Kaiba rushed over to the blonde who lay still one the trash covered ally ground. He knelt down next to him, and lay his head on Joey's chest. His heartbeat was slow, but still there. Joey's breath was shallow, and Kaiba needed to get him to the hospital, quick. Kaiba lifted Joey off the ground with ease, like he had just a week before, the last time he saw the dog. Kaiba didn't have any time, he held Joey close, bridal style, and ran out of the ally as quickly as he could. Thankfully, the hospital was close by, since he'd already been headed there in hopes of finding Joey, never had it occurred to him he'd find Joey in this state. He looked down at the blonde, and felt a pang of... something... in in his chest. Whatever it was, it hurt. He looked back up and continued running. He hadn't the time to contemplate anything he was feeling now! There were more pressing matters at stake! He ran a little faster in hopes that he wouldn't be too late.

Joey opened his eyes, and looked around the blank white hospital room. Confusion lit his eyes, but then it all came flooding back to him. His old gang had found him, and caught him off guard. The thing in the gangs are: Once you join, you can't leave. But that's exactly what Joey did, he wanted to start fresh, but they found him at the worst time. He stared at the ceiling, and wondered, how exactly did he get there? He took at few guesses, but they'd never know he was there. Joey heard the door open, and he closed his eyes again, pretending to sleep, he had a few bad guesses too on who brought him there, and he didn't want to be 'awake' if it really was them. Joey heard someone sit in the chair next to the bed. They sighed.

"Mutt, you always seem to get in trouble." Came Kaiba's voice from the mysterious person. Joey silently thanked Kaiba for not being anyone who had something against Joey.

Kaiba rubbed his temples, and glanced at the bandaged blonde. He didn't know exactly what he felt towards him, but it wasn't what he felt just a few months ago. With Joey fast asleep and saved from near death, Kaiba was grateful. He felt like it was time to go home, maybe work in his room a while longer, so he stood. His actions got the better of him, and he did something before he realized he did it. He bent over the sleeping blonde, and laid his lips gently on his forehead. He quickly gathered his senses, and left without a word.

Joey's eyes shot open as he heard the door shut, his face turned scarlet. 'What. Was. That.' he thought. He sat up. The great and mighty Seto Kaiba just kissed his forehead. A thousand and one thoughts flew through his mind, but he shook them all away. Or rather, he tried to, but the more he tried, the redder his face got.

At one point during his thinking, a nurse walked in to check on the blonde. She looked surprised when she walked in to see Joey practically rolling around on his bed.

"Oh! Joey, you're awake! How do you feel?" the woman, who was an older lady, asked. Joey stopped rolling around and looked at her.

"I'm feeling pretty good, but when do I get outta here?" He said, sitting on the edge of the bed. She smiled.

"I'll be right back, I'll get the doctor to come check you out, and if he ok's it, then your free to go." The nurse said, walking out of the room.

Kaiba sat in his room at his desk, hoping to work from there, but it was no use.

"Ugh..." He groaned, massaging his temples. He hadn't been able to work since he found the mutt in the alleyway. He hadn't any idea what had happened, and he wouldn't until the mutt was out of the hospital and back in the Kaiba mansion. He leaned back in his chair. Finding his lost dog in that state worried him, and he went to visit him occasion seeing how the hospital was moments from his mansion.

His mind wandered onto what happened when he left last. He felt so overwhelmed with worry for so long, and the stress just overtook. He's not the type to analyze his emotions too deeply, but maybe he should start. Everything's getting to him... He'd just tell himself nothing had happened, and Joey was asleep anyhow, he wouldn't know. Kaiba sighed and glanced over at his cellphone on his desk. The doctor said Joey would be out soon, Kaiba could take Joey back home where he belonged. For Mokuba of course, the kid just missed Joey so much, and everyone knows Kaiba would do anything for his kid brother, even go out of his way to bring into his home the one he hated most, right? Right?

Ring... riiiing... ring... riiiing... Kaiba's phone went off, taking him out of thought. He dove for his phone on the other side of his desk. Ending up on the floor in doing so, he grabbed around his desk for it and when he found it, he quickly answered.

"Hello?" Kaiba asked wildly, still on the floor.

"Is this Seto Kaiba?" A man's deep raspy voice came from the other end. Kaiba nodded, but then remembered he was on a phone.

"Yes, it is." Kaiba said, collecting his seriousness. He hoped this was the hospital calling. Mokuba would be getting torn up over Joey by now.

