"Happy one month anniversary!"

Jaden blinked the gift-wrapped box that was presented to him by his girlfriend. "For me?" he asked. She nodded. "Alexis, you should have told me about this. I didn't even know that I was supposed to give you a present."

Alexis smiled back at him, gesturing for Jaden to take the box. "Don't worry about it," she said. "It's nothing overly special; I just figured that you might like it so I picked it up for you while I was out shopping." She took hold of Jaden's wrist and placed the box in his palm. "Go ahead, open it!"

Jaden shrugged before he dug his fingers in between the slots of wrapping paper and pulling it apart. Catching a glimpse of red cardboard and noticing the distinct size of the gift, however, his pace quickened and the paper torn at a faster rate. It wasn't long until the paper was shredded and thrown to the ground and Jaden was smiling down at the structure deck box being clenched between his hands. "No way!" he exclaimed loudly. Alexis grinned. "You actually found it? The limited edition HERO's Force structure deck?"

Alexis laughed. "Yep," she said.

"But, I thought Industrial Illusions only made a couple thousand of these decks, all of which were in released in New Domino City. How did you possibly get this?" Jaden asked, clenching the deck box so tightly, purely out of excitement, that it actually began to bend.

Alexis grinned. "You remember when me and the others went on that weeklong tour of famous duelling landmarks?"

Jaden's eyes narrowed and his cheeks puffed out childishly. "You mean the one I didn't get to go on because of that stupid stomach flu that you gave me?" he asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Yes, and I said that I was sorry about that," Alexis said. "Anyway, on top of the trips to Heartland and Miami City, one of the places we stopped was the Kaiba Dome in New Domino City - you know, where Yusei Fudo made himself known to the duelling world before he saved it from the Dark Signers - and we had a few hours to explore the place after the tour. I didn't tell you about it because I know how much you wanted to see the place where turbo duels first took place."

"Duelling on motor bikes? Who wouldn't wanna see that!" Jaden exclaimed excitedly. "Plus, I've wanted to see a Synchro monster in action for the longest time, and, literally, no one here uses them... But, I digress. Please continue."

Alexis laughed. "Anyway, while the girls were out wasting all of their money on clothes and the boys got roped into going with them, I was checking out the card shops," she carried on. "As soon as I saw it on display, there was no way I couldn't get it for you. I probably would have gotten it for you even if we weren't dating."

Jaden smiled, holding the box against his chest. "Either way, I love it, Alexis," he said gratefully. He quickly leaned towards her and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips.

It had been exactly one month since the day that Alexis showed up at Jaden's door and they became a couple, and things were looking very promising for their relationship. They talked and hung out a lot more than they had previously, and anytime either of them had a personal question, they voiced it to the other. This proved to be very productive, as Jaden had almost no questions about himself that were bottled up and unanswered, and it was a large weight off of his shoulders and less of a headache for him to deal with. Because of all of this, Jaden had allowed himself to leave the beta-testing zone of his relationship and officially considered Alexis to be his first girlfriend.

The only thing that bothered Jaden was that he still had occasional thoughts about Jesse from time to time. They weren't as frequent or devastating as they were before, but he could never forget how much he loved Jesse or how much he wanted to be with Jesse. Nothing, not even Alexis, could make him forget that.

Even so, having Alexis as a girlfriend numbed the feeling of pain in Jaden's heart. He hadn't told her about his feelings for Jesse, too embarrassed and too scared to talk about it, but he felt that it was probably better this way. Alexis clearly liked him a lot, and hearing that he loved Jesse, and not her, may devastate her beyond his control.

Jaden had already accepted the fact that Jesse was not coming back to Duel Academy; he had even tried to reduce the amount of contact with Jesse in his life. Jesse had sent him a number of emails and letters about his life back at North Academy, each one clearly made with time and effort, but Jaden only replied with brief, to-the-point responses. Any form of communication or contact with Jesse only caused him exquisite pain, just for the sheer fact that he knew that he was most likely never going to see Jesse again. As a result, Jaden made his replies to Jesse as short as possible. He never wrote about anything out of the ordinary; food, duelling, his hatred of boring classes, etc.. He didn't want to lose Jesse, but he hoped that Jesse would forget all about him so he could move on.

