Hey guys! Sorry about the wait. School takes up a lot of time. I swear, I had less homework when I was an engineer than now that I'm an art major! Lol.
Anyways, I really want to thank you who reviewed my story! I love getting reviews, and it motivates me to procrastinate homework and write! Also, I would like to repoint out, in case I forgot to say it in last chapter, that this is a repost/rewrite of the story that I had posted under another account. After I finish rewriting all the stories from there, the old ones will be deleted. Okay:-D
Oh, and if anybody wants to suggest any good ideas about what the bet was that got Joey landed here in the first place, that would be cool. I am having a hard time coming up with a good idea, and I will take the idea that I like the most and write it into Chapter 4, with the credit given to the reviewer!
Disclaimer: Sob Stop reminding me about how I will never own the greatness that is Joey and Kaiba.
Anyways, no more ramblings from this authoress. Onwards, to the story!
One Long Week
Chapter 1- Day 1
Joey stood still, staring at the closed doors in front of him. He could feel his last chance for freedom taunting him – singing, Na na na na, boo boo! - as it stood safely outside the confines of the Kaiba mansion. Lucky bastard.
He wondered if he could somehow sneak out the doors without Kaiba realizing it. He quickly decided against it, figuring by now Kaiba would have ordered his body guards to shoot him on sight if he tried a daring escape. He took a deep breath. Great, just great. Now he was faced with a horrific week filled with taunts, insults, and really big jerks named Kaiba. Joy.
He decided to go look in the kitchen for a knife to kill himself.
He turned around, with every intention of finding the closest sharp, metal object that would get the job done as quickly as possible, only to find the steely eyes of Kaiba glaring at him barely a foot away. He nearly jumped out of his skin, not expecting Kaiba to be so damn close, but decided to play it off as simply a twitch. A really bad twitch. Hell, maybe he'd feign epilepsy, if it helped convince Kaiba that Joey had most definitely not been scared by him. A ridiculous notion, really.
"Whadya want, Kaiba?" Joey growled, trying to put as much venom as humanly possibly into his words. Maybe he could poison him just by talking to him! He tried to send mental death vibes, just for good measure.
Kaiba scowled, unfortunately still looking in good health. The brunette's eyes narrowed. "I don't like your manners. This is my house, and you will give me the proper respect, mutt." He gave a deadpan glare at Joey's derisive snort, which instantly shut the blonde up. Kaiba's mental death vibes were much more admirable. And probably actually worked. "Now, follow me upstairs to find you a guest room." He stomped down the hallway, leaving Joey to scramble after him if he wanted any hope of ever finding his room.
As the two walked toward the staircase, Joey stared in awe at the vast mansion. Everything was immaculately clean, from the pristine white walls to the just-as-clean carpet. It was too clean. He briefly considered the possibility of discreetly wiping off some of the dirt on the soles of his shoes into the floor. Just so he could say that he had soiled the Kaiba mansion.
As if reading his thoughts, Kaiba snapped his head around, to give another heated glare in his direction and whoa. He looked pissed. Joey instantly abandoned his train of thought. Sheesh. The guy could read minds. Joey was sure of it.
As the two walked further up the flight of stairs, the blonde noticed there seemed to be nobody else in the mansion, save for himself and the Kaiba brothers. He had always imagined the place bustling with maids and butlers, but it was desolate as a desert.
Then again, he thought with a silent snicker, you couldn't pay me enough to come here every day to wait on this guy hand and foot.
Not to mention, he added to himself, he's got the social skills of a stump …
Kaiba turned around to glare again. And Joey would forever deny squeaking in what was definitely not a girly fashion. Fucking mind-reader.
After finally climbing the enormous staircase, they came upon a rather spacious hallway with several identical doors on each side. Kaiba stopped, causing Joey to nearly bump into him from behind. The shorter teen quickly took a few steps back, figuring the more space between him and Kaiba, the better.
Ignoring Joey, the Kaiba motioned to one of the doors. "The one on the end leads to my study," Kaiba pointed out before gesturing at another door. "The one on the left of it belongs to me, and the one on the opposite side of the hall belongs to Mokuba. You can choose any other room. I think that should be easy enough instructions, even for a dog." Kaiba sneered, and Joey's hand twitched, as if about to punch the brunette on its own accord.
