365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Pharaoh's Corner

5/25/19

The next evening, Pharaoh got to lounge around in his brand-new, plushy cat bed with brand-new blankets while using a chew-toy as a pillow to sleep on. Judai, Yusei, and Crow were all looking on in amusement; they'd made an adventure out of going to the pet store and arguing over what to buy to decorate the corner of the room with, and ultimately walked out with some of the high-quality stuff.

Judai had been against it, honestly, but Yusei and Crow had out-voted him and shoved premium cat food at him in the end. Thank the stars he had the money for all this stuff, because otherwise he'd be a bit more worried about it all - as it was though, he'd merely been against it for the sake of at least trying not to spoil the cat any more rotten than he already was.

"Y'know, I don't think I've ever seen him in a domestic setting like this before," Judai mused, taking in the new sight with a smile, "Back at the academy he just roamed around outside and did whatever he wanted, and then while we were travelling there wasn't really a time for something like this to happen."

"Kinda like a barn cat or something?" Crow blinked, glancing over Pharaoh's sleeping form with a slightly more critical eye, "Don't those kinds of cats get a lot of exercise and stuff? How is he so... big then?"

"Lots of barn cats and the like get fat, it's normal," Yusei replied, prompting both Judai and Crow to look at him with raised eyebrows. He looked back at them with a slightly defensive stare, asking, "...What? It's from them eating mice and stuff, they gain weight from doing their job essentially."

"Why do you know this?" Crow asked. Judai tilted his head curiously in agreement, wanting to know the reason as well, though he had a sneaking suspicion he already knew why - he just wanted it confirmed.

"I just- I happened to read about it once, that's all," Yusei answered, narrowing his eyes at them. He couldn't hide the very quick look off to the side that he made, though, which told them that he was omitting something.

"Sure, that's all," Judai hummed teasingly, a little grin appearing on his face as he continued on to explain his theory, "You just like cats, don't you? Bet you looked up everything you could about them and ended up liking the big and fluffy ones."

The embarrassed heat that slowly climbed up Yusei's face was more than enough of an answer, and both Judai and Crow couldn't help but chuckle at his expense.

"Aw come on, we all have a favorite type of animal," Crow said after a bit, patting Yusei on the back in apology for laughing, "I know a bit too much about crows and other types of birds, I certainly can't judge you for liking cats."

"I like cats a lot too, but I never really took the time to learn about them, mostly because Pharaoh is so independent," Judai admitted, coming up on Yusei's other side and doing his best to sling an arm over his shoulder, "It's good that you know all that stuff, that means you can stop us from doing something wrong when taking care of him."

Yusei smiled a little at this, evidently feeling a little better about their teasing because he replied back by saying, "You'd probably end up feeding him chocolate or something, which is poisonous to them. And most cats are lactose intolerant."

"Wait, what?" Both Crow and Judai gaped at him in surprise, causing him to laugh at them this time instead.

"Yeah, milk's not good for adults most of the time because of that," Yusei chuckled, giving them both a light punch to the arm for emphasis, "So don't go giving him milk, even if he's magical and would probably be okay. It'll still cause stomach aches and contribute to making him fatter."

"...Okay, y'know what? Let me go get a notebook and write all this down, maybe then I'll remember it," Judai said after a few seconds of staring in amazement, Crow nodding along with him in agreement.

They learned way more about cats that day from Yusei than they could have imagined... and it was all straight from his memory, too.

Judai couldn't help but wonder if Yusei's love for cats spawned from his comparison of him to a cat, though. He liked to think that was the case, because if it was, then that was simply adorable.