Sunday – one day to go
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Heva: I said I'd upload this sometime last week, and on Saturday at the latest.
Coel: Its Sunday now.
Heva: I know that Coel. I do have excuses though; do you want to hear excuse number one, number two or number three?
Coel: I don't care, it's your readers that might care.
Heva: Well first excuse is I'm now back at school so have work to do for that, second excuse is that I was babysitting yesterday and the third excuse is Trevor.
Coel: Trevor?
Heva: Trevor is a rook who I rescued on Friday and he is so cute and such a beautiful bird. I wanted to keep him but we had to release him back into the wild.
Coel: Just get on with the story. Heva doesn't own Yugioh, but she does own the OCs and the plot. Also say thank you to melodyz07 as she has kept Heva focused on the story and without her help this story would never have been uploaded.
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Sunday – one day to go
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"Georgie?" Mokuba asked with a yawn as he answered the phone. He'd been woken up by it from a rather pleasant dream so his bad mood was beginning to return.
"Morning Mokuba. Has Seto left for work yet?"
"I've no idea, he hasn't spoken to me since diner last night."
"What's happened between you two?" she asked, still completely clueless of what had happened yesterday.
"It's Tsume. I just don't want …" Mokuba fell silent as he tried to think of how to explain things to Georgie.
"Who's Tsume?"
"An old friend, him and his younger brother were with me and Seto at the orphanage."
"Oh, what happened?"
"We got separated. When me and Seto were adopted we lost contact."
"I'm assuming that Tsume's come back, and you don't want him back for some reason. Do you want to talk about it?"
"Maybe later, Georgie. What were you ringing about anyway?"
"Well, you see, I wanted to talk to you about a certain mutt and a rather distinguished CEO." Mokuba smiled as he listened to Georgie's plan, happy for the distraction from last night's argument.
--
Seto rubbed his hands over his eyes in an effort to keep himself focused on the paperwork in front of him. He'd had barely any sleep last night after the shouting match him and his younger brother had participated in. Maybe not telling Mokuba had been a mistake, but the youngster's dislike of 'what he made you do' seemed worse than the fact Seto had tried to keep Tsume's reappearance secret.
'Have you forgotten how he forced you to do it, Seto?'
Mokuba's words still rang in his ears. He'd never forget that first time, and he'd never forgive himself for agreeing to it instead of refusing like he should have done. The problem was that he was never really forced into anything, he'd been completely aware of what he was doing and still consented.
--
Joey awoke to the ringing phone and reached up to his bed side table thinking that the irritating noise was his alarm clock. When his hand couldn't find it he heard the answer phone cut in and realised that his alarm clock wasn't making the wake up call.
"Hi, Joey. It's Georgie, I know I shouldn't really be doing this but I called because Mokuba told me about what happened in the car last night after you guys left and I thought it was only fair that someone try and explain it to you. Now where to start. Well, basically Seto's been talking to this guy him and Mokuba used to know at the orphanage, and he didn't tell Mokuba about it, so Mokuba's been annoyed about that. Anyway they're not talking to each other and sulking about it all like a couple of children. Have fun tomorrow putting up with Seto, I don't envy you in the slightest."
Joey leaned back in his bed, having not moved from under the covers as he listened to the message. So Tsume was a friend of Seto's from the orphanage who'd just showed up again, that explained why he'd never seen Tsume before. The fact Seto hadn't even told Mokuba about Tsume's reappearance made it more understandable why Seto denied knowing anything about the note. But why hadn't Seto told Mokuba? What was he trying to hide about this guy? There was still the matter of 'You were eight, Seto!'
What was going on with the blue eyed CEO and his messed up life? Joey felt like giving up trying to understand Seto and trying to ignore his attraction to him. His mind was telling him that it was the most sensible thing to do, he'd ignored his attraction so far and it would pass, wouldn't it? This attraction wasn't the typical teenage hormones or even crush any more though, it had changed into actually wanting a relationship. He wanted to take Seto out to a restaurant to chat and find out what food he liked. Take him to see a film and share his popcorn with him, from what he'd seen Seto wouldn't eat much of the popcorn so there was no problem with running out of it. He wanted to go to the park and watch the sunset with him, whilst making sure Seto's phone was off so that it couldn't ruin the moment.
A smile spread across his face as he thought about the possibilities.
