Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ My Project: Jounouchi Katsuya ❯ Part 2 ( Chapter 2 )

My Project: Jounouchi Katsuya

Part 2

Sam: Yikes!!! Wide reception for the first chapter already… guess the fact that Perfect Seto Kaiba has actually got A FLAW doesn't seem to bother you as much as I thought… (Sigh) Very well I shall continue TO NAME AND SHAME MUWHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I am from the UK if you really did want to know seeing as some very observant person said that Americans call it `math' instead of `maths' but I have a question.

Now British football is called soccer in America. Fair enough… but what the British would call rugby, the Americans call it `American football' o.0? I'm confoozled cos American football is like British rugby right? With the exception of helmets and shoulders pads so it would be more logical to call it American Rugby or a completely different name like British football to soccer. WHY CALL IT AMERICAN `FOOTBALL'!?!?!? WHY CONFUSE THIS PATHETIC BRITISH AUTHORESS WHO ALREADY HAS ONE FUSE SHORT OF A LIGHTBULB!?!?!?

Seto: Cos they want the `pathetic authoress who already has one fuse short of a light bulb' to get on with friggin fic…

Sam: T___T

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, the show Yugioh is owned by Kazuki Takahashi and `In My World' belongs to Avril Lavigne. Certain phrases taken from other animes, films and books do not belong to me either.

(Song)

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Seto's POV

ARROOGA!!!! ARROOGA!!! ARROOGA!!!!

WHAT THE!?!?!? What's going on!?!?!? Wha- Ugh… my alarm clock… right lets see, it's… Saturday and I don't have any work to do at the office except some of that preliminary paperwork, which will only take half an hour so I should be having a sleep in today… wait, oh yeah I'm doing that psychology report on the mutt. Considering how I intend to be the best out of this subject I decided to set this infernal alarm to wake me up when `he' does. I attached a handy little sensor on his alarm clock when I was bugging his apartment yesterday and… uh… what time is it? I look at the clock.

"4.30 IN THE MORNING!?!?!?!?!?" NO WAY!!!! There's got to be a malfunction in the equipment. There's- I hear a yawn. I look at the monitor and see that he's up… and running… with a smile on his face. I can't believe this.

He… he… HE'S A MORNING PERSON!!!!! (1) ON A SATURDAY!!!! HE'S AN UNNATURAL, BRAINLESS, ABNORMAL, IDIOSYNCRATIC MORNING PERON!!!! I PICKED A MORNING PERSON TO DO MY PROJECT ON!?!?!?!? (A/N: Poor, poor Seto >:) MUWHAHAHAHA!!!!!!)

Normal POV

Joey had already awoken a mere minute before the alarm went and was ready the second it beeped to make a sound. He got up yawned and stretched as his daily routine and headed towards the bathroom not hearing any of the inappropriate language being spoken from his observing `experimenter'.

(Please tell me what has takin' place,
Cuz I can't seem to find a trace,
Guess it must have got erased somehow)

Having a wonderfully hot shower he got out fresh, glowing and ready to face the day. He opened his wardrobe and grabbed his casual wear of jeans, t-shirt and his green jacket from Duellist Kingdom before he glanced at the mirror to brush his messy blond locks with one hand, grabbed a beige shoulder strap bag and marched out of the apartment frowning at the inactive figure who was sprawled on the floor.

"At least you `closed' the door this time" Joey sighed as he stepped over his drunken father and went out not knowing of a certain CEO who was still cursing about being up and about at an ungodly hour. Seto had to force himself to get up in the name of education that apparently wanted a documentary of the whole week of the chosen subject's spare time. His car raced down the road in 5 minutes just as Joey was sliding down the banisters of the stair and out the door of the apartment. Joey dashed down the street, his beige shoulder strap bag swinging against his hip in rhythm to his strides.

(Probably cuz I always forget.

Every time someone tells me their name,
It's always gotta be the same)

"What in the world would he be doing at this time in the morning" Seto mused to himself as he got out the small camera and watched as Joey dashed down the street as if he was on a 100 metre sprint in the Olympics and Seto took note that he may do well in it. A bald headed old man was standing at the doorway of newsagents holding a bundle of newspapers in front of him, which was rapidly snatched up by Joey as he passed. The old man went back inside. Joey had slowed down to a jog down one street throwing the newspapers to the respective doorways, this only took about half an hour as the newspapers flew landing neatly on the people's doorsteps with the occasional screech of the neighbourhood cat getting hit by rogue misses. When the last newspaper was delivered Joey would dash back to the newsagents and the man would be there again with about five dollars worth of cash held out like he did with the newspapers, which was again snatched before the blonde ran down the opposite side of street making Seto curse again for having to do another U-turn in order to follow.

