Thursday – Fourth day of work experience

Heva: Ooh long chapter. I hope its as good as the other chapters as it is over double the length of the last one.

Coel: Also happy birthday to Solo's Orca. I hope you had a great day.

Heva: It's my birthday next Thursday, and the I have the best birthday present ever already arranged for myself.

Coel: A doctor's appointment to discuss the results of her latest blood test.

Heva: Anaemia is not fun but writing this story is so enjoy reading it.

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Thursday – Fourth day of work experience

--

Joey awoke in the same sense of numbness he'd achieved last night from his constant attempts to keep busy. Sitting up in bed he shuddered at the cold air which was surrounding him. The crisp October air around him was too cold for the usual morning air and he remembered that he'd opened the window whilst cleaning. Joey groaned as he realised he must have forgotten to close it so who knows what got into the house during the night. Nothing looked disturbed in the room so he guessed that he hadn't been robbed or had any stray animals get in. He stood up and closed the window to try and keep in any remaining warmth.

Getting ready for going back to Kaiba Corp again today, and having to face Kaiba, Joey noticed the letter he'd lost last week. Picking it up from its place on the kitchen counter he opened it up to see what had been written inside.

'Joey,

'I hope you feel better soon and are able to do all that wild partying with your friends I know you were looking forward to with your old man away. I left you some money for groceries in the draw by my bed, so when you feel better you can do a bit of shopping, but order a few take outs for yourself from the menus by the phone until then.

'Your friend, Georgie, phoned last night after you went to sleep and she told me you were doing your work experience with Seto. She also said that both of you like each other but won't take the first step to get a relationship started. Apparently she's been trying to get Seto to ask you out for a while now but has failed to get any results other than him trying to start a conversation with you. I said that you were probably making things difficult for him which made her laugh. She thinks that you're more likely to ask Seto out and said that she hopes I can persuade you to do so. Please try and make things work for the two of you, Joey, from what Georgie was saying it sounds like he really cares about you but has a funny way of showing it.

'Have a fun week, and don't wreck the apartment fooling around with your new boyfriend. I'll see you on Friday.

'Dad.'

Joey dropped the letter on the kitchen table as he ate a bowl of cereal. 'If Se-Kaiba cares about me, he certainly has a very funny way of showing it,' Joey thought miserably. 'So Georgie's been trying to get me and Kaiba together for a while. Kaiba really has got everyone fooled; he pretended to care about me enough to make Georgie try and set me up, then when it almost works he just blanks me out of his life again. He's probably finding it really funny how he managed to lead me on so far that I nearly kissed him. I must seem so pathetic and easily manipulated to him right now.'

He let the spoon drop into his bowl, splashing milk and soggy cornflakes across the table. His appetite had vanished as he felt his anger and frustration build up.

"I'm going to go tell that stuck up jerk exactly what I think of him!" Joey announced loudly to the room as he stood up from the chair, knocking the table and spilling the bowl's contents across its surface and part of the floor.

--

Seto woke up as he felt Mokuba stir next to him, muttering something about not wanting to eat his vegetables. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes Seto glanced down at his still sleeping brother. Mokuba always looked peaceful in his sleep, unless he was dreaming like he was now. A frown was present as he argued with an imaginary person about how vegetables tasted nasty so he wouldn't eat them. Seto heard his own name as Mokuba continued to whine about how he didn't care what Seto offered him he wouldn't eat the spinach.

He managed to crawl out from under the duvet without disturbing the still complaining Mokuba from his dream argument. Getting washed and dressed in the bathroom he looked at his newly acquired bruise in the mirror. It was fairly large and now a purple-blue colour that stood out from his pale skin. Seto grimaced as he pulled his shirt on to cover the blemish. No one would be able to see anyway and it would fade soon enough.

"Seto?" he heard Mokuba call from the other room.

"Eat your spinach," Seto replied as he finished buttoning his shirt up and left the bathroom.

"I was talking in my sleep again, wasn't I?" Mokuba asked sheepishly as he pulled the duvet around him.

"Yes, what do you want for breakfast?"

"Um, pancakes," Mokuba replied with only a moment's hesitation.

"Again? We had them on Monday."

"But they're my favourite, Seto," Mokuba whined, still trying to act childish by pulling the blankets tighter and use the puppy dog eyes. It was a tactic that always worked on Seto in the past and probably the reason Mokuba always acted childishly, at least that was Seto's opinion.

"I thought a fry up was your favourite?" Seto asked as he tried to work out which tie and jacket would go best with the shirt and trousers he was wearing.

"It was yesterday, but pancakes are my favourite today."

