"Cannonball!" Joey landed in the swimming pool with a tremendous splash, the water spreading far enough to hit a disgruntled brunette standing near the edge.

"Watch what you're doing, Joey!" the teen shouted once the blond had resurfaced.

"If you didn't wanna get wet, why are you standing so close to the pool, dumbass!" Joey shouted back, expression as sour as a lemon-flavored warhead.

Yugi and Tea exchanged looks of vague discomfort and annoyance. Tristan and Joey hadn't been getting along well at all for a solid year now, and tensions were only getting worse with every day that passed. This made things uncomfortable for their friends whenever they tried to do things as a group. The two teens had always butted heads, often play-fighting and getting into tiffs that blew over quite quickly, but this was something completely different.

"Or maybe you should just be more careful!" Tristan retorted, eyes narrowed in a fierce glare.

Joey's mouth was open for a foul response when another voice caught his attention and stopped him.

"So Serenity," Duke said smoothly as he sat on the edge of the pool and wrung the water from his shiny black ponytail and smiled at the strawberry blond perched on a lounge chair. "Are you free this weekend? I was thinking you and I could catch a movie together."

"Yes, she's busy!" Joey snapped in response. Duke flashed Yugi and Tea a wink, and they both relaxed a little. Duke was perfectly content to play the mediator to make himself a new target in order to diffuse the tension between Joey and Tristan whenever necessary.

"I am?" Serenity blinked in confusion as she looked up from her phone.

"Yes. You and Mokuba were gonna hang out, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry Duke, maybe another time." She smiled graciously at their dark-haired friend while Ryou, huddled under the shade of a pool umbrella with a book and a bag of jellybeans, shared a smile with Duke.

"That reminds me," Ryou said as he reached into his bag of candy. "Marik said he'd be able to visit us next month after all."

"That's great!" Yugi enthused, eager to change the subject away from the Kaibas so as to avoid further conflict. "It'll be great seeing him again!"

"Yeah, especially because he's not going to be insane this time," Tristan muttered bitterly as he walked towards the locker room.

Yugi sighed when Tristan was out of sight. This was their last summer together before going to college, and he wished that they would all just get along rather than ook for arguments.

"Sorry 'bout that, Yug," Joey apologized, looking guilty and a little flustered.

"It's alright," the teen answered with a nervous laugh.

"No, it's not," Tea contradicted, crossing her arms. "You're as much to blame for this as he is. If you would stop antagonizing him, then we wouldn't have any problems!"

Joey was going to respond by giving Tea a piece of his mind, but he managed to restrain himself, much to her approval.

"You know, Joey, You could bring Kaiba along with you one of these times," Duke commented casually as he stood and stretched his arms, his body glistening with water droplets.

"We'd have to leave Tristan out that time, though," Ryou pointed out with a neutral tone.

"Nah, this isn't really his kind of thing," Joey rebuffed with a grateful smile. "Thanks, though."

Kaiba would never want to be shirtless in public, let alone in front of Yugi and the gang.

Joey used to be a heavy sleeper. Maybe it had been induced by the torrent of hormones and physical development that accompanied adolescence, but that ability to sleep through any sound or disturbance, no matter how loud, had left him long ago. Sometimes he wondered if it was just a subconscious perception of danger or trouble that helped him to wake when he would be needed, but he didn't often contemplate the cause. Whatever the cause, Joey was capable of sensing Seto's distressed sleep in the middle of the night, even though he didn't make a sound.

For the third time this summer (as far as Joey knew), Seto was having a nightmare. His slight tossing and turning woke Joey, who rolled over and reached out towards the brunette, grabbing his shoulder in one hand and giving him a small shake.

"Seto, wake up," he called softly, but with little effect.

He licked his lips and was about to call out again when Kaiba suddenly sat bolt upright in bed, breathing heavily as he registered the fact that he'd woken up. After a moment of stillness, he shuddered, covering his face with one hand as he swallowed hard and tried to catch his breath. Joey, still lying down, gently touched Seto's arm, making him flinch in surprise.

"Come here," the blond murmured, and Seto quickly complied, laying in Joey's embrace and burying his face in Joey's chest. Kaiba was laying on his stomach as Joey's arms went around him, holding him close and sensing every heartbeat and every breath he took.

"They burn," Seto whispered in anguish, and Joey's hands went right to Seto's back, softly stroking his scars. Joey kissed the top of his lover's head as he smoothed over every inch of scar tissue he could find.

"You're okay now," the blond murmured soothingly. "You're safe." Joey couldn't help that little spark of anger that flared up inside him against Gozaburo Kaiba as he continued calming the brunette. Seto would never tell him in detail what had happened to him when he was a kid, but Joey honestly didn't want to know. He did know that it had all been awful enough to permanently scar (physically, emotionally, and psychologically) the strongest person he knew. Kaiba had gotten some closure from confronting his step-father in the Virtual World, but some things still hadn't changed.

"I didn't have a nightmare," Kaiba whispered after a little while, snuggled comfortably in Joey's arms.

"Hm." Joey's neutral grunt prompted Kaiba to elaborate.

"It was just my scars getting irritated in my sleep that—"

"That induced a sense of panic because of past associations or whatever," Joey finished for him with a sigh. "I know, I know." It was the same thing he'd said the last time this happened. "You need to get help, Seto."

"I'll be fine—" he began to protest.

"But you're not," Joey interrupted, his heart heavy. He could feel Kaiba's chest rise and fall as he heaved a deep sigh.

"I'm never going to be able to forget him, will I?"

Joey almost couldn't hear the brunette's words, his voice was so quiet.

"I don't know." Joey felt helpless with Seto struggling like this in a way that Joey wasn't able to help. "But as long as you live here and work in that office building and carry his name... I don't think you will be."

Seto didn't seem to have a response to that, so they just lay together like that for a while. When Joey thought Kaiba had fallen asleep, he stopped moving his hands across his back.

"Don't stop yet," Seto whispered immediately, sounding half asleep. "They only feel better when you touch them."

Joey started stroking his back again, glad to know that he wasn't as helpless as he initially thought.

A/N: This is the first chapter of two. The next chapter is coming next week.

The next story will be coming in March. It might be the last one, but we'll see. It's still very much undetermined. Really, it all just depends on if I can come up with another plot. I might just do another one-shot like this after the next one. Like I said, we'll see. It might be time for me to move on to another Puppyshipping universe. ;) Please review and let me know what you think!