#still babies

[windfighter]

To all the people I loved while you were gone

Prompt: ”I can’t do this.”

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Kouji was in Italy. The first time he visited the country Takuya and Junpei had moved to. He’d stay for a week, then go to Austria, Hungary, Ukraine. Maybe Slovakia. He hadn’t completely made up his mind yet. He wanted to go to Ukraine though.

But first Italy. Say hello to Junpei. Hang out with Takuya a bit. They hadn’t seen each other for a year. Kouji had missed him. He wondered if Takuya would be surprised when he showed up. ...he should probably have sent a warning, shouldn’t he?

Takuya had let them all know where he practiced and when. Kouji wondered if it would be wrong to just show up there. Should he bring flowers? It had been a year. What did people in long-distance relationships do when they met after a long time? Kouji had absolutely no idea.

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He ended up not bringing flowers. He leaned against the fence of the field, watched as Takuya and his teammates ran after the ball, laughing. Takuya had gotten even more tan since moving. He looked fluid on the field. Kouji leaned his head against his hand. He’d call it beautiful if he had been more romantic, but neither of them had ever really been that.

Takuya stopped. Blinked. Turned towards Kouji. Kouji laughed and raised a hand. Waved. Takuya shouted something in Italian to his teammates before running over.

”Kouji?!”

”Last I checked, yeah.”

”What are you doing here?”

Kouji could give five answers to the question. He shrugged.

”You’ve told us where you practice and I was nearby.”

Takuya opened his mouth. Kouji really wanted to just grab his shirt, pull him closer and kiss him. Takuya shook his head.

”We’ll talk more after practice, if you’re still here.”

Kouji sat down, saluted Takuya and put his backpack on the ground next to him. Takuya almost smiled, before turning his back and going back to practice. Kouji watched them. Waited. He wasn’t even worried about how long it would take. He never cared much for football, but there was something hypnotic about watching Takuya move on the grass.

Half an hour later the magic was gone. Practice over. Takuya jogged over to Kouji and Kouji stood up again, put his backpack on his back. Grabbed Takuya and pulled him in for a kiss, but Takuya hesitated and Kouji aborted. Confused.

”I… uh…”

Takuya looked at the ground. Kouji let go, crossed his arms over his chest.

”We’re adults now”, Takuya said.

Kouji raised an eyebrow. What did that have with anything to do?

”And I…” Takuya scratched the back of his head. ”I can’t do this. Us. It’s not…”

”Are you breaking up with me?”

Kouji was amused. He smiled, but tried to hide it behind his hand. Takuya frowned, then nodded.

”Did you find someone else?” Kouji asked.

Still amused. Takuya kicked a stone on the ground, put his hands in his pockets.

”How many else?” Kouji continued.

It was hard to keep the laughter out of his voice. Takuya’s cheeks turned red and he looked away.

”I’m saying it’s not fair to you”, Takuya said. ”I can’t do this, I can’t be together with you because it’s not fair to you.”

Kouji laughed. Put a hand across his face and shook his head. Tried to force the laughter back down but it bubbled up again. He grabbed Takuya’s arm, pulled him closer.

”Do you remember all those years ago when we got together?” he asked.

Takuya nodded. The blush crept down his neck.

”Do you remember two weeks later when I saw you making out with Fumiko?”

He could feel Takuya’s heartbeat increase and let go, gave him a light shove. Takuya nodded again. Kouji remembered it too. The fight following it, the slow realization that they had very different needs, and eventually finding a way to work around it. Work with it. The decision that it was worth it.

”So… Are you breaking up with me?” Kouji asked again.

Takuya hesitated. Kouji could tell he had been thinking a lot about this. That Kouji had flipped the script completely. He leaned against the fence. Takuya looked at him. Also leaned against the fence.

”You deserve better”, he said.

”I don’t want better”, Kouji answered. ”I think it worked out pretty well for us.”

”We’re adults”, Takuya repeated. ”It’s time we find someone to settle down with and… we can’t do that together. You’re too…”

”Ace”, Kouji said even if it wasn’t exactly the right label. ”I know. But you’re talking about a traditional relationship, like our parents would want us to have and neither of us have ever been looking forwards to that. Are you now?”

Takuya clasped his hands together. Shook his head. Kouji grabbed Takuya’s shirt, pulled him closer until their faces were just an inch from each other.

”Well then, Kanbara Takuya, I’ll ask for the last time. Are you breaking up with me?”

Takuya put his hands against Kouji’s cheeks, closed the gap between their faces. The kiss felt awkward. Nice, but uncertain in a way Kouji didn’t expect from Takuya. He wondered if Takuya’s teammates were watching.

