#this is the AU where Akira had an arranged marriage

[lisatelramor]

The Next Step

I had really bad writer's block in June/July and it had me poking through my old WIPs. I came across this in my 'probably not going to finish' folder and figured what the hell, why not poke at it? This was intended to be the last part in the Hikaru no Go “Arrangement” series that I started waaaay back in 2012. Hahaaa. ._. Yeah. It's finally finished now, so here ya go, fic no one wanted but me because I wanted closure.

*****

It was somewhere during their fifth year of marriage, late at night in the winter with Hikaru sleeping between them that Natsume reached out to her husband and took his hand. “Akira-san.”

Akira almost asleep, rolled to look at her. “Yes?”

��I think I’m ready to have a child.”

“Already?” It seemed too soon, but in retrospect it wasn’t too soon at all following a natural progression of things. Though it was hardly a normal marriage as Hikaru’s snoring presence demonstrated.

“I am already over thirty,” Natsume explained into the dark. She curled closer into Hikaru’s warmth. “We are not getting any younger.” She smiled. “And five years is hardly ‘already’ to the rest of the world.”

“Oh.” Akira tried to see her face through the dark, but there wasn’t enough light to make out her expression or see the emotions in her eyes. He leaned back into the blankets and Hikaru’s head rolled off his pillow and onto Akira’s shoulder. “We’ll need to discuss this with Hikaru.”

“Of course.” Natsume let go of his arm, latching on to Hikaru’s side. Hikaru had less sharp angles than Akira making him the perfect pillow. “I feel it would be a good idea to have a child soon before we are too tired to raise it and our parents too old to help.”

“I will think about it,” Akira promised. Because it was the natural progression in a marriage. You had children.

*o*o*

“Kids?” Hikaru laughed nervously. “Already? I mean we’re not even thirty yet.”

“Actually, Hikaru-san, I am thirty-one,” Natsume pointed out.

“Oh. Uh…” It wasn’t that he was against the idea of children, it was just…different. And he finally felt like their dynamic worked. Wouldn’t adding another person—another very tiny, demanding, baby sort of person—going to mess with their balance?

“Hikaru, we’re in this together,” Akira said. He sipped his tea. His hair was getting long, Hikaru noted. Why was it that they drank tea whenever there were serious discussions to be had? They’d drunk two whole pots of tea when they discussed Hikaru moving in with Akira and Natsume. Most of it was consumed by Akira and Natsume. Hikaru tended to let it grow cold and swirl it around in his cup. Akira set the tea cup down. “If you aren’t ready for this step, we can wait. A child has always been in our future plans though.”

“I know.” It was something they discussed early in their relationship along with boundaries, comfort-zones, and proper use of toiletries. (Hikaru wasn’t guilty in the least for his misuse of the last one. Akira hadn’t been complaining at the time either. He was just upset about the state of the bathroom later.) “Well…it takes months for a child to be born, right? That’s plenty of time to get used to the idea.”

Natsume and Akira exchanged a look. She raised an eyebrow, he sighed. “There’s another thing,” Akira said. “About…parentage. Are you interested in your own biological children?”

“Kids? Me?!” Hikaru gaped at Natsume. “Uh, well, I kind of assumed they’d be…err…your kids, Akira since you’re married to Natsume. And, uh, I guess they’re Natsume’s kids too and all since, uh…” He trailed off blushing. It was so much harder to think of sex as creating children than just…sex. For fun and intimacy. And oh, god, Natsume would carry a tiny person in her for nine months. How weird was that? He shook his head and tried to answer honestly. “I never really thought about having kids. I guess kids are ok, but I never really felt like I had to have any of my own. Akari has a kid and that’s weird to think about, and Mom wants grandkids, but I never really planned on providing any.”

“I am not averse to having more than one child,” Natsume said. “I would actually like more than one child as in my own childhood I often would have liked a sibling for a playmate.”

Hikaru tried to wrap his head around not just one child but two or maybe more. “You know, I’m happy just being Uncle Hikaru or something. Really.”

Natsume smiled, no doubt seeing right through his bluster to his discomfort beneath, but she didn’t comment on it.  “The option is still available in the future if you want it.”

“We’re at a good point in our lives for this,” Akira assured Hikaru. “Our careers are well on their way, we’re young enough to have the energy for a child, and our parents are close enough by to help with childcare when our schedules lead to difficulties.”

Hikaru had a feeling there would be a lot of scheduling difficulties. The life of a professional Go player wasn’t as predictable as a nine to five office job. But Akira was right. As things were now, either Akira or Hikaru were usually available to be with Natsume—and therefore a future child—most days.

“Ok,” Hikaru said. “So we’re having a baby.” Right. He could get used to the idea. He drained his tea cup. “So Natsume, what now?”

“We wait.” She sipped her tea. Both the men stared as she set the cup down. “Babies don’t happen instantly.”

*o*o*

“Are you okay with this?” Akira said. They were in Natsume’s garden under the wisteria tree on its trellis. It wasn’t flowering at the moment but it had promising buds along some of the trailing vines. Akira clipped a wayward branch. Natsume was on the other end of the garden working on her flower beds as it was the first day both warm and dry enough to get a decent amount of work in. The wisteria was a foreign variety lacking fragrance, but it didn’t take years to bloom. Natsume had another native tree in the garden she was raising patiently to maturity, but for the moment they could enjoy the light purple flowers the vines produced.

“You clipped too much,” Hikaru said taking the vine from Akira. “See?” He measured empty space where the branch had been. “If you left a few more inches it would have dipped a bit rather than sticking out all weird.”

“Excuse me for not comprehending garden aesthetics.” If it stuck out noticeably, clip it. He didn’t sit through most of Hikaru and Natsume’s discussions on gardening. Actually, he still found it strange that Hikaru enjoyed gardening as it was something that took patience. “And that isn’t the issue.”

Hikaru twitched the cut branch in his hands back and forth. “Yeah. I know. I said congratulations right?”

“You looked terrified when you said it.” Akira glanced at the other end of the garden. Natsume had started in on a new row of flowers seemingly unaware of them dawdling next to the wisteria. He was willing to bet she was carefully not listening, trying to give them all the privacy they needed to have this conversation.

“I didn’t mean to be.” Hikaru sighed. “I guess I’m just nervous.”

“About what?”

“The baby!” Hikaru tossed the clipping onto the pile of weeds they’d accumulated in the last half hour of dancing around the subject. “How…I mean, what if there’s no room for me? I know it’s selfish and all but I’m really happy. I don’t want it to get complicated.”

Hikaru, Akira thought, had come a long way from dating and dumping every few months. Akira, in his more romantic moments, liked to think it was because Hikaru had finally found someone—more than one—to keep him company. In his selfish moments, he hoped it was him alone, but he knew that without Natsume they probably would have been more explosive than steady in a relationship. He set down the clippers. “You realize that having a baby won’t change what you mean to us, right?”

“I know just…the situation changes.” Hikaru flopped to the ground getting grass stains on his jeans. Akira followed more carefully. “People already gossip. Can you imagine what they’ll say?”

“Yes.” They’d talked about it before. There was always talk about him and Hikaru from the first time they were seen fighting over a Go board. It hadn’t gone away when Akira married. If anything, their relationship was the biggest open secret since Ogata’s obsession over Sai. Most people didn’t assume Natsume was part of the relationship though.

“You don’t care?”

“So long as we know the truth, I don’t feel that it matters. It is not anyone else’s business anyway.” Akira shrugged, putting his hand on Hikaru’s. Hikaru stared at their interlocked fingers as if trying to puzzle how they got like that, tangled so tight they looked like they had always been that way. “We knew things would not be easy and that not everyone in our lives would understand. Things will work out.”

“Akira, we haven’t even told our parents.”

Akira’s hand clenched around Hikaru’s reflexively. He was pretty sure his parents had an idea of what was going on, but he knew Natsume’s parents were ignorant. It wasn’t too surprising to know that Hikaru’s family also was never told.

“My mom thinks I’m seeing someone steadily but I’m just too embarrassed to bring her home.” Hikaru rested his forehead on his knees. “I think my dad suspects I’m gay and am afraid to bring home my boyfriend. He keeps making thinly veiled comments about how they’d be glad to meet whoever I’m dating no matter what they’re like. And Mom just looks at him blankly every time like she doesn’t get it. Aaagh…” His free hand scrubbed through his hair, leaving a smear of dirt on his cheek. “I don’t want to visit them anymore. What kind of awful son am I?”

Akira stroked the back of Hikaru’s hand with his thumb. “Do you think we should tell them? Our parents? We could get everything out of the way before the baby comes; set everything straight so that we won’t have to explain why you are such a large part of the pregnancy and child-rearing?”

Hikaru shrugged. “I don’t know. It might get my mom to stop poking about imposing on your home. She keeps saying I should get my own place again rather than invading your space like you and Natsume are still newlyweds.” He wrinkled his nose at the thought of Akira ever acting like newlyweds in movies. He couldn’t pull off the sickly-sweet devotion and playfully sexy. The closest to it was affectionate, and his devotion came across as almost scarily intense, like his expression across the board in a particularly exciting game of Go.

“Natsume will register her pregnancy soon,” Akira said absently. “We’ll decide once she does?”

“Sure… God, I hope that all this doesn’t explode in our faces. Like what if your parents end up hating me? Or my parents think I’m a home wrecker or a pervert or something?”

“They’re your parents,” Akira said. “Your father at least sounds accepting of you existing outside the norm. My parents, I’m sure, will be accepting of me provided I am discreet and it makes me happy. They worried when I married Natsume if they were doing the right thing suggesting that I marry. I think they will understand that in arranged marriages agreements are made by the couple to be happy while still doing their duty to their parents and each other.”

Hikaru leaned to his right, resting his head on Akira’s shoulder. “Think Natsume will tell her parents?”

“Hm.” Akira shifted so that Hikaru could lean more comfortably. “No. Her family is stricter with traditions than even my own. They could probably accept that I found a lover but I doubt they’d be comfortable with the thought of their daughter sharing a lover with her husband.”

“Damn.”

“Mm.”

Natsume waved from the flower bed, three neat rows of pansies. They were blue, purple and pale pink that would look nice contrasting the daffodils, tulips, and iris planted behind them. The greens were already up and the buds gaining color as they neared opening. She had a smudge of dirt on her face close to where Hikaru had one, making Akira smile. How many more days would he be able to enjoy this peace?

Hikaru reached out and smeared dirt on one corner of Akira’s cheek. “There. Now you match.”

“Hey!” Akira swatted Hikaru’s hands away and Natsume laughed. Akira made sure more dirt got on Hikaru’s face than on himself and turned back to gardening like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Hikaru sputtered behind him wiping dirt from his face as Natsume’s laughter filled the yard. He would probably end up filthy by the end of the day’s work, but Akira couldn’t bring himself to mind too much.

*o*o*

“Holy—” Hikaru stared at the kitchen counter and the overflow of bags on it. One seemed to be full of fat bottles of pills. The rest were full of vegetables and things he’s seen at health food stores when his mother took him shopping last time she was on a diet. “Guys? What’s all this?”

“Welcome home.” Natsume came up behind Hikaru touching his arm in greeting. He kissed her on the cheek noting her flushed face and the displacement of her blouse. Hmm. That explained why the groceries hadn’t been put away yet.

“I see you got started without me,” Hikaru said without any bitterness. He smiled over her shoulder when Akira appeared in the doorway. “So what’s with all the meds and vegetables?”

“They are vitamins and dietary supplements,” Natsume said. She took Hikaru’s hand and led him to the counter. “These ones have nutrients that help the baby grow healthily for the first few months. This bottle,” she picked up a smaller one, “is for later. We decided it was best to get them all at once. The food of course, is to ensure I am eating properly.”

“You already eat healthily,” Hikaru said. It was a bit overwhelming to see all the things going into having a baby before it was even born. He hadn’t expected it to be so complicated. Sure, once the baby was born there would be diapers and baby food and formula and who knew what else, but was having a baby such a big deal? “Do you really need all of this?”

“I suppose I do not need all of it,” Natsume said. She turned a bottle over in her hands. “But it makes me feel better. I want to do everything right.”

“Until the baby is born, it’s going to be taking nutrients it needs from Natsume, so the dietary supplements will help.” Akira started putting vegetables in the refrigerator. The nonchalance of this was offset by how his shirt was untucked. He’d probably be annoyed once he noticed it; Akira did prefer to be put together at all times.

“And the vegetables and…things?” Hikaru opened one of the bags and wrinkled his nose at the package of natto at the bottom. There were soba noodles and daikon radish in there as well.

“I hope you don’t mind a more strictly traditional diet,” Natsume said. She accepted the package of noodles from Hikaru, sliding it into the proper cupboard. “I’ll need to eat more balanced meals for the duration of my pregnancy.”

“That’s fine,” Hikaru said, feeling a little overwhelmed. He vaguely remembered Akari mentioning something about Japanese food for a Japanese baby when she was pregnant, but he hadn’t really paid too much attention to the details back then. “Uh. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Just keep doing what you’ve been doing,” Natsume said, looking amused. She patted Hikaru’s cheek as she crossed to get the last of the groceries. “If I need anything I will be sure to let you and Akira-san know.”

Hikaru looked at Akira wondering if he was the only one feeling in over his head with this. To his disappointment, Akira looked almost as amused as Natsume. “I have books that you should probably read,” Akira said. “They help.”

“Okay.” Hikaru could handle this. He could handle all of it, sure. It just was different. “Okay, I’ll…get on that soon then.”

“Oh,” Natsume said, pausing from where she was lining up bottles of prenatal vitamins. “Hikaru-san, I registered my pregnancy today. Have you thought more about talking to your parents?”

“Uh…” He hadn’t forgotten. It was hard to forget when his mother had brought up dating again when she’d called over the weekend. He’d just tried not to think too hard about it.

“I’m planning to talk to my parents the next free day we all have,” Akira said, leaning on the kitchen counter. “It’s better to have us all there.”

Hikaru stifled nervous laughter. He couldn’t imagine what sort of expression Touya Kouyo would have on his face when they told him that Hikaru had been invited into his son’s marriage. It probably wouldn’t be a good expression, but it would probably be handled more calmly than Hikaru’s mother would take it. If she was flustered enough at Hikaru moving into Akira’s home, she’d probably be scandalized to think about Hikaru in a polyamorous relationship.

“Well,” Hikaru said slowly, “I guess we can do the same thing with my parents. Um. After yours.” A bubble of hysteria made him choke of a laugh, and both Natsume and Akira looked at him curiously. Hikaru waved a hand. “It’s nothing, just… Mom thinks I have a secret girlfriend and Dad thinks I’m gay and have a boyfriend, and they’re kind of both right.”

Akira and Natsume exchanged a look. “You don’t have to talk to them about it if it makes you uncomfortable,” Natsume said. “Hikaru-san, if you think they will react badly, then there’s nothing wrong with continuing to keep quiet. You know I am not going to tell my own parents. Much as I care for them, they aren’t the most open minded people.”

“I know.” Hikaru sighed. He stared at the vitamin supplements. Natsume would be visibly pregnant soon. There would be questions, and he didn’t owe strangers any kind of response, but Hikaru didn’t like lying to people. He was kind of a terrible liar anyway. His parents would ask eventually, and honestly, he kind of wanted to be open with them about this. Akira had to want that too since he had been talking about telling his parents since they first started discussing babies. “I don’t think they’re going to be happy, but I don’t think they’d disown me for this either. I mean, they won’t understand it. They didn’t understand my interest in Go either, though, so it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve shocked and confused them. They’ll get over it.”

“We’ll be right there with you,” Natsume said, placing her hand on Hikaru’s.

“Yeah.” Hikaru smiled. “I know.” He kissed her cheek and took quiet pleasure in how her eyes lit up at a simple act of affection. He set a hand on her hip. “So,” he said changing the topic, “since when has grocery shopping become a turn on because Akira totally had his hands places right before I got here.”

Natsume’s eyes glimmered with mischief. “Only Akira-san’s hands?”

“Natsume!” Hikaru said, fake scandalized.

She laughed and across the room Akira pretended he was long suffering instead of amused by them. It was all new and strange and a little scary what they were getting into, Hikaru thought, but so long as they had this, they’d be okay.

*o*o*

Hikaru was wearing a yukata and very self-conscious in it. It wasn’t that he didn’t wear one sometimes. He wore suits regularly these days too, so formal clothing wasn’t exactly strange. But…there was a difference in wearing a yukata to a festival as a child and teenager and wearing one to his lovers’ parents’ home as an adult.

Natsume set a hand on his elbow as he fidgeted yet again on the walk toward the front door. “You’re fine. Stop fiddling with it.”

“Did we have to come dressed up? They’re definitely going to know something’s up.” Hikaru did come to the occasional family meal, but it had never been a formal occasion.

“Akiko-san said she wanted to have a formal meal,” Natsume said, looking far too calm considering what they planned to reveal at this dinner. “Usually she does one for something seasonal, but she and Kouyou-san were out of the country for most of the cherry blossom season.”

“Why didn’t I know that? I feel like I should have known that.” Hikaru pulled at his sleeve again. This time Akira stilled his hand.

“Ordinarily, we wouldn’t force you along to something formal,” Akira said. He smiled, but the slight crease between his eyebrows gave away his nerves. At least Hikaru wasn’t alone in his nervousness. “Although, you’re probably going to be invited in the future after this.”

“If they don’t get angry.” Hikaru swallowed. Touya Kouyou was intimidating at the best of times; he really didn’t want to see what he’d look like if he was actually angry. “I like your parents. I really don’t want them to hate me.”

“Hikaru, if they are upset, it wouldn’t be just at you,” Akira pointed out drily. “We all share responsibility in this relationship.”

“Yes, but I’m the only one intruding on a marriage.”

“You are not intruding anywhere,” Natsume said, fitting herself on Hikaru’s left while Akira strode the last few steps to the door on Hikaru’s right.

Caught between them with Natsume’s hand on his elbow and Akira’s still brushing the back of his right hand, Hikaru felt a bit less scared. They would be doing this together.

Akira’s mother greeted them at the door. Hikaru could see her take in how they were standing—at least she’d known Hikaru would be there, wouldn’t that have been awkward, to be the uninvited guest?—but Touya Akiko was too polite to let anything she was thinking on her face.

“Natsume-chan, Akira-san, Shindou-kun.” She smiled and nodded to them each in turn. Was Hikaru imagining that her nod to him had been a little stiffer than usual? He couldn’t tell; he was looking for anything off right now. “Please come in. Kouyou is in the dining room.”

“Thank you for having us,” Natsume said, taking over the social niceties.

Hikaru tuned her and Akira’s mother out as he walked through the front door and exchanged his geta for house slippers. Akira was an anchoring presence at his side, fingers brushing Hikaru’s wrist reassuringly as they made their way into the house. Behind him, Natsume commented on the choice of decorations or flowers or something. It went over his head.

“How long is this dinner going to last?” Hikaru asked Akira under his breath.

“Usually there are seven courses,” Akira murmured, “so it will be a few hours.”

“Seven?” Hikaru paled. How were they going to sit through seven courses of food? What did people talk about for that much time? At what point was Akira planning to tell them? Would they have to sit through a bunch of courses with awkwardness in the air?

“It’s a formal meal.” Akira raised an eyebrow, leading the way into the dining room still leaning into Hikaru’s space. “Relax. You’ve eaten meals with my parents before.”

“Not seven course formal meals!” Hikaru hissed.

Akira pushed him toward one of the cushions on the floor. Oh god, he’d have to sit formally. For hours. Well, no, he had managed during Go games for years now, but that was a very different thing. Hikaru found himself seated next to Touya Kouyou, a fresh cup of tea set in front of him courtesy of Akira’s mom. Natsume was across from him, Akira next to her, and Akiko at the end of the table where she could come and go to get new dishes. Natsume smiled reassuringly.

