#ch: riko moriyama

[leedee013]

WIP Wednesday

I'll be participating in @/kedreeva 's game again this week!

PLEASE SEND IN THINGS. THIS IS LITERALLY THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY WEEK.

Anyway, rules:

It’s WIP Wednesday, time for a little accountability, sharing your work, and getting a kick in the pants.

Here’s how it works:

In a reblog of this post (so people can find you in the notes) or new thread (w/ rules attached) if you want to play on your own, post up to five (5) filenames of your WIPs; not titles, file names.

Post a snippet from one of them. Snippet must be words you wrote in the last 7 days. We’re posting progress here. If you haven’t made any, go make some and come back to play!

After you’ve posted, people can send you an ask with one of your file names. You must then write 3 sentences in that file. If the filename is one you can't share from (for example, an event or gift fic), write 3 sentences on it anyway, and then 3 more on another to share.

That’s it! You can invite others to join in, or just post. I’ll be searching the reblogs to find people to send asks to!

If you’re reading this, you’re invited!

If you see someone posting a WIP Wednesday Game snippet, send them an ask! Make them write.

Here is what I have to offer:

1. Silly Little Jean Moreau Fic 2. Etienne 3. Baby Jean 4. Needle AU (CW: Needle AU will occasionally feature depictions of self harm scars and injuries. The primary focus of the AU is on healing and growth, however. 5. 101 Ways Not to Say I Do

MASTERPOST OF PREVIOUS WRITINGS

Small snippet from Silly Little Jean Moreau Fic below:

Soon enough, scenes of the high seas and pirates and cursed gold played out on the screen, all accompanied by a captivating score. Jean was compelled to point out any and all historical inaccuracies that he could spot while they watched the movie, but he didn’t know enough about the time period to truly get upset. He was surprised to find that he enjoyed it regardless, and by the time the end credits started rolling, he discovered that Jeremy had nodded off a while ago.

[bisexualchaosdemon]

(The Raven King, ch.13)

Andrew was on the Fox line before Kevin, which means Kevin could only be talking about when he was offered a spot on the Ravens' line. Riko looked into Andrew before and found nothing about Drake. Meaning, when Riko said the police led him straight to Drake, he wasn't exaggerating. Andrew had kept that secret so well, even a Moriyama couldn't uncover it.

Riko never would have known about Drake — never would have been able to bring him to South Carolina — if Higgins hadn't been so insistent on getting Andrew's help.

[kweenkday]

Moving on with ch 3 of Funeral Pyre. READ HERE if this is your jam: Riko doesn't die in TKM and Kevin ends up on the same team with him after graduation. Jean and Jeremy plot Riko's murder (probably😂)

Summary: Kevin did everything to prevent ending up on a team with Riko Moriyama: he waited until he was sure Riko signed with another team, and then picked one only two hours away from Jean and Jeremy, and half-a-country away from Riko. He'd planned everything just right. And it still wasn't enough in the end. Now, he's stuck in the same city, team, and damn apartment, with Riko, and this time, he doesn't have Neil and Andrew and the Foxes to back him up. Kevin is all alone against him. Or at least that's what he thinks—Jean and Jeremy have other plans.

[kazinej]

BROTPS Riko Moriyama + Death

“Death don’t discriminate between the sinners and the saints”

@allforthegamenet game 2: brotps      insp

[ourravenboys]

the fact that like some of the best exy players are SO SHORT is really funny to me like it’s lowkey unrealistic that these professional athletes are 5′2 (but also it is a fake sport so)....like pls these r the shortest players skjsfjknsf

andrew and aaron-5′0

neil-5′3

renee-5′4

riko-5′5

[antiriko-arc]

“let riko be king,” kevin said, with the exaggerated enunciation of the thoroughly sloshed. “most coveted, most p r o t e c t e d. he'll sacrifice every piece he has to protect his throne. whatever. me?” kevin gestured again, meaning to indicate himself but too drunk to get his hand higher than his waist. “i'm going to be the deadliest piece on the board.” “QUEEN.” 

