If you're waiting for something to start between Mai and Joey, just keep reading, and I'm not gonna say anymore.

They got back to their room loaded with food. After much debate between McDonalds and Turkish, he'd gotten both, with plenty of food in each. Mai had quite happily settled for a kebab and a samosa, and was wondering who would end up finishing first-Joey most likely.

Joey glanced at the clock and frowned. 'What's the date today?'

Mai gestured to the calendar, Joey glanced at it, then leapt across to the tv. Mai blinked in surprise as he began frantically flicking through the channels. 'Hah!' Joey had found what he was looking for. He flopped back on the couch in time for Mai to see two duelists take their positions on either side of a field in a large stadium.

'Of course, district tournaments finished last week; regional championships are starting.' Mai sat down next to Joey and began to unwrap her food.

'And we're not too late. Look!' Joey gestured to the tv with a hamburger he'd just unwrapped in his hand. 'Serenity gave me the times when I asked.'

One of the duelists Mai knew only by hearsay; he was relatively good, but no match for his opponent. 'Yugi,' Mai smiled and sat back. 'Perfect timing by us then.'

'Yup,' Joey sank into the couch with a grin. 'Let's see him kick some butt!'

Mai watched the duel carefully as she ate; she had barely seen Yugi duel since Battle City, and only once in person; during her duel with Joey in Industrial Illusions headquarters. She had watched a few of the most important duels of Yugi and Joey over the past year-but she stopped after they gave her bad dreams-well, some were bad, others could be called good, but the happy ones made her feel so desolate when she came out of them-instead she occasionally watched them on the news, or even more rarely, watched the highlights of the duels. But even with wanting to study the differences in Yugi's dueling style, she wasn't watching Yugi as close as she wanted too; being so close to Joey was distracting her. Every time one of them moved, generally, they brushed each other, and Mai's skin tingled wherever they touched, and she felt on edge the rest of the time. All in all, she only got the gist of the duel.

Yugi won, of course, no surprises there. But she hadn't really been paying attention to how. She'd seen the final move, combining Dark Magician and Dark Magician girl through Dark Magic curtain, but she didn't have a clue how he'd got to that position.

'Alright Yuge!' Joey pumped his fists into the air as Yugi delivered the final blow. 'I'll give him a call later; since that was live, he won't be free for a while yet.'

Mai set her empty plate on the table, and watched the camera pan out and saw Tristan and Tea there delivering congratulations to Yugi. 'So Tea's in Domino now?'

'For a few weeks, then Yugi's flying back with her to New York; he's got a project to work on with Professor Hawkins in San Francisco, so he'll spend a few days with Tea, fly through to San Francisco for about a month, then stay with Tea until she's coming back to Domino a month after that. They'll be back a few weeks before the world tournament. Speaking of which, are you going this time? You haven't been to the last couple.'

Mai smiled. 'Well, I wanted to avoid you guys for awhile, so of course I stayed away, but since there's no reason for me to keep avoiding you, looks like I'm going.'

'Awesome! You can see me kick Kaiba's sorry butt!'

'As far as I'm aware; you've yet to so that.'

'Well, all my friends are gonna be there for the first time since Battle City; I can't lose!'

Mai smiled. 'Joey...'

'What?' he frowned as she trailed off.

'This is a different topic, but are you sure it's okay for me and Viv to stay with you for a couple of months? I could just rent a place in Domino for awhile.'

Joey blinked in surprise. 'You'd come anyway?'

'I figure I've got a lot of unfinished business to take care of.'

'That's great! I mean...that you want to come back for...that...um...never mind.' Joey blushed as Mai blinked at his stutterings. 'But it's no problem for you to stay with me. What are friends for?'

'Thanks Joey.' She was about to apologise again, but remembered she'd promised not to.

Joey saw the words forming on the tip of her tongue. 'Don't even think about saying you haven't been a good friend.'

Mai looked away. 'You know me too well.'

'How can someone know someone else too well? I'm still finding things out about Yugi, even after all the time I've known him. Heck, I'm still finding things out about myself...or do you mean I know you better than you'd like me too?'

Mai grimaced. 'It's a knee-jerk reaction; I'm still worried about letting people get too close. The only person I have let is, well, Viv. You...I didn't let or want you to know me or become close to me, but you did anyway.'

'Things don't always have to make sense.'

'Tell me about it! I've been trying to make sense of you for the past three years. I haven't even got close yet.'

Joey grinned. 'I'm not that complicated a guy.'

'I'm not so sure you're not. You keep changing on me, every time I think I have you figured.'

'You said that in Duelist Kingdom too.'

'You're right, I did...I didn't expect you to have your sister behind your drive to get to the top, the thought just never occurred to me that you could be fighting for someone other than yourself. Then Battle City...you were ashamed Serenity had seen you hurt your best friend, even though it wasn't your fault.'

'Is that why you yelled at me? Because you thought I was taking the blame for something I supposedly had nothing to do with?'

'Pretty much.'

'But I could have broken free earlier, and then...'

'Really? Marik's strong, few people know that better than you and me. And what your sister saw? She saw you being a hero. And you still were ashamed she was there?'

'She shouldn't have heard-'

'Bollocks. She heard and saw who you really were Joey, and she knows you were possessed.'

'Yeah, well...'

'In the finals, you didn't have to jump between me and Ra.'

'I'd lied to you about not being in that dream, and gave you the impression you weren't important to me, I-'

'No, you didn't have to. Telling me that wouldn't have made much difference overall-'

'I think it would-'

'Whatever,' Mai cut him off again. 'It doesn't matter now; the point is, no one forced you to save me, but you did. And in California; a small mistake in Battle City doesn't qualify for that much repayment.'

'I should have checked to make sure you were alright; it was the shadow realm you'd been in after all.'

'So what? Joey, you're not perfect. You can't save everyone, and you can't save me every time I fall. I needed to learn to climb out of that hole I fell into myself. These last few days...'

'Oh no, don't say you want me to go.'

'I wouldn't dream of it. I'm going back to Domino with you remember? But these last few days you've helped me so much. And again, you didn't have to, but you did.'

'You're important to me Mai,' Joey blushed. 'I should have told you that before.'

'You shouldn't nothing. I've made plenty more mistakes than you and yet you're the one who seems to be apologising tonight-still.'

'Alright, alright,' Joey threw up his arms in surrender.

Mai gave him a funny look. 'Would it have been so hard to tell me I was important to you? As a friend.'

Joey went scarlet. 'Well, I thought of you as more than...more than a friend.'

Mai smiled, 'I know you had a crush on me in Battle City. Was that part of the reason you saved my life in California?'

'A crush?' Joey shook his head. 'God Mai, perhaps it started off as a crush in Duelist Kingdom, but I realised I'd fallen in love with you when you were trapped against that stone.'

Mai froze. 'And now?'

'What do you think? I don't love idly, and it hasn't gone away one single iota, though goodness knows I've tried.'

Heh heh, yes I know, cliffhanger. I seem to like leaving things hanging, and that's also how it worked chapter-wise. So, stay tuned; I will update next week, and please review!