IN THIS CHAPTER, JOEY AND BANDIT KEITH ARE IN A REALLY CLINGY RELATIONSHIP. JOEY IS BLOWING OFF YUGI A LOT AND YUGI IS HURT, UNDERSTANDABLY. JOEY AND JACK ATLAS GET IN A FIGHT BECAUSE BANDIT KEITH IS KIND OF AN ASS AND JOEY WANTS TO PROVE HIMSELF BY CHALLENGING JACK, BUT ENDS UP JUST BEING A PAWN OF BANDIT KEITH. PLEASE DON'T THINK THIS IS BASHING JOEY. I REALLY ADORE HIM AS A CHARACTER, BUT I'M PORTRAYING HIM AS HAVING A SUCKY/CLINGY ROMANCE LIFE FOR A REASON. YOU"LL SEE WHY A S MORE CHAPTERS GO ON.
Yugi decided that he needed to relax for the day. Lately, he had been under so much stress with the fear of the possible return of some old adversaries and so, he finally was able to get Joey's attention, convincing him to join him for a day of fun at the rivers that ran through the center of the heavenly valley that they all called home. He also invited Tea along and so the two of them walked along the riverbank, nearing their destination with eager hearts, anticipating getting to see Joey again for the first time in so long.
"I'm telling you, Tea, ever since he started dating Bandit Keith, he just hasn't been the same. It's like he's changed for the worse. He's been ignoring me and it's like I don't even exist anymore," vented Yugi.
"Yeah, I know. It's the same with me. He hasn't made any effort to talk to me in like a month, ever since the grand ball at your palace. It's like he's changed," replied Tea.
"Just because he's in a relationship doesn't mean he should blow off his friends. It's just not fair," said Yugi.
"I know. I was really angry about it for a while and Rebecca told me that she'd bop him across the head for me if he needs it, but I laughed and told her 'nah,' and she was like 'alright,'" laughed Tea.
"Your wife's pretty tough, Tea," laughed Yugi. "She's always been that way though."
"Remember how she used to gush over you all the time when we were teenagers in life?" laughed Tea.
"Yeah, don't remind me," smiled Yugi.
"Well, it turned out for the best though because she and I found love with each other and you found Atem. The one who really pissed me off was that Vivian Wong. My lady didn't like her either and she creamed her sorry ass at the Kaiba Corporation Grand Championship after we saved the world from Dartz. Viv sure was sorry!" laughed Tea.
"She was," agreed Yugi.
"I asked her if she wanted to come today, but she was busy, helping her grandfather Arthur with some kind of research."
Both of them suddenly halted their pace, taking notice of the awkward scene before them.
By the river, Joey was wrapped in the arms of his husband, Bandit Keith, and the two of them were fiercely making out. It was almost certainly a violation of public decency.
"Ugh, Joey?" asked Tea hesitantly.
Joey made a weird sound as if he wanted to wait and he kept kissing Keith. After another minute or two, they finally broke the lip lock and Joey glanced at his two friends, not looking as happy as he normally would at seeing their faces.
"Hey, you two…" said Joey.
"Hi, Joey," said Yugi as Tea smiled.
"Hey, can't ya see that Keithy an' me are makin' out here?" he laughed.
"Yeah, you brought him…." stuttered Yugi.
"Yeah, I did," said Joey, as he got up off of his boyfriend's lap. "So, whataya two wanna do here today?"
"We thought we could have a picnic and maybe swim in the river," said Tea.
"Well, whatever. Anyways, I'll be with Keithy if ya need me," said Joey as he raced back into the lap of his boyfriend and they began making out, utterly disgusting both Yugi and Tea.
To better cope with the obscenities, the two of them began setting a picnic blanket and all the delicious food prepared. They sure had quite a lot of it.
"I baked these cup cakes this morning. Aren't they cute?" smiled Tea.
