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maxmagi · 4 years ago

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A List of My OTPs

because it's 11 and I can't sleep.

Enjolras x Grantaire a.k.a. Enjoltaire a.k.a. ExR- Les Mis

How I fell into this I don't remember now. I vaguely remember reading a crackfic of this and then everything just went sideways.

This was also the fandom that helped me realize that I wasn't exactly straight and that it's okay to not be loud about my sexuality, that I can just be.

I think that explains my attachment to this ship, not to mention just the movie's Grantaire (played by George Blagden) also shipped the characters and played his character like how he thought it should be, Grantaire loving and pining after Enjolras without the revolutionary knowing it.

Except in the fan fics, Enjolras returns his feelings and they work it out, even though it's not easy because they're both stubborn as mules. Ah, ultimate fantasy I guess. And the number of great fics here, *whistle*

Also, the Les Amis? Is amazing? Especially in the modern AUs? Like they're great friends? I love this fandom so much! Permets-tu!

Shen Wei x Zhao Yunlan - Guardian / Zhen Hun

C'mon, Zhu Yilong & Bai Yu's performance and emotions? Plus just the fact the fanfic writers of this ship are absolutely amazing? Please, escape from this pairing is impossible!

Best opposites attract trope for me. An academic by day, superhero by night in love with a roguish police chief who has no powers but whose charisma, wit, and heart can get him to toe to toe with the legends.

Also, Professor Shen Wei constantly acting like an innocent civilian and lying badly? Gold!

Loki x Tony Stark a.k.a. FrostIron - Avengers

How did I honestly get to this ship? I really can't remember what started it all. I think it must have been a Loki redemption fic where Tony Stark and Pepper broke up and something something happened. Let me tell you, the writers of this ship have written sagas and ballads of epic and sometimes confusing proportions, and that is why I fell deeper into the pit. I mean, they gotta give justice to two brilliant but chaotic characters, right? Angst. This ship has sooooooooo much angst.

Eiji x Ash - Banana Fish

My god, if you want to keep your heart intact and not be reminded of all that's ugly in the world, DON'T WATCH OR READ BANANA FISH. YOUR HEART WILL NEVER HEAL!

If you're gonna watch/read it anyway, make sure to watch something fluffy and sweet after. There's a reason that people from this fandom go, "If you've seen Banana Fish's ending, then you can handle whatever angsty show you're watching now." ~ or something to that effect. Another thing we like to say in this fandom is, "Other fandoms: Let's write a Mafia AU! Banana Fish fandom: We are the Mafia AU." Yes, all of us in this fandom is dramatic af.

Yuuri x Viktor - Yuuri!!! on Ice

Uh, does this really need an explanation? Aside from the fact that you will surprisingly find a lot of Mafia AUs here because we all know that hiding behind that beautiful face of Viktor Nikiforov is a devil capable of... tearing down your self-confidence, like WTF Viktor, don't make Yuuri cry! Also, their dance together at the end, such beautiful love.

Magnus Bane x Alec Lightwood aka Malec - Shadowhunters

I never read the books and have no plans to in the near future. I just saw a video on Youtube about why Malec is life and now here I am, still reading some Malec fics from time to time.

Some stuff on the show were WTF but overall they were a really good couple who supported each other. Plus, they're a Power Couple.

Erwin x Levi aka Eruri - Attack on Titan / Shingeki no Kyojin

Not to be confused with Ereri, which is Eren x Levi, which I don't generally ship except for that one time when a writer wrote an epic fanfic series with Eren in his mid 20s and Levi in his late 20s/early 30s, reincarnation AU. Boy was that one a surprise. I did not expect that.

Anyway, I'm an Eruri fan through and through. Especially with that promise that Levi made to Erwin. And the reason he gave the serum to Armin. HE DIDN'T DO IT FOR THE KIDS YKNOW. HE DID IT FOR ERWIN. Plus, Levi, Erwin, and Hange are my special trio. Erwin's batch was really amazing.

Also, I really like the fact that the shorter and slighter person is the more badass fighter while the taller, bigger one is the more calculating and strategic one. Rocks the boat of stereotypes and all that. Bonus: how these two met. My god, what a meet-cute! 😂

Dani x Jamie aka The Au Pair and the Gardener - The Haunting of Bly Manor

It really is more of a love story than a ghost story. I dunno how to feel about this. I loved these two characters so much and I wished they had a better ending but I wasn't SO surprised because it was a horror series (Like, I was still hoping at the end that they'd be together forever but yknow...). In any case, Jamie was just awesome. And her nickname for Dani? Poppins?! God, what a lover and fighter. She was not afraid to cock a gun in a ghost's face.

... and now for my flexible BROTPs

Merlin x Arthur aka Merthur - BBC Merlin

Yeah, my brain is so chaotic multiple OTPs and BROTPs of the same pairing exist at the same time without clashing with one another or having major identity crises.

I actually really like BROTP Merlin and Arthur and also like reading OTP Merthur.

And when Merlin is paired with Morgana or Freya or sometimes even Gwaine, that's fine with me too. As long as his bromance with Arthur stays intact, because that's what drew me to the show in the first place. Personal preference. I see them as platonic soulmates.

*Shout-out to the Merthur writers though, you kept me sane during my "Post-Merlin Depression," which is actually a term thrown around in the fandom because of that horrid final season (not saying it's a good term but it's what it was called). A lot of amazing fics here, too, both Magic Reveal and Modern AU ones. Full of action and adventure too! I mean, there are boy-band-looking Knights and magic-wielding badasses!

Tim Drake x Conner Kent/Kon-El aka Red Robin x Super Boy - DC Comics

More like flexible otp. I dig Stephanie Brown and Tim Drake BUT I really really also dig Tim Drake and Conner Kent. When they're TimKon, it's like an entirely different entity from TimSteph. Ugh, hard to explain.

I mean, Kon telling Tim, "You'll always be my Robin" and Tim telling Kon, "And you'll always be my clone boy" is the shit. Also when Kon could pick out/recognize Tim's heartbeat. And when Tim nearly went mad scientist trying to bring his bestie back. Like, dudes, wtf. And at the same time, hell yeah.

Liu Kang x Kung Lao aka LiuLao - Mortal Kombat

- I see these two as more like ride or die best friends connected by fate/platonic soulmates. But also like their dynamic is so awesome, cute, sweet, badass, can't-live-without-you vibes.

Basically the same way I feel about Merthur. I like reading both romantic and platonic relationships between these two characters. Like, the LiuLao fan creators peeling off the layers of this relationship and exposing every raw nerve is beautiful.

They love diving into the characters' psyche, emotions, motivations, fears, and doubts and you get really amazed because... Aren't they just characters from a video game, you ask? Well yeah, but MK video game has several interesting storylines and the Mortal Kombat 2021 movie was just the perfect jumpstarter to this beautiful blaze.

I mean, "We swore that if we were to die, it would be together"? Hell no, you're not dropping that on us and not expecting us to create our very own spin-offs and 12-page essays on that shit. That's what we fans do, baby. And also, really, we need a shaolin monks/white lotus spin-off/prequel. We're starving here.

As this ship is the newest one on my list, it's the one I'm looking forward to the most. Not enough fan content, I tell you. Not enough. One of these days, I just might add my own.

But right now, it's past 1 and so I shall attempt to sleep.

***No images for TimKon and LiuLao coz apparently I've gone past my 10-images allowance 😤

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noirbriar · 3 years ago

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I got tagged by @awlwren and I have to say this was hard and my briancells are already fried from work this week. I have been in so many fandoms since I was in elementary that I just can’t choose?? :’)

Rules: List your favourite character from 10 different fandoms and then tag 10 people.

There are way too many fandoms I have been in and this was hard. In no particular order but those that immediately come to mind off hand. Not necessarily in fandom but in general in that series? Yup.

1) Kurosawa Sae / Fatal Frame 2

I am torn as Fatal Frame/Project Zero series had such memorable characters. Especially 1-3, which paved the way in that era of horror gaming greats.

Sae is an absolute icon. Sad and just chilling. Her image, her backstory, her aura is just, absolutely unforgettable. Sae is just tragic especially once you link it to FF1 and FF3 and in relation to the other characters and the beliefs. Abandoned, yet her longing and grief, the resentment. Simple and perfect.

2) Edea Kramer / FFVIII

I simp for this sorceress. I don’t care what y’all say, I love Ultimecia, her fight and all but Edea was just, a queen. I will keel over and let her step on me. Gorgeous, powerful and absolutely amazing considering her role in the story. Her appearances all left me a weak, weak individual. And mid game? She gave me a heart attack ngl.

3) Okumura Eiji / Banana Fish

Everyone loves Ash Lynx. I do too. I love Sing, Shorter and the series. But Eiji? That boy is pure but he’s not innocent. He knew Ash’s pain, he loved him as a person and was there just for Ash throughout. He would risk his life for Ash. I will admit at the end in Garden of Light I wept like a lil baby reading it. Eiji’s guilt is my one sole heartache. Find me one who did not and we’ll talk. Eiji deserved all the good things, hurghhh.

4) Prompto Argentum / FFXV

My best boy, my dear boy. Episode Prompto was just the icing on top and sealed the deal for me. He was the reason I got into the FFXV fandom even before Cor, before Nyx. This baby chocobo right here. All the insecurities, the need to push himself be better, being by Noct’s side. I cannot not love him. Those that called him weak? This boy trained very shortly before, just to go out and be with his bud on his big day and ends up in a war and divine nonsense. His loyalty and friendship with Noct is just *insert incomprehensible noise here* I just wished SE had allowed FFXV develop properly.

5) Hanamura Yosuke / Persona 4

This awkward boy is a ball of contradictions but I absolutely love him. In a japanese setting, he is so real and relatable. All the cringe and jealousness and loyalty, possibly trying to be comfortable with himself as a person with his insecurities, this boy is just such a character that reminded me of my own awkward days, not that I am not a cringe mess still now. His character develop throughout is solid and believable for me.

6) Yugi Mutou / YGO

Everyone is there for Atem or Kaiba but I just love the original Yugi. Adorable and fearless and capable, his character development from the start, to understanding Atem and becoming his own person and dualist was wonderful. Think it was the manga and the final arc that sealed it for me. He was epic in Darkside and I had zero regrets watching it on the big screen.

7) Shang Qinghua / Scum Villian Self Saving System

The ultimate mess. A writer who fucked himself over with his own plot, lore and characters after transmigrating into his work. Not to mention his love for his side character that was his own indulgent character. Peak clownery. He is the writer and artist in all of us I can love and relate.

8) Yokozawa Takafumi / Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi

Like many people, Sekai-ichi and Junjou is one of those first series you read when entering a BL genre.I was avoiding anime and fandoms when I suddenly out of boredom fond myself to heck with it, watched and fell into the genre.Next thing I knew I was binging online novels of this guy who was heartbroken and rejected by his one sided love and found himself getting closer with a colleague in another department and his daughter. Him cooking, caring for the daughter and sharing a cat and meeting their family, while keeping professionalism at work at the publishing company. Quality content.

I am just weak to men being domestic okay?!

9) Qiao Yifan / The King’s Avatar

I only read this novel for him.Sweet baby boy who tried so hard to prove himself in a champion E-sports team.Yet he gets left behind and ultimately finds his place with an upcoming team with a restart of his young career. Precious, lovable and always portrayed as ‘white mochi but black sesame filling inside’, 白切黑. Very Sweet but full of life and adorable. He probably is the only reason I have not yeeted out my chinese tumblr app called lofter yet.

10) Heather Mason / Silent Hill 3

Silent Hill is another series from my childhood especially its soundtrack. SH1-4 especially. So I need include someone from the series. Although my personal favourite was Silent Hill 2 hands down.However, here is another badass and no nonsense female character with good development if you followed SH1. Her behaviours and mannerisms in a horror game are refreshing and you hardly find it again these days. Love her. Don’t have 10 friends to tag and be a annoying panda, so here! :D Thank you for letting me play!

#tumblr thing #fav character fandom game

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iceywrites · 4 years ago

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Inspired by @chaos101lynx 's fic. Again. This one's fluff though. Or is it...?

---

Eiji didn't think that when they would talk about marriage, it would be so casual. He didn't think that they would we sitting on their couch, holding each other's hand while watching a romcom. He didn't think that he'd whisper a small, "hey Ash, do you wanna get married someday?" To which Ash would tilt his head, lost in thoughts while a little blush would form on his face as he would nod and say, "I'd like that. Only if it's you." He didn't think that they'd get so lost in conversation, that they exchange their vows.

"So are you proposing to me, Eiji?" Ash asks.

"No. I'll do it with a ring, of course."

Ash hums. "If you do it first, that is." He says as he kisses Eiji's hand.

Eiji looks at him with widened eyes and he can see that Ash has already started planning in his head.

In moments like these, he just can't believe he fell in love with this asshole.

---

And the chaos starts from then.

Since the pair believed that their souls had married long back and the bond was only strengthened when they had that conversation on the couch, proposing was a fun little game they had. Whoever got their ring on the other's finger would win, simple.

Besides, considering Ash's overly competitive spirit, this was bound to happen.

Ash tries it first, of course. He takes Eiji to a nice restaurant. Eiji's mind was too occupied with his current project to think that Ash would propose. But when he does see all the signs, there's a siren ringing in his head. He quickly makes an excuse that he has a deadline and he'd have to rush.

Ash squints his eyes then raises a brow, "Really?"

"Yeah," he hurries them both out of the restaurant and catches a cab for himself.

By the way Ash hits him with a pillow when reaches home and snuggles Buddy all to himself, he can say his guess way right.

---

Eiji tries next. He still can't believe he was stupid enough to take Ash to his favorite - and personally for Eiji: traumatic - spot on the earth - the library.

When they reach the classical section of literature, where Ash is found most often, he decides to pop the question only to find that his ring is not there with him.

"Lost something?" Ash asks, seemingly innocent. When Eiji doesn't answer, Ash smirks and continues, "Maybe you forgot it at home or maybe someone pulled it out of your suit." Ash smiles ear to ear and picks up Sense and Sensibility from a rack.

Eiji rolls his eyes. Of course.

---

It was after quite a few days that Ash decided to drive them away for a while.

They stop at a cliff where the entire skyline of the city is visible. It's picturesque.

No wait, it's picturesque!

Eiji had mentioned once when they were watching a shitty romance that he would be loved to proposed in a picturesque location. Being a photographer, he thought that even if they didn't have anyone to take their pictures, he'd still associate their special memory to that place.

Damn it, he remembered.

Eiji can now clearly see a round outline of the ring in Ash's pocket.

He turns and smiles to himself. This is so stupid. He can't believe he is going to snub Ash's proposal. Ash is going to kill him.

Before Ash can say anything, he goes down on one knee.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Aslan, the love of my-"

"No."

"-the reason I breathe-"

"Nope."

"- will you marry me-"

Ash turns around, puffing his cheeks and folding his hands to himself. Eiji almost laughs at the adorableness but reminds himself that this is a very serious proposal. So serious that his lines aren't even original. "I don't think so."

"- and make me the happiest man alive?"

"I think the fuck not!"

Eiji smiles innocently. "If you propose the next time, I'll give the same answer."

Ash let's out an offended gasp. "You wouldn't."

Eiji just shrugs. He can't make out if Ash's face is red because if the anger it the blushing. Probably a mixture of both.

"Fine! Okay! I do!" Eiji asks for his hand and he softly places his on Eiji's palm. He delicately slides the ring up Ash's finger and kisses it. "Stop rubbing it in."

Eiji laughs as he gets up and dusts his pants.

"Now give me your hand."

