#that he really starts being able to process that Yuki is different from him in some pretty big ways

[festivalofthe12]

Kakeru looking at Yuki and feeling such a weird mixture of protectiveness and sympathy and embarrassment and frustration because he can just See his past self trying So Hard to please everyone and do the right thing all the time even if it's killing him. And that can make him so startlingly empathetic and insightful, but it can also make him treat Yuki with all the over-familiarity (if not outright self-deprecation) of an extension of himself, and then at other times he just gets so Impatient because he Knows how this ends and wants Yuki to just shape up and start liking himself already!!!!

[dialovers-translations]

DIABOLIK LOVERS DAYLIGHT  Vol.5 Sakamaki Kanato [TRACK 2]

Original title: すれ違う心

Source: Diabolik Lovers Daylight Vol. 5 Sakamaki Kanato

Audio: Here (Huge thank you to @filthyhelplessworld​ for providing the audio!)

Seiyuu: Kaji Yuki

Translator’s note: The MC’s health is obviously getting worse and I really fear for her with a boyfriend whose best solution is to completely disregard her concerns and lock her up in the underground dungeon. I’m still betting that all of this karma will come and bite Kanato in the ass though. I’m just waiting for the angsty stuff to kick in because he needs a taste of reality.

Track 1 ll Track 2 ll Track 3 ll Track 4 ll Track 5 + Epilogue

→  LIKE MY TRANSLATIONS? SUPPORT ME ON KO-FI!

Track 2: Hearts Growing Apart

You are in the kitchen making sweets.

*Thud*

*Ping ping*

Kanato enters the kitchen.

“Hm...I have no complaints about the scent. Is this the sponge for the cake?”

You nod.

“Your hands have stopped moving. Please continue.”

You continue beating the egg whites in a bowl.

[00:24] “Fufu...Cut the cookies into bear shapes, okay? I want two kinds, both chewy and crispy. I grow tired if there’s no variety in the texture after all. ...Ah, I’d like my pudding on the firmer side with bittersweet caramel sauce on top, okay? I’m especially picky when it comes to chocolate. The cacaー”

Your movements stop again as you grow dizzy.

“...? What’s wrong? Now’s not the time to rest. I want to eat these soon so stop dawdlーー”

You nearly collapse, knocking over the bowl with cream in the process.

*THUD*

[00:56] “...! Ah!! The cream…!!”

*Rustle*

“Tsk...It turned out so well too...This all happened because you were spacing out…!”

You explain.

[01:13] “Hah…! You’re at it again with the sick act? Whenever things don’t go your way, you always blame it on feeling unwell! I bet you’re feeling faint because you let one of the other guys suck your blood, am I wrong!? Was it...Reiji again, perhaps? Even though you promised you would stay away from him!”

“SHUT UP!!”

*Thud*

[01:39] “I thought you were actually being a good girl and making the sweets I asked for but in the end, this is what I get! After you promised me several times too...Honestly...I’m so through with you!!”

*Rustle rustle*

“Haah…”

Kanato starts dragging you along.

“You want to know where we’re going? Oh no, you’re not going anywhere from here on out.”

*TIMESKIP*

*Cling cling*

*Rustle*

[02:23] “No, I won’t stop. Someone like you deserves no better than to be locked up inside the underground dungeon like this.”

You protest.

“Haah...You only have yourself to blame. For breaking our promise and letting someone else suck your blood.”

You deny it.

“SHUT UP! How many times are you going to lie to me? PLEASE DON’T MAKE A FOOL OUT OF ME BY ASSUMING I’D BELIEVE YOUR WORDS OF DENIAL!”

You beg.

[02:58] “...If you want me to listen to the whole story, then promise me you will never tell a lie again.”

You promise.

“Haah...Okay then. I suppose I wouldn’t mind listening a little.”

You start explaining.

“...Your health actually has been in poor condition, you say? You sure are insistent about that part.”

You continue talking.

[03:28] “So? ‘At this rate you will ーー’ What? You’re not going to tell me you’ll die, right?” 

You remain quiet.

“Kuh. CUT IT OUーー”

You nod.

“Huh? ...Say, did you...perhaps nod just now? Do you truly believe you will die if things continue down this path?”

You nod again.

“That...doesn’t make sense.”

You tell him it’s the truth.

[04:14] “You’re just joking when you say you might not have much time left, right?”

You shake your head.

“You want me to mentally prepare myself for the worst…? Ridiculous...I mean, there’s just no way you would die, right!?”

You try to make him face reality.

“SHUT UP!!”

You speak up again.

“SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!! YOU JUST CAN’T DIE!! ...Stay here until I give you permission to leave!”

Kanato stomps away.

“Kuh…!”

*Thud*

*TIMESKIP*

[04:59] “Nn...Here. You should try one of the cookies as well. You haven’t been eating at all this whole time, have you?”

You politely refuse.

“Even if you’re lacking an appetite, you should be able to at least eat the things I bring you, no?”

You hesitantly grab a cookie.

[05:26] “Mmh. Better. Umー Where were we again…? Ah, right! I remember now! Honestly, I was so surprised to find out there was another human out there who has blood as sweet as yours! Well, I just so happened to cross paths with her on my way home from school, of course. ...You probably shouldn’t give yourself too much credit for having special blood. If you continue to be disobedient, you might just find yourself thrown aside by me at some pointーー Just kidding. Fufufu…”

You remain quiet.

[06:19] “Hey? Are you listening? You didn't nod off while I was talking, did you?”

You shake your head.

“Good. You’ve been quiet this whole time though. You should say something as well. Anything will do. What has been on your mind today, or what you would like to do if I were to free you from down here, for example.”

You tell him you want to see the outside world. 

[06:56] “Hmph. What will you gain from watching the scenery outside? Your eyes should only ever be on me.”

You go silent again. 

“Hah! Ridiculous! I’m here trying my best to strike up a conversation, yet you have nothing else to tell me?”

You bring up your health.

[07:24] “Aah...But I’ve heard enough about that. I’m sick and tired of hearing you say how you’ll ‘die’ or whatever…”

You try and reason with him.

“STOP! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT! ...Haah. We were having such a lovely chat as well, but you completely ruined it.”

Kanato gets up.

“My mood has been ruined. I will excuse myself for today.”

He leaves.

*Thud*

[08:01] ( You told me I was doing the wrong thing time after time. Trying to convince me that locking you up in that dim lit underground dungeon would only speed up the process and lead to an early death. You would even burst out into tears, worried about what would happen to me once I’m left behind. 

[08:19] Every time, I would grow upset and refuse to listen to you, covering my ears while simply turning a blind eye to everything, as I kept you imprisoned down there. Because I truly believed that if I kept at it long enough, you would eventually give in and stop saying that you were dying.

[08:42] ...I wonder why I didn’t just accept your words back then? Why didn’t I try and do something about the abnormal condition of your heart, even though I had taken notice of it? I never thought I would one day ask myself those questions over and over again. )

*TIMESKIP*

Kanato approaches you in the dungeon.

[09:10] “You seem rather out of it today. Do you have any idea how much time has passed since you were brought here?”

You shake your head.

“I suppose you don’t? ーー Or perhaps…”

*Cling*

“I guess you no longer care, do you? After all, right now the only thing which matters to you, is the person standing in front of you, right? Correct?”

You nod.

[09:50] “Fufu. You’ve become such a good girl. Well then, come here. I will let you embrace me as your reward.”

You move closer and wrap your arms around him.

*Cling cling*

[10:12] “...Haah...We will be together forever, okay? Please don’t say you’ll die ever again. ...You’re not going anywhere. You can’t even run. It’ll be just the two of us for eternity. I’m sure you feel the same way right now?”

You reluctantly nod.

[10:50] “...What was that just now? It appeared to me that you only nodded because you had no other choice. I can tell you’re hiding how you truly feel. ...Tell me loud and clear. How do you feel?”

You keep quiet. 

“Haha...Hahaha...So you really can’t let go of the possibility that you’ll die one day, no matter how many times I tell you that we’ll be together forever, can you? ...Cut it out alreaーー”

You speak up.

[11:31] “...’But’, what?”

You tell him he will be okay and can simply find another human to feed off of. 

“Did you just...tell me that I’ll be okay even if you die, because there’s plenty of replacements for you out there?”

You nod.

[11:50] “So...That’s all what matters? No way...What makes you believe you have the right to decide that on your own? Who told you to think that way!? Well...I won’t deny that I discovered someone with sweet blood in town the other day, but you’re still on a whole different level! ...ABOVE ALL!!”

*Cling*

[12:19] “Didn’t I tell you just now? That you won’t go anywhere, nor can you run away, so the two of us will be together forever…! Tsk...Yet...Kuh...Yet you have the nerve to…!! ...Honestly...I’ve had enough of this.”

You try to comfort him.

“Hah! ...Stay away from me.”

He walks away.

[12:57] “I’m sick of talking to you. Or rather, I suppose you could say that my love for you has faded.”

*Cling*

“That’s the key to those chains. From today onwards, you’re a free woman. I no longer care about you. ーー Just like you said, there’s plenty of people who can replace you out there. ...Farewell.”

Kanato leaves.

[13:38] “...Kuh!! She’ll die? Ridiculous! There’s just no way I would be left behind on my own. Yet she keeps on saying that she’ll die and to make matters worse, even has the nerve to tell me I could simply replace her! Where on earth did she get that ludicrous idea from!? ...I should just push her away for a bit. I’ll make her regret her words! Until she lets go of those ridiculous thoughts!”

ーー TO BE CONTINUED ーー

[shokobuns]

something sweet

maybe having someone to help you out in the stockroom wasn't so bad after all.

PAIRING: itadori yuuji x reader

GENRE: fluff, strangers to lovers

WORD COUNT: 2.5k

WARNINGS: almost stabbed, mentions of sharp things (boxcutters and broken glass), making out

it’s not like you had a problem with the same menial tasks everyday.

in fact, you would even say that it was a fun way to spend your free period. it was better than doing some complicated assignment or even having to talk to people with your lack of sleep and patience. coffee never allowed for a proper nap no matter how exhausted you were and your teacher wouldn’t allow that anyways.

it was an easy job that you could do with minimal help. all you had to do was put the beakers away, clean up the floor once in awhile, maybe pop some bubble wrap when new packages arrived. being alone in the stockroom was nice because you were able to turn on some music on your headphones, do whatever dances you felt like doing as long as you were still doing your job. no help was needed or wanted.

“where should i put this?”

you jump, nearly stabbing the blonde haired boy behind you with a boxcutter. luckily, he was quick, jumping backwards with a yelp as you took a deep breath in to process the situation. you didn’t accidentally hurt the boy in front of you, did you? your face falls and the initial rush of fear turns into guilt. “i’m sorry! i didn’t know you were there!”

“it’s okay,’ he responds with a smile, unphased by the fact his shirt had almost been slashed, ‘i understand. you’re probably here alone most of the time, right?”

“yeah, i wasn’t expecting for anyone else to be here,” you sigh before realizing what he had probably walked in on before the whole ordeal, “wait.. did you see me doing anything?”

“you’re a pretty good dancer if that’s what you’re asking.”

embarrassment. your cheeks feel unbelievably hot and your stomach turns while embarrassment settles in your body. this period was your alone time, your chance to flail about and having someone else witness it? definitely not preferable. although, he does seem nice and he hasn’t made fun of you. not yet, at least.

his voice brings you out of your train of thought. “so, where should i put that thing?”

he carries on as if nothing happened. thank god. “the flask goes in that cabinet, bottom shelf. you’ll see more just like it.” you reply, pointing to the space.

he mumbles a quick thank you before doing unloading more of the new flasks onto the cabinet. you work on your own, choosing to count the new magnets on the other side of the room, doing your best to avoid him considering you just embarrassed yourself in front of the stranger by nearly injuring him for asking a simple question. though, he looks slightly familiar, he’ll probably be gone tomorrow and that’s all that matters.

behind you, yuji takes small glances while he puts away the flasks, waiting for you to turn around and ask for his name. hell, he’s waiting for any type of question. after all, who sees a random boy in their work space and doesn’t question it at all?

when the next day comes, you’re proven wrong because he sits in the chair, awaiting another order from you. you curse under your breath before putting on a faux smile. “do you need help with anything?”

“do you need help with anything?”

“no, thanks. i’m good on my own. you can go back to whatever you do in this period.”

he scratches his head, eyebrows furrowing together. “i thought you needed help. that’s what my math teacher told me when he sent me here.”

“not really? i can usually get a lot done on my own. who told you i needed help?”

“gojo. i’m his teacher assistant, but i don’t know how to do the math he’s teaching, so i can’t really help anyone.” he explains

“oh, yeah! i had him for calculus last semester,” your eyes light up at the mention of your favorite white haired mentor, “weird guy. good teacher.”

wait. gojo’s teacher assistant?

you’ve heard your friends talk about him, given that they were in that exact class the blonde haired boy was supposed to be in right now. the one guy that pe teachers fawn over and coaches try to recruit? why did they put him in the math department instead of pe? what’s his name again? yuki? yugi?

“you’re yuji itadori?”

“yuji itadori.” he confirms and you’re relieved. good thing you didn’t mess up his name.

no wonder he looked familiar. miwa was fascinated by his physical ability, you distinctly remember her pointing him out during lunch and telling you about how he was ‘scarily fast’ and could probably ‘lift ten of her at a time.’ although, it was from far away and he was partially blocked by a girl with short brown hair and megumi, the intimidating spikey haired quiet boy in some of your classes.

but yuji didn’t look like someone who could lift ten miwas up close. maybe he was hiding behind the oversized hoodie he wore, but he was a kind looking boy with wide eyes and messy tufts of strawberry blonde hair. throughout the short time you’ve seen him up close, he always had a slight smile on his resting face. in short, he looked approachable and was seemingly friendly.

“so, do you need help with anything?” he asks again and you decide that maybe he can be of use to you. especially if he has the strength that miwa had described.

“actually, yeah. can you lift those boxes over there and bring them to the other side of the room? they’re kind of heavy-”

she was correct because he lifts the box, which is supposedly about thirty kilograms according to your teacher, with ease. now, you don’t have to constantly go back and forth around the room just to put the packaged metal away in a farther cabinet and he can probably just put them away himself, too. it goes that way for the next hour and a half, both of you staying in your respective sides of the room, putting away your own respective items.

“thanks, itadori.”

“call me yuji.”

“will do.”

over the next two weeks, you two don’t talk as much as yuji had hoped.

he still remembers gojo’s words of encouragement, his push to get his favorite student to talk to the person who drops off notes to the teacher across the hallway from time to time. he’s never talked to you and he doubts you would even know that he existed in the first place. in fact, he was perfectly content with just stapling the papers that gojo would give him, maybe getting his own homework done in the period, but he was insistent.

“i’ve seen you staring outside the window whenever they pass by, yuji. just talk to them.”

“it’s okay.’

“no it’s not. get to know her. what if they’re nice? hmmmmm?”

“i’ll talk to her myself at some point.”

that was all it took for gojo to leave him alone, not that he didn’t like gojo or anything, especially with gojo being his second favorite teacher in the first place, but he’s content with his little crush. and again, he doubted that you would remember him in your history class and from the looks of it, he was right.

he just didn’t expect to be sent at the very stockroom that you would be in. for the rest of the semester. gojo had definitely set him up for something.

yuji was in that conflicting position in which he didn’t know whether to start a conversation or not because he didn’t want to bother you. but he also wanted to get to know you up close. of course he can sense your exhaustion himself through droopy eyelids that threaten to close and your dependence on caffeine, something he had learned about you so far in these few weeks. the only thing, it seems like.

as for you, a short talk with your science teacher confirmed that he wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon and though you will miss dancing around the stockroom by yourself, he wasn’t bad company. he mostly kept to himself, often being more rigid when you barely spared him a glance. at the times you would speak to him, he seemed more excitable and easygoing, listening to every word you say.

“yuji?”

“hmm?”

“come help me by unboxing these beakers, alright?” you patted the spot next to you before sliding the blade down the tape, “don’t worry. i’m not gonna stab you.”

“i guess i’ll help,” he snorts, “don’t you usually do these by yourself?”

“yeah, but since you’re spending the semester with me in here, we might as well get to know each other right?”

the whirring of the fan, the sound of your voice — it all seemed to fade into the background as his heart thumped hard in his chest. a million thoughts, both good and bad, race through his head as he formulated different questions, answers, and scenarios in his mind, all of them being a jumble of fantasy and panic.

you wave a hand in front of his face in an attempt to catch his attention. he seemed completely frozen, staring at you with dead eyes and it’s now that you realize you haven’t seen him up this close. honey brown eyes, the soft curve of his nose, and were those crinkles under his eyes, too? up until now, you only knew him as the ‘athletic man who was bad at math’, but he was also undeniably beautiful with his carved face and strawberry blonde hair.

“yuuuuuuuji?”

“oh! i’m sorry! did you say you wanted to get to know me?”

“yeah, we’re kind of stuck in this room everyday for an hour and a half together. i might as well find out what your favorite color is or something.”

“red! my turn! what were you listening to when you almost stabbed me?”

“hey! it was an accident!” he giggles, slicing the tape seal down the middle and opening up the package and pointing right at it. “you see that? that could have been me. i should at least know what i’m being stabbed to.”

“meg thee stallion..”

“nevermind. she’s beautiful and i wouldn’t mind dying to her music.”

you snort, thinking up another question. maybe you should ask him about why that megumi guy was so gloomy? nope, might get too personal. what about the reason he’s here? nope, you already know.

“why don’t you do any sports even though you’re literally physically gifted?” you ask curiously. there’s still a smile on his face, but his expression becomes more wistful. you didn’t accidentally hit a spot, did you?

“my grandpa is in the hospital,” oh shit, you think, “i visit him everyday and if i was on a team, i would have to go to practice at the same time.”

“i’m sorry. i didn’t mean to hit a sensitive topic, but that’s sweet of you.’

“i don’t mind. and i’m sorry if i made you uncomfortable.”

“no, it’s alright. let’s just keep asking questions then, okay?”

he nods.

in one hour, you learn that yuji itadori also likes karaoke, rice bowls, and that he’s just as bad at science than math. ironic. and yuji enjoys getting to know more about you, falling into easy conversation, becoming less of a nervous wreck. the more you speak, the deeper he falls into the trance and he silently thanks gojo for letting him get a closer look because you’re even better than what he could have imagined.

but the period is coming to an end and it’s time for him to carry off the last box of beakers to his side of the room. at least there’s time for another question and it’s his turn to ask.

“what’s your type?”

you place your fingers on your chin as you think for a moment, finding a common trait in every crush for a proper answer.

“i guess my type would be sweet boys. with pretty faces, like you, i guess.”

the response is nonchalant and you don’t think twice about it. maybe you were a little too tired to process how he’d interpret it or maybe a little too tired to filter yourself, but it slips out of your mouth like butter and you’re completely unphased. shameless, even.

meanwhile, the box drops to the ground and like before, every other noise besides his own heartbeat fades into the background, even the sound of shattering glass. heat creeps of his neck into his cheeks until his face is burning, his feet stuck in their place and his palms becoming uncomfortably sweaty. his mouth is wide open, but no words come out.

“yuji! we need to clean this, hurry up!”

your voice brings him out of his thoughts as he realizes what’s been done and immediately snaps back to carefully, but quickly, picking up the shards of glass and placing them in this box. “i-i’m sorry!”

“don’t worry. just leave the box on the counter and we’ll deal with it tomorrow.”

maybe you didn’t quite realize what you had said or what effect you had on him during that time in the stockroom because you continue everyday as if nothing happened.

it’s been, what? a little over a three weeks? and sitting next to you still causes his mind to go to odd places, ones with you. he starts to notice little things about you, too. how your tongue peaks out of your mouth when you’re peeling another sheet of bubble wrap off of some glassware, how you only count in even numbers when you take inventory of the containers.

god, you were adorable.

“yuji?”

“yeah?”

“did gojo ever tell you that there’s no cameras in here?”

“no? i thought they had security cameras everywhere.”

“that’s only hallways and classrooms. there’s none of them here. do you know what that means?”

“what?”

his head is already turned in your direction, the perfect opportunity to lean in and catch his lips. it’s small and he’s hesitant at first, but before you know it, your hands tangle in his hair, bringing him closer to you. he tastes like something sweet, like cherries, and his lips are warm. one hand rests on your cheek, his thumb brushing against it endearingly. when he pulls away, both of you are panting for air, the packages long forgotten.

“this sounds bad, but i’m glad that you’re terrible at math.”

“thanks.” he laughs and admires the look of your heated cheeks and swollen lips before pulling you back in for another searing kiss.

sure. being in that room by yourself could be fun, a perfect break with menial tasks lacking human interaction. you were far too tired to be patient with other people. but there was an exception.

© this is a work of @crybabygumi, all rights reserved. do not plagiarize, copy, or repost.