“It is good to see you, Shindou-san,” Kouyou said.  “I have enjoyed following your games in the current Honinbou league. If you continue playing at this level, you have a chance of playing title match games.”

Hikaru let himself relax a bit into the familiar flow of conversation about Go. Akira joined in, and Hikaru barely noticed the first course becoming the third course as they debated the remaining opponents before they would be able to challenge for the Honinbou title. He was aware of Akiko coming and going as they talked, and Natsume pointing out the different seasonal foods or the arrangement of food or the pattern on the lacquered bowls of sea bream soup, but it was a tangential awareness. Every once in a while, Natsume or Akiko would add to their conversation, and Hikaru found that even with the formal clothing and seating arrangements, and the perfect-looking portions of food that arrived with each course, it didn’t actually feel much different than meals usually did with Akira’s family.

For a while, he stopped being nervous about why they were there and forgot the purpose behind the visit entirely…at least until Akiko brought out their dessert and fresh tea to chase away the sharp taste of sake and the lingering savory flavor of clam rice and miso soup.

As pretty sakura patterned plates with individual strawberry daifuku clicked against the table in front of them, Natsume reached out and touched Akira’s wrist. All of Hikaru’s nerves rushed back, leaving him feeling like the large meal of rich food might be coming back up depending on how the next few minutes panned out.

Akira glanced at Hikaru, catching his eye so that they were all on the same page, and took a breath. Conversation had petered out when Akiko presented the last dish. Cups of strong green tea were placed in front of them and Akira cleared his throat. “Mother, Father, there are a few things we would like to tell you.”

Hikaru was hyper aware of Kouyou shifting next to him. He didn’t dare look to see what kind of expression was on his face. He kept his eyes on Akira because it was the safest option.

“What is it?” Akiko prompted, returning to her seat.

Akira’s eyes went firm and determined the way they did across the Go board and there was the tiniest bit of movement as he sat straighter. “Mother, Father, Natsume and I are involved romantically with Hikaru.” There was a moment of complete silence. Akira wet his lips. “We have been for over a year now.”

“Both of you?” Akira’s mother said, voice faint.

Hikaru kept looking at Akira, taking strength in his resolve. He could see Natsume’s hand on Akira’s adding her own support. “Yes,” Akira said, looking at Hikaru, the eye contact as grounding as his hand in Hikaru’s would have been. “Both of us.”

“It was something we decided on together,” Natsume said, adding her voice to Akira’s. She sounded as calm and composed as ever, but there was steel under that calm that Hikaru rarely heard from her.

“Both of you,” Akiko repeated. Hikaru snuck a glance her way. She sat very straight, a bit pale and her face set neutral, though her tone carried over her shock clearly.

Touya Kouyou had one eyebrow raised, but Hikaru couldn’t read any emotion beyond that.

“You…have considered the social ramifications of…” Akiko trailed off.

“We have,” Akira said. Which was news for Hikaru, but then of course they must have. Natsume at least was aware of her social standing even if Hikaru had never paid attention to it and Akira picked and chose when he cared about social conventions. Akira smiled wryly. “We thought about it a long time, actually.”

“I see.”

“I had wondered,” Kouyou said, “when Shindou-san moved in with you.” His eyebrow slid higher. “Although I admit I hadn’t expected all three of you to be involved with each other.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hikaru blurted, then felt horrified because now everyone was looking at him.

Kouyou looked faintly amused, the slightest hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “My son has had a fixation on you for years. It would not have surprised me if he ended up involved with you.”

“Kouyou!” Akiko said, sounding scandalized.

Kouyou looked at her. “Akiko, it is no more scandalous to insinuate Shindou-san was involved with Akira than him being involved with both of them.”

“Akira-san wouldn’t do that to Natsume-san!” Akiko insisted.

“I doubt he would have gone behind Natsume-san’s back,” Kouyou said.

Natsume surprised everyone by laughing softly. The conversation derailed as they all looked at her. She smiled openly. “No, Akira-san would never go behind my back. In fact, he is more likely to encourage me to act on my emotions before he considers acting on his own.”

Now it was Akira’s turn to feel embarrassed. “Natsume…”

She squeezed his hand, still smiling, the same mischievous glint in her eyes that Hikaru had come to know shining bright. “It’s true,” she said. “Akira-san was too worried about offending me to act even after we were aware that our feelings pointed in the same direction.”

“There is passing conversation and a serious discussion,” Akira said, face still pink.

“Well,” Akiko said. She crossed her hands in her lap and blinked. “Well, I suppose…I suppose that I should be glad that you are…content with your arrangement.”

“We are,” Akira said firmly. He held out a hand to Hikaru and Hikaru felt relieved to touch it. He’d have been glad if he could reach Natsume too, but there was too much space across the table to do that. “We don’t intend to shout our relationship from the rooftops,” Akira said, “but we felt that now was the time to share it with our family.”

“Do your parents know?” Akiko asked Natsume, turning her head to include Hikaru.

“You’re the first people we’ve told,” Hikaru said. He tugged on his yukata sleeve. “Actually, we’re planning to tell my parents…sometime next week.” He really needed to get to planning that.

Akiko nodded, glanced at Natsume, who was shaking her head. Her smile had gone softer, sadder.

“I don’t intend to have this discussion with my parents,” she said. “I love them dearly. I always will, and will do my best to keep caring for them, but... They would never accept something like this.”

This news clearly upset Akiko more than the thought of their relationship if the way her forehead scrunched, but she didn’t comment on it, just nodded once more. “Shindou-san, I hope to talk with your parents sometime in the future, since…since you will be a part of the family.”

“Of course, Akiko-san,” Hikaru said quickly. He wondered how his parents would interact with Akira’s considering how different their backgrounds and interests were. Well, that was a problem for another time.

“There is one more thing to talk about,” Natsume said, drawing attention back to herself. She smiled at Akira, invited Hikaru to smile with her. “I am expecting.”

Another silence, this one less from a breach of social norms and more from normal surprise. “That’s great,” Akiko said sounding much more sincere than she had about their relationship. “How far along are you…?”

“The doctor estimated about two and a half months.” Natsume folded her hands over her stomach. “I do hope you will be able to advise me later on what to expect. It is always good to learn from the experience of others.”

Hikaru had to hand it to Natsume, she knew how to smooth over a situation. He kind of hoped she’d be able to do the same with his parents if they ended up needing it. He knew he’d probably only make things worse if he opened his mouth.  He exchanged a glance with Akira, relief filling them both as conversation between Natsume and Akiko turned to the baby rather than staying on their relationship.

Kouyou had a small smile on his face as he ate his dessert and sipped at the bitter green tea that accompanied it. “It’s good to see you settled. Not only because I look forward to a grandchild,” he said softly to Akira, including Hikaru with a glance.

Akira smiled. “We really are happy with how things have gone. Adding a child…it is going to be different, but it feels like the right time.”

“I’m sure having another pair of hands will be a great help,” Kouyou said with good humor. He glanced at Natsume and Akiko’s smiles as Akiko brought up her own experience with her pregnancy. “And you won’t lack for other help either.”

“Thank you,” Akira said.

Hikaru took that to mean his sort-of in-laws would gladly do babysitting. Well. He hoped they’d do babysitting. He hoped his parents and Natsume’s parents would too. He felt a little terrified again by the fact that they were—Natsume was—bringing another human being into existence. A human being who would have wants and needs and someday opinions. A human being he hoped he wouldn’t screw up because out of the three of them, he knew it was most likely to be him to mess up spectacularly.

Akira was smiling and so were Natsume and Akiko and Touya Kouyou, even after they’d told their secret though, so the world wasn’t imploding yet. Hikaru nibbled on his daifuku. As Akira got pulled into the conversation about doctors and Akiko’s pregnancy with Akira, Hikaru found himself smiling too.

Yeah. Yeah, it was all still pretty scary. But it was exciting as well. Besides, if Akira’s traditionally minded parents were taking everything this well, Hikaru’s family would probably be ok.

*o*o*

Compared to the formality of telling Akira’s parents, talking to Hikaru’s was anticlimactic. They’d met Akira before, and they’d at least heard about Natsume. Hikaru had expected more alarm than he got though.

Instead, he got his mother sighing as she passed a bowl of salad around his childhood kitchen table, and his father setting down his chopsticks to look between the three of them before getting up to get another beer.

“That’s it?” Hikaru asked, accepting the salad bowl.

“Well, it’s not like I’ll be telling the neighbors,” his mother said, “but you’ve clearly made up your mind. It’s not like you’ve ever changed it because of what someone else thought.”

Hikaru passed the salad to Natsume and looked at his dad who had returned with enough drinks for all of them, whether they wanted one or not.

“You know,” his dad said, setting the bottles on the table, “after the whole Go thing, we accepted that we don’t really know what goes on in your life, and just got used to surprises. This is a lasting relationship at least.”

Hikaru’s mom snorted. “Considering his track record with girlfriends…”

“Oi, I wasn’t that bad!” Hikaru felt his ears burn with a blush. “I wasn’t!” he insisted, looking at Akira.

There wasn’t any help there. Akira was carefully not meeting his eyes and Natsume was trying not to laugh, though he could only tell the latter because he’d been living with them for months. “Hikaru-san,” Natsume said in her best conciliatory voice, “while you did not date casually, you did not date long term either.”

“I’m dating you two so clearly I can.”

“Yes,” Natsume said with a small smile. “You must not have met the right people before.”

“Well, no they never really understood about—” Hikaru narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re teasing again aren’t you?”

Natsume just kept smiling.

Hikaru’s mom sent around a plate of tempura. “It’s nice to finally know who he’s been seeing. He’s not subtle when he’s in a relationship,” she said. “Granted, I wasn’t expecting either of you, but it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Natsume-san.” She smiled at Natsume and then at Akira. “And of course it’s always good to see you again, Akira-kun.”

Hikaru tried not to pout at his food. Of course his mom loved Akira. And always had. Because she thought he was a nice polite boy. Pssh. If they only knew how Akira could yell his head off in public over Go, they’d think differently. They’d probably love Natsume even more because she could talk about things that his parents understood or were interested in. …Hopefully his parents would still like him considering both his romantic partners were more polite and attentive than Hikaru was. He might just have to try harder to keep on his mom’s good side.

“Are you okay?” Akira whispered, leaning in on the pretense of passing a bottle of soy sauce.

“My parents are probably going to adopt you and Natsume and make you their real son and replace me.”

Akira frowned, a crease between his eyebrows. The sideways look that accompanied it was Akira’s ‘I have no idea what the hell you’re going on about, but it’s ridiculous’ look. Usually it only showed up when Hikaru was drunk or sleep deprived and saying whatever came to mind at that given moment.

“No, seriously, Mom’s going to be giving me looks and guilt tripping me with stuff by saying you’d do it.”

“Hikaru, I’m sure your parents know you and care about you for who you are. They’re hardly going to replace you.”

“You say that now!” Hikaru hissed back. They were both leaning toward each other with the soy sauce bottle cupped between their hands. If he leaned any further, he’d be head-butting Akira in the forehead. “Never mind.” Hikaru pulled the soy sauce free. Akira had no idea how much Hikaru’s mom had wanted a son that actually acted like Akira did toward his mother. Hikaru tried but he knew most of his interpersonal failings by this point, and being patient or considerate or listening carefully when he didn’t have an interest weren’t his strong suits.

He sat back up to find his parents both not-looking so obviously even he noticed. Akira sighed softly like when an opponent made a disappointing and predictable move when he’d expected better—Hikaru’d been on the receiving end of that sigh often enough that it made him feel defensive reflexively. The not-looking could be a bad response, which had to be how Akira saw it, or it could just be some weird attempt of giving them privacy for something that wasn’t even all that intimate. Still, it made Hikaru want to point out that his parents weren’t reacting near as badly as Akira’s mom had.

Once again, Natsume chose to diffuse growing tension with news of her pregnancy. Cue both Hikaru’s parents looking excited. Hikaru hadn’t even known his dad liked babies.

“You know,” his father said, “you really need to see Hikaru’s baby pictures to understand that he’s always been doing something unexpected.”

“Dad, no!” Hikaru groaned.

Akira and Natsume both smiled. “I’m sure we’d love to hear the stories,” Akira said.

Hikaru sank down in his chair. Of course. His whole family would side with his romantic partners. Still… He peeked at the smiles around the dinner table. This had gone well. He didn’t think there would be any problems about Akira of Natsume being accepted into the family.

*o*o*

A vase of cut flowers sat on the kitchen counter, left there by Natsume after her morning spent in the garden. Akira couldn’t remember the name of them at the moment. He knew that the daffodils had bloomed past their peak, that the dogwood was blooming, and that the lilac and the peonies were budding but not in bloom. They were pinkish red and in clusters, but he couldn’t remember which plant it was.

A few years ago, he wouldn’t have believed he would know near as much about flowers as he did now. It was interesting, he reflected, how close interaction with another person could change you in little ways. These days he did notice flowers. He noticed if a flower bed was well kept or not, and whether or not the plants in it were ones that needed a good deal of upkeep. Since Hikaru started living with them—or maybe before that, maybe as long as he’d considered Hikaru a friend—he’d started taking note of places that specialized in ramen, or, on several occasions, places that had displays on Shusaku. And he had influenced them both in turn. There were nights when Natsume would play a game of Go with both of them, each game her stones having that much more shape and purpose behind them as she improved and her strategy grew. Or how Hikaru had taken a liking to Akira’s favorite tea despite having hated it the first time he tried it.

And now their lives were changing in subtle ways, already making space for the new life that would be joining it, little ripples as the growing child exerted its presence already. In what they ate, in choices they made, in future plans.

It was different.

That didn’t make it a bad thing.

Akira touched one of the flower blossoms, the delicate petals soft and easily bruised under his fingertips. Oddly enough, he was handling the changes better than Hikaru. For someone who changed things around him as easily as Hikaru did, he didn’t seem to know what to do when change was asserted on him. Ordinarily, Akira wasn’t the best with change either. He liked his habits and his routines, the familiarity of surrounding himself with Go and the quiet life he had when he wasn’t immersed in his passion. But for Akira, children had always been an eventuality, just like marriage had been. Hikaru didn’t think the way Akira did though, and before they brought the topic up, children likely had never crossed his mind.

Right now Hikaru was getting lunch with Waya before he had a Go class to teach. Natsume was at her parents’ home for the rest of the day. It left Akira alone with his thoughts which, he thought wryly, could be a bad thing on days when he wasn’t in the middle of studying something. A rare weekday off, and no one to share it with.

Akira looked around the kitchen and tried to see it as it might be in a few years. A child hiding under the kitchen table, peeking between chair rungs. Natsume cooking for four instead of three. Maybe Hikaru crouched in the doorway to the living room with some favorite toy, encouraging a child to walk toward him. Perhaps a few more years, sitting at the table and pointing out simple life or death Go problems… A future need for a stepstool for the child to reach the kitchen sink. The cupboards that would need childproofing. Small hands carrying in flowers after an afternoon with Natsume in the garden. More and more possible future moments panned out in his imagination like potential patterns on the Go board. He could all but see a toddler with Natsume’s round face and his own cheekbones and eyes peeking out from behind the doorway.

He’d thought, when he married, that having a child would be something he did out of duty. Akira smiled at the open spaces of the kitchen that could one day hold all the possible futures he imagined and knew that this was something he truly wanted.

*o*o*

Natsume told her mother about her pregnancy on her own time. It wasn’t like Akira’s family or Hikaru’s; her mother expected to hear any news from Natsume personally and would pass it on to her father, and it would all be spoken of in private because that was the way her family worked. Her mother didn’t expect Akira to be there for such an announcement. If anything she would have found it strange. Natsume’s own father hadn’t been involved with childrearing much. Natsume respected how he’d provided for her and her mother, but they were not close the way she was close to her mother.

Her mother, at the news, looked relieved. “I’m glad to hear it,” she said. “I was beginning to wonder if your marriage had been successful after all.”

“We wanted to wait until we were ready,” Natsume said. “I have said that things are going well with Akira-san and me.”

“Of course,” her mother demurred, pouring Natsume fresh tea. “But when time goes on it does lead to questions.” Questions like fertility, and if the couple even shared a marital bed, Natsume knew. There had been enough worries over the fact that she was older than Akira.

“You won’t need to worry about that now,” Natsume said, pushing the topic aside. “I’ve registered the pregnancy and it is going well so far.”

“Are you eating what you should be? Diet is important in these formative months.”

“I talked with my doctor and have guidelines to follow.”

Her mother nodded. She looked very serious, but of course she did; she had miscarried twice before Natsume was born. “I’ll cook something for you at least once a week so you can rest.”

“You shouldn’t push yourself.” Her mother looked after her father’s health, and her own health frequently wasn’t well these days, but her mother shook her head.

“You have cared for me, continue to care for me. I can help my daughter meet the needs of her child-to-be.” She touched Natsume’s hand in a rare show of physical affection. “And I can do my best to be self-sufficient as you will have less time and energy.”

“If you think that is best,” Natsume demurred, planning to continue with her usual help as long as was physically possible.

“Now I do have one concern,” her mother said with a small frown. “You still have one of your husband’s friends staying with you. Surely he doesn’t intend to intrude on your home forever.”

“He isn’t intruding,” Natsume said with well-cultivated patience. “He helps around the home and is Akira-san’s closest friend. He is welcome so long as he wishes to stay.”

Her mother gave her that doubtful look that said she thought Hikaru was terribly rude but felt herself too polite to say so. “There have been… rumors that his presence might explain the lack of a child.”

For her mother, Natsume thought wryly, that was almost blunt. “As you can see, that is not an issue.”

“Of course,” her mother said, still with that tiny, doubtful frown. “Touya-san would not be so disrespectful.”

It would be terribly rude to her mother to laugh. Natsume covered the urge with a sip of her tea. “Of course.” She looked past her mother to the garden. It was minimalistic from necessity, her parents unable to tend it and Natsume too busy caring for them and her own household to care for both her parents’ garden and her own. It still had an old wisteria supported by a metal trellis. Its blossoms were heavy and blue, bright against the backdrop of green moss and dark stones. She centered herself on the image, seeking the inner peace plants brought her. “Hikaru-san is not the sort of man to break up a marriage, mother, nor is Akira-san.”

“Hikaru-san?” her mother echoed, eyebrows lifting.

“Hikaru-san asked that I call him by name. I have found a friend in him as well as Akira-san.”

Her mother’s eyebrows stayed up.

“He is not a very formal person,” Natsume added. She smiled. Hikaru had a way of stripping any formality away. “I hope that you have a chance to know him. He is an easy person to like.”

“If you say so,” her mother said.

Hikaru would either win her over with his unconventional charm, or he’d have her permanent disapproval, Natsume thought. There was no way that it would be somewhere in the middle with her mother.

“How is your garden,” her mother asked, and Natsume knew that for a little while at least her mother wouldn’t question Hikaru’s presence.

Good enough for the moment.

*o*o*

The reality of Natsume’s pregnancy didn’t set in at first. They’d told their families, registered with the doctor, bought parenting books and pre-natal supplies, yes, but their lives went on as normal. Akira and Hikaru had their matches and teaching games and lectures to give. Natsume had her parents to look after, her garden, and their home to upkeep. They slept together like usual, ate meals together when schedules aligned, played too many games of Go that ended in debates that usually ended in Natsume laughing at them or distracting them with snacks.

It was almost three weeks after the pregnancy was registered when Akira woke to his wife rushing out of bed for the bathroom. Hikaru was away for a game, so it took Akira’s half-awake brain several seconds to connect the movement to Natsume at all—she wasn’t the rushing type. Then the sound of retching met his ears and he realized what was happening. The books all said that morning sickness was a possibility.

They’d hoped that it would skip Natsume over when the sixth week came and went without a change.

Akira pulled himself out of bed, moving to the bathroom door. Natsume had her forehead pressed against the rim of the toilet, lips pressed tight and her hands balled in fists on the floor. She breathed slowly, in through her nose, out through her mouth. Akira touched her shoulder lightly. “Are you okay?”

