Disclaimer: My A/ns are on my website, if anyone reads those. This fic was special requested, aren't I nice? I don't own YGO.
"Go on. . . .get in . . . make yourselves comfortable. . . ." Serenity ushered them in, her brother in new sister-in-law. "Or unless. . . I daresay . . . you'd rather spend . . . your honeymoon alone?"
There was a short pause as the newlyweds glanced at one another. Both of them would have indeed rathered gone alone. But neither of them were much match against Serenity's hopefulness, on tenterhooks. Sheepishly they shook their heads slowly.
"All right!" she cheered and led the way inside the sparkling pristine-white private jet. "Good, because you would've gone anyway," she muttered through a grin and her back turned.
"Looks . . .like we've been duped," Mai said, entering the cool air-conditioned atmosphere with the smell of leather.
"At least I don't have ta worry about Sis's financial future," Joey said at once, once they were alone with the baby and the puppy in the carriage together.
"That's the way to think," Mai said, picking a seat, a comfy, plush chair in beige, sitting down and crossing her legs. She smiled up at him encouragingly and made herself comfortable..
"Yeah, but I was being sarcastic." He took the adjacent chair waving a hand towards the ATM in the corner. "Like, 'gee, what'll Sis do without an ATM if he kicks her out?" He said with mock seriousness. A yound man, twenty-years-old with an accent, he was already (unusually) uncomfortable in such lavish surroundings.
"I'm sure Sis will manage if that's ever the case."
"Sis?" he questioned, shifting around to remove thehard metal buckles of the seatbelt.
"Yeah, she's my sister now, too," she said.
"Oh yeah . . . "
"Which means. . . " she said, a grin spreading on her lovely face, "you'll have to call. . . " she leaned forwards and lowered her voice slightly: "Kaiba. . . big brother. Aw!"
"Argh," he said, with a groan, shuddering. Shivering, he clutched at his arms.
"It's true," she went on in a smiling voice. "You should call him 'big brother' and see what happens. Bet you anything it'll freak him out." She said with a laugh of amusement.
"Who'm I, Mokuba?" But he shook her hand and held it afterwards. "But I'll do it' I'll take you up on that bet. What'll you give me for my trouble?"
"You'll see." She said mysteriously. A stunning young woman of twenty-five, she was accustomed to such surroundings. She flipped her long blonde braid around and continued; with the braid wrist-thick and gleaming even in the low, fluorescent lights of the airline, she looked much like a Nordic princess. "Once we're-"
"Hey, you guys? Need anything?" Serenity's face just popped out—just out of nowhere, just her face. "Seto's making last, final checks, fuel and etc., nothing to be worried about," she explained in a rush. "Joey, there's food on the armrest-"
"Jeez!" Serenity had said everything even before he could utter a word, and his leap of surprise was a fast reaction. "A hologram-"
"No, thanks sweetie, we're okay. Tell him to take his time," Mai said, acting as if she saw these every day, of humans, that is. Her new sister smiled and poof! disappeared.
"Did ya see that?" Unnerved, Joey sat down again. Mai felt around in the armrest meanwhile and found the food. "He's. . . he's turning her into. . . some kinda. . . techo-wife!"
"Oh, he is not. That's not even a word, I do think."
"One day I'll be talkin' to her, and suddenly, I can put my arm through 'er-" he predicted
"Oh, you're over-exaggerating! And at least it won't hurt her," Mai quipped, chewing a chocolate chip.
"Well. .. . yeah . . . " But it still is creepy! He glanced out the window distracted. "I guess. . . hey, look, Yuge and Téa!"
Mai looked over and out the small, square window: "I guess their plane's delayed." The two were supposed to go to New York to fulfill their dreams. She pouted: "It's no fair that they finally just got together and now they're leaving. I didn't even get to tease them about it!"
Joey shook his head. His new wife had a thing about spying on other couples . . . and teasing them mercilessly. Silently he was glad that his best friend skidaddled afterfinally—yes, finally—confessing his feelings to his childhood best girl friend. He couldn't help wondering if this had been Yugi's intentions. But now they were waving back at him with happy expressions.
"I'm glad," Mai said, waving also at them. "Téa is a dear, but sometimes she's . . . a little, you know. . . " She waved a chip laden hand. "High strung and tense. Maybe Yugi will mellow her out a little."
"Yeah," Joey agreed; "Hey. . . maybe we c'n visit them in New York!" He suggested as their friends' plane slowly rolled down the airstrip.
"Yeah! Now that's a good idea. But . . . we have to discuss it with Kaiba and Serenity."
"Oh. Right."
"Don't worry," she said, through a mouthful, "I bet they'll be agreeable. We can make stop on the way, and that'll be our last stop since, you know. . . " She threwa perfect basket of wrapper in the trashcan. "It's all the way around the world."
Joey just stared at her, thinking.
"Oh . . . I'm sorry .. . did you want something to eat, too?"
"No, you go ahead . . . I was just thinkin': actually remembering. . . " He paused a moment: "What day is it? What number?"
"The twenty-fifth of May. Hey, your sister's birthday is coming up, what is it, her twentieth?"
"Yeah. . . " he said slowly. "You know, this time, well around it, we went to our first plane trip together, remember?"
"Oh. . . right. . . the World Tours Tournament." She laughed at the memories: "Now THAT was fun."
"Yeah, it was." That's weird: I remember school had let out, so it was right before summer. . .
"Hey, maybe we can go and visit. . . you know, see old friends, see old places, and the like."
"Mm-hm. Sounds great ta me."
"That's really weird, how the times concide, I mean."
They sat in silence, comtemplating this startling revelationand reveling in the memories. Then there was an announcement:
"We will being taking off shortly. Please put your seats in an upright position-"
"But don't bother putting on your seatbelts; you'll be jumping out at 250,000 feet- give or take- optional parachutes are located on the left, bwa ha-ow!" Kaiba said.
"He's joking! It's a joke!" Serenity said at a crackle of static.
"Oh. . . funny," Joey sarcastically said, fiddling with the metal buckle, "He thinks he's sooooooooooooo hilarious."
"I can't believe you thought he was serious." Mai sighed. "Figures."
She had already buckled her belt across the lap of her dress, and held the baby carriage steady and still. The engines gave a deafening roar once, it took off like a jet-rocket, that is. "You okay, dear?" she called behind her, knowing of Joey's phobia.
"I didn't even finish puttin' on my-" he sputtered, having been thrown to the back, but otherwise okay. The plane gave a slight lurch, then steadied. "ONE of these days-" Joey said omniously, knowing it was a mistake coming along.
Serenity came flying out, her long vivid red hair flying around her dark green dress suit. "Is everyone all right? You didn't-? How's Chris? Mai, can you look after him for a sec? I'll be right back!" she said, disappearing out.
"Sure, hon," Mai picked up said baby; he was awake from Joey's yelling anyway. "Hey! You little cutie, yes you are! You're not wet, are you? 'Cause Auntie Mai doesn't know how to change a diaper! Oh, no she doesn't!" I'll ask Kaiba to, that's be funny.
Little Chris, short for Christian James, stared out at her with big blue eyes as if in fascination. He had a thick, dark red mop of hair, and was only a month old, although he could speak and looked like a two-year-old. Well, only a few words, anyway. But more than a month old should.
"Wow, his skin is so soft." Mai touched the fat, chubby cheek. "I'm trying to develop my products to- be like this-" She owned a clothing line with the help of her assistant, Julie. "Eeeek! Isn't he just the adorablest!" Squealing again, he held the baby close in the brink of crushing him.
"Calm down, Mai!" Taking him away from her death grip, Joey put Chris back into his carriage. "Babies sure are cute, though." When his nephew turned to stare at him, he made a face by stickiing out his tongue and crossed his eyes. "Bleah!"
Chris's mouth dropped opened, and then he laughed. "Uncle!"
"That's right, hey, he recognized me!" Joey said, delighted.
"That's right. " Mai stared rapturously at the infant. "He - babies - sure do change moods fast, don't they . . . ? First happy, then sad."
"It's Double Personality Baby!" Joey said, swooping him upu and down like superman. Christain squealed gleefully little fat arm waved.
"Don't say such things about-!" Mai chided, when Serenity came in.
"What's so funny . . . ? Oh, come to Mama! Joey, don't do that-you'll drop him-"
"Course I won't Sis . . . " But he didn't tell her what was so funny. He wasn't stupid enough.
"I think he's wet," Mai said helpfully.
