Okaaaaaay…. First of all, I know that this update took longer than the first ones, and I'm really sorry for that. School's being a bitch lately. _

Great thanks to Yugi16dm for beta-reading!

I'm also trying to sort out the plotline in this story. But I hope that I'll have it all planned out soon and then updates might be coming in more regular intervals. ^^

Okies, on with the show!

Chapter 5: Encounters and other problems

Ryo's first day had ended quite well.

Ryo's, second day, however, had not gone as well and it didn't take long until Ryo looked a mess. Three hours of nearly non-stop running around in the kitchen, handling the kneading machine and a little accident with the flour and the dough hook had left the boy covered in all kinds of pizza ingredients and feeling like an idiot.

He had tried to see the positive in the situation, though. His instructor was a really nice woman and she had not even scolded him for the incident, but just smiled and reassured him that it was not a problem because he was still learning. She had moved him to the cash desk, anyway—probably to prevent him from causing another farina explosion.

What kept him in a good mood, though, was the fact that Bakura's lunch break had started three minutes ago and he had promised to come to the Pizza Planet and visit him. Since their working places were both situated in the local mall, he should arrive any moment.

Ryo smoothed down his hair. He tried to look even halfway presentable.

When he heard a hushed call of his name, he turned around just in time to see a rather pale looking Tristan flying at him, pushing him through the backdoor and inside the kitchen.

"Tristan, wha—?"

"Shhhh…", the brunet put one hand over Ryo's mouth, keeping him from any further sounds. Ryo looked up him bewildered, but when he followed Tristan's gaze, he immediately had his answer.

There, waiting at the counter, stood none other than Duke—his hair pulled back in a ponytail as always—looking around the store with disinterest.

Tristan slowly removed his hand from Ryo's mouth, but put one finger in front of his lips to emphasize his wish for the white-haired to be quiet.

When Ryo spoke, he tried to keep his voice as low as possible.

"Why is Duke standing in this Pizza Planet and why did he show up at the same time as you?"

Tristan gave him a desperate look. "I really don't know!", he whined. "We were just working at the Black Clown and when he suddenly announced he wanted to grab something to eat…I…", he looked up at Ryo, this time, his expression looked nearly apologetic.

Ryo's eyes narrowed. "Tris… what did you do?" he asked hesitantly.

The brunet seemed to weigh his words, before he answered. "."

"You what?"

"I don't know what I was thinking, either!" Tristan looked like he was about to cry. "It was out before I could help it. And now Duke kinda thinks I'm here to get us an extra big, crust filled pepperoni cheese pizza for free."

He managed an apologetic smile. "I'm really sorry, Ry-… oh crap."

The last part was directed at the situation that was unfolding in the front of the shop at the moment.

Apparently, Bakura had finally showed up and was talking to Duke at the moment, a questioning look on his face.

"…Discount? What discount?" the white haired was just saying.

Tristan gave Ryo a pleading look, that clearly said "Help me and I will do anything you ask me to," The white haired boy sighed in defeat.

In the front, Bakura was making the situation worse with every second.

"I didn't get any discount when I bought something yesterday and I'm his boyfriend, so you'd expect me to get all the benefits. Anyway, Ryo only worked here for one day, so I don't think that-…" Bakura was just sayng, but got interrupted by an uneasily-laughing Ryo, who turned up and interrupted his lover with a tight hug from the side.

"Hahaha… Baks, don't scare our customers away like that, just because you want all the food for yourself!", he gave him a light punch and turned so that only the addressed boy could see his face, which showed a warning look. He then turned back to Duke, flashing him a smile.

"Hi, I'm Ryo", he extended one arm.

The black haired boy took the offered hand, mumbling a "hey". He seemed to be pretty nonchalant to all the awkwardness in the room.

Ryo took hold of Tristan's arm, half-dragging him to the other boy's side. "Why don't you and Duke sit down over there…", Ryo pointed at a table in one corner of the shop "…and I'll be right back with your pepperoni pizza."

When they turned and walked off to the desk, Tristan turned around, mouthing a "thank you" at Ryo.

"I'll explain to you later," Ryo said to Bakura, who was giving him a bewildered look at the moment.

"I'd say it looks like Tristan is just quite desperate to get into Duke's pants." The taller boy smiled.

The comment brought a smile to Ryo's mouth as well. He was still feeling a headache coming on and he brought one hand up to massage his temples.

"Exhausting day?", Bakura asked, pulling him in a loose hug, kissing the spot behind Ryo's ear.

The other let out a soft sigh, mumbling an affirmative into the other's neck.

"You know that you look damn sexy with all that flour covering you, don't you?" Bakura smirked.

Ryo pulled back, a shocked expression on his face. He recovered pretty soon, though, and went off with a huff, deceived by the teasing look over his shoulder when he made his way to the kitchen.

Bakura couldn't wait until they finished work today.

:::

If Joey had thought the first day had been bad, Tuesday proved to be even worse. There didn't seem to pass a minute without Kaiba throwing a sarcastic comment in his direction. At first he had tried to shake it off as exaggeration; maybe he was just too sensitive when it came to the brunet. But after one comment—when Kaiba had told him he was excused for the day because he would have to go over everything Joey had done and probably rewrite nearly all of it anyway—that there was not much point in him sticking around.

Joey had gotten pretty upset, not only because of the words, but more because of the tone with which Kaiba seemed to address him all of the time. This arrogant, I'm-so-much-better-than-you tone had been the last straw and he had reacted more violently than he should have. He had thrown a fit about Kaiba being a big-headed, egoistic narcissist and then stormed out of the office.

When he had arrived home and thought about the whole situation he had realized that he had brought himself to a dead end, probably just ruined the only chance of passing this year's class and acted a complete fool in front of Kaiba. Not that he cared about the latter.

Right now he was standing in front of Kaiba's office and tried not to think about the consequences that might occur once he had knocked on the door. During the night he had come to the conclusion that the only sensitive thing to do in his situation right now would be to ask Kaiba to move him to another company. It seemed to be the most reasonable option and Joey was positive that the brunet would feel the same. If he wasn't such a sadistic prick, that is. Because even if it seemed the most logical option, Joey somehow doubted that Kaiba would let the opportunity to humiliate him a little more just slip through his fingers.

There was shuffling at the other side of the wooden surface, and Joey braced himself for whatever was to come when the door opened slowly.

"Let's call a truce."

He definitely hadn't been expecting that.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! I know this chapter consisted mostly of everyone else except for the two main characters, but there will be more of Joey and Seto in the next chapter. Promise.

I'll try my best to be quicker with the next update, but I can't guarantee anything, because I'm really busy at the moment and there are also a few plot details that I have to work out and I don't want to post chapters that don't seem to be well thought through. ^^

Review! It makes my day to see them in my inbox! :33 I'd really like to know what you want to see in this story, suggestions are very welcome. ^_^ kthnxbye