Judai expected them to go back to square one after they'd returned home and as such started to head back towards their room to get his clothes and shower when a hand grabbed his sleeve, stopping him.
"Judai, wait... can we sit on the couch for a minute?" Yusei asked, letting go of him as soon as he had the brunette's attention. He didn't look quite as small or afraid as when they'd been outside. In fact, Judai wouldn't have guessed any of the past hour had happened if he hadn't been there himself and could still see the redness in the other's eyes.
He gave a small smile in relief and nodded, following him to the couch, though he stopped himself just before sitting down. "Wait here. I'll be quick."
He flashed a smile and hurried into the kitchen, quickly putting on a kettle and getting out a mug for each of them. He gathered the chocolate powder, marshmallows and some flavored creamer to make them both some peppermint hot chocolate, maybe adding extra marshmallows into Yusei's mug before taking the drinks out to the other.
"Here we go," he hummed, offering the special mug to his partner before sitting down next to him and taking a sip of his own drink and promptly burning his tongue. "Ah! Hot hot hot..."
A quiet laugh next to him briefly made the pain worth it and he gently elbowed the other. "Rude... but be careful. It is hot."
"I'm sure it is," Yusei chuckled quietly and took a sip of his own drink after blowing on it. He heaved a heavy sigh before leaning over to rest against Judai. "Are you okay?"
"Heh...I'm fine. I'm not sure why you're worried about me, silly. Will you be okay?" Judai returned, shifting to put his arm around the raven's shoulders. He squeezed him a little and chanced another sip of his drink.
Yusei nodded, nestling in close. "It's easier than worrying about myself, but I will be... Thank you."
They drank their drinks in silence and sat for a long while after they were gone until Judai felt like his arm was going to go numb. He turned his head and nudged Yusei's forehead with his nose. "Hey, Stardust... come on, let's go to our room. Trust me, you'll be more comfortable and...well, as much as I love having you here like this, I can't feel my shoulder."
When he got no response, he nudged him again, a bit confused now. "Hey... Yusei. Come on. Are you seriously asleep?"
The only response he got was the slow, rhythmic breathing from the other, making him roll his eyes. "You're kidding me..."
With a sigh, he tried to put their mugs on the coffee table without jostling the other too much then did his best to maneuver his dead weight boyfriend more into his lap so he could stand up with him. Which was honestly easier said than done. Despite his deceptively small frame, Yusei was heavier than he looked.
"Yusei, come on, please, you gotta help me out at least a little here." He complained, making a bit more of an effort to rouse his boyfriend.
That got Yusei to at least open his eyes and look at him though...look at him may have been an exaggeration. His eyes didn't look focused at all and all he really did was stretch and move off Judai to rest his head on the couch where he promptly fell back asleep.
"You're hopeless...and lucky you're cute."
At least with the other off of him, he was able to make quick work of washing their mugs and coming back to hoist the other up off the couch into his arms, admittedly using a bit of Yubel's strength just to get him up. "You're making me feel weak here, Yusei. Come on..."
Yusei's arms came up and wrapped around his neck and he nestled his head into his chest and for a moment, Judai felt his heart flutter and skip a beat. He was breathless, simply holding the other in the living room. As if moved by some force other than his own will, he turned his head and pressed his lips to Yusei's forehead.
"I don't know what happened to you...but I promise, Stardust, you're safe now." he murmured into his hair, eyes flickering gold as he turned and carried him back to their room. His voice dropped to a sinister tone, nearly growling as he spoke softly. "I won't let a soul lay a finger on you."
"You promise?" Yusei's voice was sleepy, barely a coherent whisper and easily missed by his partner who was far more focused on not dropping him.
Judai carefully set the other down in bed though he couldn't seem to get his arms off from around his neck. "Hey, you're in bed. You can let me go now."
Barely open blue eyes tried their best to focus on him as Yusei refused and held him tighter. "No... Do you promise?"
Feeling bold and perhaps a bit reckless after getting away with it earlier, Judai leaned in and kissed his forehead again. "Promise what? That I won't let anyone hurt you? Yes, I promise I'll protect you. You just have to also promise to help if I'm in over my head, okay? You're kind of a badass yourself."