((In my World)
Never wore a cover-up,
Always beat the boys up,
Grew up in a five thousand population town,)

It was now around six in the morning when he stopped at Domino University. Seto cursed as he parked and quickly followed careful not to be too conspicuous. He hid nearby whilst getting an angle of the blonde as he entered the University.

"Hi guys" Joey called as the various staff passed him by. "Oh hey Saki!!!!" he called suddenly to a young man with black hair, loose shirt and tie.

"Oh um… hey Joey" he greeted uneasily. Seto narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the man whilst Joey went on.

"So where should I start?" Joey asked eagerly whilst Saki looked uneasy before opening the door to the room. Seto managed to slip by unnoticed to get an angle of what Joey was looking at. Joey's jaw dropped as the huge gym hall was stacked high with garbage and an overwhelming stench of rancid and rotting materials.

"Eh hehehe… it's a bit of a tip…"

"A bit? It's… the Sea of Corruption…" Joey whispered. "The cess pool of damnation from the fires of hell"

"Look on the bright side… " Joey stared at him with wide eyes asking `What bright side?' "you made a pretty good analogy out of it" Saki tried to lighten the load before sighing. "I'm so sorry that this got out of hand and I-"

But before he could finish there was a huge whoosh of wind as the blonde rushed in starting by carrying bags four at a time out to the bins outside. One would almost hear the theme to Benny Hill playing with the speed at the cleaning process. Out Joey whipped the mop and speeded across the gym then scrubbing down with the brushes of gunk all plastered to the windows and almost in no time he stood in the middle of sparkling new gym hall.

"And that's that" he announced whipping his janitors cap off. Seto and Saki stared bog eyed at him and the squeaky gym. Joey stared at his watch. "That's five minutes overtime… you owe me extra cash buster" Joey complained.

(Made my money by cutting grass,
Got fired by a fried chicken ass,
All in a small town, Naphanee.)

Saki grinned happily dishing out triple the pay before Joey dashed down the hallway then screeching to a halt at a blackboard where a long complicated equation was written boldly at the top. Joey grinned as he took the piece of chalk and started filling the rest of the blackboard until finally solving it right at the bottom with (x2-7) plus a happy smilie face right next to it. Joey giggled before he left unsuspectingly followed diligently by a certain CEO who glanced at the board before staring incredulously at the blonde.

(You know I always stay up without sleepin',
And think to myself,
Where do I belong forever,
In whose arms, the time and place?)

Joey had taken off down the street and ran for ten blocks whilst Seto felt it wise to follow in the car. He had stopped off at a bicycle repair shop next door and paid the man for a pretty beaten up aqua blue bicycle with a basket, in what would be put in terms as: Girly. However it didn't seem to bother the blonde of his poor choice in bicycles because the point was he now had a slightly faster mode of transport and cycled practically all the way to the other side of town.

(Can't help it if I space in a daze,
My eyes tune out the other way,
I may switch off and go in a daydream,
In this head my thoughts are deep,
Sometimes I can't even speak,
Will someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World)

Joey had stopped finally at a modest apartment about the same as his own. He leapt off the bike with a grace before running up towards the door and bursting inside. Seto got out of the car and hurried after him by climbing up the alleyway stairs. He stopped noticing a familiar figure in one particular room, he found.

"Mokuba? Here!?!?" He rasped to himself as he stared at his sleeping brother being gently shaken by a teenaged girl. Perhaps only a year younger than Joey was.

"Mokuba come on wake up before Joey arrives" Seto sighed. Neither of the Kaiba brothers were morning people. Seto often had to force himself awake with a two cups of strong black coffee for the day and was now pretty much addicted to it. Mokuba mumbled incoherently as he swatted the girl's hand away and drew the blankets over himself. The door opened revealing Joey standing there and coming in with a bright smile.

