12. Lost Boys
"Just how long is Sleeping Beauty planning on sleeping anyway? If you want me to show you around, we should do it before dinner. If I remember correctly, after dark the back gets filled with bats, and I hate bats."
Kaiba took the piece of paper and wrote:
Settle down, it's not like I don't know the place. And what's this about bats? I don't have any bat infestation problem in my house.
B.: There's no bats. But we need to do a surveillance to find out if we can trade the decks easily.
Kaiba: …You're right. For once.
He shook Joey awake, and they left for a tour after carefully replacing their accessories. Kaiba kept the paper they used to communicate in his pocket, in case someone decided to snoop in on the room.
B. gleefully showed them around, and Kaiba feigned awe here and there to the eyes he felt all around them. There were security guards in every corner; trading the decks would be hard work.
There was something biting at the back of his mind ever since the whole thing with the crazy one started. It would always dissipate because the maniac always had some lunacy or other to say, but now it came back at full force.
"There is one thing I've been meaning to ask you."
"Yes, I will do you whenever you want." Joey growled at him. "Shush, Puppy. I'll do you too."
"Be serious for a minute. Where's… where's Mokuba?"
"I'm sorry, who?"
Kaiba halted, causing Joey who was following close behind him to crash on his back. "Wh-what do you mean who? Your brother! MY brother!"
"What are you talking about? I don't have a brother."
"OF COURSE YOU HAVE A BROTHER!" Joey pulled insistently on his sleeve to get him to calm down so they wouldn't call attention to themselves. "This world doesn't seem that much different from mine. And if I have a brother, then you must have too. You are also called Kaiba. Weren't you adopted by Gozaburo?"
"Yes, he adopted me. He used to visit the orphanage I lived in and once I challenged him to a game of Poker. I beat him and got him to adopt me. He was the national champion, you know."
"And? Weren't you on the orphanage with your younger brother?"
"No… I was there by myself."
Kaiba leaned against a wall, with his hands on his head. Joey gently stroked his arm, wishing he could speak. But even if he could, he wasn't sure of exactly what to say in that moment.
"This… this doesn't make any sense. How can… how can…" Joey couldn't take it anymore and tried to speak with a low voice.
"Calm down. Maybe… maybe things happened differently. Maybe your – his mother never had Mokuba here. What if she died before she had him?"
"Hmm? What did you say, Puppy? My mother didn't die."
Kaiba looked at him as if he had grown another head. "What? Didn't she die in a car crash along with father?"
"Mmmm… no, not to my knowledge. And I never saw any father besides Gozaburo. But my waste of space of a mother dropped me at the orphanage and left. She was a druggie. She did try to contact me after I became filthy rich, but my lawyers advised me against it. And I didn't have any interest in her anyway." He spoke cheerfully, but they could see he wasn't being totally truthful.
Neither Kaiba nor Joey could think of anything to say. They were too perplexed to express anything but a dull, slightly pitiful look.
"Aw, you don't have to feel sorry for me. That bastard Gozaburo was a blast! We had some great times together."
"Wh-wh… Gozaburo was… nice?"
"Well, I wouldn't say 'nice' exactly, since he would kick my ass whenever I lost a game, but it was thanks to him that I came to be the Master. And also why I know so many dirty jokes; he'd tell me one each night before bed, instead of a bedtime story. Well, I don't think he knew exactly how to deal with five-year olds. Oh, you guys made me think about that old turd. Okay, you can show pity now." He pretended to wipe tears from the corners of his eyes.
It took a little while for Kaiba to recover from all those revelations, but when he did, something came up to him. "Wait. You said you were five when Gozaburo adopted you?"
"Yes. I was four when she left me there, and I spent one year playing orphan."
"So that's it then!"
"What is?"
"The whole orphanage thing happened way before with you. Mokuba… he hadn't been born yet. But then she had him when you were five, probably around the time you left the orphanage. You have a little brother, you crazy prick! How's that for a 'I'm your father'-type revelation?"
"I… I do? B-but… but where was he?"
"What?"
"Where was he, your brother, in your world?"
"Oh, I had him go to a safe-house, around the time things started to get strange. Didn't want to expose him to you."
"Oh, c'mon! I'm totally big brother material. By the way, how come you hate Star Wars so much and know all the quotes from it?"
Kaiba sighed. "Mokuba makes me watch all the movies with him every once in a while."
"Wow. I hope I get to watch them with my little brother too. I have a little brother! Mokuba. Hm. I wonder if I should call him Mokie… Hey, I do vaguely remember seeing a little boy with long hair once, when I first started showing up there, was that him?"
Kaiba smiled fondly, suddenly missing his brother. A lot. "Yeah."
oOo
They were back in the room. A man they had never seen before had warned them dinner would be served in ten minutes. Joey grabbed the paper from Kaiba's pocket, taking the opportunity that B. was in the bathroom.
Are you sure you should be saying these things to him? What if his mother really didn't have Mokuba?
Kaiba: No, she did. He exists here too. I know he does.
Joey: How?
Kaiba: I… can't explain. Can you imagine a world without your sister? I'm pretty sure she's around here somewhere as well.
Joey: Serenity… I hope she's okay.
B. left the bathroom, and Joey shoved the paper back in Kaiba's pocket.
"You know, I feel… renovated. I can't quite elaborate…" He pointed to the bugs he had found behind one picture and under the carpet. "…But I think good things await us. Such as… dinner! Is it ready yet?"
"In about five minutes I guess." Kaiba pointed to one on the ceiling lamp and another stuck to the footboard of the bed. Joey just gaped, marvelled with their investigation skills.
"Wonderful. I'm starving. Oh, in case you get bored after dinner, I'll leave this for you." He handed Kaiba the crosswords.
Kaiba folded the thin booklet and tucked it in his pocket, along with the other secrets. After hearing a soft knock on the door, they left for dinner.
oOo
At the table, the Master showed more of his foppish and smug manners. Until, to Joey's delight, he got a call from Serenity. Apparently she wanted him to "come home". She insisted to the point he got annoyed.
"Alright already! Give it a rest, eh? I'll see you when I see you." He hung up the phone a bit flustered and ordered the butler to fill up his glass. "Sisters, eh. What you gonna do."
B. seemed completely thrilled, while Kaiba just watched without really understanding why the Master's affected behaviour had vanished all of a sudden, and now he sounded like his Joey. Yes, he allowed himself to think it; he just didn't want to say it out loud. Even the voice was the same now, and Kaiba realised he changed his voice like that while trying to conceal a certain accent.
Joey looked appalled. I… I sound so stupid!
oOo
Just as they were about to go back to the room, the Master grabbed B.'s arm. "Sorry folks, but I reeeeally need him now. With me, chief." He sounded vaguely inebriated.
He tried to plead with Kaiba again, but this time there was no way around it.
TBC
For the record, I don't think Joey sounds stupid at all, I find the whole Brooklyn thing super cute, even if it doesn't make the least bit of sense. Well, nothing makes sense in the 4Kids version... but it's fun nonetheless. Now Katsuya Jounouchi … hmmm that's one sexy boy…
Will this rating go up or not? Tune in next time to find out~~~ also some more texting between the boys. Sorry, the room is bugged _ I don't even remember why I did that in the first place. Probably just to screw with Joey :D
B. in a bucket hat and aviators, and a cigarette holder on his lips: "We can't stop here, this is bat country!"