#friends who DONT want to bully him around and assume they’re close because clearly they’re both royalty and therefore BFFs

[thebluestbluewords]

Blue’s shameless Let Ben Take Care Of People agenda:

Ben is pretty sure that Jay is categorically not okay right now, and if he’s not going to bring it up to anyone, then it’s Ben’s job, as the one responsible for bringing him to Auradon, and also as his friend, to bring it up for him. 

Okay. 

He can do this. 

“You okay?” 

Jay jerks his head up. He’s got his phone in his left hand, the screen bright. There’s already a set of chewed looking earbuds connected and dangling loose towards the floor. “What?”

Right. This is weird. Ben’s the one being weird right now. They do talk, because they’re friends, but it’s always about classes and stuff. Casual stuff. Not stuff like this. “Uh, I just wanted to see if you’re okay?” 

Jay blinks. His mouth is a little bit open, and he looks more confused than anything. “I’m fine. Are you good?” 

“No. Yeah. I don’t know.” Ben stutters. Gods, but he hates when the words won’t come out smoothly. “I—sorry.” 

Jay’s smile pulls at the corner of his mouth. He’s handsome all the time, but there’s something special about that smile, even though Ben knows he was looking tired and sad just a moment ago. “You don’t know? I know you’ve been pulled around a lot lately, but dude, I didn’t think it was this bad.” 

“It’s not. Or. Maybe it is. I don’t know. I came over to check on you.”

“I’m fine, dude,” Jay says, standing up fully and spreading his arms, offering Ben a grin as he does a little half-turn. “I mean, look at me.” 

Again; the little voice in Ben’s head screams wrong. 

And look. Ben knows that he’s not usually the smartest guy in a room. He’s determined, and patient, and persistent, but he rarely achieves clever, and he knows that. He knows how to work around it too, with earnest kindness and a genuine willingness to hear out every single person, no matter how small, that even the most determined liar eventually opens up for him. 

Usually. 

“Walk me home?” Ben offers, holding out a proper courtly arm. “Not that you have to, or anything. It’s just—“ 

Jay links their arms together, as easy as anything, and bumps Ben’s shoulder ever so gently with his own. “Dude, you don’t need to explain. I missed you too, ‘kay?” 

Oh. 

Oh. 

Ben isn’t that close to Jay by Auradon standards, but Jay’s closest friend is Mal, and Mal’s closest friend is Evie, and Evie’s been fighting Ben for Mal’s time ever since they started dating, and maybe this is all it takes to be friends, when you’re one of the isle kids. It’s impossible for Ben not to notice how they flock together, four heads pressed close together at meals and breaks and in between classes. Maybe this is all it takes for them to be friends, just shared time, and shared people that they care about, and shared glimpses of the sort of heart-stopping smiles that they hide from other people but sometimes let him see when he’s hanging out in the girl’s room. 

Ben’s never been allowed to choose his friends before. He’s always been expected to hang out with the other royals, no matter how insufferable he finds some of them. Chad’s the sort of friend who’s fine in a group, but sort of annoying to hang with one-on-one, and they don’t have much in common outside of sports. Besides, Ben’s been too busy to even participate in games lately, and the only reason he’s still on the swords and shields team is because he’s considered too high-status to officially kick off. 

“I…missed you,” Ben says slowly, trying out the feel of the words. “Yeah. That’s not actually what I was trying to say, but…” 

“But I’m charming and irresponsible,” Jay says agreeably, nodding along. “And taking care of us is how you show affection, so you wanted to check in, yeah.” 

“I don’t think this conversation is going the way I expected,” Ben says, not really even complaining. “I’m trying to take care of you.” 

“I’m fine, man.” 

“You’re not, though!” 

“Look—“ Jay starts, and then stops. He makes a small motion, just shifting his shoulders to angle them towards the wall instead of the open corridor, but it’s enough, apparently, for him to drop some of the act. His usual smile slides off his face like ice cubes on a hot plate, and it leaves him looking older. Ben almost wants to rub his thumb over the wrinkle that pops up between Jay’s brows, but they’re not that sort of friends yet. “Look. I can’t do this here, okay? I’m fine, you don’t have to worry.” 