"Well, I guess we can have pancakes then, but you are not allowed to pour the maple syrup this time." Seto thought of the sticky mess Mokuba had left all over the table, floor and anything he touched. Admittedly Seto had left it for the maid to clean up whilst they were out of the house, but that didn't mean he'd let Mokuba leave such a mess again today.

--

"Looking forward to having tomorrow off school?" Seto asked his younger sibling as he pulled into the school car park.

"Of course. Is it still ok that we do paint balling in the garden?"

"If your report is good and as long as you don't go in the ornamental part of the garden. I don't want paint in the fish pond, remember."

"Don't worry about a thing, big brother," Mokuba reassured Seto with a smile that Seto had always associated with trouble in the past. Mokuba was about to get out of the car when Seto stopped him and tapped his cheek.

"Fine," Mokuba complained, and leaned across the car to give Seto a kiss on the cheek. It was a sweet gesture that they'd always done as a reassurance that each other was there for them. Right now Seto really needed that reassurance and as he drove away from the school he couldn't help bringing his hand up to his cheek to remind himself that no matter who else left him, Mokuba would always still be there.

--

The office was empty when Joey arrived. He turned a full circle to make sure that Kaiba wasn't hiding anywhere in the shadows. His rage was beginning to ebb away which irritated him as he wanted to still be annoyed with the CEO.

The door was pushed open and Sara stepped into the office holding an unstable stack of papers.

"What are you doing here so early?" she asked Joey as she walked to the desk to put the papers down on the surface, where they promptly spread across the empty space. "Mr Kaiba won't be in for at least another half hour, so do you want a coffee or something else to drink while you wait?"

"Can I have a hot chocolate?" Joey asked, his annoyance disappearing as he felt his initial energy fade.

"Certainly, do you want to stay in here and I'll bring one up for you?" Sara smiled as Joey nodded in reply. She left the room as Joey sat down on the sofa.

Joey looked around the office, trying to work out what to do for the next half an hour while he waited for Kaiba to turn up. 'I wonder what he's doing,' Joey thought. The windows lit up as the first few rays of morning sun reached it and pierced the gloom in the office.

'It must be early if the sun's just risen. I wonder what the time actually is.' Joey looked around the office and spotted a clock on the far wall. It showed that the time was a bit before seven thirty.

'Stupid October, making the sun rise so late,' Joey thought to himself. (Heva: I know in Japan the sun rise and sun set probably won't be anywhere near the times we have in England in October but the main thing to do is suspend belief for a while and just pretend that it could happen.)

Standing up to have a look at what was on Kaiba's desk Joey decided that paperwork was as boring as everyone said it was. He glanced around the room to see if anyone was watching him. Finding the coast clear he pulled open the top draw of Kaiba's desk and peered inside.

The contents wasn't very interesting; a box of tissues, an unopened pack of post-it notes, a collection of pens and pencils, a stapler and a hole punch. Joey shut the draw and opened the next one down. This one was more interesting.

Joey pulled the small book out of the draw and opened it at where the piece of ribbon was being used as a bookmark. It was a diary, with the major events that had happened each day written in. The book was open at yesterday and Kaiba had noted in that J, which Joey concluded must be him, was with the security team. The next note that had been put in was that G phoned about leaving, plane on Sunday. Joey wasn't sure what that meant but it may have something to do with why Kaiba had looked so upset when he had turned up that morning. The next note was about the electrical team's report which Joey wasn't interested in. He scanned down the page to the last note.

'Help G and her mum pack. Will offer to have a pilot take them back to England in jet.'

'Back to England?' Joey thought. 'Georgie comes from England, she can't be leaving, can she? No wonder Seto was so upset yesterday.' Wanting to see if there were any other notes that might confirm his suspicions Joey turned to today in the diary.

'M gets report today. Good grades mean friends over tomorrow. No need for adult supervision to be arranged. R will watch them.'

'J with S.'

'M leaves school at twelve so will come to office with report and eat in canteen.'

Joey concluded that M meant Mokuba and assumed that he was breaking up from school today for half term. R probably meant Roland and Joey remembered Seto commenting on Roland looking after Mokuba on Friday so that all seemed to fit.

He turned the next few pages until he reached Saturday. The date was circled in red at the top of the page, 25th October, but Joey didn't know of any significance of the date.

'M wants to get a take out for lunch and rent a few movies. Don't think he has anything planned.'

"Here's your hot chocolate," Sara said as she pushed open the door again, holding three mugs this time. She noticed the black book Joey was holding. "Anything interesting?"

"I think I know why Seto was in a bad mood yesterday," Joey replied, hoping that sharing gossip would get him out of trouble for snooping through Seto's belongings. 'When did I start calling him Seto again?' Joey thought to himself.

"What happened?" Sara asked, putting the three mugs down on a clear part of the desk.

