#I guess unlike canon he doesn't have to go through the arc of realizing that his real parents were the ones who raised him

[taddymason]

I have most of Lightning Pin planned (to give you an idea, the final chapter has a draft and a name even if there are more than 25 chapters left) and STILL I have no idea what Jay's reaction will be when he finds out that he is adopted or how he will find out. Nya accidentally tells him this while she's giving him a recap of the events of Skybound/Prime Empire? like:

Jay interrupting her completely confused: "... wait, what do you mean by 'bio parents'?"

Nya panicking at the realization: "...uh, yeah, about that-"

I just think. in the irony and the awkward silence, and in Jay processing it without saying anything while Kaida blinks open-mouthed in his direction.

[justplainwhump]

Nobody is Coming

Bradley isn't picked up from school.

Both canon in the later arcs of Pet Safety and Angel, set shortly after Pirate Lady.

Content / warnings: Recovery, loss, the feeling of being left behind, implied parental neglect. An unlikely pair of hurt people maybe about to grow together. Implication of BBU setting.

Bradley was perched on the little stone wall by the school's music wing, his guitar case next to him. Class was over, but he wasn't going to be picked up.

"Your pet is never late," Mr Oliver, the music teacher, commented after a long stare at his watch.

Wrong on so many levels, Bradley thought. But he didn't say it. He didn't ask him to call Rosa by her name instead of her status, either. He had done so, hundreds of times. Stood up for her, or at least tried to. And she hadn't even turned around when she left him.

"She's not coming," Bradley said.

Mr Oliver frowned. "Well. Who is?"

Bradley shrugged. "Nobody."

"I'm going to call your Da-" He stopped with a sudden flush of redness burning on his cheeks. Bradley gritted his teeth. He'd internally dared him to say it out loud.

Dad. Dead. Mom. Refusing to answer her phone. Probably drunk on mimosas in some day spa. Sister. Ran off to California first chance she got. Rosa. Rosa. Left with a stranger without turning around.

"Nobody." Bradley repeated stoically.

"Well, I'm going to call someone to pick you up."

Bradley shrugged again. The police, he wondered. Social services?

"Isn't your uncle in town, too?"

Tim.

Bradley shot his teacher a long look. Was Mr Oliver the only one in town who hadn't excessively read every single detail about the drama that had left both his father and uncle killed?

"Dead," he said shortly.

"Aunt?"

I don't have an aunt, he wanted to say. But he did, he realized. Angelina. The woman his mother blamed for literally everything that had happened in the past horrible months. The one who 'destroyed the family'.

She hadn't, Bradley thought. Their family had been rotten within. Angelina had just brought all the rot to the surface.

His mother would hate it.

"Um." Bradley said. "Yeah. I guess."

He didn't have her mobile number, but he found a landline in Uncle Tim's contact.

Mr Oliver turned away as he called, but someone did seem to answer, because he started to quickly speak into the phone.

"She's coming," he said to Bradley, after he hung up. And then, with a sudden gravity to his voice, as if he'd just now realized that Bradley had indeed had some pretty not great weeks, he added "I'll wait here with you."

-

Twenty minutes late, Angelina Harris turned around the corner in Uncle Tim's sleek black Mercedes. When she got out, the wind played with her long blond hair, billowed into the light blue coat and exposed her white silk blouse and tight blue jeans.

Next to him, Mr Oliver sucked in some air. Bradley grimaced. Yeah. Some men did that, when they saw her.

"Ms Harris," he said and strode forward to clasp her hand between both his. "So sorry for your loss."

Angelina tilted her head politely, her mouth curved into a tiny, pained smile.

She was better at the act than himself, Bradley figured. Whenever someone offered him condolences he couldn't do anything else but shrug it off rudely.

He jumped from the wall and pushed himself and his guitar through them, breaking off his teacher's grasp of her hand.

"Thank you for waiting with me, Sir," he said. "My aunt has got it from here. Bye."

Almost embarrassed, Mr Oliver stepped back, as Bradley stowed his guitar on the back seat and slid onto the passenger seat.

Angelina got in at the same time, pulled the door shut, but didn't turn on the ignition.

Instead she turned over to face him, hands in her lap, one eyebrow raised.

"Do I?" She asked.

"What?"

"Have got it from here? It sure doesn't feel like it." She frowned. "Why me, Bradley?"

