Yusei leaned over the railing, once more at the cliffside he retreated to when he needed to think about anything important. It had been nearly two weeks since he'd requested time to think about what Judai had told him, and despite meticulously trying to pick it apart piece by piece, he couldn't find an answer. He just didn't know how he felt about Judai or whether or not he liked him back. It should have been pretty obvious, shouldn't it have? He should know whether he did or didn't like the other romantically, but he didn't, and it was getting to the point that even he had to admit defeat and call for outside help.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he barely heard the vehicles pulling up to join his. At least he'd been expecting them. It never took either of them long to get there when he asked them to, unless of course one was out of town.

"You wanted to talk to us?" Crow was the first to speak, joining Yusei on his left while Jack took to his right.

Yusei nodded and glanced at each of them before letting out a long, heavy sigh. He'd been mulling all of this over for a little over a week now and still had little idea of where to go or how to even start this conversation with them. The only reason he'd finally reached out now was because Jack was due to leave on tour in about a week, and he didn't want to get in the way of the other's preparations.

"The night we went to the fair, Judai told me he has a crush on me…" He finally admitted, absentmindedly playing with his gloves while he talked. "I just don't know how to feel about it, or what I should do."

By the looks on their faces, neither of them were expecting that to be the reason he called them to talk. Usually it was something to do with his studies or needing to vent about something duel related if not request they help him with a project he was working on. Even he wasn't so sure about this. Relationships weren't exactly something he sought out or knew much about to begin with.

"Wait, he has a crush on you?" Jack demanded, folding his arms and frowning a bit. His brows furrowed in either disapproval or thought. It was difficult to tell with him.

Crow was the one to shake his head and grin at the both of them. "Neither of you noticed until now? Geeze. I thought for sure you'd have gotten the hint, Yusei, after you told me about that one Saturday he lent you his jacket."

"He lent you his jacket?!" Jack now sounded outraged, looking between them both.

"Calm down," Crow chastised, rolling his eyes.

"It was cold," Yusei defended himself, turning back to look over the city. Protecting it was easy compared to this. Just duel and fight the corruption around him. Hell, even his classes were easier to think about than this. Maybe Jack and Crow weren't the best people to ask about this kind of thing.

A hand on his head and messing up his hair made Yusei try to duck down and away only to nearly knock into Crow who'd come up on his other side.

"Yusei, listen up," Jack commanded, also leaning with him over the railing and watching the city below them. "While I'm upset you weren't the one to give up your jacket to him, because I thought you were more of a gentleman than that, I do want you to know this. I didn't know Carly liked me until she'd been murdered by Divine. She'd never told me, and I was too busy being prideful and mad at you for dethroning me not once but twice. I didn't even know I liked her until I really thought about it and thought about how it felt to lose her. So, how do you feel about Judai? What if he died tomorrow?"

Count on Jack to take the dramatic approach. Yusei's entire chest seemed to clench at the thought or mention of Judai just dropping dead so suddenly, though the feeling wasn't unfamiliar. He felt this way anytime he considered his friends' deaths or had nightmares of causing another Zero Reverse like the one Rowan caused. His frown deepened as he kept his gaze fixed away from the other two.

"I don't want him to die," Yusei muttered. "He's my friend, just like you two are. I would do everything I could to keep that from happening."

"Okay, we figured that much, but is he really just your friend?" Crow pressed, catching on to Jack's tactic. "How does he make you feel?"

"I don't know. That's why I wanted to talk to you both. I don't know how he makes me feel or what I should do." Yusei lowered his head and closed his eyes. He still felt just as confused as he did that night when Judai had confessed to him.

He felt a hand on each shoulder and knew that they were waiting for him to elaborate or give them more information while making sure he didn't just end up thinking everything to himself without saying a word to them.