Personally, Joey wouldn't have been too angry with his hand. In fact, he might have given it a congratulatory pat.
Taking a moment to breathe, Joey nodded to himself, and deemed it safe to move without worrying about involuntarily tackling the CEO to the floor and punching his lights out. Donning his mischievous grin, he strolled up to the door right next to Kaiba's. "I think I'll take this one here." Kaiba silently raised an eyebrow in question.
Joey cheerfully explained, "This way, if I need to pee in the middle of the night, I can just ask you where the bathroom is instead of wondering around for hours and hours, and most likely end up in some secret dungeon you have." It seemed reasonable enough to the blonde, and he certainly wouldn't put it past Kaiba to have hidden torture rooms lurking around just waiting for the hapless blonde.
Kaiba smirked. "And what if I tell you that I don't deal with dogs before six in the morning and to go back to your room?" He stared at the blonde, his eyes flashing dangerously, daring him to try and challenge him.
Instead of rising to the canine bait, Joey just smiled innocently back. Using the sweetest voice he could muster, he beamed back, "Then I'll just have to pee on you. I'm not house trained yet."
Obviously not the response the brunette was expecting, Joey fully enjoyed the flustered expression on Kaiba's face, and - what the hell?! - was that a slight blush on Kaiba's cheek?
Joey blinked, but Kaiba had gone back to his usual stony-faced expression. Tilting his head in confusion, Joey wondered if it had even been there in the first place. It disappeared so fast, Joey wasn't sure if he even saw it. Nah, Joey thought, I must be imagining it. After all, a blushing Kaiba seemed as likely as a charitable Bakura, i.e. not at all.
Kaiba coughed slightly, mentally patting himself on the back for quickly regaining composure. And elsewhere in the world, Bakura screamed in bloody murder as he suddenly got the urge to give half of his stolen treasures to Goodwill.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to fix that. We can't have you soiling my good carpet." Ignoring the look on Joey's face that clearly said the blonde was trying to tell if Kaiba had just told a joke or not, the brunette opened the door to the spare room and pointed to another door inside. "That door leads to a jointed bathroom between our rooms. Don't mess it up, I refuse to tolerate with a messy puppy."
Joey just nodded dumbly, still trying to determine if Kaiba had told a joke. Granted, it was a bit of a lame one as far as jokes go, but it would still be a monumental first. Then his stomach growled, and Joey was brought out of his musings. He laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Hey, Moneybags, you don't have any food on ya, do you? I'm starved! Being carried all the way over here can really take it out of you!" He patted his stomach for emphasis.
Kaiba rolled his eyes, looking much put upon, and motioned for the blonde to follow him while muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'damn garbage disposal better not eat the whole kitchen.'
After what seemed like an agonizing twelve mile trek - to the blonde because of his immense hunger, and to the brunette because he had to put up with the ravenous blonde - they finally reached the kitchen. It was at this point that Joey began to think that maybe his stay wouldn't be so bad after all.
The kitchen was huge, large enough to fit his entire apartment in, and best of all – it was entirely full of food. Joey immediately decided that any place that had this much edible junk in it couldn't be all that bad. Then Kaiba coughed behind him, bringing him out of his euphoria-induced seizure, and he realized that Kaiba's presence slightly overshadowed his food high.
Taking another look around him, the kitchen had a cozy feel to it despite its giant size. The windows had blue cloth drapes, a softly ticking clock hung on the wall nearby, and there was even junk mail strewn haphazardly across the counter. Upon closer inspection, he realized the kitchen even came complete with pictures of the Kaiba brothers on the fridge. Oh hell, yeah. Blackmail!
He walked up to them, and immediately found his favorite picture. Sure, there were lots of cute pictures – Mokuba losing his first tooth, the Kaiba brothers at Christmas, things like that – but this one. Oh, this one. There were no others quite like it.
It was a very amusing snap shot. It looked like it had been from Kaiba's birthday from a few years ago, and he guessed that Mokuba had forced him into that ridiculously sparkly purple party hat, judging from the horrified look on the brunette's face. Of course, that expression could be from the fact that someone apparently had thought that a frog would make a nice present, and was in the process of landing on Kaiba's head when someone thought that it would make a great Kodak moment.
