#B day art contest | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ann-ndsims · 1 year

Text

Seasons of Love Challenge

If you want a mini-challenge that centers on romance, story, and gameplay, then this might be the perfect challenge for you! I introduce to you, the Seasons of Love Challenge! Pair up or create four pairs and be the matchmaker and the writer of their destiny. Get indulged with their story and help them find love by the end of the season!

For each season, we have different couple that may or may not fall in love before the season ends. I recommend that you edit the in-game season length, it can be up to 7, 12, 21 or 25 days per season, depending to you. This challenge can either be rotational or generational, it’s completely up to you.

Feel free to remove and add some more activities to the following. These are not really rules, but more like guides or checklist that you can do so that you won’t run out of ideas to do for each round, and hopefully, help progress the relationship of the each pair.

For those who prefer slow-burn romance (like me!) there’s a Slowburn Romance Edition by the end with some set of rules, be sure to check that out! This is supposedly a personal challenge for my game, but I thought it would be nice to share it with the community. If you do this challenge, please don't forget to add the hashtag #TS3SeasonsofLove and mention me, I would love to see other simmers enjoy this little challenge that I've created 💖

Note: You may play this in any order.

SUMMER

trope: enemies to lovers

backstory:

- sim A is demoted from her work because of her hotheaded nature, and was assigned in this town where her grandparents/(or) sister live. She absolutely hates that, she wants to go up the ladder and build her name, but how can she do that now that she's demoted and stuck in this town?

- sim B is carefree and enigmatic, living his life to the fullest. He used to get sick a lot when he was a child and now that he's a teen and rarely gets sick anymore, he wants to break free from those restrictions and do the things he hasn't done in his childhood.

how things started:

~ Just few days before his birthday, sim B is feeling rebellious and wants to spend the best of his teenage days, even if that means breaking the curfew. So, he stayed out late with his friends to party and even went to the beach and lit some fireworks just before he go home. But, on his way home, the police patrol saw him! He knew he's so screwed, but what can he do? He plead with the cop, which happens to be Sim A, but she don't take any of his bullshit. Which eventually leads to some misunderstanding, fight and disliking each other. Guess the last of his teenage day is remarkable afterall, especially if you're being escorted back to your house in police car.

~ If things aren't already worst as they are, he, unfortunately, bumped with the same cop again when she joined the surfing/scuba diving club. Oh well, guess they have to see each other a lot now. Will this be the perfect summer as he imagined, or will it be totally ruined because of that one hot-headed cop?

traits:

childish, athletic, loves the sea

grumpy, natural cook, snob

skills:

Athletics, martial arts, logic

Diving/surfing/swimming, fishing, charming

jobs:

Police

Lifeguard/Scuba diver

misc:

pull booty traps and bicker

prank each other

activities:

scuba dive/surf together

play water balloon fight and pillow fight

throw a pool party and receive positive moodlets. you may do the following:

* Perform Fireworks Extravaganza (Having three large fireworks i.e. Golden Dragon/Facemelter) during party * Play in the sand * play and swim in the water together * skinny dip together

Try water balloon arena

Spend the summer festival together, join these activities and win Summer Festival Ticket:

* get holiday greeting card in photobooth * buy a snow cone * Get Face Painted * Skate together * Soccer Shootout * HotDog eating contest * Water Balloon Fights

date idea:

Beach date, skinny dip, windsurf, and go boating together, take pictures!

Compete in a bowling alley

Watch a live show performance

Watch a band performance

Recommended Mods:

Social Club Mod by @phoebejaysims

Surf's Up Sun & Fun Wave store content

SPRING

trope: distant childhood friends to lovers

backstory:

~ Sim A and Sim B where inseparable when they're kids. They spent afternoons playing video games, playing with their toys and painting together. But things changed when they entered High School. Sim B moved to a different part of town and became more distant as she found new circle of friends, and eventually, had a boyfriend. She thought it was forever! Only to find out that she's pregnant with someone who totally, totally dislikes children. So, she runaway from home and found herself back to the small apartment where she was raised, back to where sim A lives just next door.

~ Sim A was surprise to see Sim B again. He always wanted to make up and be friends with her again, but he always felt shy and small when he sees her with her new set of friend and popular boyfriend. Now that she's back, will he finally have the courage to talk to her again?

~ Moreover, can Sim B raised this child alone? And will she find comfort again with the boy next door?

traits:

artistic, dramatic, friendly

socially awkward, artistic, handy

skills:

handiness, inventing, video game

painting

activities:

play video games together

go to karaoke and have a duet

play hopscotch together

compete in darts

visit each other's house and chat

Attend Spring Festival/Love Day together and do the following activities:

* send love letters * Slow Dance during Spring Festival * Spring Dance Queen and Spring Dance King (optional) * Hunt eggs * Try kissing booths! * Try the Love tester machine * roller skate together * Play horseshoes together

sim A must make a portrait of the other

sim B must make a toy for sim A's child

misc:

they must be distant friends at start

let Sim A go to parenting classes

let sim B know about the pregnancy before they start dating

Date idea:

~ Park date, cook the dishes that you will bring, and watch the sunset/sunrise

~ Go to greenhouses and take pictures together in flower fields

~ Amusement park date

AUTUMN

trope: Second chance romance

backstory:

~ Sim A and Sim B are highschool sweethearts. They dreamed of living together and building their family when they were teens. They thought it was forever. But things took a drastic change when Sim B suddenly disappeared when his father died, leaving him to live with his mother in France, leaving sim B behind. Sim B never expected this, she never expected to bear a child with Sim A as well. She can't seem to find him anymore, but still, she decided that she will raise this child.

~ Years later, Sim B discovered that their child was sick and only had a few months left. Pile with grief, the kid is constantly looking for his/her father as well. Sim B doesn't want to let her child rest without seeing his/her father. So, again, she tried to look for him. And she found him! Turns out that he's now a rockstar in France, with a name and career. After knowing all of this, he quickly booked the ticket back to their town.

~ Will him coming back after years of disappearance mend their broken hearts and finally build the family they've dreamed? Or will they stay together just for the sake of their dying child?

traits:

green-thumb, nurturing, coward

virtuoso, charismatic, materialistic

skill:

Guitar, drums, bass, charming

Cooking, canning, gardening

job:

Music career: Rockstar

Gardener

activities:

take care and grow a plant together

catch butterflies and fireflies on the cottage

play in the pile of leaves

Attend Fall Festival together (with their child). Join in activities and actually have fun!

* Apple Bobbing contest * Pie Eating contest * Enter Haunted House

- Throw a costume or feast party during or before Spooky Time Holiday. You may do the following for the party:

* Plant and grow pumpkins ~ make Jack-o-lanterns, or; ~ bake pumpkin pies (or both) * wear costumes for the party * cook and bake the dishes for the party * Let their child do trick-or-treat

must spend time as a family every weekend together and go out of town

must teach the child and help with his/her homework

must accomplish every child's wish

must be a good parent to the child

Both must be best friends with their child

must not argue or fight in front of the child

the child may or may not die

misc:

sell harvestable or jams in the market

Sim B must play for tips on the park

optional woohoo spot:

woohoo in pile of leaves

date idea:

~ Coffee Date with just the two of you wearing couple outfits, take pictures!

~ Watch a horror movie together

~ Watch in theater

~ Go to a dive bar or lounge

recommended store content:

Canning Station (store content)

Produce Stand Mod

WINTER

trope: force cohabitation

backstory:

~ After getting tired of the big city, Sim A decides to travel, and he happens to land in this very town and rent in Sim B’s place. He’s a successful author, but he’s very shy and introverted and all the socialization and parties of the big city aren’t for him. He find this new town peaceful and gives him more inspiration to write. Perhaps, he can spend the winter holiday here, or will he decide to settle down in this quiet little town?

~ The death of her mother brings Sim B so much grief. Now that she’s just living on her own, she decides to open again their old bakery and let travelers rent her place. She’s a loner, more now that her mother, her only bestfriend died. Now she just spends her time baking and selling and knitting to ease her mind, will this new traveler who stays with her bring some color in her dull life?

traits:

shy, brooding, bookworm

loner, perfectionist, unlucky

skills:

Knitting, baking

Writing

job:

Author

Bakery Owner

misc:

- Hang Holiday Lights

- Buy a mistletoe

activities:

- must give gifts to each other

- Attend Winter Festival Together

~ Snowflake Day is held last Thursday of Winter ~ don't do any work. make sure to have positive moodlets and enjoy the festival. * Take greeting card photos * snowboard together * ice skate together

attend (or hold) a gift-giving party

* give gift to each other ~ gift idea: a book written by him, and a cloth knitted by her

make snowmen together

build an igloo together, sleep there

Make snow angels

Have snowball fights

Swim in cold water

kiss under the mistletoe before the season ends

optional:

the author can sell his book in the bakery itself, or make a mini library space (You can use this mod from nraas)

Sim B can sell the knitted products she did in the bakery

they must work together while the other is writing and the other is knitting

the author must finish at least 3 novels before winter ends

sim B must make at least 2000 simoleons from selling bake goodies

optional woohoo location:

woohoo in igloo

woohoo in sauna

date ideas:

~ go ice skating together, have some cup of cold choco, make snowmen and snow angels, take pictures!

~ have a sauna date!

~ watch a musical performance

~ Library date!

~ Spend sometime outside by the fire at night

recommended mods:

Knitting Mod

Savvier Seller Mod (for the bakery), or

SimState Business Mod, or;

The Merchant Mod by @anitmb

Baking Station (Store Content)

A useful thread on setting up a home bakery

notes:

i know that setting up a home business can be a bit complicated, so you can have 2 alternative options, 1) you can just purchase another community lot near your house and have the bakery there; or, 2) just drop the bakery all at once and you may find a different job for sim B.

ADD-ONS

Of course, this challenge wouldn't be as fun if you didn't share your gameplay and screenshots with the community! So, here are additional things that you can do for all rounds:

Take a screenshot of every activity that you did.

Pick your favorite memories and you may edit them as Polaroid pictures.

Make them do couple poses and take amazing photos of them together!

For each round/season that you finish, edit the photos that you had like a scrapbook, photo album or whatever creative idea you can think of.

