Chapter Three: The Song That Started It All

"Joey…" The female voice continued to ring through the blonde's ears until he was able to distinguish exactly who was talking to him.

"Huh? Tea?" he inquired curiously.

"Hey bro!" That voice, however, rang an immediate bell in Joey's mind. He knew exactly who the person was and that they were indeed male.

"Tristan?"

"Who else would it be?" the pointy-haired teen added with a casual shrug of his shoulders as he gave his best friend a giant pat on the back. This gesture almost caused Joey to go flying out of his seat; it was a lucky thing that the table was there to catch him before anything catastrophic happened.

The blonde-haired puppy choked out a few coughs before replying. "What are you guys doing here anyway?"

"Well Tea insisted on coming here and since Yugi is watching Mokuba tonight, I got stuck coming instead. I could be doing something more productive with my time but no, I had to come to this damn club and be bored off my ass for the next couple of hours." Tristan let out a big, heavy sigh before collapsing into one of the nearby chairs.

"Well at least you won't get stuck dancing..." Joey commented with a small smirk plastering his features.

"Oh he'll be dancing…" Tea stated in a reassuring yet firm tone of voice. This forced both Joey and Tristan to gulp down a rather large breath of air. When Tea was determined to do something, she could be scary, very scary…

"Great…" Tristan threw his head back in the chair and heaved yet another sigh, this time of exhaustion. Yet not a moment later, he tossed his head back into its original position when he saw who was headed their way. "Just what I need right now…" he moaned irritably.

"What is it?" Tea inquired as she turned around to face whatever Tristan was grumbling about.

"I'll give ya three guesses and the first two don't count."

"What are you talking about?" Before Tea could go any further with her questions, she heard a gruff-sounding voice come from behind her and when she turned around to face whoever was there, she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, it's just Kaiba…" she sighed.

"What do you want?" Tristan asked in a voice unlike his own; it almost sounded like he was ready to dive in for the kill at a moment's notice. You could easily tell that the two were not the best of friends.

Seto rolled his eyes in almost the exact same fashion as Tea. "Oh great, it's the geek squad." That was when Tristan made a fist with his right hand and began to grit his teeth, showing everyone that he was not pleased with the CEO in any way, shape or form.

"Watch what you say Kaiba…" the brunette growled lowly as Tea managed to hold him back. She wasn't prepared to watch Seto Kaiba and one of her best friends get into a huge fight. She knew that if she let something like that happen, it would only lead to more trouble and eventually get them kicked out of the club, if not brought down to the police station. So far, Tea had a clean record and did not want to ruin it because of two people's stupidity. Yes, she even classed Seto Kaiba in that category because in her books, anyone that starts a fight in a public place deserves that title.

"Or what? You'll try and fight me? I don't think that would be a wise idea, seeing as how there are one too many people around. You wouldn't want to cause an uproar in a place such as this, now would you?" Seto smirked victoriously while secretly turning his gaze to that of his boyfriend. Joey was currently resting his head on the table, hoping that his friends and lover wouldn't get into a fight, especially on a night such as this.

I stand corrected; maybe Kaiba does have some sense after all. Now if only Tristan could be that smart… Tea thought mentally before lowering herself back down to reality. "Well, I guess we better get going. I'm pretty sure that Ryou probably has our food by now so we'll talk to you later, okay Joey?" There was no response from the blonde. "Joey?" the brunette repeated once more. There was still no response.

"Joey," Seto spoke into his lover's ear. "You're friends are saying goodbye," he whispered.

"Yah, I know."

"Then why don't you answer them?"

"Well I…"

"What?"

"Never mind." The blonde than decided to speak up for the first time since his friends had first greeted him. "Bye guys…"

"Bye," Tea replied hesitantly, turning her back away from the two and heading over towards the snack bar where she knew Ryou would be waiting for them. Tristan followed suit, wondering just what was going on inside his best friend's head. He had seemed a little distant throughout the whole conversation with him and that of Seto Kaiba. Was there something that he wasn't telling them? Did he have a secret that he wished to keep private and not tell anyone? It was hard trying to look into a person's mind without having a single clue of what was going on inside of it.

"Tristan?"

"Yah?"

"Do you know what's going on with Joey? He seemed a little…off tonight…"

"You noticed too, huh?"

"Yah and I wish there was something I could do but…I just don't know. I want to know what's bothering him, if there's anything at all, but at the same time I don't want to intrude on his personal life." Throughout all the years that the gang had been together, Tea was slowly learning the fact that if people didn't want to tell her certain things about their personal life, she needed to respect that and continue on with her own life. It took quite a while but it was now starting to sink in more and more each day.

"I know what you mean. Joey's my best friend and I only want what's best for him. But if he doesn't want to tell me something, I guess that would be okay. I mean, I really want to know what's bugging him but I know that if I intrude, it would only cause hardship," Tristan explained.

"So what do you think we should do?"

"Just let it be. If he wants to tell us something, let him come to us. But if he doesn't want to open up to us, we just have to go with the flow, no matter how difficult it may be."

Tea let her head drop slightly; wondering if that was the right thing to do. "Well, I guess that would be fine…" she managed to comply.

"Good. Well, now that we got that settled, what do you say we go eat?"

"Sure, let's go." With that, the two teens headed off to the table where Ryou Bakura was currently sitting, waiting for them to seat themselves.

Meanwhile with Seto and Joey…

"Thanks Seto. How did you know I love pizza?" Joey asked before taking a huge bite of his rather large slice of pizza.

