"To be a parent is to ultimately fail many times and learn from your mistakes. Any parent who acts like they haven't failed is only pretending."

"My advice to you is to have children because no matter how much therapy you get or how many bad experiences you get through, kids will ultimately be the reason you look at yourself and realize your own personal faults; it'll make you change for the better. Kids are the best at doing that. Why? Because they're mirrors of yourself and if there's one thing you know about yourself is that you don't want anyone to make the same mistakes you did."

Happy Father's Day

It was a beautiful and wondrous morning in Domino City. The birds were singing and there was a soft breeze that seemed to gently kiss every blooming flower good morning as the sun burned brightly overhead. A boy, no more than sixteen years old, had promptly opened the door just as this welcoming breeze had rushed into the small shop, causing the boy to flutter his eyes and smile with delight. It was a Sunday.

"I love the smell of cards in the morning," Yugi Muto said to himself, closing the door, but not without switching the sign on the front door to say 'Open' instead of 'Closed'. Yugi turned away from the entrance and back towards his grandfather, whom was sitting at the front desk, wiping down the counter to get it ready for the day. "Grandpa, I've finished all my morning chores, NOW can I call Dad?" Yugi asked with certain innocence in his voice.

Yugi's grandfather stopped what he was doing and eyed him with suspicion.

"Did you clean up your room?"

"Yes."

"Did you put away your laundry?"

"Yes."

"Did you organize the front shelves?"

"I did that last night."

"In alphabetical order?"

"Yes!" Yugi's grandfather smiled. In a way, he was sure Yugi had done all those things, Yugi was a good kid but he could never quite stop himself from making sure. It was part of the parenting process but he also enjoyed knowing Yugi had a handle on his responsibilities. It made Yugi's grandfather feel like everything was in order. Yugi stood apart from him, anxious to hear his grandfather's answer.

"Sure, you can go." Yugi jumped with glee.

"Awesome! Thanks Grandpa!" Yugi didn't take a second more to run into the back room and pick up the phone from the receiver. He dialed his father's cell phone number without having to look at the listing of numbers that had been taped to the side of the phone. Yugi had long since memorized his father's number and could dial it up by heart at any time.

Yugi brought the phone to his ear when he finished punching in the numbers and waited. The phone rang on the other end, and Yugi was trying his best to stay calm. It was Father's Day, and Yugi's father was coming to see him. They planned on spending the whole day together which would hopefully make up for the time spent elsewhere.

With every ring he heard, however, his smile began to disappear. The phone kept ringing and ringing, until it had finally reached his father's voicemail, telling him to leave a message. Yugi took a deep breath, hoping to hide the disappointment in his voice as he spoke.

"Hey Dad, it's me, Yugi. I was just calling to wish you a Happy Father's Day, of course, but also to see if you had reached the city yet on the train. I can't wait to spend the day with you! Well… let me know where you are when you can. Love you, bye." Yugi hung up the phone. As he placed the land line back onto the receiver, a deep, familiar sadness filled up inside of him. His father wasn't going to make it home. Something had come up, as it always did… Yugi just knew. That was how it always went.

Yugi slowly crept down the stairs back down to the lobby of the store, unsure of how he felt about the disappointing surprise that had stopped surprising him years ago. Was he even able to feel sadness anymore about this? It had happened so often, Yugi wasn't sure…

"Yugi, are you alright?" Yugi's grandfather asked, seeing that the boy was upset.

"Dad's not coming home… is he, Grandpa?"

"Now, now, Yugi, you don't know that." Yugi looked down. He didn't want to pretend to buy into his grandfather's excuses. Yugi knew it for himself and having his grandfather pretend to assure him that things were any different wasn't going to help him through the mood he was in. Yugi's grandfather frowned, knowing Yugi was trying his best to hide the fact that every time his father never showed up, a little part of his heart was broken.

"Yugi, if you wouldn't mind… could you go out to the pharmacy to pick up my meds?" Yugi's grandfather reached into his pocket and handed Yugi some money. Yugi rolled his eyes.

