365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Morning Meeting

2/21/19

"Mornin' guys!" Crow cheered, joining the three where they were sitting in the kitchen. Jack and Yusei were nursing their second cups of coffee at this point while Judai was slowly waking up with a warm mug of tea.

"G'mornin'..." Judai mumbled back, sipping at his tea and letting it burn his tongue slightly so he'd come back to the land of the living a bit faster; it's not like he really had to worry about lasting burns anyway considering his healing factor.

Across the table, Jack looked up from his phone and gave Crow a nod before turning to give Judai a raised eyebrow, "How are you still not awake? You've been down here for nearly an hour now."

Judai merely gave him a mild glare, not deigning to give him a response otherwise. Crow and Yusei laughed slightly at this, which caused him to hide behind his mug as best as he could at the moment.

"Everyone has slow days," Crow shrugged, moving to go get a cup of coffee for himself, "By the way, Akiza's coming over today in case you guys forgot."

Judai perked up slightly at the name, recognizing it as the name of the last signer he had yet to meet, "That's the person who can materialize duel monsters, right?"

"Oh, so now you're awake?" Yusei teased, giving him a small smile before responding, "Yeah, that's her. Just don't hound her too much with your questions, okay?"

"I'm not that bad - I mean, I didn't 'hound' Luka with questions, did I?"

"True, but Luka also isn't dealing with graduation exams and med-school applications at the moment," Crow piped up, pulling out a chair next to Jack and flopping down into it once he'd put down his drink.

Judai cringed at that, instantly feeling sympathetic for the girl; school was already bad enough with all its written tests as is, but combined with college applications, and for medical schools at that?

Well, his respect for her just shot through the roof to say the least. Like he'd said earlier, school and stuff was not his forte.

"I'll keep it to a minimum," he said, "I'm guessing she's here to hang out then?"

"For the most part, but I remember her saying something about her professor assigning a project," Yusei answered.

"Oh yeah! She was kind-of grumbling about it at the time, that's why I remember - it was hilarious," Crow blinked, chuckling into his cup, "It was something along the lines of 'Goddamn Professor Tenjoin assigning last-minute projects all the time and-"

Judai choked on his drink, interrupting him, "Wait wait wait, what did you just say?"

Three sets of eyes were staring at him now questioningly, and Crow slowly trailed, "It was something along the lines of 'Goddamn Professor Tenjoin assigning last-minute projects'...?"

"Oh gods," Judai stated, whipping out his phone and quickly searching for the Duel Academy staff list while the others looked at him like he was going crazy.

Sure enough, right there on the first page was a picture of an older Asuka Tenjoin, listed as the 'Head of the Strategy Department and History Department'.

"Holy shit, Asuka actually became a teacher! Good for her, but really bad for me-"

"Woah woah woah, wait, you know her professor?!" Crow interrupted his ramblings, leaning over to look at the page he'd pulled up with a grin.

"...Why is that bad for you?" Jack questioned, staring him down with an intense look in his eyes.

Oh, right - now that he thought about it, Judai'd never explained exactly who he was to them, had he? Yusei had told him that he'd let him explain when he was ready, because at the time he'd still been adjusting, but he'd been living with them for nearly two months at this point; he really should've explained who he was by now. Hell, the only reason they'd probably let it slide for so long was because of Yusei vouching for him, and subsequently dating him.

Judai glanced at Yusei, who gave him a smile and nod in encouragement, before taking a deep breath and just stating bluntly, "I time-hopped nearly twenty years to get here, and she's going to kill me if she learns I'm here."

Oh gods above, Asuka was not his first pick on his list of friends to be the first one to learn he was here, at this particular point in time. She was right down at the bottom next to Jun while Johan and Sho stood straight at the top of the list. He should... he should probably search them all up at this point to be honest, and be prepared to explain himself.

"I'll be honest, I'm surprised no one's tried to contact you yet with how you've been shaking the junior leagues and jumping straight to pro," Yubel said, Haou humming in agreement, "You haven't exactly been hiding, quite the opposite in fact."

Judai stopped at that, thinking for a moment about it before Haou seemed to catch on to his stray thought.

"Hiding in plain sight," Haou stated.

Damn, Yusei'd really pulled through on that one with the system update and ID, hadn't he? He'd have to thank him again later. With kisses.

"Makes sense," Jack said, eyes narrowing in thought, "It definitely explains the old cards and fusion summons. But why?"

"No kidding, that's what I want to know. You left everything behind?" Crow asked, staring at him with raised eyebrows. Yusei joined in, giving him a silent look that Judai couldn't quite read.

"It's... complicated," Judai slowly said, looking down at his phone and at Asuka's picture before moving his gaze to the wall, "Yugi was the one who suggested it to me initially, but I'm the one that took to it-"

"You don't have to explain," Yusei cut in, his face softening in quiet understanding the moment he'd brought up Yugi's name. Crow and Jack caught on that this was something beyond them at the moment, with Crow easily moving away from the topic and instead bringing up what they could do once Akiza came over in a couple hours.

Later, once they'd all split up to finish getting ready for the day, Judai caught Yusei in a hug on their bed, burying his head in his chest.

"Is this about earlier?" Yusei questioned, placing a kiss on the top of his head, "Like I said, you don't have to explain."

Judai stayed quiet for a bit, enjoying the warmth before speaking, "I want to explain though, at least to you. You've actually met Yugi before, so you know that if he suggests something huge like that then it's..."

"It's probably for good reason," he finished, "He really didn't seem the type to interfere with others' life decisions much."

"Yeah," Judai sighed, lacing his fingers with Yusei's before continuing in a whisper, "He never actually told me the reason, but based off how he was acting... he kept looking at my hand, specifically my pinky finger, whenever he brought it up."

He felt Yusei's hair brush the top of his head as he tilted his head in confusion, then felt when he stiffened in realization.

"Oh," Yusei whispered, hands gripping his tighter suddenly. He's sure that if he were to look up, he'd see Yusei staring wide-eyed at their interlocked fingers.

Because Judai, after much debate with the two sharing his soul, was ninety-nine percent sure that Yugi could see red strings of fate, and directed him accordingly.

They didn't move from that spot on the bed until they absolutely had to, simply enjoying the feel of being together.