#bring me a pork cutlet bowl!!

[kumasakka]

.𖥔 ݁ ˖ ❝ 𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 ! ❞

⋆.˚ 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆. shishiba x reader .

⋆.˚ 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘. you know his feelings and thoughts like the back of your hand — you know him like the back of your hand even though he doesn't share his thoughts too often.

⋆.˚ 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓. ~1.1k words .

⋆.˚ 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓. reticence - (n.) being quiet and not sharing thoughts easily. fluff. f!reader. established relationship. old married couple trope. reader doesn't use shishiba's name at all (we only know his lastname and as his wife, you'd use his first name). spoiler - free ! safe for minors ! crappy writing. osaragi and shishiba may seem ooc. heavily inspired by my love for yamada-kun at lvl 999.

　“MR. SHISHIBA, aren't you rather putting up with her?”

Osaragi ask with an indifferent expression painting her face as she continued to eat her pork cutlets with rice. The mentioned man looked up from his homemade lunch his black eyes drilling into her skull before sighing out and also continuing to eat without bothering her question, which resulted in her staring at him while he tried to eat his lunch, personally cooked by you, in peace.

"How come you're asking?" at the end, he gave up ignoring her.

"You're eating Gyudon..." she paused, her onyx eyes looking at the box.

Right. He ate Gyudon. What's wrong with that? It was a beef bowl consisting of thinly sliced fatty beef and onions in a lightly sweet mixture of mirin and soy sauce, accompanied by rice with a fried egg. "Aren't there onions in there?" she questioned further and knew damn right that Shishiba disliked onions, to a certain extent that you could even say, he totally hated onions.

"Ah..." he sealed his lips shut again, blinking at the realization.

To be honest, Shishiba doesn't know himself why he ate the lunch, containing onions. He was sure that his tastebuds definitely warned him about that already and despite warning, he continued to eat it. Maybe because it was you who cooked this delicious, to-die-for meal. Maybe it was the sweet smile you gave him while seeing him off. Maybe it was when he noticed that you woke up earlier to prepare him this.

"Because of [name]." he finally answered.

"You've grown soft." Osaragi closed her eyes and stuffed her mouth with the delicious pork cutlets. "Because of [name]..."

"It's mrs. Shishiba for you." he corrected her.

"[name] said I can call her by her first name."

"But I said mrs. Shishiba."

"[name]." a vein popped up on his forehead.

"That's it, I'm not bringing you another lunch cooked by [name]."

"I'm sorry."

While ignoring the pouting Osaragi, the chopsticks wandered to his mouth again. It wasn't that bad, barely being able to taste the onions.

'If I don't eat this up, she won't smile.'

"—Earth to you." it was your voice that snapped him out of his thoughts.

Your hand almost touched his face as you waved it side to side to get his attention with a curious gleam in your eyes. Suddenly, he surprised you by taking your wrist in his hand, his eyes still fixated on your slightly widened ones. "You good?" you asked, a sweatdrop rolling down your cheek and taking a little time to pull yourself together after getting surprised by him.

"Oh." he blinked, letting go of your wrist while hopping that it wouldn't leave any red marks.

"You startled me." you sprayed a small amount of the new perfume you were testing on to your wrist.

"Sorry." the short apology slipped out of his lips as he grabbed your wrist again, this time being more gentle, and took a quick sniff of the new scent you wore.

"I really like this one. How does it smell?" he stared at your smile — the one you always gave him around him.

"Smells like heaven."

He didn't exactly lie. You always good in his perspective. After all, you were the only good thing in his life and you'll continue being that as long as you two live. But truth to be told, the perfume itself was smothering, sweet. In a way that he found it distasteful. So he lied. Shishiba looked up again to see your face, your smile. Yeah. It didn't matter, because it didn't matter at all.

Unexpectedly, the smile faded slightly. "What's wrong?" it didn't sound like it, but his voice was laced with concern. Shishiba wasn't good at showing his feelings and thoughts, so others wouldn't even come up with the idea of him worrying about someone — not like he knew many people, his circle of acquaintances and friends is pretty small, almost nonexisting.

"Nevermind, I'd rather save my money" you said. He didn't understand.

"Let me buy it for you then." he suggested and was about to take one in the packaging, just for you to snatch it from his hand.

"I would rather not." you placed it back to it's place again.

"Why?" he raised an eyebrow at your sudden change of mind, watching you attentively as you turned your back to him to place the perfume to it's original place. "Thought you really wanted that."

"Because I changed my mind." you were a stern face on your face, your back still turned to him before your expression softened. "You didn't really like it."

"I did." the lie came out as if it was second nature of his.

"Don't think I'm that naive." you finally looked at him again with a smile. "I catch on to things like this!"

At the sight of your face, Shishiba couldn't help but return a small smile before you wrapped your arms around his to walk away from the perfume area. "And I would rather keep my natural scent." you admitted, leaning your head against his shoulder. "Ah by the way! Sorry for confusing the two lunch boxes. Did you throw it away or why was it empty when you came home?"

"I ate it."

"Never!" you gasped, looking at him again with a shocked face. "Don't lie!"

"I'm not." he sweatdropped. "I swear on you."

"Hey!" seems like you didn't take it in a good way. But it was all good when you laughed. "Let's cook dinner together."

"Sure." he closed his eyes for a second.

It was a smothering, sweet scent. Your smothering, sweet scent. And not a fake one created by other people. That was the only thing he focused on. Shishiba was the kind of person who'd stay quiet and not share his thoughts with others easily. And even though he was like that with you too, it didn't seem to be a problem. For you already know him like the back of your hand.

AS IF YOU'VE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR LIFE.

© 2024 kumasakka — do not plagiarize , copy , modify , translate our work !

a/n's note — my lovestory with yamada is so so so good and SWEET, please read it. as soon as I got to the scene, my heart was like doki-doki no joke.

YAMADA AND AKANE FOREVER EHE 🤭

[cutepresea]

Time for Shirabe Meshi chapter 35's first half

It starts with Tiki reading man--

Hold up. Zoom.

Ryoko???

Anyway, Tiki is reading manga when the telepathy phone starts ringing. She answers it and while we don't see what Adam is saying directly, we do get Tiki repeating him after she asks how things are going while he's locked up for investigations after the Alca-Noise crystal incident a few chapters back.

"Hm? No taste? Not good at all? How dare they treat a gourmet like you this way! Just wait, I'll bring you a boxed lunch full of love. ...wait, how do you cook?"

(Also she's tied up a bunch of yellow handkerchiefs and is waiting under them which is apparently a reference to a movie I haven't seen)

Meanwhile at Lydian, it's the day before the sports festival and Kirika and Shirabe are practicing for the three legged race.

Shirabe wants to continue but another student comes up reminding her to help the other committee members with preparations (as Shirabe herself is apparently a member of the sports festival committee). She says that she went overboard and forgot and the student comments that she's more fired up than usual.

They try to move some mats but the student having to walk backwards in the front bumps into the uh...thingy that paints the lines on the field and Shirabe ends up tripping and injuring her ankle in the process.

Shirabe ends up having to get bandaged up at the nurse's office. Kirika tells her to not push herself and that she'll practice with Serena instead.

Serena tells Shirabe that she can watch her bag with the Nephilim in it (Shirabe: "I don't want to, leave it at home")

While Kirika and Serena are practicing, Shirabe notices that it hurts to move her hand and wrist and that she probably also hurt them when she fell. She comes to the realization she can't make their lunches tomorrow which...Tiki hears from up in the tree Shirabe's sitting under.

Tiki makes a deal with Shirabe: "In return for teaching me to make them, I can make the lunches for you."

Shirabe reluctantly agrees to it after Tiki explains the situation with Adam, thinking to herself that she also doesn't want to worry Kirika any more than she already has when she should be having fun

The next morning, Tiki shows up while Kirika is still asleep and Shirabe teaches her to make katsudon (pork cutlet rice bowl) since the others will need their stamina for the sports festival and also because the katsu in katsudon sounds like the Japanese word for "win" (also pronounced katsu)

Tiki runs off with the one she made for Adam. Kirika wakes up asking if someone was there. Shirabe denies it and tells Kirika to hurry and get dressed.

This half ends with the festival starting

[thehungrykat1]

New Exciting Dishes to Try at Sen-Ryo Philippines

It's pretty obvious that I really love Japanese cuisine. This is why we keep going back to Japan whenever we can to eat all the sushi, wagyu, and other Japanese items that we want. But what about the months when we are not traveling? Thankfully, we can always go to Sen-Ryo Philippines, one of our favorite Japanese restaurants in the city.

With outlets all over Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, this popular chain has made its way to Manila offering its premium line of sushi, sashimi, tempura, Japanese wagyu, unagi, and more. They opened their first Philippine branch at The Podium Mall and now have two other branches in Mitsubishi Mall and in Greenhills Mall.

Sen-Ryo started in 1968 when Mr. Fumio Sairo created revolving sushi in Japan. Sen-Ryo is a premium sushi restaurant that brings an elevated Japanese dining experience. This was brought to the country by the same owners of Genki Sushi, which is also part of the Sen-Ryo chain of restaurants in Japan.

Aside from the lower floor, you can find more seats on the mezzanine level which also comes with two private horigotatsu rooms, a traditional Japanese table that has a recessed floor beneath it, and one private dining room for special gatherings.

Our friends got together one Thursday afternoon for an enjoyable lunch at Sen-Ryo at The Podium. It had been a while since we met with our The KTG blogger friends, so this was a really nice venue to catch up with the girls.

Our host Gwen Jacinto prepared a special menu for us to sample some of the new and exciting dishes at Sen-Ryo Philippines.

First, we ordered some of their refreshing beverages. The Ginza Spritz (P320) is a light and bubbly cocktail with a combination of sake, gin, passionfruit syrup, and lime juice. You can also try one of their fruit shakes like the Ripe Mango Shake (P220).

The California Roll (P450) is always a staple at Japanese restaurants here. This big serving comes with kanikama, ripe mango, cucumber and shrimp roe.

Sen-Ryo has a new and very unique sushi that actually sizzles! The Sizzling Spicy Tuna Roll is a fiery twist on the traditional spicy tuna as it is served hot on a sizzling grill. We really enjoyed this dish since it is the first time we have seen sushi rolls served like this.

If you want something more premium and traditional, the Signature Sashimi Set (P2500) is what you should order. This platter comes with seven kinds of sashimi including otoro (fatty tuna), akami (lean tuna), Norwegian salmon, Norwegian salmon belly, hamachi (yellowtail), ama ebi (sweet northern shrimp), and hotate or juicy Hokkaido scallops.

These sashimi are flown straight from Japan so you can really taste their quality and freshness. You can judge how good these are just by the way they look. It's like buying them from the Tsukiji markets!

Sen-Ryo also offers other appetizers like the Popcorn Shrimp (P650), a popcorn style shrimp served with a special dressing. I loved devouring these bite-sized shrimp poppers and almost finished the entire bowl by myself.

The Snow Crab Tempura Nigiri is another new highlight dish at Sen-Ryo Philippines. The delicate snow crab meat is cooked and served sushi style.

Noodle lovers like me will really enjoy the Seafood Yakiudon (P750), a stir fried udon mixed with seafood ingredients.

One of our favorite items in Japan is the unagi, so we were happy to find this on Sen-Ryo's menu. The Grilled Unagi (P880) is a grilled river eel with a special sweet unagi sauce.

You can also have the unagi as a rice bowl. Sen-Ryo also offers several rice bowls for those who want a complete meal in one order. The Unagi and Wagyu Beef Bowl is my favorite among their rice bowls because it comes with delicious unagi and wagyu beef on top of steaming gohan rice.

Another option is the Premium Chirashi Don (P890) with its premium sashimi and sushi on top of Japanese rice. Then there's the ever reliable Pork Katsu Don (P400) with tender pork cutlets on top of rice. This one can be enjoyed by adults and kids alike.

Finally, for dessert we had the Matcha Mille Crepe (P340) and the Strawberry Mille Crepe (P340). Both are fluffy layered cakes that Japanese desserts are well known for.

We would like to thank Sen-Ryo Philippines for hosting our small get together at The Podium Mall and showing us their new exciting menu items. Whenever we are craving for premium Japanese cuisine, Sen-Ryo always has the answer for our big appetites.

Sen-Ryo Philippines

G/F The Podium Mall, 12 ADB Ave., Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City

(0917) 687-8733

www.facebook.com/senryoPH

[chefilona]

CHEF ILONA: PORTUGUESE BIFANAS SANDWICH

The bifana is a traditional Portuguese sandwich made with thinly sliced marinated pork served in a bread roll. Its origins trace back to the Portuguese region of Alentejo, particularly the city of Vendas Novas.

Legend has it that the bifana was created by a tavern owner in Vendas Novas named Celeste. In the 1960s, Celeste started serving marinated pork sandwiches to her patrons, and they became an instant hit. The popularity of the bifana spread throughout Portugal, and today it's a beloved staple of Portuguese cuisine.

The marinade typically consists of garlic, paprika, white wine or vinegar, and various herbs and spices, which give the pork its distinctive flavor. The pork is usually thinly sliced and marinated for several hours or overnight before being quickly cooked on a hot grill or skillet.

Bifanas are often enjoyed as a snack or a quick meal, served in local cafes, bars, and restaurants throughout Portugal. They're sometimes garnished with mustard, hot sauce, or sautéed onions to add extra flavor. On my version, along with the piri piri sauce, I like to add banana peppers and roasted garlic aioli. It's a bit of a departure from the classic, but the creaminess of the aioli really brings the sanwich together for me!