"Do I have to?" Yugi's grandfather did his best to put on his sad face, which only made Yugi laugh.

"Fine, I'll be back in a few." Yugi walked down the street, not sure how to handle the negative thoughts that were floating around the fact that his father wasn't going to see him that day. It had been months since Yugi and his father had seen one another. His father had missed countless birthdays and special occasions… the man's job was just too demanding. It was in reflecting on all of this that Yugi came to a conclusion he had never come to before.

There were certain responsibilities that were coupled with being a father; certain duties that one should always fulfill as they parent a child. For the first time in his life, though, Yugi had also realized that there were certain responsibilities that followed in being a son. Responsibilities such as accepting a father for what he is and what he's not but ultimately loving him unconditionally because… he only had one father to love.

Back at the Game Shop, Yugi's grandfather was continuing with his morning cleaning when the phone rang. As quick as he could, he went over to the phone and picked it up.

"Happy father's day, Pop."

"Ah, it's good to hear from you, son. But I'm afraid whatever excuse you have won't work this time. Yugi was waiting for you, expecting you to come today."

"I know, I know… and I just couldn't make it. My job…" Yugi's grandfather shook his head. He couldn't hate his son for doing what he loved. He could only hate how painful it was to watch Yugi grow without the father figure he truly desired to have in his life. "…Will you let him know I love him dearly?"

"Of course." Yugi's grandfather hung up the phone after that. Yugi was going to be okay. The boy always was. Yugi's grandfather always made sure of it, to the best of his abilities.

Joey Wheeler hadn't noticed that the sun had already risen and was high in the sky, he was too excited to see that all his hard work was finally going to pay off; the apartment looked clean. Joey had woken up at five that morning just so that he would have enough time to make the house look spotless before he had to go to work that afternoon. After all, it was Father's Day and Joey felt cleaning the apartment was the best present to give to his father.

For the last hour, Joey had spent his time thoroughly vacuuming the entire apartment. Joey's father was passed out on the couch. There had been a mess that surrounded him earlier that morning; his father's entire body had been covered with beer cans and stale chips. Joey had thrown away all the trash and straightening the place before deciding to vacuum. Joey's father hadn't even moved when he had started using the vacuum which Joey had suspected. His father tended to go into a very deep sleep after passing out from alcohol.

"There, that should do it," Joey said to himself as he turned off the vacuum. Just as he had, he noticed the phone had been ringing while he had been working. "Oh crap!" Joey said, leaping towards the phone on the table near the couch. Just as he reached the phone, though, it had stopped ringing.

"Damn it," Joey said with annoyance, hoping that hadn't been an important call. He stood by the phone to see if whoever had called would leave a message but they didn't, the phone remained silent. That was when Joey noticed that there had been another missed call while he was busy cleaning, only that this one had left a message. Joey dialed in the number and put the voicemail on speaker phone to see who it was from.

"Hey Daddy, it's me Serenity. I know you're probably busy but I just thought I'd call you to wish you a happy Father's Day. I… know it's been a while since we've last seen each other, but I do want you to know that I love you very much," Joey's face melted into a smile at the sound of his little sister's voice. She was so sweet, so innocent, and so unaware of their father's condition; the very reason why Joey refused so often to let her see their father, "Well, I better go. Tell Joey I say 'hi' and that I love him too."

The line went flat then as the message ended. Joey saved the voice mail on their machine, brutally aware of the fact that his father would probably never get around to listening to the message himself. The message was enough, though, for Joey at least to get him through the day, and could possibly give him the strength to make it through the following week.

That was when Joey looked down at his watch and realized what time it was, "Crap!" His shift would be starting soon and he still hadn't eaten anything yet. Whatever spare time he made for himself in between cleaning, he had spent making his father breakfast. Joey got the tray and placed it in front of his father, mentally hoping that his father wouldn't knock the tray over the moment he rolled over and woke up.

