Chapter Three

"You sure it's okay for you to talk to us?" Yugi asked nervously.

"Yea. Seto has work today," Joey nodded. "It's been three days and I'm getting the hang of this place."

"You like it here?" Yugi asked, surprised.

"Yea. Why, don't you?" Joey sat on Yugi's bed.

"Well, it's nice and all, but it's so different than what I'm used to. I'm not your best friend, Seto is your possessive lover, Tea hardly knows me...That was hardest on Yami. It's as if none of us had become friends," Yugi frowned.

Joey didn't know what to say. He looked at his hands and wrung them together.

"But in this world - !" He was about to argue back the positives of this world when Yami's voice announced his presence.

"Serenity lives with you, your parents didn't divorce, Serenity's eye examine still worked, and Kaiba loves you with nothing to get in the way. It's everything you've ever wanted," Yami was leaning on the door.

"Yami, you make it sound like Joey..."

"Yes, Yugi. Joey is the cause of all this."

"Me?!" Joey asked as if offended. "How would I do this?"

Yami rolled his eyes and walked over to his blonde friend. He put his hand on his shoulder, making Joey flinch. Who knew what this Yami was capable of? Yami's other hand roughly snatched Joey's and held it up.

"How did you come upon such a powerful magical object?" His eyes were fixed on the ring Joey was wearing.

"Oh, I kinda just thought it was a gift from Kaiba," Yugi sweat dropped.

'That was the idea...,' Joey frowned. "I found it in the woods. I stepped on it."

"You must have made a wish on it," Yami pointed out the obvious in a very 'this is all your fault' manner.

"It was an accident!" Joey insisted.

"Joey, what did you wish for? A nicer Kaiba? A world where your family wasn't broken? What?" Yami's grip on Joey's hand got tighter and Joey winced.

"You're hurting me, man," Joey snapped his hand back and looked into the pharaoh's accusing eyes.

"What did you wish for, Joey. Please," Yami's eyes softened ever so slightly. Joey opened and closed his mouth several times before sighing and frowning.

"I wished... Kaiba Corp had died with his father and he had something besides his dark heart," Joey admitted, falling onto his back on the bed.

"Is Kaiba happy with that?" Yami asked in all seriousness.

"Yea. He smiles a lot more and we spend time together..."

"That's not what I asked. Is he happy with no Kaiba Corp?" Yami asked again.

Joey didn't answer. All he could think about was Seto's said face when he said Kaiba Corp had died and the even sadder face when he said Mokuba wasn't here. Joey shook his head.

"O-of course he's happier. Why wouldn't he be...? I mean... We've got each other, right?" Joey was more mumbling to himself than to Yami and Yugi.

Before either male could say something to him, Joey jumped up and left the room. He left the house and didn't look back. Yami frowned.

"Yami...Why'd you do that? You pushed him too far." Yugi frowned too, but his frown was directed at his counter part.

"Maybe you're right, but Joey needs to see that being in a relationship means noticing what's best for both of the people involved." Yami replied, sitting right beside his partner.

"Like us," Yugi offered and Yami nodded.

Yugi was silent for a bit, leaning against Yami. When he spoke, he sounded sad.

"Yami...just before the switch of realms, I heard someone say that Kaiba was going to break up with Joey. You think Joey couldn't take it and jumped to the extreme?"

"It's always a possibility." Yami nodded. "I just hope he knows what he'd doing. If things get bad, I'll take the ring back from him and restore things the proper way."

— – – —

When he opened the door that night, Seto was bushed. He walked into the house he shared with Serenity and Joey and set his bag down by the front door, something Seto Kaiba - C.E.O. would never do because it was tacky and unorganized.

He didn't call out an 'I'm home' because he'd worked late today and the other two were probably already asleep. He'd asked Joey why the parents weren't ever around and Joey simply said it was because they lived in a larger house in the city and didn't have as much time as they'd like to be with their children. Seto suspected that Joey probably begged to live in his own house and Serenity just followed him.

Seto went into the bathroom and washed his face and hands. His job at the company wasn't very thrilling. He had a rather good position but the job itself wasn't great. He was the co-manager of a small business that sold toys for children. It was part of a bigger company that supplied almost every toy shop in town, including the game shop owned by the Moto's.

Seto didn't know Yugi and Yami Moto very well but he had seen them several times. However, the other day was the first time he'd seen Joey interact with them so informally. He seemed really happy to see Yugi. It just struck him as odd.

Perhaps he should ask Joey about it.

No, it wasn't important. Oh, but if Kaiba wasn't a jealous, protective boyfriend...

Seto headed toward their bedroom, considering waking Joey up to ask him right then and there. However, when he saw Joey, all angry thoughts left him. Joey wasn't in bed. He was leaning against the wall, one leg drawn up to his chest and one laying straight out. His arms were similar with one bent and resting on the knee and the other laying limply to the side on the same side as the straight out leg. Joey's head was looking almost straight up and there were signs he had started crying but it hadn't lasted long enough to make tear stains all the way down his face.

"Joey?" Seto asked softly, kneeling next to him. Joey swallowed a lump in his throat and looked away from Seto. He seemed only half conscious. "Come on, Joey. What's wrong with you?"

Joey looked at Seto, finally, and with a frown he said one thing. One statement that haunted Seto's dreams that night and made him wish he could've been there to comfort Joey while he cried. Been there whenever this thought was planted into Joey's mind and made him worry so much. He said something so simple but it caused so much sadness in both their hearts.

"You're not happy being with me."