Have I Done This Before?
Disclaimer: I don't own YGO. Hurrah. Wait... no. Wait. Wait. Wait. No. Wait! No. Sorry, that was random.
D/N: I got hit in the nose the other day... Well, no not really, but you know what I mean. And if you don't, choke on a frog, I'm done talking to you. Wow... am I hyper right now or what? And not hyper "eehehehhehheh omg a frog just like totally spat on the gingerbread cookie I pulled from my shoe ehehehhehehhe" hyper, but I mean like, "Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude..." hyper. So... I guess the proper term is, I feel so drunk and/or stoned right now. Well, not really. But I'm assuming that if I were drunk and/or stoned, then I would be feeling a much stronger verison of this, but you know what I mean. And if not, re-read the first sentence of this little blurb. Hahaha... blurb... duuuuuuuuuuude...
Random Review Responses:
BoxerBitch: Your name rocks. Thanks for the review, and I'm glad you liked the first chapter!
anonymous Jewel: Yes, I haven't written in a long time... Wow, you really think it was worth the wait? O.o My friends keep telling me that I got their hopes up by thinking I'd stopped writing and spared the world a great deal of pain and torment. Ha! I showed them...
Sakurelle: :D Here's your update! Thanks for R&Ring!
Honeychild: Thanks for R&Ring, I appreciate it:D
precious tears: :D I love Mai and Joey stories too! There really aren't enough good ones out there, really... Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing!
Pairings: Joey/Mai, whoever else I think of in the sidelines.
P.O.V: Third Person
Summary: It's Valentine's Day, and Joey's got his eyes set on Mai. Unfortunately, she's completely out of his league, and Joey will never be able to convince that diva prom queen to consent to a last minute date. Besides, she's probably already got twenty other guys lined up. But Joey doesn't quit easily, and although he's only got one day, he's stuck trying over and over. And until he can figure out a way to get out of this strange time loop, he'll be trying till the end of eternity.
Legend:
OooOOOooO - section break/new scene
- - - - - The next/same day, depending on your P.O.V
blah de blah be blah - thinking/responses over the phone/radio, use your thinker to tell them apart
OooOOOooO(ehehehe... blurb...)
"Hey, Mai! Mai!" Joey called out to her at the end of the day. He ran across the schoolyard to the parking lot, just catching up to her before she got into her car. She looked up at him, lowering her sunglasses a bit so she could per at him just over the lenses. Struggling to not be out of breath - all that eating got you a bit out of condition, he noticed - he smiled at her. "Uh... so... what's up?"
Mai smiled, her hand still on the open car door. "Hey, Joey." She replied, fidgeting a little bit. "Uh... I wanted to ask you something..."
'Girls can ask guys out to dates? I never knew that!' Joey thought to himself, trying to remain as unexcited as possible. He failed miserably, as a huge grin blossomed onto his face. "Yes?"
Mai looked down at her hand, watching her fingers begin to drum nervously on the door. "Well... uh... what... what did you want to ask me earlier? At the beginning of class?" She looked back up at him, concern and worry crossing her face.
Joey nodded, as he steadied himself, quickly thinking up all the places he could take her on his somewhat limited budget. "Well, I wanted to know... if you didn't already have a date for today-"
"I knew you were going to ask me that!" Mai interrupted. "I just knew it!"
Joey grinned wider at the words, but then suddenly noticed that her face bore a frown - not exactly the expression he wanted to see at the moment.
"If only you'd asked me sooner." Mai went on, shaking her head in despair. Joey's eyes widened a bit, but he said nothing. "Listen... I was kind of hoping you and I could go out later, but I have a rule, you know. First come, first serve... and... well..." She trailed off, looking away again.
"Oh." Joey simply said, looking down at her hand as well, which was keeping up its steady drumming. "Well... alright then. Maybe... some other time?"
"Of course!" Mai exclaimed, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, as if she desperately wanted to make up it up to him for having to blow him off. It was the same tone used by doctors' when telling their patients they had a week to live but could get a free, exotic cruise for their last few moments. "I'm always up for another time."
