Be With Me 1

Note:  This is a Mai Joey fic and ONLY a Mai Joey fic.  There are no other pairings.  There is no yaoi.  No I didn't hide it in there as a surprise *rolls eyes.* Do not read it if you don't like Mai and Joey. I repeat, DON'T.

You've been warned.  I mostly just put this here so you don't skip straight to the fic in that horrid little scrolling thumbnail preview...

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Mai sat quietly looking out the window in the café.  It had been a long time since her last big adventure.  With no card tournaments lately, she was left living off what she had saved from before.  She had plenty left in the account, but if Duel Monsters kept loosing popularity she’d either have to get a job or find another game she was good at.

Lately Mai had been taking stock of herself… she was still a young woman and felt that she had a pretty good handle on her life sine she was still only 25.  She had a nice apartment in a good area and a reliable car.  So even though she kept asking herself what more she could she want, somehow something inside of her felt very un-satisfied.

She muttered a thank you to the waitress who was cleaning the table.  If her life really was so great then why didn’t she ever feel good?  Each day held less and less happiness until finally Mai found herself getting depressed about the smallest things.  It was really no way to live.

Clouds passed over the sun and all that Mai could see in the window was her own reflection.  The poor weather wasn’t helping her mood any so perhaps it was time to go home.

Mai signed again and put her hand against the window.  It felt cool since the weather was changing.  She looked back down at her empty table as the sun came out.  Mai picked up her belongings and prepared to leave just as she heard a familiar voice.  She looked outside again.

“Joey!”

Mai ran out the door quickly to greet her friend.

“Joey!  Hello!”

Joey turned around and looked a little surprised as Mai ran up to him.  Mai actually smiled, it has been so long since she had seen any of her friends!

“Hey Joey.  Where are Yugi and the others?”

Joey looked around as his faced turned a little red.

“They, uh, they’re not with me today.”

Mai chuckled at Joey blushing.

“Well then it’ll just be you and me!  Let’s go do something!  What do you say?”

Joey’s face turned from slightly red to extremely red.  He got nervous and started to fidget.

“Well, uh, ya see Mai; I was kinda busy today and…”

Joey looked back up at Mai.  Her disappointment was visible, even to Joey.

“But hey, I always got time for you Mai!”

When Mai smiled again Joey felt relieved.  It was nice to see her smile.

“So what did you wanna do?”

“Let’s…”

Mai paused.  It just occurred to her that she and Joey hadn’t ever been given the opportunity to be alone together.  Mai felt her cheeks getting hot… no no, that wouldn’t do.  Well in that case somewhere where he wouldn’t see…

“Let’s go see a movie!”

***

Joey and Mai had a hard time finding a movie they both agreed on.  Joey wanted to see a karate movie and Mai wanted to see a romance.  Neither got their pick, however, since the only movie available at a decent time was a horror movie.  Joey might have liked it, but Mai disliked scary movies since she was always on her own later.

It was kind of a sad horror movie where people who became depressed would vanish in to a dark stain and come back to haunt the people they felt were responsible.  Mai shivered since any movie like this sometimes reminded her of her brief trip to the shadow realm… well it might have been brief but to her it seemed like an eternity.

Mai had become lost in thought so when there was a loud noise in the movie it surprised her and she jumped and screamed.

“Hey, what’s up Mai?”  Joey asked hastily.  Both Joey and Mai paused as they realized Mai was clinging on to Joey for dear life.

“Um, sorry!”  Mai said, embarrassed.

“That’s ok…” Joey said, turning away.

Joey slowly turned back to Mai as the movie progressed.  She tried to be discreet about it, but she looked away from the screen and seemed nervous during all of the really scary parts.  It was kind of… cute.

“Um, Mai?”

“Hmm?”

“If… if you’re scared you can hold my hand.  Don’t worry, I’m here for ya.”

Mai smirked.

“Yeah, like I’m afraid of something like this!”

But at the next scary moment, she grabbed his hand.

***

Joey leaned back in his chair and stretched.

“Oh yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!  That’s my kinda movie!”

“Well, if you like that sort of thing,” Mai said stirring her sipping the last of her soda.

