Sharing is Caring (Secret Santa for Natto)

[JenJen]

NATTO!!! *prostrates myself before you* I am SO sorry this is belated, please forgive me. ;__;

I had never seen or read any Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, though I was familiar with the original series. I actually decided to read some of the GX manga and had to finally stop myself and start writing around chapter 15. XD I got kinda hooked, it's a cute series (and so sad at moments...oh my goodness, you should've seen me cryin' my eyes out over Judai's childhood dueling mentor).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this because I certainly had fun writing it for you! And I hope you had a wonderful Christmas/New Year!

=*=*=*=

Resting his chin down on his folded arms, Judai Yuki stared ahead at the chalkboard and yawned. He should have been taking notes with all the others, but his attention lay elsewhere. Sitting in a classroom wasn’t the place for him. He wanted to be out there, relying on his cards, living his dream. All these tests and pages of homework were tedious and so horribly boring.

“Mr. Yuki!” the professor snapped, hitting the desk with a ruler. Judai snapped to alertness, realizing the eyes of the whole class were upon him. Except, wait a minute, where was Shou? How had he failed to take notice of the empty desk beside him? “Daydreaming again, are we? Keep in mind, Mr. Yuki, that there is an exam tomorrow, and that it counts as forty perfect of your final grade this semester. It could make or break you.”

“I know, I know,” Judai said dismissively, only half focusing on the professor’s words. Shou’s absence was rather out of character, as he was a punctual sort. But here it was, nearly twenty minutes into the class, and there was no sign of him.

The professor returned to the chalkboard and continued to drone, and Judai watched the door for Shou. Before too much longer, it opened, and that familiar shock of pale blue hair peered inside.

Judai did a double-take and suddenly understood why his friend was so late. Shou Marufuji shuffled into the room, clinging weakly to his books. The boy’s entire stature was deflated and tired, and circles like bruises hung under his eyes. He sniffled loudly, his red little nose looking raw and irritated. The professor turned to acknowledge Shou’s tardiness, but Shou spoke first.

“I was at the nurse,” he explained, sounding absurdly stuffed-up and altogether miserable. “Sorry I’m l-la…lah…ahhitchew! Oh no!” Everything toppled out of his arms, text books and spirals and loose papers splayed out on the floor. Shou wiped fat, sick tears from his eyes and bent down to retrieve his things, sniffling every couple of seconds to keep his nose from dripping.

A second pair of hands came into view, gathering papers up for him. When he stood back up and adjusted his glasses, he saw it was Judai.

“Oh, big bro!” Shou said happily. “Thank you.”

The professor cleared his throat and tapped his shoe in irritation. “Kindly find your desk, Mr. Marufuji. You too, Mr. Yuki.”

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison and sat down next to each other.

Class started up again, and Judai leaned over to Shou, whispering, “You okay? You don’t look so good.”

“Oh no, I’m fine. Just a little sick.” But Shou’s appearance betrayed him. He continued to sniffle, and before too long he was pulling a packet of tissues from his back pocket and wiping at his glistening nostrils. The breath leapt in his chest, hitching once, twice, and then his eyes watered over as he clamped them shut. “Ahtkchew! Agh…ahh…a-aihttchew! Aihh…aiikschhew!” He blew his nose raucously into the already-damp tissue, much to the chagrin of everyone in class, and blotted his eyes on his sleeve.

“A little sick?” asked Judai with an air of disbelief. “What did the nurse say?”

“To go back to the dorms,” said Shou, smiling from either guilt or embarrassment or perhaps both. “But I can’t afford to miss any class with the exam so close.”

The professor cleared his throat yet again, eyeing them as only a professor could, and they lapsed into silence. Judai tried to concentrate on the lecture, but now Shou’s words were turning the gears in his head. A plot of such cunning brilliance began to formulate. It was absolutely foolproof, he was certain of it.

By the end of the hour, Shou looked even worse. His half-lidded eyes were edged in red now and most of his tissues were used up and forming a mountain in the trash can by the door. Judai swore he could even hear the breath wheezing away in the boy’s chest. The bell finally rang and the other students filed out of the room, but Shou could hardly be bothered to stand.

“C’mon,” said Judai, helping him out of his chair. To make things easier, he took Shou’s books and shoved them into his backpack. It was heavy, but manageable.

“Y-you don’t need to—”

But Judai cut him off with a wave of his hand. “No prob. What’s mine is yours.”

The sun beat down overhead as they walked across the campus grounds. Shou dragged his feet and stumbled every few steps, still sniffling and reaching up underneath his glasses to dab at his eyes. When they arrived at the dorms, he took one look at the stairs leading up to their room and turned to Judai, swaying strangely.

“I…I don’t think I…can…” His cheeks were flushed bright and prominent.

Judai saw the blue hair suddenly falling away in his peripheral vision and grabbed Shou before he hit the pavement. “Shou!” he cried, giving his friend a shake. “Shou, you okay? Say something!”

