#they're so bad for each other because both of them are in such DEEP COPIUM ALL THE TIME

[mara-phelion]

have we ever considered that nightowl and onionthief have the makings of two Bitter Exes

doing nightowl's route and seeing the way onion acted towards both us and him felt so...telling. like it's not even them being in a full romantic relationship, any kind would've sufficed, but everyone can see an unmistakeable tension

let me paint you a picture: two grad students who like the same web novel. so different, yet one always balances out the other

emotion and logic, the sun and the moon—two people who are at incredible parallels to each other that they fail to realize that they're just the sides of the same coin

onion cares in his own way, calculated and cold yet with warmth all the same. and nightowl sees that. he argues, but he sees that. until the words are too harsh, too critical, too much like his mother and her endless ways to tell him he's not enough

on the other end, nightowl is the life of the party, seriousness can be so easily pushed back in his light. and onion basks in it. he gets burnt, but he basks in it. until the sleepless nights happen and the alcohol hits, too chaotic, too vulnerable, just too much

and they break apart. who cares about what they could've been if they had only learned that they shared the same affinity for numbers? what does it matter that they both know what it's like to fear the impending doom of expectations? they're just onion and owl. too different. too much for the other to love

then here comes mc with their patience, intelligence, humor, and kindness. and just like that, old wounds open as onionthief and nightowl see exactly what they wanted and needed from the other that they never got

but mc chooses nightowl. in all his failure and broken glory, and in turn, he chooses to be better for the both of them

while onion is left to think about all the what-if's. what if he were kinder? what if he were less arrogant and cared more about him instead of being right?

left to wonder why now, why not then when it mattered just as much, not when it was him who was on nightowl's side

why he just wasn't good enough.

[borreloadsavagedragon]

Maybe Mizael and/or Takeru for the ask meme?

OH! I'll do both absolutely

MIZAEL

First impression: TERRIFIED!! He was stupidly pretty and had a dragon, I knew he would end up a favorite, but I didn’t know how MUCH of a favorite, I needed to know what his problem was dhdhdhd

Impression now: I can't even put into words how much I love Mizael sometimes omfg, he had such an impact on me and I'm a little saddened at how quickly he was removed from the story in the end I need to rewatch more of his scenes, I'm very insecure about how I write Mizael and I really want to get his voice down One day I’ll finish his cosplay wig too, if I style all of the wigs for my favorite ships, I can convince people to cosplay with me surely (copium)

Favorite moment: His introduction is wild, like both him arriving to Alito and Girag but also him challenging Yuma Miza just shows up, shoots Tori with an energy blast, and then is just like we're dueling But then COMPLETELY forgets about Yuma as soon as Kaito shows up and whips his dragon out Also love when they have their little Barian meetings where they just bicker, they're truly real housewives

Idea for a story: I always have Mizael and Kaito ideas gjdkslajg Whether they're fics or oneshots, time usually tells, but my drafts definitely have quite a few for them saved Usually lots of dragon focused ones, obsessed with the idea of Photon and Tachyon eloping and them having to just deal with it Mizael going over dragons with Haruto...

Unpopular opinion: I don't know if there is anything the small Miza community doesn't agree on honestly jgdsklaj I'll just start drama, Miza's not a natural blonde

Favorite relationship: I feel like I don’t even need to say haha, Kaito and Mizael are incredible and I am cursing Zexal forever for not giving them more time because I feel like I'm blowing out steam looking at all of the loose threads I also love how much Durbe and Mizael respect each other, there's clearly a bond there between them, wish we saw it more I also wish we could have seen more of Mizael and Nasch since you can tell Mizael revered him quite a bit-

Favorite headcanon: Mizael 100% moved in with the Tenjos!!!!!!!

