#I love shiro's face

[autisticlancemcclain]

happy birthday to the boy with the biggest bleeding heart in the universe. keith kogane i love you

[3080ti]

What Did You Eat Yesterday? (きのう何食べた?), Chapter 143

by Fumi Yoshinaga

[kuron-vld]

dont get me wrong i love me some good twinganes as much as the next guy but also i cant deny the appeal shiro kuron hostility has for me........ i think shiro having negative feelings abt his clone (and vice versa) is sooo fun. what if you looked in the mirror and hated what you saw. what if you stared at your reflection and it glared right back.

[evie-doesnt-write]

Why is Voltron on my mind……

[askmeanjudge]

[komohine]

“Second place: James!”

He was first in many things, but seemingly never the things that actually mattered.

1: He was only 4 when his parents stopped pretending to love him. His bedtime stories fell second to their own interests, and he was forced to face the dark alone.

2: Debate was a great extracurricular in his father’s eyes, but only if he got first place. Second place, according to his father, was a loser’s place. He got second that day. By then he had learned to not cry.

3: Even in the trial exam Shiro had brought to their middle school, James was second to Keith. It was frustrating, how his endless dedication and hard work seemed unable to surpass Keith’s raw talent.

4: When it was announced that Shiro and the rest of the crew had died, James had done everything in his power to keep Keith from spiralling. When Keith got expelled, James chased after him, clad in his sleep wear. It was pathetic. But he didn’t cry. At least he didn’t cry.

5: Maybe James was the foolish one, to think that Keith would settle after 6 years of war. To think that he wouldn’t leave again. But Keith had more work to do in the stars, and James was duty bound to Earth. They parted, James gifting a bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums, pink camellias, forget me nots, his heart buried within the petals.

[side note, panel 4 does not align with my personal headcanons but i wanted 5 panels and this was the only thing i could come up with lol]

[justwinginglife]

Friends With Benefits ft Soshiro Hoshina

Soshiro just fucked your brains out and had the gall to ask you to bake him cookies afterwards.

You pant against the pillowcase, hands still gripping the sheets tight. "Excuse me??"

He smirks. "You heard me. Cookies. I want 'em."

You roll your eyes, wiping sweat off your brow and turning to look at him. "You're ridiculous, you know that Shiro?"

He grins. "What are friends for?"

You roll your eyes again at that word. Friends. What a strange word to use for whatever this was. You and Soshiro had been close ever since you joined the defense force together, always pushing each other to train harder and bantering with each other to no end. Then one night after everyone had gone to bed, you found yourself alone with your hand and he'd walked in on you to your shock and embarrassment. But he just smirked and offered to help and ever since then you've had this little arrangement for whenever one of you needed to blow off steam. It was convenient at first, but then you'd be minding your own business brushing your teeth or eating dinner- something unassuming- and you'd find yourself thinking about the way his neck looked when he swallowed or the way his back looked after you'd dug your nails into it. Then it wasn't even about the sexy things anymore, it was the way he absentmindedly started playing with your hair when he was bored or the way he chewed when he was eating your cookies. Right. He wanted you to make him cookies. You shake your head to snap yourself out of it.

You pull yourself out of his bed, groaning at the effort, and then throw on one of his oversized t-shirts. "If I burn myself, I expect you to kiss it better." You tell him, starting to preheat the oven.

He laughs. "If you burn yourself, I'll be shocked. You've made me so many batches of cookies before, you should be able to do it in your sleep."

You start pulling ingredients out of the fridge and say to him, "I bet one of these days you'll actually ask me to do it in my sleep too. You're shameless, you know that?"

He grins cheekily. "You just can't say no to me, I've got to take advantage of it where I can."

You roll your eyes again but start mixing up the cookie batter because, as he said, you just can't say no to him. He'd been your closest friend for so long, and to your surprise, he'd started to become something else to you too. But you couldn't let him find out about that. He'd never let you hear the end of it.

You place the bits of balled up dough onto a baking sheet and pop it into the oven, setting the timer.

"You're cooking dinner since I just did dessert. You know that's the deal." You poke him in the arm. He feigns being offended but he gets started cooking. You watch as he pulls on that familiar apron he always wears when he cooks you dinner. After you accidentally discovered he was a great cook by stealing a bite of his bento box at lunch one day, you'd forced him to cook for you frequently after that and he claimed that he wanted your baking as compensation.

It was hard to imagine life without him at this point. You sigh, earning a concerned look from him. He set his knife down on the cutting board. "What is it? C'mon, you don't make that face for nothing." He tucks a finger gently under your chin and props it up so you're meeting his gaze.

"I'm just hungry and you're slow." You lie.

He laughs slightly but he shakes his head at you in a knowing way. "You may be hungry, but I know that's not what you're really thinking about. I'm here when you wanna talk, okay?" He continues to cook, letting you have some space to think. He's too damn considerate for his own good. If he keeps this up, you could really be in love with him.

You fidget with your fingers. The kitchen starts to fill with wonderful smells and you inhale, letting the scent of his familiar cooking warm you. You close your eyes and try to relax as you listen to him hum to himself while he starts to fry things on the stove. You sense that he is looking over at you every couple minutes just to make sure you're doing okay and it drives you crazy. So damn considerate, you think to yourself again, frustrated.

Finally you sigh, exasperated and you open your eyes, about to say something when he presents you with a plate of food. Your eyes gleam and you happily accept. He watches you carefully as you eat and you try not to think too much about how his beautiful eyes are focused so intently on you.

"So-" He starts, but the oven timer beeps. You shoot up out of your chair and go to take the cookies out of the oven, thankful for the distraction. He looks like he wants to say something but the smell of cookies distracts him, and he starts crowding around you to get a view of the sweets.

"Hot. Okay?" You warn him, knowing that if you weren't there, he would've burned himself shoveling these things into his mouth.

He nods quickly, but you can tell he's impatient for the cookies. You laugh and poke the tip of his nose. He grins. "What was that for?"

"You're just like a little puppy. Wagging your tail, waiting for treats." You tease and he rolls his eyes at you, playfully yanking you towards him and ruffling your hair.

He realizes he has time to ask his question since he has to wait for the cookies to cool down, so he loosens his grip on you, it's just enough so he can face you properly but not enough that he can't feel your warmth on his skin. "So what's going on?" He asks finally.

You sigh. "Can't we just wait for the cookies in peace?"

He shakes his head no. He's let you have your time to think but now he wants to help.

You sigh again. Might as well get it over with. "What are we?" You ask, cautiously.

He blinks. "What do you mean?"

You rest your forehead in your palm, wondering how you're going to explain this to him.

"Like what am I to you?" You say again, unprepared for the sweat that's started to trickle down the back of your neck and the heat that's started to rise in your cheeks. The words that you've spilled into the air seem to want to crawl back down your throat and hide for dear life in your stomach.

He blinks again. "You're my best friend?"

Great. So now he's just bestfriend-zoned you. And since when were you best friends anyway?? This relationship of yours is escalating both too quickly and not quickly enough. You groan. You're in love with the sweetest, sexiest, smartest man alive and yet somehow he's an idiot when it comes to stuff like this. You're going to have to put it bluntly. Very bluntly.

"Soshiro. We fuck. I bake you cookies. We fuck. You text me all the time saying you miss me. We fuck. We share secrets and jokes with each other. We fuck, again. What in the hell are we? Lovers, idiots? Serious, unserious? Give it to me straight." Your words tumble out like they're falling down stairs, once they gain momentum you can't stop until you've hit the bottom. You don't realize just how desperately you need his answer until the chaotic mess that is your feelings crashes through your lips and lands at his feet.

Please answer me. Don't answer, don't tell me what you think. Ignore what I just said. Tell me what you're thinking. Don't tell me. I need to know. I don't want to know.

Your thoughts bound back and forth in your head like a tennis ball constantly changing sides on the court.

The silence in the air is so loud that it almost splits your skull. Your ears feel like they're bleeding from the lack of a response. You're spiraling. This is it. This is how we end.

He grabs your chin and forces you to look at him again. Your heart stops. You see his eyes. They're warm and light and they make you feel like everything is going to be okay. He finally smiles at you. Yeah. Everything's okay now.

You exhale softly, not even realizing you'd been holding your breath.

He cups your face in his hands and rubs your cheeks softly with his thumbs.

"Well how about we start with what you want to be? Can we start there?" He asks gently, as though you've got all the time in the world to answer.

You nod slowly. "I-I want to be more."

He smiles. "Okay. I can do that. How much more?"

You flush red.

"I see I'm going to have to take the lead on this one." He chuckles. "Okay, will you settle for being my girlfriend for now? Let's see where this thing goes, and see if we want to do more than just date, yeah?"

You nod again.

He kisses your cheek and it's not the rough, hungry, demanding kiss that you're used to. It's sweet and soft and you think you could do with a few more of these kisses. You tap your other cheek and he laughs but he leans in to kiss the other one too.

"Now, can I please have my cookies?" He teases.

You roll your eyes. "Most insufferable boyfriend ever." You shove a cookie in his mouth.

"But a happy boyfriend, nonetheless." He winks at you.

Yeah, you could get used to this.

[mellorine-dreams]

Always thinking about these pics and their cute backstory

So here Kato says something like: “Actually, Mephisto loves magic and is practicing secretly.”

But here she explains: “Even when he occasionally succeeds, Mephisto is disappointed because people think he did it with magic. (I think she means his demonic powers)”

So Meph, the King of Time and Space, loves magic tricks but usually fails at them which is so funny and cute. Like the one thing that comes naturally to him he has trouble doing by human means. But when he DOES succeed in magic tricks everyone thinks he cheated using his powers LMAO! Shiro’s disbelief and Meph’s angry face are just so amazing 🤣 💖 I love fun lore like this

[electricboogaloosstuff]

Spoilers post canon

Kinda tired of the "Laios need Kabru to tell him to do literally anything in his king job post canon" like yes, Laios is extremely off putting when he talks about his special interest and fail to pick up social clue until they punch him in the face (Toshiro they'll never make me hate you but please learn some additionnal steps between "acting like you're still in your japanese household" and "I Will Break Your Face")

BUT

My boy is a good leader, autism be damned. He didn't even whisper a word about eating monster before the beginning of the serie because he knew it would be strange to other people. He only told Tenshiro about the Crimes™ because he considered him his best friend (and Shiro is his friend ! The miscommunication is strong with these two but they do care about each other !). He told Kabru about eating monster because Kabru straight up told him "omgggg that's like, so interesting" while twirling his hair around his finger (that's one is on you Kabru, don't put yourself in your own PTSD nightmare for the bit please).

He is also observant of his party's personnality and strenght and know when he need to let someone else do the job (also why Kabru is his advisor, Laios know that Kabru is way more skilled in inter personnal relationship than him, especially when it's about people Laios doesn't know/care about like foreign dignitaries). Yes, outsider of his party are wary of him but he is still a stand up guy. And when he became a king, I have no doubt that his people will love him in the long run.

That being said, he absolutely needs Kabru ! That off putting motherfucker is very skilled and care about everything Laios cannot even force himself to give a fuck about. Alone they're good but lack something that would allow to them be good king. Together, they're unstoppable.

Anyway, Laios is an adult with his strenghts and weaknesses, but he is not a innocent little baby that need to be told how to say hi to people.

[keiffeine]

HELLOOOO ^^ i just read again ur jealous keith nsfw and i was just wondering if u still wrote for vld!!! need more jealous keith content pls🤲🤲 anyways i love ur writing!!! keep it up!!!<3

with gender-neutral reader.

genre: suggestive towards the cut

author’s note: super duper freaking late on this anon. so, so sorry, but thanks for your request!! it is so hard to get my ass to write and it’s the first time i’ve posted something in so long. (all 5 active keiffeine fans cheering rn.) some hcs are sort of repeats from the first part—just think of it as a revision. ;P a little rushed towards the end!

reposting, plagiarizing, modifying, and translating is not allowed.

part one of jealous keith here!

• keith hates when he has moments of jealousy. he feels like he’s being ridiculous. he trusts you, and he knows that you’ll never leave him, but he can’t help it. the stupid voice in the back of his mind keeps feeding him false ideas and he just can’t seem to quiet it down.

• this mostly occurs during diplomatic events, when aliens are chatting you up, making you laugh and smile. he feels his stomach coil uncomfortably. what are they saying? are they making you swoon with stupid jokes and witty pickup lines? do you think they’re more attractive than he is?

• the thought of walking over, pulling you away with a half-assed excuse is tempting, but he forces himself not to. he doesn’t want to look like some sort of pathetic, possessive boyfriend who couldn’t stand not having his partner’s attention on him.

• he’s very avoidant about it, as he’s not a fan of talking about all the jealousy stuff. if he thinks he’s ridiculous in his own mind, it would be even worse telling someone out loud. at some point, shiro asks him what’s wrong, notices the way keith’s got a tight grip around his cup. to which keith responds—“it’s nothing.”

• at the end of the night, keith’s still noticeably tense even when you return to your shared room. the tension between you is thick and uncomfortable. keith avoids your eyes, jaw clenched as he takes off his paladin armor.

• you follow suit and start stripping to get ready for bed, too, but the silence is absolutely killing you.

• “keith, are you alright?” you ask, turning your head to face him. you’re met with his naked back, muscles flexing with every movement. in any other scenario, the sight would’ve turned you on, but you can’t think of anything else but to resolve this awkwardness between you.

• “yeah, why wouldn’t i be?” keith responds. it’s a little too quick, as if automatic. his voice is stiff and clipped, and it makes you bite your lip nervously.

• you turn away and slowly pull on a shirt. it’s silent again for a good minute until keith suddenly presses up against your back, hands wrapping around your middle. he pulls you closer so your back is pressed right up to his bare chest, the heat of his body melting through the fabric of your shirt.

• you suck in a breath when keith presses his lips to the back of your neck, trailing down slowly, ending at your shoulder. he’s silent, and then: “i love you.” it’s soft, quiet. there’s a hint of nervousness to it that makes you borrow your eyebrows.

• “i love you, too,” you respond, cheeks growing warm while you turn your head just slightly to look at him over your shoulder. “you’re sure you’re okay?”

• “just…” keith bites his bottom lip, choosing his words carefully. “just wanna show you how much i love you.”

• he takes you to the bed, the rest of the night going by in a blur. keith’s on top of you and your lips clash in passionate, messy kisses. eventually, your clothes come off one by one, scattered all over the floor, with your legs hitched onto his hips. “you’re mine, okay? no one else’s.” keith grunts, hips snapping against yours, causing you to gasp. you almost see white for a split-second, voice caught in your throat so you nod instead.

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[bluemantics]

the art of tending

Keith has a lot of scars. Some are more visible than others, but Lance makes sure each one receives the proper care that it requires. In the morning, as he sweeps into the kitchen with languid stretching, he slides up to the counter beside his love. Ever the early-riser, Keith smiles at him as he scrambles eggs. 

“Good morning, Lance.” Keith isn’t one for pet names, which never matters— the way he says Lance is enough. It echoes in the crisp morning air, traveling out through the ajar windows. 

It’s too early for words, so Lance cradles Keith’s jawline in his hand. He relishes in the feeling of his wedding band pressing softly against Keith’s scarred cheek for a moment before pressing a kiss into its slight ridges. His husband hums, content. 

They linger in mornings, now. And both of them are endlessly thankful for the ability to wake up slowly, together. 

Throughout their days on Earth, teaching occupies a large sum of their time. The students at the Garrison are brilliant. Lance has a fondness for one girl in particular, a 16-year-old named Vidhi who loves the simulator and loves pranks even more. He scolds her, of course, in an attempt to not be obvious with his favorites. Still, she knows that she can always come to him. It’s a source of pride for Lance. 

As wonderful as they are, they can also be… challenging. Lance is grading papers when Keith storms into his empty classroom at lunchtime. He throws himself into the chair opposite Lance with a drawn-out huff, dramatically leaning forward on the desk. 

“Carlo, again?” Lance doesn’t even look up, continuing to work. 

“He’s skipping math. I asked him about it, and he said that he’d rather fly, and that he doesn’t like the other kids. In less polite words,” Keith explains, balling up his hand in a fist. “I want to be there for him, I do, but he isn’t ever there for himself. It’s so—“ 

“Oh, Keith,” Lance clucks his tongue, drawing a glare out of his beloved. 

“Don’t do that,” Keith complains. “Just say what you have to say.”

“Carlo is a trouble kid right? Always does what he wants? Kinda a lone wolf?” Lance levels an unimpressed look at Keith. 

“Yeah?” Keith raises an eyebrow, clearly confused and frustrated.

“So, he’s like you, babe.” A range of emotions flash over Keith’s face. Indignation morphs into thoughtfulness before settling on realization. 

“Oh, shit.” He pushes back his bangs, eyes wide, and looks down at his hands with panic. “How am I supposed to even start with him? He’ll see right through me, and I am not equipped to handle an emotionally unstable kid. This is a horrible—“

Lance grabs Keith’s hand, forcing him to meet his eyes. “This is a wonderful idea. Who better to help him than a person who understands him? Who will treat him like an equal?”

