They're fine!! I don't have a ton of Deep Thoughts about them, but I could try since you were so kind as to send an ask....

It would be cool if we had some fic (please link if it exists) that juxtaposed their cube days with now. Things are different but things are the same. Hanbin having to do more Leaning on / depending on Matthew now, and Matthew being more equipped for that.

Or even just like a simple...oh this bumbling skinny guy I had my first kiss with...he's insanely ripped, experienced, and folds me in half when we fuck wtf.

I actually have no idea what's out there for these two so if there's fics that cover this pls pls link anon

Well....as much as I enjoy possessive neulbin, if we're considering cannonverse I always saw them as being kind of open (while still being mutually possessive) for the sake of pragmatism.

From just like a kinda petty/take it in stride perspective, I could see Hao just kind of being like, "what is there to be jealous of". You know? Like passion and enthusiasm can only take gyuvin so far with hanbin. Because that boy loves competency, which Hao has in abundance. He wins the war not the individual battle so to speak.

But overall, I think that wanting what's best for hanbin / not denying him what he needs would win out over possessiveness for Hao. Like it's very clear that Hanbin gets something very specific and very treasured from gyuvin.

And I mean for that matter, I sort of feel like gyuhao is a very intetrsting duo. Like it's easy to imagine these two clashing, and yet they seem to be really comfortable with each other. I like to imagine them getting there over time, as trainees.

Maybe clashing, but gyuvin being younger and lost, and from a shipping perspective having to figure a lot of stuff out and sort of colliding into Hao and making him a reluctant mentor. Its not hard for me to put hao in a similar role i put hanbin in for gyuvin. An aspirational, but confusing figure. Someons he aspires to be like, but someone who forces him (probably a lot more bluntly and directly than hanbin would) to confront things hes not comfortable with about himself...

Not to mention these two have experience "sharing" a shared treasured human via ricky (you could probably sub in other yuehauz here but this one maximizes the yaoi, amirite). So, i think it wouldn't be hard for Hao to see that gyuvin needs hanbin too.

I view the vacation 100% as a "he needs this, and needs us, and it's bigger than me" kind of thing tho.

Few if any surprised here:

S tier: itaseo! The ship that got me into liking yunseo in the first place!! I love how yunseo adores his hyung and how keita is at best "it's one sided" and at worst actively does things to nurture yunseos crush while denying it.

I like it bc its a great way to make Yunseo suffer in fictitious situations. Its also great bc keita historically does not shy away from gayboys being gay around him. But eith yunseo its sooooo intense / not like two friends joking / this 19 yr old kid is basically confessing every time, so he's so obviously pressed sometimes. It's also just my nature to ship the one I like most with the one I like second most (and that order has flipped over the last few months).

A tier: buriz and jeongseo

Buriz are just great. First of all, theyre so fuckin pretty together.

Also, Like hanbin makes Yunseo feel cared for. Loved, doted on, etc. He deserves that. It seems perfect for hanbin too cause yunseo is someone he can both slobber on and also tease relentlessly. Usually he just gets one or the other, but both??

Jeongseo: two insanely hot awkward boys?? Who have some kind of fraught and/or weird relationships with other members? But can overcome that and see the beauty in each other? Sign me upp. Also if yunseo weren't like 6"0' this is probably the closest thing we would have to a tradyaoi couple in even.

B tier: munyun and eonseo

Munyun: first kiss, first crush, first time. Babies babying each other. Tentativeness. Uncertainty. Unbridled want caged in my nervousness. Yeah.

Eonseo: same company boys who are both 'different' forced proximity friends who had to band together due to company cliques. This is how I see them.

Now I have a lot of insanity yunseo ships. Like gyurickseo in like a yuehuaz cliquey situation. Jongwoo and yunseo in a backdoor / home team, yunseos down so bad for the cool guy situation. Hui/yunseo (he wanted to join the teen boy harem). I literally ship him with everyone

Well...what version of 2024 keitag do you subscribe to? The version where they've had 1+ year of awkwardness? And the challenge was the result of some initial conversations, a breath of fresh air after a year of stagnation, but they still have a long way to go? And it's all tentative and uncertain and burgeoning with tension? And like yeah they're gonna hang out later but what if it's weird and this is their one shot to be close?

Or do you subscribe to the--everythings fine, and they hang out all the time and Tag gives his man open mouth elf bar kisses all the time in that little studio with a twin bed and they gotta play that off and make it unobvious?

Both are good options imo.

Either way, it's cause tag is wildly overstimulated.

Ok general disclaimer(s). First, I truly got this as an ask and wasn’t inbox stuffing. Second, all the things I’m about to complain about, I am extremely guilty of at times. Finally, I am a liar and a dramatic, so I will come at you and say “I have the most controversial take ever” and its really just mid. So there’s that. Like actually reading through my Jeongbin take and it’s pretty much in alignment with every other Jeongbin take out there…oop.

Obligatory explication–I view Itabin and Jeongbin as like two sides of the same coin or like, some sun and moon shit. Like very similar but the devil is in the details and the details are important.

To me, Itabin is, at the core is very much an, “against all odds, I am here with you. I have seen the more human parts of you, and it’s made me feel more comfortable with the human parts of myself.” It’s very companionate, and it kind of exists in the white space even if they’re placing themselves front and center.

My crux for all of this IS absolutely Hanbin: calling out Ciipher by name, saying his impression of Keita was “like a celebrity” and mentioning knowing him via YGTB. Through BP, Hanbin basically saw a remarkably hardworking, talented person, who made the most of second/third chances continue to get knocked down. It would be easy, as an insanely talented trainee, who went to multiple companies, who never quite got his flowers on BP, to feel wildly uncomfortable through all those parallels.

