Pegasus tore at his hair.
He was livid, furious…. humiliated!
The slimy lawyer had blocked him at every turn. Every face across from him at the interrogation table had changed, even circling back to include Anzu, Jounouchi, and even Seto Kaiba again, but…nothing came of it.
His last hope had been to coax the trafficked girl to tell him the truth, but then realized his mistake when the annoying lawyer showed up to represent her.
Together, the lawyer and the girl sat there like a criminal pair, lying to each and every one of his questions, baffling him to no end. Why did this girl want to protect Atem? Just because he killed her captors? He couldn't even get to that question without being blocked by the lawyer.
"Were you trafficked overseas without consent?"
"No." She looked positively angelic when she lied.
"How did you escape your captors?"
"One of Seto Kaiba's bodyguards in a nearby car saw me and helped me," she said firmly.
"What's your dress size?" he asked, hoping to match it to the discarded clothes inside the hotel room, and she gasped at him, hissing, "PERVERT!"
"None of your business, irrelevant," The lawyer droned.
"Are you in a romantic relationship with Seto Kaiba?" Pegasus growled.
She laughed and replied, 'no' with tears of mirth in her eyes. It infuriated him.
"Private matters of Seto Kaiba are none of your business, ask him directly instead," the lawyer said gleefully, running him around in a circle.
Seto Kaiba was called in, sitting in front of him again, smirking.
"She's Mokuba's friend. I'm not a pedo," said the billionaire, so Pegasus, in his desperate rage, called in to question Mokuba, and he found that this little boy pissed him off more than all the other criminals he'd been dealing with in his entire career.
"How did you meet Shizuka Katsuya? She's 8 years older than you. You're 12, she's 20," Pegasus ranted, and Mokuba shrugged.
"Genshin."
He had to ask who the hell Genshin was.
"It's an online ARPG, you old fart," the boy replied, and Pegasus nearly had a stroke at being spoken to like that.
"Have you ever seen your brother kissing her?" he asked furiously and Mokuba let out a disgusted yell while the lawyer reprimanded him.
"May I remind you you're interrogating a minor and to please watch your language."
"He's 12, he knows what kissing is!" Pegasus hissed, and Mokuba made a face at him.
The lawyer said, "you may answer," and the boy shouted, "NO?! EW!"
"Have you heard of the name Atem?" Pegasus asked furiously.
"What game? Which character?" Mokuba looked excited, and the lawyer told him to be quiet.
So then he showed the most high-res photo he had of Atem. The one where he was scowling at a security camera from 5 years ago.
"Grain, how am I supposed to see anything?" Mokuba had retorted and Pegasus felt his temple throb.
"Do you or do you not recognize the man in this photo?" he hissed.
"No," Mokuba looked so bored. "Can I go?"
Pegasus narrowed his eyes, putting together a pattern.
Everyone he'd spoken to, from the bodyguard named Curly, to the Kaiba Mansion's family manservant, to the woman who was head of national security…. was lying to him! They were all lying to him, asking to leave anytime he showed a photo of Atem.
They all...knew him!
And they were hiding him!
It was so obvious now.
They were all represented by the same lawyer.
They all gave the same, rehearsed answers, acting very much like a high-profile…cell.
Trained by Atem.
These people were Atem's shield, and Pegasus realized he'd never encountered such a strong and diverse wall before. Atem had a child under his thumb.
Atem had two high-profile heads of police under his thumb.
Atem had Seto Kaiba.
Then subsequently anyone who worked for Seto Kaiba.
"I know you are all…hiding him," Pegasus breathed poisonously, and his blood boiled again when the child scratched his head and said, "hiding who?"
Little psychopath in the making.
According to his file, this boy had stabbed his captor in the neck with a pen.
What kind of 12-year-old knew how to do that?
"Got lucky, flailing his hand out to defend himself," the lawyer replied, and the boy kept yawning. "If you're not charging us with a crime, we are leaving. The city's police already interrogated him about the injury he dealt in self-defense."
