Third Time's the Charm... Right?
Disclaimer: I don't own YGO. Now excuse me as I run off and cry...
D/N: Yes, I have return-ed! Aren't I special? Of course I am. Anyways, I'm sorry this chapter took so long to post! If you're an Of Dogs and Men reader, you should be used to it by now. If not, then... well, you will be. Anyway, this is the third day Joey's going to repeat the day:D And don't you worry, kiddies! The fun's just about to begin.
Reviews Make me Smile! Unless They're Flames... But I Don't Have One Yet, So I'm Good:
Lady-Azura: :D I'm just glad you don't think it sucks! Hope ya keep reading!
Eva-AngelElricY: :O Don't die on me! I'm sorry I took so long to update, I'm completely notorious for that! Yeah, Cupid's a jerk ain't he:P Don't worry, I'll take good care of Joey. :D
Appels and oranjes: Thanks! I'm glad you like it so far.
Sakurelle: :D Hope I didn't take too long to update for you.
Inuyasha-luvr-4evr: :D I'm happy you like what I'm writing! Keep reading!
OooOOOooO(I've really gotta start using the chapter break line feature thingie soon...)
Joey cracked his eyes open to the familiar beeping of his alarm clock, listening to the even more familiar song that followed suit.
"... And tell you time and time again... how much I care..."
Was it possible that it was the next day and that the radio people just ran out of songs to play at this time so they just whipped out the same song from yesterday?
"... Sometimes I feel my heart will... overflow..."
Probably not. But it was a much more hopeful thought than the alternative. After reliving a far more embarrassing day yesterday - or last today or whatever - the thought of going back made him dread the possibility of screwing up the day even further. Then again... it wasn't like anyone was going to remember what happened yesterday.
"... Are you somewhere feeling lonely... or is someone loving you?"
"How many days will it take for me to lose it and fling a rock at my clock?" He murmured, reluctantly stretching and swinging his legs over the side of his bed. "Not too much longer, that's for damn sure."
"...start by saying... I love you..."
"Whatever, man." Joey grumbled, clearly not in the perkiest of moods as he pounded roughly on his alarm.
Ten minutes later left Joey to trudge down the stairs in a half-hazard fashion to breakfast. There he found his sister eating breakfast and his mother in front of the stove. He sat down at the table next to his sister, too miserable at the fact that the infamous, sparking toaster was back on the counter to pay attention to her chipper 'hello.'
"Tired, Joey?" She asked again, patting his head moments after he let it flop onto the table. "You can sleep when you get back."
"I'll be back here tomorrow, won't I?" Joey said to no one in particular.
"Well, of course you will." Serenity replied. "You live here."
"Yeah, yeah..."
"Oh, darn. I'm out of eggs." Diane sighed. "Joey, you wouldn't mind having just bacon today, would you?"
"I'm not sick of it yet, so sure." Joey said, refusing to move from his now quite comfortable table spot.
"Are you staying home today, mom?" Serenity asked, finishing her food.
"Yeah." Diane said, dropping some more raw meat into the frying pan to let it sizzle its way to a second death. "That jerk Michael decided to unload a heap of work onto me. I'm staying home to finish it."
"Can I stay home too?" Joey said, sitting up in the most dramatic fashion. "School sucks."
"Too bad." Diane pushed a plate of bacon in front of him. "Here's your bacon."
Joey brought a piece to his mouth, only now noticing that she had burned it to a crisp. "All the appliances in this house suck."
"No, they don't." Diane rolled her eyes. "What makes you think that?"
"Well," He said, swallowing the charcoal, and eyeing the now sparking toaster, "For one thing, the toaster's on fire."
Diane looked at the toaster, seeing it covered in flames. Yelping, she grabbed the fire extinguisher and sprayed it all over the toaster. After the crisis was adverted, she shook her head. "Well... that was-"
"A fine example of the suckage of appliances in this house." Joey muttered, pushing the bacon away. "I think I'll just get something from school."
"What's wrong, Joey?" Serenity frowned. "You seem really grumpy this morning."
"I think it's because he doesn't have a date tonight." Diane grinned. "It's alright, Joey. You can stay here with me tonight. We'll play Boggle."
"Whoopee..." Joey replied, with a recording-breaking amount of fake enthusiasm.
Serenity chuckled. "Speaking of dates, I'm going to be late coming home tonight."
"Yeah, Tristan's picking you up at six, right?" Joey said.
Giving him a strange look, she said, "... Yes... But I didn't tell you that. How'd you know?"
"Lucky guess." Joey replied. "Let me know what happens with Garbage Man. I still haven't heard the story about him."
"'Garbage Man'?" Serenity echoed. "Who's 'Garbage Man'?"
"Exactly." Joey said, getting up from the table. "Well, I may as well go face the trauma-inducing school of Hell. Hey, look at that... I used 'inducing' right."
