#telling him just ask stupid Saruhiko out already

[ridiasfangirlings]

Yata being the one to tell Munakata to actually take Fushimi out on a date because it's about time, damn it.

That’s a new one, Yata realizing the feelings of other people before they do XD Say a situation where post-ROK Yata and Fushimi have been rekindling their friendship and Yata’s been asking about what Fushimi’s life is like in S4. He can’t help but notice that there’s something longing in Fushimi’s tone when he talks about Munakata, even though Fushimi’s complaining about how annoying Munakata is and how Munakata never leaves him alone. Yata’s trying really hard to understand Fushimi now so rather than getting defensive he decides to just pay attention, whenever Homra and S4 are working together and he sees Fushimi and Munakata talking and realizes that those two are actually pretty close huh.

Of course if anyone knows that Fushimi sucks at saying his feelings out loud it’s Yata, and he finds himself thinking that if no one tells Saruhiko that idiot’s never gonna realize that Blue King is into him or that Fushimi feels the same way. Imagine at some point Yata ends up stopping at S4 to like drop off some paperwork for Kusanagi and while part of him wants to get out of here as quickly as possible he ends up pausing as he’s in Munakata’s office. Munakata wonders if there’s an issue and finally Yata clears his throat and is like ‘you should just take him on a date, okay?’. Munakata raises an eyebrow and Yata says it all in a rush, that he still doesn’t like Munakata but it’s clear that Saruhiko does and that guy’s still kind of an idiot about some things, if you don’t tell him stuff directly he won’t ever figure it out, so you should ask him on a date. Munakata finds it intriguing that Yata would ask him about this and Yata’s like well you like him don’t you. Munakata admits that he does have a fondness for Fushimi and Yata’s like so in that case just ask him out already, he won’t understand unless you say it to his face. Yata adds that if Munakata breaks Fushimi’s heart Yata will kick his ass too, so you’d better ask him out soon. He storms out of the office and behind him Munakata laughs quietly, like perhaps he has been too hesitant if Homra’s Yatagarasu is the one telling him to be bold.

[rubldus]

╰ ╳  ․°   ʙ ᴇ ᴛ ʀ ᴀ ʏ ᴀ ʟ.  ✧ . ⁎  .*  ⁎ ×   |     🔥

“What… are you doing…?”

Of course Saruhiko’s question was rethorical. No, not even that. It’s just he had asked it poorly. He didn’t mean ‘What are you doing on the ground like a worm and holding your face in pain?’, since obviously he understood that Yata was in such a position because of him and was still trying to recover from the hard hit of the door on his face when the bespectacled male had opened the door of the armored van of Scepter 4, parked a few blocks from bar HOMRA for a special mission.

What he meant was ‘What are you doing, letting something so stupid as a car door hit you in the face so easily instead of dodging it with your usual steady reflexes?’. But all his willingness to elaborate was already gone before he was even done thinking it.

“Were you snooping on us, or what?” Trying to repress any display of concern that might be bubbling under the surface of his being, he quirked a brow and lightly kicked Yata on the shoulder. “Oi, don’t tell me you’re really going to die a virgin, virgin. Get up.”

          What kind of a question was that? Of course he’d been snooping. He’d spotted those damned blues out and about in their territory ( AGAIN ) acting like they simply belonged there, naturally he’d had to go start an argument over it. 

         What little sense of logic he retained, however, quickly demanded he figure out what the hell they were doing there first ( if not for HIMSELF, then for Kusanagi who could do something about it, or his King ) and go from there. So he’d found himself with a cheek pressed firmly to the warm metal of a squad car, ear listening intently in attempt to pick something up.

         Not so, for the next thing he knew, a door was being opened- sharp pain- and he was collapsing to the concrete below, grasping at his nose and groaning at the deep ache, and AH- his hand came away bloody. Already he was furious, but for the moment he could focus on nothing more than the quickly spreading R E D pouring from his nose and the throb it brought forth.

               “THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU MONKEY??? THAT GODDAMN HURT!!!”

         Yata snarled once kicked ( an angered animal ) though flinched backward in pain the moment he did. This was not a fun feeling, head light and pounding all at once, face sticky with substance and half-nauseated by PAIN. He’d need medical attention, no doubt, but he was also resilient- this was the male who could survive billboards being dropped on him with barely a scratch, after all. There was NO WAY an accident could take him down.

           “SHUT UP, SHUT THE HELL UP!!!! GIMME A SEC ALREADY!!!”

[x0401x]

Gakuen K Drama CD: Evacuation Drills – Case of Second Year Class E

Raw version here. Please feel free to message me about possible corrections. Warning: this drama has an elaborate punchline that simply cannot be properly adapted to English, so please see the end of the post for clarification.

Misaki: Gakuen K ~Wonderful School Days~ V Edition – Bonus Drama CD. Evacuation Drills – Case of Second Year Class 1.

Misaki: This is bad! I’m really late! Dammit! That woman! Crouching down in the middle of the road! *pants* I was sure she was feeling unwell, and while I was at loss on whether I should talk to her or not, ten minutes went by! In the end, it seems she was just waiting for someone! AH!! Isn’t it already time for homeroom to start?! *pants* At least I gotta make it in time for the last hour! *pants*

Kuro: Fushimi. If I’m correct, you were a member of the Committee, right?

Saruhiko: Ahn? That’s right.

Kuro: About the homeroom of just now, I have something to ask about the evacuation drills that Anna-sensei mentioned. If you’re a Committee member, you also work during the evacuation drills, right?

Saruhiko: Ah, what is it... that you want to ask?

Kuro: It’s my first evacuation drill in this academy. I want you to tell me about the evacuation system. Do you use the outer stairs? The inner ones? And also—

Misaki: D’AAAAAH!! *pants* Looks like I made it to the last hour somehow! Haaah! So hooot! *pants*

Kuro: Yata. It seems Anna-sensei thought you were absent without authorization and took note of it on her account book.

Misaki: Ah... S-Seriously?! It couldn’t be that she... gave me additional homework or something, right?

Kuro: If you’re curious, you can just ask. *sigh* Well, anyways. About the homeroom, it seems the two hours of PE were changed from soccer to indoor ping-pong, so beware.

Misaki: HAAH?? “Ping-pong”?! I came here looking forward to soccer and it’ll be ping-pong?! Out of all things, that tiny-ass game won’t be nearly enough!!

Kuro: And after that, we’ll have evacuation drills in the afternoo—

Misaki: It’s impossible that they’ve cancelled soccer!! What have I even come for today!? If it’s for something like this, it would have been better if I’d come super late and headed straight to the club room!

Saruhiko: How about you try studying a little? Well... for an idiot who only has a brain to move his body around, earnestly paying attention to class would serve as nothing but a lullaby, though.

Misaki: What did you say?!

Saruhiko: Hah! It’s the truth, right? I’ve never seen you awake and seriously listening to any lesson, after all. *gasp* Ah, I see...! It’s because, with that head of yours, you can’t understand classes even if you stay awake. If so, then it might be the right choice to use them as sleep time.

Misaki: Saru! You’re always, always talking so sarcastically... I’m not asleep all the time. I’m simply focusing on the lessons with my eyelids closed!

Saruhiko: Heeeh?

Misaki: WHAT’S WITH THAT SMIRK!?

Kuro: So it’s begun? I’ve got no choice. I’ll ask someone else about the evacuation drill.

Misaki: The meat and yakisoba bread I had for lunch was delicious... but... the gyuudon bread also looked tasty... Guess I’ll have that for tomorrow. Haah... the sunlight is warm on my back... so nice~... *snores*

[Alarm sounds]

Misaki: W-What?? A-A FIRE?!

Kuro: It’s started, huh? The hypothetical source is... the science room?

Misaki: W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-What do we do!? That’s right! At times like this, if I’m not wrong, we’re supposed to follow the O-Ka-Shi-Mo! Huh? “O-Ka-Shi-Mo”? What was O-Ka-Shi-Mo supposed to mean?!? If... you’re a man, you gotta gather up even the guys you don’t know or have never talked to and save everyone! I’m certain that was what it stood for. But there’s no one I don’t know. The people her are all my classmates. I gotta protect everyone! Wait, those guys...! HEY, YOOOU!! STUPID BASTARDS! What’re you messing around for?! Do you get what kinda situation we’re in right now?! There’s a lot of people that would be sad if you died! You have family and friends that are precious to you, right?! You okay with making them cry?! There’s no way you are, right?! Protecting yourselves is the same as protecting them! Got that?! If you did, all of you, line up!

Saruhiko: *chuckles* That guy... is a true idiot.

Kuro: To think Yata would be so serious about the training... he has a wonderful form of thinking. From his usual attitude and behavior, I had thought he was but an unsteady guy... so this side of him existed?

Misaki: Alright! Everyone’s properly lined up! You’d better close your mouths! It’d be awful if you breathed smoke. HEY! You over there! Didn’t you hear me saying to close your mouth? What? You forgot your handkerchief? No choice, then. Use mine! I’m fine! It’s frustrating, but just as Saru says, my body’s resistance is my only valuable asset. Then, we’re leaving! I’ll take all of you to a safe place!

Okay, it seems the fire hasn’t spread much yet... If I’m not wrong, they said the source was... the science room, right? Let’s avoid it and head to the ground floor! But, man, it’s hot. So the temperature is rising because of the fire?

Saruhiko: Keh. “The temperature is rising because of the fire”? It’s just your brain making that up.

Misaki: Hey, Kamamoto! Why have you been looking at me with wet eyes since earlier? Ah? You didn’t know I had this much talent for leadership? It’s obvious that the next captain of the Red Club will be me? Stupid!! It’s not time to be talking about something like that! Damn! What an imprudent bastard... and you, Saru! What’re you grinning all alone for?! Could it be... you’re excited about the sudden fire?

Saruhiko: Nooope, nope. Don’t mind me and just move on... Leader-san.

Misaki: You...!

Kuro: Stop, Yata.

Misaki: Grrr...!

Kuro: So you were that heated? In these circumstances, we must follow the O-Ka-Shi-Mo, and act orderly until the end.

Misaki: That’s right... if it were the usual, I’d have hit him, but... this is an emergency. If you’re a man, you gotta gather up even the guys you don’t know or have never talked to and save everyone! Even if it’s someone you dislike, that doesn’t count as reason to abandon them.

Kuro: Yeah. That’s a great thinking.

Saruhiko: Hmph.

Misaki: *pants* We’ve finally arrived at the ground floor... everyone’s okay, right? No one got separated, right?

Kuro: It’s fine. Everyone’s assembled.

Misaki: Is that so? That’s good! But... the other classes are late... we’re still the only ones that have come here? Mikoto-san... Totsuka-san... they didn’t get caught in the fire, right?

Saruhiko: If the fire’s outbreak was from the science room, those people must have gotten caught up in the evacuation after the classroom assembled.

Misaki: That’s right... Totsuka-san kinda has some bad luck, and Mikoto-san naps a lot, so he might notice the fire too late... AGH!! I’m really worried! I’ll take a look at the situation right now—

Kuro: You can’t. “No pushing, sitting around, talking or going back”. These are the ironclad rules of evacuations, right?

Misaki: Aah...?

Kuro: You’ve managed to act so promptly that you could be the number one in the academy and evacuated all of us. What will you gain from breaking the regulations at the very last second?

Misaki: Yatogami... you’re a pretty heartless fellow. “No pushing, sitting around, talking or going back”? I don’t know any of those “ironclad rules”! During evacuations, we should follow the O-Ka-Shi-Mo, right?! There are times when a man has to do this!

Kuro: Hm? What are you saying? What I’m talking about is precisely the O-Ka-Shi-Mo...

Saruhiko: Pipe down, Misaki. If it’s Mikoto-san and Totsuka-san, they should be fine. You know better than anyone... that they don’t have the spirit of people... who would be taken down by a mere fire, right?

Misaki: Saru... you... have said something nice for the first time since you were born!

Saruhiko: Tsk...!

Misaki: That’s right! There’s no way those people would be doomed by something like this! My bad, Yatogami! I called you “heartless”...!

Kuro: No... I must apologize as well. It seems I have misunderstood you until now. From your normal behavior, I had thought you were a bit of a careless one. I had thought you were the reckless kind who did not know words such as “punctuality” or “solemnity”. However... I have learned today that this was my misinterpretation. You are... earnest to this extent, and had such an authoritarian side to you. I’m sorry for having looked at you so leniently.

Misaki: Ah, stop~! Being told things like these makes my back feel itchy.

Kuro: No... I honestly didn’t think you’d go through with the evacuation drill seriously.

Misaki: For real, nothing will come out of you saying th... “drill”?

Saruhiko: HAH! Have you fiiinally realized it, Misakiii?! Hah! You thinking that the fire was real and being all anxious was a feast to the eyes! Saying the temperature seemed to be rising because of a fire that wasn’t even happening... you really are an idiot, huh?

Misaki: T... Then... just now, you purposefully...?!

Saruhiko: Aah, me saying that “if it’s Mikoto-san and Totsuka-san, they should be fine”? It’s obvious they are fine. Rather... I’d like you to tell me how they could be burned by a non-existent fire.

Misaki: *sharp inhale* You... bastard...!

Kuro: Could it be... you thought the evacuation drill was a real fire? Even if it’s Yata, no one would make such a foolish mistake, right?

Saruhiko: So, how is it, “earnest and authoritarian” Misaki~?

Misaki: I... I... HATE EVACUATION DRILLS!!!

T/N: About the “O-Ka-Shi-Mo”....

I guess most of you guys know that Japanese alphabets don’t consist of letters but of syllabes. “O-Ka-Shi-Mo” are the syllabic initials of the rules Kuro cited as essential to evacuation drills; a shortened version of the phrase meant to make it easy to remember.

Its original meaning is “Osanai, Kakenai, Shaberanai, Modoranai” (no pushing, sitting around, talking or going back). But Misaki completely forgot about that and made up a new one based on his own reasoning, which was “Otoko nara, Kankeinai yatsu, Shabeta koto no nai yatsu zeiin Motomete tasukedasu” (If you’re a man, you gotta gather up even the guys you don’t know or have never talked to and save everyone). Because of course he would.

There’s literally no way to make a coherent adaptation out of this that wouldn’t twist the meaning of either Misaki’s or Kuro’s words, and that makes me so mad, lol.

[brynne-lagaao]

(Fanfic) Set in Stone - Chapter Seventeen

Title: Set in Stone

Pairing: Sarumi

Chapter: 17/18

Rating: M

Mirrors: AO3 | Website

Summary: Yata wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he performed a summon on his own in a fit of drunken loneliness. It definitely wasn’t some asshole demon with a bad attitude, even if that demon happened to be frustratingly hot. But breaking their contract was going to mean working together, and he wasn’t sure how much of that he could take before he snapped… one way or another.

Note: Thank you to @dropletons for being my beta and to @chromekins for helping with the magic aspect. This fic is not entirely accurate in terms of modern magic and the demon lore was basically made up to suit the story, but I tried to keep somewhat of an authentic feel, so hopefully that succeeded.

Kusanagi’s words were still playing over in Yata’s head hours later when he was lying in his own bed, wide awake and staring at the ceiling.

They’d stayed at the solstice celebration until the end, but he hadn’t been able to put his heart into it. He hadn’t even managed to come up with a good explanation for his subdued mood, snapping at his friends when they asked and spending most of his time standing on the outskirts of lively discussions without saying much or even really listening in most cases. He couldn’t seem to sort out the storm in his thoughts at all, everything jumbling together in a chaotic mess. Kusanagi had shot him a few canny looks but had let him be, and at the end of the night Anna had nearly caused him to lose it simply by catching his eyes and offering a small, sad smile. He didn’t know how much she knew and wasn’t going to ask.

Since their argument, he and Saruhiko had yet to say more to each other than the bare minimum, and it made his chest start to throb with raw pain every time they so much as looked at each other. Yata had taken the second shower after they’d returned to his apartment, and when he’d come out, Saruhiko was already on the futon with his back to the bathroom. There hadn’t been much else he could do besides go to bed himself, leaving the door open in a silent invitation that he knew wouldn’t be taken.

He felt crushed. Like the ground had dropped out from beneath him. It seemed to have happened so fast too: realizing his feelings just moments before having his hopes dashed and then raised and then dashed again. Like an emotional roller coaster, over in what felt like an instant and leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

Then again, everything with Saruhiko had been fast. He’d never felt like this before in his life, and it had been less than a month since he’d done that stupid, drunken summoning. That was all it had taken to fall harder than he’d ever thought he could.

And now it was all going to be over. Before it even really had a chance to start.

And maybe it was better that way – better to find this shit out before they’d gotten themselves in even deeper. Kusanagi was definitely right about that much. Yata still couldn’t think about the idea of keeping the contract going without that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach starting to come back. He didn’t know why, but there was something about it… something he couldn’t compromise on, no matter what. Whatever it was, this was his line in the sand and he wasn’t gonna cross it, not for anyone.

And maybe Saruhiko was on the opposite side, feeling the same way.

This wasn’t getting him anywhere. Yata let out a frustrated breath, rolling over and sitting up. He was tired, but his head wasn’t shutting up and his heart hurt so sharply he was sure he couldn’t sleep through it. He felt restless – unsatisfied. Defeated, but unable to just let go.

Well, he was bad at letting things go in the first place.

I gotta cool my head. Yata stood, snatching up his shorts so that he could tug them back on and then heading for the door.

Saruhiko was still lying motionless on the futon – asleep or pretending to be; Yata couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter either way. He deliberately didn’t look over as he crept by, not wanting to invite more pain.

Only once he’d left the apartment did he feel like he could breathe properly again. Yata took a couple of cautious steps toward the railing; when it didn’t force the contract to send Saruhiko after him, he sagged against it, letting the air in his lungs out in a rush and hanging his head forward.

If he thought about it clearly, there were a lot of messed-up things between them. He lost his head around Saruhiko. Just a few hours ago, they’d fucked without a condom, and he hadn’t even noticed, much less thought to protest. He just didn’t do shit like that, even if it seemed safe, and somehow Saruhiko didn’t strike him as the type to casually go bareback with a guy he’d known for barely a month. It was like they brought out each other’s most reckless and destructive sides somehow.

