Jadej.j: Yeah, I broke down laughing at more than one point in the course of writing this, believe me! Glad you think it's good, and I hope you'll keep reading!
Vera: How sweet that you want me to have more reviews! glomps Vera Don't get me wrong, one can never have enough reviews, but I'm overjoyed that even one person did so! Thank you for your compliments and encouragement; I'll try not to disappoint! Oh, and thank your yami too!
demonicangel: Thank you, I was really trying to avoid cliché! I'm glad you think this is a good Seto/Joey fic, and I'm honored that anyone could say they love my stories! glomps demonicangel
daisy: Death to all cheap tramps!!! I hope you and your yami enjoy this chapter almost as much as the last one, and thanks for the positive feedback!
Disclaimer: Grr, are these ever annoying... I don't own them!!!!
Chapter 4: To Have and Not To Hold
Joey snuggled into the leather passenger seat, his lips still tingling from his stunt in the restaurant. Seto, to his credit, managed to keep a straight face until he got into the car, but the minute he turned the ignition, he cracked up laughing. The rich, deep sound filled the enclosed space, and Joey just stared at his boyfriend, realizing that possibly the only other person to hear him truly laugh was Mokuba. It made him feel very sorry for Seto, above anything else.
"Damn, puppy," Seto choked out between gasps for air, "I knew you were brazen, but that was totally beyond uninhibited!"
The blond just shrugged. "She had it coming." he said quietly.
Seto's laughter died suddenly, and he looked over at Joey, his face deadly serious again. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, Joey. Really, if I had known that this would happen..."
The other boy's mood darkened further as he recalled the feelings of inferiority that, until now, he had succeeded in banning from his mind. "It wasn't your fault," he muttered, not trusting his voice at any louder volume. "Just one of the perks of having a celebrity boyfriend, I guess." He hoped Seto would quit while he was ahead; Joey didn't know how much longer he could keep himself in check.
Unfortunately, either Seto didn't quite know how to read Joey or completely disregarded what his boyfriend wanted, because he pulled over at the earliest possible moment and, taking Joey's chin in his hand gingerly, he turned the other boy's face to meet his azure gaze. He was shocked to see one solitary tear escape Joey's left eye, and softly, he leaned over to kiss it away. Then, with the salt taste still on his lips, he kissed Joey's mouth as sweetly as he could. After a relatively short time, the blond pulled back and drew breath to say something, but Seto silenced him with one tapered finger across his lips.
"I can't promise you that it won't happen again, because I don't want to lie to you." the billionaire said gently, "Believe me, Joey, if I could, I'd stop it."
"You could." Joey cut him off. "If you let the word get out about us, people would stop throwing themselves at you. At least most of the cheap floozies would."
Seto stared for a moment, let his breath out in a rush, and gripped the steering wheel harder than Joey would have expected him to. "You know I can't do that, Joey," he said, his teeth clenched, "If things were different..."
"So you're ashamed of me." It wasn't a question.
"I didn't say that..." Seto tried to defend himself.
"Well, how the hell am I supposed to take it?" Joey's tears were flowing freely now, and he wiped them away stubbornly. The taller boy didn't answer, just stared out through the windshield, his hands still on the steering wheel.
"I thought so." Angrily, the blond unbuckled his seat belt and threw open the car door. Before he could make a clean break, though, Seto stopped him.
"Wait, please." It was a strange thing to see Seto Kaiba beg for anything.
Joey shook his head, and the tie holding his ponytail in place fell open. A curtain of hair covered his eyes as he braced himself against the seat. "I should have known I could never be anything more to you than a good time. What a fool I was to think that I might be-- that our love might be-- more important than your precious reputation, or your precious company." Seto hung his head, but Joey didn't let up. "I'd better go. We wouldn't want your dirty little secret to get out to anyone, now, would we?" In a flash of green and gold, he was on his feet outside the car, Seto's hand limp on the seat where he'd been sitting. "Good-bye, Kaiba." he said, slamming the door and taking off faster than usual into the darkness. Soon, he had disappeared completely. Dejectedly, Seto picked up the golden elastic that had once held his love's hair in place, carelessly left on the seat, and slid it into his pocket before speeding back to the mansion.
* * *
Yami went into overprotective (normal for Yami) mode when he heard Joey knock at the door, but after a few minutes, Yugi convinced him to let his friend in with a minimal amount of lectures about calling on his aibou so late. Joey apologized sadly, and the moment Yugi got a good look at his face, he packed Yami off to the Puzzle with a promise to explain later. Once Joey was seated comfortably with a cup of tea, Yugi decided not to beat around the bush.
"What did he do, Joey?" the tricolor haired boy demanded.
Joey turned his face to the wall, fighting another onset of tears. "Yug... I don't know, he didn't really do anything. It's my fault, I guess. I'm not worth ruining his reputation over. I'm not worth anything. I really am just a stupid puppy dog."
Yugi sighed and rested his small hand comfortingly on Joey's shoulder. "Start at the beginning, and take it slow if you have to, okay?"
The other boy sniffed and went through what had happened, from the waitress onward. Midway through the story, Yami gave up any pretense of giving them privacy and came out of the Puzzle, receiving a disparaging glare from his hikari. Once Joey was done, Yami was on the warpath and Yugi was speechless.
"I will send Kaiba off to the Shadow Realm for this!" Yami growled, shaking his fist. "He'll be sorry he ever..."
"Yami, you're not helping!" Yugi shouted, and both other boys just stared. Yugi was usually quiet and soft-spoken. He wasn't exactly one to raise his voice. The hikari fixed his large violet eyes on Joey. "How about you stay here tonight, and we can talk in the morning, when you're feeling better, okay?"
Joey nodded gratefully, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow in the guest room.
* * *
Seto wasn't so lucky. He paced the hallways of his sprawling mansion a thousand times over, until he was afraid of waking Mokuba with the constant noise, and kept himself confined to his room. Sleep eluded him, so after changing into loose pajama pants (A/N: drool...), he let his mind wander. Unsurprisingly, his thoughts settled on Joey.
There was no doubt that he loved the puppy, but he couldn't help but wonder if there had been some truth to what Joey had said. Was he really so cold that he hadn't been capable of showing the blond just how much he cared about him? He must have been, since Joey obviously thought he was second best, or worse. Tossing and turning, Seto pondered on how he could get his love back, while at the same time showing him just how far he was willing to go for him. It was nearing dawn when the answer finally hit him. At first the very idea was too scary to contemplate, but not nearly as scary as the thought of living without Joey after having had a taste of what true love meant.
Seto turned the gilded elastic over in his hands, tiny sparkles rubbing off on him. "Desperate times call for drastic measures." he smiled grimly.
* * *
Okay, that's it for this chappie! I'm sorry to have to do this to the guys, but it will make next chapter's fluff all the more, well, fluffy! I'm also sorry for the evil cliffie... I know how much I hate them, but I wanted to update tonight, and the next sequence is pretty long, so just bear with me, okay? Thanks, and ja ne! Review Please!
