#[WHERE'S OUR WESTERN AU NOW I DIDN'T KNOW I NEEDED IT BUT!!!!]

[jundlcndwastes]

eron skywalker & juniper wolfhart for @hopegained

[moki-dokie]

been seeing some stuff on blue eye samurai and big yikes to nearly everyone pushing extremely western ideals onto these characters.

this is early edo period. 1600s. the japan you know now did not exist yet.

yall. please. there was NO concept of sexuality in pre-modern japan. that came with both the influx of christianity and western influence very very late in history. like, mid-1800s. (yes, there was christianity pre-1800s but it was not a widespread idea yet and wouldn't be until about the 1800s since, y'know, missionaries were routinely murdered before then)

"so and so is either bi and hasn't figured it out yet or..." no. that isn't how it worked then. nobody gave a shit what was between your legs. anyone could be attracted to anyone else. it was a little more common for male homosexual relationships to be between an adult and younger male - like many other places around the world - but two adult men could bang and love each other just as easily. relationships between women were quite common - especially since so many men were often away at war. there's tons of pornographic prints from the time depicting all manner of fun queer relationships. sex itself had absolutely no moral assignment to it. good sex was good health. it didn't matter who with. (well, social class/caste mattered more than anything else tbh but that didn't stop upper and lower class from fucking.) that isn't to say people didn't have preferences. of course they did. that is human nature. preferences arose more from physical appearance, caste, and circumstances with gender being about the last thing one would look for in a partner - romantic, casual, or otherwise. the only role in sex where gender actually mattered was for procreation.

there would be no queer awakening moment, no sudden switch flipped, no stigma to have internal conflicts about because it simply did not exist as a concept whatsoever. you were either attracted to a person or you weren't, it was that simple. gender played no role when it came to sex and sexual attraction. the japanese were lightyears ahead of western cultures in this particular area - like most cultures were before christianity came in and ruined everything with its backwards morals and strict good/evil dichotomy.

yall have got to realize queer rep will not and should not always adhere by modern western standards. there was no straight, gay, bi, or anything else of the sort. the closest they ever got was referring to roles during sex - as in who is giving and who is receiving.

i know this is mostly a made up story but it is still set within a very specific time period and culture, which should be honored and respected by not making it fit into our box. tons of research went into making this show historically accurate (albeit with some discrepancies but tbh they aren't really that huge) right down to the calligraphy writing. please please please don't whitewash the culture from these characters.

i say this mainly because without this knowledge, so many of you are going to build these characters up on a foundation they aren't meant to be on and then you'll rage about queerbaiting and bad queer rep if it isn't somehow super explicitly stated, if it doesn't match your very modern, very western ideal of what queer looks like. don't try to force this plot and narrative and characters into something they canonically and historically aren't. headcanons are a thing, AUs are a thing, fanfiction is a thing - leave your western thinking for those and let these characters simply exist as they should otherwise. this is one of those times where the queerness really does not need to be examined at all beyond what we get.

i know it can be hard to wrap your head around - sexuality is such a huge part of our identity in the western world and has slowly started to spread amongst other parts of the world in importance. but just keep in mind with these particular characters, that concept would be so very alien to them.

[pillowspace]

I had a weird dream about Sun and Moon. I think I sent this to someone else in their ask box thinking it was you ack aisbiffj anyways, here you go, feeding this to you

I was interning at the school I work in yes, but there were some new assistant hires. For context, the school I work in is very small and remote and ranges from grade Pre-k 3 to 8th. At most i think theres about.. 250 students max. This school was mainly for those kids that live out in the ranch and hard to reach places (in the middle of nowhere technically). Even the decore is hard-core western. Pretty cute, I love it. Anyways

I was told by my boss to introduce myself and to let them know that if they needed any help with technology, that I could help them. So I went to the library because that's where they were

Well lo and behold, I enter and I see Sun and Moon standing there talking with the librarian and Principal about their skills and how they were so excited to be able to help around the school. Obviously I'm flabbergasted because this wasn't what I expected. But the Principal explained to me that due to the Pizzaplex shutting down, they wanted to still put their animatronics to use, so they were being transferred across the U.S. in different areas where help was needed.

I found that odd since our school was small and not as chaotic as the city ones. But I can't exactly explain that.

Well time passes and I took it upon myself to learn about the animatronics just in case they need any repairs since I work as a technician. In order to do this, I had to constantly be hanging around Sun and Moon who mostly helped with the younger kids. We ended up bonding a lot.

A bit more time passes and I hear there's a new hire, a custodian. I like hanging out with the custodians so I decide to go introduce myself. This guy was weird and I immediately knew something was off with him. Nonetheless I was polite but I kept my eye on him. I noticed that Sun and Moon didn't like him.

More time passes and suddenly a bunch of staff members go missing. Despite the wide searches, no one has been able to find them. One day when I was making my rounds to see what needed fixing, I saw the strange guy in an unused classroom opening a door that wasn't there before. I was shocked to see that he had tossed one of my coworkers who was unconscious in there. Upon taking a closer look, I saw that inside were all of the missing staff members.

I went to call for help and saw Sun and Moon down the hallway, but before I could call out to them, I was knocked out by the strange guy. (I should mention he was purple)

The scene cuts to Sun and Moon who have been apparently looking for me. They had a worried look and looked as if they needed to say something that was bothering them. Then they came across the strange man down the hallway.

There was a whole confrontation between the three, who obviously knew each other.

All I remember is Sun whisper shouting "We don't want to be part of your plan anymore!" And Moon asking, "Where did you hide the bodies?"

I can't remember what happened but it was very intense as they had fought the guy (who was some sort of undead using some body).

In the end Sun and Moon managed to free us who were trapped and got the strange guy arrested.

About a week later, the school was having a celebration in thanks to Sun and Moon for protecting their staff and students. I was happy got them, but my shift had ended already and I needed to leave.

As I was passing by them to head out, they stopped me. (They called me Y/N)

They ended up saying that they liked me and wanted to get to know me better and proposed with a ring pop to start dating (cute honestly)

I think I said yes? I woke up after. And now I'm telling you this dream, and now I'm asking if I should make this an AU

THAT'S SUCH A COOL DREAMMM. The best dreams you can get are the consistent story ones, fr. You go to sleep and have a whole story unfold before your very eyes that you get to live out then be excited over after you wake up. I love those so much. This is what I do when I get one of those, I have to ramble paragraphs about it or I'll combust

"(I should mention he was purple)" YEAH, YOU SHOULD LMAO

"(They called me Y/N)" like the whole letters akfjgjd??? We're all Y/N at heart

AWWW THEY PROPOSED WITH A RING POP? That's so sweet

That is so good, I adore this so much. You had such a great dream

[gffa]

Btw I only got sucked into the prequels fandom a couple months ago, and I was super fortunate to have found your blog rather early on... It meant I quickly realized I had some misconceptions and internalized weirdness from just western / Christian society and growing up on Legend's New Jedi Order stuff. (It's not that I ever disliked the Jedi, but I definitely didn't understand the difference between love and attachment and was otherwise mostly apathetic about them as a Culture... If they weren't Mara Jade, Jaina Solo, Corran Horn, or Luke Skywalker, I didn't particularly care about them at all).

Anyway my point is that I'm super thankful your blog came up soon because I am now very firmly in the Pro Jedi camp and am glad I only got a minimal amount of sw fandom toxicity about the Jedi before having my eyes gently opened to reality.

Best part is tho, I had a friend ask me a week ago for some star wars information. Her brother apparently was assigned to write about the differences between the Jedi, Grey Jedi, and Sith in a class about differing religions and ideologies (which... In and of itself is actually a rather fascinating concept for a school paper). Anyway I had fun linking a whole bunch of your meta posts and going "Respect the Jedi, they're absolutely wonderful! Grey Jedi aren't actually a thing - it's just video game mechanics and misconceptions! Sith are evil and if you write them as anything but I will hard-core raise eyebrows at you and want to throw hands!!" And such... Probably went more than a little overboard but she was appreciative.

My point in all this word vomit (dang my adhd is really prevalent rn isn't it) is that I wanted to offer some encouragement because I've learned the pro Jedi camp is a lot smaller than it should be and maybe sometimes feels like it's the same 20 people on tumblr? Your collective efforts as the Jedi Defense Squad are successful and I know that, personally, my life will forever be changed for the better. Bless y'all and keep fighting the good fight!

You didn’t even know it was my birthday yesterday and yet you sent me once of the nicest things I could get despite that! I admit that the pro-Jedi corner of fandom feels very small sometimes, especially because Tumblr is generally the only place where we’ve gotten together (COME HELP ME LOVE THE JEDI ON TWITTER, YOU GUYS, I NEED PEOPLE TO HAVE SILLY LOVE BOMB FESTS WITH), that sometimes it can feel very overwhelming the second I step one inch off my dash, but also I wouldn’t trade this corner for anything. I hope that I can not just explain why I love the Jedi and why I see them as being perfectly in balance with the core themes of Star Wars, but that I can help make being a pro-Jedi fan a fun experience.  I hope I can make meta about them interesting, jokes about them fun to play with, the pain of their slaughter and the genocide of their culture dig into our feelings the way the best of Star Wars does. If I can help kindle love for the Jedi in you (and I am certain I did not do so alone, there are so many really incredible people, every time I get to reblog Jedi content from more than a dozen people now I get this shimmer of joy in my soul, I didn’t always have that! I get to reblog art and fic and essays! people have such good thoughts and incredible ways with words! they’re coming up with adorable skits and AU scenarios! so many in this fandom work so hard to give us these delightful things and I am so overjoyed to get to reblog them), then I have passed on what was given to me and that makes it worth it. I am further delighted to help provide framework for writing papers about the Jedi, because one of the things that surprised me when I first started really digging into those Lucas interviews and behind the scenes/making of books is: Yeah, Star Wars is often silly, but it has themes and George Lucas stuck to them.  He thought about his mythology and what messages he wanted to convey, and whatever things he tweaked along the way, the core themes have always remained consistent. Star Wars is often imperfect, no creator is ever going to be perfect, but Lucas knew he wanted to tell a story about letting go and about good vs evil and choosing the light made the world work better and that we should care about each other and our communities, not just break the rules and do whatever we felt like, that you’re supposed to love people but you have to accept that life is impermanent, because you’ll suffer if you try to hold on too tightly. And everything of his Star Wars stuck to those themes and I really, really like those themes. My life has been made better by getting to know the story of Star Wars and getting to meet so many kind, thoughtful fans and getting messages like this, and so please know that this is incredibly uplifting and encouraging.  To be able to spark joy in someone else about these silly space psychic wizards, to be able to share that, it makes the whole Being A Fan Of A Thing a great experience.

