AN: DM here, replying to Supertoad—who had a question. This answer should suffice for all of you confused souls out there.
To answer to the best of my ability, I'll say that they ARE at regular ages. (I rarely mess with the ages of characters.) Now, as for what I consider the regular ages to be? Mokuba is around 10 or so. Mai is in her early 20s. As for their relationship, consider it what you wish.
-Stay With Me, For A Little While-
by Dark Mrowlidash
Chapter Two: Establishing My Situation
The afternoon sun shined brightly down on Mokuba as he rounded the corner of the street and headed for the familiar game shop. However, before he could even touch the door, it burst open, Joey behind it, and Yugi not far behind.
"I'm telling ya, Yug, she was absolutely gorgeous! What she's doing here is a mystery to me!"
"Slow down Joey! Who are you talking about?"
"No idea man, some girl. She was walking along looking at Duel Monsters cards, talking to herself, kinda."
Mokuba's ears perked. Some girl? With Duel Monsters?
The shorter, tri-color haired boy stopped when he noticed Mokuba coming their way. "Hey, Mokuba! We're going to the mall, not sure for what though. Want to come? It's okay with Kaiba, right?"
"That jerk of an older brother probably doesn't care where he is!"
"Hey—Seto's no jerk! And he does care. But you guys are my friends anyway. And he knows I'm responsible," Mokuba said, glaring at Joey somewhat angrily.
"Yeah, I guess. But anyway, you should have SEEN her!"
"Who are you talking about?"
"Apparently, she's a duelist. A real one, like your brother. Why she's here is odd though, I mean, there's no tournaments here, expect the little ones we have at the shop," Yugi explained.
Mokuba's mind immediately jumped back to the night before. "Mai Valentine.." he said, smiling.
"Huh?"
"She had blonde hair, right? Wears a lot of purple?"
"That's her! You must have seen her too!" Joey exclaimed, seeming to drift away at the end of his sentence. "I wonder if she saw me.."
"She was at my house yesterday." Mokuba quipped, effectively bringing Joey back to the real world.
"W-WHAT? How? Why?"
"Calm down, Joey!" Yugi said, laughing. "But really, what was she doing at your house?"
"She had a duel against Seto. She lost."
"Well, who wouldn't lose to Seto Kaiba?" Yugi said, shrugging.
"I bet he didn't even take it easy on her..." Joey said, growling. "Some guy, Seto Kaiba."
Mokuba chose to ignore this, instead moving on. "She'll be in town for a while."
Yugi looked over at Mokuba. "Really? Sounds like you were talking."
"She's nice."
"You bet she is.." Joey said, causing the other boys to glare at him.
"Stay with us, Joey. We're on our way to the mall, remember?"
"Maybe she'll be there..." he said, grinning to himself.
"Maybe so." Mokuba said, secretly smiling to himself too.
"Hmm.. Purple is my best color.." Mai said, observing the outfit on the store hanger, "..but maybe not this one."
She put the outfit back, looking down at the floor before making her way to the storefront, on her way out, and probably out of the mall, when...
"Hey look, they've got a sale! Half price DVDs!"
"You know those are just the old ones they can't get rid of, Yugi. Don't get too caught up by the advertising."
"Why do you care, you could buy this whole mall!"
"I could not, I don't have any money, Seto manages that!"
"Well, ask him to take you shopping some time."
Mai traced the voices into the main walkway, and followed them all the way to the front of a video game store. Her eyes finally settled on the three boys, who were idly chatting about sales and money, or the lack of.
She was about to call to Mokuba when she caught herself. Why did she even care about talking to him, he was just some kid she'd met on the way out of the Kaiba Mansion last night after her... crushing defeat.
And besides... he was with his friends, wasn't he? Did he even want to be bothered—
"Mai! Hey!"
