#he just loves calling his husband

[illuminchim]

Character sheet of Wei Wuxian ✨️🥺

[justaz]

love the fact that percy and annabeth both think that the title of gf/bf doesn’t truly encapsulate their relationship. love that annabeth calls percy “her friend” to damasen in tartarus because she thought the title “boyfriend” didn’t cover all that percy was to her and that “friend” was more accurate. they are dating but they are best friends above everything else and god isn’t that just so beautiful

[p4nishers]

crowley, drunk off his ass: and i was yk just some fucked up soul born in cold and rain but he was my fucking sunlight or whatever

hozier, frantically writing on a napkin: HHHMMMM TELL ME MORE

[livwritesstuff]

So in this ‘verse, Hazel is born approx. four months before Eddie’s fourth book is published.

The book, obviously, was planned. Hazel was not (he and Steve got about three hours notice).

When Eddie starts doing press for the book, it comes up that his third baby was just born, and a natural consequence of this is that he starts getting asked, with varying levels of tact, why another?

For the sake of his kids’ privacy he’s not going to give the real reason, so he makes a game out of giving the dumbest answer possible every time he’s asked (because it’s a dumb question to begin with when he’s supposed to be talking about his book).

During a radio interview with NPR, the interviewer asks, “How did you decide to go from two to three kids?”

Eddie replies, “Uh, well, we’d been getting dangerously close to showing up on time for shit. Had to fix that.”

Another time, he’s doing a Q/A at a book reading and is asked, similarly, “Why did you want three?”

He responds with, “We’ve got four burners on our stove so my husband had room for another child refusing to eat the food he cooks for dinner.”

Some other honorable mentions are:

“I love doing laundry and I wanted an easy way to generate more laundry.”

“We really needed a tie-breaker for when the older two get into arguments.”

“I thought it would be a creative way to increase our water bill.”

Steve is so delighted by this every time. He thinks it’s hilarious.

[thepersonperson]

Sukuna’s Loneliness Part 4 (Sukuna’s Negative Rizz)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 5

Some warnings before we start.

1) This analysis deals with sexual topics.

2) I will be mainly using the TCB scans because of their accessibility. Raws are from mangareader(.)to.

3) This was written as of JJK 262 266. (I'm just going to keep updating this until I stop finding things I should've noticed earlier.)

4) The raws broke me in ways you cannot possibly imagine.

(Click images for captions/citations.)

Fighting as Communication

Baki the Grappler. This is a manga where men destroy each other’s bodies as a test of strength. It’s poorly written but the art is terrifying and I love it so dearly. Between fights of extreme violence and body horror the characters eat. And that’s it. That’s the manga.

I bring Baki up because Gege is a huge fan of Fujimoto Tatsuki, the creator of Chainsawman. Fujimoto is a fan of Gege too, but more importantly, he is a huge fan of Itagaki Keisuke, the creator of Baki. (His daughter made Beastars btw.) In a way, this means Jujutsu Kaisen has been influenced by Baki. But that’s not a surprise, a lot of manga is.

Itagaki’s work is so massively influetial on Japanese media that it’s kind of hard to grasp since it’s not as popular overseas. When listening to interviews from various Japanese creators, Baki will often be cited as a major influence. And the thing is, you can tell when a creative has read Baki. There’s nothing quite like it. If you’ve read Baki and consume Chainsawman, you will see its bones everywhere. I feel the same about Jujutsu Kaisen.

The main antagonist in Baki is Yujiro Hanma. He is the strongest creature alive. So much so that he has no one to call a rival. He’s bored. He causes trouble. He kills his wife to motivate his son, Baki into becoming stronger. His son, Baki, who he grooms into becoming a fighter that might beat him in combat one day. Kind of sounds like Sukuna, right?

But that’s not my point here. My focus is how Baki doubles as a discussion about strength and manhood. It’s aggressively bisexual. Men love each other with their fists. Straight up the main character says having sex with women is the same thing as fighting men.

And it just doesn’t stop there. The homoerotic nature of the fights is never shyed away from. Here’s an example of my favorite.

He grabs his balls and compliments their size. That’s pretty gay, right? Well there’s this reanimated prehistoric caveman called Pickle that fights Baki’s brother Jack. And how do they fight? They kiss.

I didn’t call it a kiss. Itagaki did. I didn’t say they melded together. Itagaki did. This mangaka overtly calls attention to the homoerotic nature of men fighting men, and how men communicate their love for each other through violence. And yes, it’s sexual. Itagaki wants you to read it that way.

But sometimes he doesn’t want you to read it that way. Sometimes the fights are a dialogue, an emotional conversation. Like one between father and son.

Itagaki is a master of narrative framing. When he wants you to feel a certain way, you will feel it. He also tells his readers that there’s more to the fights than just fighting.

Those are the ideas that help me see the bones of Baki in other works. Men loving men with violence. Men communicating with men through violence. I see these ideas in Jujutsu Kaisen too.

Jujutsu Communication

I’ve gone over how Yuji commucates with other people on their own terms. And a lot of it is through fighting. A conversation without words, learning how someone works. Yuji is good at using fights as tool of communication.

But he’s not the one who tells you that there’s more to the fights than just fighting. Maki does in her spar with the sumo guy.

Just like Baki. Fighting is a means of communication. Gege has told you that there can be more to the fights than fighting. It's a tool used to understand the self and others.

With that in mind, I want to reexamine a particular fight under the lens of Baki rather than Umineko.

Sukuna vs Gojo

Baki tells you that homoerotic readings of its fights are intentional. If you ask me, this probably stems from historical stances on masculinity and homosexuality in ancient Japan. Men loved men and women differently, but both were ok. That’s how Baki can have a girlfriend and his gay fights. Peak bisexual optimization.

What does Jujutsu Kaisen have to do with this? Well it has been extremely queer friendly. We have a multidue of canonical trans characters, non-binary characters, and other flavors of queer characters not disparaged for their identities, Gojo Satoru included. It may not be stated outright, but Gojo and Geto do love each other in a gay way. The subtext is so persisent it’s basically text.

In other words, Gege has already told us, yes please have queer readings of this text. It’s the same way Baki tells you, yes this is straight up convoluded gay sex. So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to reread the Sukuna and Gojo fight as some ridiculous mating display between two men who are fighting over can miscommunicate their intent the hardest.

Framed as Courtship

Let’s start with the framing. The pre-fight set up. How does text tell you queer readings are allowed?

Kenjaku does. It’s romantic. It’s a date. This reading has been made valid explicitly. And if there’s room for doubt because of the sarcasm? There’s still additional support for it.

We already know how badly in love Gojo is with Geto. The fight is on the 24th of December, the most romantic day in Japan. And in a fun little Geto parallel, who declared the start of war on this day, violence underlines this new romantic venture.

That doesn’t include Sukuna who recalls Yorozu’s words about teaching love in the context of marriage.

Gojo never heard that conversation which is why the next point is absolutely insane.

The outfit Gojo initially is in resembles that of a groom at a Shinto wedding.

Shinto weddings were implemented after the Heian era. Part of the ceremony includes a priest and a shrine maiden who respectively stand to the right and left of the altar. A purification ritual will occur, lead by the priest, to cleanse the shrine before vows are exchanged. Gakuganji is the priest and Utahime is the shrine maiden. To the right and left of Gojo respectively.

The bride at a Shinto wedding wears mainly white. After the 200% Hollow Purple cleanses the area, the dark shawl is removed and Sukuna remains in mostly white.

