Joey to be happy…
"It's up to him now, I've said everything I wanted to say." He replied sadly before walking out of the house, the door closing quietly behind him.
Yugi sighed in frustration at the way /some/ people insisted on acting, why couldn't they just get on with it, instead of dancing around each other? That's what he had to do with Yami; he was so annoyed when he found out how long Yami had been pining after him. If he had just said his feelings out loud straight away, he wouldn't have irritated everyone so much with his depression. Oh well, there wasn't much he could do about it and he walked back into the room to see Joey sitting there, present still in hand, with a slightly frightened look on his face.
Just then, Duke and Tristan came out of the bathroom, smiling and laughing, the kiss seemingly forgotten. But they stopped when they heard and /saw/ the silence in the room.
"What happened?" Duke asked worriedly.
"Seto just kissed Joey." Téa replied, causing Duke and Tristan to look at each other. Had they jinxed Joey by talking about it?
"What am I going to do?" Joey mumbled, finally placing the present on the floor as his head flopped forward in submission.
"Don't worry about it for now, we'll talk later on." Yugi said, smiling kindly at him and Joey instantly brightened.
"Yeah, let's eat!" Yugi laughed, amazed at how optimistic Joey could be in every situation. The others looked concerned for a moment but when they realised that Joey was being sincere, they cheered up too.
"Do you still want to watch the film?" He asked everyone, although the question was mainly aimed at Ryou. He didn't want to scare him again.
"Yeah, Bakura will protect me." He said seriously and everyone made 'ah' noises, causing them to blush before Yugi diverted their attention by starting the film up again. "You will protect me, won't you Kura?"
#Kura? That's new.# He smiled, it wasn't that bad. "Of course, I'll always be here for you…" He said, cuddling Ryou close to him.
xxxxxx
"God, what's the time someone?" Tristan said, yawning loudly as they finished 'The Exorcist', after much pestering from Malik. Yugi and Ryou had spent most of the film hiding in their lovers' arms while Téa had refused to watch it and went to sleep instead.
"One in the morning." Yami said, looking at his watch.
"Well I don't know about you but I'm going to sleep." And with that Tristan fell over asleep in his sleeping bag. Luckily they had already put their pyjamas on.
"Yeah me too…" Yugi said and he kissed Yami on the cheek before also lying down. "Whoever's last, could they turn out the light please?" He mumbled.
Bakura looked around and noticed that Duke and Joey had fallen asleep already, probably while the film was still on. How they had managed that, he wasn't sure, it was quite a loud one.
"Well I don't want to get up again so night." Yami said, smiling as he stroked Yugi's face before lying down next to him. They had decided they could risk being together for one night and Marik and Malik were taking full advantage of it, lying on top of each other in the same sleeping bag although they weren't doing anything too noisy.
"I suppose we'd better go too Ryou." Bakura said as he stood up to turn the light off.
"Kura, I don't want the light off." Ryou said and Bakura suddenly remembered that they had just seen a scary film and he didn't like the dark in the first place.
"Come on, I'll be here." To show him what he meant, he undid his sleeping bag fully before doing the same with Ryou's. Somehow he didn't want to try the Marik and Malik approach, he'd probably crush Ryou. "We'll lie on mine and use yours as a blanket."
"Ok." He said as he grabbed his pillow and made himself comfortable. Bakura turned the light off and hurried back, hearing Ryou whimper quietly. "Kura, I'm scared."
"Don't worry, I'm here now." He took his sleeping bag and threw it on top of them, pulling Ryou into his arms. "I'll stop them from hurting you."
"Ok Kura, love you." He whispered sleepily as he shifted slightly to make himself more comfortable, leaning his head on Bakura's chest.
"Love you too." He replied, closing his eyes.
xxxxxx
Malik opened his eyes, hearing the bedroom door open and saw a tall shadow standing at the doorway. At least it wasn't Yugi's grandpa. He and Marik were in a rather awkward position at the moment although he had half slid off him because he'd left the sleeping bag open in case Marik got uncomfortable. He sat up properly, careful not to wake him and he looked at the shadow again. It was Kaiba.
"What are you doing back here?" He asked quietly, although he was sure everyone else was asleep.
"I need to get my stuff, it was rude of me to leave it here." He replied, making in the direction of where he had been sitting.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure Yugi doesn't mind keeping it for now." Malik said quickly, worried he might wake someone up. "And anyway, we'll send Joey over to drop it off."
"What?" He was surprised at Malik's bluntness.
"It's really obvious you want him a lot." He said, whether as an explanation though, Seto wasn't sure.