Bifanas

Adapted Recipe

Serves 4

1 1/2 pounds thinly sliced pork top round, cutlets, or thin-sliced boneless pork chops, trimmed of fat and pounded out to be flat and thin

1 1/2 cups white wine

6 garlic cloves, chopped

4 bay leaves, broken in half

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons paprika

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3 tablespoons lard

Crusty rolls, to serve

Mustard and piri-piri sauce, banana peppers, roasted garlic aioli, optional for serving

In a small bowl, stir together the wine, garlic, bay leaves, vinegar, paprika, and salt.

Add the pork slices to the marinade over top and marinade for at least 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring the meat multiple times to ensure the marinade is evenly distributed.

After the meat is marinated, heat a large pan over medium-high heat, and add the lard. Fry the bifanas quickly until cooked through, about 1 minute per side. Add more lard as needed. Transfer the cooked bifanas to a plate.

Discard the bay leaves and pour the reserved marinade into the skillet and scrape up any stuck-on bits. Let the mixture boil until reduced by about 1/3; approximately 4 to 6 minutes.

Return the pork back to the pan with the sauce and reduce the heat to low, and simmer to warm them through.

Slice the crusty rolls in half and spoon some of the sauce over each half, pile with the pork, and garnish as desired.

[blended-ice]

Hi! Yeah, character limit is a pain in the ass fr. Good call moving out here!

Yess, give me rebel yuuri! It’s important to remember that Yuuri’s only 23ish years old and the youngest sibling, he is *absolutely* gonna do something stupid like break into (he was given a key) ice castle. Yuuko catches them, but not before he tells Yurio stories about reckless dumb things he and Phichit got up to back in Detroit. If yurio didn’t think Yuuri was badass before, he sure as shit does now!

Also, Omigosh, YES, a sleep deprived yuuri is a pork cutlet bowl without a filter, and yurio absolutely revels in Yuuri’s wit and even savagery. Though that revelry can turn into horror when Viktor’s recently discovered degradation kink gets involved! Poor guy.

I like to think about how Agape and Eros have helped Yuri and Yuuri with their interpersonal and internal relationships too. in the original timeline, Yuri thought deeply about what unconditional love looked like for him and realized that it was the love he felt for his grandpa Nikolai, and Yuuri found a self confidence and self attunement in his performance of “the most beautiful woman out there.” And I think that builds onto the question: What impacts would this reversal have on the two?

Which brings me to the point of why I think it would be an interesting reversal for yurio: this would be an opportunity for him to explore what Eros means to him, and since I headcanon him as aromantic asexual, I think that could be a truly fascinating character arc! Personally, I don’t think that his sexuality or romantic orientation is something Yurio had given any thought to before. I’m not sure he’d realize that he was aroace, I think he’d just think that he was so cool, committed to skating, and strong enough to effortlessly resist the urge to find a girlfriend or boyfriend or partner unlike the weaklings around him lol. He never once stopped to seriously think about it because it just didn’t matter to him. But this situation, pushing him to find out what eros means to him, what sexual love means to him, I think may be a cool opportunity for him to get that self actualization going on of “oh hey, I’m aroace, that’s pretty cool.” Then use that confidence and self awareness to fuel his performance and his success Yknow?

And I like how you’re considering Viktor’s pov in all this. I think they’d certainly get an earful from him for going behind his back on this, hell hath no fury like a coach scorned. But ultimately he would love the surprise because you’re right, he does love surprises. Yakov might receive an anonymous apology bouquet later that evening for all of Viktor’s past surprises though.

What a fun au!

swap?

[zodiacs-web]

Similarity

Dazai Osamu x PM!Gn!Reader

Synopsis: Odasaku? Nah, nah, unless...

What's in the web: Angst, comfort(?), unedited cause speedrunning my requests

Seeing you for the first time, he felt a nostalgic yet depressing feeling. A stoic face that screamed bored, the strong presence, and the knack for having the urge to to anything else but kill. So why were you, a meaningless lackey, in the Port Mafia? To be honest, money. It's such a strange yet simple desire that kept you here in shackles.

One that Mori would oh so casually remind you ever so often just to tighten those restraints. You never told him your ability, keeping it a secret just for the sake of being left alone despite being able to killed at any minute. Yet everything changed when you both met, standing face to face in a bank, hostages on the sidelines as you gave him a stoic stare.

He didn't know anything about you, assuming you were just a lackey sent on a suicide mission, he could care less. But that strength that defeated the tiger and slightly outclassed him, finally opened his eyes. You weren't just some lackey, you were a pawn so capable that not even Mori noticed it.

Too similar, he was even afraid you'd meet an end such a his. His throat tightened at the thought, why does he care so much? You're a Port Mafia member sent to die, there's nothing important about you. But seeing you run away with the goods, no one hurt or killed, hurt him in some way.

Such a small encounter led to a giant one, he saw you everywhere, like a disease plaguing his mind. Meeting you in the alley of a random street, he felt a bit of dread in his heart if he spoke to you. Yet seeing the threat of a sword at his throat, he knew. This was a mere empty threat he had face countless times in his life.

"Are you going to kill me?" He asked, his eyes emptying themselves.

No response.

"I don't mind dying, life was never that meaningful anyways."

"Yet, you want to throw that wish away."

A response, not one he anticipated.

"Huh?"

"Death is more tempting than fulfilling the wish of the dead."

"How do you...?"

"I recognize those eyes of yours. You will get nothing if you just wallow in guilt. I dwelled in that guilt before."

The blade now gone, his eyes lingering onto yours. One's so similar he was holding back tears.

"Fulfill the dead's wish and a little hope may strike once again."

In an instant, you were gone. He stood there like an idiot who fell in love for the first time. Was this love or a sense of belonging? Who knows? He can't tell either apart. But he wanted to see you again. To see who he was he talking to.

Though the meet was not purposeful, he couldn't help but stare at your ceiling in confusion. His clothes whirling in the dryer while you passed him a bag of bandages and clothes for him to wear. You left him alone to do his thing, his hand wrapping around the soggy bandages.

At least you waited for him to wake up instead of seeing him. At least you were so kind enough to bring him pork cutlet and serve it to him on the mahogany table. Later, you watched in a loving glare that sent pleasurable shivers down his spine.

At that very moment, he questioned himself.

You, a Port Mafia member, showed him more kindness to him than everyone, besides him, despite this being just natural thing to do. Your hands lingered on more than you realized as you made sure his head had no injury. The fear of being touched so present yet so needy to be dead.

Seemingly, he stayed, using the excuse of feeling fuzzy in the head after falling into the river. Finally giving him his clothes once they finished drying. You sighed as you let him stay in the comfort of your apartment, it seemed as if you didn't want him here. You didn't but no one important was coming to check up on you.

The silence was thicker than the tofu that sat at the top of your bowl. Poking and prodding at the poor thing before plopping it into your mouth. His eyes stared at your moves, figuring you out in that very moment. He couldn't take the silence even if he's dwelled in it before.

"Why did you help me?" he asked, grabbing his chopsticks. "You're Port mafia, I shouldn't matter to you."

"I can't leave a man in the river to die. You still have the rest of your life." Responding quickly to plop more tofu into your mouth.

"What if I wanted to get rid of it? There is no meaning anyway." He frowned.

"No meaning, ay? Life may be meaningless, but I still want to have fun without having to worry about my record."

He stayed silent. He felt like he experienced a similar situation but something was different. The silence was thick again, one he was scared to cut, but he needed something.

"Have you ever fallen in love?"

You stared at him, wary of his question, "Do crushes count?"

He chuckled, "I suppose, but that happiness when you see them, I wish to experience that again."

"I see. I've never really experienced that before."

"Can we both try?"

You fully awake on his sudden confession. Confession? Is this a confession? You don't know and you shouldn't try whatever he wants.

"What do you mean?"

"I want to be your friend then maybe...we can be something more." He whispered that last part, hoping you couldn't catch it.

A sigh left your lips, "I'm Port Mafia. You do realize that. Mori would kill me."

"Don't worry. I can keep this relationship safe."

You were skeptical on that note. You seriously doubted it, but there was something in your mind reaching for it.

"Sure."

"Let us be the greatest of friends, (Y/n)."

"I can live with that, Dazai."

[miraculouslymadsblog]

Reasons why I love Yuri (yuuri) katsuki :

First of all I love how he can go from the chubby and cute to Eros look. I mean just look at it, one minute he is Yuuri 'im so cute and chubby' katsuki to yuuri 'im a delicious pork cutlet bowl' Katsuki.

How Relatable he is

He is a fantastic and the most relatable protagonist, I've ever seen. Because it's so easy to sympathize and relate to him. He is awkward, but that doesn't mean he won't or he can't take risks. I mean the creators, don't just assign one charecter trait, and say "that's it. That's yuri" . No, he is a charecter with complex and conflicting feeling and thoughts, and lots of anxiety before competitions, just like we all face. He reacts differently depending on the situations,and that makes him for relatable. He is surrounded by his loved ones, and yet he still feels alone and isolated himself from others .

I would have to say the thing that make him the most relatable though is his anxiety. It is handled phenomenally by the the show, and is a piece of him, not his whole personality. He's not portrayed as a weakling for it, quite the opposite. He may have moments of weakness but he is better for it, he feels better and relieved after crying, he can show vulnerability and still be strong, or I would argue it's why he's strong. With how deep he is, it is much easier to connect with him and his struggles, making us care about him and his journey.

His charecter development

He goes from a man considering to pursue a different career, to the the Yuri we see in episode 8; one willing to skate his free program on his own with out Victor. He learns to believe in his own abilities to rely on his own strength and to have confidence in himself. He learns all this through the love and support of others, and we see him gain confidence slowing, it is an ever growing process and not something that just happens. Seeing him slowing evolve into the sexy and confident Yuri we all know and love is absolutely amazing. Every time I rewatch the series from the beginning I am in awe of how much he develops.

It's a great message that drives home the shows central them; Love. It's showing us that loving and believing in yourself is key, and can lead you to a much more happy and fulfilling life

His relationship with victor Nikiforov

Yuri starts out as a fanboy who looks up to Victor like a god. Now he has Victor on his knees, servicing him like a queen. Yuri slowly begins to open up to Victor, sharing his life and his insecurities with him so he doesn't have to bear it alone. He starts to see Victor as an equal instead of some unattainable idol, showing even the best of us has faults. Victor provides what Yuri has been needing this whole time; a rock who will love and support him.

This creates an extremely close bond between the two, with no one else truly seeing them for who they are. Victor wants to bring out Yuri's inner beauty into his skating and help him gain more confidence. Yuri wants Victor, not the best figure skater in the world, not the amazing choreographer, not the bachelor, but Victor. They bring out the best in each other, with both being better for it in the end. And their engagement in episode 10. That's the most purest and sweetest thing I've ever seen. They have so much trust, faith and love in eachother. I mean, for me atleast victuuri is the best ship I've ever seen. #Victuuri is life

These are the few reasons why I love the Cinnamon roll because, he is just so pure for this world. And also because I can relate so much with him, because I have anxiety and conflicting feelings. I'm nervous just like him, and I isolate myself from others a lot. And watching yuuri, made me feel like, yes I can do anything, and everything just like him.❤️

[trashyswitch]

Day 25: Ticklish Non-Human Attributes

Janus decides to make Virgil his favorite food as a way to mend their friendship. This simple act ended up going even better than they both expected.

He felt like his relationship with Virgil was more on the rocks, ever since Virgil was accepted by the other sides. So, he wanted to try and mend things between them. So, Janus decided to cook up and give Virgil one of Virgil’s favorite meals. 

And what did that favorite meal happen to be? 

Well…It was ramen! And not just the ramen in a cup, or the instant ramen…It was the real ramen you can get at a traditional ramen shop! The onions, the eggs, the pork cutlet, the Narutomaki, aka the fish cake, and the dark lettuce or nori (seaweed). 

Janus put each item into the ramen, and grabbed the bowl of broth. He dumped the broth into the bowl without a soup spoon, and watched as the ramen and the other things started to react and float in the broth. Janus smiled at his success and put the pot down. 

Then, Janus grabbed a pair of wooden chopsticks and the red renge (the spoon for ramen), and headed to Virgil’s room. He put the chopsticks on top of the ramen bowl, and put the renge, or the ramen spoon, into the ramen before knocking on the door. While he waited for Virgil to answer the door, he carefully fixed his hand position on the plate under the ramen bowl. 

The door opened, revealing Virgil with his hood up to cover up his cat ears. “Oh…Hi.” Virgil said. 

“Upset I’m not Patton?” Janus asked. 

Virgil shook his head. “No…just surprised it’s you.” Virgil admitted. 

“Alright. So…Hello Virgil. I may or may not have made you your favorite food. Would you like some?” Janus asked. 

Virgil softened his expression as he smelled the ramen. It looked appetizing…almost too appetizing. Virgil hesitantly took the plate and bowl with his paws. “This isn’t poisoned…is it?” Virgil asked. 

Janus raised an eyebrow. “Yes?” He replied. 

Virgil narrowed his eyes before bringing the ramen further into his room. “What’s the occasion?” 

Janus chuckled. “No occasion. Just thought you could use a little warm hug from something other than the traditional arm hug.” Janus replied. 

Virgil hummed as he placed the ramen on his dresser. He set up a card table and placed it against the side of his bed. Virgil put the ramen bowl onto the card table, before sitting down on the side of his bed to eat. 

“So…what has been happening?” Janus asked. 

Virgil shrugged his shoulders, humming as he shoved some noodles into his mouth. “Not much…” Virgil replied. 

Janus nodded as he sat on a chair across from Virgil. “Is it bad?” Janus asked. 

