#so hi fandom that i presume to be incredibly busy!!!

[doge-is-life0]

hey there tumblr gang, what do you all know about the (not) hit game artemis spaceship bridge simulator ???

in my very short searching, i’ve discovered that the game has no presence on either here OR ao3, but know that it will not remain that way forever. not with me here.

but anyways yeah i wanna play the game with people without holding them hostage and id love to see people appreciating it!!!

[chaifootsteps]

if that leak is accurate that Stella and/or Andrealphus are going to die in the s2 finale, it's going to make parts of the fandom dogpiling on Octavia look even more ridiculous

like she just lost her mother and possibly her uncle because her father's affair partner (as far as she knows) just murdered one or both of them and she maybe also had to get involved herself by making the incredibly traumatic choice of saving her father's life from her mother/uncle by potentially hurting and killing them both

and she just discovered she has incredible magic powers which her father has not prepared her to use or handle at all

and to top it all off as far as she knows her father broke his promise not to leave her for Blitzo. like even if Viv goes the route of 'Stolas is kicked out of the palace as consequences for lending out his book', Stolas still bears responsibility for that. He did break his promise to be there for Via when he decided to risk his nobility and titles on sexually extorting someone with his grimoire (a grimoire that's also her inheritance) - he keeps talking about breaking demon law so he knew the risks. that'd be the same if he'd made the more sympathetic choice of having a business arrangement with Blitzo to loan him the book instead of exorting him for sex. and he could have avoided all of this if he'd tried to get Blitzo a crystal in the first place, since he knew full well they existed

and when Via's understandably upset by all of this Stolas doesn't validate any of those feelings but just tells her she 'doesn't understand' and he didn't leave her (presumably Viv is going to pull a 'Stolas tried to call but couldn't get through bcus Stella' to get Stolas out of this, despite all the stuff I mentioned with the book above being entirely his fault).

He tells her she's the best thing in his life but doesn't address any of the ways he's completely failed her - didn't stop having a monthly fling when he knew how upsetting she found it, didn't teach her enough magic if any magic at all, didn't take her away from Stella even though the situation was miserable for everyone involved, didn't explain the arranged marriage situation when she got old enough, didn't bother telling her Stella tried to assassinate him, didn't bother to beef up security to protect her while he was busy negging Blitzo, presumably got distracted again when Blitzo finally folds and gives him the love he wants, etc.

like objectively he's a terrible father even if Stella is worse, but the fandom thinks Via should just be able to switch off caring about Stella at the drop of a hat for Stolas' benefit, even though it's Stolas' fault she'd be attached to her mother because he chose to try and play house for 17 yrs

like supposing Stolas was around Via's age when they first had Via it's understandable he wouldn't know the perfect thing to do. but he was definitely an adult when she was around 5-7 years old and was presumably well aware Stella had been a nightmare for most of that time, yet he insisted the family stay together

it's such a huge lack of empathy and understanding of how abuse works that even if Via had some awareness that Stella is the worst, she'd probably still have mixed feelings about losing her mother. most children struggle to break off attachments with abusive parents because of the good times and because they still love them and want them to be the person they hoped

and Via is facing that exact issue with both Stolas and Stella. it's unreasonable to expect her to immediately be on Stolas' side if the fandom is also arguing he managed to hide what Stella was really like from her for so long - and how would she even know he's telling the truth if he does finally tell her? he's lied to her and let her down before and it'd be very convenient for him to blame Stella for everything (including lending out the book, which was completely his choice) - it's not uncommon for divorcing parents to demand their child's allegiance by throwing the other parent under the bus, after all

Those are all excellent points, and if it does pan out according to the leak, it's not going to matter a particle to this fandom. They're going to rip into that broken, hurt, grieving child like a swarm of lampreys.

[sgiandubh]

It's all fake, anyway

Oh, my. The last two or three video snippets in Marina del Rey. The revolt. The pearl-clutching. The hate.

Again, you know nothing, Jon Snow. It's all about the medium being the message, again: carefully calibrated snippets of information, destined to a captive, deeply divided and (how can I put that without sounding offending, I wonder) unexperimented (yes, that's decent enough) audience.

During the last 24 hours, we've got the Marina del Rey gin promo & MPC teambuilding (hardly an orgy, btw) and C's MUA (or is it hairdresser? irrelevant) hinting on Instagram about a photoshoot at a gin distillery in a #beautifullocation, somewhere on Earth, presumably in Scotland - given her last IG follow. No further details, of course. Very probably a (late-) latergram, too, when she finally got the green light to publish it. Implying nothing, but leaving a boulevard bandwidth for people to infer whatever suits their own narrative. Expect FMN news soon? I highly doubt that and stand corrected: the last photoshoot (with McSideburns, in London) was on May 3rd, when she needed to somehow show the world the Two of Them were continents apart. Identical modus operandi. And always, always via tertiary players.

As for the Marina del Rey teambuilding, if you think that is 'S living his life' you are: a) living in a remote mountain/island area or under a rock; b) an impenitent Mordorian with an agenda to boot or c) incredibly incompetent with the way of the world (or at least, that world). Allow me to translate?

It is alcohol promo, duckies, disguised as teambuilding. The intended message is aimed at a younger, non-OL related audience (as I already warned you) and it roughly goes like this:

'we are a fun loving, no nonsense, start-up business in the spirits industry. Because we don't have a huge advertising budget, we're testing the waters with a cheap, reality-TV snippet to better evaluate the number of social media clicks and new followers and help gauge & calibrate the next step'.

Was it poorly executed? Yeah, you could say that, but then what to do, in a very restrictive, highly regulated tobacco & spirits advertising market, hum? Is it my cup of tea? I don't drink, therefore this type of message touches one ball without really moving the other.

Yes. Start-up business: if we take into account the COVID logistic delay, I believe we're still in that three-years frame. And this detail is essential in order to put context around a very forgettable snippet. Selling a brand-new, more democratic product. Selling it clumsily, in an effort to build relevance, because even bad advertising is, ultimately, good advertising. But make no mistake: it's nothing more than that and it is all they can do, in the current context.

This brings to mind another aspect of the charade, namely the fact that after the Remarkable Week-end (and with the exception of some carefully scripted 'slips'), released and available information progressively became (at least) two-tiered.

First tier: information carefully calibrated for immediate release and general consumption, primarily but not exclusively by the fandom. This includes: spirits shilling, innuendos galore, look-here-not-there latergrams. It also entails less direct interaction with the fans on socials and delegating the media management to secondary players (often called to the rescue, too).

Second tier: public information with a limited availability (you have to take the plunge and pay), for sleuths able and willing to go the extra mile. They paint a very different landscape. And draw two copycat timelines of people who are investing, buying and selling property and overall branching out of their primary source of income with a plan.

I am not a photo sleuth. But with a little bit of time on my hands, I am a decent paperwork analyst. Accounting is not my forte, but legal and business is. I saw what I needed to see and it holds.

So before you start screeching (bad idea, right?), remember this (credit given to @dillon7fan, thanks):

Not really: it is doctored make believe. Bless your heart, honest guy.

Next stop, Tehran. Yes, you read that correctly.

This evening or tomorrow, at the latest. Because context is everything and this fandom severely fails at this.

[swordfright]

What do you think is your most controversial dsmp take?

I got this ask a while ago and I've been wracking my brains trying to come up with something, but honestly...I don't think I really have many hot takes? At least, not ones that I'd consider controversial. Most of my controversial takes are about fanon/how the fandom interacts with the source material, which I assume isn't what you're looking for (but BOY DO I HAVE A LOT OF THOSE.) I also have likes and dislikes when it comes to duos and shipping stuff, but that's subjective obviously and more opinion than lore interpretation.

I guess if you put a gun to my head, I might say these are my most controversial Actual Lore Takes, but they're not all that interesting imo:

The experiments in the revival lab happened AFTER c!Dream's incarceration, not before it. My understanding is that most people interpret that sequence as occurring prior to the incarceration because...why would c!Dream let himself be locked up, relying on his knowledge of the book to be his life insurance, if he hadn't tested the damn thing out yet?! This logic tracks, but I think you could also flip it to argue the opposite: that he also could have conceivably waited to fully test the book until after escaping. During the run-up to the Disc Finale, c!Dream was incredibly busy with the fallout from Dethronement + Exile + Manburg related stuff etc, as well as busy preparing for the confrontation with c!Clingys, plus arranging the staged finale with Punz. The guy was busy as hell and he was also like...still kinda in the midst of a manic episode. Also, keep in mind that while the book was his life insurance for the finale and its immediate aftermath, he had no idea that c!Sam was going to betray him. Considering all that, I don't think it's inconceivable that c!Dream may not have had time to thoroughly test the limits of the revive book beforehand, and he likely didn't realize quite how vital his knowledge of revival would become during his incarceration period. So yeah. I'm open to either interpretation, but I am partial to the possibility that the Vikk and Lazar necromancy montage happened after the prison era. And the exact date/location of the lab are never specified either, which makes me even more open to the post-prison necromancy option. Not a hill I'd be willing to die on, but a hill I like to sit on and admire the view from.

End of Las Nevadas is the weakest stream of the Las Nevadas series. I found it narratively unsatisfying, and not in a clever way. I don't hate that stream, I think it had some really interesting moments, but overall I'd say its messaging was convoluted and the tension was pretty poorly mismanaged. I'd be willing to go on about this if you want, but I think a lot of other folks have probably already articulated it better than I can. Oh, I'll add that I also have complicated thoughts about c!Slime as a character. Don't hate him, don't love him...but I am puzzled about the role he was presumably meant to play in the story vs. the role he actually ends up playing. I could go on about this in detail but it's late and I'm sleepy.

c!Quackity has very simple goals and motives, but his pursuit of those goals is oftentimes way more convoluted than necessary, which ends up making him read as a more complex and dynamic character than he really is (I like this btw!) Another way to put it would be that Q is not a terribly complex character in terms of motivations and ambitions (dr3 has rly good meta on this btw), but he does tend to needlessly complicate his own life and the lives of the people around him in pursuit of simple goals. I think one of his big failings is that he sees violence as an easy solution to his problems but in reality it just creates more problems for him. It's like he keeps failing some sort of foresight check, over and over again. Take the formation of Las Nevadas, for instance. Most of the country's members were intimidated/threatened into joining, not because they're people Q particularly wants to hang around with, but because they're people Q sees as either strong (i.e. they are capable of contributing to LN) or directionless (i.e. they're in need of an owner a leader.) Quackity doesn't really forge alliances, he just...buys people, basically? And then he's shocked when this backfires. His relationship with Purpled is the most obvious example of this, but also LN as a whole: in LN5 (?), Quackity's angry and offended and hurt that only a tiny handful of people show up to the opening ceremony, even though by all accounts the reason the turn-out isn't bigger is because the server has by this point become a chaotic and violent place where anything can happen to anyone for any reason and most inhabitants feel safer sticking to their own turf...and that atmosphere of chaos and violence is something Q has ostensibly contributed to, even before Pandora. c!Quackity creates a country that no one is truly loyal to, inhabited by people who are closer to employees than allies...and then his solution, when he realizes nobody really gives a shit, isn't to try recruiting people in a more equitable way, it's to bioengineer a slime army. That is insane. That is an insane way to solve your problems. In no way is bioengineering a slime army a normal or well-adjusted solution to any conceivable problem. This is what I mean when I say he's a relatively uncomplicated character who complicates everything - he's constantly jumping through hoops of fire to avoid changing his behavior and taking any kind of accountability whatsoever.

I have tons more takes but they're mostly about silly subjective stuff and/or fanon, so I'll leave that for another day if anyone's interested.

[skaruresonic]

Honestly, as fun as it was to go "Jesse what the fuck are you talking about" at the absurdity of fandom tourists who refused to engage with canon in good faith, it still felt like people explaining the nitty-gritty of how and why Freemance "didn't count" as pedophilia were giving the antis too much ground. Like they were implying there was a point that any given HL ship could be considered too problematic to defend.

As someone who ships Valhoun, which could arguably be considered more problematic than Freemance in this system of moral checks and balances by mere virtue of Barney actually being in his forties or so (although even that is debatable tbh), as opposed to Gordon's Schroedinger's Creepy Old Man Status, needless to say, I found the whole thing ridiculous.

To me it doesn't really matter even if Gordon was 47, because Half-Life exists in a context where real-life social mores don't apply as stringently. Humanity is on its last legs and Eli wants grandkids, yo. I have argued in the past that age gap squicks would likely lessen out of necessity following the Combine's breeding suppression. People need to procreate in order to repopulate the species, after all, and beggars can't be choosers. Kleiner said "get busy fuckin' or get busy dyin'" for a reason.

