"Maybe run two Bestiari... No, one is good. I'll use two Laquari though! And another War Chariot, too! Yeah, that'll work! Though I'll probably have to make some room for another Heraklinos in my extra deck..."

Arron sat comfortably at one of the two desks in his room, arranging the cards in his deck for tomorrow's match. His Gladiator Beasts were primed and ready to throw down with whoever he faced. He hoped that he got to face whoever the Mystery Duelist for Duel Academy was, just for the fun of finding out what surprises that Chancellor Sheppard had up his sleeve, but he would also like to take a crack at Jaden Yuki as well.

Arron's confident grin quickly relaxed into a soft frown. The mere thought of the man his roommate and first male crush ran off to be with gave him an uneasy and dejected feeling in the pit of his heart. By the way Jesse talked about him so much, Arron could easily interpret that Jaden was an amazing guy, and he started to feel inferior by comparison, like he wasn't good enough to be with the first man he ever had romantic feelings for.

Arron could never say that Jesse didn't deserve the best, he only wished that 'the best' was himself and not Jaden.

Out of the blue, the door to the room was slammed open, crashing against the wall loudly. Arron, startled by the action, turned to see what had caused it, and saw Jesse standing there in the door frame with his hand pressed firmly against the door. His head was lowered, covering his eyes and most of his face with his bangs, but Arron could still make out a frown.

"Hey, Jess, everything all right?" Arron asked, quickly gathering the cards he had sprawled out into a single stack.

Jesse didn't answer. He kicked off his boots at the door and slammed it shut behind him, making Arron wince. He made his way past Arron and collapsed on his bed, his face buried in his pillow.

Arron blinked several times, trying to make sense of his friend's behaviour. "So, uh... How did it go with Jaden? Did you guys-"

"Don't," Jesse muffled through the pillow.

Arron raised an eyebrow. "Don't... what?"

"Don't say his name... Just don't..." Jesse lifted his head up from the pillow and turned around to face Arron. Arron almost gasped when he saw how red Jesse's eyes had become, and how many tears were overflowing down Jesse's cheeks. "Please, A-Arron..." he said in a cracked voice. "P-Please don't say it..."

Arron was stunned. He'd never actually seen Jesse cry before, not once. Jesse was almost all ways smiling, and even when he wasn't smiling he still wore only a mild frown. Never had Arron seen tears spill from Jesse's eye lids, and he was torn between two different emotions because of it; he was infuriated that someone or something had caused his best friend into a state of such misery, but at the same time he thought that seeing a man such as Jesse in tears had to be the most heart-warming and adorable thing to ever be witnessed. While he wasn't sure which feeling was more dominant, he knew one of them was making the blood rush to his face.

It took a moment for Arron to regain his equanimity and be able to speak, but there was little going on in his mind that was far off from the man in front of him. "What the heck happened?" he all but screamed, grabbing hold of his friend's shoulders. "Did he hurt you? Reject you? Call you names? I swear, I'm gonna kill that idiot if he did any of those!"

Jesse sniffled, wiped some of the tears from his eyes with his forearm, and shook his head. "N-No..." he mumbled, "I... I went looking for 'im, and... and..."

-x~X~x-

Jesse had checked almost everywhere on the island for Jaden; the Slifer dorms, the docs, the Obelisk duel arena, the hot springs, and nearly any other place where Jaden was liable to be. He had considered giving up and waiting until the School Duel tomorrow - he knew Jaden would sooner kill himself than miss a Duel Monsters tournament - but he remembered that there was one last place that Jaden could be, and that place was the roof of Duel Academy, where Jaden and Jesse spent the rest of their first day playing Duel Monsters and bonding over the sport. It was one of the most sentimental places for Jesse, and Jaden would always go on about how great it was to look up at the stars from the roof at night.