Eiji let's out a mock gasp. "I would have never guessed."

Ash makes an elaborate gesture of removing the ring when both him and Eiji know that he's never going to part away with it till his dying breath.

Eiji gives him his hand and Ash slides up a platinum ring. It contrasts his dark skin in the similar way his ring contrasts Ash's pale skin. Their rings are not a pair but they probably don't need one. It's like the Yin Yang; they complete each other.

They hold each other's hand as they laugh at their own stupidity. Ash rests his head in Eiji's shoulder as they take in the view.

"The night is beautiful," Ash says softly.

"You know what else is beautiful?" Ash laughs and shakes his head. "The ring in your finger." If this was a normal proposal, then Ash would've blushed. But no. Ash's smile drops as Eiji starts laughing.

Ash takes Eiji's face in both his hands and instead of kissing, he squishes his cheeks. "So funny. ThE rInG iN yOuR fInGeR." Ash repeats his statement in a mock tone. "I can't believe you snubbed my proposal."

"I can't believe you stole my ring."

"I can't believe you made a shitty excuse to run away from our dinner."

It goes on till the reach home and sleep. Why? Because they're both idiots. And Eiji won't have it any other way.

#this is pure crack #this is the kind if shit i do when im sleep deprived #banana fish #ash lynx #eiji okumura #asheiji

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xlovelybeanx · 4 years ago

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✭ This show has completely wrecked my mental game up - so you know what I have to say to that?

...

✭Let’s write cute fan fiction about it in hopes that it’ll cure the sadness right out! (I doubt it..I have been crying over it for the past few months.)

✭Spoilers ahead! If you have not seen past episode 9, please do not read. If you still wanna read, that’s completely fine <3!

✭Also this is my first time writing something like this! I hope you guys like it.

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Title: “Smile, my sunshine.”

Ship: AshEiji

Summary: Ash’s mind had been torn apart from that night - the night where he had to do such a disgraceful thing to his best friend - and has been restless ever since. Luckily, Eiji knows the right way to keep him happy.

WARNING: This is a tickle fic! There are mentions of death, and grief. Please be mindful when reading! Also, art doesn’t belong to me. (I wish I could draw like that.)

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“Oi, Ash.”

Eiji pounded on his door once more, his tone growing frustrated with every time he had to come back and pound on this stupid door. The frown on his face was clear to see from miles away and his eyes were narrowed so low that he was afraid that he might end up breaking the door with how intense he was staring at it.

There would be no need for him to feel this way if somebody - Ash Lynx - would actually get up and go on with his day. Of course, if Eiji was in that situation, he wouldn’t want to get out of bed either - but Ash couldn’t act like the world was ending. He had to live on because life was ... just worth living.

And because somebody made breakfast, Eiji thought angrily to himself before grabbing the knob and twisting it harshly. Walking into the younger male’s room, everything looked ... almost perfect. Bed was made, curtains were semi-open, and the rest of his stuff was laying in a neat pile - just the way Eiji liked it.

But that lead the question - where was Ash?

Eiji almost went to call out his name, but stopped as he heard the soft trickle of water coming from the shower. Slowly making his way to the sound, he opened the door to find a sleep deprived child sitting in the tub with only his black underwear on. ... the elder’s eyes almost filled with pity. Walking over, the black haired boy tried to figure out what’s going on.

“Ash, talk to me.. did you get any sleep last night?” he asked, petting the top of his head softly. The blonde shook his head, a blank stare still stuck on his face.

“I couldn’t,” he admitted, wiping his eyes with a force that was even surprising to him. “...I c-couldn’t.. think about anything but him, Eiji...” the younger broke down in sobs, covering his face with his hands, feeling the soft patter of water on the back of his hands. It somehow seemed to comfort him, if only a little.

It would make sense that he didn’t get over Shorter’s death that quickly. But to think, for a guy to be almost broken over something he watches everyday - it tugged at the black haired boy’s heartstrings in a way that nothing has ever done before.

“...you should’ve just talked to me,” Eiji mumbled into his ear, closing his eyes as he rested his head on his shoulder. “I’m here for that reason, you know.” Ash looked up, his jade green eyes filled with an indescribable pain.

“I know..” he said, wiping the last of his tears on his wrist. The other nudged Ash’s arm and pointed toward the door. “...why don’t we cuddle so you can fall asleep?” He immediately shook his head. He looked as if he was going to die if he fell asleep - hence him sitting in the tub and hoping that it kept him awake.

“I’m not leaving you in the tub.” He crossed his arms, standing back up. The other leaned against the wall, blinking a couple of times to force himself to stay awake. Ash immediately looked up at him - there was a bright aura coming from him, as if he was the embodiment of sunshine itself. The other exhaled quickly, standing up with shaky legs. “..woah! Woah, careful now,” Eiji said, grabbing on to Ash’s arms when it seemed like he was going to fall.

“...I’m okay,” he said as he wrapped an arm around him. “Sit down,” Eiji ordered him as he sat on a seat they keep in their room. The younger obliged, reluctantly, watching as he got a towel from the bathroom and started drying his hair.

“...you’re depressed about ..it, aren’t you?”

The question caught Ash by surprise.

“...of course I am. .. he’s always been my best friend - I don’t think I’d be who I am without him. ...but when I saw you getting attacked by him, I knew I couldn’t just.. sit there and do nothing. I-It was so hard to pull the trigger. ..I almost couldn’t do it..” before he had realized it, the gang leader had been throwing out his feelings to the boy who stuck by him the entire time. “...I know I didn’t know Shorter that well,” Eiji started, finishing with his hair and moving down to his body. “...but I could tell how much he meant to you. Probably much more than me,” he said jokingly, hoping to brighten the mood. The blonde’s expression hadn’t changed from the sad frown he had on since he shot Shorter.

... what could I do to make him laugh, Eiji thought as he continued drying. Then he hit across something - something spectacular - and if it was true, well, maybe he would be able to get Ash out of this depressive situation that held him hostage.

“Ash~?”

“Eiji,” he mumbled, trying to be snarky and failing.

“Can I do something?”

“...sure, go ahead,” the blonde yawned as he stretched upwards, his whole body arching into the best stretch he’s ever had. This is when he took the time to seize his opportunity.

Eiji’s fingers travelled directly to his ribs, soft and delicate not to hurt him but to drive him wild with laughter instead. The reaction was instantaneous; Ash let out an unmanly squeak while one arm shot down to protect himself, the other to cover his mouth.

“...ohohokay, mind explaining that noise, Ash?” Eiji couldn’t keep himself from laughing like an idiot - the gang leader’s face was entirely red and he shook it, unable to say anything at the moment.

“Playing the strong, silent type, eh? Lucky for you, I win tickle fights with my sister all the time so I’m prepared. But the real question is, are you?” From Ash being so weak from not sleeping all night, he was actually quite surprised when the elder picked him up to the best of his ability and threw him on the bed, sitting on his waist with a snarky grin on his face.

“Ash, say, do you think you can smile? Just for me?”

“...please don’t,” Ash mumbled, his eyes closed and his whole face bright red - he didn’t want to know what came next.

“Don’t what?”

“Tickle me!”

Eiji’s grin only widened as the boy fell right into his trap. This is exactly where he wanted him to be - and he was playing right into it, too.

“Tickle you? Well, why didn’t you just say so?”

And so 10 fingers descended on the blonde’s poor ribs, ever so gently scraping across each and every singular rib.

“..h-hey! Waihihihit-! Stahahahap that-! N-No!” Hysterical giggles poured out of the blonde’s mouth. Eiji was so surprised by his squeaky laughter that he almost just stopped tickling him to begin with - ...he found it honestly quite cute. The way his head was thrown back, the bright red blush on his face.. it was so cute.

“...oh? What’s wrong? Does it tickle? How badly? On a scale from 1-10?” The teasing tone dripped with every word he said, and it didn’t stop there. “..broken already? My little sister can handle more than you. Beaten by a girl? Seriously? That’s pretty frustrating isn’t it?”

And it made it 100 times worse.

“CUHUHUT IHIHIHIT OHOHOUT! EIHIHIJI! F-FUHUHUCK! STAHAHAP!” The blonde was now squirming profusely, shutting his eyes tightly as tears pricked on the corners. Oh god, what had he found himself into it? Him? Tickled to death by the weakest, most kind, most gullible person he knows? That’s just unfair at that point.

“..hmm, I wonder what happens here.” Eiji quickly stuck his hands underneath of his arms, expecting a small reaction. The reaction he got was anything but small.

Ash shrieked, his hands collapsing on his most sensitive spot and trapping his friend’s hands there. Eiji’s eyes widened in surprise, smirking along with his friend who was basically getting tortured in front of him. “Ah, Ash, ...I can’t do anything when you trap my hands like that, you know. You have to get them out.” He said, wiggling his fingers faster.

“YOHOHOHOHO BIHIHIHITCH! FUHUHUHUHUHUCK!! STAHAHAHAHAHAP!! PLEHEHEHEHEHEASE!”

“...hmm, let’s see, are you happy yet?”

“YEHEHEHEHES! FOHOHOR GOHOHOHODS SAHAHAHAKE, YEHEHES!”

“... and are you gonna come straight to bed so you get enough sleep?”

“I CAHAHAHANT- I HAHAHAHAVE A JOHOHOHOB!”

Eiji dug his fingers into his friend’s underarms, furrowing his eyebrows. Ash jerked, throwing his head back once more as his whole body shook with ticklish agony.

“I said... ‘are you gonna come straight to bed so you can get enough sleep?’”

“FIHIHIHIHINE! WHAHAHAHATEHEHVER! NOHOHOW PLEHEHEHEASE STOHOHOHOP!”

And just like he said, the other stopped with no hesitation, leaving a bright red teary-eyed man laying there, gasping for breath. “...w-whahat.. the hell, Eiji..” he mumbled, covering his face.

“Your laugh is quite cute,” Eiji said softly into his ear. “...Don’t expect me to forget about this~!” The other laid down on the bed, pulling the blonde to his chest as he pet the back of his head, watching him melt into his touches as if he were some sort of animal.

“..can I ask you a selfish favor, Eiji?” Ash whispered, burying his face within his chest. The other nodded, smiling softly.

“...stay.. by my side. Please.”

“You don’t have to worry- even if the world turns it’s back on you, I’ll stay by your side. Forever.” Ash slowly closed his eyes, drifting into a peaceful sleep as he felt satisfied with the answer he got. Eiji leaned down and gave him a kiss on his forehead - something he’ll forget when he wakes up but something Eiji will treasure forever.

“.... always smile, my sunshine.”

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Hope you enjoyed this! I’ll be doing more in the future when I get more confident. .. thank you for reading! <3.

#tickle community #anime #anime tickling #banana fish #lee!ash #ler!eiji #thesetwoaresocuteohmygod #first post

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forever-lynx · 4 years ago

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two punks in love

heheee an arthuralex fic

warnings: cursing and one nsfw joke

A/N: you can also read it on ao3 here. this is also for @deimosatellite bc u have dragged me into arthuralex hell. even tho it was not deliberate i cannot claw my way out of it now smh /nm. i also know you havent been feeling well so this is my way of tryna make you feel better

–––––

“What the fuck is that stench?”

“I’m cooking pasta.” “That’s pasta? Are you sure you’re not tryna poison us?”

Alex huffed, “You try cooking then, Mr. I-can’t-even-microwave-popcorn.”

Arthur grumbled, “Shut the fuck up. That was one time.”

“All you had to do was wait for three minutes. You left it on for half an hour. I’m surprised the house didn’t burn down.”

“I got distracted! Let it go, you annoying ass.”

Alex hummed, “I’ll let it go once you admit you’re a shit cook and I’m better.”

Arthur scoffed, “In your dreams, princess.”

Arthur hopped on the rusty, old couch as Alex stuck his tongue out at his partner. They had been dating two and a half years and Arthur had not changed one bit. Well, perhaps that wasn’t all true – at least he had stopped trying to kill Ash, that was an improvement – but his mouth was as filthy as ever. Alex once joked that Arthur should drink soap to help keep his mouth clean. The next day, Alex saw his partner walk into the apartment with bags of soap. At least they had an endless supply of Dove soap at their disposal.

Two and a half years into dating and a lot had changed; Arthur had his own gang again, thankfully he was a more fair leader than he used to be. He would never admit it – least of all to himself – but Arthur looked up to Ash’s leadership. Though things were still rocky between the two, it was a whole lot better than it was years ago. Ash was often away in Izumo, Japan with Eiji. In the rare occasion he would come back to New York, Arthur would consult Ash about specific businesses. Whether it was about winning back territory or drug dealing, Ash would provide Arthur with the help he needed. Of course, more often than not the two would break into a fight, but neither tried to kill each other. That was a huge improvement.

Ash was skeptical about Alex and Arthur’s relationship at first. He suspected Arthur had an ulterior motive at hand. However, once he got to observe the two more, he realized they made each other happy. And to everyone’s surprise, Alex was the one person Arthur actually listened to. This was a relief to everyone.

“Hey, wanna see how it tastes?” Alex called out to Arthur.

Arthur shrugged, “Yeah sure, why not.”

Arthur took a fork out of their cabinet and dove into the pot. He blew on the fork, the steam of the pasta clouding his view. He brought it up to his mouth and swallowed.

Arthur smiled, “Gotta say, it tastes better than your dick.”

Alex hit the back of Arthur’s head, “Keep up with that attitude and I’ll see if you’ll ever get any again.”

"Oh come on princess, you are way too attracted to me to resist."

Alex scoffed at that, “What in the world gave you that idea?” He playfully shoved Arthur.

Arthur shrugged, "Just a hunch." He wrapped his arms around Alex’s waist from behind, resting his chin on his partner’s shoulder. Arthur hummed, content with being close to his partner. It was rare for Arthur to show affection. It was important because it meant Arthur felt safe enough to show his vulnerable side. Unfortunately, Arthur had grown up in circumstances where showing vulnerability was viewed as weakness. Thankfully, he had learned to open up to Alex. It had taken the two of them lots of time, but it was worth it. Alex was patient with Arthur, giving him space when needed and showing him affection when Arthur felt comfortable. Arthur did the same, of course; though he wasn’t good at showing affection, he had other methods of showing he cared. He would remember Alex’s favorite park to go to during rainy days. Arthur remembered Alex’s favorite scents and bought candles accordingly. When Alex was feeling down, Arthur would take care of the entire apartment so his partner would have less work to do. He would also take Alex to his favorite restaurant so his partner would not have to cook.

Months of trying to work out their relationship, the two lovers eventually found a rhythm that fit them. It wasn't easy, for neither of them were used to a relationship. Arthur especially struggled the most – he was not good at communication. But Alex was patient. And the two truly appreciated each other and therefore did everything they could to find their flow. It had taken a long time, but it was all worth it in the end. Even though they were able to afford an old apartment, they were happy with anything as long as they had each other.

"C'mon, grab the plates and start the TV to see if there are any movies on," Alex said.

The two ate their pasta while watching Shrek.

"Y'know… Shrek kinda looks like you," Alex told Arthur.

"Fuck you. You look like Donkey’s ass.”

The plates and forks eventually ended up in the sink, postponed to be washed tomorrow morning.

Arthur fell asleep on Alex’s shoulder, their hands intertwined. Arthur was hissing in his sleep, occasionally mumbling nonsense threats. Alex found it endearing.

Alex placed a soft kiss on Arthur’s forehead and closed his eyes, dreaming of a future with his partner.

