Joey looked at the burning house, stunned as he heard sirens wailing around him. He didn't know what to think of what was happening right in front of his eyes. He watched the fire blaze brightly as if he were in a trance. Slowly he became aware of someone tugging at his arm.

"-okay? Joey! Are you allright? Answer me please!" whimpered a familiar voice by his side. He slowly looked towards the voice to see a panicked Yugi staring at him, worry etched into his face.

"Yugi?" he asked after a while, and then noticed that a few other people where there as well. Yami, Bakura, Ryou, Marik, Malik, Duke, Tristan, and Tea were all looking at him worried. "Guys..." he said feeling a tear slip down his cheek.

Yugi let out a cry of relief when Joey had finaly responded. "Joey! We were all really worried when we kept calling your name but you wouldn't answer and-" suddenly he broke out in wailing sobs.

Joey smiled and looked up at the rest of the gang too. "How'd you all get here?" he asked, trying to keep his fear from making his voice tremble.

Finally Yugi managed to stop crying after his question. "I was walking by here and i saw the house on fire so I called Yami, and Bakura, Ryou, Marik, and Malik were with him so they all ran here but they ran into Tea on their way here and she called Duke and-"

"SHUT UP!" cried Bakura, earning a glare from Yami. Bakura sighed in exaspiration. "It doesn't look like that place is going to make it." he said observing the fire.

All of their heads trailed back to the burning building and there were a few minutes of silence broken only by the sirens and the crackling from the fire.

Finally Yugi looked at Joey deciding to break the silence. "Where will you stay? What about your dad? Is he OK?" Yugi asked concerned.

Joey continued to stare at the burning building. After a few minutes he sighed. "Well, I am old enough to get a job now so I guess that I'll stay at a hotel until i have enough money for a house. As for my father, he was out of the house when the fire started so he's OK." he said, eyes still on the fire. He noticed that firefighters all around him were just getting to work putting the blaze out.

Joey jumped a little when he felt someone grab his shoulder roughly. "He turned to see that Yugi had retreated a few steps back and his father was beside him now instead. The look in his fathers eyes terrified Joey. They were fillied with anger and hatred, directed at Joey. He gulped and blinked his eyes willing the image to go away, but it didn't. His father was still there. Joey winced as his father squeezed his shoulder hard. He looked his father in the eye. His fathers glare was now accusing.

"What happened here?" he barked at Joey, his nails biting into his flesh.

Joey winced again and seemed to be looking for an answer when a firefighter came up behind him, probably saving him from a beating later.

"Are you Mr. Wheeler?" asked the firefighter in a gruff voice. Joey's father nodded, angry at the interruption. "I'm sorry sir but I don't think we can save your house." he said. "We learned that the fire was caused by someone leaving the stove on." Joey's face visibly paled in the firelight. "The flames weren't visible from the outside until it was too late. It's a good thing that you and your son were away at the time otherwise there would have been casualties I'm sure." he ended and smiled reassuringly.

Mr. Wheeler's eyes filled with hate towards his son and he turned around and walked a few steps then motioned for Joey to follow him. Joey hesitated, looking towards his friends but then smiled at them. "I'll be OK. We just need to talk a little bit about what we'll do now" he said trying to sound more confident than he was.

His friends all muttered unsurely but they let him go and then one by one they began to go home, worried for their friend.

Joey followed his father into a dark alley, knowing what he was in for. After a minute of walking they finaly reached the end of the alleyway. His father turned and quickly punched Joey's face. He gave him a moment to collect himself and the he pushed Joey down to the ground and kneed him in the gut, taking his breath away. He then began to punch Joey everywhere he could gain access to. After a few more punches he picked Joey up and threw him against the wall. "You little piece of scum! How dare you set my house on fire after I let you stay there with me!" he yelled kicking him relentlesly. Joey heard a sickening crack when his fathe kicked his arm hard and paled as he realizeed why his father had momentarily stopped. He gasped and clutched onto his arm. "You little piece of shit!" his father yelled grabbing Joey's shirt collar and banging his head hard against the wall. Joey felt a warm wet liquid running down his cheek from his temple and knew he was bleeding.

Joey's father finaly stopped and lit a cigarrette in his mouth. He looked over his son and then kicked him in the gut one last time before walking away.

Hey!~ So if you havent already noticed I'm kind of new at this.

I hope i live up to your expectations, and if you have any suggestions review this first chapter and i might add some of your ideas to my future chapters.

Also I will put a lemon in here eventually but it will have to wait until i figure out how to get Joey and Seto to meet, and plan a way to make Seto help Joey out. So that might take a while. :/

One more thing is that I'll try to keep at leats a weekly update on this story, and i intend for it to last a while. And even when this is done I promise I'll make sequels if its popular. :)