But… honestly, Yata fucking liked it. Not so much the destruction, but the feeling of letting go – of being reckless. He didn’t wanna make a habit of it when it came to safe sex or anything, but one of the things he liked best about Saruhiko was how strong the emotional pull was – and how easy it was to get swept away and feel everything so intensely. Moderating his emotions was a lot of work, and he had to do it most of the time in his daily life. Having someone he could let loose around was freeing. Intoxicating, even.

It came with a price, though – and if they were somehow gonna make things work, they’d have to find a way to temper that destructive side. They needed to be on the same page.

Right then, they really weren’t. That was why things were such a mess, and it hurt so badly.

What the hell bugs me so much about the contract thing, anyway? Yata opened his eyes, frowning down at the closely mowed lawn beneath him as he mulled it over. Up to that point, he hadn't had the space to think about it. It was the contract that had brought them together and forced them into close proximity until they’d realized just how much they enjoyed each other’s company. Without it, they’d probably never have even met, and if it hadn’t been the way it was, they’d have ended it without getting to know each other at all.

But still, he felt really strongly that he didn't want it. Not like this...

Why not? Because it was inconvenient? Because there were times when he didn't want to be around Saruhiko or Saruhiko didn't want to be around him, but they couldn’t escape each other? Those were pretty good reasons, but he had a feeling it was more than that. His reaction was gut-twistingly bad. It made him feel raw, like it touched an old sore spot. But he wasn’t sure what.

There was no question he wanted Saruhiko – wanted a real relationship – and Saruhiko had said he wanted it too. That was why he wanted Yata to keep the contract going, right? So they could be together. Didn't that make sense?

If he closed his eyes, he could see the uncharacteristic desperation on Saruhiko's face as he spoke in that moment – "Show me how much you’re demanding of me." – and it made his heart start to pound in his chest. Not only because it was thrilling to see Saruhiko like that, to have him be so intense about what he wanted from Yata, but because it spoke to him. It was another of those moments where he felt the connection between them – the similarity. Because he also felt that he wanted... to be sure...

Oh.

There it was – that flash of realization. Yata felt it sinking in, like a physical cut aimed directly at his heart, the prickles spreading out from that open wound.

So that was why it felt so gut-wrenching.

It was really just something that simple, huh? Yata closed his eyes for a moment as he let the reality of it settle in his mind, tilting his head up so he could open them to look at the moon for a bit of comfort. It almost hurt worse to know the truth – made it that much more final knowing there really was no compromising on his part – but at least he had a good grasp on the whole thing.

It kinda made him wonder, though... Maybe there was a chance... If Saruhiko really felt the same way he did, there could be something...

The door behind him opened, as if his thoughts had summoned it, and Yata's skin prickled. He resisted the urge to turn around, hands clenching unconsciously into fists. “What? Contract pulled you out here?”

For a moment, he thought he wasn’t going to get an answer. Then he heard the telltale click of Saruhiko's tongue. “No. Your emotions are keeping me up.”

You and me both. Yata managed a bitter smile. “My bad.” He forced his fingers to unclench and made an effort to keep his voice low and even. “Can’t help it right now.”

Saruhiko clicked his tongue again; when he responded, his voice was a mumble, as if he were speaking more to himself than to Yata. “I guess.”

The conversation was painfully awkward – or maybe ‘awkwardly painful’ was a better way to put it. Yata pushed himself away from the railing, abruptly sick of it, and turned around to stubbornly meet Saruhiko’s gaze. “Hey,” he started, trying not to get caught up in the way his pulse started to race at the sight of those blue-grey eyes glittering in the dark, “there’s still a place I go to sometimes that I never showed you. Wanna check it out?”

Saruhiko blinked, brows furrowing slightly as he stared back, as if he wasn’t sure where this was going or whether he wanted any part of it. “Do I have a choice?” he muttered, after a brief moment of silence.

Yata managed a lopsided grin. “I’m giving you one right now.”

There was another pause, and it was almost possible to see the wheels turning in Saruhiko’s head as he thought it over. Yata held his breath, the tension in the moment nearly overwhelming. Come on, he thought, not bothering to temper the hope that was swelling in his heart. Give it a chance. Just one try. Please.

Tomorrow would be their last day together; it was now or never.

At last, Saruhiko shut his eyes, shoulders sagging as he let out what sounded like a defeated sigh. “It can’t be any worse than lying awake all night here.”

It was a shitty, half-assed confirmation – but still a confirmation. The relief was so strong that Yata nearly felt giddy with it. His grin widened, feeling real instead of half-pained. “All right!” It didn't have his usual enthusiasm; hell, he didn't know if this was gonna get them anywhere, but he had to at least make things clear. So he knew for sure. “Let’s go back in and I’ll make us invisible.”

“Should you really be announcing that so loudly?” Saruhiko drawled back, but he moved aside obligingly so Yata could unlock the door for them.

It was such a typical tone that something inside Yata clenched, partly with pain and partly with pleasure. “Yeah, yeah.”

It was a relief to be in the air again afterwards, although he hadn’t felt that way when they’d flown home from the solstice celebration. His thoughts and feelings had been in such a mess, though. Now, even though it was painful, things at least seemed sorted in his head. Yata shut his eyes against the night breeze, gathering his resolve.

If he accomplished nothing else, at least he could make sure both of them understood this before they went their separate ways.

The building they landed on was near the center of the city – not quite at the heart, but pretty close. It was one of a number of skyscrapers in the area, but it stood out a little by having a domed glass roof, which was tinted but could still be seen through just a bit when they were close enough, the outline of a rooftop garden-like area just barely visible in the places where the moonlight wasn't reflecting too strongly to catch a glimpse.

Yata settled on a point where two of the support beams crossed at the top of the curve, lowering himself to sit down but not bothering to pull his wings in. He looked out at the view of the city – lit up in the commercial districts and dark in most of the residential, all of it outlined by moonlight and offset by shadow – and felt the usual sense of grounding settle within him. “This is where I go when I’m feeling... y’know.” He shrugged, not bothering to look to see what Saruhiko was doing. “Like I did when I summoned you.”

Lonely. Overwhelmed. Stifled. Alone.

It helped to be somewhere quiet, if nothing else.

There was another brief pause, followed by a sigh. “I’m surprised it wasn't one of the charging points,” Saruhiko responded wryly. He didn't move to sit, but he was still beside Yata, not moving away. Listening.

That was comforting, at least. Yata managed a rueful little smile, and steeled himself to just get right to it. “Listen,” he started, “about before... when you asked me not to break the contract. I thought about it – why I had that reaction, I mean – and I wanna make it clear.” At that, he turned his head to look up at Saruhiko, setting his jaw stubbornly. “It’s not because I don't want you.”

No obvious reaction. Saurhiko wasn't meeting his gaze, looking out instead over the city. His expression was characteristically neutral. “Mm.”

Yata took that as a signal to continue. “Obviously I do. You saw how I...” The reminder of his possessive aggression in that moment made his face grow hot; he reached up without thinking to scratch at the back of his head. “Yeah, anyway. I really wanna be with you.” As he said the words, he could feel his own sincerity behind them almost like a tangible thing – could vividly remember all the little moments when they'd talked and the nights of playing games – and a surge of longing rose up at the back of his throat, sudden and overwhelming. “I want it so bad,” he managed to get out, trying to ignore the thickness that had crept into his voice. “I’ve never felt like this about anyone before. I really… I mean, you’re… important to me.” Somehow, it was too much to say the word ‘love’; the hurt was too fresh. “But not like this. I can't...”

It was hard to get the words out through the emotion clogging his chest. Yata swallowed, trying to collect himself, and made another attempt. “You wanted me to prove I want you, right?” Without waiting for Saruhiko to reply – if he even planned to – he rushed right ahead with the rest. “Well, I also wanna know for sure that you want me.”

At that, he seemed to get a reaction; Saruhiko's lips parted, an audible intake of breath coming from him. He finally turned to meet Yata's gaze, seemingly caught off guard by that simple fact.

Yata followed up on his advantage. “If it’s like this, with you tied to me, you gotta be here whether you want to or not.” Even just bringing it up had that sick feeling building in his gut; he shook his head, turning to frown out at the city. “I can’t do that, Saruhiko. I wanna look at you when you're beside me and know that you're there because you want to be. Not because you're forced to be.”

The silence that followed those words was heavy.

The finality of it – actually saying it rather than just knowing – sat heavily on Yata's heart. That was it, really. If Saruhiko couldn't accept that, then there wasn't anything else he could do to make this work. He waited for a moment to see if there'd be a response; when there wasn’t, he deflated a little, some of the hope that he'd allowed to grow in his heart dying. "Just had to say it," he muttered, shoulders sagging a bit. He was caught between wanting to look up – to see Saruhiko's reaction, whatever it was – and his pride trying to prevent him from breaking down altogether. “Also... about that other stuff you said. Y’know, me just wanting whoever because I was lonely?” He let out a small, humorless chuckle. “I wasn’t lonely because I wanted someone who had to be around me all the time. What I wanted – what I want – is someone I can be excited to come home to. Someone who’s got his own shit going on outside of me, and gets that I’ve got shit going on outside of him too. Someone who makes me feel comfortable but still challenges and thrills me. Like I said, it can't be just anyone." Swallowing down the surge of emotion, he added, low and shaky, “And I want it to be you.”

Beside him, Saruhiko let out a shaky-sounding exhale. "Misaki," he mumbled, low and unsteady – but if he'd planned to say something after, it didn’t come out.

The tone of his voice was enough to make up Yata’s mind; feeling emboldened, he looked over and met Saruhiko's gaze. Those blue-grey eyes he loved so much had a starved sort of look in them – not the wild, manic edge from hours before, but something softer... Lost, maybe. It tugged at his heart, the ache pleasant and painful all at once.

It made him want to try one more time – even if he looked stupid or clingy. His pride wasn't more important than this. “You can’t really want this contract, right, Saruhiko?” It was impossible to keep the hopeful note out of his voice. “You got a life that I'm not part of – people you miss, stuff you wanna do. Don’t you wanna keep doing that, seeing them, and come home to me too?”

Saruhiko stared at him for another moment, looking as if he were seeing him for the first time, and then exhaled in a rush, shutting his eyes. Before Yata could think to question what that meant, he slumped down to sit on the beam as well, shoulders sagging. It was that same defeated posture from earlier, but it felt somehow less... resigned.

Like he was letting go of something this time rather than accepting a burden.

“How the hell do you do that?” Saruhiko muttered, shaking his head slightly before opening his eyes again to meet Yata’s gaze. The corners of his mouth edged up into a rueful smile, contributing to the weary but fond expression on his face. “You act headstrong and careless, but you can still come up with a way to put it that just...” He shook his head. “You know. Something about you gets under my skin. When you summoned me…” At that point, he hesitated, and then clicked his tongue. “Well, not like it matters if you know. I felt it – your loneliness, I mean.”

Yata blinked at him, thrown off by the sudden admission. “Eh?”

“The emotional link opens before we accept the contract,” Saruhiko explained, voice wry. “Normally I wouldn’t have taken a contract without an end date or timeframe.” He offered that funny little smile again, expression strangely helpless. “Somehow, when I connected with you… it was like the rational part of my brain stopped. I moved without even thinking.” He let out a soft, resigned-sounding huff, shutting his eyes. “That’s how much you’ve always affected me, right from the start.”

It struck a familiar chord. Staring back, Yata couldn’t help but think back to all those times he’d felt that solidarity between them – the sense of their feelings synchronizing – and the confession made perfect sense. More than before, a fierce longing swelled within him; the precious nature of their connection striking him all at once as it sank in.

That loneliness he’d felt – Saruhiko had felt it too, and recognized it straight away.

If they separated now… Yata swallowed around the lump in his throat, feeling his chest constrict. It felt like they’d lose a chance at something amazing. Something he wanted to grow into, and learn to cherish.

Please, Saruhiko…

As if in response to that desperation, Saruhiko was opening his eyes again, the little smile fading on his lips as he regarded Yata with something like uncertainty. “Misaki,” he started, voice low, and took in what sounded like a ragged, painful breath. “I want them too. Those things you said... All of them.”

The sting of tears hitting his eyes felt like catharsis. Yata couldn't help the choked noise, half laugh and half sob, that escaped his throat. Saruhiko's face blurred in front of him and he scrubbed furiously at his eyes, blinking to clear his vision as best he could. “Yeah,” he managed to get out roughly, and reached out without stopping to check himself.

The sudden happiness that burst within him when Saruhiko met him partway was nearly overwhelming.

It wasn’t a skilled or passionate kiss, but it felt so good that Yata’s heart seemed to sing within his chest. Their lips met, parted briefly, and connected again; they were both obviously trembling with the emotion behind it. He had his fingers braced at the back of Saruhiko’s neck and Saruhiko’s hand cupping his face, and he couldn’t tell where most of the tremors originated. The breath between them was ragged and as they leaned into each other, Saruhiko’s hand found his on the beam between them and gripped it tightly – a hold that Yata returned with equal force.

He couldn’t remember ever being this happy before in his life. He didn’t want the moment to end.

Eventually, of course, it had to; they pulled back after a few moments, panting and reluctant, and when Yata opened his eyes, Saruhiko’s were fluttering open in the same moment. Their gazes locked, and the smile that tugged at his lips was mirrored back to him, slow and hesitant, on Saruhiko’s.

He didn’t know how long they stayed like that, but after a while Saruhiko drew in another of those shaky breaths and let his fingers trail from Yata’s face, leaving shivers in their wake. He wrapped his arm around Yata’s shoulders instead, drawing him in with unexpected force and mumbling next to his ear a very quiet, “Sorry.”

Yata felt his smile widening at that, eyes stinging dangerously. He wriggled his own arm free to return the awkward embrace. “S’okay.”

There was another lengthy, comfortable pause as they let that moment run its course, and then Saruhiko drew back, meeting Yata’s gaze again with lidded eyes and notable hesitation that he was clearly trying to mask. “Now what?”

“Now… we got time, right?” Yata gave his hand a squeeze, feeling light-headed. Possibilities were beginning to form in his head – the future spreading out bright and full of promise in front of him. “And I got your number – summoning circle, I mean.” He grinned. “We can figure this shit out together.”

Saruhiko shut his eyes, letting out a short, amused huff, and squeezed back. When he opened them again, that fond expression was back on his face, making Yata’s heart skip a beat. “I guess we can,” he murmured, and leaned in again until their lips almost touched before drawling, “later.”

They were both smiling into the kiss that followed.

[words-are-like-colors]

Title: Skirts and Fishnets AO3.: Word Count: 9k~ Rating: T Relationship: M/M Chapter: 1/? Tags: Fushimi Saruhiko/Yata Misaki, Fushimi Saruhiko, Yata Misaki, Post-ROK, Post-Coke, Genderfluid!Saruhiko, Summary: Saruhiko is Genderfluid. That is basically the whole idea of this AU. Like, the plot is the same from original [K] except that Misaki is gay for Saruhiko and Saruhiko is Genderfluid because why not. Notes: Please read and enjoy. This wonderful idea was sparked up by this tumblr post: Ridiasfangirlings. Also, when you come across the character Isamu, I will inform you that he is, in fact, not a character in the original [K] Universe. I created him for this fic’s plot’s sake. If I do decide to continue this fic (based on reviews I get or if I just can’t stop thinking about it) you will continue to see him throughout. My thanks goes to my wonderful beta Mangosaurus. YOU ARE MY FAVORITE PERSON.

Tch, why am I even going to this stupid bar? I grumbled internally as my fingers did quick work of fasting the two interior hooks so the skirt hung neatly on my skinny hips. Earlier today, Misaki had texted me asking if I would like to go to a bar with him. Bars are the last place I would want to be in for many obvious reasons but, like Misaki has oh-so excitedly texted me, I haven’t gone out for a drink with him in a long time, so I stubbornly agreed. It would be much easier just to go over to Misaki’s place so not to create any hassle or have to worry about looking halfway decent but it is what it is, or so they say.

My phone angrily buzzed against the nightstand but I ignored it when the little chibi of Dōmyōji started to bounce on the screen. Instead of answering the text, I snatched up my tops from off the bed to put on. I couldn’t help but look over at where my small, unflashy makeup box sat in the corner of the room. It probably wouldn’t the be the best idea to get suited up and all because Misaki might faint (again, I don’t see why he would get all blushy over this) but oh well, I was in that mood where I felt like I needed to put all of this on.

I retrieved the box and opened it up. After pulling a few items out and dragging my chair over to the ceiling-to-floor length mirror in the closet, I carefully applied on some deep blue eyeshadow (which was accompanied by mascara to make my eyes stand out nicely) and as I finished doing the matching lipstick, I paused and smirked to myself. Hm… This wasn’t such a bad find after all. The dark matte blue lipstick that was currently stained over my lips was a rare find at the back of a convenience store. Benzai had pulled me into the store after a mission was completed to get some ramen when I stumbled across the small 50% off bin; I found it on the top of the pile, I didn’t think of it at the time but it was the perfect addition opposed to my normal light blue or black.

I carefully placed the items into the makeup box before digging out a pair of black gloves from the back of the closet where I had thrown them in the week before. The fabric stretched a bit as I slipped them on and flexed my fingers. I bent to grab my dress boots when the person in the mirror caught my eye. The PDA buzzed again but that message was also ignored, not because of whomever was trying to contact me, but because of the person looking back at me in the mirror. They… they weren’t that bad looking. The skirt and tank top were an excellent match, them being the same shade of blue followed by a ¾ sleeve fishnet shirt. The makeup flawlessly accented the embodiment of the outfit. A small warm spark flared up in my chest as I couldn’t help but smile because I looked… pretty.

At the third buzz, I ripped my eyes away from the reflection and pulled on a pair of dress boots. Ungracefully pushing the door open and tripping on the way into the hallway, I quickly scrolled through my PDA’s messages.

Dōmyōji: Dude, you really should come with us. It will be awesome.

I disregarded that message because the answer was already given hours ago.

Misaki: Saru. When u coming ? I ve been waiting

Misaki: you better not be late cuz your working still

I quickly sent a message back to him before stuffing the PDA into my little black handbag. Misaki had given it to me years ago while saying that it wasn’t girly or manly but that he was only giving it because I had no pockets in my skirts.

My boots clicked against the hardwood steps on the grand stairwell as I gradually made my way over to the front doors. I shivered slightly once I stepped into the nippy chill of the night’s air. A silhouette stood beyond the Scepter 4 Headquarters gate, a red glow seemed to reverberate from the shadow due to the nearby street lamp.