Much to his surprise, Yusei actually closed his eyes and tilted his head up into the kiss, accepting the gesture.
"I promise... Thank you, Judai... such a sweet Kuriboh." It wasn't much longer after that Judai felt his arms release and he was able to slip them off his neck.
'You shouldn't make promises you can't keep.' Yubel warned from a very unwelcome recess of his mind. 'You have no guarantee of that. You really think we've shaken him? That we're safe here?'
'I hate to say it, but I agree... Judai,' For once, Haou's spirit had the decency to at least show it self, putting a hand on Judai's shoulder. 'As fond as I am growing of your little dragon... we may have to go or risk dragging him into all of this.'
No... I can't. I won't. There's no possible way they could have followed us here. We jumped through time, and we had to bribe the hell out of Time Wizard to do it! Besides, don't you even remember how many tries it took?! The likelihood of them finding us is so slim. It's basically zero. We're safe here and so is Yusei with us. Judai shook his head and stubbornly refused to hear anything the other two tried to say beyond that.
He carefully put a blanket over Yusei's shoulders and watched him sleep for a moment, even daring to reach down and brush his thumb along the mark on his face from his eye down to his cheek then back to the little watched Yusei's nose wrinkle at first as his face twisted in discomfort before he relaxed and sighed, almost in relief, pressing into his hand instead.
"You really are too cute for your own good. Not that you'd ever let me tell you that when you're awake." Judai said softly to himself, bending over so he could take his third risk of the night, placing a soft kiss over that mark the other hated so much and whispering against it. "...I don't care what they say. I never make a promise I can't keep. Especially not to you. No one will ever hurt you again, my stardust. I-. . ."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Yusei pretended to still be asleep when he felt the other's lips on his cheek, admittedly curious what he was doing. Judai was never this openly affectionate with him, though that was largely his own doing and preference. The affirmation and reassurance in the other's voice as he spoke to him, breath tickling his ear, only served to lull him into actual slumber though and he lost consciousness before the other finished talking but he could have swore he heard something that should have jolted him awake. ...had Judai really said that?
His dreams were a confusing mixture of various, battle like scenarios each with a common theme. Either a knight clad in black and gold armor was there protecting him or some winged duel monster was whisking him off away from a threat or danger that he was struggling to return to fight against. None of it made sense to him and most all of it was forgotten when he woke up to something cold being placed on his forehead.
It took him awhile to truly become aware of his surroundings, and he immediately wished he had stayed asleep as all at once, it felt like a massive weight was crushing his entire body. Every joint ached and breathing hurt, not to mention opening his eyes. He could have sworn he was freezing to death while at the same time being altogether far too hot to be this wrapped up in blankets, but he had no will to make the effort to remedy the situation. The first task was opening his eyes. That much, he hoped he could manage.
"There he is..." a soft voice cut through the cotton in his ears, making him try to look for it. The red and brown blur eventually reformed into something recognizable as a human soon enough and he found himself trying to reach for him. "Are you actually awake this time, Yusei?"
"What...What do you mean?" His voice sounded like gravel was caught in his throat and each syllable felt as though someone was dragging a cheese grater over his vocal cords.
Judai pet his head with the wet cloth, rewet it and replaced it once more before answering him, perhaps trying to stall to see if he was really going to stay with him this time. "Easy, don't talk too much. You're pretty sick. This is the third or fourth time you've woken up, but you weren't really coherent before. Here, sip some water."
Yusei really did try to follow along, letting Judai help prop him up a little more so he could sip at the drink offered to him. Hearing he was sick made sense. It explained why he felt so miserable and upset, but hearing he'd been up several times before shocked him. He looked worriedly at the other and grabbed his wrist. "W-Wait, what time is it?" He tried his best to make his voice behave and be understandable. "I have to get to class to at least turn in my assignments and there were projects I needed to finish for-"
"Hey, hey, easy. Yusei, relax. No, you don't. You're not getting out bed like this. You're running a fever and you're clearly in no state to be going anywhere. Besides, there's a crazy blizzard going on outside. You would have been snowed in from the get-go. Now please, lay back down. It's okay." Judai's reassurance and firm hand helped ease him back down. The forehead pets with the wet cloth were soothing and much appreciated, but they did little to easy the worried furrow in his brow. "But, to answer your question, it's nearly 2 in the afternoon. Really... what were we thinking last night? I should have insisted you brought a thicker jacket..."