Which it did. Kaiba's look of complete and utter shock was absolutely priceless.
Joey couldn't help the snicker that came out of his mouth, which was immediately followed by full out guffaws. Kaiba looked over to see what Joey was laughing at, spotted the incriminating photo, and a definite blush crept onto his cheeks. Joey made a mental note to write to Guiness World Records that he was the only non-Kaiba in the world to see him embarrassed and live to tell the tale.
For now at least, he added mentally, unaware as Kaiba debated to himself where he would dump the blonde's sorry corpse after he was through with it.
Kaiba gave a slight cough, and quickly took the pictures down in what he hoped was a discreet manner.
It wasn't.
There was a moment of awkward silence, where Kaiba was hopefully praying Joey would ignore his embarrassment and never mention it ever again, and Joey's brain had short-circuited due to an overflow of blackmail opportunities and innumerable future laughs at the brunette's expense.
After a few moments the blonde shook his head, remembering the dire need to feed his empty stomach, which was currently growling in a much displeased manner. It seemed to be saying something along the lines of, Feed me, you ass, or so help me God, I will eat my way through your flesh and you'll never eat again. Since dying by way of starvation was not very high on his life of Things I Must Do, he decided feeding his angry stomach would be a very good thing.
"So, what do you have to eat, Moneybags?" Joey asked, arms behind his head as he gazed around the kitchen. So many choices, so little time. He wondered if he could manage to eat it all before his time at the Kaiba mansion was up. He then decided his new goal in life was to literally eat Kaiba out of house and home.
Kaiba smirked evilly – or maybe smiled pleasantly, it was hard to tell. He only seemed to have the default expression of eternal displeasure with Joey's existence - and went rummaging through a cupboard under the sink. After a few muffled grunts, and a few louder curses as the brunette banged his head on the cupboard as he moved to stand back up, Kaiba reemerged holding a can behind his back.
Joey, being Joey, did not see anything suspicious about this. In fact, the only thing he could think of that he wanted food, now. He made this quite clear by threatening to disembowel the CEO in his sleep if he didn't get some nourishment right this very second.
Kaiba was all too happy to oblige, which should have tipped the blonde off. Being the lovable, dense moron that he is, he sat blissfully unaware, tapping his foot impatiently. The brunette then proceeded to open the can and pour the thick brown substance into a bowl and handed it to Joey.
"The mutt's dinner." The cobalt eyes sparkled in what could have been a mischievous manner, but was probably closer to a taunting sneer. The brunette's lips twitched upwards in just the smallest fraction of an inch, which should have sent Joey running for the hills.
Joey noticed none of this, however. What he did notice was an edible something placed in front of him.
Not being picky, Joey quickly grabbed a fork and dug in, crooning happily. He had just taken a huge, sloppy mouthful when he finally noticed Kaiba watching him far more eagerly than was probably good for Joey's personal health, and glanced down toward the can that was now sitting on the counter. He caught a quick glimpse of the label, which seemed to be laughing haughtily at him.
Alpo.
That fucking bastard has just fed him dog food.
Death was going to be had. Oh yes, it would. A slow and painful death for the bastard. And then, life would be good.
Before implementing any plans of a gruesome murder he may have concocted for the brunette, Joey promptly spit everything currently in his mouth all back out. Unfortunately for Kaiba, he happened to be in the line of fire and now had a large blob of slobbery…gloop… dripping off of his nose. The sight was so comical that Joey decided that life was good anyway, despite the fact that Kaiba was still breathing.
There was undisturbed silence for the span of about 2.6 seconds, before all hell broke loose.
Mokuba happened to walk in the kitchen just then, but after looking at both his brother, who was definitely not in his happy place and trying to strangle the life out of a certain blonde, and Joey, who was laughing so hard despite the death grip around his neck that he had started to choke on his fork, the raven-haired kid walked right back out.
Sometimes, you were just better off not knowing.
After Kaiba cleaned off the half-digested dog food from his face, he decided that getting real food for the blonde would be beneficial for his own mental state. After all, having Joey-germs sprayed across his face was not very high on list of Things I Must Do Before I Die.
Joey, of course, requested (read: demanded by means of threatening to shave off Kaiba's eyebrows in his sleep if his needs weren't met) a disgusting blob of grease smothered in cheesy goo and tomato gunk, also known as pizza. It was also covered in every topping known to mankind. And a few others that no decent human being would even think to eat. Joey ate it all happily.
