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“Hold on, I'm just not sure we should be going into that cave,” Duke said in the voice of his character, nudging his custom miniature closer to the campfire set-piece on their homemade map. “We don't know how deep it goes, or if it's even safe!”
"Caves are never safe.” Joey reached over the dense forest of tiny trees to move his dragonborn fighter closer to Duke's tiefling. "That's why I'm here, Mae. I'll always keep you safe. And he puts his hand on her shoulder in, like, a friendly way.”
“Oh Galathrax," Duke replied, pitching his voice up a little higher than necessary as he fluttered his eyelashes at Joey. "Do you promise not to let any monsters overpower me?”
"I think you deserve it,” Kaiba scoffed, and it was unclear if he was speaking for himself or his elven paladin, but his next sentence provided clarity. "It's your fault three of our chickens died.”
Ryou snickered from behind his DM screen. This campaign was truly such a source of delight for him. Where else was he going to hear his friends argue about whose turn it was to tend the chickens and try to scam the local merchant into paying more than their foraged goods were worth? Where else were they going to flirt and bicker so shamelessly over nothing at all in a world that Ryou controlled completely?
As Kaiba and Duke began to argue—half in-character and half out-of-character—about whose fault the chicken deaths may or may not be, Ryou leaned back in his chair and took a long sip of water.
The fourth player at the table was toying with one of his dangly earrings as he watched the drama unfold. Then he glanced at Ryou and offered a smile. Ryou was already smiling back when he felt a leather boot rubbing against his jeans.
“You're naughty," Ryou declared, his cheeks turning a little pink.
“So what?" Marik grinned back, his teeth flashing at him briefly.
“I can be naughty too." Joey plopped his chin in his hand, propped his elbow on the edge of the table and stared over at Ryou with what he tried to make his most alluring smolder ever.
Marik cracked up laughing so loudly that it disrupted the argument happening off to the side.
“What’s so funny?” Duke asked.
“Joey’s trying to seduce Ryou, but he just looks like he’s half asleep!” Marik teased, still laughing. Joey, thoroughly embarrassed, had dropped the posture and was more sitting back in his chair with a disgruntled expression.
“C’mon, he's trying his best!” Duke leaned over and threw his arm around Joey's shoulders. "You’ll always be my sweet puppy~”
“Nyeh, knock it off!” Joey shoved Duke’s arm off his shoulder, getting more embarrassed by the second. Kaiba scoffed and Ryou giggled, joining in Marik’s mirth.
Ryou picked up his mug and took a long sip of his cooling tea. “So have we completed our short rest, or do we need more time to avoid going to the mines?”
“We’re not avoiding anything!” Marik snapped back. “Horus is ready when the rest of you are.” He nudged his aarakocra cleric miniature to the entrance of the cave.
“I’m prepared to begin,” Kaiba affirmed. When the others agreed and moved their miniatures next to the cave entrance, Ryou nodded and set down his tea to reach for his laptop.
"Okay, everyone roll a D10 for turn order.”
He began to run them through the mini game, letting dice rolls determine their mining loot and their monster encounters—which was almost completely derailed by Mark’s attempt to speak to the ghosts, and Ryou was secretly grateful that he failed his skill check.
"And that's my inventory full,” Joey announced. "I think that's all of us. We need to head back to the farm to drop stuff off. How much time is left after we do that?”
"It's currently…” Ryou checked his time tracker. "Nine in the evening. So everybody gets one last activity before the end of the day.”
"I'm going to go fishing at the beach," Marik announced. He placed his figurine on the beach part of the map, specifically on the docks by Willy’s shop. “I have the Natural Predator ability, which gives me a bonus on all hunting and fishing activities, and because I have the Keen Eye ability, I'll also forage while I'm there. You lot are so blind that you'll likely miss half the shells that are there.”
“You have enough energy left to cast your rod ten times. Roll 10D10.”
Once Marik rolled his dise and both his captured fish and his beach loot was calculated, Ryou turned to Joey.
"Galathrax is going to spend some time cooking up meals for tomorrow,” the blond announced. “Let me just check which meals we have available with our food stock." He opened his phone and pulled up their shared app that Kaiba had programmed to help them track their progress in this game. It was a completely unique and complex fusion of Dungeons & Dragons 5E based in the Stardew Valley world, with a bit of Ryou's tastes twisting everything into Something Else entirely.
