Monday – first day of the work experience
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Heva – I meant to upload this on Wednesday and then again on Thursday but life conspired against me so here it is on Friday.
Coel – I think it was you not being very organised that prevented you from uploading it actually.
Heva – Possibly. Anyway enjoy the chapter and I really don't own yugioh or Seto and probably never will, especially as my cousin has told me that she won't give me Seto for my birthday.
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Monday – first day of the work experience
--
Joey awoke feeling exhausted and looked across at his bedside table to try and see what time it was. Remembering his alarm clock was still in pieces on the floor he pushed himself out of bed and walked to the kitchen to look at the clock in there.
"Seto's going to kill me!" he yelled and ran back to grab the clothes he'd picked out last night. Rushing into the bathroom and hurrying to make himself look respectable took less than ten minutes, but he was still running around the flat trying to find everything else he needed for today.
As he shut the door behind himself the clock in the kitchen showed the time was 08:13, meaning that there was no chance Joey would make it to Kaiba Corp for 08:30.
"Great. Moneybags is never going to let me forget it if I'm late on the first day," Joey complained as he ran down the stairs in the apartment complex.
"Slow down, Joey. What's the rush?" asked the woman Joey passed on the stairs. She grabbed the back of his shirt to try and calm him down before he fell face first down to the next floor in the complex.
"I'm going to be late and that jerk will never let me live it down, Riza."
"Do you want a lift? I'm about to go to work now anyway," Riza said with a sigh. She was used to giving Joey lifts to his friend's houses at the weekend and had been the person Joey used to stay with when his dad was still drinking, so she felt a certain amount of responsibility for him now.
"A lift would be amazing. Thank you so much," Joey told her as he hugged her tightly.
"Calm down, or I'll take the offer back. The bike's downstairs and I'll meet you there in a moment." Joey began running down the steps, two at a time, before she finished speaking.
"I'll never understand that kid," she muttered as she locked the door and followed him down the stairs.
--
Seto tapped his pen on the desk as he reread Pegasus's contract. In the light of the morning, before he had to occupy a pup, he'd decided to make a list of all the parts of the proposed contract he needed to discuss with the owner of Duelist Kingdom.
Glancing at the clock on his laptop screen he saw that it was just after half past eight in the morning. Joey was meant to turn up at nine but Seto doubted the mutt would make it in on time. There was always the possibility that Joey hadn't actually read the sheet about times properly and would turn up at a completely different time, but that seemed unlikely now. The phone on his desk rang and Seto picked up the receiver.
"Mr Kaiba?"
"Yes?"
"Mr Wheeler just turned up. Would you like me to show him to your office?"
"Of course." Seto grinned to himself as he put the phone down, so Joey hadn't read it properly. Oh well that was the mutt's problem, not his.
--
Joey leant back in the comfortable chairs in the lobby, sighing from exhaustion. He'd run from the entrance, where Riza had dropped him off, up to the desk and practically fallen on the poor girl behind it from exhaustion. Why did Seto decide to make the entrance to the lobby so far from the main road?
"Mr Kaiba said I should show you to his office. If you could just follow me, Mr Wheeler."
"I'm sure moneybags can wait five minutes while I get my breath back," Joey muttered as he let his eyes close.
Sara, unsure what she should do, turned to look at the receptionist, hoping to get some kind of suggestion. The receptionist was trying to hide her laughter, and just shrugged, unsure what to make of the situation. Sara glanced back at Joey as she heard the receptionist answer one of the phones on the desk.
"Mr Kaiba says that he's coming downstairs anyway because he needs to have a quick word with a couple of employees so the mutt can stay where he is for now."
"That sounds like something Kaiba would say," Joey said as he continued to relax in the chair.
--
Seto wondered what he should expect from Joey today; the hyperactive mutt that couldn't sit still, or the more subdued and emotional looking Joey that he'd seen recently. If it was the second, Seto wasn't sure he'd be able to keep up his appearance of indifference for too long. A miserable Joey was so out of character for the blond that it actually made Seto feel nervous and he always had the urge to hug the mutt in an effort to try and cheer him up. Seto had come close to doing so on Saturday, intrigued to find out what the pup's reaction would be.