[anupalya]

Please stop hating on Luke Skywalker

(note: I don't like what Disney did to him either and I'm not a fan of the sequels)

But with regards to attachments and having Grogu choose, SO many people have said it better than I can, but in Buddhism, "attachment" isn't love, it's possessiveness and inability to let go. That's what makes you selfish, desperate, willing to do anything to keep your attachment, even hurt others.

Grogu chose to go with Luke at the end of Mando S2, and now Luke is saying "you can choose to leave, I will not force you to be Jedi."

I disagree with the Old Order's marriage ban, seeing as it didn't even work and (I think) it would have been much more effective to instead provide social support and emotional support, so that Jedi could have help remaining un-possessive in their love rather than allow the need for secrecy make them fearful and more desperate.

HOWEVER. "Attachment" being the way to the dark side in no way conflicts with the lessons learned in the Original Trilogy, which Luke embodies so well. Luke's love for his friends keeps him from falling, and his love for his father brings Anakin back, but Luke's being able to let his friends go and not control the outcome and trust them instead, the lesson he had to earn in ESB, is the reason why his love was able to remain un-possessive and a conduit of light rather than dark.

So Grogu got to leave if he wanted to, because Luke could sense that Grogu, the traumatized baby who was willing to force-choke a stranger who he thought was hurting his dad, who he'd imprinted on after years of isolation and abuse after surviving a massacre, had an attachment, and very understandably so. Grogu needs to resolve his trauma and heal and be able to let Din go, because that's the nature of existence, if he wanted to learn to manipulate existence without the temptation to, you know, lay waste to entire civilizations if it meant saving his dad, the way Anakin did for Padme. And if Grogu can't or didn't want to do that, Luke wasn't going to force him, and would let him choose to keep the attachment rather than the ability to manipulate the universe.

Now, it seems to me, just based on my read of it, that Disney doesn't quiiiiite understand Western vs Eastern definitions of "attachment" (and I'm willing to bash Disney All. Day. Long.) Or at least they didn't quite execute the "choice" scene in a way that made their take on attachment theory very clear, especially because "choose between shirt and saber" doesn't actually make sense because Din wasn't saying "hey Grogu, you can have this shirt IF YOU COME BACK" etc. I digress.

BUT

Luke, starting from the end of OT, is also trying to restart a decimated culture off of CRUMBS as the only one left (to his knowledge - and yes, Ahsoka is a force-user but doesn't identify as a Jedi and isn't contributing to the resurrection)

Also, I'm a DinLuke shipper. I would LOVE to see Din and Luke together, but I'm also completely unsurprised that these are the choices Disney is having Luke is make in canon, because this strong, powerful, compassionate, imperfect, traumatized character is also doing his best with the crumbs of the old wisdom he can find. And also, I know it becomes a tragedy all over again, because they're not going to erase the sequels (which, again, not a fan).

So I'm here in the "write fic, take what you want from canon, and love the story, characters, and dynamic" party. Fandom is all about taking what we love and making it our own. I love saying it and won't stop saying it: canon is just the headcanon of the person with the biggest budget, and fic is inherently anticapitalism in storytelling. And that's what I'm all about.

(and tbh one of my favorite things about canonverse/canon-divergent DinLukes where Luke decides to allow marriage with un-possessive love and Grogu gets to be a Mandalorian Jedi like Tarre Vizsla is that those AUs end up averting the tragedies of the sequel trilogy 👌👌)

But, in summary, it hurts my heart to see so much Luke-bashing. We can make the stories we want.

[forsworned]

a mutually arranged attachment. (yoriichi tsugikuni x reader)

warning(s). nudiiiiity, n.s.f.w. smutty smut

word count. 7.2k

categories. f/m

relationships. modern college student au! yoriichi tsugikuni x f!reader

characters. yoriichi tsugikuni, koshi

author's note. this chapter is dedicated to @brightymir like i had said before, i worked so fucking hard on this and the drawing i provided in it so please please please give me your feedback yall i need ittt and like i said before n.s.fw under the cut, if you want to be included in my taglist for this story lmk!

chapters » one two three four five six seven eight ten

『♡』chapter nine: mini getaway

Most of the ride there was spent quietly seated next to your kind-of fiance as you watched as the trees turned into a blur of greens, yellows and reds. Autumn was very beautiful this time of year. You were glad you were able to enjoy it in Japan rather than suburbia America. Yoriichi didn't seem to mind the silence as he had offered you one of his earbuds to listen to music together. You had discovered that you two had a very similar music taste. He was into the classics and the alternative scene as well dabbling here and there into RnB. He'd always be surprised when you knew something like Don't Fear The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult or Dust in the Wind by Kansas.

"For someone Japanese born you sure do know a lot about western music." You mused scrolling through his playlist.

He hummed in response as he watched you with a content expression. "Can't beat the classics."

"You've got a point." You replied as you looked at the window and suddenly Mount Fuji came into full view in all it's glory. "Wow."

"It's glorious, isn't?"

"Yeah..." Your voice trailed off as you moved closer to the window trying to catch a better look at it. You've never really been to this part of Japan. Mostly because you couldn't afford it on your own, but now. Now, the world was practically your oyster with Yoriichi.

"Where do you want me to pull up, Yoriichi?" Koshi called out from the driver's seat.

"Mmm." Yoriichi analyzed the forested area for a moment before replying. "Right here is fine."

Koshi had instantly stopped the car on a pathway that looked positively unreal. It was brimmed with beautiful autumn colored leaves that appeared as if they were on fire. You stepped out of the vehicle on your own accord and felt the crisp fall air kiss at your cheeks. The mountain air was fresh and clean unlike the city air that was clouded with pollution.

"Alright. Your things will be in your room when you get there. Enjoy the trip guys!" Koshi called out behind you. You turned around to see him waving you off, but you didn't see Yoriichi anywhere.

"I'm right here."

His voice rattled your body and you rotated your head to your immediate right to see him towering over you. "Oh, when did you get there?"

"I've been here the whole time."

But before you could reply his hand was intertwined with your own and he was tugging you along side him. "C'mon, the walk there is beautiful."

You felt your cheeks warm at his gentle hand. It was rough and hardened. He had working hands and you knew that with the few times that you two had brief contact with one another. "You...you've been here before?"

"Yes, with my family many, many times. I know all the good spots." He shifted his gaze to you again seeing that your lips had a small pout to them. "Is something the matter?"

You turned your head away as if to look at the lovely leaves again. "N-no, it's nothing."

He caressed the surface of you skin with his thumb and his voice was as smooth as velvet as he spoke. "Tell me."

You let out a small puff of air. Damn, him. "I just, I just thought that this was a place that you hadn't been before and that it was both of our first time's coming here."

He stared at you for a second before softly smiling at your puffed cheeks. "Oh, you wanted it to be special."

Now he had really done it. You felt like you could collapse from embarrassment any moment now.

He took your silence as a 'yes' and the two of you padded towards the end of the fiery walkway before he turned his full body toward you and took both of your hands in his own. "Listen."

You looked at him with glistening eyes and hold himself back from kissing you right then and there. "We will have a very special time here together. I didn't exactly make an itinerary of all the places we can go to but I have a lot things in mind I want to do with you."

His index finger under your chin prompted you to keenly observe his expressions. "And only you."

You gently removed his finger from your chin and gave him a playful glare. "Then start acting like it."

And with that you started making your way towards the resort and his smile grew as he watched you sway from side to side. If only you knew how badly he wanted you.

As you kept trudging along you noticed that the resort that was beginning to showcase itself, but the more and more closer you got to it you realized it was actually a large cabin. You stopped dead in your tracks taking when you took in the real view.

"It's beautiful isn't?"

"It's literally unreal." You breathed out not able to believe the view of Mount Fuji you had. It literally looked like you were looking at a photo. It was as if the mountain was painted magnificiently into the azure sky. You took every detail in but it was like a sensory overload with the fiery autumn leaves warmly enveloping the skyline.

"I never get tired of it. It's even more beautiful at night because the city lights up the mountain. One of my favorite past times was actually just being here by myself and sitting in the hot springs while I just looked out at this view."

"What hot spring?"

He turned his body to face the steaming waters that were flowing right in front of you. Multiple waterfalls were cascading into the pool that was surrounded by rocks and many smaller elegant plants. "Oh wow." You turned back to face him with a playful smile. "You really are spoiled, huh?"

A small smile parted his lips. "Can't say I disagree." He ushered you by the small of your back towards the cabin. Come on, let's get changed into something more comfortable to head into the city with."

And there it was again. You didn't feel pulled just by his words, but by the way he said them and the look he gave you with every word. You wanted to snap out of the spell he had you under but you were afraid you were already far too gone.

* * *

Entering the cabin was like something out of a dream or more specifically out of Architectural Digest. The walls seemed to be somehow even taller than his--or rather collectively your penthouse apartment. It was still seemingly cozy and warm like a cabin just minus the musty feeling of the ones you rent out in the woods for a week that have no televisions. When you walked in, you are instantly greeted with a large fireplace and woodsy furniture that fit the aesthetic of the overall cabin.

Almost immediately you walked towards the kitchen to find the frige completely stocked with everything imaginable. You picked out a lemonade and popped it open nearly knocking into Yoriichi.

"Having fun?" He leaned against the counter clearly amused with your actions.

You laughed setting the drink down. "Not nearly enough yet."

Yoriichi bit back his smile as he eyed you and suddenly you felt bashful again. "Our luggage is in the master bedroom. I can move mine to the other bedr--"

"No!" You exclaimed a little too quickly which caused him cocked an eyebrow at you. "I mean no. That won't be necessary, right? We are technically engaged right now so we should get used to sleeping in the same bed..."