Virgil shook his head as he took another mouthful. “It’th really gooth.” Virgil replied with his mouth full. Virgil swallowed. “You were always a really good cook.” Virgil added. 

Janus smiled and nodded as a symbol of thanks. 

“What kind of broth did you use?” Virgil asked. 

“Swanson chicken broth.” Janus replied. 

“I see…You didn’t make chicken broth from scratch?” Virgil teased. 

Janus narrowed his eyes. “Why?” Janus asked. 

Virgil chuckled. “Just joking.” Virgil replied. 

Virgil ate half an egg in one bite, while Janus watched him eat for a couple minutes. “Small question:” Janus said. 

Virgil looked up at Janus. “Hm?” 

“Are your ears still ticklish?” Janus asked. 

Virgil stared at Janus with a blank, slightly impatient face. He swallowed. “…Why?” 

“…No reason.” Janus replied. 

Virgil scoffed. “Sure.” He took in another mouthful of noodles along with some green onions. 

Janus bit his lip and looked down. “Sorry…” 

Virgil shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll tell you if you tell me.” Virgil replied. 

Janus raised an eyebrow. “Tell you what?” 

Virgil smiled slightly. “Are your scales still ticklish?” Virgil asked with a smirk. 

Janus widened his eyes and stared at Virgil. Then, he looked to the side. “Uuuuh…” 

Virgil waited for his answer. “‘Uuuh’…is that a yes? Or a no?” 

Janus awkwardly scratched the back of his scaly neck. “Well…No.” 

Virgil laughed. “I knew it.” 

Janus chuckled nervously. “Nothing to see here…” 

Virgil smirked. “Sure…” 

Janus looked at Virgil. “So…what’s your answer? Yes, your ears are still ticklish? Or no, your ears are not ticklish?” Janus asked. 

Virgil swallowed and put the chopsticks on top of the bowl. “Yes. My ears are still ticklish.” Virgil told Janus. “...and a melt spot.”

Janus smiled eagerly at the last sentence. “Would you mind if I tested this answer?” Janus asked. 

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Why?” 

Janus shrugged his shoulders. “Because it was cute.” 

Virgil scoffed. “Yeah, when I was 7.” He muttered. 

Janus removed his gloves. “I will not tickle you hard.” 

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Not happening, Deceit.” 

“Please?” Janus asked. 

“Not. Happening.” Virgil commanded. 

Janus looked at Virgil with a serious look. “I’ll let you tickle me first.” 

Virgil guffawed. “Wow…Willing to sacrifice your own embarrassment to embarrass me?” Virgil asked. 

Janus shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.” 

Virgil chuckled with a small smile. “So determined...” 

Janus frowned slightly. “I will.” He put up his right hand without the glove on. “I promise.” 

Virgil stared at him with a ‘you have got to be kidding’ face. “You…you’re serious about this?” Virgil asked. 

Janus nodded. “Yes. 100%. Completely serious.” Janus told Virgil. He wasn’t even lying at this point. That was how dedicated Janus was. 

Virgil softened his expression a bit. He bit his lip before making a choice. “Fine. But this means I’m allowed to tickle your armpits, right?” Virgil asked. 

Janus nodded. “Yes.” 

Virgil nodded. “Deal.” Virgil said as he got up. Virgil took off his own sweater and placed it on the bed before walking up to Janus. He wrapped his hand around Janus’s upper hip, and started squeezing his fingers on both sides. “Is thi-”

“GaaAAAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahaha!” Janus shouted. “WHOhohohoa- ohohokahay! Wohohow!” He reacted. 

Virgil smirked a bit and added his other hand to the other hip to steady himself. Janus just laughed and giggled up a storm as he wiggled around uncontrollably. 

“So…which hip tickles more?” Virgil asked. “This one?” Virgil started squeezing only the skin hip. 

Janus threw his head back with a fit of giggles. “EEHEheheheek! Hehey!” 

“Or this hip?” Virgil switched to tickling his scaly hip. Janus snorted and laughed hysterically. “BAAHAHAHAHA! THIS ONE! THIHIHIS OHONE IS WOHORRRSE!” Janus yelled. 

“Oooooh! Interesting.” Virgil reacted. 

Virgil moved his hands to Janus’s sides next. He lifted up Janus’s collared shirt and cracked his knuckles. “Which one tickles more? The skin side?” Virgil started squeezing and skittering his fingers on the right side, aka the skin side. 

Janus felt as his hat fell off his head while he shook his head wildly. “Myhyhyhy hahahat! Nohohoho!” Janus reacted. 

Virgil took a moment to move his hat over to the bed. “I’ll give you the hat after.” Virgil told him. Then, he went right to tickling the left side, aka the scarly side. 

Janus wheezed and bursted out in strong, deep laughter. “Hahahahaha! Yohohou ahare a bruhuhutal tihihickleherr!” Janus reacted. 

“I know~” Virgil teased. 

Virgil moved his hands up to the armpits and lifted the right arm up. “Tell me: are you more ticklish here?” Virgil asked as he tickled the right armpit, aka the skin armpit. 

Janus squeezed his eyes shut and giggled all high-pitched like a little giggly child. 

Virgil couldn’t help but chuckle at this. “Or more ticklish here?” Virgil asked next as he lifted up Janus’s right arm and tickled Janus’s right armpit. 

Janus guffawed and laughed gleefully as he wiggled around to get out of Virgil’s grasp. “THE RIHIHIGHT! THEHEHE RIHIHIGHT’S WOHOHORRRSE!” Janus yelled. 

“Wow! I can certainly tell.” Virgil reacted. 

“AHAHAHALRIGHT, MYHYHY TUHUHURN!” Janus told him. 

“Aww…already?” Virgil asked. 

“YEHEHEHEHEHESS!” Janus replied. 

Virgil nodded and let go of Janus’s arm. He removed his hand from Janus’s scaly armpit, before backing up a bit to let the half-snake replenish his oxygen intake. Janus coughed a bit and took in deeper breaths so he could recuperate faster and more efficiently. Though, he was careful. He didn’t want to suck in too much air, for fear of creating a coughing fit. 

Virgil grabbed the chopsticks and ate a bit more of his noodles while she waited for Janus to get better. A few mouthfuls later, Virgil put the chopsticks down again, sat down on the ground in criss-cross-apple-sauce, and smiled as Janus started to sit up. 

“Alright..,my turn.” Janus said as he got up. Janus crawled himself up to Virgil and placed a hand onto his little right cat ear. 

Virgil squeaked and covered his mouth in shock. Did he really just make that noise?! 

Janus chuckled. “Awww…” He said. 

Virgil groaned and covered his whole face with both his paws. How embarrassing…

But Janus was a good sport about it. He gently brought Virgil against his chest, and cuddled him. He petted his back for a little bit, trying to help him relax and grow calm. Amazingly, this actually worked. Virgil seemed to calm down enough in Janus’s arms. Perhaps this cuddling reminded Virgil of when they were younger?

Soon, Janus decided to proceed with his idea: 

He brought his left hand up to Virgil’s ear, and started massaging the lower ear. Virgil began to smile and shake slightly from the giggles that were spilling out of his mouth. 

“Mmmhmhmhmhm…” Virgil mumbled some giggles. 

Janus paused his tickling. “Having fun?” Janus asked. 

Virgil nodded and looked up at Janus with his wide, kitty eyes. “Mmhmm…” 

Janus widened his eyes and smiled brightly. He hadn’t seen Virgil look at him like this since age 14! This was incredible!! 

Janus decided to give Virgil’s ears a few more massages. He placed one hand each onto Virgil’s ears, and started massaging and scratching. 

“Pfffhehehehehehe!” Virgil giggled, shoving his face further into Janus’s chest. 

Janus smiled and playfully blew gentle air onto Virgil’s right ear. This made Virgil’s ear flutter as the cat let out a high pitched squeak. “Doooon’t!” Virgil whined. 

“Too much?” Janus asked. 

Virgil nodded, rubbing his face up and down against Janus’s chest. Janus just chuckled softly as he went back to massaging his ears again. 

Virgil continued to giggle and squeal his way through janus’s gentle tickles. And once Virgil got used to his strategies for tickling, he began to enjoy it a little more. Janus always knew that his ears were a ticklish melt spot on him…and usually it was an embarrassing fact that he didn’t like  about himself. But…maybe the melt spot is growing on Virgil now…

The melt spot had certainly grown onto Janus a long time ago. He loved the melt spot so much as a kid! Probably too much…to the point of really missing it when Virgil told him to stop tickling the spot. So being able to do this decades later, was a huge blessing. 

Janus and Virgil stayed like this for a long time. It was long enough that when Virgil was finally able to finish his noodles, the meal was ice cold. He ended up needing to heat it up in the microwave. And when Virgil went to the kitchen, Virgil discovered the huge mess in the kitchen. 

Virgil chuckled. “Well…you may be a good cook…but you are still a disaster at cleaning up your messes…”

[triptychgrip]

After thinking about this a little more, I wanted to bring up a topic of discussion that I think gets to part of why I find the headcanon of Yuuri being ace (specifically, demisexual) and his evolution in understanding himself so compelling. This is particularly when you think of him as an artist/performer, and someone who invites attention regularly in his career path.

It's apparent through things like Yuuri telling Viktor that he's going to become a "super tasty pork cutlet bowl" that Yuuri's understanding of Viktor's challenge to embody Eros is one where he must try to develop an understanding of himself as an object of sexual desire.

And while that ultimate goal of channeling sexiness can certainly be linked to the experience of Yuuri feeling sexual attraction, I think a lot of ace/demi people do not necessarily think of these two things -- being looked at as an object of sexual desire, and experiencing sexual attraction to someone -- as always going hand-in-hand, the way it might for someone who is allosexual.

I really like kink educator Evie Lupine's video ("Do Other Asexuals Feel This Way?") that speaks to this topic (starting at 2:43), because I think the idea of being ace and also grappling with whether or not you want to be seen as someone who is sexually attractive/alluring can be really, really complicated. It has been for me, at least. I imagine it would be complicated for Yuuri, too, if he is getting implicit and explicit messages from his lifelong idol that he should strive to be an object of sexual desire, especially if it's something he hasn't given much thought to in the past.

I probably haven't articulated myself in the best way, and that's because this topic is very personal for me, and I have tons of thoughts that aren't easy to untangle from one another. Perhaps I'll add a part 3 of my thoughts, once I've fleshed them out more

EDIT: in the interest of being as precise as possible, I wanted to note that I should have written "I think a lot of ace/demi people do not necessarily think of these two things -- wanting to be looked at as an object of sexual desire, and experiencing sexual attraction to someone -- as always going hand-in-hand, the way it might for someone who is allosexual" (To really spell it out: in an allo context, it's often assumed that if you are sexually attracted to someone that you will want them to desire you in a sexual way, in turn, and I was trying to make the point that this assumption doesn't always hold true in an ace context, (and that it might not for Yuuri, at least at first))

"From a physical standpoint, I'm not even close to eros."

I think about this moment from episode 3 a lot, as I think it was around my third or fourth rewatch of the show that I wondered about the explicit use of the word 'physical'.

Why would the creators of Yuri!!! on Ice have chosen to say "from a physical standpoint", instead of just "I'm not even close to eros", or something like "no matter how you look at it, I'm nowhere close to eros"?

In my opinion -- I feel the need to emphasize the use of the word 'opinion', because I want to be clear that this is my own headcanon, and in no way am I trying to assert fact about characterization -- I think the express use of the word might imply something about Yuuri's sexuality...specifically, that while he can't conceptualize of 'eros' as a physical thing (i.e. literally something he can channel with his body), that sexual attraction or understanding of sexual love is something that he has only ever been able to think about as an emotional idea.

Which lends itself to the possibility that Yuuri could be demisexual (gray-sexual).

I wanted to note right off of the bat that I'm certainly not the first person to entertain this idea. I really loved the write-up that @thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai created on Yuuri not getting eros and think it's one of the most thorough explanations for Yuuri's possible ace identity. (And @thegirlwhorideslikeasamurai, I hope it's ok that I'm linking your meta post!! Please let me know if not and I'd be happy to edit!). That post gives excellent explanations for why 1) Yuuri grinding on Viktor at the banquet, 2) the comment about being impregnated by Viktor's eros, and 3) his turning away from Viktor when he stretches in front of him at the onsen don't invalidate the possibility of Yuuri's ace identity.

If others know of good metas on the subject, please send them my way! I myself identify as demisexual, and it's always great to see this identity talked about in relation to my favorite media.

It's a concept that I'm excited to explore in my own writing.

Among my WIPs, I have been working on a multichapter Viktuuri developing relationship story -- it's an AU, one where Viktor and Makkachin begin swapping bodies during the period of time that Yuuri/Yurio are preparing for Onsen on Ice -- and in Chapter 3 (which I hope to upload in a few days), I'll delve into the possibility of demisexual Yuuri.

In particular, I'm excited to share my take on the 'Katsudon is my Eros!' dinner scene that the above screenshot borrows from.

I always thought it was notable that Makka was with Yuuri during his evening run where he wails in despair that Viktor/Yurio must find his ideas immature. Yuuri's willingness to have Makka with him in his distress signaled to me that he finds her presence comforting (I've always headcanoned Makka as female), which is notable, given that we know that at this point in canon, Yuuri still finds Viktor intimidating and has no idea how his idol perceives him.

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-yigas]

Idk why I want it, but. Mipha and Von??? Maybe something spicy?

Weird choice, but hey! Let's mix things up! I mean, I will lewd anyone if asked, so!

