#if you're curious how i have time for this wall of text at noon on a wednesday: i have today off

[bereft-of-frogs]

I have a new crackpot theory that is sure to get proven wrong

under the cut for spoilers and...length...(got out of hand)

I wonder if Torbin's crime was leaving Mae behind.

This is like, the opposite of the other theory I've already commented on (that the conflict sparks because the Jedi also want to take Mae) but idk. Maybe it's not what we think.

Vernestra in this last episode seems particularly upset that Sol never mentioned the possibility that the other girl lived (it seems like Sol never even mentioned that there WAS a sister), maybe because she was afraid exactly what ended up happening would happen (Mae gets scooped up by the Sith) and also neither Torbin nor Indara seem particularly surprised that Mae's still alive. It is possible that Indara thought it was Osha, but she does see the mark and that's when she's like 'what are YOU doing here' so it seems like she knows it's Mae and isn't like 'omg you're alive what' so it definitely seems like she knew Mae survived. And Torbin specifically says he's been waiting for her.

Sol is the only one insisting that she had to be dead, and no one could have survived the fall. So maybe, with his attention on Osha in that chunk of time we're missing between them escaping and her waking up, he doesn't notice Mae surviving, but the others encounter her on their way out and choose deliberately to leave her alone for some reason. (Maybe they're spooked by her power, she definitely seems like the stronger of the twins and obviously she's got some real dark stuff going on already.) And that might be something the Council would get upset about, judging by Vernestra's reaction. And enough to feel profoundly guilty about, leaving behind an 8 year old because you were scared of her power?

Whether Kelnacca knew she was alive or not remains to be seen (or might remain a mystery idk), but judging by all the marks he's drawn all over his walls, it seems like he was investigating something about the coven's power or history?

Anyway, also I'm currently placing all my money on it being Qimir behind the mask lol. I rewatched that monologue and obviously the voice has been altered but I feel like there are a couple lines that suspiciously resemble Manny Jacinto's cadences. Also that tonal switch when he tells Mae 'he'll kill you' (I saw someone else point out there was also a tonal shift when he tells Osha 'you look just like her' that's kind of suspicious), the fact that he knows so much and keeps prodding her on the riddle...it's SO him. I'm not discounting there being another Sith master though (maybe that he's the apprentice and someone else is pulling the strings)...

...I do just wish people would stop theorizing it's Vernestra haha. As I said before, if Vernestra turns out to be Sith it would take Leslye Headland, Justina Ireland, and Tessa Gratton all coming, in person, to my home to explain themselves for me to accept it. Otherwise, I would have to just believe it's two separate characters that happen to share the same name, species, and relative age. Hey, what a coincidence!

Just with three books left in the series, and judging by where we've just left Vernestra, it would take something MASSIVE to get her to the point of 'yeah I'm going full dark side'. And I feel like it would just be an asshole move to hijack that storyline with such an extreme twist this late in the game. Like...idk maybe they would but...it would be an asshole move to take someone else's character and 15+ books into a series be like 'oh surprise twist that undermines everything'. And you cannot say 'well it's been 100 years maybe something happens in between' because that's just shitty storytelling, it hasn't been 100 years for me, it's been four days since I finished Temptations of the Force, you cannot ask me to reconcile the Vernestra Rwoh who confronts the Eye of the Nihil herself and gets them across the stormwall, with a secret Sith manipulating everything from the shadows based on stuff happening off-page/screen. I cannot see it.

I DO however totally see where the cracks could form with her relationship with the Senate. I bet you the Senate accepts Marchion Ro's deal to save them from the blight and the Jedi feel betrayed by that and that's why she's like 'fuck the Senate, we do this on our own'. I think that would make sense for her last big unresolved relationship arc, her issues with Elzar, because Elzar has just committed to being the liaison between the Order and the Senate. (I do think they're going to get over though, Elzar mentions twice that he wants to give her Stellan's lightsaber and he doesn't, I don't think they'd do something that significant off-page, I bet that will close out this arc on a good note.) And it would be some juicy conflict between her and her non-Jedi friends, like I'm sure Cair and Jordanna having seen the effects of the blight, would be on board with doing whatever it takes to stop it, but I can also see some of the Jedi characters feeling betrayed by that, like they've been left to deal with the Nameless on their own for so long and now they feel like they're getting sold out by people they thought they could trust to the exact person who's been killing and torturing them.