"Ok Mokuba, time to wake up now. Early bird catches the choclate parfeit" Joey announced ripping the blankets away. Mokuba groaned and curled into a ball from the sudden chill that threaten to disturb his sleep. "You can go downstairs Martha breakfast is already ready" Martha smiled before throwing a worried look at Mokuba for him to wake. Joey gently nudged the boy awake. "Ok kid get ready to face the day"

"Tell someone else to do it" Mokuba muttered in his sleep. Joey raised an eyebrow then stood up and picked up a bucket of ice water and poured it over the eleven year old. Seto widened his eyes as his little brother was forced to wake screaming from cold and shivering and turned red with fury.

"JOEY YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING MONGREL!!!!" Mokuba screamed as he shivered. Joey merely grinned.

"Hey I warned you. Your brother has a higher status in terms of the business ladder but he sure does not hold a tighter ship over his company than me over my kitchen. NOW GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF BED RIGHT NOW!!!!"

"Or what? You'll tell on my brother!?!? You don't ev-" Mokuba had started to yell cockily at him when Joey narrowed his eyes, as a cold heavy cloud seemed to descend upon the room. Joey's eyes seemed to glaze over and an air of electricity seemed to crackle around him. (2) Seto's camera had fizzed and crackled that Seto had to put it down to blow at his burnt hands.

"One more word kid… just one more word… " Mokuba froze up and trembled. The intense glare from this guy had put down his brother's glare on his employees to a mere irritated twinge. Mokuba had raced out of the room before you could say `Bob's your uncle' with Joey chasing him down the hallway.

(I never spend less than an hour,
Washin' my hair in the shower,
It always takes five hours to make it straight,
So I'll braid it in a zillion braids,
Though it may take a friggin' day,
There's nothin' else better to do anyway.)

"He got you with the `thing' didn't he?" Denny a 40-year-old man with greying hair asked the 11-year-old who was shaking as he waited for his breakfast to be cooked. Martha giggled before ruffling the mop of raven hair.

"I-I-I-I never knew Joey could do that," Mokuba whimpered whilst his Seto had managed to reset his camera to hone in on his little brother to see if he was all right.

"Oh no he only does that with extreme measures. I did warn you to get an early night sleep, Joey is really strict about preparations in the morning" Mokuba sighed. "Besides you `were' the one who asked to be his Suez chef in his kitchen. That's probably the reason why he's so hard on you"

"That's right. The kitchen runs at a tight schedule to satisfy the customers. Suez chefs particularly work really closely with the head chef and are expected to mount up to their standards. You've seen and tasted what Joey can do so you shouldn't complain about losing a couple of hours of sleep"

(When you're all alone in the lands of forever,
Lay under the milky way,
On and on it's getting too late out,
I'm not in love this time this night.)

Denny and Martha were ready with a van marked with the Nénharma logo then lined up. Joey glanced at each of them like a drill sergeant.

"Fell deeds awake" he said.

"Now for wrath" Denny added.

"Now for ruin" Martha quoted.

"AND A RED DAWN!!!!" Mokuba cried happily holding a `V' sign. They got into the van.

"FORTH EOHRLINGAS!!!!!" (3) They all screamed together as Denny revved up the engine and drove at top speed.

(Can't help it if I space in a daze,
My eyes tune out the other way,
I may switch off and go in a daydream,
In this head my thoughts are deep,
But sometimes I can't even speak,
Will someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World)

"What the hell was that?" he said climbing down the stairs completely oblivious to the obvious pop culture reference to a recently very popular film lately.

(La, la, la, la)

Seto had followed the group back to the Nénharma café where a pretty big cue of people was waiting outside. There was applause as the employees of the café arrived and opened the doors for them to enter. Joey and Mokuba had gone into the kitchen to start up the stoves whilst Martha had wiped down the tables. Denny sat down to have a drink. The café was crowded in seconds of opening and the orders were flooding in whilst Seto sneaked past in the alleyway for filming. Mokuba plucked a few of the orders and relayed them over to Joey then watched as Joey fry, steam and bake taking in the explanations of the processes and then given various jobs from peeling the potatoes to making crepes and pancakes.

(Take some time,
Mellow out,
Party up,
I don't fall down,
Don't get caught,
Sneak out of the house)

Each dish was a perfect professional presentation whether it were strips of lamb piled against each other with spinach and a mint herb dressing or cheesecake with a raspberry puree topping.

"How do you make those funny golden bits on the desserts Joey?"

"That's just spun sugar. Caramelise caster sugar. Grease up anything with a long metal handle then you flick the caramelised sugar over it. It'll cool down and then you can shape and it twist it like that," Joey explained, as the sugary little stringy bundle was placed neatly on top then placed outside. "Sugar cages are the same thing just with a normal glass mixing bowl or fruit bowl whatever" Joey added draping the sugar over a bowl and then popping it over another cheesecake making it look a cage.

