#yusei moves on to working on the moment - that works SO MUCH with this statement

[team5ds]

the worst part is i can't even say he's wrong. they certainly did figure out how to contribute the city by joining the wrgp. but like. this is one of those things where it literally does not make sense. this is insane levels of logic. "we're not sure how to contribute to the city. we think entering a magic the gathering tournament will help." like. imagine saying that fr when your parents ask what you're going to do after you graduate college. "idk. thought i'd play card games and figure it out, man"

[moonlit-orchid]

I need to revise, so I played 5ds to work to, particularly my favourite episodes: Will The Real Jack Atlas Please Stand Up

And I noticed something and decided to analyse this little scene

Yusei's immediate response to Jack saying he won't have it is "So you're leaving". It's not even a question. It's a statement. He immediately expects Jack to leave. And here's the thing: Jack never said he was leaving up until Yusei said it.

The whole time Jack was saying that the others should be glad to have him, and that he wasn't gonna work their way. The conversation was "you need me, I don't need you", not "I don't need you, I'm leaving". Jack never said he was gonna leave. He didn't even put his helmet on until Yusei spoke. I think Jack didn't even think of going off until that point, because Yusei expected him to.

And why did Yusei expect him to leave? From what I remember, Yusei never argues with Jack. He disagrees but after season one he never really argues with him. Crow's the one doing the arguing the whole time. Why does Crow argue with Jack and not Yusei despite it being said that Yusei is Jack's rival and had been so since childhood?

Because the last time they argued Jack left them.

Jack left Yusei during an arguement. He was in the position to accept Lazar's offer, because he was angry and isolated. And he was angry and isolated because he and Yusei had an arguement which led to everyone siding with Yusei (even though it seemed Yusei didn't want them to take sides, considering how he said Rally was free to hang out with Jack if he wanted). Because they argued, Jack left.

And clearly Yusei hasn't forgotten. No part of the conversation had led up to Jack leaving the team. They were still on the who needs who stage. Jack hadn't even said "if I leave". Yusei was trying to calm him down and make him see reason. Jack refused to listen and Yusei immediately translated that into Jack is leaving.

Yusei geniunely believes Jack will leave him and the others again if he argues with him

Also look at the body language in this scene

Jack's pissed, Yusei looks geniunely serious, Bruno is quiet. But Crow is smiling. Crow isn't taking this seriously at all. It makes sense for Bruno to remain serious and quiet, because he's watching a fight between siblings and he doesn't want to interfere. But the indication that this isn't really such a big deal is in Crow.

He's smiling. He's relaxed. He finds Jack's behaviour to be ridiculous, that this whole arguement is ridiculous. Jack is understandably annoyed because he's been called out here, but Yusei is the only one who is really taking this seriously.

And look at his reaction when Jack leaves

He reaches out as if to stop him. Neither Crow nor Bruno even move. Yusei is the only one who reacts here because he's scared he's lost Jack again.

And look at Crow.

His eyes aren't in the same direction as Yusei's, who is fixed on Jack, so much so that he stays reaching for him for a long moment. Crow's eyes are on Yusei. And we can see how he's now looking serious and how focused his eyes are. Because he can recognise Yusei's fear.

And Crow's reaction isn't to insult Jack. He says "he hissy fits all the time, he'll come to his senses", but this isn't even him making a general statement. He's talking and directly addressing Yusei. Crow isn't bothered by Jack. He's calmed down. He's focused on Yusei. The casual attitude doesn't match the serious expression on his face just moments before. He put on the casual attitude to reassure Yusei, to make it seem less of a big deal. And Crow's Yusei's younger brother, not older. His role in the team isn't the reassuring mature one, and yet he took that role here. Usually when Crow is behaving maturely, it's because of Jack's immaturity and he acts mature to Jack. As far as I remember he doesn't take on the calming mature role with Yusei, and yet he did that here.

That's proof that Yusei is geniunely scared of Jack leaving despite covering it up. Instead of mocking Jack or complaining about it, Crow brushed it off to make the situation seem normal, to calm Yusei down.

tldr: Yusei is afraid Jack will leave if they have a fight even though Crow knows it won't happen

[askygokindredshipping]

Never say “Yes” to Ghost Hunting... Unless....

