Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

written at 8th june 2003, by Misura

Note : For the sake of the plot, Seto *walks* to school, like normal people, instead of being driven there. Maybe the car broke down or something ...

**********

Joey supposed it made sense in some twisted way ; they had been melting all day in the classroom that had felt like an oven and now that they were finally allowed to go home, the weather had gone bad.

Clouds were hiding the sun that had been shining so brightly only moments ago. Dark clouds, that held the promise of rain soon to fall.

Of course bringing an umbrella would be an assurance of a perfectly dry day ...

"Think those dark clouds will disappear if you stare at them long enough, mutt?" a voice from behind him sneered. Joey turned around, slowly.

"If enough time passes, they will." he replied with a shrug.

"Is that how you deal with trouble, wait till it goes away? How typical." Kaiba snorted.

Joey glared at him, feeling angry at the other's attitude.

He was about to speak his mind to Kaiba, when Yugi popped up, covered from head to toe in an -in Joey's opinion very ugly- rain-cloak.

"Hi, Joey! Would you like to come over to my place later this afternoon? Me and Yami planned on renting a movie. Ryou's coming too ; he promised to bring some pop-corn."

Joey smiled.

"Sounds great, Yug. You can count me in. I'll see if I can bring - "

"No need." Yugi interrupted, knowing full well how hard pressed Joey would be to get anything from his father. "I'll see you there then."

"Sure thing!" Joey grinned. He *loved* watching movies with his friends ; it gave him a perfect opportunity to forget about everything.

Kaiba cleared his throat, looking slightly annoyed at being ignored by the other two. Joey had been doing it on intent, hoping Kaiba would just leave, while Yugi had simply been too focused on inviting Joey to notice.

"Oh, hello Kaiba. Sorry I didn't see you." Yugi sounded as if he really was sorry.

"Yugi." Kaiba nodded, not even bothering to add a greeting.

"Would you like to come too?" Yugi asked, as Joey knew he would.

"No, I don't think so." Kaiba replied, also as Joey had expected him to.

"You'd be very welcome." Yugi added sincerely. "You must feel lonely sometimes with only Mokuba for company. Why don't you allow yourself to have fun for once?"

"Do you have trouble hearing?" Kaiba answered. "I said 'no'. See you around, puppy." With that, he turned and walked away.

Yugi stared after him disappointed, while Joey felt relieved. Relieved enough to let that last 'puppy' pass for now.

"He didn't even say 'goodbye'." Yugi sounded hurt.

"Ah well, look at it from the bright side, Yug." Joey tried to comfort him.

"What 'bright side'?" Yugi asked with a frown.

"The less people that are coming, the more pop-corn we have!" Joey grinned, while Yugi smiled involuntarily. "Believe me, Bakura makes the best pop-corn in the whole world, even if I have no idea where he could've learned to do that."

"Ryou's lucky." Yugi agreed. "Though I wouldn't ever want to swap my Yami for his, I must admit there are quite some good points to Bakura."

Joey chuckled. "Who'd have thought eh? Well, I gotta go now, before it really starts to get ugly."

"Movie starts at five ; don't be late or you'll miss the beginning!"

Joey nodded and waved.

Yugi stared after him for a while after going to his own home, where Yami'd be waiting for him.

/'Seem to be' being the operative phrase here./ Yami remarked with a smirk.

**********

Of course it didn't start raining until Joey was well away from any cover. When a passing car splashed the water in one of the puddles on the street all over him, he felt more miserable than ever. He simply stood there, staring at the watery world, no longer knowing or caring if the water running down his face was that of rain or that of tears.

Another car came headed his way, but Joey found himself lacking the will to move out of its way to keep himself from getting soaked once more.

As the car approached he heard someone call out, while a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away from the road and the puddle.

He was spun around none too gently to come face to face with Kaiba, who was holding up a rather big umbrella that protected Joey from the rain as well now.

