A/N This takes place in the aftermath of the final duel, and assumes that the reader has watched all the episodes of Yugioh... there with be M/F and M/M interactions, if that bothers you than please leave. No lemons but there will be some heavy petting and implied scenes.
Seto Kaiba walked into his office and firmly shut the door. Three strides across the room put him at his desk, where he dumped a briefcase and phone before continuing to the window. The seemingly permanent Kaiba glare was fixed on his face as he looked out on the buildings that made up downtown Domino.
"So, what happens now?" He wondered.
"The dweeb squad told me that Yugi had another half who has returned back to where he belongs. What happens now that my greatest rival is apparently gone?"
Kaiba turned sharply away from the window, walking to his desk before sitting down heavily, head in his hands. A weary sigh escaped him before he sat up straight, fixing his coat so he had some of order in his suddenly turmoil life. Pushing the intercom button, he instructed his secretary to locate Mokuba and send him to the office. Cindy agreed, before hesitating.
"what is it?" Kaiba snapped, nerves already on the edge.
"Well Sir, Joey Wheeler called here looking for you. I told him you weren't taking phone calls but he insisted on leaving a message for you... Apparently he challenged you to a duel..."
Cindy let her voice trail off, knowing her boss would be cringing just hearing the blonde duelist name. Sure enough, a loud noise followed by a string of Non-work appropriate words came from the office and Kaiba appeared in the doorway, white coat billowing out behind him, making him look much taller than his 6'1" height. He looked over at Cindy leaning over the desk to look her in the eye.
"Give. Me. His. Number." he snarled, ready to take his frustrations on the other duelist. Cindy looked her boss in the eye as she handed it over, not willing to let the brunet intimidate her.
"What do you want me to tell Mokuba" she asked calmly, while a surprised Kaiba blinked at her.
"Have him him meet me at the car in 10 minutes. I'll need someone to witness when I humiliate that 3rd rate duelist." With that Kaiba disappeared into his office, grabbing his briefcase along with his deck before stomping out the door. Cindy picked up the phone, not stopping the smile that spread across her face from realizing her boss was back to form.
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Yugi stared out the plane window, thinking over the last few days. The trip to Egypt took a lot out of him, then saying good-bye to his Yami nearly broke the boys' spirit. He looked over at the seat next to him and smiled, watching as Joey's slept in the seat next to him. Tea was on Joey's other side, Tristan next to her.
Rolling his neck to try to relieve that tension, he noticed that the seat belt sign was off. Standing up, he stretched as much as he could in the tiny area he had. Placing a hand on Joey's leg, he muttered an apology to the blonde while he shook him, waking the other duelist up with a start.
Joey snorted awake, waking up Tea who hit Tristan on the side while she stretched in her own uncomfortable seat. Yugi smiled at the other two, signally to them that he needed to get out to use the bathroom. Tea gave his arm a squeeze when he passed, and Tristan patted him on the back awkwardly before sitting back down in his seat.
A row up sat Grandpa, who was unable to sleep while he worried about his grandsons recent lost. Duke and Ryou slept next to him, the dice master oblivious to the emotional turmoil swirling around him, and the Britain to tired from his own ordeal to worry much about anything.
Grandpa watched Yugi disappear into a bathroom before sighing to himself. He knew it was going to be a long couple of months. Unbuckling his own seat belt, he leaned forward to the row in front of him where the Ishtars were sitting.
Solomon placed his hand on Ishizu's shoulder, and the middle Ishtar sibling turned to him, with a soft smile.
"I know Yugi once told me that you could see the future. Tell me, did you foresee how to help my grandson through his grieving period?" Solomon asked, knowing how silly the question really was. Ishizu smiled at the older man before allowing herself to stare at the small area that Yugi disappeared too.
"I know my Pharaoh wanted to move on to his next life. However, it is hard to leave behind the other half of your soul, someone that you love with all your heart. I believe that while Atem's story is complete, there might just be another chapter in Yami's, as confusing as this all seems." Grandpa nodded at the woman, slowly settling back into his seat, pondering over her response to his question.
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Joey stood at the carousel, waiting for all of the luggage to start coming through. Grandpa had gone to get his car, and Tea had called her mother to come pick her up.
Joey and Tristan were going with Tea, while Grandpa was taking the Ishtars to the game shop. Duke was out grabbing his car also, and he was going to take Ryou home and bring Yugi and the Ishtars luggage to the game shop since Grandpa didn't have enough room for everyone in his car.
