365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Putting Up Lights

12/4/19

"Hmm... maybe move it just a little more to the right?" Yusei wondered, trying to tell Judai where to move his hand so that they could finish decorating the Christmas tree with lights. It was going pretty well, considering they'd managed to not only get it back successfully from the company, but also been able to set it all up inside the apartment with limited interruptions from anyone - now it was just a matter of actually decorating it, which anyone could help with, but Judai still took the lead of.

When they'd gone out for tree lights, they'd initially had a pretty big discussion about what kind they'd be getting - Yusei, of course, had already told Judai that he didn't really care what he decided to get, but Judai wanted to discuss them, so discuss them they did. They discussed it so much that they ended up getting tired of trying to figure out which one was more popular, so they just bought both types that they'd been discussing, the classic fairy light type and the four-colored classic type. It wasn't like they didn't have the money to spend on it, plus then they could leave it out of their hands and let the others choose for them...

...If they chose just one, though. Turns out, both Jack and Crow had decided that the lights would look good together and that there was no reason to have to separate them on the tree, so Judai got to wrap the longer pair of lights (the fairy lights) around the tree and evenly before working with Yusei to try and do his best to evenly spread the colored ones as well.

"Damn it Crow, stop plugging it in - I know it's you!" Judai called, sounding slightly annoyed since this was the fourth time so far that Crow had decided to turn on the power to the tree, blinding them a little in the process as they tried to finish, "I will go over there and make sure you can't mess with it if I have to!"

Yusei watched and listened to the interaction with a fond smile, noting that Judai was both close to getting done with the colored wires and that Crow hadn't realized this fact yet, which was why he went in with a chuckle for the fifth time after waiting just long enough to get Judai's defense down and expectations up. Judai's reaction was immediate - he shoved the last bit of wire into place, dashed out from behind the tree (which was located off to the side of the couch so that it was to the side of the second story landing), and gave Crow no warning before suddenly a shadow was shooting out of the kitchen wielding some ice cubes.

Needless to say, Crow yelped at the sudden cold down his shirt, struggling to get rid of it considering the jacket he was wearing, while Judai laughed his ass off at him.

"...I was going to do the same thing as Crow, but I'm seriously having some second thoughts now," Jack admitted, grumbling a little next to Yusei as they watched Crow get pulled into a noogie, which didn't help him get the ice out from under his shirt in the slightest, "I'd rather not get ice shoved down my shirt."

"Judai! I'm sorry- is that more?! Why?!"

"Do you know how much it hurt my eyes when you kept turning them on?! I'm literally only a few inches away from them, not a foot, you dumbass!"

"Yeah, well, you're fine now, aren't you?!"

Yusei whistled lowly, smiling in amusement as they continued to argue - they weren't actually mad at each other, clearly, but it was hilarious to watch, and he replied, "That's probably a good idea. He wouldn't stop until he managed to do it, too, so it would be a guarantee." He decided to shuffle through the various other boxes of lights they'd bought just in case they needed the extra, putting them in a neat pile so they could decide what to do with them now that they'd finished the tree. He wasn't entirely sure what they would use them for, though... maybe the kitchen window or their window or something? It sounded like it might be fun to have some colored lights strung up to light up the dark at nighttime...

It was a bit of a shame that they didn't really have an outside wall to work with, considering the way the apartment building was constructed, but they'd make up for it by doing all that they could with the inside. Yusei was enjoying it quite a bit, to be honest, since they hadn't exactly done much in the way of decorating last year - they'd been content with just knowing it was the holiday season for the most part, happy that they were finally back to having some semblance of a peaceful, normal life. It was why Judai had to start basically from scratch with decorations and setting-up everything, but it was a lot of fun going around and finding all the stuff with him.

Yusei only realized he'd zoned out for a moment too long when he was suddenly latched into hug by Judai and pulled backwards a bit, with Crow digging through the pile of lights he'd just made and picking out one of the fairy light boxes. Jack seemed to be in on whatever they were planning too, watching with a wide smirk from the side and sipping eagerly from his coffee cup.

"Weren't you two busy fighting about something just now...?" Yusei asked tentatively, growing wary of the increasingly mischievous smiles on everyone's faces - this was going to end in something embarrassing for him, wasn't it?

"Well, dear, I happened to remember something far more interesting to do - plus I already got my revenge on Crow, I'm good," Judai chirped in reply, snickering a little at the exasperated sigh Crow gave at the last bit, "But anyway, do you remember promising me to let me try to hand lights from your hair? Because you did, and guess what time it is!~"

Honestly, he should've realized by now that Judai never forgot when it came to things like this - it just never happened, and he needed to stop being surprised every time by it. He hoped he was satisfied with getting plenty of pictures of him being embarrassed, because as it turned out, the lights really did stay in his hair after a bit of fiddling around with them, which was not what he'd expected to happen at all - he could tell Judai was more than satisfied later, though, when he got a peek at his phone and it was already his wallpaper.