#and i am still not over rockman and roll having a thing going on (lan and mayl too) bc its like. whose idea was this.

[kakusboyfriend]

Some of the mmbn dynamics/ships will Never ever sit right with me huh ← sees all of them as my weird kids

[subzeroiceskater]

Nice.

“I thought you liked girls! Didn’t I see you swooning over Pride and Iris?”

“Netto-kun, I was what, eleven? Twelve?”

Bisexuality? Not that compulsory heteronormativy isn’t a thing but. Well, personally speaking, I’d just like to have it acknowledged and not be the binary of “you’re either straight or gay”.

“His name is Jomon Teruo.”

“Jomon?”

“As in Japan’s Jomon Electric megastore?” Rockman chimed in.

“That’s it. His grandfather is the CEO.”

… Now, on top of that, he was beholden to some snotty rich kid. The spawn of one of the country’s most affluent name-brand families, in fact. They’d probably ride off into the sunset together in a luxury sedan, flocked by enough maids and servants to make Yaito-chan jealous.

I wonder if Teruo was chosen just because he’s canon rich to serve this role. Yeah, I’m just skipping to the parts where he gets mentioned.

“My counsellor recommended I check out Japan Club. That’s where I met Teruo-kun. He was super welcoming, and we planned all sorts of cultural events together to promote awareness.”

That’s actually pretty sweet. Good on you, Teruo.

The geek delivered a chaste kiss to the now-standing Tohru’s cheek, an act which caused Netto discomfort. “C-cancelled. S-so I flew here instead.”

“H-hi there, I-I’m Jomon Teruo.”

“Hikari Netto.” They shook hands, and the seated one noted the latter’s stutter.

So this was the wolf himself. Not what Netto imagined. The freckled hafu wore a baggy newsboy hat, rimless vintage pink sunglasses, long-sleeved shirt with circle of iron filings splaying the front and lightning bolts running up the arms, white slacks, and utility belt. He looked more like a mechanic or a rock and roll delinquent than the grandson of an electronics magnate. The only overt indicator of his wealth was his one obnoxious pierced ear, flaunting a diamond earring.

To be fair, this is probably more canon and in-character than everything I’ve ever done with Terry. BUT this is just straight up pulling from his game appearance from the mentions of “geek” and the stutters. This is just straight up his canon design as well, which, in my opinion, is A Look.

Although, I’m assuming if they’re older in this fic, they’d somehow dressed differently? The author is mixing game canon into the anime one (which I’ve never seen. To be honest, if Terry had ever appeared ONCE I would’ve watched the whole thing a million years ago, lol favoritism).

Although, hafu? Where did that come from? Terry's not said to be half-anything in the text or anywhere else in canon--absolutely nothing wrong if he was but this is the only place that mentions it for some reason?

That’s not really based on any canon thing at all. Is it because he was renamed Terry in English? That won't make sense in the Japanese setting of this fanfic? Like, even Terry could just be a nickname from Teruo. Teri is even still a a Japanese electric term.

N-not at all. L-lemme tell ya, robots are fascinating. A-and you’re apprenticing under Aoki Makoto? S-she’s a legend in the robotics community.”

“You should let Teruo-kun have a look at what you’re working on,” Tohru proposed. “Robotics are his specialty.”

“Q-quit it, Tohru-chan.”

Drat. He was modest too.

Teruo’s actually pretty cool with this? I’m anticipating the heel turn any time now but this is pretty nice. Based Teruo, loving and supporting robotics, female scientist and his fiancé.

Putting together Terry and Copybots is such an obvious thing that I'm mostly glad someone else did that!

A genius who could match pace with Tohru’s intellect, wealthy and reputable, with a sturdy career. Netto had nothing to offer. Teruo was everything he couldn’t be.

