#at least I remember being surprised when I read the manga the first time

[toriko-manga-and-memes]

Absolutely bonkers that Coco turns his blood and sweat into poison and therefore can die of blood loss or dehydration if he uses too much

I love a power with limitations

[velvetreds]

i'm okay (if you're okay) — k. akaashi

wc; 576

cws; hurt/comfort, crying, tiny moment of "i dont deserve them", gn reader

the first thing you realise as you wake up is that your world is going off kilter — or rather, someone's moving you. your eyes snap open and you look around, disoriented, until your eyes meet those of your boyfriend's, eyes crinkling at the corners while he maneuvers you off the ground. "huh?"

akaashi's lips quirk up as he shoots a small smile at you. the hand that's not being used to scoop you into his lap comes up to readjust his glasses. "you seem tired."

"i'm exhausted," you reply, surprised at how worn out your voice sounds. he hums in reply, tucking your head under his chin.

"you're studying too much."

"i'm not, it's only been like an hour."

your weak refusal doesn't convince him, and he huffs out a short laugh. "i took the liberty of checking your timer records."

fuck.

"how long was i asleep, anyways?" you ask lightly, trying to change the subject. him knowing that you pulled an all nighter won't make things any better right now. keiji ignores the question, brushing hair away from your face before pressing a soft kiss to the top of your head.

"why didn't you sleep last night?"

so much for all that.

"i had too much work to do," you say, and your voice cracks. you take a deep breath, caught off guard by the unexpected surge of emotions. keiji's heart stops when he hears the first noise, turning you around to look at him. you expect him to be mad, upset with you at least — you'd promised him that you wouldn't stay up late anymore, let alone pull an all-nighter — but all you see in his widened green eyes is love and concern.

"baby, are you okay?" he asks gently — he exudes a sort of warmth you have not felt with anyone else, a sense of home. you remember once again why you fell in love with him. you have just enough time to shake your head no at him before you're falling apart in his arms, body wracking with sobs.

he lets you cry it out for as long as you need, rocking you gently as you hiccup into his sweater. and when you open your mouth to say sorry, maybe he reads your mind, because he's already shushing you before you can apologise.

"there's nothing for you to be sorry about," he whispers, and you cry even harder. you don't deserve someone like him, so kind and caring and forgiving. lithe fingers trace slow patterns across your side as he wipes your tears with his other hand. "it's okay, it'll be okay, i love you."

you're not quite sure when you stop crying, or when keiji's soft touch lulls you to sleep, but when you finally wake up, it's the next day already — like, what?

you find keiji humming to himself at the kitchen table, poring over manga manuscripts. he looks up at the sound of your footsteps and smiles, putting his glasses before he greets you.

"good morning, love."

"good morning," you echo, not expecting him to pull you into a hug again. his warmth engulfs you, and you melt into it with a sigh.

"i spaced out all your work so you can finish it and be well rested," he reports. it makes you want to kiss him (so you do).

"i hope you're doing better now." keiji smiles down at you, pink-cheeked.

"i am," you reply, and you are.

a/n; title is from this december by ricky montgomery but i switched it up a lil bit !! really needed this one ;,)

[lightlycareless]

I’m curious, how would you think Naoya’s canonical first appearance would be like if he was married to Y/N during the events of the manga? I wonder if he’d still maintain his role as antagonist(maybe he’d turn ally?) or if he’d just be nonexistent because him and Y/N decide to leave Japan post shibuya(he can’t let y/n get caught up in that) XD

Hello anon!!!

Well, I actually wrote a little something detailing that hehe. Kind of. I hope it still answers your question :>

Also, because this is the perfect opportunity to do so, why not write something sad/angsty for a change. A "what would happen with Y/N and Naoya during Shibuya" :))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) but somewhat taking into consideration the post above? Hmmm more at the end.

warnings: slight mentions of character death. mentions of pregnancy. angst. sad overall I believe. :') Naoya loves you and has done things differently than the jerk we all know of course. Or not? Also, I don't remember much of Shibuya anymore so forgive me if something is odd about it.

Happy reading!

I would say Naoya would quickly decide to get you out of danger. No questions about it; he doesn’t even consider otherwise. As soon as he hears what is going down he intends to send you far away in some remote safe house where he thinks you and the kids will be ok—perfectly tended for, as he’d always made sure.

You, on the other hand, aren’t too enthusiastic about leaving everything behind, simply because your family was right in the middle of the crisis! And of course they would be, always rushing to serve the noble cause, you were not surprised to learn that they were doing their best to prevent the situation from worsening.

But this was no ordinary task, that much obvious by a simple glance. And if not through that, then by the growing uneasiness settling in your heart. One that demanded you to stay… or at least remain attentive to what is to follow.

“But I don’t think that’s even necessa—”

“We’re not discussing this anymore, Y/N. You are leaving, and you’re doing so tomorrow first thing in the morning. I already made all the preparations, you just need to have the kids awake and ready.”

“I don’t want to leave my family.” You insist. “I shouldn’t! They—They need me. They’re putting their life on the line; I can’t just leave—”

“Our children need you more. I need you more.” Naoya frowns, frustrated that of all things you’ve decided to refute him on, this had to be the one. “As I said, I won’t discuss this with you anymore—you are leaving.”

“But Naoya—!”

You’ve only seen this firm side of him on scarce occasions; either when reprimanding your naïve kids when accidentally doing something that might hurt them, or when putting his family in place after saying… well, the things they normally did.

And since you obviously don’t like pushing him over the edge, having more than enough with the weight of being the heir of a prestigious clan, as well as all his work as a sorcerer, you tend to just go with what he wants.

But not this time around, you simply couldn’t act like there wasn’t something bothering you. Something looming over your mind, a frightening omen that involved someone directly involved with you.

It could be anyone. Either your family, or… Naoya.

Both chances you did not wish to take.

“…Please.” Naoya would quietly insist after seeing you grow silent, regretful of the domineering way he seemed to take over the conversation, for after all was said and done, he loved you more than anything else in this world and would rather die than hurt you.

He wasn’t happy about this arrangement, no, in fact he despised it.

Hated the fact that he had to be the one to come up with it in the first place—but after what he heard from Shibuya, alongside his father being summoned for support, it was nothing but clear that he needed to act.

“You’ll be stationed in a nice place. A quiet little village with a nice, ample house and access to a relaxing beach for you and the kids to spend time on.  Now, doesn’t that sound nice, mochi?”

Had it been literally any other occasion, you would have been ecstatic. Happy to have the opportunity to spend time with your family without worrying about anything, simply what you and your kids were to do next.

But it wasn’t meant to be this way, so much that even the kids were unusually calm about the so-called holiday. Having sensed their mother’s anxiety and preferring being by her side than thinking of having fun.

“And school? What about their friends?” You eventually ask, of course, one of the many ways to stall him.

“I don’t believe you will be away for long, but I arranged everything in the meantime. They will be homeschooled.” Naoya explains, you frown. “As for friends… I guess I can consider occasional visits. Though they’ll more likely make new ones over there.”

“…And you? Will you be… coming with us?” You know that wouldn’t be, assumed so either way. But still, you hoped he would surprise you otherwise.

“…You know I can’t.” Naoya responds, your heart sinks to your stomach.

“Why not? Your father is already there for support. Why do you have to go?” you scowl.

“I have to stay at the estate to oversee it while he’s gone.” He explains. “I wish I could go, or that you and our kids could stay but… it’s too dangerous. If anything happens at Shibuya and things decide to escalate, it’s only logical that the estate will become a target and I won’t risk it.”

You press your lips together, understanding his words, yet disappointed that it had to be that way. A part of you tried to accept them, let it go, for you knew exactly what you were getting into when you married him.

And the other…

“I can’t… I don’t feel comfortable being away while you and my family are in danger!”

“This is no different from any other mission I’ve gone to, or that your family has.” Naoya attempts to console you, but both knew that wasn’t the trutht. “What is it? What is it that has you like this?”

“…I…I don’t…I don’t know.” You begin slowly, hesitant to admit your thoughts in fear that they might become true. To painful to even consider it! “I just… have this awful feeling that something bad is going to happen soon.”

“Like what?”

“Please don’t make me say it.”

Naoya didn’t need more to understand, and such, leans closer to you, enough to wrap his arms around you and gently place a kiss on the top of your head.

“…Nothing will happen. I swear. I will contact you whenever possible so you’ll be at ease. And if there’s any change, I’ll let you know as well. I promise.”

“…Please?”

“Of course, princess.” He smirks, now kissing your cheek. “I wouldn’t even dream otherwise.”

“You haven’t called me that in a long time.” You silently admit; his words lift some of the burdening weight from your heart.

Not enough to free you, but enough for you to slightly jest at him.

“Well, our little Naomi kind of inherited it, didn’t she?”

“She’s well deserving of it. It fits her.”

“Technically you’re my princess, and she’s our little princess.”

“…I guess so, if you put it that way it kind of makes sense.”

Silence engulfs the two for a brief moment soon after, motivating Naoya to hug you even tighter.

“Everything will be fine, Y/N. It’s nothing but a situation that… got a little bit out of hand, but nothing I can’t handle. That’s all.

Just remember that my father is involved too. And…” as much as he hated admitting it, the old man was a very talented sorcerer. A good decision was made by considering him. “Gojo-kun is also there too, and everyone knows there’s no one stronger than him. As for your sister… well, she’s quite a force to be reckoned with too.”

“I never thought I’d come to hear you compliment them, ever!” You tease, he scoffs, slightly embarrassed.

“I just want to make you happy.” Naoya silently admits, placing his fingers underneath your chin and lifting your gaze to his. “You mean the world to me; I don’t know what I would do if you—if you… I can’t lose you. I can’t.”

“Then hurry up back home.” You pout, a tear sliding down cheek. “Please, for me. For the kids.”

“Promise me to always send me pictures of you and the kids. It’ll serve me as motivation as to why I even bother doing all this…” He frowns. “…And to let me know if you’re ok. You’ll be secured there with some of my men, but I still wish to hear it from you.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I’ll send you so many, you’ll ask me to stop!”

“Now, mochi, no need to say fallacies we know won’t happen.” He teases back, which you respond with a giggle before quieting down, the realization that his impending departure is near.

“May the gods bring you back safe to me.” You silently pray, pressing a kiss on his lips to seal your protection charm, the one you’ve previous on prior occasions and has always worked—or so you believed.

The same one you desperately hoped would work this time around as well, especially after beginning to hear the horrific loses Shibuya had brought along.

From the death of your beloved friend Nanami to Gojo’s unprecedented sealing, you remained on edge as you tried your best to keep constant communication with Naoya, trying to figure out if any of these happenings had affected him one way or the other, praying that nothing would befall him.

Eventually cursing yourself when realizing you had unknowingly called a bad presage into reality when Naoya one day, without previous warning, directly and sternly, sends you the following message:

“My father died in Shibuya. I am now clan leader.”

To congratulate him given the circumstances of his death felt out of place, if not incredibly imprudent—even if this was his biggest dream.

It just came to you so… unexpectedly, though some would say that incidences would occur in such conflict. Perhaps it was Naobito’s time to leave this earth.

And yet, another part of you decided to take this as a warning, a reminder that this was no common attack. Not if it was capable of claiming the life of someone so skillful as your father-in-law.

…

What did any of this mean for Naoya? Is he safe? Is he ok? Has he been injured? Where was he right now?

But most importantly, what is he going to do now that is Leader of the Zen’in clan?

Did this mean that you were finally able to return with him? After so many days of homesickness, would you be able to see your husband in person?

…

Or… or did this just made things even worse for your family, forced to remain away until things cooled down, because you were now a bigger target?

“It’s still not safe. With Gojo-kun’s sealing… the clans have been nothing but a mess; and apparently that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There seems to be a deeper plan unfolding in the background—We still don’t know what for, but I know for sure one thing: I wouldn’t dare endanger you.”

“…Ok. I understand” You dejectedly agree, forced to remain behind as you lonely mourn the death of your friends, or the unknown fate of one of them.

Well, at least your family was relatively safe. Your siblings sustained injuries, but nothing they wouldn’t be able to heal in due time. You could only wonder the stresses your father had to deal with now that the Gojo clan was rendered nonexistent… Was someone trying to nominate Satoru’s replacement?

…

You wished you could do more. Longed to not feel as useless as you did nowadays, more so since Naoya’s messages turned to be fewer and fewer as time passed…

But at least he still responded. Took a little bit of his time to let you know that he was fine. Busy, perhaps a partial lie, but ultimately alive.

Just a matter of days and you’ll be back in his arms, with your children, and the little bundle growing inside you. Where you belonged.

Unless… fate was to cruelly decide otherwise.

“Naoya, I… haven’t heard from you in quite a while. I just… hope you’re ok and not overworking yourself. Naomi, Naori, Naoko and Naoyuki miss you. Please let me know how everything is doing as soon as you can. I love you”

…

“I don’t want to bother you, nor distract you from your duties. But I’m very worried about you Naoya, you haven’t answered any of my messages or calls. And… and I can’t shake this feeling that something horrible happened. Please answer me, Naoya, I can’t take the thought of you mot—

Just let me know if you’re ok, please. I love you.”

…

“Please, just give me a sign that you’re alive. I beg you, Naoya. I can’t take this anymore. I feel so lonely without you. I always do, but today… today it feels worse. Please, if just a letter, you don’t even have to write a whole message. Just a dot or something. Anything!

Just… anything so I can know you’re fine. Alive. Please. I beg you”

…

“Please. Please. Please. Naoya, answer me. Please. We love you.”

…

…

“Please. For our baby. Please.”

…

…

…

“…Naoya?”

Obviously I wanted to make it tragic and say that Naoya died; but how did he die? By being in Shibuya? Maybe. Maki? That means he still would've been a jerk! akjgkags

Also, I believe he didn't tell Y/N that he wasn't actually clan leader because... I don't know, pride. It's what he wanted all his life, after all! Maybe he hoped to fix that before meeting up with you again, and that's how he died :) OOF

Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this little "what if" piece. I still have another Shibuya-centric oneshot to write 😏 maybe that could add on to this one? Thankfully, the good things about these prompts is that they're not really connected to one another, they could all essentially be read individually hehe nice.

Now, thank you so much for sending in this ask; take care and hope to see you soon!!!

[akanesheep]

What pet would they give MC:

Lucifer:

Lucifer wouldn’t just gift them a pet, but that pet requires the ability of homing and caring. He would gift them an aviary. Attached to this aviary would be a large enclosed area with a pair of peacocks. He selected them personally, ensuring that not only were they physically beautiful, but also that their personalities meshed well together. After all, he wants to ensure that this gift, as all other gifts he gives you, are as perfect as possible.

Mammon:

Mammon would pick a pair of his young crows and assign them to you. As they are his familiars, he can keep a watch on you no matter where you are. Crows are also resourceful and able to work out how to live no matter where they are… they do like to stay in the aviary a lot, but most often they stay in the tree within your room.

Levi:

Levi know without being told that a snake is a bad idea, look what happened with Henry 1.0… so he will get you a goldfish also. And if you want, he would get you an aquarium set up for your room.

‘What? You want Lily to be in the same tank as Henry??’

Cue happy Levi noises.

Many an evening are spent watching the two goldfish swim happily together as you hold hands and cuddle.

Satan:

Come on… do I even need to say it?

You open the box to find an adorably fluffy silver furred kitten inside with a green collar. A small heart tag hangs from her neck.

‘Diana’ you read and then giggle softly. ‘You remembered?’

You had told him about your favorite show to watch as a child, which had started as a manga. He read them all with you when he managed to get a full set for your birthday.

‘Of course I did… when the owner of the cat cafe told me he had a surprise litter he offered me first choice. When I saw her I knew.’

I mean, it could have been a unicorn, technically, but unicorns are for war. (Guy Kay fans ftw) Satan wants no part of you near a battlefield, so he hasn’t even allowed you to see his own unicorn.

Asmodeus, Beel, & Belphie:

Ok, you guys don’t hate me… but these three just aren’t animal people. Like they don’t hate animals at all… but they’re the least able to truly care for animals.

For Asmo, his priorities just aren’t there. And that’s ok. He knows his limits and is responsible enough to stay in them. He’s ok with other people’s pets as long as they stay off of him. He puts a lot into every aspect of his appearance and doesn’t want to give that up. (No hate at all for him. He know what he does and doesn’t want, and not everyone wants a pet). If you asked him for a pet, he would get you one, but he has no self-interest.

Also, his ‘animal’ is a scorpion, which horrifies him, he wouldn’t give one as a pet.

For Beel, he loves animals, especially dogs… but also has a tendency to eat animals if he goes on a rampage…he would never want to put you in a situation where he would accidentally hurt your pet.

His ‘animal’ being a fly isn’t really the kind of pet anyone wants…

For Belphie: I mean, while he’d love to get you a cow to rampage through the HoL gardens and piss Lucifer off, the truth is, he just isn’t willing/able to put that kind of effort into a pet. Instead, he’ll get you a cow plushie.

Diavolo:

Our sweet demon would get you a phoenix. He finds them absolutely fascinating, and you remind him of one, the way you always rise through any troubles in your wake.

(Dragons are not pets, but they will befriend you)

Barbatos:

He has enough on his plate without adding another pet. He’ll just assign you a Little D to take care of whatever you need while he is away.

Simeon & Luke:

This angel would gift you a pair of white doves.

They don’t get along with Mammon’s crows, so don’t let them in the aviary at the same time! Luckily they tend to avoid each other. That said, these doves are super sweet, just like the angels who gave them to you

Solomon:

No. Keep this man away from the pets. His penchant for experimenting on others is already problematic at best. Lucifer banned him from the aviary after he turned one of the peacocks into an owl and turned a crow into a mouse… it got really crazy for a few minutes.

This man is the pet, good luck us.

Hope you liked it, I wanted to keep this one light hearted.

I’m thinking of doing some more song vids, let me know what you think?

[burstbubbbles]

things im noticing as i rewatch bnha, an ongoing thread:

SEASON 1

- deku really was such a nerd lmao he's just like me fr (like i KNEW but i didn't remember how much i could relate to it. oops.)

- it's also interesting that he always fights back against bakugo and calls him an idiot a lot. idk why (probably because of fandom characterization) i remembered early-seasons deku as a lot more innocent and scared of bakugo. like, here's the thing, deku is scared of pretty much everything at the start because he's shy/anxious. he gets nervous talking to most of his classmates (especially, but not only, girls) when he first meets them and starts trembling when he gets elected as class president before handing the role to iida. so basically, his anxiety isn't reserved to bakugo like i remembered – if anything, he seems to get over his fear of getting bullied by him pretty quickly once he realizes he can fight back.

- kaminari tried to ask uraraka out in their first or second day of school and she was like "uhhh i like to eat... uhh... WAIT DEKU CAME BACK FROM THE NURSE'S OFFICE" lol i really didn't remember that

- bakugo's insecurity was always there. as you're reading this you might be thinking i first watched mha with my eyes closed or sth, and you're not very far from the truth. here's the thing, i first watched it when i was like 14-15, so all i knew back then was that bakugo was insufferable and i didn't think further than that. of course, he ended up becoming one of my favorite bnha characters after reading all of the manga, but it's cool to realize his character arc was foreshadowed from the beginning and didn't just magically start around season 3.

- but yeah, anyway, bakugo's insecurity and his envy over deku's natural noble nature was always there, since season 1. also, deku's real admiration over bakugo was also there. like, going back to my other point, deku wasn't just Not Overly Scared of bakugo, he actually looked up to him despite knowing he was deeply flawed. tbh they were always a bit crazy about each other.

- uraraka is so funny i love her.

- all of class 1A was so chaotic good coded

- like they collectively made fun of bakugo on the bus to USJ for being rude lol. they really bonded over their shared dislike for the guy.

- bakugo gets fucking HUMBLED all of s1. i would also be irrationally angry ngl.

- the dialogues in the first season sometimes are so unnatural for the sake of exposition, like all might telling recovery girl: "do you mind not talking so loudly ab OFA? only you, a close friend, the principal, and midoriya know about OFA. but most professors and some pro heroes also know about my condition and not being able to fight for more than 3 hours a day" like WHO TALKS LIKE THAT ??!1?1?

- deku had to go to recovery girl's office a total of 4 times (if i counted correctly) for broken limbs of fingers in HIS FIRST WEEK of school. which is funnier considering no one else from class 1A had to go even once.

- damn shigaraki was a skinny legend before he got OP

- aizawa did not react at all when he first saw kurogiri (about the shirakumo thing). that was surprising.

- also. AIZAWA IS SO BADASS?? like yes i knew he was badass from the later seasons, but i genuinely didn't remember his first fighting sequence at USJ where he single-handedly fights like at least 20 villains.

- i had also forgotten that shigaraki calls eraserhead "really cool" so early on in the anime, i thought it was a later-seasons thing.

- this is really obvious but i had forgotten the all might theme's resemblance to superman's theme. it's such a cool little detail tho!

- uraraka and deku definitely were crushing on each other when they first met, but i think it's nice that they ended up developing a really strong friendship instead of getting together after hori didn't consistently develop them romantically. it also makes a lot more sense narratively, like why would we care who deku ends up with at the end of his first year of UA when the story actually ends 8 years after that, and it's very unlikely that you marry the same person you started dating when you were 15. idk, i liked that. i like that you can have two characters who maybe have a crush on each other but can't focus on that due to Circumstances and eventually move on and become good friends. it's a win for the platonic department!

- the animation was kinda bad in the first season 😭 but it's understandable and i had fun watching it regardless.

okay im done with s1 tune in for s2 !!

[eleni-cherie]

a thief's origin✨ || bts • kth - chapter 0.7

"you're afraid I won't wait." "I'm afraid you will."

a criminal and a doctor should be as different as the sun and the moon - but unexpected things happened every day. like him finding his safe haven in her.

© 2024 | eleni_cherie

»»»

masterlist: here

— genre: thief au, gangster comedy, adventure, romcom, humour, angst, fluff, sexual tensiON, slowburn, mutual pining, strangers to friends to lovers s2f2l

ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE. CHARACTERS NOT NECESSARILY LIKE THE REAL PERSONS. ALSO VERY UNREALISTIC PLOT LOL - JUST PRETEND READING A MANGA/COMIC OR WATCHING A FILM, REALLY.

SUGGESTIVE THEMES. MENTIONS OF VIOLENCE & BLOOD (BUT NOTHING TOO GRAPHIC, IT'S STILL A COMEDY!)

»»»

30th December Barcelona, Spain

There was no trace of snow in the foreseeable time and Cassandra's already gloomy mood only dropped more as she averted her eyes from the grey buildings outside.

If it was cold, it should at least snow, she believed. But she knew something like this was impossible for a city right at the mediterranean sea. The only thing they got there was humidity and gusty winds.

It was the day before New Year's eve. The second-last day of the year. One day and eleven hours more and it'd be the next year already.

It was a strange feeling considering to her it didn't feel like a year had passed already. The only evidence it did being the coldness outside that had suddenly picked up in the last two weeks. 

She returned to study a patient's file. Today would be another double-shift. Could be worse, at least she wasn't working the next two days.

After asking one of the nurses to give the patient 150mg codeine, she finished her round right on time for her lunch break. Already spotting Stella and one of the assistent surgeons and Stella's on-off-crush, Julio, sitting at a table in the far back of the cafeteria and bickering over something as usual. And Cassandra gave them a quick wave, signalising she'd seen and would join them, before going to pick her lunch. Her stomach was already rumbling when a different kind of buzzing caught her attention then. It was the phone in her pocket.

doc (6:30am): happy birthday, wherever you are :)

cool guy (1:12pm): you remembered! cool guy (1:12pm): thanks :P

Her lips instinctively curled up. It was Taehyung. 

It had been a week since they'd last spoken, which wasn't surprising considering he had a different kind of busy life.

At least he took time to ressurface at all. Kind of like a penpal, where she had to wait for his letter to arrive and respond before having to wait yet again. Especially since they were indeed one-sided penpals with him sending her postcards from all the places he visited.

She was used to it, but that didn't mean she wasn't worrying a little whenever a longer period of time passed with no trace of him. Unpredictable things could always occur, despite him and his friends being unmatched in what they did.

doc (1:14pm): ofc i did :O

After typing in her quick reply, she shoved it back into her pocket when it started buzzing again. Perplexed by the unexpected incoming call, she hesitated for a moment before eventually accepting it.

"Hey." 

She inhaled with a smile. Something about his smooth voice greeting her so cheerfully always making her a little weak.

"Hey, your timing's as great as ever," she giggled when the line moved and she took a step forward. Hearing his surprised 'Oh?'.

"To what do I owe the honour of this call?"

Taehyung could hear the smirk all the way through the line. Laughing under his breath.

"What do you mean? It's my birthday after all. So I deserve actually hearing your birthday wishes."

She bit back a laugh, having missed his silliness. "Happy birthday, cool guy. Was that all you called for?"

"Almost," he said, his tone turning gentle then,"I also wanted to hear how you were doing."

"Well, I.." she began but paused. 'Fine' was her first instinct, however, she concluded he'd most likely see through her blatant lie, because in all honestly she wasn't doing fine at all. So she settled for a more vague response. "..I'm a little tired. But otherwise everything's fine. How's it there?" She knew he'd never tell her where exactly in the world he was currently at, so she didn't even attempted to find out.

"It's.. yeah, it's great. We're working on something.." His voice faded then and Cassandra was about to carry the conversation to the turn of the year, when he spoke up again. His concerned tone taking her aback."You sure everything's fine?"

She swallowed. No matter how hard she tried, she'd always be an open book to him it seemed. Even when he was miles away. 

No, she thought, nothing's fine. I almost lost a patient because of bureaucracy, almost messed up a chest tube on another one, haven't properly slept in days, I'm gonna spend the turn of the year all alone and I'm an idiot because I miss you. 

She couldn't bring herself to let any of these words slip from her lips though. She didn't feel like making him feel bad and pity her when he was who-knew-where in the world right now and couldn't do anything for her misery anyway. Besides, she also didn't want to embarrass herself.

"Yeah, it's just, you know, work. It's not always that easy." This wasn't even a lie. But she felt he still wasn't completely sold on it. 

"Hm, you sure that's all?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because work's always tough for you but you sound more distressed than usual."

She froze. Did she? She didn't even notice anymore, but others obviously did. Or at least, Taehyung did. So with a sigh she gave in, elaborating more after all. "It does take a toll on me. And tomorrow's New Year's eve, which I can't celebrate with my family and I have no plans, which could be regarded as sad and pitiful by some, but hey! At least I'm not working like some colleagues, so can't complain." Her casual laugh to gloss over her gloominess probably sounded forced. And she licked over her dry lips. "I just didn't want to dump everything on you.. I know you're busy with your own work." Another small giggle getting automatically added at the last words, another poor attempt to save her pride. "Anyway, it's also a shame you can't see your birthday gift, you know? It's pretty mad after all."

