365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Cover Story Complete!

5/3/19

It took a few more hours of brainstorming, but they did eventually come up with something they were all satisfied with as a cover-story for Judai's Neo-Spacians. Having all the info about them cut out from existence helped ease their minds a lot and gave them a boost in determination to make it work.

Now all they could focus on was getting food as soon as possible since none of them had anything but caffeine all day, having skipped lunch in favor of getting work done; it was one less thing to worry about, especially for Judai.

Yusei knew Judai was relieved it was finally done, since he'd slumped over on him once Carly stated that they were officially done.

"How do you do this kind-of stuff all the time?" Judai asked, not bothering to move off of Yusei when he reached for his third soda of the day and chugged it.

"I mean, it's not like I do - I'm a reporter, and I try to be an honest one when I can," Carly replied, shutting her notebook after tearing out the page detailing Judai's brand-new story, "It's obviously not easy, but reporting on things that have, y'know, actually happened is significantly easier than trying to create a fake scenario and report on it like it's believable." She handed the papers over to Yusei, saying, "Here, make a bunch of copies and then make Crow and Jack memorize them at least. Judai, you might want to give a few copies to your friends, though especially to the ones sponsoring you - they're going to need the story and will help a lot in keeping it straight if your cards fall under scrutiny."

"Thanks again for all this, seriously," Judai said, giving her a grateful look, "If you ever need anything, feel free to call."

Carly rolled her eyes with a smile, stating, "You're a friend now, it's no problem. Besides, you've already given me dirt on Jack that I can hold over him - those pictures have been backed up in numerous places, I'm never getting rid of them."

"Same," Yusei said, laughing slightly and causing both Judai and Carly to laugh as well. He looked up in thought for a moment before continuing, "Now we just need Crow to do something picture-worthy."

"Eh, it'll have to happen eventually. These things are pretty much unavoidable in the long run, we just have to be patient," Judai shrugged, finally sitting up straight in his chair, "Anyway, want some food? I don't know about you guys but I'm starving."

"You're always hungry," Yusei mused, though he turned to Carly at a sudden thought, "Oh, you've never had Judai's cooking, huh?"

"No?" Carly blinked questioningly, not quite understanding what he was getting at.

...Right, sometimes Yusei forgot that not all their friends knew about Judai's second job and cooking skills. He'd just gotten so used to the idea of Judai being a good cook and, as he'd figured out, baker that he always assumed the others knew as well.

Also, that sounded almost exactly like something Judai would say. Yusei was seriously picking up more and more of Judai's mannerisms and lines of thought, and he could only hope that Judai was picking up some of his as well - just not the insomnia part, though. He wouldn't wish that on anyone.

"He's pretty much a professional chef at this point," Yusei explained, quickly pinning Judai with a look when he immediately went to complain, "Don't deny it, you've cooked and baked for official functions. Phoenix even admitted that people were asking who the chef was at that last one you went to, you are."

"Chefs decide the menu, I did not decide the menu-"

"You literally had a two hour talk with him about what they should serve for a four-course meal the other day."

"Only because he said he didn't have much experience with the specific types of food the client was asking for-"

"So he asked you, you made up the menu, and now you're going to be working when he holds that specific party. You've just proven my point, Judai."

Carly snorted across from them at their mini argument, beaming brightly when they looked over, "You two are already acting like an old married couple, how cute."

For once, both Yusei and Judai were flustered, and as they stuttered over a response she merely started laughing more.