Title: Sow and Reap

Author: Serena J

Rating: R for use of the f-word and some sexual content

Genre(s): Romance, Angst

Pairing(s): Primary Seto/Joey/Atemu

Spoilers: none

Beta: Mishiko

Disclaimer: Just the words, not the folks.

Summary: When Seto takes an impromptu vacation, he turns
everyone's life upside down.

Chapter 1: Boy Meets Boy



Chapter 1

I had been at the top of a hill when I tripped, lost my grip and
my cycle began dragging me. I'd run out of gas an hour ago and
walking home in the cold and dark was getting old. My attention
had waned as I thought of all the ways I could end my
self-imposed hardship and I failed to notice the change in the
pavement height.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" I yelled as I tried to slow the vehicle
to no avail. There was a time when a word that coarse wouldn't
have been in my vocabulary, but now it was frequent.

Suddenly, there were extra hands helping me and three of us eased
the motorcycle to the bottom of the hill.

"You cool dude?" It was Japanese but the speaker was blond,
looked and sounded American - the rough, street kid type that
good boys like me are far too often attracted to. The other boy
was Japanese. Both were about my age - 17 or so.

"Yes, thank you." I answered. It was late and no part of town was
a good one to be alone with strangers.

"You need a hand?" The other one offered.

"Yeah, which junkyard you hauling this piece of crap to?" The
American laughed.

His friend hit him. "Joey! Where are you going? We'll help out."

"Thank you but it's not necessary," I deflected. "I have several
miles further."

"Oh. Well, we're not far from here. Maybe you can fix it. Do you
know what's wrong?"

"No gas." I answered simply.

"No prob. There's a gas station a couple blocks that way."

"No cash." I added.

The American shrugged. "We can spot you a gallon or two, that'll
get you home, right?"

I protested, but they ignored me and we wheeled my cycle to the
gas station.

"I'm Honda, he's Joey."

"Tak." I said.

"Please to meet you, Tak." No honorific but I wasn't surprised.
The American wasn't the polite sort. He shook his head as I
pumped one gallon of gas. "Seriously, this thing should be put
out of its misery." He mimed shooting it.

"It's the only transportation I own." I answered, which was
technically true; my father's corporation owned everything else.

They paid for my gas and the cycle started with no trouble. I
thanked them profusely before heading home to the one-room closet
I called an apartment.

I checked my emails and replied to everything, urgent or not. The
trick to my little vacation was to not have anyone looking for
me.

My personal secretary, Mazaki, and I left the big city and came
to a small town. Frankly, I hadn't even bothered to learn its
name. There was nothing here, no reason for any executive to come
here and perfect for what I wanted - nothing. Mazaki answered my
calls and only contacted me if I actually had to make an
appearance or something was about to go critical.

That gave me time for the first time in my life to do nothing. I
rode my motorcycle, played video games, hung out at the local
mall and generally acted like a 17-year-old boy. I stopped
wearing my trademarked dueling jacket or the western style suits
my Father preferred and let my hair grow long. I went to a thrift
store and bought five shirts and three pairs of pants for the
whole two-month stay. No one recognized me.

That was a very good thing. My Father was out of the country and
would be for another month. That meant I had another month to
relax before I had to get home and go back to being the most
valued son. As if I ever had been.

My brother and I were adopted. My Father, Kaiba Gozaburo, was
making a photo op out of an orphanage donation and I challenged
him to a chess game, swearing him on camera to adopt us if he
lost. He's never forgiven me for beating him. He honored the
terms and adopted us both, but my new status has come with a
heavy price. My Father expected only the highest and best from
me. Anything less was worthy of severe punishment. He rarely left
visible bruises, but he was not averse to slapping, punching,
caning, humiliating or whatever else he could think of when we
were alone or he was drunk. The only thing Father and I agreed on
was my brother, Mokuba.

Mokuba was the light of our collective lives. He was what made me
go on when our biological family died and he won even Gozaburo's
heart within days. Mokuba adored our Father and it was for his
sake that I endured the man.

The Kaiba name and wealth had given me some rare opportunities
and I demonstrated CAD abilities at an early age. Shortly after
my adoption, I was working with Kaiba Corp designers on
everything from weapon systems to home décor sims. But my
personal passion was for games and especially dueling.

My first Duel Disk was so wildly popular that we were able to
fund Kaiba Game Corp from it. It was my company; I owned 40% with
my Father and brother owing 30% each. I spent most of my time
either designing new Dueling tech or running the corp. But when I
realized that I would have two months to myself, I decided to
skip town and play hooky.

For the most part, it had been heaven. I got up when I wanted,
ate what I wanted, associated with whom I wanted and wanted
nothing more. Mokuba was in boarding school in France; once a
week he called me and we caught up. Father only called if the
stock price dipped significantly. Everyone else I handled
issue-by-issue.

And it wasn't a complete waste of time. I was learning what
Duelist actually thought of our products, how they really used
them and what improvements were needed. I was learning how to
manage cash - most of my life if I had to pay I simply used
plastic. I was picking my own restaurants and doing my own
laundry and all kinds of things that normal people do every day
but I'd never even done once prior to this vacation. Mazaki had
been invaluable during my first week.

Two days after I ran out of gas, I got 'paid' and was able to
fill up my tank. I went back to the neighborhood where I'd meet
Honda and Joey and simply hung out. Eventually I spotted them.
They were carrying backpacks and wearing school uniforms.

