365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Interruptions

3/3/19

They were barely even able to get a few turns into the duel, only just starting to pull out their more powerful monsters, when the door slammed open to reveal a grumpy Jack and amused Crow. Yusei shared a look with Haou and Yubel, the latter sighing with similar conflicted looks.

"Damn it, and it was just getting interesting," Yubel sighed, giving the newcomers a glare they couldn't see, "How're you going to handle this one? Do we tell them?"

Haou nodded discretely, a thoughtful look coming over him now that the initial shock had passed. From the way Yubel raised her eyebrows at him, Yusei figured that they were talking through their mental link about what to do.

In the meantime, Yusei turned his attention to the other two.

"Stupid interviewer knows nothing about me," Jack growled out, a twitch in his eye, "What does she mean I don't qualify? I can do basic math, damn it!"

Crow snorted, clearly getting some enjoyment out of his misery before dodging the hand that came swiping at his head..

"Did you fail another job interview?" Yusei asked, raising an eyebrow slightly in wonder, "How many is that now?"

"Twenty-four, Yusei. He's failed twenty-four job interviews now," Crow replied with a grin, much to Jack's chagrin.

The blond glared at both of them, daring them to say anything more before he noticed what was happening by the coffee table.

"Are you two dueling?" Jack asked, walking over to look at the table. Crow followed behind him, interested as well about the duel.

"We... were?" Yusei responded hesitantly, glancing over at Haou in question and wondering if he should say something. Needless to say, the confident, almost-playful look he got back in response was... worrying, to say the least; combined with the fact that Yubel was starting to laugh to herself quietly, it didn't bode well for keeping a quiet atmosphere.

"You called yourself a 'king' once, did you not?" Haou asked Jack, giving off an air of superiority.

Jack narrowed his eyes as he studied Haou, before replying, "The King of Riding Duels- something's different about you..."

"Now that you mention it," Crow added, giving Haou a wary look "Something is different... wait, are those gold eyes?"

"My name is Haou," he replied, eyes lazily flickering between the two, "Think of me as... Judai's older brother. We share a soul, and I'm the reason he can control the shadows. He decided to take a mental break for the day, so I'm here instead."

"Share a soul? Mental break?" Crow frowned, before shaking his head, "Well, I suppose if Yusei's apparently fine with this, then you must be okay. Nice to meet'cha Haou-"

"You're- you're not even going to keep questioning this?!" Jack exclaimed in disbelief, whipping around to look at Crow incredulously.

"Jack, right?" Haou mused, earning back Jack's attention, "The King of Riding Duels... seems like that must be the only thing you're good at, considering what was spoken earlier about your previous failures at working."

Yusei sighed, suddenly getting the urge to go get something to drink because this was going to be a long rest of his day. He really should've guessed that Haou planned on provoking Jack for entertainment, because of course he would - there was no one to stop him from doing so, and he probably never got to have little spats like this, even with Judai.

Next to him, Yubel started cackling at the enraged face Jack made in response, "Now this is an interesting way to spend the afternoon! Get him good, Haou!"

"Why you- that's it, I'll be the judge of whether you're good or not! Duel me, right now!" Jack scowled, swinging back around to glare at Haou.

"With pleasure," Haou responded amusedly, still giving off a superior air, "I'll be sure to revel in my victory over a false king like you."

Scratch that, Yusei was going to need painkillers soon to stave off the headache that was sure to follow Jack's continuous yelling. He'd only gotten a glimpse of what Haou's deck could do, but even then he could tell that Jack was going to have a hard time defeating him; Jack, being Jack of course, would most definitely keep challenging him in frustration, and then inevitably to other things like video games when he couldn't win a duel.

On that note, he got up and wandered into the kitchen to go get some nice, hot tea, though he made sure to give Haou a thumbs-up as he passed by - it was still a pretty smart way to deal with a distrustful Jack Atlas, after all, even if the results were headache-inducing. All in all, it was pretty much the best outcome to the unforeseen situation that they could've hoped for.

Now he just had to hope that Crow didn't get caught up with all their competitiveness, or else he'd have chaos on his hands.