Hello there. I wrote this a while ago to get my head screwed back on for writing, thought it was good enough to post. And just to let you all know I haven't died completely, I'm just veeeery busy OTL Once again, I will not be dropping Dubious Saviour, I'm going to get back to that before Xmas if I possibly can.

So enjoy some Kingcrabshipping C:

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (c) Kazuki Takahashi

The sun dawned rather dramatically over Neo Domino City, showing all the tall shiny buildings in their awesome glory.

There was, of course, one man awake to see it, and staring out at all the glittering spires of the city laid out before him. As he thought he absently threaded his fingers through a small tail of hair by his ear, feeling the strange softness of the hair with a dim surprise. He was dressed in navy jeans and a black vest, and his blonde hair was rather more disordered than usual.

The door behind him leading into his large bedroom was partially cracked, and as he looked back towards it a peaceful smile replaced the sombre expression. He crept silently back into the room and paused to survey the man tangled in his bedsheets. Yuusei was hugging a pillow to his bare chest, face peaceful in slumber, the tracking dye on his cheek hidden by the fall of wild black and yellow-striped hair.

Jack sat down next to the sleeping man and gently stroked his cheek. "Yuusei, wake up."

Yuusei mumbled something and slowly blinked his eyes open, looking up at Jack immediately. "Morning, Jack. What's up?"

Jack couldn't help but smile and stroked his cheek again. "I've got a meeting with Goodwin, I have to go."

Yuusei sat up properly, the covers falling down around his hips, and shuffled closer to him. "Alright, if you have to go. I'll let myself out."

"You'd better," Jack smiled, "Because I'm sure as hell not sticking around to let you out, and I need to get to this meeting."

Yuusei laughed affectionately and ruffled Jack's hair. "Shall I swing by later?"

Jack made a pleased sound in his throat and pulled Yuusei close, kissing his cheek. "Please do."

"Then I will," he replied, raising his hand to brush the back of Jack's neck for a moment. "Now I thought you had a meeting to get to?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Jack said regretfully, feeling the now-familiar ache bloom through his body, the ache to be pushed down on the pillows and plundered to his limit.

"Get to it, then," Yuusei grinned, eyes sparkling with mirth as his head dipped to kiss Jack's neck, where a raised pink lump was forming from the night before.

A breathy moan escaped Jack's lips and his eyes fluttered closed for a moment. "You're making it rather hard to leave, you know."

"I know."

Jack shivered at the smug note in Yuusei's voice and pulled back with an effort of will. "Right, I'm actually going."

Yuusei smiled in that rare way of his, special because he so rarely did it, and sat back. "Don't forget your coat," he teased.

Jack swatted him lightly on the arm and got up, sweeping his white coat off the floor and checking his deck was still in its holster. As he left Yuusei was heading for the en-suite bathroom to have a shower.

In the lift down from the penthouse suite, he tried to force his hair into some sort of order in the reflective walls, rethreading the longer tails into their bands. He wasn't entirely happy with the result as it refused to co-operate, looking rather fuzzy and played-with instead of sleek and smooth.

He gave it up as a bad job and pulled his high collar closer into his neck to try and hide the slowly reddening mark, courtesy of Yuusei. It made him smile, though.

He arrived at Goodwin's building without incident, passing the Phoenix Whirlwind into the care of a nervous valet, made only more nervous by the knowledge a nasty fate would await anyone who left so much as a smudge on the precious D-Runner.

Mina greeted him chirpily in the foyer, taking the lift with him up to Goodwin's office. "Had a good evening, Jack? You left awfully early after that duel yesterday."

Jack smirked, remembering Yuusei's call with a flush of heat. "What reason was there to stay? That loser didn't deserve my commiserations, and I was busy."

"No," Mina said carefully, checking her blue hair in the mirror walls, "But Mister Goodwin had you booked for autographs afterwards, and a conference with your sponsors, and you just vanished."

Jack shrugged carelessly, remembering the sight of Yuusei leaning against his Runner in Jack's garage and slowly pulling his gloves off. "Hardly important, Mina."

She frowned down at the floor, treading carefully as ever around his volatile temper, even if he did seem a bit more mellowed than she had thought. "But what were you doing, Jack? Goodwin – and your fans and sponsors – will want answers. Good ones."

"They'll just lap up the same old bullshit about going to clear my head after a duel – those helmets get awfully hot in a Turbo Duel, you know."

Mina frowned up at him. "Jack, what's wrong with you? Can't you at least tell me what you were doing?"

He bristled at her tone, refusing to feel guilty. "There's nothing wrong with me, Mina!" He snapped. "Can't I have some things private anymore? It's none of your business."