Also just practically, it seems like by the time of the show Vernestra is an important enough figure in the Order's hierarchy that people would like....notice if she was fucking off all the time to go secretly be a Sith? Idk, I guess Palpatine had time to multitask but I think he was doing most of his Sith-business while still hanging around Coruscant, it seems like the Sith are out on the Outer Rim a lot, you'd think people would start to get suspicious if Vernestra was gone for long stretches of time. I guess she's done that before lol maybe they're just like 'oh Vernestra's off on another one of her unsanctioned walkabouts', and it is kind of sus that she's so upset Sol didn't tell her about both girls if the theory that the Sith wants both twins is true, but...yeah to get me to accept this they'd have to come explain themselves to me personally. XD

Idk. I almost convinced myself there it's a possibility. But we haven't seen the lightwhip scene yet, and that looks like a forest, it feels more likely she's going to go confront Mae's master herself, and that would just be an unreasonable level of subterfuge for the audience to accept (on the level of 'Indara is the Sith master and faked her own death in the first episode' theory)

Anyway, how did this become novel theorizing and also Star Wars fandom stop theorizing my favorite Jedi ladies are secretly Sith, leave my girls alone--

ETA: I definitely also think there's a reason the Sith (maybe Sith, I guess I should stop assuming) wants the four Jedi dead. They definitely witnessed something that night that they shouldn't have and I think got distracted by their own issues with what went down, but it looks like Kelnacca was close to figuring it out. Proof: after Mae tells Qimir she doesn't care about revenge anymore, she's just going after her sister, the master comes to kill Kelnacca himself, also feels like solid evidence of Qimir being the master...

ETA: wait I talked myself out of the most suspicious thing, why would she be so obviously upset at Sol for not telling her about Mae if she was the Sith master and would have known from the start? Unless she's playing him? But idk that break in frustration appeared genuine. I'm back to being reassured that it's not her. That would be SUCH an asshole move with only three books left to go in the series and none of the dangling threads of Vernestra's storyline having really anything to do with dark side struggles. (She struggles more with despair while she's mourning and being like slightly judgy of Elzar, it doesn't seem that serious. They're definitely going to focus on whatever this mysterious path she got from the ghost of Mari San Tekka and her unresolved issues with Elzar. Ok I'm back.)

[mageofseven]

Okay so this was said in the comments for this post and I loved their idea so much that I just had to write this. I might even do more on this topic to explore how Satan would be as a true older brother 🥰

Also, I started experimenting with an app that makes fake text conversations and I wanted to use it for this. Some day I wanna be able to tell stories via texting format, but until I actually get better at such a method, I might just sprinkle texts in my posts occasionally. It doesn't add much, but I still wanted to try it for this post~

~

The fourth brother sighed as he got dressed for the day. Did Lucifer really need to deal with him so early in the morning, on a Saturday at that? The man wasn't so much worried about whatever punishment his 'big brother' had in mind over the distraction with the ring, but he really wished the older man would have a chosen a more convenient time for the lecture. Of course he wouldn't though; this is Lucifer after all.

Dressed, Satan left his room and went downstairs, turning into the library and crossing through to the door of the Avatar of Pride's study.

"Alright, can we at least make this--"

Lucifer shushed him from where he sat at his desk.

"Keep your voice low or you'll wake her."

The blonde raised an eyebrow. 'Her'? He followed the other man's gaze to the wall behind him and saw... a crib? A dark green one, to be specific, one ever so vaguely familiar to the Avatar of Wrath.

Silence. The younger demon slowly approached the crib and just as you'd expect, he found a baby sleeping soundly inside.

"Thanks to the suddenness of last night, I had to go rummaging through the storage in the attic for your old crib." The older demon complained, watching Satan closely as he stood next to his daughter.

"Did you have another one?"

Lucifer let out a huff.

"MC did. Late last night because of that stunt you pulled back in February."

"No." The blonde turned around and approached his 'brother's' desk. "You're not blaming me for--"

"You knew very well what that ring did and you still tricked my Love into participating in your ridiculous plan." The demon rose from his seat. "Did you or did you not?"

"And if you were half as strong as you pretend to be, that ring wouldn't have had such a strong effect on you." The blonde smirked. "Honestly, I was prepared for the plan to fail, but you fell into the enchantment far too easily."

"Watch your--"

"Besides, isn't whatever MC suffered through your fault? Even without your memory, how could you not know your girlfriend was pregnant for a whole nine months?"

