100 Puppies and Dragons

Author's Note: This has been on my mind forever. And now I've gotten to use it! X3

Friendship

Seto stared, unsure of how to start. It wasn't every day that he walked in to get a manicure and found the self-proclaimed rival that always annoyed him reading a magazine as he got a pedicure. And the blond's face was covered in a pink-brown mask. He just looked so… at ease there. It was hard to make fun of him when he looked like he didn't care.

"…Mutt?"

Joey looked up at him, raised an eyebrow, then looked back at his magazine as if he didn't care. "Kaiba."

It was then that his attention was drawn to the two girls sitting beside him—the Friendship Freak and The Mutt's Sister.

Téa exclaimed, "Oh, hi, Kaiba!"

Serenity smiled. "What a surprise!"

Seto stared, glancing between all three of them. Serenity and Téa were also having pedicures, and Téa had a sea foam green mask while Serenity's was lime green. The only difference was that they were also getting manicures, while on closer inspection Joey's had already been finished, if the gleam of his nails as he turned the page of his car magazine was anything to go by.

Serenity smiled. "I won a mani-pedi-mask treatment for me and two friends. Téa and Mai were going to go with me, but Mai had to back out at the last minute, so Joey agreed to come along."

"…I see."

"Sir, do you want to use clear polish to match your fingernails?" the girl at his feet asked pleasantly.

Joey looked up from his magazine, stared at her for a moment, then turned his gaze on Seto. The brunet caught a brief glimpse of challenge before the blond looked back at her and stated, "I'd like my toes painted the most annoying shade of pink ya have, please."

"Oh, um—Are you sure?"

"You bet. I wanna walk outside and blind people."

"…Oh, snap." She began looking through all of the shades of pink she had, looking more excited than she had all day.

Seto opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Joey looked up at him in surprise. "Oh, are you still here?"

"Mr. Kaiba, if you'd like to come over here, we're ready for you," another woman cut in, walking over to gently lead him away.

"…You really want pink toenails, Joey?" Serenity whispered, trying to be discreet.

Joey turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow. "Why should I care what color they are? If people wanna judge me, let 'em. They're the ones missin' out, not me."

Téa beamed. "Joey, it's like you grew up overnight!"

The blond stared at her for a few minutes, coughed awkwardly, then looked back at his magazine. "Right."

When they walked out, Seto noticed the blond was wearing shorts and sandals, as if to just show off his nails more. He remembered the challenge that had been wordlessly issued and clenched his jaw. He was certain that Joey wouldn't say anything if he didn't see any gaudy nail polish, but he knew for a fact that he'd receive that look. That look that said I'm better than you.

And he could not allow that. Would not allow that.

Seto hissed. "What's the ugliest shade of purple you have?"

.-.-.-.-.-.

Joey stared at the picture on the screen of the TV, eyes wide as he took in the sparkly purple polish on the brunet's nails. He was vaguely aware of a caption questioning the new 'in' thing for famous people, but mostly, he couldn't believe that the brunet had actually accepted his challenge.

He wondered what other stupid challenges the idiot would allow himself to entertain, because the public's reaction to this was hilarious.