Tied Together

As promised a longer chapter and a faster update :)

mistress0fyaoi: Thanks for the review. Sorry but Mokuba is staying out of this one, it was a small cameo role. ;P

KiraRaven: Bear hugs for you too! No worries Joey was a good boy and let Kaiba sleep. Glad you thought it was a great chapter even though it was kinda short - it was short and sweet! ^_^ Thankies.

yaoirose: Nope indeed they are not gonna be too happy, espeically poor Jou. hee hee XD

fire_lilly: Aww sorry you had a bad week. I'm happy I could help though. Hope this week goes better for you. Yeah you're right I could make it kinky but it's too soon. Hang in there yaoiness is coming up shortly, just another chapter or so.

HiMokusei: Hi wow it's great that you're liking this. Ah the bit with the chocolate, it's one of my fav parts too. Thank very much for the review

*Hugs* for all

Here we go again....enjoy


Joey had never remembered an occasion when he had awoken so abruptly. He didn’t know how or why it had happened but when he opened his eyes all he could see was Kaiba’s sleeping face. It was a split second before Joey’s body reacted. Crying out Jou jerked backwards landing on the floor in a heap.

“Stupid Mutt!” Kaiba’s angry voice sounded from some where above him. Realising somewhat belatedly that in his little moment he had unintentionally pulled Kaiba along with him. From his prone position on the floor Joey could see an enraged Seto Kaiba glaring down at him from the bed. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Sorry.” Jou mumbled rubbing his head, “Forgot where I was.” Joey caught Kaiba mutter “idiot” to himself before getting up. Joey was picking himself off the floor when there came a knock at the door.

“Come in.” Kaiba answered. A nervous looking maid poked her head around the door.

“Um…sir…there’s a lady called Risako Ohana downstairs. She says she has something you need.”

“Finally! Come on Wheeler.” Joey and Kaiba made their way downstairs and saw their counsellor staring in amazement at her rather lavish surroundings. As she slowly turned round she noticed them coming into view. An apologetic look crossed her face as she rushed over to them.

“I am so sorry! Really, very very sorry. I don’t know what to say. I left so quickly yesterday and completely forgot about the key and I just got back this morning and saw my answering machine. So then I rushed right over here and I just feel so stupid for leaving you like this.” Both teenagers stood silently unable to get a word in edge way while Risa rattled off her elongated apology.

“You should have a way for people to contact you. Don’t you have a mobile or something?” Kaiba asked when Risa had to pause for breath.

“Huh? Oh of course I do, but it’s my personal phone, I only have one person who has the number for it so I don’t give it out.”

“What’s the point of that?”

“Just preference I guess. Anyway let’s get these off. I’m sure you’ve had enough of wearing them by now.” Risa said as she took out the key for the handcuffs lock. “But on a positive note you’re both still in one piece which means you’ve made it almost 24 hours without killing each other. You deserve a reward I think.”

“A reward?” Joey asked when finally the cuffs were off. Joey rubbed his wrist where they had cut into his skin a little while he had slept on them. He saw Kaiba do the same.

“Yes because you’ve made such progress. I’d thought I’d give you the day off today. You don’t have to come see me, no handcuffs, nothing, just a normal day and we’ll see how you get on.” Jou couldn’t believe it, what with it being a Friday today meant that it would be 3 days away from the moody CEO. Thank you god! “Who knows,” Risa continued, “if this goes well we might even extend it into next week. Good luck today and I’ll see you Monday.” Risa made to leave and was on her way to the door when Kaiba called out.

“You just don’t want to come in today, do you?” She stopped and turned to look at him.

“…You’re too smart. You know that? You’re right I have other things to do today, but just because I’m not there doesn’t mean I won’t know if the two of you end up at each others throats like before. Have a nice day.” As soon as she had left an uncontrollable unease settle over Joey. Now that the cuffs are gone there was no reason for him to still be there in Kaiba’s home…with him.

“Um…well…I better be off too then. I’m sure I’ve more than worn out my welcome.” Jou says as he moves over to where his shoes are resting by the front door.

“Don’t be stupid Wheeler. By the time you get to yours you won’t have any time to get ready. I’ve already put up with you for a whole day, another half hour isn’t going to make much difference.”

“Ok.” So after a hurried breakfast and a quick shower Joey was back in Kaiba’s limo, safe in the knowledge that when they got to school he wouldn’t have to be yanked around by Moneybags all day. “Thanks for the lift Kaiba.” Joey said when they arrived at school. “See you Monday right?” Kaiba shot Joey an indifferent glare.

“Yeah whatever” He said flatly brushing past him and into the main entrance. Jou left out a sign of frustration. Maybe he had been a little conceited thinking he had made some headway with Kaiba, but the way the brunette easily reverted to pretty much how they were before, he realised how wrong he was. Sure they had to be sort of civil when chained together. They would literally drive each other insane if they didn’t. So now that they weren’t why would Kaiba bother? Who was he kidding? 'And why do I care? It’s not like I want to be closer to Kaiba!' Then why did this sudden shift backwards unnerve him so much?

