Author Notes: In case you're curious about the way I've rewritten canon events in this AU, here are a few little pieces of info that might not come up explicitly in the story: there is no Yami Marik, Adina is Noah's little sister, and Rex and Weevil are just as immature as their canon selves. More reviews = more chapters, so please review!

Seto woke up late Monday morning, not late enough that they were late to school, but late enough that Seto had no time to do any programming before class. He ended up rushing breakfast so that he could leave with Mokuba and drop him off while not being late for his own classes. He bumped into Ryou dropping off his younger sister as well, so they ended up walking to school together. They bumped into Yugi just outside the double doors of the school building, who greeted them both with almost excessive cheerfulness. When the pleasantries were over, Seto cut right to the chase.

"Yugi, what did Joey take from you on Friday?" The shorter teen wilted a little at the memory of it.

"He took one of my puzzle pieces," Yugi said with a sigh.

"What kind of puzzle was it?" Seto pressed, and Yugi glanced up at him as if he were hesitant to answer.

"It's a gold puzzle that was discovered in an ancient Egyptian tomb several years ago. The last owner of it passed it on to my grandpa, and my grandpa passed it on to me to see if I could solve it. I feel like I'm getting close, but I'll never be able to finish it without the last piece." His shoulders slumped again.

"Is this it?" Seto reached into his pocket and pulled out the glittering puzzle piece before tossing it at Yugi, who caught it with both hands and examined it, delight illuminating his face.

"Yes it is! Thank you Seto!" Yugi impulsively lunged at Seto and wrapped his arms around the taller teen's waist in a tight hug. Seto was caught entirely off-guard by the physical display of gratitude. The only person who ever touched him with his permission was Mokuba, and occasionally Ryou, but those were only small moments of contact that he initiated and ended quickly. This, this was something new to him entirely, and Ryou could tell from Seto's expression that he was not only surprised and uncomfortable, but he was also hiding physical pain. "Where did you find it?" Yugi asked as he pulled away, and Seto relaxed a little, straightening his uniform.

"In the locker room after gym," he explained.

"Oh yeah, how did that go?" Ryou asked. "Did he actually make you guys do all of those push-ups?" His expression was one of pity, and Seto quickly shook his head to dispel it.

"I figure he would have, but someone from the school board or something came out and stopped him."

"Well that's good," Ryou commented, and looked like he was about to say more when Yugi interrupted him.

"Seto, Ryou and I want to help you with your deck," he said, looking determined.

"What?" The tall brunette didn't understand what he meant at first, and looked vaguely confused.

"I know you have it all figured out already, but we want to help you get the cards you need," Yugi explained.

"Consider it thanks for all the times you've stood up for us," Ryou said with a warm smile.

"You don't have to do that, you know," Seto said, not sure if he was comfortable with this.

"Even if we didn't feel obligated to pay you back for all your help, we'd still want to help you with your deck," Yugi answered, a glitter of idealism in his violet eyes. "That's what friends are for."

Seto wasn't sure how to react to this kindness. He was hesitant to accept it, as he was always hesitant to accept anything free. There was always a catch, always a regret lying in wait. But this time… he couldn't find a reason to say no. It felt strange when he smiled back at them, strange to think of them as his friends. Was this really happening? Seto wasn't sure. He wasn't used to his life holding so much positivity in one day. He wasn't used to being happy. It was all strange, but strange in a good way, and the day only got stranger.

He didn't have class with either of them first period, but second period he shared class with both Ryou and Joey, who, much to his surprise, ended up flanking his desk in class. It made sense that Ryou would choose to sit next to him, but why Joey?

All day, Joey managed to not actually act like a total jerk. Since he was being fairly amiable, Seto responded in kind, though he wasn't foolish enough to think that Joey was suddenly a good person or worthy of his trust. At lunch, Seto let Yugi and Ryou join him in an empty classroom while he was doing his calculus homework.

"So, what cards do you still need for your deck?" Yugi asked while Ryou pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. Seto had his deck memorized, of course, and he knew exactly which cards he had yet to acquire.

"Negate Attack, Soul Release, Different Dimension Dragon, Chaos Emperor Dragon, Card of Sanctity, Lord of Dragons, Mirror Force…" Seto paused to let Ryou catch up. "Luster Dragon #2, Dimension Fusion, Clone Dragon, Card of Demise, Cave Dragon, and…" He hesitated. The most important and powerful cards for his strategy were also the most difficult to acquire out of them all. It was ambitious of him to have made such incredibly rare cards so integral to his deck, but he couldn't help that something in his soul had latched onto the card the first moment he saw it.

"Yeah, and what?" Yugi asked, looking curious.

"The Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

Ryou's eyes grew wide as Yugi gasped. "But there are only four of those in the whole world! Nobody even knows who owns them!" the Brit exclaimed as Yugi's eyes sparkled with a secret. "Do you really need it for your strategy?"

Seto nodded. "The Blue-Eyes will find its way into my deck one way or another," he said without looking up from the calculus problems. "You don't have to worry about helping me get that one."

"Okay, I think my grandpa has most of these cards at the Game Shop. He didn't have all of them the last time you were there. Speaking of which, it's been a while since you came by."

Seto stiffened a little as he shrugged and answered, "I work a lot of hours. I haven't had the time."

"Well, you should make the time and come visit us with Ryou so we can have some proper duels," Yugi said cheerfully, Ryou glancing between Seto and Yugi for a moment. Yugi wasn't aware that Seto's life was more troubled than he let on, and even though Ryou didn't know the details of Seto's life either, he felt that Yugi's choice of words could have been better.

Joey popped his head into the classroom then. "Hey, whatchya doin'?"

All four of them were dreading gym class that day, but it turned out that they had a sub, who explained that Coach Trudge was in the hospital and that the sub would be teaching the gym until he recovered, though he didn't say from what. Ryou seemed troubled to hear this, but Seto didn't miss the harsh man one bit.

"Mokuba, what have I told you about fighting?" Seto took a bag of frozen peas out of the freezer and handed it to his little brother.

"You say to only fight in someone else's defense, and that's exactly what I did," Mokuba said stubbornly as he pressed the frozen peas to his black eye. "One of the other boys was pulling Amane's hair and he wouldn't stop even when she told him to." Seto sighed.

"I've taught you too well," he grumbled as he sat down at the table and pulled out his homework. Mokuba trotted over and sat down across from him.

"So you're not mad at me?" Mokuba asked hopefully.

"Well, I don't like that you got hurt, but you only did what I've told you to do, so I can't very well be mad at you for that, can I?" He glanced up at Mokuba and smiled sadly.

"You can stay up only a little longer, then you need to get to bed, okay?"

Mokuba nodded.

"Did Amane like the chocolates you gave her for Valentines?"

"Yeah..." Mokuba blushed and smiled somewhat stupidly, like the little boy in love that he was.