[aftgficrec]

Any fic about neil roasting interviewers? i just love it but can't find it :(

We do love our sassy Neil! For a twist, Andrew takes up the mantle in ‘Something About The Sunshine’ here, and they both mess with the press in ‘coin toss universe’ here - A

Also see…

‘ask me no questions (and i might not cuss you out)’ here

‘Fighting Heavy Shoulders’ here

‘What it’s like (dating Andrew)’ here

‘but you ain't got my number (no, you can't pin me down)’ here

‘freeze frame’ and ‘I can picture you in my heart’ here

‘In Which Neil Josten is a PR Nightmare’ here

‘Neil’s second year in the pros’ part 2 here

‘Yes, Coach’ here

‘i got so fucking romantic (i apologize, lemme light your cigarette)’ and ‘So Fucking Romantic (The Social Media Remix)’ here

‘Clickbait’ here

‘Please tell me it’s just the fandom freaking out’ here

‘Back to the Start’ here

‘faking it’ here

‘Surreal but Nice’ here

‘Black as is the Raven, He’ll Get a Partner’ ch 16, 18, 26, 29, & especially 30 here

‘neil x andrew & coming out?’ here

‘Signing on the Line’ here

Nightmare On Film by 5a5b5p5 [Rated T, 5287 Words, Complete, AFTG Winter Exchange 2020]

“Josten,” Andrew snaps the moment Neil picks up the phone, “are you trying to get me fired?”

—

Neil Josten: PR Nightmare VS Andrew Minyard: PR Agent

tw: panic attacks

Casual Affair by back2beesness [Not Rated, (we say T), 4775 Words, Complete, 2020]

Neil and Andrew decide to pretend to be casually hooking up so that their team won't make them come out to the press. It goes about as well as you'd expect.

tw: involuntary outing

call it what you want (our truth not your's) by maisy_daisy [Rated G, 934 Words, Complete, 2020]

There are rumors circulating in the NCAA Exy circle. The press wants answers. Neil and Andrew? Couldn't be less straightforward. Or straight.

Let's make things interesting by Nico4undead [Rated T, 39408 Words, Incomplete, Updated April 2021]

This is probably going to be really long. Basically, Andreil, after they both join a pro Exy team. Neil suggests they make things a little more interesting and don't necessarily tell anyone about their relationship, just act as they usually would. Cue the Minyard/Josten rivalry and basically just Andrew and Neil being little shits and thoroughly enjoying making everyone think they can't stand each other.

tw: implied/referenced torture, tw: implied/referenced rape/noncon, tw: homophobia, tw: homophobic slur, tw: ptsd, tw: blood

Fandom Fun Posts

Neil in interviews + Wymack meme by @madnesstothismethod   |||   Wymack reacts to Neil on press duty meme by @rerunningg   |||   hey coach I’ll take press duty meme by @whatmack   |||   Neil after trying to stay quiet during press duty meme by @play-exy-be-sexy   |||   [after press duty] by @palmettios   |||   *when Neil is on press duty* by @bookworms-lair, @superfluous-banality   |||   Kevin, literally every time Neil has press duty meme by @aftgisspacejam (tw: alcohol)   |||   So I got kicked off press duty because apparently I'm a "liability" by @justrandomstuf   |||   Neil you are banned from press duty by @ronanlyncx   |||    every time neil abram josten tm opens his terrible no good mouth in front of reporters by @annawrites   |||   neil: (roasts a reporter after a game) meme by @foxerice   |||   neil with reporters book 1 vs book 3 by @sapphicsith   |||   Wymack: *to neil after press duty* by @thepalmettofoxes   |||   you have to apologize to the reporters by @cowpants147   |||   Neil aggressively roasting a reporter by @whatareyoudoingwithamaserati   |||   journalists on press duty with Neil Josten meme and Let’s talk about Ichirou Moriyama’s guilty pleasure by @opheliagreif

Art

let_neil_say_fuck.jpg art by @tldms201

Matt looking at Neil about to ruin a reporter’s life art by @hi-raethia

character development comic by @orionsboots

“What do you have to say?” comic by @shihoran

Reporters: So what do you think about Riko Moriyama’s statement art by @jamieboya

Not to worry, I have a permit art by @verdiris

someone save the press they dont know what theyre in for art by @thisisstupidart

feral neil animation by @c-dragon-art

[dayurno]

under the cut is the kandrew throw down of the year™ aka my attempt at reasoning the ch*king scene in therapeutic context. the events in this happen in betsy’s office, on the grounds that andrew asked her to fix them a few weeks after canon. could probably be the kickstarter for a kandreil fic but who knows. i sure don’t

tw: discussions of abuse, choking, kevin flipping his shit (aren’t you tired of being nice? don’t you just want to go apeshit?)