The lift doors opened onto the lobby and Seto spotted Joey reclining in one of the chairs by the reception desk. Sara looked like she was panicking a little, trying to work out what she should do about the mutt, which almost brought a smile to Seto's face. He'd been impressed with Sara's work and ingenuity since he first interviewed her, so seeing her unsure was such a rare opportunity that Seto wanted to remember it.
"Don't tell me the mutt needs a nap already," he commented as he walked over to the seats.
"Well you see, normal humans need this thing called sleep, you may have heard of it."
"I believe I have, unfortunately it's not something I plan on letting you do in the lobby." Joey groaned and made a big show of stretching and yawning in an attempt to irritate Seto, it was wasted effort as Seto had turned to talk to his secretary, ignoring Joey. "Can you arrange a meeting with Pegasus to discuss the contract?"
"Of course, what days would be appropriate?"
Seto glanced back at Joey, who was continuing his display of stretching, and immediately tried to block the images from his mind. The last thing he needed right now was to be distracted by the blond when he was in the middle of the lobby talking to his secretary. Sara hid the smile as she spotted the slight change in Seto's posture, Kay was definitely right in her suspicions, at least about Seto being attracted to Joey.
"Thursday or Friday, if the mutt promises to behave himself he might as well sit in on a meeting."
"I'll get it arranged and send an email to you with the full details as soon as I can."
"Good. Are you ready to move yet, pup?" Seto asked as he turned back to face Joey.
"Yeah, but don't expect me to take the stairs up to your office."
--
"I'm not changing in your office," Joey complained as he held the pair of trousers and a jacket he'd chosen from the selection Seto had shown him.
"You can change in the hallway if you want," Seto told him with a grin. Tormenting Joey was just too much fun to not do it, and if Joey gave up he'd get a show as well.
"You're a pervert, Kaiba."
"Not as much as you are, mutt. I'm not going to watch you, I'm doing paperwork."
"Where's the nearest bathroom?"
"Down the hall, third door on the left."
"Fine, see you in a few minutes," Joey told him as he left the office. Seto sighed, he'd have been surprised if Joey had agreed but he could still hope. It had been a relief to see Joey back to normal this morning in the lobby, but having such a distraction in his office was proving to be unhelpful when he was trying to catch up on paperwork.
--
Joey had decided already that he was going to get lost at least once this week. Everything looked the same, right down to the same colour carpet on the floor. The fact that he wasn't paying much attention to where they were didn't really help as he was finding Seto's voice quite soothing at the moment. A headache had started whilst waiting for Seto to sort out his paperwork this morning. After they started the tour Joey had complained about the clicking of Seto's shoes on the metal floor of the lift so the CEO had actually suggested they take the stairs. The slight smile that he'd noticed tugging at the corners of Seto's mouth when he'd commented on the noise suggested that Seto was fully aware that the clicking was irritating. As they walked along another identical corridor, Joey glanced down at Seto's shoes to see he was wearing a pair of high heeled boots.
'So that's why he's so tall,' he thought with a grin. 'I expect it wouldn't take much to cause him to loose balance in those boots, say me give him a gentle push into a wall?'
"Are you listening, pup, or are you daydreaming?"
"If I said I was listening would you believe me, Kaiba?" Joey's question wasn't rewarded with a response. "Fine, moneybags, what did you say?"
"I said that this is the office of Tau, the man who I'll leave you with tomorrow. He's in charge of the computer graphics department. I doubt he's turned up yet as he usually comes in Monday afternoons and makes up the hours through the rest of the week." Seto knocked on the office door and they waited to see if anyone would answer.
"I think he's still at home, Kaiba," Joey muttered as no sign of life was gained from the other side of the door.
"Probably, he's never any good with mornings. If I see him later on I'll introduce you."
"Kaiba?"
"Yes, pup?"
"Do you let all your employees take mornings off?" Joey was understandably confused by the absence of one of the heads of a department. Was Seto showing understanding of his workers needs? Putting their comfort above his company's profits? That didn't sound like the Seto Joey thought he knew.
"Not unless they talk it over with me, or their department head, and agree a different set of working hours. The working hours are fairly flexible though."
"You know what I think?"