Von could behave himself. For the most part. That's what he was telling himself when he was helping Mipha out. Link was out of Hyrule, something about family or whatever, and Kohga, ever the sweet dude, wanted to make sure Mipha had someone to help out. So, Von was in charge of being at her beck and call. Though he was excited, he kinda realized he wasn't the best choice. Because as he was standing there, in her kitchen, he kept checking her out.

Not that it was his fault. She was a cute little lady. Small, sweet, like fresh cherries, and when you combine that with an ass like that, well, he definitely wanted to pop that cherry. But he recalled Kohga's words, vividly;

'If you don't behave yourself, I'm going to tie your dick to a sand seal, and let it fucking run off'

Yeah. Kohga REALLY cared for Mipha.

"Von? I hate to bother you- could you fetch the smoked paprika for me?"

"Sure, sure. The second you stop calling yourself a bother, that is."

She smiled a bit as she contuined her cooking.

"Apologies. I'm just not used to having a man to 'boss around' as Kohga put it. It feels so excessive, I don't expect Zora soldiers to be so ready for an order."

Von shrugged as he reached up to grab the spice she asked, bringing it to the table.

"Eh, you know Kohga. He just wants to make sure you're pampered. Like a sugar daddy, but without the sugar. So like. Splenda daddy I guess-you get my point."

She nodded, a bit of a giggle at her lips. Von didn't know why but...she always laughed at his jokes. No one really did that. He leaned over the counter, lightly bumping her with his hip.

"You like laughing at my jokes, don't ya?"

"You have great humor. My father always said great humor meant an even better heart."

Her eyes went to his chest, before her cheeks flared up, and she returned to her food. Was she just checking out his chest? Nah. Had to be just in his head. He pulled back a bit, realizing he was sort of making her uncomfortable.

"It's uh...good saying. Er, imma go hang out on your couch, come get me if you need me, yeah?"

She nodded, and he exited the kitchen. He hopped onto the sofa, and pulled out the slate. Message from Master Kohga.

'How is she doing? Is she missing Link?'

'If she does, she's not telling me. She seems fine rn, she's making dinner for us. I offered, but she's more stubborn than I thought'

'That's my girl. And YOU'RE behaving, right?'

'I'm being more of a gentleman than I've ever been. Hell, I took the groceries in for her, held open doors and shit- my mama would be proud to see me. If she wasn't blind'

'Just making sure. Glad I picked you for this, hate the idea of her being lonely. Keep me updated, if she looks like she needs ANYTHING, you tell me.'

'Got it boss, ttyl'

He was about to look through some random videos online, when Mipha cried out from the kitchen.

"Von! Dinner's ready!"

He got off the couch, and walked into the kitchen. She set the table up, real fancy looking. Von wasn't a picky eater, so anything she'd make would've been welcomed-

"Are those...pork cutlets?"

"Yes! Kohga told me they were your favorite, and I wanted to thank you for dealing-er, spending so much time with me. You've been kind."

"Huh. No wonder Kohga likes you so much. Well, thanks, I appreciate that."

Von sat at the table, and tucked in. Usually he had better table manners, but holy SHIT was this good pork. Mipha barely touched her food before Von started to pig out, and it clearly amused her.

"Oh, you eat just like Link does. He loves my food."

"I can see why- this is honestly SO good, he's lucky he gets to eat this all day."

"Oh I've never made pork cutlets before."

Von's surprise clearly amused her, and he was so surprised, he had to put his bowl down.

"This is your FIRST try? Ganon, you're a talented lady. Link is real lucky to have someone like you."

"That's very kind of you. Genuinely."

He nodded, before choosing to just shut up and eat. He finished his bowl so fast, he wanted to eat it all over again. She pushed a plate of vegetables towards him, nodding.

"Don't forget your vegetables, now."

"If you made it, I sure as shit won't-er, sorry. Don't tell Kohga I swore, he might beat my ass."

She chuckled as he practically destroyed those vegetables. They were seasoned perfectly, cooked till soft-he could eat this stuff like pigs could eat slop.

"I won't. Believe it or not Von, I'm not some innocent flower as many think. Oh, you got a mess on your shirt."

He looked down at his clothes, and realized he did in fact, drop something on his shirt, leaving a grease stain. He was about to grab a napkin, when she did it for him. As in, she put one hand on his chest, and using his other hand to dab at the spot.

"I'll throw your things in the wash. But you need to dab it first, lest the stain...sets."

Her eyes met his. She had such pretty eyes. Amber, much like her brother's, only softer. He hesitated, unsure of what to do, before she suddenly pulled away, suddenly looking stiff as a board, before she turned, digging into the fridge.

"H-hey, why don't we have some dessert? I got this recipe from Kohga!"

What was that. What the shit was happening? He shook his head. Maybe he was just imagining things. She came back with a rather pretty looking banana cream pie, and he watched as she licked a bit of whipped cream on her finger. She had such a cute little tongue. Not that he was paying attention, he had pie to eat.

----------------------------

He didn't know when he woke up. He just knew that when he did, that there was a reason for it. He slept in the guest bedroom, while Mipha slept in her own. He got up, decided to just stick to his underwear and mask, and walked into the living room. It was dark. He tried to listen. There was...whimpering. It was slight, but it was there. He was slow as he walked to her bedroom, and opened the door. He wished he knocked. Why?

Because Mipha was currently in there, fucking a dildo that was stuck to the wall. She stood there, bouncing on it while one hand covered her mouth, and the other held onto the bed in front of her. He should be looking away, at least SAY something so she could stop. But he just sat there, watching. She looked good, cheeks all red, eyes all hazy, and her pussy leaking all over the toy.

He didn't even mean to start touching himself. He just. Did. He was stroking himself, just so fucking jealous of that toy fucking such a cute pussy.

"Just a little more, please, I'm so close, I'm so close-"

He wanted her to cum. He wanted to watch that face when she climaxed. But instead, he watched her face as she saw him there.

"VON-"

She was so surprised, she fell to the floor with a rather loud 'thud'. Kohga was gonna fucking kill him. He jumped into the room, and immediately dove down to see if she was okay, not noticing that he just pinned her underneath him.

"Oh no no- Mipha, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Her eyes met his, and he felt her hot breath tickle his lips. She spoke not a word. She just looked at him, and wrapped her arm around his neck. He couldn't take it anymore. He picked her up off the floor, tossed her onto her bed, and grabbed her cute ankles. He pushed them till they were at the side of her head, and slipped his dick right inside of her.

"You're...m-much bigger than the toy-!"

She whimpered her words, and In a hot second, she was crying for him, practically worshipping him for every thrust inside of her. She was so small, he saw himself bulge inside of her, and he filled her up effortlessly. He buried his face in her neck, loving how she smelled like water lillies.

"You don't need some stupid toy. I'll fuck you. I'll fuck this cute little pussy, I'll stuff it full. You just ask, and I'll fucking give it to you."

She was so wet, she was soaking the sheets below them, she was so loud, he swore people outside could hear her fucking getting it. It was even hotter when she dug her claws right into his back, just the way he liked it. And her bashful nature...suddenly wasn't so bashful. Her small, delicate lips turned into a snarl full of sharp teeth, and her voice was damn near demanding.

"Harder. I want to be properly fucked, and be properly fucked NOW."

He'd be a shitty gentleman if he refused a request from his lady. So, he gave her harder. He gave her faster. He fucked her exactly like she deserved, and when she was close, he reached a hand down below, and rubbed her cute little clit. And he was right. Mipha looked SO cute when she came. Her toes curled, her eyes went hazy, and her pussy clenched around his cock, damn near squeezing the cum from him. How he held it in was a total miracle. He spoke somehow, through his panting and through his sweating.

"I-i didn't ask, should I c-cum inside or-"

She put her hand on his chest, pushing him off. He thought she was mad somehow, only to get on her knees, and wrap her small chest around his cock, pushing him back and forth. No fucking way. He was getting a tit job from a PRINCESS. And he got to finish, all over her face and her chest. He sat there, cock still twitching from his damn good orgasm, when he realized.

NOW Kohga was gonna fucking kill him.

[ididntneedanewfandom]

BakuDeku Winter Week 1 - Reparations

"I'm home."

There's no reply to Katsuki's words. Granted, they were quiet enough that they might have gotten lost under the music playing softly in the living room. It's been a long day and he's too tired to even speak at his usual volume. The 'heroing' part of the day went fine; it's filling out forms afterward that completely fries his brain. He thought he was done with useless paperwork when he graduated from U.A.. No such luck. And to top it all, the unseasonable spring heat has been horrendous. It's helpful for his quirk, sure, but after a point it's just oppressive.

He's late enough that he'd have expected dinner to be waiting for him, or to have received a request from his nerd to pick up takeout on the way home. But there are no yummy smells to greet him--not even burnt ones as sometimes happen--and it looks like if he wants food he'll have to work on that himself. Any other night it'd be fine, but he's tired enough that the prospect isn't all that appealing.

Although...

That deep-seated tiredness seems to melt away when he walks into the living room to find Deku reclining on the couch with his back to the armrest and one of his notebooks propped up on his raised knees. He's wearing that too big, slightly misshapen wool sweater in All Might's costume colors, the one Katsuki always teases him about. How he can bear to wear that warm thing in this weather, Katsuki has no idea.

"Used to be, you'd be all over me when I walked in the door," Katsuki says with a mock-wounded look as he approaches the couch. "I guess the honeymoon phase is over, huh?"

Deku blinks those big eyes up at him a couple of times.

"Oh, hi Kacchan," he says with a small smile. "I didn't hear you come in."

Katsuki snorts. That much was obvious. Climbing over the end of the couch, he crawls up to Deku, pushing his knees apart to settle between them, unceremoniously dropping the notebook and pen he takes from Deku to the floor.

"Hey, wait, I was--"

Katsuki silences what was coming next by pressing his mouth to Deku's. He suddenly feels a lot better, but there's still room for improvement.

He lifts his mouth and body off Deku's just enough that he has room to tug at the sweater to get to the delicious, warm skin beneath.

"Kacchan, please be careful," Deku mumbles.

"Careful about what? You're not as breakable as you used to be."

Even with Deku helpfully lifting his hips to free the bit of sweater stuck under his ass, Katsuki has to work hard to get it off him. It's caught underneath him, but one last tug--

"What... What was that?”

Deku sits up properly now, dislodging Katsuki from his lap even as he reclaims the sweater from him with shaky hands, a steady stream of "No, no, please no" rising from his lips.

"What's gotten into you?" Katsuki asks, frowning.

"It felt like..."

He falls silent as his fingers find the large rip on the back, longer than Katsuki's hand, multiple strands of frayed wool hanging loose. His expression is one of pure grief; Katsuki's stomach twists unpleasantly.

"I asked you to be careful," Deku murmurs, and Katsuki knows that tone of voice. Years ago, it'd have been accompanied by tears. Deku doesn't cry so much anymore... But it doesn't make things any better when he's really upset. He just clams up, and fuck knows what Katsuki can do to fix it when it happens.

"It's just a cheesy old sweater, " he mutters. "I'll get you one from my merch line. Better quality and better colors."

His pointed look dares Deku to protest that--they once spent a very pleasant night arguing about costume colors in between rounds of fucking, and Katsuki wouldn't mind a repeat. But when he crawls back up Deku's body again, when he slides a hand over Deku's ridiculously tight abs, Deku slaps his hand away and shimmies out from under Katsuki until he can stand, still clutching the mangled sweater.

"It was Toshinori's," he says in a cold voice, glaring at Katsuki.

It's so rare to see Deku direct actual anger toward him that Katsuki's old defenses go back up instantly. Stinging words fall from his lips before he even knows he's speaking.

"Stealing from other people's closets? And here I thought you only stole my clothes. I guess I'm not that special, huh?"

Deku's gaze hardens just a little more, and Katsuki almost expects lightning to start coursing over his body. His voice is cold enough that it could put IcyHot's quirk to shame.

"He gave it to me. It was sample merch that never got mass produced because it was handmade and too complicated to bring to market. He kept it because he said it fit him in both his forms. He thought I'd get a kick out of having it in my collection, so when he was cleaning up his things before ... He gave it to me. And you just ruined it when I asked you to be careful. But it's not like you've ever cared about my stuff anyway, is it?"

It hurts.

It hurts because it's true--or was true. Watching Deku walk away, listening to his heavy feet and the banging of their bedroom door, Katsuki can't help but remember other instances when he broke or destroyed Deku's things just because he could. The fact that today it was an accident doesn't make it any less his fault.

Katsuki groans and runs a hand over his face. He really fucked up.

He'd like nothing more than to follow Deku and not let him walk away from him--how things have changed… But then what? 'Sorry' doesn't feel like it'd be nearly enough, and Katsuki doesn't know what else he's supposed to say.

Tired steps take him to the kitchen. He stands in front of the open fridge for a while before pulling out the ingredients for katsudon. He's really not in the mood to cook, but he doesn't know what else to do.

He's just about done frying the pork and already filling up two bowls when slow steps come up behind him. He glances back at Deku, who stands there in a t-shirt inscribed with the words 'boyfriend shirt', his hands in his pockets.

"I'm so--" he starts, but Katsuki doesn't let him finish.

"Swear to god, Deku, if you try to apologize I'm shoving my foot up your ass."

Deku frowns at him.

"That's what grow-ups do, Kacchan. When they say something ugly or something they don't mean, or when they do something they shouldn't, they apologize."

"And what good does that do?" Katsuki mutters as he tops the bowls of food with the pork cutlets and places both on their small kitchen table. "Words won't knit your sweater back together. Sit down."

Taking his own advice, he draws a chair and sits. He fiddles with his chopsticks until Deku sighs and sits across from him.

"Itadakimasu," he says quietly, his eyes on his food.