Upon Kaiba's comment on the inedibility of the food, Joey had decided that it would be a good time to redecorate Kaiba's kitchen and face. For the second time in the past hour, the brunette found slimy food dripping from his nose. Kaiba immediately decided it wasn't one of his favorite feelings.
The once immaculate room - and the brunette - now resembled a battle zone.
The spoils of war: The stripping of Kaiba's dignity.
The victor: The "All-Mighty" Joseph Wheeler.
Choice of Weapon: Nuclear Pizza.
The two boys sat on the kitchen floor, panting. One blonde was laughing breathlessly, while a brunette was glaring daggers at said laughing blonde. When the pair had regained their breath, Kaiba walked over to a closet and took out a broom and mop. Silently handing one to the blonde, they quickly set to work on cleaning.
Surprisingly, Joey did not complain. Though that could have something to do with the fact that Kaiba's glare said something along the lines of If you value your organs inside of your body and your head connected to your neck, you will do exactly what I say. My word is law, and you will clean your mess.
Joey began to clean his mess.
After a few moments of frenzied mopping – how the hell did raw eggs get on the floor? He only threw pizza, for pete's sake! – Joey took a moment to glance at the tall brunette who didn't seem very happy about having to clean. More surprising than the fact the brunette hadn't called on a maid to do the job for him was the fact that he had not yelled at him for being a clumsy, messy mutt, or something of the sort.
This has got to be one of my more…odd…experiences. Who would have imagined that I'd be cleaning with Kaiba? Plus, we're not even really fighting…well, not yet anyway… Joey stood still in his silent reverie until the taller teen threw a wet rag at the blonde's face. Joey growled. Oh, it's on, Kaiba-boy.
This resulted in Joey throwing a soapy sponge at Kaiba, and almost caused Kitchen War II. Mokuba, however, had walked into the kitchen once more – and not a second too soon, as Kaiba had just decided that the butcher knife would be a pleasant choice of ammunition - and suggested that they watch a movie later that night. He turned his pleading eyes to his brother, silently begging him not to kill his new toy (read: Joey).
Kaiba just gave a half grunt, very reluctantly putting the knife back, and the slightest nod of approval. After all, who could say no to Mokuba? Joey jumped up and down in excitement – Theater-sized plasma screen TV, here I come! - but his foot managed to slip on a particularly large piece of pepperoni still stuck on the floor.
A moment later, after blinking the stars out of his eyes and watching all of the pretty Kaibas flittering above his head, Joey briefly wondered how he ended up on the floor. Then he decided that he didn't care. Watching a bunch of Kaibas with wings and pink tutus flying above his head was disturbingly amusing. Pretty Kaiba ballerinas floating above his head. It was kind of like one of those cartoons, when a character falls on their head and suffers a concussion…Joey paused. Wait a second. That probably was not a good thing.
Suddenly the real Kaiba appeared over him, blocking out some of the light from above, forming an ethereal halo around his head. He was wearing a look of concern, something that seemed highly unnatural of his face. The muscles seemed to be spasming in protest. In fact, Joey was sure that he was imagining it, and could be evidence that he may have a concussion.
"Are you alright? I think you might have blacked out for a few seconds. You were staring into space." Joey frowned. He was also imagining the sound of a concerned Kaiba. Also pointing towards the possibility of a concussion.
Joey blinked. "Actually, I was just thinking that you would make a nice ballerina." Then he clamped his mouth shut, unable to believe he said that out loud. Yep, it was official. He had a concussion and killed off the last few brain cells he had left, because there was no way in hell he would ever say that if he were lucid.
Kaiba's look of shock and horror at such a mental image was enough to console Joey from the loss of his brain cells. It even put him in a good enough mood to want to get up from his comfortable position on the floor.
Joey was disappointed once again, however, when Seto's haughty smirk came sliding back into place on his face.
"I should have guessed that a fall like that would have destroyed what few brain cells you have left, mutt," the brunette sneered, unaware of Joey's previous deduction. "I guess it's my fault, though." At this, Joey's jaw dropped at the seemingly apology. Forget the concussion, he must be in a coma or something. Or dead. Dear God, he was too young to die! No way would Kaiba actually apologize in real life.
