#twenty-three years old

[pulaasul]

TWENTY-THREE YEARS OLD

Ace-sama is dead.

Sara was with Keiwa when she learned that news, she's sure if she asked her brother not to fight the person who killed Ace-sama, he would not go.

"Promise Me, you'll Come Back"

A/N: As this was intended to be a birthday fic, the main prompts here were the Persona 5 Fandom's "Kiss Ryuji Day" wherein every Persona 5 character is drawn or written to kiss Persona 5's Ryuji, one of the preview images for the last episode of Geats, and Keiwa's wish to become an idol.

FFN I Ao3

--------

News of Ace's death had reached even Sara's ears. She was with Keiwa when her brother was informed through his spider phones about that particular announcement.

One word from her, she's sure that Keiwa wouldn't fight Sueru.

"Please promise me you'll come back."

Sara saw her brother bite his lips and looked away for a moment.

The both of them knew that she could lose her brother, for good this time. No ominous frog statue to force her into a deadly tournament in exchange for reviving her brother.

"Nee-chan, I love you."

"I love you too, Keiwa."

The siblings hugged each other, both knew that this could be the very last time they get to hug each other in their lives.

As soon as Keiwa left the apartment to meet with Neon-chan and Buffalo-san, Sara spied on the calendar, specifically on the 25th day of August.

"Please let him make it to his 23rd birthday."

--------

Sara had caught glimpses of the final fight against Sueru, she didn't have the heart to witness the whole thing, especially when the red and black Rider was choking the life of her brother.

She had been in the apartment after she had called in sick when she was unceremoniously teleported to the DGP salon.

"Sara-sama, I apologize for forcefully teleporting you here, I didn't know who else to call."

"It's okay Tsumuri-san, what do you need?"

"I don't know…" Tsumuri admitted. "Ace-sama… he…"

"Is he alive?"

"I don't know," Tsumuri shook her head. "I had teleported the both of us from where he and Sueru fought and then he vanished."

"Didn't that simply mean that he's alive?" Sara offered, hopeful for the outcome of the ongoing battle with her brother and Sueru.

"I.."

Before another word could escape from Tsumuri had gasped.

Curious why Tsumuri gasped, Sara turned around and saw on a holographic screen that Neon-chan and Buffalo-san in the floor while the red and black Rider took her brother by the throat and lifted him off of the ground.

"Keiwa!"

Whatever was said the man holding her brother by the throat, none of it registered in Sara's mind. She couldn't do anything to save her brother from his fate.

If Ace died against Sueru, what hope could his brother have?

"I'm sorry Tsumuri-san, but…" Sara tried her best to hold back her tears. "I don't think I can watch this… Can you…"

"I'll take you to the spare room, Sara-sama."

Tsumuri escorted Sara to the spare room, coincidentally; It was the room Keiwa was in when he was recovering from the risky play made by Ace just to get the Ninja Buckle, judging from the log of users at the entrance of the room that showed Kamen Rider Tycoon's core ID logo.

"Call me if you need anything, Sara-sama."

Sara only nodded before she sobbed herself to sleep, muffling her voice with the pillow already in the room.

--------

Sara woke up hours later. It was already three in the morning on the 25th of August, judging from the time and date that was said on her phone.

"You didn't make it to your 23rd birthday, Keiwa." Sara whispered to herself as she made her way back to the lounge of the salon only to be greeted by Tsumuri right by the lounge's entrance.

"Sara-sama! You're awake!"

Sara was confused as to why Tsumuri was dragging her to the lounge, only to be greeted by everyone's sleeping forms from Daichi-kun to her brother, even Ace-sama was with everyone.

Everyone was sleeping soundly on the floor.

"Is Keiwa?" Sara had to make sure.

"Yes, Ace-sama arrived just in time to stop Sueru from killing Keiwa-sama." Tsumuri whispered gladly.

"Say, Tsumuri-san, does this place have an oven, it's Keiwa's birthday today."

"It is?" Tsumuri smiled with excitement. "I'll show you where the kitchen is, Keiwa-sama has also made use of the kitchen when he was living here with Daichi-sama and Sae-sama."

"Really? Lead the way, Tsumuri-san!

---------

"Heh, so it's Tycoon's birthday today."

Sara had just briefed everyone on why there was a cake on the bar's counter. She had just revealed to everyone that this was a celebration of Keiwa's birthday, as much as it was a celebration of their victory against Sueru.

"If…" Neon trailed off as she realized something in horror.

"It wasn't permanent, so we're not going to think about that." Ace immediately shut down Neon's train of thought. "We should be celebrating his birthday and our victory."

"You're right," Neon smiled. "What do you have in mind?"

"Sara-san and nee-san – "

"I'm not your nee-san."

"– already did everything for us, I'd suggest we decorate the place, but we're all still sore from the fight yesterday." Ace hummed.

"Why don't you just change clothes then you'll hide somewhere?" Sara suggested. "Then we can start the celebration after he wakes up."

"How is he still asleep?" Michinaga questioned.

"Whenever he's so tired, he sometimes needs someone to wake him up." Sara smiled fondly. "He's gotten good at waking up by himself even when he's tired the previous day, the fight must've taken a lot out of him."

"You saw the fight?" Neon squeaked in alarm.

"I couldn't bring myself to watch the entire thing as soon as I saw Keiwa getting choked by your enemy." Sara admitted.

Michinaga and Neon looked at each other as if having a silent agreement, at least that is what Sara determined was happening.

"Ace-sama, please hide the cake for the time being, I kind of want to surprise him when he wakes up."

"Sure thing."

--------

"Nee-chan?" Sara heard her brother call out.

"I'm here, Keiwa" Sara announced her presence.

"Wai- What are you doing he-" Keiwa immediately sat up in alarm.

"Calm down, Keiwa!" Sara immediately approached her brother. "Tsumuri-san called me and wanted me here, so I'm here."

"O-oh."

"You and your tendency to assume the worst." Sara sighed. "Lighten up a little, it's your birthday."

"A-ah! Right." Keiwa sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Right," A small smile graced his face. "I made it to 23."

"So birthday boy, you better clean up after yourself and change your clothes so we can go home and have a small celebration between us."

"Hai~!" Keiwa agreed.

Suddenly, Keiwa realized he didn't know where the others were.

"Everyone?"

"They all woke up before you, so they already went home."

"I see." Keiwa nodded.

---------

With a fresh green polo with black and white stripes, brown pants, and a pair of white sneakers, Keiwa entered the lounge, fully prepared to go home with his sister.

"Surprise!"

The exclamation startled Keiwa to the point that he jumped a bit from the surprise.

"Happy Birthday, Keiwa!" Everyone announced as his sister approached him, cake in hand.

"Happy Birthday, Keiwa." A huge smile graced the siblings' faces before Keiwa closed his eyes and blew out the flames of the candle on top of the cake.

"What did you wish for?" Neon asked.

"If I told you, it wouldn't come true." Keiwa deflected.

"I'm hurt, you forgot all about me." Ace mock pouted at the birthday boy.

"Yeah, no." Keiwa stuck his tongue out. "Not happening, Ace."

"What's the harm, we've got our kami-sama here to grant your wish." Win placed an arm over the birthday boy's shoulders.

"Well," Everyone listened to Keiwa's wish attentively. "I wish I become an idol."

"But, Keiwa, you already are an idol," Neon hummed. "Technically speaking at least."

"Eh? Really?"

"A lot of people saw your fight against Kekera, or at least that's what I'm seeing online," Neon stated. "Saying how good of an actor you were to fool your opponent."

"Heh, you want to be a star like me, Tycoon?" Ace smirked. "I can send someone from my agency to scou-"

"No, no, no!" Keiwa immediately frantically declined the suggestion. "It was just a joke, a joke!"

"You're already famous, sooner or later someone's going to scout you with or without my intervention."

"No, just no."

"So what did you wish for?"

"Whatever it is, I'm sure you can achieve it, if you just believe."

Keiwa nodded.

"For this," Keiwa gestured at everyone in the room, and the happy faces it gave him, barring Michinaga and Daichi who were smirking. "To last long and for a world where everyone is happy."

Ace smiled at the wish.

"And we'll continue to fight for this to last long," Ace declared. "And strive for the world where everyone is happy."

Everyone nodded.

