#mp100 body swap

[spaceistheplaceart]

body swap - heading to SNS (Reigen's POV)

Mob's POV

First Comic (the one ur reading rn is the 3rd)

(pls rb!)

(transcript will b added later. im tired. if anyone else wants to tho it'd be appreciated greatly)

[sudanaya5]

Ageswap Musashige. Situationship with your favorite gym spotter???

[secretagent9]

I need fanart of mash and mob working out together. THEY’D BE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS!

[everwizard]

MP100 Age Swap AUs don't really do it for me but you know what I CAN get behind? Freaky Friday AU.

Mob and Reigen get into a disagreement and wake up the next day in each other's bodies. Cue shenanigans as Reigen has to navigate suddenly being the world's most powerful middle schooler and Mob has to run Spirits and Such with no powers or social prowess.

[gallus-rising]

mp100 horror fic recs 👻🎃

For a while now I've been thinking about mp100's amazing horror potential and how it really doesn't get enough attention. SO! For the spooky season why don't you settle down with a nice scary story ;D

All of these fics are complete and have no shipping. I've only linked 1 fic per author so this list doesn't get bloated, but all of these wonderful authors have other fics just waiting for you to read them ❤ Some definitely freaked me out more than others, but I'm not gonna give any particular ratings since "scary" is so subjective. All fics are properly tagged and you know your own limits better than I do.

Also feel free to add on your own recs!! My general reading preferences and parameters when making this list is only a small sampling, so please share any and all of your favs ❤ Hope you enjoy!

If you see an "N/A" instead of a Tumblr UN that means there wasn't one linked in either the fics' notes or author's bio. If you know the author or are the author yourself feel free to let me know so I can edit the post :] And now in no particular order I present:

The Immeasurable Dark: @tinkertoysdamn Immediately breaking my own "no ships" rule just this once because I can't resist a good House of Leaves inspired story! If you've read HoL is you know what's up. If not expect a fucked-up house and impossibly large spaces, funky text formatting and footnotes, maybe a minotaur. Ship featured is background established serirei.

a pilgrimage: @tooomuchtofu Divine Tree arc bad ending. Told from the PoV of an unnamed worshiper on their first visit to "the capital" aka an overgrown Seasoning City. Uses second person pov wonderfully to build the dread.

And Who Is Killing Me?: @sammisafetypin Koyama beats the shit outta Mob a little harder than in canon, hospitalizing him and delaying the 7th Division rescue arc by [TIME NOT FOUND]. The Awakening Lab kids are so minor I tend to forget they even exist, but oh my god does this author make you care about them! This fic is written with great suddenly swapping PoVs that keep you feeling off kilter without making you lose track of the story. It's the longest fic on this list by far but 100% worth every second of it. A real gut punch.

Adoration: (N/A) The Divine Tree takes a particular interest in Reigen. I don't think I've ever seen anyone properly touch on how creepy the Psycho Helm constructs themselves are like this fic has. God, those things freak me out so much. Features "shipping" in the sense of a sentient broccoli becoming fixated on a guy. Keep in mind that the Psycho Helms look like Mob if you think that'll squick you out, but for me personally it added to the horror.

Similarities: (N/A) Reigen receives a fucked up email. Ends on the sillier side, but BOY is that email fucked up!

The Water Ran Clean: @bandtrees A Mogami-mentors-Mob AU and a damn fine one at that. Love the sort of fragmented style it's written in, and the exploration of Mogami's fucked up moral code is great. There's some Choice viscerally described imagery here 👌👌 Features a drawing of Mob covered in blood just in case that freaks you out; but worry, it's not his :]

An Outlier Among a Sea of Common Denominators: @hebezunet A rewrite of the early Divine Tree arc that asks the question we've all been too scared to consider: What if the brainwashing was like cordyceps? In particular I want to highlight the opening scene where after eating the broccoli powder cookies Teru has to physically rip florets out of his body to resist being brainwashed. Very gnarly stuff.

Prison Surveillance: (N/A) Touichirou was a very bad boss so Hatori pulls a The Ring to torment him in Psychic Supermax Prison. Was written pre-season 3 so Hatori doesn't work for the government.

Stairs: (N/A) Reigen and Mob have a job in the woods. There are some stairs. Inspired by an r/nosleep story which the author links to if you'd like to check that out as well.

Fight, Flight, or Fraud: @cowardlybean So everyone's got a really specific supernatural fear, right? Something that could absolutely never happen in real life but when you see it in media it freaks you the fuck out? Mine is someone I know being killed and replaced by an evil doppelganger and I'm the only one who knows. I've not seen anything since The Magnus Archives that's properly captured that fear like this fic, which is some of the highest praise I can bestow.

In Quicksand: @ghoststrawberries Reigen catches a nasty cold and by that I mean he gets possessed. Very fun the way Reigen's train of thought and feeling shifts around as the evil spirit tries to influence him while he's unconsciously resisting it. The scene where the gang realizes Reigen's been possessed is a real "OOOOOH, SHIT!!!" moment, but I won't spoil ;D

Playing Human: (N/A) Espers and psychic powers might not be real but spirits are. Poor baby Mob is a ghost possessing his own dead body. Features Dimple as the bad guy.

Mithridatism: If I may be so self-indulgent to list one of my own fics here :3 Absorbing evil spirits while still alive was actively killing Mogami and I wanted to dig into that! Features my Signature™ (lol) "HEY, DON'T EAT THAT!!" style of body horror.

