Setup

Author's Note: This one is actually a gift, written for my friend CharcoalCat who posed the challenge in the reviews of my last story, "White Reflection." So, Cola-kitty, this one's for you!

***

Nine o'clock on a Friday night, and Joey Wheeler was so bored he could cry. Appropriately enough, a dismal little thunderstorm caused the already dark night to further dampen his mood. He paced around his bedroom for the better half of an hour, just trying to figure out what to do.

The problem wasn't just the boredom, but he was lonely too. This had been a frequent condition recently, Joey realized as he reflected back on it. It seemed like all of his friends were hooking up. It wasn't fair!

Finally tired of pacing, and hoping the power wouldn't go out, Joey flopped down on his bed and grabbed the phone. All he needed was just someone to talk to. He was so sick of being lonely. His fingers went through the automatic movements of dialing Yugi's number.

**

Seto groaned when he heard the phone ring, pulling Yugi closer to him and growling meaningfully, "Don't answer it."

Yugi just smirked up at his boyfriend, returning to the task of closing his teeth on the skin between Seto's neck and shoulder, just hard enough to leave a little red spot that looked like flower petals. There had been a reason the CEO had taken to wearing high collars lately.

But the phone continued to ring insistently, for so long that even Kaiba got tired of listening to it, reluctantly releasing Yugi to let him answer it. Hoping to make this quick, Yugi dug through his overnight bag until he found his cell phone.

"Hello?" he asked as he answered the phone, hoping he didn't sound as distracted as he was. Seto was not a patient person, and having Kaiba's wandering hands over him did not make it easy for Yugi to carry on a social call.

"Hey Yug, what's up?" came Joey's cheerful voice. "Almost thought you weren't gonna be answering, but I knew that wasn't like you…"

"Joey?" Yugi blinked, a little surprised his friend had called him so late at night. "Is there something the matter?"

"Nah, just bored, thought we could talk…"

Seto growled. "Tell the puppy you're busy," he ordered, sitting back and folding his arms, managing to look forbidding and sulky at the same time.

Joey obviously heard Kaiba's voice through the line. He sounded a little disappointed. "Oh, you over at Kaiba's? Sorry if I'm interrupting anything…"

"No, no Joey, it's okay!" Yugi reassured him, shooting a glare at Seto to silently command him to be nice. Seto just glared back at him.

The cheerfulness was back in Joey's voice, but it sounded forced this time. "Nah, it's okay Yug, I'll just talk to you tomorrow. Wouldn't wanna get on rich-boy's bad-side, now would I?" Before Yugi could protest, Joey hung up.

**

Joey glared at the phone in his hand for a long while after that, before finally dialing Yami's number. If he was lucky, the Pharaoh wouldn't be too busy to talk.

But surprisingly, it was Bakura's voice on the answering machine that finally picked up. "You've reached the residence of Yami and Bakura. I'm probably getting laid right now, and in any case I don't really care about you or your pathetic problems. But if you leave your name, number, and the nature of your whiny-assed complaint, I will call you back when I give a damn." –beep-

Joey sighed, leaving a message on the machine. "Hey guys, it's Joey. Feeling a little bummed and I was hoping for someone to talk to, but it seems like the whole world is too busy getting screwed to bother with me. But if you people ever decide to come up for air, give me a call."

He hung up the phone, and flopped back on the bed. "My life sucks."

***