A/N: UHH HI happy YGO5D'sMo c: ! I'm workin to fill all the prompts, which you'll see at the top of each one-shot (Taken from the event page/fic - see overthemoonday's profile for deets).

For some of these I used one-shots I had posted a couple years ago but took down - you'll see a note if it's one of them. Majority of these are about canon chars with a spare few focusing on OCs. Each has a self-imposed minimum word limit of 800

pls be gentle with me it's been a traumatizing month ❤

Day 1 (July 7th): Stardust Acceleration

Accelerate! We're kicking off into overdrive by starting this month off with our hero of the hour! Celebrate Yusei's birthday by giving us a prompt featuring him!

HEAVY faithshipping (YuAki), post-canon. HAPPY BIRTHDAY YUSEI!

disclaimer: this piece was once posted a couple years ago and deleted – now is up for good

i always liked the thought of maybe being a runaway

Amidst the clink of silverware on fine china and the soft light from gilded chandeliers, I kept my focus outside the wall-sized windows. Neon lights of New Domino mingled with streetlamps and ever-present duel runners' racing rainbow glow. The City's shine blotted out all starlight.

I watched the traces of iridescent energy sparking along Daedalus Bridge. The Ener-D system and reactor have been closely maintained since the incident with the Divine Temple. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see Z-ONE, Antinomy, and Aporia's utter despair. I owed it to them to always be working, always protecting-

"Yusei?" I tore my gaze away from the City and onto Akiza. The warm luminescence of the room lightened her chocolate irises to hazel. "You know, it's courtesy to pay attention to your date."

"I apologize." My mind frame shifted to the white tablecloth and the untouched food on my plate. Akiza had finished hers and was resting her fist on her cheek, her stare squarely on me. She wore her normal red leather gloves, which matched her scarlet velvet dress.

Time and time again I'd advised her to wear her mark with pride, but the shame was too deeply ingrained. I took her right hand in my own, and the stretching of my arm strained my snugly fit navy suit coat. "Have I told you how lovely you look?"

"Actually, that's what you say every time I manage to regain your attention." When my eyes widened, she giggled. "Four times, which is what I know you're wondering."

"I'm… sorry."

"And the fifth time you've said that," she said. One of her hands drifted up to touch her silver hair clip. "The first time was when I caught you staring."

"Sorry," I repeated. The heat rising to my face was unavoidable.

"You're like a broken record, hun." Her eyes thinned by the slightest amount, resembling a cat eyeing its prey. "What's running through that big brain of yours these days? You seem distracted all the time."

Fate of the city, the world, everything is on me, everything. "Work stuff."

She puffed a sigh and leaned back. Her hands dropped to clasp each other's. "It's always work. Everything is fine now, so you can put the logic to rest. Why not think with your heart for once? You deserve a break, Yusei."

"What I deserve isn't as important as what needs to be done."

"What gives you the authority to decide that?" Her thin eyebrows lifted, the light in her eyes playful. "We were supposed to believe the future is an open book. We're all ready to start writing our stories, but you seem trapped in the prologue."

I grasped my glass of wine – red, because she wanted to order a bottle. I prefer white. "Maybe I'm a little caught up on the foreshadowing."

Akiza's head dipped, and her expression fell solemn. "Because of what we did – what you did – everyone will have a chance to live happy lives, even Z-ONE. That's what's bothering you, isn't it? We changed the course of the future. Why can't you trust in your own words?"

"I do," I said, "but I believe in numbers more. I have to be certain. I'm working to make that future a certainty."

Her smile made me feel like a fool. Somehow, she always managed to do that, and she was the only one. "The future is never a certainty. You can play with numbers all you want, but I thought I taught you better. People who think with the heart – people like me – will always ruin your expectations."

"You did the opposite of ruin them. You perfected them."

Shock overtook her, and it summoned my grin. One more for my score. Maybe I would catch up one day, but I doubted it. I hoped I wouldn't. Her face evened. The mask, the damned mask, would always win out. "You little flirt."

"Is that a problem for you?"

"Not normally, but…" She ran her gloved finger around her glass's rim. "Two weeks, Yusei."

My chest constricted. Two more weeks and that would be it, but they would be the best ones. They would be. My pager beeped in my pocket. I drew it out and checked the scrolling message. An abnormality. When I looked to my date, fury like fire lit her irises. "You brought that?"

"I'm sorry, but-"

"Six," was all she said. She didn't want to hear it, of course.

"I love you."

She scowled. "Go."

I did. She didn't know it or believe it, but I was building a future she should have. I would create it with my own two hands, a world where places like the Satellite would never have to exist, a world where psychics like her would never see hatred and abandonment, a world where criminals like me could make their mistakes right.

I would build it all. I would-

"Yusei…" Akiza had appeared in my garage. The pale rose coloring of the sky outside my window suggested dawn. I was hunched over a lone clipboard and wore my lab coat. There were spare few hitches in the system we had built. But hitches there were.

Perfectly normal for there to be small hiccups, glitches, even, assured Dr. Akutsu. I refused to accept his advice. One instance of incorrect calculations could create a butterfly effect and leave the future in ruins. It would be my fault, just like the Satellite, just the like Zero Rev-

Akiza placed her hands over my cheeks. My worries fled for the sake of the concerned tilt of her eyes. She wasn't wearing her gloves; her blush tank top and skinny jeans clung to her curves. I traced her crimson birthmark with my finger. Her soft skin was a far cry from my calloused hands. "It's beautiful."

"You haven't slept, have you?" I knew I didn't have to answer, and she did, too. "Yusei! Who's going to take care of you if you won't? I guess I can't worry anymore. Today's the day."

Today? No, it couldn't be today. My eyes flitted across my desk, but there was no calendar. I didn't keep one, or anything but work. I had plans for the last day. She would come with me on a walk along the bay, and the New Domino sunrise today – we were supposed to watch that sunrise together.

Sunrise, not sunset, I knew because she told me her favorite color was secretly pink and not red like everyone thought, so it had to be sunrise and what had I done? Worked. The whole two weeks.

Akiza was leaving. I had forgotten, and my heart ached at my own stupid mistakes. She always made me feel the fool because I was. We were supposed to be in love, a pair, and I had treated her like just another duty.

Now I would be without that lovely smile, without the tenderness only I had seen in her, without the person who managed to ease my every doubt, without the single partner I'd been able to connect with when we had no place in the world.

What place would there be for me?

There is a place, I thought. My place is working for her future, and hers is achieving her dream job. She deserves that, because love is doing what's best for your other half, not necessarily what you want. And, yes, that is what I thought, but what I felt…

I dropped my clipboard and grasped her shoulders. "I'm going with you."

She laughed as though I'd told a joke. "Yusei, I know that isn't what you want-"

"It absolutely is," I said, my heart beating faster and words matching the rhythm. "Because the smartest person I know told me to think with my heart. I feel like the best way to build our future is by living it, just like we did as a Satellite and a psychic. I feel like we can accomplish anything together. I feel like my future isn't one without you. I love you so much, and I plan on earning your forgiveness if you'd let me."

Her mask was back. Those cold eyes scanned me up and down. She said, "Seven."

"…What?"

"That makes seven apologies, so you'll owe me seven dates after we get there. Oh, and you'll have to plan them around my med school courses. Pack a bag, dummy."

A fool's grin found me amidst her words. The joy lightening me was one I hadn't experienced since the WRGP, I realized. I wanted to follow it anywhere, anywhere, and I could have had it all along if I had listened to her.

I tossed off my lab coat, hooked an arm around her waist, and kissed the smartest person I'd ever met.