As Jesse ran rapidly through the halls of a dimly-lit Duel Academy, brightened only by the light of the full moon that was shining through the windows, he wondered what he was going to say to Jaden when he got there. Would he just come right out with it and say that he liked Jaden more than friends and wanted to be in a real relationship with him? Would he start up a small conversation and build his way up to the question? Or, to be completely straightforward and blunt (a method which he knew Jaden would appreciate very much), maybe he could just take Jaden in his arms, plant a kiss on him and let things go from there.

When Jesse reached the stairs that lead to the roof, he decided to just go up and talk to Jaden and tell Jaden how he felt at some point during the encounter. If luck had a say in the matter, the two would get to spend the whole night on the roof, tucked away within each others arms. With that last thought in mind, Jesse sprinted up the metal staircase, racing to be with his soulmate.

Jesse poked his head through the hatch upon reaching the end of the stairs. The door to the roof was all ready open, so Jesse knew for a fact that someone was out there. He looked around briefly. His eyes lit up brightly, as did his smile, when he spotted Jaden. "Jaden, hey- huh?" he begun to call out, but stopped abruptly when he spotted that Jaden wasn't alone; he was apparently having a conversation with Alexis.

Jesse stayed just out of sight, only letting as much as his eyes be seen, as he watched the conversation unfold. He could just barely make out what they were saying from the distance he was from, but he could still hear clearly enough.

"I wanted to tell you something so that I wouldn't hurt you, but... I was so shocked from your confession that my head got all scrambled. No one's ever said that they loved me before, so you can't blame me for being a little stunned..."

'Huh... So, she finally told him,' Jesse thought. He knew all too well about Alexis' feelings for Jaden; it wasn't as if she hid it very well. If Jaden wasn't so oblivious, he would have picked up on it a long time ago, just like everyone else in their group had. Even so, he never showed any form if interest in Alexis besides friendship, so he wasn't worried.

"Well... I guess saying something like that so suddenly might have thrown anyone through a loop..." Even from that distance, Jesse could see the pain in Alexis' eyes. "That aside, knowing that you spent so much time with me when you don't even love me... it really hurts, Jaden, it hurts a lot."

Jesse's eyes widened with surprise. 'What in tarnation? She doesn't mean... Nah, she couldn't. Jaden would have told me about it.'

Jesse's theory, however, was shattered to pieces when he heard what Alexis had to say next...

"If you never cared about me, why did we start going out?"

Jesse gasped, his jaw hanging loosely from its hinges. He had a million thoughts trying to be processed in his brain at that moment. Jaden and Alexis were a couple? Jaden's first real relationship? ...And Jesse was left unaware of it the entire time?

Jesse watched painfully as Jaden grabbed hold of Alexis' shoulders and looked her direct. The brunette's eyes were flooded with determination, while Jesse's and Alexis' were flooded with tears. "But, Alexis, that's not true," he stated firmly. "I never said that I didn't love you, Alexis, and don't you dare think otherwise... because I do."

Jesse's heart shattered as those words rung throughout the insides of his mind, and even more so when he watched Jaden lean in and kiss his supposed girlfriend. He felt like a large part of him had just died and had been buried deep in a hole. He also felt like he had lost his best friend, because knowing that Jaden had kept such information from him, after all of the effort he put into sustaining their friendship, left him feeling utterly betrayed.

Before he could see the couple come up for air, Jesse had taken off, speeding through the halls of Duel Academy to get back to the SS Mokuba. He couldn't watch Jaden getting all mushy with the girlfriend he knew nothing about. He couldn't be around Jaden anymore, not if Jaden was going to keep such immense facts secret from him. He couldn't be Jaden's boyfriend or Jaden's best friend. It hurt too much to so much as be around the man who stole his heart and shattered it against the ground...

-x~X~x-

As Jesse had finished his story, still just as teary-eyed and grief-stricken as when he walked in, Arron was seething with anger and rage, all directed at a brunette that he was certain would never see the light of Christmas day. However, he was equally as flooded with a sense of empathy.

"I can't deal with him anymore, Arron!" Jesse cried out. "I mean... I'd be ok if he had told me about Alexis, and that he wanted to be with her; really, I could deal with that... but that fact that he didn't have the nerve to tell me, his best friend, about it... I'm done, I tell you! I'm done with him!"

