365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Opening Presents

12/26/19

As it was, there were... a lot of presents to get through, and everyone was just a bit too eager to get started that they decided to just open whatever present whoever was closest to the tree happened to grab without any sort of order. Whenever they got to certain people's, Carly would ask who they were, and they'd give a short run-down on what they were like; for the most part she seemed to get that they were all equally as eccentric as Phoenix is, at least, except for maybe Asuka... though Judai knew she could get to that point if all the right buttons got pushed.

She didn't have nearly as many presents, obviously, but she'd actually gotten one from Phoenix - it was a little bit of a surprise when they found it mixed in with all the boxes, but a pleasant one at least. He'd ended up getting her a little light-up tree key-chain, the card explaining that it was so they'd never forget Judai's clumsiness.

Like he thought, he was never going to live down that moment... at least not for a long time. Then they'd probably forget before suddenly someone brought it up again thanks to being reminded about it, and the whole process would start all over again.

They paused about a quarter of the way through, though, to pull out a certain few boxes that they'd all gotten for a certain feline, who'd been watching everyone curiously and actually not being lazy for once as he trotted around the room sniffing at the presents being opened.

"Alright, is that all of them?" Judai double-checked, adjusting one of his hair clips that he'd gotten just to make sure it was still firmly latched on - he'd knocked them out of place a little on accident earlier that morning while he was cooking, so now he was just playing it safe. After he got nods of confirmation from the rest of them, he waved towards Pharaoh, who went towards the center of the room where he threw the first package towards (carefully, of course, since he didn't want to hit the cat).

"Go ahead, rip the box up as much as you want," he grinned, gesturing at the box again when Pharaoh gave him an incredulous look, "Yes, really! Merry Christmas, you spoiled cat. We all love ya."

It'd been a while since he'd seen Pharaoh in action, claws out and shredding at something - he was just so big that it looked cuter than it did menacing like Pharaoh probably wanted to look. The wrapping paper was made short work of, and he'd made sure to use one of those thin gift boxes you'd usually find something like clothes in so that it was easy to tear apart; it's not like the cat couldn't tear through a regular cardboard box with ease, though.

Everyone grinned when the first mess of shredded paper and cardboard revealed a new fuzzy blanket, Pharaoh immediately sitting down and pawing at the plastic around it so that they got the hint and opened it for him - he was smart enough not to try in case he accidentally clawed through the blanket in the process of trying to open it up. Soon enough, he was back in his corner and rolling around his new blanket along with a couple new fluffy stuffed animals to use as pillows and a couple boxes of premium treats that Judai stored away in the kitchen after giving him a few.

There was one particular present he was waiting for Yusei to open as they went on, though, and Judai couldn't help but feel more excitement bubble up in him when Yusei finally reached for the package. Part of it was because, well, he wanted to see his reaction, but it was also mostly because he himself couldn't wait to use it.

Getting presents for the both of them had been such a good idea, he wanted to do it every Christmas, even if they still got each other little things like the hair clips in his hair, for instance.

"Stars, Judai, why is this thing so heavy?" Yusei laughed, letting out a little huff as he just dragged the box in front of him instead of picking it all the way up.

"It doesn't look that heavy," Crow commented, standing up and walking over to try and pick it up himself - obviously he could, all of them there could, but he clearly wasn't expecting that much weight in a medium-sized box so he ended up letting out a huff in surprise just like Yusei, "Holy crap! Okay, that is heavy!"

"...You almost dropped it on my foot," Yusei stated, giving Crow an exasperated look before getting a quick apology and turning back to the present, "Well, guess there's only one way to find out why this thing is so heavy..."

With that he started tearing open the paper, Judai already having the scissors in hand to pass off to him when he'd need to cut open all the tape on the box inside. He did so, and grinned when he finally got to the air-sealed gift inside and a little piece of paper on the top in lieu of an actual card in order to actually explain what it was. There was a cute little drawing of Junk Synchron and Winged Kuriboh wearing santa hats in the corner of it, which Judai thought he did a pretty good job with.

"A weighted blanket?" Yusei wondered, a small smile on his face as he carefully tore open the plastic and got a feel of the soft blanket inside - it was incredibly soft and fluffy, seeing as he'd made sure to buy a high quality one. They were expensive as hell, yes, but incredibly worth it in his opinion.

They all laughed when he struggled a little bit to get used to the weight before flinging it over himself quickly, Judai getting partially covered as well next to him. When he glanced over, Yusei was giving him a wide, happy smile, rubbing his face against the fabric almost subconsciously before leaning over and giving him a peck on the cheek.

"I love it," he breathed, letting the blanket finally fall off the top of them before re-situating it to spread over the top of both of them - it was a very big blanket, Judai had made sure of it when he bought it, knowing that it was going to be shared by both of them all the time.

"I'm glad... Merry Christmas, Yusei," Judai smiled back, holding his hand under the blanket as they took a little break to watch the others open some more of their presents. It was nice to sit there and cuddle under the blanket, the extra weight of it making it feel like they were wrapped in a big hug together - it helped that it was quick to warm up because of the fabric, too, which added to how nice it was.

"Merry Christmas," Yusei replied, leaning against him quietly with a smile stuck on his face; his eyes felt like they were sparkling with happiness, which made Judai feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside as well.

His first Christmas in his newfound home was everything he'd hoped for, and Judai leaned back into the other as well with his own content smile as well - Christmas really was his favorite holiday, and now he had even more reasons why.