365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Snow-filled City

11/28/19

Judai sucked in a breath, mentally preparing himself for what he was about it see - apparently once everyone had gone back home after that snow day, Yusei's duel monsters had legitimately tried to make a snow machine, then promptly tested it on a section of Starlight Junktion. Needless to say, it'd worked just as intended, and that section of the city was absolutely teeming with snow and decorations now.

Yusei's duel spirits had surprised him with it, actually. They knew Yusei had wanted to try working on it with them and felt bad that they'd been so eager they'd finished it without involving him in the process, but they made up for it by promising a full explanation and rolling out some of their other major project ideas that they were thinking of for the city. The place could always be improved somehow, and the city was actually armed to the teeth to deal with intruders believe it or not - it was just so well-hidden and designed that so long as you went there with either permission or without foul intent, you'd be fine.

"Alright, let's go!" Judai cheered, squeezing Yusei's hand before leading him through the portal he'd opened up. Almost instantly he was hit with the cold, frosty air of the city, which made him really glad they'd both decided to wear their heavy winter outfits just in case they'd gone overboard with the whole snow thing.

Which, apparently, they actually did go overboard - the place they stepped into looked like a winter wonderland. There were flakes of snow falling from the sky at a slow, steady pace, blankets of white covered the entire area, and there were holiday decorations literally everywhere. Christmas lights, signs, the odd machine here-and-there that was clearly custom-made but did some cool little light show on the ground or on the wall across from it, and tons of duel monsters that were wandering around the snow-filled area and having a fun time.

"Okay, this is way cooler than I expected," Judai stated, seeing Yusei nod in agreement out of the corner of his eye, neither of them looking at each other. They were too busy looking at all the lights and snow to do that yet, though in the back of his mind Judai prepared to bring out his phone to take a picture of Yusei when the timing was right.

"Yusei, Judai! Over here!" they heard, turning towards the voice only to see Yusei's usual partner group all together - Synchron, Quillbolt, Sonic Chick, and the more recent addition of Junkuriboh (who'd fit in almost seamless when he'd joined a couple months ago) were all waving at them to come over. It got the attention of some of the other duel monsters as well, who all stopped to at least wave at them as they passed by before going on their way - half of them seemed to be carrying stuff, so they were probably too busy to chat at the moment.

"So? Do you like it?" Synchron asked excitedly, though before they could really answer he was tackled into the snow by Winged Kuriboh, who'd suddenly come out of the blue. Junkuriboh squealed and floated after them as they tumbled through the snow while Quillbolt and Sonic Chick stared in confusion for a second as to where he'd gone; Judai and Yusei shared an amused look before snorting at the ridiculousness of the scene, huddling together almost instinctively to get a little warmer.

"I do," Yusei answered once everyone'd calmed down a little, smiling happily as he looked back around the city, "I never thought I'd see this place like this..."

"Neither did any of us, yet here we are," Quillbolt said, rolling over towards Yusei, who let go of Judai's hand to pick him up - it was cute, so Judai didn't mind the loss of warmth too much, "This isn't even the best part, though."

"And what would that be, then?" Judai grinned, shoving his now empty hands into his pockets to keep them as warm as possible, though he didn't really need to since he was actually wearing gloves. They were light and thin, but made of a nice, fluffy material that kept his hands warm despite that. He and Yusei had had a good laugh about it too when he first got them and wore them out, joking about how now Yusei would see what it was like to hold hands with someone wearing gloves all the time.

"No spoilers. Follow me though, I'll show you!" Sonic Chick stated, sounding a lot less shy than she usually did. Maybe the cold weather and snow was good for them after all - it seemed to really be bringing out the best of a lot of their duel monsters, at least.

They followed her down the streets, making their way through the town and stopping to talk with a few of Yusei's duel spirits they came across who were set up off to the side and working on personal projects before finally seeing what they were being led to. A huge, open plaza was the sight they were met with when they turned that last corner, filled with just as many layers of snow and decorated with tons of lights, but the best part was the middle.

"How the hell did you guys get a tree that big?" Judai wondered, slightly shocked that they'd managed to not only somehow find a tree in this place (which was nearly completely devoid of greenery aside from a greenhouse system for food purposes), but one that big and perfect. It was completely wrapped in lights of varying colors and topped with a huge star at the top, and it really took the cake for making this the best winter plaza he'd ever seen in his life.

"Trade secret!" Synchron chirped, though he did immediately admit after, "Though, not really. Y'know how we had to figure out how to get out in the first place, just to get you in here? We actually combed through all those lab rooms and found a bunch of old research and studies, and some of them were about plants. We took stuff from there, worked with some of the stuff in the greenhouse, and well, you can see the result."

"It's beautiful," Yusei said, still staring up at the tree and taking in the sheer size of it - the lights all reflected across him, and Judai quickly, with very practiced ease and smoothness, pulled out his phone to snap a picture of the scene. He was just way too photogenic, and as he double-checked the couple of pictures he'd taken Yusei finally looked over at him and saw what he'd done - his face flushed a little, and when combined with the cold and a little smile, was too precious for Judai's heart to handle.