Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ How Do You Like Me Now? ❯ Chapter 1

Seto Kaiba opened his eyes and rolled over, his gaze falling on the clock beside his bed. He let out an aggravated growl at the readout of 4:32. He sighed and turned over again, closing his eyes and settling in to sleep again. He had just barely dozed off when Mokuba came in the door.

"Seto, are you sleeping again?" the boy inquired, approaching the side of the bed. "Get up. You know it's not good for you to sleep all day."

Kaiba groaned, annoyed. As much as he loved his little brother, sometimes he wished that he would just leave him alone. But then, he was not so little anymore, was he?

"Get up Seto. Have you been in bed all day?" Mokuba asked, tugging the blanket from his brother. Kaiba snarled and pulled his legs closer to him. Mokuba sighed when he saw that his brother had not yet gotten dressed and was still wearing his flannel pajama bottoms. "You <I>have</I> been in bed all day! Seto, you promised you'd go down to the office today! It's almost dinner time! Get up!"

Kaiba sat up, letting his legs hang over the edge of the bed. His hair stuck up in odd places and dark circles were obvious under his eyes. His skin was pale and the ice blue of his eyes had faded to a dull gray. He rubbed his face sleepily, growling to himself.

"Go away. I'll be out in a minute," Kaiba mumbled in a hoarse voice.

Mokuba nodded and left the room, leaving his brother alone. Kaiba was thankful that he had not protested and remained until Kaiba was physically up and dressed as he was known to do at times. The brown-haired young man rose from his bed and walked to the closet on the other side of the room. Opening the door, he found several articles of clothing littering the floor, only a few of them still hung up. He gazed down at the wrinkled clothes, wondering how long it had really been since the last time he had done laundry. Among the clothing still hung was his old white coat he had worn so long ago during his Battle City Tournament. The coat had been one of his favorites, spreading out behind him and waving in the wind, announcing his presence with a fanfare anywhere he ventured to go. He had been able to communicate with other people with just the touch of a button to the collar of the coat, a hidden microphone embedded there for his convenience. But now the wires and circuitry were disconnected and the white material had yellowed in age. He touched the fabric slightly, remembering those days when he was confident and sure of himself, somewhat arrogant and always on top of things. How he could strike fear into the hearts of anyone who dared oppose him in any way, shape or form. He was superior to everyone around him, including that Mutoh kid who had given him so much trouble in his younger years. But Kaiba had always considered himself superior to him and everyone else, Mutoh's little groupies included. Especially that mutt, Wheeler. But it was gone now. Everything.

"Are you coming, Seto?" came Mokuba's voice though the door.

Kaiba glanced at the clock. 5:47. "Yes, I'm coming."

****

"So what's up today, Perry?" Joey Wheeler inquired, plopping down in a soft office chair that swiveled around in response to his weight.

"Not much, I'm afraid," an older, balding man replied, checking over a pad of paper he held in his hand. "Seems all you have today is a meeting with Mrs. Grayson."

Joey raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Mrs. Grayson," Perry replied. "The charity worker?"

"Oh her. Okay, that's no problem," Joey said. "But that's all I have today?"

"I'm afraid so, sir," the other responded, setting down the pad.

"Well," Joey said, leaning back and setting his feet on the shiny wood of the table in front of him. "Should be an easy day then. What time is it at?"

"It's at 2:30 today, sir," Perry replied, ignoring the young man's rude mannerisms. After all, it was not as if he had not done things like that before.

"Cool," Joey said. "I'm gonna grab some chow. They got it ready downstairs, right?"

"Yes sir."

Joey sat up and stood, stretching his body as if he had been sitting uncomfortably for hours. "Then that's where I'm off to. You want somethin'?"

"No thank you sir, I have my own," Perry replied. "Please go and enjoy yourself."

"Sure thing. Catch ya later." Joey left the room and dashed over to the white staircase leading down to the lower level of the hotel building. He wasted no time getting down there and entered the banquet room at the far end of the hall. Tristan was already there, grabbing himself a plate of everything available.

"Yo Tris," Joey greeted upon his arrival. "What's up?"

"Hey Joe," Tristan replied, his mouth full of something crunchy. "This some good shit."

"Ain't it always?" Joey said. "Perry knows what I like." He approached the buffet table and grabbed himself a plate and began piling large amounts of food onto it.

"Hey, you wanna know what I heard?" Tristan mumbled, setting down at a lengthy table at the front of the room.