"Joey, are you feeling alright?" Diane questioned, looking at him carefully. "You seem sort of... frustrated..."
"Oh, it's nothing a few more repetitions can't handle." Joey muttered. "Anyway, I'm off. Have fun on your date, Serenity." And with that, he left the kitchen, leaving Diane and Serenity blinking in confusion.
OooOOOooO"Well, look who finally decided to show up. Morning sunshine."
"Stuff it, Taylor." Joey grunted, walking between Tristan and Duke's desk and pushing Duke's feet off roughly.
"Hey- Watch it!" Duke snapped, straightening up in his chair. "Someone's obviously dateless."
Joey sighed, plopping into his seat and for once without having his head planted onto the wooden surface. "Guys, normally I'd be freaking out right about now trying to figure out how to get a date at the last minute, but I've got a bigger problem."
"What?" Tristan asked. "Everyone found out about your bathroom incident?"
"Bathroom incident?" Duke said, his eyes gleaming with interest. "What's this I hear?"
"Hey! Focus guys!" Joey told them, snapping his fingers in the air for further emphasis. "I'm really in trouble here."
The two dark-haired teens exchanged glances with each other, before finally paying attention to what Joey had to say.
Taking a deep breath, Joey stated, "I'm reliving the same day over and over."
There was a few moments pause after this where Duke and Tristan just continued to look at him with indifferent expressions, before Duke finally said, "What do you mean?"
Joey rolled his eyes. "I mean this is the third Valentine's day I've lived through this year. Yesterday was the first time I relieved it, and the day before was the actual day."
Tristan raised an eyebrow. "So... what? You're trapped in Valentine's Day or something?"
"Exactly." Joey finished, with a nod.
"Joey, you're talking crazy talk again." Duke said. "You've run out-"
"-Of sane things to say again, haven't you?" Joey finished for him. "See? I knew you were going to say that! You always say that!"
The two boys looked at him with incredulous faces, leaning forward in genuine concern.
"Joey... Are you actually repeating the day?" Tristan asked in a low voice.
"Yes!"
"So..." Duke said slowly, thinking all the while. "This is your third time."
"Yes, yes!" Joey nodded furiously. "Each time is a little different, and I think it's because I act a little different each day. Like, yesterday... or... uh... last today... or something, I got insulted by Kaiba, right? Well, three seconds after I tell him to shut up, the first time he says something like, 'Yeah, that's the best you can do,' or whatever, but the second time, he laughs right in my face! And I'm pretty sure that's because I took too long to say it or something."
Tristan shook his head in disbelief. "This is creepy. I mean, we should be sort of used to this stuff happening, right? What with Yugi and Yami and all the stuff we go through with them. But... I don't know. It's kind of hard to believe you, Joey."
"You don't believe me?" Joey asked.
"No, we believe you." Duke hastily added. "You're our friend, and we'll always believe you. It's just... well, with Yugi there was proof. This time... Who knows? Maybe the stuff we went through before just... kind of... made you crack a little."
Joey's eyes widened. "You think I'm crazy now?"
"You seem to believe it completely." Duke shrugged. "And we don't have any proof. So... Maybe the stress is just getting to you. Or you're trying to get attention away from the fact that you don't have a date."
Many various replies to this bubbled up into Joey's head, but he finally settled on, "Didn't you just say less than five seconds ago that you believed me?"
Duke paused for a moment. "I do believe you. I believe that you believe it."
Joey growled low in his throat, before jumping up out of his seat. "You know what? Thanks for nothing, you jerks! I came here asking for help, and what do you do? You start calling me crazy!" he shouted at them.
Tristan looked around the classroom, as everyone started staring at the three. "Uh... Joey, just calm down and-"
"No!" Joey snapped. "Don't tell me to calm down! I'm in trouble here, and all you guys can do is think I'm nuts! Well, ain't I the lucky one for having friends as trusting and helpful as you two! I'm out of here, you losers!" And with that, he stomped his way through the path cleared for him as the students of the classroom practically jumped out of his way. 'So, that's how Kaiba feels, huh? Cool. I could get used to people fearing me.'
"Joey - Wait!"
"Come back!"
Ignoring the calls of his 'friends,' he marched down the halls, turning a deaf ear to all the teachers telling him to return to his class, and even to Tea and Yugi who tried to speak to him as he walked by. Normally he'd have been crushed by the heartbroken look Yugi gave him at ignoring him, but right now he was simply in no mood to care.
He had to go somewhere and figure this whole thing out.
OooOOOooO"I dunno, Cha-a-a-rlie..." Joey slurred, "Mebbe I am goin' nutso on everyone..."
"Well, Joey," the bartender replied, eyeing the youth that wobbled precariously on the stool before him and had done so all day, "I can't say I blame ya. After all you claim to have gone through, I'd be repeating the day too, eventually. I mean, ancient spirits and monsters and lost souls?" The curly-haired man whistled. "I'm surprised you're not in a nuthouse right now."
