365 Days of Starshipping (Part 2)

Moping

9/11/19

"Whoa, what's up with him?" Crow asked, entering the kitchen with a confused blink.

Judai simply waved at him with a smile from where he sat at the table next to Yusei, who was... moping, to say the least. He'd gotten more emails the next morning listing details about his classes and scheduling and payment details from his job, and the reminder was enough to make him pouty again, especially now that it was set in stone.

"Yo! Don't mind him, he's just grumpy about being forced to go to school for his job," Judai replied cheerfully, blatantly ignoring the indignant look Yusei gave him after in favor of waving Crow towards the counter, "Breakfast is over there - I need to practice a bunch of breakfast foods for my next event apparently, so everyone'll be getting some fancy stuff in the mornings for the next week or so."

"Ooh, fancy... what is it anyway? I don't think I've ever had this before," Crow said, grabbing one of the two plates still on the counter and utensils before joining them at the table, "Also, Jack should be down in a bit. I think he's on the phone 'cause I vaguely heard talking through the wall, so I didn't barge in to drag him down just in case."

Judai snorted at that before answering, "Alright, and it's french toast by the way. You've never had french toast?"

"Didn't even know it existed," Crow shrugged, getting a hum of agreement from Yusei, "Those poofy, fluffy pancakes things I know about, but not this."

"Eh, makes enough sense to me. Fuwa fuwa pancakes are way more popular here than a lot of other breakfast foods," Judai stated, silently packing away the thoughts he had at the reminder of how no, it wasn't just Yusei that hadn't been able to try a lot of things. He did start mentally going through what he'd been planning on practicing the next week, though, and making a few extra edits here and there - if he had the chance to introduce another person to the wondrous world of food, then dammit, he was going to do it.

At least he didn't have to worry about Jack, who'd pretty much lived in luxury for a couple years and had plenty of experience with fancier foods. The only stuff that'd throw him off-guard would be novelty foods-

Wait a minute, that's a genius idea, Judai realized suddenly, letting himself explore the train of thought a little longer before tucking it away carefully to think on more later. He knew he'd just solved any and all worries he might've had about the upcoming holidays, though, which was honestly a relief because usually trying to think up gifts was way more stressful of an endeavor than it had any right to be.

"Anyway, what's this about Yusei and school?" Crow asked curiously, raising an eyebrow at said person, who was still moping whilst slowly shoving bites of food into his mouth, "You have to go to school for work?"

"They said it was high time I got officially certified, so they put me in college on a fast track program," Yusei muttered in reply, huffing a little as he ate another bite after coating it in chocolate syrup, "I'd rather be working than be in a classroom. I do fine work, but no, I need to a have a piece of paper as proof."

A loud bark of laughter had them turning their heads to look at the entryway to the kitchen, where they found Jack with a wide smirk and laughing, "You're stuck going to those boring ass classes? For work?" He snorted again before continuing, "For how long? I had to take one before, but that was only for a two-month long quarter class on modern history."

"And you didn't fail?"

"Shut up, Crow."

Yusei brightened a little at hearing the banter, chuckling a bit before replying, "For about a year. I start in October and they've got me doubled-up on classes every quarter so I can finish quickly."

"Wait, they've got you doubled-up on classes?" Judai frowned, all of his old professor's rants coming back to mind and finally having a use to him, "Are you gonna be okay? That's a lot of work, like- like a lot lot of work."

"I'll be fine, don't worry," Yusei reassured him, leaning back in his chair and putting down his fork on his now empty plate, "One, most of it is stuff I already know, and two, I'm on paid leave which means that there's no way I won't be making sure to study, if only to get a high grade to make sure I'm not kicked from the job."

"Hey, look on the bright-side at least - you and Aki can commiserate together about classes!" Crow snickered, getting laughs out of everyone else as well.

"Watch it - I might just use you as a guinea pig to test if I actually know a concept well. After all, being able to explain something to another person is generally the best proof that you understand something," Yusei threatened lightly with a grin, making Crow look vaguely horrified in response.

"Don't worry, if Crow's not available then I'll listen," Judai stated, turning a teasing smile onto Yusei, "We'll see just how good you are at explaining things like I'm five."

Yusei mumbled something unintelligibly, though he was back to moping only seconds later, which got a chuckle out of everyone else. Judai pat his back lightly as the conversation flowed elsewhere, managing to cheer Yusei back up a couple minutes later once he'd finished his food by holding his hand under the table for the rest of the morning.