#my fic #arthuralex #frederick arthur #banana fish alex #alex banana fish

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peachy-posy · 4 years ago

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Pumpkin Pie

Note: So I finally finished up my first request! The request was for Halloween fluff/shenanigans, so this isn’t quite on the mark. I wanted to incorporate some seasonal fun into this, so it’s like a Halloween/Thanksgiving fluff thing. Fluff is decidedly hard for me to write, I’m much more used to angsty stuff. I hope you enjoy!

*******

Eiji walked down a quiet street with Ash, holding his hand as he told Ash about his day. The two had eaten dinner together at their favorite local restaurant, and were now walking home as the sun was setting.

“And I was really close to getting the perfect picture when someone just walked-” Eiji cut himself off feeling Ash’s grip on his hand get a bit tighter.

“Is something wrong, Ash?” Eiji asked, looking at their hands, then looked up at Ash.

Ash seemed a bit surprised that Eiji said something. “Oh, well, no, it’s nothing.”

Eiji stopped walking and frowned. He pulled his hand away.

“You can’t trick me, Aslan. I know you too well these days,” Eiji said, crossing his arms.

Ash sighed. “Eiji, it’s nothing.”

Eiji made a disbelieving noise, and the two began to bicker in the street as Eiji tried to get whatever was bothering Ash out of him.

“Fine!” Ash relented, bringing their bickering to a halt. He looked away, then said, “I just don’t understand why people have pumpkins out at this time of year! I mean, for God’s sake, Halloween ended like two weeks ago!”

Eiji stared at the blonde for a moment with a blank expression, then started snickering.

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” Ash grumbled.

“No, Ash, I’m sorry. Um,” he looked around the street to find which doorstep was the offender with the pumpkins out. His eyes eventually settled on a one, decorated with fall decor. Eiji was a bit confused by the decor at first as well, but then realized that an American couple lived in that particular home.

“Now, I know I don’t know much about the holidays you Americans celebrate, but isn’t it almost time for the eating one?” Eiji asked.

“Thanksgiving?” Ash asked with an eyebrow raised.

“Yes! That one. It’s probably a decoration for that holiday. I’m surprised that one bothers you, though! It’s not a jack-o-lantern,” Eiji said, glancing at the small pumpkins on the doorstep again.

“They’re all the same.”

“No, that’s a small pumpkin. Typically, when you want to cook with a pumpkin, you’d use one of…” Eiji trailed off, suddenly deep in thought.

“Eiji?” Ash asked, staring at him.

Eiji glanced around the street. It was pretty dark outside by now, and there was no one around. Completely ignoring Ash, he quietly and quickly sneaked towards the house that had the pumpkins out.

“Eiji! What are you doing?” Ash hissed, whisper-yelling.

Eiji made it to the porch, turned around to face Ash, and shushed him. He then grabbed one of the pumpkins. He then ran back to the street, walking ahead at a fast pace.

“Why did you do that?” Ash whisper-yelled as he got close.

“Because I got an idea!” Eiji responded, keeping Ash’s volume.

“So you stole a pumpkin?”

“They had so many! They won’t even notice if one is gone!”

“Go put it back! We don’t need it!”

“I need it!”

“What could you possibly need it for?”

Eiji looked at him. “I am breaking your fear of pumpkins tonight.”

***

Ash stared at the small pumpkin that was now sitting on their table in their apartment. It was like he was having a staring contest with it.

He had no idea what Eiji was planning, but he sure was busy. Ash couldn’t see Eiji, but he heard him making a fair amount of noise in the kitchen.

“Okay! Ash, come here with the pumpkin,” Eiji finally called. Ash sighed and very reluctantly grabbed the small pumpkin off of the table. When he got into the kitchen, he practically threw the small orange gourd on the counter.

“Don’t abuse the pumpkin, Ash! We need it,” Eiji said.

Ash rolled his eyes. “For what?”

Eiji showed Ash his phone screen. Ash looked at it, then saw a recipe for a pumpkin pie pulled up.

“We’re going to make a pumpkin pie!”

Ash stared at the phone, then at Eiji. With an unimpressed voice, he asked, “Really?”

Eiji punched his arm gently, not enough to cause any pain. “Yes, really! This is a cooking pumpkin, and it’s almost the American eating holiday.”

“Thanksgiving,” Ash supplied,

“Yes, Thanksgiving. I read online when we were in New York that pumpkin pie is popular for that holiday.”

“It is,” Ash said, thinking about the few Thanksgivings he had celebrated. Ash didn’t really celebrate holidays often, especially ones like Thanksgiving. That said, any time he did celebrate it, he would eat some of the pie.

“So we’re going to make a pumpkin pie together. Hopefully you’ll get more comfortable around pumpkins that way.”

Ash couldn’t help but start to laugh. Eiji’s confused expression made him laugh harder. He felt so lucky in that moment to have someone care about him this much. Honestly, who else would care so much about Ash overcoming his bizarre fear?

Once Ash started laughing, he hugged Eiji. “God, what did I do to deserve you?”

Eiji blushed, not expecting the interaction at all. Ash pulled away and smiled at how much Eiji was blushing.

“You look cute when you blush.”

“I’m not blushing!” Eiji said, pivoting around to get the ingredients out.

The two spent around two hours baking the pie. The recipe said it should only take one hour to bake, but Ash was basically a beginner in the kitchen, so Eiji made sure to go slowly to teach him. By the time they were finished, they were coated in flour and some of the other ingredients.

Eiji looked at their aprons (which he forced Ash to wear) and started laughing. “The recipe didn’t even call for that much flour, I don’t really know how this happened.” Ash laughed along with Eiji. Their laughter was cut short by the oven’s timer going off.

“Finally!” Ash said, watching Eiji as he put oven mitts on. Eiji removed the pie and sat it on their stove top, looking at it skeptically.

“I hope it tastes good, I’ve never made a pumpkin pie before,” Eiji said, still inspecting the pie.

“I wouldn’t have known this was your first one. The way you were bossing me around made you look like you were an expert,” Ash said in a teasing tone.

Eiji gently hit Ash on the arm again.

“If you’re so worried about the taste, let’s just go ahead and eat it,” Ash said.

“No, Ash! We have to let it cool first.”

Ash rolled his eyes. “That sounds like a made up rule that a mom tells their kids.”

“It’s not a made up rule,” Eiji said, setting a timer on his phone. “If we cut into it now, the filling will get messed up. We have to let it cool for thirty minutes at room temperature, then we put it in the fridge for a few hours.”

“A few hours?” Ash asked incredulously. “What’s the point of baking?”

Eiji shut him up with a kiss. Ash was surprised at first, but then quickly reciprocated, cupping Eiji’s face.

Eiji pulled away, smiling. He disentangled himself from Ash (much to Ash’s displeasure), and got settled on the couch.

“We can watch a movie to pass the time,” Eiji called, motioning for Ash to come sit with him.

Ash glanced at the time on his phone, noting how late it was. He walked over and sat on the couch.

“You’re going to fall asleep,” Ash said as Eiji pulled up a random movie.

“No I won’t.”

***

He did, in fact, fall asleep. Ash smiled as he watched the dark-haired boy peacefully inhale and exhale, resting on his chest with his eyes closed. He had his arm draped over Ash’s torso, as if he were giving him a hug. Ash had put the pie in the fridge when Eiji’s timer went off, and had been waiting for it to finish cooling.

It had been about two hours since then, so enough time had probably passed, right? He honestly had no idea. Eiji had made fun of Ash in the past for his lack of cooking and baking knowledge. How can you take apart a gun blindfolded, but not know how to make a grilled cheese?

Ash really wanted to try to pie tonight, but he decided they should probably go to bed. Ash started shifting, trying not to disturb Eiji too much.

Eiji tightened his grip on Ash when he started moving.

You are making this so ridiculously hard, Ash thought to himself. He finally resigned himself to gently pulling Eiji from sleep.

“Eiji? Wake up,” he said quietly.

Eiji’s eyes fluttered open for a moment, but he ultimately fell back asleep. Ash smiled, deciding to just carry the boy to their room.

Ash got up in a swift, fluid motion so that he would minimize disturbing Eiji. He then scooped him up into his arms, bridal style, and walked to the room. His heart all but melted when Eiji wrapped his arms around Ash’s neck in his sleep.

“So clingy tonight,” Ash said quietly as he put Eiji in bed. He crawled in quietly beside him, finding himself in a deep, peaceful sleep very quickly.

***

He woke up to Eiji nudging him.

“It’s time to get up, Ash!”

Ash blinked hard, trying to get the tiredness to leave his eyes. He then sat up.

Eiji smiled. “Finally. We didn’t try the pie last night.”

“That’s because someone fell asleep,” Ash said, rubbing his eyes.

“Well, that someone is awake now. Let’s eat some now.”

“It’s too early,” Ash said, looking at the time.

“Nonsense. Don’t Americans eat sugary things for breakfast anyway?” Eiji asked playfully.

Ash sighed as he was pulled out of bed by an overeager Eiji. The two walked into the kitchen, and Ash found a piece of pie waiting for him on the counter. He grabbed the plate, taking it to their table, and finally sat down to try a bite.

Eiji watched him eat closely, sitting down across from him.

“So? How is it?”

“It’s good,” Ash said, smiling. It reminded him of one of the Thanksgivings he had celebrated as a child with his older brother.

“Good!”

They sat in silence for a few moments, enjoying their pies at an absurdly early hour.

“So?” Eiji asked.

“So…?”

“How about your fear of pumpkins? Is it better?” Eiji asked.

Ash thought for a moment, picturing a pumpkin. The thought of a jack-o-lantern still freaked him out. He still pretty much knew he hated Halloween. At the same time, though, he thought about how much fun they had last night baking the pie.

“Well, they still freak me out, but I have a new memory to associate with them now,” Ash said, watching Eiji smile. “Now, when I think of pumpkins, I’ll think of the time that my crazy boyfriend sneaked onto an innocent American couples’ porch and stole one of their pumpkins.”

#banana fish #fluff #asheiji #i hope you like it!!#eiji is a pumpkin thief now

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emeraldeyes23 · 4 years ago

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Fictober/Fantober2020 - Day 5 - Sleepover

"I've never done that before. A sleepover, I mean."

Those innocent words made everyone at Eiji's table stare at him in utter disbelief, gaping at him. Seeing all the eyes on him, Eiji wondered what he had done wrong, fidgeting nervously with the sleeves of his hoody while looking down at his now empty plate.

Eiji had just arrived at the school a few months ago and still had some trouble adjusting to a big city like New York. He had come here a few months ago with his uncle from a small town in Japan because this school offered a special art wing, and he had gotten a scholarship.

Despite his hard accent in English, he had found friends pretty quickly. He had met Shorter when Arthur wanted to bully him and Ash because he had to work on a school project in chemistry with him. Shorter had immediately asked him to join them for lunch. That way, he got to know Skip, too, because Ash looked out for him like a big brother. And Sing was friends with Shorter and was always around, too. Sometimes Bones and Kong joined them since Ash was tutoring them.

It had all started when they were all having lunch in the cafeteria, and Shorter had asked them what their plans for the weekend looked like.

"Reading and sleeping.", Ash said while trying to eat and read simultaneously.

"God, you're so boring. Why am I friends with a nerd like you again?", Shorter complained to him.

"Because you need me to copy my excellent homework or to change our grades by hacking into the school server."

When Eiji looked at him, completely shocked by that revelation, Shorter assured him it had been a joke. But judging by the mischief in Ash's eyes, he wasn't so sure. He was undoubtedly brilliant enough to pull it off.

"And because I constantly talk you out of all your crazy ideas. Or blame Arthur for them if they fail.", he added, a smug look on his face.

Shorter grinned. "Ok, I admit that the last part is true."

Then he asked the others for their plans. When Eiji mentioned on the side that his uncle would go on the business trip for the weekend, he put an arm around Eiji's shoulder.

"Is that so? You know what that means, right?"

"No.", Eiji asked innocently, "What does that mean?"

"Sleepover.", Shorter smiled mischievously while looking around.

"A sleepover? Seriously? How old are you, ten?", Ash scolded him without looking up from his book. "Count me out. I'm too old and too smart for that."

Everything else was really excited at the idea. Their exams had been a week ago, so they had more free-time now as Sing reminded them excitedly.

"I love sleepovers!" Skip exclaimed happily with shining eyes.

"Of course, you do.", Ash replied in a softer tone. "That's because you ARE ten years old." He finally put his book away. "You're supposed to love them."

Eiji was silent for a moment, trying to keep up with their conversation. Then, he looked nervously at them. "What's a sleepover? I've never done that before."

Everyone looked at him, completely astonished, their jaws practically hitting the floor.

"Never?", Shorter gasped out in surprise, recovering first. Eiji shook his head but kept quiet. He was anxious that he had said something wrong or weird. Maybe he shouldn't have admitted that so openly. Even so, he was so miserable at lying...

Ash looked at him, a half-smile escaping his lips. "Wasn't your last school a boarding school, Eiji?", asked Ash, suddenly curious. "I thought you told us something like that when you introduced yourself to our class." When Eiji nodded, he continued. "A sleepover means a friend or more stay overnight at another friend's house." Eiji smiled at him, relieved that Ash had come to his help. There were many rumors about Ash circulating. From being a criminal killing his parents for money to him being a pure genius. Eiji didn't listen to any of them since rumors were rarely true. Ash kept mostly to himself, and he had an intense glare and a confident stance that scared many students. Eiji, however, was convinced that his tough-guy-act was just covering up his pain and suffering. One time, he had been looking for Ash and had finally found him on the rooftop. Ash hadn't noticed him at once. It was at that moment that he had seen a hurting teenager and eyes that cried out in pain and reflected such loneliness it broke his heart. That's when he decided to learn more about him. While working with him on the group project, Ash had slowly opened up to him, and they had grown closer. Still, Ash still kept mostly to himself and preferred reading books in the library to conversations with other students. Shorter, however, was an exception. Ash was more talkative and relaxed around him. He always tried to force Ash into social gatherings and told Eiji he would turn him into a decent and social human being one day. "Since Eiji went to a boarding school, he lived at the school. Therefore, it makes sense that he has never done anything like that.", he lectured the others. "Thank you for the lesson, Professor Callenreese." Shorter took the glasses from Ash's head and put them on, then mocked him by mimicking his voice perfectly. The others burst out laughing while Ash's cheeks flushed in embarrassment, glaring at him. "Give them back! Now, Shorter!", Ash exclaimed furiously, eyes burning wildly. Shorter held them away from him, completely unfazed by his death glare, so Ash grabbed the sunglasses tucked on the collar of his shirt and took those instead. "They look better on me, anyway.", he said, putting them on and peering over the edges of his sunglasses in self-satisfaction. "Fine, you win." Shorter gave in, and they switched their glasses. "Anyway, Eiji, you wanna do a sleepover? At your house, of course. Your uncle won't mind, will he?" "No, I'm sure it's fine. I'll tell him later. That sounds great!" Then he turned to Ash, a bit flustered about the question he was going to ask him. "You really won't come? I was hoping you'd be there as well." He nervously fumbled with some brown strands, trying to remove them from his face, but they always fell back into place. The others grinned, watching the conversation with open curiosity, all staring at Ash. They had probably noticed by now that he liked spending time with Ash. He had no poker face, after all. Ash sighed deeply, then smiled a little. "If you want me to be there, I'll come. I can't leave you alone with this group of monkeys, after all.", he replied, winking at him. Eiji felt his cheeks burn up when he smiled at him. "Thanks, Ash." _____________ When they arrived at his apartment, they first made some pizza together. That had been his idea and was a lot of fun, especially for the younger Skip. After they had eaten, they played a few games until Skip had fallen asleep before sneaking into the other room to watch a horror movie. When Eiji heard that, he grew nervous. He was a scaredy-cat when it came to horror movies and flinched at every little sound and movement. He wondered if it would be alright. They grabbed some snacks and drinks Ash had brought with him and sat down at the living room after Shorter had some put in a DVD and had switched out the light. Shorter and Sing sat down at one couch while Ash and Eiji took the other one. Eiji sat there frozen up and didn't dare to move. He could feel A

#Banana Fish #Bananafish #Fictober2020 #Fantober2020 #Fanfiction #Ao3 #My writing #My fanfic #Sleepover #Shorter Wong #Sing Soo Ling #Skip #Ash Lynx #Eiji Okumura #Arthur

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fairydust-stuff · 4 years ago

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Enemy Yut Lung & Eiji one shot: Warning this one is not romantic or soft plantonic friends.