She looked over in the direction of the happy-sounding voice, easily tracing it back to Mokuba. "Um, hey, kid. What's up? I wasn't expecting to see you here.." she floundered for words for a few seconds, before scrapping the thought altogether. "Good to see you, enjoying your shopping?"
"Yes—" Mokuba was instantly cut off by Joey stepping in front of him.
"Why hello there, name's Joey Wheeler.. let me ask, why is a girl like you wasting time talking to a kid like him when you could be talking to.. me?"
Yugi rolled his eyes. Mokuba looked rather flustered.
Mai however, handled the situation with ease. "How rude of you then, Joey Wheeler. I was speaking to someone else. I think I should be asking myself why I'm wasting time talking to you."
Joey's facial expression melted from one of confidence to complete and utter rejection as he seemed to melt into the background, defeated and humiliated, for now.
"Anyway, Mokuba, who's your other friend?" Mai asked, pointing to Yugi, who smiled cheerfully upon being noticed.
"That's Yugi Moto. He's going to be a duelist like you when he gets good enough. His grandpa owns the game shop in town."
"Game shop, huh?" Mai said, thinking for a second. "I must not have seen it before. I wouldn't mind taking a look. I could always use more Duel Monsters cards. And it would be a better use of my money..." she said, looking back at the unappealing purple outfit through the store window.
"We could always go there later!" Mokuba piped up, before realizing that he didn't exactly have Yugi's permission to invite anyone over. "I mean, if that's okay with you, Yugi."
"Totally, Mokuba," Yugi said, shooting the younger boy a smile. "I'm sure Mai will be great company for you," he smiled a bit wider, "and the rest of us."
"You ready now?" Mokuba said eagerly. "The game shop isn't far, we just came from there."
"Sure, kid. Let's go."
And then, without thinking, Mokuba reached up, his hand taking Mai's, leading her on. "This way then—oh.." he said, losing confidence and letting go.
Mai stood still for a second, looking down at him for a few seconds before laughing to herself and smiling. She then proceeded to reach down, take his hand, and reply. "Well then, lead on!"
Mokuba did just that, walking ahead, every few steps looking back at Mai, who still was faithfully holding on, even if Mokuba was walking a bit too fast.
Yugi watched this exchange quizzically, stifling a comment, choosing instead to grab the back of Joey shirt and pull him along. "We're leaving, Joey..."
"Yeah, Yug... I see..."
The bell attached to the door jingled softly as the group shuffled into the game shop.
Yugi's grandpa greeted them with his usual before noticing their guest, "Hey guys—oh, who's that?" He looked in Mai's direction.
In a tone which could be described as too eager, Mokuba answered. "This is Mai Valentine. She's a duelist."
Mai would normally have been slightly offended at being spoken for, but for some reason, she didn't mind at all this time. Instead of snapping at Mokuba, she simply added her own part. "I'm here because you sell Duel Monsters cards?"
"Why yes, we do! We have a very wide selection, in fact—feel free to browse."
"Don't mind if I do," she said, looking down at the glass-encased Duel Monsters display.
Yugi took this as his cue to leave, dragging the still-shocked Joey up the stairs.
Mokuba, however, did not follow, choosing instead to linger by Mai as she browsed the card display, and try to think of something to say to her.
"Mai?" he said, thinking of something.
"Yes?" she said sweetly, taking her eyes off the cards to look down at Mokuba.
"Want to come over to my house tomorrow?"
Mai was somewhat surprised. "Your house? Am I welcome?"
"Of course you are! I invited you!" Mokuba said, smiling.
"Well, when you put it that way, I'd be glad to, kid." Mai nodded as she focused once again on the cards. "You really know how to extend hospitality."
"It's because I like you!" Mokuba said, before quickly editing his statement, "you know, as my friend and all."
Mai smiled at the boy. "Of course, Mokuba. Of course," she answered back.
Finally deciding on her card selections, Mai called Yugi's grandpa over to unlock the case. Mokuba only stared as she paid for her cards, in his own little dream world. A world where Mai and he existed in happiness together.. not that he really understood his dream world.