"I gotta go Dad, I'll see you tonight," Joey whispered, swinging his bag over his shoulder. He then bent down and kissed his father on the forehead, "Happy Father's Day, I love you." With his bag in one hand and his MP3 player in the other, Joey left the house in a dash, hoping he could still make it to work before his boss noticed he was late… and also hoping that his father would like what Joey had done and feel happy as a result. It was unlikely, but Joey could dream and that was exactly what he did for the rest of the day.

It was the early afternoon on a Sunday and the sun had been bearing down on the sand below for hours. In a place like Egypt, however, it seemed the sun never set or when it did, it never seemed to stay set long enough. It always got so hot in Cairo, especially in the summer time. Marik Ishtar enjoyed spending his Sundays in the summer within the comfort of his air conditioned home, sitting in front of a T.V. His sister, Ishizu, however, had a very different idea for how the day should be spent.

"Hey, I was watching that," Marik stated with annoyance after his sister had stormed in a minute earlier and turned off the T.V. Marik stared at her, suddenly feeling surprised, "Wait, Ishizu… why are you home early? Shouldn't you be at work? I thought you had some new exhibit opening… somewhere." Ishizu put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot.

"I think I have a more important question that needs answering first: Why aren't you dressed and why are you just sitting here watching TV?" Marik sat up and crossed his arms.

"It's the weekend, aren't I allowed to relax?" Ishizu groaned and brought her hand to her head.

"Are you telling me that you don't remember what day it is today? I told you I was coming home early so we could do this together, like a family." It took Marik only a couple seconds for the significance of the day to click in his mind. It was the one holiday Marik had always refused to celebrate ever since he had learned about its existence; Father's Day. Marik shook his head.

"There is no way I'm going to our father's grave. I hope that's not what you came home early to do because I refuse to participate." Ishizu's piercing green eyes seemed to be trying their very best to pierce Marik's soul by the way she was glaring at him. Then, suddenly, her glaring eyes faded to a more sympathetic gaze.

"Please Marik… it would mean a lot to me, to him… wherever he may be. I'm sure he's watching over us and I'm sure he's sorry for all that he put you through. Don't you believe people can change?"

"Of course I do! But that's the problem, Ishizu. I never saw my father change. All I ever saw was the way that he hurt me, in every way possible. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't hurt me and to be honest, there was also never a day that he redeemed himself for it while he was alive so quite frankly, I don't feel I owe him anything." Marik flipped the T.V. back on and gestured for Ishizu to get out of the way. Once again, Ishizu shut off the television, begging for his full attention.

"He's our father, Marik," Ishizu practically yelled, becoming incredibly impatient and emotional, "He may not have done all the right things a father should, but he is still our father! Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Marik said nothing but by that point, Ishizu had already come to discover the answer all on her own. Marik's silence was enough. After five minutes, Ishizu turned away and left the room, while Marik flipped back on the television. Even if Marik wasn't going to visit his grave and pay his respects, that didn't mean Ishizu wasn't going to.

She knew what her father was. She had known all along, despite her childish naivety trying to convince her otherwise. It was true that her father had some monstrous qualities, but she had also liked to believe that he only acted in that way because he had truly loved them and wanted what's best. Either that or he was too stuck in his ways of Egyptian tradition as a grave keeper to be able to see otherwise. If so, how could Ishizu hold his actions accountable?

Ishizu thought about this the whole way there to the graveyard until she reached her father's grave and stopped in her tracks. In her hands was a bouquet of flowers she had brought to put in front of her father's grave, but to her surprise, there was a single rose that had already been placed there. Ishizu recognized the rose immediately—one that had been plucked from the backyard that Marik had been tended to for the last two weeks.

A smile appeared on her face. Marik had cared. Whatever grudges Marik still held against his father couldn't destroy the love Marik had and would always have; from son to father. It was so beautiful that she couldn't help but fall to her knees and weep in the middle of the graveyard. Their family may always be broken but they were a family nonetheless.