Joey nodded, feeling more and more awkward as the time passed. "So... who... uh... who asked you?" Joey said, rubbing the back of his head. "Just out of curiosity."
Mai didn't raise her eyes. "Josh."
"Captain of the football team." Joey nodded, wincing and pursing his lips. "Naturally. How can I compete with that?"
Mai did look at him now. "Don't try using that tone with me! It's not like this is my fault! Would it have killed you to get off you butt and ask me earlier? This is your fault for taking so long!"
Joey shrugged. "You shouldn't have accepted if you knew I was going to ask you anyway." He replied, in as much indifference as he could muster.
"I wasn't sure if you were." Mai muttered. "You might have been asking for someone else."
"Right. Whatever." Joey's words and tone only succeeded in further agitating the blonde woman.
Her eyes became full of anger and snap, as she opened her mouth to reply. Fortunately - or unfortunately, however you may see it - a burly, tall and muscular brunette came striding up. He was wearing simply jeans, a yellow shirt, and a football jacket with the words 'Domino Football' inscribed on the back. The two turned to look at him, as he rudely jumped into the car via the roof or lack thereof, and leaned back in the chair.
"Ready to go, babe?" He drawled, a wad of gum in his mouth as he put his arm on Mai's headrest so she would have to lean on it when she sat down.
Mai continued to look at Joey, her eyes still harsh and cold, as she replied, "Of course, Josh." She then flicked her head to the side to leave Joey's gaze, as she sat down and started up the engine. As she pulled out, she called to Joey, "And you can forget about any other time you had in mind, Joseph!" Then she sped off, giggling at something 'incredibly witty' that Josh had said.
Joey stood there on the edge of the parking lot.
"Well, damn."
OooOOOooO"... And then she drove off with that idiot." Joey finished, lying face-up on his bed, one arm tucked behind his head and the other holding the phone to his ear.
"Well, she was kind of right in the sense of waiting till the last minute." Yugi replied on the other side. "I mean, if you had asked her a few days before, not only would you have gotten a yes and time to prepare for a big dinner thing, but you'd have gotten the satisfaction of beating Josh to her."
"That idiot always waits until the last minute to ask her out, and he always gets to go out with her." Joey growled. "The one time I sort of accidentally on purpose decide to wait for a while to ask her, I get screwed up by that stupid teacher of ours."
"What's Mrs. Takria got to do with anything?" Yugi asked.
"Yugi, will you open your eyes?" Joey snapped. "The only reason I couldn't ask Mai out is because she decided to walk into the classroom!"
"Wow... a teacher walked into her classroom as the bell rung... That totally goes against the laws of nature in all its glory." Yugi responded sarcastically, reminding Joey once again that Yugi had been spending too much time with the Yamis. "Joey, the only reason you missed out on asking Mai is because you were too afraid of having her say no. That fear blinded you to the point that you missed your opportunity."
"Yugi, you're repeating the stuff I already told you." Joey rolled his eyes. "I admitted to you I was freaked out. Now do you have anything good to say or am I going to have to call Tea so she'll give me a moralising pep talk?"
"You won't be able to. She's still really offended by the fact that you threw her card down on the ground." Yugi said. "Look, Joey, I have to go, alright? Grandpa's suddenly not feeling well... he threw up all over the stairs a moment ago, so now I have to clean it up before it really starts to smell."
"Wow, looks like you're all set for an awesome evening." Joey yawned. "Alright then. I'm off. Good night, Yug'."
"Good night, Joey. And I'm really sorry about Mai." Then a click as the conversation was ended.
Joey looked at his cordless for a moment before shutting it off and plopping it down on his night table. He was living with his mom now (1) and was now simply staring up at the ceiling of his room. He glanced quickly at his watch. "10:32... I'm surprised Gramps even let Yugi answer the phone that late. It's way past his curfew." He chuckled at this softly, then thought for a moment.