As he took a quick glance at Alexis after he pulled away, who was smiling at him joyfully, Jaden felt slightly guilty that he hadn't told Jesse about him and Alexis dating. Even if he was the one who didn't want anyone to know about his relationship, he felt bad that his best friend didn't know about something as major as his first real relationship. He could only assume that a part of him still held onto the hope that Jesse reciprocated his feelings and the slim chance that they could be together.

Abruptly, Alexis snapped her fingers in front of Jaden's face, pulling him out of his daze and back to reality. "Jaden, you ok?" she asked.

Jaden gave himself a gentle slap on both cheeks, and then looked back at Alexis. "Yeah, I'm cool," he said. "I just dozed off for a second."

Alexis laughed. "Well then, why don't you open up that deck and see what's inside," she said teasingly.

Jaden laughed as well, digging his fingers in between the folds of the box and carefully pulling it open while making sure not to tear it; he planned to keep the box cover and tape it to his wall or something else similar, just because the box art was extremely eye-catching; it had six different monsters on the cover, each one's main colour apparently representing an element, none of which where familiar to him.

Once opened, he pulled out the deck of cards, wrapped in plastic, out of the box and placed the box on the floor of his dorm room. He raised an eyebrow when he looked at the first card on the bottom of the deck. "'Masked HERO'...?" He read over the card's data text, nearly gasping when he saw what it could do. "Wow! This card is amazing! I wonder what the others are like." He started ripping off the plastic packaging, eager to see what kind of new abilities his new cards had. In his haste, however, Jaden accidentally dropped the cards just as he removed them from the plastic, causing them to spill all over the floor. "Aw, man!"

"Nice going, 'Cool Guy'," Alexis said mockingly.

The two of them knelt down and began to collect the cards. Shortly after Jaden collected all of the cards closest to him, he looked up to see how Alexis was doing. What he saw, however, was something that made his entire face grow as red as his jacket, and brought his jaw crashing to the ground.

Jaden could see a thin strip of red fabric... between Alexis' legs. He had a clear view up her skirt, and of her stunningly bold-coloured panties. He wasn't sure whether to stand up and look in the other direction or tell Alexis that he could see up her skirt and apologize. All he could do was stare…

The sudden gasping and clasping of legs, however, brought Jaden back to reality, and a rush of red to his face. This was shortly followed by an abrupt shouting from his girlfriend; "Jaden! What the heck!?"

Jaden quickly stood up, shut his eyes and turned his back to Alexis. He didn't dare look her in the eye, frightened to near-death of what kind of glare she might be giving him. "I-I'm sorry!" he stuttered. "I didn't mean to look! I swear! I just wanted to see if you were done with the cards, and... and I... I couldn't look away. I'm really sorry, Alexis..."

Jaden anxiously awaited the yelling and/or thrashing that Alexis was going to give him for what had just happened, his eyes shut and teeth clenched together. He didn't know which response Alexis would give him, but he figured that he would brace himself for the worst.

"Did... D-Did you like it?"

Jaden's eyes opened just as quickly his jaw. He most certainly did not expect THAT response. "C-Come again?" he asked, turning around to see if she was psyching him out before she throttled him. He felt blood rushing to his cheeks (and quite possibly his nose) when he saw Alexis with her hands clenched between her thighs, her cheeks puffed up, and the ends of her cheeks tinted with an embarrassed red. She had a look of shyness and vulnerability that Jaden had never seen in her before, and he was loving every inch of it. He didn't even care that his brand new cards were scattered across the floor once more.