It would never happen though with this other guy on the scene. Tsume was in the way; a guy Seto had history with, obviously still cared about him and wasn't … an immature mutt.
Joey closed his eyes as he felt the tears begin to fall again. This illness must be getting to him, he'd never felt this emotional before in his whole life.
--
Seto continued to tap his biro on the desk as he stared blankly at the sheets in front of him. He just couldn't focus on it at the moment; Mokuba was angry at him, Tsume was planning to turn up at his office tomorrow to pick him up for diner and who knew what was going on with Joey right now, the guy had looked like an emotional wreck when Seto left him at his front door yesterday.
"What am I going to do?" Seto said as he put his head in his hands after letting the pen drop to the floor by his foot. "If I try and talk to Tsume to cancel tomorrow night I may not get another chance to see him again but Mokuba might actually carry out his threat of leaving if I don't cancel. If I try and rearrange meeting up with Tsume without Mokuba knowing he'll kill me in my sleep when he finds out. If I try and explain things to Tsume, or make Tsume and Mokuba talk to each other it could work out, but Mokuba might never forgive me if I do. This is so complicated."
A knock on his office door made him look up.
"Come," he coughed realising his voice was a bit hoarse and tried again. "Come in."
"Mr Kaiba, I've found the details you asked about and the gentleman is waiting in the lobby. Would you like me to send him up and email you the details?"
"Thank you, Sara."
"Very good, sir. Oh, and a young lady turned up a few minutes ago asking for you. She wouldn't give me her name, just said that she hoped the boots haven't given you any problems."
"Was this girl wearing designer clothes?" Seto asked with a sigh.
"Yes, sir."
"Send her up first."
"Of course," Sara said with a grin as Seto put his head back in his hands. She had been told by the previous secretary what to expect from Seto's acquaintances, although none of them would call themselves such. Seto would have people turn up from time to time who would ask for him and refuse to give their name, instead asking for a brief message to be passed on, and it was best not to pry into what they wanted, especially if they were male. It would often be an hour before the person left, looking either angry, pleased with themselves or completely relaxed. Sara would then have to enter the room and act as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
'You are paid not to see certain things,' her predecessor had told her.
"Are you going to stand there all day or show Kay up here?" Seto asked as he looked back up from his desk.
"Yes, of course, sir," Sara answered quickly as she rushed to the door.
'She better not be going down with Joey's cold, that's the last thing I need right now,' Seto thought icily as he tried once again to focus on his paperwork.
--
Kay glanced around the lobby from her seat next to the receptionist's desk. She had decided that the plastic plants around the place were too tacky, and had every intention of telling Seto such when he eventually let her upstairs to talk to him. Letting out an annoyed huff she made a big show of yawning and looking at her watch. The receptionist at the desk tried not to laugh and looked away to continue typing on her computer.
"Mr Kaiba will see you now, miss," Sara said as she walked over from the lifts.
"It's about time. Do you have any idea how boring it is waiting down here?"
"If you would just follow me, I'll show you to his office," Sara told her as she turned to walk to the lift. 'It's not your place to question the reasons,' her predecessor said in her mind.
"You know you don't have to be so formal with me, if I wanted people acting like that I'd just go back to Daddy's mansion."
'So this was about connections with powerful families then. It made sense, the two were probably doing this to keep the girl's parents happy,' Sara thought.
"We'll be there soon," she replied, just wanting to get this over with.
"Is that starched collar cutting off your air supply? You can relax, I don't bite."
"It would seem improper for me to be informal towards one of Mr Kaiba's acquaintances."
"Mr Kaiba's acquaintance? I'm in the guy's physics class, not a business partner. If you ask me he's intelligent and cute, but I'm not an acquaintance in that way either."
"You go to school with him?" Sara asked, turning to look at the girl.
"Yeah."
"Do you know Joey Wheeler?"
"Yeah, he's in physics with me and Seto. Rumour has it that something's going on between the two of them, and I didn't believe it to begin with. I mean the way those two get at each other all the time, they seem to hate each other, but then Georgie pointed out that they may be in denial. That got me thinking, then seeing them together yesterday I'm convinced they like each other, but don't tell Seto I told you or he'll throw a tantrum."
"I'll try and be discreet," Sara told her with a smile. 'So Seto and this work experience student liked each other, that explained a lot,' she thought as the lift opened at the top floor. "Mr Kaiba's office is just down the hall, it's the door with his name on it."
