The time for the next chapter has finally arrived. And so have my summer holidays! Naive as I am I hope to have more time (or maybe even inspiration) for writing now. I could even have time to tell you something about the lovely cities I will visit ;)
Like always I am thankful you have not given up on late-little-me and support me through you comments. And sooo - enjoy!

He was never gonna drink again.

It was around 6am right now and at this point of time he had repeated this sentence nearly forty times in his head, accompanied by the probably worst hangover of his life. But more devastating than the constant pounding in his head were the thoughts haunting him, leading to his momentary state of sleeplessness.

He was laying on the couch, a blanket thrown messily over his body, still in his new suite from the party - which was now, some hours later, not so refined anymore with it´s wrinkles and sweat stains. It had already been at least a hour since he woke up - at the time the sun had just begun setting - but he had still avoided standing up for now, or even do so much as try to shoo the fly sitting on his big toe away.

With the light of the day not only his soundness of mind but also the memories of last night had returned. What had seemed like a fairly good idea just hours ago managed to fill him with dread now. Just how had he believed this could end well? Easy enough - he had just not thought about it. He had decided to be brave, to act instead of overthinking it. Wasn´t that what Kaiba had told him to do?

And now with all of his bravery he was laying on the couch, to afraid to stand up in case he could meet his boss.

The only good thing about staying still for an hour in complete silence, was that his senses seemed to have sharpened considerably. Or at least it appeared so when he heard a light creak followed by the unmistakeable sound of footsteps on parquet, moving in his direction.

He had the reflex to stand up and face this undeniable awkward moment, to man up, rip the cover away and live with everything the other would hurl at him, but just like his conviction in his actions from last night had vanished, all of his confidence drained away as he heard the sound of the steps stopping near the entrance of the living room, making him crawl away in his safe blanket-fort like a turtle hiding in it´s shell.

What he hadn´t considered was how exactly he would react should Kaiba actually enter the room and come to stand before the far to obvious bundle shivering on the sofa.

He could easily feel the other stand before him, an unwavering presence that managed to make all hairs on his body rise. The brunette had always managed to frighten him in one way or another - like a herbivore´s natural instinct to run away from the carnivore - but right now more than the man itself, the thought of their relationship and it´s change made him fear their encounter.

Before he could come to the conclusion that standing up himself would be by far less embarrassing in this situation, he was ungently prodded, a bony knee piercing into his ribcage. Stunned by such violent acts so soon in the morning, the blond was unable to prevent the loss of his blanket as it was drawn away in a sudden move, forcing him to make unwanted acquaintance with the morning sun and a half naked CEO.

It was obvious Kaiba stood up just recently. His usually neat hair was in slight disarray - even if it couldn´t rival Joey´s wild mane - and his usual attire had been replaced by pyjamas, or to be more exact a pair of blue pants that rode dangerously low on his hips, revealing the sight of his chest.

For the first time he noticed how he had never actually seen the other´s body, even with all they had done, and in a little weak moment he couldn´t help but marvel at the pale skin stretching over taunt muscles and how his small nipples peaked in the morning cold, making his body heat up and his cock twitch with the images of that body writhing under him.

"-tt, Hey mutt!" the sudden loudness jolted him out of his daydreams, feeling a slight blush cover his cheeks as he remembered his indecent thoughts, especially if he had not even apologized for his indecent actions from last night.

What followed was the same awkward silence he had just barley avoided by his instant pass-out yesterday, and just like he had assumed the brunette showed no indication of breaking it first.

"So...do you wanna...talk about what happened?" he began uneasy, his eyes going everywhere but the person he was talking to, noticing how the sunlight filtered through the window and the remote still lay before the couch where they had left it but not the surprised look on his boss´ face.

"What about it?" rucking his head up to take in his counterpart´s expression, it was the first time he had seen such an unguarded look on him - It was nearly painfully easy to see the genuine puzzlement.

However when he stood up in a jerky and unplanned movement - nearly toppling over with its speed and his still existing, even if momentary forgotten, headache - his boss was once again a picture of complete control and aloofness, only a slight twitch in his shoulders and neck revealing that the action had caught him just as off-guard as the blond himself.

It bothered him. He hadn´t wished for this...this ignoring tactic. No wait, this was exactly what he had desired - not only ignoring it but making it undo, turning back time so he didn´t have to confront those confusing feelings. But what Kaiba had done was a different matter. He had acknowledged it, just without a big fanfare. And this was what hurt so much - this ´it is unimportant´ ´could as well have not happened´ attitude.