Natsume breathed a few more breaths before answering. “I am uncomfortable, but this is nothing I was not expecting.”

Akira didn’t know how to comfort this. After a moment, he rubbed a hand against her back, like he remembered his own mother doing when he was young and had the stomach flu. Nausea was bad, but muscles tensed and waiting for the next wave often made the feeling worse. “Can I get you anything?”

Natsume leaned into his touch, relaxing slightly. “Tea?” she said. “I have ginger tea that I bought in the chance that I did get morning sickness.”

Akira patted her back once more and headed to the kitchen. Clicking on the electric kettle, he sifted through Natsume’s carefully organized cupboards for the correct tea, finding it behind several other packages they used on a daily basis. He kept his hands busy, picking a mug, pulling out a tea bag, getting honey from the cupboard to sweeten it to Natsume’s preferred taste; all trying not to let his ears strain for further sounds from the bathroom.

The kettle made an unholy amount of shrieking as it heated; it needed cleaned. Water, teabag, honey stirred in, and Akira padded back down the hall.

Natsume hadn’t moved, still white knuckled and pale. He set the tea next to her and hovered in the doorway.

“You don’t have to stay,” Natsume said after a minute of this. “I am not actually ill.”

“It feels wrong for you to be uncomfortable and not doing anything about it,” Akira said.

“You brought me tea,” she said.

“And it hasn’t helped yet.”

Natsume lifted her head and gave him a wry smile. “I need to drink some of it first. Now go sit down, Akira-san, you are making me anxious watching you.”

Akira went.

He picked up one of the pregnancy books, flipping to morning sickness, but there wasn’t much there other than to deal with it and eat and drink as much as were possible in small amounts through it, and seek help if nothing stayed down. The continued lack of more retching was reassuring that the latter didn’t seem to be a problem.

This, Akira thought, was the first change of many to come because of this baby’s presence. He made a mental note to add making ginger tea to his morning routine—or evening or any other time he was home because morning sickness was a misnomer and could happen at any time of day.

When Natsume still didn’t leave the bathroom, and a glance in showed some of the tea gone and Natsume doing breathing exercises with her eyes shut, Akira took it on himself to make breakfast.

Easing Natsume’s burden was something he could manage there at least.

*o*o*

Hikaru didn’t know what to do with a sick, pregnant woman. Neither did Akira, which, in Hikaru’s opinion, was a little funny to watch Akira be flustered and worried. On the other hand Hikaru was just as flustered and worried by Natsume’s ongoing morning sickness as Akira was. Ginger had become a central staple in most of their meals in one way or another.

Seeing Natsume rush off to the bathroom at least once a day was also a new normal.

Hikaru, after about a week of this, had called up his mother. He’d been assured it was well within normal, that his mother had in fact spent almost two months getting sick in mornings and evenings with him, and that so long as Natsume was still eating and drinking regularly and keeping it down, it really wasn’t anything to worry about. No matter what she said, there was nothing normal about puking your guts out if the wind blew a certain direction. Apparently sensitivity to smells was also common with pregnancies.

“So.” Hikaru waited Natsume out, carefully not watching, but staying close. “Tea?”

“No,” Natsume said, a bit hoarse. “Not this time. Just water will be fine.” She sighed. “I believe I will have to put gardening on hold today until the garbage has been collected for the week.”

Hikaru sniffed the air. The smell of garbage wasn’t strong, but it was gross—rancid remains of meat, probably. To actually drive Natsume away from her gardening, it had to smell terrible to her.

Natsume looked at her half-finished weeding with something very close to frustration on her face. Hikaru… really didn’t want to find out what an angry, frustrated Natsume would be like. “Ok! How about you get some water and I finish up the weeding?”

Natsume blinked and raised an eyebrow. “It is a task that can wait.”

“Yeah but you wanted it done today.” Hikaru shrugged. “I have the afternoon off. I can do a bit of yard work.”

For a moment it looked like she was going to refuse the offer, but her shoulders slumped. That actually made him more alarmed. She wasn’t even trying to look composed right now, and yeah, Natsume was way more relaxed with him than Akira, but for all that Hikaru had seen her in a bunch of intimate ways, this was the first time she’d ever looked vulnerable. “Thank you,” she said. “I had hoped there would be more time before the pregnancy kept me from my hobby.”

“Yeah… well, this is just for today. You’ll be better after garbage day. And if you’re not, just point Akira and me in a direction. We’ll be your hands.”

Natsume smiled and shook her head. “I’ll do that if I have to, but I will be gardening as long as I’m able.”

“Of course.” Hikaru wouldn’t take her from her passion. Hell, if someone tried to take his Go from him… He respected Natsume all the more because she voluntarily entered into this knowing she’d have to part from things she enjoyed for who knew how long. Hikaru didn’t think he’d be able to do it if their situations were reversed. “You sure you don’t need tea?”

“I will be fine,” she said, giving his arm a pat, like he was the one needing comforted. He and Akira were going about this support thing all wrong, weren’t they? Hopefully the fact that they were trying counted for something… “If you are sure you know a weed, you may pull it. If you aren’t sure, leave it and I will get to it after trash day.”

“I can do that,” Hikaru said. He’d watched her weed plenty of times. He’d seen her plant these plants. He totally knew what was a weed. Uh. Probably. If not he could always ask, right? “You go rest.”

“I’m going to resent being told to rest eventually,” Natsume said wryly. “Volatile stomach aside, I am not an invalid.”

“Fine, go… wash the dishes or something,” Hikaru said raising his hands. “We’ll both do something useful.”

“I will,” Natsume said with quiet determination. She straightened her shoulders back into her usual perfect posture.

There were some days, Hikaru thought as she went back inside, when he had the feeling she could have been a terrifying opponent across a Go board if her life had gone differently. She had a sharp mind and picked up what little he and Akira taught her after all. Instead she put that focus into daily tasks that Hikaru had to make himself do.

A kid made from her and Akira… it would be interesting to see what kind of person they turned out to be.

No matter what, Hikaru had a feeling they’d be a force of nature.

*o*o*

“Hikaru!” Waya whispered loudly. “How long has Touya’s wife been pregnant?”

Hikaru looked up from the Go board between them, frowning. “Uh… a couple months now? Didn’t I tell you this?”

“I think I’d have remembered something like this.”

“Unless you were drunk,” Hikaru said.

Waya scowled. “One, I don’t drink that much lately. Two, you don’t drink much lately. Or go drinking with me and Isumi much. Or do anything outside of work much these days really. This is the first time in a while you’ve agreed to meet up when we weren’t already at the Go institute.”

Hikaru scowled right back. “I’ve been busy! And it still feels weird inviting you to Akira’s place.”

“You’ve been living here like a year now.”

“Yeah?”

“You sleep in their bed with them,” Waya pointed out.

“Well yeah, and it’s home, but it’s like, their home first.” Hikaru waved a hand like it was totally normal. Waya moved in with Isumi and had been inviting people over to Isumi’s apartment before he’d even moved in.

Then again, Waya supposed Touya and his wife were a lot more intimidating and traditional than Isumi was. “Okay, but it’s your home too. I don’t mind having you over, but it’s kind of weird you don’t feel like inviting me here.”

Hikaru gave him an exasperated look. “Look around.”

Waya looked around. It was a place full of traditional décor and pretty ink paintings of flowers and landscapes and a bookcase filled with Go kifu and plant books. If there hadn’t been a small stack of kifu laid out on the desk and the Go board haphazardly placed at a diagonal, it would have looked like something from some home magazine. “And?”

“You’re a good friend, but you leave kifu wherever you go and forget teacups and have clutter. And we’re loud when we’re together.”

And Touya’s home was pretty quiet and meticulously organized. Yeah, okay, Waya could see where this was going. On the other hand… “You’re worse with clutter than I am.”

“I’ve gotten better!” Hikaru said indignantly.

Waya nodded at the kifu and Hikaru’s fan half open next to them.

Hikaru scowled. “It could have been Akira and me reading those together.”

“Your fan, your mess.”

Hikaru rolled his eyes. “Anyway, I still think I told you Natsume is pregnant.”

“I still say you didn’t.” Waya glanced back at the game they’d paused and made a move. “So… What’s it like?”

“What’s what like? Natsume being pregnant? Because I’m not directly experiencing a baby in me.” Hikaru played his response.

“No, like…” Weren’t there weird things pregnant women did? Or was that brides? Waya had to admit he wasn’t clear on the subject for either. “She doesn’t look super pregnant yet I guess, but some things have to be different.”

Hikaru glanced at the doorway. Natsume was in the kitchen, leaving things cooking while she experimented with knitting. Seeing what she was attempting, Waya had the feeling that either she’d never tried to knit before, or it wasn’t in her natural talents. Not that he’d say that to her face. He was pretty sure mood swings were something women had when pregnant. Probably. Hormones happened more then, right?

“Not too much is different,” Hikaru said after a moment. “Though Natsume keeps getting sick.”

“Wait, like cold-sick or…?”

“Throw up sick. I thought morning sickness was kind of an exaggeration, but turns out it’s not. It’s also really not just in mornings. I have no idea why anyone would want to be pregnant.”

“Because babies?” Waya said uncertainly, not really sure if babies were worth it. Actually, babies might be even more of a hassle than pregnancy sounded.

“Duh,” Hikaru said. “But I sure wouldn’t want to go through that. Kind of sucks I can’t do much more than make ginger tea and take over whatever she was working on when it happens.”

Waya gave Hikaru a considering look. He seemed to really mean that. Not that Waya ever thought Hikaru didn’t care for Touya’s wife, but when it came down to it, he always thought Touya was more the object of Hikaru’s affections. Or, well, attention since affection and Hiakru toward Touya didn’t really compute half the time when they were arguing over a Go board like idiots. Seeing them fight was the first time Touya Akira looked his age, and probably the first time Waya wasn’t intimidated by the guy. And here he was sitting in the man’s house, talking about his wife to their lover. The world was a weird place. “It’s good that you’re trying to help I think. I mean a lot of guys wouldn’t.”

“If a woman you’re with is miserable and you’re not helping, there’s a problem there,” Hikaru said.

“No, just. Pregnancy’s a woman’s thing.” Waya shrugged. “My sister had a kid and her husband was barely involved until the kid was born, and even then it was more on my sister for care.”

“No offense, but your brother-in-law sounds like a jerk.”

“He kind of is. He pisses me off a lot and my sister deserved better.” Waya shrugged. “So, glad that you’re being there for her.”

“We’re so bad at it,” Hikaru sighed. “Touya’s trying to pick up how to be comforting but he’s just—” Hikaru mimed holding a hand out like he was afraid to touch something and like said thing might explode any moment. “—like that. Honestly, a hug would work better.”

“Touya? Hugging? Never,” Waya said.

“He can hug, he just can’t under stress I guess.”

They went back to their game, pace speeding up. They’d almost reached endgame when Natsume wandered in, fresh pot of tea in hand and her sad attempt at knitting under her arm. “Sorry to interrupt,” she murmured, setting the tea down.

“No, thank you,” Waya said quickly.

“Yeah, thanks,” Hikaru said with a grin. “Figure out that stitch?” he asked with a nod to the knitting.

Natsume, who as far as Waya could tell had the emotional range of ‘polite-smile,’ ‘polite-disinterest,’ and ‘politely-laughing-at-boys-being-idiots,’ actually looked frustrated for a moment. Color him surprised, she was human after all. (He was never telling Hikaru some of the speculations people their age had when Touya got married what sort of person his wife could be. …Hikaru probably knew some of them, but he probably didn’t know half of the rumors circulating about how he fit into everything.)

“Not yet,” Natsume said with more thinly veiled frustration. “But I will figure it out. I can do embroidery, this should not be too difficult to figure out.”

“I’m sure you’ll get it,” Hikaru said optimistically. When Natsume wandered back out, he poured some tea and said, “I don’t know if she’s going to get more than the basic stitch, but boy is she going to try.”

“Why knitting?”

“She can’t garden much with the morning sickness and needed a new hobby? I think she figured she could knit the baby something?” Hikaru shrugged. “Don’t tell anyone I said this, but Akira figured it out and tried to show her and it’s still not computing for more than the first stitch.”

“…Hormones?”

“Yeah, can’t say that or she’ll be annoyed. Maybe knitting is just not her thing. She sews great though.”

“Maybe she should stick to sewing then,” Waya said.

“Akira and I have a bet how long it takes until she buries her knitting in the garden.”

Waya shook his head. “I’d never believe this would be your life a year ago.”

Hikaru grinned. “Me neither.” He clacked down a black stone, placing it just right so that Waya lost a good chunk of territory in the top-left corner of the board. Waya swore at him. “So I think I will be winning this game.”

“Like hell,” Waya retorted, buckling in for the rest of the end game. He was going to make Hikaru fight for every last moku.

*o*o*

“Natsume,” Akira said, struggling to keep a neutral face.

“Yes, Akira-san?” Natsume’s frown was starting to leave a crease between her eyebrows.

“I’m starting to feel…”

Natsume looked up, a smile on her face that dared him to comment. “Yes, Akira-san?”

Akira took a step back and cleared his throat. “Natsume, perhaps knitting is not for you.”

Natsume looked at the knitting in her lap. It had added and dropped stitches, gaps, and was loose in some places and too tight in others, and while there was a chunk that was fairly consistent and even, every attempt to progress in knitting techniques was clearly a failure. The frown on her face went deeper. “I’ve improved from the beginning.”

“You have,” Akira agreed. “And I’m sure you can learn.” Given enough time and a calmer mind. “But it’s stressing you out.”

“I’m fine,” Natsume said, her tense shoulders at odds with her words.

Akira risked setting a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Are you even having fun with it?”

Natsume’s lips pressed together stubbornly for a moment before she sighed. The knitting got balled up in one hand. “It seemed like a relaxing hobby,” she said ruefully. “I have never felt less patient with something in my life,” she admitted. “I feel like I should at least make something before calling it a failed effort.”

“I don’t think anyone can say you haven’t tried.” Akira tugged at the neater area of her attempt. “Maybe a simple scarf?”

“I do have all this yarn,” she said. “It seems I was too ambitious.”

“Try again sometime in the future.”

“When I don’t have to worry about stress you mean?” Natsume said with a hint of her usual humor back in her eyes. She touched Akira’s hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for your concern, Akira-san.”

Hikaru, naturally, arrived home at that moment, strolling into the kitchen in a hurry. He stopped, seeing them close together at the kitchen table. “Oh, were you guys having a moment? Because if you wanted to have a private moment right now, I can just…”

Akira rolled his eyes. “Come here.”

Hikaru grinned and strolled over, draping an arm around Natsume’s shoulders and leaning against Akira’s side. “So, what was I missing?”

“An intervention,” Natsume said with a wry smile. She tossed the knitting on the table.

“Oh. Oh!” Hikaru laughed. “Okay. Uh, don’t take this the wrong way, but good. I’m pretty sure you were going to stab someone with those needles eventually at the rate you were going.”

“Of course not,” Natsume said, “I would never.”

Something in the demure, deadpan way she said it had Hikaru cracking up into Akira’s shoulder. “Uh, huh. Sure.”

“An inanimate object on the other hand,” Natsume said with a small smile spreading on her face.

“Oh no,” Hikaru giggled. “Yeah, this intervention is needed. Next thing I know you’ll be threatening things with kitchen knives.”

“And ruin my good knives?”

Akira gave in and laughed with them. It always amazed him how Hikaru could turn the mood right around.

“But,” Natsume said with a sigh, “I don’t know what to do with my time now.”

“If you were planning to try to do baby clothes, there’s still sewing,” Hikaru pointed out. His face lit up. “Ooh, you could make little formal clothes and the baby can look like a stuffy mini version of Akira!”

“Hikaru,” Akira said, pinching him in the side.

Hikaru elbowed back shamelessly. “Bet you the baby inherits your old man serious face. All…” He tried to imitate Akira’s expression, but ruined it because he couldn’t stop laughing.

“I don’t look like an old man.”

“You looked old when you were twelve, Akira,” Hikaru said. He grinned, bright and irresistible and so close Akira could count his eyelashes. “But I guess you’re too pretty to be a stuffy old geezer.”

“And I am not playing a game with you tonight,” Akira threatened, hiding his smile as Hikaru tried to backpedal, still laughing.

“No, no! It’s a compliment! C’mon, Akira, you’d be punishing yourself!”

Natsume laughed at them both.

Things weren’t so different yet after all.

*o*o*

Natsume and her mother made their way to their local shrine. They left more than the normal offering because this was important. This was the future—of her child, of her family, of Akira’s family name. Natsume prayed for a healthy child. She prayed for a future of happy smiles and balanced support. She prayed to be strong enough to keep the life growing in her secure enough to meet that future and beyond it.

Her mother was warm at Natsume’s side, her clap just a fraction behind her daughter’s. Who knew what her mother prayed for specifically, but they were united on a safe pregnancy, safe birth.

When Natsume opened her eyes, she saw her mother looking at her, maternal fondness in her eyes. It wasn’t something her mother frequently expressed, though Natsume never doubted that she cared. Still, the tenderness in her mother’s eyes as she cupped a hand at Natsume’s face filled her with warmth. This was why a shrine trip was made, mother and daughter, to pray. This was connecting the family together down the line.

It was the closest she’d felt to her mother in a long while.

“Let’s buy some charms and a sash,” her mother said, voice gentle. She stood straighter than she usually did, with purpose.

Later, maternity sash in place, Natsume tucked a charm up her sleeve with the memory of a day well spent with her mother.

*o*o*

They were trying, really they were. Hikaru had even tried reading one of Natsume’s gardening books, but no matter how much she tried to explain and how the book described things, Hikaru and Akira still weren’t doing as good a job as Natsume did. Of course, they had less time to spend on gardening than she used to, but it wasn’t pristine and overflowing with life the way it was when she tended it, a bit more haphazard and gone wild with unintended neglect since bending over a lot was becoming a problem.

Natsume looked at her garden from the porch, a wry smile on her face as Akira attempted to dead-head one of her flower bushes with pruners. He was leaving the flower heads where they fell and the bare stalks poking up, and Hikaru was pretty sure that wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing, but it was a bit too late to get him to change. He’d already gone through a half a flower bed.

“Are they getting enough water?” Hikaru asked with the watering can in one hand. “I can’t tell.”

“You’re doing fine, Hikaru,” Natsume said.

“Your face says we aren’t.”

“I’m glad for your help. Otherwise, everything would be halfway to dead by now. I’m merely wondering how I can get it ready for winter with the least amount of effort.”

“Wait, don’t you usually cut all the dead off to compost and prune things?” Hikaru shuffled the watering can around to his other hand; it was dripping on his shoe. “I think we can handle cutting dead plant bits.”

“Mm.” Natsume tilted her head as Akira missed the dead flower he was aiming for and accidentally cut off a healthy one. Hikaru tried not to grin as he heard a quiet swear. “I’m sure you can handle that bit, but I cannot leave you two to do the pruning. Your help is appreciated, but you wouldn’t know where to start. To be blunt, please don’t attempt it; I don’t want you to accidentally kill my plants.”

“Would it do that?” It had seemed like she pruned a bit of everything last year. Cutting off bits didn’t seem that hard.

“On certain plants? Yes. Or at least set back the work I’ve put into them.” She pursed her lips. More and more often, she showed little things like irritation that she used to hide. Hikaru thought it was probably a positive thing, but it was also a little strange since he’d literally known her for years before seeing some of the expressions she’d had in the last few months. “I could probably manage if I took a chair with me…”

“Will it cause more stress not to touch it, or to touch it?” Hikaru asked.

