TITLE: Unexpected Consequences          &nb sp;                       AUTHOR: setosgirl          DATE : 3-06             ;            &n bsp;      FANDOM: YGO            DISCLAIMER: I don’t own YGO. PAIRINGS:  Joey/Seto                 TYPE: Romance           &n bsp; OCs: None   CHAPTER:  3/5                         &nb sp; RATING: PG            & nbsp;     WORDS: 4041 WARNINGS:  none   SUMMARY: Joey takes Seto out for the first time… and it doesn’t go quite as well as he’d hoped. ~~~~~~~~~~   Unexpected Consequences  

PART III: First Try

  Joey approached Seto in school, leaning on the desk beside the brunet’s. “I know you have to work after school and all,” he said, “but what time will you be home? I want to take you out tonight.”   Seto frowned slightly. “Should be around seven.”   “All right then. I’ll pick you up around eight.”   Seto’s frown deepened. “I never said yes.”   “You did when you told me I had three tries to convince you,” Joey told him practically. “What – tonight isn’t bad, is it? I don’t think I can change our reservations.”   Seto seemed to consider it for a moment, almost looking for a way out of it. “No, it’s fine,” he finally said. Joey grinned and gave him a thumbs-up as he went back to his own seat, and sat there thinking almost nervously about tonight. He had spent all week saving his money from his job and borrowing it from his friends (he was fairly certain Bakura’s donation was stolen from somewhere, but he was desperate enough not to ask), and he hoped desperately that he wouldn’t blow it. He had only three chances… and no more money.   Of course, the question of how, precisely, he could convince Seto that he was sorry for what he had done had weighed heavily on his mind. Eventually, he had decided on trying to make him see that he cared. That he didn’t hate him, first off, and then maybe that he wanted to at least be his friend. There had been absolutely nothing malicious behind what he’d done – it should have been a compliment. He hadn’t realized that Seto would take it so badly…   He sat at his own desk, hoping Seto would be pleased with tonight. It probably wouldn’t be up to his standards… him being a multibillionaire, and all… but he had tried. Kaiba had to give him points for trying, didn’t he?   Didn’t he?       Joey parked his car at the end of Kaiba’s driveway, letting it idle for a moment as he built up his nerve before cutting the engine. Still, he sat there a moment more. He could just turn around and leave and let everything stay bad between them, not too much worse than it had been before. Seto’d probably thank him for it. He didn’t really think he was going to allow himself to be convinced, did he?   No, he didn’t – but he still felt he had to try. He’d hurt Seto, inadvertently or otherwise, and he had to at least try to make it better.   His feet felt made of lead as he stepped from his car and swung the door shut. The hollow thud seemed almost obscene in the dark stillness of the night, and he winced. Well… Kaiba had to at least know that he was here now, right? That meant no awkward waiting, right?   His footsteps crunched in the gravel as he walked up to the door. No, couldn’t have been gravel; Kaiba was too rich for that. Chipped marble or something.   The doorbell was smooth and cold to the touch; he hunched his shoulders in his stylish jacket and looked around as he heard it ring inside, then was forced to wait for acknowledgement. Not that he could see much; as he had previously established to himself, it was getting darker earlier, and by now, a little before eight, it was almost pitch black. There were some darker shadows a ways off that he assumed were trees, and looking overhead he could see the stars above, a million little tiny pinpricks shining down on him. No wonder Kaiba lived so far outside of town… He wondered for the first time why there wasn’t a porch light or something on for him. He knew he was coming, after all… Probably refusing to make it any easier than he had to.   He started when the door was finally opened and looked down quickly, discovering Mokuba standing there, the door held in one hand. Didn’t the Kaibas have servants? Maybe they’d gone home for the night already.   “Hi, Joey,” the kid said, smiling at him. “What are you here for? If you came to see Seto, he’s actually getting ready to go out, so you’ll have to come back later.”   “Um…” He shuffled his feet a little, kicking an imaginary rock. How did a twelve-year-old make him feel nervous? “Well, I’m supposed to see him tonight.”   “Oh.” Mokuba stepped aside so that he could come in. “If you say so. But he said he had a date tonight.” He giggled a bit. “His first date. So you’d better not screw this up for him.” He smiled sweetly as he closed the door behind him.   When had Mokuba gotten so intimidating? “Actually… I’m his date. I’m taking him out tonight.”   “Oh.” Mokuba wasn’t really smiling as he looked him over. “How come? I mean, no offense, but… Seto hates you.”   He shrugged, not liking how that sounded: true. “He sort of… lost a dare.”   Mokuba looked him over once more. “Seto never Welshes, so that’s why he’s doing it, I guess.” Joey actually found it a bit funny how Mokuba knew the word, but Seto didn’t understand it. “But if you hurt him, I’ll cut your dick off and make you eat it.” He smiled sweetly and bounced up on the balls of his feet. “Got it?”   “Uh… yeah…”   “Good.” Mokuba smiled and turned away. “Seto’ll be down soon.”   Joey watched him leave, slightly puzzled. When, exactly, had Mokuba gotten so intimidating? Anyone?   He was still standing with his back to the stairs, looking at the closed door through whence Mokuba had disappeared, when he heard a soft step on the stone-tiled – it really did look like marble – floor behind him. He turned too quickly and nearly fell, but managed to catch himself without too much loss of dignity, and stared at Seto.   He thought he’d made himself look good – his nicest black silk shirt, black dress pants, and a nice black jacket – but Seto was a vision, to put it frankly. His entire outfit was white, and it all looked like silk, or maybe he was just imagining things. He had no jacket, but he didn’t really need one; his shirt was buttoned all the way up his neck, the collar so high Joey wondered how he was going to eat, with gold trim along the neck and seam, and the cuffs as well. His pants were creased neatly – almost as though the entire outfit was brand new. Joey hadn’t seen him in anything but black or blue – that little bit of green and purple before, but he hadn’t really been paying attention – and white was so different… and yet, so very, very hot.   “You’re staring, mutt,” he said coldly.   Joey realized he was and blinked. “Isn’t that choking you?” he asked stupidly, despite all the nice things he wanted to say.   “I’m used to it,” he said, and walked past him. “Are we going or what?”   “Huh?” For a moment, he’d forgotten that they were going anywhere. “Oh, yeah.” He chivalrously got the door for Seto, earning absolutely no response, positive or negative – which was, in itself, a positive response – and hurried out after him.   Seto inspected the car with a carefully blank expression; it looked like he was fighting off a sneer. Well, yeah, it wasn’t exactly a Ferrari, but it wasn’t a clunker, either. After a moment, he deigned to sit inside.   Joey noticed how it appeared he was taking pains not to touch any more of the car than was absolutely necessary. So far, it looked like he was fairly spectacularly unimpressed, and he resisted the urge to nervously tap his fingers on the steering wheel. If it was already going so badly…   “Buckle up,” he said, making the effort to keep his voice normal, as he turned the key in the ignition, his own seatbelt already in place; Seto looked at him blankly for a moment then noticed the seat beat and pulled it across himself with a mild expression of distaste. He was probably used to limos and cars driven by private chauffeurs, not ever having to buckle up… that couldn’t have been very safe, but it explained why he didn’t think of the seatbelt on his own.   Once he was assured that Seto was safe and legal, he backed the car down the driveway – he had to wonder if Seto even drove, if he had such an inconvenient driveway and didn’t even seem to notice – and took off toward town.   The car was enveloped in silence for a few minutes, and Joey felt himself getting more and more nervous. Why wasn’t he talking? They must have had something to talk about that wouldn’t make them both uncomfortable…   He glanced toward Seto. The brunet was just staring out he window his hands folded neatly in his lap, his legs crossed, just like he usually sat. Actually, now that he looked, Seto’s back wasn’t quite touching the seat. Unaccountably, that made him angry. What made him think he was so much better than this car?   “Look,” he said finally, making Seto look at him. “I’m sorry if you don’t like the car, but it happens to be the only one I have. If you’re that offended, or you think it’s that dirty, we can walk next time.” He scowled at the road. Seto really thought he was so much better than him…   “I have absolutely nothing against your car, Wheeler,” Seto said, still looking at him. Still not touching the seat.   Joey glanced at him again, then back to the road. “Then why are you sitting so far forward?” he asked. “If it isn’t because you think it’s dirty or something?”   Seto looked back at the seat, almost looking surprised, and then let his back rest against it. Only a few seconds later, he sat forward again. “I never sit like that. I can feel my posture deteriorating by the second.”   “Oh.”   The silence took hold again; he felt like an ass. Now that he did think about it, Seto did have impeccable posture, and he hadn’t been really at all rude or anything… it was almost like he was actually making an effort to enjoy the date. He supposed he hadn’t given him enough credit.   He sighed as he glanced over again; Seto was just staring out the window. Again. Still. Whatever. He almost wished they were fighting – it would be better than just this silence. Then again, he would feel like a lot more of a jackass, and he would lose. He had nothing he could say that would make this any more comfortable, though…   “So…” he finally tried. “Did you see the game last night…?”   “I don’t watch sports,” Seto said disinterestedly, still staring out the window. Joey rolled his eyes. Of course he didn’t watch sports; that would be a human thing to do… But he was good at them, if PE was anything to judge by. How could someone so athletic not like sports at all?   “Then what do you do? Besides work?”   Seto looked at him for a moment, a blank expression on his face.   He glanced at him, then back to the road. “Come on, Kaiba… You have to do something other than work. Even you have to have a life…”   Seto looked back out the window. “I work, and I go to school, and I take care of Mokuba. That is my life.”   “That’s pretty boring.”   “If you say so.”   He stopped the car at the first red light as they entered the city. “I mean, come on. Don’t you do anything? You don’t have any friends you hang out with?”   “We both know what happened the last time I tried that,” he said coldly. Joey only looked at him; his entire body had seemed to just get tense. He could see the reflection of his face in the window, and it was completely blank, his eyes just staring out at the brightly lit storefronts.   “I’m sorry,” he said finally.   The car behind him blared its horn, and he jerked around, realizing the light was green. He noticed as they started forward again that Seto didn’t answer him.   “So do you watch any TV? Like movies?”   “No, and no. Mindless entertainment like that puts me to sleep.”   “Oh.” He thought for a moment. How could anyone be put to sleep by movies, anyway? Actually, Joey loved movies… that was an hour and a half of his day when he wasn’t at all required to think. “How about games? Besides dueling, what do you play?”   “I don’t play games.”   “What?” He sneaked another glance at him. “How come? Your company makes games.”   “And I design them myself. I write the code for them. That doesn’t mean I have to play them. I test them when they’re finished, I fix them, I test them again, and then I never touch them again.”   The blond didn’t say anything. What could he say to that? Any response he might think of sounded idiotic in his own mind.   “Why?” he asked finally.   Seto looked at him. “Why should I? My company makes the best games in the world, and I design most of those myself. I already know everything about them, every shortcut and trick. Why should I bother with an inferior version of something I’m already intimately familiar with? Furthermore, games take away from time I need to work.”   The phrase ‘tricks and shortcuts’ made him think of something, and he barely heard the rest of what Seto said. “Hey, that reminds me: why don’t any of the KaibaCorp games have cheat codes? I’ve searched all over the internet, and there isn’t a single site out there anywhere that has a single code for a single game.”   Seto’s look turned into something like a glare, before he looked back out the window. “Because I hate cheaters. Cheat codes are usually built into games as shortcuts for the design team to test them more easily; I don’t allow that. The games are tested by people actually playing it, properly. And if I ever find someone creating cheat codes in my games, inside or outside of the company, there will be hell to pay.”   “Oh…” His voice sounded a bit crestfallen. He loved cheat codes, the power they gave him. With just a simple series of moves, or a word typed in properly, he could become invincible, or the richest man in the world, or fly around like it was nothing. “Why do you care if people cheat?” he asked. “It isn’t like they’re ruining the game or anything… And, after all, they’re only hurting themselves, if they’re hurting anybody.”   “Why buy a game,” Seto said coldly, “if you’re only going to cheat at it? Why try to take part in something with set rules and procedures if you’re only going to ignore them all? The game is designed a certain way for a reason; cheating completely ignores the months of work the designers put into it. Why should they even bother if you’re not going to follow the game how it’s supposed to be played? By playing the game, you automatically agree to the rules of it, and breaking them is a breach of honor.” His intense blue eyes were boring into Joey’s head, though he was careful to keep his eyes on the road just so that he didn’t burst into flames under his stare.   Jeez… “Wow…You really believe in this, don’t you?”   “Would you cheat at DuelMonsters?”   “No! Man, of course I wouldn’t! That’s just low…”   “Then why is it any different cheating at Legendary Heroes or Speed City?”   He had to stop and think about that one for a little while. “Because,” he finally said slowly, as he pulled into the restaurant parking lot, “in DuelMonsters, you’re playing against another person. Cheating is just low… you’re cheating another person and playing unfairly.”   “And what if I told you I was keeping track of – and comparing – the scores of every player in every game of mine?”   “I’d ask how I was doing at Speed City.” He grinned as he shut the car off and unbuckled.   Seto slid smoothly from the car. “Last time I checked, you were in the seven hundreds somewhere.”   “Man…” He was really that bad?   “There are over ten and a half million players in America alone.”   “Awesome!” he said, his mood suddenly brightened. Hey, if they could keep talking about videogames all night…   He held the door for Seto, and again received no reaction. Not that he could have hoped for anything better…   They were shown to their table by a young man who obviously recognized Seto, though Joey appeared to be utterly anonymous, and seated and handed menus. Everything was just how Joey had wanted it: they had some nice soft candlelight (in which Seto looked absolutely gorgeous!), nice soft music (which meant that it wasn’t too bothersome), and even a rose sitting in the middle of the table.   “You haven’t been here before, have you?” Seto asked, perusing his menu with a blank face.   Joey bristled defensively. “Why do you say that?”   “It’s obvious just in the way you’re looking around.”   “Well, I’m sorry I’m not rich enough to eat at a five star restaurant like it’s McDonald’s,” he said shortly, grabbing his own menu and flipping it open.   “If you’d been here before,” Seto said as he set his menu down, “you’d know that for a five-star restaurant, their food is more the quality of McDonald’s. Just because it’s the most expensive place in town doesn’t mean it’s the best.”   “Well, excuse me for not eating out all the time. How about next time I’m trying to surprise you with a nice meal, I let you choose the place?” He very carefully didn’t look up from his menu. If he looked at Seto, he’d probably end up wanting to hit him.   “Good idea,” Seto said, as though he hadn’t noticed the sarcasm. Joey tightened is grip on his menu and ground his teeth to keep from answering. He just had to remind himself that he probably deserved this… He was trying to make up for what he did to him, and that meant putting up with his infuriating rich-boy attitude…   “Are you ready to order?”   Joey glanced up at the waiter. He wasn’t sneering, quite, but he looked like he was making an effort to hold it back, and his words had a decidedly rude undertone. To all appearances, he had a million places better to be. Joey had to make an effort to be civil himself.   “Yeah, I guess. I want the duck thing.” The waiter made a face at his order, but marked it down.   “And you?” he said to Seto.   “Chef’s salad, no dressing, no sides.” He handed the menu to him without looking at him, and Joey hurried to do the same.   “Wine?” he asked archly.   “Yeah,” Joey said, hoping he wasn’t going to ask for ID.   Seto sighed in exasperation. “Merlot, the oldest you have.”   The waiter walked away without acknowledging their order, and Joey stared after him until he was sure he was out of earshot. “Fucking homophobe,” he finally said.   Seto only stared at him. “What makes you think he wasn’t irritated with your utter incompetence?” He could just hear that raised eyebrow.   He ignored the barb, though. “He was sneering at us before I ever opened my mouth, so that couldn’t have anything to do with it. And he was just plain rude.”   “That needn’t have anything to do with us. He might be a bad waiter.”   Joey snorted. “Yeah, I’ll bet he is. Believe me, though, when you see it as much as I do, you start to understand. Some people just can’t stand to see two guys together.”   “You see it a lot?”   He shrugged. “Enough. I’m used to it, I guess.” He lounged back in his chair and took a drink of his water, looking over the table at him. “I bet you wouldn’t get it a whole lot anyway.”   “‘Anyway’?” He raised an eyebrow again.   “Well, I just mean, even if you made it a habit to go out with guys, you wouldn’t get it a whole lot. People are afraid of your money and power and all that. They wouldn’t treat you like some normal bum who happened to be gay.”   “I just got it, didn’t I?” Seto pointed out. “Despite who I am.”   “Yeah, I guess.” He looked at his water and swirled it around, feeling a bit bored. “Really, that was mostly aimed at me, I think. Also, that guy sure didn’t recognize you.”   Seto didn’t answer, and Joey eventually was just staring off into space as they waited for the food, which took its sweet time getting there. When it finally arrived, the waiter just let the plates fall down on the table and walked away without a word.   Seto didn’t seem to notice as he filled their glasses, and Joey started digging into his duck. The brunet toyed with his salad, but didn’t seem to be eating much of it. Finally, he looked up.   “What’s wrong with you people?”   Joey looked up at him, confused. “What?”   “Why would you do something like that and call it a game?”   “Oh.” Joey swallowed his mouthful of food… he didn’t really want to talk about it any more than Seto did, but he knew that he’d have to eventually… “We used to play Truth or Dare all the time, and we’d just keep trying to get wilder and wilder dares to make the other people do. Marik and Malik started that, though, when we started letting them join us… Bakura jumped right on with them, and we pretty much all just eventually went with it.”   Seto stabbed a piece of lettuce on his fork, looking at his wine, but didn’t eat it. “What possessed you to have me join you?” he asked finally.   “That wasn’t my idea, it was Yugi’s – I told him just to let you go, remember?” Not out of any kindness, it was true – just to get on his nerves. It worked in his favor now, though. “But I don’t think anybody thought about it. It’s just what we do to pass the time.”   “Maybe you should have though about it,” Seto said coldly. “Not everyone is as perverted as you.”   “Hey.” Joey set his fork down and leaned forward. “Nobody forced you to play.”   “Nobody gave me a way out, either, did they?” Seto’s blue eyes were getting colder by the minute, but Joey couldn’t back down.   “Since when do you want people to give you a way out, Kaiba? I thought you didn’t need help from anybody.”   Seto’s jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed. Evidently, he’d struck a nerve, and damn if it didn’t feel good. “Why did you suddenly choose that dare?” he demanded instead of answering. “I was sitting there for half an hour before you chose me, and no one – not even Marik or Malik – had dared anyone to do anything like that.”   “I dared you to kiss me,” Joey pointed out. “It’s your own fault you didn’t do it. Would it really have been that bad?”   “No,” Seto said coldly. “Not compared with the alternative.”   “You liked it!” Joey’s voice was raised, drawing attention to them, but he didn’t care. “You know you liked it – we all know you liked it. You don’t moan like a little slut if you’re not enjoying yourself. You sure as hell don’t tell me I can do it again if you hate it.”   He had gone too far – he realized it just after he shut his mouth for the last time. Seto’s pale skin and thin lips spoke volumes about how much too far he’d gone. Then, before he realized it, he had a glass of wine splashed over his face and Seto was walking away from the table, the other patrons staring at one or the other of them, everyone in his path parting for him.   “Damn it!” He threw his fork across the table at Seto’s empty chair and began to wipe the wine off his face.