well obviously yujin loves that little dog lets get that out of the way. they are besties. he is not sure how or why and thinking back i don't think even he is aware of when it became true that they were actually GOOD FRIENDS as opposed to just, friends, but he is grateful
tho i think that sorta crystallized towards the end of the Ciraiwei mission bc they were all going through a lot and Jake was the only like. peer. he had a close enough personal rapport with to really actually hang out with and talk to while coming down from it
and bc jake was there and jake had a scent on the Who Is Yujin Mikotoba kibbles and did not let up that was, to Yujin... someone really making an effort to see him, and not allow him to just pack that away with the rest of the trauma lmfao
as I've said before the fact that yujin was comfortable enough to slip and get mad at him was like, yeah, that's his real friend forever now HAHAH. with Jake he's very comfortable because Jake has shown that even if he screws up, it's always coming from a place of genuine concern and interest and it's sooo important that yujin can trust him like that
they're very different, clearly, but even with his blind spots for his own problems he can see exactly where he can level with Jake and have Jake understand - and even when he can't understand, he'll still be there, and that's really meaningful when his trust has been betrayed so many times
and honestly the fact that they do have moments of conflict and misunderstanding matters a lot to him too. more than just the trust is also having someone who he knows will be honest with him or allow him to see something from a different perspective, bc that's how you learn and grow, right
sorry I got the mail ANYWAY I also just want to formally declare it canon that he and jake never officially talked about sexuality before the emerton plan happened because it's so funny to me. imagine
you havent seen your new friend you like a lot in a few months bc of the timeskip and he shows up, and just as youre getting back to being normal friends he looks you in your eyes and dog gaydars you
in the near future he's going to make eye contact with jake, and theyre going to both Know that jake knows that he's been hanging out with stephen more and he'll be like
𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳
: YES WE DO I WOULD LIKE IT!!! i can give you his first impressions of yzak, for now - he still doesnt know very much about him beyond the fact that he's been here longer than him
so he does feel like he'll be able to go to him to ask deeper Past Ximi Questions if he ever needs to? but mostly he gets the feeling from the way he carries himself that he DOES have that military background, which is half, oh he is probably reliable, and half "oh god you are so young lmfao how"
he thinks he's a Nice Young Man and he thought it was cute that newt was teasing him during movie night bc all the nice kids (kid = under 30) on this ship need to relax from the horrors a little bit. sorry for when he calls you bill by mistake in the future buddy
Wait til he finds out 13/14 year olds are shway to join his giant robo military (they're genetically enhanced so develop faster to be considered mature enough to it's fine) (is it though)
he's always traipsing around in his military uniform by default so feel free to bring it up any time! I can even write a starter TODAY for you in my log for a lil thing if you just wanna be like "yo is that a military uniform sup"
the thing about yujin is that he's very conscious that he's an emotional person so he is like, capable of rationalizing his own feelings down in a way. so the way he has analyzed this Thing is this:
- he was also part of that Ciraiwei experience I found formative to being here and he did a shit ton of work helping, reliable, trustworthy teammate - crashed in my place for a bit so does not set off kazuma's alarm bells which: again! normal! that's great! Promising!!!
- I was feeling very vulnerable during the end of the Ndeira mission and he did not need to reassure me while i was acting a fool but he did - he was able to see through my moment of weakness and reassure me, AGAIN, when I was having a WORSE TIME last mission - (stupid gay brain) guy tall?
- I know these feelings are really silly and completely a situational result of being put into a tin can and there only being a few people within a comfortable age bracket that I can relate to, much less to my taste, he lived with me for like a month and I felt nothing at all i am just having a Moment - (gay brain, again) But... guy tall.....
he is in the period of just going, all right fine, I'll entertain this I deserve to let my heart have something indulgently nice for five minutes and maybe I'll, you know, be normal about this even if nothing happens ultimately? that's fine, at least he's not one of the people actively working in the infirmary
i think he's also Very aware that he knows very little about Stephen himself apart from him being cute and a comforting presence, and FUN. so he's tempering his expectations a little, but. who knows if he will continue to be able to be practical lmao.
I'm Delighted also thrilled that really neither of them know anything about the other they've just had a variety of Moments in a relatively short timeframe and now there is some kind of something hanging around
as they both start to discover literally any details about the other one's life but truly RIP in advance Yujin for when he learns even 1 detail about Stephen and discovers yet more evidence that his own personal taste in men is truly just generally bad for his health and wellbeing
"he's a wizard you literally know nothing else about him except the funny domestic stuff you picked up over a couple weeks and that he's nice to you and you feel vague gay feelings of safety" yujin:
how aggressively normal yujin's life is in comparison even amid all the tragedy is going to be WILD compared to mr third eye unfathomable timeloop death
Stephen trying to have normal conversations with Yujin about life stuff so asking him about parenthood and mentioning he doesn't have any kids of his own but that he's kind of become semi-responsible for a teen girl as of very recently.
how did that happen Stephen? oh we invited her to stay in my universe after helping her run for her life across the multiverse through which she was being hunted for her ability to create multiversal portals. she's learning magic right now and she just made some sparks, Wong says she takes after me
I don't think there is a single normal conversation they can have about themselves as people I truly do not and it brings me an intense amount of delight
I can even write a starter TODAY for you in my log for a lil thing if you just wanna be like "yo is that a military uniform sup"
- crashed in my place for a bit so does not set off kazuma's alarm bells which: again! normal! that's great! Promising!!!
- he was able to see through my moment of weakness and reassure me, AGAIN, when I was having a WORSE TIME last mission
- (stupid gay brain) guy tall?
- (gay brain, again) But... guy tall.....
yujin: