3/18/2005

Joey's Dilemma

Summary: What is a boy, caught in between a love triangle, to do? Joey must choose. The girl he has had a crush on was always worth anything. But Joey isn't sure she's worth the sacrifice of losing 'someone' who has always been there when he was down. Wether this 'someone' knows it or not. And what should happen when more competition arises, making the situation more complicated than before?

Pairings: Joey/Mai? or Joey/Someone?

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!', Kazuki Takahashi, Warner Bro., 4Kids, and etc. does.

Chapter: Longings

A sunny morning ray of light hit a young man's face, waking him from his slumber. Groaning in weariness, the boy sat up, snatching the digital clock from his night stand grumpily. 'Ugh, 6:40 a.m.' the boy noted, as this registered his eyes widened, "6:40 a.m.!" Covering his mouth all of a sudden, so as not to wake the person probably sleeping on the couch downstairs. He glared at the clock, 'It's too early to be up!' he thought, heading for the bathroom. Stretching and yawning, he closed the door quietly behind him and looked in the mirror. "Just great, I can't go back to sleep now." The boy's brown eyes narrowed in annoyance. Scratching his head, Joey shrugged and decided that it wouldn't hurt to be early to school for once.

At school...

Joey walked through the school gates at a sluggish pace, "Wonder if the others are here yet." But he already knew the answer to that question. The outside premises of the school were nearly empty, except for a few students here and there. "Yug and the others will probably be here around 7:45 and right now it's, barely 7:00!" Joey exclaimed in dismay. In a funk, he made his way towards his class, "Sheesh! Today just isn't my day! No breakfast, no friends to talk to, and I forgot my math homework! Wait..., what was my math homework?" The blond began to panic as he opened his first periods' door. Thinking that he would have the room all to himself to sulk in. Joey glared at the boy in his usual seat in the far back corner, closest to the window, 'Moneybags!'

But luckily for Joey, he sat on the opposite side of the room, faraway from Kaiba. And luckily for him, Kaiba was, as usual, too engrossed on his laptop to even notice him. As Joey took his notebook out he blankly stared it, then at Kaiba. "Hey, uh, Kaiba?" he called clearly, but he received no response. "Hey Kaiba, I'm talking to you," Joey called once again, a bit louder. If there was one thing he hated more than being laughed at, itwas being rudely ignored. "Look moneybags, I'm trying to be as nice as possible, but you aren't making it any easier!" the blond shouted. Still, Kaiba did not answer, the only noise was that of the clicking of keyboard pads. "KAIBA!" Joey stood up and stormed over to the CEO, roughly tapping him on the shoulder.

Kaiba gave a slight jump, looking up at the intruder he gave his deadliest glare. Taking off his headphones, he was listening to his mini radio again, he asked, "What do you want, mutt? Can't you see I'm busy?" Joey face faulted, 'At least he wasn't ignoring me on purpose,' he thought lamely. Then, "What? No, 'good morning' or 'hi, now buzz off'?" the blond knowingly reprimanded, but saw that Kaiba wasn't in the best of moods, 'Is he ever?' and quickly got to the point. "I was just wondering if you could tell me what the math homework for yesterday was," he informed. "No," Seto replied and continued to work, but Joey needed that homework assignment now. "Oh, come on, please?" "Take a hike, Wheeler." "No thanks!" the blond yelled in horror.

So instead, Joey just stood there impatiently, looking at what the CEO was typing and asking numerous, annoying, questions. "How can you read that? It's just numbers! Don't you get sick of doing math? Are you sure you're even human?" Until Kaiba couldn't take it anymore, "Leave!" "Only if you give me the math assign-," his stomach rumbled, "-ment, hehehe." Kaiba sweat-dropped, "And I suppose you're going to ask me for food next?" he stated testily. "It was a side question, yeah," Joey laughed. This didn't make the case any better for himself though. Huffing, Kaiba retrieved his book bag while muttering, "What did I do to deserve such a nuisance so early in the day?" At this Joey would have protested, but he was hungry and he needed the homework assignment. Kaiba turned back to Joey and said, "Next time, pay attention in class and buy your own food. I'm not a charity service, you know?" Kaiba shoved the things into his hands. "Will do!" Joey answered gratefully and walked back to his side of the classroom.