[ahn-k]

[Image description:

First image: A mp100 digital comic. In the first panel there’s Ritsu, he says 'Suzuki, give me a brush' while he extends his hand, Shou’s in the background. There’s no answer. In the next panel Ritsu looks slightly to his left, where Shou should be (he’s now out of sight), and then he asks 'Suzuki?'. Still no answer. In the third panel we can only see Shou’s back. He suddenly turns around in the fourth panel to face Ritsu. We see Shou’s body, but his brush and his head have been swapped, now Shou's body has a brush for a head and the brush in his hands is Shou’s head, he says 'Sorry, Ritsu, did you say something?' with a bright smile. The next panel is Ritsu with a terrified expression. In the last panel Ritsu is on his bed, looking worried and thinking: 'a dream'.

Second image: Another mp100 digital comic. In the first panel we see Chibi versions of Shou and Ritsu, he has two cartoon popsicles in his hands and asks Shou: 'blueberry or orange flavor?'. Shou answers 'keep the orange one, you know I don’t like citrus'. Shou opens the popsicle wrapper to see it’s a Sonic the hedgehog cartoon popsicle, he says 'cool, I got Sonic!' and asks Ritsu what he got. Ritsu’s popsicle looks like Shou, and Shou makes a remark about it. Ritsu proceeds to bite the popsicle, to Shou’s despair. In the last panel, Shou wakes up and thinks 'a dream...'./ End ID]

[son-flower]

Very important question about your age swap mp100 au, how does the mogami arc work?? Is Minori still a child, or is it like the Suzuki situation where she’s swapped with her father?

it would be similar to the suzuki situation; minori would be an adult, with her father as her son, who desperately hires psychics in order to help his poor, ailing mother (they are still rich in this au). mogami would still initially possess minori in this situation, and reigen would rat him out.

mogami dies as a child in this au, driven to death due to the overwhelming pressure of fame as a child star and the loss of his mother at too young of an age for him to handle. he dies resentful, especially, of other children who are cruel, unkind, and selfish... and he especially hates children like reigen, who use people to their own ends, much like how people used him when he was alive. mogami would be intrigued by mobs overwhelming power, but due to mob being an adult, would be much less willing to bait him into minoris body due to the reversed power dynamic. thus, reigen is sent to mogamiland instead (mogami would probably possess him in order to do this, with mob taking a bit before he projects into reigen to drive mogami out due to him being afraid of hurting reigen in the process), where he must endure a cruel world without his voice as penace for being a “bad person”.

reigen may not have powers, but what good is scum like reigen without his most valuable asset? and how long will it take reigen to understand that there are no “gray areas”, especially for people like him?

[jaxieus]

idkidk if the spirits where switched

[mp100ficrec]

Remember My Name by Philiah

 Fic can be read HERE.

Alternate Universe (Your Name), Slow Burn, Body Swap, Romance. Completed. Rated: T. Word Count: 20038

Pairings: Hanazawa Teruki/Kageyama ‘Mob’ Shigeo, Asagiri Minori & Hanazawa Teruki, Edano Tsuyoshi & Kageyama ‘Mob’ Shigeo, Kageyama ‘Mob’ Shigeo & Takane Tsubomi

Trigger Warnings: Bullying

“Sometimes, Shigeo would find himself waking up with tears pooling out of his eyes. He wasn't sure why, but whenever he blinked his eyes open, he always had a sense of feeling that he had lost something extremely important to him. He couldn't remember exactly what it was, but the feeling would always linger for a very long time despite already long forgetting the dream itself.

The toothbrushes in the cup started to float and he breathed in and calmed down. Think rationally, Teru. This is just a dream. He pinched himself. Once. Then twice. His whole arm had gone numb when he was finally satisfied with his answer.

Okay, not a dream.”

[spaceistheplaceart]

Body Swap - The Exorcism Part Two

wanted to do a bit more but ough i am TIRED... this took a lot out of me lmao but i hope y'all enjoy! lmk what u think in the tags/replies/asks :)

masterpost

previous

(Please Reblog! Leave a comment in the tags! They make me very happy :)

SUMMARIZED ID: Reigen and Mob are shown the client's living room, it is in disarray. Reigen begins investigating the room, but begins to feel the presence of spirits... They keep a sharp eye out, as something moves about the room quickly.

FULL ID UNDER CUT

START ID:

(This is a body swap, so I'll be referring to the characters as who they actually are but keep in mind that Reigen is in Mob's body and vice versa.)

Mob watches Dimple fly leave, then goes inside Hiroto's house by shutting the door.

Cut to inside, Hiroto is opening a door for Mob and Reigen. Reigen has his hands on his hips. The client says, "This is where it's been happening." The room inside is moderately sized with a triple pane window on the far left wall. There is a fireplace, a couch, a ripped up armchair, two carpets- both rumpled and one torn, a doggy bed, a toy train, some balls, a tipped over coffee table, some askew and fallen paintings, some shelving units, and a chest of drawers on the right hand wall that has upon it multiple knick knacks. A drawer is missing from it and laying on the floor. There is a book with some pages torn out as well. All in all, it's a room that has seen some damage.

Hiroto lifts a nearby painting, showing three long scratches that were seen previously in the comic as a flashback. "See?" He says, looking at Mob. Mob looks at the scratches, somewhat narrowing his eyes. "Hmm..."

Reigen steps in, leaned over with his hand on his chin, looking at the scratches. Hiroto looks down at him, a little surprised. Reigen asks, "Hmm... have you noticed any strange smells?" "Smells?" The client repeats.

