#Dueltainment! [Ask Memes]

[entamewitchlulu]

oh my god there was only one bed for pendulumshipping? maybe theyre staying at a hotel and there was a miscommunication and yuya's too nice to let reiji say that its a miscommunication because the staff are already way too overworked and do not deserve to have to deal with that

i need you to know that i owe you my life

kiss meme open! | writing requests open!

“I’m so, so sorry, Mr. Akaba,” the harried receptionist said, actually getting up and bowing to him several times.  “I cannot imagine what could have gone wrong.  Please don’t worry, I’ll make sure this is fixed, right away.”

“It’s fine,” Reiji said.  “Please take your time.”

It actually wasn’t fine — Reiji was dead on his feet from no less than three meetings and two press conferences in a single day, not including his exhibition duel with Yuya just a few hours ago.  All he had wanted was to get into a hotel room, fall face first onto the bed, and stay unconscious until at least noon tomorrow.

Unfortunately, it appeared that there was some bug in the system, and his reservation had mysteriously disappeared — while the hotel was all but full of the dueltainment convention attendees.  At this point, Reiji would have taken a cot in the hallway if it could get him off of his feet and into blessed unconsciousness.

He shifted back onto one foot, leaning on the handle of his rolling suitcase.  The receptionist’s furiously clacking keys were just annoying enough to keep him awake, and on edge.  The last thing he wanted was to blame the poor receptionist for this mix up, but he was draining his patience quickly.  Were there any hotels near here that he might book instead?

“Oh, Reiji!  I didn’t know you were at this hotel too!”

Reiji blinked from the edge of passing out, turning his head towards the voice.  It was Yuya, of course — he’d recognized his voice immediately.  Yuya hurried over to him, and immediately paused, looking him up and down.

“You look like someone beat you up,” he said, rather bluntly.

It was enough to draw a small, tired laugh from Reiji’s throat.

“Perhaps someone did,” he said.  “You booked a room here?  I thought you’d go straight home.”

“I thought I would too, but I got caught up with some of the other duelists after the exhibition matches, knew I’d miss the trains.  Managed to snag a room here.”

He glanced at the pale faced, furiously typing receptionist, and then at Reiji’s tired face.  He frowned.

“Something wrong?”

“No, no,” Reiji said, waving a hand.  “There was, perhaps, a miscommunication of some kind...or a bug in the system.  At any rate, it seems my reservation may have not gone through.”

He blinked a few times to try to keep himself awake, steeling himself for another walk to see if another hotel might have a spot — at this point, he was only causing a stir.

“I suppose I may have to see if anywhere else has an opening for the night — I don’t want to cause any further distress here.”

“What?  Looking like that?” Yuya said, looking him up and down again.  “You’ll pass out before you take one step out the door.”

“There are few options,” Reiji started, but Yuya had already wrapped an arm about his elbow and turned towards the receptionist.

“Can you just add him to my room?  It’s 304.  I’ve got the key and my ID here if you need to check it.”

Reiji attempted to protest — or at least, he thought he did, but what came out may have been little more than a mumble, as even in his exhaustion he was suddenly hyper aware of Yuya’s arm hooked into his.  The receptionist looked uncertain, glancing between the two of them, and asked Reiji something that he didn’t process.

“It’s fine!  We’re friends — you probably saw the duel, right?  Don’t worry, it’s fine.”

Reiji tried to stir himself, but he found himself accepting the second room key from the receptionist, and nodding vaguely when he bowed again and insisted that Reiji would get a refund or some form of compensation for this inconvenience, and then Yuya was taking Reiji’s suitcase with one hand and steering him towards the elevator with the other.

“Yuya,” Reiji said.  “You don’t...”

“Oh, hush,” Yuya said, keying in for floor three.  “Look at you — you’re going to keel over.  You need to sleep.”

Reiji was tired.  Tired enough that it wasn’t until Yuya unlocked the room and led them inside that it occurred to him that Yuya had planned on staying at this hotel alone.  And that he had just invited Reiji into a room that had only one bed.