"Wow…" Mokuba mused as he stared at the beautiful new masterpiece.

(Can't help it if I space in a daze,
My eyes turn out the other way,
I may switch off and go in a daydream,
In this head my thoughts are deep,
Sometimes I can't even speak,
Will someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World)

The customers were still coming in. Some even asking for seconds. One particular man had insisted on having the entire menu done. Finally the room had started to thin down although Joey could see there was barely an hour before another wave of customers came in. It was at the moment 11 o'clock and everyone was exhausted as the shop became quiet. The door opened as Joey was about to go out.

"Hi…" Serenity whispered to everyone. Joey smiled back at his sister as she hugged him before taking out a handkerchief and wiping the sweat upon his brow.

"Look sis I better go out and get some stuff. I'm running a little low on the soy sauce" Joey said cheerfully.

"I'll come with you…" Serenity replied and skipped after him. "And I'll help with the tables when it gets busy again" Mokuba pouted.

"How come she gets to come in late?"

"Cos she's his sister" Martha announced smugly as she wiped down the tables and then mopped up the floor. Seto sighed as he switched and off the camera. He stretched a bit cracking a few joints in the process when a rumble in his stomach. He looked around to find the nearest place to get something to eat was a McDonalds just down the road and he sighed in frustration and a slight embarrassment.

(Can't help it if I space in a daze,
My eyes tune out the other way,
I may switch off and go in a daydream,
In this head my thoughts are deep,
But sometimes I can't even speak,
Will someone be and not pretend? I'm off again in my World)

-------------------------------------------------

"So what'll you be making for today's special?" Serenity asked. Joey frowned as he stared at the list of usual ingredients.

"Not sure… what do you think?"

"I want some seafood, maybe crab or trout," Serenity announced. Joey frowned again. He was pretty tight with the budget but considering it was his sister he smiled.

"Crab you say? Okie dokie…" Joey replied as he took her by the hand and headed towards the seafood stands. As it happens he had made pretty good deal with the seafood vender who also happened to be a frequent customer to his café.

"What you gonna make with it? What you gonna make with it?" Serenity bounced about as they had bought everything they really needed and were planning to head back. Joey chuckled before he gasped. "What is it big brother?" Joey pointed at the window of a wine shop.

"Sauvignon Blanc" Joey whispered pressing his face against the window staring at the exotic bottle of dry white wine. "It'll be perfect with the crab… Oh why couldn't I be born a few years earlier? Or at least have had a drunkard of a father who has better taste in alcoholic beverages?" Joey whined as his sister dragged him away from the window.

"Big brother that's not nice!!!" she scowled. Joey smirked before they went to back to the café and just in time to catch the crowd of customers for lunchtime.

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At that same time Seto was taking a break and having trouble trying to concentrate. He hadn't eaten anything since lunchtime the day before so yeah… he was pretty hungry. `Okay try to swallow my pride and come into the the mutt's café as a loner or poison myself with processed cow's intestines and colon?' was one of the thoughts that was going through his head. Hey a super sexy, multi billionaire CEO has to eat too… though you might not believe that. He cursed silently why he didn't bring anything with him before remembering the fact he had fired his chef. However he managed to catch himself a break when his cell rang.

"Kaiba" he said in his usual stoic business man voice. The secretary a schreechy type of woman.

"Mr Kaiba we have a candidate applying towards the advertisement to test your new prototype. Her name is Mai Valentine"

"Mai Valentine" Seto mused as he seemed to recall the name somewhere. That was when he remembered she was that blonde girl who was testing for the simulators a while ago for the Big Five and also he believed he had seen her duel in the quarter finals of Battle City. Smirking that he had conveniently found the loop hole he needed for food predicament. "Have her meet me at the following address…" now he had an excuse. He entered the café and was seated for a table for two. Mai came about 15 minutes later just as Joey and his sister had gone inside through the back to set things up for the lunchtime menu.

"Hello Mr Kaiba" Mai said as she sat down opposite.

"Hmm…" he answered back as Mai began conversation about duel monsters and discussing business whilst at the same time Seto was looking at the door where the kitchen would be. Just at that moment there was a gaggle of voices as another customer was stepping into the café. Seto glanced up to see who it was and rolled his eyes noticing the pony tailed imbecile Duke Devlin had just come in. Three girls from the high school were dressed up in cheerleader outfits. (4)

"Duke Devlin is here?" Mai asked surprised whilst the girls gasped and goggled that the Seto Kaiba was here too with a girl.

