#like just being Saruhiko's hero is enough

[ridiasfangirlings]

What if Misaki had a drug addiction since he was like maybe 12 or something?

I kinda imagine this as an AU where maybe Yata stays with his dad and his dad, in the grand tradition of K dads, kinda sucked. Maybe his dad was never home and Yata gets into drug dealing just to make enough money to survive, and in doing so ends up getting addicted himself. He’s a loner at school because everyone thinks he’s ‘weird,’ he can’t concentrate unless he’s got a fix but the drugs make it hard to really concentrate too. Yata’s kinda resigned himself to being this useless person, someone who couldn’t become a hero, and that’s when he spots Fushimi being bullied. At first maybe he doesn’t even intend to save Fushimi, he just sees all that money in the wallet and thinks he’ll get a reward if he saves this nerdy kid and he can use that for drugs. But then Fushimi gives him that cold ‘if you want gratitude look somewhere else,’ with an extra moment of just staring at Yata and scoffing like ‘you wanted more than that didn’t you, if it’s worthless money you want then here go ahead and take that same loose change as those losers,’as he tosses the wallet at Yata’s feet. 

This really hits Yata in the way nothing else has, like look how far he’s fallen. When he finds Fushimi in the boys bathroom afterward what strikes him isn’t just how amazing Fushimi is but also look at this person who’s fighting back against the shitty world — not just sinking into doing drugs like Yata has, Fushimi’s doing something really cool. So now Yata becomes attached and they can bond over how much they hate their dads. I could see Yata being embarrassed and wanting to hide his drug habit, like he doesn’t want Fushimi to be disgusted or think he’s worthless, but when Fushimi finds out he just tells Yata not make sure he’s not being useless when Fushimi needs him. Maybe Fushimi even attempts to try some of the drugs as well and Yata’s shocked by how strongly he opposes it, like he’s rationalized using to himself but Saruhiko is different, he can’t let this happen to Saruhiko. Imagine Yata does try quitting but it’s hard, even with Fushimi trying in his own clumsy way to help — it’s not until they join Homra that Yata actually gets help and imagine Fushimi quietly letting that sink in, that Homra really did save Misaki where he couldn’t. (Oh oh and then imagine Yata relapsing after Mikoto’s death and Fushimi finds him like high in an alley, Fushimi tries to just walk away but he can’t, he scoops Yata up and takes Yata back to the bar and watches over him, destroying any drugs he can find just in case, all while telling himself he doesn’t care.)

[roleplay-abiogenesis2]

RP LOG || Merry Christmas (Part 2/3)

Continues from Part 1/3.

‘Mikoto-san…’

His king who he’d never really understood, who he’d never even tried to understand. He’d been content to follow behind him blinded by hero worship without realizing that he was more than just a king. He hadn’t even realized that killing the Colourless King was a suicide mission as much as it was an act of revenge - maybe even moreso - until he’d seen the look of resignation on Kusanagi’s face after being carried off the island.

Really, he hadn’t understood a goddamn thing until it was too late to fix it.

There was a part in him that wanted to insist that he could’ve done what the Blue King had, that he would have done it without hesitation, but the nauseous feeling in his gut hinted otherwise. In the end, it was something that probably could have only turned out the way it had. It had taken him a long time to accept it, but he finally had…sort of.

It was like Anna said. They wouldn’t thank him, but they wouldn’t blame him either.

…Was the Blue King really in that bad of a shape though? He had never paid much attention to his sword whenever it appeared but if it was really as broken as Mikoto’s had been…he internally grimaced.

It wouldn’t end well, that was for sure.

“If that shitty reason’s really all you got, then what are you planning to do now?” Placing his hand on his hip, he tilted his head to the side. “You betrayed the red clan, you ran away from the blue clan…what’s next? Is that it? Are you just done with the world of Kings? Don’t tell me you’re just gonna hide out until this all blows over…the Saruhiko I knew wasn’t that much of a coward.”

Even as he proposed it, it didn’t sound believable. There was no way either of them could go back to being normal civilians after having been exposed to this secret world.

~~

“Hide? Is that what you think?” The shadow of the familiar sadistic grin Saruhiko had often put on as a mask in the past when confronting the skater touched his lips, though it never reached full form. “No… I’m quite interested to see what comes next.”

Muting the phone for good when it vibrated once more, he moved a couple steps away from Yata, looking towards the end of the alley where the sun touched the street and lazy traffic.

“The green clan wants to release the Slates’ power to the rest of humanity. Now that they have it, there’s nothing to stop the chaos that will follow. Strains will be popping left and right, and the Gold clan is no longer around to cover up their existence from the public.”

He sentenced that with his usual monotone voice, and yet there was a hint of nostalgia in his eyes when he looked back at Misaki. Maybe even childish amusement.

“To ‘topple over this boring fucking world’, wasn’t it what we wanted?”

~~

To topple over this world, huh? He remembered the feeling of thinking that was possible. With him and Saruhiko working together, standing side by side, nothing was impossible. They’d bring this world to it’s heels together and make it interesting.

But now Saruhiko was pulling away from him just like he’d done back then and just like back then he had no idea how to stop it.

No matter how he wracked his brain, the pieces weren’t falling into place. There was too many missing for him to understand and Saruhiko was the one holding them tightly in his fist, taunting him for not knowing what the half finished picture was supposed to be.

His own fists clenching in anger, he took a step forward to close some of the gap placed between them. “You can’t seriously think that will be fun, can you? People are going to get hurt asshole, kids are gonna get hurt! Even you have to care about that!” Yata had people he still cared about outside of all this and once this shit spread enough to reach them…

Not like this. Toppling this world wasn’t worth it like this. His world had grown so much that he didn’t even think he wanted to do anything like that anymore.

~~

This was where Saruhiko could see the ditch that had formed between the two of them. Misaki had his own world of things to care about that he wanted to protect. Things that would be missed if stolen, like all the things that had been removed from his house as a child.

While Saruhiko had nothing like that anymore. His small world had gotten destroyed- by his own hand, just like the ant farm.

He had already lost what was important to him. Why should the rest matter? It was all shit.

“Why do you even care so suddenly, Misaki? All this time, you’ve been-” Before Saruhiko could raise his voice to a proper level, his words were muffled by the rising grumble coming from his stomach. Embarrassingly loud.

He fell quiet with a deadpan look behind his spectacles. He wasn’t even the breakfast kind of person. Just how bad was it? When had he eaten last though…? Before the raid?

Inhaling sharply through his nose, he craned his head towards the skater, speaking quickly before his own shame became too obvious. “Anyway, you still owe me that cola.”

~~

“Huh?” Yata blinked a couple of times as he processed that what he had heard was Saruhiko’s stomach.

Staring as he watched their argument fizzle out just as quickly as it had started, he let out an exasperated sigh. Most of his aggravation was gone and there was a small bit of familiar affection to be able to scold him for something so mundane.

“Geez, can you still not take care of yourself properly? What a kid,” Yata muttered.

Not that he had remember to eat breakfast this morning either, but at least his stomach wasn’t making a fuss about it. “There’s a fast food place not too far from here. I’ll buy you your damn drink there.”

The two of them had eaten from there plenty of times in the past, stopping in on the way home when Yata didn’t feel like cooking and they were both too hungry and impatient to order takeout.

~~

“…” Saruhiko had expected something quicker and less intimate, like using a vending machine if the several around town. The invitation to go to a restaurant together had him blink in surprise, lips pressed into a thin line.

Either he was being pitied on, or Misaki wasn’t done being in his case…

Well it was his money, so for once he didn’t argue and gave a noncommittal shrug.

“That place is still there…? Figured it would be out of business by now.” He muttered, turning to leave the alley in the familiar direction so he could break direct eye contact with Misaki and not show the faint fluster that surprise had caused.

Outside of the back alleys, everything looked like always. Well, save the decorations. And lots of couples and families around.

Speaking of which. “Shouldn’t you be with your folks today, anyway? Are they on a trip or what.”

~~

Before following after him, he retrieved his board - noting the thing scrapes that had been there before with furrowed eyebrows. It wasn’t anything too serious though so he didn’t worry about it too much before quickly catching up before he could get left behind.

‘Well, I’m paying so it’s not like he’d ditch me anyways.’

Walking beside him felt both awkward and familiar. Maybe it was awkward because despite the fact that it felt so familiar it wasn’t anymore.

Yata shrugged a little bit at his question. Honestly he hadn’t checked to see what his family was doing, it hadn’t even crossed his mind until Saruhiko had brought it up. “Ah, I dunno.”

He hadn’t even thought to call his mom which sent a wave of guilt through him.

“It’d be weird anyway. It’s not like we’d have much to talk about,” he admitted, scratching at his cheek slightly.

Yata had known for a while that he didn’t really fit in with his family. The fact that he was in a supernatural gang that he couldn’t really talk about didn’t make the gap any less wide.

Shaking off his thoughts, he grinned. “There will probably be some kind of celebration at the bar later though!” He said as if that made up for it.

~~

The raven-haired didn’t change his expression. As far as he remembered there was hardly any difference between Yata’s family home and the bar. They were both overcrowded and noisy.

But at least in the first place hadn’t made him feel that much left out. Mrs. Yata was kind and with that super hearing of hers she was always onto him at the first mutter for anything he needed. The two brats were clingy and curious. And then there was Yata. Thinking about it, his dad was probably the only one who let him be when he visited.

Not that he had wanted to be the center of the attention back at Homra, anyway. Just one specific person would have been fine… Why to go over this now, though…? He felt like he could puke if his stomach wasn’t unbearably empty.

“I figured you’d go back to live with them…” He said the next thing crossing his mind to change subject. “But if you’re around here you must be still holed up in that place.”

~~

“There’s no way I could’ve gone back after everything, that would’a been totally embarrassing. ‘Sides, the kids are too big to share a room and it would be lame to share a bedroom with Minoru at my age.”

Of course his mom would have taken him back had he asked. That’s the kind of person she was - no matter how squished, she would have made the space.

“I actually got a place closer to the bar. It’s not bad, the neighbors are cool,” he told him, leaving out that it was cheaper because it was an old, rundown apartment in a rough neighborhood.

It just hadn’t felt right staying there alone. It felt too empty. That, plus the rent being a strain with only one menial income had just made staying there too much.

~~

“Ah.” Well… that was one good thing, since it meant he could still use the place. Saruhiko doubted anyone would think of checking there.

Yet at the same time there was a twinge of annoyance in hearing that. Maybe because it had been a place closer to the bar.

The way Misaki made it sound, it really seemed like he was living alone now. That was a surprise still. To picture Misaki able to sit in a quiet room without going nuts in five minutes.

He turned his head to give the other a quick look-over, as though hunting for some details betraying a secret roommate.

