#Scratch reads Yu-Gi-Oh!

[scratching92]

God, this ending is so beautiful. It’s hard to accurately judge the various arcs I’ve read through in relation to one another, but I think this might be the sweetest, most uplifting ending to an arc we’ve had thus far. Even if it happened under the worst circumstances, playing the game together with Yugi and friends has brought them and Ryou together and liberated him from the misery of his life before. I know this isn’t the end of Ryou or of the spirit of the Millenium Ring, but honestly, this is a fantastic moment nonetheless.

[linkspooky]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Hot Take #1

My Favorite Ships from each Yu-Gi-Oh Series!

Yu-Gi Oh: Prideshipping (Atem X Kaiba)

Funny thing about prideshipping, I did not ship it until I read the manga and watched Dark Side of Dimensions which is an official continuation of the manga. That won me over by showing how tied Seto's narrative is to Atem. If you travel to the afterlife to duel your rival, you're not rivals anymore, you're just gay.

My favorite ships are the ones with the potential to destroy each other, or save each other. Atem and Kaiba manage to do both. Kaiba has an obsessive desire from his first loss against Atem to destroy him and that manifests in Death T his lowest point. Atem however, chooses to spare Kaiba by just shattering his heart to give him the chance to put the pieces back together. That's development for Atem too, because he had been a low key serial killer by that point, but instead of revenge he's learned empathy.

Kaiba at Duelist Kingdom tempts Atem into killing him just to win a game, but it's not Atem who stops Yugi has to stop him. It's a show how scarily similar the two can be.

When Atem helps save Mokuba their relationship shifts in Battle City. In their final duel, Atem saves Kaiba from destruction one final time when he tells him the past isn't something you should completely destroy. Atems so important to Kaiba that he saved Kaiba from his worst impulses multiple times and Kaibas rivalry with Atem represents a desperate attempt to stand as equals with them.

GX: Soulshipping (Judai x Yubel)

Speaking of destroying each other and saving each other, Yubel and Judai completely tear each other apart only to both rebuild each other from scratch into something new.

Kaiba and Atem good and all, but Atem is just always the moral support to Kaiba. I prefer it when both members are just as bad as the other. When they drag each other down. Hand in unlovable hand.

Yubel and Judai, or "I can make him worse."

What makes Yubel and Judai my favorite ship of the franchise is the beautiful symmetry of their journeys, and how they separate, get lost, and find their way back to each other. They share the same soul, no Yubel is Judai's soul.

The entirety of season 3 is thematically about empathy. What people can do when they're alone and in pain. The way people can be saved by the act of sympathy and showing they're not alone. How a show of kindness goes much further than a quick and easy act of cruelty, Jim's action to save Judai inspires Austin to be better and overcome his fear, Austin's sacrifice breaks Judai from his downward spiral, all leading up to Judai making the choice to save Yubel. There's a much simpler narrative that exists where Judai just puts Yubel down like a mad dog, and maybe Judai feels a little pity that they couldn't reach Yubel before they went past the point of no return. However, Yu-Gi-Oh takes the more complex and nuanced route with empathizing with a victim like Yubel who's messy and gone on to hurt others. Judai and Yubel are very much like, they drag each other down, and keep each other afloat. They do both. It's like you're not allowed to die to and disappear to escape your guilt and neither am I. They're crucial to each other's atonement once they became inseparable tied together.

For all the pain they cause each other though, there's something beautiful about Yubel who as Judai's shadow representing all his worst traits is so, so in love with him. Yubel is blatantly aware of what a flawed person Judai is, and unconditionally in love with that mess of a person. It's kind of like an expression of accepting and being loved for the worst parts of yourself for both of them.

5DS: Scoopshipping (Jack x Carly)

Carly and Jack is the embodiment of "We could die together, but what if he lived together?" There's so much romantic drama wrung out of these two that you forget you're watching a shonen anime.

Carly is so fundamental to Jack's development that I joke to Comun that the reason Jack experiences so much character regression in Season 2 is because he needs his wife Carly around.

There's just something about a chance encounter with someone that Jack under most circumstances would have overlooked is what uplifts Jack at his lowest point. How Jack turns from a Kaiba archetype from someone who works the rest of the series trying to make up with his friends. The way that as Carlys laying there dying her only thoughts are that she wants to see Jack again one final time, and sells her soul for the chance. It's just the way that Jack when facing Carly duels to save her because he knows deep in his heart that Carly isn't a cruel person, and he's right and he reaches her. How when he realizes he has to kill her to stop her he doesn't intend on living past it. It's just the way that Carly is the one who ends the duel because she's already dead and she doesn't want Jack dying for her sake. As much as she wants to be together with Jack even in death, Carly wants to see Jack happy, because it makes her happy to see him trying his best, because his happiness is her happiness

It's just the way they both come back and get the chance to try again.

Its just all the little Jack and Carly things.

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal: Foilshipping (Yuma x Vector)

I tried to like Astral and Yuma but I need a little bit of zest. The angst of one enemy desperately trying to kill, and the other desperately trying to save adds that extra spice.

As I said Prideshipping is good, but as much as I love when love redeems and saves you from your worst self how about when love doesn't redeem?

Yuma is the sweetest of cinnamon roles, but that means Jack and Shit to Vector. Yuma thinking it's his job to redeem vector and reach out a helping hand is the biggest thorn in Vector's side.

It's convenient that it's called Foilshipping, because Yuma is so in love with the person they thought Vector to be, projected themselves onto Rei Nagisa, assigned themselves to the role of protector they can't accept who Vector really is. They keep trying to see some good. Yuma tries to see themselves in Vector and it is just not there.

Vector's the ultimate challenge of Yuma's pacifist philosophy, and Yuma fails and falls flat on his face on multiple occasions. Not only that but Vector trolls him too - occasionally pretending there's something redeemable there only to flip the trap card and go PSYCHE! It's funny every single time.

If Judai's arc is about failing multiple times and having a complete breakdown until they flip, Yuma's arc is about failing multiple times, having breakdowns and then staying true to themselves. After never once succesfully reaching Vector, Vector self destructs and is being dragged to his death by Don Thousand and decides to do a taking you with me to Yuma. Yuma's only reaction is "Sure, I'll die with you" and it's the most romantic thing ever.

Then vector's like gross and throws him away.

Also this scene happens between them:

Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V: Mockingbirdshipping (Shun x Dennis)

This is a ship that I love more for it's potential then anything else (like most things in Arc-V). Their setup is great, Dennis the spy that infiltrated Shun's world, and stole his sister away from him ends up infiltrating the Lancers.

Shun who spends 90% of Arc-V hungry for revenge has the person responsible for his sister's disappearance, right next to him and in spite of his suspicions (Shun is suspicious of everyone) he's forced to work with him. When they're working together they make a great team too.

Dennis or as I call him the only character that has a finished arc in Arc-V is aware that he's a bad person, that he's going to destroy the lancer's the same way he destroyed Shun's sister. He's also a genuinely friendly guy, and it's actually precisely the guilt and self-awareness of what a bad person he is that stops him from trying to change.

The setup was great, and the duel where Shun forces Dennis to use his Antique Gear deck is my favorite duel in all of Arc-V. The setup was all there, but the more interesting version is where Shun doesn't get a satisfying revenge and they're still forced to work together - and there is a version of that story where that happens but it's IV and Shark in Zexal.

Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains: AiBallshipping (Ai x Yusaku)

Everyone compares them to Soulshipping and they're right for that. They both kill half of the main character's friends in the third season. They both steal a sexy body to try to impress the protagonist. They're both characters themed around the concept of "love." They both serve as the Jungian shadow to their main protagonist.

They both intentionally inflict pain on the protagonist out of love rather than hate.

However, the way they are different is more interesting to me. Yubel and Judai start their season separated with Yubel absent the first whole seasons. They start with their relationship in the worst place possible and eventually reunite and improve.

Yusaku and Ai start united. Ai literally came from Yusaku. From the first episode they're always together. Even when Ai attempts to leave twice he always comes back. After two seasons of their relationship slowly growing however, Ai turns into the third season antagonist.

Ai seems more selfless than Yubel in their motivations. After all, Yubel acts out of a desire to monopolize Judai. Yubel sees everything and everyone as merely tools to getting to Judai, and will hurt them to get what they want. Yubel forces Judai through a complete mental breakdown to drag them down to the same level, all because of Yubel's selfish desire to not be alone.

Ai on the other hand is sacrificing themselves. When they attack Playmaker's friends, it's just playing the villain to provoke Playmaker to stop them. Ai is motivated by a simulation that told a future where Playmaker dies protecting them, and if the choice is between Playmaker and themselves then they'll choose Playmaker. It does seem like it's all for Playmakers sake, especially since Yubel would never choose a world where they can't be together with Judai.

However, Ai takes away Yusaku's choice in this scenario which Yusaku hates the most. Forcing your best friend to murder you in a supposed "sacrifice" for their sake is a pretty messed up scenario. Yubel and Judai reunite, while Ai and Playmaker suffer from a tragic separation, and since Ai is Playmaker's shadow he can't actually live without him the way Ai assumes. The epilogue we get is playmaker abandoning his real life to deep dive into the net for the faint hope of getting Ai back. As stated above if Ai knew the pain of losing all his friends, then he should have known that forcing Yusaku to kill his friend would hurt him in the worst pay possible - but he did it anyway because he can't help being yubel coded.

[sleepycyborgz]

Rick and Giovanni breaking into a terrorist organisation to fix their Yugiho cards. That’s it thats the fic. Enjoy me trying to be funny <3

Ao3 link:

—-

Rick followed the black string coming out of his heart with a bounce in each step. He and Giovanni were both planning to meet up at the arcade since Crusher’s mum got sick of cleaning up the mess they both left every Friday. They both had this system set up for a while now. Every Friday, Rick would come over to headquarters to do stuff since he usually couldn’t join in many evil schemes due to working for S.T.E.M now. He loved working there absolutely but it was nice to take a break and “hang out” with people who were definitely his friends. Whereas with his work friends, he was only like 70% sure they actually liked him. (At least the strings were still there though.)

Last week, Giovanni had brought a pack of these strange-looking cards. They reminded Rick of the Tarot cards he used to have as a kid but these had a bunch of writing underneath the picture. Giovanni called them “Yu-gi-oh” cards. Rick originally thought they were just like tarot and tried to give Giovanni a reading but he was quickly stopped after telling Gio that all he needs to do to succeed in life was to draw three cards from his deck and add them to his hand.

Giovanni explained that the cards weren't for reading fortunes but were actually for a game. Apparently, all you had to do was use these cards to fight against your opponent to bring their hit points down to 0. Rick played a few games against Giovanni most of which he lost but he was just happy to hang out with a friend at all really. Giovanni said it was fun too and that he actually wanted to play again next Friday. Rick had gotten really excited over this and looked up a bunch of guides when he got home and he even bought a starter pack and some extra spare packs with some of the money Naven lent him. Naven specifically told Rick that the money was for important things like buying food and paying rent and Rick was pretty sure buying Yu-gi-oh cards would also be included on the list! Keeping up friendships was pretty important after all.

Rick had the starter pack and extra cards carefully stored in a small backpack that Phoenicia had gotten him. It was pastel blue and purple with white glimmers and little starfish stitched onto it. Phoenicia had also given him a little sheep charm she made with those crocheting kits with 10 different designs to choose from. Trixie and Molly also got him a crow and bear respectively which they both made using the same kit after Feenie begged them both to help her make them. Rick absolutely adored the bag and took it everywhere, even if it got some weird looks from strangers.

Which made tripping over nothing and dropping the bag in a puddle all the more devastating.

Rick shuffled over to the bag in a panic, barely even feeling the impact of the fall over the adrenaline. The bottom of the bag was now soaking wet, covered in little bits of concrete and whatever else would be on a city footpath. But even that was nothing compared to the terror of seeing the bag’s zipper wide open and the cards Rick had just bought being scattered across the floor.

Rick scrambled over to each card and picked them all up carefully so they wouldn’t get any more damage. Thankfully most of the cards were unharmed. The worst damage Rick could spot was a bit of scratching on the back but not too bad!

Then Rick turned around and saw it. His blue eyes white dragon, the card that Giovanni told him was the most valuable card you could get. One he had managed to pull from a random packet and screamed so loud out of his excitement over it his neighbours filed a noise complaint. Sitting face up in a puddle, soaking wet.

Rick sat right next to the puddle, staring at it with a glossy look in his eyes. Before breaking out into a full-body sob. Morning over the card he’d gotten yesterday like he was standing over a beloved pet’s grave.

“Woah dude, are you alright?” Rick looked up, tears still clinging to his cheeks, only to see the same evil boss that he’d bought the cards for, holding two cups of a strange drink with black pearls floating at the bottom. Rick tried to apologise for dropping the cards he just ruined but whatever came out of his mouth was completely incomprehensible. Giovanni looked around and saw the pastel backpack now covered in dirt, gravel, and everything else gross you can find on a city footpath.

“Hey man, it’s alright.” Giovanni squatted down to match Rick’s eye level, a gentle smile on his face. “We can get that bag cleaned no problem, no need to get so worked up over it! I think my uncles have this detergent that can clean pretty much anything so I can just ask him to help with that if we can’t do it.” Rick swallowed the tears clogging the back of his throat and finally managed to form a clear sentence.

“That’s not it.” The wizard said, his voice still wavering.

“Huh?”

Rick pointed over to the card in the puddle. Giovanni stared at it for a moment, before grabbing Rick by the scarf and shaking him so fast Rick’s sunglasses nearly fell off his face.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU PUT IT IN A SLEEVE?!” Giovanni yelled with tears in his eyes.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS!” Rick yelled back just as loud with just as many tears.

Giovanni let go of Rick and dropped to his hands and knees over the puddle. “It’s too late to save it now…” He said like a video game war general during the darkest hour. “It’s gone…” Rick joined him. The two men cried over that puddle in silence over the body of their most prized possession that lasted like a week. The people walking past just squeezed past the two somehow legal adults sobbing over a Yugioh card.

“WAIT A MOMENT!” Rick yelled, Giovanni looked up at him with tears still in his eyes. “I know a colleague who has an epithet who can reverse time. I’m not exactly friends with her yet however, we might be able to convince her to save this strange tarot card!”

Giovanni’s eyes sparkled with hope as he carefully grabbed the card and stood up, taking a dramatic pose that he’d definitely practised in the mirror that morning but Rick looked at him like he just saved his life regardless. “Then let’s go find her!”

—

“Zora,” Static rang out from the speakers above the table, the voice underneath it calm and controlled. “I believe that we should try a less direct approach with collecting the arsene amulet. So I am instructing Yoomtah to lead the search for the amulet instead.”