Defeated, Pegasus waved him out, and sat alone at the table, staring at the bloody photos before him, feeling a crushing pang of despair.
It was…impossible to get this man!
No matter how close he got, no matter how many clues led him to Japan, here he was, sitting in Japan, unable to prosecute him!
He left all the papers and decided to leave.
It was time to give up.
He knew a losing battle when he saw one.
He picked up his blazer from his chair and walked out the door, pressing the phone to his ear to tell his team he was returning.
The mark he'd put next to Atem's file would be 'retired' and 'protected'.
Nothing else.
He wanted to add the country of residence as Japan, with a direct association with tech billionaire, Seto Kaiba.
But that was speculative.
Atem was a special kind of monster, and he didn't know what other people saw in him.
Anzu fought with herself as she sat in the convenience store parking lot, eating a 30% off sandwich from the end of the day's batch.
She wanted to stop by the Kaiba Mansion to see Atem one last time, tell him 'thank you' and part ways. But it was hard. She also wanted to assert that she remained loyal to him, keeping his whereabouts a secret, even in the face of losing her badge and everything she'd ever worked for in her career.
Take that, 19-year-old academy-me, Anzu growled to herself as she crumpled the sandwich wrapper in her fist. Look at me feeling bad for breaking up a friendship with a murderer.
She remembered answering her exam essay questions with detailed plans on how to appeal to the criminal for help, how to work with them, how to empathize with their rough backgrounds…
And for some reason, it was hard to execute that with Atem.
Whatever, Anzu started the car with a furious rev and deciding to just fuck it and drive to Kaiba's house. What was the CEO going to do? Shoot her?
At this point, she hated to admit that she feared Seto Kaiba more than Atem.
Atem had strict personal rules.
In his file, it said he didn't hit jilted lovers or children.
No matter the price tag.
He would, however, kill all parties involved in a scandalous embezzling ring, love affair included, but only if the price was right.
And he would never kill children under any circumstances.
His profile said he went out of his way to avoid children, so Atemliving with Mokuba Kaiba willingly was a huge deviation.
It led her to believe that parts of his file were wrong.
She pulled up the dark road and saw red parking lights of another car reflect back at her, and her heart jumped.
Someone was staking out the front road of Kaiba's mansion?
She quietly kept her gun accessible at her hip and slowly drove up to the parked car, letting her breath out slowly when she recognized Joey's license plate.
Pulling up beside him, she rolled her window down and called out, "what are you doing?!"
Joey flipped the lights on inside his car and rolled the window down a crack, looking tortured as he ran a hand through his hair, shifting in his seat uncomfortably while he stammered, "uh…ah…I was just…waitin' on Shizuka, in case she needed me, ya know? Cuz she's sleepin' over tonight…up there."
"So you're staking out here?" Anzu replied with a cold narrow of her eyes. "You really want us to be sued, don't you? How long have you been here?!"
She checked the clock on her car's dashboard. It was 9PM.
"Did you skip dinner?" She asked knowingly, and Joey jerked his head to the side, his cheeks red as he mumbled a lie.
"N-No."
"Amazing," Anzu rolled her eyes. "You can lie straight to Mr. Interpol's face, but not to me about dinner, huh."
Joey shrugged and rolled the window up with a mutter, "leave me alone."
Anzu sighed and parked her car right beside his and shut the lights off, leaning back into her seat as she stared at the tiny lights in the distance of the Kaiba mansion's many windows. Damn. Here they were, both agonizing about going in.
"They're friends," Joey said, loud enough to be heard through the crack of the window. "Kaiba and my baby sis. Can ya believe? What does she see in that d-bag?"
"What does Atem see in that d-bag?" Anzu muttered, and to her surprise, Joey sat up and rolled his window down some more.
"YEAH—"
"Keep your voice down!" Anzu hissed, and her heart jumped in fear again when she saw a lone light of a motorcyclist come up the road behind them. "Someone's coming."
