Black out
Chapter 5
Joey stared while Seto disappeared into the apartment building.
"He can't have keys," Mai said over the phone. "At least I don't think he can, so what are you talking about? Or did he get an apartment there too to be closer to you?"
"How the hell would I know?" Joey asked. "All I do know is that he just opened that stupid door down there and walked right in. And I got a bad feeling that he'll be inside of my apartment in a moment."
"Firstly, a door can't be stupid," Mai mused. "And secondly, he can't come into your apartment. You're the only one who has a key aren't you?"
"Well, Yugi got a spare one since I always forget mine," Joey replied. "But I'm sure he wouldn't give it to Kaiba."
"Just tell me what happens," Mai ordered, already curious.
But Joey didn't really get to tell her anything because he really did hear someone inserting a key into his door. The sound was followed by the click of the door opening and then steps were heard until Seto appeared in the room Joey was in. "How did ya get in here?" Joey asked, still shocked.
"Through the door," Kaiba answered, still smirking triumphantly while he moved a hand to Joey's phone and pressed the red button to end the call before Joey's surprise had faded enough to stop him.
"Hey!" Joey complained. "I was talking to someone."
"Mai can wait," Kaiba replied. "But our dinner reservation can't. After all I still owe you a dinner."
"What do ya owe me a dinner for?" Joey asked, suspicious.
"Did I fail to mention it?" Seto asked, grinning smugly at Joey. "You let me borrow your keys so I could quickly make spare ones before the next morning in exchange for a dinner. Well technically you already had a pizza that night on our way to the hotel, and it looked like you rather enjoyed it, but I don't really consider a pizza on the go to be a dinner."
Joey glared at him and asked, "Anything else ya failed to mention to me?"
"Not that I can think of right now," Seto answered with a smug smile.
"Are ya sure?" Joey asked and remembered the questions Mai had asked. "It's not like I want to find out in a few days that ya made me adopt a kid with ya too."
"Don't be ridicules," Seto said with a sigh. "I could hardly put a child in this kind of situation. I mean you're not even living with me yet."
"Why can't ya be as considerate to me as you are to kids and dogs?" Joey asked and hoped that he had been right.
"Because there is no point," Seto answered. "If I would be I'd never get to spend any time with you, and you can deal with it anyway."
Joey smiled a little and said, "Just give me a sec. Where are we going to have dinner? After all I guess I need to get changed into something a little more fancy."
Joey was sure that he would have to do that since Seto still wore the fancy white suit with a light blue tie he had at work. It looked great on him, especially since the top wasn't very long and Joey was sure that he would get a great view on Seto's butt once he got a little behind him.
"Don't bother," Seto replied. "You look great and I wouldn't take you to a place with a dress code anyway."
"Why?" Joey asked, upset. "Afraid that I don't know how to behave myself and that I'll embarrass ya?"
"You might have trouble with the correct behavior at such a place, but I don't tend to care what others think so I wouldn't really mind," Seto answered. "I'm more afraid that you won't enjoy your time there and won't want to go out for dinner with me again."
"Ya got a point there," Joey answered, grinning. He knew that Seto would have every right to fear that Joey wouldn't behave perfectly in a high-class place. Joey was no fool, he knew perfectly well that his manners weren't always perfect, but not because he didn't know how to behave, he usually just didn't feel like following all those ridicules rules. If he felt like burping, why not do it? Joey had just been upset because he didn't want Seto to look down on him because of it. Now he liked that Seto was instead considering his interests than his manners when choosing a good place to take him. "So where are ya taking me?"
"Somewhere you might like even less," Seto answered with a grin.
Joey looked confused. He didn't want to go to a place where he would have to behave all the time and feel totally out of place. "So ya ain't taking me to a fancy place because I would hate it, and you take me to another place that I will hate even more instead?"
"No," Seto replied with a grin. "I said you might hate it. I know that you're not the kind for fancy places and I know that you would hate that for sure. That's why I won't take you there. As for the place I organized today, I honestly have no idea if you'll like it or hate it. I would like to try it though. Like I said, I don't consider pizza a good dinner and that's the only place I know you'd love."
"I like fries and burgers too," Joey suggested.
"They're worse than pizza," Seto replied, still smiling.
"Too bad," Joey answered, not surprised by Seto's reply at all. "So where are we going?"
"You'll see," Seto answered. "By the way, since you like pizza, I assume that you're not apposed to Italian food?"
