#I bet that next title's about tk lol

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

AAH promo time :)))

O P E NEXT EPISODE'S THE TARLOS KISS

AHHHHHHH :DDDD

AWWWWW 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️ THEMMMMMM 🥰🥰🥰

y'all they love each other so much :'DDDDD

Iris

That better not be a problem xd

Why does it sound like a problem lol

Girl I trust you

Be careful with that trust XD

OPE thereee it is with those guys

Dang o.o all this in one episode???

I'm seeing like explosives and- well probably just more explosives honestly xD, and-

HOLY

DANG O.O

THAT BUS ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ

Okay Owen good thing you got away from those guys like. Literally immediately ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ

I mean I knew they were bad but now we're full on seeing it even if just for a second xdd

Anyhoo

Ahhh dang he's asking all of them for help 👀👀

Presumably lol unless they're doing a fake out with the audio but I think he is lol

At the very least he's warning them

HMM interesting 🤔🤔🤔. . .

All of that I mean

OPE there's the papers 👀👀 not that we knew already but I just mean newspapers are on it, for something xD

Wow, crazy

OKAY xdd dang

Next week's gonna be wild lol

So yeah! That isss the last of my last thoughts lol. I'm scared xD. Now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THEY'RE BAAAACK THEY'RE FINALLY BAAACK MY BABEYS :'DDDDDDD

All of them :DDDD <3333

I love them so much 😭😭❤️❤️🥰🥰

Anyway, lol!

I loved this episode so much!! The rescues were cool, we got TARLOS :DD AAAH, lol, none of the storylines I was scared of dragged on too long (or, you know, the beginning of them anyway), and we got to see our wonderful 126 (and co) again :DDD. It was amazing :)). Now, onto some individual parts!

See not everyone has a plot each episode unlike tgd most of the time so this is easier but also harder lik

Marjan, Paul, Mateo, Nancy - I LOVE YOU GUYS 🥰🥰🥰🥰 SO MUCH :DDDDD!!! You are my babeys and my children and I love you <3. 'Nough said <3.

XD Just kidding lol. They were all hilarious as always - Nancy catching Tommy in her flirting, lol, that was amazing xD - and had some great scenes/bits of scenes together :)). The very beginning and the Sharknado bit are great examples just off the top of my head lol! And of course, they were great at their jobs :D 🥰🥰❤️.

Also, the three amigos being disgusted in the background after that fairground kiss and Nancy being disgusted in the foreground? Amazing, lol.

Now! Tommy :)). And this new guy! IIII already forgot his name lol. But AAAAHH!!! Meet cute much :DD?? Tommy was of course amazing and an icon this episode, and her and that new guy were so cute :D. Plus her panic and dread at the end was hilarious XD. I like him WAY better than Julius (why did I even bring that up so now I have to think about it augh 😭😭😭), so there's that right off the bat lol xD. He's already got that on his side - that he's NOT JULIUS XDD. Anyway, lol, it's gonna be hilarious, I think, and interesting to see where this goes 👀. Poor Tommy at the end there though, girl is s u f f e r i n g xDD.

Owen and Judd! Owen. Owennnn xD. MY GUY. How did nothing tip you off lol

See this is why you're the token straight xDD Judd was suspicious right away

Well I mean you're more token cishet white man but yk <3 XDD

Anyway lol, I think I will actually enjoy this storyline! Not that I necessarily thought I wouldn't, but I'm sure it will be angsty xD, plus I'm not always the biggest fan of Owen-centric things (though I'm not as much of a hater as some other people). Nonetheless, it looks like it'll an interesting and dramatic time, so I'm here for it :DD. Also Judd just laughing along for the ride lol xDD. Icon. But, though I say that, he was there for Owen the whole time as well :). That talk after the bar with the two of them was really sweet <33 🥰. They're besties, your honor :DD. Oh, and of course they also slayed at their jobs today :))).

And yeah, like I said lol: don't worry Owen - I'm sure you'll have plenty of dragons to slay soon xD.

Grace! Icon, amazing, love you girl 🥰🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️. Sometimes I just love seeing Grace's little "hold up" moments and confused faces at some of the 9-1-1 calls lol XDD. Anyway, she also was amazing at her job this episode, as always :DDD 🥰🥰🥰. Can't wait to see more of her :).

And now. The moment you've all been waiting for.

CARLOS

AND

TK

:DDDDDDDD!!!

Okay y'all it's Tarlos time 🥰🥰🥰

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Okay I'm good lol

:)))))

(no I'm not xdd)

Anyway! I love love love love LOVED them this episode 🥰🥰🥰🥰. They had so many great scenes 😭😭😭. I am a liiiittle but disappointed we didn't get a kiss, but eh, whatever :D. We got so much besides that lol, and I'm fine with that xD. Even if some of it was angst xdd. I mean, it's still a better start than last season LOL XDD.

that was pain xdd

Anyway lol xD. Oh, and of course I'll also be talking about Iris here in this section, but I'm not really considering her as getting her own, since she's not like one of the mains yk lol, I'll just be talking about her here xD. So, continuing on, y'all they are so adorable 😭😭😭. And even though it killed me, I love me some angst, so I'm doing great lol. I mean, it wasn't THAT bad so I probably would've just been like, gravely injured (nah I'd be dead lol) if I didn't love angst, but still XD.

Anyway y'all I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY PLAYED US LIKE THAT!!! We all (well so many people anyway) said that that was too obvious, and that Iris wouldn't come back, and then that she probably wasn't the secret/it wasn't about her but she helped lead them to it or something (I considered that anyway and I know some other people did), and they PROVED. US. WRONG. XDDD. I did consider several times that maybe they would do that, it would be just obvious and crazy enough to be likely, but I didn't want it to be this so I didn't think about it much xDD.

And I mean, don't get me wrong, I loved the scenes in this episode, and I'm sure I'll continue to love this plot, I just wish it was something a little more fancy. And also that Carlos hadn't been married before lol. But, it was for kind of okayyy reasons, and good reasons to keep it - although Carlos, no offense, not to hurt you lol, but if had checked in sooner you would've known she didn't need the insurance anymore sooner xdd. But! Hey, it's in the past lol. Anyway, not my first choice for a secret, but I think it's really interesting and it'll be a fun (if not very literally) plotline :D.

And also just- AAAHHHHH THEY'RE GETTING MARRIED 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰😭😭❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰. Y'all I literally can't handle this 🥰🥰 :'DDD. It's t h e m 😍😍🥰. All the wedding planning stuff and what not - aGH, it's so cute :'DDD 😭😭🥰. I'm so excited and I love them so much :))).

I am still scared for this storyline though lol xD.

But nah, I know it'll all work out fine lol. And I know I said nah but it actually doesn't stop me from being scared XDD.