You voice seemed to trail off and you felt his gaze burning on you until he let up. "Okay, well do you mind if I unpack our things?"

"Not at all." You smiled picking your drink back up. "Do you mind if I explore?"

He shoved his hands into hoodie pockets. "Of course not. Make yourself at home."

"I thought it was my home." You retorted sliding your hand against the kitchen counter as you scooted away from him to get a look around.

He looked at you with kind eyes. "You're right. It is."

You felt yourself fluster as you padded away from him and began to stroll around the home and found yourself in some sort of study. There were bookshelfs lined up against every wall not one inch of it was not covered with a book or some sort of odd souvenir. As you began to analyze the spines you came across one that caught your eye.

"Posession" by A.S. Byatt.

You pried it out with your finger and noticed that there was already a bookmark left in it so flipped right to it. There was a highlighted quote on the page that caught your eye:

“I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed.”

It sent a shiver up your spine. The words seemed so personal for some reason even if you had no idea what the book was about. You found yourself leafing through more pages, discovering more and more footnotes and highlighted quotes. Most of the things written in ink were in some kind of code because you couldn't understand what they were even saying and as you flipped some more you noticed something drop out of the book.

You picked up it and realized that it was an old polaroid with the quote written on the back of it with a date of 11.24. 01 and you turned it over to see a couple kissing on a grey muscle car. The model was an old Ford Fairlane but the two people looked oddly familiar. Was that Uncle Keshi...?? You squinted a little more trying to make out the woman in the photo. You felt your heart drop to your stomach at the sudden realization of who the woman in the photo really was. It couldn't be. No, like it really couldn't be.

You turned over the photo to see initials inked onto the back "IT+AH"

You felt your hands shaking as you turned the photo back around. There was no mistaking it. It was definitely her. It was Yoriichi's mother. But why were the initials IT and not KT?

"[name], can you come here for a second?" Yoriichi's voice shook you out of your thoughts.

You nearly dropped the book and whatever other contents it may have lurking in it. You quickly put the photo back in the pages and stuck it back in the shelf just a little outward then the rest of them just in case you came back for it.

"Coming!" You called back. You slapped both sides of your cheeks. If you were going to face him, you needed to not looks so suspicious. You knew that you had to eventually tell him if he didn't already know, but now was definitely not the time.

As you entered the master bedroom area, you noticed that Yoriichi was holding what probably was your most sexiest lingerie you've ever purchased in both of his hands.

To say you were shocked was an understatement, but well, you did make a point of getting a little somethin-somethin out of the trip so you decided to play it cool. "Is this why you called me in here?"

He blinked back a few times before facing you and then setting the lacy fabric down. "No, I..."

He only stared at you not knowing how to formulate his words. He had been caught slacking and he had no idea how to run it back.

"We should hit the city before the sun sets." You finally said breaking up the awkwardness.

He cleared his throat averted his gaze. "I should probably finish this first then."

You gently placed your hand on top of his stopping his ministrations. "You don't have to finish."

For a moment he looked half relieved and half...frustrated? You couldn't discern why though. Little did you know that you were about to blow his top off very soon.

His usual stoic expression was back as you pulled away your hand. "Then let me pull the car up and we can get going."

"Oh, wait I need to change!" You scrambled to the drawers trying to find something cuter to wear than your current outfit.

"I know I said we could change into another set of clothes, but we can easily find you something really nice in any of the shops." He jingled his keys in front of you. "Plus, I want to show you my Uncle's old ride that he passed off to me."

You raised an eyebrow at him as you shut the drawer and began to follow him as he led you to the garage part of the cabin. You tried your best to push back the intrusive thoughts about his uncle to the back of your head knowing the cabin house was probably teeming with more things. "I'm intrigued."

And you were pretty curious to see what exactly was beyond those garage doors. As he manually pulled up the metal door, your heart dropped to your ass yet again. It was, if not the same fucking make and model of the car you had seen in the photo.

"Isn't she amazing?" He asked looking from the car to you. But you had a horrified look on your face that you failed to conceal. "Do you hate it?"

You blinked back to face him and gave him a quick smile. "Not at all! She's so...pretty!"

Yoriichi folded his arms as he rested his form against the hood of the car. "Is everything okay?"

You dryily gulped as you fidgeted with your fingers trying to come up with some sort of an excuse. "Of course. Why do you ask?"

"Because when I showed you the car you looked almost petrified." He pressed on. "So, what's on your mind?"

You sighed thinking for a moment before you answered and took a seat next to him. "I'm sorry. I just..."

You almost told him. Almost. "This is all so new to me and..."

"And?" He put a comforting arm around your shoulder. It made you feel even worse for the lie you that was about to leave your lips.

You leaned into him. "I just have no idea how to tell my family everything. They still have no idea about everything. It's just all so stressful.

Lie. He could tell by the way your heart rate picked up that you were lying. He sighed. "I get it. It's definitely something that needs to be brought up to your parents. But let's just focus on having a good time. Okay?"

He gave you a warm smile despite knowing that something was up. He could only assume you weren't comfortable yet so he let it slide, but it was something he made note of.

You nodded and smiled back at him. "Okay."

Even though you felt that Yoriichi could see through your lies it still was somehow comforting. He spoke to you so sweetly and so gently and you wanted so badly just to kiss him, but you knew that you had to wait to make your move.

"Well, let's get going." He said twirling his keys around his finger.

"Yeah, you owe me a yukata or five." You teased playfully as you slid off the hood and entered the passenger seat.

"You're not wrong about that." He retorted as he turned the ignition on and hit the play button of the radio.

♫ Welcome to the Hotel California ♫

"Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place), Such a lovely face" You guys swayed your heads and sung along together to the music as it played. And it felt like how it did before Yoriichi almost tossed your ass to the side again. He wasn't being as stoic and distant as he was before. He was relaxed and vibing with the music and you because you could sense that was beginning to feel like himself around you and that made you feel even more guilty.

* * *

During your time in the shopping center area, Yoriichi had insisted on purchasing more than five yukata's, in fact he upgraded to kimonos and other traditional wear and jewelry. Literally anything that he caught you staring at for more than five seconds. And with every kimono and yukata that he purchased for you, he bought a matching pair for himself which you found absolutely adorable.

The best part of it all was that you didn't even have to beg, not even ask, for Yoriichi and you to wear one of the matching yukatas you had purchased because he was the one who suggested you two should wear them together before you headed to the shrine. That had brought a glorious smile to your face like he had intended. Happy wife equals happy life.

Did I forget to mention that all the locals knew him? Like serious everyone knew this guy. Girls and women were flocking him or whispering to themselves about how utterly mysteriously gorgeous he was. I guess he wasn't lying about him coming so often with his family. Almost everything was "on the house" or extremely discounted to which, like the gentleman Yoriichi was, would decline. But they would push and insist and Yoriichi would end up leaving a generous tip after having such exquisite meals.

"So, are you enjoying your time?" He asked you while you were mid bite into your dango.

You licked your lips and nodded. "How could I not? With all the locals knowing who you are, giving your free meals and discounts and all these women practically lining up to see you."

He shifted his eyes for a moment and sheepishly grinned. "Yes, I apologize for that. I don't want to set the wrong tone for us. I'm not a loose man."

You nearly choked on your treat and Yoriichi's eyes widened soothing your back. You put a hand up indiciating you were okay as your burst into a fit of giggles. "That's not what I was implying."

"Weren't you, though?" He gave you a knowing look. It was almost proof that he could see through all your lies.

You averted your gaze as you nibbled on your dango. "Well, okay maybe I was thinking that. It's kind of hard not to. I mean all the women here are very pretty..."

His warmth reaching out to you in the form of his two hands clasping over your own as he gave you his sincerest eyes. "I did not bring you here to feel lesser than these other women. You are the only woman in my life and I intend to keep it that way. So don't feel small. I think you are much more beautiful than any of them are."

Your lips parted for a moment as you felt hot in the face from his sudden tenderhearted words. He thought you were beautiful?

He reached out to caress you cheek and smiled at you before leaned down to meet your lips, but instead he ducked to take a bite of your dango.

"H-hey!" You swatted at him. He was such a freakin tease!

He chuckled as he chewed on the treat and dodged all your attacks. Leave it to him to be the biggest chaff.

"You're annoying." You turned away from him like a child, but he ignored you as he grabbed your hand and began to tug at your form.

"Come on. Let's go." He suddenly said.

You felt gently jerked forward by his long arm. "Where are we going?"

He rotated his head to look down at you and gave you his signature smile. "To the Chureito Pagoda."

Your face brightened at the name of it. "Really?"

"Does that excite you?"

"Of course! I always wanted to go since I was a kid. I would beg my parents to let me go so I could make a prayer there." You fondedly remembered you pointing to a picture of it on a magazine to your parents and they would nod their heads at you telling you someday that they would go.

"Well, now we can do that together." His smile made you almost drop your dango, but luckily with such good reflexes you had caught it with your mouth.

He softly laughed at you as you two approached the large shrine. There were many people already gathered waiting for their turn in line to send up their prayers. You two bowed at the gates and then began the purification process.

"Do you have any lose change? I must've forgetten it in the car." Yoriichi asked as he searched his pockets.

You pulled out your frog coin purse and held it in front of you like it was an artifact. "As a matter of a fact I do."

"How cute." He smiled down at you.

"I know, right." You didn't know if he was talking about you or the coin purse but you along with it anyway. "Here you go." You handed him a few coins and you both bowed before dropping them into the offerings box.

Yoriichi had handed you some incense to light and you both light it and fanned it out to extinguish it. By the time you two were finished you were finally up next to make your prayers.

You both stepped up and bowed twice towards the altar. He let you ring the bell twice first before doing it himself and you both bowed and clapped your hands twice before beginning your prayers.

Kami-sama, please fill our marriage with love, patience and trust...

...And let me, please for the love of everything good, just get some tonight!

You clasped your hands together and bowed and noticed that Yoriichi was already finished.

"Ready to go back?"

You nodded and smiled feeling confident in yourself. "Mm!"