Half an hour later...

"Done!" Joey cheered, waving a piece of paper in the air, taking a bite of a sandwich at the same time. "What are you done with?" Yugi asked as he entered the class, the others trailing in behind him. "Hey guys! It's about time you got here! Actually, I was just saying that I finished my math homework," he answered. Tea looked at a corner in the classroom, "Kaiba's here and they're not trying to stab each other to death with the pencils? Yup, it's definitely going to rain, good thing I brought my umbrella," she stated. Joey scoffed, "No it's not, just because-," a loud boom of thunder echoed as a light rain began to hit the windows. "Nevermind. Anyway, hey Kaiba!" He didn't answer, so the blond walked over to him again, everyone panicked. "Oh no! What is he doing?" Bakura asked. The boy only placed the assignment sheet in front of Kaiba. "Thanks!" Joey said, Kaiba turned to glare at him once more, "You're not welcome," he replied.

Yugi sighed, "Well, at least it's a change, for once." Duke nodded his agreement as Tristan quickly ran to Joey, who looked as if to blow. "I have had it with your attitude pun-," Joey's yelling was muffled by his friend as he was dragged away. Sitting down on their side of the class, and calming Joey down, they left Kaiba alone to do his work. "What happened, man?" his best friend inquired, eating a piece of the boy's food. "Hey! That's my breakfast, Tristan!" "Oops, sorry," he quickly apologized. They sat in a sort of circle, "So how come you're eating breakfast here?" Tea asked. "Because dad forgot to buy food the other day and I had no money left." Yugi blinked, "Then how are you eating breakfast now?" Joey yawned, "Oh, I just bugged Kaiba until he gave me what I needed. You see, he didn't want to give me the assignment for yesterday's homework, and well, I asked for food afterwards, hehe." His friends sighed and asked, "Did he beat you up first?" "Nah, just wanted me to stop asking him so many questions." They were about to ask him why he was there so early to begin with, when the rest of the class piled in, along with the teacher.

After school...

Walking along the wet sidewalk towards the Game Shop, Joey happily whistled away, "What are you so happy about?" Tea gave Joey a suspicious glance. "Me? What do you mean?" His friends snickered, "Please, you've been in a dreamy mode for the past three days! You're not going to say nothing's wrong." The teenager just smiled to himself and entered the shop, the others giving each other inquisitive looks. "Hey gramps," they heard Joey greet as they entered. "Hi, Mr. Mutou." "Hi, grandpa." "Hello kids, I have some snacks ready if want any. They're in the kitche- aahh!" the old man quickly dodged the running Joey and Tristan.

Once settled in the living room, Bakura asked Tea's old question, "What are you so happy about, Joey?" Everyone redirected their full attention to him, who was grinning so widely it reminded the others of one of Yami Marik's maniacal grins. They shuddered. "Well," Joey started gleefully, "Mai's coming the day after tomorrow!" Yugi sputtered his orange juice, "Really!" "Yup!" Duke clapped him on the shoulder, "So now are you going to ask her out?" Joey's face turned a bright crimson, then he laughed and pushed Duke out of his seat, "Dicey boy, you crack me up! Anyway, she's coming in from China and she says she has a surprise for us!" he subtly changed the subject. Tea noticed this, as did the other guys, and so let him be.

At twilight...

A pebble skipped a couple of steps as it skidded to a stop on the pavement. A shadow loomed high and long over the small rock, which skipped another few steps and skidded to a stop once again. 'What am I going to do?' Joey thought anxiously, 'I mean, yeah, Mai is pretty and all, she's also very likable, but...' He continued to travel home, the rain had stopped and the sunset was setting low behind him, the sky changing to nice shades of orange, pink, and purple. Kicking the pebble off the ground again, he continued to wonder, 'Say I do take Duke's advice, how do I really know if she even likes me? I'll just make a big fool of myself.'