The silhouette looked up as I neared the gate. “Saru! What took you so long?” Misaki turned around, bouncing slightly as he shivered in excitement.

“Hello to you too.” I said smoothly, noting that he hasn’t said hello yet. Careful not to dirty my gloves, I pushed the gate open and slipped outside onto the street.

“Uh… H-hi!” His stuttered response made me look up from where I was slowly pushing the gate close. A blush could be seen blooming over his cheeks and up into his hair, making his ears pink.

“Problem?” My eyebrow quirked up at his reaction of seeing me. What about me could make him blush?

“Uh… um…” Misaki instinctively started to rack his fingers through his hair, an action I’ve recognized to be when he was nervous but usually he pulls his beanie over his face although this time, he didn’t have it with him. His outfit was a tad different than usual but it was clearly something he picked out because it still had the rough qualities that the man comes with. Tonight, he was wearing some random grey band shirt that I was pretty sure he doesn’t listen too and some tighter jeans than normally seen in.

I smirked and bent down slightly, the boots had given me a little more height but it doesn’t matter, I’m still taller than Misaki anyways. “Tell me Mi~Sa~Ki~” I drew out, knowing just how much he hated it when I said his name like that.

“Youlooksexyinthatoutfit.” His answer came out in a jumbled mess as he blurted it out and covered his burning face.

I paused for a moment but before I could think about what he said, I decided to have some fun. “Oh, Misaki.” I said lowly and slowly, pushing his arm off of his face to gently skim his cheek with the tips of my fingers. “Is that what you really think about me? Sexy?” He practically melted underneath my touch as I ran my finger across his jaw.

“O-okay! Saru, enough!” He violently pushed me a safe distance away and started to stomp off. After getting a few paces away, he called over his shoulder, “A-and yes, your s-sexy in that.”

Ha! I won~ I internally sang as I started to follow him. Our walk was mostly silent, midway Misaki had slowed down so we could walk together.

I watched him as we walked, complimenting him with my eyes. It’s not like nothing was new, same hair, same eyes, same gate, same annoying nervous twitches with his hands because he doesn’t know what to do with them, but recently, the same had became new… or it was just that I’m re-noticing some things for the first time, like that his hair curls ever so slightly at the ends and around his ears that makes it so difficult not to reach out and touch, or his eyes, the way they sparkle when excited or fiery when angered, or the way he walks, confident yet relaxed and always prepared to spring into action, or the small sullen movements he makes, unnoticeable twitches or common movements that are only noticeable when watched for a long time. I let out a sigh, resisting that very urge to reach out and touch the small curl behind his ear.

No matter how much I hated to admit it, it was still true. Ever since after the Destruction of the Slate, there has been these fleeting moments where I couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to be close to Misaki, to hold Misaki’s hand, to go on dates with Misaki, but that was impossible because those feelings might not be given back. But… is this a date?

“Misaki.” He looked up when I called his name. “Are we on a date?” If he asked why I asked him this, I could just play it off like I was trying to embarrass him but his reaction was pleasing.

His beautiful eyes widened for a moment before he sharply looked away. “N-no, unless you want it to be… I guess.” He shrugged. I was glad that he was looking away because a small grin had appeared on my lips.

“Hm… let’s make it a date then. Since it’s just you and me.” I said, picking up my pace a little now that I had spotted the bar. Thankfully, Misaki was smart enough not to choose Homra Bar to go to.

“Um… Saru, please don’t get mad.” I looked down at him in surprise yet preparedness, it must be horrific if he’s asking me not to get mad. The man scratched the back on his neck nervously as he said, “Well, some of the blues and my guys are going to be there as well.”

I stopped in the middle of my tracks with a sharp click of my boots. “Why? You could’ve told me.” I let the anger out into my voice, he should’ve told me or I won’t of dressed up so much. It’s not that I have much shame in it anymore but not everyone needs to know, I didn’t need the drama of questions around me.

Misaki stopped in front of me. “You need to get out more. You’re always cooped up in that stupid place of yours.” He cross his arms defiantly and continued. “And it wasn’t my decision for everyone to come. That Andy guy that works with you asked us to come so I thought it would be a good time for you to meet up with some of us again.”

I clicked my tongue. Of course Dōmyōji Andy would invite everyone to some bar and try to force me to go as well. “Fine. I’ll go with you but don’t force me to talk to your lot.” I walked passed him, now irritated that I couldn’t have the night with just Misaki.

Misaki picked up his pace and followed me before hopping forward and pushing the door open for me. I didn’t thank him, which was expected, and walked inside. Instantly, a few heads were turned and stared at me. I clicked my tongue and headed to the counter where I had spotted two empty seats.

“Yo, Yata. That’s the Fushimi guy right? The Scepter 4 third in command?” I didn’t recognize the speaker so I plopped down into the barstool next to some random Scepter 4 member whose name I’ve forgotten.

“Yep.” I heard Misaki’s reply so I listened to the conversation and watched out of the corner of my eye. “That’s Saru for ya.”

“Oh. I didn’t expect this but cool.” The man was leaning against the counter, looking calm and passive but what caught my eye was that his Horma mark was laid out against his neck. Usually Homra marks were on places that could be covered up, like mine and Misaki’s upon our collar bones. The man pushed off of the counter. “See you, Yata.” He started to walk off to the back of the bar.

“Yeah, see ya Isamu.” Misaki called to him and sat down next to me. “Sorry about that.”

“What did he mean about ‘I didn’t expect this’?” I asked, trying to make conversation. I already guessed that the answer was: he didn’t expect a high official in a security department, a formal member of Homra, and the key component of defeating Jungle to be dressed up in woman’s clothing.

Misaki shrugged. “Don’t know. You guys haven’t met yet so there’s probably lots of questions to be asked.” The bartender quickly took our orders while Misaki talked. “He, Isamu, joined us right before the whole Jungle nonsense.”

I nodded but the conversation ended there because I could really careless about this man. Drinks were placed down in front of the both of us before the bartender walked off. A beer was given to Misaki (which I disapproved of) and a beautiful blue margarita was given to me. Typically, I don’t drink but since Misaki was buying, I ordered myself a something special.

A odd prickle crawled up my spine from all of the small looks that people were giving me. Usually, I would be asked questions or given strange looks but the Scepter 4 and Homra members around me didn’t really seem to mind. Yes, there were off questions to their friend “is that Fushimi?” “I wonder where Misaki picked up his hot date?” but otherwise it was useless banter. If anyone had a problem with me trying to look pretty for once and not have a sucky night, they can speak to my knives.

“Saru! Can I ask you something?” Misaki turned so he was facing me more. He was gingerly holding his beer between his hands for a moment as if copulating if he really should drink it before indulging himself in it.

“You already did.” I mumbled.

“You know what I mean.” He laughed slightly. “I was thinking. Maybe Anna should…”

I blocked out his jabber and only nodded and said “yeah” every once in awhile. Once he gets going about something or someone of that dreaded gang, he won’t stop. I ran my fingers down the delicate, thin middle of the glass. As I watched my fingertips glide down the rod, I couldn’t help but think, I should’ve stayed at my dorm instead of going here. It’s not like there was anything for me to do here.

“Wait? You will?!” Misaki excitedly exclaimed, nearly falling out of his seat. “You’ll help tutor Anna?!”

“Eh?” I jerked up from where I was staring to look at the man next to me, confused on what I had just agreed upon.

“Yeah, Anna needs new tutors now that most of us is getting new jobs and such. Also, you’re really smart in the subjects she lacking in.” The man smiled and took a swig of his drink. “I didn’t think you would agree but surprise! You did.”

My mouth was hanging open, what the hell did I just agree to do? I was about to say no and reject the offer but I hesitated. Anna does need a tutor and it wasn’t like we had a dispute or anything. I’m not the best at helping people but Anna isn’t like normal people. “Tsk, don’t look so surprised and hopeful. I’ll only try once.”

“Thanks Saru.” He smiled, a wide warm smile that made me pause with my glass halfway up to drink.

I quickly ducked down to hide the blush that had threatened to crawl up, I muttered a whatever and drank some of my margarita.

“I’m going to say hi to some of the guys for a moment.” Misaki slid off of the stool and started to walk off.

“Wait, Misaki.” I hissed but he had already walked too far to hear me. Tsk. This is a date, not a place just to hang out with other people. I thought before taking a few sips of my drink. It didn’t taste all too bad.

I glanced around the place and I had to say, it wasn’t that bad after all. The Scepter 4 and Homra members were getting along too much for my liking but in the end, the lack of paperwork needed to go out to a bar was much better than having an all out fight. I only recognize a few people, of course all of the Special Forces officers were there which was expected, but a few lower paid Scepter 4 members were scattered among to old and new Homra members. Dōmyōji waved when we made eye contact and he tried to usher me over but I shook my head no.

Bored, I flexed my hands before straightening out my gloves. A strong voice sounded from behind me.

“Hey. Did that little munchkin run off?”

Now that was something I never heard Misaki be called. Typically it was chihuahua (curiosity of Eric Sōlt) or virgin but not munchkin. So, because of the abnormally of the question, I turned around. “Misaki is somewhere else.” I responded.

It was that neck-mark guy, Isamu, talking. He gave a small half grin as he sat down onto the stool next to me, in Misaki’s seat. “So… I heard that you got into pretty rough stuff a couple of months ago. I mean, I was there and all but that was neat; pretended to be a Jungle member and all. I doubt –”

“Where are you going with this?” I shot daggers at him. There was no patience within me to tolerate a lame Homra member talking about some mission that Munakata put me on.

Instead of backing off like most people would do when confronted with my personality, this man leaned forward slightly. He lifted a finger and gestured for the bartender to get him a drink while he answered with a grin. “Well, since you seem impatient to let me to get to my point, I’ll get to it now. I was going to congratulate you on your skill work. I’ve heard stories.” A few strands of black hair few down into his face as he watched me in interest. He looked like a typical Homra member, tall, strong built, obvious signs of being in several fights, but he was dressed more proper than others of his gang– black dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar and sleeves rolled up to the elbow which was accompanied by dark jeans and several bracelets. His hair was a bit more ruffled than when I glanced at him earlier, it was if he was doing that lame movie thing of running his fingers through his hair to try and make it look better yet always making it more ruffled looking.

I couldn’t help but be surprised by remark, who would want to tell stories about me? “And?” I promoted.

He chuckled, seemingly glad that I was interested. “A lot of them came from the vanguard but I’ve also heard other things. Not to be stalkerish or anything, but I’ve asked around some of your other friends–” Friends? If your talking either the blue or red idiots, neither of them are my friends, I thought. “– and they’ve said other fascinating stories.” Isamu took a beer from the bartender with a small thanks before continuing. “For instance, stories about how strong you were as a young Homra member; you were almost as strong as Kusanagi when partnered when the vanguard…” He went on to talk about my other accomplishments.

To be honest, it was quite annoying to have someone talking about how awesome your clan careers were. Although… having Misaki glot to others about me was a bit rewarding.

“So, Saruhiko– if I may call you that– I’ve also heard that you carry a full set of knives– not little throwing knives, but nice long ones. Also, that you never go anywhere without them…” His grin slid into a smirk. I was already bothered greatly by him calling me by my horrific first name but asking where I had deliberately hid my knives was worse. “Hm? I angered you?”

I shifted in my seat and turned away from him, desperately wanting Misaki to come back already. “More like irritating me. And don’t call me that and also don’t ask about my knives.”

Isamu wasn’t fazed, but arched an eyebrow in response. “So you are carrying them with you. I wonder where they are…” His gaze raked my body and I couldn’t help but twitch uncomfortably. Why the hell is his wondering where I keep my weapons? It’s not like he has a purpose for knowing.

I was, in fact, carrying some of my knives with me. After joining Scepter 4, I had fashioned myself with making a small harness that could fit nicely under my skirts. Although only six could fit on the belt, it was still useful. Also, I had modified my dress boots to hold at least two per boot on the inside. Thankfully, the work had not been in vain because I’ve used these modifications more than once against pathetic strains trying to jump me.

A poke on my thigh made me flinch. A sharp laugh came from Isamu from my reaction. “Under your skirt, eh?”

“Fuck off.” I finally growled out, fully ready to leave and not come back for Misaki.

Isamu raised his hands in defense, “Sorry sorry. Didn’t mean to piss you off. Just having a bit of fun.” He lowered his hands and drank a bit of his beer, that reminds me that I have my own drink still waiting to be drunk. The bottle made a low thump as he put it back down. He leaned lower still even though I had just told me to leave me alone. “And on the concept of fun… how would you like–”

“Saru! I’m ba– Isamu. What’s going on?” My Misaki was back, finally.

As Misaki gazed upon the scene he had just witnessed, a baffled look appeared on his face. I didn’t blame him for looking so confused– his gang member friend was leaning close to me, his hand slightly stretched out from where he had previously poked my leg and a sly smirk across his face– but what I didn’t expect was a flash of rage to cross his face and for him to stomp over to shove Isamu away. “Leave Saruhiko alone.” He demanded.

Isamu sat back, getting defensive. “Hey, I was just talking to the beauty. Doing nothing wrong.”

“Lier.” Misaki scuffed, sounding childish with the calling out but I couldn’t say I disagreed. “I came here with Saru so I get to leave here with Saru. Got it?”

A noise of genuine surprise escaped me. When did Misaki decide to beat down his own member for my sakes? The man sitting on the bar stool opposite of me also seemed surprised at his statement.

Although Isamu had been put off by Misaki’s brave statement, he still kept his confidence and aplomb. The man laughed mockingly and raised a hand to draw through his hair. “Really Yata? You and Saruhiko here–”

“Don’t call them that. Only I can, alright?” Misaki growled, his hands bunching up into fists. If this wasn’t such an imposing scene, I would’ve told him off for trying to protect me but I’ll let it slip this time.

Isamu continued his statement as if Misaki didn’t interrupt, “–are dating? I didn’t think a virgin like you could pick up someone like this. I wouldn’t be surprised if the two of you are in some kind of lewd deal. You can’t even go up to a girl and ask her out so I’m really not surprised that you are using a traitor as a substitute–”

It was I who interrupted not just him, but the whole bar around us. The only sounds that could be heard was the sharp gasp of the man before me, music dimly playing from a box in the back, and a click as someone dropped their glass lightly on a table top. What had startled everyone to silence and stares was the knife glinting as it was dangerously raised to Isamu’s throat. Once the oddly marked man, more like flea, had started to insult Misaki and me in one of the lowest ways possible, I had clicked; at lightning speeds, I had whipped a knife out of my skirt and pointed it at him.

“Coward.” A hiss escaped from between my teeth. “I didn’t perceive that even a Homra member would stoop so low to not only attempt to get me to go out with them, but then right after, insult their senior with the said person they are trying to go out with.” I withdrew my knife and stood up.

Chatter started to erupt again as I made my way out of the bar and out onto the street. What set me off? Typically, I would stand idly by as the flea throw insults but I had acted this time.

“Saru!” Misaki bursted out of the bar and ran over to me. The look of rage was still hot on his face but it clearly not towards me due to the lack of yelling. “Hey, sorry about that. Isamu was probably drinking before we had got there.”

The weak excuse didn’t cut it. “Whatever, Misaki.” I sighed, turning on my heel to start walking back to my dorm which I had only left about an hour go, with the walking taking most of the time.

“Eh? Come on. Let’s go to Homra Bar.” Misaki suggested, catching up to me. “No one is there except for Kusanagi and Anna. I’ll even call to make sure.” When I didn’t reply to his pleading, he kept going. “O-or my place. We can play videogames and stuff. I can even make you something to eat.”

I kept walking without a word. There was no reason that I should go to Homra Bar, only to be reminded of when I was a member of that gang.

“You don’t have to be a jerk about everything. We could do something different, this is a date after all.” Misaki’s outburst made me pause and look at him, mildly interested in what he had to say. When our gaze met, he flushed– it was bright enough to be seen even at night. “W-well… only if you want too. I-it’s not like I’m asking you o-out or anything.” He fidgeted, once again automatically trying to pull at his nonexistent beanie.

The weight of disappointment shouldn’t of been present. It wasn’t like I’m pining him (or at least I haven’t realized it just yet) or anything along those lines. Yes, I have feelings for him but I’m not ashamed of it. Of course it took a while to realize and then find out that it was okay to like Misaki; when I had went to the Yata Family’s house, Misaki’s mother had pointed out that she doesn’t mind if I liked Misaki that way and that she rather it would be me over anyone else. The knowing looks from both Munakata and Awashima doesn’t help the matter any.

I clicked my tongue, deliberately keeping eye contact with him so he can’t turn away and hide from the subject. “Well, are you asking me out?”

Misaki visibly stiffened but his next words came out in a rashful mess. “Yes. I’m asking you out.”

“Let’s get this straight. Isamu is apparently a barbarian, and you guys are goin’ out?” Kusanagi paused in the middle of cleaning his glass to lean on the counter and look at the pair sitting at his bar top.

Misaki let out a bashful laugh and grinned. “Yep. And that’s why we are here.”

“Only because you half dragged me here.” I mumbled into my drink. When we had got here, Misaki had ordered me the same blue margarita like from the old bar; I didn’t complain because I had barely drank half of the old one and I liked the taste of it.

Kusanagi chuckled. “That’s swell at least.” The glass let out a soft clink as it was set down onto the counter. “Oh Anna. You want somethin’?”

The girl, Anna, had seated herself onto the bar stool next to Misaki. She was wearing a lion night onesie and holding a red marble up to her eye. To people who don’t know her, this sight would be rather confused and unnerving. A soft smile appeared on her lips as she looked at me through her marble. “Saruhiko looks pretty tonight.” She said calmly before looking at Kusanagi. “I thought everyone was going out. And I sense that something bad happened.”

Misaki answered for Kusanagi. “Isuma was being a jerk, that’s all. I rather spend the night here anyways.”

I let the three talk as I busied myself with the blue drink before me. Isamu’s words couldn’t help but come back to me: “I’m really not surprised that you are using a traitor as a substitute.” Like hell would Misaki be able to use me as a substitute, I am the farthest from a little pretty girl as can be. Ice seemed to trickle down my spine as psychopathic laugher suddenly invaded the back of my mind, I hadn’t been taunted in such a way since my father had been alive.

“Misaki.” Anna’s voice snapped me out of it, her tone was oddly demanding like she was in fact trying to get me out of it. “We had a deal.”

I took a few shallow breaths before focusing on the conversation at hand.