"I see 'im," Joey replied, ducking down lower and hearing the loud rumble of a bike's engine.
The man on the bike rolled past them and hovered beside the cars, hesitating, and Anzu recognized the gleam of a new exhaust on the bike, with the license plate, 'RINA'.
"Tristan?!" Anzu cried, sitting up to roll her passenger-side window down. "What are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?!" The gangster cried, tearing off his helmet to gaze fearfully at her and at the other cop car. "Is he in trouble? Why are there two of you?"
"This is my partner, answer the question," Anzu gripped her wheel, wondering if this was a bad dream. "Let's all leave. We are trespassing, giving him grounds to really sue us—"
"Well, then you're not gonna like what I'm here for," Tristan said loudly, and he quieted down when two tiny headlights approached from up the road.
A golf cart trundled up the road with a quiet whir, and one of Kaiba's security guards got out to shine a flashlight at all three vehicles, touching a finger to his ear and then calling out, "Mr. Kaiba would like to know, 'what the fuck are you three doing here?'"
Anzu huffed. "Told you."
"Told me what?" Tristan growled, holding one hand up off his bike and using both his feet to keep his balance on the ground, "I'm only a messenger! Don't shoot!"
Inside the house, Seto turned to glance at Yami who was sitting on the couch with Shizuka and Mokuba, all three of them peacefully playing a card game while the TV was on over their heads, and Isono was standing by with drink refills. They were having a nice evening. Did he want to let losers in on their nice night?
Tristan was a messenger, so he was work. Definitely not him.
Anzu was here to be nosy, so not her either.
Joey was the only one that had an in because Shizuka was his sister. Lame excuse to be invited.
"Who is it?" Yami asked perceptively, aware that the security alarms had been triggered but Seto was trying to keep it under wraps. "I know someone's at the front and you're blocking them. Just let me know to save us all the anxiety."
Mokuba and Shizuka raised their heads instantly, their eyes bright with curiosity.
"It's work. Are you sure?" Seto asked stiffly, and Yami narrowed his eyes prettily.
"We have two kids here, how bad is it?" Yami replied, and the two kids piped up furiously.
"I'm 12, not 7!"
"I'm an adult. Stop calling me a kid."
Seto's eyelid twitched. "12 is only a step up from 10, and 20 is only a step up from 16."
"You're not any older than Joey!" Shizuka was ready to fight him on it. "Don't act like 26 is super old. You guys could be classmates. You would be classmates, if you ever went to school, Seto."
"I'm 27, so I must be ancient," Yami said cheerfully, giving Seto a wink that made Seto's heart jump.
"No way, you're older than Seto?" Mokuba played a card down in the pile. "Two of hearts. You're definitely the cooler older brother."
"Definitely," Shizuka said with a nod. "I call BS."
"Unfair! There's only three of us, so you can count my cards!" Mokuba cried, throwing his cards down in frustration. "Seto, join please. Playing 'BS' with only three people is dumb."
"No. You must 'BS' strategically," Yami said with a gleam in his angular eyes. "You should've saved it, Mokuba. Then, when everyone thinks you're lying, tell the truth."
Seto pinched his brow and received another text from his guard outside.
"persons: ANZU MAZAKI / JOUNOUCHI KATSUYA / HONDA HIROTO requesting entry, no appointment."
Damn.
"Who is it, Seto? You can tell me," Yami's face was grave as he stared at the pile of cards. "I'm fine. I can take the news. If I need to get a weapon, just say so."
Shizuka and Mokuba grimaced identically and shared a look with Seto.
Fine goddammit, Seto hissed to himself as he held his phone up to show the text.
"Persons…our favorite, Mazaki Anzu, and second favorite, Honda the bike degenerate." Seto regretted mentioning it, because Yami perked up, looking happy.
"I miss Honda," Yami said easily, and Seto scowled.
"Followed by her brother," Seto jerked his head in Shizuka's direction. "Which is fine, but if I let one in, all three come in. Are we sure we want that?"
