#Jaden is genuinely asking. He wants to know.

[shitpostingkats]

The gc after watching Yuma attempt to do a backflip off (another) escalator

[noblesvacation]

Gentle Noble Volume 8 has been delayed once again

WHAT IS HAPPENING

[triplexdoublex]

Let Go (Chapter 3)

Pairing: Jxdn x Landon

Tags/warnings: internalized homophobia, homophobia, discussions on limits and boundaries, cum tasting/eating .

Jaden

“How’d therapy go?” Landon asks, when I return from the studio. He’s already in bed, clad in just his boxers and I let my eyes linger. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Pretty good, actually. I know I’ve got a long journey of self acceptance ahead of me, but I feel like I’m off to a good start.” I say as I strip off today's clothes and climb into bed in my boxers as well.

“That’s awesome, J, I’m so happy for you! And fuck, dude I’m so proud of you!” He pulls me into a bear hug, and I’m very aware of his skin against mine.“I know how scared you were!”

“Thanks, man.” I pat his leg. “My therapist said when I got home she wanted me to practice saying my sexuality out loud, even if just to myself, but I’d like to do it with you.

“Of course!” He takes my hand.

“Ok here goes nothing ….I umm, I guess I’m bisexual? No uhhh um I think— oh fuck it — I’m bisexual!” I exhale loudly. God, that felt surprisingly good to say out loud.

“Great job, man! I know that must have been tough, but you did it!” He tightens his grip on my hand. “Actually, there’s something I wanna share with you. As if it’s not blatantly obvious by now, I’m also bisexual. And that’s the first time I’ve ever said that aloud as well, even though I’ve known for quite a while.”

“Wait, really?” I’m completely taken by surprise. “How long have you known?”

“I dunno,” He shrugs. “As long as I can remember? I just kept it to myself. It wasn’t due to shame or anything, it was just more of a guilty pleasure I guess. I never had the desire to really be with another man in real life, but I definitely found both men and woman attractive and watched A LOT of gay porn.” He laughs at his admittance.

“So what changed? What made you want to act on it?

“Honestly?,” Landon took a deep breath…“You.”

“Me?!”

“Yes, you! And I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. It’s not like this was my plan all along. Our friendship, everything I’ve ever shared or said , it was all one hundred percent genuine. In fact my ummm… my crush on you didn’t even start until more recently.”

“Your crush?” I tease with a smirk.

“Oh, stop!” Landon gives my shoulder a playful shove. “You’re sexy as fuck and you know it!”

“You’re -uhhhm— You’re not so bad yourself.” I shove him back.

For a moment we just sit there looking at eachother, basking in the hue of our blushed cheeks.

“So what else did she have to say?” Landon asks.

“She said since I had been conditioned for so long to think homosexuality was wrong, that even though I’ve changed my way of thinking about others, and rationally I now realize it’s okay to be gay, subconsciously my mind still harbors the shame and guilt that I’ve been conditioned to think I should feel about it. She also said that over time, and working through it in therapy and with life expirences, the conditioning can be undone.”

“That’s fantastic, I’m willing to help you in any way you need, J.”

“Thank you, I really appreciate it. I talked about you a lot today actually.” I feel myself start to blush again.

“Really?” He smiles at me, and I swear my heart skips a beat.

“Really. So first obviously I told her about what’s been happening between us, and how that’s actually why I started questioning my sexuality in the first place. And later she asked me if I had any kind of support system, and I said just you, and I started telling her about what a great friend you are, and how you comforted me during my freak out last night. She said I’m lucky to have a friend like you… and umm maybe I could see if you’re interested in helping me explore my sexuality more?

“Absolutely. Even though I’ve accepted my sexuality, I’ve never really explored mine either, outside of porn. I’m down for whatever, but I don’t wanna cross any boundaries for you. Is there anything you know you're not comfortable with right now? Or anything you know you definitely wanna try? Landon asks.

“So I’m okay with still doing what we’ve been doing. But I don’t think I’d be comfortable with any kind of like assplay or anal sex right now… maybe eventually but right now it still feels like - I dunno .. too —“

“Gay?” Landon offers

“I was trying to think of a better way to say it,” I laugh “But yeah, basically.”

“I understand, and respect your boundaries completely,” he places a hand on my thigh and my body’s doing that thing where I get all warm again. “Anything you wanna try?”

“Actually—“ I pause, nervously running my hand through my bleach blonde hair. “I’ve actually been thinking about kissing you… like a lot.”

Landon

“So do it!” I insist. I could easily just kiss him first, and lead the kiss for him. As much as I want to, I want him to gain the confidence and I want him to explore what power dynamic he enjoys more; does he enjoy taking control or would he rather submit to it.

He leans his whole body forward, and with his hands gently pushing on my chest, he connects our lips. Guided by his hands, I let myself fall back on the bed as he climbs on top of me. His hands find mine and interlock, softly pinning them down as our mouths open and close against eachother. Just as I’m wondering how far he’s willing to take the kissing I feel his tongue slide against mine. His hungry mouth swallows down my involuntary moan at the long awaited sensation. And fuck, I can’t take it anymore, I need control. With our hands still interlocked, I quickly flip us so that I’m on top and start moving my kisses to other places: along his jawline , down his neck, over his clavicle—-pausing only to unabashedly bury my nose in his underarms breathing him in—-and down his chest and sternum. I fall in love with the way he says my name in soft whispered breaths and the way his body writhes as I kiss down his stomach and over his happy trail. I start to slide his boxers down to take him into my mouth when I feel him tense.

“You okay? I check in with him

“Damn at least take me on a proper date first,” Jaden jokes. The message is loud and clear; he’s not ready for that yet. But also did he just say date?

“Wait, you really want me to take you on a date? Like a boyfriends date?” Maybe I’m reading into this too much.

“Yeah, I umm I was doing a lot of thinking today after therapy and I-I like that title for us, feels right, ya know?” Oh god do I know!

“Well boyfriend,” I tease. “We can’t just leave you like this.” I motion to his barely concealed hard on. “I want you to tell me what you want?”

“Your hand.”

We both completely strip out of boxers — fully nude in front of eachother for the first time— and sit side-by-side at the head of the bed. Sure it’s the same thing we’ve been doing every night but I don’t mind, especially since we’re not hiding in the dark this time. And good lord his cock is beautiful; on the higher end of average, and veiny with a defined, bell shaped, pink tip. I love being able to not only feel— but actually see how hard he is for me. I can only hope he’s enjoying the new view as well, but if his dick is anything to go by, I’d say he’s loving it.

Jaden

Fuck! Landon’s huge—both length and girth, it’s almost embarrassing being naked next to him. I mean I could tell he was somewhat big from how how he’s felt in my hand at night but I didn’t expect this big. It feels so fucking good—up and down, up and down— this sensual rhythmic routine of ours. It’s so hott being able to watch him stroke me, and see myself stroking him in return. And just when I think it can’t get any hotter, Landon cums, his white seed spilling out so forcefully it clears my hand completely, and lands on his stomach and chest. The site makes me bust instantly, my eyes rolling so far back in my head I swear they do a three sixty before Landon comes back into focus. He’s looking at me with mischievous eyes and the next thing I know I’m watching in complete awe as he laps my cum off the back of his hand like cat grooming itself.

“What?, you think I haven’t tasted your cum before.” Landon smirks, “Nothings changed besides the lights being on,” he winks as he licks the rest off.

I don’t think my dicks ever twitched as hard as it just did— in fact I’m pretty sure if Landon hadn’t just emptied my balls , I’m be cumming again. Suddenly, I’m finding myself wanting to taste him too. I look down at my hand to see if there’s at least a drop that made it onto my skin, but there’s not. But as if Landon can read my mind, he promptly sweeps two fingers across his stomach and feeds me his cum.

“Suck,” he instructs, and I do, albeit a little timid and awkwardly, but I do. I’m nervous about the taste and texture but it’s surprisingly better than I expected; salty and warm as it slips down my throat. The experience kinda makes me wish I didn’t just put off blow jobs until the first date, but my therapist said that while I’m exploring my sexuality, I should set limits based on my comfort, and never push past them in the heat of the moment or off the high of an orgasm, because I might regret it later. But the only thing I regret right now is setting that limit in the first place.