[valkyrieblogs]

continuing my second playthrough of 13 sentinels: aegis rim in an attempt to do more analysis and character study. god i played a lot today. i was so determined to get past some of these routes i'm locked by. still locked by natsuno, though...

this time i'm covering:

nenji ogata (0% - 12%)

juro kurabe (33% - 44%)

keitaro miura (37% - 50%)

yuki takamiya (0% - 14%)

iori fuyusaka (42% - 57%)

renya gouto (0% - 14%) (in which i have some Questions about the timeline for okino's involvement in the sentinel project)

nenji ogata (12% - 25%)

yuki takamiya (14% - 28%)

ryoko shinonome (0% - 12%) (in which i have a lot of feelings about shinonome and sekigahara’s relationship)

2nd area shibugaki city 0001

nenji ogata (0% - 12%): prologue

ogata is here at last. i'm so glad i've finally gotten his route unlocked. god i love his route. i love time loops.

honestly love this stupid fight that ogata gets into with wajima. how he completely made up his mind that he wasn't going to get into the same fight twice, until wajima starts making comments about kisaragi. making all the same mistakes even though he's already done this once before...

at the end of this loop, we see that ogata is in... the growth pod, even though he wouldn't be in a sentinel. he's just got that headgear hooked up to him right now by okino. i wonder if there's something about okino running this simulation with the headgear that makes him see himself in the growth pod.

god, ogata just not focusing on what okino's saying at all because he's just so desperately concerned about kisaragi. okino also really not helping by refusing to explain, which is so... okino. not wanting to expend the effort, not wanting to explain if he doesn't have to. and making this actually less efficient in the process, since ogata doesn't understand what's going on. it makes me think back to destruction mode where okino just decides that this is a pain, so he'd rather hijiyama just keep his presence there a secret. or even the way he repeatedly withholds information unless necessary. especially post-infection, where he doesn't trust other people.

juro kurabe (33% - 44%): juro izumi

finally picked up the stack of papers and talked to yakushiji... i forgot the way she greeted him after she finally moved into his house. no explanation. no understanding that this juro doesn't know her, doesn't feel the same way about her. just immediately hugging him without explanation, and talking about how she missed his touch. no wonder he pushes her away. even her talking again about how she wouldn't mind if they're caught and expelled for living together, not having any regard for how juro feels!

god, even gouto commenting on yakushiji's behaviour here, and reminding her that "you would do well to consider him an entirely different person".

i really like this moment of realization that kurabe has. "it's like... the one yakushiji has feelings for isn't me. it's... izumi." this moment of awareness is so good. and again! reveals the issues with yakushiji's feelings for him.

still mulling over how i have so little to say about juro himself. he really is a blank slate of a character, easy to project things on. it makes sense, given that this is a simulated personality they give him, and his being more gentle-natured was also something that tamao wanted for him. but it also means that he really doesn't stand out on his own. a lot of interesting things happen in his route, but i really don't have a single thought about juro himself so far, other than this.

keitaro miura (37% - 50%): where do we come from?

ah, in this next branch, i had miura gaze over at the apartment buildings again. he talked about how one of his neighbours was killed in an air raid, but that the people in this area don't have to worry about that.

i think it's interesting that for whatever reason, miura hasn't been able to reactivate the sentinel since he arrived in sector 4. i'm not really sure exactly what's restricting him, since it shouldn't be okino's code—he was able to pilot it before he came here, after all. there's definitely a way to lock the sentinels, since okino had done that previously with no. 19 to protect the pilots from DD-426, but he removed that when he confirmed that his experiment on miura worked. unless someone else locked down the sentinel, i'm not really sure why he isn't able to activate it until just before the final battle.

ahh, miura running into chihiro and then focusing on how he wants to find his way back to her...

i really love how focused miura tries to be. him finding the old wooden building at the school, and remembering just for a moment how he met hijiyama there, and how tamao came to see him off... before he catches himself, and brings himself back to what he needs to do.

god i love how fixated both miura and hijiyama are on food!! after growing up during the war... miura runs into yakushiji here and he goes on about the incredible bento she made for him. i keep thinking about yakushiji's isolation, how she struggles to talk to the people around her, distances herself from her only real friend, and pushes away juro with her behaviour, whether she intends to or not. and out of everyone, miura is actually the one she seems to have the most positive relationship with, and has the most consistent contact with. i always like their interactions. even here, how rather than thinking about juro's preferences when she considers what to make for dinner, she actually defers to miura since he's the one that actually seems to appreciate it!

man, and again miura even refuses to let himself think about food for too long. he's so strict with himself, not letting him dwell on anything other than his goal. i wonder if that was a habit that developed out of his tendency to worry, that he's had to learn to snap himself out of whatever he's fixated on, and move on.

god i forgot how miura immediately identifies BJ as a scout unit from a sentinel, but natsuno feels like he's being insensitive by treating him like a robot.

i still can't get over this reveal that in 2188, takamiya is natsuno's mother. and that the reason for them falling out of contact was what sounds like her divorcing natsuno's father.

it's also interesting hearing them talk a little about the nanomachine wars on the surface, especially the fact that the front line has been advancing, to the point where the remaining (uninfected?) people have to flee. i still wish we had more details about this, although i appreciate that the developer interview went into it, a bit.

and with this i have... finally, finally unlocked takamiya. at long last.

yuki takamiya (0% - 14%): prologue

i think it's so cute that one of the first things that takamiya seems to do after transferring is she goes to hunt down natsuno, after not seeing her for so long. also thinking about how both the 2188 iteration of takamiya and this one both had a breakdown in communications with natsuno for one reason or another. i assume in the case of the current takamiya, it was probably her father going to prison.

i know i've spoken before about how i can't really get behind amiguchi/takamiya, but it's not that i hate it. it's just not my thing at all. i don't mind most of their interactions, and even his talking to her here is okay to me, too. i also appreciate amiguchi defending takamiya and working to de-escalate when ogata shows up, so he doesn't think that takamiya is trying to instigate something by being here.

i find myself really wondering about the family members that everyone has in the simulation. we only get references in passing to some of them at times. in takamiya's case, we know she has her grandmother living outside the city, and that her father is in jail. we never hear about her mother, and i wonder what happened to her, given that she said that her father is the only real family that has. although, in japanese, she uses 肉親 ("blood relative") when talking about her father, which makes me wonder if maybe she just has a step-mother or something.

god, listening to tetsuya talk to takamiya about all this with the SIU and shikishima, and i really wonder how they ended up establishing all these connections in this loop. how did they become affiliated with the government? how did they get them to create the SIU, when it's private? i just wonder how they managed to get themselves so deeply entrenched in shikishima to the point where they can use them as a resource like this.

i keep wondering why ida seeks out takamiya in particular. obviously he wants her to look into all the compatibles there, but i wonder what other reason he has to do this. especially when the only character she has significant ties to is natsuno, but she's been told that shinonome's been assigned to her, instead.

iori fuyusaka (42% - 57%): iori who leapt through time

i cannot wait to be freed from this loop of overhearing kisaragi and miwako over and over. obviously not every route is going to have some exciting premise to start off each branch, but this is just so repetitive at this point, and not really engaging. i feel like we see a lot of interesting flashbacks in fuyusaka's route, but the time spent actually seeing things from her POV... is definitely less interesting.

running into sekigahara and him being so immediately suspicious, assuming that someone sent her here, and being so reluctant to believe her until it sounds like she really doesn't know what happened... when he's talking to himself here, he mentions how she actively unlocked the gate. i can't remember at what point it was locked anymore, or why.

god i love how her rambling about the content of her dreams, and how that just makes sekigahara suspicious of her all over again!!

i need to refamiliarize myself with sekigahara's timeline so badly... this is obviously before his memory's gotten really bad. but i can't even remember why he's hiding from ida and his drones in particular. i know why after he loses his memory, but i can't remember why he needs to hide before that point.

it's also interesting to me that when fuyusaka is knocked out, when gouto is talking to morimura, it's obvious that he either hasn't made the connection that she's this loop's morimura, or at least he isn't voicing it.

oh wow, finally unlocked gouto with this.

renya gouto (0% - 14%): prologue

watching the intro scene for gouto's route, and i wonder if the reason he's acting like this with morimura is because of one of the theories he mentioned—that her memory has been tampered with. between that, and the sector 2 infection incident, i really love how he's resorted to relying on a notebook, since at least that can't be altered in the same way their memories can with nanomachines. and especially if he's anticipating losing his memory at any point as a result of DD-426 (which i assume he hasn't been infected with since he was not directly piloting a sentinel) it's a move that makes sense. it's a choice i always find interesting, especially given the sector that he's from. it's also why i love his line in this scene here. "digitized data can be altered, fabricated, falsified... no intelligent person should trust it."

this flashback to him meeting with ida, okino, and morimura... i keep wondering at what point everyone was brought on board with the sentinel project. obviously we have a rough idea of the timelines for most of the students, but i always have the sense that okino was brought on pretty early, especially since he and ida worked together on the generation one sentinels, and okino was primarily responsible for how they were designed. we know he's a genius, and had the advantage of growing up in sector 1, so i'm always curious about his involvement with the project. gouto seems another one of the pilots they tapped early for this, but he's still acclimating to what the technology is like in sector 1—and this is clearly after it's already been destroyed by the deimos. i appreciate how they're able to roughly track when the next attack will be by monitoring the output of the automated factories in sector 1, too.

hm. some of okino's comments make me question how long he's been involved, or at least if he's aware of the other AI. eight years into this loop, ida created androids and was able to successfully download memory and personality data from sector 0 to bring back both the previous loop's tamao, as well as kisaragi. we also know that okino finds DD-426 and tests it on himself before the upcoming sector 2 attack, which is how he's immune, since he's already backed up his memories into his nanomachines by that point and created a simulated personality. while it's definitely possible that he was brought on board with this project sooner in order to help develop the sentinels, and the information about the AI was kept from him for some reason, i would definitely question why. especially when they end up also using those AI to help pilot the sentinels, too.

man, gouto talking to chihiro about how he suspects that morimura's been hacked because of how she's been acting strangely lately... i wonder how that must make chihiro feel after seeing, first-hand, what that did to the world in 2188.

gouto watching the log with morimura's experiment data, where she tried to create another clone of herself that ended up being chihiro... he wonders if she was basing it on the memory overwriting logs they found, but they may or may not have had access to them at that point, since this was a number of years ago. even if she hadn't found those logs, we know that eight years into this loop, ida figured out how to download memories from 426. i'm just not sure at what point they find the 2188 logs in general. we know that miura (one loop ago) finds them and saves them, but i'm not sure when morimura would've found them. i'm sure i'll figure it out as i continue playing through the game again.

god, something about gouto finding this log of 2188 gouto ordering sekigahara to kill morimura, when the current gouto is in love with morimura. even how sekigahara is once again contracted to kill her if it comes down to it... even if it's been ordered by someone else, this time. i also love the parallels here of him not wanting her to go ahead with project ark in 2188, and how here they don't want her going through with project aegis.

nenji ogata (12% - 25%): lady of the league

not too much to say about this loop as nenji chases fuyusaka onto the train. if anything, i just keep thinking that it's around this time that the sentinel project seems to start in earnest, with them injecting ogata with nanomachines in this scene so that he can use the sentinels later on. i'm just surprised it took them so long to actually make the sentinels themselves, if ida was only more involved with the first generation sentinels, and it was just okino from that point onward... but, as it sounds like from gouto's prologue, okino doesn't seem like he gets involved until a bit before the sector 2 attack.

GOD i love ogata getting increasingly irritated as okino continues to not give him any explanation. it honestly makes me laugh.

yuki takamiya (14% - 28%): suspicious pills

god, i can't get over this persona that 426 assumes as aiba erika, and how much he gets into playing detective if only to make it that much easier to find natsuno. i assume it's because of how natsuno is the one transmitting the code, this time.

god i love this little exchange that takamiya has with kisaragi and fuyusaka in the hallway, and how fuyusaka clearly has this moment where she reacts to takamiya and starts blushing furiously!!

watching the scene where takamiya finds shinonome watching the log from her 2188 counterpart... something about the symmetry of her being the one to sabotage project ark, and then this shinonome, without realizing it, jeopardizing the sentinel project with DD-426... also this scene, when takamiya finally approaches her, and she says to herself that ida would never deceive her! when that's exactly what he did...

god, i can't get over just how bad shinonome's condition is from DD-426... i can't believe that morimura and gouto just let her run around in this state when she can hardly remember anything from one moment to the next.

at least with this, i unlocked shinonome's route, now! slowly making progress...

ryoko shinonome (0% - 12%): prologue

i cannot get over shinonome's selective blindness when it comes to ida and his treatment of her. that it is so immediately clear that he's just manipulating her into piloting the sentinel, and yet she takes it to be something more personal, to the point where she disregards his warnings in an effort to be closer to him and talk to him. even the way he rebuffs her in this scene, where after she talks about her feelings for him, he says he's explained this before, and also stresses that while she's special, he corrects and emphasizes that she is special to everyone because of her being a compatible. and then even lumps her with the rest of the pilots. his disinterest could not be more clear. even the way he tells her not to cause trouble for him with a smiling face.

and she does, eventually, ask him if all he wants is to put her in a sentinel. so she's not completely delusional about what he wants, and yet... there's so much that she's willing to overlook as long as he pays attention to her.

god, i love sekigahara just showing up and wanting to interupt this. i've been thinking about his relationship with shinonome a lot lately, and i really like the idea of it—especially with those one-sided feelings of his. i know in the developer interview it talks about how after shinonome briefly dated gouto, it was her hope that it would force sekigahara to move on and open up to others, but... i don't think she was successful in that. while i do believe that his looking out for her isn't just because of his interest in her, i still think those feelings are there, too.

i really like him chewing out ida in this scene. unlike shinonome, he doesn't have any misconceptions about what ida is actually doing, and the way that shinonome is allowing herself to be used. it's just terrible the way that it feels almost willful on her part, that it's something she's willing to forgive? (up until a point, like we see later on when she kills him.)

god, the way that sekigahara just calms down once he hears that shinonome instigated this, and drops it. the sad look on his face that she's allowing it.

also the way he reacts when she volunteers herself to fight in the sentinel... that he decides he'll do it if it means he'll be with her. also the way he just reverts to calling her ryoko when she runs off on her own...

watching this scene with the DD-426 infection and thinking about the way that it spreads... how the first one they notice stops responding is the miura AI, and then gouto remarking how he wasn't getting a response from sekigahara, either...

oh, it's also interesting how DD-426 will not stop transmitting unless the link is forcibly broken by having them force transmit away to other sectors. no wonder okino locks the sentinel that he has access to in sector 5.

it's not important, but i also like noting which sentinels are transmitted now that i know who everyone is. juro and the kisaragi AI being transmitted first, then okino and the hijiyama AI... then shinonome. ida also mentions the others being non-reponsive, and i assume that's because the miura AI (not mentioned directly in this part) would've already transferred his data into the scout unit. then tamao is the only other one from this scene that we're not sure what happens to her in the immediate aftermath.

god this scene where she tries to confront who she believes to be 426... the way that sekigahara just looks bored when she calls him that. i really can't imagine what it feels like for sekigahara, hearing shinonome say all these things to him. threatening to kill him. actively trying to. and when she's thwarted, when the gun doesn't work, even talking about beating him up despite her injuries. the same shinonome who looked after him while he was growing up, who he wants to protect, even now... and the way he finally seems to get heated about all of this not with all her threats, but when she invokes ida's name again!! god.

and this part where, after all her threats... he realizes she's out of medication. his sincere apology that he couldn't save her, the gentle way he says her name.

i have a WIP i'm working on with the two of them, where i liked the idea of him briefly trying to look after her in the immediate aftermath of her losing all her memories... so i've really been wanting to pay closer attention to both shinonome and sekigahara. their timelines are what i feel most unclear on, especially since some incidents also seem to have some overlap, or slightly different lines even though it's the same scene from different POVs. i'm not exactly sure what causes that, unless it's just the memories being more distorted from DD-426's effect, or what. i feel like after i finish this playthrough, then i'll slowly pick through individual scenes and routes to figure it out.

and finally unlocked destruction mode again with this!

2nd area shibugaki city 0001:

not too much to talk about at the beginning of this battle, since it's more just about how the enemies are evolving...

but post-battle, i love how hijiyama is clearly relaying something that okino is telling him, not fully understanding it. i love how sekigahara actually asks hijiyama if he did the analysis, and hijiyama just responding: "do i sound like i understand all this egghead talk!? i'm just relaying a message!" but not saying from whom until pressed.

[ilovejevsjeans]

RICCIARDO’S VITAL McLAREN PROGRESS MUFFLED BY BAKU SHUNT

Daniel Ricciardo headed into the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend confident that he had made a breakthrough in his understanding of how to get the best out of the McLaren-Mercedes MCL35M.

You could argue that the results in Baku, a Q2 exit and ninth place in the race, suggested that confidence was misplaced.

But this is an ongoing process for Ricciardo and the intensive simulator work done between Monaco and Azerbaijan was focused on taking a step backwards and working at first principles.

After all, in Monaco he admitted he didn’t understand how team-mate Lando Norris was able to get the car to do what the data showed it was, hence Ricciardo’s suspicion there might be something wrong with his car.

Ricciardo confirmed that subsequent checks showed all to be well with the car, so the simulator experiments helped him to understand the basics of how to get the most out of a McLaren even Norris admits is tricky to drive. Rather than continuing to battle the car and make it respond to his way, the priority was adapting his style to work with it.

Practice and the early stages of qualifying in Azerbaijan seemed encouraging, but it all came to a sudden halt when Ricciardo hit the wall at Turn 3 on his final Q2 lap.

“The weekend started alright,” said Ricciardo when asked by The Race about progress after qualifying.

“I put in some days last week to prepare and we got off on the right foot.

“I got to a level which was OK and relatively competitive, but now to push it and really balance it on that knife-edge, I guess there are still some things I need to understand.

“It will probably just take a bit more time.

“With the mistake, there was always a bit of margin on braking there so I tried to get a bit more out of it. Initially, it was OK but as soon as I’ve started to turn in, it locked [up].

“Once you lock at these speeds, you’re not going to stop. I knew there was a bit there, but I probably tried to take a bit too much.”

Ricciardo’s words reveal much about where he’s at with the car. It’s one thing to understand what you need to do in theory, another to feel it instinctively when hitting the brakes on a key qualifying lap.

His reference to the problems beginning not at the start of the braking phase, but when he started to apply the lock is telling. His braking point appeared perfectly reasonable, significantly earlier than the ludicrously optimistic place AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda picked when he crashed at the same corner in Q3.

So this was less about a driver just braking too late, more about one still not on top of the car when on that absolute “knife-edge”, as he puts it.

The transition from a straightforward braking phase into one where lock is applied is critical to laptime, especially at a track like Baku, and this is the area where Ricciardo needs more time to build up the necessary precision.

Tiny differences in the way you control the car are critical in phases like this when the car’s limit behaviour is being pushed to extremes and now he’s got the basics, it seems it’s now about fine tuning and building experience for Ricciardo.

“It is harder, not driving off instinct,” said Ricciardo. “Instinct is what’s natural and sometimes a bit effortless because I’ve been doing it my whole life.

“Trying to put a lot of thought into each corner is tricky, but I know if I keep doing it won’t become as tricky. It’s probably just going to take a bit more time, and a bit more pain at times, but hopefully this then becomes natural and I’ve got more tools in the box.

“It is tricky because at these speeds you want to be more relaxed, go on instinct and go on feel.”

This is why the crash has to be considered part of the process, rather than indicative of it coming to a juddering halt. Ricciardo understands the problem and is working on it in search of those crucial final few tenths of a second.

And while that will benefit him in qualifying, it will also help him to close the gap to Norris on race performances. In Baku, Norris had the edge on race pace and climbed from 12th on the first lap to fifth at the finish, with Ricciardo also making progress but only from 14th to ninth. Ricciardo’s performance was a good foundation, but there’s more to come.

It’s a question of when, not if, Ricciardo is back to his best with McLaren. What’s encouraging is that after the nadir of Monaco, where he seemed out of ideas, Ricciardo now has a clear direction to work on during the coming events – as well as having the right attitude to thrive. (X)

[random-mha-thoughts]

First Kiss With Todoroki and Bakugou

Anon requested: “heeey can u please make a first kiss set with todoroki and with bakugou? pleaseee! and i love your writing”

Characters: Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki

Genre: Fluff

Word count: 1,411

Tags:  @yuki-osaki​​ @liviitehe​​ @iamsoftsodonttoucheume-blog​​ @bunnythepipsqueak​​ 

a/n: Ahhhh these were so fun to write!  I got into them a little too much, so they’re longer than my normal mini-scenarios, but I’d say they’re pretty cute!  Bakugou’s scenario is based on personal experience hehe.  Enjoy as I pass out and sleep.

Also anon, I realize that I didn’t answer you when you asked if I have a Wattpad, sorry about that! It’s @/chibirach99, but I just post the same stuff as I do here on there simultaneously.

Todoroki Shouto

"Library again?"

Todoroki slides his bag on his shoulder and slips his hand in mine.  "Of course, we have to focus on our studies as student heroes."

It's only been recent since we started dating, even holding hands causes blood to slightly rush to my cheeks, but he's already integrated it easily into his routine as if it's instinct.  What's different about today is the slightly tighter grip he holds my hand with.  Honestly, I thought he would have been more adverse to it, but he's more comfortable with it than me.

His larger, warm hand in mine allows him to keep in pace with me as we walk down the stairs and out of the building.

"You'll have to help me with the science lesson today, I didn't really understand it today."  Our conversations are still more or less the same, we're still students after all.  "And we can work on the math practice problems since Ectoplasm's lessons are difficult-"

"Before that," he stops right in front of the entrance doors of the building and fixes his gaze right on me, "Come with me for a moment."

This is different.  Nonetheless, I follow him as his entwined hand guides me off the concrete path towards a tree in the distance.

For a moment, my focus shifts from keeping up with him to the way the afternoon light hits his face, the light spring breeze blowing a few strands of his hair around.  He's so beautiful, I think and smile secretly to myself.

Once we're under the shade and out of view, Todoroki turns his body around fully to face me before sitting down, resting against it and lightly tugging my hand.