Joey sniffed loudly. "Whattam I gonna do, Ch-a-a-a-rlie?" Joey said, waving the half-empty bottle around. "Everyone's against me now... You're my only friend..."
"Just so long as you keep drinking, kid. You're gonna have one hell of a bill." Charlie replied. He wasn't concerned with any stupid, age-limit, which was why Joey sat before him, drunk as ever. Cash was cash, no matter who he got it from. Besides, this kid was entertaining. "So, when are you going to start living it up?"
Joey looked at him, confusion written in his glassy eyes. "Live what up?"
Charlie grinned. "Well, it seems to me like you got yourself into a mighty fine situation there, Joey. Sure, you'll probably snap even further at having the day repeat itself, but the way I see it, you can do anything right now."
Joey hiccuped loudly, a sign that the man should continue.
"I mean, look at yourself, kid," Charlie went on, waving a rag at the blonde before returning it to dry more mugs. "You're stone drunk. Any other person would wake up the next morning and die from the hang-over, but you... You won't get a hang-over."
"Why not?" Joey asked, in a slightly more sober voice. Charlie's words were appealing to him in a way that forced him to pay attention. He stopped wobbling to pay closer attention.
"Think about it." Charlie told him. "If the day starts again, then you technically haven't had anything to drink, have you? You could go grab a gun and go on a massive killing spree and everyone would be alive again tomorrow! You could rob every bank in town and be in jail for a single night where others would spend years rotting! You can do everything you ever wanted now."
Joey nodded with understanding, slamming the bottle onto the bar with such force that it nearly cracked. "You're right, Charlie!" He exclaimed. "What am I complaining for? I can get away with anything now!"
"You got it."
"You've been a great help!" Joey said, getting up and walking away with only a slight tilt, bottle in tow.
"Hey!" Charlie called out. "Aren't you going to pay?"
"Why bother? It's not like I'm going to be here tomorrow." Joey said.
"Sonuva..." Charlie growled, bursting out of the bar to try and catch him, but it was too late. Joey had already melted into the crowd.
OooOOOooOJoey managed to stumble his way home, but not before passing by an auto-dealer shop. Pausing to look, he eyed a fancy sportscar sitting proudly on a stand.
"Hello... What've we here?" he mumbled, pressing his face onto the glass. Looking carefully, he spotted keys sitting on the dashboard where some bumbling, careless, idiot of an employee had left them. "That's not smart. Someone could end up stealing that car..."
Walking to the front door, he tugged at the handles, only to find them sealed shut. "Whado they lock the doors for? Don't they wanna have people come in and check out the merkandiss... er... merk-an-dice... uh... stuff?" Shaking his head, he stepped back. "No, no, this won't do." And with that, he hurled the beer bottle still in his hand through the glass door.
There was a loud crash, followed by the twinkling of glass falling to the ground, before the alarm went off. Joey hiccuped again. "Well... I guess I have a couple of minutes before the cops come." He shrugged, pushing down the rest of the glass and stepping in.
He walked up to the car in mild fascination, and stepped up onto the platform. A stunning, red car with blue stripes - all his for the taking. Grabbing the handle, he was pleased to find the door unlocked. Taking it as an obvious invitation to get in, Joey soon found himself sitting at the wheel, pushing the keys into the ignition.
"Hope this thing has gas..." Joey murmured, starting up the car. A low rumbling responded, as Joey grinned. "Oh, yeah! This thing is so cool!" With those words, he drove off of the platform, crashing through the glass wall and recklessly onto the street with a wild screech of the tires.
It wasn't long before Joey found himself falling asleep in a jail cell.
OooOOOooO"Cue, you can't just let him run rampant like that!" A cherub cried. "He's going to hurt someone!"
"No, he won't." Was the cool response. "Everything he does will be gone the next day. Besides, I figure he's going to be doing this for a while. Might as well keep him entertained so he doesn't go completely nuts and scare her off, eh?"
The cherub sighed. "If you say so... But I don't like this. He's going to wake up one morning and think it's the same day and do something stupid-"
"Hey, hey! Relax! That's not going to happen! There's only one way he can get out of this little loop, and once he finds it - and he will find it, believe me - he'll know for sure that it's the next day. Trust me. In fact, I think this is for the best. So he gets a hang this thing."
- - - - - - - - -
"... Hello... I've just got to let you know..."
Joey had been a wake for a few moments, listening to the song in disbelief. Sure, he had been super drunk, but he remembered the events like it was yesterday. Which in fact, it had been. Sort of. Last yesterday. Er... today. Whatever. The point was, he had just found the little loophole that had opened a whole new door of possibilities.
"... Cause I haven't got a clue... But let me start by saying... I love you..."
"This... is... awesome!"
OooOOOooOOOOOO
OOOOO
D/N: :D And now the games truly begin! Joey's gonna find himself in a whole new set of adventures now. Review!