* * *

You couldn't put your finger on it, but the trip back felt more tense. The music on the radio played softly as you arrived back at the cabin and Yoriichi set everything down in the main room.

"I'm going to make some tea and head to the hot spring!" He called out to you as you headed towards the bathroom.

"Okay!" You answered back to him as you turned on the sink to wash your hands.

You felt your body begin to tense from all the walking and standing you had done today. The hot springs was beginning to sound more and more appealing. You hummed to yourself as you padded over to the master bedroom and searched the drawers for your nicest bikini. It was a simple black two piece that looked good on your form. You peeled off your clothes and finally slipped it on. The fabric felt cold against your skin but you admired the way it accentuated your curves.

As you grabbed a towel, and headed over to the hot springs you noticed that Yoriichi was already in, torso completely bare showing off all of his tattoos that he had hidden from you. They were so intricate and beautiful. His body must have been sculpted by the gods became oh, Kami he was hot. His long dark hair was pulled into a makeshift bun with a hairstick that looked like a family heirloom of some sort.

Yoriichi finally turned to you as he took a sip of his tea and he looked quite puzzled. "What are you wearing?"

You felt almost offended by him asking and having the gall to stare at you like that. "A bikini?"

"Why?"

"Because we're in a natural hot tub?"

"You don't wear clothes in a hot spring."

"So, you're not wearing anything right now?"

"No."

"As in you're naked?"

"Yes."

You felt like a total fucking idiot at this point. The sheer stupidity that you had just showcased in front of him. You missed out on a golden opportunity to show off your hot naked bod in front of him, but instead you thought you looked so fucking good in your stupid bikini. You felt so embarrassed.

"Well, you don't have to be." He quickly said realizing the expression on your face.

You took a deep breath. "Could you please turn around."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Not suprisingly enough, he turns around with out another word as you began to begrudgingly peel off your bikini and set it on the ground beside your feet. You felt yourself already starting to get hot and bothered as you entered the water with your bare form just inches away from him.

The view of Mount Fuji directly in front of you as you gazed at it in awe almost forgetting about the naked Yoriichi next to you.

"I can never get tired of this."

"Nor I." He replied handing you a cup of tea.

"Thank you." You murmured taking the cup from him not able to look him in the eye.

The both of you quietly sipped at your teas before you handed him back yours and he took it and set it on the tray above him.

You leaned against the concrete wall of the hot spring and inhaled deeply. Surely the tension was rising by now, right? Right?

Should I say something? What the fuck do I even say? Do I just tell him I want him to lay that pipe on me or what?

"So..." You both seemed to say at the same time before laughing.

"Please, go ahead." He urged.

"Um, well." You began to say, but you felt your heart quicken at the words you wanted to say.

You turned over to look at him and he was leaned up against the wall with his face only millimeters away from yours. His cheeks were dusted rose and in that moment you remembered that you told yourself that you would get something out of this trip so you simply did just that. Tilting your face forward you cupped his cheek and leaned forward to capture your lips with his, but he turned away.

You felt absolutely crestfallen.

"I don't understand." You felt like you were about to cry at any moment now.

"It's not you. I just...I really want to wait." He said softly.

"What?" You blinked back your tears.

Now, you were confused. He wanted to wait? For what?

"I want to wait until after we get married."

You sat there for a moment as you pondered about what he had just said. He wanted to wait to have sex after marriage.

"Are you a virgin?" You asked abruptly. You didn't mean for it to sound so brash, but nonetheless, it made him laugh.

"No, I'm not." He answered looking at you finally. His cheeks were dusted a rosy pink as he glanced down at you.

"So, I don't understand the issue." You searched his face for an answer.

He sighed. "It just feels more...sacred that way. Our bond as wife and husband will feel more special to me."

'Well..." You took a deep breath trying to formulate your thoughts into words which was hard because all you had in mind were very dirty thoughts. "We don't have to have sex sex."

He chuckled running a hand over his face. "I've definitely gave that a thought more than a few times, but I don't know how I'll be able to resist you."

He was sending you into overdrive just thinking about the lewd things that were running through his mind. You wondered for how long that had been going on for. "How long."

He looked at you, You who was so absolutely turned on by the fact that he had been thinking about you doing mutually obscene acts probably every time he was around you. Thinking about all the times you weren't there where he was thinking about you.

"Ever since we had spoken for the first time at my family's cafe."

"What have you been thinking about?" You pressed up against him and he struggled to convince himself not take you right there.

"You."

"What about me?"

Your hardened nipples were against his structured torso and he was having more difficulty moving away from you by the second.

"[name]..."

"Please." You were so desperate aching for his touch and he knew by the way you were yearning for him through glistening [e/c] hues. He had to think of a way to get himself out of this before he gave in.

"Maybe, if we get out of the hot spring I'll think about it."

You whined knowing he was only trying to postpone everything to the point where you would eventually just wait until your wedding date.

"I'm not falling for that." You fingers skimmed over his left pectoral and cast behind a trail of goosebumps as you began to glide them lower past his hardened abs and down to his v-line, but he grabbed your hand.

It wasn't obvious, visually to you, but under the steaming waters he was sporting a rock solid hard on because of your ministrations. And then he did something that you least expected. He tugged you by your hand to pull you closer to him as he pressed a warm kiss to your forehead.

It was tender. The opposite of his words and his body language, though it was genuine. You knew that his feelings were always as frank and earnest hearted as possible, just like this kiss. You sat there flabbergasted at him as he cupped your cheeks and gazed down at you.

"I really do want to wait, but as my soon to be wife, I want to please you. So if you really can't wait, I can maybe make certain exceptions."

You stared at one another for a moment before you let out a sigh. "Well, now I'd just feel bad if I asked for anything more knowing your stance on sex before marriage."

He chuckled at you. "You were just trying to seduce me moments ago after I told you that and now you feel bad?"

"Well, you just said that whole thing and now it just made me feel bad so, if that was your goal than you achieved it."

You pushed his hands off of your face as you stood up from your spot letting the warm water trickle down your naked form and made your way to get your towel. Yoriichi stared at your naked glory in awe. Your soft supple skin was just out for display and he simply wanted to marked up every part of it with his mouth and hands.

And you knew that he was staring at you. Wanting you, yearning for you. That was your intention after all.

You grabbed your towel and strewn bikini and patted yourself dry as you walked over to the master bedroom ignoring his blatant stare making sure you were working every curve of your body.

If he thought he was hard then, he was definitely hard now. He closed his eyes trying to make the unwanted guest appearance of his rather big friend go away. It felt futile for a moment just remembering every inch of your body. He practically engraved it into his brain.

He sighed as it mostly went down and went to grab for his own towel as he got out of the hot spring. As he dried himself off he had slipped on his sleeping yukata and began to tie it as he made his way toward you.

You were currently situated on the bed in your own, ironically enough, matching yukata. It was a dark red with white around the v line of the neck and the waist area. As he approached the room, he stood at the doorway and peered down at you with a playful gaze.

His hair was now down, reaching past his thighs and his yukata was baring his tatted chest as he tightened his yukata belt. He looked positively delicious.

"Something on your mind?" He inquired not even for a second breaking eye contact.

You felt the wetness pool between you thighs as you watched him approach you slowly and he was now at the end of the bed towering over you.

"Many things." You replied coolly as he leaned his body against the bed.

"Like what."

He was creeping closer to you. His arms on both sides now encasing you in the middle as his warm breath fanned over you.

"Like your face between my thighs."

He hummed as he nestled his face in the crook of your neck and placed a not so chaste kiss against your hot skin. You sucked in your breath as your hand raked through his soft tresses. So soft, so...good. Was all you could think as he placed more and more hot kisses against your neck that was leaving you moaning under his touch. His hands roamed over your clothed nipples that were becoming hard once again from his touch.

"Yoriichi." You moaned out of breath as you tightened your grip on his hair making him pull away and muffled your mewling with his lips.

His lips that were soft, plush, feverish against your own as meshed his lips against yours. Still, you could tell that he was holding back, but you didn't want to push it. You slipped your tongue between his lips and his greedily sucked on it. Your mind wandered to what he would do to you if he weren't holding himself back so much.

His fingers danced across your skin as he slipped them under the fabric of your yukata and began to massage your nipples with his calloused fingers and you called out his name in ecstasy. Because even though he was simply touching your breasts, you felt like your body was vibrating from how good his movements felt.

"You're almost exactly how I imagined." He breathed out before taking one of your hardened nippled between his supple lips and sucked on them with just the right amount of intensity.

"Mmm." Was all you could make out because the feeling of his lips and fingers working your nipples was driving you insane.

"That lewd expression on your face...I want to--I need to see it when I make love to you for the first time." He murmured kissing your sternum and teasing your nipple between his fingers.

"Fuck..." You groaned as he slipped his fingers down to your folds and began to play with your slick.

"You are so beautiful, [name]." He whispered as he watched your face contort in pleasure with every small ministration he made against your clit.

You couldn't even talk back to him due to the fact that you were way too preoccupied with how utterly amazing he was making you feel. He began to add a little pressure as he circled your clit and you felt the his fingers press at your entrance.

"Please." You begged as your grasped at his hand to sense your urgency.

"You're so eager." He pressed a kiss against your earlobe as he sucked on it and began to pump his fingers in and out of you.

He expertly began to rub against your g spot over and over again until he was sending you over the edge nearly releasing right then and there but he relinquished his fingers from inside of you.

"Yoriichi." You whimpered, tightening your grasp on him and he only smiled at you mischeviously as he brought his wet fingers to your lips. You parted them tasting yourself.

"Mmm, good girl." He whispered, pushed them deeper into your moved and you sucked on them not breaking eye contact.

He leaned down to press a kiss against your lips as he pushed aside the fabric of yukata leaving most of your naked body bare to him. He left your lips as he left a trail of hot kisses down your body as he took his time around your hips and stomach making you mewl in slight annoyance.

"Haven't I earned your lips between my legs?" You croaked out as you played with the strands of his long dark hair.

"We have all the time in the world together. Why rush everything?" He replied looking up at you with piercing maroon hues as he planted feverish kisses against your inner thigh.

