Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.

Seto Kaiba was the last person in the world Croquet would wish for a son-in-law.

Of course, Mr. Crawford wasn't his son (or so he told himself even with shivers of incestuous affection running down his spine) and Kaiba and he would never get married (not in his lifetime, hopefully), but Croquet couldn't help but feel quiet rage as he saw a smug expression rise to Kaiba's face as he wrapped an arm around Mr. Crawford's slender waist, to keep him from ending up as a drunken slump on the floor. He remained in the shadows, never once removing his eyes from Mr. Crawford's helpless form, and he would have sighed in relief as Kaiba removed his arm when they reached Mr. Crawford's hotel room, only to have his heart go cold with fear as, while Mr. Crawford tried to push the key into the lock instead of slamming it against the door, Kaiba allowed his hand to casually slide over Mr. Crawford's silk-clad, vulnerable buttocks.

He was THAT close from losing his temper. He was THAT close from rushing over to Kaiba and punching him to the ground. He did neither of those but he did ball his hand up to a fist as he saw Mr. Crawford tense visibly, too drunk to realize what had just happened but sober enough to realize that Kaiba had just invaded his space somehow, and that's when Croquet calmly walked in the view, forcing a smile on his face as Kaiba turned to face him.

"Thoughtful of you to bring him over here," he remarked casually. Kaiba's face remained expressionless - he wasn't even disappointed of the interruption! - and he glanced at Mr. Crawford one more time before striding past Croquet, rewarding him with a biting reply:

"I hope he isn't planning to do this all the time during our co-operation."

Croquet needed all his will-power not to whirl around and stare at Kaiba's back in rage, if not outright attack him.

He forgot about Kaiba as Mr. Crawford finally managed to unlock the door and stumble into the room, and Croquet slid inside quickly and closed the door. Mr. Crawford turned to him, his mouth forming a surprised 'o' as he recognized Croquet, who wondered with heavy heart if he had expected to see Kaiba instead.

To his complete surprise, Mr. Crawford said:

"I was wondering where you are.. I was feeling a little lonely." He gave baffled Croquet an odd little smile, slumping down on the edge of the bed. "Why don't you pull my shoes off? I'm soooooooooo tired.."

If it had been anybody else, Croquet would have shrugged that off as an extremely rude and insulting demand, but because it was Mr. Crawford, his master (HIS), he found himself sinking down to his knees, his hands almost trembling as he reached out to take a hold of his master's ankles, feeling the delicate bones under the white fabric of the socks, knowing this would probably only kind of gesture of love that would ever take place between them.