“WHAT!? THAT’S BULLSHIT!” The cowgirl yelled, slamming her fist into the table. The electric gremlin giggled beside her.

“Thank you boss~” Yoomtah said in a sing-song tone, subtly sticking her tongue out at Zora when their shadowy leader wasn’t looking. Which only made the cowgirl’s rage rise further. Moot stared at both of them under her hood, ready to grab Zora if the energetic cyborg pushed one too many of her buttons. A tired sigh rattled the speakers.

“I apologise Zora but your skillset just isn’t needed for this plan.”

“Wait, plan?”

The shadow nodded its head. Despite the lack of pupils, it had everyone could feel the leader’s eyes on them. Their gaze pierced each of their souls and revealed every part of them. Zora and Moot both shuffled a bit meanwhile Yoomtah stayed perfectly still, staring at the screen with eyes full of admiration.

“We should try and approach this from a different angle. Moot,” The hooded figure lifted her head. “After Yoomtah finds the location of the amulet, you will go collect it. Try not to kill as many people as last time, we don’t want to cause a scene.” The figure contemplated for a moment, before nodding.

“Alright, good. Yoomtah, I have a couple of locations for you to scout out where the amulet might be, first is the Sweet Jazz police department, since that’s who Zora said grabbed it.” Zora grumbled something about how the two people she met in redwood run cheated somehow. “If we’re lucky, it will be there and we can get in and collect the amulet before anyone even knows we took it-

SLAM!

A loud bang swept through the massive meeting room. Zora screamed “HOLY FUCK!” at the top of her lungs and aimed her gun right at the door. Moot jumped a bit before her head swooped around towards the noise. Yoomtah just casually tilted her head towards it. They didn’t know who to expect at the door but it definitely wasn’t two young men with brightly coloured hair and tear marks running down their faces.

“Oh hey, Rick!” Yoomtah chirped, the others stared at her. “Oh, yea! I kinda gave him the keys to the building in case he wanted to hang out with us!”

“Why did you do that…” Moot asked, disappointment clear in her tone that somehow flew completely over the cyborg’s head.

“Cause these meetings get BOR-RING! And Rick’s always fun to be around! He kinda doesn’t know anything so making him eat inedible stuff is funny. No idea who the other guy is though.” Yoomtah giggled, kicking her legs under the table as she explained.

“Do you realise how dangerous that is? If he heard half what we were talking about then we’d have to kill both of them.”

“Well in that case we’ve heard absolutely nothing!” Rick chimed in, an unsettlingly wide smile stretched across his face. “We didn’t come here to spy on any conversations anyway. We came because we have a favour to ask Zora over there.” Zora leaned back in her chair, eyeing the strange man. Welp, as long as taking this job pissed Moot off then it was worth it.

“...Well I’m not exactly busy right now since someone took my job. Who d’you want me to track down?” Despite this guy’s… frankly creepy demeanour, he didn’t seem like the type of person who’d hire a bounty hunter. Maybe he wanted revenge on the person who fired him from his job. He definitely looked homeless so it seemed like the most likely option. She probably wouldn’t get too much cash off the weirdo but she was sure that her prey probably had enough funds to cover him plenty.

“...Huh?” Rick tilted his head like a confused dog. “What do you mean by that?” Zora stared at the man with very unsubtle judgement. Was this guy serious? How do you walk up to a terrorist hideout, somehow make it past all the security, ask the contract killer for a favour, and not know that she murdered people for her job?! “We aren’t trying to find someone. We’re actually trying to fix something.’ Before Zora could ask what he meant by that, the pink-haired boy jumped out from behind Rick and scrounged around in man purse before pulling out a piece of wet cardboard.

“Please fix our blue eyes white dragon. It fell into a puddle on the way to my house and I wanna show Rick how to play.” The teenager begged on his knees in front of the cowboy. She stared at the card before breaking out into a hysterical laugh.

“Are you serious!?”

Giovanni looked up at her with determination is his eyes. “Very.”

“Hmm, alright! I like you two weirdos enough. However, it’s gonna cost ya.” The two young men stared at her wide-eyed before looking at each other. The pink-haired one scrambled off the floor and ran to Rick before they both whispered frantically at each other. Zora managed to pick up the name Giovanni which she assumed was the pink-haired one’s name. Rick dug through his wallet but he didn’t seem to have much cash on him. Based on the cringe from Giovanni when Rick asked him for cash, he didn’t have much either. Giovanni turned towards the table with a lot less confidence than before.

“I, uhh,” he stumbled, “Oh! My animal crossing town has really good turnip prices right now! Almost six hundred bells. We could trade you that!” Giovanni said like Zora understood a single word he just said. How the hell does this guy own a whole town? And why would she sell him turnips in exchange for bells? Why does he want that many turnips?! Zora paused before letting out a long sigh, a smirk appearing on her face.

“Look kid, you’ve got a big heart but I’m gonna have to decli-“ Zora was cut off when she felt a white glove grab her scarf and quickly pull her away from her ‘clients’.

“Listen,” Yoomtah started, her voice way more serious than Zora was used to. “I’ve got at least 500 turnips I gotta sell stat. If you turn this down, I will not hesitate to snap your spine and use it as a back scratcher~” Yoomtah sang despite the threat. Zora looked at the two goobers then looked back at the gremlin that just threatened to kill her.

“Fine, fine. I’ll fix it for ya. But only if you hand over those bells for… turnips. Seriously Yoomtah, why do you have so many of those?.” The two men’s eyes sparkled with pure joy.

“Thank you Zora! We don’t know what we would’ve done without you!” Rick shook Zora’s hand so hard she nearly fell over. Giovanni reached his hand into his purse and pulled out his switch absolutely covered in stickers, most of which appeared to have the same brand of ‘cool’ as a back-to-school lunchbox. Yoomtah pulled out her own switch which was also covered in stickers, these ones being mostly cute mascots with the most unhinged text possible underneath them. As they exchanged friend codes, Zora used her years of training and hard work to repair the drenched Yugioh card. Rick stared in awe as any damage the card has taken was reversed in the blink of an eye.

“Thank you, you just saved our whole Friday,” Rick said again. Zora waved her hand at the homeless-looking man.

“Yea yea don’t mention it… actually never mention it, ever.” Zora smiled at him with enough hidden annoyance that it might as well of be written all over her face. Rick was apparently illiterate though and politely returned her creepy smile with one of his own.

“Anddd~ done!” Yoomtah popped up from her hunched-over pose over the switch. Giovanni closed the game and headed over to Rick with a smile. Making wild gestures with his hands as he talked about how cool his work friends' switch was. They both waved goodbye as they opened the door to leave.

“HEY RICK! WANNA GO GET FOOD TOMORROW?!” Yoomtah shouted just before Giovanni could close it. “I KNOW A GOOD SEAFOOD PLACE!”

“Yes, I would love to join you! Thank you Yoomtah!” Rick shouted just as loud. And with that, the door was closed. Everyone in the room other than the tiny electric woman still trying to process what the hell just happened.

“I can’t fuckin’ believe ya just gave some RANDOM GUY the keys to the building! He could’ve just outed the entirety of Bliss Ocean damn it! Do ya realise how many cops we’d have to get rid of?”

“He’s not random though. He’s my friend there’s a difference.” Yoomtah smiled with her tongue sticking out. The two went back and forth, Zora giving Yoomtah a perfectly reasonable reason to be upset, and Yoomtah basically responding with ‘Lol stay mad’. The hooded figure with glasses let out an annoyed huff at the lack of professionalism.