Arron wrapped his arms firmly around Jesse, pulling him into a compassionate embrace. "I'm so sorry that you had to see the guy you just fell for with some girl," he muttered. "Ordinarily, I'd run off and kick the guy's butt for hurting you, but..." A small blush began to form on Arron's face as he hugged Jesse even more tightly. "I could never leave you alone in such a broken state. I care about you too much to do that."

Jesse flinched, surprised by the sudden hug he had become a part of, and also by the words ringing through his mind at that moment. Slowly, but surely, Jesse found his previously limp arms lifting away from his sides and clinging to the back of Arron's jacket. It wasn't the same as when he and Jaden were hugging earlier, but he still liked and appreciated the warmth of Arron's body so close to him.

"I... I love him, Arron..." Jesse found himself saying.

Arron's composure remained unshaken. "I know you do... You still love him, even now, don't you?" he asked.

Jesse barely managed to nod. "Yeah, I do..." he mumbled. "He... he was the only person... I ever connected to so closely... No one understood me like he did.. I opened up to him... and I only got to realize how much the guy meant to me before... before..."

"He stole your heart and then let it fall to the floor?"

Jesse's eyes widened. He pushed against and gripped Arron's biceps so that he was looking directly into the latter's eyes, which were beginning to fill with a sense of pain and guilt. "Exactly..." he said, astounded. "How'd you know?"

Arron glanced away, letting his muscles relax. "Because... I know exactly how you feel..." he mumbled. "Falling in love with someone, the kind of person that makes you feel like your riding on air simply by being around them, and then watching as he runs off to be with someone else... It hurts, a lot..."

The expression of shock drained from Jesse's face, and a soft countenance, outlined with guilt, replaced it. He allowed his hands to gently slide down to Arron's wrists. "It was me, wasn't it?" he asked, using the most regretful tone he had ever used in his life.

Arron nodded, letting a small smile crack his face. "You couldn't have hit that nailhead any harder," he said jokingly, letting his cheeks flush brilliantly. He gazed lovingly into Jesse's eyes, taking hold of both of Jesse's hands. "From the minute you introduced yourself to me... I've been in love with you for a long time, and I value you more than anything else this world has to offer. I've loved how happy you were every day, how you go out of your way to help everyone around you, how you make my stomach turn into a dozen knots whenever I see you smile..." The Gladiator Duelist placed a gentle hand over his friends cheeks, bringing them to a redness matched only by the latter's eyes. "I love you, Jesse Anderson."

Jesse didn't know what to say. He knew that Arron liked him, but was not expecting that response. He had assumed that Arron would focus his sights on someone else once he and Jaden became a couple; most probably Kenna, given their current relationship. Of course, Arron loving him was an entirely different situation. Love did not fade easily, especially not when Arron had to stand by and let the person he loved run off to be with someone else. It must have hurt a lot... almost as much as he was hurting right now.

Jesse didn't know how it took place; it all happened so fast. All he knew was that his arms were around Arron's neck, Arron was on top of him, and they were locked in a heated make-out session. Arron didn't seem to be complaining, however, and neither was Jesse. Both of them were sharing their pain in the form of swapping saliva, and letting their tongues wrestle around in between the thresholds of their mouths, each one fighting for dominance over the other. He didn't know what was going through Arron's mind at the moment, but as Arron started to nibble on his bottom lip, he had but one single thought and it was as clear as day;

'Screw Jaden!'

Jesse didn't want to spend his time thinking about Jaden anymore. He tried desperately to keep their relationship in tact while he was away from Duel Academy, and the fact that Jaden didn't tell him about Alexis was the final nail on the coffin. He was done wasting his energy being friends or anything more with someone who didn't have the decency to share every part of the person's life with him. For all he cared, Jaden could go to hell.