“You’re in pain.” Ben says, realizing as the words come out that it’s true. “You’re hurt?” 

“No.” 

“You’re not wearing a backpack,” Ben says quietly. “You’re moving slower than usual, I think. I didn’t notice it so much at practice because you were bouncing between groups to help troubleshoot. You’re good at hiding it.” 

“Look—“ 

“Why won’t you tell someone?” 

Jay grabs Ben’s shoulders with both arms, and sure enough, there’s a shadow of a wince in the way he’s gritting his teeth. “Dude. I said. Not here.” 

[bramblepaws]

alright i’m gonna try to put all of my thoughts on this together into one post so i dont have to say anything else about it ever again

Mike is not abusive. Lucy is not abusive.

Now, a disclaimer: if you have been abused, and you see elements of your own abuse in their relationship, that’s valid! The point of my argument is not to tell you that your relationship wasn’t abuse. You know better than anyone else what it was.

okay! now onto the meat.

To start off: evidence that Lucy is an abuser.

Lucy repeatedly hurts Mike physically from the start of the comic up ‘til December, from kicks and slaps, to hitting him with a stick, and everything in between.

Mike feels trapped in the relationship because Lucy depends on him so heavily

Mike feels cut-off from their friends, as he believes they will side with Lucy every time.

The comic started out as a slapstick one with kids in eighth grade; everyone hit each other to start with. Mike literally punts Yashy a few times. Lucy was the only one who didn’t grow out of it -- she continues to slap Mike on occasion. It never, however, follows a cycle of abuse. Abusers generally follow a cycle when they physically abuse someone: they lead up to physical violence with threats and emotional abuse, then physically attack the other person, then cycle through apologies and excuses and manipulation to keep their victim from blaming them. Lucy is physically violent with all of her friends, and does not EVER apologize or express remorse over it. I would label it as bullying behavior rather than abusive, which is terrible in and of itself.

Mike severely over-estimates how one-sided the dependency is. Neither he nor Lucy have any other friends that match the level of closeness they have with each other. I’m going to just c/p one of my other posts for clarification;

Mike and Lucy had the exact same “most people only like me cuz im attractive, Mike/Lucy is the only one who genuinely likes me for who i am” attitude regarding their other friends.

For Lucy : Daisy viewed Lucy as a romantic rival for Mike’s affection, and was pretty neutral and detached with any interaction outside of that. Paulo was interested in getting in Lucy’s pants and didn’t interact with her outside of hitting on her aggressively. David is partially there for Paulo, and partially there to ALSO hit on her. Sue and Amaya don’t interact with her much, but there is implication that they also see her as a romantic rival for Mike’s affection.

All of this results in Lucy believing that everyone has ulterior motives for being her friend. The various random middle schoolers that crush on her and call her hot encourage this view. Mike is the only one who doesn’t fit into this pattern; they met on the pretext of (what she saw as) friendly competition and nothing else. She was the one who initiated friendship, further proving that he doesn’t have ulterior motives.

For Mike : Daisy saw Mike as a romantic interest and didn’t interact with him outside of hitting on him. Paulo saw Mike as a romantic rival for Lucy’s affections and a person to insult. David is there for Lucy and Paulo, and doesn’t really interact with Mike outside of interacting through those people. Sue and Amaya both see Mike as a romantic interest.

All of this results in Mike… most likely ALSO believing that people have ulterior motives for being his friend. He takes note of the fact that many girls are interested in dating him in “Prom Preparation” and laments that fact, as he isn’t interested in any of them. Lucy is the only one who doesn’t fit into this pattern; she established their friendship on the pretext of competition, which he enjoys (though he wishes she was less harsh about it), and zero romantic interest. She also tries to stick by him even when he’s romantically unavailable (regarding Sandy), further cementing the idea that she isn’t using him for something else.

Mike and Lucy are both VERY reliant on the other person to be their only True Friend. they both crush on each other throughout the series, but it’s understood for both of them that they aren’t going to let that get in the way of other things. they both see past the exterior of the other person – Mike sees that Lucy is sweet and fun under her “hot” & spiky exterior, and Lucy sees that Mike is sweet and fun under his “hot” & humble exterior. They relied on each other to see themselves as like… real people, rather than either something to be Won or competed with.

