365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Thinking Ahead

4/18/19

"So how did you and Yusei meet?" Carly asked, glasses still glinting with sparkles somehow to Judai's surprise, "That's been a pretty popular question among the gossipers so far who care more about that than the actual dueling."

"Ah... we..." Judai blinked, struggling to think of something that wasn't 'oh yes, we saved the world together by hopping through time'. After a few moments he tried answering, "We stopped a card thief together?"

The blank stares of disbelief he got in return told him that they weren't impressed with the lie in the slightest.

"Did you two seriously not come up with a cover story yet?" Jack asked, his face strained in a way that made Judai believe that had he been anyone else, he'd be face-palming right now.

"Okay, to be fair we didn't exactly think we'd need it already!" Judai defended, crossing his arms and pouting slightly at the disapproving look, "Plus, we hadn't... actually thought about the fact we'd need one in the first place."

Jack groaned in response, "You two are idiots! We've been telling you for how long that you're in the public eye?! How did you not think about this even once?!"

"Okay, let's just calm down for a minute," Carly piped up, still wearing a smile despite everything and patting Jack on the arm soothingly, "What's this about needing a cover story? I'll help out but I need all the details first, then I can make sure that what we come up with is what I get published."

"Well, you'd find out eventually anyway since you're part of the group, so might as well," Judai shrugged, not at all bothered with telling her, "The gist of it? I time-hopped twenty years to get here."

Carly lit up at that, saying, "Oh! You must've been one of the people Yusei worked with to beat that one guy he told us about that was stealing people's cards across time! He didn't tell us much about you though, just that you were an excellent duelist and that you both dueled with the King of Games!"

"Well, that certainly makes explaining that easier," Judai grinned, "You've pretty much got the whole story right there. Anyway, I'm here now, and Yusei managed to get all my information changed so it didn't look out of place, so... yep, that's it. Just uh-need a cover story now I guess."

Carly hummed to herself in thought for a few moments before stating, "Well, we should probably wait until Yusei can be here too since he'll need to know it, plus he'll be able to add in anything we might miss. For now though, we can work on stuff about just you!"

"Start with his cards," Jack suggested, and to Judai's amusement was half-distracted by the way Carly was hanging off his arm at this point - at least she'd gotten him to calm down pretty fast, no wonder Crow had mentioned calling her whenever he needed Jack out of the house.

"My cards?" Judai frowned, "Oh right, makes sense. My Elemental HERO's are an old archetype at this point, I forgot."

"The main one's aren't the problem, it's the ones that aren't on any card lists anywhere," Jack replied, reluctantly prying Carly off himself so he could sit down on the single couch in the room, "Like that Elemental HERO Neos card of yours."

"I haven't used him yet, though."

"But you plan to, right?"

Judai sighed but nodded, not liking that he'd have to come up with an explanation for owning the cards he did just so he could use them but knowing that he'd have to anyway, "I've... got a whole archetype of cards that are unique to me revolving around him."

"An entire archetype?" Jack asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow at him, "Seriously? Good luck with that, it's bad enough that you used that one card last time - Yubel, I think? Most people didn't think about whether that was an actual printed card, but that one's something you'll have to explain too. That's a lot of cards you'll have to explain having."

"We'll come up with something, don't worry," Carly reassured them both, flipping her notepad to a clean sheet and spinning her pen with a grin, "Now, shall we get started? We've got an hour and a half until your next duel, so let's see if we can't come up with anything in that time."

Judai groaned miserably at the thought but complied, plopping down into a chair at the small table in the room and burying his head in it for a moment before sitting up with a determined look, "Alright, let's do this."

"Oh no, you have to think, whatever will you do?" Jack teased him with a huff of amusement at his antics.

"Oh no, I'm being insulted by the great Jack Atlas, whatever will I do?" Judai retorted, rolling his eyes in response.

"Oh! Jack, could you do us a favor and go get some water from the vending machines outside?" Carly asked suddenly, turning towards him and holding a hand up to her face with a sheepish grin, "I completely forgot that I left mine in the van!"

"Dumbass," Jack groaned, though he got up anyway and left, "Fine, I'll be back in a minute. You owe me, though."

Judai stared as he left with barely a fight, still not quite believing what was happening in front of his eyes. Well, at least he had some rather solid proof of Jack liking her now - if that wasn't proof, he didn't know what was.

Once the door closed, he turned to her with a raised eyebrow and a wicked grin, "You totally know."

"It's super obvious," she replied, her own grin just as wicked as his.

"That's hilarious, I hope you know."

"Oh, I know, trust me. Crow laughs at it nearly every time I come over and get Jack to do stuff he'd never do otherwise. I'm just waiting for him to finally get his act together one day, and I plan on embarrassing the crap out of him the day he finally asks me out."

Judai laughed at that, "Y'know, I think we're gonna get along just fine! Here, give me your phone number before he gets back - I'll give you fodder whenever he does something dumb that he wouldn't admit to otherwise."

Carly cackled, quickly pulling out her phone and swapping numbers.

I like this girl! Yubel cackled as well, amusement pouring out of her, And she's a reporter? That makes all of this even better! Just think about all the gossip and rumors she must know about.

Huh, that was true - to be honest though, Judai was just glad to have found a kindred spirit who also enjoyed embarrassing the shit out of their significant other.