TAKERU

First impression: Oh I KNEW I was gonna love him the second I saw his face omg I did the bad fan thing where I had to pull up the wiki bc the Vrains episode I was watching at the time didn't answer a really niche question I had about something someone said and the "related pages" tab on Yusaku's character page had Takeru's face on it So I had to find him I speedran my Vrains watch to get to him and boy was I rewarded

Impression now If you asked me in 2021 who my favorite yugioh was, I'd tell you Takeru Homura in a heartbeat Literally was only dethroned as my favorite by Kaito recently Takeru would be the next character I deep dive and dissect if given the chance, I just think he's so cool, I love how well done he is, I think he's one of the best done characters in the franchise His deck is fun, his design is fun, I've cosplayed both Takeru AND Soulburner now, working on slick back look one day when I don't have cosplay deadlines I just... love him, he's one of my favorite voices to write through, I always find an excuse to drabble as Takeru, whether it's something I post or not, and I am always at home when it's with him

Favorite moment: ALMOST ALL OF THEM!!! BOTH OF THE DUELS WITH REV! HIS INITIAL ENTRANCE! HIS FLASHBACK SCENES! BEING CRINGEFAIL!!! AAHHHH!!!!

Idea for a story: Oh I've got a REALLY hefty 3+1 fic that's gonna tie in with recoil week that explores all of Takeru's relationships gjdkla Here is a very small bit from the first chapter:

The first time Homura Takeru thought he fell in love, he was a young boy intimidated by a pretty girl. He doesn’t remember many of the details of how he met Kiku. It was a portion of his memories that lived in what feels like a lifetime ago, before everything had suddenly slipped out of his young grip. He just knew that he was a scared boy overwhelmed by her kindness and spirit the moment they met while he was on a trip to visit his grandparents.  It was an instant connection. Kiku had pulled on his hand and pulled him into the light, smiled and laughed with him whereas the other kids at the time hadn’t. He’d almost call it foreshadowing. Having her in his life made the sudden change of up and moving out to the country after his parents’ deaths a little easier. Within a month of moving, they were almost inseparable. And the following years as well, no matter how hard it got.

So stay tuned for that!

Unpopular opinion: I'm so sorry but I'm about to be a hater But the fact that Takeru haters even exist is really fascinating to me since most of his other counterparts are rather beloved Like he's got more fans that haters for sure, but I've seen every single one who has a think piece say "Takeru's only there to show off the card game" as if Salamangreat wasn't released in the OCG until July while Takeru has been showing off the deck since May, but I digress Yusaku's entire arc was finished in season 1, he got all of his answers, protected Ai to the very end, and was ready to move on. Yusaku just being a fix-it man for an entire second season? Would be BORING. So they needed a second voice to duo-lead, a new one with new motivations who hasn't already been shown, but could be tied back in a meaningful way. And what characters were left we knew very little about? The Ignis. What was unveiled in Season 1 about the Ignis? They're tied to six children, and we've now seen 2 of them. Also it's? Yugioh? Do you expect them NOT to show off cards and real strategies so you go spend your real life money on product? Remember Yuri randomly using an Ancient Gear deck in Arc V when the structure was starting to come out? Or most of duelist of the week duelists from GX? The animes are nothing but product placement and rule explanations (nit picking hating, but takeru's also written strangely sometimes, it's rare but some will make him way dumber or submissive than he is)

Favorite relationship: I'm a degenerate and beyond predictable And I've mentioned that I love Firestorm already, but if we're being very honest for a second, I always see it as one-sided with how Yusaku's written with Takeru,,, Like sometimes we overcome that gap and look at the potential because oh my god giving Yusaku someone like Takeru was SUCH a good idea, but I usually see it as a one-sided pining, but a VERY close friendship Yusaku in my head ALWAYS goes to Takeru's village post canon to apologize for leaving BUT I'm a degenerate, as I said about So to say I love Takeru and Ryoken's dynamic, from start to finish, is an understatement I love that they draw out the best of each other and push each other beyond their preexisting limitations as well as the shackles of their pasts I love that Ryoken respected Takeru's feelings so much that he didn't want to insult him by outright refusing the first challenge, but couldn't bring himself to duel knowing it wouldn't resolve anything I love how Soulburner accuses Revolver of not following up on that in Duel Links I fucking love "I'm so glad I met you", above all else I love finally seeing a conclusion to one of the many side rivalries, and I had a renewed appreciation for it after finishing Zexal and realizing what could have been there I also actually like how the dub handled their farewell scene, the promise of future challenges, Revolver promising to be there when they need him, the fond little chuckle

Favorite headcanon (more drug cw on this one!!) It's a weird one and it's kinda personal I guess, but I always write Takeru as sober gkdsa As a punk, I can imagine him dipping into more unsavory behaviors as a way to cope and express when he's struggling to find the next step, so when he decides to start fresh and live a new life, he cuts terrible habits like those cold turkey