Judai felt a weight lift off his shoulders almost immediately, and he mentally urged the other two to calm down as well. From what he'd seen of the pictures on Yusei's nightstand, he'd grown up with Crow and Jack, so it made sense that Jack would be protective of the other. He just hadn't expected him to come at him like this.

"I kind of already told you most of that," Judai started, smiling as he met Jack's gaze evenly. "I'm Judai Yuki. I came from the past to visit Yusei because I missed him after our duel against Paradox."

"And how long ago was that? He didn't mention you were just visiting." Jack pressed further.

"Well, I guess I spent a few months looking for a way to get here. For you all, the Paradox incident happened… roughly a year ago if I remember what Yusei said correctly. I showed up here about four months ago. I've been staying with Yusei and Martha since I got here." Judai continued. He was a little confused why Yusei wouldn't say he was just visiting. After all, that had been the original plan. Visit for awhile and then go back to his own timeline where he could go back to finding people like himself and helping them. He could go back at any time now. All he had to do was use the Time Wizard card he'd gotten from the duel spirit, but now the thought of doing so felt wrong. Like it would be a mistake.

Jack sighed and got out of the car, nodding to Judai to follow him. He sat up against the trunk and crossed his arms over his chest while he glared out at the road like it had somehow offended him. Judai could only assume that was his thinking face.

"How did you get here, and why bother? Why not just wait the 40 years to meet up with Yusei?" He finally asked, looking over at him.

Judai opened his mouth to answer a few times only to shut it when he realized he didn't have a very good answer. Telling him he was impatient to see him again probably wouldn't blow over very well. Why had he been in such a rush? Searching tirelessly for a way to come see one friend for years when he could have just trusted that he would be able to see him again when their timelines actually crossed was excessive, even for himself.

'It is your nature, though, Judai,' Yubel commented, folding their arms similarly to Jack's as they appeared across from the blond. 'You'd go to the ends of the earth for anyone you considered a friend.'

True, but I could have been patient. I would have still kept my promise to him if I came to him as a 57 year old man instead of 21.

"Time travel is complicated. I didn't exactly have a giant red fire dragon to carry me between timelines like Yusei did." Judai finally spoke up, realizing he hadn't answered Jack yet. "As far as why not wait…I don't know."

He let out a startled cry as he was suddenly grabbed by the front collar of his shirt and lifted off the ground. Judai reflexively allowed Yubel to lend their strength for the time being in case Jack got any more violent, though he doubted Jack appreciated him meeting his glare with one of his own.

"What do you mean 'it's complicated' and 'I don't know'?" Jack demanded, seemingly unphased by the other's change in eye color. Though the change in demeanor was minorly alarming. "That's not good enough. Yusei may be content with such answers, but I'm not buying any of it. He only sees the good in others. He probably hasn't even asked you why yet, has he?"

"Jack, put him down," Carly warned, putting a hand on his arm.

"Tch," he glanced to Carly and Judai watched almost all of his anger melt away into annoyance as they seemed to have a silent argument over her request.

With both feet back on the ground, he dusted himself off and adjusted his shirt. Mostly to stall for time and gather his thoughts, but also to make sure it hadn't gotten too stretched out. He doubted he'd be able to find a replacement.

"I mean what I said. I don't know just why I had to see him again so soon. I only know I really didn't want to wait 40 years. I'm sorry that's not good enough for you. It's good enough for Yusei." Judai snapped, influence shifting closer to his darker persona. He didn't like it when Haou insisted on getting his two cents in, but the king helped him say the things he normally couldn't or wouldn't in situations like this. "What does it matter to you if Yusei's asked yet? Why does any of this matter to you at all? Yusei can make his own decisions, and he's decided he wanted me to stay with him."

Jack looked ready to punch him, but whether he resisted because of Yusei or because Carly was standing there, Judai really didn't know.

"It matters to me because Yusei's my friend, and I won't let anyone hurt my friends," Jack growled back at him, more than willing to meet the challenge.

"Yeah? Well, he's my friend too." Judai returned, frowning. "Don't believe me? Then duel me. If I win, you get off my back about this."

"And if I win, you give me a direct answer." Jack agreed, reaching to his belt to get his deck.

"G-Guys! Hey, wait! You don't have time for this! Yusei's probably already at Martha's!" Carly tried to interrupt, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Jack had already thrown a duel disk Judai's way and they were stepping away from the car. The thought to call Yusei crossed her mind, but that might only fan the flames even more. Yusei would be pretty upset to find out Jack had even cornered Judai like this, let alone that the two were fighting over him.