Oh and lastly WE GET THE KISS NEXT EPISODEEEEE AAAHHHHHH and also AHHHH THAT HOLDING SCENE 😭😭😭😭. Like where TK was holding Carlos's face (or like neck or smth idk I was busy freaking out xD) :'))). If I remember correctly it was also that "I love you" scene from the promo? I don't know, like I said I was busy freaking out lol, but I'm pretty sure it was :'DDDD 🥰🥰🥰. Amazing, I love them so much, I am not at all ready and also so ready for this season :DDD. Let's do this :'))).

Overall, I really loved this episode! I thought the rescues/calls were cool and interesting, I loved seeing everybody again, and the disaster was super cool and unique :DD. I'm so happy to have my babeys back 🥰🥰. All the group scenes were hilarious, the plots were interesting and set up more cool stuff for the future, and the tarlos content was top notch :'DD xD. I think Owen's will be the main drama, obviously, but I'm looking forward to seeing where Tommy's goes. And I'm super excited for TK and Carlos's :D. I think this episode was an amazing start to what's sure to be an awesome season!!

So yeah! Such a great episode, I'm so glad we're back. I'm interested to see where this all goes! This has been my review of. . .

9-1-1: Lone Star, Season 4, Episode 1: The New Hotness

It was amazing! I'm really excited for the next episode, and the season as a whole. I'll be back next week for my review of. . .

9-1-1: Lone Star, Season 4, Episode 2: New Hot Mess

See you then!

[vampiritea]

since my sister @werewolfsmile made me guess Leverage episodes based on their titles the other day (and the result was pretty funny), I decided to make her do the same for 9-1-1!

Me: Heartbreaker Her: Something to do with Eddie because he's a heart breaker. It's gonna totally be season 2. Me: sips tea

Me: Alright I'm gonna give you an easy one. Me: Chimney Begins. Her: Gee wow I wonder what that could be about! It's where Chimney begins!! We get backstory, Kevin, it's beautiful. Isn't he also bleeding out at the same time? Me: Yep Her: Beautiful

Me: Fight or Flight Her: Ohhh I know that title. It's totally something to do with Eddie. Me: lol. No. Her: Dammit. So it's not a tsunami episode then? That would be like sink or swim, wouldn't it? … idk then. Me: It's an episode that you're always surprised by how early on in the series it happens. Her: Shannon dies?? Me: No, but someone dies. Her: Who else is there? Me: It happens in the snow Her: When are they in the snow?? All I can see is TK falling into that frozen pond now but that's not the right show. Me: There's BLOOD on the snow. Her: Oooh, I like that. Blood on snow... MADDIE!!! Me: Yes! Her: Yeah that is surprising it happens that early.

Me: Capsized Her: Oh gee I wonder! (If I get this wrong now…) That's where Bobby and Athena are on a cruise and the ship goes 'whoopsie'!

Me: Careful What You Wish For Her: singing 'cause you just might get it'. Is THIS the one where Shannon dies? Me: Yes Her: YES!! ... Now I'm sad for Christopher Me: As you should be

Me: Hero Complex Her: ….. Is that the one with the guy – steals the firetruck? And Eddie has to talk him down? Me: No. Her: No, cause that's Jinx isn't it?? Cause we watch that one all the time!! Ughh. [later] Her: Um. All I can think now is Izzy Chains. Can't think of anyone else who has a hero complex – aside from all the main cast. So it's Buck-centric then!! Me: 😂 No. Her: Are you sure?? Me: I'm positive. Her: Give me another clue! Me: It focuses on a character who doesn't stick around. Her: ... OH MONDAY!! He would hate me so much cause I don't remember his real name 😅

Me: The Taking of Dispatch 9-1-1 Her: Oh that's when Josh's nasty ex boyfriend comes in and is like 'surprise bitch I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me'

Me: Red Flag Her: ?? Nope, the bull is in lone star as well... It's not like an online dating one or something? What season? Me: 6 Her: I don't remember what happens in season 6... Me: It's a Bobby episode Her: A Bobby episode? 😍 The only Bobby episode I'm thinking of is when he gets high on brownies… Is it the one where he and Michael are spying on the neighbours through the telescope?? Me: No. Her: Damn. That's a good one. [later] Her: OH MY GOSH WENDELL!!

Me: The One That Got Away Her: Ummmmm. Is this like where Buck gets concerned about his sexual performance and so he calls up all his exes? Me: 😂🤣 Her: If I'm right I'm gonna be shook. Me: YOU'RE NOT 🤣 Her: Is it an Abby episode? Me: No. Her: Okay yeah cause I thought I'd remember the train episode title. [later] Me: It's one of the episodes where an old man dies to teach Buck something. Her: Not Red?? Me: Yes 😢

Me: What's Next? Her: Me: That's the title of an episode. Her: oH! Is this where Buck is suing the city or something and Eddie gets all grumpy cause 'Chris can't even see you 😭'? Me: No. [later] Me: smugly It's the train episode. Her: WHAT!!! Isn't it called something really cliché like derailed?? My life is a lie 😭

Me: Future Tense Her: ….. is that the episode title? Me: Yes Her: Oh boy. [later] Me: It has a funny Eddie scene. Her: Is this where Eddie's dating Ana and he has a panic attack? Me: YOU THINK THAT'S FUNNY???????? 😂 Her: NO BUT HE'S THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE AND PANICKING. Me: Think less about the distant future and more 'the future is now'. Her: The Hildy episode!! 'We got him'! 😊

Me: Alright are you ready for the next one? Her: Probs not but let's go Me: There Goes the Neighbourhood Her: dramatically drops phone and frowns into distance Athena says that at one point. Is it s4? Me: Yep Her: There goes the neighbourhood... Like, I know it but I can't remember it. Me: It's one of your favourites. Her: Wow. Great. Me: ... You mentioned it earlier. Her: panicked laugh [later] Her: Something to do with Buck and Eddie Me: Incorrect [later] Her: You're gonna have to give me more clues. Me: There goes the NEIGHBOURhood. NEIGHBOURS. Her: I AM AWARE! I'VE BEEN TRYING TO THINK! [later] Her: OHHH IT'S BOBBY AND MICHAEL. I LOVE THAT ONE Me: I KNOW YOU DO! 😂

Me: Alright I'm gonna give you an easy one. Me: Treasure Hunt Her: Ravi! Gets there first! And then he's like, I'm not even with these guys. And they're all like 'probie say WHAT?'

Me: Under Pressure Her: Episode 1 of season 2 where Eddie arrives 😎

Me: You Don't Know Me Her: All I can see is that vine 'you don't know ME. You don't know ME!!' and that's not helpful T_T

Me: Defend in Place Her: That's what you do when there's a bushfire and you're like naurr I got this. Me: 💀

Me: May Day Her: A plane. Me: Hehe, no. Her: ...but??? What?? That's what you call if the plane's going down!! Mayday mayday!! Me: lol no. [later] Her: Another clue please. Me: May Day is two separate words. Her: oHHHH THEN IT'S ABOUT MAY. GRRRR Her: The one where the call centre is on fire and Bobby and May have that beautiful "I'll protect you my daughter" scene?? Me: Yep! Her: It's a good title for that episode!