"A mad gift, huh?" He played along with her sudden change of topics. Although he could sense there was more to her previous words. "And what gift?"

The line moved and it was almost her turn at the registry, "Never heard of a surprise? You've got to wait until coming here again."

Taehyung scoffed playfully on the other line. "Oh, that's how it is?"

"Of course."

"Alright. I'll hurry up then, I guess."

»»»

31st December

Cassandra usually celebrated this day by playing cards and drinking with her family. Since it wasn't possible this year, she settled for eating a whole pizza by herself and watching one of her comfort shows. The perfect plan really.

It was past 10pm on New Year's Eve now and she was in the middle of her little rewatch party, when the sound of the door bell startled her and she paused the episode. 

Cassandra didn't expect seeing anyone that night. Especially since there were barely any hours left till the turn of the year.

A knock at the front door followed then, causing her to tense up even more. She wasn't a particularly fearful or easily scared person. However, due to the late hour and randomness her first instinct was to switch off all lights and remain quiet. Only when an annoyed and whiny: "Cas, open up already! It's cold!" was heard from behind the entrance door, her tense muscles finally relaxed.

The last person she had expected seeing standing in front of her door was Taehyung and yet, there he was. Doing just that with furrowed brows and an amused laugh.

"Were you hiding from me?"

"Wh.. no. No. Well, yeah, but I didn't know it was you," she defended herself with a small pout.

His cheeks were slightly flushed and raven hair tousled due to the harsh wind outside, hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his dark brown coat. He looked quite cuddly and inviting.

She instantly shook that thought away, though. Eyeing him suspiciously when also spotting the bare neck and open collar.

"And since when do you feel cold?" she sarcastically snorted then. A knowing smirk on her lips as she let him enter. Meeting his wide boyish grin.

"Maybe I fibbed a little there."

She laughed under her breath, shaking her head. "What are you even doing here? Thought you were working on a job."

"Well.." He let out an awkward laugh when a shiver crept up his skin. He might not freeze, but that didn't mean he wouldn't feel the coldness at all. Especially with the temperature difference inside there. "I don't know actually."

She took a step back to narrow her eyes at the taller man. A puzzled smile tucking on her lips as she tilted her head. "So did you just randomly come here all the way from wherevever you were?"

"It's just.." It sounded too silly, thinking about it now, but frankly, he simply had a feeling of her needing him. And he realised how completely irrational and odd it must sound if he said that out loud. So he stick with another excuse. "We were done with the job earlier than expected and wanted to take a little break, so.. might as well come to collect my birthday gift."

Cassandra blinked. Somehow she wasn't quite buying it. He never struck her as a guy who'd travel countries just for a simple gift. Especially since he should know it wasn't anything of value compared to the actual treasures they were hunting.

"Hope you don't have too high expectations of that gift, though," she mumbled with a coy smile as he followed her further inside, "Might get disappointed otherwise."

Taehyung shrugged with a cheerful, almost childlike grin. "A gift is a gift. I take what I get."

He observed her crunching down at other side of the living room to pick up a rather big square, wrapped in fancy paper, from her desk. She felt her fingers trembling all of a sudden, not having expected to see him this time around after all, so she hadn't had any time to mentally prepare to get embarrassed yet. And the few steps she walked back to him clearly weren't enough.

"It's nothing special, really. I mean, what do you get someone who can literally get anything he wants? But I hope it's not too terrible."

Cautiously, he accepted the object from her with a scowl. Her intention was to lower his expectations but all it did was hightening his curiosity, especially since he didn't have any clue what it could be. He'd appreciate it either way though, whatever it was.

"Happy belated birthday, Tae."

He tried not to rip the paper when opening it, but as it accidentally did, he gave up midway and just tore it off making Cassandra laugh amused at his childish eagerness. Only for her to bite down on her bottom lip and avoid his glance when he finally unwrapped it.

His expression softened, brown eyes grew round in astonishment.

"A painting." He looked up at her in awe. "You drew this?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, still not daring meeting his eyes. "You said you liked my drawings and.. you also said you'd like having one of yourself like, and I quote, 'one of these sleazy rich guys'," she added air-quotations for the dramatic effect. Her hands dropping to the side then. "I know considering you travel around from hideout to hideout, it's not practical, but.. I don't know, maybe if one day you do get that house of your own, you'll find some space for it." 

He hummed, his eyes preoccupied with the painting in his hands.

The detailed strokes, the soft-coloured paint. He wondered when she'd even found time to create it in between of sleeping and working. What amazed him the most, however, was the expression on his painted face. The look in his eyes. It tucked on something in his heart, the way she captured this brief moment of tranquility in them. He wondered if anyone else had ever noticed this kind of expression on him when not even he himself had.

That painting was how her eyes saw him. The way she saw him. And it was beautiful. It touched him how someone could see him like this. So.. human. Not a thief. Not a gunman. Just him.

He swallowed. His silent gaze wandered back to her then, catching her impatiently peeking at him as he was taking quite some time to silently gape at the present, increasing her insecurity about it.

He didn't understand why she was belittling herself so much when she didn't have to make him a gift in the first place.

"Thank you, Cassandra," he breathed eventually. His voice unintentionally cracked at the end as it came out hoarser than expected. She had almost missed it, so quiet that it was. But when she realised, her eyes slowly met his already smiling ones and all the nervousness she had felt before was suddenly swept away when seeing the sincerity in his face. He meant it.

She gave him a small nod in acknowledgment.

"Say.." he said then, taking another glance of the painting in his hands, "You said no plans tonight, right?"

»»»

"Should you not avoid such crowded spaces?" Cassandra yelled over the loud background chatter of half-drunks. One of them bumping into her shoulder, his red glittery party hat slipping from his head and almost poking her cheek.

Spending the final hour of the year at platja del Somorrostro, one of Barcelona's busiest beaches, surrounded by a New Year's crowd of strangers brimming the entire area wasn't where she had expected to find herself at. 

And all because of Taehyung.

His dark waves peeked out from between a couple of people in front of her, him clearly not hearing her nor noticing her absence beside him and she squeezed herself through to reach for his sleeve not to lose sight of him again. He paused when feeling the tug and looked over his shoulder, catching Cassandra puffing out her cheeks. "Hey, wait for me!" she pouted and he laughed.

"Sorry, did you say anything?"

"Yeah, I asked if you shouldn't be avoiding such crowds."

They pushed through the mess and Taehyung made space for her to follow behind him as he navigated them to a low pavement wall, seperating the sand from the street.

They reached the uplifted sea promenade soon and he climbed onto it when spotting a gap between some chatty teenagers. Holding his hand out for her which she accepted, letting him pull her up.

"More the opposite," he clarified then as he let his eyes wander over the sea of funny party hats, chaplets and woolen beanies. He could bearly spot where the actual sea began and where the crowd ended. His eyes then returned to her with a cheeky grin. "The more people, the easier it is to get lost in the shuffle."

Cassandra could only smirk at this. "I assume that's your go-to tactic at heists as well?"

"Hm, maybe. Who knows," he reciprocated her smirk. Knowing exactly how riled up it'd get her whenever he stayed vague and not providing more info. He simply enjoyed teasing her too much to ever let go of it, besides the obvious benefits of her not knowing any details for her own safety.

To be fair, this New Year's Eve was also quite different from what he'd originally planned for it to look like. The original plan foresaw him and the guys to sneak into a yacht party at the coast of Alexandria - something he wouldn't tell her though.

Partially because he didn't want her to ask why he was missing it out, partially because he couldn't let her know any details.

Furthermore, he'd never been a man of big parties and celebrations anyway, everything always seeming shallow and blown-out-of-proportion to him. And that sense only intensified when sneaking into some fancy party to steal idiots' jewelery and money. So in a way, he also did it for himself and not only for her. Besides, if he acknowledged the influence she had on him to just ditch anything at the mere feeling of her needing him, he'd need to apologise to Jimin for all the times Taehyung had scolded him for doing the same exact thing for Arabella.

"I hope we can see the fireworks from here."

Her words interrupted his train of thoughts and he watched her tiptoeing beside him before setting her heels back down and taking a sip from the mojito bottle she'd bought at a convenience store earlier. Cheeks already rosy from the alcohol in her system due to being a light-weight.

He took a swing from his own bottle of red wine. "Don't worry, we got a clear sight up here."

Cassandra hummed, getting tired of standing she decided to sit down on the cold stone next to a woman with a blue wig. Wrapping her arms tightly around her angled legs and bringing them close to her body. The midnight air making her shiver under her coat.

"Oh!" she exclaimed then, holding her phone up.

He narrowed his eyes at the dim display. The clock said six more minutes to midnight. He glanced at his wrist then, making sure his watch said the same. It was precise after all, something necessary when doing a coup. And indeed, six more minutes.

Explained why people around them became more jittery.

"Do you have any New Year's resolution?"

He mused for a moment over her question. Flashing her a grin then. "Not getting caught. You?"

The red-head lightly laughed at this before shaking her head. "No, don't think I got any."

"Huh, didn't expect that," he blurted out and felt her inquiring eyes on him.

"Yeah? Why not?"

He shrugged. For a moment he contemplated how to phrase his disbelief, licking his lips shortly which had become dry in the low temperature. "You striked me like the kind of person who'd have a whole list of resolutions to be honest. That's all."

Cassandra blinked, taken aback as she indeed used to always have some kind of resolutions while growing up and this might've been the first time she didn't. Perhaps she was more obvious than she liked to admit after all. A dry laugh left her lips then.

"Well, I used to -"

"Knew it," he grinned triumphatically and took another sip from his drink, "What happened?"

"Nothing. I just realised none of my wishes or resolutions ever came true. So I stopped."

Four more minutes.

"But if you would have to do any, what would it be?"

She took a moment to genuinely think about it and hummed while doing so. Only obvious ones popping up in her mind. "I guess.. to successfully complete this training year, not lose my mind in the hospital and.." Her eyes lowered and she paused, smiling to herself in a sheepish manner. "The last one is a secret."

His brows arched, but he didn't press considering it must be private.

He looked down at his watch again. 

Two minutes.

Somewhere in the distance behind them someone had already started blaring firecrackers. The loud cracking roaring over the drunk slurring, yells and chatter of the people scattered around them on the sea promenade. As far as the eye could see, streets were completely filled with people choosing spending the turn of the year outside among strangers in the cold. Most didn't seem to mind, Cassandra being the only one shivering.

And Taehyung noticed, scooting closer to her in a poor attempt to shield her body from the wind which had pushed its way through after all.

It was quite unfair, she pouted to herself when leaning into Taehyung's shoulder, how she, with her onion-layers of clothes, thick coat, scarf and beanie, was still freezing while he was out there with nothing but a sweater and a thin coat doing just fine.

"Thirty seconds," he announced when looking at his watch again.

Cassandra tilted her head to take a glance as well. "Twenty."

He sensed her warm breath brushing over his exposed skin. The pink-tinted tip of her nose and cheeks contrasting her pale skin which was faintly glowing under the yellowish streetlamp's light further away.

Everyone around them began counting down at the top of their lungs then.

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

Taehyung searched her eyes, seeing she was already smiling at him. And they held each other's gaze while continuing counting down with the crowd.

"Seven!"

"Six!"

Their smiles widened.

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

Fireworks errupted from the main square in the distance, splashes of colorful lights painting the black sky and illuminating the crowd with loud popping sound of explosives. The hooting party horns and cheers from the crowd jarred into a deafening wave and everyone fell into each other's arms.

And yet, despite the commotion by the boisterous mass of people, all Cassandra could see was the curve of Taehyung's bright smile. Losing herself in the glittering sparkles in his irises. Just for that moment, it felt as if it was only the two of them there.

"Happy New Year, Cassandra"

"Happy New Year, Taehyung."

They laughed lightly, breaking eye-contact and instead decided to watch the rest of the elaborate fireworks show and its golden rain when some odd - to him at least - customs caught his attention then. "Why're so many people kissing or eating grapes?"

Cassandra tore her eyes from the colourful shapes to briefly glance at him, redirecting them to the night sky again. "New year's traditions. People eat twelve grapes for each month for good luck. Or kiss to save themselves from a year of loneliness."

He seemed intrigued by this. "Are there more?"

"Not sure, I don't believe in this superstitions."

He huffed a laugh at her bolt claim. "Says the girl who bought a lucky charm to a heist with her."

Gasping, she averted her eyes from the fireworks again only to face his shit-eating grin. "T-that's something different. It was my emotional support!"

Taehyung only arched a brow, continuing giving her a doubtful look. Much to her annoyance. "No, I mean it. I don't believe in these New Year's traditions. Or at least I try not to but, who knows.." A rueful smile ghosting over her lips. ".. maybe that's why none of my New Year's wishes ever comes true."

Taehyung looked at her indeciphable expression before looking back at the firework.

"What about you?" She assumed to already know his answer but she was still prying to know.

"I'm superstitious. A little bit at least."

She smiled softly, somehow not being surprised at all. "Oh yeah?"

"I need to, sometimes it's a matter of luck. Especially in what we do." He threw his head back in gleeful joy as another set of fireworks was fired. A cheeky smirk gracing his lips then. "And don't they say luck and timing is everything you need?"

She agreed. Even in medicine where everything was scientific and empirist, they still often had to rely on luck and hope. When it came to a therapy or medication to work or when the surgeons needed to wear their own lucky charms to boost their confidence and succeed in a difficult surgery. But it also depended heavily on the patients themselves, if they believed in it or not.

