Title: Legally Blond

Pairing: Eventual Puppyshipping (Seto/Joey), past Snareshipping (Duke/Joey). Sideships: Persevereshipping (Duke/Téa), Ardentshipping (Tristan/Serenity), Puzzleshipping (Yami/Yugi) (yes I'm making it official, it will happen)

Rating: T

Words (Chapter 3): 2,943

Author's Notes: Have you ever stayed up multiple nights in a row until 3 AM just to write a fanfiction? Have you ever been so tired that you misspell neighborhood as 'neightborrhod'? I have, the former being the last three nights. Or was it four? Oh well, whichever. For the record, I am very bad at describing dates. This one's got seriously long because I began writing and things just happened. As a result, this is mushier at parts than I meant it to be but hopefully still IC enough for your liking. I didn't bring in Yami Bakura as I mentioned in the last AN, but I did mention him in here, so without further ado, here is chapter 3.

Joey's POV:

It was the next night when I had my date with Duke. We hadn't had a chance to see each other during the last few days because of our schedules, but we'd talked every chance we could. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary on his part, so I did my best to not let it come across that way on mine. I hadn't even brought up that Tristan had mentioned the run in at lunch.

I had, however, been told by both my sister and Ryou that I should look 'better than usual' for the date, just in case it ended up being the night he popped the question. I tried not to get insulted over their choice of words.

Ryou came over after his shift with some nice button-downs that he absolutely insisted had not been stolen by his brother (I didn't believe him, the kid was a terrible liar and I knew his brother decently enough to know he had a strong case of sticky-fingers.) They ushered me into the bathroom, handing me a red shirt and black slacks. I took my time changing, not really in the mood to do a fashion show in my living room. I slipped my arms through the sleeves and looked in the mirror, turning on the faucet and splashing my face with water.

"Hurry up!" I heard my sister yell through the door as I was drying my face. I held back a groan, didn't they understand that this was just causing me more stress over this night? This might have not even been the night he proposed, for heaven's sake! I shook my head, moving to button up the shirt as quickly as I could before I stepped out into the living room.

"You look dashing, Joey," Ryou said with a large smile.

"I look like I've raided Duke's closet," I retorted, shaking my head again. I went into Tristan's and Serenity's room, because they had a full-size mirror and I didn't, and checked myself out. I had to admit, though, I really didn't look bad. They'd insisted red was my color and they might have been right.

"But that you look better in his clothes than he does," Serenity added on with a giggle. I couldn't help but smile at that.

I took a deep breath and turned around, a little surprised that both she and Ryou had apparently followed me in. You'd think I'd have seen them, seeing as I'd been looking in a mirror, but apparently I'm oblivious after all.

"Okay, you're right. I look better than I usually do. Thank you guys, and Ryou, thank your brother for me."

The Brit's cheeks flushed a little red and he scratched the back of his head. "Well, actually, he doesn't exactly know I took them."

Tristan, who until then had been quiet through this whole ordeal, laughed from the living room. "You managed to steal from him without noticing? What happened to honor among thieves?" he joked, coming up and putting Ryou in a bit of a headlock.

Ryou, however, didn't get to answer because the doorbell rang. Serenity gave a small squeal and ran over to the buzzer. I suddenly freaked out, running from the bedroom into my own, looking for a pair of shoes to go with the outfit.

A minute later, Tristan entered the room, shutting the door and sitting on my bed. The bed in which I was currently halfway under, searching for shoes.

"Dude, not cool," I complained, pulling myself out from the bed to glare at him. To my surprise, he sat there looking serious with a pair of black dress boots.

"You keep looking down there and you'll wrinkle that shirt. They're not the nicest but…" He trailed off with a shrug and I gave him a quick, tight hug.

"They're perfect, thank you." I sat on the bed and slipped them on. Tristan and I were the same size but had never shared shoes before, we never really had a reason. I ran to my mirror, suddenly self-conscious about my hair. I never was, but something about this outfit made it look extra messy. Or maybe that was because I'd just been under my bed. "They're probably talking Duke's ear off out there, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they are." I looked at Tristan in the mirror, noticing that look on his face again, the one that said he was holding something back.

I abandoned my hair, going to sit back on the bed next to him. "You haven't really said nothing about this, you know."

Tristan shrugged, looking off at the wall. "I don't know what you expect, I'm not gonna gush about weddings like Ryou or Serenity do."

I exasperatedly threw my hands up in the air. "I don't want you to gush, Tris, I know you're not that guy, and you wouldn't be even if you did like Duke, but that's just it. I know you don't, and you didn't exactly give the best reaction when Serenity brought up her theory. Now, it may very well be happening and you're giving me shoes but you're still not saying anything. If this happens, if this really happens and isn't some daydream I'm cooking up in my mind in the middle of a boring mathematics class, I don't want to say yes knowing my best friend is going to disapprove. If I get married, I need my best man to actually support it."