“I don’t know where to begin, Lance,” Keith whispers. Lance rubs his thumb over Keith’s knuckles.

“Yes, you do.” He uses his free hand to turn around the frame on his desk. In it is a picture of the team, all smiling proudly while hugging one another. Lance taps the photo. 

“Shiro.” Keith follows his gesture, grabbing the photo and looking at it contemplatively. 

“Shiro,” Lance agrees, watching him take that information in. “You don’t have to be perfect, red. God knows Shiro wasn’t— he was just as young as we are now— but if you can do what he did for you… that’s powerful stuff.”

“Yeah,” Keith mumbles, glancing back up at Lance. “Okay, yeah. I can try.”

“I know this is hard,” Lance tells him. “There is no other person who could do this for Carlo, Keith. Not a one. You’ve got everything you need, and if you ever need help, you can always call him. You lived it first. Now pass it on.”

Keith stands abruptly and places the frame down on Lance’s desk, determination set into every muscle of his frame. “I’ll talk to him.” He swivels on his foot, turning to fast-walk out. 

“Up-bup-bup! You’re forgetting something!” Lance calls over. 

“Oh, yeah.” Keith grins, spins back to his partner, and draws him up into a kiss. It’s as grateful as it is fleeting. 

It leaves Lance’s heart fizzing with energy as Keith dashes out, adding a new pep to his grading. Lance is always relieved when he can soothe the pain from Keith’s oldest scars, the ones on his mind.

Eventually, when they turn in for the night, Keith will wince at the pull of his aching muscles. He’ll twist in their bed, trying to get comfortable until Lance finally gestures for him to move in front. Then, with quiet and calming hands, Lance will rub out the soreness from a long day of training and hard work. He makes sure to gently pull aside Keith’s long hair when necessary, lets his fingers skirt over the hard lines of Keith’s back. 

Keith will lean into his touch, as always. They’ll talk, voices long and low, about everything. Their classes. Hearing from teammates. A hard workout. An annoying call from family. Even, in their most difficult moments, they might mention missing some aspects of the war.

Those kinds of discussions are only reserved for nighttime. When the air from the windows is chilled, the stars are up instead of around, and Lance’s hands are tracing lines across Keith’s ribs and his shoulders. He maps out every scar from memory, pulls out every memory from each scar. 

Over time, Lance will lose his ability to speak, capable of just monosyllabic words. 

Keith will notice. He can never stop noticing. His eyes will wander over his shoulder, see his husband’s lids droop, and, with the grace of a much less rugged man, will ease Lance slowly to lie down. 

In a matter of seconds, Keith will wrap around Lance. They’ll close their eyes, limbs tangled, hearts thudding slowly in time. 

No “I love you” needs to be said when every action, every tender caress and guiding word, leads them to the same place day after day. 

[seangardnerxiv]

Shadow and Maria's Complex Relationship

FOR DISCLOSURE: this thread is going to be discussing the complexities of Shadow and Maria’s relationship based on many different factors. Though I will be including the romantic interpretation (NOT a sexual one – I do not support nor condone sexualizing these two, nor most of the characters in Sonic, as they are almost all minors) as a potential, I will not be arguing to assign a definite label to their relationship – I will, in fact, be doing exactly the opposite (I am also not interested in engaging in shipping discourse over Sonic the Hedgehog characters). I would simply like to disclose that that will be discussed in case the topic upsets you and you would prefer to stop reading now. I accept this post may not be received well by some.

SPOILERS FOR SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS

So I've had to break out my Tumblr for this - my usual haunt is Twitter/Bluesky, but those don't really allow for longform posts. This is also a major departure from my usual FFXIV posting, so apologies to anyone who follows me for that.

Sonic x Shadow Generations recently dropped, alongside the short animations “Dark Beginnings” as well as the (non-canonical) manga “The Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog.” With it, discourse surrounding Shadow and Maria’s relationship has kicked up again, largely in two parties – that Shadow and Maria held a sibling relationship, or that Shadow and Maria held romantic feelings for one another (some people have also argued that Shadow is her uncle, or Maria is his mother, but I won’t be discussing those views). There are arguments for both drawn from a variety of sources – I will do my best to present both (if there are others I've missed, please feel free to comment and I will add them).

For siblings:

This Twitter post of artwork for Dark Beginnings has the following alt text: “Shadow and Maria reach out for one another in an infinite abyss (as long-lost siblings would) with the Moon and the Space Colony ARK in the background."

The manual for Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) describes Maria as “like a sister to Shadow.” I have also seen another screenshot of a different manual that states that Shadow as "like a brother to Maria," but I've been unable to find which manual it is. (EDIT: It’s a Prima Games manual, not written by Sega)

Gerald refers to Shadow as “son” during the climax of SxSG.

For romantic:

Maria saying “I love you” in the Japanese version of SxSG uses the kanji “ai shiteru,” whilst her “I love you” in the Japanese version of the manga uses “daisuki.” Whilst it can be used for familial relations, it is apparently very uncommon for both of these to be used outside of romantic intent.

Shiro Maekawa – the original creator of Shadow and Maria – based them (or at least parts of them) off of a romance manga known as “Please Save My Earth” (with Maria sharing the Japanese voice actress for the female lead from the anime), and has frequently supported them together, often retweeting romantic art and posts of Shadow and Maria.

In a recent interview from Sega, Maria touching Shadow’s face in Dark Beginnings was equated to Beauty and the Beast.

For Tanabata – a Japanese festival celebrating the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi, and the separation of them as lovers – Sonic Channel posted artwork of Shadow and Maria reading the story beneath the stars. Sonic Channel has also published fanart for Valentine’s Day relating to Shadow and Maria (although they publish a lot of fanart).

Before I go any further, when the topic of Shadow and Maria in a romantic lens comes up, many of the same criticisms arise that I do not believe are fairly levied – namely accusations regarding their age, species, and familial ties. I would like to address – and debunk – these three before we go any further. Keep in mind while you read these – this is not meant to convince you that their relationship was one thing over another, but only to provide validity to a subjective point of view I feel is unfairly stigmatized.

“It’s incest because Shadow is Maria’s brother/uncle(?).”

While there were notions of family stated by both Maria and Gerald, Shadow was grown in a tube with alien DNA and has zero blood relation to the Robotnik family. Whilst there are abstract labels of “like a sister” or “sibling coding” that are only ever applied in a meta sense, neither of them define their relationship in such a way within the lens of the universe. And it is not as if the topic never arises - in Shadow Generations, Maria herself likens young Abraham Tower as akin to her little brother, but she makes no such distinction with Shadow.

“Sibling coding” is ultimately a nothing statement, and unless a proper adoption is made, it does not magically turn romantic feelings towards the two involved into incest. Frames of reference are often informed by what young people are familiar with, and they sometimes lack the proper tools to acknowledge that their feelings towards each other are more complex than they first believe - to say that this is something that potentially occurred with Shadow and Maria is not outlandish, and not a concept unique to Sonic as a series.

Similar examples to this include Clive and Jill from Final Fantasy XVI (Jill is accepted into the Rosfield household and raised alongside Clive and his brother, only to later enter a romantic relationship with him as an adult), Nero and Kyrie from Devil May Cry (Nero is fostered by Kyrie's family and considers Kyrie a sister initially, only for her to become his love interest as adults) and Sidon and Yona from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Sidon grows up perceiving Yona as a sister, only to realize his feelings for her are more complex later on). None of these are incestuous relationships, nor is Shadow and Maria’s were it to be romantic.

“It’s bestiality because Shadow is an animal.”

Bestiality is applicable to regular animals that do not hold human sentience of thought, as they are unable to consent to a relationship, like a dog or cat. Shadow is not this, nor are any of the anthropomorphic characters within the Sonic games - were you to change the anthropomorphic animals in Sonic into humans, basically nothing about the series' content would change. All of them are completely sound-minded beings that are essentially just people who look different. Shadow is not Maria’s pet, he is her fully sentient friend that holds the same degree of thought as she does – given that Shadow’s entire arc is about finding his purpose in life, degrading him to simply a lab animal rather than acknowledging he is a person defeats that entire arc (something the manga also touches upon).

A lot of people also cite Sonic and Elise from Sonic ‘06 (namely the scene where Elise kisses the deceased Sonic) as a reason why Shadow and Maria should not be done - while I think it’s valid if you didn’t like watching a human girl kissing Sonic the Hedgehog, I maintain that a good chunk of that disdain stemmed from two major reasons:

Elise was very poorly characterized in her game. She existed to constantly get kidnapped and be saved by Sonic, and so both the relationship and the kiss came off more like pandering than something earned.