"Oh, just a lucky guess." The brunette merely shrugged his shoulders as he took one of his gravy and cheese-covered fries and placed into carefully into his mouth. The two teens were complete opposites when it came to food; Joey would eat like there was no tomorrow and Seto would always take his time, making sure that his meal digested properly. It doesn't really matter though because it's just like the old saying goes, "Opposites attract".

After they were both finished, the music grew louder and louder until it was possible that you could go deaf, if you had sensitive ears that is. Luckily, neither Joey nor Kaiba was that unfortunate.

"Man, I never knew going to a club could be this hard on your ears!" Joey practically shouted, seeing as how you wouldn't be able to hear him very well, if at all, if he talked normally.

"Like I said before, that's what a club is." Seto barely had to raise his voice when he spoke; that was one of perks of having such a deep-sounding voice.

Joey simply rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed with all of Seto's smug comments. "Whatever…" He didn't care that his voice sounded sarcastic; that was the way he meant for it to sound. Seto, on the other hand, was getting more and more turned on by the minute. Even though he didn't show it, it was clearly evident in his actions. Joey tried to hide the obvious fact that he was blushing, knowing full well what was about to happen next. However, they were interrupted before they could even lean in closer to one another. A song that both teens knew all to well came on. The title of the song was Seasons of Love from a movie entitled RENT. Joey's face looked as though he was going to break down due to embarrassment and Seto managed to keep his mask up, not wanting to let his true emotions shine all the way through, especially with so many people around.

"So..." Seto began and than froze up. He didn't know what else to say, nor did he know what else to do. This was not common for the infamous CEO, yet as much as he tried to break out of his current state, he found it near impossible.

"What?" Joey was in the same sort of predicament except for one minor difference…he could at least carry on a conversation.

Seto opened his mouth again but no words came out. Finally, he decided to just let everything slip; it may not be such a wise decision but at the moment, it was the only thing he could think of. "Joey I…"

"Yes?"

"Do you…umm…do you…want…todancewithme?" The last few words came out all in one breath so it was rather difficult for Joey to understand exactly what his boyfriend was trying to tell him.

"What? I didn't catch that…"

Great… Seto sighed while mentally rolling his eyes. He really didn't want to say it again but found that he had no choice in the matter if he wanted to get everything off of his chest.

"Will you…do you…wanttodancewithme?" He couldn't help it. This was the first time he ever had to ask someone such a hard question (Or at least it was difficult in his eyes) and he didn't want to mess it up.

"Do I want to…dance with you?" Joey repeated.

Seto nodded his head without saying another word; for fear that he would let something personal slip from his mouth.

"Well…I guess…if you want to…" Joey was walking on thin ice as well; he didn't know how to respond to such a question. Sure, he had danced with Mai many times when they were going out but it was different with a guy, especially one such as Seto Kaiba. But he simply decided to just go with the flow and let nature take its course.

"Well then, shall we?" Seto motioned to the dance floor as he took Joey's hand and pulled him over to it. Once there, the brunette placed his right hand on the blonde's waist and his other hand in the blonde's right hand. Joey moved his left hand to that of his lover's right shoulder as they began to dance at a rather slow pace. When dancing for the first time, it is usually easier and more comfortable if you start off with a slow dance and then work your way up. It was the same with this couple; they made their way slowly across the floor, blushing all the while. To them, this was best moment of their lives…even though it was their first dance. However, what the couple didn't realize was that they were being watched…

"Is that…Joey and Kaiba?" Tea questioned the two males standing on either side of her, hoping that this was all just a horrible dream. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't a dream or even a nightmare…it was reality, which can sometimes be the scariest of all…

"I think so. But what are they doing…together?" Tristan thought aloud as he began squirming around, looking very uncomfortable with what he was seeing.

"I don't know but maybe that's what Joey's secret is. I bet that he didn't want to tell us because he was afraid that we would hate him," Tea suggested.

"But we wouldn't and deep down inside he knows it too. We're his best friends and nothing will come between us," Ryou put in.

"That's right," the brunette complied and then added, "So what do we do? Do we go up and talk to him after they're done dancing or what?" She turned to both Tristan and Ryou with a look that matched her words perfectly.

"Uhh…you can tell him…" Tristan said as he gave Tea a little push towards the dance floor.

The girl looked back at her friend with a glare. "What? Why me? Why don't you come with me? He's your best friend too!"

"Yah well, I think it would be better if you talked to him. You're good with these kinds of things. I've seen you talk to many people about different issues and you always seem to make things right," Tristan explained matter-of-factly, determined to weasel his way out of confronting Joey.

Tea's cheeks turned to that of a light pink, yet it disappeared soon after. "Don't think you're getting out of this one, Tristan. You're coming with me and so are you Ryou. Neither one of you are backing out of this situation. We all saw those two dancing with one another so it makes sense for all three of us to go up and talk to our best friend, right? Right?" she practically demanded as she cocked an eyebrow.

Both Tristan and Ryou let out a heavy sigh and then looked up to their female friend. Tristan, however, was the first one to speak.

"Fine, I'll go." Ryou merely nodded his head in unison.

"Good. Well now that that's all settled, I guess it's time we put our plan into motion. Let's go." With one swift hand gesture to motion the two males to follow her, the threesome headed out onto the dance floor, waiting for the song to finish so that they good have a small talk with their blonde-haired friend. Ra only knows what will happen next…

Mysterious Mistress Kura: Pretty quick update, eh? I also managed to make it quite lengthy so I'm proud of myself. I'll start working on the next chapter as soon as I can. I have quite a few ideas for this story so you won't have to wait that long for updates. That's a good thing, right? Anyway, don't forget to review! Luv ya! Ja ne!