“Sir, should we go after them? They present a massive risk to our operation.” She asked, trying to ignore Zora and Yoomtah’s bickering.

The boss let out a static-filled sigh. “Don’t worry, I just so happen to know these young men. They’re rather sweet but more importantly harmless. They don’t pose a threat to our plan.”

—

From outside the door, both an official and unofficial weenie talked about whatever came to mind as they walked through the terrorist organisation's halls.

“And then, just as the boyfriend thought he was going to kill her, the wind took the disguise away and revealed it was actually Len!” Giovanni blabbered about this one music video he’d seen, Rick listening intently to every word. They both walked out the front door and eventually made it to home base. Both played the card game at least thirty times and watched the rest of season one of the anime before passing out on the couch. Their dumb smiles still carrying over in their sleep.

[tervaneula]

What’s your favorite line(s) or scene(s) that you have written?

Fanfic Writer Ask Game

Thank you for the question!!! <3

Ohoho. Ohooohoho. I'm going to get very VERY shameless here and pat myself on the back Many Times because! I have a smooth brain! I'm generally not good with words and put my foot in my mouth on a daily basis so when I come up with things for my fics that I really love I get so proud!!! So buckle up, the list goes from oldest to newest and it is LONG.

The Foreboding Sense of Impending Happiness Good Omens

This was the first fic I wrote in literal years. It made me realise that maybe, just maybe, I could do this, too.

Terv's Ineffable Drabbles - Wine Thief Good Omens (mermaid AU)

This is just the whole thing lmao but I love how fun it is!!! The ending still makes me laugh and boyyyy life's pretty good, isn't it

life is so precious, and so fleeting (don't let it pass you by) The Elder Scrolls

they're my children and i love them your honor

budding seeds (of trust, of love) - First Meeting The Elder Scrolls

Humus is a disaster gay and I relate to him on a visceral level

farewell of a different kind Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

I still can't believe I wrote something this pretty ;_;

don't tell me you care (i'm not prepared to be wrong again) Helluva Boss

Accidental love confessions MY BELOVED. Also I was very excited to use the word "bile" here. (cw for swearing)

ALRIGHTY now for the section most of you have been waiting for - my Rise fics. There are many here, too, which should surprise no one :D

please don't be a hero (again)

The poor saltshaker was a neat detail that I'm fond of lol

lean on me (i'm strong enough)

I love the rhythm here for some reason, it scratches my brain in a nice way<3

you make me proud, little brother

I was literally this emoji 🥺 while writing this. It just hit me!!!

a lesson in trust

I don't have anything to say about this one, I only have Feelings

not quite kintsugi, but close - Donatello

I cried so much while writing this chapter but imagining this scene and Donnie's expression along with Leonardo's calm acceptance of his stupidity made me laugh so I'm very fond of it

This one's also from the same chapter because I think it's so funny. Leo's grumbling, Leonardo just saying that he's sleeping when he's clearly awake-- aaagh I don't know, I'M JUST HAVING A LOTTA FUN. Also my pet peeve is when a story/chapter ends with the characters going to sleep so I'm pretty happy how I managed to make this casual enough to not make myself cringe at it.

And there it ends! I had to cut out some because this got so long aaghhhaghgah and hey, wow, I'm so proud of y'all if you read everything! Thank you so much for joining me on this little ride!!! <3

[whims-of-insane-fandoms]

There’s not much to say that hasn’t been said about the passing of Takahashi Kazuki, the mangaka of the popular Yu-Gi-Oh. It was a shock, and it is heartbreaking for not only the fans that have enjoyed his work but those who knew him. Friends, family, colleagues, all personally affected by this loss. I want to take some time to remember how his work has affected us and why I think it did.

What’s so special about a story about a boy who finishes a puzzle with the spirit of a thousands year old nameless pharaoh, the trials they face and the friends he makes along the way? Well, to me, it’s because Yu-Gi-Oh is, to its core, a tale of love and friendship, the bonds that tie people together that can transcend time and space. The entire series begins with Yugi’s simple wish of having true friends, a wish that is granted. That friendship bond is strong but there are other storylines of love. The familial love of the Muto family, the Kaiba brothers and Wheeler siblings and the lengths you go to for family, the love between the Ishtar family and how things crumble in the absence of love, the love between Kisara and Seto that continues in the modern era with the bond between Seto Kaiba and the Blue Eyes White Dragon. And, importantly, the love that Yugi has with the Nameless Pharaoh, Atem. Even if he did not create the rest of the Yu-Gi-Oh spinoffs, this theme of love and friendship continue in GX, 5D’s, Zexal, Arc-V, V-Rains, and even the movies (especially the aptly named Bonds Beyond Time) to showcase how powerful those bonds of love and friendship are. The series is about a card game but that’s all you’ll see if you don’t scratch the surface. Once you dive deeper, you can see the power of love and the bonds of friendship crafted so wonderfully into the narrative.  

  Personally, this series has had a positive impact on me I have vivid memories of my childhood where, even before learning how to read, I was playing the card game with my older siblings, a game that we would eventually teach our little brother. We would try to own all the cards the main characters had. We would imitate card effects as if we were playing Shadow Games. We would pretend to have tournaments and use marbles as star chips or as locator cards. It was the type of dorky stuff you do in your childhood that you can think back fondly about. I think about those times of my childhood now as I think of the impact Yu-Gi-Oh has left. I still own my deck, some cards worn down with age because I loved to just hold them in my hands and others because I’d find them in the strangest places on the ground in flea markets. I deepened my friendships with people who watched the anime and played the game. It was a way to bond with other people who shared similar thoughts and experiences with me. Yu-Gi-Oh was a deeply ingrained part of my childhood and so I will continue to remember it as fondly as I did as a child. I know there are other fans that hold that same sentiment, and we have Takahashi Kazuki to thank for that.

  I mourn the passing of Takahashi Kazuki, a man that created this amazing series and franchise, but I know his legacy will continue on through his creation. He will not be forgotten so long as people continue to read and enjoy this work. I think he’ll be happy to learn how much his manga has affected so many people, people all across the world he never met, and how his work brought so many people closer together.

Thank you, Kazuki Takahashi and may you rest in peace.

[uniasus]

fic rec! 13K post-canon Puzzleshipping

Summary: A group of evil sorcerers take Yugi to try and force him to get Atem back. But they are about to find out just how devoted the pharaoh and his vessel are to each other.

Comments: While this has whump, and protective!Atem, it's light on both. Much of what happens to Yugi is off-screen, and it's actually Mahad that has the bigger fight - again off-screen. However, there's a lot of comfort and care here, and Atem does get an opportunity to wield a fire extingisher. They're both so dedicated to each other, Yugi putting himself at risk and Atem getting ready to go against the gods, that this scratched a comfort/fluff itch and not my whump/angst one. But it was a lovely piece to read before bed last night ^_^

[autoplaysdigimon]

goddddd I’ve had such a yearning for old PS1 games lately. I’ve played the old Yu-Gi-Oh game recently, and I had that whole episode in January where I decided I’d play through every Spyro game and then I just... didn’t. (Actually, that’s a lie, I’ve got a couple games worth of footage just sitting here collecting dust if I ever feel like following through on that.) But I’ve also had a real hankering to play Digimon World 1 again! So I'm reading through that playthrough on here that I did, hoping that it’d scratch the itch like it usually does... but it ISN’T

[eldritchlittleblackdragon]

You know. That last post I reblogged got me thinking. My parents were really inconsistent in regards to what media they let me interact with as a kid/teen.