Sonic '06 had a bizarrely realistic artstyle for the human characters, whilst all of the animal characters retained their cartoonish appearances. This clash of artstyles looked its worst when Elise kissed Sonic at the game's climax.

Maria, however, does not fall into these pitfalls. She does not exist to be purely a love interest for Shadow - she’s certainly not someone for him to save, as the entire inciting event of Shadow's character is his inability to save her when she saves him.

For a frame of reference, Shadow is more akin to an alien from Star Wars – a setting where humans also exist. It is not bestiality for a Human to hold a relationship with a Twi’lek, as both races are fully anthropomorphic and sentient. On a similar note, Beauty and the Beast is not considered bestiality either, even though the Beast bears obvious animalistic traits. Some people have also entertained the notion of Rouge and Topaz from Sonic X, even though the latter is human. This is all the same principle, and none of it is bestiality.

“It’s creepy because Maria is young.”

Shadow – while said to be ageless – is not an adult, and to imply that he is one is a fundamental misunderstanding of Shadow’s character – whilst there are many instances where he demonstrates maturity on some levels, he has shown much immaturity since his inception in Sonic Adventure 2 (his desire to destroy the world out of revenge for Maria), and his most recent storyline in Generations involves his naïve desire to change Maria and Gerald’s fates (or rather, an initial indifference to what it will bring). Not only that, but his time on the ARK was mired in confusion over the point of his existence – Maria was the one that helped him field through his confusion, and was arguably the more mature one between the two of them. We can safely say that Shadow is not an adult character, nor is he ever presented as one in the lens of the game.

As the closest thing Sonic likely has to an equal in both body and mind (Sonic holds his own immaturities similar to Shadow), he can likely be placed mentally close to his age of fifteen. This is reinforced by the leaked transcript of Sonic ‘06 that refers to Shadow as 15 (the red squared text in this image).

Maria has no canon age established in game material, but Sonic X lists her as 12. 15 and 12 is the same age gap as Sonic and Amy respectively.

In addition to that, many people have claimed that Shadow is over 50 years old, but this is only true of his chronological existence, not the time he has been conscious and aging. He spent 50 years stuck in cryosleep, and awoke exactly how he was when he was placed in there.

A similar example would be Aang and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender - Aang was frozen at the age of 12, and awoke 100 years later. Nobody, however, tried to claim that he was 112 years too old to kiss the 14 year old Katara, as Aang was physically and mentally still a 12 year old upon awakening - most people who watched the show were also actively rooting for these two characters to kiss, which they did at the show's finale. It's the same principle regarding Shadow - he is 50 chronologically, not 50 in mind or body.

If we’d like to really get into it, I would point out that nearly every character in the lens of Sonic is in and around Maria’s age range (according to the Sonic Channel). As stated previously, Sonic is 15. Amy is 12, Knuckles is 16, Rouge is 18, Blaze and Silver are 14, etc. Nobody bats an eye at notions of romance between any of these people (not that I’m saying they should inherently).

Romantic intent between minors is not inherently viewed as a bad thing - see the examples of Aang and Katara or Clive and Jill above, or for an in house example, consider the canonical (to Sonic X at least) relationship between the 8 year old Tails and Cosmo - yet for some reason when it comes to Shadow and Maria, a relationship is stigmatized.

To reiterate in the wake of the last point, my discussions of romantic intent ARE NOT SEXUAL IN NATURE. As I acknowledge these are minors, any notions of that are completely off the table, and I do not agree with anyone who would imply their relationship was a sexual one. I want to make that unmistakably clear.

My major takeaway from observing both the Sonic fanbase and those on Sonic Team seems to be that in western circles, Shadow and Maria as siblings is the popular perception, whilst in eastern circles, they are more commonly perceived romantically. But ultimately, Shadow and Maria’s relationship seems to have many contradictory signals that makes it hard to pinpoint a concrete definition, especially in the most recent releases – and I believe that this is fully intentional.

Shiro Maekawa has stated in DMs has stated this regarding their relationship when asked if he saw them as siblings or love interests (translated from Japanese):

“I think they have a special bond that is unique to them that doesn’t fall into either of those categories. Just my personal opinion.”

From the way that the two are written post-Sonic Adventure 2, this appears to be a sentiment that is fully carried forward – their relationship is more nuanced than a canonical label would make it. Maria was the only person who made Shadow feel loved, and Maria unquestionably loved him back. What kind of love that was is up to the viewer, especially given that Maria died when they were both young, before they even had a chance to expand upon their relationship, if that was ever on the table – not that they needed to, given that their bond seems to have transcended both labels. Maria was the only one who acknowledged Shadow as more than an experiment or a weapon, and Shadow was her rock in an environment where she was isolated away from her family and home. Maria was Shadow's person, and still remains that in death.

To disclose for me personally (in case it was not obvious), I have always interpreted their relationship as romantic - or at least having romantic implications - ever since playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Shadow the Hedgehog when I was a kid. I have both a fiancé and a sibling, and the way they treat each other is far more evocative of how I treat the former than the latter (especially in Dark Beginnings – I do not imagine my sibling through a shoujo filter while I wistfully think about cuddling them in a field of flowers). I do not take the awkwardly placed alt text verbiage from the Sonic Twitter account, used to fake-argue with the Wendy’s Twitter account, as gospel for anything, and I think that treating it as a damning disproval is silly. Had she lived, I believed the complex feelings they held would have been identified as romantic down the line. The relationship always just read as too intimately charged for me to perceive as siblings (it still does especially in the wake of seeing how she touches and speaks to him), even before I had a serious relationship. I think that arguing the nitty gritty over Twitter alt text and translations is silly, as all it took for me to takeaway that the relationship was still romantic was to play the game, watch the animations, and read the manga for Shadow Generations - but that's just me.

That said, I will concur that if you are weirded out by romantic notions between the two of them, that is completely understandable, and I would never argue that you should not feel what you feel for yourself. The sibling viewpoint is also wholly valid an interpretation, with or without word from a meta source. Though she had her grandfather and later Abe, she was largely alone on the ARK away from a family that she clearly loved and missed, and it’s not unusual to presume that Shadow filled in the role of a brother for her. I will also acknowledge that many things I have not mentioned - such as Shadow blushing at Maria calling him cool, or her saying "I love you" in general - are not inherently indicative of romantic intent, and can be read as fully platonic interpretations, and I find those that try to state that the romantic interpretation is the objective one just as irritating as those that state the sibling interpretation is the objective.

My intent is only to dispute the idea that romantic interpretations, and the people who hold them, deserve to be scrutinized. The pairing is completely innocent, and the treatment people have received for believing them to be romantic is obscene. Sweeping blanket statements have been made to insult all who do (some going as far as to wish death and harm upon them), all just based on subjective viewpoints held by people who see them platonically. The fact that there is so much discourse surrounding this topic, and that there is evidence enough on both ends to make an argument, means that Sega has intentionally left the relationship up to interpretation - including the romantic take.

Everyone unclutch your pearls.

But with all that said, I will reiterate that this post was not meant to convince anyone of one thing or another, but rather that both interpretations of their relationship are valid, as it is essentially a secret third thing that transcends both labels and is special only to them. Strictly defining their relationship as “siblings” or “love interests” (even as someone who perceives them romantically, I would never want that to be definitively confirmed for this reason) is deconstructing what is perhaps the most nuanced part of a series that does not always tend to be terribly nuanced, and a definition matters far less than acknowledging what Maria means to Shadow in the present – he is who he is because of her, and because of that, he is now living a life for himself. Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) ended in a way that had Shadow let Maria go, and Shadow Generations ends with him carrying her forward with him after accepting her loss. She was, and will always be, the person who loved Shadow - however you define that love is up to you.

Nothing has ever been hard confirmed by Sega, no matter how much either side wants to pretend it has been.

In summary, both points of view regarding Shadow and Maria’s relationship are simultaneously true and not true – it is a matter of interpretation according to the viewer what their feelings towards each other were, yet their relationship in the lens of what it is now after the tragedy of their existence (even before Maria died) is purposefully indefinable, and it should remain that way. Nobody should ever try to say that Shadow and Maria are definitively something - that goes for both points of view. I doubt it will, but I hope this goes towards removing the stigmas towards one of the more nuanced parts of this series, as nuance in Sonic the Hedgehog - frankly - does not come along very often, and it would be nice if that were encouraged rather than smothered.

Thank you for reading.

