365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

At the Docks

7/14/19

They elected to walk there when the day Judai picked out finally came, seeing as the weather was cool enough to do so and they were leaving earlier in the morning so they could get there right when it opened. Plus, Yusei had had flashbacks to when he went to the arcade with Haou and ended up with huge plush toys that wouldn't have gotten back had they driven there; since they were bound to play carnival games and win, considering he fully expected Judai to cheat at one or two if something ended up catching his eye, he wanted to avoid having any issues with getting things back home.

"It's as beautiful as ever," Judai mused once they got to the docks, stopping for a moment to lean on the wooden fence and stare out at the ocean, "The breeze is really swaying my opinion right now, though. I haven't felt this cool while being outside in days."

Yusei laughed in agreement, "That's the summer for you. Maybe we need to get you down here a couple times a week or something, it's always going to be colder here thanks to the water."

"I wouldn't mind taking walks with you down here at all," Judai said, turning to him with a little grin and threading their hands back together, "Means you're taking a break and I'm getting to cool off, it's a two-in-one deal!"

"I'm a lot better now," Yusei huffed, rolling his eyes in amusement and letting himself get pulled along towards the entrance of the park.

"You are," Judai admitted, "but it's always going to stick as somethin' to tease you with, along with the ramen, that phobia of bugs you have-"

"I get it, Kuriboh."

"You're cute when you're in denial."

"I never denied anything though? All of those are true..."

Judai just smirked at him, clearly amused by his slight annoyance and confusion, "You're in denial about just how embarrassed the things I listed make you."

"Hey, my fear of bugs is very justified and I'm not embarrassed about it at all," Yusei defended, giving him an affronted look at being accused of such a thing. He might be able to see it with the other two things ('might' being the keyword, he liked to think he wasn't too embarrassed by his previous bad habits), but definitely not with his aversion to creepy, crawly, awful insects. They were dirty, they had far too many legs, made shivers go up his spine just hearing about them, and he knew far too many facts about how dangerous they could get in the right circumstances.

He did not like insects and he would defend his position until the end of time itself.

"Ah... right, sorry," Judai sheepishly said, tugging him a little closer so he could lean up and peck his cheek, "I should know that after what happened with the prank I tried to pull... I still feel bad about that."

Yusei winced just thinking about the incident - Judai had put a few fake cockroaches around the apartment, successfully convincing him that they'd actually infiltrated the place. Unfortunately, this also came with the consequence of Yusei quickly and efficiently getting the hell out of there, barely listening to Judai trying to tell him it was a prank. Once everything was cleared up, Yusei still hadn't been able to feel comfortable in the apartment until he'd gone through every little nook and cranny with cleaner and spray, then getting a new mattress when he remembered bed bugs existed and that he hadn't switched out the mattress since he'd gotten the place; he couldn't be sure just how many years old the thing was, so it got replaced and he was finally able to sleep again after two days of paranoia.

Needless to say, Judai swore up and down that he'd never do something like that again, would never doubt his fear of bugs, and then sucked up to him big time for about a week afterwards to make it up to him.

"At least you made up for it and won't do it again," Yusei sighed, smiling easily and untangling their hands so he could pull him into his side instead, "Anyway... you got the tickets, right?"

"Yup! Ordering online is neat!" Judai chirped, digging the folded print-outs out of the side pocket of the bag he was carrying, "Definitely beats having to wait in line, I'm used to having to do that 'cause I obviously didn't have access to a printer while I was travelling."

"You never just snuck in?" Yusei blinked, raising an eyebrow at him, "Seems like a double-standard to be fine with border-hopping yet not be fine sneaking into an amusement park."

"It feels morally wrong to sneak into an amusement park. It does not feel morally wrong to border-hop," Judai stated, looking up at him with his own questioning face, "Come on Yusei, if I'd expect anyone to understand, it's you."

"True," Yusei chuckled, placing a kiss on his forehead before letting his arm fall off the other's shoulders so they could hold hands again, "Now come on, what's the first thing you want to do once we get inside?"

"Rides, right now is the least crowded it will be the whole day," Judai immediately answered, a bright grin on his face as they finally reached the entrance, "And I wanna see you on an adrenaline high again."

"Rides it is, then" Yusei said, finally realizing what he was in for when it came thanks to what Judai had said.

This was going to a lot more fun than he initially thought it would be.