He wasn't wrong, but you had been absolutely fiending for him so excuse you for being a little impatient with all the unnecessary teasing he had been putting you through. You could only watch as he chaffed you with more kisses near your core until his tongue lapped up on long strip against your slick to which you shuddered.

"Oh my goodness..." You shakily breathed out as he just kept going and going.

Overtaking your clit between his lips and twisting it around with his tongue and you felt like you were going to cum at moment. And if that wasn't already enough he began to pump his two fingers into you again as he stretched you out. Incoherent profanities spewing out of your pretty lips as he watching you writhe under him until you finally felt like you were right there.

"Yoriichi, I'm going to...."

"Please, do." He murmured against your womanhood before he made fast paced movements against your clit with his sweet, sweet tongue. The knot in your stomach finally unraveling as your back arched in pure ecstacy as you came.

You had to pry his face away from your throbbing pussy as you squeezed your legs together. "Yoriichi!"

He pulled away chuckling at you because you were clearly overstimulated. "Sorry, you just taste so good."

You suddenly felt overexposed under his gaze as he stood up. His hard on was poking through his yukata and you wanted to touch him so bad, but he took your hands and held them over your head against the mattress as he kissed you making you taste yourself again.

"I can't let you do that."

"Why not?" You asked slightly annoyed.

"Because, then I'll really lose it." He nibbled at your lip and then firmly squeezed your ass to which you yelped.

"Hey!" You exclaimed before giggling.

"So, you'll let me eat you out but not grab your ass?"

"I never said that." You murmured before pulling him in for another kiss.

You couldn't believe that you finally got him to not only kiss you, but give you head all in one session? Mount Fuji had to have had something in the air, but you were not going to complain about it. As you softly kissed one another, the thought of Keshi and Yoriichi's mom lingered in the back of your mind. Had they shared this same bed?

It kind of made you ick just thinking about it.

"What's wrong?" He tugged away from you looking at the worried expression on your face. You averted your gaze for a moment looking at the photoframe on the nightstand. It was a picture of Yoriichi's parents and you reached for it grabbing it with your right hand.

He only stared at you as you began to take out the photo and found that there was another folded photo behind it. You began to pluck it out and that's when your thoughts started to catch up with your actions. What the fuck were you doing? And did you even know if the photo folded behind his parents were of his uncle and his mom. It was only a hunch but a strong one.

When you finally pulled it out and unfolded it it was yet another picture of Yoriichi's mom and his uncle just like you had thought. His lips parted for a moment and the shock on his face was evident as he reached out to take the photo from you. He only stared it quietly and you felt like a weight should've been lifted off of your shoulder's, but instead you felt even more guilty.

"How did you know about this?" He softly asked still not looking at you.

You swallowed your spit. "Just a few hours ago. It wasn't this photo that I found out about, but another one in a book in the study. This one was just a hunch. Yoriichi, I'm...I'm so sorry."

He only shook his head as he ran a hand through his hair before letting out a humorless laugh. It was bitter. "I'm not even surprised honestly. I'm only shocked that my mother would be dull enough to put a photo like this behind this one."

He picked up the one of his father and mother as he held both photos up. "How fitting of my mother to pull something like this."

"Are you upset with me?"

He smiled softly at you and shook his head. "No, I'm not upset at you. My mother's wrongdoings and stupidity is not your fault even if you stumbled upon it."

You were a little befuddled as to why he wasn't mad at you for not telling him so soon, but hey, you'll take it.

"I just had no idea how to bring it up to you. I felt like it wasn't any of my business and..." You trailed off.

"Well, it makes sense why you wouldn't want to tell me why you were upset earlier, but you're apart of my family now. So that means you need to tell me these things." He waved the photo a little in the air emphasizing to it.

"I'm sorry." You felt dejected. "I will tell you everything from now on. No secrets. But why aren't you surprised?"

His smile grew as he enveloped you into his warmth. You were happy that he wasn't upset with you. he must have known something was up.

"I have had a hunch for a long time now too. My mother has always been crafty one when it came to her personal life. Everything is starting to make a lot more sense now." He said as he traced patterns on your skin with the pad of his thumb.

"How do you mean?" You gazed up at him.

"Well, my father and my uncle had been at war for nearly a decade, but I had no idea why and no one would tell me. I don't even think Michikatsu knew about what had happened."

"Wait a minute." You pulled away for a moment getting a better look at him. "That means that..."

"My father sent Michikatsu to pretend to be me to burn down my uncle's cafe to let him know that he knew about the affair. That's why he was banned." He finished as he tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. "Like I said, I'm not surprised."

"Yoriichi..." You frowned at him. You were beyond concerned for him right now. Learning this kind of news must be difficult for him.

"I'll be okay. I promise. I just want to enjoy this week with you more than anything. And we can talk about this when we get back." He pressed a chaste kiss to your forehead and you felt yourself melt into him. "Okay?"

You gave him a smile as you gazed up at him with those irresistible eyes. "Okay."

He bent down to capture your lips ever so tenderly. He was so gentle with you and you had never felt so lucky to be with someone. It wasn't an exaggeration when you said you wanted to like this with him forever.

Copyright © kingkyoujurou All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright

taglist: @scoven

[tundrainafrica]

some of the aot fans (probably just casual readers) don't see the parallels between EM and LH???? like the brunettes desire to live with their ackermans together in the woods? they call levihan shippers delusionals. their attacking levihans that they didn't read the manga well and we just want our ship to be canon??? WTH????

I keep wondering if it's just us, levihans, who see these parallels?

im sorry for this rant, it's just soooo frustrating. Basically the reason why i leave twt lol not yet, im still there bcoz of lh filo socmed aus

I have so many things I wanna say about chapter 138 and I am so sorry I only got to it now. I think most Levihan fans already said what I wanted to say but either way, I’ll just give some thoughts I entertained when these came out. 

Coz first of all… 

As a Levihan shipper, I am obviously ecstatic about this but as most people know, I come from a household where everyone is not too enthusiastic about Levihan. They are so very enthusiastic about INVALIDATING LEVIHAN in particular that my sister and my parents who don’t even watch AOT just come up to me while I’m staring at Levihan art on tumblr and go… 

“What are you doing?” 

“Staring at art.”

“Oh, is that the one couple you like who don’t even love each other or smthg.” 

Cause apparently my sisters who watch AOT and my boyfriend have been SO vocal about invalidating Levihan that even my parents now are on ship that they aren’t even a thing and I’m just delusional but yes, since I live in a house where literally ‘shipping Levihan’ is on the same level as ‘the curtains are blue so the narrator is sad’ type of interpretation, I will start by mentioning a more pragmatic argument to this whole Levihan and Eremika parallel. 

While I am one of those who can definitely see that yes those were clear parallels, there are some louder people( mostly Eruri shippers) who think that LH fandom is just grasping on straws and trying to diminish their supposedly canon ship( because EL and EM ackerbonding thing) so I was wondering what is your view on this?

So, to break down the argument...

It’s a war story blah blah blah. And besides Mikasa loved Eren from the start blah blah blah. 

I think this is an argument I see a lot. Because Yams is writing a war story and I think a lot of people are suggesting that it’s a war story here is no way anyone can be canon or anyone can have romantic relationships. 

AND I HATE THIS TAKE. Relationships are human nature. Yes, being arromantic exists but I don’t believe that in a fictional space, romance can ever NOT exist. Because most---or scratch that--- I believe all humans will search for companionship and I do not believe it is ever reaching to jump from whatever companionship exists between people and contemplate the potential of romance, except incest but that’s another story. 

Yeah because if there’s no kiss or sex then it’s not a romance apparently. 

Well guess what, we’re all reaching then, cause only Eren and Mika got the kiss. But lemme drop some social experiment I did. 

I actually showed the Eremika and Levihan ‘Let’s live together scenes’ side by side to a colleague at work who doesn’t watch AOT and she told me, WITHOUT CONTEXT, that she prefers the scene between Levihan more than Eremika and the reason behind that is because there were undertones, specifically in the Korean translation’ that Hange was tired, and there’s this apparent romantic-ness to it when you dream of something when you’re tired and when you dream of a particular someone. 

Because here’s the thing, when you love someone, when you decide to be in a  relationship with someone, that person will be your HOME. And now that I think about it, it definitely hits for me more, because when Hange was tired, when Hange was completely exhausted and spent, she dreamt of a future with Levi. 

And don’t you think that it’s more romantic that ‘despite everything, she thinks of him’ compared to ‘she constantly thinks of him?’ Because I dunno, when someone is constantly thinking of someone, there’s actually no effort really needed for the feeling to grow, but when ‘they think of someone, despite everything.’ There’s this idea that the relationship can withstand more things and that means they thought long and hard about it. 

Their life is so interesting and eventful, yet at the end of the day, there exists someone who still shines brighter than life itself and that’s why ‘Despite everything, she thinks of him’ rings brighter than ‘she constantly thinks of him’ for me at least. 

Probably a personal preference thing but either way… Just my take. 

Western people don’t consider running away ‘romantic?’ 

This is something I’ve discussed with filo moots multiple times and this is something I’ve thought about reading the Japanese and English translations, reading the Filipino Soc Med AUs and having my friend read the Korean ones.  

The Japanese and Koreans are quick to see the romantic undertones, a lot of my Filipino moots are quick to see those romantic undertones too. But we have the western fandom on Reddit going ‘Yo Erehisu foh evah’ and people saying ‘Levihan not canon they didn’t kiss.’ 

But YO both of my parents are ‘tanan’ (runaway in tagalog) babies. My mom actually ran away with a man and wasn’t allowed to talk to her dad until she graduated. My dad disobeyed his parents to marry my mom. They were setting my dad up with another woman and they were going to have a big wedding and everything but my dad was like…

NOPE Imma run away and marry this woman. 

And can I just say, my parents are the MOST unromantic people but they literally disobeyed their parents, ran away together, literally risked their relationships with their parents to make it work. 

And my parents are one of the few people in their family who are still in a happy relationship even after 25 years of marriage. 

Okay, I admit, sometimes running away is a dumb decision and shouldn’t constantly be romanticized. 

But I don’t think a lot of people understand the gravity of what ‘tanan’ entails. Legit, it was emphasized in 138 already, if Eren ran away, Paradis could have been overrun by military soon. And if Hange and Levi ran away to the woods, ‘what would there have been left for them? 