"What?" Joey asked, hardly paying attention, his mind entirely focused on getting more food.

"Domino wants us to come out there," Tristan informed him, taking a bite of well-marinated steak.

"Who's Domino?" Joey blinked, looking up at his friend with a puzzled look on his face.

"Domino. The city, genius. Remember? Where we used to live?"

"Oh, Domino!" Joey slapped his forehead. "Yeah, I remember…" His voice trailed off and he returned to retrieving the food on the table.

"You okay, man?" Tristan inquired worriedly. "Thought you'd be excited. See some old friends."

"Yeah, yeah, I am excited," Joey replied, a fake smile spread on his face. "Sounds great! Yugi still lives there, don't he?"

"Yeah," Tristan said, eyeing his friend suspiciously. "What's wrong, man? I know you too good for you to fake it out like that."

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just some… some memories back there," Joey replied. Tristan nodded and returned to his plate of food. Of course he would understand, Domino was where Joey had spent the hardest years of his life. But even Tristan did not know the full extent of Joey's hardships there. No one did. They had managed to keep it secret, even after all of these years. Could he really go back? If he did, it might open up some old wounds. Joey sighed. It was going to be a tough decision.

****

~~~The moon shone brightly through the tree tops, falling onto the two boys as they walked along the quiet dirt path. The sounds of crickets and other insects surrounded them and the cold night air stung at their faces. But they were warm together, feeding off of each other's heat as they pressed close to each other.

"We're not supposed to be here," the brunette whispered to the other, his breath visible in the chilly air.

"What're you worryin' about?" the blonde replied in a louder, bolder voice. "Who's out here that's gonna hear us?"

"It's closed," the other hissed.

"Come on, Kaib. Lighten up. Nobody's gonna find us out here, okay?"

Kaiba frowned, his brow furrowing with unease. "We're breaking the law."

"Not the first time, won't be the last," the blonde shrugged. "Come on, let's go in."

"In?" Kaiba questioned. The blonde grabbed his hand and started to pull him off of the trail. "Wheeler…"

"What? You don't wanna be seen, we won't be seen deeper in. Come on." He gave Kaiba's hand another tug and finally the brunette followed him into the dense thicket of trees. Joey jumped over several sticks and traveled along the rough ground with ease, while Kaiba, not used to such uneven pathways, struggled to keep up with him. Joey slowed down a bit to let the CEO catch up with him. "What's a matter? Gettin' slow?"

"Shut up," Kaiba growled, stepping forward to stand next to him. "Where're we going?"

"Up here," Joey replied, grabbing his hand again. He led Kaiba farther into the trees until finally they arrived at the edge of a trickling brook, glistening in the moonlight. Joey stopped on the bank and smiled up at his comrade.

"Here? What for?" Kaiba inquired, looking distastefully at the water, thinking about how cold it must be in this chilly night air.

"What do you think?" Joey responded. He grabbed Kaiba's jacket collar and pulled him down into a sweet kiss, his lips melting into the brunette's on contact. Kaiba made a small noise of surprise but did not pull away. He accepted the kiss and returned it, moving his lips over the other's as Joey opened his mouth, inviting Kaiba's tongue inside. Their tongues met and tasted each other, tasted everything there was to be known…~~~

Kaiba opened his eyes, staring up at the cracked ceiling of his living room. He could hear the soft sounds of the television nearby, some infomercial begging for money, the light flickering on the walls and making the shadows dance. He sighed, laying his head back on the arm of the couch, reflecting. The memories were still so vivid for him, even after all these years. He could not help but wonder if Wheeler still remembered their venture with the same vividness that he did day in and day out.

He rose from his laying position and switched off the television with the remote on the stand next to him. He rubbed his face and got up, stumbling sleepily to his room. He had no idea of when he fell asleep nor what time it was, but all he wanted was more sleep. He walked down the creaky hall and reached for the doorknob to his room.

"Seto?" came a quiet voice behind him. Kaiba turned and found Mokuba standing in the doorway of his own room. "I thought I heard you out here. You fell asleep on the couch. I didn't think you'd want me to wake you."

Kaiba made a small noise of acknowledgement and turned away from his brother, going back to his task of getting into his own bed.

"Is something wrong, Seto?" Mokuba inquired. "You look paler than usual."

"Memories," Kaiba responded flatly, then entered his room and closed the door behind him. He leaned against the wooden frame of the door, reliving the dream that had reoccurred for almost a decade, haunting him day and night. Day and night. Day and night.