"Oh Dukey… this must be a really great place if Seto Kaiba's here too"

"Didn't know you were into dating Kaiba" Duke said cheerfully as he sat down with the cheerleaders giggling.

"It's just business" Kaiba said. Duke just shrugged his shoulders and leaned back staring at the menu.

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"Crab Napolean" (5) Joey announced placing his latest special cusine for all to try. "Or just a simple crab patté with a lemon vinergerette sauce" Everyone else had look, it didn't look that simple. It was a beatiful presentation of a vibrant colour. "Have a try guys and see if it's for sale"

Everyone got a fork and dug in. There was a brief pause. Suddenly there seemed to be a warm and fuzzy sparkle in the atmosphere as different colours seemed to flash before the tasters' eyes. "Well what do you guys think?" Joey asked staring at Martha, Denny, Mokuba and Serenity one by one.

"It's… exquisite…" Denny whispered as if in a daydream taking another fork full.

"Beautiful…" Martha answered swirly eyed before bumping to a wall and heading back to the the drinks counter. Joey chuckled nervously at their reaction before looking at what's left over, which was absolutely nothing. The plate was licked clean within seconds whilst Mokuba's eyes seemed to glaze over a fork hanging out of his mouth. Joey waved a hand over Mokuba's face but found he was way beyond saved.

"Oh God… did I poison him or something? Mokuba? MOKUBA!!!!" Joey shouted shaking Mokuba. The fork slid from Mokuba's mouth.

"Ta~sty…" Mokuba said. Joey sweat dropped.

"It's delicious big brother" Serenity cried happily. Joey smiled happy that it was good and relieved that at least his sister didn't go ditzy over his cooking. It was happenining a lot lately and he couldn't figure what was wrong with them whenever he introduced a new dish for the gang to do a taste test, they would just go all dreamy and all that. They eventually returned back to normal of course but that never stopped him from being disturbed. He tasted his own meals and though he admitted it turned out pretty good. He never went in such a daze like everyone else.

"Thanks sis…" Joey replied. `At least Serenity's ok…' he thought. Serenity nodded before she bounced about as if her legs had been tied together with rope. `I spoke too soon'

Joey had always been good at cooking but he never exercised his skills until he brought upon himself to cook for the gang at Duellist Kingdom around the campfire when the gang had first met Mai.

He decided to set up a small stall for bakery products and it happen to be a big hit. Coupled with multiple jobs newspaper delivering, part time janitor at the university, fixing computers, plumbing, car mechanics and generally being the local handy man, the small stall eventually grew to a slightly bigger stall where he served some simple fast meals along with the cakes and pastries. Then he pretty quickly managed to get enough money to start the café.

It had been running for a only a couple of months before the budget was already out of the red and making profit when he expanded the kitchen and employed Martha and Denny. He was even able to save up for an apartment next door to move in with his father whilst keeping the old one for his mother and sister who had decided to move back into Domino after 7 years.

Things got a bit rough when he found out his mother was fired from her job and the money won over from Duellist Kingdom was dwindling. The last two months he decided that the only way to keep up with the family income when both his parents were at the moment unemployed he had been taking up some of his old jobs as well as running the café.

Technically he would be pushing his luck with being allowed to have a job when in full time education but what they didn't know wouldn't harm him. Of course he was worried about the failing grades he's been receiving lately plus all the detentions that Kaiba kept putting him in but hopefully they'd overlook it with the regards that he had a 100% attendence record and the couple of A's that he did get on his report card.

"Yipe!!!!!" Mokuba yelped running back into the kitchen.

"What?" Joey asked the kid who was now pale as a sheet.

"S-S-S-S-S-S-Seto's outside" he rasped. Joey peeped through the window of the kitchen noticing the CEO sitting there with what looked like Mai. Then he heard some whining voices in the nearby table and his eyes widened seeing Duke Devlin with his cheerleaders there as well. Joey groaned whilst Mokuba was trembling in his feet. His brother would get mad if he knew he was hanging around here with Joey of all people.

"Don't worry big brother I'll handle it" Serenity chirped as she opened the door grabbing a pen and pad.

--------------------------------

"Hello…" Serenity chirped at Duke whilst the three cheerleaders were staring at her with venomous glints in their eyes.