"Georgie told him she was going back to England." Joey picked up the nearest mug and was about to take a sip when he inhaled the strong aroma of coffee.

"That's Mr Kaiba's coffee," Sara said with a slight smile as she took the mug off Joey and handed him a different one. "This one's your hot chocolate."

"I doubt Seto would like me drinking his coffee, and I hate coffee," Joey commented as he took a sip of his hot chocolate. It had a rich flavour and he assumed it was probably some of the expensive, high quality coco that he would almost certainly never get again. He decided that he should try and get as many hot chocolates in the next couple of days as he could so he could remember there wonderful taste.

"How's the hot chocolate?"

"Amazing." Sara smiled as she sipped her own drink. She liked Joey; he may be snooping through Seto's office but he seemed fairly honest, and she assumed that Joey had been looking for clues as to why Seto had been acting so strangely yesterday. They both turned as they heard footsteps outside the office. Joey quickly dropped the book back in the draw and shut it.

--

Seto parked the car in his usual place and walked towards the lobby. It was turning into quite a nice day, weather wise at least, and he decided to take the long walk round through the gardens that had been set up a few years back for the employees to relax in when the weather was nice. They'd even had the company picnic here during the summer. Mokuba had decided it was a good idea and started arranging it before even telling Seto what he was doing.

Seto breathed in the crisp morning air before walking into the building through the set of doors that opened onto the gardens.

He stepped into the lift with a few other people who had decided to come in earlier than usual. They didn't chat, probably preoccupied with whatever work they needed to complete today, or were worried Seto would shout at them like he had at the electrical team on Tuesday.

Seto's earlier good mood had disappeared by the time he left the lift and began the walk to his office. He just wanted to go home and curl up in bed again, preferably without Mokuba there to hit him or talk in his sleep. Approaching his office he heard voices, Sara and Joey were already in his office. 'What is the mutt doing here this early?' Seto wondered.

He pushed open the door knowing the only way to find out would be to talk to the pup.

--

"Morning, money bags," Joey said cheerfully, hoping Seto would either complain about the nickname or act how he had on Monday morning.

"Hello, mutt. He's all yours today, Sara, unless you get bored of him and want to send him up here to watch a film or test out the new duel disks with Mokuba this afternoon."

"I've got a lot of filing and cataloguing he can help me with," Sara replied. "I brought up your morning coffee and the new report from the electrical team. I glanced through it when I got in this morning and it seems more understandable this time."

"That's good, I don't want to fire any of them."

"Can you look after Joey for a while as I need to talk with a few people before I get back to filing, and I'm pretty certain me talking on the phone isn't very interesting to watch."

"Of course," Seto replied, both him and Joey watching Sara leave. She turned slightly in the doorway and mouthed 'good luck'.

Joey assumed she had realised he wanted to talk to Seto about something and was saying good luck to him managing to finish saying it before Seto took out his frustration on him.

Seto assumed that she was saying good luck to him for asking Joey out, he knew Kay had told her about Joey after she had been so accurate in her comment on the video.

They turned to each other, both about to say what they had been meaning to for the last couple of days. Joey got there first.

"Kaiba, I don't care what you think you're doing messing about with my feelings and then going off with that other guy, Tsume, but nothing gives you the right to do that. You may" Joey was cut off as Seto grabbed the collar of his jacket.

"I don't know where you got the idea that I was messing about with your feelings or that me and Tsume were in a relationship, Joey. I like you a lot, pup, and I really hope that you feel the same way." Seto let go of Joey's jacket and took a step back from the blond. Joey continued to stare at him in a state of shock and Seto began to loose any hope that Joey might care about him back. He let his shoulders sag and his gaze dropped to the floor in defeat. It was all over then. Joey didn't share his feelings and now any chance of even friendship with the pup was gone as anything would be too awkward between them.

'Why did I tell him?' Seto asked himself silently. He suddenly looked up as felt two hands on his shoulders.

"You should have said something sooner, of course I feel the same way," Joey said quietly before leaning forwards and capturing Seto's lips with his own. Joey moved his hand up to cup Seto's cheek as his lips moved against Seto's own lips. It was just like he'd imagined it would be, except more intense. He slid his other arm around Seto's body and pulled the CEO flush against him. Seto pushed him away after a muffled 'ouch'. He rubbed his side gently as Joey looked puzzled.

"I got bruised last night and it's still a bit sore," Seto explained.

"How'd you get injured?" Joey asked, managing to stop himself from adding 'when you were just doing packing.' Seto blushed a bit in embarrassment as he mumbled something inaudible. "Can't hear you, Seto."

"I said Mokuba hit me in his sleep last night," Seto told him a bit louder. Joey started laughing at the thought of Mokuba sleep walking and managing to hit Seto whilst he was wandering around the mansion. Joey's laughing made Seto smile a little in relief at seeing Joey back to his old self.