How interesting that this battle has been framed as one between groom and bride.

The thing is, marriage in the Heian era was far more lax. There were no major ceremonies. If a man was interested in marrying a woman, he would visit her for 3 nights after receiving approval from her father. Upon the passing of their 3rd night together, the family would have an informal celebration of their union in private. Even after marriage, multiple partners were allowed and sometimes encouraged.

Yorozu’s big celebration proposal to Sukuna and banning of concubines was quite improper by Heian standards. Though it is in line with modern marriages. If Sukuna did not consume any Shinto wedding literature, he probably didn’t recognize that Gojo was dressed as a groom.

But did Gojo dress this way for Sukuna intentionally? The Toji fit served an entirely different purpose. It’s the robes and pre-fight ceremony that catch my attention. So I propose the following:

1) Gojo dressed up as a groom to die and be wed with his one and only Geto in death.

2) Gojo dressed up as a groom in part as an offering to Sukuna. And because Sukuna is from the Heian era it went over his head entirely.

3) Gojo intended for both of these things at the same time and left who he would end up with to fate.

Regardless of what Gojo was going for here, it’s a visual cue combined with the knowledge of it being Dec 24th that encourages the reader to perhaps consider the fight as something other than just a fight. A date perhaps? Kenjaku made the connection and neither Gojo or Sukuna really denied it. Gojo gave the weak excuse of a death anniversary confusion. But much weirder, given how hostile he was to Yorozu, Sukuna did not object to the romantic framing in any capacity.

Am I reaching? Is this reading intentional?

When I start getting this confused by how a translated work wants me to read it, I try to refer to the original language text and anyone who knows it for missing context. Sometimes localizations add things that weren’t there or push readers towards one interpretation. So for the rest of this analysis, I’m going to be focusing on the raws.

I’m going to be honest. My Japanese fudging sucks. I can barely read kanji and can’t reliably translate anything. Feel free to correct me if I got something wrong. That being said, with what little I do know, I have discovered something interesting.

In this post I talked about how weird Sukuna’s manner of speech is. I focused on his you pronoun usage of お前 (Omae) for everyone else and 貴様 (Kisama) for Gojo since this is a strong indicator of how a character views their relationship to someone.

Here's a summary of the two points I made in that post:

1) Omae is informal and either a casual thing amongst peers or indicates the speaker's higher status. Since Sukuna is arrogant, we can reasonably assume he's talking down to people.

2) Kisama historically was a formal show of respect, but in modern times it is a hostile insult, much more rude than Omae. Since Sukuna is 1,000 years old and hates Yuji (who he uses Omae with), we can reasonably assume Sukuna was being friendly to Gojo when he used Kisama.

With that pronoun usage in mind, while examining the raws for the infamous “You Cleared My Skies” speech I found this:

Kisama. Sukuna is very happy and lavishing Gojo with praise. The assumption it was formal from the start seems to be correct. It's hard to read this any other way.

Though Japanese can easily be dubious in its interpretation, there are instances where context can cut off all other readings. I truly believe this one of those cases.

Now, to confirm Sukuna is still only treating Gojo this way I started looking at his you pronouns as he got excited post-Gojo death. Maki is the person he seems to admire the most.

He’s still just using Omae. What does that mean? Gojo is in his own fudging category for Sukuna and he has been there since the start of the manga. (For more on why this is significant, refer to this post.)

Wow ok. That’s pretty intense! We’ve got Gojo dressed up as a groom on December 24th and Sukuna treating Gojo different from anyone else. I read their fight again under the lens of explicit courtship and focused in on these specific panels.

Satisfaction. Now that’s a word that can easily carry a sexual connotation. Love as well. The parallel syntax fascinated me in English. So I decided to look at the raws and see how close they are.

Pretty much the same except for "the one who will teach you love" and "the one satisfying him now". Since the one being satisfied is Gojo by Sukuna, it really seems we can assume the one being taught love is Gojo by Sukuna.

Time to learn some Japanese again!

Kanji has multiple readings. Most have at least two. The Onyomi (Chinese) reading typically used for nouns and the Kunyomi (Japanese) reading typically used for verbs. (This is not always the case but it’s the basics.)

That’s probably why 満 is read as まん (man) when Gojo and Geto are talking about “satisfaction” using the On version and み (mi), the Kun version, when the narrator is talking about who “satisfies” who.

However 満 on its own does not mean satisfaction. It means full. To be filled. Or fullness. 足 (zoku) is added as a modifier after 満 to be read as satisfaction 満足 (manzoku). 足 usually means feet, but it can also mean to be sufficient. Manzoku therefore has a direct translation of being sufficiently full. It’s not a surprise a lot of food places in Japan use Manzoku in their names or advertising.

But what’s this? Why is this sentence written as 満たして or Mi(tashite) instead of 満足して or Manzoku(shite)? The addition of Zoku is what transforms Man into "satisfying". Without the Zoku, it’s just "fill". The means this sentence can be read as “The one filling him up now is—”

We’ve already established that the blank is Sukuna. The new problem is that he’s filling Gojo up. And boy, does that sound homoerotic to put it lightly. But perhaps I am reaching.

So I did what any sane person would do in this situation. I read hentai.

Surely if the phrase 満たして (mitashite) can carry a sexual connotation I will find it in hentai.

...

I immediately found a yaoi doujin called Fill me with your Big Love aka おっきな愛で満たして (Okkina Ai de Mitashite). Honestly, I found too many doujins about creampies specifically. (You have internet access verify this yourself.) When you search Manzokushite the results are much more in line with life satisfaction than sexual satisfaction. ...So Gege decided to use the more frisky phrasing.

Manzoku is also the name of an active sex toy manufacturer (I’m not linking them use a search engine.) and a discontinued adult entertainment news company. So the satisfaction Gojo and Geto talk about, along with Geto using 妬 (ya), the jealous kanji often used between lovers, is definitely probably carrying a sexual connotation too.

So, I’m not reaching. What the fudge did Gege mean by this?

Now that we've established that I am NOT reaching. What do we do with this information?

Well, we ruminate on the fight with the knowledge that Sukuna, of his own volition, decided to get Gojo off, probably.

I have forgiven Nanami for calling Gojo a pervert. If I watched someone bust a nut after being cut in half by his sworn enemy instead of saving the country, I too would be like what the fudge.

Anyways, the typical phrase used for an orgasm in Japanese is 行く(iku). It translates as to go. And yes it can mean to die, as in going to the other side. To die and go to heaven if you will. Which is what Gojo did with a big old smile on his face.

There’s also the term 心天 (tokoroten). It refers to a dish were a semi-opaque white substance is pushed through holes to create noodles. Literal translation using the kanji for heart 心 (kokoro) and the kanji for heaven 天 (ten). (Don’t ask me why them being smack together turns the Koroko into Tokoro. I don’t know.) Which in slang refers to prostate orgasms. This has nothing to do with this analysis I wanted to drop this fun fact in here. …And this image of Sukuna clutching his heart while looking at someone he sent to heaven.

(This is a reach but the idea of this being an elaborate gay pun amuses me greatly.)

I have another fun slang term: 賢者タイム (kenjataimu) which directly translates to sage 賢者 (kenja) time タイム (taimu). This refers to post-nut clarity sending someone into a meditative-like state.

Oh that’s a bit familiar. Sukuna was giving sagely advice to Kashimo and reflecting on satisfaction and love.