Duke Devlin was many things depending on who was talking, but no one would describe him as nervous. Unfortunately that was how he felt and how he had felt for the last week and a half. It didn't matter that it was Sunday nor did it matter that the store had just opened only a couple hours earlier. Despite that it was already late in the afternoon and hardly anyone had come into the store all day, Duke was more anxious than he had been for his entire life. The reason being was because it was Father's Day and for the first time ever, Duke had planned something fantastic for his father, Mr. Crown.

Every year, Duke had tried to plan something special for his father on this special day since he was a small boy but to no avail. Every year he tried to think of something to do that would impress his father and every year he would end up giving his father a tie. No matter how early he started trying to plan something, it always ended the same way; nothing. It wasn't that Duke didn't love his father enough to try and think of a special gift to give; it was just that he wasn't incredibly gifted at thinking of gifts to give him.

Mr. Crown was a strange and serious man. He had always been emotionally absent and distant with Duke, maintaining more of a business relationship than a father-son relationship since before Duke could remember. In fact, Duke's father had asked Duke to call him 'Mr. Crown' instead of 'Dad' and Duke never questioned it. Duke never questioned anything about his father—Duke only assumed that those actions his father took were part of his nature and Mr. Crown loved him in ways that he could never express. The more Duke thought about it, the more he wondered if the way he was raised was the reason why Duke didn't know how to express his own love for his father.

Duke didn't have or desire the time to think it over because that year, Duke had something great planned that he was sure his father would like. Duke had rented an advertisement plane with a banner attached at the tail of it that read, "Happy Father's Day, Mr. Crown!" On the back of the banner would be advertisement for their Dungeon Dice Monsters game shop. There weren't a lot of things Duke knew about his father or what he liked, but he knew that promoting good business was something his father definitely approved of. After being assured his father would like Duke's gift then came the responsibility of making sure his father saw the plane that was about to fly right over the game shop. The only problem was Mr. Crown was nowhere to be found.

Duke searched the entire store for his father. It was strange that Mr. Crown wasn't already at work yet and even stranger that his cell phone was off so Duke couldn't call him. He looked everywhere for his father. He couldn't think of any other place Mr. Crown would be other than at the game shop, looking over everything that was happening in the store. Duke began to panic after he looked down at his watch and saw that the plane was just about to fly over the store without his father to see it.

Disappointed, Duke ran up to the roof, a part of him secretly hoping that his father would miraculously be on the roof already and that's where he had been this whole time. He wasn't surprised when he finally got to the roof and no one else was there. Duke looked up and watched the plane as it flew by, the "Happy Father's Day" banner whipping behind it. Duke sat down on the roof and sighed, watching as the plane came and passed the game shop. It disappeared within minutes between two buildings as it continued its journey through Domino City.

Duke didn't feel like doing anything after that. He stayed on the roof, kicking around some gravel, being disappointed with himself. Duke didn't know if he would ever come up with another great idea like that again and his father wasn't even able to see it. He was sure Mr. Crown would think he was a bad son for not even attempting to make him happy on Father's Day. Although there wasn't much else to do on the roof, Duke didn't want to return to the game shop so he flipped out his phone to play some games. When he took out his phone, he had noticed that there was an e-mail waiting for him from his father.

"Duke, I had a surprise meeting with corporate today that I didn't have time to tell you about. I left town earlier this afternoon but I happened to see your banner just as I was leaving the city. I was extremely impressed with it and I want you to know that I have always been proud to be your father. Thank you, Mr. Crown." He could imagine his father and how awkward it must've been to write such an e-mail… and imagining this made him happy. He had finally made his father proud, even if his father wasn't completely comfortable admitting it. The fact that he did admit it meant that it was true.

Tristan Taylor had been avoiding the only thing that had been on his mind all day and finally, at five thirty in the evening, he was getting around to doing it. The droning of his motorcycle was a good distracting but couldn't completely take his attention away from the task at hand. The roads were hardly crowded as Tristan headed down to downtown Domino City to visit his father in prison. Tristan was speeding as he was doing so… the prison didn't allow visitors to come after six which didn't give him a lot of time to see his father and wish him a happy Father's Day.