“Okay, I'm making three blueberry pies, eight sashimi, and five miner’s snacks.” He added them to the party inventory as he spoke, subtracting the ingredients automatically in the process.
“And what's Thalion up to?" Ryou prompted.
“Thalion is checking that all of the chickens and livestock are safe and accounted for"—Kaiba shot Duke a playful glare—“Before dropping off the excess gems in the shipping box and turning in for the night.” On his own phone, he subtracted gems from the inventory and converted them into gold.
“Hecate is checking on the machines and refilling the furnaces before joining her boyfriends in bed.” Duke smiled innocently at Kaiba before adding, "She snuggles up to Thalion’s back and puts her arm around his waist, whispering praise for how strong he was against those mega-slimes.”
It was faint, but Ryou could tell that Kaiba was definitely blushing.
"Shut up,” he mumbled, occupying himself with the task of moving the party's figurines back to the farmhouse.
"No really, I thought I was done for when I ran out of slingshot ammo," Duke continued. “But you saved my life, and I'm so grateful."
"Horus rolls over and says, ‘If you two are going to fuck, just get it over with. I actually want to have full energy in the morning, so either do it now or shut up.”
"No need to be so cranky, Horus,” Joey spoke for his character. "I can cuddle you too so you don't feel left out. And then Galathrax scoots over–"
“Horus starts scooting away and bumps into Thalion."
“Thalion didn't ask to be sandwiched between you idiots."
“But you make such a tasty sandwich~" Duke flirted with an ostentatious wink, making the entire table erupt in laughter. Kaiba's face was turning pinker by the second. In a movement so quick that Ryou almost missed it, Duke reached across the table to grab Kaiba's hand and pull it close for a kiss.
Behind his DM screen, Ryou rolled a six-sided die.
“Hold on, what was that?" Marik demanded. “Why did you roll? What was that for?"
“As the Dungeon Master, I'm not required to tell you yet." Ryou smirked and pulled his braided hair over his shoulder so he could undo it and rebraid the bottom half.
“Is it because I kissed Kaiba?" Duke asked, looking a little too excited. "Marik, you kiss him too, see if he rolls again."
Being seated directly next to Kaiba made it incredibly simple for Marik to lean over to the side and peck his check.
Ryou rolled his die again.
“You don't know what that die is for!" Kaiba protested, his face continuing to turn red. “Stop it, you might trigger something bad."
“Your turn, Joey." Duke looked to the player seated beside him. “With your luck, maybe we'll trigger whatever that die is for."
Joey and Kaiba locked eyes across the table, and the room was quiet for a moment.
Ryou smiled like the mischievous gremlin he’d become. He was personally hoping that Joey would take the bait and perhaps force Ryou to reveal what he was up to.
This mysterious mechanic was one that he’d developed soon after they started this game—once he’d wisened up to the fact that the four of them were a polycule. The others didn't realize that Ryou hadn't known at first, so discovering it through observations was confusing. Thank goodness he’d worked up the nerve to finally ask Duke about it in private.
"So like, which of you are together?” Ryou had asked so awkwardly.
"Oh, all of us,” Duke hand answered with the ease of someone being asked what their favorite pasta dish was. "It started out as Marik and I, and Joey and Kaiba, but then things sort of evolved."
“Oh." Ryou had blushed and looked down at his hands, fidgeting anxiously and unsure of how to respond.
“If it makes you uncomfortable–"
“No, not at all!" Ryou had quickly protested. “I'm glad that you're all happy together!"
“But?" Duke had raised an eyebrow at him, perceptive and relentless. “What's on your mind, Ry? I can see something else is up."
“Don't worry about it, it's nothing." Ryou’s face had turned as pink then as Kaiba's was now. "I'm not–”
"Oh, darling!” Duke had explained suddenly, his eyes growing wide. "Did you have a crush on me too?”
That fateful conversation had ultimately resulted in their current arrangement, where Ryou found himself with four boyfriends that played one of his favorite campaigns ever with him. He certainly hadn't been looking to join a polycule, but now, he was happier than he had ever expected he could be.
"Well, if you think I need to,” Joey said as he stood up. "Then for science–”
"Absolutely not!” Kaiba protested, looking beyond embarrassed. Intimacy in front of the whole group was something rare for Kaiba; he almost exclusively engaged in one-on-one activities, and hated being on display in such a vulnerable state.