They were very liberal about what books they would let me read for the most part. But they were picky about what movies/TV I was allowed to see and even pickier about what video games I was allowed to play. And some of what I was allowed/not allowed to see was very contradictory and it seems very misinformed looking back on it now. Like.

I was allowed to watch Yu-gi-oh which has some fucked up stuff in it (and read the manga which is more twisted than the anime got).

But I wasn't allowed to watch Digimon because supposedly it was 'too violent'. They were so adamant that I got in super big trouble for trying to watch it behind their backs by getting up earlier than normal to watch it when they were still asleep. (Or when they should have been.)

And when I asked them why I was allowed to watch yugioh which I thought was more violent they said it was because most of the violence in the show 'wasn't real' (it was either illusions or non-living holograms enacting stuff that wasn't actually happening). And I bought that explanation at the time but now in my 30's I'm sitting here scratching my head like. None of what was happening in any of those shows was real and I knew that but okay.

[jaewul]

Fic ideas I had, started writing and never finished because I have the attention span of a 5yo on a sugar rush

This is a call-out post to myself but mostly it's because I like those ideas and I want to share them

Assassin's Creed

Desmond Miles has friends : I refuse to believe that Desmond Miles didn't forge any meaningful connexions in 9 years, so this fic is a Desmond-survives-the-Grand-Temple fic where he comes back to his New York life. The thing is a 16 year old runaway from a cult of assassins doesn't make the most normal friendships, so that life was a commune made of anti-system rebels, runaways and other underground characters. And they are not going to let one of them slip away twice. (This AU is very self-indulgent and one of the most developed I have ever made, I just abandoned it because I had no idea where to go past : Desmond is loved and happy)

I think Desmond Miles and Clint Barton should be friends : a classic Desmond-get-into-the-MCU-because-why-not AU, developed solely because the thought of Desmond Miles and Clint Barton chilling together makes me happy (also I vaguely planned to include Bucky in there because methink he and Desmond have enough common ground with to have a really sweet relationship). I have made something resembling a coherent timeline for this one, but Lithuvia's Auspex series on AO3 managed to scratch the Desmond&Clint itch so good I just forgot about it

Muderbot/Assassin's Creed crossover : the Corporation in Muderbot is actually futur Abstergo, and they use assassin's DNA to create their high quality combat units. Too bad for them, Isu DNA is tricky to work with and Desmond Miles is slowly starting to regain his memories. NOW WITH ONE (1) ACTUAL DRABBLE

The Sandman/Assassin's Creed crossover : While he is reliving his ancestors' memories, Desmond realise that Rebecca's animus keep reusing one specific face for clearly different characters. The team don't pay too much attention to it, even if Rebecca is going crazy trying to pinpoint where that particular bug is coming from. That's it, until Desmond bump into the guy during one of his real world mission. Hob Gadling is just trying to live his (eternal) life.

Nurarihyon no Mago

Rikuo's human friends should get to know him for real : A post-canon fic based around the idea that Rikuo hide a lot of himself by trying to act as human as possible, and we never see him interact with his human friends post-reveal (except Yura). So it was a collection of little scenes of day!Rikuo acting more mischevious and calculating around the Kiyojūji Squad and their reactions

Sense8

Let's put all the violent criminals in the same flat : Sun, Wolfgang and Felix are my favourite characters in Sense8 so I want them to be roommates. The plot is that after escaping prison, Sun gets to Germany for vague reasons (her brother is there, something pharmaceutical, something mafia) and live with Wolfgang and Felix. Felix is very confused, so the whole fic is from his POV.

Yu-Gi-Oh

Am I the only one to think the Ishtar siblings look like Goa'ulds ? : Crossover with Stargate SG1. During Battle City, the American army get some very strange reading from Domino, Japan. Someone is using Goa'uld tech on earth and that Ishtar clan is very very suspicious. Jack pretends to not be terrified by Isis, Teal'c and Rishid just look stoïcally at each other, and Atem is trying to not look suspicious in the background.

What if Ryou's life was more like the Thief King's : AU where after Mr. Bakura death in the desert, Ryou has to fend for himself in Egypt. He gets in touch with the Spirit of the Ring way earlier, so it's a Big-Brother-Yami-Bakura-AU nobody asked for. Through Yami Bakura being more-or-less manipulative (I haven't decided how much of YB is TKB or Zorc in this AU yet) and some canon-typical Shadi behaviour, Ryou decides that the Pharao is responsible for his father's death. He meets Malik early after Mr. Ishtar death and they are friends (very important). Just after Death-T, a new student arrives at Domino High. He is very polite and friendly, and seems very respectable despite that awful scar on his face.

So yeah, that's all I've got. If you find any of those ideas interesting, feel free to ask about it or using it in any fanfic project you might have, it would make me very happy :D

[scratching92]

I had this spoiled for me in the notes of one of my posts, but honestly, I still really love this moment. It speaks to all those TTRPGs where some player character finds a ridiculous use for one of their features or abilities and uses it to ruin the GM’s perfectly planned encounter. I love it.

[curiouslilbird]

welcome!

My blog is somewhat like a library of various cool posts I’ve found over the years--find posts by opening the Read More link and tapping the links below. Items are in alphabetical order by type.  (I've tried to sort them as well as I can, but there's a lottttt of tags...my apologies to your scrolling fingers in advance!)

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[yuugisbarber]

omg im finally back into ygo bc my brother got into it and im confused... gx kaiba isnt the same as dso movie? i read the manga long ago but im like sure gx kaiba got closure with atem but at the same time he seems so ooc now? chilling and living without atem? impossible. also hes dead by 5ds? ygo has like 50 different timelines??? whats canon now bc im scratching my head at this point putting it together...

Hey Anon,

I got into yu-gi-oh again pretty recently too, but I think I can explain.

You’re right, Gx Kaiba and DSOD Kaiba are NOT the same

Dark side of dimensions is canon, just Manga canon that’s animated. I recommend reading Transcend Game which contextualizes DSOD a bit more

Gx follows the anime time line. In the anime, Kaiba was present at the ceremonial duel, meaning he got to see Yuugi surpass Atem and see him pass on to the afterlife. Therefore he had closure.

Dark Side of Dimensions takes place on the manga timeline. This Kaiba was not present at the ceremonial duel and missed Atem’s passing entirely. Which motivates his actions in Trancend Game and DSOD

I’m a prideshipper so I am a bit biased when I say this, but I agree with the ooc-ness you mentioned. It’s odd to me that Anime Kaiba was satisfied with how he left things with Atem just because Yuugi beat him and he got to watch him go. He didn’t even have a last word with him.

While in DSOD, he has completely devoted himself to reviving Atem, making his loss everyone’s problem, putting so much money into it. And the only difference was that Kaiba didn’t attend a certain ceremony.

It just begs the question of what did being present at the Ceremonial Duel mean to Anime Kaiba?

What did seeing Yuugi prove himself mean to Kaiba?

How come weather or not Kaiba was present at the duel changes the direction of the story so much?

Only more Meta posts can tell

Thanks for the ask :)

[canonconspiracy]

The Millennium Rose (Teaser)

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters

Fanfiction By: @rmorningstar21​

Pairing: Yami Yugi/Atem x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Minor violence, loneliness (?), nothing gets more violent than the series itself - Rated T.