"How was I suppose to know when I had no knowledge that we even slept together?"

Crying rang throughout the room from the crib. Lucifer let out a long sigh before approaching the crib and lifting his daughter into his arms, careful of her delicate wings. He gently rocked her for a minute, stroking her soft hair as she slowly quieted in her daddy's arms.

Satan was feeling... something. The blonde wasn't sure what. It was an odd sight to see Lucifer so tender with another living being. He didn't know if what he felt about the scene was positive or negative, simply... strange.

"I cannot keep up with everything, even if I may try." The older demon said in a low tone. "I cannot be expected to know things about MC that even she herself did not know."

The man said all of this to the younger demon without lifting his gaze from his daughter, who stared up at him with matching eyes. The little girl cooed and reached out to grab his nose. Lucifer smiled softly at her, a smile that could barely be noticed, but the other demon did.

The Avatar of Pride quickly let the smile fall and gently moved his daughter's hand away from his nose.

"I have to leave soon for some business with Lord Diavolo and since MC is busy resting from her... ordeal last night, I need you to watch your sister for me."

Satan grinded his teeth at the label, though more so at what it implicated with the other demon than what it did with the small baby in his arms. He usually wasn't one to give into his 'older brother' so easily, but when he thought about what MC must have gone through, especially last night, the blonde couldn't help feeling at least partially responsible.

"I'll do it for MC." He agreed before glancing down at his...little sister. "What is her name?"

"Ksenia." The baby grabbed Lucifer's finger and another subtle smile made it's way to the Avatar of Pride's face. "And regardless of who you do this for, I should be back around noon. Till then, tell Beel to help you out when he gets back from his morning jog."

Satan raised an eyebrow.

"Why Beel?"

The other man finally looked over to him.

"Because he and Asmo were mainly your caretakers while I was working when you were Ksenia's age. Since I imagine Asmo will stay in bed till late morning, Beel will likely be your best support while I'm gone."

This... the fourth brother didn't know this. No one actually talked about his childhood to him and the blonde certainly didn't remember his days as an infant. If he was honest...he was now curious about it all. Through his sister's appearance, will he get to hear more details and stories about when he was young? The younger demon wasn't sure why he cared... but he was curious nonetheless.

[mynameispuppy]

Talking in Summer  [Chapter 2]

A/N: I decide to change from first person to mainly second person in my writing  ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

Sitting at my desk feet swinging over the edge of my chair, I hear a loud ping from my phone. Looking down at the bright light coming from my side table I see a notification from an unknown number.

[Unsaved #] 7:36pm

Is this (y/n)?

Picking up my (color) phone I try to formulate a response.

[Me]7:37pm

Maybe. Who is this?

[Unsaved #]7:37pm

You're the one who gave me your number.

'OH SHOOT it's that...uh that guy... What's his name?'

[Me]7:37pm

My apologies, what was your name again?

[Unsaved #]7:38pm

Tenko.

'thats a pretty rare name for a boy' you start to think to yourself. Your conversation started out slow however, talking late into the night you realize that Tenko and you have very much in common in ways of thinking and hobbies. You tap into your quirk "curse" so you can pull an all nighter with him. Both of you find out that you both like the same fighting game and decide to play; he mercilessly beats me every single time.

                                             ❁     ❁     ❁

[Me]1:47am

Aw geez defeated again (｡•́︿•̀｡)

[Tenko]1:47am

GG.

He didn't seem to be much with words but you enjoyed having his company. The only local friend you have is Yumeshi your co-worker, she has a boyfriend as well as a different friend group so she didn't have a lot of free time for hanging out.

Around 3am Tenko tells you he needs to dip so snuggling into bed you try to rest but still feel awfully energetic. Getting up you start to make a bento box for no particular reason. Watching some random cable television and doodling finding ways to waste your time. Haveing today off since its Saturday decide to debate on what to do, 'maybe somewhere fun? Like a park or aquarium... Alone like a loser? Maybe I should just sleep all day.'

Starting to pout to myself I flop back down on my futon bed.

'nononono I will NOT waste the day!' I shout at myself and flop around like a fish. "Quick nap then I'll start the day" I say to confirm the plan in mind.