He looked at me in surprise, and to be honest, I was pretty surprised myself. I hadn't expected all of that to come out, but it did, and now it hung in the air between us like a fog. "Wow," he finally spoke, shaking his head. He looked away again, sighing. "I didn't realize you were that serious about it, that ready… I don't want to ruin this for you, Joey." He looked back at me, his eyes meeting mine. "You want to say yes tonight?"

"Yes," I admitted, without even thinking about it. There I go, shocking myself again.

"Then say yes." He gave me a small smile, reaching his arm around me. I had a feeling he wanted to put me in a headlock as he'd done to Ryou, but was holding back so I didn't look like a slob. "If it'll make you happy, then honestly, I want you to go for it."

I smiled a wide grin, reaching around him to squeeze him into a hug. It was a little odd, given our positions, but we made it work. We broke apart at an amused chuckle and I looked up to see Duke standing in my now open doorway, leaning against the frame.

"Trying to steal him away, Taylor? Don't you have your own Wheeler to date?" he joked with a chuckle. Serenity and Ryou peeked in quietly. "I really hate to interrupt the friendship moment, but we do have a reservation to get to."

I let go of Tristan, who I could tell was biting back a retort towards my boyfriend. "I'll be right there," I told him, which seemed to satisfy him enough to step out of the room. I quickly gave Tristan another squeeze, whispering a, "Thank you," for just him to hear.

After I let go of him, I was pulled into hugs with both Ryou and Serenity, each of whom whispered their own little good-luck wishes in my ear.

Duke was waiting for me in the living room, twirling his keys around his finger. "Ready to go?" he asked when I walked out. I nodded and gave him a quick peck, since I hadn't actually greeted him yet, and grabbed my keys. I opened the door to usher us out of the apartment and then the building.

I was always surprised when Duke felt so comfortable leaving his car unattended in my neighborhood. Maybe it was because he was never really here for long, but I still thought he should have been more careful. He unlocked the door with a button on his key and we got into our respective seats.

"You look really good, by the way," he said after I'd strapped in. He leaned over to give me a longer kiss than we had before, and before I knew it, I'd closed my eyes. I went to go wrap my arms around his neck but then he pulled away. I opened my eyes and noticed the roof was back down on the convertible and he was starting to pull away from the spot.

"Uh, thank you," I replied, remembering a little awkwardly the compliment he gave before the kiss.

"You're welcome. I haven't seen that outfit before. New?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," I said with a shrug. He didn't need to know the outfit itself was probably on a list of items robbed from a nice store. "Except the shoes, they're actually Tristan's."

"They look better on you."

I laughed, going into a comfortable routine with Duke, all thoughts of stress and worry over this dinner lost. "I doubt you've ever even seen him in these. Or even noticed them on me for that matter."

"Doesn't matter, I just know you look better in anything than he does."

"Smooth, Devlin. I bet you say that to all the blonds." He didn't answer, just focused on the road, and I slowly moved my hand to hold his. He accepted, but the hold he had on mine seemed looser than usual.

When we got to the restaurant, I was suddenly glad Ryou and Serenity had insisted on dressing me up. I wasn't usually one to look sloppy on dates, anyway, but this place seemed even nicer than anywhere we'd gone before. Even the valets looked a little intimidating. 'Maybe this is it after all,' the little voice in my head spoke up. 'Hope you're ready for this, Joey.'

Duke got his stuff from the valet and walked us inside. He gave our name to the hostess and we waited for our reservation to be ready. I looked him over and noticed his fingers were twitching a bit. "Are you alright?"

He looked back at me, a little distracted. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." He smiled and I swear, I melt every time, and took my hand. I didn't get a chance to push the issue, because the hostess came back and brought us to our table, one close to the windows overlooking the water.

The dinner itself was pretty uneventful, and seemed just like most of our other dates. We talked and joked around a bit, and he insisted I didn't look at the prices of food and just ordered what I wanted. I told him about Mai and Jean-Claude Magnum, which he admitted he'd heard about and didn't remember me ever telling him I used to be friends with her. All in all, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and I once again forgot that this was possibly an important night.

That is, until we got to dessert, and instead of eating his, Duke was wringing his hands. "Duke?" I asked quietly, raising an eyebrow. "Hey, are you sure you're alright?"

He looked up from his plate and at me, still looking nervous. "I'm alright, I swear, I just." He paused for a moment and then continued, a lot more confident. "I want to have a serious talk with you, Joey, if that's okay with you."

My heart leapt into my throat. Here it is. "That's completely okay. Go right ahead."

