I'm not really sure what this is, the idea just came to me one night so I kinda went with it.

...Enjoy?

Tristan spotted him in his usual spot; towards the end of the courtyard sitting on a bench underneath the oak tree. To everyone else it seemed as if he was deeply intrigued by the large novel purposefully propped in his hand, but Tristan knew better. He was watching them. More specifically he was watching Joey.

This kind of occurrence had been happening for a few months now, and Tristan was more disappointed than concerned that his friend had yet to catch on. They used to be in a gang for goodness sake, how could his friend not notice when he was practically being stalked. It just went to show how much of his guard he had let down since his old fighting days. But Tristan tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and consider that maybe the adult monitored school environment gave him a sense of protection that he didn't feel when he was out on the streets or back at his home with his father. That had to be the case, because knowing the neighborhood Joey resided in, Tristan knew he would already be dead if he acted as comfortable as he was now.

Either way, he took the task of keeping an eye out for the creep himself. And just like clockwork he showed up.

The gang was lounging in the courtyard after lunch like they usually did. The weather was warm with a light breeze, signaling the beginning of Spring. Taking one final look at the offending boy, Tristan turned back to the conversation at hand with his friends. Apparently Joey was boasting about how 'not ticklish' he was. Tea and Yugi shared a glance, but before they had their chance to pounce Tristan was all over him. The brunette began to run his fingers up and down the blonde's stomach and sides and relished in the contagious giggles erupting from beneath him. He would never admit it to anyone, heck he barely was able to admit it to himself, but over the years he had come to feel something more than friendship for his pal.

At first he thought it was just hormones or one of those scientifical things and sort of brushed it off, but as the feelings continued to grow, Tristan knew it was much more than that. In order to save their friendship he began to put on the façade of having feelings for the younger Wheeler sibling, Serenity. It wasn't Joey's favorite topic so the two rarely brought it up. Instead it was only ever mentioned when the two talked about crushes or the attractive people they saw in movies and stuff, which also was not very often.

The last time they talked about anything remotely similar, Tristan had gotten upset and went home early for the night. He just couldn't understand what Joey saw in someone as egotistical as Seto Kaiba or someone as shallow as Mai Valentine. Was Joey really that dense? In the end they both wound up apologizing to each other the next day at school and had yet to talk about anything of that nature since.

It hurt Tristan to know he didn't make Joey's cut when he was Tristan's only number one. He guessed that was just how life went and he had no other choice but to go with it. Still that didn't mean he couldn't find ways around it, such as right now when he was straddling the man of his dreams, watching as his face broke out into the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, and gracing them with his melodious laugh. Tristan was more than tempted to just duck his head down and touch those soft looking lips with his own, but he knew that was something he could not do.

And it sucked.

Thinking of such a thing made him glance back over to the courtyard bench which was now completely empty.

Good, Tristan thought, take a hint, creep!

Satisfied with at least some of the outcome, Tristan allowed Joey to teasingly push him off and settled down on the grass next to him, admiring the glow of the sun against his golden locks as their conversation continued.

~ ~XxXxX~ ~

It was during study period that Tristan decided enough was enough.

After watching the culprit stride out of the room in order to use the restroom, Tristan also excused himself and slowly followed behind him.

Once they had completely made it inside he slammed the door behind them and locked it.

"How did I know you would be stupid enough to follow me."

Tristan glared as Kaiba finally turned to face him.

"Well maybe I wouldn't have to follow you if you just stopped stalking my friend!"

Kaiba merely scoffed at Tristan's retort.

"I highly doubt being observant of my surroundings and the people around me constitutes as stalking."

"Don't play dumb with me Kaiba. We both know you've had your sights specifically on Joey for a while now. Being observant and conveniently happening to always be at the same place at the same time are two totally different things."

Tristan watched as Kaiba made to stand at his full height and clenched his jaw tightly. Too bad for him, Tristan didn't care.

"You think you can just treat him like shit in front of everyone and then pine after him from a distance like some lovesick idiot? Well then you're more messed up than I thought! Things like love and relationships don't work like that Kaiba!"

He stopped to catch his breath. He had so much built up resentment towards the other boy that it was taking everything for him to not only control his volume, but also his fists. He imagined nothing being more satisfying than socking that pretentious creep in his stupid face. Well he could imagine one thing…and that was having Joey be his, but for this moment in time, knocking Kaiba out would suffice.

Kaiba was silent for a moment, watching the angry boy with cold, calculating eyes. Soon that all-knowing smirk flourished upon his face, making Tristan want to punch him even that much more.

"It sounds to me like you're jealous."

What?

How had this backfired on him? What was happening?

The CEO continued, his harsh tone shooting daggers into Tristan with every word.

"You two have been friends for how long? If he was interested in you at all he would have made a move by now. Besides, there's no way he would ever pick a guy like you over someone of my status. You're honestly wasting your time."

Kaiba watched Tristan's reaction before delivering his final blow.

"Face it, he doesn't want you."

Silence pervaded throughout the bathroom and echoed deep within Tristan's ears. He stayed like that for a long time, not even noticing that the other boy had long since left the room.

He had come here to save Joey, not to face the sickening monsters dwelling within his head that he had kept dormant for so long. How could one guy demolish years of safe keeping in just a few minutes?

He soon felt his knees hit the ground as he collapsed upon the bathroom floor struggling for air. It felt as if he had just been hit in the gut and he couldn't control the tremors that wrecked through his body. He wanted to cry but no tears would come to him, so he sat there and just continued to breathe.

A/N: (Although Puppyshipping is my Ygo otp, I actually ship Joey with everyone! That boy has so much love to give!)

Also I was going to make this longer but idk.

Thanks for reading!