365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Protective Instincts

3/28/19

Judai was a very touchy person, as Yusei had very quickly come to realize and get used to within hours of when he'd first arrived, but the way he was barely letting Yusei go anywhere without hanging off of him was unusual. He noticed that Judai was also still significantly on edge from the day they'd spent at the reactor facility, judging from from the tense way he was holding himself even though they'd already been back home for nearly half an hour now.

Don't get him wrong, Yusei didn't mind the behavior much - he secretly rather enjoyed the doting attention, especially since he was on what was essentially a week-long holiday and didn't have anything he needed to do so he could just relax - but it was still unusual. Not only that, but it felt like Judai was quieter than normal; in this case, it was because he was letting his actions speak for him instead of his words.

Currently they were on the couch with Yusei pretty much lying curled up in Judai's lap, trying very hard not to make any noises due to the continuous head scratches the other had been administering to him for the last ten minutes straight. If it weren't for this and his worries about Judai being alright, he'd probably have fallen asleep two minutes in; Judai was still a living heater, after all, and as it was he could barely keep his eyes open with how comfortable and relaxed he felt.

"Judai," Yusei mumbled, gaining the other's attention immediately. He felt his chest vibrate lightly as he hummed in question, getting tugged even closer than before somehow as he asked, "You okay?"

Judai merely hummed out an 'mm-hmm' in response, burying his face into Yusei's hair and not even questioning why he was asking in the first place.

Yusei sighed at this, knowing he'd have to sit up and coerce the answers out of the other even though moving was the last thing he wanted to do right now. Still, he managed to do so, reluctantly pushing Judai's head off of his so he could turn and look at him.

"You don't seem okay," he said quietly, meeting Judai's confused gaze with his worried one, "You're not usually this quiet."

Judai pulled him back down into his grasp just as quickly as he'd pulled out of it, letting out a deep breath into his hair and muttering, "I'm fine, don't worry. Just still on edge from that place."

"Is... is there anything I can do to help?" Yusei asked, going to move his hands up before Judai caught them and kept them down, "Judai-"

"Just stay like this and I'll be fine in a bit," Judai interrupted, pulling back momentarily so he could give him a quick kiss. Yusei noted that he'd changed his answer to show that he wasn't actually fine, but the reassurance that he would be was appreciated regardless.

"I sorta get why that place makes you uncomfortable, but the way you're reacting makes me think it's much more dangerous than you've told me," Yusei said once they parted, doing his best to convey his worry through the slight frown on his face.

Judai sighed, though he at least seemed to perk up a bit and gave him another quick kiss before saying, "It's not that, don't worry. It's mostly due to me."

"Due to you?" Yusei questioned, tilting his head confusedly.

"It's the fact I'm part duel monster," Judai explained, lightly dragging fingers through his hair and across his scalp to assuage his worries, "All that duel energy sets off alarm bells in my head and this is the result."

Suddenly it clicked for Yusei, his eyes lighting up in realization - the war-zone levels of energy there were something that Judai could actually feel and sense, unlike him and Johan, and as a result the part of him that was part duel monster had its instincts rearing their head in alarm. Thus, due to these instincts telling him that something was terribly wrong, he was instantly put on alert for anything bad and became incredibly protective of his loved ones.

In this case especially, he had hyper-focused on Yusei due to the combination of their previous interaction with the reactor and the fact that he was his significant other, who was right in the middle of the energy-riddled area. It made sense that after hours of staying within the facility's vicinity and staying hyper-vigilant, Judai would need quite a bit of time just keeping Yusei close back at home to finally calm down.

"We won't stay nearly as long next time," Yusei assured him, leaning into him more while he did so, "And hopefully with the data we've collected, we'll be able to figure out a way to clean up at least some, if not all of the energy."

"I have no doubt you will," Judai replied, giving him a small, but relieved smile. A little bit of tension left his body as well, though evidently it'd still be a while until he could finally unwind.

For now though, Yusei would fully take advantage of the situation and enjoy the attention Judai was giving him - it was a nice change of pace, and he'd be lying if he said this behavior wasn't making his heart skip a beat here and there and his face flush. After all, it wasn't often that he was confronted with a Judai that gave him such serious, protective looks that felt like they bore right into his soul.