"You look like a drowned puppy." Kaiba sounded slightly amused.

"For once, because it's probably true, I won't take offense at being compared to some dog." Plus I don't feel up to another verbal sparring with you. Joey sighed.

Kaiba didn't reply and Joey didn't feel like adding anything to his last statement. In silence, only broken by the ticking sound of falling rain on Kaiba's umbrella they stared at eachother.

"You ought to get into some dry clothes or you'll get ill. Why don't you come over to my house? It's not too far from here." Kaiba said finally.

Joey already opened his mouth to reply his own house was nearby too, when he saw the look in the other's eyes. Kaiba *knew* where Joey lived.

Which meant his invitation was ... what?

Joey hesitated.

"Sounds like a good plan." Joey replied.

Kaiba seemed to relax slightly. "Glad to hear you think so." There was only a hint of irony in his voice. "Shall we go then?"

*****

Kaiba, Joey discovered to his surprise, owned a large collection of nice, wide and extremely well, casual clothes. Clothes Joey himself could have had in his closet.

They were sitting in the livingroom now, sipping from the hot chocolate Kaiba had personally made. That had been the second surprise ; the total absence of any servants.

Joey had to admit some of the tales that he had heard had sounded rather unlikely, but he had expected there to be at least someone to keep this immense mansion cleaned. And maybe some bodyguards, if only to keep Mokuba safe.

"Don't you like the chocolate?"

His head snapped up, to find Kaiba gazing at him.

"Oh yeah, it tastes great. I'd never thought you could make something like that."

Kaiba's expression turned bitter for a moment almost too brief for Joey to notice it.

"There's a lot you don't know about me."

Joey started to feel a bit guilty. Which, shortly, turned to annoyance.

"Ah yes, and you make such efforts to get people to know you, don't you? Always willing to talk about yourself, always being friendly and nice." He snorted.

"I offered you shelter from the rain." Kaiba replied softly, staring into his mug.

The guilt returned.

"The rain, ah yes. Do you expect me to be grateful for that? Do you expect me to roll over and be a good dog and not bark at you anymore?" Joey snarled.

"N-no, of co-." Kaiba regained his composure. "I thought you didn't like being compared to a puppy? As to my asking you over, no I don't expect you to thank me. Though I had hoped you'd be polite enough not to start a fight for once. I don't want Mokuba to walk in on one of those."

"Neither would I." Joey sighed.

"What's on your mind? You keep fading out, like Yugi and Ryou do at times. Don't tell me you have some Spirit too."

Joey chuckled. "Nope, rest assured. I was just thinking about ... "

" ... how you manage to keep this place clean all by yourself."

Kaiba relaxed a little, leaning back in his seat.

"Well, we only use a few of the rooms. Those, I clean myself. The rest of the house is cleaned weekly by some hired help."

Joey nodded. He had seen ads offering a helping hand in the household often enough. He had never placed one himself, even if he could have used the extra money.

He simply didn't have the time for it.

Sure, school and keeping his own house clean didn't take all of his time, but he *needed* to spend time in the company of friends too. To have some way of relaxation, of escaping the pressure.

**********

"I do most of the cooking myself, though Mokuba insists on cooking for us too sometimes." Kaiba smiled, unexpectedly.

Joey smiled too and nodded, taking another sip of his -by now luke- hot chocolate. The clothing Kaiba had borrowed him was nice and fluffy, the seat comfortable ... in short, he was feeling all nice and warm. And sleepy.

He couldn't suppress a yawn, quickly trying to hide it for fear of spoiling the mood again by making Kaiba think he was bored.

*****

Kaiba blinked as he heard a soft sound coming from Joey.

The blond was slumped down in his seat, apparently having dozed off.

Kaiba blushed at the direction his thoughts were taking.

By the time Joey was tucked in however, Seto Kaiba was much too tired and longing for sleep himself to think about calling anyone's parents anymore.

He simply went to bed, telling himself he'd just take a short nap.

