Chapter Eight: Whatever I Can Take
Song for chapter: I hate You- Sick Puppies
They arrived to the Kaiba mansion, and Seto lifted up the blond and slung him over his shoulder, that way he would not do any more damage than he already had.
"What do you think ya doing?" Joey said after getting his wind back, not liking be handled in such a matter. He tried to hit Seto's back but the rich snob had him at an odd angle.
"A hurt puppy shouldn't try to walk," was all Seto said to him. Seto carried Joey up a few flights of stairs with one of the maids quickly following behind. Seto gently placed Joey on a bed in one of the many guest rooms and left without a word.
The maid began to take off the bandages with a smile, "Don't worry, Mr. Wheeler. I did receive a medical degree in college. I just happen to work both as a maid and personal doctor to the Kaiba family, so there is no need to worry." Joey felt a sigh of relief, knowing that the maid had a good idea with what she was doing.
"Will I need stitches?" Joey asked, not wanting to think how many days he would have to be bed ridden because of this.
"I'm afraid so. The punctures in your foot are fairly deep. I will need to get a few things, from another room. I will be back in a few minutes." She left the room, closing the door behind her, leaving Joey in the room alone.
"Well, at least this day cannot get any worse," Joey thought staring up at the ceiling. After several minutes the doctor maid came back, with another maid assistance, pulling what looked like an IV, and a cart with medical tools on it. The maid brought over a gas mask, and Joey breath in the sleepy fumes, drifting off into La La Land.
"Where am I?" Joey looked around the room and noticed that he was in a bright white hospital room. He looked at his foot and noticed that all the pain was gone, and there were no stitches in his foot. Pulling out the IV he stood up from the bed and looked around the room. He walked to the closed door, and opened it seeing an empty hallway, no doctors or patients in sight.
"You shouldn't be up, Mr. Wheeler," A familiar voice said from behind him.
"Kaiba?" Joey turned around and saw the brunette in a white doctor's coat, with Seto Kaiba M.D. writing above the pocket. He had a clear clipboard in his hand, and looked like a professional doctor.
"That's Dr. Kaiba." He said correcting the blond.
"Even in my dream's he's cocky." Joey thought trying to look past the attractive doctor outfit.
"You've been asleep for a while," Seto said, pulling a foiled-wrapped hamburger literally from nowhere. "You're probably hungry, am I right?"
"Well, food's always good enough for me," Joey said, reaching for the hamburger.
Seto, however, pulled the hamburger out of reach whilst shaking his head in a disapproving manner. "If you eat too fast after going so long without food, you'll only make yourself ill." He unwrapped some of the foil and tore a chunk of the hamburger off before holding it close to Joey's lips. "As long as you're my patient, Mr. Wheeler, you'll be taken well care of."
"Okay… this is just a little… naw, scratch that, this is extremely freaky," Joey thought. "But the hamburger does look good… oh, is that bacon?" Figuring it was just a dream and what harm could one bite do, Joey opened his mouth and snagged the piece of hamburger out of Seto's fingers. It tasted unlike anything Joey had ever eaten. When he asked for another piece, Seto got this sly tilt to his features.
"Hm, perhaps if you do a trick for me," Seto chuckled. "Speak like a dog."
"I don't wanna, just gimme the hamburger," Joey complained, trying to snag it, but Seto held it tauntingly out of reach.
"Bark, or no food," Seto ordered.
Joey grumbled something but then opened his mouth and, much to his shock, an actual dog bark escaped his lips. Suddenly he was in a dog costume that seemed to haunt his dreams more often lately.
"Good boy, Wheeler," Seto said tearing off another piece of hamburger and tossing it to Joey, who caught it in his mouth. He couldn't help himself. It's like his body was acting purely on instinct now.
"Now sit and roll over, mutt," Seto commanded.
The dream soon started to get fuzzy as Joey started doing tricks liking playing dead. "Woof!" he shouted, waking up from his bizarre dream, soon remembering that he was in Kaiba's house getting stitches. The doctor maid looked at Joey, holding back a laugh, but as soon as she left the room, Joey thought he heard the sounds of giggles echoing in the hall. Joey's head hit the pillow, still foggy from the sleeping gas, but knew for sure he was no longer in a dream anymore.
Seto spent the rest of the day managing his business. Everything went smoothly as usual. The only annoyance was that every now and then when his thoughts drifted for just a split second, they always went to the blonde mutt resting in one of his many guest bedrooms. The idiot really should have gone to a hospital, that way Seto wouldn't have to deal with him being in his home. Truth be told, Seto was surprised when Joey had shown up to work the day after the office visit. He was a persistent little mutt, he'd give him that. What could possible make Wheeler so desperate for a job? When Seto's work track was interrupted once again by irksome thoughts he decided to give it a rest for the night.
He was going to turn in for the night, but a nagging voice -that sounded disturbingly akin to his younger brother- told him he should check up on his injured employee. When he went to the room, Joey was fast asleep in a mess of covers with his foot bandaged and splinted. Seto pulled up a chair just to relax for a bit. It had been a long day for him, and now he had to deal with this. He supposed he would have to give Wheeler time off until his leg was better.
Seto couldn't keep his eyes open anymore, and didn't want to get out of the chair; it was a long day and he just wanted to go to sleep. Seto's head leaned again his gravity defying collar and his deep blue eyes drifted off into sleep.
In the middle of the night, Joey woke up from a dream of Ryou and Tristan eating all his ice cream bars. Joey winced in pain, remembering that he had twisted his ankle and couldn't move his body. Three feet away from him, he was Seto asleep in a wooden chair, using his jacket's collar as a pillow. "Asleep, he doesn't look as big of an egocentric ... as usual." Joey said, watching Kaiba breathing rythmically. Joey wished he had a camera to snap a photo of the sleeping Kaiba, but sadly he didn't have one on hand. "Oh well." Joey said with a sigh, decided to go back to dream candy land.
It was the next morning, and light was slowly creeping in through the window. Seto was the first to arise, fixing his collar and hair to look presentable once again. Seto noticed that Joey's eyes were slowly opening and was tempted to leave before Joey noticed him but it was too late, "Don't move, Kaiba." Joey said with a long yawn. Seto stopped at the door and turned around to look at a bed head Joey.
"What do you want?" Seto said, arms crossed against his chest.
"Why did you stay here all night watching me?" Joey bluntly said, startling Seto.
"You must be imagining things, Wheeler," Seto icily commented hoping that Joey would end the conversation.
"No, Kaiba, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw you sleeping there on that chair." Joey pointed to the wooden chair a few feet away from his bed.
Seto sighed ever so slightly. "I was just checking on you, mutt. Mokuba was worried about the injured puppy I brought home."
Joey's head almost started to boil, but then he realized the bizarre sincerity in Seto's voice. Maybe he really wasn't that bad of a guy after all. "Well, thanks for the hospitality, I guess. But I really outta be getting home." He slid himself to the foot of the bed and dangled his feet off the bed.
"Don't tell me you're actually going to try to walk on that leg of yours," Seto said in a slightly condescending tone.
"I'll be fine. I barely feel any pain at all," Joey said optimistically before standing up… only to almost immediately fall forward as pain flared up his leg and rendered him immobile. Good news, he found something to grab to avoid severely damaging his leg further; bad news, (or good news if you're a rabid fangirl like us), that something happened to be Seto's waist.
Joey was wide eyed with disbelief, out of all the things he had to hold on to in order to not fall it had to be Seto, and the other man didn't seem that pleased either. Joey felt his cheeks crimson with blood being in Seto's arms. Much to Joey's surprise, Seto's right hand was rubbing Joey's hair ever so lightly, "Tell me Wheeler were you born this stupid or was it something you have been practicing your entire life?" Seto's kind gesture was instantly ruined by the remark, causing Joey to clench a fist.
"Well, tell me something, Kaiba, were you born this arrogant or was it something you learned after kicking daddy outta office?"
Joey almost thought he felt a laugh in Seto's chest. "How did you know, Wheeler?"
Joey's face was shocked by this comment. Seto used his surprise to push Joey back down on the bed and left to room, fetching a servant to help Joey to the car. The servant was not nearly as skilled as Seto when it came to helping Joey with the stairs, but he got down in one piece none the less. Seto was standing near the door as Joey was being helped passed it.
"You better heal up fast, Wheeler." Seto started slyly, "I'm not paying you for sick leave."
Joey nodded at Kaiba and got in the car determined to get back to his lousy job sooner than Kaiba would expect. 'Wow, who woulda thought ol' Moneybags had a heart.' Still….as Joey remembered all of the experiences this past month had brought him, he wondered why now every time he thought of Seto, his entire body started to feel… weird, but strangely warm. 'Could it be…? Nah! No freakin' way!'
Seto entered the kitchen to see Mokuba all smiles while eating a bowl of cereal. "Good morning, Seto," he said cheerfully between bites. Seto was confused by Mokuba's early morning enthusiasm. It seemed as if Mokuba was almost going to burst with excitement.
"Something wrong, Mokuba?" Seto asked with sincere concern for his little brother.
Mokuba grinned, "I saw you and Joey this morning," and Seto's face twisted in dismay from his brother's simple statement.
KD: Don't you just love perceptive little brothers? :P I'm sure Seto doens't right now. What will happen next? Seriously, what? Just kidding, we know but we're not telling. You'll have to stay tuned for the next chapter. So until next time. :D