"I never know what you think, Wheeler," Seto replied with a smirk. Joey assumed that he'd been insulted somehow but couldn't spot the offence so continued with what he was going to say.
"You're actually quite a nice guy to work for." Joey wished he hadn't opened his mouth as he saw Seto's immediate reaction. The look of shock didn't suit Seto at all.
"Thank you, Joey. I'll show you where the security team is and introduce you to some of them." Seto turned and began walking back towards the lift or the stairs, Joey had no real idea where either were so couldn't make a guess.
'He said thank you and called me Joey. I'm glad I complimented him now. He says my name so … I'm not sure how to describe it really, but I want to hear him say it again. I want to hear it come from those lips in a moan as I'
"Mutt, are you going to stand there all day?"
--
Seto had concluded that Joey was still unwell, and his constant daydreaming was the result of this. He'd had to stop at least seven more times to hurry up the blond when he was showing him around the building. There was no way Joey had remembered any of it, but Seto was sure Joey would remember this. Trust the pup's love of food to make sure he remembered where the canteen was.
They had spent almost the entire morning walking around and Joey had complained he wanted food towards the end of it. Seto had nearly smiled at Joey's whining, nearly. He had consented to going to the canteen earlier than usual, not that he would let Joey know he'd done it for any other reason than to shut him up.
The time he'd spent with Joey this morning was surprisingly pleasant. He'd found out that Joey didn't get to see his sister very often as his parents were divorced and lived in different towns. Seto hadn't pressed the matter, families weren't something he was happy discussing with anyone, and if Joey's parents weren't together he was pretty certain they wouldn't be something the blond was comfortable with either.
He'd also found out that Joey had no idea what he wanted to do after leaving school. One thing he was sure about was that he wouldn't be able to afford university. Apparently Joey wasn't happy talking about his future either as he'd got a bit defensive and gone back to calling Seto 'moneybags'.
They'd now reached quite a comfortable conversation about school friends, comfortable for the mutt anyway.
"So how did you and Georgie end up as friends?" Joey asked as they stood in the lift.
"Nothing interesting. She was sat next to me in further maths so that I could translate for her if she needed me to. We ended up talking and she asked if I could translate a few of her assignments into English that afternoon. She ended up saying she would come and sit in the office with me and do her work so that she could ask for help if she needed it. We never got that far as I had to pick up Mokuba who immediately volunteered to help, and since then she's looked after Mokuba almost every weeknight."
"So you're no more than friends then?" Joey teased, remembering the rumour that he'd found out about on Saturday.
"Do you honestly think we are dating, Joey?"
"Not in the slightest. Georgie fancies that other girl you were with on Saturday and," Joey put on a rather bad impression of Kay's voice, "'It's complete rubbish, anyone who actually knows you two knows that there's no chance you two would ever get together. I mean for a start Seto's gay.'"
"Isn't Kay wonderful?" Seto said sarcastically.
"Is that her name?"
"Her real name's Klaudia and she has an obsession with designer clothes. I really don't know what Georgie sees in her, I've never met anyone more irritating or nosy."
"Nosy? What did she find out about you then?" Joey said, grinning as he hoped Seto would share.
"Nothing much," Seto said quickly, realising that he shouldn't have started talking about Kay after the scene she made yesterday in front of quite a few employees. The lift opened and Seto led the way to the canteen.
"How did you become friends with Yuugi and the others then?" Seto asked, hoping to keep the conversation away from Georgie and Kay.
"Well, me and Tristan met in primary school and I guess we just got used to each other. Yuugi stood up for me and Tristan when we got accused of bullying him by one of the idiots in the upper years. Tea and Yuugi were already friends from primary school and of course Miho and Tea were friends."
"What happened to Miho? I remember her hanging around with you when I managed to get to school."
"Her parents moved away and we lost contact."
"Oh. What do you want to eat?" Seto asked as they finally entered the canteen.
It took about fifteen minutes before they were sat at one of the tables ready to eat, Joey had been unable to make up his mind and Seto had eventually forced him to choose with the threat of going hungry if he didn't hurry up. Joey began eating quickly causing Seto to groan at his lack of table manners.
"Did you ever get taught to eat politely, pup?"
"Nope. I grew up in a house with people who'd knick food off your plate if you didn't eat it before they had the chance."
