365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Reunion

3/15/19

A knock on the door resounded throughout the house, cutting loud and clear through the clattering Judai was making in the kitchen. With a sigh of relief that he'd finished in time, he took a look at the kitchen table after putting the last used pan in the sink to deal with later - platters of food lined it, and all finished within the hour or so he'd had to make it.

Judai nodded to himself in satisfaction, looking to Yusei as another knock hit at the door. He got an encouraging smile in response as he watched him close his laptop, the cameras already having been secluded away in their room five minutes ago.

It didn't really help though that Judai was starting to stress again now that there was no more waiting or running to be done; he turned his eyes towards the door warily, suddenly not entirely sure that he was ready for this.

Oh by the gods and stars above he was definitely not ready for this confrontation, what was he thinking? He was going to open that door and just get absolutely mauled and-

Clearly Yusei realized that his nerves were starting to come back as yet another impatient knock rang out, because he was quick to walk over and turn Judai's face back to look at him with a gentle hand.

"Judai, look at me," Yusei said, and Judai couldn't do anything other than that anyway, "It's going to be fine, okay? I promised I'd be right here next to you the entire time." He felt the other grab his hands and squeeze them tightly in reassurance, which helped anchor him back into reality.

"Yeah, yeah you're right," Judai breathed, mentally psyching himself up to be able to open that door, "I- I can do this."

"You can do this," Yusei echoed, giving him a smile that Judai found himself able to return as he tried to latch onto the calm aura the other seemed like he was exuding.

Judai took a deep breath before letting go of Yusei's hands, looking back to the door with a determined look. It was now or never, and he knew this was something he needed to do, both for himself and for his friends. They deserved this much, at least.

Obviously he would never regret time-jumping to be with Yusei, and if he had to do it all over again he would. Nothing and no one could have ever changed the decision he made and that was something he'd stand by for life; this was just one aspect he'd have to deal with in sticking by it.

Winged Kuriboh chose that moment to reappear, having left earlier so that Judai could focus all his attention on cooking. He nudged Judai's face with a paw, giving him an encouraging cry before settling on his shoulder for once instead of his head.

With that, Judai walked over, and with one final, hesitant look at Yusei, who'd stopped just a bit behind and to the side of him out of sight of the door, opened the door.

"...Hey," Judai said, a nervous grin taking up his face as he made sure the door opened all the way. He took in the sight of his tired friends, everyone staring at him with wide eyes as if they couldn't really believe it was him even after all this, and felt something tug at his heart. Guilt?

Sho was the first one to break only a few moments later, tears springing to his eyes as he tackled Judai into a hug, "Big bro! It's really y-you-"

Judai felt his breath get slammed out of him and he couldn't help the laugh that sprung out of him in response, "I'm not sure I really qualify as a 'big brother' anymore Sho-"

"It's definitely him, did you hear that laugh? Oh god I forgot how annoying it was," Jun groaned, bringing a hand up to his face. He couldn't hide his smile from anyone that was there, though, and soon enough Judai felt himself getting squished in the middle of a huge group hug.

"So you finally decided to show up again, eh?" Johan grinned, working with Kenzan to wrap Judai in a headlock and an inescapable noogie, "Kept us waiting quite a while, best friend."

"Yeah, you're gonna have to work extra hard to make up for this one," Kenzan added, laughing as well with a smile on his face.

"Extra hard indeed," Edo hummed, pulling back early from the group hug, which really didn't help much in the end because Judai was still trapped where he was between everyone else, "Perhaps I should force you to come to some of my events... it'd be good publicity, after all."

"We all missed you, Judai," Asuka smiled, though Judai could see the malicious edge to it and internally shuddered; he was definitely going to get a lecture from her... and oh no, she was a teacher now, which meant it was going to be even worse.

"Missed you guys t- ow, ow, I'm sorry for disappearing like that, please, have mercy on me," Judai replied, wincing as Johan's smile gained an edge scarily similar to Asuka's and his knuckles dug even harder into his head before letting him go. "I'll explain what happened guys, but in the meantime I made you food?" Judai continued, rubbing his head and deciding to pull out the puppy eyes - according to Yubel and, begrudgingly, Haou, they were a very deadly weapon when he wielded them, and hell if he wasn't going to take advantage of that right now.

"We'll take your bribe, but don't think that look'll work on me mister," Johan laughed, poking Judai in the forehead, "I've faced down the watery eyes of a Maiden in Love duel spirit and not fallen for it."

"The only one you'll fall for is Ruby," Sho snorted, readjusting his glasses which had fogged up a little and been knocked askew when he hugged Judai.

"I don't know about you guys, but I heard food and after the day we've had I need it," Kenzan said, roughly patting Judai on the back and causing him to lose his balance slightly for a second.

Judai grinned at that, thinking about the footage they'd gotten from the day before he perked up in remembrance and said, "Ah, guys, before that... you gotta meet someone." He waved over to the side, gesturing for Yusei to come over and stand next to him, "This is Yusei, Yusei, these are uh... about half my friends, actually."

"Ah yes, this is the poor guy who got stuck with you," Edo said without a single pause of hesistance, "Yusei Fudo, nice to meet you."

"O-oi, Edo-" Judai stuttered, not expecting them to already have figured out that they were together. He felt his face warm up in embarrassment alongside Yusei's when everyone else in the group grinned knowingly, continuing, "Aw come on, all of you know? How'd you figure it out?"

"It's so blatantly obvious even an idiot like you could've figure it out if the videos we saw were put in front of you," Jun stated, a smirk forming on his face while his eyes filled with mirth, "Do you even know half the things people post about you on the internet?"

"I found out that there's an entire guild dedicated to you guys in that game you two play and won that tournament in," Sho added, though the look he was sporting showed that he was still in slight disbelief himself about that tidbit of information.

Judai hadn't even known that game had guilds in it... since when had it had guilds?! What did guilds even do for you with a game like Duel Monsters? He'd have to look into it later with Yusei, because if they gave any sort of item or card rewards then they'd clearly been missing out on something.

Asuka added in with an amused smile, "You guys are a popular enough topic that I heard people talking about you two during breaks between classes."

"...Well, at least I was right about not having to publicly announce it," Yusei sighed, and Judai had to give him props for being able to adapt to the situation so quickly, "I did say after that tournament that people would be able to figure it out on their own, didn't I?"

"You did," Judai confirmed, cursing the fact that his face was probably still red, "Anyways, uh... you can all tell him your names in a bit, but for now, food?"

"Finally!" Kenzan cheered, Johan joining him with an excited whoop as well.

As a group they all moved out of the entryway and towards the kitchen, though everyone laughed as they all noticed at the same time that Ruby and Winged Kuriboh had had their own reunion, Judai having made sure to materialize Winged Kuriboh again so that they could run around and play.

Sharing a glance with Yusei, Judai finally realized what that tug in his chest was - it wasn't guilt, it was joy and relief.

Lucky for him, only Yusei saw him quickly wipe at his eyes before he was grinning widely once again.