365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Recovery Night

10/27/19

Judai was worried, to say the least. That small chance of lightning and thunder ended up being true, which meant that Yusei was probably not having too great a day - he hoped that having the extra music to listen to would help him drown out the sound when he could, but he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep the earbuds in all day either. He made sure to text him every time he knew he was on break (he'd very adamantly insisted on knowing Yusei's class schedule, which was something the other was more than willing to give him) and even though the responses he got made Yusei seem like he was doing fine, he couldn't help the nagging feeling in his mind that he wasn't.

It wasn't that he didn't trust him, it was just that he knew Yusei was way too good at disguising his own feelings even from himself. He prepared for the worst though, making sure that some warm comfort food was ready for him when he got home along with some of that tea that he'd gotten from Aleister - admittedly Judai just wanted the tea himself because it was simply delicious and nice to drink, but it doubled as a soothing drink to help calm down with so he'd use it for that, too.

"I'm home," Yusei called when he finally got back, covered in rain-water though his head and hair was relatively dry thanks to having to wear his motorcycle helmet. Judai was quick to grab a towel from the closet with a shadow, wanting to be quick about it, so he could ruffle Yusei's hair a bit and dry his face before letting him take it and do the rest.

"Welcome back," Judai greeted, frowning a little as he noticed Yusei was shivering; he took his bag from him and put it off to the side for now, deciding they could worry about it later.

"Thanks," Yusei said, patting himself down just enough with the towel to soak up the drops of water that wanted to drip onto the floor before kicking off his shoes so he didn't track anymore water into the apartment, "It's gotten pretty bad out there, usually my bike can block quite a bit of rain but... not tonight, apparently."

"You need to get out of those clothes before you get sick again," Judai replied, gently pushing him towards the stairs, "Why don't you go take a nice warm shower, then come down and eat?"

"That sounds good," Yusei mused, though Judai noted that he didn't un-tense at all as he slowly peeled his very wet jacket off his body and tossed it on the desk chair with deadly accuracy as he climbed up the stairs.

Clearly the thunder and lightning had gotten to him more than he'd wanted to believe it would. If the shower and some dry, clean clothes didn't end up making Yusei relax enough, then Judai was going to pull him to bed so he could wrap him in blankets, black-out the windows, and then give him some warm food and tea to enjoy. Plus, if Judai stayed and cuddled with him in bed, then he could cut out the sound from outside if he needed to and prevent the thunder from bugging them.

When Yusei came into the kitchen about fifteen minutes later, he'd managed to relax some, but not enough to really make a difference to how the tense way he was holding himself. He probably didn't even realize he was doing it, so Judai was quick to turn him back around and up the stairs again while he dragged his tray of food along behind him.

"Judai?" Yusei blinked in confusion, letting himself get pushed back up the stairs but tilting his head in question.

"You're really tense, are you really okay?" Judai mumbled, pointing at the bed once they got there and getting to work bundling Yusei up as best he could while making sure it was still comfortable, "Did the music help at all during break?"

"...Oh, I am kind-of tense, aren't I?" Yusei breathed, closing his eyes and letting Judai worry over him unquestioningly now, "And yes, it did help quite a bit, actually. Thank you again for that, I know you said it had some sentimental value so..."

"Don't worry about that part, I feel far better knowing it's getting used and helping you out than anything else," Judai stated, satisfied with his work for now and setting the tray across Yusei's lap for him to eat, "Here you go, eat up. If you want more just tell me and I'll go get it for you - I'll probably be bringing the rest of the tea up anyway though."

Yusei caught his arm and tugged him lightly down for a kiss before he could pull away, giving him a soft smile that he automatically returned, "Thanks, again. I love you."

"I love you, too," Judai replied, taking a moment to simply enjoy the feeling of their foreheads touching and lips brushing each other ever-so-slightly before forcing himself to stand upright, "I'll be right back, okay? I need to finish cleaning up the kitchen, it's a bit of a mess right now."

"Hurry back, I want my living heater here with me," Yusei chuckled, taking a sip of tea to start with and letting out a hum of contentment.

To Judai's delight, it only took around twenty minutes for Yusei to finally fully relax, and it was a nice night of goofing off looking at random things on Yusei's laptop while staying huddled together and basking in the warmth with the occasional kiss.