Natsume hummed again. She looked up at Hikaru and she looked tired, and it was one of those moments when he remembered she was actually older than him and Akira. Age wasn’t something he thought about with her; she felt like she’d come into the world calm and dignified and with a quiet sense of humor. “I know it is not my livelihood the way Go is for you and Akira-san, but it is my passion… I had not really considered how having a child would complicate that since I am always at home anyway.” She touched her stomach, and Hikaru had to look at the bump. It still caught him off guard, but maybe that was because it was always growing. “I do want a child, and I have no regrets. I suppose I am just missing being able to immerse myself in this.”

Not for the first time, Hikaru tried to picture having to go without Go for months and shivered. Yeah, that would be pretty awful. “We’ll try with a chair then. I mean the doctors said not to stress or work too hard, but this is also something that calms you down.”

“Thank you, Hikaru.” She smiled and glanced back at Akira. “Ah…could you please stop him from cutting those? I want a few to go to seed.”

“Of course,” Hikaru said, giving a little bow to make her giggle. Of course the laugh was more because he managed to spill the watering can in the process. “And I’ll…get back to watering!”

He wasn’t ever going to be a gardener, but at least they weren’t doing completely terrible. The effort was worth it for Natsume’s sake. And it was pretty calming. Or at least it was when Akira wasn’t being awful at it. Hikaru jogged over to pass on instructions.

*o*o*

Natsume’s mother moved around Natsume’s kitchen with the air of a woman slowly familiarizing herself with everything. She’d visited several times now, and seemed to plan to make it a regular thing, which Natsume wasn’t sure about. Her mother had both a bad back, and a very different preference of organization. Natsume might be fine relenting to her mother’s preferences in her childhood home, but she was starting to lose patience by the fifth time her mother absentmindedly reordered something in a cupboard.

This, too, would have been fine in the long run—if Natsume had anything, it was patience—but Hikaru was home and this was only the third time they’d ever met, and her mother Did Not Approve of him despite the fact that he was just as much a respectable Go player as Akira was.

Natsume thought it was probably Hikaru’s hair that first earned her mother’s ire. Moving in with her and Akira had been the final weight to tip the scale to permanent dislike no matter how kindly Natsume or Akira presented him.

Natsume was unspeakably grateful her mother had never witnessed Akira and Hikaru’s post-game ‘discussions.’

“You should cook in batches,” her mother said, reordering the spices, “that way you have food for several days so you can rest. I know it isn’t as satisfying or elaborate, but as you near your due date, you will need to conserve your energy for your child. Of course I will come here in the last few weeks to cover tasks you cannot do.”

Natsume did not point out that there were tasks her mother was frequently unable to do in her own household.

“And of course I will help the first week after the baby is born—”

“We intend to take shifts with that,” Natsume interrupted. “Akira and Hikaru have already informed the Go Institute that they will need time around March.”

Her mother shut the cupboard and frowned in her direction. “Does your husband think you are incapable of caring for your own child?”

“We have discussed shared parenting duties,” Natsume said, trying to project calm and serenity. It was much more difficult lately; it was amazing how quickly prolonged physical discomfort would wear down her patience. “I am going to be doing the bulk of child care.” There had never been a question about that; she didn’t have a job and both Akira and Hikaru did. “But for the first month especially we intend to share the burden as equally as possible.”

“And your…guest… is going to help?” her mother said skeptically. “How…generous.”

Natsume suppressed a sigh. “He is a part of this household,” she said for what felt like the hundredth time.

As if to prove a point, Hikaru walked past the kitchen with a basket of laundry—since her pregnancy progressed to affecting her balance some, both her husband and Hikaru had stepped in with any chore requiring lifting and balancing heavy objects. Hikaru might naturally be a chaotic person who put off his personal chores, but he was remarkably attentive in taking over Natsume’s. It was touching actually. It also gave her plenty to tease him about since he was terrible with remembering laundry when he first moved in, at least up until he agreed to let her do his wash along with everything else that needed it.

The sight of Hikaru balancing a basket on his hip made Natsume smile and her mother purse her lips.

“He does his part,” Natsume said, glad to have actual visual proof to convince her mother.

*o*o*

“Wait,” Akira said, setting down the dish he was drying. “Your grandfather is still alive?”

Hikaru, elbow deep in dish water, frowned. “Yeah? Did I ever say otherwise? I mean he’s really old, so I dunno how much longer he has, but he’s not dead yet.”

Akira set down the towel too, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Hikaru, your Go-playing grandfather, the one that you’ve mentioned half a dozen times tried to get you interested in Go in elementary school, is alive and you somehow have never introduced us?”

Hikaru blinked at him. “Should I have?”

Akira exchanged a look with Natsume where she was putting away the last of the leftovers. “Hikaru, I have had dinner with your parents at least every other month for several years now. How have I not met the sole relative that actually appreciates a game of Go?”

Hikaru scratched at his face, leaving a blob of soap bubbles behind. “I mean, I did consider it ages ago when we first were really friends. Just.”

“Just what?”

With clear embarrassment, Hikaru refused to meet his eyes. “…I thought he might like you better back then.”

“Hikaru!”

“It’s a legitimate concern! My mom likes you better than she likes me!” Hikaru said.

“That’s just because you can’t be bothered to be polite,” Akira said. “Ever.”

“She’s my mom. She wouldn’t know how to react to me if I was polite.”

Natsume shook her head and put the last of the dirty dishes in Hikaru’s wash water. “It sounds like we should make a trip sometime soon, hmm?” she said, looking between the two of them. “I for one would like to meet another member of Hikaru-san’s family.”

“You too?” Hikaru asked, pouting.

“Well, neither of us have grandparents still alive for you to meet,” she said practically. “And as you’ve said, he does enjoy Go.”

“Ugh, fine. Gramps is going to be so weird about this, I know it.” Hikaru returned to scrubbing dishes. “You’ll probably like my grandmother though. She likes flowers.”

“Your grandmother’s alive too?” Akira said.

“Uggghhh,” Hikaru groaned, blocking his ear with his shoulder. “I get it, I suck with communicating! I’ll call them tomorrow!”

Natsume gave his cheek a kiss. “Thank you.”

(Everything went great with the visit. And Hikaru was right about his grandfather liking Akira more—up until Hikaru got in a debate with Akira over a few stone placements. Then he’d laughed and said that he now understood why someone like Akira would be with his idiot grandson. Natsume spent the entire time sipping tea with Hikaru’s grandmother and talking flowers and babies. It was a very relaxing trip over all.)

*o*o*

Natsume sat propped up by pillows on the bed, her growing belly carefully on display as Akira and Hikaru set a hand there. The fluttery feeling of kicks pressed back. It was fascinating now, like butterflies in her stomach, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be quite so awe inspiring a month from now when the baby could kick with more strength.

“Ohmigosh, I felt that,” Hikaru whispered. He looked up at Natsume, eyes bright. “Natsume, it’s an actual baby in there.”

Natsume laughed. “Yes, yes it is.”

“You read the books,” Akira said. “You know what it’s supposed to look like by this point.”

“Yeah, but knowing and feeling are two different things.”

“Hmm.” Akira had a calm, happy smile on his face, more relaxed at the moment than he had been lately. It was nice to see. Natsume had worried that her pregnancy was causing him as much stress as it was her sometimes. Natsume was beyond glad that the awful morning sickness had finally let up.

“You know,” she said, pulling their hands to a different spot when the baby moved, “the books also say that the baby can start recognizing outside voices around now.”

“So we should…talk to it?” Hikaru asked, glancing up. “Uh, hey little baby in there. You grow all big and strong, ok?”

Akira snorted.

Hikaru elbowed him in the side. “I feel ridiculous talking to her stomach,” he mumbled.

Akira snorted again. “You used to talk to yourself all the time as a teenager. Pretend you’re doing that.”

Hikaru’s smile faltered. “That… That was different.”

Natsume caught his hand, lacing their fingers together. She might not know what they were referencing, but Akira did, and he looked apologetic immediately. Hikaru squeezed her hand, grateful for the silent comfort.

“Sorry,” Akira said. “How about a story instead? Practice for when the baby’s born?”

“A story…” Hikaru leaned close to their tangled hands. “Once upon a time, there was a man who loved to play Go more than anything in the world…”

*o*o*

“I notice that your room is being converted into a nursery,” Natsume’s mother said.

If Akira’s mom was a nice mother-in-law figure in Hikaru’s life, Natsume’s mother was kind of the exact opposite. Don’t get him wrong, she definitely cared about her daughter. She just was really nosey and really didn’t like Hikaru. At all. “Uh, yeah,” Hikaru said. He was just studying in the living room. Where had she even come from? He looked for Natsume. She wasn’t there.

“My daughter’s resting,” Natsume’s mother said, probably reading his mind. “Where will you be staying once it’s complete?”

“The… other guest room?” Hikaru hazarded. It had been made very clear that he shouldn’t mention he slept pretty much every night in bed with Akira and Natsume.

“The one that’s being used for storage? Where are you sleeping now?”

“The… living room? Futon?” Hikaru held up his book like a barrier. You’d think he’d be used to kind of scary old people considering his job, but no, there was kind of scary old Go people, and then there were kind of scary older mothers who thought they had their daughter’s best interest in mind. Yikes. “I’m helping do all the painting and redecorating in the nursery I swear!”

Natsume’s mother sniffed. “You’d better be. You realize now would be an ideal time to finally get your feet under yourself and find an independent home? You’re only going to be in the middle of Natsume and Akira-san building a family.”

Hikaru was getting really tired of this. She wasn’t even hinting anymore. “Look, I get that it’s not the usual way of doing things, but I’m planning to be another set of hands. I mean more people can only help when it comes to child care, right? Isn’t that why you keep coming over?”

The nasty look that got him was enough to have him hiding behind his book again. Yikes.

Well if he was going to be on her shit list no matter what he said… “And also, they already have a family, they’re just adding to it? You don’t have to have kids to have a family.”

“You are entirely missing my point,” Natsume’s mother said curtly.

“And you’re missing mine!” Hikaru wasn’t going to get anything done today, was he? At least the woman was polite enough whenever Akira was around. “I get you don’t like me. But I’m not going anywhere because they want me here as much as I want to be here.”

Another sniff, but she looked away so the topic was probably dropped for today. “You had best keep making yourself useful then,” she said, leaving the room.

“Ugh,” Hikaru sighed. “You and me both, lady.” He kind of wondered if it wouldn’t be a better idea to just move back in to his parents’ place for a little bit. But that would mean no cuddling with Akira and Natsume, no morning Go matches, or debates in the evening. No garden or talking to Natsume’s belly-bump. No, he’d put up with getting looked at like he was a home wrecker in favor of all the positive things.

“They are so lucky I love them,” he muttered, going back to his kifu studies.

*o*o*

Akira had a large bed. Or at least it had seemed large. It had fit him and Hikaru and Natsume well enough curled up together around each other.

But as he found himself dangling on the edge of the bed for the fourth time that month, Akira had to wonder if they maybe needed a larger one. “Natsume,” he murmured, gently pressing his wife’s shoulder. Her face scrunched, lacking the dignity she had when she was awake. “You’ve moved again.”

It wasn’t a problem when she slept on her back. But the closer to the end of her pregnancy, the more comfortable she was on her side—and the more space she took up. She’d also become a restless sleeper. Akira and Hikaru both found themselves at the edge of the bed more than once. It just depended on who was sleeping where that night. By mutual agreement, they’d put Natsume in the middle because it was better for one of them to get kicked out than for her to accidentally roll off the bed.  

“Natsume?”

“Mm… Akira?” She patted at his arm.

That was new, too, how in her less careful moments, she dropped honorifics like she sometimes did with Hikaru. It made him feel things that he didn’t want to examine too closely because they felt warm and embarrassing to dwell on, just like how he tried not to dwell on certain things Hikaru did that made his heart melt. “Budge over a bit?” Akira said gently.

“Mm,” Natsume hummed, rolling the other direction clumsily. She latched on to Hikaru. Her waking moments she was always controlled with touch, but asleep, she clung to anything warm.

Akira slid close against her back, an arm draped over her and onto Hikaru’s hip. The pillows smelled like both of them. Before he got married, he’d been worried that it wouldn’t work out. That despite how well the meetings had gone, and how their personalities hadn’t clashed, that the differences would be too much to handle, or that he’d be unhappy with a marriage that hadn’t been built from romantic love.

Love was a lot more complex than he’d given it credit, and manifested in so many different ways.

Happiness had never been a direct factor in any of this either, an aim for contentment at best. Happiness was something Akira knew better now than he had his whole life.

Hikaru made a sleepy sound, burrowing closer to Natsume, and somehow getting an arm around her and his fingers brushing Akira’s hair.

Akira closed his eyes, smiling.

*o*o*

Natsume couldn’t get comfortable, a constant ache in her lower back as the day went on. Last week she’d had a contraction scare, but it had turned out to be false contractions. With another week and a half until her projected due date, she wasn’t convinced this pain was the real deal or not. Her back ached plenty this last month with having to hold up unbalanced weight.

She stopped her attempt at dinner, rubbing her back. They had a bag packed for the clinic and the midwife and doctor were a phone call away. She didn’t want to scare Akira and Hikaru if it was a false alarm again.

In an hour, both men were due home.

Natsume resumed cooking, ignoring the pain as best she could. It was getting a bit more frequent, but it might also be that she was dwelling on it too much and skewing what was actually happening. Vegetables into stir fry, cubes of meat, a bubbling sauce to glaze them, the rice cooker set to complete a few minutes before cooking was completed. Miso soup prepared with fresh dashi. Fresh fruit diced with red bean jelly for desert. A mild green tea to accompany everything.

The front door opened, Hikaru arriving first from the sound of it. His presence always filled the space where Akira moved quiet and unobtrusive most of the time. Natsume breathed through a stronger pain. Was it a contraction? Was the pain a handful of minutes later also one? She waited, still not a clear pattern.

“I’m home!” Hikaru said, sticking his head in the kitchen.

“Welcome home. Care to set the table?”

He gave her a kiss, casual as ever, before gathering up bowls and plates and utensils.

Natsume put the dessert away for after the meal, keeping it chill.

“Cups to match the teapot?”

“Please,” Natsume said, rubbing her back. Her legs were beginning to ache too.

Five minutes later, there was Akira, coming from teaching for the day. Hikaru greeted him enthusiastically. They sat down, like normal, dishing out food and talking about their day and Natsume listened, but she couldn’t quite keep attention on the conversation or the meal.

Pain. Count out the minutes…three…four…five…six…Pain. More regular. And definitely shortening in their intervals. It was a bit terrifying even though she’d know what had to happen eventually. No book, no class, no relaxation or meditation could adequately prepare her for this.

“Are you okay?” Hikaru’s voice cut through her thoughts. “Are you not feeling good? Is something wrong with the baby?” He and Akira looked equally concerned. It was almost funny how they kept doing that this last month if she looked the slightest bit off.

Natsume smiled despite the discomfort. “I’m fine. Although… I believe I might be going into labor.”

Hikaru’s chopsticks clattered onto his plate. Akira dropped a bite of rice in his lap. “Now?” Hikaru squeaked.

“I thought it might be another false alarm,” she said. She took another bite of her food. She was going to need the energy no matter how her stomach was fluttering with sudden nerves as reality asserted itself. “The contractions are getting more frequent and stronger though.”

“Shouldn’t we be going? Like now?”

Akira seemed to be frozen in place, just like he had been when the false alarm happened.

“There’s no reason not to finish dinner. Even with contractions this close, it’s going to be hours before the baby comes.” That was the truly daunting thought, the task ahead of her looming. She hoped she would be strong enough for this.

“But, but…”

“You would rather it goes to waste?”

“Of course not!” Hikaru picked up his chopsticks, fumbling them.

“Eat, then I will call my mother and we can drive to the clinic.”

“Right,” Hikaru said, voice tight with panic. “Okay. Sure. Akira, eat!”

Mechanically, Akira did, still looking shell shocked and a little bit terrified.

One would think, Natsume thought wryly, that they were the ones who would be spending the next however long in labor. She braced against another contraction and finished her miso soup. Well, one of them had to be calm. It might as well be her.

*o*o*

They’d left dishes in the sink and leaving had been a mess of phone calls—the doctor, parents and in-laws, midwife. Hikaru couldn’t hold still. There were so many people all here for Natsume and he couldn’t stand watching her serious expression of determination without wanting to jump out of his own skin.

Akira was doing much better, but Hikaru had a feeling Akira was halfway in shock and working on autopilot. He was holding one of Natsume’s hands as the midwife instructed her to carefully walk up and down the hallway to ease along some of the process. Natsume’s mother was on her other side. Hikaru’s mom and Akira’s mother were there too, but a little ways away and he had no idea how to feel about any of this.

And there would be hours of this before the baby was actually here.

Hikaru slipped out the door for a moment to breathe. He wasn’t helping anyone in his panic.

He slipped out his phone. “C’mon, c’mon, pick up.”

The ringing on the other end stopped as it was answered.

“Oh thank goodness—”

“Hikaru what the hell. It’s almost midnight.”

“I know. But. Natsume’s having the baby!”

“Now?”

“Yes! Sort of! Babies take a lot of time to be born, especially the first time I guess!”

“Then why the hell are you talking to me? Go be supportive!”

“I need to freak out at someone! They’re all in there being calm!” Okay, Akira was the opposite of calm, but he wasn’t panicking in a distracting manner, so he had a free pass.

“You said you all read books together on this, right?”

“Right.” Hikaru ran a hand through his hair. It was shaking. Hoo boy.

“And you each went to one of Natsume’s birthing classes with the meditation and breathing thingy.”

“Yeah.”

“So use some of what you know, dumbass!”

“Wayaaaaa,” Hikaru whined. “I’m so freaked out I’m worried I’m going to freak her out and if she’s freaked out what if it makes things go wrong and if things go wrong, what if something happens to the baby and—”

“Breathe,” Waya commanded. “Natsume’s a really calm person. And even if she’s scared as heck—and she probably is—she’s not going to let you freaking out mess up her head space.” Hikaru didn’t answer and Waya sighed. “Look, I’m in Osaka right now and I couldn’t get to Tokyo tonight if I tried. I’ll be there in the morning, ok? Just stop freaking out and go help support her. Just… think of it as a Go match. You’re playing against your own anxiety, but you have to win for her sake or something, ok?”

“Yeah.” Actually, putting it in those terms made Hikaru weirdly calmer. Gosh Waya was a good friend sometimes. “Thanks.”

“Whatever. Go be supportive. I’ll drag Isumi along when I come tomorrow. Keep me posted.”

“Yeah.” Hikaru hung up before Waya could. His mother poked her head out into the hall and waved him over. Oh boy.

“She’s going back into the birthing room, go keep Akira calm,” his mother ordered.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Hikaru said.

Natsume’s mother gave him a weird look when he walked in to stand next to Akira, but you know what? He was past feeling worried about her. Her opinion was her opinion and he was here for Akira and Natsume and their child. Heck, the midwife wasn’t even fazed by any of this.

He locked eyes with Natsume, a moment in between contractions and some of the tension around her eyes lessened.

They need you, he reminded himself. One hand on Akira, one hand around where Akira and Natsume’s hands were tangled together. It was going to be a long night.

*o*o*

“So,” Waya said looking at the baby in Akira’s arms. “Whose kid is it?”

“Waya!” Isumi gasped looking horrified. Hikaru rolled his eyes.

“Real nice, Waya. She’s Akira’s obviously.” Hikaru elbowed Waya in the ribs. “What do you take me for? I’m not having a kid with someone else’s wife.”

“No you just sleep wi—”

Haruka

Kanji for sunlight and flower or katakana spelling like    others?

Natsume’s name is spelled “Summer Bud”  (as in leaf-bud) so plant theme to go    with “bright” and “light” theme with Akira and Hikaru

               Isumi clamped a hand over Waya’s mouth. He bowed apologetically to Akira who watched with the bemused expression he reserved for Hikaru’s friends and some of his lover’s odder personality quirks. “Sorry about Waya, he doesn’t have a brain to mouth filter.”