He wanted to say something, wanted to make the scene the other had denied him, scream, shout, anything, but just as his mouth opened a sudden bang interrupted them.

There, standing in the door that had just hit the doorframe with an infernal noise, stood a detail that Joey Wheeler had managed to blend out completely for the last few hours. A relatively small, black haired detail which stood there with a slightly heaving chest and big eyes that looked from his brother to the blond, undoubtable taking in their various states of un- and overdress and precariously close position.

"Brother, we´ve got a problem"

-oOo-

In the weeks he had worked here already he definitely had developed at least a small orientation sense when it came to the interior of the mighty building of KaibaCorp, but as he moved, more like sprinted, after the two brothers who could call themselves owners of this imperium, his concept of their exact standpoint was lost within seconds.

The furniture as well as the humans walking by were nothing but blurred figures and his mind was already busy enough with not loosing sight of the others - really Kaiba had an unfair advantage with his long legs.

He was not sure why he was here, after all he had been carefully excluded from the explanation of what exactly mentioned problem was, but as he watched the brunettes body language - stiff shoulders, tightly pressed lips and a certain urgency in all of his movements - he couldn´t help but become overly nervous himself, seeing as it was the first time that he had seen real worry cross the other´s face.

With his feet now nearly flying over the ground it was all the harder to stop himself as he was suddenly presented with a solid wall in form of two backs appearing before him. Pressing his heels down he was able to baffle himself, seconds before crushing, in a very inelegant manner, with his body bending forward and his arms waving around in search for balance.

They had reached the top floor - the one for special meetings - a fact that also showed in the big rooms few in number and the lavish decorations in the space between. The one they stood before right now was probably the biggest, with completely glazed walls, which were now covered by lowered blinds, refusing a glimpse inside.

Entering the already suspicious looking chamber, Joey was confronted with a surprise in form of a peacock. Well, not a real peacock, but the man awaiting them seemed to be the personification of said animal, or at least tried his best to be.

The long, pink hair that surely reached his hips when standing drew his attention first, the colour complimented by the violet suite hugging the slim form, completed by everything from a red jabot to a rose emblem on his lapel - describing him in a nice way the word would be fancy.

And Joey had no problem with that, he had seen far to many people to judge them on their outer appearance - on the streets it could be a dangerous habit. No what he didn´t like was the vicious look in the green eyes and the distasteful sneer that graced his features the second they entered the room.

The eerie silence that had entered with them was broken by Kaiba, his voice cold enough to let even the blond, who it wasn´t directed at, freeze.

"What the hell do you want? Give me more material for a notice of distringas?"

To Joey´s utmost astonishment the pink haired man only gave a haughty laugh.

"Oh, dear Kaiba - so arrogant even in defeat. Or maybe you just can´t admit your loss?"

"Loss? Funny I heard nothing about losing to you - maybe you should try to leave your daydreams in your head. But if we learned something about you than that this was never your strong point, right Zigfried?" he just shot back with a mocking laugh. And this time his opponent looked visibly shaken - his conceited attitude replaced by sheer anger.

His boss on the other hand was as cool and steady as always, arrogant and sharp in usual Kaiba-vein but the blond still couldn´t shake off the feeling that something was wrong. Maybe it was because his boss was unusual defensive - well, defensive for his standards - or it could be the fact that he even wasted his time on this man. Whatever it was, the stranger obviously held something over the brunette´s head and both knew it - even if they had refrained from mentioning it till now.

But the time to put his cards on the table had come for Zigfried and in an overly dramatic movement, that didn´t really suite him in all of it´s harshness, he planted himself in front the brunette. "As much as I appreciate our little polemics, I would prefer to be treated like a share-holder of KaibaCorp deserves" he said with a sardonic smile.

The room was eerily quiet and would have stayed so for some time if not the blonde´s confused "What?" had resounded. As the other occupants of the room ignored it, it appeared to at least motivate the lone enemy to continue.

"And the funniest thing is that it´s alone your fault - the fault of that fucking arrogance of yours. Giving them the chance to sell their proportion as they please." His eyes glinted viciously at this point "You have always been an arrogant asshole - and now you have to pay the bill."

In a sudden move that nobody in the room - Joey the least - expected, the blonde's arms shot forwards as he tried to pounce on the pink haired ass across from him, just to be stopped by a strong arm across his his head he saw who had held him up.

