rosehawk-writings

[rosehawk-writings]

The small crowd was cheering for the unexpected challenger, who, with his flashy moves and flowing hair, a joyous smile and unfettered enthusiasm—

Katsuya’s heart was pounding in his ears and his throat, watching Otogi perform. This feeling… it was more than just a crush.

Otogi did a twirl, catching the idol’s eye and throwing him a playful wink before striking a final pose.

He had no doubts any longer. Katsuya was in love.

[rosehawk-writings]

Ryou slowly reached his hands up, and when Seto didn't move away, he rested his hands on his cheeks. Blue eyes closed and he seemed to lean slightly into the gentle touch. Soft fingertips trailed along his strong jawline down to his chin. Ryou stood up on his toes and leaned in close to his face.

[rosehawk-writings]

“I lied to protect you!”

“You lied to protect yourself!”

[rosehawk-writings]

Something about the rush of the wind in his ears and his hair soothed the need for violence that had flooded him earlier. The wind was violent enough, maybe. It tugged and pulled. It could tear and destroy greater than he ever could with his own two hands.

[rosehawk-writings]

"I can't go down for this, Joey. Mokuba needs me."

"I know.” But what else could Joey say?

[rosehawk-writings]

Faded sneakers stepped up to his stall, garish and dirty.

"Hey, pal."

"Go away," Duke choked out between his tears, but the shoes stayed.

"It's okay to cry."

"Shut up!" Duke shuddered and gasped. "I know that!"

"Then stop hiding."

"I'm not–" But the protest died on his lips. He was hiding, because he didn't want any of his friends to see him fall apart. He wanted to continue being seen as responsible, dependable, mature. He was afraid that being seen crying would change their opinion of him. "I am," he whispered, lifting his head from his hands.

[rosehawk-writings]

WIP game of birds

🐧🦃🦅

For THIS ask game, still taking asks! Drop some birds in my ask box, y'all!

I'm picking from bits from the future of the Scaleverse AU, some lovely Puppyshipping for you to enjoy!

🐧 a funny quote (silly! laughs! jokes! puns!)

I swear I do write humor sometimes... *digs around in a very full bin of WIPs*

~~~~~

“Maybe you should learn to control–”

“Sorry, Pesagus,” Seto said, but he sounded anything but. His tone was pleased, satisfied, almost triumphant as his lips twitched into a smirk. “Dragons don't like taking orders.”

🦅 an angsty quote (something PAINFUL!! ouch ouch ouch!)

I had such a hard time picking just one!!!

~~~~~

Roland and Seto sat side by side on the edge of the bathtub as they waited. The tiny dose of morphine had stilled his shaking, but he was still struggling against his panic. Their joined hands rested on the younger’s thigh as he struggled to take deep breaths.

Blue eyes fixed to a point on the floor as he failed to stop his mind from racing through the consequences.

“This shouldn't have happened,” Seto murmured, his shallow breathing becoming rapid once more. “It's not fair.”

Roland's shoulders stiffened. Seto had endured much since Roland met him, and even more in his whole life, but the prodigy had never once spoken a word about the unfairness of his life. He increased the pressure of his thumb on the back of his employer's hand. Seto tried taking a deeper, slower breath.

🦃 a big, meaty quote (JUST A BIG OL PARAGRAPH YOU WANNA SHARE)

*rubs hands together gleefully*

~~~~~

They saw each other rarely enough that each time together felt desperate and frenzied. Joey tried to push for more time together, but Seto was paranoid. He didn’t want their relationship public, didn’t want anyone to even suspect that they were a couple. When Joey pointed out to him that Roland had probably figured it out by now, his response was surprisingly blaise.

“Of course he has. It's his job to know what's going on.”

Joey also learned, less surprisingly, that Gozaburo Kaiba was a complicated subject. After Kaiba’s insistent involvement with Joey’s own father, he began to suspect there was more to the story of his adoption than what he knew. The first time he tried asking how Seto felt about him, the answer he received was a complete shock.

“How do I feel?” Seto had arched an eyebrow at him, then flicked his gaze to an empty spot on the wall of his home office. The fading of the paint announced that a large frame used to occupy that space, and Joey had a guess what the picture might have been.

“I don't feel anything about him.” Blue eyes met red with cold confidence. “We saw each other as tools and treated each other accordingly.”

“You say that like it's simple.” Joey had leaned on his hand, trying to read his posture for a hint of the truth.

“It is that simple. I won. He's dead. There's nothing more to say.”

[rosehawk-writings]

🐧🦃🐦‍⬛ for the ask game

For THIS ask game! I decided to dig deep for these! All of these are excerpts from an unpublished fic rewrite/continuation about the Legendary Knights of Atlantis: Secrets & Lies.

🐧 a funny quote (silly! laughs! jokes! puns!)

Oof, had to dig deep for this.

~~~~~

"I have quite a few tales from my journeys," Hermos said one day when he feared that Drustan was about to ask a personal question. "Would you like to hear one?"

"Maybe." The brunette smiled. "How embellished is your story?"

"It's stretched long enough to reach nose to tail on a draft horse." He grinned wickedly.

"Then of course I want to hear it," Drustan laughed, settling back in his chair for the story. He didn't particularly care if the story was true, a good story is a good story.

🦃 a big, meaty quote (JUST A BIG OL PARAGRAPH YOU WANNA SHARE)

Bruh, YOU ASKED FOR IT.

~~~~~

"I've lost strength, Timaeus."

"What do you mean?"

"When I had almost reached Soleanna, I was robbed on the road. My sword was stolen from me and my right arm was injured. The wound has healed, but the healers told me that the wound was so deep I would not be able to recover my former strength. I'm no longer fit to be a knight of Atlantis." Hermos closed his hands into a fist. "I was barely fit for the role in the first place."

"That's not true." Timaeus' statement was full of conviction.

"I was lucky to make the rank of knight at all." Hermos's voice was bitter and sad. "I don't know what the hell they were thinking when they partnered me with you two. Even at my best, I was barely half as good as you."

The sound of steel sliding against steel made Hermos look up. Critias had unsheathed his sword.

"Duel me, Hermos. I will assess the strength of your sword-arm for myself."

🐦‍⬛ a great quote of dialogue (maybe you're proud of how in-character it is, or how sharp the back and forth!)

I was tempted to post this whole scene, but that would have been way too much. I promise I'll post this fic someday.

~~~~~

“Get the hell out of here, Critias.” Hermos turned his back on him, facing the dragonsteed again as he tried to keep his temper under control. He wasn’t sure how much more ridicule he could take before he threw himself at the blond with both fists raised.

Critias took a few steps away, then turned back to speak over his shoulder.

“Who stayed up with you that night, Hermos?”

His tone had completely changed.

“That night, after Maiya turned down your proposal, you drank half your body weight in ale, and Timaeus passed out trying to keep up with you. Who stayed up with you all through that night until the dawn broke?”

The silence was long and deafening.

“You did.” Hermos’s answer was barely a whisper.

“That’s right.” Critias looked away from him again. “You didn’t sleep a wink that night, so neither did I.” He left then, and neither Hermos nor Drustan spoke a word until the blond knight was long out of sight.

"Wow. He's…" Drustan was at a loss for words, but Hermos wasn't.

"Pigheaded. Obnoxious. Self-righteous. Overbearing. Pick one." The former knight waved a hand demonstrably before he resumed petting Persephone.

"Intense," Drustan chose instead.

"He's the firstborn son of a noble, it probably comes with the silver spoon."

[rosehawk-writings]

🐧🕊️🦤🐦 (SFW) and 🦅 for the meme?

Thank you for the asks! I pulled from a lot of different WIPs for this one! And y'all are welcome to send in more asks if you're curious!

🦅 an angsty quote (something PAINFUL!! ouch ouch ouch!)

I've teased this fic several times before, but I honestly have no idea if I'm ever actually going to finish it? But I have so much written for it that I love, and I love every part of the concept, so maybe one day I will, and y'all can just overlook the two characters that are visiting from other franchises. 👉👈

~~~~~

“Don’t think for a moment, Pegasus, that I’ve forgotten a single second that I spent on your island.” Grey eyes flashed with anger as he turned on KaibaCorp’s long-standing business partner.

“That’s all in the past now, dear boy,” Pegasus dismissed with a wave of his hand. If he was trying to calm him down, it wasn’t working.

“All in the past? You stole my soul,” Mokuba growled, an old anger rising to the surface and finding an outlet for the first time. “You stole my brother’s soul. You turned him against the only people who could have helped him.”

“That was–”

“You kept me in a dungeon.”

“I wouldn’t have had to if you had stayed in the tower.” His calm response, so utterly remorseless, sent chills down a few spines.

“You wanted to sacrifice us. And if that wasn’t bad enough, you were trying to take over everything my brother had worked to achieve.”

🐧 a funny quote (silly! laughs! jokes! puns!)

Y'all, stop asking for funnies, I'm starting to run out... (from a deleted scene)

~~~~~

“Seto, I need some advice.”

