It was the morning a few days after their lovely little wondrously magically fantastic picnic. Kaiba had actually gotten up on time due to the fact that he learned about a wonderfully useful thing called a lock, and he was sitting at the table reading. Mokuba was at the table also, sitting across from the older boy.

Everything was quiet and peaceful that morning, and it was boring to Joey. While he was making a simple breakfast of eggs and toast, he grabbed some grapes from the fridge and threw one of them over his shoulder. He waited a moment and nobody said anything, so he threw another over his shoulder. He grumbled slightly and popped one in his mouth. For a few moments he contemplated throwing another, and decided he had nothing to lose and threw another over his shoulder.

"What was that?" he heard Kaiba grumbled. Joey stifled laughter and glanced back at him. Kaiba was looking at the grape which had landed on the table and picked it up. He furrowed his eyebrows but otherwise did nothing more about it. By this time it was hard for Joey to keep from laughing, but still he picked up another grape and threw it over his shoulder. He heard Kaiba grumbling to himself.

Joey allowed himself a small chuckle, and picked up another grape. As he was raising his arm to throw it, someone grabbed his wrist. He looked over to see Kaiba standing over him, a death glare on his face. Joey then saw the unknown emotion pass through the taller boy's eyes like it had a few days earlier, and instead of setting Joey on fire or decking him right then and there, he leaned down with a slightly sly look on his face and bit the end of the grape and gently pulled it free of Joey's fingers. Kaiba then let go of Joey's arm, which fell limp, and went back and sat at the table without saying a word. Joey stared at the table in disbelief. Kaiba sat with his legs crossed, reading, as if nothing just happened. He slowly turned his head back to the stove. He bit his lip. What. Was that? That was definitely not like Kaiba. Joey just had to figure out what was up with him.

Kaiba sat at the table, not even paying the slightest bit attention to his book. He stared at the page blankly, thinking. What was that? Why did he just do that? 'I wonder how he feels about what I just did. But being Joey, he'd never understand...' Kaiba thought to himself.

"Big bro?" Mokuba asked him.

"Hmm? What is it?" Kaiba said, snapping out of his train of thought.

"You've been staring at the same page since you came back from talking to Joey. What happened?"

"Nothing, what makes you think something did, Moki? I'm just thinking, that's all."

"Uhuh, suuuure Big bro. Don't worry, I get it." Mokuba wiggled his eyebrows. Kaiba raised an eyebrow, but disregarded his brothers words.

"Whatever you think, Kid." Kaiba said, looking back down at the book.

"Alright, food's ready!" Joey came in with a big smile on his face.

"Cool! I'm starved!" Mokuba pumped his fist in the air. Joey smiled at that. Kaiba just patiently waited for his breakfast just like any other morning. Joey sat at his by now usual seat right next to Kaiba. Mokuba and Joey joked around like usual, and Kaiba threw in the occasional snarky comment and witty replies. After eating, Mokuba jumped up.

"I'm goin to work with you today." the young boy declared. Kaiba nodded in acknowledgement and walked toward the door.

"C'mon Joey, you coming?" Mokuba called over his shoulder. Joey looked up from where he stood next to the table.

"Nah Squirt, I got things to do today." Joey replied with a grin. Kaiba looked over his shoulder at the blonde with a strange look. What important things could Joey possibly be doing? Even so, he just nodded, and walked out the large mansion doors, with Mokuba trailing behind.

"Okay Joey, you know where to find us!" Mokuba called behind the closing doors. Joey waved and smiled until the doors closed. His happy smile curved down into a frown. He walked over to the window, and watched the Kaiba brothers get into their limo, and drive away. He walked through the now familiar hallways and staircases until he reached his room. He slipped on his shoes and faded green jacket, and headed out. He slipped his hands in his pockets as he walked towards his destination.

Joey arrived at the tall brown bricked building shortly after he left the mansion. The place he remembered all too much and well. He opened the door, and stared at the white waiting area. He walked up to the counter.

"I'm here to see Mr. Wheeler?" Joey gulped.

"Sure, sure, good to see you again Joey dear." The nurse said, with a light southern accent.

"Thanks."

"Room 215, dear. Go right on in. We'll send in the doctor to give you the prognosis." She continued typing. Joey walked stiffly to the door and pushed it open. A chemical smelling wave filled his nose, the familiar smell. He walked the hall, and looked at the doors with the numbers on it. All the nurses and doctors smiled and waved at him. Everyone knew him. Door 213, 214... ahh, 215. Joey turned the knob, and walked into the brightly lit room. Mr. Wheeler lay still as he did the last time Joey saw him. He clenched his fist into a ball, and pulled up a chair next to the bed. He sat, and stared at his father. The one who had beaten him many times before. The one who was never there for him.