“You mean you actually pay someone to cut your hair, now?” He asked with veiled tease, looking back ahead.

~~

A surprised noise slipped from Yata before he could try to stop it. He was asking about his hair of all things?

“There’s no way I’d trust just anyone with my hair.”

Any of the fancy barbers Kusanagi suggested were too damn expensive (seriously, 2000 yen for a trim??) and it wasn’t as if could go to a chick hairdresser…for obvious reasons.

Totsuka had tried to cut his hair once…which had ended in a disaster that left him unable to remove his beanie without shame for a solid month.

‘It’s a good thing this asshole wasn’t there then…he would’ve teased me nonstop…’ Although, if he had been there then there wouldn’t have been a need to have Totsuka do it at all.

“I just started doing it on my own. I’m actually pretty decent now!” He boasted, grinning proudly.

It helped that his hairstyle was simple so he only ever needed to trim it when it started to get too long to be comfortable, but he was still pretty proud of himself for it.

~~

“Well, that explains a lot.”

Misaki might be a good cook and a decent housekeeper, but cutting hair wasn’t like slicing potatoes. No wonder he had let it grow longer again.

This feels too weird. Talking like nothing happened.

The thought brought his mood down to Earth again, and on its trail another followed.

Was he indulging because this could be the last time he’d get to talk to Misaki?

No way, right? Sure the mission was a high risk, and there were many things left untold between them still. But it’s not like he had ever made plans to make up for that, no?

“Why did you choose this path, Fushimi? You don’t have to answer right now, but say it with your own words one day. …The one you will answer to doesn’t have to be me.”

And now he was thinking of his last exchange with Totsuka-san before he died. Just how much more sentimental was he planning to be?

Was he regretting his choice? No. Sometimes you have to fight even when you know you can’t win. That’s the truth of the matter. He couldn’t look back now.

And he couldn’t tell Misaki either. What a pretty package he had in his hands, truly.

They got up to the cheap fast food restaurant. The smell of frying oil and meat snapped Saruhiko back to reality. A welcome feeling and a welcome smell according to his stomach too.

~~

“Hey! It’s not that bad! The ends are mostly even!” He snapped back without any real animosity. Sure there were a couple spots in the back that were off but over all it could be a lot worse.

Following Saruhiko inside the restaurant, he was relieved to find that it was mostly empty. It’d make it easier to talk if the other wasn’t all disgruntled by there being too many people.

“You can go find somewhere to sit and I’ll order, yeah?” he suggested, not really giving him an option either way before making his way up to the counter.

After stuttering out his order to the girl working the cash register, who he was sure was going to go off and giggle to her coworkers about the red faced weirdo, and paying, he took the drink cups from her.

Filling up the cup with cola, he took a moment to let this all sink in.

They were talking and for the first time in so long they weren’t fighting each other…well they weren’t fighting anymore at least. ‘Fuck. This is weird, but maybe it’s a good thing. No, it’s definitely a good thing if he’s not being a total ass,’ Yata determined. How he was acting now was pretty standard for Saruhiko. ‘Maybe I could-‘

Before he could finish his wishful thinking, ice cold soda was spilling onto his hand. He jerked his hand and the cup away as fast as he could without spilling its contents everywhere before setting it down so he could wipe his hand off on some napkins, a string of curses on his lips.

~~

At the entrance, Saruhiko had opened his mouth to tell Misaki to take care of ordering and that he would just go sit somewhere, since he wasn’t paying.

That he was anticipated with an identical instruction had him blink in startled surprise. Quirking up a brow he watched the shorter male beeline to the counter without even giving him the time to recover.

Well, that was awkward.

But at least it gave him time to check his phone. Saruhiko climbed up the stairs to the next floor and found a booth at the corner. Isolated and elevated places were still his favorite after all.

He sat down and without taking off his parka yet he slipped the PDA out to check the notifications. Pale green light reflected on his glasses and eyes wide in a startle.

[There is a Recommended Task near your Location!]

In his palm, the screen was occupied by two thirds by Yata’s picture. Angry and menacing like he used to see him, his portrait glared back at Saruhiko.

He felt his blood freeze in his veins. He was 100% sure this device had no GPS tracker. He had chose that on purpose when leaving Scepter 4 to avoid being tracked down.

It could mean only one thing. This wasn’t an automatic recommendation from the software. The Green King was watching him. Probably hearing him too.

… And maybe testing him. Thinking about it, Hirasaka was a U rank user. Her sudden freedom for jail combined to her JP earnings going directly to his account… of course all of that had to have been noticed.

You sick bastard. Are you trying to see how far I’m willing to push?

His eyes trailed down on Yata’s bounty. 3000JP. That would be plenty to move him to the next rank, and access more productive missions.

“Tch… You’re really disgusting.” He muttered. Saruhiko’s thumb hesitated briefly on the picture, the Accept Mission button mere millimeters away.

It moved to tap on the Like button instead. A small red heart fluttered over the picture and then he closed the tab.

~~

The food didn’t take long so he only had to awkwardly stand around for a few moments after cleaning up his mess and getting his own drink before his order number was called.

Mumbling an awkward thank you, he took the tray of food up to the second floor, quickly locating the gloomy figure in the corner.

“Here,” Yata announced his presence as he set down the tray. He set one of the cups in front of Saruhiko before following that with a burger. It seemed like the safest option since all the breakfast choices were too sweet for even him.

He sat down across from the other. “Don’t worry, I made sure they didn’t include anything on it that might offend your delicate taste buds,” Yata told him, unable to resist the jab after having had to spend extra time ordering to make sure they kept all the vegetables off of the burger.

~~

Drawn by curiosity, Saruhiko had taken a moment to check what other bounties and missions were related to the clans. Because of his low rank, bounties were inaccessible. Yet another sign that Yata’s had been sent to him on purpose.

It was a shame because there were other red clansmen he’d gladly take on for points. There were ways to do that without being recognized.

All what was available was pretty basic. ’Collect information on the Silver, Blue or Red Clan’. The pay ranged based on the tip. Some users reported getting a few hundred JP by catching Kuroh Yatogami in a picture.

Maybe he wouldn’t take out Yata, but getting information out of him was fair game.

He had barely the time to think that when the drink was put before him and he realized the skater had arrived.

He jolted slightly and quickly pocketed the PDA, cursing inwardly for relaxing too much.

Maybe he was low on sugars. To fix that he immediately brought the drink to his mouth, sucking through the straw while carefully examining the sandwich. He even lifted the bun to make sure the order was really fine to his tastes.

Shooting a stare at the other, he let go of the drink. The cooling sweet liquid was already giving him a small rush of energy.

“Don’t put ketchup directly on the fries.” He rebutted without any shame.

~~

Rolling his eyes when Saruhiko felt the need to double check his food, he took a bite of his own burger.

Normally he wouldn’t have bothered to savor the flavor or anything like that - it was just some cheap burger after all - but he got the impression that this would all end after they’d finished.

“Screw you, it’s easier that way!” He told him, huffing a little before taking another bite.

He chewed thoughtfully while eyeing the other. There were so many questions bubbling in him, but most of them would almost definitely lead to a fight.

“So what game were you playing on your PDA?” He asked, figuring that was a safe one.

It must have been at least somewhat interesting if he had been as focused on it as he was when Yata had gotten to the table. After all, he didn’t think Saruhiko had any people to be texting now that he wasn’t talking to the Blue Clan.

There was a small voice in the back of his head that reminded him that he could have made other friends in the time that they were apart that he’d know nothing about. He could have a whole life that Yata was completely oblivious to.

~~

“Old stuff. Nothing you would get into.” Once more he thread on the edge between truth and falsehood. Saruhiko’s hand went to the fries first, wanting to have some before Misaki defiled them with some sauce.

He never had a big appetite to begin with and when he ordered his own fries he always ended up leaving a lot to waste. So one of the first changes that had happened when starting to hang out with Misaki was to simply mooch off of his, provided no ketchup or mayo was ruining them. It always caused some bickering but it saved them money.

“So why is Hothead Misaki just skating around in the early morning? From someone like you, I’d expect you to go after Jungle immediately after last night.”

There wasn’t much need to beat around the bush with someone like Yata, but Saruhiko decided to approach the topic this way. A tease rather than a question. It helped getting the skater in a mood to vent and ramble.

~~

Nodding, Yata figured that it was probably some boring strategy game or something.

“Don’t call me that, jerk,” Yata hissed, looking around in case someone had managed to sneak up to stairs in time to hear his first name being used… of course they were still the only two up there. “And I’m not gonna cause trouble on Christmas.”

Not to mention that he was still nursing his wounded pride after their failure - too much so to go after Jungle again without a plan. After all, three Kings and plenty of planning hadn’t been enough to beat Jungle so even he wasn’t enough of an idiot to think he alone could accomplish anything.

“To answer your question, the bar was closed and I didn’t feel like staying home so I just went for a ride.”

There was no point in lying about it since there wasn’t anything especially embarrassing in the truth as long as where he’d ended up was excluded.

“What about you? You planning to hack in and make ‘em pay for making a fool of us?” A bit of excitement flickered through his amber eyes. “You were even more pissed off than I was by the sound of it.”

If anyone could do something like that to get back at those shitty greens then it would be Saruhiko. Even if it wasn’t anything big, it would be nice to have something to rub in their faces that they weren’t so great.

~~

“I don’t make the same mistake twice.” He brushed off the suggestion after a pause, both because of the prickly sensation in his pride at the memory of that sore defeat when they were still in middle school.

Really, even with lower stakes, that time felt more hurtful than yesterday’s. Because it had been his plan, and his defeat in front of Misaki.

The day Mikoto Suoh had saved his life and replaced him in his friend’s eyes as the amazing guy who could do anything.

Letting go of the fries he clicked his tongue and took a bite of his hamburger, letting his teeth vent the annoyance on the food rather than allowing his tongue to do that.

“Either way, it’s not like anyone knows where they’re hiding. Or did Anna manage to sense them with her strain tricks?”

This should be useful information. Pretending discomfort, he put the food down to remove his parka. The PDA was put on the table, face-down.

Listen away, creep.

Coontinues to Part 3/3.

[hibisha]

Wishes I Made Are Too Vicious To Tell

Chapters: 4/5

Fandom: K (Anime)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Major Character Death

Relationships: Fushimi Saruhiko/Yata Misaki

Characters: Fushimi Saruhiko, Yata Misaki

Additional Tags: Strain AU, Romance, a bit of humor, Angst, Character Death

Summary:

Misaki remembers what both forgot.

Mirrors:

Fanfiction

AO3

Chapter 04 - Desperate

Misaki stared at his friend with wide eyes and a slackened jaw only for Kamamoto to nod in the direction of a nearby cafe.

