Collection de Classiques: Première Classique

an AU-ish Starshipping vignette collection, written by Broh

Twelve O'clock is the New Six AM

It was rare that Yusei ever slept until the sun squeezed through his blinds and fell heavily on his eyes, and even rarer that he would turn his head downward, plunging further into the kinder warmth of murk far more inviting than the early morning rays desperate for his attention. While they nagged, he dozed – at least for today – and pressed his face closer to the warm swathe of skin, grazing his nose along the underlying, interlocked discs until he met the smooth caress of hair and breathed in a scent of distance. Faintly, of brine and dust. Heady notes he just couldn't name, but they slumbered on his tongue regardless. By now, Yusei was used to the indescribable scent of his bedmate. The boy had been places even he hadn't. He marveled at the idea of the brown-haired boy walking exotic streets with his infectious smile, that flashy red jacket catching everyone's eye each time he turned a corner. The same way it had for Yusei.

So while he hid his conscience away in the mid-morning smells and bliss, his mind slipped easily back into dream sequences, looping threads and knotting yarns on the loom. He wouldn't remember the mess that had come out once he woke fully, but it made him smile against soft brown hair.

What stirred him was the twisting movement of the brunet already tangled up in his arms. He cracked his eyes open, and let his lips lift in the faintest of smiles at the boy's face, now tucked neatly against Yusei's cheek, breathing gently from slightly parted lips. Jaden's breath was moist and warm as it hit the older man's face, and never mind the smell, but Yusei couldn't bring himself to care. In his half-awakened state, the charm of Jaden's face so close to his own slipped so easily through that he let himself chuckle, the sound rather brusque with his lack of sleep. Yusei tightened his hold on Jaden's waist, pulled him ever closer – refused to let this strange, idyllic brightness go.

And again, he woke – this time with the tapestry left eternally garbled and incomplete, because right then and there Yusei remembered himself. He winced at the light (fairly dim to most, but Yusei was drained of energy and REM cycles), groaned faintly as he picked his head up from its resting place atop Jaden's to glance at the clock.

"Shit."

Of course, Jaden didn't stir. He never did, unless something incredibly noisy was going on, or Yusei was leaving the bed – but more importantly, his source of heat was leaving the bed.

Yusei didn't make it two seconds after sliding away from Jaden's body before the brunet groaned groggily, lifting himself up just a bit on one arm and rubbing the sleep from his face with the other. "Whuzza?"

That was typical, as well. Jaden would yawn and ask a question of Yusei that didn't sound like anything at all, except he could tell it was a question because of the upward inflection at the end.

"It's late," Yusei muttered, blue eyes narrowed. He felt a strong desire to curl up in bed again when he turned to fully look at Jaden and came to notice the heavy-lidded expression, just a bit disgruntled but mostly puzzled at the sudden chill against his side.

"Late for you is early for me." With that declaration, Jaden stubbornly plopped his head back down on the white pillow nearest to him and turned his back to Yusei, curling up inside the comforter.

Sometimes Yusei wondered who else would put up with the brunet. He turned the thought around in his head for just a moment before responding, "It's late, Jaden – late for you, too."

Jaden grabbed Yusei's pillow and covered his head with it.

"Doesn't it bother you at all that it's twelve-thirty in the afternoon?" He now felt as though he was speaking to a child. While this wasn't an abnormal occurrence in the morning, it was one Yusei was not quite fond of dealing with.

"It'd be one-thirty if you'd just go back to be-d." Jaden's voice was mostly muffled by Yusei's pillow, but he got the gist of the younger man's near-whiny response.

Yusei heaved a heavy sigh as he slid up behind Jaden and snaked his arms around the other's skinny torso, running a hand down his stomach. "Jaden," he let his breath ghost across the teen's back, watched with a bit too much satisfaction as he shivered with each open-mouthed kiss Yusei laid on his spine, working slowly up to the back of his neck, where the touch became feather-light and teasing. "It's time to get up." The black-haired man wrenched the pillow from Jaden's slackened grip, leaning over to observe the pink-cheeked duelist's expression. In fact…it was rather similar to the one he wore last night. Yusei couldn't hide his smirk.

"Noooooo," Jaden moaned, but nevertheless, he yawned and stretched his body out – a sure sign that he was at least beginning to listen. There was no trace of embarrassment or desire left on his face.

"Works every time." Yusei's chuckle was barely audible, but from the side-eyed glare Jaden gave him it was obvious that it wasn't muted enough.

"I demand compensation!" The brunet sidled closer to Yusei, staring at him expectantly with one of those cheeky little grins plastered on his face. "You led me on."