"You’re a spineless, despicable, selfish, obsessed and self-righteous person—” Andrew starts, a tinge of anger simmering under his words. It’s almost dangerous, but Kevin knew Betsy would throw Andrew out of his room if he tried solving this with his fists. 

Maybe it’s that safety that has Kevin cutting him off, perhaps just as viciously, “You are a man,” he says, pointing a finger in Andrew’s direction. “You are an average, lazy, boring, cowardly, success-fearing man. You have potential and you waste it. You think feeling nothing makes you have the upper hand, but that makes you average. It makes you so-so; irrelevant; not special. You settle because you’re a coward.” He takes a deep breath. “You think violence makes you a man. It does not. It makes you a petulant child with knives.”

“Not so spineless after all,” Andrew snarls, a cold fury settling all over him and tightening his muscles into unbearable tension, as if he was about to snap. 

Kevin does not find fear when he looks for it; most of all, he’s tired. He’s tired of Andrew’s leash and how short it is, he’s tired of pulling at his teeth, he’s tired of up-keeping a deal with a man who did not keep his word in the first place. “Do better, then. Stop acting like a child and do better. You can’t like me if you tried and I’m getting tired of pulling at your teeth.”

“Andrew,” Betsy interrupts before Andrew can —  most likely —  launch himself onto Kevin, “what do you think? How does that make you feel?”

He stares at her fixedly, avoiding Kevin as if he weren’t there. “I think that I want him out.”

She considers it for a second, then says, “No. I can’t let him leave, Andrew. This is the root of all your issues with each other, and you’ve asked me to fix you two. Let me help.”

Andrew takes a long, shuddering breath, so deep Kevin’s own lungs hurt as he follows it. Inhale; exhale. They do it as parallel lines, eyes pointedly away from each other. “I think,” he roughly replies, “that Kevin could simply go back to the Ravens if he wants someone that gets off to Exy as much as he does.”

“Oh, because that’s so mature,” Kevin fumes, at once the forest fire and the leftover ashes. “It’s so easy for you to throw other peoples’ abuse around, isn’t it? Andrew gets to have boundaries, Andrew gets to keep secrets, but God helps anyone who wants to do the same. No one can touch you, but you can hurt people however you want without a single care for the consequences. Doesn’t sound very fucking healthy to me, Andrew. It sounds like someone I know and you won’t like to hear who it is.”

Andrew’s gaze is stone cold. Kevin would shiver if he wasn’t so deep within the flames, and then again —  he's seen worse. If Kevin survived Riko Moriyama, he'll survive anyone.

 “Say it,” Andrew demands. “I dare you. Say it.”

“I don’t fucking do what you tell me to do,” Kevin snaps, struggling to keep his voice down. “I’m not your fucking pet, Andrew. Obedience under the coercion of a knife is not the choice you think you’re giving me.”  

“Is that how you feel?” Andrew asks, dead gazed. His lips are chapped and his hands are balled into fists; shaking with the strength it takes him to hold himself back from giving Kevin another necklace of bruises. “You were not forced to strike a deal with me. You did it out of your own volition. Do not speak of things you do not understand because you want to lash out at me.”

“He thinks I don’t understand what it’s like to not have a choice,” Kevin laughs, a cynical sound choked out of his throat. “Oh, aren’t you farsighted. Before I got out of the Nest, saying ‘no’ to someone was not even in question, Andrew. There are things I still need spelled out for me because I don’t know what it’s like to have personal fucking boundaries. When you choked me, I,” at this point Kevin’s hands are trembling at the same violent rhythm Andrew’s are, though a part of him —  untainted and scared; perpetual in its adolescence —  still thrashes at his insides at the mere thought of arguing back, biting back. “I didn’t even know. I didn’t know that wasn’t a thing you should be allowed to do. I didn’t have a name for that. All I thought was that I was submitted to you, and that it was right, and that I was paying for keeping something from you. I didn’t know and you did it anyways. You took advantage of me.”