"Let's go and sit there." he suggested, walking towards it. Misaki only nodded and followed silently behind him, his mind a whirlpool of jumbled thoughts and unasked questions. Saruhiko...odd as it seemed, had sacrificed himself for Kamamoto. Putting aside the fact that this definitely topped the ‘What the fuck’ charts of this reality, Misaki was confounded when it had happened. And how. When he was back to his rightful timeline, Misaki wasn't going to lose an opportunity like this to tease the younger into oblivion.

Not when, his mind traitorously whispered, If. If you go back.

His heart squeezed painfully but he pushed the feeling back, trying to focus on the matter at hand.

When they were both settled, a waiter came to take their order and since it would look really rude, they each ordered a glass of juice. A quick glance around showed that the café didn’t have much of a clientele, just an odds customer here and there. Misaki fidgeted in his seat and faced Kamamoto squarely only to have him sigh and slouch into his seat.

"Mi-Yata-san," a wave of relief and familiarity washed over him as he stared back at the taller man in front of him, listening intently "Do you remember the time...back in elementary school, when I was in the second grade - do you remember when we went all the way over to that rich ass neighborhood?" Misaki frowned, trying to comb through his jumbled mess of memories, sorting them out until his eyes brightened.

That day.

"Oh yeah!" he called out excitedly, "It's that day with the bus incident right?" Kamamoto gave him a small wry smile before his eyes focused on the glass of juice that had been set in front of him, all traces of that smile wiped from his face.

"Yeah," he said, slouching even lower, "It's the day you told me to go get a bus ride home because you were just gonna call your mom so she could pick you up along with your bike."

What?

Misaki stared at Kamamoto, puzzled.

"No, that's not what happened." he said slowly, trying to not sound accusing, "I did get onto that bus with you remember?" It was Kamamoto's turn to look baffled.

"No, you didn't." the other insisted, eyes narrowing slightly as he frowned, "I remember because-" the rest of his words trailed off as his eyes became a bit unfocused and his mouth curved downwards. "I will always remember..." Kamamoto said, whispering now - it's a good thing Misaki inherited his hearing powers from his mother. Misaki waited but the older boy said nothing more, his eyes staring at nothing at all.

Misaki was confused.

So he hadn't ever gotten on that bus with Kamamoto? Why? It wasn't anything special - nothing to do with this messed up world.

"The reason I joined HOMRA was so I could be as strong as Yata-san back then. You were so cool standing up to that gunman."

Right. So that's why Kamamoto wasn't a part of HOMRA. And Misaki had always thought Kamamoto was lying just to make him happy.  Of course, that didn't explain why Kamamoto had brought up the incident in the first place.

And why hadn't Misaki been on the bus? He should have been. His mother was right; he had been missing something. Something in his gut told him that he was close to the answer he was looking for - he just needed to probe in the right direction.

"Oh yeah, I forgot..." he lied, rubbing the back of his head, laughing nervously, eyes trained on the silent hunched figure before him, "So what happened then?" Kamamoto's gaze snapped back at his face and Misaki had to make a conscious effort not to reel back in shock.

Kamamoto's eyes were shining with unshed tears.

"I never told you...because I thought you'd feel guilty or something because of your stupid hero-complex," Kamamoto said, hands gripping the glass so tightly, Misaki feared it would break, "But that bus - that bus was hijacked."

No shit. Misaki thought, forcing himself not to roll his eyes. Externally, he widened his hazel orbs, pretending to be shocked.

"What, no way!" And if he sounded anything less than surprised than he was sort of glad Kamamoto was in no state to notice. The older man nodded.

"Yeah, sorry I never told you." Misaki waved his hand impatiently. 

"Irrelevant. Get back to what happened next." He urged, wanting to know what happened.

"Yeah, so when I got onto the bus, this guy, he randomly grabbed me and this one silent brooding kid from the back. You know, to hold us hostage." Kamamoto's hands were shaking very badly now, his entire body sitting stiff, "He took us to the b-back of the bus."

In his mind, Misaki could still see that day clearly. The way that bastard had grabbed Kamamoto, when he had hauled him at the back, with a gun pressed against his temple. He remembered feeling cold and scared and angry at his helplessness.

"And then-then the other kid pulled out some fireworks from his bag and handed them to me."

That brave smart kid. Misaki didn't remember his face all that well, just that he had dark hair and wore spectacles.

"He barely managed to pass me the lighter when the gunman caught us."

Misaki remembered forgetting his fear and being consumed in a state of desperateness when he saw the man pick up the kid by his collar, pointing the gun at him. At that moment, nothing had mattered except getting him away from danger.

"And then-" Kamamoto's voice cracked, before he took a giant gulp of air, trying to steady himself. A single tear ran down his face. "Then he told me to light them up and throw them at the bastard."

And Kamamoto never got to do it. Because at that moment, Misaki had come barreling in, tackling the bad guy, freeing that kid so he could throw the fireworks himself.

Misaki had come...

But Misaki hadn't been on the bus.

Something began to coil up inside the redhead, dark and cold.

Misaki hadn't been on the bus.

He missed what Kamamoto said next, not entirely sure why his body was trembling.

Misaki hadn't saved that boy.

Black hair.

Spectacles.

Remember Misaki....

Black hair that swept across messily against his forehead.

Remember...

Blue eyes and a small hesitant smile.

Misaki...

"Saruhiko." the words sounded foreign in his mouth. Kamamoto was saying something but Misaki didn't care - didn't care because he remembered.

Misaki must be missing something important.

Tears filled his eyes and Misaki had to blink fervently to keep them from falling down his cheeks. No, he couldn't cry in front of Kamamoto. He had to stay strong. He had to.

"And that's how I found out his name was Fushimi Saruhiko." Kamamoto finished, looking pale and distraught, "I just wish- I just wish I had been strong enough to do something you know." He gulped and shot Misaki and teary grin, "I bet if Misaki had been there, he'd have been so cool and would have been able to save everyone. Even Saruhiko. And then we would have all been friends." No. This time, it was Misaki's body that shook with emotions. They wouldn't have been. Because they would both walk away, not knowing, not remembering.

A bitter taste had settled in his mouth.

He needed to get away.

"I need to go." he said thickly, getting to his feet, swaying a bit. Ignoring Kamamoto’s worried calls, he swiftly made his way out of the caf��, gritting his teeth tightly, hoping he wouldn’t cry. He didn’t even have a destination in mind but kept walking, not knowing how to handle the load of information that had been dumped on him.

Saruhiko was dead.

He was dead because Misaki hadn’t been there to save him.

He was dead because Misaki made a stupid wish.

Coming to halt, he stared at the building in front of him.

Broken, run down.

Definitely not where two middle schoolers should have been squatting. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he fiddled with the handle a bit and entered the tiny place he had rented with Saruhiko all those years ago. Crossing the threshold, he looked around, suddenly lost in the thought that this place had never seen any of his and Saruhiko’s memories. These walls had never been covered in posters. The loft above had never been occupied by a sulky teen who shared his dreams of taking down the world. Tears pooled in his eyes once more as he collapsed to his knees, just staring at the place which held everything and nothing at the same time.

Sorry – I am so sorry.

Saruhiko – despite constantly believing that they didn’t exit – had died a hero. He had done what he himself had refused to believe in and helped someone while being genuinely concerned for someone else’s well-being.

The irony of it wanted to make Misaki laugh but the tears wouldn’t stop and the pain wouldn’t go away. Dragging himself to and upright position against the wall, he stared ahead blankly.

So what now.

He had the answers. Now what was he supposed to do with them?

Where are you Saruhiko, you bastard! I need your help!

Except, he knew exactly where Saruhiko was.

Buried six feet under the ground.

You should visit him.

He didn’t know who whispered that in his ear – or who’s voice it was he heard. But it made him slowly get to his feet and make his way to the outside world again. Casting one last look at his old – their old home, he closed the door firmly behind him.

For the second time in his life, their small world held inside shattered into a million pieces behind that closed door.

“I need to know where he’s buried.”

Standing before the Blue King, awkwardly shifting from one foot to another, he stared resolutely at the bespectacled man, who was watching him with unblinking eyes. Munakata Reisi tilted his head.

“You wish for me to disclose an information you shouldn’t be privy to?” Misaki gulped. He had known this was coming. For one he should have considered himself very lucky that the blue king had even granted him an audience – what was he, if not the HOMRA vanguard or Saruhiko’s best friend.

You are worth so much more Misaki.

And he believed that. He had a high school diploma. He had a stable job, was working to save up for a college. His family loved him, he had friends.

Mikoto san and Totsuka san were alive.

But –

“You…you probably have heard the story from Kusanagi san.” Misaki said, looking at the other man in the eyes, not balking under the scrutinizing gaze. Munakata nodded.

“I have indeed been in contact with the HOMRA bar tender. Though it confuses me why your story seems to have affected the outcome of a certain Red King.” Misaki looked away.

“I have a theory about that…”

“Oya?” Misaki blinked at the realization that the Blue King looked intrigued. “Do share.”

“Well, Totsuka san died because Kusanagi san wasn’t there to protect him. And that’s really because Kusanagi san believed no one would harm him because HOMRA had grown so much. But-“ he gulped, continuing on, trying to not show how his hands were shaking. “But with Kamamoto – without some of the founding members – without shit even me or Saruhiko, Kusanagi san would have never let down his defenses like that. He’d be on the constant look out. That’s – that’s what I believe.” Violet eyes studied him for a long while before sharply turning to look at the puzzle that was spread out before him.

“That is quite the deduction Yata Misaki kun.” He said finally, after what seemed like the longest pause recorded inhuman history. “Personally I believe that there might be some involvement from the Green clan as well, but we may never know.” Misaki nodded, not sure where the conversation was going. Mentally deciding to go to Fushimi’s old house and search for clues, he began to say good bye to the Blue King.

“Farewell Yata Misaki kun. And it might interest you to know, I cannot give out a private detail of someone else’s life.” Misaki nodded once more as the other continued on. “One of my subordinates almost died when I became the Blue King. I always thought that if he had, I would have buried him in the cemetery near the south side of the city.”

“What are you-“ All the pieces fell into place as he bowed low before rushing out of the doors, almost running into the blonde woman coming inside, startling her greatly.

“I won’t forget this you shitty four eyed bastard!”

“Fufufu~ Awashima kun, I think I like that boy.”

“Captain, please don’t say such absurd things.”

 Fushimi, Saruhiko.

Misaki blinked at the empty grave stone. No words of how he was a loved son. Nothing. The grave was unkempt and uncared for. The area around it was overgrown with weeds and it had been hard for him to locate the grave in the first place. Moments before giving up and angrily cursing the blue king in his head, Misaki had nearly walked off but a small hint of gray had caught his eye and he had followed it to the most miserable excuse for a grave ever.