And what’s this? Mitashite has made a reappearance! Sukuna is saying “I’ve never thought about needing another person to fill me up.” Which 1. further supports the 'The one satisfying/filling him (Gojo) now is—Sukuna.' reading and 2. suggests Sukuna is a top suggests Sukuna really doesn’t have sexual interest in people. (Since the context of this convo is relationships and love.)

By the way. Acts of eating in Japanese can be modified to carry sexual meanings. It’s a bit more suggestive than English, but it carries over pretty well I think? 肉食系 (nikusokukei) refers to someone who aggresively pursues romantic or sexual relationships. Composed of the kanji 肉 (niku) for meat, 食 (ta) for eating, and 系 (kei) class. If you noticed, 食 isn’t usually read as Soku. It becomes Soku when paired with Niku for some reason. (I don’t know why someone please help me.) Side by side the kanji 肉食 (nikusoku) means meat-eater.

食 is still interesting on it’s own. The 食べる (taberu) reading is normal eating. The 食う(kuu) reading is an innuendo. It can mean to devour someone, like a cannibal, or devour someone sexually.

Sukuna has made it very clear that his eating of people is literal. There’s no innuendo. In fact, if you read into it, he’ll kill you (rip Yorozu and Kashimo).

Gojo, however, appears to be his sole exception to this rule. When Sukuna tells Kashimo not to spoil his pleasure he uses the kanji 興 (kyou). This of course can be directly translated as pleasure, but the Chinese reading of it can also indicate intense excitement or sexual arousal.

Sukuna is pretty good at double-entendre wordplay if his earlier stunts with the kanji for Enchain doubling as Megumi Activities if read a different way is anything to go by. He's a fan of Chinese literature. It's not a stretch to assume there's more going on here.

And if notoriously homophobic Reddit dudebros are posting things like this. Maybe there's a lot more merit to this reading than I can currently grasp.

I’m still pretty convinced Sukuna is aroace. That of course doesn’t bar him from pursuing romantic or sexual relationships. Sometimes there’s the one exception. Sometimes the desire to be with and please an allo partner allows for engagement of activities they aren’t into. Sometimes the actions are pursued without the emotional attachment because they physically feel good. There’s also the gray-scale and demi labels to consider.

With that in mind, I want to emphasize this all points to how important Gojo is to Sukuna regardless of sexuality. He tried to engage with and understand Gojo on terms he won’t for anyone else. And he’s been pursuing this connection relentlessly since the start of manga.

Sukuna’s Negative Rizz

Ok I established that reading the Sukuna vs Gojo fight as unhinged courtship is supported by the text. That doesn’t really say anything about Sukuna sucking at it.

But, my dear reader, that in of itself is proof of his negative rizz. I had to sit down. Learn about Heian era and Shinto wedding rituals, learn more Japanese, splice seemingly unrelated manga panels together, read hentai, and know that Gege is into yaoi to come to this conclusion. I had to rip every little shred of characterization and context apart and rearrange it into something comprehensible.

You know who can’t do that? Gojo.

As far as Gojo is concerned, Sukuna hates him. Kisama is an extremely hostile you pronoun in modern times. And if Gojo can’t tell Shoko (his closest friend after Geto) is stressed over him being used like a meat puppet by her visibly falling back on her addiction, he’s going to default to the assumption Sukuna hates him just as much as everyone else.

And Gojo does just that. He assumes he failed to reach Sukuna. Despite how often they did hand to hand combat and weaponized their knowledge of each other, Gojo believes they never had proper conversation through fighting. He dies not understanding Sukuna, convinced the other was not trying to communicate with him at all.

And if you recall, all of this fight occurred while Sukuna was wearing Megumi’s face. That boy is pretty much Gojo’s adopted child. From my experience, most single parents do not go looking for clones of their kids as partners.

If someone wore the skin of my family member I would assume they were trying to torment me. And torment Gojo Sukuna does. He draws attention to Megumi’s soul being used as collateral and attacks him with the 10 Shadows. We as the audience know this is all for the sake of getting past Infinity using his Shrine. Gojo doesn’t know that. He’s fighting an evil dude who is puppeting the body of his son for god knows what reason.

Seriously, Sukuna sucks at communicating intent.

In Part 3 of my examination of Sukuna’s loneliness, I said Dismantle is a tool Sukuna uses to understand. And that him upgrading it by making Gojo the center of his world was indicative of his desire to reach him. I also said his refusal to use it on Yorozu was him expressing how little interest he had in her.

Yorozu is pissed by this. She sees it as Sukuna rejecting her and I don’t think she’s wrong. Sukuna saved his special Cursed Technique (CT) for Gojo while turning Yorozu down. If we’re considering all the wedding imagery and references that started with Yorozu, I’m certainly allowed to read that as him saving himself for Gojo. (Think of how he lied to Gojo about being the first one he killed.)

There’s also the fact that Yorozu saw their battle as an expression love and lust—that the usage of CT is a type of foreplay under certain circumstances since it is an extension of the self. Combine that with the established premise that fighting is a type of a communication thanks to Maki vs Sumo Guy and you can start to see the courtship logic behind Sukuna’s treatment of Gojo.

If we are to read “The one who will teach you love is…Sukuna” there’s another adorable caveat. Yorozu uses the you pronoun あなた (Anata) for Sukuna.

It’s an informal you pronoun used by people learning Japanese. Native speakers try to avoid using it as it can come across as rude. But in the context of love? This is colloquially called the wife pronoun as its often used by a wife to her husband.

If you wanted to localize its usage in the way Yorozu means it, Anata might become “you, dear”. So here we have Sukuna dressed in white, like a bride to Gojo’s groom, thinking of him as Anata.

The problem is, Gojo doesn’t know that. Sukuna never bothered to open his mouth and say this was an act of love. Sure he told Kashimo in the most roundabout way possible, but Gojo was the one who needed to hear that. If a courtship is going to be this diabolically complicated, there has to be clear hints for the other party. JJK is not Umineko where there’s a witch that can revive the dead over and over until the idiot finally understands this was all for them.

Gojo also doesn’t have access to the kanji Sukuna uses to describe certain techinques or words. He hears the phonetics and runs with whatever best fits the context. This means there’s no way for him to catch the double-meaning unless he’s a certain type of lingust, which he is not. His manner of speech and personal interests don’t line up with the flowery language of the Heian Era. The types of written works Gojo is into are historical war politics from the Sengoku period (known for violence more than the fine arts), Shonen manga, and physics/math.

And what's this? According to CFYOW (the canon light novels): JJK Thorny Road at Dawn, Chapter 3 Asakusabashi Elegy, Gojo doesn't even like ancient poetry. You know, the thing Sukuna enjoys and tries to communicate with.

The Kokin Wakashu Gojo off-handedly disparages is a compilation of Hiean Era poetry known as Waka. This was the primary means of communication amongst the noble class and spiritual leaders at the time. And the thing is, this poetry is supposed to be read into. Down to the quality of stroke and paper, not just the kanji written. Especially for courtship.

It’s not that Gojo is stupid. He just doesn’t specialize in the studies that would give him a more critical ear to Sukuna's words. And Sukuna doesn’t seem to understand that no one in the modern era communicates like this anymore.

If you didn’t know, this is why Japanese characters introduce themselves they often describe what kanji their name is spelled with. Take for example: Satoru. He uses the kanji 悟 meaning enlightenment. This kanji can be read as Go instead of Satoru. Additionally, the name Satoru can be written in kanji as 聡 for smart, 智 for wisdom, 知 for knowledge, 了 for understanding, 哲 for philosophy, 聖 for virtuous, or 暁 for daybreak. That’s 8 different kanji possible if you hear the name Satoru.

This is why Sukuna’s wordplay for everything else can be easily missed by other characters. They hear the words and cannot read the kanji like us. Context decides what Sukuna means for them. And since Sukuna’s context for most is violence and insults, it’s very hard for them to think about his words in any other way.

And boy howdy does Gojo miss it. Sukuna straight up calls him his husband and it took me several rereads to catch it. While mocking Gojo for being unable to open his domain, Sukuna calls him "painfully ordinary". This is localized from the word 凡夫 (bonpu) which can also be translated as unenlightened. (A layered insult! Sukuna is pretty much saying Gojo's sorcery is so boring he shouldn't even call himself the Honored One.)

The thing is...Bonpu is comprised of the 2 kanji 凡 for mediocre, and 夫 for husband. (Please note that there are many other ways to call Gojo a ditz without using the kanji for husband.) And an update from the Replies: Turns out there's layers to the gayness too.

It's come full fudging circle. Gojo came dressed as a groom for a wedding and Sukuna thinks they're already married. The miscommunication is off the rails.

But wait! There's more...

Earlier I mentioned that the kanji for Enchain doubles as Megumi Activities. Let's break that down more. (Unfortunately the Twitter account of the person I referenced may or may not be nuked so here's this screenshot I've doctored.)

So we have the translation of Enchain from 契闊 (Keikatsu), which might be better localized as Separation.

This term comes from a Chinese poem about lovers who are husband and wife in The Book of Odes, Section I (Lessons from the States), Chapter 3 (The Odes of Bei), Poem 31 (Banging the Drum). (Here's a link to the full poem and context of it.)

In summary, it’s about a soldier who is on the brink of death, having lost nearly everything after being abandoned by those in power, lamenting the happiest days of his life with his love are ones he can never get back. (Hey that sounds just like what Sukuna did to Yuji!)

Keikatsu specifically comes from this passage:

“Our vow is beyond death and life”, I and you are together I always remembered. I will hold your hand, And together we grow old.

Too pitiful we are faraway apart, The distance separates us to meet again! Too miserable this takes forever, And it does not let us fulfill our vow!

Keikatsu is used to exemplify how the physical distance between the husband and wife prevents them from fulfilling their wedding vows. And that's just what Keikatsu/Enchain does to Yuji and Megumi, it causes painful separation neither of them wanted.

Keikatsu also tells Yuji exactly how Sukuna plans to do it. 契(kei)闊(katsu) can be written as 恵(kei)活(katsu). The kanji 恵 can be read as Kei or...Megumi. (It's the literal kanji used for his name.) The kanji 活 (katsu) can mean "activities", which is how we get Enchain=Megumi Activities.

A two for one special! Sukuna mocks Yuji for being so close with Megumi while telling him exactly how he's going to destroy their relationship.

It seems this has nothing to do with Gojo until you consider the 3rd possible reading from wordplay with 契闊 (Keikatsu). The kanji 契 when read as Kei refers to a promise, pledge or vow. When 契 read as Chigi? It can refer to sexual intercourse, especially between husband and wife.

So we have 契闊(keikatsu, separation), 恵(kei Megumi)活(katsu, activities), and 契(kei chigi, spousal sex)活(katsu, activities). It's no wonder he erased Yuji's memory of it.

Keep in mind, that when Sukuna uses Keikatsu, the only vow that he has made at this point is his promise to kill Gojo. He eventually does that using Megumi's body during a fight framed between groom and bride. And for reasons beyond their control, Sukuna and Gojo have been unable to fulfill that vow through lengthy separation.

Notes from poem "Banging the Drum" Sukuna references include the following:

"And during the operation, he lost his horse, which was a desperate situation (horses in ancient time carried soldier supply and weapons, are life companion for soldiers in advance or retreat), he lost his horse, his supply, maybe his armor and weapons, and the road he was facing that we may lose his life so he may never go back. In all these mess, he started searching, and somehow at this hopeless moment he started to revisit his happiest moment, when he together vowed in marriage ceremony with his wife, and he was even afraid that he might never see his love again."

"And His last statement for his true value is his home, his love, his fulfillment of his vow is his true duty. Hero's duty is to pursue love."

In Buddhism, which JJK is heavily influenced by, horses are a pretty big deal. Horses can represent the path to enlightenment, especially since The Buddha's horse is what takes him on this journey away from his wife and children. They separate in the end though, the horse dying of a broken heart.

Remember how Sukuna called Gojo unenlightened? He sort of guided Gojo to enlightenment using Mahoraga, whose Eight-Handed title is a reference to the Eightfold Path to be followed for enlightenment. Buddhist enlightenment is centered around liberation from suffering. (Just check the wiki entry to verify this.) Infinity was the source of Gojo's suffering and Sukuna cut right through it.

Sukuna has been running around with a broken heart for a good chunk of the post-Gojo fight. And if you take that into consideration with this poem and all the other symbolism, he's somehow a Buddha, a Bodhisattva, the dying husband, the widowed wife, and the heartbroken horse all at the same time. Not unlike his wordplay taking on every possible meaning at once.

But my point here is that Sukuna might’ve seen his fight with Gojo as consummation of their marriage. (There's probably a joke in here about the husband reaching climax while leaving his wife unsatisfied.) Remember in the wise words of Itagaki Keisuke, "Fighting and sex are exactly the same!"

In Conclusion?

This is possibly one of the most bizarre and elaborate expressions of love I have lost my mind over. Sukuna gave everything Gojo ever wanted from Jujutsu violently. He did it in such an unpleasant and cruel way that the target of his affection thought there was nothing between them. Sukuna also hid his intent under social norms that no longer exist. Unless Gojo happened to be into ancient literature, there was never a scenario where he would catch onto this. Sukuna's failure is critical on multiple levels.

It’s impressive. It really is. No one knows how Sukuna’s strange little brain works so he’s stuck being loner without anyone that fully understands him. (I’m still thinking about how Uraume didn’t know Sukuna was a twin for over 1,000 years.) He’d have to let people in and tell him outright, but he’s just like Gojo so I guess that’s never happening.

[ruushes]

have u thought about making any other rooks or will auri be ur only one?

ive been thinking about and played a little of a couple more! a hardened ex-con warrior thorne and a sort of dweeby overly-enthusiastic-field-researcher mage ingellvar, to romance neve and davrin respectively. i haven't found a given name for my thorne yet that im really happy with, but ingellvar is going to be a theodore i think. i haven't posted abt them bc their concepts/designs are still pretty undeveloped, but here's their current in-game looks and some sketches :3 thank you for asking!! ❤️❤️

[blondeaxolotl]

Jade actually ships Jamil and Floyd really hard but he shows it in weird ways.

Ah Jamil-san have you heard of an old story where a merfolk took their partner's scale and stabbed it in with their own, so they might always have a piece of their partner with them? Its quiet a romatic tale, don't you agree? *eel grin*

Jamil: What the fuck

Floyd later: Hey Jams~ Could you give me one of your scales-

Jamil: FUCK NO! I mean, uh, no, that's not-

Floyd: Okay, sorry, didn't realize you were so defensive about them. *worried pout*

Jamil: .... Jade told me *insert weird story*

Floyd: Hmmm that old thing? Yeah its an old legend, its even older than the one of the mermaid princess that went to land. But its not a tradition or anything. I didn't know old stories like that creeped you out Jamil~

Jamil: Of course it creeped me out! Anyway, what do you want my scales for?

Floyd: Promise bracelet.