He didn't look her in the eyes. He tried to count the freckles on her cheeks instead. "Rosa left," he mumbled. "Everyone left."

"Why me? Your mother hates me. She-" Angelina paused, suddenly pale under her freckles. "Wait. What happened to Rosa? Did your mother do something? Did she send her -"

Bradley shook his head. "Mum doesn't even know yet, I think." He stared down at his fingers. "Rosa just walked out."

"Pets don't -"

"Call her Rosa," he snapped. "She's a person, the only person who ever -" Cared about me, he thinks. Loved me. But she didn't. He had seen what love looked like on Rosa's face, when the stranger rang at their door. She'd never loved him.

Something cool wrapped around his wrist and only belated did he realize it was Angelina's hand. "Don't." She said. "Don't hurt yourself."

Numbly he started at his knuckles. They hurt. A little blood welled up from a small cut. He'd punched the window.

"Sorry," he whispered. "Sorry, I-"

"Can you drive?"

The question was so strange, it stopped him from rocking in the seat.

"I'm fourteen," he said plainly.

"That's not what I asked."

"I'm not allowed to drive."

"Can you?"

He remembered hours on the parking lot of the closed convenience store, Sloane by his side, patiently guiding him. Their plan had been to take the care and just drive West steadily. Change drivers, when one of them would have to sleep, Sloane had explained. Get away from their parents influence as quickly as possible, and build up a new life somewhere else.

She'd done it, in the end. Without him.

"Yeah," he admitted. "I can."

"I can't," she said, just as plainly. "You drive us home."

"You got here, somehow."

"Barely." She dropped the key on his lap.

"It's illegal."

"Fuck the rules." She seemed startled herself by her words, but also somewhat... delighted.

Stunned, Bradley took the keys.

They didn't get out to change seats. On some silent agreement, she slid over onto the passenger seat under him, before he shifted to the driver's seat.

"Rules that only enforce oppression need to be broken." She bit her lip, and the matter seemed to important to her, that Bradley didn't see fit to tell her that traffic rules had been implemented to safe lives. It probably wasn't the point here. "Rosa broke your mom's rules and I hope she found freedom." She looked at him from clear brown eyes, a stare so intense that he couldn't break free. "She broke your rules, too, Bradley, didn't she? But if she's a person, as you say, and as I think she is, too, these rules ate wrong. Have been wrong, for all your lifetime. The rules were her prison. And she left it."

Her smile was soft. "It's good that you called me. You were wrong, thinking that I've got it from here. But I think I'm a step closer to figuring it out."

She didn't say So are you.

He heard it anyway. And maybe, she was right.

"Tell me where we're going," he said, and turned the key in the ignition.

Angelina leaned back in her seat, squinted at the blue afternoon sky.

"The sea," she suggested. "What about that?"

Bradley smiled.

[hopeswriting]

i think the point about how it's a common practice to set up a meeting with an antagonist by first introducing their minions is a solid argument, you're right! especially when you think about how colonnello and skull made full appearances when they were first introduced like you said. because why wasn't verde there to show up after his assassins were caught and try something else to finish the job? (well, i guess one argument would be that it isn't the smartest move for one, and what's the point to hire assassins but still go with them and risk getting caught with them too lol. especially when verde's the smartest person in the world.) skull was first introduced as an antagonist too, and he still got to make a full appearance immediately.

actually now that i think about it, none of the other arcos are introduced through that set up method? well, uni kinda was, as when we first see her we only know she's the second boss of millefiore even when she's an arco too, which was evident from the pacifier around her neck, and only later with gamma's flashback we realize she's actually one of the good guys. and fon maybe kinda was too? i don't remember if we learn immediately that fon's i-pin's master, if reborn points it out or something. i think in the anime he does, but i'm not sure for the manga. either way, none of the other arcos are set up in a clear antagonistic way like verde was, not even skull who was targeting mafia land and had no idea tsuna was there, while verde's target was tsuna, the protagonist. (also of course viper was an antagonist to tsuna too, but that happened at the same time as they were introduced to us. the fact they were an arco too was set up to be a plot twist, but their antagonistic-ness wasn't, unlike the way it seems to have been planned to be for verde.)