“He must!" Marik declared.
“For science!" Duke agreed.
Joey began to walk around Duke to the other side of the table. Kaiba looked almost panicked, and suddenly bolted up from his chair. Joey lunged forward and caught him, slamming him into the wall and kissing him hard before the brunette could escape. They struggled briefly, but Seto resigned himself to the kiss once Joey had his hands pinned above his head and his body pressing him into the wall so hard that he couldn't escape.
Duke and Marik looked at Ryou expectantly.
He couldn't help but laugh as he rolled the die again, then took note of the result.
Joey really was uncannily lucky…
“You know you’re barely hiding what you’re doing, right?” Marik teased, but Ryou just grinned at him. They still didn't know what rolling the die even meant, but he wasn’t about to remind him of that.
“There, you found out, now knock it off!" Kaiba protested, but he wasn't trying to wrestle free at all. Joey peppered his cheek with extra kisses before releasing him with a smirk.
"C’mon guys, stop teasing Kaiba. You know he's sensitive to that.”
"You don't get to act like you're coming to my defense," Seto protested as he and Joey returned to their seats at the gaming table. “It's your fault they started doing this in the first place, Ryou."
"Oh no, I gave our partners extra incentive to kiss you,” he deadpanned with utter sarcasm. "The absolute horror.”
"Let's just move on. We all go to sleep and wake up the next morning. All of our health and energy is restored, so I go out and–"
“You're stopped by a friendly face at the door!" Ryou interjected, reaching over his screen to place a little green halfling figure in front of the farmhouse. "Mayor Lewis is here, bright and early, to speak to you all! Is everybody awake?”
Joey assented.
"Horus checks the TV for today's reading first. It's his routine.”
"Of course.” Ryou picked up his deck of tarot cards behind the DM screen and went through the cards, pulling three out and placing them face down before shuffling the remaining deck.
He had established a rule for himself, just for tonight, that anytime his partners kissed he would roll a die and remove a corresponding minor arcana card from the tarot deck for the next day’s fortune telling segment. This was him testing it out for the first time, and it was honestly delightful that they had drawn the conclusion that Kaiba, the one most embarrassed by visible displays of affection, was the one that needed to be kissed.
He splayed the cards in his hands before holding them out to Marik. "Pick a card, any card.”
Marik drew his card and revealed the nine of swords.
“Oh, too bad. The spirits will be working hard against you today, Horus. All of your skill checks will be rolled with disadvantage. Anything that's usually rolled with advantage will be rolled normally."
"Galathrax checks the TV for his fortune too.”
Ryou took back Marik’s card, shuffled it into the deck, then splayed them again for Joey to choose.
"I got the Chariot. Is that good?”
"The spirits smile upon you today, and you shall have bountiful luck!” Ryou informed him. "You have a 40% chance to harvest extra crops today. Does anybody else want their fortune read?” Ryou offered the cards to Duke and Seto, who both shook their heads.
"Thalion, Galathrax, and Horus are all outside, now we're just waiting on Hecate.” Kaiba looked over at Duke, indicating for him to take his turn.
"After preparing her hair and makeup for the day, Hecate steps outside to join the others. ‘Oh hello, Mr. Mayor, what can we do for you?’”
"Mayor Lewis greets you all with a somewhat nervous air about him,” Ryou began to narrate. "He pulls a little at the collar of his shirt, like it's just a bit too tight. ‘Good morning, my dear farmers. Your property is absolutely beautiful! Lovely weather we're having today, isn't it?’”
"Get to the point, Mayor.” Kaiba narrowed his eyes at the corresponding figurine. "We're very busy. A property this expansive requires constant attention, so unless you're here for a specific reason, I would ask that you be on your way.”
"Mayor Lewis looks startled, but then sighs heavily. ‘Alright, Thalion. I should have known better than to prevaricate with you. I will get straight to the point. I need your help. We have to hide a body.’”
"What kind of dirty little secrets are you keeping?” Duke intoned for his tiefling artificer. "Nevermind, I won't make you tell me anything, but we do charge a price for cover-ups. One hundred thousand gold, upfront.”
"Hold on a moment," Kaiba tried to protest.
“What kind of body are we talking about here?" Marik asked.
“I think a better question is, where did it come from?" Joey looked particularly startled. “Did you kill someone, Mayor Lewis?"
