Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The XX Factor ❯ Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Damn, my fingers are tired of typing this..

A/N: As I promised, a nice, fat chapter for you all! Man, it gets confusing when there's too many people to keep track of X.x

Edit: *smacks self* Apparently I shouldn't write when I'm half asleep. Lost track of all the people in the games. *goes to fix*

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Just around the time Joey was about to welcome in his seventh month, he found himself, as well as Seto and Mokuba, being summoned urgently to the game shop. Since Yugi was the one to call, the blonde started panicking that something horrible had happened. The brothers kept quiet, but offered support as they drove over.

When they arrived, Joey got out of the limo, grunting and groaning from the effort, and hurried up to the door to call out to his small friend.

"Yugi!.. Yugi, it's me!"

The door creaked open after a moment and the familiar mop of tri-colored hair peeked out.

"Oh, Joey! I'm so glad you're here! And Seto and Mokuba too. Hurry, come in."

The blonde teen went in first, completely missing the thumbs up Yugi gave the other two and Mokuba struggling to hold back a grin. As Joey entered the living room, he blinked in surprise at the party decorations and his friends chatting happily.

"Uh.. Yug?.. What's goin' on?"

Yugi bounded over to his side once again and gently took his arm, "We needed you here so we could throw you a baby shower, Joey!"

"B-baby shower??.. Oh, I'm gonna wring yer little neck.. as soon as I stop cryin'.."

Tristan chuckled as he came to his friend's side, "What's with you?"

"Shut up, Tristan!.." he sniffled, "It's dese hormones.."

Seto sidled up, eying the other gently, "As a word of advice.. I wouldn't try to make him angry.. Especially if there's anything around that could be used as a weapon."

Tristan took a step back then. A big step back.

"You didn't think we'd let you go without having a baby shower, did you, Joey? After all, how many times are we going to be able to do this since most of our friends are boys?" Teá beamed.

"And we even have a special surprise for you before the party really starts!" Yugi smiled excitedly before nodding to Yami.

Yami, closest to the other room, poked his head in and waved to someone. Serenity came in and went over to her 'brother'.

"Surprise, Joey! Everyone told me about what happened and they arranged for me to come down and see you!"

Joey sobbed harder, "I hate ya all!.. Stop doin' things ta me cry, dammit!!"

There were a few chuckles before Serenity leaned in and hugged her elder sibling lovingly. While they talked to each other for a bit, Mokuba gave Seto a nudge to remind him of the sonogram printouts. As much as the teen CEO disliked the idea, he decided to at least be tolerant to the rest of the 'friendship squad'.

"Oh yeah,.. Joey wanted us to show you all these pictures."

"You can see the baby!" Mokuba bounced.

The others flocked to see the printouts, except for Bakura and Marik. The two spirits sat in a corner looking like a couple of pouting children. When Serenity finally had a moment of distraction to see the pictures, Joey leaned over to Ryou.

"How'd ya get them ta come?"

"It wasn't easy, but I persuaded them eventually."

Malik popped up to throw his arms around the pale youth, "Ryou promised them alcohol if they behaved. And that they could have free run of the house for a weekend so Ryou and I can spend time together alone."

Ryou began blushing lightly, "I think they were growing tired of having to wait for Yugi to leave before they could have their 'personal time'. Yami threatened them if he found they had corrupted Yugi's mind in any way while he was there."

"He's worried about Yugi being corrupted? And he doesn't worry about Yugi's little taste for bondage wear?"

All three giggled a little at that. The short duelist interrupted to get everyone's attention.

"Now that everyone's here, we can start at least. And I just wanted you to know, Joey, that Ryou, Malik, Mokuba, and I were the ones to plan everything. Kaiba helped to get Serenity down to see you. Yami, Tristan, and Teá helped decorate..."

"What did Bakura and Marik help with?" Serenity asked.

"If it wasn't for us, blondie wouldn't be knocked up in the first place!"

"Bakura! You promised to be nice!" Ryou scolded.

"Hey! Everybody just shut up!" Joey shouted and caused everyone to look at him in shock, ".. All this yellin' is makin' her play soccer with my insides, if ya don't mind. And I've had enough kickin' on my bladder for a while."