However, I'm not terribly keen on Freemance because Gordon's blank-slate status means I'd have to make up his characterization in my head, and it just doesn't seem worth the effort. I always feel like I'm shipping a dozen different versions of Gordon rather than Gordon himself. He also... just doesn't react to Alyx, making their chemistry incredibly lopsided. At least Barney goes "Eugh" when Alyx teases him about "not being an animal person"; Gordon just presumably stands there like :I when she cracks her Zombine joke.

Despite lifting somewhat in recent years, fandom has an ironclad "Barney is Alyx's uncle/big bro" fanon, which is just as annoying as "Shadria is incest" because it basically sprang out of nowhere. Canon seems to imply that Barney and Alyx are acquaintances at best, not terribly familiar with each other outside of their faintly overlapping social circles. Kleiner is honestly their only link. Barney, in fact, has less reason than most other older male characters to be considered one of Alyx's honorary uncles. At the very least Alyx suggests the possibility Gordon may have seen her once as a child; no such equivalent exists for Barney. The idea he babysat her is also hilarious considering he never even directly addresses Eli in HL2. On top of that, there's the issue of infantilizing Alyx, which I could rant about for hours. Yes, Valhoun may be just as "fanon" as Uncle Barney headcanons, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking in terms of the series' overarching context. I view Valhoun as a sort of push-pull dynamic between Barney and Alyx, duty stifling love and placed inside a pressure-cooker of sexual repression. Hot. Plus, there's that forbidden fruit aspect of rebel/Metrocop lol. And while I would in a perfect world like to see the two be together, given HL's bleak world, realistically, I don't see it working out. Not even in an "Alyx dumps his ass for Gordon" kind of way, necessarily, but in a "they break up out of fear for each other's safety but there are still lingering feelings if they gaze in the other's wake for too long" kind of way. I have also argued that all three major HL ships bear imbalances. Valhoun does not suffer the experience gap that Freemance and Freehoun would; Barney and Alyx would have shared roughly the same life experiences under Combine rule that Gordon lacks.

[wintertimestoryteller]

Apologies I haven't posted the next scene, life's been busy but it should be coming soon, but for now I'll leave a preview of it for y'all, though things might change depending on Tumblr's word count limit and wether or not I decide to also post this on AO3.

@luimagines . It's not complete at all yet but once again, thank you for all your work in the fandom and go check them out for the original prompt.

Preview to Opening Act, Scene IIII

The hooded and masked figure twitched, head listing lazily to the side, unhurried, as if bored or maybe dissapointed as they sighed apathetically, it gave you gooseflesh, but you dared not move an inch, struggling against your own limbs and with the Shadow at your back, "You know I wouldn't have taken the heroes of Hyrule for liars and oath breakers, and also against the laws of hospitality. Shooting arrows and magic at your host within their own home? For shame! Didn't your parents teach you better?"

You could see how each of the heroes bristled, but seeing crimson beading against your unwilling, trapped skin stayed their blade, though that did not stop Legend from snarling up at the hidden figure, sipping tea as if it was watching an incredibly entertaining play, "Oath breakers? That's rich coming from you! You said we could stay here safely and then leave once the storm was over!"

"And you attacked one of our first." Added Warriors, his tone as glacial as the winter winds, enough to freeze anyone down to the marrow.

They incline their head, voice distorted, the screaming echo of scavengers like nails on chalkboard and as refined as a well curated blade, "True, though I never said you'd all leave unharmed, did I? And you didn't keep your end of the deal either." Their tone goes dryer, as they throw the tea cup away without a care in favor of throwing their hands up, as if it was the Chain being unreasonable and not the person who presumably did something to Shadow and Hyrule's own Shade, you can see Sky barely keeping his grip on an enraged Four, "Besides! I didn't attack them, they kindly volunteered to go up stage on their own. You're all so up in arms for something that's part of the performance, a little injury is a small price to pay for the bit."

"A 'little injury'?! I doubt they'd try cutting off their own hands for a BIT." Stressed Hyrule, in response to that, the cloaked person shrugged.

"I mean a little disarment never killed anyone."

Wild looked seconds from firing another arrow, teeth gritted and bared as Twilight sent a furious glare to the one perched atop the stage, just above the lights, ready to knock them down and crush you if needed be, "I'm pretty sure it has, actually."

"Anyway! You're all so caught up on semantics, by the Three, so uptight. Does having the splinters so far up there not sting?" they glanced at the Shadow, the obsidian and granite lizalfos glancing back at them before hissing at Time, ready to lunge, teeth stained with Director Raven's blood, "This the kind of tough crowd you have to deal with? Yeesh, no wonder you yap more than a kicked dog at times." They turn back to the Chain, clapping their hands, "In any case, let's make another deal, shall we? I'm a playwright of my word, you could leave your little friend here to become one of my actors and go on your merry way."

You swore you felt your heart stop, blood rushing in your ears, you barely caught the sharp glint of a hollow smile beneath the crow shaped mask and their next words, "Or! If you're really that attached-", they send you a bemused look, "Can't see why but hey," shrugging, they continue on, unrelenting like a hunting wolf, "You can act instead. I'll send you all into different tales and should you finish them in accordance to the script, I may let you just leave without too much of a fuss. No catches." They point to the Shadow, "Can't make any promises for that one though, it's a solo act you see, if anything I'm just lending the venue."

"And if we refuse?" Probed Time, you could see the gears turning in his head like clockwork, trying to find a way to swing this in everyone's favor so you all can get out alive.

The vulture in crow skin only smiled wider, "Then none of us gets them and you die here, I'll let the Shadow tear you apart to it's void soul's delight, and kill them on the spot." The blades press against your arms against your will, and you twitch, trying to wrestle control back and only getting pain for you troubles, muffling a yell, "Maybe put them in a soup and make jewelry out of the bones that I don't reuse in a broth, I'd look pretty dashing in a crown." They giggle, unhinged cruelty into every word as they clap their hands, voice rising to a screeching crescendo, "Oh oh! Or just roll them down a barrel filled with spikes on a hill, or make them dance and dance and dance on hot iron shoes until they drop dead! Haven't decided yet, so many choices, so little time. It's almost enough to leave me hot and bothered."

The true owner of the theater sighed, longingly hugging themselves before turning a cold, hard tone to the heroes, "You sure you want to risk that?"

[shrinkthisviolet]

Talk Shop Tuesday - so 'main gehra tamas tu sunehra savera (main tera)' is one of the best and most heartbreaking ATLA fics I've ever read, and I'd love to know how you wrote it and what advice you have for anyone who wants to do a fusion fic like that, because the way you combined the two was excellent.

Ahhh thank you, I’m so glad you liked it! To be honest, I wrote it because when I was watching the Hasan x Aisha episode of Ms. Marvel (the flashback one), I kept thinking “wow this would be a really cool Maiko AU”, and then I told one of my friends that, and she basically went “👀👀” because of course she did, she’s my top enabler 😂

So from there, it was just a matter of figuring out the logistics. I’ve had a bunch of fusion crossover ideas (and this isn’t even the first fusion fic I’ve written for Maiko), but logistics are definitely the tricky part…though here, it wasn’t altogether difficult.

Here’s the link to the fic for those who don’t know it! More discussion about it (+ advice about fusion fics) under the cut:

It meant ATLA canon divergence, obviously, because canon Maiko wouldn’t jive with this - they’ve known each other since they were small kids. So, in this version, I decided they never did. Mai met Azula and Ty Lee after Zuko’s banishment, and they were friends. Three years pass Ty Lee runs off to join the circus, and Ozai pushes for Azula to be declared Crown Princess a year early on her upcoming 15th birthday, since Zuko is of age to be Crown Prince but not around to actually be declared so.

Ofc the Sages are reluctant, since Zuko is only missing and not dead, so Azula convinces Mai to go out and find Zuko and bring him back to be executed.

(And also, btw, in this fic, Zuko isn’t involved in any of the Avatar business. He just kinda went off and made a quiet life for himself somewhere else. Maybe Iroh was with him at one point, but…he isn’t anymore, because that didn’t fit the framing of this fic.)

And that, in essence, lays the groundwork. This enables Mai and Zuko to meet much like Hasan and Aisha did, on a distant farmhouse where they then fall in love. The rest of it kinda fell into place after that…though ofc with the addition of Izumi.

And ofc Aisha’s “magic” became Zuko’s rainbow fire here - presumably he learned the proper way to firebend during his years away, and his firebending can change color at will now.

Honestly, my advice for fusion fics is this: I haven’t written all my fusion fic ideas, because some of them just don’t get to the writing stage, but for the ones that do, the logistics fell into place because I went “okay, I clearly need to change canon, but what do I have to change and what can I keep?” Be open to possibly having to throw out chunks of canon that you might’ve liked, to make it fit in a fusion…but if it doesn’t work, then don’t force it. Most people won’t get too hung up on the little details, but you’re the writer - if you’re not satisfied with it, then that’ll show in the fic. It’s okay if an idea doesn’t work…and maybe it will later, you never know! Just give it time, and be patient with it. Fusion fics tend to be tricky beasts, but they’re incredibly satisfying to get right. More power to anyone who has written a fusion fic (or multiple), I salute you. It’s not easy.

Oh also…suggestion: don’t expect them to be popular 😂 even if you’re combining two very popular fandoms, it’s not always a guarantee that people will like it, because crossovers aren’t always popular (Arrowverse shows being the exception, because tbh they’re all one big fandom). This one WAS fairly popular, much to my pleasant surprise—it’s still one of my most popular fics—but my other fusion fic wasn’t so much. And that’s fine—I had fun writing it, and the person I wrote it for loved it, and that’s all I needed. If even a few people are happy with my fic and touched by it, and it makes me happy, that’s worth it 💞

talk shop tuesday!

[isleofair]

Ten faves in ten fandoms

I was tagged by @saltedpin: thank you so much!!! 💙💙💙 (This took me way longer to put together than I thought, wow)

Tiger & Bunny - Nathan Seymour (aka Fire Emblem) What can I say about Nathan. She's my ultimate blorbo, despite being pretty much the opposite of the kind of character I usually fixate on. They're a successful, ultra-rich business owner but also the mom friend of the group; a wonderful mix of (literally) fiery fierceness and soft sensitivity; a big, phoenix-themed peacock with the heart of a small, cuddly lovebird. I love her to death. 💖 (Honorable mention to her future husband Buddy hero, Keith Goodman, aka Sky High, aka literally the bestest guy EVER.)

Star Trek: TNG - Data This guy was sort of a blueprint for my childhood weirdness. I live for characters who are supposedly non-human, but are actually the most human of them all; and Data, for all that he was vastly stronger, faster, and smarter (at least logically) than all of his friends, had a gentleness to him that made you forget about that pretty much all of the time. I've been wanting to hug him for about 35 years.

Yūri!!! on Ice - Yuuri When I started watching the show, I thought Victor would be my favorite, but when I began to truly understand Yuuri's character, there was no going back. He's so astonishingly real in the way he perceives himself as an utter failure while actually being amazing and very successful. He manages to give me a glimmer of hope, at least sometimes, that maybe I might manage, with some effort, to not be quite as much of an absolute disaster as I fear.

The Lord of the Rings - Faramir If I had to sum Faramir up in a word, it would be unassuming. He's constantly treated (mostly by his father, but also by part of the narrative) as someone who's an afterthought, a second best, a spare; all this in spite of being incredibly smart, and learned, and competent, and kind. He's just... really lovely, and although he ends up with Éowyn as sort of (again) a second choice after Aragorn, I say: Éowyn, my beloved badass, you kind of won the lottery there.

Anime Sanjūshi - Aramis (Yes, Italy apparently got ALL of the anime back in the '80s, lol.) This anime adaptation of The Three Musketeers takes quite a few creative liberties with the story, and one of them is making Aramis a woman in disguise. She kicks just as much ass as any of her companions (most of whom never find out her secret), and at the end, after completing the personal, romance-related quest she joined the Musketeers for, she... keeps her male disguise and her job, presumably forever. A+, no notes.

Stargate: Atlantis - John Sheppard One of the very few "military jock, ace pilot, dude with a big gun" protagonists I've ever liked, mostly due to the fact that Sheppard is technically all of the above things, but really he's just as much of a geeky, socially inept loser as the scientists he was hired to bodyguard, cosplaying as the jock with a gun because he really loves the "piloting things that fly really fast" part. Add in a self-sacrificial streak about a galaxy wide, and I was sold.

Sailor Moon - Haruka Tenō, aka Sailor Uranus 13-year-old me saw Haruka and fully went "man, I want to be her!" And then, many years later, I realized that I had also probably been wanting her, period. 😅 The anime got censored to hell and back, of course, but I'm the kind of person who takes things I'm told at face value, so I saw her being incredibly dramatic and jealous and infatuated and totally willing to die for her "best friend" and went "yeah, I guess that checks out". I still vaguely thought that she would make the perfect "boyfriend", as she was the coolest person ever, lol.

