365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Into VR...?

1/20/19

The snowball fight lasted for two hours, with Jack and Crow being pulled in around half way through when they came back to the apartment only to get a snowball in the face before they knew what was happening.

Thanks to that though, the game store had closed by the time they were done. It was probably for the best, however, considering all four men were completely soaked to the bone due to the snow and desperately needed to dry off.

Now they all sat around the kitchen table, nursing some warm mugs of whatever they preferred as they all caught up on their days.

"That was fun and all, but how did you guys even end up in a snowball fight anyway?" Crow asked, leaning backwards over his chair. He'd been the second to join, having been initiated into the fight by Jack, who wanted someone to feel the pain he had when he'd gotten home.

"We were supposed to go get a game Judai wanted... but then he took a cheap shot at my face when I went to lock the door," Yusei replied, eyes glinting at the memory, "so I figured he had it coming for him. Jack happened to be collateral at the time, we hadn't even seen him get back."

Judai scowled playfully, pointing a finger at Yusei in indignation, "Hey! You're the one who kept making comments about how I 'couldn't go unsupervised for too long'! You're the one that had that snowball coming!"

"What was that about a game?" Jack asked, cutting cleanly into the conversation before it could go off-topic. He and Crow, ever since they had started paying attention to the other two more, had noticed that it was very easy for them to quickly get engrossed in their own conversation regardless of how many people there were beforehand. Sure, it made getting more embarrassing stories easy as hell, but it could be frustrating sometimes when it was something relating to all four of them and suddenly two were off in their own world.

"Oh! Did you know there's a virtual Duel Monsters world?" Judai replied, his eyes lighting up once again at the thought of the mere concept of an entire virtual world, "Apparently it's supposed to be really cool, and duel spirits can apparently get there from what I've found online. If it's true, that'd be awesome! Anyone could interact with their duel spirit then and duel with them, even if they can't normally see them!"

And on that trail of thought, both Judai and Yusei's eyes flickered to the side, looking at the two duel spirits that had decided to reveal themselves during the snowball war. They hadn't gotten the chance to talk to them for more than a few seconds of introduction, but from their names alone Yusei had informed the other that they had to be Jack and Crow's considering one was a Blackwing monster that they hadn't quite caught the full name of and the other was Dark Resonator. Currently they were happily interacting with all of the other duel spirits, floating around and taking in the apartment and the areas around it.

"Really? Sounds fun, could prove to be a challenge. Do you have to start from scratch with a structure deck?" Crow blinked, a grin mirroring Judai's slowly forming as he thought more about it.

"Yeah, but isn't that part of the fun of it? Plus you get to choose one level four or lower monster that you already have the card of to take with you, and you get to choose which structure deck you start with, so it's not like you're going into it completely blind."

"If you and Yusei are doing it, then I'm joining. Crow, you too, you're joining this. I have to prove that I'm the King, no matter what world I'm in!" Jack exclaimed, nodding his head in resolution. Besides, this would be his chance to truly see how good of a duelist Judai was; he certainly wasn't going to pass up such a prime opportunity.

Judai blinked, suddenly realizing something. "Hey wait, I just realized - if we have both Jack and Yusei joining this game, doesn't that mean it's going to get really popular all of a sudden? Aren't you both basically celebrities here? We're going to have so much competition, this is great!"

Jack practically slammed his fist down on the table, a smug look forming as he started boasting about how he would conquer the new world regardless of how many foes he faced.

On the other hand, the reaction he was really looking for was from Yusei, whose eyes had widened slightly before he deflated in defeat, a very slight pout forming as he stared at Judai like he blamed him for the inevitable fans he'd have to face in the future.

Judai smiled innocently back, tilting his head slightly to really emphasize the 'innocent' part of it; Yusei narrowed his eyes in response, and-

-did Yusei just kick him under the table? Granted, it was lightly, but... wow, Judai didn't know he had it in him, though maybe the earlier snowball war should have indicated already that the generally calm raven-haired man had a mischievous side.

He kicked back a bit harder than Yusei had, his smile slowly starting to turn into a biting grin. Yusei's eyes lit up slightly at the action, clearly looking forward to another playful argument and not one that would result in making them shivering, frost-covered messes.

And so, Crow sighed fondly - everyone at the table had gone into their own little worlds, but it was the kind of lively chaos that he enjoyed. Ironically, as he sipped his mug of tea at the table and flicked through information about the game Judai had discovered on his phone, he was strongly reminded of watching over the kids at the orphanage, considering how loud Jack was being and how Yusei and Judai were now also not-so-secretly partaking in a violent game of footsies.

No wonder he's considered the oldest brother out of the three of them... and wait, would that mean Judai is his brother-in-law in the making?

Huh, maybe he should be trying to embarrass him too now that he thought about it.