*rubs hands together gleefully* This chapter is one of the main reasons I wanted to write this thing. I've been dying for ages to write something like this and I finally got the excuse to :D
Set post-series and it follows the timeline established by TGTTOS and "Welcome Back."
Jounouchi groaned as the sound of the phone cut through the really nice dream he was having, reaching for it blindly as he woke up and hoping his dad had not heard it; his father had mellowed out over the years, but that did not mean that he was going to win any "Mister Nice Guy" awards. He glanced at the clock with a scowl, noting the time—he did not care if it was the King of Games himself, whoever was on the phone was a dead man walking.
He answered it grumpily with a stifled yawn and an annoyed, "What?"
"…Jounouchi?"
The voice on the other end was small and scared sounding, but it was more than enough to wake him up entirely and he inwardly cursed at the way he had answered the phone. "Mai? What's wrong?" he asked, noting the tension he could practically feel through the phone. "You okay?"
There was a brief amount of hesitation. "…It's…it's nothing. I'm sorry I woke you up," she said at last brusquely, causing Jounouchi's eyebrows to furrow in consternation. "I'll see you later."
Before he could protest there was a click on the other end of the line and Jounouchi was left staring at his cell phone.
Mai set her cell phone down shakily, her hands trembling as she lifted them up from the device.
She had honestly thought that the nightmares had gone away when she had returned to Domino; she had not gotten one since she had met with Vivian and she had not experienced them since she had seen Jounouchi. She had dared to hope that they were gone for good.
Clearly not, she thought to herself with a scowl as she went into the kitchen to brew herself some of the tea Vivian had given to her (the Chinese woman was quite the expert on the beverage, and this particular tea acted as a relaxant to her severely frayed nerves). She should have known that the nightmares would not subside just like that.
Calling Jounouchi had been a bad idea. What was he supposed to do for her? He couldn't stop the nightmares from happening, and there was no way she was going to inflict her problems on him to deal with.
But this nightmare had involved him. None of the nightmares she ever had involved directly caused harm to Jounouchi, and in this dream…she shuddered, blocking out the mental images that were already beginning to resurface. In this dream, Jounouchi had been…he had been…oh, how silly could she be? Jounouchi was not dead and would not be for (hopefully) a while—her call to him had confirmed that.
So why was it that, ten minutes later, her hands were still trembling and she could still feel tear tracks on her face?
A knock on her door fifteen minutes later completely startled her out of her thoughts before she grimaced. She knew that was a neighbor, probably here to see what she had been screaming about; Mai's nightmares often resulted in her shrieking and sobbing and she was aware that most people became annoyed by it.
What she was not expecting when she opened the door was Jounouchi standing there, brown eyes concerned as he gasped for breath; he had obviously run here, judging by that flush on his face.
"Jounouchi, what…what are you doing here?" she asked, completely flustered as he slipped by her and into the apartment. She shut the door behind him and looked at him incredulously. "Have you even looked at the clock?"
"I have. You can't call me at one in the mornin' and tell me five seconds later that there's nothing wrong," he said bluntly, fixing her with a stern glare. "And you've been crying too, don't tell me you haven't," he continued firmly, his eyes never leaving hers. "You can't tell me that you're perfectly fine."
Mai stared at him wordlessly, still thrown off by the fact that he had shown up at her doorstep.
"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't come to see what was wrong?" his voice gentle and his eyes softening as he watched her. "All you have to do is call me. I don't care how early it is or where you are…heck, you don't even have to tell me what's wrong. I'll be there as fast as I can. That's what friends do—we back each other up."
Mai felt something hot sting her eyes and she looked away then, rubbing at them. She was mortified to discover that she was crying again, and hastily blinked the tears back before Jounouchi saw them. "I'm making tea and I'm also planning on watching a movie in a little bit," she said thickly, already returning to the kitchen. "I can't sleep."
Jounouchi understood the silent invitation that she was offering and grinned. "I can't sleep either, not to mention that I am hungry. I think I'll stick around," he stated off-handedly.
"You're always hungry," she said exasperatedly, inwardly relieved he was staying. The nightmare was already fading away while he was here, and she could barely remember anything of it now. "Any movie preferences?"
Jounouchi made a face. "Nothin' with Magnum or the occult," he said. "I can handle a lot of things, but not those."
"You really think I would keep any Jean Claude Magnum movies after what happened in Battle City?" she asked, affronted. "In case you forgot, he kidnapped me and nearly killed me by accident."
"And he indirectly gave me a concussion," Jounouchi muttered, rubbing his head.
Mai waited until his attention went to the movie shelf before her eyes softened and she allowed herself a fond smile. Jounouchi might be a bit of an idiot, but when it mattered he was almost immediately there to support those who needed him, and that was why Mai still saw him as the first friend she had ever made.
…On another note, Mai would never admit aloud that she found Jounouchi to be one very comfortable pillow when she finally dozed off halfway through the movie. That would boost his ego to insufferable heights.
