Shattered

Shattered.
By Lady Jade

Disclaimers:
Warnings: I don’t own Yugioh. Damn. Anyways, I’m not making any profit off this, and my hat is off to all the talented ppl who worked so hard to make Yugioh successful. If you sue me, all you’ll get are my student loans. Have fun. This is Yaoi boys and Girls. Boy boy interaction. (TxJ) Explicit stuff. NO kiddies or ppl with heart conditions. Swim at your own risk!
Please review.
All flames will be used to line the cat box. Don’t waste your breath J Please review. It works good for me, helps me get some feedback as a writer. Thanks everyone, hope you enjoy.

A/N: Fear not, there is some lemon coming, next chapter or two probably. But for all you sap hounds, I was feeling angsty tonight, so here you go. Just some fluff, and a surprising twist to the way parents react to things. You never know. :P anyways. Read, enjoy *I hope.*
Thanks!
- Wataris_Girl
PS: Dearest Kitt, thank you for the help with the “Tristan’s family issue.” Appreciate your help much.

~*~

Tristan stirred against the warm weight on his chest. God it felt good to be holding Joey like this. It felt so right. Joey. He…OH NO!” Tristan sat up suddenly and dislodged Joey from his chest with a little bawl of protest. He checked his watch. Five minutes till school. Oh crud.
“Triss’n wassabig deal?”
“I’m going to be late?”
“Late?…mhhh? Oh, no shit man! Run, hurry!” Joey murmured as he looked at the clock on the wall.
“You are going tomorrow.” Tristan said as he gave Joey the evil eye, “So don’t act all sleepily superior.”
“Yeah, but that’s tomorrow.” Joey yawned as he rubbed his eyes with his good hand.
“Get some sleep you miserably lucky puke.” Tristan joked as he ran for his room, barely shutting the door to Joey’s room behind him.
“Yeah yeah.” Joey grumped as he slid down into the warm spot Tristan had left.
A few minutes passed, and then he could hear Tristan’s keys jingling in his pocket and the rub of nylon pack against bike jacket. The door creaked open.
“I love you koi, I will see you at three thirty?”
Joey made a sleepy harrumphing sound followed by, surprisingly, what sounded like ‘I love you too.” Through pillow blanket and mattress.
Tristan just shook his head lovingly and headed off for classes. He would get Joey’s assignments while he was there.

~*~
Joey set the picture of his mother and sister on his desk, where at least he could see it. Yeah, he had to admit that he was mad at him mom, but, he still loved her. In a way, he couldn’t blame her. His old man had been a terrible ass to her. But he never beat her. Not like he did Joey. He had never laid a hand on Serenity either, and for that he was thankful.
He unpacked the rest of his bag, setting his duel deck by the pictures, and then dumped his two spare outfits on the table, compulsively folding them out of habit. He stopped mid fold, and realized, he didn’t have to. He wouldn’t get a beating if he didn’t. But he finished folding them anyways. Some things would be habit for a while, and he didn’t feel like fighting it just this second.
Another rummage provided him with his CD player, a Metallica CD (Five finger discounted from some foreign exchange student.) and his textbooks as well as his homework folder. And last but far from least, wrapped in a piece of smooth red cloth that had once been an old gym t-shirt, his journal. He hadn’t dared to leave that where his father could find it. He set it all on the desk in front of him, and then reached out and turned on the desk lamp and pushed his books aside, and unwrapped his journal. He held a staring contest with his homework for a moment. He didn’t even want to think about that, so he turned his head until he was left focusing on the cover of his journal.
A beautifully rendered sketch of Red Eyes Black Dragon stared back at him from the otherwise dime store, plain white covered spiral notebook. He had drawn that dragon one night when he was in so much pain he could barely think. Another beating. But out of it had come so much beauty. He hadn’t known he could draw until that night, when Red Eyes had come to life under his pencil as if alive and summoned. He had focused so hard on that image of his dragon coming to life at his bidding, that he knew how he should look, feel, Joey had felt his pencil etching muscles into the thin cardboard that if he reached out in his mind he could touch. The smooth, slippery and hard as stone scales, the perfect bone hardness of claws and the wicked curve of muzzle. It was perfect. It looked nothing like the pose on the card. The dragon was poised to attack, and silently, Joey had to root it on every time. This was his dragon. His drawing. His card. And he cherished it so.
He had a moment where he wasn’t sure if he was dizzy, but the world seemed to swim and blur. He realized it a moment later when a tear hit the desk with an audible plop. He was crying. But why? He pushed his chair back. It hit him then. His chair. His desk. Like his journal. For once in his life, he owned something solid. Even if the Taylor’s had given it to him, it was still HIS. He had a desk, shit! He had a BED. A real bed. A bed that he and Tristan had snuggled in all night and been happy. And he didn’t know what to do or what to say. He just sat there and cried, until a light rap at the door drew his attention. One Mrs. Taylor was standing in the door, looking perplexed.
Joey tilted his head away from her so that she could not see his tears, and then whispered brokenly.
“Thank you, you don’t know how much this all means to me.”
She never hesitated, and before Joey could blink he was wrapped in a delicate hug. All she did was hold him, let him cry, and tell him that he was wanted here, and he was part of their family.
All Joey could do was sob and nod.

