Disclaimer: Me know own YGO, plain and simple....

A/N: This chapter starts off with Mai and Joey, but will end with Yami and Tea *hopefully* together.

Chapter 13: Do you feel the same way?

This was it...

As Mai stared at her blonde-haired crush, her lips started to tremble because they knew that they were about to touch something that she had deprived them of. She had taken a fancy to Joey since their duel back in Duelist Kingdom, but she had been used so many times by men that she couldn't find it in herself to actually admit that she loved him. That's when his accident occurred. It opened her eyes to realize that Joey was the one she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Through good and bad, Joey stood by her side like any other true friend would. So, could she cross their strong friendship bond to fulfill her own desires?

Mai frowned at the thought of ruining a perfectly stable friendship because of a stupid crush. Wait, was it just a crush? Though she was young, Mai knew love like the back of her palm, but would she take the chance to find out that Joey just wanted her as a best friend? She wouldn't be able to look at Joey the same way again, knowing that he didn't want her like that. It would be too uncomfortable to bear. Could she......

"Hey, Mai, is it Christmas already?"

No, she wouldn't let an opportunity like this pass her by. It was now or never and Mai chose now. She didn't live a life of regrets, so why would she whimper out when she was ahead in the duel? She took a deep breath and stepped forward nervously.

Slowly, but surely, their lips met and the feeling was unexplainable. Joey, being the victim of Mai's stratagem, didn't know what was going on until Mai's warm hands around his neck woke up his senses. Realizing that Mai was kissing him, Joey wasn't going to waste an opportunity to show her how he felt about her. He kissed her back lovingly and brought his hand to her cheek. Mai only brought him closer until she realized that they both had to breathe at some point. She slowly slid out of his embrace and their lips parted.

"Joey, I-"

Joey shook his head and met her lips again. He then left a trail of butterfly kisses from her lips all the way to her ear. His breath against her ear frightened, but thrilled Mai at the same time. She knew he was grinning when he whispered, "I know, Mai. I love you too..."

"What?" Mai pulled away hastily, ruining their romantic moment. "How did you know I was going to say that?"

Joey titled his head, confused by her actions. "You kissed me, didn't you?"

"Still, I could of-"

"Does it matter?" Joey said as he pulled her toward him again. "Let's not think about that right now."

"Was I that obvious?" Mai groaned.

"No, not until the accident." Joey confessed. "I actually didn't know you cared about me until I was in the hospital bed and you said that 'you needed me.' It really opened my eyes to realize that my love was returned. I meant what I said back there. You were the only thing I thought about when I was in that car."

Mai beamed. "You really know how to make a girl feel special."

She wrapped her arms around his waist and put her head on his chest. "I love you, Joey."

"Me too." He whispered as they watched the stars continue to shine in the night sky.

~Meanwhile~

"Do you think Joey liked our party?"

Yami put his hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders. "He seemed content."

"Hmm..." Tea mumbled as they crossed the street. "I hope so."

Yami could sense Tea's doubt, but he was too caught up in his own thoughts to say anything. It wasn't like he didn't care, he was just pondering about Tea's behavior at the party. There was so many mixed signals given that he couldn't just shut the door on what had happened with Duke. He needed to know if she had feelings for him.

"Something wrong?"

Yami shook his head and was about to say something when a drop of rain hit his cheek. "I stand corrected."

"They need to stop paying weather forecasters." Tea proclaimed with a dignified tone. "They can never give us a decent forecast."

Yami chuckled while watching Tea pull off her sweatshirt to us it as an umbrella for herself. "I take it you don't like the rain..."

"No," Tea shook her head, "I just don't like getting wet."

"Why? Are you going to melt?"

Tea gave him a fixed stare. "You're hilarious."

"Why, thank you." Yami smiled as the rain grew heavier. "You know, it won't hurt you."

"Say that two days from now when you have a cold." Tea said as she pulled the sweatshirt tighter to her head.

"I'll manage." Yami said as a few droplets ran down his face.