"Joey's here?! Can he sleep over too?!" Shizuka leapt off the couch and made the cards spill onto the floor with her sudden movement. "Oopsies! Sorry, Moki."
"Bleg whatever, I'm not playing anymore," Mokuba rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone to play a game instead.
Shizuka ran out of the lounge to hurry down the steps and Seto sighed, feeling himself relenting as he nodded and then texted, "let them in," and heard Shizuka's excited squealing as she sang to herself, "Joeeeyyyyyy! Joey's heeeeere!"
Yami threw Seto a soft smile, and the CEO rolled his eyes, bending down to pick up the stray cards from the ground.
"Am I like that?" Mokuba asked, and he saw Yami share a look with Seto that made his stomach turn with how yucky and sappy it was. GROSS.
"No, you're not," Yami replied, his ears pink.
"BS!" Mokuba said cheekily, pointing at him. "Liar."
Yami shrugged and accepted the neat stack of cards back from Seto's pale hands, giving the deck a shuffle while Seto stood and let out a groan, "guess I'll go receive them to make sure they're not here to work."
"Good idea," Yami replied, and he waved at Isono. "Round of wine for everyone please, and a hot chocolate for Mokuba."
"Water!" Seto called over his shoulder, his voice echoing up the grand staircase, so Yami corrected himself guiltily. "Water, for Mokuba."
"Bed for Mokuba," Mokuba announced, rolling his eyes. "I don't wanna hang out with the cop lady, sorry. I already saw her at the station a ton today. And Shizuka's big bro is here, so she's not gonna play with me anymore. G'night."
He marched off to go back to his room, and Yami tilted his head as he wondered when Mokuba had gone to the police station.
Perhaps when I was napping… Yami shuffled the cards absently again and saw Anzu pop up first at the top of the stairs, and he smiled warmly, his heart soaring with a feeling he associated with affection. She looked tired but otherwise okay.
"Hey! Missed you!" Yami said, grinning handsomely.
Isono set the tray of wine glasses beside the ice bucket and popped the cork for them, pouring a generous glass in both.
"For us," Yami gestured at the wine, and noticed she was acting oddly stiff. "What? …Are you mad at me? Because I didn't answer my phone? I'm sorry. My therapist said I needed to keep the boundary."
Nervous, Anzu sat down on the couch bedside Yami as close as she dared and gave him a long look, noting that his cheeks had more color, and his eyes weren't as hollow as before. He'd gained a bit of healthy weight back.
"I came to say…that I don't want to work with you anymore," she said, lowering her head in shame. "Please don't be offended."
"Oh, relief," Yami said with a chuckle, sipping his wine. "Never talk about work in front of me again."
Anzu held her breath and realized she had to tell Yami about Interpol, at least a little bit.
"Okay but one last thing—" She insisted, and Yami threw his head back to laugh loudly, his deep tones echoing through the house.
"Very well," Yami sat up straight and passed a hand comically over his face, looking serious. "This is the last time Atem will listen."
Anzu didn't waste a second speaking in a rush, "Interpol head, Maximillion Pegasus has his sights set on you and threatened to take my badge away today. I had Joey destroy evidence—USBs with phone call recordings, security footage of you in Japan…and he even tore out the notes in my notebook that had your names in it. Your name too…" She turned to give Isono a head bob.
Isono said nothing and remained standing at attention, but he didn't forget how vividly she'd written his name in her book as, "ISONO – accomplice?"
He would bide his time trusting her.
"Thank you for compromising your integrity to protect me," Yami said seriously, setting his wine glass down and wondering if he could pat her on the shoulder. He decided against it. She shifted uncomfortably and they sat together in awkward silence.
It was weirdly quiet downstairs too.
…Because Seto, Tristan, and Joey were having a silent staring competition.
Serenity had flung open the doors of the mansion and saw Tristan, leaning handsomely against the doorframe with a cigarette tucked behind his ear, and her eyes gleamed as she shyly said 'hi' to him, and he said 'hi' back, and they shared an odd silence before Joey came running up the front steps to give her a hug.