“ I’ve decided i’m going to be Ash Lynx’s enemy,” Yut Lung casually states.

Eiji freezes the implications of this statement slowly seeping into his brain. What the hell was this guys problem? He said he was just like Ash if that was the case why did he want to make his life harder?

At first Eiji had viewed Ash as untouchable, a powerful shonen hero like the ones from his childhood heroically fighting against evil men who wanted to control him but after that night. Eiji had seen the look of devastation on Ash’s face as he put a bullet in Shorter Wong’s brain. Even covered in the blood of his enemies ,Ash had such a shattered look about him.

The nights that followed were full of raw howls and heaving sobs as Eiji soothed Ash Lynx back to sleep. By day his gang members cowered from his wraith since the slightest thing they did seemed to set him off.

He cann’t handle anymore he’s been brutalized for far too long and as much as Eiji wished he was like those magically girl characters who made everything all right. He couldn’t just reach inside and rewire Ash’s brain or fix his heart with gentle fingers. All the love in the world could not repair the damage Golzine had inflicted.

Yut Lung had the means to tear what was left of Ash’s heart straight from his chest and crush it under his heel. Which is why Eiji said what he did next.

“ If your Ash’s enemy then i’ll be yours!” Eiji proclaimed defiantly.

Yut Lung’s usual hateful mocking expression was replaced by pure shock. Then he laughs.

“ Very well if you're my enemy” Yut Lung motions to the gun in Eiji’s hand and raises a delicate eyebrow as if to say get on with it.

Eiji raises the gun and points it at the other boy with one bullet and he can get rid of one more problem for Ash, but something about the other boy’s eyes makes him hesitate. There’s an uncomfortable familiar vibe to them that unnerves him and makes Eiji unable to pull the trigger and end things. Also killing an unarmed person, even one as vile as Yut Lung still isn’t right. It goes against everything he’s been taught.

“ Disgraceful, how can you be my greatest enemy if you cann’t even pull the trigger?” Yut Lung looks at him as if he’s a disappointing liar who cheated him.

Eiji’s plan was too escape and run directly to save Ash. he was just about to get back to that plan. When the younger boy who had looked pissed when he saw Eiji in the elevator shows up and tackles Eiji to the ground.

“ You ok?” he asks Yut Lung softly

“ I’m fine!” Yut Lung brushing the boy's concern away. “ Just get him back to his room” he snapped with irritation…

Eiji threw himself upon Yut Lung Lee who moved swiftly out of the way, he fell and smacked his head on the door.

“ Is this your way of persuading me you’ll be a good enemy or a court jester?” Yut Lung said with some amusement.

“ How did you know?” Eiji asked rubbing his head

“ I’m not the person to fall for the same trick twice” Yut Lung said …

Eiji shoves his dinner into the face of Yut Lungs servant and hurls the plate at him, the other boy dodges.

“ I’ll have another plate brought up for you, if you toss this one you can go to bed hungry” The younger boy warns with a pleasant smile…

“ How the hell did he get a lighter!” Yut Lung exclaimed furiously using expensive cloth to douse the flames to save his precious plants as the guards restrained a smirking Eiji...

“ Fine you can be my enemy, I certainly hate you enough” Yut Lung spat.

“ Great now please free me so i can save Ash” Eiji said.

“ No, though you have managed to irritate me, your technique is sloppy and unrefined. If you're going to be my enemy, you're going to become worthy of that title” Yut Lung makes a motion to his mafia goons who drag and blindfold Eiji when they take it off he sees he’s in an underground room.

“ Lets start with your breathing” Yut Lung states.

“ breathing?” Eiji demands

“ Its loud i can hear you coming, we need to change that” Yut Lung says simply “ But i need to” the mafia heir cuts him off “ I’ll keep an eye on the Ash situation” …

“ What? you have a shooting range on your estate?” Eiji exclaims looking at the fancy targets one of Yut Lung’s guys hands the boy a gun.

“ You should see the interrogation room in the basement” Yut Lung says sardonically and lines up his weapon and takes aim bam bam bam! Three straight shots in a row.

“ I cann’t tell if your fucking with me” Eiji said with a scowl.

“ Here” Yut Lung hands him a gun. Eiji frowns, forgive me Ash but i’m doing this to save you. He takes a few shots.

“ Disappointing” Yut Lung states.

“ What are you talking about i got half of them” Eiji argues.

“ Half isn’t good enough in a shoot out with me and my men” Yut Lung shot back. “ Lets talk about your shooting stance”

“ Ash showed me this!” Eiji argues.

“ What works for one person doesn’t work for everyone” Yut Lung informed him. “ Lets try some different stances and see if we can find one, That works better for you”

Eiji placed his arms and legs where Yut lung told him “ This is weaver stance its a boxer type, it might work better. You have a wider frame, Ash is more slender in build.”

It was surreal Eiji thought being taught by the one person he couldn’t stand who actually had some good advice. He found the second time he actually hit more of his targets. Yut Lung made him practice until almost nightfall...

Eiji found his days of being a captive were now loaded with lessons every day he was led blindfolded to some obscure location of the house. Where Yut Lung would instruct him on one topic or another...

“ Again” Yut Lung commands as Eiji pulls yet another acupuncture needle from his body. He was just glad they were clean; he still had awful memories of suddenly blacking out from whatever horrible substance the mafia heir put in those things.

Though he could do without Yut Lungs constant criticisms which made him want to curl in a corner and cry and took him back to his school days of struggling to balance athletics and still maintain perfect scores on every test. Eiji told himself at least the mafia heir wasn’t focused on Ash. Besides it was the same pressures he grew up with and this time he was determined not to crack…

A month later and Eiji was sitting at the dining room table apparently after no instances for a couple of weeks and Yut Lung had loosened his restrictions. Though he was still being lead to and tied to the table with one hand.

The boy who recaptured him who Eiji learned was called Sing Soo Ling was loading up and gobbling down what appeared to be multiple dishes.

“ You can at least use a napkin. I'm sure the Wong’s didn’t raise you to be a pig” Yut Lung remarks.

Sing responds by opening his mouth and giving the other boy a view of his chewed food. Yut Lung makes a soft sound of disgust as he delicately dabbles at his mouth. He turns to Eiji “ You made some slight improvements” he remarks. Coming from Yut Lung, it's almost a complement.

“ Are you seriously training this guy to be your enemy?” Sing demands incredulously

“ Honestly he wasn’t even my first choice” Yut Lung responds.

“ You ritch types are weird” the fourteen year old said.

“ i don’t go around with something called dragon fang” Yut Lung retorted.

“ Maybe if you did, you’d get taken hostage less!” Sing responded.

“ He got the jump on me. How is that my fault?” Yut Lung exclaims

Eiji watches incredulously as the two of them get into a pointless argument going back and forth there’s no heat to it really, rather a sense of comfort. Its the kind of argument he might have with his younger sister. Its just odd seeing this casual behavior from Yut Lung Lee of all people.

“ So Eiji has this guy dangled you over a snake pit yet?” Sing asks cheerfully

“ Where did you hear something so ridiculous?” Yut Lung complains

“ Servant gossip” Sing replies.

“ They’ve gotten chattier since my brothers illness” Yut Lung scowls.

“ Come on Yue don’t be so uptight” Sing coaxes

“ What’s the point of having a staff if they don’t know how to stay quiet” the mafia heir points out.

“ Their not spilling any secrets, just making up odd stories ” Sing pointed out.

“ If i hear one word of actual Lee businesses pass anyone's lips…” Yut Lung was interrupted by the entrance of a servant girl who whispered something in his ear.

“ What!” Yut Lung hurled one of the dishes at the wall.

“ Getting hysterical again!” Sing teased him.

“ Shut up!” Yut lung got up “ No one can seem to find Ash”...

Eiji sits in his room Yut Lung is too off kilter to continue his training. Sing gives him updates saying that the mafia heir spends a lot of time sending his people out, waiting by the phone and has even headed out a few times himself. It worries him that Yut Lung hasn’t actually given up on Ash. So he does push ups and pull ups every day to keep in shape. Eiji practices the stealth techniques Yut Lung showed him. He steals a pen so he can practice writing the codes on the walls he was taught to decipher and study. He has Sing bring him firearms so he can practice taking them apart and putting them back together.

Then Yut Lung visits him a few days later“ We found Ash” Eiji watches all of the tension from the past few days vanish from him with those three words. This guy was actually concerned for Ash?

“ You really are devoted to becoming my enemy” Yut Lung comments tracing codes on the walls with astonishment.

“ Ash?” Eiji asked

“ He escaped from one of Dino Golzine’s secret government funded organizations ” Yut Lung looks bothered like this is something he hadn’t known about. “ He’s been experimenting on criminals with Banana Fish” …

Its one more day then he’ll finally see Ash and the others again. “ Now before our final lesson there’s someone i want you to meet” Yut Lung leads Eiji into a room down the hall and opens the door. He gasps there’s a grown man with eyes like Shorter’s drooling on himself! He groans at Yut Lung who touches his cheek lightly.

“ Eiji may i introduce Hua Lung my older brother”

“ You used that horrible drug on him!” Eiji backs up.

Its wrong, even worse is the way Yut Lung pulls his living human puppet into an affectionate embrace, his eyes gleaming with hate.

“ Hua Lung was my former enemy” the younger boy pauses. “ Tomorrow i’ll be giving you back to Ash”

Eiji stares stunned at how his arms are still wrapped so tenderly around the one who he had so thoroughly destroyed.

“ Don’t look so surprised” Yut Lung says, misunderstanding the reason for his reaction.

“ I only wanted to deliver Ash to Golzine to force him to be my enemy” Yut Lung looked Eiji in the eyes over the shoulder of his zombie brother. “ Now you are my worst enemy, who will someday destroy me”...

“ Eiji!” Ash embraces him tightly as if he never wants to let him go. Eiji manages to persuade Ash, Yut Lung was just giving him a safe place to stay. The blond would go ballistic if he knew the truth.

Their just about to go then Yut Lung pulls him into a hug Eiji’s body goes entirely stiff he feels the softness of the other boys hands on his skin his voice in his ear like a lovers caress “ Goodbye for now, Eiji”

then the hands are gone his body feels chilled as he remembers exactly who else was embraced with such vindictive tenderness.

“ Eiji .what’s wrong?” Ash asked

“ Yes Big Brother Eiji are you cold?” Yut Lung asks innocently.

Eiji suddenly feels the full weight of the obligation he’s agreed to pressing down on him. How is he supposed to look at those oddly familiar eyes and manage to close them forever? But if he doesn't, well Eiji doesn’t want to think about it.

#banana fish #yut lung lee #yue lung #yut lung #yau si #why does he have so many names?#creepy yut lung #eiji okumura #bird & the snake #enemies au #Eiji is very unsettled #Yut lung has a weird relationship with hate #Eiji should of been Yue's enemy #Ash had Arthur and Fox to fight!#Though they screwed up Fox and Ash as enemy foils too!#asheiji #yut lung & eiji #from my one shot collection

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turnupswritessometimes · 5 years ago

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I’ll Be Loving You (Forever) - Banana Fish - AshEiji

Title: I’ll be Loving You (Forever)

Word Count: 3784

Summary: A series of oneshots set in the 80s during that one Summer where Eiji is telling Ash he's going to go home soon and yet not leaving. (Episode 11-12) Also mostly set at 3 a.m, so late nights and early mornings. (Slow dancing in the kitchen in socks at 3 a.m) *** A loud noise woke Ash. He immediately thought ‘gunshot’. Eiji. Someone had shot Eiji. Then his mind recognised the sound as a crash. Intruder. Someone had broken in. He swung out of bed, pulling his gun out from under his pillow, pulling the door to the rest of the apartment open - To find Eiji standing in the kitchen, staring back at him wide-eyed. He had turned on the light over the hob and it bathed him in yellow light. Ash's Walkman was skewed over messy hair and an 'I love New York T-shirt' covered him like a tent. Ash's stomach flipped, despite the fact that he was aiming a gun at this boy. Adorable, really, he looked adorable. But that was something wouldn't appreciate hearing.

ALSO AVAILABLE ON A03, UNDER THE AUTHOR TURNTUPS AND IN THE FIC ‘HANGIN’ TOUGH.’ I WOULD LINK, BUT THEN TUMBLR DOESN’T INCLUDE THE POST IN SEARCH RESULTS.

A loud noise woke Ash.

He immediately thought ‘gunshot’. Eiji. Someone had shot Eiji.

Then his mind recognised the sound as a crash. Intruder. Someone had broken in.

He swung out of bed, pulling his gun out from under his pillow, pulling the door to the rest of the apartment open -

To find Eiji standing in the kitchen, staring back at him wide-eyed. He had turned on the light over the hob and it bathed him in yellow light. Ash's Walkman was skewed over messy hair and an 'I love New York T-shirt' covered him like a tent. Ash's stomach flipped, despite the fact that he was aiming a gun at this boy. Adorable, really, he looked adorable. But that was something wouldn't appreciate hearing.

"Dropped the spoon," Eiji said, holding it up so that it caught the light. He was talking at a normal volume, unapologetically, like this was completely normal.

Ash flicked the safety back. Lowered the gun – as if that was the normal reaction to finding his housemate in the kitchen. His heart was still hammering – still recovering. "It's half three."

"I couldn't sleep," Eiji said.

Ash was starting to take in details now. The shock and the panic had given him tunnel vision. Now he noticed the glass of orange juice and bowl on the kitchen counter.

"You're eating cereal?"

Eiji took a breath, then stopped himself. He hesitated, as though he was trying to find the right words. Then he glanced up at Ash from behind a messy fringe, dark strands stuck to his forehead.

"You sleep with a gun, but I'm the weird one?" he asked.

"People don't eat cereal at half three in the morning," Ash replied, tossing the gun onto the sofa as he passed it. "Not in America."

"But they sleep with guns?" Eiji said, still unapologetic. Anyone else would have been apologizing over and over again. Anyone else would have been terrified that they'd woken Ash Lynx up. Anyone else wouldn't have been able to meet his narrowed eyed glare. Eiji was completely, utterly unafraid of him. “I was hungry.”

And Ash couldn’t decide if he hated or loved it.

"People also don't steal other people's Walkman’s without asking." Ash peeled the headphones off away from tangled hair.

Eiji caught the wire – held on to it so that it didn’t go far, and smiled.

"You were asleep."

"Because people sleep at half three in the morning." Ash tried to tug the wire from Eiji's hand. Eiji stepped forward, keeping his hold.

"You don't, always." Eiji said. Then his face flushed with heat and he dropped the headphone wire like it was boiling hot. He hadn't meant to say it. It made Ash’s breakdowns known – real.

People found it hard to have secrets at half three in the morning.

