It'd been a week since the fashion show, and Kaiba had been getting sicker and sicker each day. He continued to refuse missing even more work, claiming if he does, the company will fall apart, although he does work from his room as often as he can.

Joey sighed as he was preparing breakfast for him and the Kaiba's. Moksha was already at the table, talking Joey's ear off, while Kaiba was hauled up in his room doing more work, no doubt. Joey finished up cooking and he set the table. He took his apron off before sitting down at his usual seat.

"Odd," Mokuba said between mouthfuls. "Seto's usually in here by now..."
The raven-haired boy trailed off as his older brother walked into the room and sat next to Joey.

"You look horrible." Joey stated bluntly. Kaiba pointed a glare towards Joey, but the power of it was lessened by his sickness. His eyes were circled with darkness, and drooped with sickness. His cheeks and nose were pink, and he seemed to be having trouble with keeping awake.

Joey frowned at the pink on his cheeks. He reached over without thinking and put his hand on Kaiba's forehead. The brunette tried moving away, but to no avail with nowhere to move to. Joey stood and left the room, and came back with a thermometer.

"Open your mouth." Joey ordered. Kaiba just glared as a response. Joey rolled his eyes at this. He poked Kaiba's cheek in hopes of annoying him enough to open his mouth.

"I need to check your temperature." Joey said seriously.

"I'm fine." Kaiba said, voice raspier than normal, and he let out a small cough before he could finish his sentence. The blonde raised an eyebrow.

"Seto, you can barely finish a sentence and you sound like Batman battling throat cancer."

"No I don-" Kaiba started, but was cut off by a sudden fit of coughing. Joey sighed, and grabbed Kaiba's shoulders gently, helping him off the seat.

"You are gonna go get some rest, Seto Kaiba, and you will stay in bed even if that means I have to stay with you to make sure you don't get up to work." Joey scolded, dragging Kaiba to his bedroom. Kaiba was in no state to argue, really. Mokuba sat watching the scene, trying to hold in his giggles.

"Such an old married couple..." Mokuba mumbled through a mouthful of eggs.
Joey sighed as he walked back into the kitchen, and leaned against the counter. He was able to get Kaiba to rest with surprisingly little force. Dealing with Kaiba was like dealing with a stubborn child. Suddenly, Joey got an idea. He started digging into the cabinets for ingredients.

A light knock sounded on Kaiba's door. He lifted his head groggily, pulled the blanket to his node, and mumbled a reply. The door opened, revealing Joey with a tray with a bowl. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

"I brought ya some soup, Seto." Joey walked over to Kaiba's bed. Kaiba moved and sat up on his elbows. At some point while Joey was cooking, Kauba had gotten up and changed into pajama's for more comfort.

"It's not poisoned, Seto." Joey said, chuckling. Kaiba looked at him.

"Why did you bring me soup?" He asked.

Joey looked at him and grinned. "You didn't get a chance to eat before I dragged you into your room, so I made you some soup, 'cause everyone knows soup will make you feel better. Now eat up, or I'll feed it to you myself!"
Kaiba said nothing to this and started eating his soup, while Joey proceeded to lay across a wheeled chair in the room and started spinning around.

"Stop that." Kaiba croaked. Joey looked at him and grinned.

"Hoe are you gonna stop me, eh Seto?"

"I'm going to kill you." Kaiba said with the lack of his normal venomous tone.

"Riiiight, well maybe you would if you didn't decide to sit in the rain for who knows how long."

"A few hours."

"That's still awhile, Seto, don't do it again."

"And how would you stop me?"

"I dunno." Joey grinned and began spinning in the chair again, and Kaiba continued to glare at him. He gave up and just continued eating his Joey-made soup while it was hot.

Joey continued spinning in the chair while thinking, and eventually his mind led him to the week before, the day he found Kaiba in the rain.

He thought about their conversation under the Sakura tree, with Kaiba's worries about protecting Mokuba and Joey himself, and the advice he had given him for that. He pondered on whether he would take it or not.

His mind wandered knot the events that took leave right after the conversation and immediately he turned bright red and stopped spinning around in the chair.
Kaiba looked up from his soup and raised an eyebrow.

"Something actually got you to stop that? Do tell what It is." He inquired. Joey turned away from Kaiba to make sure he didn't see his red face.

"Nothing!"

"Let your mind wander too far, Pup?"

"No! Jus' thought of stuff!" Joey whirled the chair around to face Kaiba, and was met with an amused smile. Joey's face was still red, so Kaiba had a pretty good guess.

"Stuff? What kind of stuff? I might get the wrong idea if you don't tell me." Kaiba smiled silently as he finished off his soup, eyeing Joey's red cheeks from time to time. Kaiba swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat.

"Hey Seto, what're you doin' gettin' up?" Joey asked, standing and placing a hand on his hip.

"I think instead of sleeping, fresh air and warm tea would be best right now."

"What? I mean that's good and all, but you could open a window and I could get you tea, and-" Joey got up and went to Kaiba, who gave the blonde a look that told him there was no changing his mind. The blonde grumbled in compliance and followed Kaiba into the kitchen.