Andrew’s entire body tenses up. “I didn’t. I didn’t. If you say something like that again, I’ll kill you.”

“Then be it,” Kevin replies, leaning back against the chair with a slump of his shoulders. “Kill me. Do it. Finish the job you started. Live with yourself afterwards. Live your sad, average, miserable life and feel free to tell me if it’s worth it in the end.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Betsy holds her palm up in a quieting motion, looking only slightly tipped off by Kevin’s blowout. It was probably the last thing he’d ever say to Andrew —  probably the last thing he’d say at all, if Andrew’s murderous wishes were to be fulfilled —  and he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. “That’s enough, you two. Kevin, do you understand how heavy of an implication that is? You cannot take it back. You know Andrew’s issues with being taken advantage of.”

“But isn’t it, doctor? Isn’t it being taken advantage of?” Kevin spits out, “Isn’t it taking advantage of someone to hurt them from a position of power, thus rendering them unable to defend themselves? I think it is. I think I won’t allow him to make me seem crazy for being angry.”

Betsy blinks for a few seconds, searching for Andrew’s eyes. Andrew, on the other hand, is perfectly still, frozen from the top of his head to the tip of his toes. There is no pride in Kevin to have made him like that —  there is only tiredness, so deep it settles in his bones. His bones; the place he knows Andrew the best in. Kevin sighs, “I’m trying to get better. I’m trying to. But I can’t do that with you using me as your punch bag because you know I won’t hit back, Andrew. I can’t do that.”

“I did not mean to,” Andrew says in a whisper, almost a prayer. “I did not mean to.”

“Andrew,” Betsy calls, her tone unwavering, “breathe. Breathe. You can’t fix this if you’re having a panic attack. You’re with me, you know this. You’re in my office at Palmetto State University. You are safe. You are having a joint session with Kevin.”

“I did not mean to hurt you,” Andrew repeats, and it’s the most vulnerable Kevin has ever seen him. Something in his chest recoils sadly at the sight. “I did not mean to take advantage of you. I was just—  Neil—  I lost control.”

Kevin purses his lips, allowing his bruising heartbeat to will down. “I know you didn’t mean to be cruel. That doesn’t mean you were kind.”

“Okay,” the therapist sighs, adjusting her glasses. “Okay. Andrew, I don’t think Kevin shouldn’t be allowed to manifest his anger in a controlled environment. You hurt him in a way that hindered his own recovery, and triggered memories of his own abuse. You did not mean to bring those memories back, but it has happened all the same. Kevin, do you think this could be fixed?”

He wets his lips, gently thumbing along the skin of his throat where sickly yellow, green and purple bruises were only a few weeks ago. Andrew follows his movements almost obsessively, and something glossy shimmers under the layer of apathy Kevin knows too well; guilt. Self-loathing. Kevin huffs a soft sound, and answers honestly, “I don’t know if I can forgive it in a way that’s healthy.”

She nods. “Thank you for your honesty. Andrew, do you think there is anything you could do to make it up for him?”

Andrew exhales shakily. “He could hit back.”

Betsy frowns, but Kevin beats her to whatever she was going to say by uttering, “No. I won’t put my hands on you.”

It makes Andrew offer him a weird look, though he’s still far, far away, the guilt now a lot more emptier; cotton-white. He looks speechless, so Kevin completes it for him: “I’m not like them. I’m not like…” like you, he wants to say, but wills it away; it would be too cruel. “I’m not going to hit back. I just want… I don’t know, Andrew. I don’t know what you want me to do and I’m tired of having no choice. I'm tired of having the yes choked out of me.”

“I will make it up to you.” Andrew steadies his gaze onto Kevin’s face, gripping the armrest of his chair until his already pale knuckles turn white. It sounds like a promise. “I will make it up to you. You have my word.”

It doesn’t mean much to me right now, Kevin wants to say. Instead, he answers, “Okay,” because really, what else is there to do? Andrew’s word is the best he can offer. There is nothing else he can promise and not even Exy can mend —  whatever this is. Whatever Andrew has made of them. 

“Is there anything else you want to say, Kevin?” Betsy asks, gently, her words a feathery touch skimming down the side of his face. 