                                               ❁     ❁     ❁

He had googled her name immediately,  (Y/n) (l/n). Couldn't get much information other than your overwhelming awards on the swim team and some academic praises. The name of your high school, your interests, each piece of information made him feel electrified; even powerful. He was learning so much about you without you even knowing. Growing in his throat, a lump, which could only be interpreted as grotesque titillation. He had to know more.

Shigaraki was shocked when you approached him. The mall, his frequent hangout spot. Where he had noticed a couple of regulars but none who had such a synchronized schedule with him than you.

He was fascinated in why you reached out to him. Maybe you knew who he was? or his pure villainous prowess seemed to radiate off of him and attract you. He doubted that, you had a wholesome air to you.

Sniffing around in the yellow books he was able to snatch your address with no issue. He started to feel heavy....paranoid. What if you were a spy or you were out to get him. Catching at his neck like a flea infested dog he started scraping dry skin and feeling warm wounds start to open up. Peaking at his phone to get the time he sees it's about noon, the sun is high in the sky and warm just like the day prior. [after he had stopped texting you he had a brilliant idea to wait outside your apartment].

Sitting outside the cement walls of your apartment complex Shigaraki's ears perk up when he hears the clanging of a metal gate as he stands inconspicuously around the corner. Peeking around the corner he catches a glimpse of your (h/c) hair dancing behind you are you quickly make your way down the sidewalk.

Tomura paces himself behind you almost as if you were prey to a wanting predator.

His inquisitive learning gaze locked on every movement you made, brushing your hair back, checking your phone, everything.

You start to turn down a familiar route and the park you guys met at yesterday comes into view. 'she doesn't SEEM to be doing anything suspicious I guess it was idiotic to worry about such a girl' shigaraki watches as you place yourself in the shade and proceed to take out a homemade bento. Enjoying the warmth and watching some kids play soccer. Tomura turns to leave 'this is a waste of time... she's not doing anything suspicious' he assures himself but finds that his body doesn't want him to leave. He's still curious about the girl who extended her friendship to him, the most unwelcoming looking person on earth. Why?

[Me]12:31pm

Hello.

'what am I doing!?'

As Shigaraki peers over the warm bark of the trees he's conveniently hiding behind he sees you pick up your phone at the vibration

[(Y/N)]12:32pm

Hi Tenko, how are you? ｡^‿^｡

[Me]12:32

Bored.

[(Y/N)] 12:32pm

Well I'm at that park from yesterday if you care to join me!

Closing his phone he focuses back over in your direction watching you gently eat your rice as if you savored every grain an ethereal goddess. Letting out a shiver Tomura's whole body swarms with goosebumps.

'thats new' he takes note.

Shigaraki made sure to make you wait for a full 10 minutes before emerging into the open to approach you, he wanted it to seem....natural.

                                                ❁     ❁     ❁

Seeing your new friend approach starts to make you feel giddy inside. The thought of finally having company felt so foreign to you.

Quickly getting him comfortable next you and offering some bento which he declined you sit through an awkwardly long silence before the thin veil of silence finally being shattered with Shigaraki's raspy tone,

"You seem....like a nice person." you cock your head unable to figure out if that was a compliment or not because of his tone.

"Thank you? You do too" trying to return polite words. You notice that his gaze shifts from the horizon down to his lap in a dissapointed manner.

"Why don't we get some crepes! I know a place around here" you bounce to your feet.

With Tomura sluggishly in pursuit "ok" he utters to you in an uninterested drawl.

                                                  ❁     ❁    ❁   

The trip to the sweet shop was quiet but peaceful and relaxing. You felt at ease with your new friend. Once you both ordered your crepes, you started to discuss things like world views and morals and for the most part you seemed to agree on things oddly enough.

You and Tenko talked long into the evening, you even got him to chuckle once and when the time came he politely walked you home. "Thank you so much for the good day, I'm glad we could become friends" you give him a polite nod. "Yeah, it wasn't bad at all." He answers back and for a split second you think you can see the smallest smile in the corner of his lips. You give him a polite bow before pivoting around to leaving for your front gate.

'it wasn't bad at all' you repeat to yourself as you feel the tingling of joy arise from your body.

[goodlucktai]

If you're up for it, I'd love to see more of all 4 of them from the natsuyuu soulmates AU! (it was so good, gosh) Perhaps something from Tanuma's or Natsume's POV this time? I'm curious to know what it was/is like for the two of them too!

companion piece to this prompt !

x

When Kaname actually gets the job offer, he almost turns it down. He only applied in the first place on a whim, and it’s such a big move, and he’s not the brave, bold kind of person who would leap on an opportunity like this –

But as if sensing his doubts, the counter on Kaname’s wrist moves. It hasn’t so much as flickered in years, and now it starts to go up instead of down.