"What are you doing still following me? You know what I'm doing." Kaiba said, putting a teapot full of water on the stove. Joey blinked and turned the stove off. Proceeding to grab a normal cooking pot and some cleaned mint and put it into the pot, and turned the burner back on.

"I've got nothing better to do. Besides, I'm making you tea the tight way." Joey said, leaning against the counter.

"Nothing better to do? There's Mokuba and his video games, there's going out with your friends, among other things."

Joey's ears blushed pink at thinking about it too hard. "Well, I gotta make sure you get better. Can't have you spreading your germs all over the place."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing in return. Joey waited until the water was boiling and started stirring it. When he was done, he strained the leaves and stirred in honey.

"There, this'll help you." Joey said, handing the mug of tea to Kaiba. Joey then went to the closet and brought out a blanket. Him and Kaiba then went outside to the mini porch near the gardens. Kaiba had the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. They sat back to back. Leaning against each other for support. They sat in blissful silence.

Kaiba was right when he said the best thing for him would be fresh air and tea, Joey-made tea no less, because a few days after the touching moment near the gardens, Kaiba was no longer as sick as a Joey... I mean dog...

"Hmm..." Kaiba mumbled to himself. He stretched his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling of his bedroom. He splawled out on his bed, thinking of what Joey had said that many nights ago under the sakura tree. It wasn't the most practical advice he could have given, but hey, it was Joey. He'd just have to make do with it, and bend it to his pleasing. It was only advice, right? Not to mention not exact advice, or very good, so there was no point in following it precisely.

Just then, he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." He called. Joey opened the door and poked his head in. "All the way in is nice, Joey." Kaiba smirked. Joey opened the door further, walked in stiffly, sat on the opposing side of the bed, and laid next to Kaiba.

"So I've been thinking..." Joey started with a nervous voice.

"Doesn't that hurt?" Kaiba raised a brow, and smiled at Joey's playfully angry reaction. Joey soon, surprisingly enough, regained his composure and put his serious face back on.

"Haha, very funny, I didn't know you could even make a joke... Anyways, I was thinking, still... 'Bout that night at the sakura tree?" Joey's voice wavered, and Kaiba nodded.

"Yes, that does have to get sorted out, doesn't it?" Kaiba grunted. He was dreading the day they had to talk about this, but it couldn't be put off any longer. Joey was, for the most part, the highlight of his day, but this conversation had the feeling of those five hour business meetings, even knowing how most of it would play out.

"Mmm..." Joey mumbled. He too had been putting it off, but it had to be done. Also the outcome of the conversation made him nervous, for which he had no clue why. Both boys stayed quiet got a moment, before Kaiba spoke again, eager to get it over with, though no hint of desperation showed in his voice.

"So about that night, I think it's safe to say that we both had something to do with it." Joey nodded at Kaiba's words, grateful he didn't have to speak much, for he wouldn't have been able to keep his voice solid.

"And so," Kaiba continued. "I've come to contemplating this as well, and I've come to find that our relationship has... Changed... In the past few months you've been staying here." Kaiba shifted his position to his side, where he was facing Joey. It was awkward got Joey to continue laying face up, so he shifted to face Kaiba.

"Yeah, we used to fight whenever we saw each other." Joey said, knowing only little of where this conversation was leading. Kaiba nodded.

"So therefore, we may have acquired some sort of... New feelings for each other." Kaiba stated plainly. Joey swallowed.

"I think you might be right... But not friends, there's no way in hell I'd be friends with a guy like you, Seto."

"And I wouldn't be caught dead with a mutt like you as a friend, Joey, who needs those anyways?"

Both boys stayed silent for a minute just looking at each other, before Joey's eyes moved away.

"But I don't hate you." The blond mumbled. Kaiba moved up and perched himself on his elbow, looking down at Joey.

"I still hate you." Kaiba smiled.

"You're such a jerk." A slight smile tugged at Joey's lips. Kaiba gently, yet with enough force to let the blond know who's boss, pressed his lips against Joey's. In the midst of the moment, both boys had lost physical sight through closed eyes and Joey's arms wrapped around Kaiba, closing the space between them. Kaiba pulled away from the kiss.

"Yeah, I really hate you." He breathed before cutting off whatever the other was about to say with another kiss. The kiss deepened, but Joey pulled away. His cheeks were fiery red, and he looked away. Kaiba sat up and raised his eyebrow at the other.

"Is this really dealing with the 'issues'?" Joey said, sitting up, not looking at Kaiba. The brunette shrugged. Joey chuckled.

"Right, I forgot, your new the this feeling thing." The blonde answered to the shrug. "There's still the problem of-"

Joey was cut off by his cellphone ringing in his pocket. He blinked, and answered, giving Kaiba a signal to wait a moment.

"Hello?" He answered. Kaiba could hear muffled talking from the other line, and Joey's one-sided conversation.

"Yes? No... Wait... Seriously? Is he- yes... Now? Alright." Joey hung up, and a mixed happy/grim look was pasted on his face. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

"Well?"

"Dad's out of the hospital."