Notes: For Flufftober Alt Prompt - Caught in the Rain

In canon, Mai is caught out in the rain while struggling with her PTSD and gets accosted by Valon who... I do think he meant well, but he played on her loneliness to pull her into what basically amounted to an evil cult. Here's a 'what if' Joey was able to help her deal with her trauma better, so that when Valon shows up out in the rain... Mai tells him to get lost.

The Skies Will Clear

When Joey logged onto the library computer that evening in order to check on the final results of the tournament he knew Mai had taken part of, he was relieved and proud to see she'd taken first place. Second tournament in a row she'd won since Battle City - taking place during the school week, unfortunately, which meant Joey couldn't attend, never mind go cheer Mai on - but he'd promised to call her to congratulate her after every tournament. Which meant now he needed a phone he could use. Preferably not a pay phone, though if Gramps or Tristan's family didn't let him use their phone, he'd need to. Tea's parents would never go for it. And Joey's own home was a no-go; he did not want his father making assumptions about his nearly seventeen-year-old son talking on the phone with a woman eight years older than him. His dad would totally be a creep about it and if Joey were to truthfully protest they were just friends...

There were some things that Joey just did not want to risk Mai hearing over the phone. So, Mutou residence first, which was a short walk from the library. And, thankfully, Gramps sent Joey on upstairs to use the house phone.

"Send on my congratulations too," Grandpa Mutou called after Joey. "Sounds like such a lovely young woman," Gramps added, more to himself than for Joey's ears.

Once upstairs, Joey fetched a glass of water first and then settled comfortably on the chair by the phone. It's a clunky old landline - though Yugi's got a cordless in his room now, Joey isn't going to use that without Yugi's permission too - and it's seen better days. But it still gets power in a power outage, like during hurricane season. And it'd probably outlive the cordless set too anyway.

Joey has to take a minute to fish out his day planner notebook with Mai's cell phone number meticulously printed in the back and then input it carefully into the old phone. It rings a few times and, just as Joey's afraid it'll go to voicemail, Mai answers.

She sounded tired. And not nearly as happy as a tournament winner ought to. Joey wished he could see her through the line and get an idea of what was going on just by looking at her.

Still, he tried to send some of his cheerful energy her way as he greeted her. "Hey, Mai. It's Joey. I saw you had another tournament in the bag today. Just like I knew you would."

"Yeah, it... wasn't even a stretch of my skills, really."

"Well, I still wish I could have been there to see you kick all their butts," Joey told her, sincerely. Unfortunately, all he gets from Mai is silence. "Is something wrong?" he finally asked. "You just seem... kinda down."

"It's nothing," Mai demurred. "Just tired from a long day of dueling."

"Right," Joey drawled. And then, hesitantly, he offered, "I've been having nightmares too."

There is absolute silence on the other side of the phone again.

"And I'm probably spending way too much time on what ifs and whatever. Just. If I hadn't been an ass and just told you you were in my dream with everyone else, then at least you wouldn't have gone into that duel thinking the rest of us didn't care about you." He'd been thinking only of himself at the time and he knows it wouldn't have stopped Marik from cheating, but maybe the duel would have gone better for Mai if she hadn't felt the need to wall herself off from the rest of them.

"Why did you do that, anyway?" Mai asked.

And then it's Joey's turn to be embarrassed and quiet. "I..." he finally said, hesitatingly. Looked around, but Yugi was still out and Gramps was still downstairs. "You can't tell anyone this, it's not really something I'm all that ready to talk about. Okay?"

"Uh... sure, Joey." Mai sounded confused now.

"If I had said that you were in the dream too, Tristan and Duke would have assumed I have a crush on you. Which I don't. I mean... I wish I did. You're gorgeous and fun to hang out with and Serenity adores you. But I... I'm, uh..." Joey's voice shook a little. "I'm pretty sure I'm gay. And I just... I didn't want to deal with them teasing me about liking you all during the next duel and wound up being an insensitive jerk instead."

"Oh, Joey." Mai's voice softened. "Your friends will stand by you when you tell them, you know."

"Yeah. It's just... I only figured it out recently and I'm still... it's unsafe enough being my drunk dad's straight son. If he knew I like guys and not girls..." Joey sighed. "It wouldn't be pretty."

"Do Yugi and the others know how bad things are with your dad? What about your mom?"

Joey shrugged. "I don't like talking about it. And mom's the one who left me there and didn't want me around Serenity for years. I'm almost seventeen, so it's not like I'll be stuck there much longer."

"If there's ever anything i can do to help, let me know."