“Deal?” Misaki looked down at her confused but a light bulb seemed to come alight a moment after. “O-oh. That. I don’t think Saru is up for it tonight…”

“For what, Misaki?” I asked.

He clammed up for a moment, his cheeks reddening as he answered, “I… it’s stupid. You won’t like it anyways.” He muttered, not looking at me.

I watched him for a moment, copulating if it was really necessary to push him on the subject until I saw Anna glaring at him. It must be really important if she is actually mad at him. “Well… I’ll be leaving if you won’t tell me. There’s no point to be here if secrets are around.”

“Chu, like you should be talking.” Misaki huffed but got up out of his seat. “I’ll be right back.” He retreated to the stairs leading to the other rooms.

While Misaki was upstairs getting whatever he was getting, Anna abandoned her seat to retrieve some newspaper. The paper crinkled slightly as she laid it out across the coffee table. “Saruhiko.” She pointed to the table which I assumed where she wanted me to sit (the two black couches that was usually around the table were pushed against a different wall for some unknown reason).

I followed the lioness’s silent instructions and sat next to the table. By the time I sat down, Misaki galloped down the stairs. Whatever that was in his hands clicked several times before he placed it down on the table.

“… nail polish?” Whatever I was expecting, it wasn’t this. A small box sat upon the table, inside was several bottles of nail polish were set in rows by color. The box was mostly filled with reds and oranges but blues and blacks dotted between the fiery colors.

I gingerly picked a blue from the box and examined the bottle before looking up at Misaki for an explanation. Misaki put his hands on his hips and said in a proud manner, even though I knew he was dying from embarrassment inside, “When you were still in Homra, I had asked Chitose to teach me how to do makeup and stuff for ladies. You like to be feminine sometimes so I decided I would try and learn so I can help you. It’s stupid really but I continued testing and trying things out even after you left so yeah.” A sheepish grin crossed his face. “Anna made a promise with me that if, one day, I managed to get you in here, I would paint both yours and hers nails. So, I agreed so she let me test on her.”

Anna nodded, proving the story was accurate. Misaki was still standing there, waiting for the go ahead. After a moment of thought, I clicked my tongue. “Tsk, as long as you don’t screw it up.”

A smile crossed his face as he joyously plopped onto the ground across from me. “I won’t.” He carefully emptied the box and lined the colors out so I could see them all. “Pick the ones you like.” He offered.

I reached out and plucked out a royal blue and black from the row. A bottle with clear-white sparkles caught my eye so I hesitantly grabbed that out as well. I put the bottles into Misaki’s hands before carefully removing my gloves and putting them into my handbag.

Misaki looked over my choices for a moment and hummed. “Okay. I have an idea.” He gestured for my hand so I held it out for him. “So, we could do all of your nails this blue except for the ring finger where we could do the black with the white sparkles over it. Is that okay?”

There was no problem with that so I nodded and let him take my hand. Misaki gently ran his fingers against mine before laying my hand out against the newspaper.

This is… new. The old was me. Once in middle school, I had found a bottle of purple nail polish laying around on the floor of the classroom. At this point in time, I had started to seriously consider my sexuality and gender. Typically, I could really care less– if you’re happy, be happy, I have no reason to judge, but then, feelings had started to swirl inside me like a whirlpool. I was angry at myself at first, fully believed that I am just a monkey… a failure, a failure that I couldn’t just be a normal guy that went to school and could hit on girls. So, when I found the little purple bottle, I had hid behind the school. I was curious, no stupid, and started to paint my nails. I have never done that, actually do something that was girly. It was a rush of feelings, angry, happiness, sadness, giddiness; there was enough feelings that I couldn’t help but laugh as my eyes teared up. It was proof that I was a failure but also proof that I could be someone different, someone whose life wasn’t an endless parade of despair. During the midst of raw feelings, Misaki had found me hunched up behind the baseball pits. First, he was concerned, who wouldn’t be if their friend is hiding with tears falling down their face? But once he saw the nail polish bottle laying in the grass by my feet, he just smiled. A genuine beautiful warm smile cross his face as he laughed and picked up the bottle, saying, “Fushimi, you could’ve told me. There’s nothing to be ashamed about.” He grabbed my half painted hand and brush-cap to start to go to work after those words. His blind acceptance was… wonderful. Wonderful in the fact that he could really care less whether I wore skirts or pants, whether I wore make up or went bare, whether I was girl or a boy. He took me for who I was– his friend.

I looked up from where I was watching when music softly started to play. Kusanagi had walked out from behind his bar and started up the radio which was situated in the corner of the room. “A bit too quiet.” He said, answering my questioning gaze.

Misaki glanced up at me, an excited look was still in his eyes. After making sure that it was okay to proceed (he had finished the royal blue), he carefully replaced the cap to the blue before opening up the black. The feeling of coolness from the wet paint set mini shivers through me as Misaki carefully spread the paint out to fill my ring finger. He was cautious to not hit the now drying fingers while also trying not to get the paint onto my skin.

His blind acceptance is beautiful.

“‘Night, boys.”

“You too!” Misaki waved to Kusanagi as he pushed open the door; I gave him a short nod. After a few hours at the bar (talking, nail polish, and watching a few of Totsuka’s tapes), Anna had literally fell asleep standing– which meant that it was well past her bedtime, and Misaki and I had a scolding from Kusanagi about not coming in so late at night. I would’ve retorted with, it’s not my fault that you kept the bar open until midnight, but that wouldn’t be the best idea at this time of night. So, we left the bar with our destination being Scepter 4 HQ.

The jingle of bells accompanied the clicks of my boots and the content sigh that slipped out of Misaki as the door fell shut. We walked in silence for a few minutes until Misaki attempted to start a conversation. “Um… Do you… Do you have the day off sometime soon?” He stiffened when I glanced down at him. “I-I mean, just wondering’. It’s not like I’m asking you out or any– oh wait! I did.” He reached up to itch his neck sheepishly.

“Your brain must be as big as your stature.” I said smoothly.

It took a few seconds before Misaki burst, “Oi! My brain isn’t small.”

Silent laughter shook me. “Oh, but you agreed that you are short and small.” I couldn’t help but smirk at him.

“Don’t be an ass.” Misaki rolled his eyes. After a brief moment of silence he muttered, “So…”

“Friday.”

“Eh?”

“You asked when I had the day off so that’s the day.” I clicked my tongue and picked up my pace slightly, the cold had pricked at my skin. “I’m going to stay and tend to the work that wasn’t finish.” A frown had pulled itself across his face. “… unless you have something planned.”

The frown vanished and was replaced with a hopeful look. “We could do something like we did tonight, just not do something with my guys.” He proceeded to add a comment about how he’s going to kick Isamu’s ass once he sees him again but I disregarded that. “You had fun tonight right?”

“Tsk.” There was no denying it, I did have “fun” per say. “You could say that.”

Misaki smiled, looking triumph. “So that means that you liked our date?”

“I already answered.” I snipped lightly, a bit bashful about admitting this. “But you still have until we reach the headquarters. Don’t mess it up.”

“I’ll try not.”

“Try?”

“Come on! I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.” He waved his arm for elaboration, which actually didn’t make much sense in this situation.

“Me either…” Six years ago, I didn’t know what would happen when I picked up the purple nail polish bottle. Four years ago, I didn’t know what would happen when I scourged my Homra tattoo. Two years ago, I didn’t know what would happen when I fell into a tunnel with Misaki. Four months ago, I didn’t know what would happen when I was being attack by JUNGLE and was strained hopeless. Two hours ago, I didn’t know what would happen when I held the knife against Isamu’s throat. Two minutes ago, I didn’t know what would happen when I lit a small fire of raw youth and happiness in Misaki’s eyes.

“Well, maybe we could go out to lunch or something. Friday. Kusanagi wants me to help at the bar in the morning but I’m off the rest of the day.” Misaki supplied which I only shrugged to.

The streets around became busier as we walked along, businessman walking home from work, 24/7 shops still alight with a bored worker or two inside, a loud meowing came from an alley, and more of that sort of thing. We were obvious to this though, after living in this city for so long, we’ve gotten use to this life. I would’ve also missed a man staring at me if it wasn’t for Misaki who started growling in his direction like a dog. I questioned why he started being protective, “What? You don’t like people staring at me?”

“Chu, you know all what they want. It’s not you, it’s that gorgeous chick facade you have going on.” He said offendedly, still glaring at the man until we rounded the corner.

His wording had peaked my interest. “‘Gorgeous’ “

Misaki stumbled to a stop, nearly bumping into me as he was stunned by his own word choice. His cheeks turned red under the street light. “I’m not going to lie. Y-you look gorgeous in everything.” He continued with his confession, words pouring from his lips like it was something he had held back for a long time. “You’re beautiful in everything: skirts, suits, and even that crappy sweatshirt you had in middle school. It’s so annoying how you can look so good in everything. I hate it that you can look so beautiful without noticing.” To an outsider, it would look like Misaki was spatting and trying to start a fight but to me, it was just Misaki being brave. He moved forward, getting closer as if he was trying to make me believe by throwing the words into my face. “I just want you to see how beautiful you are and that you are not just some piece of trash. Okay, Saruhiko? You’re gorgeous, beautiful–”

I don’t know what made me do it. Maybe it was the warmth that bloomed within me at his words– “Gorgeous”, “Beautiful”, “Sexy.”– that drove me to this predicament. I had cut him off with a kiss; it was inexperienced, off target, impulsive, but still a kiss at best.

I don’t regret it.

A squeak escaped him when I touched his lips, but he didn’t push me away, it was more like he was frozen in surprise. His cheeks under my hands burned as I slowly pulled away. The amber in his eyes sparkled as they widened, surprise and shock were visible in them, yet they held no anger.

The corners of Misaki’s lips lifted and relief swept through me. I haven’t messed up. I fondly watched as he raised his hand to intertwine our finger, keeping my hand upon his cheek.

There was no questions, no “can I kiss you again?”, no “why did you do that?”, no “can we do this somewhere else?”; all of those questions were answered already and the answered didn’t mattered because we were already kissing again. A miniature breathy giggle slipped out of the man as we bumped noses, neither of us were experienced in this area, before sudally correcting ourselves. I closed my eyes and shifted my free hand into his hair to keep him close this time.

A loud bout of giggling and laughing make the pair of us jump, apparently we both had drowned out the noise of the street that we were on. I didn’t recognize the laugher but Misaki clearly did because flung himself away from me and snapped his gaze over to the watchers.

After a second or two, I dimly recognized the couple. Chitose Yō was grinning at them, his arm wrapped around a woman’s waist. “Good job, Yata.” The man commented.

“S-shut up!” I raised an eyebrow as Misaki nearly-literally burst, his blush was quite clear as his whole face and neck lit up. “You were stalking us, weren’t you.” He accused his fellow Homra member.

The man shook his head. “No, Erika and I were just at the restaurant back there.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I was just walking her home until we found this.”

Misaki bristled like a cat, “You didn’t have to interrupt us!” He wildly turned on his heel, grabbed my wrist, and proceeded to stomp off. “Let’s go Saru.”

“Wait!” The woman, Erika, hurriedly slipped out from Chitose’s arm and approached us before we could leave them behind. “Excuse me, but it seems that you smudged the lipstick while kissing.”

I glanced at Misaki to see if it was true as Erika took a cloth out of her purse. I had, indeed, smudged a bit of blue into his lips. Misaki gratefully took the cloth from the woman and proceeded to try to take the dark blue off of his face.

Erika told Misaki to keep the cloth before hurrying back to her boyfriend. The pair waved farewell before walking in the opposite direction.

Are we going to talk about it? The kiss? That question stuck in my mind since Misaki and I had continued to walk. I glanced down at him, searching for any inclinations that would lead me to believe that he wanted to talk… but there wasn’t. Misaki had his hands in his pockets, head dipped to stare at the ground before him, and he was a step or two away from me. Although this didn’t look like he wanted to talk, it struck a chord in me; it shouldn’t of bothered me this much, the way Misaki was acting. Typically, he would be leaning closer to me, eyes bright and attentive, and ready to talk about useless batter like his day or some video game he is currently playing.

After a few minutes of uncertainty, I stiffly said, “So… tell me about that skateboarding competition that was mentioned that day at the park.” Don’t get me wrong, I like the quiet, peaceful walk with Misaki but it just felt wrong to watch him sulk for whatever reason.

Misaki jerked his head up, his eyes wide in surprise. “O-oh. Sure.” He paused, biting his lip in thought before continuing. “Uh… So, I ended up entering that competition, like I said. It’s in… a couple of weeks I think, in one of the old warehouses that they changed into trick ramps. It will actually be really cool and stuff. If I get in and win, I could go too another competition and if I win that one, I could go to the United States for more competition. I’m thinking of inviting some people to watch and stuff, and you come… if you want…” The last sentence came out as a mumble, it was as if he was unsure with the idea of me coming to watch.

The way he was acting prickled my nerves. Did I do something wrong? Although I could not do anything and let the matter fix itself over time, I do like Misaki’s kisses and want more in the future. So, I suddenly snapped, “Tsk, whatever I did wrong, ignore it. Obviously I upset you.”

Misaki jumped, clearly not expecting what I had said. “You didn’t do anything wrong!” He said startledly, but an ashamed look crossed his face.

“Then what’s the problem.”

“I-its nothing.”

“Misaki,” I hissed, clearly getting agitated that he wouldn’t just spit out what he was thinking. Our walk had started to get slower, it was as if the both of us both wanted to stop and continue to talk but both of us wanted to continue to our goal. “I’m not blind nor stupid, there is something wrong with you.”

Misaki visibly winced at my words. He stuffed his hands deeper into his pockets and let out a long sigh. “This is really fucking stupid but since you’re so persistent for whatever reason, I’ll tell you.” He kept his gaze pointedly away from me as he spoke. “I just don’t want what happened when you were in Homra to happen again… what I mean is that I don’t want to become so naive again, in any sense of the word and situation. We were both stupid then but I don’t want that happening again, ya know?” I did understand, more than he could explain. Although it wasn’t a just single cause that made me leave Homra, I can see which one Misaki was getting at.

“I didn’t like the way Misaki was acting.” I sighed, answering her earlier inquiry. The noises of the nightly flare nearly ceased as we turned the corner leading to the Scepter 4 Headquarters. He glanced at me in confusion so I explained. “Misaki sulking got annoying.”

“Oi! I wasn’t sulking… just distracted that’s all.” He huffed, nudging me. “It’s you who’s sulking.”

“About what then?”

Misaki relaxed, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know. Probably about something lame.” A teasing smirk crossed his face.

“Kissing Misaki isn’t lame.” Despite the fact that I wasn’t sulking, I took the chance to tease him. I could be sulking about that but Misaki acting different had worried me more.

“W-what?” He stammered, his characteristic blush coming into play according to plan. We both simultaneously stopped until the same lamppost from the beginning of this night.

“You heard what I said.” A lazy smirk creeped across my lips. “I liked kissing Misaki.” It wasn’t a lie, I truly liked it. During the minutes that we weren’t talking, I hadn’t be able to keep what had just happened out of my mind; the fondness in his beautiful eyes, the feel of his cheeks lighting up under my hands, the softness of his hair as I shifted my fingers into it, and the electrifying touch as we kissed, I couldn’t keep it out of my mind. I like this new.

He kept blushing his ridiculous red as I watched him for an answer. “O-oh. Um… we can do it again if you w-want.” He stopped hiding his face and stepped forward to me, trying stay brave.

“Hm… I do want to.” This time, I wasn’t teasing as I reached out and gently ran my fingers down his cheek. A hopeful smile popped up on his face as I leaned closer to him. Once I had stooped low enough to reach him, he surged up on his toes to wrap his arms around my shoulders and to press his lips to mine.

We stayed like that for a moment, Misaki wrapped around my shoulders and my free arm around his waist, before he slowly broke away. It felt nice, standing here, pressed up against Misaki. A content sound escaped him as he opened his eyes. I didn’t want to pull away. I ever so gently move my fingers into his hair to slowly touch that irresistible curl that was behind his ear that I’ve always want to touch, to caress. My freshly painted nails stood out clearly against his orange hair, the black and the blues looked like the night sky because of the way is clear dots that were scattered. At this moment I realized Misaki is the sun, I am the night; we are opposites, yes, but beautiful opposites but the same when joined at the same moment, at the same time we are beautiful.

“Saru?”

“Hm?”

“A-are we really boyfriends?”

“What do you think?”

Misaki thought for a moment before tightening his hold around my shoulders and leaning back up slightly, “Yes, we are.” He didn’t seem embarrassed anymore, his reddened face had calmed down into a soft pink, but instead he looked… happy, happy to be standing here with me. Happy to be in a relationship with me of all people.

Warmth bloomed within me at his simple words. “Misaki.” I needed to say his name; I could really not care about how much he hates his name because it sounds “lame” and it’s “girly”, what mattered was that I liked it. I like how his name rolls off of my tongue, it’s like a music note– its gradual at first until the last syllable with a nice -ki and that I can mold the name into different sounds and shapes, some longer, drawn out teasings or a short, needy call to catch his attention. His name has always been alluring to me.

We shared another short kiss before Misaki lowered himself back down to the ground, painfully pulling away from the embrace. We both knew we couldn’t stay there like that for the whole night– we would have to break apart some time or we would’ve fallen asleep on the hard sidewalk. Misaki bashfully chuckled and took a step back away from me. “Um… just text me when you get up tomorrow, alright? Just say hi or something so I know when you get up. You need a good night’s sleep.”

“I’m not a child, Misaki” I lightly snipped back but there was no heat behind the words, Misaki has always worried over me and my health which always caused me to snap back with the usual “I don’t need to be taken care of” retort, although… I do rather like him dotting on me.

“You know what I mean.” He rolled his eyes before glancing down at his PDAWatch and grimacing. “It’s already too late. Knowing you, you would get up five hours earlier just to do work.”

There was no argument there, I have gotten up early or stayed up late just to work several times and especially for the past few months since the Slate was destroyed. Timeless Palace, the ministry, and Scepter 4 has been tirelessly working on the worldwide outbreak of strains ever since Jungle has let the Slate’s powers be unleashed. I shrugged, “At least I’m getting things done, unlike you.”

Misaki went to retort but he ended up closing his mouth and saying instead. “Whatever, Saru… Just promise me that you will sleep tonight.”

I gave into his pleadings and nodded. “I’ll try.”