Joey's Imagination

Mai was walking down the street when Joey caught up to her, "Hey Mai!" the breathless boy greeted. The woman looked at him, mildly surprised, "Is something wrong?" Joey shook his head, "No, of course not. Well, actually I wanted to ask you something," the younger blond stated seriously. While Joey was looking for a way to put his words in the right context, Mai began to tap a foot in annoyance. "You're wasting my time! Whatever it is that you have to ask me, just ask me!" She was fuming, he was getting on her last nerve and she was ready to leave. "I was wondering if...if you wanted to go out with me. You know, like a date?"

Joey was edgily awaiting her answer, but the seconds soon turned into long agonizing minutes. "Um, are you alright, Mai?" her friend tentatively inquired, noticing that she had started shaking. Then startling him, her head snapped up and she started laughing full force, "Me on a date with you?" She pointed an incredulous finger at him, "Please, don't make me laugh! Joey, it may look like I like you, but in reality hun, I just pity you!" In Joey's eyes, Mai somehow seemed to tower over him, he could hear a laughing Kaiba in the background as well. "See Wheeler? You're just a lowly mutt, I don't think even Gardner would date you! So what makes you think Mai Valentine, someone who can afford her own things because she's rich, would ever consider you to be more than her lapdog?"

The blond found himself being looked down upon by two of the richest people he knew. "No one asked for your opinion, rich boy!" Joey yelled up, then realized that both Kaiba and Mai were going to stomp on him. "You're just a nasty little bug to society Joey!" the looming figures shouted and stomped him out of his dream like state.

End Of Joey's Imagination

"Oh yeah! I'll show you Seto Kaiba! If he thinks for one second that he'll beat me to Mai, then he's got another thing coming for him!" Joey was now in front of his house, a hand held up in front of him menacingly as his father stared at him from the doorway. "Uh, who on earth are you talking to, Joseph?" The boy sobered up and stalked up to the door, "What's it to you?" he asked, pushing his way inside.

Next morning...

A groggy Joey sat up and squinted at his clock, "6:30? What on earth is wrong with me?" he yawned. Getting ready once again, Joey headed to the bathroom, after tripping over his own feet three or four times he quietly shut the door behind him. As he went through the regular routine, except for the early bird part, Joey got out of the shower and put his uniform on. "Hmmm? Where did this come from?" He tilted his head, bringingit up to his face to examine the weight scale. Placing it on the floor again, Joey remembered that he and Serenity used to play on it all the time back when they were small. Looking shifty eyed at the bathroom's door, the sixteen year old stepped onto the scale. Grinning, he began to think that since he was in such great shape he would probably weigh around 116 lbs. "Hehehe, let's see now, 150 pounds?" Joey stood there frozen, gaping.

Game Shop...

Yami was floating in midair, concentrating his powers, 'Haha! I did it!' he yelled proudly. His counterpart glared at him, peeved at being thrown out of his bed. "What did you do that for?" 'You told me to wake you up next time. Next time is right now, and I woke you up didn't I?' Huffing indigniantly, Yugi started getting ready for school when someone knocked on the door. "Yugi, dear? Are you alright? I heard yelling and something falling," his mother said worriedly behind the door. Her son started laughing nervously, "Oh, nothing mom! I just slipped out of bed, that's all!" he reassured, sending Yami a venomous look. The other didn't seem to notice, seeing as he was too busy basking in his pride at remembering an old spell.

"Come on, stop gloating already," Yugi whispered, exiting his room and running downstairs. "Bye mom, bye grandpa!" "Bye Yugi!" And the King of Games shut the door behind him, greeting Tea along the way. Mr. Mutou was organizing his games when his daughter-in-law came up to him. "Are you sure it's normal for Yugi to be talking to himself?" Her father-in-law started sweating, he hadn't expected her to ask again. "Uh, of course. Like I said before-," "You used to do it all the time, yes, yes, I know. But I don't want my son turning out to be a crazy little old man later in life," she added the last sentence under her breath. "Did you say something, dear?" "No!"

Outside...