Alexis' cheeks turned redder when she saw that Jaden was looking at her. She looked away and raised a single hand, formed into a gentle fist, up to the side of her face. "I asked if you liked it, Jaden..." she said timidly. "I mean, what you just saw... did you think it looked... appealing?"

Jaden was at a loss for words. He could never, in his wildest fantasies, imagine that Alexis could look so... submissive. Not that he was even remotely interested in her underwear or anything beneath it, but he found the idea of someone being so vulnerable and unprotected to be very thrilling. It reminded him of his fantasies with Jesse, as this role was almost all ways carried out by him. Seeing it performed by his girlfriend, however, was almost as exciting...

Just as Jaden was about to tell Alexis that he wasn't enticed by an accidental panty-shot, he saw Alexis' eyes widen with surprise, and then he watched her giggle. "I guess that's a 'yes'," she said teasingly, pointing just below Jaden's waist.

Jaden followed Alexis' finger downward, and suddenly every ounce of colour quickly drained from his face. He was mortified to discover that there was a noticeable bulge protruding from the crotch of his pants, and Alexis had seen it; she was even at eye-level with it.

Despite the fact that it was still covered, Alexis could see Jaden's erection.

This was bad, Jaden thought as he turned around and pulled down the hem of his undershirt. This was very, very bad. He had only ever gotten an erection one other time in his life, and that alone was one of the most wonderful yet humiliating days of his life.

~x-X-x~

"Trust me, Jesse, you're gonna love the hot springs!" Jaden said excitedly, tugging on the arm of his best friend.

Jesse laughed, struggling to keep up with Jaden. "I'm comin', Jay," he replied. "There's no rush. You said that the hot springs were open twenty-four hours. You're gonna dislocate my arm if you keep tugging. How will I hold up my duel disk?"

Jaden grinned sheepishly, releasing Jesse's arm from his vice grip. "Sorry, man," he said. "But seriously, as soon as you get your butt in those springs, you'll never wanna go back to that frozen wasteland you call a home."

It was the last day before Jesse and the other elite students were going to return to their respective academies, and Jaden wanted to spend Jesse's last night at Duel Academy unwinding in the hot springs. It was the perfect way to relax after everything that happened in the other dimensions. It was also his favourite part of living at Duel Academy (that didn't involve Duel Monsters), and he wanted to share it with Jesse while he could. Jaden didn't want Jesse to leave Duel Academy, and more importantly, him, but there was nothing he could do about it.

After all of the chaos that had just happened, including the disappearance of Adrian, the North, West and South Academies were demanding that their students return as soon as possible, before anything else happened. Jaden wanted desperately for them to change their minds, not only because of his love for Jesse but also because he liked having Jim and Axel around as friends, but he knew for a fact that a chancellor's mind was not easily swayed. There was always the option of going with Jesse back to North Academy, and, in all honesty, he was truly tempted, but he could never leave all of his friends behind, even if it was to follow the one he loved.

The boys quickly made their way through the check-in desk, picked up a few towels and went into the locker room. They each opened a locker next to the one another and began taking off their clothes.

Unlike usual for him, Jaden didn't take long getting undress. In under a minute, he had taken off everything but his pants and stuffed the rest into his locker. "I come to the hot springs all the time, Jesse, it's a great way to relax," Jaden stated. He turned to look at Jesse directly. "I remember one time, Crowler stuck me in a four-hour detention with a giant paper on Duel Disk mechanics, and then... uh..."

Jaden's story came to a stand-still as he watched Jesse's shirt being slowly lifted up and over his head. It suddenly dawned on him that he had never seen Jesse in any state of undress, so he was surprised by Jesse's thin but muscular frame, his broad shoulders, his v-shaped torso and an all-around build that made Jaden question whether Jesse had been duelling or swimming all his life. It was so surprising that Jaden found himself almost mesmerized.

Jaden's trance, however, was broken when he felt a strange sensation he had never felt before - in a place he had never felt anything before... There was a tingling sensation coming from his penis.

