Title: Legally Blond

Pairing: Eventual Puppyshipping (Seto/Joey), past Snareshipping (Duke/Joey). Sideships: Persevereshipping (Duke/Téa), Ardentshipping (Tristan/Serenity), Puzzleshipping (Yami/Yugi)

Rating: T

Words (Chapter 4): 1,952

Author's Notes: Fun fact, this fic is the longest thing I've ever written. That being said, this chapter took forever because I've been very busy. My best friend recently got a job close to my house so it's been a lot easier to see each other and I've been having some sibling days as well, which are really nice. I was also stuck on this at one part which is why I switched POVs and honestly, that helped the words flow very nicely. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this update. I apologize for the wait.

Joey's POV:

"Get in the car."

"No."

"Joey, come on, get in the car."

Despite my head start in leaving the restaurant and Duke having to not only settle the check but also get his car from the valet, he had very easily caught up to me once he was driving and I was still walking. The car was slowly crawling beside me as I walked, and a few people on the sidewalks were giving us strange looks.

"No, I don't want to."

"You'd rather walk the whole way back to Domino?"

"Yes."

"That's ridiculous. There's no reason I shouldn't drop you off back home."

"Well, you did just dump me, so that's a pretty solid reason."

"Or it's a reason for me to do this one last time. Come on, Jojo, you didn't even give me a chance to explain."

I stopped, turning to him angrily. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to be all patient and docile, waiting for you to finish explaining why we shouldn't be together? You must be out of your mind."

"Maybe, but I did get you to stop walking and look at me," he answered with a small shrug. I hated how even when I was thinking about how much I wanted to hit him, my mind couldn't stop also thinking about how damn good looking he was. Smudged eyes and wine stains on his shirt and all.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. No, I wasn't doing this. I wasn't playing into his game this time. I went back to walking, determined to ignore him completely. I just barely heard him curse when suddenly the car was following me again.

"You know, you look like a creep or something," I muttered to him, noticing as another concerned (or possibly just nosy) pedestrian watched us.

"And you look like a target. By the time you get to your own house, you'll be wiped out. I can't let you get hurt."

I knew the sarcastic retort in my head would sound way too petty out loud, so I held it back through clenched teeth. He was silent as well for a few moments, until,

"You really want to ruin Tristan's shoes because you're too stubborn to accept a ride home?"

That did it. I stopped walking and took a deep breath. He had a point, these weren't my shoes and I didn't want to return them all worn in or scuffed or whatever would end up happening between here and home. It wouldn't be fair to Tristan, especially after not believing him about Duke when he was right all along.

"Fine. But shut it." I knew I couldn't exactly give him demands in his own car, but I could at least let him know I wasn't doing this for him. I walked over to the passenger side and got in, buckling the seatbelt and resting my arm on the open window. He drove off, at a normal speed now, and my hair whipped around my face.

To his credit, Duke didn't try to make small talk through the ride. When we were closer to the house, I started to feel the pang in my chest. The fact that this was probably the last time I was going to see him started to really sink in for the first time that night; before, the only thing I felt was anger. Now the sadness was hitting me and I didn't want to admit it out loud, but it hurt.

He didn't say anything as he double parked the car in front of my building, and I quietly undid my seatbelt. I looked over at him once again, debating saying something or not, but chose not to. I shook my head and got out of the car, slamming the door in the process. I began to walk towards the door and hears him pull away.

Before I even put the key in the lock, he was gone.

Serenity's POV:

"Joey, come on, let me in. You need to eat." I sighed softly as I heard no motion from the other side of the door. It had been a couple of days since his breakup with Duke and he'd been barely leaving his room or talking to any of us since. He still went to work and class, but he'd leave when neither Tristan or I were awake and when he came back, he'd go straight to his room.

I had never seen my big brother like this, and it scared me. Tristan had tried the tough love thing, yelling through the door that, ahem, "A bastard like that isn't worth despairing over," which didn't really seem to do any good, but neither did me trying to be the calm type of supportive.

When he didn't answer again after another series of knocks, I set the tray down by the door and bit my lip. "Okay, well, the food's here if you get hungry, and I'm here if you need me. I love you." There was still no sound and I willed myself to leave the doorframe and go back into the kitchen.

Ryou was over, pouring tea into our mugs. We'd taken four out, but he didn't fill the last one. "Am I to gather he won't be joining us for tea?" he asked softly, though I could tell he already knew the answer. I made a face and sat down, putting my head in my hands.

I almost immediately felt Tristan wrap his arms around me, squeezing slightly. "He'll join us on his own terms." He's a lot calmer about all of this than he was when Joey first came upstairs that night, anger seeming to radiate and that sadness so evident on his face in a way neither of us ever thought he'd outwardly show. I think in a way it scared Tristan just as it did me, but he hid it underneath full-fledged contempt for the green-eyed idiot who broke his best friend's heart. In comparison to what he'd showed the last few nights for Duke, their previous relationship actually seemed friendly.

