Disclaimer: *yawn* Does anyone actually care about this?

A/N: OMG! I got the new Blink 182 cd!!! *________* Ummm....I mean, I'm here to bring you the last chapter to "A Fresh Start." Hope you enjoy and thanks for everything reviewers!

Chapter Twelve: Always You

"I'm bored," Tristan said groggily, "what should we do?"

Joey looked over to his friend and said, "I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do?" Tristan repeated.

After a moment's silence, Joey's eyes lit up. "I know what I want to do..."

"What?" Tristan and Serenity, who was also in the room, asked at the same time.

"I don't know..." Joey stated.

Tristan threw a pillow, that he found on the couch, at Joey and sighed, "how about we watch a movie?"

"Movies are good." Yugi said as he looked through some dueling movies.

"I say we watch something with...action."

Tristan gagged at Joey's suggestion. "Nah, let's go for a horror."

"Action..." Joey said, getting a little testy.

"Horror.." Tristan responded.

"Listen, the girls will be scared if we watch a horror movie, right Serenity?"

"Actually, I think a horror movie is good-"

"You see, she'll be scared." Joey said as Serenity gave him a confused stare.

Tristan put a hand on his chin and asked, "Joey wouldn't happen to be scared of a little horror, would he?"

"No!" Joey yelled defensively. "I'd just prefer some action..."

"Fine..."

Tristan got up and pretended to look through some DVDs when he was actually sneaking up behind Joey to play a little trick on him. Once he was behind Joey, he put both hands on Joey's shoulders forcefully and yelled, "BOO!" The outcome of the trick was the victim racing out of his seat, screaming in a very feminine tone. Once Joey turned around to see Tristan laughing his head off, he blushed and clenched his fists together, which only made Tristan laugh more.

"You.....are...scared...." Tristan said between laughs.

Joey growled. "So what if I'm scared of horror movies! I'm also scared of your face, but I don't say anything."

"Oooohh...." Yugi and Serenity said in the background as they quietly stepped back.

"Come here and say that!" Tristan said angrily as Joey smiled.

"Ahhhh..." Yugi and Serenity whispered again.

"Sorry, but your face is blinding my view!"

"Oooohh..."

Joey and Tristan stopped arguing and looked at Yugi and Serenity. "What are you guys doing?"

"Commenting." Yugi and Serenity said in unison.

Joey and Tristan rolled their eyes and completely forgot that they were arguing until Mai asked from the kitchen, "have you decided what we are watching? Action or horror?"

"Action!" and "Horror!" came out at exactly the same time Mai finished her statement. Tristan and Joey then looked at each other and started to debate again on whether they were going to watch action or horror.

"Action!"

"Horror!"

"Action!"

"Horror has action in it!"

"Oh yeah, well........your mama!"

Everyone in the room looked at Joey.

"Yeah! Take that one!"

Before Joey could embarrass himself even more, Mai stepped in from the kitchen and said, "why don't you guys just let the crippled boy decide, after all, this party is for him. He should decide."

"Thank-" Joey stopped and glared at Mai for saying "crippled boy"

Tristan laughed and said, "okay, crippled, what will it be? Action might be a little too much for you.."

"You're so lucky that I don't have a fork in reach..." Joey said as he slowly stood up.

"Why are getting up? The pizza man isn't here yet." Mai said as she pretended to look out the window.

"Very funny," Joey said as he made his way across to her, "I actually got up to get something to drink."

"Gasp!" Tristan uttered as Joey shot him a dirty look.

"I'm not that lazy!" Joey said as everyone let out an obvious cough. "You guys stink!"

"You have to admit that you are lazy..."

"Yeah, well, you have to admit that..." he trailed off and looked above Mai's head, "..you have to kiss me..."

"What?" Mai said, with a confused tone.

"Mistletoe," Joey said as he pointed to a dried-up bush above their heads. "Pucker up, baby."

"It's not even Christmas, crippled." Mai said as she folded her arms.

"Rules still apply..." Joey said, followed by a bright smile.