And Kaname’s hands move on autopilot, tapping out a return email with his heart in his throat.

Thank you, he writes, and Yes, I can start immediately, and I look forward to working with you.

The numbers still again. Kaname puts his head in his hands and wonders if it eight a.m. is too early to go back to bed. Then he picks up the phone to call his father and closest friends and inform them he’s moving six hours away, by the end of the week actually, and do they know where he should start looking for affordable sublets in Osaka?

Shibata is still looking up at him like he’s crazy two days later, but he helps Kaname pack with only minimal complaining.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” he asks before he leaves, when Kaname’s apartment has been stripped to bare walls and cardboard boxes and Kaname is wrapping the last of his plates in newspaper. “I mean – this isn’t like you.”

Kaname musters a smile, almost sick with nerves. It isn’t like him. But –

He looks at the still numbers on his arm and thinks, somehow, this might be the right move to make.

Or it’s entirely the wrong move.

Kaname gets off the train with his single rolling suitcase and promptly has a panic attack in one of the station bathrooms. He should have thought about this. He’s an idiot and everything is going to be terrible. He’s hours away from his only family, he doesn’t know anyone in this city, he doesn’t know where to go, what is he doing here?

A text to Shibata finds Kaname on a conference call moments later with both Shibata and Taki, who bully and cajole him respectively back into some semblance of mostly functional human being.

“Do you have your inhaler?” Shibata demands, prompting Kaname to pat down his pockets and confirm that he does, in fact, have his inhaler. “Good. You better take care of yourself, idiot. I swear, if I have to come after you I’m going to be severely annoyed.”

But he’ll come after Kaname if Kaname needs him to, won’t hesitate to bail on work and hop on a train if he thinks Kaname isn’t okay, and knowing that is a much-needed comfort. Kaname smiles, and his hands, clenched into shaking fists in the fabric of his jeans, finally loose.

He’s in a new place, and hours away from the people who love him, but he isn’t in another country. He isn’t so far removed that he’ll never see them again.

“We’ll come see you the second you get settled,” Taki tells him kindly. “I’m so excited for you! You’re going to do so great!”

“Of course he is. Call us back when you get to your creepy Craigslist apartment, Tanuma!”

Kaname laughs as he hangs up, and the warmth of the laughter stays with him as he braves the busy station and drags his suitcase after him into the sunny streets. With his friends in the front of his mind, it’s that much easier to breathe.

Kaname isn’t sure when the rest of his things are due to be delivered, so getting settled into his modest apartment is the work of about five minutes. In that it takes him four minutes to get the door unlocked, and once inside he shoves his suitcase into the bedroom, shrugs out of his jacket, and collapses face-first into the musty sofa the previous tenant left behind.

The city traffic is loud even through the closed window, and someone in the hallway is banging violently on a door.

Home, Kaname thinks, and rolls onto his back. He stretches his arms out above him, and tugs back the sleeve on his left arm to see if his counter is still –

“Oh,” he whispers, as the numbers continue to spin lower and lower with dizzying speed.

Kaname sits up slowly, tucking his legs underneath him, and cradles his wrist closer with a careful hand. He sits that way for a long time, until shadows stretch across the floor as noon slinks closer to evening and his phone fills the room with Shibata’s ringtone because he forgot to call his friends back. 

The counter finally slows somewhere around the nineteen hour mark, and only the seconds are left ticking by.

19:14:38 and he’s never, ever been this close.

Home, he thinks again, with a hope so heavy it could probably crush him.

Two of his neighbors turn out to be young men his own age, who introduce themselves as Kitamoto and Nishimura. They’re kind and welcoming, despite Kaname’s terribly awkward first impression, and Nishimura is almost relentlessly friendly. Kaname can’t help thinking he and Taki would get along like a house on fire, and the similarities between them have Kaname warming to Nishimura almost immediately.

“If you just moved in, you probably have no food at your place,” Nishimura says with all the certainty of someone having lived this truth himself at one point. “We can show you around and stuff later, but for now you should come over for dinner tonight! We’re making omurice. We’re awesome at omurice.”

“It’s the only thing we know how to cook,” Kitamoto amends dryly, and steers Nishimura away by the shoulders. “Sorry for taking up so much of your time. We’ll see you tonight.”

