365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Gift Ideas

11/29/19

"It's already almost December... where did this last month go?" Judai wondered out loud, curling closer to Yusei under the sheets and blankets - they'd recently switched out all the sheets to warmer, thicker ones with a comforter on top, so there was plenty of warmth to go around at night between them despite the cold. It was like the summertime issues they'd had with the weather but in reverse, so they needed little heaters around the house instead of fans, and a chill seemed to settle in to the deepest corners of the apartment somehow.

Hell, they'd even went out and gotten Pharaoh a little cozy blanket just for him to curl up in, which turned out to be a very good idea considering there hadn't been a single morning since then where the cat hadn't been snoozing away underneath it. It was pretty common to find him lying in front of any of the heaters around the house, though he seemed to prefer the one underneath Yusei's desk and the one by the kitchen table.

"It disappeared under the snow," Yusei replied, trying to be cheeky but yawning right afterwards which ruined that impression, "I dunno though, you're right that it was just gone."

"I think we've finally gotten used to our new schedule, or at least your new schedule - mine's still sporadic as hell a lot of the time," Judai mused, letting out a sigh, "I have work again soon, and then again right afterwards..."

"You'll survive, I believe in you," Yusei chuckled, peppering his face with a bunch of eskimo kisses to make him laugh, "Cute."

"Yeah? Well, you too, so take that!" Judai retorted, poking him lightly in the stomach with a mischievous grin, knowing that he hit just the right spot to tickle him from the way Yusei flinched ever-so-slightly in response, giving him a playful glare.

"Hey now, aren't we already tired enough?" Yusei asked, laughing quietly along with him after a few moments of staring at each other, "I don't think we need a tickle fight to make us even more tired..."

"You're lucky you're right, I am tired - watching over those guys is exhausting. Who knew they'd go so crazy for snow of all things?" Judai laughed, settling in once again and wrapping his arms comfortably around the other, stealing some extra warmth by putting his hands under his shirt and hoodie.

It'd been days since they'd first all played in the snow and since Yusei's duel spirits had transformed a part of Starlight Junktion into a winter wonderland, but since then it felt like that was all any of their duel spirits wanted to do - they all just wanted to play in the snow together and have fun, and it ended up ultimately resulting in Judai calling it quits and getting them to sort out some sort of way to just go to Starlight Junktion. He may have a lot of stamina and energy himself, but damn, even Judai was starting to get tired from the sheer amount of time and energy their duel monsters were dedicated to snow and everything about it.

"Well, now they can go crazy for snow without us having to be there," Yusei stated, sounding just as tired and happy about the decision as Judai did, "Though I do feel like we should go every once in a while to check on them... I heard Blizzard, Red Resonator, and Speed Warrior making some sort of plan about gifts for Christmas? But it involved some pretty high-level tech for some reason, which is the part that worries me."

"Ah... yeah we should, uh, probably keep an eye out for that," Judai agreed, knowing that if Winged Kuriboh got wind of any plans like that he'd be all over it. The fluff-ball was surprisingly good at that kind of stuff and keeping fun stuff a secret, so Judai wouldn't put it past him to do so with this and even try to make it worse.

"Speaking of presents though, what exactly are we doing for everyone? There's... a lot more people to give presents to this year and I don't know what we're going to do about that," Yusei asked, pulling back just enough to look at him curiously.

Judai smiled at the question, partially because really, how sweet was it that Yusei counted everyone as a friend if they were his friend, even with the very limited interactions he'd had with some of them? But also, he was just glad that Yusei'd brought it up because Judai actually knew what he wanted to do and had thought it up at the beginning of the month; he probably would've forgotten if he'd been asked much later than now, to be honest.

"Okay, so you'll have to help me figure out exactly what to give everyone, but I actually thought up the perfect idea already - basically, we'll make cooking care packages," Judai replied, going on to explain, "So like, have you ever been at the store and seen those present jars of like, hot chocolate? Or something else, where it's basically the dry ingredients all layered on top of each other in the jar?"

"I think that rings a bell," Yusei said after a second of thought, humming before smiling at him happily, "I like that idea. What exactly did you need me to do for it?"

"You come up with what I should do the ingredients for, and you'll be the one to do the tags - then we'll both have contributed and it'll be a joint present from us to everyone else. Perfect, right? Obviously we'll get extra things for certain people, but I thought it would be a great baseline gift that'll be easy to do while still being nice."

"I never would've thought of that on my own, but it's a great idea. Good job, Judai."

Judai snuggled into him happily, glad that his idea had been well-received and was ready to be put into motion whenever they were ready - it honestly made everything so much simpler, and he was so glad he'd had that idea when he'd been in that autumn recipe phase.