"Is this the only way to get you sober, you drunken fool..." Joey said to his father, knowing he could very well hear him. "You could die one of these days you know... I wish you'd stop drinking. Do you know what you've done to me? In the days you've been in the hospital, have been the happiest days of my life after Mom left. I've been living with my worst enemy, and even he'd never treat me like you did. Like you probably will still. You'll never quit. I know you. You'll forget all about this right after you wake up. Isn't that right? Then you'll want money from me to buy beer for you. Isn't that right?" Tears stung at the blonde's eyes. "I'll never be like you. Never. We may share blood and looks and all that, but I am nothin' like you. I'm ashamed to call you my father..." By now, tears streamed down Joey's cheeks, his head in his hands, remembering that he'd have to go back and live with him when he woke. And his bruises were starting to heal! Joey sobbed into hands. And hand gently lay on his shoulder. He looked up, bleary eyed, at Kaiba who was staring at Joey solemnly.

"Please tell me you didn't hear all that." Joey said, wiping his eyes. Kaiba shook his head, not knowing how to deal with this situation. Mokuba had taken a walk from the office to get some icecream from a shop down the street, and saw Joey walking to the hospital and put two and two together. He went back to the office and told Kaiba that he should go to the hospital and check on Joey. The CEO certainly didn't expect this when he walked into the room.

Kaiba sat in the chair next to Joey's, not knowing what else to do. Joey rubbed his eyes some, making it clear that he wished Kaiba hadn't seen him crying. Though Kaiba most likely thought it was out of sadness, it was really out of anger. Joey put on a grin and turned to Kaiba.

"Must've gotten somethin' in my eyes... Or allergies... Or somethin'" Joey said to him, keeping his ever present grin on his face. Before Kaiba got a chance to say something back to him, a doctor walked in. He was staring at a clipboard and flipping through the papers attached to it.

"Hello, Joey." The doctor said without looking up.

Joey sighed. "Hey doc, what's his condition?"

The doctor looked up and glanced at Kaiba and took a seat. He looked through his papers several more times before clearing his throat to talk.

"Well, over the past few weeks he's been getting better, and we say it'll take about oh, two to three more weeks at the most. We've decided that we'd like rehab to be his choice, and we hope that this incident is enough for him to make that choice on his own. So he'll be home in a couple weeks."

Joey grinned. "Great! Well, I gotta get going now, so see ya, doc!"

He got up and walked to the door forgetting about Kaiba. He walked calmly out of the hospital with Kaiba following behind him. He continued down the street, his body and hands tensing up more and more as he went. He walked for a long time, going from the good looking parts of the city to a dumpy old looking part where you wouldn't feel safe with you car even being on the street. He went to a specific building and walked inside. There was a certain apartment he went to in that building, and he pulled out a key, unlocked the door, and walked inside. Inside was a dump. extremely moldy half eaten food just layed around, and bottles of varying types and sizes of alcohol layed all over the floor, couch, counter, just about everywhere. Joey's body was extremely tense and he looked like he was about to explode. He managed a way through the mess of an apartment, and came to a door that was slightly ajar. He opened it up and walked in. It was mostly empty, as he had expected it to be. He let his fists fall limp, and he dropped to the floor on his knees and stared at the ceiling

"Guess I'll be coming back here soon, huh?" He said out loud. He looked back to the walls. "Can't wait."

He put his head in his hands, leaning down towards the floor. He didn't cry. He didn't make a sound. He shook, his body wracked with anger.

Joey woke up in his bed, at the now familiar mansion of the Kaiba household. 'How did I get back here?' Joey thought to himself as he climbed out of bed. The clock read 7: 00 PM. It was pretty late, and the rest of the house was probably out at Kaiba's work for another hour or two. Joey had a horrible headache, probably from all that allergy crying. Or somthin. Joey walked around his bedroom for a few minutes. He usually didn't stay at the mansion by himself, he was usually goofing off with Mokuba. He sat back on the bed, the mattress sinking underneath him.

"Huh, what do I do now?" Joey asked himself out loud. While he was pondering what he should do, his old phone rang. He'd almost forgotten he had it, he hadn't opened the old beat up thing since he'd got to Kaiba's.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Hey Joey! We're back from the tournament!" He heard Yugi on the other line.

"What? That's great! Wanna meet me at the cafe with the others?" Joey said excitedly to the phone.

"Sure! Be there in a few minutes!"

"See you then, Yug!" And he hung up. His friends were back, that was great! Joey quickly pulled on his sneakers and jacket and hopped out of the room. He ran through the halls, and bounced out the front door and into the night.

