#Though I never read the manga so I never found of what the deal with akito was

[undyinglantern]

I forgot funimagion doesn’t do the whispered “you should be watching” anymore

[awearywritersworld]

i have for the first time found what i can truly love—i have found you

sukuna x reader summary: you and sukuna go out for a late night meal. gojo finds out about your... relationship. sukuna is forced to take care of you when you come home drunk. w/c: 2.85k tags/warnings: enemies to lovers. fluff. lots of banter. cursing. jealous/protective!sukuna. gojo being a flirt. aged up!yuuji. features a teeny bit of yuuji x reader. drinking and drunk!reader. not canon compliant. fem!reader. no use of y/n. no manga spoilers. a/n: i think i like how this turned out! also, the first two sections could def be read as a fluffy lil stand alone. idc whats happening in the canonverse, sukunas just a tsundere who adores us very much<3 series masterlist // masterlist

"maybe if you stare long enough, food will magically appear," sukuna calls to you from the kitchen table.

"this is no joking matter," you scold from your place in front of the fridge. "i'm starving."

"well, here's an absurd idea— let's go eat."

you turn toward him, finally closing the fridge, and tilt your head to the side. "you eat?"

"of course." he leans back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. "i typically prefer babies, but hell, i'd even go for an old man right now. i'm famished."

your eyes widen and your mouth falls open. he lets the panic simmer on your face for a few more cruel moments. "i'm kidding, idiot. i eat food, same as you."

"i knew that," you assert. the way your shoulders sag in relief tells him otherwise.

"right," he smirks. after standing up, he grabs your purse and tosses it in your direction. "where to? you're buying."

with only so many places open at midnight, you begin your journey to a 24 hour ramen shop.

you've hardly interacted with sukuna outside of your apartment, so this is certainly an experience you didn't anticipate. and in fact, you're shocked at how normal it feels— almost as if it's a date.

as you walk down the street, people eye him suspiciously because of the dark lines they assume are tattoos. it doesn't bother you though, nor does the lateness of the hour. you know that you're safe because you're with him.

your hands keep brushing against one another's, and you're hoping that he'll eventually take a hint and reach for yours. he doesn't (i mean come on, do you even know who you're dealing with?).

he does at least pick up on your pouty expression with impressive ease. "what now?"

"nothing," you huff.

"don't be a brat."

you sigh dramatically. "you're supposed to hold my hand."

"sure princess," he says condescendingly, lacing his fingers through yours. "maybe use your words next time like a big girl."

he doesn't fail to notice the ensuing skip in your step, and he kicks himself for regarding it as cute.

when you arrive at the ramen shop, sukuna orders no less than three bowls, which earns him a glare once the waitress walks away.

"when i agreed to pay, i didn't know what a glutton you are."

"oh yeah? cause i'm just the picture of temperance any other time?"

you scoff. "well you've got me there."

a sly smirk settles onto his face before he speaks again. "maybe one day you'll learn how greedy i am when it comes to the things i've deemed pleasurable."

you choke on the water you'd just brought to your lips, your face heating up as if it'd been bathed by fire.

wiping at your mouth, you try your best to recover quickly. "whatever, you hellion. as long as that doesn't involve a fourth bowl of ramen."

you're no more than 10 steps away from the shop when you hold out your hand to him. "ahem."

he grabs it roughly and not without rolling his eyes.

"what?" you ask innocently. "that was a word."

"hardly," he jeers. "for as much as you read, i'd expect you to be more fluent than a child."

"and at 1000 years old, i'd expect you to be more charming than a teenage boy, but i guess we're both making concessions."

"see, this is the part that puzzles me. you never seem to have trouble with your words when you're being insolent."

"maybe it's a sign," you begin whimsically. "the universe decided you need to be taken down a peg."

"ah, yes. you as the executor of the universe's will. i don't know why i couldn't see it before."

you giggle, rather delighted that he's elected to play along with your quips. there's something that feels so warm and pleasant about it.

as you wonder if he feels it too, your hand tightens around his.

you're not quite ready to head back to your apartment just yet, because you're scared you'll lose the atmosphere surrounding the two of you. in truth, it's a bit intoxicating.

the perfect opportunity arises when you spot a small park up ahead. lights are strung around the trees, all of which are situated around a small fountain.

"we should stop at that park!" you hardly finish speaking before you take off in that direction, tugging him along behind you.

after you plop down on the fountain's ledge, sukuna takes his place beside you.

"let's sit here for a little while."

he doesn't respond and you take his silence as agreement. he's not really one to stifle his grievances.

as the minutes pass, the rush of the fountain is the only noise that fills the air, while you gaze at the trees with a serene expression.

sukuna, however, is looking at you. the only care he has for the trees is the way their lights reflect in your eyes. otherwise, he's fully occupied by the curve of your nose and the fullness of your lips.

"isn't this pretty?" you finally ask.

"it's pretty," he agrees, even when such a soft word feels foreign on his tongue.

his eyes still haven't left you, and you seem to be oblivious to this fact until he reaches up to stroke your cheek with the back of fingers.

when your gaze lands on him, the fondness written all over his face catches you off guard and you realize how close the both of you are. without really thinking about it, you lean into his touch.

"very pretty," he repeats lowly, as if he's talking to himself.

your heart lurches once in your chest, then hammers away at your ribcage without respite. he leans toward you a fraction of an inch, his eyes flicking down to your lips for a brief second.

truthfully, sukuna has never felt the way he does in this moment. it's a sincere sort of desire. he doesn't want the mindless devotion he once thirsted for from his followers. and he doesn't want the sex he used to crave from his concubines.

no. he just wants you— in whatever capacity you're willing to have him.

the way he's looking at you is just too much. there's a dull thudding in your ears and you swear your thoughts are moving at a million miles a minute.

so naturally, you blurt out the first thing you can manage. "we should take a selfie!"

his face shifts from whatever that expression was to one of confusion. "take a selfie?"

some twisted mix of relief and disappointment crashes through you.

"yeah, a selfie. a picture together. ya know, since the park is so pretty," you ramble.

he pulls away from you. not all the way, but enough that it gives you space to finally breath. he chuckles and it doesn't sound lofty like it so often does. in fact, he seems genuinely amused by you.

"a selfie," he deliberates. "that sounds great, but to the best of my knowledge, hell hasn't frozen over."

and just like that, your dynamic feels like it did during your walk from the ramen shop to the park— comfortable and fun.

"well i guess you would be one of the first to know."

ignoring his protests, you take out your phone and hold it far enough away that the camera captures both of your faces. you can see on the screen that he's put on an expression of complete boredom.

"c'mon," you nudge him with your elbow. "you look like you hate me."

the corner of his mouth curves upward. "that's because i do."

you think back on the way he was gazing at you just moments ago and laugh. "you're so full of shit."

then, without warning, you press a kiss to his cheek and click the button.

you decide that his vague look of contented surprise will just have to do.

when you and yuuji walk into the bar, you immediately spot one of the people you're there to meet. he's sitting at a hightop by himself, his snow white hair pretty hard to miss.

you tap his shoulder and his face breaks out into a grin. he slides out of the barstool. "if it isn't my favorite civilian!"

as he pulls you into a hug, you wonder if he's ever going to get tired of that joke. "if it isn't my favorite old man."

"35 is not old," he argues, moving to greet yuuji. "i'm still in the summer of my life, thank you very much!"

"gojo you're 36," the pink haired man remarks.

"gah! such betrayal, yuuji!" he presses his hand to his forehead and takes a deep breath. "now i'm going to need another round."

"i'll go and get drinks for all of us," you offer. "you two stay here so no one takes the table."

before either of them can respond, you turn and begin making your way through the crowd. you don't hear gojo when he calls out, "but darling! i should go with you!"

he takes a step in your direction, but stops when sukuna's mouth appears on yuuji's cheek. "you certainly should not, you insufferable half wit."

"relax, dude. he flirts with literally everyone," yuuji informs him.

gojo scoffs. "i am right here—"

"as if that makes it better?" sukuna barks. "she isn't some toy to be played with."

"of course she isn't! you can't honestly think i'd believe otherwise."

gojo is left forgotten for a moment as the other two bicker, so he interjects once there's a lull in the conversation. "do either of you care to explain what the hell is going on?"

yuuji turns toward him, trying and failing to hide the embarrassment on his face once he realizes that gojo is, in fact, still standing there.

his eyebrows are raised above his sunglasses and it's clear he is inappropriately amused by the situation (what else is new?). he moves to sit across from the younger man, looking at him expectantly.

having no way to talk himself out of this, yuuji relays the recent events regarding you and sukuna, sparing some of the finer details. gojo's face doesn't really betray much emotion throughout the story, though he does look thoughtful by the end of it.

leaning forward, he crosses his arms on top of the table. "maybe your feelings for her are influencing his own, forcing a sort of bond between them?"

"i don't think so," yuuji contends honestly. "other than her, you're the person i admire and respect the most, but he thinks—"

"that you are perhaps the most imbecilic rampallion i've ever had the displeasure of coming across."

gojo jerks back, as if the insult had hit him squarely in the jaw. the look of giddiness from yuuji's compliment, followed by the shift to indignation at sukuna's insult is almost comical.

he stretches his neck forward, cupping his hand around one side of his mouth as if it'd keep sukuna from hearing. "what'd he just call me?"

yuuji shrugs. "beats me, but i don't think he was singing your praises."

"i see your point." gojo pauses, glancing over his shoulder. you're approaching the table, so he turns back to yuuji and quickly adds, "we'll talk more about this another time, but for now, keep this between us."

a few moments later, you appear in front of them and exclaim, "look who i found!"

megumi and inumaki situate themselves around the table too, offering their greetings. you slide yuuji and gojo their drinks, both of which are filled to the brim of the glass. "now then gentlemen, shall we?"

when gojo teleports you and yuuji back to your apartment that night, it takes everything in you to keep from yakking all over your carpet.

