Author's Note: I needed a break and decided that this was clearly that break. WHAT THE FUCK AM I EVEN ON HOW IS THIS A BREAK. Bandwagon, anyone? Okay bye. OTL

Introduction

—Rightly so, of course. Now, if I may direct your attentions to earlier in my youth, you'll find that the photographs I took then—

Seto jumped as he heard a 'thunk' of bone meeting wood and turned quickly, rolling his eyes when he found the blond that had asked him to accompany him to the show had passed out on the table. Prodding his shoulder sharply, he hissed, "Wheeler, you asked me to come to this. The least you could do is stay awake through the artist's introduction!"

"Huhn?" Joey jerked awake and sat up, blinking blearily. "What the fu—This windbag still talkin'?"

"I would have assumed that you'd have known how much of a 'windbag' he was before coming to this event," the brunet whispered, scowling at him.

"He. Takes. Nice. Photos," the younger boy ground out. "I don't even know why he got invited t' this event, and I was gonna be damned if I suffered through this alone."

"You could have just turned down the invitation!"

The blond gave him a sour expression before snapping, "You could have just turned down mine."

"Maybe I should have."

Joey flinched a little, but refused to show the hurt on his face. "Well, it's not too late for you t' leave. Just bow out sayin' ya got a call from the company. It's not like anyone will blame ya."

Seto sat up a little and moved to push his chair back. He didn't have to put up with this nonsense. He didn't even know why he'd come—

As he walked out of the dining room and toward the door, a woman with a microphone approached him, smiling widely. "Mr. Kaiba, we've heard that you're Mr. Wheeler's guest tonight. How do you feel about—"

"Miss, I've a company to run and I don't have time for an interview," he snapped, sweeping past her.

"—His appointment to… Oh." She frowned as she watched him leave, then turned to her cameraman, forcing another smile. "Well, I'm sure he had someplace important to be, otherwise he would have stayed through the dinner service."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Seto opened the paper and snorted when he saw his stocks has dipped a few points—not a lot, but enough to be an irritant. He wondered what he'd done now that the public didn't like, considering he didn't have any games coming out for another week or two. He turned to the gossip pages to figure out what he'd done and perhaps mend whatever bridge they said he'd burned.

Gallery Awards Joseph Wheeler Artist of the Year

Seto felt his heart immediately sink to his toes, reading through the article almost frantically as he realized that Joey hadn't just invited him because he needed someone to go with that actually knew how to sit through a fancy dinner. Their on-again-off-again relationship had been on recently, so he'd just figured Joey wanted to go out on a date and what better way to do it and appear like friends than to a public event, but apparently, that hadn't been the case.

—When asked about the bruise on his forehead, Mr. Wheeler commented, "Well, I've never been good with introductions, especially long ones. It's not that I didn't enjoy Mr. Navardi's presentation, but I had stayed up late the night before putting the finishing touches on the picture the gallery wants to use as the focal point for my show."

Beside a picture of the smiling artist was another picture—terrible quality, because it was black and white, but it was enough to make out the picture as a white dragon and a black dragon curled together.

Seto ripped the paper to shreds and threw them on the floor.

.-.-.-.-.-.

It was magnificent.

The white, blue-eyed dragon was standing tall and proud, its open maw showing each sharp, shiny tooth damp with saliva. Its tail curled around the smaller black dragon's, silvery-white tiers clasping spiked black scales like a hand. The black dragon didn't sit idly, though, its own long neck wrapping around the white one's like a scarf and red eyes narrowed in a dangerous glare.

There was a nest behind them. A large nest, made of branches and small trees, the bottom covered with what looked like moss. Each strand of dark green plant was meticulously painted, just as the shine of each scale was, the sheen of each damp tooth and the dirt on each off-white claw.

…The nest was filled with eggs. Each egg was white or black, but the whites and blacks were accented by light pinks and baby blues. He couldn't tell whether it meant the eggs were male and female or if it was homage to the color of the dragons' eyes, but it was beautiful and Seto regretted not taking Joey more seriously when he boasted about being an artist.

"Do ya like it?"

Seto turned his head and couldn't help a smile as he found the blond looking up at him nervously. "And what if I don't?"

"…Please don't set fire t' my paintin'. I spent months on it."

The older boy snorted in surprise, dissolving into an amused chuckle at the surprisingly earnest expression on the blond's face. "God, Joey, what kind of person do you think I am?"

"…The kind that rips up a card so it can't be used against 'im."

"…Alright, I concede that that is not one of my better moments," Seto replied slowly. "However, I would never set fire to one of your paintings."

Joey tilted his head skeptically. "Ya wouldn't?"

The brunet scowled at him. "Joey—"

"Ya ripped up that card 'cause ya couldn't have it. Ya got crazy pissed when ya saw the way Pegasus made your dragon chibi. I was gonna ask ya, but I figured you wouldn't have anything against your dragon looking so scary." The blond shifted awkwardly. "Especially since she's bein' so bad ass."

"You've made the female bigger," Seto commented, surprised, but not as much as he thought he'd be. While quite a few reptiles were known as being patriarchal, it was not uncommon in the animal kingdom for females to be larger than males.

They gazed up at the picture for a few moments, just enjoying each others' company; it happened so rarely that even when it was awkward, it was cherished.

Finally, though, Seto muttered, "I'm sorry."

Joey turned to look up at him and frowned. "Ya didn't even ask why I was goin'. Ya didn't ask me why I was invited. Ya didn't take my paintin' seriously. I'm really good, Seto."

"I know." The brunet sighed quietly. "I'm very bad at this, Joey. I thought you would have realized by now. It's not that I don't want a relationship; I'm just very bad at keeping them. Those women you saw me with in magazines were nice, but they always left me. I'm just not very good at asking the right questions or doing the right things."

The younger man tilted his head as he stepped closer to gently brush their arms together. "Didn't they like anything about ya, Kaiba?"

"…They liked the sex, but it wasn't enough to make up for my malformed affection-gland." Seto turned to look at him and frowned, eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. "You know, I've looked at dozens of different anatomical charts and pictures and I can't find it? And when I asked my doctor about it, he just laughed and told me to go home?"

"Oh. Seto, he—Hmm." Joey could only smile awkwardly and rest a hand on his arm. "Ya know, the only way that gets better is if ya have lots of practice. Doctors don't really help."

The brunet frowned. "Well, that doesn't help. I can't seem to stay in a relationship long enough to—"

"Well maybe if ya would keep seein' me regularly instead of this on-off thing we got goin' on, maybe I could help ya," the younger boy retorted shortly.

Seto paused. "…Perhaps you're right." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "I don't know why you'd be willing to do that when I've been such a bastard to you, though."

Joey shrugged. "Maybe I'm attracted t' bastards." He smiled at the brunet when he only blinked at him and murmured, "Don't worry, Kaiba. I'll help ya with your malformed affection-gland." So saying, he pressed a kiss to the brunet's cheek.

Seto frowned. "Where is this gland, anyway?" When the blond began to laugh, he scowled. It wasn't a laughing matter, especially when Joey unless-it's-bleedin'-or-broken-it's-fine Wheeler knew where it was and he didn't. That didn't exactly make him feel better.