"Has anyone ever told you that you've got a beautiful smile?" Joey asked as he reached up to brush his hand against Seto's cheek. It was strange to finally feel allowed to touch Seto, not just look at him from afar as it felt like he'd done for years. After dreaming for months about pushing Seto around and roughly taking him against various items of furniture, Joey now found he was happy to just be close to him.

"No," Seto replied, leaning into Joey's caress, liking the way the fingers felt against his cheek. "Has anyone told you how amazing your eyes look when they are lit up with your happiness?"

"No, and that sounds like a line from a corny romance film."

"So did yours, pup."

"That doesn't mean I didn't mean every word I said," Joey replied as he pulled Seto towards him again, careful not to put pressure on his side where the bruise was. Seto wriggled slightly in the embrace so that he could lean his head on Joey's shoulder. Joey could tell that Seto was slouching slightly to prevent his height from making this position uncomfortable for them both. A frown appeared on Joey's face as he remembered Seto's shoes had substantial heels on them so Seto couldn't really be that much taller than he was.

"Are you really taller than me, or is it just the shoes?" Joey asked.

"I'm taller than you, pup."

"You used to be a lot taller than me, but I've grown a lot in the last few months, moneybags."

"My name's Seto, not moneybags, pup, and I know you've grown a lot in the last few months."

"Well, moneybags," Joey put emphasis on the knick name, "my name is Joey but you still call me mutt and pup. Also I want to know if I'm taller than you, so take off your high heeled shoes so I can see."

"Fine, mutt," Seto said as he pushed himself away from Joey and leant on his desk to pull off his boots. As he did so Joey took off his own shoes, deciding it wasn't fair unless he did as well. When they were both shoeless Joey stood in front of Seto and tried to work out if he was taller. Unfortunately it was impossible to tell and whilst he was busy trying someone knocked on the door. Seto took a step backwards away from Joey.

"Come in."

Sara walked into the office and immediately noticed the lack of footwear. She decided it was one of those things she shouldn't question.

"Who's taller, me or Seto?" Joey asked before she could speak. That was certainly not what she expected but who knew what was really going on.

"I've no idea," Sara replied honestly. "If you stand back to back I'll be able to tell, though." Both boys obediently stood back to back, although Seto looked reluctant to do so. "Joey's slightly taller, not by much though."

"Yeah!" Joey yelled, causing Seto to jump in surprise. "I said I was taller. It's just your high heels that make you tall."

"Congratulations. Please take him away," Seto begged Sara, it wasn't a genuine plea but Sara nodded anyway, knowing Seto did need to get some work done today and with Mokuba turning up this afternoon he wasn't going to have that much time.

"Come on, Joey. I'll show you the thrills of filing."

"Let me just get my shoes on," Joey replied as he tried to force the shoes back on. Sara couldn't help but smile as she noticed the difference in shoe size between Joey and Seto. 'Joey's not just taller, he's bigger than Seto in a lot of ways,' she thought with a grin.

--

Seto worked with a smile all morning. He hadn't felt this good in what felt like years, but thoughts of loosing Georgie were threatening to ruin his ecstatic mood. Needing another coffee he stood up from his desk and stretched. He glanced out the windows at the view across the city. It was beginning to get cloudy, spoiling the scene.

'Reminds me of my thoughts. Everything's great except for this cloud hanging over it all.' Pausing in his thoughts Seto considered picking up the phone. He could ring Georgie and tell her what happened this morning. No doubt she'd love to hear about it all, but talking to her would cause him to get upset again and they'd both end up crying about how she wouldn't be around anymore to see how Seto and Joey's relationship progressed. He would be going round there tonight anyway so he would tell her then.

--

Joey was in the lobby with Sara when Mokuba ran in through the doors. He was followed by a girl who looked about the same age as him, wearing her red hair in pigtails. Joey watched the pair run to the lift without pausing to let people get out of the lift first.

"Yes, he's just turned up, Mr Kaiba, and he's got a friend with him." Joey turned to look at the receptionist as he heard her talking to Seto on the telephone.

"Do you want to go and have lunch with them?" Sara asked as she finished signing off the sheet. They'd come down to get the key for the storage rooms to put the boxes of files in. Joey had been surprised when Sara explained that the keys had to be signed out and that there were only three copies of each key. He understood now that it was for security reasons as there was information in some of the files that competitors would love to get their hands on.

"If you don't mind," Joey replied, he was feeling very hungry having not eaten much this morning. Most of his breakfast was still on the table and floor in his kitchen.

"Not at all. I'll come and find you later on to help me move the boxes to the storage rooms."

