"High-five, Puppy-guy! We beat those two to a pulp!"

"Ya can say dat again! Ya were amazin' out there!" The male didn't go for a double high-five despite you having raised both hands in the air, and instead wrapped his arms around your waist, lifting you up with quite the unexpected strength and spinning you around. It had almost entirely slipped your mind that underneath this thick layer of puppy suit was an actual guy. The two of you shared your happy moment until you remembered that there were still literal butts to kick for having bullied a child into almost handing over their wallet.

"Now back ta dem two—" Just as the Brooklyn boy was saying and had successfully placed you down on firm ground, the mentioned delinquents had made a run for it, and did so quite boldly given that they had decided to sprint directly past you. You and the male dressed as a Shiba Inu would have chased them down if it hadn't been for one of the hooligans hitting the back of your head with his elbow. You didn't know if it had been accidental or on purpose, but you were betting your mocha on the latter. "Ouch...! those friggin' jerks..."

"Oh crap are ya okay?" The male was immediately worried because for instance he had witnessed exactly what had happened and the impact had made your head fall right into the Shiba Inu's soft chest. Hugging and patting your head as if you were the dog here, the young man tried to ease the pain that you already didn't even feel anymore. "Thanks, I'm alright now, so you can let go."

The male almost felt as if he had overstepped certain boundaries when wrapping his arms around you and released you from his bone-crushing grip. When he did though, you couldn't help but widen your eyes at something on the chest-part of his dog suit. It was a red stain and you were more than positive that it hadn't been there just a moment ago. When you brought the palm of your hand to your face to check for the cause, you weren't too surprised to find out that your nose was bleeding. How that part of your head had begun bleeding when in reality the back of it had been hit was still a mystery to you though. Plot convenience, probably. "I'm so sorry! I just stained your outfit..."

"Oh ma gawd yer bleedin'?! Let's geddit ta stop right away!" Clearly the waiter was more worried about your well-being than his dog suit which you certainly appreciated. He quickly made you sit down on the closest chair and raced to the ice cream stand to grab a good amount of tissues and back, before kneeling in front of you and pressing one of the many tissues against your nose. "I used ta get nosebleeds on a daily basis, but ever since ma friend Yuge told me dat tiltin' ya' head backward's actually bad, I don't really know what ta do."

"Seriously? You're just like a kid!" You snorted at the worker's short tale, making him feel even more embarrassed that he had told you such a trivial thing by continuing to laugh. After regaining your composure, you reached for the tissue that the Shiba Inu boy had been holding against your nose with your own hand as if to signal him that he could let go now. He didn't though. Instead, he just put his paw on top of your hand, the fluffiness of it almost making you forget that it was just a get-up and not the real deal. "Gee, ya don't need ta rub it in!"

"Still, I can't believe da punk actually hit ya!" The Brooklyn boy couldn't hide his anger despite his voice coming on a bit muffled due to his whole head being hidden beneath the dog costume, and you couldn't figure out why his concern in particular awoke a strange, warm feeling inside of you. The odd butterflies in your stomach had you too preoccupied to even notice that you had leaned your head more into the waiter's paw. "Don't sweat it. Besides, I think the bleeding will stop soon anyway."

"Actually, shouldn't you take off your costume? We can try to wash out the stain in the fountain before it dries and becomes even harder to remove." You awoke from your half-daze by shaking your head slightly, pointing at the Shiba Inu's chest or more precisely at the red smudge with your free hand. "Hmm guess yer right." The male didn't seem to have really thought about it but decided to follow your advice anyway, and started doing so by releasing you from his tender grip, you unconsciously getting a bit disappointed at the sudden lack of warmth.

While the Brooklyn boy was busy trying to get his head part off of himself, you distanced the now stained tissue to check if your nosebleed had finally come to a halt, which it surprisingly or not actually did. The waiter had managed to successfully remove the upper part of his dog costume by the time you had checked one last time by tapping your nostril with your index finger gently. What you hadn't planned was that your mouth would hang wide open once you were met with the Shiba boy's real face, and neither had you been counting on wide eyes or scarlet cheeks. "H-Hold on... Y-You're Joey Wheeler!"