~*~
As she held him, she looked over the desk at the pitiful few belongings the young sophomore owned. School books, a CD player, a duel deck (no doubt highly prized) and a picture frame. And then, she settled on something she had never seen the likes of before from anyone. The most beautiful sketch of a dragon she had ever seen.
“Joey…” She whispered, her voice full of awe. “Did you draw this?”
The blonde teen looked up at her, his amber eyes filled with nervous hope.
“Yeah.” He whispered as he dropped his gaze to his toes.
“It’s amazing.”
“Amazing?” Joey choked.
“Yes. It’s beautiful. Its like I could reach out and touch it…”
“I…I’m really proud of it.” Joey murmured.
“You should be.” She said as she loosened her hug a little more to see Joey blushing furiously at the compliment.
“Say.” She said, giving the blonde punk a curious look out of the corner of her eye.
“How would you like to take some drawing classes? I happen to know that they are free at the local college up the street, and starting in a few weeks, how about you think about it and let me know if you want to sign up?”
Joey blinked up at her, his heart in his throat.
“Could I really?”
She nodded, giving him one last hug before she left him to his thoughts.
“Oh, and Joey?”
“I’ll wash those outfits for you, and, if you rummage through the stuff in the box I left outside the door in the hall, There are some clothes that Tristan’s brother outgrew, why don’t you try them on, their like new?”
Joey blinked for a moment at her, like she had announced that he had been elected king of Egypt and would now be rich beyond his wildest dreams.
“You really mean it?”
“Yes I mean it!” She laughed.
“Thank you…so much. I’ve never had…a place of my own… anything that I could say was mine… including a family. Thank you.”
The Taylor matriarch dismissed him with a wave and a “Tosh! You were already a part of this family.” Before she had to leave for somewhere quiet to cry as well. She couldn’t believe how such a loving, talented young man could not be wanted by his parents.

~*~
Tristan bounced down the hallway, pausing to greet him mother with a hug and a smile. Today had been a good day, very little homework, and plenty of time with his friends. Yugi had been full of life and enthusiasm all day and dragged the others with him. As usual, Tristan felt energized.
He was about to raise his hand to knock on the door, when his mother stopped him with a stiff arm that she then used to wrap around his waist and draw him away from Joey’s room so that she could talk to him. She guided him into the kitchen.
“Mom, what’s up?” He asked quietly as he shifted thoughtfully from foot to foot on the kitchen tile as she told him what she had talked with Joey about. And then he smiled.
“Thanks mom…I appreciate it.”
“Oh, and Tristan, will you sit for a moment?”
The brunette felt a chill run up his spine. He sensed a lecture coming on something unpleasant. He sat heavily, warily, and never let his eyes wander from his mothers face.
“Tristan. Are you and Joey boyfriends?”
Tristan nearly choked on his own tongue, trying to think about what he would tell his mother.
“I…”
His mother shook her graying head.
“And you honestly think that your father and I wouldn’t be happy for you two?”
“Ahhhhh?” Was all he could say.
“Well, are you or aren’t you?” She demanded laughingly.
“I…” Tristan whispered as he stared intently at a crack in the linoleum. “I love him more than life itself. He means the world to me.” He admitted quietly, still expecting condemnation or an outburst.
“Oh good. Your father said he doesn’t mind if you sleep in the same bed, and that he’s glad for you.” Tristan felt a flush starting across his nose. He needed a soda.
“Mom!”
“Don’t you MOM me. He cries in his sleep without you. He was taking a nap on the couch while I did dishes and he kept whimpering for you. I actually think I would have to be mad at you for NOT staying with him. If you two ever need privacy, just, let us know, and we will do what we can for you.”
“Mom, are you…drunk or something?” Tristan asked quietly. “Shouldn’t you be screaming at me that being gay is a sin?”
His mother just shook her head.
“Your father and I believe that as long as you are happy… and besides, I think Joey is perfectly lovely. If you have to be gay, at least you have good choice in dating material.”
Tristan blinked. This was the twilight zone and his mother was queen of it.
“Tristan, for the last time I am not angry with you, I wanted to let you know so you did not feel a need to hide anything, both you and Joey deserve better than that…and I want you to know that I’m happy for you. There, lecture over. Go tell your boyfriend that your home, and for heavens sake have a soda, your blng tng to the tops of your ears.”
Tristan nodded, stood shakily, grabbed a soda for both him and Joey from the fridge, and the beat a hasty retreat, not certain whether to cheer or cry.

~*~
He entered when bidden, one soda balanced in the crook of his arm, the other open and tilted to hopefully cure him of having a terminally dry throat.
“Welcome home.” Joey said as he carefully took his proffered soda. And looked up from his math set hopefully.
“Oh good, I need a distraction. I’m six sets behind, and I only have four done.” He said.
“It’s a while lot easier to catch up here though.”
Tristan was still trembling when he bent to tenderly kiss Joey. He hoped he didn’t notice. But that was too much to ask.
“Dude, you’re shaking, what happened?” Joey asked, his eyes awash with concern.
Tristan knelt on the floor and rested his head in Joey’s lap, setting his soda on the table.
“Give me a sec to catch my breath.” Tristan pleaded.
“Ok…I you you Tristan.”
“I love you too Koibito.”
Joey smiled slowly as he stroked that spiky hair. It was surprisingly soft. It was only the way that it was cut that made it look like it might be harsh or sharp.
“So you gonna tell me?” He asked teasingly as he continued to stroke the brunette’s hair until his breathing slowed.
“Yeah, but your not gonna believe it.” Tristan whispered.

~*~
“She’s not mad?”
“Not mad at all.”
“Wow, that’s wild.”
“NO kidding.”
Tristan was still slumped in Joey’s lap when the blonde smiled down at him and bent to kiss his cheek.
“This is all the homework I have left. How about I finish my last two sets and then we go rent a movie?”
Tristan blinked up at Joey.
“Yeah, that would be…that would be great.”
“I got your homework for today.”
“Oh, no more, please!” Joey pleaded.
“Yeah, you lucky punk, none of your teachers assigned any for you today.”
“Yes! Kick Ass!”
“No kidding.”
~*~
TBC
Thanks for reading and please review. Thanks again to all my loyal readers and reviewers. You keep me going!
(and you give good advice :)