Now before you say anything about this post going up a day late let me tell you a story:
~Once upon a time there was a young woman who decided she needed to further her education and go back to university to finish the program she initially dropped out of. In order to practice her writing skills, she began to write fan-fiction over the summer for fun.
Now the week of classes drew ever closer and on the fateful thursday when she was supposed to upload her favorite chapter of her story she went to the bookstore to purchase her books. Something strange happened while she was at the store. A feeling of worry and dread came over her. *Will I be able to keep up with the course load after being out of school for so long?* She wondered *What if all my profs are incapable of teaching and I have to learn all of the material independently?* With so many thoughts floating round her head, she returned home and decided to bike down to the farmer's market to distract herself.
When she left the house however, she did not take her phone. While she was gone, the reminder alarm for updating her fan-fiction went off, and so she fully forgot to update the story until she was lying in bed around 1:00am.~
So yes I forgot and I'm sorry, but I'm sure most of you don't really care the reason :P I wonder how many people even bother to read this part before the actual story? Oh well.
I noticed I never actually wrote this specifically into the story; Joey and Téa have a key to eachother's apartment. Never a bad idea if you're living alone to give a friend a spare key.
I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or it's characters. I do not endorse the act of burning coffee; waste of good caffeine it is.
Joey knew something was wrong as soon as he stepped into Téa's apartment. The smell of burnt coffee sent him running to the kitchen. The pot had pretty much boiled dry. "Téa?" he called to the seemingly empty apartment. No answer. He walked down the small hallway towards her room and knocked on the closed door. "Téa?"
"I'm not feeling well I don't think I'll be able to go out today." A tired voice came from the other side of the door. "Sorry I should have called."
Joey opened the door a crack, "Are ye decent?" he asked.
A faint "Uh-huh," was the only reply he got.
He opened the door to see the bed dishevelled and most of the blankets massed around his friend in a cocoon. Joey sighed, she wasn't sick; she only did that when something was wrong. "Téa, what happened?" He asked as he sat at the foot of her bed. When she didn't respond he stood, grabbing the covers and yanking them all off in one fluid motion. A shocked Téa pulled herself to a sitting position and glared at her friend. Her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying for a while.
"I said I don't feel well, let me sleep!" she snapped, reaching for the blankets.
Joey threw them across the room out of her reach. "Not until ya tell me what's wrong, and we get some food in yer stomach. I aint stupid Téa; we may live in different units but we've still practically been roomates for the past year and a half. I know when something's wrong."
Téa looked away, and sniffled a bit. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Yea? Well I ain't leaving till ya do." Joey stomped over to the bed and scooped her up, carrying her to the kitchen. She crinkled her nose at the smell of the burnt coffee as he dropped her into one of the chairs at the table. "Now what happened?" he asked, opening her cupboard and pulling out a frying pan.
Téa looked away from him and crossed her arms defiantly, "I told you I don't want to talk about it."
Joey laughed. "Ya know how I know it's bad?" he asked. "Ye always act like a child when ya have a serious problem. It's like ye don't know what to do and ye hope some big grownup'll come and fix it for ya." He opened the fridge and pulled out some eggs and bacon. "I aint gonna solve yer problems for ye Téa, but I wanna help if I can. Sitting in yer room in a ball isn't gonna make things better. Ya gotta get up and do something. Now what's up?"
She was quiet for a moment before asking, "Joey do you think I'm doing alright?"
Joey turned to look at her, "What brings dat question on?"
Lowering her head she mumbled, "You can't tell Yugi."
Joey winced but nodded. "Ya got it Téa. Not a word to Yugi." After dropping some slices of bacon into the pan, he began scrubbing the black gunk out of the coffee pot.
"Well," Téa paused, not knowing where to start. "You remember our boat ride with the pharaoh just before we put his soul to rest?" Joey stopped what he was doing and looked at her; he had an idea where this was going.
Joey had been the first one during their time with the pharaoh to realize Téa's feelings for Atem. He had told Tristan, but because of Yugi's feelings for Téa, they had both kept their mouths shut all this time. As far as he knew, Yugi was clueless to this day. "Of course I remember it, what does dat have to do with this?"
Téa blushed and for a minute Joey wondered if he really wanted to know. "I went to Yugi's room that night on the boat. I wanted to talk to Atem, say goodbye. But I couldn't admit it to Yugi, I couldn't tell him. So instead I ran out of the room after an awkward conversation. Ever since I've dreamed of how I wanted that night to go."
"Téa please before ye go on sensor these thoughts. I know I promised not to tell Yugi, but some things I just don't wanna know." Joey's face was red and he was facing the sink again in an attempt to hide it.