Jamil: ..... What?

Floyd: Y'got promise rings up here right? Well, in the sea its common for merfolk who have scales to sew them together with string to symbolize their unity. Kind of like that old legend but less... extreme.

Jamil: ....................WAIT-

Floyd: *wraps his arms around Jamil and squeezes* Nope, wheen you get with a Leech, there's no going back~ You basically promised to marry me the day you said you'd go out with me~ Don't worry we can take it slow if you want hehehe. I love you Jams~

Jamil: *blue screens hides in his hoodie blushing* im starting to regret every decision I have ever made up to this point ever...

Floyd: Im so happy with every decision leading up to this point :))

Jade: I am such a good wingman :D.

Floyd: GTFO

Jade: This is also my room-

Floyd: *Throws a pillow at him*

Jade: *dodges*

Azul, completely oblivious: W- *gets hit in the face by the pillow*

Azul: I- Whatever, Im deducting that from your pay check. Im too busy to deal with either of you now. I have a meeting with a new worker, hopefully less troublesome.

Jade: Hm~ I think I'll join you Azul, after, all my brother is quite busy. :)

Azul: ...Im too tired to care, whatever.

Jade: Did Riddle-

Azul: Shut up.

Jamil: ....Are they gone now?

Floyd : Yeah.

Jamil: Great, Im also leaving- *tries to get up*

Floyd: Nope you're staying right here. *Lays on top of Jamil* Good night Jams~

Jamil: It's only- Oh fuck it's 10 pm I need to go- Floyd, move.

Floyd: Tiger fish can handle himself let him be-

Jamil: Floyd-

Floyd: You've left him alone plenty of times by now.

Jamil: Yes, and one time he tried to "cook a midnight snack" and almost burnt down the dorm.

Floyd: Fine. *Gets up*

Jamil: *sigh* Thank-

Floyd: *Picks up Jamil* We can go sleep in your dorm and talk about our wedding: ^^

Jamil: W-no- arghh *hides in his hoodie again*

Floyd:^^

The end. This ask is going to get deleted by tumblr isn't it.

This is so cute hehfhehsdfhfdhsfd I love the idea of Jade being the wingman that's so funny, Floyd's little "Jams" nickname for Jamil is so cute as well I love I love I love I love

Jade and Floyd separately telling Jamil about old merfolks story that are both disturbing and weirdly romantic (and Jamil being distrubed by it) I love that I love creepy shit about merfolks yesssssssssssssss this made my day thank you hehehehe

[hikarry]

I've been writing so much fucking fanfic material that I just yelled "AZIRAPHALE!!!" when my cat jumped onto the table 😭 the brainrot is becoming too real

[worstscholar]

Crocodile is 100% without a doubt a power bottom. He needs to be in control, but sex is never the same if he's not getting his guts re-arranged. He likes degrading his partners too, his favorite insult is calling his partners useless and toys to him, "If it weren't for this cock, I'd have you beheaded for so much as thinking about me." He'd growl as he bounces on his partners cock.

Mihawk can go from power bottom to pillow princess, depending on how and with whom he's annoyed. If he's pissed off at you, you're getting strung up and ridden until he's had his fill, your comfort be damned. If he's pissed off at zoro or perona, he's pulling you on top of him and demanding you get to work. While Mihawk likes being on the receiving end, there's no question as to who is the dominant partner. If you so much as try to disobey, Mihawk will make sure you know what sadist really means.

I'm a full believer that Shanks likes getting fucked, but he likes pleasing whoever he's in bed with more. So, he leans more towards the middle as a switch and service top. Definitely has a daddy kink, but you can drive him absolutely insane if you call him daddy while you're fucking him. Might be into corruption, neither of us know. All Shanks knows is that he likes when you get all whiny and submissive while you're balls deep in his ass.

Doflamingo is a fucking FREAK!!! There's no telling with him. He goes from sadistic top, to whiny bottom so fast it'll give you whiplash. DEFINETLY has a corruption kink, and a size kink, and a whole bunch of other nasty kinks. He wants to do EVERYTHING with you, like a big fucking pervert.

[haveihitanerve]

Peeta: Hey, Haymitch? Haymitch: Yeah, boy? Peeta: is your legal name Haymitch? Haymitch:... what- does that even mean??? Like yeah??? Peeta: Well, I was just thinking because like- what if your real name is Mitch, but then people were like “hey, Mitch!” and then other people were like “Oh, okay his name is Heymitch!” and then you just got tired of correcting people so now your name is just Haymitch Haymitch:... you scare me Katniss:... wait a damn minute-

[gottagobackintime]

[miakwat]

“Crowley’s going to be mean and reject Aziraphale to get back at him and blah blah blah”

Homeskillet, Aziraphale chose heaven over Crowley twice in under 24 hours and the moment he showed the slightest bit of regret Crowley came running back

[actual-changeling]

crowley has never felt "damned", not directly after his fall, not centuries later.

it is hard to feel damned on earth, as he had discovered, when there is sunlight on his skin and wine on his tongue. when there are joys big and small, reasons to smile, to laugh. when there's aziraphale smiling back.

unforgivable, yes. fallen for certain. unlovable, sometimes, usually right before deciding to go to sleep for a few decades with the hope it will be gone once he wakes again.

he does not believe in salvation—it is hard to see god as a saviour when you remember her ripping everything good you had ever felt out of your chest. besides, compared to earth, heaven is empty. a room with bleached floors and sterile walls, devoid of anything truly real, truly alive. so the opposite, eternal damnation, logically cannot exist either.

believe in one, believe in the other. believe in none, and you lose them both.

maybe, he had thought, maybe there is no salvation but there certainly is hope.

hoping is easy when the world is whole, when his world is whole and next to him, smiling, constant, watching him with shining eyes. it had felt natural then, to dream about a future where all of this works out—where they worked out.

crowley remembers the burning hope in his chest, more gentle than her grace but just as alive, and it had danced over his skin, feeling utterly content and at home. sunlight and smiles flowing together with bubbling joy.

he has never been further from being a demon, and yet, with his hands falling and his lungs aching, damnation becomes tangible, definable.

after burning up in the sky, in fire and flames and pools of boiling sulphur, he falls a second time. crowley sees it then, clear on his face and sharper than the claws that had ripped him open and stolen his stars from inside his heart.

fallen. unforgivable. unlovable.

"i forgive you"

damned.

there had been a holiness to living, wisps of hope and promises. all of it is gone now, taken, stolen.

they were yours anyway, he doesn't say. all of me, it was yours.

offered to him with weeping hands, open and truthful, his heart beating and bleeding and melting through his fingers. take it, he had said, it's yours. let it be yours.

angels. white-winged and perfect and whole. blessed, the definition of blessing, of holiness, of everything good.

so, crowley tells himself, if salvation exists, if i can see it crack and shatter right in front of me, whatever remains must be the opposite.

it is all he can feel, the hollow that had been him, no soul to damn and yet there he is—damned. alone. lonely. power ripples through him, tasting desperation, tasting fury and heartbreak, and he allows it, embraces it. it doesn't matter anymore.

bad. evil. a liar and an enemy and unlovable the way he is—and worst of all, unchangeable. somehow after everything, that is what broke them. maybe he has been wrong about himself all along.

damned for now and all eternity, so he might as well, right?