Upload them and don't forget to put the hashtag #TS3SeasonsofLove and mention me so I can reblog it!

SLOWBURN ROMANCE EDITION

Now, if you’re like me who likes to take things slow, this rules are for you! You may or may not apply them, just an extra challenge for those who wants slower romance to this challenge.

You must only force up to only 10 romance interactions, the rest will be up to the sims autonomy and wishes

You can not force them to kiss and woohoo, it will only depend on the sims wish and/or autonomy

You can only force atleast 3 dates, the rest will be up to the sims autonomy/wish

This challenge is made by ann-ndsims. Huge thank you as well to @frostedshore for giving me the idea for the Summer prompt and helping me come up with ideas for this challenge💕 If you like to modify it, convert it or have some suggestions and/or mod recommendations, feel free to send me a message! Don’t forget to mention me if you do this challenge and use the hashtag #TS3SeasonsofLove, I would love to see other simmers enjoy this little challenge that I made. Enjoy and happy simming!

241 notes · View notes

runa-falls · 1 year

Note

Ok so I've been playing with Mel's Mafia Jake AI and it got me thinking about what Miguel would be like for some reason??? Dude's half Irish so like, maybe he's a boss in the Irish mob. Maybe he took over for his dad and he kind of hates it (has always hated it) but there's really nothing else for him so what can be do? So he goes about his life, about his business, runs his side of things well. He's lonely at the top but he ignores it, doesn't think anyone else would understand the pressure that's on him...

Until he meets you.

It's some celebration (maybe St. Patrick's Day or something idk) and he sees you across the room/bar/whatever and you lock eyes and have A Moment™️ and he decides he has to talk to you. So he does and you hit it off from the get go. You're smart, witty, funny, sexy...just the whole package. He's basically in love, okay?

Then a boss (maybe a rival heheee 👀) from another city or section (or whatever idk how they divide the city up tbh lmao maybe I should've done more research 😭) comes up and he finds out: you're his wife/girlfriend and it's just like a punch in the gut for him. He's devastated. He's never ever wanted anything anyone else had that he couldn't take...until you. Youre kinda bummed too, you really enjoyed the time you spent with Miguel, and you (honestly) aren't a huge fan of your husband/boyfriend (maybe he's an idiot or just a dick idk).

But you guys keep running into each other, and the feelings between you keep growing, until the tension breaks and you hook up with him at another get together (he takes you against a wall, fast and hard, his hand over your mouth because you're moaning as he pushes inside, the stretch of him divine and he buries his face in your neck, his cock spearing in and out of your wet heat in sloppy, hard thrusts. You're both coming in minutes, his spend dripping out of you and down your legs. The sight is almost enough to make him take you again).

After, you both say it was a mistake, that you can't do this again, it won't end well. But neither of you can help it, sneaking off to meet up in random places so no one catches you (except that one time it happened in your bed 🫢). And and and.... yeah. 🫣

I'M SO. SORRY SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED TODAY

OK FIRST, EVERYONE CHECK OUT THIS FAN ART BY @darkfoxkirin -- the mafia!mig of MY DREAMS

PLS WHITNEY:

Maybe he took over for his dad and he kind of hates it (has always hated it) but there's really nothing else for him so what can be do? -> i could literally imagine him sitting on a throne, bored as fuck like 😒 damn this SUCKS lolll

He's lonely at the top -> PLEASE THIS IS GIVING THE MAN WHO HAS EVERYTHING BUT IT'S STILL NOT ENOUGH -- I NEED HIM AHH

you lock eyes and have A Moment™️ and he decides he has to talk to you. -> the moment™️ KILLS ME LOLL, but YES a love or lust at first sight (spoiler, its both). not only does he need to talk to you, he needs you.

But you guys keep running into each other...-> HEY THIS WHOLE PARAGRAPPH, YOU DIDN'T NEED TO DO ME LIKE THAT 0-0, IM MELTING BRUV -- AND THEY KEEP MEETING 🫠

---

ok so imagine that he's getting pressured to marry someone because as the boss, he's expected to have an heir to keep the business in the family.

he agrees to meet up with some aristocratic women just to get his advisors off his ass. it's not like he's taking them home or anything, he's merely meeting them at one of the clubs he owns or getting some dinner.

of course, during one of these 'dates' he bumps into you and your husband.

looks like he's not the only one trying to keep a low profile during the affair.

even though your two gangs are rivals, your husband politely greets miguel (though anyone within a 5 mile radius can hear the venom that simmers below his words).

"Mr. O'Hara, what a surprise to see you here..." you roll your eyes at the dick measuring contest. men can be so --

"Likewise."

miguel doesn't even look at him, barely even acknowledges his existence with his murmured reply. he's too busy looking at you in your pretty dress and the necklace that sits against your chest. he gave you it a few weeks ago, the last time he could get you alone.

he tries to catch your eye but you're not looking back at him, you're looking at the girl who clings to his arm.

both of you barely register that your husband is still talking, eyes devouring the woman who's clearly confused by the tension in the restaurant.

"...and who is this lovely thing?"

"this? oh, this is m..." damn, he forgot. SHIT, he literally just read her file in the car before picking her up. this may not be a real date, but he's not a dick!

she saves him the embarrassment, "I'm Melissa, nice to meet you." she offers a hand, expecting a handshake, but your husband takes it for a kiss. gross. even melissa look weirded out.

"So you're finally out in the field again?"

miguel looks at you warily, but you've been avoiding his eyes during this whole interaction.

"You could say that."

"Good for you." your husband reaches out and holds your hands in his from across the small round table, "It's about time us bachelors settle down."

miguel's jaw clenches, watching how uncomfortable you are being touched by him. "Sure. Look it was great catching up, but me and Melinda have a table waiting."

#MAFIA!MIGUEL #mafia au #AHHH I LOVE IT #MOOTS #screaming with moots #miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara smut

168 notes · View notes

seospicybin · 1 year

Text

FELIX

MY WORKS ARE NSFW & 18+ ONLY. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!

These are purely works of fictions. There is now way it represent Stray Kids in any way.

* S for smut. F for fluff. A for Angst.

Hide & seek. (s,f) Hide and seek with Felix but with a sexy twist.

Exhale. (s, f) Felix wanted to try something on you yet he hesitated asking you for it.

Freeze. (mild smut) Your boyfriend Felix just knows how to beat the summer heat.

Constellations. (s,f) Felix never thought about dating someone, he didn’t even dare to dream of being in love with someone but all that changed when he met the undeniably attractive you.

505. (s) Felix didn’t know you’re back after gone for months, the girl who was once a friend with benefits with him.

Twin Flame. (s,f,a) Part I / Part II / Part III Back home for a summer holiday, you meet the new next-door boy, Felix, who will turn your summer into a burning bright one.

Eternal Flame. (s,f,a) A spin-off of Twin Flame. Haunted by the nightmare that was you leaving him again, Felix determined to only make the right decisions but it wasn’t as easy as it sounds.

Distilled. (s,f, a bit angst) You kept meeting Felix in the bar, a model you worked with. And what started as habitual drinking nights together turned into something more.

Happy Pills. (s,f a bit angst) Part I / Part II For the most talented dancer slash the most popular boy in art school, Felix could date anyone at his choosing but he chooses you instead, even though the whole school knows you’re a ticking bomb that could go off any time.

Godspeed. (s,f,a) You’ve been dating Felix for seven years, seven wonderful years until one day, a once in a lifetime opportunity comes falling onto your lap and put your relationship to a test.

Bloom. (s,f) Valentine’s day is just another day for you until a stranger gives you a flower and makes it special for you.

One Of A Kind. (s,f,a) A part of One Series. When you live in a small town there’s nothing more exciting than meet a new man in town, Felix. It’s getting more peculiarly nostalgic as if you feel like you’ve known him for years.

Too Hot To Handle. (s) You and Felix become contestants in a reality dating show, Too Hot To Handle.

On Tour. (s,f,a) Hyunjin x reader x Felix I. SOUNDCHECK / II. OPENING ACT / III. UNPLUGGED / IV. HIDDEN TRACK / FINAL. ENCORE. Your best friend, Felix, is in a rock band and he takes you to join him on tour as the band’s photographer. On the road, you learn how to deal with his bandmate, Hyunjin, who’s not very welcoming of you.

Professional Courtesy. (s)

Prologue / Part I / Part II

Discovering that his new boss is someone he had one night stand with, Felix struggles to separate work life and personal business. And at times, finding himself mixing those two as he works under your dominance.

The Babysitter. (s,f,a) Felix x reader x Hyunjin.

Part I / Part II Working as the family's babysitter, you learn a lot from Hyunjin and Felix's happy marriage, including their sex life.

0325. (s,f) skz x reader. SIDE B A series of short fics inspired by Stray Kids songs.

#seospicy masterlist #felix masterlist

238 notes · View notes

bruciemilf · 1 year

Note

brain go brrrrRRR buuut... BRUCE being forgotten on the day of his birth <33

Bruce tired from patrol, sore and aching forgetting HIS own day because he has been used to never celebrating it until his children show up.

Granted, Alfred has tried before. Greeting him on the occassion but never pushing, too scared that one day the flighty bat would break once again and he is left with oueces he can't fix.

But anyway, the kids celebrate for him in little ways when they were young. Maybe treats with dick, reading with jason, info dump with tim, art with damian (dami says he sucks btw but is glad for the activity), steph conjures a waffle contest (she wins), just yea spending time as a birthday present is enough just for him and the greetings "Happy Birthday B" or "Your birth old man" even the silent approach of cass's kiss on the cheek. So, he never forgot his day.

Yet lately, everything has been his fault. His relationship with the kids are strained. Everyone else is out of town or offworld or busy for days, weeks or months. Then his day comes, no greeting just a ping on his phone calendar. BIRTHDAY it said, knowing no ither notification will settle on his screen.

So he sits in the cave. Tired and aching, not unusual but the hollow ache of his soul hits him harder than the rough patrol. He finds himself alone, for the first time in a while and he accepts it. Welcomes the dark of his mind telling him what he always secretly believed in growing up from the boy in the alley to a man in a suit.

