"Ryou, can you help Joey get cleaned up?" Kenji handed the bag with the change of clothes to his son.
"Yeah, sure," Ryou agreed, accepting the bag and putting a light hand on Joey's shoulder. The blond still seemed shell-shocked, and Ryou was trying to be gentle, unsure if Joey would simply wake up from his stupor or succumb to the trauma of what he'd seen. It was difficult to guess which it might be: Joey was tough, one of the toughest people in their friend group, but Seto was his best friend.
Being tough isn't enough sometimes.
Joey passed off the Millennium Rod to Mokuba, and Ryou led him to the nearest family restroom that he could find, as it would be big enough for their purposes and give them some privacy without being in anybody else's way. He didn't notice that Duke was following them, not until they had entered the bathroom and he turned to lock the door only to see Duke entering as well.
"Okay, Joey, I need some answers." Duke locked the door and looked at the stricken blond with determination.
"This is hardly the time!" Ryou rebuked, guiding Joey over to the sink and turning the water on while he started grabbing paper towels.
"Seto said a lot of things back at KaibaCorp that don't make any sense to me." Duke looked briefly at Ryou then back at Joey, who was staring at the floor. "I think Joey can explain them."
"I'm not sure Joey can explain anything right now," Ryou said softly, wetting the paper towels in the sink before turning the warm water off. He wiped the smudge of blood off Joey's forehead, then he carefully took one stained hand in his and started wiping at the dried blood on his arm. Some patches were more stubbornly dried than others.
"Joey." Duke stared at the blond's face until lost brown eyes found his. "What did Seto mean when he said that Noah was obsessed with him?"
Ryou held his tongue. He was curious now too, but if he thought Joey was distressed by Duke's questions, then he'd send Duke away.
"Seto beat him at chess, and Noah hasn't been able to let it go." Joey's voice was cold and quiet. "That's why he went after Mokuba during Battle City."
"That's also why Noah Kaiba built Death-T and invited Seto to test it," Ryou added. "Death-T was a funhouse created to kill its participants, and thanks to Seto, they all made it out alive."
"That was the first time Noah and Seto dueled each other in Duel Monsters." Joey blinked. "The stadium was full of people and Noah was defeated on his home turf."
"That's how Seto became Duel Monsters Champion," Ryou added, feeling a little more confident as he realized how much of this story he knew. "He'd lost that title when he lost to Pegasus at Duelist Kingdom."
Duke was silent, leaning against the wall as he fit the pieces of the story together with his personal history with Seto.
"Obsessed still seems like a strong word to use," he concluded.
"Noah was a strong personality," Joey countered.
Was.
Duke stared at Joey like there was more he wanted to say on that subject.
"How did he know about the direct elevator to Kaiba's office? I worked at KaibaCorp longer than him, and I didn't even know about that."
Joey shrugged and murmured, "I can't tell you that."
"How did he know about–"
"Wait," Ryou interrupted, lifting his own eyes to Joey's. "Do you not actually know, or are you not allowed to tell us?"
"I can't tell you. I promised."
"You've promised him a lot of things," Duke observed with narrow eyes.
"If you knew what I knew," Joey murmured vacantly. "You would understand."
"What makes you so loyal to him?" Duke tipped his head to the side and reached up to wrap his ponytail around his index finger. "What makes you want to protect him when you know he probably murdered Kaiba?"
Joey's head jerked up and he took a step towards Duke. Ryou's hold on the blond's arm tightened, afraid of what he intended.
"Even if Seto did kill Noah, could you blame him for it?" Joey's eyes burned. "Noah wanted to own him. He said so himself. After everything Seto's been through, you can't–"
Joey stopped short and stepped back, eyes dropping to the floor again.
"I've said too much."
"No, Joey," Duke contradicted. "You still haven't said enough."
"Duke, I think you need to let it go." Ryou could feel that Joey had started shaking.
"One more question." Duke took a deep breath while Ryou held his. "When did Seto meet Noah's father?"
That shocked Ryou enough that his head jerked up. He looked between the two, both teens wearing determined expressions.
"Seto said that he knew Noah's father?" It was too much to believe.
"Gozaburo Kaiba." Joey's voice carried a special disdain that Ryou had only ever heard directed against Noah himself.
"Noah said that his father had failed to destroy Seto, so Noah was going to finish the job." Duke's eyes narrowed. "Any idea what that was about, Joey?"
"Not entirely, no." The answer was honest, confusion playing across Joey's features and convincing them both. "I can't tell you why they both wanted to hurt Seto, I just know that they did."
"Oh, that explains–" Ryou bit his lip, realization dawning on him. Then he looked up and saw that all eyes were on him. "I-I just remembered something."
"What did you remember?" Duke's tone had softened a little and it no longer felt like an interrogation.
"It's something that happened before we were friends with you, Duke." Ryou looked at Joey. "Do you remember that one time Seto missed school because he collapsed at my house?"
Green eyes widened in surprise.
"Yeah."
"The next day, we all played Monster World and the spirits inside the Millennium Items revealed themselves to us." Ryou pressed a hand to his chest out of habit, but there was no cold Ring to push into his skin. "Later that evening, after you all went home, Seto and Mokuba were… still with us. Seto did something that confused me, and I had forgotten about it until now."
"What did he do?" Duke was paying attention to every word.