“So what have you been up to lately Mai?  Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Looking for a tournament,” Mai said waving a hand dismissively.  “There hasn’t been a decent one since that whole deal with Yugi.  Even Kaiba’s been quiet lately.  What have you been doing?”

Mai immediately regretted asking.  Sometimes no one remembered or cared about their age differences, but when it came down to it Joey was still in High School and she wasn’t.

Joey tightened up a bit.

“I’ve been ok… tests are over so we’re waiting on our results.  But me and the gang… looks like we’re all going to graduate.  Since I started hanging around with Serenity again my mom started taking an interest in me, so…  She says she wants me to go to college.  Can you imagine that?  Joey Wheeler, frat boy?”

Mai smiled.  Joey may have been young but he was still himself.

“I never went to college,” Mai said folding her arms.

“I got a job right after high school.  My parents were both business people so they didn’t pay attention to what I was doing any way.  And they didn’t offer any help.”

“I already knew you had some reason like that for dueling.  You told me you dueled for money when I first met you.”

“Well, we all have our reasons.  Like you did with Serenity.  And she’s such a cutie!”

“Yeah,” Joey said, “Serenity’s the greatest sister a guy could ask for.”

Both of them were quiet again for a moment, but it wasn’t awkward and even though it was quiet Mai didn’t feel lonely.

“So where, er, do you feel like going anywhere else with me?” Mai asked.

This time when they paused it was embarrassing.

“I, um… actually I should be going home now.”

“Oh, right, school.  No problem then.  I can give you a ride if you want.”

“Can I drive?”

“Not until you have your own car.”

***

Mai walked in to her dark, empty apartment.  She tossed her things on the couch and got ready for bed.

All in all it hadn’t turned out to be a bad day, but Mai was getting depressed again.  Before she had met any of the friends she had now, she was fine with being alone.  And even after she had discovered friendship, only seeing them once in a while was fine.  But now she didn’t want to be alone any more.

She laid back and laughed as she remembered the angry look on Joey’s face when she opened the door for him and not the other way around.  She hadn’t actually taken him home, he just told her to stop some place since he said he lived in a bad area and going any further for her might be dangerous… or something like that.  She had a car so what was the point in him trying to act all tough?  Idiot.

Still, he was always doing things like that.  Even without meaning to, he always saved people or stood up for people.  And when Mai thought about him she wasn’t sad but occasionally she got upset because there was something odd about it… like she felt happy when he smiled and sad when he was upset… that happened with some people but with him it was something more.

Mai turned in her bed and willed herself not to think about it, but before she could finish denying herself one thought a thousand more poured in.  Mai got angry and tossed again.  She thought it was stupid that whenever she thought about Joey she couldn’t keep him out of her mind.  Back in the Grand Championship she even thought that… but no, she decided that just couldn’t be, so…

Even with all of the thoughts racing through her head Mai’s heart at least wasn’t confused.  She sighed and curled up.

“I think I…”

But she didn’t allow herself to finish.

***

Mai was actually anxious to see how everyone had done on their tests.  School was such a big deal that she couldn’t help but wonder.  And also, it had been a couple of weeks since she’d seen anyone, so she was feeling a little… bored.

Every day Mai stared at the number Tea had given her that was posted on her fridge.  Finally today she picked up the phone.  She entered the number but wondered if she should really dial.  Did she want to get together with everyone?  It might be fun.  But on the other hand she might just have been using it as an excuse to see Joey again and she wasn’t sure how that made her feel.

But, without noticing she had pushed the dial button and heard Tea’s voice calling out on the other line.

“Oh, sorry, hi!”

“Oh, Mai!  Hi, how are you?  I haven’t seen you in a while!”

“I know,” Mai said.  “I hear you guys got your test scores.  I was wondering if you wanted to get together and do anything to celebrate.”

“Actually, I was going to bring Yugi along tonight to go do Karaoke.  Do you want to come?  I could probably convince Joey to come along if you did.”

Mai blushed and was glad she was on the phone and not in person.

“Sure, if you want to,” she said and hoped it sounded like she didn’t care.

“Alright.  I don’t think Tristan will want to come, so I’ll just ask Joey.  I’ll let you know ok?”

“Alright,” Mai said.

“See you tonight!”