However, Kaiba continued, "I suppose the master will have to take better care of his pet. Puppies, after all, can't be expected to look after themselves." Joey resisted the urge to growl like an insulted puppy. So it wasn't a real apology. Well, at least Joey knew he wasn't dead, after all.
Joey was about to jump Kaiba for that remark, but a slight cough from behind him made him stop. The raven-haired brother put his hands on his hips impatiently, after waiting so long for the two to stop fighting. "I want to watch a movie," he complained, lip sticking out in a pout. It was such an adorable look that the two teens caved in instantly.
Seto and Joey glanced at each other and silently decided to call it a temporary truce. For Mokuba's sake. Mokuba cheered and ran out of the room, his whooping cheers echoing behind him. Kaiba and Joey walked through a few halls and up a flight of stairs at a much slower pace, and finally came to a room that sent Joey right back into fits of glee.
Like the kitchen, and most likely every other room in the mansion, it was gigantic. There was a giant leather three-seater couch, a dark blue like everything else in the house, a very large high-tech TV – Joey cheered inwardly – and Kaiba's own personal Blockbuster. The entire wall was filled with movies! Joey could almost feel his eyes popping out of his skull. Seriously, the brunette must have had every DVD known to man!
"Am I in heaven?" he whispered in awe, eyes still bulging. He glanced over at Kaiba, as if to make sure he wasn't dreaming, who didn't seem to appreciate having the blonde drool all over the rug beneath their feet. Deciding this was, in fact, real, Joey let out a war cry before running over to the case to wage battle against the numerous choices that lay before him.
Scrambling to the top of the video case, he proceeded to inspect each and every movie. Starting from the very top, he pulled the movies out one by one, tossing them haphazardly over his shoulder. And he could have been a baseball player in a past life, because those DVDs had some speed to them.
Every now and then the Kaiba brothers could hear the blonde mumbling comments to himself as movies arched through the air. They turned to stare blankly each other and eventually shrugged. What else could they do? And it wasn't like the blonde had broken anything or hurt anyone. And then a flying DVD whizzed past Kaiba's face, just half an inch from his nose, with enough force to take down a small elephant.
"Would you watch it?" Kaiba growled harshly, only to earn another video to the eye. Now it was the brunette's turn to lie on the ground, blinking back stars. After a second or two, he attempted to get back up, but decided to duck for cover behind the couch after another DVD shaved off a few hairs from his head. How the hell did they get sharp?! He quickly grabbed Mokuba and ran for it.
Spotting the spacious couch – Ha! Sanctuary! – the poised, dignified, multi-billionaire CEO of a worldwide prestigious company took a bodily leap and dived headfirst into safety.
As the two brothers regrouped – Kaibas never cowered, which they definitely were not doing, mind you - behind the very large piece of furniture, they could hear loud crashes as the sounds of very expensive things shattered into millions pieces of worthlessness. Kaiba could only cringe at the idea of the damage Joey had caused.
"Yes!" Joey cheered. Kaiba peaked cautiously over the blue upholstery, fully ready to duck back down if the projectiles had not stopped, to find Joey holding his prize covetously. Apparently Joey had gone through every movie in the house, effectively obliterating every moment of hard work Kaiba had put into alphabetizing the entire bloody thing.
The carpet was virtually invisible, and all that could be seen was an endless sea of various movie cases. Joey grinned and held up his trophy, the movie Zoolander, the only one that had not been carelessly tossed to the floor. Kaiba had a strong suspicion that Joey only picked that movie because it was the last movie left in the case that had not been used to try to take out the brunette's eye.
Kaiba sighed wearily, but dutifully cleared a path to the couch. Mokuba cheered excitedly, and ran back to the kitchen to make a large bowl of popcorn. Joey and Kaiba glanced at the couch, which would comfortably sit three people, and quickly grabbed opposite ends of the couch. There was no way the two would ever willingly sit next to each other!
The time it took for Mokuba to return with snacks was filled with an awkward silence between the two teens. When the shorter boy returned, he sighed at the two boys practically sitting on their respective armrests to put as much distance between them. Mokuba sat in the middle, coaxing the two teens closer with the promise of sharing his popcorn. Joey was instantly right beside Mokuba, eagerly plunging his hand into the bowl of buttery goodness. The brunette dimmed the lights and the three were plunged in darkness.
