Metamorphosis
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Summary: (Alternate Universe) Seto Kaiba never wanted a bodyguard and when a certain blonde by the name of Joey Wheeler signs up for the job, it doesn't quite help things. Never before has such a character entered the Kaiba household and he's bound to shake things up. Along the way, the two get mixed up in matchmaking, snotty guests, dangerous mob encounters, and changing feelings! However, when the situations become more life threatening and more personal, can the slowly forming bond between Seto and Joey withstand?
Disclaimer: Yugioh! and its characters are property of Kazuki Takahashi and also 4Kids Entertainment. The song 'Life for Rent' is sung by Dido. The song 'Workin' It Out' is sung by Hilary Duff. The song 'It's My Life' is sung by Bon Jovi. Lyrics have been switched around in order or some lines may been cut out, but nothing has been added. The songs have been added in for interpretative reasons only and to provide more effect to the story. The title was inspired by the title of Hilary Duff's CD 'Metamorphosis'. The plot, along with the radio station (25.5 FM), are the creation of alias Midnight Schemer. Any similarities are purely coincidental. If any of the following information is wrong, please inform the authoress and she shall be happy to change it. Thank you.
Note: The ages are as follows: Seto (21), Joey (20), Yugi (19), Mokuba (15)
Beginning: Life's Little Surprises
It was a rainy day in Domino City. Most were inside and dry, save for a group of teenagers who thought it would be wild to go play touch football out in the mud and rain. Seeing those teens laughing and yelling over a football that by now was so covered in sticky mud it was almost black, even if it was just a quick glance as he drove by the park, was a nice way to remember a whole bunch of memories. For he had been that sort of kid all through high school, heck, for nearly all his life. Ask anyone who went to Domino High when he did and they would shake their heads at a certain Joey Wheeler's antics. He had certainly been a handful.
Such as that one time, when the school had announced that the students would be allowed this one day that they would not have to wear their uniforms and would be able to dress in ordinary day wear. The next day, Joey came in wearing slightly baggy Capri pants with a silver chain hanging off a belt loop, a black shirt with a golden retriever that said "It's My Life", black shades, and a beaten up gray hat worn backwards. To top it all off, he had streaked his hair with (temporary) red hair dye. Let it never be said that Joey Wheeler never went all out. Moreover, the teacher's face reaction had made it all worth it. His best friend, a vertically challenged youth by the name of Yugi Moto, who had worn a simple pair of pants and blue and white t-shirt, had simply laughed it off. However, Joey was soon laughing when he discovered that Yugi had suspected that he would pull something like this and had brought a camera to school. He still had the picture on his nightstand. Yes, Joey's attitude toward life had certainly made high school a bit easier- a bit easier for him anyway.
Yet it seemed that the consequences of having that attitude were finally catching up to him. Today had been yet another job loss. It hadn't even been his fault!
He had been late to work to begin with, because he had overslept. The next thing he knew three pizzas were shoved into his arms and he was pushed out the door with his boss yelling at him. After all, Omega Pizzeria's motto was "Get it in less than half an hour, or the pizza is free!". Joey decided to take the high way, in hopes of getting to his destination quicker. However, the fates were against him and he felt like pulling his hair out when he had run into traffic. He felt like screaming when he found out the traffic was caused by a group of people who had decided to be a bunch of "looky-lous" and stare at a cop that was giving a traffic ticket. Luckily, he was able to make his way out of the congestion and reach the apartment building in time. He then had to run up five flights of stairs carrying three pizzas, which was not an easy task, and rang the customer's doorbell. It was there that he learned that it was a half an hour on the dot and the customer (who was a fat, balding man) absolutely refused to pay for the pizza. Joey, who could feel his temper rising like a thunderstorm, tried to argue that the guy had to pay for the pizza. The guy retaliated by saying that it was Joey's fault and started yelling at him because now the pizza was cold. Joey just snapped back such a smart-ass retort that the guy grabbed the pizzas and slammed the door in his face. Which earned Joey a sore nose (who knew that guy could slam a door so hard?) and yet another past job to add to his already long resume.
Talking to Yugi had helped a bit. His friend had agreed that a person refusing to pay after it had only been half an hour was ridiculous and Joey was grateful to have someone on his side. Then Yugi, being the sensitive and nice guy that he was, asked if Joey was alright and if he would like to have dinner over at his place. He solemnly swore that they wouldn't order out for pizza. His best friend assured him that he was fine and retorted that there had never been a free meal that he had passed up. The two agreed to meet later on in the evening.
Right now, Joey felt that he needed to let out a little steam. Therefore, he called up his friend, Mai Valentine, and asked her if she would come with him to the shooting range. He was now on his way to pick the lady up.
Mai Valentine was quite a woman; there was no denying that. She was absolutely gorgeous and she knew it. However, she was one tough girl and if a guy even looked at her funny, she could beat the last breath out of him before he could blink. Still, it had surprised Joey when the woman went and became a class-A bodyguard. The girl was more cut out for glamour. Some people believed that the two were quite the item and Joey only shrugged when questioned. Though the two were just friends, he believed that to be nobody's business and could care less what people thought. They were friends and that was that.
Finally, he managed to catch sight of her apartment building through the pouring rain. He pulled into a parking space in front of the building and honked the horn to let her know that he was there and waiting. The light in her apartment flashed off and then turned back on, meaning that she would be down in a minute. Joey sighed. How long did women think a minute was? About half an hour? Yes, this would take a while. Joey glanced at his radio. Perhaps some music to pass the time? He pushed the button for the radio to turn on and the machine quickly tuned in to his favorite station: 25.5 FM radio.
Some days I start off draggin' my feet
Some days I want to fly
Some days it all makes sense to me
Some days I just don't want to know why
Good, there was actually some music playing. He hated having to wait through all the commercials. It especially irked him when they interrupted the music with a commercial to say that would be no commercials. However, this station didn't do that to often and it played good music to boot.
Sometimes I'm just surrounded by friends
Sometimes we've never met
Sometimes I pray for something I need
But hey, you never know what you're gonna get
Joey was starting to get impatient. He honked the horn again and this time when the light went off, it stayed off. The young man leaned back in his seat. It was about time! Sure enough, about a minute later, Mai came rushing out of the building, hurriedly pulling on a light jacket and rushing to get out of the rain. Knowing that it would get on her nerves, Joey honked at her and motioned for her to hurry, earning him a glare. Before Joey could blink, Mai had gotten in the car, buckled in, and was zippering up her jacket.
"About time," Joey teased, as he eased the car out of the parking lot.
"Shut up," was the curt reply.
Joey just grinned.
"Anyway," Mai settled herself into the worn in seat, "I heard about your job. Sorry that's there's so many stupid jerks out there."
"It's okay. I'll get over it," Joey simply shrugged with a smile.
It's hard enough to be what you are
Harder to be what you're not
It's hard to know what you need to get
Harder to know what you've got.
"What kinda junk are you listening to?" Mai raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, for your information, I happen to like that station," Joey tried to peer through the windshield that kept getting spattered with rain. Where was that stupid shooting range? "Besides," he smirked. "I don't think you have the right to complain Miss 'I'll-only-be-a-minute'."
Hey, hey- I'm not giving up, no
Gonna stand up and shout it
No way- I'm not slackin' off or backin' out or
Crackin' up with doubt
I'm workin' it out.
Mai glared at him and then promptly switched the radio off.
"I think I have a job you might be interested in," she said.
Mr. Hass was nervous. To his credit, he didn't show it. Most would see a calm, poised, confident man, looking prepared for a private business meeting. He knew well that most would admire this man that was standing so cool before him. Yet he could tell. The man's right eye twitched ever so barely and he kept slightly readjusting his grip on his briefcase handle indicating slightly sweaty palms. Even from the corner of his eye he could tell all this. Then again it was very hard to fool Mr. Seto Kaiba. One would have an easier time tricking a sphinx.
However, this man was a good actor, that much Seto Kaiba was sure of. He was probably one of the few people who could look him in the eye and still be able to work rationally. This man may have been new to the Kaiba Corp employment (having only about a month's experience), but Seto liked to watch his employees, especially ones he had to come into almost daily contact with. It made it easier to spot their intentions and possibly predict their next move.
'It all still goes back to a chess game,' Seto's sapphire eyes flashed.
The man just stood there for the moment and had made no movement to address Mr. Kaiba from his work. Seto wasn't exactly helping either. If the man wanted his attention, he'd just have to address him like everyone else, but until then he was just going to keep working on the computer. Plus, the longer the man didn't speak, the longer he could listen to his favorite radio station: 25.5 FM radio.
I've always thought that I would love to live by the sea
To travel the world alone and live more simply
I have no idea what's happened to that dream
Cause there's really nothing left here to stop me
It's just a though, only a thought.
"Interesting choice in music, Mr. Kaiba," Hass remarked, though it was clear to Seto that he wasn't all that interested.
"I like it," was all that Seto said on the matter before turning to finally look at his employee.
Probably to another of his classmates, this situation would be almost funny: the man working for him was about ten years his senior. Still fairly young by all accounts, still had all black hair in any case and life was fairly good to him considering the lack of wrinkles around his eyes and forehead, though sometimes his face looked so stiff it looked like he had had a botox injection. Then again perhaps Seto was not the best one to be asked to evaluate for looks.
While my heart is a shield and I won't let it down
While I am so afraid to fail so I won't even try
Well how can I say I'm alive?
"Sir?" Hass started off hesitantly. Seto, realizing that his employee actually had something to say, motioned for him to take a seat. The man accepted the silent proposal and settled into his seat. "Sir," he started off again, "As you undoubtedly know, Kaiba Corp is still in the process of some very delicate operations with the other company Sorban."
"I am well aware of that," Kaiba nodded, his face a blank slate as always.
"Yes, well," the man was preparing himself to say something that he knew his boss wouldn't like, "so far the whole affair is going smoothly, except for one thing." Hass stopped here and took a breath. "Some of Sorban's former alliances have expressed serious disagreement with the hopefully soon to occur arrangements between our two companies. Threats have even come in that promise violence, but no one has been pinpointed yet."
"What exactly are you trying say, Hass?" Seto's sapphire eyes narrowed.
But if my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
Well I deserve nothing more than I get
Cause nothing I have is truly mine.
"Sir," Hass took one last deep breath, "we need to employ a bodyguard for you."
Yugi grabbed a box of orange chicken and then stopped to think. He sighed. "Personally Joey," he said slowly, carefully thinking out his reply. "I don't like the idea of you being a bodyguard and having your life being constantly in danger."
This ain't a song for the broken-hearted
No silent prayer for the faith-departed
I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd
You're gonna hear my voice
When I shout it out loud.
"Hey, it's not like I want to put my life on the line every day," Joey agreed, while silently debating whether or not he should try using chopsticks. "But Mai said it's not very likely that anything's actually going to happen. Besides, it's everyone else's job to secure the whole place and I'm just supposed to stick with the guy. Basically, I'm the last resort and I don't anything's gonna happen in which I'm gonna be in any danger. So, basically I just have to hang out with this rich guy that lives with his little brother and make sure that they remain alive until after all this business stuff is done. Then I just go home with enough money to not only brighten up my place, but to finally go to college too."
This is for the ones that stood their ground
For Tommy and Gina who never backed down
Tomorrow's getting harder make no mistake
Lucky ain't even lucky
Got to make your own breaks.
"Well," Yugi went over to go sit on his couch. "When you put it that way, I suppose you should go, but only if you want to." The young, amethyst eyed man bit his lower lip, still uncomfortable at the thought of his best friend putting his life on the line for some money.
Better stand tall when they're calling you out
Don't bend, don't break, baby, don't back down.
Joey started to walk to the couch when he paused. For one moment, he seriously considered all his options. Then, he put on his usual carefree smile and flopped down on the couch, yet careful as to not spill any of his food. "Hey, what do I care?" he laughed. "You only get one life to live. Yeah, I think I'll go ahead and take this job."
Yugi smiled back at his friend, "Good for you, Joey."
It's my life
And it's now or never
Cause I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive
It's my life
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said
I did it my way
I just want to live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life!
"Oh, Joey, one more thing," Yugi added, before he could hit the 'play' button on the remote.
"What's that Yuge?" Joey managed to garble out as he choked down some sweet and sour pork.
"Can we turn off the radio before we start the movie?"
End
Thanks to everyone for reading. Please, if you can, review and leave any constructive criticism you can. Also, please tell me if you like the story so then I know I can continue. I am not sure when I will be able to update, but it will be as soon as I can. I'm thinking of making this into a Seto/Jou romance, but I'd like some opinions on that and if you guys want a certain pairing, let me know and I'll be sure to think about it. Also, if you know any songs that you think the lyrics might be relevant, please list the title of the song and if possible, the singer/band. Please read on for song interpretations and a preview for the next chapter.
Song Interpretations:
Workin' It Out: These lyrics were picked to sort of show how Joey views his life.
Life for Rent: These lyrics were picked to show how Seto views his life from the inside of his heart.
It's My Life: These lyrics were chosen to show emphasis on Joey's choice and to show that this decision is going to effect everything.
PREVIEW SUMMARY:
The big first meeting! Seto grumbles about getting a bodyguard and meeting Joey doesn't exactly change his mind. Needless to say, the first meeting doesn't go very well. Meanwhile, Mokuba is both thrilled and amazed to find an adult that is skilled at video games. Looks like Joey's staying! And what's this? It's up to Joey to cook dinner?