She laughed under her breath. It was a laugh of self-pity as she felt she neither had luck nor timing. At least not in the way she wanted to. And she emptied her bottle in a swing. A feeling of fizziness and light-headness overtaking her mind.

"You know what?" she blurted out after a short while and giggled highly bemused, "We should kiss for good luck!"

Usually she'd know despite the bubbling feelings for her criminal friend, which she still tried convincing herself didn't exist, that kissing him while being tipsy probably wasn't a good start for anything. But any rationality was clearly last seen 0.5l of mojito mix prior, the very few enzymes she apparently had to break down alcohol, already saturated awhile ago. So her intoxicated mind simply found that sudden idea marvelous and entertaining. She'd never get a proper kiss from him anyway - or any guy in the forseeable future with her work schedules - might as well make him her platonic and amicable New Year's kiss in a desperate attempt for any kind of good luck for that upcoming year.

Taehyung, however, only chuckled when seeing her flushed red cheeks and the empty bottle. Not taking her random request seriously until he saw her face turning into an offended sulk. Bottom lip sticking out. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah, it's the tradition!" she pouted, "I don't want a year of loneliness. So you gotta kiss me!" She had an adorable, almost naive giggle decorating her puffy lips. And for a second his eyes lingered on them before eventually shaking his head.

"I don't think -"

"Then don't think," she grinned. "Let's just do this. Just a quick peck."

"Okay, fine," he dragged a sigh, surprised at himself for giving in so quickly when he and Yoongi always accused Jimin of getting easily wrapped around pretty women's fingers. "O-only 'cause I really don't want you to end up a lonely cat-lady though."

Rolling her eyes, she puffed out a snort. "Thank you. That'd be very kind of you!"

She turned her body fully towards him then, head getting dizzy at her abrupt movement.

Why was he even considering this? Oh yeah, to do her a favour. 

Emptying his own small bottle of wine, he also shifted in his seat before taking a brief look around them.

Kissing in public usually wasn't his style, but this could hardly be considered public as they were practically unnoticable in the amount of people around them. And besides, there'd been several others, whether friends or couples, who had exchanged pecks at the stroke of midnight.

So he exhaled and placed his hands on her arms, holding her in place so she wouldn't accidentally lose her balance as she was already swaying with a silly smile. 

"Alright."

"Mhh, do it."

"I-I'm doing it."

"Fine, then do it."

His skin felt on fire. He shouldn't have drunk that much. He might not be a light-weight like her, but he wasn't a big drinker either.

"Just kiss me already," she began whining impatiently, wiggling under his grip. A couple of loose curls falling from the side and framing her face while doing so. "Or I'll be a bigger loner than I already am."

He frowned with a snort. "That's emotional blackmail," he deadpanned then in an attempt to distract from his irrational nervousness.

But Cassandra immediately paused staring at him wide-eyed as if someone had slapped her and she only now realised where she was and what she was doing.

With an awkward laugh, her eyes fell to the space between them. Perhaps the buzz was beginning to wear off or it was a moment of clarity, but she realised it was pointless if she had to force him. Perhaps that would even give her bad luck in the end. And she already had enough of that.

She shook her head, embarrassed of her tipsy self. "Y-you're right. Forget it. It's a stupid tradition anyway. Can't remember the last time I kissed anyone on New Year's."

His brows furrowed at her sudden change of mind. "No, it's fine. I'm gonna do it."

"No, seriously. We don't have to," she ensured him, her words muffled from her woolen scarf as she tried burying her face in it. Cursing herself from minutes ago for even speaking out that rash nonsense.

However, Taehyung's grip around her upper arms only tightened. Making her grow stiff under his stare.

"I said I would and I keep my word." His voice was calm yet determined, which surprised him considering his hesitation and she dragged a breath, straightening herself under his hands. 

Was it weird that she didn't feel nervous despite it all? Probably. She blamed her low cogitation and the knowledge it wouldn't have any romantic significance anyway. Just friends following a tradition like many others around them.

"Fine, let's go."

He swallowed as he met her warm orbs. And he began fidgeting all over again. "Alright, okay, great. That's what I'm gonna do."

"All right."

His hands left her arms, instead placing themselves around her delicate neck and caging her velvety curls in his palms. A light shiver ran down her spine and she wasn't sure if it was the coldness of his fingers or the warmth of his touch. It was firm yet tender and she sensed her pulse picking up in rate with each passing second.

"Okay, ready?"

Cassandra only nodded, unable to speak all of a sudden. Maybe she wasn't drunk enough to stop her feelings and thoughts taking over her senses after all. 

Her eyes flicked to his heart-shaped lips before making the stupid mistake of glancing back at him and meeting his eyes. His face was open and vulnerable in the streetlamps and fireworks above them and she caught a hint of wonder on it as they stared at each other. Slowly, he began leaning closer. And she swallowed down the tiny gasp that dared escaping her lips.

"One, two.." He paused then, scowling at himself. "No, wait. I'm not actually gonna count down."

"O-okay."

"That's not my style when I kiss."

"Okay."

"I don't count d-"

"Tae, it's fine," Cassandra giggled, interrupting his ramble. She'd never seen him ramble before. Was he.. flustered? She'd always imagined him kissing lots of women in disguise. Even if he always claimed not even Jimin, the actual flirtatious among them, did that.

The thumbs on her cheek gently brushed the stray strands aside then. His eyes shifting to hers again. The last fireworks sparkled in them and for a moment his heart forgot how to beat.

"R-ready?"

"Yeah," she breathed.

He closed his eyes, his face coming close. A deep crease set between his brows then, making his face look rather angry for a kiss. And her tipsy mind ultimately lost focus upon that hilarious realisation.

"What's this face!" she bursted out laughing, unable to contain herself and he backed off, irritated about her laughing fit.

"W-what face?"

"You can't make that face when you try kissing someone," she choked out in between of laughs while pointing at him.

"Oh, so you say something's wrong with my face now?" Taehyung only scoffed, somehow glad about the interruption though. He wondered if his fingers were actually shaking or if it was from the vibrations of her laughter.

"No, idiot! You're handsome and you know it!"

Startled at the unexpected compliment, a timid smirk tucked on his lips at her drunm words. His chest warming despite him downplaying the muddled feeling that was raising. "Oh, so you think I'm handsome now?"

She groaned in annoyance, lightly hitting his chest over the coat. "Don't pretend."

"So, do you want me to kiss you or not?" His teasing smirk returning.

"Maybe if you didn't make that face."

"That's very nice of you considering I'm doing you a favor here," he laughed under his breath. Not remembering any woman having ever made him laugh so much despite complimenting and confusing him at the same time. 

Cassandra inhaled and exhaled deeply, calming himself again somehow. "Alright, let's do this already. No big deal," she nodded to herself, sternly, "Just kiss me."

"Nope."

She gasped at his evil grin. "You were about to, though!"

Taehyung only shrugged unimpressed and abruptly let go of her. "Yeah, before you bruised my ego," he retorted simply, causing her to huff.

"C'mon," she nudged his arm, "I'm sorry. I promise I won't laugh again."

"Apology accepted. But I'm not gonna kiss you." His lopsided smirk torturous, making her frustration grow.

"You're making such a big deal out of it, just kiss me already!"

"I'm not gonna kiss you!"

"Kiss me!"

"No! Not like this!"

Cassandra paused. Her parted lips, ready to counter something back in their bickering, abruptly pressed together into a thin line when processing his last words. She stared at his now bewildered face when he also realised what he had just unintentionally confessed.

"What?" she blinked confused, "What does that mean?"

Taehyung's eyes were wide, panic clouding his mind. "No. No-nothing. I just, I didn't mean it like that," he began with a terrible stutter the longer he looked at her inquiring eyes.

It didn't make sense. He was always capable of staying cool-headed even in stressful situation. It was inevitable in heists and when being in diguise. Then why did he totally blank out with the way her warm bambi eyes were digging daggers into his as the seconds passed. "I just, I mean we can't like that because that's not - it's very - like, you don't.. That's not what -" 

But Cassandra didn't even seem to be listening anymore, staring absendmindedly up at the sky instead, being clearly still tipsy and all over the place - he could tell.

Taehyung stilled then. The beanie was pulled to her brows, scarf hiding half her face. Only her round eyes peeked out, holding a lovely innocent wonder in them.

It was irrational. It was scary. How it was more thrilling celebrating with her and cheap wine from a 24/7 store at the beach, than being in an expensive smoking on a yacht surrounded by millionairs while drinking the most expensive champagne.

Cassandra abruptly shook herself out of her short abstraction then and flashed him a smile. 

"Come, let's leave or you wanna get hypothermia?" She was joking, but he noticed her anew shivering and he realised she must still be cold. 

"Y-yeah, let's go."

»»»

The new year was only a couple of hours old. Quite early to go home for most, but Cassandra felt exhausted despite having completely sobered up by now. Much to her own dismay, she wasn't the night owl she'd used to be anymore.

The air felt colder when she turned into her street. The way home taking longer than expected due to what it seemed half of the city being out on the streets and traffic jams everywhere. Lines of cars, impatiently honking and only moving for a few centimetres before having to stop again.

Taehyung followed behind her, wanting to fetch his gift before leaving the city again. It wasn't unusual for him to only stay for a day there before having to move again, but somehow she'd hoped he'd stay longer. 

The night breeze hit his warm cheeks as they reached the front door and she fumbled with the keys in the dark. Eventually finding the right one and unlocking the door, allowing them both to enter.

The painting was on the coffee table where he'd left it. He picked it up, examining it one more time in silence before tucking it under his arm and heading back to where she was in the hallway. Still busy taking off her shoes and jacket.

"Thanks again for this," he smiled gently and watched her lowering the beanie, ruffling through her curls to give them some of their lost volume back. "I'll make sure to store it in a save place." His voice was almost a whisper when he attempted to open the door, only to sense her tugging at his coat.

"Wait, I-" She pursed her lips, gaze falling as she saw his questioning glance. "I wanted to say thank you for spending the turn of the year with me.. I appreciate you coming all the way here so I wouldn't be lonely tonight."

His lips parted, taken aback. Had it been so obvious after all? However, he chose to pretend being confused and not knowing what she meant instead. "Who says that was my reason?"

Cassandra shrugged, lips curling into a rueful smile. "Maybe I just wished it was.. Whatever it was, still thank you. And I'm sorry."

Taehyung frowned. Gaze falling as well. "No need to apologise," he muttered, instinctively knowing what she was referring to. He swallowed then, shoving his free hand into his pocket. 

In retrospective, it hadn't been such a big deal and yet, he was glad he hadn't proceeded to kiss her like that. He knew he'd have regretted in the long run.

"I feel like it, though," Cassandra continued then with a sigh, "I feel so stupid. I shouldn't have insisted on keeping a tradition. Especially since I don't even believe in supersticious stuff."

He eyed her with a doubtful look, making her roll her eyes and sigh in defeat.

"Fine, I do. Sometimes. Some stuff. Not all."

He chuckled lightly making her smile.

Truth was, Cassandra was disappointed in herself for getting so weak and desperate, putting him in such a position and creating this awkward tension between them.

"Tae, you didn't have to kiss me." She felt like she needed to underline this. Her voice small and filled with guilt and shame. "Please, don't feel bad."

"I know, don't worry," he reassured before they grew quiet. 

In times like this she really disliked his withdrawn and secretive personality. Usually his aloof and coy aura intrigued her, but right now she needed him to speak to her. And the fact he didn't, made her fidgety.

They stood there for a second longer. 

Faint music was echoing from somewhere in the building while the piercing sound of lonely firecrackers was heard from the streets.

"Well, okay good then.. goodnight. And Happy New Year again." She tried sounding cheerful, masking her regret of screwing things over in her irrational state.

She wouldn't see him again for an indefinite period and that was how they'd be parting ways now. She hated herself from two hours ago.

Dragging out a breath, she reached for the door handle to let him out when a grip on her elbow prevented her from doing so. 

Taehyung grabbed her arm and in a swift move, pulled Cassandra into his chest. Strong arms catching her, wrapping around her smaller figure and before she could even properly react, his lips had already engulfed hers.

That was it. All the self-control she'd exerted over the past months went straight out the window in that moment. Her neurological system completely shutting down by the overload of neurotransmitters, hormones and endorphines, simply swiping her mind blank with the only remaining thought being how incredible his warm lips felt against hers.

Her arms instinctively found their way around his neck to pull him even closer. Feeling the cold metal of his necklace against her fingertips. And she kissed him back fiercely, Taehyung wounding his hands more into her long hair at this. It curled around his fingers, silky and fluffy and for a moment he lost any sense of time or his surroundings when all he could feel was the vibration of her skin against his and the bewitching rum-lime taste of her lips full of unspoken feelings and endless promises. 

Their lips moved, molding, melting into one another. Whatever logic and reason there had been, had long gone away. There was nothing left but their intertwined lips and breaths.

Eventually, they slipped from each other after what felt like an eternity but could have only been a minute. Panting against each other.

Their eyes remained closed, not daring opening and letting that moment ending in smoke so soon. Taehyung rested his dazed forehead against hers and leaned in. Planting one last kiss on her lips, this time less heated but rather tender and mellow. Savioring the last bit of the sour-tasting liquor mixed with his sweet wine. And Cassandra leaned into him more before they let go of each other at last.

Her eyes fluttered open immediately, dark lashes lining against her pale skin in a state of surreal haze. He wasn't sure if she'd ever looked more beautiful as in that moment, right after he'd kissed her and he felt the urge to do it again at this sight. 

"I meant something like that."

With that, he stepped back and picked up the painting from where he'd set it on the ground. Brushing past her. And he left without saying anything else.

