To Save a Puppy

A Diamond Dog Show

The next morning, Mokuba was sitting up in bed, stretching and yawning, (or pandiculating. Look it up!) as he had just woke up. He went downstairs, hoping to find Joey cooking breakfast already in the kitchen, but the kitchen was empty. 'Maybe he's still sleeping?' the raven-haired boy thought. He went to the living room, figuring he'd entertain himself with video games until Joey got up. Mokuba yawned again and stopped as he entered the living room. [1]Splawled on the couch was Kaiba, contently reading a novel. Not an unusual sight, but what was different about it made Mokuba jump back out the room, and peek through the doorway. Kaiba's head was resting on Joey's lap, who was playing a video game vigorously, seemingly taking no mind to Kaiba's position. Kaiba smiled up at Joey, and said something to make him let out a small snort. Kaiba pushed the black reading glasses he wore further up the bridge of his nose, and continued reading.

Mokuba stood there for a few minutes, watching to make sure this was real, and snuck silently back to his room. He was so going to record this...

Joey ferociously smashed on the tiny buttons of the hand-held device, biting his lip. It was early, around 5: 00 AM to be exact, but he'd awoken with a nightmare of his old house. His dad was probably still in the hospital, but he couldn't help but feel a little guilty over his mess. After all, his father had a knack to make sure all Joey felt was guilt.

Joey sat on the sofa while the Kaiba's slept peacefully. Or, so he thought. Kaiba had rose early too, not from bad sleep, but because he had just felt a disturbance within the mansion, he wondered groggilly to see what had risen him half an hour before he should. That's right, Seto Kaiba always rose early as 5: 30 AM just to catch up on work, until he was certain the others were up. He'd found the mutt in the main living area, taking out his anger on a poor electronical device.

"Joey..." Kaiba said quietly as he approached the clearly angered blonde. He paid no mind to the approaching brunette, and focused his attention to the game.

"Joey." Kaiba said, more stern. It caught Joey's attention all right. He had been startled from Kaiba's voice. The blonde peered behind him to see Kaiba standing with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

"I can explain." Joey groaned. He wondered if he was loud getting up, and if so, how long had he kept Kaiba up.

Kaiba, however, said nothing as he walked over and sat on the opposite end of the couch. For a few minutes they sat in silence, the air seeming to grow heavier between them. At one point Joey no longer cared and moved to grab the portable gaming system he had long since discarded due to Kaiba's presence. Kaiba then spoke up and Joey brought his hand back to his lap, luckily for the small device.

"Why are you awake?" The brunette questioned. Joey bit his lip, not wanting to tell the other boy his reason for his early awakening. Usually it took a lot to get Joey up even half an hour late, let alone hours earlier. Joey chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, y'know, just wakin' early to score a few levels." He pointed to the device. Kaiba furrowed his brow.

"Mind telling me the real reason?"

"An' why wouldn't that be the reason, eh Kaiba?" Joey shifted a little until he was facing the brunette.

"I can just tell. I'm not stupid you know." Kaiba said with half lidded eyes.

"How could you tell?"

"You're either a bad liar, or I just know you that well."

Joey grumbled. "Well I can assure you, I ain't a bad liar."

"So is it the latter?" Kaiba asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No! It's neither." Joey said, crossing his arms.