"Oh Serenity. It's nice to see you er…" Duke said awkwardly. "Oh boy…" the girls were ganging up.

"Oh Dukey why don't we go somewhere else? It's really hot around here" one of the cheerleaders complained.

"Now, now girls you said you were hungry remember?"

"Well I don't really like the look of the food here. Looks high on cholesterol" the fattest one of them replied.

"Oh no there is a low fat and free range salads for you to pick too and we could always turn on the air conditioning for you if you really think it's that stuffy" Serenity chirped. The cheerleaders were begginning to look restless and giving her the evil eye.

"Leave her alone. She's just a friend of his" Mai had butted in noticing Serenity on the receiving end of a round the lamb slaughter.

"Oh yes and I suppose your just a friend to that Seto Kaiba. How much does he pay you for showing off the cleavage missy?" one of them retorted. Mai narrowed her eyes as Duke and Seto was preparing for a 3 to 1 catfight.

"And I hope `Serenity' that a friend is all that you are to Duke" another whispered to Serenity.

"We're his cheerleaders, we've got first dibs on him sister so you better back off" Serenity cringed as two out of the three cheerleaders had ganged on her whilst Mai was arguing with the third. The violence was escalating as the other customers were now staring at the spectacle. There was a sudden a huge klaxon sound that blew out everyone's ears. Joey was standing there looking furious.

"Joey… " Duke whispered whilst Seto stared.

"If ya don't like da food in this joint you could leave ya know?" Joey growled in his put on Brooklyn accent whilst Serenity hid behind him. "It's one thing pissin' off the staff and another for harrassing customers"

"Oh, aren't you that guy who lost to Duke and only had Yugi to help you out!?!?!? You know the one in the dog suit?" Joey rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. So?" Joey stared on whilst the cheerleaders giggled. He swallowed taking the pen and pad. "May I take your orders?"

"Good doggie" the fat one said whilst the others giggled some more. Joey ushered a worried Serenity back into the kitchen. Duke was looking apologetic whilst Joey stood with the pen and pad.

"We `ave the Crab Napolean special and dessert comes with the special deal meals. The chef recommends the `Spotted Dick'" The cheerleaders finally settled down whilst Mai looked on worried at the blonde. Seto looked amused from the discomfort whilst Duke looked ready to dig his own grave and bury himself. "Duke?"

"Hey Joey… um… didn't know you work here"

"Yeah… what do you wanna eat?" Joey asked standing looking bored.

"I'll try the special…" Duke said cheerfully in hopes to lighten the stormy mood that Joey was probably in. "How about you girls?"

"Eww… I don't like crab…"

"I want the chicken…"

"Yeah me too…"

"Me three" Duke smiled.

"Right… one special and three chickens"

"Help yourself to drinks at the counter" Joey said before turning over to Mai and Seto's table.

"My Joey… didn't expect to see you here…"

"Hey… I need some spendin' money… I don't want to have to waste a single dollar with my sisters 3 mil you know?" he said before swallowing his pride to ask for their orders.

"I'll try the Chicken Ceaser Salad basket" Mai announced. Joey smiled before turning to the CEO.

"Well… wouldn't have expected that they'd hire a dog but I suppose I'll be generous and ask for the special…" Seto said with a smirk. Joey wrote it down and marched off back into the kitchen.

----------------------------------------

Mokuba was staring through the crack on the door.

"Hey Joey… you ok?"

"I'll be ok if you find me some rat poison. I'll need it to garnish the crab…"

"What!?!?!? NO WAY!!!!!"

"Then get back to the souffle then…" Joey muttered before he went to prepare the meals. Serenity was garnishing one of the dishes when banging was heard. She turned to see Joey was busy hammering away at some piece of meat as if he reinacting the film Psycho.

"Big brother why are you bashing that piece of chicken into pulp?"

"It's called tenderising sis… makes it taste great and at the same time means I won't need to go to prison for GBH (6) Now please… let me have my Norman Bates moment before I GO KILL SOMEONE!!!!!!" Joey yelled waving the metal hammer like a lunatic before continuing to bash the poor dead piece of chicken. Frying the chicken for a bit he went to the salads and started tossing it about with the various greens.

"Big brother?"

"Hmm?"