and then amano made him one of the three people who created the box weapons. and okay, it doesn't necessarily antagonize him further because you can't just blame scientists for the way other people use their inventions (unless of course said inventions were expressly invented with a nefarious purpose to them, and for sure the box weapons didn't help lower the deaths and violence and thirst for ever more power in the mafia lol, but also their use still depends on the people who use them), but learning about that fact amidst the future arc certainly didn't help seeing it in a neutral way, let alone a good one. especially when it's said they were selling them to the mafia as weapons dealers to fund their researches of them (or was it only one or the two others scientists who were said to have done that?). and then amano makes a point of showing us reborn asking him if he could be trusted to send them back to the past without trying anything in the process.

and wow, when you put all this back to back like this, it's really evident amano was writing him in a completely different way right until the rainbow arc, huh. very interesting.

and it's so galaxy brained of you to link that to the assassinations of mafia bosses fae, holy shit. which does really feel like something that was planned to become a proper plotline!! okay so a little correction here, but we actually don't know how long ago before canon nono's three sons were killed. all we know is that they died in the eight years xanxus was frozen. and i mean, all three of them dying in eight years? like, i'm no specialist on mafia deaths statistics lol, but it looks suspiciously quick. especially when they were the vongola heirs, so their security would have been top-notch. and they'd likely have had increased it after xanxus' attempted coup, as to literally everyone but nono who was the only one who knew xanxus would have never been able to become vongola decimo anyway, him attempted a coup and failing it was also vongola losing one of its heirs. also his three sons dying in the eight years xanxus was frozen? almost like the aftermath of xanxus' coup would have left vongola weakened and would have been the most opportune moment to go after another heir. and then of course as they kept succeeding, weakening vongola further, despite how once again the security around the remaining heirs must have increased every time, they weren't about to stop and lose their momentum. (and yes, i'm aware i'm talking about heirs here and not bosses, but vongola nono must literally be the hardest mafioso to kill. so if you can get rid of a family by killing their boss, getting rid of their heirs instead is another way to go about it, right?)

like, it all tracks? and i don't think it was ever hinted that i-pin's target was a mafia boss? but if so it'd strengthen this theory further, yeah. and something else that'd strengthen it is that tsuna had assassins going after him only after he was chosen as vongola decimo, even if before that, as the cedef boss' son, he was almost just as much of a prized target worth taking the risk to go after. and the world's greatest hitman being chosen as his tutor? maybe it was less about reborn's skills as a tutor, and more about how he was literally the strongest person to protect the last remaining vongola heir. i mean!!!!

and okay, i do seem to remember that the way it was framed in the manga, the assassinations were something recent and--wait, didn't reborn put the blame on verde for them, saying it was so he could test his camouflage suits? or did he only say whoever was behind it was using his camouflage suits? either way there's that, plus the fact that assassins going after mafia bosses would be something common in the mafia that'd happen here and now, right? but that said, putting all this back to back like this too, it really seems we were going for a plotline where someone was going after mafia bosses, and verde would have had a major/central/key antagonistic role in it. or not even an antagonistic role tbh. maybe it'd just have been that the culprits were using his inventions to do their job. and that he unknowingly (or knowingly) helped them do that because it was the opportunity to test his inventions and fund his researches like you said. oh i almost forgot, but even if it's the case, i agree it's very unlikely he had anything to do with the death of nono's three sons, yeah!

and yes, agree too that in the rainbow arc, verde (and his relationship with reborn) is much more chill than we were led to assume he'd be. it's like i said before, but when you look at the way he was written in the anime and the way he's written in the last arc, it's like, what the hell happened here lol?? and i actually made a post about this myself once, because it's the same effect even if you only look at the manga. namely there's this cover chapter in the last arc showing all the arco and their titles/what made them arco, and apparently verde's known as a mad scientist but like... literally where?? when did he ever show that kind of disposition, the anime notwithstanding? now of course he clearly doesn't care to be ethical in his researches and in building his inventions, nor does he care that other people might use them in non-ethical ways, but it's like... yeah, that's because he's mafia too. if anything it'd be worth pointing out more if he did care about it. and it's not nearly enough to call him mad.

(and here comes your friendly reminder that in the meantime, reborn is literally the WORLD'S GREATEST HITMAN. and it might not make him mad, but it sure as hell doesn't make him ethical either. and god, does it make him monstrous.)

this was all super interesting, thanks fae!!

hi fae! i AM curious about your ideas about verde and especially about how you felt he was forshadowed if you feel like elaborating? 👀

(also yeah, team forever and ever taking their sweet time zesrdfcgf!! 😌🥰)

Hi Hope!