“I can understand his uncertainty,” Akira said with tolerance. He leaned against Hikaru’s side as he looked at his daughter curled in his arms sleeping peacefully. “We discussed it earlier when children came up. Any children born will biologically be mine.”

“So how will parenting go?” Waya asked wiggling out of Isumi’s grip. Isumi frowned but Waya figured everyone expected him to be blunt. He might as well ask what they were both curious about.

“We’re sharing duties.”

“But I’ll be ‘Uncle Hikaru!’” Hikaru cut in with a grin. “She’s so tiny…Wonder if she’ll look more like you or Natsume?”

“I will be happy regardless.” Akira sighed, leaning heavier against Hikaru’s side. He had been up since three in the morning. His daughter came into the world less than four hours ago, and it was noon now. He hadn’t slept at all, too worried for Natsume’s sake and caught up in the blindsiding realization that he was actually a father now.

“Where’s Natsume-san?” Isumi asked.

“Sleeping,” Akira said. He smiled. “Bringing a life into the world is no easy task.” If he was so exhausted just from watching he could only imagine how tired Natsume was. If Hikaru hadn’t been there he wasn’t sure he would have been able to handle all the emotions. “Her parents were here earlier. Her mother wants to move in with us to help take care of the baby.”

“Ooh. That could be awkward.” Waya winced as Hikaru whapped him on the head. Really, there was nothing wrong with saying what everyone was thinking!

Akira couldn’t help but laugh softly, and more than a little hysterically, over the thought of his in-laws invading his home. It had been difficult enough to explain Hikaru’s constant presence during Natsume’s pregnancy and they got weird looks when he stuck around when Natsume went into labor. His daughter shifted in his arms, making soft noises at the back of her throat.

“What’s her name?” Isumi asked, politely diverting their attention back to the baby.

“Haruka,” Akira said. He traced her soft, red cheek. Newborns came into the world red and squished-faced and crying, but he seemed to find her perfect anyway. “The kanji for ‘sunlight’ and ‘flower’.”

“Natsume chose it,” Hikaru said.

“I’m surprised you used kanji since you both have names in katakana,” Waya joked. “Only just born and you’re imposing ideals on the little bean.”

“Little bean?” Hikaru echoed incredulously. “Woah, no calling our daughter a bean, Waya.”

“It’s like a cute affectionate nickname!” Waya protested. He dodged another half-hearted flail in his direction, hiding behind an exasperated Isumi. “I mean you’re pretty much her parent too, which makes Isumi and I extra kind-of-sort-of uncles, so, nickname!”

“Just call her by her name!”

Akira chuckled. Haruka wasn’t as amused by the noise though, and she scrunched up her face unhappily, a sound that was somewhere between a croak and a whine coming from her throat.

“…Touya, your daughter sounds like some sort of tree frog.”

This time Isumi smacked Waya on the back of the head. “And with that, we should give you your privacy,” he said. Isumi directed a genuine smile Akira’s way. “Congratulations again. We’ll visit properly after you have all returned home. We just wanted to make sure everything went okay.”

“I texted it did, didn’t I?” Hikaru muttered. He didn’t look annoyed though. Neither he nor Akira could hold on to irritation while the awe of having their daughter finally in the world. “I’ll catch you guys later. Uh, but we’ll see when that is. Pretty sure newborns take all your time and energy if the books are correct.”

“Thankfully we have three sets of parents and three of us,” Akira said just as Haruka started to cry properly.

“Good luck!” Waya called in parting.

Hikaru and Akira took Haruka back to Natsume, regrettably needing to wake her up; Haruka was hungry again.

Natsume woke from the noise, alert and worried for a handful of seconds before she saw Hikaru and Akira with the baby. She held out her arms and Haruka quieted some just from the transition.

“She knows her mom,” Hikaru said with a huge grin. Then, “Holy shit, Akira, we’re parents.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Akira said drily. He sat at Natsume’s bedside with Hikaru crowded too close as Natsume fed their daughter.

“We’re parents,” Hikaru repeated, like it was really hitting him, a bit choked up. “I love you guys so much.”

Natsume leaned until her shoulders pressed against Hikaru’s and Akira put a hand on her arm, Hikaru’s hip. Together.

******

AN: So, flower Akira was looking at that he didn't know the name of was a primrose. Baby's name has light connotations because both Akira and Hikaru (though written in katakana in the series) are names usually written with kanji for light. Since Natsume's name is written with kanji for Summer and Bud (like leaf bud), having a flower kanji in there worked too.

You know it's funny because I can remember being in a coffee shop in 2016 glaring at this word doc and trying to plan the stupid 7 course traditional meal and ranting to my friend about how I write myself into weird corners and then do research that I don't even use. Like how I 100% didn't need to plan that meal or do that research because it just got skimmed over. I spent at least 3 hours googling shit back then for a couple paragraphs. Such is writing I guess. This ended up a lot longer than I ever intended it to be with lots of googling pregnancy things that I didn't actually want to know, and Japanese traditions in pregnancy, that are actually kind of interesting from a cultural side of things (like the 'Japanese food for a Japanese baby' and how you're expected not to stress about things, you protect/keep warm your baby bump, can legally register the pregnancy to get government support/health care/information if you need it, how you're expected to eat and move around while in labor (food for energy, moving to help deal with pain) and to 1)not be loud when giving birth, 2) have a natural birth. You're also not supposed to gain a certain amount of weight during your pregnancy?? Like, weird.) Anyway, I've looked up some odd things over the years for this fic and others. I'm glad to finally post this and close the open doc on my computer and move the file to complete instead of unfinished folder.

[bokutoslittlebird]

Cupid’s Arrow + Cynar + blue twist + ice

Includes — Oikawa Tōru, Iwaizumi Hajime, Matsukawa Issei, Hanamaki Takahiro, Kunimi Akira, Kindaichi Yūtarō

Warnings: incest (biological and pseudo/step), in an AU where you’re the sister of all of them, absent parents, Omegaverse, knotting, oral (m. and f. receiving), spitroasting, double vaginal penetration, creampie(s), dubcon/noncon (it’s implied)

As the only omega to Iwaizumi Akirhiro it was up to you to take care of your brothers when your parents left to go on a vacation, just the two of them. Your father had married several women, aiming to increase his wealth and fortune through business contracts that bled into marriage contracts, with you and your biological brother being the first children from his first wife. Hajime and you were close and as close can be, always having each other’s backs. Then Oikawa Aimi came into your lives and then your mother was hardly ever seen, and you got a new brother. Then, it repeated itself as if your father couldn’t be satisfied with just one woman or he got a woman pregnant and had to quickly arrange marriage to avoid scandals.

It felt like they were never there for you.

When the door shuts and they leave to go on vacation, you’re well aware your duties start then. Tōru begs for you to play with him, your favorite younger brother, while Takahiro begs for you to make him a strawberry cake. Akira and Yūtarō are the youngest, but they aim to have your attention all to themselves, as well. Hajime is the only who breaks them up, as he is not only the eldest but also the most dominant alpha. Letting you go off to do what you need to do, he forces them to stay busy and leave you alone.

Well, he tries.

Throughout the day, you find each of your darling brothers beside you and inside you. Hajime isn’t much better, but he waits until you’re done with everything, always the best for last. Issei is the first, he always is, since he misses out on Hajime’s wrath and goes to the kitchen for some breakfast. His stature looms over yours, arms caging you in as he lazily grins down at you. Hands stop what they’re doing, putting down the dishes and washing the soapy suds off your hands before you turn towards him, ready to ask what he would like for breakfast.

“You, what else?” He leans down to press a kiss to your forehead, a sweet and wholesome gesture, yet his wandering hands speak a different tune. Large hands dive into your shorts, past the waistband of your panties and his fingers slide into your slick pussy, already accumulating a bit of arousal. His lips move down, his legs bending into a kneeling position until he’s on the floor, his nose pressed into your flimsy shorts. He makes quick work of them, pulling them down and away, hiking you onto the counter to give him more room to have access to you. Fingers go back to the slick, spreading your folds for his awaiting eyes as you close your eyes and turn your head. The scent wafting off Issei in waves is intense, the whole house can probably smell it, despite how large it is.

A tongue presses to your clit, lips covering it and sucking as you squeak from the sensation. So caught up in your thoughts, you forgot about the position you are currently in. Issei doesn’t want your attention anywhere else, dark eyes looking up at you as he presses his tongue against your sensitive skin, lips sucking on your clit as his fingers dive in and out of you, prepping you for something much, much bigger.

Issei doesn’t let you finish on his fingers and mouth, much preferring to feel your walls spasming around is cock and his knot. His attire consists of sweatpants, easily pulled down with his boxers for his cock to spring free as it bounces against his abdomen, precum beads dripping down the shaft. The scene doesn’t last long, your head being forced back as he nudges it up with his nose, placing his head in the crook as he pushes himself into your cunt. He’s large and thick, his knot is always the hardest to take, but you accept it without any qualms. It’s wrong, you know it is, but you learned a long time ago that they won’t listen to you, so it’s better to keep your mouth shut.

Issei picks up his pace, your cunt squelching with every thrust he gives as his hips slam into yours, large hands keeping him hunched over you as they hold onto the counter. His force feels like it should be shaking the house, but you just hold onto his broad shoulders and take all he can and will give you, hoping his seed won’t take. With a final thrust and a growl, he pushes his knot past your barriers as his mouth covers yours, muffling an ear-piercing scream as he plugs you full. Your insides tingle with the stretch, the added pleasure of his load inside you as your walls gush around his cock, milking him dry as your high rises and falls.

The day is similar in that sense, having Tōru and Takahiro join you in the laundry room, the alpha bending you over the clothes you just folded so he can inspect your pussy, still full and dripping from Issei’s load. Takahiro takes your mouth, his fingers slipping between your lips and spreading your jaw wide, his cock hard and ready to go. He’s only a beta, so he is usually asking for blowjobs since he can’t accidentally orally knot you. Tōru, who presented as an alpha, takes your cunt, his cock hard and already plunging into your depths that has you jerking forward. The perfect opportunity for Takahiro to shove your open mouth on his cock, tip bumping in the back of your throat as you try to not throw up.

They’re both relentless, but they work in tandem as they don’t force your body in two different directions at once. As Tōru thrusts up into you, your head bobs down on Takahiro’s cock, then vice versa. It’s a overwhelmingly full feeling, their scents buzzing in the air around you as you feel yourself drowning in pleasure. With Takahiro’s grip on your hair tight and taut, he keeps your pace on him steady until he feels your tongue swiping over the underside of his head, the most sensitive area on his cock. It’s the final straw, a loud groan as he pushes you on his cock and coats your throat in his cum. Tōru isn’t far behind, his grip tightening on your hips as he slams into you once more, his knot getting caught inside you and a moan, high-pitched and loud, erupts in your ear. Tōru and Issei’s seed is mixed together, plugged by Tōru’s knot as Takahiro presses a kiss to your lips, tongue swiping over the white liquid spilling from your lips.

Akira and Yūtarō will then join you for lunch, the two betas asking for more food because they’re hardly ever sated with just food. You don’t respond to them, you just let their hands roam your body and dip between your legs. With Yūtarō holding you up, proving he can be just as strong as the other alphas in your life, he lets you drop down on his hard cock, with Akira pushing his cock right in beside his brother. They alternate between who thrusts up into you and who’s pulling out, only to push back into you. Legs spread wide open by Akira’s hands, with Yūtarō’s hands helping to lift you and up on both of their cocks, your pussy on full display for the two of them.

Sensitivity ripples through you, the sensation of being absolutely filled to the brim running over your spine as you throw your head back, on Yūtarō’s shoulder, walls clamping around their cocks as they find their own release in your sensitivity. Without the knot, they pull out to let the loads ooze from you, spilling onto Yūtarō’s lap and down the chair. “That was delicious, thank you,” Akira says, pressing a swift peck to your forehead. You still don’t say anything, moving to continue your duties around the house, legs unstable and feeling like jelly.

At the end of the day, Hajime holds you in your bed as you cry. He’s the only one who sees your discomfort, he’s the only one who lets you have a say, but you never tell him no. As the only person there for you, you find it rude to tell him no, letting his frustrations of how his undisciplined brother’s act on your poor pussy, squelching sounds and moans from your bedroom. Water clings to your hair from the shower, a daily cleanse to get rid of everyone’s seed inside you. Hajime refills you, keeping you nice and warm with his own cum, keeping you nice and folded for his cock to spread you open and his arms to keep your legs up. His knot drips from your previous releases on his cock, sending you to three orgasms before he even gets close to his own.

“I love you, I love you so much,” he murmurs, lips pressed to your cheek. You whimper out that you love him, too, you love your nii-san, your beloved big brother, but it’s quickly ruined by the squeal of pleasure as he forces his knot into your cunt, filling you out to the brim as he fills you up. Hot liquid splashed against your walls, your insides eagerly eating it up as they cream on his cock. “I love you, my precious little sister,” a kiss to your lips, loving eyes finding yours. “Don’t ever forget that you were mine first.”

You don’t have the heart to tell him that’s not what you want.

[stoppit-keepout]

hello... i would like to know about operation ps’s dreams

ps.... I knew this day would come..... i just wish i had an actual fic to hand over.

THE TITLE: it was aspirational, ok? this was gonna be your birthday fic from several years ago! i wanted it to check as many ps boxes as it could :)

THE FANDOM: Hikaru no Go (hey what if i reread/rewatched hikago again)

THE CONCEPT: i’m just gonna cut/paste from my doc here: “FUTURE MOBSTERS??? MOBSTERS IN SPACE. ok it is arranged marriage au where sai is like the godfather like u know, and hikaru is his reckless protege, and a marriage between touya and hikaru would be advantageous to both families.” also: “Touya Meijin is a corrupt police chief/politician who basically controls all smuggling on/off Earth” another bit of concept: “Touya wants to know if he'll ever meet his new father-in-law and Hikaru's like ‘someday…' // They get married on Earth and then honeymoon on the LITERAL MOON ahahah wow this is a great plan. anyway Shindou thinks it's temporary just so they have cover to move this priceless go board from the moon to [destination], but Touya knows it's supposed to be permanent (so tension because he thinks Shindou’s not taking it seriously)”

I sorta had two rival plots that I never chose between: Plot 1 where Sai had already been killed and Hikaru’s pretending that he’s still around behind the scenes/impersonating Sai to keep control of the org (but also somehow Sai still calls him? and gives advice? Hikaru doesn’t fucking know, ok) and Plot 2 where Sai is killed during the plot of the story, and Hikaru tries to go on a revenge rampage :)

THE EXCERPTS: (I didn’t write a lot of actual prose for this story, most of the wordcount is timeline/planning, but i did have a couple little snippets!)

Sai looked at the ceiling and exhaled a long, slow plume of smoke. Hikaru stayed kneeling where he was. He'd learned to wait out these silences.

This one was broken by an expression: Sai smiled. The anticipation in Hikaru's diaphragm calmed.

"This is going to be good for you," Sai instructed.

Of course Hikaru nodded.

// (one marriage later)

To his credit, Touya Akira didn’t flinch. Despite the weapon pointed at him, his gaze tried Hikaru’s locks with the same surety that his hands had had on his travel case a moment ago.

"Who do you think I am?"

"Sai's eyes and ears." Cool voice, quiet voice.

Hikaru laughed, he couldn’t help it. "He has enough of those." He twirled his light pistol with a twist of his wrist, but kept it trained on Touya Akira’s atrocious vest. "If anything, I guess you could say I'm his hands."

[trexy225]

TSS-Character Masterlist

Hello everyone! So this story has many, many characters so I made a master list to help y'all keep track! You will see alternate versions of different Spiderman characters as well as some easter eggs I jammed in there. I hope y'all enjoy this chaotic, unhinged Pirate AU as much as I do! Let's go lesbians!

The Siren Queen- Y/N L/N the captain of the ship The Siren’s Song a bold, arrogant, unhinged pirate who takes what she wants. She is kind to her allies but ruthless to her enemies. A force to be reckoned with. Has a haughty shell but a soft inside. Has a very showy personality, is a drama queen with a flair for the dramatics, but in reality, is very scared and insecure. Became a pirate after her family was trying to force an arranged marriage on her she decided to turn to piracy, after seeing the injustices women were given she vowed to travel the world, taking in women who needed to escape as well as donating the treasures she steals to those less fortunate. Pretty soon she had built a loyal and terrifying crew, she hopes to rule the seven seas and make everyone bow down to her.

First Mate: Alexandra ‘Alex’ Shelley. Your closest friend, sister level bond. Stubborn and loyal she is a pessimist and sarcastic but that balances out your sunny attitude. She is very brave and is reliable, the rock on the ship that everyone goes to for guidence.

Sailing Master/Navigator: Gwen Stacy a brilliant scholar who may be a bit too confident.

Head of munitions: Lilith ‘The She-Devil’ Wilson, an unhinged daredevil adrenaline junkie who dives in headfirst and regrets it later. She is incredible with explosives, guns, and pretty much any weapon and is a useful asset. They don't tell anyone about their past, but she has a military background.

Head of supplies: Rita Hernandez, is the mother of Carlos and adoptive mother of Pepa. Ran away from her abusive husband and was taken in by the Sirens crew.

Crew members:

Kate: Your blue macaw who is very good at distractions and is your second mate.

Jeff: The ship cat, is fat and black but is an amazing mouser, is usually found with Felicia.

Cookie: The cook and the therapist of the group, has a crush on Rita. Came on board after her pub got taken from her by rich bankers who made the rent too high and she lost everything.

Melody Prescott: The singer who leads shanties and creates songs and lullabies, a wisecracker. Used to be in a traveling circus but was exploited and underpaid, she ran away to join piracy where she found you all

Suki ‘The Silent Siren’ Tanaka: The silent lone wolf who is deadly, twins with Akira. Saved by you from slave trafficking.

Akira Tanaka: Suki’s polar opposite, very loud and bold, her weapon is her tongue, being able to get a person's guard down and Suki goes in for the kill. Was saved by you from slave trafficking

Sunny Anne: The persistent optimist, dating Gale Hallewell. Came seeking adventure

Gale Hallewell: The dark one you know all emo and pessimistic, dating Sunny Anne, is here to make sure Sunny doesn’t get killed

Scarlett ‘The Seductress’ Ali: The Femme Fatale, has dated everyone (except the kids) on the ship, very flirty. Was saved by you from a gang of men who wanted to rape her and decided to take her act on the move

Pint-Sized Pepa: A 12-year-old stowaway who snuck on board one day and just became a part of the crew, Rita is her guardian and is very protective. Pepa is extremely headstrong and honestly a lil feral. Adores Lilith

Hattie ‘The Giantess’ Ahmed: A gentle giant, was also a part of the circus but ran off with Melody.

Peggy Li: The old drunk who knows all the secrets of the trade so that’s why you keep her around, everyone is a bit tired of her, but she was one of your first crew members, and deep down everyone loves her. Has a peg leg.

Xiran Li: Peggy's daughter, she’s tired and fed up with everything but she ultimately loves it all. Gives a lot of snarky comments and jokes

Beastie: Feral feral woman nobody knows where she came from and she’ll never tell. She’s incredibly deadly however and doesn’t hurt anyone so she’s just here for the ride. Is dating Sparrow. 

Carlos Hernandez: The 4-year-old wholesome wholesome boy who is Rita’s son. Everybody protects him at all costs

Abuela Gonzalez: The wise grandmother who just sits there and watches it all, she takes care of Carlos and reads him stories but is still ruthless if she needs to be. Rumored to be an ex-bandit but has not confirmed nor denied anything.

Priya Kumar: Literally up for anything and is very go with the flow, was escaping from an abusive husband who was very powerful.

Sparrow: Very stoic and regal, is dating Beastie. From the Tlingit peoples, believes in your mission of giving to the poor. 

Anya Petrov: A functional drunk who is very blunt and takes everything literally. You saved her from a bar fight once and once she found out you made your own booze she stayed.