"So what if I do? Nothing's going to happen." He snapped, annoyed that Malik had brought the subject up.
"Don't be like that, what do you think we all thought right at the beginning?" He snapped, pointing to Yami and Bakura. "We thought that too but we were wrong."
"Yes, but this is Joey we're talking about."
"Look, I'll see if I can get Yugi, Ryou and Marik to talk to him." He suggested, hoping to make him feel happier. "I think he might like you, even though he tried to hide it. Just don't give up, okay?"
"Okay." He left the room quickly and Malik rested his head back down on the pillow. Boy, he was going to have a headache in the morning, he hadn't got enough sleep.
Yugi's eyes opened a few seconds later and he smiled to himself, a plan forming in his head. He was going to get them together.
#I'll ask Ryou and Marik to stay over another night and we're going to make Joey realise his feelings.# Happy with his plan, Yugi closed his eyes again.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was nearly New Year's Eve and Joey was walking along a road, bag in one hand while he listened to the CD Kaiba had got for him. Why had he been dumped with the job of giving Kaiba his stuff back? He knew it was part of the plan but it was annoying.
#At least I have an excuse for being at his house I suppose.# He thought, although this didn't cheer him up. He then realised the track he was listening to and the words they were singing.
#I'm in serious shit, I feel totally lost
If I'm asking for help it's only because
Being with you has opened my eyes
Could I ever believe such a perfect surprise?#
#I keep asking myself, wondering how
I keep closing my eyes but I can't block you out
Wanna fly to a place where it's just you and me
Nobody else so we can be free#
God, he hated this song. The rest of the album was fine but this song…the words didn't really help his situation either. He frowned, stabbing the forward button. Luckily the next track was better, if still a bit average, allowing him to think about what had happened recently.
After the kiss, Yugi arranged for himself, Ryou and Marik to stay a bit longer but Marik couldn't make it, seeing as it was his birthday and Malik had something planned for him. All Joey knew was that it involved chocolate sauce, a die and a whole lot of strawberries. He didn't really want to think about the sorts of activities you could get up to with those things, especially as it was Marik and Malik he was talking about. All Marik could do was sit there and grin when they had finally met up after Christmas. Yugi and Ryou had given each other knowing smiles but Joey just wanted to be sick. If being with Kaiba meant chocolate sauce then he'd rather pass.
#Wait, I'm not even sure I want to be with him yet.# The others had spent ages persuading him that they should get together but in the end had to admit defeat and merely told him to follow his heart. Unfortunately, all his heart would say at the moment was THUMP THUMP THUMP, going on forever and ever until he died. Maybe it was his imagination but it did seem to get slightly faster whenever he thought about Kaiba, but maybe that was because he was dealing with someone way out of his league, even if Joey didn't act like it in day to day life. #I mean, I'm walking to someone's house, no /mansion, and this someone is basically the CEO of the company, even if it isn't official. It will be in a year's time or so. Why am I being so crazy?# He sighed, he knew the answer to that one. He wanted his question answered. #When did things change? As far as I knew, Kaiba thinks I'm an idiot. And now…#
By now he was reaching the part of Domino where the houses all had at least two cars in the driveway, if they didn't have garages instead. They also had bushes that were cut into strange shapes, like perfect rectangles and circles. Why would someone want to do that to a bush, what was wrong with its natural shape? These houses also had more than three windows at the front and the doors were doubled too. Joey was nervous; he had never even spent any time in this area. The biggest house he had ever seen was Marik's and that was understandable, because of his family's status. He had lived in a semi detached all of his life, quite a small one at that. And now he was going to possibly one of the richest households in the whole area, home of KaibaCorp.
Of course, Joey now knew about the problems they were having and who had caused them. Bakura. He had to laugh when Ryou told him, even though he made them promise not to tell anyone else. It was nice to know that not everything in Kaiba's life was perfect, that someone could still get up his nose. Whether Kaiba knew though, no one was sure, not even Ryou. Apparently Bakura didn't like talking about it. Oh well, it would be just funnier if Kaiba knew but couldn't do anything about it because he was too good.
There it was. The Kaiba mansion. And it was /huge/. No, huge was an understatement. It was /gargantuan/. Now if only the others could have heard that, they would have been amazed. Joey Wheeler knew a word with more than two syllables. But that wasn't the point. His eyes widened when he saw the security, the guards and the metal gate with spikes on top of it so you would slip and impale yourself on them. Joey had a very small amount of knowledge on breaking into houses and knew /this/ one wouldn't be an option. Which was probably why everything was there.
