Yawning widely and clutching a cup of herbal tea, Joey's sleep-crippled roommate plodded into the living room and clouted her shin on the metal frame of the extended sofa bed.

The open window had been letting in a chilly breeze all morning so, shivering, and eyes barely open, Téa had dragged herself from the frigid kitchen to the living room window and almost amputated herself on the way to close it. Cursing, tea dripping onto the floor, she sat down to rub her knee vigorously, checking for a scrape.

"Stupid bed," she said, slapping the mattress. The bed seemed unperturbed. She smoothed away the impression her hand had left and began to wonder why Joey had dragged it out in the first place. The thought made her a little sad. It had been so long since anyone had slept there.

She stood up, and that's when she spotted it: a lone, tall glass with only about an inch of water in the bottom. In the water floated two half-smoked cigarettes. She looked to the open window and put two-and-two together.

Who had stayed with Joey last night?

Standing up, she scooted around the bed to finally close the window, but she stopped dead with her fingers on the handle, mouth open.

That car.

Téa did not know much about motoring but she could appreciate a luxury vehicle when she saw one. It was beautifully curvaceous, sleek, black; the dew on the bonnet sparkling in the watery morning sunshine. She slowly pulled the window closed.

Someone had definitely stayed last night. There was no way anyone in this building could afford a car like that in a million years. There was only one person she could think of that could possibly drive a thing like that but she could not imagine what he would be doing in England, let alone in Joey's room all night.

It was just as this thought was waved away that a stiff, curt voice cut through the quiet so suddenly that she jumped and almost spilt her tea a second time.

"Ahem. Good morning."


Seto Kaiba had awoken to the sound of crowing.

This was most strange, as he could not recall ever hearing chickens outside his bedroom window. He was fairly sure the groundskeeper would have kept a tab on something like that. Then he opened his eyes and remembered where he was. Leaning up on one arm and rubbing his face with the other, he took in his surroundings.

Joey's room was bathed in cool, yellow light filtering through the drawn curtains. His few possessions were stacked untidily on shelves around the room and a wardrobe was crammed into one corner, spilling clothes through its gaping aperture. Every draw was open with assorted garments tumbling out onto the floor. The only thing hanging in the wardrobe, Kaiba noticed through the open door, was an old but carefully conserved green leather jacket.

An old television with a Playstation lay at the foot of Joey's bed, propped up on a sturdy box: a makeshift shelf. There was also a small, bare desk and a chair, on which lay Kaiba's clothes.

Kaiba sat up carefully and looked to his sleeping partner. Joey was coiled away from him, facing the wall, the arm he laid on flung above his head. His hair was curled and matted from sleep and he snored gently.

From outside, the neighbours' chickens cackled incessantly.

Kaiba rubbed the sleep away from his face, trying to arrange his thoughts. He slipped out of the bed and gathered his clothes up, shrugging them on as quietly as possible. From there he ducked out of the bedroom, tidying his hair, in his search for some coffee. Joey did not so much as stir.

Kaiba's feet made no noise on the coarse carpet and, as he walked past, he threw a sideways glance to Téa's bedroom door. It was ajar. There was no movement inside.

In the kitchen, he began to help himself to a mug and a generous helping of sugar. The kettle was still steaming, and as he pressed a hand to test it, he heard the squeak of a window being closed coming from the flat proper. Not one to skulk and hide, Kaiba squared his shoulders and walked with deliberation into the living room.

Téa had her back to him and so he cleared his throat so as not to startle her.

"Ahem," he said. She jumped. Oh well. "Good morning."

"Kaiba?" She looked stunned. The mug of tea in her hand was in danger of being dropped to the floor. "What…? How did you…? Why…?"

She trailed off. Kaiba shifted his stance to what he hoped was a more neutral one, searching for something to lean on to hide his fidgeting limbs but there was nothing. "I saw Wheeler last night," he offered feebly.

"I guessed," she said, looking at the bed, then back at her unorthodox houseguest. "Did you stay the night?"

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. Swallowing a sarcastic remark, he simply said, "Yes."

"In… here?"

He could lie. She looked like she wanted a lie.

"Erm. No."

"I need to sit down."

She did so, shaking her head, mouth still agape. She put the tea down finally, clearly too distracted to drink it now. Kaiba had no words to offer so he remained silent. There were questions burning in the air, he knew, but he resolved to only answer the necessary ones and avoid the rest. Instead, Téa surprised him by saying,

"So do you want some breakfast, or…?"

"I started making a coffee," he interjected, not rudely. "I always do."

"I'm sorry," she said, standing, "I don't mean to be rude, Seto. This is very strange. I haven't seen you in such a long time, I'm just surprised. It's been, like, three years?"

"I presume so."

"Hm. Well, it's good to see you." She finally smiled. "I am serious about the breakfast, though, if you're hungry. There's cereal and I think Joey bought bacon yesterday."

"Yes, he was quite vocal about it," Kaiba said with an embarrassed smirk.