So, I only know of one point of foreshadowing for Verde specifically. I haven't reread the manga in a while (a few weeks to a year to not at all, depending on the arc), and I haven't really rewatched the anime since I first saw it around 2012. (However, I do rewatch the Verde episodes sometimes.) So this won't be as comprehensive as I'd like. (Sorry) Also note that this whole thing will be full of my own interpretations and theories on the manga (and a little of the anime). So some things may be biased,etc. Also, manga spoilers!

Now then, what makes me think he is foreshadowed? Chapter 53 of the manga.

In this chapter, Verde is mentioned by some of his hired assassins to have sent them to target Tsuna. He apparently has been going after bosses and their successors. (I assume this is because he was hired by another person to do this in order to make some side money for his experiments as well as test out those camouflage suits.) The attempt fails, and Tsuna tells the defeated assassins to send Verde his reguards.

Now, what's interesting to note is when any form of plot goes out of its way for an "antagonist" to send a minion after the main character, this serves as a setup for a later encounter.

Another thing to note is that at least two of the three Vongola successors, Timoteo's sons, were also assassinated near the beginning of the manga. (One was shot in a feud, but that could potentially be seen as a cover-up. The other was drowned and another reduced to nothing but bone.) As well as the fact I-pin seems to have been sent to kill what looks like another boss during her introduction chapter, all of this points to the fact that someone was hiring assassins** to take out mafia bosses. Which, I believe this was a plot point hinted at, but it never seemed to have come into fruition. (Unless I'm forgetting something 😅)

**I know Verde isn't an assassin, but he seems to run some type of business or side business where he leaves out assassins who work for him and use the gear and weapons he's invented.

It should also be noted that I don't think that Verde had a hand in any of Timoteo's sons deaths. His method seems to be hiring assassins to inject poison into his targets.

So yeah, I kind of think there is some sort of hinted at future plot point that would have involved Verde. I don't know if he would have been a major antagonist or not. However, I can't help but note that up until Verde was mentioned, both Colonnello and Skull made full appearances. I don't think any other Arcobaleno were mentioned before that, and if nothing was being set up, then it would make more sense for him to make an appearance. Yet, he didn’t. Which further makes me think something was being set up, but it was scraped or forgotten.

Another interesting thing to note about chapter 53 is how unphased Reborn is by that, but in anime (I think in the filler), Reborn does explicitly state not to trust Verde. Yet! During the Rainbow arc, they seem more like typical anime rivals---minus all the fighting, of course. What I mean is, when you read their interactions during the climax of that arc, when everyone has gathered together to defeat Bermuda, they seem a little more friendly towards each other than what the anime has lead me to believe. In the anime, I'm sure Reborn states a few times not to trust Verde. Or that he doesn't.

However, in the manga, right before Verde activates his boss watch, they have a moment where Reborn is like, "But, Verde! You don't fight!" And just does the typical anime rivals scoff and is essentially like "I have an ace up sleeve!" It's very subtle, but oh my gosh, it reads so much like this for me! And of course, when Reborn activates his boss watch on that final fight, Verde just stands next to a robot version of Reborn. Like Verde didn’t have to pretend to TALK to Reborn. He didn’t have to keep up the act. But he did so Tsuna wouldn’t catch on to the fact that "Reborn's friend" was just Reborn's uncursed form. Which is sweet, and they are totally frenemies and---

I'm gonna leave it at that. Hopefully, this all makes sense. I might have a habit of over reading all the Verde parts in the manga, lol 🤣

(Usually, yes!!! But the chance to talk about Verde was dangled right in front of face! So I took it 😊💚)

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO SEE YOUR ANSWER TO MY ASK; thank you so much for answering though, omg I wasn't expecting to receive an entire analysis in response, it made me so happy 😭💚 Since I need more people to talk about Mushitarou with, now I wanna ask, do you have any headcanons for him and/or Yokomizo? 🥺👉👈 I want to write fic for them, but it's really hard considering that we know so little about both of them :' ) I'm also curious, do you have any thoughts as to why Yokomizo's face is shadowed? I think it would make sense if we couldn't see his face before the truth is revealed, as a representation of how Mushi is trying to distance himself from reality and him/forget about him/lie to himself about not caring about him (which is why I theorized the anime might reveal his face when said truth is revealed, but they didn't do that, rip), but during the final scene and even later in Mushi's hallucinations, his face is still obscured, so... I don't know. I just think it would have been powerful to see his face more clearly as Mushi heals more and is more accepting of his grief and how much he misses Yokomizo... but maybe it'll happen if when we get more of his arc later. Or maybe I'm just totally missing something and being delusional lol