"Too late to call Tristan... Duke's probably still on his date or... inside it... ew... Tea's mad at me, Serenity's asleep, Ryou's asleep, Bakura's probably awake, but he's evil, and everyone else really isn't worth talking to right now." Joey sighed, as he stripped off (2) his heavier clothes and slid under his covers.
"Today was... crap." Joey muttered, as he began to drift off to sleep. "Stupid... naked baby... friggin' cherub... idiot... god of... love..." Finally, as his eyelids slid shut, he yawned out, "What the hell did I ever do to you, Cupid?"
OooOOOooO"You're an idiot." The so-called stupid, naked baby sighed. "You let her get away, you moron. Can't you do anything right?" There was silence, of course. "No, you can't. Not the first time around, anyway. But you'll learn. Wings be damned, this is one friggin' cherub who isn't going to give up on someone with this much potential."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
"... And tell you time and time again... how much I care..." The song flowed out from his radio alarm, as Joey's eyes creaked open, as he let out his first word of the day, spoken with the true intelligence of any average man.
"Blurb..." (3)
"... Hello... I've just got to let you know..."
"I hate that song..." Joey muttered, as he buried his face deeper into the pillow. "Idiots played that song yesterday."
"... And I wonder what you'd do... Are you somewhere feeling lonely... or is someone loving you?"
Joey finally let out another 'grunt o'smarts' as he flipped onto his back and hefted himself up. "Gotta get up... Gotta go to school... blah, school... Who needs it? I'm smart enough already..."
"... but let me start by saying... I love you." (4)
"'I love you' is highly overrated, my friend." Joey yawned, getting out of his bed and walking over to the bathroom. He left the radio playing, thinking he or someone else would get sick of it sooner or later and shut it off.
"That's right, ladies and gentlemen, a perfect love song to start off another day of love. It's Valentine's Day once again, and this year, we hope that you have someone special to share it with. The weather's looking..."
Joey finally made it downstairs, as he finished brushing his hair on the way. He plopped the brush onto the side of the table, as he sat down at the table. His sister had already gotten halfway through her scrambled eggs and bacon.
"Good morning, Joey!" Serenity smiled.
"Gnuh..." Joey replied, as he plopped his face down on the table much like the way he did at school. "Gnu menning..." came the second muffled response.
"Tired, Joey?" His sister asked, patting him on the head. "You can sleep when you get back."
"Oh, darn. I'm out of eggs." Joey's mother, Diane, sighed. She turned to face her son. "Joey, you don't mind just having bacon today, do you?"
Joey sluggishly heaved his arm into the air, flashing her a thumbs up briefly before it plopped back onto the table. He said nothing, as his face was much too preoccupied with being flattened by the table top. After a moment or two of pause, he lifted his head up slightly. "You got some yesterday, though."
"What?" Diane said, looking around and pausing slightly from her tedious task of frying slices of dead pig. "No, I didn't. I wasn't able to go to the grocery store at all yesterday because that jerk Michael decided to unload a heap of work onto me. I'm staying home today to finish it."
"Whatever..." Joey murmured, as his face met with the table again. "Can I just have a sick day today?"
"Of course not." Diane replied. "Sit up. Here's your bacon." She pushed the plate in front of him as Joey began to poke at it with his finger.
Joey looked up suddenly, as he pointed at the toaster sitting on the counter. "I thought you threw that out yesterday, too."
Diane raised an eyebrow. "Why would I throw out my toaster?"
"Because it started sparking and set the toast on fire." Joey explained. No sooner had he said this than the toaster, true to his word, began sparking. "Look! Look! See?"
Diane let out a little yelp of surprise as the toast inside went up in flames. She grabbed the fire extinguisher that resided next to the fridge and sprayed it over the machine. "Well... that was... inconvenient." She shook her head. "I'm going to have to throw it out now."
Serenity looked at her older brother. "How'd you know it was going to do that?"
"Because it..." Joey trailed off momentarily. "I'm a psychic. I can see stuff from the future. Yes... that's it."
Serenity rolled her eyes. "Right. Well, just to remind you guys, I'm going to be coming home late tonight."