The Adventure Zone: Balance - Taako I still can't believe a podcast that started out as essentially "how many dick jokes can we fit into 60-90 minutes of butchering the rules of D&D" ended up being one of the most significant pieces of media in my life, but hey, to quote Taako himself, "It’s not all abraca-fuck-you and what have you. I have a beating heart! I’m multi-dimensional! I’m a fully-realized creation! FUCK!" Taako's vulnerability is hidden under MANY layers, but when it comes out, it hits straight to the heart.

Yūki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern - Lewis Smith I'm throwing my most recent fandom in here, because why not. Smith (yeah, I know) is an apparently extremely stereotypical "American Pilot Guy" character (don't look him up, because the show is best experienced without spoilers, but I promise you, he looks just like he could be Keith Goodman's twin), but in a show that is always at least three genres at once, in very varying degrees of seriousness, he ends up being one of the most genre-aware characters of all, with... interesting consequences.

Good Omens (TV) - Crowley This one is interesting because in the book, my favorite character was always, very clearly and very firmly, Aziraphale. And then the tv show happened, and yeah, I'm not immune to the David Tennant Effect, by any means, but... You know that post that's been going around, that says something vaguely like "the best trait a male character can have is being pathetically in love with someone"? Well. Crowley is not a male character, but in the show he embodies pining. Pining pours out of each and every one of his probably non-existent pores 24/7, non-stop, for millennia. And I... kind of like pining. A reasonable amount. It's fiiiiiiiiiiiine.

I am tagging YOU! 🫵 But only if you want to play, of course! 😂💙

[strangermoons]

The Beat Has Just Begun: chapter 1 extras

I love to do informal research and I love to talk about it, so I'm going to be doing one post per chapter to keep me from filling the chapter end notes with extraneous information. Mild spoilers for chapter 1 below.

I spent more time than most people would consider necessary doing research for this story. I searched for Indiana radio stations, I searched for magazine covers, and in some cases I dug up real magazine articles. It's not like this is in any way necessary, but I find having real-world "props" in my head as I'm writing to be helpful, so here we are. I mean, I looked up a lot of things. I have tons of pictures of late 70's and early 80's bathrooms saved to my hard drive. I have a mid-80's photo of a McDonalds menu I found on Reddit. I paged through a ton of books on archive.org. When I got serious about writing this story (and fic for this fandom in general) I rewatched the entire series and took detailed notes in a googledoc that ended up spanning 163 pages. So, you know, all of that research has to go somewhere. Why not tumblr?

Let's start with WTPI: a real radio station in Indianapolis which went on the air in August 1984. I even found a logo here. If they were giving away buttons it's not hard to imagine they might have made t-shirts, too.

Below are the magazines Steve found in his dad's study, apart from the Harvard Business Review which did not have cover photos at the time (but you can access the articles here).

And here are the magazines Steve bought for Eddie at the Fair Mart.

Further to this, the Creem archives are available online, and this issue in particular can be found here.

Did you know Popular Mechanics is available to read on the Internet Archive? Here's the issue I decided Steve had in his room.

I also want to point out (because I don't think I've seen this come up in fic before) that Eddie actually has a lot of tattoos for the era. You look up photos or music videos from back then featuring the most popular metal musicians (here's one, for example), and you see a bunch of very skinny long-haired white dudes in white sneakers or high-heeled boots (at the time combat boots were more associated with punk than metal) who generally have like one tattoo at best. Even the members of Mötley Crüe didn't have all that many yet (see for example the Home Sweet Home video from 1985). Having a tattoo at all, any kind of tattoo, was considered incredibly subversive, and that didn't really start changing until the mid-to-late 90's.

Some general notes on canon divergence:

I decided pretty early on to kill Vecna and in doing so avert the mini-apocalypse in Hawkins, for no other reason than I don't find Vecna interesting as a villain and didn't feel like dealing with multiple gaping portals into a hell-dimension.

I chose to tweak the confrontation between the Creel house team and the jocks - you might notice Erica says she narrowly avoided being tackled by Andy - because I hated that scene, quite frankly. I couldn't figure out a way to get Lucas away from Jason, but I could at least keep Erica from getting tackled by a full-grown man :|

Lastly: Eddie's battle jacket (aka the vest). I didn't realize Steve presumably left it at The War Zone - he wore it in, and when they left he wasn't wearing it anymore - until the abovementioned note-taking rewatch and I was uhhhhh not impressed. A battle jacket means something! It's personal! So, you know, through the magic of fan fiction I fixed it.

[song-of-oots]

#sabine has had an interesting development alongside rich burlew's own development as a writer#the very start with all the sexism it was like... hnngh maybe stop with all the ''whore'' and ''bitch''#(although haley can absolutely keep ''sneak attack bitch!'')#but as you get to see more of her she becomes far more interesting and yeah her relationship with nale is...#i was gonna say ''ethical non-monogany'' but ''ethical'' is not. not really a great word to describe an Evil succubus who sacrifices people#also to the point about nale's shock - i always read it as shocked at the *timing*#like it's not ''you've had sex with (presumably) four different people?!''#it's ''how did you manage to fuck four people in like three hours?!''#i do want to see her come up before the ending although i'm not really sure in what context she would#she is working for the ifcc so it's possible that when they reappear she will too#regardless to my original point#sabine is a great example of how burlew has grown as a writer and how the characters have become far more complex over the years#i keep trying to tell people - yes there's a lot of casual sexism and homophobia at the start but it was 2003 and that was normal!#it gets better! burlew gets so much better! he even calls himself out on it in a later strip!#these tags have gotten out of hand sorry but i have Feelings about oots and this fandom is like twelve people and a cat (and a dinosaur)#someone scream about oots with me!

@andromeda3116 these tags are raising some very interesting points so I hope you don't mind me reblogging them. I've actually been meaning to respond to this for ages, but then got ludicrously busy.

The slurs Haley throws at Sabine in the early strips didn't bother me so much initially not because I agree with them (I never have), but because I don't like all female protagonists to be heavily sanitised and overly perfect, and unfortunately it is quite possible for women to also perpetuate misogyny. Also my general policy on this sort of thing is to judge the work on its overall messaging, rather than the actions of one specific character. It would have bothered me a lot more if I'd felt that the comic was trying to portray Haley's language as justified, rather than a plausible character flaw - and I think Rich has confirmed that's basically all he intended by it. Having said that, I'm extremely glad that he also made the choice to have Haley move on from that. Not only is there a dearth of female characters in the early part of the story, Haley was the only prominent heroine, and it takes a few hundred strips until we see her with a sustained positive relationship with other women. I can certainly see why many people felt that it's really less than ideal to have your principal female protagonist throwing around that kind of language, particularly in those circumstances (so-called realistic flaws be damned).

This is actually a really good example for why I love Order of the Stick so much in spite of and in some ways because of its flaws - because you get to see that development as a writer, not only in terms of the deeper characterisation, more intricate plot etc. but also in how Rich Burlew grapples with moral/social issues and puts an increasing amount of thought into what messages his work is conveying. No person or piece of work is perfect but progress is possible. It's good to have a concrete demonstration of that.

Another example is the very conscious decision to stop sexualising all his female characters (I don't mind female characters being in sexual situations, but if the vast majority are fulfilling some romantic/sexual function and the men aren't? It's incredibly tiresome). It's so refreshing for an author to just say upfront: "my bad, I'll try to do better in future" and take it seriously, without feeling the need to get defensive and come up with loads of dubious justifications.

Separate point: I think it's pretty likely Sabine will return (for the first time ever in the new art style!) as she's still involved in whatever the IFCC is up to. It'll be very interesting to see how Nale's death has affected her.

A bunch of reasons why I have a soft spot for Sabine:

1) I like her understated comradery with Vaarsuvius.

2) Her interaction with Miko was comedy gold.

3) I hugely enjoy the way she keeps getting used to subvert traditional narratives around women’s attitudes to romance/sex (the revelation in strip 394 that she’s mad that Nale was trying to kill Haley, rather than sleep with her; strip 794 “women like me swoon for a hero, but that’s only because deep down, we think we can change them.”)

4) She may be a self-confessed “incarnation of illicit sex”, but the story isn’t usually interested in condemning her for her sexual proclivities (except for those occasions where she uses vengeful murder as an aphrodisiac, which: fair). The moral condemnation implied by the narrative is generally in reference to all of the aforementioned murder and also literally working for the forces of evil.

5) I also really like Sabine and Nale’s relationship. This isn’t because I’m particularly fond of Nale (I’m really not) but I do think it gives them both a bit of depth. I also like the fact that a non-monogamous relationship is treated as pretty non-sensational and valid (even if it did initially come as quite a shock to Nale; casually announcing you’ve had sex 4 times while off on a business trip and you don’t care who he sleeps with is probably not the best way of handling such things in real life). Anyway, if anything they are closer than ever in Blood Runs in the Family (despite a little insecurity on Nale’s part regarding Sabine’s attraction to Elan and all those edgy “good boys”). The occasionally-sleeping-with-other-people thing doesn’t actually disrupt their emotional bond at all. And basically, as a polyamorous person, it is pretty refreshing to see non-monogamy depicted in a way that doesn’t try to imply it is inherently inferior, and in the context of a relationship that is actually quite healthy (even if the rest of their behavior isn’t).

6) She helped V to thwart Tarquin, which is kind of covered in point 1, but I think it deserves a separate bullet point and quite probably it’s own separate post one day simply because I love the significance of this narratively. (In fact I hope she has a hand in Tarquin’s eventual downfall, though that doesn’t seem overly likely.)

7) She’s hot. (My husband suggested I add this one, and on consideration I realised it probably is a contributory factor so I agreed).

[gffa]

Hi! I just got back into Star Wars and while the movies and shows aren’t too hard to find, finding the books, comics, and other Star Wars media feels very daunting to me. I have no idea where to start or what writers seem to understand the material/characters. Not to mention it’s all so expensive.

Hi! Welcome back to Star Wars fandom! If you want, I have done a few posts on novel recs and comics recs (which presume an interest in the prequels at the very least, fair warning! XD) if you want to read through them and figure out which ones sound good to you. For me, my comic recs always start with the 2015 Star Wars series by Jason Aaron and the 2015 Darth Vader comic by Kieron Gillen (at least the first six issues of both series are meant to be read concurrently, so I would switch off with every issue for the first bit of them, but honestly they're more companions that enhance each other, rather than that you NEED to read them in that order) and then the 2017 Darth Vader comic run, those are the ones that I think form the best foundation for getting familiar with SW comics. For books, the Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover and the recent Padawan by Kiersten White set a pretty high standard for me that usually only fic can reach, but I do enjoy Karen Miller's books (they have issues re: understanding the Jedi at times imo, but they're incredibly fun and that lady could turn a phrase like nobody's business, I always have feelings about Obi-Wan and Anakin while reading her work) and would start with Wild Space, and Dark Rendezvous and Shatterpoint are both pretty good! (I have friends who greatly enjoyed Rogue Planet by Greg Bear as well, but I haven't finished it yet myself.) And I hear you on how expensive things can get, which is why I always, always, always want to encourage getting a library card! Your library may have so many of these books/comics (or you can often suggest right on the site that they get a book/comic in!) that you can get in the physical library or through Overdrive digitally, but also if your library partners with Hoopla, then you can use your library card to log in and they have a bunch of Star Wars stuff. Not everything, they're only partnered with certain publishing houses (but they have all the Disney publishing stuff, which is a lot) but it's a great way to test out the waters without having to spend a ton of money and it supports authors by going through the library!

[jesswritesthat]

Ushijima Wakatoshi: Always

Fandom: Haikyuu!! — [ Masterlist ]

Summary: ~2.5k. Lil fluff, lil drama

• You were always by Ushijima and vice versa, but it sends shockwaves into your friendship when suddenly you aren’t anymore.

Warnings: ...2500+ words... im sorry I got carried away

>>>>———————���——>

"That was incredible Ushijima!"

"What do you expect from one of the top Aces in Japan?!"

"Senpai could you -"

"(Y/n)." It effortlessly cut every compliment down, deadpan gaze sending chills down the spines of his admiring peers to be met with your analytical ones. The expectation was one you were used to, even if he hadn't explicitly mentioned anything - your name was all you needed, in that straightforward tone that silently asked for your input.

You skipped past pointless compliments just as you always had with him, he knew he was talented so he always pried you for more than that.

"You could've hit it from a higher contact point, it'd make it harder for Kawanishi and Tendō to block it." You gave a haphazard tilt of your head, contrasting the depth of your observation whilst Satori shot you an incredulous look and Ushijima simply nodded in understanding before performing a spike mirroring your altercations.

The Ace once more locked irises with you, seeking approval as to whether it was an improvement to the previous hit and you nodded in reply - these commonplace 'psychic' conversations earning an amused chuckle from the red head.

"You really trust (Y/n)-chan, huh Wakatoshi?"

"Always."

Always.

That's the best possible description you had for your friendship with 'Ushiwaka' and the current Team of Shiratorizawa fell short on applicable definitions also - ones that weren’t teasing that is.