The movie started, and everybody was laughing – well, a blonde and a raven-haired kid were laughing, and one stoic brunette was glaring ahead at the TV screen - and enjoying their selves. Joey was enjoying the popcorn very much—it tasted just like the movie theater stuff. Joey wouldn't doubt for a second that he had an actual popcorn machine just like in the theaters. He was definitely rich enough to afford it. Joey, not about to pass up the opportunity to make good on his promise to eat Kaiba out of house and home, was taking very large handfuls from the bowl about every two seconds.
After half the bowl had been depleted, Joey paused a moment to breathe. "You haven't eaten any," Joey pointed out to Kaiba.
"You've eaten enough for both of us," he shrugged nonchalantly. He didn't bother to mention the valid theory that if he were to stick his hand in the line of attack, he was very likely to lose a finger - or even a whole hand - to Joey's insatiable appetite. Little did he know, that is exactly what would have happened. Never come between a hungry blonde street punk and his salty, buttery world of popcorn goodness.
Joey pouted, slightly disappointed that no one seemed willing to eat the popcorn with him, and turned back to the movie. A few seconds later, however, he found himself grinning when Kaiba took a handful of the buttery substance. The slender brunette was pleasantly surprised at how delicious it was, and took another. Joey inwardly cheered, but didn't seem to notice the small smile that crept onto his own face.
The two continued to eat on in companionable silence, totally unaware of the smirk on Mokuba's face as he watched the two eat on in companionable silence, for about ten more minutes, until Kaiba and Joey both reached for the last handful at the same time.
Their fingertips brushed against each other slightly, enough for Kaiba to register that his hands were really greasy and would definitely need to wash them, but in that one split second, both felt a shock of electricity jolt up their arms. They looked at each other, a clash of cold blue against warm honey, and as their eyes locked Joey felt himself wondering why he hadn't moved his hand yet.
Mokuba sneezed, inwardly groaning at himself, and the moment was broken. Kaiba hurriedly turned the other way, coughing into his hand in a slightly dignified manner.
Joey, however, being the rash person that he is, handled his embarrassment in an entirely different manner. By filling his mouth so full that he would not be able to say anything to make this moment even more awkward. He scooped every last bit of the popcorn and stuffed it into his mouth. In his embarrassment, he forgot to chew – come on, this is Joey here. It could happen - and started to choke.
Mokuba and Kaiba rushed to Joey's aid – and by this I mean that Mokuba ran to help the poor blonde, while Kaiba stood in the background muttering about foolish mutts - as his face began to turn blue for the second time that day. After a lot of heavy patting to the back, Joey finally managed to swallow. He took several gulps of sweet blessed air.
Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "You're a hazard to yourself. I don't know how you've managed to survive this far." He inwardly tried to convince himself the only reason he would care if Joey choked to death was that he didn't want to deal with the hassle of so much paperwork. Yeah. That was why.
Joey's eyes flared up in response, filled with his fiery energy. He had every intention of telling Kaiba where, exactly, he could shove his stupid opinions. Before he could respond, however, Kaiba stood up briskly, very carefully not looking at those burning eyes, and brushed off his clothes.
"I think we should all go to bed. It's been a very long and tiring day. For all of us," he added, finally gracing the blonde with a sneer. With that, Kaiba strode up to his room, not glancing back. Joey and Mokuba, still sitting on the couch, looked at each other, and shrugged. They might as well do the same.
Up in Kaiba's room, the brunette typed incessantly and furiously on his laptop. What was he thinking, taking in the stupid mutt for an entire week? He wasn't sure if his sanity would be able to handle it. His deep blue eyes scanned over the screen as he analyzed his report, and a flash of burning honey eyes flashed in his mind.
He stopped for a few moments, staring into nothing. He thought of the blonde's rambunctious laugh, and his incorrigible energy. And he thought of greasy, buttery fingers touching for the briefest moment. He held up his hand that had touched Joey, and just stared confusedly at it.
Up in Joey's room – which, of course, was freaking huge! – the blonde was getting dressed in his pajamas. He slid the cotton pants over his hips, and struggled to fit his tank top over his mop of messy hair. He walked around the room, whistling to himself appreciatively. Kaiba sure didn't hold back with his decorating budget!