Cassandra stood there in the empty hallway, stunned. Everything around her was spinning and she feared she was intoxicated all over again.

Her fingers slowly rose then to touch her numb lips. Ensuring they were still there. Along with the lasting sense of Taehyung's touch.

Her New Year's wish had finally come true.

»»»

next chapter: 0.8 here

Don't forget to like, comment & leave feedback!♡ It motivates me to keep writing :)

taglist: @lilanyxta @naoolammao345 @memna234 @tetehion @myblacklilame

[lazysublimeengineer]

Reo and Isagi: An Intriguing Line Between Rivalry and Camaraderie

I was in the middle of doing something when I've received a notification from one of my long lost readers who decided to pop up into one of my stories again and left a feedback.

To my pleasant surprise it's one of ages ago finished fics of mine from this fandom. It's finished a long time ago and seeing someone reading it and leaving a review makes me think of these two characters again that fascinated me when I was starting to delve more into this franchise:

Reo and Isagi.

I remembered back then on how I was solely focused on Chigiri's character when I was reading the manga and watching the anime because of how mysterious he was and how he got one of the most enthralling yet tragic backstory in the franchise. But my attention was caught between these two during the second selection because probably it's one of the most dramatic things I've seen in the series. A lot of things had been happening in that period that's probably you can see in a normal conflicts of teenage boys.

I do admit at first that I didn't have any favorable impression of Reo and Nagi because of how arrogant they are and so full of themselves. I guess that's the quirks of being a naturally skilled and talented person. But anyway, the characterizations of these characters are being driven and push over the edge during the second selection. Seeing Reo displayed a multitude of warring emotions and thoughts when Nagi left to join Isagi's team is an interesting concept.

Because you have here is a rich, confident, smart kid who always makes strategic decisions in life except for his treasured friend and he loses his rationality and a storm of emotions has influenced his actions mostly throughout the second selection.

He was brooding and he's a lot more introspective in that period which is fascinating because we were given by the author another side of him which is in stark contrast to his usual affable and charismatic facade with other people.

A lot of things had been bothering him to say the least. But the highlight of his character was how he was conflicted with everything. He was angry with Nagi for leaving him. He developed a misplaced anger towards Isagi because he blamed him for splitting them apart. But most of all he was angry with himself for being weak and was always wondering if he wasn't weak then Nagi wouldn't leave him.

The way that the author had displayed his vulnerability makes him one of the most intriguing character because of how "human" he was. His brooding era became a running joke to the fandom when in reality his reaction is the usual reaction of a teenage, highschool person who felt betrayed by their friend leaving him for another person without any preamble or whatsoever.

The conversation between him and Isagi in the monitor room during chapter 96 has got to be one of the most memorable to me because of how sincere and honest it was but at the same time in the end you were left there wondering if they become friends at that point because as a reader you can't pinpoint it was.

They both have trouble picking a team which opened a can of worms between the two of them and how Reo was serenely downcast in his admission if he can still play alongside Nagi with him because he was getting further away from him in skills and talent inside the program. It was also interesting to note of Isagi's reaction towards it, of how he came to an understanding of him as a person and how he'd come to light with his own predicament and even thanking him in the end.

It was a simple but compelling scene between the two of them because of how it drives their character more towards the realization of each other's motivations and purpose in the program.

But the ambiguity of their relationship remains to be seen because you cannot categorized them as being too close with each other unlike with their other friends such as with Chigiri, Bachira Kunigami, Nagi etc.

And that's what's fascinating about these two.

They still oscillate between the lines of rivalry and camaraderie even now in the recent arc of the franchise.

It was painted in a subtle manner. It's not an overt rivalry or any sort of relationship that the reader can categorized easily and that's what it becomes an interest to a writer like me to explore it a bit more vividly during my early heydays in being an active writer between these two characters.

I remembered this reader asking me if I'm going to write for these two again and who knows?

Only time can tell if my Muse will be inspired enough to go back to their fascinating relationship with each other.

[bnnywngs]

Oikawa remembers everything from beginning to end, as if it was a movie with the highest definition inside his own brain and he was the lonely viewer.

When they first met, they were both 15.

The first time Oikawa met Koushi, he didn't know who he was - it was his anonymous post on a very popular, at that time, online forum for volleyball players. Koushi used the forum to rant and vent, letting out his thoughts and feelings for anyone interested enough to read, like a diary or something.

Oikawa couldn't judge, he did the same.

It was one particularly emotional and depressive post that their first interaction happened. Koushi had lightly sprained his ankle after too much training and was out of volleyball practice for at least two weeks. Oikawa was a veteran in injuring himself for practicing too much, just ask Iwa-chan.

After that, they started to talk more, at first through comments in each other's posts, then through dms, and lastly, through their personal social media accounts. Oikawa struggled with his feelings for a while until he found the guts to ask for Koushi's phone number.

Their talks were long and deep, exchanging personal struggles and painful feelings they rather not show to anyone. Little by little, day by day, they got closer and Oikawa was going mad, his heart overflowing with affection.

"Can we meet?" was the message he sent after losing to Ushiwaka yet again - first time in high school.

"Sure!" Koushi's answer was quick, without showing doubts or apprehension.

The place they decided to meet for the first time was a popular boba place near the station, without saying where they lived or where they went for school.

Oikawa fell even more in love with Koushi when he saw the other boy up close. Those beautiful round eyes with a beauty mark, that silky hair and innocent expression, they made his heart skip one or two beats before going overdrive.

"Wow, you're so pretty!" Koushi said and his voice was as beautiful as his everything.

Blushing faintly, Oikawa scratched his nape "You're also reaaally pretty."

"Hehe." Koushi chuckled and Oikawa could swear he saw the boy sparkle.

And suddenly, their meetup ended up being a date of sorts, with both flirting in a subtle way with each other.

Though, they never touched the subject of volleyball and school.

By the fourth pseudo date, Oikawa found the courage to ask about it.

"Isn't it better to let fate decide if it wants us to know where we study?" Koushi said with a beam that pierced right through Oikawa's heart.

"But why~?" he whined "What if I want to pick you up during Valentine's Day with a heart shaped chocolate?"

Koushi, for the first time, blushed, his pale cheeks gaining a pinkish hue that made him look even more pretty. Unfairly pretty. Oikawa was so in love he wanted to scream or bash his head against the concrete floor.

"Oh." Koushi said, embarrassed "I mean... I want that. Definitely. But." he chewed on his lower lip, looking for words "Wouldn't it be funny if we went to interhigh and we look at the other side, to the school we're playing against, and saw each other?"

"...Maybe?" Oikawa wasn't convinced "But why wait?"

"Tooru, please~" Koushi huffed, exasperated "Imagine the surprise! The dread! The panic! The gay panic! It looks straight out off a shoujo manga, right?! Right?!"

Oikawa laughed "You're so weird, what the hell." then sighed "Fine. You win. Let's do your way."

"Not my way, fate's way!" Koushi looked so proud of himself.

Not resisting anymore, Oikawa bowed down and kissed those pretty lips.

They were both 15 when they met online, and 16 when they started dating.

A year later, they found themselves across a net.

[ang0sgl4sses]

I just read M O T H by streetcat and need to yap about it

I needed a Kokonui fic, and streetcat delivered, the whole narrative just felt like accurate poetry to the escenary of the plot. (maybe another time i would actually write about the way the writing makes you feel the atmosphere)

it is placed in the bonten timeline, so you know its gonna have angst, but what i really liked was the different interactions Koko and Inupi had with Mikey, Sanzu and Draken.

i've been thinking about the ending a lot (i adored it, dont get me wrong), but mainly about the posibilities it had of the relationships that were built over the plot.

Case 1: Sanzu and Mikey

i think that to fully dive into their relationship we have to consider the manga, we know that part of the loyalty that Sanzu has for Mikey is because he knows about the first timeline, he knows about what shinichiro did and the consequences it had. Sanzu is loyal bc hes Mikeys childhoold friend, and knows the impact of everything Mikey has lost. His loyalty is a double edged sword; Sanzu cannot defy his king, he cannot stop him from selfdestructing, but if a better path is open, he will sugest it and defend his point until it's taken. Sanzu chose staying and being the one Mikey tainted with his dark impulses.

Sanzus derangement and volatile personality is a show of his original self and the tainted version of the timelines.

so, in MOTH i think is interesting how he will follow orders, almost killing koko and inupi without a second thought bc that was his order from his king; being uncomfortable when confronted with his own values and interests ; admiring kokonui relationship from afar and talking to inupi about it (like his friendship with koko during boten, sharing what he knows from what was said during high conversations), offering an alternative to Mikey of a plan that wouldnt risk Koko, and Mikey listening to him. Mikey has never doubt of Sanzus loyalty

Case 2: Mikey and Inupi

it is said along the story that inupis boldness towards Mikey was gonna get him killed, and true, he did put himself in riskier situations but he also knew what to share. From what he remembers from his teens, to what hes heard from Takemichy and Draken, he knows that Mikey was idolized, and to some extent that was one of the steps he needed to dehuminazing himself, the fact that everyone thought Mikey was unreachable made him believe it.

Inupi realizes that Mikey is in a situation similar to kokos (at least in the MOTHverse) and he confronts him, and Mikey listens mostly because of Draken.

he didint kill inupi because draken asked him to, but he helped inupi to save koko because he saw the same drive draken had for saving him, only that he cannot allowed it

Case 3: Mikey and Koko

Overall i think they dont have many interactions, bc at the beginning Mickey is hunting koko for being a traitor, but when the time comes, he pardons kokos and inupis lives. when Mikey questions koko for his choice and answers that he just wanted an excuse to be killed bc he was fucked up and tired, thats when he decided to let him go, because unlike mikey , when someone offered a hand to help koko, he accepted it

Case 4: Sanzu and Inupi

i loved that there was a point were inupi was like "oh, hes crazy crazy" and he was so angry for what Sanzu did to koko (beating him up and have all the intentions of killing inupi infront of him), and he was just trying to find safe ground, questioning the severness of his actions and the meaning of his loyalty

but then koko disappears and turns out that Sanzu is the only one inupi knows that could help him

Sanzu laughs at knive point bc he was genuinly surprised by inupi, and hes willing to go with whatever hes asking bc it was interesting, even if it didnt concern him, Sanzu listen to what inuppi had to say.

Also, I think that Inupi starts to give him some slack after Sanzu tells Mikey that there's a way to save Koko without the risk of killing him, thats when he realizes that genuinely, Sanzu follows orders, but he ain't stupid, he has his own criteria of what it is worth speaking up for, your not supposed to understand that criteria.

Case 5: Sanzu and Koko

we know that they spent time together because of bonten, but in MOTHverse, they are the closest they have to friends. They've shared things, so they know each other; that's why Sanzu knows he has to hunt for Inupi, and Koko knows that he's just following Mikeys orders, thus, it's useless trying to talking him out of killing them, but he tries nonetheless.

Sanzu is aware of this, and he convinces himself that he's okay with any outcome, because its his kings will, but we see, when he and Inupi talked, that he had some kind of affection for Koko, for all the years that they have known each other

[thequietkid-moonie]

hey! hope you're having an awesome day so far. i recently just finished watching "romantic killer" and OMG I LOVED IT! if you don't mind, could i request some headcanons of kazuki, junta, and hijiri crushing on the reader who's a huge otaku (like a huge one. loves watching anime and reading manga when given the chance, owns as much merch as they can afford, and their eyes literally light up when anyone mentions her favorite series)? and one thing about them is that they're such a simp over certain anime characters, will literally squeal over images and video clips like "WHY IS (INSERT ANIME CHARACTER) SO CUTE/HOT/GORGEOUS?!" later, it turns out the reader also likes the boys back, and while they're happy about it, they're initially flustered like "you actually like me? out of all people, you like someone who does nothing but watch anime 24/7?" and even asking "you do realize that you're probably gonna deal with me screaming over my anime husbandos and/or waifus even when we date, right?" (may or may not have put myself on blast with this request. also, sorry if this got a bit too long LMAO). ty! <3

Their crush is a huge otaku

[ HEADCANONS ] [ Kazuki, Junta, Hijiri ] [ Romantic Killer ]

Dear are you sure you aren't my lost twin or something? 🤨 Because you have described me perfectly

Haha I loved your prompt dear, it was really funny to think

Tsukasa Kazuki

Since the first moment you had met Tsukasa you had always been like that, and actually that is something he admires, just being you is something that atracted him to you at first

It help that you don't pay much attention in his beaty, he hates to draw attention for his appearance and you had never made a big deal of it (mainly because you are always focused in the characters you love, but he still appreciate it)

Speaking of, probably you had emphasize his appearance at least once, and the first time you did it he get anxious (specially if it was when you two met), but he was surprised that in just on a second you started talking about someone else, a characters that looks like him (even if is just a little) and you just start ranting about them, not even paying attention to Tsukasa anymore, he was confused and shocked but somehow grateful too

He had never been bothered by your ranting, at first he find it problematic since he hates drawing attention, and with how excited you get it could be a little difficult to not to, but with some time he just gets used to and doesn't bother him anymore

He had never mind it at all whenever you talk about the characters you love, but he tent to ask you to calm down before you hurt yourself for how excited you get, if you show him pictures or videos of them he will see them (just because you asked nicely) but he doesn't say much about them since he cannot see what is so special about them (he doesn't say it out loud though, he had learned his lesson after the first time he did it and you explained to him all the good things you know about that character)