"When he told me he had a crush on me, we'd been talking about whether or not he wanted to go back to his timeline." Yusei began. "The thought of him leaving upset me a lot. I didn't want him to, and I still don't. He's a wonderful duelist and a good friend. I enjoy his company a lot. I just don't know how to tell if I like him like he likes me, and I don't want to hurt him."

"Yusei, if you don't like him, you don't like him." Crow pointed out, removing his hand now that the other was talking again. "You don't have to. No one ever said you did. I mean, you and Aki are pretty close, but still just friends and all of us were convinced you both were dating."

"It wouldn't have worked even if we wanted to. She wanted to go to Germany to study medicine, and I still didn't know what I wanted to do yet." Yusei felt his cheeks warm at the thought of his and Aki's date. Skating with her had been fun, but their interests took them on different paths and they'd both come to terms with that after Aki left. "Besides that, I'm aware of that fact…"

"Then what's stopping you from making a decision? You can't just think about it forever, you know. That's not fair to him." Jack said next, also taking his hand back.

"What do you both think of him?" Yusei asked, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He didn't feel like he was getting anywhere with this conversation. If anything, it was only confusing him more.

"Our opinions of him aren't the important ones," Jack grinned, shaking his head. "I personally think he's hyper and headstrong. He's stubborn, but I respect him as a duelist."

"I really like that he has you one a mostly regular sleeping schedule now," Crow laughed, his eyes glinting playfully as he knew that particular point still irritated Yusei. "Seriously though, I like him, personally. He's fun to hang around with and he's managed to drag you out of the house. That takes some honest skill."

"Fun and games aside, Yusei, do you even like other guys?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Have you ever had a crush on another guy?"

"I…"

"Before you answer, man, I hope you know we're perfectly fine if you do." Crow interrupted. "And you don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

If Yusei felt flustered earlier thinking about how he and Aki almost dated, his face must have been a bright red at that point. He'd never given it much thought before at all. Liking girls? That was easy. That was expected, considered normal. It just felt like a given. But liking other guys was different. Maybe his gaze had lingered on a few, and perhaps he'd preferred it when he was with Bruno. Maybe his heart skipped a beat every time Judai smiled, but he didn't think of it like that at all.

"I don't know," he muttered, much quieter than earlier. His head was just about to feel like it was going to crack from how hard he was trying to find an answer along with everything else he was questioning about himself and what to do about Judai. He swore it started to when he felt something hard nudge up against his shoulder, making him look up to see Jack offering him his helmet.

"Get your ass on the bike. We're going for a ride. You can clear your head and think about everything that way. No obligations to talk to anyone. No more questions." The blonde offered, already leaving him to get his things.

"Yeah, come on. A ride will give you space to think about this, and I think we all know you do your best thinking behind the wheel." Crow agreed, running over to Black Bird and hopping on.

A smile relaxed Yusei's expression. He hadn't realized how tense he'd been up until that point. This is why he went to them. Jack and Crow seemed to understand what he needed more than him sometimes, and he only hoped he was able to help them in the same ways.

Slipping on his helmet, he climbed onto his bike and let Jack take the lead, choosing instead to file in behind him so he could mindlessly follow without paying too close attention to what turns to take. He trusted the other two to keep him in line and protect him from being too distracted. If anything, they were most likely going to drive around the duel tracks, so they wouldn't have to worry about traffic or other vehicles. Just a long ride back and forth between Satellite and Neo Domino over the water.

-.-

"Feel a little better?" Jack asked when they finally pulled back up to Martha's.

Yusei nodded, stepping off his bike and smiling to them both. "I think so. I admit, I'm still a bit confused, but my head doesn't feel so muddled anymore."

"You know, have you tried talking to Aki yet? She's usually pretty good at understanding how you're feeling." Crow pointed out.

"You both are the first I've gone to. I think she'll have time here in a bit to talk." He explained, taking off his helmet. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Yusei," Crow grinned and sat up a bit straighter in his runner.

"If he hurts you or tries to pressure you into anything, let me know. I'll pound him into the ground for you." Jack assured, nodding to him before taking off.

