KD: Hey everyone. Sigh... it's our fifteenth chapter, yet reviews have dropped instead of increased like they normally do. We keep seeing all these other Seto/Joey stories getting so many reviews and we wonder what we're doing wrong? We've even begun to question whether it's worth continuing this story or not. I mean, we don't want to put so much time in a story no one is enjoying when there are other responsibilities we have to contend ourselves with. Food for thought...

Chapter Fifteen: A Day For Siblings

Songs for chapter:

Sister- Dave Matthews

Can't Hurry Love- The Supremes

Saturday had rolled around and Joey was waiting at the main square for his little sister. He checked his watch and noticed it was a few minutes past the scheduled time, but he wasn't sweating yet. He smiled at the thought of finally moving out of the apartment he shared with his dad and getting his own place. Granted, he would still do what he could for his father to keep him from drowning in his own drinking and gambling debts, but he wanted to be free and on his own. If he lived closer to Serenity, the two of them could see more of each other and do the things they missed out on growing up apart from each other.

Joey heard his name called and turned to see his sister running down the sidewalk, waving to him. "Hey, Serenity," Joey greeted with a wide grin on his face. "How ya been, sis?"

"I've been doing great," Serenity said, reaching Joey and giving him a hug. "It's good to see you again, Joey. It feels like we don't get to see much of each other, huh?"

"Yeah, but no worries," Joey assured, hugging her back. "That's gonna change real soon. I promise."

"I know you can do it, Joey. I believe in you," Serenity stated while to two separated from their hug. "So, Joey, where do you want to go?" The two begin their stroll down the shopping complexes.

"I'm not sure. Where do you want to go?" Joey asked, looking at the stores around them.

"Let's go to the book store." Serenity pointed across the street to a small store that has window stickers of new book releases all over the windows. "A book just came out that I want." Joey smiled at his sister as they crossed the street. He was thankful to see her happy and he wanted to soak up every minute of her smile, knowing everything they missed together as kids.

Across the street at the bookstore, Seto was reading a book, Angels and Demons, at the outdoor cafe. He sipped at his coffee while trying to figure out everything before the main character did. Mokuba was in the book store looking at science fiction books, trying to pick out one of the five he had in his hand to buy. He and Seto had the money to buy every book Mokuba wanted, but they knew not to go spending their money willy nilly. Mokuba looked over one of his books as the bells chimed indicating that someone was entering the book store. He glanced up and saw Joey enter with his little sister. He quickly ducked his face back inside the book. "Seto was right about them showing up to the book store. I wonder how he knew."

Serenity went straight to the romance section, and Joey went to the comics, picking up what mostly looked like action, fighting stuff. "Should I talk to Joey? He looks like he is having a good time with his sister." Mokuba kept debating in his head. He saw Serenity approach Joey to show him the book she was getting and finally the younger Kaiba got the courage to go up to the siblings. "Hi, Joey, I didn't think I would see you here," Mokuba said cheerfully, approaching them. "Is this your sister? Hi, I'm Mokuba."

"Nice to meet you, Mokuba, I'm Serenity, Joey's sister," Serenity introduced herself since Joey was momentarily caught off guard by the younger teen's appearance.

"Mokuba, who are you talking to?" Seto asked, walking over to the three, then noticing Joey and his younger sister.

Meanwhile several bookcases over, a certain tomb keeper was also debating on what book to get in the manga section. "They have so many, I don't want to choose just one," he murmured to himself. "But Bakura would probably get angry at me again if I bought twenty volumes like I did last time." He searched the shelves until something caught his eye. "Junjou Romantica? This sounds interesting." He flipped through the pages and almost blushed at how graphic some of the images were. "I wonder if this book series could serve as my Karma Sutra?"

"What are you doing?" A gruff voice asked from behind him. He quickly turned to face an annoyed Bakura whilst hiding the book behind his back. "I've been waiting for thirty minutes now. Haven't you picked something out yet?"

"Something like this can't be rushed, Bakura," Malik protested.

"I don't understand why you can't just steal a computer and download all of this online," Bakura muttered shaking his head.

"Because I like collecting these, and downloading isn't the same," Malik stated matter-of-factly.

"Fair enough," said Bakura before he noticed Malik's hand. "What's that behind your back?"

