Title: Grave Robber
Summary: Seto wanted to take his secrets to the grave, but when a class project lands him and Joey closer than desired, those secrets become harder to protect than ever. Especially when Joey is discovering the common ground they share.
Contains: Yoai, lemon in random chapters, references to child abuse and molestation, sudden flashbacks, arguments, and occasionally ooc-ness
Pairing: Seto X Joey
Disclaimer: I do not own yu-gi-oh or the characters, I also make no money from the writing of this fanfic.
Author's Note: In order to actually turn this into a romance, I had no choice but to make Seto slightly ooc. It isn't major, at least I don't think so, I just have him show a bit of what he's thinking and express what he's feeling…a bit abruptly.
And let's face it, if someone doesn't do something "spur of the moment" here, the two of them would just go back to normal the instant their project is done, right?
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Everyone who dared to look noticed that Kaiba was staring ahead of him as if in shock at the words that had come out of the substitute teacher's mouth. While everyone else was sighing in relief or verbally cheering at the one day postponement of the inevitable presentation, he looked as though he were about to scream in horror. No one knew why he was so upset by the miniscule change in plan that was so relieving to everyone else…
No one except Joey. He could easily see that this change in plans completely overshadowed all of the effort he'd put into the hasty completion of their project. All of his diligence was in vain…
The only thing Joey didn't understand was why Kaiba allowed that shock to show on his face…and for so long. He had to have noticed it.
After several minutes his face fell back to an annoyed and uninterested expression that didn't change, even after the substitute gave the students free time to make any last minute changes on their projects.
"Anything you think we need to work on?" Joey asked him after deciding to approach him. Kaiba just stiffened his shoulders. "I take that as a no then," Joey added, backing off a step.
"We could use more practice," Kaiba snapped before Joey could take the initiative to leave. "I'll have my driver pick you up at your house after school today. I'd bring you over after school, but I have stops to make on the way that I don't need you tailing along with."
"That's fine, but—"
"It'll be easier if you just stay the night again. That's not a problem, is it?" Kaiba shot his eyes into Joey's and the blonde stumbled with his words. Those eyes didn't look mean, they looked…looked… Joey wanted to say seductive, but that was entirely out of context! Perhaps the appropriate word was mischievous…but that had bad connotative meanings, too. Whatever those eyes held, Joey found himself spitting out the exact opposite of what he'd needed to say.
"No. That's fine. I'll…yeah, stay."
"Good," Kaiba retorted. "I'll be by sometime after school. Give me your address." Joey recited it to him, even though his brain mumbled that the rich boy probably already knew where he lived.
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Kaiba arrived in an expensive-looking black car almost two hours after school was over. Joey, nursing a screaming shoulder and sucking on a bloody lip, was thankful for that. His ears were still ringing from the fight he'd had with his father, he didn't want to have to anticipate another upon his return home the next day regarding a stretch limo that was somehow embarrassing…or whatever other nonsense the drunk could come up with.
Joey opened the door to the back seat quickly and slid inside, setting his bag on the floor by his feet and ignoring the look that the driver (who had been preparing to get out in order to open the door for him) passed him. Kaiba was sitting nearly as close to the other door as one could possibly get, and didn't even turn his eyes in Joey's direction until they were halfway to his mansion.
"What are you staring at?" Joey grumbled after the glance turned into a straight-out gawk.
"Your mouth is bleeding," Kaiba said stiffly, blinking his eyes slowly. Joey found himself more focused on those eyes than the words Kaiba was saying. "I don't want you to get blood on my upholstery." Did he blink like that on purpose? He had to! He did it again!
It was that stereotypic, slow-motion blink with the heavy eyelashes and lidded look.
Immediately, Joey turned his head away. Kaiba was just tired, he told him. That was why he was blinking seductively. He was too tired to keep his eyes open…
And if not that, then Kaiba was just trying to creep him out…or legitimately seduce him.
There was no doubt in Joey's mind that it was his first assumption…
Someone had beaten his pathetic puppy in his absence, Seto noted. The pup hadn't looked like that when he'd left the school…so either he'd been jumped on his way home—unlikely—or it was his father.
He grunted in disgust and turned his head to look out his window. It didn't take much effort to keep himself under control, but it was hard to keep his heart still in his chest. He felt as if he were nervous, or frightened, and it pissed him off that he didn't know why.
To Joey, it seemed as if Kaiba was…paranoid about something. Was it normal for him to show that kind of emotion? No, it wasn't normal for him to show anything except annoyance, rage, and indifference. He gave up feeling surprised though, since Kaiba had already let his guard drop several times before when he had been around…now, Joey just wondered what had—well—freaked the guy out.
The prospect of getting a little bit of blood in his car? Not likely at all. That was something to become irate over, not nervous.
To hell with it, Joey was tired of guessing.
"Is something wrong, you're acting really weird," Joey said as he and the young CEO stormed into the mansion. (Kaiba stormed…Joey just followed after him.)