Mai grimaced. "Don't tell me. According to your rules?"

"Maybe yes, maybe no."

"I'm not-"

Mai was cut off by Tristan, who was looking toward the kitchen door. "What's going on outside?"

Everyone turned their heads and looked at the kitchen door, where they could see the heads of Duke, Tea, and Yami. As Mai and Yugi walked over to instigate, Joey looked at the mistletoe and whispered, "almost..."

~Meanwhile~

"You can't be serious," Duke uttered as he looked at Tea, "this loser is your....boyfriend?"

Tea, who was bewildered by the turn of events, didn't acknowledge Duke. She was puzzled by Yami's declaration of being her boyfriend. Not that she minded, she just didn't understand why he would make that affirmation. As she turned to look at him, Yami had his eyes set on Duke when he said, "watch who you call a loser. Remember, I'm the one with Tea."

"Yes, why is that, Tea?" Duke asked, emphasizing Tea's name so Yami couldn't answer.

Tea shook out of her thoughts and played Duke's question in her head a couple of times before trying to give an answer.

"Well," she started uneasily, unable to find the words to finish her sentence. "I'm not-"

"You don't need to prove anything to him, Tea," Yami said as he gently pulled her toward him and whispered, "just play along."

Tea wasn't too sure about what he meant by "just play along," but she decided to trust him, knowing that she had nothing to lose. As she turned from Yami to Duke, she said, "I know I don't, Yami, he's not worth it."

Duke's face turned a shade of red once he saw Yami take Tea's hand in his. "I'm definitely worth something to you!"

His statement was ignored by Yami and Tea, who were "pretending" to flirt with each other. As he growled slightly, Tea turned to Duke slightly and asked, "what was that, Duke? I couldn't hear you because Yami was telling me about-"

"How can you move on with him!? He's not even half the man I am!" Duke exploded as he pointed to Yami accusingly.

"Duke, why are you acting like this?" Tea asked, but then added, "why can't you be happy for me?"

Duke lowered his eyes and whispered, "because I miss you."

Tea would have felt sorry for him if she didn't know him better. "No, you don't."

"How could you say that, Tea?" Duke asked, looking at her.

"I wouldn't call our constant arguments a sign of love." Tea answered as she let go of Yami's hand.

"You need to understand, Tea-"

Tea shook her head and said, "no, you need to understand that it's over and I moved on with Yami."

"Why....him?"

Tea looked toward Yami. "He makes me happy, which is something you could never do."

Yami looked at her, a little confused by what she was saying. He knew that she was acting, but her words felt like they were coming from the heart. Was she trying to make Duke jealous or was it actually a sign that she liked him?

"I can't believe it," Duke muttered, "I won't believe it."

Tea frowned. "Why are you making this so difficult? It's been a month since we broke up. You have to realize that there's no chance of me ever loving you back again. I've been through too much. The only effect you have on me is making me sick."

Duke's eyes lowered. "Tea...we can make this work..."

"It's too late," Tea whispered, "Yami is what I've always wanted."

"Tea..." He pleaded.

"Duke, shut up!" Tea yelled angrily. "I have nothing more to say to you. You need to learn to let go."

"Let go..." Duke whispered unconsciously.

Tea looked at him then back at Yami. "Make sure he leaves, alright?"

"Sure, I'll see you in the house."

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, which caught Yami off-guard completely. He held a blush and watched her walk toward the house. He sighed lovingly and turned back to see Duke still caught in a daze. "Are you happy now?"

Duke looked at him and answered indirectly, "I guess you've won this dice duel..."

Yami didn't answer.

"Take care of her." Duke said as he turned around and walked away.

As Yami watched him leave, he started to get the feeling that Tea finally got through to Duke. The constant struggle was over between them and Tea had prevailed. As Duke disappeared around the block, Yami decided to walk back in with Duke's last words to him fresh in his mind.

~Meanwhile~

As Tea slid the door open to Joey's house, the whole gang was there to meet her. She put her hands on her hips and whispered, "I should have known. Did you hear everything that was going on out there?"