"Eh, ya know me?" The dirty blond-haired young man was more surprised by the fact that you actually knew his identity than at the way you so boldly reacted. He raised a brow and tilted his head slightly to the side just like a puppy would — perhaps wearing that costume and acting like one had become a habit he was not aware of — and waited for your reply. You on the other hand still had a hard time believing that this was actually happening, that it was reality and not some silly dream. "Of course I know you, who doesn't! You're Domino's number three Duelist, one of the best!"

"Well yeeh, I guess ya could say dat." A bright blush seared across Joey's face while he rubbed his right cheek with his finger, pulling quite the odd face that you failed to notice due to your lack of concentration. Your words really were music to the blond's ears, even more so when those words were actual praise and not the sarcasm that a lot of people tended to shower him with. While he was busy fawning over the few compliments you had instinctively blurted out, your mind was being flooded by one realization after the other.

Of all the times you had come to Otogi's cafe never once had you recognized the person beneath the Shiba Inu get-up. Not to mention that you even received the chance to duel alongside your idol today and that that very idol had spun you around in the air not too long ago. You felt the blood rushing to your cheeks and at one point, some of it even began leaking from your nose anew. "Gyahh! Yer bleedin' again! Quick, da tissue!"

Your reaction time was a bit off due to your head partially still being in the clouds, so it was Joey who brought a fresh tissue back to your nose that in this situation appeared more like a red waterfall. "Gawd ya' face is seriously red! Are ya sure dat punk didn't hit'cha too hard?"

"Ah n-no, I think I'm fine now." You waved the male off once you had finally snapped yourself out of whatever mental crisis you had been stuck in, grateful for his quick thinking and friendly gesture. Your favorite Duelist was crouching down before your eyes, meaning that this was your big chance to actually make a memory or two with him. Yes, because only having had two nosebleeds in front of him would have been considered leaving things on a rather awkward note. "W-Would it be too much to ask for your autograph?"

"You see, I've been a huge fan of yours ever since your debut at Duelist Kingdom..." You said in a somewhat more silent tone, afraid that by putting things like that would give Joey a weird impression of you. But that was the last thing that would ever cross this blond's mind. He was overjoyed that there was someone out there who admired him. Not Yugi Muto, the King of Games, not the runner-up Seto Kaiba, but him, Joey Wheeler, the one who often relies on luck in order to win his Duels. "Hehe are ya kiddin'? I'll sign every single card of yours, your shirt, I'll even give ya mine if ya want!"

"Are you for real?" You blurted out, careful not to ditch the tissue that was still preventing more blood from rushing out of your nose when you covered your mouth with both hands. Your eyes started to sparkle brighter than any diamond the moment Joey nodded in response while wearing his now signature grin. "I mean, what kinda' pro would I be if I didn't give ya some deserved fan-service?"

You giggled and smiled at every silly thing that Joey told you from then on, and you couldn't have been happier to find out that he was such a down to earth, selfless person — just like you had portrayed him to be when seeing him on television several times. Your joyful time was soon interrupted by Mr. Clown though, the manager of the cafe. "Wheeler! Are you planning to let the mocha rot away or what? The ice cream's become soup, too! Quit slacking and get your mutt-butt back to work!"

"Geh, ma boss is spoutin' somethin', so I better get back ta work. I'll get'cha a new ice cream so no worries—" Joey played the part of being intimidated by the manager as he shot up from his crouching position and was just about to rush back to selling ice cream and delivering balloons to children if it weren't for you reaching for and grabbing his wrist quicker. "Actually, I'll make do with just the mocha. And shouldn't we wash your suit first? You'll scare off the kids if you walk around with blood on your fur."

"Yikes I forgot! Ma boss will kill me if he sees dis!" The fear on the blond's face was much more credible this time, and so was the pose he pulled before throwing a glance over his shoulder and to the man that was impatiently waiting for him near the ice cream truck. A small smile crawled up your lips as an idea popped up in your head. "You helped me out when we dueled those scumbags earlier, so let me help you out this time!"

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Thank You for Reading!