"Okay, so let's see . . . I need to get his diaper bag. . " Serenity went off to search, muttering.
"Seems kind of frazzled . . . " Mai said worriedly, lookinf after her new sister.
"Phew! Good thing she didn't overhear . . . Sis is kind of nuts about her son. . . " Joey sighed and put down his nephew. "She woulda been mad."
"Mad?"
"You know, angry?" He sighed again. sounding totally exhausted. "You never seen her mad, eh?"
"Now that I think of it. . . no," Mai was surprised to find out that in five years of knowing her, she never seen Serenity angry or even peeved. It was weird since she herself usually lost her temper, especially during stressful times.
"Well, it's like she has levels. Level one, she yells. Level two, she waves her fists around. Level three," he shook his head gravely. "She spins around like a little reheaded Tasmanian devil."
Mai stared at him, then burst out laughing.
"You'll see. Once I threw her rag doll in da lake, and next day I found my, er, action figure in the bathtub, facedown."
"And when was this?" Mai began unwrapping her fourth chocolate. "Last year."
"Very funny. I was six. . . or four." He changed the subject, as Mai continued to shake her head disbelievingly. "Anyway, hopefully Chris here doesn't have that. Seeing his father's Kaiba, probably so. But I don't want some sissy nephew either. But again- he is-"
"Is what?" came a deep voice tinted with surliness.
"Hey," Mai said brightly putting one arm on the edge of her seat; Kaiba didn't answer just politely nodded, but she was far used too used to this. "We were wondering-"
"About New York? Yes, we discussed it already and I've set-" he took the baby- "a course for it. Stops along the way, too," he added when she opened her mouth to speak some more.
Holding his child rather awkwardly with his long arms, he swept away towards the cockpit. He was twenty one, thought he had been too young to have a child, but then (with some force) changed his mind.
"Well, that was nice of him," Mai said as a sudden silence filled the air. Joey was thinking again.
". . . I just hope his mood don't change suddenly during this trip."
"I just hope that this trip is better than the last one," Mai sighed, still thinking of the cute little kid. "With him, I mean." She turned to him. "And you didn't call him 'brother'!"
". . . He's more your brother than mine." It didn't seem fair. First, I - we - had ta share our wedding day with him, and now our honeymoon? Joey sat down with a thump, rubbing his chin, his long blond ponytail hanging (he wore it long, into a ponytail now), twitching a little from the movement. But Sis was determined to make them all a "family" now. What does he know about having a family? All he has is Mokuba. And he's somewhere off, with Rebecca, Joey thought to himself.
So, all in all, he was still a little bit leery of the idea. But he'd have to deal with it. After all, they did have a kid now, his Sis and K-
"I'll be back in a sec, dear, I'm going . . . to the bathroom," Mai said, getting up gracefully, her long white dress folds swimming around her figure. He was pulled out of his thoughts with her voice, she was always a distraction. The white dress reminded him of their wedding, which had actually been a double wedding, with more than a hundred guests. Who were all flying to their separate places in the world. Half of Domino had attended.
It was a nice ceremony, though, he thought dreamily, the puppy his Sis and her husband had given them as a wedding present at his feet, snoozing. And after the wedding night . . .
Well, he sort of hoped that he would be a father real soon, too. On one hand, he wanted to spend more time with his wife first before having children, but this was real appealing concept. . .
The melody on his phone played. "Hello?" Joey said, answering it, his voice quiet from daydreaming. All he heard was static. Then a distorted, evil-sounding voice came:
"You . . . willl . . . Die .. . "
"Tristan? Quit fooling." Then a hand came out from nowhere, snatched the phone from his grip - he watched, dumbfounded - and put it on some receiver. Joey though it had hung up his cell from him, and then a hologram of Tristan appeared. Just his face. "Tristan! Knew it was you!"
"Hey. . . this is weird. . . " said Tristan's head. "How come you jsut came out of the phone?"
"I'm there too?" Joey said eagerly, forgetting earlier how he was griping about the holograms. "So why'd ya say, 'you will die'?" What's THAT supposed ta mean?"
"Say what? This must be a bad connection. I never. I said, 'Hey there. Hi?' "
"Uh-huh."
"Is it okay to talk . . . ?"
"? Why wouldn't it be?"
"Well, since you're a married man, now. . . "
"Yes?"