"Happy Birthday, Tycoon." Ace made a fox gesture with his right hand and poked it at Keiwa's forehead.

"Happy Birthday, Keiwa!" Neon giggled as she planted a kiss on the birthday boy's left cheek.

Michinaga simply patted his right shoulder and nodded at him.

Win mimicked Michinaga's action but patted Keiwa's left shoulder.

Daichi simply nodded at the birthday boy.

"Happy Birthday, Keiwa-sama." Tsumuri greeted the birthday boy happily before planting a kiss on his right cheek.

"Keiwa, I'm so glad that we got to celebrate your 23rd birthday despite everything we went through!" Sara hugged her brother. "Happy Birthday, Keiwa!"

"Thank you, nee-chan," Keiwa smiled at his sister. "Thank you, everyone!"

"Aside from Tycoon's birthday, this is also in celebration of the victory we secured against Sueru and the people of the future," Ace declared. "Good work, everyone."

"Good work!" Everyone greeted each other.

"Cheers!" Sara exclaimed as she raised her glass of drink.

"Cheers!" Everyone responded and mirrored Sara's actions.

[mumuqings]

tgcf book spoilers, but one mu qing and xie lian snippet that I think about a lot is this one, at the start of xie lian’s second banishment when he’s surprised to hear mu qing being described as generous and kind:

as opposed to this memory from before his first ascension when mu qing started giving out cherries to the kids in the city:

I think it just really goes to show 1) how deeply mq’s actions truly affected xl and what he thought of him, but also 2) just how different mq and xl are fundamentally in the way that they think and approach things.

I don’t have a lot of commentary on xl that hasn’t already been said, but bc we get the story from xl’s pov, we see a lot of mq’s actions being framed as selfish or suspicious (which is fair, bc again, we know how much his actions hurt xl), but we also see a lot of misconstrued kindness, like in book 8 where it’s revealed that he knocked out fx in order to save him. it’s also pretty obvious how much mq still cares abt xl, with how quickly he volunteers as fu yao and the lengths he goes to protect him when he deems hc a threat, so I also think it’s very likely that mq leaving the trio first was exactly what he said it was — that he thought becoming a junior official, ascending quickly, would be the best way to take care of not just his mother, but also xl, fx, the king and queen, and himself, and so in a way, him leaving was him acting on his kindness. but ofc it doesn’t work out, and he spends the next 800 years fighting w/ fx about it, defending himself, his decisions, and his kindness, and nitpicking the accuracies of his statues while he himself remains completely misunderstood by the two people he probably cares abt the most.

and idk, I guess I just think that’s probably a really lonely way to spend 800 years.

[3liza]

there's so much unnecessary gender on everything. when I search "cotton dress" on Amazon it autocompletes to "cotton dress FOR WOMEN". like as opposed to what. you don't carry "men's dresses" and if you did why would I want to exclude them from my search. why are you autocompleting "vitamin c supplement for women". for what???? it's the same molecule. literally nothing about your gender changes how you should be buying or consuming vitamin c. this will happen to everything you type anywhere you can't just search for thing it has to be for men or women and in a few years it's going to start adding "for enbies" as soon as they become a distinct market segment someone can sell a purple gummy vitamin to

[laniidae-passerine]

I made my post about Dean Highbottom and then as I was writing my tags realised that his Hunger Games counterpart is Haymitch. and now my head is in my hands and I don’t think I’ll ever recover

[anna-scribbles]

in honor me turning twenty three, i give you: some old original notes about twenty three year old adrien from thirteen<3

[zukkaoru]

kunichuuranzai is great actually because it combines my favorite bsd ship (kunichuuzai) with one of the funniest bsd ships (chuuran) and one of my favorite dynamics to study (dazairanpo) and also between the three of them, chuuya dazai and ranpo probably break every single one of kunikida's ideals for his future spouse in one way or another. which is basically the number one way to make kunikida fall in love with you

[doctorbrown]

MCFLY JULY ‘24 ⸺ 「 24 / 31 * OUT IN THE DESERT 」

January—March 1943

From the moment he’d been visited at the university by Oppenheimer with Groves in tow, the latter a looming, intimidating presence towering over him in his uniform compared to the amicable and even friendly disposition of Oppenheimer, he’d felt the cold bite of the Sword of Damocles pressed against his neck, digging deeper and deeper with each day he’d been left in purgatory, waiting.

He feared he’d lose his head before ever hearing the official outcome of his new employment.

When one of his colleagues had approached him about a week and a half after their departure, informing him that he’d received a call from the FBI asking some questions about him, Emmett’s heart stopped then and there and he was absolutely positive he’d seen the moment his head was severed from his neck, rolling down the hallway.

Twenty long seconds later, when his senses had returned to him, he learned that the sensation was just dizziness and he was still firmly intact.

Three weeks later, the hell had ended. To say his official acceptance onto the project was a weight off his shoulders would be an understatement. Emmett breathed a long sigh of relief, nearly giddy with the excitement that he’d come through the process relatively unscathed; his frayed nerves were the only real casualty of his stint in purgatory.

Why the outcome should have been anything other than this, he couldn’t say, but that didn’t stop his mind, already having latched onto the mystery and thrilling scientific intrigue that Oppenheimer had offered, from conjuring up the what-if possibilities while unseen hands manipulated the course of his life. He’d never been in legal trouble, no criminal record, his father was an incredibly prominent and well-respected, if feared and disliked, member of the community, and his academic achievements had been exceptional.

But now it was official and the part that should have been the most daunting brought him the most joy. Two months was more than enough time to wrap up his affairs in California nicely.

His courses at the university would be discontinued and his students would be disseminated out into the other professors’ courses. The small home he’d been provided here would go back to the university and whatever he deemed unimportant to take with him to New Mexico would be discarded. The head of the department wished him well, and after a brief exchange steeped in rumour and hearsay, he’d left, returning home to pack up the last of his things.

How fascinating that an entire life could be stuffed in a couple travel bags.

—

When Emmett returns to Hill Valley, tugging the last twenty-three years of his life up the pathway to the mansion he hadn’t seen in almost five years, it is his mother’s joyful cries that greet him, her hands that all but pull him through the door, and her voice that fills the living room as she sits down, harmonising with the song of time played by his favourite Grandfather Clock.

Emmett, the doctor. Emmett, the scientist. Emmett, her son, doing his part for his country, whatever that meant, because it was secret, secret, secret—all so very secret all he could say was “I can’t talk about it but I have to travel to get there”—and while she looked ten years younger, radiant with motherly pride, his father scoffed and harrumphed, making his opinion known in no uncertain terms.

You would’ve done better for the war as a soldier, not some damned-fool scientist.

‘But at least maybe you’ll have a chance to be useful. Do something good.’

This time, his father’s barbs do not sting. They strike at him from all angles, jabbing at his skin but never piercing, and he lets them fall to the ground at his feet, unwilling to have this argument again, as they did for so many long nights in his youth. With the prospect of unforetold scientific progress right there at his fingertips, he could find it in himself to forgive his father without a fight. He didn’t understand. He wouldn’t let him spoil this.

Science—science was the future. And they would see.

His departure comes as quick as his arrival, his mother asking when he thinks he’ll be back in California.

“Soon,” he says, unable to give her any definite number, pulling at the hope this project is supposed to bring. “When we’ve won the war.”

Alone, he arranges to have himself and his entire life brought to San Francisco, where he’ll meet the train that carries him to the future.

—

San Francisco to Santa Fe.

Emmett spends most of his time in comfortable silence, watching the touches of humanity upon the land slowly and slowly being stripped away. Pavement gives way to dirt and grass and unsullied earth and the towering buildings of the cities sprout leaves and stretch up to the heavens, basking in the afternoon sunlight.

He remembers the itinerary—cryptic instructions written on a packet of papers shoved into his hands and the explicit instructions to allow nobody else to see the contents of this folder. Emmett doesn’t think he could forget it if he tries, burning a hole in the inner pocket of his overcoat, searing his chest even through his clothes.

More often than not, he tries to imagine the stage that will hold what is supposed to be the greatest scientific advancements of the last three centuries—what we’ll be doing here will be the culmination of the last three centuries of physics. Don’t you want to be a part of that?—I want to take on this challenge—only to imagine something even more fantastical than its predecessor every time he tries.