~.~.~.~.

Yusei paced around the living room, the knot in his stomach only tightening as the time ticked by. Jack couldn't have gotten lost on the way there. He should have known the way to Martha's even if he'd gotten dropped off in a random location anywhere in the city. He had been driving his car though, so maybe that had added some time to his trip? No. It shouldn't have. They should have arrived roughly at the same time. Maybe he wanted to pick something up for Martha? He could have at least called.

"Maybe you should call them before you pace a canyon into my living room," Martha called from the kitchen after roughly 15 minutes of listening to him restlessly mutter to himself.

"R-Right," Yusei was a bit embarrassed he hadn't thought to do so already.

Correction, he had. It was simply that every time he'd gone to try to call them, he wondered if they were just about to pull in and Jack would get annoyed that he hadn't trusted him. By now though, concern was starting to ebb into worry. He hadn't heard any emergency sirens, and he was pretty sure Jack Atlas getting into any kind of crash, serious or minor, would be plastered all over the news in a heartbeat.

Picking up his phone, he decided to call Carly since she wouldn't be the one driving and Judai was probably still hugging that kuriboh.

…

"Hello? Yusei?" Carly normally sounded like a frantic mess, so hearing things fall in the background like she had dropped several things trying to get to her phone didn't set of any alarms.

"Are you all okay? Did Jack get lost?" Yusei asked.

"N-No, no! We're all fine. Jack didn't get lost. We're just still caught in traffic!" Carly stuttered out.

"Oh, alright," his frown only deepened. Traffic hadn't been bad at all when he was driving back, and they shouldn't have been that far behind. "How far out do you think you guys are?"

'Red demon's dragon, ATTACK'

"…Carly, was that Jack?"

'NEOS'

"Are they dueling?"

"What? I-I couldn't hear you, Yusei." Carly started to say, and a crackling sound suddenly filled his ear, making hearing her nearly impossible. "You're…breaking up…"

Yusei didn't even wait for her to finish her charade of crinkling paper before hanging up and grabbing his helmet. He should have known Jack would pull something like this. He didn't mind that they were dueling. Not at all. What he minded was not being informed. He minded what he could only imagine what lead to this duel.

As if knowing he had every intention of driving around Neo Domino blindly until he found them, a text from Carly flashed across his helmet's screen displaying their location.

"I told him to be nice," Yusei grumbled under his breath as he slipped onto his dwheel and pulled back out onto the road.

It hardly took him any time at all to speed through town, drifting to a halt in front of the car and just in time to see the holograms from a duel vanish. He dismounted and tossed his helmet onto the seat as he stormed up to the taller blonde. Yusei could only assume Jack had lost by the stunned and dazed look on his face.

"Jack," he warned before throwing a punch. The other must have been really out of it as he came down like a house of cards. "What exactly is going on here? I told you to be nice. Judai is my friend."

Judai swallowed hard, more than grateful Yusei's full attention was on Jack because he was positive his face was as red as his jacket. Something about watching the smaller male completely deck Jack sent his heart aflutter and stole his breath away. He couldn't even find the voice to tell Yusei that this was all fine and they'd worked things out. His mind was a total blank.

'Judai? Hey, come on. Snap out of it.' Yubel tried, waving their hand in front of his face.

Fuck.

All his daydreaming was enough to distract him from whatever argument those two were having up until all that rage he was admiring in Yusei's eyes was suddenly turned on him. Judai snapped to attention when it finally clicked for him that Yusei was now talking to him and not just Jack. What had he been saying before?

"…okay? Why did you even agree to duel him in the first place?" Yusei folded his arms and waited for an answer.

"I-" Judai glanced to Jack for an out, but it was clear by the bruise forming on his cheek that there would be no rescue from his new friend. "Yusei, don't worry about it. It's fine. We're all friends now. You should know as well as us that you can reach people deeper through a duel. Jack just wanted to make sure we were cool."

"I'm sorry if he made you uncomfortable or pressured you into anything." Yusei sighed.

"What? Not at all! I had so much fun! You know how much I love dueling and Jack was a pretty challenging opponent. His deck is really cool." Judai tried to reassure him, reflexively reaching out and putting a hand on his shoulder before he had time to think about his actions.

Yusei flinched out from under his hand but didn't make any comment on it, and Judai just wasn't sure if that was worse than him saying anything. The mechanic just nodded and looked between everyone as if trying to gauge the mood before a small smile finally pulled at the corners of his lips.