”You’re fine with it?” Takuya asked. ”With the how many else?”

”Just don’t tell me all the details”, Kouji laughed. ”Are you free tonight? Want to show me around?”

Takuya lit up, grinned.

”Yeah, absolutely! Just lemme go shower and get dressed, we’ll start out with the best pizzeria in town!”

”Sounds fun.” Kouji shoved Takuya towards the locker rooms and sat down again. ”I’ll be waiting right here.”

Takuya laughed, waved and ran towards the lockers. Kouji smiled. Takuya was such an absolute moron, but then, what did that make him for falling in love with said moron?

[shrubsparrow]

It's in the eye of the beholder

[liquidstar]

If my mom sees a significant amount of blood she gets lightheaded, and has fainted on some occasions. Once it happened when we were kids, I wasn't there to witness it but I heard the story from my dad. Basically my brothers, around 7 or 8 at the time, were playing outside while my mom was making their lunch, and she accidentally cut her finger. It wasn't anything serious, but it drew a fair bit of blood and she passed out. My dad saw this and rushed over, but he didn't really know what to do so he just sort of started slapping her to wake her up (not recommended, but he had no idea and panicked)

At that exact moment my brothers both came in from playing, and all they saw was our mom unconscious on the floor and our dad slapping her. So, like, without even saying a word to each other they both just INSTANTLY start whaling on him, like, full blown attack mode to defend our mom. Which obviously didn't help the situation, but she did wake up and everything was fine.

Now our dad says that he's actually really glad they attacked him over what they thought was going on, because it means he raised good boys. And I still think that's true, they're very good boys.

[saelrum]

"Was I sweet once?"

[arcanefanpage]

The way Jinx honored Isha

[noodles-and-tea]

I don’t know if it’s just because of Alex’s personal voice quirks or whatever but Bill and Stan talk in quite a similar manner and my personal head canon is that Bill does it on purpose to mess with Ford :(

[captainsaltypear]

IS ANYONE ELSE GONNA TALK ABOUT THIS OR

[chalkrub]

autumnal chill....featuring the girl

[ezlo-x]

palico lore will always be funny to me. They get paid to hunt just like a human hunter. But since they're small anthropomorphic cats you always treat them like pets or babies. like your palico is grown ass man....cat

[juvian]

[pangur-and-grim]

it's so nice to see Pangur getting over her fear and returning to normal. after months of nothing bad happening, she's finally had the brilliant thought of "huh.....perhaps nothing bad will happen???"

yes, pangur, you are living a life of decadence like none other. nothing bad will happen to you.

[solarwreathe]

in another universe they could have been playing at the beach

[mysticalarmand]

Duke: Why is Dick sitting in between Jason and Roy?

Steph: Because he doesn't wanna see them cuddling.

Tim: Or kissing.

Duke: But they're a couple.

Tim: To Dick, Jason's still a baby.

Duke, holds up Damian: This is a baby, that's a grown ass adult.

[risingsunresistance]

you guys can see this too bc even tho i was wrong i think it's funny

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

I am incredibly serious right now when I beg you all, please, and if you have Twitter or Tiktok or whatever to please spread the word: click on an author's profile on Ao3.

You want to know if an author has written more? Want to know if they're still writing? Want to see more from them? Want to know if they've written a trope or kink or sex scenario you enjoy?

Click on their name. And look at their profile.

I cannot tell you how many times in the last six months someone has read a new or newer fic of mine and said they (a new reader who has read nothing else I've done) "can't wait to see what you do next!" I've written 50+ fics and over a million words already.

"I don't know if you're still writing..." click on my profile. I am. I literally wrote a 128k+ fic for that ship last month.

"Would you ever do X?" "Please do Y!" I already did. Click on my name and look at my works.

Archive of our Own is a library. It's an archive. Not social media. It is your responsibility to fight back against the laziness that corporate algorithms have trained into you.

Click my author name. Just click it. Just click it.

Before you demand more, or ask if a writer will do XYZ, or wonder if the author still writing, or anything - click on their profile. Click on the author's profile.

I'm not trying to be mean or condescending or anything like that. I'm just exhausted. It's disheartening and frustrating to repeat myself ad nauseam, because someone couldn't take thirty seconds to do the tiniest bit of work to see if I've written lately, if I've written more for their ship, or scan my works to see if I've written what they're asking for. Please. Please. I'm begging.

Click the author's name, and explore before you ask.

[artkaninchenbau]

Crocodile finds a strange stray cat an 11-year old Nico Robin (AU where they met 13 years earlier. Robin's been on the run from the World Government for 3 years. Crocodile's 27 and has not set up base in Alabasta yet)

It seems like I have become possessed. By some sort of demon.

Bonus: