Poptart- What's up everyone???? I'm here with my brand new fic. It's going to be super dope....I hope. Well, this is my first Yu-Gi-Oh fic, so I'm going to let everyone know I use the ENGLISH names. So don't get mad, it's just easier for me to write. In most Joey fanfics, where his father beats him, they never really explain what his father does, so I just had this sick idea to write this. Enjoy
Disclaimer: .-A-Tree. Does NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of it's characters.
Poptart- Well, I hope you enjoy the one-shot. Review please.
Joey. His Joey.
"Night Seto." Joey looked up and smiled.
"Are you sure you don't need a ride home? Mutts shouldn't be walking around at night without a leash." Seto expected a comeback, since he knows his lover hates the 'mutt' comments.
But Joey simply told him, "No, I'll call when I get there." He smiled one last time and walked out the mansion. Seto just blinked and thought, 'No Goodbye Kiss...?' He got up from his seat in the living room and made his way towards the game room where he knew his younger brother would be.
"What's up with Joey lately?" Mokuba asked as his brother walked in the room.
"What do you mean?"
"You haven't noticed? God Seto, you two have been dating since Sophomore year and you don't know when something's wrong with him?"
"What are you talking about?"
"He hasn't been all over you, like he normally is. He doesn't whine anymore, doesn't talk nearly as much. He tenses when anyone gets near him, hell, he won't even let anyone touch him. And he doesn't even look the same. His hair is all disheveled all the time. And his eyes, they don't show that same passion, the same spark they used to when he's around everyone. They're clouded with fear...it's like he's scared of something." Seto stood there and let reality hit him. 'Now that I think about it, pup has been acting different.'
~*~*~*~
He walked in the filthy house. 'Hopefully he's passed out by now.'
"JOESPH" 'No luck.' Joey thought. Next thing he knew he was being thrown into a wall. "Where the fuck have you been? With you're precious boyfriend?" His words harshly. Joey's eyes widened.
"How'd yo-"
"I found that picture in your room of you and that piece of shit. No boy of mine is a faggot." I tried to push away and he thrashed me against the wall again. "Boy, you're about to get the worst beating in your life, I'll beat the gay out of you." Joey finally was able to push him off as he tried to flee to his room. His father grabbed him from behind. Cracking a glass bottle over his head, he threw Joey on the ground. Straddling him, he slashed Joey through his shirt. "You're pathetic!" He screamed in Joey's face. He ripped the rest of Joey's shirt off and started craving the word 'Pathetic' into his chest. Joey thrashed under him, only to but hit hard. "Shut the fuck up faggot." His father begin to carve other obscene words into his flesh. Joey kept trying to get his father off, but the harder he struggled, the more he got cut.
After what seemed like an hour, his father finally got up. Joey was relieved and scrambled up when his father grabbed him by his arm and punched Joey in the stomach causing Joey to double-over. "You thought you could get away from me, huh faggot?" Joey's father than grabbed his neck and began to choke him. "Beg me not to kill you know." He demanded. Joey gagged, trying to grasp for air.
"Please..." His father laughed. "You really are pathetic." He let got of Joey's neck and continued beating him senseless. That nights beating had been worse than any other.
After Joey's got off him he turned away from him. "Tomorrow, don't come back home. I don't want a a fruit living under my roof." Joey somehow made it up to the bathroom to shower.
~*~*~*~
Seto arrived to school late. Well not late, but later than usual gets there. He somehow managed to oversleep. He walked over to the table where Joey and his friends normally sit.
"Kaiba, nice of you to join us." Yugi stated. "Joey isn't here yet though." Seto 'Hned' and sat down next to the shorter teen.
'And his eyes, they don't show that same passion, the same spark they used to when he's around everyone. They're clouded with fear...it's like he's scared of something.' His boyfriend's eyes didn't have the same spark these past couple of weeks. 'Was it something I did?' Seto couldn't help but wonder. He snapped back into reality when the whole tabled gasped and Yami whispered 'My God. His head snapped up to see Joey, his Joey, with a black eye, a face full of gashes, neck bruised, hair dismantled, and his eyes not even the shade of amber they normally are.
"Joe, what happened?" A very concerned Tristan asked.
