365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Sense Restoration

9/3/19

Yusei wasn't entirely sure what to do to help Judai when they got back. Sure, it was simple enough to determine that he should probably let the other go sit down and sleep more than anything else, but Judai was also up and moving and latched onto him; he didn't really want to move him in that case, but he was a little worried about bringing him in the kitchen while he made them food.

"So you said before that it was like... all your senses were muted?" Yusei asked, getting a nod from the head buried in his shoulder and sighing, "Does that mean you need to sleep it off or does it mean you need to have your senses stimulated to get them back to normal?" He leaned on the wall instead of moving to sit on the couch, letting his arms wrap the other in a comfortable hug while the other took his time thinking.

"...Yubel says the second one," Judai replied eventually, voice still having that even, dull twinge to it, "Said sleeping wouldn't get rid of it fully, based off previous experience with Haou overusing it too."

"Well, then that's what we'll do," Yusei said, scratching the other's hair a little more roughly than usual while still being relatively gentle. He felt Judai un-tense just ever-so-slightly in response, so he made a mental note to himself to keep doing that whenever he could as he nudged Judai's weight up so he could prop himself off the wall and walk into the kitchen, asking another question, "Is it affecting them, too?"

"A little, not much though. Vision is the only thing not too impacted by it," Judai answered, face pinching a little into a frown when Yusei un-wrapped him from his waist and put him in a kitchen chair but ultimately complying so he could do everything faster.

The first thing Yusei decided to grab was a really strong peppermint tea that was saved for when someone was sick or had allergies that resulted in a stuffed-up nose; hopefully, the strong scent and taste would help a bit and Judai would be able to enjoy it. While that steeped, he stared at the contents of the fridge, trying to figure out something to make that'd help out as well.

They didn't have anything already made that would be considered 'strong' enough, so he fell back onto Plan B, which was to make a super spicy dish that'd probably kill their tongues but would definitely get Judai's attention. Obviously, it wouldn't be to the point of ruining his sense of taste since that would be counterproductive, but he wanted the heat to get to him more than anything else, and sharply, preferably in the first bite so that it was more of a shock to his senses.

He gave Judai his tea once it was done, smiling to himself in pride when Judai took it, smelled it and gave it another, slightly startled glance before smiling very small and starting to drink - clearly it'd been the right choice and helped him a little. With the other now a bit more happy and occupied, he went about and made a very quick, but very spicy fried rice that only took him around ten minutes to make.

"...That's a lot of that particular blend," Judai piped up when he was liberally adding in spices during the process, causing him to look back and hold the other's gaze with a raised eyebrow.

"That's the point, yes," Yusei replied simply, tilting his head a little as he watched Judai merely stare back for a bit before turning back to his drink.

Now that I think about it, the way he's acting right now reminds me a little of Haou, Yusei mused, stirring around the rice in the pan idly and making sure the spice was evenly distributed, Maybe that's part of the reason his personality is like that... Judai did say that he was a king and used his powers a lot for both the position and in war. He could've overused it too much and never properly undid the results of doing so because there simply wasn't time, or he didn't want to.

It was probably the case, especially based off what Yubel had said - of course, this only made him want to pick apart the issue more, which he didn't exactly want to be doing at the moment, so he simply focused his thoughts onto thinking up different ways to help him.

...Ah, perfect. He could tickle him to death again, and this time he could say he had a legitimate, non-selfish reason to do it as a defense when Judai was feeling better, even if he really, really did and there were many. Sue him for wanting to hear his lover laugh brightly again without that horrible, dull twinge to it, but he was really starting to hate that bland calmness.

It just... wasn't Judai. It didn't fit him at all, he was his little ball of sunshine that had energy like a Kuriboh sometimes.

"Alright, here you go," Yusei stated, setting the plate in front of the other and putting down his own across from him with an anticipatory grin - he'd made sure to pour some glasses of milk from the fridge as well so he could just tell Judai to drink it sometimes. Then, he didn't have to worry about it starting to be too spicy on accident.

Judai took that first bite, eyes widening the second he close his mouth around the fork and muttering in slight shock, "Holy shit."

"Spicy?"

"Very... I could feel that one in my chest, Yusei."

"Good, that was the goal," Yusei smirked toothily, happily noting that the dull twinge to the other's voice was gone for the moment from the shock of it and that Judai's eyes were a little more alert and bright, "Now, eat the whole thing, then we're going up and having some... fun."

Judai gave him a look, seeming rightfully on-edge from the way he was grinning darkly before asking slowly, "My kind of fun, your kind of fun, or a different kind of fun?"

"Oh, definitely my kind of fun," Yusei hummed, shoving a bite of rice into his mouth and enjoying the heat of it - it'd been a while since they'd last had such a spicy dish before, and he'd actually been meaning to ask him about making something with ghost pepper again...

Needless to say, Judai was right to be worried because Yusei did get to pull out that crying, begging-for-mercy laughter out of him about thirty minutes later. He even got to hold it over him that it'd helped tremendously with stabilizing his senses, and it was cute to see Judai pout about it while subconsciously moving his hands to cover his weak spots.