"Come on, Yami," Tea said as they crossed another street, "walk a little faster."

"Hey, don't rush my shower. It's the only one I'll have for a couple of weeks."

"Men." Tea said arrogantly.

"Women." Yami said mockingly.

"At least we don't bathe in the rain." Tea criticized, enhancing her walking speed.

Yami shrugged his shoulders. "At least we're not scared of getting a little wet."

Tea stopped and looked at him. "A little? This isn't a little!"

He only smiled and continued to walk.

"Fine," Tea pulled off her sweatshirt carefully, "happy?"

"I would be," he coughed, "if it was actually raining at the moment."

Tea blushed once she noticed that the rain had slightly diminished. "Oh well...."

"You planned that, didn't you?" He folded his arms.

"No...." She uttered with a sarcastic tone.

Yami turned to her and said, "you need to start living."

"You need to start thinking rationally." Tea retorted.

His gaze fell upon her. "Thinking isn't rational."

Tea challenged his stare. "You mean your line of thinking isn't rational, right?"

Yami pretended to ignore what she said by tilting his head toward the sky dreamily. Tea gazed at him and noticed that he was soaked head-to-toe from the rain that he was so willing to shower in. She knew he was freezing when she asked him, "aren't you cold?" After getting only a negative head shake from Yami, she pulled her sweatshirt around his shoulders. He looked at her, confused by her actions. She ran a hand through her hair while saying, "you don't have to be a big-shot around me..."

"Actually," Yami smiled cooly, "I was waiting for you to warm me up."

Tea cocked an eyebrow up and said, "really? Well, today isn't your day and tomorrow isn't looking good either."

"Can you fit next week?" He asked as she pushed him playfully.

This push, however, caught Yami off guard and he fell onto the concrete in fits of laughter, ironically. Tea joined him on the floor and asked, "this really doesn't seem like your day, huh?" before laughing at their current state. As they laughed to the point of tears, Yami slowly ceased his chuckles to stare at Tea warily. Ra, he loved the way she laughed. It was the one thing that brought a smile to his face.

"I can't even breathe...." She muttered while holding her chest.

"Do you need an inhaler?"

She coughed and shook her head to decline. "I'll live."

"Good, I didn't have one anyway...." Yami said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

She laughed. "I think we're having way too much fun out here in the rain."

"Well...."

"YAMI!"

Yami evaded Tea's glare and proclaimed, "I wasn't thinking any bad thoughts..."

"What were you thinking about then?" Tea asked curiously.

Yami's eyes shifted upon Tea, who had seemed closer to him than before. "Nothing rational...."

"I don't want to know then," she brought herself to her feet.

"Why?" He stood up as well, "afraid you might like it?"

"Yeah, that's definitely it." Tea proclaimed as his smile brightened the street.

They walked to the edge of the curb, where they were greeted by cars making their way across the intersection. As they waited for the light to turn red for the cars to stop, Yami turned to Tea and asked, "hey Tea, why did the chicken cross the road?" with a slight German accent.

She dared to answer. "Why?"

Still in his German accent, Yami responded, "because I threw him..."

"You're really something...." She said as the traffic light turned red.

"Something good, I hope."

She laughed and nodded. "Of course, King of Games."

"Hmmm, wait," Yami looked at her suspiciously, "did I sense sarcasm?"

She laughed and walked ahead of him. "No, your mind must be playing tricks on you..."

"Or just some blue-eyed brunette," he whispered as he followed her.

Before silence could engulf them, Tea sighed and said softly, "Yami, I forgot to thank you for what you did back there."

"With Duke?"

Tea shuddered. "Yes, with he-who-must-not-be-named."

Yami laughed, but regained his composure to say, "it was nothing. You're my....friend."

'Friend?'

It seemed that neither of them found that word to suit their current relations with one another.

"Tea," Yami took on a more serious gaze, "I've been wanting to ask you something..."

"What is it?" She asked confidently, although afraid of what he was going to say.