"Right," Téa laughed. "Um, I have to get to class, but please help yourself to anything you want in the kitchen. I like your car by the way."

"Thank you," he said with a small nod of his head.

She scooted past him and made a show of walking to her bedroom door. When he was safely in the kitchen and she heard the chink of a spoon against a china cup, she made a beeline for Joey's bedroom.

Barging in without knocking, she quietly clicked the door shut behind her and dragged Joey's unconscious carcass around with a great heave of both arms.

"Joey," she hissed, shaking him. "Wake up, you doofus, you gotta explain what is going on here."

"What?" he grumbled, flinging an arm out of her grip and covering his head with it. "What are you on about, woman?"

"Don't call me that," she hissed. "Kaiba's in the kitchen. What happened last night?"

With what looked like great effort, Joey sat up, blinking blearily and rubbing sleep from his eyes. Téa clambered onto the sheets and was staring at him intently.

"I don't know," Joey began, with a huge yawn. "He was at the restaurant when I finished work. Said he asked Tristan where I was and stopped by there before jetting back to Domino. But other than that I don't know jack shit about what he's doing here. We went to the pub. Came back, ate crumpets." He grimaced. "Oh, yeah, sorry about the cigarettes." Téa waved her hand: it's nothing, get to the point. "And fell asleep."

"That's it?" she demanded. Then she dropped her voice to a ragged whisper. "Joey, he stayed in your room."

"Uh…" Joey looked at the crumpled bedsheets. "Oh…"

When he looked back at Téa his ears were a brilliant scarlet and his lips were pressed into a hard line of abasement.

"Oh my God." Téa's hands flew to her mouth as she jumped up. "Joey, what-"

"Dude, shh!" Joey waved his arms and gestured erratically in the direction of the kitchen. "It's not a big deal, I come back with people all the time."

"Yeah, but not Kaiba," she said, still aghast. "What the… I thought you hated his guts?"

"I did, but whatever. It's been so long now, and the guy came toting a flag of friendship so I got caught up." Joey flung back the covers, hunting for his underpants. Téa huffed embarrassedly and turned her back. "Look, I ain't saying it was smart, but I was hammered and he looked hot." Téa flapped her arms once in exasperation.

"I do not get you," she said. Fed up with him hunting naked around her for his underpants, she grabbed them by two fingers from under the desk where she had spotted them ages ago and thrust them at him. "I can't believe this at all. I thought you were still moping about Mai."

"Dude, it's really not that big of a-"

The door suddenly opened. Téa swung around in shock and tried to look as though she had wandered in there by accident. Joey hoisted his underpants up so fast he gave himself a wedgie. Kaiba blinked in the doorway holding two steaming mugs, his elbow on the handle.

Téa squeaked out something about being late and dashed past him, throwing Joey a 'we-will-talk-about-this-later' look over her shoulder. Kaiba came in and closed the door.

"Was I interrupting?" he said, motioning over his shoulder.

"Nah, she was just being a nuisance," said Joey, grinning. He readjusted his underwear and sank onto the bed. Kaiba came and joined him.

"Do you get naked in front of all of your friends?" Kaiba said offhandedly, passing Joey one of the mugs and taking a sip from his own. Joey just shrugged.

"It's just a body; I don't get the big deal." Besides, he couldn't find his pants.

Kaiba snorted derisively.

"So," said Joey, "did you sleep okay?"

"I did," said Kaiba, "until the chickens in the garden started squawking this morning."

"Oh, right," Joey laughed, peeking out the curtains. "I forgot about them. Bet that was weird for you."

Kaiba blew on his coffee. "I can't say I expected it."

Silence fell. There was an extraordinary elephant in the room that neither of them were sure would be appropriate to approach directly. Joey, not being the sort to take precautions, decided to take a swing at it.

"So," he began again, "we gonna talk about what happened?"

Kaiba pressed his lips together and peered into his mug. Drinks, he decided, were an excellent way to avoid eye contact. "I didn't really mean to go that far," he admitted.

"No one does," said Joey wisely. "So you're… gay?" He drew out the last word, expecting Kaiba to contradict him, but Kaiba only turned his head away. "Huh. Probably should have guessed."

"Doesn't this make you the same?" Kaiba grunted.

"Not considering how many ladies there's been before you," Joey hooted unashamedly. "But yeah I guess I don't qualify for straight anymore. A bit bent. Slightly bent. Somewhere in the middle? Is that a thing?"

Kaiba shook his head in disbelief. "Yes," he said hoarsely, "it's a thing."

"Cool." Joey downed the rest of his coffee and stood up, stretching. "I'm hungry," he announced. "You wanna eat here? I'm not working today so whatever you want to do is cool with me."

Kaiba looked at him quizzically for so long that Joey started making faces at him until he cracked up. It was a short laugh, more like an elongated snort than anything else, but it seemed to relax him. He passed Joey his mug, which was placed together with its partner on the desk and said,

"Fine, let's go get breakfast."


A/N: Blasting through the exposition.

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