COLLISION

Welcome back. I thought I might want to add a little guide for all those who might get a little confused. (Which in truth I should have done in the first chapter and in UnRocket)

Okay, just to start off, this story has established SetoJou. And it has …er… un-established KaibaJoey. Confused? Don't worry. I have a hard time remembering as well.

In this fic, we are (once again) throwing the dub and subbed characters together. Kaiba and Joey are the dubbed ones, and, since I've seen smatterings of the episodes, are American as a byproduct. Seto and Jou, therefore, are Japanese.

As you may have seen (if UnRocket has been read ) that Seto and Jou have been together for a while. This story is set after UnRocket for the subbed pair and for the dubbed pair…hehehe. Reruns. (cackles)

Disclaimer: Hm. Think about this for a second. I'm throwing two sets of the same characters together. If I owned this, it would be CANNON!

And speaking of cannon…I have a feeling it resides here not. Now onwards my friends!

(coughs and dies from the long authors' note)

CHAPTER TWO

Joey cursed silently as he made his way around his room, wincing as he jammed his thigh several times into his desk-side.

His eyes were currently not being of any help right now, and he couldn't travel his room by feel.

His thigh smashed into the desk again.

His bit his lip to keep from crying out. Making noise in this 'house' was just not a wise option.

He gave a mental cheer at finding the slick cold cover of one of his schoolbooks.

After throwing it into the worn haversack that rested on his shoulder, Joey rooted around until he found his white tee and green jacket.

'The gang', as Teá referred to themselves fondly, had just gotten back from Pegasus' island, and now Joey was just having a right good ole time attempting to catch up on the work that they had missed in the meantime.

Ready to 'face the day', he was almost to the door before the cries behind him stopped Joey in his tracks.

Mentally berating himself, he carefully wound his way back to the voices and picked up his deck, instantly placating them.

He exited his room and carefully traversed across the hallway, shoed feet crushing the small glass shards that were easily becoming part of the oh-so-wonderful décor. He gave a sudden duck right before a bottle slammed into the wall behind him.

Joey did the only thing he could.

He scooted out of there.

---

He swore.

Clutched in his hand was a warning that eviction was eminent.

If he still had the winnings from Duelist Kingdom, that wouldn't have been a worry--but his mother had eminently confiscated it and claimed that she needed all of the money for Serenity's operation--which left him effectively poor. And now homeless as well.

What a way for the second place winner of Duelist Kingdom to be.

So what if the most likely put him in third in the world? That was a very decent place to be. But being out on the streets was not.

So what was he going to do?

He wasn't going back to the gangs. He was done with that crap. So cross off option one.

Option two? Impose himself on his friends that didn't know that there was anything going on. Hmm. So that was effectively crossed off as well.

Besides, something weird was going on with Yuugi lately. He wanted to clear his mind and accept the possibility of a 'darker half' of Yuugi before he faced…either?…again.

If he found it completely implausible, he was going to go look for the best psychologist that two dollars could buy.

Not that he even had that much money, mind you.

Thought that counted, right?

He sighed and dropped his head into his hands.

"Lost your master, Mutt?"

Joey silently counted to ten before sitting back in his seat on the bench to just glare at the brunet.

Kaiba was surprised at the silent counter in the very least. Joey just kept up his distrustful gaze at the taller male.

Joey paused, undecided as to do with the threat Kaiba posed to his candy-fragile ego. Dispensing the brunet in a timely manner seemed like a good idea.

With a self-defeating sigh, Joey mentally prepared himself for the argument and the accent he had to hide behind.

Overhead, a dragon was flying amidst the clouds.

---

Jou was lying on his back, the light from the sun glinting off from the frames of his glasses. The light sound of snoring slid out through his slightly parted lips.

Seto looked over at him with an adoring smirk, talking in his puppy's sprawled out from. With a slight chuckle he turned his eyes back to his laptop that he had neglected last night.

In fact, since his puppy had decided to actively take him up on the offer to stay at the mansion, the bit of technology was neglected more and more often.

Jou stayed well behaved all day in the mansion, acting--unfortunately for Jou's pride--the part of housewife perfectly.

That is, until nine rolled around and it was clearly understood that work was to be stopped then and that it was then time for bed.

His puppy would always pounce at nine.

Seto had started the habit up of finishing off and turning the computer off at fifteen till, just incase one of the puppy's watches ran fast.

His fingers paused over the black keys.

He had thought that he had heard something.

Something that had sounded like—

"WHEELER!"

---

Yup, I'm leaving it there. (grins) Next chapter should be a barrel of laughs.

REVIEW REPLIES

Jen-chan: The glasses and braces bit was mostly inspired by my little sister. In the course of one week, she was subjected to her top braces and was fitted for glasses. (grins) Fanart? WHEE! (glomps)
Kumori Sakusha formerly Saelbu: (grins) Thanks.
Killian: I couldn't help but write that in as well...the lisp will go away shortly though.
Panda Doru: The Geek God: I think I got my braces when I was...ten? I just reccently got a new bottom retainer...so now I can chew gum. Ger. (glomps)
Icy Flame: You've been a busy reviewer lately, haven't you? (grins) I like writing odd stuff. X3 (glomps)

Glomps and grins.

-Glue