Love Lies

Truth and Jealousy

            The evening heat was almost unbearable. The temperature still lingered in the mid-90's
(Fahrenheit), and the humidity hung so thick in thr thr that one could hardly breath. A light,
white haze clung to the sky; smothering the city below.

            Malik closed his eyes and leaned his head back into the cool water of the bathtub. His
encounter with Marik had left him a bit messy, so he spent the entire day sleeping it off in the
tub. The water had long since grown very cold, but Malik welcomed it. The heat was
overwhelming, and his body had grown accustom to the refreshing coolness. He reluctantly
pulled his head up out of the water and sat up. He ran his hands through his hair and squeezed
out the excess water. He reached for a fluffy black towel that he’d placed next to the tub hours
before. He patted his face dry as he got to his feet. He unfolded the towel and wrapped it tightly
around his waist. He slowly stepped out of the bathtub and onto the fuzzy black rug. Small
droplets of water trickled down his legs and pooled on the rug beneath him. The sudden change
of temperature sent shivers down his spine. He looked in the mirror and reached for a wide tooth
comb next to the sink. He slowly worked the comb through his hair until it was smooth. He
tossed the comb into the sink and admired his chiseled physique in the mirror. A big grin spread
across his face as heard Marik whistle at him through their mind link.

“You like what you see, yami?” he chuckled.

//You bet your ass I do.// Marik remarked with a laugh.

Malik wagged his eyebrows at himself in the mirror as he VERY slowly started to loosen the
towel around his waist.

He hummed a sexy little tune as he playfully began to lower the towel.

//Oh Malik, you’re naughty.// Marik said in a low, amused voice.

Malik began to whistle as he innocently dropped the towel even lower. He slid his free hand
beneath the towel and began to slowly stroke himself.

//Hey now!// Marik laughed.

Malik chuckled as let the towel drop to the floor.

//What am I going to do with you?// Marik smirked.

“Smack my ass and call me Bakura?” Malik snickered sarcastically as he walked out of the
bathroom.

Marik must have been a bit stunned, because it took him a few moments to respond.

//What’s that suppose to mean!?//

Malik didn’t reply.

He went up to the bedroom and found a pair of white shorts to lounge around in. Ryou’s house
was sweltering hot, and jeans were not an option. The light material felt cool against Malik’s
skin. He made his way back to the livingroom and turned on the stereo.

He shoved a load of garbage off the couch and flopped down into the fluffy cushions.

He saw a magazine laying on the floor and picked it up. There was a picture of a finely painted
Egyptian sarcophagus with the title “Egypt’s Sacred Sands; Uncovering ancient Abydos” written
below it.

“Hmm....interesting” he mused as he flipped through the thin pages in search of entertainment.

**************************************************************

Tristan wrapped his arm around Serenity as they walked out the side door.

“I’m glad you stopped over to check on me. This whole ordeal with Isis really had me worked
up. I really feel a lot better after talking to you.”

Serenity cuddled into Tristan’s chest and smiled.

“You’re not a bad guy Tris, you just got thrown into bad circumstances.”

They walked over to Serenity’s car and stood in front of it facing each other. Serenity wrapped
her arms around Tristan’s shoulders and smiled up at him.

“Thanks for driving me to the airport. I’m going to miss you a lot when I’m in Europe.”

Tristan pulled Serenity in a warm embrace and rubbed her back.

“I’m gonna miss you too. Promise you’ll call me?”

“Definitely” Serenity smiled brightly back at Tristan.

**********************************************

            Seto slammed his fists down on Pegasus’s desk and glared fiercely.

“Don’t play dumb with me, old man. I know you’re involved in my brother’s kidnapping. Why
did you do it Pegasus? WHY! You’re even more twisted than I thought!”

Pegasus flipped his hair behind his shoulder and crossed his arms. He gazed smugly into the
CEO’s firey blue eyes.

“Working yourself up like this is futile. I can assure you I had nothing to do with your brother’s
misfortune. You paid your debt to me, what makes you think I’d want more?”

Seto closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Cut the crap. I want the truth.”

Pegasus got up from his seat and casually walked around to the front of his desk and sat on it’s
polished mahogany surface.

“I am telling you the truth.”

Seto leered at Pegasus as he backed away.

“Get bent Pegasus. Just remember this- If I find that you’re responsible for hurting my brother,
you’ll be brought to justice faster than you can blink.”

“Oooh, I’m shaking in my shoes.” Pegasus laughed.

Seto growled as he walked out the door and slammed it shut behind him.