"Nothing."

Shooting back to Joey and the others, Joey was rather surprised to see Mokuba and Kaiba shopping at the same bookstore as them. Small world, Joey supposed.

"Joey, do you know this man?" Serenity asked him, looking at Seto. "He looks really familiar."

"Yeah, I know him," Joey admitted. "He's… my tutor…Seto Kaiba"

"Really? I'm so very happy to meet you," Serenity told Kaiba. "Thank you so much for helping my brother."

Joey expected Seto to make a derisive remark about Joey's intelligence, but surprisingly Seto held it in.

"Likewise," Seto said promptly back to Serenity. Seto knew the important bond between two siblings and didn't feel it was right to disrespect Joey in front of her.

"Would you two like to join us? We were going to go out for lunch soon. The more the merrier." She smiled sweetly at the Kaiba brothers.

"We would love to," Mokuba said with excitement, but paused to look to his brother. "Wouldn't we, Seto?"

"Please say you will come. I would like to meet more of Joey's friends besides Yugi, Tristan and Tea," Serenity lightly pleaded.

Joey didn't know what to expect from Seto at this point. It was odd enough that he was being polite to his sister, but no insults within the few moments of being in each other's presence was even weirder. "If you want to go, Mokuba, we will go then." He said looking to his brother, but then his eyes drifted towards Joey.

"That's great!" Serenity clapped her hands in excitement. "Let's go then, shall we?" Mokuba and Serenity went up to the register and pay for their books, while the older brothers waited outside for them.

"What're ya up to, Kaiba?" Joey questioned as soon as they stepped outside.

"I'm not up to anything, Wheeler," Seto snapped back, not looking at Joey. Instead he fixed his gaze through the sticker covered window at the younger siblings as they both started to head out the door, talking excitedly to one another.

"Ready to go, Joey?" Serenity asked, approaching her brother with her usual cheery smile.

"Ready when you are, sis," replied Joey maintaining his cheerful demeanor.

The four of them continued going to certain shops; in other words, going into any shop that caught Serenity or Mokuba's interest. Seto noticed that Joey was acting peculiar, sneaking off whenever they entered a place. Normally Seto wouldn't care, since Joey acting odd was actually perfectly normal. However, since Seto was being forced to window shop with three little kids (yes he counted Joey as one), he felt he had the right to know.

There most recent shop was a knick-knack shop, and Joey, surprisingly, wasn't messing with a bunch of the annoying trinkets on display. Instead he was on the other side of the store away from Serenity and Mokuba, looking into one of the glass cases.

"That would be perfect for Serenity," Joey thought to himself, seeing an oval yellow Topaz pendant that was surrounded by small crystals. Joey looked at the price next to the necklace. "Hmm, it's not too bad in price." Joey checked his wallet and had just enough cash on him for the necklace.

Seto walked over to Joey to see what he was looking at. "I didn't know you were into that kind of jewelry, Wheeler," Seto commented quietly in his ear while looking at the necklace.

Joey cocked his neck to look at Seto, looking a little miffed at the jab to his masculinity. "It would be for Serenity. It's her birthday soon and I wanna get her something nice this year. I have just enough money for it too." Joey looked into his wallet yet again. He didn't try to buy much since he was saving up, but he had a little leeway with it when it came to his baby sister.

The man behind the counter pulled out the necklace for Joey to look at, but Seto snatched it out of his hands and began to examine the stone. "The stone is a little cloudy for this asking price." Seto threw it back at the shop keeper, whose face was still in shock from it being snatched from his hands. "Let's go Wheeler, we could find something better than this elsewhere." He began to lightly pull on Joey but the shop keeper dropped the price by thirty percent, causing Seto to let go of Joey. "Thirty five, old man," Seto snapped back. The shop keeper was taken aback, but submitted to Seto's demand.

"What did you do that for, Kaiba?" Joey asked while the shop keeper was wrapping up the necklace for him.

"You said you needed to save up money to live closer to your sister. Consider it her birthday present from me." Seto walked back to Mokuba, who was looking at some old chess sets in a glass case near the front of the store.

Joey was rather amazed once again at the rare moments of charity Seto displayed. He finished paying for the necklace and approached the others. "I'm hungry," Joey declared, his stomach growling loudly. "Who else is ready ta eat?"

"I am," Serenity and Mokuba chorused. The four of them went to a small café on the corner of the street. It looked like a little Italian bistro, covered in deep purple flowers and with lace curtains in the window.

Seto only ordered coffee while everyone else ate their fill, Joey especially. By the time they were done, the day had begun to wind down quickly. Joey decided to make one last purchase, since thanks to Seto he had the extra money to do so. He knew his sister's love for cute cuddly things, so he figured she might like a duel monsters plush. He searched through them, trying to find the one she would like, when he came across one that brought on painful memories, Watapon. He swore he heard Seto chuckle from a few feet away but ignored him. He decided to get the pink fuzzy puff ball, feeling it symbolized his first step in earning the money to afford Serenity a gift. He had it gift wrapped and bagged, then slipped the packaged necklace inside with it.

As the sun was getting ready to set, Joey knew it was time to say farewell to his sister.

"I had a lot of fun, Joey," Serenity told him happily.

"I'm glad," said Joey smiling before handing her the bag. "Here, sis, happy early birthday."

Serenity's eyes widened and filled with tears of happiness as she flung her arms around her brother's chest. "Oh, Joey, you remembered."

"What are ya talking about? I could never forget something as important as my little sister's birthday," Joey said grinning.

"Thank you, big brother," Serenity said taking the gift and turning to Mokuba and Seto. "And thank you both for coming with us. I hope we can meet again."

Mokuba giggled bashfully. "Yeah, if you ever wanna come over sometime feel free. I can show you a bunch of awesome stuff."

"I would love to," Serenity said with a smile before flinging her arms around Joey one last time. "Thanks again everyone, I had a great day." She gave a final wave of farewell and began her journey home.

"Well, Mokuba, it's time to go home. I'll call for the car." Seto started to grab his cell phone, but Mokuba stopped him.

"It's such a nice night, Seto. Let's walk home." Mokuba said before running off. "You too Joey," he shouted back. "You still own me another match in that video game."

Seto and Joey both sighed at Mokuba's never-ending energy and started to walk after him.

As Joey was walking, his eyes kept drifting to Seto's hand. He was wondering if he should grab it or not. He thought of a few nights ago when he grabbed Seto's warm hand. He wasn't sure if the warmth was because of Joey's nervousness or the warmth left over from Seto's coffee cup.

After they walked a few more blocks the thoughts of holding Seto's hands returned to Joey. "When I held his hand last time he never complained. Also, when I asked him if I could do it again he never said no. But then again, he never said yes either." Joey looked around and for the most part they streets were empty besides the few cars driving by them here and there. "You can do it Joey. Just like last time. Just grab it!"

Joey reached out and touched Seto's hand, only being able to hold on to his fingers for just a minute. "What do you think you're doing, Wheeler?" Seto gently placed his hands inside his jacket pockets. "We're in public."

Joey lightly glowered, but dug his hand inside Kaiba's jacket reaching for his hand anyways gripping hard not letting go. "Ya never said 'no' to my text."

"I never said 'yes' either," Seto returned, reenacting Joey's thoughts.

"Look, I just think that if we're gonna do this, then I wanna do it right," Joey said earnestly.

"Take your hand out of my jacket, Wheeler, before I remove it for you."

Joey did as he was told, but he made sure to show his displeasure by looking away from Seto in a very unhappy manner while stuffing his own hands inside his pockets. Seto rolled his eyes at the childish display. By the time they were a few blocks away from Seto's mansion, the sun had set and the stars were beginning to come out. Joey was still feeling a little sullen towards Seto. Would it kill the guy just to be a little affectionate once in a while?

Suddenly Joey felt an intruder in his pocket and cold fingers close around his hand before dragging it out into the open. Joey looked at Seto in disbelief as he let their clasped hands rest naturally between them as a couple should.

"Where is Seto and Joey? I hope I didn't get too far ahead of them." Mokuba looked around, trying not to move his head too suspiciously. Cocking his head over his shoulder, he saw Joey and Seto a good half a block behind him, holding hands while staring at each other. Mokuba noticed that it wasn't a usual hateful glare from Seto, that there was some softness in his eyes. "Brother and Joey, what's going on between the two of them?"

KD: So... see you next time... hopefully?