"See you later, then," Joey said as he hurried towards the lift.

--

Seto replaced the phone on his desk and began putting paperweights on all his paperwork. He didn't want it pushed off his desk like it had been in the past when Mokuba came to show him his report. Seto had no idea where Mokuba got his energy from, but it had a way of managing to wreck havoc on his office whenever Mokuba got excited about something. If Mokuba had a friend with him it just meant double the trouble, especially if he let them spend any sort of time unsupervised around the building.

The doors to his office were suddenly pushed open to let Mokuba in, followed by … a girl. Seto was surprised to see the young red head with his brother, he knew Mokuba had had a few crushes on girls in the past, but this was the first time he'd brought a girl to meet Seto.

"Seto meet Kari. Kari this is my older brother, Seto. He's not actually as scary as he likes to make people think he is." Mokuba grinned at Kari and then back at Seto as he said this.

"It's nice to meet you," Kari said quietly as she took a few hesitant steps towards Seto's desk.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kari," Seto replied, wondering if he should try and start a conversation with her. She was obviously quite shy and he knew that it was intimidating for people who didn't know him when they were shown up to his office. It was designed to intimidate people from other companies so a shy young girl, like Kari seemed to be, was understandably nervous.

"I've got my report, and I've already told everyone that we can do paintballing tomorrow," Mokuba announced to his brother as he handed the once white envelope over to Seto.

"You're not meant to have read your report yet. They put them in a sealed envelope and it has my name on the front as your guardian," Seto pointed out as he tipped the already crumpled report out of its pre-opened envelope onto his desk.

"Like you really care that I've read it before you," Mokuba complained as the doors to the office opened again to let Joey in. "Hi Joey. Do you want to come paintballing with me and my friends tomorrow? I'm sure Seto will let you off work for a day if I persuade him you can be our adult supervision."

"Mokuba, I haven't decided if you can do paintballing tomorrow yet, because I haven't read your report, so you can't start asking Joey to be your adult supervision. Besides he's meant to be doing work experience tomorrow, not babysitting you."

"But Seto, it's a good report, I know I've got better grades than we agreed I needed to have friends over tomorrow," Mokuba whined.

"How was your morning, Joey?" Seto asked, ignoring Mokuba's continued whines about how Seto was being unfair.

"I never knew that sorting through paperwork was so boring. You really need to give Sara a pay rise for having to deal with all that, and we've got to lug the whole lot down to the storage rooms this afternoon."

"Do you two want to earn some extra pocket money this afternoon?" Seto asked Mokuba, who was still muttering, and Kari, who was still nervously looking between Seto and Joey.

"Ok," Kari said quietly.

"What do we have to do?" Mokuba asked suspiciously.

"Help, Joey and Sara take the boxes down to the storage rooms."

"How come I don't get paid for it?" Joey complained.

"Because you're on work experience, these two are temporary employees." Seto noticed a slight smile on Kari's face as Joey whined about how unfair Seto was. Mokuba started agreeing with Joey that Seto was unfair and Seto went back to reading Mokuba's report.

--

Lunch was an experience, Joey decided. He'd never spent much time with both Seto and Mokuba in the past; it was usually one or the other of them. Spending time with both brothers meant that you saw the side of Seto which was caring, considerate and bossy. He reminded Joey of how his mum acted towards him and Serenity.

"Seto?" Mokuba whined after he'd complained about not wanting to eat the vegetables on his plate. Joey and Kari had been left confused by the slight grin that Seto and Mokuba had shared at the complaint.

"Yes, Mokie?"

"Can Kari stay over tonight? It's just her parents are away and I said she could stay with us instead of being left on her own."

"We're helping Georgie again tonight, Mokie, but if Kari doesn't mind helping as well then I don't see why not."

"Thanks, Seto, you're the best big brother ever," Mokuba said as he jumped up from his seat and hugged Seto.

"Thank you, Seto," Kari agreed quietly.

"No problem, but Mokuba's got to set up a spare bedroom for you, when we get home."

"Fine," Mokuba said as he sat back down and switched his empty bowl, that had contained a slice of chocolate cake, with Seto's bowl, that still had an uneaten slice of chocolate cake. Joey watched as Mokuba devoured Seto's cake without a single complaint from the CEO. He doubted if many people would dare to even try and take food away from Seto, but Mokuba was his younger brother and they probably had some kind of unspoken agreement between them.

"Was it nice cake, Mokuba?" Seto asked as Mokuba licked his spoon clean. 'Maybe Seto did want his pudding then?' Joey thought with a grin.

"Yes, did you want some?" Mokuba replied with a smile, a smear of chocolate on his cheek.

