#ettuship

when I started shipping it if I did:

In 2015, I was watching a lot ofygotas, feeling kind of bummed out, and looking through fanfiction. And I kindof had an ongoing interest in fmm and ffm polyships at this point, so I waslike, ‘okay, let’s smash my two favourite ships together and read all theMaiJouKai’.

A few minutes and some searchesaround the net later, I came to the tragic realisation that there /was/ noMaiJouKai. And then I was like, ‘fuck that. What has fandom spent the lastfifteen years doing then?’ and decided to write my own.

So I wrote a fic called On Public Relations and IndefiniteDefinitions which, instead of being the humorous longform fic I wanted toread, was some oneshot filled with Kaiba angsting about how he not only endedup with this moron, but he ended up with this moron that he’s kind of afraidwill leave him for Mai. It was also about the paparazzi, and the fact that Jouis Kaiba’s kind-of employee, and trying to understand where exactly we draw theline on somebody being a golddigger, and how to reconcile vastly differentlevels of income in a relationship. And, tbh, the fic is kind of shitty imo,but it still has some interesting ideas in it that are more or less ignored orunexplored so far as I’ve been able to see (and also it’s my humble fanficroots so I appreciate it for that).

I kind of dropped the fic and ran,and was going to just leave it at that. But then about a year later, due tomore ygotas and a sudden desire to revisit manga canon and watch the rest ofthe dub, I dropped back into the fandom and started revisting the ideas I’ddropped in my fic. I came to realise I really wanted to reuse the ship andbasic premise and try to write a fic where (1) Kaiba and Jou’s relationshipgoes from its approximate canon form with all the animosity to a romanceonscreen, (2) you’re given a lot of the factors commonly used to cause Mai& Jou to break-up except considered and explored in their own right in thecontext of Mai and Jou actually being invested in and feeling strongly for eachother, (3) Jou is working for Kaiba and the issues involved inemployee/employer relationships are laid out without an attempt to villainiseeither character, (4) wealth and poverty are not just having or not-havingmoney (something that could then easily be solved by Mai or Kaiba handing Jou acheck) but an entire relationship with money and employment and society andself-expectation and the cause of pretty severe cultural misunderstandings, (5)etc. etc. Yeah, this fic has way too many themes in it.  I mean, more than anything I wanted a ficabout Jounouchi’s entire existence postcanon – every single one of hisrelationships – and this ended up being a good way to do it. And, jeez, if thiswasn’t my OTP before I started planning LottoTicket, it definitely was after.

my thoughts:

idk, part of me is like, ‘you’rejust being really self-indulgent and forcing your two favourite ships into one,aren’t you?’ and then the other part of me is like, ‘but I don’t feel at alllike I’m forcing the characters to behave in any way that’s unnatural for them.I mean, I certainly commandeer the situational factors to make them moresusceptible to certain behaviour, but it doesn’t even feel very outlandish. Infact, the more I think about it, the more I think the ship as a whole couldease a lot of the individual tensions of its components.’

idk, I think the true answer is…both. It’s both indulgent and reasonable.

But I feel like I should say,insofar as my WIP is going, I’m not attempting to justify it as a ship thatwill last until everyone is dead, as much as I’m attempting to justify it assomething that helps brings stability to the characters during this ratherspecific period in their lives. I might eventually write something thatattempts to do more with the ship in the future, but I think those willdefinitely be more on the silly and fun and wholly indulgent side of things.

What makes me happy about them:

That Mai gets to travel and duel,Seto gets to have his company and its projects, and Jou doesn’t have to feel unsupportedand completely attention-starved in the meantime.

Also I’ve talked before about howSeto and Jou can pretty easily create a positive feedback loop for terriblebehaviour. I think having another person involved is one of the easiest ways tointercept that. It doesn’t have to be Mai, and it doesn’t have to be somebodyone or both of them are romantically involved with, but it does have to besomeone close enough to them, that they can witness the cause and effect oftheir behaviour on the emotional aspects of their relationship, and that Jouand Kaiba can’t just turn to and say, ‘buzz off, our relationship is our ownprivate business’. I think Mai and Jou, in different ways, both end upmediating quite a bit between Jou & Kaiba and Mai & Kaiba respectively.Kaiba less so for Jou & Mai, but I think, even in his presence, he canencourage Mai and Jou to consider when they’re being inattentive andunreasonable with each other respectively.