It was unfamiliar to him, especially in that area. The only feeling that he had ever had in that area was an unpleasant pain that occurred whenever he drank too much soda and couldn't use the bathroom. This sensation, however, was quite enjoyable.

"What were you sayin', Jay?" Jesse asked. "Sorry, but I kinda zoned out there."

Jaden's thoughts about his member were shut out at the sound of Jesse's voice. He shook his head quickly. "Nah, don't worry it. I was just complaining about Crowler being a pain in the butt and how the hot springs made that pain go away. Believe me, you will never want to get out."

Jesse shrugged. "Whatever you say, Jaden."

Jaden continued to get undressed, shrugging off that feeling in his groin as excitement that he was going to share one of his favourite experiences with his best friend. He sat down on the provided bench and placed his towel across his lap. Swiftly, he removed his pants and boxers and kicked them to the floor. He stood up and tightly wrapped the towel around his waist. He picked up his remaining clothes, shoved them in the locker and shut it. He looked back at Jesse, who had done the same thing with his clothes and towel.

"All right," said Jaden, "all we have to do is take a quick shower and then we can soak the night away!" He pointed to a small shower area on the far side of the locker room. Six shower heads, each divided by a set of divider and shower curtain, along the sides of a white tiled room

Jesse nodded. "Sounds good, partner."

The boys made their way to the shower area. Jesse took the shower head closest to the door while Jaden took the one next to him. A brief but silent shower later, Jaden was rewrapping his towel around his waist and threw open the curtain. Jesse had done the same thing, only instead of wrapping it around his waist again he simply held it up to his groin.

Jaden found his eyes fixated on the scrunched-up piece of fabric between Jesse's legs. "U-Uh..." Unfortunately for him, Jaden could come up with nothing more intelligent to say. He could only stare and feel his face grow hotter, noting that the tingling feeling was starting to come back.

"What?" Jesse asked, scratching the back of his neck in confusion. "We have a bath house back at North Academy, and every guy there wears their towel like this when they head to the water so that it doesn't get wet. Some don't even bother and just carry it or throw it over their shoulder."

Jaden gulped nervously, suddenly finding the strength to look away. "Y-Yeah? Well... we-we don't do that here. It's, uh... a little too... bold! Yeah, that's the word, bold! We usually just keep our towels around our waist until we get to the springs. We're pretty modest at DA."

"Oh," Jesse said slowly, a look of realization across his face. "All right then, my bad. Just hang on a sec."

Jesse turned his back to Jaden in order to re-tie his towel around his waist. This action, however, gave Jaden an all-too-clear view of his behind, and the latter's focus was centred in on it.

Jaden didn't know why it was so alluring - the only description that he could think of for a butt was that it was two lumps of flesh that were the intersection of one's legs and made the occasional bad smell - but he found his heartbeat increasing, his mouth dry as it inhaled and exhaled rapidly, and his member to be inexplicably pulsing. If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn that he was, according to an online description of the word... aroused by Jesse's rear end.

Quickly, Jesse had his towel wrapped up tightly around his waist, and Jaden's focus adjusted itself back to the head of his friend. "There, happy now?" Jesse asked teasingly, giving Jaden a mocking grin over his shoulder.

"Oh, very funny," Jaden replied sarcastically. "Excuse me for not wanting to have a front-row seat to watch your butt running in there." In all honesty, Jaden wanted for that joke to be a reality. He could just picture Jesse bending over as he eased himself to hot springs, exposing hair between his cheeks that was just as blue as the top of his head... He didn't want to admit it, aloud or otherwise, but Jesse was starting to look pretty attractive in his eyes.

"Come on, man, I just wanna get in the water already," Jesse said, pointing to the door that led into the hot springs. "It's that way, right?"

Jaden nodded. "Yep," he said. "Let's make some waves!"