We stood there in an awkward silence, neither of us knowing what to say. Misaki silently rocked on his heels, stuffing his hands back into his pockets. After a few minutes, he seemed to find words again. “… good night, I guess.” He muttered out. “I mean, I walked you home and all, s-so I guess that this is the end of the night.”

No. The word hung on the tip of my tongue. No, I don’t want to leave Misaki just yet. I don’t want to leave his sidelong glances, his boisterous laugh, his small nudges when trying to catch my attention… but I had to go, it’s impossible to stay the whole night with him only to leave at the break of dawn the next day.

So, I took a small step closer to him, trying to catch the last close encounter with him before I had to turn in for the night. “Yes, it is. Anything else to say before I go?” The last part was a last hopeful note, bluntly asking for him to keep me there with him for longer.

Misaki shrugged then a lightbulb seemed to light up, the bulb was behind his eyes making them sparkle in wondrous thought. I love how they sparkle like they do. “It kinda feels like déjà vu, doesn’t it?” I raised an eyebrow so he continued with a small laugh, “Like, here we are, standing under the same lamppost, in front of the same place, in the same clothes, in the same positions, and such. Except that you don’t have your gloves on and that I’m taking you back instead of picking you up.”

His inquiry was exactly on point, except for… “Do you still think I’m sexy?” I smirked and leaned forward, doing the same thing from the beginning of the night, but instead of Misaki getting flustered and pushing me away, he let my fingertips slide across his cheek and jaw like it had so many times this evening with a small laugh and smile.

As my fingertips went to part from his skin, he snapped up hand up and caught mine within his. I watched in utter surprise as brought my palm up to his lips. “That answer will never change.” He replied against my palm, pressing a soft kiss to it.

I don’t know who was most flustered after that answer. For one of the rarest moments of my life, I had actually felt my face heat up, spreading across my cheeks and down my neck. Misaki had also started blushing again, his confidence crumbling against my palm after his act. My chuckle came out crackled, “I never expected you to do that, Misaki.” I said his name deliberately, making his jolt a bit as I lowered my voice.

“O-okay. This is getting too much.” He dropped my hand much to my displeasure and moved a bit away… but I was glad he backed away and tossed away the moment, I was spending too much time dilly-dallying.

With the imprint of Misaki’s lips invisibly printed on the inside my palm, I moved over to the front gate with a sharp click of my boots. The sound reverberated into the silent night, making me keenly aware of that anyone could hear Misaki and I’s private conversations, but none of that mattered to me at that moment in time. The gate spluttered open as I pulled it open just enough so I could slip inside. I paused before walking in, the feeling like I was missing something prickled at the back of my mind.

I glanced over to see Misaki still standing there, rocking on his heels and watching me. “You going to stand there all night?”

He started. “You haven’t said good night yet.”

“Neither have you.” I deadpanned.

I could see him sighs and roll his eyes. “Good night Saruhiko.” I could hear the smile through his voice even when he was pretending to be distraught about me pointing out the obvious.

“Good night Misaki.” I slipped inside the gate after sending a final glance his way, only to capture the last moments of the night.

Hm… I know why I went to go to that stupid bar tonight. I went because that’s where my wonderful evening would begin.

[sonneka]

-blush- for the drabble meme, can I get 5 with sarumi 💕💕😳

I AM TRULY SORRY FOR BEING SO LATE! (Almost a month I guess??) D’: I just felt so bad over SaruMi that I couldn’t think of anything about them until today uwu’But here it is!! First SaruMi drabble of the year!

#5 Wait a Minute. Are You Jealous?

“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”

“W-What!? Of coursenot… Stupid Saru.” Misaki crossed his arms and looked away, and with oneof his foot he kept moving his skateboard back and fort on the ground.“Why would I?”

“Oh, I don’t know…Since you are here. What a coincidence…” Saruhiko smirked and crossed his arms, prettyconfident about what he was saying.

“I was just taking abreak and came here!” The redhead snapped and went back to stare at hisbest friend, frowning.

“And you were behind atree?”

“I was taking abreak!”

“And staring at theidiot of Hidaka and me?” After that, there was just silence for a coupleof seconds. Saruhiko’s smirk was growing wider and wider and Misaki only wantedto punch him in the face.

“I-I have myreasons!!” In fact, he truly had.

Almost an hour ago, Yataattempted a visit to the Blue headquarters to, maybe, manage to get Fushimi outfor a little walk. They usually did that and, now that they were friends again,it was really awesome to have some fun during Scepter 4’s and Homra’s work break.

However, that same afternoonhe found out that Fushimi wasn’t actually at work and that he’d already goneout.

“You could have told meyou were going to go out with someone else!”

“Why? I mean, it’s notlike I can know exactly when do you want us to meet, you know?” Fushimi’swords were making Yata furious. “Plus, I am still working. The Captainordered Hidaka and I to come here in the first place, it’s not that I enjoybeing with him.”

“Oh yeah, of course,Saru. You were working, sitting on a bench at the park and chatting with that dumbassHidaka.” Yata was now smirking too, not knowing if the situation made him laugh or cry at this point. At least Hidaka wasn’t near them, since they decided to “talk privately”… Behind a tree, of course, like the two mature adults they were.

“Although I weren’tworking…” Fushimi leaned in to be at Yata’s height, now facing him. Hedidn’t stop smirking. “Why should I give you explanations? Are you mymother or what?”

“You…” Yataclenched his fists and quickly backed off, turning around. “Let’s say…Let’s say you’ve won this time.”

It was easier than admiringwhy he felt like that. The situation was already too humiliating to keep on discussingit any further.

“Anyways, it won’t killyou to invite me out sometimes, you know?” Yata stopped on his tracks.“You could come to Homra so we could hang out, you did it just onetime.”

Silence.

That was all.

For an instance, Yata thoughthe was asking too much for Fushimi, that there was no point in telling him.Because there was a more humiliating part of the story left…

I love hanging out withyou…

I kind of… love you,imbecile.

But it seemed that you’llnever care, so why do I worry then?

“I’ll do it.”Fushimi’s voice echoed in Yata’s ears.

“H-Huh?” Yatastared at him, dumbfounded.

“I have a lot of work todo and you always come to make me lose some time. But… I guess it’s notbad,” he kept his hands inside his pockets and shrugged. It seemed as ifhe couldn’t look directly at the redhead’s eyes.

“Don’t know if I shouldtake what you said as something good or bad, maybe both.” Yata teased.“But well… I should get going, right?”

His right foot was now setfirmly on his skateboard, ready to set off.

“You came here fornothing, then? Damn, Misaki, you sure are stupid.” Even though his wordscould sound harsh, he laughed a little bit.

“Shut up, asshole!”He chuckled too. “Have fun on your stupid date with that guy Hidakathen!”

“What an awful way toput it, but thanks… I guess.” Fushimi turned around, going back to werehe was supposed to be in the first place.

In the end, Yata couldn’ttell if he should be happy or mad at Fushimi. Either way, he knew his bestfriend would keep trying.

That was it. Just try.

They both got so far, andstupid misunderstandings wouldn’t take them down.

Yata’s feelings for Fushimiwere, hopefully, stronger than that.

However, while he was stillriding on his skateboard…

…

Hey…

But…

I WASN’T JEALOUS, WAS I!?

…

Was it that obvious?

As those thoughts startedclouding up his mind, he didn’t realize where he was going and crashed on alamp post, falling off his skateboard after the impact. Not a big deal, he hadworst falls. Though, now he learned that he shouldn’t think about anything too much.

He sure was an idiot, butwhen it came to Fushimi he could be more than the usual idiot he was.

An idiot in love.

[emeraldwaves]

Title: Saruhiko and the Totally Terrible, Horrifyingly Horrible, No Good School Day     Pairing: Sarumi Rating: T Word Count:  6,342 AO3 Summary:  After getting smacked in the face by a frisbee, Saruhiko has to deal with a series of unfortunate events all day thanks to Yata Misaki.

Full Fic Under Cut, OLD POSTING FROM THE SARUMI 2016 ANTHOLOGY

Fushimi’s not-so-lovely day began with him getting smacked in the face with a hard, white, plastic frisbee. And besides the obvious annoyance he felt, along with the throbbing pain on his nose and upper lip, he was more annoyed he hadn’t seen it coming. Normally, he had sharp reflexes, but this morning, he had been distracted by the red-haired boy running down the field.

Fushimi Saruhiko had never been interested in Yata Misaki, one of the boys he had the…joy…of being in class with. Fushimi knew his name, as he did most of the people in his class, and that was about it. He had no desire to learn more. As far as he had observed, Yata was an idiot—a loud and obnoxious idiot.

And perhaps that was why Fushimi had been so captivated by him on the field that morning as he walked to class. Yata had looked so focused—his hazel gaze intent on the white disc in front of him, sweat trickling down his brow, the muscles in his legs rippling as he jumped to catch the disc. For a moment, Fushimi had forgotten to breathe, staring at the other. It was hard to believe Yata Misaki could ever look so damn…serious about something. It had been shocking, and his heart fluttered for the first time in a long time.

The grip on his schoolbag tightened as Fushimi tried to refocus his thoughts. Who cared about what made Yata Misaki look serious? It wasn’t as though the guy could make a career out of ultimate frisbee, the sport (if you wanted to call it that) was for morons and douchebags. But for some reason, Fushimi couldn’t take his eyes off of him.

He was so distracted, he didn’t have enough time to react when the frisbee flew from Yata’s hand and smacked Fushimi right in the face, between his nose and upper lip. Frozen in place, Fushimi groaned at how much his face hurt. It stung, and the hit had reverberated up into his skull. Already he could feel a bruise forming on his upper lip, and he tried desperately to figure out why he hadn’t noticed the giant flying disc coming straight for his face until it was far too late.

“SHIT!” A voice echoed in his ear as his vision began to clear, Yata Misaki’s visage appearing before him. “Oh shit!” he repeated, staring at Fushimi’s face.

“You already said that,” Fushimi snapped.

“Sorry, ugh. I’m sorry! Shit. Is your…uh…face okay? Oh shit! Your nose is bleeding!” he yelled, pointing right at Fushimi’s face.

“Just shut up,” Fushimi grumbled. Quickly, he raised a hand to his cover his nose. He leaned forward slightly and pinched the bridge of it, attempting to stop the bleeding.


“What are you doing?” Yata questioned, watching the strange way Fushimi stood.

“Trying to stop the bleeding,” he replied, his voice tight and nasal. “Do you really not know how to stop a nosebleed?”

“Uh…no?” Yata said sheepishly. “Look I’m really sorry,” he continued, rubbing his arm. “I figured for sure you’d move when the disc went flying in your direction, but you didn’t…”

“Tsk…” Fushimi clicked his tongue, not wanting to comment on that at all. He didn’t need Yata Misaki knowing he was staring at him.

“Can I at least walk you to the nurse’s office? You’re in my class, yeah? The quiet guy…Fushimi, right?” he smiled, as though he were doing Fushimi a large favor by walking him to the nurse’s room.

“I’m perfectly capable of walking myself to the nurse’s office,” Fushimi scoffed, walking past Yata.

“Hey! I’m just trying to help. I mean it’s my fault your face is swelling up—”

Still covering his face, Fushimi whipped his head around, immediately regretting it as his palm knocked against his upper lip. Wincing, he glared at Yata. “My face is swelling up?”

“W-well, um,” Yata stammered nervously. “Just a little bit…on your lip…” he said, leaning toward Fushimi again, his pointer finger trembling as he gestured towards Fushimi’s face.

Scoffing, Fushimi turned away and gripped his school bag harder as he trudged towards the school. “Fine. You can come with me. But don’t think this pardons you for hitting my face.” Stupid Yata Misaki, looking somewhat interesting while he played ultimate frisbee. It wasn’t even a real sport!

“I’m going to go walk Fushimi-san to the nurse!” Yata called out, waving to his teammates. “Heh…yeah, sorry,” he sighed, catching up to Fushimi to walk beside him. “So why were you watching us? Thinking about joining the team?”

“No.”

“We’re pretty good you know,” Yata bragged proudly. Fushimi wasn’t sure he could label their team as “good” after everything that was going on with his face and all. “We have two coaches, Kusanagi-sensei and Mikoto-san. Mikoto-san is amazing, but you know, now that I think about it, Kusanagi-sensei does most of the coaching…”

Fushimi rolled his eyes. “Are you planning on talking the whole way?” Fushimi asked, thinking this was by far the longest, most painful walk to school, and not because of the growing welt on his upper lip.

“Oh, uh…right,” he laughed awkwardly. “It probably hurts for you to talk,” he sighed. Fushimi chose to stay quiet, deciding it would be much better if Yata simply assumed he didn’t want to talk because of the pain on his lip. However with Yata now being quiet, Fushimi could’ve cut the tension in the air with a knife. Walking with Yata was frustratingly difficult, it was so clear the other boy wanted to babble on. Flicking his gaze to the side, Fushimi could see Yata biting on his lip, looking as though he were about to burst. This only made Fushimi walk faster. The quicker he was away from Misaki, the quicker he could resume the school day as he pleased.

~~

“So, tell me again what happened?” Awashima, the school nurse, asked, though Fushimi could see she was trying to hold back her chuckle.

“I hit Fushimi-kun in the face with a frisbee,” Yata muttered. His face was red, clearly embarrassed, though Fushimi wasn’t sure what he had to be embarrassed about. Fushimi was the idiot who hadn’t moved when the plastic disc had flown at his face.

“Can you move your hand for me, Fushimi-san?” she asked. “I need to take a look.” Resisting every urge to refuse, he slowly lowered his hand. Her eyes widened, and Fushimi thought she had a terrible poker face. “Ah, I see,” she said softly, swiveling her chair around to open the drawer. “Here.” She held out a small packet with over the counter painkillers. “Take two of these for now,” she smiled. “And let me get you some ice, these should help with the pain and swelling. Unfortunately that’s about all I can do,” she said.

“It’s fine,” he said, his tone clipped and harsh. “We’re already late to class anyway.” Fushimi didn’t enjoy being late to class. He much preferred to go, do his work, and sit peacefully while he waited for the rest of the class to catch up, or sit silently and take notes. He hated having the class stare at him for any period of time, and being late meant all eyes on him.

“Hmm. It looks like you’re going to have quite the large fat lip, Fushimi-san.” Awashima’s gaze was filled with pity, as she handed him the small bag of ice, and Fushimi tried not to click his tongue and forget the bag altogether. He didn’t know which was worse—holding a sack of ice on his lip, or watching it swell to the size of a baseball.

“Tsk. Great. Thanks,” he scoffed, standing up to leave the office. Awashima smiled, nodding her head to both of them as they left.

After a few moments of silence, Yata spoke. “It really doesn't look that bad.” He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“First of all, I don’t need your reassurance to make me feel better,” Fushimi snapped, “and second of all, it looks like shit, so don’t lie.”

“You don’t gotta be such an ass about it! I’ve been trying to make you feel better all morning. I feel pretty shitty about what happened,” he grunted. Fushimi rolled his eyes. He should’vefelt bad, and while Fushimi was tempted to say that, his gaze fell upon Yata's, and for a split second he felt a little guilty. Though his brow was furrowed, Yata looked concerned, his hazel eyes fixated on Fushimi's lip. It was almost endearing, how much he seemed to care for Fushimi’s well-being, and if Fushimi hadn’t hated him in the current moment, he may have found it cute.

“Let's just get to class,” he muttered, turning away from Yata, so he wouldn't see his cheeks gain a slight hint of red.

~~

When Yata and Fushimi finally made it to the science lab, they opened the door, interrupting one of Weismann-sensei's famous introductory lectures—the ones that took so long, the class wondered if they would ever actually get to doing the experiment Weismann was taking his sweet time explaining thoroughly.

“Ah! Yata-san, Fushimi-san,” he called out, moving about the room in his typical over-eager manner. “So nice of you to join us for lab today,” he grinned. “Take a seat, take a seat. You two can be partnered together for today.”

Fushimi bit his lower lip and winced, wishing he had remembered that moving his teeth to his lower lip adjusted his upper in a strange manner. Still, he wasn't pleased about the assignment. He much preferred to be paired with Akiyama—he was quiet, and generally listened to what Fushimi had to say, which meant the experiment was completed in a timely manner. Sitting down next to Yata's enthusiastic form, Fushimi had a feeling nothing good was going to come from this partnership. Plus it didn't help that Fushimi had seen Yata and his regular lab partner, Kamamoto, explode half their experiments up to the damn ceiling before.

“Now remember class, this chemical is highly flammable and very toxic!” Weismann explained. “It's important that you follow all the instructions carefully and don't mess up!” he chuckled, a smile plastered on his face. “But don't worry, I trust you all can handle this.”

Fushimi let out a sigh, lowering the ice bag to the side of the table. His face felt numb, which was better than the 'in severe pain' alternative, but still it was unpleasant.

“Alright,” Yata cheered, clenching his hands into fists. “Let's do some science!” He grabbed the safety goggles and pulled them over his eyes, slapping them onto his face. Next, he picked up the gloves and pulled them over his fingers, and he tugged the lab coat on, which was far too big for his short stature. Fushimi couldn't help but snicker at the last fact. “What?” Yata asked.

“I didn't realize how short you were until now,” he smirked.

“Shut up, asshole!” Yata yelled, his face flushed, and the whole class turned to stare at them.

“…” Fushimi stared at Yata blankly before grabbing the handout in front of them, flipping to the first page. “Right.”

“I'll...grab the chemicals from the front!” Yata called out, trying to break the tension. “Wait here.” He ran to the front of the room, grabbing the small tray of beakers and vials from the front desk, while Fushimi placed his lab coat, goggles and gloves on. Setting their tray down on the table, Yata moved the small beakers in front of the large empty one on the lab table. “I wonder what these all do…” he said, glancing over them.

Fushimi waved the paper in front of Yata's face. “This will tell us. Don't touch anything,” he snapped.

Frowning, Yata folded his arms and plopped down onto the stool. “Fine then,” he grumbled.

Sighing, Fushimi rolled his eyes, and with the amount of times he had done that today, he was sure his eyes were going to get stuck in the back of his head. “I'll read them off to you and you can pour them in, alright?” It was so much better when he was partners with Akiyama. He let Fushimi do all the work.

“Perfect. Read 'em off!” Yata smirked, giving Fushimi a thumbs up. Turning the page, Fushimi skimmed the directions, before folding his arms to sit down, letting Yata follow his instructions. Ultimately, this was better anyway, since he had to keep the ice on his face.