"Jeez, always so dramatic. Though, seriously, Yusei. If Judai does anything, let us know first." Crow insisted before following the blonde's lead and driving away.

Yusei shook his head a bit at their antics and retreated back inside. If he wanted to talk to Aki, he'd need to get to his laptop quick. He wasn't sure if she'd be at lunch yet or not, and even then, he knew he'd only have about an hour to talk to her before her next classes started.

He grabbed his laptop and took it out to the garage, settling down at the bench out there and putting on his headset. His pulse thundered in his ears while he listened to little musical dial tone playing.

"Yusei?" Aki had a sandwich in one hand and it looked like she was doing some kind of either mathematics or chemistry homework. "This is unexpected. Are you alright? You're not in your room."

"I'm alright, Aki," he reassured, hoping his smile matched his words. "I've just run into a bit of a wall, and I'm having trouble getting over it."

She looked a bit more closely at him on her screen before closing her book and putting down the sandwich, turning to face him fully. "What is it Yusei? I can practically feel your anxiety from here."

She really could read him like an open book. It was one of the things he appreciated most about having her as a friend. He didn't really have to say much for her to understand which saved him quite a bit of trying to put more confusing emotions into words. This, however, he knew he'd need to explain.

Yusei went over every detail of that night with her, perhaps leaving out a few minor details such as nearly crying, and waited for her to take it all in. Her silence wasn't too worrying. She sometimes needed time to organize what she wanted to say.

"Tell me again how it made you feel to hear him say that?" Aki requested, hand on her chin in thought. She still had her gaze fixed on him, warm and understanding.

"I already said I don't know how I feel about it, Aki. I was surprised when he said it, then…" his voice trailed off as he realized he didn't quite want to admit how he'd felt after the initial shock. There would be no point of calling Aki though if he didn't try. "I think I was scared."

Admitting it out loud made him want to curl into himself and hide from everyone. He'd faced countless terrors and horrors, but this, a simple confession, had scared him. It wasn't a haunted house kind of scared though. It was more of a silent, freezing kind.

"Yusei, why were you scared? Has Judai done anything to make you nervous? Do you not know how to tell him you don't feel the same?" She offered, now turning to face him.

"That's a pretty big decision to make, don't you think? And on the spot as well… I think it overwhelmed me, and no. Well, I mean he's done plenty of things that make me anxious, but not in a negative way. I don't know if I feel the same or not." He groaned, folding his arms and burying his head in them. "That's why I've been talking to you, Martha, Jack and Crow. I don't know how I feel."

"None of us can tell you that, Yusei." Aki pointed out, laughing softly. "Though I think I understand. I guess, I need to know, do you like other men? I know you liked me for a while. I like you too, but have you ever liked anyone else?"

"Jack and Crow asked the same thing," he sighed, lifting his head enough to look at her. "I've never really seen a reason that I shouldn't. People are people. It's what's inside that should matter."

"Philosophy aside, Yusei. Come on. Simple yes or no. Do you like other men?" Aki reworded though she figured she knew the answer.

Yusei half-heartedly glared at her for taking away his normal escape route. He'd been asking himself this question since he'd told Judai he wanted time to think. He'd never really looked at another man like that before, though, he didn't see a problem with anyone doing so. Well, that might be a lie. There had been this guy who he looked up to quite a bit at the orphanage. And then of course there was him, but he didn't really like to think about that much anymore. But despite all of that, he still liked and had crushes on women, so maybe he didn't feel that way about other men.

"Maybe?" He offered up, sighing heavily. "But I still like women and-"

"Yusei," Aki cut in, knowing exactly where this would go if she let him finish that thought. "Before you ramble your way into a corner, you do realize it's okay to like both, right?"

. . .

"Yusei?"

"It's alright?" He asked dumbly. He wasn't sure what kind of face he was making, but it made Aki laugh brightly as she nodded to him.