"I would have liked to try some," Seto told him as he used his napkin to wipe the chocolate off Mokuba's cheek. Joey glanced at his own chocolate cake, he'd been eating slower today, trying to show that he could use table manners. He had a small bit left and decided he might as well offer it to Seto.

"You can finish off mine if you want, Seto."

"Don't worry about it, Joey," Seto replied with a shake of his head.

"Suit yourself. It's very nice."

--

Joey was thankful for the small trolley they had to transport the boxes of files. It could only fit about four boxes on at a time, and you needed someone on either side of the trolley to make sure the boxes didn't fall off when you were moving it, but it was far easier than carrying the boxes down by hand. The four of them were taking up most of the space in the lift and the few other people who tried to get in were huddled together in one corner. Eventually the lift stopped at their floor, in the basement. The passageway was well lit and ventilated.

"It's cold," Kari said quietly as she shivered. Mokuba pulled off his school jacket and put it over her shoulders. She blushed and Joey exchanged a knowing look with Sara. Those two were definitely going out, or at least had a crush on each other. They walked along the corridor until they reached a door that looked identical to all the other doors. The only difference was the reference code on the plaque next to the handle. Sara turned the key in the lock and tried the handle.

"You need a key card as well," Mokuba commented.

"I've left mine upstairs. Wait here and I'll go and fetch it," Sara said with a sigh as she began walking towards the lift.

"Or we can just use mine," Mokuba said with a grin as he pulled out the locket Joey remembered seeing Mokuba with in Duelist Kingdom. Mokuba used the locket as a swipe card and typed in his access code on the keypad before opening the door.

"That's a sneaky trick, having your swipe card as that locket," Joey commented as he pulled the trolley into the storage room.

"It's a sneaky trick that has saved my neck on a few occasions," Mokuba replied, the seriousness in his voice catching everyone by surprise.

"What happened?" Kari asked.

"It's just when someone wants to get to my brother they usually use me to try and do it. The thing is when they realise I don't seem to have a key card they know that they'll have to keep me as a hostage to try and get my bother to agree to their demands."

"That must be really scary," Kari said, holding Mokuba in a hug.

"You get used to it," Mokuba replied with a shrug. Joey felt his mouth go dry at the thought that if someone found out he had a relationship with Seto he might become the number one target instead of Mokuba. The thought scared him, he'd had experience of a couple of Seto's enemies in the past and knew that Mokuba had been frequently kidnapped, he really didn't want to end up being their new target.

--

Seto leant back in his chair, a smile on his lips as he closed his eyes. Today was definitely an improvement on the rest of the week. He'd felt as if everything was falling down around him yesterday, wondering who would actually still be there for him by the end of the week; but this morning all that was turned round. Joey had kissed him. Joey had held him in a hug. Then Joey had opened his mouth and managed to still be sweet when insisting he must be taller than Seto now because he'd grown. Finding out that Joey was actually slightly taller than him didn't really bother Seto, but it had seemed to please the pup so Seto decided that he was pleased as well.

He opened his eyes and sat back up in his chair, deciding that adding this event to his record book would be a good idea. About to open the second draw down, where he usually kept it, he noticed that the draw was already slightly open. He frowned at it, sure he'd shut it when he finished updating the book yesterday, and remembered where Joey had been standing when he'd walked in this morning. Pulling the draw open he picked up the small black book and noticed the ribbon bookmark had been taken out from between the pages.

'He was probably just looking for proof that me and Tsume were together,' Seto tried to convince himself. 'It might not even have been Joey.'

Turning in his seat Seto clicked a few options on his computer screen and brought up the security tapes from this morning. He watched Joey enter his office, obviously in a bad mood.

'He must have been wanting to confront me,' Seto thought as he watched Joey become agitated when he saw that the office was empty. Sara arrived bringing some paperwork with her. She offered Joey a drink which the blond accepted and she left him alone in the office. Seto smiled as he noticed that Joey was bored and unsure what he should do to entertain himself. He wandered over to Seto's desk and looked at the paperwork. A smirk appeared on Seto's lips as he saw the look of obvious dislike on his pup's face. Joey glanced around the office before pulling open the first draw in his desk. That was uninteresting so the second draw was looked into. The small black book was pulled out and Joey looked through a few pages of Seto's notes before Sara returned with his hot chocolate. They barely had time to talk before Seto interrupted them.

'He was just bored, he didn't seem to know anything about Saturday so I guess Mokuba hasn't arranged anything, thank goodness. I might just get my lie in for once.'

--

Seto had hoped he'd get some more time alone with Joey, but they were now in the car on the way to Georgie's house and Seto had come to the conclusion that there was no hope left. Joey had offered to help out when Mokuba explained to him, Kari and Sara that Georgie was going back to England on Sunday, so him and Seto were helping them pack everything into cardboard boxes.

