365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Yusei's Birthday

7/7/19

Judai, of course, was the first one to tell him happy birthday. It was a quiet, half-awake mumble, but it was still the first thing Yusei heard the morning of, which made him quite happy.

"Thanks," Yusei chuckled sleepily, readjusting his hold on Judai before burying his head back into the pillows next to the other's, "Now back to sleeping, I don't want to wake up yet."

They dozed blissfully for another hour or so before they couldn't do it any longer, eyes meeting as they grinned at each other happily.

"Mornin'," Judai greeted. Yusei was quick to steal a morning kiss from him, in the process wiping off the foxy grin the other was wearing and replacing it with a more relaxed smile.

"Good morning," Yusei replied, sitting up and stretching out his arms and back with a yawn. Judai did the same a few moments later; Yusei let out a huff when he flopped onto him right afterwards, latching him in a hug.

"Happy Birthday," Judai hummed into his arm, a lot more coherently than he had previously.

"Thank you," Yusei chuckled again, highly amused when Judai continued to repeat himself.

"Happy Birthday~"

"Thanks..."

"Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks...?"

"You're handsome," Judai stated, looking up at him with a silly grin that made him laugh at the ridiculousness.

"So're you," Yusei teased, "but you're more cute than handsome, Kurbioh."

Judai let out a fake gasp, holding a hand to his heart in mock offense, "How could you say such a thing? Clearly I am a much more handsome Kuriboh... the most handsome one to ever live!"

They both laughed at that, the joking being the last thing they needed to fully wake up in the end. Yusei slipped out of bed afterwards, turning to face Judai with a smile.

"So, should I be worried about anything, or...?"

"I dunno, what time is it?" Judai asked, glancing at the clock and shrugging, "Nine? Eh... let's take a shower now, we've got time."

Yusei didn't even bother to ask to what they had time before, because he knew Judai wouldn't tell him. He'd just have to wait until after they'd finished getting ready to see - which, of course, would probably be a while because Judai had suggested that they both should go take one now.

Hey, he wasn't about to complain about it, especially since he didn't have a problem using the fact it was his birthday to make Judai do whatever he wanted. He completely blamed Judai for his being okay with this, what with all the passes and games he'd come up with for them.

An hour and a half later, Yusei walked out the door only to find the entire bottom floor of the apartment filled with duel monsters and decorations that were clearly handmade, alongside all of the Signers, together.

"Happy Birthday!" They all cheered, Winged Kuriboh and Junk Synchron floating around in the air and blowing on blowout noisemakers. Yusei couldn't help but laugh at the fact everyone (save for Jack, of course) was wearing the tiniest party hats he'd ever seen, and he was quick to make his way down the stairs, holding Judai's hand and tugging him along behind him.

"Thanks guys," Yusei said, genuinely happy to see everyone gathered in one place again, "I- Did you take time off work? Wait, Akiza, Luka, Lua - aren't you skipping class right now?!"

"One day won't hurt," Akiza shrugged with a grin that told him there was no fighting with her judgement, the twins agreeing with her enthusiastically.

"I cleared out my schedule for today," Crow answered, gesturing at Jack and continuing, "and he hasn't missed a single day of work since starting, so he's still got all his sick days to burn through."

"We all figured that the best present we could probably give you was a day where everyone was together again," Judai chimed in, squeezing his hand with a smile and a look that was so... soft and loving that it made Yusei's heart hurt, "Of course, we all got you presents that you get to open after you eat, but this is the main attraction."

"You're ridiculously difficult to find a present for," Jack huffed, though he was grinning as he said it, "Is this why you never let us do anything for you before to celebrate? Were you saving us the headache of finding something to give you?"

Yusei laughed at that, everyone else following in suit before he finally said, "Alright, I don't know about you guys, but I could go for some food right now."

"Ah yes, my wonderful creation shall finally see the light of day," Judai hummed, leading the way towards the kitchen and pulling out a large, glazed fruit tart from the fridge.

Yusei caught a glimpse of what he could only assume was a cake as well before the refrigerator door was shut, blinking in confusion as to how in the world Judai had found the time to make these things without him knowing. He only left the apartment once in the last few days, and that was... last night, to go to the twins'.

Damn, he thought, thoroughly impressed at this point even knowing now that it had been a set-up like he'd suspected. Judai was not only a very fast baker, but he had a damn good poker face when he really tried - he'd been totally fooled by how genuine his cluelessness had seemed in reaction to everything, and he honestly couldn't be happier about it.

He'd be remembering this birthday for a while, that's for sure.