“‘Certainly not!’ Mayor Lewis tugs at his collar again, but he's clearly indignant. ‘I found a body on the train tracks this morning. It seems to be a traveler that had an unfortunate encounter with a freight train during the night, and I would like your help with hiding it from the rest of the town. I don't want everyone getting upset, after all. This would cause such a big fuss! As for your fee… I think I can make that work. I understand that my request is no trifling matter. If you wait here, I will return with your payment.’ Then the halfling mayor scuttles off back to his house to collect your money. He’ll be back in twenty minutes."
“I don't appreciate you speaking for all of us." Kaiba stared hard at Duke. “My oaths forbid such foul activity.”
"If it's just someone that was hit by a train, there shouldn't be any moral issue though,” Joey butt in as Galathrax. "It's not like we're hiding a murder, we're just burying someone that's probably far from home and anyone they know.”
"That's a huge assumption," Marik pointed out. “My god may have multiple domains, but one of them is justice for the wrongfully dead. We need to investigate and confirm it was an accident before agreeing to do anything at all, otherwise I'll be in huge trouble."
“It's going to be obvious when we get to the body, won't it?" Joey pointed out. “A body hit by a train is going to be pretty obvious.”
"If we inspect the body and find any evidence of foul pay, then we'll need to return the money and refuse the work,” Kaiba decided. "I stand with Horus on this matter.”
"If you don't want the money, then you don't have to take it,” Duke retorted. "But I will make her own decision, and if you don't help, then you don't get your share."
"Mayor Lewis has returned!” Ryou announced. “He hands over a heavy sack to Hecate, because she's the one he made the deal with. ‘The stretch of train tracks that cuts through the valley is quite short. I trust you to find the body and dispose of it properly. I must attend to my mayoral duties, but please let me know when the work is completed.’ And with that, everybody's favorite halfling scuttles away. Now, my brave farmers, what are we going to do?" Ryou propped his elbows on the table, laced his fingers together, and rested his chin on them. He looked at all his partners with interest.
“We have to go check out the body first, right?" Joey looked around to get nods of confirmation. “‘Okay, I'll bring the horse so we can carry the body back.’ Then Galathrax mounts Sir Mix-A-Lot and comes back over to the others.”
"I want no part of this,” Marik protested.
"We need to at least supervise them,” Kaiba pointed out. "If we don't, they could get us all in trouble.”
"It's agreed, then.” Duke looked pleased with himself. "We’ll all go check out the body together.”
Ryou fidgeted with a custom sculpted miniature piece—the dead body in question—as the party discussed their next course of action. He was trying to hide his excitement at this development.
"We'll take the North path from the farm and cut behind Robin's house. It's too early for Demetrius to be out, so–”
"Who's Demetrius?” Joey asked, looking genuinely confused.
"Robin’s husband, that's definitely not good enough for her,” Duke answered with confidence. "I could treat that woman right though.”
"–So we shouldn't be at risk of getting spotted,” Kaiba finished, rolling his eyes at Duke. He turned his attention to Ryou. "Do we need to make a party stealth check?”
"Yes,” Ryou decided. "And remember, Horus rolls with disadvantage. Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier, but it's raining. Remember, you checked the weather yesterday and that's what it said.”
"That's problematic,” Kaiba sighed, looking thoughtful. “The rain will likely have washed away evidence that's necessary for determining the cause of death.”
“Hopefully it will be obvious," Marik said. “Okay, since we need to make a stealth check, I'll just go first and pray for the best." He tossed his dice into the forest lake (a blue dice tray). “That's a six and a twelve."
“You pass." Ryou looked from Marik on his left to Joey on his right. “Galathrax, it's your turn."
The blond snapped a die into the dice tray and grinned.
“Eighteen!"
“Nice." Ryou smiled at him before looking at Duke, the next player after Joey. “Hecate?"
“I've got this." Duke tossed the die in as well, and cheered. “Sixteen!"
“Your turn, Seto." Ryou smiled sweetly at the brunette. "You need a ten to pass.”
"That won't be hard,” he scoffed, and threw his own die into the board.
"Fucking hell,” Joey complained immediately. "Paladins suck at stealth.”
"I use an inspiration die,” Kaiba announced, rolling again so quickly as if he was trying to erase his one from existence. "There, eleven. With a negative modifier, it still comes out to ten. I pass.”
"Awww, look at my boys working together!” Ryou grinned and cupped his own cheeks in a slightly cutesy way. “You're all so adorable when you get along!"
