365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Burn Damage

8/29/19

They'd been successful in making the present, but on the other hand...

Well, Yusei wasn't going to be able to hide his hands, so he didn't even try when he came back. He'd been forced to take off his gloves due to the delicate nature of the work, but as a result he'd gotten a couple burns and bad scrapes from the tools he was working with - he hadn't used some of them before, so whenever he messed up (which, he was proud to admit, wasn't as often as he'd initially thought it would be) he got another injury to his hands to show for it.

It hurt in the moment of course, but they'd reduced to a dull ache after a few minutes that he barely noticed as he kept working, which is why he figured it wasn't too bad. Plus, he'd gotten worse injuries working on the runners over the years, so with that as a comparison it really was minor to him.

He knew Judai wouldn't think so, though, so he simply sighed to himself in acceptance of the inevitable as he stepped in the room and Judai's head popped up from his notebook to greet him with a smile.

"You're back! How'd it go? Do anything fun?" Judai asked, standing up and dragging him into a hug.

He was careful not to press too hard on his hands when he hugged him back, not wanting to make it worse before he could clean them up a bit and bandage them, and replied, "It was nice. We all got another project going, though it's something that only one or two of them are experts in, so it's been a learning experience to say the least. I promised to drop by again tomorrow for a couple hours so we could keep working on it."

Truthfully, the present was already done - Yusei just needed to get something nice to present it in, so his monsters had promised to keep it safe in the meantime. So, technically, it was still an ongoing project, just... not really when one actually looked at it. He needed an excuse to go back and get it ready with the proper materials though, so he'd take what he could get.

Judai hummed, pulling back and giving him a bit of a softer smile that he couldn't help but make as well when he saw it, "I'm glad you're spending time with them, it's always a good thing to get closer with your duel spirits... they're basically family." He started trailing his hands down Yusei's arms, so Yusei prepared himself for the inevitable while Judai kept talking, "This works out well actually, Edo told me he had a last minute job open up tomorrow for a lunch-time brunch so while I-"

Judai cut himself off with a frown, feeling the uneven, rough skin under his fingers before pulling on Yusei's wrists to bring his hands in front of him; judging from the glint the other got in his eyes, Yusei knew a lecture (or at least a very expressive expression of worry) was incoming.

"Yusei! What happened to your hands?!" Judai exclaimed, looking over his hands with careful fingers and critical eyes before dragging him and forcing him to sit on the bed with an admonishing glare, "You stay right there and hold up your arms. I don't want to see anything touching them while I go get the first aid kit, got it? And while I do that, explain, damn it."

"Just my first time using a couple of specialized tools, that's all. These are all from the first couple tries with any of the new machines, but I'm good now and can handle them just fine," Yusei assured him, glad to see that the explanation managed to mollify the other's upset attitude a bit. He still winced though when Judai came back and pressed a clean washcloth to his hands to clean them, which hurt like hell because Judai had to rub the cloth on the skin and couldn't do much about it otherwise.

Still, with the way Judai hit a few spots a couple times (all in places where it wouldn't make it worse), Yusei knew he was going to be watched like a hawk to make sure he didn't do anything too stressful on his hands. Thank the stars that they had accelerated healing cream and soaps from the Aromages - he would need to tag along with Judai soon so he could thank them personally for making what they did, because by the time he planned to go back to Starlight Junktion tomorrow his hands would be mostly healed.

Judai grumbled a bit as he swiftly and expertly applied different medicines to his hands before bandaging them and tying them off, gently holding both of his hands up once he was finished and kissing them lightly.

"Try to be a little more careful, please?" Judai asked quietly, sitting next to him on the bed after cleaning up and putting away the first aid kit, "Hand injuries suck, the last thing you want is to not be able to use your hands - I once had mine cut up in a fight so bad I couldn't use them for two weeks because it hurt too much to pick up things, and let me tell you right now, it was fucking hell. Don't copy me, dear."

"It wasn't that bad," Yusei sighed, noting that Judai hadn't let go of his hands and shifting himself accordingly. With a scoot backwards and a bit of nudging, he let his chin rest on Judai's head with his arms draped over the other in his lap so Judai could hold and fiddle with them all he wanted, "I've gotten worse burns working on my runner. That, and electrical burns suck a lot, especially when they sometimes feel cold."

"Okay, how about a compromise then - we both make sure to be more careful not to injure our hands."

"That's a deal I can do."

"So... now that that's cleared up, what's the project you guys're working on? I'm curious about what you were making to get these injuries in the first place."

Yusei merely hummed, letting his head fall down next to his face so he could press a soft kiss to his cheek and the side of his nose, smiling in victory when he got a laugh out of him, "That's a secret. You'll find out soon, though."