Without letting go, I take the spot next to him as he watches me blankly.  "Did you want to rest?  You could've told me."

His hand in mine tugs me again and he stares at me expectantly.

Now I'm confused.  "What is it?"

He separates his hand from me and places it on my torso, pulling me into his arms and constricting my movement.

Heat rushes to my cheeks and my heart pounds at our close contact, my arms resting against his chest.  Even for Todoroki, this is a bold move.

Without another word, his dual colored eyes flicker back and forth between my own wide eyes and my lips.  One hand comes up to brush my cheek softly.  "Are you okay with this?"

I don't know what to say, I'm too busy admiring his long eyelashes from this close up, so I just nod and close my eyes.

A breath of a chuckle leaves him before he presses a chaste kiss on my lips.  The little flutter in my stomach is enough to inject my entire body in heat.  Such a small gesture has such a profound effect, and I need to bury my head in his chest to ease the dizziness and hide my embarrassment.

"Was it too much?"

I jerk my head up.  Despite sounding level, his eyes also dart away from me and there's a hint of blush on his cheeks.  His body is also noticeably hotter as his arm constricts Tigger around me.

"I didn't want to overwhelm you for our first."

"N-No!  It was...good.  I liked it."  The residual effect of the small kiss still lingers in my belly.

The corner of his lip quirks up just slightly.   "I'm glad.  I've been waiting to, but I wanted you to be comfortable, and I wanted to do it right."

Gosh, he's just so cute.  I'd kiss him on the nose right now if I wasn't afraid he might burst into flames, so I settle for nestling into his chest.  His heart beats a mile a minute in my ear to match mine.  "Let's rest here for a little before going up."

He lifts our still entwined hands to gently kiss my knuckles.  "Sounds like a good plan, darling."

Bakugou Katsuki

“You went out with Kiri, Denki, and the rest this weekend, right?”  I ask Bakugou, swinging our hands back and forth as we exit the classroom building.  “Was it fun?”

“Yeah, I guess so.  They were being dumb as usual.”  His other hand is stuffed in his pants pocket like the gangster he thinks he is.

“Kiri said you looked like you enjoyed yourself.”

He shrugs nonchalantly.  In the week we’ve been dating, Bakugouis noticeably more chill than he presents in class.  It makes me proud, considering the only other person he won’t yell at is Kirishima, a testament to his opinion of me and our relationship.

“Oh, that reminds me.”  He stops walking and stares at me with his crimson orbs.  “Close your eyes.”

I cock an eyebrow and let out a snort.  “Why?”

“Just do it so I don’t feel weird!”

“Okay…”  I follow his directions.  I hear some shuffling of material in front of me.

“Hold out your hands.”

I’m still confused as to what he’s planning to do, but I hold out both of my hands knowing he probably won’t do anything weird.  Something light in weight but soft to the touch is placed on my hands.

“Open your eyes.”

In my hands is the cutest bunny with floppy ears, made with the softest material, periwinkle-colored fur, wide black eyes, and an adorable pink button nose.

"It reminded me of how cute you are, and I know it's your favorite animal and color."  Bakugou rubs his hand behind his neck, his gaze averted from me.  “If you don’t like it, just give it back!”

“No!” I yelp a little too loud and hug the bunny to my chest.  Something about him remembering such a small detail I said in passing threatens my ability to stand straight; my knees want to turn to mush.  “I’m keeping it!”

Bakugou finally meets eyes with me.  “You like it?”

“Of course I do.”  I stroke one of the ears softly.  “Thanks for thinking of me.  But now I have to get you something.”

“No way, I got it for you because I wanted to!”  He’s more aggravated that I even brought it up.  “I should be able to buy gifts for you without it being weird.”

My heart goes to complete mush at the plushie in front of me.  “But how am I supposed to repay you for this?”  I want to do the same for him, but I don’t really know what I would get for him either.

He opens his mouth like he wants to reprimand me again before closing it and tilting his head back, one corner of his mouth tilting up.  “I know how you can repay me.”  His sudden shift in tone is almost jarring.

“Huh?”

Before I can process what he’s doing, his head leans down and he presses a chaste kiss to my lips.  The little motion makes my eyes widen and blood rush to my head as my stomach flips.  One small second feels more like ten, but it was over as quickly as it came.  My head still reels from the small but powerful kiss.

That was our first kiss.

I bury my dizzy head in Bakugou’s chest, his one arm steadying my body close to his chest as he rumbles underneath my face.  My lips can’t resist tugging up into a smile and heat rushes up to my cheeks.

“You’re mine, you know.  You’re my bunny, and no one else’s, got it?”  His voice is softer than usual.

I cover my mouth with my fist just to lift my heavy head up, still leaning on him for support.  There’s a small blush coating his cheeks as well, assuring me that he also feels flustered like me.  My mouth moves faster than I can process what I’m saying.  “C-Can you do that again?”

Even through his blush, he smirks and places another short kiss on my lips.  The same delicious electricity flows through me, and I’m left smiling again to his face.

“You’re gonna want me to spoil you with kisses now, aren’t you?” he teases me.

I hug the bunny to my chest.  “S-So what if I do?”

Bakugou’s deep chuckle vibrates against me again and he presses one last kiss against my forehead.  “You need to calm down for a minute, don’t want you to short circuit on me.”  His arm wraps around my shoulders to lead me into walking towards the dorm building.  “Let’s go hang out in my room.”

[pearl-blue-musings]

Hi!! Can I order spaghetti (msby) with mashed potatoes and green beans split between me and atsumu?

YES AHHHHH thank you for giving me my first haikyuu ask!!!! This was so much fun to write and think about!

ALSO I’M SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE MANY MANY APOLOGIES 

A/n: I wrote this with some ideas I got from @cestcirque and her smau (which you absolutely must check out!) for this soulmate au, when you look into the eyes of your soulmate your world changes from black and whites to bursting with color. This is also post time skip so Atsumu is a wonderful black jackal

Pairing: Miya Atsumu x photographer!fem!reader

once again I got carried away what else did you expect from me

Warnings: 18+, smut, daddy calling, biting, slight edging, oral (fem receiving), fingering, vaginal penetration, relatively tame!

Enjoy your meal

~~~~~~~~

With sweat dripping down his face, Miya Atsumu was bursting with energy. It was down to the final point of the match and he was itching to win. It’s already been over a month since Hinata joined MSBY and their chemistry on the court has been proven a formidable force. First against the Adlers, and now with his former high school teammates team, EJP. His eyes are alight with a fire and desire to win. He can feel the rush of winning cloud over him as he keeps his eye on his teammates, setting the ball perfectly to the man everyone describes as an orange haired ball of sunshine in order to score the final set point. The yell of victory leaves his throat before he can process everything. His eyes scans the crowd of fans that have come to watch him, being excited but also a pang of emptiness hits him.

If only he could see the colors everyone talks about around him. 

Everything is greyscale for the man, who he’s been told has a strange yellow hue to his hair. Atsumu didn’t know what the color would look like but liked how it would be marked as different and easy to see when you get to see color. He resents the fact that his twin Osamu laughs freely at his hair color. The normal haired twin, to him, had met his soulmate in one of his business classes and demanded a facetime with his twin. Atsumu was angry at first, but on the inside was happy his brother had met his soulmate and his life bursting with color. 

Surely, he’d meet his soon right?

Atsumu is pulled from his thoughts when Bokuto wraps his arm around his shoulder to pull him into a hug and briefly chat.

“Hey hey hey! Why didn’t you set it to me at the end, huh? You can’t keep giving Hinata all the glory!”

“They were expectin’ ya. I couldn’t Bo. ‘Sides, we won that’s all that matters.”

The flash of cameras after games were very common. With different sports magazines and editors showing up to cover the game, it was something the team was used to. As per usual, a camera-person came up to him and Bokuto, completely ignoring who was taking the picture focusing on the lens. Once his eyes meet the lens, he puts on his signature smile and puts a thumbs up with his teammate for the photo op.

It had all happened so fast. 

You had been called to fill in at the last minute to take photos for the MSBY Black Jackals volleyball game. You didn’t think anything of it other than doing a favor for a friend. And this was an incredible opportunity for you, an amazing way to expand your sprouting portfolio. In this world of soulmates you live in, it was unheard of. Your pictures and photos always came out with the utmost care and perfection, despite not being able to see any of the colors to truly work the right lighting and angles. Even though touching and editing required the use of being able to see colors, somehow your eyes went beyond that and captured everything in a natural way that everyone could understand the message and point of all your photos.  

It was absolutely exquisite and breathtaking.

You had never been to a volleyball game before and you were hit with how exciting it was. The energy from the players and the fast fed into your blood as you began and continued to capture pictures of the game. It wasn’t just a regular game, it was an experience and you figured it was different for everyone. And as you felt that, you knew you wanted to capture it.

It was in moments like these you envied those around you who were able to see color. You yearned for the day you would be able to see all the colors that your peers and employers have paraded you for. Hopefully when you finally meet the one, you’ll be able to do your job even better. 

Before you knew it, the game had ended and you were doing what all the other photographers were doing by taking pictures of the tired and sweaty players as they interact with each other and their fans. You slowly walk toward the court, fixing and switching your lenses for up close pictures. You happen to place your camera right at your eye, seeing two players not looking your way yet as they were engaged in their own private conversation. Once you get their attention, you make eye contact with both before snapping the picture.

You had almost dropped your camera, lucky for the strap around your neck holding it together. You don’t even check your camera, knowing the picture came out horrible. But as you hold the black camera in your hands with your jaw slack-

Wait, black? That’s right it’s black.

And one of the two players in front of you had a matched expression on his face.

Atsumu should have asked his brother what it would be like when he meets his soulmate in order to prepare himself. He’s seriously kicking himself now as the bright white lights bounce of the beige and tan floor of the wooden court. He looks down to see his black and white jersey, the streaks of red and green on certain parts of the floor, the blues, yellows, and whites of the volleyball...

And the all encasing beauty that was you. 

Everything about you was stunning, he wasn’t sure where to look next. However his thoughts were interrupted by a boisterous yell next to him.

“Hey ‘Tsumu! Why’d you stop?”

The blond haired man turns to his friend and gives him a new look over. “Did ya know yer hair is two diff’rent colors?”

Bokuto freezes and attempts to look up at his hair and smiles widely. “Yeah! Yukie keeps it nice for me and- No way! Where are they?”

The owl like man quickly shakes his head back and forth throughout the crowd looking for his teammates soulmate is! He’s interrupted with a tap on the shoulder from the man in question.

Atsumu points to where you’re still starstruck, taking in everything around you.

“Her.”

You felt as if time had lost all meaning as the colors all around you began to come to life, being as lively and vibrant as everyone above you had described. You had zero expectations of ever meeting your soulmate, let alone at a randomly assigned job. You’re unaware of what your body is doing, but your feet are moving across the plane as you walk closer to the man who’s staring at you in a way you’d always hoped to be gazed at.

He’s taller than you thought he’d be up close, but you can smell his musk and sweat and you’re not turned off like you’d always been. The way his bright yellow hair matches his personality, from what you’ve seen, on the court makes your heart melt. It’s almost like everything about him is perfect. The way his eyes are tired but full of vitality isn’t lost on you, and he seems to see the same thing in yours. 

Atsumu for once is at a loss for words. There’s so many ways he had pictured this going but surely not like this. He opens his mouth to speak, but his eyes catch a gathering crowd. 

“Aw, shoot. There’s for sure gonna be a crowd comin’. Meet me after by the exit? I promise I’ll make it quick...”

“(Y-y/n).”

He chuckles and places one hand on his hip and the other in his hair. “Heh, cute name for a cutie like ya self. Name’s Atsumu. Wait for me will ya?”

You merely nod and watch him smirk at you before he meets up with his teammates to celebrate their win. You’re left standing there trying to process what just happened as he turns around one more time to wink at you. If you could melt, you would. You gather your yourself, pick up your camera and try to stealthily avoid any reporters and the like. Since this was your first volleyball match, you had no idea the power just being in the presence of Miya Atsumu held.

Fan girls and other photographers began to swarm you as you attempted to blend in the crowd. All these women had beautiful hair, beautiful complexions; you couldn’t wait to start taking photos in color. Not the right thought to have as you’re getting bombarded but what can you do?

Luckily you’re swept away by another photographer who saw your pain and helped you out. You thanked her and followed her to where the media had access. She wished you luck as she led you to where Atsumu wanted you to meet him.

About 30 minutes later, he comes out with a few of his teammates, laughing gleefully and somehow that made your heart flutter. How did you get paired up with a man like this? The soulmate gods must have really been looking out for you.

Once his beautiful deep eyes meet yours, his gaze softens as he walks toward you. His teammates tell him goodbye and that they’ll message him later. As he approaches you, he has to pinch himself to realize that this is real and it’s happening to him.

He speaks up first again, eager to hear your voice again. “Hiya.”

You giggle at his intro. To him, it sounded like heaven opened up and the angels were singing all around him. He gets to have this laugh to himself? Call himself blessed. 

“I never thought I’d actually meet ma soulmate. And yet, here ya are.”

He extends his hand out to you and you take it, noticing how warm and calloused it is against yours. There’s no way life could be this perfect. You rub your thumb on the back of his palm and stare into his eyes.

“Here we are.”

************

You’d think you’d be used to hosting events for his teammates at your shared place after almost a couple years of being together. but something always surprises you. This time, it turned out fate was working in mysterious ways today. On the way to your place, Hinata had met his soulmate and brought them to the gathering! Needless to say they were overwhelmed but in a good way. Sakusa was slightly concerned over the presence of someone new whom he didn’t know very well, but tolerated it for his friend’s happiness.

You’ve just finished washing the dishes as Atsumu dries whatever is left. You wipe your brow and sigh heavily. Your boyfriend looks over to you and smirks. 

“Whatcha thinkin’ bout baby?”

You smirk at him before leaning your head on his shoulder, “just, life I guess.”

The young man sighs contentedly, places the dried dishes in the rack, and kisses your forehead. “Care to elaborate? Or am I gonna have to tickle the info outta ya?”

You hear the smirk in his tone as he wraps his arms around your waist, pinching and tickling your sides. Your laugh bubbles in the air as you squeal and squirm against Atsumu’s grip. His tout body keeps you against him, holding you tight so you can’t escape his embrace. “’Tsumu! I give, I give!”

“Nuh uh babycakes,” he growls in your ear, “I’m not done with ya.”

You laugh harder as you feel him lift you off the ground, turn you around, and sit you on the counter. With his hands firmly on your waist, he surprises you with a small yet passionate kiss on the lips. Your hands fall onto his neck and face to pull him closer to you. 

You pull away and notice him bite his lip. “What was that for?” You don’t miss the way his eyes glaze over as you question him. 

“I just love ya so much. I never thought life would be s’ fulfilling once I got some color into it. Thought it was all mumbo jumbo, whatever.” He places his body in between your legs, letting your breaths intermingle. “Ya love my team, my friends, my family, and most importantly,” he trails off brushing your noses together. 

“Ya love me.” 

“You’re such a sap.”

“Hah?! But that’s why ya love me, right?”

You keep teasing him as you continue to touch along his broad shoulders. “Nah, I’m mostly in it for the money.” You peck his nose and grin at his pouting features.

“Aw c’mon (Y/n)! Yer making almost as much as me with all yer photos,” he argues back, missing your teasing tone. You can’t help but laugh at the pout your soulmate is giving you. It’s almost too easy to fake argue with him to get him riled up. 

You lay your head on his shoulder and can’t hold back your laughs. “Baby,” you coo, “you know I’m teasing you right?”

Since you can’t see his face, you don’t see the ever growing smirk as he nods into you. The blond tightens his grip on your hips, pulling you into his crotch so your neck is free for him to attack with his lips. He starts to kiss and suck lightly on your open neck, catching you off guard.

“Oh I know baby,” he lightly grinds his clothed erection against you, “I was just messin’ with ya.”

You lift your head in fake anger, but it dissolves when the lust in his eyes matches yours. He steals your lips before you could protest or bite back a response. The burning desire within you begins to rise as you feel his cock against your core, causing you to moan lowly into his mouth. 

“Mmm, feel my cock baby? Feels good, yeah? Been wantin to touch ya all evenin’.” He then brings your legs to wrap around his waist and continues to kiss you seductively. You feel his tongue swipe at your bottom lip before entering your mouth. His deep groan into went straight to your core and you move your hips into him. Atsumu lifts an eyebrow before pulling away, loving the connection of saliva between your lips. 

“I can already feel how wet ya are fer me, baby. Ya really want daddy that bad, huh?”

You can’t help but shiver at his voice when he says daddy to you and wiggle your hips, knowing what you’re in for. A whine leaves your lips as you pull him into your chest to feel him against you and so you can whisper in his ear how much you want him, your daddy.

Atsumu bites his lip and rolls his hips into yours at hearing and feeling your breath on his ear. He then promptly lifts you up, rest thing his lips to yours as his hands grope and fondle your ass. You can’t help but shift around as he carries you to your shared bedroom, seeking friction in any capacity. Atsumu chuckles darkly feeling you struggle against him, breaking the kiss to suck on your neck. If there was something he loved more than volleyball or you, it was leaving marks and traces of him all over you. Satisfied with the mark he left he growls out,

“I can’t wait to fuckin’ destroy you, princess.”

With that, you’re dropped onto the bed, awaiting orders from your love. His whole aura switched from teasing and playful in the kitchen to a sexual dom and you were living for it. 

“Take off yer shirt off, I wanna see all of ya.”

You lick your lips and nod, slowly removing your shirt and making a show of it. You don’t miss the way he bites his lip and whispers out a low “fuck” as you undress. You leave your bra on knowing that’s one of Atsumu’s favorite things to take off of you. You place your hands on the hem of your leggings and look to him, as if to ask him if it’s okay. He nods and you slowly remove them from your body, leaving you in your bra and thong ready for him on the bed.

The tall blond stalks toward the bed and situates himself in-between your legs. He brings his lips to your inner thigh, his brown eyes on you to watch for your reactions. His lips trail up the sensitive skin, kissing and biting as he gets closer to your awaiting heat. But he doesn’t give you what you want, not yet. He hears you whine as he moves to your other thigh and repeats the same actions. He can feel the heat your pussy is emanating, already seeing your juices leak out.

You whimper out, “fuck, please just do it!”

He sniffs, enjoying your smell as he slowly pushes your thong to the side. “Please what baby? Ya gotta use yer words.”

You hips roll as his fingertips graze over where you want him the most. You hate his teasing nature, but you love the reward you get after. “P-please just put your tongue in me!”

Atsumu snickers before enticingly putting his tongue into your slit, making you gasp out and grab at his hair. He hums happily as he laps at you greedily. His tongue swirls inside of you in the best way. Your hips move off the mattress as your voice lets curses and whines escape. 

“Nuh uh baby girl. Ya gotta stay still fer daddy.” At that you feel a weight on your pelvis, realizing its his arm to hold you steady. With you unable to move, the need for release bubbles faster. Your breathing gets deeper and your voice rises an octave. Atsumu was always a king with his tongue, and for some reason tonight he was pulling out all the stops. Once you think you can catch your breath, he sucks hard on your clit and inserts a finger into you.

“Haah, fuck daddy!”

He laughs into your cunt and you moan at the vibrations. His tongue directly on your clit is making you see stars. He slyly inserts a second finger, already feeling you clench and tighten around him. That won’t do. He can’t have you cumming on just his fingers, but he does need to prep you. Before putting a third finger in, he sucks on your swollen nub to have you screaming in pleasure. His fingers scissor and stretch you out and it takes everything in him to not add a fourth. He knows you two haven’t discussed it so he knew to table it for another time.

“Shit, I’m gonna, I’m gonna cum. Please daddy can I cum?”

That makes him take his eyes off his fingers and to look at you directly and ceases his actions. He slowly pulls his fingers out of you and crawls on top of you. “Suck,” he commands and you do as you’re told. You’re a little miffed at not being able to cum as your pussy clenches at nothing while you suck his fingers. You know you’re doing a good job when you hear him groan and lose eye contact with you. You get into the valleys of his fingers and he moans, “yeah ya like daddy’s fingers? I know ya do. Now kiss me.”

He tilts your head up and you meet his lips in a sloppy kiss, tasting yourself again but on his lips. You feel him align his warm dick with your slick entrance and whine into the kiss. You break away from the kiss to tap his shoulder. 

“Wait ‘Tsumu,” you pant, “condom?”

He stops everything before frantically reaching for the nightstand. Atsumu knows he can get carried away when he’s in the moment, so he knows that when he gets tapped on the shoulder he’s forgotten something or needs to slow down. 

“Ah sorry, baby.” His voice sinks as he sucks his teeth feeling the rubber cover his dick. “Are we okay ta keep goin’?” 

You smile and nod at him, placing your hands on his chest in reassurance. He meets your smile and kisses your lips softly. “You ready ta take daddy’s hard cock?”

“Fuck,” you moan, “just fuck me already-Ah!”

He didn’t need anymore goading as he slides himself inside you. Your walls tighten around him and he has to control himself from wanting to pound into you. He waits for you to adjust to him before he pulls out almost all the way before your hips meet again.

“Ya feel so good, princess. Ya like the way daddy fucks ya?”

You nod aimlessly. “Yes! Please, I want more!”

His smile is evil as he grabs one of your legs and hoists it on his shoulder. “Be careful what ya wish fer,” he growls before snapping his hips forward. The two of you whine and moan together, unable to hear the sound of your juices and his hips squelching. “Aw fuck, baby ya feel too good.” He’s got one hand on your leg to hold it against his chest and the other rests lazily on your hip. He continues to fuck you into the mattress, your hands holding onto the head board behind you. Atsumu catches this and is displeased. He abruptly stops and places your leg down and around his waist, doing the same to your other leg, You look at him confused, “why, what are you doing?”

“I didn’t like the way you were grabbin’ the headboard, so you’re gonna grab onta me.”

With that he keeps pounding into you, now with your arms around his back. He’s never admitted it, but he loves the way you scratch and grip at his back when you two have sex. It drives him wild. “That’s it, baby. Hold on ta daddy as he fucks ya.”

Your garble out something as you hold him harder, realizing a free hand had escaped your upper body and has snaked its way to your clit. He begins to rub small and fast circles on the swollen nub, grinning at your reactions. He’s never sure which part he loves best: the way your voice gets incredibly lewd or how tight you get around him. This time he thinks it’s both. He continues to rub at your clit vigorously while pounding you all the same.

Sweat clings to each of your bodies as the rush of release is evident. Your eyebrows are scrunched tightly as you feel your orgasm coming. With a shaky breath you whimper, “I’m gonna cum, I’m gonna cum. Please lemme cum daddy. I’ve been so good!” 

His hips rut into you as he chases his own release. “Yeah ya have. Been such a good girl fer me. Fuck baby ya feel amazin’! I’m gonna cum so hard. Cum with me baby girl.” His body moves faster the closer he gets to climax. Your legs are shaking and your toes curled as you feel the coil within you come undone.

You scream out, “I’m cumming baby, I’m cum-ah fuck!”

You tighten around him, causing him to curse and whine as he loses his rhythm. “Shit baby girl, I hnng,” he feels the condom fill with his seed as he humps the both of you through your orgasms. His grip on you loosens as he comes down from his high, rubbing them with comfort. He stays on top of you but not pressing down into you. The afterglow the two of you bask in is always something he looks forward to. His breathing returns to normal after a couple minutes of the two of you just laying with each other. 

“Fuck ‘Tsumu,” you croak out, “that was s-so good. Could you pull out?”

Atsumu lazily nods and slowly pulls out of you, not wanting to cause you any pain. Once he’s out, he gets off the bed and takes off the condom, tying it up and placing it in the trash can. He returns to the bed to place a kiss on your forehead before whispering, “You were so good ta me. Lemme grab us some water and towels, yeah? Do ya want a shower or a bath?”

You groan and roll to your side. “Some water.”

“Baby, I know, but a bath or shower?”

“I can barely move, Atsumu, what do you think?”

He chuckles before leaving the room and announcing, “I’ll get tha bath started.” He’s gone for a few minutes, but returns with two water bottles and a towel as you hear the bathtub being filled with water. He sits down next to you and places the bottles down. He opens one and hands it to you. You thank him and drink down about half of the bottle. He drinks from his own and uses his empty hand to trace the curve of your face. 

“Hey (Y/n)”

You lift your eyebrow at him, giving him your attention.

“Ya know I love ya, right?”

You hum and nod, sitting up to wrap your arms around his shoulders and give his cheek a kiss. “I love you so much, Atsumu. No one is gonna break our bond okay? We’re soulmates.”

He takes one of your hands into his gently, leaning into your touch. “I know I’m not here a lot cause of volleyball. But I do love ya. Yer my baby girl.”

You chuckle lightly and kiss his cheek again. “Sap.”

“Ya know ya love it. Now let’s go take a bath, yeah?”