“Damn right we are." Duke tossed his ponytail with pride. “It's just such a shame that you've got that DM screen and laptop in front of you, because I’d love to be sitting closer to you.”
"You'll have to get around me first,” Joey protested, reaching out and snagging one of Ryou's hands to hold.
"And me!” Marik joined in, snatching Ryou's other hand for himself.
“I can't DM without my hands, guys," Ryou laughed, carefully pulling his hands back to himself, much to their chagrin. “Anyways, now that you've passed your stealth check, you all make your way north towards the train tracks. Who wants to look for the body?"
“I will," Joey answered. “I go over to the mouth of the train tunnel and peek in there first."
“Still on the horse?"
“Yes, I'm still riding Sir Mix-A-Lot."
“Okay, well Mixy doesn't want to get too close to the train tracks, so he takes you kind of close but stops a few feet away."
“Can I roll an animal handling check to see if I can coax him closer?"
“Just dismount," Kaiba instructed. “It’ll be faster for all of us."
“If he wants to roll for animal handling, he can." Ryou pulled up his chart for horse-related tables and scenarios on his laptop. “Okay Joey, roll a D12."
“Cool." Another die got flicked into the dice tray. “That's an eight!"
“You try to convince Mixy to get closer to the tracks, but he only takes two steps closer before snorting. The scent of machinery and residue on the tracks are too much of a red flag for him, and he's very clearly distressed standing so close.”
"Okay, I'll dismount, then I take Mixy over to a patch of grass by the old bathhouse before going back to the mouth of the cave to look for the body. Do I have to roll again?"
“Nope, you've found it!" Ryou picked up the corpse piece and reached over the screen to set it on the very edge of the train tracks.
“Oh damn, that train wrecked them,” Duke observed. "There isn't even a face left!”
"Even so, we can still tell that it was a tabaxi,” Kaiba said. "His injuries do seem to be congruent with vehicular trauma.”
"But if it was a body dump, there's no way we could tell,” Marik pointed out. "And with the body half covered in mud, it's going to be hard to learn anything about who this person was.”
"All the more reason to give them a proper burial,” Joey pointed out. "It will be even harder to try and figure out where they're from, and the town doesn't have the resources to do it. We're basically the closest thing to law enforcement that they have, so." Joey shrugged. “Where's the harm?"
Marik groaned and Kaiba sighed again. Then they looked at each other.
“You know you want the gold," Marik said.
"So do you,” Kaiba accused.
"Of course I do! With that much gold, we could buy a fishing boat! We could build a house for Krobus!”
"But we picked principled characters.”
"We sure did.” Marik looked down at his character sheet with narrowed eyes.
Ryou snickered at them, unable to help himself. According to Duke, Kaiba and Marik had been slow to warm up to each other once the couples became entangled with each other. Everyone was glad that they had reached some level of companionable peace with each other, though. It made things like game night possible.
"I’ve decided to wash my hands of this,” Kaiba announced. "I'm going to go tend the livestock and the fowl. Whatever you lot decide to do with the body is your business.”
“So you're returning to the farm?" Ryou clarified.
“Yes. It seems like the best course of action." Kaiba turned to Marik. “Will you join me?"
“Yes, I think I will. It is the wisest option."
“Okay, then the party has divided,” Ryou announced. "Horus and Thalion are going back to the farm while Hecate, Galathrax, and Sir Mix-A-Lot will be taking care of the dead tabaxi. We're going to follow the corpse for now, so Galathrax and Hecate, what's your first action now that you've been left unsupervised?"
Duke and Joey looked at each other.
“There's no harm in checking their pockets," Duke said casually. “After all, if there's anything useful in there, it would just go to waste if we buried it."
“They wouldn’t want us to let anything go to waste,” Joey agreed. “That would be wasteful.”
Kaiba growled his disapproval, but Ryou waved a hand at him.
“Hush, you’re not here. You don’t get to argue with it. Respect the process.”
“So, we’ve agreed then: no waste.”
“Agreed. Hecate crouches down next to the body and starts to carefully feel around for the pockets.”
“Roll for investigation.”
“Hyah!” Duke tossed his die in the dice tray. “Sixteen, that’s got to get me something good.”
“Hecate, you find a single item in the tabaxi’s pockets. It’s a single round potion bottle sealed with a large cork. The liquid inside is an iridescent shimmering blue.”