Ushijima had been by your side for as long as you could remember, and vice versa, you'd survived Elementary School, Middle School, many spikes to your body and were now in your final year of High School together.

That's how the team became well acquainted with you over the past 2 years, being their Manager certainly aided that but the ease of conversation and contact Wakatoshi exhibited toward you piqued their interest firsthand - no we aren't dating, yes we're both single, it's none of your business who has a crush on who, we're here to play Volleyball not question our love lives!

However, any ongoing hopeful suspicion was brutally eradicated when a former project partner of yours unintentionally disrupted practice by slinging a friendly arm around your shoulder -

"Shit Kaito, dodge!" Came your panicked vocals, tugging the boy further into your proximity to narrowly avoid a hurtling spike from Ushijima.

The chaos fell into a tense silence, the Team completely aware that their Aces aim was drastically awry - though they breathed nothing of it once witnessing how his brows furrowed incomprehensibly, gazing to you with almost a flash of hurt.

"Why is he here?" There was a subtle indication to the student currently sharing a loose embrace with you, having not released each other yet.

"I don't know, I hadn't the chance to ask since you nearly killed him with that spike of yours Toshi!" You hollered back, an air of playfulness to your voice but the discomfort in it remained clear. To Ushijima anyway.

"I was momentarily distracted which I will improve on, so Kaito why are you here?"

Your friend jumped slightly when Ushijima addressed him, not accustomed to his blunt straightforwardness but managed an upbeat reply regardless of his initial stammering.

"Uh - um, I came to see (Y/n)-chan~"

"(Y/n)-chan? That's quite informal."

"Ah sorry Ushijima-san, I meant (L/n) - um please could I talk to you outside?" Kaito sheepishly inquired presumably feeling uncomfortable with the weight of Wakatoshis analytical gaze, but keeping an elegantly regal hold on your hand like you were that of royalty Kaito parted from you, hoping you'd accompany him.

Chuckling at his dramatic antics, you flicked your attention back to an eerily observant Volleyball club and issued your decision.

"I'll be back in second guys."

"Are you just going to let that guy take your partner away Ushijima?" Tendō playfully mocked, clapping his friends shoulder with a sly smile - though as always, the Ace remained oblivious to his subtle insinuations leaving him to sigh.

"(Y/n) isn't my partner, and even if that were true, I hold no authority over their decisions."

It was a few minutes before you reappeared in the sports hall again and automatically, your presence was registered by the Captain in a tone you knew all to well - but with an undefined sway to his voice.

"(Y/n)."

"Oh yeah, that spike was powerful and your aim is back on track, you could alter your hang time a little to offset the blockers if you wanted." Was your analysis of the hit he’d made as you re-entered, a vague gesture of your hand emphasising your point but Wakatoshi only furrowed his brows and shook his head.

"Not that, did Kaito want something?"

Tendō frantically clung to Semi in the background, dramatically 'dying' over the fact that his best friend has asked something non-Volleyball related, much to the sheer aggravation of the aforementioned Setter. The sight was enough to force you to subdue a smile, biting your lip and focusing on the approaching Captain.

"Nothing really, he wants to hang out this weekend."

"Like a date (Y/n)-Senpai?" Goshiki urgently cut in, both you and Ushijima snapping to him with varying degrees of intimidation.

"Get back to practice if you want to be the next Ace, Tsutomu~" Came your sing song tone, the first years' posture stiffening and immediately rushing off with a salute as you followed him back to the courts.

A skilful dodge in retrospect...

Ushijima leaned against the wall once the training session came to an end, his commanding eyes never leaving your figure for a second as you grabbed your belongings and turned to meet him with a raised brow.

It was common knowledge that you would both 99% of the time wait to walk home together and so the Team offered their farewells as they passed, Wakatoshi waiting until you were alone to break the ominous silence.

"You didn't answer earlier."

It wasn't that you were trying to avoid it, you didn't even know why you were so hesitant to discuss dating with Wakatoshi - he certainly wouldn't judge you, he had always been a good listener but maybe, you just stupidly didn't want him to think you were unavailable. You scoffed at that immature thought, like 'Mr Super Ace' would care anyway.

"It's for a date, yes."

"..."

There was a moment or two, yourself walking past him into the soft breeze - "Do you like him?" - that ceased your footsteps, resisting the urge to turn around wearing a surprised expression, instead taking a second of silence to compose yourself and looking back with a proud smile.

"If I didn't like him, I wouldn't be doing this."

"Hm." It was a hum of acknowledgment, contemplating the weight of your statement prior to reaching your side and beginning your walk home.

Those few seconds of silence were truly silent, especially when Ushijima had never viewed the silences between you as such - normally a form of comfortable communication.

———

Any impact of your sporadic absences at extra practice remained undetectable in Ushijima for the most part, he acted as indifferent as always and his stoic expression was nothing out of the ordinary either. The only indicatior was one unfathomable slip up - one that effectively drew Wakatoshi to unexpected realisations also.

It was a Friday evening, you’d left early to see Kaito but subconsciously the Ace instantly sought your evaluation after a spike. “(Y/n).”

The team slowed to a perplexed standing, informing him of your renowned disappearance - Tendō more bemused than most as he’d calmly apologised for his mistake.

You were always by his side, both figuratively and usually literally so it was inconceivable that one day you wouldn't be. The saying 'you don't miss something until it's gone' never really adhered to the Ace, believing that he'd never give up Volleyball so it didn't concern him. However, is it possible that he'd overlooked other aspects of life, like you for instance? Yes, Volleyball was undoubtedly his passion but you were a massive entanglement in it too, having lost count of the hours you'd shared on the court and times he'd accidentally K.O'd you with a spike. With that logic, if he was so determined to cultivate his volleyball career then he'd decided you deserved the same devotion, of which you'd always given him.

"Wakatoshi, everything alright?" Reon suspiciously quizzed, noting that his instinctive miscalculation didn't require such intense mulling over and hoped the friendly slap to his shoulder would snap him out of it.

"No, I need to find (Y/n) after practice."

"Aw, are you missing our little manager-chan~" Tendō cut in, a sing song voice in tow accompanied by a signature dance.

"Yes, I always do when (Y/n) isn't here. Don't you?" The sheer deadpan of it ceased the redheads effort, a dejected brow raised in ‘thought’ as he shrugged.

"Eh, probably not the same way you're talking about buddy but that's for you to figure out I guess..."

———

[ Ushiwaka: Are we still walking to practice together on Saturday? ]

Not once had he ever felt the need to ask before, but with the unpredictable variable of Kaito sweeping you away, it was better to do so.

[ (N/n): I'll likely be at the Shopping District so I don’t want you to go out of your way. But we'll be done by practice time as Kaito needs to be somewhere✌️]

[ Ushiwaka: I'll meet you there, it'll be a worthwhile jog. ]

[ (N/n): You don't have to, it's a bit of detour Toshi but thank you. 😊 ]

[ Ushiwaka: If I didn't want to, I wouldn't do it. See you (Y/n). ]

It closely mirrored your previous justification regarding Kaito, best not to dwell on it and get caught up in hopeless fantasies though.

Come Saturday, you had eagerly completed your business with Kaito and were in the midst of an encouraging pep talk by the time Ushijima clocked your position - giving your classmate a hug and pushing him in the opposite direction with a mischievous smile.

Your date had apparently gone well.

Once joining Wakatoshi, you offered a bottle of water and a knowing grin.

"Here, wouldn't be a great Manager if I wasn't prepared." Though not out of breath, having grown accustomed to much longer runs, the Ace accepted the token regardless and nodded in gratitude.

Then you began your walk to Shiratorizawa, passing through the district as you sustained a majority of conversation before you abruptly came to a stammering halt - suddenly ushering a puzzled Ushijima to a standstill as you covertly scouted the area like you were on some kind of mission, a hand reaching back to remain on his torso to keep him there whilst you evaluated.

The Spiker only managed a gruff sound, a strong grip on your shoulder pulling you back into him slightly so he could peer past your figure and soon determined the object of fascination - Kaito-san, and a girl he'd seen around school.

It didn't make much sense to him, nor did your anticipating aura by the fact he was with another partner - were you excited?

Then he kissed her.

Instantly, a flash of fury crossed Wakatoshis' blazing irises, the one only seen during the heat of intense Volleyball Matches so when he brushed past you with a sense of dangerous determination you were quick to recognise such a trait.

"Woah Ushijima! What are you doing?" It was spontaneous, surging forward to latch onto his arm and weigh down his stride as you whisper yelled your question. Not that the loved up pair could possibly hear you.

"I'm not going to allow him to cheat on you, especially when you mean so much to me. I believe you deserve better and I'm certain I could do so." Ushijima justified, more than confused with how effortlessly your were taking such a scandal.

"Kaito? He's not cheating on me! I was helping him prepare for his dates, not going out with him." Was your hushed whisper, an underlying lilt of amusement there - until you were interrupted.

“I had the best assistance...”

Ushijima stood stoically and managed to emit an aura of protection, if you weren't so famous around school then meeting the two of you together would be the equivalent of the daunting power couple from a stereotypical Teen Romcom, exuding strength and skill that you were more than capable of backing up. Except, you weren't that bitchy.

"Ah no wonder Kaito-san, you got Shiratorizawas’ Power Couple to help you." Kaitos’ date happily observed, intertwining their fingers with a doe-eyed look.

"I didn't realise you were packing power (Y/n)." Wakatoshi turned to you with his deadpan expression, gaze gracing up and down your figure as he said so.

"I'm powerful enough to keep our Team in check, give me some credit Ushiwaka~" You crossed your arms with an offended pout - the couple finding unintentional humour in Wakatoshis comment - the Ace nodding in confirmation.

"That's a valid point."

The pair cheerfully parted from you with friendly waves, a muttering of 'couple goals' overheard from the girl which made Ushijima and yourself snap to them with mild incomprehensible looks.

It wasn’t until you were far from the Shopping District that Ushijima spoke up again.

"I should've expressed that we aren't a couple yet."

"Yeah that - Yet? What the heck do you mean by that?!" You knew Ushijima wasn't one to mince words, they were always genuine which is why this had you internally frantic with your tone cracking due to the shock.

Not that Wakatoshi took your whiplashing emotions into consideration prior to voicing his next statement.

"Exactly as it sounds, I hadn't asked you to be my partner but I'm confident in our compatibility, I'd make you happy and trust you just as we do now."

"That's not the kind of logic - or way - to ask someone out. Do you even see me romantically?" You placed dire emphasis on the important information, the part you clearly needed to translate to him with a worrisome expression.

"It's difficult to explain... But my way of putting it is that I couldn't imagine my life without you, I want you by my side for as long you'll allow because there's no one else I have nor want this connection with."

"Yes but... things can change. You’d likely date for marriage, someone to build a future with so I don’t see why you’re saying this... to me...” It was true, you couldn’t understand it as you supposed you’d always be friends and nothing more, you had to be certain.

Ushijima listened, not missing a beat as he elaborated on his thoughts more than he usually would. This was meaningful, he knew, and wanted you to feel the emotion through his words since it wasn’t his best trait.

"When I think of my future and Professional Volleyball career, you are always in it - you're naturally apart of my ideal future. Don’t people love and marry their best friends?” He stepped into your path this time, successfully halting the two of you and offered his full attention with a cute tilt of his head once voicing his final question.

"Tendō would be heartbroken.”

Unexpected yes, but it somehow brought a small smile to his lips and a genuine deep chuckle escaped him - once more Ushijima met your gaze with a striking one of his own.

“It’s a different kind of love, he’ll understand.” Again he hadn’t meant it to be funny but you couldn’t help but laugh, it also eased your accumulated nerves to a degree.

"Hey, maybe we could skip practice and go on our first date?" You wittily proposed, mischief lacing your tone as you walked through the gates of Shiratorizawa.

"No." His answer was instantaneous, not a millisecond of hesitation which sent you into flurries of giggles which only perplexed your Ace.

"Why are you laughing, I thought you'd be upset?"

"Oh c'mon, I've known you for years - you really think I'd be so naive Toshi?" You placed a gentle hand on his upper arm as testament to your bright mood, you knew a Top 3 Ace wouldn’t brush off practice - Ushijima would make it even if he was halfway across Japan.

"Yet still, you were tactless enough to ask." With his semi-playful remark, Wakatoshi manoeuvred his arm to wrap around your shoulders and pull you closer whilst your voice took to a quieter octave.

"That’s why you like me right?"

"No, there are many reasons as to why I like you (Y/n), I manage to find more everyday but we can check out this new restaurant I found in the advertisements after practice if you want?"

Typical, he’d read the ads rather than the actual newspaper which only caused you to smile more as you entered the gymnasium and slipped from his embrace but keeping ahold of his hands before parting completely.

"Sounds great -"

"Yo lovebirds, anything new happen?" The exuberant voice of Satori echoed in the hall, Ushijima stating things as simple as they were which effectively knocked the entire team into breatheless shock with the unadulterated casualness of:

"Yes. (Y/n) and I are 'official'."

Merely a few seconds managed to pass whilst the team digested the information prior to Tendō sparking to life and almost jumping onto Semi Eita.

"Guessed it! Semi-semi you owe me ¥1000!"

"Wait, I thought you'd been together for the past year?!" Shirabu proclaimed, running a hand through his hair and looking to fellow Second Years who shared in his horror - Satori only laughed, lolling his head to smugly smirk at you and Wakatoshi.

"You what?! Hah, they've just been pining. Our poor underclassmen, so naive~"

"Tendō you knew?!" Was your embarrassingly defensive question, hiding your face from his oncoming taunting.

"Aw manager-chan, they don't call me Guess Monster for nothin'~"

<——————————<<<<

[ Masterlist ]

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Finally done with this chapter and this arc. Can’t believe I have an entire post that’s just about Tsukauchi Naomasa. The discord server is so happy. There’s a lot of Naomasa love in there, and I mean, can you blame them? Dude is the straight man in a world of shounen bullshit. Gotta respect his ability to take everything happening in stride.

[No. 21 - In Each of Our Hearts]

We have brief passage of time wherein the police arrive at the USJ. We see Tsukauchi doing a headcount of the students while Sansa is directing the other police in containing and leading the villains out of the building. Naomasa is able to determine that, aside from the one with the messed up legs (Izuku), all of the students are unharmed. As if to confirm this, we get some wide shots of the class in two panels, showing everyone to be perhaps roughed up, but not really injured.

Hagakure puts her hand on Ojiro’s shoulder, commenting on how he’d ended up in the fire zone, and on his own at that, with a small congratulations. Ojiro admits he’d thought everyone was alone, and that he’d only survived with hit-and-run tactics. He then asks Hagakure where she was, and she points out Todoroki before stating she’d been in the landslide area, and that Todoroki’s crazy strong. We see Todoroki and his worry that he could have frozen her, while Ojiro in the background just says that he’s glad she’s okay.

Aoyama, of course, then tries to take center stage. Aoyama seems like he’s about to reveal where he’d been, but then turns to the other students to ask them if they have any ideas. 

He first tries the group consisting of Tokoyami, Koda, Kirishima, and Kaminari, but all of them are busy with a conversation. Tokoyami makes a comment on how he guesses ‘those lowlifes’ were spread out, waiting for them. Kirishima slams a fist into the palm of his other hand and complains about how the villains had been looking down on them because they were kids.

Then he turns to Tsuyu, asking her where she thinks he was. She plays along for a bit, asking him where, only for Aoyama to dramatically turn away and pose while stating that it’s a secret. Tsuyu turns her attention back to Tsukauchi, completely uninterested in his shenanigans. 

Tsukauchi states that they (likely meaning the police and pro heroes) are going to get the students back to the classroom for now, and that this is no time to take their statements. Tsuyu asks after Aizawa, and Naomasa gives her the details - both arms smashed to splinters, face is fractured. Thankfully, there’s no brain damage, but his eye sockets have been pulverized, so there’s a chance he may suffer long-term loss of vision - or so he hears. He seems to be on a call with the hospital at the time, or perhaps the station where all of this cleanup and investigation are being processed.

This is not exactly the welcome news Tsuyu or Mineta were looking for, both of them looking pretty torn up over it.

Tsukauchi continues down the list of injuries - Thirteen has terrible lacerations across her back and upper arms, but her life isn’t in danger. All Might’s injuries aren’t life threatening either; it’s likely that Recovery Girl’s healing will be enough for him, so he’s gone off to the nurse’s office instead. 

Ochako and Tenya, basically in unison, ask after Izuku, worry etched across their faces. Naomasa takes a second to place the name, but confirms that Izuku also made it to the nurse’s office in time. He then states that he happens to have business there himself, so he’ll leave the rest of the cleanup to Sansa. Sansa gives a salute and confirmation. 

(Meanwhile, Ochako and Ashido are both puzzled because Sansa’s not a dog. Don’t be rude, girls.)

Nedzu notes that UA will need to completely revamp their security systems. Midnight adds on how teleportation quirks are rare enough, and that it’s a shame one of them had to go and turn villain. 

Another officer shows up to report to Tsukauchi, stating that they’ve apprehended what seems to be a villain in a thicket about 400 meters from the USJ. Tsukauchi asks what condition the villain is in, and the officer states that the villain seems unharmed, and that he didn’t resist arrest. He also adds that, oddly enough, the villain isn’t responding in any way, and appears to be mute.

Tsukauchi turns to Nedzu, asking for the opportunity to go over the school with a fine tooth comb. Nedzu gives him the go-ahead, saying that some won’t be happy, but the police certainly have jurisdiction. He notes that investigations are Tsukauchi’s field of expertise, so he can do what he feels is necessary.

We transition to the nurse’s office, with Izuku and Toshinori both stuck in bedrest. And honestly, I just cannot get over how tall Toshinori is, like.

Look at that. If he picked up Izuku for a hug, Izuku’s feet would maybe reach his knees. 

Anyways. Plot. Yes. Recovery Girl tells the two of them that, the situation being what it was, she can’t really scold them this time. Toshinori says that he thinks he’s probably shortened his time limit again, and that he’ll be lucky if he can still get an hour a day. Izuku’s worried about him, but Toshinori shoves himself up into a sitting position with a groan, shrugging it off with a ‘what can you do? Bad things happen.’

The nurse’s office door opened, Tsukauchi letting himself in with an apology for the intrusion/interruption. He greets Toshinori as an old friend, while Toshinori’s surprised Tsukauchi is here. Izuku shoots up into a seated position, worried about if it’s okay for Toshinori to be seen while he’s not buffed up. Toshinori says it’s fine, then gets a bit silly about his introduction of Tsukauchi to Izuku.

Tsukauchi calling him out on the weird intro though. Like I said, this man really puts up with so much shounen-world bullshit as the straight man. 

Tsukauchi then bring up his reason for stopping by - not to rush Toshinori or anything, but he’d like to ask about the villains. Toshinori interrupts him to ask if the students are alright, as well as Aizawa and Thirteen. Tsukauchi’s quiet for a moment, before huffing a laugh. He says that besides Izuku, the students have nothing more than a few bumps and bruises. The two teachers are also out of danger for now. If the three hadn’t put their lives on the line, the students wouldn’t have made it out unscathed.

Toshinori acknowledges the report, but tells Tsukauchi he’s got one thing wrong, which draws a surprised frown from him. Toshinori goes on to explain how in that fight, the students put their lives on the line too. To be thrown into a real battle so young and survive - now these first years know how scary the wider world can be. Has he ever heard of such a class? The villains picked the wrong fight, because the members of class 1a are going to be might heroes indeed - and he’s going to make sure of it.

All Might really does have completely faith in this class, it’s incredible. 

As an aside, I know it’s probably a small editing mistake, but Izuku lying back down in one panel just to be back up in a seated position the next one is just. Fucking hilarious.

As a last weird bit. Tsukauchi just. Tapping his ear here? Either that’s a teeny foreshadowing of the quirk the fandom believes he has, or it’s just. A really weird gesture. 

(I want to clarify, for people who aren’t aware of it, but Horikoshi has never actually confirmed that Tsukauchi has a truth-sensing quirk. His sister’s quirk, which is touch-based lie detection, is confirmed in the Vigilantes side manga, but not his!)

We get some narration as time passes - classes were cancelled the next day (Thursday), but the class couldn’t rest easy. After that (presumably the day after, which would be Friday), we come back to all of the class waiting for morning homeroom to start. Tenya is vibrating as he directs the class, stating that morning homeroom’s about to begin, so everyone to their seats. Sero points out that everyone else is sitting, and that he’s the only one up. 

The classroom door opens to reveal a heavily bandaged Aizawa, who gives them a brief greeting as he wobbles his way in. The class is shocked that he’s back already, calling him an undeniable pro. Tenya, who finally is in his seat, snaps his hand up as he states he’s glad to see him doing well, which Ochako mutters about whether you can really call that ‘doing well.’

Aizawa shakes his head, stating that his welfare isn’t important, because their fight is far from over. The class is confused at that statement, with Katsuki, Izuku, and Mineta all questioning his statement. Aizawa clarifies himself - UA’s sports festival is fast approaching.

The class gasps, clamoring about how that’s so totally ordinary.

And with that, we’ve wrapped up the chapter and the USJ arc. I’ll probably do a few side posts before moving on to said arc, since the sports festival is 23 chapters long (ch 22-44) - longer than everything that’s happened up to this point in the manga!

If you have any questions / thoughts / observations you want to share, feel free to! I like hearing what y’all think about this early stuff, especially those of you who were anime-only and so seeing some of this stuff for the first time or used differently by the show.

[aces-to-apples]

Your Reputation Precedes You

A response to “On Fandom Racism (and That Conlang People Are Talking About)” because lmao that cowardly bitch just hates getting feedback from people that she can’t then harass into oblivion

i.e. God I Wish I Could Use The Tag Fandom Wank Without The Titty Police Nerfing My Post

-

To be frank, I'm not here because I think you or any of your little cronies are going to change your minds. If the 'name' wasn't a giveaway, your group of ~likeminded individuals~ have quite the reputation for espousing ableist, antisemitic, and, yes, racist views under wafer-thin the veneer of "calling out racism." I think we both know that what you're actually doing is using the relative anonymity of the internet and progressive language to abuse, harass, and bully fans that you personally disagree with. You and your group are toxic, hateful, and utterly pathetic, using many peoples' genuine desire to avoid accidentally causing harm and twisting it into this horrid parade of submissiveness to You, The One And Only Arbiter Of Truth And Justice In Fandom. Never mind that you have derided autistic people as lacking compassion and empathy, that you've used racist colonizer dogwhistles to describe a fictional culture based heavily on real live Maori culture, that you've mocked the idea of characters having PTSD, or that vital mental health services are anything more than "talking about your feelings with friends uwu." Let's just ignore that you have ridiculed the idea of adults in positions of power exerting that power over children in harmful and abusive ways, that creating transformative fan-content that doesn't adhere to the spirit of canon or wishes of the original author garners derision and hatefulness from you, and that you've used classic abuser tactics in order to gaslight people in your orbit into behaving more submissively towards you in order to avoid more verbal abuse.

Let's toss all of that crucial context aside in favor of only what you've written here.

What you've written here is nearly 3,000 entire words based on, at best—though, admittedly, based on your previous behavior, I am actually not willing to extend to you an iota of good faith—fallacious reasoning. You posit that a constructed language, to be used by a fictional religious group located in an entirely different galaxy than our own, is othering, racist in general, and anti-Asian specifically. This appears based in several suppositions, the first being that a language unknown by the reader will, by nature, cause the reader to feel alienated from the characters and therefore less sympathetic, empathetic, and caring towards the characters. That idea is patently ridiculous and, I believe, says far more about your ability to connect to a character speaking an unfamiliar language than any kind of overarching truth about media and the human condition. New things are interesting; new things are fun; the human brain is wired from birth to be fascinated with new things, to want to take them apart, find out how they work, and enjoy both the process and the results.

The second supposition this fallacy is based upon appears to be that to move away from the blatant Orientalism of Star Wars is inherently anti-Asian. While I find it... frankly, a little bit sad that you cling so viciously to the Orientalist, appropriative roots of Star Wars as some form of genuine representation, that's really none of my business. If you feel that a Muslim-coded character bombing a temple and becoming a terrorist and a Sith, a white woman wearing Mongolian wedding garb, a species of decadent slug-like gangsters smoking out of hookahs and keeping attractive young women chained at their feet (as it were), a species of greedy money-grubbers with exaggerated features and offensively stereotypical "Asian" accents, and an indigenous people wearing modesty garb based on the Bedu people and treated by most characters as well as the narrative as mindless animals deserving of murder and genocide are appropriate representation of the many, varied, and beautiful cultures around the world upon which they were "based," then that is very much your business. Until you pull shit like this. Until you accuse other fans, who wish to move away from such offensive coding and stereotypes, of erasing Asian culture from Star Wars. Then it becomes everyone's business, especially when you are targeting a loving and enthusiastic group of fans who are pouring their hearts and souls into creating an inventive and non-appropriative alternative to canon.

Which leads into the third supposition, that a patently racist, misogynistic white man in the 1970s, and then again in the 1990s, intended his universe to be an accurate and respectful portrayal of the various cultures he stole from. I understand that for your group of toxic bullies, the term "Death of the Author" holds no real meaning, but the simple fact of the matter is that George Lucas based his white-centered space adventure on Samurai movies while removing the cultural context that gave them any meaning, because he liked the idea of swords and noble warriors in space. He based the Force and the Jedi Order on belief systems such as Taoism and Buddhism, but only on the surface, without putting any real effort into into portraying them earnestly or accurately. He consistently disrespected both characters of color and characters coded to be a certain race, ethnicity, culture, or religion, and likewise disrespected and stole from the cultures upon which he based them. He was, and continues to be, a racist white man who wrote a racist story. His universe has Orientalism baked into its every facet, and the idea that fans who wish to move away from this and interrogate and transform the text into something better than what it is are racist is not only laughable, but incredibly disingenuous and insidious.

As I said, I am not writing this to change your mind, because I truly believe that you already know that "cOnLaNgS aRe RaCiSt" is a ridiculous statement. The way you've comported yourself in fandom spaces thus far has shown to me that you are nothing more than a bully who knows that the anti-racist movement in fandom can be co-opted for your benefit. If you tout your Asian heritage and use the right language, make the "right" accusations and take advantage of white guilt and white ignorance, you can have dozens of people falling at your feet, begging for forgiveness, for absolution. And I think that gives you a thrill. So, no, none of this will change your mind because none of this is genuinely about racism—it's about power, it's about control, it's about fandom being the only space where you have some.

So I'm writing this for the creators of this wonderful conlang, which has been crafted by multiple people including people of color, who don't deserve this nonsensical vitriol, and for the fans reading this manipulative hate-fest, wondering if they really are Evil Racists because they don't participate in fandom the way you think they should.

Here it is: fandom has a lot of racism, antisemitism, misogyny, queerphobia, ableism, etc. baked into it. Unfortunately, such is the nature of living and growing up in societies and cultures that have the same. The important thing is to independently educate yourself on those issues and think critically about them—not "think critically" as in "to criticize" them, but to analyze, evaluate, pick apart, examine, and reconstruct them again in order to come to a well thought-out conclusion. Read this well-articulated attack on a group of fans who have always welcomed feedback and participation, are open about their backgrounds, their strengths and weaknesses, and wonder who is actually being genuine.

Is it the open and enthusiastic group who ask for the participation of others in this labor of love? Or is it the ringleader of a group of well-known bullies who have manipulated, gaslit, and then subsequently love-bomb people who did not simply roll over at the slightest hint of dominance? The ones who spent hours upon hours tearing apart, mocking, deriding, and falsely accusing authors of fanworks and metatextual works of various bigotries and -isms, knowing that those evaluations were spurious and meant only to cause harm, not genuine examinations of the works themselves or even presumed authorial intent. The ones who made their own, quote-unquote, community so negative and toxic that even after the departure of a large portion of them, including this author in particular, that community still has a reputation for being hateful, toxic, and full of mean-spirited harassers who will never look critically about their own behavior but only ever point fingers at others. The ones who are so very determined to cause misery wherever they go that as soon as their usual victims are no longer immediately available, they will turn on each other at the slightest hint of weakness.

This entire piece of (fan)work is misinformed at the most generous, disingenuous at the most objective, and downright spiteful when we get right into it. The creators of Dai Bendu, along with various other works, series, and fan events that these people personally dislike, have been targeted because it is so much easier to harass, bully, and use progressive language as a weapon against them, than it is to put any effort into making fandom spaces more informed, more positive, more respectful.

As someone rather eloquently put it, community is not a fucking spectator sport. You want a better community, you gotta work at it. And conversely, what you put into your community is what you'll get out of it. This author and their friends have put a lot of hate into their communities, and now they're toxic cesspools that people stay well away from, for fear of contracting some terrible form of harassment poisoning.

Congrats, Ri, you've gotten just what you wanted: adoring crowds listening to you spout your absolutely heinous personal views purely to live out some kind of power fantasy, and the rest of us staying well away, because fuck knows nothing kind, helpful, or in good faith has ever come from Virdant or her echo-chamber of petty, spiteful assholes.

No love, bad night.

P.S. Everyone actually in the Dai Bendu server knows your ass got kicked because you didn’t say shit for a full thirty days and ignored the announcement that inactive members would be culled. You ain’t cute pretending like it’s because you were ~*~Silenced~*~ after ~*~Valiantly~*~ attempting to call out racism. We see you.

[whumpwriterforlife]

How about concussion with Nyx? I love the way you write him(& Cor & Crowe)! I love everything you've written for FFXV, I'm so grateful you decided to join the fandom. Thanks!

Concussion with Nyx, here you go! This one is more soft and has more comfort than the previous ones. Kid Prompto makes an appearance too!

Concussion

Blue X's have been completed, pink ones have been requested. Just a heads up, "shaking and shivering" and "hurts to breathe" have both been requested twice with different characters and I'll have to choose between them. I'm very sorry about that. If your request doesn't get done, feel free to request another one.

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV

Characters: Nyx Ulric, Cor Leonis, Prompto Argentum and Crowe Altius

Whumpee: Nyx Ulric

Word Count: 2324

Warnings: None

Can also be read on ao3 here

----

“You’re an idiot, you know?”

“Shut up,” Nyx groaned, pulling the thin hospital blanket over his head. Everything hurt. Well, mostly it was his head that hurt — a terrible, piercing throb that made him want to bury himself under a mound of blankets and pass out until it was over. The mattress dipped as someone, presumably Crowe since she was the one currently berating him, sat on the bed. Nyx resisted the urge to whine like a child. He knew for a fact that he was lying down on the bed, not moving at all, but still he felt dizzy as if the world around him was spinning uncontrollably. A hand squeezed his shoulder. It was comforting, a welcome distraction from the pain. Nyx leaned into the touch.

“You are an idiot,” Crowe repeated. There was no real heat behind the words this time, only worry. Nyx would have frowned if his head hadn’t felt like it was on the brink of exploding. “You know better than to let yourself hit stasis like that!”

Nyx muttered something incoherent in response. It had been an accident. He hadn’t exactly meant to push himself that far but he had been too deep in his head, in his memories, to notice the warning signs before it had been too late. Crowe was right to call him an idiot. “Sorry.”

Crowe huffed. Nyx felt her shift on the bed and then the blanket was tugged down from his face. Nyx made a small, disgruntled noise at it but then Crowe was brushing stray hair away from his face and planting a kiss on his forehead. “You need to be more careful. We don’t want to lose you Nyx.”

Nyx sighed and braved the light of day as he peeled his eyes open. At some point someone must have pulled the blinds and dimmed the lights because he could keep his eyes open without feeling the sharp, jagged pain that had burned him the last time he had made the mistake of opening his eyes in broad daylight. Nyx reached for Crowe’s hand half blindly because he didn’t want to move his head. “You’re not going to get rid of me that easily, you guys will be stuck with me for a long time.”

Crowe’s lips twitched into a brief smile. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Nyx gave her a small smile back before he closed his eyes again. The light, even as little of it as there was, still hurt his eyes. “Did you talk to the doc?”

“They’ll discharge you in a few hours if you don’t take a turn for the worse,” Crowe told him. She moved again and Nyx felt her lie down next to him, their arms touching. Nyx smirked and offered no complaints even with how cramped the bed was with them both on it. Ever since the day Nyx had met Crowe, the woman had operated on the ‘what’s your is mine’ mentality — which apparently extended to hospital beds now as well. Nyx didn’t mind though, not when it meant he didn’t have to be alone there. Hospitals sucked.

“You’ll probably have at least one week off work, maybe two,” Crowe continued. “Lib called Cor and he’ll be waiting for you at home. He would come here but he has to make some arrangements so he can take the next few days off to keep an eye on your disastrous ass.”

“You’re the disaster,” Nyx muttered petulantly in response.

Crowe laughed. “Says the one who’s in a hospital bed with a bad concussion.”

“Shut up.”

----

Around three hours later, Crowe pulled up at Nyx’s house. Nyx was sitting on the passenger seat, wearing one of Libertus’ old hoodies with the hood pulled deep over his head to shield his eyes from the sunlight. He looked far from a top soldier at that moment. Crowe had told him he looked more like a moody teenager and Nyx had made to smack at her, only to miss because he couldn’t actually see much with the hood over his eyes.

“Cor is walking to the car, he’ll be opening your door in a moment,” Crowe said. “I’ll have to take the car back to the Citadel but I’ll be back later with Lib and dinner.”

Nyx hummed in response and tried not to twitch when the door on his side was opened.

“Thanks for bringing him home,” Cor said, his voice a low rumble. Crowe must have told him about the noise sensitivity. Nyx appreciated it. “Do you need help walking inside?”

“No problem. And he does,” Crowe said before Nyx could even open his mouth. “His balance is all screwed up, he’ll just faceplant if you let him try on his own.”

“You’re such a menace,” Nyx told her and pulled the hood back just enough to send a weak glare at her.

“You know I’m right.” She sounded incredibly pleased with herself.

“Children,” Cor said pointedly. “As much as I enjoy the bickering, I believe the doctor’s orders were for Nyx to rest and I don’t think this car is the right place for it.”

“Good luck with that,” Crowe muttered. Nyx smacked her in the arm — actually hitting his target this time — and Crowe just laughed at him. “I really need to get going, though, I didn’t really ask for permission when I took the car.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Cor said and Nyx just knew he was rolling his eyes. “If you get in any trouble over this, let me know and I’ll clear it up with the right people.”

Nyx tuned out Crowe’s response as he slowly started maneuvering his legs out of the car. His head didn’t enjoy the movement at all and a groan slipped from Nyx’s lips as his headache intensified. He hated concussions from the bottom of his heart. He leaned his head against the headrest, already dreading the walk into the house.

“Let me help you,” Cor told him softly. Nyx sighed and gave him a tiny nod, not wanting to speak. That was all Cor needed as he reached into the car, his hand sliding under Nyx’s arm and behind his back. It took a minute, maybe two, but soon they had Nyx upright. He leaned heavily against Cor, his eyes screwed tightly shut as he tried to breathe through the pain and rising nausea. The dizziness wasn’t doing him any favors. Cor and Crowe exchanged a few more words but Nyx was too busy feeling miserable to pay attention to what was said. Then the car door was closed and Nyx heard it back out from the driveway.

“You ready to go inside?” Cor asked.

Nyx leaned his head against Cor’s shoulder and groaned. He wanted to go inside and lay down in his bed but that would require him to actually walk there and he wasn’t a fan of that. Staying outside wasn’t an option either, though. “I don’t really have a lot of options…”

“I could always carry you,” Cor suggested.

“Only if you want me to throw up on you.” Nyx scoffed, followed by a moan when it jarred his head. “Let’s just walk. I can do this.” If the last part sounded more like he was trying to reassure himself, Cor didn’t mention it.

They slowly made their way towards the house. Cor kept the pace slow, not rushing Nyx at all. Nyx felt embarrassed by the whole thing but there was no way he could walk faster or without the support from Cor. The biggest problem came with the porch steps. Nyx wanted to just sink to the ground and stay there, his bed be damned. He was hurting and miserable, he would be fine on the grass, it was a warm day. Cor didn’t let him though. He basically carried Nyx up the steps and to the door.

“Watch your step with the threshold,” Cor murmured softly as he opened the door for them and helped Nyx inside. Nyx, to his credit, didn’t trip on the threshold even with his eyes tightly closed.

“Daddy!”

Nyx winced at Prompto’s excited shout. It sent a sharp spike of pain through his head and Nyx buried his head into Cor’s shoulder with a groan. He loved Prompto but his concussed brain didn’t love how loud the boy could be at times. Small arms wrapped around Nyx’s waist, a head pressing into his hoodie in a hug. Nyx lowered one of his hands into the soft mop that was Prompto’s hair. His voice had a rough edge to it and it lacked its usual enthusiasm but he still made a point to smile at the boy as he greeted him, “Hi, buddy.”

Prompto took a deep breath, one that Nyx knew meant he was about to excitedly share any and all interesting things that had happened during the day. There was a sinking feeling in Nyx’s gut but Cor took control of the situation before Prompto could get started. “Prom, kiddo, do you remember what we talked about earlier?”

There was a pause, and Prompto hugged Nyx tighter before taking a step back. Under the hood, Nyx caught a tiny glimpse of a worried look on the boy’s face. “That- that daddy’s hurt and we need to be quiet so we don’t hurt him… did I hurt daddy?”

Nyx's heart clenched at the anxious tone in Prompto’s voice. He could never handle it when Prompto was upset. He carefully reached forward to ruffle the boy’s head. “You didn’t hurt me, I promise.”

“You should still keep your voice down from now on, okay, bud?” Cor told Prompto. “Maybe you can cuddle with daddy when we get him to bed, cuddle him back to health?”

“Cuddles?” Prompto asked, his eyes widening with hope as he looked at Nyx.

Nyx nodded, even at the risk of his head hurting. “I would like that. Why don’t you go and change into your comfy cactuar PJs and meet us in our bedroom?”

The boy gave them both a bright smile before turning on his heels and sprinting in the direction of his room. Nyx smiled softly as he sagged against Cor. He wanted to kiss him for coming up with the idea and distracting Prompto to keep him from worrying. “You’re the best.”