"It shows."
"I don't comment on your eating, moneybags, so don't comment on mine," Joey complained as he glanced across the table. Seto was eating slowly, not seeming very hungry. "In fact I don't think I've ever seen you eat before."
"You probably haven't, I don't eat much at the school canteen."
"Sounds a wise choice, the stuff they serve there isn't particularly edible. I usually have a packed lunch."
"You've come down to the canteen out of your own free will," said a surprised and heavily accented voice from Joey's left. He turned to look at the man walking towards them. Joey was expecting to see a middle aged man in a suit, the stereotypical businessman. What he actually saw was a young man, early twenties probably, with brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and a fairly smart jacket and trousers.
"Try and guess what I got shown by some of the security team this morning when I turned up," the man continued as he approached the table.
"I think I already know. Let me introduce you to Joey Wheeler, the work experience student you're looking after tomorrow. Joey this is Tau, who will be on best behaviour tomorrow." Joey noticed the slight edge to Seto's voice as he said the last sentence, it clearly meant 'or else'.
"Nice to meet you, Joey," Tau said as he sat down at the table with them. "So Seto are you going to take the advice you got given yesterday?"
"Are the security team showing everyone?" Seto asked, refusing to answer Tau's question.
"More or less. What I want to know is how come I wasn't told about this until this morning?"
"It only happened yesterday."
"You know what I mean, Seto."
"It's a matter that doesn't concern you," Seto said in a way that made it obvious further questions would be ignored.
"Fine. She's right about the plants and the décor in this place though. I haven't seen your new boots yet so I don't know about that." Tau was grinning as Seto just groaned in annoyance at how the subject hadn't been dropped like he hoped it would have been.
"If you want to get the place redecorated, Tau, make some plans and get some estimates. As for plastic plants they are more practical than real ones in an office as they don't wilt and drop leaves all over the floor, and they don't need watering."
"Can you ask Kay to come and help me plan for redecorating then?"
"She is not allowed back in this building for any reason," Seto said warningly.
"What did Kay do yesterday?" Joey asked, he was feeling a bit lost in the conversation so far but he knew how Kay had acted on Saturday, especially announcing that Seto was gay, so it was probably something fairly similar.
"She was trying to persuade him what he should do about his love life, and then explaining how he could never do anything right because he's a guy. It's just great the way that you sit there through the whole thing looking so shocked." Tau was laughing as he spoke.
"Have you finished eating, Joey?" Seto asked.
"Yes."
"That's good. I think I've been embarrassed enough for one day."
--
"Kaiba?"
"Yes, pup?"
"Why was Kay telling you what to do about your love life?"
"She has got an idea in her head that makes her think that she's amazing at advising people about their love life and decided to explain to me yesterday why I will never be able to date anyone without her help because I'm a guy."
"That sounds like Kay," Joey admitted. They were standing by the doors to the lift having left Tau in the canteen and Joey was finding himself distracted by the way Seto was standing. He looked rather relaxed; his hands by his sides, a slight slouching of his shoulders, the gentle tapping of a foot to an unheard rhythm. Joey guessed that Seto was probably thinking of a song he wanted to listen to at the moment. The relaxed Seto was a definite improvement on the one he usually met at school or in tournaments; less argumentative, slower to criticise others, able to take a joke and actually able to make jokes as well. This Seto was attractive in more ways than just physically. He showed genuine interest in just chatting with people and asked questions about Joey's life without making any obvious moves to make fun of him. The dog names hadn't disappeared, but 'mutt' had only been used this morning, gradually being replaced by 'pup'.
The lift doors opened and a few people walked out, all giving Seto either a 'hello, Mr Kaiba', a slight nod of their head in respect of his authority or a smile and 'hello, Seto'. It seemed that most of the employees knew Seto personally which impressed Joey quite a lot.
'He's really quite a friendly person when he wants to be,' he thought, 'I guess he needs to be to know what's going on in the company.'
"I've got a lot of paperwork to do this afternoon so do you mind watching a film?" Seto asked as they entered the lift. They were the only ones in the lift which made Joey feel able to relax as well. He'd felt uncomfortable with Seto's employees around, especially Tau, the guy was just a bit too happy.
"That's fine. I brought a few with me. Do you like action films?"
"Not particularly. Have a look through the DVDs Mokuba's left in my office. You might find some that you like." Seto leaned back on the wall of the lift, closing his eyes. Joey assumed that he was either thinking about the paperwork he needed to get done or the films that were in his office. Seto looked so peaceful and content … and ever so tempting. Joey wanted to reach out and run his hands over the slim figure in front of him. The way that the harsh electric lights illuminated that nearly angelic face could almost be called beautiful, and if Seto's eyes opened Joey knew that they would glint the colour of sapphires completing a look that should be captured on canvas for the rest of the world to marvel at. Joey continued to stare, unaware of his feet moving him closer to Seto across the lift.
--
Seto shut his eyes to try and clear his thoughts. They were currently in the gutter, thinking about how much he wanted to run his hands over Joey's sculpted chest and feel the muscles jumping under his fingertips as he ran them lower and lower, below Joey's belt to curl around …
Managing to shake those thoughts from his mind before a serious problem could develop, Seto allowed his mind to focus on the smile Joey had when he talked about things that really interested him. The way his eyes lit up with excitement, his whole face brightening with his emotions. Seto had always liked that about the blond, but he'd never been able to feel what it was like to be the cause of it before. The feeling of being the reason that Joey was happy was so exhilarating and intoxicating, it caused Seto's walls to crumble and his own emotions show. When his emotions had been visible before he'd always felt weak and exposed, but with Joey around he felt protected somehow.
A memory of when Joey had been talking about his interests at school came forward in Seto's mind. He'd been surprised at Joey's knowledge of the subjects he was taking and that he was actually interested in studying electronics most of all. When Seto had said that he was sure the CG team would show him the electronics to do with the holographic technology if he asked, the look on Joey's face had been beautiful and Seto was sure he'd smiled back.
Seto tensed as he felt Joey approach him. He wondered why Joey was walking so slowly and wasn't sure what his intentions were. Feeling Joey's breath ghosting across his cheek Seto felt his breath catch in his throat. Keeping his eyes shut he tilted his head slightly as he felt Joey's breath across his lips. As their lips were about to meet the lift halted and Seto's eyes flew open to see Joey jump back as if he'd been burned.
Joey's cheeks burned up with a blush of shame. Seto felt a jab of sorrow at the look on Joey's face. He felt as if their roles had reversed, with Joey so quiet and himself needing to say something to break the awkward silence, but what to say? Eventually he settled for a simple phrase.
"Nothing happened."
--
Tsume entered the lobby and looked around for the reception desk. He walked over and smiled politely to the lady behind the counter.
"Hello, sir, how can I help you?"
"I'm here to pick up SKF. Can you direct me to his office?"
"You're Tsume?" she asked glancing at the post it note she'd written the memo down on this morning.
"Ah he's already told you to expect me," Tsume said with a grin. "He didn't tell me to expect such a radiant beauty on the reception desk though."
"Thank you," the receptionist replied, blushing slightly. "If you'll just wait a moment I'll get Mr Kaiba's secretary to come and fetch you."
Tsume glanced around the lobby as the receptionist picked up the phone and rang Sara. It was only a few minutes before the lift doors opened and Sara strode over to the couple who were exchanging flirty comments.
"Are you Tsume?" Sara asked, she wasn't in the mood for people wasting time after having to put up with Pegasus's staff being typically unhelpful for the majority of the morning.
"Yes, and this other example of feminine charm would be?"
"I'm Mr Kaiba's secretary, could you follow me please?"
"Duty calls. Don't forget to call me so that I can take you out to dinner sometime," Tsume said as he began to follow Sara to the lifts.
Sara inwardly groaned as she stepped into the lift. She wanted to yell at this man, ask him why he was here and what business he had taking her boss out for dinner and hitting on the receptionist at the same time. There was no doubt in her mind that he was one of 'those' visitors. One of the ones you don't question or try to get to know. She'd come close to crossing that line with Kay, thankfully Kay had just been there as a concerned friend trying to persuade Seto to get his act together and ask Joey out. The video of what had transpired in the office was currently being sent around the building and had managed to get onto Kaiba Corp's intranet now. No one had been that surprised when Seto had added a warning onto the page the video was on that promised he'd deal with anyone who took it outside the company. Sara didn't know of any employees who'd be stupid enough to let the video into the wider population as any loss for the company would result in everyone loosing out. Seto certainly knew how to run a successful company; link the employees pay to the company's success giving them more enthusiasm to see the company do well, allow flexible working hours and give employees the option to work from home if it is practical for them to do so, encourage everyone to get to know each other so that any problems can be discussed openly and solved quickly.