She looked back down at the floor pensively, obviously hurt. The mood when the lift arrived was sour and uncomfortable, but Jack put it behind him as he walked to Goodwin's office. Thinking about hearing Yuusei's dark laugh in his ear made it a lot easier. Worth it, he thought as he entered the office, Mina slipping in behind him and standing unobtrusively against the wall.

"Morning, Jack," Goodwin said coolly, frowning at him from behind his desk. "So nice of you to agree to come."

Jack lounged in a chair, bored already. "Shall we get the shouting over first, or would you prefer to embarrass yourself by trying to be subtle?"

Goodwin glared at him. "Where were you?"

"Around."

Goodwin thumped his fist down in the desk, making an odd metallic sound. "Dammit, Jack, you have no idea the amount of work I had to do to excuse you and save your public image! Now you owe me a proper answer!"

Jack looked at him crossly. "I don't owe you anything, Goodwin. I know we had an agreement but that doesn't extend to my private life." He then unconsciously ran the hair of one of his now-fuzzy tails through his fingers.

Goodwin narrowed his eyes at the lounging duellist, taking in his messy appearance and the edge of a red mark on his neck, mostly covered by the collar. "Who did you see?" He demanded sharply.

He knew he had struck the right answer because Jack's hand dropped back to the arm of the chair and his already-expressionless face turned stony. "It's none of your business who I see."

"It is if you're going to get yourself into a scandal, Jack! And your sponsors would not be happy to know you blew them off for some – some – whim!"

Jack frowned thunderously. "As if they could afford to withdraw backing! And it's not a whim, it's—" he stopped abruptly, aware he had already said too much.

"It's not like you're the champion anymore, Jack. You can't coast on victory; not after Yuusei beat you like that in front of the world. And if it's not a whim, what is it? It had better not be a Senator's wife."

Jack looked away and snorted unexpectedly. "I can assure you, Goodwin, it's not a Senator's wife. The person I've been seeing is about as far from that as you'd imagine."

"Some Satellite whore then?" Goodwin sighed. "I'm not sure if that's better or worse."

"I'm a Satellite, Goodwin, or had you forgotten that?" Jack said testily. "So what if I'm seeing someone – not a whore – from my home?"

"That slum is not your home anymore, Jack. As far as the world is concerned, you're a purebred citizen. If it got out that you were slumming… you'd be out on your ear, Jack. And who would take you then? Not the citizens, and not your old gang in that slum, not after you stole that card and Runner. You burnt that bridge two years ago."

Jack flinched slightly and remained silent.

Goodwin calmed his voice, knowing how to push Jack's buttons. "Now, you need to tell me. You don't have to give me a name, just whether it will disgrace you if it gets out."

After a few minutes, Jack said quietly, "It would. Very much."

Goodwin sighed. "Will you break it off?"

Jack immediately refused, gaze flinty. The older man hadn't really expected him to acquiesce. "Just promise me you're being careful, Jack. About keeping it secret, and about… anything else. I can't think what would be worse – a sex scandal, or a paternity scandal."

To Goodwin's surprise, Jack laughed bitterly, the sound ugly and harsh as he touched what was clearly a livid red bite on his neck. "Trust me, Goodwin, there's no worry on either of those fronts."

"Hm. Well, enjoy it while it lasts, Jack. But give me notice if you're going to vanish again, and I'll keep covering for you."

Jack nodded tersely. "What was it you called me for?"

They moved on to the actual topic for the meeting, acting as if that conversation had never happened. Mina remained mute in the corner, tactful as always.

At the end of the meeting Jack headed straight to the stadium to take his Runner around the track a few times, trying to forget his argument with Goodwin. He had known that conversation was coming, of course, but he didn't exactly revel in the knowledge it had happened.

In Goodwin's office, Lazar slipped inside as soon as Jack and Mina had left. "Sir, I have those reports you wanted on Mister Fudo's movements."

"Ah, good, Lazar," Goodwin said, taking the electronic notepad from him and scanning it, trying to see a pattern of movement in the lines superimposed over a street map of the city and the Satellite. "This is current?"

"Current and live, sir. Interesting, isn't it?" Lazar said slyly. "Yuusei's been slipping in and out of the city far more than we'd thought. And he seems to have kept some strange company."

Goodwin sighed, too worn out by his argument with Jack to understand what Lazar was saying. "I'll look at it later, Lazar. I can't think right now."

"Very well, sir," Lazar said smoothly, taking the device back and collapsing the holographic screen. "I'll go ahead with those measures we talked about?"

Goodwin flapped a hand at him. "Yes, yes. Do what you must."

Lazar bowed respectfully and left, going to meet with a PI he had used before.