The boys stormed excitedly through the door, feeling a wave of heat and steam brush by them as they exited the slightly cool locker room and entered the beautiful and eye-catching hot springs. Even through the massive amounts steam, the boys could still make out the relaxed, almost natural river-like layout that had been set up, one that Jaden had not once seen changed since his first experience in the springs.

Jaden took in a lung-full of the steam-filled air, exhaling calming shortly after. "I'll never get tired of that nice, hot air," he said, feeling alleviated by the warm, moist air seeping into his skin.

Jesse raised his arms into the air, linking his hands midair and leaning backwards to stretch himself out. "Hoo, boy!" he said, his voice strained from stretching. "Now that there feels some good, dontcha think, Jay?"

"Duh!" Jaden grinned. He quickly took off, racing for the edge of the pool. "Last one in has to clean the Slifer showers!"

Jesse's jaw fell limp. "Hey! No fair!" he exclaimed, running to catch up with him.

Jaden was easily the closest to the lake-sized hot springs. Just as Jaden was about to jump feet-first into the water, however, he slipped on a wet patch of grass. He let out a brief shriek as he fell backwards, just before his back made abrupt contact with the ground and making him cringe in pain.

Jesse changed route from the pool and ran up to Jaden. He stood over Jaden, checking him for any signs of injury. "You ok, Jay?" he asked worriedly.

Jaden coughed briefly and, shortly after, began to deeply inhale and exhale. "Yeah, I'll live," he said. "I've certainly survived worse." He sat up and looked up to thank Jesse for his concern, but the second his eyes opened he was greeted with a most fascinating and immobilizing sight, which was sure to be the remaining nail in the coffin that sealed away and buried Jaden's innocent persona.

At the angle he was sitting and the way Jesse stood over him, Jaden could see patently between Jesse's legs, where an apparently large part of Jesse was hanging freely. Jaden could even make out a small bundle of hairs growing just above it, all as teal as the rest of Jesse's hair. At this sight, Jaden wanted to faint.

Even without checking, Jaden could instantly tell that Jesse's manhood was far bigger than his own, and he began to feel tremendously embarrassed because of it. He was, however, just as sexually aroused by that same fact, feeling an overwhelming submissive inclination running throughout his entire body... except for one area…

Jaden shut his eyes, sunk to his knees and began to scurry across the ground, stopping briefly at the edge of the hot springs, just long enough for him to gently remove his towel and place it over his head before leaping in. He let off a relieved sigh as he swam several feet from the shoreline, leaning against one of the rocks that rested in the water.

Jesse looked out at Jaden with a look of confusion across his face. "You all right there, Jaden?" he called out.

Jaden forced a grin, hoping against hope that Jesse couldn't tell it was fake. "Yep, I'm good!" he shouted back. "Just really, uh... excited... to get in the water!"

A drop of sweat rolled down the side of Jesse's face. "All right...?" he said cautiously. He, too, situated himself in the pool with his towel folded neatly on top of his head. He rested his arms along the shoreline and tilted his head back. "Dear lord, this feels amazing. Dontcha think, Jay?"

"Y-Yeah, amazing..." Jaden replied, his face flushed with humiliation.

As he looked down at the engorged piece of flesh that was twitching uncontrollably between his legs, Jaden thanked the gods that Jesse was too far away to see anything below the water level. This, of course, gave him some time to think about his problem.

'What the heck is going on?!' he asked himself mentally. 'Why is my thingy so much... bigger? and harder? And why does it feel so... weird?'

Jaden could not tell what his emotions were towards his arousal, unable to determine whether he liked or disliked it. Either way, it was uncomfortable for him, and unless he planned to stay all night, Jesse was most certainly going to notice when they got out. He had to find some way to reduce his erection before they got out, or Jesse's last night at Duel Academy would be the most awkward night of Jaden's life.

'Wait... Maybe if I squeeze it, it'll go back to normal,' Jaden deduced. He glanced over at Jesse, who was simply relaxing along the edge of the hot springs while he looked up at the night sky through the sky light. Subtly, Jaden took his right hand and firmly squeezed his raging hard-on...