"I still remember all the little things you use to do whenever mom and dad started arguing, you take me out to get some ice cream when it was summer and when it was too cold to go out you'd sneak into the kitchen to make these huge cappucino cups filled with hot chocolate and marshmellows floating on top. Then we'd have a midnight feast with you making us potsticker plates, pancakes, battenbergs, sandwich toasties" Joey smiled at the memory whilst he worked on the dishes. He almost went into another world as he prepared the crab pates and before he knew it they were done.

The dishes were ready as and garnished and ready to serve. Seto stared at the piece of artwork before him. The presentation of the crab was neat and was literally screaming EAT ME!!!!

"Well bon appetit" Mai said as she tuck into her Chicken Ceaser salad whilst the girls and Duke also tucked in. Seto blinked a couple of times before getting out a fork and scooping a piece from the pate. He raised it to his lips and hesitating a moment. He could feel the wrenching of his stomach that was empty for practically 24 hours and was getting impatient. With a mental sigh he took the bite which suddenly exploded with various flavours. He restrained himself enough to keep from wolfing it down like it an animal whilst ignoring the exclamations of vigor from Mai and the cheerleaders who were tucking into their chicken.

Duke stared at the beautiful pate and taking a bite. He's eyes sparkled with delight as he eat at the pate ravenously.

"Wow… they sure like your cooking Joey… Even Seto's enjoying it"

"Are you sure? He looks like he's about to throw up to me…" Joey asked looking through the window as well.

Seto's POV

Taste good, can't move… won't move… won't embarrass myself saying that I like this… won't… hey. What is that blonde bimbo doing?

"You know what? I hate you… I hate you so much… In fact I don't even see the point in wanting to waste my time for a couple of measly bucks just to test your trashy machines"Mai is yelling at me. What!?!?!? How dare she insult my invention. Hang on… is that lemon I'm tasting in this pate? Mm… this is delicious… "This crap is good, your crap is bad… have a wonderfully crappy day Kaiba!!!!!" and she's left… Like I really care except for this delectable pate I'm eating right now. Hmm… I wonder if the ceaser sauce she just threw at me will stain my shirt. Oh dear… she's started throwing plates about the place too.

Duke's POV

This is… this… I don't know what but I can't help it. I can't help but eat this whilst the girls and that Mai are tearing down the café and throwing plates all over the place. Darn it… this tastes too good… I know I need to stop them but what happens if they take the my crab away. No I can't let them have it. IT'S MINE I ORDERED IT!!!! I have to finish this meal before I can make a move. So tasty.

Normal POV

Chaos rained as the cheerleaders were throwing plates all over the place whilst Seto and Duke just ignored them and continued… um… eating… Joey had to come out and the girls were thrown out. He sighed as the plates were shattered all over the floor.

"Great… just great!!!" Joey said hopelessly whilst Denny and Martha went to sweep up. Seto and Duke were just finishing.

"Um… I'm sorry… Joey" Duke said before licking a bit of the sauce of his fingers. "I…"

"Mutt…" Seto interrupted.

"What?" In a swift movement of a scribble and a rip. A cheque was in his face.

"Keep the change" Seto said as Joey took the cheque marking 500 dollars. Enough to pay for the meal and some new plates.

"Hey… I know they're doing a big discount sale in the department store. I'll help you take them home… you know as a way to say sorry?" Duke asked. Joey raised an eyebrow before he nodded.

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(1) Well, Joey delivers morning newspapers before school so I'm assuming his a morning person or at least someone that can wake up early in the morning right?

(2) Saki Hanajima is my favourite character in Fruits Basket with her psychic electric signals that's supposed to leave you bed ridden for a week (so claimed by the members of the Yuki Fan Club). I had to have that kind of moment in there in honour of her because she's absolutely brilliant.

(3) Quote from Lord of the Rings movie `The Two Towers' extended version said by King Theoden before he went riding out to meet with the Urukai. I don't know what the hell it means except the fact that I loved it to bits and hence establish Joey's interest of Lord of the Rings as well.

(4) They're the same cheerleader girls from the Dungeon Dice series where Joey was forced to wear a the dog suit. *cringe*

(5) Borrowed it from the film Simply Irresistable starring Sarah Michelle Gellar

(6) Grevious Bodily Harm

Sam: BTW… the whole thing about Joey's cooking having people in a wonderful comical doozy was an idea that came from Simply Irresistable as well otherwise it'll just be boring… People said it was a crap film but I thought it was hilarious… Anyway… hope you enjoy this installment… NEXT STOP!!!! SHOPPING WITH DUKE!!!!!