Posted on AO3 (rmorningstar21) as The Millenium Rose; Posted on Wattpad (rmorningstar21) as The Cursed Millennium Rose, and The Struggling Millennium Rose - Third book for Wattpad coming soon as “The Rejuvenated Millennium Rose”. 

AN: Okay, so I will be the first to admit that my The Millennium Rose series is an older series of mine - one of the first chapter stories I truly got invested in.  It’s been on hiatus for quite some time, but that hiatus will be coming to an end soon. For those of you who haven’t stumbled upon this on either platform, I wanted to share a little teaser (first chapter) of my series.  This follows from Season 1 onwards..  Reader and Atem are married before Pharaoh Atem is sealed in the Millennium Puzzle. I was going to end this one after the Battle City Finals, but due to popular request, posting will begin after my current commission chapter story is up.  I typically age up, but was started prior to doing so.  Due to the rating, I haven’t changed that.  Wanted to keep it accessible for all readers.

A chill crawled up your spine, stinging with each centimeter it moved, grasping your hands tightly to your arms to attempt to shield yourself.  Though you were not sure exactly what you were shielding yourself from, albeit the pain or the darkness that was engulfing your body. As you felt the darkness falling hard upon you, like a weighted blanket that you could not hold, a faint light laid on the floor, illuminating each twisting maze as you stepped.  Each time you walked further through the maze, you could feel the pain increasing, beginning to make your steps more and more tedious. You attempted to call out, to call for his name in the dark, with no avail. Your mouth opened, but as the air escaped your lungs, your voice did not ring. It was almost like choking - the pain that strode into your lungs from your throat - but you could not utter a single word.

Hours passed as you circled the maze, walking in each and every stone cold direction, the pain of the chills slowly seething your skin.  Your surroundings were blackness, and yet you seemed to walk in a labyrinth, swearing that you had turned this way prior, been in each and every spot before, again and again.  Inaudible cries of pain burned in your throat as you continued to walk on, your legs growing tired, lungs constricting. Hopelessness swelled in your chest as you continued on and on, silent tears beginning to fall from your tired eyes.  

Your tired, crying eyes met a figure, merely ten feet away from where you were walking in what seemed like a room.   For a moment you froze, studying the figure, but as you were met with lilac orbs, you took your exhausted legs and ran towards the figure.  The small glimmer of hope taunted you, showing you the man that kept your legs going on your weighted journey, lonesome darkness entangling down to your very soul.  Hope swelled in your chest as you ran, but as you did the room began to get further away, his lilac orbs seeming to grow smaller and smaller away from your vision. Still your feet patted forward until there was no ground beneath you.

As the ground had disappeared, you had begun your journey downward.  Hastily the gravity took your body, plummeting into a deep abyss. Tears once again rained from your eyes.  Your heart dropped as you did, and you tried so hard to scream, feeling it scratching at your throat, constricting it.

He was gone, and you had failed to reach him.

***

You awoke with soaked cheeks and labored breaths, before glancing around and realizing that you were not in that labyrinth any longer.  Another nightmare, you thought to yourself, though every day you lived the nightmares that you slept with.  I miss him.   Ironically, your nightmares had held your memory intact over time, reminding you of the reason you kept on fighting day in and day out in this monotonous world.  Though you would never be able to forget his handsome face, his lilac orbs burned into your skull. As your y/e/c eyes scanned the room, it was simply a relatively plain room surrounding you, little trinkets upon your dresser in the form of plush monsters, and your deck sitting comfortably next to a kuriboh plush that you had grown to adore.  Attempting to steady your breath, you wiped your face free of the salty sadness and glanced at the time flashing upon your alarm clock, your eyes still holding a light redness from when you had been crying in your sleep. Springing to your feet, you nearly fell over, steadying yourself on the side of your bed before further action. Your head was woozy with the newfound movement, the room slowly coming back to you as your dizzy spell passed you.

Making your way to your small, gray walled bathroom, you threw your prior clothes aside and hopped into a quick shower.  Hastily you scrubbed yourself with your f/s body gel, not getting enough time to even enjoy the kisses of the warm water that drenched over your frigid body.  In less than five minutes time, you were already dressed, hair dried, and grabbing at your black messenger bag that laid next to the door. You tucked your deck safely into your bag before gentle fingers reached to touch lightly upon your golden wristband.  For a moment, you allow your eyes to close, thinking of your wristband. It held the symbol to keep your life intact as well as cursed, leaving you to deal with the merits and disappointments of this life. Then as your eyes were still closed, those lilac eyes showed in your mind, reminding you of the reason you keep on with this silly charade, hoping that one day everything will change.

Practically jogging out the door, you made your way to your new life once again.  Domino High School, as you read upon the sign, looked bustling and boring from the eyes of a woman who had attended countless high school’s over time.  The crowds had shown that it was definitely a more lively school than the last you had attended, though not as lively as the one you had attended prior.  Maybe if you did not forever look 16, you would not have to attend so many boring lectures in your life, but you had attended plenty in your time, across the globe.  Each curriculum merely had minor changes to it, if any, and you had to purposely get things wrong from time to time to not seem out of the ordinary. The world changed and grew around you, while you stayed the same, the same h/c h/l, and young y/e/c orbs.  The only thing that had changed over time was your skin, which had lightened from your Egyptian tan to a pale ivory, just as everyone else looked around you. It was just another boring day in monotony for you, but there was a presence around that had kept you on your toes as you entered your newfound high school.  You could feel something was different in the world now, which had rose excitement and fear in your young body.

***

You were coming out of your geometry class, holding your books tightly to your chest and walking quickly to your locker before lunch, your eyes at your feet as you walked.  As you did so, you were lost in thought, and before you knew it, you whacked directly into something solitary, causing you to stumble backwards, staring up in a moment of terror.  What you had found was that you ended up slamming directly into another student, and blush began rising in your cheeks from the embarrassment. It was needless to say that the boy looked unpleasant with his round face that seemed to hold a permanent scowl.  The boy looked as if he were maybe 17, largely boned, while you had a very tiny frame, yet he glared angrily at you as if you had pushed him off of a cliff. On the other hand, you were the one with the books scattered all over the ground, and the impact had caused your tailbone to whack the floor, causing a sharp, yet temporary pain.

“I’m so sorry!” you said frantically, grabbing your books quickly and pulling yourself to your feet.  You bowed slightly in respect and began to rush off before you felt a pull at the back of your uniform.  Seconds later, you were pinned against the wall, staring up at the unpleasant boy you had angered, his face looking even more unpleasant than previously.  It was as if the anger building in him was surfacing due to what you would assume was a slight inconvenience.

“Don’t think just because you’re new you can get away with that,” he growled, pressing harder against your shoulder.  

Just my luck that I run into the school bully on my first day here, you thought to yourself, your heart pounding in your chest.  This was not particularly an uncommon occurrence for you, seeing as you had attended plenty of high schools over the last couple thousand years, but nevertheless, you were still a relatively scrawny girl with a 16 year old body.  Old souls still did not have super strength, after all. Though you could likely send him to the shadow realm, doing something so rash on your first day would have been a mistake that you would have to live with for the rest of the time you could attend school there, and you shied away from that idea.  “I didn’t mean to harm you,” you said cowering back, pain beginning to build in the shoulder he was pressing on. “I-I it’ll never happen again.” You attempted your best fake smile, and yet it dropped almost immediately as the rage fueled his face, watching it scrunch even more.

