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Wheeler, Joey
yoooo, wheeler here. U got any ideas for where 2 go 4 trick or treating? i was thinking mb in ur neighbourhood bc ur rich so mb ur neighbours are too and theyll have the good shit
ur coming right
serenity said so
i mean if u cant thats chill haha i can look after the tyke no biggie
Kaiba
Unfortunately yes, it seems I will be joining you.
Mokuba tells me we are going to your sister's neighbourhood, as it is primarily her party so to speak. It seems to be a family neighbourhood, so there should be adequate pickings.
Wheeler, Joey
o rite my bad. she mustve told me and i forgot lol
so well see u their? idk how many of the others r coming or just meeting us at kl but me + ren + her friends will def b there
there r like 6 of them i tjink? and onky 1 of me haha 😅
r u any good w kids
they always laugh at me
Kaiba
Not a unique trait, is it
Wheeler, Joey
wdym
HEY
WELL JOkes on u bc u jusy got tricked into looking agter a bunch of sugar crazed tweens. so there
Kaiba
Monitoring a group of small, defenceless children. The horror.
I'm dreading looking after you far more, unless you've become significantly harder to frighten in the past three days.
Wheeler, Joey
shut up!!!
oh btw what costumes r u and mokuba wearing. so we can spot u easy
Kaiba
Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask.
Wheeler, Joey
AWWWWWW
thats adorable
Kaiba
shut up
"Wheeler."
The man in question barely reacts to his name being said. "Yeah?" Wheeler says vaguely.
Kaiba's heel makes a single clack against the sidewalk as he shifts on slightly unsteady feet, the sound almost lost in the shrieking and laughter and far lighter steps running about. Perhaps he should've broken in the shoes earlier. "You're staring."
Blinking once at this information, Wheeler abruptly turns his head away to smile sheepishly. One hand briefly abandons a crutch to reach under his hood and scratch at the back of his neck, and the red circles on each yellowed cheek give him the illusion of a permanent cartoon blush. Kaiba isn't sure why he bothered with face paint when the hood has a face stitched on anyway. Unless that's the point, but Kaiba can't see Wheeler deliberately dressing as a two-faced mutant Pikachu. It's just not his style.
"Sorry," Wheeler mumbles, long yellow ears twitching as he scratches. "S'just—nah, never mind."
Taking into account the context of Wheeler's state of mental disarray, Kaiba speculates on how that sentence could have ended. Wheeler is clearly already out of his element in the revels of Halloween, more out of place in the laughing, cackling, sugar-fueled swarm than Kaiba for once. Serenity's suburban neighbourhood has put effort into the occasion, decorating with great white cobwebs and rubber black cats, jovial skeletons and sequined spiders, tattered ghouls and styrofoam graves. It's an explosion of tack, a detonation casting cheerfully fake-bloody shrapnel into every front yard. The children scrambling through the wreckage glory in the plastic and paper kitsch with no reservations, dizzy on candy and costumes and being allowed to run around after dark.
Loud. Chaotic. Decidedly tasteless children's entertainment. Kaiba's favourite holiday.
The same cannot be said for Wheeler. It seems to Kaiba that the less realistically scary something is, the more terrified Wheeler is of it, so naturally the lavishly decorated, child-friendly spookshow they currently roam in search of tooth-rot has him considerably on edge. It's mildly amusing, in a sadistic kind of way, to watch Wheeler navigate the festivities. When a group of impressively grotesque footballer zombies had groaned past their little group earlier, Wheeler had shuddered and hobbled slightly closer to Kaiba, but that was all. When a small girl wrapped up in toilet paper had run up to him, said boo! and burst a party popper at him, he'd actually jumped and shrieked out loud before frantically clawing the orange and black streamers off. The gaggle of children under their stewardship had found the whole exchange extremely entertaining. So had Kaiba.
Said gaggle of children jolts Kaiba from his ruminations with their sudden pouring back onto the sidewalk, chattering like imps.
"Oooh, anything good?" Wheeler asks the small horde of costumed pre-teens, leaning on a crutch a little to peek into their assorted goody-bags as if sniffing for treats.
"The lady thought Wanda was dressed as Tinkerbell," one child says, sticking her masked nose in the air, derisive in the way only a thirteen year old can really be. "What an idiot."
"I'm Robin Hood," Wanda scowls, gripping her folded arms and hunching as they begin to make their way to the next house. "Robin Hood!"
