Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Common Ground ❯ Chapter 3

PAIN. Pure, excruciatingly, agonizing pain was searing every nerve in his body. He didn't like the pain. He didn't like the darkness either, but at least there wasn't the pain he felt now.

Also, there were voices. They sounded so sweet and so familiar, yet so sad. In the darkness, he could hear them calling out to him.

`Are they angels?.... Am I in Heaven?.... Did I really... die?'

Those voices. They were calling for him and he wanted to follow. He wanted to go to those voices. There was one that he heard the most and that one made him feel safe. That voice made the darkness seem not so bad. But the voice always sounded so incredibly forlorn.

`I have ta find that voice!.. I have ta find it..'

However, that's when he came into this indescribable pain he now felt. The darkness seemed to lift all around him and curious noises were starting to come to his ears.

He groaned as he opened his eyes in small slits. The world was a swirl of colors and he seemed to be seeing everything in triplicate. He blinked until everything danced back into focus and left him feeling a little queasy.

His hand came to his head as it started to throb harder when he felt a tug. Honey eyes rolled over to see the wires and tubes that criss-crossed about him and the few that were stuck into his arm.

That's when he became aware of the mask over his face and gently pulled it off as he tried to sit up. He only made it a centimeter before he quickly aborted that plan.

`PAIN!! DA PAIN CAN STOP NOW!'

Joey decided the best course of action would just to be gently turning his head. He didn't recognize the room he was in, but it still held an air of familiarity. But now, it looked more like a hospital room with all the machines that surrounded him on the large, expensive bed.

He looked down towards the foot of the bed and noticed a table that held many bouquets of flowers and various cards. He shifted his arm slightly and felt it bump against something soft. No.. make that two somethings.

Wearily, the blonde brought the items closer for inspection and a weak smile came to his face. One was a plushie of his favorite Red Eyes Black Dragon while the other was the famous counterpart, and Seto's favorite, the Blue Eyes White Dragon. A small card dangled from one of the plushie's necks that read: 'Get Well Soon, Joey! We miss you! --Seto and Mokuba' but was written in a child's handwriting.

Joey set his presents back down beside him before he turned his head and off to one side. There, both fast asleep in a large chair, was Seto with Mokuba curled up in his lap. The CEO was in his normal attire while the boy was in pajamas. A light blanket covered them both.

The injured youth watched them silently and felt a warmth pulling at his heartstrings.

`They really cared about me.. I wonder how long they've been here?'

The small head of raven hair shifted as a small hand came up to rub his nose. He gave a sniffle, then a yawn and sat up sleepily to look over at the bed.

The boy blinked his drowsy, deep blue eyes. Then widened them slightly as he tried to make sure he was not seeing things. Joey smiled softly to him and Mokuba lost it. He bounced in his brother's lap and started shaking him by the shoulders.

"SETO! SETO! JOEY'S AWAKE!!!" he practically screamed in excitement.

Seto's eyes shot open immediately from the sudden outburst. At first, he was going to scold the boy for making so much noise while the blonde rested, but then it came to him what Mokuba had actually said.

"He's what?!" the brunette's head snapped up to look at the bed and saw those soft, honey colored eyes gazing back.

Seto jumped to his feet in moments, almost causing his little brother to take a tumble to the floor if he had not found his footing. The two Kaiba's rushed to the bedside while being careful to mind everything that was hooked into Joey's body.

Mokuba jumped on his toes as he cried happy tears. "Joey! Joey! You're awake! You're awake! We were all so worried about you!"

The blonde cracked open his dry lips to reply, but found it hard. His mouth felt like cotton. He tried to swallow a bit before trying again.

In a raspy whisper, he managed to croak out, ".. Hey, kiddo.."

Seto put his hand upon the spastic child. "Mokie, go call the others and tell them that Joey's awake."

Long, black hair bobbed feverishly before he left with a blur to use the phone. The taller teen looked back to the youth on the bed. Joey looked into his azure eyes and was shocked to see tears.

The CEO wiped the stray drops away quickly, but he had a look of relief all over his face.

"You had everyone worried about you, pup."

Joey could see the weariness in Seto's features and the dark circles under his eyes. Without passing up the chance, the youth smirked softly and croaked once again.

".. Ya look like shit, Seto..."

The brunette blinked in shock for a moment before cracking a slight grin. "You're one to talk, Wheeler."

The shorter teen would have made a retort at seeing the mighty, Seto Kaiba grinning, but he still felt groggy.

Instead, he asked, ".. Where am I anyway?"