"Neither do you.” Normal - keep this all normal.

"I had," Eiji paused. "A dream."

Ash was still holding onto the headphone wire and his eyes followed the black line of it. The Walkman was tucked into Eiji's pyjama bottoms, creating a dark triangle either side. He looked away. Music was still playing faintly from the headphones – the kind of half-heard music he heard when he slept.

"A good dream or a bad dream?"

"A bit of both." Eiji was still holding the spoon. It glinted in the half-light. “It just – made me think.”

"Was I in it?"

"Yeah." Eiji smiled, his cheeks flushing pink again. Adorable – but in the true sense of the word. Adore – it was something to adore – something he did adore, completely. It was a horribly romantic idea, but he couldn’t get rid of it.

"Was that the bad part?" Ash pressed. He adored this boy. This boy was like no one else he’d known.

"No." He wasn’t scared of Ash. He tugged on the wire, to no avail.

"Well, I can't have been the good part."

"Why not?" Eiji's eyes shone in the yellow light.

"Because I sleep with a gun under my pillow." Ash said. He had one hand on the counter, to balance himself, and it was cold.

"Doesn’t everyone in America?" Eiji said it as if that was normal. As if anything about Ash was normal. As if anything about this situation was normal. “You’re my best friend.”

Best friend. The words carried a surprising sting to them. They were words he had used, but he hadn't believed them.

Shorter was his best friend. Eiji was something else. There was something else with Eiji that he knew about but wasn't naming. Something in the corner of his eye that he wasn’t looking at because it was terrifying. Something that had known he had to kiss Eiji – just the once – whilst he had an excuse that made it uncomplicated.

Something that made him tug on the Walkman wire again so that Eiji took another step closer to him, smiling sheepishly.

"If I was your best friend you wouldn't steal my Walkman," he said. This thing wasn't something that could be looked at or acted upon. Not with Eiji.

"Best friends share their Walkman’s." Eiji said. He put a hand on the wire again, just under Ash's hand so that their fingers brushed against each other. Eiji's hands were cold.

"Then best friends also share their three o'clock snacks."

Eiji gave a soft half-laugh under his breath and ducked his head. His eye lashes cast shadows on his cheeks. Ash found himself wanting to drink in those tiny movements wherever Eiji was around. If he couldn’t act on this thing, then at least he could watch it from afar. He popped the headphones out of the jack, freeing himself, then picked up the bowl. He mostly-fell down on the sofa, moving the gun out of the way - normal.

Ash's gun. No one touched Ash's gun.

No one, it seemed, but Eiji.

Ash sat on the other end, one arm over the arm and one leg up, as Eiji took a spoonful. Lucky charms. He wondered if they had them in Japan.

Japan. Eiji was Japanese and maybe that was why he was different. Different to Shorter and the others because he didn't grow up in New York, rough and ignored. Didn’t spend his school days nicking from corner shops and playing knife-fights for fun. Maybe that was why Ash kept looking at him, at the light brown skin and thick, almost black, hair. Maybe that was why he was fascinated by the fact that Eiji could still go amazingly pink if he was embarrassed enough. That his lips had a tinge of pink to them. Maybe that was why Ash was fascinated by the gentle slope of Eiji's nose and the almond shape of his eyes. He had dark eyelashes too and they were thick, the black line making his brown eyes stand out even more. His eyes were such a dark brown that sometimes it was hard to find the pupil.

No, it wasn’t him being Japanese that made a difference. It made a difference that he was attractive. Attractive and scared by these world, but ready to stay in it – for Ash. This all terrified him, but he was so brave.

Eiji glanced at him.

"You're staring," he said, simply. Not like he wanted Ash to stop, but not like he wanted him to continue either.

Ash decided to continue. "You didn't add milk."

"I didn't want to."

Ash reached over and took a marshmallow out of Eiji's bowl. Eiji didn't stop him. He squished it between his fingers.

"These are full of sugar," he said. "They'll keep you up all night."

"You can keep me company." Eiji smiled at him.

Ash was the gang leader. They wanted to follow him, stay in his good books. They admired him. But they didn't want to hang out with him. Didn’t really want to be friends – more like people who had their backs. A place to stay and something to eat – friends in the other guys, but not with the one who called the shots. There was always a gap. But Eiji hadn’t got the memo.

He tossed the marshmallow into his mouth.

"There's nothing good to watch this late at night.”

"I know." Eiji swallowed another mouthful. "That's why I borrowed the Walkman."

"What are you listening to?" Ash was imagining Eiji opening the drawer with his tapes in. Did he pick one at random? Or did he take his time and decide? Could he even read the English? Especially in the dark?

Eiji hooked the Walkman out of his pyjamas and handed it over to Ash. Their fingers grazed again.

Ash popped open the back and bit his lip to stop himself smiling. To stop himself laughing.

"I figured since you had it, it must have been cool music.” There was a small smile, like he knew as well, and was playing dumb.

"New Kids on the Block isn't cool, Eiji.”

"Then why do you have it?"

Ash glanced up at him. With those dark eyes.

"Maybe I'm not as cool as you think.” He'd thought that would have been obvious. Eiji knew where Ash had come from. He had an idea, at least, of what Ash really was.

"Impossible," Eiji said, through another mouthful of cereal.

"What would you know?" Ash asked. But the complete lack of care made him scooch closer - gave him the courage to put his hand over Eiji's on the spoon. "Are you going to eat all of that?"

Eiji smiled, and Ash's grip was light enough so that he could spoon another helping of charms onto it. He held it up to Ash, his eyes glinting playfully.

"Open wide?" he asked softly.

Eiji couldn't have known. He never would have made the connection. Never would have known how visceral a memory that created in Ash's mind. A hand on his jaw and another tugging at his hair.

He detangled the spoon from Eiji's fingers and turned away as he ate it. It sat in a lump at the back of his throat. For a horrible moment, he gagged, before he was able to swallow it down.

"Sorry," Eiji said.

"What?" Ash swallowed.

"You got that look on your face. Sorry."

"There isn't a that look," Ash snapped.

Eiji paid attention to him enough to recognize a look on Ash's face. He wasn't sure what to do with that information. Ignore it, his brain said. Ignore it just like all of the other stuff, because he couldn't read into it. If he did, he knew he'd regret it.

"Sorry," Eiji said again.

"You don’t need to apologize." Ash’s voice was low, and he realised he sounded tired. It was tiring – having all of this baggage. He glanced across at Eiji to see him opening his mouth again. His eyes were shining and Ash knew that look. Paid enough attention to Eiji to know that look. "Don't say it."

"Ash, I'm-"

"Don't-" Ash leapt across the sofa, one hand taking Eiji's cheeks in his fingers.

"Sorry." Eiji finished.

It wasn't even that funny, but it was three in the morning and they were on a sugar high. Ash couldn't help it, his grip slipped on Eiji and he started laughing. Really laughing, like it was the funniest thing in the universe. And Eiji was laughing too, and that was an incredible sound.

Then Ash opened his eyes and realised that his forehead was resting on Eiji's. His gut twisted. He pulled way. Cereal had spilt out over half of the sofa and stuck to his pajamas.

"Shorter wanted New Kids on the Block to play at his wedding," he said, changing the subject.

"Really?" Eiji asked like there was nothing wrong. Like nothing had happened.

"Yeah."

"He had a girlfriend?" Eiji continued eating.

"Yeah, she's deff."

"Deff?" Eiji echoed.

"You know, cool.”

Eiji looked up at him. "Do you?"

"Have a girlfriend?" His stomach twisted. They were approaching dangerous territory, but his head was still foggy from sleep. It was three o’clock, and hard to stop himself. "No. Shorter tried to set me up a few months ago, but-"

"It didn't work out?"

"Let's put it that way." Ash watched the curtains wave gently in the air con.

There was a pause before, in a soft voice – "is she dead?"

"Fuck, Eiji. No, she's not dead."

"Sorry - the way you said it-"

"No." He wet his lips. Ran a hand over his mouth, wondered whether it was safe to test the waters. This was something he couldn't discuss with the rest of the gang, but the rest of the gang weren't here. And they weren't Eiji. With any luck, he'd be back in Japan in a couple of weeks, so it didn't matter what he said now. That was the reason he told himself. It wasn’t a ploy to find out – "It didn't work out because - because she thought...I was gay. She said she didn't want to date a queer in case she got AIDs."

Eiji was quiet. "Are you?"

He pretended to misunderstand. Spoke too quickly and said it too tightly. "AIDS positive? No."

"I meant gay."

And it sounded so normal - so okay coming from Eiji's mouth, that it struck a sudden nerve with Ash.

"Fuck - because it was a man who raped me and not a woman I must be gay?" He snapped. Shouted. "Because of all that shit I must be-"

"I didn't mean-!" Eiji shouted right back at him - right over him. No one did that. It made him pause, mouth still open. Watching as Eiji went back into himself. He ducked his head so that his hair covered his eyes, his hands in his lap. "I meant, because - at prison, you - kissed me."

Neither of them had mentioned it. It had happened, and it wasn't to be mentioned out loud.

"That was to get the pill to you, to get the message-"

"I know, but-"

"I'm not gay."

"Okay."

It wasn't convincing. Ash hadn't been either. That made him brave - made him ask, "Are you?"

Eiji blinked. Even in the dim light, Ash could see his cheeks colour. He spoke slowly, like he was reading the right words from the air in front of him. "No - no - I'm not - gay."

There was still something in the air between them. They were both bad liars, Ash thought, though he couldn't be one hundred percent sure about it. It wasn't a fair question. The answer was no - always no. That was the only answer.

And the truth was, Ash had no idea. It felt like the choice had been made for him. If he was - then it felt like a surrender. Giving up. Admitting they were right. But he didn't really know. All he knew was that Eiji was different. That he liked being with Eiji, liked when Eiji hugged him, or let him rest on his lap - liked Eiji. Thought Eiji was the only human he would ever be able to stand kissing.

"You wanna hear the song Shorter wanted?" He decided to change the subject, grabbing the Walkman and holding a headphone up to his ear to hear where the tape was at.

"How will we both listen?" Eiji asked, balancing the mostly empty bowl on the arm of the sofa.

"We'll share." He let the tape play the last part of 'please don't go, girl.' Then stretched the headphones between the two of them, one half on Eiji's ear, one half on his. It meant sitting very close - their heads pressed against each other's. Ash was careful to let that be the only part of them that touched, making sure his hands and legs veered away from Eiji.

"Ash, you’ll break them," Eiji said. He was sat very still, but Ash could feel the slow rise and fall of his chest. His nose was right under Eiji's ear and he could smell this morning's aftershave. It was a generic smell, but it still made his stomach twist. The fact that it was Eiji’s aftershave made it different. That they were sat this close and it wasn’t weird – they didn’t have to hide it.

That his heart sounded like a beat.

"I'll buy a new pair." It was worth it. This was as close as he'd let himself get. He promised himself that. It was like the kiss – just before Eiji disappeared from his life forever.

I'll be loving you (forever) was playing now. The almost Christmas-like piano that opened it up. Eiji giggled, realising that it was partly a joke. That it would have been Shorter being ironic. That was part of it. They hadn’t known each other for long, but Eiji had just got Shorter. Had clicked instantly and fell into an easy banter.

He smiled, his jaw just resting on Eiji’s shoulder. It still hurt – the fact he wasn’t here. But thinking of him, of that road trip, almost brought him back.

As if Eiji knew, his hand hovered over Ash’s back. Not quite a hug, but almost. Almost holding him – the fact that anyone would comfort him – unheard of.

"Would I be at Shorter's wedding?" Eiji asked.

It made Ash want to let Eiji stay. To not make him get on a plane and go home. Stay here, live with Ash. Live with Ash forever, in whatever this was. Maybe let this something happen – if Eiji could stay, and they could both live – why not?

If this was a world where Shorter was still here.

He desperately, suddenly, needed Eiji to stay. It was stupid, and selfish, but, at least for tonight, he’d let it happen.

"Of fucking course," he said. "You’d be my plus one. We'd have to slow dance to this together, just to show Shorter up."

“That’s mean.”

“It would be my duty as best man.”

Eiji chuckled, fingers just nudging Ash. Then it faded, and he started stumbling over his words. "I've - never slow danced."

It could have been a lie. It might have been a lie – was probably a lie. They'd lied a lot already, both pretending to believe each other. Both making up half-excuses to sit close to each other and the other letting them.

"Come here." Ash found Eiji's hands and pulled him up, scattering Lucky Charms across the floor in a tiny avalanche. He kicked a handful out of their way, pulling Eiji's hands up and onto his shoulders.

There was a moment of hesitation, before he placed his own on Eiji's waist. His hands felt like a perfect fit - Eiji's waist was warm and real underneath his palms. He didn't know why he thought it wouldn't be, but it made him pull him closer. Eiji obliged, fingers twitching but not leaving.

Ash knew how to ballroom dance properly. Of course he knew, but it wasn’t the time for that. Now, he just turned their bodies, swaying to the rhythm. High-pitched voices singing about never leaving each other.

Eiji's hands slipped after a couple of moments, his arms tightening around Ash's neck. His chin rested on Ash's shoulder, his hair tickling his cheek. To keep the headphones on, he reasoned.

There was cereal all over the floor, and Ash kicked it away as they kept dancing.

"And would you be singing along?" Eiji whispered. They were closer than they should be, chests and hips pressed flush against each other.

Ash smiled. He could feel Eiji smiling against him too.

“Don’t push it.” Singing was not his strong suit.

It seemed impossible that they could even get closer. But Eiji was, tightening his arms around Ash's neck as though he couldn't bear to ever let him go, burying his nose into Ash’s shoulder. This was a dream. This had to be a dream. He slipped his hands all the way around to the small of Eiji's back, cradling him like he was made of gold. Letting his arms slip up to feel all of Eiji’s back. Strong – he was strong because he had wings on his back. How else could he fly?

Love and forever were heavy words. For this – and yet he half-closed his eyes and imagined a reality where it wasn’t. Allowed himself that possibility.

Found that he was humming along. And that Eiji’s breath hitched as he did, sighing.

And how fitting was ‘when I look at you, all my thoughts get in the way?’ How could he explain everything that was inside him when he couldn’t even sort it out himself?

Maybe he didn’t need to. Maybe this was enough.

Maybe Eiji understood.

The song was over halfway when Ash pulled away slightly, the headphones straining with the distance. He looked at Eiji. Those dark eyes reflected the yellow light like they were full of stars. His lips were slightly parted. Soft, pink lips.

He shouldn't. He really shouldn't. It would ruin everything. He'd promised himself he wouldn't.

But it was three in the morning and hard to lie. But he had already broken his promise by getting closer. But Eiji hadn’t recoiled in horror at Ash’s bad lie. And it was hard to think straight when all he was believing the fantasy they were in – could blame it on the song if anything went wrong. When all he could see and smell and feel was Eiji.

So he leant forward, and kissed him.

And Eiji didn't pull away. His mouth moved back and instead it was Eiji kissing Ash. And then they were kissing each other - and then Eiji was pulling away. His cheeks were bright pink and he was breathless.

"I thought you weren't gay," he whispered.

"I thought you weren't gay," Ash replied.

He leant forward again, and Eiji kissed him again, fingers tightening in Ash's hair. Ash's own grip tightened in Eiji's t-shirt.

"No one can know.”

"I know." Eiji leant forward again, kissing him like he was a diver catching mouthfuls of air. The headphones had half fallen off of them now, tinny music playing to itself. Ash never thought he’d be making out to the ending of I’ll be Loving You (Forever).

