Out of the dark.

Burn it down.

Seto POV

Joey and I were outside. Behind the mansion were some patio chairs, we sat there looking at my late step fathers desk. There were tiki torches lit with a huge open gazebo. It was tasteful with soft sand all over.

"Still think you should've let me burn it inside." I complained.

"Now, ya know that it wouldn't have been a good idea. There are a ton of teenagers inside. Do ya think people would like that ya intentionally tried to burn a piece of furniture with all those people inside?"

"Oh shut up. Asshole." I knew he was right but I didn't want to admit it.

"Well, should we pour gas on it now or did ya wanna stare at it for a while?" Joey asked, looking at me.

"I want to burn it," I jumped up so fast my chair flipped over as I grabbed one of the gas jugs. I poured it all over the desk and stepped back, smelling the gasoline.

"Are ya alright?" Joey moved closer to me.

"Yeah, here," I handed him some cigars. "They we're in his desk. I'm sure they're not good anymore but fuck it. Fuck him, I'm going to smoke them all." I smiled as I lit a cigar.

Joey lit one too, and started coughing, "Jesus how old are these fuckin things?"

"I can't remember but I don't care."
I said as I sat back down.

"Do ya ever miss him?" Joey asked.

"No. I loved him at first but after a while I realized what he was doing to me. Working me hard, keeping me away from Mokuba, he kept trying to break my spirit."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know all of that." Joey said honestly. "I didn't really have a good relationship with my Father for a while. When I was in a gang, he practically hated me. I was such an embarrassment to him. Then, when I became friends with Yugi, my life changed. I was happy again, I had friends. I wasn't such a dickhead." Joey laughed thinking back. "Our relationship is great now. After battle city, my old man gave me a nice Seiko watch. He must've saved for it, but like I told ya, I got jumped one night and it broke. Battle city was a huge turnin point for me."

"I understand," I continued smoking my cigar. "I like you now. I liked you back then but you get it. You were intimidating."

"Ha. Yeah right. Okay. I was the intimidating one! Bullshit!" Joey laughed.

"You were different. You knew you weren't the best but you still tried, it was admirable. You also made friends. Not really something I was good at." I admitted. "I wanted to be a part of your group but was always held back by my insecurities and awkwardness. I feel like we're being very honest with each other." I smiled again. "Are you thirsty?" I asked taking another drag off my cigar.

"Yeah kinda, we forgot our drinks."

I called another one of my house staff and asked for something to drink to be brought out to us. Within a few minutes one of them brought out a cooler full of different beers and bottles of water.

"Mr. Kaiba?" The woman spoke.

"Thank you for bringing us this. What is it?" I asked her.

"I'm glad you're burning that desk. Gozaburo was a horrible man. I hated him."

I thought about it for a moment. "You hated him too?"