It was just half past six after all ; plenty of time left to do some work today.

*****

"Yugi, he's not coming anymore." Yami said softly as his hikari once again tried to keep Bakura from starting the movie without their final guest having arrived.

"He promised he'd come." Yugi protested, trying to keep the remote out of Bakura's hands.

"Perhaps something happened." Ryou suggested softly.

"He'd have called us." Yugi replied immediately, feeling a little hurt everyone seemed to be against him.

Bakura profitted from Yugi's temporal distraction by making a dive for the remote again, causing Yami to growl at him for coming too close to his hikari.

Yugi smiled bleakly at Yami.

Yugi nodded. "Okay everybody, I'm going to start the tape."

"About time." Bakura plopped down next to Ryou, who snuggled up to him immediately. "My hikari needs to be in bed early."

"Oh really?" Yami asked with a smirk. "To sleep or to do something else?"

"Yami!" Three pairs of eyes glared at him.

*****

Mokuba hummed softly as he entered the house. His brother probably wasn't home yet, but he kept his noise down just in case.

As he walked past the kitchen his nose picked up the smell of hot chocolate. Entering he found some remainders of the pot Kaiba had made earlier.

He heated a portion for himself and sauntered into the living room, slightly puzzled by the curtains being closed. He was sure they had been open this morning.

"Who's there?"

Mokuba spun around, rather surprised (and a little scared) at hearing another voice than his brother's here.

*****

Joey blinked. "Mokuba?"

"Joey? What are you doing here?"

Joey fidgeted a bit with the blanket, looking slightly embarrassed. "Well, I got wet walking home in the rain and Kaiba offered to uhm come here for shelter."

Mokuba's mind filled in the rest.

"Wouldn't you rather sleep in a bed?" Mokuba asked with a bright smile.

"I ... should go home now. It's late." Joey rose.

"No!" Mokuba turned his puppy eyes on the blond. "Please stay! There are plenty of guestrooms you can use -"

" -and I'm sure Seto wouldn't want you to go through the city all by yourself at an hour like this."

"Uhm."

"Come on, I'll bring you." Mokuba pulled him along. Joey followed in a bit of a daze, still half-asleep. "Here we are. Enjoy your night-rest."

Mokuba shoved Joey into his brother's bedroom, quickly checking if his brother was indeed in there, before closing the door, a satisfied smirk on his lips.

**********

Chapter warning : kissing, snuggling and slight oocness if you don't consider Kaiba a person to indulge in the previously mentioned activities.

**********

Joey stumbled forwards until his legs bumped into something soft.

His hands reached out to find out if his assumption was correct and if the item in front of him was, indeed, a bed. When they brushed something warm that was on the bed, he hastily withdrew them, wondering what it could be.

Someone moaned softly, followed by the sound of movement and a small light being turned on.

Joey felt his jaw drop as he stared at the person who blinked at him sleepily.

"Joey ... "

The expression of Kaiba's face changed abruptly.

"Do you imitate fish as well as dogs now?"

The illusion shattered. Joey knew he shouldn't blame Kaiba for, well, being himself, but he still felt angry at him.

"Listen here, Kaiba!" he growled, taking a step forwards, though he wasn't sure what he intended to do ; starting a fight with Kaiba in pajamas seemed rather wrong. "I - "

He tripped over a pair of shoes, landing half on Kaiba and half on the rest of the bed. Mokuba would have been very pleased with Joey's current position, no doubt, though the blond himself was more embarrassed than anything else.

"Hmm. You're as clumsy as a puppy as well." Kaiba smirked, making no attempt to push Joey off him. In part because he wasn't that strong and didn't want to lose face by trying it and failing, in part because well, it felt kind of nice to have Joey covering him like a living blanket.

"Am not. Your shoes were at the wrong place." Joey shifted his position, aware that he was lying draped over the other in a rather suggestive way, but unwilling to break the only contact he had ever had with Kaiba.

He hadn't realized he had spoken that last thought aloud until Kaiba replied to it.

"You're supposed to wear pajamas in bed, mutt, not your regular clothing. Didn't anyone tell you that? No wonder you always look so shabby."

"I'm not stupid. But I don't have any pajamas with me."

"Well, then I guess you'll have to sleep in your boxers." Kaiba shrugged, hiding his grin. "Because you're not going to sleep in these." He tugged at the sleeve of Joey's shirt.

"There's *no* way I'm going to sleep in just my boxers while you - "

"You want me to strip down to boxers as well?" Kaiba raised one eyebrow, no longer trying to hide his amusement at the situation. Joey blushed and stuttered something. "Perhaps your demand isn't wholly unreasonable, now that I come to think of it."

Joey squeaked.

"What? You find the concept of being near-naked in a bed with me distasteful?" Kaiba inquired, a smirk masking his tension at Joey's answer.

"Of course not!" Joey protested. "Uhm, that is .... "

"Why don't you think of this as one of your dreams?" Kaiba suggested, praying he had betted right in thinking Joey had had some fantasies about him, like he had had some about the blond.

"This is not a dream." Joey replied, a bit confused.

"No, but if you *think* of it that way, you might be more at ease."

Joey considered this. "Only ... if I mess up here, it's really bad, isn't it? I mean, if I do something wrong that makes you not want to try with me anymore, it's over. Forever."

Kaiba worked his pajama over his head and tossed it to the floor, returning his gaze to the squirming blond on his bed. He gently pulled Joey in his arms.

"Joey. I can't promise you I'll never be mad at you again, or that I'll never do something to make you mad at me again. I can't even promise you we'll be together for the rest of our lives. But I do think it's worth a try to make at least some of our dreams come true."

After a moment, Joey nodded.

It wasn't too long before his shirt and two pairs of trousers joined Kaiba's pajama.

When Mokuba tiptoed in the room at midnight, he found the two of them curled up together. He smiled and left as quiet as he had come.

Joey woke up unplagued by nightmares or any other sort of dreams. Looking down on the person he embraced and was embraced by he wondered if it was because one of them had become reality.

"What's the goofy grin about, puppy?" Kaiba grumbled, woken by Joey's movements.

"Nothing. Just happy." Joey answered.

Another groan. "Good for you. Now can you go away and be happy somewhere else?"

For a moment, Joey went cold. Has it been another dream after all?

"My, my, morning's not your time of day, is it?" he said teasingly.

"No one in his right mind likes mornings." Kaiba muttered. "Only crazy people, like Mokuba."

"Awww, poor you. Surrounded by crazy people. Shall I kiss and make it all better?"

"If you think it'll help." Kaiba grumbled. There was a smile tugging at his lips though ; Joey could see it. He leaned forwards, only to be shoved away almost violently as the sound of a door being opened sounded.

"Gooood morning!" Mokuba bounced into the room, carrying a tray. "I brought you breakfast in bed! Now, do you have a hug left for me, Seto, or has Joey gotten them all?"

Kaiba blushed, prompting both Joey and Mokuba to glomp him. Mokuba winked at Joey. "Seto always has a terrible temper when he wakes up. Shall I tell you how I usually manage to cheer him up?"

"Mokuba! Don't you dare!" Kaiba trashed around, trying to get away from the other two, while Joey nodded at Mokuba.

"My big brother is very, very ticklish. So I make him laugh until he promises to be nice. Perhaps you could try kissing his frown away though, that might work too. I'd love to see that."

"Uhm, maybe some other time." Joey choked out.

"Never!" Kaiba growled. "Forget it, Mokuba!"

"Tsk, tsk." Mokuba shook his head. "Such harsh words, big brother. Oh well, I guess I'll have to tickle you a bit longer then, to punish you. Joey?"

They exchanged a grin and Kaiba knew his fate was sealed.

~OWARI~