Summary: Ghost Hunting AU anyone? Judai and Johan are sensitives and realize that Yusei is partially sensitive when he momentarily spots their familiar spirits Yubel and Ruby. However, Yusei doesn’t believe in them and thinks that the two of them are out of their minds. Can looking for non-existent beings lead to something else? (No Duel Monsters in this AU. Yubel and Ruby are both human spirits that died generations ago.)

Author’s Notes: Now that I am in a place where I don’t feel completely overwhelmed by everything and can remember to actually post here, here it is! This is the story I kept promising for that mini bang I was apart of! @hyperionnebulae​ did a fantastic job of setting it up. I’ll link the full collection at the end. Also, I had an amazing artist and I’ll edit this post with their information. The piece that they did is *chef’s kiss*.  I do know that you can visit their DeviantArt page and I highly encourage you to do so! 

Anyway, enjoy!

Yusei’s face was not looking down at the screen of his laptop, but instead, he was staring at the two men sitting across from him. It was a warm, sunny evening and he had decided that he was going to do some of his work at the local coffee shop so that he could focus. Focus. What a funny word it was. That was exactly what he was not doing.

Two young men were sitting at the table next to him, chatting amicably about something he didn't quite catch. While they were both very appealing to the eyes, they didn’t interest him nearly as much as the two people sitting next to both of them. These two figures were translucent and clearly injured. He was not a doctor, that was Aki’s area of expertise, but he’d seen enough in his day to recognize deadly injuries like those. The tallest one (Yusei couldn’t quite determine which gender either of the translucent people were and decided it was probably best not to assume anything) had a scar that went down its face, nearly dividing it in two and what looked like a jewel embedded into its forehead. Their hair was a soft, metallic blue color. The other one was shorter with wide, ruby-colored eyes and lavender colored hair, a clear bloodstain blooming from their chest and out against their lovely lavender blouse. The tall one said something to the man next to it. He responded casually. Like… like there was nothing wrong!

Yusei blinked.

They were gone.

He breathed in deep and quickly turned back to his computer screen, the words suddenly not making any kind of sense as something cold shot up his spine. No. There was no way. Those things did not exist. He refused to accept what he had just seen. There had to be a logical explanation.

Didn’t there?

“Excuse me,” a voice asked him, “Are you alright?” He looked up. The two men at the table were now looking at him. The one who spoke had teal-blue colored hair and equally blue eyes; he wore a light lavender colored blouse-style shirt with a darker blue vest over the top. “You look like you’re about to be sick.”

“Or you’ve seen a ghost,” the other added. He was dressed in a dark t-shirt with a red jacket over it. His hair was a light brown and stood out in nearly every direction (not that Yusei could judge with his own black mess) and his eyes were a warm brown. He took a breath as he registered the statement. A ghost? Those things did not exist.

But….

“I’m fine,” he finally answered. He couldn’t stop himself as he blurted out, “but what happened to your two friends?” The two of them shared a look.

“It’s only been us here,” the brown haired one said.

Yusei blinked, “You mean you don’t have two friends that are dressed up for Halloween somewhere around here?”

“Oh, they just left,” the blue haired one cut in just as the brown haired one went to say something. He shot the other a look and it seemed to take a second but, eventually, he got the meaning and quickly clamped his mouth shut again.

“They couldn’t have left that quickly,” he argued. “Are you pulling some kind of prank?” They shared a look again, and Yusei started to get mildly annoyed with it. They didn’t say anything to him for some time. Finally, he closed his laptop and stood to pack his things. Clearly, this was not where he was meant to be. Before he could walk away from the table, the brown-haired guy caught his wrist gently; electricity shot up Yusei’s arm and he flinched at the sensation even though it did not hurt. It felt a bit good.

“Sorry,” he said quickly, releasing him. “It’s just… Can we walk with you for a bit? Here’s not the place to talk.” Yusei blinked. A couple of alarms went off in his mind, but he ignored them, in favor of nodding his consent, and the three of them left together.

The brown-haired guy leaned forward as they walked, “I’m Judai Yuki and this is my partner, Johan Anderson.” Johan raised a hand in greeting when Yusei looked at him.

“Yusei Fudo.”

“Nice to meet you Yusei,” Johan greeted. Judai smiled and continued introducing the two of them.