"You're in my bedroom, Joey.. You fell unconscious at your house and I took you to the hospital. The doctors had to bandage you up and put a few stitches in your head. They did some CAT scans and some x-rays and found some internal bleeding, so they had to go in and found a tear in your upper intestines. You have a broken nose and were suffering from a bad concussion. Once it was safe enough to move you, I had you brought here to heal and a team of doctors at my call if anything should happen..." Seto's tone filled with concern, "You've been in a coma for almost four days, Joey."

Joey blinked. "Four days?.. In yer bedroom?.. Where'd ya sleep?"

The darker haired teen nodded at the chair he had been in previously. Before Joey could say anything more, Mokuba came running back in.

"They wanna come see him as soon as they can, big brother. I told them they could come by tomorrow, but to call first to make sure Joey's not sleeping.. Oh, I'm so happy, Seto!" he threw his arms around his brother tightly and cried.

".. So am I, Mokuba.." Seto replied as he held his younger sibling. "But you need to get some rest and so does Joey. Can you sleep in your own room tonight? I'd like to talk to him privately."

Mokuba sniffled away a few tears and nodded even though he really did not want to leave. He wanted so badly to hug Joey, but he was afraid of hurting him.

"Goodnight, Joey.. Me and Seto are glad you're back.. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

The blonde smiled softly and would have nodded, if it did not hurt so much, ".. Night, squirt.."

With one last hug for his older brother, the boy went off to go get some much-needed sleep. Now alone, Seto brought a chair to the bedside and sat down.

".. I know it's obvious, but how are you feeling, Joey?"

"Like I got inta a fight with a semi.. and lost.." he was finding it easier to talk now even though his mouth still felt dry.

The brunette let out a long, heavy sigh and dropped his head, his elbows on his knees and his hands hanging down into his lap.

".. Joey?... Can you ever forgive me?"

Joey blinked again. ".. Uh, I've kinda gotten used ta da dog stuff, if that's what you mean..?"

"No, Joey. It's not just that... I promised that you were going to be safe and yet I let this happen to you.. I couldn't keep my word because I was too busy with an idiotic call about fucking packaging colors and you almost lost your life... No.. I don't want your forgiveness. I don't deserve it."

The sore youth stared in surprise. The CEO was feeling guilt and remorse for something that was beyond his control!

"That's not true.. Don't go blaming yourself fer what happened. I told ya that my ol' man would do somethin' drastic if he saw me again. You were just tryin' to run yer company. It was just an unlucky coincidence that this happened.. Da important part was that ya saved me."

"I wouldn't have had to save you in the first place if I had just hung up the god damned phone!" Seto looked very angry, but it was focused at himself.

There was a long silence as both looked away from one another.

"... I still forgive ya. It's da least I can do.. Even if ya don't want ta accept it."

Once more, the room was silent except for the beeping of the machines all about.

Seto finally replied in a hushed voice, ".. Thank you, Joey."

Joey turned his head back carefully. "I should be thankin' you.. Ya coulda got yourself in da same mess if ya weren't careful.. It really means a lot ta me."

Before the brunette could say more, Joey lied his head back down and changed the subject.

".. Ya know.. I could hear all these voices callin' me when I was out... There was one that I kept hearin' da most. It sounded so sad, but it was comforting. I wanted to find it.. There was somethin' about it that made me want ta follow. I can't remember everything that it said ta me, but it made me feel good ta hear.. Weird, huh, Seto?... Seto?"

He glanced over to see Seto was once again in a deep sleep. Joey smirked softly to himself, but figured that he had to be exhausted with the way he looked earlier.

".. Night, Seto."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Joey awoke the next morning, he found Seto was gone. He brushed it off. Once again, he tried sitting up. With some effort, he managed. A creak from the door lifted his head.

"Good morning, Joey! I wanted to see if you were up and if you wanted some breakfast!.. How are you feeling?" Mokuba greeted cheerfully.

"Still a little sore, but there's no way I'll pass up food."

"Okay! I'll be right back. It's downstairs," and the boy raced off to return a few moments later with a stack of pancakes.

He brought the tray over and helped Joey prop himself up with some pillows before he set the food down and let him eat. The blonde invited Mokuba to join him.

"Ya can sit on da bed, just careful where ya touch. Don't want ta get tangled in all these wires an' crap."

Mokuba crawled up and sat on his bottom near Joey's legs. Since it was a king sized bed, there was room to spare.

"These are great, squirt. I was starvin'."

The boy smiled as he watched.

"So, where's ya brother?"

"Seto had to go to the office for a while. He hasn't left this room since they brought you in."

Joey swallowed a bite. "Ya mean he took off of work? That's hard ta believe."