If you ever show him your collection, either mangas or different merch, he will find it a little strange (it would remember him a little about his stalker, but he calms down rather quickly when you start talking like always), he won't judge you though (at least try not to), and will give you some advice of how take proper care of it if you ask him (he is pretty good with the housechores so that could help)

If you ask him he will make you company while shopping whenever you go for more mangas or merch, he doesn't mind too much, but he will make you dress something not anime related

Tsukasa doesn't even realice when he started to pay more attention to whatever you are saying, when he start to made efforts to understand what are you talking about, when he started waiting to be able to talk to you just so he could hear you speak with such emotion nor even when he started to get annoyed whenever he heards you simp about one of your favorite characters, wanting to be the one you are talking about so lovely (but he feels embarrassed about feeling like that)

For him is a slowly process so he will notice his feelings for you after some time, when he had already fallen in love you, and his attitude doesn't change much, but he discreetly start to spending more time to you, you have become his safe space so he start being a little more clingy

He start to even pay a more close attention to you, to your voice and your expresions so it won't be so strange if he ask you from time to time about the anime you are watching, he may even unconsciously mentions it when you two aren't talking about it just to to provoke you so you will start talking about it (specially becouse by just hearing the only mention of it makes you noticibly excited, and he loves seeing you like that, it amused him)

He probably won't confess, it had to be you the who confess to him or either one of you do it by accident, unconsciously letting out at comment that express your feelings

And when you two admit your feelings for each other he never expected for you to asking if he is willing to accept you as the huge otaku and simp you are, he will look at you weirdly and say that he already does it and he loves you for who you are, he is already used to your craziness (and he will tease you for it)

Junta Hayami

Junta is really sweet and kind-hearted, even when he is bothered for something he has troubles to say it, but by the moment you two become friends he is always up to hear you rant about anime, he doesn't mind

From time to time he can get confused and a little bit overwhelmed for all your ranting and he tries to ask you to stop or to repeat yourself mainly because he is actually trying to undestand all you are saying, Junta really tries to get into the conversation, even if he doesn't really know the anime or doesn't say much he is always paying attention

He won't have much troubles to help you whenever you need it, like if you stayed up watching anime at night or were too distracted during class he will help you to cover it or explaining to you what you missed, but will scold you for doing it (no matter how much times you do it he never stop helping you, he just get more worried about you)

If you ever recommend him an anime or manga he promises to watch/read it, and he actually will make some time to do it, it won't be too weird if one day he came to you to ask you something about it or to tell you something he really liked it

Also, it won't be so strange if he ended up learning your favorite animes and characters, he actually did efforts too, and he even search about them a little more whenever something you say catch his attention

Whenever he heards you being simp over a characters he laugh nervously, at first it makes him nervous because is like if you were talking about something personal (since you like them so much), after some time he get used to but still it makes him a little nervous since you get so excited and even passionate whenever you talk about the character you love (and when he starts liking you he start being a little jelous too)

Junta doesn't have the heart to say something bad about them or ask you to stop, you seem to be having a lot of fun with talking about them and he will feel bad for interrupt you (even by accident). Also, if you show him pictures or videos of them he won't say much and just nod or say that you are right

Junta doesn't think much about his appearance and he is rather shy, so if you ever compliment his appearance he will get super flustered, even if you did it because he looks like one of the characters you love and start ranting about them, he doesn't mind (that actually help him calm down) he still appreciate the compliment, but after some time it would start bother him because he wants to be the person you like (he may even put more attention on what you say about them)

To be honest he was surprised the first time he saw your collection or when he accompanied you to buy something new, he has never thought that it would exist some much merch for just one anime, he really takes time to appreciate all your collection if you let him and he gladly hear you rant about it (like from what anime it is, from what scene, if it is a special edition and so on)

Also, he normally is busy with the school and the club (all the training and matches) but he will be happy to go with you whenever you want to buy more things for your collection (but he will be a little shy for it since that could easily be a date)

By the time Junta start liking you he will get a little more clingy and blushy with you, it would take him some time to notice it too but he tries to not make a big deal of it

He had never mind it all your excitment about the animes but now he start to get more flustered whenever you rant about them because now he pay more attention on your expresions and your voice, feeling that he falls more in love whenever he sees you and feeling embarrassed whenever he catches himself thinking like that. Now he will pay more attention on the characters you love the most, trying to see if there is something similar between them (maybe there will know your type or if he even has a chance with you)

The moment you two confess your feelings for each other you don't even have to ask him because he had let out his heart when he tell you how he feels, and he makes sure to say that he loves you completely , even that part of you that loves ranting about the animes and characters you love the most

Hijiri Koganei

Hijiri is used to be surrounded by people who admire and praise him, so to catch his attention you have to be different from them and not really pay attention to him. It could be either because you say that he is like a typical anime character or praise his appearance just to start ranting about one of the characters you love that he looks like

He doesn't even know what are you talking about but he is offended because you are comparing him with someone else and you seem to prefer the other. He will confront you right away, how you dare to compare him with someone else?, he demand to know it in that moment so you will have no other option than talk about the anime/character (not like you don't want to), that is the first time he heard you rant like that

At first he just stay by your side because he wanted to show you that he is obviously better that all that characters you talk so much, but soon he start seeing you as a friend (as much as he hate it)

He thinks that all your rant is dumb and usless (at least at first) and he will express it, but he will learn to at least tolerate it since offending what you love just makes your relationship difficult (either because you get mad at him or because it sadden you, both option lead you to avoid him)

After some time Hijiri go from criticize you for obsessing over something he sees silly to criticize the plot and characters, he may even admit from time to time that "is not too bad", maybe it isn't the best change but that shows the interest he started to win over it

Normally you two have this conversations in "dates", he accept to hear you rant about everything you want only if is in a date (for him is like a deal), and after some time he just get used to all your ranting and even start to get interested in it, and when he does he will start to search more about it (either him or ask Tsuchiya to do it)

Also, he tent to surprise you by having the iniative to talk more about that anime or saying some details that you could bet he didn't know, he says that is not a big deal, is normal for him to know so much but in reallity he loves to see your shocked expression when he does it and to brag about it too

When you had commented that you have a collection with a lot of merch about it, he find it strange (and he say it) but he demand to see it (he is curious too). Even if he is surprided by your collection (no matter if is a lot or just a few things) he will act like is nothing, saying that he isn't impress even when he is curious

He from time to time buy you some things too, mainly after he got interested on the anime (and in you of course), he doesn't go out of his way to buy something but if he find something casually that he reconize it from anime you like or that he even is interested in, something he knows you will like

What he will never like is seeing you simp over the characters, even before he start liking you, he will call you idiot for it (but will stop after learning that this make things more difficult) he just don't see what you see in them, why you put so much attention in them and not in him? What they have that he doesn't? He is embarrassed for it but he is jelous of seeing you so excited for someone else, he will try to avoid to talk about them and even cut you when you start talking (and that just increase when he start liking you)

After he started to like you in a more sincere way then he will do more efforts to know what you like, trying to remember the animes you like the most (at least the names), now he pay more attention what you say than in criticize it. And this time he does efforts to find some merch about it, specially if is a special/limited edition, too expensive or something that have a special meaning either for you or in the anime (he isn't going to accept it but he is trying to impress you)

He never really had a problem with admiting that he is interested on you, so a confession it would came either from you or him admiting that now he likes you in a more sincere and romantic way

And when you ask him if is real and if he is willing to endure you he gets a little annoyed, first because you are doubting his feelings and second because he had already endure your attitude all this time, do you think he will do that if he doesn't wanted? He just accept his love for you inconspicuously, in his own way

[hanszoe]

this has been tormenting me and i can do nothing about it

surprised this reading seems to have never been posited because it suddenly made everything make sense to me in a terrible way

first is 126. this began with seeing someone complain that this moment was about hansi and was why they were worried to have been overheard. we knew this, sannes completely got to them now, they feel they are in the cell either way, they have no way to get out of it. regardless, they'll be on the run for the rest of their life, like they say to themself. and they want to forget everything like they later tell jean, to forget everything and run away. hansi seems to be about to suggest they at least wait, but levi interrupts them. he says this

If [we] run and hide... this way... what will be left?...

levi then scolds them for something they said to themself that he shouldn't have even heard. hansi responds

Ah... [because] it's that way. I can't.

hansi is being reminded of their role again. no matter what they want, they can't escape it. they are forced back into it, not even allowed to talk to themself about how much they wish they weren't.

we move on to 132. i've spoken about it, but hansi is thinking about death the entire time the plane is being serviced. i wondered, they thought they wouldn't make it in time? but hansi's smart, they've apparently done the math. they know they should. so why are they thinking about death, to the extent that this comment

...We'll become close (lit. "relations will become good") soon.

about titans not liking them back is implying they'd become close because hansi is going to finally let them kill them.

remember what levi said in 126? "if [we] run and hide this way"?

please let [me] go this way

to me there always felt something strange about このまま that hansi says here. it's why i fixated on it. it's strange to use that construction when the actual まま itself doesn't exist yet. but i think this could be hansi referencing what levi said to them in 126. this is why they are saying this. it's their final response to him. they said to themself they aren't strong enough, and levi already knows from overhearing them then. that's why they are telling him this alone.

it also makes the particular weight of levi's response and hansi's reaction make so much more sense. even more when you consider levi is in part the one to blame for hansi even being in this position: he made the choice to let erwin die. by extension, in a very removed way, this is him killing hansi too.

i started thinking about the role of this scene from a meta sense. isayama obviously wanted to kill them here. i've explored death as mercy and as repentance, but i wondered suddenly about the difference between this scene in the manga and the anime.

everyone complained that their death was pointless, that they "barely did any damage", and that the anime "fixed it" by inserting a bunch of action. but i wonder, does this go against isayama's intention too?

it was also strange to me that hansi seems to... not know? what is going to happen to them. and by this i mean that even in the way the scene was reworked for the anime, effectiveness does not seem to be a consideration. that's ignoring that the manga is likely much more accurate to their ability to maneuver without depth perception. hansi should have known that they would burn up. if your goal is to take out as many titans as possible, shouldn't you remove your excess fabrics? expend extra gas? but effectiveness is not a consideration whatsoever.

reconsidering their motivation makes me feel like they really did know, and this scene really wasn't supposed to be the "cool exit" they lied (poorly, verbosely, like always, one final time) about, but close to instant death on the pretense of valor, the same way they spent their entire time in the survey corps convincing themself that their desire to run from humanity was brave and honorable.

everything else i've talked about before, this being an nde, erwin saying the only thing that hansi ever wanted to hear and offering to listen to them. i left out a lot as well about their first conversation in 132. but it all checks out. it's perfectly clear when read this way that this was suicide.

that also makes the fandom having made the anime erase something significant about them once more. this time, the suffocation of their final will.

[yuhi-san]

So for the last day of @tristampparty have just some fun fact about trigun, escpecially july but lets get them done in order.

Despite being very, very obsessed with anime and manga and being quite active in german forums at the time trigun 98 first aired and was popular here… I was barely aware it existed.

I vaguely recall two people from a rpg trying to get me into trigon but they showed me the silly opening, vash skedaddling around like a lizard and him not having a bullet in the first episode. So it didn’t seem like something for my edgy teenage taste (oh sweet summer child I was.)

Trigon stampede didn’t show up on my radar at all either until I was traveling in japan in late july. I have no idea what even caused it but I went through the wiki, snooping for spoilers like any normal person. Which, sins the wiki contains stuff from trimax, 98 and tristamp it was. Uhm yea.

So anyway what I knew after was:

Vash and knives were species plant (which was so like ???? because I was thinking of trees without any context)

Also what the fuck is millions knives, how is that a name, this is almost as bad as the very manly male priest named ‘frau’

I am not going to entertine the section about a group that calls themself the freaking gung-ho guns, is this a joke

There is superhuman stuff going on with vash and also knives who is his twin.

Apparently he blew a hole in a moon??

He has a bounty on his head.. because he destroyed a city I think.

There are the two girls milly and meryl

Wolfwood dies (I vaguely remember seeing his death in a top then tragic anime deaths from watch mojo, I think)

when I came home from japan I just binge-watched it before going back to work.

So I went into stampede with very little context, but still some. I guess a lot of easteregs and hints went past me at first but that meant I was also unbiased (*cough*Roberto*cough* Milly *cough* new design *cough*)

I was delighted to hear johnny young bosch but a little disappointed we didn’t get any robin-esque gremlin cackle.

Was just a little surprised that wolfwood lived but I did eventually catch on that it was sort of an alternate prequel so to speak.

But then there is lost july.

See, I was vaguely aware vash destroyed I city. Sort of. But I don’t think I really took notice of july when skimming the wiki.

So the finale comes. Everything goes horribly. Roberto dies. At least meryl and wolfwood live. What knives does to vash is terrible. The fight isn’t looking too good for vash. The way knives kills the officers that attack vash.

and like vash was probably expecting it to be a suicide stunt to get the cube so far up in the air and detonate/fire (?) it. And in such a tragic way, it kills knives too (or at least that’s what it looks like to an unsuspecting audience and DEFINITELY to vash).

Everything is horrible but at least he managed to save the city.

Except it explodes anyway.

I was like WHAT!? WHAT!?

I’m telling you guys, I was shocked. I did not see that coming. In the slightest. I think I was still reeling from it by the credits.

Somehow, despite all the spoilers I’ve seen and read (also the couch…) I somehow managed to not expect lost july and was so blindsided by it

Edit: I posted this like three minutes ago but it just hit me what triggered me getting into trigun!! I’m pretty sure I never had trigon posts on my dash but somehow I had a post on it suddenly that was like this:

A screenshot of wolfwood saying to vash: don’t call me that! I’m Nicholas the punisher!

