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When Joey sees the KaibaCorp official limo pulls up beside him, he is one hundred percent sure he’s going to die.
After all, why else would the limo stop for him of all people? The only answer he can think of is that Kaiba’s ordered a hit on him. Why? Again, he’s not sure, but he’s never pretended to understand Kaiba’s train of thought.
However, when the tinted window in front of him rolls down, it’s not the weirdly stoic billionaire CEO that greets him, but his little brother.
“Mokuba?”
“Need a ride?” It’s not an offer. At least, not in the sense that a normal person would offer a ride. There’s an air to the way Mokuba says it that screams “business.”
Maybe he is going to be murdered after all. “Well, not if you’re gonna off me.”
Mokuba rolls his eyes and opens the car door. He scoots over, giving Joey enough space to climb in, but he remains within Joey’s line of sight, if only to display how truly impatient he is. “Get in the car. It’s important.”
Something in his face flickers, the creases of his frown getting more noticeable, that compels Joey to listen.
He carefully climbs in, stunned by how spacious the interior is. It’s his first time with a block of a limo, let alone in a limo. “So, uh, where’s the fire?”
“First, I need you to sign an NDA.”
A contract is promptly shoved in his face, and the sheer amount of five-syllable words already has his head reeling. “What’s all this for?” Joey asks. His eyes skim over the dense legalese, but he’s only able to pick out bits and phrases before his brain shuts down entirely.
“It basically states that you are not legally allowed to disclose what I am about to tell you to anyone—especially not the press but including your friends.” Mokuba’s face remains hard set, so Joey finds himself almost compelled to scrawl his signature on the appropriate lines without a second glance.
“There you go.”
Mokuba’s eyes scan over the signatures with a critical eye and after a weirdly suspicious look in Joey’s direction, decides the paperwork is legit. “You’re listed as Seto’s emergency contact.”
“Aren’t emergency contacts usually called when someone gets hit by a bus or something?”
A spark of irritation flashes in Mokuba’s eyes. “Are you going to help or not?”
“Well, yeah, if Kaiba’s in trouble, I guess I have to, don’t I?” Not to mention that he’s already in the car. Are these seats heated?
“That’s all I needed to hear.” Mokuba presses a button on the wall behind him. “Take us back,” he says, and the car lurches forward in response.
Joey takes in his surroundings, trying not to look completely enraptured but utterly failing. It’s the only thing he can do to distract himself from the way Mokuba is staring him down.
“Have you ever dealt with someone having a panic attack before?” Mokuba asks suddenly. From the curl of his lip, it’s clear he doesn’t quite agree with his brother’s choice for support.
Joey nods. Sometimes Yugi has those moments, where the sounds are too much and he feels like everything’s crashing down around him. Usually he doesn’t want people to touch him until it’s over.
“Good.” Mokuba can’t disguise his sigh as the limo lurches to a stop in front of KaibaCorp HQ.
A squeeze of anxiety seizes Joey’s chest, mostly from the anticipation of what’s to come. He’s never seen Kaiba as anything less than utterly composed. Will he even know what to do? Hell, he barely knows what to do when Yugi has a panic attack, and they’ve been best friends for years now.
“And Joey?”
He’s halfway out the door when Mokuba calls again.
“Thank you for coming. Seto’s too proud to let me see him like that, so I’m glad you came to help.”
“Yeah, uh, don’t worry about it.” If Kaiba didn’t even let Mokuba in his office, no wonder Mokuba had been glaring him down.
Mokuba nods. “His office is on the top floor.”
With the help of a kind-eyed receptionist and more than one irritated executive, Joey soon finds himself standing outside Kaiba’s office.
This is where he hesitates. Should he knock first? Just head on in like he owns the place? He belatedly wishes that Mokuba had told him a little more than nothing at all.
But he supposes it’s too late for that now. He knocks once out of courtesy, and pushes his way inside. The door is unlocked, strangely enough. Did Kaiba always leave it unlocked? Or did he know Joey was on his way?