"Mokuba?"
"Hmm?"
"I said that I think it's time for me to leave..."
"Oh.. okay then," Mokuba replied, eyes downcast.
"Sorry to see me go?"
"Uh, yeah." Mokuba said shyly.
"Don't worry, kid, we'll meet up tomorrow, afternoon okay?"
"Fine with me."
"Then I'll see you then, Mokuba. Goodbye."
Mokuba waved as Mai walked out of the game shop into the evening.
"He's coming upstairs," Yugi said, gesturing for Joey to remove himself from his position against the door.
"I hear, I hear," he said, walking over to a chair and sitting down.
Not two seconds later, Mokuba came through the door, smiling wide.
"Looks like someone's having quite the luck with the ladies, huh?" Joey said, elbowing Mokuba as he passed.
"No.." Mokuba protested.
"We both heard ya, pal. She's coming over to your house tomorrow!"
"We're just friends." Mokuba said, not entirely sure if he was truly glad about that.
"I believe you, Mokuba." Yugi said, pointing at Joey. "He's just jealous that she didn't pay him any attention."
"Yeah, whatever. I'm over her. She's not my type," Joey said, looking sharply away. "Besides, I wouldn't want to rob your girlfriend from you."
"She's NOT my girlfriend!"
"But I bet you wish she was..." Joey said, giving Mokuba a knowing look.
Mokuba blushed and looked at his feet, causing both Yugi and Joey to laugh to themselves.
"You really like her, don't you?" Yugi asked.
"Yeah.. but she'd never like me back. I'm too young. She's like you guys' age—maybe older!"
"That is true..." Yugi said, becoming very quiet. "Well, she seems to like you well enough. I'm sure you can be great friends."
"Hey, you could always tell her how you feel and see what happens," Joey added.
"Yeah maybe, but I think I should be going now. It's getting late, I don't want Seto yelling at me."
"If he even noticed you were gone, that is..." Joey said rather nastily.
But Mokuba was already out the door.
It was about an hour later, and Mokuba sat up in his bed, trying his best to fall asleep and failing miserably. When he'd reached home, Seto was nowhere in sight, but hidden somewhere in the mansion. He didn't feel like seeking him out, and was saddened that he would have to anyway. But his thoughts couldn't stay with his brother for long.
Whispering to himself, he looked up at the ceiling.
"Should I tell her? What could happen? She'd tell me she's not interested... or worse, never hang out with me again. But on the other hand, she could..."
He felt sort of warm inside. She could accept his feelings... she could like him back..
"I don't know until I ask, do I? I mean, she could say yes, or no. 50/50... hopefully."
Mokuba leaned back against his pillow, closing his eyes, finally feeling a little sleepy. His pillow was warm and soft.. just like he imagined Mai would be... not that he imagined her that often—at least, that was what he thought.
Snuggling into the pillow, he let his mind wander to places that were literally unknown. He didn't know anything about girls, except that a certain one was in his mind, constantly.
"Mai.."
"Mokuba.."
Mai sat in a chair in her hotel room, a lamp's dim light the only thing illuminating her frame from the darkness. It was also making her eyes tired, but she had something to keep her awake.
"He's just a little boy! I can't like him.. like that, can I? That's not right."
Stretching her legs out slightly, she yawned. "But he's so cute.. I just want to hold him and.." the words on her lips died, replacing themselves with a ghostly image of Mokuba.. and his own lips.
Shaking her head violently she dismissed the imagined image. "I'm crazy! He's like... not even a teenager... and certainly not in my age group! And regardless of how cute he is..."
Mai leaned back in the chair. "I did promise to go see him tomorrow though. I guess I'll sort all of this out then, get some sleep now."
But as she rose from the chair, her eyes slipped closed for just a second.. and she let out a sigh. "I still wouldn't mind hugging him though."
End Chapter Two