"I'm sure I'll be able to spot it. His arrogance and self importance will guide me to him," Kay said with a grin. "It was nice to meet you."
"It was nice to meet you too," Sara replied with a grin at Kay's statement.
--
Joey collapsed onto the sofa in front of the TV again, and ate the remains of his cold pizza. Looking at the now empty box he was reminded of his encounter with the delivery boy and suddenly felt all appetite leave him. After emptying his stomach contents in the bathroom he decided that the best task he could do now would be to find some films to take with him tomorrow.
The DVD cupboard was in his dad's bedroom, and Joey felt a bit uncomfortable sitting on the unused bed. He remembered the last thing he'd talked about with his dad, and the promise that had been made between them. Well there was no way he was going to ask Seto out now, not when Seto was with Tsume. Thoughts of that note entered his mind, but were quickly replaced with thoughts of the note his dad had left.
"Shit. I still haven't found that note. Where could it have gone?" Joey asked the room. No reply was given so Joey let himself fall backwards onto the bed.
"What should I do?" he asked again.
"No ideas either, huh? I'm going mad, I'm talking to myself." Joey sighed and shut his eyes, hoping to fall asleep again. Unfortunately sleep didn't come and he just lay there trying to clear his mind, eventually he gave up and sat up to start the task he'd intended to do when he first entered the room.
"I wonder what sort of films he likes? I'll just take a range of good ones and ask him tomorrow." Joey began to pull a few of the DVDs off their shelves and put them into a pile next to him. After he had about twenty sitting on the carpet he decided he had enough and stood up to go and find a bag to put them in. As he stepped into the hallway he had inspiration and put the stack down on the table next to the phone. Picking up the handset he set it to ring the last person who called and waited for an answer.
--
"Are there actually any real plants in this whole building?" Kay asked as she pushed open the doors.
"Hello, it's nice to see you too, Kay," Seto replied without looking up from his desk.
"Sorry for being rude. I've just been stuck in your lobby for hours and it's so deathly boring down there. Also I think you need to get this whole place redecorated, make it a bit more fashionable."
"This is an office, not your house."
"I was just making suggestions," Kay commented as she walked over to the windows and looked out over the city. "This is a great view, I wanted a view like this from my bedroom but Daddy said it wasn't possible and bought me some new clothes instead."
"That's nice. What did you want, Kay?"
"Of course, sorry I got distracted by the complete lack of fashionable décor. I came round to ask you what you think you're doing by not asking him out." Kay had walked round the front of Seto's desk and was now leaning on it so that her face was level with Seto's. To say Seto was speechless was an understatement, he was completely stunned by the forwardness of the sentence.
"It's obvious that you like each other, yet neither of you do a single thing about it. It must be something about men, you're all the same, useless." Seto continued to stare at her in a state of immobility as Kay told him why she wouldn't have to intervene if only he was female.
"And that's why you brought this on yourself. I should become a relationship counsellor. I already help half the school sort out their problems, so it wouldn't be that hard to get started. I ought to get going, have fun next week, and ask him out." Kay straightened up and walked back towards the door, before she left she paused and turned round with a grin still in place. "Oh, and those boots really do suit you, Seto."
Seto stared after her, his paperwork completely forgotten. Only one concrete thought was running through his mind, 'what does Georgie see in that girl?
--
"Hello?" a thickly accented voice answered the phone.
"Hi, it's Joey Wheeler. Is Georgie there?"
"I will go and fetch her for you."
"Thanks," Joey replied as he waited for the woman to find Georgie.
"Hi, Joey. I hope mum didn't confuse you too much, her accent gets lots of people muddled."
"Nah it's ok."
"That's good. Sorry can you hang on a moment, I just heard the doorbell go."
Joey leant against the wall whilst he waited for her to come back to the phone.
"I'm back. Mokuba's just turned up and he looks ready to cry so is it ok if I call you back once I sort this out?"
"Yeah sure."
"Ok, bye for now."
"Bye," Joey replied as he hung up the phone. 'That was useless,' he thought miserably, 'I wonder why Mokuba's so upset. I would have thought him and Seto would have sorted things out by now. There's no sense in wondering about it though.'