Meanwhile with Mokuba...

Mokuba pranced in the sunny garden in a flowery sundress while putting daises behind his ears and singing songs with the birds- you wish, sicko. No, Mokuba was actually doing the following...

Mokuba stood in the kitchen, wondering where his brother was hiding at. He shrugged, and opened the cabinet, and grabbed a jar of Nuttella. He opened a drawer, and grabbed a butterknife.

"Heh..." Mokuba laughed. He smeared the chocolate on his face to make it look like he had a beard. He jumped up on the table and balled up his hands and rested them on his hips, in a superman position. He frowned, something was missing...

"A cape!" He said, jumping off the table and running in a different direction of the house.

Back to Kaiba...

"Joseph Wheeler is free to go home now, he's perfectly stable, but try to refrain from allowing him to walk very much, it will be painful." The doctor said to kaiba, who nodded vigorously, disregarding the fact the the doctor couldn't see him.

"Alright," He said calmly, although his heart pounded in his ears... for some reason... "I'll be there to pick him up in a moment."

Kaiba hung up and stared at the ceiling. 'Wait...' he thought, 'what am I doing on the floor?' the tall brunette quickly scrambled to his feet and brushed himself off. He sighed and walked out of his room, already opening his cellphone back up to call for a limo. Before he walked out the door, he walked into the kitchen with a bad feeling. There stood Mokuba covered in melty chocolate with a red cape on, standing on the counter. Kaiba opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it, having too much of a headache to deal with Mokuba's frequent role playing. Kaiba turned around, and left the kitchen before he had an even bigger headache. He left down the halls, and headed to the front door to finally bring Joey home... hopefully.

Joey sat in the hospital bed, aching, but it wasn't a position he was unaccustomed to. The nurse had told him he was free to go, and everything he needed to stay away from and need to do once he got home. Someone was going to pick him up apparently, and Joey could guess who. Seto Kaiba. The one he fought viciously with, the one he despised, the one who offered a home in his time of need, the one who brought him to the hospital when he was severely beaten, the one who kissed him when he thought he was asleep... But mostly that part about the hate. Joey was a little smarter than Kaiba when it came to emotions, so he could see a blurred vision of what was going on. Joey slammed his palms into his forehead. He was so confused about Kaiba, talking to the guy was about the equivalent of talking to a rock.

But then he thought of the time at the park. He heard and saw the magnificent Seto Kaiba... Laughing. Joey didn't even think the guy could laugh... But he saw him differently. Obviously in the weeks he had stayed, he, Mokuba, and Kaiba had done a lot of things together, but the picnic was the turning point of it all if he thought about it. That day, they even called each other by their first names... It had just slipped and it was so awkward, but it felt so normal. Even the waterballoon fight was just as normal as the rest of it. Because they were all smiling and laughing... And happy.

Joey then thought back to when Kaiba had walked in on him crying. The blush on his ears spread to his cheeks out of embaressment and anger towards himself. 'How could I have let anyone see me cry?' he thought. The blonde laid back, aching too much to sit up longer. He closed his eyes for a few minutes before he heard the door of the hospital room open. He looked ove rat the doorway, and saw Kaiba nonchalauntly standing there with his arms crossed. Seeing kaiba dug up the memory from earlier. Joey flushed, and quickly turned his back to Kaiba so he wouldn't see. 'What's he gonna do, start makin' out with me? Can't be that bad, maybe it was a dream?' Joey thought to himself to calm down. Kaiba stared at Joey, and cocked his head, wondering what got Joey so worked up.

"You shouldn't move too much," Kaiba said flatly, walking closer to Joey.

"I know, I know, that's what the doc said." Joey said, sitting up, ignoring everything going on in his mind.

"You seem to have trouble listening to anyone's orders, apparently." He told the blonde, looking at things all moved around the room, and the sheet on the other side of room, and pillows in various places, from when Joey was getting antsy over the 'kiss'. Joey shrugged, he was used to pain, so he allowed himself to move as freely as he wished.

"So Moneybags," Joey said, using one of his nicknames for the other boy. "What are you here for?"

Kaiba raised his eyebrow. "I'm here to take you home, of course."

The blond huffed and crossed his arms. Kaiba shook his head in annoyance and sat at the end of the bed opposite of Joey.

"So are you coming or not? Mokuba has been wanting you back home for a while now." Kaiba said, crossing his legs.

"Back home?" Joey raised an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean, come on, be a good puppy and follow your master home." Kaiba smirked, patting Joey head. Joey growled.

