Changed for the Better

A/N: Thank you to all of you who reviewed the first version of chapter 4. I'm glad that some of you found things to compliment even though the chapter itself was crap (in my opinion anyway). I'm sorry for the long update, but hopefully this one will be well worth it.

Chapter 4

Outside the auditorium, Tea and Joey sat in awkward silence. Tea chewed on her thumbnail nervously, trying to find something to fill the emptiness between them.

"How long have you known you were gay?"

Joey whipped his head around to face her. His expression was a combination of shock and offense. He sighed and ran his right hand through his dirty-blond mane.

"I realized I was gay two years after graduation."

"Do you mind if I ask how you found out?"

Joey sighed. "I was sitting at home one day and doing absolutely nothing. I was watching a cooking show and I found myself writing the ingredients down on the margin of a crossword puzzle. I realized that something wasn't right. Maybe it was because I had never watched a cooking show in my life or because I was actually interested. That night, after I got out of the shower, I looked at myself in the mirror and it hit me. I realized that I was gay." Tea cast a skeptical glance in his direction. "I know it sounds hard to believe, but that's how I knew."

"Okay. How long have you known that you had a thing for Kaiba?"

Joey's cheeks flushed unconsciously. He looked down at the concrete and pushed a pebble with the toe of his left foot. "Tea, when Kaiba and I were talking tonight, it was different. We weren't arguing or fighting in any way. We were having a perfectly decent conversation.

"Without realizing it, I found myself staring at him and wondering what was going on beneath the surface. It drove me crazy and I had to drink something to take my mind off of him. Tea, it's freaking me out. I can't feel things like this for Kaiba. He can't stand me!"

"Joey, if he hated you, you two would have been at each others' throats a long time ago. Trust me, he doesn't hate you."

"Well he obviously doesn't like me back," Joey said in a voice a step below shouting. Tea raised an eyebrow. "Tea, he's Kaiba for goodness sake. He's a heartless bastard who doesn't care about anybody but his brother."

Tea sighed and shook her head. "I don't know Joey. You'd be surprised at how much people can change," she said as she turned to walk inside the building and rejoin her friends.

Joey stood for a moment with his hand outstretched like he wanted to stop her. Then he took a deep breath and lowered his hand.

"Might as well face the music," he whispered to himself.

Meanwhile…

Inside the auditorium, while Tea and Joey were having their heart-to-heart, Seto and Yugi were sitting in anticipation. Actually, it was Yugi who was doing the anticipating. Seto looked nothing short of flustered.

Yugi was the first to break the heavy silence between them. He cleared his throat and stared at Seto expectantly. Seto stared back and tried not to twitch under Yugi's innocent gaze, unchanged through the years.

He finally conceded. "Yugi, I think I'm in love with Joey Wheeler."

For a moment, Yugi wore the same expectant expression. A few seconds later, he leaned into the back of his chair and he frowned in confusion. "Wait a second! Are you talking about our Joey Wheeler?"

"Do you know any other Joey Wheelers?" Seto asked sarcastically. "Yes, I'm talking about our Joey Wheeler."

Yugi's eyes widened. He gasped and his hands flew to his mouth to muffle a squeal of surprise.

"Oh my God," he whispered. "You're gay?"

"No, I'm ecstatic," he replied sarcastically. "Yes, I'm gay," he hissed.

"And Mokuba doesn't know about this?" Yugi asked in disbelief. "How could he not know?"

Seto exhaled and massaged his temples. "He knows I'm gay. I told him that years ago. What he doesn't know is that I like Joey."

Yugi nodded. "Oh…okay then." He paused and tried to gather the words that would end this discussion. It wasn't that he was uncomfortable with homosexuality. Yugi didn't care either way, but Yugi was shocked that someone as cold as Seto would turn out to be gay. "Uh, how's Mokuba doing? He's, what, twenty-four now?"

Seto nodded. "Mokuba and I haven't really spoken in a while. He still lives with me at the mansion, but he decided that he would like to start a family. He said that things were kind of lonely at home." He gave a small laugh. "About a year ago, he met this girl. Her name's Miko." Seto pulled out his wallet and showed Yugi a picture.

In the picture, Mokuba looked taller. His hair was still long, about the same length it was when Yugi had last seen him. His face was still boyish in a way and his eyes held the same innocent sparkle. Standing beside Mokuba was a beautiful albino girl. She was about Mokuba's height and she had very pale skin, white hair, and bright red eyes.

Yugi nodded in satisfaction and handed the photo back to Seto. "She looks like a nice girl."

"And they will be getting married next year," Seto added. "Yep, Mokuba proposed to her a couple months ago. I came home from work one day and I found those two canoodling on the couch." At this, Seto visibly twitched. "He said that he and Miko were engaged. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised. Mokuba said that he tried to tell me on several different occasions, but work always got in the way. I felt terrible after that, so I took some time off for a while. All three of us went on a vacation to Paris and spent some time catching up."

Yugi's eyes sparkled with joy. "Well I'm glad that things worked out with you all."

Seto nodded. He saw Joey and Tea walking back towards their table and sighed. "Well, here come the others. Remember not to say a word about anything," Seto hissed. "Or so help me, I will make sure that you'll regret it."

Yugi nodded, but mentally rolled his eyes. "Of course Kaiba. Your secret's safe with me."

A/N: I think this one is a bit better than the first version. Seto has not shut Mokuba out and you still see Miko (thanks reesescupprincess for your review on that). Seto and Mokuba still have a close relationship, so all's well that ends well. Please review and tell me what you think of Chapter 4: Version 2.0.