Adult-FanFiction.org : Yu-Gi-OH

Rent to Own	By : Sparks Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 19912 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 12
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or its characters, or profit in any way from this story.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Author's Note: And here's the second new chapter for today. This one is all actually happening, I promise! Again, thanks for all the supportive reviews so far, hopefully where I'm trying to go with this is clear enough/working... ah, enough hand-wringing. Enjoy!

"You gonna be okay?" Mai frowned over her makeup mirror as Joey pulled on his shirt, now much cleaner than the night before.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm not sure how I'm gonna get into my apartment tonight, and I'll probably get yelled at for not wearing my jacket, but that's not much different from every day," the boy smiled ruefully.

"Oh! Speaking of clothes... you might wanna check my hamper, just in case. I have a bad habit of just shaking stuff out and losing things in there - y'know, lipsticks, change, whatever. I wasn't really paying attention when I threw your pants in the washer." Mai said innocently as she put on her mascara, using the opportunity to hide her expression.

Joey blinked, then headed over to the laundry area to take a look. Under his pajamas from last night were the lanyard and the collar from last night. His heart felt like it jerked in terror for a second inside his chest, then slowly warmed, realizing that this was Mai's way of saying she would handle this on a "don't ask, don't tell" basis out of respect. (So the bitch shield really is an act,) he thought, smiling a bit to himself. "Nope, nothin' here," he called out, shoving the items into his pockets.

"That's good. Let me just do my lip gloss and then I'll drive you to school." She smirked, digging through her makeup case. "Don't go TOO crazy with the rumors, kiddo."

"Ha! Don't tell me, tell Tristan. If HE sees us, we'll be having a shotgun wedding by 4th period."

"Ugh....how about I drop you off a few blocks away?" Mai rolled her eyes, but was still smiling as she grabbed her keys and headed to join Joey at the door.

(Normal conversations are....nice,) both blondes thought to themselves as they slipped on their shoes and headed out.

---

That morning at school, Kaiba wasn't there, much to the frustration of Joey's friends.

"Do you think he kidnapped him?"

"He got in the limo all by himself, Tristan. That's not very....kidnapp-y."

"I hope he's okay."

Just then, the classroom door opened. It was Joey. No luggage, and no top half of his school uniform, but it was Joey, and he was alive, and fully intact... as near as they could tell.

"JOEY!!" Yugi ran to hug his best friend, quickly followed by Tea and Tristan.

"Mmmph! Geez guys, give me some breathing room!" The blonde grunted, squirming in the middle of the impromptu group-hug but smiling nonetheless.

"We were so worried about you!!!" Tea scolded, swatting at his arm.

Joey made a face. "Why? Because I didn't hang out last night? Kinda overkill, ain't it?"

The brown-haired girl was about to reply when the PA system screeched on.

"Will Joseph Wheeler please report to the office. I repeat, will Joseph Wheeler please report to the office."

"Wow, that was fast. How'd you manage to get in trouble before the bell even rings?" Tristan teased.

"Beats me. Lots and lots of practice?" Joey grinned self-deprecatingly, secretly thankful for the return to "normality." (Anything to take my mind off... nope nope nope not thinking about it!!) he yelled at himself as he headed for the office.

---

Joey hesitantly stepped into the office, wondering what exactly he HAD gotten in trouble for before the first bell had even rung. He figured he'd get an earful for not wearing his uniform jacket eventually, but not THAT soon. "You called?" he said as he entered, then froze when he saw a familiar face standing at the reception desk. (Oh SHIT...)

"THERE you are, sweetie!" the woman grinned, walking up to him. "Sorry to scare you. Bet you didn't expect to see your dear Auntie again so soon."

That was for sure. It was Kaiba's assistant Cynthia, wearing the same red suit, same blonde bun, but now sporting a pair of cat-eye glasses that seemed to be an attempt to hide the fact that she obviously hadn't slept yet. "I...uh..." Joey just stared in confusion.