Then a short text about how he was trying to make himself and others believe that this was all he was or something along these lines and then the screenshot of the title drop “Wolfwood”

And then something really clever about how this was set up, as if right after wolfwood insisting he was just the punisher, the title drop immediately tells is otherwise. Like, no, no matter what you tell others and yourself, you are still wolfwood.

Actually if anyone has an idea what post that was hit me up.

[teecupangel]

Hello, I'm here to drop a silly fic idea on you and run:

Are you familiar with the concept of Fruits Basket?

Okay now consider....what if Minerva went about her breeding program in *the most ridiculous possible way*

and anyone born with a certain percentage of Isu DNA turns into an animal when they embrace anyone who *doesn't* have sufficient Isu DNA.

ie the whole Auditore family has enough that Ezio is fine giving family affection

but the first time he chases a pretty girl and she surprises him from around the corner with a tackle-hug

suddenly he's looking up at her from a furry little body and she's running away screaming

child Ezio clumsily slinking his way back to the palazzo on four legs, looking up at his mother with mournful eyes

her scooping him up, "Oh my darling boy, I am so sorry you found out this way."

I read the manga when I was young and watched the earlier anime but I haven’t gotten to watching the new one. also. Wait. Come back. Don't just throw me Fruit Basket and leave. Do you not remember how angsty Fruit Basket can get???

Okay, so, in Fruit Basket, the animals were based on the Chinese Zodiac and there was the whole ‘continuously being reborn for an endless banquet’ curse thing going on but it seemed we’re not going for that vibe? Perhaps, it’s more like the ones with enough Isu DNA can turn into one of the animals in the Chinese Zodiac and it’s really just a roll of the dice (specifically a 12D).

I kinda like the idea of Ezio transforming into the least threatening of his siblings though. Like Federico gets to be an ox, Claudia gets to be a tiger and maybe Petruccio is like a horse or a snake then there’s Ezio being a fluffy sheep. XD

Also, Altaïr would make being the mouse to his stealthily advantage but I kinda wanna make him a white rabbit or a rooster?

Although, we can make it easier for us on what kind of animal they would transform to by actually using their Chinese Zodiac sign:

Altaïr: 1165 - Green Wood Monkey (1165 is the year of the Rooster but Altaïr’s birthday is on January 21, which is before the Chinese New Year, so technically he’s part of the 1164 Year as far as the Chinese Zodiac is concerned)

Ezio: 1459 - Yellow Earth Rabbit

Ratonhnhaké:ton: 1756 - Red Fire Rat

(Calculations from this site)

Then we get to Desmond.

If we take his birth year into consideration (1987), he would be a Red Fire Rabbit BUT may I suggest two alternatives instead?

Desmond does not transform at all and everyone assume that means he’s normal (which is a disappointment for Bill because being able to turn into an animal has become an honorable ‘achievement’ in the eyes of the Assassins and Templars) but this is inaccurate. It’s not that he can’t transform, it’s that he doesn’t have to because his curse isn’t the curse of one of the Zodiac animals but the curse of God. And his curse is the need for a connection with someone who can turn into an animal (which must be given to him freely), binding the two of them regardless of the distance of space and time between them.

He transforms into the cat, the animal ostracized and has only been rumored to have appeared once or twice in history. The cat is always locked up because they are seen as unnatural and is one of the main reason why Desmond ran away.

Or a combination of the two where Desmond’s curse is that of the Cat but the main idea is the Cat is the ‘first’ form of the God curse and, only by creating a connection with another animal (willingly) regardless of the distance in time and space could the cat evolve to being God.

[kaycode1999]

hey!! Ik you’re probs a bit busy w these so no rush, but I’d like to request a match up for either mha or kny. My pronouns are she/her and I’m a female, either gender is fine by me!

For personality, Im have the ISFP type. I’m quite introverted, I hate speaking to strangers, or people in general. Crowds kinda scare me as well. I’m pretty shy and meeting new people is especially difficult for me. Im pretty funny (not my own words) and I love to draw, read, write, or anything with creativity tbh. I’m practically married to my Spotify, there’s barely any time you won’t see me without headphones. I get decent grades, but I do tend to get distracted very easily and I zone out a ton! I’m pretty outgoing once you get to know me, and I’m definitely a bit touch and attention starved. My aesthetic is sorta tomboyish ig. I’ve been told multiple times that I dress like I’m homeless lol. My favourite colour is navy blue.i hardly ever wear make up also, I’m just too lazy

I have shoulder length hair that’s sooo thick. It takes forever to brush and I can’t even shower properly w it. I like to dye my hair, and right now it’s purple at the ends with my natural roots (brown). My favourite season is fall just bc where I am we get stormy autumn’s, and I LOVE stormy weather. I usually go outside when it’s raining as well, I adore it.id definitely consider myself an insomniac as well, staying up to ungodly hours of the morning on the days before tests has proven that. It’s nonstop, I can’t remember a single night I went to bed before midnight. This means I also have hella dark under eyes 😭

thx for taking the time to look at this!

(also sry for the bad set up of the request, I rambled)

Demon Slayer/ Kimetsu no Yaiba

I match you with

Mitsuri Kanroji

Mitsuri can be nervous around crowds or people she doesn't know too, or at least she was. I know I saw either a fanart or a manga panel of her hiding in Rengoku’s haori somewhere and it was adorable. So she understands

I think she's gotten more comfortable and able to handle dealing with strangers better now, so she'll take the lead and keep the pressure off of you

She loves your humor and thinks you're hilarious

I think she's creative too, but of your interests she probably shares reading the most

She will give you all the affection you want😂 she's a sweetheart like that

She's not the kind to mind if you don't wear makeup or if dress “tomboyish” she just loves you for you

She'll love to help you take care of your hair, she knows a few things from taking care of her own long thick hair

She's has to stay up all night dealing with demons a lot herself, so she might be up to be there with you anyway

My Hero Academia

I match you with

Dabi/ Touya Todoroki

By nature he's pretty introverted and does not socialize…. Like at all

Your humor was surprising to him, as in he didn't really have anything to genuinely laugh about before you. Now he laughs all the time because of you. *its a small chuckle or maybe even a smirk/smile but a win is a win*

He's more destructive in nature, not creative, but I think over time your creativity rubs off on him

He's attention and affection starved too, unfortunately that means that at first he isn't used to it. But eventually you both get comfortable with each other and giving and receiving affection

He dresses a lot like you so win-win, you get to swap clothes

We've all seen the jokes about him being a hairstylist correct?😂 It would be in a different way than he normally does *through fire* but he would help you with your hair too. He really likes you're colorful hair

He likes rainy/stormy weather as well, so if you go out in it he will definitely join you

Does he ever sleep anyway?😭😭 He’ll more than likely be up along with you

But you guys can have your own special thing when that happens like playing cards or going for walks. Nice quality time

I truly believe Dabi could be good if given the love and affection he deserves so being with you just automatically makes him better

[to-many-thoughts-help]

Okay so

This might be a bit random, and it's probably more of a me thing, but I've recently remembered this convo I had with a friend and felt like talking about it here

I think everyone here already knows about the fact that it's pretty common in both anime and manga for the characters to have non-natural hair colors, right?

So, since I first started interacting with anime and such, I never really thought much about that aspect other than it being "anime logic" even in real life/modern settings

Later down, I remember seeing a post, and correct me if I'm wrong, explaining why this had become a thing. It basically said, at least for high school settings and such, that it was a form of expression and also rebellion against Japan's strict rules revolving around students' appearances and dress codes. This was also the reason as to why delinquents in both real life and anime were represented by their dyed hair as it was considered an act of rebellion. I could be completely wrong about this (after all, I didn't see that post in a long time), so correct me about it

Anyways, the point is that with both this idea of "anime logic" and this post, my mind was made that sometimes characters just have weird colors in anime that are completely natural and that's fine. And until I know, I wasn't the only one with this thought

But recently I've been discovering that some people don't think that??? Like, there's people who simply think that these characters (when in a modern setting) have dyed hair when it isn't a natural color until said otherwise

Let me give you an example

In Blue Lock, there's these two characters, Karasu and Otoya, who both have non-natural hair colors. Karasu's black that fades into purple and Otoya's white with a green streak

Many thought these two had dyed hair until an official art came out with these two as kids and guess what? Their hair colors were still the same even as children and everyone was surprised about it? While I was just sitting there like "Guys, have you ever actually watched anime in your lives?"

And these two aren't the only ones with this treatment in Blue Lock!

If you think about it, it isn't the first time that a sports anime has characters with weird hair colors and it still being natural. Kuroko and Free! are good examples of that. So it got me really confused as to why people were acting like this

Of course, there are other examples beyond sports anime, but this is just one that I could remember at the moment

So yeah, this isn't really to attack anyone or something. I just found this really confusing and funny at the same time? Maybe it's just because I'm one of the only ones who has this line of thought? Idk

Anyways, thanks for reading and have a great day :D

(Sidenote: I just noticed that this is a thing that happens with hair colors, but never with eye colors? Maybe it's just more believable for someone to dye their hair than to use colorful contact lenses all the time lol. I just think that's funny)

[turtlemagnum]

ok, gonna try my hand at compiling my thoughts on fist of the north star first. here goes nothing! warning, this post is gonna be Long, open the read more at your own peril.

i think the best way to go about this might be roughly chronologically, so i'll start at the start. i think it's interesting how very early on, the conceit is "there is but one practitioner of hokuto shinken and but one practitioner of nanto seiken, and they are sworn to never fight lest the world fall into Chaos..." and that degrades very quickly past the first arc. i will say that overall, the shin arc is a very fun, enjoyable and relatively quick watch, with mostly interesting fights, decent character designs and a mostly compelling narrative. i think one of the standout parts, to me, was when shin was actually defending yuria from his former goons while they tried to revolt. it definitely added a certain texture to shin's character where he had previously been just 100% straightforwardly the bad guy, instead of being 99% that. also there's the devil rebirth fight and that time ken killed The Entire United States Military in the same episode that he punched a wrecking ball so hard that it shattered like a christmas ornament. now that i think about it, the leader guy of the former US military was actually probably the first time we see nanto seiken used by someone who isn't shin, and i remember it being kind of a big deal that shin had violated their sacred traditions to such an extent, y'know? how quickly that went out the window

something that's been consistently good in the series was the music. the fight music, the ambient stuff, and especially the openings. all 3 of the openings are S tier, but i will say they never quite top ai wo torimodose, it's just that fucking bombastic and fun, y'know? at the same time i wouldn't stab somebody for thinking silent survivor or TOUGH BOY are better, they're all fuckin great even if in different ways at time. honestly i'm mostly surprised that an anime from back then had more than one opening, much less 3. from what i can tell that shit wasn't nearly as common back then as it was today, so i think it speaks to how deeply popular the series was back in its heyday. hell, OG dragon ball got just one and im pretty sure DBZ barely got two. i hope one day i'll be able to make music as stellar as the hnk soundtrack, really.

something that bugged me about early fist of the north star is how every fucking woman looked like yuria, just sometimes with different hair. this definitely got better as the series went on, and i have no idea if this was a problem in the manga too, but by god is it glaring. thankfully that seems to clear up ironically after mamiya is introduced, who is explicitly portrayed to be the spitting image of yuria. i think the first time i noticed that women finally look like unique people and Not Just Yuria was that one martial artist who fought with roses and shit. side note but i genuinely loved her design, the show got really sexist about her being a Femoid who fights but setting aside that i really loved her. i should learn to draw her. anyways, i like how the series improved over time in that regard, at the very least

one of my biggest problems in the series starts with shin's death. i remember when shin first died and he burst out crying, i had assumed it was just a fucked up manipulation tactic like the yuria doll, but apparently we the audience were expected to take it seriously? and like, this began a longrunning trend of a villain being like, absolutely irredeemably evil, like puppy crusher machine, baby eating, torment nexus evil, and then at the end they're all like "i just wanted 2 play on de play groundt...." and we're expected to take that seriously???? like, i'm all for moral nuance and complexity, and there are times where this whole shtick was done more tolerably than others, but in my opinion they never actually redeem somebody in a way that's satisfying. a redemption arc has to be, y'know, a fucking arc. and even if you're trying to do a redemption = death thing, the thing that makes that trope work is that they die doing something, y'know, actually good???? the reason anakin's redemption worked (aside from actually being foreshadowed pretty blatantly) was because he actually saved lukes life and died in the process. he did a good thing and died because of it. meanwhile shin, he still fought ken right up until the end and acted like nothing was out of the ordinary until he was literally seconds from dying. at least raoh had it built up to a little bit, like jesus fucking christ.

now, i will say that the arc from roughly jagi's introduction to the first fight with raoh is the best fist of the north star gets. if you're thinking about watching the show but don't wanna commit to 150ish episodes, i'd recommend watching from the beginning right up until the end of the first raoh fight. i feel like that's still be a pretty compelling 50 or so episodes, and it has literally all the best bits within it. honestly kinda sad that the show peaks approximately 1/3 of the way through it, but what can you do. anyways, enough backhanded compliments; jagi is probably the best all around villain in this series. he's an absolute bastard, he's one of the first characters in the entire show to just straight up pull a normal gun on people, and he inspires one of the most cathartic moments in the entire show. this is around when we first get into like, the soap opera shit, right? first it's a bit contrived but still cool as hell that rei is a new nanto seiken practitioner, aside from That One Scene he fills the deuteragonist role pretty nicely and is honestly the gold standard by which the rest of the series' guys can be judged off of. he's no ein or juza, but to be fair basically nobody is.

