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It was one of those lucky weeks where neither Edo nor Saiou were particularly busy, so the duelist whisked the pair away to spend a small vacation together in New York. After a long day of flying and catching up, the two retreated to their now shared bedroom.
Saiou had been ready to go to sleep hours ago, changing into his pajamas the moment they got home, but he had been so excited to see Edo that they continued talking through the night. The man had his limits though, and it was quickly realized the moment his head touched their pillows.
Edo watched with a smile as Saiou’s breath evened, his long lashes resting peacefully over his cheeks. With that, Edo let the tension leave his shoulders as he snuggled closer to his love and closed his eyes.
The night was calm–until Saiou gently woke his partner from his slumber.
“Saiou?”
"Edo," he whispers in a low voice, his eyes cast sharply over his shoulder, "Someone is here."
No sooner than Saiou said those words, Edo pulled out his gun from the nightstand and exited the room. Even in the dark of the night, he was acutely aware of his surroundings. Making his way to his living room, the presence Saiou detected was discovered. He could vaguely recognize the intruder–thanks to their obvious Osiris red jacket–but he could not believe it.
"Judai?"
The thing is, it didn't exactly look like him. It had large wings sprouting from his back, unnatural mismatched glowing eyes, and... was that a tail? It looked more like a dragon, and that fact alone made his blood go cold. It snarled at him. So he aimed at one of the figure's thighs and fired.
"Ow!" the creature roared, exposing its many, many sharp teeth, "Dude! Was that really necessary?!"
Huh. So it was Judai.
How gnarly , Edo thought as he lowered his weapon. "If we're being honest, you deserve worse. Take it or leave it."
"Asshole," Judai grimaces as he rubs his thigh even though there was no wound.
"Edo, I heard a gunshot. What–"
Saiou appeared at his side and froze at the sight of the dragon before squinting. "...Yuki Judai?"
At the man's appearance, Judai's wings spread behind him, his eyes widening and glowing even brighter than before.
In an instant, Edo stood in front of Saiou and aimed the gun towards Judai's chest. He saw how the previous bullet ricocheted off of the dragon-man like it was nothing, but he'd rather die here than let anything happen to Saiou.
Sensing his tension, Judai took a step back and withdrew his wings and tail into god knows where. Then with a cadence unlike Judai's usual style, he speaks. "I apologize for the offense. I would like to talk to you alone, Edo Phoenix."
Edo furrows his brow. Saiou steps forward to stand at Edo's side, head held high and jaw clenched. The silver-haired duelist wasn't the only one who wouldn't go down without a fight. Still, he had felt the room completely change after Judai's body went back to a semblance of normalcy, so he lowers his weapon again and with his free hand, squeezes Saiou's wrist.
"Alright. Let's talk on the balcony." He feels Saiou tense under his touch.
Saiou frowns. Releasing his hold on his partner, Edo cups his face to bring their foreheads together. The pair breathe in tandem, Saiou's tension leaving his body. "I'll wait for you here," he whispers. Judai's eyes pierced them.
"Yeah, thanks." Edo smiles, tucking a strand of hair behind Saiou's ear.
When the two separate, the man is still staring. Something in the way he's staring doesn't feel right–Judai hates public displays of affection. "Let's go." Edo walks over to the door with Judai in tow, slides it open to let Judai through, and closes it behind himself.
"You two are very close."
"We've always been close," Edo responds, raising an eyebrow.
"It is..." Judai licks their lips, and that too is odd, "Interesting. It is nice to see."
Something clicks. "...I'm not talking to Judai, am I?"
Those mismatched eyes flash again, this time a more pure color: a sunrise in one and an ocean wave in another. "Correct."
"Well, it would still be confusing to refer to you as Judai. Do you have a name?"
"Yes. It is Yubel."
“What?" he knew who, or better said what , Yubel was. "What happened after I–" Edo couldn't finish the sentence, casting a glance back inside. “I’m definitely missing some information.”
Yubel follows Edo’s gaze before turning back to him. "Yes, I agree. I can 'catch you up to speed' as Judai often says."
-
"God," Edo sighs as he leans against the veranda. "That's a lot. Knowing each other in a past life... I can't imagine that." He can't imagine merging with a duel spirit either, much less said duel spirit having waited eons to find a single person again, only to find them and lose them. He didn't even want to think about where Johan is in the equation. He runs his hand through his hair.
Innocently, Yubel blinks at him.
"Actually, do you mind if I smoke?"
The dragon softly grimaces. "I would prefer it if you do not. The smell of smoke is rather unpleasant."
"Yeah, it's no problem." His pack and lighter were on a table on the end of his balcony, as Saiou didn’t like it when he smoked either.
"But I wanted to ask. That man inside–he was corrupted by the light, wasn't he?"
