365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Cat Hats

12/14/19

Judai stared at Pharaoh as they were just about to leave, narrowing his eyes in such a way that told Yusei he was probably going to suggest something a little out there.

"We should bring the cat," Judai eventually stated, causing Pharaoh to look up from where he was curled up in his little corner of blankets in disdain and glare at him, "Aw come on, don't you wanna see everyone again? I know they'll be happy to see you... well, the majority of them, at least."

"Judai, as much as they'd like that, I don't think Pharaoh's in the mood to sit in the storage compartment in your bag again," Yusei pointed out, laughing quietly to himself when he saw Pharaoh give him a hopeful look, "I can't imagine it's a very fun ride, and definitely not with all the stuff we're bringing this time either. He wouldn't be able to move or even sit comfortably."

"I could always hold him in my lap!" Judai retorted, pouting a little now and turning towards him instead - Pharaoh took the chance to hide himself under a blanket, only barely peeking out from under it just in case so he could see if he needed to run, "It's not like I'd drop him, that's practically impossible."

"Okay, but then how're you going to hold onto me?" Yusei replied calmly, though all he got was a little smirk in return which answered his question for him as he sighed after, "...Your shadows."

"Yup!" Judai happily chirped, edging a little closer towards the cat, who was slowly backing away further into his corner.

"Will you be stable enough not to fall off if you do use those?" Yusei asked, feeling a bit bad for Pharaoh now but already knowing that since Judai apparently had his mind set on it, the cat would be at that party whether he wanted to be or not. He felt a little worse when Pharaoh poked his head out more to give him a look of utter betrayal, to which he gave him a guilty smile and a little gesture he'd sort-of made up one day with the cat that indicated he'd give him a treat; it was initially so that he didn't accidentally wake Judai up from a nap, but it got to be a lot more useful as time went on, so they stuck with that and created a couple other gestures as well for certain things.

Having a magical, intelligent cat really had its perks and it was very conducive to bonding with him. Personally, Yusei was just happy to be able to hug and pet the fluffy being whenever he wanted to since the cat loved him for spoiling him.

"Yeah don't worry, I'm good at using them for balance - it's a long story so I'll tell you later, but the gist of it is that I ended up having to use them more than a few times for getting to certain places... like walking on a thin tree trunk across a huge-ass river," Judai snickered, stretching out his arms for a few moments before slipping into focus to catch the cat as he inevitably tried to run away.

Crow re-entered the house, having gone with Jack to pack their stuff into their bikes before they left, only to find Judai holding up Pharaoh triumphantly, "Uh... do I want to know what the cat did?"

"He's coming with us," Yusei sighed lightly, grinning despite himself, "Judai's put his mind to it, it's happening."

"Damn straight he's comin'," Judai laughed, carefully adjusting his hold on Pharoah, who was just starting to lose the last of his willpower to try and escape Judai's grasp, "He's gonna get super spoiled there, but at least it'll be with friends."

"...Quick question," Crow started, getting a raised eyebrow from both Yusei and Judai before he continued, "Can I like... do you think Pharaoh would wear these kinds of things? Because I may or may not want to see him wearing a tiny little Santa hat now after what happened yesterday."

Judai stared at him in realization, slowly turning his head to look down at the cat who'd also frozen in his arms, looking at Crow with the second look of heartbroken betrayal he'd had in the last five minutes. Personally, Yusei hoped the cat considered it a much bigger betrayal than his had been because at least Crow had the choice with his. His own was just an illusion of choice, considering how dead-set on the idea he could tell Judai had been.

And so, after a bit of careful maneuvering onto Yusei's motorcycle, they were off, Pharoah apparently digging his claws into Judai. Honestly, Yusei could understand the cat, but he was going to have to watch out and make sure they didn't get caught in any way - it wasn't exactly normal to have a cat on a motorcycle, after all. Plus, then he's pretty sure that Pharoah would be upset with them for making him do such a thing only to get caught in the end.

Then, as they later found out, Crow had taken a quick detour to a nearby pet shop solely so he could get a Santa hat for Pharaoh... along with a little Christmas-themed bowtie and collar because Crow evidently couldn't keep himself from buying them to see on the cat. With the amount of glaring Pharaoh was sending him, you'd have thought he killed someone, or that he himself would die from such scathing looks of betrayal.