On another note, Mike relied just as heavily on Lucy for emotional support — she comforted him every time he was upset about Sandy, had his back during and after Confrontation, and generally set aside her teasing if it seemed like he was actually upset about something. In return he protected her from her phobia of water, defended her from the ire and desire of their friends, and gave emotional support back. Their dependency was about equal in the end, though Mike later leaned heavily on the idea that she needed him more than he needed her (and was proven wrong, as recent chapters have shown).

The above paragraphs also illustrate that BOTH of them felt cut off from friends; neither of them felt that any of their other friends were dependable for much. When it came down to it, Daisy would always side with Mike and Paulo would always side with Lucy. Lucy felt equally sure that people, aside from Paulo, would side with Mike.

The main issue here, however, is that nobody spoke up about Lucy’s physical bullying of Mike. They all grew up hitting each other for the lulz, and when they all slowly drifted to a stop she didn’t. But Mike never acted like it bothered him, never said anything against it — so I have to assume that everyone, Lucy included, just inferred that Mike didn’t mind it. Mike resented this, but he never said anything about it, because he was used to it too. It took Sandy to help him realize that he didn’t deserve to be hit — but for some reason, he bottled it up and grew resentful instead of communicating with Lucy about it. Lucy, meanwhile, has been shown to be respectful of the boundaries of other people once they’ve clearly set them. It’s my belief that she would’ve stopped hitting if he had asked her to. In an abusive relationship, that just isn’t the case. Asking an abuser to stop doing something is a surefire way to be manipulated/gaslit and then for the activity to either remain the same or increase. We can’t know for sure because Mike never asks her to stop, but there is no indication that he never says anything about it because he’s afraid of retaliation. He’s not afraid of her at all, which is another point in the favor of it not being abuse.

Another important detail: Lucy isn’t controlling. When she finds out Mike is still interacting with a girl he originally left her for, she’s genuinely happy for him and gives him space about it. She gets pissed about it later when he isn’t being honest with her or himself, but is genuinely happy when he IS honest about it because she knows Sandy is important to him. Most abusers would not handle the situation the same way. If Lucy was abusive, she would’ve most likely reacted with anger and a desire to stop communication between the two of them. She could have used third grade as a way to guilt-trip and manipulate Mike out of interacting with Sandy, who posed a threat to their relationship. But she didn’t. This doesn’t inherently make her NOT an abuser, but it’s a tick in that direction. Lucy also doesn’t influence their friends to side against Mike at all. She’s just… living her life, not really giving a shit either way WHAT her friends think about either her or Mike. Abusers are generally very concerned with how they’re viewed. They put in a lot of time and effort to make sure they seem like nice, likable people. They’re especially controlling about how their victim sees them — Lucy never really influences Mike either way other than just Being Around As His Friend. She doesn’t seem to even care about his opinion at all -- until later on in their relationship, when she opens up to outsiders how much his opinion matters to her. But even at that point… she’s not really doing anything to influence him aside from just Being Nicer, which is something a normal friend would do and isn’t manipulative at all.

Overall, Lucy just doesn’t strike me as abusive. The physical attacks and general mean-ness are absolutely bullying and toxic behavior, and the relationship between the two of them is clearly codependent and toxic. But Lucy isn’t controlling, she isn’t manipulative, she doesn’t gaslight. She isn’t hell-bent on making sure Mike thinks only the best of her while making him think of himself as complete garbage — she goes out of her way to be as honest and frank with him about herself (aside from her crush on him) as she can. She was a bad friend, but not an abusive one.

Now, on to Mike!

Evidence that Mike is an abuser.

Lucy feels incredibly dependent on their friendship

Mike was manipulative during December

Mike is being manipulative and controlling after their friendship ended

Re: dependency — see above long paragraphs about their relationship.