" YOU make yourself lonely B, WE deserve it but it's okay. Gotham needs the bat more than anyone will ever need YOU."

It aches but it's okay. Everyone forgot, they should eventually. Unable to sleep off the ache of the last minutes of his day he goes back to the grave and it's been so long since he'd done this but-

"Happy birthday" he sings, quiet and low to mama and dad and leaves quiet and empty parting with the words he thought he had long forgotten before-

"just- just another year, so please take me home soon"

*** ANYWAY i needed to brainrot because bruce having thoughts of awe that he lived past the age he thought that it would be the end feels so good, thank ü 😔

When Bruce steps back in the manor, he almost jumps out of his skin.

Jason's much bigger than him now, but he still jumps in Bruce's arms, mirroring his 10 year old self. "Finally! Thought you'd never come back."

Bruce blinks, "Wha..."

Alfred tuts. " Come now, sir. We mustn't let Master Grayson's baking go to waste."

"It's cake mix from Batmart, Baba. I'd rather eat a corpse."

"Come on, Damian! How would you feel if I told B you've been bringing stray cats home for a week?"

"They're my birthday gift. Baba and I will find them good homes, like this one." And bruce just wants to cry. He does. In Jason's shoulder. Even if Jay tells him only suckers cry (he cries in Bruce's shoulder, too)

#them <3 #low effort bc i just feel so drained today. like. just nothing makes me happy today lol everything tastes wrong and feels wrong and my head #feels so heavy oof. but have these dudes be happy <3 #bruce wayne #dc #batfamily

317 notes · View notes

mrmitts · 3 months

Text

Some art I drew the past few days.

If you'd like to color this ^ you can, just credit. B)

Anyways, first one was for a contest on gamejolt, hosted by MONODO. It was some good practice!

You already know Toby the fox guy made Undertale.

#au #undertale #art #undertale au #sans #fanart #au sans #chara #candle #contest #artwork #digitalartwork #digital artist #drawing

23 notes · View notes

chemicalarospec · 10 months

Text

tag game: 9 people you'd like to get to know better

thank you!! @pomegranates-and-onyx and @lowoliet!!! <3 I'm missed doing these tbh. I reordered the items so the sequence makes more sense xoxo

Favorite color: I usually say purple but I don't really feel that strongly

Relationship status: lmaoo I'm aro (greyro-ish?). I actually have long thought I would like to fake-date/date for fun, but just the other day went "I still haven't kissed anybody and I know plenty of ppl have a 1st older than me but tbh I don't think I ever will". Other than that, I've got a few friends I really like, a few friends I kinda don't, and some people in between. Solid nuclear family tho 👍

Currently consuming (eating, by the looks of the trend): Waiting on a response from a friend to see if her cookies (mint & chocolate) are tree nut-free. I hope I can eat them; they look great.

Last song: "Capital M-E" by Taking Back Sunday (I cheated a little b/c last night I listened to a bunch of random songs lol)

Current watching: Dan and Phil? Hbomb's latest video? theoretically, Death Note, Cunk on Earth, and Akira and Akira.

Last movie: Die Hard haha

Three ships: lawlight, tntduo … hm, Arthur/Eames from Inception is a favorited Ao3 tag I do regularly go back to

First ship: Not *too* sure either but I think it HAS to be Snowbaz b/c of the Fangirl -> Tumblr blog stalker thing & that book introducing me to fandom (whoops, that 'thing's not universal knowledge... after Fangirl I scoured Rainbow Rowell's blog which led me to gingerhaze.tumblr.com (he did the cover art) and b/c I couldn't read Nimona online I read his blog instead. b4 that I only went to youtube.com and minecraft.net) WAIT NO. I've always considered genderswapped Johnlock (SheJane) to be my first ship hahaha. (yes, it had to be genderswapped. reality was different back then)

Currently working on: sooo *twirls hair* there's these Hamlet scene analyses (plural)... that were due today.... also some Calc I think... my portfolio for a writing contest... Blind Justice Light Yagami drawing, if the motivation holds. And my Death Note fics I listed here :D

tagging @detective-horse-girl @l3mon-boy @cmstyles19 @sophaeros @i-could-bee-an-angel & seconding @drfurter well @novaliae I know you pretty well but you too of course :) no pressure to anybody if you'd rather not do it tho! & feel free to join in the fun and let me know u would like to foster mutual affection :D

#i was gonna reblog one of u but i saw that everyboyd's making a new post #I said this #tag game #i love doing these but everytime it gets to the tagging part i carefully calcuate who to tag based off what mutuals were last in my notes +#how personal the posts they liked/reblogged were.#personal #ships #it took me like an hour to do this lol... hamlet here i come...#i'm liking it less than i expected? idk

69 notes · View notes

onepiece-polls · 1 year

Text

One Piece Shipping War - Round 1

These are the contestants for round 1 of the shipping war! If you miss a ship that you think should have made it in, please let me know, I'll double check for you. (If I did miss them, they'll be added somewhere to make a 3-way battle - which has happened with 2 ships already, as you can see.)

If you have any picture I could use that you didn't submit yet, especially if you submitted a cracky ship/rarepair, please just send it to me! (again, fanart allowed/encouraged, but only if it's your own or you got permission from the artist. Official art is fine too, as well as badly edited pictures! ❤)

Now, without further ado.... The brackets!

Duo bracket:

The poly ship bracket:

And Remember when voting: this is about romantic and/or sexual ships! Not about platonic relationships.

(We can perhaps do that another time.)

The polls will run for a week, but side B will probably be posted one or 2 days after the start of side A, etc. Posting will start somewhere this week, so if you're missing a ship or you want to send pictures, don't wait too long!

As you might see, I tried to put ships with the same characters a bit together (though not necessarily facing off in the first round), so the best one will eventually move on to face the best of another character's ships. This didn't work for everyone though, and other than that, the bracket is mostly seeded (though I wonder how much that actually says when it comes to ships - we'll see!).

#op shipping war #not a poll #round 1 #one piece #if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask!

114 notes · View notes

sukioyakio · 1 year

Text

PART 2 OF CLUELESS!READER X BLACKCAT!MIGUEL

(how their dynamic is,but with an little bit of coldness and miguel being harsh on reader,but none the less their dynamic,not my art artist: @twinscomic2016)

Part one.

Words count :1.2k ish

FLUFFF mix with an bit of angst

warning: CRINGE nuh I'm kidding just bad writing and probably curse words,

Credits:TO ALL OF Y'ALL 👊👊❤❤ for being such support,and forcing my sibling to read-ahem I mean kindly asking my sibling read it 😇🙂

An:Well good morning,afternoon,night, whenever you are,was this hard to think of and write it YESS but it was worth 😗🙂😊JEZZ I was struggling with words,I suck at spelling never would be in an spelling b contest,cuz the only thing im winning there is being the first one out,but I was an bit busy so yeaaa,but I wanted to ask you guys should I put some of the across the spider verse character to make it spice up in the other part... ANYWAY HAVE AN GREAT DAY and hope you guys enjoyed this

They were the both at Miguel favorite lunch spot, it was in the back of school/college,but they were in an section that she never saw and there was an empty table there but it looks very much peaceful there with the trees surrounding it and bushes making it very unseeable but miguel and reader are sitting there,as both of them are just staring at each-other in silence,as reader was waiting for him to break the silence,

but knowing that he could go on,and could continue to give his glare toward her for the entire lunchtime,but she really didn’t want that so she just decided to be the one to break it “Soooo..aren’t you going to try the food I made you..hehe”she says in the loud silence hoping to lighten the mood,as she looked at him with an nervous smile,as she take out her bento box/lunchbox,and she tried to not make herself look awkward, “will that make you leave me alone?”he said looking at her with an stern expression,as he mumbles some things under his breath",as reader huffed at him and his seriousness,”pleaseeeee…I won’t bother you anymore for a whole class period tomorrow”she says with an desperate whining voice as she held her hand at showing her pinky finger,”I pinky promise”she said to him with nervous laughter,

she held it there for an while as Miguel look at her with an unreadable expression,which it made reader sweat as she thinks that Miguel would’ve break her finger already,and closed her eyes,but to feel something else,as she open her eyes to see Miguel pinky holding her pinky finger,as her lips started to form an wide smile as the sun shine on them,”fine,but if you don’t keep your promise im going to break your exact finger of your’s”he words were cold,and harsh but there was something else in them,it was his voice being calm,well sort of calm,"how long has he hadn't had an friend? She says in her thought in her head

as he quickly let go of her finger as reader kinda liked the warmth of his finger that engulfed her with,without even thinking about what she said “your hands are like an warm blanket,and there quite huge like how?”,as she tilted her head slightly,as Miguel eyes widened at her words as he looked at her like what the hell did you just said,”...What..”his voice snapped her off her daydream,and she quickly began apologizing and waving her hand in front of her face "omg I'm sorry,im sorry about that im such an mess,what wrong with me,omg I'm sorry,jezz that embarrassing,im sorry..hehne",as her face had an bit of redness due to the embarrassment, as she made an nervous laughter and scratched the back of her neck,in which miguel just grunted at her stupidness,as Miguel cover his mouth with his hand as he was just looking at his other hand,as it got quiet again and reader worry that he would just leave and never want to see him after offending him,well she thought she offended him by saying that his hand are huge,but she was once again she in her mind saying that,and that she would never be able to make him smile,as Miguel just pulled out the stuipd bento box at was small compared to his hand,and place it on top of the table as he opened and saw sushi’s and an failed attempt of making an triangle onigiri’s (basically if you don’t know what onigiri is this 🍙 🍙) she made three onigiri with three different flavors,as he looked at the same section that had some sort of fruit art of an face,that one had an face design of him,

"its definitely an sunny afternoon today,almost as if she bought the light with her",miguel rumbled in his head,"he is as dark as the shadow's in the night,as if he was the darkness it self "reader thought in her head,while reader opens her bento box and started to eat her food without her reacting that she was throwing food in her mouth