“Alright, take the dark brown liquid and pour it up to the two,” he explained, leaning forward to show Yata. He wasn't about to trust the red-head, and he didn't want to end up with toxic chemicals on himself.

“This one?” Yata asked, holding the flask up. Fushimi nodded. They continued along through the first page of instructions, everything going surprisingly smoothly. Fushimi was shocked Yata could handle himself well enough to not screw up.

“Next, is the blue liquid,” Fushimi explained, his blue eyes focused on the sheet in front of him.

“Blue?”

“Yes. Pour it to the six,” he explained, and glanced up just in time to watch Yata begin to pour the purple liquid into the flask.

“No! You dumbass!” Fushimi yelled, causing Yata to jerk his hand back, the purple liquid sloshing back onto Yata's jacket. “Shit! Be careful!” Fushimi snapped, not noticing the mixture bubbling up as the entire concoction rumbled, and spilled over the side, landing directly on Fushimi's pants.

“Shit!” Yata yelled, slamming the bottle down as more purple chemicals dumped out and landed on his sleeve. “Ah!” he called out. “W-Weismann-sensei!”

“Wha-AH?!” Weismann's face paled as he saw the purple liquid slowly traveling down Yata's lab coat. “Yata-san! Fushimi-san! Under the emergency shower now!” The silver-haired teacher ushered both of them under the shower in the back of the room, the class murmuring quietly among themselves.

The water sputtered and splashed on, hitting both Fushimi and Yata on the head, and, just Fushimi’s luck, it was freezing cold. Yata immediately yelped, shocked by the temperature of the water. Fushimi stood, arms folded, shivering as the water dampened his hair and skin. Yata was shivering too, using his gloved hand to wipe off the purple solution which had stained the lab coat. His red hair stuck to his forehead, and though he looked panicked, Fushimi couldn’t help but think the idiot looked kind of…cute all wet like that.

Thankfully, Weismann’s panicked voice cut through the strange thoughts creeping into Fushimi’s mind. “It didn't get on your skin, correct?” Weismann asked frantically, looking concerned. Fushimi wasn't sure why they let high school kids play with dangerous chemicals like this in the first place.

"No," Fushimi said, sticking out his leg awkwardly to get the solution off of his pants.

"You'll want to wash those pants separately one time, just to be safe," Weismann instructed, and Fushimi rolled his eyes, wondering if it would've been better had he simply stayed home today. First period wasn't even finished and already he was wishing to head back to his room, hide under his blanket, and never come out again.

~~

"It's pretty lucky we had our gym clothes to change into!" Yata smiled, swinging the plastic bag full of the outfit he had contaminated with toxic chemicals. Fushimi wasn’t sure if he’d call it lucky, seeing as they had gym everyday, and more often than not needed a change of clothes, but he was far too annoyed to argue with the idiot. It didn’t help that the two of them had made awkward eye contact while changing, causing them both to blush and turn away as fast as they could. Yata was obnoxious, but...cute.

“Sure,” he scoffed, somehow after everything that had happened, Yata remained positive and smiling. Fushimi wasn’t sure why he had thought Yata’s smile looked nice—maybe because it was almost endearing? Almost. Especially since Yata had only been the frisbee thrower, rather than receiver, in the debacle which had occurred that morning. When Yata smiled, Fushimi doubted it felt like he was going to cause permanent damage to his face.

“Look on the bright side, Weismann-sensei said it could’ve been way worse if we had gotten it on our skin,” Yata chuckled.

Fushimi raised a skeptical eyebrow. “I guess not having a chemical burn is a bright side,” he mumbled.

“Yeah! Totally!” Yata beamed. Fushimi wondered how long Yata was going to follow him around today. He’d barely ever spoken to the guy before, and now he had practically spent the entire morning with him. Fushimi had just about reached his limit—Yata was like a ray of sunshine, and Fushimi was slowly getting a nasty burn.

The next class was math, and thankfully, they were on time—Munakata-sensei wasn’t very forgiving of late students. However, Fushimi had been the teacher’s pet since the first week when he achieved perfect scores on his homework and their first pop quiz, so he assumed if he was late, Munakata probably would forgive him. Probably.

“Ah! Fushimi-kun! Did you have an accident?” Munakata asked, leaning in close towards Fushimi’s lip the second he walked into the room.

“Yes sir,” he said, leaning backwards. “But I’m fine.” Munakata was one of those teachers who had no concept of personal space, always checking on his students as close as he possibly could. Though as far as Fushimi could tell, it was simply because he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings since he was so thrilled to talk about numbers. Nerd.

Fushimi took his seat and pulled out his notebook, watching as Munakata stood, poised at the front of the room. He raised the mostly melted ice bag to his throbbing lip, wondering if he could get more medicine from Awashima soon. Had it even been long enough?

Glancing to the side, he’d never noticed Yata sat directly next to him. Probably because he focused in math class—it was an easy class, but at least it was decently interesting even if Munakata’s critical thinking problems were often wordy and convoluted.

“Today,” Munakata began, pressing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, “we will be discussing the mathematical concept of i, imaginary numbers.”

“Hah?!” Yata called out. “I is a letter, not a number, dumbass teacher,” he growled under his breath. If Fushimi had to fancy a guess, he could only assume math wasn’t exactly Yata’s strongest subject.

Munakata’s lips curled up into a devilish smile. “Oya? Are you sure about that Yata-san?” he teased. “Take out your calculator and calculate the square root of negative one,” he said, standings still at the front of the room, keeping his creepy smile plastered on his face.


“It, uh…gave me an error?” Yata replied, staring at the screen.

“Correct! That’s because the answer is…imaginary,” he said dramatically. “Heh. All of you are so quick to assume math is so difficult and boring, but the truth is…math is fun!” he grinned, posing proudly.

Yata groaned, rubbing his hands in his hair. “I can barely handle real numbers, why do we gotta add fake ones too?!” He spoke softly, mostly under his breath, and Fushimi rolled his eyes. As much fun as it was to watch Yata flounder about, all adorable and nervous, it was also painful.

Leaning over, Fushimi shook his head. “They’re not fake,” he whispered. “Look, you get an error because—“

“Are you…helping me?” Yata asked, his voice hushed, but his eyes widened, a slight blush on his cheeks when Fushimi had leaned in close to him. In fact, the blush was so prominent, Fushimi’s cheeks almost turned red as well.

“Tsk,” Fushimi clicked his tongue. “Just listen.”

“Fushimi-kun!” Munakata called out, and Fushimi slowly turned his gaze to the front of the room. “You’re normally so quiet! Do you have something you want to share with the class?”

“No sir,” Fushimi sighed, slowly moving back to sit up straight in his seat.

“Or perhaps you feel you could teach imaginary numbers better than I could? I wouldn’t be surprised,” he chuckled.

Slinking down in his seat, Fushimi folded his arms and clicked his tongue. “Do your job,” he grumbled. Idiot Munakata loved to put him on the spot whenever he could.

“Right! Continuing on then!” Fushimi turned his gaze back to his notebook, but occasionally glanced over at Yata, the idiot biting his lip in concentration. He certainly…persevered, Fushimi would give him that much. It bothered him how he felt the need to help the idiot, especially since Munakata had…vaguely scolded him in his weird Munakata way. Fushimi really had to keep his mouth shut.

~~

Thankfully, gym had gone by without a problem, but that was because Fushimi was able to sit off to the side and watch, since his lip was still swollen.

Lunch was going okay too, sitting by himself and eating what he had packed on his own helped.

“Do you always eat alone?” A familiar voice called out behind him. Fushimi didn’t need to even look up when Yata sat down across from him to know who it was.

“Yes, and I enjoy it,” he muttered, picking at the rice in front of him.

“Well not today!”

“What part of ‘I enjoy eating alone’ did you not understand? Don’t you have friends to eat with?” Fushimi scoffed, his blue gaze finally meeting Yata’s sparkling hazels.

“Yeah, of course I do! I just thought you…might enjoy the company today. Or I mean you could come sit with us,” he suggested. He looked so excited about the suggestion, it was almost difficult to say no, but Fushimi had no desire to leave his comfortable spot.

“Thanks but no thanks,” he repeated. “Run along,” he said, waving his hand.

“…I’m not a kid,” he frowned. “And I want to sit here, there’s no law that says I can’t.”

“Tsk. Fine, but don’t talk to me,” Fushimi scoffed.

And though Yata didn’t say a word, once again, Fushimi could tell he wanted to. Every time Fushimi flicked his gaze towards him, Yata’s lips were pursed into a smile, his eyes shining excitedly, though he were waiting for a conversation starter to slip from Fushimi’s swollen lips.

“So, uhm, Fushimi,” he said finally, his voice tight, as though Fushimi’s name had been waiting to explode from Yata’s lips.

“Ah?”

“Do you think uh, maybe sometime you could help me with math stuff? Y-Y’know cause you’re so good at it?” he said, his cheeks flushed. Fushimi wrapped up the rest of this lunch, tucking it into his bag. Of course Yata wanted help with school. What else would he have wanted? It wasn’t as though it actually mattered. Fushimi didn’t want to be friends with him, nor had he expected Yata to be interested in him for any other reason either.

“…Sure,” he replied quietly, standing up to head to the next class early, not listening to Yata’s annoyingly excited response. Fushimi didn’t even like Yata, so why did he feel disappointed? Why had he thought Yata would want to hang out with him?

~~

Fushimi absolutely despised his literature class for a plethora of reasons. First and foremost, he hated the subject. It wasn’t clear cut like math and science—and history, while boring, was more straight-forward than Totsuka-sensei’s literature class. For the paper assignments, he had to actually discuss and form some sort of opinion on these books he literally could’ve cared less about. And then there was Totsuka-sensei himself. The guy was a moron. Smiley and energetic about books, sometimes he sang their lessons to them, like they were a kindergarten class because he was so enthusiastic. That, and he was also the head of the after-school choir, so he felt an incessant need to sing all the damn time, even when he simply walked through the hall. Fushimi would’ve dumped a whole bottle of chemicals on himself if it meant he could skip his literature class.

“Today, we’ll be starting with a poetry reading!” After everything that had happened so far today, Fushimi knew Totsuka reading poetry would be the icing on the cake. “Poetry can bring meaning to people’s lives and enrich the soul!” Totsuka sighed happily. A piece of Fushimi’s soul was about to die and silently float out the window, of this he was convinced. “For homework, I’d like you all to find a poem that means something to you, and bring it in to share with the class,” he smiled. “It’ll be a great for you to learn about your peers and to share a part of yourself.”

Silently Fushimi wondered if he could fake being sick tomorrow. Maybe his lip would get infected and he’d have to stay home since he’d be running such a high fever.

Ever since leaving Yata at lunch a mere twenty minutes ago, Fushimi’s mood had darkened even more, if that were even possible. His upper lip was pulsing against his teeth, it hurt so damn much. Of course, he supposed this was what happened when a giant plastic disc slammed into your face at full speed. Yet, something about Yata asking for his help with math hurt more. He probably should’ve been flattered. Fushimi was the smartest one in the class, and everyone knew it, but still it disappointed him, and he really hated that. There was no reason to care about the cute, eager idiot’s opinion.

The longer he sat, the more Totsuka’s voice disappeared in his head, becoming the mumbled sound of words strung together Fushimi didn’t care about. What he did care about however, was Yata tapping his pencil against his desk in, what seemed to be, rhythm with Totsuka’s weird beat poetry. If Fushimi hadn’t hated this class, and day, already, Yata was only making it worse. Really, Fushimi shouldn’t have expected anything less at that point.

Growling, he clenched his fists against his desk, and whipped his head around to glare at Yata. “Can you not tap your pencil against the desk?” he huffed.

Yata frowned and put the pencil down. “You don’t have to be such a dick about it,” he hissed.

“Ah! Fushimi-san! Yata-san! Did you have something you wanted to discuss about the poem?” Totsuka asked. He was leaning casually against his desk, smiling happily.

“No,” Fushimi said flatly.

“Actually, I thought it had a nice beat, Totsuka-sensei,” Yata replied, clearing his throat awkwardly as he did. “I was expressing…myself, by tapping my pencil along with your reading, but Fushimi-san didn’t like that.”

“Fushimi-san! I know perhaps you wouldn’t appreciate the art of pencil tapping rhythm, however I do believe it is important that we all express ourselves in whatever way we see fit. If Yata-san feels overcome with the need to tap his pencil along with a poem, then we must allow him to express his unique creativity!” Totsuka explained, practically dancing as he did. Fushimi was certain the ‘art of pencil tapping’ was a thing Totsuka had made up on the spot.

Fushimi flared his nostrils and narrowed his eyes at the smirking red-head in front of him. Turning back around, Fushimi’s gaze fell on the clock, and he counted down the seconds until the bell rang.

~~


“William Penn once said, ‘In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest’, and I think it’s important we all try and remember this as we embark on this journey about justice together!” Yatogami-sensei pointed to the board, looking disturbingly proud of the quote he had taken the time to write up there. Fushimi was convinced Kuroh Yatogami had only become a history teacher to quote all his favorite historical figures.


History was the last class of the day, and Fushimi felt his heart throb with excitement and his lip throb with the most pain he had felt all day. Soon, he could crawl into his bed and forget this day had ever happened.

“This is meant to be a learning experience, so let’s try and keep the mock debate as friendly as possible, alright?” Yatogami instructed. “I’ll be splitting you up into teams. Team A will be for the concept of democracy, or electing a person to power, and Team B will be for keeping the monarchy in place, or letting the king keep his power.”

Fushimi wasn’t really one for debating, but today he felt he could’ve argued with the world, and he was extra pleased to see Yata end up on the opposite team. He was so damn frustrated by how much the boy had distracted and disturbed his normal routine.

“Alright, Team B!” Yata cheered, and some of the other students looked far less excited than he did, not surprising though. Who got excited for a fake class debate anyway?

Fushimi thought it would be easy enough to win. Yatogami hadn’t declared a pre-determined winner, but it was hard to imagine that Team B would win when the modern standard of government leaned towards a democracy. Team B would have to make an extremely compelling argument if they wanted to win.


Team A’s appointed leader, Akiyama, began their opening statement, describing all the ways democracy was useful. He spoke about checks and balances, and hearing the voice of the people, overall a very well thought out argument, though Fushimi was happy he didn’t have to speak.

However, he wasn’t surprised in the least when Yata stood up as Team B’s leader. He began to yap on about being united under one leader, and how it was more organized and easy for people to follow someone they’d trusted for generations. It was a stupid argument, and Fushimi wasn’t surprised they had picked Yata to speak for them. He was loud, so he made stupidity sound inspiring.

Fushimi rolled his eyes. “Did you come up with all that by yourself?” he grumbled, tapping his foot on the ground. Normally he never would’ve said anything, but by now he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. The words had slipped out, accidentally.

“What the hell did you say?” Yata snapped, leaning over his desk.

“I said, did you come up with that by yourself? It seems like an argument someone as dumb as you would come up with.”

“Boys,” Yatogami spoke up. “It’s only the opening statements-”

“What the hell, asshole?!” Yata yelled, ignoring their teacher. “You didn’t even say a word for your team and you just jump in criticizing me?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, it was just so stupid it slipped out.”

“Maybe I should give you a black eye to go along with your fat lip!” Yata snapped, clenching his fist.

“Boys! This is a mock debate and you’re both completely off topic.”

“Go ahead,” Fushimi snapped back, ignoring the pleas of their teacher. This was the perfect opportunity to get back at Yata, at least a little. “It’s not like you could really do anything to make this day any worse.”


“BOYS!” Yatogami slammed his hands on his desk. “That’s enough. Both of you, go stand in the hall and keep quiet! This is meant to be a learning experience, not a time for you to iron out personal problems. If you must debate personal things, do so out there, quietly. I’ll not have you interrupting my class any longer.”

Turning bright red, Yata grabbed his bag and huffed out of the room. Fushimi silently stood up and did the same, though he was happy he didn’t have to listen to a stupid debate any longer.

~~


The two of them stood in the hall in awkward silence. Of course they had gotten kicked out. And now, Fushimi would have to stand there, in pain, until this terrible day finally, finally came to an end.

He noticed Yata staring at him, his hazel eyes glancing to the side quickly, only to look away as soon as he glanced towards him. With a sigh, Yata finally spoke, “Fushimi-”

“No.”

“But-”

“Just. Stop,” Fushimi growled, his hands trembling at his side. “You have done enough today. Everything that happened, everything that has gone wrong, is all your fault!” Fushimi snapped, though his breath hitched when he saw Yata recoil like a hurt puppy.

Then, Yata frowned, looking angry, “I said I was sorry-”

“Whatever. I just want this day to be over, so I can go home and ice my stupid lip some more. If I just had kept walking instead of watching your stupid ass play frisbee, this never would’ve happened! This whole day never would’ve happened!”

Yata stared at him, blinking as his face slowly turned bright red. “Wait…w-what?! You were watching me?!” he yelled, pointing his finger at Fushimi.

“Yes. I was watching you. I was watching you because you always look like such a damn idiot in class but for a small, miniscule second you looked so engaged, and it was interesting to me!” he snarled. “And then you continued to be an idiot in science and math, but I thought for a brief moment that maybe, just maybe, you weren’t all that bad, but really you just wanted me to tutor you in math…and whatever other subject you’re probably failing!” Swallowing, he felt his chest heave as he took a large breath in. Had he really said that out loud? Looking at Yata’s face, he could only assume he had—Yata’s cheeks were so red they almost matched his hair. “You know what just…forget it, I’m going home,” Fushimi snapped, grabbing his bag to walk down the hall. So what if he got in trouble for leaving a little early, having to do detention or something would be far less difficult than having to deal with Yata for any longer, especially after his awkward confession of sorts. Fushimi’s face was the reddest it had ever been, and he certainly didn’t want Yata to see.

“Wait…! Fushimi!” he heard Yata call out from behind him, but Fushimi didn’t wait as he stormed down the hall.

~~

“Fushimi-san!” Fushimi recognized that voice. Had Yata really followed him all the way out of the school? “Fushimi-san!!” Yata called louder, and Fushimi decided it was useless to pretend to ignore him, since the tapping of Yata’s footsteps on the gravel kept growing louder and louder.

“What? Haven’t you tortured me enough for one day?” he muttered, watching Yata approach him.