"Yes, like something rotting or damp. Spirits can sometimes carry over scents from their bodies, and that helps us determine which kind of ghost it is." Reigen says, gesturing with one hand while pointing upwards with the other. Hiroto shrugs, smile askew. "No, I haven't smelled anything strange..." He turns to Mob. "What do you think?"

Mob stands in the middle of the room, looking up. "Hmmm. I... don't feel anything." His speech bubble is overlapped by Reigen's, "AHAHA!!!" Reigen laughs, moving to Mob's side and resting one hand on Mob's arm, smiling wide and nervous as he explains to Hiroto: "They must be so weak that my Master is having a hard time picking up on them, but I can sense something in this room... ah, I can sense weaker spirits-- you know. I take care of them for my Master."

Mob gives Reigen a deadpan look. "Is that all you do?" Reigen's smile dims and he sweats.

"Al... right. Well, I'll leave you two to it... I've got to run to the store for a bit..." Hiroto crosses his arms. "And those ghosts better be gone when I get back."

Reigen waves a hand dismissively, using his customer service smile. "Don't worry, Mr. Hiroto, we'll have your spirit problem taken care of in no time!"

Hiroto begins to shut the door. He smiles nervously. "Sure thing..." He leaves.

After a moment, Mob looks down at Reigen, who is now crouching and looking at the scratches. He joins him on the floor.

Reigen says, "Hm... This guy could have a mouse problem. Or termites, possibly... hopefully not."

"I don't think mice could tip over chairs, Master."

"True, but the dogs could chase the mice and knockk over the chairs...." Reigen holds up a finger, his eyes are shut as he lectures Mob. "Always rule out the probable, Mob! Then, you can start looking for the less probable." Mob looks unimpressed.

Reigen stands up, hand in his pocket. "You do have a point, Mob. Although I hate to admit it... This could be a real hauntiiii-IIING!" His speech transitions into a yelp as his back straightens and eyes go wide. The background of the panel is dark with white wisps darting across it. Reigen crosses his arms and glares off to the side, his hair floating up due to his psychic abilities. He shudders. "Do you think the client would notice if we turned his A/C up? It's freezing in here!"

"I'm not cold." Mob responds.

Reigen grits his teeth and narrows his eyes, still tense. He's shivering. "Huh? It's freezing! Are you anemic or... something? Sensitive to cold?"

"No, I think the cold is probably the spirits."

Reigen flinches, then looks off to the side, smiling nervously. "Oh! Yes! Yes. The spirits! I recognize it now. Uh... you don't feel anything, do you?"

"Nope."

"Great." He puts his hand to his chin in thought. "What do you see, then? Anything?"

"Master, I don't have powers right now, remember?"

Reigen stares at Mob, his hair floating up due to his powers again. The background is dark and shadow-y, with the colouring of Reigen being all white. He's pale.

The next panel is of a similar style, dark and silent as they both look at eachother.

Mob angles his head down, looking at Reigen through his bangs and sweating slightly. "... Because we've switches bodies, I only have your powers right now... not mine?" The panel colour is lighter, and Reigen's hair calms slightly.

"Right." Reigen says, sighing and turning away from Mob, arms crossed. The panel is nearly white again, like normal. Mob is looking to the side, too, eyes downturned with a sweat drop on his cheek.

A view of a model train set, turned over. The carpet is rumpled and there is a painting sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. Reigen speaks, "I definitely feel something in this room... but I don't see it. Keep a sharp eye out, just in case. Even if you're having trouble with my powers, I'm sure you can still pull something off."

Mob and Reigen stand back to back, glancing around the room. Then something 'wooshes', represented by a panel with a dark gray background and white lines flowing across it with the text 'woosh' on it.

Reigen startles, turning to look at the far side of the room. There is nothing of note there. He sees only the window, the couch, and the chair.

END ID.

[aldoodles]

have some very small doodles of the dad squad rushing into a death forest to save their daughter and her friend from a cruel imitation of one of them

[princess-of-purple-prose]

I haven't seen a single age swap au addressing the fact that apparently Reigen at some point took classes in kung fu and that is a CRIME

[achairwithapandaonit]

Mp100 Age swaps are so funny to me, imagine you are like The Strongest Psychic around but your social skills are shit and this kid suddenly shows up and he keeps hanging around you, and like what do you do in this situation? Your life is bizarre enough anyway so you just let the kid be and your brother seems to hate the kid though you don't understand why, he's just a Litol Creture, and also you might be the kids parent now? Is this how adoption works? You don't know, you are so confused

yesss it's very funny. i've pretty much created my au around like,,, a very specific scenario for one fic that i want to write so i don't know all the specifics of the world (ie. what's happening with claw) but in this universe mob was absolutely failing at his little psychic business until this ten year old hired him to exorcise something HE promised to do and then was like oh man you don't even have an office or a website and you barely talk to your clients. lucky for you i'm an expert and i'm very experienced at these things (*insert it's free real estate meme over child reigen*). this mob was like man that doesn't sound like something a ten year old should be experienced in but idk enough about ten year olds so i guess i'll pay you to help me with my business if that's what you want. at to that he is definitely this kid's dad now. the kid was just in it to get money out of him at first, but the kid has claimed him as parent now and will not let go.

the ritsu situation is actually very very complicated and what the fic delves into, because in this au they haven't actually spoken for years until when the fic is set. which is right at the end of the mogami arc. his first impression of reigen is nii-san can you please put it back where you found it. i don't like this weird ass smooth-talking con man of a 14 year old. of course he can't say that. he has to be polite. he has to let this wretch into his home. and what's that? the kid refuses to leave? the kid is staying until mob's brain is back in gear from all the spiritual out of body stuff he was doing? the kid's parent is not coming to pick him up? oh! oh jail for nii-san! jail for a hundred years! how dare he adopt a child! (except no! he won't be rude to mob. no jail for nii-san ever. there is no winning for ritsu. he has to accept this child if he wants to bond with his brother)