"Alright, alright – here." Yusei appeased him with a chaste kiss to the lips. Then, deciding he'd be generous leaned in again and pinned Jaden to the bed with something more suited toward their environment. When he heard a soft, needy whine from beneath him, Yusei pulled away, placing a final, more innocent kiss to clean up the area he'd just dirtied with baser intentions.

Jaden was panting; brown eyes flung open from the acts Yusei committed, like a memo from last night's goings-on. His voice came back with the recovery of his breath. "Okay. I'm awake now!"

Yusei couldn't help the smile that bloomed on his face. "Good." He lifted the comforter from his lap and slid from bed, poking around the room for his underwear. When he found them, they were at least placed conveniently next to Jaden's shirt. Yusei tossed the black garment over his shoulder, checking back once his boxers were on – to see that Jaden had lain back down in bed, shirt draped over his face. "Jaden."

"Mnn!"

He sighed. "What ever happened to you being awake?"

"I got tired again when you stopped kissing me."

Initially, Jaden's reluctance to get up was endearing, but Yusei's patience was wearing thin where it mattered most. He strode back over to their bed and flung the covers from the smaller teen's body, exposing bare skin to the chilly bedroom air. Jaden's reaction was near instantaneous – with a yelp, he jumped up and hugged his arms tight against his chest, shivering. Conveniently, the black shirt covering his face fell into his lap.

"Okay, okay! I get it, Yusei! Jeez." Jaden yawned, blinking slowly as he fully adjusted to the world outside the warmth of Yusei's bed.

Satisfied that Jaden was now fully cooperating, Yusei turned back to continue dressing himself. He had barely finished pulling his pants up when a rather loud thunk sounded off behind him. The black-haired man held his breath until he'd turned about once again before letting it all out in an exasperated rush of air. "How do you dress yourself in the mornings when you're not staying the night at my place?"

From his position on the floor, the brunet grunted a reply and attempted to twist around in his shirt so that it wasn't backwards. This only resulted in his arms knotting in the fabric. "M' usually up at a normal time," came the slightly muffled retort. Yusei couldn't tell if Jaden was angry or not, as the collar of his shirt was fitted over his eyes at the moment.

"Afternoon is normal?" Yusei queried, slipping his shirt on. Successfully.

Jaden didn't respond. He was too busy trying – and failing – to untangle his arms from his shirt.

Mostly dressed, Yusei decided to take pity on his boyfriend. "Here – let me help you." He laid a hand gently on one of Jaden's arms to alert the slighter boy of his presence. While Jaden tensed at first, he relaxed and allowed the taller man to put him back on the bed, now sitting on the edge with his toes touching the floor. Yusei's nimble fingers made quick work of the mess Jaden had made, and within seconds, he was pulling the shirt down the brunet's lithe torso, stopping his hands from wandering anywhere below the hips by putting them on thin shoulders.

Jaden's expression was just too adorable – this had happened before, but every time, his eyes still possessed that same wideness of surprise, of something a little more than an innocent instance of receiving help. And every time, Yusei would smile to hide his own surprise, smooth out Jaden's hair, and lean in to place an innocent kiss on that smiling, pouting, charming face Yusei could never get enough of seeing. He gave two for Jaden's effort – one on the brow and one on the bridge of his nose.

He cleared his throat. "Better?"

"Much," Jaden responded with a grin and a nod of the head, before hopping up and into the rest of his clothing scattered across Yusei's bedroom floor. He griped about how cold his pants had gotten.

Yusei smiled wryly at him, watching him struggle into his pants and eventually coming over to intervene.

Looking up at Jaden as he slipped black socks onto the other boy's feet, Yusei couldn't help but grin at him. "Sometimes I think you do this on purpose."

Jaden snorted, patting Yusei's cheek affectionately. "It took you this long to figure that out?"

Though Jaden laughed, something told Yusei there was at least some truth to what he said.

Author's Note:

Urgh. Why am I posting this? I don't even like what I wrote.

Well…this all began as a nice big laugh. Sock and I met up with a bunch of friends at her house, so that we could watch a ton of movies that were either so amazingly hilarious or so bad that they were hilarious. So what did our friend Tallulah do? She got an English version of Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time, and we laughed at all of the bad lines. ("That is one sick puppy!" …Really?) I've never watched GX or 5Ds, but the character designs are a'ight, and for some reason Jaden and Yusei stuck in my mind more than they should have. I told Sock and she directed me to Tumblr. It was so glorious that I wanted to kill her then and there.

Ugh! I'm supporting a ship in which I know the bare minimum (plus spoilers) about each character.

And now I'm writing a one-shot for the pairing.

Damn it all to hell.

Well…I'm gonna go do something more productive. Like work on Color Wheel like I was supposed to (but I wrote this instead hoohoo)!

Tell me if it's awful and I should give up right now.

-Allen "Broh" B.