~~~~~~~~

The diner is closed

[amesstm]

Nice Receive!

WC: ~2K

A/N: So... I couldn’t figure out Social Dummy, because I am a dummy :D And since no one told me if they wanted an actual schedule or not, we will now work around my work hours which is a lot because my gm is evil :)

~series masterlist~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The weekend passed quickly with much needed rest being earned. Yet, there was that voice in the back of your mind urging you to do some form of exercising. After all, this was your last year in high school and the last time you could go to nationals.  

In fact, your volleyball team had been mourning the loss of their libero loudly in the group chat. Everyone joked that they would have to take down the 189.5cm man somehow. It seems that you had an army now, with your cousin Yu as its commanding general.  

For now, that wasn’t your concern because all you could think about was the upcoming exams. Yuki was studying more often with her boyfriend, which meant that you had the dorm room to yourself. Even Yuki was putting her studies before her volleyball practices because she skipped the one yesterday. So here you were with your text books and notes all laid out before you as if the words would jump off of the page and into your brain.

But after an hour of trying to focus on what was literally right in front of you, you gave up from the sensory overload. You sighed and collapsed onto your bed, hoping that the bed would swallow you. You closed your eyes and breathed slowly to prompt your muscles to relax. Perhaps you should start meditating.  

A soft knock interrupted your thoughts, immediately causing the irritation to return. But you opened the door and saw it was your whole volleyball team. Of course, the coach wasn’t there, but the manager looked like she led the brigade to your room.  

Your manager Tamako bowed with a smile, “We come in peace.”

She held up a pompompurin kotatsu plushie and you quickly forgot about your past irritation. You waddled towards her and clutched the plushie in your arms. “I accept your peace offering.”

The volleyball team cramped into your small room. The first-year opposite hitter Hana leaned in with wide curious eyes like that of a newborn baby, “Is it true that you and Ushijima-san like each other?”

Hana’s adoptive-mother, second year setter Karin shushed her, “They don’t know it yet!”

Hana poured and whined, “But it’s so obvious!”

You tilted your head and blinked, “What do you mean?”

Captain Hoshimi, the mountainous middle blocker, sighed, “You two are so oblivious.”

“Anyways,” Tamako cleared her throat, “Yuki says that she knows you’re dying to be on the court again. Obviously you can’t but you can watch!”

A part of you felt bad, knowing that Yuki was worried about you this whole time. You were about to open your mouth but she added, “Hoshimi has noise-canceling headphones.”

“Oh, okay that should work!” You grinned and sprung with life.  

Finally, you were able to be in the gym again. It wasn’t a formal practice, so everyone was just playing together. Unfortunately, you still had to sit on the bench. Of course, you were used to it since you were the liberal and weren’t always on the court; but every time the ball hit the floor, you couldn’t help but think that you could’ve gotten it.  

You watched Hoshimi block Hana with great speed and height. Although Hana had immense talent for her age, she needed much refining. You were sure that Tamako’s fast scribbling was notating all of this down even if she was off-duty.  

Still, you couldn’t hear what was going on. Everything you absorbed was purely on seeing the ball fly or land and feeling the vibrations of the ball landing or being smacked. So, you also didn’t hear someone approaching you and calling out your name. 

A light tap on your shoulder finally caught your attention. You whipped your head to see Ushijima talking to you, but you only saw his lips moving. Although you couldn’t hear, you said, “I can’t hear you. These are sound-proof.”

He nodded and sat down next to you instead of trying to find a way of communicating. It’s not like you two could learn some form of sign language or Morse code in a few minutes.  

Yet, there was that comforting silence. Sure, you were always flustered around Ushijima but now? Now, you’re on a different playing field – or court for this scenario. The embarrassment and hesitation scattered away, and the confident and radiant personality Ushijima always heard of came to light.  

After Hoshimi’s team won the set, Hana came panting to see how you were doing. She also wanted to check on her ship but that’s besides the point. Karin wandered towards you three, like a mother hovering around her chick. You decided that it’d be safe to remove the headphones since there weren’t ball smacking across the court now. “You guys did really well!”

“Did I?” Hana asked, red from huffing. “I think I could do so much better.”

“Try opening up your shoulders to Karin more,” you said, making the young spiker tilt her head. “You limit your options when you close yourself off from your setter. You’re only a few centimeters taller than me, but you’re still considered short on the court. Opening yourself up should make a difference.”

Ushijima watched you, observing the way you speak like a coach. No, nothing like Coach Tanji. On the contrary, your advice was constructive and kind, but still precise. Your voice’s volume didn’t raise above speaking level, which was another big difference. In the short time that Ushijima was considered “short”, he had to learn how to spike in ways similar to how you would have to.  

Once you were done advising Hana on what to do, the next set began. Soon, Hana was scoring more points. With each one, she would smile at you with all the brightness of the sun. You would smile back and raise your thumbs up in pride.  

Tamako tapped on your shoulder and asked if you could follow her a bit towards the back. You whispered in Ushijima’s ear, “I’ll be right back.”

It took him a minute to process that you were just that close to him that he could feel your lips almost on his earlobe. After controlling his rush of emotions, he nodded. Ushijima wondered what you two were talking about. Maybe it had to do with Hana’s improvement or the earliest you could return to playing. Either way, Ushijima continued watching the girls play, waiting for you to return to his side.

Hana soon excelled quickly, getting in quick spikes that couldn’t be received soon enough to get back into play. They’d smack onto the floor and then fly away. As Hana got more and more in the game, her spikes became quicker but also more forceful. There was no doubt that Hana would become the ace of the girls team when she got even better.  

But then one of her balls went astray. Ushijima noticed that this ball had a certain angle to it as she hit it at a cross. Knowing where the ball would go next, Ushijima rushed off of the bench just as the ball was about to hit you. He managed to receive the ball in time.  

On the other hand, you were also prepared to come in contact with the ball as you placed yourself in position. Of course, you might’ve been scolded for playing before you were allowed to, but you were sure that you could handle it. But Ushijima got to it before you could.  

After his dig, the ball bounced back into court but no one went to catch it. He looked behind towards you, eyes wandering over your face to see if you were shaken. Yet you didn’t look fazed at all. Instead, you grinned, “Nice receive!”  

Now, you definitely noticed a change in Ushijima’s stance. His shoulders drooped in relief and his features softened. His eyes looked at you as if you were the only one he cared about.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” Hana asked, running towards you in worry. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she examined your state.  

You shook your head with a soft chuckle, “I’m fine, Hana. That was a really good spike!”

Hana crumbled underneath your compliments. Then, she turned towards Ushijima and bowed deeply from her hips. “Thank you for receiving the ball before it could hit her!”

Ushijima stated with seriousness etched into every centimeter on his face, “I won’t let another ball hit her ever again.”

To the team, it was practically a declaration of protecting you – which they swooned over. To you, it sounded like he didn’t want you playing. “But I’m the libero?”

With your confusion, the team sighed with dejection. Hoshimi groaned, “You’re so dumb.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You complained, eyes aimed towards Hoshimi.  

“We’ll tell you when you’re older,” Karin said, sticking out her tongue.

“I’m literally older than you,” you replied with a raised eyebrow.  

“And denser, too,” Karin jabbed back, earning a snicker from Hana who followed her mother’s behavior.  

You rolled your eyes, choosing to ignore the duo. “Anyways, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

You returned the headphones to Hoshimi and started to walk towards the exit. But you felt a presence behind you and saw Ushijima looking at you expectantly. “May I walk with you?”

“Of course,” you smiled.  

As you two walked, you were surprisingly calm. Perhaps that moment in the gym reminded you that the superstar of Japan was just another human being. Of course, he was someone with fans who would do anything to be with him and recruiters who would fight to have him on their team. But something about him seemed more human to you.  

Another thing that surprised you was that Ushijima was a slow walker. Perhaps you were always used to walking fast because you always rushed to catch up to your taller friends, but walking with Ushijima was a different pace. Now you could take the time to absorb the scenery around you.

When you approached a ledge that had a brilliant view of the sunset, you just looked at it in awe. Was the sunset always this beautiful? Japan was known as the Country of the Rising Sun. Then again, you wouldn’t be awake enough to enjoy the sunrise even if you were awake.  

But this sunset? You actually took the time to look at it. You didn’t walk past it like you would usually do because the sun would always set. But as the pinks and oranges cascaded from the sun to the rich purples and indigo of the night sky, you couldn’t just walk away. “Has it always been this beautiful?”

Ushijima noticed that you stopped to admire the sunset, so he stopped, too; but all he could look at was you. Something about the way the spring breeze brushed your hair away from your face so the golden hour could paint your features was captivating. “Always.”

You looked behind your shoulder to see that Ushijima got closer to you. “Haha, sorry. I didn’t realize that I had stopped.”

“No, it’s fine.” Ushijima said, opting to sit on a rock that laid along the side of the road. “Sit with me, we can watch it longer.”

You took the opportunity to sit on the rock closest to him. Again, with that comforting silence. There was no need to speak because you two could just enjoy each other’s company. Then Ushijima spoke, “Will you play volleyball professionally?”

Of course, you had contemplated it but it didn’t seem completely viable. Sure, you were among the top three liberos in the country. Yes, you would love to continue playing the sport that you’ve dedicated so much time to. But could you really do that? “I’m not sure, yet.”

Ushijima’s gaze left the sunset to look at you, so you returned his gaze. “It’d be a waste of talent not to.”

The breath you were intaking halted dramatically. “You’re right. It would be.”

“Will you at least play in university?” Ushijima asked, hopeful that you would at least continue then.  

“Absolutely,” you chuckled. “I don’t want to say goodbye to years of my life just yet.”

“You should play professionally,” Ushijima stated, his confidence in your ability making your heart flutter. For some reason, the sentence felt really familiar but you couldn’t remember why.  

Anyways, you didn’t know what to say. When you finally spoke, it was to say goodnight. Ushijima left you at your dorm room and with plenty to think about.  

When you finally collapsed onto your bed, you pulled out your phone. There was a notification from Hana. You opened your phone to see it was a picture of you and Ushijima watching the sunset. Underneath was a caption saying, “Nice receive ;)”

[writereaa]

Headcanons - Going to a Lantern Festival with Din and Grogu

So, people, the last day of LNY has arrived! Thank you for everyone who celebrated and participated in the event, I really hope that we can start making more content for specific cultures, to make this fandom an even richer place! It was so interesting seeing how traditions differ from country to country, and it was amazing to see specifically made content🥺 I hope we can do this with all sorts of festivals and celebrations from across the globe!

This is once again my take on it, based off my own experiences and refit into the Star Wars universe❤❤

Reader is gender neutral, and their relationship to Din can be seen as platonic.

Wordcount: 650

▪ Masterlist ▪ LNY Event▪

The last day of the Moon Festivals was the day of the Lantern Festival, and it was the one you looked most forward to

You had convinced Din to spend a few credits on the lanterns, insisting that they do not need to be pretty, they only need to be able to fly

He brought some plain ones back to the Crest, some pretty insignia with good fortune wishes stamped on the side

You explain to him that they are usually released into the sky late at night, that they symbolise letting go of the things that had occurred in the last year

It's a way to celebrate new beginnings, the lights also beautiful to watch, especially when there are hundreds of lanterns in the sky, depending on how many have bought lanterns

There is also a possibility to attach slips of papers with wishes written on them to the lanterns, and they are said to bring good fortune

The three of you make your way into the town, Grogu slightly sleepy already but you gently convince him to stay awake just a bit longer, that it would not take long anymore

He falls asleep nevertheless and Din takes him from you, the green child curling up in the crook of his arm, breathing softly

Din finds a spot at the edge of the square, an unoccupied stone ledge where you sit down, the stone scraping against your palms as you scoot back on it. Grogu sleeps through the whole process of getting comfortable on the ledge, Din's hand wrapped protectively around his little frame

You and Din quietly converse while you waited for the signal, the crowd around you buzzing in anticipation, vendors selling last minute lanterns, many people having theirs ready for take off already

When the signal finally came after what felt like hours, the two of you nodded at each other, and while you lit the lanterns, careful so the flame would not go out, Din carefully wakes Grogu so he would be able to see the spectacle

Cooing in discontent at not being able to continue his snooze, the little guy frowned before catching sight of the pretty illuminated papers, his eyes widening in wonder

Looking up, he made excited noises as he saw all the lanterns ascending into the sky, Din chuckling at the suddenly wriggling baby, pointing upwards with loud, happy coos

You were sure in showing Grogu the lantern you had prepared, explaining how they would fly, before letting go, watching how it gently floated into the air, joining the hundreds of other lights above the square

The three of you stayed on that ledge, watching how the lanterns slowly disappeared into the night, the breeze carrying it away out of sight, away from the town

Since Bean was too excited to fall back asleep again, you made your way to the various vendors and bought some of the glutinous rice balls, filled with sweet red bean paste, letting the child have a taste while eating some yourself, the familiarity bringing a smile to your face

Keeping some in a warmth insulating container, you also bought enough food for Din and you to eat later

When you made your way back to the Crest after the festival had officially ended, Din put the sleepy child into his hammock, leaving him on the compartment to dream on his own

Sitting back to back, Din's helmet off, you eat the last of the food together, softly conversing as to not wake Grogu, talking about the last few days with the festival. You thanked Din that he had indulged you to celebrate it together

He insists that it was his pleasure and he is glad that you wanted to share, that you had let him and Grogu in on your culture.

Even if it's not the way you would have usually celebrated the Moon Festivals according to every single tradition, doing it with Din and the little one was absolutely amazing, and you would not want to change this year's experiences for anything

……………

General Taglist: @pisss-offf-ghostt @chibi-liz05 @din-damn-djarin @ezrasarm @hdlynn @aqvetina @over300books @agirllovespancakes @crookedmoonsaultpunk @teaofpeach @shadylightbearherring @mitchi-c @adikaofmandalore @thirstworldproblemss @nerdypinupcrystal @this-cat-is-dea @maybege @corvueros @opheliaelysia @mrsparknuts @mertwintinyhouserealtor @javihoney @insomniamamma @phoenixhalliwell @gallowsjoker @mack4676 @thevoiceinyourheadx  

Din Djarin/Vencuyanir Taglist: @amvricanhoney @mar-y-tixrra @hellojusttheretolookatmeemees @mxndoscyarika @jaime1110 @kyjoraven @chibi-yuki

[rubyleeray]

MARS RED Review

Hey All! 

It’s been a while (way too long!) but I’m back! And I’m here with something extremely exciting!

A couple months ago, the good folks at Favary very kindly reached out and offered me the chance to be part of a beta test for their new game - MARS RED: Edge of the Nightmare based off of the Stageplay turned Anime of the same name written by Bun-O Fujisawa. 

Regretfully at the time, I was completely unfamiliar with this story/universe but that didn’t matter for long because as soon as I saw vampires - I was immediately on board. Not to mention the stellar cast featuring so many of my favourites!:

The Story

I want to start by saying that I’m not 100% certain as I have not seen any of the original source material yet, but I believe this is a new original story that continues/expands upon the existing MARS RED universe. 

You play as Yastufusa Yuki, a newly-turned reluctant vampire that is spiralling into an existential crisis. One day he encounters Organization Zero (a group of good vampires that hunt bad vampires) and discovers he holds a unique and rare ability to mentally recreate and perform crime scenes. With their help, Yatsufusa sets out to realize both his life and afterlife’s purpose while simultaneously helping fight crime.

Even if you are someone who has had enough of/doesn’t particularly like Vampire content (can’t relate!) - you will still enjoy MARS RED. Yatsufusa’s journey into self discovery in the afterlife is a more human story than you may think. If you have ever felt lost, lonely, confused, depressed, and/or unsure of yourself you will be able to relate to Yatsufusa in some way. And if that still isn’t enough to convince you, there are so many hilarious and touching moments, you will never be bored.

And the scene with the baby sparrow just completely melted my heart:

Gameplay

MARS RED is already unique to me in the sense that it is the only non-romance game I have on my phone but it’s also a Mystery/Crime/Horror Visual Novel which is such a great combination! I am not sure if there are any Good Ends or how many there may be yet (the story is still in development) but I have come across a couple bad ends. These were easy to go back and get for me because they involved choosing the options that no one earnestly playing a heroic protagonist should pick 🤣. They were quick and funny and are very obviously the wrong choice so if you haven’t hit one yet, you’re on the right path! If you want to get a bad end, go to the end of Chapter 1 and refuse to help.

Now, I don’t know if it’s a pandemic thing or just a me-getting-older thing😬, but I have almost no patience for games with checkpoints that I have to grind/spend like crazy for. All I really want to do these days is interact with a good story. MARS RED is the game I’ve been searching for for so long! Everything centres around and furthers the story which is super refreshing because for some reason that’s becoming increasingly rare in this genre (and industry in general🫖). Not only is it a solid, mysterious, supernatural crime story, it’s also super fun to play! I absolutely love when a game has mechanics that actually exist to serve and support the story and experience as opposed to just shamelessly providing the player with another reason to spend.

Here’s another confession: I hate most gachas. There, I said it. Why? Because for the most part, I only want/like stories. I don’t want avatar clothes or duplicates of N items that I have to go in and manually delete constantly. I just want to have more content of my faves without spending my entire pay cheque. Is that so much to ask!? MARS RED thinks not! I saw there were two current gachas even in beta: one limited and one not. I was excited because I love everything about the game already but I was also skeptical because I have a long history of being burned to a crisp by all gacha games. I was expecting to see an offering of the typical beautiful and virtually unattainable rainbow rare prizes like cards that are essentially useless (but damn are they pretty!).  However I am thrilled to report that MARS RED has blessed me with my dream gacha. STORIES GALOR-IES! 

The rainbow rare item was a story with a cg and I managed to pull it on my second 10-pull and OMG I loved it. It was so wholesome and pure and a great length that made it feel as premium as it gets! 

Aside from the story, there are three other major mechanics: Investigating, Inferring, and Exploring. 

Investigating is so much fun. It reminds me of my childhood days reading iSpy books and playing Spot the Difference games. To investigate, you simply tap on items in the scene to read about them. 

Each item offers their own unique clues and context and you better remember what you see because you better believe someone will ask you about it later and that’s called “Infer.”