Kaiba looked unexpectedly calm and for a moment they just stared into each other´s eyes - cool grey into fiery brown. And even in this unfitting situation Joey felt his heart pound, overly aware of how close they were and how warm the arm on his chest was, he even noticed the musky but warm scent the brunette emitted.

An unpleasant laugh destroyed their little moment. "And this" he pointed at Joey "is the absolute worst. Everybody heard of the scene he caused, thanks to that...that mutt you are the laughingstock of society"

Before he had another chance to try to beat up the other Kaiba reacted and commanded him out in a stern voice "Wheeler you will go, now. Mokuba go with him." He wanted to object and break away from the hard grip but a look from both Kaiba-brothers warned him of the consequences.

Following the little one reluctantly, they made their way out of the door, now again ignored by the two enemies. Leaning against the glass they stared straight ahead, and he thought how thick the doors must be to deaf the screams that undoubtedly shot back and forth inside, or maybe there was just that icy silence Kaiba was so good at creating?

"I don´t like that"

"Mhm?" he asked, only his eyes moving in Mokuba´s direction, lingering in the corners.

"You, I don´t like how you sulk. Do you think you are the only one who wanted to strangle him? But you have to hold back, even I know that! Brother had no other choice but to send you out - It´s not as if he did that to hurt you." Joey nearly chuckled. Had this words come out of his brother´s mouth, the blond would surely be agitated to the point of throwing a fit or suppress all impulses of guilt, but this was really like being chided by a child. A child that still hit the bullseye.

"Down the street is a nice café, go drink something, calm down and stop behaving like a pubescent girl." Well it seemed at least his cocky attitude was Kaiba-worthy.

"Eh? And why should I do that? I´m your brother´s assistant, not your nanny - it´s not like you can tell me what to do" he replied surprisingly cool, considering that his fingers still twitched with the urge to strangle someone.

"Well you are right" he accepted with an easy shrug "But..." and for the first time they stood face to face as he placed himself in Joey´s field of vision "if you go, I could maybe forget seeing you and my half-naked brother this morning".

-oOo-

The café was not really buzzing with life at this hour - where all nervous and bleary-eyed students were already gone and the stressed-out and overly busy businessmen still had to come - and so he just had to wait out some old grannies, who giggled among themselves all the time as if they still were teenagers, and a classical hipster with his ridiculous goatee and absurd order before it was finally his turn.

Able to resist the urge to order something overly sweet in the last moment, as he remembered it was not for his boss to drink but himself, he ordered a plain espresso and seated himself in a lonely corner at the window.

Looking down in the brown sea beneath him he had to admit that yes, he indeed was sulking. But it was just too much right now - the bottled-up tension from this morning´s interrupted talk, the shame of remembering his behaviour on the party and the hurt of just being send out by Kaiba.

Sure Mokuba was right, his boss had not done it to especially hurt him but it still had made a point. The distance between hadn´t shrunk since their first meeting in that cold, sterile hospital room. In the end he had been an idiot for assuming otherwise - the other had just shown what should have been obvious.

Knocking his espresso back he let his head rest on the table with a loud sigh, not caring who saw him. He kind of wished his old life back. Sure it had not been as comfortable but he wasn´t all that sure if he hadn´t jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. Not even three months ago everything had still been so obvious - either you had a job or you didn´t, you could pay the rent or you couldn´t - and even though it had left him with some sleepless nights it never ended in such tortuous situations, where the only thing he could do was turn each thought in his brain again and again and hope for the best.

Trying to distract himself somewhat he turned his head slightly to the window, watching the people and cars hurrying over in a nearly emotionless way, just letting them all blur together. Tired all to fast he once again observed his quite haven, and for the first time noticed the pair seated not far from him. Straining his memory he came to the conclusion that, no they had not been there when he sat down before but in a distracted moment.

They were a strange combination, a fact that had first drawn Joey to them. The man was so horribly average he had the uncomfortable feeling of having met him already two times today - or to be exact he really felt as if he should know him, but maybe he just looked so plain in comparison to his quite extraordinary opponent. Across him sat a young woman, dressed in a small, long-sleeved indigo dress which revealed her shoulders and a pearl necklace with a black bow tightly wrapped around her throat.

Looking at her closely Joey had a crazy sense of recognition he couldn´t explain by no stretch of the imagination. Maybe she just remembered him of his little sister with her, even if shorter, copper hair, white skin and small build. But no, in the end their whole presence was just too different. Where Serenity had a warm and calming presence she was much more overwhelming - cool, classy and redoubtable, a little bit like...yeah, like Kaiba. It was quite intriguing.