Joey wandered into his room trying to remember what else he needed to get ready for tomorrow. He remembered Seto saying something about a dress code so that was a good place to start. Picking up the folder off his desk he searched through it for the sheet on dress codes, what he found wasn't quite what he expected. The first surprise was that it had writing in the margins that Joey recognised as Seto's neat lettering. What the words said was even more surprising.
'I guessed that you wouldn't have a smart outfit to wear so I had a look through some of my outfits. I've found a few pairs of smart trousers and a couple of jackets that should fit you which I'll bring in on Monday. If you do own some yourself I'm sorry for doubting that a mutt could smarten up.'
'He's lending me his own clothes to wear?' Joey thought, shocked. 'He probably just doesn't want me letting down his company's reputation by looking scruffy.' Feeling like he'd justified Seto's decision Joey began looking through his own clothes to find some shirts, he knew he didn't have any suitable jackets, and some trousers that would be presentable enough to wear to Seto's company.
'I wonder if I should try and gel down my hair,' he thought as he caught sight of himself in the mirror. He tried to flatten his hair with his hands to get an idea of what it would look like if he did. This failed so he went to the bathroom and found some gel to slick it down with. Looking critically at himself in the mirror he grimaced.
"I look like a drowned rat. No probably more like a drowned mutt," he complained to himself before trying to wash out the gel.
It took him another half an hour to find a set of five shirts which he thought would pass Seto's criticisms. He could only find two pairs of trousers, both of which needed cleaning, and decided that Seto had offered him some smart trousers so they'd have to do.
The phone rang from the hallway as Joey began attempting to wash out the gel again. He shut off the shower and rushed to the hallway with shampoo dripping down his back.
"Hi, Joey."
"Hi, Georgie. How's Mokuba?"
"He's still upset and annoyed at Seto. I don't know what to do about it really. Seto's never even mentioned Tsume to me and all I can get from Mokuba is that Tsume persuaded Seto into doing something. What that something is I have no idea and I really don't want to ask him."
"Did you say Tsume persuaded Seto into doing something?"
"Yes, do you know something?"
"Not much, but I'm pretty certain that the note I found yesterday is from Tsume to Seto and that it's a love note."
"Look, Joey, there is no way that someone persuaded Seto into sleeping with them when he was only twelve."
"What makes you dismiss it so quickly? Paedophilia isn't unheard of, Georgie."
"It may not be unheard of but this guy is only three years older than Seto, so he was only fifteen when Seto left the orphanage, and I seriously doubt that he could have got away with that without one of the staff at the orphanage finding out. Even so I suppose them having some form of relationship might be what Mokuba is talking about."
"You admit that I might be right."
"No, I'm admitting that Tsume and Seto may have dated, you know the typical preteen relationships when they think kissing on the cheek results in getting married. That would make the something Mokuba blames Tsume for is making Seto gay, which I think he's still coming to terms with. Poor kid, the brother that he idolises has a secret life where he has relationships with other guys. I'd hate to be in his position right now."
"I've never really thought what it'd be like for my family when I told them I liked guys."
"You've told them all then?"
"Well, no. Serenity worked it out on her own, I haven't said anything to mum and …"
"Your dad found out when you told him you liked Seto. That I already know from when I spoke to him on the phone."
"You did what?" Joey asked, beginning to realise how his dad must have known about his work experience placement.
"I rang you on Thursday night to ask how you were and your dad answered the phone so I ended up chatting to him. He asked if I knew Seto and we ended up discussing how you like him. That was when I asked him to tell you to ask him out, hoping that with two of us here telling you to go for it you might possibly pay some attention."
"Well, it doesn't matter now. I'm too late, Seto's got Tsume and he doesn't need a useless mutt like me."
"Just give it a try, Joey. What was it that you phoned about?" Georgie asked to try and change the subject.
"I was going to ask if you knew what sort of movies Seto likes as he said he had a lot of paperwork to do so I could watch a film in his office if he can't find anything for me to do tomorrow."
"I'm not really sure. I've watched some horror movies with him and a couple of romantic comedies. Other than that I'm pretty clueless, I can go and ask Mokuba if you want."
"Thanks."
"Ok, I'll be right back." Joey shivered in his hallway as he waited for her to return, he was glad that he'd had the sense to grab a towel to wrap round his waist before he left the bathroom.
