Author's Note: Okay, okay, I know it's been literally forever since I updated this thing, but I've decided that this will probably be the best way for me to update from now on. I'll update at least one chapter a week, usually during the weekend, and that's probably it. I'm sorry, but I'm involved in so much stuff, and school has to come first. Just know I'm not leaving this story behind until it is finished!! : )

Chapter 35 – Group Discussion

Yugi, Tea, and Tristan were all sitting at their usual table in the cafeteria, awaiting the arrival of their fourth and final friend. All three of them knew what was coming, but they knew it had to be done. They sat in silence, each eating his or her own meal, before Joey Wheeler came over and sat down, not once bothering to break the awkward and uncomfortable aura hovering above the table. At last, Tea decided to crush it. After all, she was the one that had brought this to the attention of the other two boys; she might as well be the one to start what was going to be a long and tiring process.

"Joey—" she began, but was quickly cut off by Joey letting out a long sigh.

"I know," he answered softly, looking down at his pizza in shame. "I talked to the guy last night."

The entire group blinked in surprise at this. "What do you mean you talked to him last night?" Tea asked. "Are we talking about the same person here?"

"If you mean your boyfriend, then yes," he stated, his voice still low. All three sets of shoulders sank, releasing the tenseness previously held.

"Maybe this will be easier than we all thought if he already talked to Seto about this…" Tea had already told Yugi and Tristan about the message Joey had left for her new boyfriend, which did more than just slightly upset the two. Nobody could understand the blonde's frustration with her being with the CEO of KaibaCorp. Sure, there was a bad, perhaps even awful, history with the two, but Joey had constantly fought Seto because he was unsociable and rude. Was it so shocking that he turned away from the idea that the cold-hearted persona Seto created for himself wasn't the true thing?

"I tried calling him several times at work, but then he called me back after he said he got home from going out to eat with Mokuba and…you," Joey continued. "I realized how I let myself go when I left him that message, and I wanted to apologize to him about it. It hit me how, if I got a girlfriend and none of you trusted her, it wouldn't be right for you all to leave messages like that. So I figured I would give him a call."

"And how did the call go?" Tristan asked, eyeing his friend with a concerned look.

"It went well, to be perfectly honest," Joey replied after taking another bite out of his slice of pizza. "I was so surprised to hear him not yelling at me for once, especially after what I had done."

"What all did you two say?" Tea asked, leaning forward onto the table. This was all new to her; Seto must have talked with him after he had left her apartment.

"Well, at first he was very angry at me about the whole thing, which was understandable," Joey began to explain. "I told him I was sorry and that I recognized how out of line I really was. We then began talking about how you two met, and his story matched yours, so I guess I have to apologize to you as well for not believing you."

"Apology accepted," Tea stated, a small smile appearing on her face, though she wondered if Seto had told Joey about the orphanage or not.

"I'm glad to see the old Joey back!" Tristan exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders. "No more 'Senior Asshole', eh?"

All three laughed at the comment, and even Joey chuckled slightly. "Yeah, I've decided to get over it. That talk with Kaiba really helped."

"So you accept the fact that we're together now?" Tea questioned. Joey nodded his head in approval, making Tea smile widely. "Well that's good to hear. I didn't want another fight last time."

"Me neither, which I guess was one of the reasons I decided to give him a call."

"What made you suddenly freak like that though, Joey?" Yugi asked after sipping his drink. "I mean, you really seemed pissed off about the whole situation."

"Think of all that guy and I have been through, Yugi," Joey stated. "I mean, were all those insults and comments supposed to just melt away? All the things that we said to each other weren't for fun or out of kindness. The thought that Tea was dating somebody who calls me a dog didn't sit well with me."

"I guess I can understand…but you're okay with it now, correct?"

"Isn't that what I just said?" Yugi chuckled and nodded his head at this. "Besides, that Kaiba… He's something else."

"What do you mean?" Tea asked, taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"He said…that he would never let anything happen to you," Joey answered. "He seemed so honest and…upset over the fact that I questioned his loyalty to you. He told me at least twice that he would never let anything happen to you. Ever."

"Well of course he would be upset over that. With the whole Sophie incident and her deaeth… It's hard to imagine him not being protective about a girlfriend. Then again, they don't know that…and they probably don't need to."

"At least you know that he's willing to protect our Tea over here," Tristan replied jokingly.

"Yeah, I know. It was just…different, I guess."

"See, I told you he was nice on the inside!" Tea exclaimed. "And none of you believed me! Besides, you have all seen the strength in his relationship with Mokuba. He truly thinks of friends in the same respect as he does family. I guess that's why he doesn't have many… He holds them in such high respect."

"That does explain a lot…" Tristan pointed out. "And I have to admit that if I were Mokuba, I would feel very safe with somebody like Kaiba as an older brother. I mean, we've been present when he risked his life for his brother."