[shannonsketches]

It never ceases to amaze me that Bulma kept the baby tbh. Like people will claim it was a one night stand and they didn't care for each other, but if that were the case, if Bulma didn't care, why would she bind herself to that particular man by virtue of a shared child? If Bulma wanted that baby gone, it would be. But no, she kept it, and appeared so happy to be a mom. Idk, Vegeta must have done something right at the start of that relationship that would make a woman as independent as Bulma agree to have a kid with him less than a year into it.

👆 Yep! And like I said in another post, in the alternate timeline, they didn’t have all of the excuses to stay together and Trunks was still born at the same time despite wildly different circumstances, and Trunks still knew who his father was and what he looked like despite Bulma not talking about him much. She was also the one to tell him to not get his hopes up to meet him, but also that he wasn’t always as cold as he seemed.

Personally I don’t think it was a one-night stand. I hc it was a string of engagements that ended with her telling him she was pregnant and him being disinterested in that (which I’m sure pissed her off), but I don’t think she kept Trunks out of some misguided yearning for a traditional household either.

I don’t know why she kept Trunks, if it was just a ‘maybe this is the only chance I’ll have to experience this’ fear of being single in her 30s(?) or if it was just a gut feeling she went with, or if she was just curious what carrying a half-alien baby would be like. We just don’t know. But we do know that she told Vegeta his name and Vegeta committed that name to memory.

I think Bulma fully planned to be a single mom in all the ways that mattered, but she did still use Vegeta as a threat to protect the baby, so some part of her always trusted that he cared. And the future timeline Bulma was surprised at his reaction to losing Trunks, but it seems like she felt validated by it.

She’s always known. It’s part of why I hc her making the first move and him letting her do it, bc imho that’s a pretty significant Tell.

[greenleaf4stuff]

In Convenience - Chapter 6, part 2

Adar x Celebrimbor (silverscars) political marriage to marriage of love AU, post story snippet 6, part 2. The battle for the wine chalice goes into Round 2, and Celebrimbor is done playing nice. The two husbands watch new connections form between the elves and the uruk, Celebrimbor reflects on how far they have all come, and Adar has a small gift to give him.

(all previous parts of "Of Convenience" and "In Convenience")

This is again mostly just nice vibes (with a little bit of suggestiveness at one point, but nothing happens), and small little moments between characters. The fluff fest continues. The gift Adar gives Celebrimbor is inspired by @plotdesigner's uruk lore, as well as a Person of Interest/Tolkien AU fic called 'I Have Quite Forgotten Their Names' that I read ages ago but still remember small parts of. A big Thank You again to everyone, and I can't wait to see you for the little 5+1 aside that I will soon begin uploading as well. Enjoy! <3

After the ceremony had been concluded, the feast was indeed starting to become much more enjoyable, to Celebrimbor’s great relief. They could all finally eat and drink at their leisure, though both Adar and Gil-Galad seemed to 'accidentally' keep the wine just out of the smith’s reach. Again. After a few instances of this, he caught onto the fact that the two had begun to see it as a fun game, instead of them strictly trying to prohibit him from having any.

Well, most games required multiple participants, and Celebrimbor had no qualms about not only engaging in it, but meeting them both on equal footing.

When Gil-Galad yet again handed the chalice to Adar and pretended to forget the Lord of Eregion in between them, and the uruk threw his husband a little smirk as he poured his own drink, Celebrimbor returned it with a deceptively sweet smile of his own.

And then leant over Adar, deliberate about pressing himself to as much of his husband’s body as he was able to, wholly uncaring about whether he might make a fool out of himself in the process. Judging by the brief sound of choking coming from Gil-Galad, he might have taken out one opponent already.

Adar himself was quite the picture, with how off-guard his husband’s actions took him, especially so when Celebrimbor kept smiling and softly, but audibly, asked, "Would you mind handing me the wine as well, Beloved? Or could you perhaps pour me some, if you do not wish to be parted from the chalice?" with a flutter of his eyelashes, and while he squeezed Adar’s upper arm.

Considering that the other had moments of teasing the smith both innocently and not-so-innocently, Celebrimbor thought it only fair to return the favor, and settled his other hand high on Adar’s upper thigh. He was fairly certain Gil-Galad had turned away from the two of them by now.

Adar wasn’t one to fluster easily, so to see him grapple with the sudden closeness and Celebrimbor’s unexpectedly bold demeanor was quite the sight to behold. The smith couldn’t keep the triumphant grin off of his face when the uruk brought the chalice closer and poured the elf a cup without complaint or even a sly remark.

Celebrimbor merely moved back onto his seat, though not without placing a small peck onto the uruk’s cheek as he did. "Thank you, Adar," he breathed, and then leant back to enjoy his drink and continue his meal as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place.

He could see the uruk studying him intently from the corner of his eye, and as the smith turned his head slightly to the side, cup in hand hiding the smirk and the gleam of his eyes, the look on Adar’s face was knowing – and wanting.

"Very persuasive, Tyelpe," he remarked, going for dry humor and landing on something that sounded a tad too husky not to be mistaken for anything but blatant interest. "Maybe you might wish to give me some lessons in your...unique diplomatic approach."

The elf grinned and winked at him, while Gil-Galad very loudly cleared his throat behind him. Further down the table, Elrond was patting Galadriel’s back, who seemed to have accidentally inhaled her own drink. When Celebrimbor looked over in concern, however, her expression displayed approval, despite the fact that she was wiping reddish droplets from her chin and mouth with a napkin.

He threw her a wink as well, mirthful, and turned back to Adar. "Oh, I can do that, most certainly. I am sure we could-"

"Enough," Gil-Galad grouched, quietly. Where he’d usually have felt reprimanded, Celebrimbor only felt vindicated now, and continued to enjoy his wine. He’d already been met with reproach for worse in the last few weeks.

He turned to Gil-Galad, "Actions have consequences, Ereinion," he said pointedly, but the grin utterly betrayed his humor. "Maybe behaving in a more mindful manner in the future will ensure I don’t have to use this kind of diplomacy more often."

Gil-Galad looked like he desperately wanted to argue or at least reply, but knew, just as Celebrimbor did, that this particular day was putting the elf and his husband in a unique position; it would not do to try and berate the Lord of Eregion during this important occasion.

With a sigh, the High King merely gave Celebrimbor a look of disapproval, and turned back to his own food. "I will keep that in mind, Tyelperinquar."

Oh, the use of his full name, that was likely the precursor to trouble down the road, but for the moment, the aforementioned Tyelperinquar did not much care, kindly thanked his High King, and also turned back to his dish.

There was a touch at his lower back, then, and he found himself glancing sideways at Adar once more, who was the one who had extended his hand – dangerously low on the smith’s backside. It seemed someone had decided to change sides, and was giving Celebrimbor a very distinct look.

Adar’s voice, however, remained matter-of-factly when he said, "As will I," in reply to Gil-Galad’s words. If the High King suspected anything but deference, he voiced no remark in response to it. Celebrimbor certainly found himself looking towards the end of the celebrations for one more reason, now.

"Good."

Time passed peacefully and without much further teasing afterwards, though this was likely due to the fact that Celebrimbor had eventually caught Adar’s hand in his own and linked their fingers to avoid either of them becoming too forward. Using his fork with his left hand was something the smith wasn’t terribly used to, but more than doable.

Truth be told, he enjoyed holding Adar’s hand – his fingers smoothed over rough but warm skin, small scars and pronounced veins, and even found their way to Adar’s braided wedding ring more than once. It was grounding, especially in the light of how busy the day had been so far.

Adar returned the gesture, his own fingers not quite as curious as his husband’s, but eager to explore nonetheless, brushing gentle fingertips down the back of Celebrimbor’s hand and thumbing the elf’s ring in turn.

