Of details and warmth.
It was already late into the night, yet for some reason, both of them were still wide-awake.
The day had been a sunny one, but due some engineering details Yusei was coming across with the Yusei Go, and some piles of schoolwork that had accumulated over the month for Jaden, they had spent most of the day consumed on their own stuff; Yusei had only worn his sleeveless shirt the whole time he spent at the garage due the weather, and Jaden had just left on a black t-shirt he used to sleep for the rest of the day, seeing he hadn't even attempted to leave their place.
Yusei was sitting down and working on his laptop- analyzing carefully a very detailed digital scheme of his D-Wheel, meanwhile Jaden sat across him with his own laptop, procrastinating on his school-work while browsing around for mostly random dueling forums and some videos, occasionally drifting his look up to see his room-mate's never-changing concentrated look. They had spent at least an hour this way, and Jaden wasn't precisely enjoying it.
"So, uh…" Jaden started, and cleared his throat, "How's that upgrading stuff coming along?" He asked, and though he wasn't actually that interested, he wanted to start some small-talk that would get the unfamiliar awkwardness off the atmosphere.
For the first time in a long while, Yusei had looked up from the monitor, "So far, it's coming along fine, thank you for asking…" He said, but when he noticed that Jaden's immediately bummed expression at his short and unintentionally blunt answer, he took in the hint that his room-mate was actually trying to be talkative.
"…Sorry, I know I've been a little absorbed in this for quite some time, but the upgrades are really necessary, so I need to finish checking these things as soon as possible…." Yusei said in a rather quiet voice, making Jaden release a small grin.
"Nah, I'm the one who should apologize, so sorry for intruding with your work…" He sheepishly said, only to get Yusei to sigh lightly.
"You've nothing to be sorry about; it's been so quiet for this whole while; I think I even owed you a duel for today, now that I recall…?" Yusei reflected, sounding a little guilty. Somehow, this was just about enough to make Jaden feel relieved; he liked the fact that he wasn't the only one sensing the atmosphere's awkwardness. He just got up and sat next to Yusei, placing a supportive hand on Yusei's shoulder, making him look his way.
"Hey, it's cool. You've got a riding duel tomorrow after all, don't you?"
Yusei nodded, and Jaden shrugged with a smile.
"Then it's okay, whatever, man! I can just stay awake 'till you're done in case you need anything!"
Again, Yusei only responded with a small gesture-a rather tiny smile. Jaden caught the glimpse of it, and couldn't help his own wide smile; on the time he had lived with Yusei, he had come to unintentionally admire those satisfied smirks the black-haired young genius would make whenever he pulled the right card in a duel, those little gestures of kindness he usually made, and those small smiles that defined him so well. Traits that slowly but surely became 'Yusei-like' things to Jaden.
Jaden's trail of thought was interrupted when Yusei sneezed into his arm, though.
"Ah, bless you!" Jaden said, sounding pretty surprised, "You know, I think that's the first time I've heard ya' sneeze..."
"Is that so?" Yusei pondered this for a second, and only nodded, "Well, I'm usually always wearing my jacket, so I it's hard for me to get cold, and I'm a pretty healthy person, so…"
"Yeah, but right now you aren't even wearing that jacket, and it's getting so chilly it wouldn't be a wonder you'd get sick..." Jaden replied, eyeing Yusei with concern. "Want me to go get it?"
Before actually answering, Yusei couldn't help but to raise an eyebrow and smirk lightly.
"Uh, what're you smiling about?" Jaden asked, looking at Yusei with slightly wide eyes.
"It's rather interesting," Yusei started, "I'm normally the one to tell you to get your jacket and things like that ever since you first got here. The roles slightly reversed, didn't they?"
Jaden laughed a bit at this, and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Uh, Well…You might be right on that…" He murmured, and shook his head. "Anyways, want me to get that jacket, or not?"
"Sure, I'd like that." Yusei said, again, with that hint of a smile that kept on catching Jaden off-guard, "Thanks again, Jaden."
"No problem~!" Jaden grinned, and went off in a dash towards the garage's door.
When Jaden got out of the working-space, he had quickly gotten to the small room that belonged to Yusei, and had immediately spotted the characteristic blue jacket with orange orbs neatly folded on his bed. After picking it up, for a moment, he pondered over the fact that the jacket and what he was wearing at the moment were the only things he ever saw Yusei in.