Feeling that his thoughts once again drifted in an unwanted direction the blond chose to instead intrude a little bit in other´s lives, not for long, just till he was able to forget his own life in the illusion of knowing somebody else´s. And so he took in a somewhat crouched position over the table and pricked his ear to hear the conversation of the couple across him.

Until now both of them had just sat quietly, he starring, like Joey before, in his coffee absentmindedly while she calmly watched him with a slight smile, only interrupted when she guided a piece of the little tartlet before her to her mouth. It was unsurprising that she was the one to end the silence.

"You look good Mr. Lee" she said in a quite but carrying voice.

"Ah yes, I was on vacation" he seemed a little flustered, grabbing his neck in a nervous gesture.

She broke out in a girlish giggle, an expression of something between sly and favourable on her face. It was not like it calmed the other down but the blond could understand that, even he felt kind of unsettled by her attitude.

"Am I really that scary?" without taking the man´s try to interpose something she just continued "Actually I am here to thank you for...your cooperation. Or would you prefer help?" she added with a cheeky grin that made her look a little younger.

Rummaging in her bag she finally seemed to find what she was looking for, pulling out a little white chequebook. Nonchalantly filling it out, she placed it in front of her startled companion, right next to his coffee, laying there completely innocent.

By now the man seemed to have something like a nervous breakdown - his body was as stiff as a board while he sweated profoundly, staring at the white piece of paper before him as if it was something to bring about his demise. But just like Joey he seemed to be startled out of it by the amused laugh floating through the air.

Leaning forward to close the distance the girl rested her chin on her hand, just calmly watching once again with the same pleasant smile he had seen her wear all the time. But the gesture that would normally just seem politely interested had something nearly predator-like about it - and once again a certain brunette wild-cat shot through his head.

"What do you think this is? A threat? Or maybe a bribe?" she said eyeing how her companion cringed a her open words "Aren´t you underestimating us?" as she leaned back, stretching her back he still remained tense even though he had just won some room.

Her attitude whereas had changed - once again - considerably. Leaned back in her chair she puckered up her lips in a thoughtful and kind of cute way, despite the way she was still holding eye contact with the man across her. "You can believe me, I...we wouldn´t use such silly methods. This-" she pointed at the cheque "is, like I mentioned, just a way to show our gratitude - so relax."

It was crazy. Her words - anything but calming or even convincing - truly seemed to have a soothing effect on him. Maybe it was the ´we´ Joey thought and tried to think of the second person that belonged to it - he or she had to be quite an impressing person.

Still letting other people´s lives occupy his mind, he was drawn back in his own reality by a vibration in his left pocket. Fishing out the mobile phone placed there he noticed a message had arrived.

It was short and commanding, a way of speaking those two seemed fond of around him.

Come back, now.
- Mokuba

Running out of the café his last thought strangely didn´t linger on her but on the man - trying to remember why he had the strange feeling of having forgotten an important detail.

-oOo-

Breathing hard after his rash departure from the café, he took a moment to linger before the door to Kaiba´s office, leaning his overheated forehead against the cool glass, his fingers already on the door handle.

But something held him back. The thought of opening the door never seemed to reach his body as his hand just lay there still and unmoving. And with his nerves wrecking havoc, the words Zigfried had said before came cursing through his head.

Thanks to that...that mutt you are the laughingstock of society

He didn´t want to enter. He was not sure who he would be - the indebted man who still was unable to repay his patron? The secretary who had embarrassed his boss in public? Or the one that had sucked him off last night an tried to make all thoughts about their encounter forgotten?

Lost in his thoughts he did not notice somebody coming up behind him till a soft touch on his shoulder made him startle up.

"Don´t you want to enter?" a soft and disturbingly familiar voice asked. Turning around he met silver eyes which looked up at him inquiringly and a little bit curious.

"You..." he bite his tongue in the last second before something idiotic like `you are following me or what?´ could escape him. In his little life crisis he had shortly forgotten that they did had not seen each other - he just had seen her, and he already had used enough opportunities to look like a total creep to strangers.

"You want to see Kaiba too?" he hastily got his act together.

"Yes indeed" she said with a soft smile and it was the first time he detected a little accent when she spoke.

When he still didn´t move to finally enter - caught in a mix of the surprise of meeting her here and the worries still bothering him - she suddenly took over and unceremoniously swung the door open without so much as a knock.

Both Kaiba and Mokuba where placed inside - Mokuba on one of the big black leather couches, Kaiba in his office chair that always kind of remembered him of something a James Bond villain would own. Apparently they hadn´t disturbed the pair because both just calmly looked at their new arrivals.

