365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Breakfast

2/10/19

Yusei took back everything he'd said earlier about Judai being a distracting presence while he was riding his bike - that'd been nothing compared to now, making their way to the cafe Judai'd been talking about.

"...Do you want me to crash, Judai?" he grumbled into the headset, doing his best to focus on the road. All he got in return was an unapologetic, devilish laugh that he could feel rumble through his back; the arms around his waist stayed fastened in place while Judai's hands continued to poke curiously at his sides. Not only that, but he could feel the other's warm breaths as they tickled his neck - there was no way he wasn't doing this on purpose, and Yusei was sure that if he'd been able to look back and see his face right now there'd be a wicked grin on it.

After all, one of the things he'd been forced to suffer through last night was Judai learning that his neck was seriously sensitive, and clearly he was taking full advantage of that right now.

A random switch to cold breaths made him physically flinch, and he felt his face burn at the small squeak he'd let out; he knew it'd picked up on the headsets because Judai chuckled immediately after, going back to passive, warm breathing.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up," he mumbled, the arms around his waist tightening for a moment to show that he'd been heard. He was starting to learn that a silent, solely-laughing Judai was something to be terrified of.

Luckily it only took another ten minutes to get to the cafe, but those ten minutes were filled with random bursts of cold air on his neck, continuous pokes at his sides, and just overall embarrassment. Yusei glared playfully at Judai once their helmets were off and safely locked away, and sure enough, Judai wasn't even trying to act innocent at this point as he stared back with a foxy grin.

"Cute," Judai stated, grinning wider as Yusei immediately caught the hand that came up to try and poke at his side. He found himself laced hand-in-hand with the shorter male instead soon after and being tugged into the cafe behind him, "Come on, I'm starving! Food..."

Yusei rolled his eyes and smiled fondly when Judai immediately went over to the pastry display case and practically drooled over it trying to decide what he wanted. He busied himself with looking over the coffee menu instead, blinking when he saw a familiar name.

Huh, so this must be where Jack always goes - now he kind of wanted to try it just to see if it really was as good as the blond made it out to be.

"You decide on anything yet?" Yusei asked.

"Hmm, yeah I think I got it," Judai replied, following closely behind him as he went to the counter to order. The cashier working there looked up at their approach, staring at them for a second before grinning wildly.

"Aw man, first yesterday and now this? This is great, we're finally getting to meet all of Jack's infamous roommates," she said, nodding at them.

"I was right, this is the place he wanders off to all the time," Yusei said, blinking in slight confusion, "What do you mean by infamous?"

"Oh Jack's a complainer and likes to prattle on to us about his life problems, though you can tell he's really fond of you guys - he always tells stories about how his 'idiot roommate Yusei never sleeps or gets off his laptop' and how 'stupid Crow won't stop pestering me about getting a job'," she responded, using air-quotes to emphasize, "Yesterday he brought Crow with him and it was absolutely hilarious. Those two can argue about anything and everything, and once Crow learned he actually 'deigned to talk to other people for once in his life' he pulled out crocodile tears and gloated about how proud he was; we'd never seen Jack look so off kilter before."

Yusei and Judai laughed at that as they were able to imagine the scene perfectly.

"Yeah, that definitely sounds like them, just be glad you don't have to live with them," Yusei chuckled. After a bit more small-talk their order was placed and they sat down at a table towards the back corner so they could enjoy the peace and quiet.

"Y'know, maybe Jack's not the only drama queen. I'm starting to think Crow's one as well," Judai said, fiddling happily with his cup of peppermint hot chocolate that he'd decided on.

Yusei hummed, taking a sip of his coffee before answering, "It's because he works with kids so much at the orphanage. He gets along with them really well and fills the role of 'playful older brother' for them."

"Ooh, that makes sense! Now that I think about it, whenever I found a kid that could see spirits, it was always easier to get them to listen if I decided to be a bit dramatic about it."

"Were there a lot of people that could see spirits?" Yusei asked curiously, thinking about the numerous psychic duelists he'd encountered, "There was a whole organization here at one point that was filled with psychic duelists, though none of them could see spirits and could only materialize them using their cards. I only know one person besides us that can actually see duel spirits, and she can't materialize them."

"That's odd," Judai frowned, looking back up at him, "Usually there's significantly more people who can see spirits than materialize them. That's... something to look into later. Maybe it has to do with all the duel energy flowing through this place?"

Yusei watched as he continued to mumble in thought for a bit longer, eventually shrugging before taking another sip of his drink.

"Ah well, I'll worry about that later," Judai stated, suddenly grinning once more and sending Yusei a wink, "I've got a cute boyfriend to focus on- oh hey, this is a date, isn't it?"

Yusei blinked at that, feeling his face warm slightly as he looked away to the side.

"If you want it to be," he replied, taking a sip of his coffee so that he could hide his face - even if it was just a little bit, it made him feel a bit less embarrassed. He felt Judai kick him lightly under the table in reassurance, and when he looked back, Judai was smiling softly.

"'course I do, dummy, that's not even a question - I love doing anything as long as it's with you."

Yusei smiled back happily at that, responding with a hum of agreement, "Me too."

He couldn't help the tiny bit of satisfaction he felt when Judai's face turned a bit pink as well, though the other was much better at pretending his embarrassment didn't exist.