[howtosingit]

if ur ok with it can u break down the tarlos huggggg in the lst ep after tk tells evy1 abt his addiction? bc that gd huggggggg i wanna no every thing u think abt it i live for ur love for tarlos theyre just so so cuteeeee

IF I’M OKAY WITH IT?! Anon, I feel like I have been waiting my entire life for this ask. I could literally talk about this hug for the rest of my existence. I would talk about this hug every second of every day if I could and never get tired or bored. This hug has owned my entire heart from the moment that it happened and I can never get enough of it. Brace yourself for this essay, and remember that you asked for it...

Okay, so before I get to the actual hug, I want to talk for a minute about why I love it so much and also how fantastic the scene is that comes before it. I’ll try to keep both of those brief (LOL). If you want to skip to the hug breakdown, I’ll give the sections titles. 

Why I Love This Hug

So, why do I love this hug so much? Honestly, because I never in a million years thought we’d get something like it, and it was a big turning point for me.

I have not been quiet about how disappointing I think season 1 was. Too much Owen being Owen, too much Iris plot (which never interested me for even a single moment, unfortunately), not enough of the other characters - specifically the characters of color - and definitely not enough Tarlos.

Following episode 3, the show established a really frustrating pattern with Tarlos: they either never interacted with one another, or there was a moment of them at the end of an episode where they were in the same place physically but never spoke directly to one another. Frustration doesn’t even begin to describe the Tarlos talking drought between episodes 3 and 10 - and honestly? It’s bad writing. To focus on a ship for 3 episodes, giving them a lot of different nuances and conflict, and then do absolutely nothing with it? Stupid. So, going into the finale, my expectations were low. At that point, I was literally tuning in just to catch a glimpse of Carlos, with the expectation that that was all I would get. I really didn’t think I was going to watch the show after season 1. 

When the finale started with a Tarlos scene, I was honestly very surprised. But, then, of course, it was a “break up” scene, and I was like... well. So much for that. See, I fully expected, based on the trend throughout the later half of the season, that that would be the only Tarlos scene we would get, and that that is how they would end season 1. 

But when that camera cut to Carlos Reyes walking through the station door looking like a modern-day motherf*cking Prince Charming? I cried. I’m not ashamed to admit that. And then WHEN WE GOT THE HUG?! I can honestly still feel my heart pounding in my chest.

The finale didn’t fix everything for me; they still barely talk in their final two scenes. It’s not all perfect. But this hug, this small moment? THAT. IS. PERFECTION. (And I’m gonna go on and on about why in just a minute!)

Framing the Hug

I just want to take another moment here to chat about the entire fire station scene with TK and the team/Carlos because there’s a lot that informs why this hug is so freaking incredible. It has everything to do with the directing choices that were made - and boy were they good ones!

We all probably remember how the scene starts: extreme close-ups on TK as he sits waiting for the crew to come back. He’s anxious and possibly having a mild panic attack, and the camera is used to create that moment. Certain shots are out of focus, the shots that are focused are zoomed in to his mouth/hands/eyes, the sound is distorted, his breathing is isolated. It’s all super effective. 

So the observations that I make about this brief moment are: TK is stationary, the camera is basically attacking him. And TK is alone. Pretend for a moment that the camera is a character. The camera won’t leave him alone. No one is there to help him. His anxiety grows. 

(Even when the team joins him, the camera stays pretty close to him, except for one moment where it backs off but then approaches again. It continues to invade his personal space and his personal moments with his friends and his dad.)

Now, compare that to how the scene ends: TK walks away from the camera, the camera doesn’t follow him. It gives him space. His interaction with Carlos happens in the distance. If the camera is a character, TK defeated that character. He leaves it there, it no longer threatens him. I just really like that visual storytelling; that through the 4 minute scene, TK not only faces his demons, speaks his truth, and conquers his anxiety but he beats the camera and goes off to hug Carlos untethered. (He even bounces towards him, but we’ll get to that in a minute.) That doesn’t really have anything to do with the hug specifically, but I thought it was interesting anyway.

The other comparison that I want to make is a simple one, but it’s another reason why I love the hug: TK initiates it. He doesn’t initiate the group hug with his team (he actually almost says “we don’t have to do that” when Mateo moves towards him), though he obviously enjoys it. Owen initiates their hug, flinging himself at his son, and TK obviously appreciates it.

But the Carlos hug? TK approaches him, TK raises his arm to wrap around Carlos’s neck.

Okay, now to finally answer the original ask...

LET’S HUG IT OUT: THE BREAKDOWN THAT WAS ASKED FOR

First, can I just say from his first appearance to the end of this scene, Carlos is there for 20 seconds total and I am about to write a whole-ass essay about those 20 seconds?! I’m literal trash.

Okay, so Carlos appears looking like a fucking snack. He’s changed since the bus accident, looking like someone’s hot date, and I think we know whose... Owen is basically like “well this is unexpected” and honestly, same sir. TK is adorable and noncommittal, but clearly not surprised to see Carlos there. We’ve missed a moment between them since TK was sent to the hospital and Carlos called him impressive, that’s for sure. 

So when TK starts to walk towards him, the camera refocuses on Carlos and we see this adorable freaking look on his face that clearly says “how did it go?” or “all went well?” or something to that effect. I think Carlos knew what TK was doing at the station and he knew that it was a big deal for him, and I love that even before they are next to each other, he’s checking in to see how it went. He’s invested in TK’s well-being - as always - and he’s there to support him, both physically and emotionally. I COULD SCREAM.

In response to Carlos’s silent questioning, TK throws his head back and sighs. Like I said before, he seems to bounce towards Carlos, his body is pretty loose - his arms are swinging back and forth. This is a guy who just took a load off, and he’s relieved about having done so. The smile that Carlos gives him in answer says that he’s relieved too - that it went so well, that TK seems lighter. He might even be relieved that TK is being so much more open with him, clearly showing him his emotions. Their body language for this entire moment is very open, neither of them seem closed off. It truly does feel like, for the first time, they are meeting each other on equal footing, with all of their cards on the table before them. It’s such a different moment for them, certainly different than their body language during the boba date earlier in the episode.