Blue eyes blinked at him from behind a pair of wireframe glasses, and Ryou was surprised. He’d never seen Seto wear glasses before.

He removed them quickly—was he embarrassed about them?—and moved his chair to the side, leaning over a little to see his friend better around the computer monitors.

“I need to finish this first. It should only be a few minutes. Can it wait?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

Ryou nodded and wandered over to the couch pushed up against the wall to Seto’s left. At first he perched on the edge, but after a couple of minutes he relaxed a bit and sat more comfortably.

“You wear glasses now?”

“They’re just to protect my eyes. I spend a lot of time in front of computers.”

“They look good on you.”

"You don't have to say that."

"I'm serious." Ryou smiled thinly. "They make you look less intimidating."

"Then I probably shouldn't wear them at work."

Ryou laughed.

🐦 a romantic quote (can be sweet or sad or sexy, or just your favorite interaction between them!)

Looking for a "romantic" bit made me feel dumb lol. I was like, "Damn, do I even write romance???" I just couldn't find anything! 😅

~~~~~

"You know," Duke said with a slight smile, "That sounds exactly like the kind of thing Ryou says when he's trying to explain you to me."

"He explains me to you?" Kaiba looked confused and critical, unsure of what Duke meant and unsure if he liked it.

"Maybe the more accurate description is that he explains his perception of you to me. He sees you as a very complicated person."

"That's not inaccurate."

"Don't smirk at me," Duke teased. "Being complicated isn't something to be proud of."

Instead of replying, Seto kissed him, soft and simple.

So this was the kiss that Ryou told him about. Maybe he kissed this way when he felt vulnerable. It was worth asking about later.

"Thank you for trusting me."

🕊️ a sweet quote (something sweet, fluffy! maybe it's cute or funny banter! or sappy wedding vows!)

Some Kaibro affection. Joey is a golden retriever weredog in this fic, "Puppy Love."

~~~~~

Seto rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, Seto, what harm is he going to do?” Mokuba crouched down on the floor next to his dog and put an arm around his shoulders. Joey's ears perked up. “Just look at his sweet face! How can you say no to him when he's so adorable?”

“The same way I learned to say no to you,��� Seto retorted.

Mokuba hugged Joey close and teased, “Did you hear that, Joey? He just called us adorable!”

🦤 a quote you had to delete :( (but still wanna share!)

I have SO MANY OF THESE! Y'all are welcome to send in as many dodo birds as you want! (this one does not get any explanation)

~~~~~

"His existence is anger and pain, punctuated by outbursts of violence. Doesn't that sound like someone you know?"

Ryou sputtered, momentarily speechless with anger.

"How dare you compare Seto to the Spirit of the Millennium Ring?!"

“I didn’t say a word about Kaiba,” Marik snapped back. “You filled that in on your own.”

Astonished and horrified, Ryou’s jaw dropped. He slowly closed his mouth and swallowed hard, tears pricking at his eyes.

“Don’t call him Kaiba,” he finally whispered, then whirled around and reached for the door handle.

[rosehawk-writings]

Grief was not the word for how Seto Kaiba felt on the anniversary of his step-father's death. He felt plenty of things—satisfaction, triumph, resentment—but grief was not part of that repertoire.

Spooky Sip 11/2

You can reblog this post.

You can make your own post.

You reblog someone else's snip!

You can use this word as a prompt for spooky week.

Just tag it sipofsnips so everyone can find each other. ^.-

[rosehawk-writings]

The original chapter summary written for Present Danger: Chapter 2. As usual, things didn't go exactly this way, but I think they're fun to share.

Kaiba picks Joey up from school halfway through his first week back (while living with his dad) and they're both frustrated and Kaiba takes them straight back to “Joey's” apartment to fuck. Kaiba's not healed enough yet to bottom, so he tops Joey's dragon ass and they're both quite happy. “See? Things go well when you listen to me.” First they talk a little about their individual frustrations. And then they argue about Joey taking a job at KC and getting tutored to pass the GED so he doesn't have to live on Kaiba's charity but can still live away from his dad. Joey wants to stay put, however, and Kaiba says he won't last another week with his dad. Joey asks what makes him so sure, and Kaiba says something vague about being familiar with that type of man.

[rosehawk-writings]

Happy WIP Wednesday everybody! Posting another little snippet of the next chapter of Present Danger as I work with a collaborator to get this last scene finished up for y'all! That next chapter is up to 3500 words and counting!

