Title: Keep Calm

Author: Tigergirl

Rated: M

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters. I don't gain any benefits from writing about it.

Summary: Wheeler was always a loudmouth clout. He never thought there might be a reason Wheeler was always so loud.

CHAPTER ONE

His family found out about his loss when he was very young. The daycare had been having problems with him at school so they had done some testing. It was revealed that Joey couldn't response to sounds consistently. With his father busy at work, his mother had taken him to an audiologist who had revealed Joey had a moderate hearing loss.

His mother had blamed herself. She swore she should have noticed sooner. The Audiologist recommended hearing aids and speech therapy. Joey's mother took a job to help pay for the hearing aids. Joey was fit for his first pair of hearing aids at the age of five and a half. By this time, he had been receiving speech therapy and had come into his own voice.

His loud voice.

"He may never lose that," the Speech Therapist had explained.

After his sister was born and his parents fought, Joey's hearing aids got lost in all the chaos. By the time he had found them, the molds didn't fit his ears anymore and the only thing his father bought was booze.

Joey sighed. He had money sitting out in front of him on his bedspread from the odd jobs over the past year. He was trying desperately to save up money for a new hearing test and new hearing aids. He knew no doctor would order him hearing aids without seeing him for a test first.

He ran a rough hand over his face. School had been hard for him since moving to Domino with his father after his mother and sister left. Half his school records had been lost, including the early paperwork of his hearing loss. He had learned how to lip-read which came in handy in school.

Joey sighed again. Not that it did him a whole lot of good. The teachers weren't aware of his hearing loss and, given his reputation in school, they didn't care. So he didn't bother trying to share with them. He went on trying his best and working hard to get what he needed. It really hurt that he was seated at the back in every class so being far from the teacher made it hard, if not impossible, to actually hear his teachers.

His friends never suspected anything either. They mistook his behavior for attention problems so they always made sure Joey was looking at them when they talked. They unknowingly helped him to better communicate with them.

He loved dueling because it was so visual and he didn't have to guess what was happening around him. Releasing yet another sigh, Joey gathered up all his money, stashed it away in an old shoebox, and returned it to his hiding space.

Noticing the late hour, Joey snatched up his backpack and bolted out of his apartment. He jogged down the sidewalk, pausing only to wait for a crosswalk light to go. As he walked up on a busy newsstand, he pulled out some spare change he had set aside. He snatched up a spare newspaper and tossed the coins to the owner. The man waved him off like usual.

Joey tucked the newspaper away into his backpack to look at it later. He jogged the rest of the way to the school. He jerked to a quick stop at the school driveway entrance. Not five seconds after, an expensive car rolled past right where he would have been. Joey shook his head as he walked the rest of the way up to the front doors.

"One of these days he's gonna run me over," Joey mumbled.

He cast a glance over his shoulder to see Kaiba stepping out of his car. As usual, he had his phone glued to his ear. Turning his head back around, Joey rolled his eyes. He walked down the hallway, weaving around students and staff. He knew his friends would already be in the classroom so he headed straight there.

"Joey! There you are, man!" Tristan called across the room, waving his arm.

Joey waved. He walked over to where Téa and Yugi were dueling. Ryou was sitting on a desk watching while Yami leaned against it. Yami glanced up at Joey and nodded his head before dropping his gaze back to the duel. Joey walked around the group to stand next to Tristan.

"Hey, where's Dice Boy at?" Joey asked.

Tristan bumped his shoulder against him. Joey turned his head to look at him.

"Duke caught that bug that's going around," Tristan explained.

Joey made a face. "He can keep it."

Tristan nodded in agreement. A few minutes later, the bell rang and everyone moved around to their seats. Kaiba came in the door just before the teacher. Joey rolled his eyes as the male sat down in the desk in front of him. Homeroom and first class of the day was a pain.

Because Kaiba was slightly taller than him, Joey had a hard time looking around him to see the teacher. So the blonde had taken to scooting his chair and desk over a tad. When he stretched out his legs, his left foot was able to rest against the back of Kaiba's chair leg.

"Listen up, class! I have a few announcements to make," the teacher announced.

Joey focused in on her. There were a few words he missed, but he got most of the messages.

"…yearbook…sale…payment due…"

After the announcements, Math class began. Joey enjoyed math class out of all his classes. Math was visual and written all over the board. What he didn't catch in the verbal instruction from the teacher, he caught up with the written instructions on the board.

Class started with review from last week and the teacher passing tests back. When his teacher placed his test facedown on his desk, Joey sucked in a deep breath. He lifted the edge slowly, revealing streaks of red. He said a quick prayer before flipping the whole thing over. He was pleasantly surprised to find a 92 and a cursive Good job.

Joey smiled before tucking his test away in his backpack. He liked Miss Suzuki. She was new to the school so either hadn't yet learned about the Wheeler reputation or chose to ignore it.