"Hm. And he still has drawers…" Jaden murmured. He had never really wondered over this before- and there were the drawers in question, right in front of him. He considered that maybe it was rude to look into someone else's stuff without permission, but he was so curious he couldn't really help himself. That, and Yusei really didn't seem the type to hide bad or embarrassing things from him...if he ever even had bad or embarrasing things, in the first place.
Jaden folded the jacket he was holding on to and placed it back where he had first found it, and then got on his knees to open the first drawer he found. Surprisingly enough, there was only a pair of spare boots, a pair of socks and Yusei's riding gloves. Nothing out of the ordinary. On the second drawer, there were a few more sleeveless black shirts, and some t-shirts of the same color- Yusei seemed to have a really defined sense of fashion, Jaden thought. Finally, on a third drawer, he found something he wasn't really expecting.
xXx
About five minutes had passed since Jaden had left the garage, and Yusei was starting to wonder what was going on. Their place only consisted of the garage and the rooms, so Jaden hadn't gotten too far, and he remembered leaving the jacket at hand in case he wanted to get it quickly... so what could be taking him so long? Yusei saved his progress, closed his laptop and got up to his room, in hopes to find Jaden soon enough.
"Jaden, is everything-?" Yusei asked when he opened the door, but was cut short by quite a flustered Jaden, and a rather odd sight.
"Y-Yusei, hey there, dude!" Jaden loudly said, clearly surprised by Yusei suddenly entering.
There was an awkward silence.
About half a minute went on before Yusei cleared his throat to catch the brunette's attention.
"Jaden…why are you wearing my old poncho?" He finally asked.
Before Yusei had gotten in, Jaden had gotten out from the highest drawer what he considered Yusei's oddest piece of clothing; a fairly big and soft brown poncho that resembled the kinds you'd see on extremely old cowboy movies. Jaden had thought it looked a little silly when it was just folded, but upon trying it on and walking around the room with it, he had found it quite the cool fashion-item. If only Yusei hadn't gotten in while he was practically cool-posing in front of his cellphone camera…
"Um…" Jaden sheepishly started, hiding his arms in the poncho, and turning a nervous look to his shoes, "This- this is totally not what it looks like...O-or maybe it is? Anyways, sorry about this! I came to look for your jacket, but somehow I kind of looked at your stuff, and I found this, and I was just wondering how this would look on, and well, I didn't think, and I…!" When he looked at Yusei's blank espression beneath his rambling, he sighed in defeat, realizing he'd end up babbling quick gibberish if he kept on trying to explain, "...I'll just take it off and fold it back the way it was right away, okay?"
"No, that's fine, really…" Yusei quickly said, catching Jaden by surprise with his calmness, "I was just wondering, nothing more. I actually hadn't seen that thing in a while." He said, walking up to Jaden to hold the ends of the poncho between his fingers and take a closer look at it. "It looks pretty good on you, Jaden."
Jaden laughed a little at this. "Thanks, but it's a little big for me. Though it's really comfy~"
Yusei nodded in acknowledgement. "And practical, too. When I first got it I didn't get to wear it much, but I liked it."
"Bet it made you feel cooler, hm?" Jaden smirked, only to get a smirk back from Yusei.
"I don't know, did it do that for you?"
At this, Jaden looked away, trying not to smile at how perfectly Yusei had deduced that. "A-Anyways, when I found this, I totally thought it wasn't yours. It's pretty different from all your other clothes…" He said, in hopes to change the subject momentarily, which seemed to work, since Yusei was now eyeing him with the attention he hadn't received in the whole day.
"Well. You're right on that, it's not something I'd get in normal circumstances." Yusei simply answered.
"So you didn't get it in a normal circumstance?"
"No. At this town I once got to; I looked out of place in there, so it was given to me."
"Cool~ What town, anyways? It's all cities over here, right?"
After that, Jaden asked for details about the town, getting Yusei to talk about the Wild West-esque place called 'Crashtown' he had once been to. Both had just sat in Yusei's bed, and while listening, Jaden sat in cross-legged, which made the poncho cover him as if it were a blanket.
Somewhere along those moments in which Yusei spoke, Jaden had become completely thrilled by the idea of that town, the atmosphere, the people, of the duels and the pistols, and the fact that some of said pistols were actually dueling disks.It all sounded like one big action movie that Yusei had starred, and Jaden hadn't lost a second to stop admiring his friend for it.