He paused in front of a hanging mirror, and looked at himself. He reflected over the day, and was surprised to find that it wasn't half bad. He looked at his reflection, talking softly to himself.
"This was definitely a weird day, but you know, it was actually kinda fun with Kaiba." The blonde paused, and stiffened. Wait just one second. Rewind. Play. Fun. As in, with Kaiba.
His eyes widened considerably, realizing what the hell he had just said. Fun. And Kaiba. Used together in the same thought.
Oh God.
He ran into the bathroom to wash his mouth out with soap.
Seto Kaiba sighed irritably for the twenty-seventh time in the past - he checked his watch - forty-seven minutes and twenty-three seconds. Putting down the book he had been trying diligently, but failing horribly, to read, he looked up once again at the closed door that lead to the joined bathroom he shared with his new…pet. He smirked to himself, thinking of how easy it was to bait Joey. He really couldn't put into words the enjoyment that came from riling the fiery blonde. He decided not to dwell too long on the reasons behind why he only wanted those intense chocolate eyes of his on him.
Speaking of the blonde, Seto thought curiously, returning his focus to the door. What the hell is he doing in there? After all, it had now been forty-eight and fifty-two seconds.
Said mutt had been in the bathroom for what was getting close to being an hour, and if he was correctly interpreting the gurgling sounds coming from the other side of the door, using a hell of a lot of mouthwash for God knows why. He had briefly entertained the hope that maybe the blonde was drowning himself in the toilet, or bathtub, or sink (he wasn't picky. Whatever got the job done, you know) but after hearing the blonde spitting in the sink, realized he was doing some heavy duty cleaning of his mouth. He didn't want to know why.
Being the kind-hearted, caring, compassionite person that he is – and here, the reader will take a moment to snort in disbelief, because Kaiba may be a lot of things, but delusional had not previously been on that list - Seto had stormed to the door after the first ten minutes, pounding the door down, yelling for all the world to hear for the mutt to "stop wasting all the goddamn Listerine."
When the only response he got was Joey muttering something about the horror of it all, and that he must be possessed by demons from the underworld and had taken over his thoughts, Seto decided to open the door to see if he was all right. It wasn't because he cared about the mutt's well being, alright? It was only because he needed to know if he should put up some extra locks on his door if the blonde had suddenly turned deranged and decided to come after him in a psychopathic homicidal rage.
All he got for his concern, however, was a rude kick to the jaw, and some more yelling about the world coming to an end.
And so Kaiba sat on his bed, rubbing his abused jawbone and decidedly not sulking about the matter, and debated whether or not he should brave the wrath of the hysterical blonde once more. After all, fifty-one minutes and seventeen seconds was really long. After a few moments though, he realized that the light to the bathroom had gone out and all he could hear was blissful silence, save for the ticking of the clock on his mahogany bedside table.
He looked over to check the time, and was surprised to find that it was nearly one in the morning. The CEO closed his eyes, tenderly massaging his temples, willing sleep to overcome him. As if it wasn't bad enough he had to put up with the mutt during the day, now he couldn't go to sleep because of him. He groaned, flopping back onto his bed, thinking of how he would have to be up in only four hours.
He gave another sigh, and took one last look about his room. Maybe Mokuba's right….I really need to decorate more. He had never really felt a need for personal luxuries in his own room. He spent most of his time in his office anyway. The mutt just happened to be lucky that he was on vacation for a week. Though, this was definitely not how he planned his time off turning out.
Beside his alarm clock stood a picture of him and Mokuba from a time when they were much younger, when the younger kid still needed help on his spelling tests and he himself had been considerably more carefree. It sat delicately on his bedside table in an ornate silver frame, where it faced the side of the bed. The corners of Kaiba's mouth turned upward in the smallest smile as he gazed upon it.
Continuing his impromptu inspection of his barren room, he glanced over to the dresser, sitting under a large mirror. It was made of the same glossy wood as the bedside table. The only other piece of furniture was his desk, where his laptop sat humming quietly. The bare necessities. He never had any need for anything else. Giving a big yawn, he turned off the light and crawled back into his large fluffy bed, his last thoughts wondering if Joey's bedroom was as empty as his, or crammed to the brim with all sorts of sentimental junk.
