365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Mental Preparation

3/1/19

Judai was extremely thankful for Yusei - the man had taken to distracting him with things whenever he noticed that Judai was starting to overly stress out again, and it did wonders for his nerves as a few days passed without anything happening.

And then, of course, Judai felt a familiar, powerful presence hit his sensory range. It was light, but the good kind; it was warm and held a certain air to it that felt solid, like a rock - or rather, in this case, a gemstone. It was Johan after all, he'd recognize that feeling anywhere and it would seem that twenty years did nothing to his bright personality.

He tensed immediately, knowing that this meant they were coming sometime within the next day or so and that he'd have to start steeling himself for it. Don't get him wrong, he was excited for it in a way considering they were his friends and he was very curious to see how far they'd come in their lives - he still couldn't wrap his head around Asuka and Jun getting married, how did that happen? But he'd been avoiding them for so long out of guilt that he was terrified of their response to him.

He hadn't told Yusei about that part, but he was a smart cookie and had probably put together by now that it'd been a few more years than twenty since he'd last talked to them. The only way they'd known he was still alive for a while there was because he'd accidentally ran into Sho a year before he'd time hopped and then somehow been dragged to meet with Johan a bit afterwards and-

Judai startled at a sudden pain in his hand, jerking it away with a swear.

Right, he'd been cooking. He must've accidentally let his hand fall down to touch the pan while he was lost in his thoughts.

"Judai? Everything okay?" Yusei asked, his head popping out from the kitchen entrance.

"Burned myself, it's fine," Judai mumbled, carefully inspecting the injury, "Yeah, it'll heal up in a few hours, it's pretty mild."

"Still, you should wrap it so you don't accidentally make it worse. You sit, I'll go get the bandages," Yusei replied with a concerned frown, leaving to go get the first aid kit from the bathroom.

There's nothing quite like an adrenaline rush and a bit of pain to knock him back to his senses, but it worked well and he wasn't going to question it.

Judai shrugged to himself, double-checking the food to make sure it hadn't overcooked before lowering the heat and pulling out a chair at the kitchen table. Soon enough, Yusei was back and popping open the first aid kit, gently taking his hand in his and starting to wrap it after putting a bit of burn cream on it.

"Thanks," Judai said, suddenly feeling very tired now that he was sitting down.

"You're stressing out too much over this, it's not healthy," Yubel murmured to him, and Judai knew she was right but couldn't really help it.

What am I supposed to do about it? Judai replied back, not really expecting much besides a 'go sleep' or a 'go play that dueling game of yours'.

Surprisingly, what he got was an answer from Haou, "...Considering it's already afternoon, you're clear for the rest of the day. If you wanted to you could go take a mental nap while I take over."

That was... that was actually a really good idea, now that he thought about. The great thing about checking out like that was that it let Judai recuperate mentally in a way that usually wasn't possible, so it would end with him being far less stressed when the time finally did come to meet his friends.

Besides, it'd been about month since Haou had gotten his time outside so it was just good timing as well, and there was a freshly cooked meal that was basically already done, it just had to be stirred a few times and plated.

"No problem," Yusei responded, giving him a smile once he'd finished with the bandages and put everything away. He went and put the first aid kit back before returning to the kitchen, where Judai had just finished preparing the food.

"Yusei, Haou wants his monthly food adventure," Judai said, turning around to face him with a grin - just thinking about that mental nap had already put him into a good mood again, after all, "Is that okay with you right now?"

Yusei blinked, tilting his head in thought before nodding, "Yeah, that's fine - I needed to take a break anyway, I've been working on that project since early this morning."

"Thanks," Judai said, sighing slightly in relief, "I've really been needing a mental nap anyway, all this waiting's been stressing me out too much."

"Those help a lot?" Yusei asked curiously. Judai couldn't help but smile at the happy, relieved twinge that came over the other; he always got a warm, happy feeling whenever Yusei showed he cared about him and his well-being.

"Oh yeah, they help a lot in that regard," Judai responded, smiling widely as he flopped down into a chair again, "Something about it letting me process info and emotions more thoroughly, or something like that - can't remember the whole explanation to be honest, but you get the gist of it. I'm gonna go now then, okay? Have fun!"

Judai wondered for a moment if he'd wake up to something ridiculous like last-time, with the huge plushies and all those game codes. For now though, he closed his eyes and fell back into his mind, ready to take a break from worrying.