Hi…

I'm super late with these. It's really terrible. Oh well.

Disclaimer: YGO belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.

Note: Apparently Mai is 24 in Duelist Kingdom and Joey is 15. O.o We're gonna say she's 20 then so it's not as awkward when he likes her. Now he's 18 and she's 23. It sounds and feels better. I never realized how old Mai is. She's such a cougar! ;)

Cherry

Until Jou graduated, the only time he could hang out with Mai was to sneak out after his father went to sleep. His father didn't even notice when he left for Duelist Kingdom, but he did notice his son's many absences when Kaiba held Battle City; he was not happy with all of those "foreign bastards" coming in to partake in a "stupid childish game." If Jou thought about it too much, he could still feel the pain in his side and his arm.

But that was years ago and he wasn't the juvenile delinquent kid anymore. He cleaned up from his gang days, learned a bit of patience, looked after his kid sister, and now escorted a beautiful blonde woman to a little 24 hour restaurant on corner of the street near the bay.

"What'll you have to drink?" The surprisingly perky brunette waitress asked.

"I'll have a Coke." Jou said.

"I'll take a martini. Dry."

"I'll be back shortly." The waitress walked away. She came back shortly, placed the drinks on the table, and ran off to fulfill their orders. Jou frowned at the maraschino cherry in his drink and placed it on a napkin.

"Ooh, I love those!" Mai plucked it from the napkin and popped it into her mouth, closing her eyes and happily chewing the candy-like preserved fruit. "Wanna see something cool?"

He raised his eyebrows for her to go ahead and she put the stem of the cherry into her mouth. After moving it around for about a minute, she took it out of her mouth, revealing the stem was now in a knot. Jou's eyes widened.

"How'd you do that?"

Mai chuckled. "It's something I picked up years ago." She gave him a flirty smile. "They say if you can tie a cherry stem in a knot in your mouth that you're a good kisser."

He smiled back. "How about you prove this theory to me." He left some money on the table and the two left.

Mai demonstrated her theory for the next two hours.

Heehee. :D I love these two. This one is longer than the others. I went back and got rid of the alcohol bit. It completely negates "Stray Dog" by having that part in.

Review?

Over and out,

Mahersal