"...Though there's something ironic in all of this." Yusei said, a little after he had related the experiences in Crashtown. Jaden only tilted his head.
"And what's that?"
Yusei only looked down for a moment, staring at the poncho that Jaden was wearing. "I don't think I even know what I looked like wearing that…" He said, and the second Jaden realized Yusei was eying what he thought he was eying, a very shocked expression covered his face.
"What, are you serious?" Jaden asked, sounding very surprised, "You didn't even get a chance to look at it when you first put it on?"
Yusei shook his head. "I didn't really feel the need to- the size felt okay and it was comfortable, and I needed to do some duel-training, so that was pretty much at the back of my mind." He explained, to which Jaden nodded.
"Oh, okay then." He said, and smiled, "Why don't you put it on now? I bet you look pretty cool on it."
For a moment, Yusei actually considered turning the offer down- he was conscious that he had already lost some work-time for sitting down to chat with Jaden, but since the tense atmosphere that had followed them around during the day had finally gotten away and Jaden seemed So cheery, there was no real way to say no. He nodded, and Jaden took off and handled the poncho back.
When Yusei put the poncho on, it looked completely different from what Jaden had imagined; while that clothing could've made some look silly or exaggerated, it somehow made Yusei looked really, really cool. He was sure that the only things missing to make him look more like a completely heroic Wild West sheriff were a couple of guns in each hand and a hat.
"So, how does it look?" Yusei asked, shrugging in a way his sleeveless arms showed in the open poncho. Much to his discomfort and embarrassment, Jaden had a hard time repressing the urge to yell how cool, and even handsome he looked. He just replaced all this with a big smile, and a thumbs-up.
"Y-You look awesome, dude!" Jaden said, and thankfully, Yusei didn't seem to notice the nervousness on his tone. "Like a total cowboy, and everything!"
Yusei smirked lightly, and walked to the bathroom to finally see his reflection on the small wall-mirror.
"It does look fine, I guess…" Yusei murmured, as he got back into the room, "But it looks completely out of place in here, wouldn't you think so?"
Jaden shook his head almost frantically. "'Course not! If anything, you could even take it to tomorrow's duel, I swear!"
"No, of course not." Yusei shook his head, and though his answer was negative, he seemed to sound a little amused at Jaden's enthusiasm, "This is practical enough for standing duels and just walking around, but Riding Duels are another completely different story." He explained, making Jaden's smile smaller- yet not gone.
"Well, just keep that in mind; wear it more often. It looks really good!"
"You're being really emphatic on that, you know."
"…Emphatic?"
There was a bit of a pause, in which Jaden only tilted his head again and Yusei just cleared his throat.
"Never mind- that's okay, I'll wear the poncho more often; the weather is getting colder these nights, after all." He decided, making Jaden smile widely.
"Awesome!"
Again, a little silence covered them. Jaden knew what he wanted to ask next, though, but was feeling a little sheepish to do so. When he couldn't stand the awkwardness any longer, he just went ahead without caring that much.
"...So, um, Yusei?" Jaden said, and Yusei only answered with an attentive look. "...You know how you told me about those duel-disk-pistols?"
"Ah, those... What about them?"
"Uh…" Jaden started, a little flushed, "I was wondering, do you happen to still have one of those…?" He asked, not looking at Yusei.
"Sorry, I don't…but why do you ask?" Yusei asked back, and Jaden's expression only reddened a bit after realising a small, dissapointed 'aww..'.
"…You mentioned you knew how to spin the pistols, so I kinda' wanted to see that."
After making sure he had heard right, Yusei couldn't help but to release a small smile at this answer. He couldn't help but to wonder at the facts that were Jaden; he was one curious guy- always doing and asking the weirdest things, smiling so much, eating so much, and being such a good balance to his more than a little dark and hard life.
Yusei chuckled, before getting up from his bed and ruffling Jaden's hair in quite the endeared fashion.
"Y-Yusei?" The brunette stammered, looking up to him.
"If I ever see one of those duel disks, I'll make sure to get it and show you, okay?" Yusei said, his hand firm on Jaden's head, "It's late. I'll be on the garage working on that scheme again. Feel free to join me."
Jaden only nodded with a small smile, and got up to follow Yusei so they could leave the room together. When they got to the garage, they both turned their laptops back on and sat back to the places they had been at least an hour ago.