Unfortunately for Jaden, this idea only made the problem worse, as it gave Jaden an overwhelming sensation of ecstasy. 'OK, squeezing: bad idea! Bad idea! ...but... it just feels… SOOO good!' He wanted desperately to let go and pray that his erection died down on its own, but he could not; he would not; it felt too good to let go. It was such an intense and unique pleasure, even greater than Duel Monsters, and by no means did he want it to stop. Feeling a desire to further the pleasure, he used his hand and began to pull his foreskin up and down along his shaft. 'OH, GOD!' he screamed mentally. 'It feels... incredible...' Jaden could feel his breath and heart rate increasing at the same pace as his hand. His thighs began to twitch irritably, rubbing up against each other as he flashed back to everything he'd seen between being in the locker rooms and now. Jesse's chiseled abs, his tight, firm backside, and his long, thick penis... it was like every single part of his body had been gifted to him by the gods.

Jaden didn't know what was going on with his body and this new sensation of lust, but if it meant he did not have to stop, he was prepared to spend the entire night in the hot water, no matter the health risks.

"Hey, Jaden?" Jesse called out.

Jaden gasped, suddenly remembering that Jesse was still with him. "Y-Yeah, Jess?" he replied nervously, trying to keep his actions as subtle as possible, trying not make any waves in the water.

"I'm kinda nervous about going back to North Academy," Jesse said sadly, crossing his arms across his chest and staring down. "I mean, I do miss my friends from back home, but I'm gonna miss everyone here, as well. I'm just torn 'cause there's people and parts of both schools that I enjoy and don't wanna give up..."

"W-Well... if it were up to me... I'd say that you should stay..." Jaden said, panting heavily from his actions beneath the water. "Jesse... you became the... best friend I've ever had, and we've been through a lot... but... Foster and the others chancellors... have already made up their minds... and there's nothing we can do about iiit~!" A sudden and exuberant burst of lust ran from the tip of Jaden's member, which was still being stimulated continuously and more quickly than before, throughout his entire body as he continued on. His entire body twitched, and he had to try immensely hard not to moan, for reasons unknown to him. He didn't know what, but he was certain that something was about to happen, and it was going to be something that would either be very enjoyable or very painful. "I-I mean... I know how... stubborn chancellors c-can be..."

Jesse chuckled half-heartedly. "Yeah, I remember you tellin' me about how you asked for a fifty-two-inch television, and Sheppard shot you down like a fighter plane," he said. He pulled up a small pool of water in his hand and let it run back into the hot springs. "I'm really gonna miss this place; the hot springs, the card shop, the amazing friends, everything."

"W-Well, you'll definitely be missed..." Jaden had to cover his mouth with his free hand shortly after saying this, feeling the urge to moan overwhelm him. 'So... close...'

"Out of everything on this island that I'm leaving behind..." Jesse started, looking across the water and into Jaden's eyes, "I think that I'll miss you the most, Jaden."

That did it. Those last six words became the catalyst needed to push Jaden over the edge. He didn't know if they were the cause of it, or if it was just coincidence, but as those words left Jesse's lips, Jaden's first experiment in masturbation came to an abrupt end. He watched as a white, sticky substance spewed from the slit of his member, most of it floating in the water around him while some simply surrounded his hand, and bit into the palm of the hand closest to his mouth to keep himself from crying out from his overflowing sense of rapture.

It took almost a minute for Jaden to regain his composure. He waited for the erratic twitching to slow down and eventually stop, for his breathing to return to a slow and steady equilibrium, and for his penis to shrink back to its original size and shape, going from almost eight inches long to roughly four or five. Immediately after he'd reached his equanimity and gotten over the brief state of nirvana, however, he was engulfed in a sensation of shame, apprehension, regret, and confusion.