“Hey Jou!” Yugi called, coming in through the school gates. “Wow you’re actually here before me for a change. How did you manage that?”

“Well due to some unfortunate circumstances I’ll tell you about later, I had to get a lift in with Kaiba.” Jou groaned. Yugi gave him a concerned look as they made their way into the building.

“Are you not getting along any better with him then?”

“No. Kaiba’s still the same ass he always is.”

“Really? But you’ve been chained together for about 2 weeks now.”

“So? It could have been 200 weeks and he would still be the same annoying prick. He’ll never change.”

“Well at least you’ve stopped fighting. The school’s a lot quieter now.”

“Yeah, true and now we can just go on to ignoring each other till we graduate.” Jou replied moodily.

“I’m sure it won’t come to that Jou. After all you’ve never been able to ignore Kaiba.”

“Shut it pipsqueak!” Jou said playfully trying to ruffle his friend’s hair as Yugi tired desperately to dodge the attack.

Unfortunately the day without Kaiba didn’t go as well as Joey had hoped. It was the middle of their first lesson and Joey’s eyes were already drooping. At least this time it wasn’t because of the boring subject matter, no this was because he was up so late last night. 1:30! It’s no wonder that he was so exhausted. He could feel himself slowly drifting off, his head resting in his hand, knowing that he was gonna be in big trouble if he got caught but being far too tired to care. Damn Kaiba! This was all his fault, him and his stupid work. Joey was busy bad mouthing the brunet in his head when the image of Kaiba’s sleeping face flashed across his mind.

“Aahhh!” Joey’s head shot up so fast he almost fell out of his chair. Where the hell had that come from!?! He was brought out of his mini panic attack by all his class mates laughing making him fully aware that he had screamed out loud.

“Ahem.” Jou looked sheepishly up to see Mr Naruse standing over him.

“Sorry, nightmare.”

“Then I suggest you don’t sleep during my lesson Mr Wheeler. I’ll see you at the end of class.” Joey slumped in his seat. He stole a quick glance at Kaiba, thankful to see him still reading as usual. What was going on with him? Maybe he was just worn out. He hoped and prayed that's what it was. He needed this day to end so he could get away from Kaiba completely. Even though they weren’t chained up today the brunet’s presents always seemed to follow him around. It was making him restless.

“What’s wrong with you?” Tristan said when their last lesson finished. “You’ve been fidgety all day.”

“I don’t know…it’s just…I guess I got used to having him around and now…it’s kinda weird.”

“Don’t tell me you’re actually missing Kaiba?!”

“What! No way!”

“Then why have you been staring at him?” asked Yugi.

“I have not! Why would I? You’re imaging things.” Try as he might to brush off his friends words the horrible truth of them sunk in. He had been watching Kaiba far more than he should have been. He couldn’t help it. His eyes just seem to wonder of their own accord over to where ever the brunet was. What was the matter with him? It couldn’t be has Tristan said, that he missed having Kaiba around. No that was ridiculous. He was relieved to be away from him wasn’t he? He had been able to hang out with his friends all day with no complaints or side remarks and had not been forced to remain quiet and ostracised in the library. All in all today had been a typical normal kind of day that he had enjoyed before the events of the past weeks. So why did he find himself thinking about what Kaiba was doing? He had never given it a second thought before. So why now? He wasn’t stupid enough to image that Kaiba was having similar problems cos it appeared completely obvious that to Kaiba things were business as usual. It sadden him to think like that but again he couldn’t help it. It was like he had no effect on the stoic CEO at all. It bothered him. He didn’t know why it bothered him but it did. It also bothered him that he was bothered because this really shouldn’t be bothering him at all.

Now having thoroughly confused himself, Joey wondered idly if he had actually gone mad. This resulted in him not paying attention to where he was going. He didn’t realised something was wrong until he felt himself pitching forward. Being so wrapped up in his thoughts Joey didn’t see the stairs in front of him. Jou screwed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the impact to come knowing it was gonna hurt. But it didn’t come. Luckily he felt a hold on the back of his collar, a hold that was pulling him back from the edge of the first step and back on level ground.

“Honestly Joey watch where you going. You know monkeys can’t fly.” Joey glanced up to see Seto Kaiba, still holding on to his jacket collar.

“Sorry, wasn’t paying attention.” He said some what lamely, very conscious of how close the brunet was to him.

“Clearly.” Kaiba stated letting him go. “You can’t be left alone for a second can you?” Joey was about to respond when Kaiba placed a hand on the top of his head. “Be more careful Wheeler.” And just like that he was walking away. Wide eyed Jou watched him go, more confused than he was before. It was like he was doing these things to him on purpose.

“Oh Joey there you are!” Yugi had come sprinting up the stairs, smiling when he spotted Jou still on the top floor. “We were wondering what happened to you.” Yugi’s smile faded slightly when Joey didn’t reply. “Is something wrong?”

“I just don’t get that guy.” Joey muttered to himself, head bowed in thought.

“Don’t get what?”

“Huh?” Joey looked up, suddenly aware that Yugi was standing there. “Oh it’s nothing Yug, don’t worry about it. Let’s go.”

Plz R & R ^_^