"I think that makes Judai the new King," he informed, smile only growing at the outrage that spread across Jack's face.

"What? How does that little side duel make him the new king? I let him win because it was the outcome I wanted." Jack huffed and folded his arms, not looking at either of them. "You would have been even more upset if I had beaten him, because then he'd be sad he lost."

"Of course it was," Carly added in, poking his cheek. "Come on. Let's get going. It's starting to get cold out here."

Sure enough, with the sun having long since set, the colder night air wasn't going to be getting any warmer.

"Agreed. And before you say anything, yes Yusei. I am actually going to drive him back to Martha's now." Jack agreed, going back to his car and holding open the passenger door for Carly.

"I'll follow behind you this time," Yusei replied. He went back to his own bike and slipped on, revving the engine when he was situated and ready to go.

As he drove behind the car, he tried to let the sound of his bike drown out the thoughts racing through his head. Most of them revolved around his irritation over Jack feeling the need to drill Judai, but there were a few strays that wouldn't let go of how flushed Judai had been when he'd first started talking to him. Then there was the confusion as if he really hadn't been listening to a word he'd said. Why had Judai been so flustered? It didn't make sense. Also, while he was thinking about the brunette, what had possessed him to touch him so casually? True enough, they'd been holding hands all that afternoon to avoid getting separated at the fair and maybe to keep tabs on each other on the rollercoaster, but that was all.

Unfortunately, as usual, riding through the city back to Martha's had the opposite effect he was hoping for. It had given him plenty of time and space to think, to overanalyze the entire day. Yusei only found himself more confused and frustrated by the time they were home than before they'd departed.

He pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind where they belonged as quickly as he could manage and placed his helmet on the seat before following the group inside. He sat back on the recliner and listened to Judai and Jack regale Martha with tales of what had happened that day, along with a very animated explanation to where the large plushies came from.

"I'm surprised you got Yusei to stay after his hat fell off," Martha commented when they were finished.

Judai laughed and shrugged, "We were actually trying to leave when we ran into Jack and Carly. They convinced him to stay a bit longer, really."

"Those two together always ends in a competition of some sort," Martha sighed in exasperation. She looked to her two boys in turn and shook her head. "Add Crow to the mix and I'm pretty sure you would all still be there as they tried to one up each other."

The room filled with laughter while Jack and Yusei each sported matching red cheeks. They both muttered some kind of disagreement or protest, but it fell on deaf ears.

Their chatter continued on long into the night, until Martha decided she was ready to go to bed. Jack and Carly agreed they should head home as well and everyone started to bid each other farewell and goodnight.

Jack shook Judai's hand and pulled him towards him, whispering in his ear, "Carly and I have seen the way you look at him. If you hurt a single hair on his head, there will be no mercy."

"Woah, man, what are you talking about?" Judai gently pushed him back and smiled nervously. He glanced in Yusei's direction to make sure he hadn't heard and was relieved to see him preoccupied with Carly still. "We're just friends. Besides, why would I ever hurt him?"

Jack didn't respond to him. He only continued to glare until his attention was taken by who Judai had now confirmed was his girlfriend. The blonde was starting to remind Judai of Chaz with how disapproving he was. Maybe one day, he'd be able to get through that thick shell like he'd done with 'the Chaz' and they'd be friends.

Judai waved them off with the others and immediately went about his nightly routine with them. He soon found himself in his bed, facing the wall. He couldn't face Yusei right now. Not with what Jack had said still swirling around in his mind. He'd even been ignoring Yubel and Haou as he tried to piece together just what he meant. He knew, sure, but the real question was whether or not he accepted what he knew to be true.

"Judai, are you still up?" Yusei's voice tore through his thoughts easily. He couldn't ignore him.

"Yeah, I'm up. What is it?" He asked, not moving.

"What did Jack want to know from you, if you don't mind me asking?" He sounded uncertain, probably not wanting to seem like he was prying.

"Just the usual 'who are you?', 'what do you want with my little brother?' type questions. Nothing too personal or invasive." Judai explained, laughing quietly to himself. "Really, he was mostly concerned about whether or not I had an ulterior motive for being here so long with no plan of leaving."

"…Do you have an ulterior motive?" More uncertainty. His voice was getting harder to hear too.

