Title: Legally Blond

Pairings: Eventual Puppyshipping, past Snareshipping. Sideships: Persevereshipping, Ardentshipping, Puzzleshipping

Rating: T

Words (Chapter 20): 2,550

Author's Notes: So, I switched around POVs for this chapter because I know a few of you wanted more of the cute Puzzleshipping moments, so I wanted to give you a little bit at the end. The first part in Joey's POV was a lot longer than I expected it to be before I wrote it but hey…you guys like longer chapters, right?

Joey's POV:

Evidently, sending that message right before I went to sleep was a very bad idea. I woke up a little too early in the morning to incessant buzzing from my phone and groaned. My eyes adjusted to waking up and focused on the words, and I sighed.

'What do you mean you straddled him?'

'Did you two kiss?'

'Did you two more than kiss?'

'Joey, you can't just leave me hanging like that.'

'Are you together?'

'Are you admitting you like him?'

'Does Téa know?'

'JOEY!'

Yup. Dumb idea to the extreme. I sent back a quick, one message reply. 'What I said. No. No. I can keep you hanging if I want. No. I hate him, actually. He's a dick. Haven't told her. Talk to you later, got a test and then court.'

I dropped the phone next to my side and stared at the ceiling, trying to will myself to get ready for the day. I needed to dress in fancypants lawyer clothes because we were leaving for court right after we finished our test. Oh, yeah. Test. I picked up my phone and dialed. "Hey, Téa," I greeted when she answered. "Don't ask me how I know, but go over the Bull-Dog Sauce Case. Enough to write an essay. Yeah, tell them if you want."

I sighed, shaking my head. I hadn't even gone over the case myself; I'd have to work on it before class. I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed, not even slightly ready to face the day ahead.

"How do you know this?" Rebecca whispered to me. We were crowded around Téa's desk, last minute cramming before Pegasus and the rest of the class showed up.

"I just do."

"Kaiba tell you?" Duke asked, making a face.

"Of course not, he would never do that," I lied, staring down at my book. I'd sent Téa a 'Tell you when we're alone' text, but I was more than a little uncomfortable with the idea of Rebecca and Duke knowing.

"Then I don't get how you could. It makes no sense, unless –"

"I saw it, okay?" I looked up, getting way too frustrated in the line of questioning. "Kaiba left his briefcase in the car and I managed to peek. Couldn't see the whole thing."

"So, we're actually cheating right now?" Téa asked, voice really low. I could tell the thought disturbed her.

"Yes, we are, but if you guys would have rather I didn't tell you and only I did well on the essay, let me know. Next time, I'll keep it to myself."

They were quiet for a minute. "Thank you, Joey. That was risky, but I wouldn't have even thought about this case too much if you hadn't," Rebecca spoke. "But, now I have to go to the bathroom. Don't want to have to go during the test."

"Good idea. I'll come with," Téa insisted. As we watched them walk off, Duke spoke up. "They always do that. Why do girls always do that? Go to the bathroom in pairs…"

I shrugged in response and we were good for a minute. Quiet. Just looking over our notes. But Duke needs to ruin everything. "So, you and Kaiba aren't…"

I looked up at him with my biggest are you kidding me? face. "Seriously, what is wrong with you? No, I am doing anything with our teaching assistant and almost boss. Not dating or screwing or whatever word you were going to finish that sentence with." I huffed. "If I were, it would be absolutely none of your business because if you really think Kaiba would let himself be used and give the person he's getting with any benefits like answers to tests or internships they don't deserve, then you are a really shitty judge of character. And another thing – you're the one who cheated on and dumped me and got engaged to someone who, let's be real, deserves a hell of a lot better than you. So, if this is coming from some fucked up jealousy point of view, you lost that right, and nothing you can do is going to change that. I could be fucking no one, I could be fucking Kaiba, or I could be fucking everyone in class. It's not your business, no matter how much you miss me or want me or don't want to be with Téa. I don't care and if I didn't hold out hope that maybe you'd grow a pair and tell her the truth, she'd know what you said to me that night by now."

