Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Absolutely Awful ❯ Second Mistake ( Chapter 2 )

Absolutely Awful

By Katsuya Kaiba

Valentine's Day Fic Challenge Part Two

Rated PG-13

First person, Joey's perspective

Pairing: Seto and Joey, of course!

Summary: Telling Seto Kaiba of your love for him isn't supposed to be easy, but is there a way to survive the ordeal? Joey has decided to tell Seto one step at a time, yet it still appears to be a lost cause. But perhaps it isn't…

I turned to face the door in silent defeat, knowing that Seto would stride in importantly within moments, trapping us in a tense and heated stalemate. He never backed down once things got started between us, and I knew that I wouldn't either. I craved his attention far too much. But as seconds passed, I saw a window of opportunity, perhaps I still had a chance to escape. And after glancing around the room I saw that, truly, someone up there must indeed like me a whole hell of a lot. The supply closet awaits…

I grab my bag, not intending to leave behind any evidence of my whereabouts, and surely no one least of all Seto would suspect that I, Joey Wheeler, had come to school early. No, this was perfect. Now, when Seto entered, I hoped that he would remember to read that note he stuck in his pocket, because my vantage point was perfect for spying on unseen emotions. The closet was in the front corner of the room, and positioned in a nearly unsettlingly perfect point that placed Seto and I nearly face to face since his desk was the front row corner, only I would have the advantage of two sliding wooden panels to hide behind, closing me inside the closet. He would be able to hide behind nothing. As I slung my bag inside and hopped in after it, I grinned at the prospect of what lay ahead. Seto would think that he was alone, but he sure wouldn't be. But no one has to know, do they?

I crouched down amidst the brooms and empty plastic bottles of cleaner that were strewn all over the floor of the large cabinet. It was almost tall enough to where I could stand comfortably, but not quite, and hunching over slightly, I slid the first panel shut in front of me. As I followed with the second door, I slid it all the way over until there was about three or four inches of space left open, just enough so that I could see his face, and hopefully, his reaction to the note I left in his locker. I heard a muffled noise from outside the closet, and I froze instantly in place, my eyes were the only thing visible to whoever was now accompanying me in the classroom. I knew that no one would be checking to see if anyone was watching them secretly from the closet, but still I felt extremely tense, and I held my breath unconsciously for a few moments. I didn't dare move, and I instead decided to wait for them to come into view.

Not more that a few moments later, I saw Seto approach his desk and sit down quickly, lifting his metal briefcase up and laying it down in front of him. Taking out his laptop and proceeding to tap away at it intensely, I realized that I might just be in for the morning meeting, and I silently cursed at his ever-pressing need to do businessy things. How boring. But after a moment, the tapping slowed down, more and more, until finally coming to a close. Nothing but silence came afterwards, and as I watched his face, he gave no sign that he had actually stopped working, but instead he appeared even more focused than ever, as if trying to push something away from his mind. Then, with a look of defeat, he caved and reached into his pocket. I made a quiet fist and pulled it to my side in a victory grab, and intently watched the proceedings with a renewed interest. Pulling the note from his pocket. Seto lifted it eye level and peered at the envelope, as if it were an enemy force in hiding that had just been discovered, and with an evil grin he almost appeared to scoff menacingly at the letter as he broke the seal and pulled the envelope open, gazing at the contents.

The single page I had written came out in Seto's grasp, and I watched his eyes flash back and forth across the lines of script, reading my heart as if it were literally open before him. Nervously, I began to bite at my bottom lip as I watched his face, his motions, anything that would betray some inner reaction of Seto's upon learning of my affections. Well, I didn't really put my name on the note, but any reaction would do. I didn't think he was ready to take that much all at once. I needed to see if he was open to the idea on any level before I threw myself into the mix. I had the note memorized completely, having written and re-written it repeatedly the previous evening. As his eyes followed the lines, I rehearsed them in my head, hoping to catch each nuance of it, experience it with him as he read it for the first time.

Dear Seto,

First of all, I'd like to start out with my only request. Please do not be mad at me. This is my last chance to tell you this, and I know without a doubt that I will regret it for the rest of my life if I do not tell you this before it is too late. You and I will both be graduating at the end of this school year, and no doubt we will both go our separate ways, and all I need is for you to know exactly how I feel before you go. Seto Kaiba, I am in love with you. So much that it hurts me to see you every single day, and all the while knowing how much you hate me, or at least, how much it seems that you do. But I don't want you to apologize, nor do I want you to feel bad about the way that I feel. It isn't your fault that I fell in love with you, and it isn't my fault, either. I guess things just turned out that way. I most certainly did not expect it in the least myself, in fact I always thought that I hated you as well. But now that I've seen you in so many different ways, and seen what has made you become what you are today, I just find that I love you more and more with each passing moment. My only hope is that maybe one day, if you are ever feeling lonely or upset with yourself, you'll remember that someone does love you for who you are and not for what you have or who you pretend to be. I love Seto Kaiba, not the CEO of Kaiba Corp., and not the calm and collected world champion duelist. I love Seto Kaiba and no other. You are good enough, if not for yourself, then at least for me.