Agatha Stevens: A witch who escaped the persecution of witches in England and joined your crew

Dalia Salah: The doctor on the ship, no-nonsense kinda gal. Decided to join you all after she saw how horribly everyone was doing without her, she also hated the sexism of the medical community.

Josephine ‘Jo’ Roberts: The latest addition to your crew, is extremely inexperienced but determined, also fiercely loyal. Is Cookies apprentice and is skilled at brewing alcohol.

Stormy Owens: A brilliant, sly, and resourceful scholar who is responsible for getting out of any legal troubles as well as creating false identities and keeping track of numbers and such

Petra Parker: A sunny acrobat who is usually up swinging around the ship's sails, came with Hattie and Melody.

Mary Jane 'MJ' Watson: An old friend from your past who joined because she wanted to write poetry and draw your adventures, is nonviolent, and will only use stun moves.

Lonnie Lincoln: An albino African American who escaped slavery to join your crew, is an expert blacksmith.

Felicia Hardy: An expert thief and pickpocket, best friends with Jeff the cat

Olivia Octavius: the former navigator to an American merchant vessel who you kidnapped but she ultimately joined you. Is a self-proclaimed scientist who claims to know how to control the Kraken, she just doesn’t know where to find the Kraken. You agree to help her find the Kraken if she teaches you how to control it. She’s very erratic and scatterbrained and seems to just be an eccentric scientist who’s harmless. But she can be deadly serious if she wants to be and there’s more to her than first meets the eye

[theofficialalphalance]

Royalty AU

Lance didn’t care what his cousin, Princess Allura, said. There was no way this arranged marriage to the Ignisium Kingdom was going to be a good thing. Aside from the fact that his ever elusive fiancé, Prince Keith (known also as Akira in more intimate situations), might be a trollish Galra for all Lance knew, there was too much bad blood between their kingdoms. Only one teeny tiny thing had to go wrong before the wedding, and it would be all over. War would reign, more lives were needlessly lost, and peace would be a thing that exists only in fairytales. But even if the ceremony goes off without a problem, Lance would always have to watch his step and keep his intended mate happy. More than once, he’s been told to not mess this up and be a good husband, doing whatever he was told to do to keep peace between the kingdoms.

Well, he was here, wasn’t he!? Stuffed in a too tight formal version of his usual outfit, white and gold with dark blue linings, a long cape that barely brushes the floor, thigh high white boots, and a white gold circlet with sapphires resting across his brow. His pointed ears twitched in irritation and he fusses with his white, wavy hair, his blue cheek marks aglow. He was standing next to Coran in the enemies (aka, future in-law’s) Royal Garden just outside of Prince Keith’s castle. Apparently this was where they were supposed to make nice before they get married.

@theofficialomegakeith

[callunavulgari]

TOP 25 FICS OF 2019

1. these roads will take you into your own country by @notbecauseofvictories | American Gods | Laura Moon/Mad Sweeney | WIP | 33k

Here’s a joke for you: a Muslim, a zombie, and a leprechaun walk into a bar in Misery, Indiana. No one stares, because no one in the puckered, shitty asshole of Misery, Indiana gives a fuck. The Colts are playing.

Heather Says: So. It’s funny that another of @notbecauseofvictories‘s stories is at the top of my list again this year. Keep in mind this list is sorted by when the fic was read rather than favorites (because that would get real complicated real quick). Clearly there must be something about January. There’s just something about the writing that is easy to slip into, be it a Star Wars fic or a Labyrinth fic or even a fic about Johnny and the Devil. This was lovely and I can’t wait until it’s finished.

2. eighteen wheels on an uphill climb by @honkforhankcon | Detroit: Become Human | Hank/Connor | 91k

Hank is going to die. He’s going to die right here in Kentucky, 53 years old, halfway to broke, and tragically sober. Survived only by a nine-year-old St. Bernard and the 31-year-old twink who delivered the fatal blow.

Heather Says: I don’t think that this is the first DBH fic that I sought out after beating the game, but it is the first that I loved enough to make it to this list. I didn’t think that I would go for a modern au for this fandom, certainly not a modern au wihere Hank is a truck driver and Connor is a sex worker (albeit briefly?) but here I am.

3. Fuck pride (pride only hurts, it never helps) by ImogenGotDrunk | Detroit: Become Human | RK900/Gavin Reed | 41k

After the android uprising, Connor becomes a permanent fixture in the DPD. That’s fine. Gavin can accept that. The dipshit’s more human than he used to be, and a decent detective to boot. Gavin can deal with him being around. What Gavin cannot deal with is Connor’s replica; two inches taller, blue-eyed, and with a mouth that Gavin doesn’t know whether to punch or take between his teeth. The RK900 model has been assigned as his partner for the foreseeable future.

Heather Says: I also never thought that I’d like a fic with Gavin in it. But I got curious about all the Reed900, and well, this fic really won me over. The writing is fantastic, and it softens Gavin while still keeping him believable. Also, well, I like the enemies to lovers thing.

4. Almost Cool by @blacktofade | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 30k

While filming the Yuma Territorial Prison episode, Shane gets bitten by what he thinks is a bat. Spoiler alert: it's not.

Heather Says: This is actually the first thing that I read for this fandom. In fact, this is the fic that got me into Buzzfeed Unsolved in the first place. I’d seen a lot of art and gifs and fics pass my way, but I was only ever slightly interested in what I saw until this fic came through my inbox and piqued my curiosity. 

5. Pride by @astolat | Game of Thrones | Jaime/Brienne/Cersei | 22k

Jaime didn’t understand why Cersei suddenly insisted on trimming his hair and shaving his beard, but he also didn’t care to fight her on it, even though he’d just as soon have kept the beard: it was bitterly cold in the small tower room with its arrow-slits. 

Heather Says: Wowza. This fic was intense. I’ve always loved Jaime and Brienne. I’ve loved them since the second book, which was read at least a few years before I started loving them in the show. Adding Cersei to their dynamic would have probably been almost impossible to pull off if it was anyone else, but @astolat lives to surpass my expectations.

6. Skin and Scales by Ernmark | The Penumbra Podcast | Lord Arum/Sir Damien/Rilla | 18k

The man glares, and this time, Damien is certain it isn’t a trick of the light: those eyes are violet as amethyst. He wears disdain like a second skin–- or, perhaps, like the scales that he is missing. “Lord Arum?”

Heather Says: I was one of those people who skipped through all of the Second Citadel episodes during my first listen through of Penumbra. The stories were good, but the pull of Juno was too great. A couple months after I finished, I went back and listened to everything I didn’t. And let me tell you. Lizard monster. Honorable knight. Bookish girlfriend. Poly. It hit every single button I had and then some. This fic really hit the spot when I ran out of story.

7. someone you like by caela | She-Ra | Adora/Catra | 5k

catwithabat u think ur so hipster but u just look like a lesbian 27m she_ra @catwithabat bc… i’m a lesbian. lmao 5m

Heather Says: Noooot usually a big fan of high school fics. Namely because I’m not in high school anymore and well, after you read so many in your teenage years they sort of lose their luster. This one was phenomenal enough to change my mind.

8. Sands of Time by @tirsynni | Legend of Zelda | Ganondorf/Link | WIP | 98k

Link awakens in the desert with no idea how he got there, to encounter his worst enemy...except it was the King of the Gerudo, not the King of Evil, he faced.

Heather Says: I have seen a lot of really good Link/Ganondorf art over the years, but never really stumbled across a fic that didn’t have judicious amount of non-con involved. But the Breath of the Wild 2 trailer happened, and everybody started drawing really pretty art, so I went looking. And lo and behold, @tirsynni saved the day with this gorgeous time travel/fix-it fic. 

9. killed with kindness by veterization | Persona 5 | Akechi/Akira | 52k

Goro can't quite figure out why so many people keep acting like they're his friend. (Or: the one where the Phantom Thieves decide to know thy enemy, befriend thy enemy, love thy enemy, crush on thy enemy).

Heather Says: I’ve read a couple of veterization’s fics over the years, and to date they have never disappointed me. They published this in June, and I think I clicked on it mostly because I was bored and hadn’t read any good P5 fic yet. This was basically just what the doctor ordered, and I was really happy to find something where Akechi’s story went ever so slightly different.

10. paper thin by @ebonybow | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane/Sara | 9k

Shane’s new neighbors are a morning-sex kind of couple.

Heather Says: So I went into this one knowing very little about how Sara fit into things. I didn’t know she was Shane’s girlfriend. I’d never even seen her, but I clicked because I like poly and I trust the author. I was 100% not disappointed. There’s also another fic with a very similar dynamic here, which is also aces.

11. damn.nation, now available on itunes by @kaikamahine | Good Omens | Aziraphale/Crowley | 11k

When lowly tempt-pusher Amphora (formerly of Stairwell 7B North, before she Fell,) gets the notice that end times are nigh, she gleefully quits her job and cancels her Netflix subscription and takes her place among the legions of hell. This, it turns out, was a bad plan.

Heather Says: Elizabeth may have only written one fic this year, but she made it a damn good one. I’ve always loved her OCs especially, so I was pretty tickled that this is 10k+ of outsider pov. Also, demons! Demons are great! This demon is great! I want like 9 seasons and a movie about Amphora, just saying.

12. The Dragon and Her Wolves by hapakitsune | Game of Thrones | Jon/Sansa/Daenarys | 60k

When the truth of Jon's birthright is revealed, control of the North and Daenerys's claim to the Iron Throne are both called into question. To preserve their tenuous alliance and secure her rule, Daenerys puts aside her personal feelings to arrange a marriage of political convenience between Jon and Sansa Stark.

Heather Says: What do you mean season 8 didn’t exist and the show totally ended with a three way relationship between the two most powerful women in Westeros and Jon Snow? Never been a big fan of Jon/Sansa before this, but this is another of those writers that I would literally trust if they wrote a fic about a fork and a spoon.

13. never tell me the odds by @wildehacked | Wolf 359 | Eiffel/Hera | 9k

“I tried Star Wars," he says, adjusting the phone under his neck, "and it was way underwhelming.”

A shaky breath from her end. “Well, where did you start?”

Heather Says: I don’t remember which of @wildehacked‘s fandoms I started reading first. Most recently it’s been The Magnus Archives (more on this later). The point is, they’d written Wolf 359 fic and it had Hera and Eiffel and it was literally everything that I’ve been looking for since the series ended.

14. Find Me Somebody by raiining | Good Omens | Warlock/Adam Young | 11k

“You left me,” he said. “You both left me, for him. And I can’t even blame you, because I’d have left me for him too.”

Heather Says: There was an Art. The art was lovely. So I went looking, because that’s what I do when faced with beautiful art depicting a rare pairing. And I found the holy grail. Like, possibly my favorite Good Omens fic? Ever? 

15. flirting with fire by @brawlite | Stranger Things | Billy/Steve | WIP | 7k

Steve's a cop, Billy's a firefighter. It's not a grudge, it's just a regular old small town rivalry.

Heather Says: Okay so brawlite has written a lot of great stuff this year (more on that later), but I read this in bed at the beach house this August while I was reeling from both a horrible sunburn and like seven hours of mild to moderate day-drinking while everyone else was still throwing back shots right outside my bedroom door. Jaws was playing on the tv and I wasn’t even paying attention to it, because THIS. Long story short, I’ve been thirsty for more ever since.

16. gold, when you find me by mmtion | The Flash | Iris/Barry | 53k

It's not that Iris hates The Flash, per say - more that she hates writing about The Streak in a weekly, pun-heavy comic based on The Flash.

Heather Says: I never would have thought that a canon pairing would make it to my Top 25 list, but here we are. I like Iris/Barry a lot better when they don’t grow up together and spend a lot of time playing the Superman game, apparently. Also, this was really well-written, and sexual tension has never been something I’ve felt from Barry and Iris, but I felt it in this fic. Just. Damn.

17. never gets old by @brawlite & @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger| Stranger Things | Billy/Steve | 78k

Falling in love with a cam boy named KingSteve isn't the smartest thing Billy Hargrove has ever done, nor is it the most healthy -- but the good choice is rarely ever the fun choice, and Billy is all about living life fast and loose.

Heather Says: Told you I’d come back to it. brawlite and toastranger are a fantastic team. last year was cherry pie and under the covers, this year it’s camboys and cop/firefighter dynamics. Also, I have a really strange fascination with fics where a character has an instragram. It’s really, incredibly strange. Also also, every time I see this fic title I get that one Discovery Channel song stuck in my head. And no, it probably isn’t the one you’re thinking.

18. ways to save the world by @wildehacked | The Magnus Archives | Martin Blackwood/Jon Sims | 19k

“I left you,” Martin says softly.

Heather Says: And we’re back at wildehacked too! The Magnus Archives was a thing that happened to me. This is I think the first fic I read for it while listening, and it was so very close to what we got in canon. I think when it comes down to it though, I still prefer this fic, even if the ending of this season was pretty fantastic.

19. The Denial Twist by beethechange | Buzzfeed Unsolved | Ryan/Shane | 35k

“This is kind of surreal,” Shane says, taking a sip of his tea. It’s piping hot and delicious, except it tastes like hot chocolate and not like tea at all. “Sort of—Wonka-esque, right? Or Alice in Wonderland.”

Heather Says: While the vampire one is my favorite both because it is excellent and because it was my first, this one was bizarre and sexy and also I read it like only a month or so ago! The dancing was my favorite part, but having dreams to work with made this story fantastically interesting and I loved every second of it.

20. silver in our lungs by taywen | Spinning Silver | Miryem/The Staryk Lord | 4k

The marks had been with Miryem for as long as she could remember. There were a number of them, all the same shade, following one after the other around her left wrist. They were pale as old scars, though they felt no different from the rest of her skin, and her mother claimed that Miryem had been born with them.

Heather Says: I really like soulmate aus. There’s so many different ways to twist them and the way they can sometimes change the dynamic entirely and other times not change them at all is just fascinating. I’ve been hoping there would be more Spinning Silver content on ao3 and running into this while I was trying to decide what I wanted to do for yuletide was a real treat.

21. you got me begging, begging, i'm on my knees by plalligator | The Queen’s Thief | Attolia/Eugenides/Costis | 5k

Costis has a particularly enlightening evening. (or, that struggle when you're a guard who's in love with your rulers and it turns out you would kind of like it if they bossed you around a little)

Heather Says: I accidentally re-read the King of Attolia and it made me consider ships I had perhaps not previously considered. This was really lovely and just steamy enough.

22. something more alive than silence by pageleaf | The Queen’s Thief | Attolia/Eugenides/Costis | 21k

It was a good thing that six months after the king had promised to halve the guard, he still hadn’t done it, because since then, there had been two attempts on the king’s life.

Heather Says: I want to only type the words AGONIZED NOISES to describe this fic because that’s basically my headspace when I get 21k of a shiny new ot3, but I mean. Really. This is super good and maybe my favorite yet? Why didn’t I start reading this fandom when I first read the books?

23. Timing it Right by DragonBandit | The Bright Sessions | Mark/Damien | 14k

The dragon chooses, Mark knows that as well as any boy born in a weyr. He'd never considered what that would mean if the dragon picked someone you hated. He's starting to think that was a mistake.

Damien's gold rises at Whitney. Mark tries to make things right.

Heather Says: This should actually be somewhere back in March, but I apparently closed out of the tab at some point. I never really got into Pern much. I have the first three books, but got most of the way through the first one a long time ago and then never picked it back up. I didn’t think I would like this, mostly because of the fact that I hadn’t gotten into the books, but was surprised to find that I absolutely loved it.

24. Keep It In Your Sights Now by LuckyDiceKirby | Shades of Magic | Lila/Kell/Holland | 9k

Holland travels with Lila and Kell. Somewhere along the way, they reach an equilibrium.

Heather Says: I love the new things I’ve discovered during my yuletide trompings. I don’t think I ever actually considered this pairing when I first read the books, but I am just so enamored with the idea of the three of them together. Like, why did I not realize that potential back then? This was lovely, and I loved it, and I want so much more out of this pairing than what ao3 has to offer me.

25. Charioteer by petrichoral | The Queen’s Thief | Gen & Costis | 13k

Captured in battle and stuck in the Mede capital, Costis has given up all hope of seeing his country again. But Eugenides has a habit of turning up where he's least expected.

Heather Says: Technically this shouldn’t be on here because I only read it today, but it was really wonderful and so canon typical. Gen and Costis were perfect in it, Irene was perfect in it. Everyone was perfect and nothing hurts.

[dayseternal-blog]

A NaruHina Folktale/Gods & Goddesses AU

Summary: The folktale of the Japanese summer festival Tanabata, the story of Orihime’s and Hikoboshi’s love.

Chapter 1: Across the Amanogawa

Moonrays,

Woven into stardust,

Threaded through gossamer of clouds.

The finished piece glowed like the tail ends of comets, perfectly fit for the blushing bride.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.  

“He won’t be able to take his eyes off of you,” Hinata said, watching Ino, the Princess of Horn, turn so the cloth would catch the light.  

“Thank you...thank you so much!”  Kogaku-hime’s expression was one of pure hope and joy, one that the Weaving Princess had seen often enough to know that the bride was in love, that the wedding would be a success.  

She smiled, satisfied at another job well done, happy that her father would be pleased with her work.

Yet as she carefully wrapped the shiromuku to be later sent to the bride, she couldn’t help feeling wistful.  When would she have her own wedding?  Would she ever meet someone to smile for, to blush for, to love?  She was already at the later years of proper marrying age, and soon, surely too soon, she would be too old for anyone to want.

She worked long hours, practicing and perfecting her craft, creating beautiful fabrics for all occasions that were well-known across the celestial heavens.  Her designs were sought out, desired for their auspicious value.  She had a long list of prominent clients and an even longer waiting list of orders.

Despite her neverending duties, she loved her art.  She loved forging beauty from the natural world around her.  She loved even more bringing happiness to her family, friends, and loyal customers.

She knew she could live a fulfilling life in this way.

But she couldn’t help her longing sigh, she couldn’t help watching her friend’s marriage with some yearning in her heart.  

His daughter’s melancholy did not go unnoticed.  As strict as he was on his daughter, he loved her and wanted her to be happy.  “Hinata, the wedding was perfect, your work was admired by all.  Why do you look so sad?”

“Otou-sama, no, I am proud of my work and glad that I could contribute to the start of their marriage.”

“Then what are you sighing for?”

Seeing that her father would not leave it alone, she admitted her true feelings.  “I just...hope that one day I can also find such happiness...in someone to love and to care for.”

Her father was surprised, but realized that, indeed, it was time.  Though his daughter was fair and beautiful, and though she attracted many an admirer, she had never shown interest before, and instead spent all her energies in her work.  He encouraged her work ethic and enjoyed seeing the success she had found.  No one could weave the stars together as effectively as Hinata.  Nothing could promise a propitious occasion like his daughter’s fabrics, and surely, her work was now considered indispensable to the gods.  For all of her success, she deserved happiness, too.  She deserved someone just as honest, good, and hardworking as she.  And he had one such young god in mind.

“I can arrange a meeting for you with Hikoboshi.  Have you met each other?”

She shook her head.  She rarely left her workshop.  The only people she ever met were her clients, long-time friends, and family members.  Though she had heard of him mentioned in passing, she now wondered about who Hikoboshi was.  Her father had never spoken of him before.  “Who is Hikoboshi?”

“He lives across the Amanogawa in Akira, and herds the cattle of Northern Genbu.  He has earned a reputation for being reliable and trustworthy.  Would you like to meet him?”

Hinata took a moment to collect her thoughts, imagining the difficulties of such a hazardous occupation.  An unfamiliar hope, an excitement, rushed through her, and she nodded. “Yes, Otou-sama, I would like to meet him.”

He had heard of her.  

After all, who hadn’t?  