~~~~~

“What are you doing?”

Joey laughed and tucked his hands underneath Seto’s shoulder blades in a loose hold.

“Cuddling. You should get used to it.”

“Don't get too comfortable. I have a meeting in–what time is it?” Seto reached for his watch from the nightstand and held it above his face. “Forty minutes.” The hand holding the watch dropped to rest on Joey's back, the cold metal pressing against his skin.

“I'll take what I can get.”

[rosehawk-writings]

Here's a summary of the original chapter notes for the first chapter of Present Danger, the sequel to Skin to Scales. Like a lot of chapter notes, things didn't go exactly this way, but I think that makes them fun to share. Like Roland being there for the whole conversation lol.

~~~~~

First scene is a flashback to the results of the rat test, set between the confession scene and the Game Store scene. They also talk about where Joey’s going to live now, and Kaiba refuses to let Joey go back to his dad (which is a whole fight in itself) so Joey’s staying at the KC apartment for the foreseeable future (no tracking bracelet anymore though). Also Joey asks Kaiba if he finally got his other issue checked on by the doctor and asks how long it'll take him to heal. 4 weeks, but Joey's question is obviously sex-coded. Roland pretends to not know what they're talking about, but he's figured out by now that they slept together (Roland knows everything). Kaiba reveals the little fire rat and Joey asks if he can keep it as a pet. Joey asks if Kaiba tested himself, and he says the results were very similar. Joey asks about how he's healing from the transformation and uses that as a segue about the other healing question.

[rosehawk-writings]

Duke takes a shower and thinks on what they were just doing together in the bedroom with satisfaction. He goes back to their room when he’s done and sees that Ryou is spooning Joey. Ryou is asleep, Joey is not, and he looks worried. Joey's having insecurities in his mid-20s and Duke tries to give advice. Ryou just snuggles in his sleep.

Duke pushed Joey’s bangs back away from his eyes.

“What’s bothering you?”

“Is it weird that I’m more insecure now than I was in high school?”

Duke dropped his hand from Joey’s hair and perched on the edge of the bed, body turned to face his lovers.

“Adulthood affects everyone differently. For Ryou, it was gaining self-confidence. High school is a bubble, and when it pops, we learn something about ourselves.”

Joey smiled thinly.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“You’re just settling into your adult self, Joey.” Duke gave him a sweet kiss. “We’re all still growing into ourselves a little. Physically, none of us are done growing until we’re like twenty-five, I think.”

Joey looked at Duke for a few more moments before letting his eyes drift down.

“Thanks for trying to make me feel better.”

“Sorry that it didn’t work.” Duke straightened up. “I’ll come up with something better and try again tomorrow.”

Duke started moving away to his side of the bed.

[rosehawk-writings]

Summary: Joey, Duke, Ryou, and Marik are beta-testing a new KaibaCorp VR RPG while Kaiba watches and comments. It's a dungeon-crawler where you get all the fun of exploring, climbing, fighting, puzzle-solving, and setting things on fire. When Kaiba loses all contact with them, he has to enter the game himself to make sure everybody's alright, and finds some sentient AI in his game that's fucking with everything. Together, they defeat it and all get out safely, their friendships strengthened.

[rosehawk-writings]

Harem fic with King Kaiba and Queen Ishizu. Kaiba has a harem full of men and Ishizu decides that's not a battle worth fighting with him, especially because he listens to her diplomatic and regulatory counsel most of the time. His harem is composed of Ryou, Duke, Sigfried, Marik, genderbent Kisara (for fun), and the newest member is Joey, and the fic would have been about him coming in as the new guy and being introduced to all the existing dynamics.

~~~~~

The king was only capable of holding true affection for one person at a time. That didn’t stop him from collecting people to choose from. The queen accepted this practice with no complaint; if her husband kept a harem of pretty men, then she would still be the only one to give him an heir. No messiness of succession, no bastard children to harbor resentment and strike down their legitimate counterparts, no question of parentage to investigate. That, and knowing that she was the only living woman who could ever hold his heart–even if it was only for a day at a time–was enough for her. She didn’t even care that her own younger brother was part of that harem. She was still the only one to bear children for her husband, and she always would be.