"What?" Judai sat up now and turned around to look across the room at the other. Yusei was curled up on his side with his back to him so he couldn't see his face. "Yusei, look at me. I don't have any other motives for being here other than you. I swear. Seriously, what other motives could I have? My timeline is in the past, not the future. There's nothing I could do here that would benefit my timeline. If anything, I'd probably take what I know now to stop Zero Reverse from happening, so you could have your parents with you."

Now Yusei sat up and faced him as well. "Who told you about my parents?"

Judai blinked. Out of everything he had just said that's what stuck to him? It was a little more than frustrating, but he'd let it slide for now. "Martha. I asked her about them and she told me they died in Zero Reverse and that your dad had been Dr. Fudo, the lead researcher and in charge of the original Moment reactor. What's wrong? Did you not want me to know?"

"That's not it." Yusei's eyebrows furrowed and he clenched his hands in his lap, glaring down at the floor.

"What is it then? Yusei, come on. I could have found out from her or from simply looking up online 'What happened to Yusei Fudo's parents?'. I'm sure there are hundreds of news articles explaining it." Judai huffed, folding his arms. "I guess I could have asked you, but I doubt you'd have answered me. I've figured out by now you don't like talking about your past."

"I suppose…" Yusei couldn't argue that point at all. Judai was right. He really didn't enjoy talking about anything prior to the World Riding duel Grand Prix.

They both let the silence between them thicken and grow after that, though neither of them made a move to lay back down.

"Do you want to go back?"

Judai's head snapped up. He almost hadn't heard Yusei with how quietly he spoke, and he honestly hadn't expected Yusei to be the one to break the silence, let alone change the subject to that.

"Do I want to go back?" He repeated the question back dumbly. He knew exactly what Yusei had meant. The problem was, it was a question he himself didn't know the answer to yet.

Did he want to go back? Many would tell him that his timeline was where he belonged. It was how it was intended to be. People weren't supposed to time travel and stay there. There were several movies depicting that the consequences for staying were severe and horrible. Wouldn't the world fall to pieces or drastically change if he officially made the decision to stay? Being out of place in time could have a large impact on future events, and even past ones. He didn't want that.

All the same, he was slowly starting to realize that perhaps he didn't want to go back. Lately, even the thought of returning to his own timeline had made his stomach twist almost painfully, and it felt as though something were telling him not to return, that this was where he was meant to be. If he thought about it, this was a timeline where he stayed. According to everything on record, he should have vanished 40 years ago, so if he really decided to stay, nothing should change except the future.

"It's okay if you do, you know," Yusei said quietly, not looking at him. "It would make sense if you do. It's technically where you belong."

"Yusei…"

"All your friends and family are there, and it's not like you wouldn't ever see me again. You'd just have to wait 40 years this time." He tried to joke, though the humor in his voice was painfully forced and he was sure Judai saw right through it.

Yusei'd been avoiding this conversation for so long. He knew that for himself, Judai wouldn't be gone more than a day at most. He'd probably see the other tomorrow at noon for lunch, but it wouldn't be the same. Even though little time would pass, it would feel like an eternity. Seeing Judai so much older while he himself remained the same would just feel so wrong. He didn't want him to go. He wanted Judai to stay. For whatever reason, he wanted him to stay with him in this timeline, but it wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be fair to Judai. He deserved to be back in his timeline. It was where he belonged.

A lump formed in his throat, growing larger with every passing thought and reasoning that all lead to the same conclusion making breathing difficult. Swallowing only served to make things worse, and he could feel himself starting to shake as he tried to hold his emotions back by clenching his fists tighter and tighter. He had to ignore how he felt about this. He refused to let himself sway Judai's decision.

A single tear escaped and made its way steadily down Yusei's nose despite all his efforts to keep it back, and he watched it fall down to his hand.

The world stopped for Judai. There was no sound or thought. He doubted his heart was even beating. All he saw was that tear. All he felt was the misery coming off Yusei in waves. He couldn't take it. Judai got up and went over to Yusei's bed, sitting down and grabbing the other's hands in his own. He gripped onto them tightly, not giving Yusei the option to pull away even if he tried. He wanted his full attention and he was going to get it even if he had to force him to look at him.

"Yusei Fudo, I refuse to wait 40 years to see you again. I don't want to go back to my own timeline."

Kitana: 8 always has been my favorite number, and now it's my favorite chapter. (fun fact: this chapter is 3,888 words long)

Reviews, follows and favorites greatly appreciated

Side Note: I have a tumblr where you can ask me questions about this or just chat. Feel free to stop by anytime! My url is pretty much my penname here. kitana-lunara