Tristan mentally scolded himself for procrastinating on seeing his old man for this long but what else did he expect? His father had been in prison for almost a year and a half now, so it was hard to even remember that his father still existed in his life. Not to mention the fact that this wasn't the first time his old man had been sent to jail either. He had spent the first half of Tristan's childhood in there, after all. It caused him to think that maybe his father enjoyed being in there more than being with his family.

As Tristan's motorcycle came to a halt in the empty prison parking lot, Tristan shook himself up a little bit to rid himself of the pent up anger he felt towards his father. This was the one day of year Tristan had to try and look past his father's faults and love him because they were technically related to one another. After all, wasn't that why families loved each other… because they shared the same genes?

He held his helmet under his arm and entered the prison, greeting the all too familiar guard at the front desk. "Here for visiting time?" The guard asked, hardly looking Tristan's way as he was fetching the visitor's sign in sheet. "What's the name?"

"Suzuki Taylor." The guard fumbled around with a couple more papers before looking up at Tristan.

"Sorry, you can't see him today." Tristan raised an eyebrow and looked at the clock that hung above the guard's head on the wall.

"Why? I still have a good twenty minutes before visiting hours are over," Tristan snapped. He was already annoyed that he had to see his father and that he had wasted the gas to drive halfway across town to do it. "You must've looked at the wrong file or something. My name is Tristan Taylor and all I want to do is talk to my dad for five minutes. What's the problem?" The guard was getting annoyed.

"The problem is your dad. He was placed in solitary confinement due to bad behavior earlier this week so you can't visit him. You can come back next week if you'd like but today, I can't help you," The guard stated in a stern tone, "Now if there's anyone else you'd like to visit today in prison, go ahead. If not, then I would suggest you leave." Tristan wanted to be happy to turn the other way and leave the prison. It wasn't like he had wanted to see his father in the first place, he had been dreading seeing his father during the entire ride over.

Right before Tristan left the building, he stopped just as he had opened the door. He shrugged. He knew he couldn't just leave without at least attempting to make an effort for his father's sake. Suzuki Taylor may not have ever believed in making an effort for the people he loved, but that didn't mean Tristan had to believe in it too. Tristan turned back around and walked back up to the guard.

"Am I going to have to get security down here to remove you from the building, Sir? I told you already, you can't see your dad." Tristan shook his head.

"No, it's not that. I just wanted to leave a message for my dad… if you could give it to him that would be great." The guard crossed his arms.

"Look kid, we're not the postal service, okay? This isn't how it works. I don't deliver messages."

"I know you don't," Tristan snapped. He then quickly took a deep breath, "Just… When you can, could you let him know I came by and that I wished him a happy father's day? And let him know I love him. It would mean a lot to me, it might even mean a lot to him too. Will you do that for me?" The guard rolled his eyes.

"Sure, kid. I'll try and let him know. No promises." Tristan nodded, thanked him, and then left the building. He couldn't help but replay the last thing that guard had told him. No promises. In a way, that phrase could be held true for all of life. There had been no promises that when Tristan was born, he would have a dad. There had been no promises his father ever made when he was older that he would never go back to jail again. There were no promises that his father would ever stop making mistakes but that was true for everyone. No one could ever promise to never make mistakes and maybe that was the one thing Tristan could forgive his father for being; a human.

Tristan thought about this the whole ride home from prison, fixating on it so much so in hopes that he would see his father as a human rather than all the times the man had failed him on as a father. It wasn't enough to cause him to love his father unconditionally, but it was enough to make him care about his father on Father's Day.

The sun was just beginning to set on Domino City. The sky had become a beautiful mixture of orange and yellow as the sun made its journey towards the horizon. Seto Kaiba, however, was the only person in Domino City who couldn't enjoy one of nature's greatest wonders… he was simply too tired. The day had been long, tiring, frustrating, stressful, mind boggling, and positively dreadful for Seto that day. Even though it was a Sunday, Seto had still gone into work that day to fix all the mistakes the employees had made earlier that week.

