365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Stubborn Sickness

5/13/19

Thanks to Crow's timely warning, Judai had the foresight to hide Yusei's laptop away before he woke up. He hid it in the last place he'd probably think of, which was Judai's old travel pack that'd been shoved to the back of their closet for quite some time, so he wasn't too worried about Yusei finding it.

Didn't make it any easier to keep it a secret, though.

"Judai, please? Can I just have it?" Yusei asked, and Judai had to bite his tongue to keep himself from saying 'yes' because Yusei was pulling out all the stops to get his laptop. In other words, he was getting to experience the terrifying force that was Yusei giving him constant puppy eyes and latching onto him in the cutest, most distracting ways possible.

Judai knew that he knew exactly what he was doing, too, since he saw the same victorious glint in Yusei's eyes every time he had to look away or visibly bite back a response.

"Please love? I'll let you have another pass even."

"Never took you to be the begging and bargaining type," Judai muttered under his breath, letting out a sigh before pushing Yusei's mug of tea back into his hands and saying louder, "Drink the rest of it and I'll think about it. Besides, didn't you want to wash out the taste of the medicine? It was that artificial grape flavor, I remember how awful it was to take as a kid."

Yusei made a face as he suddenly seemed to remember that he could still taste the aftertaste of the liquid medicine he'd taken, quickly obeying and going back to sipping at his honey-filled tea. In doing so he unlatched himself from Judai's arm, which meant Judai was free to stand-up and escape far enough from the bed that Yusei couldn't reach him without getting up.

And well... Yusei could try, but he wouldn't be able to, as he found out a minute later when he tried to put down the drink and follow Judai off the bed.

"Seriously Judai?" Yusei asked, sending him the most indignant deadpan look Judai had ever seen.

"Yup."

"This is gross abuse of your powers, you should be ashamed."

"Nah, if Haou can do it to Jack, I can definitely do it to you," Judai grinned shamelessly, making sure his shadows that were wrapped around Yusei's legs were secure before waving as he walked out of the room, "I made you soup. I'll be right back with some, okay?"

"Let me go with you, I'm not sick enough to have to stay in bed-" Yusei tried to say, coughing in the middle of his sentence and pouting at the unconvinced look Judai sent him, "-I'm fine, damn it."

"Uh huh. Sure, it's not like your temperature went up point-five degrees in the thirty minutes that passed between the two times I checked it," Judai said, rolling his eyes slightly as he went back to exiting - if that's how Yusei wanted to do this, then that's fine. It wouldn't work nearly as well as his begging had beforehand; thank the gods, because Judai didn't think he could last much longer under that kind of manipulation.

When he came back with the soup, Judai had fortified his mental defenses once again, though he couldn't help the soft smile he gave when Yusei's eyes lit up at the smell and taste of the food. He was just glad that he was smiling and not feeling quite as bad as he could be.

...Then again, this was Yusei - he could very well be in pain and just be hiding it extremely well. High pain tolerance was something Judai understood and had himself, though honestly, Yusei took it to a whole different level.

"If you start getting a headache or anything, just tell me and I'll get you painkillers, okay?" Judai said quietly, sitting back next to Yusei while he ate and lightly threading his fingers through his hair. He got a nod in return, which wasn't quite good enough to satisfy his irrationally worried state of mind but he pretended it was anyway.

He moved the tray to the side table once Yusei finished eating, pulling him into a hug and burying his face in his neck so that he could finally get his thoughts to slow down. It wasn't even close to being as bad as it was after that one reactor visit, but it was still enough to throw him off-kilter.

Stupid instincts.

"...Can I have my laptop no-ah! Judai, what the hell? S-stop it-"

"Not until you stop asking about it," Judai mumbled, feeling a bit bad that his initial reaction to being annoyed had been to bite him considering where his head currently was; then of course, he realized this was the perfect excuse to have some fun and kept going at it, staying in one spot that got him the reaction he wanted while also being able to be covered with a jacket later, "Now unless you want to sweat out your fever in a different way, I suggest you listen to me."

To his delight, Yusei stopped asking... for about two hours. At least doing the same thing to remind him of Judai's not-so-subtle threat made him stop again.