I guess I was too wrapped up in my rant to realize that his widening eyes had to do with something besides me, but his mouth was opening and closing like a fish. "What'd he say?" I turned in surprise to see Téa standing behind me. She leaned over my shoulder to grab out a tampon from her bag. "Forgot this. But uh, I think you and I need to talk," she told Duke, who swallowed and nodded. She motioned for him to follow her as she left and he did, and I very graciously let my head fall flat onto the desk, ignoring the pain it caused.

The test went better than expected. Rebecca's study guides and Kaiba's pointer made things pretty easy. For me, at least. I hoped the others thought so, too.

It was awkward and uncomfortable as hell, though. When the three of them all came back into class right before it started, they reorganized their desks. Téa sat on my right, where I got a good sight of her now bare ring finger. Rebecca was on the other side of me, with Duke all the way on the other end.

At first, I thought Téa would be mad at me, too, but while Pegasus went over the rules of test taking (no talking, no cell phones, no looking at your neighbor's paper, etc) she reached over and squeezed my hand. I squeezed back and looked at her. "Coffee before court?" she whispered, even though we'd doubled up on espresso shots before class. I agreed anyway.

She finished her test about ten minutes before I did. When I was sure I couldn't possibly make any more changes to better my responses, I got up and practically slammed the paper on the desk. Kaiba and I glared at each other, though I knew he was part of the reason I even passed. That damn essay was worth fifty percent of the whole test grade.

Téa was waiting outside the classroom when I left and immediately she jumped into my arms. I wrapped them around her waist. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" She pulled away, shaking her head. "I get why you didn't tell me, you didn't think it was your place. I probably wouldn't know what to do, either, in your case." She sighed. "I knew we were moving too fast when we got engaged. I don't think I even knew who he was anymore. Or, maybe he's just always been that way and nostalgia made me forget." She started walking, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "Come on, I don't want to have to deal with him right now. Sitting in silence in court is more than enough."

I bit my lip, following alongside her. "So, it's over? You called it off?"

She nodded, fiddling with her finger that the ring used to sit on. "I just have to figure out how to tell my parents. The good news is, I no longer have to plan a wedding. That stuff is miserable. Good luck to your sister. Have you heard anything about that?"

I wasn't sure if she was genuinely curious or just didn't want to talk about her and Duke anymore, or both, but I let it slide. "Oh, no, not yet. I don't know if he's done it, but I know they wanted to come see me soon. I have a feeling she'd want to tell me in person, so…" I shrugged. I'd actually forgotten in the throes of everything that Tristan was proposing. Clearly, I'm a great brother/best friend.

She smiled a bit. "I'd like to meet her, when they come up. If that's okay. I don't have many female friends."

"I think she'd like that."

We walked to the parking lot, throwing our bags in the backseat when we got into her car. She put her seatbelt on and peeled out of the lot, looking over at me at the first red light we encountered. She had such a twinkle in her blue eyes that you wouldn't think she'd just called off her engagement. "Okay, now that we're away from prying ears, spill. What happened with you and Kaiba?"

Yugi's POV:

I understood that being a law student and intern meant that there was a lot of work to be done. I also understood that as my new best friend, it was incredibly rude of Joey freaking Wheeler to tease me with information about him straddling the guy I knew he had the hots for and not give me all the details.

I was obsessively checking my phone at work, thankful my boss wasn't in today. Marik never cared if I was on my phone, since he typically was, too, but our boss was a stickler. It didn't matter that neither of us ever ignored a customer, it was apparently rude to have your phone not on silent during work.

I shook my head, complaining to Marik about guys not answering texts, and he very unhelpfully replied, "Guys always answer my texts."

Thanks, Marik. That wasn't even what I meant.

"Speaking of guys," he said, motioning to the door. Atem was coming in and I instinctively went to go hide. "Oh, no, you awkward little twerp. You are going to face him and get a damn date today. I said it, so it must be true."

I went to go fight him, but he practically shoved me towards the door. I wiped the horrified look off my face (listen, I wasn't ready for this. I was going to kill Joey. I was sure this was only happening because he said to.) and smiled. "Hey, Atem. I didn't expect you back so soon. You just delivered yesterday…"

He shrugged, glancing outside. "Mako and I forgot one box from the warehouse and didn't realize it. Sorry about that."

"Oh! You don't need to be sorry! I didn't mean it like it was a bad thing that I was seeing you again. It was like, a pleasant surprise. Yeah, that's the word for it. Pleasant surprise." Shoot me now.

He smiled and I melted. "I'm glad to hear it. So, I just need you to sign again…" He handed me the machine and that stylus pen.

I suddenly had Joey's voice in my head. 'Bend and snap, Yugi! Bend. And. Snap.' Was I really going to do this? Was I really going to try? Here was my chance. Hopefully this worked. I let the stylus slip from my fingers accidentally and watched it fall to the ground.

"Oops," I chuckled awkwardly. "I'll just…"

Here it goes. The bend…and…

SNAP.

"You broke his nose?"

I looked at my two law student friends in the screen of my phone. The severe disbelief from Téa, and the concern on her face, made this even worse. Joey's cackling in the background didn't help, either.

"Yug'!" he wheezed out. "How the hell did that happen?"

I grimaced, glancing over to the curtain that one of the doctors had taken Atem behind. If I hadn't been so wrapped up in my own head, in worrying and agonizing over the move potentially not working, I would have registered what he'd said – the point where he evidently said, 'Oh, I'll get that pen you dropped! Don't worry about it!'

"I think I did a little too much snap…"

It took another minute and a glare from Téa to finally get Joey to calm down. "Is he alright?" she asked. "Where are you now?"

"Hospital. Marik covered my shift so I could take him. I think he's going to be alright, but still. I broke his nose, guys. I don't think I'm very good at this flirting thing. Clearly, I can't do the bend and snap."

Joey shook his head. "Guess not. But hey, if he still likes you after this, at least you know it's real."

I groaned. That was decidedly not helpful, but I knew he had good intentions. I was about to reply when I saw Atem coming up to me. I yelped at the look of him, otherwise perfect face adorned with a weird cast thing on his nose. His face was cleared of the blood but swollen, and the dried crimson still stained his shirt.

"What? What's wrong?" Téa asked, reminding me that I was still on FaceTime with them.

"Is that Téa?" Atem asked. How he seemed so unbothered by the fact that he had a broken nose, I didn't understand. I nodded, still staring at him as I turned the phone so he could wave to the two of them.

Of course, the sight of Atem in his nose cast led Joey into another bout of laughter. I held the phone to my chest to muffle the sound, but to my surprise, Atem himself chuckled, which led a giggle to escape from me. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh…"

"It's fine. I know, I look quite ridiculous."

"I am so, so sorry. I really didn't –" I shook my head, sighing.

"Yugi, it's alright. Really. I know it was an accident." He scratched the back of his head. "Though, I do think you should make it up to me."

I nodded. "I agree. Whatever you need."

"Friday. Will you go on a date with me?"

I stuttered for a moment; of all the things, I didn't think that was what he'd ask for. I nodded a bit frantically before I finally found my voice. "Yes, yeah, a date. That's. Yeah. I'd love to."

A smile formed on his face – his beautiful, damaged face. "Good. I'll pick you up at 8."

"Yes!" I heard the hiss and my face heated up. I kept forgetting that we were still on FaceTime. I lifted the phone, smiling awkwardly at the two.

"Well, what d'you know? Apparently breaking a guy's nose is the key to him finally asking you out."

"Joey!" I hissed, face reddening further.

"Yeah, who knew?" Téa teased, giggling. "Maybe you should try it with Kaiba."

She pushed his shoulder and he growled. "I want to break that bastard's face, but it's got nothing to do with getting a date out of it."

"Guys? Uh, I'm going now. Need to get back to work…" They hung up after saying their goodbyes to us and I tucked my phone into my pocket. "Are you sure you don't want anything else? Ice? Chocolate? Pain meds?" I asked Atem.

He laughed again, shaking his head. "They took care of it. I can barely feel it, it just needs to set back the right way."

"Positive?"

"I promise, I'm fine. Let's just get you back to work. Give Marik a good laugh while we're at it."

Author's Notes: Please let me know what you think. I know I promised court in this chapter but do you blame me? Relationship drama was necessary. Next time, I swear! I already have it planned out in my head, I'm really excited for it.