Katsuki grunts in reply and watches him take a couple of bites before he asks, his voice tight and low, "Can it be repaired?"

Deku shrugs a little, and briefly looks up.

"I doubt it. It's a big rip. It's my fault, I noticed a loose bit of wool before and I didn't do anything about it. I should have fixed it then."

And it's just so completely <i>Deku</i> to take the blame for something that wasn't his fault that Katsuki doesn't know whether he wants to kick him or kiss him. In the end, he lightly kicks his shin under the table, and when Deku glares up at him, he mumbles, not quite meeting Deku's eyes even as his cheeks heat up, "'M sorry. For ripping your sweater and for what I said."

Deku's foot finds his again for something that feels more like a caress than a kick.

"The food's delicious," he says softly. "Thank you."

And Katsuki knows he's forgiven--just as well as he knows he doesn't deserve to be. Not yet.

*

Seven months later

This year again, they set up a Christmas tree.

All right, so Izuku sets up a Christmas tree while Kacchan sits there and watches. At least this time he doesn't say it's a silly tradition, though he did insist that Izuku only set it up the night before Christmas. Seeing how busy they've both been lately, Izuku doesn't think he'd have found the time to set it up sooner regardless.

And besides, Kacchan never said when it's got to come down...

Izuku just likes the lights twinkling when the room is dark at night. And he likes finding hero-themed ornaments to hang from the branches. He has four All Might ones on there, each in a different costume. He doesn't despair of finding one for EraserHead someday. He has a Froppy one and a Uravity one--they're not licensed merch, just handmade figures created by a fan he found online. He's got an official Shouto ornament--well, really it's a collectible figure meant to sit on a shelf, Izuku just looped a bit of string around Shouto's outstretched hand... and he makes sure to hang it way in the back, so Kacchan won't roll his eyes and pout every time he looks at the tree.

There's also a licensed Dynamight ornament on there, and Izuku makes sure to put it front and center. Kacchan absolutely loathes it, because whoever sculpted it gave him a smile--a nice, soft smile, the kind of smile Izuku is the only one lucky enough to receive. Which is why Izuku loves it. And why he bought seven of them, the replacements stashed in a secure place just in case this one 'mysteriously' disappears.

After hanging up another handful of ornaments--they're minor heroes, but Izuku has had the chance to work with each of them--he stands back to admire his work. A little behind him, Kacchan grabs a fistful of his t-shirt and pulls until Izuku, laughing, stumbles back and into his lap. Kacchan's arms immediately wrap around him, holding him where he is--not that Izuku has any other place to be.

"What do you think?" he asks happily, watching the multicolor lights blink on and off randomly.

Kacchan grunts. "Don't think I didn't notice you hiding Candycane in the back. You should put a real candy cane on there, it'd look nicer."

Clucking his tongue, Izuku taps the thigh underneath his own.

"Be nice," he admonishes. "Or I'll put two of yours on there."

A huff against the base of his neck sends shivers down Izuku's spine.

"It doesn't need another one of me on there," Kacchan mutters. "But it could use one of you."

Izuku wouldn't mind, but his agency isn't like Kacchan's. They don't really do merch there--which Izuku is fine with, he agrees with his boss that the important part is to be a hero, not to sell stuff, and he's about to remind Kacchan of that when something small and green dangles in his peripheral vision. With some difficulty, he lifts his eyes from the tree and looks at...

Himself.

Or, well, a version of himself.

The figure dangling from Kacchan's fingers on a silver string is just three or four inches tall, but the details on it, from the costume to the pose to the expression on the face, are all exquisite. Whoever sculpted this--is it clay? It looks like glazed clay--did an awesome job.

And gave Izuku an absolutely feral expression.

Izuku doesn't know whether to laugh or squeal or just turn around and kiss Kacchan.

"It's a little Deku!" he exclaims, then laughs as he takes the figure in his hands. "A really angry little Deku!"

"Bet he's angry because Dynamight has been hanging in that tree with all these extras without him. You should put him up there."

Izuku is happy to do so, but not before turning In Kacchan's lap and stealing a kiss... or maybe even two.

Then he practically bounces to the tree and carefully hangs up his figure next to Kacchan's. They're the same size and fit perfectly together. It makes Izuku wish they'd get to fight side by side more often. Maybe some day, he thinks wistfully, they'll open an agency together. They've talked about it a few times, but they're still rookies, barely out of school, and while they technically <i>could</i>, they both agreed it was too soon.

"I love my present, Kacchan," Izuku says as he turns back to his boyfriend. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kacchan says, "but it's not your present. This is."

His fingers drum on the top of the plain white box that definitely wasn't next to him on the couch just a second ago. Izuku tilts his head, wishing one of his quirk was X-ray vision or something. His fingers itch and he doesn't dare take a step forward.

"Do you want to put it under the tree with yours?" he says softly.

Kacchan shakes his head.

"Come here," he says. "Open it."

Izuku doesn't move.

"But Christmas is only tomorrow," he protests, his voice sounding weak even to his own ears.

Kacchan's lips stretch on a wicked grin. "Have it your way. I'll open it, then, and keep it for my--"

Before he can finish or slide his fingers under the edge of the box, Izuku plops himself back down on his lap and draws the box onto his knees. Laughing, Kacchan encircles his waist with his arms again and rests his chin on Izuku's shoulder, watching as he lifts the top of the box and reveals a familiar pattern and colors: All Might's costume.

It takes a good two or three seconds before Izuku recognizes the equally familiar ridges of knitted wool. His breath catches in his throat and he very slowly, very carefully lifts what he knows is a sweater out of the box.

It's his sweater. He knows it is, because there's a small, black spot of indelible ink near the collar; it was already there when Izuku got it.

It's the sweater he's kept in the bottom drawer of his dresser for the past few months, unable to wear it anymore without aggravating the rip but unwilling to put it away for good.

But when he turns it around, the rip is gone. And if Izuku didn't know exactly where to look, he probably wouldn't notice the repaired area. Everything matches, from the color of the wool to the pattern of the knitting. The only thing is that the wool seems a little newer in that area, less fuzzy than the rest, but that's only because Izuku knows what he's looking at.

"Kacchan," he breathes, but doesn't know what else to say.

"Is that all right?" Kacchan asks, his voice tight. "I mean, I know I should have asked first before touching your stuff, but then it'd have ruined the surprise."

"It's..." Izuku's throat feels too tight. He clutches the sweater to his chest. "It's perfect. Thank you."

After Kacchan kisses the back of his head, he manages to ask, "But... how? I looked for shops that repair knitted things but I didn't find anything."

Kacchan mumbles something; Izuku isn't quite sure he hears right. "You... what?"

"I learned to knit," Kacchan repeats a little louder, sounding embarrassed of all things. "My parents work with this old woman sometimes, she knits samples of their designs for them and then they have factories recreate the stuff. I asked her if it was fixable, and when she said yes I asked if she'd teach me how. I wanted to have it ready for your birthday but that shit took longer than I expected. I just finished last week."

Izuku understands all the words individually but he struggles to make sense of them all together. Shifting on Kacchan's lap, he turns to look at him, and is surprised to find him red-faced.

"You learned to knit?" he asks, unable to keep an edge of awe from his voice.

"I messed up your sweater," Kacchan mutters. "Wanted to fix the damn thing." Rather than looking at Izuku, he rests his forehead against Izuku's collarbone and talks against his t-shirt. "There's a lot of stuff I can't fix, but that, at least--"

Izuku has heard enough. Holding the sweater close with one hand, he cups Kacchan's face with the other and kisses him within an inch of his life. Soon, Izuku is wearing his sweater again. The lights of the tree keep twinkling, but Izuku only has eyes for Kacchan.

[bxllafanficc]

¡Skate/sing your hearts out! (Yuri Plisetsky x reader)

(part one)

part two part three part four part five. Find the rest on; Masterlist

Summary: After last year's cancellation of Figure Skating Grand Prix, Yuri Plisetsky finds himself unable to bring out his inner skater after a year of doing nothing but enjoy life like a regular teenager. That's when you enter the picture; We Are Voice Grand Awards's currently hottest competitive vocalist come first place two years in a row. Just like the other competitors of Grand Prix, it turns out that Victor and Yuuri faces the same issue. With an arrangement between Victor and Yakov, they agree to travel to Japan and hire you as a mutual coach for Yuri and Yuuri to help bring back the emotion into their performances like before, maybe even more intense than ever. Yuri however, who's never experienced issues with his coaches before, for some reason finds this one particularly difficult to coexist along with in their (reasonably) odd partnership. Warnings: none

*Yuri's POV*

"Remind me once again why we're going to Japan? It's clear you'd never take us there just because you miss Victor and I know by experience that it's not because of his apprentice."

First class flight like usual. The view out the airplane window of the sparkling city at nighttime below them would stun anybody but at this point, Yuri has traveled so many times it's only become regular sights and the lights of the streets are only plain colored spots in a dark void to him these days. One thing he will never feel comfortable with though is staying in the same seat for hours on end until the airplane arrives at its destination. His legs are itching from wanting to move around. He'll just have to jog it off back on the ground like every other trip in the past.

"You'll be spending some time with Yuuri Katsuki and Victor the following weeks to gain your fighting spirit back. You need to get back in touch with your emotions, remember?" Yakov slightly turned his posture towards the Russian skater beside him, folding his newspaper in half and putting it in his lap.

He only nodded with a slight hum. He could see Yakov's reasoning, some parts of it at least. He HAD been lacking in emotional performance ever since the new year began and it was time to get back into the mindset of winning yet another Grand Prix gold medal like last year. No, not last year. Last year's competition was cancelled after a minor pandemic spread through Russia and the nearby regions. In fear of the virus spreading, all competitions cancelled and larger crowded areas were forbidden to take place. Therefore Yuri's only been able to practice by himself and keeping himself fit for a possible competition next year. But a year of doing nothing can really change your spirit and afraid to admitting it to his coach, he's been missing several opportunities to hit the rink and stayed home watching anime or scrolled through social media instead.

But one thing he doesn't get is how Victor and Yuuri are gonna make him get his mindset in the right track again. He already won his first gold medal at his senior debut and he doubt that the Japanese skater will be in any better condition than Yuri's currently in right now. Pig-man must've been in a much worse state considering his boo Victor had to stay in Russia during the pandemic, unable to keep an eye on Yuuri's routines.

"Besides, there's a little surprise waiting for you where you'll be staying with the two of them. It better work out fine or else I'm out of ideas."

That caught his attention to say the least.

"Well if it's supposed to save me from the deep end then why be so secretive and hushy with it? Spill the news, Yakov."

The old man only grunted and picked up his newspaper once again and hid his face behind it. Well now he really wanted to know what it was. Clearly he would have to make some effort. Soon the article about a Russian charity event taking place this weekend got replaced with a clenched fist going straight through the back of the paper. Yuri expected some kind of reaction but Yakov only sighed and leaned back in his seat without even a flinch.

"It's no surprise if I tell you. I promised Victor to keep it a secret."

"Tell me."

"No."

Yuri groaned and folded his arms with a sour glare. The display in the ceiling told the traveler's that it was 10 minutes until landing so he gave up his attempts and let his eyes rest for a while. At least he would find out tomorrow, he assumed. It was 2am and he would be staying at a hotel close to the airport since it was too late to make rest of the trip in one day.

Yuri was out with the speed of a lightning bolt the second the plane doors opened. He sped past everyone before him and he didn't stop when he finally got outside. His feet carried him to run circles around the plane meanwhile he was waiting for Yakov to get out the normal way. It's a silly habit of his and he knows he looks stupid doing it but his coach has given him strict orders to not run away at one random direction like used to do at first. It would take like half an hour for him to be found once he took off, but only if he got lost.

"Yuri! Get over here!"

Well, there's his cue to get ready and head to the hotel. Finally he's able to get some sleep before he's forced to wake up early at dawn to head to Hot Springs and meet the two most annoying people in Japan.

...

He didn't even have time to eat breakfast. He overslept and got rushed to the cab with an angry Yakov behind him, newspaper folded tightly in his fist. The trip through the beautiful Japan would've been pleasant if Yuri hadn't dozed off every 10 seconds. He didn't get much sleep after all. He spent at least three hours thinking about the special surprise and raiding the free mini bar before he finally got to rest. At 8am he was woken up with banging on the door and now, at 10am, he was standing at the entrance of Hot Springs waiting for Yuuri's mom to announce their arrival. She hurried away somewhere with her usual bubbly happy self that Yuri had no idea how a person could be so... not moody all day long.

The place was as crowded with customers as last time and the two Russians were told to step inside to the more private parts of the building where the family lived along with Victor at the moment.

"Victor! How come my brand new lotion is used? You smelled a suspicious amount of peaches and wild berries at breakfast and there's no point denying it!" A fairly soft and modulated voice was heard from somewhere to the left where the private shower stalls were located. A couple seconds later a giggly Victor and Yuuri came through the direction of the living room and greeted Yuri with happy cheers. The slender white haired Russian caught Yakov in a bear hug, much to the old man's surprise. Yuuri extended his hand towards Yuri but Yuri didn't give any effort in taking it.

"Food. I'm starving."

Yuuri dropped his hand with a light blush but Victor pouted and let go of his former coach. Strong and clingy arms were suddenly wrapped around his chest and he couldn't breathe.

"So unpolite... Yuriooo we've missed you! Haven't you missed us?"

Yuri thrashed like a fish caught in a net and tried to hit the arms of the bastard trapping him. Yuuri joined in, only to get a kick in the hip. His stomach growled angrily and the endless void in his body didn't lighten up the experience a bit.

"Let go you old man! You too piglet!"