"Depends on what kind. But I like most kinds of pasta, and I love lasagna," Joey answered.
"Then I assume you'll enjoy the food at least," Seto assumed, smiling.
"Sounds good," Joey answered, happy that he wouldn't have to eat snails, frog legs or other stuff like that.
"Great," Seto said with a happy smile. "Then lets go. And by the way, if you really hate the food, I can still get you a pizza."
"Yeah!" Joey cheered. "Can I get both too?"
Seto just laughed and took Joey's hand before he answered, "Let's get one thing at a time."
Joey felt strange holding hands with Seto Kaiba and getting pulled towards his car, but the view from being dragged after Kaiba nearly made up for that. Still, they had fought so often that it was strange to hold hands in public and Joey blushed a little and even briefly considered to just let go of Seto's hand. Unfortunately the grip on his hand was so tight that he would have to force it free of Kaiba's grip and he didn't want to hurt his feelings by doing that. "What's wrong with me anyway?", Joey wondered. "I had sex with him and that's way more than just holding hands, so why do I even care?"
He looked along the street, unable to really enjoy the view in front of him and feeling like he should just run back home and hide. He wouldn't even care to have sex with Seto there, just not being out here holding his hand. That wish brought a thought to Joey's mind that he didn't really like. "Maybe this feels so strange because I don't love him. I probably just like having sex with him. I probably should end this soon if it really is that way."
Once they reached the car Joey watched Seto's face, a little smile was on it and it actually looked strange. Before today, Joey had never seen such a smile on the other's face. It wasn't like it was the first time Joey saw him smile. He had seen Seto smile smugly when he won at something, or even evilly when he planned to do something. Joey had even seen a soft and caring smile that was given to Mokuba as well as a longing and lustful smile, or rather grin, that had been on Kaiba's face earlier on the same day. But this smile wasn't like any smile Joey had ever seen before and he wasn't sure why it made Seto look so strange, nor what might be the cause of the smile. "What are ya thinking?" Joey asked while Seto opened a door for him.
Seto looked at Joey, still with the same strange smile on his face, "I'm wondering if you'll like our dinner tonight."
Joey watched Seto a moment before he silently got inside of the car, feeling even more strange that Seto was so gentleman like towards him. "I'm no freaking lady," he thought and pouted.
"Did something upset you?" Seto asked from the driver's seat.
"Yeah," Joey mumbled with a blush. "I can open my own damn doors. Ya don't have to treat me like a girl."
"You'll get used to it," Seto said nonchalantly with a shrug.
"And if I don't want to get used to it?" Joey asked, slightly upset that Seto obviously didn't care at all about his opinion on this specific matter. "Why do I have to get used to it anyway? Can't ya just quit that gentleman rubbish?"
"No, I can't," he answered. "You'll have to get used to it, and you will."
"Why?" Joey asked. "It ain't fair if only one of us tries to adapt to the other. At least try to ease up on that stuff, especially where someone can see us."
"You might have a point, but you'll still have to get used to it," Seto said with a smug smile. At least Joey knew that smile and why he had that smug look on his face. "I've never adapted to anything before and never will."
"You really are a jerk," Joey replied, even more angry and thought, I really will have to get out of this and fast.
"Usually I would disagree, but under the circumstances I might be slightly inclined to agree," Seto answered. "But I'm not saying it because I'm mean and I have no intention of upsetting you with my actions, I say it simply because you're the one who can adapt much more easily. You're better at it."
Joey stared at him in disbelief and wondered when exactly hell had frozen over. Had Seto Kaiba just told him, Joey Wheeler, mister third rate duellist, the one he always looked down on, the street dog, that Joey was better at something then Mister superman? "What made ya say that?" Joey asked after a moment of shock.
"I'm simply stating a fact. I never adapted to anything really, so I have little to no practice at all at it," Seto pointed out again.
"That's a lie," Joey answered. "You adapted into our class."
"Wrong," Seto corrected. "I was forced to sit through it but never truly participated in any activities where my attendance wasn't a necessity to pass into the next grade, and I missed classes whenever it was possible. I didn't listen to the teacher either since I already knew everything the guy knew and then some and saw little to no reason to respect someone who knew less than I did and still tried to tutor me, which is why I cared reasonably little to what they ordered me to do and only worked a little more during my last term to reach a better report card so I could enter whatever college I wished if I ever would see a reason to do so at all. I'm also sure you'll agree that I did far less than the minimum on social, out of class activities and had little to no interactions to any of my class mates apart from you, Yugi and the rest of his cheerleader gang. And I only had that contact due to some really strange circumstances and the fact that Yugi mysteriously managed to beat me repeatedly, which unfortunately made it unavoidable to interact with Yugi at the very least. And the fact that I couldn't have one descent conversation with you even though I was in love with you back then makes it quiet clear to me that you can hardly call that adapting to anything."
