Adult-FanFiction.org : Yu-Gi-OH

Wish	By : WhosJeebus Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 3303 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Title: Wish (Chapter 1/9)

Author: WhosJeebus

Rating: NC-17

Pairing(s): Joey/Seto, scads of others, & even a few surprises

Beta: Jennie B.

Spoilers: None

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, but if someone wants to give it to me as a Christmas gift, I certainly won't argue about it...

Summary: Seto won't be home for the holidays, but can Joey's friends and family manage to show him a holly jolly time, anyway? Sometimes, Christmas miracles happen in the most unexpected of ways...

Rant: Special thanks go out to Cirquegirl999, FuzzyBunny, Embers, & LilyChan for being wonderful, eager and just generally encouraging. I hope you don't mind me reposting your reviews anonymously, but I had to delete the entire story so far, comments and all. Just drop me a line and I'll remove them at your request. **glomps** I hope you enjoy chapter 1 -- it's up early because of YOU!

~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 1:

(7 days 'til Christmas)
The shrill alarm woke Joey from his restless slumber, and wound up tossed haphazardly in the corner for its trouble. Glancing briefly at the empty pillow beside him, he threw an arm across his eyes and muttered, "Fuck." He desperately wished he could just stay in bed all week long and simply ignore his responsibilities. He was far too gloomy to face bi-polar holiday shoppers at his part time job in the bookstore, and he certainly didn't feel like putting on a happy face for his friends' benefit either. Unfortunately, life waited for no one, and as painful as it would be to grit his teeth and explain Seto's absence to everyone ~again~, there was no getting around it. And unfortunately, falling into a depressed funk would only bring even more nuisance down upon him.
Joey realized that, in spite of his ugly past and uneven temperament, he was truly blessed with an ability to take an overall sunny outlook on life and make the most of unfortunate situations. In that respect, he'd held out a lot of hope for this upcoming Christmas together with Seto, even going so far as to paint a Norman Rockwell type scenario in his own mind. He knew that flights of fancy such as holding hands while ice skating on a frozen pond, or drinking mulled apple cider in front of a roaring fireplace were more than a long shot, but dammit, he'd wanted to at least come close; closer than he'd ever thought he could, anyway.
Childhood Christmases were nothing but blurry affairs in Joey's memory, even now recalled only with difficulty, and distinctive for the mere fact that they had always been traumatic times for his little sister and himself. Their parents' ceaseless fighting ruined every holiday, dampening even Serenity's bright and hopeful spirit, and driving the two of them to take refuge in each other as they huddled together for reassurance. No amount of gifts under the tree could make up for the fear and anguish they went through on a daily basis, and the uncertain future they had both glimpsed looming before them.
As he grew older, Christmas became just another ordinary day to Joey, and he convinced himself that it was better that way. The fighting had stopped, and even though he missed his sibling terribly, he was assured that she was happier with their mother, living a new, improved life somewhere far away. Without his wife and daughter around, Stan Wheeler struggled through two full time jobs, working the shifts that no one else wanted, just to put food on the table for the remainder of his family. Presents and decorations were a rare extravagance, though Joey would have been more than happy to do without if it had meant he could spend time with his dad every once in a while. They were all the family either had left, yet they had gradually become strangers inhabiting the same space.
Later on, after his father's accident and the subsequent drinking, Joey learned to avoid home altogether, even during the holidays. The elder Wheeler's drunken rages knew no arbitrary boundaries set by the calendar, and his son had already filled the gaping hole in his life with a solitary existence on the streets, forming attachments to few, and trusting none. The companions that Joey ~did~ find and allow close to him, accomplished nothing other than to further lead the confused boy in a steady, downward spiral. Life continued in this manner until Joey despaired of ever having any semblance of normalcy, much less allow himself to dream of a picture perfect holiday spent surrounded by loved ones.
But then, he met Tristan, followed shortly thereafter by Yugi, and Christmastime began to change for the better. They succeeded in teaching a half-starved, defiant, and bitter young man the meaning of ~true~ friendship, and a belief in himself that didn't depend on the approval and support of others. These past few years, Joey had been happier than ever before in his entire life, each holiday season surpassing the previous year�s, and secretly, he'd begun to covet the 'perfect' Christmas. He hid the desire deep in his heart, for fear that it would make him seem selfish, and only allowed himself to take it out every now and then. He continued to quietly hold onto this dearest of wishes, viewing it as nothing more than an unlikely redemption for all the bygone misery. Oh, he wasn't stupid or crazy enough to think that actually accomplishing his dream would fix everything about his rotten past. If anything, he realized full well that he was merely projecting all of his hopes onto ~this~ Christmas in particular; foolishly daring disaster to strike once more. Even if, deep down, Joey continued to insist that he deserved to have such misfortune befall him, his die-hard sense of optimism persisted. His spirit was unable to be completely quelled by virtue of the fact that during the past year, his life had neatly fallen into place, piece by glorious piece. In short, Joey Wheeler was happy.