Ever so slowly, Arron's hands began to move downward, crawling from between Jesse's shoulder blades down to Jesse's waist. After Jesse had quickly shed his vest, Arron pulled Jesse's shirt free from his waistband and slid it briskly up his stunningly thin and endearing body. While doing so, he felt Jesse unzip and remove his North Academy jacket, leaving his chest covered in only a white wife-beater that outlined a muscle-bound physique equivalent to that of a true weight-lifting athlete. Neither could believe the state of the other's body, but they were loving it all the same.

After throwing their clothes to the floor in a messy pile, the mens' lips found their way back to one another in a passionate fervour. Their tongues continued to wrestle within the cavern formed by their joint mouths; Jesse had relented and let Arron be the dominant one. They came up for only brief moments to catch their breath, but other than that the kissing never seemed to cease.

Jesse had never been a person who could be considered sexually active, but a new sensation of lust soon began to overwhelm him, bringing on a desire to get ever closer to Arron. His hands traveled downward, inching slowly from the back of Arron's neck to the base of the latter's naval. He lifted up the hem of the wife-beater, which had been tucked into Arron's waistband, and then proceeded to undo the button on Arron's pants.

Against his innermost desire to continue, but still utterly shocked, Arron pulled away abruptly from Jesse. He looked down at Jesse, staring into two beautiful pools of emerald green - each one filled with equal parts of sadness and surprise - and he mentally kicked himself for what he was about to.

"I can't do this," Arron stated, pulling himself off of Jesse and sitting at the edge of the bed. Jesse sat up, leaning backwards on his hands and turned his head to look at the back of Arron's. Both boys were flushed in the face and breathing heavily.

"W-Why?" Jesse asked. "I thought... this is what you wanted..."

Arron gripped the edge of the bed from frustration. "It is... more than anything. I can't tell you how often I've dreamt about sleeping with you..." Arron looked over his shoulder, a serious expression plastered to his face. "But I'm not gonna do it like this. I don't wanna have sex with you simply because you're heartbroken over Jaden and looking to replace him. I want you to love me, too... and I know that you never will. No matter how much you want to get over him, Jesse, this isn't the way..."

Jesse sighed. "Sad thing is... I know." He brought his knees upward and leaned over them, hiding everything below his nose behind his arms. He had an almost vacant look in his eyes. "Ya know somethin'? Love stinks."

Arron chuckled softly. "You don't have to tell me twice," he said, almost in monotone. "Listen, Jesse, I don't care if that guy is the biggest jerk on the planet, but if you need a best friend... I'm here for you."

Jesse lifted his head up slightly, just enough to give Arron a weak smile. "I'd like that..." He laid down on the bed, crawling under the covers, and looked toward Arron. "Would it be too much to ask a friend to sleep next to me?"

Arron smiled. "Not at all," he replied in a comforting tone. He crawled into bed, beside Jesse, and took hold of his hand beneath the sheets while staring into his eyes. He loved how soft Jesse's hands were, and that the gaze in Jesse's eyes was even softer. He watched lovingly as the latter fell quickly into a deep slumber. "Sleep tight, my precious gem."

Arron sighed contently, watching the continuous expansion and contraction of Jesse's chest. He truly loved Jesse, and he wanted nothing more than to be with him. However, he also knew that Jesse would always love Jaden, no matter how much pain he caused the former.

Arron turned onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. There was something about the whole situation that Arron didn't feel added up. Yes, Jaden was certainly at fault for not informing Jesse about his relationship with Alexis, after all the effort Jesse went through to communicate with him. The reason, on the other hand, was still unknown to him. Why did Jaden keep it a secret from Jesse?

Arron continued to mentally ask himself questions:

'Was Jaden embarrassed that he was dating her?' He almost immediately put that theory aside, however. He'd already met Alexis, and given her looks and her figure, he found it unlikely that anyone at Duel Academy would be embarrassed being so much as next to her, much less say they were dating her.

'Did Jaden think it wasn't worth telling Jesse?' No, that couldn't be it either. It was apparently Jaden's first real relationship, and considering the man was a Duel Academy third year student and already eighteen years old, then that would definitely be big news. Also, Arron had seen a few of the emails that Jaden had sent Jesse. Any news of that magnitude would be in bold and underlined letters, certainly above the time he put super glue in the arm of Chazz's Duel Disk.