[melodead]

you couldn’t have known, and you couldn’t have ever prepared yourself for it even if you did: the pull of eyes like stardust, the gravity of this moment, and—most of all—the intensity of nagi’s affections.

he’s so, so close. moonlight bathes him in its glow and renders you helpless to do anything but watch, just as you’ve always done. you could count each eyelash, pick out each shade of light and love and inevitability in his eyes. they watch you as your hands cradle his face, spun from the softness of dreams and moonlight.

there’s an old folktale your parents used to tell you, one about a moon-sent princess raised among mortals, only to fall in love with one of them and be torn away when her people came to reclaim her. that’s sad, a younger had you thought. why did it have to take her?

but someone meant for the stars can’t be held down by the earth. sometimes, you wonder if the stars might steal nagi away someday, to deliver him to the top of the world. he’s made of starlight, after all—beautiful, transient, impossible. if that day ever came, you would be helpless to stop it.

you have always watched. you have only watched, but still—still—you want this more than you ever would have thought.

nagi’s hands grasp your waist like a lifeline. time is frozen, stopping dust in the air but not your pounding heart. it’s unfair, really. unfair that he gets to look so unaffected, that you can’t do the same, that this moment might never happen again if you flee now. you feel it beneath your fingers, then: a pulse, faint but rapid with the thump, thump, thump of a heart, just underneath the skin of his jaw. oh.

he presses his lips to your cheek. “relax,” he murmurs into your skin, coaxing and comforting all the same. “it’s just me. don’t be nervous.”

“i’m not nervous. you are.”

“that was shaky.” he presses his forehead to yours. a whispery, amused murmur of your name is spoken into the night. “c’mon, breathe. don’t want you passing out now.”

a small, disbelieving laugh escapes you. “that’s rich coming from you, ‘shiro. you’d leave me here to drag you to bed?”

his eyes stare straight into yours, all consuming and ever reminding you of dust, and you think he might retaliate—break the spell of the moment. maybe you want him to. maybe you don’t. it doesn’t matter anyways, because he promises then, “i won’t.”

then he closes the gap with that all-consuming, steadfast love of his—and it’s not that nerve-wracking after all. you sink into his kiss like it’s second-nature, holding on tight so that nothing could take him. the rest of the world falls away. you must be sick with affection, with how full your heart is.

the people could have their prodigal genius another day. for now, nagi seishiro could just be yours.

[cherryblossompink303]

Patience:~The gradeschool host is the naughty type!~

➼ pairing: Kyoya Ootori x Reader ➼ summary: Tamaki gains an apprentice, but you are a little too knowledgeable on his true intentions ➼ what to expect: "Would he wait do you think?" "I think he would...when you have a look like that you find yourself to be incredibly...patient" ➼ warnings: none ➼ Part five | Part seven

When you enter the host club that day the last thing you expected to find was a literal child. Yet as you stepped through the doors to music room three there was one sat concerningly close to Tamaki and a guest. "What's going on?"

"Tamaki's got an apprentice" Kyoya recaps, eyes focussed on the scene unfolding. "How old is this...apprentice?" you hesitate to call the child that but struggled to find a better word. "Not old enough to be here" Haruhi points out.

Isn’t it a bit strange, making Shiro observe him up close like that?”

He hums, “There is a theory that people are considered more beautiful the closer they are viewed. Tamaki seems to live by that theory.” He says it like he has it memorized- which he probably does.

"Hmm is that why you always insist on sitting near me during club hours?" you joke, batting your eyelashes dramatically, to your surprise this seems to fluster Kyoya a little, or at least much as one can expect from him "I- Well- thats so i can get your consultation on things"

“You look more like the carp that swim in my pond at home. I’d never give false compliments like that!”

Both of your attention is drawn to Shiro, already running his little mouth.

“Carp?!” The guest cries out, an embarrassed blush flushing over her cheeks. Tamaki is quick to reach out and comfort her.

“Oh, don’t listen to him. He’s just a kid- you know how kids are- they can’t help but be honest.”

“Oh, Tamaki.” You cringe at his statement and sigh.

“Honest?!” She shrieks, turning herself away from Tamaki, shedding tears.

“But that’s just his opinion! I wouldn’t say you look like a carp, and even if you did, you’d be the most beautiful carp of them all!” Tamaki tries his hardest to console his guest, but it only results in further insulting.

“So I am a carp!?” She gasps, shrieking once more. You have half a mind to cover your ears but only wince.

Tamaki, dumbfounded, “Uh, no, that’s not what I meant.” He sweats.

“Tamaki, you’re an idiot!” An all too familiar phrase.

“No, wait! Mermaid Princess!” Tamaki reaches for her, desperate.

Blank-faced, Shiro stands beside him, “Man, what a crybaby.” He scoffs, utterly unfazed by the whole ordeal.

Tamaki peeks at him over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed, and teeth bared, growling animalistically. How could such a young child have lost him a guest already?

Hikaru snickers, “So how’s it going, boss?! That’s an adorable little apprentice you’ve got there.” He finds it hard to withhold his laughter.

“Hikaru…” Hikaru’s attention only diverges when he hears his twin’s whining voice.

“Do you wish you had a little brother like Shiro?” In a split second, invisible to the naked eye, Hikaru sweeps Kaoru up in a tender embrace, cradling him against his body.

“Don’t be silly. I could search the globe, and I’d never find a better brother than you, Kaoru.” Hikaru presses his lips to the top of Kaoru’s head.

“Hikaru.” Kaoru lets out in a breathy moan, his eyes hooded in his brother’s embrace.

Two patrons pop up over their shoulder, “Look! They’re doing it!”

“It’s forbidden, brotherly love!”

Shiro stumbles back, grips the table, “They’re homos! And they’re brothers! That makes this totally ���insectuous’!” He grips his grade school uniform tightly with his other hand.

You appear behind him, “I think what you meant to say was incestuous.” You nod firmly.

Before he has a chance to reply, Shiro is firmly embraced by Honey.

“Hey, Shiro-chan! You wanna have a piece of cake with me? We’ve got three kinds: chocolate, strawberry, and lime.” Honey dangles from Shiro’s shoulders, roughly similar in size.

Shiro roughly shoves him off, “Hey, back off! What grade are you in, anyway?! Why are you wearing a high school uniform?” Shiro nearly shouts, irritated to no end.

A large shadow casts over them, “Something wrong, Mitsukuni?”

Shiro looks up, and, to his horror, Mori stands before them.

Honey leaps toward Mori and wraps himself around him. “That’s not fair! A little kid like you isn’t supposed to have a cool, older friend like him!”

Truthfully, both are in the same class.

Shiro backpedals a little, unintentionally bumping into your leg, wipping around to stare up at you in shock. He stares at you for a moment as if analysing you, eyes landing on your pile of notes about the host club tucked under your arm.

"Are you some sort of super fan for these weirdo's or something"

Your jaw drops, what is intended to be a laugh instead comes out as a scoff, resisiting the urge to ball up your fists at a child. Kyoya's gaze frantically darts between the two of you, nerves rising as he recalls how you felt when your position was dismissed not too long ago by renge.

You let out a shaky breath, turning to look up to Kyoya "I can't deal with him, don't make me" you plead "You deal with them everyday" he nods to the other club members. You sigh, knowing he had you cornered.

“Okay, that’s enough! I think Shiro should take care of the tea for us, don’t you?” tamaki interrupts, nervously handing a tea tray to you to give to Shiro.

"Fine, but watch out it's heavy" you conceded, leaning down a little to offer the tray to him, which for a moment he seems to accept, wrapping his hands around the handles, however as soon as you let go the tea tray falls to the floor, shattering what is easily upwards of sis figures worth of ceramic.

"It’s not my fault I dropped it. It’s your fault 'cause you’re the one who made me take it in the first place.”

You quite nearly lost it at that one, about to lunge at the kid.

Before you can make any move, Kyoya wraps his arm around your torso and tugs you back, his strength preventing you from moving. You grunt and squirm, eager to give Shiro a piece of your mind.

“That’s enough, y/n, if you're charged with assault you'll never gain citizenship and you would have to go home” his reasoning, although dramatic, is clear. You slump in his arms and let your features go blank with a deep sigh.

“I’m not here to carry tea sets- I’m here to learn how to make women happy!” Shiro’s voice has reduced to nothing but a whiny, high-pitched tone to your ears.

“You won’t get anywhere with that attitude. And I am not going to let you disrespect y/n. So!” Tamaki points his index finger in Shiro’s direction determinedly. “Put this brat in isolation!”

More than eager to comply, the twins are at his side, “You got it, boss!”

An iron cage falls from the ceiling on chains and traps Shiro where he stands. “What’s going on here?! Why’d you put me in a cage all of a sudden?!”