It seemed he would just have to accept his fate. There was truly no use if it was as the other was describing outside. He have a small shake of his head, "Count on you to blame yourself for this. Besides, it wouldn't have changed much. I don't have a thicker jacket. Those are expensive. Mine's always been just fine for me anyway."
"What?! I-..." Judai looked like he wanted to argue and be more upset about this, but all he did was sigh heavily and put a hand on Yusei's cheek. "I'm taking you to a store when you feel better and I'm buying you a proper winter coat."
"You are not. What about you though? Are you okay?" Yusei changed the subject, somehow only now noticing the mask across the other's face. "You're sick too..."
Judai gave a hoarse laugh and rubbed the back of his neck before coughing into his elbow. "Well, yeah, but not as bad as you. I just have a cough and I feel pretty crummy. No fever though, so please don't worry too much. I rarely get sick sick. Really though, don't give me that look, I feel fine. I'm more worried about you. Martha said she hasn't seen you this bad since you were a kid and once as a teenager."
It was a little hard to think between the fever and brain fog, but he did nod to confirm what the other was saying. "I don't get sick often either, but I guess when I do, it makes up for the times I didn't. Are you sure you're okay? You should be resting too."
Judai traced his marker fondly, making him scrunch up his face and withdraw. "You worry too much. I've been resting. Martha just stepped out to get stuff for soup, so I got up to keep an eye on you. You were really restless and wheezing in your sleep. We... We were actually getting really worried."
"Judai...I'm sorry I've worried you. Seems like all I've been doing lately." Yusei felt heavy with guilt or maybe that was the vice on his chest tightening. He was sure he'd have more to say if words weren't so damn difficult. Breathing was already taking its own unique toll on him.
He saw the other's eyes crinkle with a smile as he leaned down and touched foreheads with him. "I don't mind. If anything, it's my job to worry about you. I just want you to get better, okay? Since you're actually awake though, let me go get you some medicine. That'll help. Wait here."
Yusei watched him go and return with a bottle he recognized immediately. He gave the appropriate, disgusted response to the liquid medication offered to him and promptly gagged when Judai insisted it didn't taste anywhere near as bad as he was acting like it did.
"Come on, I took it earlier. You're being dramatic." Judai pressed, frowning at him. "Please don't make me feed it to you."
"What are you even going on about? I'm not 5." Yusei protested though he again turned his head away from the offered cup, his lip twitching up in a snarl.
"You're certainly acting like it." The other huffed back at him before offering the cup again "Now drink it or I'll make you."
"If you make me, I'm pretty sure I'll aspirate and die." Yusei retorted, squirming a little to get away from the medicine. "Now please, it's hard enough to breathe without you shoving that in my face like this."
"Just take it just this once. I'll get it in pill form later when I'm feeling better and the snow's stopped if that's the issue, but right now you need to take it, Yusei. You're putting yourself through feeling miserable for no reason." Judai continued to press, huffing when the other's turned his head yet again.
"I've survived much worse with less before. At least I'm in a warm bed with fresh water. That's more than I've ever had so please stop shoving that in my face." Yusei rasped, turning his head as a coughing fit overtook him. When he'd recovered enough to turn back to the other all he saw was shock and a twinge of horror.
Judai sat back in his chair, a bit defeated as he looked to him. "What...What do you mean?"
"Judai, I grew up in Satellite… It was essentially a dump that people were forced to live in. Medicine after I left the orphanage was whatever expired drugs Neo Domino threw away. Soup and a pile of blankets if you could find it was all we had and even then, soup was hard enough to come by if you could even start a fire. But really, my point is, I'll be fine."