The lift doors opened and Sara stepped out, followed by the visitor.
"It's just down the hall, his name is on the door," Sara said before turning round and re-entering the lift.
"Thanks," Tsume muttered as he began walking towards where she'd indicated.
Sara watched him walk off. 'I hope Mr Kaiba knows what he's doing, he's ruining any chance he'll ever have with Joey.' However it wasn't her place to wonder why or ask questions so she should just go back to her work and hope that this catastrophe didn't affect the company's profit.
--
Joey glanced over at Seto again. After they'd watched Pirates of the Caribbean for half an hour the tension between them after the lift incident seemed to have eased enough for a conversation to start up. Admittedly it was nowhere near as comfortable as it had been earlier but Joey had still managed to discover Seto liked Johnny Depp. It was highly amusing to the blond that every time Captain Jack Sparrow was on screen the young CEO's head would lift a little from his paperwork so that he could glance at the television screen.
The conversation hadn't started with an outright accusation but it wasn't that far off.
"Have you seen this film before?" Joey asked in the most casual voice he could muster, still feeling uneasy after being in the lift.
"Mokuba made me watch it," Seto replied, glancing up at Joey. "I'm not that impressed by it."
"At least the actors in it are good, you've got to give that some credit," Joey said, trying to cover the grin that was making its way onto his face as he got ready to confront Seto with his suspicion.
"I suppose they aren't that bad," Seto agreed, lifting a few papers off his desk, appearing to read them easier at that angle, but in reality attempting to hide the slight blush that had crept onto his cheeks as he realised Joey had caught him.
"The guy who's playing Jack Sparrow is really very talented. I recognise the actor but I can't remember his name, I'm pretty certain you know it though," Joey had given up hiding his smile as he reached the end of his sentence. Seto lowered the paper slowly so that he could send Joey a half hearted glare. "It's Johnny Depp, Kaiba. I already know you're into guys and according to my sister he is one of the cutest actors around so you don't need to be ashamed of fancying the guy."
"I admire his talent as an actor, nothing more."
"Sure you do," Joey replied with a grin and settled down to watch the rest of the film, sneaking glances at Seto each time Johnny Depp was back on screen. Unfortunately Seto was refusing to even glance at the screen now so Joey was unable to catch him out.
As the film finally ended Joey stood up from where he'd been on the sofa and stretched. He looked over at Seto again and noticed the ever so slight blush on the other's cheeks as he quickly looked back to his paperwork. Joey smirked to himself realising that he'd just caught Seto staring again, but this time not at the film.
"There are a few DVDs in the cupboard under the television," Seto commented as Joey walked over to change the film. Opening the cupboard Joey immediately noticed the way that the films were split into two sections; the ordered section full of what Joey now referred to as 'thinky films' was obviously Seto's, and the haphazard pile of mild horrors and action films must be Mokuba's.
"A Beautiful Mind," Joey muttered, reading the title of the first DVD in Seto's section.
"I doubt that would interest you, pup."
"It might do," Joey whined pulling the DVD out of the cupboard to look at the cover.
"It's about a highly intelligent college professor who becomes mentally ill," Seto replied. Joey replaced it on the shelf, careful to put it in a different place in the order. He glanced through the other few DVDs before spotting one that surprised him. Pulling it out he read the back cover before deciding to ask why Seto would want to watch it.
"The Exorcism of Emily Rose? I didn't think you believed in that sort of thing, Kaiba?"
"I don't believe in past lives or that Yuugi ever shared his body with a five thousand year old pharaoh, but that doesn't mean I don't believe in the paranormal, pup. Besides it is a very interesting film but I doubt you would have the patience to watch it."