The boy drew his free hand back, and was about to send it directly into your face.  You could see the build up, and your eyes squeezed shut tightly. After a few moments without impact, you opened your eyes back up to see the boy being held back by another student.  “You shouldn’t hit a lady,” the slender boy said with the relatively pointed hair, all coming up at the top. As you finally were fully registering what was going on, you saw that the boy was holding the bully’s fist, twisting it slightly.  “And if you don’t let go of her, we are going to have problems, buddy.”  

The school bully that was about to attack you cowardly ran away, letting go of your shoulder, and letting your body slump to the floor.  You could hear a few people talking to the boy that had just saved you, but you were too busy trying to control your breathing, and attempting to ignore the pain that seared through your shoulder.  After a few moments, you noticed a hand outstretched to you, paired with a gentle smile on the boy’s face whom had just saved you. With your good arm you had taken it, letting him bring you to your feet.  

“Uh, thank you, so very much,” you said bowing slightly, a formal gesture that you had not broken over so many years.  You smiled softly at the boy, holding your books tightly to you, despite the pain that you felt still radiating through your shoulder.  There was no doubt that the bully had at least left a bruise upon your shoulder from the pressure he was using, and though he was a coward to the boy that had saved you, he likely would have slammed a fist directly into your face.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” the boy said with a genuine smile.  

You had nodded at his words, meekly saying, “I just moved here.”  In actuality, of course you had just moved there, but you knew that every school was basically the same.  Each school that you had run into, you had your share of those issues. Sometimes there were kind strangers willing to help, occasionally you had friends that had your back, and then sometimes you would have to deal with a swift fist hitting you somewhere.  Bullies were a common occurrence for high schools, and that was one of the few things that made you regret not aging.

“I’m Tristan, and these are my friends.”  He gestured back to the group you assumed you were hearing while you were still on the floor.  

“I’m Tea,” a girl with short brunette hair said with a kind smile.

A boy with a Brooklyn accent and blonde hair said next, “I’m Joey.”

And the last boy could have given you a heart attack standing right there.  He said, “I’m Yugi,” but as you noticed the spiked multi color hair on his head, the first thing you thought of was him.  Your heart skipped a beat, though the boy was definitely smaller than the one that you longed so desperately for. The differences were subtle, and yet you could see each one.  His stature, for one, and for two, the shaping of his eyes was much more child-like than him, though they held the same lilac color. Yugi had a shy, yet kind smile upon his face, and continued with, “Would you like to come with us to lunch?”

For a moment, you bit your lip, unsure of what to say.  As you weighed your options, you studied the group, though your eyes were mainly set upon the boy who called himself Yugi.  He was so much like him, and yet not. If he was a reincarnation of him, would that be even possible? As your y/e/c orbs raked over the peculiar group, you noticed something odd hanging from the short boy’s neck.  Just as your item held your wrist was Egyptian, you could clearly see that what he had was an artifact, a very familiar one for that matter. Thinking, you glanced to your wrist, and back to it, and it dawned upon you, making you nod quickly.  “I-I would love to, thank you,” you said rushed, realizing that you had been standing there in awe and silence. “I’m Y/N, by the way.”

As you walked with the group, you couldn’t help but keep looking over at the Millennium Puzzle adorning the young boy’s neck.  Maybe, you wondered to yourself, but attempted to shake the thought of as you stood in line with the group and got lunch with them all.  Even if it was, would he remember me?  

When the group had gotten their lunches, you sat beside Tea and Yugi while Tristan and Joey sat across from you three.  Through your peripheral vision, you would occasionally catch small glances of Yugi, particularly of the millennium item adorning his neck.  Excitement was rising in your chest, even paired with a small bit of hope that you could be right. If the prophecy was truly real, then you would be right.  What ifs ran through your mind as you thought more and more about it, though you attempted to keep regular conversation going on with the group when necessary.  They seemed like kind people, and even if somehow you were wrong, you picked the right group to hang out with for this attended school.

[raemanzu]

When Atem lost his father, he could never have anticipated how short his own reign would be. A far cry from his idealistic dreams of a fair and equal future, instead he finds himself reckoning with the atrocities committed by his uncle under the previous pharaoh's watch. If the price to awaken Zorc was the complete erasure of an entire village of souls, what could one young king possibly offer to balance the scales and set things right?

This fic covers Atem's last day, assuming things don't happen exactly as they do in Bakura's little memory world RPG, but still following the main beats of canon. Strong focus on the friendship between Atem, Mana, and Mahad, as well as Atem and Priest Seto. This has already been written and will be uploaded over a short time in chapters.

This chapter is a bit shorter than the last, and quieter, the deep breath before the plunge I guess. Please don’t be shy about leaving comments, I crave your keysmashes and any expression of feels! Chapter 4 will be posted either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Preview:

          Cold. Something wet touched Atem’s arm and it hurt. He hissed and curled himself up to protect it, but there was someone else there, holding onto him. Small, smooth hands.

           “Prince? Are you waking up?” Mana’s voice sounded hoarse, but hopeful.

          He didn’t want to wake up. Even before the memories consciously returned, he knew from how his being ached that something was very wrong. But there was something else, solid and warm in the center of it. Something protective and hopeful, like a scarab’s armor quieting the doubtful fluttering in his own heart.

           It was hard to open his eyes at first. They felt scratched and dry, and he remembered sliding down the dusty cliff-face. He tried to swallow and found he could manage it. Then he tried to speak, to head off the cries of grief rising in his throat as he remembered everything else.

           “Where are we?”

          “In one of the tombs,” Mana said, almost a whisper. As if she were afraid someone was listening. The only other sound Atem could hear was a distant rumble of thunder or heavy wind, he wasn’t sure which. “It was the only place close enough to hide.”

Read it on AO3

[merryfortune]

Day 6

Social Interactionism 2021

Day 6: “I’d like to formally propose that you hug me.”

Event: @hugsaku​

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains

Ship: Aoi/Go/Yusaku

Word Count: 1.4k

Tags:  Post Canon, Canon Compliant, Fluff with a Little Bit of Angst

AN: Big thank you to Serry for hosting Hugsaku, thank you so much, I’ve really enjoyed participating <333

  “Bye, bye, Shima, see you tomorrow.” Aoi said.

  Naoki scratched the back of his head and laughed, “Yeah, see you two Duel Club slackers tomorrow.”

  Yusaku exhaled funnily hearing the slight hypocrisy in that statement but he waved goodbye to Naoki as well, who was no doubt thinking to himself how unfortunate it was that he didn’t live in that general direction like they did. Then, they could be a real trio going to and from school. Although, what he didn’t know was that Aoi didn’t live in that direction either, but she did have plans with the hot dog van. Plans involving hopefully reviving Aqua but that was getting ahead of things.

  As a pair, Yusaku and Aoi shuffled along. It was getting a bit late, the skyline was dyeing orange with the evening as they walked in silence to the park. It was a comfortable silence, however, as they were both introverts and both knew that if any developments had happened during the day, then they would have much to talk about later, so it was best to save their breath.

  Or, at least, that was the unspoken agreement before they happened along upon an unexpected encounter.

  They were close to the park now, having walked for about fifteen, maybe twenty, minutes and there were a fair few people fanned out along the paths and such. The old man under a tree, reading a book; the mother pushing along a stroller with groceries tucked under the carriage; and the office lady with a reusable cup of coffee in one hand and her smartphone in the other. A whole host of people and with mild interest, Aoi and Yusaku observed just one: the runner in a dark navy hoodie who was up against the iron fence, catching his breath.