I pulled up next to them. "Honda-san, Joey-san! I was hoping I'd
find you."

"Hey, Tak! Still haven't put her out of her misery, eh?" Joey
laughed.

"If she'll start, I'll ride." I laughed back. At some point, I
learned to take a joke; to laugh occasionally. "Here. I wanted to
pay you guys back."

"What?" Honda looked offended. "Keep it. A gallon of gas? It was
nothing."

"It was everything. I don't feel right about borrowing like
that."

"No sweat!" Joey waved it off.

"Yes, pay it forward. I'm sure you'll do the same for someone
else, right?"

Actually, I would almost never have done something like that.
"Can I at least buy you dinner?"

"Dude, it's not a..."

Honda cut his friend off. "Absolutely! Never turned down a free
meal!"

We went to a sushi house nearby. It wasn't the most exclusive
place in town. They served simple food, nothing fancy or exotic.

It was, however, the best meal of my life. I made my first
friends.

I've had acquaintances and peers. I have had business associates
and rivals. I have even had a few enemies. But Joey and Honda
were the first people that wanted to know me, not my name and not
my money.

We saw each other frequently after that. Not everyday - they had
school and I had to work occasionally. But as often as possible.
One night we got caught in the rain and because we were only a
few blocks away, I invited them to my place to wait it out. I was
embarrassed at the small size and the lack of hospitality I could
show my guests. They were both impressed that I had my own place.
They were also concerned.

"So it's just you? No parents, no siblings, no nothing?"

"I have...resources." I shrugged. "I get by."

"What about school?" Honda asked. "We never see you there."

"I don't go." I answered. "I -" I hesitated, not sure how to
answer. "I was a special case."

"Oh." Joey responded. "Special. Ok."

"Are you ok on your own?"

"Yes." I shrugged again. "As I said, I have resources."

"Resources and a boat load of dueling cards!" Joey said, spotting
part of my collection. "Dude, you never told us you duel!"

I hadn't mention it because I want to avoid anyone who might know
me, but the topic was one of my favorites and we spent several
hours discussing cards, strategies and duelists we knew.

"You two are killing me!" Honda moaned finally. "I'm going out
for food. If I give you two hours, can you just admit you're hard
for each other and do the deed before I get back?"

I looked at my hands as my face felt flush. I hadn't realized my
attraction to Joey was that obvious.

"Oh for -" Honda gasped as he stood up. "You two are hopeless!"
He left.

It took a moment for me to find the courage to look at Joey. I'm
not used to being afraid of things, but I couldn't bear the idea
of him knowing how I felt.

"I guess I was coming on a little strong." Joey said finally.

"No, it was me." I responded quickly.

We both started to apologize and then stopped, realizing that our
attraction was mutual.

"Is two hours long enough?" He asked me.

"Aren't you and Honda...?"

"Straight as an arrow." He replied to my unfinished question.

He reached out, put his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me
forward. Our lips meet and I felt myself shiver. I had been with
other boys but money had more to do with it than passion. Either
I was buying them or they were using me. They were convenient,
meaningless and forgettable. Joey was different. I wanted to
remember everything about him. The way he smelled, the way he
tasted, the way he groaned when I entered him, the way he felt
when he entered me. We made as many memories as we could in two
hours and were still wrapped in each other's arms when Honda
returned.

"Oh yeah, that's just what I wanted to see!" He teased, pulling
out three servings of noodle soup. "Get a room!"

"Get a girl." Joey countered as he pulled on his pants and
grabbed a soup.

I dressed and thought of Mazaki, working hard and all alone for
the last two months. "I think I might know one."

"One what?"

"A girl. For Honda."

"Stop! No. No matchmaking. I don't do blind dates."

"She's only here for a few more weeks. She's working for some hot
shot executive who's here on business."

"Yeah? So how'd you meet her?"

I shrugged. "Just lucky, I guess."

"I don't care. I'm sure she's sweet or pretty or whatever, but
these things never work out."

I picked up my phone and called her. "Hey, it's Tak. What are you
doing right now?"

"I was in the shower." She answered.

"Well get dressed and come over to my place. Ok?"

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Kaiba-san, I don't think that...."

"It's not like that." I tried to put her at ease. "It just plain
old Tak. The guys I was telling you about are here and I want you
to meet them. One of them's cute and I think you'll like him."

"Oh." she sounded even more worried.

Honda took the phone from me. "Hello? Yes. Hi, look, Tak is
insane. It's far too late for anyone to be going anywhere so
don't listen to him. Of course, you're welcome. I mean, it's just
the three of us and we're just hanging out, eating and we might
duel some later. You do? Well bring your deck! Ok, sure. You know
where he lives? Ok. Ok. You too." He hung up the phone and handed
it back to me. "You are a psycho."

"No, I'm just happy." I found myself grinning. "I've never been
happy."

Mazaki was staying in a much nicer apartment only a few blocks
away. She was still very nervous when I opened the door.
"Remember, I'm just 'Tak'." I whispered. "If you're polite to me,
I'll fire you."

She smiled and shook her head.

"Mazaki, this is Joey and Honda. Guys, Mazaki."

"Pleased to meet you." She said. "I stopped for rice balls if
anyone wants one."

"I think I love this woman already." Honda took the offered food
happily.

We had a great time. Mazaki relaxed. Joey sat in my lap. We
dueled and laughed and spent the whole night simply having fun.