Closer Than You Think – Chapter Seven

Seto collapsed, panting heavily, on top of his sweaty and thoroughly worn out boyfriend. Pushing himself up and rolling off so as to avoid crushing his puppy, he turned onto his side and smirked.

"You up for another round?"

Joey looked at Seto with wide eyes. "You've got to be joking! We've done it six times already, there's no way you can still want more."

"I'll always want more puppy, but I guess for now I can let you sleep." Seto smirked and pulled Joey into his arms.

The smaller boy sighed and curled up into his boyfriend's side and the two of them slowly drifted off to sleep.

Seto's Dream

He was surrounded by a suffocating darkness, no matter how far or fast he ran it seemed there was no end.

"Joey!" He called, "Mokuba! Someone!"

"Hello Seto Kaiba." A strange Voice replied, "Welcome to my home."

"Who the hell are you?" Seto yelled.

"I'm the one that gave you a second chance." The Voice chuckled, "I put Joey Wheeler's soul into the body of that dog when he died."

"Why!?" Seto asked angrily, "Why would you turn him into a dog?"

"I never turned him into a dog, merely put his soul into the body of one. At night he takes the form of his old self, thus giving you a second chance to be with him."

"What do you mean?"

"Joey Wheeler is dead and no one can know of his new… arrangement. There's no reason for him to ask you to make your relationship public anymore. During the day he will be your loveable pet dog and at night he will be your willing lover. It's a perfect plan. He can't leave you, he can't make demands of you, you're all he has. You're the one in control now."

Seto grew angry at the Voice's words, "No! I don't want it to be like that. How do I turn him back permanently?"

"Only I can do that."

"Well do it then!"

"Why should I?" The Voice asked, "You were the one who wished he wasn't so demanding. You wanted him to stop pressuring you to go public with your relationship. You were the one who called him a dog. I fulfilled those wishes."

"Please, I'll do anything!" He exclaimed, forgetting his pride and caring only for the fact that this… whatever it was wanted to imprison his precious puppy in the body of a dog.

The Voice did not reply immediately, thinking over what Seto had said.

"Very well Seto Kaiba, I shall present you with a choice. I will restore Joey Wheeler's body and his life, but in return I will take all his memories of his love for you and he will go back to hating you. If you choose this you must make no attempt to restore your relationship or I shall take away his renewed life. Or, things can remain as they are."

Seto paused, unsure of what to do, but in the end there was only one real choice. He couldn't imprison his puppy, even if letting him go meant losing him forever.

"Give him back his life." He sighed sadly, "And take his memories of me."

"Are you sure this is what you want Seto Kaiba?" The Voice asked, "There will be no undoing it."

"Yes, it is what I want."

"Very well."

The darkness surrounding him seemed to grow smaller, crushing him as he screamed in pain…

End Seto's Dream

Letting out a choked scream Seto sat up, gasping as he recalled the dream he'd had. He hesitantly glanced at the space next to him, where Joey had fallen asleep, almost scared of what he would see.

Nothing. Joey was gone.

He fell back down on the bed and curled up into the fetal position, harsh sobs shaking his body. The dream had been real and his puppy was gone.

As he cried he felt someone sit down on the bed next to him and he felt soft hands gently caressing him. The familiar scent that accompanied the person convinced him that he had gone insane and was hallucinating.

"What's wrong dragon, are ya alright?"

"Go 'way, you're not real." Seto snapped.

"Dragon… look at me dragon."

Seto uncurled himself and sat up, turning to glare at the hallucination, "I'm not insane, I don't need a fake puppy. Go away."

"I'm not fake, it's me." Joey exclaimed.

"But… the suns up. It said you would forget about me if you got your body back. The suns up and you're still here."

Joey looked thoughtful, "I had a dream. There was this voice and it said that you had to make a choice. If ya made the right choice then everything would be okay again."

He held up his wrist, the one with his digital watch on it. Seto stared incredulously.

"The date says it's the day you died."

"Yeah, only I died before two. It's six in the morning." Joey explained.

"So… it never happened?" Seto grabbed Joey and pulled him into an iron grip, "I'm never letting you out of my sight again puppy, you always manage to get yourself into trouble."

Joey relaxed into his boyfriend's arms, "I'm okay with that plan dragon."

"Tomorrow I'll call a press conference. It will be scheduled for the afternoon so you'll have plenty of time to tell your friends yourself."

"What are you talking about Seto?" Joey asked in a confused voice.

"I'm not making the same mistake twice. I'm going to tell the world that I love you."

Joey looked up at Seto with a huge smile on his face, one that lit up the entire room, "Seto! I love you, I love you, I love you!"

Gently maneuvering the two of them so they were lying down again and closed his eyes contentedly, "I love you too pup. Now lets get a few more hours sleep puppy, then our life begins."

The End