Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kazuki Takahashi does.

Key

Blah Someone thinking, or talking to someone else through a mind link i.e. Yugi to Yami.

"Blah"Someone talking on the other side of a phone conversation, etc.

Warning

Swearing, sex (male/male relationships), and badness in general. I will put a warning before a chapter if it involves sex. You have been warned.

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Episode Three – By the way

"Seto? SETO!" Seto opened an eye and squinted in the direction that the noise was coming from.

"Oh, good, you are awake." Mokuba said. He looked annoyed, and was holding a tray of God knows what in his hands.

"I hope you weren't intending on throwing that at me." Seto said sleepily, before burying his face into the pillow.

"No." The irritated voice of his little brother swam into his head, Seto not really taking in what he was saying. He just wanted to be left alone, alone with his thoughts of Joey. "I was sent up here to bring you your breakfast." Seto heard Mokuba put the tray down on his desk with a bang. He decided he wouldn't move, so he waited until Mokuba had gone out of the room, jumping slightly as he slammed the door shut. Seto sighed and forced himself to get out of bed, knowing that Mokuba would probably come back in his room again to see if he had got up, and Seto didn't want Mokuba to be in more of a bad mood then he already was.

Half an hour later Seto had showered and changed, and was now searching the garden for Mokuba. If he was good at anything, it was hiding. Seto was about to give up, when he saw his brother sitting on a bench by the pond. He walked over to him and sat down, staring morosely at the water.

"Hey, Mokuba. I'm sorry about ignoring you this morning…you're not angry at me, are you?" Seto turned to look at him.

"Of course I'm not!" Mokuba jumped up and hugged his brother, almost knocking Seto off of the bench. "Ha! Fooled ya, didn't I?"

"You might want to warn me before you do that again! And do you mean I've been worried about you being angry at me all morning and you weren't?" He laughed, and returned Mokuba's hug.

"Come on! I'll race ya back to the house!" And with that Mokuba started speeding away from him, taking the long route back around the edge of the garden. Seto got up and raced after his brother, easily catching up with him. He grabbed Mokuba around the waist and picked him up, the momentum causing them to stagger forward a few metres before Seto managed to steady himself. Mokuba giggled and wrapped his arms around Seto's neck, resting his head on his brother's shoulder. They stood like this for a while, before Mokuba let himself down from his brother's arms and took Seto's hand in his own. They started to walk back to the house in silence, not really wanting to bring up the subject that both of them had on their minds. It was Mokuba who broke the uncomfortable silence.

"So Seto…did you think about it?"

"What, about calling Joey?" Seto sighed. "Yes…I spent most of the night thinking about it."

"Don't you mean him?"

"What?"

"You spent most of the night thinking about him."

"Err…"

"Never mind. And what's your decision?" Mokuba raised his eyebrow questioningly. Seto sighed again, casting his gaze towards the ground.

"I…" Seto still hadn't decided what he was going to do, and although his conscience was telling him that it wasn't a good idea, his heart was screaming out in agony. Mokuba felt his brother's discomfort and squeezed his hand.

"Seto, you know you want to. You know you should. I only want you to happy, because I can see you're not." Mokuba looked seriously at him. "Look, if you don't want to call him, I will." Seto shook his head.

"No. I should be doing this, not you. I know you want to help me, but this is up to me to do."

"But will you do it, Seto?" They stopped. They had now reached the back door, which had been left open to let the air circulate.

"Well, I don't suppose I have a choice, do I?" Seto said jokingly. "Yes, then. I'll…do it." Mokuba beamed up at him and hugged him, then skipped off inside the house. Kids…they always manage to get their way, don't they? Seto thought as he stepped into the dark coolness of the living room. He flopped onto a sofa, and once again fell deep into his own thoughts. I'm surprised, but I've changed a lot since I became friends with Joey and the others… I suppose they taught me the importance of having someone you can talk to, someone you can trust that isn't part of your own family, which is all I had before… But I'm even more surprised by the fact that Joey has been nice to me, more than any of the others, in fact…especially as I was so horrible to him… I'm pretty sure I can trust him, but does he trust me? Oh, what am I saying! Of course he does…I hope…but does that trust stretch as far as love? I wish I knew, it would save me a whole lot of trouble…but surely if I love him, then I should be able to just pick up the phone and call him, and I'm only calling to invite him over… I won't have to tell him anything else 'till later…but still, if I'm wrong, then I'll lose one of my closest friends, the person I care about the most out of all of them. Oh, why does our love for other people have to be affected by our conscience?! And this isn't getting me any closer to him. I should just pick up that phone and call him! Thinking about it isn't going to get me anywhere! Seto was about to pick up the phone when it started ringing. "Oh…" He picked it up and pressed the call button, before pressing the phone to his ear. "Hello, Seto speaking."

"Hi Seto, it's Joey." Came the fuzzy voice from the other end. Oh shit! He thought, before replying hurriedly.

"Oh, hi. What's up?"

"Me and the others were wondering if you wanted to go to the cinema with us." Great! Seto thought. Now I don't have to go through the trouble of inviting him over! At least not yet…

"Yeah, OK. When?"