Well, yeah, Terry/Teruo’s shown to be good with robotics and have a rich grandpa but, seriously, Netto. This is a little too much, pfft. Although, that is the point of a pining romantic fanfic, I suppose. I’ll be honest, I haven’t read fanfics for a long time. It just feels more like the plot is leading the characters on and slotting them into types instead of letting the IC personalities and motivations arise naturally or speak or whatever.

And now I’ll turn into about myself. Am I any better with my own stuff? Nope! Author did this the same reason I do my own art—coz it amuses ‘em.

“His boyfriend is rotten! A scoundrel! The heavenly bodies foretell it!”

Yep, it’s definitely not me Netto-kun likes. Teruo-kun wouldn’t harm a fly! Tohru relished the garlic in his dumplings.

HERE WE GO 😈

The powwows a directionally inadept Dingo held asking his tomahawk for counsel locating Maha Ichiban’s customers came to mind, and Netto justly grew skeptical.

What? Err… You know what, I’ll just concentrate on the Teruo parts. For my own peace of mind. I don’t want to get legit mad again.

Tohru was entitled to the world. On Teruo’s lanky arm, that attitude represented a concrete, dynastic legacy. If the cost of that felicity was that he himself would fade, amen! Tohru’s contentment justified the tribulation. He could take it. For his beloved, he could learn to suffer the grief.

Yeah, this kind of thing. It feels more like Teruo is just an obstacle for the eventual realization of Netto’s true love. Like any trope, it’s not that’s necessarily bad but this is a little too on the nose and a little too overwrought for me. xD Maybe Netto was too different in the anime but I don’t really hear Lan thinking or talking like this, even as a grown up or in love. It’s just stuff like the author is blatantly going “hurry it up and get together” but at the expense of the story. It’s…well, “fanfic” writing.

I’m not explaining myself very well. This is why I don’t write fanfic myself, lol.

“Based on the evidence, we’ve secured a warrant to take Sparkman’s suspected operator, Jomon Teruo, into custody”

HERE WE FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOO

“Now that you mention it, Teruo did express a dubious interest in our research. Gah! Romeda-san was right!” He smacked himself, realizing the phony psychic’s prediction had come to fruition. “The jerk is shady!”

He’s a robotics guy who’s interested in robotics stuff. He seemed perfectly normal when you talked to him. How is that shady.

His vilification of Teruo abruptly gained legitimate weight.

😈 😈 😈 To be clear, I’m not mad or anything. This is actually a lot more fun than I expected it to be. It’s more funny than anything. Like, here’s Teruo being an okay dude who’s being guiltily vilified by Netto…but no, he was right, all along!

“Even though I’m not worthy of your love, even though I’ll never be able to give you the things he can, that doesn’t change the fact that I will protect you, Tohru-kun! No matter what! You may hate me for it, but there’s no avoiding it anymore!”

Teruo’s a shit Netbattler. You’re one of the best. Go beat his ass netbattling or something, Netto.

He located Teruo immersed among the gizmos in his lab. Untidy as a hoarder, blueprints and tools lay disorderly, necessitating Tohru dance around the innumerable hazards to his feet. His grease monkey boyfriend was hunched over a project, welding. Blue embers licked the metal as he mended a garish scar begriming its surface.

Okay, I can’t believe how cool Teruo is in this fic. I mean, he gets to do robotic-labs shit, even if just by implication. What the fuck.

“Yo, Tohru-chan!” Teruo jerked his helmet up.

He was tinkering with a robot. A Copyroid.

No…

“What have you done?”

“My oh my, that Hikari Netto did a number on you, didn’t he?” Teruo patted the Copyroid. “I rewired it. Optimized its destructive capability. Rebooted it without those pesky inhibitors. No safety parameters. I’ve accomplished what Aoki Makoto was afraid to do.”

The loss of the Jomon family successor’s stutter unnerved him. Was it all a ploy?

Like, this is legit cool, man. Teruo’s legit badass. Haha. Based. And he’s giving orders to the neo-WWW? Like, some kind of Dr. Wily analogue? So cool, even if just implication.