During the Infer portion, you are given a limited amount of time to make assumptions and come to conclusions based on what you found during the Investigation portion. If you are like me and love playing Investigator - you will love this!

During the Explore portion, you don’t actually have to do much other than pair up 2 people and choose a location. They will Explore on their own and level up/earn you the money and points you’ll need to progress later on in the process. You can also earn rewards called “Murmurs” which are little short anecdotes between the guys.

Cons

My only “con”/criticism is that I wish there were more cgs. I hardly came across any and there were so many fantastic moments that would have completely blown me away with an accompanying CG. But for the record - the CGs I did see were gorgeous! 

Random Thoughts

I feel like this would make an excellent BL game - where are my fellow YatShu, YatSuwa, and/or YatDe, shippers?! XD

I love Yatsufusa. He is my son and I want nothing but the best for him and his vampire/human friends. If anything happens to him...I WILL become a vampire myself and avenge him. I already want NEED a little plush doll of him. 

This game is generous without spoiling the player and it’s user-friendly without making me feel like a child. I really appreciate that especially since I feel that most recently released games cram a million mechanics in without ever connecting them to the story. (Have I talked enough about how bothered I am by a lot of recently released games 🤣?)

HAS TUMBLR ALWAYS HAD A 10 PIC LIMIT?!

Closing Thoughts

If you’re looking for a game/story that you can actually enjoy without stressing over - give MARS RED a go! The world needs joy now more than ever and Yatsufusa’s smile is pure serotonin! Go get yourself a boost and download this game available now on both Google Play and App Store! 

Thank you for spending some time with me! I hope you are doing well and keeping safe & happy. I’m off to go play more of this game (Chapter 7 just released!) while finally checking out the anime! Stay safe and healthy and I’ll see you soon!

***Disclaimer: I was provided early access to this app for the purpose of reviewing it by Favary. I have not been nor will I be compensated for my review, but I received a small in-game sum of points to complete the story in the beta. This does not mean my opinions or words were bought and paid for. These are my honest thoughts and feelings and Favary entered into this agreement with me requesting and expecting nothing but.***

[aizawaskittenwhore]

internal affairs

pairing: shota aizawa x poc!reader

words: 5.6k (LMFAOOOO I GOT CARRIED AWAY ENJOY) lowercase vv intentional

warnings/kinks: alcohol, swearing, degradation, praise, spit if you squint, breeding kink???ish sorta kinda yeah, begging, use of the pet name kitten, bondage, caught while masturbating

synopsis: aizawa thinks sex is generally a waste of time and energy. after finding you, (his close friend and coworker) in a...compromising position one night when he’s returning something to your dorm, he learns some information that has him wanting to waste some time with you..and energy. ;)

a/n: it’s been forever since i’ve written smut let alone with a poc reader so go easy on me LMFAOOOO

nsfw below the cut, let’s get it!

shota aizawa could, honestly, live without sex.

he just didn’t see the necessity of it, all the exhaustion and sweat just for a sudden rush of dopamine that lasts all of a minute before the stickiness sets in. before exhaustion settles over every muscle and renders you immobile, confined to the infamous postcoital wet spot while you make plans to wash your sheets—

as soon as you can regain control of the burn in your lungs, that is.

in between teaching during the day, patrolling in the evenings while still managing to grade papers, establishing lesson plans, taking care of his cat yuki and occasionally having to watch over his more “at-risk” students (cough midoriya cough) sex just didn’t take enough priority in his life for him to be interested in it. his right hand did the job just fine most nights, and he didn’t see the need to involve another person when it came to something he was more than proficient at handling by himself. he had no shame in the way he chose to live his life, it was practical and didn’t interfere with any of his responsibilities; a perfect setup.

at least, until he told you this same information over drinks one friday.

“please say you’re joking.” you chuckle, brows aloft in amusement. your fingertips dance along the rim of your shot glass before you raise it to your lips, the bitter and potent sake you ordered beginning to blossom warmly across your cheeks. “i’m serious. the hell would i gain from having some complete stranger try to learn how to please me when i can just do it myself?” aizawa queries, index finger and thumb taking residence along the upper neck of his beer bottle, grimacing harshly as he takes another swig. “i always get this shit every time we come here, and every time it’s always terrible.” he sets the bottle to his left, reaching for a shot glass instead to wash down the acrid taste. the bar is moderately populated today, with other pros scattered among tables and booths while engrossed in their own conversations; the background noise serving as the perfect buffer for the x-rated nature of your conversation.

you normally hate drinking after work, it always made you sluggish for the rest of the night, but aizawa owed you a favor after you took on the grading process of 1-a’s exams while he went out on patrol a few nights ago. he hadn’t wanted to ask so much of you as you were already training class 1-b and doing presentations for general studies that week, but after seeing the state of exhaustion the man was in you’d insisted, suggesting he get the bill next time the two of you hung out to make up for it. “but don’t you get tired of it? you know....masturbating?” you pry, right hand coming up to make a crude jerking motion to emphasize your point. “ i mean...you already know what you like, and the quickest way to get yourself there. there’s no exploration, no variety, you don’t get to really try anything new.” a teasing smile already settled across your lips.

aizawa falters for a moment, mouth pulled into a tight stance that signals his contemplation. head low, shoulders hunched, appearing to deeply ponder your question and how to answer it. you worry, for a moment, that you may have overstepped in your attempt to get a rise out of your quiet friend. however, worry soon liquifies into a fierce heat as a low chuckle rattles through him; shota glancing up at you through rebellious strands of hair that, regardless of his quirk, never seem to stay in place. “and what, y/n , would you happen to know about sexual exploration?” he shoots back, two slender fingers and a calloused thumb sending another shot down his throat with ease.

you flush, all your nerves on high alert as his rich, onyx irises seem to detect the growing arousal settling between your thighs, pleased at the reaction his question emitted. “i-i’m just saying that it’s got to get boring sometimes...just doing the same old routine whenever you’re in the mood!” you stutter, clearing your throat after you choke on the last syllable of your sentence. “that wasn’t my question.” he remarks, eyes slicing through any attempt at keeping your composure, yet you don’t budge.

“well, if you just have to know aizawa -“ you drag out the final consonant to mock his inquisitive nature, before continuing your tangent, “-sex doesn’t always have to be about the orgasm. i mean sure, it’s a pretty fucking fun part of it, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the foreplay, the newness of being with someone you haven’t been with before that really just...ties it all together. figuring out what they like, having them explore what you like, letting them take you in new and different ways...” you trail off, a blush now having settled across your cheeks, albeit impossible to clock thanks to the deep brown reach of your skin complexion.

“it’s worth the effort, is what i’m sayin’. you never know, you might like things that you didn’t think you would...like getting tied up or spit on or something..” you finish, now feeling his gaze settle over you like a blanket fresh out of the dryer. you quickly busy yourself with thanking your bartender as she slides you the tab, trying checking out the damage so you wouldn’t have to make eye contact with aizawa after that very honest admission. he quickly swipes the little book from your reach, depositing the black card inside with minimal resistance and returning the tab to its original position with a “don’t. i owe you, remember?”

damned cat-like reflexes.

fuck pro-hero training.

fuck the growing amount of slick saturating (and ruining) the simple maroon panties you’d chosen when getting ready for work today.

and most of all, fuck shota aizawa for being able to make your blood run hot by paying a fucking tab and giving you a look or two.

“right. thanks, by the way. but if i can’t get up for that meeting nezu’s holding tomorrow, i’m blaming you.” you’re hoping a bit of humor will distract you from the way your body is overheating from being within such close proximity to him, and the way your core is pulsing around nothing as if it were fiending for his presence. “not my fault you’re a lightweight, so blame me all you want sweetheart.” shota dryly rebounds, a mirthful smile on his face in response to the way you roll your eyes and suck your teeth, flipping him off.

“if you wanted to fuck me, you could’ve just asked.”

you’d pale, if you could.

your jaw collapses, eyelashes batting double time while you struggle to process what the fuck just came out of his mouth. six seconds go by before you begin babbling, voicing your opposition to his prior statement with phrases such as “wait wait wait, what did you sayyyy?” and ”bye because that didn’t even come out my mouth i-“

while he just...laughs. he finds your attempts to clarify your alleged non-existent sexual attraction to him hilarious, and even mentions that he finds it adorable as the two of you begin to make your way back to the teachers’ dorms. he holds the door open for you as you head inside, chuckling to himself as you continue to playfully curse him out while you walk to the women’s side of the building.

that was seven hours ago.

it’s currently 12:47am, and you’re struggling to catch even a wink of shuteye. you’re starting to regret having that sake earlier, since alcohol always fucks with your sleep schedule, but that isn’t what’s keeping you up tonight.

no, no, that would happen to be the unprofessional and honestly straight up shameful thoughts you’re having about your friend and coworker, shota. vivid images of those slender fingers sliding into you one by one, each one filling you more than the last, float past your lids every time you close your eyes. daydreams of his tongue on your clit, tracing patterns into the sensitive nerves while he calls you his good girl, his kitten, his slut, hands forcing your thighs apart as they shake from each and every time you cum around those devilish lips of his. fantasies of his capture weapon binding your hands behind you, fingers dangling helplessly while his hand rests on the small of your back to serve as leverage for each and every time he slides in. face pressed into the mattress as he fucks into you slowly, not wanting to give you the satisfaction of having him so deep so quickly. voice hoarse, tone pleading when you beg him to take you deeper, harder, promising to take it like a good girl would if he would just keep hitting that spot that makes your toes curl, yes right there, fuck-

you flip your pillow over in an attempt to cool the sweltering heat below the waistband of your panties, but it’s no luck. you should've been asleep two hours ago. staring hopelessly at the ceiling, lost in your mind as you watch the streetlights’ beams flicker through your window, streams of light disturbed by nearby tree branches. right hand slowly sliding down your body, from your breasts to the curves of your waist before settling right on the top of your panties. your fingers begin to flutter above your dripping core.

‘this is wrong. i shouldn’t do this.’ you chide yourself, but your body has already made up it’s mind.

and soon a cord wound so tightly within your body it could suffocate you...snaps.

the tip of your middle finger dips down to your pussy to collect the slick gathered there, and you groan at the sheer amount of it.

he really got you fucked up.

thinking of how he would tease, you circle your throbbing clit, touch feather light to the point where it feels like borderline torture. middle finger and ring finger conjoined to shallowly dip inside you once, twice, then three times before filling you completely.

but it’s not enough.

it’s not him.

you sigh at the way the tips brush against your g-spot, beckoning them forward until you physically arch into your hand as though it were connected to the subject of your little self love session.

“fuck...”

shota’s pov

he’d taken a short break from his current grading session to stretch, and grab a small snack when he noticed it.

you’d left your id tag with him when you’d turned in for the evening, as the two of you had used his id to get on to school grounds since your hands were full with your work bag, your purse, and takeout from the bar. he must have forgotten to give it back to you after you asked him to hold it, he was too busy admiring how cute you looked while trying to prove you didn’t want to fuck him.

not that he would mind if you did, of course.

he’d developed something of a crush on you over the past few weeks since you’d been working more closely together as hero course teachers, and he got to know you outside of a strictly work environment.

you’re funny, intelligent, clever (which is a turn on for him since he needs someone he can bounce off of), and it doesn’t hurt that you’re easy on the eyes.

really, really easy on the eyes. fuck.

he scratched the back of his neck as he felt the familiar flush begin to creep up his face, hoping the pain would will away the consistent hard-on he got whenever he focused too much on your smile, or the way your shoulders shake when you laugh, or the curve of your hips and how they look like they would be a perfect fit for his vice grip as he eased you onto his dick, looking you right in the eyes before drilling up into you. eyes shimmering with such pretty tears from how sensitive she was, neck littered with marks from his earlier ministrations, voice shaky as she begged him to fill her, pump her full of every last drop cause she’s been so so good-

‘damn it shota. just go give her the fucking tag, she’ll need it tomorrow morning.’ he snapped internally, looking at his tented black sweats with dismay. it took everything within him not to make a sly comment on how getting himself off is never boring when it’s to a different fantasy of you each time, but if there’s nothing else he prided himself upon, it was his self discipline.

forcing himself to remember the time he caught hizashi shaving his left testacle and only the left one to make his erection less obvious, he grabbed her id and his own, and made his way to the women’s wing of the hero course dorms. it was old school, men weren’t allowed on the women’s side and vice versa on campus, however with this being the hero course some were granted special admin privileges should there ever be an emergency.

he happened to be one of them.

making quick work of finding your room, he leaned against the threshold, left arm poised to knock when he heard a soft hiss. a little rustling, and another sound, indiscernible thanks to your door.

“fuck...”

body stiffening at the swear, he paused, wondering if maybe you had been hurt or perhaps injured. it was in his nature to, despite his sarcastic and faux-apathetic disposition, be a hero no matter what. using what little force he could in an attempt to not frighten a possible intruder or make a bad situation worse, shota silently swung your door open and scanned the room for any possible threats.

he didn’t find any.

instead he found you, lacy black panties around your left ankle as you curled your middle and ring finger inside of you, moans bubbling out of your throat with a hand twisting and pinching your pretty brown nipples as you went. still completely unaware of his presence you sigh before letting out the prettiest and neediest little whine that went straight to his dick.

“mm...shota..please baby~“ you keen, fingers quickening their pace inside of your pussy, the streetlights from the nearby sidewalk casting a copper toned glean on the strings of slick connecting your fingers to the soaked paradise that was between your thighs. he freezes, thinking you’ve noticed his presence when it hits him-

you were fucking your fingers as if they were his own.

you’d said his name.

you wanted to fuck him just as badly as he wanted to fuck you.

and despite being a pro and having been in life threatening situations, instances where he’s had to make split second decisions without worrying whether they were right or not....here he has absolutely no idea what to do. he feels dirty, watching you in such a...compromising situation. even though you just said his name with about two-

now three-

-soaked fingers sliding in and out of your cunt, he knows he shouldn’t be here. out of respect for you, he takes about two steps backwards and tries to leave the room as silently as he came in, willing the universe to just let him have this as a pleasant memory for when he gets into bed tonight. but, like most times in his 31 years of existence, he can never get a moment of peace.

so he manages to trip over your shoes from earlier right as he was about to hit the hallway.

oh, and drops the id tags, of course.

y/n’s pov

the noise sends a chill through each and every nerve of your body, eyes firing open only to be greeted with the sight of a very flustered aizawa vehemently cursing out a pair of your boots, two id tags pooled at his feet. “what the fuck?!” digits wrenched from your body and hands clawing for your duvet in a last ditch attempt to preserve what little modesty you had left. “i- i just came to give you your id, and i heard you swear so i thought you might’ve been hurt or something, i didn’t see anything!” aizawa spat apprehensively, while simultaneously cursing his dick for choosing this particular moment to get incredibly aroused, and thanking himself for tucking his erection into his waistband earlier before he’d walked over in case he ended up talking to you. “oh my god. oh..my god i am so fucking sorry i-i know it was wrong and i totally understand if you don’t wanna be friends anymore just please don’t tell nezu i really really love this job-“ you begin to wail, teardrops nestling into your waterline before finally pooling over and breaking you, causing you to cry even more.

“i’m not mad at you y/n.” aizawa coos softly.

“-and i know i crossed so many lines and it’s selfish for me to ask that of you but i don’t know what i would do without UA-“

“y/n.” he calls, sitting beside you on the pillow soft mattress, his capture weapon pooling to the floor and briefly reminding him he’d brought it with him to begin with.

“-and if i’m being honest i’ve had a crush on you for forever and i was just too much of a coward to come and tell you myself so instead of being a woman about it i kept having these fantasies and i’m so fucking sorry aizawa-“

“shota. call me shota.” he tilts your chin up with his right hand so he can see your pretty brown orbs swimming in tears, before taking his left hand and thumbing away the still-wet tear tracks. you blink away your tears, brows furrowing in confusion at why he’s not angry, why you’re not packing up your dorm and turning in your letter of resignation right now. “it sounded so pretty when you’d said it earlier, why stop now?” he murmurs, those powerful ebony eyes taking you in by the gallon, half lidded as he looks you up and down.

so he did see everything.

and he wasn’t mad.

and you swear on everything you love that you just saw his length twitch through those black sweats, so he definitely shared the same sentiment.

“s-so you’re sure you’re not mad?” you sniffle, hands reaching to cover his as you lean into his lithe form, needing to feel his warm and comforting embrace. “positive.” he looks down at the way you’re nuzzled into his chest, arms shifting so that they’re wrapped around your back as you let out a sigh of relief. he softly taps you after a few minutes, needing to shift to a more comfortable position as his dick is pressing into his stomach this way, and it’s only making him firmer.

“can...can i kiss you?” he asks gingerly, heart fluttering at the way your eyes meet his and your head slowly nods, fingers fumbling to find his hand so you can hold it. his lips slot against yours, moving tenderly at first before the kiss begins to increase in intensity, your tongue moving fluidly with his, pulling away only to breathe before diving back into one another.

“those pretty lips taste so sweet...makes me wonder if you’re sweet all over, hm?”

you preen at the compliment, body craving his touch, his energy, his undulations, everything about him.

“tell me you don’t want this, and we’ll stop.” he mutters against your neck, soft kisses quickly turning to him sucking marks into your collarbone. it drove him insane, watching the reddish purple hues blossom across your skin mingling with the mocha of the rest of your body.

you didn’t have any intention on stopping though.

not for a fucking second.

“please...need you so bad.” you sigh close to his ear, taking his earlobe between your teeth and dipping a hand between the two of you to paw at his throbbing length. that seemed to do the trick just fine, his pulse spiking before he flipped the two of you with a quickness you’d only seen him use in battle. hands reaching for the nape of his neck as he tugged his shirt over his head, you watched in awe; you’d known sho was fit as he patrolled nightly, along with the consistent training he’d engaged in with his students. you just didn’t expect a simple long sleeve sweater to give way to toned abdominals, slender yet powerful arms in addition to a thick black happy trail that dipped below his waistband.

it wasn’t until he’d tugged down the lace covering your slit, (so hard it ripped), that you realized just how much he craved you. gazing at your core intently he spread you apart with his middle and forefinger, eyes nearly rolling out of his head with how you were dripping so much for him. you tried to shift your hips in an effort to get him to do something, anything, but that was shut down with a hand forcing your right thigh outwards and spreading you even wider.

“no no. keep them spread. let me watch you try to keep them open while you’re shaking...let me watch you fall apart..” he demands, head diving between your thighs to lap at your aching clit like a man starved. your legs rise only to settle on his shoulders, ankles crossed behind his head while your toes curl in euphoria. there were men before him, but none of them ever took care of you like this, never looked you in the eyes as their fingers started to curl in just the right places, never sighed in content at your taste as their eyes rolled back. never pried themselves away from your cunt just to add a pornographic amount of spit to your southernmost lips, strings of saliva connecting your twitching hole to his deliciously long tongue.

shota was unlike any man you had ever met before.

and that was what made him so intoxicating.

“ah..s-shota, please-” you whine, sensing your climax within reach. “please what, kitty? i won’t know if you don’t tell me.” he remarks, dipping back down to suck harshly at your swollen bud as he adds a third finger, length throbbing at the way you arch into his tongue. “m-make me-ah-make me...feel good...please sho” you stutter, face burning. “mm. i thought i was already making you feel good love? unless...there’s something else you want..” he trails off, smirking. your thighs are quivering now, muscles burning as you strain to keep them from crushing shota’s head, although with the way he’s devouring your pussy whole right now he doesn’t seem to mind one bit.

“i need you..to make me cum..” you whimper, winding a few fingers into his unruly mane of hair while your other hand settles above your mouth, trying to hide the obvious embarrassment on your face from being so exposed.

“well why didn’t you say so baby? after all, you did exactly what i told you to, and good girls get whatever they ask for.” he grins before working double time to bring you to the edge, hero stamina and strength coming out in full force with the way his fingers never cease in their abuse on your g-spot, refusing to quit until your thighs finally tighten around his head and your breath catches. his tongue replaces his fingers and you briefly pout at the slight change in fullness, but it doesn’t matter the second he coils his tongue upwards and rubs into your sensitive bud at a steady pace. you cum all over his face, and you never thought you’d see such a typically serious and stoic man look so...elated, a permanent beam stuck to him with superglue as he swallows as much of your essence as he can. chest heaving, body weightless, you sit up.

you gently coax him back up your body, shota’s arms caging you to your bed as you kiss him deeply, fingers fumbling to palm him through his sweats. “s’ my turn...wanna show you how much i like you..”

he nods, opting to trade places with you whilst helping you slide his sweats and boxers down his thighs, length springing up in anticipation. you’d had a inkling of how big he was from small glances on occasion, but you didn’t account for a solid eight and a half inches down your esophagus. his dick was pretty, a few veins running up and down the length of it, and tip just as pink as his kiss-swollen lips. the only thing that intimidated you was how thick it was. but you’d cross that bridge when it came to it.

saliva floods your mouth and you grasp his dick at the base, eyes wide as you track a bead of precum rolling it’s way down his tip before licking it up in one long hot stripe. “hm. tastes good.” you giggle, eyes locking with his before you relax your jaw and swallow as much of him as you can comfortably fit in your mouth, a shot of electricity running through you when shota lets out a deep throaty groan. “fuck...such a good fucking girl. you look so pretty like this.” shota sighs, left hand working it’s way through your coils and tightening its grip, but never pushing. he lets you work at your own pace, his own cheeks flushing when you interrupt the bobbing motion you had set to coyly circle your slick tongue around his tip. your mouth is hot and slick, encapsulating his dick in a velvety vacuum seal while you work him over and over; you haven’t had an insane amount of experience, but you’re observant of what motions garner positive reactions. it’s a combination so dangerous that it has shota’s right hand grappling your comforter for stability, breath quickening as he wonders how the hell he’s managed to last this long.