[strawberryshortcake1495]

Book 2: A Heated Housewarming

It’s been a week since Jaden and Mabel started dating, and everyone at school won’t stop bombarding them every time they come in. Jaden is growing tired of it but Mabel loves the attention so he puts up with it. One day, Jaden’s dad come across Miss Pines at the grocery store alongside their kids. The parents both gush over their kids’ relationship, while Jaden and Mabel just hold hands and talk to eachother. Then Miss Pines says that since the last day of school was tomorrow, she and her husband would be sending their kids off to Gravity Falls and asked if Jaden would like to come. Jaden is hesitant but his dad answers for him. In 2 days, he’ll be staying at the Mystery Shack with Soos and Melody.

Meanwhile, Stan and Ford learn that the twins are coming back to Gravity Falls for the summer, so they dock the Stan-O-War and decide to spend the summer back in the town they made a lot of memories in. During a phone call, Mabel spills the tea that she has a new boyfriend. Stan is surprised when he finds out that Mabel’s new boyfriend will be staying with them for the summer. So, 2 days later when Jaden arrives, the first thing Stan does is grab him and drag him into the basement to interrogate him (with Ford ofc). Stan tells him if he ever hurts his great niece, he’ll wish he was never born and Jaden is genuinely threatened by this and is kinda on edge now. Later, Mabel decides to throw a welcome-back party to kick off the summer and guess who arrives? That’s right, Gideon Gleeful. The news of Mabel’s new boyfriend spread like wildfire and Gideon declares Jaden his mortal enemy. Jaden doesn’t even want to attend the party because he’s already volunteered to do a bunch of stuff in town like babysit a bunch of little of kids but seeing Mabel’s excited face and her bright eyes made Jaden come up with a plan. He would switch between his roles for the whole night and hopefully nobody will find out. Someone does. It’s Gideon. After an hour of switching, the little kids Jaden’s babysitting somehow manage to find their way to the shack and Gideon takes this as a chance to make Jaden look bad in front of everybody and convince them he’s not good enough to be Mabel’s boyfriend. Jaden is embarrassed in front of everyone and Gideon asks how someone like Mabel could ever love him. Jaden snaps and goes all off on Gideon, telling him he KNOWS he doesn’t deserve Mabel. She’s warm and kind and beautiful, and he’s a weird ugly loser. But Mabel has already put her trust in him, and there is no way in hell he is going to break that trust. He’d die a million times to make sure Mabel is happy and loved, and he asks Gideon if he’d do the same. Before Gideon can answer, Mabel screams at him to get lost and that he wasn’t even invited. Once Gideon’s gone, Mabel softly asks Jaden about what happened and he apologizes. He realizes he’s getting teary-eyed and quickly runs out of the shack, all the way out into the woods where he finds a small stump to sit on and cry to himself. After having a good cry, he notices someone approaching him. It’s Stan. Jaden quickly collects his composure and bitterly tells Stan to leave him alone. He’s already had a rough night and he doesn’t need the small speck of his self-worth to be crumbled by an old man. But to his surprise, Stan puts a heavy but gentle hand on his shoulder. Jaden looks up at Stan and realizes he’s wearing a funny-looking monster mask. Their exchange goes like this.

Jaden: Mr. Pines?

Stan: *monster voice* Uhm…I’m not Mr. Pines, I’m the Boogeyman. 

Jaden: Haha, very funny.

Stan: *monster voice* Nooo, I’m being honest! Have you seen a little kid in a grey shirt?

Jaden: Seriously, is this some sick joke to mock me for being such a loser?

Stan: *whispers* Just play along, kid. 

Jaden: Fine. *rolls eyes* No, I haven’t seen a kid.

Stan: *monster voice* Well…he’s a good kid. When I first met him, I thought he was an annoying loser, but then my niece told me how he made an absolute fool of himself to save my little brother’s animal shelter. Tonight, I watched as he yelled at a brat who’s definitely no better then he is. He said how he was willing to go through heck and back for my niece, and something inside me tells me all that was true. So if you see him, tell him that if he needs a helping hand, he can always stop by the Mystery Shack. Because he’s a part of the family now, the Pines family.

Jaden: *at the brink of tears* Oh…

Then Stan takes the monster mask off and tells Jaden to stop crying and be a man. The two share a little bonding moment together when Stan takes off his jacket and wraps it around Jaden’s shoulders. He then leads the boy back to the Mystery Shack where Mabel immediately hugs Jaden.

Mabel: Jaden! I’m so glad my awesome boyfriend is okay!

Jaden: *blushes* T-Thanks, Mabel.

Candy and Grenda have a fangirl moment when the best part of the night happens. Mabel and Jaden decide to dance on the dance floor together while everyone watches. It was a little nerve wracking for Jaden, but holding Mabel’s delicate hands and looking into her soft eyes made him relax. At the end of the night, Stan walks over to Mabel and ruffles her hair, telling her she picked a good one. The night ends with Dipper and Jaden spilling the punch bowl and they’re both covered in punch as everyone has a good laugh.

[mobiused]

as much as i agree with your analysis and the fact that ctdenm seems to be treating the girls better, a part of me can’t help but worry that similar things are happening behind the scenes, much like how bbc seemed to be a relatively healthy and positive working environment early on

The myth that bbc was healthy and positive early on simply isn't true, sadly. Even recently, Vivi talked on the radio show she did about predebut stories, about how she learnt Korean quickly by arguing with staff so she could eat what she wanted amongst fighting for her other rights - and this would've been back in late 2015 early 2016. When trainee line (Basically oec, 1/3 and yeojin) were in the company before joining loona officially, that was when they were on the infamous 1 apple 1 egg a day diet. Even though yyxy were the most open about their mistreatment, that it was the worst during love4eva filming, and bad during hi high era and butterfly era, it was still bad before yyxy girls joined - the other girls are just far less open about it. This might be because the yyxy girls had such a short trainee period and therefore weren't as adjusted/indoctrinated into the trainee lifestyle to accept strict dieting and verbal abuse, or it might be because it's simply not in their temperament to talk about these issues, or whatever reasons they might have to want to share less in comparison to the yyxy girls, though yeojin and vivi have been opening up more about the past. I'm curious, did you have a specific time period where you thought BBC was a healthy working environment for the girls in mind?

If youre thinking about old loona TVs, BBC has always had staff that were very kind to the girls, that the girls loved and treated them well. The current CTD CEO, Yoon Doyeon is an example, as well as Lee Jonghyun, their old Project Manager and current Superbell CEO. At the same time they had to endure verbal abuse from certain other staff (this doesn't mean Jaden, there were other staff who were horrible or even worse than him), strict dieting and torturous schedules amongst other mistreatment that went beyond ordinary idol strictness. The loona TVs always made a deceptive effort to show the girls eating well early on, laughing and having fun etc, but we know it's a complete misrepresentation compared to what was happening behind the scenes.

When we have the girls transparently telling us via Fromm and Fab that CTD do not control or care what they eat, that they are 100% deciding for themselves, that exercise is up to them, that CTD's CEO paid for almost everything in Hyunjin's new apartment including a super expensive humidifier just because she asked for one, that CTD involved them in the album despite how quickly the album needed to be turned out because CEO cares about their creative input, it inspires a lot more trust.

I genuinely believe Doyeon is a good man who wants to take care of our girls. He gave up his job and started a company to become CEO in a role he had never tried before solely to give the 5 members a place where they would be safe and happy with someone they trusted (instead of risking getting taken advantage of again at another company) and could continue their careers, and has been listening to everything both the members and fans have been asking of him. I know Hyeju has said that this album prep era has been her favourite of her career, and I believe her. Right now the girls are actually enjoying their time in the US, eating whatever they like, having enough time for rest, actually seeing the sights of America this time. It's only the first stop but hopefully they can keep this up and have this experience knock the previous tour out of the water.

We can't trust a company 100% of the time without being there and witnessing exactly what's happening, but compared to Modhaus where we had Jaden lie to us about Jinsoul being involved in production in literally their first interview, exercises and diets being enforced, and OEC being marketed to NFT bros and military men, I just feel so much more confident about CTD's ability to treat the girls right.

[xxthefairywitchxx]

👠for Jaden and 🎶 for Vash! C:

Thank you for the asks, oh man...This one might be hard xD;

👠 Describe your ship starting with the phrase " In a way, every romance is a Cinderella story."

I have...Next to no clue what this means so, allow me to wing it.