There’s…no one here. Kaiba’s desk is the only thing that looks remotely out of place, with scattered papers spilling onto the floor and a toppled chair.
“Kaiba?” Joey calls. “It’s me. Joey? Your…emergency contact?” The words taste so strangely on his tongue. It’s hard to remember that Kaiba asked for him specifically when the air feels so oppressive.
Since the only sign that something is amiss is the messy desk, Joey checks there, and sure enough, when he peeks around behind the desk, a familiar figure is curled up underneath it.
“Kaiba?”
Kaiba glances up, and for a faint moment, genuine surprise sparks in his eyes. Apparently he hadn’t been expecting Joey to actually come.
Joey crouches, throwing an awkward smile out in the hopes that it would be returned. “Hey, there.”
No such luck.
Kaiba only watches him with wide, wary eyes, as he subtly moves his hand up to cover his throat. Slight tremors run up and down his frame, the last tenacious remnants of what had to be a draining panic attack.
Well, that’s not a good sign.
The longer the two sit staring at each other, the harder it becomes for Joey to force a smile. He can’t help but wonder why Kaiba had even picked him so begin with. He has no idea what he’s doing here. Not at all.
Kaiba crumbles first. It happens so fast. One second, his face is pinching, and Joey’s wondering how he’s going to lash out, and the next, his eyes are overflowing with tears. He’s still to make a single sound.
Joey will admit that he’s a sucker for the waterworks.
“Hey, hey. It’s okay.” And yeah, he’s way overstepping his bounds when he reaches out to cup Kaiba’s cheek, but judging by the way Kaiba leans into the touch, it wasn’t that bad of a move.
Okay, first things first, he needs to get Kaiba out from under this desk. Everything will be easier when he isn’t
He spots a couch in the corner, which looks too immaculate to have ever been used, and gets an idea.
“Let’s take a nap, yeah?” Joey holds out his hand. “Can’t be too comfy under that desk, right?”
With a slow, wary nod, Seto takes his hand. His long, slender fingers wrap easily around Joey’s.
Joey doesn’t need to look to know the way that Seto’s eyes are watching him, silently pleading with him to stay just a little while longer. Still, he makes his way to the couch just as easily and curls up without a word. His eyes slip shut, highlighting the creases of exhaustion that are lining his face.
Joey supposes he could leave now. Seto’s asleep, meaning his job is done, but he doesn’t think he can bring himself to do so. At least, not until he’s sure that Seto’s completely okay.
He takes the empty space at Seto’s feet and leans back, resting his head on the back of the couch in a way that will surely have his neck hurting for the next five years.
As expected, Joey wakes up a few hours later with a huge crick in his neck. The sun outside is starting to set, sinking low into the ocean with bursts or red and orange. He’ll have to get home soon.
Near his desk, Kaiba is angrily straightening out his shirt and jacket, glaring down at his cuffs like they’ve personally slighted him. Whatever they’d had earlier was gone. Kaiba won’t even look him in the eye.
Joey can pinpoint the exact moment Kaiba notices he’s awake, if only because of the way he gets visibly angrier “Alright, Wheeler. How big of a paycheck do you need to keep your trap shut about this?”
He blinks the last of the sleep out of his eyes stifling a yawn. “Paycheck?”
“For listening to Mokuba and acting as a glorified babysitter for the past three hours.”
“You needed help.”
Kaiba’s gaze hardens. In fact, he’s full-on glowering. But instead of that gaze being focused on Joey, he glares down at his desk, and then turns it out the window a few moments later.
“…Yeah.” Joey gets a feeling this conversation is over. And even if it isn’t, he’d rather not stay when Kaiba is at maximum sulk, so he carefully treads back to the door. “Just glad I could help, okay?”
Kaiba doesn’t say a word.
In fact, Joey doesn’t hear from him for the better part of two weeks, but when he sees the KaibaCorp limo pull up beside him one day, he knows exactly what’s needed of him.