“We’re paranormal investigators; basically, we work to help people in desperate situations involving anything they can’t explain or handle.” He straightened, walking forward a little bit. Yusei couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

“Ghost? You two deal with ghosts?”

“More or less,” Johan nodded.

“You do understand ghosts aren’t real?” They shared another look.

“Yeah, that’s what a lot of people say.”

“But we happen to know differently.”

Yusei stopped and leaned his head to the side a bit, “Alright, I’ll bite. What is your proof? A grainy photo? Horribly shot night-vision scenes? A scar you got from something being magically thrown at you?” Johan snickered and Judai had to cover his mouth with his hand. After a few seconds, the two of them could not help but laugh at his response. Yusei was taken a bit off guard. “What’s so funny?”

“You were so deadpanned when you were asking,” Judai breathed.

“It was hilarious,” Johan added. Yusei found himself blushing a bit, and he turned his head away, trying to not let them see how embarrassed he was. They recovered after a few moments. “And to answer your question, nothing like that.” He pointed off over his shoulder, “Do you see them?”

Yusei looked, then shook his head. “See who?”

“Our friends from the café,” Judai clarified. Yusei looked over their shoulders again, but still only saw the street in front of them. He shook his head.

“Nobody’s there.”

“But you did see them in the café?”

“I saw something ,” Yusei pointed out. “I don’t know what it is I saw.”

“Deny it all you want Yusei,” Judai returned, “but you did ask us about it, which meant that you did see them.” He pointed between the two of them. “Johan and I are mediums. We can communicate with spirits and we’re pretty certain that you’re at least a little bit sensitive since you could see our familiars briefly. You can’t see them right now even though they are standing next to us without utilizing too much of theirs or our energy.” Judai nodded, as if his point made a whole ton of sense. “I wonder what it would take to help you see them again? What made it possible at the café?”

“Do you think the setting had something to do with it,” Johan added. “I remember reading a report that that café has natural running water under it.”

“That might have something to do with it.”

“You two are crazy,” Yusei returned. Nothing they said made any sense! Ghosts didn’t exist, but now they were claiming… all of this ? Johan smiled at him apologetically.

“It’s a lot the first time. You probably don’t believe us, but I have a suggestion.” He clapped his hands together. “Why don’t you come with us tonight? We have a job at a local place this evening. It’ll give us a chance to show you what you’re talking about and to confirm if you are sensitive or not.”

“Full offense, but I just met you.”

“I know.”

“How can I trust you?”

“You can’t.” That took him by surprise and Yusei felt staggered a bit. “But you might find it more interesting than you think. I promise.” Yusei looked between the two of them. Logically, he had no reason to trust either one of them. Something in his gut, though, told him something completely different; it was whispering that he should take the chance and see where this was going to lead. After a few seconds of the two of them staring him down, he finally sighed. He raised his hands in defeat.

“Alright. I’ll join you.”

Johan and Judai smiled at each other.

My, my, my- how the night had suddenly turned around.

*****

The house they were investigating turned out to be an older mansion on the outskirts of the city. Yusei made sure to let a couple of people know where he was going. Martha was worried, of course, but Jack and Crow got a huge trip out of the fact that he, Yusei Fudo, was going ghost hunting. Of all things in the world.

What a weird first date , they had teased.

He had left the house with red across his nose and both cheeks, but he had not given them the satisfaction of seeing it. Yusei slammed the door on his way out.

He now sat leaned up against his red motorcycle. Neither of them had arrived yet. This left him time to do a little extra research on the address on his transparent tablet. The mansion was built in the year XXXX by a rich mogul who wanted a place for his new bride to be the mistress of; however, he built over sacred ground, despite multiple warnings, and thus, “cursed” the home and his family for all eternity. They lost several children in birth and early into childhood. Eventually, the wife passed of an illness, but information on which one was scarce. Her death was the final straw for him. The mogul retired from the home and disappeared into obscurity. It was left to rot. Reports of families moving in and immediately moving out were plentiful in the first few decades after the original owner’s leaving, but quickly teetered off as rumors of a haunting became more prevalent.

He scrolled up on his tablet, murmuring. “Reports of a white lady…. Children laughing… shadow figures…. Objects being thrown. So just your run of the mill hoax?”