Joey opened the door the the cafe, and looked around. He saw the heads of his friends in their favorite corner booth.

"Hey guys!" Joey shouted happily. It had been weeks since the last saw them. Huh, he'd been living with Kaiba that long!? He was surprised he lasted a day.

"Joey!" Everyone jumped up in unison. The whole gang was there, Tea, Yugi, Tristan, all of them! Joey skipped over to the booth, nearly tripping over everyone on the way there. He sat in a single free wooden chair around a square table with his friends.

"So how's everything been going since we've been gone?" Tea asked, propping her elbows on the table.

"Yeah, I'll tell ya, but first, who won?" Joey laughed. Tristan smiled.

"Our little Yugi over here, who else!?" Tristan asked loudly.

"It was lonely without you cheering from the sidelines though!" Yugi smiled.

"Alright, so what happened when I came back... My ol' man's in the hospital again, he's in a coma, and so I couldn't go back home and live there." Joey explained. Everyone's eyes filled with worry.

"Was it alcohol again?" Yugi asked quitetly, seriously. Joey nodded.

"So... where have you been living?" Tristan asked.

"Uhh, well, that's the thing..." Joey laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, what?" Tea huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

"I've sorta been living with Kaiba." Joey confessed. Yugi let out the breath that he was holding in.

"Oh, I thought it was going to be much worse than that."

"What's worse than that?! How'd he get you to do it?! We're back, so you don't have to live with that freak anymore!" Tristan ranted. He hated Kaiba almost as much as joey did. Almost. Joey missed his friends so much.

"It's alright Tristan, it wasn't that bad, he didn't torture me or anything" Joey grinned.

"You can live with me though, so you don't have to put up with him anymore." Tristan offered. Joey simply nodded.

They started talking and catching up and things like that. Joey explained the rest of his father's situation, and they left the cafe around 8: 00 PM. Joey went back to the mansion to grab his things. There was still an hour before Kaiba and Mokuba got back and he truthfully just couldn't wait to be with his friends again. He packed all the essential things into a backpack and wrote a note and stuck it on the fridge, knowing Mokuba would be heading there as soon as he got home.

He left a lot of his things in his room here, thinking 'it's not like they won't ever let me back again.' He grinned, stuck the note on the fridge, and bounded out the door

Hours earlier, Kaiba had been there. He didn't know what possed him to follow Joey to wherever he was going, he didn't know why he did it. He just knows he did it. And when Joey got to the place he was going, he seemed to have a mental break-down. Kaiba had stood there, watching him through the doorway. At one point, Kaiba walked in and knelt down next to the shaking boy and put his hand on his shoulder. The shaking stopped and the blonde sat up. He looked over at Kaiba, anger flared in his eye, but grew soft.

"Hey Seto." He said, his eyes drooping.

"Yes, Joey?" Kaiba said, unsure of what was coming next and unsure of why he used his first name.

"Thank you..." He said, his eyes drooping lower. Kaiba's eyes widened.

"What do you me-" He started, but was cut short when he noticed that Joey was falling, his eyes closed. Kaiba reached forward, catching the other boy before he hit the ground. He shook his head and sighed. He stood up and picked up Joey bridal style, walking out of the apartment and closing the doors behind him. He walked down the streets, wondering what had just happened. Instead of calling a limo, he walked to the mansion and put Joey in his bed.

The CEO of Kaiba Corp. turned into mother hen, and started checking the blonde for any sicknesses or certain symptoms. When he found nothing, he left to go back to work.

Later, when he was done with work, he and Mokuba were exhausted from a long day, Mokuba was even too tired to raid the fridge. They both headed straight to bed, without even noticing Joey's absence.

Kaiba woke up like normal. He got out of bed, showered, and got dressed, all that. He walked into the kitchen along with his routine. Right about now Joey would be wearing his blue apron and cooking breakfast, and have a pot of coffee set for Kaiba. Except... Joey wasn't in the kitchen at all. Kaiba looked around the kitchen. Mokuba stood at the fridge, clutching a piece of paper tight.

"Where's Joey?" Kaiba asked his little brother. Mokuba looked up at him.

"He left." Mokuba said calmly, staring into the others eyes.

"What?"

"He left, Seto."

"What? When?" Kaiba asked almost frantically. Almost. Mokuba gingerly handed Kaiba the note.

"Hey! Sorry for the short notice guys, but the gang just got back from the tournament! Didn't wanna be much more of a bother, plus I'm just so excited to catch up with them! I'll be living with Tristan now, so that's where I'll be if ya need the ol' Wheeler. Left some of my stuff back there at the mansion, so I hope you let me back in the place after that. Thank you Seto, for all you've done for me these past few weeks, kay? Hope we don't remain arch enemies after that.