“Yeah, and where’d it come from? This is supposed to be a music room, right?” Haruhi questions aloud, tilting her head at the cage.

Shiro climbs onto the bars of the cage, “This is no way to treat your loyal apprentice. Now let me out of this cage!” He demands irritatedly.

“Not until you’ve learned your lesson. I made you my apprentice because I thought you were serious about becoming a host, but I guess I was wrong.” Tamaki sighs woefully, intending to draw a reaction from the grade school student.

“I am serious. Totally serious.” When Tamaki refuses to reply, unconvinced and sipping his tea, Shiro falls desperate.

“I want you to teach me how to make a woman happy!”

Still, nothing. No one is convinced. Especially not you as you sit near Kyoya on a love seat, boredly flipping the pages of a nearby book as he writes adjacent to you.

With a defeated cry, Shiro falls to his knees, gripping the bars tightly between his fists. This draws your head up to glance at him.

“I’m gonna run out of time. Please, won’t you teach me?” his tone is no longer demanding, only forlorn and pleading.

“You’re a host because you like girls. You like bringing a smile to a girl’s face- that’s why you do it, right?”

Shiro’s pleading manages to draw Tamaki’s attention, only earning a side glance.

“Please, won’t you teach me how to be like you? You’re a genius at it! You’re the king!”

You look at tamaki, knowing that all anyone has to do was say the K word to convince him.

The titles Shiro’s given to Tamaki in his desperation calls the aforementioned king to his feet. He feels a sudden urge to teach him again; God could only know why.

“Well, you may be a brat, but I admire your desire to become a host, so I’ll teach you.”

This draws no reaction from Shiro.

“You know, Shiro, you and I are so much alike.” Tamaki wraps himself in his own arms.

Haruhi appears, “You poor kid.” You snicker at that.

Shiro straightens immediately, a smile stretched across his cheeks, “Then you’ll help me become the kind of host that can make any woman happy?!” his tone is hopeful.

“Of course, making women happy is the sole purpose of being a host. If this is what you really want, Shiro, then you have to figure out how to use the material you already have.”

“What does that mean?”

At the opposite end of Shiro’s cell, Kyoya appears. Shiro stands with his back pressed to the bars in sheer terror at his appearance.

“You see, here at the Ouran Host Club, our policy is to use our individual personality traits to meet the needs of our guests. For example, there’s Tamaki, who is the princely type.” he nods over to the leader who is staring wistfully out of a window.

"the strong, silent type" he nods over to mori, who is holding up honey on his shoulders. "The boy lolita type" The twins soon slide in , attempting to steal the attention

"The little devil type" you attempt to hold back a laugh at the name, fogetting that was the label that had been given to the two of them. "And the cool type"

You once again look up to Kyoya, forgetting that he had a host type at all, he rarely ever actually saw clients. But then again he definitely fit the bill.

It makes you wonder what he would be like if he ever dropped the persona. All of the hosts had personas they played up during club hours, you knew that, but even when there were group hang outs with no clients, his never drops, maybe he relaxes a little, but theres always that wall.

It makes you wonder how much you know about him at all, what do you know about him that wasn't curated for your perception.

"It’s all about variety. And now our group is complete with the addition of Haruhi, the natural."

The complete host club stands in front of Shiro’s cell, “It would seem that right now we have a perfect blend of characteristics, so it’s going to be difficult to find a new type for Shiro.”

While you stand off in the distance behind them, watching from afar. It hasn’t been much different from this before, but when you notice it, it feels a bit difficult. You fold your hands behind you and hang your head. It’s not like this isn’t expected.

“If you go by his age, he should be the boy Lolita type.”

“But Honey-Senpai’s already got that covered.”

Tears streaking down his cheeks like a river, Honey turns to the club, “Is he gonna replace me?” he sniffles.

“Oh, come on! Is that all you’ve got?”

Your head snaps up at the unbodied voice. But when it clicks in your mind, all you can do is groan and fall clumsily onto the sofa behind you.

A powerful motor rumbles under the floor and shakes the ground. Renge rises on a platform as she does.

Renge sighs pensively, “Sorry to interrupt, gentlemen, but what’s with the lackluster character analysis? I must say, I’m quite disappointed. I thought I taught you better.” she shrugs.

You laugh to yourself looking at the two of them, he brought this on himself.

“Alright then. How would you work Shiro into our collection of characters? He can’t be the boy Lolita because Honey’s already got that covered.” Tamaki lifts a sobbing Honey by his underarms to present him to Renge.

“You just don’t get it, do you? Now listen up! There are plenty of girls out there who have a thing for younger boys or boys with baby faces. These girls would be considered shota fans. Now, shota can be a fairly broad category, so it’s important to know that the genre can be broken down into many different smaller sub-categories. For example, shota fans with an interest in Lolita boys would favor a boy like Haninozuka-Senpai.”

Kyoya’s pen moves furiously quick to record every word Renge says.

“But this little boy is different. If I had to pick a character for him… Yes! He’d be the naughty-boy type, without a doubt!” Renge’s smirk and determined gaze ought to terrify Shiro further.

“The naughty type?” He inquires curiously.

The cage rises off the ground and back into the ceiling.

“Now, to play up the naughty type, you have to wear shorts.” Renge crouches and points to Shiro’s uniform shorts, nodding, “Okay.”

She blasts her whistle again, “You’ve gotta have bumps and bruises! Give him a couple of scars!”

The twins are hunched by Shiro, covering him in bandages and marking him up with a pen.

The whistle, again.

“Run like a spoiled child! Make it reckless!” Shiro sprints on command.

“Now I want you to trip and make it big!”

Shiro’s foot catches on a taut rope with a yell, and he crashes to the ground with a loud thud, face first.

Renge bends near Shiro, her eyebrows furrowed, “Are you okay, little boy?” The character doesn’t last long; she blows once more on her whistle. “Now give them your catchphrase!”

Shiro wipes his cheek with a far-off look in his eyes, “No big deal, it was nothin’.”

Renge coos, “That was perfect! Absolutely perfect, Shiro!” She gushes.

Tamaki claps his hands together gently, “That was outstanding. I never knew you were such a great coach, Renge.”

Renge laughs haughtily.

“Oh, I never knew you were such a great coach, Renge.” Your face scrunches as you mock Tamaki, reaching for the teacup and saucer before you and taking a long sip.

Shiro stumbles to his feet, an alarmed expression crossing his features.

“Ugh, I’ve had enough of you people!” He captures everyone’s attention, including yours. You set your cup and saucer down as you observe.

Shiro practically shakes with frustration, “This is so stupid- none of this is ever gonna help me make her happy!”

You can see the panic in his eyes; you stand, head tilting, “Her?”

Shiro breaks into a run for the door.

“Shiro!” You call.

Oh. It all makes sense now, how did you not realise sooner.

“Wait, Shiro! We haven’t taught you how to apply the techniques you’ve learned yet!”

The door slams, and he’s gone. Your shoulders drop. Renge climbs back onto her platform, descending into the floor.

Much to your absolute delight.

“I swear, younger boys are good for nothing. I went to all that trouble to coach him, and he quits.”

“I can’t believe he ditched us because he didn’t like the lesson. What a selfish little brat.”

“There aren’t many people who’d enjoy that kind of lesson. But never mind that, did you hear what he said?”

You roll your eyes "You call yourself romantic experts, don't you see? didn't you hear what he said? This is about a girl!"

They stare back at you blankly, heads tilting to the side.

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“How… on earth… did we let them talk us into this?” You grumble, picking at your skirt. Haruhi crosses her arms adjacent to you.

“It’ll be okay, y/n-chan. It was so easy to sneak in, and wearing this uniform, I really look like I’m in elementary school.” Honey peeks around the corner, dressed in a grade school uniform.

You and Haruhi, respectively, are dressed in middle school girls’ uniforms. Haruhi wears a darkly colored wig, and your hair is styled neatly straight, clip-on bangs secured to your hairline on the center of your head. They nearly cover your eyebrows, two longer pieces framing your eyes. You look exponentially younger, it reminds you of when you first arrived in Japan.

“Yeah, you do. I understand why they wanted you to wear an elementary school uniform. I mean, we are sneaking into an elementary school, and you totally fit in, Senpai.”

You and Haruhi stand on the opposite side of the doorway, Haruhi leaning on your shoulders.

“What I don’t understand is why they made us dress up in middle school uniforms,” Haruhi grumbles.

"Why did we even bother with disguises? We stick out like a sore thumb!” You growl in a harsh whisper, the outfits not really doing much for your heights.

A pair of doors creak open as the remains of the host club observe the three of you.