“You should lie down,” Cor told him, pressing a small kiss on Nyx's temple. Nyx closed his eyes, melting into Cor’s arms. Cor’s chest rumbled with a quiet laugh. “Let’s get you into bed.”

Nyx made a small noise in agreement and let Cor guide him into their bedroom. The moment he lay down, he sunk into the mattress with a pleased sigh. He had somehow forgotten just how soft and comfortable it was. Cor chuckled at him and wordlessly set on getting Nyx out of his shoes.

“I love you,” Nyx murmured, his voice low. Cor was really going above and beyond for him, doing all of this without any complaints. He had even taken some days off work if Crowe was right. Nyx didn’t deserve him.

Cor dropped Nyx’s shoes onto the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. He took Nyx’s hand in his and leaned forward to kiss him. “I love you too. Do you need anything — water, painkillers?”

“I’m fine.” Nyx shook his head a tiny bit. “I’m sorry… for this. I should’ve been more careful. You don’t have to stay to take care of me, I know you have work.”

Cor sighed. He pulled away from Nyx for a moment. There was a shuffling sound and Nyx belatedly realized it was Cor shrugging off his jacket and taking off his shoes. Then the bed shifted again as Cor climbed over him. Nyx frowned softly in confusion but then hands snaked under his shoulders and he was pulled against Cor’s side. “Of course I’m going to stay you dumbass. You’re more important.”

“I’m still sorry,” Nyx said. It had been idiotic to push himself that far, especially in traininig. He knew better than that. He needed to pay attention and mind his limits so this didn’t happen again. It had just hit him hard. In a few days, he would have lived yet another year without Selena at his side. All because he had failed to save her. The realization had made him push himself hard, too hard, to the point at which he had hit stasis while still in mid-air.

Cor ran his fingers through Nyx’s hair, soft and gentle, bringing Nyx back to the present. “Don’t be. Yes, maybe you should have been more careful but I know this is a tough time for you. It’s okay. Try to get some rest.”

“Papa? Daddy?”

Nyx turned his head towards the doorway where Prompto was standing. He had changed into PJs and even had his favorite chocobo plushie in his arms as he looked at Nyx and Cor unsurely. Nyx opened his arms. “Come here, buddy.”

Prompto seemed to hesitate a moment but then he dashed across the floor and climbed onto the bed. He crawled straight into Nyx’s arms and buried his face in his neck. “I love you, daddy.”

“I love you too, Sunshine,” Nyx murmured into Prompto’s hair, rubbing his hand along Prompto’s back. “Are you going to help me feel better?”

Prompto nodded. He pulled back from the hug, sitting on his knees next to Nyx as he looked at the chocobo in his hands. “Mr. Feathers wanted to come too. He’s soft an’ good at cuddling.”

Nyx’s heart just about exploded from the cuteness overload right there and then. He opened his arms for Prompto again and the boy snuggled against his side with Mr. Feathers between them. There they were, their small family of three — plus Mr. Feathers — cuddling on the bed. It didn’t take long for Nyx to fall asleep.

[cyhyr]

KakaIru Maze 2021: Cursed Places

Fandom: Naruto

Rating: T

WC: ~4400

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Additional Tags: Devil's Bridge, Ghosts, Demons, Curses, Established Relationship, Love Confessions, Oaths & Vows, Presumed Dead, Pet Names

A/N: Hey y'all I'm back on my bullshit and writing nonsense again ;)

This is based on the legends of Devil's Bridges. The one I referenced is the Rakotzbrücke in Gablenz, Germany. The curse, however, I made up, after reading all of the other legends of other listed devil's bridges I could reasonably find.

Read on The Archive

~

“What a gorgeous bridge!”

“Careful, now; it looks rather old,” Iruka says, cautioning Kakashi’s genin as the three of them run up to the stream’s edge. They’re busy ooh-ing at the perfect circle the bridge makes with its reflection in the water, and Iruka’s watching them closely and is distracted.

Kakashi takes the opportunity to sneak behind Iruka and wrap his arms around his waist, to rest his chin on Iruka’s shoulder and press his nose into the soft skin behind Iruka’s ear. One of Iruka’s hands reaches back and snags his hair, pressing Kakashi’s face closer into his neck. He glances up—the kids are still distracted—and quickly shifts aside his mask and presses his teeth to the back of Iruka’s neck, kisses him, delights in the soft gasps he draws out.

“Kakashi,” Iruka's voice is warm and smooth, and he chuckles, “not now.”

Kakashi pulls back and replaces the mask. He shifts so he’s standing beside Iruka; drops one arm but keeps the other around his waist. He presses one last, masked kiss to Iruka’s hair, and then they begin walking again.

“Iruka-sensei! Are we crossing the bridge?” Naruto asks.

“There's no need,” Iruka says. He’s right. Even if their group wasn’t shinobi and knew how to walk on water, the stream is shallow enough that they could cross to the other bank with little problem. They stay on the path beside the water and approach the bridge, but don’t veer off to cross.

There’s a statue where the path turns off, and a sign in the arms of the stone figure. Sasuke is the one to stop and read it aloud. “Cursed Bridge: Do Not Cross.” He turns to the rest of the team and shrugs, “Guess it’s good we’re not going that way.”

“What? You scared, Sasuke?” Naruto taunts.

“No, he’s just smarter than you!” Sakura says. “It’s not a bad thing to avoid curses.”

Sasuke ignores her. “I’m not scared, idiot. I’ll be the first to cross the bridge and prove that the sign is a hoax.”

Before Naruto can get another word in to continue the fight, Iruka interrupts. “Our destination is another two day’s walk,” he snaps. “Admire the bridge’s architecture all you’d like, but we’re not tempting fate by messing with a clear warning.”

Kakashi, beside him, tamps down on his jumping heart. Iruka’s so cute when he gets worked up.

The kids think otherwise. All three of them fall back in line and keep walking. Sasuke hangs back a bit and mutters, “Sorry, sensei,” quietly enough that only Iruka and Kakashi can hear. He then joins Naruto and Sakura up ahead.

Kakashi takes a few steps to follow, but then notices that Iruka isn’t moving with him. His hand has slipped around and settled on Iruka’s back, and he calls out softly for his partner. “Iruka?”

Iruka is staring at the sign, head tilted. His feet are rooted, a defensive technique taught in order to withstand earth and lightning attacks. Kakashi takes Iruka’s hand, surreptitiously slips his thumb against Iruka’s pulse and frowns.

It’s really slow. They’d been walking since dawn. If anything, Kakashi expected his pulse to be faster than usual.

He tries again, a little louder. “Iruka? Love?”

“A fate worse than death awaits those who cross this bridge, lest their souls be theirs to lose,” Iruka mutters. He looks back at Kakashi, his eyes wide and a tremble creeping down his spine. “You—none of you heard it, did you?” he asks.

Kakashi turns to the genin and calls, “Stop where you are! Don’t come back here, but don’t get ahead!”

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all turn at once and look back at him. Naruto looks, for a moment, like he’s going to disregard his orders, but the other two helpfully keep him calm and hold him back.

Kakashi faces Iruka again, and says, “No, I don’t think they heard anything like that either. Love, we need to get you out of here. Can I move you?”

Iruka's dazed, his eyes unfocused and glassy. His breath is coming slower, and he sways to either side. "It said it as soon as Sasuke started talking about proving it wasn’t a hoax. I don’t—Kakashi, it’s sad.”

“We need to leave.”

“It sounds like a child. Can’t we—oh fu—”

Kakashi catches him as Iruka drifts to the side, his rooted feet laxing and tripping underneath him. He slips his arms under Iruka’s knees and back, picking him up easily. He relishes the soft, even breaths against his neck as he flash-steps away from the bridge and closer to his genin.

“Iruka-sensei! Is he okay?”

“You three set the pace,” Kakashi says, “but we need to move as fast as possible. Don’t stop, don’t look back—not even at me and Iruka. Not unless I tell you to stop. Do you understand?”

He gets three nods of different speeds of hesitation. He has to stare down Naruto before the kid gives him the affirmative.

“Good. Go.”

Then they’re off, leaping through the trees and keeping the path by the stream on their right. Kakashi keeps a tight hold on Iruka, who slips further and further into a comatose state. His breath comes slower with each branch Kakashi kicks off of, and his eyes finally close half an hour into their run. He goes fully limp within another hour; Kakashi has to pause to adjust his grip and pulse his chakra so as to not drop his partner.

The genin stop when he does. He doesn’t yell at them. He knows he should, but he’s too worried by what could possibly have happened to Iruka to bother.

~

There’s a village up ahead which is in their itinerary, but which they hadn’t expected to reach before tomorrow morning. Kakashi calls for the genin to slow down, to flank him, and to keep up defensive positions until they have more information. This village is the closest to that supposedly cursed bridge; if there are legends or stories about the place, they’ll find them here.

Team 7 enters the village at a gentle run, and stop in the first business they see. Helpfully, an apothecary.

“Jii-san! Can you help?” Naruto asks the man at the counter with no preamble.

The old man looks up from his mortar and pestle, and takes in their appearance—specifically, Iruka’s. He narrows his eyes and stands, coming around his counter.

“You lot passed the Devil’s Bridge, didn’t you?”

Kakashi asks, “What's wrong with him? The sign said it was cursed, but only warned against crossing. We stayed on our side of the stream.”

“That’s… well, then this is just incredibly unfortunate, son,” the apothecary says. He gestures for Kakashi to set Iruka down on a futon, set up alongside one of the walls. “He went and stood before the statue for a bit then, didn’t he?” the man continues once Iruka’s settled.

“He said he heard a child’s voice,” Kakashi says.

“A child’s? That’s new,” the apothecary checks Iruka’s breathing and pulse, his temperature, and then finally lifts up his eyelids briefly and nods. “The curse is set. You lot are shinobi, aren’t you? Just passing through, or staying a while?”

“No, please; what’s wrong with Iruka-sensei?” Naruto pipes up behind them. The other two, for once, are silently backing him up. Kakashi, too, wants more information than what’s been given.

“What is this curse, and how do we break it?” he asks.

The apothecary sighs heavily. “Son, there ain’t no way out of this one. He got caught up in a pact that was supposed to be settled a long time ago, but…” His gaze is distant, watching the world outside the window over Kakashi’s shoulder. “He ain’t getting better, ‘less he crosses the bridge. And even then, after that his soul is forfeit. It’s a kinder fate to say your good-byes now and—”

“NO!” Naruto shouts, falling forward and kneeling beside Kakashi on the floor. He puts a hand on Naruto’s back and pulses his chakra to check in on the Kyūbi seal; it’s holding fine. “There’s gotta be another way! Please, Jii-san, there’s another way?”

The apothecary shakes his head. “I have a drug for this situation,” he says quietly. “It won’t hurt. He’ll slip into deeper and deeper sleep until his body simply shuts—”

“If you want your village to remain standing by morning,” Kakashi says, voice low and threatening, “you won’t finish that.” He pulses more chakra across his connection with Naruto to keep the seal steady, but can already tell the signs of the kid’s protective anger rising. “You mentioned before, it was new that Iruka heard a child’s voice. What do you mean by that?”

Sasuke and Sakura come to kneel around Naruto as well. Naruto reaches out and takes Iruka’s hand between both of his own.

The old man clears his throat. “Well, see most people who get the curse hear the voice of a deceased loved one, or a… hmm.” He strokes his beard with two fingers. “Did he say what the voice said?”

Kakashi recites, “‘A fate worse than death awaits those who cross this bridge, lest their souls be theirs to lose.’”

The man looks up, shocked. He stands up quickly for someone so old, and crosses the shop to a bookshelf. “‘The bridge waits for love to cross unhindered, for death can be a fairer fate to choose.’ Did he say that, too?”

“No, he didn’t. What is it?”

“The rest of the inscription,” the apothecary says, taking a book down and thumbing through it. He holds it open in his palm and frowns down at the pages, flipping back and forth, and finally settling. He brings the book back to them, and hands it, still open, to Kakashi. “My daughter,” he says slowly, sadly, “she also heard the call of the bridge. And the statue spoke to her, and it said the same thing. She said… she said she heard her mother, at the time. She told me what she heard, before the compulsion grew too much.”

“Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura says, reading over his shoulder, “look there. It says that the curse compels its bearers to—”

“I see it, Sakura.” He sighs. “How long do we have before he wakes?”

“Before he tries to cross that bridge,” Sasuke grunts.

“Considering his condition, a few hours,” the apothecary says.

“Is there any way you know to wake him before then?”

“No. All we can do is wait, and see how the curse manifests.”

~

Kakashi sends the genin out to find dinner when the sun starts to set. It’s difficult to convince Naruto to leave Iruka’s side, but he takes him aside and murmurs, just for him, “I won’t leave him. I won’t let him leave. Iruka is safe with me. Go eat something; he’ll kill me if he finds out I’m not taking care of you when he can’t.”