Kevin doesn’t answer, staring directly at Andrew, wishing that he could at least hold his gaze for a second, a minute, a lifetime —  enough that Kevin could peel back the years of apathy from him like jackets, meeting Andrew, for once, in all of his mess the same way he has met Kevin’s messes one too many times. “Yes,” he says, and Andrew snaps his gaze towards Kevin with something too akin to shame for it to be any comfort. Still, Kevin holds it like it’s a prize, challenges him, tells him something Andrew might have not believed until now: I am unbreaking. “Wash that look out of your face. It’s a waste of blood and sweat, and I won’t have it in my life or in my Court. You cannot break me. I am angry at you because you tried when you were supposed to have my back.”

“I know,” Andrew answers, his grief razor-sharp and stupefying. “I will not be like them. I will not be like him. I will make it up to you.”

“Good,” Kevin tells him, crossing his arms and baring his teeth. “I’m expensive to keep.”

Betsy looks like she wants to interrupt their relentless stare down; Kevin’s muddy green meeting Andrew’s forest fire hazel, a battle of wills years in the making. Kevin might not hit back outside of Court, but he does not pull away —  he is not the man to do it. If it aches in Andrew, then it should ache and ache and ache, until it balances out the pain he caused; until he rots into something new.

He is just a boy, barely a man, a shadow of what someone with such unrelenting morality should be and act like. Kevin looks at him —  really looks at him, no bias clogging his mind, and what he sees is what he’s always seen; a boy. 

Leave it to the rest of the team to mistake Andrew Minyard for a hero or a villain. Their eyesight is filtered through their own self-beliefs, their opinions are based on their inability to believe others have the same nuance and complexity they believe themselves to have. Kevin Day, though —  he has always had perfectly sharp vision, and he cannot be fooled by sharp knives and dead eyed gazes. He came from men much worse; he sat with the horrors of the world, unflinchingly, long before Andrew did.

If Andrew could only be what he pretends he is.

[ao3feed-thefoxholecourt]

The Perfect Coup D'état

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3EWkZf7

by glam_reaper2

There was a pit filled with monsters that masqueraded as Ravens. As students. As Athletes. As Coaches.

There was a pit filled with broken things that pretended to be whole. And they sewed themselves together with spare parts they found in each other. They taped together the cracks in their psyches with promises made in the dark.

There was a pit filled with shadows that devoured all they touched. Until one day there was a spark...

Mary stole her son from the pit but there were monsters waiting at the gates. Her son was raised as his father intended, in the bowels of the stadium.

And in the dark he made three unbreakable bonds with people he called precious. He vowed to save them all before the monsters finally swallowed him whole; because Nathaniel Wesninski knew the truth:There was no escape for the Butcher's son.

But if he was very smart... If he was very fast, he could get them out before the end. And that... that would be enough.

----------------------- **CW/TW at top of each CH. ** Each CH has a character focus as the story unravels.

Words: 968, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: M/M

Characters: Kevin Day, Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten, Jean Moreau, David Wymack, Abby Winfield, The Foxes (All For The Game), Riko Moriyama, Thea Muldani

Relationships: Kevin Day/Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Kevin Day/Neil Josten, Kevin Day/Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard

Additional Tags: Dark fic, ENDGAME: Kandriel, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Psychological Trauma, The Nest and all horrors associated with that disaster, Mind break/ loss of identity, honestly all warnings from books, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Foxes make a plan to rescue precious baby Neil, Because they're good people, And Kevin and Andrew said they have too, Cannon Divergence, no beta we die like mary, Riko will die before the end, that's a promise, raven! Neil, Raven! AU

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3EWkZf7

[nikothespoonklepto]

Thank you so much for recommendations! I am really looking forward to read them. (Very possible I come back for more!) And actually I wanted to say in my last ask that you can add some of your own fics as well if you would want to. I am glad you like your own fics so much that you reread them. That’s cool! And totally understandable. I love your fics, too. Especially Apartment 314 (I love p.i. stories!), counting the stars (one of my absolute all time favs) and raise your spirits (it’s amazing!)

awww nonnie! You’re making me blush! I am super happy you liked my recommendations and my fics! Apt 314? God. I love that fic. I had so much fun writing it! Counting Stars? *swoon* (new installments are in the works) RYS? wiageusfhslndfv @still-waiting-for-godot is to blame for that one and I am forever grateful. :D 

BUT if you are feeling adventurous and willing to give a rather unique rarepair a chance. Royal Flush contains both Kevandrew and Jean/Riko/Nathaniel. A rather ooc setting for most involved. Set with the EA Ravens and like... oh! it was for the Valentine’s exchange 2019 :3 like I said. I love rarepairs, but if you wanna try it. Go for it! If you don’t like it, I won’t be offended.