"You adapted after getting adopted," Joey tried again after absorbing the information that Kaiba had obviously already been in love with him for quite some time and seemed to be even more emotionally disturbed than Joey had expected by now.
"I took over the company and drove the annoying bastard into suicide," Seto pointed out. "Are you sure that you're willing to even consider that adapting to the new environment?"
Joey thought for a moment again and then found the perfect way to prove that Seto could adapt, "You used to be a single child. I mean before Mokuba was born and you adapted to having a brother."
"I hated being a single child," Seto pointed out dryly. "I actually even swiped some hormones from our local pharmacy and secretly mixed it into some of my mother's food and drinks, aiming for a higher chance of getting a sibling, even risking that she might get multiple children at once and I was even secretly hoping for that. I wanted one sibling at least, so once again I changed my surroundings accordingly to my wishes instead of adapting to unchangeable surroundings."
"I guess ya ain't just a jerk," Joey said. "You're a selfish jerk."
Seto laughed. "But I haven't adapted to anything so far, so I fear you'll have to instead."
"And what if I don't?" Joey asked. "What if I don't have enough interest in you to change myself according to your wishes?"
"Then I change that fact and make you. I managed to get you to go on a date with me and I bet that if anyone had told you that a few weeks ago you would have laughed about it and bet against it, certain that it would never happen, and yet here you are in my car on the way to a date with me," Seto replied.
"I guess I need to add arrogant to the selfish jerk," Joey answered.
"Who cares?" Seto asked, "As long as you like me that way."
"Who said I do?" Joey asked.
Seto smiled his most smug smile and answered, "Your smile."
Joey froze for a moment, noticing just than that he really was smiling. It was fun to argue about things with Seto a little. Joey watched Seto a little longer. The smug smile slowly turning into the same smile that he had before, the one that made him look so different, softer even than when he watched Mokuba with pride. "Is it arrogance that's making him smile that way? He is probably picturing all the different ways he could manipulate me further." Joey thought.
Seto didn't really look arrogant though and Joey knew how his arrogant triumphant smiles looked, and so he kept wondering about the reasons behind those smiles. But most of all he wondered why he felt so much more comfortable himself now that they where in Seto's car and playfully bickering with each other. "Maybe it's not just the sex." Joey thought but wasn't sure about anything at the moment.
A little while later they reached the Kaiba mansion. "Did ya forget something?" Joey asked. He had expected that Kaiba would take him to a restaurant, maybe not too fancy with a dress code but still a nice and expensive place.
"No," Seto said grinning. "We just reached our goal."
"Wait," Joey pouted, "you just drove all the way to pick me up just to drive back here with me? Ya could have told me to come."
"Apart from the fact that you actually said that you're too lazy to walk and that I should pick you up, that wouldn't be very gentleman like," Seto replied.
"I hate gentlemen," Joey answered. "They waste fuel, destroy the environment and annoy the hell out of me."
Seto laughed, surprising Joey with the sound of it. It wasn't the first time he heard him laugh but it still was strange to hear him laugh genuinely amused and happy rather then evilly. Seto stopped the car right in front of the main entrance. Once they were out of the car someone walked over and got inside of the car to drive it away, obviously having a spare key.
"You don't pay someone to drive your car into the garage do ya?" Joey asked and stared after the car.
"Of course not," Seto answered. "He's also in charge of cleaning them, ensuring that they're always full when I want to drive one of them and to ensure that they're running and all the lights are working as well as ensuring that I never have to wait for the right car when I want to leave and walk out of the front door."
"Now we're at spoiled, arrogant, selfish jerk," Joey pointed out but grinned anyway and wondered how the hell that guy knew when he needed to drive what car to the front entrance. He wasn't really surprised though and considering that Seto worked very hard to earn his money he deserved to spoil himself a little.
Seto looked at Joey and answered, "I hope you appreciate the fact that you're the only one who gets away with saying such things to me."
"I'm surprised that ya haven't had to adapt to more people saying that," Joey said. "Because it's the truest thing I know and I'm really wondering why no one else calls ya that."