Joey planned on making his way over there before dinner, but he had to go home first and see what kind of trouble his father had gotten into. He rotated his shoulder, wincing as it popped back into place. His father was a drunk, and Joey learned the hard way to get out of his way when things started to fly. In his eyes, Joey was being abused, he just tried to hard to keep what was left of his family together.
To many times to count Joey had put himself into harms way to keep his father from doing more damage to himself. All the yelling and hitting during the drunk parts was made worse when his dad was sober, and took Joey on trips and taught him sports, and reminding Joey what it was like to have a family. Joey shook his head, stopping his train of thought so he could pay attention to the luggage that was beginning to circle in front of him.
He grabbed a few bags, then Tristan and Malik appeared to help him. Joey stepped back, and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. Scrolling down to his sisters number, he sent the younger Wheeler an 'everything's good' message.
His eye's lingered on the next name and before he knew it he was texting Kaiba a dueling challenge. When no answer came, he decided that conversation was the best way to go, and he dialed the number to Kaiba's private secretary that Mokuba had secretly slid to him eons ago. Grinning to himself, he dialed the number, hoping that this challenge would help bring things back to normal.
Tea's mother pulled up the the airport Pickup zone and put her car in park. She quickly texted her daughter, waiting as her baby girl and her friends came out the revolving doors. Tea ran over to her mother's car, opening the passenger door and leaning in to give her mother a hug.
Joey and Tristan hung back, allowing Tea a chance to greet her mother in private. They grabbed the suitcases, bringing them over to the trunk and placing them inside. Joey and Tristan then slid into the back of the car, causing Tea and her mother to break apart. Mrs Gardner smiled at them in the rear-view mirror before starting the car.
Pulling smoothly back into traffic, she reached over to pat her daughters arm, happy to have her back. She then turned her attention to the blonde in her back-seat.
"Joseph, are you ok to go home? I wash the spare sheets for you if you need a place to stay tonight.?" Joey met the woman's gaze in the mirror before slowly nodding.
"Yes Mrs. Gardner I will be fine, thank you." Angie Gardner nodded her head at the boy. Tristan cupped his friends' shoulder before grinning at him.
"at least you'll get to go home and relax, my moms watching my nephew and she's been begging me to come home... she even offered to pay for the plane to drop me off at the front door!" Joey snicked at the brunet, while Tea and her mother rolled their eyes at the pair.
The car pulled up to Joeys block, and he got out, fist bumped with Tristan and bowed to Tea's mom in thanks for the ride. "I'll catch you guys later, thanks again." Joey shut the door and waved while they pulled away. He turned towards his building, hoping that his father was home and sober.
Walking up three flights of stairs, Joey approached his apartment door, turned the key in the lock and opened it. Immediately something flew by his head, breaking into pieces on the floor.
"where have you been boy? Haven't seen you in a while 0you out running around with that told gang of yours again?" The elder Wheeler sneered, leaning heavily against the wall. Joey shut his eyes, feeling the dread in his stomach as his father's steps got nearer. The first blow struck Joey's arm and he fell against the door a second blow fell, and Joey threw up an arm to block the third. A bruise already was developing on his back, and hi could feel the blood dripping on down his face.
The worse part was his shoulder was killing him, and he felt like it popped out of its socket again. He needed no other motivation and grabbed his fathers hand as it lowered to hit Joey again. Pushing up against the door, he barrelled into his father, causing the older man to fall on the ground in a head.
Not looking back, and ignoring the pain in racking his body, Joey marched into his bedroom, grabbed his books and some clothes, and left, calling a neighbor to come check on his dad who hadn't moved from the head on the floor. Joey marched down the street, ban in hand. His eye was burning and his gait was unsteady.
He was heading to Tristans's when a car pulled up beside him. Glancing to his left Joey tensed up for a fight only to be surprised at seeing Mais's face peering at him from her Corvette.
"Joey is that you?" Mai asked, taking in the bruises and swollen eyes that the boy in front of her. "When did you get back into town? I thought you guys were in Egypt or something saving the world again?" Joey stared at her, a thousand thoughts running through his head.
"we just got back a few hours ago, the Pharaoh went back home after the freakiest experience of my life." Joey told her, attempting to avoid the blonde woman's gave. Mai studied Joey before asking her next question.
"So did you get jumped in Egypt? You look awful."