If not for a single dead rose on it, Misaki would have assumed no one had visited for over a decade.

Saruhiko…

Rage Misaki hadn’t felt in ages against his best friend’s parents surfaced once more and he clenched his teeth together, tears once more blinding his vision, falling like rain over his cheeks.

Saruhiko…

Those bastards.

How dare they.

How dare they leave the greatest person on this planet leave as if he wasn’t loved.

Goddamit, Saru was loved!

Maybe not by his parents. But Saruhiko had proved a very long time ago he did not need the people who created him – he was quite capable of surviving – well not on his own, but without the, at the very least. And he had so many other people in his life now.

He had his clan and King! And Anna and Kusanagi san! And him!

Saruhiko always, always had him.

“I love you Saruhiko.”

The words slipped out of his lips with such ease that he started. Love. He didn’t really love Saruhiko did he? A small feeling began to grow in his chest as he stared at the grave stone in front of him, a heavy blush staining his cheeks. Before he could even try to talk himself out of it, the realization hit him with a force of a thousand ton of bricks. Oh God – this was just –

Tell the truth.

Is this what the strain was talking about? Was he supposed to confess? Getting redder and redder at the thought, he coughed. Here goes nothing…

“Saruhiko!” he said out loud, facing the gravestone, “I love you!”

“Who on earth are you?” Whirling around, his eyes widened at the figure standing there, eyebrow raised at him.

“Y-y-you!”

Aya Oogai frowned at him, holding up a bouquet of roses.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Are you familiar with "Endo and Kobayashi's Commentary on the Villainess"? Basically the 2 MCs are commentating on an otome game and the Prince character could hear them and they end up influencing the story. So that plot except it's Munakata and Mikoto playing an rpg and the character Yata could hear them and they end up trying to get the hardest character to get, Fushimi, to join the party by explaining to Yata that Fushimi is just tsundere and not a bad guy (they also know their backstory).

Honestly I feel a little bad for Yata here, imagine having those two argue in your head while you’re trying to win over your crush XD Maybe Mikoto and Munakata have some kind of streaming channel where they play games together, Munakata thought it would be interesting and basically dragged Mikoto into it, they’re actually fairly popular due to their rapport (read: constant fighting). They end up playing some RPG with dating sim elements after it’s suggested on a stream, Mikoto isn’t really into these kinds of games and probably tells Munakata to do all the annoying parts. After a couple playthroughs though Munakata begins to get this dissatisfied look, Mikoto wonders if Munakata’s finally gotten bored. Munakata says on the contrary, he has been very much drawn in by the charming world and interesting characters. However one character in particular has caught his interest: Fushimi, the hardest character to recruit, who gets a bad end in every route unless you get him to join your group.

 Mikoto initially teases Munakata for getting so attached to some pixels but then imagine he ends up paying attention to the game a little more too and suddenly despite himself he’s actually invested in this character too, like that guy’s interesting is all. Mikoto wonders if Munakata thinks he can actually recruit Fushimi, considering he’s failed plenty of times already, and Munakata believes he can. He simply needs to start with the player character who has highest compatibility with Fushimi, a melee character named Yata who in the game is a former childhood friend of Fushimi’s. They have both the highest compatibility but also start off with the worst relationship so Munakata is aware this will be difficult, however he is willing to try.

Elsewhere within the world of the game, orphan squire Yata has just begun his hero’s journey and run into his old childhood friend Fushimi with whom he had a falling out when he hears a voice in his head, some stuffy sounding guy stating that Fushimi appears angry but it is easy for one paying attention to deduce his true feelings. Yata’s immediately confused like what the hell is this, another voice in his head snorts that just that alone won’t be enough to get these two to make up. At first Yata thinks he’s being fucked with and that maybe Fushimi cast some spell on him but Fushimi has no idea, mocking Yata for being an idiot musclebrain. Soon Yata realizes that only he can hear these voices and he’s all shocked, like is this one of those voices of the divine that heroes are supposed to hear or something. On the one hand he thinks that’s kinda weird because he didn’t know the divine was two guys who keep mocking each other but on the other hand they are actually giving him important information and he realizes eventually that the two ‘divine voices’ want him to make up with Saruhiko and know things he doesn’t. Yata decides that he has to try, guided by these two voices he’s gonna make Saruhiko join his hero group and reconcile with him no matter what he has to do.

[ridiasfangirlings]

I wonder if Yata ever realized that he is the hero of Fushimi?

I feel like this is something that would eventually dawn on Yata at some point post-ROK, that after he's always wanted to be a hero and tried to become someone strong like Mikoto and all that he was already someone else's hero just by being a sweet middle school kid who saw something amazing in his lonely gloomy classmate. Like imagine post-ROK the two of them have reconciled and everything though Yata's still trying to really understand Fushimi properly (which is not easy, after all, and for all Fushimi's promising to say things in a way an idiot can understand I think there's a lot about himself that Fushimi can't really find a way to articulate at all). He knows that Fushimi still gets touchy whenever Yata mentions Mikoto and that he grumbles when Yata talks about Mikoto being the 'hero' who 'saved' Yata from the streets. Yata doesn't really know why it bothers Fushimi so much, especially since one of the reasons Mikoto was his hero is because Mikoto literally saved Saruhiko, Yata's most important person, and yet Fushimi as the person who was saved doesn't seem to care at all.

He's discussing it at some point while at the bar, maybe just venting to Kusanagi a little that he's trying his best but feels kinda inadequate because he can't understand Saruhiko as much as he likes. Akagi speaks up and says that he doesn't really know much about Fushimi, since he joined after Fushimi had already left, but he always thought it was weird that two guys like them were friends and he wonders how they even got together in the first place. Yata can't resist sharing old fond memories so he talks a little about how things were when they were in middle school, maybe not like quite giving away Fushimi's entire past – since that's not really his place to be like let me tell you all about Saruhiko's shitty parents and abusive upbringing – but he does talk about how Saruhiko was alone a lot and didn't have any other friends and used to not even go home so Yata just wanted to make a place where Fushimi could feel safe, like he belonged. Akagi's like 'so you were kinda like his hero, right?' and Yata's like 'well no, not...' and then he trails off and his eyes get wide as he realizes wait a second that actually makes sense.

Yata's meeting Fushimi for drinks after this and he keeps thinking about it, thinking about all the times Fushimi scoffed at Mikoto being a hero and how upset he always seemed to get whenever Yata talked about Mikoto saving 'them both.' As Yata walks into the bar where they're meeting Fushimi immediately notices something's wrong and Yata tries to wave it off a little, like yeah we were talking about something back at Homra and it just made me think a lot. Fushimi clicks his tongue all 'made you think, that's a new one for a bunch of idiots.' Yata glares at him but can't really feel annoyed, ordering his drink and just turning over the idea in his mind, that he was a hero to someone. Fushimi's maybe getting a bit annoyed (and possibly slightly on edge) that Yata's not rising to the usual bait and finally Yata just looks at him plainly and straight out asks it 'Saruhiko...was I a hero to you?'. Fushimi looks surprised and his initial reaction is probably to try and deny it but then he stops, like recalling his own promise to try and say what he actually means more in ways Yata can understand, and instead he hides his face and murmurs '...You were. There was never anyone at all by my side, until Misaki.' Yata suddenly just grabs Fushimi and gives him this fierce hug that makes Fushimi squirm a little and complain that Yata's going to suffocate him and Yata's just like say that kind of thing sooner you idiot.

[ridiasfangirlings]

(resent ask cause old one maybe lost) Fushimi has always vented his feelings by writing stories (w/ specific infos changed) and after the fight with Yata and leaving Homra gang, he has to live alone (and stops writing at the part where the MC also leaves the person he secretly liked). He did freelance stuff and ends up working for Munakata who found his book and suggested it get published. Needing money, Fushimi agrees but it's published under a penname. It becomes a hit but Fushimi refuses to

I feel like I did answer something like this but I can't find it so maybe I just answered it in my head XD Imagine Fushimi writing books as like a way to deal with all the stress and emotions that he can't vocalize, making up these worlds where maybe everything sucks but there's the possibility of things being better – or maybe that's how he writes when he's very young but as he gets older and more bitter Fushimi starts writing more and more depressing stories, where things are terrible and keep being terrible. He doesn't show anyone what he's written and he even starts tearing his stories up once they're finished because if he doesn't Niki will, so he may as well do it himself. After he meets Yata though say one day Yata spots him writing and thinks it's super cool, like wow Saruhiko you can do anything. Fushimi doesn't really want to show Yata any other things he's written though and he claims that he doesn't even like to write, not wanting Yata to see all these depressing stories about his shitty life that Fushimi's written so far. Except as he and Yata get closer Fushimi starts feeling actual positive emotions that make him feel all confused and conflicted, he's never felt this way about anyone before. Not knowing any other way to deal with it he decides to start writing out his feelings and begins a story of two friends who meet in middle school and how they become important to each other. He changes the names just in case and maybe this makes it easier for Fushimi to pretend he's just writing a story he's made up in his head and not a story about how important Yata's starting to become to him.

Eventually the two move in together and of course this happens in Fushimi's story as well, his two main characters deciding to share an apartment. For a while things are good and even though Fushimi still hides his stories he's even beginning to think that maybe one day he can show this to Yata after all and ask what Yata thinks. But then the two of them end up joining Homra, I'm assuming this is something of a no-powers AU so say instead Homra's just a normal gang that helps out the weak and Yata and Fushimi end up on the wrong side of some local drug dealer types. They get attacked and are in a bad spot when Mikoto appears and saves them, becoming Yata's hero and Yata of course wants to join Homra and be just like him. Fushimi goes along too but quickly starts becoming dissatisfied and his stories get darker to match his mood, the Yata character starting to care only about other people while the Fushimi character becomes lonely and isolated. Fushimi also starts to realize that where once when he was younger writing things down helped regulate his emotions maybe now it just makes things worse, like he starts spilling out all these negative feelings onto the page and it feels like he's drowning in the words he writes, like he can't even tell himself that Misaki still cares because here it is in the world of his story, that he's being left behind.

Eventually Fushimi and Yata have a big fight and Fushimi 'betrays' Yata and leaves Homra for good. He doesn't have anywhere else to go but leaves the apartment anyway, probably sleeping out in the street for a couple days before he's able to find a freelance computer job and get enough money for a hotel room. Fushimi starts taking more freelance jobs, he prefers to do computer stuff but ends up somehow just falling into getting contracts to do writing work instead – most of it is for things like news articles or instruction booklets and such, more dry 'real world' things rather than fiction, and Fushimi's perfectly happy to not have to write about anything involving emotions again. He intended to get rid of the story he was writing about himself and Yata when he moved out of the apartment but somehow can't bring himself to destroy it, instead he just shoves it in a drawer and refuses to look at it. The last thing written in that story was a fight between the two main characters and Fushimi figures it's fine this way anyhow, he doesn't need to write a story with a happy ending.

Eventually Fushimi is hired by Munakata, who runs a small publishing firm. Munakata's been impressed with Fushimi's articles and thinks Fushimi could be a helpful addition to his team. He asks Fushimi to provide him some example writing and Fushimi ends up accidentally bringing some of his original story along, having grabbed a pile of papers off his desk and not noticing the drawer was open. Munakata praises Fushimi's article writing but notes that he's particularly impressed by this fiction story. Fushimi immediately says that wasn't intended to be seen by anyone and that he isn't going to do anything more with that story, Munakata though smiles pleasantly and notes that he could give Fushimi quite an advance for a work like this. Fushimi's only just gotten this job and hasn't had a paycheck yet so his funds are pretty low and it's questionable if he can afford rent. On top of that he doesn't want to be fired now that he's finally found a job (having not yet realized that he's already Munakata's favorite and Munakata is never letting him leave) so he ends up agreeing to let Munakata publish the book under a pseudonym. When he gives Munakata the full manuscript Munakata notes the unhappy ending and Fushimi flatly refuses to change it, stating that Munakata can take the book this way or not at all.

The book ends up doing very well despite the unhappy ending, imagine Fushimi now has a legion of fangirls dying to know if more will be written because he can't just end it that way. Yata also ends up reading the book, Totsuka read a bit of it and thought Yata might find it very intriguing (and Totsuka is maybe aware that this is from the publishing house Fushimi works for, how interesting). Yata normally doesn't read stuff besides manga but he ends up getting sucked into this one and can't put it down. Fushimi's changed just enough of the situations that Yata doesn't realize who the book has to be about but even then I imagine him having lots of moments where he thinks this feels very familiar and can't say why, and when he gets to the end and the two friends break apart he finds himself sitting there with tears in his eyes that he can't seem to stop.

Years later Yata and Fushimi finally reconcile and by this time Fushimi's realized that he is actually in love with Yata. Munakata notes that Fushimi's mood has improved considerably since making up with Yata Misaki and wonders if Fushimi might feel the need to write a continuation to his last novel, Fushimi clicks his tongue all I told you I wasn't doing that but suddenly he feels the need to, like he needs to get these feelings out somehow and he can't bring himself to say the words to Yata. Fushimi ends up finally writing that conclusion but even in the novel he's not able to write a completely happy ending, like the two characters are friends again and the Fushimi character is clearly in love with the Yata character but he doesn't confess, because even in novel form Fushimi can't entirely believe that Yata would choose him.

Munakata has the book published and imagine he delivers the last volume to Yata himself, stopping by the bar and noting that he thought Yata would enjoy the latest book from their publishing house. Yata's all confused as to why Saru's boss would bring him this book but then as he reads it he starts to understand – without even really meaning to this time Fushimi left a little too much of 'himself' in the book and it just hits Yata like a truck, who the author has to be. In the end when the Fushimi character decides not to confess Yata just has this moment of '...you idiot.' He ends up running to meet Fushimi at work, Fushimi's surprised and maybe a little on edge when he sees what book Yata has in his hands. Yata just gives him this sidelong grin though as he's like you know, that guy in your book should have confessed, because I'm telling you right now the answer is definitely that I love you too you dumbass.

[ridiasfangirlings]

"You can't expect me to save you, Saru. And I don't expect you to save me either."

"That's--"

"But... I'll be here. I'll stay with you until you can figure out how to save yourself."

Sarumi please!

I imagine this happening during some conversation post-ROK, when Yata has possibly gotten Fushimi drunk enough (or he's high enough on painkillers for the stab wound in his thigh) to admit everything about how Yata was his hero and he wanted to be Yata's, but then Mikoto appeared and took all that away. Like just imagine them some time shortly post-ROK when they're finally having the emotional conversation about why Fushimi left and why he broke their friendship off, Fushimi's still recovering from everything in jungle so say he's a bit loopy and therefore somewhat more honest than usual (and for once Yata was pretty perceptive about this, which is why he decided to go visit Fushimi and push him a bit on the promised talk because he didn't want to wait too long and suddenly Saruhiko has retreated back behind his walls and his mask of being an asshole and then Yata would never learn anything).

Yata's talking about how Fushimi should have just told Yata if he wasn't happy, like yeah Mikoto was Yata's hero but – and then Fushimi interrupts him and says that was the problem, that Mikoto was Yata's hero, because Fushimi couldn't be. Yata's confused and Fushimi clicks his tongue and mumbles that he was all alone, until Yata was there. He was always sitting in the big house, hiding from the world, rejecting the world, until Yata burst through his walls and grabbed his hand, and dragged him into a better place. “You said it yourself once, didn't you, Misaki? That you were sorry for me, because I couldn't find anyone to save me. But I was such an idiot then, because I thought that person...was you. That you were the one who saved me, and I saved you.” Fushimi clicks his tongue and shakes his head, looking all bitter as he's like what an idiot I was, to think that I'd ever be able to save anyone, that I could ever be saved.

Yata suddenly grabs Fushimi and makes Fushimi look at him, wondering why Fushimi never just said any of this. Fushimi doesn't see why it would have mattered if he'd said it, things wouldn't have changed, Yata's feelings wouldn't have changed. Yata looks conflicted for a moment and then says he thinks he was wrong then anyway – Mikoto was a hero, but he didn't save Yata and neither did Fushimi. Yata saved himself, and all the people around him were part of that. “And that's why you can't expect me to save you, Saruhiko, and I don't expect you to save me.” Fushimi looks away, morose as he's like 'I know that, there's no such thing as a hero anyway--' and Yata grabs him again, hands on Fushimi's cheeks and turning his head, looking right into his eyes with this intense and honest gaze. 'I can't save you, Saruhiko. But I'm gonna be here until you figure out how to save yourself. I'm never leaving your side again, you got that, stupid monkey?'. Fushimi's eyes noticeably shake for a moment and Yata just pulls him close, Fushimi doesn't say anything but his hands are shaking as he just clings to Yata and Yata quietly promises again, that he's going to be by Fushimi's side until Fushimi finds a way to become his own hero and even after that, he's always going to be right here.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Yata finds out Mikoto is (also?) into men and that opens a whole world to him. I know for the whole fandom the rule is "everyone is gay" but I feel like Yata would feel like "obliged" to like girls (And maybe knowing it's ok liking men directly from his hero could make him think about Fushimi in another way... :3)

I definitely agree that out of the whole cast Yata is the one most likely to feel the pull of compulsory heterosexuality, like he just assumes that because he's a guy and all of course he must like girls, strong cool guys always have girls falling all over them (I think this would also go hand in hand with some asks I'm pretty sure I've had before, with Yata being knee-jerk homophobic because he thinks that's the sort of thing expected of him as a guy and not because it's how he really feels). So even though Yata sometimes has funny feelings about Saruhiko he just figures this is normal friendship stuff and couldn't be anything deeper, because of course Yata's not into guys.

But then when they join Homra and Yata realizes that Mikoto's gay I think it would definitely open up a whole new world for him and really challenge his preconceptions, like with his whole masculinity deal I could see Yata assuming that gay guys were 'lesser' somehow – but now Mikoto's gay, and Mikoto is amazing, and his hero, and no way could Yata ever think less of him just because Mikoto likes guys. Actually this could be kinda cute too thinking about it, like just imagine questioning teenager Yata finally getting up the courage to ask Mikoto about what it's like when, y'know, you like guys, like is it...when you see a certain guy, like a guy with glasses maybe, and you feel this ache in your chest is that...is that a bad thing or what. And Mikoto's not the most eloquent guy so I can't see him really giving Yata the whole 'it's okay to be gay' speech (Kusanagi would probably be the better choice for more in-depth coming out advice) but he's also the kind of guy who says things plainly and he just asks Yata if Yata thinks there's something wrong with liking guys. Yata stumbles over that a bit, like of course he likes girls but he always thought everyone should like girls and Mikoto asks him bluntly if he likes girls because he thinks he 'should' or is that what he really feels. And that little question is enough to get Yata to think about it a little more, like just the seeds of realizing that maybe he doesn't actually like girls (or even that he does but he also likes guys too, and that's fine).

[ridiasfangirlings]

1) Yata has two YouTube channels - one about skateboarding, the other is dedicated to everything else (challenges, live videos, and so on). He is the face of the channel, and Fushimi is engaged in editing, and very rarely appears in the video. Yata meets Homra and becomes part of their YouTube family, without learning Fushimi's opinion. Yata enthusiastically starts shooting twice as many videos (for Homra)

“There goes your follower count, Misaki.” (doesn't have quite the same ring to it does it XD) So say Fushimi and Yata are childhood friends and Fushimi of course has his quiet crush on Yata that he refuses to admit actually exists. Yata develops a thing for social media and quickly becomes popular for his dynamic skateboarding videos and his outgoing personality, like originally he just made cool skating videos that Fushimi filmed but soon he started branching out to lifestyle stuff too. Fushimi does all the video editing and production work, he normally avoids being on camera but he probably does make rare appearances and Yata will talk to him while filming too so anyone who follows him for any length of time probably has at least a decent idea of who 'Saruhiko' is.

Eventually Yata gets scouted by this team known as Homra, they produce similar videos to what Yata does and maybe they do a lot of challenge videos and things like that, like doing dangerous stunts and all that. They think Yata would be a good fit for their channel and Yata can't help but be a little starry eyed, Homra's leader Mikoto is a majorly popular influencer and one of Yata's heroes and being asked to do videos with him is like a dream come true. Yata agrees to join them without even consulting Fushimi at all and Fushimi's annoyed by that (maybe they even have a small fight about it and Yata ends up impulsively stating that it's his decision because he's the actual star of their channel and Fushimi just does the video work. Yata feels bad about it almost as soon as he says it and he quickly apologizes, saying that they're a team right, and even though Fushimi shrugs and says it's fine really this just fuels his fears that Yata's moving away from him).

Once Yata becomes part of Homra's channel he's constantly busy doing videos, like before this was a side gig and he had an actual job but Homra is popular enough that Yata can do this for a living and it's like every day there's something new and cool going on. Yata invites Fushimi to come with him to Homra's parties and stuff but Fushimi always refuses, saying he has editing to do or going over filming issues, things that Yata doesn't need to worry about. Fushimi's been given a ton of responsibility by Homra's 'manager' Kusanagi, who trusts Fushimi to handle their camerawork and is always praising him for his skills, but even so Fushimi feels like he's not really part of Homra – it just makes him think again about Yata's outburst over being 'the real star' and it's like now Fushimi really is just the behind the scenes help. One day Homra does some question and answer thing as part of a game for a video, where they need to see how well they know each other. Fushimi isn't even supposed to be part of it but Homra's other cameraman, Totsuka, pulls him in. Yata ends up scoring unexpectedly low on Fushimi but does better with the other Homra guys, while Fushimi pretty much sucks at everyone except Yata where he's almost a perfect score. This just hammers home to Fushimi that Yata only cares about Homra now and just sees Fushimi as like an outside worker rather than a partner.