Tea and Yugi walked down the sidewalk towards school as usual. "So Yugi, you were up earlier than any other day," she taunted. Yugi sweat-dropped, "It's all Yami's fault," he complained and went on to explain what the spirit did. His companion was about say something when Joey came running down the street behind them. "Hey Joey," they greeted, but he just passed them by in a cloud of dust. Both stared after their friend. "What's with him?" they looked at each other, then shrugged it off and continued walking.

Kaiba had just entered his first periods' door when someone nearly knocked him down. A panting Joey stumbled onto the floor, "That...was...a start...," the boy laughed insanely. Kaiba side-stepped Joey, giving him a glare as he purposely kicked him. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" Joey shouted, more like croaked. His rival, not only in dueling, but supposedly now for Mai's attention as well, snorted. "I wasn't the one running after the garbage truck, mutt." This statement amazingly went unnoted by the huffing boy. Instead he changed the subject completely, "That's it! You may be a better duelist than me! But there is no way you're beating me in this game!" Kaiba sat in his seat and gave Joey an inquiring look along the way. "We're competing in a new game? Well, it's a bit unfair that I had no knowledge of when it began or what it is, but I'm confident I'll win, as usual."

The blond's chest puffed up, "Ha! In your dreams! And if you're so smart then I guess you won't worry about knowing what the game is! Try and figure it out!" His voice echoed around the room and down the empty hall through the open door. The CEO glanced at the teacher's desk and watched as a glass pencil holder slipped off and shattered onto the floor. Joey had shouted a little too loudly. "Racing to the class and seeing who gets there first," Seto answered, but Joey shook his head. As if on cue Tristan, Tea, and Yugi barged in. "What happened? We heard yelling!" The room was silent as a cherry petal drifted off a tree outside the classes's window. Kaiba was rocking his seat on its back legs, then letting it fall back onto all four he snapped the other four out of their stuptor. "We're just playing a game," Joey said good-naturedly.

Lunch time...

A loud howl like moan drifted to any nearby student's ears. Some turned their heads, wondering who let a dog in. Others didn't need to look up to know who was moaning like a dog. His head hit the tree's trunk for the fifth time, his friends had given up on trying to stop him, but continued to ask him questions. "Why don't you eat some of our food?" Bakura handed Joey a sandwich. His friend waved his hand, indicating a no and dropped onto the green grass. "Why not?" The brown eyed boy sighed, entranced with the leaves' texture above his head, he felt tired as his stomach grumbled. "I'm on a strict diet, that's why," he informed.

The others tried not to laugh, really. "Joey," Tea loomed over him, "I mean no offense, believe me. But last time you said that you ended up eating all the food in my fridge. After only two days." He scowled, "Thanks for the boost of confidence," and he moodily turned his back on the group. A hand clapped onto his shoulder, "See man? You're getting grouchy already. Now tell us why you're going on a diet." Joey crossed his arms as his answer. Someone snorted, Duke. "Is it that game with Kaiba you mentioned awhile ago?" "Maybe." The raven haired young man smirked knowingly, "Or does it have to do with, oh I don't know, you being nervous Kaiba will get to Mai first?" Joey sat bolt upright and started ranting, "He won't win! Not if I can help it!"

Again they laughed at his foolishness. "What's so funny!" he demanded. "Mai doesn't like Kaiba, you already know that!" Yugi chuckled. "Hmph!" The school bell rang and they got up, dragging a fuming Joey with them. Meanwhile, the bushes behind the tree rustled, Kaiba stepped out into the open. Taking pieces of twigs and leaves out of his hair, his smile widened. 'So, Wheeler wants to play like that, huh? I have a feeling this is going to be very fun, especially when I raise the stakes.' Dusting the last speck of dirt off his uniform, Seto gleefully made his way across the green grass.

Note: My new series, which will have seperate stories for each character. Tell me how you like/dislike it by reviewing! I also have a story of Solomon Mutou, which I haven't seen any as of yet. Oh yes, I'm not sure wether Yugi's mom is Solomon's daughter or daughter-in-law. So don't mind me if I got it wrong. If you know, care to tell me? R&R

Rune-Sorceress