Joey smiled sheepishly. "Some wise guy started talkin' trash in the alley way by my apartment. We fought, but it turns out he wasn't alone and his pals had knifes on 'em. I'm fine." Everyone seemed to by it.
"You should be more careful." Yugi stated.
"Ya, next time I'll just take the ride home." He smiled again as the bell rang.
"You didn't call last night pup." Seto stated.
"Sorry. It just slipped my mind." Seto smirked and gave Joey a quick peck on the lips, who tensed at the presence of someone that close.
"Are you ok?" Seto asked as him and Joey walked into the school building.
"Ya, couldn' be any betta." Joey went to his locker and took out the books he needed. "I'll see you afterschool?"
"Right." Seto only watched as the younger one walked off into his own class.
~*~*~*~
Seto was walking down the hallways of Domino High when he was grabbed from behind and dragged into an empty classroom. "What the hell?" He cursed as he turned to see who had grabbed him. It was Joey's friends.
"Do you know what's wrong with Joey?" Tristan asked. "Cause I swear Moneybags, if you do and you're not tell-"
"I assure you I know nothing." Kaiba reassured. "I myself would like to know what it wrong with my mutt, but he won't tell me either."
"Ok, well I say we all make a deal." Tea suggested. "Whoever finds out what's wrong with has to tell the others. Deal?" Everyone agreed and left their separate ways.
~*~*~*~
Joey walked the streets alone. He couldn't go back home, his father made it obvious that he didn't want to see the teen. He didn't want to risk going to any of his friend's houses, knowing they would question him on why he was homeless. He couldn't even tell Seto his problems, let alone his friends. His body was still sore from the beating last night, all day he'd been walking, thinking of somewhere to stay. He wondered into the nearby park and sat on one of the swings. 'Well, it looks like a nice day to camp out.' Just then, his cell phone (courtesy of KaibaCorp) rang.
"Where are you?" Kaiba asked.
"Um...at home." Joey lied. If he told his lover that he was at the park at, he looked at his watch, 10 o'clock, he'd flip.
"You're lying. I had Mr. Takuya check there already. You're dad said you weren't ever going to be there again." Joey gulped. This is going to end up bad. "Where. Are. You?" He demanded to know.
"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine."
"Mutt, if you know what's good for you, I suggest you tell me where you are, right this instant." Seto sounded pissed.
"Fine! I'm at the park."
"Which one?"
"The one on Main St." he told Seto.
"Takuya will be there in a second. Don't move."
His driver pulls up minutes later. After all, Takuya was the one that got him and Seto together. "Good evening Mr. Wheeler." Takuya states opening the door for me.
"Hey Takuya."
""Mr. Kaiba has been very worried about you lately. I don't know what's wrong, and who am I to pry into your life, but I do suggest you tell him before he goes mad." Takuya smiles through the review mirror.
"Thanks Takuya. I think I will."
//Why haven't you told him before?//
//He'll think I'm weak.//
//You're not weak. You just can't fight back.//
//I can't show Seto my weak side. I can't show him I'm vulnerable.//
//Why not? He's show you at his low points. Why can't you?//
//It's not the same, he might hurt me like him.//
//You of all people should know, Seto's nothing like your father.//
//I know I just don't thi-// Joey's conversation with hi inner self was cut short when he realized he was already at Seto's mansion. Takuya opened there door for him. "Just tell him Joey, I'm sure whatever it is, he'll know what to do." He gave Joey a reassuring smile.
"We'll see. Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow."
Once he walked in, he was greeted by a hyper hug. "Joey!" Mokuba screeched. As Mokuba squeezed tighter, Seto noticed the wince on Joey's face.
"Nice to see ya too kid."
".Now." Mokuba smiled and hurried off to his room.
Seto made his way towards the living room, and Joey followed behind. As soon as they stepped in the room, Seto pulled Joey into an embrace, squeezing his most delicate bruise.
"Fuck" Joey cried out. He stepped back from Seto, tripping over the arm of the couch. He crashed onto the couch and before Seto could fall ontop of him, he rolled over, landing on the floor with a loud 'thump.' Seto quickly got up and looked down at Joey.
"Are you ok?"
Joey's mouth wouldn't allow him to say anything, he just lied there, hoping the pain would kill him.
"Joey. What's happened to you?" Joey finally looked up to his lover and smiled.
"Nothing." He simply stated. Seto glared at his boyfriend and got off the couch and climbed ontop of Joey, not caring if he hurt the younger boy.
"Joseph Wheeler. Tell me the truth." Oh shit, he was in trouble. Seto only used his real name when he was seriously pissed.
"I told you, I got in a-AH-fight. Could you get off me, that really hurt." Joey tried to move from under Seto, but he refused to budge.
"If you're in that much pain, my nurse can tend to you. We even have doggy biscuits if your good." Seto smirked, but still didn't move off Joey.
"No. I'm fine."
"You don't seem fine to me. If you don't want my nurse to see, at least let me-"
"I SAID NO!" Joey yelled. Seto looked down at his boyfriend with wide eyes. In the two years they've been together, never has Joey yelled at him like that. That's how he knew something was up. Seto began taking off the younger boys shirt.
"Stop." Joey mustered all his strength to push Seto off him, but Seto didn't remove his hands from the shirt causing it to rip and reveal everything.
'Shit. Shit. Shit.' Joey thought as the room grew quiet. Seto stood there, speechless, breathless. He didn't know what to make of what he was seeing. He looked at Joey. His Joey. He was covered in bruises, gashes. He was marked up like a chalkboard. But the words were permanently craved in his skin.
At first Seto was disgusted. Who would do something like this to him? Those guys he got in a fight with the other day? Are gangs really that low these days, where they have to hold a boy down and crave loathsome remarks onto his body? Then he was upset, knowing Joey had to go through all that pain alone. No one was there to help him out during the fight. He was all alone. Vulnerable. Then he grew angry. He felt his eyes go wild with madness.
"I swear to you Joey, I'll find out who did this to you, and I'll personally have them ki-"
"You can't!" Joey's frustrated tone quieted Seto. 'I can't.' He thought. 'To hell I can't.'
"Look at yourself Joey...you're thrashed. Why didn't you call the police? Why didn't you tell me what they did to you?"
"'Cause Seto-"
"Because what? BECAUSE WHAT? You thought I would get mad? Well I am! I want the descriptions of the guys who did this to you."
"Seto please listen." His pleading voice made Seto turn towards him. "I didn' get jumped." Seto blinked once. Seto blinked twice. He even felt his I twitch.
"What do you mean, you didn't get jumped?"
"I made it up...I didn' want you to know the truth." Joey looked down in shame.
"The truth about what Joey?"
"My pops...he drinks...ya know that right?"
"Yes, I believe you've told me that before."
"Well, these past couple months have been worse. I could take the beatings before, but lately it just wears me out. And the other day he found our picture and said he was gonna beat the gay out of me and...this is what happened." He breathed. That took a lot out of him. Who knew confessing could be so...relaxing? Joey realized he felt at ease, that weight has been lifted off his shoulder. But an uneasy feeling ran through his gut once he saw Seto's face.
"He...beat you?" Seto stepped closer to me. "You let that excuse of a man lay a finger on you? You let him carve your body like a fucking sculpture?"
"Seto, calm down.."
"Calm down, calm down. The love of my life has been through hell these past couple months because that pathetic, loathsome man didn't have the balls to end his own life. So instead, he's tearing yours apart. How the hell am I supposed to calm down? Here I thought everything was my fault, I was going to flee the country, But now, I'm going to ki-"
"STOP IT! Just stop it. Just be glad I'm with ya now. Just be glad I'm alive and ok. Just be glad I'm standing in front of ya moonstruck self smilin' 'cause you really are goin' nuts." He laughed a little.
"You're not going back there. You're staying here with me, understood. No ands, ifs, or buts." Seto exclaimed.
"Understood....Howeva," Seto glared at me. "I don' have any clothes, toothbrush, razors, etc. I do need to get my stuff."
"We'll get you new stuff on the weekend. In the meantime you can wear some of my old clothes." Joey smiled and leaned in to kiss Seto. Seto wrapped his arms around Joey, and he hissed.
"I'm still bruised ya know?"
"I can go kill him now if you want." Joey just laughed and kissed him again. Joey was right. Seto's glad that he's here with Joey. His Joey. Nothing else should matter.
Poptart- Love it, hate it...Review. Just don't be rude about it.