Around this time Fushimi gets an offer by Munakata Reisi, who runs a very popular channel around science and technology. Munakata has noticed that Fushimi's skills are being wasted in just setting up Homra's cameras and editing their crude videos and he feels Fushimi would do much better as an active part of Munakata's channel Scepter 4. Fushimi initially is wary but eventually feels like there's no point in staying with Misaki if all Yata cares about is Homra's vision rather than his own. He tells Yata that he's leaving Homra and moving out of their apartment, breaking a flash drive that contains like all their early rough videos and precious memories before storming off and stating he doesn't want anything to do with Yata ever again.

Of course this being Fushimi and Yata that doesn't happen and they have a whole rivalry going on for a few years before their respective teams step in and help them reconcile. By now Fushimi is in front of the camera as often as he is behind it and he's like an unexpected star for Scepter 4. Yata's realized at this point that he has feelings for Fushimi and wants to date him but he doesn't know how to say it. Maybe what happens is Yata asks if Fushimi will edit a video for him just like old times, like this video is Yata's and not Homra's and that's why only Saruhiko can edit it. Fushimi agrees and Yata hands him a flash drive, telling him to watch the video all the way through. Later back at his own apartment Fushimi starts to play the video and it's Yata confessing his feelings and coming out to the world as bi, stating that he's in love with Fushimi and has been for a while, and that he just wants Fushimi to be by his side again from now on if Fushimi will be his boyfriend. Fushimi in reply ends up making his own video and uploading it, sending Yata the link where Fushimi also comes out and calls Yata a stupid idiot and a hotheaded moron and also the guy Fushimi's loved since middle school, and the answer is 'yes.'

[ridiasfangirlings]

We know that there's two way to kill a king, 1. Killed by fellow kings (Mikoto, Iwa-san?), 2. Willingly killed by his subordinate (Habari Jin), by that probably means allow himself to be killed by his own aura. On Mikoto's case, there's no clansmen who was willing to kill Mikoto and maybe they are content to die along with his king, but Fushimi still can use his red aura, he's already labeled as traitor, and he more or less understand that second Kagutsu Crater incident will be very very bad. So what if he killed Mikoto (and Mikoto accepted it) with red aura so Munakata did not receive burden of killing kings? How will this change his relationship with Yata, Kusanagi, and Munakata?

Ooh, this would be interesting (and traumatizing!). Maybe in this AU Fushimi and Yata don't evacuate with everyone else and keep on fighting instead, and Colorless manages to get out of Shiro's grasp long enough to attack Munakata and knock him out before he can kill Mikoto. So now Mikoto's got an unstable Sword that's going to fall at any time and he needs someone to kill him. He walks back to the main Ashinaka campus dragging Munakata, complaining at him for falling asleep at the worst time, and that's when he comes upon Fushimi alone. Yata's already run off, like when Mikoto killed Colorless it could be seen from far enough away that it actually got Yata and Fushimi to stop fighting and Yata ran into the woods to go find Mikoto. Fushimi realizes that they must have passed each other and that means Misaki is still in the line of fire if Mikoto's Sword falls. Mikoto sets Munakata down in front of Fushimi and tells Fushimi to get out of here, his King will take care of this once he wakes up.

Fushimi realizes though that Munakata killing Mikoto won't be without consequence and he bitterly grips his sword as he's like you're really the worst you know, making other people take care of your problems. Mikoto just accepts that with a nod and Fushimi stands, holding up his sword as he complains about how pointless this is. Mikoto realizes what Fushimi intends to do and he just sighs like you think you can do it. Fushimi says of course he can, trying to disguise the way his hands and voice are shaking. Mikoto shakes his head because he really didn't want this, it isn't Fushimi's burden to bear, but there's not much other choice either. He holds open his arms and tells Fushimi to go ahead already. Fushimi's just shaking obviously now, anger and irritation and fear and maybe this tinge of regret and finally he manages to move forward, stabbing Mikoto right through the chest (and as Mikoto falls he still apologizes to Anna but maybe he apologizes to Fushimi too, that this final and worst duty had to fall to him).

Fushimi's just sitting there in the aftermath, staring down at Mikoto's dead body and holding his bloody sword and he's probably at least somewhat roughed up himself, I imagine that since killing a King is so difficult normally even in cases where he's accepting it that probably isn't without consequences for the person who does the deed. Maybe Munakata wakes up shortly after and he realizes at one glance what Fushimi's done, his face softening in worry as he puts a hand on Fushimi's shoulder. Fushimi's too shell-shocked to brush him off and that's when Yata finally shows up, just in time to see that Mikoto's lying there dead and Saruhiko is covered in blood and even Yata realizes what must have happened. I feel like Yata would react emotionally to this first and in a bad way, like he's not quite in the headspace to realize that Fushimi only did what he had to and instead Yata's just yelling 'how could you, you traitor' before he can even stop to think. Fushimi's head lolls back at the sound of Yata's voice, just giving this crooked broken smile like that's right Misaki, keep looking at me with those eyes, right before he finally passes out in Munakata's arms.

In the aftermath this would definitely make things tense, Munakata probably feeling like he somewhat failed as a King by making Fushimi bear this burden while Yata's still dealing with all the tangled emotions of knowing his hero was killed by his best friend. Kusanagi I think would have mixed feelings himself, like he knows that this is what Mikoto wanted and in a distant way he's concerned about Fushimi's well being in all of this but at the same time he's got his own pain and grief and he doesn't really have space to worry about anyone else. I feel like Anna might take Fushimi's role in this a little lighter, in a way, than she did with Munakata, like I can't really see her doing the 'I won't hate you but I won't thank you for it' line to him because she knows very well how poorly Fushimi is taking all this. I think Fushimi would definitely be trying to paint himself as having wanted to kill Mikoto, like gosh it was just so pathetic he let me stab him, using that to try and rile Misaki up and also mask his own real feelings about the whole thing. Yata at first falls for it too, so angry that Fushimi could do this, but then eventually realizing that he didn't understand Mikoto and that this is what Mikoto wanted, and that by blaming Fushimi he's really just pushing off all his own feelings of being powerless on someone who had no choice in things either.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Fushimi has a normal, rich kid home life w/ supportive, if somewhat, distant parents. Kisa is still mostly focused on her career, but she does try to bond w/ Saru when she is home. Niki isn't an abusive psychopath & has a job. Maybe it's even in video game design, so it's something him & Saru have shared interest in. Yata is one to grow up in a toxic, abusive environment. How would this change their personalities? Would they still become friends? Would they still pursue the same paths as canon?

I could still see them becoming friends, just in maybe a more backwards kind of way. I think Fushimi would still likely be a bit standoffish around other people and probably looking a bit more for somewhere to belong, like while his parents aren't abusive in this scenario they also aren't there all that much so he ends up kinda like Yata is in canon, unsatisfied and feeling like he doesn't belong in his own home. I could see him really wanting to do something to get attention too, like he wants to do something amazing and show the world because he feels like if he was really someone special then his parents would be able to find more time for him. I think Fushimi wouldn't be skipping class as much in this AU, like instead he's super focused on being top of the class and getting the best grades and he doesn't have time for friendships, he needs to prove that he's inherited the best of both his parents (and if Niki's side of the family is still just as bad in this AU as in canon I could see Fushimi being a little more focused on 'beating' Aya, like even though Niki and Kisa don't try to push him or force him to beat her Fushimi feels like he has to stand out somehow).

Yata by contrast I think would be a lot more angry and I feel like he'd be a little more physically violent then we see him in canon. Basically I feel like where Fushimi internalizes his anger Yata tends to externalize his, so where Fushimi was just quietly and privately hating the world Yata all but screams it, always getting into fights and probably constantly ending up in detention and just being the real delinquent that canon Yata can't quite bring himself to be. At the same time I still see him maintaining his sense of 'justice,' like he still wants to fight for the weak and be a superhero it's just that he's decided he needs to be his own hero because no one else will do it. Maybe in this AU Yata actually does beat up the bullies who were targeting Fushimi, as he's winning the fight a teacher shows up and the bullies try to pin the whole thing on Yata. Yata's resigned to always being the scapegoat and doesn't try to defend himself, but then Fushimi speaks up and says the bullies were taking his money and that Yata protected him. Fushimi being a good diligent student in this scenario he's more believed than the bullies are and Yata's saved from detention, Yata's amazed that not only did Fushimi speak up for him but then afterward Fushimi's approaching him without fear and being friendly in his own quiet way. This immediately makes Yata attached to him, because I think Yata's naturally the kind of person who wants to be in a group and finally having a friend makes him thrilled and determined to protect Saruhiko no matter what.

In this scenario I could still see some kind of 'betrayal' happening where Fushimi leaves Homra to join Scepter 4. Maybe in this AU he doesn't even try to join Homra because Mikoto warns him away from it, this version of Fushimi not having that 'intensity' that makes him compatible with Homra in normal canon. Yata joins on his own instead, determined to get more power to protect his poor weak friend Saruhiko. Then imagine he starts spending more time at Homra and maybe he won't even let Fushimi go with him, like I could see Yata being extra protective here and he's doing this because he feels like Fushimi will get hurt staying near him but to Fushimi this is like his family all over again, where he knows he's cared for but he isn't good enough to stay by that person's side. So then when Munakata approaches him he takes the offer in order to keep up with Yata and be strong enough to fight by Yata's side. In this AU I think Fushimi would then explain his feelings plainly but it would be Yata who blows up about it, feeling like this is a betrayal and maybe even hitting Fushimi or attacking him because Yata doesn't know any way to handle things besides lashing out. Even so Fushimi doesn't intend to abandon Yata and decides that even if Yata hates him he won't stop trying to be strong enough so that he can be with Yata once more.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Sarumi are both kids from wealthy families in society, and they see each other every so often at galas or meetings etcetc. Saru is rarely ever excited about anything, but he always looks forward to the shindigs where Yata's there, because yata is s o b a d at being rich. He's clumsy, and loud, and he desperately needs Saruhiko to function in these sorts of parties. Eventually Yata runs away from home, winding up in Homra, and Saru is heartbroken.