“you’re gonna suck me dry kitty...” he moans.

at least until you take not one, but both hands, add an amount of spit so copious it’s obscene, and begin to stroke his length slowly and effortlessly whilst maintaining eye contact.

with that little stunt, you’ve officially opened pandora’s box. and there’s no closing it now.

“come here.” aizawa commands, sitting up straighter to pull your hips into his, and before you know it you’re on your stomach, wrists pinned to your black sheets by agile hands. “if you wanna stop here tell me now baby.” he croons in your ear, feather light kisses pressed into your shoulder. “we can watch a movie, cuddle, whatever you’re comfortable with. but if we keep going like this-”

his length presses into your ass and a shiver shoots down your spine.

“-i can’t promise you i won’t ruin you y/n. fuck you full of my cum, pounding into you until i leave you drooling and sloppy just for me, have you scream my name so loud even the League knows who you belong to. you’d be all mine. my pretty kitty. is that what you want?” shota asks, one of his calloused hands sliding down the curves of your body to grip at the soft, tender skin of your ass.

“shota.....please. it’s all i want, just take me already-“ you sob, voice gathering in your throat. a sensual chuckle, and then you feel it: inch after inch slipping into your tight warm walls, the stretch causing your eyes to brim with tears born from more pleasure than actual pain.

“ah! you’re stretching me out so much...” you keen, eyelashes fluttering in ecstasy. “aw kitty...i haven’t even started yet.” shota teases, stretching to his right to grab his capture weapon, and bringing both your wrists behind you. “now..you’ve been so good for me tonight, i think you deserve a reward. earlier, i believe you mentioned something about being tied up?” he binds your arms, leaving your digits to flail helplessly right above the small of your back, where his hand has now come to rest.

“f-fuck me! please...i’m tired of waiting- i just wanna be yours!” you beg, hips jolting back in impatience and need, your pussy throbbing at the sensation of his tip nudging the deepest parts of you. “so fucking needy. i’ll give you exactly what you’re craving sweetheart.” he smirks, before dragging his hips as far back as he can, length retreating from your warm walls before slamming right back in. one hand on your shoulders to keep your face pressed into your pillows, the other taking reign on your hips as a guide to rut against you. your back arches so deliciously for him, ass jiggling on every thrust as he watches your body impale itself on his length. he’s so deep, his tip consistently ramming into your cervix over and over and over; your body is so overwhelmed and so needy, so full but not full enough. it’s too much, but you want more. “fill me up sho! i want it— i need it so bad” you cry, tears spilling over and staining your pillowcase. “wouldn’t you love that, having me fill this pretty pussy up with all my cum hm?” “no wonder you’re moaning for me like a whore, you want everyone to know who’s doing this to you.” shota pants, quickening his pace. “yes! i’m yours all yours!” you moan, pussy throbbing at his fierce pace, you can feel the sweat gathering between your body and the sheets but you don’t care. you use the leverage from your shoulders to push back onto him, chasing your high.

“that’s it, come on, fuck me back. come on kitty it’s your dick after all~” he breathes, grinning at the way you’re drooling and how your eyes are rolling at the way he’s fucking you.

“fuck, you must really wanna cum again hm? such a greedy, slutty girl” you nod, head spinning as he tightens your restraints and strokes into you as deep as he can. you feel the familiar quivering of your legs, a tell tale sign you’re close to cumming. “sho—ah!-sho please! i wanna cum please i’m so close-“ you plead, voice unsteady. “well since you asked so nicely...of course kitty” he acquiesces, a hand slithering between your folds to softly rub your clit while he drills into you, and your body nearly self destructs. “f-fuck! ah—thank you shota, oh god, mmm you’re so good to me” you babble, body floating through space as he rubs you through your orgasm.

and once again, the ball is in his court. you shudder, head leaning over your shoulder with lidded eyes to try and look at aizawa. his hair is down now, and a deep blush has taken residence across his cheeks, chest heaving as sweat glistens on his chest and slowly drips down his toned stomach. he hasn’t stopped fucking you, but this time his rhythm’s gotten sloppy, and his teeth have sunken into his bottom lip so hard you think he’ll pierce through it.

he’s close, and you want every last drop.

“make me take it shota—show me what you do to good girls~” you purr, eyes widening when he loosens your restraints and turns you over, and practically folds you in half. your ankles are by your ears now as he pounds into you, and everything is so much deeper than before. your pussy tightens at the new angle, and you feel another orgasm beneath the surface, though you don’t know if you can take it. “it’s too much! i can’t take it—“ you whine, tits jiggling as he swoops down and paws at one, making you cry out. “yes you can baby, just one more, come on make me proud just give me one fucking more” he growls, the heat of his order hot against your ear. “god i’m gonna paint these slutty little walls white—gonna fill you up so good” he moans, shota’s dirty confession egging you on as your fingers toy with your achingly sensitive bundle of nerves. “that’s it. play with it, show me how you do it when i’m not there-“ and that slick fucking comment is what sends you tumbling off the edge for your third time tonight. “fuck! i’m gonna cum—i’m gonna make you all mine, all for me” you grin before raking your nails up and down his back to encourage him. “give it to me, i don’t wanna have anyone else kiss me without knowing what you taste like~” and soon hot spurts of cum paint your insides and flood you with a warm, thick feeling. shota immediately crashes his lips onto yours, holding you tightly. you can’t really explain the current state of your emotions, but you feel full, and content. meanwhile the current object of your affection is nuzzled into your neck, peppering kisses over all the love bites he’d inflicted earlier as a means of apology, though you didn’t mind.

it would be a pain in the ass to cover up tomorrow, but you could always just wear a scarf or a turtleneck to compensate due to the colder weather. it wasn’t until the two of you had cleaned up and rehydrated that he spoke: “by the way, i like you too. and have. for a while now. just in case that wasn’t clear.” he stated, arms wrapped around your middle as he began to doze off.

“you know you probably should’ve led with that-“

“shut up.”

so yeah, shota aizawa could live without sex.

question is: why the hell would he want to, when you’re here?

[yuusa]

𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝟏𝟐

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟐𝟑𝟏𝟑

𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞

𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝟏𝟐:

You cracked the door open slightly, your eyes meeting with Yuki’s before unlocking the chain. You noticed he dressed formally most of the time, often sporting a long coat and a sweater of some kind. In contrast to yours, You were simply wearing a black turtleneck underneath your buttoned (f/c) cardigan and a pair of tights. You sweatdropped, why did he dress better than you? 

You internally cringed inside, realizing the stark difference between your styles. You expressed comedic drooping lines on your face as you stared at Yuki. 

“(L/n)-san, are you okay?” He asked, commenting on your inner conflict. 

“N-No, please come in.” You awkwardly opened the door, revealing more of your plain wardrobe to him. 

While it was simply just clothing, materials sewn together for the sake of modesty, you felt underdressed compared to Yuki. The only time you had to wear something extravagant was for the school festival and your cafe, which had a strict uniform that required a frilly apron. Even that apron was already too much for you.

You sighed on the inside, wanting to bury your face into your hands to avoid looking at Yuki’s nicely dressed form.

He silently eyed you, noticing how overdressed he was compared to you. Your simple cardigan complimented your beauty, the design not being too extreme that would drive the attention away from your face. You wore black tights, giving you a more comfortable and domestic aura. 

In other words, you have a soft housewife look. 

Oftentimes he would wear tighter Chinese-style clothing while you stuck with a comfortable style wardrobe that didn’t lean too much to different sides. You seemed so comfy in your choice of wardrobe and he almost felt as if he was the odd one out.

You guided him towards your table while you went to the kitchen to prepare two cups of tea. In your hands was a newly, unopened packet of oolong tea your coworker had given to you recently. While you handled the tea, Yuki opened his school bag and placed his books onto the table, noticing the variety of books you had on your shelves. He wondered why he didn’t notice it before, but most of your book spines matched, the gold lettering pairing well with the white covers. Did you buy specific sets of books? 

You returned to the table with two cups of oolong tea and opened your textbook that was laying on the ground. You had an array of school supplies that ranged from minimalistic to branded pens from stationery stories. When Yuki heard the comments from other boys saying you had the most girlish stationery, he could understand now. You placed the tip of your pencil on your rosy lips, thinking about the problem in front of you.

You weren’t really good at math but you desperately tried to make yourself look cool studying. It was part of your bad luck to pick up your math textbook in front of Yuki. 

"(L/n)-san. . . Are you bad at math?” He bluntly asked. 

You nervously started sweating, “haha. . . Of course not. . .” 

“But you’ve been staring at the same problem for a while now.” 

He found out?! You internally screamed. 

“H-Hmm. . .” You pouted, “I’m just a bit confused.”

That was a bit cute, Yuki thought diverting his eyes away from you and towards the math textbook that you just placed onto the table.

“I can explain it to you.” He smiled.

“Fine.” You huffed, trying to get this embarrassing subject out of the way as quickly as possible.

Yuki scooted over to your side as he lifted his pencil to tap on one specific problem. You tuned him out slightly on the inside, admiring the way his voice flowed. You wondered how nice it was to have someone as near perfect on the outside as Yuki was. Your emotions show too easily at times and you often resort to violent outbreaks as a way to control your bursts of frustration. But it seems like, for Yuki, he bottles it up on the inside, letting anything be able to tip it over and break.

Did it hurt? You wanted to ask. Did it hurt knowing that there were very little at the school who could understand your emotions? It must have hurt so much, the thought of it made your heart clench and gut curl up.

Emotions are so fragile.

Your eyes fluttered slowly as you became lost in thought.

If the Eagle was God’s Messenger, what would be the first message to be? Perhaps it could be the invitation to freedom or one last banquet together. Would they still remain by God’s side if they released an invitation for freedom?

You absentmindedly nodded to Yuki’s explanations, noting how precise his words were and how smooth each process was explained. His lips were softly tinted with pink while his eyelashes were long and slightly curled. You felt a bit envious of him at his natural beauty but diverted your attention back to your papers.

He looked really cool.

“You’ve been getting more distracted lately, is something on your mind (L/n)-san?” He asked, tapping the tip of his pencil against his paper.

“Not really. It just seems like you’re really good at this.” You glided your pencil across the paper, filling out each equation with ease, utilizing his explanations to the fullest.

“I usually help Honda-san study by making her study problems.”

The tip of your lead snapped, your writing pausing for a few seconds before continuing. “She must be very lucky.”

You focused on your paper, trying not to overthink Tohru’s kindness and presence. She was too nice to be subjected to your dark thoughts, too naive and innocent to ever be sullied that is your mind. You wished nothing but the best for her.

Yuki thought about you during the inn trip. He wondered what the two of you were. Even though you called each other friends, you still referred to each other with the same classroom respectfulness. There was this aura of distance that he could feel by just simply being near you. While he had Tohru in his life to give him happiness and comfort, did you really have anyone else in your life to give you that same pleasure?

Your blank walls had nothing but small scratches littering the walls, the paint chipping off in some areas but there was nothing hung up. No paintings or photos of friends and family to be seen whatsoever. Could it be that you were much lonelier than him, but you chose to ignore this feeling? He could see you simply withdrawing yourself from others, similar to the way you acted when Haru visited.

He wondered why you strayed so far away from the light. You never interacted with the other students unless it was for school purposes, and you only went out when it came to errands and work. You rarely talk to anyone about what truly goes inside your mind, then again. . . He wasn’t one to do that either.

You were so similar to him that it made him feel slightly guilty, feeling bad that he doesn’t know what he can for himself or for you.

“You shine too bright.” You muttered, keeping it low as you spoke your mind without knowing.

He shined so brightly you wondered if it was worth standing by his side in class. Everything he does look so clean and precise, calculative at times of the day, and relaxed. It reminded you too much of Tohru and more of what you hated about yourself. You were lonely and often kept it that way, never making an effort to break out of your habits when you’re constantly living in fear.

Constantly afraid of hurting others.

“Did you say something?” Yuki asked, the tension going between the two of you.

“Nothing.” You replied, finishing your math problem and closing your book. “It’s none of your concern.”

He brushed through the strands of his hair, trying to understand whether or not you ever wanted to talk to him after all this time. Even though he had confronted you about whether you hated him for that school event, you both left it unsaid or unconfirmed.

You pulled back the strands of hair in your face, your rosy lips glistening underneath the light as you diligently worked. You looked really cool to Yuki. You always had this aura of calmness in public, you talked with a strong voice and often wouldn’t take anything from other girls in the class. You almost never backed down from a challenge, like when one of Yuki’s fangirls wanted to ask you to a cooking contest. He wondered if the distant look you had was merely his projection.

“I think you’re quite cool (L/n)-san.” Yuki commented, putting his chin against the palm of his hand, “you always seem to know what to say and do.” 

“I wouldn’t quite say that.” You responded, tucking the strand of hair behind your ear. 

“It makes me feel a bit envious.” He said, staring at his paper with a gloomy look, trying to see if you might be able to open up to him. 

“. . . You’re cool too.” You whispered, only for him to barely hear. “You make everything look so easy and happy but in reality that is just a facade to your classmates.” 

Yuki stopped tapping his pencil against his paper, his eyes widening at your voice. 

“When you talk in front of everyone, you look really intimidating and cool. You have this nice aura around you and you tend to shine bright,” you ended, your head turning to the side to hide your slightly teary eyes, “I’m jealous of you too.” 

Yuki could see the small tears pooling at the corner of your eyes, noticing how you tried to hide the faint sight of weakness. You bit the bottom of your lip, feeling slightly exposed at the moment. Your eyes widened as you turned to him, realizing that you blurted out your own imaginative thoughts. He stared back at you with slightly tinted cheeks as you quivered under his gaze, feeling extremely embarrassed in the situation.

“A-Ah u-umm. . . I’m going to the toilet to fix myself.” You quickly excused yourself and ran to the bathroom, trying to save yourself from this humiliation.

As you locked the door you leaned against it and slid down, your face buried in your hands. You were so caught up in your thoughts you have forgotten to be more aware of your surroundings. You thought Yuki had said that in your mind and this was all just an imagination, but it was real and you just blurted out something really embarrassing.

“Idiot,” You whispered to yourself. “I’m such an idiot.”

You pulled your knees to your chest and laid your forehead against it, taking deep breaths to calm your rapidly beating heart. Why did I have to space out during this time? You thought.

Yuki pressed his hand against his cheek, feeling the temperature rise as he repeated the scene of you talking in his head. He never had anyone tell him that he was actually cool, genuinely cool in the way he wanted to be seen.

You looked really cute when you blushed.

He quickly shook his head, ridding himself of those strange thoughts and trying to focus on whats in front of him. He turned to the door, noticing that you were taking an awfully long time in the bathroom. Yuki slowly made his way to the door and softly knocked with the back of his hand.

“(L/n)-san, are you still there?” He asked. From the other side of the door, you could feel your face heat up even more. You softly knocked back, still not feeling well enough to speak for yourself without being reminded of your embarrassing speech.

“I’m surprised at how perceptive you are (L/n)-san,” he sat up against the door, the two of you separated by the thin material, “am I really as lonely as you said I was when we first met?”

“. . . You looked distant.” You said, fiddling with the ends of your hair, “you smile all the time, but they look. . . sad.”

“What makes you say that?” His eyes fluttered shut as he stayed leaning against the door.

“They. . . They remind me of someone I know.” Your hand brushed against your chest, your heartbeats finally slowing down.

His smile and eyes remind you so much of yourself, it hurts. It hurts so much to think that there is someone in this world so undeserving of pain and deprived of love that it makes you sick inside. You clutched onto the edge of your cardigan, feeling the soft material underneath your nails.

“Do you think. . . Your opinion of me would be different if I changed?” He asked, your lips parting slightly to give an answer but it slowly closed shut, “would you find me disgusting?”

You didn’t know exactly what he meant by this. Perhaps he was simply referring to when he purposefully stopped you during the school festival when he had pinned you against the wall.

“Not really. I don’t think the person you are at school matches your real personality either way. . . But. . . I think that. . .” You replied, “Sohma-san. . .”

Your fingers slipped underneath the door, feeling his warmth just barely on your fingertips. You could tell that he flinched just now.

“Even though you’re really cool on the outside. . . You’re a warm person inside, you must care a lot about people you love.”

A small smile crept on his face as he kept his hand in the same position, your backs still leaning against the door as you sat there in comfort.

“You’re a warm person too.”

[little-ideas]

Found Family Forever

Ahhhh!!!! Finally I can post this! (´；ω；`)

I have spent weeks on this and it was really hard to keep quiet, but I really wanted to do the idea justice

Many thanks to @beelsbreakfast for helping me finalize the idea and for suffering with me through all the sudden thoughts and angst (though I promise this is fluff and not angst!) I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you, boo!  (つ≧▽≦)つ

I hope you all enjoy ♡

Mankai becomes Sakuya's family

The adults are all supportive of him and he's able to go to them for help/advice

That being said, he still struggles a lot with relying on them -years of trying to please others and not be a burden have built mannerisms difficult to overcome

If there's an event requiring an adult, but they don't have to be family, at least one of the Mankai adults will go. Sakuya was concerned about asking his relatives and consulting someone (likely Tsuzuru) on what to do. This gets overheard by Izumi and she volunteers to go. Later events also have several other volunteers including Azuma, Tsumugi, and Homare

Typically Izumi, Azuma, and Tsumugi are the 3 who will go

Citron tells Sakuya stories to help him sleep, but Sakuya will wake up in the middle of the night and feel lonely

He feels bad waking Citron, so instead goes out and walks about the dorm, usually running into Azuma

Azuma invites Sakuya to sit with him and color in some pages over tea or warm milk

At first, they tend to sit in silence or have light conversations, but one night Sakuya feels particularly lonely and Azuma comforts him as he cries

Azuma and Sakuya get a lot closer after that night-both of them know the feelings of being alone, of not having family, of trying to find their way in the world with little guidance. They also are both painfully aware that while they've found home in Mankai, time continues to flow and the others will all likely move on. At the very least, their time in the dorms all together is limited

It's not easy, but Sakuya asks Azuma about what it's like to be without family and for advice with his future

Though their situations differ, they are also similar enough that Azuma sees Sakuya as a reflection of his younger self. He does his best to help Sakuya consider his future, and he desperately wants a different path for Sakuya than the one he stumbled upon

As their evenings together grow more frequent, Azuma begins to expect Sakuya and saves some snacks for him. Of course, Azuma's favorite nights are when Sakuya doesn't come out, since that means he's sleeping peacefully, yet he can't help but feel a surge of sadness whenever this happens, a twinge of loneliness

Sakuya requests and hears stories about Azuma's family

The day Azuma's heart breaks into a million pieces and he VOWS to always be present for Sakuya is when, after Azuma tells Sakuya of one of his childhood adventures with his family, Sakuya asks, "Do you think one day I could be as good a parent as yours were?"

Later on, Azuma sobs when Sakuya looks at him and asks, "Do you think I'll be as good a dad as you are?"

Once Sakuya starts feeling sleepy again, Azuma will help guide him back to bed and tuck him in. Occasionally he's too late, so will gently lower Sakuya until he's lying on the couch and wrap him in blankets. Blanket burrito Sakuya

Azuma humming Sakuya lullabies and playing w/his hair as he drifts off to sleep

Although the others joke that Sakyo's their dad, to Sakuya, Azuma better matches his idea of a father figure

As he and Azuma get closer, he accidentally calls Azuma "Dad" (probably also does this to Tasuku, Sakyo, and Yuzo)

He doesn't understand why. After all, it's not a word he uses regularly

Sakuya will be thoroughly embarrassed by it and Azuma won't notice... at first. Then he realizes Sakuya was referring to him and short circuits

Sakuya calling Azuma "father" in his sleep and Azuma melts

Sakuya getting Azuma, Sakyo, Yuzo, and Tetsuro Father's Day Gifts

Although Sakuya and Azuma get along with everyone and consider all of Mankai their family, the two are particularly close

In fact, everything is fine until one of the other members ends up in the hospital

Their fellow Mankai member is fine, but Sakuya and Azuma are shaken. They are reminded that life changes and things won't stay the same, a fact they know, but have fervently been putting off thinking about because Mankai and all its members are their home and family, found after years of silent pain.

Azuma especially takes the news of hospitalization of their friend hard as he's reminded of the hopelessness from his family's death

Sakuya worries more on that they're alone at night and none of them can visit/stay with them if it's not visiting hours as they aren't legal family

Sakuya starts questioning what it means to be family -he has Mankai, but they're not legally recognized. In fact, outsiders would just consider them close co-workers and maybe use the word "family", but with a different connotation. What, then, is truly family?

Struggling with his feelings, Sakuya seeks out Tsuzuru and talks with him. He may also consult the others, particularly Juza, Kumon, + Muku

It's at this point that Sakuya realizes that, while he treasures all of Mankai, there is one person in particular who he loves as family and would be devastated to lose. Someone who, according to Tsuzuru, he views as his own father

Armed with this new knowledge, Sakuya approaches Winter Troupe (sans Azuma), Izumi, and Sakyo -they know Azuma best, and should anyone know the answer to his questions, it's them

Knowing the holidays are coming up, they think Sakuya is going to ask for advice about presents

While they're not wrong, they're stunned by his question

 Griping his pants, Sakuya tried to ease the shaking of his digits. Sweat soaked his palms as his ears heard only the erratic thrumming of his heart and the steady ticks of the clock. They were waiting on him to speak, he needed to get the words out.