“Well, even if it is a hoax, it’s still our job to ease the worries of our customer.” He looked up, not necessarily startled by the sound of Johan’s voice, but a bit surprised that he hadn’t heard them approaching, especially in the large, older van they were driving. Judai was behind him, starting to mess with some equipment. Yusei closed the tablet and placed it in his pocket. “We’re glad you decided to come. What’d you find in your research?”

“Nothing out of this world,” he confirmed, arms still crossed. “Pretty standard reports. White lady, children, objects being thrown.”

Johan nodded. He turned his head a bit, as if listening to someone, and he smiled after a few seconds before saying, “That was pretty much everything we were able to find or was given to us as in our initial customer request.” He paused for a second, “I better help Judai with the equipment. As brave as he is as a ghost hunter, he’s a complete ditz when it comes to setting it up.”

“Would you like me to help? I’m fairly good with technology.”

Johan shot him a grateful smile. “You don’t have to. We’re the ones that invited you out here.”

Yusei rolled up the sleeve of his jacket. “Don’t worry about it. I might as well do something useful now since I’m probably going to mess up your results anyway.” Johan shook his head but led him over to the wired mess that had become Judai. It took them about an hour, once they had untangled him, to set up all the equipment they planned to use and since they were getting paid a hefty price, they were using everything . EVP, static night vision, Mel meters, motion detectors. You name it, they had it. The sun was starting to set when they finally started to sync up all their equipment, recording audio introductions on their three different recording devices. Johan helped Yusei into a specially made vest with several different pieces of equipment attached to it such as a night vision camera, perspective camera, and a few other useful tools like glow sticks, back-up batteries, and flashlights. Yusei felt the electricity again as his hand brushed his arm. A soft blush touched his cheeks. He did not miss the fact that Johan had one as well. Was it possible that he was feeling it too? What was even more astounding to him was that this was the second time he had felt it… with both of them.

Judai smiled brightly when they came back from the back of the van, “That vest looks good on you Yusei.”

Oof, that blush was not going away any time soon.

“Thank you,” he managed to get out without sounding like a stammering idiot.

Yusei had had feelings for people before in his life. Aki, the young lady who had become one of his greatest friends of all time, was one such example. His friend Kiryu was another. However, he had never been in this kind of situation before; his feelings for the previous two had come at different times. This was new. And a bit confusing, especially with how fast everything was moving.

“Are you feeling alright,” Judai asked. Yusei turned to face him. He was looking up at him, his brow furrowed a bit. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”

“You make it sound like I’m regretting my wedding or something.”

“Hmmm, I’m pretty sure this isn’t as stressful as a wedding.” He smirked. “But if you’re feeling scared, I recommend hanging back behind us.”

“I can’t be scared of something that doesn’t exist.”

“We’ll see about that.”

“Me being scared or ghosts being real?”

“Yes.”

Yusei shook his head as he walked away, and he followed. Johan bowed mockingly as he opened the front door. Judai gave him a quick kiss on the forehead before blowing a kiss back at Yusei and disappearing into the darkness, only the light of his flashlight illuminating a soft outline of his head and left shoulder. The two of them followed.

The entryway was as bad as you could imagine. Dust clung to everything. Spider webs decorated every corner, and the stairs, and the molding, and the walls, and basically every available square inch. Old paint and wallpaper were missing in great chunks. The building material was old and decayed. An odd sensation of dread shot through Yusei the longer he looked down the hallway. There was no discernible reason for the feeling. He grabbed both Judai’s and Johan’s shoulders, preventing them from stepping any further inside.

When they turned to look at him, he raised his hands apologetically, but dropped them and breathed, “Something isn’t right.”

Judai blinked, quickly looked to his right, and briefly nodded. “What are you feeling?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that if we go any further, something bad is going to happen.”

“But we’ve already been in here multiple times,” Johan assured him. “We had to set up all the static cameras, remember?”

Yusei hesitated. That was true. They’d already been in and out, and up and down all sets of stairs, as they’d been busy setting up static night vision cameras in a couple of the hotspots, specifically where the white lady and the children were often seen and heard moving about. Nothing seemed to happen during that time, and he rationalized that they would be fine in this moment.

The feeling, on the other hand, would not leave him alone.