December was a horrible, heart-wrenching chapter. Mike had bottled up feelings and built up resentment for a LONG time leading up to this, and all of it exploded out at once in an irreversible decimation of their friendship. And that’s exactly what he wanted it to be — he was tired of her trying to be his friend, and he’d hinted at it plenty of times, but enough was enough and he had to spell it out for her. He tells her he hates her. Explains that Sandy helped him see that it wasn’t right to let Lucy hurt him all the time. And then says that he’s going to stop hanging out with her at lunch. All of this is standard horrible-friend-breakup stuff; it’s the next two bits that get the honor of making the whole event Unforgivably Bad.

Mike tells her that if he leaves, all of their other friends will probably follow him. Lucy will be left alone.

This is an absolutely horrible thing to say to someone. To tell them that no one actually likes them, they’re just tolerated. That if all the friends were forced to choose between two people, they sure wouldn’t pick Lucy! And Lucy would be abandoned, which has been her number one fear since third grade (and why wouldn’t it be? humans are social creatures and NEED friends to survive).

But this isn’t abuse. It definitely rings as something close. In fact — (this is gonna be personal for the first time in the essay just to warn u) — the person who abused ME used a similar tactic, though with a different endgame in mind. When I rejected him the first time, he forced our friends into a position where they had to choose between us. His intent was to get me to relent and date him, to stop causing strife in our mutual friend group — or, failing that, to punish me for taking away what he saw as rightfully his (aka me).

Mike’s actions were similar, but his intention was very different. He wanted her to hurt; he wanted revenge for the way he had been treated, and he wanted to make it VERY clear that he didn’t want to be friends with her. He wanted, furthermore, to prove that he wasn’t in the wrong for this: he was the victim, and other people treating Lucy like she was a bully would be validating for his own victimhood.

I genuinely don’t think he was trying to manipulate her here. He was trying to hurt her badly and was succeeding in doing so. He was being absolutely monstrous, but not abusive. His intent with this was not to control; he was lashing out to hurt someone who had hurt him, which Everyone Does. It was horrible, but not abusive. It pushed Lucy into a depression, but it wasn’t abusive. It not being abusive doesn’t make it any less fucked up IMO. It was terrible and it had terrible consequences! It just was a different beast than abuse.

After Lucy comes back, Mike is clearly consumed with guilt. All he does for her first day there is hide from her and stare guiltily at her from a distance. He tries to talk to her a couple of times, but isn’t able to catch her alone. He gets antsy about old physical violence from her and yells about it, then tries AGAIN to catch her alone so they can talk but does it in a really weird passive-aggressive manner because she’s been acting weird and he doesn’t know how to handle it, and he doesn’t really want to deal with his guilt over what he said in December. She gives him the chance to apologize, but is openly resistant to it, and he ends up completely fumbling the ball and doing just a god-awful job of apologizing, and then getting overly defensive about Sandy and completely ruining any chance he had. He starts clinging to his victim complex with everything he’s got, because suddenly he can see how much he fucked things up, and he doesn’t know how to handle it. He follows her again, because he misses her and hates her and misses Sandy and wants her to be there for him and wants her to prove that she deserved what he said to her. He’s called out for glaring at her and is Reminded Again That Sandy’s AWOL.

But most of this isn’t what people point to when they’re saying he’s abusive — this is all just him being a freak, but like, a normal freak. It’s in Witch Hunt that he flips into the extreme again. He starts ranting and raving about how obsessed Lucy is to Daisy, despite like… having just seen how much she doesn’t want male attention…… I think it’s partially because he’s used to her leaning on him when others ramp up their romantic attention for her, because he used to be the one that would just leave her alone in that regard. Plus there’s the whole messed-up-about-Sandy thing that Lucy used to swoop in and comfort him for. But I’m getting off track.

He starts ranting about how obsessed she is with him. Daisy is immediately like “I don’t think she is dude” but he relents, so she snaps at him and storms off.

From what I understand, people are reading this scene as abusive because they interpret this as him trying to control how others see Lucy. He’s ranting about a mutual friend he’s having trouble with, which he HAS done about Lucy in particular a number of times. I can definitely see where people are coming from with this one. If you look at it a certain way, it comes across as him trying to slander her name. But it could just as easily be him ranting about a person he’s having trouble with, which everyone does, all the time. I’ve ranted about a person I don’t like to people plenty of times, and it was never ABUSIVE, because all of the other requirements for abuse weren’t set into place.