[cherryistired]

i do consider myself a writer but i can’t write a multi-chapter fic for shit. so i’m gonna ramble about this ageswap mp100 au instead of writing it out properly

so first: mob’s life without having met reigen. most of the people he meets in the series stems from one key decision he makes in one episode, as well as the existence of claw, which doesn’t exist yet because touichirou doesn’t exist yet

the decision he makes is to join the body improvement club. because of that, the delinquent kid (who’s name i can’t remember) has a member of the club he can use as bait to get both teru and the other club members to fight, which leads to teru and mob fighting, which puts mob on claw’s radar, which leads to mob and ritsu getting mixed up and ritsu getting abducted, which leads to him and teru rescuing ritsu and the other awakening lab kids. that’s most of the people he meets in the series. the only other people he meets are through spirits and such (which doesn’t exist), and in claw during the 7th division and world domination arcs (which also doesn’t exist). the only exemptions are his brother, dimple (through the LOL cult thing), and the telepathy club. we’ll get to ritsu later, but first

i’m not 100% sure whether or not dimple totally survives his first meeting with shigeo. he probably does because you can’t get rid of him and also he looked p exorcised in the anime but he came back so :shrug emoji:. he’s probably got to be around for the cleanup arc to go right but who knows. maybe he gets bored of shigeo, since mob probably doesn’t use his psychic powers for anything really. he doesn’t seem like the type to use his powers very much, whether or not reigen told him not to. i also kinda wanna swap dimple into being a kid for reasons i’ll get to later

the telepathy club found mob on their own and really wanted him to join. mob probably definitely didn’t, but i’m gonna be nice to mob and say he got socially pressured into joining. in the episode i’m like 90% sure he got called into work the first time they tried to get him to join and he used that as his excuse, but this time he doesn’t have a job so he can’t use that. whether or not he does, though, mob wouldn’t have joined the body improvement club, because that was the result of some advice he got from a (gross nasty p/do incel) spirit about “living your best life” or whatever and I’m genuinely surprised he managed to take that advice and actually put it to good use instead of going “wow, no, you’re gross” like i would have. not sure whether or not to congratulate him on that

either way though he wouldn’t have joined the body improvement club without experience from spirits and such, and as such he wouldn’t have met teru. actually can i talk about teru for a bit? cuz i’m 90% sure that his whole “shadow leader” thing was just so he could get respect and admiration that he wasn’t getting from his absent parents. without claw, though, his parents wouldn’t have left, so he probably did get some support from them (though likely not much, cuz what kinda shitty parents would leave their kid when they’re being targeted by violent people). either way he probably wouldn’t have turned towards delinquency so quickly and would have probably has a slower time building his ego. without having met mob, tho, teru wouldn’t have had anyone seriously challenge the idea that he is the best, and so his ego would have had plenty of time to balloon to an even bigger size than in canon. more on that later

also quick note: shou probably had the same parents as touichirou, as well as similar potential for greatness and stuff. however, being the rebellious kid he is, never really lived up to the expectations placed on him and probably actually did the whole delinquent thing. more on that later as well

now. what about our boy ritsu? well, his powers developed completely independently of whatever was happening with mob at the time, even if he did happen to go to the awakening lab around that time. however, the confrontation he had with mob was because of plot things relating to things that wouldn’t have happened in this timeline (the delinquents were all looking to beat up white t poison, who wouldn’t have existed if mob never met teru), which means that ritsu’s feelings would have had time to mutate well past mere resentment. which means when he finally confronts mob, well... we’ll get to that later

as for the actual happenings: iirc the only arcs that didn’t occur because of s&s or claw were some of the springtime of youth arc (specifically the telepathy club antics), the LOL cult miniarc thing, the school cleanup arc, the various mini-arcs revolving the psycho helmet cult (excluding the divine tree arc), the other telepathy club miniarc, and the ???% arc

oh btw manga spoilers past this point

i’ve already talked about the first three arcs. the little psycho helmet arcs (aka him running for student council president and the few things that happen with the sports day thing) would either go basically unaltered or not at all. leaning towards the latter because i really don’t like the psycho helmet cult and wish they’d go away. actually they probably would! because they wouldn’t have the funding for it if asagiri didn’t make that donation, and he wouldn’t have if mob hadn’t saved minori from mogami. so the psycho helmet cult is canonically gone. the running for student council thing probably still happens because that happened first but whatever he embarrassed himself and gets bullied by some girls. big deal. no satisfying conclusion but it’s whatever

the other telepathy club arc probably wouldn’t have much happen. tome realizes that she’s wasting her youth in a dumb club and quits, leaving the club president-less and with the student council breathing down their neck to boot. since mob never got the chance to meet the shiratori twins, this is where the arc ends. the telepathy club splits up and the body improvement club finally gets their storage closet

but the ???% arc? oh, the ???% arc goes very, VERY differently

tsubomi announces that she’s leaving. without the support structure that he built over the course of canon, mob doesn’t really have anyone to turn to. his club has disbanded, his brother doesn’t talk to him anymore, and he barely sees the people he would have hung out with outside of club (read: tome) because she’s in cram school. he might not even have dimple, or the experiences that lead him to believe he can actually trust his advice. so he decides to confess to her after school one day, but on the day he does it he works himself up and explodes. 100% anxiety or something of similar ilk. of course, he’s doing this at school, so ritsu decides to confront him about his psychic powers now, of all times. things go pear-shaped, and mob ruins his relationship with his brother, his (already non-existent) chance with tsubomi, and what little reputation he had at school (that is, his lack of one. no reputation is actually better than a shit one imo) all at once. because of that, he makes one serious decision that affects his whole life and his arc in the main ageswap au:

fuck. psychic. powers. he’s gonna live like a normal person

[serenlyss]

