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Nervous hands shimmied the tie up a little tighter as Joey scanned the crowds. Crowds were cool. He loved them! Being surrounded by people didn't bother him...surrounded by well-dressed people? At a movie premier? A KaibaCorp. sponsored movie premier? Where he and Kaiba were just casually announcing their relationship? That...that was different.
Joey swallowed, ran a hand through his hair, and walked forward when he was several paces behind Kaiba's long strides. His hands went into his pockets and then pulled out again, straight against his sides.
Don't put your hands in your pockets! Joey screamed, internal, at himself. What did Kaiba call it? Un...tooth? No, no...couth! Uncouth!
"Like couch, but with a 't'," Joey said as he made it up to Kaiba's side. Blue eyes met his, and Joey shook his head. "Nothin'. Talkin' to myself."
Yeah, I ain’t nervous or nothin’...Joey was sure he saw Kaiba roll his eyes, but tried not to focus on it too much. The rampant flash of cameras around them was enough to draw his attention anyways. Smile. Wave? No, don't wave. They ain't here for really here for you anyways. Maybe.
At least Mokuba was enjoying himself, bolting up to the reporters and smiling, answering any questions asked of him. A bottle rocket in a three piece suit, flashing peace signs with a group of kids that Joey could only guess were the cast of the movie.
They reached the precipice of death,...or close enough. They were loud, all of their questions blurred together. It was only a second of camera flashes before he was blinded. How did Kaiba handle this so damn calmly?
Joey's hands reflexively clenched, but unfolded when he felt Kaiba touch his wrist for the briefest of moments. When he turned, he found his not-boyfriend ahead. Mokuba corralled up against his older brother, hugging his side while the paparazzi took pictures.
Joey sucked in a breath, let it go out of his nose, and strode forward to join the brothers, instilled with all of the confidence he would have after a drink or five.
They were really doing this. They were really telling them.
"Seto! Seto Kaiba, look over here!" One paparazzi demanded.
"Who's your plus one, Seto?!" Another shouted.
Seto?! Joey flinched at the foreign, casual use of Kaiba's first name. It didn't falter Kaiba in the least. Course it don't. He's got nerves of steel.
"Joseph Wheeler," Kaiba said. All attention turned to Joey, and his teeth clenched into a wide smile. Mokuba backed out of the way, winking back at Joey and motioning him ahead. To stand right beside Kaiba, shoulder to shoulder.
"Joseph Wheeler? The duellist?" A man asked. They were all so faceless. A mass of shadows, microphones, cameras. A conglomerate of news equipment with no personality.
"The one and only!" Mokuba beamed.
"How long have you and Seto been together?" One woman yelled.
Joey consulted Kaiba's statuesque face before he answered, which gave him no encouragement. But he wasn't stopping Joey, either.
"Uh...me an' Kaib'? Well, uh...we, I dunno. Like...'bout, six months of somethin'?" Another glance, and he wished Kaiba would have given him some kind of signal, but he just stood, impassive, observing the crowd.
Did I say somethin' wrong? Right? Tell me! Answer them! Joey begged of Kaiba, internally, before he looked back to the crowd.
"Joseph! What's it like being with Seto Kaiba?"
Joseph? Oh yeah, Kaiba called me that, huh? Joey thought. "Well it's—"
"Joseph! How serious are you two?" Someone else yelled.
So why's it sound so freakin' weird when anyone else says it? "I mean, I guess I'd call it that—"
"Will you and Seto still be dueling each other?"
Call him 'Mr. Kaiba' or 'Kaiba' or freakin'...anything else! You're all so weird...! "Uhh...I guess? Like, I don't see why not, we still got our own careers goin' on and everythin', I—"
So many questions. All of them shouted at once, shifted away from Kaiba and towards Joey as he tried to keep up but was cut off before he finish answering a single question. His forehead was sprouting sweat, and his chest was getting a little tight. Okay. Maybe he didn't like crowds as much as he thought.
"C'mon, Joey," Mokuba said, taking his wrist and yanking him along. "Don't listen to them. They'll make your head spin."
"Yeah, no freakin' kiddin'."
"They're a bunch of pointless bottom-feeders," Mokuba said. "Least that's what nii-sama says."
"I can think of a few better words," Joey said.
Mokuba shrugged. "Yeah. So can I."
They were inside, into a cooled down theatre, ushered to seats in a private booth that was also in good view. There was an empty space beside Kaiba for Mokuba, but it was only used for the boy to deposit his suit jacket.
"Don't do anything in the dark," Mokuba warned before he bolted. Joey laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, right, like we're gonna go an' do anythin' in here," Joey snorted. He sunk into the chair, relaxed and let out a heavy sigh, relieved. "That went okay, I mean, ya know, for whatever the hell it was. Dontcha think...S-Kaib'?
God, that sounds weird in my mouth. I can't even say it! Have I ever called him Seto? Like...I've called him by his full name but like...just his first name? Will he say something? Will he notice? Should I look at him, is he...?
"It could have certainly gone worse," Kaiba replied.
Guess not...
"Aren't you a vote of confidence?" Joey said, batting Kaiba's arm. He leaned forward, catching the flash of a smirk on Kaiba's face while the executive thumbed through e-mails on his phone.
"It went as well as I predicted it would have."
Joey shrugged. "If you say so. Gonna be a million articles an' stuff misquotin' me tomorrow."
"Don't read them."
"I wasn't gonna," Joey said. "They might spell my name wrong." Kaiba 'harrumped'.
Why am I so worried about names? Like...they're just a thing, aren't they? Kaiba... Seto...Kaiba don't seem to care but like, I just don't get it. I...Joey's hands clasped together in front of him. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"You already are, Joseph."
"Smartass! It's about exactly that."
Kaiba looked up from his phone. "Exactly what?"
"You always callin' me 'Joseph'. Why do ya do that?" Joey asked.
Kaiba arched a brow. "Because it's your name."
Joey frowned. "I know that, but like, everyone else calls me 'Joey', ya know? Well, 'cept my mom maybe."
"I'm not everyone else," Kaiba replied.
A half-hearted grin formed on Joey's face. "Yeah, but it's just—"
"Why do you call me 'Kaiba'?"
Joey's mouth opened, but shut just as immediately. He couldn't say there was a particular reason why. Same reason why I still call him 'not-boyfriend'. "Because..."
"Because isn't an answer," Kaiba replied. Joey couldn't say if the look Kaiba flashed him was amused or annoyed, but just by the way the brunet lamely looked over, his cheek rested on his fist, Joey felt his face growing pink with embarrassment and inconsideration.
A soft laugh came out. "You...would ya mind if I called ya 'Seto'?"
"What reason would I have to object?" Kaiba asked. "It's my name, after all."
"But everyone else calls ya 'Kaiba', I mean, ya know, 'cept Mokuba."
"You aren't everyone else, either."
Leaning back in the seat, stretching his legs out until his feet touched the wall of the box, Joey's smile split ear to ear. The theatre began to darken. Joey reached over and grabbed Kaiba's...no, Seto's, hand. Their fingers interlaced.
”So...ya think they’re gonna spell my name wrong?” Joey asked, still very much worried about their ‘announcement’.
“Not if they want to keep their jobs,” Seto replied, assuaging his worries. Finally.
"Love you, Seto."
"Love you too, Joseph."