I would be an absolute idiot if I did not pause and remark here how INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT IT IS that TK is the one that approaches Carlos. I’m not the first person to notice and say this, but Carlos “I hate being the one doing the chasing” Reyes stops just inside the door. He lets TK walk towards him. It’s such an interesting, nonverbal conversation between them. In this action, Carlos is saying “I’m here, but I’m still not going to force anything. You said you wanted space, so I’m giving it to you.” Sure, he comes to the station - but I would pay good money to bet that TK invited him there following some kind of conversation about what he was doing there - but he stays at the door. He’s cautious, but open. He wants something more with TK, but he’s not going to throw himself into it just to get hurt again. So, he waits. AND TK COMES TO HIM. TK leaves his own space and enters his. TK takes the final step. TK closes the gap. TK makes the big move, and they’re finally both right in front of each other, on the same wavelength. The find that solid ground from which they’ll build their relationship together. ISN’T IT JUST BEAUTIFUL?!

Seriously, kudos to Bradley Buecker for directing this episode with multiple levels of storytelling at play. It’s really great stuff.

OKAY, there’s a little Owen and Michelle moment, but then the camera finds Tarlos again. 

TK is standing in front of Carlos, they’re completely fixated on one another, their body language is just so fucking casual and comfortable I cannot stand it. See, the other hugs were all pretty intense: the team piles on top of TK, burying him, and Owen practically throws himself at TK, it’s a fairly hard hug for a man with an injured shoulder. But this hug? NOPE.

It’s so soft. It’s so gentle. TK raises his arm like he just can’t not wrap it around Carlos’s neck, like it’s the only way to be as close as possible to him and being as close as possible to him is all he wants in that moment.

What I really love about this hug is that it feels like two people who hug not because the moment is demanding it, not because they’re reuniting after a long time apart, not because they’re in a heightened state of emotion. 

These two hug like it’s just what they do, what they always want to be doing, like they don’t know how not to do it. The whole thing reads like “Hi, I’m TK and my arms belong around Carlos” and “Hi, I’m Carlos, and my arms belong around TK, what else would I be doing with them?” (It’s also the vibe I get from the club scene where they wrap their arms around each other.)

IT’S INTIMACY, Y’ALL.

Look, to be a Tarlos fan, I think you have to be willing to look at the relationship on two different levels, right? One is what they verbalize to each other, which is admittedly very little (season 2, come through). The other is the story that they tell through their body language. These two have seemingly always been on the same page physically. It just comes naturally to them, from the minute they first dance to their obviously very pleasing sex scene to the way they flirt in the bar to the club to Carlos at TK’s bedside. 

Their chemistry is made clear through how they physically relate to each other, and never is that more clear than in this hug that LITERALLY LASTS 2 SECONDS BUT CONTAINS MULTITUDES.

Okay, back to it... so TK strolls towards Carlos, Carlos waits for him - they symbolism is making me scream - TK raises his arm, it’s all super casual...

And then he just kind of literally falls into Carlos’s body, and Carlos basically just catches him. HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THAT.

They don’t even speak but because they’ve had a nonverbal conversation with just those looks that I talked about, there’s just this understanding that TK needs to just collapse a little bit and he never for one second doubts that Carlos will hold him up. THAT’S JUST WHAT THEY DO.

OKAY OKAY OKAY now we’re going to break this down from head to toe.

Like, the way that their heads just rest against each other, TK pressing close - I can almost imagine that he breathes in the scent of Carlos’s shampoo, his nose is pressed right there in his curls. AND JUST IMAGINE HIS SMILE, I BET IT’S BLINDING.

I love that their heads kind of curve around each other kind of, perfectly Yin and Yang - like, from above they would totally look like that symbol.

MY FAVORITE PART OF THE ENTIRE THING: CARLOS FREAKING REYES NUZZLING INTO TYLER KENNEDY STRAND’S NECK, LIKE HE JUST SHOVES HIS FACE RIGHT IN THERE

THE NECK KISS MADE ME SCREAM SO FUCKING LOUD THE FIRST TIME I SAW IT I COULD NOT HANDLE IT

First, it’s our first kiss since episode 2. 

Second, THE INTIMACY OF PRESSING A KISS TO SOMEONE’S NECK - LIKE THAT IS SUCH A SOFT PART OF YOUR BODY, THERE ARE TENDONS THERE, YOU CAN FEEL SOMEONE’S PULSE THERE - LIKE OH MY GOD

Nothing screams “I want to know every part of this man on a deep, committed level” than a fucking neck kiss, and Carlos Reyes just... he fucking does it. 

Okay but he really does bury his whole face in there like he wants to keep it there forever, I have truly never seen something so soft in my entire life. 

I’m so in love with them I could puke.

But like, that’s why this moment means so much to me, because I really do think that it’s a solidifying moment for both of them. 

For TK, it’s a “It’s okay if I stumble or fall because this man will catch me or help me up” thing

For Carlos, it’s “he wants me, he wants this, he’s taking literal steps towards this thing between us, and he encourages me to sink into him, he wants me to do that, he really wants this”

Like, fuck. 

Moving down... we gotta appreciate Carlos being mindful of TK’s shoulder, unlike literally everyone else who has hugged him. Like, he doesn’t even go anywhere near those stitches because there’s no fucking way he’s going to watch TK bleed out for the third time, nope.

And the way that Carlos just slides his arms around TK’s waist, pressing his palms into his lower back?! 

I think there’s a whole like, thing, where when a person’s hands are flat and open they’re like, open and vulnerable. So there’s just something about the way that Carlos presses both of his open palms against TK’s back that feels so open and vulnerable and honest to me.

Also, the way that he literally covers as much of TK’s back with his hands as possible? He doesn’t place his hands on top of one another, he stacks them along TK’s spine - he completely covers the entirety of his lower back. That’s a really vulnerable part of the human body, and Carlos instinctively protects it. AND TK LET’S HIM.

Okay, finally, down to their feet: TK really does collapse against Carlos, throwing himself on top of him and trusting that Carlos will keep him upright. All of his weight shifts to that forward momentum, he even goes up on the toes of his right foot. Carlos plants his feet, and as TK sways into him, he wraps him in his arms and gently centers them so that they don’t tip over to the ground.

He literally re-balances them. The two of them together find a balance with one another during this TWO-SECOND HUG. They shift, they steady themselves, they sink into one another.

It’s literally symbolic of them both being completely, 100%, without question, ready for the next phase of their relationship together.

They keep each other standing, and that’s fucking true love, y’all.

I honestly cannot wait for season 2. This hug and the final scene on the hood of Carlos’s car - with TK again making the move to embrace their relationship by physically reaching into Carlos’s space for his hand and dragging it into his own space, firmly opening the door to his heart to let him inside, while also settling Carlos’s hand between his own to let him know that he’s willing to protect him and his heart too - makes me believe that we are in for some truly wonderful romance with these boys. 

My heart will not stop screaming about it.

[rebakadraws]

The Fox and the Hounds (pt 1?!)

My @inusecretsanta for @avannak !! Honestly I had never known about you before, so, nice to meet you fellow Inuyasha (and furthermore, Koga) fan!

The first prompt you had listed was ya bois Inuyasha, Koga, and Shippo interacting together, and that had really excited me, because I’ve actually thought about and really like the idea of these three’s dynamic! To anyone who knows me it might come as a surprise that I didn’t just draw something for your gift, but, well, your prompt that caught my eye inspired an idea for an entire story plot, so, I couldn’t help trying my hand at a fic this time! Unfortunately for me though, I was a bit.. too inspired, so this turned out rather long and like the title says, this is only part 1! Because I’m posting this first half to be in time for the SS, without a deadline anymore I can’t guarantee when the second part will be finished... But I’ve still got the ideas for the scenes of the second half so I am determined to finish it for you! ...Someday XD. Anyway, yeah! I hope you had a very merry Christmas and I hope your 2018 has been awesome so far! Enjoy!~

Rated: K+ for a couple mild-swears in there (GASP I’m breaking out of my shell I guess cOUGH thanks Kat lol) Word Count: 4965 |D Disclaimer: This story is told through the eyes of Shippo, and so the negative descriptions towards Inuyasha and Koga are based on his opinion, not my own. I love... basically all the characters in this great anime! The only character I would ever talk about negatively is Naraku pfff.

It had decidedly been Shippo’s most favorite toy, a truly unique gift from Kagome’s own time, even. The priceless pull-string-operated propeller toy from the future now found its final resting place on the grass, wronged and rendered completely useless, its string having been ripped from the toy’s base. The injustice had occured in a mere matter of seconds, but Shippo had seen the crime committed with his own two eyes. He turned said eyes up accusingly at the culprit standing before him.

Inuyasha blinked, and brought his fist of detached string up to his vision, his mind finally catching up with what had just transpired. “Ah jeez, I pulled too hard on it, huh? Sorry, runt.”

Forcing back tears for the broken trinket, Shippo pouted indignantly at the hanyou, finding that he did not fully believe his clearly facaded innocence. “Inuyasha! Don’t you act surprised! You did this on purpose!!”

Now Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, before squatting down to the young fox-youkai’s level. “An’ why in the hell would I have done this on purpose?” he responded, his face narrowing into an unconvinced look.

“Because,” the boy huffed, “You’re always bullying me! I bet that you got so annoyed at me shooting the toy up near your face, that you decided to take matters into your own hands, and put an end to it!”

Tk! The nerve a’ this kid, coming up with a conspiracy to accuse me—! Didn’t he hear me so graciously apologize?!, Inuyasha thought. It was true that he had been ticked off by Shippo’s antics with the toy earlier, but jeez, what did the kid take him for? A ruthless savage?

(That was exactly what little Shippo took him for, and was currently cursing him as, in the seclusion of his own young mind.)

From Inuyasha’s less-emotionally-charged perspective, what had legitimately taken place was as such:

Only minutes ago, the hanyou had come to fetch Shippo as their traveling group was preparing to trek the unbeaten path again; he had found the fox tyke still incessantly playing with his new toy from Kagome. The boy had looked so focused on the device, however, that Inuyasha had inquired, “Hey Shippo, whatcha up to over here?”

“Ah, Inuyasha! I’m trying to make the spinner go as high into the air as possible! My record is up to that tree branch right there,” Shippo had answered in pure boyish excitement, with a finger pointed upward to a specific tree limb.

“Keh, as high as possible, huh? Give it here, runt.”

From what Inuyasha had seen, Shippo’s teal eyes had lit up in supposed understanding — the elder hanyou’s superior strength could rip on the string so hard, that the spinner would go soaring! — so the boy then eagerly handed the toy to him. Inuyasha’s mouth had lifted into a confident smirk, and he indeed yanked on the string with all his might… forgetting to consider that pulling the string so ruthlessly hard would surely snap it clean off of the toy.

It had been a complete accident, and this twerp knows it! “Keh, some conspiracy ya got there! Didntchya hear me say ‘sorry’ for it, ya pea-brain—”

Both youkais paused their bickering when their sensitive ears picked up familiar footsteps approaching. They turned to see Kagome emerging from the brush, holding an overgrown-branch out of her way as she gingerly navigated through the forest foliage, over to the two boys. “What’s going on over here, Inuyasha, Shippo?” They recognized her tone as her ‘mother-hen’ voice, patiently yet firmly prodding for information. “I heard arguing.”

In a flash, Shippo scampered across the leaf-litter and up into the comfort of Kagome’s arms. He finally allowed the wetness to pool up at the corners of his eyes in order to clearly demonstrate his distress, and cried out his explanation, “Kagome! Inuyasha broke my new toy that you gave to me!!”

Her thin eyebrows furrowed in seriousness as she looked up at the accused. “Inuyasha, is that true?”

Shippo cut back in before Inuyasha could defend himself. “Yeah, it’s true! He even did it on purpose!!”

Kagome turned her gaze back down to the distressed fox-boy in her arms. “Now Shippo, I’m sure that Inuyasha didn’t mean it on purpose. But Inuyasha,” again she switched the focus of her gaze, “did you break it?”

As her chocolate-brown eyes, patient, calm, and yet in the depths of them chastising, were pinned down onto him, Inuyasha found himself hesitating to answer. God, how stupid would he look to her if she learned how carelessly he had accidentally broken a kid’s toy? He could already envision the weird look she would give him! So — as it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks — the hanyou instinctively resorted to the one strategy nailed the hardest into his head: self-preservation. He covertly concealed his fistful of evidence behind his back before releasing the pull-string to drop to the ground. “Keh, of course not! I ain’t that thoughtless! Shippo here broke his own damn toy.”

Shippo’s bleary eyes widened and a small gasp of disbelief escaped his lips. That Inuyasha—! That— that big, stinking jerk, lying like that! How could he do this to me; after breaking my favorite toy, too?! His eyes flickered panickedly to Kagome’s own, staring back down at him. “He—! He’s lying!! He broke my toy, I saw it with my own eyes!”

“Shippo…”

“Y’know what I saw, runt?” Inuyasha said, as he crossed his arms and turned away huffily, “I saw an overly-excited twerp pullin’ on his toy’s string too hard, until it gave out an’ snapped!”

“I wasn’t the one who snapped the string, you’ve got to believe me, Kagome!” Shippo’s eyes pleaded with the girl cradling him; his shimmering tears threatened to pool over and freely flow down his young cheeks.

“Oh, ya didn’t, didya? Didn’t I hear ya say t’ me, ‘I’m trying ta make the spinner go as high in the air as possible’?”

He was being wronged, framed! How could Kagome, ever-wise and perfectly-just, possibly believe such lies from the guilty face of that, dirty scoundrel?! In that moment Shippo put every ounce of his belief into her natural, motherly ability to sniff out lies... And yet her gaze hardened on him. “Shippo… I know you’re upset about your toy, but you really shouldn’t be taking it out on Inuyasha.”

“W-what..?” he squeaked out weakly, not believing what he was hearing.

