Title: Lawfully Wedded
Pairing: Puppyshipping (Seto/Joey), Tristan/OC, Cheershipping (Duke/Serenity), Vaseshipping (Atem/Mana), Peachshipping (Yugi/Téa), Angstshipping (Ryou/Marik)
Rating: T
Words (Chapter 1): 1.400
Author's Notes: I told myself I'd wait to start another work in progress until I finished at least one of my current ones, but I have had such a busy 2017 so far and I couldn't focus on any of those, and this idea was eating at me so I felt like I needed to do it. But I didn't upload any of it until I wrote a chapter for almost all of my others. (I wrote for everything but Legally Blond...figures, my most popular one haha). So, I hope you all enjoy it.
Marriage: the legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship.
Marriage By Law: the law put into place that states if a person is not lawfully wedded by their 25th birthday, a spouse (referred to as a Match) will be appointed to them.
It was a law that had been around since his parents' time, and Joey Wheeler thought it could not have made any less sense. He knew the system was beyond flawed – it had paired his parents up and look at how that turned out. She was always miserable and he was always drunk. Joey supposed it was a miracle that they'd even gotten children out of that union, nevertheless ones slightly normal such as himself and his sister.
Of course, the system had gotten a lot better since. They yearly collected data on the singles between 18 and 25 to keep their information as up to date as possible, for better Matches. They gave more leeway to couples; if they were engaged when one turned 25 but the other was younger, they wouldn't be forced to wed until the other one turned 25. That was the same bylaw applied to Matched couples and couples who found each other.
Due to the law, a lot of people found themselves engaged early on. To be exempt from Matching, they'd have to inform the government through paperwork about it, and any changes. That's why, at age 23, Joey watched his 22-year-old sister, Serenity at an alter with one of his classmates, Duke Devlin. They'd beat the clock and, though Joey still wouldn't admit it out loud, they seemed to be making a good couple.
He had to hand it to them, watching them almost two years later as they cooed over their four-month-old daughter – they seemed happy. He hoped to all heavens and gods that he may or may not have believed in that it wasn't just an act. Not that his sister had ever been good at lying, though, so he took her smiles and laughs with her husband and child at face value. Back when he knew him in high school, Duke had had a lot of attention from both males and females. He was surprised when Serenity had turned 18 and they'd started seeing each other seriously. He knew his sister deserved the world, but he hadn't expected a guy like Duke to be the one to give it to her.
(But he was thankful that they'd waited a few years to actually tie the knot…it'd took Joey that long to even get accustomed to the idea.)
Serenity picked up the little girl, Faith, and brought her over to two other girls. Mana and Téa were almost sisters-in-law (or was it sister-in-laws?) due to the fact that Mana's husband, Atem, and Téa's fiancé, Yugi, were brothers. Both couples had been best friends first, and decided to just go for it with each other before they were forced into something with random strangers. Joey supposed that was one way to ensure you get along with your spouse, though he couldn't see himself actually marrying any of his friends. The four of them all seemed happy enough, but he wondered if there was that…spark.
He supposed the government was getting its way no matter what route someone decided to take. If you didn't settle down with a friend or a romantic interest, then you were Matched. Either way, you were getting married before you both turned 25.
"It's been four months and I still can't believe I have a child," Duke admitted to Joey, plopping down between him and Yugi.
"It's been two years and I still can't believe you're married to my sister," he joked back, earning a laugh from the dark-haired friend. Now that he was closer, Joey really took him in. "You look like crap."
"Joey!" Yugi gasped from the other side, but Duke laughed again.
"Dude, I feel like crap. Faith never sleeps, I swear. I'm trying to be like, Super-Dad or something and take care of it, but she always just wants Serenity." He groaned, rubbing his tired eyes.
"Might have something to do with the fact that Serenity's got her food growing inside her," their other friend, Tristan, spoke as he walked out into the backyard where they were all gathered.
"Fair point." Duke mumbled. "But I'm trying. I mean, the girl grew inside her for nine months. She can't just love me now? When do they start becoming Daddy's girls?"
"Probably when she's old enough to realize Daddy's the one with the money buying her everything," Tristan joked.
Joey rolled his eyes, trying not to pay attention to the large house they were currently gathered at. Duke's family business gave him and Serenity more than enough to live comfortably as they started a family, but he knew his sister didn't want to be a stay at home mom forever. She was in the process of studying to become a teacher, temporarily put on hold due to Faith coming along.
"Enough about me," Duke spoke up, looking around at his guy friends. "When are the rest of you getting hitched?" He elbowed Yugi, the only one of the remaining three engaged.
"Uh, well, Téa and I want a May wedding. We just haven't picked an exact date yet, but at least it'll be before either of us turns 25."
Joey blanched. He'd forgotten how close they all were getting to their 25th birthdays. It was late September, and come January, he'd be the first of his close friends to turn 25.
"That seems like a nice time to have a wedding," Duke agreed. "Serenity and I made the mistake of a summer wedding. Remember how humid it was?"
"Yeah, I remember Serenity crying over how frizzy her hair was getting," Tristan started. "Oh, wait…no, that was you."
"Ha-ha," Duke drawled. "What about you, Pinhead? Any prospects?"
Tristan made a face, awkwardly rubbing at the back of his neck. "Well, actually. I've kind of been…Matched."
"What!?" Joey momentarily forgot his own crisis, looking up at his best friend in shock. "But you don't even turn 25 until April! And why didn't you tell me?"
Tristan shrugged, sighing as the girls started walking over, clearly concerned. "Well, I guess they thought we'd be a really good Match and did it early."
"I've heard of that happening," Yugi agreed.
"And I didn't want to tell you guys until I actually met her. We set up a date for Saturday."
"A date with who?" Téa asked.
"Tristan's been Matched," Yugi answered.
"Oh! Good luck, Tristan," she said with a smile, though Joey could guess what they were all thinking. No one in their group had been Matched yet, so they didn't know for sure how accurate it was.
"What do you know about her?" Serenity asked.
"Uh, her name is Jacey. She's 21 and in culinary school." Tristan shrugged. "They don't actually give you much to go on, to be honest. But I do know what she looks like." He took out his phone and pulled up a picture, passing it around.
"21? She's young," Duke remarked.
"She's pretty, though," Téa added, looking at the picture with Mana before passing it to Joey. He had to admit, she was pretty, with bright red hair and green eyes.
"Hopefully she's as pretty on the inside," Mana sing-songed, stopping when everyone stared at her. "I mean, yeah, I'm sure she is! It'll be great!"
"Are you okay, Joey?" The gentle voice of his sister caused him to snap out of it, looking up from Tristan's phone and passing it around to his friends.
He thought about lying, but he knew Serenity would see right through it. "I guess, I just. I turn 25 in four months and I haven't even been Matched yet. What if there's no one out there for me?"
He was met with a couple of his friends' objections, but they all meshed together. Serenity handed Faith over to Duke and knelt down to where Joey was sitting. "Brother, if there's one thing that this Match system has showed us, it's that there's someone out there for everyone. You'll get yours."
Maybe that was true. He just had to hope that it was someone he could actually get along with and be married to for the rest of his life.
