Prologue:

"Hey, Yami!" Joey walked into the apartment, tossing his jacket over the back of the armchair and loosening his tie with one hand. He was still reading the newspaper article he held in his other hand. "Yami!"

There was no sound. Maybe his lover wasn't at home. Yami was prone to leaving for hours at time, just wandering the streets but usually home before dusk. He was a constantly restless person and both Joey and Yugi suspected it came from 5,000 years of imprisonment in a gold pendant before spending another four only slightly more free as Yugi's Spirit. Now that he had his own body, he seemed to need to be constantly outdoors and on the move.

"Yes, Joey?"

Joey nearly jumped out of his skin as Yami spoke from behind him. He spun around to find the shorter young man looking up at him. So he had been home. Joey hadn't even heard his footsteps. Yami was ghostly silent, no pun intended, even full-bodied now, and scared the crap out of Joey at least once a week.

"Damn!"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Yeah, you say that every time." Joey reached out with his free hand and tugged lightly on the buckle of the neckbelt around Yami's throat. "I swear, I'm putting a bell on this."

Yami merely looked at him patiently, knowing Joey would get to the reason he'd called him eventually, though the corners of his mouth twitched with amusement.

"Here, look at this," Joey said, holding the paper out to him.

Yami took it dutifully, moving over to sit on the couch as he read the article Joey indicated. Joey sat beside him and waited until he'd finished it and looked up at him questioningly.

"Sounds like fun, huh?"

"A haunted house?" Yami said, looking back down at the article.

"Yeah. It's supposed to be a real one. See, it says it's actually haunted, not a Halloween fake-blood and cardboard-cutout haunted. And, look, it's in Las Vegas."

Yami looked up at him and Joey could see he didn't follow. Not Yami's fault, Joey could tell he wasn't being clear enough.

"Yug's birthday. He's going to be twenty-one, so that means he can drink and gamble like a grown-up and we can go to this haunted house thing."

Yami looked back down at the article yet again. "It says it is a weekend stay."

"Yep, the eighth through the tenth. The weekend after Yug's birthday on the fourth. We can spend some time in Vegas, then head over to this haunted house thing for a kick. It's open all year round. What do you think? You've never been to a place like Vegas, believe me."

"Have you?"

"Well, no, but I know what to expect. It's like a big arcade, but only for adults. Look, we wanted to do something special for Yugi, right? Let's just run this by him and see what he thinks."

"Ah, but you're forgetting about Kaiba."

Joey scowled distastefully. "No, I'm not. That bastard doesn't have to come."

Yami didn't like Kaiba anymore than Joey did, though he was completely civil for Yugi's sake. Not that he wasn't usually even before Yugi and Kaiba had become a couple. It had always been Kaiba who'd started any fighting. Why his sweet, cheerful best friend had fallen for that cold, hard bastard, Joey would never know. What was even more amazing was that Kaiba had returned it, or so Yugi said. Joey couldn't tell the difference when he was around them. Still, Yami chastised him.

"You know Aibou loves him. Of course he will want him to come, it is his birthday."

"Yeah, but he can't, Yami. He's not twenty-one 'til October." Joey grinned with relish at the fact that Kaiba, for all his pomp and bluster, was the baby of the group. "Besides, he wouldn't go for this kind of thing. He's a robot, who doesn't have the word 'fun' in his databanks."

"Hm. Well, first we should ask Aibou what he wants to do, then we can ask Kaiba."

"So, you're up for it?"

"I'm not exactly sure what I'm agreeing to, but yes, if you wish to go to this Las Vegas."

Joey grinned and threw his arm around Yami's shoulders. "Babe, it's going to be a blast."

******

Yugi was a little hesitant at the idea, as Joey had known he was going to be. The idea of drinking and gambling was not immediately appealing to the other, but after a moment, he brightened to it.

"It--Well, it does sound kind of fun, doesn't it? And the haunted house, too. But, Joey, what about Seto? He's not going to be twenty-one. They won't let him in."

"So he doesn't have to come."

"Joey! I want him there."

Joey sighed, ignoring the 'I-told-you-so' look on Yami's face. "Okay, Yug', but does Kaiba want to come? You know how he is."

He'd been about to say Yugi knew what a bastard he was, but changed the sentence for Yugi's sake. Yugi's face fell before he shrugged. "It doesn't hurt to ask him. And if he doesn't want to come, I'll be happy to go with just you guys. Seto might have some work to do, anyway."

Kaiba always had work to do and if he couldn't put it off to celebrate Yugi's most important birthday, then he was an even bigger bastard than Joey thought he was. He reluctantly followed him up to Kaiba's office upstairs, Yami coming with them. Yugi had been living at the Kaiba manor for several months now and seemed to be happy enough. Kaiba must have been fantastic in the sack, that was the only explanation Joey could think of for him to keep the fascination of someone much better than he was, like Yugi.

Joey shuddered as he inadvertantly gave himself a mental image of Yugi and Kaiba in bed together. Sure, both boys were extremely sexy: Yugi in his bright-eyed, cheerful, half-pint way with a petite and lithe body and a pretty face while Kaiba more of a classic sort of handsome with his blue eyes, devastating intelligence, and long, lean form, but ugh. A voyeur he was not.

Besides, Yami was his sort. He sort of combined them both and still had more. A small and exotic beauty, smart, with those bewitching crimson eyes and heartstoppingly wicked smile, all lean muscles and masculine curves, crazy hair, and the sort of shadow-tainted, ancient personality uniquely his Joey drowned in with enjoyment.

Fuck, now was not the time to get horny thinking about his lover. If he didn't turn the tide of his thoughts soon he was going to have to grab Yami and screw him senseless on Kaiba's desk.

An evil grin formed, but he suppressed it as Yami looked at him. Yugi had led them to Kaiba's office anyway, and the knowledge he was soon going to be fending off dog insults by the hard-hearted CEO put figurative ice-water down his pants.

"Hi, Seto," Yugi said as they walked in.

Kaiba looked up from where he was typing a mile a minute on his computer. A faint frown crossed his features as he looked at Joey and Yami following in, but saved his work and turned away from his computer. "Is something wrong, Yugi?"

"Nope. Well, as you know, I turn twenty-one on Monday."

"Yes, I haven't forgotten your birthday. I will be getting you something. Why are they here?"

Yugi took the newspaper ad from Joey and walked over to him, turning it around and setting it down on the desk while Joey and Yami stood and watched. He explained what they were planning. Kaiba looked up at him after a moment and frowned.

"You want to go to this thing this weekend?"

"Yeah. And I want you to come, too. It won't be the same without you. I know you have work to do, but will you come, please?"

Kaiba's frown deepened as he looked around at all of them. "I am busy, Yugi."

Yugi's face fell again. "Okay, I won't push it."

Kaiba sighed, picking up the paper. He stood up, waving it a little. "I will go, Yugi. But only because it's your birthday."

Yugi looked up and a wide smile crossed his features. Joey's respect for Kaiba rose a notch. If he could put a smile like that on Yugi's face, he had to be doing something right. He'd completely expected him to refuse and put a damper on the whole trip for Yugi, but he hadn't.

"A weekend with the dog and his royal handler," Kaiba went on. He made a face. "Yugi, in the face of that, consider it your birthday AND Christmas presents."

Yugi giggled and hugged him briefly. "Okay. Thanks, Seto. We'll go so you can get back to work."

"We're leaving on the one-thirty p.m. flight on Wednesday," Yami said calmly, his hand on Joey's arm to keep him from throwing himself at Kaiba for his insult. "We'll be returning on the eleven a.m. on Sunday. Thank you for coming, Kaiba."

"Hmph. I'm sure the Mutt is thrilled I'll be footing the bill."

"Hey! No one said anything about you paying, Rich Boy," Joey snapped. "I make plenty of money to pay for it myself and this is Yug's present, so stop focusing on yourself."

"Please don't fight," Yugi said. "At least not this weekend. Will you two try to get along, please?"

"Ugh, it's the face," Joey sighed. "All right, turn those chibi-eyes elsewhere, Yug'. If Kaiba can keep his insults to himself, I can do the same for your birthday weekend."

Kaiba's answer was to sit down and begin typing away again. Yugi smiled and left with them, heading back down to the sitting room. They settled down again, getting served soda, chips, and dip by a black-clad butler like it was pate and cavier. Yugi was clearly so used to the service that he didn't even look embarrassed, merely thanking the butler, who didn't react.

"This really does sound like fun," Yugi said.

"That's all we care about, Aibou," Yami said. "This weekend is about you. Joey and I can put our petty differences with Kaiba aside."

"Yeah, I guess so. But, Yug', he's still not old enough. He's going to be sitting in the hotel room the whole time. He might as well not come."

Yugi shook his head. "Seto will find some way to do it, even if he has to bribe the resort." He fidgeted a little as if uncomfortable with agreeing to breaking the law that way, but it was also clear he was determined to have his lover with him. "Anyway, let him pay, Joey. I know you can afford it, but Seto really does have so much money he doesn't need. Spend that money directly on me instead."

Joey laughed at Yugi's attempt at a egocentric grin, wiggling his eyebrows up and down. Somehow, the effect was lost with Yugi. "Ha. All right, fine. Moneybags can flash the cash and Yami and I will just have to put our heads together and think of an extravagant gift for you."

"Oh, I didn't really mean--"

"For starters we'll buy him his first drink," Yami said.

"What? Yug', you've never had a drink before, really?"

"I have so," Yugi said crossly. "Just, not much."

Yami smiled as he munched on a chip. "Champagne on New Years' does not count, Yugi."

"Yami! Come on, I'm not that innocent. I've had wine and a little rum."

Joey chuckled. "You know, I have to admit, I would love to see what you're like drunk."

Yugi looked a little fearful. "What are you guys planning on doing to me anyway? I don't want to wake up to find out you guys let me get married to a hooker in a chapel by Elvis while my pants are hanging off a lamppost."

Joey and Yami both raised eyebrows at him. "Um, okay. Promise we won't do that," Joey said.

They all laughed at the silliness and settled down to further plan their weekend, as much as they could without ever having been to Vegas. They planned Yugi's birthday party on Monday as well, which he insisted be small considering all they were going to be doing the next day later. After an hour or so they split up and Yami and Joey returned home.