Kaiba nods. "Only a fool would make such an absurd mistake," he agrees, walking slow and steady along the sidewalk at the back of their group. "You are clearly armed, and have no wings. She should either get her eyes checked or become better read."
Wanda perks up at the words, unfolding and straightening to wave her bunch of evenly lengthed twigs. One of them has a piece of string tied to it. "Exactly! You ever seen Tinkerbell use a bow? Pfft. Stupid."
Satisfied in the reaffirmation of her excellent Robin Hood costume, Wanda holds her head high and strides forward to join her friends properly, leaving Kaiba and Wheeler once again in each others' company at the rear. They are an unusually organised group—Vigilantes and Vagrants is their official theme this year, Kaiba has been told. There's the aforementioned Wanda as Robin Hood in a vigilante role. Wheeler's Pikachu doesn't entirely fit, Kaiba thinks, but at least he matches with his sister, Serenity and her best friend being dressed as Pokémon's Jesse and James. Then there's a Batman, a Sweeny Todd (who has been mistaken multiple times for the Babadook, whatever that is), and two different Spidermen.
And of course Mokuba, who can't stand coconut and drops back briefly to pass over a newly gotten Bounty Bar. His black cape flutters behind him in a dramatic manner reminiscent of Kaiba's own coat as he grins and then runs back to join the rest.
Kaiba feels a warm tug in his chest at the sight. Mokuba has barely spoken to him this evening in comparison to usual, but it isn't out of malice or resentment; rather, he is too busy enjoying the company of his own peer group. Kaiba supposes he should be happy about this—and he is, but still there is something else. Kaiba has had no one but Mokuba for so long.
They reach the next house, its front yard strewn with cartoonish undead clambering from the earth, and Wheeler flinches at a motion-triggered skull suddenly emitting audio of organ playing and wolf howling. "Alright kids, new house, go get 'em," he says, waving them up a new path with one awkward hand.
Again, Kaiba waits with him on the sidewalk, neatly ripping open his chocolate wrapper and biting into the rejected treat. He had been accompanying the group up to the prospective trick-or-treat targets when their venture had begun, but being as they are all entering the phase in which children generally start insisting on doing things on their own, Kaiba has decided to let them knock on doors themselves while watching like a mother hawk from the street. Negotiating with rival businesses over billion dollar contracts is far easier than saying no to wide eyed children.
Wheeler, of course, had already been having to wait. The houses of Serenity's neighbourhood almost uniformly have multiple steps and long paths up to each door, which Wheeler finds rather difficult given his still mending fibula. According to the hospital records Kaiba had accessed with only a little effort, Wheeler has only a minor fracture, but Kaiba is still impressed with the damage he'd managed to sustain from just falling down some stairs. It will take at least another five weeks to heal. Wheeler probably shouldn't be exerting himself, Kaiba thinks, but who is he to tell the stubborn mutt to go home and rest.
Which all goes some way to contribute to Wheeler's discomfort, but doesn't explain why Kaiba keeps getting stared at. This time, Wheeler seems to be focused on his thighs, which are feeling rather cold in the autumn air in only sheer tights. With no convenient trash can to dispose of his candy wrapper, Kaiba stuffs it down one of his knee boots. The movement coincidentally rustles his skirt around briefly.
"Is there something wrong, Wheeler?" Kaiba asks as innocently as he can manage, which is not very.
If Wheeler was watching this scene from an outsider perspective, Kaiba thinks even he might be able to see through the faux concern. But he isn't, so he just gets flustered again. Kaiba has always been fascinated by just how ludicrously expressive Wheeler is, reacting not just with his face but his entire being. Even restricted by crutches he manages to squirm.
Kaiba wonders if Wheeler genuinely thinks of either of them as being subtle. He has always been an idiot, he supposes.
"No!" Wheeler yelps, eyes wide and absurdly brown as he tears them away. As always, Kaiba finds his over the top embarrassment extremely entertaining. "Nope, nothing wrong!" If his arms were free he would no doubt be folding them before determinedly turning his head away. They aren't though, so he just swings around a little to look into the road.
