Chapter Six- Internship

The rest of Serenity's visit was smooth-going. Duke asked Serenity out two more times once the latter assured the former that Joey was completely fine with their dates now.

Graduation was a very joyous occasion. There were speeches, tears of joy or sadness, and cheers of finishing high school. Joey felt joy and sadness in that he was done with high school but it also meant that the gang would end up divided, particularly when Tea boards a plane to New York. Yugi and Tristan would still be around and Joey could hang out with them when he wasn't working.

Working. The word was almost alien to Joey for no high school student was allowed to have a job unless given school permission. He was looking forward to seeing how a company ran and being part of the working class, albeit, in a semi-official capacity. If I find that I don't care for company work, perhaps I could work with Yugi or even Duke. After all, Duke may end up marrying Serenity and unlike Mom, he knows he would know he's marrying into a family of werewolves. Heh, I would be willing to teach them how to be werewolves. Of course, they could end up with only girls.

Monday arrived and Joey dressed carefully. It was his first job even though it was only an internship. He put on his best suit and found a briefcase in the apartment. His father was fast asleep as he left and had started down the sidewalk when a limo pulled up beside him. A window rolled down and Mokuba looked up at him. "Hey, Joey. Get in."

"Sure. Thanks." Joey got in and the limo pulled away. "You heading to Kaiba Corp, too?"

"Yeah. I'm going to help a pair of applicants get settled in today while you're with Seto."

"Oh, so two more people applied?"

"Yeah and they'll be in the programming department to start out. Seto may move them to another one later in the summer for experience."

"I'll likely want to do that myself."

"Of course you can," Kaiba said when Joey recounted the conversation. "The point of the program is to give the applicants the opportunity to know what they like or don't like. There are other divisions in the game design department besides Duel Monsters. As the prototypes won't be ready until Wednesday, I can give you a tour of the gaming department as well as an employee key so you can have access to a limited number of labs."

"Okay." Joey stood and followed Kaiba out to what was clearly a restricted access elevator as instead of buttons, there was a keyhole and a key pad with a card slot above it. Kaiba removed a key from a pocket, put it in the keyhole, and turned it which opened the elevator door. "I'll have your card and code number ready when you come in tomorrow so you can look around the labs during your shift."

Joey nodded as they entered the elevator and the door closed. Kaiba pushed a button, saying, "We'll start at the bottom of the process and work our way up."

"Where does it all start?" asked Joey, though he had a good idea of the answer.

"Brainstorming, of course," Kaiba said, suspecting that Joey already knew that. "Games may be all we do, but the process from concept to final product is not an easy one. The developmental process is the longest one as one has to test the programs or rules to see if it works or not. If not, then they send it back to work out the bugs." The elevator dinged and the door opened to reveal a long hallway with double doors at the end that read "Game Design- Brainstorming." There was a low babble of talk that Joey could hear with his sharp hearing.

Kaiba opened the doors and strode into the room which was divided into office cubicles. The babble didn't cease when Kaiba entered and Joey saw that it was because the talk was on game concepts and it was to each other. Kaiba would randomly walk up to an employee and examine their work, sometimes criticizing or praising their work. The criticizing was with the typical Kaiba tone Joey had known for years while the praise was unusual to hear. Nonetheless, it was good to know that Kaiba can be nice.

A loud electronic buzz then sounded and Kaiba announced, "Lunch hour!" Joey looked around to see a digital clock the size of an electronic bulletin board on the wall and it showed that it was noon. Employees either headed to a break room or out of the room to leave for lunch. Kaiba followed them at a leisurely pace with Joey behind him.

"I have an electronic clock in all break rooms and at each elevator bank. They're required to use their card to clock in when starting the day and coming back from lunch. They clock out when going to lunch and leaving for the day. I will add your hours into my employee database for today as you'll have your card tomorrow."

"Right. So, I guess I'll see you in an hour?"

"If you wish, but Mokuba left for the nearby deli and should be back with lunch very soon."

"Uh, on second thought, I'll stay."

"I was hoping you would as I would like to talk while we eat."

Mokuba met them at the office door with a small deli case and three bottles of soda. "I didn't know what Joey likes so I got a sandwich maker kit," Mokuba explained as they settled around Kaiba's desk.

"That's fine, little brother. Perhaps Joey would like to take the rest home for dinner tonight or maybe for tomorrow's lunch," Kaiba said, looking at Joey.

"Definitely dinner and lunch,' Joey said. "Dad and I could eat some tonight and I'll take what's left for lunch." Joey felt his mouth water at the selection of meats, cheeses, vegetables, and condiments. He was encountering the meat craving all werewolves experience when the full moon is close. He chose mostly meat for his sandwich with a bit of cheese and a little tomato.

"Don't you like vegetables, Joey?" Mokuba asked before taking a bite of a deli pickle and then a bite of his sandwich that had quite a selection of vegetables.

"Sure I do. I'm just feeling meat hungry right now."

There was silence as the three of them ate and drank before Kaiba broke it. "Joey, how many dates did Serenity and Duke have?"

"Three. I was a bit too protective when Duke first asked her out. I threatened him if he mistreated her."

"I understand that. I would do anything to protect Mokuba."

"I don't need you to be over-protective," Mokuba protested. "I am thirteen."

"Serenity said a similar thing when she came home after the first date."

"Is your father also protective of her dating?"

"He doesn't care about Serenity or me. He spends most of his time asleep or drunk, sometimes both."

"Your mom left you with a drunk father?" Kaiba gasped.

"Yeah. Both don't really care about me. Only Serenity and my friends care about me."

Kaiba was astounded to hear that Joey's home life had not been much better than his own. Both had suffered at the hands of adults but while Kaiba became cold as a result, Joey started out as a bully but later became the man that sat before him. "We're not too different, are we Joey?"

"I suppose not, Kaiba."

"Call me Seto. We're friends now." Kaiba gave a smile that Joey found to be very friendly indeed.