  He pushed off against the fence with his two fists tucked in and his shoulders square. He was ready for another round of long-distance running, it seemed, as his pace was staunch and somewhat slow. He passed by Aoi and Yusaku by a shoulder and out of curiosity, both of them flicked their gazes up to him and they met his eyes. Heavy set, a steel blue. He blinked.

  “Onizuka Go.” Aoi gasped with recognition.

  He let go of the tension in his muscles that kept him tight and compact, ready to run and run for miles. He looked at them both, tentatively confused but had the courtesy to bring his hood down even though he liked to keep his eyes on the prize like a racehorse in blinders.

  “Do I know…?” he murmured before his eyes glistened. He recognised them back. Well, at least one of them. “You… Your Zaizen’s sister.” He turned his head to Yusaku and studied him closer. There was something familiar about him but he couldn’t place it and Yusaku, instinctively, shied away from the attention, all but scurrying to hide his identity – or, in this case, identities given it was Go. “And… do I know you?” he asked. “Like, from way, way back?”

  “Sort of…” Yusaku mumbled.

  Aoi glanced at him and Yusaku nodded awkwardly. “It’s good to meet you properly, Onizuka, it’s been a while.”

  “Y-Yeah,” he said, “and we never got that match, huh, Blue Angel?”

  “Yes, that is a shame.” Aoi said.

  Go rubbed the back of his neck, “I know I just had a breather, but I’m thinking we should sit down, maybe?”

  “I’d like that.” Yusaku piped up.

  They looked around and found an unoccupied garden bench in the park, in the shade of some trees. They sat, with not much space amongst them, with Yusaku in the middle, of all places. He felt just a little bit claustrophobic between them but did his best to withstand that middling pressure.

  Looking up at Go, even just in stolen glances, it was heartening to see that he had put some of his lost weight back on. He wasn’t quite as showstopping muscular as he once was but he had padded out to what looked good and healthy on him.

  He sat with his hands in his lap, twiddling his thumbs, and he looked at Yusaku, “So, you a fan?” he asked.

  “Kind of.” Yusaku replied. “My name is Fujiki Yusaku, but you might know me better as Playmaker.”

  Go’s eyes widened. He didn’t believe it – or maybe he didn’t want to believe it.

  “And just as I’m Blue Angel, as you know, I’m Blue Girl and Blue Maiden as well, but maybe you already knew.” Aoi added, she did her best to not sound wracked with surprise as she hadn’t been expecting Yusaku’s easy admission of his other self.

  “N-No, I believe it.” Go said but it seemed more to Yusaku than to Aoi.

  “I figure, since we have this chance to talk, you deserved to know.” Yusaku said.

  “Thanks.” Go said because he wasn’t sure what else to say.

  He hadn’t been expecting that Playmaker would be some gawky, awkward kid but it made sense to him that such a stoic person might be stoic because he was socially graceless more so than hardened and intense like a criminal.

  “No, I should be thanking you.” Yusaku said, feeling a little bit stronger and certain with what he wanted to use this opportunity for. “Or,” he added, “I should be apologising to you. But maybe both. I think both works so I’ll start with thank you. Thank you for trying your best to defend the Link VRAINS from the Knights of Hanoi. I was distraught when you were defeated by Revolver, admittedly, because I didn’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “Playmaker…” Go breathed.

  Yusaku prickled. “I was scared. I tried pushing you – you and Aoi – away because I didn’t want to see you get hurt but that’s the thing about bonds, connections… even if you try your hardest to sever them all, push people away first, it just magnetises you to them all the more.”

  Go laughed. He tried not to sound bitter, but he did just a touch. He supposed that that was exactly what happened. He was pushed away by losing to Playmaker, by feeling unacknowledged by him, but that just made him go full throttle which in turn caused him to combust. But his laughter turned into a quiet smile.

  “I realise this doesn’t change the past but its how I felt – and continue to feel.” Yusaku said. He glanced at Aoi. “I don’t want you to feel left out, I’m sorry and thankful for you as well.” He told her.

  “It’s okay.” Aoi replied.

  “So, what now?” Go asked. “I still have a lot of my work-out routine to get through, sure you two have to hurry on along. But we should catch some up some more.”

  “Y-Yeah,” Yusaku stuttered out, words clogging in his throat only to turn into an awkward deluge, “but before you go, I formally propose that you should hug me.”

  Go laughed again. Playmaker was cute. His stoicism truly did not come from cruelty but from a place of hurt and awkwardness. Knowing that, his memories of their duel and other encounters made more sense to him in this new frame of context. His laughter was full-bellied and strong; Yusaku’s mouth twitched and then, without seemingly no warning, Go obliged.

  His arm flung up and then hooked around Yusaku with an energetic voracity. Go pulled Yusaku in close, to the crook of him and Aoi watched with a giggle. Yusaku stiffened as he had never been hugged quite so exuberantly before and Go grinned.

  “To better futures and all that, eh?” Go reckoned.

  Yusaku smiled as he put his hand on Go’s thick forearm, “Y-Yeah, something like that.” He said. “I’d really like to duel you again.”

  “I’d like that as well – oh and, Blue Angel, you get in here too, don’t want you feeling left out, we never got our Charisma match after all.” Go bellowed in good nature.

  “T-True, we never did.” Aoi agreed but she inclined to Go’s invitation.

  She leaned in on Yusaku, almost skittish, and hugged him from his other side. She put her hands on his shoulder and nuzzled in. Yusaku breathed with difficulty in the lock of Go’s arm but it was as strangely nice as it was overbearing. He smiled with hopeful thoughts.

[fairknights]

not to be a useless lesbian but i luv mai and would like reader x mai stuff and i’m none too picky about the content bc i rarely see stuff for her 🥺

I’d be happy to do some Mai headcanons for you, Anon. I’m surprised I’ve not really written for her before, I love her too. Everyone feel free to send me some more Mai love, I’d be happy to write more!

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Mai Valentine (Kujaku Mai)

SFW headcanons:

One of the first things her potential s/o will notice is that she’s a real tease. If she’s interested in someone she’s not too shy about it. It’s partly her wanting to get to know the person, and partly because she enjoys their reactions. She’s the type that enjoys making her s/o blush because she thinks it’s so cute.

That said, she can be a bit prickly at times. It takes a while for her to learn to trust someone, so expect her not to show her feelings to anyone for a good while. She’ll tease someone she’s interested in, yes, but she’ll play it off like it’s nothing. She’ll naturally pay special attention to someone if she’s got a thing for them, though. Once she’s warmed up to them, she’ll cool off with the teasing in favour of getting to know her s/o better. The teasing never really stops though

She’s not really into big flashy dates with her s/o; she prefers to just spend time in their company alone. She doesn’t have to be conversing with them the whole time either, she kind of likes the ‘part of the furniture’ feeling. So for example if her s/o wants to put their head on her lap as they’re reading or watching TV together, Mai would enjoy it very much. She’d like to run her fingers through her s/o’s hair or gently scratch their scalp absently.

She’s a bit of a night owl, and she’d sometimes enjoy taking her s/o out of the city to a place where you can see the stars without the lights getting in the way. She could stand there for hours with her s/o, admiring the night sky and talking about life, the universe and everything with them. It’s times like these where Mai seems to relax her guard the most.