He started to say something again, but Judai started moving inward and Johan followed. The feeling grew worse as he raised a hand to stop them.

A white figure suddenly appeared at the end of the narrow hallway. The three of them froze, but Judai, after a few seconds, threw a hand back. What Yusei could not see was how his eyes shifted from brown to green and orange, ready for whatever was about to occur. Johan took a step back. Something creaked. The white figure raised its head and with an unearthly scream, it shot forward at them. Judai jumped back. Johan moved in front of Yusei which put the three of them into roughly the same spot on the floor. Yusei looked down immediately as the sound of breaking wood caught his attention; just before the figure could reach them, he grabbed both of them close to him.

The floor gave way, and they fell into darkness.

*****

“Yusei, Yusei, Yusei!” He blinked. Everything felt sore and painful. It took him a few moments to remember that they had fallen through the floor. He groaned. Thankfully, nothing seemed broken, but he was going to be feeling this for the next few days; Martha was probably going to order him to go to a doctor, and for once, he probably wouldn’t protest it. A soft smile crossed Johan’s face. He was momentarily confused.

“I’m dead,” he breathed, “I swear I’m seeing an angel.”

“You wish,” Johan laughed. “But Judai and I owe you quite a bit for saving our lives.”

“What happened?”

Johan crossed his arms, contemplating on how much to share. “Well, you see….” He paused and changed his question, “Did you happen to see a white figure come at us?” Yusei shook his head.

He struggled to remember. Nothing came to mind however and he shook his head. “All I saw was you and Judai get defensive.”

“Maybe that’s for the best,” he mused. Louder, he said, “Anyway, we all were standing on the same space and the floor gave way. You just barely managed to brace us against you before it happened. You took the brunt of the injury.” He pointed to some old bags of flour that were clearly busted in the fall. “You really do have to have a guardian angel at least since this is what we landed on. Judai went back upstairs to double check everything. We should really get out of here.” He stood. Johan offered out a hand, which Yusei took gratefully. Together, they made their way back up the stairs and, to his surprise, the sun was starting to rise.

How long had he been out?

Judai was at the back of the van, putting away most of their equipment. He looked up when they exited. Without hesitation, or warning, he ran for Yusei, catching him in a tight hug; Yusei flinched a bit but accepted it.

“Thank you,” Judai breathed. “We wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for you.” After a few seconds, he released Yusei’s waist, backed away from him, and bowed. “I’m also so sorry. I should have listened to your warning. I know better than to ignore things like that.”

Yusei waved a hand. “No harm, no foul.”

“Well, a little harm,” Johan reminded him, elbowing his side. He flinched again. Johan walked over and wrapped an arm lovingly around Judai’s shoulders. “As such, breakfast is on us.”

“If you’d like,” Judai quickly added. Yusei did not miss how brightly red his expression had become and he smiled.

“Sure,” he agreed. “As long as the ghosts aren’t invited.”

“No promises,” they said together.

The three of them managed to hook their transportations together and rode back to town in the van. Yusei looked out the window. He was surprised when a weight hit his shoulder; Judai had slumped over, soundly asleep. Johan smiled apologetically.

Something swelled in his heart. He turned to look out the window once more and mused that he would not mind trying it again. Ghost hunting that is. Falling into decrepit basements he could definitely do without.

Judai shifted a bit on his shoulder and Yusei looked down at him softly.

Yeah, maybe just one more time.

*****

Thank you so much for reading!

The story on AO3

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[gx5ds]

Ever since hearing from Yusei about his duel in the past, Crow couldn't stop wondering what the other two duelists were like in person. Especially the one the world seemed to have forgotten about. Judai was out of everyone's reach and would never be able to answer any of Crow's questions.

Or at least that's what he thought until a routine call about a break in turns out to be everything but routine.

Crow had imagined a lot about what the people of the past Yusei duelled with were like. Sure, he had poked Yusei until the other told him everything he knew about them, but it wasn't the same as meeting them, as dueling with them. Sure, he could hunt down old recordings and articles of Yugi's duels to help his imagination along. To help create an image of the strong and kind king that inspired so many others after him.