They’re a soulmate pair if Kaname has ever seen one, and he watches them bicker their way down the hall with a smile. Rubs the numbers on his wrist with an ache and a longing, and only a small amount of light-headed fear.

“I’m not surprised you’ve made friends already,” his father says kindly when Kaname calls him with what little news he has to offer about his first day in Osaka. “You were always a popular boy.”

That is a bold-faced lie, but Kaname was certainly never without friends, and that’s probably what his father means anyway. His eyes are glued to the counter on his wrist, as they always are anymore, and he’s dying to bring it up at the same time he’s terrified of jinxing the whole thing away.

He’ll keep it to himself a little while longer. There’s only four hours left to go, anyway.

Kaname stands outside his neighbor’s door with his fist poised to knock and thinks this is probably exactly where he’s meant to be standing, because the numbers on his arm are still moving, and it’s fourteen seconds, and he knocks, and now it’s nine, and now six –

And the door opens, and Kaname pulls his eyes away from the zeros on his wrist. It isn’t Nishimura or Kitamoto waiting there to greet him, but he wasn’t really expecting either of them. He looks into wide amber eyes and feels the breath go out of his lungs in a rush.

His other half touches Kaname’s cheek reverently, with fingers that tremble. Kaname covers his hand with one of his own and holds on.

It’s been a long and lonely life without him, and Kaname has waited every single day for this moment, for this man specifically, and now he can only stand here and soak up the sight of the rest of his life, greedily and with extreme prejudice.

“I’ve waited to meet you for so long,” he murmurs, and his soulmate’s breath shudders. He looks as terrified as Kaname feels, and every bit as longing, and tragically lovely.

Beautiful, Kaname thinks, with both an artist’s eye and a hopeless heart, beautiful.

Natsume Takashi lives alone, and has always lived alone. Even as a child, he was often by himself. He has no family and no home outside his little one-bedroom apartment, and his only companion is his fat, spoiled cat.  

“I came to this city because it was brand-new to me,” Takashi says, “and I wanted a fresh start.”

He’s unguarded as he speaks into the dimly lit room at large. They’re tucked together on his sofa, the window open to let in the autumn breeze, and Kaname pulls him just a little bit closer.

Takashi is fragile, despite the iron resilience that brought him this far, and devastatingly lonely – and worse than that, accustomed to loneliness.

“I wish I had found you sooner,” Kaname tells him quietly, and feels Takashi lean away just enough to look up at him.

“It’s thanks to you we met at all,” his other half tells him firmly. “I would never have had the nerve to do what you did – to make such a big move, on such a small chance.” He shakes his head, admiring and affectionate as he adds, “You’re amazing, Kaname.”

It’s the first time anyone has told him that. Sickly, shrinking Kaname, who could hardly join in PE more than a dozen times a year, who passed through school like a shadow and relied on his two bright and fiery friends all those times he got lost in the crowd or fumbled up his words, who locked himself in a bathroom stall the day he arrived in this new city and wanted nothing more than to run back home.

But Takashi is smiling up at him without cruelty, honeyed eyes like something out of a fairy tale – and if he’s the one saying it, maybe it’s true after all.

Maybe it could be true. Maybe, for Takashi, he wants it to be.

“I can’t believe you uprooted your whole life just to chase your heart like a shojo hero,” Shibata fumes. “You’re ridiculous!”

“He’s wonderful,” Takashi contests immediately, reaching over to smooth the fringe out of Kaname’s eyes. Kaname feels himself flush hotly and aims a stupid grin at the Skype window open on Kitamoto’s laptop.

Taki’s eyes are shining, her hands folded in front of an impossibly wide smile, and even Shibata can’t maintain his scowl for long.

“Ugh, gross,” he says, with the hint of a grin. “You two deserve each other.”  

“Oh, and make sure you send over those pictures of the two of you that you promised me. Don’t give me that look, Tanuma, you promised!”

Takashi groans, and Nishimura laughs brightly from the other side of the living room. Ponta waddles over to make himself comfortable in Kaname’s lap, and the apartment smells like the omelets Kitamoto is cooking for dinner, and Kaname’s childhood friends are making plans to come visit sometime soon. Takashi smiles freely more and more with each day, and those smiles make every single minute Kaname waited for this worthwhile.

Home, Kaname thinks, and this time he means it.