“Oh, there’s a reason, a damn good reason,” Tamaki assures, more to himself than anything, adding to his slight delusion of having completely protective intentions.

“This way, Haru-chan and y/n-chan!” Honey exclaims cheerfully, wrapping his arm around your own, as you, in turn, wrap your arm around Haruhi’s. The three of you trail along in a chain, you and Haruhi in your miniskirts that both of you try not to pay attention to.

“Aren’t they the cutest?” the twins exclaim.

“Oh, look at her in that miniskirt. Haruhi looks like a little doll!” Tamaki sighs.

Kyoya takes a moment to glance up from his book, catching you in the uniform as well. He can feel his lips tug upward, although the darkness shields his face, and that helps a little. You look youthful and optimistic, something he hasn’t noticed from you in a long while, it reminded him of when the two of you first met.

He quickly caught that he was smiling, and he was smiling because you were seemingly happy. it was strange to him, well-it's not like he wasnts to see you miserable- but why was he getting happy that you were happy?

Maybe it was because you were his fiance and he has a level of responsibility for you, but that is strictly business, he has to remind himself that now. He could not understand. What was this feeling?

He doesn’t stay silent for long. “So basically, you just wanted to see her dressed up like that.” he accuses with a sly smirk.

“A fair reason, of course.” Kyoya nods to himself.

Honey pries open the door to a classroom, “This is it. Shiro-chan’s classroom.” He creaks it open enough to fit inside. “When I was in elementary school, this was my classroom too!” he glides between desks excitedly.

You and Haruhi enter shortly after, marveling at the size of a mere elementary school classroom.

You place a hand on an empty desk, “There’s nobody here.” you acknowledge aloud.

The club appears. “So the kid’s classroom is empty, is it?”

The twins are the first to arrive, “This sure takes me back.” They chorus, striding in casually with their hands tucked into their pockets.

“I wonder if doodles are still on my desk.”

“Doubtful, the school changes out the desks every year.” Kyoya voices from behind them.

“Let’s check out the cafeteria after this.”

“I wanna see the old gym.”

“Good idea, Kaoru!”

You roll your eyes as you realise the true reason why you were in uniform “Hey! If you’re just gonna barge in here like that, then why’d we wear these stupid disguises?” You whine.

“Don’t worry about it.” Hikaru shrugs, his brother mirroring him.“There’s no one in here to catch us.” Kaoru informs.

“That’s my point!” you deadpan.

“And besides, who wouldn’t want to see you in this adorable little uniform?” Kyoya tugs at your collar gently and playfully, kknowing that you probably hated everything about this situation.

“Of course you only compliment me when I am seething" Kyoya casts his eyes down, “I think you look fine.” He shrugs.“Ah, I can see straight through your little 'disguise’ plan, mister, I-”

Suddenly, footsteps echo in the hall outside. None of you miss it.

You grab Kyoya by his wrist and yank him down under a desk along with you. The other hosts duck in nearby desks with gasps.

What you didn't consider was that it is tight fit for even one person never mind two, resulting in you and Kyoya being closer than ever. Physically that is.

“If the teacher finds us-”

“-we’ll have a hard time explaining why we snuck in.” the twins voice their concerns.

"Shut up" you whisper yell from across the underside of the desks Kyoya smirks "mad are we-" You press a finger to his lips and give him a stern glare, “You’re not very good at being quiet.” your voice is considerably quieter than his.

His eyes move down to your finger upon his lips, and so do yours. The two of you realising what exactly you were doing with a delay. blood rushing to both of your faces.

What happened next was peculiar to you, because it was not something you could describe. Suddenly you can feel you're heart thudding against your chest, your eyes lock as you feel yours almost melt in a way. Your mouth hangs open as if something is on the tip of your tongue but at the same time you can't form any thought of a word.

You linger for a moment before you notice the footsteps receding, breaking the sort of trance that held the two of you, your finger falls from his lips and your head snaps to the door. You quickly escape from your compromising position and head for the door.

The club groans exasperatedly as you peek out to watch the teacher turning the corner with no indication of catching the lot of you.

In your normal voice, “It’s alright, he’s gone. But you guys, we came here to get the scoop on Shiro, so what do you think we should do now?” You direct them back to the task at hand as they climb from their desks.

Kyoya’s migrated to the other side of the room, where pictures are pinned to the wall along with Honey.

“Well, here’s something interesting.” he captures the club’s and your attention. You stride to stand near them, “What’d you find?”

Kyoya points to a picture of Shiro at a piano with a girl his age, looking cheerful.

A look you had only seen on him once, however you quickly realised that wasn't the only time you had seen that look today.

“Hey, that’s Shiro!” You smile, stepping closer and craning your neck upwards to get a closer look.

“So he’s in the Classical Music Club.” Kyoya acknowledges.

“He looks like he’s enjoying himself. It’s nice to see him with a smile on his face. I had no idea he could look so sweet.” You hum, finding great comfort in knowing he’s in a club that makes him happy. Or, at least with someone that evokes that feeling.

Tamaki takes a moment longer to gaze at the photo.

“Yeah.”

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You all find yourselves watching Shiro through a window in the room where the Classical Music Club congregates. He sits wistfully at a large window, far from the other children, peering out of the glass as he balances himself on the ledge.

“There he is! There’s Shiro-chan!” Honey gasps.

He looks pensive, thoughtful. Someone would say almost grumpy but the best word you could place for it was forlorn.

“Excuse me, Takaoji?” the calling of his name only earns a side glance.

“I’m sorry, but have you been practicing the new piece teacher gave us?”

“The new piece? Not really.”

“If you want, I can show it to you. Do you wanna come play it with me?”

“No thanks, you go ahead. After all, there’s only one grand piano. You should use it, Kamishiro.”

The girl stares at him a moment, a little disappointed, before shrugging it off with a smile, “Thank you! I will then! And if you want to join me, just let me know.” She hints.

As she begins to play, a soft smile stretches across Shiro’s face, and his eyes slip shut.

You and the club look on with intense curiosity. Although, Tamaki’s expression is solemn.

Just at that moment, a girl leaves the music room and is immediately approached by Tamaki.

“Pardon me, mademoiselle.” He offers her a white rose, “I’ve never seen a rose more lovely than you, my dear. Here, this is for you.” Tamaki’s ever-charming tactics prompt the girl into answering his questions.

“I was wondering if you could tell me anything about that young lady playing the piano. Do you know her?” his voice is gentle.

“That’s Hina Kamishiro.”

“Her name is Hina?” Tamaki clarifies.

“That’s right, but you better not fall in love with her.”

What a strange thing to say, especially for an elementary school girl.

Tamaki pushes further, “Why?”

“Didn’t you know? Hina has to move away soon. Her dad just got a new job in Germany, so they have to move there at the end of the week-”

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Everyone’s attention is drawn to an enraged Shiro, practically shaking with fury.

“I want you idiots to leave immediately!” He orders.

Tamaki decides he’s had enough of Shiro’s ungrateful attitude and his mysterious motives.

With his blonde fringe covering his eyes, he lifts Shiro off the ground and hauls him over his shoulder with little effort, not even blinking an eye.

“Put me down! What are you doing?!”

Much to Shiro’s dismay, Hina peeks out from the music room to watch this embarrassing display.

The rest of the club follows in suit, “Let me go! Just put me down! Where do you think-”

“It’s time to go, guys. Quit thrashing around.” Despite the circumstances, Tamaki’s tone is relaxed and unfazed.

As the group returns to the club room, Tamaki tosses Shiro down on the nearest sofa, the room shrouded in darkness.

Shiro grunts at the impact and promptly sits up, “What is your problem you, big idiot?!”

His fringe still covering his eyes, Tamaki turns to you and gestures to Shiro. You nod.

“I’m sorry, but you’re the idiot.” Shiro instantly shuts his mouth, staring at you with wide eyes.

“You said that you wanted Tamaki to teach you how to make women happy. But that’s not what you wanted, is it?” You point an accusing finger close to his chest.

“You don’t want to make all women happy; you’re concerned with the happiness of one woman in particular. She’s the only one you care about, Hina Kamishiro.”

“But I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do to help you with that, Shiro.” you let your fingers drag across his chin before receding and allowing Tamaki to step in.

“Listen, Shiro. I know that I told you, it’s the job of a host to make women happy. But when you care for someone, you must find the courage to express what is in your heart. You have to tell her how you feel about her!”

“You didn’t come to me looking to become a full-fledged host. You want to be a full-fledged man.”

Shiro leans forward and hangs his head, placing his hands over his knees, “It doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve run out of time. I just wanted to hear her play before she left for good. That’s all.” His bratty composure has wholly fallen, giving way to his longing, loving side.