But there was next to nothing out there on Judai and what he did find was so vague it could've easily been someone with the same name. It was as if someone made sure to delete any mention of him. Even what he heard from Yusei was kept rather vague. Yusei explained that Paradox had specifically targeted him, had cornered him with 3 stolen dragons in a city he burned to ash.

Yet somehow Judai had survived getting blasted by a signer dragon powered by a psychic duelist. Not only that, but the few scratches he got healed right in front of Yusei's eyes. That coupled with the fact that even Yusei could see and hear spirits around him made Yusei come to the sound conclusion of 'not human'. But that left it so open about just who and what he was. To Crow he sounded like Lua's personality coupled with a mixture of Luca's and Aki's powers on steroids. Many many steroids. God, he could probably rip them all apart if he wanted to.

So he really didn't have that much of a solid image of Judai in his head. It was more of a collection of images that switched whenever Crow remembered a different aspect of him. And Crow had no way of solidifying those images with the guy both rather old and forgotten by now. Or at least that's what he thought.

Crow was used to going on cases about break ins or removing unwanted people from places they really shouldn't be in. Something about being a fellow marked person and a part of Team 5D's made most people more agreeable with him and his job significantly easier, even if the people who called weren't the most appreciating of his work. Some of his colleagues joked that the m on his forehead stood for magic. Crow laughed and waved it of. Yusei was the one with the magic powers when it came to all sorts of people. Crow liked to focus his efforts on kids and card games.

Now normally when on a case about a break in that resulted in a clash between owner and burglar, Crow would need to actually put in work to both remove said burglar from the property while also dealing with the stressed out owners while everyone's adrenaline is sky high. Thankfully he never had to deal with such situations on his own, at least one car joining him on the scene since he couldn't really take the burglars to jail on his d-wheel.

So imagine his surprise when Crow along with 4 colleagues showed up to a call about a man finding 3 others standing in his apartment when he came out of the shower only to find all 3 burglars neatly tied up in front of an open apartment door. A rather small guy, smaller than Crow even though he would put them around the same age, was standing over them. He was dressed in a loose pair of pants and a shirt several sizes too big for him. He kept on running his fingers through his puffed up two toned hair that obviously didn't dry right if his grimace was anything to go on.

The 3 thieves tried to wobble away from him every so often and flinched whenever he so much as looked at them. When they noticed the security team they stared crying tears of joy. They mumbled something about how they were being saved and how they never would do something evil ever again. It was rather comedic.

Crow cleared his throat to push down the urge to laugh. "You reported the break in?"

The man turned his head to face them. "Yep, that's me."

"You seem to have the situation under control."

"Well, yeah, but I'm only renting this place for the closest I'll ever get to a vacation and I'm not paying for any damage these guys," he paused to turn back to the burglars who flinched and tried to become one with the wall behind them. "Might have left on the lock in the long run."

Crow nodded. "Understandable. I'll just be taking your statement and information while my colleagues take care of these 3."

"Sure, whatever you need to get this over with."

Crow didn't even mind his bad mood. It was way better than the screaming and sudden attacks on the restrained burglars he normally dealt with. He pulled out his datapad and got ready to type as his colleagues picked up the 3 burglars and started leading them down the staircase.

"Name?"

"Yuki Judai."

Crow paused. He knew that name. He knew it very well, having typed it so many times while trying to find the man it was attached to. The one standing in front of him couldn't be the same person. That guy was at least in his 40s by now. Crow stopped his train of thoughts and typed in the name with practiced movements.

"Can you describe to me what happened?"

"I got here very late yesterday so I planned to make this my relaxation day before any work might pop up and ruin it down the week. I got out of the shower around 20 minutes ago. To find these guys walking through the door, scanning the room for anything worthwhile. Until they saw me. From the looks on their faces it was as if I barged in on them while they were only wearing a towel," Judai grinned evilly. Crow didn't bother to hide his own grin.

"And how did they end up all tied up? I'm assuming they didn't fall over in shock."

Judai laughed at that. Crow liked the sound of it. "No, no- nothing like that, though I would've loved to see that. I'm a psychic duelist. They took one look at my monster and they were begging for mercy. I tied them up, got dressed and now we're here."

More and more things kept on adding up. First the name, then his behavior and the psychic duelist thing. But should Crow risk asking such a question? Very few people remembered time even being in danger in the first place, much less that Yusei traveled through it to restore it.