Meanwhile, one room over, Joey flopped onto the bed, curling into a ball on top of the deep magenta covers. He normally would have taken that moment to revel in the fluffy softness of the material, if his mouth hadn't felt like it had just been decimated by a gallon of acid. His mouth tingled –hell, more like it burned - and he was sure that the Listerine had eaten a hole through his tongue, or at least turned it raw for a month. As drowsiness began to overtake him, just before he drifted off to sleep he numbly thought that he should probably stay in bed for the rest of the week, just to preserve his sanity. Spending too much time with Kaiba couldn't be good for his mental health.
Too bad that isn't what happened. Joey would probably never make a full recovery.
After a couple hours of fitful dreams about popcorn and cold, staring blue eyes, Joey found himself suddenly sitting upright in his bed. He also found himself realizing he really had to pee. Giving a prolonged groan that clearly stated he'd rather still be fast asleep, he quickly trudged over to the door to the connecting bathroom. He gave a long happy sigh as he began to relieve himself.
Meanwhile, Seto was also having restless dreams, though of a very different sort. To protect the readers, we won't go into explicit detail. Instead, we'll just say they happened to involve a certain blonde, a skimpy puppy costume, and a leash. Waking up with a start, he was horrified to find a certain… problem that males usually experience when dealing with someone they find very attractive.
The only problem was, Kaiba did not find Joey attractive. Not at all. Mokuba was right, he thought. Working too hard really has made me lose my mind. He growled, vowing to take vacations more often if this was the effect working was going to have on his brain, as he got up from his bed, in nothing but silky black boxers, heading to the bathroom to take care of male problem.
In the bathroom that Kaiba was currently walking towards, Joey was whistling a happy little tune to himself, which sounded suspiciously like The Song That Never Ends, as he finished going to the bathroom. He then heard the door creak open ominously behind him, so he did what any other testosterone-filled male would do. The surrounding neighbors all jolted awake by the blonde's shriek. But he wasn't scared. Joey Wheeler never got scared. Really. No. Really.
Although, what he did see next made him double over with laughter. In fact, he would later bill Kaiba Corp. for the medical expense of his ruptured spleen from laughing too hard.
There was Seto Kaiba frozen in the doorway, looking like a deer caught in the headlights – or perhaps a fish, the way his mouth kept opening and closing in silent horror - standing there with an all-too-obvious bulge in his boxers. His face turned from white to tomato red within a split second, setting a new world record in speed, and his eyes narrowed at the hysterical blonde. Seto took a menacing step toward him. He could always worry about where to dump the soon-to-be corpse later.
Joey's laughter died as he noticed the brunette's twitchy hands slowly making their way to his neck, and realized he should probably hightail it out of there, though the mile wide grin remained plastered to his face.
He slowly backed into his room – he saw on the discovery channel never to make sudden movements around dangerous beasts, and he was in front of the most dangerous of them all – while still leering at the embarrassed, and doubly furious, brunette. Before he could be strangled, he reached the safety of his room, slamming and locking the door between himself and the brunette – adding his dresser as a barricade for good measure - but not before oh-so-innocently asking Seto if he was having sweet dreams. Because, you know, obviously he was.
Joey laughed hysterically to himself, crawling back into bed, and thanked God for such a funny memory. Pulling the covers up to his chin, he fell asleep with a grin on his face as he permanently imprinted the image of Kaiba with a hard on into his brain. His last thoughts before drifting back to sleep were, That would have been another great Kodak moment. Too bad I didn't have a camera...Kaiba has very nice abs. I should ask him where he works out...
And he suddenly sat back up in bed, realizing the full consequences of pissing off the richest man in the world with access to professional hit men and enough money to buy off any judge.
Shit.
I'm gonna die tomorrow...
Whew. There goes the first official chapter. If anyone read the old version of the story, you may notice that I am now combining the chapters into separate days. But man it takes a while to rewrite it all! Lol.
Anyways, please please review if you liked it, loved it, hated it, or whatever. I would love to know. Seriously, folks. I read these reviews obsessively. Lol. Oh, and don't forget to review if you have any ideas for the bet Joey made that got him here in the first place!!
Thanks to all,
The Mamberz