Safe from wandering eyes, Kaiba allows himself a smirk as the herd rejoins them on the sidewalk, grumbling over being given apples instead of candy as they set off again, making their way back to their last destination: Serenity's home. The idea of a sleepover of any kind sets Kaiba on edge, sleeping with multiple other people in the room a bizarre and threatening concept, but Mokuba has chattered excitedly in anticipation all week. Kaiba had been a little worried about the acceptance of his peers, Mokuba being the only boy in the group, but he seems to fit in just fine. Kaiba will keep his phone close at hand tonight, just in case.
"How d'you do that?" Wheeler asks suddenly.
Unlike his usual endless, brainless chatter, Wheeler isn't saying much tonight, and the question catches Kaiba off guard. A group of girls all dressed as cats cackle past, and one of them wolf whistles. For the first time in the night, Kaiba isn't sure what Wheeler is thinking.
At Kaiba's unforgivably obvious confusion, Wheeler clarifies. "The kids. They like you. I mean, I think they like me too, but it's, y'know, in more of a laughing-at way than a laughing-with way. Haven't even known you a day and they already think you're cooler than sliced bread," he says with a tellingly quiet tone and unexaggerated pout.
"It's because I'm not a complete moron," Kaiba tells him out of obligation. When the moron splutters, he is satisfied, and answers Wheeler's real question. "You're naturally expressive, prone to laughter, and they have spent more time with you. You are more of a slightly larger child than an authority figure to them. I assure you that if it came to picking one of us to have fun with, they would choose you."
"You think?" Wheeler blinks, and looks back at the group ahead as they amble onwards. Each swing on his crutches makes his lightning tail wag from side to side.
"I also don't frighten at little girls," Kaiba muses.
Wheeler groans. "Fuck off, she just got me by surprise is all. And you know I don't like mummies."
Kaiba allows himself a chuckle at the scowl sent in his direction, Wheeler deciding to stick his tongue out childishly as if that does anything other than solidify Kaiba's points. His nose scrunches up, yellow with a little black dot on the tip. Kaiba wonders again why he painted his face. It's utterly ridiculous. His skin matches his hair.
He looks, Kaiba decides in a fit of charity, rather cute.
They arrive at Serenity's home to drop off the children, who demand one more dance out of Kaiba before he leaves. He demonstrates his passable orange justice to whoops and subsequent imitations.
Wheeler once again waits at the curb, leaning against the trunk of Kaiba's car, leaving Kaiba himself to do the exchange with his mother. It brings the grand total of meetings Kaiba has had with the woman up to two. She's polite, Kaiba supposes.
"Do you have everything you need? Are you sure? And you will call me if you want to, yes?" Kaiba fusses stiffly over his little brother, unable to resist the urge to straighten his bowtie.
"I've got everything, I'll be fine!" Mokuba wiggles free to give him a quick hug before vanishing into the bowels of the house. "See you tomorrow!"
Wheeler and Serenity's mother smiles. "They grow up so fast, don't they."
Kaiba thinks about the number of times Wheeler has come to school with concealed bruises. He remembers this woman leaving the stress of financing a major surgery on her estranged, sixteen year old son.
He swiftly turns to march back down to his car without a word, the beep beep of the unlocking mechanism echoing back across the lawn. The alternative would no doubt cast a pall over Mokuba's night. Possibly Wheeler's too.
"Alright, let's get this show on the road!" Wheeler declares as he maneuvers himself across the backseat.
"I wouldn't get too excited," Kaiba sighs as he switches on the ignition. "If you couldn't handle this neighbourhood then I wonder if I should find a tree for you before we reach my park. I can't have you pissing everywhere in fright."
"If your park is anything like you, my piss would be doing it a favour."
"Didn't know you were into that, Wheeler."
The car is completely silent as Kaiba turns onto the main road. He takes the moment to appreciate smooth mechanics of the vehicle.
"...You're the worst, you know that," Wheeler sighs. "Just… the worst."
Although the rest of the drive is spent without conversation, it isn't entirely quiet, Wheeler humming various tunes to himself, none of which Kaiba recognises and all of which he thinks sound off-key anyway. There are a few moments where Kaiba hears an intake of breath as if a precursor to speech, but none of them preceed words in the end.
Kaiba hates that he sympathises, hates how he doesn't quite know what to say to Wheeler either. He'd have to be a new kind of oblivious to not notice the effect he has on him. But this isn't something Kaiba has ever had to deal with before—people who have found him physically attractive, even nurtured crushes, yes, but Kaiba has never found himself reciprocating before. New, uncharted territory sprawls across the backseat of Kaiba's car. It's easier to fall back on the usual jabs, to take a unique opportunity to cuddle on a couch or wear revealing clothing, to try and goad Wheeler into just doing something, than to say anything of meaning.