"I ain't a dog! Oww..."

Kaiba sighed. "It would help if you stopped moving for once, it wouldn't hurt as bad."

"What do you care?" Joey said, huffing and turning away. At this point, he hoped this question would bring light to earlier.

"I don't, now let's go." Kaiba got off the bed, and headed towards the door.

'This isn't getting me anywhere, I need him to tell me why he did that earlier without making it too obvious...' Joey thought to himself. Joey got off the bed, already having gotten dressed and checking in with the doctors, he was able to just walk out of the hospital at any point. He only chose to wait for Kaiba because he had to know why he kissed his forehead.

Both boys got into the back of the limo and sat in silence for the ride. Joey spent the time thinking of how he could get Kaiba to share the reason he kissed his forehead. Kaiba sat thinking of when he found his lost mutt, broken and bloody on the ground. He still felt the new-found ache in his chest.

"Say, Joey," Kaiba broke the silence, "How did you get in the condition I found you in? Clearly you're not stupid enough to do that yourself."

"Hahaha, very funny. No, I was beaten up by the ol' gang I used to be a part of." Joey explained, as if it was totally normal. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

"You were in a gang?" Kaiba asked.

"Yeah, rich boy, I wasn't always this charming ya'know!" Joey smiled.

"And if I don't believe you?"

"I've proof, rich boy, let's see you be so smug now! Ha!" Joey laughed, and lifted his shirt, revealing his bandaged torso, although some wasn't bandaged. He pointed to a scar on his abdomen.

"That's from back in the gang, a crazy story behind that little sucker!" Joey laughed, and pulled in shirt back down. Kaiba made a 'hmph' noise, and turned his attention to the window, as if it was more interesting than Joey. He wondered how many scars were from Joey's father, and how many from the gang.

Joey watched Kaiba turn towards the window, and his smile dropped. Sure he had plenty of scars from the gang, but most of the impressive ones were covered with the bandages. The one he had shown Kaiba was from his father, when Joey got home late, and he had already been drinking himself mad. He had smashed an empty bottle over Joey's head, and ended up stabbing him. Not that deep, but still painful and scaring. That was one of the times he had to go to the hospital. He wouldn't tell Kaiba, though. He didn't want pity from anyone, though he doubted the guy would give him that. He wasn't going to take chances though.

They arrived at the Kaiba mansion, and Mokuba was there to greet them. All clean and not wearing a red cape. He waved his arm wildly.

"Joey!" He yelled, bounding down to him. Joey put his hands out in front of himself, hoping to sheild off the crazed Mokuba running towards him. He was able to stop him before the younger boy rammed into his fresh wounds.

"Woah, woah, woah, squirt, I'm kinda in pain!" Joey said, laughing. They all went inside, and Kaiba immediately went to his room. Mokuba and Joey went to the living room and played video games until Mokuba decided it was time for bed. Joey for the next hour was pacing around his room, thinking.

He grinned evilly and stepped out into the hallway and tip-toed over to Kaiba's room and quietly tested the door to see if it was locked. When it opened, his evil grin spread as he went into the room and towards the alarm clock. He knelt down, it saying 1:13AM and went to touch the off button, making it so Kaiba didn't get up in time for work. As he reached around for the button, a hand shot out from the covers and grabbed Joey's wrist.

The blonde gasped and was about to yell out before another hand covered his mouth, keeping his yelling to a muffled string of barely understandable words.

"Did you notice the door was unlocked?" Kaiba asked, his hand still over Joey's mouth. Joey thought about this. 'That's right! He started locking his door, so what's the difference tonight? Maybe he knew I'd come in here?' Joey thought to himself. He glanced at the slightly ajar door.

Kaiba watched Joey closely, he was deep in thought no doubt. Kaiba wondered what Joey could be thinking.

Joey remembered where he was, and nodded at Kaiba's earlier question. He just then realized Kaiba was shirtless, and started shifting his feet, a bit uncomfortable.

Kaiba sighed and sat up. He pulled Joey up next to him and let go of his wrist and mouth. Joey didn't move away or leave. Kaiba looked at Joey. There was enough lighting of various electronics and other things in the room for Joey to see the unknown emotion in Kaiba's eyes, the same one he'd been seeing for awhile, unwavering. The brunette sighed again.

"Joey?" he said, his eyes not leaving the others.

"Yes, Seto?" Joey said, feeling slightly awkward.

"Get out of my room."

What really happened:

"Welcome home."