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 3): 1320

Author's Notes: Hey, everyone! I'd like to thank you all for letting me know what you think of this fic and even just for reading. I'm sorry for the extremely wait between chapters, these last months have been super busy. But I'm alive and so are all of my fics, I promise. I'm so close to graduating I can taste it, so I'm trying to keep myself on track.

This had to be a dream. No, not a dream – a nightmare. Yep, definitely a nightmare. There was no other explanation. It was as though he was back at Duelist Kingdom having the same nightmare about the prick.

Except this time, he wasn't being called a dog. No, this time, he was being called Seto Kaiba's future spouse.

'You have been Matched with Seto Kaiba.'

Joey had read the sentence over and over again since he'd gotten them three mornings ago. Seven words, that's all it was – just seven words. Yet, those seven words had just damned him to hell.

He could fight this, right? He could at least try. If not, he was sure the other guy would. How could he not? There's no way Seto Kaiba would be okay being Matched up with him of all people.

He sighed to himself, slipping the phone into his pants pocket. He didn't need to read the rest of the information. He knew Kaiba's age, job, and physical appearance perfectly well.

Speaking of jobs, he needed to get to his own or his boss would not be happy. He couldn't exactly pride himself on being the one always there early, but he'd yet to be late, and he didn't want to start messing that up. Most of the money in Joey's savings came from continuing to participate and do well in Duel Monsters competitions, but as much as he'd wanted to be a professional, it hadn't exactly worked out.

He couldn't exactly complain about his job. He worked in a department store, recently promoted to Sales Manager, but the Store Manager wasn't a guy who liked to hear excuses. Even if the bus Joey was currently on was moving at a snail's speed.

The blond powerwalked his way from the bus stop outside of the mall to the back room of his store, sighing in relief when he clocked in almost to the exact minute he was supposed to. "Not late," he whispered to himself, making his way to the office, sure to wave at his boss on his way.

When his day was finished, he checked his phone and sighed at the lack of messages. He knew his friends all had their own lives, but come on. It was Saturday night. Surely, they could do something as a group. He pulled up their chat, which was a lot less lively since they all finished school and started full time jobs. Lately, it had mostly been pictures of Faith sent from Serenity and Duke, Joey countering with sending pictures of his dog, and Tristan being grilled about what he was going to wear and do for his date.

His date. Dammit. Joey had been distracted at work and hadn't thought about his dismal situation, nevertheless about his friend's date with his own Match. He sent a private message to Tristan, a quick 'good luck' and request to hear how it went afterwards. He was practically in a daze the whole way home, body on autopilot as he got on and off the bus, walking to his apartment. He froze when he turned his corner and saw a black car with tinted windows waiting outside his building.

The thought that the car might be there for him was something that didn't even pass Joey's mind. He was confused, a bit concerned, but he figured he'd be alright. Part of him assumed it was some other tenant getting questioned by law enforcement. He made his way towards his door, doing his best not to look guilty. He'd done nothing wrong, but old habits die hard and he still felt as awkward around cops as he did in his troubled youth.

"Joseph Wheeler?" He froze, hand gripped around the keys in his pocket, at the sound of his name. Shit. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong. He turned from the door, not letting his nervousness show.

"Who's askin'?" He narrowed his eyes as he took in the man in the driver's seat. He didn't exactly look like a cop, dressed in a nice suit and sunglasses.

"I have been tasked with bringing you to KaibaCorp." The man spoke as if that one sentence should have been enough to convince him to get in the car and go.

"Tasked by who?" Joey asked, making a face. Okay, so that was a dumb question.

The man must've agreed, because he sputtered for a minute. He probably thought the answer to that was obvious. "Uh, by Mr. Kaiba, sir."

Joey pretended to think it over for a moment. "Nah, I'm good."

"Mr. Wheeler, please –"

"Nope. Give my best to Moneybags, though," he shrugged. He knew reverting to high school nicknames wasn't very mature, but really? The guy sends a driver to come pick him up from his apartment out of the blue? Did he know that he had a job, a life? How long had the man been sitting creepily outside the building in a car that obviously didn't fit in with Joey's neighborhood?

"Please, sir, Mr. Kaiba says you are to have an urgent meeting." Joey briefly wondered if this poor guy knew the reason he was being sent to this part of town to pick up a guy who worked as a manager in a department store.

"If it's so urgent, the guy could come down here himself and ask like a normal human being." Feeling that he made his point, Joey turned around again, sticking his key into the outside door. When he stopped in the hallway to check his mail, his phone began buzzing in his pocket. He took the envelopes from the mailbox and locked it back up before fishing for his phone.

It was a number he didn't recognize, so he ignored it. Not a second later, it began vibrating again, from the same number. Worried that it was something important, like a medical thing with Serenity, he answered. "Hello?"

"Wheeler."

He should have figured. He groaned out loud. "What do you want, Kaiba?"

"Get in the damn car."

"I already told your good that I didn't want to. So, basically, screw you."

"We need to discuss the issue. Surely you know the thing in which I am referring."

"Why are you talking like a robot? Yes, I'm not illiterate. I know what issue you mean."

"Then get your ass in that car so my driver can bring you here to discuss it."

"Or, you can act like a regular human being and show up yourself to ask me nicely. I don't work for you, Kaiba, I don't have to follow your demands."

"Do you always have to be so obnoxious?"

"Yep. I'm hanging up now." Joey pulled the phone from his ear, realizing that he hadn't actually made a move to go up his stairs to his own apartment. It was like he'd already resigned himself to the fact that Kaiba was right – they needed to figure this out or they'd be breaking the law. That didn't mean he couldn't make the bastard work for it, though.

"Wheeler. Wait."

Joey smirked a bit to himself, putting the phone back to his ear. "Yes? Did you have something to ask me?" He could hear Kaiba taking a deep breath on the other line and bit back a laugh.

"Can you get in the car so we can discuss this issue that affects our lives in person?"

Joey hummed. "I'm not buying the sincerity," Joey quipped, despite making his way out of the building and towards the car.

"Make me wait any longer and I will sue you." Kaiba ended the call and Joey opened the passenger door, much to the surprise of the driver.

"Sir, it's customary for the chauffer to be in the front alone."

Joey shrugged. "Well then, you won't be my chauffer. Let's be friends," he smiled. "Joey Wheeler. Nice to meet ya. What's your name?"

Author's Notes: I was going to have them talk in this chapter, but I'm trying to keep all the chapters around the same length, and I don't know how this one got this long, but it did, so I stopped it. Next chapter: back to focusing on Kaiba but it will finally be their discussion as well! I'm excited. Please let me know what you think.