A fully functioning laboratory and city do not just spring up overnight in the middle of the desert, but Oppenheimer had said it would be ready in time, and Emmett found himself almost immediately assured by that, half-convinced that Nature itself would bend to that man’s charm.

Perhaps, Emmett thinks, a flutter in his stomach equal parts dread and excitement, it just might.

What else would require some of the greatest scientific minds to gather in one remote location under the strictest security imaginable?

The possibilities lull him into a dream-filled sleep.

—

They’re waiting for him there, just as they said. Two large uniformed escorts that Emmett easily has several inches on tower over him, usher him into an ordinary old car—grey, unassuming, rather mundane, actually, but when discretion is key—and expertly fit an entire life into the boot.

As if they’ve done this before.

Clement and Rosario, Lieutenant-Commander and Lieutenant, respectively, as he’s come to learn from the intermittent conversation, were the ones assigned to bring him to the site, get him through security, and make sure everything went off without a hitch.

Emmett watches, his face all but pressed against the window in the back as the landscape overrides the thoughts about this project that have been playing on a loop since he first alighted the train back in California. The desert is beautiful, nothing like the views in the city, and maybe he views the wide open area through the tinted lenses of lingering boyish romanticism for such an environment, but there is a rough, rugged beauty to it all in reality that Emmett is pleased to know for himself is not just a result of the films.

He must have said that out loud, because the younger of the two—or the one Emmett assumes is younger, given the softness still present on his face that looks out of place with the gun strapped to his hip—Rosario, says, “Yeah, isn’t it? Beautiful place out here. Shame we went and ruined it.” Before Emmett can ask what that means, he just says, “You’ll see.”

He does see, almost immediately.

This complex—‘Welcome home, Doc,’ Clement jokes in that gruff voice of his—looks more like a prison dropped in the most remote location they could think of, where they’ll work and torture them until they get what they want or die trying. That fence must be ten feet high, topped with barbed wire, and Emmett wonders how many scientists they know of that are athletic enough to even attempt scaling a wall like that.

They preferred to scale theoretical hurdles, not physical.

The cold feeling of dread slithers up his spine. He dismisses it the moment they reach the security checkpoint, telling himself he’s being foolish—the military is involved; everything with them is cloak-and-dagger.

Processing takes an eternity, and Emmett feels a rush of dizziness he can’t quite explain when a thick set of papers are pressed into his hand, followed by a white identification badge that has immortalised his awkwardness in a frozen snapshot of time.

“Housing information’s on the first page. You’ll get used to the layout. Keep that badge with you at all times, Doctor Brown.”

[medusa1597]

lately ive been having the realization that ive built walls around myself because i need to be in control of the way i come across or else i die so i'm trying to put myself out there and push myself to not stay out of everything by fear of being shamed or ridiculed...... approximately 1000000 ego deaths per week so far <3

[cry-bastion]

KIEFER SUTHERLAND as ACE MERRILL in Stand By Me (1986)

Come on kid, just give me the gun before you take your foot off. You ain't got the sack to shoot a woodchuck.

[feketeribizli]

happy birthday to xiao and me! we are twins one day apart you wouldnt get it

[iwonderwh0]

If there's one thing to thank anti hankcon discourse it's for the folks around their thirties gathering to tell the teens that they are, in fact, adult enough to decide for themselves who to fuck with and that they do, in fact, find older people attractive.

(And also collectively asking folks in their teens-to-early 20s to stop using the word p*dophilia when talking about literal 30+ years olds.)

Like really, throwing this words in relation to adults downplays its actual weight in its actual fucking meaning, and this is really scary. Age gap might be a controversial topic but not anywhere near it is a matter of comparable scale to what the word ped*philia stands for. Don't turn this word into a buzzword, I'm begging you.

[puppyeared]

save me old flipnote studio MVs.......

[emotionalcadaver]

🥳🥳🥳

[sealsapocalypticmusic]

It’s so sad that YouTube thinks I am a Literal Child and thus I’m not allowed to have comments on almost any video that has my face in it. Little do they know that I am 24 whole ass years old. Ugh

[m-a-d-e-l-e-i-n-e]

Me for the next year: hey did you guys know I saw Green Day on the Saviors Tour and also they played Dookie and American Idiot in full

[cringelordlikesplaz]

eel o'brian is an old fart