I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. If you don't like slash, this pairing, or are under eighteen years old, please leave now.

Chapter One- The Invite

It was another ordinary day at Kaiba Corp and particularly for the company's CEO. His fingers moved quickly across the keyboard and his blue eyes darted across the screen as he scanned the data on it. But while his fingers and eyes were working, his mind wasn't really taking in the information his eyes saw. His thoughts were straying to a dueling rival. The surprising thing was he wasn't thinking about Yugi Muto; his thoughts were on Joey Wheeler.

Kaiba could clearly see Joey's face in his mind's eye: The styled blonde hair, the brown eyes that were always burning with anger whenever they were focused on him, and the angry expression that Joey seemed to reserve just for him. His fingers ceased their automatic action and he leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling. Why couldn't he get Joey Wheeler out of his mind? The blonde seemed to always be in his thoughts lately. Was he interested in Joey? Was he gay? If he had to guess, he was leaning toward a yes. He couldn't stop thinking about the boy and his heart tended to beat faster whenever he thought about him.

I always thought Wheeler was a third-rate duelist and an amateur as well. Yet, there's something about him that I find…attractive. It's possible that I've fallen for that mutt. I need to get him alone so that I can tell him. Hmm, I can't wait to see what his reaction will be. Smiling, he brought up a new blank document on his computer and started typing up an invitation for Joey. Once he was satisfied with the words, he set his printer up to print the document out in the form of a card, and printed it out. Now, he just had to slip this into Joey's locker and wait for him to come so that he could confess.

Joey strolled down the corridor to his locker Monday morning, reminiscing about the weekend and his plans for that afternoon. His sister, Serenity, had come to visit him and his friends that past weekend. She and her mother stayed at a hotel, which was wise considering his dad was drunk out of his mind at home. He looked forward to her next visit, though he had no idea when that would be. As for plans for the afternoon, he really didn't have any unless you count homework and putting up with his dad.

He spun the combination lock and opened his locker to get his books when he spotted a folded piece of white paper lying on the floor of his locker. He picked it up and turned it over to see a printed picture of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon on the front. Curious, he flicked it open to see an invitation to a meeting at the Kaiba Land Duel Building, the place where Yugi dueled Rebecca. The invitation wasn't signed, but a picture of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was there on the side of the card opposite the words.

I think I know who made this invitation: Kaiba. Who else would put pictures of Red-Eyes and Blue-Eyes on the paper like this? The Red-Eyes obviously refers to me and the Blue-Eyes refers to Kaiba. The only question is, why does Kaiba want to meet with me? I think he just wants to insult me privately, not that insulting me in public would be any different. Well, I'm gonna knock him out cold before he can say a single insultin' thing about me.

Kaiba stood calmly on the Rooftop Dueling platform, waiting for Joey to show up. It was likely that Joey wouldn't show, that he had thrown the card away. But he hoped that the lack of signature would peak the blonde's curiosity and prompt him to come. The idea of printing pictures of their respective dragons was a stroke of inspiration that, in hindsight, made him realize that they probably told Joey who sent the invitation.

The sound of the elevator chime made the brunette look up to see the doors opening and revealing Joey standing there with an expression that meant serious business. Kaiba suspected that Joey had come not to talk, but rather to punch Kaiba's lights out. He kept a small pleasant smile on his face as his crush strode toward him. "Ah, Wheeler. I hoped you would come."

"Oh, I bet you did," the blonde shot back. He clenched his fist and threw it forward to hit its target. His fist flew through the air toward Kaiba's face but before it could connect, it was stopped by Kaiba's own hand.

Kaiba smirked at Joey's predictable action. "You know I've always respected you, Wheeler."

"Sure ya did," Joey replied sarcastically.

"I mean it. Despite my remarks about your dueling skills and personality, I've always respected you and was impressed with your determination."

Joey gaped at Kaiba, his fist falling limply to his side, now that Kaiba had released it. He never imagined that Kaiba could be so nice to him. What's gotten into him? he wondered.

"Are you a frog now, Joey?"

Joey briefly closed his mouth before saying, "You called me Joey just now."

"That is your name, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but ya always called me Wheeler. Why are ya bein' nice to me?"

Suddenly, Kaiba's mouth felt dry. He licked his lips before saying, "I believe I've fallen in love with you, Joey."

"Say what!?" Joey exclaimed loudly.

"You heard me. Your determination is impressive to the point that I admire it and by extension, I love you."

"You're crazy."

"Yes, crazy about you."

"This is too weird. I'm outta here." Joey sprinted away from Kaiba, got into the elevator, left the building, and headed home, leaving Kaiba feeling hurt, but plotting his next move.

"You'll fall for me, Joey. I promise you that."

Yes, I know Kaiba's next to last line in the chapter seems a little OOC, but bear in mind, he's fallen for Joey. The only question now is, will Joey end up falling for Kaiba?