"Because they would regret it for the remainder of their, hopefully long but most certainly miserable, life," Seto answered calmly and walked inside of his mansion.
"I guess ya really ain't a jerk at all," Joey admitted and saw a surprised look on the other's face, which caused him to grin even more when he said, "Calling ya a jerk would still be a compliment, you're way worse."
"Do you want your food now or what?" Seto asked and held his hand towards Joey, completely ignoring the harsh comment and still smiling happily because no matter what Joey said he was there with him on a real date, and Seto didn't even need to black mail him into it.
Joey wondered for a moment if he should take Seto's hand again or not. It had been strange to do that before but they hadn't been alone that time so he decided to take it, and it was still strange but less uncomfortable than before. It felt just strange because Joey didn't usually hold someone's hand, but not because he didn't want to and definitely didn't feel like hiding or even getting his hand out of Seto's grip. It was okay-ish.
Seto led them out into the garden at the back of the mansion and the sight there was magnificent. There were lights all over the place in bushes and big lights were shining on a huge fountain, producing a little rainbow in the air. It wasn't completely dark yet but it still looked magnificent. The air was a little fresh to be outside but it wasn't too cold and Joey could see a fire lit in a big grill next to the table that was set for two persons. Unfortunately there was nothing on said grill and Seto had already said something about Italian food.
"Wow," was all Joey could say at first but then he added, "Not bad at all, a bit mushy maybe but still nice."
"The way you looked just now," Seto mused with a grin, "you clearly like it much more than just a 'not bad at all'."
Joey blushed a little and admitted, "Maybe, but you could top this."
"And how?" Seto asked. "And don't dare to say the word pizza is the answer; this is way better than some boring pizza."
"I didn't mean pizza, even though I would still prefer a good pizza over a nice place," Joey answered. "But what I meant was that it would be perfect if there was plenty of meat grilling over that fire-maybe some burgers or some huge stakes."
"Maybe there will be some grilled food at some time," Seto offered with a smile. "As long as you don't mind that there will be a few salads on the table and a few vegetables joining the meat too."
"I don't care what else might be there as long as there's plenty of meat for me," Joey answered.
"Would two pigs be sufficient?" Seto asked jokingly.
"Make that three," Joey answered, and Seto hoped that he was joking but he wasn't sure since Joey looked much too serious and hadn't sounded sarcastic at all. But then again, even Joey couldn't eat that much…could he?
Seto held out a chair for Joey, who just grinned at him and took the other to sit down in. He loved the upset look on Seto's face. "I'm not going to let ya get away from adapting a little that easily," Joey told him and grinned happily.
"Fine," Seto said, glaring towards Joey and sat down in the chair he had held out for Joey. "At least that means that you're already thinking about a longer relationship."
Joey blushed. Did he really imply it with that? He noticed too late that he probably was doing just that, at least a little. After thinking about it some more he wondered again why it was so strange to hold Seto's hand where someone might see it and thought that maybe he was just a bit more shy than he thought. But then again, Seto's maids saw them holding hands when they walked in and Joey hadn't cared at all. He also didn't care that the maid who poured some wine into his glass saw Seto take one of Joey's hands into his on the table.
Joey gave a sigh and was glad that the dinner was being served right now and distracting him from his own thoughts about his confusing feelings. He looked at the tortellini that were placed in front of him and that were covered with a nice looking mushroom sauce. Joey had his fork in his free hand in seconds and let go of Seto's hand to take his glass with the other. After he put the glass down again he let that hand drop onto his lap. He knew that it wasn't proper table manners to do so but he didn't really care about it. He just hoped that Seto wouldn't chide him like his mother always does when Serenity talks him into staying for dinner.
Joey eyed Seto and could see a disapproving and sort of disappointed look but at least he didn't say anything. Joey didn't want to hold his hand right now, not because it felt strange, but because Joey already noticed how he started to get used to being around Seto and felt like Seto was once again choosing the pace with which they advanced. He started to feel uncomfortable again with that thought in his mind and to top it off it was extremely quiet during dinner. All that was heard was some quiet music in the background and the sound the forks made on the plates.
Authors Note: Thanks to dancing elf, Sezthekitty, lolcari, LovelyRose5001, Latina shewolf, kitty tokyo uzumaki and Sasu-Sama' Sarukiji-Sempai for the review.
Next chapter you'll see if Seto can manage to find something that will wake Joey's interest enough to maybe stay the night.