Serenity asked shyly, "Is she kicking now? Can I feel, Joey?"

Joey had a silly sort of grin on his face, but shrugged and pulled his shirt up some, "Sure. Because I know yer all gonna ask eventually."

One by one, they felt their friend's stomach and the little one inside enjoyed the attention immensely as she kicked and hit against their waiting hands.

Once their excitement over feeling the baby kick had gone down some, Yugi, Ryou, and Mokuba announced the party games. The younger Kaiba was excited since he helped decide which games they should play. They held up the list they had printed out with various suggestions.

Mokuba started laughing as he pointed to one, "Do that one! I want to see my brother do it."

At the mention of his inclusion, Seto's brow rose suspiciously, "Do what?"

Clearing his throat first, Yugi read, "It's called 'Be the baby'. The father-to-be is 'the baby' while the other guests take turns performing actions such as dressing, feeding, or burping the baby."

Joey was making a snorting sort of noise as he struggled to keep back his laughter. Seto's face just seemed to pale at first before he narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"If any of you value your lives, you'll find another game.."

"Oh, lighten up, Seto! Dis could be fun!"

"Not after that evil glint I saw in those two's eyes!" he pointed accusingly at Bakura and Marik.

Ryou turned around and pouted angrily, "If you both are going to cause trouble, then our agreement is off."

"We were only thinking about what we could do for the game," Bakura replied innocently.

Marik started grinning more evilly, "Like rectal thermometry."

The pale hikari continued to glare as best he could, "Stop that!"

Joey started snorting louder before he let out a bray of laughter.

Yugi's cheeks flushed slightly before returning to the list, "Okay.. Then how about this one? It's called 'Pass the pacifier'. Each person takes a pencil to place in their mouth and keeps their hands behind their back. The object of the game is to pass this pacifier around without dropping it. Once you drop it, you're out of the game. And we even have prizes for the winners."

After reading the instructions, Ryou passed out the unsharpened pencils while Yugi slid the looped end of the pacifier around his own pencil. Even Seto decided to participate this time.

Once the game started, there were various giggles as everyone struggled to maneuver themselves just right and let the pacifier slip on to the next person. Yugi moved his mouth around as he and Yami struggled to get the first pass.

Yami eyed Bakura a moment before continuing and easily passing it off. Marik was next, then Malik, then Ryou, then Teá, then Tristan. When Tristan went to pass it on to Serenity, he became too flustered and ended up dropping everything into his lap.

Yugi took his pencil out for a moment, "That means you're out, Tristan."

Serenity slipped the pacifier onto her pencil and turned to pass it on to Mokuba, the two giggling as they tried. Then Seto's turn came, but Joey began to crack up at the utter absurdity of seeing his husband look so focused on something so silly. Seto dropped the pacifier.

"You're out, Kaiba."

"It's okay, big brother. You can still watch everyone else."

Joey struggled with his pass back to Yugi, and once more, the circle began. The game lasted for a while. Malik, Marik, Bakura, and Ryou all got out in succession after Marik got tired and bit his pencil in half, Bakura dropped the pacifier during his pass as well as Ryou, and Malik almost choked after catching Marik and Bakura making suggestive gestures with the leftover pencil.

Teá was next to go out, then Joey, then Yugi. It was no surprise that Yami lasted as long as he did, but he too eventually got out, leaving only Mokuba and Serenity to pass back and forth.

There did not seem to be any winners since they were starting to get better at it, so Mokuba graciously accepted defeat and let Serenity have the prize. She won a little pink teddy bear.

Taking a break from the last game, everyone started in on the food. Joey almost speared Tristan with a plastic fork when he got too close to the bowl of green olives he had confiscated for himself.

After the little snack, Mokuba began urging Yugi to start the next game. The tri-colored haired duelist read through the list.

"Okay, our next game is a race. We're going to see who can drink out of a baby bottle the fastest. Yami and I already filled some bottles for everybody. Most of them are filled with juice."

"And I filled some others with beer, but obviously, Joey, Mokuba, and Serenity are not allowed to have those bottles," Ryou added. He glanced over at Marik and Bakura again, "I'll let you both have the beer filled bottles in this game if you stop making trouble."