"ta ta, hooligans!"

you turn to request that he never do that again, but he's already gone. taking one step forward, you promptly fall on your ass in the entryway with an unforgiving thud. yuuji staggers toward the couch, making it there just in time to face plant into the cushions.

looking down toward your shoes, you're dismayed to find that each one appears to have two sets of laces. you're fumbling with them determinedly when someone crouches down in front of you, their elbows resting on their thighs.

he doesn't say a word. brushing your hands away, he unties your shoes and carefully pulls them off your feet. you're lifted from the floor before you can register the arm that's looped under your knees or the other that's securely around your back.

"careful," you hiccup, your head falling into the crook of his neck. "'m gunna p-puke."

"i'd rather you didn't."

you groan. "s'not like i 'ave a choice in the matter."

he hums. "how much did you drink?"

"dunno. sss'much. nobara—" you hiccup again. "nobara n' maki made me."

he chuckles, placing you down on what you figure is your bed. "right, i'm sure you had no choice in the matter."

"tha's correct, yes."

unbuttoning your jeans, he tugs upward on your belt loops. "lift."

you do as he says, lifting your hips from the bed so he can slide your jeans off your legs. he knows you won't remember this— hell, your eyes are already closed— but he looks away as he does it anyway.

pulling your phone from your pocket and putting it on the charger, your pants are discarded off to the side. he only turns his head back in your direction once he's pulled the blankets up over your body.

"tuck me in?" you request.

sitting down on the bed beside you, he does so without protest.

he stares at you for a little while, worried about how poorly you're probably going to feel in the morning. he presses a kiss to your forehead, intending to get up and grab a water bottle for your nightstand.

instead, his body freezes when he hears you mumble, "i love you s'much."

his heart clenches so painfully, he honestly considers ripping it from his chest— it would probably be less agonizing.

but a thought that makes him feel like a fool occurs to him. of course it's not him that you love. "i'm not yuuji."

"well, duuuhhh. you're s'kuna." you're peering up at him through tired, hazy eyes. it's the first time you've ever seen him look bewildered, so a small giggle erupts from your throat. "s'okay. you don't 'ave t'say it back."

your eyes flutter shut and your breathing evens out before he even thinks to respond. all at once, it's as if his head is empty and as if it's about to explode.

love?

what does he know about love? it's a sentiment he's cursed for so long, but sitting here beside you, he can't quite seem to remember why. one thing he is sure of, however, is that there's never been a thing in the world he's loved.

suddenly, he's struck with remembrance of a quote from jane eyre you had emphasized with messy underlines:

"after a youth and manhood passed half in unutterable misery and half in dreary solitude, i have for the first time found what i can truly love—i have found you. you are my sympathy—my better self—my good angel. i am bound to you with a strong attachment. i think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre and spring of life, wraps my existence about you, and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one."

rochester says it as he begs jane to stay at thornfield with him, an act sukuna had previously regarded as ridiculous, but is that still the case?

were you to ever scorn him, would he fall to his knees and plead with you to change your mind? or if you were in danger of dying, would he drag himself to a shrine and pray to the gods he doesn't believe in?

is that what love is?

could he stand to be apart from you? are you special to him? does anything else in the world compare to you? does he seek out your company? is he consumed by you? can he know himself without knowing you?

does the definition of love lie in those questions?

sukuna hopes not, because he's terrified of the answers. being in love is not his way, nor is it in his nature.

he buries his face in his hands as realization settles into his bones. it feels as if they're splintering beneath the pressure, trying resentfully to stave it off.

he transcends any imaginable scale of power. he's bled entire villages dry, he's commandeered death, he's the king of curses.

so why now? and why you? is it divine retribution? a sick sort of joke that even he couldn't have dreamed up?

gods, you were right. the universe has sent you to carry out its will and he's completely powerless to stop it.

the worst part of it all? he doesn't want to.

taglist: @96jnie @ay0nha @sad-darksoul @bbysatoruuu @luciiferian @thepup356 @risuola *users in bold could not be tagged

[linkspooky]

Are You Satisfied?

As you might have heard chapter 236 of Jujutsu Kaisen ends with the death of Gojo Satoru. The fandom is making a pretty big deal about it. As someone who predicted from the beginning that Gojo was going to lose against Sukuna, the reaction is fascinating to me. This is perhaps the most controversial chapter of Jujutsu Kaisen I've ever seen. So I've decided to throw my hat into the ring.

The central theme of Jujutsu Kaisen is death, so the death of one of the main characters isn't too surprising, but what does Gojo's death mean for the story? What does it say about his character?

As I said above I am a little bit shocked by the extreme controversy over Gojo's death. Gojo was never going to win the fight in the first place, because Jujutsu Kaisen is a story and the story would be over if he defeated Sukuna. He'd easily be able to take care of Kenjaku afterwards and the main conflcit would be resolved. Would it really be an interesting story if Gojo one shotted the villains while the kids just wathced on Television?

The story is also not about Gojo, it's about the students. Gojo may think he's the protagonist of reality but he's not the protagonist of the story.

Once again, Jujutsu Kaisen is a story and stories have themes. We may grow personally attached to characters, but characters are just narrative tools to convey the themes of a story, no different from prose, dialogue, and art. Characters are a tool to be used well or used poorly, and sometimes yes that means killing them. Whether Gojo's death was naratively satisfying though isn't the purpose of this post though we're only asking what does it mean?

Finally, Jujutsu Kaisen is not only a fictional story, it's specifically a tragedy. Full disclosure, it's a manga about death.

The Protagonist of a Tragedy

So, number one shout out to me for making this post 4 months ago where I called the way Gojo would end the fight.

Excuse me while I fist pump for calling it!

The question on everyone's minds is why does one of the most powerful characters in the manga die offscreen in a pretty humiliating way, cut in half and helpless on the ground just like Kaneki. The reason Gojo didn't get a more heroic (or cooler) death is because we're not reading My Hero Academia, this is not a story about heroes or even a typical Shonen manga it is a tragedy.

In poetics Aristotle defines tragedy as:

"an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions" (51).

To paraphrase a tragedy is about human action, actions characters make in a tragedy often have dire consequences. One of the most common consequences if the reversal of a hero's fortune, a hero of a tragedy usually starts out on top and ends up on the bottom because of the bad choices they make. If in normal shonen manga characters overcome their flaws through effort and persistence, in Jujutsu Kaisen we see characters more often than not lose to their flaws.

The reason I posted that Kaneki panel specifically is because it was a brilliant moment of narrative punishment for Kaneki's central character flaw. Kaneki the hero's main flaw is that he always fights alone, and he constantly makes that same choice over and over again to fight alone. One of the characters helpfully explains it as well.

Stories are primarily about change. If a character doesn't change they're not serving the plot, unless that specifically is the point. People have pointed out how abrupt it is for Gojo to get sealed in Shibuya, get let out, and then immediately die afterwards but that's kind of the point. Gojo made more or less the exact same choice (he asked for Utahime's help for a buff but otherwise fought the entire battle himself). The definition of insanity and what not, why would doing the same thing over and over again net him a different result?

Not only did Gojo choose to fight alone, but as I've been hammering on and on about in previous meta the entire fight Gojo cared more about fighting a strong opponent then he did saving Megumi, the child he was responsible for.

Jujutsu Kaisen is not a typical shonen manga where everything is resolved by beating a strong villain in a fight. That's specifically why I used the Tokyo Ghoul reference, because the reason Kaneki is defeated offscreen like that is because he thought the world worked like a shonen manga. He has a fantasy sequence where he's fighting Juzo in a shonen battle tournament like this is Yu Yu Hakusho right before it snaps back to reality and he's limbless on the ground.

Gojo is a major character in the manga Jujutsu Kaisen, literally "Sorcery Fight" and he is the best sorcerer in the whole world. His entire identity revolves around being a sorcerer. Since he is so good and beloved at what he does, he thinks that everything is resolved by exorcising a curse or defeating a strong opponent. He has basically no identity outside of that. Which is why when he's fighting the possessed body of his student, a person he's been mentoring since childhood his priority is not to save Megumi but to beat a strong opponent. Gojo is a sorcerer, before a human being. That's who he is, that's who he always has been since day one.

I think part of the negative fan reaction comes from fans being really attached to this scene in the manga and deciding Gojo's entire character revolves around being a good mentor figure to children.

Which is just incorrect, Gojo's entire character revolves around being the strongest. On top of that though, Gojo can care about children and also care about being the strongest he can care about multiple things at once and have those things contradict each other because humans are complicated. I'd point out even in this panel where he's stating motivation he's not trying to raise these kids up into being healthy adults, he wants them to be strong Jujutsu Sorcerers. Even when he's raising kids, his intention is to turn them into Jujutsu Sorcerers because everything in Gojo's mind revolves around Jujutsu Sorcery. Gojo does not exist outside of the world of sorcerers. Gojo may be the chosen one but he'd never be able to hold down a job at Mcdonalds.

I think in general readers put more investment in the things characters say out loud, rather than their actions. You can say one thing and do another. I can say "I should never eat sweets again I'm going to improve my diet", and then go and eat ice cream five hours later. Gojo can state out loud his intention to foster children and protect their youths, but then fail to properly do that in the story. Characters are not always what they say they are, that's why they're interesting to interpret. This isn't me calling the readers stupid, just pointing out that Gojo is made up of contradictions. He wants to get rid of the old guard and replace them with something new, but Gojo IS THE OLD GUARD.

If the culling games arc has shown us one thing, it's that ancient sorcerers brought to the modern age do not care that much about human life on an individual level, they are all of them egoists. There's a reason Gojo resembles someone like Sukuna more than he does any other character in the manga. I'm not saying Gojo is exactly like Sukuna, he's far more altruistic and uses his genuinely noble ideals but at the same time Sukuna is a shadow archetype to Gojo he represents Gojo's flaws. The flaws that Gojo succumbs to in tragic fashion.