"Yeah, they are," agreed Yugi as he admired the vanilla cupcakes with the white frosting. "I got all this, courtesy of Mana. She's really been going all-out lately with her culinary spells and she makes the best food."
"Cool," said Tea.
Shortly after, the two of them sat, enjoying their food as before hearing a familiar voice calling for them. They saw approaching the picnic a woman with green eyes, glasses, and long blonde hair. It was Tea's wife, Rebecca Hawkins.
"Hey you two," she said. "I went to my grandfather's place to help him with his research, but it turns out that he finished early and so I figured I'd come here if that's okay."
"Of course," smiled Yugi.
"Yeah, come join in," said Tea as she ate a strawberry. Her wife sat down next to her and kissed her on the cheek before noticing the appalling scene of Joey and Bandit Keith making out intensely only a few meters away.
"Are they…?" stumbled Rebecca.
"Inappropriate?" finished Tea.
"Ugh, yeah," agreed Yugi.
Trying to ignore the public display of affection before them, the three of them dug into the food and made amiable conversation before Joey and Keith came over. Honestly, the three of them were amazed that they actually stopped making out.
"Hey, you're that Hawkins girl. I was the American champ before you!" asserted Bandit Keith.
"Yeah, so?" replied Rebecca, munching on an apple.
"You stole my title from me!" asserted Bandit Keith.
"Stole? Don't you mean won? Last I checked, Pegasus beat you in that match at the US finals and you were thrown from the pro-leagues after threatening him. It was shortly after that I rose to the top and took the title, so before you accuse me of stealing it from you, I think you need to get your facts straight, buddy," replied Rebecca maturely.
"Yeah, whatever," smirked Bandit Keith as he walked towards the river.
Wanting to catch his attention, Yugi called for Joey before he could follow his boyfriend.
"Joey, why don't you sit down and have lunch with us?" asked Yugi kindly.
"Ah, I'm not really hungry. Besides, I think Keithy's stressed. He needs me to calm him down.
With that, Joey walked away and it disgusted Yugi to no end. He looked at his two friends sitting next to him and awaited their responses.
"Well, he was rude," said Tea candidly.
"You can say that again," muttered Rebecca.
"And Joey and him can't leave each other alone for five minutes," said Yugi. "Well, at least he's not abusive to Joey like Kaiba was."
"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still a jerk," said Rebecca. " I won my title fair and square."
"Keith always was rude," said Yugi. He tried to trap us in a haunted cave at Duelist Kingdom in life, not to mention trample us with a boulder."
Putting Bandit Keith aside, the three of them continued to talk amiably before they noticed two men approaching them. One was very tall with blonde, dressed in white, pants and a muscle shirt, and the other had black hair and was dressed in jeans and a dark blue muscle shirt. It was Jack and Yusei and their dragons, Stardust Dragon and Red Dragon Archfiend were flying overhead.
"Yugi?" called Jack, enthused.
"Jack!" exclaimed Yugi as he ran to him and the two of them embraced in a great hug. "What are you two doing here?"
"We thought we'd come to the river to relax for a while," answered Yusei.
"Come join our picnic," requested Yugi and so the two of them did, setting down alongside the others.
"Oh my goodness!" jumped tea. "Jack Atlas! The Jack Atlas!"
"Yes, sweetheart. In the flesh…"
"You have no idea how much I love you! I'm such a big fan! I know you were at Yugi's grand ball a few weeks ago, but I was too nervous to go say 'Hi.' This is so awesome!"
"Yes, yes, I'm sure it is," smiled Jack.
"Jack?" asked Rebecca.
"Rebecca? How are you deary?"
"Good. I think the last time we talked was at the ball a few months ago."
"Wait, you two know each other?" asked Tea.
"Yeah, from the dueling pro-leagues in life," answered Rebecca.
"Precisely," said Jack.
After a few minutes of amiable conversation amongst the group, Jack took notice of the sadness in Yugi's eyes and asked what was wrong.