"Yes, Yusei. It's perfectly fine and normal. If you need a word for it, it's called being bisexual." She explained, shaking her head in amusement at him. "I'm surprised you didn't know about it. I figured you would have run into it by now."

"Okay, well, regardless, even if it's fine and normal, I still don't know how I feel about Judai." Yusei redirected the conversation back to the whole point of this. While that did help, it didn't actually help him with what he should decide in regard to what to do about Judai's feelings for him.

Aki leaned back in her chair and nodded, "I know, I know. It helps to know though. How about a couple yes or noes? Does he make you happy?"

This was usually how they helped each other with their homework. Boil the hard questions down to simpler, smaller questions. It worked for college, why shouldn't it work for this? Yusei straightened up and thought about it before nodding.

"Yes."

"Do you feel safe around him?"

"Mostly, so yes."

"Does he look handsome to you?"

"Aki…"

"Come on, it's important." She insisted, actually completely serious.

"Alright, fine." Yusei grumbled, feeling his cheeks warm as he thought about Judai's appearance. He could imagine that bright smile and how his eyes lit up when they'd go out to do something or duel. Despite how he looked too, he wasn't just skin and bone. He was surprisingly strong for his stature. "…Yes."

"Does he ever make you upset?"

Yusei frowned at this one, but reluctantly nodded. "Yes." He was still irritated at being treated like a child and forced to have a loose bedtime. Then there was the way the other occasionally just didn't seem to understand why Yusei would need to study because he never studied at his school and did fine.

"Alright, last one, will you be okay if it doesn't work out?"

This question caught him off guard and by her smile, he knew she expected it to. What did she mean if it didn't work out? Them being in a relationship hasn't even happened yet, if it were going to happen.

"Not all relationships work out, Yusei, and that's fine. Even you should know that from past friendships. Dating him doesn't mean you're committing to marrying him and dying with him just yet. That's something you'll have to think about later on if you both get more serious. Right now, do you think you would both still be friends or at least content with each other if you both broke up?" She explained for him. "While it's fine if it's nasty at the time, no one wants to see both of you hate each other because you both broke up."

He hadn't really thought about it that way at all. Realizing that he didn't actually have to commit to something as permanent as marriage was actually a surprising weight off his shoulders. While he still didn't like to think about the end of something that hadn't begun, he really couldn't see him and Judai falling out on horrible terms. If anything, he could practically hear Judai laugh it off and tell him that it was fine, and they could be friends again when they were ready. Then again, it might not go that cheerfully, but he still couldn't imagine them being so upset with each other that they never recovered even their friendship.

"…Yes. I think we would be okay." Yusei finally answered, feeling a bit of nervous excitement replace his earlier confusion and tighten his chest a little.

Aki smiled warmly and picked up her abandoned lunch. "I think you should go for it then. Date him for a while, see if it works out. If it doesn't, then, okay. At least you tried."

He nodded and smiled back, relieved that he finally had an answer. "Thank you, Aki."

She nodded, looking up at something behind her screen. "And just in time too. I have to finish this and get to my next class soon. Try to tell him soon, Yusei. The poor thing's probably been worrying about this all week."

"I will. Have a good class." Yusei promised, waving a bit to her before his screen went back to the home page of the messaging platform and he let himself completely fall limp back into his chair.

As happy as he was to finally have an answer for himself, there was still another problem to be dealt with. How the hell was he going to tell Judai?

Kitana: This chapter was very Yusei-centric, but I promise Judai will return next chapter. (He kinda has to or else Yusei won't have anyone to confess too...)
I've always loved Yusei relying on Jack and Crow as siblings and my faithshipping heart wanted to touch on what happened between him and Aki and show that they're still very close. Just obviously not dating close.

As always, thanks for reading! Authors are nothing without readers.

Reviews and favorites/follows greatly appreciated!

Questions? Find me at kitana-lunara on tumblr