Mokuba nodded. "He stayed by your side the entire time.. I think he slept for maybe a total of five hours the entire time you were in a coma. And I had to beg him to eat.. Seto was really worried about you, Joey. I've never seen him so stressed out like that before."

"He was worried about me?"

"Well, we all were, but I think Seto was the most. He kept saying that it was his fault for letting this happen and he was scared that you weren't going to wake up."

Joey sat in stunned silence as he took everything in that the boy told him.

"Seto would stay in here every night right by the bed.. I came in sometimes because I was too worried to sleep and I saw him holding your hand.. He was crying too, Joey. And you know that Seto never cries!.. He looked so relieved when you woke up. I hadn't seen him be anything other than depressed until then."

`It all makes sense now.. It was Seto's voice that I kept hearin'... He stayed with me da entire time? He must really care ta worry about me so much.'

Once Joey was finished with his meal, Mokuba took away the dirty dishes. Joey read all the cards and 'get well' wishes that he had gotten by the time everyone stopped by to visit.

"Feeling better, Joey?" piped up Yugi behind a basket of gifts he was holding.

"A little.. Where's Teá? You'd think she'd be da first through da door screamin' at me."

Bakura, who had been dragged there by Ryou, grinned evilly. "Oh, let's just say that Malik and Marik have her occupied and that's why she's not here."

The others gave nervous grins.

"We thought you might want to rest up before you got the 'Teá talk'," replied Tristan.

The injured blonde nodded in relief. He definitely was not up to handling that girl's personality at the moment and going through one of her little friendship lectures.

Yugi gave the basket he was holding to Joey. "This is from all of us. There's even some Duel Monster booster packs in there from Grandpa, Yami and me."

"Thanks guys.. And it's great that ya all came. I just wish Serenity could stop by."

"She called and said that she would as soon as she could. She should be by in the next few days. She was worried sick when she heard about you," Tristan said.

"That's good. It'll be nice ta see her. I don't like ta get her upset about me."

The visit lasted for about an hour and a half before everyone decided to let Joey get some rest. It was not long after they left that Seto returned home. He came up into the bedroom to check on the blonde.

"You should be resting, puppy."

"Well, I ain't goin' anywhere. I've been sittin' on my ass for days now. I'd call that resting.. Everybody just came by a bit ago ta check up.. And ya still look like hell."

"That's enough. You should still get some sleep while you're recovering."

"I feel good today. But I think you could use a nap.. Mokuba told me that ya didn't sleep while I was out. No wonder ya got those bags under yer eyes."

Seto rubbed under his eyes softly. He was tired, but he certainly wasn't going to kick Joey out of his bed in his condition.

"Ya know, if ya get rid of these stupid machines, then ya could probably use your bed again. I mean, I think I'm doin' good enough to go without the life support here."

"What about you? Where do you think you're going to sleep? I don't want you to be walking around while you're still hurt."

"Da bed's big enough, I think we could both fit. There's plenty of room so ya don't have ta worry about hittin' me in da middle of da night."

As inviting as it was, the brunette felt a bit uncomfortable about it.

"What's da matter? I ain't gonna bite.. I've been known ta snore a bit, but I have yet ta bite."

"I can just use one of the guest rooms."

"Oh, c'mon. This is your bed after all. I think I could move my scrawny ass over for ya ta use it."

After a lengthy discussion, Seto finally gave in. He was too tired to fight anymore. He called a doctor in to make sure Joey was doing well enough to take the machines away before they were all wheeled out. The blonde even convinced them to get rid of the I.V. in his hand, much to his relief.

Once everything was settled, Joey had Seto help him scoot over to one side of the bed.

"See? Ya got plenty of room an' so do I. Now why don't ya get some sleep before ya keel over? I'm gonna take a nap myself."

Reluctantly, Seto agreed and started undressing in the room out of habit. The shorter teen blew a wolf whistle playfully as the white business shirt fell open to expose the brunette's taut chest. He covered himself immediately and tried to hide the blush that came to his face as he left to finish changing in his bathroom.

Seto returned dressed in long, dark blue, silk pajamas. He pulled back the covers to his side of the bed and slipped in carefully.

"Yer gonna get hot in that. Why do ya think I'm practically naked over here? Your bed gets warm." He had been in a pair of boxers ever since he woke up. Even his shirt was too uncomfortable for him to wear.

The brunette was glad he had his back to Joey or he would have died from embarrassment.

"I'm fine. Go to sleep," came a gruff reply.

"Hrmf. Night, ya grouch," pouted the shorter youth before he made himself comfortable and fell asleep.

Seto thought he would have trouble falling asleep beside Joey, but he seemed to be lulled into a deep slumber by the other's presence.