"The TV was on, and on the news they had just announced Gozaburo Kaiba's death. And Seto…" Ryou faltered. "Seto laughed. But I'd never heard him laugh like that before. It was… cold."
"Seto was really happy that he died," Joey murmured, as if realizing something himself. "He probably had every right to be."
Duke shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense though. How did they even meet in the first place and why would Noah's dad want to destroy Seto?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know, or you won't tell us?" Duke challenged. "We care about Seto too, Joey. If knowing could help us, could help him, then–"
"I'm not saying anything else!" Joey snapped. "I've already told you too much, and he'll be mad as hell when he finds out!"
They were quiet for a few moments.
"Are you afraid of him?" Duke asked.
"No." Joey's voice shook. "I just don't want to let him down. He trusts me."
Duke uncrossed his arms, his demeanor softening.
"I can understand that." He paused, looking down at his shoes. "You've given me a lot to think about." He looked up. "Can we talk about this again later?"
Joey said, "No," in the same moment that Ryou said, "Yes." They looked at each other, and Duke sighed.
"I'll let you guys finish up here." Duke turned and reached for the handle of the door. "I've still got questions, though."
"We can talk later, Duke," Ryou assured, glancing back at Joey, who said nothing to contradict him.
Duke left the bathroom, and Ryou released a low sigh, relieved that the conversation was over. He resumed his task of cleaning the dried blood from Joey's arm. He stayed quiet for awhile, giving his friend some time to collect himself.
"Is there anything you didn't tell Duke that you could tell me?" Ryou dropped the arm he'd just finished cleaning and reached for the other. The conversation had derailed his efforts to get Joey cleaned up, but he was on task once more.
Joey lifted his clean hand to examine it.
"You already know more than Duke does. Anything else I could say isn't mine to share."
Ryou pursed his lips and nodded.
"I guess that's fair."
Ryou thought about Duke's concerns and Joey's responses. He thought about the looks that Seto and Joey shared, the understanding that passed between them without any words at all sometimes.
"I'm kind of jealous of how close you guys are." Ryou hadn't meant to say that out loud.
"Me and Seto?" Joey blinked, surprised.
"Yeah." Ryou blushed a tiny bit, embarrassed that his inner thoughts had escaped. "You really care about him, don't you?"
Joey's eyes met Ryou's, no longer dull with grief as they'd been earlier. Now they were bright and shining with something fierce.
"I love him."
Ryou's hands stilled as he stared into that brightness.
"Does he know that?" The question was barely a whisper.
"Do you think he'd let me stay so close to him if he knew?"
Ryou looked away and continued cleaning Joey's arm as he considered the question. He didn't answer until he'd removed all the dried blood to his satisfaction.
"No, I don't think he would. I think…" Ryou hesitated, not entirely comfortable speculating about his friend. "I think he'd push you away, just to protect himself."
"That's what I think too." Joey reached for the hem of his shirt, stripping it off without a care for Ryou's presence. "He's so desperate just to survive, he'd only see it as a hazard."
"Desperate?" Ryou handed Joey the clean shirt from his father's bag.
"You can't tell me you haven't seen it. You've been his friend longer than me." Joey put on the new t-shirt, and it fit him better than he expected. "You knew him better than anyone when he was most desperate."
"I did?"
"He trusted you more than you realize." Joey slipped off his shoes, then undid his pants and pushed them down, peeling them off where blood had soaked through the knees of his jeans and stuck the fabric to his skin. "You were the only one that was allowed to see him struggling, and you got your dad involved. That made a huge difference for him."
Eyes mostly averted, Ryou handed Joey the jeans from the bag.
Joey pulled on the clean jeans, surprised that they too fit him. They were just barely long enough for his longer legs, but given that these clothes belonged to Ryou's dad, that was better than he had expected.
"Your dad helped him more than I was capable of, and your mom got him to finally see a doctor."
Joey secured the new pants and looked Ryou in the eye.
"Seto picked you. He didn't pick me or Yugi or your dad. He didn't pick Marik or Duke. All the rest of us were circumstantial. When he was desperate and needed just one person to trust, he chose you. If anything, I'm the one who's jealous."
Brown eyes filled with tears and Ryou threw his arms around Joey's neck in a close hug. Joey's arms went around him in return, holding him tightly.
"If you ever need to talk," Ryou whispered. "About Seto or anything else, I'm here for you."
If Joey's heartache ever became too much to bear, if the weight of his secrets became too heavy, if he needed an outlet, Ryou would be there, because that's what friends do.
"Thanks, pal." Joey clung to him, not nearly ready to let go, so Ryou shifted his arms into a position where he could rub Joey's back.
"And, thanks for what you said. I never thought about it that way before." Ryou had a whole new perspective on his friendship with Seto. Maybe Seto would never open up to him the way he seemed to open up to Joey, but he could be okay with that now. Ryou had helped him a lot more than he thought he had, and that was enough.
A/N: Merry Christmas, everybody! There's your Puppyshipping! And idk if you've noticed, but Joey's been slow-burn crushing on Seto since late Season Zero. It's been quite a journey for this boy, but don't worry, more on that later.
Also fyi, there will be a bonus one-shot posted at some point in early 2024. This will be about how Seto and Ryou first became friends, and when it gets posted, I will announce it in the chapter notes of the main story to let you know.