Arron sighed. He couldn't think of a solid explanation of why Jaden would want to keep his relationship status a secret from Jesse. He figured he might get an answer with some sleep. Just as he was about to give up and rest for the School Duel, however, there was a knock at the door.

Arron groaned quietly, as to not wake Jesse. "Who could that be?" he asked himself in an agitated voice. He got out of bed, quietly slipped his shirt back on, and walked to the door. "Kenna, I swear to God if that's you, I'm not in the-" his threat was brought to an abrupt halt, however, when he opened the door and saw who was standing on the other side of it. "...Jaden Yuki?"

Just as Arron had said, Jaden stood there, sweaty and out of breath. "I need to... speak with Jesse," he said firmly, inhaling and exhaling loudly as he did so. It was clear that he just ran a hefty distance, but Arron really couldn't care less. "Some other guys told me this was his room, is it?"

Arron crossed his arms defensively, subtly clenching his fist. "It is, but Jesse certainly doesn't wanna see you of all people," he said, using a soft but still hostile tone. "Now, beat it!"

Jaden raised an eyebrow, but furrowed it into a glare. "Why? Jesse and I are best friends! I have every right to talk to him! Now, please let me through! I really need to talk to him!"

Jaden tried to shove his way past Arron, but Arron slammed his arm across the door frame, stopping Jaden in his tracks. "Oh really, you're his best friend?" he asked in a hostile tone.

"Yeah, I am!"

"Then tell me this: Does one lie about having nothing going on in their life, while in reality one has a girlfriend and didn't feel it worthy enough news to share with his best friend? Does one intentionally make little to no effort to keep a friendship in tact when their best friend is working their butt off trying to do it on his own? And does that person send his best friend running home, crying his eyes out? Huh?!" Arron was all but yelling at this point, and a few students walking by while he was talking covered their ears until they were a fair distance away.

Jaden gasped, his mouth agape.. "He... He knows about Alexis?"

Arron gripped the neck of Jaden's shirt with one hand, glaring at him with a look that would frighten even Zane. "He knows everything! He was going up there to talk to you about something very important, but when he found you, you were making out with that blonde bimbo and found out that you've been hiding it from him! I'm a better best friend than you'll ever be to Jesse! He doesn't want you as a best friend, a boyfriend, or even a friend anymore, so scra-!"

Arron gasped, soon followed by Jaden. There was a long pause.

"B... Boyfriend?" the latter repeated, suddenly getting flushed and teary-eyed. "You mean... Jesse wanted to..."

Arron gritted his teeth, feeling like an idiot for basically outing Jesse to the guy that had broken his heart. "So what?" he growled bitterly. "It doesn't matter anyway. You've caused enough harm for one day. Why don't you go make out with that girlfriend of yours and leave Jesse alone. He wants nothing to do with you anymore!"

"B-But... I-I don't have a girlfriend!" Jaden stuttered tearfully, glancing downwards. "...A-At least, not anymore..."

"What?" Arron asked. His enraged expression melted away as he took a deep breath and released Jaden from his vice grip. "Look, you're coming with me to the cafeteria so we can sort out this whole mess. I wanna get to the bottom of this, and I'm not letting you see Jesse until then."

Jaden nodded, quickly wiping away the tears that were beginning to form in his eyes. He was experiencing feelings of both joy and sadness, smiling brightly but still feeling tears fall from his eye ducts. "O-Ok..." he choked out, his throat swelling to large to say much else.

Arron scoffed. "Oh, man up you big crybaby..." he said, shutting the door behind him. He grabbed Jaden's wrist forcefully and began dragging him down the elegant halls of the ship, heading for the cafeteria. He was still annoyed by Jaden's blubbering, but couldn't help feeling a sense of empathy, knowing full-well that he might be doing the same thing if he were in Jaden's shoes.