"Well...." Mai started uneasily.

Tea put a hand on her forehead. "I'm sorry about all this, Joey-"

"What's to be sorry about?" Joey responded as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Duke is a big jerk. You just made my day by telling him off. Now, come on, let's go watch a movie to calm all our nerves."

Tea nodded and was about to walk into the living room with the others when Mai held her back. "So, how did it feel to tell Yami? I'm sure you got a lot of pressure off your back by telling him. I wish I could have told Joey, but he's too thickheaded to actually pick up on my signals."

Tea blushed at what Mai said. "Umm...I didn't tell Yami how I felt. It was an act."

"An act? But-"

"I know," Tea interrupted, "most of what I said was...true."

That's when Yami walked in with a slight smile on his face. "Come on, Yami, we're going to watch a movie."

Mai pulled Tea and Yami into the living room, where Joey and the others were deciding on a movie.

"Hmmm....what action movie should we watch?" Joey said sarcastically.

"Not this again..." Mai muttered as Yami and Tea sat down.

Yugi picked a DVD up and said, "How about 'Saving Ryan's Private?' "

A/N: O______o

Everyone looked at Yugi awkwardly, ready to burst out laughing. Yugi only watched them, confused by their actions. As he looked at the DVD title, he finally realized his mistake. "No! I meant 'Saving Private Ryan!' "

"Riiiiiggghhht..." Joey said as everyone started laughing.

Yugi frowned. "Seriously! I didn't mean it like that."

"Now we know what Yugi dreams about at night," Tristan said as Yugi blushed furiously, "don't worry, Yugi, I'm sure other people would like to save Ryan's private too."

~Later~

It was about seven o'clock when everyone decided to call it a night. Tea, Mai, and Yami decided to help clean up the mess, while Tristan and Yugi left early to avoid that kind of work. As the final piece of

popcorn was picked from the carpet, Tea got her coat and was ready to leave, when Yami asked her to wait for him. As she waited, she said her goodbyes to Serenity, Mai, and, of course, Joey. Once Yami was ready, they set off toward Tea's house, which was only three blocks away.

As Serenity left the house to do some errands, Mai and Joey stood in the doorway, looking at the sky, which was filling with stars. Mai looked toward Joey and said, "what a day, eh?"

Joey nodded. "Yeah. It was what any crippled boy could ask for."

"Joey," Mai nudged him, "I was only kidding about that."

"I know."

Mai grinned. "You gotta admit that it was funny."

"Evil is more like it." Joey said as Mai let out a chuckle.

As a silence started to form between them, Mai broke it by saying, "I better get going."

"I'll get your coat." Joey said, which amazed Mai.

"Wow, Joey acting his age."

"There's a first time for everything, you know." Joey responded.

"Yup, you just proved that statement."

Joey smiled and looked at Mai.

"I guess I should be going..." Mai said as Joey's smile slightly faded.

He wouldn't let this chance of being with Mai pass him by. He had to say something that would make her stay longer. "Umm...thanks for everything, Mai. It was really nice...to see you....here."

"Hey, we're friends, right?"

Joey nodded and slightly looked up toward the sky for a miracle. He gasped and clasped his hand together in gratitude when he saw something that would stop Mai in her tracks. "Hey, Mai, what's that above your head? Is that a mistletoe?"

"Another one?" Mai asked, "you plant these around the house, don't you?"

Joey shrugged his shoulders. "Honestly, Serenity put these up about a year ago, but I'm not complaining."

"Typical." Mai answered with a smirk.

"So..."

"Oh! You win!" Mai frowned. "Close your eyes though."

Joey nodded and closed his eyes. Mai could have sprinted to her car and drove off by now, but she wanted this kiss as much as he did. She was thinking of leaning forward and just giving him a peck on the lips, but she found that too boring. She would shock him with an opened mouth kiss. She snickered at the thought and breathed in slowly. This was it....

~To be continued~

Well, I found this to be too long to actually finish the story, so the next chappie will definitely be the end. Thanks again for the reviews and see ya soon!!!!

~Jelly~