Yata couldn't be a fancy rich kid if he tried XD Say in this AU Yata stays with his dad instead of his mom and maybe his dad is actually like the wealthy businessman type, who divorced his wife in order to hook up with his girl on the side or something and then used his money and influence to get custody of his son. Yata grows up surrounded by wealth and culture and not absorbing a bit of it, Yata hates living in the big house that he's not allowed to run around in, he's not all the interested in the latest electronic gadgets other than his game system and even then he'd rather run around outside looking for adventures than be stuck inside on a computer. His dad keeps bringing him along to fancy parties and charity galas and such and those Yata hates the most, he has to wear these stiff fancy clothes and his dad is always lecturing him on how he can't be loud or cause trouble, basically telling him to sit in the corner and be quiet.

At one of these parties though when Yata goes to sit in the corner and be bored he runs into another kid who is also sitting in the corner alone. Fushimi's at least got his game system with him and that's what catches Yata's interest initially, like he's immediately leaning over all hey cool I have that game too. Fushimi clicks his tongue and glares at Yata, assuming Yata's just another spoiled rich kid like all the rest of them, but Yata barely even seems to notice and starts chatting about high scores and how he can't get past that one level and hey what level are you on. When Yata sees Fushimi's score he's amazed and probably gets loud enough that some of the nearby partygoers look at them, Yata gets red-faced and puts a hand over his mouth all crap sorry. Fushimi sighs and says if Yata's going to be loud he needs to go out of the ballroom, Yata's like yeah but what if my dad comes looking for me. Fushimi gives Yata a measuring look and then tells Yata to follow him, leading him to like this little room near the balcony where they can see the whole floor below and hear everything, Fushimi hides here sometimes when he doesn't want to have to keep the sound on his game down. Yata's already starry-eyed for Fushimi, all the other rich guys he's met seemed completely foreign to him but this guy's really cool and sharp-tongued and like no other person Yata's met before.

They start seeing each other a lot at parties after that, say Yata's dad and Kisa happen to have some business partners in common and run in the same circles. Yata finds himself looking forward to the parties more and more, as long as Saruhiko's there it's like for once his life feels more fun. Fushimi initially still has his guard up but Yata slowly breaks through his walls and soon the only thing Fushimi really has that's good in his life is the possibility of getting to see Misaki at fancy parties. Everything is good until they're teenagers and Yata's finally pushed to run away, like maybe his dad wants to send him overseas to school and Yata doesn't want to go (because he'll never see Saruhiko again if that happens). He decides to sneak out of his house one day and he basically stumbles through a couple rough days as a street urchin until he accidentally walks right into a drug deal and almost gets killed, only to be saved by Mikoto. Yata's immediately got huge hero worship and he's brought to Bar Homra where he finds his whole new family. He doesn't forget about Fushimi though, trying anything he can to find Fushimi's number or something so he can contact Fushimi and try to get him away from his awful family too.

Fushimi meanwhile has no idea what's happened until he can't find Yata at a party and hears the rumor that 'Yata-san's son' ran away from home. Fushimi immediately feels this sort of bitter resignation, like of course Yata saved himself and left Fushimi behind. Maybe around this time Niki dies and Fushimi moves out of that big house to attend high school, Yata manages to find Fushimi's old address but by then Fushimi's long gone. Fushimi resolves himself to just forget about Yata, like this is what he gets for actually thinking someone cared about him. Eventually he's recruited to Scepter 4 right out of high school, he's looking over Scepter 4's files on rival clan Homra when he sees Yata's profile and gets this twisted grin, hands itching for knives as he thinks isn't this interesting, wondering how Yata will react when he sees the person he forgot and left behind.

[ridiasfangirlings]

(1/2) Have you done an Erased au yet? Yata as Satoru who has the power to time-travel to a point where he could prevent a disaster gets transported to the past after his mom gets killed. It's the year where several kids got murdered. One of them Fushimi. Yata wasn't really friends with him then but regrets not doing anything to help him as he did notice the kid alone and lonely so this time he tdecides to save him from the kidnapper and from his abusive family. Took him multiple times but after

Is there any better time to confess your feelings than when your childhood boyfriend has just woken up from his decade long coma and you've just caught a murderer :D So say Yata's in his early twenties, working a bunch of dead end part time jobs to make ends meet. The ony interesting thing about his life is he has this secret power that he can't tell anyone about, where he can sometimes time travel back to the past for just a brief moment, right before something bad happens. Yata hasn't told anyone about this power but he uses it to do small good deeds and it makes him feel like maybe he's a bit of a superhero. One day as he's headed home from his part time job in the snow he uses the power to like save a kid from being hit by a bus and he's feeling pretty good about himself, which is when he happens to glance over at the nearby park. That reminds Yata of something from his past, how he once saw this skinny gloomy kid standing there in a winter coat wearing a scarf staring off at nothing, and how Yata almost called out to him. Yata can't recall the kid's name but he does remember that the kid was in his class and this was the last time anyone saw him alive, he was murdered by this serial child killer who never was caught. Remembering that makes Yata feel momentarily down, like even though he'd put it in the back of his mind really part of his playing 'superhero' with his powers was always because Yata felt guilty for not calling out that time.

As he's about to enter his apartment Yata runs into someone who seems to be leaving the building. The guy is wearing a strange fox mask and somehow Yata thinks that looks vaguely familiar but he can't recall where. As he reaches the apartment he realizes that his door is open and he runs inside to find that a friend of his from the neighborhood, Totsuka Tatara, is lying shot dead in Yata's apartment. Yata suddenly remembers the fox mask man and tries to run after him, there's the sound of police sirens though and Yata realizes that somehow something awful's happened. He's freaking out about what to do when he feels dizzy and realizes that his power is activating, Yata thinks he just needs to go back in time to save Totsuka but at the same time his mind travels back for just a moment to that kid standing in the park in the snow, the person he couldn't save.

When Yata opens his eyes again he's standing in the snow still but he's not at his apartment. Instead he's standing in front of an elementary school, Yata looks down and realizes that he's like turned into a kid. As he's trying to figure out what happened passing middle schooler Totsuka greets him and tells him he'll be late for school, Yata's all 'you're alive!' and almost hugs him (Totsuka totally takes it in stride like yup still alive while his friends Kusanagi and Mikoto exchange glances and shrug). Yata asks what year it is and he's told that it's like ten years prior, when he was in elementary school. Yata realizes that this is like right before those murders happened and that he's been given a chance to save all the people he couldn't, determined to really be a hero this time.

He heads into class, passing by one of the teachers who's an elegant-looking guy with long silver hair. When Yata gets to class he listens closely to the attendance roster, eyes fixed on the gloomy kid seated near the head of the class and memorizing the name 'Fushimi Saruhiko.' That evening Yata uses his memories of the past to figure out when Fushimi was orginally killed and makes a plan to become Fushimi's friend before that can happen. This is obviously easier said than done, Fushimi's prickly and gloomy and doesn't want to be friends with anyone. In trying to get close to him Yata ends up finding out about how Fushimi's dad is abusive and his mom never comes home, Yata wondering if maybe Niki was the killer all along. One day when Fushimi doesn't come to class Yata finds an excuse to bring printouts to him at home and ends up nursing a sick Fushimi, after which Fushimi slowly starts to warm up to him. On the night when Fushimi was murdered in the previous timeline Yata encounters him at the park again and this time he calls out, taking Fushimi by the hand and making Fushimi come home with him instead.

Yata feels like he must have finally saved Fushimi but then several days later Fushimi stops coming to school. Yata goes to Fushimi's house and runs into Niki, who taunts him and makes comments about 'a monkey accidentally falling down the stairs,' Yata is totally despairing and manages to use his power again in order to go back a few weeks. From this point on he's totally focused on saving Fushimi from his terrible parents but then at the same time Yata realizes that the culprit might not be Niki after all. Soon Yata's trying to figure out who the real murderer is but he's not exactly a genius and it occurs to him that he's going to need help to solve this – and there's only one amazing person he can think of, who will believe Yata's wild story and who might be smart enough to figure out who the real murderer is.

Yata hesitantly confides in Fushimi, maybe not admitting the whole time travel thing but saying that he found out there's someone in town trying to kidnap and murder kids and that he was afraid that Fushimi was a target. Fushimi's skeptical at first but Yata's so unexpectedly serious that he finds himself believing it, like Misaki wouldn't lie to him. They decide to work together to find the culprit, becoming a team and saving several other kids who were potential victims. Fushimi feels like they're getting closer to finding the culprit, like he's just missing one more clue, and Yata's like this is it we're gonna solve this, there's nothing we can't do together. The next day though Yata is pulled unconscious from a half-submerged car, with no clues as to who did it besides a mysterious fox mask in the driver's seat.

Fast forward ten years or so and Yata awakens from his coma, with no memories of anything past saying good night to Fushimi the evening before he was found. He realizes that the killer must have gotten to him and he suddenly worries about Fushimi, like what could have happened to Fushimi while Yata was in a coma, what if the killer went after him next. He's told that a police officer has arrived to talk to Yata about the incident, Yata's shocked when that 'officer' turns out to be Fushimi. Yata stares at him, it slowly dawning on him who he's seeing and then he just totally bursts into tears, so relieved that Saruhiko survived and was able to grow up (and unknown to him after Niki died Fushimi inherited his money and was using it to help Yata's mom pay for round the clock best in class care for Yata). Fushimi agrees that they need to catch the culprit for good this time, because he hasn't waited years for Yata just for the person who harmed him to make a clean getaway.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Yeah I could see Fushimi having a complex about this and it being something that he still has trouble getting over, feeling inferior and like someone else could still 'take his place' in Misaki's heart. Like Everybody Lives post-reconciliation AU, Yata and Fushimi have made up and started working together pretty regularly chasing down Strains and such. There's a particularly high level one that's been causing issues, Fushimi's sent after it to gather information but he doesn't intend to actually make a move. That's when he happens to run into Yata who convinces him to go after the Strain properly, like maybe Fushimi manages to triangulate the Strain's location and he's planning on going back and informing Munakata. Yata's against that, like what if this guy realizes that we're after him and makes a run for it, we need to stop this guy now. Fushimi isn't so sure but Yata's really fired up, like come on together we can do anything right, you and me are partners. That makes Fushimi's heart flutter just a little and he ends up agreeing, after all he and Yata are strong as a team now and there's no point in waiting around if they can handle this quickly on their own.

They end up infiltrating the Strain's headquarters and maybe it turns out there's like multiple Strains and it turns into a whole mess. Yata gets injured quickly, he's knocked out by a surprise attack and Fushimi barely manages to drag him away and find a safe place to hide. He's trying to protect Misaki but he also can't do this on his own and he ends up having to contact headquarters for backup. He's having trouble getting through and Fushimi decides that he just has to break through and handle all this himself, like he's going to save Misaki no matter what. He leaves his hiding spot and tries to like fight off all the Strains attacking, he's getting worn down quickly though and it's clear that he's not going to last that long. Yata wakes up in the meantime, dizzy but at least conscious enough to recognize that Fushimi's in danger. Yata's off balance though and he feels like there's nothing he can do, watching Fushimi take an attack head on and then crumpling to the ground. Yata yells Fushimi's name and that's when the wall bursts open and there's Mikoto, here to save the day.