Nothing happened for a good long while. He didn't move, and it seemed as though he was re-reading the note over and over again, as if he couldn't believe what it said. His eyes widened slightly, but no other reaction came forth. And then, just as he was folding the letter back up and sliding it back into the envelope, a sudden racket started up, making me jump in shock and nearly causing me to fall backwards into the closet. Regaining my footing, I once again peered out of my hiding spot and saw not just Seto, but four or five more students filtering in from the hallways, and settling down into their seats for school.

School.

I am such an idiot.

How could I not have thought of it? There really was no way out, this time. But I couldn't stay in here the whole day, could I? I would have to. If I just up and waltzed out of the supply closet, everyone else might not think twice, but I knew that Seto would. Especially after a note like that one. And all the while I was panicking, the classroom was slowly filling up, and I realized that all was indeed lost. I heard the bell ring, and I watched the rest of the students file in and take their seats slowly, spreading out in all directions and ruining my chances for escape, chances that never truly existed. I closed my eyes in surrender. I was stuck in here until lunch, at the very least. This is absolutely awful.

The class dragged on in such a way that I had never thought possible until today. I had previously thought that school was the most boring thing ever, but listening to school was now by far much worse in my mind. Everything that the teacher said was muffled beyond recognition, so I couldn't even have learned anything if I had tried to. Instead of hearing voices, all I could make out was an incessant droning noise that never died, but instead grew more and more monotonous by the second. Not to mention the fact that I had gotten no sleep at all the night before, instead I had tossed and turned wide awake under the sheets, nearly sweating in a panic as I thought of the coming morning and what it held. And now, sitting here inside this closet was so warm, and my thoughts kept drifting back to his eyes, the ones that I see whenever my own eyes are shut… I closed my eyes accordingly, and allowed my mind to drift into a waking dream, and my weary and sleep-starved body saw the opportunity for a much-needed rest and took it, without warning. I drifted off into sleep, right there in the school supply closet, with my teacher no more than a few feet away from me, and with Seto Kaiba closer still. I forgot it all, and fell deeply into a dreaming state, which went quite uninterrupted for a few minutes, until my slack body lost hold of the careless position I left it in and slowly teetered forward, towards the flimsy front panels of the wooden cabinet I slept in.

I was awoken in a string of events that all seemed to happen at the same time, but really they happened one right after another, a series of dominoes all falling exactly into place perfectly, and sealing my fate at the same time. The position my body was in was not the best for sleeping in, and before long my footing gave and I began to fall foreword. However, being asleep at the moment, I realized this only seconds too late, as I came into full and direct contact with the half-open closet panel before me. But instead of catching my balance and stopping my fall, the door instead began to fall with me, and this is about where I regained consciousness. Toppling forward at an alarming rate, the door and I parted ways in between the ground and what was directly in front of me, the door being far shorter than I caught on nothing and landed on the ground effortlessly. I was not nearly so lucky.

In my panic at my moment of awakening, my arms were instinctively in front of me and desperately grasping nothing but air, in hopes of making contact with something, anything that could stop my fall. They did at long last, and my hands came into contact with something hard and sturdy just in front of me, and I clung to it for dear life. Whatever it was that I had grabbed seemed to be only waist high, because while I remained stuck to it in desperation, my legs still made it to the ground, and I found myself sitting upright on the classroom floor, clinging to the front of a desk with a death-like grip.

It was unnaturally silent.

Lifting my head to gaze at where I was, still plagued with the fogginess of sleep, I was matched in my gaze by about thirty or so pairs of very amused and startled eyes, and turning my head to the side I saw my teacher staring at me, horrified. And just as silent as everyone else. Not wanting to return her shocked expression, I looked directly above me, and into the frigidly watchful stare of Seto Kaiba, whose desk I was still attached to. He held me in that stare for a few questioning moments, silently asking, and I had to look away from his demanding glare. I couldn't give him that answer, not just yet. It wasn't Valentine's Day.

Finally, the eerie and deafening silence was broken with a strong and audible snap, and Seto Kaiba spoke aloud.

"Well, it seems that Joey Wheeler is finally coming out of the closet."

This is just absolutely awful…