What makes me sad about them:

The amount of trickery I have to useto get them together, lol. I’ve tricked Seto into thinking Joey is gay andsingle. If he knew Joey was bi and had a girlfriend, I don’t think he’d beentertaining this idea for even a second. That’sright, Seto, let’s get you nice and overly invested ahead of time so you can’tdismiss the idea out of hand~

idk, everyone’s an insecure mess,but… even if I was writing for a more proper triad/threesome like miranova’settushipping, or battleshipping, or how I think most people talk aboutflareshipping, I imagine Seto at some point pitching a fit about how the othertwo like each other more than they like him. It is inevitable. It’s only amatter of how terrible the explosion is, and how well they manage to reassureeach other in the aftermath. So isn’t MaiJouKai as a V even worse because, ontop of all the personal insecurity, you’ve got a lot of societal messagingabout how you probably shouldn’t let yourself feel secure in letting your boyfriendsleep with someone else? idk, I see why Vs aren’t that popular in fandom.Before this I’d mostly shipped polyships where all the people were sexuallyinvolved. But I feel like, if you read a lot of OT3s, you realise how that mostof them are Vs on one level or another – it’s pretty naïve to think you’regoing to find two other people you feel equally strongly about in all theimportant™ ways, who are also going to feel equally strongly about you and eachother in those same important™ ways. Maybe it’s also naïve to think that aninequality in a sexual fashion is more profound than an inequality in anemotional one? I mean, /I/ think sexuality in relationships is one of thehigher ranked things in terms of profundity, but I don’t think everyone thinksso. Jou and Mai and Kaiba probably don’t agree with me or each other on thattopic – everyone has a different set of values, right? …I guess it makes me sadthat I don’t know whether or not they can make a poly relationship work incorrespondence with their expectations for a relationship – whether thoseexpectations are based on their own needs or on kind of a societalunderstanding of what a relationship should be – but maybe I shouldn’t say thatmakes me sad like that’s the end of the story either? When you are curious anddon’t know the answer – that’s a time when your mind is still open to newinformation and possibilities, right? You can let the characters bounce offeach other without an investment in the answer. That’s a fun place to writefrom.

things done in fanfic that annoy me & things I look for in fanfic:

lol, what fic? I liked Love Boat, although it’s more arrogantshipping than ettu.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

I think it’s pretty clear I ship allthe people with all the people at this point. Anyone can end up with anyone andI’d be comfortable with it if it was considered with care.

My happily ever after for them:

I feel like it came up in a memeonce, or as a response to a fic comment, or something of that nature. Jou andMai and Seto are at some sporting event for their kid. Jou and Mai are theembarrassingly loud and enthusiastic parents who are ready to fight anyone thatsays their kid isn’t the greatest. It’s a hot summer day and Seto is wearing aheavy jacket and shades and being incredibly unemotive. He’ll save hiscongratulations until the end, thanks.

That’s a happily ever after of sorts, right?

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

idk, about spoons, but sleepposition headcanon is that Seto and Mai both like sleeping in the middle whenall three of them share a bed. It is the warmest and most comforting spot. AndI’ve already said that Seto is always cold, and Mai likes feeling safelyenclosed.

(Oh, god, Seto probably starts a riotthe first time Mai wakes him up and teasingly tells him to move because he’spopping wood into her stomach/thigh. For a while he refuses to sleep near herat all. And then for a while he refuses to sleep near her except with his back facingher.)

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

For all three of them together? Sleeping. That’s aboring one though, lol. I think they like going to tournaments together, eitherwhen somebody’s competing or none of them are.

I think more they like doing things just the two ofthem though. I answered for Jou and each of the others, but for Seto and Mai –they probably go to gallery openings or something, or get lunch and talk shopabout work and talk smack about everyone. Mai’s an easy guest for Seto to taketo business party type things too. She’s all the charm and he can just sit nextto her and lean into her shoulder and zone out while she’s socialising.

(1) Okay, yeah, this is just an old one from DK I was holding onto. Very classic Jou moment.

(2) Wasn’t ready for harpoonshipping to be as canon as it was. But now TAS has left me disappointed that Jou has that completely unimpressed look on his face, instead of being enthusiastically shippy and brimming with quality relationship advice.