“Please…stop…shaking me…”

Judai started to laugh, relieved beyond measure. “Gave me a scare there for a sec,” he said. He laid the back of his palm against his friend’s forehead and hissed through his teeth. Without another word, he wrapped his arms around Shou and lifted him off the ground.

“Woah, what—”

“I gotcha, Shou.”

And up the stairs they went.

***

Bedsheets were tucked in, medicine was administered, and the kettle was put on. The light from the small dormitory kitchenette glowed in the lenses of Shou’s glasses as he lay on the bottom bunk. His breathing came heavy and slow, but he hadn’t yet fallen asleep.

A shadow passed across his face. Judai stood at his bedside with a thermometer. “Open up,” he said and slipped its tip underneath Shou’s tongue. When it beeped at last, he read off the digital number and frowned. “Hundred and one. Ouch.”

Shou massaged the bridge of his plugged-up nose and sniffed deeply. “I just need some rest is all,” he said. “You shouldn’t hang around, y-you might c-catch my…my…aihh…aihhchew! M-my…a-aitchhew! Aa...aah…ahtxchhew! M-my cold.”

“Bless you.” Judai passed him a box of tissues and Shou made quick use of them. He blew hard and intense and moaned into the thin paper. When he leaned to throw it away, the kettle caught his eye.

“A-are you making tea, big bro?”

“Sure am.” Judai gave Shou’s mop of hair an affectionate ruffle. “You’ll be better in no time with me looking after you.”

“Yeah, but I think you should stay with someone else tonight,” Shou suggested. “You’re just going to get yourself sick being near me.”

Judai attempted to look innocent, but his acting proved unconvincing.

Shou narrowed his gaze at his friend. “Unless you’re trying to get yourself sick.” Accusation rumbled in his rasping, congested voice, and he coughed harshly into the crook of his elbow.

Judai rubbed the back of his head and grinned. “Yeah, well…maybe I am trying to get sick.”

“Judai!” Shou scolded.

“I know, I know.” The kettle whistled and Judai left the bedside to tend to it. “But you said it yourself. The exam is tomorrow. When have I ever been ready for an exam? All I need is a few more days to study.” He returned with a full teacup.

Disapproval flickered in Shou’s bleary-eyed expression but was soon hidden as the hot vapors fogged up his glasses. He brought the cup to his raw, chapped lips and sipped for a minute. “Mmm. Good tea,” he said with a hefty sigh. “But bad plan, big bro. This bug’s really bad. You’re going to get super sick.”

“That’s what I want! I need all the time I can get.”

Shou continued to frown, but his lips fell ajar and he visibly shuddered. He sniffled with a wet, fruitless sound and handed the teacup back to Judai. “Can you take this? I think I-I might…mighhh…agh…ah-ahhkschew! Aihttcheww! Ow, m-my head…ehh…a-ahtstkchhew!” He moaned and sunk further into the pillows.

“Bless you,” said Judai, offering a box of tissues. Shou snatched a few and pressed them to his still-irritated nose.

“Th-thank y…yoouuu…ah-ahhticheww!” He sneezed into the tissues, almost tearing them apart, the force of it scrunching up his meager frame. “Ohh…there’s no way passing the exam is worth feeling like this.”

“That’s just a risk I’m gonna have to take.” Judai rested his hand on Shou’s throat just below his jaw, moving it up his face to his cheeks and forehead. “Lemme get something for your head.” He took a washcloth from the cupboard and got it wet in the sink. After wringing it out, he folded it neatly and placed it on his friend’s feverish brow.

Shou melted onto the mattress, relief curling his mouth into a little smile. His was already relaxing and going limp as sleep crept in all around him like a warm duvet. Judai plucked the delicate glasses from the bridge of the smaller boy’s nose and set them on the desk behind him.

“Sleep well, Shou,” he said.

“Thanks…big bro.”

Judai pulled up a chair and watched over his friend for the rest of the evening, removing blankets when Shou’s skin glistened with sweat, wetting his mouth when it looked too dry and cracked, and even dabbing with tissues at the tender, red nose as pale fluids ran down the Cupid’s bow of his upper lip. It was exhausting work as the night stretched on, and all the caretaking was sure to get him sick, but Judai had convinced himself it was a good idea.

Finally, and with great effort to keep it at bay, he succumbed to sleep of his own.

***

The morning alarm sounded with its usual shrill urgency, waking Shou in just seconds of its turning on. He reached back to the desk and shut it off. After a nice stretch and a yawn and a cough, he got up slowly and rubbed at his eyes. He couldn’t remember ever having slept so well with a cold before. That medicine Judai gave him must have been incredible.

Speaking of Judai, there he was, sleeping all hunched over in a chair by the bed. Shou fetched his glasses and slid them up his nose, and he gave Judai a pat on the shoulder. “Big bro?”

Judai jolted awake. He was a frazzled mess of brown hair and unusually pale skin. “Hmm?” he said, blinking as if it were something difficult. “Oh, Shou, you’re up. Sweet.” His voice crackled out of him like a battered old radio.

“Yeah, and I feel a lot better! And it’s all thanks to you, I just know it.” Shou wrapped his arms around Judai’s shoulders in a strong hug. “I’m not going to miss the test!”

“Yaaay.”

The lack of jubilance in Judai’s tone made Shou pull back and examine his friend. “Uh-oh…you got my cold, didn’t you?” He brushed his knuckles along the other boy’s forehead. “Oh boy, you sure did. Your head’s on fire.”

“W-well, I can’t really whine about it, I…huhh…I g-guess.” Judai lifted a hand to his mouth just in time to catch a flurry of sputtered sneezes. “Heckkchoo! Hhh…hetichoo! H-haiikchhoo! Hh…hhu…haaa…HAGKTCHOO!” He looked down at the dripping mess on his fingers and got up to use the sink.

“Bless you!” Shou chimed pleasantly.

After washing, Judai shook his hands and dried them on the thighs of his pants. He was coming back to the chair when Shou began directing him to the bed instead. “What are you—”

“If you’re not going to class, you should be resting,” said Shou. “I’ll come check on you between periods, okay?”

Judai crawled into bed, needing no further prodding. He sniffled and coughed and pressed his palms against his temples.

Shou shimmied into a fresh pair of jeans and finished running a brush through his unruly hair. He brought a damp washcloth over for Judai’s forehead and managed to force a little medicine into him, too. When it was time for him to leave for school, he popped his feet into his sneakers and went to Judai’s bedside one more time to say goodbye.

“Hey, Shou?” Judai took hold of Shou’s jacket sleeve in a lukewarm grip.

“Yeah, big bro?”

“Thanks for getting me sick. You’re the best friend a guy could have."

Shou laughed and gave Judai’s hand a gentle squeeze. “What’s mine is yours, remember?"

[Dye]

Oh wow, this was just adorable! <3

Jaden-- I mean, Judai... ~<33

*at a loss for words*

[Emily]

awww that ending was just beautiful

[SterlingSilver]

JEN JEN~! This is absolutely ADORABLE .. Ahhh, the sharing of sneezy germs.. Results the in the most wonderful of situations

[Skiffy]

“Please…stop…shaking me…”

Haha, so cute. Great story.

[Prowlav]

YGO GX is my favorite out of the whole series (at least the first 3 (I don't know why haha), haven't seen the 4th lol).

And I love Judai, and Shou is just cute~

And this fic literally made me SQUEE! It's just so adorable!! Poor Shou, I really feel like taking care of him too ;u;

And then the pass... Hehe~ Judai <3

Great job with this fic! loved it~

[Natto]

Oh my gosh, this was lovely! Don't worry about having been late, I'm just happy you wrote my something. Last time I participated in a Secret Santa I got nothing, so it was nice that it didn't work out that way this time. It was also nice to get such a wonderful story! Especially since you didn't know the series and had to do all that research--I really appreciate the effort, and I'm glad you enjoyed reading the manga and it wasn't a total drag for you. If you liked it, I highly recommend watching the anime, too. It actually was produced prior to the manga, and I think it's a bit better over all--especially parts of Season 3.

Anyway, on to your wonderful story. I loved how horribly sick you made Shou. It was just so nasty and he seemd so miserable...the amount of detail made the whole experience really come to life! Also, the characters were spot on--I love how ridiculous Judai is, while also actually doing what needs to be done for his friends. His reason for wanting to get sick was hilarious, but it's something he would totally do. Oh, and I was definitely squeeing over my OTP, Shou/Judai, because that's just what happens.

Thank you so much for writing this. You rock. <3

[JenJen]

Oh Natto, I'm so happy that you like it! You're more than welcome. I'd never done a Secret Santa before and I'm glad my first one was getting to write such a cute story for you (hooray for OTPs!!). And it's such a relief to hear that the characterization turned out okay, I was a little sketchy on that.

I read a bit about the anime, as well, and it seems like it would be good! I may end up torrenting the seasons. I'll have to get used to "Jaden" and "Syrus", though. XD

[JenJen]

And of course, thanks to everyone else too for your sweet compliments!

[Natto]

The characterization was great! They get a bit complicated as things go on, but you definitely had them acting like themselves in this situation. And it was all kinds of adorable. Thanks again!

Oh...no, no, there's no need to get used to Jaden and Syrus. In fact, I'd strongly recommend NOT getting used to it. Watch the subs. Although some of the subs aren't amazing quality, and some of them, especially in Season 2, you'll have to watch dubbed because there's no other option, it's worth watching as much as you can, subbed. The characters are completely different in the English version, and the plot is tweaked a lot, too. They kind of...flatten everyone's motivation so it stops making sense. I could probably write an entire essay about why the sub is better, but I'll spare you. Anyway if you like Shou and Judai from the manga, you'll like Shou and Judai in the anime--Syrus and Jaden just aren't the same people, they're changed so much.