Ah, an intercom. He may as well start with that and he walked up to it, frowning when he reached it. This one wasn't like normal intercoms, they had only one button. This must have had at least six. At least they had labels beside them. Hmm, Kaiba's office or bedroom wasn't an option so the next best thing would be the entrance hall. So he pressed it, starting to just talk, hoping that someone was listening.
"Hello, is anyone in there? HELLO?" He yelled, getting some odd looks from the guards. "Why is no one answering me?"
"Who is this and what do you want?" The voice sounded little and squeaky. No wait, that was the person. Kaiba had a little brother?
"This is Joey and I want to speak to Seto." He replied, trying not to shout. There was no point in pissing his relatives off. "Are you his brother?"
"Yes, my name is Mokuba but that isn't the point. Seto said specifically that no one was to interrupt him, he's working." He said calmly. Mokuba? Joey vaguely remembered Kaiba mentioning him and he was ten. Oh dear, Joey didn't like little people, they were so stubborn.
"Please, this is really important! Just tell him I'm here!"
"No, I'm not getting my head bitten off for a stranger."
"I'm not a stranger, I'm a friend!" There was silence on the other end so Joey did what he did best: shout at the top of his voice. "KAIBA, LET ME IN RIGHT NOW! I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME SO DON'T TRY AND IGNORE ME! KAIBA!"
"If you carry on like that you'll be escorted away from the premises-"
"I'm not on the premises so there's nothing to escort me from." Joey said, smiling at his genius. "KAIBA, IF YOU CONTINUE IGNORING ME I'LL TAKE YOUR STUFF AWAY AND DISPLAY IT AT SCHOOL! I'M SURE EVERYONE WILL WANT TO SEE YOUR TEDDY BEAR UNDERWEAR!"
"What did you just say?" Mokuba asked, sounding like he was either appalled or he was going to burst into hysterics soon.
"THAT'S RIGHT KAIBA I KNOW ALL OF YOUR LITTLE SECRETS! ABOUT THE TEDDY BEARS AND THE RED BOWS THEY'VE GOT ON!"
"You looked at his underwear?"
"Well I had to, he left his stuff all over Yugi's bedroom. I wasn't brave enough to touch them; I used a wooden spatula and flicked them back into the bag. Destroyed it afterwards of course for health and safety reasons." All of this was a lie of course but Joey found it quite amusing.
"Are you saying my brother's dirty?" Mokuba was definitely outraged now.
"Well if he never comes out of his office then yes, he is. Prove to me he's not dirty by getting him out here."
"No way, I already told you he's not coming out." He stopped and Joey heard a faint voice in the background. It sounded quite harsh although it seemed to have softened itself on purpose because Mokuba was there.
"Who is it Mokuba? I thought I told you to make sure no one interrupts me." Yep, it was Kaiba.
"I told him that Seto but he wouldn't listen to me-"
"KAIBA, YOU MAY BE ONE OF THE RICHEST PEOPLE IN THE WHOLE OF DOMINO BUT THAT DOES NOT GIVE YOU THE EXCUSE OF DISOBEYING COMMON COURTESY BY REFUSING TO ANSWER VISITORS' REQUESTS TO SEE YOU. NOW LET ME IN!"
"Now how did I know that was you Wheeler? Oh yeah, the cheese grating, yappy voice. What do you want?" Well if Kaiba was trying to prove his feelings for him, he wasn't doing very well at the moment.
"I have your stuff and just walked all the way over here to give it back to you."
"Why didn't you just drop it off?"
"Because unlike you, most people cannot get lifts everywhere. My dad works for a living, he doesn't have time to chauffer me!" Joey snapped, Kaiba's attitude was really starting to annoy him now.
"And you couldn't wait until next term?" Kaiba meanwhile seemed to be enjoying the fact that Joey was gradually getting more and more wound up.
"No, having it made me gag because it's got your stench all over it."
"At least I don't shed hair."
"Fine then!" Joey yelled. "I'll just throw your stuff over the gate and you can get one of your /servants/ to pick it up for you. I don't care." He walked to the front of the gate and lobbed the bag over, smiling grimly when he saw it sail over and land a few feet away. At least P.E. came in useful for something.
Joey started to walk away, stuffing the headphones back into his ears again and sighed, this was another song that was definitely /not/ right for the situation he was in.
#I've been, watching your world from afar
I've been, trying to be where you are
And I've been, secretly falling apart
I'll see
To me, you're strange and you're beautiful
You'd be, so perfect with me
But you just, can't see
You turn every head but you don't see me#
#I'll put a spell on you
You fall asleep and
I'll put a spell on you
And when I wake you I'll be the first thing you see
And you realise that you love me#
The song was abruptly stopped though when he felt someone yank out one of the earpieces, causing him to yelp in pain. That hurt!