This, IMO, falls under the same category as Lucy’s physical violence. It’s definitely present in abusive situations, but there are guidelines for abuse that it just doesn’t fit into. He doesn’t have control over Lucy or any of their friends in this scenario. He isn’t using this to try and isolate Lucy; he’s just trying to get his friends to see his side of the story and help him feel better about the awful way he treated her. It’s Super Shitty, but it isn’t abuse.

In summation: I get the bits and pieces that people see in their relationship that matches up with abuse, but there just isn’t enough there to label either Mike or Lucy abusive. The basic requirements for abuse haven’t been met. There are things present that can definitely happen in abusive relationships, and their relationship was absolutely toxic and bad, but it isn’t abuse.

As a final note of evidence that I fall back on every time the subject comes up: both parties have been offered up as possible abusers. Lucy has been stated by many to be possibly abusive, and Mike has been stated by just as many to be possibly abusive. But they can’t BOTH be abusive — that’s not how abuse works. They can be mutually toxic toward each other, they can both exhibit bullying behavior, but they can’t be abusing each other at the same time. Abuse only works when there is an abuser and a victim. There is always a victim, who is not at all at fault for how the relationship is! And Mike and Lucy both played their part in their relationship becoming as toxic as it is. So it literally CANNOT be abuse.

[japanessie]

Hi Shelly! I'm sorry you're feeling blue! I was going to ask that about Taka and Hiro, too, but was worried I'd get too upset but since someone else asked anyway...It just kind of made me wince with hurt for Hiro when a few years ago Taka ranted on instagram about privacy (for his own life, not about his family). Like, where was your voice when your own fans were BULLYING your baby brother or when they posted on a forum after the ONE time Tomohiro finally showed his face, they asked if he was...

[2/3] Adopted! He already had issues being on camera (hasnt been on since, cant blame him). So, Hiroki looks too much like Taka but Tomo doesn’t look enough? They’re his little brothers, I think bullying BOTH Little brothers is when the time to speak up is. I’m not saying the bros cant handle themselves but I just feel Hiro, aside from mfs, has been on his own. It would be nice if his eldest brother took responsibility for his so called “fans” who attack his family and stood up… 

[3/3] Sorry it just hits close to home. I know what it’s like 2 not have your older bro there when u need him most. When he leaves u in a house burning with hatred (i got to hear my parents accuse each other of cheating while my bro was out smoking & drinking. It makes me wonder what Hiroki heard when no one thought he was listening). I dont mean to take it personally or anything, I just feel like Hiroki & I are very similar. It’s why I like mfs. I’m sorry, I just have no one else to talk about it to.

−−−−−−−−−−−−−− −−−−−−−−−−−−−−

Hi 😊. I combined your messages together into one for easier reading

First of all I’m sorry for the pain that you personally had to go through. I hope you’re doing okay 🤗. At the same time though, I see uniqueness besides similarities in everybody’s situation. 

1. Someone who is broken can’t be a crutch for someone else

In a traditional family setup in many cultures, even more prominent in Asian cultures, the eldest child is always the one assumed to carry responsibilities of looking after the younger ones. In a family crisis situation, while the younger ones theoretically have the one they can turn to, the eldest child has nobody and is usually left to fend for himself and everybody else. 

Some elder kids have the inner strength and maturity to carry it at young age but some really struggle with it and only develop at a later age. Your brother and Taka seem to be in the latter category. Like Taka, your brother walked out because he was hurting and that was the shortcut way he knew how to surpress it and to stay away from what was troubling him at home. He couldn’t be your pillar when he was broken himself. Just like Taka who took the quick way out and his story had been well documented. 

Also, a lot of times, someone who feels worthless doesn’t understand why anyone would feel hurt to see him walk away. I’m sure Taka himself only fully began to understand NOW, as an adult, the hurt he caused Hiro when he walked away back then. In his mind, he was a loser. Not doing well in school, stressed out over the parents’ marriage breaking up, not getting along with their father, very unhappy and not knowing where his future was heading. Certainly not someone for little Hiro to look up to. How would he look after Hiro when he could barely take care of himself?