“What does it smell like?” Joey asked.
“You can’t smell it through the cork.”
“Hm, very nice. Hecate takes the potion and puts it in her inventory.”
“There’s a tag on the potion bottle that catches your eye as you go to put it in your pack,” Ryou said hurriedly, like he was trying to keep Duke from moving on. “The little tag has survived the rain and reads simply ‘Drink Me.’”
“Oh really?” Duke raised an eyebrow at Ryou. “Hecate is very intrigued by such a label.”
“Do you recognize what that potion does just by looking at it?” Joey asked, looking between Duke and Ryou with hesitance.
“Hecate doesn’t have proficiency with potion-making, so I don’t think she could.” Duke frowned.
Marik was beginning to look pained as he watched the decisions being made right before him without the ability to interfere.
“Ryou, I have a question.”
Ryou looked back at Seto curiously.
“Are you firmly tied to the side effects of that potion?”
“Not too firmly.” Rou’s eyes sparkled. “What did you have in mind?”
Seto reached for his phone and sent his response as a text. Ryou checked his phone and smiled.
“Okay, that’s not a bad idea. How are you going to bribe me?”
Seto studied him for a moment, baffled.
“Hold on, I can help.” Marik leaned over and dug around into his backpack for something. “Here.” He pulled out a snack-size packet of sandwich cookies. “Will this suffice as payment?”
“You don’t even know what you’re paying for,” Kaiba criticized, but Marik just shrugged.
“If you’re trying to fuck with them, then I’m in,” he answered simply, pointing his thumb at the two scoundrels across the table from him.
“Bribe accepted, gimme!”
Marik handed over the cookie pack to Ryou, who immediately tore the packet open and shoved one into his mouth, taking a large bite out of it. He chewed and swallowed, very clearly pleased with it.
“Okay, wish granted.” He turned back to Duke. “What’s Hecate going to do with her potion?”
“Hecate… is going to inspect the potion bottle again,” Duke said slowly, coming up with a new plan. “Oh, Galathrax, I think I actually do recognize what this potion does.”
“You do?” Joey knew he couldn’t trust it, but Galathrax didn’t know that, and he had to force himself to stay in-character.
“Yes, this is a potion that boosts your speed stat permanently. I know you’re not as fast as Thalion, so here, I’m going to share it with you. Here, drink up.”
Joey glared daggers at Duke.
“There’s no way that potion does anything good.”
“Yes, but Kaiba was trying to mess with me, not you, so it can’t be all that bad. It’ll probably be something like reducing your charisma or change your hair color or something.”
"Ugh, Galathrax has no reason not to trust you," Joey groaned. Ryou had emphasized to his players early on that no meta-gaming was allowed. “Okay. Galathrax thanks you for the potion and tries to pull out the cork with one of his claws.”
"Strength check.”
Joey rolled his die and groaned again.
"Natural twenty.” Kaiba smirked, looking much too pleased.
"Galathrax sniffs the potion?”
"It smells like blue raspberry with a twist of lemon.”
"Okay, cool. Galathrax… drinks the whole potion." Then Joey braced himself with tense shoulders, dreading the outcome.
“Galathrax, you begin to feel a little strange," Ryou began with a little while. “You feel your skin and your scales begin to tingle all over. It's a warm sensation, like basking in sunshine. And then you notice that the world around you is starting to seem larger."
“Uh oh."
“Yes, while it does seem that the whole world is growing around you, in reality, it's you that is shrinking.”
"Ugh, nooooo.” Joey's whine was dramatic enough that it drew a chuckle from Kaiba. “Okay, how small am I?"
“You've shrunk down so that you're only as tall as Hecate’s knees."
“Oh Galathrax, you're so cute!" Duke enthused in-character. “‘I could just eat you up!’ Then Hecate reaches down and picks him up, and then, like, rubs him against her cheek like he's a puppy or something.”
"I am a mighty warrior!" Joey protested. “Put me down, I don't like being man-handled!"
Duke burst out laughing and after a second, Joey realized the issue with his phrasing.
"Could've fooled me with how I had you behaving last week,” Marik teased, embarrassing the blond further.
"You guys are the worst,” Joey grumbled as the whole table laughed, but Ryou reached out to hold his hand and give it a reassuring squeeze.
"Don't worry, I'll give you a chance to get back at him later.”