"I hoped you'd say it out loud but I know that deep down you've been missing us, Yuriii." Victor went to whisper in his ear with pouty lips but was swatted away by a backhand in his face. That finally caused him to let go and Yuri jumped out of reach for the two males.

"Hm... Or not." The expression he got from Victor was sad and pouty and the man earned a hand on his shoulder, put there by Yuuri. Yuri could only sigh and shake his head.

"Victor! Did you steal my shampoo too?! I will- Oh? What now?" Yuri turned around abruptly by the unfamiliar yet familiar voice behind him. His eyes widened.

The girl was standing to the left of the hall, seemingly coming from the shower. A curious hand rested against the wall beside her and her face was covered in a grey clay face mask, a toothbrush lazily hanging from the corner of her lips. Her (h/c) eyes glistened with mild shock along with her mouth hanging slightly open.

"You are early... Victor, you told me they would arrive at 1pm1!" She pointed a strict finger at the tall man who scratched the back of his head with a hesitant laugh. Her eyes narrowed and she grabbed her toothbrush. Because even if she was standing unprepared in front of two strangers, she would at least not forget to brush her teeth in the process, as you do.

Yuri might've considered it normal if it wasn't for that she was almost naked. Two towels were the only fabric hiding her, one wrapped around her dripping figure and the other tied up in her hair.

"Yeah, about that! I kind of mixed up the time of their arrival and your meeting with the press, that's, by the way now when I think of it, not actually cancelled but later today. Silly of me to forget, right?"

She eyed him as though her bullshit meter was ticking in the red zone and let out a huff. Yuri had to advert his gaze when it suddenly felt intruding to eye her the way he did. He also turned away because a light tint of pink was creeping up his cheeks.

"Right. Thanks for the early update. I appreciate it, really. I'll be with you again in 30 minutes. Don't wait up for me." And with that, she was gone. The silence of the men maintained for a few moments until Yuuri coughed with an awkward smile, his red cheeks still visible even after the girl had disappeared. 'It's a little weird to blush at your almost naked sister' he thought.

"So food, right? Mom is preparing pork cutlet bowls for you, Yurio, since she remembered how much you liked them last time-" He didn't have to say it twice. Yuri was off to the dining area before the man even finished saying 'pork cutlet bowl'.

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Akio

CW: References to the death of a friend, grief, suicide, murder 

Sequel to Found Out and this past flashback to Oliver Branch

The sound of thin, breaded pork cutlets frying in the big pan on the stove fills the air, and Akio breathes in the familiar smell where he lays on his back on his parents’ gigantic cream-colored sectional couch, stretched out across the whole length of it on one side. Not that he’s all that tall to take up all that much space, really, but what matters is that he would definitely have fallen asleep by now if it weren’t for holding his phone up over his face.

It fell on him, once, and he’s pretty sure no one noticed. Emi, his younger sister, hasn’t even looked up once from her own phone, except once to triumphantly announce that no one caught her and they all voted someone else off the ship. Then she looked back down and never looked back up.

Akio frowns, looking at his own screen, tapping his thumbs as he writes out an answer to the person messaging him. “Hey, Mom?”

“Yes?” His mother looks up from cooking, her eyes moving through the big open space right to him. They’d knocked down all the walls when they bought the house, open-concept-something-something. Akio didn’t care, but it was apparently deeply important to his parents. Something about family togetherness.

“You remember Tristan Higgs, right?”

Aimi pauses, tucks a bit of her short black hair behind one ear to get it out of her eyes as she flips the pork cutlets on by one, to get the other side nicely browned, too. The sizzling ratchets up in volume and then back down again. Next to her sits four bowls already filled with rice, and the table already has the vegetables ready to go. “Of course, honey. Oh, the anniversary’s coming up, isn’t it? I have an alarm set on my phone… did you want to go to the cemetery next week to see Ronnie and Paul?”

“Ew, no creepy graveyards for me, thanks,” Emi says, eyes still glued to her phone.

“We wouldn’t take you anyway,” Akio says, rolling his eyes. “You don’t even remember Tris or his parents.”

“I do, too. I was like seven. He was really nice. Mrs. Higgs was really nice, too. Mr. Higgs was weird.” 

“Wow, what a stellar eulogy that was, Emi. I can see why you want to be a writer when you grow up. The description there was just incredible.”

“Oh, go drive into a lake,” Emi says, without any particular rancor in her voice. 

“If you’re going to fight, I’m going to send you two upstairs so I at least don’t have to listen to it,” Aimi says, moving the cutlets to rest on a paper plate with paper towels lining it while she heats mirin, soy sauce, and… some other stuff in a different pan. Honestly, Akio has no idea exactly how katsudon happens, all he cares about is that it’s the perfect after-practice food and he is starving.

Except he keeps getting distracted by this guy on Insta. “Anyway, Mom, um, about Tris. So… yeah, I do want to go out and see his parents next week, yeah, but-... there’s this guy on Instagram who keeps asking about him. That’s… that’s weird, right?”

Aimi looks up, blinking. “Asking about Tristan? What is he asking?”

“Just like… he says he saw the video I put up on youtube, and he’s asking, like… what was his birthday, and did he like fried chicken, was he autistic, and… did he like musical soundtracks. This is weird stuff to ask a total stranger, right?”

“A little.” Aimi pauses while she watches the pan, and then pours a small bowl with beaten eggs into it, watching them spread and start to lighten to a puffy yellow as it cooked in the already-boiling liquid mixture. “Did you ask why he wants to know?”

“I did, but he just said he’s doing some research or something. But, like… research on what?” Akio taps on the guy’s little profile photo, bringing the profile itself up. “His username is benthebadmagician. Okay that’s-... that’s kind of cute.” 

Aimi’s voice turns sly. “Is this Ben cute?” 

“Ugh, gross, Mom. That’s not-... I mean he’s kind of-... that’s not important.”

“Ooooh, eyeballin’ the insta-hotties,” Emi singsongs. “Aki’s gettin’ desperate. Just get a freaking dating app like everyone else.”

“Already on it, Emi.”

“Then why exactly don’t you get any dates? Oh, right.” Emi sits forward and grins. “I forgot about your personality.”

Akio throws a throw pillow at her and the big orange poof misses by a mile. Emi laughs, getting to her feet and wandering over to the fridge, pulling a can of soda out and popping the top. “Aren’t you an athlete, how the hell did you miss that?”

“Language,” Aimi warns, waving a spoon at her daughter. She gently places the cutlets into the cooking eggs to finish up. “No swearing under my roof, young lady.”

“Aki swears all the time!”

“Aki is twenty-four years old,” Aimi says, almost primly. “And he doesn’t swear where I can hear him.”

“What, so it doesn’t count if you don’t hear him?”

“Of course it doesn’t, how do I know if I don’t hear him?”

Akio smiles, faintly, but he’s scrolling through the Ben guy’s instagram feed now. Just looking at the grid of squares, photos and videos. Lots of coffees and food, people laughing, photos of a girl with really pretty hair. Photos of Ben the Bad Magician himself. Nerd, Akio thinks, but cute nerd - definitely nose-in-a-book type. Nice brown hair, nice smile. 

“Oh look at that face,” Emi says, eyebrows raised. “Ben the Insta-Weirdo actually is cute huh?”

“Go eat slugs.” Akio keeps scrolling down and down, not sure what he’s looking for. Autism awareness banners - he checks those to learn the Ben guy’s got an autistic little brother, and his friend Christopher is autistic. There’s a couple slides, and he swipes his finger to what he assumes is a photo of the Ben guy with the little brother, who looks almost exactly like him, just a whole bunch younger and looking, unsmiling, off to one side while Ben grins at the camera.

Akio doesn’t bother checking the last slide - it’s probably just whoever the Chris guy is. He backs back out to the grid of thumbnails. Maybe he just picked up on the stuff Tris always did when he was excited, and got curious? Maybe his little brother liked the video? Akio’s gotten a couple comments from people saying they liked seeing an autistic kid just be fucking happy in public without getting shit on for it, and that used to be a big deal for Mrs. Higgs, too...

The question about musicals keeps snagging at him. Tris loved musicals, went through cycles with them. He and Akio had a whole routine done to a song in Hairspray, just for fun, when Tris was obsessed with that for a while. And then they were going to do the Time Warp as a routine once...

Akio keeps scrolling, only vaguely aware of his sister and mother talking, and Emi leaving the room to go call their dad in for dinner. 

Emi stops in the doorway and turns back. “Don’t forget to get his phone number, Aki. You can definitely trust strangers on the internet creepily interested in your dead best friend, right?”

Akio looks up, then, blinking at her. “Emi, that’s-...”

She seems to catch herself, and gives him a sheepish smile. “Sorry, Aki. That got bitchy.”

“Language,” Aimi reminds her. “But I appreciate you apologizing. Does anyone even hear me say to use nice language any longer?”

“No,” Akio and Emi say in unison, and then Emi disappears down the hallway, bellowing for their father in her loudest voice even though she could easily walk up the stairs and not have to yell at all. 

Akio looks at his mother and deadpans, “Your daughter is really weird.”

Aimi matches him tone for tone. “Your sister is weirder.” 

She places the cutlets on top of the rice bowls with the egg just underneath the meat, carrying them one by one to the table, setting them each down in their place, and then grabs her glass of wine, patiently waiting for her while she cooked. She pads on bare feet across the hardwood floor over to the pale white rug, soft as down underfoot, and stands next to where Akio is laying down. “Are you looking at the profile?”

“I am, yeah. I don’t know what I’m looking for, really, just… hey, wait.” Akio stops at the thumbnail preview for a video, tapping to open it up. It starts with a blue-haired boy smiling, and his smile hits Akio all odd, makes his throat tighten and his heart start to race. The boy in the video puts up a finger and backs up, glances over his shoulder at a TV screen behind him playing the tango scene from Rent. 

Akio blinks as the boy holds out a hand and a girl with really gorgeous long wavy hair takes it, the two of them moving effortlessly into a perfect mimicry of the dance on screen. The room they’re in is mostly empty, furniture shoved to the walls to turn what looks like some kind of lobby into a dancing space.

“Wow, that kid can really dance,” Akio murmurs, but the smile catches him, tugs at the back of his mind. The blue-haired boy can’t keep the grin off his face, it has to hurt to smile so big for so long, and the last person Akio thought that about was…

“You got this, Chris!” Someone calls from offscreen, and for a second Akio hears Tris and catches his breath, but no, no, they said Chris. Someone else claps for Mari - that must be the girl, maybe. 

They continue to dance, and Akio can’t tear his eyes away. “Mom? Do you see this?”

Aimi looks up from straightening some magazines on the coffee table and leans over, sipping her wine absently. “See what, honey?”

“Look,” Akio whispers. His throat is closing up, he can’t manage anything more than that. 

The two do a spin, and then burst out laughing, and the Chris boy stands back up straight, throwing his arms up like he’s just hit a perfect landing-

“Oh my god,” Aimi says next to him, her own voice strangled and choked, and Akio feels his mother’s hand suddenly clutch onto his shoulder. “Aki, is-”

“He’s dead,” Akio whispers. “He killed himself after his parents-... he’s dead, Mom.”

The Chris boy looks right at whoever was filming the video, shoots them a brilliant, shining smile, and then starts rocking, his hands moving through the air and twisting at the wrists, bouncing up and down on his toes.

Akio’s breath is shuddering in and out, and his heart pounds, trying to break out of his chest. “He’s-... Mom, he’s dead.”

“His aunt had him cremated,” Aimi says, but her lips are barely moving and the wineglass is loos in her fingers. “After they found him. She didn’t want a funeral.”

“He’s dead,” Akio repeats, thinking of the smile, the movements, the shy way he ducks his head at the end when people clap him on the back. He backs up to the wall again, keeps scrolling, looks for more pictures of the blue hair. He opens every single one he can find, searching for something, some sign that will tell him he’s not seeing what he knows he’s seeing. “His aunt took his phone away after like three months and then he was dead a month later, wasn’t he?”

There’s a pause.

“Mom? Mom, didn’t he kill himself like four months after they died? Didn’t he?” Akio’s voice sounds weak and is getting weaker. “Mom, please-... please answer me, didn’t he-”

“He left a note,” Aimi whispers. “His aunt-... she said he left a note, that he couldn’t live without them. It’s-... I never thought-... I never thought to question her, Aki, I never-... she was Ronnie’s family...”

He clicks another video.

“You’re a fucking mess, Christopher,” The girl from the dance video says, sitting in a tank tops and shorts on the edge of a bathtub. “Letting your roots grow out like that. But don’t you worry, Madam Mari is here to help!”

“Please don’t, don’t don’t-don’t call yourself Madam. Please?” A voice says, uneasily, and the blue-haired boy moves into the screen. “For, for, for me?”

“Yeah, no problem, Chris. Why’d you let it grow out so bad, anyway?”

His hair’s not blue in this one - or it is, but only about half of it. Pale and faded, but the top of his hair has grown back in for about three inches, and it’s coppery strawberry blond. He turns to the camera and gives a sheepish smile. “I, I got distracted and for, um, forgot.”

Aimi’s wineglass slips from her fingers, hits the floor, sprays wine like blood across the pristine white rug. 

Neither of them notices.

“I… I cried for him for like a year straight,” Akio chokes out, and he finds more pictures, more videos, more more more. He opens them up and then backs out of them again, unable to stop himself. Every photo shows him some shard of the mirror reflection of a dead boy all grown up - a sparkle of green eyes, happy motions in the background of a video, more of that familiar sunny smile. “I kept-... I kept all the stuff he left in my room, I saved all h-his text messages from before he d, disappeared, I-”

“This can’t be him,” Aimi says in a fierce whisper. “It can’t be, Aki, it can’t.”