Just knowing that they were going to have more alcohol when they went back home was enough to keep the two spirits behaving for a bit.

Yugi and Ryou passed out the bottles to everyone, only Yami, Marik, Bakura, and Malik taking the beer filled ones. Joey decided to sit out on this game, but took one of the juice bottles anyway to drink from without the nipple top. Since he was not playing, he was going to be the judge.

"Okay.. Get ready... Go!"

Everyone's heads tipped back as they started to drink. Joey watched, but kept laughing at the looks of concentration upon their faces and the noises they were making.

Serenity and Mokuba exchanged a few glances and giggled themselves. Tristan could have sworn that his bottle was defective. Malik had to stop for a moment because he swallowed wrong and started coughing. Marik seemed to be chewing on his rather than sucking. Bakura gave up after a few tries and just unscrewed the top to drink instead.

Yami and Yugi seemed to finally get a good rhythm and took the lead. Marik gave up as well and took his own lid off. Ryou was closing in. Teá, Mokuba, and Seto seemed to be tied. Serenity still trying and Malik was trailing a bit behind.

Yugi pulled the empty bottle from his mouth and held it up high to show he was finished. Half a second later, Yami followed suit.

"Yugi wins!" Joey shouted and let everyone else stop to catch their breath.

Teá looked over at Tristan's bottle and laughed, "Did you even drink any?"

Once it was over, everyone unscrewed the tops to finish their drinks.

The ones still drinking almost spit all over when Bakura smirked, "So the midget can suck. You giving him practice, Pharaoh?"

Malik giggled a little, feeling a bit tipsy from sucking down the beer so fast. Joey came to Ryou's rescue when he chucked his empty bottle at Bakura's head angrily.

"Why don't ya do what Ryou says an' shut da hell up already??"

The white haired spirit growled and went to stand, but Joey an equally sinister glare in return.

Marik wised up enough to know when to give up. Yami's sennen eye was starting to flicker in warning, but he figured the pregnant teen would be able to hold his own anyway.

"If the next game is watching someone get their ass kicked, Bakura, then I think I'm going to start placing my bets on him."

Bakura's gaze snapped down to the spirit beside him, "I'll show you someone getting their ass kicked!"

Ryou shook his head with a sigh before pointing to the front door, "Outside.. And try not to cause any damage to the game shop.."

Without further hesitations, Bakura and Marik went out to settle their fight.

"Yugi? I might warn your neighbors if I were you," Ryou sighed again.

Malik came over and wrapped his arms around the pale hikari cheerfully, "Because last time they ended up screwing on the front lawn!"

Yugi went white while Yami scrambled to his feet to go take care of the other two. Everyone else stared at the tipsy Egyptian.

"I think you've had enough beer, Malik. How about a nice cup of coffee instead?" Ryou helped his burden into the kitchen, sweatdropping the entire time.

Once Yami returned from outside, Yugi found his voice again, "Uh.. well.. While Ryou helps Malik in the kitchen, why don't you start opening some presents, Joey?"

Mokuba jumped up and grabbed a package from off the back table, "Open mine first, Joey!"

"Aww, ya got a present, squirt?" Joey smiled as he looked over the childishly wrapped gift.

"Of course I did! I want to start being a good uncle as soon as I can!"

The blonde tore the paper off carefully and held up two super soft, chibified versions of the Red Eyes and Blue Eyes. They were made off color because of the material, but the boy was glowing with pride at his find.

"They're baby toys! Shake them! They even make noise!"

Joey did just that and smiled when he heard a rattling noise that sounded like a little roar.

"Thanks kiddo, I bet she'll really love 'em.. An' get yer hand away, Seto. They're not fer you!"

The others began chuckling softly while Ryou and Malik came back in sipping some coffee and getting comfortable again.

"Those are quite adorable, Mokuba. Where did you ever find them?" Ryou admired the soft plushies.

"I found them online and thought they would be a good present for her."

Joey reached out and pulled the boy close to give him a hug and a little kiss on the temple, "Thanks a lot, Mokuba. I really like 'em."