Naruto follows after Sakura and Sasuke.

The apothecary, who eventually introduced himself as Natsu, putters around his shop, putting together poultices of wet salt and herbs—like it’s going to help. Kakashi holds Iruka’s hand tight and watches as the dying sunlight crosses his face.

Finally, he starts to wake.

“Iruka, love?”

Iruka opens his eyes and sits up at once. Kakashi keeps hold of his hand and stares at the new color his eyes gleam in the evening light: cold red, just like the sharingan.

“I have to go back,” Iruka says.

From behind his counter, Natsu winces. “If you go, you’ll die,” he says.

“If I don’t, the child…” Iruka looks over at Kakashi and asks, “What else am I meant to do?”

“Stay,” he pleads quietly. “Be selfish for once and stay. For me, for Naruto, for the village, I don’t care but—”

Iruka laughs—three barks of horrible, defeated laughter. “If I don’t do this, am I really me?”

Kakashi softens. “No,” he admits. “No, you… but gods I wish…”

“There’s a child who needs me, Kakashi. Who am I to deny them?”

“You have a child already, and he needs you,” Kakashi tries one last time. “At least let us go with you.”

“Absolutely not. If any of you cross, you’ll die too. Better one of us than… than all.”

Then Iruka makes a few hand seals and presses his free palm to Kakashi’s cheek. “I’m sorry, my love.”

This is what he gets for falling in love with a fūinjutsu master. A sleep seal to his face, without the seal master needing ink or paper at all. He slumps forward, and Iruka catches him and trades places with him on the futon. He’s asleep before his head is placed on the pillow.

~

Iruka drifts his fingers over Kakashi’s slack face. The seal won’t hold for long; it’s not strong to begin with, and he purposefully weakened it so as not to even risk any harm to his partner. He turns to the old man behind the counter, still packing herbs into a silk poultice with wet salt. “Are you going to try and stop me, too?”

“No,” the man says tiredly. “I tried that once before with my daughter. All it did was prolong both our suffering.” He finishes the poultice and ties it closed with a piece of string. “You’ll want these. If the demon takes you, and it more assuredly will, they’ll keep you safe.”

“Herbs and salt?” Iruka shakes his head. “Thank you, but I’m not going to a demon. I’m going to a child.”

“That blond boy was concerned about you. You should reconsider, try to fight.”

“You just said—”

“I know what I said,” the man snapped. “I won’t stop you. That doesn’t mean you won’t break that man’s heart when he wakes up and you’re gone.”

Iruka leans over and kisses Kakashi’s forehead. “I have to do this.”

“That’s what my Naomi said, too,” the man muttered, suddenly tired again. “Go, if you must. But please, for my own peace of mind?” He holds out two of the poultices, one in red silk and the other in blue. Iruka gives Kakashi’s cheek one last touch and then stands, crosses the room, and takes the blue poultice.

“Give the red one to Kakashi, when he comes after me,” Iruka says. He doesn’t look back, tucking the poultice into his weapons pouch and striding out the door. Once outside, he turns back to the forest, to where the stream skips and flows, and he dashes away.

~

Natsu is kneeling beside him when Kakashi wakes up. He scrubs at his face to get rid of any lingering traces of the seal, and sits up. Natsu silently hands him a red silk bag which smells of salt, sage, rosemary, and—

“He left not ten minutes ago,” Natsu says. “If you hurry, you should be able to catch up. Get your last words in before he’s gone for good.”

Kakashi puts the poultice away and stands up. If the sleep seal is good for one thing, he at least feels refreshed and able to run, even after carrying Iruka and running along the trees for hours earlier.

“Shinobi-san,” Natsu continues, “if today is your last day with him—”

“It won’t be.”

“Shinobi-san—”

“Iruka is strong. He’ll make it past this. We’ll make it past this.” Kakashi stands, pats himself down to assure himself his weapons are in place, and then asks, “Is there an inn I can send my team to settle in for the night?”

Natsu sighs, and waves him off. “I have spare rooms. Your children can stay in the patient quarters, and if—when you come back,” he grins sadly, “my daughter’s old room is made up for guests.”

Kakashi nods. “Thank-you, Natsu-sensei. Please, keep the genin here until dawn as best you can.”

He doesn’t wait for a response. He’s wasted enough time. Once he’s on the street he bursts his speed like he used to in his ANBU days, back to the bridge. He should check in with his team before leaving them behind, but he feels he knows them enough to know that they won’t stay back if they know the situation.

So he runs. And when he catches Iruka’s scent his heart flutters. And as he comes closer to the bridge he can sense Iruka’s chakra—warm and steady—and he sighs.

Iruka

Don’t leave me. I can’t take another heartbreak.

He stops in front of the statue, really looking at it this time. It’s grotesque, depicting a monster with fangs and horns, feathers and fur alike. But the more Kakashi looks at it, the less frightening the statue seems and the more he gets the feeling of longing from the wide eyes and wrapping limbs.

It’s still holding the sign. Cursed Bridge: Do Not Cross.

Kakashi looks out at the bridge, and wants to be surprised to see Iruka standing at the crest of the bridge, looking off the side downstream. He’s not surprised, but he does catch his breath, because a glance in the water shows the reflection of two figures, even though Iruka is alone on the bridge.

“Iruka!”

His gaze turns away from the water and back to the bank, and Iruka smiles. He says something to the invisible figure beside him, and then comes back down the arch of the bridge.

He stops before he steps off, though. “Kakashi,” he holds out his hands.

“Your eyes are brown again,” Kakashi says, helpless but to step forward and put his hands in Iruka’s.

“Den-chan says the red eyes were always temporary.”

“Den?”

“The little girl who’s stuck here,” Iruka says. “She had been offered to the bridge as a guardian, but… oh, Kakashi, she’s so young, I can’t imagine she ever learned how to do this right.”

Kakashi brings Iruka’s hands to his face and kisses them through his mask. “If anyone can teach her, it’s you. Don’t lose yourself.”

Iruka sighs. “I think… but, I have to cross the bridge all the way, to see her home. It’s part of the curse. Den-chan doesn’t know how to undo it, but she knows she needs to be led across the bridge to be able to leave it.”

“And if you cross? This ‘fate worse than death’?”

Iruka nods. “I walk into the land of demons. And once one does that, the only way to leave is to become a demon yourself, a process which takes centuries.”

“You’re prepared for this, then.” Kakashi knows his voice is cold and his hands tighten around Iruka's. “Please, please reconsider.”

“If I don't try,” Iruka leans his forehead onto Kakashi’s and closes his eyes, “then my life energy, my chakra, will wane with the night and I’ll be dead at dawn. Den-chan unconsciously uses the chakra of those who refuse her in order to sustain herself.”

“You can’t,” Kakashi stops. Breathes. “Please. We’ve had so little time together. I want—I want, Iruka, and that’s more than I’ve felt in so long.”

Iruka kisses his cheek, his forehead, and then pulls his mask down and presses their lips together. The kiss turns hungry and desperate in a blink, and Kakashi tries to step into Iruka’s body to hold him, but is held back by Iruka’s hands flattening on his chest. He put his hands on Iruka’s hips, torn between grasping him tight or reaching back and groping—

“She’s still watching,” Iruka groans. There’s a smile in his voice. “Behave yourself.”

“Never,” Kakashi murmurs against his lips. “If this is the last time I get to hold you,” he takes a chance and grabs a handful of Iruka’s ass, groaning deep in his throat.

Iruka laughs, loud and clear. But still, he takes Kakashi’s hand off of his backside and presses a kiss to his fingers.

He still smiles, but is more subdued as he says, “I want… Kakashi, my love, I need you to do something for me before I—”

“I’ll take care of Naruto.”

Iruka shuts his eyes and ducks his head. He hisses a breath through his teeth and sniffs, “Gods, how did I get so damn lucky?” He lifts his eyes and strokes the side of Kakashi’s face, still bare from their kisses. “I love you. And I would be yours forever if fate would let it be.”

“Fuck fate,” Kakashi presses their foreheads together, kisses him again. “Let the earth become sallow and the oceans dry up—death will not keep me from you.”

“Kaka—?”

“My life,” Kakashi says emphatically, “my soul, is yours.”

Iruka looks back over his shoulder to where the little demon is, and then he kisses Kakashi quickly. “Will this work?” he mutters.

“Who cares? I’m not lying, Iruka. I am yours.”

Iruka swallows a sob and fights back tears. “Oh, gods I love you, Kakashi. My soul, my life, is yours. Death cannot keep me from you.” They share one last deep, searching kiss, and Iruka tears himself away from Kakashi’s arms and back to the crest of the bridge.

He stops once there, speaks to the air like there’s someone there, and then offers his hand like he once did for Naruto when the boy was six years old. The figure shifts into sight as they cross the bridge, a little girl in red pigtails, who looks back at Kakashi and smiles sadly at him before she fades out of view over the crest.

Iruka doesn’t look back.

~

Kakashi sits beside the statue with his eye closed, his mask back up around his nose, and his arms resting on his drawn up, spread knees. He had stood at the bank of the stream for an hour, not daring to cross after Iruka; he has a promise to keep, one of them has to stay alive to care for Naruto. But the hour passed and midnight came and went and Kakashi is trying not to sob for the unfairness of it all.

Iruka hasn’t come back.

The book Natsu-sensei gave him said that there is a theory that one whose soul belonged to someone else could cross unburdened. It would seem that a declaration of undying love and a mutual claim on each other’s souls isn’t enough to subvert the curse. He’ll have to tell Natsu-sensei about it later.

The night wind blows cold. Kakashi wonders if Orochimaru ever figured out that eternal life shit; maybe then, Kakashi will be around when Iruka comes back as a demon.

Kakashi

There are no animal noises in the forest tonight. He’s stuck somewhere between denial and depression. Bargaining is useless and anger… Well, maybe the animals have the right idea in leaving him alone.

Kakashi

Kakashi!

“Kakashi, my love, please look at me.”

He does—he opens his eye and here, kneeling in the dirt between his legs, is clearly a hallucination or a spector and fuck Kakashi doesn’t know which is worse. Iruka’s eyes are warm and brown and worried, and his hands are braced on Kakashi’s arms, over his knees. Before he can start crying again, he shuts his eye and tips his head back against the statue.

“If you’re going to haunt me, please—”

“Oh, my Kakashi, I’m here.” Iruka shuffles forward on his knees and places a palm on Kakashi’s neck. He-he can feel it. “Don’t count me out so soon.”

He throws himself forward, wrapping each of his limbs around Iruka’s body just to feel how solid he is. And he is, solid, warm and laughing and real and—

“How?” he sobs into Iruka’s hair.

“You,” Iruka says quietly. “It’s you. ‘Lest their souls be theirs to lose.’ Remember? It was your brilliant idea, my love.”

“I. But it took so long. You—you were gone for hours.” Kakashi pulls him in tighter (as though it were possible) and nudges his mask down with his nose so he can kiss every bit of Iruka he can reach while still being wrapped around him.

“I had to make sure Den-chan would be okay. And then find my way back.” Iruka kisses his temple, long and soft. “Your soul is beautiful, Kakashi,” he murmurs. “Thank you for giving it to me. It was the perfect beacon.”

“Iruka,” he whines. “Fuck, you’re really here.” He pulls back, enough so he can slip his hands up to frame Iruka’s face and press his thumbs into the scar bisecting his face, his lips, the corner of his eyes; beautiful, brown, perfect once more. He leans in and kisses Iruka again because gods he can’t help it.

“I came back for you, my love,” Iruka says against his lips. “You made sure I would. And Den-chan isn’t attached to the bridge anymore. She’s been trapped on this plane for centuries and you let me go so I could lead her to where she belonged. I can’t thank you enough. I can’t love you enough.”

Kakashi doesn’t let him keep talking anymore. He pulls Iruka down on top of him, still kissing, and together they spend the rest of the night reaffirming that, yes, Iruka came back—and yes, Iruka was real.

~

In the early morning rays, Iruka leans against a dozing Kakashi and watches the sun’s reflection on the water. He sees the spectors of dozens of people cross the bridge, fading away as they reach the opposite bank. Each one is led by the hand of a little girl in red pigtails, dressed in white.

He breathes easy. Den-chan knows her role now, and is helping all those she had accidentally hurt over the years. She had never wanted to be known as a demon, cursing the bridge; she just wanted to go home and needed a specific kind of person to bring her there.

Iruka turns his head into Kakashi’s collar and sighs. If he had to tie his life, his soul, to anyone, he’s glad it’s Kakashi.

Den brings a young woman to their side of the bridge and lets her leave, waving to her spector as she leaves the bridge and steps onto the path. The woman takes a few steps before vanishing, crossing into the next life. Den notices him sitting by her statue and smiles, giving him his own wave before going back to the crest of the bridge for the next soul.

Iruka lifts a hand in a subdued wave.

The sun rises.

The lovers sleep.