"Late?" Joey lazily echoed, leaning on the table as he began to pick at his food with his fork. "Why?"
"Tristan's picking me up at six." Serenity told him.
"Tristan's picking you up?" Joey repeated, his mind beginning to work a little better. "What, you're going out with him tonight again? I thought you had enough of him last night."
Serenity blinked in confusion. "Last... what? I didn't go out with him last night."
"Sure, you did." Joey nodded, nibbling on his too-dry bacon. "You came back giggling like a school girl and laughing about some... I don't know... what was it? Garbage man or someone?"
Serenity looked at him as if he was crazy. "I... think... you have that confused with something else. I didn't go out with Tristan last night. I'm going out with Tristan tonight. You know, for a Valentine's Day thing."
"Valentine's Day?" Joey raised an eyebrow.
Serenity gave Joey a withering look. "Oh, come on, Joey. Don't start changing your mind. Remember how long I had to fight with you to let me go? Don't start it up again."
"Fight? Uh... no, I wasn't planning on it." Joey replied slowly. "I'm totally cool with it. It's just... what'd you go out with Tristan last night for, then?"
"Joey, I didn't go out with Tristan last night. I'm going out with him this night." Serenity insisted. A horn honked outside. "That's my ride. I've got to get to school." She jumped up and gave Joey a quick kiss on the cheek. "Bye Joey, and don't even think about trying to get me to stay home today. I'm going out with Tristan tonight, alright? Bye mom!"
"Bye, Serenity!" Diane called out, without turning around.
"Yeah... bye..." Joey waved slightly. "Hey, mom, didn't she go out with Tristan last night?"
"Uh... what? Sorry?" Diane looked around. "No, she's going out with him this night. And anyway Joey, I'm not really paying attention right now. I've got to choose between a light beige or mahogany for a dining room for this client of mine."
"What an excruciating decision that must be." Joey rolled his eyes at his mother's back. "And I know she went out with him last night. Well, whatever. I gotta go to school. Bye."
"Yeah... bye... Beige... mahogany..." His mother murmured in the distance as he jumped out the front door with his school bag.
OooOOOooO"Well, look who finally decided to show up." Tristan grinned at Joey, as he stepped into the classroom. "Morning, sunshine." He was sitting at his desk, as Duke was sitting to the left of him with his feet on Tristan's desk.
"Stop saying that, Tristan." Joey rolled his eyes, as he plopped down - face first, of course - on his desk. "I'm s-o-o-o tired... I just want to go to sleep..."
"Or you just want to go and crawl under your bed because you don't want to admit to yourself the harsh truth that is... Joey Wheeler does not have a date! Everyone gasp!" Duke laughed. "Cheer up, Joey. Once the day's over, you can go back to doing... whatever it is you do."
"Aww, don't be mean, Duke." Tristan smiled, as he turned around to face his blonde friend. "It's not Joey's fault he's too stupid to ask Mai out."
"I did, you idiot." Joey growled.
Duke and Tristan snapped to attention. "You did?" They both exclaimed.
"Yeah... yesterday." Joey mumbled.
The other two stood in awaiting silence, until finally Tristan said, "And?"
"And?" Joey raised his head. "And what?"
"O-o-o-o-oh..." Duke and Tristan breathed out, leaning back in their chairs.
"Sorry, man." Tristan pat Joey on the head. "That's got to suck."
"So, what happened exactly?" Duke probed, as he propped his feet onto Tristan's desk.
Joey sighed, as he sat up somewhat and rested his head on his elbows. "Well, I came out and asked her, and she said Josh had already asked her. And then we got into a bit of a fight because I used a 'tone' on her, and so she said I could forget about calling her at all and drove away with that idiot, football captain." He shook his head. "I said it once, and I'll say it again - Cupid just wants to take his stupid heart arrows and jam them into my eyes a few times."
Duke shook his head in disapproval. "Joey, you're talking crazy talk again. You've run out of sane things to say again, haven't you?"