"In a way, every romance is a Cinderella story...I mean, Jaden's parents suck and are never there, and Red Dorm is basically a crack shack, so he might as well be Cinderella." I tried

🎶 Select a piece of music to relate to your ship. What themes or ideas about your ships does this piece of music share or highlight?

ooohhh this is tough to pick just one, I have a whole playlist...

Vash is kind of a heavy flirt, especially the near the start, so Renni doesn't take his advances seriously, and honestly, they probably aren't all that serious at the start, but as it goes on, his flirting stops being over the top dramatic and is genuine, and Renni still doesn't really see it that way? It feels like playing for both of them in different ways, to Renni it feels like this is just part of who Vash is, I mean, he's a flirty guy, she's seen him first hand flirt with other women, even if not recently, she can't really put much emotional stock into it. And on Vash's end, he knows he's not being taken seriously, and some part of him for a long while doesn't want to be taken seriously. He knows he's serious, but he doesn't know if Renni'd feel the same if she knew, and honestly, she knows so much about him already, surely she couldn't accept his feelings. It's better for both of them to keep up the act, isn't it? At least for a while, until somethings are settled.

[falloutstasis]

Crush Course

summary: set before Win Mr. Stein's Duel, Part 1, basicly a very fluff ocxcanon chapter of jim and ripley lol

Duel Academy

"I already told you a bunch of times, Alexis." Ripley pouted as her face grew red. Her shoulders slouched, hands clutched on the handles of her backpack. "I don't have a crush on Jim."

"Ripley. I didn't see you at all mid-way into Jaden's and Jesse's duel to the end. Both of you were chatting it up when we saw you two." She smiled, looking at her as she walked. "And you guys came to greet us together when you guys finally recovered yesterday. Speaking of which..."

"How are you doing?"

Ripley stopped walking, which made Alexis stop to stand in front of her. The two were in no rush to do anything since class was over.

"To be honest, Alexis...I'm still a little shaken up. I told Jim and Bastion later on, but...with how fast I was losing energy, I felt like if I was going to die." She looked down at her wrist, which tightly bandaged up. A few days ago, it wore the Bio-Band that was given to her by Viper. "And, well, obviously, it still hurts a little bit..."

Ripley noticed that when Viper allowed her to be excluded from the series of duels that were currently taking place, he sounded genuinely confused. He stated that he checked every single Bio-band and they should have malfunctioned like that. And of course, he left out the part where the Bio-bands steals energy from the duelists wearing it.

Alexis face dropped as she moved closer to Ripley. Ripley clenched her fists tighter on to the handles of her backpack.

"Alexis, I'm serious when I say this. We need to stop Viper."

"I know we do." She crossed her arms. "We can talk to Crowler about it. Listening to us, though, is going to be the problem. We need someone to actually make them take this seriously."

Ripley leaned her head to one side just a bit. "Well, there's one."

Flashback: Infirmary room

"Ripley." Ms. Fontaine's voice was hushed and quiet as she called her. Jim caught this on, but he kept quiet and listened. "I didn't want to tell Professor Viper, but I called your brother."

Ripley was a little taken aback at this news. "You called my brother? Which one?"

"Seto. When I told him what happened, he sounded extremely upset. When he told me he was going to Duel Academy again, I told him everything that has happened until now. I think he said that he was going to get here by his private jet."

"Which takes a few days to arrive." Ripley said.

"Right." Fontaine nodded at her. "So just take a breather from dueling until he gets back, alright? I had this issue with Jaden too and I don't want your condition to worsen. Especially, when you have a second degree burn. I don't think you can use a duel disk with your wrist in that condition."

"Okay. Right." Ripley nodded. "No dueling until my brother gets here."

"Good."

Flashback: Infirmary room

"You're brother is a life saver, Ripley." There was a bit of relief in the air between the two. "I hope your brother gets here before things get out of hand."

Finally, she smiled a little. "Yeah."

Duel Academy Cliff side

It was around 9:00 PM. Draco, Kaibaman, and Ripley were thinking of a game plan to stop Viper as Ripley walked outside on her own. Draco, only visible to Ripley, floated alongside her. Instead, Kaibaman walked alongside her.

'You sense a even more sinister force, Kaibaman?' Ripley asked.

'Much more than Viper himself. Whatever that Darkness that came out of that Bio-Band has a connection with him.'

'And as far as I'm concerned,' Draco pointed at her wrist. 'That darkness that touched you is a hazard. So if you see anymore of that darkness, switch back to me quickly, alright?'

Ripley turned to Draco. 'Didn't it effect you too?'

'Only because I'm sharing the same body as you. If you switch to me, I can tolerate it much more than you can and I can help you recover from it.'

Kaibaman crossed his arms. 'And you failed to mention this because..?'

There was a bit of a pause between the three as Ripley drew out a dramatic sigh.

'You know what? You're right. That would have been useful.'

"Hey, Ripley!"

Ripley turned around to see Jim waving at her from a little ways from her area. He seemed to only notice her when she heard her. She waved at her back and when she turned around to face Kaibaman and Draco they were both gone.

"Huh."

Well, they were gone so Ripley made her way towards Jim.

He was sitting on the ground, looking for something as his digging equipment were close to him on his right. Shirley wasn't with him as she usually was on his back.

"Jim, where's Shirley?"

He smiled, looking up at her. "Ah, I wouldn't worry about Shirley, mate. She's back at my dorm room sleeping."

Realizing that Shirley is currently sleeping her troubles away, she kneeled down to Jim's level. "What are you doing all the way down here at night?"

"Well, I can say the say the same for you." He said, obviously meaning nothing by it. "What you're doing out here at night?"

She paused for a moment. "Just taking a breather after...you know... what happened the past week. I meant to do that earlier but I forgot."

Understandably, he nodded as Ripley sat down next to him and crossed her legs. "Funny, I'm doing the same thing." He picked up a stone. It looked more like a fossil.

Ripley got another good look at it. "Is that an ammonite fossil?"

He nodded at her, handing the palm sized fossil to her. "Well, someone knows a fossil or two." Of course, he was teasing. He really didn't mind at all.

Ripley lightly shoved Jim away playfully away from her, earning from him a small laugh. "I'm more of a mineral person anyway."

"Oh, really? Like a mineralogist?"

"Yeah. Like a mineralogist." Now what Ripley was really into was the space and stars themselves. She looked up at the sky to see many stars shinning brightly, then put the ammonite fossil down back to the ground. "And astronomy. That's the stuff that gets me."

"Ah, astronomy. I'm afraid that's out of my expertise." Jim looked up at the sky as well. He could see why Ripley was so invested in the world above them.

Ripley carefully laid back, her hands behind her head, and stared at night sky again.

"Did you know that in the Draco constellation that the Eltanin star is the brightest one in the constellation?" She lifted her arm to point at the star, Eltanin. "It's right there."

Ripley hasn't been paying attention to Jim at all, because at this point, he'd been staring at Ripley the moment she laid down on her back. It was like he became enamored about her describing what the names of the stars in the Draco constellation, it's own nebula, the meteorites that was named after-

Ripley sat up suddenly. "Oh, there's a shooting star."

Usually, shooting stars glow bright white when they dart down. But weirdly enough, it was glowing a bright light blue.

Just as the shooting star was darting down to whatever it seemed to go, right after that, Jim blushed.

"Uh, Jim?"

He coughed once. "Yeah?"

She pointed at his bandaged eye that was currently glowing a faint light blue. The tone in her voice indicated that she was a little worried. "Is that normal? Do you need to go to the infirmary for that?"

"Oh!" Just now, Jim seemed to notice that his eye was glowing. "I'm not in pain if that's what you mean."

He started to remove his bandages from his eye and revealed what it really looked like.

"Holy sh-..." She scooted closer to Jim to get a closer look. "What happened to your eye?"

He chuckled. "I had an accident a while back when I was trying to save Shirley. I hit my eye and got rescued by an old man who gave me this. The Eye of Orichalcum. When I use it, I can sense some's true intentions. Or what their really feeling just by looking through their soul."

"Whoa..." She couldn't help but smile when she could find something of a common ground when it came to being just a little weird with powers. "So quick question: Can you see spirits? Other than the individuals?"

"Oh yeah. For sure. Like your two friends up there." He, ever so nonchalantly, pointed up. Way above them, there floats both Kaibaman and Draco.

"Kaibaman, he's looking at us." Draco commented, squinting her eyes down at Jim.

"I know. He's been seeing us with his artificial eye since he got here."

"He can see us?!" She yelled out.