From Keita’s side we also have Hanbin’s purposeful switch into Switch, actively pursuing something he did not want for himself. Hanbin’s Law team winning over Zoom and getting the MCountdown bump…Like its a weird tradeoff where Keita was continually in the top without bennies. Hanbin “got” certain levels of recognition but never scraped the top. Hanbin has a toothiness (literal and metaphorical) that Keita outwardly doesn’t really show, but definitely has. As it’s clear that he played the game. To end up in the same place must have been a bit jarring.

I think it also should be noted how much Keita did for other people during BP. Nobody brought clothes. He dressed everyone. Like everyone in the valentines day photos is wearing Keita’s fuzzy black shirt. He generated about a billion viral phrases for other people.

But here we are a year later. The idea of Hanbin as a Spartan Leader type is pretty much gone by the wayside. I’m not saying he doesn’t help, take on leadership roles, etc. Its just that image is pretty much gone from the general Evnne dynamic script, with Keita taking on the leader role. At the same time, we get little subtle things like Hanbin being the main uploader of itabin content, pushing a few ship names itabin and also loveydoveyz, and basically running fanservice PR for his very offline fated person.

So for me personally, the kind of off the shelf “shippy” moments we get (e.g. this morning’s idol radio smooch) don’t really do anything for me. For me, this is not a “get a room” or “they’re so in love” ship. Like I said, I am guilty of writing this way for the sake of torturing Yunseo. But, LBR the main ship aggregator account takes a lot of liberties with what is a ‘moment’ with these two. And that’s ok.

For me personally, the devil is in the details. The looks, the casual drink sharing, the one off comments, “yeah, that guy clings to me like a burr.” I think it’s just more of a, ‘the mask comes down when it’s safe’ kind of thing. As a ship they’re quiet (in a way that neither of them like, actually are, if that makes sense). Now that doesn’t mean we can’t write about them having wild passionate sex.

Now Jeongbin to me are very, “despite the fact that we tried so hard for things to be different, I’m here in this space (not just in a consolation group, but also like in the awkward liminal emotional space) with you. Through you, I’ve seen the more human parts of myself, and it’s made me deeply uncomfortable.”

It’s also a ship that’s in the details (but im annoying and every ship is in the details). I care so much about you..But we’re so fundamentally different as people, I don’t really know what to do with you. I empathize with you broadly, but nothing you do really makes sense to me. How could they when neither of them made the final group, when they saw their company letting go of the people they trained with every day for years? How can you help someone when you’re kind of drowning too?

Very much, the mask comes on, but you’ve already seen everything–good and bad. But they keep putting the walls up / mask on.

It’s kind of like when you’re like “oh i cant stand that person” and another person is like “oh, you’re really similar.” and it just incenses you more. (DISCLAIMER: I DONT THINK THEY HAVE ACTIVE BEEF WITH EACH OTHER–IF ANYTHING, I THINK THEY’RE BOTH TRYING TO FIX SOMETHING THAT ISN’T EVEN THAT BROKEN TO BEGIN WITH AND DOING BADLY). Very hedgehog’s dilemma.

I think the thing that I overtly don’t love (again I am guilty of this too. Like, I’ve done it at least in 2 fics) is the idea that Jeongbin eventually “loses out” to another ship. Or is a stopgap ship. Even when jeongbin are in the spotlight, it feels like they’re not. A series of bad choices/coping post messy breakup with Taerae, or something that happens beore itabin. Now, you don’t have this ship without the lore, but it can feel off kilter at times (and there are great jeongbin fics in this fandom that I adore)

Yeah, a somewhat functional Jeongbin would require a lot of effort, reflection, etc, that is unlikely for 22 year old boys to handle. That’s okay, they could and likely would stay messy. BUT I would love to see the script flipped where leejeong gets his man (after a lot of fraughtness and borderline psychological torture). Situations where Jeongbin actively choose each other, instead of just letting inertia keep smashing them into each other until they’re bruised would be great.

Like I’d love to see a situation where when confronted with two ostensibly straight boys (itajeong) he rolls with Leejeong (that’s his past, present and future yall). Or like, ‘when it comes to two potential partners that I have to really take care of and do a lot of emotional heavy lifting with (jeongrae), I’m going to go with Leejeong.

These are my thoughts.

I'm soooo sorry, but also I love selling ships via the nitty gritty details of interpersonal minutae. Thats how I pay my bills in fujo land. 😈

And, like, I've been living with this for over a year!!! Like I was deep in the throes of writing and planning a bp ensemble fic with these two as the main ship. And i assure you it was ambitious and also nasty.

But, yes. They would look amazingly good together. And have great chemistry.

Luckily we have lots of other amazing shipping options in each of their respective groups. And like idk I have my tinhat nicely crafted and waiting for the future. Bc not everything is possible, but some things are possible.

I appreciate you’re not asking it in a “gotcha” way. I don’t know if I trust myself to give an answer in a non “got me” way. 🪤

They’re two suuuuuuuuuuuper sweet boys who are very well suited for “firsts” stories. First kiss, first date, first time. Figuring out sexualities, and figuring out themselves. Its a theme I do like to see explored in fic from time to time.

Their sweetness seems to extend to each other too. Idk, even though Yunseo’s only a few months older, as self declared group mom, I could really see him babying Junghyun. Meanwhile Junghyun would be trying to prove himself and show Yunseo he’s not a baby, but someone who is worthy of being a partner to him.

Junghyun also kind of coddles/babies Yunseo too. Recently Yunseo was trying to insist he was sexy, but Junghyun kept saying that Yunseo was cute instead? Maybe it’s to protect him. Maybe it’s just to get the eyes and attention off of Yunseo so he can have him to himself.

Idk, they have this whole tentative but tender vibe that just screams mutual pining.