Petrichor

Rating: G Pairings: Ritshou (can be viewed as romantic or platonic) Summary:  Shou and Ritsu have a heart-to-heart concerning the events of the World Domination arc. Crossposted to AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18465340

Eyy I'm back with another post-WD arc drabble, this time with Ritshou. I've never written any shippy MP100 stuff before so hopefully they come across as still being in character. It's not explicitly romantic though, so you can interpret it as being platonic if you want too. Anyway, hope you all like it!

The morning after Mob defeats Suzuki Touichiro is… interesting. None of them really know what to do now that it’s over. They don’t breach the subject aside from figuring out where they’re going to stay and how they’re going to get out of their battered clothing, and it seems as though they’re determined not to talk about it yet. Even Mob, who would normally be oblivious to moods like these, has his lips tightly sealed, apparently just as loathe to bring it up as the rest.

Reigen brings them back to his apartment and lets them sleep in his living room. He gives away his leftover food, his pillows and spare blankets. Shou comes along, despite having a house to go back to, and no one questions it. Maybe he appreciates his new friends. Maybe he wants to make sure they would be okay. He keeps the mood light with quips and sarcasm and a rambunctiousness that’s somehow endearing instead of annoying, and the others appreciate him for it. It keeps them from focusing too much on the weight of what had just happened.

He’s the first to fall asleep when all is said and done.

Ritsu wakes early the morning after despite not going to sleep until well past three in the morning, uncurling himself from the fetal position he finds himself defaulting to and untucking the blankets from around his shoulders. He shivers as the mild air of Reigen’s apartment tickles his warm shoulders, and debates going back to sleep for a minute before reluctantly slipping off the fold-out futon couch and padding barefoot to the kitchen for a drink.

Mob and Teru are still fast asleep, the blond boy having shown up at some point during the night after Ritsu had passed out. As he reaches for a plastic cup sitting on a shelf, however, he notices that Shou isn’t on the ground where he’d fallen asleep the night before. In fact, he’s not in the living room at all. Ritsu’s brow furrows in confusion as he sips at his water, setting the cup aside on the kitchen counter for the time being.

He can’t have gone far, Ritsu rationalizes, glancing around again to make sure he hasn’t just been moved or something. He wanders the little apartment, peeking around corners and into closets. Where had he gone off to? The bathroom is empty, and everyone else is still sleeping.

Had he left the apartment on his own? If he had, he hadn’t left any sort of note saying where he’d be going. Perhaps he’d wanted to get some fresh air, and figured everyone else would be sleeping in anyway?

Ritsu makes his way back into the kitchen, poking his head into the laundry room. The washer is empty, and the dryer filled with clothes Teru had brought from his wrecked apartment to share with the rest of the group. With a start, Ritsu realizes that he’s still wearing his torn-up jeans and bright yellow hoodie from the day before. There are blood stains and patches of dirt all over it, and one of the sleeves has been ripped off entirely. Apparently whatever magic had healed his wounds hadn’t extended to his favorite sweatshirt. What a shame. He crouches down in front of the dryer and sifts through the pile of clothes, wrinkling his nose at the selections. As expected, Teru’s wardrobe consists of bright, gaudy colors and patterns, all of them far too busy for Ritsu’s liking, but he doesn’t really have another choice. After a moment of deliberation he selects a pair of light gray sweatpants and a red tee-shirt with a more subdued pattern to swap his old clothes out for.

He slips out of his ruined clothes and into Teru’s fresh ones, sighing in relief. He hasn’t showered yet since the ordeal of the day before, but just having clean clothes to wear makes him feel much better already. Maybe he can jump in the shower before Reigen wakes up, and avoid having to ask him for additional favors.

He leaves his old clothes on top of the washer for now, unsure of where else to put them, and walks out of the laundry room. Teru and Mob remain fast asleep, and there’s no noise from Reigen’s bedroom. He wanders back over to the bed, observing his sleeping older brother. Mob looks much better than he had the previous night, the color returning to his face after the stress of using so much power had sapped away his energy, and he’s drooling on Reigen’s pillow. Ritsu suppresses a chuckle, a smirk growing on his face. Well, at least he’s getting plenty of rest, he tells himself.

Movement at the corner of his eye catches Ritsu’s attention, and he turns his gaze to a door he hadn’t noticed before at the back of the small dining area by the kitchen. It’s a sliding glass door, and beyond it he can see the city. A balcony? It seems like a fancy addition to such a small and cramped apartment, but in a big city like Seasoning, he supposes it makes sense.

He approaches the door, lifting a hand to turn the handle and go outside, then pauses. Shou is leaning on the balcony’s iron railing, his bright red hair easy to spot among the city's gray and brown hues, but it’s not his colorful appearance that catches Ritsu’s attention. His expression is soft, a slight frown on his face, and his eyes stare at something far into the distance. Or maybe he’s not looking at anything at all. He doesn’t look sad, exactly, but it’s a far cry from his enthusiasm and cheerfulness from the night before, and Ritsu finds himself experiencing a sort of mental whiplash.