(3) Was also not expecting /this/ to be as canon as it was either. Not that it /was/ canon. But I didn’t expect them to really /have/ a dynamic here at all. I also like how the dynamic clearly contrasts with Otogi’s later thoughts about Mai’s general attractiveness. And also Otogi’s general fussiness. And I also like the little details about Shizuka’s hometown. And also- maybe don’t just go wandering off with two random guys, Shizuka, just because they tell you they know your brother. Just some cautionary advice. Not that you have to listen to me.

(4)

Left Panel. relatable: Seto ‘Crying is for Pussies’ Kaiba.

Right Panel. There is an obvs an art error here. Kaiba just doesn’t look sinister enough. I feel like you could actually mistake him for being sincere here, if you saw this cap out of context.

(5) I feel like he thinks he’s being super edgy but, tbh, some of the impact gets lost when every ygo villain /ever/ makes the exact same card game based death threats.

(6) This is actually a pretty cute shot of Atem and his Kuribohs. And ‘Kaiba knows this combo!’ - like he thinks it’s Kaiba’s favourite combo and he’s all excited to show it off again. I was not actually expecting to enjoy the Osiris and tag-team duels as much as I did. Got some prideship feels I wasn’t sure I was capable of.

(7) Can’t make this shit up - part 1.

Do you... actually /hear/ yourself, Kaiba? You just admitted, out loud, that you can’t love yourself unless you’re specifically winning right this second. Like - that is actually a huge and very vulnerable thing to reveal to another human being - did you do it on purpose... or... No, no wait. You actually are just that dense.

Literally one panel later...

(8) Jou’s so adorable when he’s being crazy good at being crazy violent. I can’t-

(9) Call the presses - Kaiba and ‘gamble’ in the same room. I wonder if this was the exact word he used in Japanese. Kaiba logic seems to be in the weirdest flux of basically altering ideologically every five seconds.

I’d actually say his reactions for this whole duel are incongruous with his later behaviour in the BC tournament finals. He seems genuinely disturbed and upset by the anchor duel, and spends a lot of time thinking about how to save both Yuugi and Jounouchi - he refers to both by name. Contrast BC finals where he practically taunts Atem about the fact that Jounouchi just ‘died’. He’s very ‘lol, deadbeat’s dead - get over it’. And there’s not really any reason for the significant change in his attitude between these two points.

I guess you could say what gets to him about this duel is not the fact that Yuugi’s and Jou’s lives are on the line, but that, as friends, they’re being forced to take an active roll in killing each other. So this is different than Jou being killed by Malik who’s just some random murderous asshole with a God-card. Seeing as Kaiba also felt forced into a role where he took actions that led directly to the death of someone very significant to him *cough- patricide- cough* the anchor duel might have touched a nerve.

But I also feel like this is reaching. Basically I had to try way too hard there to come up with a reason for Kaiba being an eternal contradiction. Prolly it’s just a combo of Kaiba’s cray and bad writing.

(10) This week on things I shouldn’t find romantic and sweet but my id just refuses to listen: it really is the shittiest, least involved way of saving someone’s life that I’ve ever seen. And, lol, what are physics? I’m so glad this scene was replaced in the anime.

(11) I like how Jounouchi goes right for the mil puzzle afterwards, tho. I’ll deal with you later, Kaiba, but I want to make amends to Yuugi right now.

(12) Also, I know I didn’t really take any caps about Yuugi’s confession to Jou and, just in general, the platonic-or-not wishship feels for this duel. But it’s only because I’ve rewatched that scene about a million times and I feel the same undying amount of sympathy and adoration for the relationship Jou and Yuugi share every single time I watch it. (And it’s embarrassing!) Although I think the pacing of this duel got horribly botched in the anime - it remains one of my favourite duels in the series because of Yuugi and Jou being just the most wonderful together.

(13) I have nothing to say about this. I just took this cap because Mai is hella sexy. I can’t deal.

(14) Never forget that one time that Kaiba and Mai got into some kind of combined street race/aircraft race. Kaiba won - but Mai didn’t lose. The real losers are all the ppl that had to put up with Mai’s crazy driving in the meantime. Please remember to follow traffic regulations for the safety of yourself and others.