"Hello Seto" before the blond could react his red-haired companion already moved across the room to great their host with a hug and kiss on the cheek the other just received casually and that made his employee´s blood freeze in his veins.

"Welcome Fiona" he gave his greeting before turning his attention to his lapdog who still stood in the entrance, shocked by the kiss and first-name-basis.

"You already know each other?" he asked, ignoring Joey´s stiff behaviour, with a little gesture from him to the only woman in the room.

"Just by sight" Fiona answered with an undefinable look in the blonde´s direction.

"Alright then" the brunette moved from his position to raise to his remarkable height, looking his secretary in the eyes for the first time since they had entered "This is Fiona van der Straeten, you will be working together from now on" he added as if it was an unimportant detail.

For the first time his brain caught up at it´s usual speed, processing what had happened before "Because of Zigfried?"

The brunette nodded but it was Mokuba who answered "Zigfried von Schröder. As you may have noticed Zigfried is now share-holder of KaibaCorp" "11%" Fiona added.

"And this is why she is here, to drive him out again." It was not so much a question as a statement.

"Well not exactly" rounding the glass table he was positioned behind till now, his boss took a more comfortable position by leaning against it, facing him directly. "As you know George Lee sold his share - and it should be obvious that we took...influence on it"

"More like we managed it alone" his partner said with a smile that could rival with Kaiba´s anytime.

"And how did our little peacock get them?"

"That´s the point. Fiona could you..." the brunette said with a lazy cue in her direction.

After a small sigh she took up the thread easily "You see Joey" he wondered for a second why she knew his name "making contracts is a balance act - so many man with such big egos" a pointed look at Kaiba "and you have to try satisfying them all. Giving them control without looking weak yourself. And as one measure to give our new candidate some sort of control we included a term, that exactly until two weeks after the signing of the contract he had the possibility to sell them again to a person of his choice - without interference from KaibaCorp"

"Why the fuck would you do that?" Now he also understood what the pink haired man had meant when he said Kaiba´s arrogance was the reason he could succeed.

"Because it´s a trick" she didn´t even bat an eye "At the same time he is not allowed to tell anybody of the contract until two weeks are over - in the end it´s a simple farce"

"But Zigfried really owns 11% of KaibaCorp! How did he do that?"

"Isn´t it obvious?" was the only reply he got from the little lady behind Kaiba.

Taking mercy on his poor Lapdog the other clarified "We didn´t tell and neither did he. Still Zigfried had the information so he could approach him and buy the stocks - meaning he not only knew who but also when."

The information were spinning in his head "A mole. In KaibaCorp is a mole, somebody who told him" his voice sounded monotonous.

The worried look on his face had not gone unnoticed. The brunette looked at Joey, a sharp smile on his face "You should not worry needless - it takes more than some vermin to take down Seto Kaiba" earning chuckles from his brother and Fiona and also ending the conversation.

Even if he was not yet in the mood to laugh, he too was relived. From the man that had faced Zigfried today was nothing left - the cold and arrogant bastard he admired and also hated had returned.

Both Mokuba and Fiona left before him - the latter not without a little mysterious smile in an unknown direction - and as he tried to follow he was cut of by his boss´ voice.

"Pouncing on Zigfried - what an idiotic move" it was neither really accusing nor angry, had more of a mussing character, but that didn´t stop Joey from becoming stock-still and clutching the handle as if his life depended on it. Great there was it again - that wonderful mix of fear and guilt he had nearly missed by now.

"But one I can appreciate"

He was not quit sure how he had left the office, he just came to his senses with his back against the door and a dorky smile on his face.

It´s exactly 3:48 am and I´m sitting on a balcony in the starless night and look down on Strasbourg. I don´t want to sleep - even though I´m tired - I just want to stay awake and look at the lights that illuminate the many buildings and the few people strolling by (and hear Florence and the machine)

Too romantic? Well sometimes I´m a sucker for clichés (the only thing lacking is a good looking guy coming over but hey - I´m in the sixth floor so that would either be disturbing or scary)

I think it´s time to finally introduce a real ´villain´ (I still like him XP) and who would be better than Zigfried von Schroeder? (I´m always disturbed by the spelling of his name - it should be ´Siegfried von Schröder` - Siegfried is a combination of ´victory´ and ´peace´)

...why the hell did I use so many braces? It´s late, please forgive me.

Well anyway I hope your day or night is just as great as mine and my story makes it even sweeter ;)