“Eiji.” He couldn’t even pull his mouth away to speak. “I lo–”

Eiji shushed him. He opened his eyes just enough to see that Eiji’s were closed – dark eyelashes fanning out and casting shadows on his face. “I know.”

And they were kissing again – Ash’s heart doing a full Olympic gymnast routine. Everywhere they touched tingled, but in a comforting way. It felt as though he was being healed.

Fuck, he wanted to stay like this.

He wanted to stay like this, forever.

#banana fish #asheiji #ash lynx #eiji okumura #bf #fanfiction #banana fish fanfiction #asheiji fanfiction

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maddiesup · 5 years ago

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Tag game!

I was tagged by @ohbabycupcakes thank u💖

RULES: Name 10 favorite characters from 10 different things then tag 10 people + leave comments on all of them

This is gonna be hard, where do I even start?

1) Keith (Voltron: Legendary Defender)

Okay I'm- trying not to laugh too hard because oh boy, this show was a complete mess. BUT Keith still stays as one of my favorite characters ever just because no matter how badly I was hurt by vld he'll always be precious to me 💖 He's hotheaded, cool and a lone wolf, but needs affection more than anyone else on the team. He's easy for me to relate to as I am more likely to push someone away than to keep them close just to avoid being hurt as well. His development is amazing tho and I love love him so much 😭 also it might be just that I have a soft spot for emo characters lmao

2) Todoroki Shoto (Boku no Hero Academia)

This just reinforces my statement earlier since Todoroki is pretty emo too :') But in a different way than Keith. If you are a part of bnha fandom you know he's generally a little bit overrated, but I couldn't help falling in love with him at first sight anyway lol His backstory is tragic but he keeps pursuing his dream and damn is he good at it. Also the combo of fire and ice is aesthetic goals. However, what I admire the most about Shoto is probably his loyalty to his friends, his will to fight and sometimes his goofy attitude (even if he probably isn't aware that he's being goofy lol) In conclusion: I love him, let's move on.

3) Uenoyama Ritsuka (Given)

Can I just stop to say how much I love given for a moment? Like I've never seen a bl anime/manga that would portray gay characters so respectfully 😭❤️ Ue is basically me gay panicking, I feel the boy so much :') OH also what's up with gays & guitars bc first given, then why r u and now also 2gether :') (I might be falling in love with this trope help) okay so: Ue is panicking when he starts liking Mafuyu but he handles it so well in a way? He doesn't deny his crush even if he is slow to notice it lol He's straightforward and sometimes a little bit rough around the edges, but even if he's supposed to be "the cool guy" we see him in the most hilarious settings and that just makes me love him all the more 💖 he respects Mafuyu and his boundaries and I want more of that in bl anime please

4) Eiji & Ash (Banana Fish)

Uhhhh this anime,,, I CANNOT choose between Ash and Eiji, I'm gonna forever see them as a pair and that's simply it. Ash is another emo one I would like to say that but he's actually not. He's backstory is heartbreaking and the life he has to live is dangerous and scary. He gets used to this reality where he has no one to rely on and no one to trust but then Eiji appears tearing his walls down and making him finally be able to show his soft and sensitive side to someone. Eiji is like a salve for his wounds and yes, I'm still emotional about it bc their relationship is one of the best developped I've ever seen. Their bond is so strong it's beautiful, they would literally die for each other. It's so apparent that they love each other and care for each other so much (don't mind me crying in the corner)

5) Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson & the Olympians)

PJ technically got me into fantasy/sci-fi in elementary school and it stays at the top of my favorite book series list ever (big props to Uncle Rick 👏) The whole series is funny and I would say pretty light-hearted even tho you know,,, Percy saves the world several times, lol, usual demigod things™. He's lovable. Son of Poseidon so he has seaweeds instead of a brain (or so you thought, he is brilliant at strategic planning and has a charisma to be a great leader), has a very good sense of humor, is loyal and would risk everything for his friends. Also he loves his girlfriend very much and I was crying while reading the House of Hades but no one needed to know that oh well. I'm also gonna mention Nico de Angelo here, since he fell in love with Percy (didn't we all tho) and was the first gay character I saw portrayed in the book and oh do I love him 😭💖

6) 707 (Mystic Messenger)

Was I losing sleep over this game? I was. Do I regret anything? Absolutely not. I think my choices are pretty boring tho, since Seven is literally everyone's favorite but oh boy there's a reason for that. Apart from being a talented hacker who knows too much (and I think is cautious of us the most at the start) he has a lovely happy-go-lucky personality composed of all the lame jokes, questions "have you eaten already" and anxiety (another emo one). He's that type of a character who will always try to make you laugh but you never know what's going on inside his head. He's mysterious and we don't get to know him well till his route so pretty much till the end of the game lol. Also he loves his brother, phd pepper, honey buddha chips and Elizabeth 3rd the most in this entire world and I love him for that

7) Evan Hansen (Dear Evan Hansen)

ANOTHER EMO ONE okay but hear me out Evan has social anxiety and its portrayal is almost too real for me. He makes a big oopsie which at the start seems like a little innocent lie but then snowballs to enormous sizes. He gains everything in this bargain, a best (dead) friend, a caring mother, a father, a girlfriend even - and then everything falls apart since it all is built on one fat lie. He makes a lot of mistakes and then some more but you get it and you feel for him, and you cry with him and you're happy for him. And when all of this is over you're glad that he's still there trying his best, taking it one day at a time. And sidenote: Ben Platt's voice is angelic and I love him as Evan 💖💖💖

8) Isak (SKAM)

Another gay panicking one. I'm starting to realize there's a set of traits that I particularly like in fictional characters lol But ye, when I was watching skam ofc it was the third season which gripped me the most and kept me on the edge, bc yet again Isak taking an "are you gay" test was way too real for me. He makes a lot of mistakes along the way of figuring out his sexuality and sometimes stuff with Evan becomes really messy (for both of them) but he stays with him nevertheless ❤️ Skam is literally so good in its portrayal of the characters :') Anyways: alt er love 💖

9) Viktor & Yuuri (Yuri on Ice)

Em, another one that I absolutely can't break up to just one bc how could I? Yuri on ice got me into skating ❤️ I went to an ice rink for the first time bc of this anime and I almost died but now look at me actually finishing my first three months of ice skating training and watching real life figure skating competitions :') Little did I know then. But they're not only my favourites bc of that, I genuinely love the development of their relationship from fan - idol through skater - couch to lovers and history makers in the end. I love how Yuuri is a ball of insecurities and how Viktor manages to reassure him. I love how Viktor fell in love with drunk Yuuri clinging to him. I love how at first Yuuri wasn't able to get too close to Viktor without getting flustered and it changes so drastically to them basically always holding onto each other. I love how Viktor was stuck with no inspiration but then Yuuri came and turned his world upside down. I love how they support and respect each other. I could probably go on into eternity like that and Yuri on ice isn't even the best anime I've ever seen but it's certainly my favourite one ❤️

10) Tutor (WHY R U)

I can't believe I'm so obsessed with thai dramas rn and I'm only gonna include Tor on this list smh He's mental attitude inspires me. He's able to hold so much and appears totally unfazed even if he's barely holding on inside. He's hardworking and doesn't want others to pity him since he can manage it all just fine. He has a kind heart, he's a wonderful friend (especially to Hwa, he always listens to her, gives her pieces of advise, supports her and tries to cheer her up). He never forgets to say thank you when he genuinely feels grateful. But as we've seen he also is passionate and when he loves he LOVES. Also he's the biggest tease to Fighter and I love him for that :') I am so satisfied just by seeing him happy, please do not change that whyru gods 🙏

As it appears I'm done .-. I have no idea what have just happened and if my rambling even makes sense but not that I care at this point. If you read this far, please drink some water now, that was a lot of reading to go through ❤️

Tagging: @wir-ro, @saecookie and any other 8 people who might want to ksks (im too tired to tag lmao)

Don't be like me and go to bed at reasonable hours despite this whole quarantine thing .-. thank again Doreen for tagging since it was really fun 🥺❤️

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dragonrajafanfiction · 4 years ago

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Dragon Dancer Chapter 16: Dragon’s Spawn

When I managed to open my eyes, sometimes the sun shone and birds sang. At other times, it was the crickets singing in the dark of night. I could never keep my eyes open for long enough to ask how many days and nights had passed.

The breeze against my skin told me we stayed outside. Lukas brought me fish, clams and seaweed to eat.

"Aiko knows how to fish." He told me, once I stopped slipping in and out of consciousness. "We're lucky she does. It would have taken me forever to learn."

"Have you gotten in touch with anyone? Is there a town nearby?" I cleared my throat, "I need to contact Cassell. Your grandmother knows where my family lives. They're in danger."

Lukas looked down at me. "I'm… my grandmother's dead. She uh… was shot when they were kidnapping Tobias." He pressed his lips together.

Previous Chapter

Go back to the Beginning

"I'm sorry…"

"Are you?" He asked, giving a sharp glare.

I chewed my lip. "Of course. It's never easy, losing family. I wouldn't wish that on you." It was all I could think to say. "I never wished her dead."

"Do you know where we are?" He abruptly changed the subject, but I could see annoyance and irritation in his eyes.

I nodded. "We should be near one of the labs."

He gave a slow nod. "Do you know which one?"

"Um … I got the location from a vision of someone's memories. He was a test subject here."

"We're in Siberia." He said, turning one crimson eye to me, watching.

I gaped a few moments. "Are you sure? Isn't Siberia cold?"

"Not in the summer." He kept his expression neutral.

"Summer?" I recalled seeing the falling snow and a frigid wind as I dangled out the window during the kidnapping attempt. "Was… was I asleep that long?"

He began to laugh, low and bitter. "I was hoping you would know what you did."

"How is it summer?" I looked around. I was lying in the shadow of what appeared to be a large rockslide. It was warm even in the shade.

"I don't know! You're the time traveler!" He massaged his forehead and stood up. "You're the one who went back in time in the first place!"

My mouth opened but then shut. I couldn't tell him that it was my father who sent me back in time. "What about the lab? Do you think there might be a phone?"

"Possibly. But there are so many servitors there I can't go near it."

"How are the kids!"

He looked away. "They're ….Alright…" he said, after a pause.

"Can I see them?"

"Yeah but… do you remember when we got here?" He looked down at me, reading my face.

"Yeah I… almost turned into a Servitor but I was able to stop it in time."

He walked over to me and knelt next to me. "You don't know how to control your powers. I suggest that you not use them until you've been trained."

He rested his hand on my back. "I know you meant well… those kids were going to die. You didn't do anything wrong… I speak Japanese so I was able to explain a lot to them while you were resting. They understand… in fact, they're grateful."

"They are?" I lifted my eyes to him.

He nodded. "They really are."

I sighed to myself. "If it's summer then...I did it. I got them away from Chisei."

He was silent for a few more moments. “There’s one more problem. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. It might not be a good idea to tell anyone else about your abilities.” He shifted to be closer to me. “The reason why unstable hybrids exist is because the dragon in them is too powerful. If you can counteract that? It means that some hybrids can have all the power with none of the consequences. The people who were after you before… are still going to be after you. And if Cassell finds out…? Who’s to say they won’t start using you too?”

Lukas gazed at me, his eyes then lowered and he stood back up. "I want to check out the lab tonight and see if there's power in the building. You can come along, but only if you're going to stay behind me."

"What about the kids? We can't leave them alone.”

"They're going to have to cope for a bit while we make contact with the outside."

I watched him leave. As soon as he was out of earshot, I summoned Ielia from her necklace. She looked at me with clear concern and relief.

"I'm ok. Though I think I may have made a little mistake."

She held up her thumb and forefinger and winked. Just a little mistake.

"I don't know how I did it though." I sighed. "I visualized the best I could based on the vision…. But it felt wrong. Scary."

The other me offered me her hand to stand up and I picked myself up off the ground and followed her to a clearing.

She disappeared. I looked around for the children and saw a little young girl and boy standing next to each other.

The girl held the boy's hand. His eyes were wrapped in tight cloth bandages. Her hair was so long it reached past her calves "Can you speak English?" I asked.

They didn't seem to. I held my hand to my chest. "Charlotte."

Then I pointed to them.

The girl pointed to herself. "Chika." To her brother. "Eiji." She then wrapped her arms around him. He smiled and returned the hug.

I couldn't help but chuckle. I made a little heart with my hands.

When I looked around the laboratory was easy to find, set up on a hill, they made no attempt to hide their little torture facility. Perhaps being in Siberia was hiding place enough.

I turned to the two youngsters. "Where are everyone else?" They didn't understand me.

I walked away from our little encampment, searching for the other children.

I found Tobias gathering sticks in his arms. He looked at me wide-eyed, dropping what he was holding. He backed away.

Puzzled at his reaction, I tried to reassure him. "It's ok. It's ...it's just me."

He fell to the ground trembling with terror.

"I'm not… going to hurt you. I know it hurt before but that was because you were going to turn into a Servitor."

He didn't relax.

"I'm sorry…." I said, my voice going quiet.

"It's ok Tobias." Lukas was carrying his own load of wood. He was alone. "I told her not to use her powers."

He dumped it unceremoniously into a pile and slapped his hands together. "This should give you enough fuel to last the night, but we won't be gone long.

Another girl walked behind him carrying a long pole of bamboo. "Is this Aiko?"

"Yeah that's our Fisher!" Lukas smiled proudly.

"Where's everyone else?" I looked around in confusion.

Lukas sighed, "This is it I'm afraid. The rest didn't make it."

The weight of his words fell heavy on my heart. "Didn't make it?"

"I waited for them to come out of that strange darkness… they never did." He was again looking at me with that blank expression.

I took a breath but no words came out. I hung my head, numbness spreading from my heart to my mind.

They died in that cold and dark place that I'd brought them to. My mind drew an immediate conclusion. I was at fault for more death… and the deaths of children.

I felt a hand close around mine. It was the long haired girl. She patted my arm, saying something in Japanese.

Lukas translated. "She said it's ok."

I shook my head. "No. It's not."

Aiko regarded me with her wide dark eyes. Then she asked Lukas something. Lukas answered in Japanese. The two had a little conversation.

Lukas turned to me. "She said, bad things happen. You have to move on."

I nodded even though I was certain I never would.

That night, we approached the largest of the buildings on the laboratory complex. The door was simple to break through. Supplies were left on tables, books scattered about offices, and even rotted food was left on the counter in a break room, as if the person who made it had just walked away.

There were plenty of beds where human test subjects were held.

Cables connecting the satellite network to the computers had been damaged by animals. Together we scavenged for replacements for them.

Lukas worked on getting the satellite communication online while I explored.

I made my way into a few of the wards until I saw the room that Ruri Kazama's Speaking Spirit had revealed from that man's memories. The windows, the bed… it was just like this. I stood recalling how many times he'd been stabbed with painful needles. Locked away and tormented for twenty three years. No wonder he was a murderer.

I left that room out of the room and found Lukas rummaging through a file cabinet.

"I got it turned on but it needs to update." He said. "I found something strange. Look.”

He hands me a manila folder. “Light King… resurrection.” I opened it. “So they really were trying to wake up a dragon? But I thought the legend said that the Light King was burned up and the ashes got eaten?”

“Yes. Those legends are based off of information found on an artifact called the Ice Sea Tablets. According to experts it’s the Dark King’s retelling of how he quelled the rebellion of the Light King.”

“So… you think he was lying?” I looked up from the folder.

“Maybe? What bothers me most is that many sources suggest that the Light King was even crueler to humans than the Dark King was. Why would anyone want to bring him back?”

