365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Summer Storm

9/5/19

The weather at night had slowly been starting to drop down to cooler, autumn-like temperatures as the new season approached, but it seemed that summer wasn't going let the weather go without squeezing out one last summer storm. To Yusei's relief, he could hear the rolling thunder but wasn't getting any flashes of lightning in the room, so the most he was having to deal with was the occasional fidget due to the sound.

Which was turning out to be an especially good thing considering Judai appeared to be fast asleep and having a nightmare next to him, judging from the pinched face and occasional hitched breathing; the last thing Yusei needed to happen was being forced to deal with his fear of lightning while attempting to help Judai out as well.

He was very tempted at first to just shake the other awake since the sight and sounds of Judai's discomfort were quick to get to him, but then logic took over before he could do anything and told him to be careful. Judai was a wielder of very strong powers and part duel monster, and if Yusei were to accidentally cause him to lash out when he woke up it would be bad, so he took it slow - he gently went about coaxing the other awake while doing his best to ignore the sound of the thunder outside, which luckily seemed to be fading away over time.

It took a minute or two, but soon enough Judai's eyes flew open as he sucked in a breath and froze, stuck in that transition from dreaming to waking up.

"Judai," Yusei mumbled quietly, slowly bringing a hand up to brush the hair out of the other's face, "You okay? You looked like you were having a nightmare."

"Yusei?" Judai asked, staring at him with a glint to his eyes that Yusei couldn't quite decipher before he suddenly found himself being hugged tightly with a head buried into his chest. He heard the other take a couple large, ragged breaths, tightening the hug around him even more as if he'd disappear if he didn't.

"I'm here," he replied, doing his best to curl back around him comfortingly and kissing the top of his head, "Don't worry, I'm not goin' anywhere."

They spent another few minutes gripping onto each other until finally, Judai loosened his grip and pulled back to give him a relieved look, explaining hesitantly, "You- you were... gone. Because of me. Don't remember the exact reason why, but it was definitely because of me somehow..."

Ah, that'd do it, Yusei mused, easily able to imagine having that kind of nightmare himself about Judai instead. If there was one thing they shared fear-wise, it was that they themselves would be the sole reason for getting their loved ones hurt - they'd feel immense guilt if they thought it was true, even in a nightmare.

"Well, I'm definitely not gone," Yusei reassured him, smiling lightly and glad to see that Judai was able to return it relatively easily, "and I highly doubt that even if I were to disappear somehow, that you wouldn't be able to find me and get me back. You're good like that."

Judai chuckled at that, his smile turning just a bit brighter as he replied, "Y'know what? You're absolutely right... Thanks, Yusei."

"No problem," he said, another long roll of thunder sounding out right after he did. This time Judai took note of it, blinking out the window before turning back to look at him with a concerned frown.

"Enough about me, are you okay? It's storming again," Judai asked, letting go of him just long enough to be able to pull up all the blankets and sheets over their heads, giving him a tiny little smirk in the process.

Well, Yusei didn't mind the comfort, and this was clearly helping Judai feel better so he just went along with whatever the other wanted to do, slipping under the pile of fabric with a small smile, "It's mainly lightning I have the issue with, but thunder's... hit or miss, depending on how far away it is."

Judai hummed in understanding, latching back onto him with a happy sigh as they slowly adjusted their eyes to the darkness under the covers, saying, "You're warm... It's nice."

"And you're still a living heater as usual, which is nice as well," Yusei replied, getting a laugh from him in response before continuing to try and make him laugh more, "I was going to ask if you wanted to get tea or something, but I don't think I wanna move now. Maybe we need to get a hot water maker for this room so we don't have to go downstairs to get it..."

"We'd never get out of bed for more than two steps if that were the case," Judai snickered to his delight, playing with his hands a bit in front of him, "It'd be nice, yeah, but isn't is also kinda a hassle? We'd have to bring it downstairs to fill it with water and make sure to keep some clean mugs around up here as well."

"True, but it's still the thought that counts," Yusei stated, closing his hands around Judai's fingers and bringing them up to kiss his knuckles, "Come on, let's try to get a little more sleep. We've still got a couple hours before the sun comes up."

"Hopefully we're still under the covers by that time and won't get woken up by the sun," Judai huffed, both laughing again before getting wrapped up in each other once again and going back to sleep.

Thankfully, the rest of the night and next part of the morning, they slept thoroughly and without any nightmares or issues. Yusei was glad that he was able to help Judai out, even if he knew deep inside that that kind of nightmare was a lot nicer than his usual ones probably were, but hopefully it'd be quite a while until either of them got another nightmare of any kind.