They only stopped due to the fact that, while he was able to use his fork with his left hand, Celebrimbor did not want Adar to get his gauntlet dirty on accident. But before he could draw back his own limb, Adar brought their joined hands up to his lips to kiss the elf’s knuckles delicately. Only then did he let Celebrimbor part their hands from one another.

Getting to do this was still novel in a way; their relationship was still new, despite how quickly it had grown and profound it had already become, and Celebrimbor was often reminded how small the chances had been for their plan to succeed. He was grateful that they had the time and peace to enjoy this easy intimacy now.

As he thought of peace, the Lord of Eregion’s gaze swept over the various other tables in the square. He knew countless more had been put out onto the streets and other squares in the city, to provide seating for the citizens of Eregion and the uruk of Mordor. He still considered the initial seating arrangement to be the right decision, but he found himself a little wistful that nobody seemed intent to breach the gap and wander over towards the other tables to interact yet.

Maybe he’d been too optimistic, hoping the guests, the uruk or the elves might do so on their own?

That was, until he saw Mirdania catch his eye. Ever perceptive, she was studying Celebrimbor as if she was trying to figure him out. He smiled brightly at her, hoping his temporary dip in mood would not cause her to worry, and raised his glass in the blonde’s direction.

Instead of putting her at ease, she frowned a little at his reaction, gaze intense, before she looked over the crowd. There was a determination in the set of her shoulders. Confused, the smith watched his assistant, and then felt his eyebrows raise as she stood up, stepped back, grabbed her plate and goblet, and began to walk over toward the table where the uruk sat.

Celebrimbor, for his part, was holding his breath. He did not dare look away, but in the periphery of his eye, he thought he saw several others watch the blonde make her way across the square as well. Even a few of those servants, who had been kind enough to work instead of celebrating themselves, had stopped in their tracks.

Mirdania, however, would not let herself be deterred – she came to a halt next to Gurlak, and Celebrimbor found himself pleasantly surprised, then elated, as various uruk made sure to bring over an empty chair and let her squeeze in between them, so the smith was sat right next to her uruk counterpart. Who first looked surprised, and then very pleased.

She patted Mirdania on the back, as was her usual friendly manner, though with far more restraint than she usually awarded Celebrimbor. The elven lord tried not to feel too jealous, considering Mirdania was far more petite than himself, and even he felt himself ache whenever Gurlak was particularly enthusiastic about greeting him, or showing her humor.

His eyebrows threatened to disappear into his hairline when, soon after, he saw her throw her arm over the back of Mirdania’s chair and lean over, comfortably in her personal space as the blonde elf ate and began to chat with Gurlak and the uruk’s assistants, wholly at ease with the physical closeness between them.

Celebrimbor and Adar both had seen signs that Mirdania and Gurlak must to have gotten to know one another better, maybe even begun to become acquainted, but nothing to the extent that he could see now.

He was nudged by his husband, who wore an amused but similarly surprised expression as Celebrimbor’s own. The elf smiled, gaze wandering between his husband and the two fast friends, only to see Nethiel, the newest apprentice of his, also grab her own plate and hurry after Mirdania. She, too, was quickly given a chair to sit on, and one or two of Gurlak’s assistants soon drew her into a conversation of their own.

He also saw Gurlak grab a few grapes off of Mirdania’s plate, who stilled, looked disbelievingly at the grinning uruk, then stole something right back with a cheeky grin, causing Gurlak to laugh loudly in response.

"We really should ask those two how they befriended one another, once we find the time," Adar remarked. His voice was soft, tone fond. He, like Celebrimbor, seemed relieved to see what was taking shape before their eyes.

They were the first among the elves and uruk to have such a close relationship, whether as allies, friends or lovers. Seeing others follow their example, be curious and open and willing to forgive old hurts in favor of peaceful coexistance – even friendship – was a promising sign. Hopefully, it would prove to be another step towards a future they all would soon share.

The other attendees watched the proceedings with curiosity, from what Celebrimbor could see as he looked around, but at most, he could see confusion on their faces.

It did not happen immediately, but once people had begun to turn back to their conversations or their food and drink, other elves and uruk got up and began to walk between the tables, shyly asking to use a vacated seat or simply sitting down when they found an empty chair.

New conversations were soon had, starting with the smiths of the uruk and elves, and continuing among the builders, then those that had helped with the sun tarps, the guards, and so forth.

Once again, Celebrimbor sought Adar’s hand to squeeze it. The elf felt hopeful, and saw that same sentiment reflected back at him in his husband’s face. As he turned to his High King and friends, he saw similar expressions on theirs as well.

They still had a long way to go, but like with Dísa and Durin and Narvi’s visit, with Arondir’s and Adar’s willingness to shake hands, this could be a precursor to better things to come.

All too soon, so much of the time had passed that the day had begun to turn into evening, and the warm, orange rays of the sun were cascading over the city, turning it into a sea of gold and glitter.

There was still plenty of food and drink to be had, but most people had turned away from these to talk instead – case in point, the square had been cleared of the long tables for the elves, uruk, and the delegations of the other realms, and rearranged them to line the sides of the square, with the people freely mingling in the newly emptied space.

Musicians and singers had joined the proceedings, not just elvish ones but from the uruk, dwarves and men as well, who performed various poetry and song to entertain the guests.

Gil-Galad was throwing a glance at Celebrimbor and Adar, who both pointedly ignored the subtle hint; the High King had been suggesting that they should dance at their own wedding celebrations multiple times throughout the preparations, and on each and every such occasion, the elf and the uruk had steadfastly refused. Neither of the two was much of a dancer, whether by interest or by skill, and would prefer to leave that honor to others, thank you very much.

At the king’s continued insistence, Celebrimbor had pointed out that it was also customary for one of the married parties to have a dance with a parent, and if no such parent was available, another person of authority in their lives. And then continued to look at Gil-Galad with a raised eyebrow.

The High King had been very quick to change his tune after that. He, too, was not one for dance – sometimes he could be persuaded after enough drink and at a late enough hour, but neither of that would have held true for an official, honorary dance with Celebrimbor. Seeing the point the smith was trying to make, he finally acquiescenced on trying to convince the wedded couple.

Of course, Galadriel had been eagerly offering to dance with Celebrimbor instead. Her offer had been an honest one; she was a fantastic dancer, and seemed to become a wholly different person whenever she got to indulge in it, becoming carefree and light and joyful as she moved to the music and sang along.

It had been what had first enchanted her husband Celeborn to her, and the smith knew the weight of her offer when she made it, especially so with how serious she was, when otherwise she might have taken the chance to tease the smith.

He had still declined an official wedding dance, but he would gladly join her for an informal one later on in the evening if she wished. Even though he dreaded it just the slightest bit, her fond smile was very much worth the offer.

Now, she was one of the many people walking around or standing in groups on the square. Gil-Galad had remained seated, but Narvi and Dísa had taken Elrond and Galadriel’s places next to him, while Adar switched with Celebrimbor, all four of them in a discussion about Khazad-Dum and what might be lurking in the darkened depths of the mountain.

Elrond and Durin had joined the dwarven delegation instead, talking animatedly from what Celebrimbor could see. The two friends were undoutedly trading humorous barbs by the look of lighthearted indignation on Durin’s face and Elrond’s cheeky smirk, with the other dwarves offering their own commentary at times.

Mirdania, Nethiel and Gurlak had remained close to another as well, pointing at and discussing some of the decor that had been hung up. He smiled at the way Mirdania motioned to a metallic piece that had likely been made by her and was being used to hold a bouquet of flowers to a lamppost, then saw Gurlak throw her an incredibly fond look, before the blonde elf turned to her and the two looked at an uruk-made piece decoration together instead.

He also saw Galadriel, who had briefly stood by the smiths but was quickly making her way to another group, almost flitting between them. The reason soon became clear as the Lord of Eregion watched her, and it caused him to chuckle in mirth.

There was a small gaggle of uruk children, mostly girls from what he could tell, who looked at Galadriel with huge moon eyes as they whispered among themselves and followed her around, always a twenty steps behind. The way Galadriel looked over her shoulder as if spooked was quite hilarious to behold, truth be told, considering she usually stared down ice trolls and large enemy forces with nary a blink.

She eventually noticed him staring and grinning in her direction, and so she made her way over to him with a questioning expression, throwing another look over her shoulder.

"I think you have acquired a small army of admirers," he quipped fondly as she came to stand in front of him. The incredulous surprise on her face caused him to laugh.

She looked over her shoulder once more, and raised an eyebrow as she turned back. The uruk children were still standing some way off, half-hidden behind a group of adults, but their gazes did not waver from her for one second. They did not look scared in the least, but rather, almost mystified.

"But how? Or why?" Galadriel asked. He knew what she meant – her past with the uruk was not exactly a peaceful one, so it had to be jarring that the young children weren’t terrified of, but curious about her. But that was a good thing, in Celebrimbor’s opinion, even if it would surely take some getting used to for the blonde.

He continued to smile at her. "Well, for one, you are one of the most beautiful elves in all of Middle-earth, and nearly all races of Arda enjoy beholding beauty," he gently said, then held up his hand as she made to rebuke him. "And also, you are a fierce warrior, which in their culture means something different than in ours, as I understand it. Of course they would be fascinated."

He paused, and slightly tilted his head at her as she did the same; his in fondness, hers in confusion. "How about talking to them?"

He half-expected her to look at him as if he’d gone mad, but instead she merely took a long moment to consider it, before she turned and looked over again. The children had moved closer in the meantime, obviously working up the courage to breach even more of the distance.

A sigh from her and then, "They are just children. I never- you are right," she replied, and turned to him to incline her head and give him a smile in turn.

After which she faced the children, taking two steps towards them before she sank to her haunches and beckoned them over. The smith could just imagine the smile on her face, and delighted in how it helped the children overcome their shyness as they slowly came over towards her, forming a half-circle.

Two of them had little clusters of flowers in their hands, and after asking her a few questions and staring in wonder, she tilted her head towards the girls so they might carefully tuck their blossoms into her hair. Haphazardly, in the way children’s hands typically tended to be a bit clumsy, but the gesture was a sweet one all the same.

Celebrimbor could only guess how sappy the look on his face was when Adar squeezed his arm and the elf turned to his husband, who was also staring at the scene before them.

They both took in the festivities, the people around them, the countless little moments they were allowed to witness. Celebrimbor knew the feast was important for everyone, but to him, the important things were the small instances of understanding and harmony, like the uruk children talking to Galadriel, or Nethiel, Mirdania and Gurlak standing together, and even the small exchange of gifts between Adar and Arondir earlier.

Change would not happen overnight, or due to a single feast, or even due an important, shared victory. It would take time, but it would happen eventually. Was already happening, right in front of their very eyes, small and incremental.

The elf was pulled from his thoughts when Adar turned his upper body fully towards him, and Celebrimbor did the same as if on instinct. The other wore a small smile as he moved in. The smith did not even have to think twice, and the two soon touched lips before resting their foreheads against one another.

"This is very beautiful, isn’t it?" The elf quietly asked. "I know I said I wanted this day to be over as soon as possible, but I think I am actually quite enjoying myself now."

Adar hummed and lightly nodded, trying not to dislodge Celebrimbor from where they touched. "Agreed. Now that the formal proceedings are over, it is...nice, to watch everyone be merry. They deserve to have that. As do we."

The elf could only agree, but before he could open his mouth to do so, Adar was reaching down and brought forth something from inside his cuirass, something that he seemed to have tucked away there.

It was a small leather satchel. He handed it over to Celebrimbor delicately, and in the close space between them, the elf slightly turned his head down to hold it in his hands for a moment, before he opened it, slow despite the anticipation he felt.

It was a lock of dark, slightly wavy hair, braided together and adorned with small, carved beads, made from wood and metal. The braid was knotted in places, woven in others, different lengths and thicknesses. A beautiful, intricate piece of work.

He looked up, a memory coming to him- "You mentioned braids have a special meaning for the uruk," he breathed. "This is more than an ornament, isn’t it?"

The other nodded, appreciatively, and the two separated so Adar could cup Celebrimbor’s hands and point at different sections of the braid.

"It is a...family tree, I think you would call it? Elrond showed me the written records you and your people keep," a light smile, then he began to explain. "Traditionally, the braid would only mark the family tree of the one giving it, but I thought this would fit much better. This is us, here in the middle. Above is your family line, and below, that of my children."

He took time and care to explain each detail – how the beads marked several generations, what runes and materials corresponded with what family lines and amount of children in each, and other such things; a thoughtful, elaborate way of record-keeping that Celebrimbor could only marvel at.

"I love this," he replied, searching for words in how to convey how much he already treasured this gift, how much joy it brought him, the bone-deep love he felt for his husband in that moment. "The way you joined our families into one, our past and our future. Thank you, Adar."

His smile was bright, a little watery perhaps, causing Adar to wipe a gentle thumb under his eyes before he cupped Celebrimbor’s cheek and kissed him again.

"And I love you," Adar replied, smile and tone warm with affection. "I’m most glad you like the gift."

The elf nodded. "I do, I do," and then, "I love you, too."

It was quiet, intimate, personal moments like these that counted, more than any feast, any grand gesture, any great amount of people that might see. This – this was the moments Celebrimbor cared for, and would cherish. He and Adar both. Both of them smiled as they kissed once more, and were rather content to ignore everything else going on around them as they did.

[jacqcrisis]

My biggest hater opinion for jayvik fanon is that I don't think they'd make good parents especially Viktor.

Man's a workaholic, isn't a fan of people, mostly self interested on a micro, interpersonal level even if he wants to help other people on the macro level, has no concern for personal safety, especially when it comes to solving a problem as he will brute force a solution to the point of taking bodily autonomy from people, isn't even nice to their assistant until shes dead.... even when he is responsible for a community of people, we never see him interact with any of his commune after the initial healing he does. He spends all his time in his meditation bubble once the interesting 'problem' has been fixed and at no point are we shown him doing anything remotely leading or nurturing to the people directly connected to him.

I just cannot see this man dealing with a child well. For me, fanon has to have a foothold in canon and there's no easy translation from the Viktor presented in canon to the nurturing, caring parent often depicted in fanon. This is made even weirder to me when coupled with the fact that there's a trend to headcanon Viktor as a trans man and then add/exacerbate as many feminine qualities onto him whether they are present or not in the canon of the show which... idk man. Seems kind of weird to me. Not a fan of those two things happening in conjunction.

So I'm a hater. Don't like that fanon idea. The baby art is cute, but that's of a guy who's not my guy. My guy would take his niece to the hospital, build her a playground, but don't ask him to babysit because he will give her a shot of whiskey in her juice cause it kept her quiet in front of the TV while he finished the work he really needed to get done and she's fiiiiine anyways, what are you freaking out about...