"One-thirty today. We were planning on seeing 'The Bling of The Ring'."

"Oh, I can tell Bakura's going to be very happy about that." Seto heard Joey laugh down the phone.

"Yeah! Mind you, hyped-up Bakura is never a good thing…"

"Hmm. OK then, I'll be there."

"Cool! I'll see you later. Bye!"

"Bye." Seto waited to hear the click before putting the phone down, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. How long have I got? He looked at his watch, and saw that he had an hour and a half left 'till he had to be there. Seto saw this as a good opportunity to get some fresh air, so he ran up the stairs, only to find his way blocked by Mokuba.

"Who were you talking to?" He asked sweetly.

"Joey. He invited me to go to the cinema with him and the others."

"Oh good! And that gives you the perfect chance to invite him over afterwards!"

"Oooh, do I have to?" Seto whined like a little kid.

"Yes! Yes!" Mokuba exclaimed, pushing Seto into his bedroom. "Honestly, Seto, do I have to do everything for you?"

"What?" He said, as he was grabbing his wallet.

"Oh, never mind. Now come on, get going!"

"Aright already!" Seto cried as Mokuba pushed him back out of his room again. "I'll see you later." Seto hugged his brother before walking quickly out of the front door and into the blazing sunshine.

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Ryou woke up, and groaned. He clamped his hand to his throbbing head, trying vaguely to figure out what had happened the night before. He then decided that it probably wasn't a good idea, because him having headaches in the morning with Bakura lying totally naked next to him usually told him what it was anyway. He was about to try and get back to sleep, when the phone started ringing loudly. Bakura stirred and moaned at Ryou to get the phone, so he slowly reached his hand over to the bedside table to put his head out of misery.

"Y'ello?" He said, yawning.

"Hi Ryou, it's Téa."

"Oh, hi."

"Sorry, did I wake you?"

"No."

"OK. Me and the guys were wondering if you wanted to go to the cinema with us later."

"Oh. Yeah, I'll go, I'll just ask Bakura if he wants to come too." He covered the mouth piece and asked, "Did you hear that, Bakura?"

"Yup. I'll go, but it depends on what we're seeing." He wrapped his arms around his Hikari and started kissing his chest. Ryou sighed and put the phone to his ear.

"Yeah, we'll both come. What are we seeing?"

"This is one I know Bakura will like." Bakura lifted his head up and leaned closer to the phone. Ryou covered his mouth to stop him from saying anything, while Bakura proceeded to lick it in an attempt to get him to remove his hand. It didn't work though, so he just did it for the sake of it. "We're going to see The Bling of The Ring." Bakura froze and listened raptly, his tongue still halfway out of his mouth. "We'll meet at one-thirty."

"OK. We'll see you then."

"Bye!" The phone clicked and Ryou put it back down on the table. Bakura was still frozen in his tracks, so Ryou decided that he no longer needed to keep his hand in front of Bakura's mouth. Instead he slid his arms round his Yami's waist and kissed him gently on the lips, which immediately brought him back to earth.

"Come on, come on, let's get going!" Bakura jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Ryou sighed, shaking his head as he got out of bed too.

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Seto walked into the cinema and felt relieved as the fresh coolness swept over him. He stood there for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the dark interior of the building, and then set off up the stairs to find the others. He found them standing by the toilets, and when they spotted him they waved him over.

"Hi Seto!" Yugi said brightly.

"Hi guys." Seto smiled.

"We've already got your ticket for you, so all you have to do is pay for it." Tristan pulled the ticket out of his pocket and held it out. Seto tool out his wallet and riffled through it.

"I only have a fifty dollar bill…" He said, looking apologetic.

"Typical! Trust you to have a couple hundred dollars or so with you!" Joey said, laughing. Seto looked at Joey, surprised by what he said.

"I'll go and change it." Seto said, looking hurt, and turned towards the tills.

"Joey! Why'd you say that?" Téa asked, annoyed.

"It was only a joke! I didn't mean it!"

"Try telling that to Seto." Ryou said. "He looked upset." Joey looked desperately at them, but nobody came to his aid.

"Fine!" Joey fell silent and pouted, clearly not in a good mood. At that point Seto started walking back to them, putting the changed money back into his wallet. He reached Tristan and held out the money for the ticket.

"Here." Tristan took the money from Seto and handed over the ticket. It was only then that Seto noticed Bakura, who was grinning wildly and twitching slightly. "Err, Bakura, are you OK?" Let's just say, big mistake.

"BLING OF THE RING!" Bakura screeched, jumping up and down on the spot.

"Right, that's it!" Ryou shouted. "Excuse us a second while I try and calm him down." With that Bakura was forcefully pushed into the men's bathroom by an annoyed looking Ryou.

After a couple of minutes they had still not come out, so Yugi volunteered to go in and check on them.

"I'll go too. I need to go to the restroom anyway." Yami said, so he and Yugi went in. Yugi had only walked in a couple of paces before freezing in his tracks. Yami, who had not realised that Yugi had stopped, walked straight into him. "Argh! Yugi, what-" And then he saw why. "Oh, Ra…"

Ryou was pushed up against the wall by Bakura, and were too involved in each other to notice Yami and Yugi walk in. That didn't last for long though, as Ryou looked up and spotted them standing there, mouths open and eyes wide. Ryou gasped.