Tristan shoved Duke's feet off of his desk. Shooting Duke an angry look as Duke's feet were up in their former position once more, he turned to Joey and said, "You've got to get past this. Every year it's the same thing. 'Oh, I have no date, I have no one to be with on Valentine's day, this day is so stupid, why is it here, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah...' If you had a date, I think you'd love today."
"Yeah, yeah..." Joey rolled his eyes. "You said that yesterday."
Tristan raised an eyebrow. "Did I?"
"Yeah, and the stupidity of that comment still stands." Joey replied, plopping his face on his desk. "I didn't have a date yesterday, so we're never going to know if I'll ever like Valentine's Day."
Tristan leaned forward, resting his elbows on Joey's desk as he propped his head up. "For once, I can't agree with you, because I'm finally out of Datelessville."
"Said that yesterday, too..." Joey muttered, though the others carried on as if he had said something else.
"Wow, you've managed to pick up one girl for one night." Joey heard Duke say from his face-down-on-the-desk position. There was a moment's pause, and suddenly Joey heard a few girls giggling in the distance. "You see, if you had any sort of style whatsoever, you'd realise that that's nothing to be proud of. I can have any girl I want in this school, city or anywhere else, whether they have a date or not, so don't start flattering yourself."
"You're just jealous because you lost out on Serenity, dice-boy."
"Why, you-"
"Hey, Tristan, didn't you go out with her last night?" Joey asked, interrupting Duke who he noticed had gone red in the face.
Tristan looked somewhat surprised at that question. "Uh... no. I'm going out with her tonight."
"And if anything goes wrong..." Duke growled.
Tristan smirked. "Nothing will go wrong, Duke. I've got a perfect dinner date all set out."
Duke snorted. "At where? McDonald's?"
Tristan pretended not to hear him, as he turned back to Joey. "Don't worry, Joey. I'll take good care of Serenity. I won't let anything happen to her."
"Uh-huh." Joey rolled his eyes. "Sure you won't."
"I just think it really sucks that you don't have a date tonight, Joey." Duke said, then smirked. "But I guess after being dateless for so long, you'd naturally have found a way to cope with it by now."
"What'd I say about telling Serenity about your little 'nose-fishing' incident the other day?" Joey snapped, glaring at him.
Duke blushed, as he quickly said, "But on the other hand, I'd be more than willing to lend you one of my many fangirls to spend tonight with." He shot an angry glance at Tristan, who was shamelessly smiling and enjoying Duke's embarrassment.
"I told you before, I don't want one of your stupid fangirls." Joey griped. "I want Mai."
"Hey, everyone!" Yugi's voice called out, interrupting the trio. He sat down in his seat behind Tea, as Tea sat down to the left of Joey, a bag in her hand. "Happy Valentine's Day!"
"Happy Valentine's Day!" Tristan and Duke replied, cheerily.
Joey looked with confusion at his tri-coloured friend. "Happy Valen... but Valentine's Day was yesterday, Yugi."
Duke 'tsk-ed' and shook his head. "Poor guy. He's suffering delusional deja vu from that nasty blow off from Mai."
"Mai blew you off?" Yugi blinked.
Joey furrowed his eyebrows, as he looked hard at Yugi. "Yugi, I already told you. Yesterday, on the phone. Remember? You had to go because Gramps got sick and was puking all over the place? Remember?"
"Uh..." Yugi glanced briefly at the others. "Grandpa... isn't sick... And you didn't call me yesterday. I'm just hearing about the whole Mai thing now."
Joey looked at Yugi in silence and shock. Finally he said, "Oh. Well... wow. Okay."
"See? Delusions." Duke sighed. "Mai must've really let him have it."
"I'm not deluded, you moron!" Joey snapped. "Now shut up, or I swear I'm gonna call Serenity!"
"Joey, I know you don't have a date and that always makes you a little grumpy, but don't start taking it out on Duke." Tea frowned at him momentarily. Then she reached into her bag. "Here, this'll make you feel better!"
Joey took the card she pulled from her bag with a moment's hesitation. He looked at it. Sure enough, there was the cartoon bee holding the heart-shaped box of chocolates under the words, 'Bee Mine.' Cute. Real cute.
