365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Candy Presents

12/6/19

"We're invited too?" Crow blinked, pointing between himself and Jack when Judai brought it up later that day - it was the weekend at that point, so everyone had the day off (and Crow was in-between jobs). Thus, they'd all decided to have some fun dueling each other, making a few edits to their decks so they could try some new strategies without much worry about winning or losing.

Yusei decided to duel just a few times in favor of studying, which they all understood completely, but Judai had to smile internally at the fact that he was doing it in the living room with them; he was taking the time to hang-out, not letting himself get fully pulled into the textbooks and his notes, which was a nice change in pace from the usual deep-dive studying he did.

"Yup, you guys are - oh, and Carly, too," Judai replied, waving his cards idly towards Jack, "Phoenix met her last week at one of the parties, I'm sure she's told you about that."

"Oh she definitely did," Jack drawled, looking highly amused as he remembered whatever conversation they'd had about it, "I got to hear all about how you forgot the Christmas tree and how utterly mortified you were."

Both Crow and Yusei smirked at this, considering the overly dramatic announcement Judai had made the night he got back from the party that they needed to get a tree was still fresh in their minds. Honestly, Judai was sure at this point that his fate was sealed and that he wouldn't live it down for years to come.

"I swear to the gods I'm never, ever going to be able to forget it again," Judai muttered, his own smile coming unbidden to his face since it was pretty funny in hindsight, "It's just impossible for me to."

"Don't worry, we'll make sure to remind you every November," Crow teased, getting sounds of agreement from the other two while Judai just groaned and mock-glared at all of them before bringing his mug of tea up to drink from and hide behind, "Anyway... do we need to uh, bring presents or anything?"

"Well, you don't really know them that well, so I wouldn't say you need to... but if you feel more comfortable with it, I can get you a list of candies and you can run down to that one old candy shop near the bridge. I know everyone's favorites and no one's going to say no to candy," Judai replied, figuring that would work well - he would already be making food to bring, and those two didn't really know everyone as well as, say, Yusei did (hence why the presents they'd be making would be from both him and Yusei, not just because they were a couple).

"Ooh, that's a good idea! Alright, just get the list to us whenever you can, and Jack and I can run down there to get some," Crow chirped, nudging Jack in the side with a grin.

Jack stared at him with a blank look, saying, "Who said I would go with you?"

"I did!"

"Bastard, who's to say I wouldn't go with Carly, or by myself or something?"

"Oh, even better! All three of us can go together and split the cost since we're all going to the party!"

They quickly devolved even further into their little argument, fully turning to face each other with Jack grumbling in-between sentences half the time and Crow having a permanent smirk on his face. Judai and Yusei shared a look, both of them looking back and forth between the argument and each other while holding back their laughter as best they could - Yusei had fully put down his pencil and papers at this point, leaning back in his chair for a bit to just watch and listen to the entertainment, which was some Judai was quick to replicate by putting down his hand.

It'd probably be a while until Crow was ready to finish their duel, so Judai simply passed the time whispering with Yusei and stealing a few kisses when he was sure no one was looking at them.