"Sorry we're back to the beginning…" Yusei started with a quiet mumble. The comment actually made Jaden chuckle.
"It's okay, dude. If you take too long, I can just sleep here, right?"
"I wouldn't want that, really. A garage's not precisely a comfortable place to sleep at…"
"But you've slept here a lot over working in your D-Wheel!"
"That's different, and you know it. I really appreciate your helping me, but if you get tired and have the option to go to the rooms, just do so, okay?"
Before actually agreeing, Jaden pouted.
Then, it was back to the silence- it went on from 11:30pm to somewhere around 1:00am, according to Jaden's laptop. When he had felt his eyes grow heavy, and had begun having trouble at paying attention to the newest dueling-video he had found, he knew it was time to go to sleep. After turning off his laptop, he decided to just take Yusei's advice and go to his room. When he moved his eyes from his now blacked-off monitor, he noticed the fact that he wasn't hearing Yusei typing anymore.
Jaden couldn't suppress the huge smile that appeared on his face when he noticed Yusei's head hung above his own laptop- his hands were placed on the keyboard still, and he was even snoring lightly.
Well, oh well. Yusei Fudo, young genius, falling asleep on work, Jaden thought. He quietly put away his own laptop into the rooms, and went over to Yusei's place to check his. As one would've expected, the work with the scheme was now completed- and judging by the way things looked, the second Yusei knew he had finished, he had simply stopped caring about everything else and given into his tiredness. Jaden sighed in relief at the fact that work was done with, saved the changes in Yusei's work, turned the laptop off and put it away as quietly as he could.
Surprisingly enough, Yusei hadn't woken up at all when Jaden had moved him in a way his back was against the garage's nearest wall. After doing this, Jaden smiled when he recalled Yusei's words from earlier- that the roles of their relationship had slightly reversed for the day-, feeling proud at how true that felt. Then, he sneezed into his arm, thankfully not awakening Yusei in the meantime.
Just like Yusei had said, the nights were getting chillier. And there he was; sleeping to his heart's content on that warm and cool-looking poncho. Jaden felt like he wanted it back for a moment, but considered how mean it would be just to take it from someone who was so deep in his sleep. So the second best idea that occurred to him in the moment was a little hastily used.
xXx
The next morning, Yusei wondered many things.
First, had he really finished his work, or was he just so tired he had dreamt it?
Why was he leaning on the garage's wall?
Where was his laptop?
And most importantly…
Why was Jaden's head leaning on his shoulder, and why was he so snuggly under the poncho with him, the clothing covering them as if it were a blanket…?
When he looked at his room-mate's sleeping expression, he really didn't care about that last question and decided just to go back to sleep, leaning his head on Jaden's, a content expression unintentionally creeping its way into his face. He'd need his energy for today's Riding Duel- he'd have to win it as quickly as possible to finally have that friendly duel he had promised Jaden.
End.
AN: Yes, this is done! 'w'/
I can't believe it- I actually took the 'Make a Starshipping fic that involves Poncho!Yusei' joke I made a few days ago and actually made something decent out of it. I intended it to be more of a comedy than a fluff, AND LOOK AT THE FREAKING COTTON CANDY OF A FIC THAT CAME OUT. I dunno' if that's bad, but I don't really care right now. I'm just glad it's done. C,:
Anyways, any OOC-ness, or any wrong things like, I dunno, Yusei actually keeping a gun, or location errors, whatever it is, try not paying much attention to them. I only know of Poncho!Yusei and the name of the Crashtown arc on 5D's because a friend played it on livestream and I kind of adored Yusei in there. Just watched…half of an episode since I had stuff to do. I need to watch more 5D's, I'm lovin' it. ;w;
Again, apologies to my puzzleshipper readers, I've just got half of the next chapter of the multi-chapter done, but if it's any help, there's a one-shot in mind, so be prepared! ;D
And people, one thing. This is a one-shot, so please, no 'please update' reviews, okay? Last fic had a summary that explicitly said 'One-shot', and since I committed the mistake of putting it into a 'on-going' category, most of the reviews were 'update soon' types of things. I am really grateful you'd like to see more, and believe me that it makes me very happy to actually get reviews, but I do beg you to read the summaries, please. I'm sorry if I'm being snarky or mean, but I really needed to lay this out right now. TwT
So, nothing else…? I think everything's covered. Leave you review, remember they make me happy. :'D Have a good one~!