'WHAT THE HECK DID I JUST DO?!' he screamed in his head, noticing now the intense blush forming a bridge that stretched from one cheek, over his nose, and down to the other. He weakly lifted his arm above the water level, looking almost fearfully at the semen that was still sticking to his hand and trying to figure out what it was in his own mind. 'This... isn't pee... so what...?' He shook his head violently in an attempt to clear to, doing the same with his hand in the water as to shake off whatever the substance was. He reached down to try and scrub the rest of it out of the small bush of brown hair forming at his groin, but cringed when he felt a pain arise throughout the base of his now sensitive member to the tip. He leaned against the rocks and sighed, feeling a slight headache coming on. 'Never again...'

"Jaden?" Jesse called out, startling Jaden. "You all right? Y'all've been quiet for a while now." He began to wade closer to Jaden.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," Jaden replied, swimming out to meet Jesse halfway. He physically forced his eyes to stay above water level and looking into Jesse's, terrified of the possibility of what had just happened repeating. They stopped when they reached a close, but respectful distance. "I think I've just had enough of the hot springs. You wanna get out now?" he asked.

Jesse nodded. "Sure thing," he said. "A guy from the north can only take so much heat. The pool's probably half-filled with my sweat already."

Jaden chuckled softly. "Gross!" he exclaimed.

~x-X-x~

As Alexis continued to giggle behind him, Jaden sunk to his knees and shamefully tried to cover his erection even further by covering it with one hand and clamping it in place with his thighs.

Jaden remembered the humiliation of researching online what he had done at the hot springs; how his jaw practically unhitched itself when he watched a suggested video of other men, according to the video title, 'Masturbating;' and how he nearly passed out on the spot when he clicked on another video of men having 'Sex'. He'd heard these words tossed around a few times in his lifetime, but he never gave them much thought. Regardless, he thanked the gods that Jesse had fallen asleep before he did his research, or he may have been the first person to literally die of embarrassment, to have his best friend discover him researching porn.

Jaden wanted no part of the world of sex after that night, no matter how much pleasure he received by his first taste of it, and made any effort possible to avoid it; Whenever someone so much as mentioned a girl or boy being 'Hot,' he would cover his ears and try to ignore them; if he felt himself getting hard, he would bite down on his tongue or lip to distract himself with pain until it died down; he hadn't even said so much as the word 'Sex' or anything related since that day. Until now, that plan had been working, but after being reminded of how much he wanted to be with Jesse, there was no way he would be able to get rid of it...

"I-I never thought..." Alexis said through a laugh, "that I would see the day Jaden Yuki got hard!" she stated boldly, following with a hardy laugh. This only further embarrassed Jaden, and made the blush on his face glow brilliantly.

"Oh, shut up!" he whined, not even turning around. "I'm a guy, we get hard! Give me a break!" He wasn't sure if it technically was lying on not, being that this was the first time since Jesse left that he'd allowed himself to grow completely erect, but he couldn't help but feel guilty, nonetheless, saying these words to his girlfriend.

Alexis' laugh began to fade ever so softly. She took a deep breath as she finally calmed down. "All right, I'm sorry," she said, crawling across the carpet and wrapping her arms around Jaden's neck. "It's just kinda cute... My little Jaden just made a major jump from little boy at the grown-ups table to teenager caught with a dirty magazine."

Jaden's cheeks puffed out as he glanced away, slightly enjoying Alexis embracing him. "I repeat: give me a break," he muttered bitterly, bringing his hands up to hold onto Alexis' arm. "And why do you all ways refer to me as a little boy? I'm eighteen, for crying out loud! Technically an adult!"

Alexis chuckled. "Yes, your body is eighteen, but your mind is another story," she stated. "Over the last few years, you tended to be... pretty innocent for a teenager. You were never into girls, you never did or talked about anything dirty... The only thing you were ever really passionate about was Duelling."