"It's nothing that concerns you, you mutt. Mind your own business." Joey glared at him behind his back and gritted his teeth as he handed his bag off to a waiting maid. If he hadn't already had his taste of a good fight today, he felt for sure he would start shouting. After losing the argument with his father and ending up with a split lip, he wasn't in the mood. He knew he'd lose that spat, too. Kaiba wouldn't ever let him win.
Joey followed as Kaiba led him through the mansion and to a nearly vacant sitting room…or perhaps it was an office. There was a desk with a laptop and lamp at the far wall, two chairs in one corner, and a couch in the center of the room that was the size of Joey's entire apartment. That is to say, the room was mostly empty space.
The instant the door was closed behind them, Joey felt the entire earth shift. Something changed, and for a minute he didn't know what—but he could feel it. The change was palpable on the air.
"Did your father do that to your face?" Kaiba asked with a reserved tone that indicated one of his three most common emotions—indifference.
"Why don't you mind your own business?" Joey muttered in response, intentionally spitting Kaiba's words back at him. The brunette turned to face him, and his expression was anything but apathetic.
And they all said Kaiba would be one great poker player…Joey could see the anger that was somehow different from his usual irate attitude. Perhaps what rested behind those intensely burning blue eyes was concern…a weak form of unease, but it was there. And Kaiba was definitely not happy that Joey could see it.
He turned his face away and skulked over to the laptop which he forced into life.
Seto felt as if something in his brain was falling apart…and it was probably his sanity. Yeah, he noticed that it had been slipping, but that damn mutt parading around his house was making his mental deterioration speed up.
So why did he keep calling the dog over? In all honesty, they didn't need any more practice…he knew that he just wanted him around…
For his mind's sake, he told himself it was so he could have something to shout at and relieve his tensions…but seeing his pet injured—even as superficially as it was—made him feel less like shouting at it and more like…like hugging it. He wanted to touch it…make it real. Prove to himself that…
That what?
His thoughts abruptly stopped as he realized the dog was now at his side, drumming its tail heedlessly against the floor with one of its filthy paws on his shoulder.
"Wheeler," Kaiba said stiffly. Joey forgot was he was going to say when those positively humored eyes turned to him. "Take your hand off of me…" Joey pulled his hand back away and sighed. Some people were comforted by touch…apparently Kaiba wasn't one of them.
He had to admit though, Kaiba hadn't reacted how he had expected. He'd planned on getting yelled at—in fact, he was anticipating it. Anything to break the tension and to end that horrible altered feeling that the world had suddenly possessed. He hadn't expected the man to snicker to himself…or then refocus his attention from the quickly loading laptop back to their previous, brief conversation.
"Did your father do that to your mouth?" He asked, his expression and his eyes becoming vacant. Once again, it was obvious that he did care, but he was hiding it. Didn't he know that his annoyance with it was already obvious?
"What's it to you?" Joey asked. "It's none of your business." He met Kaiba's eyes firmly, and then felt his widen as Kaiba's became suddenly alert—as if something had pricked him with a needle…and it made him really, really mad.
Before Joey could even manage to find words that he thought would sufficiently erase that wrath that had appeared out of nowhere, Kaiba had laid hands on him and forced him against the wall, pinning him by the shoulders.
"It is my business," Seto felt himself say. There it was—insanity. He had gone insane and he knew it. "He shouldn't be hitting you." If he didn't bite his tongue, literally, bite his tongue clean in half, he was ruined. Whoever this madman was that had taken over his brain was going to ruin him. "You're mine."
The instant Kaiba had choked the words out, his eyes betrayed his own surprise at them. Joey, still trying to stammer out a coherent word kept his eyes level with Kaiba's just to make sure he didn't miss something and say the wrong things.
"You mean your…partner for the project," Joey said, the realization finally hitting him. Of course—yeah, it made sense. Kaiba was stressed and tired…that sometimes caused people to have "episodes". Kaiba was worried that everyone would see his split lip while they were presenting and think he caused it.
That might damage his reputation if the idea was taken seriously.
"No," Kaiba said, smashing Joey's interpretation to pieces. "You're just mine."
Seto lifted one of his hands from Joey's shoulder and wiped a small smear of blood from beneath his pet's lower lip. After saying the words, the madman released him, leaving Seto to try and salvage the event.
How he wished the dog would just say something. It would be easier to come up with something to say if the awful silence was broken. The pup just seemed to be in a daze…
Save it, how could he save it? He couldn't take it back…that would make an even bigger mess. Then he would be the possessive madman who was ashamed of it… So he could run with it. He'd look like a complete psychopath, but at least he'd be without the evident indignity.
He was Seto Kaiba, if he didn't have his pride, he was nothing.
"Just mine," he repeated as he pulled away. His usual indifference reappeared and Joey remained standing up against the wall rigidly without knowing what to do, say, or think.
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A/N: I tried to show what both of them are thinking as best as I could without being too focused on one or the other at critical moments. I don't think it was too badly ooc...kind of just a hasty summation of what could take weeks to have happen naturally…