Holding out his hand, Yata handed Fushimi a new packet of painkillers and ice. “Here,” he said quietly.

“You know I’m about to walk home, yeah?” Fushimi mused, taking the items from Yata’s hand anyway.

“Yeah, I just…I thought it would make the walk home a little…easier,” he mumbled, his cheeks flushing with the same red color as before. Fushimi wanted to despise Yata after everything he had done. Yet, when he said things like that, all endearing and genuine, Fushimi found he only hated the way his heart fluttered lightly in his chest.

“…Thanks,” Fushimi sighed, placing the ice pack against his sore lip. It really did help to put ice on it.

“Yeah. It’s the least I could do. I wanna make it up to you,” Yata said, rubbing his arm.

“Just forget it, I’d much prefer to just forget it,” Fushimi sighed, lowering the small bag so he could toss the two pills into his mouth, swallowing them down. He didn’t want to make any sort of deal with Yata; a deal was probably something the shorter would stupidly break.

“And you know,” Yata began. “I mean…yeah I was asking for your help with math but we could also just…you know…” he stammered, looking awkward. “Hang out,” he shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets.  

“What makes you think I want to hang out with you?” Fushimi smirked, folding his arms as he stared at how cute the other boy looked, being so awkward like that. It was…unexpected—how hard Yata seems to be trying. Fushimi was unclear as to why Yata cared so much, and why it was actually winning him over. All day he had been driving him completely up a wall, and yet he couldn’t stop thinking about the moments when Yata smiled, or blushed, or seemed…genuinely interested in what Fushimi had to say; and it was that which made him even more angry.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I sort of destroyed your day and what not, but I’m a cool person! I’m fun to hang out with! I’m sure you’d have a great time!” he declared proudly.

Snorting, Fushimi leaned down and brushed his lips against Yata’s. It was an impulsive move and of course, he immediately regretted it, seeing as his lip was still incredibly swollen. However, even as he winced pulling back, Yata’s reaction was more than worth it. Actually, kissing him just about made the whole day better.

“Is that so Mi-sa-ki?” he mused, humming out his name with a gentle singsong. He placed the bag back on his lip.

Yata was frozen, his face heating up as he stared at Fushimi. “W-What the hell was that!! And don’t call me by my first name!” he snapped, gesturing wildly to the boy in front of him.

“You said you wanted to make it up to me,” he teased, turning around to continue walking towards his house.

“W-Well yeah! But you didn’t have to be an ass about it!” Yata growled, running to catch up with him. “You can’t just kiss someone out of the blue like that!”

“And yet, I just did,” Fushimi smirked, still walking as he let Yata continue to flail about next to him. “I suppose we could…hang out…once…or twice,” he sighed, trying not to blush when he saw how happy Yata’s face looked once Fushimi had caved. “But no more frisbee.”

“Uh…Right…” Yata chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “No more frisbee.”

As the two kept walking, Fushimi thought his day maybe hadn’t been that bad after all.

[ridiasfangirlings]

I think it'd be really funny if Yata plowed Saruhiko so well that he couldn't walk. Saruhiko always arrives home annoyed and gives Yata a death stare whenever he needs to sit down.

All Yata can do is get all coy and say "sorry, I got excited."

Fushimi would definitely be acting like a spoiled princess about it though, demanding Yata bring him food and his computer and all that because someone can’t control his own strength. Imagine Fushimi doesn’t even realize how sore he is until the next morning, when he tries to get out of bed and promptly collapses in a heap. He’s super annoyed about this, clicking his tongue and grumbling because why does it hurt so much. He scratches at his neck and touches a bite mark Yata made last night and suddenly his cheeks get slightly flushed as he realizes exactly what the reason is. Yata meanwhile is already up making breakfast and he calls from the other room, asking if Fushimi’s coming to get breakfast. Fushimi mutters that he’ll be there in a minute, trying to figure out how he’s going to get his legs to agree to take him into the other room. He’s totally being stubborn about the whole thing, like fuck if he’s going to tell Yata that the sex was so rough Fushimi can’t even walk. He manages to stumble a few steps to the door and then ends up in a heap again, grumbling under his breath. 

Eventually Yata finds him and is probably freaking out that Fushimi’s sick or injured, Fushimi keeps being evasive about what hurts. Finally Fushimi’s like ‘last night….’ and imagine Yata gets red for a moment before it really sinks in to him what the problem is and he’s like oh. Yata gets this silly grin on his face and Fushimi’s like shut up, Yata’s like guess I don’t know my own strength. Fushimi mutters that Yata’s a stupid overexcited idiot and Yata’s like that’s not what you said last night, Fushimi clicks his tongue again all so what are you going to do about this. Yata’s all huh and Fushimi’s like this is your fault, Yata’s all I said I was sorry and anyway you liked it at the time. Eventually Yata probably wrangles Fushimi back into bed, Fushimi has to lay on his side because otherwise he’s too sore. Yata brings him breakfast and Fushimi’s in full spoiled mode by this point, imagine Yata just sighing because he’s going to have to wait on his boyfriend hand and foot for a day or two until Fushimi feels up to walking again. Even once he can walk Fushimi’s still sore for a few more days, every time he has to sit he just gives Yata a glare and Yata shrugs all I’ll be more careful next time okay.

[ridiasfangirlings]

SARUMI GETTING TURNED INTO KIDS BY A STRAIN BUT THEY STILL ACT AS THEIR ORIGINAL AGE (19 OR 20). KID SARUHIKO IN S4 UNIFORM AND KID MISAKI IN HIS HOMRA OUTFIT LOL

Imagine this pre-S1 and at first after they get transformed everyone assumes that they’ve been transformed both mind and body into little kids because they’re still fighting like toddlers XD Like Homra and S4 are going after the same Strain and there’s a confrontation, Munakata stepping forward to inform Mikoto that this is S4’s job and Mikoto just telling him to shut up. Fushimi naturally goes right to tease Yata into a fight, and the two of them end up separated from the rest of their clans. That’s when the Strain jumps out of nowhere to attack them, both of them looking up just in time to get hit by a wave of power. Meanwhile Awashima and Kusanagi are trying to work this out like adults away from where Mikoto and Munakata are flirting posturing and they spot the Strain running away. Kusanagi hears Yata yelling and he and Awashima immediately go towards the source of the sound where a pair of six year olds in oversized clothes who look suspiciously similar to Yata and Fushimi are fighting. Awashima and Kusanagi reach in to separate them (imagine them each picking up their respective Sarumi by the collar like mother cats collecting naughty kittens). Fushimi is dangling there miserably while Yata swings around like come on Kusanagi-san, I’m trying to teach that stupid monkey a lesson. Fushimi snorts like how could an idiot like you teach me anything and Kusanagi sighs like well I guess their personalities are intact at least. 

The two of them are taken back to their respective clans, Munakata suspiciously has a small S4 uniform already prepared for tiny Fushimi. Fushimi clicks his tongue and calls Munakata creepy but takes it, imagine him trying to adjust his knife harness so he can get at least a couple knives in here while the alphabet boys get all nervous because what if he cuts himself. Fushimi’s getting annoyed at being treated like a little kid, insisting that he’s fine even at this size and that he can go out and do missions and things like normal. His powers are still working but maybe weaker than normal, even so Fushimi doesn’t intend to relax just because he looks like he’s six. He also doesn’t particularly want to stay at the office anyway because Captain keeps offering him candy and trying to hint that Fushimi is welcome to sit on his lap while he works so Fushimi decides to sneak out and go patrolling all on his own. 

Meanwhile Homra buys Yata a nice sweatshirt and shorts and he’s hanging out at the bar, annoyed because it’s even harder to reach high stuff than normal and the Homra guys keep teasing him. Kusanagi tells him to take it easy and that maybe he should go home and rest. Yata says he’s fine but decides he may as well go home since he can’t do much right now, a little down because he can’t even really use his skateboard that well. He decides he just needs to practice more and he’s dragging his skateboard to the nearest skate park when he hears someone laughing at the ‘little shrimp with the skateboard.’ Yata immediately looks up and is like you don’t get to call me short you chibi monkey. Fushimi scoffs, smirking as he wonders why Yata was allowed to go off on his own, he might end up following someone to their van for candy. Imagine they start fighting but rather than using weapons and powers like usual it turns into a kid fight, Yata just tackles Fushimi and now they’re scratching and biting at each other.

Someone suddenly steps in and pulls them apart, a police officer off duty saw them and is like kids where are your parents. Yata starts stammering, trying to think up an excuse, while Fushimi coldly says he’s on official business and flashes his S4 badge. The police officer is unimpressed though and asks where Fushimi stole the badge from, Fushimi’s about to say something acid when Yata just grabs his wrist all come on Saruhiko and takes off, dragging Fushimi behind him. When they’re finally away from the police officer Fushimi pulls away, panting hard as he’s like stupid Misaki what are you doing I was taking care of it. Yata’s all sure you were, I’m sure that guy was gonna believe you’re a government official. Fushimi clicks his tongue and looks away, annoyed because he totally knows Yata is right and no way is he admitting that. Of course now it probably turns out that they’re lost because Yata wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and Fushimi’s PDA with his badge is back with the police officer so they have to stick together to get back home, arguing like the six year olds they appear to be the whole way.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Sarumi AU where Saruhiko is a pro gamer who plays online games all day in his computer and only drinks coffee for his dinner. One time Saruhiko ended up inside his computer in the game he was playing (he was playing some fighting game) That's where he saw and met Misaki

Yup, that’s how you get isekaied all right. Imagine Fushimi who almost never leaves his house and makes money as a pro gamer, he enters random tournaments and never shows his face because even that is a pain. He only does single player PvP too, every so often other gamers will reach out to him and try to get him to join a team for a pro league and Fushimi just deletes their emails. He doesn’t see any point in interacting with the rest of the world, as far as he’s concerned it’s just a pain to deal with other people and he would rather be alone living off coffee and Caloriemate. One day he receives a mysterious game in the mail which claims to be a free trial that was sent out to multiple gamers. Normally Fushimi would be suspicious of such a thing but he’s been feeling unwell lately and he figures playing a new game will give him something else to focus on, and anyway he’s received advance game copies before. He starts the game up and it’s a fighting game, Fushimi finds the character selection screen a little underwhelming. Like look at this one fighter, some short redhead with a bat even though it’s a fantasy setting, how stupid. 

He starts playing but begins to feel dizzy, he puts his controller down and goes to get an aspirin but ends up passing out. He wakes up to someone shaking him, Fushimi grumbles ‘annoying’ and puts out a hand to wave them away, accidentally smacking the person in the face. The guy who was trying to wake him up squawks indignantly and Fushimi opens his eyes, sitting up and asking why someone else is in his apartment. The guy beside him is like uh what are you talking about and Fushimi realizes he’s outside, in some kind of stadium. Next to him is a short redhead with a bat and imagine Fushimi just giving this flat look like ‘really’ because he’s played his fair share of isekai games and this has to be a stupid dream. The guy introduces himself as Yata and Fushimi grumbles ‘I know’ before he can stop himself, Yata’s all flattered because to think he’s just started in ‘the Games’ and he already has a fan. Fushimi’s like I’m not your fan Misaki and Yata’s like wait how did you know my first name I don’t tell that to anyone. Fushimi mutters ‘the character selection screen,’ Yata has no idea what he’s talking about but Fushimi doesn’t look well so Yata figures he should take Fushimi to the med tent to check on him.

As he’s being looked over Fushimi realizes that he really did get isekaied, and even worse he’s wearing a wristband that proclaims him as a contestant in these battle games. Fushimi decides he’ll have to survive this to escape the game and figures that Yata seems stupid and gullible so Fushimi will just use him to learn all about the games and how to beat them. Yata doesn’t know what’s up with this weird skinny guy who somehow joined the games but he’s always happy to help and explains how the whole thing is like a big gladiator-style fighting ring and whoever wins gets a big prize. Imagine Yata thinks Fushimi should probably drop out because he seems pretty weak but then in his first fight Fushimi wins by using knives and strategy and now Yata thinks that this Saruhiko guy is amazing. Fushimi is determined to just use Yata to win his way up the ranks but when Misaki says ‘amazing’ it makes his heart skip a beat and as they spend more time together he realizes something horrible: he actually likes Misaki, and he doesn’t want to go back to the world where Misaki doesn’t exist. But at the same time he doesn’t know what will happen if he loses here either, and part of him is aware that as Yata keeps winning too they might have to eventually face each other.

[ridiasfangirlings]

People start to wonder where Saruhiko's daughter came from, like, did he give birth to her himself or...?, and then Saruhiko reveals that he found her sitting around when he was sixteen. Saruhiko accidentally-intentionally becomes a teen dad because that kid was not gonna last. Maybe that could be great to keep him going? Maybe one of the reasons he joins Scepter 4 is that, besides his underlying issues, he could give her a better life there?

I’m assuming this is in an AU where it’s not an omegaverse and Fushimi is still a cis male, but even so when he shows up at S4 with this little girl in tow everyone just thinks he must have birthed her out of nowhere himself XD I imagine him finding her maybe a little earlier than when he’s sixteen though, otherwise Yata and Homra would probably have ended up taking some control of her care. Maybe this is like just after Niki dies but before Fushimi and Yata move in together and Fushimi is wandering around when he feels this tug on his shoe. Fushimi looks down and there’s this little girl barely one year old holding onto him, wearing just a diaper and a dirty shirt. She’s really thin and ragged looking and all alone, just staring up at him with these big blue eyes. Fushimi looks around but there’s no adults anywhere around, and when he tries to ask the kid where her parents are she just looks at him in confusion and makes babbling noises. Fushimi considers dropping her off at a police station but it’s not like he trusts any adults, even police, and besides it occurs to him that they might ask why he’s out alone so late too. As much as he complains about this kid clinging to him he doesn’t want to simply leave her there either, and in the end he has no choice but to take her back home with him. He figures it’s just for now, he’ll figure out how to get rid of her in the morning, but somehow despite him constantly telling himself that he keeps watching over her instead. 

In this case I feel like Yata at the very least would have to know about the kid, there’s really not much of a way that Fushimi could get around it especially if he was already planning to move out of his house and Kisa’s planning to sell the place anyway. Yata can’t believe that Saruhiko of all people adopted a kid, Fushimi says he’s just watching her until he finds her parents and he doesn’t want Yata to tell anyone. When they find an apartment maybe it’s slightly larger in this case and Fushimi and the kid have a room separate from Yata, Fushimi says it’s so she can have her own room so he doesn’t have to listen to her cry and can get some sleep but then in practice he ends up sleeping in the room a lot because she won’t stop crying unless he’s there (and the idea of just leaving her to cry until she gets exhausted makes Fushimi feel itchy and on edge, like that’s something that Kisa or Niki would do, and even though he’s adamant that this is not his kid and he is not her dad now he can’t bring himself to be like those two either). 

Yata really thinks they should at least tell Kusanagi about the kid because maybe he could help find her parents but Fushimi tells him not bother Homra with stupid things like this, he can find the kid’s family all on his own. Yata I think would be pretty helpful here even so, he knows how to deal with little kids so imagine he does end up ‘teaching’ Fushimi some parenting basics. Yata likes the kid but he can see that Saruhiko is unexpectedly attached and thinks maybe this is a good thing, Fushimi still seems on edge in Homra and like he’s not fitting in but here’s something that Fushimi is showing an interest in. Yata feels like eventually Fushimi will share the kid’s existence with the rest of them and Homra can help him raise the baby, and if it’s good for making Saruhiko happy then Yata will support that and be the best uncle ever.

Obviously having a kid is an extra expense, and even though Yata swears he can handle paying for the apartment on his own and he doesn’t need Fushimi’s half, really, Fushimi insists that he’ll pay his half and pay for everything for the kid too. In this case I wonder if Fushimi would even stoop to touching his inheritance (presumably he has one, Kisa didn’t need Niki’s money and I could absolutely see Niki leaving anything he has to his little monkey as one last joke), like he doesn’t want to get anything from ‘that man’ but his baby needs food and he has nowhere else to go. Maybe he starts taking odd jobs when he can, but since he’s only sixteen it’s either online coding work or shady in-person stuff. Kusanagi would probably become aware of the latter due to his own contacts and he tries to talk to Fushimi about it, worried that he’s going to get into something he can’t get out of, but Fushimi just rebuffs him.

Then when Munakata recruits Fushimi to S4 maybe this is part of his ‘sales pitch,’ like while he and Fushimi are doing the puzzle in the van Munakata just drops a ‘you’ll be paid of course, enough to support yourself and your dependent.’ Fushimi is immediately on guard because he never mentioned a dependent, Munakata just smiles calmly and says he has his sources and has become aware that Fushimi is working for two, so to speak. Munakata probably also knows whose kid Fushimi’s child is but won’t unseal that record unless Fushimi asks, though should he join S4 he would have full access regardless (also imagine Munakata hinting that he himself is a very dependable uncle and good with children and Fushimi is like I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that). 

Maybe one of the other things that gets Fushimi to decide to leave too is Yata finally breaks his promise and tells Homra about the kid — definitely not maliciously, like say Kusanagi decides to talk to Yata about the dangerous stuff Fushimi’s been doing lately to see if Yata can talk some sense into him. Yata’s really worried that Fushimi’s putting himself in danger and ends up blurting out ‘I told him I’d help pay for the kid.’ Kusanagi is like wait what kid and Yata desperately tries to think of a lie but of course he’s no good at that and eventually has to admit the truth (say while he’s stumbling over a bad lie Mikoto comes over and tells him it’s fine if he wants to say it, if he thinks that’s the right thing to do. Then afterward when Yata’s trying to explain himself to Fushimi he starts talking about Mikoto and Fushimi misunderstands, thinking Yata just told because Mikoto asked him to and not that Yata had already accidentally given it away). When Kusanagi, Totsuka and Mikoto try to gently confront Fushimi about it he gets defensive, on top of him seeing all the Niki hallucinations putting him on edge. All of this piles up to him deciding to go to S4, because he’s angry at Yata for breaking his trust and leaving him, angry at Homra for thinking he can’t take care of someone else on his own, and angry at himself for being just as useless as his own parents that he can’t give this kid a decent life and that he can’t bring himself to give her up even though he knows anyone else would be better at being a parent than him.