Miguel looked the little tiny starwberry's one of them had an face design of him,and instantly made him scuffed by that,as he grab a chopsticks,as he started to eat the sushi,as reader finally got back to the earth,and looked at Miguel eating the food at she spended so much time on ( that she had to clean up after finishing making his food it was an disaster 😭💀,like she constantly drop the ingredients on the floor, rice grains and flour all over the floor😔. but reader kept saying in her mind that the thought of trying is what counts) she had an warm smile and couldn’t handle herself being happy that Miguel is eating her food,what made the smile look so warm was the sun shine on her face,”there’s she goes smiling to ear to ear . . ..what an idiot” Miguel says in his mind as he continues to eat the food,his favorite had to be the spicy flavored ones,something in his heart forgot how how long had it be since he had socialize,it had been an while since he ever socialize with people without being flirted or with people wanting to fight him,as reader spoke ”soo how far do you like it" she says happily with an sense of excitement,as her eyes look at him with an tickling in her eyes

“It. . . .alright” he said in an cold voice as he put another sushi in his mouth,as he looked at her face expression,”alrighttt,jezz that hurts,maybe I’ll just have to try an lot harder then before” she said in her mind,“i thought she was going to put poison in this but this is really delicious, i guees..” as he thought about it as she went to talking about whatever nonsense she would have in that brain of hers,which miguel completely ignoring what she said or just put some sort of attention to her words but then she asked him something,”can I ask you something? Only IF you want to answer”she says with an nervous voice and her lips form an awkward smile,her eyes look at his face for any discomfort of sort but didn’t notice any discomfort,as he just grumbled and lean on his hand,the palm of his hand,as he looked with an amused look “what is the dawn question?”

he said in an annoyed tone,but really in the inside he was curious of what that girls thinks.

“why are you. . .so. . cold,you don't have to answer if you don't want to!..."as she tilt her head,but as she says with patience yet and calm voice,her eyes looking at his glaze

"None of Your business" it was an quick response,that he said coldly to her as his eyebrows narrow down that made him look pissed off, and right now he didn't want to be near her at moment ,and he still doesn't know why he cares for that little dork in the first place maybe cause she reminds of himself or well more like his brother. but he just wanted to be alone,just that one question made him realize and remember why he stop socializing with people,especially what had happened in the past when he let people come to his heart without any care of the world.he got his things and pass the empty bento box to her,as he got up and looked down at her sitting position,"I think It Time for me to go,and dont think of following me,en serio" he said with an harsh tone as his eyes are once more the usual cold,as he started to walk off, as the sun was now covered by the clouds, reader who was worried about him but didn't want to scare him off as she loud sigh,and slam herself against the bento box,"jezz there you go again me,ughhhhhh Im so stuipd!!,there was my chance to be his friend and to make him smile,god I'm soo stupid"she says frustrated with herself and starts to pull some of her hair,but soon got up and took her things and walk off to her next classes. before the day ends,she started to over think about miguel hating her for asking that question,meanwhile miguel was in one of his classes, he just didn't want to remember what had happened in the past,That made him more grumpy,and more moody.

Meanwhile (time skip 😅)

It was the last school bell(idk💀) signaling people to leave which many people did leave not wanting stay any longer in the college campus but instead hang out with their friends,as reader was hoping to see miguel so she could say sorry,or a apology, or something,she is clueless of what she did that made him angry,as people walk around her and gave her looks of wondering that she most of got in trouble, or one that she got into an fight with miguel, or some were jealous of her being close to miguel,or people making fun of her. but she just ignored them,walking back and forth with her biting her nail,thinking of an apology from the top of her head,as she spot miguel and quickly walked towards him,and tap on his shoulder,it was an quick way to get have his attention,as miguel rolled his eyes and continued to walk not wanting to deal with her. And reader trying to be an detective and ask him more questions.as reader who was walking next to him,"wait! I-im sorry miguel if I hurt your feelings..I--i didn't mean to hurt your feelings,or anything,I shouldn't have ask you that question,I most have sound like I wanted to go through your private life,p-please forgive me!,i-i--ill get you anything you want for an week straight "she says with an worrying,concern voice as she closed her eyes shut as she was over thinking about the situation ,as miguel looked at her with an amused face and scuffed at her as miguel stop and turn away.and it become more quiet but soon enough he lean down towards her height,and flick her forehead,making her eyes open wide as she see miguel dead paned,stern expression "you seriously are an clueless dork" he said with an low cold voice with his brown eyes staring into *your eyes color* reader as he scuff and turn his head and continued to walk off leaving an little confused reader there

after an little while she started to walks but then trip on her clumsy foot,falling flat on her face,as she quickly got up and brushing the dust off her body,as she walks to her apartment,as started to say to herself "im not an clueless dork...or maybe I am dork but not clueless,hmph watch me I'm going to prove him wrong" she says with an playful smile,she wasn't sure what he meant by that but as long he wasn't mad at her,she was fine,still she made an loud sigh as she realized that the whole day she wasn't able to even make him smile or laugh or anything,"this is really going to be an challenge " she said in her mind as she reach her apartment and soon walked towards her room number,soon closing the door and heading straight in an shower,And doing whatever homework she had to do and get her something to eat as she remember what someone said that miguel likes empanadas and making them until she was satisfied with the results and cleaning the mess before going to bed.

TBC

THE QUOTE OF THE DAY:by my one of friend's

"Steal for the better" 😌😔😏

✌

TAG LIST: @cherryberry-sugarandspice @yawnderu @coffeeandbookskeepmealive @cherryredstars @everlastlady @tarjapearce @miguelsslvt @miguel-ohara-lover @vintagexherry @beautysamour @kairiscorner @oharasluverboy @lynxslokley @spiderlyla

If y'all want to be tag just it in the comments,anyway HAVE AN GREAT DAY sorry if it short

#miguel ohara fanfiction #miguel o'hara fluff #pls send feedback #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara #miguel o’hara x reader #miguel spiderverse #spiderman 99 #across the spiderverse #artists on tumblr #art #clueless!reader x blackcat!miguel #random thoughts #first time writing #first time #nothing new #i bet you think about me

52 notes · View notes

have-a-hiddles · 2 months

Text

Happy Birthday to me!

Here’s some (mostly positive) stuff about the year I was born:

Chinese Year of the Horse

United States Senate proceedings are broadcast on radio for the first time.

The People's Republic of China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.

The first global positioning satellite, the Rockwell International-built Navstar 1, is launched by the United States.

The first radio episode of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, is transmitted on BBC Radio 4.

San Francisco's City Council signs the United States's most comprehensive gay rights bill.

Dallas debuts on CBS, and gives birth to the modern day primetime soap opera.

At the 50th Academy Awards, Annie Hall won four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director (Woody Allen), and Best Actress (Diane Keaton). On the other hand, Star Wars won six Oscars, including Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, and Best Art Direction. Finally, Madame Rosa (France) won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta win the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 for Israel with their song A-Ba-Ni-Bi.

The Bee Gees' album, Saturday Night Fever, went #1 for 24 weeks.

Sarajevo is selected to host the 1984 Winter Olympics, and Los Angeles is selected to host the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.; her trek took 69 days.

The Dallas Cowboys won the Super Bowl, the Washington Bullets were the NBA champs, and the Montreal Canadiens clinched the Stanley Cup.

Garfield's first comic strip, originally published locally as Jon in 1976, goes into nationwide syndication.

Charon, a satellite of Pluto, is discovered.

The rainbow flag of the LGBT movement flies for the first time (in its original form) at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.

Louise Brown, the world's first test tube baby, is born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, UK.

Pope John Paul I succeeds Pope Paul VI as the 263rd Pope.

NASA unveiled the first group of women astronauts: Shannon W. Lucid, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Judith A. Resnik, Anna L. Fisher, and Sally K. Ride.

Pope John Paul I dies after only 33 days of papacy.

United States President Jimmy Carter signs a bill that authorizes the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar.

Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I as the 264th pope, resulting in the first Year of Three Popes since 1605.

Abolitionist Harriet Tubman became the first African-American woman to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp.

Chicago serial killer John Wayne Gacy is arrested.

Cabbage Patch Kids are first created.

The video game Space Invaders launched a craze for computer video games.

The first email system was created at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, N.J.

The first spam email was sent by Gary Thuerk, a marketing manager who was promoting a new model of computer. Thuerk sent the correspondence out to about 600 prospects via ARPANET, and “complaints started coming in almost immediately.”

Illinois Bell Company introduced the first-ever Cellular Mobile Phone System.

Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Carl Sagan for his book, The Dragons of Eden.

At the 30th Primetime Emmy Awards, All in the Family (CBS) won an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, and The Rockford Files (NBC) won an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series. Carroll O’Connor (All in the Family) won an Emmy for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series, and Jean Stapleton (All in the Family) won an Emmy for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series.

At the 35th Golden Globe Awards, The Turning Point won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama, and The Goodbye Girl won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.

Actor Ashton Kutcher was born on Feb. 7, 1978 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Actor James Franco was born in Palo Alto, Calif. on April 19, 1978.

Actor Jason Biggs was born on May 12, 1978, in Pompton Plains, N.J.

Actress Zoe Saldana was born on June 19, 1978.

Singer Nicole Scherzinger was born on June 29, 1978.

Actor Josh Harnett was born on July 21, 1978.

NBA star Kobe Bryant was born on Aug. 23, 1978.

Singer Usher was born on Oct. 14, 1978.

Actress Katherine Marie Heigl was born in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 24, 1978.

Popular movies included: Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Star Wars (the first one), Superman: The Movie, and Halloween.

The most popular baby names for boys were Michael, Jason, Christopher, David, and James.

The most popular baby names for girls were Jennifer, Melissa, Jessica, Amy, and Heather.

8 notes · View notes

overtheimaginationwall · 1 year

Note

Favorite boss(es) in No Straight Roads?

Least favorite?

(Sincere apologies. I've been holding this one for more than a year in my box, so I hope you don't mind a really late reply ^^")

(Also Happy 3rd Anniversary, NSR!! 🎉)

I will tell ya honestly - they all are my favourites!

Tho if to be more specific I decided to set them up by TOP.

1. Sayu

Oh Sayu, my beloved <3

The Best Virtual Idol and The Reason I bought this game in the first place!

Her music and style of battle was the most fun and dancy! I still vibe to it to this day-

Sooo many references to Internet Culture and Digital Art fills my heart with warmth and gives me determination just like her song itself as well!