Seto pulled up in his usual parking place opposite Georgie's house and stopped the car. Mokuba was out of his seat like a shot, announcing that he was going to tell Georgie all about how Seto and Joey had finally got together. Joey jumped out the car too in an effort to stop Mokuba before he reached the door to the house, while Seto and Kari watched the entertaining sight from the car. Seto knew there was no point in trying to stop his younger brother once he had decided something, but Joey obviously didn't know that yet.

"Shall we leave them running around the street and go and knock on the door?" Seto asked Kari. She smiled slightly and nodded, opening her car door. Seto walked up the garden path, with Kari following him, and knocked on the door. As he heard the dogs barking he turned to look at how Mokuba was dodging between the parked cars whilst Joey chased him. Both were laughing as they did so, which made Seto smile. He was glad that Joey and Mokuba were happy putting up with each other as he was hoping that Joey would be spending a lot of time with the two of them in the future.

"Hello?" Georgie asked as she opened the door, letting the two dogs out in the process. Millie immediately jumped up at Seto in a greeting, before running off to find Mokuba.

"Hi Georgie, can we come in?"

"Of course," she said stepping aside so that Seto and Kari could step into the hallway. "I'll just get the dogs in." Georgie stopped as she saw Joey was standing with Mokuba, stroking Millie as she sat between them, obviously loving the attention. "You're in charge of that mutt though, Seto, I don't think he'll come to my whistle."

"Probably not," Seto agreed with a grin.

"Mokuba, Joey, can you bring Millie in? I don't want her getting used to sitting on the road. Brandy you come in, too." Georgie stood aside as the older border collie walked in from the front garden. Kari stroked her as Brandy sat down in front of her.

"Come on, Millie," Mokuba was saying as him and Joey stepped into the hallway, followed by the excitable labrador. The hallway was now getting as bit crowded and Seto was glad when Georgie suggested they all go into the living room to start doing more packing in there.

Seto wasn't surprised when he saw Kay sat next to Georgie's mum packing books into boxes. When Kay saw Joey standing next to Seto her grin became a suggestive smirk.

"Mum, this is Joey and, sorry I didn't get your name," Georgie said, turning to Kari.

"I'm Kari."

"It's nice to meet you," Georgie's mum said as she stood up to shake hands with them both, "and it's really nice to see you two back again to help out," she added as she gave Mokuba a hug, then Seto. Joey almost laughed as he saw Seto let himself be hugged, the only thing that stopped him laughing was the glare he received.

"We've got all the DVDs packed up now, and were starting on the books," Kay told them as Georgie's mum finished greeting everyone.

Georgie's mum said something in English to Seto, who replied asking some sort of question. The reply made both Georgie and Seto blush and refuse to make eye contact as Georgie turned to Kay.

"Have you been telling my mum the rumours about me and Seto?" Georgie asked, angrily.

"Maybe, I made sure to tell her they weren't true," Kay insisted. "Why?"

"It was a perfectly innocent statement," Georgie's mum commented. "You two just took it to mean something different."

"Of course you did," Georgie answered back, before turning to Seto. "Sorry about that, I think my mum is just dirty minded and still hoping that I'm just going through a phase."

"It's fine. Joey we've been designated to taking apart the furniture upstairs."

--

"What did she say?" Joey asked as he followed Seto upstairs.

"She said that she thought that taking apart the furniture in the unused upstairs bedrooms was a good job to give to the two nice young men who were offering to help. I asked which rooms upstairs weren't used and she asked what Georgie was playing at by not taking me upstairs to her bedroom." Seto had a blush on his cheeks as he finished talking.

"Well I'll have to make up for what Georgie failed to do then," Joey said as him and Seto stopped in the first unused bedroom. Seto's blush deepened as Joey smirked as he ran his hand gently across Seto's cheek. It was amazingly soft to touch and Joey wondered about the lack of stubble. 'He must have shaved earlier,' Joey thought.

"You will, but later on. We need to start taking this stuff apart so that it can be taken back to England."

--

Joey smiled as he watched Seto bend over a box to put stuff in it. Packing with Seto was fun, especially as he got a good show after Georgie had taken Seto's coat and both boys' jackets. It was nice to think that he was allowed to admit to staring now.

"Joey, could you stop staring at Seto for a moment and answer the question?" Georgie asked.

"Sorry, what was the question?"

"She asked if you wanted a drink," Seto told him as he stood up. "I wouldn't mind a coffee."

"Hot chocolate, please."

"Ok. The others are taking a break in the living room if you want to go down and I'll bring your drinks in when I've made them."

"A break sounds great," Joey said as he jumped up from where he'd been sat on the floor. Georgie sighed as she left the room, obviously able to tell that Joey hadn't done much packing to take a break from.