Mokuba just smiled brightly and went to get the rest of the presents to be opened.

Teá gave a sort of car seat blanket that zippered up for when it was cold outside, Tristan gave a few packs of diapers, Serenity gave a bath set complete with toys and hooded towel, and Malik had some help from Ryou to pick out a few newborn sleepers. Yami gave a complete set of grooming tools especially for babies. Yugi gave some bibs and bottles. And Ryou collaborated his name with Bakura and Marik's on their gift of a Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium.

"You just put it on the side of the crib and it plays music. It says the buttons make the fish move if the baby presses them. I was going to look at it myself, but I'm afraid Bakura and Marik almost got their hands on it, so I had to wrap it up quickly and leave it over here," Ryou explained.

"I think this'll be great, Ryou. Hey, why don't we try it now and see?"

While they started setting it up, Mokuba finished writing down what gift was from who, and began giggling when he wrote Yugi's name.

Yugi looked up, "What're you laughing at, Mokuba?"

"Well, remember when we were looking at the party games online and it said that whoever gives the seventh present would be the next to get pregnant?.. You gave the seventh present, Yugi!"

The diminutive teen flushed brightly, "I'm not going to be pregnant!" He shot a quick glance at Yami when the former pharaoh smirked, "Don't even think about it, Yami!"

Tristan put a hand to his head, "I don't think I could handle this again.. I mean, once was enough with Joey after all."

"I'M NOT GETTING PREGNANT!"

Teá giggled a bit, "I bet the baby would be cute though."

"YOU GUYS!!! I'M NOTGETTING PREGNANT!!!!"

"Well, the scientists in my lab found what changed Joey in the first place.. I suppose I could let you have some to use if you asked nicely, Yami," Seto added.

"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!!" Yugi started pouting angrily, then mustered up the best glare he could to focus at Yami.

The taller, tri-colored haired teen held his hands up in defense, "I promise I won't do that, aibou! Don't you trust me?"

Joey just chuckled, then focused upon the musical device in his hands. After playing with a few buttons, a soft, melodic lullabye began playing. He brought it closer to his belly with a soft grin.

"I think she likes it. She's startin' ta move around, but she's not kickin' as hard."

Serenity started helping to tidy up the wrapping paper from the floor just as Bakura and Marik came back in and sat down as if nothing had happened. Nobody asked the duo what they were up to while they were absent.

"Yugi? Now that everyone is here again, why don't we play the last game?" the white haired light suggested.

"Sure. Mokuba? Could you go get the roll of string and the scissors off the kitchen counter?" Yugi readied himself to explain the rules while the younger boy went off to finish his errand, "This is the last game and for this one, everyone cuts off a length of string that you think will fit around Joey's stomach. The one that's closest to Joey's actual size wins."

Mokuba popped back in with the spool of red ribbon and the scissors that he was sent for and helped to cut everyone's desired amount. Seto had to debate with himself if he should play or not, lest he be hit again, but decided to join in anyway.

Yami went up first to see if his ribbon fit, but found he was about three inches over. Yugi's compensated by being almost three inches under.

Marik and Bakura were over by almost a foot. Ryou needed another two inches. Teá went over about two and a half. Tristan was short by a good six inches.

Mokuba tried his luck and found he needed about two more inches. Serenity was closer by being short only an inch. Seto, thanking all of his lucky stars was over an inch.

What surprised everyone the most was that Malik's ribbon was dead on.

"How on earth did you know the correct length, Malik?" Ryou gaped.

The Egyptian hikari shrugged, "Just guessed."

Malik's prize was a little gift basket of chocolate and suckers with a baby theme to them. Yugi opened his prize from earlier and found he had won a plastic, novelty baby bottle filled with Hershey's Hugs and Kisses.

The petite teen got up again and, with Yami's help, brought in Joey's cake. The white icing was decorated with a pair of pink baby booties and an edible screen of pink colored hand and foot prints, all topped off with pastel sprinkles.

Of course, Joey started sniffling once again, but his stomach eventually won out after the sentimentality wore down.. and he was bribed with the first piece.

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A/N: Whew.. I'm going to bed. I'm pooped now X.x