He could see the gears turning in Judai's head though the surprise slowly worked itself into a hard glare of disapproval. "You're taking this medicine. You have access to it now. You don't have to keep acting like you don't just because you managed to survive before, and if it was that bad then how the hell is liquid medicine worse?" He snapped at him and Yusei blamed the red and green he though he saw around the other's eyes on his feverish delirium. "Take advantage of what you didn't have and stop making me worry about you. Weren't you saying you were upset about that earlier? Make up your mind."
That made Yusei falter. He turned his head away from him for a moment then took the cup from the other's hand and downed the wretched tasting liquid as quickly as he could, forcing himself to swallow despite the immediate reflex to spit it out and nausea that followed it. He…really hated the way that cursed, thick liquid clung to his throat as it slid down, leaving him queasy. A shudder ran up his spine and he gave the cup back, making a face and trying to get the taste out of his mouth. Perhaps it was all in his head, but not even the tea offered to him helped.
Where Judai bounced back almost immediately, feeling normal by the end of the day and even collecting a pill form of the medication as promised, Yusei found himself unable to even consider leaving bed except when absolutely necessary that day and the following. He slept for the most part, but when he was awake, Judai was at his side with a book or a game console, diligently keeping an eye on him until his fever finally broke and he didn't wheeze as much when he took a breath.
"Martha was worried about pneumonia." Judai confessed the day Yusei was finally feeling well enough to get up and walk around a bit.
"I'm not surprised. I caught it once when I was a little kid and again as a teenager. It was worse the second time. It was winter then too and at that point, I was on my own with Jack, Crow and Kiryu sleeping in whatever abandoned buildings we could find that weren't already being huddled in by rival groups. I don't remember much aside from how hard it was to breathe and how scared I was that I was going to die like that, hacking up thick fluid from my lungs and shivering on the icy floor. Crow was sick too and the other two were sniffling…" He shook his head free of the memory, sitting down at the kitchen bar to rest and drink some fresh tea. "Thankfully though, Jack and Kiryu managed to carry me back to Martha and the doctor was finally able to get some proper medicine from Security. It took a while, and I felt even worse before I started to feel better, but at least it worked."
He was a bit surprised when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him from behind, but Yusei leaned back into them, enjoying the tight embrace until he registered the feeling of Judai trembling in what he originally guessed was anger, but when the other spoke in such a soft voice, he quickly realized what it really was… fear.
"You mean to tell me you almost died all because you had no access to medicine? What the hell? You were-…this place was thriving. How could they not even spare that much? I-I almost lost you."
He brought his hands up to hold onto the other's arms, tilting his head back to rest against Judai's shoulder. "Don't put it like that… I mean, you're not wrong, but there's nothing to be upset about. You wouldn't have even met me if that happened, so there would be nothing to lose."
"You say that so casually. I can't imagine never meeting you or not having you in my life. It scares me to think I wouldn't have any of this if you had died before I met you."
Yusei grimaced a little as he was squeezed tightly, his chest still sore from all the coughing he'd been doing as of late. "But I didn't. I'm here and I'm not that sick again. I'm feeling much better today. Really, I think I would have been okay yesterday, but you and Martha wouldn't let me get up."
Judai shook his head though he did ease up his hold a little. "You were still wheezing. I didn't want you to push yourself too soon and get worse again."
This concern… it left a warm feeling in Yusei's chest, making him smile close his eyes to savor it. "You two are such worrywarts… thank you."
Kitana: I'm alive! Life has been...a whirlwind. I graduated from my undergrad program and then jumped immediately into my professional program and moved a very very long way from home, but I am so excited and happy to be working towards my Veterinary degree! It's been a dream of mine and it's surreal to actually be pursuing it.
I'm finally getting a rhythm under myself though (I hope) so I will try to write more in what free time I can scrape away. I love this story and there's much left to tell! (Besides, fluff between Yusei and Judai is great stress relief...so is angst...)
As always, thanks for reading, reviewing, following and all that good stuff! It means the world to me!