Then there is Brothers, my pride and joy. NOT abandoned, just all involved are busy bees and Ch 10 is being edited ^_^ It’s my Moriyama “I fixed it” fic.

If you want a rarepair written, I promise you, I will find a way to make it work. lol. 

thanks for the ask again nonnie! Happy reading! 

~Nikos

PS: If you ever wanna message me please feel free! I love to talk to people! I have made many friends in this fandom and @leahlisabeth can tell you that she is a victim of my “You’re my friend now.” habits. lol

[alexjosten]

i am freACKING THE FUCK OUT!!! is neil really gonna tell him? how did renee and alison even recognise him if neil doesn't remember andrew and didn't recognise them either? what's gonna happen next? aaaaaa can't wait to find out

aAAAAAA!!! THANK U FOR THIS ASKis neil really gonna tell him? you’ll have to wait until sunday to find out :Dhow did renee and alison even recognise him if neil doesn’t remember andrew and didn’t recognise them either?Neil grew up in the spotlight alongside Exy superstars Kevin Day and Riko Moriyama, so he’s been on the covers of magazines, in TV interviews etc. He’s not got a claim to fame like they do, but he’s recognisable (this is vaguely referenced in ch 2!). Neil didn’t recognise Allison and Renee because he primarily only paid attention to strikers (mentioned in ch 5), and they also look quite different (no make-up, soaked from being in the water both times they met, Renee no longer dyes her iconic rainbow hair). Since he’s played against hundreds of players on dozens of teams over 5 years he wouldn’t remember every face.As for Andrew - it’s a common name! Neil still doesn’t know his last name, and even though Andrew’s dropped plenty of hints Neil is just fucking dumb and hasn’t put the pieces together. Don’t worry, this gets covered in a later chapter and isn’t something I’ve forgotten about! Chapter 7 of Push to Talk is up on AO3!

[kweenkday]

Chapter 2. Yup. Still angst. But hey, I promise 2 chapters of pining and kisses to make it up for this.

Keep Me As Your Finish Line CH 2

Summary:

Jeremy starts sharing his soulmate's dreams and that only means one thing—he's finally met them! Now he only has to figure out who it is.

And he does. When Riko Moriyama and the Ravens' court make an appearance in the dreams he shares with his soulmate, there's no doubt who he is. It could only be Kevin.

But Kevin says he already knows who his soulmates are? Plural? And Jeremy isn't one of them?

The universe is clearly fucking with Jeremy. Big time.

Jean doesn't help the situation.

|| Soulmate AU in which you share your soulmate's dreams after you meet them in person.

[pavotaulait]

to heal sickness you must burn it out

wymbug ch.9

He thought “Finally, finally”

-

Papa had taken him fishing when he explained to Jean what he and mama did for the Moriyama’s. Papa didn’t lie.

Drops of watery truth spilled from his mouth making his words as matter of fact as nature always was.

“Mama, she handles the accounts for the Moriyama’s. She is the financer, I take care of their connections in business. for the side of organized crime. What they ask we must do Jean.”

Perhaps at this time, he was warning Jean. That in a year Maman would sit with him for the first time in his waking life at his bedside, she would hand him a glass of water and her long elegant fingers would rest on his cheek as his vision failed him.

Papa’s knife is in a salmon they have caught. A gentle gush of blood painting the perimeter of the dark scales.

“We all die Jean. If you can, choose to die like the fish. with happy ignorance. A fool knows no pain. Sometimes that is the better path.” His father's hands push upwards swiftly to disconnect the internal organs. They slip past Jean's small numb fingers. The fishes heart at his feet.

For months after, he tastes the fish's blood under his nails. When he bites into the smoothed icing of the cake in the forest, copper sits under his tongue reminding him how a fish's life is never there own.

-

Friday marks the reign of blood

but it is also only Friday.

Jean expected nothing more.