Kagome tilted her chin upward, closing her eyes as she held up a finger, looking as though she was reciting some line of ancient wisdom, as she said, “Acting like an adult means taking responsibility for your own mistakes.” Inuyasha sniffed arrogantly and turned his face away from Kagome. “Keh, yeah.”

“I’m very disappointed in you, Shippo. I suppose that next time I return home, I’ll have to refrain from buying you another toy, if you’re proven to not be responsible enough for them.”

Shippo’s small head whipped back and forth between the faces of his judge and jury absolute disbelief. But as the reality of Kagome’s statement sunk in, he paused. His protruding bottom lip began to quiver as he bit down on it, until… Shippo finally lost his composure with an explosion of distress, letting out a sharp wail and allowing the tears to fly from his eyeducts. He hopped out of Kagome’s arms and fled from the suffocating scene of utter betrayal, choking out, “It’s not fair, it’s not fair!!”

The two grown teenagers left behind watched after the fleeing boy; Kagome shaking her head with a sigh, and Inuyasha holding his nose in the air pointedly (although, admittedly a twinge of guilt ran through him).

It’s not fair it’s not fair it’s not fair—!!, Shippo’s mind ran out in protest. How could Kagome believe Inuyasha over himself? It was simply because he was a grown-up, while Shippo was a kid, wasn’t it? But that didn’t really count for anything — Shippo knew that, at least! Out of the two of them, he was definitely more mature and trustworthy than that Inuyasha; that rude, ungrateful, two-timer, who didn’t even understand his own feelings! That Inuyasha who had so little control over his temper, that he took it out on sweet, innocent little boys such as himself?! How could Kagome trust a guy like that?! Shippo’s raging mind kept circling back to the same conclusion: It wasn’t fair!

~~~

A calm, crisp night had come and gone, but it had done nothing to quell little Shippo’s fury. His frustration had kept him from a peaceful sleep, rendering the fox-youkai even more irritable, even as he now perched on Sango’s shoulder while their comrades continued their journeying. As the elder teenagers commented on the scenery and joked to pass the time, Shippo was too lost in his aggravated whirlwind of thoughts to pay any attention to them.

Ever since that fateful day when he had first encountered Inuyasha and Kagome in their travels, Inuyasha had harassed and insulted him. He had been the cause of a great many of Shippo’s frustrations, teary outbursts, bumps to the head, and loss of snacks… But this — breaking his new favorite toy, and then not even having the decency to own up to it, consequently getting Shippo in trouble — this had been the last straw! Everything before this had only been meager actions of pettiness meant to mess with him, but now, now that Inuyasha had purposefully, traitorously, gotten him into trouble with Kagome? That was it! There was only one possible response to this, and it rang out clearly: revenge. Sweet, sweet revenge. Obviously Shippo had no other option but to teach Inuyasha a lesson — one that would put an end to his reign of tyranny for good.

But how?

Inuyasha was bigger than him, stronger than him, faster than him, and had keener senses than him — it had always made Shippo an easy target for his brutality, and any time Shippo had made attempts to get back at him in the past, Inuyasha always got the last laugh regardless. He didn’t think he could rely on his fox magic for this mission of grand justice, because his signature tricks and illusions would be a dead giveaway of their conjuror to Inuyasha. No, this time he required some other way to get his revenge — some round-a-bout, discreet way that wouldn’t point a trail back to himself, for a furious Inuyasha to—

His scheming was abruptly interrupted by a sharp, familiar scent having been thrust into his nose by a gust of wind. Shippo inwardly groaned as the rest of the group took notice of the sudden wind and turned around to face its source. As if his mood wasn’t already soured enough, now he had to watch this arrogant, run-through-the-motions display?

“Hey there, Kagome,” said the source of the wind and pungent scent, their ally, Koga.

Shippo didn’t even need to see it in front of him to know that Koga was already up in Kagome’s personal space, snatching up her gentle hands in his rougher ones.

“H-hello, Koga..,” Kagome greeted him back, with just a hint of awkwardness. “What brings you here?”

The wolf-youkai chuckled, the rumbling sound absolutely dripping with cockiness, before he answered, “I need a reason to come see my woman?”

Shippo wrinkled up his nose in distaste. Koga had spared his life once, so, the boy couldn’t find it in himself to hate the guy; but that did not stop him from labeling the wolf-youkai as an arrogant moron. How could he not see that Kagome’s friendliness towards him was nothing special — only her characteristic kindness that she freely offered to everyone? Even that jerk Inuyasha could recognize.. at least some of her feelings! Speaking of which…

Like clockwork, after only a couple of sentences input from Koga, a clawed-hand ripped his hands away from Kagome’s before shoving the youkai away from her. “Hell yeah ya need a reason, there’s no woman of yours here!!”

As the same scene they had witnessed countless times replayed once more, the uninvolved members of the party stood back and searched for a place to sit, where they would wait for the routine cycle to run its course. While Sango found a comfortable place to sit against a log, Shippo hopped off of his seat on her shoulder to make his way over to Kagome. He still held some bitter feelings towards his caretaker for not trusting him on the toy incident, but, they weren’t enough to withhold his instincts to protect who he considered kin from the gruff, pushy Koga. So, while Kagome’s hands were free from that brute’s grasp, Shippo took the opportunity to jump up into her hold, occupying said hands to perhaps rescue them from being stolen up again.

Shippo looked on as Koga’s entire face narrowed in displeasure at Inuyasha’s interruption, a complete opposite of the expression he wore only seconds before. “Tk, you just keep telling yourself that, mutt,” he responded. “But, y’know what, fine — the truth is…” Before anyone could react Koga had zipped past Inuyasha and was standing at Kagome’s side again. In the girl’s arms, Shippo squinted critically up at her assaulter, but it went wholly unnoticed.

Koga continued, “I came across a youkai who was looking for jewel shards, and the bastard had mentioned a pretty girl who held some shards so, naturally I assumed it was speaking of Kagome. I was worried,” he placed gentle hands on her shoulders as he said to her, “You alright? You’re not hurt?”

Again Inuyasha interrupted, “She’s fine, flea-bag; so why dontcha get your filthy mitts offa her and get lost already!”

Shippo silently agreed — as much as he loathed to be agreeing with Inuyasha right now — and he glared even harder up at Koga, frustrated that his subtle plan of keeping his hands off of Kagome had been in vain. Koga shot the indignant hanyou a glare, while Kagome also looked back at him and addressed him, “Inuyasha… Koga’s only asking how I’m doing, there’s no harm in answering him real quick…”

“No harm in—! Hmph, well, what about letting him grab ya like that?! You let him touch ya so much you two might as well be—“

“Inuyasha…”

Here it comes, Shippo thought, the ‘sit’ Inuyasha always earns whenever Koga comes around… But, as Kagome’s warning tone had been enough for Inuyasha to shut his trap before he reached the point of no return, the command surprisingly didn’t come. Kagome softened her gaze as she looked back up at Koga. “Anyways, yes Koga, I’m alright… It’s nothing that I can’t handle,” she answered with an upbeat smile.

Her words did not seem to satisfy him, however. “Nothing that you can't handle..? Kagome…”

“Okay well, maybe I’ve gotten a few scrapes here and there, and lately I’ve been wishing we could take longer breaks,” here she pointed another look back at Inuyasha, “But I’m fine, really.”

Alarm bells went off in Shippo’s head as Koga stepped even closer to Kagome, his form towering over hers creating somewhat of a more intimate moment between them. Indignantly the protective fox-boy in her arms immediately hopped to his feet, and attempted to push the wolf-youkai’s torso away from his caretaker, but to no avail.

“Kagome,” Koga began, “I know that you want to stay with your little pack, but if you ever wish to be taken better care of, I—“

He was cut off, and nearly cut open, by a giant swing of Inuyasha’s Tetsusaiga. The dust kicked up by the massive sword’s impact with the ground gradually began to settle, as the wolf-youkai landed back on his own feet about a yard away, developing an expression of pure rage. His shoulders tensed forward, his clawed hands balled into tight fists, and his whole face narrowed, save for his nostrils flaring. “How dare you interrupt me when I’m having a moment with my woman, you mutt-faced mongrel..,” he half-growled out.

“Keh-! ‘A moment’? Sounded more like a load of bull-crap to me, you mangy wolf!”

Fight, fight, fight! Shippo’s mind chanted impishly. Inuyasha should teach that creep to leave Kagome alone! ..But, at the same time... I wouldn’t mind seeing Koga make Inuyasha suffer a bit... He’s a strong youkai, and can do what I can’t.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Inuyasha turned away from Koga, ignoring the hostile youkai for a moment, to address Kagome’s previous comment. “You’ve been wanting to rest longer? Why didn't’cha speak up about it before?!”

Shippo tilted his head upwards to observe her reaction; she blinked, her eyes widening. “Um, because... I thought you wouldn’t want to hear it..?”

“Dammit Kagome, I’ve noticed ya acting more sluggish lately… Don’t think that I’ll take any complainin’ from ya, but jeez, if it’s necessary... You’ve gotta take care of yourself!”

Somehow her eyelids and eyebrows simultaneously raised even further in astonishment, as a hint of a blush crept into her cheeks. “Inuyasha…”

Sudden movement caught Shippo’s attention to witness Inuyasha, seemingly in embarrassment, whip his face away from Kagome’s view. “W-Well, ya ain’t of any use to me dead — Not any of ya!” he awkwardly recovered.

A new voice chimed in, “Well, my neck has been bothering me quite a bit lately…”

“Shut up, Miroku!!”

Meanwhile, Shippo and Koga appeared to be the only ones who were untouched by Inuyasha’s rough admittance of care for his companions. Telling us to take care of ourselves… Pretending to care about our health… The number of blows to the head he’s given me himself are countless — I bet he’s knocked off a few years of my life, even!

The group was reminded of a certain enraged wolf-youkai’s presence when he began to let out a low growl, his eyebrow twitching at being ignored. “Hey,” he interrupted the interruption, “Well as much as I’d love to rip you apart, you half-breed scum, I don’t have time to wait for you to decide whether you’re brave enough to come at me or not.” Koga cockily played it off, as always, as if he was the one championing a victory over the day.

Inuyasha rolled his head back with pure exasperated irritation, before he turned back to face the wolf-youkai, his fingers re-clenching the handle of his Tetsusaiga. “Then get outta here already, nothing’s stopping ya.”

Koga’s nostrils flared as he sharply took in an infuriated breath, tensing up his entire body for a moment — before releasing the breath and relaxing, straightening up his back. His blue eyes flickered to Kagome and a look of remorse flashed across his features, most likely as he calculated that he could not get to her with Inuyasha standing protectively right in the way. He leaned outwards to view her whole face past Inuyasha’s form, and waved a hand as he said to her, “I don’t want to stir up trouble in front of you, Kagome, so I’ll be going now.” He winked at her. “See ya.”

With a roll of his eyes, Shippo thought, Doesn’t want to stir up trouble in front of Kagome? The moron stirs up trouble just by coming around to see her! He stuck out his tongue in distaste, as he looked up at Kagome’s face to judge her own reaction. She smiled, and the fox-boy recognized it as a purely polite one, as she waved back, “Take care, Koga.”

Fully expecting Koga to immediately turn tail and stir up a whirlwind with his departure, Shippo shielded his face, before realizing that the wolf-youkai wasn’t finished yet. With a displeased growl he turned his sour gaze back to Inuyasha, and added, “You’ll regret coming between me and my woman you low-life… I can only hope you get what’s coming to you.”

With a start, Shippo’s ear twitched as he understood the truly icy tone of Koga’s voice: revenge, a craving for it. As the elder youkai sped away into the distance, it was then that Shippo had the epiphany — he and Koga were in the same boat. Though Koga and Inuyasha were so alike in their rude, brutish ways, Koga was equally as frustrated with the hanyou as Shippo was, and equally as unable to do something about it without facing repercussions. However, there was one advantage Koga possessed that Shippo did not, and that was being a youkai of Inuyasha’s  stature, a youkai evenly matched against Inuyasha. He could perform some of the more elaborate pranks that Shippo had conceptualized in his impish-mentality; perhaps… Koga could be the indirect route that he required for truly-successful revenge on Inuyasha.