Clearly, Ripley was just as shocked as Draco was. "You can see them?! Kaibaman and Draco?!"

"Yeah." He smiled at her. "I can hear them too."

"Figures." Kaibaman soon disappeared when he turned away. Draco followed suit, her aura disappearing into Ripley's bracelet.

"I hope I didn't scare them away." Jim said.

"Nah." Since they were showing items on their persons, Ripley showed Jim her bracelet, where Draco usually goes. "I'm more surprised that you can see Draco more than anything. She'll usually let you see her if your trustworthy. She's probably going to avoid you when you're around me since you can already see her."

"Got it." It would seem that Jim needed to earn Draco's trust. "Well, it's getting late. We should be heading back to the Obelisk dorm. "

Ripley got a little sad that it was getting late and she had to head back. She tried to hide it, but she really wanted to stay with Jim a little longer.

"Don't worry, Ripley. There's be plenty of times for us to chat." He said as he put away his belongings.

She smiled shyly at him. "Yeah, yeah. Of course."

Jim stood up first and held out his hand so he could help her get up. With the good hand, she stood up and Jim pulled her to him. Ripley's face turned red once more and dusted the dirt off of her, mumbling a small thanks.

Then Jim lead her right back to the Obelisk dorm. It was late and it was quiet where there was no noise. So Jim and Ripley had to make sure they didn't make any noise.

"That's my room." She whispered, pointing at the door that was next to Chazz's.

"Alright." Jim's room was at the end of the hallway, next to Axel's. "I'll be seeing you later then."

"Right. Later, Jim."

They waved each other goodbye and went to their respective dorm rooms. Not realizing that once they went to their rooms, they were as red as a tomato.

"Hey, Draco."

Draco reappears, sitting on Ripley's bed. "What's up?"

"I might have a crush on Jim."

Draco squinted her eyes at her. "Oh, do you?" Of course, Ripley realizes that she was being sarcastic. "Might MIGHT be an understatement, Ripley."

[mayhemmaybe]

anotherhumanpet

Dennis sneered at the question not just for its rudeness, but for its painful accuracy. "I'm working on it." Alexi did say he needed to talk to people again, and so far he's managed to befriend Ambrose, establish a line of texting with Leland, and reunite with Jaden. But beyond that... "What. The. Fuck?" Dennis reflected the horror he was being gazed upon with back onto the minion assistant and vampire lord. Their conclusion was rather sound, given how cryptic his instructions were, but the jump from Point A to Point B was still wildly violent in his frame of mind and thus deserved an equal amount of reaction. "I'm not going to kill anyone! I was just--" Feeling something on his pants, Dennis looked down and immediately lost all thought, all emotion; everything. There was only cuteness and softness that invoked an irresistible urge to reach down and cuddle the armadillo to his chest.

"I wasn't going to kill anyone." He started in again, with a much gentler tone this time, and lightly scritched at the armadillo's belly with one finger. "I was just going to charm someone into paying for my ticket. It's the one power I have - convincing any human I look in the eye to do whatever I say. Doesn't matter if I ask for a bunch of money or tell them I'm not actually breaking in to the abandoned house or bite their wrist for a sip of blood. They just... do whatever I say and then I move on."

If Draluc and Ronaldo looked tense before, that reaction intensified tenfold as Dennis picked John up. At first the armadillo looked nervous, arms flailing ever so slightly as he ‘nuu’d in concern. Ronaldo went paler than both vampires in the room, “John!” Their unified panic was for naught. The trio breathed a collective sigh of relief when Dennis simply held the armadillo.

“Nu nu nuu nu.” John didn’t squirm anymore, feeling he was safe. But his little arms pointed down to the ground as he tried to communicate he would like to be put down please.

Draluc gave that tidbit of information plenty of thought, “A strong hypnotic ability.” He genuinely couldn’t tell if the young vampire was lying about being so naive.

“Oh,” Ronaldo said matter-of-factly. “That’s why you’ve been looking at the floor.” Knowing that at any time Dennis could have made Ronaldo compliant to anything he wanted but didn’t helped ease the hunter’s mind a bit. “Tempting as it is, we can’t have you doing that.”

“There’s enough bad publicity for vampires without adding onto it. We want to keep what positive strides we’ve made intact.”

“Could try fundraising the money. I don’t know any one person with that kind of cash up front.”

“Not a terrible idea. You must be hungry after your trip. I’ll throw something together while you two brainstorm ideas.”

"Nuu!"

"Sorry, you three."

"It's Dennis." A pointed glare was thrown at the minion assistant, because he had heard the almost-slip and didn't appreciate that it had almost-happened again. But since it had also been stopped halfway through and a name was asked for, Dennis could somewhat forgive the incident and cooperate.

Somewhat.

"And he didn't." And an even more scathing glare was cast towards Draluc. "He's never asked anything of me except to be cautious. I only started calling him master because that's what he said he called his teacher, the guy who turned him. And since my vladdy is a deadbeat and my murderer, I decided to call Alexi that to honor him for being my teacher." Because, in all actuality, Alexi had been doing just fine before Dennis turned up and started clinging onto his coattails - or, at least, Dennis thought so. Maybe Alexi was a bit lonely and living a drifter's life, but he was still living. He interacted with people, had no fears, and embraced the new phase of undead life as a chance to experience anything and everything his heart desired. He wasn't chasing after rats to scrape up a shitty meal or running away from people over an irrational fear of uncontrollably turning them. He lived and he was free and doing a hell of a lot better than Dennis was.

"But I guess if I was being mind controlled, I've probably snapped out of it by now..." The eternal teen shrugged. There was a gap of some sorts between him leaving his house and winding up at the door up of Draluc's, but he couldn't fathom what or why it was. He was just in one place then suddenly in another. "Maybe I was mind controlled cause I don't remember-- What?" Confused by the shouting, he blinked owlishly at the pile of reforming dust and the mortal before looking at the phone screen too.

Oh.

"Right." A deep sigh passed through his body. This night was turning into a longer outing than he anticipated. "Just point me to the nearest wealthy neighborhood then, please. I'll handle the rest."

[hwrryscherry]

The one where the reader is a singer

characters: HARRY x SINGER!Y/N

blurb: The reader is finishing up her brand-new album and as Harry comes to visit her on her last day of working in the studio, he gets to react to one of her songs, 34+35.

word count: 1.9K

author's note: HI GUYS! It’s been a week I think? Anyway, I’ll get back to school tomorrow so idk when imma post the next request but I’m hoping that it will be soon! Anyway, I want to thank y’all for the love and support on my writing and I hope that the anon who asked this likes it as much as I did. Never forget that you’re so golden and tpwk. AND ALSO, HAPPY 27TH BIRTHDAY TO HARRY!

    You took a deep breath right after asking for the track to be played again. To everyone else the track was perfect, but it was different for you. It just felt like something was missing and you didn't know what. And god, you were tired. You were so genuinely exhausted that if you sit up in a chair and stay silent for more than five minutes you'll simply fall asleep. You felt your eyes heaving at every blink of yours and it was only 5 pm, but you were in this studio for so long. You were inside this place for 36 hours now with no shower and no sleep. You did eat but now you were hungry again.Your shoulders were tensed up, and you couldn't feel comfortable anywhere. Not in the couch, not in the chair, not in the floor and not even stand up. All you genuinely demanded right now was to be home under your bed sheets curled up with your boyfriend of four years while taking many naps or watching many movies, but no, you needed to have this done. You needed the album to be done and were extremely thrilled to release it to your fans that were excited as well. But yes, you were so frickin' tired.

— Again... — You repeated after a long and sharp breath listening to some groans from your coworkers. You all have been listening to this one song for about an hour and a half now and you haven't actually changed anything yet. — I know, I know, and I'm sorry guys, it's just not right!

— Maybe you think it's not right, but it is and you're just making a huge deal about it. — One of your co-workers said. A girl, Lucy, one of your friends as well. You turned your head to stare at her face and gave her that glaze that made her shrug her shoulders because of it — Alright, I'm sorry.

— I'm not making a huge deal. It's just not right, and I feel like the entire album is so great and this is just wrong. Like... — You said standing up from the couch you were sitten in and walked to the table with the computers on to grab the one paper you used to write this song. You stared at it in your hands for a while as you read the letters. — See, here is the problem. So here it's "you drink it just like water" and then suddenly comes "so what you doin' tonight?", it doesn't make sense, there's something missing in here. — You go through the lyrics again as you hear more groans from the people in the room — And honestly, I'm disappointed with myself for the rest. I need to change it so badly, but I have no idea on how.