"Fine," Joey muttered, feeling irritated that Seto was criticising his dislike of psychological films. When Seto had said he wouldn't have the patience it had felt more like he meant to say that Joey didn't have the intelligence, and what hurt the most about it was that Joey felt out of his depth just by looking at the DVDs. Rain Man and Snow Cake sounded like the kind of films Joey made fun of in the past, saying that anyone who watched them would probably die from boredom, but it seemed fitting, in a way, that Seto liked these films. They were above the average person's understanding, just like Seto was above the average person's reach.
"Can't you find anything? I would have thought that Mokuba had left some films here that you might like," Seto asked, unaware he'd accidently insulted Joey.
"Here's something I want to watch. Me and Tristan saw it at the cinema but it didn't make that much sense at the time. I think it was because we were throwing popcorn at each other and not really watching the film." Joey stood up from where he'd been sat on the floor to look through the cupboard. He held out the DVD to show Seto what he'd picked. A groan of annoyance was the only reply he got before he put the DVD into the player.
As the menu for Secret Window came up on screen with the language options available Joey decided he ought to make a comment.
"Oh and look, I'd forgotten that this film has your favourite actor in it as well, Kaiba." Joey laughed as he received a full glare from the blue eyed man sat at the desk.
The film was watched in silence, Seto eventually moving from behind his desk to sit next to Joey on the sofa as he finished all the urgent paperwork. The rest could be left until tomorrow when he didn't have a distraction in his office. Joey remained sat at one end of the couch and Seto at the other, neither wanting to make the first move towards the other. The end of the film came and Seto moved to put the DVD away while Joey began searching for his bag of belongings. It was uncomfortable in the room and Joey was pleased when he realised that he could leave.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Kaiba," Joey said as he was about to turn to leave.
"Are you able to find your way out?"
"I'm sure I'll manage. Thanks for everything. Bye." Joey hurried out of the office and breathed a sigh of relief. He was free until tomorrow. As he turned the corner to walk to the lift he walked past a familiar man. The man was tall with his white hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. He was wearing a black denim jacket with silver studs in the collar over a black t-shirt and black denim trousers. Joey was fairly certain that the guy didn't work for Seto as he looked too casually dressed, everyone he'd seen so far had been wearing suits or the security uniform. As the man walked past him Joey glanced over his shoulder and realised where he remembered him from.
--
Tsume knocked on the door and waited for an answer. He'd noticed the kid which walked past him and was well aware that he was being watched from round the corner. Well the kid could stay there for the rest of the evening for all he cared, SKF was taking him out for dinner at a restaurant and he was going to enjoy catching up with his old friend.
"Come in," came the call from the other side of the door and Tsume pushed the door open.
"Hi, SKF. I'm not interrupting your work, am I?" Tsume asked as he strode over to the desk and sat on the corner of it.
"Not really, I've not been able to concentrate on it all day. I thought you weren't able to get off work for another hour?"
"I managed to persuade my boss to let me go early as long as I do an extra shift later this week."
"Sounds reasonable. The restaurant is booked for seven thirty so we can either wait here or go somewhere."
"How about a walk, or are you too much of a successful businessman to be seen out with the common folk?"
"If you're planning on making me feel bad because I've managed to turn my life around you're wasting your time, Tsume." Seto stood up from behind his desk and pulled on his coat that had been on the back of his chair.
"I like that coat, it matches your eyes," Tsume said quietly as he gave Seto a quick look over, much like he'd given the receptionist earlier.
"You're still a charmer. I was wondering when you were going to start doing all that again."
"It's called flattery, SKF, and it works very well on a lot of people, including you. Don't try and deny it or I'll just start bringing up examples."
"Less than five minutes and we're already onto blackmail. Where do you suggest we walk?"
--
Joey wanted to move, he really did, but he was transfixed by what he was witnessing. He could hear Seto and Tsume talking, as he watched through the key hole in the office door, and was able to convince himself it was just friendly chatter, no ulterior motives, until Tsume commented on the coat. Joey had seen that coat on Saturday and had thought how wonderfully it accented Seto's features. Blue suited him, and the coat drew attention to his eyes. The way that Joey saw Tsume so blatantly check Seto out after that was enough to make him growl slightly and clench his fists. This man seemed to think he could just walk into Seto's office and treat him in this way. Seto's reply implied this wasn't the first time this had happened and Joey felt his throat tighten.