"You like it?" Tea asked.
"Uh... Tea..." Joey replied, staring hard at the Valentine's Day card in his hand. "You... gave this to me already."
"Huh?"
"Yesterday." Joey explained. "Remember? You got mad at me because I said thanks all sarcastic for giving me a ten cent card for all the stupid people who can't get a real date so they have to have their friends give them crummy pieces of paper for moral support. Remember?"
Tea stared angrily at him. "No," she replied haughtily, "And if you didn't like, you didn't have to be so rude - or start making up stupid stories. Just give it back!" And with that, she snatched the card back from Joey and stomped off into a corner of the classroom to talk with the same group of girls as she did yesterday.
"Nice." Tristan grinned.
"Okay, that's totally what she did yesterday!" Joey insisted. "See? She's mad at me!"
"No, you think?" Duke rolled his eyes.
"No, guys! Listen!" Joey whimpered slightly. "That's what happened yesterday! A lot of things you guys were saying this morning were the exact same things you were saying yesterday. Something really weird is going on here..."
"Right." Duke rolled his eyes. "Well, I'd love to stay, but I have to make some girls swoon before Mrs. Takria gets in." Then he got up from his seat, Joey gawking at his receding form.
"You see?" Joey cried out, pointing at Duke from across the room. He looked somewhat frantically at Tristan and Yugi. "That's exactly what he said yesterday! Exactly!"
"Joey... man..." Tristan looked at him with some wariness. "You've really got to calm down."
"But I know that's what he said yesterday! And the toaster already blew up, and Tea already got mad at me, and you already took Serenity out..." Joey trailed off and sighed.
Yugi and Tristan exchanged worried glances. "Are you alright, Joey?" Yugi asked.
"Ohh..." Joey moaned, plopping his face down onto the desk. "I don't know, Yugi... I really don't know... Something's wrong with today... No one seems to notice it but me. Maybe... maybe there's something wrong with me..."
"So you finally admit your inferiority." Kaiba's cool and collected voice sounded. "Well, it took you long enough."
"And he said that exact... well, almost exact same thing yesterday too." Joey sighed as Kaiba walked past. He sat up and looked hard at his friends. "Bet you that I can get him to say, 'That's a typical response from someone with an intellect like yours.' Will you believe me then that something's up?"
Yugi shook his head with disbelief. "Alright, Joey."
"I might not believe that something's up with today that we're not seeing, Joey," Tristan said, "But if he does say that, either you've got freaky powers or you've banded together to plot against us or something." He thought for a moment. "Given the options, I think the most likely choice would be that you've got freaky powers. If he says it, anyway."
Joey nodded, and took a breath. Turning around, he called out, "Hey, Kaiba?"
The CEO looked up, an expression of boredom and bitter resentment written over his face. "What, dog?"
Biting down a couple of obscenities, Joey continued, "You know what you said about me when you were waking past?"
Kaiba smirked. "Of course. My attention span and memory far exceed yours."
"Yeah, well," Joey said, "Shut up."
Kaiba blinked for a moment.
'He's gonna say it. That'll be total proof.' Joey thought to himself, as Yugi and Tristan listened intently. But things lately had a way of going the exact opposite of how Joey planned. In this case, it held up once more.
Kaiba burst out laughing.
OooOOOooO
OOOOO
OOOOO
(1) - I don't like his dad or the character that his father portrays/symbolises. Yes, I think Joey would have had a crap father, so he's always living with his mom in my stories. His mom and Serenity. Yay... Serenity... I don't like her either. Bloody... mini-Tea or something...
(2) - YES!
(3) - I had to add it somewhere. Ehehehe... blurb...
(4) - That's an amazing song, I know most of it. Yes... but not the name. Let me know what the name of the song is, someone! I have to download it!
D/N: Yes, well... another chapter done. I've been doing a sort of off and on thing with the next chapter of Of Dogs and Men, so... quite. It'll be up soon. Really soon. I promise. ... Eheheh... blurb...