— No problem, love — You naturally said referring to his previous apologies.

   That's when you hear the sound of the door being opened. You rise your head to look at the door and see Harry, your boyfriend, walking into the room with some paper bags in his hands that contained burgers directly from In-N-Out, which was in fact your favorite Los Angeles burger place ever. He arrived in silence, trying not to make a noise for fear that you were recording something but you could note his surprised expression when he saw everyone was looking at him instead of recording.

— Sorry guys, I didn't want to disturb you. I was passing by and wanted to check up! — Harry said as he closed the door behind him and walked farther into the room. You smiled tenderly when you saw the figure of the man walking closer to you. You haven't seen each other personally in some days, and he consistently secured you so much spiritual peace, he just had such a light energy and it made you feel so good  — And also y’all had been stealing my girl for so long now! — He joked getting a slight laugh from everyone inside the studio. He approached you by wrapping your waist with one of his arms around your waist and sealing your lips together as he bends down a little.

— And Harry, technically she is maintaining us here and not the other way around — Lucy said in an ironic tone causing you to look at her quickly before letting out a deep breath and lowering your head by rubbing your sleepless eyes with the help of your hands, probably a negative result of sleep. Harry reflected the girl's words and then looked at you carefully before placing the bags on the coffee table that was next to the studio sofa.

— Why? What happened? — Harry asked encountering his gaze with yours as he crossed his arms and observed you raising your hand that contained the papers with the lyrics of your new song.

— I can't write a proper ending that I genuinely like! — You said, sounding frustrated to everyone in that room.

— The ending is good! — Another of your friends, Jaden, said as he got up and picked up one of the bags Harry had brought and then started walking again to sit on the sofa.

— Jaden, you in silence is everything to me! — You said in a mocking tone while running your hand through your hair — But you understand, don't you? — You asked Harry because he has experience with such a specific subject — It's not that it's bad, it's that I don't feel like it's ready!

— I get it! But have you already recorded? — Harry asked softly in his understanding tone. He more than anyone in this room comprehended exactly what you were feeling and he would do his best to help you since you did the same with him so many times before.

— Yes, twenty times! — Jaden murmured a little before taking a bite of one of the burgers that Harry had brought. Harry couldn't hold back the laugh when he heard the boy, as they knew each other well and Harry knew all his sassiness was based on nothing more than hunger.

— Let me hear it, so I can have some ideas to help! — Harry said looking at you, and then noticing your reaction. Your eyes widened at the man's request. It wasn't fear. It was just an apprehension and that made Harry extremely curious  — What? 

— Well... It's a little... — You said in a lower tone seeking your words.

— Promiscuous and indulgent! — Lucy and Jaden completed your sentence making Harry look at her and the boy sitting on the sofa and then Harry raised one of his eyebrows and looked at you with a smirk on his lips.

— Uh, is it about me? — Harry asked in a mocking tone, waiting for the answer that would raise his ego, of course.

— Look, let's not specify anything — You said quickly and nervously looking at the smirk on your boyfriend's face — Ok, Trevor, play the song right for the love of god! — You said getting a laugh out of Harry, Jaden and Lucy due to your despair in ending this matter.

    And Trevor did as you asked and put the song on. You sat down on the bench near the wall and crossed your arms while watching Harry's reactions. The soon as the song started everyone could notice your voice and the rhythm of it that matched the beat.

You may think I’m crazy

The way I’ve been craving

If I put it quite plainly

Just give me them babies

    You could notice Harry bouncing his head on the rhythm of the song as a sign that he liked it because you knew that he only did that to songs that he likes. And you also noticed a small smile when he listened to the end of this verse because he did remember all the times you both had talked about having a baby before.

So what you doin’ tonight?

Better say doin’ you right

Watching movies 

But we ain’t seen a thing tonight

    Again you noticed the smirk and you did smirk as well because you both knew the lack of ability that you had to watch any movie that lasted longer than two hours and you almost ended not watching anything.

I don’t wanna keep you up

But assuming can you keep it up

‘Cause then I’d like to keep you up

So maybe Imma keep you up

Boy

    Harry wasn’t looking at you, though. He was looking at the floor while bouncing his head and paying attention to the song as he was trying to catch the vibe of it and honestly you don’t know if it’s the song that had this vibe but he was looking way too hot to handle at this moment.

I’ve been drinking coffe

And I’ve been eating healthy

Know I get squeaky, yeah

Saving all my energy

    Now the chorus was about to start and you were actually excited and nervous to see Harry’s reaction of it. You two have been dating for four years now. He probably understood any little detail of this song more than anyone else.

Can you stay up all night?

F**k me till the daylight

34 35

    You started to hold back your laugh as Harry lifted his head up fastly with winded eyes and a surprised look so he could face you. It wasn’t actually your style to write songs that promiscuous so he was actually surprised at it even though he loved it. He had a smile on his face though and so did you. 

    The song kept playing as the words repeated itself and it stopped just after the second chorus so Harry passed his hands through his hair as you waited for his opinion on it. Honestly, Harry’s opinion about your music is extremely important to you because you cherish and admire him way too much and love his songs so you hope that he does too with yours.

— So... What do you think? — You asked anxiously waiting for his opinion. The truth is Harry had already listened to all the songs on his new album except this one.

— I like it! — Harry said with a smile on his lips making you breathe a sigh of relief — Maybe I can help write the rest, but they really didn't lie and it's great. The beat is good and the lyrics are catchy and everything will be fine. The point, my love, is that you are too worried! — Harry said as he approached you, placing his big, strong hands on your shoulders and massaging them lightly feeling all the tension in your muscles slowly dissolving — Relax, it's amazing! You got it!

   With Harry's help, you finished the song in less than an hour. When you recorded the rest and listened, you felt that now it was ready and now you could go home with him. It was simply incredible to know you could always count on him and to know that while you were together creativity would be present and life wouldn't be boring. After all, you had each other and had the art.

[shitpostingkats]

Obsessed with these tags OP omg

First of all, how dare you stab me in the heart with that comparison to Jesse. I can absolutely see it. Now I want to know how Jesse would come into play in all this- Cod I love Spiritshipping they were meant for each other <3

Second, I know I already requested Yuya and Jaden interactions (and oh boy did you deliver), but now you have me intrigued. Like it doesn't even have to be the groupchat AU, I'm just genuinely curious now how you think Jaden would interact with all four of the Yu Boys. I am giving you an excuse to write Jaden and Yuri interacting also because to be completely honest I love Yuya to bits and pieces but Yuri has always been my favorite of the four. <3 "Yuri is the violence" Dear cod I want to see the two of them tear into someone. I have no idea who exactly but they would be terrifying. Give them an audience perchance. Maybe the rest of the protags. (I live for reactions) I'm living for this.

Jaden meets them and it's like witnessing all the parts of himself he keeps tucked to his chest exposed for everyone to see. He sees Yuto and wants to wrap him in a hug and tell him nothing was his fault. (He's a hypocrite, he knows he (Jaden) deserved everything he got. He didn't, he really didn't) He sees Yuya and sees the mask he's put up for so long, sees his attitude of "maybe if I ignore this then it'll all go away" and wonders if his own mask ever looked this close to cracking. He sees Yugo and wants to scream and tear his hair out because when did he lose that part of himself? When did the mask truly become a mask, when did he lose that spark that made life seem actually worth living? (He knows damn well when he lost it.) He sees Yuri and sees a world where he gave in completely to the madness, where he found comfort in the pain because it was the one time he truly felt like he was in control. He wonders what it cost him, if it cost anything at all. He wonders what friends he sacrificed to get where he is now, and if it was worth it. He looks into his eyes and thinks maybe it was. He wonders if maybe their worlds aren't as dissimilar as he first thought. (That thought alone might scare him more than anything.)

It's late and I'm not very good with words (at the moment at least) But you have got me HOOKED and you are currently my only source for this dynamic, I will be plaguing your ask box for a good week at least, I hope you know this- (Feel free to tell me to chill out at any time btw, I just saw your blog description and took that as a personal challenge sdfghj /lh)

Much love <3

*hands you back your worksheet and it looks like this*

*hands you stickers hands you a candy from the candy bowl, never worry about blowing up my inbox, I love hearing from people, hands you a tangerine*

Bestie you are doing such a good job thank you for the kind words, also your mind. I hadn't realized the potential for Yugo + Jaden interactions until you started messaging, now I am rocked by the implications. Now I have to write the yu-bois into the gc au. Can't promise I'll publish anything anytime soon, but I'm always excited to talk about these funny card game guys.