Funny Useless Fact: She is the only boss I've beaten on Rank B on my first blind playthrough!

2. DK West

He's OUR MAN, He's THE BEST!

My second favorite and at the same time the hardest for me to beat.

I personally didn't adore RAP genre at first and never seen anyone preform it as an actual entertaining battle until he showed up...

HOLLY MOLLY DESPITE ME BREAKING MY THUMBS WHILE GOING THROUGH THE PAINFUL DODGE GAME - HIM AND ZUKE RAPPING FELT LIKE I'M WATCHING DISNEY-

LIKE-

I STILL HAVE IDEA IN MY HEAD TO MAKE A SORT OF ANIMATIC WITH "FIRST ENCOUNTER" ALONE!!

Anyway, despite damaged fingers - 10/10, would fight again!

Funny Useless Fact: When I was drawing him for the first time I listened to his theme on loop for 4 days straight in order not to get myself distracted or lose motivation, so I finish the piece.

3. Yinu

Oh, sweet child...

I love Yinu and her theme lots even if I'm not that big of a fan of Classical Music. And her backstory...Gosh! It made me cry a lot.

And I'm still feel ashamed of breaking the piano ;;-;;

Love the pace of how music goes with the fight and it feels even better when you get into actual rhythm. There were issues that gladly wore off thanks to practice and fighting this boss over and over.

Tho those slamming cords haunt me whenever I listen to the song off-battle-

Funny Useless Fact: I didn't like her Mother at first but when I read more about her and relationship with Yinu my opinion completely changed. And this is why I would nominate No Straight Roads for The Best Storytelling and Character Design.

4. EVE

Two-faced, tall woman.

Used to be one of my favorites but due to some circumstances I can't look at her the same way I used to but I still adore her as a boss!

I honestly love her style of the fight and music that changes depending on who you play.

Tho fighting her is literally like eating a lemon but eventually you kinda just accept your fate and roll with weird artistic antics happening around you.

And EVE herself as a character is so fascinating. Like this is the moment where I started to see that these aren't just bosses, they are actually characters that tie this little but complex story together bit by bit. And this is why I would nominate No Straight Roads for The Best Storytelling and Character Design AGAIN!

Funny Useless Fact: EVE was supposed to be a next character to have a complete and detailed art of but due to my forgetfulness, difficulties with her design (and many other things) - it was never finished but I hope to get that dusty sketch out of WIP folder someday.

5. Tatiana

The Bitch. The Boss.

I don't really like her music and rhythm but I can forgive that since it is kind of fitting for conflict between her and the BBJ.

She tries to hide her true image throughout the story and the fight but ultimately crumbles cause escaping from the past isn't the best option to improve.

I love her design and personality and I wish there were more villains like her. Strict, simple, stoic and yet well-written.

Funny Useless Fact: I've never drawn Tatiana until NSR announced their release on Steam with addition of Fanat Graffiti Contest that I certainly didn't want to miss out on. It was difficult but I did it and ngl, I am still proud of the results.

6. DJ Subatomic Supernova & 1010/Neon J

I can't really say anything much about both of them. Sorry, guys...

Their designs and personalities are fun and well-made but due to one of them being the first you fight as "tutorial" and the other appears only at the end of a fight. (1010 band doesn't count as an actual boss to me more like a part of it) They didn't struck me much as the others did...

I will say this thou: their backstories are interesting. One is an academy astrology teacher with a goal of achieving the stars and other is a war veteran who just wanted everyone to live in peace and he himself despite everything never stopped his passion for doll-making and making people happy.

Just simply, beautiful...

Cool Science Fact: Their VAs are GOLD!

#sofiath ask #thanks for the ask!#no straight roads #nsr #nsr neon j #nsr djss #nsr sayu #nsr tatiana #nsr dk west #nsr 1010 #nsr yinu #opinion #sofiath thoughts

46 notes · View notes

viperwhispered · 5 months

Note

Funny fic idea:

Some RSA prince has a crush on the reader/MC. Being a princeTM, he automatically assumes its a damsel in distress situation. He notices they spend a lot of time at Scarabia and once again assumes that his beloved must be dating that horrible villain Kalim. After all, if he's at NRC he must be evil no matter how good his hospitality skills are. Cue him going to confront Kalim in a contest for the reader's hand in marriage.

Cut to Kalim, post-chapter 4, and no longer as oblivious. He's confused at the open hostility but quickly puts it together. Kalim is about to explain that the so-called damsel is dating Jamil but he stops himself. If he corrects him, then he's just gonna go harass Jamil and he can't have that. So Kalim jokingly accepts the challenge, neither confirming nor denying his relationship with the reader. He sends Jamil off with a list of errands to keep him out of Scarabia (said "errands" include hug your beloved, kiss your dearest, cuddle them, etc).

To combat this threat, Kalim connects with his inner Scarabia student and unlocks his full powers as a professional nuiscence. You see, all NRC students have to pick up certain skills to survive in their respective dorms. Ever since the overblot, Kalim has been perfecting the Scarabian art of fire starting and then acting surprised when shit blows up.

Cue Kalim dragging the RSA prince in a wild goose chase all over NRC while constantly bombarding him with a much more aggressive form of Scarabian hospitality and dialing his energy levels from 10 to 20.

The rest of the dorm and even the school is joining in because 1.Fuck RSA 2.It's the only time the teachers would let them get away with it. Also for Scarabia, their port-CH4 motto is "Happy Jamil, happy Scarabia" (just because their dorm mates doesn't mean they're spared from a good roasting).

Meanwhile, Jamil spends a nice time with his beloved and silently thanking Kalim for the day off. Grim is being babysat by ADeuce, so maybe they finally got enough time for netflix and chill, who knows?

I'm starting to feel like I really should spend more time thinking about Kalim's personality and reading his stories so I could give some proper thoughts to these - I'm really not so confident when it comes to my understanding of him (another reason why Kalim is more of a background character in my fics so far).

Like yes he's the sweet sunshine boy but all these characters are too multidimensional for just the surface reading to be all there is.

I do absolutely love this idea, tho. I don't even know how deliberate Kalim would need to be about this. Like, I could also see him going in with good intentions and not much else, yet his earnestness and enthusiasm being enough to carry him through in the end.

Plus I can totally see Kalim throwing himself in harm's way for Jamil. How appreciated that would be… well, that’s another thing altogether, isn’t it? And like, whether Jamil would be able to actually chill, knowing all this is going on… Well, that'd require a lot of unlearning of old habits for him, I wouldn't hold my breath. But hey, I'm sure we can help him relax a bit.

I do also wonder how Jamil would feel about being pushed aside in this situation. Would he feel glad not having to deal with it? I suppose, since it's Kalim doing it, Jamil wouldn't at least take it as so much of a slight for Jamil's ability to handle the situation. Like, say what you will about these two, but I'm sure Jamil knows just how highly Kalim regards Jamil's abilities.

It would be such chaos, tho, and the whole NRC would absolutely be all over it. Some to help you out, some for Jamil or Kalim’s sake, most just for the chance to stick it up for this pompous RSA prince.

And in the end RSA prince comes to the conclusion that Kalim is actually as sweet as he looks and actually maybe Kalim is the one who needs to be saved from NRC (and might be a most eligible match, too).

Cue Jamil's mixed feelings of a) possibility of respite from Kalim but b) not being able to just let him get “kidnapped” without consequences.

Also that line of “Scarabian art of fire starting and then acting surprised when shit blows up”... If that ain’t Jamil in book 4 to a T. Wonderfully put.

#twisted wonderland #jamil viper #kalim al-asim #ner talks #chatting with folks #lex752

12 notes · View notes

imkazz · 9 months

Text

happy birthday genya!!! have some angst, have some fluff! (be warned before you open this, the word count is over 6k)

link to ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52265803/chapters/133764163

“What a peculiar Blood Demon Art,” Shinobu nonchalantly giggled, “there’s not much we can do until it wears off… you defeated the demon, right Genya-kun?”

“I did…” Genya wearily replied, shuffling around the smaller human resting unconsciously in his arms. “How long do you think until..?”

“Possibly the rest of the day,” hummed Shinobu, shuffling around some papers, “but this is interesting indeed. Aoi, please show Genya to a room, for a little while?”

Outside, Aoi walked over and opened the door, motioning for the slayer to follow her. With a quick bow, Genya matched paces with the girl, who shot a glance at Genya’s arms. “What happened with that?”

“A… Blood Demon Art,” Genya explained, “hit me. The demon said something about my past? And this is me… maybe eight or nine years old.”

Aoi didn't bother trying to hide her gaze at the little Genya dozing in teenager Genya’s hold. She shook it off and opened the door to a private room. “Feel free to use this room, breakfast in around an hour. We can also try to prepare some sort of clothing for him- you? Yeah.”

“Thank you, Aoi-san.” Genya quietly shut the door with his foot, turning to the bed pushed into the corner of the room. He went over and… placed his own, younger self onto the bed, pursing his lips for a second before rubbing some grime off his younger self’s face.

Genya breathed deeply and sank into a chair nearby, already changed into the Butterfly Mansion’s patient clothing since his own uniform got torn. His minimal injuries had already gotten treated by the Insect Hashira, since he hadn’t resorted to his cheap trick of eating demons.

His yukata was ripped, though… just near the seam, so it would be an easier fix than some other damages the purple fabric had seen. Genya ran a hand through his hair, looking back at his younger self, face shining in the dying moonlight.

The curved shadows on his face had almost no meat, a childish, smooth face with no hint of a scar and hair shorter than what it was, when he was a teenager, along with thick eyelashes that would later be defined by some mascara.

He looked young.

Then, his eyes opened.

Very thinly veiled panic filled the younger’s face, though the two engaged in a lengthy staring contest, challenging each other to see who would react first, like a deadly duel.

Teenager Genya was proud to say that Gyomei’s lessons on patience paid off.

“Who’re you?!” Tiny Genya scrambled up, scooting away. “Where’s ‘Nemi?! Kaa-chan!”