Seto had seen the look Tristan had given her and swore he saw the bike gangster looking at her ass while Joey hugged her so tightly, her feet left the ground.
Storming down to confront the gangster about boundaries, Seto stepped into the man's face and hissed at him, "Keep your eyes to yourself."
"The fuck do you mean by that? Mr. I-killed-a-guy-for-money," Tristan shot back bravely, and Shizuka stepped back with a gasp to watch the fight.
"Eyeyeyeh…" Joey waved his arm between Kaiba and Tristan's noses that were almost touching. "Ya said you're a messenger who got a message. What is it?"
"Can't say it with police present," Tristan said with his eyes nailed to Kaiba's handsome face, hating him with every inch of his being. "So fuck off, you cock sucking pig."
Oooo, Kaiba's eyes widened with glee, and Joey's mouth dropped open.
Upstairs, Yami blinked when he realized he heard the talking stop downstairs, and he pointed quietly at the glass railing, giving Anzu a nod, and she nodded in return.
Together, they crept to the edge to peer over it, seeing the three men facing off in silence with glares while Shizuka stood off to the side with her hands pressed to her mouth.
Leaning over the railing with his elbows, Yami contemplated shouting, 'boo' to break the tension, but had a better idea. He slipped a card up from the deck and flicked it downwards, aiming for the back of Seto's head.
Tristan saw something white zooming for Kaiba's head, and he dodged with a yelp, "BYA! INCOMING!"
Seto tensed and turned around just as the edge of a playing card grazed him on the forehead, giving him what felt like a searing paper cut, and he bent over with a shout, "OW THE FUCK!" while Joey dove at his sister and pulled her to safety by the stairs, glancing up in confusion to see Anzu and Yami standing on the floor above.
He waved. Yami waved back, and Anzu gave Yami an exasperated look.
"Oops," Yami replied with a shrug.
Seto picked up the 3 of spades that had been thrown at him and glanced up furiously to see Yami holding the deck of cards and he gave his boyfriend a furious middle finger. "The fuck is the meaning of this?!"
"I was waiting for someone to do something," Yami said slyly, seeing Honda cowering by the shoe cabinets for cover, hugging his motorcycle helmet to his chest, trembling, while Shizuka stared at him with curious eyes.
Joey craned his neck and gave Yami a grateful nod, "I came ta' say thank you. Cuz I missed ya' this afternoon."
"Oh, I missed you too!" Yami exclaimed, his heart warming again. These two were his friends after all, work aside, it felt like they cared about him…
It wasn't his imagination, right?
Shizuka edged away from Joey and poked Seto on the arm, giving him large puppy eyes, and Seto glanced down at her with a wrinkle of his nose. W-WHAT?! He only knew that look when Mokuba was asking him for a ride somewhere, or when he wanted to do something 'bad'—like go to a waterpark—but wanted permission and a ride.
"Can we talk…like…somewhere private?" She asked carefully, and predictably, Joey blew up about it.
"WHY?! You can tell me!" Joey begged, almost falling to his knees by her side, holding her hand in both of his. "C'mon, what'd I do? Can ya tell me too?"
"Nope. Sorry," she said calmly, poking Seto in the arm again. "This is for my adopted big bro's ears only."
"Wowww," Yami called down from above, and Seto gave him another middle finger. Jesus fuck.
"You weren't kiddin' about the adopted thing?" Joey said weakly, sagging against the nearest wall, and feeling a rush of hate for Kaiba, and he watched them disappear down the hallway while the door was closed with a silent click.
Great.
"Wine?" Yami asked Anzu, and Anzu couldn't agree more.
Joey and Tristan continued to have a stare-off.
Seto and Shizuka were in the study, where Shizuka started with the bad news first.
"Will you get mad if I say I like him?" she asked perceptively, and Seto's eyelid twitched.
Him, better be…Yami, or…Mokuba…
But she trusted him more than Joey currently, not to blow up about it, so he'd play the part.