"Ah, never mind. So how are things. . . ?"
"Great."
"You sure?" he said doubtfully.
"Uh huh. . . " Joey remembed the last time they had spoken like this, Tristan had dropped the phone. "Is that all?"
"I just was wondering, that's all. It was great seeing everyone at the wedding. In fact, the whole ceremony was nice. Except when Duke got wasted."
"Er, yeah. Didja hear from him?"
"He's here, now, with anice, big, fat hangover. Remember when Marik offered to'sober him up'?"
"Yeah . . . " Joey said, a chill running down his back.
"Well, he threw him out into the ocean."
"Go fig."
"His bad side came out just then, see, unluckily for Duke," Tristan said, "but luckily, he put a life jacket on him in the nick of time."
"Interestin'." Joey tried and tried not to picture it.
"So how was the wedding night?"
Such a change in subject. "It was - fine, why wouldn't it be?"
"Well . . . you know. . . " Tristan said with a faint smirk. "You never know. It did involve you.. . . It did, didn't it?"
"Noooo. . . . REALLY?"
"Ah, yes, another checkmark under my name of matchmaking. I just hope you didn't mess up."
Joey knew he shouldn't answer that, shouldn't let himself be baited, but. . . he couldn't help himself. "Why - HOW would I mess up?"
"Oh. . . I dunno. . . " Fingers appeared as Tristan started to tick them off. (Not to mention Joey.) "You could've. . . fallen, made her mad, could've taken off your socks, could've plainstunk. . . "
"WHAT? 'Fallen'? You idiot, that's impossible."
"Out of bed," Tristan clarified. "You never know. It IS you, after all."
Joey sputtered, turning red. Tristan's head snickered. Changing the subject hastily, Joey muttered, "And what d'you mean, 'your matchmaking skills'? Your the one who said that we - me and Mai - were like graham crackers and cheese!"
"My man, I didn't say that, Duke did," Tristan said smoothly. "And it was 'wheat toast and caviar', not graham crackers (where'd you get 'graham crackers'?) and anyway, I was the one who told you to-" he cleared his throat importantly as a drunken "That's right!" sounded from the background "-ask Mai for the ticket, remember? To that World Tours Tournament?"
"Oh, yeah . . . " Joey frowned. "But I woulda figured it out myself!"
"Oh, yeah right. You would've, he says. You would've just been like this," Tristan put a dull, slow voice, "Duh, duh, duh . . . lessee . . . I got a blond who've I've been in love with for ages who has a free ticket to Spain plus a Duel Monsters Tournament - which we both like, by the way - hm, hm, hm, what ta do? Duh, duh, duh."
Joey mouth twitched. "I do not act like that!" And I wasn't even in love with her back then!
"Nice imitation, Tristan," Duke called.
"Yes, nice," said a voice from behind Joey who turned even though he recognized it.
"Er. . . thanks," Tristan muttered. "Hi, Mai."
"Still nursing your hangover, Duke?" she said sympathetically.
"Yesh. . . nice party. . . it was a blast!" He fell asleep.
"Anything else you want to know about out wedding night?" she said, this time addressing Tristan, who turned completely red. He muttered no. "And thanks, by the way, for giving him. . . advice, so long ago."
"You're welcome," he said meekly and hung up.
"Jeez. . . I think you scared him off!" Joey said, pocketing his cell again casually in his khaki pants. A dark blue vest and a white T-shirt completed the "preppy, but comfortable" look.
"Ah, it was fun," she said airily, taking her seat and examining a bunch a little buttons on the armrest she hadn't noticed before. A little bowl of chocolates popped out from a slot in the chair. "Men. I should've told him how spectacular it was," she said, unwrapping one, "that way, you'd have something to brag about."
"And. . . " he said, lifting his chin and tipping his head up, "was it?"
"You should know. You were there," she said with a grin, teasing.
Meanwhile
"I wonder why Joey and Mai were getting on a plane with Kaiba and Serenity," Yugi said out loud.
Téa shrugged, looking at him. "Could be any. . . number of reasons. Maybe Kaiba kidnapped them and Serenity forced them into it," she half-joked. "Or!" she said, clutching his hand, "Maybe their spending their honeymoons together. . . "
Silence, as they both caught each other's eye.
"Nahhhh!"
TBC