Seto shut off the radio—all noise began to annoy him. He couldn't help but think back to everything he had done that day and yet nothing had been fixed. The latest holographic dueling technology Seto had been working on had been configured completely wrong for the last two months and it wasn't until that morning that Seto was alerted of this mess. After spending the first half of the day firing half the staff that had been working on it, he spent the next half trying to reverse what had been done but with little success. It wasn't until right before he had to leave the office that he realized that he would have to re-do the entire project from scratch, losing hundreds of dollars as a result.

Seto stopped at a red light and rubbed his temples slowly. The more he thought about it, the more he became annoyed. Some days it really was great to be able to do the job he had always wanted since he was a boy; to run his own gaming company and to be able to see his own inventions come to life while being his own boss. There were some days, however, where his job caused nothing but stress and woe for Seto. Seto thought about this the entire ride home until he pulled into the driveway of the Kaiba Mansion.

Seto looked down at his watch as he got out of the car; it was nearly eight o'clock. He had stayed out at work much later than he would've liked and he was sure Mokuba would be hungry for dinner by then. Seto sighed… he should've picked something up along the way. He couldn't even fathom trying to cook something for himself and his brother that night, he was much too exhausted. Seto fumbled around with his keys and opened the door, not expecting to see his brother eagerly waiting for him to arrive.

"Hi Nii-sama!" Mokuba said, jumping to his feet the moment his older brother walked through the door, throwing his arms around him. Seto dropped his suitcase from surprise as Mokuba wrapped around his waist.

"Hey kiddo… sorry I'm late. I got a little wrapped up in everything at the office," Seto said, his voice lacked any energy whatsoever, "I'm sure you must be hungry." Mokuba broke away from his hug and looked up.

"Actually, I already ate. I made you dinner while you were gone since I had a feeling you would be out late. It's on the table if you want it." Seto slipped off his shoes and tie as he shut the door. He was so tired he had hardly registered anything Mokuba had said.

"That's great, Mokuba. I'm just gonna… lay down for a sec. I'll be with you in a moment." Seto rubbed his face in attempt to wake himself up a bit. Mokuba could see Seto needed some time to decompress before interacting with anyone. Mokuba walked over to Seto and held out his arms to Seto. Seto sighed, "I don't think I have the energy to pick you up right now, Mokuba. I need to rest." Mokuba shook his head.

"I don't want to be held, I want to tell you something. Come here." Seto shrugged and bent down. Mokuba gave his older brother a kiss on the forehead and then said, "Happy Father's Day, Nii-sama." With that, Mokuba turned away and ran up the stairs to his room to give his brother some space. Seto got back on his feet and looked up with surprise. He hadn't even remembered that it was Father's Day… it was then that he turned his head and saw the dinner his younger brother had made him.

Seto smiled. Mokuba may be his younger brother, but Seto had always seen him as his son in his own way. He had never known if Mokuba had seen him as a father but then again, what else would Seto be to Mokuba after all these years without having parents? It had been difficult for the both of them to grow up in this way, without parents guiding them, with Seto having to grow up way sooner than he had intended… but it had all been worth it to give Mokuba the life he deserved.

Seto realized that even when everything else goes wrong, it's the little things that matter most and make the stresses of being a father worth it.

A/N: Hey there! HiKari here updating you all with a one-shot! I haven't done that in over a year, have I? Truth be told, I've been meaning to write/finish this story for the last three or four years now. In fact, I was originally hoping to post this on the actual date of Father's Day this year but I never got around to it. But the Fourth of July is just as good, right? Hahaha, anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one-shot. I'm not sure when I'll write another one-shot next but we'll see. The quotes at the beginning of the story are words spoken by the wisest woman I know, my mother. It probably seems a little out of place to have them be at the top of the chapter but I felt they related to the story. I'm not a parent myself but I do have a great father myself whom I am dedicating this story to! Thanks for reading and have a great July 4th!