He’s only known Shou for a day, but he’s already seen so many sides of him. His fierce determination, his strong wit and cunning mind, his magnetic charisma and endearing optimism. This Shou, though, the melancholic boy too caught up in his own thoughts to even notice what’s going on right behind him, is unfamiliar. A weight settles in Ritsu’s stomach and stays there as he turns the handle and pushes open the door.

Shou blinks at the gentle noise of the door latch clicking open and turns to see who’s approaching, an easy smile coming to his face when he sees that it’s Ritsu. The smile is only half there, however, lacking its usual confidence and snark. “Ah, Ritsu. You’re up early,” he says, voice still soft from sleep and quiet to match the serenity of the still-sleeping city below.

“You’re one to talk,” Ritsu shoots back without a second thought, crossing the few steps to the railing. He turns around and leans his back against the cold metal, letting his hands hold him up. It’s slightly colder outside than it is inside, and the balcony is damp from rain that must have fallen overnight. The air smells wet and earthy, and the cold ground sucks the warmth out of the soles of Ritsu’s feet. It’s comforting, somehow, like the rain will wash away the damage that’s been done, even though he knows that isn’t how rain works. “Geez, it really is quiet, huh? I guess no one’s gonna be going to work today.” He glances down at the empty streets below. Usually they would be filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic, sleep-deprived commuters honking at each other to speed up as they make their way to work, but instead there’s not a soul to be seen. They’re all too afraid of another catastrophe to risk getting too close to the giant broccoli in the middle of town.

Shou hums noncommittally in reply to Ritsu’s words, an oddly dismissive move from someone as talkative as him.

He falls quiet for a moment, and Ritsu watches him. He gauges his expressions, his movements, whatever he can use to determine what he’s thinking and how to respond. It’s a habit he’s picked up from years of pacifying Mob, trying to keep his stress levels as low as possible to avoid an explosion.

“Are the others still asleep?” Shou asks after a few long moments of quiet, turning his gaze back to Ritsu momentarily.

Ritsu nods his head. “Out like lights. Reigen, too. They’ll probably sleep for a while longer, and I don’t want to wake them. I guess my body’s still on autopilot from school, and it wouldn’t let me sleep in.” He shrugs his shoulders casually. “What about you? Couldn’t sleep?”

“Something like that,” Shou replies with a soft chuckle. He doesn’t elaborate any further, just falls into that melancholic quiet once more.

Ritsu gnaws on his lower lip for a moment. He’s well aware of how all of them had been avoiding talking about what had happened last night, and he doesn’t blame Shou for being tight-lipped around someone he literally only met the day before, but he still finds himself bothered by Shou’s silence, in an inexplicable way. Maybe it’s the obvious way Shou is avoiding talking about what’s on his mind. Maybe it’s the wistful look in his eye, the way he stares into the distance without looking at anything. Or maybe it’s just Ritsu prying into business that isn’t his. He blinks suddenly, a thought coming to mind.

He’s worried about Shou.

“Are you alright?” he murmurs, the question thick on his tongue. It’s a question with a lot of weight, he knows, and while he doesn’t want to overstep his bounds, he can’t deny that he’s genuinely concerned.

Shou doesn’t react to the question in any meaningful way, just shoots him another empty smile. “Yeah, dude. Whatever your brother did with all that energy yesterday, it healed all my wounds. Shame it couldn’t fix up my clothes, though, but I borrowed some of Teru’s.” He tugs on the edge of the bright pink sweater he’d snagged, grinning. “I could go for a shower, and maybe some ramen or something, but, y’know, I’m not dead, so that’s a plus.”

This only serves to make Ritsu’s frown deepen. “You know that’s not what I was asking,” he insists. “I mean, like… how are you feeling? After what happened. You seem… sad.”

Shou’s smile falters, his lips quivering as though he wants to speak but doesn’t have any words. He glances away. “Ah, you got me,” he says with a brief laugh, but there’s little humor in it. “I was thinking about my old man. They’ve already hauled him off to prison for the whole world domination thing. I knew it would probably happen eventually, but I guess I never thought about what comes next.” He sighs softly, crossing his arms and leaning further on the railing in front of him. “He may be a pretty shitty guy, but he’s still my dad, you know?”

Ritsu doesn’t know. His own father has always been a stringent rule-follower, strict but kind, and he knows he would never turn on his own son the way Shou’s father had. He doesn’t answer; the question is rhetorical, anyway. “What’s gonna happen to you now?” he asks instead.

“Dunno, at least not yet,” Shou admits, glancing away. “I can’t exactly go back to my dad’s place now that he’s not there. I’ll probably go try to live with my mom for a while instead. It’s been a long time since we were able to spend more than a few hours together.”

Ritsu nods. It makes sense. “I’m glad you have someone else you can rely on,” he says, turning around so he’s facing the streets like Shou is, instead of staring through the sliding glass door into Reigen’s kitchen.

Shou hums absent-mindedly in reply, but Ritsu can see that the gears in his head are still turning. His brow is furrowed in a thoughtful way, eyes staring at nothing in particular. Ritsu waits, giving him time to collect his thoughts.

“Ritsu, you’re a smart guy, right?” he says eventually, question piercing the silence.

Ritsu turns to him in surprise. He swallows, hand moving to rub the back if his neck in a somewhat embarrassed manner. “Er, yeah, I guess so,” he replies modestly, not so comfortable with the idea of singing his own praises. “Why do you ask?”

“Do you think my dad will ever really change?”

Ritsu feels his breath catch in his throat. His mouth opens, but no words come out. Shou doesn’t look at him, but his voice cracks at the end of his question, and he looks as though he’s barely holding himself together. Ritsu quickly closes his mouth and glances down, staring at the empty sidewalk below.

“I don’t know,” he admits softly, unsure how else to reply. Do people like Touichiro ever truly change? The old Claw thugs seemed to have turned over a new leaf, at least, so maybe there was hope. “Honestly, you’d be better off asking my brother. Shigeo’s the kind of guy to give anyone a second chance. It’s never a lost cause until he says it is.” He cracks a fond smile at this. “He’s been like that since he was a kid. I couldn’t tell you where he got it from, though.” The back of his mind tells him that it’s actually Reigen who taught him the important of being a good person and giving others second chances, but he doesn’t say it aloud. He isn’t exactly inclined to give a scam artist the benefit of the doubt, as much as Mob seems to enjoy hanging around him.

“Ah, I guess you’re right.”

A moment of silence goes by as the two of them stare off the balcony and toward the destroyed city in the distance. Then Shou sniffles, his grip on the railing tightening. Ritsu blinks, confused, and when he turns to look at the boy again, a tear rolls down his cheek. “Shou?” he says, not sure how to respond to this. His hand twitches instinctively, wanting to do something, anything, but he has no idea how to approach comforting someone he’s only just met. It’s been less than twenty-four hours, even if it felt like much longer, and Ritsu never has been good with feelings and emotions.

Shou reaches up to scrub at his eyes with the long sleeve of Teru’s borrowed sweater, and he sniffles again, making a confused noise as it comes away wet. “Ah, now I’ve done it,” he says, and he sounds miserable. He grimaces, shaky and vulnerable, and glances away, hiding his face from Ritsu. He continues to grip the railing tightly, knuckles white, as though it was the only thing keeping him standing. He muffles the sobs that try to escape his mouth.

Ritsu feels the weight in his stomach grow heavier, his chest tightening. In some ways, Shou had taken the heaviest blow of everyone. How long had he lived with a father who only wanted him for his power? How many times had he cried like this in private, with no one he could turn to for comfort? The thoughts make Ritsu feel sick.

He shifts closer to Shou, shoulder-to shoulder, and moves his hand to wrap around the other boy’s back. He rests his hand on Shou’s opposite shoulder, quietly offering some semblance of comfort. He squeezes gently, hearing Shou’s breath hitch at the contact. “It’s alright if you want to cry,” he says softly. “I won’t tell anyone.” He hopes his words come as some comfort to the grieving boy, though he half expects Shou to withdraw immediately. He doesn’t seem like a very emotional kid, and it wasn’t like they were close friends, either. After going through what they had together, however, Ritsu feels as though there are certain thresholds they’ve already long passes despite their short time knowing each other.

To his surprise, Shou doesn’t hesitate, immediately turning and pulling him into a tight hug. Ritsu’s caught off-guard at first; no one has hugged him like this since he was much smaller. Still, he doesn’t pull away, gently laying his hands against Shou’s back to reciprocate.

Shou’s a quiet crier, the only noises escaping him being sharp breaths and hiccups, but he clings to Ritsu like a lifeline, gripping the back of his borrowed shirt as though he’ll fall through the floor if he doesn’t. Ritsu doesn’t know what to say to make him feel better, so he doesn’t say anything, just rubs small circles into his back.

It only takes a few minutes for Shou to calm back down, but even after his tears have stopped and his quivering has gone away, he doesn’t remove himself from Ritsu’s grasp. He leans his forehead against Ritsu’s shoulder, taking a deep breath. “Sorry,” he says, his voice uncharacteristically soft. “I didn’t think I’d be getting emotional about this… not so quickly, anyway.”

“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault,” Ritsu assures, and Shou finally pulls back, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. He doesn’t meet Ritsu’s gaze, well aware of his red nose and bloodshot eyes. After a beat, Ritsu adds, “Crying always makes me feel better when I’m feeling stressed out, and I think it’s safe to say that we’re all feeling pretty stressed.”

Shou chuckles softly, straightening the edge of his borrowed shirt. “Yeah,” he agrees, and lifts a hand to run his fingers through his slicked-back hair. “Thanks for understanding. You’re a good friend, Ritsu.”

Friend. Ritsu hasn’t really thought of that before, but he supposes they are friends. “Any time,” he replies with a small smile, and he means it. Normally he keeps his friends at somewhat of a distance, even at school. With his classmates, there’s always an unspoken reputation to uphold, but he doesn’t feel that way around Shou or Teru. Even Shigeo has begun bleeding from one category into the other as Ritsu relates more and more to his brother’s struggles with his psychic powers.

He opens his mouth to say something else, but before he can he hears the sound of the sliding glass door cracking open.

“There you are! Sheesh, you two gave me a heart attack, waking up so early and coming out here. I thought you’d left, or been kidnapped or something!”

Reigen is standing in the doorway, still in his pajamas. His hair is sticking up in all directions, uncombed, and there’s short stubble on his face that has grown in overnight. Ritsu tries not to laugh.

“Ah, sorry! We were just getting some fresh air,” Shou says smoothly. His voice is devoid of the shakiness and uncertainty it had held just a few minutes prior, and aside from a slight redness to his face and eyes, it would be impossible to tell he’d just been crying. “Still, you’re up earlier than I thought you’d be. I was sure you’d all be asleep a few hours longer.”

