365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Stormy

5/16/19

That night, it rained again, but this time there was thunder rolling in the distance as well with the occasional flash of light from lightning striking down. The storm still hadn't left in the morning either, and a loud crack of thunder happened to be what woke both of them up at the same time.

"What the- oh, I see," Judai yelped, cutting himself off once his mind snapped out of the sleepy haze that'd been torn away quickly, "Jeez, it really is rainy season, huh?" He turned to look at Yusei, noticing that he looked rather... tense.

"Thunder, huh?" Yusei mumbled to himself, glancing over at Judai and opening his mouth to say something before jolting slightly as another crack of thunder rang out through the window.

Judai looked on with wide-eyes, suddenly realizing what was going on and carefully asking, "Yusei... are you uh, scared of thunder, or lightning or something?"

Yusei stared at him for a few moments, contemplating his words before quietly saying, "Not... not necessarily that. I just haven't- uh, had the best experience with electricity. That I didn't have control over."

"Bad memories," Judai stated knowingly, seeing in Yusei the same kind of tense look that he himself would get sometimes that came from remembering things that weren't so great.

"Yeah," Yusei agreed softly.

"We can talk about it if you want, we don't have to though," Judai continued, not wanting to pressure him into anything. He did gather up the blankets though before holding up the bed sheets and gesturing for Yusei to go in, earning him a confused look before Yusei shrugged and did what he wanted. He pulled the bed sheets and all the blankets on top of them completely once he did, letting them fall into a warm, snugly darkness as he pulled Yusei close after.

"It'll block out some of the noise, plus you won't have to see any of the lightning flashes anymore," Judai explained with a grin, knowing that Yusei would have to take some time to adjust to the dark to see him. Judai only needed a little bit of time to adjust, as he was already able to make out Yusei's smiling face relatively clearly.

"Thanks," Yusei said appreciatively, grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers together. Some more thunder rang out at that moment, but it was significantly quieter thanks to the layers of blankets and sheets muffling the noise; he didn't startle much at all beyond tightening his grip on Judai ever-so-slightly, which meant that Judai's plan had worked.

They stayed quiet for a bit, soaking up the warmth of the blankets and each other while they both cuddled as close as they possibly could.

Eventually though, Yusei spoke up softly, seeming to have made up his mind on something, "I've been electrocuted a few times."

Judai winced at that, understanding why errant electricity seemed to put him off enough to make him actually flinch at things like lightning and thunder, "That sucks. What happened?"

"...Electric torture, when I was in the facility. Had to duel with rigged duel disks, too, that would shock you badly every time you lost life points. I lost a lot of 'em in that duel."

Gods, Judai was getting flashbacks to when Ryo turned to underground duels and constantly dueled like that - it was horrifying to watch, and even worse knowing that it was the reason his heart started failing. And now, imagining Yusei having to do that exact same thing, even just once, was seriously upsetting to him.

Even worse than that though - electric torture?

They'd tortured him in that fucking shit hole? It wasn't enough to fucking mark him like he wasn't even a person?

"Woah, Judai, calm down!" Yusei stated, grabbing his face with both his hands and forcing him to look at him in the eyes; Judai blinked, coming back into himself as he realized he'd been on the verge of growling.

"Sorry, but that absolutely pisses me off - how can they be allowed to get away with that shit?" Judai huffed, gently taking Yusei's hands off his face to hold with one hand while tracing Yusei's mark with the other, leaning in to kiss it before catching Yusei's lips with his own as he went to say something. His hand slid from his cheek to the back of his head, pulling him into it even harder as if doing so would wipe the bad thoughts away.

To be fair, it worked fairly well for a minute or two - they both got easily get lost in each other whenever they kissed.

"If it makes you feel better," Yusei breathed in between kisses, when Judai pulled away for a short break, "I got the corrupt asshole fired that was ordering it, and he even got a taste of his own medicine 'cause a friend hacked into the system and turned his duel disk's shock setting back on."

Judai grinned wickedly, feeling proud all of a sudden of his lover, "Good."

And then he pulled him back in for hard kisses, the storm outside completely forgotten by both of them.