Yuri and Jaden the reformed supervillain and the still-thinks-he-has-to-be-the-evil-brother. Jaden is trying to nudge the guy in the right direction but totally worried because he is only barely older than him and still kinda a mess, meanwhile Yuri would gladly sell Jaden for one corn chip but also belligerently hangs out with him because he kinda is one of the best fusion duelists in the world, maybe he can learn some things. Yuri is like "Let's rob this 7/11! >:3" and Jaden is like "Oooh! There's a deal on slushies!"

Reformed murder hobo in the body of a college student tries to reform child murder hobo: seven injured, Yugo's on the roof, more on this story at 11.

[baby-panda-yugi]

He listened intently, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth as the gears turned in his brain. Then it hit him. “You know, I’m willing to bet theres a particular group of students that would be more than willing to help you get the answers you want.” He said with a grin. Then smiled at her. Much more of a genuine one when she started talking about Mako,

“Obviously he married you because he loves you. And Mako was never one to admit he loved anything or anyone more than the ocean way back in duelist kingdom. Just give it time Leysa, you’ll figure it out. I know you will. And I’ll always be here to support you no matter what. And You can always send him my way. I’d be happy to talk to him if need be.” He continued. He knew he was being hypocritical, fat lot of good Time had done him but he knew it would be different for her. But the whole conversation had reminded him of when he’d met Jaden and Yusei that day with paradox, man what would those two think of him now.

“When you get back, Ask about Jaden Yuki in the Slifer dorms. Ra only knows how big his little group has gotten by now but if I know Jaden he’d jump at the chance to do some good for his friends and School.” He said as he paused and just looked at her for a moment. She really had grown up and he missed having these moments with her.

“I’m really Sorry Leysa, all these years have been…. Hell. I always meant to keep in touch I just. I didn’t want to push all my issues onto you.” He spoke after a couple minutes, looking out over the water. He wasn’t sure why it all bubbled up in that moment, and he was sure he was crying again, even though he was so numb to it now that he barely noticed anymore. But he knew that if he couldn’t at least open up a little to his own twin then there was no point in trying to open up to anyone else.

@baldurs-servant

He’d been pushing Leysa away, he knew it. He hadn’t intended too. But his mind was too warped, so wrapped up in his own self loathing and hatred of the world around him to care. He loved her, but he knew she didn’t understand what he was going through. None of them did. He was so utterly alone now.

How long has it been? Almost Nine years now? Nine years since his entire very soul fell apart. They say time heals all wounds. But Time only seemed to make his fester and bleed, growing worse every day with no sign of an end. He was so tired. When would it all just end?

The pier always calmed him down. He could sit at the edge of the dock and cry for hours and no one would disturb him. Even now he was crying, it was like a natural state of being for him when he was alone. Today had been bad for him. He’d tried to make peace with Jou, but no avail. He’d broken that friendship far beyond repair and it left a sour taste in his mouth as he escaped to his spot on the pier. He didn’t even know how long he’d been there.

“Have Mercy on me, stop plaguing my mind. Please, I’m not as strong as you think I am.” He whispered to the wind. A silent plea for it all to end. As he had done so many times in this exact spot. Then he felt a soft clinking of the chain around his neck. And in a moment of weakness he took the replica from around his neck and held it out over the water. Poised to drop it at any second.

“This is your fault. I never should have solved this damn thing.”

[cyberdragoninfinity]

my bestest boy, blorbo of all time Jaden for the otp ask plssss

YEEEAHHH JADEN oh i do have them Jaden Relationship Thoughts, oh boy

My NOTP for them: just not really into jaden/yubel romantically tbh..... i'm much more interested in a platonic soulmates sort of read on their situation. fuck what da canon said. the thing that trips me up most with them really is like...it's shown that yubel has been there since jaden was a little kid and has like. lovedh im since then. a romantic read on that is a little too "jacob imprinting on and falling in love with bella's vampire baby in twilight"core for me, sorry, lmao. thats jaden's cool big sib in my eyes

My BROTP for them: god i really love his friendship with both Truesdale brothers ;__; Jaden Yuki honorary Third Truesdale/Marufuji Brother. syrus is his BEST FRIEND i stand by this i wave my sword in the air!!! Also love him being besties with Alexis, it's so cute.

My OTP for them: big fan of jaden/aster, jaden/chazz, and jaden/jesse tbh..... jaden's a rare character where it's hard for me to pick one singular OTP?? Largely because I genuinely like his dynamic with so many characters, but ALSO I, uh, think jaden would perhaps be a bit of a dogshit boyfriend until he works some personal stuff out, so I feel like his potential for accumulating Exes is..... high. Perhaps all Jaden pairings have a chance, but whether or not they stick for more than two years is the real question. Anyway push comes to shove if I must pick one (1) I do think heroshipping is my favorite... it snuck up on me and i just like him and aster together a lot

My second choice pairing for them: After hero I gotta go with him and chazz for second place.... I'm a sucker for rivalshipping and also their relationship is just a delight. i believe in t4t jaden and chazz. I think they would get together and break up like 14 times. I want to play PMD explorers of sky as shinx!chazz and eevee!jaden

My fluffy pairing for them: man, him and jesse is just Toothrottingly Fluffy to me, I do like them very much..... theyre just goofy teenagers having a good time up until things get Incredibly Real.

My angsty pairing for them: yeah woooooof actually him and jesse also very much has Some Large Degree of Agony to It. tfw youre in love with a boy buy the demon that snatched up your free will for a While is also living in his brain. how do you work that one out

My favorite poly ship for them: ok actually I do think my jaden ship endgame is him and chazz and jesse and/or him/chazz/aster sharing a house together. Whether or not they are all romantically involved in dealer's choice. who fuckin knows. i think jaden would thrive in a communal roommate situation as an adult.

My weirdest pairing for them: not really even a ship but i think him and yuma from zexal would get along. i think they should play video games together. astral and yubel can supervise

[valjeans]

I'm interested to hear your dream Beauty and the Beast cast featuring only Les Mis alumni now?

THANK YOU FOR ASKING ANON.

the beast - aaron pryce lewis (ok i know i said earlier i prefer an older actor as the beast but i then thought about this and will not rest until i hear him sing if i can't love her)

belle - amara okereke (i am still OBSESSED with how good her cosette was. i also think her cosette vibe was also a very ideal vibe for belle)

gaston - bradley jaden (im very shallow and also he's obsessed with himself so it's a perfect casting)

lumiere - cameron blakely (his absolutely insane vibes are perfect for the part. i know he's a bit small but we can ignore that)

coggsworth - earl carpenter (him and cameron are the best double act. i know it seems like he should be lumiere as the taller one HOWEVER he has the whole extremely camp and extremely disapproving thing absolutely nailed)

mrs potts - rebecca caine (can't think of anyone i'd rather hear sing beauty and the beast tbh)

maurice - jeremy secomb (just think this would be funny tbh. imagine maurice is a 6ft tall man with a very intense stare. hilarious)

le fou - ciaran bowling (his grantaire was genuinely so brilliant. his comic timing and improv skills are perfect. also the javert's little slave boy video has me convinced that him and bradley would work so well together)

also want to add that luke mccall would be 1st cover beast and gaston because, once again i am very shallow and i would really like to see him play both of those parts.

[the-evil-authoress]

GX Month Day 24: “Exchange of Night and Day”

Darkness and Light. Today let’s take a closer look at these two cosmic forces and the duality of each. The Gentle Darkness, the Light of Destruction, Darkness/Nightshroud, and...?

“-light of hope!”

“Huh?” Jaden’s head snaps up. His character idles on the game screen without direction. He hadn’t been paying much attention to the conversation around him until he heard that and the conversation seems to have moved on already. “What did I miss?”

“Just Syrus begging Bastion to tutor him,” Alexis replies, barely looking up from her own notes.

Erm, yeah no, that doesn’t match up with what Jaden heard at all. “Gonna need exact words,” he tries again, hoping his friends don’t find it too weird.

Thankfully, all of them are well acquainted with ‘weird’ by now and Syrus answers without question. “I said he was my only light of hope.”

Oh.