"If you continue listening to your music at that volume, you'll go deaf." God, it was Kaiba /again/. Why did he never go away?
"If it meant never hearing /your/ voice again then that's no bad thing." He snapped back, continuing to walk on.
"Now don't be ridiculous." He paused, hoping to get a response but none came out. "Why do you think I would want to talk to you?" Again there was silence. He wasn't used to this, usually Joey shouted and yelled if he insulted him. And now…
"You're doing it at the moment." Damn, maybe he wasn't that dumb.
"Because we need to have a little chat."
"Well I don't feel like having 'a little chat'. I've got better things to do than waste my time on you."
"When I say we're going to talk, I mean it." Kaiba said, his voice low and angry. He grabbed Joey's arm and started to walk back to his house, Joey dragging behind him.
"Get off me you bastard! We have nothing to talk about!" He pulled his arm but Kaiba merely squeezed tighter, causing him to gasp in pain. And it must have been bad, Joey could usually take most pain without saying anything about it but Kaiba /had/ just grabbed the arm he had broken two and a half months ago and he hadn't been out of the cast for very long.
"Aw, can't Wheeler take a little pressure?"
"In case you haven't noticed you're currently gripping me where I broke the bone so it's just a little bit painful." Despite his explanation, Kaiba's grip still remained hard.
"Well it wouldn't hurt if I didn't have to resort to such measures."
"Well why don't you just let go then?" Although Joey said this coldly, his arm was really starting to hurt. The doctor had told him not to put any pressure on his arm for at least two weeks after the cast came off and now he knew why.
"Fine then." Joey was surprised when he said this and Kaiba let go of his arm, stopping for a moment. Joey used this opportunity to do only one thing: run.
He pelted full speed down the road, not helped by the CD player in his pocket so he held it in his hand instead, continuing to run along the path. He could hear footsteps behind him though; Kaiba wasn't giving up without a fight. And Joey may have been one of the best when it came to anything sporty, but Kaiba had both a height advantage /and/ situation advantage. He wasn't carrying anything and he was doing the chasing, always the better position to be in. As Joey soon realised when he felt a pair of arms snake around his waist and lift him up into the air.
"Naughty puppy, running away. I'll have to carry you now." Kaiba flung Joey over his shoulder and started walking back down the road.
"Kaiba, get the fuck off me! You have absolutely no right to do this to me!" His pride was taking a serious denting, this was probably one of the most humiliating things that had ever happened to him, even worse than the time he was trying to impress Yugi and Tristan with his skateboarding tricks and ended up falling head over heels down the steps. And then to top things off, he discovered he had broken his ankle. He had only been twelve…
"I gave you the chance to walk without assistance and you decide to run away. Therefore you cannot be trusted to do something right yourself so I'm doing it for you instead."
"Well thank you kindly." Joey said witheringly.
"What did you say?" Joey decided to annoy him by refusing to answer this question, instead starting to hum a song to himself. That got to Kaiba. "And will you stop doing that? It is possibly one of the most irritating things ever."
"So Kaiba has a little weakness then? I'm glad to hear it." Kaiba frowned, suddenly realising what he had said as Joey started to hum louder, then sing. "The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round! The wheels on the bus go round and round, all day long!" Then it was the wipers, then the people and then the doors. He was just starting the verse about the brakes when Kaiba had had enough.
"Wheeler if you don't shut up right now I'll break both of your legs. Don't think I'm joking, I know exactly where the weak points are." He threatened and so Joey did as he said, although he continued to hum quietly, this time 'Old Macdonald had a farm'. "Wheeler…" Kaiba growled and Joey sighed before shutting up. So instead he started swinging his legs but because he was on Kaiba's shoulder, he ended up hitting him in the stomach.
Soon they were back at the mansion and the gates opened to let them through as a guard walked up to them.
"We retrieved the object Mr Kaiba and it is now sitting outside your quarters." He said and Kaiba nodded in acknowledgement before continuing to the house.
"Ooh /Mr/ Kaiba eh? And /object? What's wrong with calling it a bag? You need to give them some lessons in speaking like normal people." Joey suggested in a loud voice.
"They have something called respect, which I doubt you're familiar with. And if talking normal meant speaking like you then I'd rather not." He responded, shifting Joey slightly on his shoulder.
"I know what respect is! I respect loads of people, you're just not one of them. I'd only respect you if you dropped your attitude problem but I don't think scientists have found a way to do whole brain transplants yet."