Again, thank you so much for the detailed response before; Mushi needs so much more love 🥺💚

Why are you apologizing??? It's ok! I appreciate you reading it all in the first place! I'm really happy to talk about his character at any time. (Nice icon, btw!)

First off, if you do end up writing anything about him and/or Yokomizo, I would love to see it! That is, if you're ok with sharing it. :)

Headcanons, huh? Hm... you see, normally I try to pull at least a few things from the original authors' stories but... sad to say I know nothing about their irl inspirations asides from them being mystery writers, I believe, and that they did know each other.

I guess, here's a few thoughts from off the top of my head? They're not all headcanons exactly, but this is kind of the way I see them.

Yokomizo is the kind of person who is completely unfazed by anything that's not happening in his novels. I bet that when Mushitaro showed up with a completely different face he just went... "huh" and went back to writing and asking him for opinions.

Mushitaro argues on principle. Not because he actually disagrees or anything but just because he's a bit of a disagreeable person by nature. People like Poe or Ranpo will want him to do something with them and he needs to act like he doesn't want to, before finally relenting (he's still grumbling about it though). (<-he is secretly pleased people want to spend time with him)

Mushitaro canonically likes the occult, and if you can get him talking about this topic he can go on for a very long time, and he actually looks excited and eager about it - at least until he regains his self-awareness. Then he's back to pretending he's not that excited by it.

Yokomizo and Mushitaro met when they were preteens. Neither one had other friends and Mushitaro decided to announce his arrival by attempting to explain the mystery book Yokomizo was reading to... resident mystery expert, Yokomizo. (I believe Mushitaro was especially pompous what he was younger, and unfortunately also often wrong.) Yokomizo spent a very long time correcting him on mysteries and was so ecstatic that someone listened through the whole thing that he kept ambushing Mushitaro at school for his thoughts on various mysteries he was reading. Mushitaro absolutely thought he was being bullied for weeks before he realized that the other boy was attempting to befriend him.

Mushitaro is actually the sentimental type, unlike Yokomizo, who really isn't all that much. From the outside, it appears to be the opposite, since Yokomizo is prone to fantastic and excitable discussions of his new ideas while Mushitaro is seemingly dismissive and more realistic. However, Yokomizo is more than capable of scrapping beloved projects he's been working on for months if they aren't up to his standards (I think he's a bit of a perfectionist), while Mushitaro has a difficult time throwing away anything with sentimental value.

I am curious about Mushitaro's past a little; not in that I think it was anything really tragic or dramatic, but mostly in the way his father apparently told him to be kind to strangers, the way he can't seem to be all that assertive despite his posturing, the way his core coping mechanism appears to be just flat out denying he has sentimental feelings (even before Yokomizo's death). Idk. Something there.

I think further development of Mushitaro's dynamic with Ango could be really interesting. Assuming a future where he does get to start with the Special Division and Ango is not fired, I'd like to see them working together somehow. I think they could really play off each other well and that they'd have a lot of growth potential in that sense. Honestly, I'd take anymore interactions between them as I can get.

That's about it, honestly. Do you have any headcanons for them?

As for Yokomizo's face being shadowed, I feel like it has everything to do with this only being the Yokomizo in Mushitaro's mind. Even before his death, the Yokomizo we see is filtered through Mushitaro's memories of these events, and I suppose it's an artistic way to express how he's blocked some stuff out, like you said, but probably also to indicate that Yokomizo is not coming back.

There's a similar thing done in the manga and 55 Minutes with Oda whenever Dazai reminisces about him; I don't believe his face is ever shown, though it's not shadowed like Yokomizo's. So, that's what I suspect.

I hope these made some degree of sense... they're not super backed by canon, but I guess that's why they're headcanons huh? Haha.

He absolutely needs more love. I'm hoping people discuss him more after the anime.

Anyone who wants to, feel free to drop any headcanons you have about these two here!