            Seto’s head was spinning. He hadn’t slept in over 24 hours, and all the insanity
surrounding Mokuba’s abduction was starting to get to him. Even though Pegasus was his
number one suspect, he had a nagging feeling that the creator of duel monsters was not
responsible. Pegasus’s voice held sincerity, which angered Seto. He needed somebody to blame
for his brother’s troubles. Just as he was passing by fancy restaurant when his cell phone began
to ring.

“What” he stated gruffly into the mouthpiece.

\Kaiba? Everything okay?\

Kaiba relaxed when he heard Joey’s voice.

“Oh, Wheeler, it’s you. How’s Mokuba?”

\He’s still sleepin’. Nothing too exciting. Hey, are you hungry by chance?\

Seto thought for a moment and sighed.

“Yeah, a little, why do you ask?”

\I could really go for some *real* food- wanna meet at a restaurant or something? Ryou and
Yugi said they’d stay with Mokuba.\

Seto looked up at the name of the restaurant he was in front of and decided it was a decent
sounding place to eat at.

“That’s fine. Meet me at a restaurant called ‘Le Meilleur,’.”

\Awesome! See ya in a bit!\

Seto closed his cell phone and clipped it back onto his belt loop.

He wiped the sweat collecting on his forehead as he stepped into the air conditioned restaurant.

**************************************************

Joey hung up the phone and turned to Ryou and Yugi.

“Thanks for staying with Mokuba guys, I really appreciate it.”

Ryou smiled brightly and nodded his head.

“It’s no trouble at all.”

Joey patted his pants pockets and pulled out a set of keys. He tossed them to Ryou and smiled.

“Thank for letting me and Kaiba use your wheels.”

“No trouble.” Ryou smiled back.

Joey quickly ran out the door and took the elevator down to the lobby. As he was passing the
waiting room, he heard two familiar voices.

“Well babe, I guess I’ll be seeing you. Good luck in the tournament.” Duke sighed.

“I’ll call to see how things are going as soon as I get to Paris.” Mai assured him.

“Okay Mai, bye.”

Joey stopped and turned around.

“I totally forgot you were leavin’ Mai! I can’t believe you were gonna leave without sayin’ good
bye to me!”

Mai left Duke and walked over to Joey. She threw her arms around him and smiled.

“See ya Joey. You behave while I’m away now!”

Joey chuckled and patted Mai’s back.

“Yeah, right. Now don’t go gettin’ a big head or anything. My sister’s gonna kick your ass!”

Mai rolled her eyes and playfully punched Joey in the arm.

“In your dreams.”

“We’ll see!” Joey snickered as he headed out the door.

*******************************************************************

            Ryou stretched his long, thin legs out in front of him and relaxed back into the cozy blue
chair. A long, frustrated groan escaped from his lips as he closed his eyes. Yugi looked over at
him from his seat on the window sillwith his head cocked curiously

“Are you okay?”

Ryou sighed as he stretched his arms.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just a little upset with Malik right now.”

Yugi hopped down from the window sill and kneeled next to Ryou’s chair. His violet eyes
sparkled with curiosity.

“What did Malik do?”

Ryou hesitated to respond, but slowly he shared the reason.

“I saw Malik last night with a bunch of girls.”

Yugi propped his elbow on the armrest of the chair and rested his cheek in his hand. His eyes
were filled with curiosity.

“Was he fooling around with them?” he ask bluntly.

Ryou shook his head.

“Not really.........but they were all over him. It made me feel so bad, Yugi. I really love Malik,
and seeing him like that hurt a lot. Call it what you will, but I don’t think I’m being selfish. I
want Malik all to myself.”

Yugi nodded his head.

“That’s how it should be, Ryou. You should go talk to Malik about how you feel. Maybe there’s
more to the story than you realize.”

Ryou sat up and sighed.

“I suppose you’re right. I never got Malik’s side to the story.”

Yugi got to his feet and looked down at Ryou with an intense gaze.

“You don’t know what you got till it’s gone, Ryou. You should never let go of somebody you
truly love because you’ll only hate yourself for it afterward. Go talk to Malik, I’ll stay here with
Mokuba.”

Ryou’s lips twisted into a small smile as he got out of the chair. He leaned over and gave Yugi a
quick hug.

“You’re right, Yugi. I better go talk to Malik. Thank you.”

Yugi nodded his head and smiled.

“M’hm.”

After Ryou had left, Yugi stood over Mokuba with a far off look in his eyes.

“You’ll hate yourself and the person who took the one thing you loved away forever.”

***************************************************

            Seto smiled when he saw Joey walk into the air conditioned upscale French restaurant.
He had taken the liberty of securing them a quiet table. He left the hostess with a detailed
description of Joey and instructed her to escort him to the table upon his arrival. The hostess
quickly ushered Joey to the table as soon as he stepped through the doors.

Joey grinned when he saw his CEO smiling at him.