Akio taps on another video.

The boy ties his long blue hair back in it, glancing sidelong at the camera, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth. “And, and, and you’ll, um, you’ll buy the, the, the-the-the nachos?”

“If you can still do it? Yeah, absolutely. Seeing that’s worth a plate of nachos to me. I’ll even buy you those fucking margaritas you like.”

“Chris just likes the sugar,” Someone else says, and Chris sticks his tongue out at them.

He takes a few steps back, rolling his shoulders, shaking out his arms. 

Akio tells himself that if the Chris on the screen doesn’t nail this, it can’t be him, it can’t be him at all. 

The boy puts his hands up, then down at his sides, back bowed briefly in a motion Akio knows too, too well, knows better than he knows breathing. The boy takes off across the grass without hesitation and-

Akio and Aimi both exhale.

-he jumps forward, dips at the waist, catches himself on his hands and does a perfect set of three backflips across a big grassy lawn, stumbling the landing but his feet pop right back into final position, and he throws his arms up with his chin lifted, and someone offscreen shouts, “Perfect Ten, Stanton!”

The boy laughs, shakes his head, says, “I’d be, be, be dinged for the, um, the landing, but-... but, but good, right? I did good? Laken?”

Someone with the coolest hair Akio has seen steps into the screen and they hug, kiss briefly, and then Chris apparently can’t handle the happy emotions because he backs away to start bouncing up and down, grinning.

He looks back at the camera. “Want to see me, me, me... me do it again?”

“He’s not dead,” Aimi says, and her voice sounds like someone closed their hands around her throat. “Oh, Ronnie-”

“What the fuck happened to Tristan fucking Higgs?” Akio’s voice is barely audible over the sound of the video starting over. “He’s… he’s not dead. He’s not dead, Mom, he’s not-... he’s not dead, Mom, he’s not dead and he’s right-... that the university, right? He’s not dead, and he’s, has he-... has he been here the whole fucking time?”

His mother doesn’t chide him for language this time. Her hand tightens on Akio’s shoulder as red wine soaks the rug beneath her feet and she whispers, “Give that Ben boy your number. Tell him to call you.”

Her fingernails ache where they dig into his skin through his shirt.

“Now.”

---

Tagging: @burtlederp , @finder-of-rings , @endless-whump , @whumpfigure , @slaintetowhump , @astrobly @newandfiguringitout , @doveotions , @pretty-face-breaker , @boxboysandotherwhump , @oops-its-whump @moose-teeth , @cubeswhump , @cupcakes-and-pain @whump-tr0pes @whumpiary @orchidscript

[wylanvnneck]

“On a scale of one to ten, how do you feel about nachos right now?” for Jurdan, please???? 🖤🖤🖤

Humorous Prompt #6: “On a scale of one to ten, how do you feel about nachos right now?”

Fandom: TFOTA

Ship: Jurdan

Masterlist | Send me a prompt

---------------------------------------------------------------------

“He’s not really picturing a Pork Cutlet Bowl for inspiration is he?” Cardan’s wry question is more of a rhetorical one, considering the fact that they both knew the answer to it, but Jude still felt the need to reply.

“Nope.”

The two of them were lying across the couch, Jude’s head tucked under Cardan’s chin and his arm loosely slung over her denim-clad hip, both their gazes riveted to the laptop screen on the low table in front of them. Vivienne had browbeat them into promising that they would watch the anime that she’d recommended whilst she and Heather were gone for one of Oak’s school meetings and she’d even gone so far as to threaten them with locking away the mini marshmallows so they’d have to suffer through marshmallow-less hot chocolate if they didn’t comply.

Jude wouldn’t really have minded that, but Cardan had a weakness for them and she had a weakness for the adorable look that would appear on his face whenever she brought him a mug with the confections floating within it, so that’s how they’d found themselves spooning on the couch together, watching an anime about an awkward Japanese Ice Skater Yuri and his delectable Russian coach Viktor.

As much as she hated to admit it, Vivi had good taste. The animation was beautiful, almost as beautiful as Elfhame, and the storyline was adorable and interesting, with a fantastic soundtrack to go along with it. The day was warm and tranquil and it felt good to be snuggled cozily in her husband’s arms, his heartbeat pressed against her spine and their thousands of responsibilities as High King and Queen nowhere near their little bubble.

They watch Yuri skate in comfortable silence, the whole performance captivating, and in between episodes she can feel Cardan making the tiniest of shifts in his position behind her, little movements, lightly stroking her hip over the fabric of her t-shirt, leaning down to smell her hair or to place a gentle kiss on the curve of her ear that marked her mortality and each time there’s a little burst of something inside her.

They’d made it about halfway through the 12 episode long series before Cardan reaches over to pause it, reluctantly detaching his body from hers and sitting up, making her do the same, turning to face him as she sits cross-legged. He stretches his arms up in the air and her eyes follow the movement, admiring him. His dark gaze catches her doing it, his eyes glittering and a grin spreading over his face and she merely raises her eyebrows at him in response, unapologetic.

“On a scale of one to ten, how do you feel about nachos right now?” He asks, his voice light in a way that only happened when he was truly content.

She feels an answering smile curve her lips. “Eleven.”

He laughs, his raven locks flopping over his face messily and he leans forward to peck her lips before pushing himself off the couch and heading off to the kitchen. “Got it, two packets of Nachos coming right up.”

“Make sure they’re the spicy kind!” She calls out after him.

“Of course, only the best for My Queen,” comes his reply and it’s stupid, how sweet his words are.

Flopping back down on the sofa she distracts herself by studying the laptop screen, watching the seconds tick by on the clock at the bottom of the screen when silence is broken by an odd jingle, and a little square popping up at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Written on that square is a name that makes Jude sit up straight. Taryn Duarte.

The jingle is still playing in the background but it sounds blurry, as though it was playing from somewhere far far away instead of right in front of her. Taryn. She hadn't spoken to her heavily pregnant twin sister in quite a while, and the last that she’d heard of her was that she had gone to visit Madoc and Oriana in the place where they lived in the mortal world, somewhere quite far away, thankfully. The thought of Taryn makes the subsequent feelings of anger and hurt and betrayal rise up within her, ruthlessly chasing away the contentment that had filled her just minutes ago.

Frantically, she searches for the red decline button with the cursor and attempts to click on it but she can’t quite bring herself to do it. She hates that she can’t, but thoughts of Taryn in distress whilst carrying a child, Taryn in danger and needing help flood her mind and that old protective instinct that had been instilled in her for so long compels her to click on the green accept button instead.

“Jude?” Taryn’s voice sounds the same, mixed in with surprise at seeing her twin answer the call instead of Vivi.

“Taryn.” Her throat is dry.

“I- I called because Madoc and Oriana wanted to speak to Oak, and Vivi has said they could call on this thing” she gestures at the screen, “called Skype when they wished to and they needed help to set it up.” Taryn looks the same as ever, almost a mirror image of Jude herself, except for the huge swell in her belly where Jude’s unborn niece or nephew resided. Locke’s child. That reminds her of the first time Taryn had ever betrayed her, allowing Locke to mess with her, knowing full well that he had been seeing the both of them at the same time, playing them against each other and she had let it happen. The memory makes her shutter, closing her expression and making it cold.

“Oak is at school with Vivi. Tell them to call later.” She moves the cursor and it hovers over the red button to end the call.

“Jude, I-” Her twin starts to speak.

“Don’t, Taryn. Not now. Not yet.”

She catches a glimpse of Taryn pursing her lips together and nodding imperceptibly before the call ends. Jude wasn’t ready to try and mend the bridge between them yet and she wasn’t sure if she would ever be. Her emotions are all over the place, roiling inside of her like the waves of the Undersea during a storm.

She punches the couch beneath her, hard, and the force barely makes an impact and she longs for the adrenaline rush of battle, the feeling of focused control that she gets when holding Nightfell in her hand. But Nightfell wasn’t here to help her distract herself and she was powerless against the pain.

Cardan is inordinately pleased with himself for managing to salvage two packs of spicy Nachos. It had taken quite a while for him to root them out from the back of the cupboard behind jars of condiments and Oak’s Skittles stash but he’d eventually proved victorious. Eager to return to Jude and their Yuri on Ice binge he strides into the room, nachos clutched in hand, expecting his wife to be impatiently awaiting him. Instead, the expression she turns on him when she sees him standing in the doorway is one full of anguish and the sight tears at Cardan’s excuse of a heart.

“Jude? Jude what’s wrong?” He’s by her side and wrapping his arms around her in the next moment and concern tugs at him when she simply rests her head against his neck, her breathing heavy.

“Taryn called.” Her voice is muffled against the fabric of his hoodie.

Cardan’s gaze flicks to the laptop. He’s not entirely sure how mortal devices worked, but he thinks he’s safe in making the assumption that Taryn had somehow attempted to call Vivi on her laptop and Jude had ended up answering instead. He now understands Jude’s behaviour. She and her twin had never been able to mend the differences that had erupted between them in the past few months and he doubts that his wife had been ready to speak to her twin so soon after everything that had happened.

And he definitely couldn’t blame her. Just thinking about the twin that Jude had once fought so hard to protect, from him as well, only to have her loyalty thrown back in her face by her sister’s treachery made him clutch Jude a little tighter to him. If it hadn’t been for Jude’s insistence that her pregnant twin be left alone, she would have faced punishment for her actions long before now.

“She called on behalf of Madoc and Oriana. They wanted to speak to Oak. I should have known she’d go running back to him. After all, she is his most loyal daughter.” Her words are painted with both bitterness and resignation.

He thinks carefully before starting to speak. “I know you and your sister are far from the relationship you once had and I know that it hurts you, Jude. But I also know that you are strong, unbelievably strong, and when the time is right I know you’ll make the right decision. Whether you want to try and mend your bond or move onwards, know that I will support you in whatever you choose.” He moves to press a kiss to her temple.

“How do you always know what to say?” she lets out a slow breath, pulling back to meet his gaze. “Do you think I should try talking to her?”

“I do think that you two will need to talk at some point. However, that day is not today. Come, my love, let’s not let her ruin one of our few days away from the palace. Put her out of your mind for now and have some nachos.”

“Kiss me?” Her request reminds him of a time that seemed to have been eons ago, a moment on her bed, the sheets silky beneath his drunken form looking up at her and wanting distraction, a cure. Kiss me until I am sick of it.

He gives her the distraction she needs.

She meets him halfway when he leans down to connect their lips and he moves his mouth against hers slowly but thoroughly, his heart thumping the way it always did around her. Only ever her.

Everything around them melts and they are oblivious to their surroundings as Jude’s hands card through his hair and he strokes a light path along her waist, which is why they are caught by surprise when they hear Vivi’s grinning voice sounding from the doorway.

“Alright, playtime’s over children, Oak and Heather will be here any second now and we don’t need the poor boy to see that.” She wiggles her tawny eyebrows suggestively and Jude pulls away from him, her face flushing despite her best efforts at hiding it. Ignoring the slight pang of loss at his wife moving out of his arms, he turns to give his favorite sister-in-law a mischievous grin to which she responds by rolling her cat’s eyes.

Sure enough Oak comes charging into the room seconds later and jumps right up onto the couch, wiggling between Jude and Cardan and tucking himself in next to his sister and chatting in her ears about his day at school and how he’d scored a goal at soccer practice and Jude is laughing and ruffling his chocolate hair, her agitation from earlier forgotten for now.

He watches his wife and her brother talking as he reaches for the forgotten packets of nachos from the table knowing that soon the entire family would be squished together on the couch watching movies and making hilarious commentary over snacks, and the whole thing is so domestic and comforting and it feels better than alcohol, better than drugs, better than losing himself in debauchery the way he used to. It feels like family.

--------------------------------------------------------------

@aelinfeyreeleven945tbln I hope you like this one, Clueless Penguin™, thanks for sending in a prompt ❤

The fact that Taryn’s crimes seemed to largely go unanswered for and that she and Jude never really got closure has always niggled at me, but I have yet to read HTKOELTHS so maybe there’s something about it in there? Either ways here is some Jurdan fluff with some Jude angst mixed in. Also, the fact that Jude and Cardan watching YOI is canon still makes me squeal and if you wanna fangirl over that anime with me feel free to✨

Okay, on to tagging the lovely people on my taglist: @cupcakesandkittens, @thewickedkings, @kittkatandbooboo, @annabethjackson0001 and @fangirlprincess09

As always, please let me know if you’d like to be added to or taken off of my TFOTA taglist.

[mari-rosa-skiess]

can i request hcs of yuri plisetsky/reader in a rivals-to-lovers type relationship? like them both being skaters and being very competitive with each other (but secretly having feelings for each other 👀)? i love the way u characterize him so i think this would be rly interesting! thank u in advance!!

Yes of course! I love your idea, it was really fun to write!!

Thank you for requesting!! <3

-Mari <3

(Warnings: Swearing, Fluff)

Yoi masterlist

Yuri (Yurio) Plisetsky masterlist

---

- This boy’s the biggest fucking tsundere ever

- The fact that he’s extremely competitive doesn’t help anything

- He’ll constantly make fun of you for anything and everything

- You mess up a combination on the ice?

- You won’t hear the end of it

- Trip while just walking normally?

- He’ll make fun of you for weeks

- He’ll also use anything you do wrong against you

- You tend to do the same thing

- If you guys have the same coach, you’ll both often get yelled at for arguing so often

- Your coach will often say things like:

- “BE MATURE, YOU TWO ARE SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS FIGURE SKATERS IN THE WORLD!”