Jaden let go of Alexis and crawled away from her, looking at her over his shoulder. "And that's a bad thing?" he asked curiously. "We both love Duelling more than anything, and we both know that."

Alexis shook her head. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing, Jaden," she said calmly. "If every guy was like you, the world would be so much better. It was just... me and the others were all a little concerned about you. We were afraid that you were gonna spend your entire life in your own little world, acting like a kid. We don't want you to change who you are or anything, Jaden, but... you could act a little closer to your age."

Jaden wanted to argue about Alexis' statement. After briefly reminiscing his life up to and including Duel Academy, however, he found himself at a loss for words; the pranks, the late puberty, the lack of effort in his school work... His mind, essentially, was that of a child's.

Jaden sighed. "I guess you got a point..." he said in a defeated monotone. "I mean, it couldn't hurt to be a little more grown up... So, what exactly do I gotta do if I wanna get bumped up to 'Adult' status in your books?"

Alexis blushed, and Jaden could have sworn he heard the sound of her gulping. She shifted her look away and tried to fake a smile. "U-Um... You know what, Jaden? I think you're good as a teenager," she said nervously. "I mean, there's nothing that's telling you to jump right into 'Adult' status. You just reached 'Teenager,' don't push yourself..." She hastily added a strained laugh.

Jaden's eyes narrowed with curiosity. "Come on, Alexis," he said, "I really wanna know. What do I have to do?"

Alexis shook her head violently. "No, I'm not gonna tell you," she said adamantly. "When you can figure it out on your own, you'll know."

Jaden huffed, letting his cheeks puff out once more. "No fair," he whined.

Alexis chuckled. "Well, I better get going," she said, standing up and brushing her skirt off. "We do have that test on Pendulum cards tomorrow, so I wanna make sure I've got the mechanics down."

Jaden gasped abruptly. "That's tomorrow!?" he asked worriedly. Alexis nodded. "I thought it was next week!"

Alexis laughed. "Have fun studying!" she said teasingly, making Jaden hang his head in sadness and remorse. She made her way to the door and slipped on her boots. "I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Jaden looked back up and smiled weakly. "Later, Lexi," he said, using a single hand to scratch the back of his neck. "I'm in for a long night of studying... so I should be asleep in about five minutes."

Alexis smiled, turning around briefly and kneeling in front of Jaden. She gave him a gentle kiss on the lips, which he openly accepted and returned. Afterwards, she looked her boyfriend in the eye, a bridge of red forming from one cheek to the other. Her smile showed no signs of fading. "Jaden... I love you."

Jaden's eyes visibly shot open, the shock of Alexis' words ringing through his mind. "W-What the-!" he stuttered. "Where... Where is this coming from?"

Alexis sighed contently and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know," she said. "I just felt like now was as good a time as any to tell you how I really felt. I know we're only just got out of the 'testing' phase of our relationship, but I figured getting all the cards on the table would be the only way to make sure it's meant to be. A relationship can't survive unless there are no secrets between the two involved, don't you say?"

Jaden gulped nervously, hoping against hope that Alexis did not notice. "Y-Yeah..." he mumbled, feeling his throat flooding with an immense feeling of guilt.

Jaden did love Alexis. She was funny, compassionate, and she could kick butt at Duel Monsters. However, he loved her in the same way that he loved Winged Kuriboh, Neos, Yubel and every other spirit in his deck, and the same as each of his other friends. He did not love her like he did Jesse, not by a long shot. He loved Alexis like a sister. He loved Jesse like a partner. He'd just been leading Alexis on this entire time, and using her as a distraction from Jesse. He'd known it the entire time, but hearing what Alexis said made him see just how unethical it was.

In his mind, Jaden didn't deserve Alexis, as a friend or a partner. Alexis deserved better than him... He needed to end things before it got out of hand. He needed to tell her exactly how he felt or he could risk destroying his entire relationship with Alexis forever.

"Listen, I love you, too, Jesse, but -"

And just like that, all hell broke loose...