"All right, class. We're going to start our next lesson. Get out your notebooks and pencils and get ready to take notes."

Joey retrieved his notebook and started writing. It was a little later, during practice drills, that Joey noticed Kaiba hiding his phone under his desk. He glanced around Kaiba to see the teacher coming down their row. Joey lightly yet firmly kicked the chair leg. Kaiba shot him a murderous look over his shoulder, but the phone disappeared before the teacher reached them.

Miss Suzuki gave him a look that told him she suspected him of warning Kaiba. It made sense since he did warn Kaiba with a kick almost on a daily basis. He wasn't allowed to have his phone out in class, whether it was for Kaiba Corp business or not.

It wouldn't kill the guy to figure out I only kick him when he's hiding his phone and the teacher's coming, Joey thought.

Class soon ended and everyone stood to shuffle out the door. Joey was almost to the door when Miss Suzuki snagged his arm. He twirled around awkwardly to face her. She gave him a pointed look.

"You have to stop doing that," she told him.

Joey grinned. "Sorry, Teach. Got a twitchy leg and all. Can't help if I kick the chair in front of me."

Miss Suzuki made an hmm sound before breaking out into a small smile and waving him off. Joey flashed her a peace sign before zipping out the door. Weaving through the throng of students, Joey barely made it through the door to English class before the bell. The teacher glared at him, but he shrugged his hands up to shoulder level.

Can't count me late and give me detention if I don't arrive late, Joey chuckled to himself.

Joey liked sitting through English. He was good at reading and understanding what he read. The problem was his spelling and writing. It had never been his strong suit. More than one of his papers had been seriously marked down because the ancient old Mrs. Hironaka was strict as Hell.

"Wheeler, pay attention!"

And she was in prime mood today. Lunch time couldn't come soon enough, but mercifully, it finally did. Joey got his lunch and slipped out without his friends seeing him. He snuck upstairs on the roof to the serenity of the garden. He sat on the ground with his tray on his lap.

He finished it quickly. With a lot of time left in the lunch hour, Joey pulled the newspaper out of his backpack. He pulled out a marker as he skipped through the paper straight to the listed jobs. He immediately scratched out any job listing that needed a degree or specified experience in a given field.

He circled a few prospects as he took sips of his bottled water. He turned the page over and paused. In the center of the page, written in small lettering, was a small advertisement from a very familiar company.

Kaiba Corp Seeking Hard Worker

No Experience Needed.

There was a number listed and a weblink for further information. He hesitated before circling the ad. At the end, he had circled five potential listings. After school, he slipped into the school library and printed out applications. He made sure to write as neatly as he could on the papers.

He spent the next two weeks, chasing right out after school to the job sites and turning in his application. The first two told him they didn't hire high school students. The third job took the application but didn't call him for an interview. The fourth called him for an interview, but it was clear to him after a few minutes, they had already decided not to hire him.

On Friday afternoon, during study hall, he sat in a back corner of the library on a computer. He reluctantly pulled up the Kaiba Corp website link. He had discovered the listing was still in the paper which had been surprising.

It was cut and dry. The link explained they needed someone to work in janitorial. It wasn't Joey's ideal job, but it mentioned generous benefits. It didn't mention pay, but Joey decided to apply anyway.

He didn't know if Kaiba was in charge of the hiring or who he might be talking to, but he still applied. He made a special note on the application that he didn't have a phone, so they needed to contact him back with his email. He made sure to list all the references of the people he had worked for over the year. After reviewing through the application to ensure doneness, Joey moved the mouse over and clicked Submit.

/…/

"Gaaah! I hate reading through these!"

The Head Custodian pushed himself away from his desk to walk over to the coffee maker. He poured himself a new cup and took a big swig before returning to his desk. He had spent all day going through applications. The few he did call couldn't meet for an interview on such short notice or claimed they had already been hired by another company.

Ding!

The man groaned. That sound meant another application. He slumped down into his chair and clicked his mouse. The application came up to full screen on his monitor.

"Joseph Wheeler, age 16, student at Domino High. References….hmm. One, two, five, eight? Kid's been busy."

He reached over for the phone and called the last few job references.

"Hello, I'm calling about one of your former employees, Joseph Wheeler. Really? Always on time, responsible, hard worker? Okay, thanks."

Ring ring ring. "Oh yes! Wheeler was a great asset to have! I was sad to let him go, but the job changed to hours during the day and he has school. He wouldn't even come in for one day out of the week during school."

He wrote down on a pad of paper "dedicated to education." After calling a few more, he decided he wanted to take a chance with the kid. He pulled up the program and offered several appointments for interview before sending off the email. He was surprised when the program got back a reply in under five minutes.

He smiled. "Looks like I have an interview tomorrow."

END OF CHAPTER ONE