"My dad decided to roll out the welcome mat for me when I got home. He had some words and, well, he ended up in a head on the floor and I am wandering around town trying tot decide what my next move is." Joey told her, shuffling his feet to try to hide his discomfort from his injuries.
Mai didn't hesitate, leaving over to open her passenger door and motioning for Joey to get inside. Joey sat down warily, shutting the door and buckling as Mai gunned the engine and took off down the street.
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Kaiba paced in front of his car, checking his watch every few seconds. Finally the garage door opened and Mokuba appeared, wearing a frown as he approached his brother.
"I heard you are dueling Joey again, what happened to being down with the 'losers' as you so affectionally call them?" Mokuba asked, not wanting to deal with yet another round of the Seto/Joey show.
"That loser isn't even worth my time Mokuba, we are going home, I must be exhausted if I even entertained this." Kaiba stated, getting into the car. Mokuba followed suit, silently thanking whatever got would listen that his brother wasn't going after Joey- at least not tonight.
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Riding down the streets of Domino with Mai brought back all kinds of memories for Joey- Of Battle City, of Duelist Kingdom, and of the awful ordeal with the seal which drove this giant wedge between him and Mai.
And the worst part was they were so close to figuring out what their relationship was going to , and how they could deal with the feelings of attraction they had for each other. Now, they were in the same car together, and Joey was slowly dripping blood onto Mai's expensive leather seats.
She handed him some wipes, and Joey attempted to clean the spots. Joeys' phone beeped, and he dug it out of his pocket to see a text from Mokuba, declining for his brother Joey's duel challenge, and begging Joey to re consider egging on the elder Kaiba. Joey smiled at that, shooting of a quick 'no guarantee's' to Mokuba before smiling at his phone. He then texted Yugi to let him know he wasn't going to be able to come over for dinner that night after all.
Mai watched him from the corner of her eye, wondering what the other blonde was thinking. Joey grinned at her, wincing as his swollen eye began to throb.
"So where are we going Mai? I'm not exactly dressed for a night out on the town..." Joey wondering, realizing he no longer recognized their surroundings.
"I'm staying at a hotel on the outskirts of town for a couple of days. I was waiting for you to get home so we could talk about... before." She ended that sentence quietly, not she if she was really ready for this talk. Joey didn't reply, choosing instead to continue staring out the window at the passing trees and houses. Finally , they made it to the hotel, and Mai pulled into a spot, motioning for Joey to follow her.
In the building they went, Mai stopping at the concierge desk for a moment before escorting Joey toe the elevator and up to her room.
"Go ahead and take a shower Joey, I have to run to the store real quick and I"ll be right Back." Mai finished that sentence with a smile, causing Joey to blush. With a flutter of her fingers, Mai left the room, and Joey began to disrobe so he could clean up.
After he finished showering, Joey emerged from the bathroom and sat on the bed. Putting on fresh clothes helped him to relax, and he felt his body begin to relax. A check of his phone showed that the neighbor had texted him letting Joey know that his father was awake and all right. At this point, Joey could care less. His fingers roamed the comforter, thoughts running ramped through his head.
The door opened and Mai appeared, holding a bag in her hands. Sitting down next to Joey, she pulled out bandages and cream and began to patch up the younger teen. She gave Joey some Advil, then helped him to pop his should back into place. Joey watched her, marveling at how nice it was to have a woman take care of him.
"are you feeling better yet Joey?" Mai asked, causing the boy to abandon his musings.
"I think so...I'm just glad that at last I got the best of him." Mai nodded before getting off the bed.
"I'm going to shower then we can talk." Joey nodded wordlessly, staring at the door she disappeared into. When Mai came out, hair wrapped in a towel and all her make-up wiped off, Joey couldn't help but notice how vulnerable she looked. Mai sat down in a chair next to the the bed, leaning forward to loo Joey in the eye.
"I'm sorry I left that way Joey. I just couldn't handle what had happened with us. When I saw that seal close around you, I thought my enter life was over. When I couldn't save you, it was worse than when I was captured by Marik. I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to see me again. I'm so sorry that I left you like that." Mai ended in a whisper, tears sliding down her cheeks.
Joey placed a hand on her cheek before pulling Mai close and kissing her passionately. Their hands began searching each other bodies, and they only broke apart long enough to begin taking their clothes off,. Mai reached into the bad she had just bought and pulled out a box of condoms before joining Joey on the bed.