Kaiba mocks Wheeler for being an easily scared moron, but really, it's just yet another thing they have in common.
After a short drive, Kaiba guides Wheeler into KaibaLand via a hidden staff entrance. When they reach the park proper, right outside The Hungry Burger Bar & Grill, he hears Wheelers quiet exclamation of "oh, fuck me," and grins. Kaiba likes to go all out for his favourite holiday.
"Don't worry," he assures Wheeler, glancing back to enjoy the sight of his widened eyes again. A hologram of a cackling Saggi the Dark Clown astride a broomstick soars low overhead, and Wheeler instinctively tries to duck. "The only thing here that'll actually bite you is me."
"And me!" adds a passing Zombie Warrior waiter. "Boo!"
Wheeler startles and leans closer for protection. Squinting at the employee's name badge, Kaiba makes a mental note to ensure that 'Dustin' gets a raise.
KaibaLand is packed to the brim with swarms of costumed enthusiasts, lavishly decorated with colourful styrofoam and rubber props of all spooky kinds, and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon statues are all wearing witch hats, but it's the holograms that steal the show. Kaiba worked closely with his production team, carefully choosing a combination of classic Halloween monsters and Duel Monsters that were both suitable for the occasion and not scary enough to give anyone a serious fright. Mainly they all roam the grassy areas or are restrained to accessorising buildings, but the regular Maiden with Eyes of Blue interactive information points still stand in their places on the boulevards, now in various costumes, ready to offer assistance.
And sitting around a Hungry Burger Bar & Grill table sit the friendship troupe, ready and waiting to take it all on.
"About time you two showed up!" Téa shouts in greeting as they walk over.
"And damn, did you show up," Devlin whistles, hands on his hips as he unabashedly looks Kaiba up and down. "Joey said you were gonna be Tuxedo Mask!"
"I thought he was," mumbles Wheeler.
The friendship troupe, unlike Serenity's team of preteens, do not have a coherent costume theme. Yugi has opted for demon horns and the most dramatic makeup Kaiba has ever seen. Téa pulls off an impressive Bride of Frankenstein. Devlin is dressed almost the same as he always is, only with a crop top under his red vest, a stetson on his head, and a plastic six-shooter tucked into his belt. There's a tall werewolf-masked person in a varsity jacket and a smaller undead bride under a concealing white veil, which Kaiba assumes to be Taylor and Bakura respectively.
And then of course there's him and Wheeler as Sailor Moon and a budget, two-faced Pikachu.
"Go on then, give us a twirl," Téa suggests, and because it's her, Kaiba obliges. The unfamiliar weight of the wig makes him a bit off balance, so he turns a stumble into a pose with one hand on his hip and the other in a peace sign on his forehead. Mokuba has demonstrated multiple typical stances for the character before.
"Makes sense though," Wheeler ponders, watching. "Nothing scarier than a magical champion of friendship, right Kaiba?"
"Cower in fear," Kaiba deadpans back at him, turning the peace sign into a middle finger.
It takes a little while for the group to squabble over where they want to go first, and Kaiba accepts Yugi's silent offering of sharing his fries as they sit next to each other. They eventually decide to just start from where they are and work outwards, and then get the monorail back when they're done.
They make good progress at first, the troupe taking in the sights and Kaiba taking in the appreciative oooh s and aaahs. Even if anyone in the crowd is on the watch for the CEO, no one is thinking to look for Kaiba in an anime girl costume and blonde pigtail wig. The Haunted House is the main attraction, and despite Yugi's suggestion of maybe waiting outside, Wheeler is insistent on making his way through. Naturally he shrieks his way through the entire thing, Kaiba and Yugi either side of him to ensure he doesn't further injure himself in distress. By the time they exit, Wheeler is panting and sweating and triumphant in his victory over the spooky house designed for children.
"Take that you piece of shiiiiaaaaa—sugar! Sugar house!" he yells, waving a closed fist at the exit. "You ain't gonna break Joey Wheeler! No sir! Oh, I think I need some water."
"You really shouldn't be pushing yourself with your leg, man," Taylor tells him worriedly as he produces a water bottle from inside his jacket for Wheeler to chug gratefully.
Grumbling, Wheeler assents to the statement. "Yeah, I guess you're right. You guys go on and check out the rest of the place, I'm gonna… find somewhere to chill, I guess," he says begrudgingly.
The rest of the troupe hovers uncertainly, unwilling to leave a man behind in favour of the attractions ahead.
"You can view the park from the monorail, and it has spacious seating and a quiet car for those who need it," Kaiba tells them. "I have been to every attraction here dozens of times, so I will ensure he doesn't expire on the way."
With Wheeler perking up a little at the idea, the rest of the troupe murmurs agreement and goodbyes before they set off again in different directions with a plan to meet up again at the exit for the movie at Bakura's place. Once again Wheeler falls silent for the short journey up to the park monorail, only making a brief comment on the elevator music making him feel like he's in Mass Effect.
The quiet car is, as its name suggests, quiet. When Kaiba and Wheeler enter, they're the only people there, and they sit opposite each other each next to a window, Wheeler putting his broken leg up on the seat next to Kaiba's knees. The lights are kept low aside from a low green glow on the floor, so that passengers can navigate while still being able to see KaibaLand in the dark without any reflection in the glass. The train is quiet too, barely making any noise as it sets off along its looping path around the edge of the park.
Kaiba watches as Wheeler leans against the glass, his Pikachu-painted face cast in soft, low light. A Reaper of the Cards briefly flies alongside them through the dark like a fish at an aquarium, before careening off to chase a roller-coaster cart.
"Man, you really outdid yourself with this shit," Wheeler says, gazing out the window at the Duel Monster terrorising delighted park-goes. "S'fucking unreal. Makes me near shit my pants, 'course, but it's fucking unreal."
Kaiba turns to look out the window too. He already knows all this, but hearing it from Wheeler is making his cheeks warm, so he presses one against the cool glass. "I know," he says.
"I know you know, I just wanted to say it myself," Wheeler grumbles. "How'd you make everything so… alive?"
Kaiba shrugs. "Just because I myself am unsociable, it doesn't mean I don't understand how people work. In theory at least, I know what attracts them. What scares them. How to strike the right balance."
"You do, huh," Wheeler murmurs, considering. "You're actually pretty good with people when you can be bothered." His eyes flick to catch Kaiba's without moving his head. "Like now."
Hope is an ephemeral, misleading emotion that Kaiba doesn't have time for. He'd hoped Wheeler would say something, do something, first, but he'd thought he'd blurt it out on accident, say it in one of his trademark Wheeler moments of impulsivity. He hadn't realised it would be because he'd been figured out.
"You like me, don't you?" Wheeler asks softly.
Kaiba huffs, and folds his arms. "Was wondering if you'd ever catch on."
Wheeler snorts in response. "Look, I may be stupid, but sometimes things are so obvious even I can see them. Afterwards, anyway."
The monorail pulls into another stop, and they both wait to see if their solitude will be interrupted. It isn't, and soon they're off again around a soft curve in the track. The artificial park lake glitters through the night, rowing and paddle boats drifting across the surface. If only Kaiba could make SolidVision interact with real water—the stuff is notoriously hard to render realistically even for him.
"Ilikeyoutoo," Wheeler says in a rush.
When Kaiba looks at him, he's biting his lip, looking at him with such nervousness that Kaiba can't help but laugh. "Yes, I know."
"You—" Wheeler's expression changes to bewilderment. "Then—why didn't you…"
Kaiba shifts uncomfortably, suddenly fascinated by his own boots. They're rubbing his ankles somewhat fierce, currently. He's a fool for not breaking them in before today.
"Oh." Kaiba looks up, and Wheeler's red-blotch painted cheeks are tugged into a smile. "Scared, Seto?"
Seto doesn't have Joey's courage. Instead of verbally affirming, he turns to look out the window again and nods.
There are shifting noises, an uneven clunking of footsteps, and then Seto has a bleach blonde Pikachu cosplayer sitting next to him and curling into his side. "Idiot," Joey says fondly.
Eventually, Téa texts to say that the troupe is heading back, but neither Seto nor Joey notice said text for a good twenty minutes and end up doing another lap of the park. When they get off the train and come down the elevator, Seto's wig is slightly askew, and he and Joey walk slightly closer together than before. A park attendant dressed as Frankenstein's Creation gives them both candy and merch filled treat bags as they meet their friends at the exit and head off into the night.