“Hey, hey,” older Genya reached forwards, pulling out his long-disused comforting voice, which used to be reserved for his younger siblings, “you’re alright, you’re safe. N- ‘Nemi’s not here right now, but can you just breathe with me?”

Genya tensed as his younger self threw a punch. It didn't hurt at all, even with it going right to his solar plexus, but it hurt more knowing just how weak he was. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Genya continued talking calmly with his tinier self, making no sudden movements and not changing anything he was saying.

Eventually, after what felt like hours but he realistically guessed was maybe ten minutes, Genya managed to get his smaller self to at least hear him out. “I know it’s confusing, but some bad guys brought you to the future.”

“What kind of bad guys?” Genya huffed, crossing his thin arms.

The older one sighed. “It’s… complicated, but they can do magic.”

“And I believe you why..?” Tiny Genya scoffed.

“I’m you,” Genya explained to himself, “but older.”

A second of silence passed over the room. “Where’d you- I get that scar?”

Oh, fuck. Genya didn't want to answer that. “The bad guys, some years ago. This uniform means I fight them. Anyone wearing this uniform fights them.”

The younger Genya squinted in suspicion, until his eyes landed on something on his older self’s body, next to the black uniform he was holding up. “What’s that, then?”

“A sword,” Genya boasted, “wanna hold it? I use it to kill bad guys.”

“Is it real?” Genya reached out his small hands to grab the saya from the teenager, then gaping as real, actually sharp metal got pulled out. “Oh my gods.”

“Don't hurt yourself,” chided Genya, watching the child wave the wakizashi carefully, “but all of us have a sword. Isn't that cool?”

“Wow…” the younger Genya peered at the sword, then lowering it. “Where’s ‘Nemi? Teiko, Hiroshi, Sumi? Shuuya and the baby in mom’s tummy?”

Genya paused for a moment, looking over his own, immature face. “I don't know, right now. Sanemi might be on a mission, though.”

“A mission?!” Genya jumped up, making the bed squeak as he hopped up and down. The older Genya took the wakizashi back and slid it into the saya. “Sanemi also fights bad guys?! Of course he does, but we get to do it together!”

Genya felt his heart pang, as his younger self continued giggling innocently, spinning around as he jumped. A knock at the door stopped him, as it opened quietly to reveal Kanao. “Am I interrupting? We only found a jinbei from when I was younger…”

“Hi!” Genya grinned, his older version freezing at the abrupt and loud voice. “Are we friends?”

Kanao paused, glancing up at the teenage counterpart, who was blushing with embarrassment. She nodded and smiled. “I think that we are, Genya-kun.”

The small Genya cheered. Kanao placed down the jinbei on the bed, heading back out the door. “Breakfast might be postponed slightly, Aoi went out to town for something.”

“It’s alright, Kanao…” Genya mumbled, as the girl shut the door.

“She’s pretty!” The smaller one rolled around on the bed. “She was wearing that uniform, too, so that means she hunts bad guys!”

“Just hurry up and change…” Genya tossed the clothes into the smaller face. He wouldn't give the kid a sexuality crisis at the moment…

“Hey, hey, me…” Genya hummed in reply, whilst tying the final bow on the jinbei. “What day is it today?”

“July sixteenth.” He responded, making his younger self slump. “Why?”

“I mean… I was sleeping, and…” Genya’s voice dropped to a whisper so that only his teenage self could hear, “it’s my eighth birthday tomorrow. So this would be a real cool dream.”

Genya blinked, the knot half-finished. He recalled having some sort of nice dream, that birthday, that he couldn't quite remember… was that it? Was he helping himself have that nice dream?

“Can I play with your sword more?” Genya returned to reality with the childish voice calling out to him.

“No.” He answered immediately.

“Can't believe I’m boring, in the future…” grumbled Genya. “I wanna look around more!”

Well, that couldn't harm anyone. “Sure,” Genya shrugged and opened the door, immediately regretting it as his younger self zoomed out. Damn, he was a hyperactive kid.

Tanjiro stretched out his muscles as he started getting out of his training mindset, for breakfast. To keep up with a slayer’s nocturnal sleep schedule, Tanjiro would simply meditate whilst healing at the Butterfly Mansion, controlling his Breathing more and reflecting on himself.

The pitter-patter of tiny feet snapped Tanjiro out of his routine, as he looked around for the source whilst also sniffing. Something slightly demonic, but not strong… maybe the result of some sort of Blood Demon Art? Accompanying it came the scent of evergreens, maybe the hint of something earthy.

“Come back here, you little gremlin!” Tanjiro watched a young child dashing through the halls of the Butterfly Mansion, being quickly pursued by a much taller, gangly guy yelling at him.

“What a weirdo, talking to yourself!” The child giggled ferociously while running, skidding through the halls with his bare feet thudding against the wooden floors.

Tanjiro blinked a couple times before resuming stretching. He groaned as his lower back crackled.

“Gotcha!” Genya grabbed at his smaller self, encasing the little kid with his body in a huge bear hug before starting to tickle, not letting free even with the light hits small Genya gave whilst squirming and shrieking for freedom.

After some time, however, both of them became so overcome with laughter that they just lay on the hallway floor, heaving for air. A shadow fell over them, making two pairs of purple eyes open simultaneously. “If you two are done being a commotion to patients, then breakfast is ready.”

“Sorry, Kochou-san!” Genya sat up, grabbing his smaller self as well. “We'll get washed up!”

Genya let himself be dragged away by the teenager, only turning to spare one last glance. “She’s pretty! Like kaa-chan!”

Genya’s face burst aflame, his only saving grace being that his back was to the hashira. He hissed and dragged the eight-year-old along faster. Shinobu giggled into her hand.

“Did you go to town for watermelon?” Genya asked Aoi, when the girl presented it after everyone finished breakfast.

“I mean, might as well give him a treat.” Aoi gestured at the smaller Genya chomping away at the fruit. “What do you plan to do today?”

“Mmm, he said that he was brought here when he was sleeping, the night before his- my- our birthday,” Genya stammered, “so maybe just treat him still.”

“Huh.” Aoi hummed, before leaning in towards the boy’s ear. “By the way, Shinobu-sama sent Shinazugawa-san a crow about this.”

Genya jerked upright. “Sanemi knows about this?”

“If he even listens to her crow,” Aoi scoffed and crossed her arms, “you have no idea how he ignores other hashira’s crows.”

Genya wilted. He knew exactly how much Sanemi could ignore a crow. Aoi backtracked. “I mean, more like-”

“I get it,” Genya waved her off with a smile, continuing to pick out the seeds from the fruit, “thank you for going out of your way to get this watermelon.”

“Are you a picky eater? Or were you?” Aoi glanced down at Genya’s fingers. Genya thought back to chomping into demon flesh, eating mud because he was so hungry, and resorting to devouring rats on the street before he met Gyomei.

“No.” Genya grunted. “Watermelon seeds can grow in your stomach.”

Aoi started laughing at him. Genya flushed as he handed over the seedless watermelon slice to his younger self, who continued eating. “Who told you that?!”

“...Sanemi.” Genya mumbled under his breath, making Aoi only wheeze harder. They were starting to draw attention, the very serious girl who ran the Butterfly Estate in stitches with a tall, scary looking dude looking embarrassed with a smaller, carbon copy of himself gobbling down watermelon.

“How- how old were you?” Aoi gulped in air, clutching her stomach to try and stifle the laughter.

“Four.” Genya grumbled, getting up just as the smaller Genya finished up with the watermelon. “Let’s go.”

“Hey, hey, me!” The smaller one squeezed the older’s hand for attention. “Where’re we going?”

“Another big house,” Genya replied, walking briskly, “with different people inside.”

“Can you slow down?” Genya whined, making his little feet go faster. “And you aren’t telling me anything-”

Genya stopped walking to kneel down, pulling his younger self onto his back. “There, now we can go faster.”

Genya squealed as his bigger self hoisted him up, walking much faster than they ever could have if Genya continued walking with his much tinier legs. Genya couldn’t help but chuckle as his younger self continued babbling along, bringing them back along a familiar road to the Stone Estate.

“Tadaima-!” Genya called out when he entered the estate, then lowering himself off his back, the two of them quickly taking off their shoes. The morning air brought some crisp into the rooms, where Genya led his smaller self around.

“Do you live here?” The smaller one asked, almost in awe.

“Yeah,” Genya shrugged, catching a glance at the younger’s face.

“That’s so cool!” The younger one jumped around. “It’s so big and expensive!”

“These guys get paid whatever they want,” Genya explained, “so it’s obvious they get big houses.”

“They do?!” Genya gasped at himself. “What kind of guys?!”

“Hashira, they’re the strongest of all of us in this job, to kill bad guys.” Genya peeked into a couple rooms to no avail, his huge mentor nowhere to be found.

“Are we hashira?” Genya tugged at his own pant sleeve.

The older one shook his head slowly. “Anyone with gold buttons is, but silver just means people below.”

“Wow…” Genya fiddled with the silver button his future self wore, “we have to become a hashira! Right, me? To feed kaa-chan and the kids!”

“Course…” Genya mumbled, patting the younger’s head. “We have to become a hashira.”

“Sanemi!” Genya called out, clutching his new uniform tight. “W- wait!”

“Aah?” A chalky voice met Genya’s still childish one. “Who’re you?”

“Sa- ‘Nemi, it’s me,” he stammered, “your otouto. Genya.”

“I don’t have a brother.” Sanemi spat, eyes glaring viciously, “get lost.”

“W- wait!” Genya reached out to clutch the older’s white sleeve, where the back was decorated with the kanji for kill. “I-”

“Said to get lost, didn’t I?!” Sanemi growled, fist tightening as he yanked his arm back, “so do it. Hashira’s orders.”

“He might be out back,” Genya led his younger self through the hallways, “training or something.”

“Who’s he?!” He asked his older self, who was stepping outdoors, “is it Sanemi?”

“No,” Genya said as nonchalantly as possible, “my teacher. Himejima-san.”

“Is he a hashira?” The younger one stayed with the older one on the unfamiliar pathways.

“Yeah,” Genya grinned, “the strongest of them all.”

“Seriously?!” Genya gasped and jumped, “that means we have a real good chance of becoming a hashira!”

“Himejima-san!” Genya called out, shushing himself to keep the younger from crushing the older’s dreams even more. “I’m back! I was hit by some sort of Blood Demon Art, and my younger self was brought to the present for now!”

“Namu-amida-butsu.” Genya jumped at the deep voice calling out from somewhere, then immediately looked at his older self, who didn’t seem fazed. He trailed after the bigger one, down the riverbank and towards a huge, gushing waterfall. “Hello, Genya. Hello, young Genya.”

“Wow!” Genya semi-whispered to his older self already hidden by the roar of water. “He’s real huge!”

“Have you had breakfast yet?” Genya watched the huge man rub together some praying beads in his palms, withstanding the onslaught of water with three logs on his shoulders, tied to huge rocks.

“Yes, back at the Butterfly Mansion.” Genya explained to his mentor, the younger one in awe of how mature and big he sounded in the future. “I would join in on waterfall training, but…”

“It would not be wise for a young one to enter the waters,” Gyomei finished, “you could go and push the rock around, whilst taking care of your… yourself.”

“Thank you, Himejima-san.” Genya bowed in respect before leading himself away. “C’mon.”

“What’s the rock?” Genya wondered. “You just push it around? That’s called training?”

“Shush,” Genya smiled coyly, “you haven’t seen the rock.”

“A rock?!” His younger self gaped at the thing sitting in the middle of a clearing. “That's not a rock, that's a full on boulder! You’re gonna push that thing around?!”

“All the way around the estate grounds,” Genya rolled up his sleeves, taking a deep breath, “you know what? You wanna sit on top of the rock? I can push you around, too.”

“Can- can you really do that?” Genya trembled, looking between the rock and his own, tiny, frail body. In the future, he’d really be able to shove that thing around?

“Here, try pushing against the rock.” Genya guided the smaller’s body towards it, watching himself struggle to shove the rock. “I can help you up, just sit on the top and sort of grip the rock with your fingertips, so you don’t slide off.”

Genya put his hands underneath the younger’s shoulder, pushing himself upwards onto the rock. The younger one scrambled to the top and found a comfortable position, giving a thumbs up when called upon. He watched as his older self took off his uniform top, then sputtering in absolute shock with the muscles on himself. The bulkiness threw him off just as much as the scars covering his future self’s body, chiselled shape to his form without even tensing up. He was so strong in the future. Future him could compete with Sanemi!

Genya positioned himself against the rock, shoulder pressed up against the stone with both legs implanted into the ground. He took a deep breath. “…shaekoku-gijugikkodokuon-yodaibikushu…”

“Huh..?” The younger peered down the side of the rock, watching as his older, more defined face twisted into something akin to pain, whilst muttering something under his breath. When he was about to call out to the older version of himself, the rock started moving.

It was slow, at first. Just a couple centimetres. But that was better than anything Genya, at the moment frail and poor, could do. Then, he felt the boulder move even more. Genya looked back down to see that they’d moved a good two metres, and his older self didn’t look to be stopping. Actually, he looked to be in pain, but not like shoving the boulder was giving him the pain.

Should Genya interrupt his older self? Was that normal for pushing the boulder? It would have a lot of strain, and the huge man Gyomei had told his older self to get the boulder all around the estate.

“Least… you see scenery…” Genya looked back at his older self groaning out those words and with that, he started looking around from his heightened point of view, where a trail on the ground showed that the path he used to push the rock was a regularly-used one.

Genya huffed and continued repeating the amida-kyo under his breath, quieter than usual so that his younger self wouldn’t have to listen to a very sudden conversion to Buddhism. The faces of the younger Shinazugawa’s swam through his memory, much more formulated and real with his actual younger self being there at the moment.

He looked so innocent. Demons took that from him. Genya groaned and pushed harder, ears buzzing as his babyish face flashed past his memory, looking up at him in wonder. When would he tell himself that he was a failure? He failed to protect his family, he failed to be a good brother, he failed at being a slayer, he would never be a hashira and Sanemi never wanted to look at him again.

“You can do it, Genya!” He stumbled at the small voice cheering him on, a slight whisper. “Go, go, go!”

Genya clenched his jaw and pushed harder, dragging the boulder through the ground and back towards what he always remembered was his start point. He’d successfully made it around the entire estate with a whole child on top of the rock. Heaving, Genya made it back to where the boulder started.

“That was so cool!” Genya laughed as his older self helped him down, Genya running around in circles as his older self leaned on the rock for a breather. “I can’t believe that I can do that in the future! How many of our siblings can you hold up? Is nii-chan stronger than you? How long d’you think until you become a hashira?”

Genya just stumbled away, making the smaller follow right after, still spitting out questions. Gods above, Genya was just so tired. He didn’t get how his younger self could be so innocent. Just six months after said birthday, his eighth, they would all be dead. Sanemi would hold a butcher’s knife over their mother's body and he would call his beloved brother a murderer, Genya would be forced to bury five little, cold bodies on his own, and he would survive off stealing and eating rats.

He couldn’t handle seeing that spark in his own eyes.

“Hello, you two.” Gyomei greeted them as Genya shuffled inside, his child self also bouncing in. “I already started on lunch. Are you alright, Genya?”

“I’m gonna… go lay down.” Genya muttered. “Would you mind… taking care of him- for a little? Sorry, Himejima-san…”

“No matter. Rest well, Genya.” Gyomei rubbed the praying beads in his hands nervously. “Namu-amida-butsu.”

“What’cha making?” Genya peered around the man’s arm, trying to catch a glimpse at the food. “It smells good.”

“Miso,” Gyomei replied, “did you see anything interesting whilst going around?”

“I got to watch me push a huge boulder!” Genya used his own body to showcase, “it was like, thi–is big! No, bigger!”

“Ah. Of course.” Gyomei nodded. “I am blind, however, and cannot see what you are showing, but I understand how big the rocks are.”

“...oh.” Genya mumbled quietly. “Sorry.”

“It’s quite alright, young Genya.” Gyomei stirred the soup. “I heard that it would be your birthday the next day, from when you were brought here?”

“Yeah!” Genya grinned. “I’m turning eight! Isn’t that huge? How old are you?”

“Twenty-seven.” Gyomei answered. “If you multiply the age you're turning by two, you get the age your future self is right now.”

“I can’t do math.” Genya replied with no hesitation.

Gyomei paused. “Then, eight and eight put together.”

“I said I can’t do math.” Genya repeated.

“Then how do you know what age you’re turning?” Gyomei wondered.

“Kaa-chan told me.” Genya replied. “Am I able to do math in the future?”

“...I do not know.” Gyomei hummed. He at least taught Genya to write, so why hadn’t he thought of math? Did he just assume that Genya could do basic math, or simply forgot to teach him? “Say, how do you usually celebrate your birthday?”

“Well, Sumi and Teiko usually sew up something,” Genya thought, rolling around on the ground, “and Hiroshi likes to find some sort of cool rock to give. Sanemi uses some spare change to get me some sort of sweet, kaa-chan even comes home a little early!”

Gyomei’s heart panged as the boy continued describing how the Shinazugawa family would usually spend a birthday. Genya, as a teenager, did nothing of the sort. Gyomei would sometimes spot the boy sending off a letter, then heading out to where Gyomei assumed was a visit to a family grave.

A knock on the front door. Gyomei stood, making the child go quiet. “Please stay here and watch the soup. I will go to the door. Namu-amida-butsu.”

Genya took his duty very seriously and went up to the pot, watching the soup bubble and steam. Gyomei headed down his familiar hallway, ending up at the genkan, where a person stood. The aura the person was giving off, though… that was a hashira.

“Namu-amida-butsu.” Gyomei rubbed the praying beads. “What brings you here, Shinazugawa?”

The man remained silent, moving only to Breathe. The rest of him remained still, almost so that if Gyomei wasn’t so strong, he might have had to do a second take to make sure someone was even there. “...I’m here to see.”

“If it is true?” Gyomei pressed. “That a younger Genya has been sent to the future by a Blood Demon Art?”

“Is it?” Sanemi growled.

“Would you like to come meet him yourself?” Gyomei responded.

Sanemi remained quiet. “No. I just want to see.”

“You wouldn’t be able to hide, if you wished to spy.” Gyomei warned. “You would have to make yourself known.”

Sanemi didn’t say anything more, so Gyomei persisted. “He doesn’t seem to have been told the reason he joined the Corps. He has been talking about you nonstop.”

Gyomei heard a skip in Sanemi’s heartbeat, a Breath stuttering in his chest. “Just go meet him. Genya, the current one, is resting.”

Another beat. Sanemi huffed. “Lead the way.”

“Young Genya,” Gyomei called out, making the younger’s head perk up. “Someone is here to see you.”

Genya furrowed his brow until someone else stepped into the room. “Sanemi!”

“O- oi, not so lou-” Sanemi started, only to be tackled in a hug by the child.

“I missed you, ‘Nemi!” Genya’s joy was muffled by Sanemi’s haori. “I got to see so many cool things!”

“R- right…” Sanemi cautiously went to pat the boy’s back, shooting a look up at the Stone Hashira. The man seemed to understand despite his lack of sight, and disappeared out of the room holding the pot of miso soup, most likely to a dining area.

“How’re you, nii-chan?” Genya peered up at his older brother. “Where’d you get the scars? From the bad guys?”

Sanemi blinked back, before slowly ruffling Genya’s mohawk. “Yeah. Lotsa cool stories of battle.”

“Wow…” Genya murmured, until his eye caught on Sanemi’s uniform. “You’re a hashira too!”

Sanemi felt almost overwhelmed by the small child gripping onto him, chatting his ear off. Gods, he missed that. So, so much. If Genya just quit the Corps, Sanemi would be able to experience that kind of nostalgia all the time.

“H- hey, just- take a breather, yeah?” Sanemi gently pushed the child off. Genya stumbled backwards, hanging his head low. Yeah, okay, he was a lot more to handle then the big, mature guy he was gonna become. Of course Sanemi would get used to a more calm, older Genya, right?

“Shi- shoot, Genya…” Sanemi started to console, seeing the disappointed face of his very young brother. “I’m sorry about- I’m sorry, Genya.”