Judai looked at the open door. "At least they didn't destroy the lock. Or not enough for it to be noticeable right now. I'll have to have the landlady come over and check it out."

Well, it wasn't like he would ever get another chance like this. If it wasn't the same Judai then he could laugh it off, but if it was and he didn't ask… He knew that he would regret not asking, always stuck in his imagination, wondering about what-if's.

"Just one last question," Crow trailed off as he steeled himself for whatever answer he would get. "Are you the same Judai Yuki that helped fight Paradox?"

Judai's aura filled the air around them. Crow found himself unable to move, even breathing was hard. 'Not human' Yusei's words rung through his mind. There was no doubt that Yusei was right in his assertion. Judai's eyes slid down to Crow's right forearm as if he could see the mark hidden beneath his clothes. Hell, he probably could see it given the fact that Judai calmed down as soon as his eyes found it.

"Why? Did Yusei say bad things about me?" Judai asked teasingly. Acting like he wasn't just in outright murder mode a few seconds ago.

"No, nothing like that! Quite the opposite in fact! It's just...unlike Yugi there isn't really much if anything about you out there and I want to know more about the person that Paradox targeted like that."

Judai was quiet for a long moment his eyes flickering back and forth between Crow's as if searching for something. It made him nervous. Did he say something wrong? Finally, Judai opened his mouth again.

"...Is this your way of asking me out for a date?" he asked hesitantly.

Crow spluttered. "Eh...I...well...maybe...yes?" He hadn't really thought about it, had never considered it to be a possibility. But he could admit that the thought of them on a date made his heart beat faster.

Judai smiled at him. "How about you give me a little tour? I haven't been in this city for almost 20 years trying not to mess up the timeline by meeting Yusei before I was supposed to. And while we do that I can answer your questions."

"Sounds great! When are you free? I'm free pretty much every evening but you said something about work popping up at any time."

"Yeah, that will always be a possibility, but tonight should be fine. Can you do 8? Later would be fine too, I'm a creature of the night," Judai said, grinning to himself as if he made an inside joke.

"I should be able to make it here around 8."

"8 it is."

For a moment they just stood there smiling at each other until Judai slid a hand through his hair and grimaced. He took a few steps towards his temporary apartment. With one hand on the handle he turned back to Crow.

"Well officer, since it looks like I got a date tonight, I have to go wash my hair again so I at least don't look like someone tried to rob me just as I got out of the shower."

Crow grinned. "I'll leave you to it then. We might contact you again concerning the case. I hope you have a lovely evening!"

"Thanks, you too," Judai said, sending a last smile his way before closing the door.

Crow smiled to himself all the way downstairs. This certainly wasn't how he imagined meeting Judai, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

[thecrazydragonlady]

19 kindredship

To say that their relationship was a bit of a hodge-podge ofmessed up would be a bit of an understatement. After all, the first was a reincarnatedking with a minimum of three other spirits residing in his soul. The second wasa spirit-seer and formerly possessed of one of the spirit’s residing in hisboyfriend’s soul. The third lived a life of abuse and neglect, kept at theedges of society by society, and suffering from some levels of PTSD based offof the events he and his friends had battled through.

Yeah, they’re that messed up.

Judai, Johan, and Yusei found comfort in each other. Therewas an ease to their days knowing that the other two were there with openedarms and soft kisses when the nights grew to be too much. They were new tothis. There was so much to learn.

Somethings came naturally, almost easily. Like Yusei pickingup Pharaoh and carrying him around on his shoulders or Johan wiping a bit ofgrease off of Yusei’s cheek before he sat down to dinner. Judai always seemedto know when one or both of them needed a hug. It was scary accurate.

Other things… came with difficulty. Saying what they meantwas one of them.

It was a sunny day when Judai said it first. He was layingoutside on a piece of grass, Pharaoh on his chest, as he yawned, the shadeprotecting him from the light. His eyelids grew darker. He blinked up at theface that appeared over him. Yusei smiled softly, “I need to run to the storefor a part. Don’t stay out in the sun too long.”

Judai yawned, closing his eyes again, “Okay. Be safe. Loveyou.” He froze after a second. Judai’s eyes flew open and he sat up quickly,covering his mouth with his hands. Pharaoh released a hissed of contempt beforetrotting off to resettle elsewhere. His face was red. He looked up at Yuseiwho, to his surprise, was blushing lightly. A soft smile came across his face.