He gave me a soft smile, green eyes darting down to my hand. He reached over and I met him halfway, giving his own a small squeeze when it met mine. "Joey, as you know, we've been together a while now, and we're not exactly kids anymore…" I did my best to not look expectant as I nodded for him to go on. "I think it's time we start thinking about the future."

"I think I see where this is going, and I agree, one hundred percent."

"You do?" He let out a small breath and smiled. "That's such a relief. Because I love and care about you so much, and we've had such a good time together, and I just. I'm glad we both know it's time to move on and end this now."

I blinked dumbly for a few seconds, tilting my head as my smile dropped. "Heh?" My ears were ringing; I couldn't have just heard what I thought I did. "Did you just – are you breaking up with me?"

It was Duke's turn to look dumbstruck. "Uh, yeah. Didn't you just, you said you saw where this was going and agreed." He looked confused, as if he had any right to be confused right now.

"I thought this was going in the complete opposite direction!" I protested.

It took him about half a minute to realize what I meant, and then his eyes became wide as saucers. "Oh, damn, you thought I was going to…" He shook his head and sighed. "Jojo, I couldn't, I love you but I just can't marry you. I need to have a plan and I just don't think you'd fit. We're just not right for each other."

I pulled my hand back from his, very nearly knocking my glass over but just barely missing. "And you couldn't have come up with this conclusion within the last two and a half years?"

He had the sense to at least look guilty at that. "Well, I was – we were having fun. We never really talked about the future but now I've started thinking about it. This wouldn't work in the long run. I'm going off to law school soon and you're still figuring everything out. I don't want to have to take you from Serenity and your friends if my job takes me far from here, you're better than that, better than following some guy."

I was trying to listen, but my mind couldn't help but jump to every other conclusion other than the one he was giving, that this would be for my benefit. "I think you'd need to actually get a job before you start deciding where you're moving for it." Until then, he'd be living off his parents as he finished school, I knew that, so clearly that wouldn't be the big issue. "And you're going to the University of Tokyo!" A few other diners looked at us and I bit my lip, I hadn't meant to get loud. "Duke. This makes no sense. There's something you're not telling me. There's gotta be."

"No, there isn't, I swear."

"God, if you're gonna dump me, you could at least be honest about it." He looked at his hands and sighed. "Because either you're just really shit at making excuses and you're just sick of me or there's something more. What, is there someone else?" I saw something flicker in Duke's face at that. "You've got to be kidding me."

He looked up at me again. "You have to understand; I didn't mean for this to happen. We just ran into each other at a family party, our parents were always friends. We used to date but that was a long time ago, I didn't expect the feelings to come back, it was so sudden. But that's not what this is about, Joey, I swear, it's just that I need to get more serious about my life."

"So there was a family party that I knew nothing about and you never let me come to, and your parents happened to bring your ex along, and now suddenly I'm not serious enough to be permanent? What was I, then, just you slumming it?" I glared at him, my hands smacking down at the table. I noticed a few people look over again from my peripheral vision.

"Jojo, you're making a scene." His sentence sounded more like a plea, the unspoken 'please, stop and calm down,' hanging in the air.

My eyes widened as I looked around in realization. "Is that what this place is all about? Pulling out the extra stops at an upscale restaurant so that when you break it off, I won't make a scene?" He didn't answer, but he did glance away, and I took that as my confirmation. "Well, you're an idiot then, because in case it hasn't come to your attention, this isn't really a place I would frequent." My voice was getting loud again, but this time, I didn't bother to lower it. "And I'm never going to see any of these people again, so frankly, I really don't give a crap about what they think of me. If I want to make a scene, you're the only one who's gonna be embarrassed."

As if on cue, a waiter was making his way by to deliver two cups of plum wine. Perfect. I stood up and grabbed them off the tray, throwing the drinks in Duke's face. It gave me an immature sense of satisfaction to see the dark liquid dripping down from his hair and face onto his white shirt, not to mention start smudging that damn eyeliner he always wore.

I gave him a smug smirk as he looked at me in disbelief. I then turned to the waiter, who also looked shocked to the core. "I'm so sorry about that. I don't know what came over me. He'll pay for it, though, I'm sure. Have a good night."

With that, I quickly felt my pockets to make sure my house keys were still in there and did my best strut out of the restaurant.

Author's Notes: Okay, that was actually painful to write. I don't think I've ever written an actual breakup scene before. The "Jojo" nickname thing, by the way, is my version of how Warner called Elle "Pooh Bear" but a lot less cheesy. I think. I don't know. Anyway, I haven't started chapter 4 yet so please be a teensy bit patient. I did, however, start a scene that's going a little further in the story (if things go the way I'm planning out, chapter 6? Maybe 7?) so that's that. I figure when these tidbits come to me, I should write them, then fill in the rest. Some is just easier than others.