"Shit! Bakura, stop!" Bakura, who had his back to the door, had not noticed Yami and Yugi yet. He looked up at Ryou and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He turned slowly around, before turning bright red. "Err… Hi…" Ryou stepped out from behind Bakura and looked pleadingly at them.

"Please don't tell anyone about…this." Bakura wrapped his arms protectively around Ryou, more from instinct then anything else. Yami smiled reassuringly at them.

"No, of course we won't." His kind face was replaced with a more serious one, and he looked at Yugi questioningly.

What is it, Yami?

Yugi… Do you think we should… tell them?

Huh? What?

You know! About… us. We might as well, I mean…

Oh! Um… OK. If you want, I don't mind. Yami smiled, gently pulling Yugi into an embrace.

"You don't have to worry… You're not the only ones." Yami said, smiling at them.

"Whoa! Since when did that happen?" Bakura asked, looking at them with surprise.

"Um… yesterday…" Yugi blushed, staring into Yami's chest.

"I'm so glad…" Ryou sounded relieved. "I was so worried that you guys wouldn't…accept it."

"Didn't I tell you not to worry?" Bakura said, grinning slightly. Ryou rolled his eyes.

"We'd better get going." He stated, looking at his watch. They walked out to find an impatient looking group of friends waiting for them.

"At last! You took your time." Joey said. He was happier now, obviously having forgotten about what had happened.

"Sorry." Bakura mumbled.

"Right, shall we get going, then?" Yugi asked, before walking off towards screen eight, which was where the film was being shown (AN: I'm not sure if you have that in your local cinema, but at mine we have screens numbered one to eight, one being the smallest screen showing the oldest films, and eight being the biggest and showing the most recent films).

An hour later they were all watching the film, after about half an hour of trailers (AN: Does anyone have that with their cinemas? Where they're obsessed with showing about half an hour's worth of trailers and adverts before they show the actual film? It's very annoying, isn't it?). They were all sitting on the same row, with Tristan on the end, who was sitting next to Téa, then Joey, Seto, Yami, Yugi, Ryou and Bakura. Yugi was resting his head on Yami's shoulder, while Yami had his arm around Yugi's waist. Bakura was absent-mindedly stroking Ryou's hair, while Joey and Seto spent most of their time glancing at each other nervously (AN: Ahh! How cutesy!) Joey said that Seto could share his popcorn, so they kept accidentally touching hands. It was difficult for them to resist the urge to grab the other's hand and hold it, so they spent most of their time in torment.

Nothing much interesting happened. Ryou and Bakura attracted a lot of attention to themselves, however, because what they were doing caused them to make a lot of strange squeaking noises. This became a disadvantage to Bakura, though, because it meant that he ended up missing most of the movie, so he was constantly asking what was going on.

They walked out of the cinema a couple of hours later, stretching their aching backs and yawning.

"Well, I guess we'll be seeing you guys sometime." Yugi said. They all said their goodbyes and walked off their separate ways. Eventually the only two that were left were Joey and Seto (dun dun dun!). Joey was about to leave when Seto grabbed his arm.

"Wait, I have to ask you something." Seto let go of Joey's arm, turning slightly pink.

"OK. What is it?" Joey smiled sweetly at him, sending a shiver down Seto's spine.

"Um, I was wondering if you wanted to come round my house (AN: understatement of the year) sometime this week." Seto looked hopefully at Joey.

"Yeah, sure. When do you want me to come?"

"Friday, if that's OK with you."

"What time?" Seto thought for a moment.

"About twelve-thirty."

"OK, I'll see you then. Bye, Seto!"

"Bye…" Seto watched Joey walk away down the steps, admiring every aspect of his body. Soon, Joey… He thought. Soon…

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Joey was feeling happy. The opportune time had been created for him to tell Seto his feelings, and now he just hoped and prayed that Seto felt the same way about him so he didn't end up making a total idiot of himself. He walked home at a steady pace, burying himself deep within his thoughts.

I'm glad I'm going round Seto's on Friday…I've been waiting for a moment like this to come up for a long time. Far too long. I can't stop thinking about him now, I just want him to be mine. I love him so much…argh, I can't bear this for much longer! Seto! Joey's heart was racing. Friday can't come quick enough…I want him, I need him…this is stupid, I know, but I can't help it…I want him now!

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Luff: MWOAHAHAHA! Wow, I love saying that. Anyways, sorry about that Mai AF (my friend Mai). I know you want Joey to be yours, but hey, I'm evil aren't I? Yeah, so to make up for it I have let my friends Mai AF and Yugi AF write the author's note for the next episode. Oops.

Yugi: What do you think you were doing?!

Luff: I dunno. It was written in the early morning at school (at about 7:50 am), so it's a bit weird. You'll have to excuse them.

Yami: Nooooooo! We're gonna die!

Luff: Don't worry, it's not that bad. Checks author's note for next episode Oh wait, yes it is…eh-hem.

Yami: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Luff: Bye for now, and don't forget to R&R!