-The one and only, Joey Wheeler"

Kaiba stared at the page. He read the same paragraph about eleven times. All that rang through his head reading it was the words Joey had said to him the day before. "Hey Seto... Thank you..." he heard as he was reading the note. He didn't know what he felt. For once he just couldn't place it, or anyone to aim the emotion at. It wasn't shock, anger, sadness... 'What is it?!' Kaiba thought. He shook his head.

"I don't have time to deal with this. Come on Mokuba, we have to get going." Kaiba said, leaving the kitchen. But he didn't leave the note, it was still in his hand as he walked out the door.

The young CEO seemed to have changed slightly during Joey's stay, and Mokuba had noticed it. Over the next week or so, he seemed like the old Kaiba. During Joey's stay he seemed a lot nicer and more willing to ignore his workaholic instincts. When Joey left, he busied himself into his work and snapped at anyone who came close. He didn't take Mokuba out or anything like that, he just shut himself in his room when he wasn't working or yelling.

Mokuba had enough of old Kaiba, he'd gotten too used to the 'nice' one. He walked into the kitchen, and there Kaiba was at the table looking grumpy with a newspaper. He walked over to the stove where Joey's apron lay from where he last used it. Mokuba picked it up.

"Oh, look Seto, it's Joey's apron. Now that he lives with Tristan he won't be able to cook his delicious food for us." Mokuba whined. Kaiba growled and grumbled. Kaiba got up from the table, and started to leave. Mokuba grabbed his brothers arm.

"Wait Seto! You have to go get Joey before he goes home next week!" Mokuba pleaded. Kaiba sighed heavilly, and turned to face the raven haired boy.

"Why!?" Kaiba growled. Mokuba winced.

"Because his father beats him when he's drunk. He's going to go back home next week." Kaiba's eyes widened.

"Why didn't he tell me?"

"He didn't want you to know..."

"It makes so much sense..."

"So you have to go bring him back here, or else he goes back to him! He wouldn't let his friends know about it, he's too nice! I even wasn't supposed to know!"

"I'll be back with him then..." Kaiba grumbled, walking out the door.

Kaiba called a limo, and he drove to Tristan's house. He knocked on the door. Tristan opened the door.

"Hell- Oh, great, what do you want?" Tristan sneered.

"I'm here to get back a certain puppy who's gone astray from home." Kaiba answered cooly. That set Tristan off.

"Won't you ever stop harassing Joey?! He's told you thousands of times he's not a dog! Plus he hates you and only stayed with you because he had to!" Tristan tried to grab for Kaiba's throat. Kaiba felt hurt at the last sentence, but brushed it off because he didn't even know why he felt hurt.

"Well? Where is he?"

"He's not here..."

"Where. Is. He?"

"He went to go live with Mai because my place is really small and she has an extra room." Kaiba groaned.

"Then I'm done here." Kaiba then left for Mai's house. He questioned himself as to why he was running all over the place just to bring the mutt home. He shook his head and told himself it was for Mokuba.

When he got there he knocked on the large white door and a thought of Joey opening it briefly crossed his mind, but he shook it away. The door opened, but it wasn't Joey who stood on the other side, it was Mai Valentine.

"Kaiba? What are you doing here?" She asked, surprised.

"I was told Joey came to live here with you? I came to bring the mutt home."

"Yeah, but he went to the hospital to visit his dad. He talked about you a lot you know, can't keep his eyes on me for a second. But do whatever you want, hun. Seems like you really want him back." She waved her hand, and winked. Kaiba nodded, and the door closed. Kaiba stod there for a second in front of Mai's door, and blinked. 'What was " He talked about you a lot you know, can't keep his eyes on me for a second" Supposed to mean?' Kaiba thought to himself. He didn't have to be a genius to know what Mai was meaning, which he was a genius, but of course he knew the answer deep down, but he always ignores his emotions anyways. Well, off to another place for Kaiba to go to just for Joey. Though, Kaiba at least admits to himself he got used to the noise in the house, and now it's... void of something. Kaiba decided that he was going to walk to the hospital instead of drive in a limo.

Kaiba started on his walk on a Joey hunt. As he walked closer to the hospital, he started to anticipate the return of his lost pup. He smiled to himself as he heard his boots on the concrete.

A low cough was heard in a ally on the way to the hospital. Kaiba turned his head towards the noise. 'What? Someone's back there? Kaiba thought to himself, as he began to investigate the sound. He turned a corner in the dark ally, and saw something that made his heart stop cold. Joey lay beaten on the ground, unconscious.