"Mokuba says Seto likes 'thinky films' which I told him wasn't an answer so he said that Seto mostly watches romantic comedies and psychological thrillers."
"I haven't got any DVDs that fit that description, do you think he'll like the ring?"
"Japanese or American version?"
"There's an American version?"
"Yes and it's not a patch on the original Japanese one."
"Remind me never to watch it then. How about die hard?"
"Possibly, I don't have any idea what he thinks of action films. Just take a few with you tomorrow and ask him which one he wants to watch."
"That sounds like the best idea. Thanks Georgie."
"Glad to be of help. Bye, Joey."
"Bye, Georgie."
Joey put the phone back and went back to the bathroom to wash out the shampoo. As he watched the water run away down the plughole he noticed the colour of it. The water was bright blue. Panicking Joey switched off the shower and rushed to look in the mirror, hoping that it wasn't as bad as he feared. Unfortunately his reflection stared back with bright blue hair.
"How on earth did I get the dye muddled up with my shampoo?" he asked his reflection as the blue water trickled down his face.
--
Seto held the pen poised to sign the paper as he glanced over the words printed on the page. It was the usual contract nonsense from Pegasus to do with the new duelling systems, and Seto was half ready to agree to all the terms just to stop the rather dull negotiations in which he was constantly called Kaiba-boy. Sighing he pulled a small black book out of the second draw in his desk and jotted down a memo to arrange another meeting with Pegasus to negotiate over the contract again.
Placing the pen back onto the desk he stretched and glanced at the clock. It was getting late and he couldn't put off facing Mokuba much longer anyway. Yawning, he pushed himself up from his seat and grabbed his briefcase. The majority of his employees would have left by now, only those who wanted to put in overtime came in on Sunday's anyway, so the offices were deserted as Seto walked out into the hallway. Glancing from side to side as he paused at the top of the stairs he decided that the coast was clear. Smiling slightly he decided to risk it and jumped up to sit on the stair rail. This was one of the guilty little pleasures he allowed himself when no employees were around to catch him, sliding down the banisters was something he'd never admit to doing. At the bottom of the flight of stairs he stumbled, trying to regain his balance in the high heeled shoes, before entering the lift and pressing the button for the ground floor.
Leaning against the side of the lift, feeling at ease now that he was leaving the office; even though his slide down the banister would have been caught on the security tapes the security team who would see it knew better than to say anything about it. Adjusting his coat so that he would look presentable as he walked through the lobby, Seto felt slightly apprehensive about the awkward silence him and Mokuba were bound to have between them over diner tonight. He half hoped that his little brother had gone round a friend's house and wouldn't be back home until later on, but he hadn't been brought up to avoid problems. 'Problems only get solved if you face them. If you think you could ever run my company that's something you'll have to learn, Seto.' They may have been Gozaburo's words but they still made sense to Seto.
'Maybe Kay had the right idea today, about me being useless because I haven't faced the mutt,' Seto thought, remembering the interruption he'd had this morning. 'I'll think about it next week, right now I'm going to have to sort things out with Mokuba.'
--
"Why can't you two just sort this out?" Georgie all but yelled at the two stubborn brothers.
Both Kaiba's remained silent, sat at opposite ends of the sofa in the main living room. Georgie was standing in front of them, looking ready to tear her hair out in frustration.
"Do what you want, I don't care anymore. I'm tired, I want to go home and not think about other people's problems for just one night."
"I'll give you a lift," Seto said quickly as he stood up to go and fetch his keys.
"Thank you, but I think I'll walk. Just try and sort out your problems. I expect to get home tomorrow and find a note saying 'thank you for forcing us to make friends again, Georgie' with a present from the both of you. I'll show myself out." Georgie turned around and walked out the room, glad to be away from the two of them.
The room remained silent for a few minutes before Mokuba sighed and turned to look at his brother.
"Do you want to pick up the box of chocolates before you drop me off at school tomorrow?"
Seto smiled back at his little brother, neither of them could remain mad at the other for long.
--
Heva: I think my favourite bit in the entire story that I've written so far has to be Kay telling Seto that she doesn't like how his office is decorated.
Coel: That bit is good but I like the bit with Kay and Sara in the lift.
Heva: This is my favourite chapter that I've written so far so please review and I hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm not sure when I'll be able to upload the next chapter but look out for it as I'll try not to be too long.
Date: 07/09/08