"Thanks, Mai." Joey felt relief thrum through him at finally having told someone. And Mai still wanted to be his friend. One down... four to go.


"You're right," Mai admitted quietly, curled up on the bed in her hotel room, cell phone pressed to her ear as she listened to the rain begin outside. Pattering against the window hard.

Good thing Joey called, otherwise she might have been out there when the weather turned.

"I've been having nightmares about what Marik did to me." She tugged at her covers. "The duel itself was bad enough, losing my memories of you and the others one by one... unable to even recognize any of you standing there beside the dueling platform. I could barely even hear your voices." Mai shuddered. "What ever it was Yugi did partway through the duel helped. And your voice finally broke through it all..." she sighed. "But then Marik dragged my mind back into the Shadow Realm and stole my memories all over again." And then she'd been trapped, watching the people she considered her friends having fun without her until, one by one, they disappeared from her memories. She knew, rationally, that they'd been by her side the whole time... but the memory of it all still hurt.

"I tried to beat Marik myself," Joey told her. "Didn't really go so well for me."

"Yeah?" Mai reached for the soda on the nightstand beside her, draining the last of the rootbeer. "I knew you dueled him but I don't think anyone's actually told me what happened."

"He connected our life forces to our monsters and then tried to drain me entirely before my life points hit zero with attacks from Ra," Joey answered. "Didn't work. I was actually about to win. Marik had no defenses left and all I had to do was play a monster and call an attack. And I can swear I still remember doing that. I still remember winning the duel..." Joey's voice trailed off. "But I didn't. I passed out before I could call the attack."

"He tried to kill you," Mai breathed out, feeling cold at the realization. Joey wasn't even seventeen yet and he'd almost died.

They were all too young for this sort of danger.

"What can I say? I've got more lives than a cat," Joey said, shakily. "But... yeah. He tried to kill me. Kinda glad I can bury myself in school work while my subconscious figures everything all out. But maybe in the summer I can finally meet you at a few tournaments."

Mai pursed her lips. "One of the duelists I beat today said something I can't quite get out of my head," she admitted. "I kind of feel silly being upset about it, but..." she hesitated a moment and then sighed. "They were upset losing to a nobody like me instead of someone like you or Yugi."

Joey snorted in amusement. "Sorry, but I've been in, like... two tournaments. And in between the two I got humiliated pretty badly on live TV by Duke. Copies of which are still super popular on Youtube, but if you haven't seen it I beg you not to watch it, Mai."

Despite herself, a small smile started to curl on her lips and Mai was glad Joey couldn't see it over the phone. "What's your point, Wheeler?"

"I'm still a pretty gifted novice compared to a duelist like you. If that guy was whining about losing to someone with as much experience and skill as you, with a track record of placing in the top four in sixty percent of all the tournaments you've been in and rarely ever lower than top eight outside of that? Dude doesn't actually follow tournament news. If he did, he'd know I'm the nobody of the two of us and you're the one it was an honor for him to have the chance to duel," Joey told her. "He can't know the first thing about the dueling circuit if he doesn't know who you are."

Warmth bubbled in her chest. Maybe Joey was just saying that to make her feel better, but it was working. And very sweet of him. "Where's that vaunted self confidence of yours from when you're dueling?" Mai teased.

"Another secret. I'm a practitioner of fake it until you make it self confidence," Joey told her solemnly. "I know I'm good. But two tournaments does not a famous duelist make."

"Well, you will be one day. And, certainly, you're a duelist to watch closely. You're going places, Joey Wheeler."

"And I'm glad I've got a friend already there waiting for me to catch up."

That boy. Mai shook her head and smiled. Maybe she'd introduce him to a few of the duelists she knew who were out and gay over the summer. Show Joey what his life could look like once he got away from that dad of his and felt safe enough to come out to more than just Mai.

"There's a tournament a few hours away from Domino City not too long after your summer vacation starts. Let's make plans to meet up there."

"Alright, that sounds awesome!"


After flipping through the hotel's room service menu, Mai decided the food was too ridiculously over priced for her to justify with the rain letting up. There was a little pizza place down the block. So she grabbed her raincoat, purse, room key, and umbrella before heading on out.

She didn't make it very far, however, when some guy with a rather distinctive accent - Australian? - tried to waylay her in the rain. But she brushed him off and kept going.

The rain was letting up and the skies would clear soon enough. She wasn't about to get caught in the rain for some weirdo spouting nonsense. Not when she had the support of her dear friends. No matter the distance between them, she knew they'd be there for her when she really needed them.

All she had to do was ask.