He’s...heard those words before. Or Yubel has? Geez, it’s hard to tell anymore. His eyes drift to Jesse, staring intently at his own textbook, an erratic mix of kana and English letters scribbled on the open page of his notebook. He looks over at Christina, her eyes also on Jesse with a critical gaze and pensive frown. He looks back at Jesse. He feels like he’s on the edge of something.

“Oi, Jesse.”

No response. Actually, Jesse hasn’t reacted to much of anything at the table. Jaden reaches over to jab him with his toe. Jesse jerks, the hand he’d been leaning his chin on shifting to yank an earbud free. “Hva?”

Chazz casually snags the earbud, places it into his own ear, and abruptly makes a face. “Dude, what?”

“It helps me focus.” Slapping Chazz’s hand, Jesse retrieves his earbud. He pulls the ipod out of his pocket to pause the music before looking up at Jaden again. “You need somethin’?”

“The term ‘light of hope’ mean anything to you?” Jaden asks.

Chazz snorts. “What is that, the antithesis to the Light of Destruction?”

Jesse chokes as a clamor rises from the Crystal Beasts. “Light of what?”

“Something we had to deal with last year.” Jaden waves a hand. They’re getting off topic and he still has that nagging feeling that he’s missing something. If Yubel has any insight, she doesn’t offer it.

Jesse’s expression changes as he glances at the spirits milling about the room. “Is that why you wouldn’t let me leave the boat?” Amethyst snorts. Jesse rolls his eyes and mutters something that Jaden can’t immediately translate.

“Boat?” Hassleberry asks because yes, that’s the important question. This conversation has completely derailed from where Jaden wanted it to go. Not that he isn’t curious.

“Last year’s duel between North Academy and Duel Academy. I was hoping to run into you after watching your duel with Chazz the previous year, but my Beasts freaked out as soon as we got here and refused to let me leave the boat.”

The darkness within Jaden shudders and coils at the thought of Jesse being anywhere near the Society of Light. “Probably a good thing,” he mumbles. “So anyway, does it mean anything to you?”

“Light of hope?” Jesse clarifies and Jaden nods. Jesse glances off at the corner of the room pensively. “Not really. You’re the one who actually remembers stuff.”

“Not much.” Jaden slumps in his seat. And Yubel hasn’t shared a whole lot either, but Jaden can’t blame her when she’d still been picking through the shambles of her own mind until recently.

Bastion glances between them uncertainly. “Um, sorry, but I feel I’ve missed something. Remember what, exactly?”

“Past life.” Lives? Hell if Jaden knows. He picks up his GameBoy to resume his game.

Syrus jerks up, textbook falling against the table with a thump. “Jesse has a past life too?!”

“Hold on, what did I miss?” Hassleberry looks between Jaden and Syrus in absolute confusion, and Jaden realizes he never actually told anyone except Syrus, somehow, while recounting the events in Dark World. (How it came up is beyond him considering he’s pretty sure he didn’t mention the Yubel thing, but that whole conversation is also a blur of exhausted emotion in his brain. Fuck. He might have mentioned the Yubel thing.) “What’s the little guy know that I don’t??”

“It’s not important,” Jaden mumbles, sinking a little further in his seat as he debates hiding under the table.

“Apparently, yeah, though I don’t remember it,” Jesse says in answer, and Syrus just goes back to his textbook with a quiet murmur.

“That explains a lot.”

Both are entirely too nonchalant in Jaden’s opinion.

Christina stares at the two of them like she’s just had the revelation of the century, and Jaden officially slides under the table. He just wants to pass finals! Not deal with any of this bullshit.

“Lucky!” Blair whines. “I wish I’d met Jaden in a past life. Maybe we’d be closer.”

There’s no stopping the tiny hysterical giggle that bubbles out of his throat. Jaden highly doubts that would make a difference. Obsessively crushing on him or not, Blair has a genuine enthusiasm that absolutely terrifies Jaden on a bad day. Yeesh, no wonder Syrus always seemed half scared of Jaden their first year. Jaden would have been scared of himself too if he thought that BS was genuine.

“Are you coming back up here?” Bastion leans down to peer worriedly at where Jaden has hunched into himself on the library floor.

“No, thanks. I’m good here.”

A chair scrapes across the floor as one of his friends gets up to go do something and a pillow from one of the library couches is shoved under the table when they return. Jaden looks up to see Alexis on the other end. “Uh, thanks.” Geez, his friends really have stopped questioning the weird shit he does. Or maybe weird shit in general? Whatever, he’ll take it.

Arranging himself on the pillow, Jaden settles in for the long haul, only half paying attention to his game as he debates the pros and cons of wrangling information about this ‘light of hope’ thing out of Yubel. Because he’s pretty sure she knows something.

Jesse listens to country music. Chazz - who I imagine has some knowledge of American culture being from a family of wealthy businessmen - is appalled.

[mobiused]

wait what did you get wrong?

Eric / Yoon Doyeon really is the same man in the thread - I made a mistake, sorry. It was really hard to find correct information, and the only thing that pinned down Doyeon to any of the past (Yoon Doyeon is a common enough name so I assumed it was a mix up) was 1 picture I found on Weibo. We shouldn't be company stans and blindly trust businessmen that have pasts we don't know about and should never believe that people are good just because we want to believe they are.

But I just want to say that on the other hand...

it is still true that Yoon Doyeon has never been a CEO of a Kpop company. Alpha Entertainment was a Singaporean talent agency that opened up a Korean branch, and Yoon Doyeon was CEO of this company. That doesn't mean he was particularly involved with SKARF, nor that he was responsible for any of the horrible things that the management inflicted on SKARF members.

That doesn't mean he *isn't* responsible. I genuinely don't know the extent of his culpability.

But just to be clear, nothing in the articles shared in that thread implicated Doyeon, in any of the mistreatment/abuse. It only suggested that the managers and 'staff' were involved; this reminds me of how LOONA's managers were abusive, how Jaden Jeong was directly involved in some of the dieting decisions, and how Lee Jonghyun was *not* involved in any of their mistreatment and the members liked him very much, gave him a surprise bday party of their own volition, Vivi called him to say she loved him, and the members saw him as a father figure - the members only spoke positively about him in comparison to other staff they've shaded, and still loved a fair few of the BBC staff despite the rotten apples that made their careers hell.

Honestly I'm still confused about the CTD / Super8 fact, because both Hyunjin and Doyeon said this was Doyeon's first ever project where he lead the group, and he only started the company because Hyunjin asked him to and inspired him to try something new. I really don't know where or how Super8 comes into this. If anyone has more info on this beyond what Hyunjin has talked about (I haven't seen any solid info beyond a cursory look that seemed to be just twitter stans talking) I'd appreciate it.

You might be wondering why I'm bothering to defend Yoon Doyeon after the fact. It's simply because I think in order to respect the girls I think it's important to acknowledge the reality of how the company is treating them in the present. Like I said before, the staff have been helping Yeojin repair her relationship with food, encouraging Hyeju to eat freely, buying Hyunjin everything she needed in her apartment, very actively involved them in every step of the album, etc. The girls have explicitly expressed gratitude to the company and how truly happy they are in comparison, like Hyeju actually enjoying the US tour this time round unlike last time, and the company haven't been tooting their own horn either, like the old LOONA TVs that were very focused on image management.

To not trust the girls and how positively they are speaking of the company is honestly just disrespectful to their experience to me. Like you can be cautious, understandably, but to discount what the girls are saying just because you have so little faith that things could be good for them... it just irks. That doesn't require us to, like, stan Doyeon himself of course though...

[pridewhatpride]

omg pls talk more about GX rival shipping once the transfer students come

Dear anon, I love you for asking this of me, but I have to wonder if you want everyone who follows me to start hating me.

Long post coming up? You know it. I apologise to all Johan fans, he's great and I loved him and his deck as a child. Now I'm just salty because he's too perfect. Warning because this is a mess of unrequited feelings and it's an all around bad time if you ship anything in gx. I did mention I do not practice self care in a previous post of mine. Enjoy your pain c:

So here are my bad takes of the day, under the very handy cut!

You see, gx rivalshipping becomes a lot more complicated and angsty when the transfer students arrive. The dynamic changes. If there is a dynamic at all. I mean, imagine yourself in Manjoume's shoes. You've lowkey had a crush on this dumb guy who kind of ruined your life (but actually improved it and freed you from the restraints your family imposed on you), just to watch a handsome scandinavian dude who is a lot more muscular than you are and maybe a little bit nicer, maybe just waltz in and completely captivate said dumb guy's attention. Just when you had managed to admit your own feelings to yourself.