Reigen relaxes at this, though he still looks annoyed at the perceived trouble the two had caused him. “Well, it doesn’t really matter, in any case,” he brushes off. “Come back inside, it’s freezing. I need to go to the store and pick up some more food for the next few days, but for now you can eat whatever’s around. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. Teru’s already up, too, but Mob’s still sleeping, so keep it down for now, alright?”

“Sure, whatever you say,” Ritsu sighs in a less-than-enthusiastic manner. It’s hardly freezing, he thinks, but doesn’t bother to say it out loud. Reigen doesn’t bother calling him out on his poor attitude as he nods and disappears from the doorway to get cleaned up.

Shou flashes him a grin, his regular confidence and optimism coming back. There’s a softness to it now, though, a quiet acknowledgement that something had changed for the better. “Guess we should go help Hanazawa hunt for breakfast, huh?” he says.

Ritsu nods. “Yeah. If we hurry, we can have it done by the time Shigeo wakes up,” he adds, slipping his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants and stepping back into the apartment. “Guess we’re about to see who’s the best cook out of all of us, huh?”

Shou snorts, clasping his hands behind his head as he follows behind. “I’ll just knock myself out of the ranking right now by saying it’s definitely not me.”

“Good morning!” Teru calls from the kitchen as they come back inside. He’s pulling bowls and cups out of Reigen’s cupboards, and it seems he’s already raided the fridge and pantry, revealing a carton of eggs and some boxed rice. “I’ve already got breakfast going, but I could use your help. Someone come put some water on the stove for me?”

“Now that, I can handle,” Shou says with some confidence, striding over to where Teru’s set aside a pot for the rice. He moves to the sink and begins running the tap, waiting for it to turn hot.

Ritsu watches him as he moves across the kitchen, thoughtful, before finally following him into the kitchen. Teru commands him to start cracking eggs while he measures enough rice for all five of them, and he gets to it with minor grumbling. It’s becoming clear that Teru’s the one with the most cooking experience of all of them, to Ritsu’s chagrin. Well, there was still plenty of time to learn. So he gets to cracking eggs, falling into an easy rhythm with his new friends.

Later, when they’re all crowded around Reigen’s tiny kitchen table eating rice and scrambled eggs out of bowls, the morning is calm again. Once or twice, Ritsu meets Shou’s gaze across the table, and gets a little smile in return. It’s different from the big grins and smirks he typically wears, and Ritsu takes an odd sense of pride in being the one who gets to see them. The little glances and smiles and friendly jabs Shou tosses his way makes him feel light in a way he’s never really felt before, but for the time being he brushes those thoughts away and carries on like nothing’s changed.

There would be plenty of time to think about it later.

[blaizekit]

Future ff projects?

So I’m maybe 6-7 chapters away from finishing my current fic WIP. After that, I’m going to get even slower about writing and updating new fics, but that doesn’t change the fact that I have a things I’d like to do:

I’d like to finish my 11-year-old KH fic

Quicker, shorter, novella-type fics so I can do more ideas and more fandoms

More fandoms(!) some newer stuff. Even if it’s one-off. I don’t care.

Fandoms I really want to try writing in: BNHA, FMA, mp100, Gintama, more KH since the next game is coming out

I think it would be REALLY FUN to adopt a fic, either for one of those fandoms or for Naruto. You know: take an unfinished fic the author doesn’t want to continue and run like hell with it (obviously with their blessing), it sounds hella fun. Like a challenge, you know? I’M PLACING A CARDBOARD BOX DOWN RIGHT HERE, OPEN INDEFINITELY. I’m too shy to ask anyone so please. Tell me if you have something you’d like to give up for adoption.

What’s especially painful is I have a handful of ideas that are fully developed enough to already have titles and a vague idea of the plot. Painful because most of them would be large time commitments and I don’t know if I can stomach any more of that for a while. Still, here’s what’s rolling around that’s kinda already formed:

for one of the good guys, you really look like a villain right now:

A Gintama fic requested by my roommate. The only one on this list that’s *really* likely to happen because he’s around to ask about it all the time. It’s about a pair of love rivals who body swap and use the opportunity to screw up each other’s romantic chances, but by the end everyone learns a lesson about fighting fair and nostalgic music plays.

Hope Flies on Fragile Wings: 

A Windmill novella/side story that follows Obito after the events of IWBTW. Probably involves a lot of Uchiha/Konoha politics and team relationship stuff.

Windmill 3 (untitled): 

A third full-sized installment that covers Shippuden in the Windmill verse. This would would take a whole mountain of planning, because I'd have to really think about how the previous stories will affect the clash with Akatsuki (in a plot sense with the actual events, but also in a thematic sense given that it will be impossible to portray it as a straight good-vs-evil thing at that point.)

Too Small a Sky: 

An early Akatsuki origin story. Honestly, this project has been in my head for a very long time, and it just refuses to leave me alone. But it would take a lot of time to plan and write because it would be heavily based on headcanon. It would match up with some of the biggest points from canon, but I'd really want the vast majority of it to be my idea of the OGkatsuki. I've thought about them probably way more than anyone should.

 Not only do I have a title, I have a main theme song [Sincerely] and a possible ao3 summary: 

"Every fall from grace begins with a rise. Our rising was swift and bright and beautiful, and like a comet, it was destined to fall to the ground in flames. All we wanted was a new dawn for the land of rain. But the sun refused to rise. So we set fire to the sky."

Too Wide a Horizon: 

Sequel to the one above, would cover new!akatsuki the way I see it, again, being really based on headcanon. The most hypothetical thing ever.