(15) I’m not sure if Ryou is supposed to be brainwashed here, or if this is just his genuine reaction. I tend to think it was genuine - Malik actually looks legitimately surprised. Like, ‘Oh, yeah, hey. I did ‘save’ you. Ah, ha. *nervous laughter*’ Malik wasn’t prepared for this amount of gay adoration when he got up this morning.

(16) Anzu looking super derpy and dismissing legitimate concerns about her mental status. I’m very fond of Anzu.

(17) Can’t make this shit up - part 2.

I thought Mai drinking alone was just how I saw her. NO IT’S CANON. Sometimes I’m amazed, like, did I subconsciously remember from reading/watching the series a long time ago, or is it just a coincidence that one of my random headcanons was canon.

Also, Mai asking important questions about this tournament that nobody else thinks about asking.

(18) Can’t make this shit up - part 3.

Jou: Kaiba, your corporation’s aesthetic is over the top and also lame.

Isono: *tacitly agrees but keeps pressing forward anyhow*

This is pretty much the exact conversation Jou has with a Kaiba Corp employee in my fic and it’s scary. It’s also from the same chapter as the last cap. Again, did I actually remember, or is it really that easy to figure out independently?

(19) The amount of incredibly kinky torture Mai endures through this duel is quite frankly disturbing. And I do think it takes a very different tone than how Jou and Yuugi/Atem are portrayed as suffering in their duels with Malik.

It’s not that Malik’s torture of Mai shouldn’t have a physical aspect. I think the anime makes the mistake of making the torture vaguely psychological on a level that it’s not immediately understood to audiences that it /is/ torture. (I personally like a combo of memory loss/beach scene/man-eating bugs.) But this scene was way over the top, imo.

(20) Is it just me, or does Rishid look really fine, here. In addition to saying really wonderful and sweet things. Rishid really is such an underappreciated character.

(21) Lol. I’m glad it was Ryou that helped Mai play this trick here, and not Shizuka. It really was a very insensitive and unfunny prank to play. And I can easily see Ryou cheerfully going along with something like this without really thinking about it. Shizuka... not so much.

(22) No, Anzu. Let Jou say it. Someone had to.

In fact, scream it from the fucking rooftops. Then maybe someone will finally take a hint and put Kaiba on suicide watch.

==

After that Battle City just kind of... peters out. There are some good moments, but overall I think the Duellist Kingdom Finale was better realised. It felt a lot less rushed to me. So then I went back into the past and reread the DK end.

(23) Look at all the shits he gives. Kaiba’s just been sitting there despondent ever since Pegasus released his soul and he honestly has no shits to give. ‘Oh, joy... I’m alive again...’

(24) But then there’s that weird ass moment when a younger version of yourself appears to you and tells you to follow him, and it’s fucking /weird/ and you’re afraid. But it breaks through the horrible crust of scepticism that you’re drowning in and forces you up off your ass and actually go /look/ for something meaningful.

I don’t have caps of Kaiba and Mokuba reuniting for the same reason I don’t have Yuugi anchor duel confession caps. It’s precious and we all know it’s precious and what is there to say except it’s very precious and preciously precious. (And, comparatively, I think these little moments leading up to their reconciliation need more appreciation.)

(Also Kaiba’s rockin’ that DK costume design. I don’t dislike his other outfits, but this one has a special place in my heart for being something I can actually see a human being wearing.)

(Honestly, though- Why are both the DK and BC endings so Kaiba-centric? I’m not saying Kaiba’s not important, but it’s not like he’s the main character. Why is he getting all the character moments in these ending parts? Honestly, Kaiba, you are such an attention hog? Always sucking all the air out of the room...)

(25) This is another thing I know has been capped and hopefully everyone’s seen it. Those faces...

Kaiba angrily gives everyone a ride back to the mainland and then...

Daww. I’m sad they didn’t bring Mai back for the end of this arc in the anime. This was really sweet. Jou doesn’t even consult with Kaiba at all, he just throws the door open and kicks out the rope ladder, even though the helicopter isn’t just hovering - that is a moving vehicle, Jou, wtf do you think you’re doing?!

And then Jou almost falls too, and you know Kaiba was just like - “I could just tilt the helicopter back and forth - shake them off. It would look like an accident. And they’d both fall and crash into the water and drown and I’d be rid of them forever.” You know he considered it. But he didn’t do it. And because of that mistake now he’s stuck with these losers forever. *cackles*