He'd graduated high school more than four years earlier, quite the feat in itself, given how badly he'd allowed his grades to slide at one point. But those were dark days long gone by, and even if his grade point average had to be scraped off the bottom of the barrel, Joey had felt an irrepressible sense of accomplishment in donning that cap and gown and marching down the aisle to collect his diploma. Even now, he was working steadily and saving money to enroll in Domino University's Dramatic Arts program, with a plan in place for the future and determination filling his very soul. It was a welcome change, indeed.
The Duel Monsters tournament circuit was a unique opportunity that Joey had been unwilling to pass up, and within a week after graduation, he was winging all over the world, hob-knobbing with celebrities and royalty alike, living the dream of most every other eighteen year old boy on the face of the planet. It grew stale much sooner than expected, however, and Joey disliked being away from Domino City and his friends more than nine months out of the year. The money had also been ~far~ from lucrative, and Joey had wound up spending a great deal of his prize money on the newest Duel Monsters cards, just to stay competitive. Attendance and sponsorship had greatly declined as well, since a certain flashy and ~available~ CEO had dropped out of active competition, and with Yugi choosing to tend the game shop back in Domino over dueling, Joey soon became bored and frustrated with his new livelihood. With a surplus of life experience under his belt, the former champion returned home at last to begin living a quiet lifestyle as a not-so-mild-mannered retail clerk. Eventually, to no one's great surprise, he discovered a love for the theatre, and began dividing his spare time between various local productions, and a new, thoroughly unexpected, relationship.
Seto Kaiba had shown up in the cast�s dressing room after the final curtain call one evening, bearing a dinner invitation and three dozen red roses -- one dozen for every year that Joey had been away from Domino City. At first, he was certain that it had to be some sort of sick joke, and Joey ignored the persistent CEO for a good two weeks. Kaiba had shown up without fail every night at the same exact time, with the same exact number of roses, and repeated his request. Joey's fellow thespians had assumed that their newest member must be certifiably insane for consistently turning down the handsome billionaire, and the blond eventually acquiesced just to get Kaiba out of his hair. The date had gone perfectly, with Seto confessing right off the bat that Joey's long absence from Domino had caused him to re-evaluate his feelings for the blond, and admit to himself that he was undeniably attracted to his former rival. He even admitted to missing their endless competition and daily bouts of bickering, and when Joey had left town, presumably for good, Seto believed that he had missed his chance. Now he was determined to make up for that lost time, and Joey decided that he was inclined to let him.
Unexpectedly, the relationship had sailed along smoothly since then, and Joey had been living in the Kaiba mansion (mostly) happily for more than six months now. Life wasn't all rainbows and butterflies by any means; two such opposing personalities couldn't exactly mesh together seamlessly in that brief amount of time, but it was more than Joey could have ever thought to ask for. With the holidays rolling around, he'd been looking forward to a bit of family togetherness for the first time; something he'd never really been fortunate enough to experience in his almost twenty-three years. While that plan had pretty much been shot to hell at this point, Joey was used to disappointment, used to making lemonade from the lemons life had handed him in the past, and this Christmas would simply be no different. Still, this year would be a landmark one, full of excitement and firsts, and even though he was anguished over Seto's inability to join him for it, Joey refused to give in to despair.
This Christmas, Joey had his sister close at hand for the first time in over a decade, and he couldn't be happier about it. Serenity, now twenty years old and majoring in business administration, had transferred schools and begun attending classes at Domino University just last fall. Thanks to a generous grant from Kaiba Corp, the university now housed one of the world's most prestigious business schools, and she�d been more than ecstatic when she'd learned that her application had been accepted. It was funny how things worked out, sometimes.
This Christmas, his dad was four months sober, out of rehab and working at a job of his own, using his spare time to reform attachments with the family he'd attempted to push away. He no longer sought to escape from his disappointing life, and this holiday season, Stan Wheeler was busy making up for the long absence in his children's lives. He'd even gone so far as to wholeheartedly embrace his only son's alternative lifestyle, much to Joey's frequent embarrassment.
This Christmas, the Ishtars had relocated from Egypt, and had brought with them the knowledge and the means to release the souls bound to the Millennium items and provide them with their own physical forms. A lot of deliberation and a little shadow magic later, Yami embraced Yugi for the first time, and Bakura finally stopped bitching about Ryou's choice of wardrobe. There had been a great deal of heated discussion on the issue of granting Bakura's freedom, but the general consensus had been that it was far more cruel to leave Ryou stuck with him, which in turn outweighed the dubious wisdom of releasing the tomb robber on an unsuspecting populace. Thus far, Bakura had even managed to behave himself. In the grand scheme of things, anyway.
This Christmas was to have been Joey's first with Seto and Mokuba; the first one spent with a ~real~ family, in every sense of the word, and despite his earlier resolution to make the most of it, Joey found himself beginning to backslide into hopelessness once again.
No. He refused.
It was past time to turn his mind toward more productive activities, and Joey bolted from the bed filled with a new determination, and intent on putting together an unforgettable Christmas this year, even if it killed him.
~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~
tbc

Author's note:

Items used in this chapter:
* None yet. I'm gettin' there!

Word Count:
1867 this chapter / 3336 total thus far
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Wish