"Let's go downstairs then, if you can manage that without me distracting you again."

"I'm sure you do it on purpose. It's just the kind of thing I can imagine you doing, distracting me with your looks whilst I forget what I'm meant to be doing."

"You shouldn't let yourself get distracted," Seto told him as they stepped into the living room. The only seats available were on the sofa, next to Kay. Joey got there first and sat at the opposite end so that Seto had to sit between the two of them, or so Joey thought. Seto actually chose to sit on Joey's lap, much to the amusement of Kay.

"You two look so sweet together," she told them, with a smile. Joey smiled back, hugging Seto to himself, he glanced around the room before noticing a slight glare from Mokuba. It was only there for a second before it disappeared but Joey was certain he saw it. He was prevented from letting his thoughts dwell on it by Georgie handing him the hot chocolate and Seto wriggling to allow them both to drink without spilling their drinks.

--

Seto was feeling ready for bed. It had been a long day and he was incredibly tired. Just as he was about to open his bedroom door he heard someone behind him.

"Seto?"

"Yes, Kari? Is everything ok?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you about Mokuba."

"What about him?" Seto felt a bit cautious, he didn't really want to know about what her and Mokuba did together, but at the same time if something was genuinely wrong with his little brother he wanted to be told immediately.

"It's just he's worried about loosing you."

"What do you mean?" Seto asked, however his mind was already coming to a rather obvious conclusion.

"He doesn't want Joey to take his place. When you walked Joey to his door when we dropped him off Mokuba was really upset that you're going to start spending all your free time with Joey now instead of him. I just thought you should know." Kari looked hesitant as she spoke, almost as if she wasn't sure she should be saying this. 'Mokuba probably made her promise not to tell me,' Seto thought.

"Thank you for telling me," he noticed she still looked uneasy and added. "You did the right thing." That brought a slight smile back to her face and she turned to go back to her room. Seto turned to look at Mokuba's bedroom door. It was shut, but Seto still heard the muffled sobbing as he walked towards it. He turned the handle and pushed it open as softly as he could.

"Mokuba?" he asked quietly as he walked over to the bed. Mokuba was lying under the covers, shaking slightly as he cried. Seto sat down on the edge of the bed and placed a hand on Mokuba's shoulder to try and comfort him a bit. As the sobbing subsided slightly Mokuba moved so that he could climb into Seto's lap. Seto hugged Mokuba and waited for the crying to end.

"I'm here, it's ok," Seto whispered to him as he kissed the top of Mokuba's head to try and reassure him.

"You won't always be here, though," Mokuba managed to snivel.

"I'll always be just one phone call away, or just across the hallway. I'm never going to leave you, Mokie."

"Sure you will, you'll be out with Joey all the time, and not want to see me or spend time with me."

"That's rubbish. I'll always want to see you, and I'm going to want you to be around to stop me strangling the irritating mutt." Seto heard a slight laugh as Mokuba probably realised that he wasn't joking about the strangling. "You come first, Mokie, and you always will; my pup's just going to have to deal with that."

"Thanks big brother. I'm really glad you and Joey sorted things out between you, but…" Mokuba buried his face in Seto's chest not wanting to continue.

"I understand, don't worry about it."

--

Joey stared up at his ceiling. He'd said goodbye to Seto at the doorway, wanting to invite him in but knowing Mokuba and Kari were waiting in the car. The kiss had been brief. He'd lent forward and captured Seto's lips with his own as he ran his hand over that incredibly soft skin of Seto's cheek. After they pulled apart the doubts had begun. Seto had smiled that breath taking smile of his and said he ought to get going but that he would pick Joey up in the morning to go to the airport. Joey had looked confused and Seto had reminded him that they were going to see Pegasus tomorrow for the meeting about the contract.

The first doubt had just been about whether Seto's smile was genuine. Joey had always known that Seto could control the appearance of his emotions so a smile wouldn't be too hard for Seto to fake. That doubt led to thoughts on how genuine this whole relationship might be on Seto's part.

'How well do I actually know him?' Joey thought. 'Not as well as I'd like to. I'm sure there's loads of things he's keeping secret from me. He might really think that I am an immature mutt.'

Then there was Mokuba's glare. What was that about? Georgie had suggested sometime earlier in the week that Mokuba was just coming to terms with Seto being gay, so maybe it was to do with that.

'I don't know if I can cope with being hated by Mokuba,' Joey thought solemnly.

The last doubt went back to Mokuba's comment about being used to being taken hostage.

'He always tried everything to get Mokuba back, but how do I know he would do the same if I was taken. Am I as important to him as his company?'

--

--

Heva: I hope you are all still enjoying this and feel like reviewing to tell me what you think.

Date: 03/10/08