The celestial maiden beside the Amanogawa, Orihime of Raira.  Her starlit kimono were considered as beautiful as the heavens.  Her own beauty spoken of in hushed, admiring tones from those fortunate enough to have seen her.  Rumor said her hair was like night’s silk itself, her eyes the moonbows of misted nights, her skin as pure as the divine waters of the Amanogawa.  

When Tentei, the Heavenly Sky King, proposed the meeting to him, he was more than willing.  He felt more than honored.  He was shocked to even be considered, and ever since they settled on the date for their meeting, he couldn’t help but feel a strange self-consciousness tug at his heart.  

This mysterious beauty that captured the imaginations of many a young lord, and he, simple cowherd though he was, received the opportunity to meet her.  

Would it go well?

Would she like him?

Would he like her?

Would they marry?

He pondered these in his vigilance over the pastures, his gaze following the curves of the galaxies that dipped toward the horizons.  He took great pride in guarding this realm, in guiding the cattle across the fields and back to their respective starhouses. Though he was required to work for long periods of time, and the responsibilities were great, he enjoyed his job, and he knew no one else could map the constellations as well as he.  Perhaps it was due to this that the Heavenly Sky King recognized him as a potential suitor for his daughter.  Perhaps it was due to his dedicated work over so many years that he was being given this chance.

She took special care of her appearance as she prepared for their meeting.  She combed her hair and scrubbed her skin until they shone.  She dressed in a simple pale kimono of her design, the embroidered creatures along the seams small, yet auspicious in symbolism.  

She knew she did not have the same charm and wit as Ino.  She knew her only strengths to recommend her were her grace and refinement, painstakingly taught to her under the strict watch of her father.  The least she wanted to do was offend Hikoboshi’s eyes.  If she couldn’t banter and develop a quick rapport with him, she hoped that at least he might look at her and like what he sees.  She hoped she wasn’t already too old for his tastes.  She hoped he wouldn’t think her a waste of his time.  She felt she had little to offer, lacking in social and life experiences as she was, locked away in her shop with her loom and threads.  

Yet, despite her nervousness, she was hopeful.  Meeting someone different from her usual circle of acquaintances was already more novelty and excitement in itself than she was used to.

She had paid careful attention to the murmurings of gossip when she visited the palace last, catching snippets of conversation regarding the young god she would be meeting.

“The lightning storm passed through there,” they whispered.

“Did he make it?”

“He didn’t lose any of the cattle.”

“The air is shrouded tonight.”

“How can he see where he is going?”

“He is certainly a master navigator.”

Hushed tones that left her truly wondering, imagining what he might be like.

Wise and well-traveled?  

Strong and protective?  

Kind and considerate?

Would he tell her stories of life in the far fields and mountains of Akira?  

Was it more beautiful there than here in Raira?  

She daydreamed of their meeting, of what it might be like, and what it might lead to as she readied herself for the night, and even as she made her way to the decided-upon location, the Pavilion of Swans.  

She waited near the shoji doors for her introduction.  She could barely hear their low tones, her father’s and Hikoboshi’s.  His voice was textured and warm.  She imagined weaving the timbre of his voice into cloths of red aurora, with rays of purple and orange starbursts.  Even if the night’s meeting ended in a failure, she would remember this, the voice of the young lord who agreed to meet with her, who agreed to give her a chance, and she would memorialize it in her embroidery.

A quiet shuffle alerted her to the present, and the door slid open.  

Her father appeared and gestured for her to join his side.  

She stepped quietly, carefully to him into the doorway.  She kept her eyes lowered, only lifting them to meet the occupant of the room when her father introduced her.

Her gaze met blue.  Bright, bright blue eyes of the rarest and tallest atmospheres.  His hair spun golden like the treasures kept in the Jade Palace.  His features were distinctive, strong as if the current of the Amanogawa surged beneath his skin.

She shied her gaze away again in a motion of modesty, but truly her heart thrummed with nervous anticipation.  He was beautiful, unlike anything or anyone she had ever seen.

Once Tentei slid the door closed, leaving them to get to know one another, they sat down silently.

His gaze was fixed on her, entranced, trapped by the vision she presented.  She was everything they said and more.  The rumors of her beauty didn’t account for the way her dark lashes glimmered over moonlit, blushing cheeks.  No one spoke of the way her very presence radiated grace and elegance.

But most of all, he wasn’t prepared at all for how he felt when she looked up at him.  He was immediately drawn to her.  There was no describing her eyes.  Softer, lighter than the cirrus clouds that gather at the hoofs of his cattle.  Simultaneously, astonishingly, incandescent, like the solar winds that, at times, surge across his fields.  Electrifying.  Alarmingly alluring.

He was just the Cowherd, no better, no more virtuous than any other young god, and he knew, he, like so many others before him, was taken with the beauty of the Weaving Princess.  Every fiber of his being wanted her recognition, her attention, and he spoke before he knew what he wanted to say.  “Orihime,” he started.

She looked up at him, her iridescent gaze meeting his, sending a wave of satisfaction through him.  A little smile curled the edge of her mouth, like she was happy to hear him call her.

Her very look was riveting, one that nearly made him lost in his thoughts.  He took a silent, steadying breath and continued, “...I have heard much about you.  Your art...and your beauty.”  He couldn’t stop himself from appreciating the curve of her cheekbones, the line of her neck as it disappeared into her kimono.  “You are certainly more than everything I have heard,” he said, as honestly as he could convey.

She blushed and her eyes trailed down to the tatami mats beneath them.  

He wanted to hear her voice.  He wanted her to speak, but he didn’t really know what else to say.  If it was socially acceptable, he would gladly call her every name of beautiful for the rest of the meeting.  He watched her blush retreat from her cheeks.  “It is an honor to have this time to finally meet you.”

She looked up then, her lips parted, and he felt attuned to every motion and breath she made.  “Hikoboshi, I thank you for taking the time to meet me.  I am only but a weaving maid.  I do not deserve your words of praise.  I am the one who is honored to finally meet you.”

Her voice was soft, gentle, like the breeze that whispered through the pastures on tranquil nights.  His chest felt tight with overwhelming attraction.  “Please, call me Naruto.”

Her eyes widened in surprise.  She nodded once.  “Naruto-san?” she called, uncertainly, her voice caressing the syllables of his name.

“Yes?” he responded, carefully, as invitingly as possible, knowing he’d do what he could to have her comfortably call him without the honorific.  

“Could you please..tell me about your work?  I have heard of your incredible feats.”  She blushed, her gaze lowering as if she was asking for too much.

He smiled, happy to share with her his occupation, his way of life and his pride.  “Of course!”  He described as best he could the star plains, the time it took to memorize each starhouse in his youth, the dangers in driving the cattle across the constellations when the tradewinds swept northerly, or when they reach the zenith of Northern Genbu, and he must navigate through the corridors of the solar winds.  He told her of the way the celestial bodies rise and set over his home, the way the young cattle enjoy playing in the clouds, and the deities he meets upon completing each crossing.

She listened attentively, her expressions of awe gratifying in a way that made him feel more important than he really was.  

He realized, though, that he wasn’t learning anything about her.  While having her undivided attention was undeniably satisfying, he wanted to know more about her.  They were near the same age, yet she seemed so much more sheltered, more innocent to the world around her.  “Orihime, please tell me more about yourself.”

She blushed, her gaze ducking down to the table once more.  “I weave kimono.”

He could tell she was uncomfortable, but he wanted to hear more about the maiden who had so effortlessly captured his admiration with just a glance his way.  “Your kimono is renowned across the heavens.  How did you start weaving?”

“Oh,” she gasped a little, surprise evident on her face.  Her expression softened, and she smiled.  “My mother taught me when I was little.”  

He encouraged her to continue, and she told him of how she learned to twine the wisps of clouds together as a toddler, braiding them into simple jewelry she gifted to her parents.  How, as she grew older, she learned to pull and thread together the dust of the stars into fine chiffon, how she learned to weave in the glow of the moon to create lengths of gauze and silks.  She told him of inspiration she found from the natural world around her, from watching the interactions of her loved ones, or from the beauty she found in the little things.

And all too soon, their time together was over.  A knock on the wall alerted them to the time, startling both of them.  

“Naruto-san, I enjoyed learning about your home and work.  Thank you.”  She bowed and lifted her eyes shyly to him.

“I also enjoyed getting to know you better, Orihime.”  He meant it.  It was partially her beauty, no doubt, but it was really the way she spoke quietly yet cheerfully, the way her expression lightened when she shared about her weaving.  He found everything about her attractive, irresistible.

“Please, call me Hinata.”  She blushed and averted her gaze.

“Hinata-chan,” he tried.  It was an unspoken promise that he’d get to speak to her again.  How soon, he didn’t know, but the knowledge that she liked him enough to share her name with him was more than enough to make his heart clench.  He openly smiled at her, expressing his joy at her acceptance.

Notes:  The Wikipedia-researching blackhole I fell into while writing this story was amazing. In creating their world, I decided to reference aspects of Chinese, Greek, and Hawaiian/Micronesian astronomy.  Please take a look at a little of what I learned!

Chinese: The sky is separated into 4 Symbols, one of which is Black Tortoise of the North (where Orihime and Hikoboshi lie).  Each Symbol has 7 Mansions that house and classify important stars.

Greek: Orihime refers to the star Vega, which is a part of the constellation called Lyra.  Hikoboshi refers to the star Altair, which is part of the constellation called Aquila.

Hawaiian/Micronesian: Ocean navigators memorize "houses" that all of the stars rise from and set into to determine their direction.  Their mental map is called a star compass.

Thank you for reading!

[autumn-foxfire]

Dabi may have gotten a Frankenstein throwback, Endeavor's got 3 distinct(not considering akira) possibilties. From the first one(where murderous infant Toya and the scars also exist and also Ofa) Endeavor should have died after Hood fight and appear in Shoto's flames to apologize to Dabi and Shoto as the brothers reconcile before fighting the big bad. In the second one Endeavor was murdered by Rei when even Shoto wasn't enough in few more years and accidentally lets slip he killed Toya out of ki

*killed out of kindness and it wasn't an accident. This Rei wasn't a doormat, was justified in her guilt for being involved in the initial wrong, had a very normal arranged marriage and relationship with her husband making the issue of her choices clear, wasn't abused but got a proper victim status understanding and depiction of PTSD and emotional breakdown. The third one involves the Endeavor doing a 180 near the end thinking "Its too late for me" because he is emotionally drained

*emotionally drained after and he sees no future where he fits in being 55, the world having changed too much for him(it was set in time of westernization of Japan) and he has confidence in his eldest son to raise the siblings and look after mom whos a lot like Rei who was sold by her father who is Redestro who sent her as a spy but she eloped with her abusive huband seeing hope in him and because her two brothers were worse. Toya is Natsuo and is his adopted son, presumably brother or nephew.

*Eldest really is Natsuo, goes to college getting a degree for purpose of helping his mother in her farm. In a similar pose he got to punch dad to the ground after Prohero. This Edvr doesn't die but abandons them against wishes, erases self in the family register, house burns down in his dabi/afo fight and incriminates himself as the villain in place of the dead d/a to atone becomes vigilante. On other hand Endeavors lost a lung so lung disease...But no way Dabis killing Rei or Fuyumi. Maybe.

*Basically Endeavors past every point he should really have died at same as All Might, all for Horikoshi to subvert the shonen expectation and tropes but he just went with the brothers trope anyway and thats where Endeavor should have no longer been a factor since hes the third wheel. The Watching You brother page should have meant them two watching each other. Plus, no tropes meant Endeavor is dumb and incomeptent in potrayal(not descrpn) and removed subtlety from abuser-but-father-and-husband.

I...what inspired this ask, nonnie? I'm sorry it's taken me so long to reply, mostly because I'm unsure of exactly what to say T-T I'm still unsure what to say with this to be honest?

Are these aus you've created surrounding the Todoroki family? Or are you trying to say these are possible routes that Endeavor should have taken but didn't? I'm a bit confused.

[aldreaoakley]

Arranged Marriage!AU one-shot

It’s been a long while since I wrote something and @catchthespade had this one post that got my gears going and... just don’t kill me because I actually intended this to be a one-shot...

[long post again...]

As the car got closer and closer to the Ichinomiya residence, ___ wrings her hands in a frenzy. This is her first time meeting her betrothed like this and all for economic reasons. Her family's company is close to going bankrupt -despite that they specialized in anything related to cooking- and the deal with the Ichinomiya family is more than perfect. Combining the best with the best, it was a deal that both parties agree to.

"Miss," the driver interrupts, "we are here."

"Thank you Hikaru," ___ whispers while the heavily imposing gates swing inward.

The second her butler, Shuichi, opens the door is the same one ___ is fighting every single nerve to not flee to a far corner inside the vehicle. A man with inky Arctic eyes glares at her while the man next to him smirks. If anything, ___ is a hundred percent sure that this is not going to work out. ~*~ "This is bullshit Eisuke," Soryu snarls the second the door closes. "The corporation is booming and you are making a deal like this!"

Eisuke sighs with heavy exasperation at his bodyguard's tone. This wasn't his idea either but Akira had already gone ahead with the deal with the ___ even before his adoption. It was-

"Akira told me that the deal was should anything happen to the ___ family, we get married. Today we are just signing the damned papers to show that her family's company is now part of the corporation," he flatlines. "I had no say on this even before today. He told me this yesterday."

As far as Eisuke is aware, Akira didn't even meet ___ inside the hospital where she was born and that the deal happened to ensure that ___ has a comfortable life. He did have to wonder about one thing though.

"Do a through search on all of her staff. Wet nurse, butler, everyone," he orders Soryu.

With a nod, he watches the other leave. Once the door clicks shut, Eisuke pages for a maid. He needs a heavy dose of coffee. Now. ~*~ "This is no fair... why does Eisuke have such a grumpy bodyguard," ___ whines while her hair gets brushed. "All I wanted to do was run away but with Shuichi in there it was impossible to... but...... Eisuke does seem nice..."

"I would be careful," her nursemaid, Chisato, warns. "The Ichinomiya Corporation is very powerful. Should anything happen while we are there, it will be instant death."

"Is he really that bad," ___ questions. "He is so cordial and polite."

"Then that is for you to decide miss," Chisato comforts, "because at the end of the day, he is your husband by law. Now go to sleep."

"Yes ma'am."

After Chisato leaves, turning the light off, ___ breaths an irritated humph. So what if the deal gets a green light, all that matters now is that she's in a good position. Just as she is to be. ~*~ Eisuke frowns from overhearing a loud ruckus, forcing him to pause mid-paperwork. Slamming his palms against his oak desk, he storms to the door to see... 

/What the fucking hell is going on here/ he frowns.

The scene in front of him is not what he had in mind. On the floor is ___ with dirty water staining her new dress and shattered vases decorating her and the carpet. Nearby are three maids sneering, taunting and jeering with a few of his female business associates. Of course... these types of messes has been happening ever since the day after their wedding. He didn't dare touch her in order to produce an heir nor did he even leave a mark to show who she belongs to. It's a no-brainer to him but clearly there are those who disagree. Out a corner he sees Soryu cock his hidden gun. He signals for him to drop it. The latter reluctantly does so. Smoothing his suit and schooling his expression, Eisuke steps out.

"Ladies," he greets, "what are you doing to my wife?"

He sees ___ eyes widen a bit before relief floods them. There is nothing like the little things that she does that makes him feel like nothing is mundane. However, he isn't one for the frivolous love ideas of hers.

"We are just scolding her for being clumsy around such-"

"Do you take me for a fool," he hisses darkly. "Don't take me for a fool. Now all of you leave or else."

At the threat, they scatter. Eisuke signals for another maid as he helps ___ to her feet.

"Thank you for doing that. You are a wonderful husband," she smiles.

"Haven't you forgotten or should I repeat it," he mouths to her.

"Oh... but you're still my husband, not some other fool," ___ sulks. "And I'm not picking anyone else!"

Unknowingly, a soft smile dances across his face with the comment falling from his lips on gentle tones.

"You are far too nice for your own good." ~*~ Several weeks has gone by, leaving ___ able to finally relax inside her private gardens. To her knowledge, the maids got fired and the women who keep on giving her grief are also banned from ever interacting with her or Eisuke again.

"Ah... life is so peaceful," ___ smiles while sipping some tea. "Well back to work~"

But some odd reason, ___ cannot shake off a bad feeling after putting her cup down. The feeling lingers while getting closer to the main house. Something covers ___'s mouth and she manages to bite the hand then running off. While somewhat regretting wearing dressy jeans, ___ is happy that they are practical enough for one thing.

"Eisuke," ___ screams while fleeing the set of thudding feet. ~*~ "All right. ... I see. ... See to it that they don't have any further contact with any groups. And if possible, get Ota and Mr. Baba involved. ... I can't risk anything happening to my wife."

As his phone beep to signal that the call is over Eisuke looks at ___'s trembling form. He recalls what happened several hours ago. Her panicked screams ringing across the grounds mimicking the intuitive unease he was feeling... The way how the masked man was reaching towards her... Mamoru (a security guard) tackling the would-be kidnapper... The fuss with the police...

But despite all that, he feels some pride at ___ for being brave despite all the fear coursing through her. Biting someone who is attempting to grab you is stupid but...

"I'm glad you're safe," he murmurs gently, wrapping her in his scent. "I'm not going to loose my wife."

"Me too," her voice timidly leaks out. "Um..."

"Just don't do something that will risk our future."

"... Okay~"

For some odd reason... something that Eisuke can't explain to himself but during the few months after their wedding, he somehow gain something that was more precious than the corporation or a new addition to the business. The love that he thought had died when he was little, along with whatever hope he had then, had reappeared in the form of the being in his arms.

Author’s note: Yes I am familiar with how arranged marriages work and I also used some elements from an OTBS sub-story as help. I had to include Hikaru, Shuichi, Chisato, Soryu, Mamoru, Ota and Baba or it didn’t feel right adding in so many OCs.

On a side note... I didn’t include MC making coffee because I did allude to it with the cooking franchise thing. In all the KBTBB stories, MC is a cook that can only be rivaled by Baba and Luke.

I remember from the Japanese voiced stories that Baba is called Baba-san and thanks to @redpantychan for explaining how the honorifics work in Japan that I managed to get the feel right. I may live in America but I am respectful and aware of other countries. And Japan isn’t someplace that is as roomy as a wide open Kansas plain but rich people’s houses there can be somewhat insane...

Kudos to @catchthespade for all her Eisuke posts. Those helped me with how to get his character to develop in such a short time.

[musicprincess655]

Chapters: 9/19 Fandom: Haikyuu!! Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei, Kindaichi Yuutarou/Kunimi Akira, Kyoutani Kentarou - Relationship Additional Tags: Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru - Freeform, they dont officially get together by the end so they dont go in the ship tags, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, War, Blood Series: Part 4 of Royalty AU

Shigeru was going to lose his mind. It wasn’t going to be the nightmares, or losing his home, or even having to share space with a socially maladjusted alpha who had resting bitch face from hell.

No, Shigeru was going to lose his mind from waiting.

It should have been an easy job. Hell, he could have tried sleeping some more if he’d wanted, that’s how unnecessary he was. If anyone came after the camp, Makki and Maiya would protect them, and he would just be stuck minding the children like the good omega his father had raised him to be.

Shigeru grimaced at memories of lessons upon lessons, commands of “sit up straight” and “don’t stare at anyone for too long” and “don’t let your thoughts show on your face” and, most importantly, “make sure you only show your best self” following him everywhere.

His father had meant well. Probably. It was what he’d always said. “I just want you to find someone to take care of you. I won’t be around to protect you forever.”

The thing was, Shigeru didn’t want to be taken care of, and he certainly didn’t want to be protected. He could take care of himself, if his father would ever let him learn how to. Sharp raps on his hands and losing food had convinced him to stop insisting that, though.