And then tattle on her later, if 'him' turned out to be Honda.
"Which 'him'? I keep telling you, you gotta be specific," Seto said dryly, and she gave him a playful punch on the arm.
"The motorcycle guy! He's …handsome. He's your friend, isn't he? Messager of what? Does he work for you?" she flushed with embarrassment, and Seto felt the floor fall out from beneath him. Oh fuck no.
Better put it on Yami.
"He works for Yami actually," Seto said weakly, hoping his shock didn't show on his face. "And he's really not that handsome. Come on. Seriously? Date someone on campus. Don't pick him. He doesn't even drive a car!"
"Oh great! I'll ask Yami then," she brightened up and walked out of the room with a smile. "Thanks Seto! You're the best."
I'm really not! Seto cried as he watched her walk out. OH FUCK.
Joey paused when he heard Shizuka say ,'thanks Seto, you're the best!' and his heart shattered into a million pieces. GOD WHY?!
He saw Shizuka walk out of the hallway and up the stairs, so he chased after her furiously, begging, "c'mon, baby sis. You can tell me! Ya don't trust me or what?"
"I kind of…don't, not for this," she replied cryptically and approached Yami who was sitting on the couch, and she casually reached down to pull him up by the arm. "I need to ask you something in private, Yami. Can you come with me?"
"O-Okay, I am drunk," Yami announced, swaying in her grip as she led him down the hall into the privacy of another room.
"Hey drunk, I got a message for you!" Honda said anxiously, staying on the edge of the stairs by the door, chewing the end of his cigarette nervously.
"I will receive it—" Yami started, and Seto stepped in front of the stairway to block their eye contact.
"I'll take care of it. If it's a bill for finding Mokuba, which I think it is, I've got it," Seto said coldly, waving Yami away over his shoulder. "Talk to her. I'll talk to this one."
"Nope!" Tristan said loudly, edging away from the CEO. "My boss says it goes straight to the source. Not his lackey."
"Lackey?" Seto hissed, his blood boiling. "You think that's what I am, huh?"
"Or an embezzler," Tristan taunted, wavering between fearlessness and shitting his pants in terror.
Yami sighed and set the wine glass down on the nearest surface, "come and tell me."
And he let Shizuka pull him into the billiards room first, shutting the door behind them.
She began talking so fast, he had to ask her to slow down.
"I'm drunk, remember? Speak…slowwly…" Yami slurred, and he tugged on a strand of his bangs, thinking he ought to cut the alcohol off now. Back to a clean diet.
"I like him!" Shizuka cried as she shook Yami's arm so furiously, the small man swayed in her grip again. "What's his name? Tristan?...He's cool, but Joey will kill me if I date him. Introduce us!"
"Why would Joey kill you? Honda hasn't done any-th-thing wrong," Yami hiccupped a bit and turned pink in the cheeks. "You two would be cute."
"I know right?! He's tall and handsome!" Shizuka insisted, and her face fell a bit. "He did call Joey a 'cock sucking pig' right as he opened the door though…"
Yami blinked and let out a bellow of laughter.
Shizuka cracked a smile and heard a knock at the door.
"Message! Don't shoot the messenger!" Tristan said lazily, leaning his shoulder on the door. "Can I come in?"
All three people in the lounge were giving him death glares, making him feel super threatened. Anzu, with a wine in hand, then Joey, with both his fists clenched, and then Seto Kaiba, standing by the window emanating a fiery black aura.
Jeez. He knew he was a gangster, but he'd gotten more warm welcomes at funeral parlors.
The door opened. He was then pulled inside by the cute girl from earlier, and the door shut behind him.
Joey sank to his knees and felt like bursting into tears.
His little sister had been stolen!
"Hey. Katsu-head," Seto said stiffly, staying by the window. "Come here. We need to plan."
"No… I hate you…" Joey slumped ungracefully forward on all fours. "…I hate everything."
Seto hissed. "Come here. Now, before they come out! It's about what your sister told me."
Joey perked up instantly and sprung to his feet, dashing over to stand beside Kaiba with his eyes wide with hope, "what'd she say? And…you're betrayin her trust by tellin me, ya scumbag!"
Anzu pinched her brow. Men.
"She. Likes. Him," Seto managed through gritted teeth, feeling an intense headache coming on. "And I saw him stare at her ass for longer than 5 seconds!"
Joey's mouth dropped open in horror, and Anzu let out a pained squeak, her face beet red.
"But ho-how d-do ya know that?" Joey asked weakly, and Seto crossed his arms with a huff.
"You're really that stupid or are you acting?" Seto narrowed his eyes. "She asked me to introduce them. She thinks he's 'handsome'. And I tried to discourage her by saying he's a motor-head, telling her that he works for Yami, but that backfired, obviously! Now think of something to stop it from happening!"
Joey was no longer present. He was hyperventilating into the collar of his shirt while Anzu had to set her wine glass down and palm her face in agony.
"Hello?!" Seto cried, wondering why the two cops were now suddenly useless. "You two can handle a building assassination attempt, but are unable to recommend another, less disgusting man for her to date?"
Joey sagged lower to the ground and buried his head in his arms with his knees raised, mumbling, "…She's all grown up. I can't do nothin' to stop her, she's makin' her own choices…"
Seto's eyelid twitched, and he strode over to pull Joey to his feet by the collar, hissing in his face, "so you're not going to help influence any of her future choices?! What kind of big brother are you?"
Joey stiffened in anger, and Anzu stood to break up their fight, but Seto wasn't done ranting.
"As a fellow 'big brother', seeing you act this way is disgraceful," Seto hissed, pushing Joey back so hard, he stumbled and sat down on the couch with an oof! when the backs of his knees hit the edge. "Get it together, Jou."
Dazed, Joey gripped his knees and was about to jump up and retaliate when Shizuka came back to join them, holding Yami steady beside her and sitting him down gently on the couch.
Closing his eyes and sinking back into the pillows, Yami let out a sigh and dozed off contentedly.
Anzu sat back down beside him and dared to rest her hand on Yami's shoulder, giving him a squeeze. He slowly raised his hand to rest it atop her's, giving it a pat in return, and Anzu flushed dark red.
Tristan slipped out of the room, trying to go unnoticed, but was shocked when the blond cop made a beeline for him and grabbed him by the arm, steering him down the grand staircase while the cute girl cried out behind them, "Joey! Please be nice to him!"
"No prob, sis, we're gonna be friends!" Joey grinned, and Seto hastened to follow, giving her a stern glare.
"I'll see them out," Seto said quietly, and he tilted his head over at Yami. "You should help him into bed." And he jogged down the grand staircase to follow Joey and Tristan out the front doors, where the cop had the gangster pinned to the pillar and was glaring in his face.
Discreetly shutting the front doors to the mansion, Seto stood by to watch the show.
"If ye wanna date my sister, you gotta show me some ID," Joey snarled, his fists already raised. "I know you're a gang member cuz I've seen your file!"
Seto folded his arms across his chest and enjoyed watching Tristan grow pale before fighting back with vigor, "bro, who says I wanna try anything with your sister? I don't even know who she is!"
Two knuckle heads, Seto thought as the gangster glanced at him and dared to ask for help.
"You just gonna let this cop bully me on your property?" Tristan asked with a sniff as he mirrored Seto's pose with his arms crossed. "I'm not scared of either of you."
Joey lowered his fists and stepped back to stand beside Seto, feeling an odd calm settle over the front of his mind. This guy wasn't scared, huh? Why, cuz Atem was scarier?
"Well I got news for you," Joey said seriously, raising his phone to overtly take a photo, the shutter sound echoing loudly up and down the empty driveway. "I got a picture of a suspect who was threatenin' my life just now. And I got an expert witness."
He tilted his head at Kaiba.
Seto blinked and understood.