"It's just that, well, you see my friend Joey over there? Ever since he started dating that guy, they never leave each other alone and now he's always blowing off his friends, including me…"
"How typical," spat Jack. "That's Wheeler, isn't it? He clung to that corporate cheapskate Kaiba and now that Kaiba dumped him, he's found someone else to leach off of."
"Yeah," agreed Yugi, nodding.
"Yugi, if he's really your friend than he won't forget about you," interjected Yusei.
"I hope you're right," replied Yugi.
"I am right," responded Yusei.
Eventually, all of them went down to the river's bank and they found Keith and Joey making out still, paying absolutely no attention any of them.
"Hey, why don't you two get a room?" shouted Jack Atlas with disgust.
"What's the big idea, breaking up our love?" yelled Joey. "Huh, Jack Atlas! That rich boy, stuck up, diva! What's he doing here?"
"He's our friend and so he's welcome here," answered Yugi.
"All he did was put me down, like Kaiba always did. He's like a blonde Kaiba!" accused Joey.
"First, I am not nearly as cold as Kaiba and second, I never belittled you, Wheeler," replied Jack politely but with a hint of disgust in his voice.
Bandit Keith stormed over to jack and tried to stare him down, but Jack would not break, maintaining his glare.
"You got a problem with my guy?" asked Bandit Keith, sounding threatening.
"Only if he has a problem with me," smirked Jack.
"Keith, this is my fight. Let's settle this! Come at me, rich boy! How about we have ourselves a little battle here, shall we?"
"That's my boy, Joey. Show these losers how we do things back home," provoked Keith, letting his true colors show.
"We're dead. We don't have cards anymore, you nimrod," snapped Jack. "What do you mean, battle our monsters? What would be the point of that?"
"To see who the better duelist is and if I win, you gotta admit that I'm a better duelist than you'll ever be! I'm sick of being put down by stuck up, rich boys like you and Kaiba! You treated me like crap that day Yugi took me to your castle. You paid all the attention to Yugi and none to me and I had a bone to pick with you ever since!" snapped Joey.
"I see no point in this," stated Jack.
"Well, I do and if you don't duel me than I'll have Red-Eyes toss ya across the valley," snapped Joey, clearly driven to prove himself.
"Fine, we'll duel and if I win than you must shut up your arrogant, little mouth and walk away knowing that you were once again defeated by Jack Atlas, just like that time I defeated you in life at the pro-leagues."
"It's on!" yelled Joey. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"
Jack merely stared at Joey's dragon as it came forward, not frightening him whatsoever.
"Hmm, that thing doesn't look so tough. This should be an easy win… Come forth, Red Dragon Archfiend!"
Per his call, Jack's greatest and most trusted monster landed on the ground behind him and the two dragons took to the sky, thrashing at one another. Red-Eyes was quite thin compared to the extremely muscular Red Dragon Archfiend and the two of them brawled with Jack's dragon clearly taking the lead. Red Dragon Archfiend looked as if it was going to annihilate Red-Eyes for it was taking quite a beating.
"That a' boy, Red Dragon Archfiend!" cheered jack as he watched his dragon practically slaughter Joey's dragon.
Finally, Red Dragon Archfiend pinned down Red-Eyes and stood with its foot on Joey's dragon's stomach. Red-Eyes had lost and Jack called off his dragon before he could truly hurt Red-Eyes. Jack clearly had won the duel.
"And the kind reigns victorious," smiled Jack.
"Why you…" fumed Joey.
"Ugh, why don't we al go to my place and hand out and then later on we can all have a nice dinner," suggested Yugi, trying to avoid conflict.
"Whatever," snapped Joey. "But me and Keithy got some stuff to do at home!"
"Whatever," whispered Tea to herself.
Joey and Bandit Keith returned to Joey's mansion while Yugi, Tea, Rebecca, Jack and Yusei all went to Yugi's palace to find Atem in the parlor, watching television with Kuriboh and Watapon.