Montgomery will not stay in Jean's room when Kengo relapses. She ties her curls back before packing her things, It is the only tell she owns unwillingly “I will stand by you at practice and meals but I will not stay here.” I don’t want to die.

He knows that tone. He feels her viciousness born of fear but he doesn’t understand it.

It was Friday. They have dinner in an hour, practice in 7 hours. Why does the bloody kiss of the guillotine at her neck not feel like home too?

She’s staying with Ashley and Saints. Jean did not ask but his eyes, no matter how often they had been threatened with enucleation, worked well. They stood outside the door to fold her into the darkening phalanx of the remaining raven's wings.

Healthy, unwilling to let plague from the condemned darken their skin.

Being held at arm's length was nothing new. Neither was waiting for Riko to find him.

Riko was not the boogeyman. No, that was the Master but Riko was taught like one. He could feel for soft spots with closed eyes.

He brought darkness with him suffocating the light,

But all the darkness let Jean imagine the stars.

The more lightless the dawn the closer the sky seemed.

Riko finds him hurting. Riko is always in pain, he is always bleeding and that is how his hands turn to claws. How his heart turns to stone.

Things do not look good for the Eldest Moriyama.

And the French-born man has never seen Riko so unhinged.

He thinks “Finally, finally”

The nest had poisoned his drinking water, it had stricken him ill. The small amount of feathers he had nurtured had fallen out.

Jean was a flightless, twisted nightmare. He would never survive beyond Edger Allen even if he could leave.

The serrated edge of the knife on his ribs crying, “here is our escape.”

He would not have been fit to return to his stars, he would have been a fractured moon but he would always find his sister in the heavens.

The next time they would live a properly happy life, She would teach him to smile and it would not hurt.

Days pass not because time is a corporeal matter to Jean anymore because Riko tells him. “It’s four a.m. , Its’ breakfast time, It’s morning practice.”

All the things Jean can not stand for with the lacerations bracing his thighs.

They are both waiting, notching the passage of hours on the canvas of his back.

Kengo dies.

And Jean calls Renee.

He had not meant to or remembered thinking of doing so in the following hours but blood smeared the screen of his phone.

“Renee,”

“Jean, what’s happened?” Given the chance, after his sister and Kevin, Jean might have learned to love Renee.

“Will you stay on the line? I don’t want to be alone.” The eye that is not swollen shut flutters in sympathy of it’s injured brother.

“I won’t hang up, you stay too. ok?”

The ambient sound of Renee’s life become the only thing connecting him to his body. The gentle shutting of doors, the quick permission for Andrew's car. Gentle hours that quiet the pain of exsanguination.

“Jean?” Every ten minutes for two and a half hours he is met with his name.

Yes?

He stumbles back from the grave his foot has hovered over.

Oui?

He wants to see Renee’s smile.

Non

He wants to sleep, he’s suffered enough. Jean deserves this.

I can’t

I’m tired

Renee.

A last rites prayer, the only one he would ever mean. To be absolved of his sins so that he might finally rest. Renee who was real and benevolent and kind was the only saint he would trust his words with.

Her lips rest at the crown of his head, exy strengthened muscles pulling him close.

“Let me take him. If you try to stop me I will not be satisfied with dismantling the little kingdom, I will come for the castle too.”

Words meant for a figure beyond his reach, he’s weaving dreams across the battlefield of his body around the spikes of white bone sticking through his skin but he thinks, “There's only one way to cure a plague.”

colère

[ao3feed-thefoxholecourt]

living in sin.

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Ff01uD

by shortbreadd

A collection of Perfect Court AU scenes super short, 1k-2k Ch. 1: Nathaniel gets into a fight and gets beat up, and Kevin comforts Andrew about it.

Words: 1140, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death

Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M

Characters: Neil Josten, Kevin Day, Andrew Minyard, Riko Moriyama, The Ravens (All For The Game), Tetsuji Moriyama, Ichirou Moriyama, Original Characters, Jean Moreau

Relationships: Kevin Day/Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Kevin Day/Neil Josten, Kevin Day/Andrew Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard

Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Trans Neil Josten, Trans Andrew Minyard, So much violence, seriously so much, Kevin is a little braver with Neil and Andrew with him, poor Jean, Riko is a grade A asshole

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2Ff01uD