Honey Muffin
"What did you just call me?"
Seto looked up from his newspaper and raised his eyebrow when he found both his lover and his brother staring at him as if he'd just grown another head. "I called you 'honey muffin.'"
Joey's eyebrow twitched before he hissed, "And why are you calling me 'honey muffin?'"
"You've expressed to me before that you don't appreciate the pet name 'puppy.' I decided I'd just use a different one."
Mokuba rubbed the back of his head, frowning. "Wow, Seto. That's... I want to say that was considerate of you, but a big red sign blinking 'cruel' keeps popping up in my mind."
Seto shrugged and looked back at his paper. "I guess you'll just have to deal with it, honey muffin. I don't want to waste anymore time over this subject."
"Fine," Joey snarled, setting down the brunet's breakfast plate a lot harder than necessary. "Don't worry about it, moneybags." And with that, he stormed out of the kitchen.
The teen CEO turned to look after him in confusion. "What was that about?"
"...I would have thought that would be obvious," Mokuba sighed, shaking his head. "Joey doesn't like your new pet name anymore than he likes your old one for him." He began to eat the breakfast that his older brother's lover had so thoughtfully made for them. "I suggest you waste a little more time over this subject."
-x-x-x-
Yugi frowned as he watched his friend pace in front of the counter of the Kame Game Shop, innocently perplexed. "So... He gave you a pet name other than 'puppy' and you don't like it?"
Joey rounded on his friend angrily. "His new pet name for me is 'honey muffin!'"
"Oh. ...Oh," the smaller teen murmured, blushing a little, before his adorable little face scrunched up in a slightly perturbed and thoughtful frown. "Jeez, that one's way worse than 'puppy.'"
"I know!" the blond exclaimed, grabbing a handful of hair and tugging restlessly. He noticed that he'd been doing that a lot more since he started dating Seto. "I'm just scooping the eggs onto his plate this morning and he just says, 'Smells good, honey muffin.' He didn't even look up from the stupid newspaper! And he didn't understand why I was upset about it! How would you feel if Yami called you 'honey muffin?!'"
Yami, who had just arrived in the room, frowned. "What's he talking about, aibou?"
"Oh, Kaiba came up with a new and still detestable nickname for him," Yugi replied, shrugging.
"Really? It can't be that bad."
Joey turned a glare on the former pharaoh. "He called me 'honey muffin.'"
To both teen's surprised, Yami began to laugh. "But Joey, that's what Seto called you back in Egypt!" He paused his laughing momentarily to think, but a small smile still played at his lips. "In fact, you always blushed and got this really big grin on your face. ...Except it wasn't quite exactly 'honey muffin' he called you. It was 'honey roll.'" He frowned slightly. "It was either because he thought you were sweet and your eyes looked like honey or because you made very good honey rolls."
"Wait, you're saying I liked that nickname way back when? ...Crap," the blond exclaimed, standing up. "That means I gotta go apologize to him. He probably didn't even think about it; it just seemed familiar and he went with it. CRAP!"
-x-x-x-
Seto frowned thoughtfully. He'd been trying to concentrate on his work, he really had, but knowing that Joey was mad at him-- for what he thought was no reason-- made him feel so horrible that he wanted to make everything right as quickly as possible. ...Even if it meant taking time away from his precious work.
'I thought he'd like it. I don't know why I thought he'd like it, but it seemed right. My puppy must hate me now...'
He looked up quickly as he heard the door open, then stood as he found his lover striding toward him with a purpose. "Joey, I--"
Before he could continue, Joey slid his arms around the CEO's waist and smiled affectionately, nuzzling his neck. "I'm sorry, pookie." He leaned up and gave him a quick, chaste kiss. "I shouldn't have gotten so upset. Forgive me?" When Seto failed to answer, he batted his eyelashes sweetly. "Please? Don't you love your honey muffin? Your sweet little puppy? Come on, pookie! Speak to me!"
Seto blinked at him momentarily, frowning, then asked, "Why?"
"Why should you forgive me? Because I'm really, really sorry," Joey replied, giving the brunet his best puppy eyes. "Sincerely sorry. Drop my pants and let you fuck me sorry."
"...I'll remember that last one. But that's not what I meant."
"...I don't get it, pookie. What did you mean then?"
Seto rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. "Why did you get so mad about my pet names for you and then come in and use them like they were the best thing in the world?"
Joey winced and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I may have been talking with Yugi and Yami, and Yami may have told me something that made me see things in a new light, and I may have decided I like your pet names for me, a little bit."
The brunet raised an eyebrow as he pulled the smaller teen closer fondly. "Just a little bit, honey muffin?"
"...Okay, maybe a little more than a little bit," the blond admitted, blushing. "But just a little."
"You don't have to fib, puppy." Seto grabbed the blond's chin and tilted his head up, smiling affectionately. "Do you like my pet names for you or don't you?"
"Okay, fine, I like your pet names for me now that I've thought about it! Leave me alone, pookie!" Joey laughed slightly, then frowned. "I understand why you call me puppy, because you've told me before. But... where the hell did 'honey muffin' come from?"
"Well, first of all, because you're my muffin," the brunet replied. "And your eyes are the same color as honey. Your hair is, too. So that makes you my little honey muffin. ...So now you know where both puppy and honey muffin came from. Now what the hell is up with 'pookie?'"
The smaller teen smiled innocently. "I used to have this huge stuffed bear-- like the size of a medium-sized dog 'r somethin' like that-- and I always used to sleep with it. I named it Pookie. Pookie's somewhere in storage right now-- I'm not quite sure where-- so you're my Pookie now." He tilted his head slightly. "Is that okay?"
"...You don't strike me as the kind of person to sleep with a giant teddy bear, puppy," Seto answered, raising an eyebrow. "...Do I look like a teddy bear?"
"Nooo, but you hug like one!" Joey replied cheerfully, pulling the brunet closer. "...That is... after I taught you to hug decently."
The CEO scowled and snarled, "Gozaburo never actually made it a habit to hug me, in case you didn't notice."
"...I..." The blond cringed a little and looked down at the ground nervously. "...Are you mad at me, pookie?"
"That depends." Seto smirked wickedly. "Are you still drop your pants and let me fuck you sorry?"