* The Moriuchi brothers in those days when they used to be around each other a lot, before OOR moved out of Japan 😊

2. Some people need to pull themselves together first before they can love others

That dark period in Taka’s life was not something he’s proud of. He acknowledges it in interviews and his lyrics. Even OOR members admitted that Taka wasn’t exactly a pleasant person to deal with when they first found him. But once he got his life on track, things fell into places. He made amend with his father and got back the Moriuchi name. While Taka couldn’t give back the years with him that Hiro lost, he let Hiro hang around his friends and be a part of his life back in that way. 

Even Hiro never denied the perks of being Taka’s brother. The most significant was when one of Taka’s close friends K from Pay Money To My Pain befriended Hiro and how that friendship led to the formation of MY FIRST STORY. 

Think again, would Kei Goto a.k.a the late K simply befriend a random underaged high school kid just like that? I highly doubt it 🤔. Hiroki Moriuchi was NOT some random high school kid. K and Taka were buddies and Hiro the high school kid was Taka’s little brother. I doubt Taka would let his little brother hang around someone he didn’t trust. He knew Hiro was in good hands. All these happened only after Taka got his life back on track and was able to be the big brother figure he was meant to be for Hiro.

3. Taka publicly standing up for Hiro would be bad for Hiro’s image

Yes, it would be counter-productive for Taka to do so. You see, the ROOT of the hate and cyber-bullying towards Hiro stemmed from how easy things happened for him because of his family connection. If Taka had spoken out, it would make Hiro appear weak and ultra-dependant on his big brother. 

“Duh! Not only he got a band because he’s Taka brother. Now, he needs to be protected like a baby!” 

Hmm … does that sound good to you? We also need to see things from the haters’ perspective too, you know. Oh, with Papa being a multi-millionaire? Trust me. Hiro would get even less respect if any of his family members had spoken out for him. The bullying might get even worse. 

As for Tomo, anything his family members say would bring unnecessary attention to him. He appeared on TV that one time because of his job at the station. Otherwise, he’s very private. It’s unfair on him if his famous family gives more reasons for the public to scrutinize his life when that’s the last thing he wants. 

4. Being seen publicly as a brave independent fighter would be far more beneficial for Hiro

It worked well for Taka. He only started displaying his bonds with his parents AFTER he had firmly made a name for himself even though they had been on good terms since the early days of OOR. Likewise, Hiro would be less relatable to many fans if he is constantly being taken care of by his more famous and successful family members. Isn’t that the public perception Hiro is still trying hard to break away from? 

Not just the Moriuchi, I have never seen being publicly defended by family members work well for ANY celebrity in the world. It may work for ordinary folks but things work differently for famous people. 

I do support Hiro but I think even his most ardent supporters would agree that he somewhat gives off these “baby” vibes. MFS members themselves seem protective towards him. They let him be mischievious, loud and boisterous with them but they’re always there to hug him when he cries. Therefore, independence from his family would balance that out nicely.

5. Taka made a conscious choice to speak only for himself because he knew any reaction to it would be directed to him and ONLY him

As opposed to Taka speaking out for any of his family members, whom the public might hurl the hate and negative reaction to instead. 

Things just work differently for celebrities. In a way, to minimize the bullying towards their loved ones, staying out of their public battle a lot of times is the better way to go. By not bringing more attention to it. 

Likewise, none of Taka’s family members said anything when Taka had to face a barrage of criticism and angry reactions at the time. The ones who publicly defended him were his friends and peers. Guys like Mah (SiM) and Masato (Coldrain) among some. For celebrities, somehow testimonies from people they have worked with or even strangers they have encountered hold much higher values than family members. 

With their chosen careers, backlash and criticism come with the territory. That’s what their parents want to instill in the two brothers. “You have chosen this path. Learn to deal with it.“

6. Rude fans are rude fans nonetheless

Rude people don’t suddenly become angels just because their idols ask them to. Just look at the backlash against Taka. It was quite brutal. Just like how Hiro got pictures of a woman pooping by his haters, I saw a photo of a “hairy ding dong” for Taka among some, along with truckloads of really scathing words. By his own fans (or should I say “ex-fans"?). If this kind of fans are willing to treat Taka like that just from ONE social media post, then nothing good can come out of it if Taka had said or done anything about Hiro’s haters. The ones who would cheer him would still be the same ones who already support MFS anyway. 

Remember when fans were speculating that OOR’s song Right By Your Side as being dedicated to Hiro? Those who like MFS thought it was a sweet gesture but those who don’t like MFS used it as an excuse to say, “Look! Taka wrote a song for Hiro. Yet he still wants to call Taka his rival. What a low life!”. Yes, I’ve personally seen comments like that. So, see? Whatever Taka does regarding Hiro, mean-spirited people will still find a way to set fire to it.

7. There must be more than meets the eye

Fans went nuts when the brothers wore this pair of pants. I doubt it’s a coincidence that Hiro suddenly is comfortable wearing Taka’s look when he used to be sensitive about being called Taka’s copy before.

But that’s not even something new. in January 2018, Taka posted a photo of himself wearing this Monster’s Inc hoodie at Disneyland. That same month, Hiro was wearing that same Disney hoodie at his 24th birthday party.

Heaven knows what Taka had said to Hiro in private especially after MFS Budokan show 🤔. At the end of the day, they are family and though I also know many families who cut ties from each other, Taka and Hiro clearly are the ones who keep theirs 😉.

2 more cents

I feel that Taka is doing the right thing by staying away from Hiro publicly. Not responding to the negativity surrounding Hiro but still letting fans know that his little brother has his full support.

[wordsdrippinginink]

So Prompts cause you wanted em this way instead of Questions! (there are 4. This is 1 of 4. I know you know this but like, i want you to be aware that there will be 4). So. OPvengers. The avengers and the world reacting to eachother as Ace Chases Luffy through the grand line?(TONY GOING WHY THE FUCK DONT THE ISLANDS MAKE SENSE, WHAT IS WITH THE PHYSICS, maybe inventing a thing?)

“You’re going to have to do something big,” Marco says setting the last of the dishes into the sink. “You’ve been presumed dead for two years and the marines have been celebrating your death.”

“Don’t suppose there’s any marine bases close by for me to wreck, is there?” Ace says teasing. “I think that I’m going to have to do a lot of things to get my name and bounty restored.”

“Not to mention,” Marco states, leaning down to lift Kotatsu into his arms and laughing as the cat started to wiggle to reach Ace. “Two years have passed and you the same. I don’t think there’s a way to age you up those two years.”

Ace snorts, “I’m still the oldest of my siblings, my birthday is in January, you know,” he smiles at Kotatsu, scratching underneath his chin. “We’ll need a ship. I assume that you, you never found what happened to Striker.”

“Teach has it as far as I know. Kept it as a trophy. And I don’t think your friends would fit on Striker. At least Tony wants to go with you and see the world. I think he was talking to Jozu about the islands.”

“Their world is so different. There’s islands but they’re no where near as common as ours are. It’s like giant Alabastas all over and their science,” Ace whispers excitedly. “They can do things that I never dreamed of. Some of it’s the same, but some things are better there. I think the islands offend Tony.”

Marco laughs, “I’m sure that they do. Considering they each have their own seasons or just stay the same without change. I think Pepper is looking at this like a vacation.”

“Pepper runs Tony’s company. Like Iceberg on Water 7, only bigger. It’s huge and it’s all over their home world,” Ace pauses. “I was scared they could never get me home. I thought that, I don’t think I could live there.”

“Thank you for coming home,” Marco smiles crookedly. “I would have missed you forever if you hadn’t. I’ve already missed you so much.”

Ace shifts slightly, “I could stay? Luffy’s not going to notice if I take time to find him.”

“Ace, no. I can miss you and know that you’re coming home. I did it often enough on the Moby, but now I know that you’re going to come home. How are you going to travel, I know Jozu would offer to take you to another island, but I don’t know what you want.”

“There’s a marine base around here, isn’t there? One that had some nice ships if I remember rightly.”

Marco smiles easily, Ace wonders is it was that easy after he had died, if being here on this island had helped him. If the people had. He knows that Marco is happy here, Ace can see it, but he also thinks that maybe coming back made Marco happier. Just a little bit.

“You’re right. Going to steal a Marine ship, and beat up the base, should get you noticed. I don’t know how they’re going to feel about that.”

Ace shrugs, kicking his feet, “I think that I explained it well, at least to Tony, Pepper, and Clint. Steve doesn’t like bullies, so I don’t know what he’ll say. Nothing is clear cut here. But I won’t change myself for anyone.”

“No, I didn’t think you would,” Marco agrees. “You can sleep in the living room if you want, or-”

“Pretty sure I wanna sleep with you, if you would let me.”

Marco laughs, soft and pleased as he shifts to touch Ace’s cheek again, “I was hoping you would.”

“Let me get this straight,” Tony says tapping his hands on the table as Ace leans into Marco’s side, he doesn’t think they’ve been apart for more than a few minutes the whole time that they’ve been here. “You want to go steal a marine ship to sail off into the sunset to find your little brother and tell him you’re not dead.”

“Brothers,” Ace corrects. “Apparently the other one isn’t dead either, so I have to go kick him for being stupid and forgetting us.”

“Brothers,” Tony nods. “I think I need a little clarification here. Are you the bad guy? Are the marines the bad guy?”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Marco answers. “The World Government controls the marines and use it to protect their interests, the World Government is controlled by the Twelve Celestial Dragons, who are very rich men who decide what can and can’t be done.”

Ace rolls his eyes, “The marines answers to whomever the Dragons are supporting. Who ever has the most money, the most blackmail, or who’s interests align best with their own. Some are good, my gramps and there’s one that Luffy likes too, but some aren’t.”

“I hate politics,” Tony mutters tiredly. “And pirates?”

“Depends on the crew. Whitebeard Pirates, the crew that Ace and I belong to, took in islands and protected them for a small price and the promise of trade. Others will kill everyone in a town, plunder it and keep going. Nothing is black and white.”

Tony hums, “Guess we’re about to become pirates, Pep.”

“This doesn’t carry over to our home world,” Pepper states not looking up from the device in her hands. “I’m still trying to figure out how I have 4G.”

“I programmed it the same way that I programmed Thor’s, he can’t make calls but he’s always online,” Tony answers. “It’s got it’s own things to keep up 4G and it’ll charge in sunlight as long as their UVs are too different from back home.”

“Shiny,” Pepper deadpans. “At least we won’t be in financial ruin when we get home.”

“Back to steal this ship,” Tony says looking excited. “Who’s going to captain it?”

Ace laughs, “I am. I was captain of my own ship before Pops recruited me,” he pauses. “Did Deuce and the others?”

“Not sure where they got to after we split up. I know a couple of them were alive, but you know how big the crew was. Might have joined up with Doma, he’s taken a chunk of our old territory and kept it under his protection,” Marco answers, petting the giant cat’s head. “Think that’s where Deuce got to.”

“I wanted to be captain.”

“How about first mate? They’re the ones who have to boss people around?” Ace offers.

Tony dithers, because he does like bossing people around, “I think Pepper would be better. I suppose I could just be the guy who invents stuff.”

“I’m defecting if there’s paperwork,” Pepper states calmly, still tapping away. “I have enough work to do and I don’t want more.”

“You can assign it to someone else,” Ace offers. “Deuce did. He hated math and we had someone who use to be a teacher on the crew.”

Pepper smiles, pleased, and her hand taps Steve on the head, “Paperwork.”

“Has to be easier than when I was in the army,” Steve says shrugging helplessly. “So we’re stealing a ship.”

Tony should have known that Steve would be weak. They were going to be pirates, it’s like super villainy and Tony had flipped a coin early on about if he was going to be hero or villain, now he would get to be a cool super villain.

Marco grins at the News Coos that he had received, the picture of Ace caught mid-movement still very clearly Ace as everything around him burned. There’s smaller pictures of the others, Pepper and a stolen staff surrounded by  unconscious Marines, Clint up close as he uses his bow like a bludgeon, Tony with his thrusts glowing, and Steve mid-throw.

“Gol D Ace Alive?” Marco whispers, taking his time to read over the article and check the bounties. Because he was, Ace was alive and he was going to make sure the world knew it.