"Sakuya?" Izumi leaned towards him, hand resting on his shoulder. Sakuya was certain she could feel his tremors." Are you alright?"

Taking a breath. Sakuya nodded, raising his head to face the audience before him.

"Do you think Azuma would adopt me?"

 Once they all have time to process Sakuya's question, there's a whirlwind of responses, but the resounding answer is yes.

Izumi and Tsumugi hug Sakuya

Hisoka, Homare, and Tasuku smile and pat him on the back (+ offer marshmallows)

Sakyo ruffles his hair and simply congratulates him

Sakyo knows the most about adoptions, though Sakuya has done his research, too

Is the most help in getting everything together for Sakuya to ask

Sakuya decides to ask during the holidays, and they’re more than happy to help

Decide they’ll do a holiday gift exchange

Rope Chikage in to teach Sakuya how to make it look like he’s pulled a name randomly when he’s really just held on to Azuma’s name the entire time

They don’t tell anyone else, the fewer people who know, the less likely Azuma’s going to hear about it

Sakuya preps another gift so Azuma doesn’t feel pressured in to accepting him and because he’s worried Azuma won’t like it

Freaks the fuck out the closer it gets to the event

At this point all of Spring Troupe knows because they’re helping him stay composed

And then the day comes:

Presents litter the table, wrapped in bags, boxes, and -is that duct tape? Music pours from the speakers with the karaoke gang singing along, not even trying to be in tune. Omi’s freshly baked cookies are almost all gone, but their scent lingers amongst the spice of warm cider and peppermint. Izumi’s struggle to get Yuki to join in the ugly sweater festivities finally won, she signals Kamekichi to let out a squawk (a much preferred method over her previous megaphone) and ushers all stragglers over to the lounge. Passing Sakuya, she pats his back and smiles before sitting down. He lets out the breath he was holding.

It’ll be ok, he tells himself, they would’ve told you if it wasn’t.

But still, with every gift opened he feels the butterflies worsen, feels his throat tighten; he needs water, air, space -anything- to give him time. He doesn’t remember what he’s holding in his hands and his laughter sounds far away -he’s grateful Tsumugi’s the one who had given him his gift, he can see the understanding in his eyes. Is it just that his acting has improved so much over the years or that everyone’s too excited to notice his strangeness? Sakuya’s not sure, but he feels as though he’s on stage for the first time again.

He knows he doesn’t need to be this nervous, he and Azuma have gotten close over the years -Sakuya goes to Azuma first when he wants advice, when he can’t sleep at night, when he feels like he’s missing family. They’ve spent holidays together when most of the other members have returned to their families, and Azuma has gone with Sakuya to visit his parents’ grave. They’ve even talked the what-ifs of being family -a thought experiment sprung forth one night from their roles in their latest play- and it’s Azuma’s words that night that have seared this crazy idea into Sakuya’s heart: It would be nice if we were family.

They were just words, Sakuya knows, but he couldn’t help but feel the same, and on this night many months later, he desperately hopes those words are true. He wishes, prays to all the gods he knows the names of, that this goes over well, and his hands turn white as Azuma picks up the final box from the table.

“Breathe, Sakuya,” Hisoka mumbles, eyes peeking open as he sits up from leaning on the younger man. “It’ll be ok.”

Sakuya only nods in response, returning Azuma’s smile as he reads the attached card, though it feels fake upon his lips, as though someone else is performing the action. He misses the camera Izumi’s pulled out. And then the sound of crinkling paper meets his ears and Sakuya struggles to refrain from lunging across the room and tearing the packet out from Azuma’s hands, claiming everything was false. He had labeled the items 1 and 2, though he wonders if it would’ve been better to have Azuma open the backup gift first. His thumbs twiddle as he watches the older man open the first packet, but it’s his gasp that has him finally meeting his eyes. Sakuya can see the tears forming and he all but launches himself to hug Azuma when he hears him ask:

“Do you really mean it?”

 Sakuya and Azuma both cry. A lot. The whole company is happy for them and they begin festivities anew

Not being sure if Azuma would accept, Sakuya hadn’t told his family yet. Azuma goes with him and though it’s uncomfortable and a bit dramatic, the end result’s a success for them

Sakuya and Azuma finally spend New Year’s happily with family

When Azuma takes Sakuya to visit his family’s graves, Sakuya shows the utmost respect

He introduces himself and refers to Azuma’s parents and older brother as “Grandparents” and “Uncle”

He thanks them for giving birth to Azuma and tells them about how amazing Azuma is and how proud he is to be able to officially call him “Father”

He asks that they kindly look upon him as a grandchild and nephew, and that he will do his best to uphold the Yukishiro name

Azuma sobs

Sakuya does feel a little guilty about leaving his family, but he’s much happier with Azuma

Family photo albums

Just Sakuya and Azuma being happy because they finally have a permanent family again

[writingwhimsey]

The Tiger and the Oda Princess Ch. 15

A/N: There is some strong language in this one as childbirth is painful

Chapter 15

"Uh...did...did my water just break?"

"Yes, yes it did. Let's get going." Asuna answered.

"So...the baby is coming?" Yukimura asked, sounding almost scared.

"Not necessarily right now." Asuna answered. "Ava's labor has started. There could still be hours to go."

"Okay, while I do not want to give birth right here, please don't say that I still have hours?" I replied.

"Sorry, but it's the truth." Asuna answered.

It was then that I felt another contraction. I sucked in a breath.

Asuna placed an arm around me and helped to support me. "Yukimura, come over here to Ava's other side." She ordered, remaining perfectly calm.

Yukimura nodded and came over to my other side, wrapping an arm around me. "We've got you, Ava." He said.

I looked at him. "You being nice?" I asked, my teeth slowly unclenching as the contraction ended.

"I really don't want Asuna hitting me again." He replied.

"Alright, let's get going. One step at a time." Asuna said. She was then looking to my guards. "I need one of you to go on ahead to the castle. Alert the maids to get the birthing room ready. Also let Lord Shingen know."

"Right." The guards replied. Then one of them quickly ran off ahead to the castle, while the rest of them stayed with us.

With Yukimura and Asuna supporting me, we slowly worked our way back to the castle. I had no idea how long this was going to be, but it definitely felt like I was in for a long day and night.

Shingen...

Shingen sat in his council room with Nobunaga and his entourage, Sasuke and Kenshin. Sasuke was of course on high alert, waiting to intervene if any fighting threatened to break out. Everyone seemed to actually be remaining calm however, none of them wanting to break their promise to Ava.

The group was looking over a map, marking places on it and discussing where they should be looking next for Motonari. "I have my Mitsumono in every port in the country and no one has seen a sign of him yet." Shingen explained.

"All of my informants are coming up with nothing as well." Mitsuhide spoke.

"He could be on any of these islands or not even in this country." Nobunaga declared.

"He's a smart one, so my bet would be he's not even in this land anywhere." Shingen agreed.

"Has anyone checked here?" Kenshin asked, gesturing on the map to a small island that was mostly known to be uninhabited.

"I've sent scouts, but no one has been able to find any trace of him." Nobunaga answered.

"He's a slippery bastard." Shingen said, the anger clear in his voice. He would never get over Ava's kidnapping or the fact that he had been so easily fooled.

"We should be increasing troop presence throughout the land." Hideyoshi said. "Have our eyes everywhere and be ready to defend the people. We never know what he could be planning."

They were all going into deep discussion on what their next moves should be, when one of the guards Shingen had sent with Ava came rushing in the room. He looked frazzled and appeared to be out of breath. Everyone's eyes shot up.

"Forgive me...for interrupting...my lord." He said with a bow.

Shingen was instantly on his feet. "What is it? Is Ava..."

The man panted but shook his head. "She is safe..." He assured. "They are on their way back...Asuna said...Lady Ava's...labor has...started."

Shingen's eyes widened. "The baby is coming?"

The guard nodded. He had finally caught his breath. "Yes, my lord. Asuna and Lord Yukimura were helping her back. They sent me ahead to let everyone know and to alert the maids to get the birthing room ready."

Without a word, Shingen was exiting the council room. He headed to the birthing room first, Otsuna was leading the mother maids in preparations. "Have they not made it back yet?" Shingen asked.

"Not yet, my lord." Otsuna answered.

Shingen could see the excitement in the woman's eyes. Though all he could feel was anxiousness. He wanted to see Ava and know she was alright. "Thank you." He said. He was then turning to head out to find Ava.

He had made it to the entrance of the palace when Ava was coming in. Asuna and Yuki were on either side of her, supporting her.

Ava...

It felt like it took forever to reach the palace, but we finally made it. As soon as we got inside, I was hit by another contraction. "Ah!" I cried out and grit my teeth, waiting out the wave of pain.

"Ava."

I looked up at the sound of Shingen's voice. He was rushing over to us. He easily pulled me from Asuna and Yukimura, sweeping me up into his strong arms to carry me. "Shin...gen." I managed to get out through my clenched teeth.

"Alright, we need to get her to the birthing room." Asuna declared.

"I've got you." Shingen told me, giving me a light kiss on m forehead. He was then walking off, heading to the birthing room.

The contraction eased up and I finally released the breath I had been holding in. We reached the birthing room and Shingen sat me down on the futon that had been laid out for me. Otsuna and a few of the other maids were waiting with all sorts of different items around the room that might be needed.

"Don't you worry about a thing Lord Shingen, we'll all take good care of Lady Ava." Otsuna assured him.

"She is in good hands." Asuna replied. "That is why you called me here, after all."

"Are you all trying to shoo me out?" Shingen asked.

"There's really nothing you can do, my lord." Asuna said.

"Oh he is not allowed to go anywhere." I said, reaching for Shingen's hand.

Shingen smiled at me, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. "Of course I won't leave your side, my angel." He told me.

Asuna sighed. "Alright, but you better do everything I say and stay out of my way." She told him.

Shingen nodded. "Of course."

"Alright, then sit back behind Ava." She instructed. Shingen complied. Then Asuna was looking at me. "Alright, lean back and let me examine you. I need to see where you are." She instructed.

I nodded and leaned back against Shingen. Asuna lifted my dress and performed her examination. "Alright, based on what I can see and from how far apart your labor pains are, there's still hours to go."

It was then that I felt my muscles tighten painfully in yet another contraction. "Oh...that...is not...dammit!" I shouted as the pain racked my body.

"I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but it is the truth." Asuna replied.

Shingen was placing his hands on my shoulders and gently massaging. "I am sorry, my love." He told me.

I couldn't respond, my brain not wanting to form a coherent thought as the pain continued. Finally the contraction subsided and I felt myself sink further back into Shingen's arms, my head resting against his chest.

Asuna was bringing over a cup of tea. "Here try this. It is an herbal tea I have been corresponding with Lord Ieyasu on to make to try to help ease your pain."

"Alright." I said, willing to try anything.

Otsuna was then coming over and setting a bowl of water and a rag close by. Shingen reached for the rag and was dampening it before dabbing at my forehead and neck. I turned my head to look up at him and he gave me a smile before kissing my forehead. "You're doing amazing, my love." He told me. Though I could see the concern in his eyes. "Anything you need, just say the word."

"Thank you." I replied.

"Try and rest as much as you can between the pains." Asuna told me. "And remember to breathe through the pains."

"I don't...see how that's...going to work." I responded, already beginning to feel breathless.

Asuna sighed. "I'm just instructing you as your midwife."

Shingen continued to sit, holding me, and dabbing my forehead and neck with the cool rag, wiping away the sweat that was forming. My hair was now about shoulder length and had already been swept up into a loose pony tail to try and keep it off of my neck.

"I'm so...tired." I said.

"Try to rest as much as you can, my angel." Shingen told me, his voice oh so tender.

"Probably not happening." I replied.

I felt his hand rub up and down my arm in a sympathetic gesture. "I know. I am sorry." He told me, kissing the top of my head.

Before I could say anything else, another contraction was hitting me. "Gah!"

"Ava, breathe." Asuna said as she came to kneel in front of me. She placed her hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look at her. "Come on, heehee, hooo...heehee hooo." She instructed me, trying to lead me through the breathing exercises we has been practicing over the last few weeks.

"Heehee...HOOOO...IT'S NOT WORKING! IT'S BULLSHIT!" I found myself shouting.

Asuna gave me a somewhat sympathetic look. "Let it out."

"OH...JUST HELL!" I shouted as the pain got stronger before finally letting up. I sank back into Shingen once again. I looked at Asuna. "How much longer...before I start feeling...the effects of that tea?" I asked.

"You should have already started." She replied.

"Dammit." I groaned. I should have known. The pain of childbirth was something we still couldn't fully escape in my time even. Though from what I understood an epidural significantly dulled it.

"I'm sorry Ava." Asuna replied.

"Is there anything more we can do?" Shingen asked.

Asuna shook her head. "Ava, you want to try moving around? Sometimes other positions are more comfortable. I have also found that movement almost seems like it speeds up the process."

"I'll try anything." I replied.

With Shingen and Asuna's help I moved from sitting to being on my hands and knees. I stayed there for a few moments before moving to just being on my knees. I reached for Shingen who quickly moved to kneel down in front of me, placing his hands gently on my hips. I held onto his shoulders.

Shingen leaned his forehead against mine. He gave me an encouraging smile. "You're amazing, Ava." He told me.

"I don't feel particularly amazing." I replied. I knew he was trying to be sweet, but I was in so much pain and felt so tired that I just couldn't appreciate it.

"That doesn't change the fact that you are." He told me.

"You know...this is your fault." I told him. "Because you're too good in bed."

He gave me a smile. "Would you rather I wasn't?"

"Shut up." I replied.

Shingen lightly chuckled and then kissed my forehead.

I was hit by another contraction. "Gah...OH HOLY...FUCK!" I shouted, my head falling to Shingen's shoulder, the contraction I felt more intense than any of the others so far.

Shingen seemed to be surprised by my cursing, but didn't say anything.

Finally my contraction eased up and I was panting once again. I looked up to meet Shingen's eyes. "Shingen..."

"Yes, my love?" He asked.

"You can have the next one." I told him.

"If I could, I would gladly go through this pain for you." He told me, lifting a hand to stroke my cheek. "I'd do anything if it meant to keep you from suffering."

I buried my face against his chest as the tears came to my eyes. I could tell he actually meant it. I felt his hand come up to stroke my hair lovingly.

"Wow, normally by this point the mothers are screaming that they're never letting a man touch them again." Asuna said. "Should have known you two would be the exception."

"There's still plenty of time." Otsuna said. "But then again most of the time the fathers are staying far away until after the birth."

"Yes you two are quite unusual." Asuna agreed.

"It's not unusual...where I come from...for the fathers to be...in the room." I replied.

Asuna was looking towards the door of the room then. She let out a sigh. "I need to step out for a moment. I'll be right back." She said.

Outside the birthing room...

"Gah...OH HOLY...FUCK!"

"Did you hear that?" Hideyoshi asked, his eyes widening in surprise.

"I never thought I'd hear those words from our little seamstress." Mitsuhide agreed.

"My question is where's the tiger?" Masamune said. "I figured he'd be out here stuck to the door, waiting."

"Yes, it is unusual that he wouldn't be close to Ava." Nobunaga agreed.

"He's inside." Kenshin said.

The Azuchi warlords looked at the Dragon of Echigo. "What?"

"He's in the room with her." Kenshin replied. "It's the only explanation."

"Yeah, as soon as we walked in with Ava, he was picking her up and carrying her in there." Yukimura spoke up. "He hasn't left her side since. I'm pretty sure that I heard Asuna and Otsuna try to make him leave, but Ava wanted him to stay."

"And Lord Shingen would never leave Ava's side if she wanted him there for her." Sasuke added.

"How unusual." Nobunaga observed.

"It's not that unusual...where Ava and I are from anyways." Sasuke stated. "It's actually quite common for the fathers-to-be to be in the room with their wives as a support person."

the door to the birthing room slid open and shut just then. Asuna had stepped out. "Just what are you all doing here?" She asked.

"How is Ava doing?" Nobunaga was the first one to ask.

"As well as any woman giving birth can be." She answered.

"Is it normal...for her to be in so much pain?" Hideyoshi asked. "I've never heard such language from her before."

"Yes no matter how angry or upset she was, she's never cursed so before." Nobunaga agreed.

"Unfortunately yes, this is normal." Asuna answered.

"Can we see the lass?" Masamune asked.

Asuna shook her head. "Nope. I doubt she wants an audience. Besides, there's still quite a ways to go before this is over."

"Does everything seem to be going okay?" Sasuke asked.

Asuna nodded. "Yes, so far everything is progressing normally."

"Is there anything we can do?" Hideyoshi asked.

Asuna shook her head. "Nope. Just wait it out. You all might want to go to your rooms or back to council. Like I said there's still quite a ways to go."

"We wait here." Nobunaga declared.

"Alright, but don't do anything to disturb Ava. This is already going to be a terribly long night for her."

Ava hours later...

It had been several hours since my labor had started and a few more since the sun had set. My contractions were closer together and becoming stronger with each one that hit. Shingen had stayed by my side the entire time. We had moved once again so that he was sitting behind me and I was leaning against him for support.

Sweat coated my body. Between the heat and the contractions, I was far too hot. I had been stripped of my clothes, partly in an effort to keep me cool and partly to make it easier for Asuna to tend to me.

Asuna was checking me once again. "Alright, looks like you're finally ready, Ava."

I was breathing heavy, feeling completely exhausted already. "You mean..."

Asuna nodded. "Yes, it's time." She and Shingen were then helping me to get into a squatting position. Shingen stayed behind me, helping to keep me supported. Asuna looked at him. "You stay there and keep like that, my lord." She instructed.

"Got it." He answered.

Asuna then looked at me. "Alright, when you feel your next labor pain Ava, you need to push."

I nodded. "Okay."

It was just moments later that the contraction hit. My body reacted and I was pushing as I cried out at the intense pain. The contraction ended and I was falling back against Shingen.

"That was great Ava." Asuna said. "Just keep doing that and your baby will be here soon."

Otsuna was kneeling by Asuna. She had everything nearby ready to assist Asuna as needed. "Yes, you are doing wonderful, my lady." Otsuna encouraged.

Another contraction hit. "G...AH!" I cried out, pushing with all my might. "FUCK!"

"Keep going." Asuna instructed.

The contraction ended and I was falling back once again. Shingen held me up in his arms, his broad chest the support at my back. He kissed my cheek. "You're doing amazing, my love."

Another contraction. "Push." Asuna instructed.

"GAH!!!!" I cried out pushing once again.

"I can see the head!" Asuna declared. "Just another push and your baby will be here!"

I was leaning back against Shingen. "Oh...I can't..do this." I whimpered.

"Yes, you can my love." Shingen told me. "You've already done the impossible for me. You're so strong. I know you can do this."

I shook my head. "No...I've changed my mind."

"Too late for that." Asuna said. "Come on Ava, you're almost there. Besides, I've seen you stop Lord Kenshin from breaking out his sword. I've seen you get in the middle of Lord Shingen and Lord Nobunaga to keep them from fighting. You can do this. You're far tougher and braver than most other woman I've met before."

"Alright..." I said, feeling encouraged by their words.

Asuna counted. "One...two...three..."

The contraction hit and I was pushing. Every bit of strength I had was put towards this final push. "AHHHH!!!" I cried out as the pain was the most intense it had been. I shut my eyes as the pain continued.

In moments, the contraction ended and the sounds of a baby crying joined my own. I fell back against Shingen and opened my eyes as Asuna was placing the baby on my chest. Tears filled my eyes as I wrapped my arms around my tiny, crying baby. A smile came to my face.

I felt Shingen's arms tighten around me as he helped me back into a sitting position. "She's as beautiful as her mother." He said and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"She's perfect." I said, unable to take my eyes from our daughter. I had never seen anyone more beautiful than my daughter nor had I felt such pure love as I did in that moment looking at her tiny perfect little face. I couldn't stop the tears that flowed. This was the happiest moment of my life.

[jjuzoir]

Itaru and Yuki with a cosplayer S/O!

A/N: this wasn’t requested but i had to write something to pump myself up;; so here it is 💆‍♀️

➥ Itaru:

- He’s easily the most excited of the two about your hobby! The minute he finds out you cosplay he’s fallen 4 layers deeper in love with you.

- He’s always wanted to cosplay, but his work and gaming never gave him much time; so when he finds out you do he’s !! ecstatic !!

- Especially when he figures out you cosplay one of his favorite characters, he’s so excited when you show him a picture and he asks you to cosplay it with him asap.

- “It was one of my first cosplays,” you explained it wasn’t the best but he shut you up and kissed you, he’s so excited and proud like you did that? Amazing. Better than the stage play adaptation.

- “It looks amazing, you look just like them too,” he’s gushing about how good it looks- you two end up talking about the details and how you could better it. He’s so excited, he’s pulling up official art and cards he’s got- he’s been waiting for this.

- Would 100% offer to buy you materials, like he’s so supportive of it? And he’s got the money; who are you to say no?

- Please, please offer him to make a couple cosplay he’s too embarrassed to ask but if you do he’s gonna be so excited. Be careful because he may get a bit too into it.

- Like, you know how happy he was with that video game-rpg style play the Spring troupe did? Imagine that but now he’s doing it with you? He’s so happy he’s willing to sew with you :’) He’s ordered everything, wigs and fabric, props and shoes; Sakyo wants to complain but it’s Itaru’s money so he really can’t.

