A/N: So, I'm taking this challenge, right, where I have to write a oneshot for every ship on the official shippers list. I'm doing it random, right, and the first ship that I get is Mentorshipping. And, you know, I just can't do it romantically. So you get this instead.
"Wow, Joey, I can't believe you just made that move!" snorts Tristan, dubiously eyeing the monster card that his friend has laid down between them.
"Huh? There ain't nothing wrong with that card!" snaps Joey, glancing down at his Time Wizard. He doesn't know what Tristan is getting at, because that is one of his best cards. After so many months of having it, with Duel Kingdom being far in the past, it's something that he's gotten rather good at using, too.
Across from him, Tristan just snickers and turns back to his hand. A face-down card is played, a trap card triggered, and three turns later Joey has lost. Again.
-x-x-x-
"I don't get it, Yug'." Joey mutters one day, face twisting into something almost upset but not quite. His hands are shoved deep into the pockets of his jacket, eyes locked onto his scuffed sneakers, autumn wind blowing his hair back and the bangs from his eyes.
Beside him, Yugi tilts his head and frowns. "Dont get what?"
"The game!" says Joey, annoyed. "I've been playing it just as long as you have, and I still suck at it!"
"You aren't that bad at it, Joey." offers Yugi, but he can't really say much else on the matter. Joey's right after all. Duel Monsters has never been the taller boy's strong suit. But, never one to be rude, he makes sure to tack on; "But you have to remember, I had my grandpa teach me."
The comment just passes through Joey's mind in that moment but, later on, when he's laying in his bed and listening to the television blare down the hall, the scent of alcohol heavy in the air, it will come back to him full force.
-x-x-x-
The next day, Joey goes to the Game Shop to speak to Yugi's grandfather. Asks for some help with the game, and is denied. Asks for pointers, and is shown the door. Catches sight of a broom and mop and, hey, manual labor's something that he's used to doing anyway, so he offers up a deal.
He'll start working at the shop in exchange for lessons in Duel Monsters.
-x-x-x-
Joey starts right away, even though his lessons don't. He sweeps the floor and moves boxes. Cleans the shelves and wipes down the display cases. Menial work that wouldn't get done otherwise, because Sugoroku just cannot get it all done on his own and Yugi is busy; off with friends, off with school, off dueling and saving the world.
Of course, both Joey and Sugoroku understand. The other boy has his life and they each have theirs.
This? The Game Shop? It has been Yugi's grandfather's life for many, many years.
It quickly becomes Joey's as well.
-x-x-x-
The lessons are always short things. A tip here, during lunch. An explanation of how something works, when a new card comes in. A comment about Joey's deck, during a the breaks of a duel tournament that's being broadcast over the radio.
It isn't what Joey signed up for, but he doesn't even think about quitting.
-x-x-x-
Days pass by, and then weeks. Weeks turn into one month, then two, then three. Slowly, Joey gains a deeper understanding of the game, but that is no longer what he goes to the store for.
No. Now he goes merely for the older Mutou's company, because he's suddenly acutely aware of the fact that he has no adult guidance at home. Suddenly realizing what he has missed over the years with a drunkard as a father.
Joey works for Sugoroku and, in return, the older man is there where his father never was.