~~~

As the hours lazily dragged on, the conspirator anxiously anticipated the dark veil of nighttime to begin on his scheme of revenge. While his comrades would fall prey to their weariness and dream away, he would leave behind a false clone of himself to further avoid suspicion as he would, in actuality, be sneaking off to track down the wolf-youkai leader — the sole candidate for the position of a worthy partner-in-crime.

Staying awake through the night had proven much more testing than Shippo had initially thought, but having taken a nap earlier in the afternoon hours, he had managed to pull through. All had gone to plan; Inuyasha had no detection of his suspicious activeness in the night, and the cunning fox-youkai was now floating high over the forest terrain in his not-so-inconspicuous ballon-form, as he strained his nose to track a scent.

Being an animalistic youkai, he did possess a heightened sense of smell, but even so it was untrained and not even fully developed; it was nowhere near the level of tracking capability that youkais like Inuyasha and Koga utilized. He had barely managed to pick up the latter-youkai’s scent on the cool night air, but now the boy was finding difficulty in following the faint trail. However, unlike those canine-youkais who relied so heavily on their keen noses alone, Shippo thought to apply his perceptiveness to other methods of tracking, in order to compensate for his mediocre sense of smell. His teal eyes scanned through the darkness for trees shaken up by Koga’s whirlwind; his sharpened ears were at attention for—

Wolf howls, carrying clearly through the silent nighttime air, as if on cue. Shippo drifted in the vague direction of the echoing noise, and after a moment began to doubt his trajectory; until thankfully another howl was let loose, allowing him to pinpoint the exact location of its source. The obnoxious-looking balloon descended right above the spot, and with an unnatural pop!, transformed back into a young boy who landed on a branch of the forest’s canopy. He hopped down the layers of branches similarly to a squirrel, heading for a better view point to watch for the wolves’ alpha. He could only reveal himself if Koga was around, otherwise, his wolves probably wouldn’t hesitate to eat the young fox!

A secure branch both a couple of feet away and a couple of feet above the wolves’ heads seemed satisfactory, so there Shippo perched and began to peer out over the wolfpack. Wolves, wolves, and, more wolves... Huh. No wolf-youkais to be seen, only ordinary wolves… Could this just be a regular wolfpack that I tracked...?! In exasperation he let out a sigh of defeat, and flopped back against the tree trunk that his branch was attached to. A couple of the nearest wolves’ ears flicked towards his direction, but Shippo decided that he was at a safe enough height to have no reason to worry if they noticed his presence anymore.

Or, so he thought.

Before his brain could even process the occurrence, something had snatched him up by the tail and dragged him off the security of his branch. The boy’s eyes shot wide open with terror as he dangled precariously over the menacing hoard of wolves, thinking to himself, This is it, this is it—! This had all been a terrible idea — why did I think to go off on my own?!

“Well, well, what‘ve we got here?” a roguish voice spoke, and it was then that Shippo realized that his tail was firmly grasped in a large hand, not a snout of glistening fangs. He craned his head upwards to see the face of his assailant: Koga himself.

His intimidatingly-sharp eyes were gleaming in the moonlight and his fanged-smile was twisted up into a sardonic grin; with a shudder, Shippo recognized it as the trademark expression of a bloodthirsty killer. He had never seen the wolf-youkai make such an expression; even back when he and Kagome had first met Koga on not-so-friendly terms, when he had thrown the boy to his wolves, he had only sported a look of indifference. Now, Shippo was seeing that Koga wore it well, as if he wore it often… I thought Koga had been changed by Kagome, I thought he was our ally and wouldn’t harm me — is all the ‘ally’ shtick just for appearances, to look good in front of Kagome?! Curse him! Curse him, he’s even worse than Inuyasha! He never truly changed — I put my trust in him and now I only see him for what he truly is: evil! Evil, evil, evi—!

Shippo was so shaken by his enraged thoughts that he didn’t notice the wolf’s features shift from menacing to questioning. “Wait… Aren’t ya that little fox tyke that Kagome’s taken in?”

Said fox tyke’s scornful eyebrows shot up as he recognized a possible hook to escape from this peril. “Yeah! Yeah, I am! So you better not eat me, or else Kagome will never—!“

Koga’s fierce gaze softened, more to one of... friendliness? Yes, a sense of carefree friendliness and amusement twinkled in his sharp blue eyes, as his eyebrows relaxed to their typical cocky posture. He held up his free hand as a signal for his wolves to back down, before gently setting Shippo back upright on a nearby rock and squatting down to look him in the eye. “Well, if my woman’s taken ya in, then I’ve taken ya in,” Koga said decisively.

Okay, maybe Shippo had let the blood get to his head, and all that he had previously thought only moments ago about Koga being pure evil, was actually null and void.

“What brings you out here all alone, and at night, kid? From what I can smell, Kagome’s quite a ways away.”

Shippo breathed out a sigh of relief that he was correct in his original assumptions of Koga. “I was looking for you,” he started.

Koga raised an eyebrow. “Eh? Why, what can I do for ya?”

The fox-boy planted his hands on his knees and leaned forward conspiritively, with a sneer. “3 words: Revenge on Inuyasha.”

Now both of the wolf-youkai’s eyebrows raised... before furrowing in suspicion. “What? You’re all friends, arentcha? Is this... some kind of trick?”

“A trick? No, no no!” Shippo exclaimed and frantically waved his hands for emphasis. “All of us are friends — all of us, except for me and Inuyasha. You see, that uptight brute is always bullying me; he steals my food, insults my courage, and beats me up!! Does that sound like a friend to you?”

He actually gave it a moment of thought. “...No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

(Somewhere behind him, Ginta and Hakkaku’s faces simultaneously darken, drilling holes into the back of Koga’s head as they think, Those are exactly the things he does to us!!)

“So, ya wanna get back at Inutrasha, and you want my help for it? What do you want me to do, kid, beat him up for ya? Believe me, I’d’ve done that on my own a long time ago; but unfortunately I don’t think Kagome would appreciate that very much…”

“I already assumed you’d think as such,” the young fox replied, as he folded his arms within his loose sleeves sagely. “I can’t just use my tricks and beat him up either, he always knows it’s me and will just hurt me all over again! That’s why,” he concluded, “we should work together.”

“Work together?” Koga echoed.

“Yes. With my vast knowledge of trickery and Inuyasha himself, combined with your grown-up size and strength, together we can teach him a real lesson, and without getting in trouble for it!”

“Hmm,” Koga squinted seriously at the scheming fox-youkai. “That does sound tempting… But, what if I decide that my time is better spent hunting down Naraku, the despicable bastard that he is?”

“You yourself said it earlier: you hope Inuyasha gets what’s coming to him — This is what’s coming to him! But he won’t ever get it, not without your help!”

Although not phrased in the most eloquently compelling way, little Shippo’s meaning rang true in Koga’s ears. Pondering over the matter, he recalled that the whiff of Naraku’s scent that he and his wolves had been chasing had gone stale this morning... Perhaps his loyal companions could use a day-or-so’s respite. “Alright, you got yourself a deal, kid.”

Shippo’s harsh conniving grin softened into a genuine, beaming smile up at the wolf-youkai leader, as he henceforth decided that he preferred this gruff canine over the one he traveled with anyday. His so-called-friend Inuyasha never took his brilliant, cunning ideas seriously! Koga flashed the young fox a friendly smirk in return, before he stood back up to his full height and extended an elbow out to him, wordlessly offering a perch for the smaller youkai. Shippo graciously accepted the affable action with an effortless leap up onto the wolf’s shoulder.

Koga and his wolfpack began navigating through the trees once more as he continued, “So, what’s our first move?”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Further disclaimer: I am aware that Inuyasha ignoring Koga for a moment and not immediately going after his throat might be a bit out of character, but, I needed Inuyasha to have some sort of ‘win’ to get Koga frustrated enough to say what he did about ‘getting whats coming to him’.

And also, I saw that another of your prompts avannak was Inuyasha and Shippo having brotherly/fatherly bonding, so, don’t worry, it doesn’t end here with such negativity from Shippo towards Inuyasha! Brothers fight sometimes, and kids tend to over-exaggerate things, right? ;D hahaha