When Fushimi wakes up he's in the hospital with Yata there beside him, both their heads are bandaged up and Yata tells Fushimi that it looks like they both ended up concussed but fine. Yata tells Fushimi that Mikoto came to their rescue and of course he's a little starry-eyed because Mikoto-san saved them again. Fushimi gets quiet at that and Yata notices but he figures it's due to the concussion, since he's feeling a little drowsy himself. Yata adds that Mikoto didn't have to come save them, like Kusanagi intercepted Fushimi's attempt at contacting Scepter 4 and Mikoto came all on his own to help both him and Fushimi too, figuring that maybe this will help Fushimi feel less frightened in Mikoto's presence (especially since the last time Mikoto saved Fushimi when they were kids Fushimi had to be in the middle of all that red power but this time he was knocked out, so he can hear the story of being rescued without any trauma of flames surrounding him).

Fushimi just ends up depressed about the whole thing though, he feels like this is just another reminder that he'll never be as strong as Mikoto and it's like nothing has changed at all, he still doesn't feel like he can be trusted to watch Yata's back. Fushimi keeps thinking what could have happened if Mikoto hadn't come, he would have lost Misaki because he wasn't strong enough and it's like he'll never be a hero to Yata the way Mikoto is. I feel like Yata would notice the problem this time though, he's decided to try and understand people he loves more and seeing Fushimi be all standoffish and quiet tips him off enough that something's wrong that he's able to just straight up ask what Fushimi's brooding about. Fushimi denies that he's brooding and Yata's like come on monkey don't do this to me again. Fushimi grumbles Mikoto's name and Yata sighs, like I don't have to tell you again that just because Mikoto's awesome it doesn't mean I don't think you are too.

Eventually he gets Fushimi to admit his real worries and I think Yata might be slightly exasperated in this fond way, maybe giving Fushimi this light smack on the head like how do you think I feel. Fushimi's confused by that and Yata says the first time they met Mikoto Fushimi was in danger and Yata couldn't save him and that's always stuck with Yata – what made Mikoto his hero that time wasn't Mikoto saving him, it was Mikoto saving Saruhiko, doing the thing Yata couldn't do. Every time Yata fails to save Fushimi it makes him decide he has to get stronger and Fushimi has to stop worrying about other people being better than him and just focus on what he himself can do. And besides, Yata adds, if Fushimi hadn't fought so hard before Mikoto got there Yata would've been killed anyway so really Fushimi was strong enough this time. Fushimi mutters that it isn't the same and Yata's like you stayed by my side and protected me as long as you needed to and that's fine right, like you don't always have to do it all yourself, sometimes just doing what's in your power to do is enough.

[ridiasfangirlings]

How would it be if for some reason Fushimi explained to Misaki how uncomfortable he would be in Homra and why he went to S4? It would avoid many conflicts, of course, but it makes me think that there would still be a barrier between them later.

I feel like if Fushimi actually properly explained at least some of his reasons, how he's uncomfortable in Homra and afraid of Mikoto, Yata would be confused but also would ultimately try and understand at least a little. I could see his initial reaction being a bit 'selfish' in a sense, in that rather than trying to accept Fushimi's insecurities and that perhaps he really is better off at Scepter 4 Yata would just try to convince Fushimi to stay instead. I think Yata's so enamored with Homra at this point and still so entrenched in his 'Homra vs the world' viewpoint that it would be hard for him to grasp that Fushimi doesn't feel the same way. And because of this I could see things cooling between them for a while, maybe not as badly as in canon because Fushimi's presumably more mature here, but there's a sudden distance between them that Yata has trouble dealing with. I do feel like once he took a moment to think about it he would accept Fushimi's decision to leave, like initially he's only trying to convince Fushimi to stay and they both end up frustrated because neither one can understand the other's viewpoint, but when Yata realizes that he either needs to accept Fushimi's decision or lose him forever Yata would rather Fushimi leave and they remain friends than having that bond broken.

In this AU I wonder if Fushimi would move into the S4 dorms or stay with Yata, I think if he's able to explain himself properly to Yata he wouldn't necessary need to leave their apartment too. In that case I don't know if there would be that much distance between them at least at first, because they do still have this little world for the two of them in their apartment. It does feel awkward though, Fushimi coming back from Scepter 4 late because he was working and Yata's already asleep, or Yata waking up early to go hang out at Homra and Fushimi's still sleeping. It feels like they 'miss' each other a lot, paths crossing more when they're with their respective clans than when they're home together. And even when they do have time together I could definitely see their once matched wavelength suffering, Yata still wanting to talk mostly about Homra and not really thinking to ask much about Saruhiko's day. And even when he does Fushimi just shrugs and doesn't really elaborate, because even though he was able to vocalize his reasons for leaving he still can't say straight out that he wants Misaki to focus less on Homra and more on him (and actually it occurs to me that Fushimi would likely lose a lot of progress here by remaining Yata's friend because there's nothing to force him to re-examine his unhealthy co-dependence, he still wants it to be just him and Yata and he's even less likely to bond with his S4 coworkers because there's no need to expand his world).

I don't think Yata would let himself get dragged away from Fushimi by others in Homra though, even though he cares a lot about Homra and Mikoto I think his feelings for Fushimi are too strong for him to want to distance their friendship just because of other people. In fact I think Fushimi being in Scepter 4 would probably make Yata have to re-examine his feelings about the other clan, because he can't cling to Homra vs everyone when that 'everyone' includes Saruhiko. In fact in this AU I could see him very loudly defending anyone who tries to call Saruhiko a traitor, like Yata knows Fushimi's reasons and he knows Fushimi isn't betraying anyone, he just went somewhere that was better for his mental health and Yata will kick the ass of anyone who tries to make Fushimi out to be bad for it. Even if lots of people talked behind his back about him 'hanging out with that Blue' I think Yata would stay firm on this one, as far as he's concerned he and Fushimi are still partners even if they're in different clans. I think it would help in this situation too that his sentiments would be shared by the only people whose opinion really matters to him, like Mikoto certainly isn't going to call Fushimi a traitor and Kusanagi even hangs out with a Blue himself, so as long as they're fine with Yata continuing to be friends with Fushimi that's enough for him, Yata knows he still belongs in Homra and he's still trusted even with Fushimi remaining as his friend.

If anything the big eventual sticking point would I think be once the series proper starts after Totsuka's death, because now it's not just them in different clans but on different sides, because Yata wants to follow Mikoto and avenge Totsuka's death and Fushimi wants him to use his brain and stop following a dead man down a tragic path. This would be the point where I could see Fushimi's patience with Yata's Mikoto worship really boiling over, because now it's not just Yata being interested in someone else it's a situation where Yata's hero worship could actively get him killed and Fushimi is not down with that. He's not good at expressing that though, like I could see him running into Yata and saying things in the most blunt and cruel way possible so that Yata sees things as Fushimi being jealous of Mikoto whereas Fushimi is trying to express that he's actually worried for Yata's safety. So I could see this suddenly really driving a wedge between them, because all those insecurities that Fushimi didn't quite manage to vocalize are running up against the things that Yata still doesn't understand and Fushimi's still clinging 'way too hard to one single thing' which is now in danger (and then I imagine them possibly having an actual fight here and this is where the distancing happens, because Yata's mad that Saruhiko won't understand Homra's feelings and Fushimi's thinking Yata's choosing Mikoto over him. Then when Mikoto dies at the end of S1 Yata can't bury this feeling that it's Scepter 4's fault even though he knows it's unfair to Fushimi, and Fushimi's wrestling with the desire to be there for Yata while also feeling like shit that he's almost relieved Mikoto's gone because now he has Misaki all to himself).

[ridiasfangirlings]

Soul Eater Au where Saruhiko is a weapon and used to be Misaki’s weapon but then he betrayed him and became Munakata’s weapon instead? I crave Reisaru

So say Fushimi has the ability to become a weapon the same as his father, Niki and Kisa were a weapon/meister pair who got married and had a kid before Kisa realized what a useless piece of trash Niki was. Niki was known as a super powerful weapon but he was nearly impossible to wield because he enjoyed backfiring on his wielder almost as much as he enjoyed fighting, when Fushimi learns he's a weapon as well he's all depressed because this is another thing that makes him like Niki. Fushimi basically refuses to turn into his weapon form at all, he prefers to use his own physical weapons and has decided that he's never going to have a partner. Then he meets Yata and the two of them start to get close, Yata knows he's a weapon but never asks Fushimi to transform. It's not until one day when they try to crash this meeting of the witches of jungle that Fushimi turns into a weapon to save Yata, however he's not strong enough and he almost gets cracked in two. That's when super powerful meister Mikoto shows up and saves the day, Yata's amazement over Fushimi's weapon form is immediately changed to hero worship of Mikoto.

After this the two of them join Mikoto's team but Fushimi finds himself slowly hating his weapon form again, he thought that he and Yata would be perfectly tuned but it turns out that he's too much for Yata to handle and they just don't sync together at all the way he thought. This gets Fushimi all bitter because it's like proof that he was never meant to be by Misaki's side at all. It's during this time that he meets Munakata, who introduces himself as a meister from the government agency Scepter 4, who take care of particularly dangerous spirits and witches. Munakata himself is able to become attuned to many weapons, like imagine the Scepter 4 members are all a mix of weapons and meisters and while they do work in pairs (like Akiyama is a weapon and Benzai his meister etc) Munakata is able to wield them all. However he's still looking for the weapon which will suit him best and he thinks Fushimi could be the one, he can tell that Fushimi is a powerful weapon and in the right hands he would be unstoppable.

Fushimi doesn't want to leave Yata but more and more he feels like he doesn't belong and finally the whole betrayal happens and he joins Scepter 4. At first Fushimi thinks that Munakata was just trying to flatter him about how powerful he could be, Munakata keeps assigning him solo missions and it's like he doesn't even see Fushimi as a weapon. But then one day there's a major situation and Munakata asks Fushimi to accompany him, Fushimi can't believe that Munakata's asking for him now when any mistake could get them both killed. Munakata just smiles confidently and says Fushimi is the exact one he needs for this situation. Despite himself Fushimi transforms and it's completely different being wielded by Munakata, Fushimi becomes a saber and Munakata uses him as if Fushimi was his partner from the very start. Afterward Munakata only praises him for the good job while Fushimi stares at him, feeling this shuddering in his very soul because he finally feels like he found the hand he belongs in, the person who he was really meant for.