Yuya steered him straight towards the single bed, turning him around and making him sit down.

“You need some serious shut eye,” he said.

“Yuya,” Reiji said.  “I cannot take your bed.”

Yuya blinked at him.  They hadn’t turned the lights on, so Reiji couldn’t be sure, but...was Yuya blushing?  Reiji wasn’t so tired that his mind wasn’t starting to work overtime about the entire situation — being so close to him — being in the same room as him — thoughts about him that Reiji had spent months upon months trying to suppress, trying to hide.  

Yuya would never think of me like that, he’d always told himself.  It will not do to strain our professional relationship with unnecessary feelings.

But Yuya’s hands were still on his shoulders, and they were warm, and they were both staring at each other in the dark of a hotel room with only one bed.

Yuya cleared his throat.

“It’s fine,” he said.  “I think I could fit on the couch.  You clearly look like you need the rest more than me.”

Reiji’s shoulders slumped ever so slightly — had some part of him hoped...? No, no, but that was foolish.  He had to remember to keep his thoughts in check, even if he was tired.  But...

“That ‘couch’ is a loveseat,” Reiji argued.  “You’d have to curl up to fit.”

“It’s okay!”

“No, it’s not.”

“Well if I can’t fit on the couch, you definitely can’t.”

“Then I will sleep on the floor.  Or request a cot.”

“I’m not gonna let you sleep on the floor!  If you’re gonna be like this, then we’ll just both use bed!”

The words hung for a moment between them.  Even in the dark, it was obvious that Yuya’s cheeks burned — and if the heat in Reiji’s face was any indication, so were his.  For what felt like minutes, but was perhaps only seconds, they only sat in the echoing words.  Reiji didn’t know where to direct his thoughts or where to try to suppress them anymore.  The bed was certainly large enough for both of them but...but they would be very close...

Yuya coughed, clearing his throat.

“Fine,” he said.  “That settles it.”

He turned on his heel and headed into the bathroom.  Reiji watched him disappear.  After a few moments, still thinking about it — wondering if Yuya was simply trying to get him to pass out before crunching on the couch — he couldn’t last any longer.  He didn’t even change out of his clothes, slipping off his shoes and dropping his scarf to the floor before sliding beneath the covers.

He was nearly asleep when he heard the door open again.  Yuya stepped softly across the carpet, and Reiji was about ready to try to call him out on sneaking over to the couch when he got the sensation that Yuya was standing very near him.  He heard Yuya’s soft breaths above him, heard the carpet squish beneath his feet.  Then Reiji heard him walking around the bed, felt the covers shift as Yuya carefully slid himself into bed next to him.  The mattress sunk slightly under his weight, close enough that Reiji felt his body lean towards him ever so slightly.

Reiji was starting to regret having gotten into bed facing away from the bathroom — if he opened his eyes, he’d be looking right at Yuya.  Was Yuya facing away from him, laying as close to the edge of the bed as possible?  If he managed to crack open his exhausted eyes, would he see Yuya’s face instead?  Reiji wasn’t sure which he hoped for.

He was so tired.   Too tired to think about it.  He felt himself drifting down, down, down.

At the very, very edge of sleep, he felt something touch his hand.  Not enough to wake him — almost...tentative.  He felt a hand, fingers, gently touching the back of his.  Yuya’s fingers were cool, and nervous, shying back when Reiji sighed a little too heavily.  Reiji tried to slow his breathing.

He was nearly asleep again when he felt Yuya gently touch his hand again — this time, Reiji was certain of it.  

He knew that if he opened his eyes, Yuya would be facing him.  Perhaps in the morning, this would seem like nothing more than a dream.  Maybe it was.  Maybe they would both never speak of it again.  

But for one night.  Just one night...Reiji let his hand relax, and when Yuya’s fingers slid gently between his, he gently squeezed his own fingers back.  For one night, at least, he could believe that maybe...just maybe...he’d never needed to be worried at all.

#otp: swaying of my soul #pendulumshipping #yuya sakaki #reiji akaba #yugioh arc v #lulu writes #meme response #lulu answers #changeling-droneco