- Victor, on the other hand, finds it hilarious but will break up the argument if it’s going too far

- He and Yuuri often call it ‘young love’ which makes the both of you angrily yell at them

- “ME? LIKE HIM!? I WOULD NEVER! I HAVE STANDARDS!” you’d often yell

- “THIS SHITTY SKATER?! NO. WAY!” Yuri would often yell

- When you guys are on the rink, you guys will do whatever you can to one-up each other

- In fact, one time you guys were both assigned the same routine just for practice, and you were at the rink for hours on end just practicing the routine so you could be better than Yuri

- Kind of helps your guys’ work ethics, which can be a good thing

- However, Yuri will often put you down

- You fell out of a toe loop one time, and he would bring that up anytime you walked by him

- “Why’re you criticizing me, dumbass? You’re the one who fell out of a TOE LOOP!”

- You’ll often call him Yurio just to piss him off since you know how much he hates being called that

- “Whatever, Yurio,”

- “YOU’RE JUST AS BAD AS THAT DAMN PORK CUTLET BOWL! MY NAME IS YURI, NOT YURIO, CUNT RAG!”

- You’d often let out a snarky laugh then walk away

- As much as you guys ‘hated’ each other, you both secretly really admired the other’s work ethic

- You had a lot of respect for Yuri, but you’d never admit it out loud

- Same goes for him, he has a lot of respect for you, but won’t admit it

- It took him a long time until he realized that he caught major feels for you

- You didn’t realize it until the one day you guys had a calm conversation without insulting each other

- He was all flustered the entire time, and you felt like you were blushing as well

- You guys gradually started hanging out more like friends and remained competitive, but less rude towards each other

- One day, he finally developed the courage to ask you out

- “(Y-Y/N), can I talk to you for a second?”

- “Sure,”

- “I’m going to say this once, so don’t be a dumbass and try to make me repeat it,”

- “Alright?”

- You’d see his face turn red as he began to speak

- “I-I like you,”

- You’d simply smile and softly respond

- “I like you too,”

[papergirllife]

Chasing The Flames

Chapter 8 : The Pull of The Heartstrings

Jeno opened the door of his dorm to hear all the boys gathered around the living room, hollering like they won the lotto.

" What's with you guys? "

" We're happy for you, hyung. "

" For what, Chenle? "

" You just came back from the photoshoot with Y/N. There should be some progress. " Renjun questioned with curious eyes.

" Not telling. "

" Yah, stop being so secretive to us. "

" I'm respecting Y/N's privacy Haechan, something you would never do for us. "

But Jeno couldn't help but smile at the events that taken place today as he retreated back into his room.

As he finished showered, Renjun came in the room with a smirk on his face.

" You and Jaemin should be grateful to me. I invited Y/N to have a cook off with Chenle and I on Friday night. "

" She agreed to come? "

" Yup. You guys get to spend more time with her as long as the both of you help out for dinner, this is a win-win situation."

" Thanks man. "

" You guys better be serious about Y/N. She's a nice girl. "

" Yes, boss. "

" I'm actually surprised you're so into her. I thought Jaemin was the one that wanted to bring her into the relationship. "

" I was actually jealous of her at first, because of the attention she was receiving from Jaemin. But then after I spent some time with her that day, I realised that she's really a special one. "

" I don't know much about polyamorous relationships, but I'll still support the decisions that the both of you make. "

" Thanks, Renjun. "

Jaemin ordered a pizza for the both of them to share as Jeno got back later than their dinner time.

They were watching a movie on TV, the others being focused on the plot, but Jeno being lost in his thoughts.

" Is something wrong? " Jaemin whispered.

" No. I was just thinking about what happened today. "

Jaemin snuggled up to Jeno, while taking a huge bite into the pizza, making Jeno coo at him.

" Is there something about Y/N's that's bothering you? "

" No. I enjoyed every moment with her. "

" Then why do you look sad? "

" I'm just confused with my own feelings. How can we love each other but still potentially love another person ?"

" Maybe it's because we never dated any girls before. So we crave for one in our life. "

" But we've never shown interest in other girls. Why Y/N? Why did you like Y/N among all female friends and colleagues we know? "

" I don't know. My first impression of her was that she was a diligent assistant of Mr Kang. Then when we started talking to her, I was hooked on by her shy demeanor. Then I realised that she had a great personality, she's friendly and quirky and so easy to be around. She doesn't treat us like idols, she sees us as human beings. Whenever I'm with her, I feel a sense of freedom or escape."

Jeno nodded at what Jaemin said, connecting the way Jaemin described Y/N to recent events.

" After Y/N, we won't be adding new members into the relationship, right? "

This made Jaemin laugh and nearly choke on his piece of pizza.

" Jeno ah, let's just focus on getting one girl at a time. Plus, if Y/N accepts us, I don't think she'll accept another female in the relationship. Just because we're bisexuals, doesn't mean she is. "

" I'm just checking, because I definitely won't have time for three people. "

" Good to know that my Jeno is a loyal man."

" Chenle, how many times have I told you to get that thing out of the way? "

" What do you mean that thing? It's my sole physical entertainment other than video games. "

Jeno was being stressed about Y/ N coming over for dinner.

On the other hand, Jaemin was busy cleaning the kitchen from the mess Jisung had made from his midnight snack.

Jaemin although didn't show his nervousness as Jeno is, still feels the stress of the expectations he wishes to make for Y/N.

Although all the guys think that Y/N's quite smitten with the both of them after hours debate of what they had experienced from both their alone time with Y/N, Jaemin still wants to take things slowly and start off as good friends.

Y/N seems raw towards the feelings that they think she's feeling for them, so Jaemin and Jeno have decided to make only minor advances and let her sort out her feelings, if she does have feelings for them.

' I hope she does. ' Jaemin thoughts to himself.

Jaemin looked towards Jeno's direction and saw that Jeno's disassembling Chenle's indoor basketball court, dumping it back into its box.

After finishing up with the kitchen, Jaemin checks the fridge a second time to make sure that they had stocked up on groceries for tonight.

Jaemin was about to clear away the take out on the dining table when Renjun stopped him.

" I'll do it. Go take a shower and get dressed."

" Thanks. "

When Jaemin got out of the bath, Renjun pushed Jeno to wash up.

" Shouldn't I shower after cooking dinner? "

" You have to smell and look clean for

Y/N, you can just take another one layer in the night. "

" Any clothing advice, Injunie? "

" She thinks you look cute in pink. "

" You're the best. I can kiss you right now. "

" Save that for Jeno and Y/N, or I'll kick your butt. "

" How do you get so much information out of her? "

" Because we text often. "

" Oh. "

" Why? Are you jealous? "

" I'm just surprised. "

" She's from my home country, she says I remind her of home. "

" That's nice of you. "

" She doesn't have many friends, she reminded me of the time when I first got here. "

" I'll go check the whole place again. "

" Don't be so nervous. "

" I'll try. "

When I got there, Jaemin was waiting for me outside the dorms.

" You didn't have to wait outside for me, it's cold, you would've gotten sick if I wasn't early. "

" I know you're punctual. Plus, it'll be embarrassing if you went to the 127 and WayV's blocks. "

" God, I can't imagine. "

" Why did you bring groceries? "

" Just in case you guys don't have any. "

" Of course we do, we just bought today. I'll help you take those. "

When Jaemin grabs the bags from my hands, I could feel electric shocks up my fingertips, making my cheeks warm in the cold air.

" Thank you. "

When Jaemin opened the door, the first one to greet you was Donghyuck.

" Long time no see, Y/N. Hope you didn't miss me too much, 127 needs me. "

" There's not a day that goes by I don't hear bullshit coming from his mouth. "

" I thought you'd be used to it by now. "

" Yeah, but I thought he would've behaved more with guest around. "

" What are you saying? Y/N isn't a guest, she's like family. Right Y/N? "

" Whatever you say, Hyuck. It's good to see you. "

" Nice place you guys got here, I like the kitchen too. It's bigger than the one I have. "

" You can always move in, Y/N. "

" Yeah right, Lee Soo Man would be on my ass. "

" Chenle! You look so cute with those cat ears. "

" Don't mind them, I lost a bet to Jisung. Come check out this gun I won in pubg."

Jeno walked out of his room when he heard the commotion going on outside, beckoning Renjun to follow.

" Y/N, you're here. Then let's get this started."

We gathered at the kitchen to get ready for the mini cook off.

" Okay, who wants to be in my team? " Renjun looked at everyone expectantly, but had a shock when he realised no one wanted to be on his team.

" I'm picking Chenle and Hyuck. Y/N, you can take Jeno and Jaemin. "

" Hyung, that's not fair. Both your teammates cook often. But Jeno doesn't cook at all, Y/N noona's team is having the losing end. "

" Jisung you are the judge, so go to your room and play games while we cook, no peeking. "

Renjun was giving Jisung the stink eye while everyone of us laughed at their interaction.

" Okay, so what are we cooking? "

" I was planning on cooking sweet and sour pork cutlets and salty egg minced meat steam egg. Sounds good?"

Jeno and Jaemin nodded enthusiastically, hurrying to gather the ingredients as I listed them down.

" Wait, what's salted egg? I don't think we have that in the fridge. "

" Don't worry, Jeno. I bought them at the wet market today, it's in the bag. "

" Got it. "

I made the batter for the cutlets as they break the eggs into a bowl with the minced meat.

" Jaemin, stir this batter. I'll handle the egg. "

I broke two salted eggs and cut the pieces of the yolk into tinier pieces and put them into the bowl of egg, stirring it to space out the ingredients.

When it was ready, I began to steam the egg at the stove.

" Remember Y/N. One stove per team. "

Renjun was looking at me with a smug look on his face as he oversees the two of his friends cooking.

" I see you're making Korean food. "

" And you're making Chinese food. What a way to win Jisung's stomach, but I'm confident he'll love my cooking, he always did. "

" That's because he never ate my cooking before. "

" Oh it's on Y/N. "

The both both of us went back to our respective sides.

Cooking with Jaemin and Jeno was fun, the way Jaemin laughed at Jeno for trying to get the pork to stick to the batter.

I stepped away from my teammates to take a photo of both of them frying the cutlets.

' They suite the domestic theme that's going on here. '

Wait, what am I thinking? God, I need to focus on making the sauce or I'll lose to Renjun.

When we were done, Renjun was arguing about something with Hyuck. While Chenle was coping on cooking alone.

It was one of the funniest sights ever.

Jaemin, being the observant person he was, realised that we haven't cooked the rice.

" Need help? "

" It's just rice, I can handle myself. Go rest on the sofa with Jeno, be with you guys in a bit. "

When I got to the sofa, Jeno had took off his apron to reveal a tight fitting white t shirt.

His muscular built was evident under the thin layer of cotton, I never realised Jeno had such a good built, it was truly a sight to behold.

" I really like your new glasses. "

I had to bring up a topic to distract from Jeno, he's Jaemin's boyfriend for fuck's sake.

" Thanks. You look nice too. "

" It's just a sweater, nothing nice about it to me. "

" The mint colour, it matches well with your hair colour. "

" Thank you. "

I looked away from his gaze, scared that my cheeks were as red as I feared.

" Y/N? "

I looked back at Jeno to see that he was holding a box of chocolates.

" This is for you. As a thank you for cooking dinner. "

" Thank you, I didn't know I'll be receiving any gifts from anyone in Korea. Thank you so much. "

Even though it was just a box of chocolates, it made me happy. I don't have any other friends other than my boss, these guys mean so much to me.

" I'm glad you liked it. "

Jeno placed his hand on my knee as a friendly gesture, but my body acted as if it was the best feeling ever.

The warmth coming from his palm was addicting.

My thoughts were interrupted when Renjun announced that dinner was ready and hollered Jisung out from his room.

We ate dinner with a carefree chatter. I asked Donghyuck about him and Mark balancing the upcoming promotions and them expressing their excitement in working with me again.

" So Jisung, what do you think are the best dishes here? "

" The dishes that I've never ate before today. "

" Have kids they said, they'll be lovely they said. "

" Oh come on, hyung. Don't be too sad about losing to Y/N, Jisung always liked new things. "

" Let me introduce you to some thangs. "

Jeno shut Chenle up with a slice of beef within the second he finished the verse of 127's new song.

" Sorry, he's always been like that. " Jeno said with apologetic eyes.

" Don't worry, Hyuck told me everything about Chenle's crush on Taeyong. "

" Everyone has a crush on Taeyong hyung, ask Jisung. "

" The both of you are weird, case closed."

After dinner, we decided to watch a movie.

Hyuck and Chenle settled on some horror movie called Polaroid.

All of us were wedged on the sofa except for Chenle and Jisung who settled for sitting on the carpeted floor.

I was happily munching on my oreos when a sudden jump scare caught me off guard.

I basically jumped into Jaemin's lap when it happened.

" Sorry, I didn't mean to do that. "

" It's okay. It's called horror for a reason. "

He put his arm around my shoulders.

" There's nothing to be scared of with me around. "

Even though he meant that to be flirty, it still warmed my heart.

From then on, my attention was no longer fully on the movie in front of me. I started noticing little details of Jaemin tonight.

The way his pink sweater matches so well with his fair skin and the feeling of his broad shoulders whenever I leaned onto them.

The scent of Jaemin's cotton fragrance reminded me of waking up on my comfy bed, everything about Jaemin tonight makes my heart soft.

I barely noticed that the movie ended as Renjun announced that we were going to watch a drama that he wanted to watch for a long time.

I always got sleepy during dramas as they just aren't my genre of movies, and this time was no exception.

The only difference from this time and all the other times was the warmth and support I had beside me as I dozed off to slumber.