[rosehawk-writings]

These are the original thoughts and rough concept that eventually became my Entrepreneurshipping fic. This isn't exactly how things ended up, but thought I would share them for the fun of it.

Siegfried and Leon are staying with the Kaibas while Seto is trying to work out the terms for buying SchroederCorp. They finally reach the point where everything is perfect except that Zieg wants Seto to sleep with him before he’ll sign the contract. That afternoon, they send the kids off to KaibaLand with Roland and the staff are all sent away. The boys get wine-drunk while “getting to know each other” and talking about Duel Monsters, and for a little bit, it almost feels like they’re just being friends. Then Seto tries to get Zieg to sign the contract again, and Zieg is like, “Look, I know your reputation. You’ve been making some pretty one-sided deals, and I’m not signing anything until I get what I want.” So they negotiate a little more, and then Seto sucks his dick with the agreement that they’ll fuck that night. They clean up and have a meeting with the attorneys to sign the contracts with proper witnesses and everything. Then that night they celebrate with a lot more wine in Zieg’s room, and Seto is an absolute DOM because he knows, from his own intuitions, Zieg’s confessions, and [redacted], that that’s absolutely what Zieg wants. They’re up fucking at least half the night, and by the end of it, Zieg is in love despite Seto telling him that this is purely business.

The next morning, Duke is hanging out with Seto’s assistant outside the KC building waiting for him to arrive. (He's running uncharacteristically late.) When he does finally show up with Zieg in his limo, Seto’s wearing dark sunglasses and doesn’t take them off when he goes inside. Those two are arguing in German, and Zieg gets a little touchy, so Duke is immediately like, “Why he touchin’ my man?” and goes up to him like, “Yeah, hi there, I have an important secret update on our project and we have to talk alone” and Seto tells his assistant to get Zieg set up in one of the smaller conference rooms and arrange a press conference for 3pm. Duke asks him if he’s hungover, and Kaiba’s like, “No, I’m not, shut up,” and Duke is all, “You made the mistake of drinking with a German. It’s not as bad as drinking with a Russian, but damn boy, I don’t think you know how to hold your liquor. You need more XP before you’re ready to go drinking against a German again.” And Seto’s all, “As fascinating as your knowledge of international stereotypes is, I thought you said you had something important to tell me, and that really doesn’t count.” By this point, they’ve made it to Seto’s office, and once inside he closes the door and starts closing the blinds. Duke’s all, “Oh yeah, the parts we needed for the next step have been delayed. It’ll be another two days before we can keep going.” Seto is annoyed and frustrated and sits down at his desk and puts his head in his hands. He’s still wearing the sunglasses. Duke asks about Zieg getting so handsy that morning, and what were they arguing about anyways, and Seto says that he needs Duke’s advice on how to get someone UNinterested in him. And Duke is like, “Oh, dude, no problem. But did you do anything that might have encouraged his affections? Cause I need to know that before I can say a word to him.” And Seto is like, “Well… you don’t need to know, actually.”

(following dialogue is the gist of what’s being said)

Duke: “You kissed him when you were drunk, didn’t you? I get it, he’s real pretty, but next time you get drunk, you should definitely invite me. I'm even prettier when you're drunk.”

Kaiba: “That’s not, ugh, you’re still flirting with me? Whatever, you’re hopeless. Is it really necessary for you to know what happened between us?”

Duke: “Yes, absolutely necessary.”

Kaiba gives him a thoughtful look and then Duke realizes.

“You slept with him while you were drunk, didn’t you? Now he thinks it means something?”

“That’s not… quite it either.”

“Okay dude, spill. You want help, and I can only do that if I have all the details.”

“I slept with him to close the deal.”

“Excuse me, you what?”

“He refused to sign the papers unless I slept with him, so” *casual shrug* “It was purely transactional sex, and he knew that, but by the end of it, he said he was falling for me, and I need him to get over himself.”

Duke is pretty shocked for a moment, and all he can manage is a quip. “I thought you didn’t date. But you’re good enough in bed that he fell in love with you after one night?”

“Shut the fuck up. I told you what happened. Are you going to help me or not?”

“Okay, okay, I’ll talk to him after the press conference and tell him you’re my boyfriend and that last night was strictly business, but he needs to back off now. Then you’re going to come home with me to make a point to him. Deal?”

“Fine, deal, whatever, just turn the light off when you leave”