Finally pulling himself away from the scene as the two agreed to go to the park, Joey hurried towards the lift. He hit the button and was relieved when the lift doors opened almost instantly. Stepping in he leant against the wall and let out the breath he hadn't realised he was holding. That's why Seto had said that nothing happened between them earlier; he already had someone, this Tsume.
Joey let his head drop as he felt a tear slide down his cheek. How could he let things get so tangled up? He'd found out about Tsume and Seto on Saturday, and still let himself hope that something could happen.
'How could I be so stupid?' Joey asked himself as the lift doors opened again to let in two women. They were chatting about something and ignored Joey. He managed to wipe the tears from his face and listened to what they were saying.
"Well I don't really know what to think about that, Katara."
"I swear it's the truth," the one called Katara insisted to her friend. "I saw him hitting on her, he even gave her his number so he can't be one of those visitors."
"You were certain that other guy last year wasn't one of those visitors either and it turned out he was."
"He never really spoke to anyone, but Tsume's different. If anything he's like that girl who turned up yesterday."
"I'm still not convinced."
"Suit yourself," Katara muttered as the lift stopped at the ground floor and all three of them stepped out.
"I know how to settle this," Katara's friend announced, grabbing Katara's wrist and dragging her towards the reception desk. "Tanya, what connection does Tsume have with Mr Kaiba as far as you know?"
"They're old friends; Mr Kaiba's taking him out for dinner tonight. Sara made the booking arrangements for them yesterday. Apparently, according to Roland that is, they were at the orphanage together and Tsume used to look after Mr Kaiba and Mokuba, which I think is sweet. Also they lost contact after Mr Kaiba and Mokuba were adopted and only met up again last week."
"See, they're old friends. Mr Kaiba was only twelve when he was adopted so there's no way they had anything other than a friendship," Katara insisted as Joey walked out the doors into the car park.
'If they were only friends why do they act so much closer?' he thought miserably. 'They can't just be friends.' A memory of Mokuba's words in the car 'You were eight, Seto!' pushed its way forward. Those words were about Tsume and something he had done with Seto. Tsume was three years older than him so had he talked Seto into some kind of relationship that Seto was still too young to understand at the time? Maybe Seto felt some weird form of dependence on Tsume because of it, which was why he was so interested in rebuilding the relationship again? The more he thought, the less sense it made to him.
--
Seto sat on the bench watching the ducks in the pond with a slight smile on his face as Tsume sat next to him laughing at what had just been said.
"I remember that. We had to carry the runt and Mokie back to the orphanage because they were too tired to walk."
"All four of us were soaked through by the time we got back because it rained," Seto replied with a grin. It was nice reminiscing with Tsume.
"Do you remember when we had the camp fire and I ended up telling all those ghost stories?" Tsume asked after a brief moment of comfortable silence.
"How could I forget it? That was the first time I'd ever been camping, or without Mokuba for more than a day since we were put in the orphanage."
"You were so scared; we ended up sharing a sleeping bag," Tsume added with a laugh.
"I wasn't used to all the noises," Seto said in his defence.
"Ok, I'll give you that, but I'll never forget the way you refused to sleep in your own sleeping bag because you were scared." They watched the ducks silently for a moment, each remembering other shared memories.
"Mokuba still hasn't forgiven you," Seto eventually said quietly.
"I didn't think he would have," Tsume replied calmly. "If anyone can hold a grudge against someone, it's Mokie. I deserve it though."
"You don't, we're both at fault. I knew it was wrong and still agreed."
"Logic persuaded you it was right, Seto," Tsume said firmly as he turned to face Seto. "I was the one telling you the logical argument knowing full well what the outcome would be."
"You're argument wasn't faulty, my priorities were. I put Mokuba and Toboe's comfort above the law."
"I shouldn't have persuaded you that stealing was right though Seto."
--
--
Heva: That chapter is the longest one yet. I'm not sure when I can update next but I'll try to make sure it's before the end of next week. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and feel like reviewing, and remember to say thank you to melodyz07 for continuing to be so amazingly helpful.
Date: 12/09/08