"This witness last saw you two weeks ago," Seto said with an easy shrug. "And that was the last time anyone ever heard from you, because why would I concern myself with low-level, uneducated scum like you? You disappeared without a trace, and no one cared."
Tristan's mouth went dry, and he took a step back, his shoulder blades hitting the cold stone of the mansion's doorway pillars.
"Your missin'-persons investigation didn't go far neither," Joey added with a wicked gleam in his brown eyes. "Ya know, people underestimate me, but I'm directly under Anzu. I get the most power with the least heat. Ya know what that means? Means I'm invisible. I can do whatever I want behind my boss who trusts me a ton, and no one will ever know what happened to ya'."
"And no one can touch me or accuse me of anything, for various reasons," Seto added happily, leaning into the death threats. "You think you're supposed to be scared of Atem? Why do you think we're his lackeys? Birds of a feather. Use your brain, motor-head."
There was a tense silence, and Tristan shook in boots. W-What the fuck?!
Why were these two threatening him?!
"I don't even know you guys," Tristan said weakly, holding his hands up defensively. "Why're you out for me?"
Joey drew in a sharp breath and hissed, "because, scumbag, I saw ya lookin' at my sister funny."
"What! Man, come on!" Tristan cried, and Seto cut across him furiously.
"We're not saying you can't date her," the CEO said ruthlessly, and Joey gave him a frantic head shake. UH, WHAT?! Yeah they were sayin' that!
That was the whole point of this confrontation, wasn't it?
"Sure doesn't sound like it," Tristan cracked his knuckles, and Seto gave him a cold smirk.
"Did you know she's a double med major at Tokyo U?" Seto said arrogantly, feeling a twinge of envy, hoping Mokuba would be able to go that far. "Are you a graduate of anything other than sucking exhaust fumes?"
"Yeah!" Joey added, nodding gratefully. Oh thank god. Kaiba had an angle. He'd play it too.
"If ya can't match her in brains, she'll think yer boring," Joey insisted, half-wondering if that was why Shizuka and Seto Kaiba made such fast friends. "Smart people only. And no active gang members as her boyfriend. If ya wanna date her serious, you gotta quit the gang shit. Or it'll be my job to arrest ya someday and that'll break her heart. Don't be like that, man."
Tristan rubbed his neck anxiously and his gaze darted to the dark gates in the distance.
He's scared. Good, Seto thought ruthlessly, and Joey had the same sentiment.
Yeah, he looks like he wanna run, Joey crossed his arms and planted his feet apart strongly.
"So I can…date her if I quit," Tristan summarized, and Joey was quick to correct him.
"And get yer butt in a proper job that pays more than a ramen bar gig," the cop growled.
"Or a degree…. that isn't any kind of murder or felony," Seto added with a smirk. "Try it out for a month."
Tristan eyed the men nervously and shook his head.
It wasn't worth it. That girl up there was cute, but she was not worth fighting through Seto Kaiba, her cop older brother, and Atem.
"I don't wanna have anything to do with her," Tristan threw his hands up defensively again and backed off the top step, aiming for his bike parked by the fountain in the driveway. "You guys win, okay? I'm out. Tell Atem I need the thing paid soon."
"Atem declines," Seto replied flatly.
"Cuz he's retired, and don't live here no more," Joey added viciously, seeing Tristan cram the helmet onto his head and start his bike engine with a deafening roar.
He rumbled out of the driveway, leaving Seto and Joey standing on the front step of the mansion in tense but understanding silence. Joey broke it first.
"Yer a great older brother," he said shortly, holding his hand out for a shake. "You know just what ta say to get 'im to back off. Truce?"
"What truce?" Seto's eyes gleamed in the semi-darkness as he slapped the back of his hand against Joey's outstretched handshake, his knuckles stinging against palms as he replied, "we were never in a fight. Now you owe me."
And he walked back into the house, eager to tell Atem he started up a tab with Joey.
Atem would love that.
Author's note:
There's a team meeting at the kaiba mansion + some tension between honda and shizuka!