Téa's face reddened, "It's not like that," she lied, "but the dream was always the same, I see Atem, say what I had wanted to say…I…I had the dream last night, but it was different. He asked me if I would be okay when he left." Tears welled up in her eyes as she remembered it. "And suddenly it didn't feel like a dream anymore. When his eyes locked with mine and I thought of the last two years without him…I told him I didn't know, and I started to cry."
Joey turned to look at her. "So this is all over a dream?" He sounded less than impressed.
"Not entirely." She admitted, "When I started to cry he hugged me, and it felt so real I forgot I was dreaming… until my phone rang and woke me up. When I picked it up, I heard his voice on the other side of the line. It was Yugi, but I didn't know that. I dropped the phone, and for a moment all I could think was 'He came back.'" She sniffled again. "Then Yugi said it was him and the line went dead. When I called him back I could barely keep myself from crying, and when he said I love you before hanging up I couldn't say it back."
Removing the bacon, and pouring the grease out of the pan, Joey cracked a couple of eggs. "So ya miss Atem." Joey was quiet for a moment as he chose his words. "Téa when ye lose someone ya care about there are good days and bad days; but laying around moping is the last thing ya should do on the bad days. Why haven'tcha just told Yugi about the feelings ye had for the pharaoh? It's not like he'd have anything to be jealous about, ye never had a chance to act on 'em." There was a long silence and when Téa didn't answer he turned to look at her.
She was staring at the table, not meeting his eye. "That's not exactly true…"
Joey's eyes widened, "When? How...how does Yugi not know?"
Téa blushed, not knowing if she wanted to share the memory. "It was the night before we left for Egypt. Atem and I couldn't sleep and we both ended up walking though the city in the middle of the night." Joey turned back to the stove to pull the eggs out of the pan. "We ran into each other and we talked for a while before he walked me home. Things got…a little heated on the porch before we said goodnight. Yugi was asleep so he doesn't know Atem even went for that walk."
Joey was quiet for a long time, "You told Yugi that he was your first kiss."
"It technically isn't a lie." Téa's voice was small.
"How far did he get?"
Téa's eyes widened, "Pardon?"
"Ya heard me, I asked how far ya let him get." Joey looked at Téa, his face was serious. "Ya lied to Yugi, I'm asking how much ya lied to him. It doesn't really matter now, but if I'm keeping secrets then I wanta know the whole secret. How far did Atem get?"
"Second base or so?" She couldn't look him in the eyes. Her hand went back to her neck where the pharaoh had left his mark.
Joey didn't say a word or even look at her as he dropped a plate of food in front of her and sat down with his own. She opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off. "Just eat." There was an angry edge to his voice. He didn't speak again until his plate was almost gone. "Why would ya jump so into a relationship with Yugi so fast if ya were so in love with the pharaoh?"
"Atem asked me to look after him."
Joey's jaw dropped. "Yer not serious are you?" Téa nodded and Joey sighed, shaking his head. "Yeh shouldn't have done it, it aint fair to Yug."
"I didn't just do it because Atem asked me… I have feelings for Yugi too, but he reminds me so much of Atem…"
"Dat ya can't fully let the pharaoh go and move on." Joey finished for her. There was another long silence as they finished eating. As Téa put her fork down, Joey picked up their plates and dropped them in the sink. He poured them both some coffee and sat back at the table. "I think you should tell him."
Téa's eyes went wide, "Tell him? What would I say; 'I don't know if I can continue this relationship because you remind me too much of the spirit that used to share your body? Oh, and by the way, one night while you were sleeping I let him touch my boobs?'"
Joey winced, letting out an awkward laugh, "I'd word it a bit differently. Ya don't have to tell him everything, but this relationship aint good for ya right now. Tell him about yer feelings for the pharaoh, not about the rest. Let him know dat ya need some time. Yug's a good guy, he'll understand and I'm sure he'll wait."
Téa sipped her coffee and nodded. "You're right, he deserves to know. I just don't know how to tell him."
"Face-to-face is how. He deserves that from yeh." Téa nodded again as Joey spoke, "I'll call him and get him to come over first chance he gets. He can stay at my place."
"He's going to hate me."
"For a while he might be mad atcha, but he'll calm down. He really cares about ye Téa."
She offered a sad smile, "I know. Hey Joey?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think I'll be alright?"
"Yeah Téa, I think ye'll be just fine."
And so ends the summer, sadly because of school this story will only be updating once a week from now on. As always if you have any feedback let me know! See you guys next Thursday :)