Oh, by the way, that’d be welding mask, and not helmet.

“Gramps is holding out on me. Reassessing my status in his will. He dissed robotics and threatened to sever my funding, the geezer! When I caught wind on an Undernet BBS that these lowlife goons were planning to bust out the Professor, I extended my services. In exchange, the Professor lends me his soldiers. It’s a hostile takeover, baby!”

Fuck yeah. I actually love this. This is pretty much his scenario from the game but extended a little more villainously.

“After everything we’ve been through! It was a lie?”

“Never. I do love you. Gonna give you the world, Tohru-chan. Picture it. Us, unlimited coin, and a controlling interest in the organization!”

“You can walk away! I’ll speak to the Net Police! We can hammer out a plea bargain!”

“Aww, how swell of you to defend me. When this is over, you and I are due for a heckuva holiday. Hmm? The Southern Isles?”

And it turns out he genuinely loves Tohru? Like, in his own earnest way? Based.

“You ain’t gonna win! No siree!” Teruo taunted, priggishly unhinged after having been liberated of his tiresome fake speech impediment and goody two-shoes public persona.

The duplicitous jerk! He really was the spoiled rich kid Netto thought!

Okay, but I wanna argue that I don’t think that Teruo (Terry in BN4) was faking—the stutter at least. Terry’s thing is at his heart, a coward. The stutter was him being a scaredy-cat because he was nervous trying to trick Lan and him getting a confidence boost was thinking he’s succeeded. There’s the heel turn I’ve been waiting but the whole way getting here was so fun (and honestly short) so I don’t mind as much.

“Bourgeois slime, I’m gonna enjoy pixelating that disrespectful runt of yours!” Teruo spat.

I was gonna say how weird for him to use bourgeois as insult when he’s the richer one but I just looked it up and this usage is correct: bourgeois relates to the middle-class. Whoops. I also just found out that I’ve been understanding the slang “bougie” wrong all this time. Educational!

Neither Teruo nor Sparkman abided by restraint. Divorced of commitment, they cut loose, exactly as Teruo stipulated, with “extreme prejudice.”

And Teruo completes transformation to vaudeville villain. He’s still fun, though.

Teruo threw caution to the wind. Resorting to cheating, he spammed Extra Codes to push Sparkman to the limit, mashing his PET like his life depended on it. “Take this! And this! And this! Heh heh heh!”

Can it really be called cheating if this was never meant to be a fair legit fight in a contest with rules. Teruo’s just being a poor sport in general. Which is still canon characterization, btw.

“Garbage!” Sparkman was literally falling apart. “You may excel at repairing machines, but you sure stink at Navi operation!”

“Sue me! I’m a robot specialist, not a NetBattler!”

Rockman mocked, “Arguing? Trust between operator and Navi is key!”

“You’re such a hot shot! Why don’t you fix this useless robot body?”

“I oughta sell you for scrap!”

Yeah, this is just from the game. Although, Teruo should be able to do something about the Copyroid body. Okay, you know what, I’ve always want a Full Synchro between them. What’s that? The point of Terry’s story was how he’s so bad at Netbattling and he couldn’t get along with his Navi?

Well, more reason for them to overcome their differences and finally be true battle buddies. Honestly, that’s part of the whole “Terry gets a friend, learns to be less of a terrible shit and gets his life on track” fanfic idea I’ve had since I played his game.

Anyway, he gets arrested. And…hired an assassin to try take Netto out? Lmao, still badass. That’s it for him. I tried looking for that time travel thing but, nothing. I think from context, this is just because this whole story was the time travel thing? Well.

That was more entertaining than I thought it would be. I’d have to wonder why Terry of all people but it may be as simple as he was a rich jerk who never appeared in the anime and so good for a retelling. He was far more important in this story than pretty much anything else I’ve ever seen, outside of my own stupid doodles, hahahaha.