And now, because of a life spent sitting still and looking pretty, being taught to care about his clothes and appearance more than his own mind, the only intellectual stimulation available to him the art of conversation, because apparently that was useful in attracting a wealthy and powerful mate, Shigeru was completely useless. He couldn’t fight, no matter how hard he worked at the drills Mattsun gave him. He couldn’t plan out attacks like Kunimi, because he’d never been taught battle strategy. He’d been hobbled by his father’s grand plans of marrying him off to the highest bidder.

Shigeru had no doubt that his father had meant well. He even thought his father might have loved him. But his father had loved a version of Shigeru that only existed in his own head, and Shigeru had started thinking in his teens that maybe that wasn’t love at all.

His mother loved him, the real him, the boy she’d found hacking off all his long hair because his father had called him beautiful one too many times. She’d intervened on his behalf, and now he was allowed to cut his hair however he liked it, preferring it just at his shoulders, long enough to tie back, but short enough to not make him look too feminine. She was the one that had taught him history and told him jokes and let him sit however he pleased, with no care to how unattractive spreading his legs made him.

But his mother was far to the north, on the family estate nearly at the border of Seijoh’s lands. Lake Lilia was the only place where Shigeru had good childhood memories. He hoped his mother was still alive. Complicated feelings for his father aside, Shigeru was still a little messed up from seeing him die – even if he wouldn’t admit it – but losing his mother would destroy him.

He shook himself, trying not to think so much about his family. It was hard to remember growing up with his father without getting angry, and considering he would probably just worry Maiya and Makki and their children if he got up to punch something.

But it wasn’t making all this waiting any less terrible. He was stuck, Takeru in his lap because apparently he’d gotten tired of his mother’s, watching the two older ones fret over the people who had gone. Makki especially was fretting over his mate, worried about him fighting with the odds stacked against him, his son held close to comfort him as much to keep the baby quiet.

Shigeru looked down at the child in his lap. With the life his father had been planning for him he would’ve had lots of children to look forward to. It was the life of an omega raised for an arranged marriage.

Children weren’t so bad, he supposed. Takeru was a sweet enough child, babbling and talking at Shigeru when he wasn’t occupied with whatever game he was playing by clapping his hands together, and watching him was soothing in the way he took Shigeru’s mind off the waiting. Shigeru could even see wanting children someday. He could see being happy to sense the change in his own scent, ecstatically watching his belly grow, being happy with his mate…

But of course, there was never a face with the mate in his own fantasies. There never had been. Shigeru had long since accepted that any happiness he had in his future would be centered on himself, and maybe the children he would inevitably bear.

A mate wouldn’t make him happy. He was sure of that. The kind of mating his father had planned for him would never make him happy.

“I hate this,” Makki sighed. “I hate this waiting.”

Shigeru looked up at him. He didn’t really have an emotional bond with anyone in the group but Shinji, but he did have a lot of respect for Makki and Mattsun. The way Mattsun had turned their ragtag group into a real kind of team, the way Makki had made his choice that differed from his mate’s, but that hadn’t torn them apart. They were leaders in their own rights, and Shigeru had to respect that.

“Why didn’t you go with him?” Shigeru asked. “I know you know how to fight. Why didn’t you go with him instead of waiting? Wouldn’t that be easier?”

“Someone had to take care of Jun,” Makki said. “Part of being a parent is recognizing that your child comes first, no matter what else you might want. Besides, I’m not that good at fighting. Give me a dagger, and I can defend myself and maybe someone else, but I can’t really use a sword or anything else, not like the ones who went can. If anyone comes after us while it’s just us, Maiya is the one who’s going to have to defend us.”

Shigeru looked at Maiya. She’d softened somehow since Kunimi had given his big speech. He’d noticed Shinji saying something to her. Maybe that had helped.

“Obviously, I’m not going to part with Takeru right now,” she said.

“How do you know how to fight so well?” Shigeru asked, because maybe it would distract him, and maybe it would distract her too. “I know omegas and women can fight just like men in Seijoh, but I didn’t think it was common.”

“It’s more common than it is in other kingdoms,” Maiya told him. “Even Shiratorizawa doesn’t allow it as much as we do. The only thing that matters is whether or not you have the skill. We don’t care what you have in your pants.

“My mother is a warrior,” she went on. “She’s…it’s kind of like the castle guard? But they don’t stay within the castle walls. They’re posted outside, to be a buffer in case of a big attack. I’m actually pretty sure she died in the Karasuno attack. No one would’ve gotten past her if she was still alive.”

“I’m sorry,” Shigeru said. Maiya waved her hand, though her eyes looked glassier.

“She would’ve wanted to go down fighting for what she believed in,” Maiya said. “I can be happy knowing she went down swinging. And I think there’s a good chance that my father survived, if he could get out of the castle. I just want to know if my little brother is alive. He’s mated to the crown prince, and he wouldn’t have let them do anything to Tooru.”

She looked wistfully into the distance.

“Anyway, I know how to fight because my mother taught me,” she continued. “I had a toy sword in my hand almost as soon as I could walk. I know how to shoot an arrow, too. I think my mother must have seen the wanderlust in me even then, and she wanted to make sure I could take care of myself on the road.”

The concept of a parent wanting their child to fight for themselves was foreign to Shigeru, but he listened intently as Maiya kept talking.

“I’ve been wandering all over Seijoh and beyond since I was eighteen,” Maiya said. “I’ve learned so many things, and I’ve been able to bring back knowledge for the kingdom. They usually pay me if I can bring back scrolls and books they don’t have in the library, and if I can find treasure, all the better for me. Shinji started joining me a few years back, which you probably know.”

Shigeru nodded. He’d been friends with Shinji since they were children, and Shinji had taken off a few years ago to travel all over. He’d always come back to tell Shigeru stories, and those were some of the best memories Shigeru had. They gave him something to imagine when he fantasized about running away from his life.

“My mate mostly cared for Takeru between my adventures, if they didn’t both come with me,” Maiya said, her voice softer. “I’m…a bit out of practice at being a mother. Once he wasn’t a baby anymore, I didn’t really need to be there to make sure he survived, and sometimes adventuring is a lot easier than parenting.”

She sighed, looking at Takeru, oblivious in Shigeru’s lap.

“I don’t know how I’m going to do this alone,” she said. “I was barely doing it before. I don’t think I’m fit to be a mother.”

“You want the best for your son, and you’re trying your best, and you’re not forcing him to be something he’s not,” Shigeru said. “I think you’re fit to be a mother, and I think the fact that you’re worried you’re not proves you are.”

“Yahaba’s right,” Makki broke in. “You stopped running off for far flung places when Takeru was born. Even though you left, you always came back sooner, and you were always running for your son as soon as you could. So what if you’re scared of not being a good parent? I’m scared I’m not doing enough to protect my son. I’m scared that we should have run north when we had a chance, because now we definitely wouldn’t be able to beat the winter, but maybe that worry means I’m doing something right.”

“Your children are going to be alright,” Shigeru said, because it felt like he should say something. “You both know how to protect them.”

They both seemed pleased at his words, but before they could respond, Shinji came running back into camp.

“We did it,” he said, fire in his eyes and his grin. “They have supplies there, so we decided it would be easier for the five of you to come to us instead of carrying it all to you. And we found something.”

“What?” Shigeru asked, standing and picking Takeru up. The toddler was awake, but clinging to his neck. He probably wouldn’t be able to walk so far in the forest at night. He and Jun had had the hardest time adjusting to being nocturnal.

“Some girls from Seijoh,” Shinji said. “The soldiers in the company we killed took them for…well, I’m sure you can imagine.”

Shigeru grimaced.

“Yeah, that’s the general consensus,” Shinji said. “Anyway, they said they were in a refugee camp of Seijoh citizens, and based on some rumors they heard, Kunimi thinks Karasuno is trying to build an empire, and he had an idea of how to fight them.”

“That’s good news,” Shigeru said. “What’s the plan?”

“The thing is, we can’t really throw in on a plan yet,” Shinji said, scratching his head. “We’re not sure the rumors are true, and we could be wrong, and if we play this wrong, we could get seriously reamed. So Kunimi wants to send the two of us to the refugee camp.”

“Me?” Shigeru asked. “I get you, but why me? I still can’t do any of this fighting stuff right.”

“We’re not going to fight,” Shinji said. “Hopefully. And it’ll just be us, so in theory I can protect you if we need it. Ideally, though, all we’ll be doing is talking. We have to see if the rumors are true. We need all the information we can get about the state of Seijoh.”

Shigeru nodded, gears turning in his head. They were walking into the light of a few huge bonfires, and Shigeru wrinkled his nose at the acrid burning smell coming from them. At Shinji’s look, he decided not to ask.

His eyes landed on three girls, the ones Shinji had said came from the refugee camp. Setting Takeru down with his mother, he approached the girls.

“I need to know what you know about the refugee camp,” he said. “Not the layout, or the kind of guard you’re under. I need to know what kind of people are there. I need to know who the leaders are, and who has influence. Who can I talk to who might know something? That kind of thing.”

The girls look at each other, and back to him.

And they started to talk.

[tearsofahime]

In my previous P5 Hogwarts AU posts (Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, plus @kazusakai ‘s fic are linked), I hinted at a plot so here’s some general upper-year plot developments (Spoilers for P5).

-          During Akira’s first year at Hogwarts, there was a series of murders and kidnappings happening at the school, enough so cause enough of an uproar among the parents of the student body. The perpetrator was later revealed (through the unsolicited and also unauthorized investigations done by the P4 cast) to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor: Adachi Tohru, a former Auror who later confessed his motives for the murders were not just driven by his hatred of women and anyone who opposed him, but also his need to become a “Dark Lord so powerful, [he] could be a god.” He would later be arrested and thrown into Azkaban for his crimes.

-          Akira would not think much about those kinds of developments again until his sixth year, when the plot, where he was concerned, would thicken.

-          In Akira’s sixth year a lot of developments were happening for everyone

-          On a general scale in the magic world, there was a resurgence of Anti-Muggle sentiments among the wizarding community, especially among a great percentage of the Pureblood population, which also helped tie into the rise of a dark wizard named Yaldabaoth, a tyrannical wizard who seemed hell-bent on destruction and was willing to take full advantage of whatever it took to gain the favor of as many magic-users as possible to rise to power.

-          On a personal scale, Akira had recently been put on trial for using magic outside of Hogwarts and in the presence of a muggle. The context for that being that he had stopped a pureblood wizard (later revealed as Shido) who had been torturing an innocent defenseless muggle woman with the cruciatus curse.

-          Futaba recently learned her mother had been killed over the summer (by none other than Goro, she would MUCH LATER learn) and as a result, when she returned to Hogwarts, she started to withdraw from the world and hide out in her dorm room. Whenever she HAD to leave said room, she’d always wear a grotesque mask to hide her face.

-          After successfully perfecting how to paint a moving, talking portrait the previous year, Yusuke finally broke free and moved away from the shadow of Madarame’s influence; cutting his hair (which had been previously kept long) and moving out from Madarame’s home to start his own business of being a portrait-maker for anyone who paid, especially when Madarame was later arrested for art theft.

-          Ryuji meanwhile was well on his way to becoming the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, especially after all of his prowess as a chaser (and ace flier) for the team.

-          Ann was dealing with the fact that after watching her best friend Shiho spend years coping with the trauma that resulted from Kamoshida’s sexual abuse, Shiho’s mother decided to move her and their entire family back to Japan to live with the rest of her extended family and enroll her in Mahoutokoro, which although Ann was happy Shiho was going to have a bigger support system and that she’ll always keep in touch with her, was still sad that her best friend had to leave.

-          Two years prior, Haru had finally broken free of her arranged marriage engagement to her fiance after he graduated from Hogwarts so now she was finally coming to terms with and learning how to live a life of freedom from such a controlling person while still dealing with the general scorn that came from the pureblood community for turning down a marriage into what was one of the most prestigious pureblood families in all of Britain (And she ended up dealing with no small share of anti-Japanese racism as well as insults made to her French childhood upbringing). This was all made worse when she learns that before she could start to make amends with him, her father was BRUTALLY murdered (Also by Goro she would later learn)

-         Makoto, now in her seventh year, was now the Head Girl of Ravenclaw and working towards becoming and Auror like her sister.

-          Speaking of becoming an Auror, the yearr prior, Goro had become one despite still being enrolled as a student at Hogwarts after having displayed an immense amount of prowess in the fields needed to become one, a feat that had not been seen since Naoto Shirogane was given the title of “Youngest Auror in history) when she had turned 17.

-          As a result of becoming an Auror, Goro was often busy and he started to spend less time with Akira and the others due to his job, and also because he had questions that needed answering about his past that he wanted to find out. More specifically, about who his family was, as his father was never around and he lost his mother (who was a muggle) when he was too young to remember and he was passed around the Muggle Foster Care system until they labeled him a “problem child” when he started displaying magical abilities at age 11.

-          This quest for knowledge would later lead Goro to discover his birth Father was none other than Masayoshi Shido, a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic who is later revealed to hold deep anti-muggle and Pureblood-elitist sentiments and a hidden supporter for Yaldabaoth.

-          Driven by his need to become closer to his father and gain his approval (especially for validation), Goro started to become a lackey for Shido, carrying out actions more heinous than the last for him and developing an increasingly more twisted worldview, which to Akira, who was watching his best friend go down this path, was downright terrifying.

-          Sixth year would end with Goro’s betrayal of the group when Yaldabaoth attempts an attack and a takeover of the Ministry, in which Goro reveals to pledge his allegiance to Yaldabaoth for his father after having attacked Akira and his group when they had decided to do an investigation into Goro’s bizarre behavior

-         This turn of events would cause Akira and the others to start to look for ways to take down Shido and Yaldabaoth, especially when it’s revealed that Shido was the one responsible for causing a great deal of suffering for virtually everyone

[ao3feed-ennotana]

by Himara_Yura

When she was born it was no surprise she was already going to be famous. She was beautiful smart perfect powerful and a prodigy Himara Yura had a perfect life until the age of eight where things took a turn for the worst.

Words: 376, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Haikyuu!!, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage, Rape/Non-Con

Categories: F/F, M/M

Characters: Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Eren Yeager, Hinata Shouyou, Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi, Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi, Nishinoya Yuu, Shimizu Kiyoko, Yachi Hitoka, Edward Elric, Roy Mustang, Kozume Kenma, Kuroo Tetsurou, Akaashi Keiji, Bokuto Koutarou, Haiba Lev, Yaku Morisuke, Kinoshita Hisashi, Narita Kazuhito, Ennoshita Chikara, Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Midoriya Izuku, Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki, Kirishima Eijirou, Jirou Kyouka, Yaoyorozu Momo, Iwaizumi Hajime, Oikawa Tooru, Hanamaki Takahiro, Matsukawa Issei, Kindaichi Yuutarou, Kunimi Akira

Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka, Edward Elric/Roy Mustang, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Kinoshita Hisashi/Narita Kazuhito, Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou, Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei, Kindaichi Yuutarou/Kunimi Akira, one sided Todoroki Shouto/Original Female Character(s), Ennoshita Chikara/Tanaka Ryuunosuke

Additional Tags: Underage Drinking, Yandere, Murder, Implied Sexual Content, Sad, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cheating, Assassins & Hitmen, Military, War, kingdom au, Singer Himara Yura, Prince Ennoshita Chikara, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Hanahaki Disease, Neglected Ennoshita Chikara, First Time, Arranged Marriage, Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Bullying, Abuse, lying, Secrets, forgotten Chikara Ennoshita, mafia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Mpreg, Marriage, Break Up, Song: Heather (Conan Gray), Yaoi, karasuno is a hero school, Quirks (My Hero Academia)

[ao3feed-kiyoyachi]

by Himara_Yura

When she was born it was no surprise she was already going to be famous. She was beautiful smart perfect powerful and a prodigy Himara Yura had a perfect life until the age of eight where things took a turn for the worst.

Words: 376, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Haikyuu!!, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage, Rape/Non-Con

Categories: F/F, M/M

Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka, Edward Elric/Roy Mustang, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Kinoshita Hisashi/Narita Kazuhito, Ennoshita Chikara Jager/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou, Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei, Kindaichi Yuutarou/Kunimi Akira, one sided Todoroki Shouto/Original Female Character(s)

Additional Tags: Underage Drinking, Yandere, Murder, Implied Sexual Content, Sad, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cheating, Assassins & Hitmen, Military, War, kingdom au, Singer Himara Yura, Prince Ennoshita Chikara, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Hanahaki Disease, Neglected Ennoshita Chikara, First Time, Arranged Marriage, Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Bullying, Abuse, lying, Secrets, forgotten Chikara Ennoshita, mafia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Mpreg, Marriage, Break Up, Song: Heather (Conan Gray)

[ao3feed-kuroken]

by Himara_Yura

When she was born it was no surprise she was already going to be famous. She was beautiful smart perfect powerful and a prodigy Himara Yura had a perfect life until the age of eight where things took a turn for the worst.

Words: 376, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Haikyuu!!, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage, Rape/Non-Con

Categories: F/F, M/M

Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka, Edward Elric/Roy Mustang, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Kinoshita Hisashi/Narita Kazuhito, Ennoshita Chikara Jager/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou, Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei, Kindaichi Yuutarou/Kunimi Akira, one sided Todoroki Shouto/Original Female Character(s)

Additional Tags: Underage Drinking, Yandere, Murder, Implied Sexual Content, Sad, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cheating, Assassins & Hitmen, Military, War, kingdom au, Singer Himara Yura, Prince Ennoshita Chikara, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Hanahaki Disease, Neglected Ennoshita Chikara, First Time, Arranged Marriage, Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Bullying, Abuse, lying, Secrets, forgotten Chikara Ennoshita, mafia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Mpreg, Marriage, Break Up, Song: Heather (Conan Gray)

Read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3i63IFb

[ao3feed-iwaoi]

The Chosen One

Read this masterpiece on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3i63IFb

by Himara_Yura

When she was born it was no surprise she was already going to be famous. She was beautiful smart perfect powerful and a prodigy Himara Yura had a perfect life until the age of eight where things took a turn for the worst.

Words: 376, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Haikyuu!!, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage

Categories: F/F, M/M

Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka, Edward Elric/Roy Mustang, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Kinoshita Hisashi/Narita Kazuhito, Ennoshita Chikara Jager/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou, Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei, Kindaichi Yuutarou/Kunimi Akira, one sided Todoroki Shouto/Original Female Character(s)

Additional Tags: Underage Drinking, Yandere, Murder, Implied Sexual Content, Sad, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cheating, Assassins & Hitmen, Military, War, kingdom au, Singer Himara Yura, Prince Ennoshita Chikara, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Hanahaki Disease, Neglected Ennoshita Chikara, First Time, Arranged Marriage, Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Bullying, Abuse, lying, Secrets, forgotten Chikara Ennoshita

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3i63IFb

[ao3feed-fma]

The Chosen One

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3i63IFb

by Himara_Yura

When she was born it was no surprise she was already going to be famous. She was beautiful smart perfect powerful and a prodigy Himara Yura had a perfect life until the age of eight where things took a turn for the worst.

Words: 376, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Haikyuu!!, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia, Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage

Categories: F/F, M/M

Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka, Edward Elric/Roy Mustang, Original Female Character/Original Female Character, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Kinoshita Hisashi/Narita Kazuhito, Ennoshita Chikara Jager/Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto, Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou, Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Hanamaki Takahiro/Matsukawa Issei, Kindaichi Yuutarou/Kunimi Akira, one sided Todoroki Shouto/Original Female Character(s)

Additional Tags: Underage Drinking, Yandere, Murder, Implied Sexual Content, Sad, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cheating, Assassins & Hitmen, Military, War, kingdom au, Singer Himara Yura, Prince Ennoshita Chikara, Depression, Suicidal Thoughts, Hanahaki Disease, Neglected Ennoshita Chikara, First Time, Arranged Marriage, Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Bullying, Abuse, lying, Secrets, forgotten Chikara Ennoshita

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3i63IFb