Now it is Edo who is surprised. "You can tell?” They nod. “How?”
"I can sense it–I too was possessed by the light, like your soulmate," Edo flustered at the title, "Did you save him?"
A pause. "Judai saved Saiou,” the duelist gritted his teeth, his fist clenching at his side, “I wasn't strong enough on my own."
They tilted their head. "But you still loved him, yes? Despite that."
"Of course I did. Why are you asking–" There it was again, that look that was uncanny on Judai's often carefree face.
“I’m sure he treasures that more than you know.”
Edo’s almost shocked into eating his next words. "...There's a lot more to you than I previously thought, Yubel."
The dragon hums in acknowledgement before turning to the flickering lights of the city. The two had spent a few minutes in silence, their expression framed by the softness of Judai’s hair. Was Yubel... lonely?
“Yubel,” Edo starts, carefully placing his palm on their shoulder, "I'm always down to chat. Feel free to drop down whenever; though I would appreciate it if the two of you would at least knock first."
As their eyes lifted from Edo’s hand back to his face, Yubel finally relaxed. “Thank you.”
“Of course. I’m sure Saiou would probably be able to tell you more about his experience, but he will need more time to warm up to you.”
Yubel nods. “I know I am not the most approachable of beings.”
The duelist laughs, “Well, neither is he. Or myself, for that matter. Is there anything else you’d like to talk about on this cool morning?”
Unexpectedly, Yubel smiles. "I think that was everything. Thank you again."
His blue gaze watches as the dragon closes their eyes and breathes. There’s a shift in the energy again and with that, he knows that Yubel is gone and that Judai had taken their place.
“Welcome back,” Edo says flatly, turning his back on Judai to get his pack. By the time he has a cigarette between his lips and is flicking his lighter to ignite it, familiar brown eyes stare at him.
"Can I bum one off you?"
"What do I look like–a charity?" he huffs, “You can go get your own.”
"Jerk," he rubs the back of his neck. "You know, I don't even remember what I came here for. Did you really have to fucking shoot me?"
He takes a drag of his cigarette. "Do you want me to shoot you again?"
"No wonder no one likes you. Well, except for–" Judai scrunches his nose, "Nevermind. I don't even want to think about it or I’ll barf."
There it is , Edo rolls his eyes. "You're the one that showed up on my private property in the middle of the night. Plus–the bullet didn't even go through you, you big baby."
"It still fucking hurt!" Judai hisses again, this time with fewer teeth, "Have you ever been shot before?"
Edo levels him a long look. Judai turns away. "Nevermind. Don't answer that."
"That's what I thought,” he puts the cigarette out on his ashtray. “Anyway, what the hell have you been up to–besides not paying attention to Yubel, that is."
Strangely, Judai’s face darkened, making the hairs on the nape of Edo’s neck stand on end. “What happens between my spouse and I is not of your concern. Keep their name out of your mouth.”
Despite the electricity in the air, Edo flatly stared at him and disregarded the command. “What else am I going to call them then? I’m going to call them by their name, dipshit. You don’t scare me.” He leans his arms over the veranda. “Never have–never will.”
Yet Judai calling Yubel his spouse worried him. That was a title not to be taken lightly. If Yubel meant that much to Judai, why did they look the way they did?
“I’m serious. You need to pay more attention to them,” Edo doubles down. Saiou used to make that same expression years ago. It hurts to see it on someone else, on the face of someone he dearly knows.
Judai’s gaze changes to something confused after studying Edo for a bit. “Alright? Fine? I don’t know what you’re talking about though. We literally inhabit the same body.”
Edo’s heart only went out even further for Yubel. He sighs. “Forget it, Judai. It’s late and I would like to go back to bed–and Saiou.”
The brunette scrunches his face again. “Ugh, fine. I’ll come back when I remember what it was I wanted to talk to you about.”
Before Edo can get another word in, Judai jumps onto the rail of the veranda and lets himself fall off the side of the skyscraper. The duelist would’ve had the mind to scream after him, but as he followed Judai’s trajectory, the brunette had disappeared, his laughter light on the wind. Of course that prick could teleport–it explained how he got past his security system in the first place. He runs his hand down his face and heads back inside.
Opening and closing the veranda door, Edo sees Saiou in the kitchen and man, wasn’t he a sight for sore eyes.
“What are you up to?”
“Making tea.”
He walks up to him with a raised eyebrow. “At this hour?”
“I figured you would want to talk about things before retiring back to bed. I am preparing a blend that helps one relax,” Saiou says with a glance over his shoulder, “You only smoke for a handful of reasons, so I can assume your conversation with Judai was difficult in some way.”
“Saiou,” Edo’s face split into a grin. He was the luckiest man in the world. “Did you know I love you?”
“Of course, Aster,” Saiou smiled back before yawning, “You never let me forget.”