365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Ponytails

9/15/19

The opening ceremony went smoothly, but it certainly didn't stop Yusei from clinging onto Judai afterwards for comfort just because he could. The champion's viewing room was very nice, and had a large couch and various other chairs scattered around a large table with a huge screen TV on the wall - of course, there was also the huge glass window wall, but it was only half the wall and positioned in such a way that the couch by the screen couldn't be seen from outside; this worked well for both of them, since it meant they could freely get comfortable together on the couch to watch the games.

Granted, he was expected to go watch from the window sometimes, but only for a couple of the matches and it didn't have to be the entire time. It worked just fine for him, especially considering he didn't feel the weight of a crowd watching when he was behind some semblance of a barrier.

"You did great, very inspiring," Judai hummed with a soft chuckle, slowly dragging his fingers through his hair in a way that made him almost instantly relax into him.

"Thanks, but I'm just glad it's over," Yusei replied, tightening his arms around him for a brief moment before pulling back to look at him, blowing some hair out of his face and causing the other to laugh, "Your hair's getting pretty long, isn't it?"

"Y'know, I kinda forgot about it," Judai mused, pinching his side bangs between two fingers and scrutinizing it, "I think this is the longest I've ever let it get. Usually I just cut it myself, but... well."

"I usually just cut mine myself as well," Yusei stated, eyeing his own bangs now that he'd mentioned hair - his was getting pretty long as well, but he was in the same boat as Judai in forgetting about it. It didn't really bother him at all though, and he couldn't help but wonder if he should just keep it like that.

As if reading his mind, Judai reached up and lightly grabbed some of his hair, holding it out to get a better idea of the length of parts of it before saying, "I wonder how we look with our hair tied up."

"Like in a ponytail?" Yusei asked, tilting his head a little while trying to imagine Judai with a ponytail, "You'd probably look good with one. It'd certainly be different, but maybe a little bit of taming of that Kuriboh fluff in a hairband wouldn't hurt. I don't know how mine would work, though."

"I mean, your hair's long enough for all of it to be pulled back, including those crab claws of yours-"

"Crab claws?"

At this Judai grinned, smushing his face together for a moment before reaching up with both hands to brush through his hair spikes, "Yeah, crab claws. 'Cause your hair looks like a crab - see, these are the claws, and these are the feet!"

Yusei stared at him before breaking out into a smile, rolling his eyes in defeat, "Whatever you say. I can't say anything because I call you a Kuriboh for a reason."

"Exactly!" Judai nodded, a toothy grin taking up his face before he calmed back down a bit, forcefully pulling down his so-called 'crab claws' and narrowing his eyes at him, "Man, that looks... odd. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but I'm kinda used to your hair being up and out."

In retaliation, Yusei gently gathered up Judai's hair and bundled it together in the back, leaving the side bangs hanging freely in the front as usual.

He's still cute, Yusei thought, smile growing a bit wider as he tilted his head and looked at him.

"It is pretty odd," Yusei agreed eventually, leaning a little closer to him and letting the hair in his hands go as he continued, "But you look good like that. A nice mix of handsome and cute."

A shy little smile popped up on Judai's face as he glanced off to the side for a moment, which told Yusei he'd succeeded in doing what he'd set out to do, which was fluster him a little by catching him off-guard.

"Someone's a little flirty today, I see," Judai stated, looking back to him with a determined glint to his eyes. Yusei felt him let go of part of his hair before realizing it had to be his spikes, judging from the feel of how they popped back up into place so quickly, before he said, "Ah, much better. You're a nice mix of handsome and cute like this, too."

Yusei's chest filled with warmth at the words, and he couldn't help but be amused that he was falling victim to his own strategy. Before he could say anything in response though, Judai leaned up and gave him a chaste kiss, pulling back to tug lightly at his cheek with a smile.

"Go change outta those contacts dear, then we can start making a dent on these bad boys," Judai chuckled, waving at the table where the bag of candy he'd bought had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Yusei laughed as well but was grateful for the reminder, taking advantage of the moment to steal a longer kiss from him before pushing himself up to go to the attached restroom to remove his contacts - he really didn't want to deal with dry eyes like last time, and he was infinitely glad that he'd decided to bring his glasses with him this time.

And, well, if he spent a little extra time holding his hair back in a mock ponytail to see how it looked in the mirror, no one had to know. He did decide that he kind-of liked the look with the glasses on, though.