"Yeah…" The memories of Seto on the top of Pegasus's tower, willing to throw himself off for the sake of winning…of him passing his winning shot in Noa's world to save his brother from the resulting blow… "He's just that way with friends and family. He's lost so many…and holds them in such high regard that…he'll do anything for them. Suddenly it's not so hard to think of why Seto was so devastated over the loss of Sophie."

"Well, hopefully it never comes to a situation like that within your relationship," Yugi assuredly stated.

"Yes, let's hope not," Tea agreed.

"Speaking of him, where is he?" Joey asked, looking around the cafeteria. "I wanted to thank him for talking to me last night since I know it could have been a thousand times worse, but I haven't seen him all day. Was he in any of your classes, Tea?"

Thinking back to class, she blinked in surprise and shook her head no. "I guess he wasn't…"

"I wonder why. He sounded fine last night even though I called him at, like, midnight. He's usually not absent from school either."

"I'll give him a call after school," Tea replied, remembering that she had to go to the orphanage today. "Maybe he's sick."

"Figures," Joey complained. "The moment I at least try to be respectful to him, and he becomes ill."

"It was destiny that you two should never get along!" Yugi joked, making the whole group burst out laughing.

"Grr, haven't we had enough of destiny?!" Joey exclaimed.

"Apparently not," Tristan stated. "I hope that guy isn't sick, though. Other than the time you beat the crap out of him, Joey, I've never seem him really sick or injured."

"I know. That guy defines 'invincibility'."

Tea blinked in surprise again but chose to ignore their comments and went back to eating their food. "His façade works in more ways than one, I guess," she thought, taking the last bite of her sandwich. "Not only do people think of him as this cruel individual, but they think he's unbreakable, invincible as Joey just put it. Yet he cannot he even sleep without…" Tea stopped drinking her iced tea, the realization hitting her. "Is that why he's not here? Are his nightmares plaguing him again? He said he didn't want any medication for it, which is understandable given his history with prescription drugs, but if that's really the case… Maybe Mokuba was right. Maybe he really should ask the doctors if there's anything he can do to stop them."

"I think he just took off to get work done at KaibaCorp," Yugi replied. "I can't see him taking off school just because of a cold. He just doesn't seem to be that type of a person."

"Or maybe Mokuba forced him to stay home and chill out," Tristan chimed in. "That guy doesn't understand the concept of taking a break."

"Who cares?" Joey asked. "What can we do about it if he's not here? I just hope it's not some curse I put on him for trying to be nice."

"Perhaps I should give Jade a call and see if she knows anything about it," Tea thought. "She always seems to know what's going on in the Kaiba mansion. Mokuba probably calls her up when Seto isn't feeling well to inform her, especially when he's supposed to head over to the orphanage…like tonight."

"Well, I guess we'll find out tomorrow what happened," Joey concluded before taking a sip of his drink. "Until then, I hope he doesn't blame his absence on me."

"Will Seto even show up tonight if he's not at school? Highly doubtful. He wouldn't want the kids getting sick if that was really the case, but he also would have to deal with Jade and me if he only got two hours of sleep. Seto… That's what you get for befriending a bunch of worrisome girls."

Tea chuckled lightly at her comment before opening a bag of cookies. "So what do you two do when you hang out?" Tristan asked, looking over at Tea. "I mean, I can't picture Kaiba being one to go out on dates…"

"We just do random things, really. Last weekend, it was Mokuba's idea to have me come and swim over at their house. They have a really beautiful pool. We went out to eat last night, the three of us, but they always dress up so that nobody recognizes them."

"Dress up?" Yugi questioned, his eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Not dressing up in the sense of Halloween. They just dress differently, and you'd be amazed at how nobody recognizes them. Maybe I'll tell them to dress up one day and see if you guys can notice them. But we've also…" Remembering the scene from the orphanage, Tea swallowed the small lump in her throat and said, "We've also gone a couple of places just to hang out."

"So Kaiba can act like a normal teenager, huh?" Tristan asked.

"You'd be amazed…" she repeated, knowing that they didn't truly grasp how different Seto was around her and his friends. It was literally two different people sharing one body; how could she explain that to Seto's rivals-now-acquaintances?

"Well, we better get going," Yugi said as he quickly stood up. "Lunch is going to be over soon. Tell Kaiba we all said hi."

"Yeah, and tell him I didn't mean for him to get sick!" Joey exclaimed as he bolted out of his seat to go throw his tray away. Tea laughed and nodded her head in understanding.

"Alright, I'll see you guys later." Grabbing her trash, she turned around and threw it away in a nearby trash can before heading off to her next class. "I'll go to the orphanage and see if Jade knows anything. If she, somehow or other, doesn't, then I'll call him up and make sure he's okay. I don't want to see him have to get new medication either…"