"I just hate that we can't help him." I mumbled as I lifted my head up. I took one of the cups of tea, thanking Ryou for it, and added a couple of sugars in. "I really wish we could."

"I offered to beat the shit out of Duke, but he turned that idea down," Tristan said with a shrug.

"Because violence isn't the answer," Ryou piped in.

"But it can be an answer, and in this situation, I think it would have been a good one."

I rolled my eyes, for someone who talked tough, my boyfriend certainly wasn't a violent street kid. He only really used his strength when it came to defending himself, but he was protective. It was one of the things I loved about him.

"If Joey wanted Duke's lights punched out, he would have done it himself," our British friend pointed out, and I tried to hide a giggle at how right he was. I played it off behind my mug, hoping they wouldn't notice.

Ryou and Tristan ended up in a conversation about something that I paid no attention to. I was lost in thoughts of my brother and how to help him, even though Tristan was probably right. I should let him deal with things on his own, but he'd always been there for me, no matter what. He never let me down and always seemed to know just what to say, and I had always told myself that I'd do the same if he ever needed me for once.

Now, I was failing.

I was startled from my thoughts, almost dropping my cup in the process, by the sound of something getting knocked over and someone tripping from the other room. They were followed closely by my brother's voice spewing out a mix of swear words.

He came in a few moments later, a little more composed, and brushed his fringe out of his face. "Forgot the food was there," he mumbled. I nodded as the other two just watched him. He went to the refrigerator to grab a Coke Zero and then sat in the empty seat at the table.

"Um. Did you want tea?" Ryou asked him. Joey shook his head in response, sipping his soda. Tristan stood up, and when he came back, he had the tray of soup and the sandwich in his hands. The glass that I'd put on it was empty and a little cracked, and I guessed that had been what got knocked over.

Joey spoke up after a few minutes of silence. "I made a decision." We waited for him to continue, Tristan sitting back down. "I need to do something with my life. No more wasting away like some pathetic damsel. No offense, Serenity."

I hadn't even been offended, but I didn't comment on it. Instead, I moved to squeeze his hand and smiled gently. "I'm proud of you for that, big brother."

"Yes, Joey, that's quite a bold decision. I'm glad you've chosen to turn this around." Ryou leaned over to squeeze his shoulder before pulling back. "Do you have any ideas yet about what you want that to mean?"

Joey nodded and bit his lip. He looked down at his free hand for a moment before looking up, more determined and confident than he'd been previously. "I'm going to law school. Tokyo, to be exact."

We were all quiet for a moment, until Tristan spoke up. "You're kidding, right?"

Joey's eyebrows furrowed and he crossed his arms. "You don't think I could?"

Tristan scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Don't turn that into an insult on your intelligence or determination. I know you could, I mean hell, if Duke could then you could, but why the hell would you? You're really going to put all your energy into following your douchebag ex-boyfriend to the country's top law school and call that moving on?"

He slammed his hands down on the table, making Ryou jump a little. "It is moving on, and it's something I'd always thought was interesting but never thought I would be good enough but that's exactly why I need to! I can't keep letting everyone else think I'm not good enough and let them make me think it, too. I can do this, you said it yourself, and I don't care that Duke's there. If there was a law school better than the one he was in, I'd be trying to get to that, but Tokyo's the best, and I need to strive for that. I won't accept anything else."

I watched the back and forth for a bit before they finally quieted down. I'd been clueless when it came to knowing Joey ever felt that way, and that Duke had made him feel that way. He hadn't really talked about the breakup when he'd come home that night and now…

"I believe in you, Joey," I spoke up. I moved to hold his hand again and gave it a squeeze. "If you really want to do this, we'll all be here to support you."

"Your sister's right, Joey, we'll help you in any way we can," Ryou agreed.

Joey squeezed my hand and leaned over to clap Ryou on the shoulder, but he still hadn't looked away from Tristan. I knew the two of them could be stubborn but I knew they also had such good hearts and really loved each other.

Finally, Tristan sighed and stood up. "Well then. Guess we better start studying. Get showered and I'll drive you to the library."

It felt good to see Joey smile like that again.

Author's Notes: Honestly, the decision to have the second half in Serenity's POV was a very in-the-moment choice. I love her, I really do, so I hope I did her well. I hadn't planned on having the whole fic in Joey's POV anyway, hence why I've been specifying. The next chapter is probably going to be after a time-skip and showing up at law school months later. Have I mentioned yet how I originally had this idea as Seto being the ex and making it eventual Dragonshipping? I like the way this is flowing better anyway, but I do want more Dragonshipping in the world. Please. I'll probably do a one-shot or two before I try to do a chaptered thing of them, though, like I did with Puppyshipping.