And in real life, my mom literally gave up her relationship with her dad to try to make the relationship work. My dad gave up the comforts of marrying a rich woman in a lavish wedding to marry my mom. 

They literally had a civil wedding, went out to eat Chinese noodles and China town as a post wedding meal and 25 years later, they have one of the strongest relationships I’ve ever seen. 

AND NO ONE RUNS AWAY WITH SOMEONE FOR THE LELZ. So yes, running away with someone will always be romantic for me.

And the Ackerbond?

Something I always find myself asking. Why do people want the Ackerbond to actually be a thing? Because if the Ackerbond were real, then wouldn’t that invalidate all Eruri and Eremika even more since we know they’re just trapped in the relationship like Stockholm syndrome or something? 

And besides didn’t Yams debunk that chapters ago? 

Anyway, onto the next questions

hi sav! i have a question about the recent chapter. do you think the em and lh parellels were done on purpose by isayama? 

And to answer this question… I am not so sure actually. I talked to a Japanese friend who grew up in the same prefecture as Yams, apparently it was her acquaintance from high school who married Yams and they were childhood sweethearts. 

So maybe Yams got it from them?  My memory on that convo is hazy but it’s only possible that he built Eremika from there. And Levi and Hange’s development is just incredibly different that I don’t think Yams thought that far to do it. 

My theory here is that Yams is writing a war story and he only has one way he could have ever shown romance in a war story and that’s through ‘running away’ so I believe the parallels are unintentional but I genuinely believe that this was Yam’s way of showing romantic undertones. 

And I personally do not think that Levi and Hange would have ever kissed in that time in their life, at least intentionally and I hoenstly commend Yams for doing such a good job with the subtlety of the romance because I’ve literally seen so many great characters in other stories completely butchered by a poorly done romantic subplot so I aint complaining about these romantic undertones. 

But either way,

I hang in the Japanese fandom a lot and there have been lots of fandom discussion on Levihan becoming endgame if 132 didn’t happen. And there are actually articles on this putting Levihan as endgame along with Eremika so I’m kinda suspecting that invalidating Levihan is an anime-only fan and reddit fandom type of thing.

But anyway, thank you for reading, sorry for the long rant.

[writinggarbage007]

The Captain’s Assistant

Chapter 12

Steve Rogers x dark! reader, Avengers x dark! Reader

Summary: After 3 years as Cap's assistant and being treated like nothing, you are captured by Hydra and everything changes.

Warnings: swearing, dark themes, abduction, torture, cannon level violence, theft, bank robbery, manipulating people,

Slight AU

Steve wakes slowly. The soft bed is warm as he reaches over to put his arm around you. When he's met with cool sheets he sits up, looking around.

His eyes fall on the note with his name scrawled across it. He hopes it says you went to get coffee or make breakfast.

His hopes are dashes by the words he reads. The ink slightly smudged as if you were crying. It makes his heart jolt in his chest. Why didn't you wake him?

He didn't know how to start searching for you. You could hide and be standing right in front of him.

It read:

Steve,

I'm so sorry for leaving. I was trying to think of a way to explain to you what is going on with me but I feel the darkness growing. I was laying here thinking I didn't want it to consume you too. I don't want to hurt you.

Love,

Y/N

Jumping from the bed he called out to Friday with no response. He had forgotten that Tony didn't monitor you. Grabbing his phone from his pants pocket he called Bucky.

"What?" Bucky answered, his voice rough with sleep.

"I need the team at the tower. As soon as possible. I'm going to wake Tony. Move your ass." Steve said and Bucky was heard grumbling to someone.

"I'll be back as soon as I can baby doll."he said to the girl in his bed. The fact that it had been the same one for almost 6 months was an accomplishment.

"I'm getting the team. What are we doing?" Bucky asks Steve as he pulls on pants, his phone tucked between his shoulder and head.

"I spent the night with Y/N. She's gone. I need her back Buck." Steve says, sounding devastated.

"I'm on my way to get the team. We'll be there in a couple of hours. Try to stay calm. Tony can track her phone." Bucky says as he puts on his shoes.

When Steve hangs up the phone he dresses and looks around your room. There were some clothes in the closet and some books and papers but your phone was gone. He leaves the room calling for Friday to wake Tony.

Walking by the kitchen his heart drops. Your phone is laying on the counter as if you left it as an afterthought. When he gets to the lab, Tony is already pulling up maps and looking for CCTV he can hijack.

"What did you do to our girl, Cap?" Tony asks typing away on his phone without looking up.

"My girl, Stark. She's my girl." Steve says with venom, handing Tony your note.

"I wondered why she was robbing banks,"Tony said with a smirk. The stunned look on Steve's face made him chuckle.

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked pacing around the room.

"Banks all over the city have been reporting money going missing. I thought it was strange so I correlated the data of when her pass was used to leave and enter the building, searched her room while she was out and voila. She was robbing banks. She's perfect for it really." Tony said with a hint of admiration.

Steve's mind was whirling. You had never done anything like this. What the hell was happening.

100 miles away:

You pulled over at a discount store and bought a burner phone. The car you were driving was surprisingly getting you further away than you thought it would. You had been heading south, so you continued on to the west. No patterns to where you turned or where you went.

You made sure to be seen on camera in Western Pennsylvania and pulled out of the parking lot to the west but when you got out of the town you turned south again to West Virginia.

Finding a pickup truck for sale in Wheeling, West Virginia you bought it with cash and ditched your car. You had "borrowed" an ID from a friend so you continued south with the truck in her name the next morning.

You made it to southwest Virginia within 5 days, careful to avoid being seen on cameras. You returned to the house Tony found you in when you had been taken by Hydra.

You had purchased it from the county tax office weeks after you were "rescued" using an account set up for a corporation that didn't exist. Set up by your invisible ass on a bank computer with phony tax numbers and addresses. Let's see Earth's mightiest heroes figure that out. You smiled to yourself. The "corporation" had hired a handyman to fix the place up and get it habitable for the CEO and his wife to use as a retreat.

They would be sending a caretaker to oversee the place. Aka:YOU.

It would make the perfect hideaway. It was also within 10 hours of about 15 cities. Can't rob banks close to home. Friday picked up on patterns like that. And a few days of travel can be good for you. Wouldn't want to get bored.

You check the surrounding area. The security needed to be upgraded but you've got time. The panic room had been built and the handyman sworn to secrecy. Not that you really needed it but ya never know.

You had sent an email to Fury telling him you were going away. Your father's rejection mixed with Natasha's suspicion had worn you down to the point you didn't want to be around the team. You promised to contact him in a few weeks. You could do that from anywhere.

The best part was it was sent from your phone. Tony and Steve would find it. You wondered how long it had taken Tony to figure out the banks. You guessed at least a month.

You knew how everyone would react to the news that you were gone again, and it was partially Natasha's fault.

Clint would remind her of her past

Tony would make a sarcastic comment about how she pushed you out and spend his days and nights in the lab searching for anything he could find.

Bucky would just sigh and go back to looking for you. Calling his girlfriend every few hours to update her even though she didn't know you.

Sam would be the one to point out the bank robbery was a way for you to get money to get away.

Wanda would be sympathetic to you. She knew what it was like to live under suspicion.

Natasha would be pissed that you had run off before she could find out what was going on. She would be defensive of her need to protect the team from you.

But Steve's reaction would be the best part.

His jaw would clench and he would start lecturing her pacing around, calling her Romanoff instead of Natasha or Nat. He would then give her the silent treatment or clipped one word answers to anything she addressed to him.

As you settled into your newly furnished house you laughed out loud. You may not cause another Civil War, but you were damn sure going to give them something to think about. Drama queens, one and all.

You almost wish you had bugged the conference room and Tony's lab. Three years you danced to their tune. Now they could dance to yours. You had fuckery to spread.

[rip-a-dip-dip-you-potato-chip]

what have I created?

idk if yall like this, but they just exist not i guess :/

ok the the first one is Royalty AU

first things first, when I say Royalty AU, I don't mean the classic shit we've all become accustomed to. Im talking about the good old Chinese royalty! And I want to emphasize that these guys will/should be dressed in century appropriate attire. As someone thats read a handful of 'marinette, princess of china' fics from the ML Fandom, I've noticed a common trend. Marinette wouldn't be in the culturally appropriate clothes, always ballgowns. Not that there's something wrong with it, its just most of if not all these fic are set in China, so I'd expect Chinese royalty to dress as THERE dress code calls for. And since this AU takes place far in the past like, it won't make sense for any of the characters to be in royal clothing that wasn't from there region. I'm not trying to white knight/gatekeeping. Im Guyanese not Chinese. But since JTTW and Monkie Kid take place in China, it's only right. In my opinion that it. You don't have to outright agree with me.

With out of the way, it's time for that good old AU crack

- Wukong is the king of the Flower Fruit kingdom(or a different one if you'd like, again I'm only familiar with what western culture has taught me, but I'll try my hardest) 

- he’s single but rumor has it he used to/still is dating the Vigilante/thief The Six Eared Macaque

- *chants ShadowPeach violently* 

- no one know whether it true or not

- On of his wanders around the kingdom he finds an abandoned baby in a basket. 

- and no shit sherlock it's fucking baby Xiaotian 

- I think we all know where this is going because i'm a simp for Monkey Dad & Monkie Son shenanigans

- Xiaotian becomes prince

Shit, ill be referring to Xiaotian as Mk from now on, I mentioned this before in a fic I wrote for lmk that Mk's a nickname for Xiaotian for some reason- wait i don't have to explain my self to you people!

- Sun loves his son

- MK is treated differently by staff and others because he's not blood related to the king

- no one mistreats MK per say, because there King loved his adopted son, but words are said behind his back

- Sometimes MK hears what’s said, and he feels as if he won't live up to his dad’s legacy.

- He meets Mei during a festival

- Mei is from a noble family, that wouldn't mind if they got a connection into the royal family.

- but it becomes hella clear to Mei’s family very fast that the two are just friends, and will always will be. but hey there daughter is bffs with the prince so that's a plus.       