“Thanks” he nodded as he sat across from Seto in the seat the hostess had pulled out for him.

“A waiter will be right with you.” she smiled as she walked away.

Seto perked up as soon as he and Joey were alone. He reached over the table and took hold of
Joey’s hand.

“I’m glad you’re here. How’s Mokuba?”

Joey brushed his long, wispy bangs out of his eyes and sighed.

“He was still out cold when I left. The doctor’s say he should be waking up later tonight though.
Damn, can you believe how hot it is outside? ”

Seto nodded his head.

“Thank you for watching over him while I was away. I appreciate it greatly. And yes, the heat is
quite overwhelming. That’s why I chose this restaurant. Air conditioning is priceless on a day
like today.”

Joey waved his hand in front of himself and smiled.

“It’s nuthin’, I like Mokuba. He’s a good kid.”

Seto reached up and brushed his long fingers across Joey’s cheek. He closed his eyes as he took
a deep breath.

“Joey, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Joey tilted his head as he gazed into Seto’s sincere blue eyes quizzically.

“Go ahead.”

Seto took a deep breath and swallowed hard before speaking.

“I want us to have an open honest relationship, Wheeler. I don’t want us to keep secrets from
each other.”

Joey squinted his eyes and listened closely.

Seto blinked his eyes nervously as he continued.

“I did something a while back that I’m not very proud of, and you need to know before things go
any further between us.”

Joey kept a straight face, but he had an idea what Seto was about to say.

“Joey, I slept with Pegasus. I only did it once though, and I had a good reason. I did it because I
thought it was my only option. I needed to keep him quiet about a business deal I’d made that
was *just a little* unlawful. I regret doing it, but there’s nothing I can do to change the past. I
really want things to work out between us, Wheeler, please don’t hate me for what I did. Can
you forgive me?”

Joey closed his eyes and recalled the night he’d accidently walked in on Seto having sex with the
unknown man. He concluded it must have been Pegasus he’d heard that night. He recalled how
hurt he felt and how angry it made him to see what he’d seen. Something had changed inside of
him since than. Joey no longer felt anger toward Seto, in fact he found he was starting to feel
more for the CEO than just raw lust. Seto’s confession only made Joey want him more.

Joey was surprised by Seto’s honesty. He never though he’d see the day where Seto Kaiba would
be actually asking his forgiveness.

He brushed Seto’s hand off of his cheek and turned his head.

“Kaiba? I need to make a confession too. I have something at home that I need to give you. It’s a
tape of us gettin’ it on at the resort. I accidently walked in on you the night you were with
Pegasus, and it really pissed me off. oughought you were using me or something. I was gonna sell
the tape to the media to get back at you. I’m sorry for thinking like that, Kaiba. I was an ass. The
tape is all yours when we get back home.”

Joey froze as he waited for Seto’s response. He wasn’t expecting Seto to be happy, but to Joey’s
surprise, Seto got up and walked around the table. He kneeled next to Joey and centered his eyes
on the blonde.

“It’s okay Joey, I can understand why you did what you did.”

Joey smiled as he reached out and brought Seto into a warm embrace.

“Thanks for being so cool about it, I’m really sorry I jumped to conclusions.”

Seto held Joey close and smiled.

“I’m glad we got these things out in the open between us.”

Joey chuckled as he pulled himself out of Seto’s tight embrace.

“Whoa dude, you’re squeezing the shit out of me!”

Seto’s cheeks flushed red as he made his way back to his seat.

“Sorry.......so are you ready to order?”

Joey picked his menu up off the table and started reading over it. His face twisted with confusion
as he flipped the pages.

“I can’t read a single thing on here! Which one of these things is a cheeseburger and fries?”

Seto chuckled as he picked up his own menu and looked over it.

“I guess they didn’t teach you French in Domino High, eh?”

Joey scrunched up his nose and made a sour face.

“I barely passed English! Care to help me out here?”

>Set>Seto sighed as he looked over at Joey.

“Don’t worry, I’ll order for both of us.”

*********************************************************

Sorry I got this posted a day late. Now that I’m done with school for the summer, everybody
around here seems to think I have all this *spare time.* Don’t they realize I’ve got my stories to
keep me busy??? (Grrrrrrrrr)

Anyway- To make up for it, I’ll post the next chapter early tomorrow morning. I’ll even tell you
the title. (since it’s already typed up, *grin*)

The next chapter is called “Deus Ex Machina.”

What does that mean? Guess you’ll have to wait until tomorrow if you’re not a fan of the theater,
lol. If you already know what it means, you’ll know exactly what’s going to happen in the next
chapter. (It's an old theater term)

Thank you for the reviews in advance! As always, I REALLY appreciate them!

 *big hugz for reviewers*