I stared at the papers. There were photographs of artifacts, bits of bronze and pieces of pottery. When I flipped over to one full page glossy photo of an urn, whispering filled my ears. I clapped the folder shut but the voices were in my head now. “Oh no…”

It was just like last time in the underwater tower. Instinctively placing my hands over my ears didn’t help at all. "I'm hearing voices! Dragon voices!" My voice shook.

"What? Where?"

"In my head! It's trying to talk to me!" The whispers grew more intense. Lukas grabbed my shoulders. He was talking to me but I couldn’t focus on his voice over the insistent chattering in my mind.

The ground under our feet lurched, throwing us to the floor, ceiling tiles rained on our heads. Lukas yanked me under a desk. The whole building groaned, banged and crashed around us. I clung to him, fearing being buried alive. It seemed to last forever but then the shuddering stopped.

I coughed against clouds of dust and insulation. Lukas went out from under the desk first. The computer had been smashed by falling debris.

We both stared at it in despair. “So much for calling for help.” Lukas grumbled.

We picked our way through the rocks and debris back to the outside where we were met with an impressive sight. A massive rockslide had collapsed part of a hill, and revealed what appeared to be a metal wall carved into the mountain. It was artistically etched with the image of a tree. The bottom of the wall was broken open, revealing a cave.

I swallowed hard. Again. Not this again. “We should check on the kids.”

I started to run towards the campsite. Lukas shouted a warning. A snake head emerged from inside the cave, flicking its tongue around two massive tusks that curled up over its nose. Its eyes flashed. It hissed, threw back its head. A stream of milky white fluid rained down on us even at this distance, landing just short of me as I ran.

I looked over my shoulder. Lukas was running toward it. I skidded to a halt. That thing was massive. There was no way he could fight it alone. It turned to face him, pulling more of its body out of the cave.

It wasn’t looking at me any more. I could see the mass of the coils were unprotected. I closed my eyes. The darkness behind my lids lit up with stars and that beam of light came flying. I eagerly reached for it.

Without questioning whether or not I could throw at this distance, I let it fly and it flashed like lightning in the night. It struck the beast and disappeared into his flesh. A fountain burst of blood spurted into the air.

The snake retreated, pushing its body back into the cave and turned its head back to me only to be pummeled by Lukas’s icy whirlwind. It disappeared, its eyes watching us from the dark..

I hurried back to Lukas dodging the steaming white puddles of a sticky film wilting the grass.

From within the cave I heard it. A rhythmic grunt. I turned. The beast’s jaw had dropped in a rictus grin, saliva dripping from its needle-like teeth. “Ha...ha...ha…”

I couldn’t fight, but the snake would follow me back to the kids if I ran. “Ielia…”

My doppleganger appeared, light spear in hand. She darted to the cave in a full sprint. The beast reared up, mouth open. She took a flying leap right into the cave, running beyond it forcing it to turn a coil toward me to fight her. It spit at her, but she was not affected by its acid.

It arched its back, howling as the beams from my hand impacted it from behind. Blood erupted from every side, raining down on us.

It collapsed, throwing its coils over its head in a futile effort to protect itself before lying still, it’s tongue hanging from its mouth.

I lowered my hand, feeling the power of the dragon leave me shaking.

Lukas stared at me, a mixture of fear and amazement on his face. “So, this is the strength of S-Class. No wonder… no one stood a chance against you.” He shook his head turning back to the cave. “There are lights on in there. There might be communication there as well.”

He turned to me. “I’ve changed my mind. You go in, I’ll stay back with the kids. Find a way to contact Cassell.”

“You want me to go alone? I can’t… what if… what if I mess up again?”

“You won’t.” He smiled at me. “You don’t know how to control your powers… it’s true. But I’m not going to stand in your way.”

“But I can’t…!”

His smile vanished and his irritation returned. He balled his hands into fists. “Listen to me and you listen well! Real well.” He walked up close to me and I took a step back. “You killed my brother’s bodyguards. You killed my brother after he turned servitor. You can travel through time…. You can control the level of Dragon power in people’s veins and … in so doing, brought the Lord of the Devil Clan, Ruri Kazama, to his knees!”

He pointed to the dead serpent. “You did that!” He shouted. “So don’t tell me you can’t!”

I stood in silence, head lowered.

“You started hearing dragon voices and all of a sudden there’s… a big earthquake? How in the world am I supposed to know that you weren’t the cause of it?” He let out a loud frustrated sigh, running his hand roughly through his hair.

“I’ve met powerful hybrids… but you…” He pointed to me. “...you’re something else! So stop playing innocent! I’ll be waiting at the camp with the children for you.”

He turned and walked away, arms swinging at his side.

He was right. I wasn’t playing innocent, but I had a hard time remembering the truth of who I really was.

Something else.

Next Chapter

#dragon raja #writing #fanfiction

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softasheijis · 6 years ago

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Hi! I recently finished watching bf and I loved every second of it. I want to know at what point you think Ash fell in love with Eiji? I personally think he started catching feels after Eiji pole vaulted lol

thanks for the question! i think in order to understand when ash fell in love, you have to understand why and how. i’ll try to break it down for you without accidentally writing 50 pages worth, haha. to begin with, i often think of ash’s relationship development with eiji as that one famous quote from john green:

“I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”

sure, they’re star-crossed, and over the span of 24 episodes it doesn’t seem like it, but it was fast. ash didn’t even see it coming, and there’s really only seven stepping stones before it happens.

1. episode 24 provides us with some insight into ash’s first impressions upon their meeting. when eiji asked to see his gun, he was mostly thinking things like, “oh, this guy is too innocent. he’s weird. he doesn’t know a thing about the real world.” his face was carefully blank but he was studying eiji underneath. he didn’t see ibe and eiji as threats and/or equals in any way. the interview was tedious, but there were more important things going on at the moment with arthur anyway, so none of it really mattered. this was just another stranger entertained by his glamorized life of crime, and he was indifferent to it.

2. that changed when eiji pole vaulted over the wall to save ash and skipper in an act of bravery. his feelings towards eiji became recognition. he was so taken aback, he couldn’t stop staring. eiji was unpredictable. this guy could fly. he was a bird, he was free. it was clear then that eiji was everything ash wasn’t, and everything he wished he could have been. suddenly, he was an equal. they lived in two completely different worlds and ash was so envious of that, but on the other hand, he actually liked him. no one had ever bothered to help ash out without wanting anything in return, and his disposition was gentle and kind. although ash thought he was the one who was saved, eiji still thanked him for saving his life and even cried for him. because ash had no reason to hurt someone like eiji, who wanted nothing from him, and because eiji was too trusting and innocent to hurt anyone at all, ash let his guard down. big mistake.

3. consequently, he gives eiji a chance. he kisses him, sends a message, asks him to get something done. clumsy as it was, eiji delivers. he meets ash’s best friend, shorter, and they get along great. i believe shorter is a good judge of character and he’s also a best friend to ash, so that’s significant. at this point, ash is aware he can depend on eiji.

4. next, they visit his childhood home in cape cod. i believe the following moments they share indicate the start of ash beginning to feel something for eiji, regardless of whether that something is a small crush or just strong friendship and solidarity. the arc starts off with eiji learning of his past and ash spending quality time with him. they laugh, they talk freely, and eiji asks him questions no one has really bothered to ask him before. interestingly, eiji seeks him out (as seen right before jennifer is killed and they haul ass) and he looks happy to see him. i’m sure this isn’t the only time he’s done so, and this has to be something unusual to ash. he is used to people seeking him out for business or to kill him. eiji also becomes a sort of catalyst in ash making friendships with others. it’s because of him that ash starts to lean on others more often rather than doing everything himself.

so after all this, he starts to like eiji a little more. their relationship suddenly shifts and deepens. it’s so obvious, ibe and yut-lung take notice of it quickly. ash trusts him now. he doesn’t tense up when eiji sneaks up behind his back, he’s comfortable with letting eiji know what he’s working on, they rejoice together and high-five like children when successful, etc. they’re a team. he starts to like eiji a little too much, in fact. by the time he tells eiji to go back to japan, it’s too late. he allowed himself to slip, and now ash, a gang leader, has to actually resort to drinking in order to get his shit together because he can’t stop feeling guilty. he’s so in his head about it, he doesn’t even notice max is right next to him and clumsily drops his glass in the sink. this is rare. this scene, however small and funny it is, is intentionally put there to show you just how easily his defenses around others are brought down when it comes to eiji. it’s clear that ash didn’t want to hurt him and that he knows he did. naturally, yut-lung sees this as a weakness and promptly carries out his mission.

5. eiji gets kidnapped. in the height of danger things become a lot more clear to you, and so ash is now forced to face how important he is to him. he’s given a choice: kill your best friend or let eiji die. this is the biggest turning point in their relationship. after this, eiji becomes his rock while grieving. he becomes more important than anyone else. since ash is convinced he’s so monstrous and evil, he decides he can at least protect the one pure thing that’s been in front of him all this time. he can keep eiji from going down the same road he has. eiji doesn’t have to get blood on his hands, because ash can do it for him.

6. shortly after this cognizance, eiji reveals he’s worried about ash and that he feels strongly for him as well. not only does eiji tell him he isn’t afraid after ash had just killed a man in front of him, he tells ash he’ll wait for him forever, and that he’ll go crazy if he loses him too. the look on ash’s face here is so telling. eiji’s honesty and genuine worry for ash’s safety leaves him so surprised and vulnerable. after the confession he almost can’t tear his gaze away from him, and immediately orders alex to protect him, twice. alex notably raises an eyebrow and finds this odd, but doesn’t question his boss. this is when ash begins to realize the definition of their relationship and how he feels about him romantically.

7. after spending intimate time together away from the world, everything finally clicks into place. ash opens up, crying and spilling his guts out to him in the middle of the night after a nightmare. in the midst of his sorrow, eiji declares that he’ll stay by ash’s side, even if the world turns on him. eiji will stay by his side, even if he’s a murderer. eiji will stay by his side, even if ash doesn’t deserve anyone. and it’s these words that break a dam inside of him that has been kept shut since he was eight. this is when he absolutely, completely falls in love.

ash latches onto his promise without any hesitation, like it’s all he ever wanted to hear. he tearfully pleads for him to stay even if it’s not forever, to which eiji reassures, “forever”. if i had to pin point an exact scene, i’d say it’s definitely this one in episode 11.

ash has been waiting. he’s needed comfort and warmth for so long, and finally, eiji is here. eiji accepts his pain and helps him work through it. eiji listens to him. eiji treats his wounds and protects him. eiji falls asleep with him. eiji is patient. eiji cooks for him and nags him like a mother would. eiji’s touches are soothing and have no awful motives. eiji believes in him and his future. eiji gives him a glimpse of a normal life and makes him feel like he could be someone other than a worthless street punk. eiji is his shelter.

you have to understand that ash has never, never had that. he’s said it himself before to blanca. everyone has feared him in some respect. everyone has needed and expected something from him at some point, or taken it from him by force. he grew up on dino’s demands and manipulations, and even his friendships were first formed by alliances and/or beneficial circumstances.no one has simply done things for him.

eiji has no obligations to be there for him. he just wants to be next to him, even if that means he’s in serious danger. eiji is so different from everyone else, and he stood out to ash from the very beginning. ash just didn’t know why at the time.

we’ve gone through when and how already, now here’s the reason why:

since they met, eiji is the first person to have looked into ash’s eyes and only seen a kind soul, hurting. not a beast, a cold-blooded monster, a sexual weapon, a leader, a murderer, or a wild lynx. just aslan jade callenreese, lost to the world.

so after such sweet words and actions, of course ash falls.

and he doesn’t stop.

#yayayay i love it when you guys ask me stuff #asheiji #anonymous #answered #personal #meta

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medea10 · 5 years ago

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My Review of Given

*this exists* Huh? Fuck Isekai shit! GIMME SOME BL LIKE YESTERDAY! Yes, I know what I said before but…it’s an anime with boys and music! Could this be the next Gravitation that many of us have waited for?

Ritsuka Uenoyama on the outside has always seemed listless when it comes to many things and can’t be bothered with most people or demands. One day, he was about to take a nap in a stairwell when he comes across another student by the name of Mafuyu Satou. At first glance he’s pretty aloof, but the second Mafuyu met Uenoyama he couldn’t stop hanging around him. After having quite the hard past, Mafuyu took to Uenoyama’s kindness (or whatever you call it) and took a fascination with him. He even managed to join the band Uenoyama was in. While Uenoyama had his reservations over this sudden change, he finds himself dealing with feelings he’s never felt before.

Is this love that he’s feeling? God, I hope so! BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: At the moment, no licensors have taken this anime and it’s only available through Crunchyroll. I swear Yuuma Uchida is having one hell of a year in the anime voice world. I know he’s been around for a couple of years and really hit it off with roles on Banana Fish and ReLIFE. But this year with his main roles on Kono Oto Tomare and the Fruits Basket reboot have really given him quite the boost. Give this boy a Seiyuu Award! Here’s what you might recognize these folks from. *Uenoyama is played by Yuuma Uchida (known for Kyo on Fruits Basket 2019, Eiji Ootori on UtaPri, Chika on Kono Oto Tomare, Ash on Banana Fish, Ooga on ReLIFE, and Shirazu on Tokyo Ghoul :re) *Mafuyu is played by Shougo Yano (known for Nanao on Tsurune) DISLIKED CHARACTER: In a yaoi-esque series, what is the one element I despise more than life itself? The cock-blocker! Actually, this is a trait I see in other genres of animes. Simply put, these are the characters who think they know one character better than anybody else and have this aura of jealousy because some new guy is in the picture. But when I see an annoying bitch hanging around a potentially cute ship and cock-blocking the cuteness, I lose my shit!

Fuck is this lady’s name? Kasai?! Whatever, cock-blocks like you need to go away! Though I will give her some leeway as she does apologize later in the series! It’s just that I found what she did to Uenoyama to be a bit of a “dick-move”. I’ll just be happy if I don’t see her in any upcoming projects this series has. SHIPPING: I knew I was expecting something to eventually happen with the Uenoyama x Satou ship. But I didn’t expect much from Haruki x Aki! Let’s get crackin’!

*Uenoyama x Mafuyu: From the beginning, I'm like, I want this to happen one day…but I know Mafuyu is still in pain after losing the love of his life. For the majority of this series, I see Mafuyu being aloof and depressed. The only exception is when he’s playing the guitar with Uenoyama (at least at the beginning). As we all know, Mafuyu has been in pain ever since losing his best friend and boyfriend, Yuki a year prior. As for Uenoyama, feelings started to develop once he spent a lot more time with Mafuyu. We even get a realization for Uenoyama when he learned about Mafuyu’s love, he got jealous. Aw, our boy loves Mafuyu! I’ll delve deeper into what happens after a certain point in the ending.

*Haruki x Aki: So I didn’t expect any kind of chemistry with these two outside of the band. But it turns out Haruki has had a crush on Aki since meeting him at college. Their friendship and becoming bandmates kind of came without any kind of super drama. And Haruki has been able to keep his feelings in check when he’s playing in the band with Aki. I mean, Haruki is pretty strict about dipping your pen in the company ink (if you get my meaning). It’s just that he does get blushy when he’s super close to him. Like when he’s being pinned down on the bed because Aki had a few too many beers and Haruki is just embarrassed. Unfortunately for this ship and for Haruki…Aki has a boyfriend!