_

- the Demon Bull Family is rules a kingdom as well, I dont/am not creative enough to think of a name I leave that to you.

- It's a common misconception that DBK is a tyrant, when he’s not. 

- most of the time...

- they have been at war with the Monkey King for some time now and settled for a peace agreement.

- that agreement being there sons to marry

- oooo original i know

- MK and Red Son are roughly the same age, Mk being 20 and RS 22

- RS is revolted/disgusted at the idea of being wed to the Monkey Kings child, even more so when he realizes MK is adopted,

- but, that all changes the second he meets MK while he meets him by accident when he gets kinda lost in the palace when he and his parents go to discuss the arrangements.

- the second he looks at MK, he's instantly in love. MK less so, he's nervous and honestly kinda bummed he's not marrying someone he loves but it's for the good of his ppl, and he'll do anything for them.

- RS isn't even aware that MK is Suns adopted son until MK walks him back to the meeting room.

"Oh There you are MK! I was about to have a servant go fetch you!" Sun Wukong says, gesturing for his boy to come sit with him.

"S-sorry for keeping you waiting I got caught up in my lessons with Mr. Tang" MK responds, sitting next to his father. Red Son looked gobsmacked. The beautiful young man he had bumped into, was the prince of this land? Damn, life truly blessed him. Or cursed him depending on how you looked at it.

- the two are left alone in a separate room for a while.

- And MK straight up tells RS why he's agreeing to this union.

"Look Red Son. I've dreamed about meeting my one true love for a while. And I would give almost anything for that dram to be real. But I wouldn't ever dare give up my people, for as there price they mean more to me. I'm doing this for them, no other reason" MK says, his back straight and hands folded neatly in his lap. The look in his eyes was a mix of sadness, but that was drowned out by loyalty and determination. It just made Red Son fall for him even harder. Clearing his throat Red spoke.

"I understand, for im doing this for the betterment of my people to. But I propose a wager"

"A wager?"

"Yes, if i can make you fall in love with me by years end, before our marriage, we can live together like in the fairy tales from far away. But if I fail, in a years time afterwards you will be permitted to find your own path in life" Red Son stated. MK took a moment to process what was happening.

"So, if you succeed in making me fall in love with you, before our marriage we can live happily ever after?" Red Son nodded in response, letting the younger continue.

"And if I shouldn't fall for you, in a years time after our union, im free to leave?" Red Son nodded once more.

"So, what do you say?"

...

"Deal"

In the end, your free to choose their fate, should Red Son win the hart of Mk? Will he fail? Or will he let him go, and let him travel the country, after all Mk's a free spirit and keeping him trapped in a big house is like keeping a cannery trapped in a cage only for its song, only for it to dul. Or will the unthinkable happen and will both boys find their freedom? together or appart? I don't know, because that's all up to you 😉

personally, I’m partial to where MK and Red Son both find freedom together. Like they straight up run away together to somewhere far away and just live out there lives together. 

this could also be genderbent thing as well. MK or Red as their respective counterparts. Again it doesn't have to be, but it’s whatever bro. im just spitting out the idea. 

Also, there is a main side plot that they fight the WBS throughout the year as well, along with other shenanigans you wanna throw in.

____

The second is a My Hero Academia/BNH/MHA AU

truth be told i'm not a big fan of MHA i think it to over hyped(this is also coming from the same person that’s a Fairy Tail fan lol), and the fandom i don't even know how to describe that mess, but I will admit not the whole of its toxic since every fandom has some toxic members, some even more so. 

I just sometimes find myself enjoying MHA AUs like the Fullmetal Alchemist, Danny Phantom, Evil!Deuk AU and several others. 

to make it clear I don't see this AU taking place the same time as the main plot of the actual Anime/Manga. This could be either like 6-10 years before or after the plot idk bro. But i’ll do this after the main story plot of MHA, so keep that in mind ya? another thing, the gang is still in China, the top hero school in the world just so happens to be in Japan, and it’s only ever mentioned by Sun wukong and other pro heros. So MK never attended AU. in short it’s only ever mention/ reference.  

_

- Mk was considered Quirkless as a kid. 

- he was just a late blumer, i swear  

- Mai’s Quirk is called Dragon. 

- it pretty much works the same way as it does in the show(duh)

- Tang’s got a knowledge Quirk, 

- my man can retain information and he’s basically an archive of information drawback being his personality lol 

- Piggsy is a Animal that gained a Quirk

- in cannon to my current knowledge, there are two other characters that can confirm animals can become sentient. the characters being Fumikage Tokoyami, & Nezu the principal at the school UA.  

- Sandy is just Conner Kent, aka he like superman but can't fly, or shoot lasers from his eyes. And blue.  

I have two scenarios for Macaque and Wukong  

*- The first one is that, Sun Wukong & Macaque are brothers. twins to be exact. 

- they where legit people, but have mutation quirks that made them too like monkeys. 

- the added powers were just a boues. 

- Sun and Mac are close growing up, like there brothers but also best friends.

- the draw back to there quirks could honestly be whatever you want bro idk, same with the others tbh. Personally I like to think Sun just has lack of motivation, and Macaque needs to draw on other people's energy.

- Sun is a hero, Monkey KIng and Mac is a villain Six Eared.

- Sun was always treated has the golden child in the family, Mac always resented that, but there shitty up bring didn’t stop the two from being good brothers to one another.

- soon tho the resentment became hatred when Sun was able to attend UA in Japan, while Mac didn't.

- Mac be angy 

- so he became a villain, and joined the Chinese branch of the LOV(league of villains)

- Sun doesn't know this till he finds out during the all out war during the main story. and by that time he’s a full on hero with is own agency(The Flower Fruit agency)    

- when the hero's ultimately win and Mac is arrested 

- This ultimately hurts Sun a lot, his brother was in jail now, arrested for his involvement and wrong doings, he knew nothing about this! this brother, his blood. A bad guy? why? he hadn't seen his brother since he left for UA, he hadn’t seen him when he came home, and started his agency. 

- this just puts Sun into a funk so he’s not as active as he used to be, and he starts thinking he might need a successor 

*- The second one is that they were two separate people that had similar quirks and both attended UA but Sun ended up in the hero corse. so 1A.

- Both Macaque and Sun have similar quirks, Sun’s is obviously more light based while Macaque’s is more shadow based(this applies to the first one as well)    

- Macaque was placed in class 1B, U.A.’s High's Heroics Department, I believe, you can correct me. 

- In cannon Class 1A and 1B both went to the training camp. I can see the teachers pinning Sun and Macaque against each other to hone their skills. 

- And because of that they become great friends    

- In fact when they graduate they both co-found there hero agency together in China and are a duo.

- But due to Monkey King’s popularity and Six Eared's association with shadows(people sometimes saying he has more of a villains quirk than a heros) the public see’s Macaque as Sun’s sidekick when thats far from the truth. 

- now it’s up to you whether you think that Wukong and Macaque would be in a relationship together, but knowing how cooked we all are, ShadowPeach is a thing here more than likely. 

- If you do or don’t support/ like the ShadowPeach aspect, the two would be living together regardless since its more cost efficient. 

- They my be heroes but living costs are expensive!   

- I would imagine there would have been a huge fight/argument between the two in privet of course, at there home.(or in there shared office if you want the extra angst of the other people they work with hearing them fight)   

- If the two are dating, then this would either lead to an out right breakup, or Macaque just up and leaving with Wukong thinking he’ll come back once he’s cooled off. But after a week, with no sign of his partner, or him answering texts or calls, not even coming into work. Wukong gets worried that something might have happened to him. so there wouldn't be a confirmation if they were still a thing or not. 

- But Wukong remains hopeful, despite the nagging at the back of his head, and gut telling him to go find Macaque, or atleast make a public statement, or even just tell another pro hero about it.   

- on the not so shippy side, Macaque and Wukong still have there argument, and much like the ShadowPeach esc side, Macaque up and leaves, and isn't seen for weeks. the only difference here is that when Wukong comes home one night to there flat, most if not all of Macaques stuff is gone. 

- where as if this was the ShadowPeach side, Macaque leaves all of his possession in the flat he and wukong share. for the simple reason being, he still loves him and wants to go back, but Macaque being Macaque can’t bring himself to do it, especially after seeing just how hurt Wukong looked when he yelled at him just before he left.  

- in other words, ANGST DIALED UP TO A 10 BABY  

- in either case, its a news report that confirms Wukong's suspicions that he desperately didn’t want to believe, and that is Macaque turning into a villain.

- much like if the two were brothers, Wukong just can’t take it and is no longer as active as he once was, and is thinking about, either A) Retirement  B) Saying, “Fuck Society, Be Gay Do Crime” and join Macaque as a villain himself, or C) find a successor, and a way to bring Macaque back to there side, but most importantly, back to him.    

- also extra points if you're after people's hearts and want to make them suffer;  - If there dating, Wukong curle’s up in the bed he and Macaque shared, holding/wearing something of great value to Macaque and just crying himself to sleep, where as Macaque is getting wasted on alcohol, as he stumbles out of the bar he’s in, he either see’s something that reminds him of Wukong or while he’s trying to put his wallet back into his pocket, a photo of them on their first date fall’s out. and Macaque just cries in a nearby alley way. And it’s there where he gets indoctrinated into the League.

       - If there just friends, macaque heads to the nearest forest and just levels it, where as Wukong just gets engrossed into his work, trying not to think about it. you could add you own spin on this, again i'm just spitballing.             

- NOW BACK TO MK! :D     

- Obviously MK is a huge Monkey King fan     

- at Twenty MK has come to terms he's quirkless (HE’S NOT)

-for ANGST reasons MKs fokes kicked him out at this realization at 13.

- he works at Piggsy's Noodle shop, and has been since he was 14.

- don't need a quirk to drive or cook!

- the boy lives a content life with his new family, till DBK happens :D

- DBK runs a Mafia(in conjunction with TLOV) and has been in jail for like 5 years thanks to Monkey King, PIF and RS brake him out one night when MK's out making a late night delivery since Piggsy had the bright idea to go 24/7 service!

- one thing leads to another and Mk somehow manifest what looks like the Monkey King's staff, but its not, it’s MKs powers, it just so happens to be the same power the Monkey King has. And it practically goes down the same way in the pilot. 