- Once the cosplay is done he’ll be taking pictures of the two of you; he'll make them his home screen.

- Also would drive you to your cons, he wouldn’t complain a bit because he gets to cosplay with you and spend time in a place he likes? Hell fucking yes!

- Doesn’t matter what sort of cosplay you do, if it’s rather short or sexy, or a cute one from a romance shoujo; he’ll support you 100% because it’s your hobby and it makes you happy.

- He will be protective of you and keep you away from creeps~ Might not be very athletic but he’s learned a few good swings from playing Wii Tenis!

➥ Yuki:

- Another super supportive boy, but unlike Itaru he likes it because of the process of making the cosplay? The whole process of dressing up as a character, the references and new takes you can come up with, not to mention the community surrounding it all!

- He’s surprised by all types of cosplays you do but he’s even more excited when you show him any dress/cutesy cosplay you’ve made/worn. He gets super excited and starts blabbering on and on about the techniques and fabrics, he compares the official art to the finished piece and asks questions and he’s just so happy and he’s enjoying this so much!

- Even if he can’t support you financially like Itaru, he’d offer to help you make the pieces!

- If it’s an anime he’d be willing to have it play in the back while you two sew! Would make comments about other characters and their outfits, he likes seeing how the costumes look in the world they come from too; it’s one thing to see it on you in the real world but it’s different seeing it on the screen.

- Yuki wouldn’t mind cosplaying with you! I think he’d find the experience to be interesting, to work with reference and dress up like a character is cool!

- (Please cosplay a magical girl anime with him, please. For me and you.)

- Whenever he feels like the workload of making costumes for the Mankai company is too much he works with you on your cosplays, it’s different because the costumes for the company have certain limits (budget and practicality for when they’re being used on stage) that working with you and your cosplans don’t.

- “It’s nice to make stuff like this for fun again, you know?”

- Loves going fabric shopping with you, and if you tend to buy your cosplays he’s willing to help you find stuff to stylize it and make it more you. He has a whole box filled with pearls, ribbons, extra lace, etc. just for you.

- He’d let you put makeup on him and practice the different styles you need, he’s not about that whole toxic masculinity. Boys can wear makeup too, bitch. He lives being able to out on your wigs with the makeup, might say he makes a better cosplayer than you as a joke.

- Would go with you to cons, maybe not always in cosplay but he’d still go with you and that’s what matters.

- Gets super protective of you whenever you wear more revealing cosplays; he might not be the most physically intimidating guy but he will chew anyone out if they even look at you and make you uncomfortable.

[bluecoloreddreams]

(Disclaimer: this contains spoilers for the Fruits Basket and Fruits Basket: Another manga, as well as taking into consideration tidbits from Takaya’s twitter.) 

So, okay, first of all we have to address the YMMV aspect: Some people don’t like this ship. As long as they’re respectful, I have no beef with that. I’m well aware that some people cannot/choose not to make the distinction between “real life” and “fiction”— I have the luxury of this choice, so some of the “problematic” ships/character aspects within Furuba don’t bother me (for the most part). It’s fiction, and I’m aware of this.  

Again, some people cannot/do not make this distinction, and that’s none of my business because that’s their personal life. I’m aware that people dislike aspects of Akigure, and that’s fine. 

Personally? I’ve been reading Furuba since like, basically the dawn of time. I was reading scans on, like,  MSN groups. I remember a friend at church (of all places) telling me about the Akito reveal because I was behind on updates. It’s literally engrained upon my shipping heart at this point. 

(Headcanons ahoy! Like literally, this is all headcanon/my perspective on the series as a whole. YMMV/YKINMK/Dead Dove, the whole works, if you know you know

YES I wrote it like it’s an actual research paper because I have No Chill At All, please forgive me. It’s long and pretty rambling.) 

Addressing the first elephant in the room: Given my limited interactions with the fandom, my impression of Akigure from a generalized fan POV is that it’s pretty divisive. Every episode she comes up there are “I hate this kid” comments and I cry

Akito is a favorite of mine, and it’s impossible for anime-only’s to make a deep, informed call on her character. On the other hand, a lot of manga-readers dislike her too. 

So, why am I talking about whether or not people like Akito as a character? 

I’m of the opinion that it impacts people’s ability to view her character arc as one that deserves a happy ending. That she doesn’t deserve to have love, happiness, or forgiveness, all of which are given to her when she and Shigure finally end up together on equal footing. (Do I think the way it’s rushed in the original Furuba ending? Yeah, but hey. Sensei had like a huge ensemble cast to wrap ends on. Now there’s Furubana to look to and it’s just chef’s kiss.)

There’s a mental aspect in this, involving the dichotomy between “reality” and “fiction”. 

There is absolutely zero argument that are a lot of things that Akito does that uh, listen, if it was IRL she’d be in jail! Jail for terror baby! Jail for life! 

Fortunately, Fruits Basket is a work of fiction. These characters aren’t real, they’re idealized brushstrokes of human nature created to move a plot and a message along. 

That’s why Akito and Shigure work as a couple and as characters: 

They’re both incredibly deep characters that get passed off as one-dimensional by a lot of people (and the original anime, woof). Some of it is again, because anime-only fans just don’t have the whole story, since Akito’s arc is one that builds gradually until it hits a point where all hell breaks loose, which we are a ways away from. 

So what’s the message that their relationship and characters are supposed to pass on? 

Well, it breaks down into two categories: world building and thematic arcs. The latter is more important and what I’ll be focusing on, while the former is just a little spice that I, personally enjoy, and won’t really talk about in depth. (It’s that the magical realism in Furuba sets up the idea of soulmates, it’s just…. Something I enjoy and it’s really heacanony, so I can’t really justify spending more words on it!) 

When discussing Fruits Baskets in any capacity, I feel like we must first keep in mind the thematic “lessons” of the series: 

There is an inherent loneliness in living as a human being, since loss, grief, and hurt are indelible parts of the human experience, and learning to cope with these feelings in a compassionate manner is a life-long lesson 

People react differently to the loneliness of existence, and their reactions are based upon their personalities, their upbringings, and their own choices 

Everyone is capable of change and learning, if they choose to do so, however: 

Personal agency is taught, but in the vacuum of positive reinforcement, the ability of a person to choose to be compassionate is stifled or outright inaccessible

Therefore, if you are not taught to deal with your grief and existence outside of others, your ability to connect may become warped, manipulative, or abusive, and this is not the fault of the child but instead the parental figure 

Eventually, you will be aware of your actions, and then it is your burden to choose—some people do not take this choice (the head maid, Ren, Kyo’s bio dad, Rin’s parents, Sawa’s mother in Furubana)  

Abuse has long lasting effects on the psyche and can be physical, emotional, and/or mental in nature and must be dealt with in order to grow as a person

“Dealt with” does not mean that it goes away, but that it is acknowledged and given a positive outlet (Yuki’s garden, Aaya’s shop, Rin’s art, Momiji’s violin playing)

Forgiveness is not linear

Forgiving yourself is a long and arduous process, and happens independent of other people’s forgiveness

This is really brought to the forefront in Fruits Basket: Another, when Shiki talks about how his mother interacts with the rest of the Sohma family. It’s shown she’s done what she can to make amends, but recognizes that while she can individually hold relationships with certain family members, as a whole, it's best if she allows them to be away from her. 

This is a whole tangent on its own, but there’s a certain blanket of casual forgiveness given to Akito by the entirety of the shown Zodiac in Furubana, in that they trust that she’s raised a kind and thoughtful son and allow him the grace of his own family. 

Again, in Takaya’s tweets post-series that acknowledges that Akito’s friends with Uo-chan, despite her relationship with Kureno (and it shows a depth of awareness on Kureno’s part that he stays away

People flourish in environments where love and positive reinforcement is given freely, even when people are in the wrong

This doesn’t mean that no one is ever scolded: see Komaki and Kakeru, Kisa and Hiro, Hatori chews out Shigure all the time, but never ceases being his confidant 

So okay, that’s A Lot. But every single character in Furuba follows these themes in their own manner, because the series is about healing and learning how to heal from abuse, neglect, and isolation. Someone’s gonna have to be doing it. Point blank, the end, to tell a story there must be conflict, and boy howdy, there’s a lot of conflict in Furuba. Every personal thematic arc in the series ends up tying into a romantic one, because Furuba is a romcom drama. 

There’s a loop that goes “personal betterment”->”crush”/”friendship”->”conflict”->”personal growth”/”relationship growth” in the series for every character. That’s the bread and butter of Furuba. 

But anyway. To the question: 

I love them because they work, they’re both their own people with their own narrative focuses, motivations, conflicts, and flaws. Both Shigure and Akito are believable in their own right in the context of Furuba, and I think Takaya did wonderfully in crafting a story where their personalities mesh well and give each other reasons to better themselves.

To talk about them together, you have to talk about them separately. 

I’m gonna start with Shigure because, truthfully? 

I just want to lament about how often he’s simply passed off as either comic relief or absolute trash. He’s so underestimated! 

“He’s a joke of a grown man… He is reliable and I trust him.” (Another, v. 3)

He’s incredibly intelligent when it comes to interpersonal relationships, which is why he’s able to do what he does. He’s also incredibly kind—no one made him take in Yuki or Kyo or Tohru. He could have just went “ah, I’d prefer not to” and moved on. But he didn’t, made up some bullshit so Haru would feel like taking in Yuki was a transaction, and let me just tell you, I am the same age as Shigure and if you gave ME three teenagers to be the guardian of?! It would be a full on disaster.

He’s actually incredibly trustworthy (if he wants to be), insightful, and a genuinely good guardian despite his jokes and wisecracking. 

He forced Kyo to go back to school, knowing full well it would be good for him. He lets a whole host of children run rampant through his home. Kids who actually enjoy his presence. He’s shown as having a good familial relationship with Rin (who tries to warp that for her own means), Kisa, Haru, and Momiji. His advice to Tohru is genuine, insightful, and ridiculously helpful. 

Shigure is good with people. He gets up at the crack of dawn to drive Shiki to see Sawa in Furubana. He’s who Mutsuki and Hajime immediately go “holy shit you need to do something about this” to when they find out Shiki’s getting nasty notes about Akito. He’s who Shiki goes to when Sawa fell down the stairs as a child. As much as Shiki and the others make fun of Shigure, he’s obviously someone who’s trustworthy. And that’s not some new development, he’s always been trustworthy in regards to those he loves. No one asked him to show up to Tohru’s teacher conference, he volunteered. Like this dude loves people, he’s the dog spirit after all, and rightly so. 

Does he have his own motivations? Of course! But so does everyone else in Furuba. He’s a complex character, man! 

He laughs and jokes a lot because he’s projecting this image of a laid back, doofus. When you think about who he’s friends with, the whole middling goofball act makes a lot of sense. Just like some of Ayame’s over the top behavior is a defense mechanism, I believe that Shigure casts himself as a generally unappealing man to keep himself safe from advances when he was in school, but also to temper the wildly unequal personalities of his other two friends. He’s the sort of person who would just go “eh, whatever makes it easy”, and that’s just how he is. 

He doesn’t mean the creepy school girl thing, it’s a bit and I think the only people who don’t realize he’s running a bit are Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru who are absolutely too stupid to realize he’s playing them for reactions. He thinks it’s funny. 

Anyway:

When the older Zodiac had the dream of Shigure, Shigure is the only one who made the active choice to seek out that feeling. His soul was touched, and he decided that he wanted that and only that. This doesn’t necessarily mean he went full Jacob from Breaking Dawn, but it does mean he acknowledged there was a bond, and he wanted it. 

When you get into the technicalities of the curse, it’s mentioned that their Zodiac spirits influence how they interact with Akito, and that going against her can cause physical and emotional pain. Yuki cries when meeting her, and it’s mentioned that that’s just the normal reaction for the Zodiacs. 

It’s hard to say how much of their early interactions are influenced by the curse, but it’s obvious that Shigure has genuine fondness for her. She wasn’t always absolutely broken, as shown in Yuki’s backstory, and was a precocious child, one who sought affection openly. 

Shigure has an indulgent personality, and is shown to love being adored. Guess who loves him! Akito! Guess who wants lots and lots of affection! Akito! 

Their personalities are very well matched as they get older: They’re both intelligent and coy. They both have fairly sharp tongues when needed, and have no qualms about doing whatever it takes to get what they want. 

Shigure wants Akito to be independent from the curse. He’s made it clear to her he doesn’t want to be her father, he doesn’t want to be her friend, he wants to be her lover. Those are boundaries that Akito’s never been given before, and his frankness with her and his jealousy with Kureno is something she agonizes over, simply because she’s never been given any sort of serious interpersonal boundaries, or repercussions for her actions. He’s always kept himself separate from her, because of those boundaries, even when they were children. 

That’s important. It opens the door to the idea that her actions have consequences, and is a persistent nagging in the back of her mind. 

“Even though you hadn’t realized it, I was waiting for that day.” (ch 101)

For the bulk of the series, the only person who sees Akito as a person separate from the curse, and sees a future where she can grow is Akito. He has an extraordinary amount of patience for her, and forgives her for a lot. 

There are only two incidents that Shigure cannot forgive: Her sleeping with Kureno, and at the very end of the series, I’m of the full opinion that if Akito had pushed Tohru off the cliff, Shigure would have been done with her. Look at that expression, that is the look of someone who is toeing the line of throwing away all his hopes and dreams. If she really had pushed Tohru, I just...... The series would have taken a much darker tone. 

OKAY that’s enough about our favorite terrible author! (Okay, an aside, Shigure, please share your work ethic, you goof off so much but you’ve published so many things…how…)  

ONTO AKITO! 

“I’ve  finally realized… she hated her own shallowness all this time, from the very start.” // “It’s frightening because you have no choices.” (ch 121) 

A lot of people dislike Akito because she, for the bulk of the manga, is violent, manipulative and just downright unpleasant. And that’s fine, but it’s not the point of her arc or the themes of the manga.  (It is, however, the point of Rin’s: you don’t have to forgive everyone.) 

She’s not the only violent person in the series. If we as readers can forgive Uo-chan and Kyoko, or even Hana-chan for her moment of violence, why can we not extend the same grace to Akito? 

Violence is often shown as a knee-jerk reaction to fear and sadness: Kyoko, Uo, Hana, Kyo, Rin, and Akito all react violently to negative situations and feelings. Even Kisa reacts violently when she’s at her worst, biting both Haru and Tohru when she’s in her tiger form, which is shown to actually cause pain like a real tiger would. (It’s played for laughs, but has anyone been bitten for realsies by a house cat? That hurts! How much more would a house-cat sized tiger hurt!!!) 

Out of all of them, Hanajima and Kisa are the only characters to show immediate remorse, because they have what the others don’t: A positive support system. Once positive role models and support systems are in place, all of the others begin to learn how to react differently and ease out of the knee-jerk reactions that were ingrained in them. 

It’s made explicit in the manga that you have to be taught how to react positively, you have to learn and choose to be good, to be friendly, to love yourself outside of others’ perceptions of yourself. Look at Yuki’s arc. Look at Uo-chan’s. Kyoko’s. 

Yuki sums it up nicely in the last chapter of the manga, where he tells Tohru that she taught the Zodiac how to become human. She allows them to grow into people who can make the choice to be loving, compassionate individuals. 

Just because Akito doesn’t interact positively with Tohru for the bulk of the manga, it doesn’t make it any less true: 

Akito is kept in a juvenile state of being: No one teaches her to suck it up, that the world exists outside of herself, that other people are people and not things. In fact, she’s actively encouraged to act the way she does. She’s incredibly broken, between the maids of the Sohma estate just… allowing her to do whatever the fuck she wants and her absolutely jacked up relationship with Ren and Akira. She has no moral compass at all. No one bothers to teach her that her actions have serious consequences. 

She knows, in a roundabout way that hey, these people don’t like me. There’s a serious mental dissonance between what she latently knows—these are all people with no connection to her other than the bond of the curse. This is why Tohru is able to break through to her at the climax of the manga: 

She knows she’s wrong, but no one has ever told her she’s wrong but understood why she’s doing it. Akito just didn’t have the words to explain herself. What do children do when they cannot communicate? They lash out. Kids will bite, scratch, yell, kick, fall to the floor and have screaming tantrums out of frustration. Eventually, most kids learn that there are other ways to express frustration, and move along. (Not all, though, but most.)

Akito was taught that this is acceptable, allowable, and is her right as god. She is actively broken and kept that way through the neglect of the Sohma family maids, Ren’s abuse, and how Akira framed her role in the Zodiac. 

I can go on and on and on and on why the way Akito was treated for her role in the Zodiac by her parents and the rest of the Sohma estate was just awful. I hate it, it’s terrible, she never had a chance to learn and grow and be the genuinely thoughtful woman we know she grows into. 

She doesn’t force her path of forgiveness onto others and is fully cognizant of what she did, the repercussions of her actions, and lives her entire life after the curse breaks trying to right what she did wrong. 

“Even if she gets hurt, she says she deserves it. She tells me not to let it bother me, but… I’ve always, always loved her so much.” (Another, ch. 13) 

Tohru opens the door for Akito. She extends her hand, offers her friendship despite having seen the absolute worst of Akito. She tells Akito that everyone is lonely, everyone wants bonds, and acknowledges Akito’s worst fears, that Akito herself is selfish and dirty for wanting something assured and unending because she, Tohru, herself is dirty and selfish. Tohru knows what Akito has done, knows she’s injured some of her beloved friends, had plans to lock up Kyo, hurt Hatori. 

Tohru still forgives her. One of Tohru’s striking traits in the manga is that she is suffering, every day, she struggles with the grief of losing her mother and the fear of being alone in the world. Through nothing but her own empathy and realization that loneliness is universal, she’s able to forgive people. She forgives Akito and cares for her, and through Tohru, Akito is introduced to the realization that she’s been wrong and that maybe, she shouldn’t be forgiven. 

Shigure also forgives her, and this is the crux of their ship. 

To me, that itself is wildly important. 

They’ve always circled around each other, and Shigure has always been waiting for Akito to be able to come to him again, in full control of her life and choices. He wants Akito the woman, not Akito the god. 

He’s been waiting for the day Akito can meet him as an equal. Akito wants it too, and has wanted him to turn and see her for a very very long time. But she’s been terrified, the entire time, that when he does see her as herself, Shigure won’t like what he sees, and will leave. She’s aware of what she’s done post-curse, she’s aware of the impacts it will have on the former Zodiac members, and she’s aware that once the “bonds” of god and the animals is gone, there may not be anyone left for her.

Neither of them are under any illusions at the end of the series: Akito knows she has to atone for what she did, Shigure knows she has to learn to grow into a person who can function alone. They both know that there are people who are against them changing the oppressive structure of the Sohma family. 

Neither of them care. There are things that they want, together, and it’s enough. There’s a whole new world for them to explore and learn about. And in Furubana, this is shown to be a lifelong effort on their parts: 

“She said after meeting me, she learned so many things for the first time. She smiled happily as she said it.” (Another, #13) 

To close, I’d like to take a moment to talk about the curse and Shigure, and how he set things in motion. 

Without Shigure, the curse would have devolved on its own, yes, but the circumstances would not have allowed for the freedom the Zodiac had at the end of the manga. It would not have ended with Akito being able to learn and live freely. Allowing Tohru into the Sohma family cracked open a door to compassion and kindness none of them had ever experienced before, because the Sohma family seems to exist in a vacuum of stability and love. 

It wasn’t that Shigure knew instantly that Tohru was kind and loving and thoughtful, if anything, his read on her was “completely normal, albeit strange, teenage girl who obviously has a rough life”. But she was normal, she was from outside the Sohmas, and he knew that was enough. No one in the family was stepping up to change the status quo and how stifling and abusive it was, so he did it himself. 

He did it because he loved Akito. 

Not because he felt bad for himself, or Hatori, or any of the others, but merely because he loved her to the point of manipulation. It backfired in his face, because he got a big ol’ dose of “loving and respecting” juice from Tohru, but he still got the end he wanted. 

What I mean to say is best summarized in  chapter 123: 

“It would be nice to live in a kind world, without any troubles, without any fear, without hurting anybody, without ever being hurt, only doing the right thing. I wish I could reach this kind world by the shortest path possible. … “That’s wrong”, or “that’s stupid”: If it’s someone else’s life it’s so easy to make such irresponsible comments. ...It would be great, but it doesn’t exist. … Little by little, walking one step at a time, is all you can do.” 

We get to experience the roughest part of the path with Akito and Shigure, we got to watch them be terrible people who were lonely and in want of love struggle and learn how to get up and move on. 

They tease each other, Shigure is thoughtful of the distinction between “the person Akito was raised to be” and “the person who Akito is”. He’s seen her at her messiest, and she’s seen him at his most jealous. They still chose each other, despite the hurt they caused each other, and others. They make up for it, reflect, and live a life that demonstrates that they have learned. They have friends who are thoughtful and loving and would not hesitate to drop everything and help them, lend an ear when they’re frustrated, help them not to make the same mistakes. 

And then we get to see them be wonderful, kind, thoughtful, loving parents in Furubana. 

We got to see their adorable, kind, compassionate child be friends with the children of the people Akito hurt, because everyone in the former Zodiac’s family collectively decided “never again, no”. 

Their child adores them. Shiki in Furubana #13 radiates love for Akito and Shigure the same way Mutsuki and Hajime do. 

They are genuinely good parents, even when they tease Shiki, and I think that is testament for how good they are for each other and how much they’ve changed as adults. 

I think that’s enough of a reason to ship them, don’t you?