"When you stayed the night last night, you forgot to take your stuff with you, so I thought I'd drop it off on the way to work," she smiled, holding out Joey's backpack, jacket, and a brown paper bag. "You know, I'm not surprised about your books, but forgetting your LUNCH?"

The secretary even smirked a bit at that line as she pretended not to listen. "Umm...thanks... Aunt Cynthia...." Joey hesitantly took the bag.

"Oh, and your... cousin wants to say that he's sorry about yesterday." the older woman gave him a pointed look.

Joey's eyes widened, instantly understanding. "He..."

"I know that when you two get together, you fight a lot, but he really does care about you, and he said he really hopes you aren't angry at him. ....don't tell him I told you that, though. He'd sulk for ages." She winced.

"He.....said that?" He couldn't do a thing but stare in disbelief.

The woman nodded. "I think he left a surprise in your bag to make it up to you, actually. I know he's a brat, but give him a chance, OK?" The look in her eye was frighteningly genuine, almost pleading.

"I....yeah...sure....thanks..." Joey stammered, not really understanding what was happening as his "aunt" headed out.

"Mr. Wheeler, you might want to put that uniform jacket on before you go heading back to class," clucked the receptionist.

"Oh...yeah. Sorry," the boy said sheepishly, shrugging on the button-down coat. He stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked out the office door. Just then, he felt something familiar...yet wrong, in his right pocket. He pulled the small object out.

There was his apartment key, same as usual, hanging from a Red Eyes Black Dragon keychain. That in itself wasn't strange; Joey had been using a rubber one he had gotten as an arcade prize for months. But THIS wasn't that Red-Eyes.

This one was made of some kind of hard, black stone, like onyx, and looked like it had been painstakingly handcarved by an extremely talented artisan. The eyes were 2 small embedded rubies that sparkled so brightly, they nearly glowed. Joey stared at it in awe. Other than Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, he had never seen something so valuable-looking up close. "Why...?" he whispered to himself, rolling the carving around in his hand.

("I think he left a surprise in your bag to make it up to you, actually. I know he's a brat, but give him a chance, OK?")

Remembering the PA's words, Joey quickly slipped into a nearby restroom and opened his bag. It looked like everything was there. Yanking out his textbooks and setting them aside on the sink, He opened up his DM case. "What the..." he murmured, pulling out the brand-new DuelDisk. He had seen the ads for the preorder for it - this thing wasn't due to come out until Christmas. (Maybe it's a faulty prototype and he wants to see it blow up in my face,) he thought to himself, refusing to believe it could just be a simple gift.

He set the machine down and checked his deck, which was tucked inside. Everything seemed to be there... but did he have a Red-Eyes B. Chick before? He remembered WANTING one...

He dug out his wallet next, noting that it felt a lot LIGHTER than the last time he had seen it. As he opened the velcro up, he realized why.

The pennies were gone, replaced with hundred-dollar bills. Joey's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. His first thought was actually, (Shit! There ain't a convenience store in all of Domino that'll accept these damn things!) before he grasped the situation fully. "Oh my God..." there was at least 1000 dollars there. The only time Joey had seen that much money at one time was when he passed the Duelist Kingdom prize money over to Serenity's doctors.

Under the wallet, he saw another small box. He opened it up, and froze.

In the box was another keychain, much like his own. Except this one was carved ivory, with 2 tiny sapphires staring up at him. On it was a tiny key that, after some thought, Joey recognized as the same type Cynthia had used to access the higher floors of the KaibaCorp building. There was no note. Apparently Kaiba assumed he would know what to do with it. "As if I'm gonna use it," Joey muttered, glaring at the Blue-Eyes staring up at him. Somehow he could feel the token smirking up at him, as if Kaiba was somehow inside the thing, enjoying his discomfort. "Aw, hell," he sighed, stuffing the keychain into his pocket and packing up his school bag, "even when Moneybags doesn't show up, he manages to drive me crazy."

There was no use standing around in the boys' restroom thinking about what to do. That wasn't Joey's style, anyway. He'd figure it out eventually.

Probably.

Maybe.

(Aw, hell....)
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