I don’t like Aki’s boyfriend. No way, no way, I think he needs a new one! *sighs* …Yeah, I gotta talk about it…

*Mafuyu x Yuki: So Yuki’s reveal was building throughout the series that made the audience wonder if this was an unrequited love of Mafuyu’s, a sensei who can’t love him now, or someone who is no longer with us. But once you understood that Mafuyu and Yuki’s relationship dates back to when they were children and they have such a history, you can feel that pain Mafuyu carries with him everyday. Yuki would be there for him during tough times, including dealing with an abusive father, yeah, our boy had some issues. Yuki was a seemingly good friend and lover to Mafuyu. There was even a cute moment when Yuki takes him to the ocean, saying he wants Mafuyu to remember this moment. But what happened to Yuki? Unfortunately after the boys began high school and went to different schools, their relationship strained. And then one day Yuki was found dead due to alcohol poisoning (weird, I would have guessed suicide). Yes, Yuki’s death was freakin’ traumatic for Mafuyu. This was a big enough shock to the system to cause him to not be social and to carry around his dead lover’s guitar everywhere (even though he doesn’t know how to play it). And yes, in that song the group sang in the 9th episode, Mafuyu went the extra mile to express his feelings to his long-lost love. I would have to wonder a bunch of ‘what ifs’ with Yuki. Because poor Uenoyama is fighting against a dead guy. MAFUYU’S SONG: Just watch.

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My boy Mafuyu here is giving me some super feels with this song!

EPISODE TITLES: Ever notice how all the episode titles are named after famous songs. Let’s just say I was thrown off when the episodes were named Creep (song by Radiohead), The Reason (song by Hoobastank), and Wonderwall (song by Oasis). God only knows what the name of the movie will be! I’ll laugh if it’s The Dope Show, Bittersweet Symphony, or I Alone. ENDING: So Haruki, Aki, and Uenoyama were given the opportunity to perform in front of an audience. Now the big question is if Mafuyu is up to the challenge of performing with the rest of the group. He only just recently joined the group and isn’t that great playing on the guitar. But the boys have hope with his vocals. He does have a good voice. It’s just that up until the night of the performance, Mafuyu hadn’t written down any lyrics. No question this boy has something to get off his chest, it’s just that Mafuyu was conflicted moments until they go on stage. It wasn’t until they were on stage where Mafuyu let out everything in their opening song. That heartbreak of losing the person you loved just shook the audience to its core and hit every single person there. Mafuyu’s friends were happy that he finally released all that pain he’s been holding in. Uenoyama’s classmates were inspired to hold onto the person they love tightly. And after the performance, we got our moment we fangirls have waited for since episode 1…

A MOTHER-FLIPPIN’ KISSUUU! Although this kiss (while passionate), was kind of forgotten on Uenoyama’s side as he forgot what he did and Mafuyu caught a fever shortly after the performance. I know Uenoyama has been wanting to do this because throughout the series, we kept seeing the boy conflicted over him liking Mafuyu. He even got jealous over a dead guy! We know he likes Mafuyu and we know that kiss after Mafuyu's performance was more than just a "Good job, mate" kiss. So will Uenoyama's feelings be returned? After Uenoyama came to terms over what he did and Mafuyu recovered from his fever, Mafuyu took Uenoyama to the ocean. I know this was a little symbolic for Mafuyu as Yuki brought him there when they were dating. And while there, Mafuyu told Uenoyama that he liked him. And Uenoyama noticed that...

IT’S MUTUAL! HIS LOVE IS MUTUAL! But then, Uenoyama remembers an ugly reality. Long before Mafuyu joined the band, the other guys were talking about a band breaking up over two of the bandmates getting involved with each other (romantically) and Uenoyama said some pretty…well, hypocritical things. That’s why many folks try to steer away from dating someone who’s a co-worker, a co-star, and in this case, bandmate. This is also a driving factor why Aki will never be the one to step up and tell Haruki he loves him. Haruki’s gotta be the one to leave that dickhead boyfriend of his. LEAVE HIM ALREADY! Regardless, Haruki and Aki are both happy for Uenoyama and Mafuyu’s new love. And now the boys feel refreshed in trying to come up with a second song, do a photo shoot, and even come up with a steady band name, “Given”. And so we get this cute end with a lingering hope that a season two will come and… Or a movie! Damn, that was fast, guys! Okay Crunchyroll, when this comes out, I want you guys to hop on it and get this movie in theaters. I don’t care if it’s in Seattle, just get it shown in WA. The ball is in your court now, don’t fuck this up! Also...

Uenoyama, please protect this boy's smile. I like this anime! I have such a weakness for animes involving characters in bands. And believe it or not, it was not because of Gravitation. For me, it was because of NANA. I fell in love with the songs and the characters and the simple story. Now of course this anime fell way too close to Gravitation’s orbit and that’s because of the yaoi aspect. My only gripe is that we really only got one memorable song (aside from the opening and ending theme). But it’s only the beginning the way I see it. I hope that Mafuyu is able to sing some more. And with a new movie on the horizon, I’m severely hoping for a soundtrack filled with awesome music. Seriously, I will laugh if the title of the movie really is, Given: Bittersweet Symphony. I give a recommendation to those who love musical animes or those of you into Shounen-Ai. I’m into both and I don’t judge. Currently, Crunchyroll has all 11 episodes available for streaming.

#anime review #given #mafuyu satou #ritsuka uenoyama #yuki yoshida #haruki nakayama #akihiko kaji

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lia-nikiforov · 6 years ago

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Fall Anime 2018 Watchlist

We’re about halfway into the season so this is probably kinda pointless by now, but here’s a quick rundown of the stuff I’m watching this season.

Dropped

Jingaisan no Yome: This is a 3 minute show and I won’t spend longer than that writing about it (I’m timing myself). I didn’t know it was a short going in. I’m not really into shorts, Saiki kun being the only exception and the story was less MahoYome and more... i don’t even have an apt comparison, it just was maybe more serious about the “marriage” thing than something with a giant floofball character should be.

Tokyo Ghoul: Re 2: It’s simple. I watched episode 1 and realized I had no fucking clue of how any of this related to the ending of the first season, no idea of who half the characters were and where did they allegiances lie and what is Kaneki even trying to do. Although not loyal to the manga, the first two seasons of Tokyo Ghoul had a story that could be followed and made sense, this, however, is just jumping over plot points with no rhyme or reason and there’s nothing but confusion.

Bloom Into You: There’s nothing actually wrong with this show and I was kind of looking forward to a yuri romance that wasn’t rapey or incesty bullshit, but something about this one just didn’t click with me. Like Touko fell in love with Yuu too quickly, and given Yuu’s ace/aro identity, it would feel weird for her to do a 180 and suddenly fall in love with Touko. I kind of want more fun and emotions in my romance stories and this one didn’t have much of either.

Chopping Block

Given a few things the past two weeks that didn’t go according to plan, I fell behind on my anime watching after keeping it in control for the first third of the season and i’m quite annoyed. And because of this, and my upcoming research trip to Japan at the end of the month, I might end up having to drop a couple of series.

Bakumatsu: Objectively speaking, this show is really bad. The production values are poop, the story is a wacky mess that takes itself a bit too seriously and the characters are flat and uninteresting, the villain is egregiously boring. This show also has Matsuo Basho as a secret tive traveling ninja, and that puts me at quite the predicament. I want to see more of this utterly bonkers historical reinterpretation, but boy do I wish they could make it more exciting.

SAO Alicization: The only reason I, a notorious SAO hater, is watching SAO is because I hate myself. With that out of the way, boy is this SAO boring. We’re four episodes in and the only thing that’s happened is they cut an old tree because nothing can stop Kirito and his new friend, Yellow Kirito. This show needs to start getting offensive and/or stupid soon or i’ll die of boredom.

Karakuri Circus: I hear this one’s from the same mangaka as UshiTora? I love UshiTora and I can see the resemblance between giant guy whose name I can’t remember and Tora. His character and his schtick are so far the most interesting thing to me, with the kuudere puppet girl whose main purpose seems to be to get paired with him having yet to make an impression on me. I’m also still not really certain what the overall plot is. I do love stories about found families, so hopefully I can stick with this one

Hinomaru Sumou: If my watching schedule were normal, this wouldn’t be in this section. Whilst not the best sports show of the season, and chock full of some of the most eyeroll worthy aspects of sports shonen *cough cough* toxic *cough cough* masculinity *cough cough*, Hinomaru Sumou has the fire and passion for an underrepresented sport that’s usually enough to hook me. I just don’t have time, and if push comes to shove, I’ll prioritize other shows over this one.

Banana Fish: Yo, okay, before you lynch me for being a hater or whatever, let me tell you I have zero issues with Banana Fish. I don’t hate it, I don’t think it’s Bad Representation(TM) whatever the fuck that means, I definitely don’t think it’s fujobait or just another BL. It just doesn’t make me happy. This probably doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I’ve never been a fan of tragedy. It’s also part of the reason I’m dropping Tokyo Ghoul. I don’t like hopeless stories and tragic romances. I’m somewhat spoiled on how the manga ends and each time I find myself less and less inclined to watch the newer episodes because the descent into misery is just not enjoyable for me. It’s not the show’s wrongdoing, it’s just not the kind of story I like. I’m probably too far along to drop it at this point, but also I kinda wish I could drop it because I get so little joy out of it. Also, my main hook is of course Ash and Eiji’s relationship, but 15 episodes in (I’m behind, as is evident) the time they’ve spent together is so minimal, I can’t even appreciate that a whole lot.

I guess I’m watching this?

Dakaichi: Me: Man I really want a yuri anime without rapey bullshit. Also me: watches BL anime with rapey bullshit. I have literally no excuse. I think the basic setup lends itself really well for a romcom and Takato is a very likable character, it’s a shame it’s the same old rapey bullshit. In my defense, episode two was really sweet and I’ve been hoping for more stories along that line, even though the show has failed to deliver them since. Episode 5 may have pushed the line even beyond what I’m willing to tolerate, but it’s unclear. I might end up unexpectedly dropping it after episode 6. HEY JAPAN WOULD IT KILL YOU TO MAKE A BL ANIME THAT WASN’T RAPEY BULLSHIT? JUST ONE?

(honestly, Takato deserves better)

wao episode 6 was maji disgusting i might drop it after all

Fairy Tail Final: I just want closure man. This adaptation retains all the worst attributes of the previous season, terribly slow pacing (what for?! the manga is over!!) minimal animation, recapalooza. The color palette is slightly brighter than before, which I appreciate. Fairy Tail’s last arc wasn’t as bad as Bleach’s, but it was still pretty bad in the manga; still I hope seeing it animated will make it feel less messy and slightly more coherent. The FT anime has also in the past filled in some blanks that existed in the manga, so hopefully they can make the best out of it here.

(Erza is still my wife)

Tsurune: No, this isn’t the best sports anime of this season either. Although that’s hard to judge given how it’s barely on its second (third, i’m behind) episode. Technically, I feel more compelled to drop this than Hinomaru, but also I want to give it a fair chance. That said, the first episode was.... profoundly underwhelming and borderline upsetting, with how everyone put Minato on the spot in spite of his having an actual psychologic condition that drove him away from kyudo. I’m all in for stories about growing and surpassing your own obstacles, but I hope they go about it in a less mean-spirited way. Also, the characters feel pretty shallow so far. I’m not even gonna pretend the main reason I want to keep watching isn’t gorgeous guy with the ponytail-san, because I’m now old enough that I immediately gravitate towards the senseis rather than the teenage protags.

i am so weak to long hair _(:3」∠)_

welp he cut his hair right next episode, thanks for nothing kyoani

In spite of everything, Anime is, in fact, Good

Golden Kamuy: Like with many split-cours, there’s nothing much to say beyond “if you liked the first one, you’ll like this one”. The production values are still tragic, but I think the pace has improved, and the dynamics between the different factions are so fluid and constantly changing they make the story very enthralling. It also continues to have the Best Reaction Faces.

Gakuen Basara: Listen, listen. You all knew I was gonna watch this. And I love Basara so much I still think this show is a masterpiece even when it’s objectively atrocious. I do not reccommend it to anyone who isn’t already a fan (and I mean a blind fan willing to consume anything from this franchise, even in its cheapest, dumbest, worst looking incarnation). That said there are a couple of interesting things, namely the power rivalry between Hideyoshi and Nobunaga, this never happened in the original series because Nobunaga died before Hideyoshi was introduced. Anyway, just shoot that Masamune x Kojuuro fanservice straight into my veins please and thank you

Zombieland Saga: One of the two biggest surprises of the season and one that was nowhere near my radar. An original production by studio MAPPA with perhaps the wildest premiere episode of the season that’s somehow making me like idols?! It’s also giving us the most Miyano Mamoru has ever Miyano’d and it’s amazing and histerical. The characters are also very charming, specially bikegang leader Saki and the always legendary Yamada Tae and the show isn’t scared of letting its cute idols get gross and silly and dirty. There’s also a feeling of mystery that I find very appealing. Definitely didn’t expect this one to be one of the highlights of my week, yet here we are.

SSSS Gridman: Just when I’d vowed a giant fuck you to Studio Trigger, in they come with one of their most quiet productions yet, with characters that speak their lines in soft, leveled voices, tragedies that feel palpable, emotionally climactic battle scenes and a sense of tension and mystery that makes it impossible to take your eyes away. It does have the caveat of oversexualizing the female characters, specially the villain, and not giving Rikka virtually anything to do, but past that, it’s been a very pleasant and intriguing surprise. Also of note, I have no background knowledge of the Gridman tokusatsu series but that hasn’t really been an impediment to enjoy this series.

Double Decker: Doug & Kirill: A spinoff to the 2010 superhero hit Tiger & Bunny, we have a less superpowery buddycop comedy with a cool and diverse cast, whose main character wants to BRING DOWN CAPITALISM, okay, put an end to economic inequality and classes, but that’s basically the same thing. The show is pretty far along because it premiered early for some reason, and so far it’s been mostly one-shot stories very thinly connected to the distribution of the illegal drug Anthem, with our main plot having only come up two episodes ago with the fantastic Zabel and Bamboo Man twist. The dynamics between the main duo are great and Kirill is a riot as a protagonist.

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru: Or Run with the Wind. Now THIS is the best sports anime of the season. Brought to you by the studio behind Haikyu, based on a novel by the author of Fune wo Amu. Firstly I love that it’s set in university, because it gives the cast a lot more variety in their interests, ages and personalities, their goals, their baggage, and it makes the process of bringing this team of misfits together even more interesting to watch. The characters feel very human in the way they speak, their worries, their relationships, their actions. The show’s done a great job so far in building the characters and making them worth cheering for. Also Ouji is my spirit animal. If you ever wanted a show to motivate you into running, this is what you’ve been waiting for! Another great surprise of this season for sure.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo: Finally part Five is here! And in it we get perhaps the most interesting Jojo protagonist right off the bat, with troubled Giorno and his difficult past and his wonderful Stand ability. His new set of allies is also quite eccentric and interesting and every scene and dialogue has that special Jojo flavor of crazy and ridiculous and always a load of fun. This one will have 39 episodes, so we’re barely getting started and I’m already loving all of it.

Thunderbolt Fantasy 2: Urobutcher’s favorite puppets are back with a vengeance! Every bit as fun, insane, cool and over-the-top as the first season, with the added value of the rapport between the characters, evidenced by how brilliant the few scenes in which Shang and Lin share the screen are. With a brand new story that expands the world of our favorite puppets, and even more new gorgeous puppets added to the mix to make Shang’s life a mess, this show is definitely my favorite this season and potentially of the year. Let Urobuchi keep doing puppets for as long as he wants!

ooof i’m finally done. It’s midseason so probably nobody cares but do hmu with your favorite shows of the season and if there’s anything worth hatewatching that I may be missing ;)

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