Genya continued hugging himself, making himself smaller. That was what Sanemi always told him to do when the old man returned home after drinking and gambling. Make himself small and unnoticeable.

Sanemi’s eyes widened as he saw what his brother was doing, instantly feeling his heart drop. He just made Genya act like how he usually did when their old man was around. If it really was Genya from right before his eighth birthday, then that piece of shit would still be alive for the next month, before being stabbed out in the streets.

Sanemi lurched forwards on his knees to wrap his tiny brother up in a hug. He could almost feel the confusion radiating off the small child as Sanemi brought him closer, one hand digging into the familiar purple yukata and the other wrapped up in Genya’s hair. “I’m sorry.”

Genya heard the muffled apology coming from Sanemi’s face pressed into his shoulder. Despite his nii-chan’s being so big, with a broader back and deeper voice, Genya could still feel warmth and comfort radiating off Sanemi, because something like that would never cease. Kindness.

“It’s okay!” To comfort his brother more, Genya started patting Sanemi’s back as well, making the man only hold Genya tighter. He smiled innocently and just returned the hug, grinning because Sanemi only ever held him close after their father finished beating them and that would be the first time in a long time that Sanemi had hugged in apology.

Fuck, Sanemi thought, his body was so small. How could a man beat someone as sweet as the kid he was hugging so close at the moment? Fuck, how could he push away someone so sweet as Genya for joining the Corps? Well, he supposed it was for Genya’s own safety. Safety that Sanemi knew the tiny Genya in his arms wouldn’t face just yet.

Sanemi continued cradling Genya in his arms, because fuck, that was the first time they’d touched with such tenderness in years.

Genya peeked through the shoji, watching the younger version of himself get coddled more by the current Sanemi than Genya had felt in years. His insides squirmed and chest tightened as Sanemi continued embracing the child, hugging tightly. He shouldn’t have said that. He shouldn't have called Sanemi a murderer. They could’ve been hugging like that, still, if Genya hadn’t just messed it all up.

Waves of tears started building in Genya’s eyes, though they still refused to tear away from the scene. Sanemi holding his younger self the same way he wanted to be held, his current verison, with all scars and growth and mistakes. He wanted Sanemi to act like that towards him in the current day.

He shut his mouth fast to prevent sobs escaping, lip trembling as tears started rolling down his cheek. His fists clenched and throat burned as the younger one started giggling, swaying around as Sanemi continued to hold him.

They met eyes. The child looked upwards to see his teenage self quivering near the door, spying in on the two. Genya stumbled back and away to prevent his younger self from ruining any hopes he had of the future.

“Hey, ‘Nemi?” Genya asked, trying to pull away to see his older nii-chan. “Why’s future me crying?”

Sanemi tightened his hold, making Genya sputter a little bit with the sheer strength his brother received from fighting bad guys. “Nii-chan, why’s he crying? Hey, nii-chan, are you crying as well? Is that why my back feels sorta wet?”

Sanemi dug his hands deeper, to just preserve himself. He wouldn't just let Genya see him crying, no matter what or when. Genya’s body was so small and thin and frail and beaten, Sanemi wouldn't know how to face the kid again if he pulled away from the hug.

“Nii-chan, let’s go comfort future me!” Genya decided. “C’mon, let’s go! You always comfort me when I’m down!”

Gods. Fuck. Sanemi couldn’t handle just how much joy Genya had. It was so hard to ignore, Corps uniform or not. The child resorted to tugging gently at Sanemi’s hair, fiddling with the white strands whilst also humming Sanemi’s name in an attempt to get them standing again, to find his future self.

Finally, Sanemi pulled away from Genya to quickly wipe his tears away. Genya giggled and waited for Sanemi to finish, then tugged at the man’s calloused fingers. “Let’s go! Himejima-san might know where older me might be!”

Sanemi couldn’t reply as Genya tugged him away, the two of them finding the Stone Hashira in a room just down the hall. Immediately, Gyomei pointed the two of them to look for Genya in his room, then adding instructions to aid them. Genya started humming a lullaby while leading Sanemi, tiny fingers gripping a couple of Sanemi’s using his entire hand.

“Heyyy, heyy, you in here?” Genya started knocking on doors, making Sanemi more and more nervous. “You looked sad! Did you want a hug? Hey, future me, hey!”

The door slid open a crack, Genya’s form barely visible through the gap. Seeing both Sanemi and his younger self, Genya slid it open even further. “That’s… alright. I don’t need a hug, I’m not sad.”

“But you were crying!” Genya protested at his teenage self. Was that how all teenagers acted?

“I- I’m alright, just feeling a little off.” Genya attempted to laugh nonchalantly. Sanemi couldn’t see Genya acting so weak! It would ruin whatever minimal steps Genya had taken to becoming stronger, showing his brother that he was just as capable a slayer as any others. “Besides, I used the time on my bonsai.”

“Bonsai?” Genya perked up, trying to peer into his future room. “You have bonsai?”

“Wanna see?” Genya used the opportunity to distract his younger self, leading the child into the room and towards the window, where all his trees were kept. “Himejima-san told me to do it, as a hobby. Neat, right?”

“Meh, a bit boring.” The younger one shrugged. “How’d you get the leaves to be all nice-shaped and stuff?”

“Trimming,” Genya gestured to the scissors, “pruning, as well. I make the tree look nice in my free time, and it helps my aim become more clear.”

“I guess that could be fun…” the kid mumbled, “like sewing, or something.”

“Exactly.” Genya hummed. “I also have a sewing kit over there.”

“What do you sew?” The younger one asked.

Usually, it was himself after battle. But should Genya really tell that kind of gorey thing to an eight-year-old? “The yukata, whenever it gets torn.”

“After fighting!” The kid’s eyes lit up. “You said that the bonsai also helps your aim? For fighting?”

“Sort of, yeah.” Genya laughed. Sanemi watched the two interact from the doorway, eyes still red. Usually, they would be like that because of dryness, but in that moment, it was because of tears. With a deep, shaky Breath, Sanemi silently stood. He shot one last look at Genya, his baby brother, no matter the age, before shutting the shoji quietly and shuffling backwards.

Genya looked back up at the door as his younger self observed the trees closer up. Sanemi was backing away. From him. The two brothers, matured to their correct ages in their time period, locked eyes.

Suddenly, Sanemi couldn’t back away anymore.

“Hey, ‘Nemi-nii!” The child called out, making the two older ones freeze. “Come look at the bonsai with me!”

Cautiously, Sanemi stepped forwards towards the door again. If he entered, Sanemi knew he would have to drag himself away.

Sanemi opened the door.

The younger Genya was waving Sanemi closer, to look at the funny design the bonsai had when looking at it from a specific angle. The older Genya was staring with wide and surprised eyes, making Sanemi’s heart shatter. Sanemi stepped closer to the child, looking at the bonsai with him, while the older Genya sat back.

Sanemi only wanted a version of Genya that hadn’t called his brother a murderer. A version who wasn’t riddled with scars.

With a Breath, Sanemi pulled Genya closer to him. Genya gasped as his brother brought him closer, the first time they’d touched in years. Sanemi was holding him. As a teenager. Genya remained tense as Sanemi put a hand on his younger brother’s shoulder, still paying attention to the child rambling on about whatever it was.

After minutes of Sanemi holding teenage Genya up to his body, he started relaxing into his older brother’s arm. Almost leaning on him, the two sat on the floor in front of Genya’s bonsai that he took care of so gently, as if they were actual children.

“I still don’t get why you two were crying,” Genya crossed his tiny arms, “but you’re hugging right now, so that means everything’s okay!”

It very much did not mean that, but Genya didn’t want to argue with the child. He just had to use his very limited time that Sanemi would allow very carefully.

“I’m tired, though.” The child stretched out on the tatami mats, like a starfish. “I like sleeping! The sun’s so warm, too…”

“I like sleeping, too.” Genya agreed, but he didn’t budge unless Sanemi would show any signs of not wanting to be around sixteen-year-old Genya anymore. When Sanemi made the first moves to get up, Genya immediately jumped off him, scooting away as Sanemi stretched out his limbs.

“Can I have a nap, future me?” Genya requested. “And wake me up? I like being here, but I also like being with the younger ones! Can you bring them over, too?”

Two pairs of eyes stared at younger Genya, sadly. “Maybe when you wake up, ‘kay Gen?”

Teenage Genya looked up at Sanemi and blinked rapidly, while the younger one giggled and made himself comfortable in a patch of sunlight on the floor. “A’ight! Can you kiss me goodnight? Maybe?”

“Course.” Genya felt jealousy warping over his body as his older brother kneeled down to press his lips against the child’s forehead, then patting his head. The feeling then changed to confusion as Sanemi stood and walked over again, then leaning down to press a kiss to Genya’s forehead, as well, before patting his head as well.

“Sleep well,” Sanemi called as he exited the doorway. Eight-year-old Genya giggled in reply while teenage Genya sat there, absolutely floored.

“I can’t wait to start fighting bad guys with ‘Nemi,” Genya breathed, curling up in a ball with his back facing his future self, “lookin’ cool and stuff. Swords and bonsai and pushing rocks.”

Genya couldn’t bring himself to answer as his smaller self dozed off. His body felt so warm. Where Sanemi was pressed up against him felt so good, butterflies filled his stomach and his face felt all fuwafuwa. His heart beat erratically and Genya couldn’t help but shed a couple of joyous tears.

Maybe… their relationship could be salvageable after what Genya said to Sanemi eight years ago?

________________

Genya mumbled under his breath as he stretched, foot accidentally slipping out of his futon and letting in some crisp, winter air. Bareilly opening his eyes, Genya felt little hands starting to shake him awake. “Gen-nii, Gen-nii, happy birthday!”

More choruses of those words sprouted out around the tiny shack, where seven bodies lived. Genya sat himself up as all the younger kids started presenting gifts and a breakfast much larger than what Genya would usually be able to eat.

“Happy birthday, Gen,” Sanemi ruffled the mohawk, a smile covering his face. Genya rubbed his eyes again as everyone continued chattering and laughing. He felt so good, and that rest was so nice… he must’ve had a real good dream.

words: 6187

15 notes · View notes