365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Obligatory DDR

2/12/19

"Oh hey, so they do still have this!" Judai exclaimed happily, tugging Yusei over to the DDR machine in the back of the second floor of the arcade, "Man, this game's a classic! I think I'd be more surprised if there wasn't one, to be honest..."

"How do you play it?" Yusei asked, swiping his card next to Judai. The lucky bastard had won the past two games, and the way they'd structured the bet was that the winner would be whoever managed to win three games in a row first. They'd continuously been trading wins, though, so two hours into the bet neither had been able to win yet.

"See the four arrow pads on the ground? It's like the other rhythm game we played earlier with the bars coming up, except you have to hit the corresponding arrow or arrows with your feet."

"Ah, got it. Practice round?"

"Yup. Any song requests?"

Yusei gave him an exasperated look that Judai laughed at, grinning while going through the song list. Eventually he found one that wasn't too fast, but not slow enough to make them miss a lot either; he confirmed the song on the hardest difficulty and prepared himself by grabbing the back bar and practicing hitting the arrows with his feet. Yusei saw this and copied him, getting used to it just before the song started.

Obviously he won the practice round, but he'd been able to sneak a glance at Yusei's side before the song ended and noticed that he was hitting most of the notes at the end.

"I think I got it - let's do the real round now," Yusei said, poking at the arrows with his feet. From the way his eyes were narrowed, Judai could tell that he'd slipped into that focused mode of his that was usually reserved for dueling or work - that meant he was ready to get serious, and Judai felt a shrill of anticipation run through him. He couldn't lose this one, after all, or he would lose the entire bet, and he couldn't let that happen.

"This song good?"

Yusei nodded, turning to look at him for a moment. There was a fierce competitive look in his eyes that Judai quickly matched with his own before starting up the game. It was much harder than the last one, to the point where Judai didn't have a single moment to look over to see how Yusei was doing, but he felt pretty confident in his DDR skills.

"Dammit," Yusei muttered, glaring at the screen when the results popped up. Judai laughed in success, though he pat him on the pack in sympathy.

"It was damn close though, look at that score - we were nearly even!" he replied, ruffling his hair, "Now it's my turn to be winning again."

"That's what you said the last few times, too," Yusei said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I've got a good feeling this time," Judai said, going up on his toes so he could pat him on the head lightly, "Come on, you get to pick the next game since I won this one."

Yusei gave him a deadpan look but started looking for the next game anyway, lacing his fingers through Judai's hands along the way. He still wasn't quite used to it, especially considering the feel of the leather gloves Yusei wore, but it was a nice feeling that made his heart flutter.

And then Judai won two more games in a row, and he cheered in happiness.

"Yes! I win, take that!" Judai exclaimed, wickedly grinning as he started thinking of what he could make Yusei do - maybe the thing he mentioned the previous day about cat ears? Or maybe make him do something else?

So many choices, but they were all good.

"...Have mercy, please," Yusei murmured, though he was smiling all the same. Judai hugged him tightly in his excitement before letting go just as quickly and grabbing his hand.

"We'll see about that," he teased, poking him lightly in the cheek with his free hand, "Now come on, we've been here for hours - I don't know about you but I'm starving again."

"What is with you and poking me today?" Yusei asked after humming his agreement to getting food.

"Dunno' but it's fun," Judai admitted, wicked grin still on his face from earlier, "The little squeak you made earlier was cute, by the way. Hmm, I wonder how ticklish you are then?"

He swore the way Yusei's face turned red would never, ever get old to him. As they rode back to the apartment, having decided to just make food back at home, Judai once again turned to poking at the poor man in delight.

Yubel, you have any good ideas for that bet? He's a lot like Haou, after all, Judai thought, getting a chuckle back in response from her and a feeling of annoyance from Haou.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Haou grumbled, eliciting a laugh from both of them.

"It means you and Yusei are a lot more alike in personality than you'd like to think," Yubel replied, amusement coming through clearly in his mind, "If I think of anything, Judai, I'll make sure to tell you. You should probably hold onto that bet for a couple days anyway."

Judai blinked in confusion, momentarily ceasing his pokes to Yusei, who un-tensed slightly in relief.

Eh? Why's that? Judai asked.

"Dumbass, think about what day it'll be soon. What holiday's coming up?"

...OH! Oh crap, I completely forgot! Wow, we really got together just in time, didn't we? Hey, stop laughing at me guys-