anyways like, that cathartic moment i was talking about. it was just after jagi admitted to ken, taunting him with the fact that he's actually the reason shin kidnapped yuria, and he's the reason yuria died. this, alongside the "actually the main character has 3 secret brothers that we just havent mentioned until now, and theyre ALSO hokuto shinken practitioners" is very like. soap opera/bad fanfic-y, right? but it works because in execution, it's still pulled off well, and we're still nowhere near the bullshit horizon we'd skyrocket past by the end of the series. so, when ken's finally killing jagi, there's a moment where he says something to the effect of "this is for yuria, and...." and you just know what he's about to say next, but he hesitates, and when he finally says it it's so damn satisfying, "and for me!" and the thing is that it's a deeply compelling moment for a variety of reasons.

so, the thing with fist of the north star is that, in a lot of ways, it's very analogous to a superman story where the question is almost never "will the main character lose this fight" because he's so insanely fucking broken, right? the real question is, "will this character protect those he cares about in time", that's where the tension comes from, and it comes from the fact that he is in fact a hero. that's how you write a compelling overpowered protagonist, you give him either people to love or just a love and respect for all life in general and so that always gives you stakes. i get that to a lot of people, the question of "will ken save this nameless chicken farmer?" isn't a very compelling one. but to me, it is, because he cares so deeply about it that i start caring about it. in the words of aphex twin, "i care because you do".

so, the thing is up until now ken is a very selfless character. it's to such an exaggerated degree that it becomes fairly evident that he has very little regard for his own safety or wellbeing. in the first arc, aside from helping whoever he happens across he's motivated exclusively by rescuing yuria. every fight he has up to this point isn't even for himself, really, and there's something almost sad about that. he doesn't allow himself to have needs. so it's actually very satisfying to see this strong, principled man admit that he has in fact been hurt, and that he's not just doing good for those around him but for himself as well. and it's a very natural character progression that you don't even realize is happening but also makes complete sense. there's something deeply compelling to me about a man so devoted to helping others that he has to actively learn how to live for himself, y'know? i feel like that's a relatable struggle to a lot of people, really

i will say i have one gripe about the jagi fight, and it's that it's almost perfect except for the fact that jagi dies laughing. at first it's seeming like he's gonna die in agonizing misery like he deserves, and it's satisfying well up until the point he starts to laugh on the way out. and like, i understand why it was done that way, and i'm pretty sure it was meant to be haunting, but it honestly just felt like it undercut an otherwise great moment, y'know? i want that motherfucker suffering god damnit, its what he deserves.

there's not much to say about the arc up until the first raoh fight, really. toki is really fucking cool, i love me my apocalypse karate jesus boy, and the fight with that uighur guy was really good setting aside the weird racial thing of having a character that's of a certain ethnicity and just naming them that ethnicity. like, imagine if there was just a guy in a show named Jew, and he's canonically supposed to be jewish but it's never really addressed, like that'd be weird right

i will say, the raoh fight was fucking precious, easily the best part of the entire series. it has this amazing and complex rhythm to it, where every character who tries to fight raoh ends up trying their own self sacrificial bullshit move only to be thwarted by the next guy, until there's essentially like 3 or 4 different fights going on at the same time. it's also nice seeing ken get straight up hard countered for once, like straight up he gets just as fucked up as raoh does and it makes raoh that much cooler of a villain. up to this point, ken is like, essentially invincible. he's basically post apocalypse aikido jesus, poking people so hard that their disabilities are cured and punching people so hard that their entire bodies explode like he's got the bloody mess perk. so to see someone even break even with him is a damn impressive thing, it instantly establishes your villain credentials y'know?

the thing about raoh is that i love him, very much, but i very much hate how he was handled near the end. the fights with him after the first one are very eh, the penultimate one is close to satisfying but then there's that whole "and then he randomly got away with yuria and now he's gone!!!" bullshit, and i get what the final one was going for and it's kind of built up to but i still didn't exactly like it, y'know? for what it's worth, raoh's redemption arc was probably the most well set up in the entire series, but it still wasn't actually y'know. good. like, the way we're introduced to him is by him being Ken-Oh, King of Fists, and he's this fucking tyrant who recruits people to be his slaves by giving them the ultimatum of "willingly brand yourself as my property and then be my slave for the rest of your short life or get burnt to death", and we're shown that his goons are inches away from burning lin, a literal baby child, to death. and we're supposed to just buy that he's actually not that bad at the end???

like, something i wish this series would just fucking do would be to have their villains just fucking own their villainy right up till the end. they do it before the end!!! one of the first bits with shin has him literally monologuing about how cool & good it is to be evil before busting out one of the greatest evil laughs i've ever heard from a voice actor in any media ever. the best villains are pretty consistently That kind of evil, like the kind of evil that'd make the average disney executive go "hey maybe we can chill a bit out here real quick", and that'd be wonderful if they were unrepentant about it!! it feels really forced!!! imagine if like, frieza, before the bitter end, went all "hmm, maybe i do regret blowing up planets and spending my days being space hitler...." that wouldn't've fucking worked!!! there is, in fact, such an intense degree of evil in fiction that it just doesn't make sense for them to immediately go "hmm yeah i'm a good guy now. right before i die. how about that :)". it's deeply unsatisfying every fucking time, like my god

there's something to be said about the queer coding in this show. i remember in one of the earlier episodes, there was this bear dressed as a BDSM cop and his two goons were scantily clad twinks, and internally i went "haha that's kinda gay" before he straight up kisses random dudes before he kills them. and it hit me like "oh. he IS gay..." and it's like. i don't think that's even the gayest thing in the series, really. there's that one scene where two fang clan dudes are checking out rei and the one with the binoculars is like "woah, this guy's real pretty!" and the other dude is all "well, not as pretty as me right bro???". and then there's just yuda, in general. relatively uninteresting villain, but him dying in rei's arms admitting that his motivation in trying to kill him was that he was the only other man who he found beautiful, like. i don't think there's a heterosexual way to interpret that, really! and that's even setting aside the hideous makeup he's always in! and that's not even mentioning yuria's brother wanting to "see what she(yuria) saw in him (ken)" and as a consequence, wanting to die by his hands. also ein is a bisexual icon who canonically thinks ken has a pretty face and i love that for him

the next bit after yuda was, i believe, souther and shu. now, i think souther might've been the only villain to outright defeat ken up to this point, and i think there's something that could've been interesting about that if souther just wasn't like, aggressively fucking boring. i think he's also the introduction to ki blasts, so that's cool, but the most interesting bits about the souther arc were the bits with shu. shu was a homie, very speedwagon-esque in terms of vibes if not functionality, i liked watching him at work. i will say that shu was probably the point where nanto seiken was wearing out its welcome, we're at like 4 or 5 guys whose main deal was nanto seiken and their entire fighting style could essentially boil down to "cut em into bits" and the only real variation was the shape of the bits people were cut into. i think this might've been the prevailing attitude at the time too, because they definitely pivot away from nanto seiken after this in favor of other, usually dumber martial arts

i will say that this series is, usually, very good about respecting character deaths. with one piss stained exception, characters pretty much always die and stay dead forever, meanwhile i feel like in series less committed to death mattering would've still had toki or rei around by the end of it. the exception is, of course, yuria. it was to give yuria and ken a happy ending, at least for a little while, and honestly while i kinda hate the concept the execution was still fairly competent so i didn't outright dislike it overall. i think it's stupid and retcon-y and at times feels like yet another excuse to make shin seem like less of a bad guy, but it still felt nice to know that yuria got the spend the last few years of her life with the man she loved

i liked ryuga for what he was, mostly just because he wasn't yet another fucking nanto seiken user. he's probably about on par with the elemental guys that'd go on to die to raoh, juza excluded. which brings me to, the man who is tied for Best Boy, juza of the clouds! i.e., my current profile pic. i like juza. he's probably the best thing to come from the series post the Peak arc of jagi to raoh. one of my first criticisms of the characters in this show was something to the effect of "look, if you're a handsome, muscular guy who's also ungodly fucking powerful in terms of martial arts in a world where martial arts is fucking magic, And you're in a post apocalypse? all i'm saying is that you could have basically any girl you wanted CONSENSUALLY, like seriously shin just ditch yuria and build yourself a harem of all the women that look exactly like her". and juza did exactly that, and i love him for it. i'd like to think i'd be like juza, in his universe, not quite the top of the totem pole in terms of raw power but still well above every normal person, saving women from being abused and letting them join my harem if they want, living in a fucking castle with a pool/bathing house? that's the dream, man. that's the fucking dream.

now, that's setting aside juza's whole "wanting to fuck his sister" thing. like, to be fair, yuria's his half sister, but seriously dude what the fuck is it with everyone in this show and yuria. ken and all 3 of his brothers were into her, juza was into her, shin was into her, if there is a man in this show and he knows yuria there's like an 80% chance that he wants her. what's the fucking appeal? like yeah, she's pretty, sure, but so are all the women in this show!!! personally i'd rather date like, a martial artist lady who could actually defend herself, but that could just be me. well, that's like the only thing wrong about juza to me, and honestly while that's a pretty significant flaw you can still say he's literally one thing away from being flawless, so that's pretty cool. god i love him

now's about when we get into hokuto no ken 2, where the main difference is that lin and bat are actually useful now and i'm pretty sure lin wants to fuck kenshiro now, which still weirds me the fuck out. my other favorite character in this show, ein, is the most american fucker on earth. like literally he wears an american flag suit, has blonde hair and blue eyes, is a fucking bounty hunter, and literally rides around on a killdozer driven by what i'm pretty sure is a slave. literally cannot get more american than that, i just hope that the slave guy is like a former bandit or something. little known fact about me, one of my biggest turn ons in a piece of fiction is when a character is a bounty hunter. something about bounty hunters just fuckin gets my brain goin, y'know? i remember when i played the GTA online bounty hunter quests, they were straight up some of the most fun i've had with GTAV and i still think i'd enjoy playing a game where that's the main mechanic. also, at first glance he's a wife guy, but it turns out he's a loving father which makes him even better. it's even acknowledged in universe that he's cool as hell!!! i love him dearly

viceroy jakoh is a decent villain. he's enjoyable to see die, at least. we also meet falco, who's a homie, and honestly i think it's pretty badass that he's a canonically disabled character who's shown to be strong and capable and yet is still clearly held back by his disability. he's a bit like a proto edward elric, in that regard. honestly one of the most sharp inhale inducing scenes of the show was when jakoh swept his prosthetic out from under him and then proceeded to beat the shit out of him, frankly that was an egregious way to make a villain hateable and it was honestly very effective in that regard. gento koken is ok i guess. at least it's not nanto seiken. honestly that whole "celestial emperor" thing felt rather contrived, but eh.

ok so, around this point in the show is when one of its worst aspects really starts to become apparent. so like, it starts out relatively normally when ken is shown to have a few brothers that we didnt know about. it's not that absurd, it makes some amount of sense, the hokuto brothers remain some of the best characters in the entire fucking show. and now all of a sudden, yuria has a brother we didnt know about, and a half brother, and now we meet raoh and ken's biological bigger brothers and after a certain point it just feels like bad self insert fanfic, y'know? and that's what kaioh is to me, it feels like somebody thought raoh was cool and thought "heh, what if i made my own OC that's raoh but even BIGGER and STRONGER and MORE EVIL", like that's what kaioh feels like to me. and then ken's bio brother is just ok, i already forgot his name despite it not being that long since i watched the final arc

but the thing is that kaioh is just like, arguably the most cartoonishly evil villain out of the entire fucking series, seemingly completely unrepentant, literally regularly talks about existing in the "Dark World", straight up kills his own sister just to make ken's brother wanna kill ken, the dude is just bitter and evil the whole way down, so when he pulls that "i just want 2 play on the played ground" bullshit it rings especially hollow even by the standards of the show. god, fuck kaioh, he's just poorly executed overall

the biggest part of hnk2 that i actually liked was shachi. i liked how he was essentially a stupid kid that lucked into being taught unearthly powers basically on par with hokuto shinken, and as such got a big head over it even though at his core he was still a good kid. hokuto ryuken sure felt fuckin contrived, it kinda felt like the writer(s?) noticed how the hokuto brothers were some of the best, most interesting characters in in the original series, and were just like "yeah let's do that but again", and while i guess it doesn't not work it also doesn't work all that well either. hokuto ryuken sounds cool though, even if "north star lapis lazuli fist" doesn't.

another thing i liked about the last parts of the show were that, while definitely not martial art wizards, bat and lin were still deeply competent fighters and put up a consistently good fight against Real Fucking Fighters, which you really wouldn't expect from bat's cowardly ass growing up. i will say that i always thought lin would make a good successor to hokuto shinken, but that might just be wishful thinking. there is a quite prevalent undercurrent of misogyny in this series, and while i understand that it wasn't exactly uncommon in the 80s, i gotta say that i still feel like they could've done better. i dunno

all of this is to say that i liked fist of the north star, very very much. i'm not sure i could recommend it without a laundry list of caveats and disclaimers, but i will say that if my interminable bitching hasn't put you off of it, it's probably for you. it's got a lot of good fights, it scratches that little kid part of your brain that thinks it's so cool to see a guy get kicked in the dick so hard that his entire body explodes, it has great music and mostly competent writing. if you think about it too hard, you will cry, so don't do that, just go along for buronson's wild ride and fuckin enjoy yourself. i probably wouldn't recommend it to someone who's not like, already an anime fan and already likes shonen though. it feels very of its genre, if that makes sense. which i guess it should, given how foundational to shonen in its modern forms as it was