"Harsh Wheeler." Joey frowned, was he being sarcastic or not? It was so hard to tell…
"Ow!" It appeared that they were now going up a set of stairs and Joey was being badly jolted. He was going to have a lot of bruising by the time he was allowed back on the ground. But what if that never happened? What if he was stuck up here for the rest of his life? That wasn't worth thinking about…
He was finally allowed down when they entered a large room, containing mainly a bed and lots of plush furnishing. Joey was on his feet for roughly a second before he fell over, completely unstable after what had happened.
"Whoa, are you ok?" Kaiba whispered, putting his arm around Joey and helping him to sit up.
"Pardon?"
"I asked if you were ok." He repeated, sitting down on the floor next to him.
"I know that but did I just hear concern in your voice? I didn't think you had any emotions in that block of stone known as your body." He smiled but this disappeared when he saw the sadness in Kaiba's eyes.
"There's so much you don't know about me…"
"Because you act like a complete jerk the whole time! My opinion of you has developed as a result of you acting the way you have. That is /not/ my fault, so don't give me all that 'you don't know me' crap because I just don't buy it." He replied, crossing his arms.
"Then maybe we need to change this opinion you have of me." He said, looking down at the carpet. Was he being coy? No, he didn't know the meaning of the word.
"As I said, they haven't invented whole brain transplants yet."
"Will you stop joking please? Just be serious for a moment." Joey looked at Kaiba, wondering why this was so important to him.
"Why? Don't tell me you can prove to me you're a nice person, right here, right now?"
"If you give me the chance, then yes."
"Ok then." He remained still as Kaiba placed his hand on his face, stroking his cheek gently before leaning in to kiss him. He paused, waiting for a reaction but Joey didn't move so he closed the remaining space between them, putting his arms around him.
"Kaiba…" Joey gasped, leaning into the touch.
"Please, don't call me that. My name is Seto." He breathed, closing his eyes.
"Seto…why?"
"Why what?"
"Why are you doing this?" Joey pulled away and looked up at Seto. "You think I'm an idiot, you call me loads of names! I don't believe you feel like that about me."
"I didn't want to either. I've been trying to deny this for so long and it just didn't work so I've accepted it." He shrugged his shoulders. "Can you?"
"I don't know, it doesn't sound real. Do you like me that much you're willing to risk your safety in order to let me know?"
"You forget I'm the head of a security company. They won't catch us."
"There is no /us/ at the moment ok?" Joey reminded him. "And anyway, your system's been hacked in to. The council could easily do the same."
"The council have little intelligence on computer matters, unlike Bakura. Also, he has never hacked onto anything important in the network; he just likes to mess around with cameras and files. I've given up on trying to catch him, there's very little point. At least he's highlighting out weaknesses in my system."
#Wow, he doesn't seem bothered by it at all… But is it an act?# He shook his head, trying to get rid of his thoughts. Now wasn't the time to go into his own little world. "You still haven't explained the reason for the insults."
"I…don't know why I did it. I think I was angry with you; you were making me think things I shouldn't have done. Can you accept my apology?"
"Hmm, I don't know…" He said in mock seriousness before leaning in and kissing Seto, much to his surprise. "You'll have to prove yourself to me."
"I think I could do that." He picked Joey up and placed him on the bed. "I think I can show how much I…" His voice died away as they continued to kiss, now fully responding to each other's movements.
The ending was abrupt as usual but that's because I've had to cut this part into two as well. Does anyone else write chapters that are this long? Nope, I really think I am the only one. So ignoring the ending, here are the extra notes:
1. Sorry about doing just the words in the film but it was only a little bit and anyway, it's a brilliant film, try and watch it if you can. It's only just over an hour long so it's not another 'Lord of the Rings'.
2. Too many songs I bet you're going to put in your reviews (#nudge, nudge, wink, wink#) and I realise that but it's more to help me than you. I know, I'm selfish.
3. For all of you wondering about the strawberries, that morning I read an article in the newspaper about strawberries being nature's version of Viagra. So I thought I would put it in, just to make what happens between Malik and Marik even funnier. Although, seeing as most of you probably didn't get it, it might have been wasted on you. Hmm…
4. Talking about Marik and Malik, yes I'm sorry I didn't do a sex scene but I can't do them anymore. I don't why, they're just always crap. So I left them for the end, for all of you who really want them. (Luff: So what about Yugi and Yami then! Sheesh…)
Anyway, that's enough notes from me and hopefully you'll review before the next chapter/episode/part thingy.
S. Chensu (Chen) xxx.