Johan comes in and steals the room, everybody loves him, he's good looking, charismatic, kind and has a magical exclusive shiny sparkling deck at his disposal that he uses as if it was the most natural thing in the world, like he hadn't received approval Pegasus himself on top of the duel spirits. And Judai clearly can't get enough of it, because he's always seeking him out, ever since the duel they had in front of everyone, and Manjoume finds that he's really annoyed by it. He wishes he'd been chosen for the demonstration, deluding himself into believing that if he'd won, Judai would have never started caring so damn much about Johan. But a part of him knows he would have probably lost and that even if he hadn't, Judai would have not cared about the outcome at all. It's nice to think that winning a card game can solve all your problems, but, while Manjoume has only ever experienced how much losing one can mess with your life goals, he isn't stupid enough to think that winning would grant him happiness. Not anymore. No well-thought-out strategy can rid him of his bad temper and his worthless pride.

The thing is, he can't really hate Johan, because nobody can hate Johan. He's just the perfect picture of everything Manjoume isn't and, going by everyone's reaction, the fact that 'everyone is unique in their own way and worthy of love' is absolute bullshit. There clearly is an objective better one of the two and Manjoume is very aware that he isn't it. And he'd probably begrundgingly be cool with it, after all he'd accepted that Jaden was braver than him, that Asuka was emotionally stronger and more resolute, that Daichi was smarter, not to mention how much plain better than him his fomer upperclassmen were. Forget about pros like Edo, whom Judai had stood on equal grounds with. But Judai is clearly playing favourites, too, hell, he hardly even acknowledges Manjoume.

He finds himself forcibly removed from his already shaky position as rival, because now Johan is there to take it up, on top of the titles of 'best friend' and 'emotional support and crutch' and 'maybe something else I'd really rather not know'.

Manjoume just generally hates it all. He might have changed and improved himself, but there is no saving him from the fact that some people were just better. That doesn't stop him from trying. But again he finds himself pitted against Judai, the irony of his fate never giving him a moment to rest. Manipulated and turned into the enemy of those he cares about, again.

A part of him despises how good it feels to learn that Johan has gone missing, but Judai is screaming like his arms have been torn off and while he hates that it's all for Johan, he hates that Judai is in pain even more. Judai had saved him before and it's only right for him to return the favour. So he insists on helping him on his stupidly risky plan to save Johan. And it's all to get the old Judai back.

...The rest, from Manjoume's perspective is a mess. His feelings of anger stem from the hatred he harbours towards himself and the bond between Judai and Johan. He'd been trying to help, he had, he sincerely had, but everything just swirled together and the next thing he knows is that he is shouting at Judai because it suddenly made sense to guilt trip him over the fact that he'd abandoned his friends, he'd abandoned him as soon as someone better had come into the picture. And it was Judai's fault for letting them- him believe that he cared when he didn't, when he couldn't have cared less, because clearly he had one priority only and that was Johan. They had come to help and it still wasn't being appreciated.

Disappearing is a relief, for a moment, but then he finds himself in another hellish place and he can't help but think that it's retribution for being so upset over something that has nothing to do with him. That's right. It's his own fault for making Judai, his only real friend (aside from Fubuki, sorry for breaking the immersion, but I love Fubuki), carry the burden of the stupid hopes that came with his feelings. Judai has no fault. Johan has no fault. It's his own for desiring something that would always be out of reach.

As he is tortured by his own thoughts and regrets in the other dimension, Manjoume silently wishes his words meant nothing to Judai, that he'd be spared the pain of betrayal. He wishes Judai can achieve his goal.

When Shou appears to him, he knows there is no time to waste. If he is alive, the others are, too. Judai would want to know that they are safe. So he asks Shou to carry his message, along with his good luck wish. He hopes it's enough to make up for his mistakes.

Next thing he knows, they are back at DA, Judai is nowhere to be seen. Manjoume mourns the loss of his first and only friend and curses himself for tarnishing that memory. (Judai's return and season 4 would be too much to cover, this was only Manjoume's pov and I might as well just rewrite the entire show at this point.)

So what about Judai?

I personally want to believe that he genuinely does like Manjoume at some point. But as much as it pains me to admit it, season 3 just wrote Manjoume off from the list of main characters and relegated him to 'he's your funny comic relief, nobody really gives a shit about what he thinks or feels, so why should you, the spectator who has grown to love him, care at all? Also here's his sticker that confirms that Judai going after Johan makes him really angry for some reason, make of that what you will c:' (fuck the writing staff, I'm not even sorry).

Judai is so clearly smitten with Johan. It seems to me that his refusal to accept Manjoume's help that one time on the cliff shows that Judai doesn't really understand the way Jun operates. He probably labeled him as just someone else who counted on him to be saved. And sure, Manjoume is saved by Judai in multiple occasions, but he doesn't ever really... ask for it? Or more importantly expect it. He doesn't get himself into situations he can't handle because Judai can save him anyways, the trouble just kind of happens at him and more often than not he's only involved by accident, because he happens to be close to Judai.

The problem still stands, as season 3 starts, Judai is very much burdened by everyone's expectations and Johan is a breath of fresh air and the only one Judai actually considers a friend and an equal. It's heartbreaking that he felt that alone.

They get their gay 'have we met somewhere before moment', they duel gaily, they homoerotically tell eachother how admirable the other is, they shamelessly flirt and whoohoo Judai has an unofficial boyfriend and who can blame him for concentrating on him along with wanting to escape the pressure his former gang unknowingly laid on him.

But yeah, Judai in season 3 has a one track mind and it's hard not to see it as romantic. Does he know it is? Maybe? I honestly don't know. I feel like Johan is the one of the two who is aware of the implications of their interactions. Which also kind of brings me to say... does Johan think that all of Judai's friends are horrible people? Because he never once comments on how Judai distances himself from them once he arrives. He probably thinks they were never good friends in the first place.

Judai probably excuses his attentions towards Johan with the fact that they are alike because they can see spirits, but then he rememebers that so can Manjoume and maybe he feels guilty for a second, but Johan cracks a joke and Judai laughs and thinks to himself that Manjoume is probably happy to have the peace and quiet he so often claimed to want.

Like... I think a part of him would get that tightness in his chest because it's like he's betrayed someone, but he knows he hasn't, because there isn't any actual mutual agreement he's going against. So he lets himself fall deeper into the comfort of Johan's presence. Johan is, to Judai, the ideal person. He is exactly who Judai wants to become. Judai admires him very deeply and strives to be more like him, but he falls gradually into despair as he learns, once Johan is gone, that no, he can't be like him, because Johan is so much better than him, and if he doesn't get him back soon he might even forget what he was like in the first place. Johan can't be erased, can't be forgotten. And Judai feels like he's vanishing already, so he throws himself into a wild interdimensional manhunt to save his hopes for the future.

Turns out that wanting to do good doens't always result in a good outcome. That's what Judai learns when Manjoume lashes out at him just seconds before disappearing. Along with the others, too. Judai doesn't even have the brain power to compute that some people are still there, that he can still save someone, because he realised then that he had focused so much on Johan that he'd completely overlooked the fact that while his friends relied on him a little too much, they hadn't meant any harm. And if he'd just told them, maybe they would have been fine, they could've cooperated- but Manjoume had told him that he was a traitor, that he'd doomed them with his irrational behaviour.

Manjoume's last words to him had been spoken with hatred and Judai realised only then that he had misread him entirely. He lets despair and self hatred take over as he realises that if he had managed to hurt the ones he cared about so easily, discarding them for the new good thing, he could just keep doing that. And it would stop hurting, eventually.

I like to think that Manjoume really does have an impact on the awakening of the Supreme King. Yeah, I know he only turns once Johan's death is mentioned, I know. I just suffer from abandonment issues and can't stand that Manjoume dying in front of him is more impactful to Judai than a guy who literally can't be trusted saying "Joke's on you, the one you're looking for is in another castle already dead."

So yeah. That's the angsty overview.

TL;DR Johan is an Adonis, Judai is smitten and Manjoume is very very heartbroken. But actually so is Judai. Because while being with Johan feels right, there's someone whose absence feels wrong, but he doesn't allow himself to dwell on it and everything goes to shit. All around a bad time for everyone and they'll have a lot of talking to do once they properly reconcile after graduation.