Yami took in a deep breath and looked at her.

"When we were arguing with Duke and I asked you to pretend to be my girlfriend.......were you?"

Tea was slightly taken back by his question. "That's what you wanted me to do, right?"

Tea's answer produced a blow to Yami's heart. He had thought all along that Tea's tone before meant that she actually cared for him, but his hopefulness was blinding him from the unbearable truth. She didn't want him like that. Why did love make you so vulnerable?

"R-right..." He stuttered horribly. "That was a stupid question."

"Yami..." Tea breathed softly as he walked ahead of her. She couldn't understand why she responded to his question like so. After all, it was an honest inquiry that should have been answered with an honest response. As she dug deeper and deeper in her thoughts, Tea realized that if she gave him the answer he wanted, he would have known that she actually liked him like that. But, isn't that what she wanted?

Judging from Yami's reaction to her response, it was probably what he wanted too. Wait, that meant that he........

"Yami!" Her eyes lit up.

He turned around. "I didn't do anything this time!"

She admired his humor, though she knew he was hiding his true feelings.

"No, you didn't..."

Yami smiled weakly and asked, "why did you call me?"

"You were right," she looked at him and stepped forward. "I....wasn't pretending."

Yami stood there, speechless.

"I started off pretending, but then.....then the words....came naturally." Tea stopped, unsure if she wanted to continue. She inhaled deeply and decided to tell all. "It was like I wanted to be your girlfriend more than anything...back there..."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Yami breathed softly as he touched her arm.

"After Duke and I broke up, there was never a day where I didn't think about him." She sighed and continued, "when I started falling for you, I started thinking about my failed relationship with Duke. But, when we confronted Duke together, I realized how dumb it was to make a comparison between you and Duke. You're nothing like Duke."

"Which is a good thing..." He interrupted, which made Tea laugh.

"Let's not go there."

After sharing a laugh, Yami cleared his throat to ask softly, "so...umm....what now?"

"I don't know," she wrapped her arms around his neck. "What now?"

That's when it started to rain again. "That answers my question..."

She smiled and leaned forward so that their noses were touching. "So...are we official?"

"I don't know," he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Would you be my girlfriend?"

"Wow...I have a strange urge to sing a N'Sync song.."

He laughed as she continued, "I'd love to be your girlfriend."

"Since that's settled," he slowly closed the gap between them, "let's make it official...."

Seeking no answer, Yami tilted his head to capture Tea's lips, which obeyed to every command under his rule. While their lips were at work, their hands explored each other's bodies for warmth under the cloud of rain that had failed to disrupt their romantic moment. As they brought their kiss to a close to end another chapter to their romance novel, both knew that there would be new volumes to write.

"That was nice," he said softly as she smiled. "Again?"

Her giggles were muffled as they brushed lips once again.

"Hmmm...I can get used to this."

"Me too," she agreed as her thumb traced his lips.

He grasped her hand and whispered, "I love you, Tea Gardner."

"I love you, Yami Motou."

~Meanwhile~

His whole world was falling apart. Even the rain couldn't wash away the many troubles that were placed on his shoulders. As he sat on the bench in front of his profitable shop, he couldn't help but notice a pair of legs standing before him.

"Would you like to talk?"

He looked up to see a beautiful woman with green eyes stare back at him.

"I know you may not know me, but I recognize you from school." She paused to sit down next to him. "You seem troubled..."

"Troubled is not the word."

"Well, people say that I'm very good with helping people out with their problems....maybe I can help you."

"Highly unlikely." He whispered as she bit her lip.

"Alright then, I understand that you want to be left alone."

She stood up, but he touched her arm. "Wait, please stay."

"Granted," she said as she sat back down.

"First off," he looked at her. "what's your name, stranger?"

"Serenity Wheeler." She put her hand out.

He grasped it. "Duke Devlin."

~End~

Ironic, huh? Well, I think they both deserved a happy ending. *smiles* Thanks for reading this story and I hope to write another story that rivals this one.

Jelly