- but unlike the pilot Mk and Mei go straight to the FF Agency, after making a panicked call to Pigsy and Tang.

- one way or another Mk are lead into Wukongs office. Mei being forced to stay in the lobby.

- they have there convo, butterfly monkey squishing included.

- "And so, I want you do be my success-" BOOM 💥

- from there they rush downstairs and see that the lobby has been infiltrated by the DB fam, and you know fight.

- once the DB family seems like there down, PIF wisks them away. Much to Monkey King’s displeasure.

From there stuff kind plays out like cannon, the calabash ep is just a conjoint quirk the Demon bros have. As for EP9, ill have to script that one out myself lol. I'll get onto it as soon as my will to commit stabs me in the face. Till then have a dancing Kermit the frog.

Now if you'll excuse me, am about to Kermit a felony :D

(For legal reasons thats a joke)

Psst @writingamongther0ses its done

[ai-suru-hito-yo]

Daddy's Home!

As a thank you to @bohemian-rhapsody-slash for setting us safely off to sea aboard this ship, I give you some modern AU Deazzello! I hope you like it, babe. Thanks for all the great content you give us.

Pairing: Joe Mazzello/John Deacon, established relstionship

Warnings: implied smut, mostly more tooth rotting fluff, POV switch (sections clearly separated)

Summary: John comes home from Queen's first tour of Japan, exhausted but dying to see his husband and newly adopted daughter. Joe has stayed home, on a break in his own career, to take care of little Christine, and did not realize just how much he'd missed John.

Author's Notes: This is a modern AU. The timeline for the band is still the same, in that John joined Queen when he was 19 and things progress at the same pace, it's just that in this AU that happened in 2014 instead of 1971. He met Joe shortly after, who at the time of this story is 28, and they have been married for just shy of 3 years. They both now live in London.

John twirled the rings on his fingers, leg bouncing in the back of the cab that was currently taking him from Heathrow to his London townhouse. His husband had offered to come pick him up himself, but John had not replied to the text that awaited him upon landing. He was sure wrestling a 14-month-old into a carseat for such a short amount of time would not be worth it. He could survive a 15 minute cab ride on his own.

God, John was regretting it, now. He missed his family dearly. He missed Joe's warm eyes and thick auburn hair. He missed Joe's long fingers and soft lips. He missed sleeping next to his husband at night. While the hotels Queen stayed in on their Japanese tour were comfortable enough, John found he simply could not sleep as well by himself anymore.

He missed little Christine as well. Seeing the Japanese children gather around them, fascinated by the tall Westerners with their long hair and pale skin, left an ache in his heart for his own little one. She had only been theirs for a year now, and she had them both wholly wrapped around her little finger. With her big, dark eyes and soft brown ringlet curls, one look at either of them had their hearts absolutely melting. And now John had been away for three months. Would she even remember him? Sure, he had gotten to see her a few times over FaceTime, but being so young, she could not quite associate Joe's phone screen with her daddy, and lost interest quickly.

John looked out the window at the rainy London streets, trying to pinpoint exactly where he was. Only about 5 more blocks, now...

---------------------------------------------------

Joe sighed as he stared out the kitchen window into the soggy back garden. John was due home today, and Joe had kept his phone all but glued to his side, awaiting a message that his husband's flight had landed and he was ready to be picked up. No such message had come in, and Joe was starting to grow worried. Just as he picked his phone up to try calling his husband, he heard a cry over the baby monitor.

"Papa!"

Christine was awake, and quickly becoming distressed to find herself alone in the nursery. She must still be groggy. In that in-between state, she often became panicked if she did not see a familiar face upon waking. Joe quickly ascended the stairs, and turned the corner into the nursery as another distressed cry of, "Papaaa!" reached his ears.

"I'm here, little one," Joe soothed the babe, reaching into the crib to pull his daughter into his arms. "Sshh, Papa's here."

Christine leaned back in Joe's embrace, watching him speak, before reaching out to grab at his lips.

"What do you need, baby?" Joe asked her, trying to encourage her to communicate. She was exceptionally smart, and had picked up the baby sign language he was teaching her with ease. However, she had yet to start standing on her own or walking at all. The pediatrician assured Joe at her one year check-up that it was nothing to worry about, some babies simply learn to walk later than others.

Joe watched as Christine raised her tiny hand so her thumb rested against her forehead. Joe's heart melted.

"Daddy will be home today. Soon our family will be whole again, and you will have nothing to fear, my little star," Joe kissed his daughter's forehead and started to move towards the stairs with her, bringing her favorite stuffed monkey along. Joe felt a tiny hand tug at his hair, which was his daughter's unfortunate way of gaining his attention when he was within arm's reach. Christine pressed her closed fingers up to her lips, and Joe headed toward the kitchen and set her down in her high chair for a snack.

Once Christine was finished with her Cheerios and waved her hands signalling "all done!" Joe brought her into the lounge to sit on her mat and play while they waited to hear from John.

When Joe finally did hear the front door open, he sat up straight in the armchair he was occupying and set aside the book he'd been pretending to read. He's home, he's finally home, Joe thought.

Joe rose from the chair just in time to see John come around the corner from the foyer. They each froze, simply taking in each other's appearance for a moment. John looked so soft in a dark hoodie with Freddie's Queen logo on it, and his favorite jeans which left nothing to the imagination. More than anything, though, Joe drank in the sight of his husband's face. John looked even more beautiful than Joe remembered. His eyes were squinty with a soft smile and lack of sleep, his hair mussed from the flight and framing his pouty lips in the most delectable way. Joe' blood flow started to redirect itself south at the memory of what that mouth could do.

Oi, get it together, man. Your daughter is right there.

"John--"

Joe was cut off as John crossed the room in three strides and smashed their mouths together.

---------------------------------------------------

John paid the cab driver and thanked him again before pulling his bags out and looking toward his front door. God, it felt good to be back already, and he had not even crossed the threshold yet. John practically ran up to the door, fumbling for his key and nearly dropping it in his haste to get it in the lock. Once the door was open and he had abandoned his bags in the foyer, John listened for a moment for signs of life. He could hear Christine babbling happily in the lounge, and the rustling of fabric shifting as he walked around the corner.

John froze.

God, that's MY husband? He's so beautiful.

John drank in the sight of Joe looking relaxed and casual in dark jeans and a cotton, long sleeve shirt in the most delectable cream color. He clearly had not shaved that morning, and his hair was slightly mussed at the front, as if someone had been grabbing at it. His warm eyes were shining with emotion, and John saw a flash of pink as Joe's tongue darted out to lick his lips.

"John--"

John did not let Joe finish as he moved quickly to his husband, took his face in his hands, and kissed him, hard, hoping to relay in one simple movement how much he had missed the other man. John relaxed a little, softening the kiss as he felt Joe's hands tangle into his long hair. His own hands settled on Joe's slim hips, teasing a little at where Joe's shirt had ridden up above his waistband.

"John, oh my god, John. I missed you. I missed you so much. I can't believe you're here!"

"I'm here Joe, yes, I'm here. I know, I missed you, too. I could hardly sleep and I missed your touch and your smell and your warmth."

They dove back in for another kiss, and just as John was opening his mouth to let Joe in, he felt something fairly solid smack against his leg. He pulled back and looked at Joe for a minute, slightly disoriented, before he heard an excited screech from the floor.

"DADDY!"

John looked down to see little Christine holding onto his leg, wobbling as she tried to stay standing on her unsteady feet.

"Oh my god. Oh my GOD!" Joe exclaimed as John bent down to pick his daughter up. "Oh, Christine! My baby!" Joe lunged forward to wrap them into a hug. John was overcome with emotion at the fact his daughter remembered him. And apparently she was walking now? Another milestone he had missed.

He turned watery eyes to his husband, only to see hot tears sliding down the other man's face. He lifted his free hand from Joe's back and swiped at his cheeks.

"Joe, my love, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"Oh, John, nothing's wrong. Nothing at all!

"Then why are you crying, honey?"

"John, she's never done that before! Those were her first steps!"

John turned to look at Christine in awe. She was preoccupied with babbling nonsense about her monkey, oblivious to the fact that her fathers' world was in an uproar. "Wh-what?"

"I've been working with her for a good month, now. Trying to get her to stand on her own, trying to get her to walk with me. She would not do it. I thought something was wrong, even though the doctor said she's probably just a late bloomer." Joe leaned forward to kiss his daughter's short curls.

"You mean I didn't miss her first steps?" John whispered as he felt the tears spilling over.

"No!" Joe cupped John's face and wiped at the tears with his shirt sleeve. "Oh, no, John you didn't. She was saving them for you. She was waiting for her daddy."

John buried his face against Christine's onesie and shook with silent sobs. Joe wrapped them both in an embrace, and John held on as tight as he dared, until Christine became restless and started squirming. "Papa! Daddy!"

John straightened up before suddenly lifting Christine toward the ceiling, eyes crinkling with laughter as the baby giggled with glee.

"Careful!" John could hear the laughter in Joe's voice. "She just had her afternoon snack, get too silly and she might throw up on you."

John laughed again. "I don't even care! I'm just so happy to be home again! I'm so happy to have my man and my girl in my arms again."

---------------------------------------------------

Later than night, after a quick dinner and hasty clean-up, the whole Deacon family settled down together on the sofa for a cuddle. John held Christine against his chest as she dropped off to sleep, while Joe tucked his legs under him and leaned against John's shoulder, at the perfect angle to watch his daughter's face soften in slumber as she rose and fell with her daddy's breathing.

"Is she asleep?" Joe felt more than he heard John's voice.

"Yeah. She is," he whispered back, tucking a loose curl behind the sleeping girl's ear.

"Mmm. Well then, Mr. Deacon," Joe felt a shiver at John's low voice calling him by his married name. "Let me get this little one tucked in, and then let me give you a proper greeting."

Joe looked up at John, a sly smile spreading across his pink lips.

"Only if I get to give you a proper 'welcome home', husband."

John stood with a grace and speed Joe had never seen the man use before, and was halfway up the stairs, Christine still asleep, before Joe even knew what happened.