“That piece she played. It’s Mozart’s Sonata in D major for two pianos, isn’t it?” Tamaki pulls away a pale yellow curtain to reveal a grand piano in all its glory. He lifts open the lid and reveals the shining black and white slick keys like they’re brand new.

“Wait a minute, since when is there a grand piano in this room?” Haruhi drawls, confused.

“Well, this is a music room, after all-”

“So why wouldn’t it have a grand piano?” the twins ask as if it’s obvious.

“It is a music room, after all.” Kyoya sips a cup of tea, seated across from Honey and Mori.

“It is a music room.” Mori’s monotone voice is low and soothing.

“It’s always been there. We just had it covered up.” Honey shrugs as he swallows a bite of cake.

Tamaki poises his fingers over the keys and begins to flawlessly play the piece in question.

As usual, Tamaki seems to be putting no effort into his performance, his fingers gliding skillfully over the ivory keys like gentle feathers ticking the surface. It’s a learned skill.

Shiro rises from his place on the sofa to watch in awe.

“Awesome.” he exhales breathlessly. He is certainly someone who can appreciate this sort of skill.

“For the next week, you will spend your mornings, lunches, recesses, and free time after school in piano lessons with me.”

“But, why?”

“You wanted to be my apprentice, right? Besides, that young lady looked like she wanted nothing more than to play the piano with you.”

It’s like watching a creature in its natural habitat- Tamaki on the piano.

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You and the hosts stand in two lines on either side of the doorway, welcoming your guest, “Welcome, princess, we’ve been waiting.”

“I present to you, Shiro Takaoji’s piano recital.” Tamaki gives way to reveal Shiro sitting at a grand piano, an identical one just beside him with an empty, calling chair. Shiro’s face remains stoic as his gaze bores into the keys in front of him.

Hina hesitates in shock, her eyes wide and innocent as she processes her surroundings.

Tamaki pulls out the empty chair and gestures to the piano, “If you please, princess.”

She finally puts the pieces together for herself.

“Let’s play together, Hina.” Shiro flashes her a genuine smile.

“Okay!” She agrees quickly, settling down beside him, and they both begin to play.

With fond expressions, you and the host club are the perfect audience.

You and Kyoya watch from a distance, even both of your somewhat cold exteriors melting at the sight of young love blooming. "It must be difficult, moving to the other side other side of the world so young"

You hum "It is." you mutter, not entirely sure whether or not he was referring to Hina, or you. "I just pray that Hina is good at german" you whisper, silence between the two of you. Kyoya knew your struggles when you moved to Ouran well, everyone did. It wasn't that you didn't know Japanese, but knowing it and using it are two different things. It didn't need to be restated.

"At least...Even if she isn't....she'll have someone waiting for her" now this was an odd, not in the context of Shiro and Hina, that made perfect sense, but the two of you did this a lot, talking about one thing when in reality you're talking about each other.

"Would he wait do you think?"

"I think he would...when you have a look like that you find yourself to be incredibly...patient"

Next time on patience 'Jungle pool SOS!'

Tag list (reply to be added): @skottch @cgmajor @rebirthbunbun @bbybubbles @blueberry19000

[sukisheadlights]

hey there!!! could you make headcanons for all the Voltron guys for when they realize that (she/her) reader is like actually someone they could date/ end up with? like they get turned on by something she did or something like that? you don't have to but thanks for reading anyway </3

Voltron Paladins realizing Reader is someone they could end up with!

req: yes words: 873 pairing: voltron x reader content: fluff a/n: I was actually planning on writing something similar so thanks for the ask anon! <3

Keith

Keith isn’t interested in love (until he realizes he can date you) BUT FOR THE MOMENT HE’S NOT!

Both of you are still determining when you got close as well. You protected him once in battle, and since then, you’ve just stuck together.

And he of course protects you when he can because he's grateful you saved his life.

So you guys became friends,,, that was news to Lance btw.

Slowly you let each other into your lives, and now you train together often.

You were never ‘better’ than him at fighting (you actually just made yourself lose sometimes) and Keith sometimes ‘lost’ to make you just a little happy (little did he know hehe)

But today? Oh, you weren’t playing that’s for sure. He was super confused at first, then he was impressed, and then he was turned on. Which is fair because you looked straight out of a magazine, the ‘hot’ sweaty and perfectly messy hair.

When did you get so hot?

And boom. He felt he was on earth again because realization hit him like a TRAIN.

You were his age, and you were hot, and you could totally be a thing. And wtf is wrong with Keith? He's never thought of you like this.

Yeah, so that’s that.

And then he gets all awkward around you, and you guys haven't had a training session together since then. He always conveniently has something to do when you try to ask him.

Goddamnit.

Lance

You’ve been friends with him since the good old garrison days.

You grew to like the dork’s presence

You’ve always known he’s flirty, that’s just Lance.

Getting you flowers (sometimes), flirting with you in the hallways, and even when you’re fighting with the galra.

You always rolled your eyes, scoffed at him, or brushed him off but today?

Violence

You were so ready to mess with him too

You woke up with mischief on your mind

And mischief you created

BECAUSE BECAUSE BECAUSE

OK SO

Lance was flirting with you while fighting the galra

And he expected you to react normally but nooooo

You flirted back

AND THEN YOU WINK AT HIM

SHOOT A GALRA SOLDIER

AND LEAVE !???!!?!!!?!?!?!!?!?

Lance MALFUNCTIONS

Like lance.exe has STOPPED working

DECEASED

Keith’s snickering in the background! (And Shiro too but he won’t admit that, for Lance’s sake)

“Shut it.” is all Lance says for like 10 minutes

You’re hot, He’s hot, and you guys could end up together

You’re a woman now

And you could have him ENTIRELY at his knees.

Hunk

Hunk misses earth

So much

He stops talking as much and wanders around the castle

He didn't think anyone noticed

But you did

And you felt SO bad for him

So when you stop at the mall to get teleduv lenses you seek away

And get the closest possible ingredients to make his favorite treat

Ice cream sandwiches (real)

You’re testing weird white heavy cream adjacent substances and so much more all for him

You might get sick

Oh well

You sneak back and he gives you a weird “Where were you?” look,

But you just ignore

And then you slave away in the kitchen and finally end up with something that’s ice cream sandwich adjacent 

“What’re you making?”

“Ice cream sandwiches”

“Oh for the team? You should have let me help”

“No”

Confused hunk

“It’s just for us” and you hold up an ice cream sandwich for him

His face LIGHTS up and he gladly accepts it

Then you guys sit on the floor and just talk about life and how both of you feel

All night.

It's freaking adorable

He realises how much he adores you, and how he absolutely loves you and all of your little quirks

It doesn’t even matter when the ice cream starts melting, he’d much rather focus on you and talk. Only occasionally taking bites when you do

Pidge

Pidge always knew you were datable

And an amazing person

But she started falling for you when the paladins were trying to tell her to not go find Matt

You stepped in a stood up for her, gaining Shiro’s support.

And then when she was ready to leave she saw you putting your stuff into your lion

“You don’t think I’ll leave you alone, do you?”

She knows it’s because someone will need to be there for her in case Matt is gone

But she doesn’t complain

It’s a silent brewing of love and appreciation

And she’s so grateful to have you in her life

Shiro

When Keith was confused and stuck without Shiro, you stepped up and found him

He was surprised at first

But you took care of him and helped him out as he got better

You were there for him to lean on. Always.

Literally and figuratively 

His appreciation turned into adoration and then his adoration turned into pure, genuine love

Once he was fully healthy again

He’d try to pay it back to you

By protecting you when you went against any threats

ESPECIALLY when you were out of your lion

And then it just becomes a thing where you protect each other

It’s adorable

He loves you and he protects you

And vice versa

Adorable, I say.

[cool-and-grizzled]

pull the trigger without thinking (your heart in my hands)

18.8k, klance, canon-divergence

Keith knows exactly how he got here: his impulsive decisions fueled by hurt masked as anger. It was his decision to steal Shiro’s car, his decision to punch Iverson in the face, his decision to go rescue Shiro and his decision to go off to fight Zarkon alone. One landed him in the Garrison, one got him expelled from the Garrison, one got him to space, and one lost him the only adult in his recent life that didn’t treat him like a problem. All this, and his inability to give up. It’s also this that led them into a trap, and instead of retreating, he pushed the team on, and now he’s back to back with Lance, fighting off a group of Galra that ambushed them. or: the story of how Keith and Lance get close by taking care of each other, fall in love but do nothing about it until they do, and how Keith would fight the universe if it meant he could keep Lance.

also known as the keith pov fic to this that i kept talking about for a month.