“Love you too,” he replied softly. Yusei went inside then.Judai stayed like that for a moment before he flopped back over, covering hiseyes as he came to terms with the fact that he had said that.

An hour later, he crawled his way into the apartment theyshared. Johan stood in the kitchen, making a stew at the stove, and he turnedto welcome him back inside but froze. He dropped the spoon into the pot and moved,grabbing Judai by the arms, “What happened to your face?”

Judai blinked, “Nothing. What…?”

Johan poked his cheek.

It took a second for the pain to hit him. Tears formed atthe corner of his eyes and he hissed, rubbing the spot. Johan shook his head.

“Judai, you slept too long outside didn’t you?” He noddedmutely. Johan sighed. “Let me turn off the stove real quick and then we’ll getthis handled.” Johan let him go and did just that before returning and dragginghim off to the bathroom, forcing him to sit on the toilet before reaching intothe cabinet for their first aid kit. Judai lightly scratched his neck.

“I can do this Johan,” he said. Johan opened the kit andpulled out the aloe.  “Johan….”

“Let me be worried,” Johan returned. Judai blinked as theother turned, dabbing softly at his nose with a cotton swab. Judai swallowed hard. They stayed in silence for a long time.Judai examined Johan’s face; the expression was only mildly tense and it dawnedon him that this was what true love looked like, kindness and understandingwithout making him feel like he was a foolish child. His heart swelled threesizes in that moment. Johan finished a moment later. “There,” he breathed. “Now, let’s go finish lunch. Yusei should be home soon.”

Judai chuckled, “You’re going to trust me with a knife.”Johan rolled his eyes as he cleaned up.

“Judai, you went traveling for a couple of years. I know youknow how to cook and, if you cut yourself, Yusei gets to treat you next.”

“Don’t give me any ideas,” he teased. Johan flicked the sideof his head, that wasn’t sunburnt, as they walked out of the room.

“You better not,” he threatened lightly. Judai laughed butthankfully didn’t end up injured as they finished lunch. The door opened.Yusei, who had returned to finish working on his bike again, wiped his forehead.Johan and Judai snickered. He looked up at them but the two of them were smilingat him, each holding up a rag. He blinked. Oh. He’d wiped grease on his faceagain. He laughed and reached out to take the towels.

“Thank you both,” he said, cleaning his face.

“Lunch is ready,” Johan told him, “and it’s injury free.”Judai chuckled but Yusei looked confused.

“I’ll take that as a good thing,” Yusei mused. Johan waved ahand.

“I’ll give you three guesses as to who made that statementearlier and a kiss for getting it right.” Yusei blinked. Judai blinked. Johan’sface lit up. He turned, starting to walk to the kitchen, when he was stopped, ahand gripping his wrist. Johan turned. Yusei was lightly blushing at him andhis mouth was opened a bit.

“Judai,” he breathed. Johan blinked this time. “Judai saidit so do I get my prize?” Judai snickered in the background and waved from overhis shoulder.

“You owe him a kiss Johan!” Johan’s blush grew more pronounced.

“Fine,” he breathed. He turned around and quickly reached,grabbing the collar of Yusei’s jacket, and pulled him down to firmly plant hislips on his. Johan could feel him smile. After a few seconds, the two brokeapart. There was… a sense of peace that came over him and Yusei’s smile didn’tdim. Someone tugged on his sleeve. Johan looked over to find Judai staring athim, a smile on his face too.

“My turn?”

Johan snickered, “But lunch….”

“It’ll be alright,” Judai laughed. Johan shared a look withYusei who only shrugged. “It’s only fair.”

“Yeah but Yusei won that and you’re sunburnt.”

“Kissing you will be worth the pain.”

“You have to give him that,” Yusei added. “That was smooth.”Johan rolled his eyes before he leaned over and gave Judai the kiss hedemanded. His lips were warm- maybe a little too warm.

After a few seconds, they broke apart as well. Judai lookeda little daze and traced a finger over his lips, while Johan turned back to thekitchen.

“Alright, can we please have lunch now?”

TT^TT I think I missed the point of the prompt but fluff.