[ridiasfangirlings]

i geniunely just feel like hurting myself w this anyw pre rok yata dead au fushimi finding his diary full of sad stuff

Remember: the best way to hurt yourself is to hurt everyone else reading this too :D Imagine how sad this would be though, Yata dying before he and Fushimi can reconcile and then Fushimi really getting to read and understand how much Yata missed him and that Yata never left him behind at all. Like say Yata gets randomly killed by some Strain, not even a super strong one or a King or anything, just a regular old Strain and Yata’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. Obviously in the aftermath Homra is dealing with things and Fushimi’s trying his hardest to act like he’s not affected when he’s really dealing with all these complex emotions. When Homra goes to clean out Yata’s place Kusanagi suggests Fushimi come along, Fushimi refuses but Anna shows up at S4 later holding a book in her hands. She gives it to Fushimi and tells him Misaki would have wanted him to have it. Fushimi bitterly denies that, why should Yata want to give anything to his enemy, but Anna just looks at him silently until he nods and takes the book.

It sits on Fushimi’s desk for a couple days before he can finally bring himself to open it, wondering why he would want to read Misaki’s stupid diary that’s probably all about how awesome Mikoto is. Instead the very first line on the first page is ‘Saruhiko left today.’ The entry goes on, ‘Totsuka-san said it might be good to write things down when I feel upset, so I guess I’ll try that. I’m not good at writing so this won’t be fancy or anything. I dunno what to write.’ And then a big space between paragraphs and at the bottom of the page: ‘I miss Saruhiko. What if he doesn’t come back?’.

Fushimi turns the page and there’s another entry, something random this time about all the fun Yata had that day in Homra, but then once again at the bottom of the page: ‘I’m glad I didn’t have to go back to the apartment until it was late. I miss having Saruhiko there.’ Fushimi wants to just shut the diary but he keeps reading, fingers clenching on the pages as he reads about the first time he and Yata met post-betrayal. Yata’s talking about how Fushimi’s such an asshole, such a traitor and Fushimi grins all ‘that’s right,’ but there’s still that last line: ‘why doesn’t he just come back already. I miss the old Saruhiko.’ Fushimi mutters to himself that Yata doesn’t understand if he’s still asking that, turning the page.

Yata’s diary talks about how he had to move out of the old apartment, ‘it feels too empty without Saruhiko. I dunno what to do with the stuff he left. I took the kotatsu but it stopped working again and I don’t know how to fix it. I brought Saru’s stuff along anyway, I put it in the closet. If he comes back, I’ve got it.’ Fushimi suddenly remembers Kusanagi asking him to come clean Yata’s place and he clicks his tongue, wondering why his vision is blurring suddenly and muttering that the low light is making his eyes sting. He keeps on reading and there are so many entries, a lot of them are about Homra but even more are about him, Yata wondering if Fushimi’s eating right (‘he just looks so skinny okay, what are those assholes feeding him at Scepter 4,’), worrying when he hears someone at S4 got hurt in a mission (‘why the hell should I even worry about that bastard…anyway I bet he’s fine, right? Saruhiko is strong’), talking about old memories and wondering what happened to make things turn out this way (‘Did I do something? Did I make Saruhiko leave? I just want him to come back and be my friend again’). Soon Fushimi’s been up hours and imagine him finally just shoving the book in his desk, hiding his face with his hands and trying to tell himself that this doesn’t matter, it’s fine isn’t it, everything broke anyway so it’s fine that he left, even though he’ll never see Misaki again it’s fine.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Misaki got cursed to turn into a dog who can't talk like a human. The only way to break it is for someone to recognize him as a human and specifically realize his real identity. If the spell isn't broken after 24 hours, he turns into a real dog. He tries going to Homra cause his clan would know it's him, right? Anna wasn't there, unfortunately so no one else did. He knew Anna would know so he searches for her and instead crosses paths with Fushimi...

At least Fushimi doesn’t have to kiss him, I guess XD Imagine Yata gets transformed into a little red chihuahua by some Strain (The Little Mermaid Strain, who transforms you and takes your voice and the curse can only be broken by someone realizing who you are). Yata’s freaking out that he’s been turned into a dog, imagine him running around yapping and people keep yelling at him to go away. He decides okay, be cool, it’s fine, he’ll just go to Bar Homra and Anna can tell everyone who he is. He manages to get to the Bar without getting run over by a car and imagine him just prancing in, Kusanagi looks up as the bell above the door rings. 

Yata’s already looking around for Anna when he suddenly gets picked up by the scruff of the neck and finds himself face to face with Mikoto. Yata’s tail immediately starts wagging so fast it’s just a blur, as he’s like ‘Mikoto-san will definitely know me, even like this!’. Yata’s heart is immediately broken as Mikoto asks whose mutt this is. Totsuka chides Mikoto lightly to put the dog down, King you don’t hold adult dogs that way. Kusanagi thinks the dog must have come in off the street and Totsuka says it’s too bad Anna isn’t here right now, she would have liked to see the dog. Kusanagi says to take the dog outside as Yata’s just heartbroken, internally crying because he’s gonna be a dog forever.

He’s dragging himself along the road outside of the bar trying to figure out what to do when he bumps into something. Yata looks up as he hears a tongue click and there’s Fushimi looking down at him all ugh, a stupid stray mutt. Yata growls at him all you stupid traitor get out of my way, Fushimi makes a shooing motion with his hand as he tells Yata to beat it. Yata huffs all I don’t take orders from a traitor but then it dawns on him that Saruhiko should recognize him right. He starts barking and like grabs onto Fushimi’s coat, pulling on it. The rest of the S4 alphabet squad are watching this like aw he likes you Fushimi-san, Fushimi pulls a knife as he’s like go away stupid dog. Yata’s determined though, imagine Fushimi even throws a knife and Yata catches it perfectly in his mouth. 

The squad are kinda impressed, like maybe this dog is meant for Fushimi. Fushimi snaps at them to get back to work as he tries to take the knife back but Yata’s all smug like ha you can’t catch me, you don’t get this back until you recognize me. The S4 boys go back to their work as Fushimi goes after the dog on his own. Fushimi grumbles that he doesn’t have time for this and maybe he’s about to just let the stupid dog have the knife when suddenly the Strain he was hunting appears. Fushimi grins and ignores Yata as he goes after the Strain, Yata’s like wait Saruhiko this guy looks dangerous you shouldn’t do this alone. He’s looking around for Fushimi’s subordinates but no one’s nearby, Yata decides okay just this once. The Strain has like the ability to make duplicates of himself and so Fushimi’s being outnumbered, that’s when Yata uses his nose to sniff out the real Strain and bites them on the ankle. Fushimi hears the Strain yell and pins the Strain down with his knives, causing all the duplicates to disappear. 

Fushimi gives this heavy sigh and sits down, tired out and annoyed. Yata walks over and drops the knife at his feet, Fushimi glares at him like I’m not going to thank you. Yata looks at him, unaware that his tail is wagging hopefully. Fushimi sighs and puts a hand down for Yata to sniff but instead imagine Yata raises a paw and kinda bumps it against Fushimi’s knuckles instead. Fushimi looks at him curiously and then murmurs ‘Misaki…?’. There’s a flash of light and now Yata’s just sitting there in front of Fushimi, both of them looking kinda bewildered. Yata realizes he’s back to normal and cheers, behind him he hears this ‘heh’ and Fushimi grins as he’s like you really are a stupid chihuahua huh Misaki. Yata’s like what did you say and Fushimi says he doesn’t know what happened but if he’d known he was helping Yata he wouldn’t have done it. Yata’s like yeah well I wouldn’t have asked for your help either. He pauses, about to go and suddenly all awkward, and then Yata mumbles ‘but still…thanks, Saruhiko.’ 

[ridiasfangirlings]

Yata and Fushimi started dating but haven't told anybody else yet but are planning to do so cause the others are their friends and they can't really hide it from them forever. Yata has to tell Homra while Fushimi has to inform s4 (even if he doesn't know why cause it's none of their business).

To which everyone responds ‘Yeah, we knew that already’ XD Imagine Yata being all nervous about telling Homra and Fushimi just gives him this flat look because even he is aware at this point that like everyone knows about them. Yata’s still adamant that they have to tell their clans, Fushimi argues that his subordinates (and superiors, for that matter) are so nosy they already know and anyway it’s none of anyone’s business. Yata’s like but they’re our friends right — Fushimi snorts at that and Yata’s like they’re your friends idiot — we should tell our friends about our relationship. He says he’ll tell Homra if Fushimi will tell S4, Fushimi sighs all fine, probably already dreading how Captain will want to celebrate the important milestone of Fushimi having a boyfriend.

As expected when Yata tells Homra they pretty much to a man are like ‘yeah, we knew. Everyone knew.’ Yata’s all come on you couldn’t all know and Chitose’s like you’ve literally been making eyes at him since you guys were middle school brats. Yata’s like I was not and Dewa agrees with Chitose on this, it was obvious to everyone from the start that Yata had it bad for Fushimi. Kusanagi feels a little bad for Yata and is like now boys keep it down, offering to pour Yata a drink to congratulate him. Yata brightens and thanks him (and then he’s like ‘you didn’t know, right Kusanagi-san?’ and Kusanagi decides to suddenly be very invested in cleaning a glass). Anna tugs on Yata’s shirt and sincerely congratulates him, saying she’s glad he and Saruhiko are happy together now. Yata’s pretty pleased about that but then imagine he’s about to ask if she knew and Anna just holds a marble up to her eye, Yata sighs instead like right okay I should’ve expected that. 

Meanwhile Fushimi probably just dashes off a group text or something, he doesn’t want to make a whole announcement. Oh maybe he’s typing up a mass email when Munakata comes by and looks at his screen, wondering if Fushimi-kun has something he would like to share with the class office. Fushimi flatly says ‘no’ and Munakata ignores him, instead clapping his hands together and gathering the special forces squad because it seems Fushimi has something to say. Everyone comes clambering over all oh what is it did you need help for something Fushimi-san. Fushimi is getting increasingly more annoyed as everyone surrounds him, radiating nothing but helpfulness and goodwill, and finally he grits out that stupid Misaki just wanted him to tell everyone that they were dating. Naturally everyone is so pleased for him (well, Hidaka and Akiyama are maybe a little bummed, but they’ll be happy for Fushimi’s sake). Hidaka suggests they all go out drinking to celebrate, forgetting that Munakata and Awashima are there until Munakata chuckles and pushes up his glasses all ‘excellent idea.’ Fushimi tries to protest as Munakata asks Awashima to schedule them all an evening at the bar, just steamrolling over Fushimi’s protests because of course this is a time for celebration and friendly bonding. Fushimi quietly vows that Misaki will pay for making him do this.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Sarumi where Fairy Tale Strain casts the Snow White curse on Yata and has him falling into a sleep like death. True Love's Kiss is the only thing that can wake him up. How would this work pre and post reconciliation?

Oh no Yata got hit by the fairytale Strain, if only there was a grumpy prince around to save him 8D Post-betrayal this is probably very awkward, because of course Homra all know who they need to do the kissing but Fushimi would have to get over himself and agree to do it. Imagine Yata even gets hit by the Strain due to Fushimi’s interference somehow, like Homra’s been trying to find this guy for a while because he’s working for some rival gang. Fushimi is also hunting the Strain for S4 reasons but as soon as he sees Yata he immediately abandons his work because teasing Misaki is more fun. They’re about to fight when Yata suddenly yells ‘Saruhiko!’ and jumps in front of him, getting hit by the Strain power. In the aftermath Fushimi yells at Yata because he wasn’t asking to be protected, only to see that Yata is unconscious beside him. No amount of yelling or shaking will wake him, he appears otherwise unharmed but he’s in a deep sleep.

Fushimi sends Homra a quick anonymous message and hovers in the vicinity until they arrive, not like he’s worried or anything but he figures he should at least make sure Homra gathers up their idiot. When he gets back to S4 he does some research on the Strain only because it’s part of his job and finds out that the Strain has ‘fairy tale’ powers and anyone hit by them will fall into a deep sleep, only able to be awakened by true love’s kiss. Fushimi clicks his tongue like ‘stupid,’ probably thinking that what Misaki will want is for Mikoto to kiss him or something. He’s aware that Yata hasn’t woken up as the days go on though, just through rumors, and he keeps telling himself that it’s none of his business. 

Imagine at some point though maybe Anna stops in to see him, like he runs into her and Totsuka in the stables again. Fushimi is all annoyed thinking they’re here to see Basashi but Anna shakes her head and asks Fushimi to come see Misaki. Fushimi scoffs all why would I want to see him, Totsuka laughs and says well we had some ideas on what might wake him up and Anna thought we should stop by. Fushimi refuses to even entertain that, flatly stating he has no idea what they’re talking about, even as Anna tells him Yata’s in hospital and gives him the room number. Fushimi doesn’t intend to do anything with this information — it has nothing to do with him, nothing at all — but maybe he ends up slipping into the room quietly anyway, pressing his lips against Yata’s. He leaves before Yata can move, because Fushimi doesn’t want to know if that’s what really will wake Yata up (he hears later on that yes, Misaki is awake, and tells himself the power just wore off naturally, that’s all).

Post-reconciliation I imagine him being hesitant for an entirely different reason. Like same scenario with Yata getting hit by the Strain and finding out about the ‘true love’s kiss’ thing, imagine Fushimi giving this information to Kusanagi at the bar and literally everyone just looks at him. Fushimi clicks his tongue and mutters why are you all looking at me, saying he’ll do more research to find another way because of course virgin Misaki doesn’t even have a girlfriend. Kusanagi gives him a soft smile as he’s like well I don’t know if you need more research, you might have the answer already, Fushimi clicks his tongue again and says he’ll be in touch, once he’s gone Kusanagi sighs a little and shakes his head like really these two.

Fushimi goes to visit Yata at the hospital and imagine him there alone, leaning over Yata and wondering. He calls Yata an idiot for getting hurt now, right when they reconciled again and weren’t you the one who wanted this the most and now you’re just lying there. Of course part of Fushimi desperately wants to kiss Yata but at the same time he keeps thinking well what if it doesn’t work, what if I’m not what he wants — after all Fushimi’s done how could he of all people possibly be Yata’s’true love.’ He just wants Yata to open his eyes again though and finally Fushimi just leans in and gives Yata a kiss. There’s a moment’s pause and Fushimi grimly thinks ‘what did I expect’…and then Yata’s suddenly kissing him back.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Sooo I was just "lol" at the "Sarumi accidentally married" ask and it occurred to me... Do you know Kyou Kara Maou? What about Misaki as the protagonist who goes to another, magical, world, and then meets this complete jerk of a prince with amazing powers (you know, you already have "hiko" in you name Saru lol). First Misaki tries to befriend him because wow you're awesome and all that, but of course Saru just can't help but to be a snarking idiot mocking him all the time and at one point Misaki is angry enough to impulsively slap him on the face. It wasn't a really strong slap or anything, but now everyone around is staring at them with the most absolute surprise, and Saru looks so utterly shocked that Misaki actually feels a little guilt while being like come on it wasn't THAT big of a deal right

Turns out is WAS that big of a deal because Yata Misaki, the foretold traveler from another world destined to save this kingdom, has just officially offered marriage to prince Fuhimi Saruhiko.

…I am honestly a little upset that this one didn’t cross my mind instantly XD Imagine normal human teenager Yata Misaki is skateboarding one day when he sees these bullies cornering one of his upperclassmen, Munakata Reisi. Yata doesn’t care for that guy but he hates bullies too so he steps in to stop them, Munakata promptly takes his leave and Yata ends up being grabbed by the bullies instead. They decide to punish him by sticking his head in the toilet and the next thing Yata knows he’s been flushed into another world where he’s immediately attacked. He’s saved by Mikoto, who serves the palace and was taking a nap in the bushes when Yata arrived, Yata’s immediately amazed by all Mikoto’s cool powers. Yata gets informed that he’s actually a demon himself and is in fact the prophesied Demon King come to save their country from ruin and strife. 

Obviously Yata’s mind is pretty blown by all this info (and also kinda upset that he doesn’t seem to have any cool powers yet). All the demons he meet seem pretty cool though so Yata’s not too upset about it…until he’s taken to the palace, where he’s told all about how the previous Demon King basically looted the kingdom before running off and he gets to meet that King’s only son, Fushimi Saruhiko. Fushimi’s immediate reaction is that isn’t Yata awfully short for a Demon King, Yata’s like who is this asshole that thinks he can talk back to the King huh. When he finds out Fushimi’s a prince Yata can’t believe it, like aren’t princes supposed to be cool and handsome not asshole nerds like this guy. Fushimi was instrumental in getting the kingdom back into shape after Niki’s disastrous rule so he’s still an important person in the palace though and Yata’s told to try and be on good terms with him, there’s info about their territories and such that only Fushimi knows how to deal with.

Yata can’t believe he has to get along with this jerk but he’s like fine I’ll try. At dinner a few nights later Fushimi is seated at Yata’s right hand and imagine them bickering the whole time, Yata calling Fushimi a little kid for picking his vegetables out of his food and Fushimi mocking Yata as a useless stupid human. Fushimi ends up making some terrible remark about Yata’s mom and Yata can’t take it anymore, someone needs to teach this guy a lesson, and he reaches out and proceeds to slap Fushimi in the face. There is a very long silence, Yata’s advisor Kusanagi just facepalms while his other advisor Totsuka starts clapping, happily congratulating Yata on finding a fiancée so quickly.Yata’s like wait what, Kusanagi quickly hustles the mortified Fushimi away as Totsuka gets to explain that slapping someone in the face is how you propose marriage in their country and Yata has now officially engaged himself to Fushimi.

Yata’s like what the fuck kind of country is this I take it back as Kusanagi walks in with a sigh and tells Yata he can’t take it back, that would be an affront to Fushimi’s honor. Yata decides well I’ll just talk to him and get him to refuse, when he goes to Fushimi’s room it’s clear that Fushimi is both annoyed but also confused because he doesn’t want to marry anyone, he doesn’t need Yata’s pity trying to marry him just because his dad was so awful. Yata had no idea about any of this and it feels awkward to try and take back the proposal now so he just quickly says that well, he thought Fushimi was kinda cool too and Fushimi clicks his tongue all I don’t need a compliment from you, why would I want to marry such a loudmouth shrimp. Yata’s like oh yeah asshole well you’re my fiancée now so just deal with it, Fushimi taunts him again and before he knows it Yata has basically been accidentally baited into reaffirming his engagement with the guy he didn’t even think he liked.