Which if you believe that Gojo genuinely does love his students, and the ideal he's fighting for is to raise up a better generation and allow them to live out their youths, then Gojo throughout the entire Sukuna fight is acting against those ideals. He cares far more about fighting Sukuna then he does saving Megumi, it's shown over and over again in the battle, Megumi is an afterthought to him. If Gojo care moredefeating the big bad and saving the world is more important than helping a child that Gojo is responsible for then Gojo is acting against his stated principles. Why should Gojo win the fight when he's fighting for all the wrong reasons?

Tragedies are like visual novels, if you make the wrong choice the novel will give you a red flag. If you ignore the red flag then you get locked into the route with the bad ending. Gojo always fights alone. Gojo only ever fights for himself, even if he's using that selfishness in support of a more noble ideal like creating a better generation of sorcerers. If Gojo consecutively makes the same changes then in a tragedy he's not going to be rewarded for it.

Gojo wants the old generation out and the new generation in, but Gojo resembles the old generation too much. Old sorcerers like Hajime and Sukuna respect him, Hajime argues that Gojo being able to fight for his pride is far more important than him living to the end of the battle when Yuta wanted to interfere and help him.

Gojo's death isn't a surprise curve ball that Gege is throwing us for shock value, it's a result of his choices throughout the manga. A manga about change, and the change between generations is not going to punish a character for remaining roughly the same. Of course you might find it disappointing that Gege didn't give Gojo the chance to grow and change and experience a character arc like Megumi or Yuji, but Jujutsu Kaisen is a tragedy, and the way Gojo's arc ended is consistent with what Gege wrote.

Jujutsu Kaisen is not just a tragedy though, it's a manga about death. The manga begins with Yuji's grandfather warning him not to die alone the way that he did. His grandfather's dying words are what motivate Yuji throughout the beginning of the manga as he's searching for a "proper" death.

One of the major themes of Yuji's character is a contemplation of death. He accepts that death is inevitable, so he wants to save them from the gruesome deaths they'd experience if they became victims to curses and allow them to have a more satisfying death. Yuji's grandpa died an unsatisfying death because he died alone in a hospital room. Yuji even tries to make his own death a satisfying one because he believes by dying to seal away Sukuna he'll reduce the total number of casualties to curses.

Jujutsu Kaisen keeps investigating the theme of death and what exactly would make for a satisfying death. At one point it's all but stated that death is the mirror that makes humans analyze their lives.

When Yuji fails to save Junpei from the "unnatural death" it calls into question whether or not his goal of saving people from unsatisfying deaths and the gruesome deaths caused by curses is even feasible. Nanami even says that Yuji might not be able to accomplish his goal and warns him away from the path.

We see repeated unsatifying deaths in the manga, each time someone reflecting on their deaths that they weren't able to get what they wanted out of life. This list comes via @kaibutsushidousha by the way I'm quoting them.

Nanami's a character who chose to work as a sorcerer because he didn't want to evade the responsibility of doing all you can to help people, he wanted to believe he's somewhere where he's needed. He never runs away from responsibility like Mei Mei does so he quite literally works himself to death, living and dying as a sorcerer. Nanami or Gojo's dying hallucination of Nanami even says as much, his death is the result of him choosing to go south and returning to be a sorcerer.

Maki chose revenge against the Zen'in over her sister, and as a result Mai is dead. Maki has all the power in the world now, her revenge complete but she's left with a sense of "now what?" She's as strong as Toji now but she failed to protect her sister, and it's the result of the choices she made. Maki's reflection isn't triumph, it's "I should have chosen to die with her."

Even Yuji himself is robbed of his narrative purpose. The manga began with Yuji saying he wants to choose how he's going to die and he'll die taking out Sukuna with him so he can reduce the number of people killed by curses in the world. Both of those things are thrown in Sukuna's face. Number one the amount of people Yuji can save by permanently killing Sukuna is now a moot point because he let Sukuna rampage in Shibuya.

Number two, Sukuna isn't even in Yuji anymore. To build on what Comun said though, this repeated tragedy has a purpose to it and understanding requires understanding that Jujutsu Kaisen is an existentialist manga. Existentialism is basically a school of philosophy centered around the question of "Why do I exist?"

There's nothing about the invetability of death to make you question why you're alive in the first place. In the myth of Sispyhus, Albert Camus boils down all of philosophy to one question.

"There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy. "

All of philosophy is should I shoot myself in the head or should I keep living? Everything comes after that question, which is why in Jujutsu Kaisen a lot of the characters motivations revolve around them contemplating death. Sorcerers exist in a world where they can die any moment, and as Gojo says most of them die alone. It might be the nature of sorcery itself that causes so many people to die, not only are they dying because they are trapped in an uncaring system, but the characters themselves aren't really attempting to live outside of it. They live and die as sorcerers, replaceable cogs in the machine.

All of these unsatisfying deaths may just be the result of all these characters making one choice, to live as sorcerers rather than people. Because to exist means to live in the world.

Even in Mechamaru's case, his goal is deeply existentialist by what I defined, all he wants to do is live in the world with everyone else rather than be stuck in his hospital room but his actions contradict that goal. Instead of letting his friends come and visit he's obsessed with the idea of getting a normal body because he feels that's the only way he can exist with everyone else, he makes a deal with the devil, he lies and goes behind their backs. He wasn't living with everyone else in the world and he could have chosen to, he chose wrong and his death is the result of that choice.

Jujutsu Sorcerers aren't living in the world. They're living in a little snowglobe far removed from the world with its own rules, most of them regressive and disconnected from the rest of society. If you define existentialism as just "living in the world' then a lot of these characters aren't, because they only exist in the world of sorcery.

INVISIBLE BUFFY: What are you talking ab- SPIKE: The only reason you're here, is that you're not here. (drinking) INVISIBLE BUFFY: Right. Of course, as usual there's something wrong with Buffy. She came back all wrong. (moving around on the bed) You know, I didn't ask for this to happen to me. SPIKE: Not too put off by it though, are you? (drinking) INVISIBLE BUFFY: No! Maybe because for the first time since ... I'm free. She tosses the sheet aside. Spike looks around, trying to figure out where she's going. INVISIBLE BUFFY: Free of rules and reports ... free of this life. SPIKE: Free of life? Got another name for that. Dead.

Not living in the world with everyone else is the same as being dead.

A lot of these characters either make the choice to act alone, or be a jujutsu sorcerer rather than a person and because of that they die as sorcerers, b/c sorcerers die that's what they do. Mai didn't want to keep living as a hindrance to Maki so she kills herself. Maki didn't want to be anything other than a sorcerer, so her little sister dies and she's not a big sister anymore. Nanami chose to leave his job behind and become a sorcerer again, he dies as one.

Of course I don't think the manga is punishing characters for being too egotistical, but rather too unbalanced. If anything Mai is too selfless and that is why she died, she didn't want to live for herself and chooses self sacrifice for her sister. An unbalance between selfishness or selflessness results in an underdeveloped ego. Jujutsu Kaisen doesn't punish individualism per se, moreso if you're not a fully developed individual you won't last long. Because it's also a manga about growing up in the world, and a person who doesn't have a healthy, mature, well-balanced sense of self is not a grown up.

This twitter user det_critics points out that Gojo (and also Yuki + Yuji's) failures in the manga can be attributed to the fact they don't have real senses of self.

Gojo has an identity crisis as outlined by Geto, "are you Satoru Gojo because you're the strongest, or are you the strongest because you're Satoru Gojo?"

It's a challenge for him to find some reason to live outside of being the strongest, and in tragic fashion Gojo just doesn't find it in time. Gojo lived for fighting others, and proving to himself that he's the strongest, and that's how he dies.

There's something I like to say about narrative punishment in stories. There are two ways to punish a character, you either don't give them what they want, or you give them exactly what they want. This is the latter, Gojo wanted to find someone stronger than him because deep down he believed that nobody could understand him unless they were on his level. He wanted to be surpassed, and that's why he focused on creating stronger young sorcerers, but he never shook himself of the belief that only someone as strong or even stronger than he was could ever be emotionally attached to him so he made a deliberate choice to draw a line between himself and others.

Gojo's essentially gotten what he wanted from that choice in the worst way possible. The student he picked to succeed him Megumi, has his body stolen and kills him. Gojo is surpassed, but it's not by one of his own students it's by an enemy that's not only trying to kill Gojo but is going to massacre his students afterwards.

Gojo's spent his entire life believing that because he's more powerful that makes him inherently different and above others, and being lonely because he himself believed he couldn't relate to ordinary people and he dies like an ordinary person, an unsatisfying death where he wasn't able to bring out Sukuna's best, where he gets unceremoniously cut in half offscreen but yay he's no longer the strongest. He's gotten exactly what he wanted. Megumi is still not saved, Sukuna's probably going to kill more people because Gojo failed to stop him here, but hey at least he stopped to compliment Gojo.

It's empty, but it's empty because of the choices Gojo made in life to just not bother connecting to people or develop any kind of identity besides being a sorcerer. Gojo lives and dies as a sorcerer, and his dying dream is returning to a teenager being surrounded by everyone he was with during his school days, because that's the happiest time in his life. Ironically he was happier before he became the strongest, because that was the only time in his life that he allowed himself to connect to people.

However in the eyes of others, he is someone who has it all. That's why he is always alone. There was no one who could hold the same sentiments and mutually understand him. Geto was the only one who could understand what he was trying to say, and the only one who could communicate well with him.

It's no coincidence Gojo and Geto die exactly a year apart on the same day, if anything I'd say the reasons they die are similiar to at least thematically. They both die because they don't want to live in the world. Geto thinks the world is too corrupt and GOjo doesn't want to be anything other than a sorcerer, both of them fail to adapt.

「 'It's just. . .' It's just that it was what Geto had to do. [...] To someone like him, the reality that the world of sorcerers presented to him was just too cruel. '. . .that in a world like this, I couldn't truly be happy from the bottom of my heart.'」

They can't be happy in a world like this from the bottom of their hearts, so narratively they both die. The things they chose to live for at the end of their life they fail to accomplish, Gojo is no longer the stronget, Geto fails to wipe out mankind or make major changes to the world and they die as normal people unsatisfied because they weren't trying to live in the world and make connections to others. They die almost karmically a year apart because their main connection for both of them, the thing which made them feel connected to the world and other people was each other.

Which is why this panel breaks my heart and is so narratively satisfying because of how unsatisfying it is...

"If you were among those patting my back... then I might've been satisfied."

Gojo reflects that he's not satisfied dying against Sukuna, not because he failed to give him a good enough challenge but because Geto wasn't there to pat him on the back. The one thing that would have satisfied him he couldn't have, because he didn't live to connect to people he lived to be the strongest and he died alone as the strongest. There's just something deeply upsetting about Gojo's dying dream fantasy just him being there talking with all of his dead friends who he never appreciated or connected to properly when he was alive. Knowing that if something had just gone a little differently, that even if he had to die no matter what he could have died happier if Geto was among the people saying goodbye to him because that connection with Geto is what gave his life meaning.

Dazai Osamu: "A life with someone you can say good-bye to is a good life, especially when it hurts so much to say it to them. Am I wrong?" -Bungou Stray Dogs Beast

[itendtothinkalot]

page.soobin (classic enemies to lovers)

Summary: reader just opened a cute little bookstore cafe and soobin is a loud pretentious asshole that talks loudly on his phone lol

Genre: fluffy

Characters: soobin x f!reader

Words: 3k?? i think

Completed (oneshot)

tw: soobin's an asshole but like the good kind so does it really matter

a/n: i hope this makes up for the soobin in my last story sorry lol

It had barely been a year since ‘Pages’ had opened. You had worked hard to save up enough money to open your dream bookstore/cafe. A quaint little rustic-looking bookshop right next to the hustle and bustle of Seoul. Shelves lined with your favourite books, lights dimly lit to accentuate the atmosphere, the scent of freshly brewed coffee taking up space in your lovely quiet bookstore. Pages had been your haven. A getaway from the corporate world that sucked your energy. Having a previously well-paid job, however, did you justice. 

Though Pages was still new, you had already gained a few regulars who would occasionally pop in to read the latest editions of the mangas you’d specially acquired.

“Here. Especially for you, I even tabbed the best parts. Don’t skip ahead though.” You chuckled, smiling at one of your favourite customers who you befriended. 

“Thanks! I’ll have the usual, by the way.” Kai said, as his eyes scanned the manga you had just passed him. 

“It’s just you today? Where’s…uh…what’s his name again?” You enquired.

“Beomgyu?”

“No, the one who talks less.” You joked.

“Ah, Taehyun? He has work. C'mon now, I'm not good enough for you?”

You rolled your eyes, "I was just wondering. Taehyun was asking for a book and I finally found it!"

"I'll tell him about it. Thanks. You really are our favourite bookstore owner." Kai grinned.

"You're not getting another free drink from flattery." You rolled your eyes.

"Aw man."

"I'm kidding. The drink's on the house. The manga however is not."

"Deal!"

You nodded, turning to prepare Kai’s order when you heard the door chime once more.

Your heart sank a little as you saw Soobin walk in, his usual confident grin plastered on his face.

Soobin, the travel writer who had recently moved to town, had a knack for disrupting the peace of your beloved bookstore. He strolled up to the counter, oblivious to your internal groan.

Sure, he was good-looking. Sure, you've thought about how it would be like to be next to him calling him your boyfriend and showing him off to everyone but...dear God, did he also grind your gears.

“Morning! The usual, please,” Soobin said, leaning casually against the counter.

You forced a polite smile. “Good morning, Soobin. One iced Americano, coming right up.”

As you prepared his coffee, you couldn’t help but feel a mix of irritation and curiosity. Soobin’s presence always managed to throw your day off balance, yet there was something undeniably intriguing about him. It could’ve been his good looks or just the fact he was always talking about these wondrous travels that you’d never been on. You couldn’t decide.

Plus, he was just really hot.

“So, how’s the book coming along?” you asked, attempting small talk as you handed him his drink.

“Slowly,” he admitted with a sigh. “But this place helps. It’s got a charm that’s hard to find anywhere else.”

You raised an eyebrow, surprised by his sincerity. “Well, I’m glad you like it here.”

He took a sip of his iced Americano, his eyes meeting yours with a teasing glint. “I do. Even if the owner is a bit of a tyrant.”

Your smile turned frosty. “Maybe if certain customers respected the rules, the owner wouldn’t have to be.”

His grin widened, unfazed. “Rules are meant to be bent a little. Keeps life interesting.”

“Interesting for you, maybe. A headache for me,” you retorted, your patience wearing thin.

“Come on, admit it. You’d miss me if I stopped coming,” Soobin said with a smirk, clearly enjoying the verbal sparring.

“Like a toothache,” you shot back, rolling your eyes. “Just try not to scare off my customers with your loud phone calls.”

“Sure,” he said with a wink, turning to find his usual spot by the window.

As you watched him settle in, your irritation simmered. Soobin had a way of getting under your skin like no one else. It was infuriating, yet there was something about his confident, carefree attitude that you couldn’t entirely dismiss. Maybe, just maybe, there was more to Soobin than met the eye—but you weren’t ready to admit that just yet.

It was peaceful for the first 30 minutes of his presence. Then you heard Soobin’s atrocious ringtone blaring, shattering the calm like a sledgehammer through glass. That usually meant it was the end of your peace.

“Hello?” Soobin answered loudly, his voice carrying across the bookstore.

You clenched your fists, trying to maintain your composure. Customers glanced up from their books, their expressions mirroring your annoyance. You marched over to Soobin, who was obliviously engaged in his conversation.

“Soobin,” you hissed, trying to keep your voice low yet firm. “Can you please take your call outside?”

He looked up at you, seemingly surprised by your irritation. “Just a minute, I’m almost done,” he mouthed, holding up a finger, pressing them against your lips.

You crossed your arms, glaring at him until he reluctantly stood up and moved toward the door, still talking animatedly. As he stepped outside, you let out a frustrated sigh, hoping the rest of his call would be brief.

When he finally returned, he had the audacity to smile at you as if nothing had happened. “Sorry about that. Important call.”

You gave him a tight-lipped smile. “Next time, please take it outside from the start.”

He chuckled. “You really do enjoy being a tyrant, don’t you?”

“And you really enjoy pushing my buttons,” you shot back, turning on your heel to walk away.

“Clearly.” He teased, following you further into your bookstore. 

As you continued to walk away, you felt Soobin's presence lingering behind you. Despite your attempts to ignore him, his persistence was impossible to overlook. You sighed inwardly, reminding yourself that he was just a customer, albeit a particularly annoying one.

"So, what’s the special today?" Soobin asked, trying to keep up with your pace.

You stopped and turned to face him, your patience wearing thinner by the second. "It’s written on the board, Soobin. Right where it always is."

He glanced over at the board, a mischievous grin forming on his lips. "Ah, right. Guess I didn’t see it. Too busy looking at the pretty owner."

You rolled your eyes, suppressing the small smile that threatened to break through. "Flattery won’t get you free coffee, Soobin."

He laughed, the sound oddly infectious. "Worth a shot. Anyway, I wanted to ask you something."

You raised an eyebrow, genuinely curious despite your irritation. "What is it?"

"I’m planning a feature on hidden gems in Seoul for my next piece," he explained, his tone more serious now. "I was hoping to include Pages. Maybe do a little interview with you about the place?"

You blinked, taken aback by his request. "You want to feature Pages in your article? What’s your motive?"

He nodded. "No hidden agenda, I promise. This place has something special, and I think more people should know about it. Plus, it might bring in more customers."

The idea was tempting. Any publicity was good publicity, and if it brought more people to Pages, it would be worth it. But you couldn't shake off the feeling that Soobin had ulterior motives.

"I’ll think about it," you replied cautiously. "I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the spotlight."

He shrugged, unfazed. "No pressure. Just let me know. It could be fun."

You watched as he returned to his seat, wondering if agreeing to his proposal would be a mistake or an opportunity. Soobin was unpredictable, but maybe there was more to his offer than just another way to get under your skin.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of coffee orders, book recommendations, and the occasional chat with regulars. Kai left with a satisfied grin, promising to return with his friends. As the sun began to set, casting a warm glow over the bookstore, you found yourself thinking about Soobin’s offer again.

Before you knew it, the day had ended, and you were locking up the store. The streets outside were quiet, a stark contrast to the busy day you’d had. As you turned to leave, you noticed a small note taped to the door.

"Think about the article. It could be great for Pages. - Soobin."

You sighed, pocketing the note. Maybe he was right. Maybe this was an opportunity to show Seoul what Pages had to offer. You decided to sleep on it, hoping a good night’s rest would bring clarity.

The next day, you woke up at the crack of dawn. A yawn escaped your lips as you rummaged through your bags for the keys to Pages. 

Sighing, you entered your beloved bookstore. Humming your favorite song, you unlocked the door, inhaling the aroma of the coffee beans you had meticulously selected.

“Am I your first customer today?” You spun around to see Soobin grinning. His tall stature loomed over you, and the strong smell of his cologne filled the air. The toothy grin plastered across his face was unmistakable. He wore a large sweater that hid the muscles you remembered seeing the day the A/C broke, and he had to take off his hoodie. That had been a good day.

“We’re barely open,” you answered, your voice barely a whisper from the sudden surprise of his presence.

“Well…I just couldn’t wait to hear your answer.”

You took a deep breath, trying to steady yourself. "Soobin, it's way too early for this kind of enthusiasm."

He laughed, the sound echoing pleasantly through the empty bookstore. "Come on, just give me a hint. Are you going to let me do the interview?"

You crossed your arms, pretending to ponder. "I still need my morning coffee to think straight."

Soobin raised an eyebrow, looking at you expectantly. "I'll make a deal with you. If you say yes, I'll buy the first ten customers their coffee today."

You couldn't help but laugh at his persistence. "Bribery now, huh?"

"Call it incentive," he replied with a wink.

You sighed, feeling your resolve waver. "Alright, fine. We can do the interview. But if you turn this place into a circus, I'll never forgive you."

Soobin's grin widened, and he pumped his fist in victory. "Deal! I promise it'll be great."

You shook your head, amused by his excitement. "Okay, okay. Let's get started before I change my mind."

As you prepared Soobin’s usual iced Americano, you couldn’t help but feel a mixture of anticipation and nervousness.

"So, where do you want to start?" you asked, handing him his drink.

Soobin took a sip, his expression thoughtful. "How about we start with you? What inspired you to open Pages?"

"Well, it was always a dream of mine. I wanted a place where people could escape, find comfort in books, and enjoy a good cup of coffee. Leaving the corporate world was scary, but this... this feels right."

He nodded, his eyes genuinely interested. "And it shows. This place has a soul, and that’s rare."

You blushed slightly, not used to such earnest compliments from him. "Thanks?"

“Not used to compliments, I see?” Soobin teased.

“Not from you.”

You shook your head, a small smile tugging at your lips. "Don't get used to it. You're still on thin ice for all those loud phone calls."

"Fair enough," he conceded, still grinning.

"You know, you're not that annoying when you're serious," you blurted out. "Sorry, that was supposed to be a thought."

"We're getting passive-aggressive," Soobin teased.

"It was supposed to be a thought," you repeated, trying to defend yourself.

"It's quite freeing to know I've had such an effect on your life," Soobin chuckled.

"Shut up," you said, rolling your eyes.

"I'm kidding. I guess I can be quite an asshole at times, but it's only because I don't know how to act around a pretty girl."

"Stop messing around," you said, feigning annoyance, though your heartbeat was telling you otherwise. "Is any part of this even in your interview notes?" you asked, gesturing to his laptop.

"Oh, no. None of it," Soobin admitted, still grinning. "Just getting to know my favorite bookstore-slash-cafe owner. Is that a crime?"

"Of course not. What's supposed to be a crime is your lack of social etiquette." You joked.

Soobin laughed, the sound warm and genuine. "Guilty as charged," he said, raising his hands in mock surrender. "But I'm willing to learn if you've got some pointers."

"Maybe walk out of the store when you have a call?" You said, raising an eyebrow.

"Right." Soobin chuckled.

"So, besides the loud phone calls and my general presence, what's your biggest pet peeve about running Pages?" Soobin asked, leaning in with genuine curiosity.

You thought for a moment, considering how honest you wanted to be. "I guess it would be dealing with the occasional rude customer who doesn't respect the space or the books. But honestly, most people who come in are wonderful. They get what this place is about."

Soobin nodded thoughtfully. "I can see that. This place has a certain... aura. It’s like a sanctuary."

"That's exactly what I wanted it to be," you said, smiling. "A place where people can escape and just... breathe."

"So about the...'wonderful people' you're talking about, does any of those include a travel writer?" Soobin peered.

You paused, meeting Soobin's gaze. There was a playful glint in his eyes, but you could sense a genuine curiosity beneath it. "Well," you began slowly, "there's this one travel writer who likes to test my patience."

"Is he hot?" Soobin asked.

"If you consider an ogre hot, sure." You joked.

Soobin chuckled, feigning hurt, clutching his chest. "Ouch. In my defense, testing one's patience is one of my specialties. But seriously, I hope I’m not always a nuisance."

"You have your moments," you admitted, a small smile tugging at your lips. "But you also bring a certain... energy to this place."

"So, is that a compliment?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't get too used to it," you replied, trying to hide your amusement.

As the day progressed, you and Soobin delved into the story of Pages. You talked about the challenges you faced, the joy of seeing regulars like Kai and his friends, and the special moments that made all the hard work worth it. Soobin took notes, his demeanor professional yet warm, making you feel surprisingly at ease.

You weren't going to lie, the interview made you see Soobin in a different light. He was surprisingly sexy when he was being serious. His eyebrows would furrow when trying to get information across and his posture forward almost leaning towards you.

The way he listened so intently, his focus entirely on you, made your heart flutter more than you'd like to admit. You tried to keep your composure, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the growing attraction you felt towards him.

It wasn't your fault. You had always found him incredibly attractive albeit the loud phone calls.

By the time the first customers arrived, the interview was wrapping up. Soobin stood up, a satisfied look on his face. "I think we’ve got everything we need. Thanks for trusting me with this."

You nodded, feeling a sense of accomplishment. "Just make sure you do justice to the store."

"Don’t worry," he said, flashing that familiar grin. "I’ll make sure it's perfect."

As he retreated to his seat, you felt a renewed sense of friendship. Maybe, just maybe, Soobin wasn’t as bad as you’d initially thought. Only time would tell, but for now, you were content with the decision you’d made.

It had been a few hours since the interview. Soobin was still in his usual corner, typing away, God knows what, with a serious look on his face. Holding a cup of juice in your hands, you walked toward him and placed the glass on his table.

“I didn’t order anything,” Soobin said, looking up at you.

“It’s on the house. Too much caffeine can't be good for you,” you replied, smiling awkwardly before making your way back to the counter.

As you reached the counter, you glanced back at Soobin, who had paused his typing to take a sip of the juice. He gave you a nod of appreciation, and for a moment, you felt a sense of camaraderie that was rare with him.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of regular customers and new faces, each interaction reinforcing why you loved this place so much. As closing time approached, Soobin finally packed up his things and walked over to you.

"Thanks for the juice," he said, his tone softer than usual. "I really needed that break."

It was a moment of peace before his annoying ringtone went off. He looked up at you sheepishly.

“I’ll take it outside this time,” he chuckled, walking off.

You laughed, shaking your head, and turned your attention back to your work. Glancing to your left, you noticed the large pile of rubbish that hadn’t been thrown away. You groaned at the thought of lugging it into the alley. Pulling the large bag of rubbish out from behind the counter, you made your way to the back alley.

“Yeah. I’ve done the interview.” You heard Soobin’s voice echo from the back of the alley.

“Yeah. I think it’ll do great. The article. She’s got some solid work ethic and the cafe itself is a really good idea. Her thoughts are well articulated. The article's gonna be great.”

You smiled at the compliments, assuming he was talking about you. Your cheeks heated up from listening into the conversation. You felt bad for eavesdropping but this was precious information you could use to your advantage.

“Oh? What? The owner? Nah, she’s a little bit pretentious. What? Pretty? She's okay, I guess. She… she’s not that pretty in real life. The picture was doing her justice.”

Your smile faded instantly, your heart sinking at his words. You quickly turned back, dragging the bag of rubbish with a renewed sense of determination, refusing to let his words affect you.

As you heaved the bag into the dumpster, you couldn't help but replay Soobin's words in your mind. Anger and hurt mingled, forming a bitter taste in your mouth. You had always suspected he enjoyed pushing your buttons, but hearing such harsh comments felt like a betrayal especially after the interview where you felt like you had bonded with him.

Returning to the store, you busied yourself with closing duties, trying to shake off the sting of his remarks. You were scrubbing the counter with more force than necessary when you heard the door chime. You looked up to see Soobin, who had finished his call, walking back in.

"Everything okay?" he asked, noticing the change in your demeanor.

"Yeah, just finishing up," you replied curtly, not wanting to engage further.

Soobin frowned, sensing something was off. "Did something happen?"

“No and even if it did, what makes you think I’d confide into a loud pompous asshole?” You gritted your teeth, turning away from him, your ponytail smacking him in his face.

“Fucking he- Ouch!" He rubbed his cheeks from where your ponytail had smacked him. "What? What’s going on with you? I thought we were cool?”

"Cool?" you repeated, your voice rising in pitch. "You think we're cool after everything you've said and done?"

Soobin looked genuinely confused. "What are you talking about?"

“Nothing. You’re right. I’m pretentious. And maybe I’m not that attractive to you but to hear you say that to another person? Wow.” 

Soobin's eyes widened as the realization hit him. "Wait, you heard that?" he said, taking a step back. "It's not what you think."

"Then what is it, Soobin?" you demanded, crossing your arms tightly across your chest. "Because it sounded pretty clear to me."

“You don’t understand,” Soobin said, his frustration evident.

“What don’t I understand?”

“That was my editor.”

“Okay?”

“His name’s Yeonjun. He’s a good-looking and decent guy.” He explained, even thought you were still clearly ever so clueless.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“He was asking for your number. He saw the picture I took of you for the article and thought you looked cute.”

“And?” You looked at him dumbfounded.

Soobin rubbed the back of his neck, looking flustered. “Je- I- Fuck. I didn’t want him to know how cool you were.”

“What?”

“Look, you’re cute. You’re my type. You’re all kinds of pretty. But you’re also someone I kind of want to gatekeep.”

“What?”

“I can’t make this clearer even if I tried,” Soobin said, his voice softer now. “I like you, okay? I didn’t want him to get to know you because I’m selfish. I wanted you all to myself.”

Soobin's admission left you momentarily speechless. "Oh," you managed to say, your mind racing to process his words.

"Yeah, oh," Soobin echoed, a small, nervous smile tugging at his lips. "I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just... I don't know, being stupid and jealous."

"If it makes you feel any better, I, too, find you..." You paused, "Cute."

Soobin's eyes lit up with a mischievous glint. "Really?" he said, a slow grin spreading across his face. "I always knew you had good taste."

You rolled your eyes, trying to hide your smile. "Don't get too full of yourself, Soobin."

He took a step closer, his confidence unwavering. "Oh, come on. Admit it. You find my charm irresistible. It’s okay, most people do."

You laughed, shaking your head. "You’re impossible."

"So, how about we start over?" Soobin suggested, his tone playful yet sincere. "As friends, or maybe something more. I promise I'll only annoy you half as much."

"Only half?" you teased, feeling a blush creep up your cheeks.

"Alright, a quarter," he conceded with a wink. "And I’ll take my phone calls outside. Most of the time."

You couldn’t help but smile at his persistence. Despite everything, there was something undeniably magnetic about Soobin. "Deal. But if you ever call me pretentious again, I won’t hesitate to throw you out of my store."

He laughed, the sound warm and infectious. "Fair enough. But just so you know, I’ve been told my obnoxiousness is part of my charm."

"By whom?" you asked, raising an eyebrow.

"By people with excellent taste," he said with a smirk.

You took a deep breath, feeling a mix of joy and mischief. "So, you like me?"

"Yeah," he said, his voice steady now. "I like you a lot. And I'm sorry if what I said made you think otherwise."

You bit your lip, contemplating his confession. "Well, you could have just told me."

"I know," he admitted, looking down at his feet. "I guess I was scared you'd reject me or think I was just messing with you."

“Well…can you blame me? You're quite the comedian sometimes.” You chuckled.

"Y'know what I don't blame you if you did doubt me."

"Really now?"

“Yeah. I get it. I'm kind of an asshole. But it's only because I like your reactions. They're pretty, um," Soobin stopped. "Charming, I'd say."

"So you think I'm charming?" You teased.

Soobin looked up, catching the playful glint in your eyes. "Yeah, well, when you spend as much time together as we do, you pick up on things. Like how your eyes light up when the new books arrive or when Kai tells you a stupid joke, and you tilt your head back to laugh, then get self-conscious and cover your mouth as if half the cafe hasn't heard your snort."

You laughed softly, feeling the remaining tension dissipate. “Okay, maybe you do know me better than I thought. You're quite the observer, aren't you, Soobin?"

"When you're a writer like me, you tend to observe things that are...more enchanting."

"Enchanting, huh. Big pretty words don't impress me, Soobin." You teased.

"I love a challenge," Soobin replied, his eyes gleaming with arrogance. "And let's be honest, how hard can it be to impress you?"

You rolled your eyes, half-amused, half-irritated. "Don't get too cocky, Soobin. Just because you can string a few sentences together doesn’t mean you can charm everyone."

"Is that so?" Soobin leaned in closer, his confidence palpable. "I seem to remember you admitting you find me attractive. Sounds like I've already charmed you."

"Attractive, maybe," you shot back. "But charm? That's a stretch."

"If only you were as nice as you are an asshole," You rolled your eyes.

Soobin laughed, the sound rich and unapologetically self-assured. "Nice guys finish last, don't they?" he retorted, a smirk playing on his lips.

You crossed your arms, meeting his gaze head-on. "We'll see if arrogance gets you anywhere."

He shrugged, unbothered by your challenge. "It got me this far. Why change a winning strategy?"

"Winning?" you scoffed. "The game hasn't even started."

Soobin’s eyes sparkled with mischief. "Then consider tonight the first round. I'll pick you up at seven."

"Still assuming I’m free?" you countered, trying to maintain your composure.

"Aren't you?" Soobin's confidence faltered for a split second, a shadow of doubt crossing his face. There it was. Though, Soobin, was trying his best to look like a go-getter, the most confident man alive, he felt like he was still just a shy little boy in front of his crush.

"Actually," you said, your tone softening slightly, "I might be."

He looked at you, a bit more serious now. "Look, if you're not interested, just say so. I can handle it."

"I didn't say anything. I was just waiting for an apology. Y'know from the time you lied to your friend? Calling me pretentious? Ugly?"

"I never used the word ugly."

You raised an eyebrow. "That's what you’re focusing on? Really?"

Soobin sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Okay, I admit it. I might have said some things that weren't exactly fair. It was on impulse. You do stupid shit when you like someone. I'm stupid. I'm an idiot. I don't...I've never liked someone before or asked someone out. Cut me some slack." You see his confidence being brought down by a peg every second he further explains himself. “I’m sorry.”

You chuckled, "Gosh, you really do like me, huh?"

"Fuck off. You're just as pompous as I am."

"It's a part of the charm, isn't it?"

“Sure,” Soobin said, a hint of a smile playing on his lips, “so, are we good now?”

You nodded, the warmth in his eyes melting the last of your anger. “Yeah, we’re good.”

He let out a breath he seemed to have been holding, seeming much more serious than he had been just a minute ago. “Good. Look despite, all the jokes I'm cracking, despite, how much of an asshole I've been, I actually really like you. I don’t want to lose you. Not as a friend, and not as something more."

Your heart fluttered at his words. “Something more, huh? We’ll see about that.”

Soobin grinned, the mischievous spark you were used to back in his eyes. “I’ll take that as a challenge.”

You rolled your eyes but couldn’t suppress your smile. “Okay, Mr. Talks-too-loud. Let’s finish up here and see if you can impress me over dinner.”

“Challenge accepted.”

[littleplantfreak]

Valentine's and White Day with (some) Wind Breaker boys

Starring: Sakura, Suzuri, and Kaji!

(Don't read Suzuri's if ya haven't read him from the manga unless ya don't care about spoilers though there's no actual serious detail in there)

I wasn't into wind breaker in februrary or march which is a bummer because I loveeee doing headcanons about that but I do recall getting some really good discount stuff the week after Valentine's day.

Sakura Haruka

Receiving chocolates from the person he likes has him tomato red and sputtering but he makes sure to thank you regardless of how long it takes to get the words out. (Did you guys see the official art of him getting chocolate from someone? He was so smug/pleased he just was staring at it smiling) Sakura doesn't care what kind of chocolate it is, he's eating it no matter what and if someone comments on it even if it's not teasing he holds it away from them like they're gonna take it away.

---

He's unsure of what exactly to do for White Day since he's never had to reciprocate before. Nirei is hellbent on helping Sakura in his romantic endeavors and Suo is there for funsies and (not so) moral support. It gets out in the groupchat that he's having trouble picking what to get and EVERYONE wants to help him out and give advice. He's quite literally running away when someone mentions it at this point. Tsubaki tackles him and drags him, Nirei, and Suo to a few places that are known for their good quality candy and gifts.

By the end, really this has turned into a group gift because it has a little bit of everyone in it. Nirei found out their favorite candy, Tsubaki found the best place to buy it, Suo helps with presentation and Sakura spends two hours figuring out which stuffed animal he thinks you'd like best to go with it. He ends up getting two because he found one that reminds him of you and one Nirei said looks like him but Sakura just doesn't see it (it does look like him though.) He makes it seem like it was no big deal but you can tell just how much effort he put into it.

Suzuri Shuhei

(I don't see enough Suzuri stuff and I know it's because he's further in the manga but he's so cute to me yknow after all the other stuff happens)

He's received some obligatory chocolates from the girls at the restaurant but was surprised you gave him an actual homemade dessert. Asks if you wanna eat it with him because it just feels right to share it with you. He'll also kinda grill you on what your recipe is because he'd definitely like to try making desserts himself. Suzuri'll ask if you can bake some stuff together which has you wondering if that's considered a date. If you ask him he takes a sec to think and confirms that yeah as long as you're comfortable with it, he'd very much like to consider it one.

---

When it comes time for him to get you something for White Day, he's already sure of your likes and dislikes for most foods. He watches a few youtube videos and the chocolates he made turn out so well you'd think they were made by a professional. He makes them in the shape of little cats and has given them the names of the ones he feeds in the alley which is not only cute but makes you ask if he'll take you to see the real ones.

Kaji Ren

You give him a bouquet of lollipops because it just makes sense ig? Kaji ends up saying something like "You really didn't have to get me anything" which makes it sound like he doesn't care but if you try and take it back he's like No???? They're mine you gave them to me what are you even thinking. No one other than Hiragi or his vice captains can tell but when he has one of the ones you gave him, he's in a better mood than normal. If he sees you in passing he'll use one to wave at you to show you he's still got them.

---

On White day he'll drag you to the arcade and tells you to pick whichever stuffed animal from the machines you want. Doesn't matter the game, he's so good at them he gets it after the first few tries. You end up spending the rest of the time playing games with him (he won't go easy on you even if you pout, and actually he thinks it's cute when you do) He also gives you a bag of your favorite candies while he's walking you home after.

[lee-lucius]

Fatherly Love

Summary: Zeff isn't used to dealing with kids, especially not one like Sanji.

Word Count: 5,630

Warning: Mild spoilers for Sanji and Zeff's backstory (The Baratie Arc)

There is nowhere near enough content for Sanji and Zeff, and I had to do something about. I've only seen the live action and started reading the manga (hopefully it isn't too ooc 😅), but I'm already unreasonably attached to these two. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! 💙

Zeff never saw it as anything complicated. When they finally did get off that godforsaken rock, Sanji had nowhere to go. And, well, he'd already given up a leg for the boy; he didn't see why he shouldn't give up piracy as well.

So they started over. Neither of them were ready to give up the sea, not until they found the All Blue, and Zeff always enjoyed sharing a meal. So they opened Baratie. 

Maybe it wasn't the best place for a kid to grow up, on a ship full of angry brutes, but the little eggplant got on well enough with the crew—Zeff made sure of that—and he seemed content enough. At least, better than he had been after their rescue. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't horrible, either.

But there were still moments that shattered their illusion of peace, like right now. Sighing, Zeff pulled off his sheets, slowly sitting up and slipping his legs off the bed, taking a moment to steady himself. It wasn't as easy as it'd been in his younger years. He didn't think he'd ever get used to the wooden leg, or the little eggplant's muffled cries that kept him up almost every night.

It was odd, considering what a deep sleeper Zeff had been when he was younger, but it was almost as if he had a sixth sense for when Sanji needed him; when he'd wake up, shivering and sobbing over his latest nightmare, Zeff woke up as well, lumbering over to his room to provide what little comfort he could for a boy who'd been through far too much.

Knocking lightly, he waited for Sanji's muffled consent before entering and closing the door softly behind him. He didn't know why he'd bothered giving Sanji his own room when Zeff spent the night there more often than not. Something about a growing boy needing his privacy; how simple he thought it'd be.

"Just me," Zeff said, as if they both weren't already used to this routine. It still made something stir uncomfortably in his chest every time, seeing Sanji's small figure curled up in his bed, blankets huddled around him like a faulty shield, head tucked into his chest to hide his tear-stained face, though Zeff still saw the way his shoulders trembled and heard the pained, hiccuping gasps Sanji tried to hide.

Zeff didn't say anything else. There was no reason to bombard the boy with pointless questions, especially when it only seemed to send him slipping further into a panic. 

He never knew what he was supposed to do in situations like this. He liked to think his presence helped; after all, he was the only who'd been there with Sanji, though Zeff thought his issues began with something long before the shipwreck, and Sanji never stopped letting him in. But he'd never quite been a smooth talker, save for with women, and always found himself tongue-tied in situations like these. Zeff wasn't one for emotions, and Sanji was perhaps the most emotional boy he'd ever known.

There wasn't much to do besides perch on his bed, sitting as far away from Sanji as possible to give him space, and frown, trying to act as if his heart wasn't ripping in two at each muffled cry.

It must have been an especially bad night. Zeff realized that as his cries slowly quieted and his small, trembling frame steadily inched closer. Finally, Sanji's knee, barely a fraction of the size, touched his own. He was tense, more than before, and skittish, as if any wrong move from Zeff could send him running. It probably would. So Zeff did nothing, allowing Sanji his own time to decide.

They'd never been affectionate with each other. Zeff had never been affectionate with anyone, really, except for in the brief way that sailors met with women, something as intimate as these moments with Sanji but in an entirely different way.

Zeff had only ever used his body for that and fighting, which only made this harder. It wasn't like the other times Samji had reached out for him, right after the rock, or even in the midst of it, when he threw himself at Zeff in a moment of reckless grief, while Zeff wrapped his arms around him, trying to offer comfort in a way he didn't know how.

This was different. Slower. Intentional. Calculated, even. 

It wasn't a helpless boy blindly reaching out to soothe the ache in his heart, but it was a helpless boy reaching out to him.

Sanji wanted him.

Zeff waited. Sanji continued to creep closer until he leaned into Zeff's side, and finally, slowly, gently, slower and gentler than he ever thought he could be, Zeff wrapped his arm around him, pulling Sanji into a hug.

Sanji buried his face in his chest, his own clumsy arms wrapping around Zeff, clutching handfuls of his shirt as if he was afraid to let go, afraid this would end.

"You're alright now," he said, voice gruffer, and a bit more emotional, than he intended. He lifted one hand, stroking his hair, the other rubbing his back, trying to remember what soothed him all those long years ago when he was a boy. "That's over. You're alright."

Sanji held onto him all night, crying until he finally slipped back into sleep, and Zeff stayed there, awake and cursing the growing ache in his back, until it was time for morning prep, when he shook Sanji awake, squeezing his shoulder one last time before leaving him to get ready for the day. 

-

Neither of them spoke about what happened.

They barely spoke at all, save for a mini-screaming match when Zeff tried to drown Sanji's dish in oregano before it was sent out to his patrons.

It was a busy day, but at least they had had a functioning waitstaff for once—thank god for small mercies. Zeff didn't have the time to babysit Sanji, not anymore than usual, when he had to try and keep the rest of his rowdy crew in line, though he figured the reason at least half of their customers were there was in hopes of seeing the rumored fighting pirates.

There was hardly even a moment for him to sit down, rest his leg and back, and get some shut eye, though the sips of alcohol he savored between the lunch and dinner rushes helped.

But at the end of the day, he was more drunk on exhaustion than anything else, practically stumbling over his feet as he stalked through the kitchen, ensuring every surface and every dish was up to his standards. On days like these, the last day before they hauled up their anchor and moved on, his men tended to get lazy, a problem he could never solve no matter how many times he yelled at them. Except for one, who shared his dutiful dedication to maintaining a clean kitchen.

"Shouldn't you be heading off?" Zeff asked, glancing at Sanji as he silently swept the floors. "A growing boy needs his rest."

"I could say the same. Doesn't a shitty old man need his beauty sleep?"

He grunted. They both knew why he was so tired, and they both knew why Sanji didn't want to go to sleep, but they both said nothing. Didn't matter much tonight, anyway. They could both sleep in, supposing Sanji managed to stay asleep for once. Zeff put a kettle on the stove. Tea usually helped Sanji get through the night.

"Come here, kid," he called, after the tea was brewed. Sanji always preferred it sweeter, so he added a dollop of sugar and spoonful of honey, while he added something a little stronger to his.

Zeff kicked a stool in his direction, and he sat down, gratefully taking the mug that came along with it and enjoying a long sip. 

"Not as shit as usual," he said, which was about as good a compliment as any, coming from him.

Leaning against the counter next to him, Zeff took a much needed drink of his own, glaring down at him. "You don't need to help me down here every night. Not that you're much help."

"'Not much help'? I'm the only reason people come to this shithole!"

"Mm. Are you then?" He didn't have the energy for this now. Damn kid.

"I'm the only half-decent chef you have!"

Zeff would never understand where his arrogance came from, not that it was entirely unwarranted. He had made Sanji his sous-chef for a reason, and it wasn't just his fondness for him.

"And who's the one that taught how to make those fancy little dishes, eggplant?"

"It doesn't matter when you drown everything in oregano."

"It's a delicacy!"

"It's for savages!" He slammed his empty mug on the counter, his one visible eye glaring daggers at Zeff, who had to resist the urge to laugh. It'd be a good few years before Sanji got anywhere close to intimidating him.

"You're too young. Palate hasn't developed yet," he waved him off, collecting his glass to wash it in the sink. No need making the kid do it, not when he was practically about to fall off his stool.

"No, you're too old. Can't taste shit anymore."

Zeff rolled his eyes. He didn't know why he always started a fight. Just his attitude, he supposed. He had to take in a kid with the worst personality imaginable. And it didn't help that he was eerily similar to how Zeff had been at that age.

"I can still see well enough, and you're done for the night."

Sanji stumbled to his feet, knowing he was right but not wanting to agree with him. "You look worse than I do."

"Mhm. Then let's both get to bed," he said, because Sanji was right too, and he couldn't bother to keep up with any more banter.

Nudging him in the back, Zeff wasn't prepared for Sanji's violent flinch that almost sent him toppling over. He resisted his instinct to reach out and steady him, figuring that would only make things worse. Instead, Sanji's fingers dug into the countertop, clutching it so hard his knuckles paled, and he turned towards Zeff, eyeing him wearily.

They stared at each other for a moment, silent, before Zeff sighed. 

"Go on. Up to bed."

Sanji only nodded and trudged along. Zeff supposed they hadn't made as much progress as he thought. He'd have to be more careful next time.

-

Zeff always preferred days when Baratie was sailing. As much as he enjoyed the regular hustle and bustle, serving whatever customers had washed up that day, he enjoyed these quiet moments more.

It was good, standing on deck and watching the ship bob in the water, breathing in the sea breeze that was never the same when they were stagnant. He craved the movement, the sailing. And the quiet. Which made him feel like the old man Sanji always insisted he was. As if he was coaxing into retirement and savoring easy days on the sea.

But there was never anything easy on Baratie. 

After he'd assembled his men to yell at them about their lazy behavior yesterday and lack of respect, they were dismissed and shuffled out of the kitchen, grumbling among each other but knowing better than to stand up to Zeff.

They'd be really punished later, but a light scalding was enough for now. Especially when he had other plans.

Sanji crept into the kitchen, eagerly buzzing around with a frantic energy Zeff rarely saw. That was another good thing about it. On days like these, Sanji was more excited than Zeff had ever seen him.

It was like there was finally life in the kid. His cheeks flushed, eyes bright, and joy palpable. He couldn't shut up either. The whole time he was rambling, trying to spew out his mess of ideas all at once that had been building up in his head since the last time they did this.

It really wasn't anything that special, and it always led to more than one argument between them, but Sanji liked to offer his input to these menu changes, even when most of his ideas consisted of trite, over-inspired pieces of shit. Though Sanji felt the same way about most of Zeff's dishes. 

After gathering up all of his ingredients and managing to form his ramblings into something coherent, Sanji prepared his sample dishes with Zeff watching closely, correcting his mistakes or suggesting alternate techniques. Sanji was always surprisingly receptive to his advice, though he was always an enthusiastic student, and Zeff thought he preferred it when they were alone like this. Even if he still protested oregano coming anywhere near his food. Damn rebellious kid.

It took the entire day and only two fights that escalated so far Zeff worried Sanji would grab the knife on the cutting board and stab him, which was better than usual. They'd sampled enough dishes that neither of them were hungry, nor the rest of the crew, not when they called in a member or two for a third opinion, or a witness when their fights got especially heated.

The kitchen was a mess, but it wasn't their problem. Zeff wanted to head in early, and his crew had to be punished for their mess yesterday, so making them deal with disaster was only fair. With all of them working together, it wouldn't take too long anyway, unless they got into a fight—no, until they got into a fight, forcing Zeff to straighten them out again.

But until then, he pulled Sanji with him above deck to relax for a change.

The sun was already beginning to set; the sky fading into a pinkish-reddish color as Zeff sat down to watch it. Now he really was acting like an old man. Maybe he should start thinking about retirement. 

He glanced at Sanji, but he seemed to be enjoying himself as well, even with something as simple as this. It seemed they both savored these little, simple moments.

Now would be a good time to continue their other training. Zeff had been teaching the boy to fight, only simple moves so far, though their progress was slowed by Zeff's own efforts to adjust to his new leg. But it was late, and they were both tired, even if yesterday was one of Sanji's better nights. He'd put it off for another day.

Zeff was so absorbed by his thoughts that he almost didn't register the movement in the corner of his eye. Not until Sanji was noticeably closer to him.

It was different this time. Maybe it was because of his excitable attitude today, or maybe he was starting to feel just a bit more at ease around him, but Sanji, in one quick, casual motion, pressed into Zeff's side, leaning against him. 

His body was stiff, no matter how nonchalant he tried to act, and when Zeff looked at him closely enough, he could see the slight shake in his hands. It took a few minutes before Sanji began to relax, his tense muscles easing into the touch, and in another act of courage, he leaned his head against Zeff's shoulder.

He was warm. That was the first thing Zeff noticed. He wasn't used to being touched like this. Besides Sanji's fits after his nightmares and consoling his men who managed to survive the battle but not much afterwards, he hadn't been this close to someone since he was a child. Even then, no one ever reached out to him, curling up beside him the way Sanji did.

It was oddly comfortable, and Zeff found himself enjoying the affection more than he should. This was something he never could've imagined, not at his age. 

While he never disliked children, he'd never been particularly fond of them either. And as much as he respected women, he never found one that interested him; no men either, so he never imagined settling down with someone, starting a family, not when his first love was cooking. But here he was, with Sanji. And he couldn't deny his growing affection for the boy, even if he was as rude and shitty as most of the grown men Zeff knew and more traumatized and disturbed than any child should be. He couldn't be sure—it was something he'd never experienced before—but Zeff thought his affection must have been something like that a father felt for his child.

It was a troubling thought that was becoming more persistent, and he had no clue if Sanji felt the same, but that was a problem for another time.

Now, it didn't matter. He simply shifted, leaning his own head against Sanji's to reciprocate the touch and imagined the nervous smile on the kid's face that he must've been fighting so hard to hide.

-

Maybe this had gone too far, Zeff realized, far, far too late to do anything about it.

It started simple enough. 

Sanji had always been a fidgety kid, a fact that Zeff and practically anyone who knew him more than an hour could realize. He was never still, always moving, always squirming. And clumsy, too. He was prone to tripping over his own feet, something that their training had made marginally better so far, but Zeff still held onto the hope that he'd fall out of it with age when the rest of his body grew into his long legs.

Zeff didn't mind; truly, he found it more entertaining than anything else to see the boy bounce around the kitchen. It never interfered with his work, Sanji was far too professional for that, but there were times when Sanji's body moved and fidgeted around so quickly Zeff swore his limbs would fly off, and Sanji swore that he'd die of boredom if something didn't change. 

So Zeff came up with a solution. A rather practical one, he liked to think. Instead of twiddling with his fingers or tugging at the strings of his apron or furiously flapping his hands, Zeff, like a practical seaman, taught him how to tie knots. Figured it'd pay off, considering how much of his life the boy spent on a ship.

He'd bring him up to the deck, show him the ropes and give a brief explanation, then show him how to tie every knot just right and send him off with a smaller scrap to practice.

It seemed to help, though they never talked about such things. Sanji simply practiced his knots, asking Zeff when he wasn't sure if he'd gotten it right, and he'd whip it out and practice anytime he got bored, during lulls between the dinner and lunch rush or at night, in bed, when he was trying to fall asleep.

Zeff didn't know how it ended up like this. He'd noticed Sanji's habit, how he'd begun to unconsciously twist strands into his complicated knots, like his apron or the loose fibers on his cheap blanket. It'd escalated fast.

Sanji must've known it would be another bad night, because he didn't bother going to his own room, instead silently teetering after Zeff to stay with him. He didn't like to be alone on bad nights.

There hadn't even been any sign of it, any indication; he simply leveled a heavy stare at Zeff and not asked, ordered him.

"Stay still. I need to try something."

"What are you planning?" He asked warily, recognizing that glint in Sanji's eye that was only there when he got up to mischief, an occasion that was becoming less and less rare.

"Quiet. I need to focus."

Then Sanji was sitting cross-legged in front of him as Zeff sat, back pressed against the headboard. He had to lean down an uncomfortable amount for Sanji to, much to his horror, reach his mustache as he began working on whatever convoluted idea he had.

Zeff wasn't sure what he was doing, as his eyes were firmly closed—and Sanji began yelling at him anytime he so much as tried to peak them open—but it seemed as if Sanji was styling his hair, hands working with a surprising gentleness and expected hurriedness, though it seemed as if his rush ruined his work, judging his heaving sigh every few minutes as he straightened out Zeff's mustache to start over. Always a perfectionist.

It was annoying, like Sanji always was, but Zeff found he didn't mind the intrusion as much as he thought he should. Not that or the tedious ache once again spreading through his back or the feeling of pins-and-needles in his legs that had fallen asleep under Sanji's weight, who sat precariously on top of them.

Perhaps he couldn't complain because he knew what Sanji had been like mere weeks and months before, and that boy never would've afforded Zeff with this casual closeness, one that made an unsettling happiness grow in him, because he knew that they were getting somewhere, that this makeshift ship was becoming closer and closer to the little eggplant's home, and that did, ashamedly, make Zeff happy.

"Okay, I'm done," Sanji finally announced, and Zeff let out a sigh, of relief or disappointment he wasn't sure.

"On with it then," he opened his eyes, this time without any urgent protest from Sanji, and shifted his good leg with a smile too fond for his liking. "Up so I can look."

Something resembling a scowl appeared on Sanji's face, but it was gone just as quickly as he scrambled off of him, rolling onto the side of the bed. Zeff took his time, ignoring Sanji's protests, to stand up, letting feeling come back into his limbs as he stretched before trudging over to his drawers, accompanied with a small mirror hanging above it.

It was about what he'd expected. Zeff's mustache was styled into two somewhat unkempt braids, tied up with his usual blue ribbons. It wasn't half bad, not for the eggplant's first try, and Zeff didn't recall teaching him any braids. He wondered where he'd learned how to do that, but now wasn't the time for questions.

"Right. We done here?"

Sanji's cheeks puffed out slightly, tinged red as his face morphed into a pout. He always did wear his emotions on his sleeve, no matter how much he tried to hide it. Reluctantly, he nodded and stood from the bed. 

Zeff turned out the lamp, settling back down into his bed and sparing a glance at Sanji. "You layin' down or not?"

There was a moment of awkward shuffling, Sanji's head darting back and forth between Zeff's bed and the door, looking as if he wished he had that rope on him to give his body something to do and soothe his mind.

After an uncomfortable amount of time passed, Sanji perched himself at the edge of the bed, slowly laying down, as if he was scared Zeff would change his mind and yell at him to scram.

He didn't. He had an extra blanket and pillow, so he didn't mind at all, though if he had to, he knew he would've given his own to Sanji to make him comfortable—the kid hardly got enough sleep as it was.

"Night," he grunted, then added, far too impulsively, "Didn't do half bad with the hair."

For a moment, he thought he imagined Sanji's muffled sounds of joy, but then he only laughed quietly to himself, thinking about all the trouble this dumb kid brought with him.

Zeff was going soft, and he couldn't bring himself to care.

-

Morning was quiet. Zeff woke up first, squinting at his window, watching the faint rays of light trickle in.

It was early, but he wasn't ready to go back to sleep. Instead, he carefully shifted in the bed, turning on his side to face Sanji. He was still sleeping, lying curled up on his stomach. Zeff didn't realize how much he moved in his sleep, not until Sanji woke him up more than once in the night with a flying limb.

He'd seen him sleeping before. After Sanji had crossed to his side of the rock and discovered Zeff's secret, there was less distance between them. Less reason to hide. And Sanji seemed to, for whatever reason, like the company of bitter old men, apparently as much as Zeff like the company of snarky young kids. But there were some nights when Sanji fell asleep there, with Zeff. He'd moved around too then, violently, thrashing so much Zeff feared he'd fall right into the ocean. He was prone to nightmares then too, but he didn't have any more tears to cry by then, just hiccuping gasps that sounded so painful coming from his dry, aching throat.

He wasn't having a nightmare now. His face was relaxed, not curled up in an aching knot of dread like it usually was. His chest rose and fell with calm, steady breaths. Zeff couldn't see it clearly, not in the dim light, but he heard it, and the noise was a comfort.

Another impulse. That's what Zeff wanted to blame it on. Say that his arm had a mind of its own; that he acted without thinking. He didn't know if that was better or worse than the truth.

But he did know what he was doing. And he wanted to. That was the reason. 

That was the reason he reached his hand out, with a touch lighter and gentler than he ever thought he was capable of, combing through Sanji's hair to fix the disheveled mess.

It was soft and void of any obnoxious clumps, both traits he attributed to Sanji's fixation with his appearance. Just had to look good for the ladies, apparently. Not that any took interest in him. The little eggplant had about as much charm as one.

Hair straightened, his hand trailed further down, rubbing gentle, soothing circles into the back of his neck. It was something he normally only did after a nightmare, when Sanji cried and clung to him, but it seemed appropriate now too. He thought it was good for Sanji. He always slept better when Zeff held him.

Except now. Sanji twitched, and Zeff worried he'd wake him, so he lightened his touch, fingers barely grazing the skin, and that's when he heard it.

A giggle.

The noise was muffled by the pillows, but it was unmistakable in the quiet of his room. Something high-pitched and boyish and utterly unexpected. 

Zeff's hand stilled, staring intently at Sanji. His body was still and breathing steady. He'd heard Sanji talk before in his sleep, but laugh? That seemed odd. Unless it was something else.

Curiously, he continued his light movement, holding back a laugh of his own when he noticed Sanji squirm, twisting back and forth but trying so hard to hide it. 

So he was awake. And Zeff didn't see why he shouldn't have his fun.

He changed tactics, switching to scratching at Sanji's neck, touch still light, using just his blunt nails.

There was another noise; this one was more like a muffled whine, low in his throat and barely contained. One of his arms shifted, trying for a subtly he had never been gifted with, and pushed the pillow further into his face, hiding his wide smile. 

How stupid did Sanji think he was? He wasn't sure he actually wanted to know after this. And if Zeff said something, he knew it'd ruin the moment. He didn't want to.

He didn't, so he continued tickling the boy who he'd become uncomfortably fond of.

His hand drifted, grazing across the side of his neck in a way that made Sanji's shoulders scrunch up. He couldn't contain himself anymore, and soft giggles poured out of him. The kid was oddly cute like this, and that fond feeling he had for Sanji only grew.

Zeff was careful. They'd never done anything like this—he doubted Sanji'd ever even been tickled before—and they were still in a somewhat precarious position surrounding the kid's tolerance for any touch at all. He wasn't one to be playful, but Zeff figured this was the closest he'd ever get as he moved to new spots.

Sanji chortled when he scratched under his chin, and seeming to have given up the act of pretending to be asleep, kicked his legs when Zeff's fingers prodded at his ears. The strongest reaction came when he scribbled at his back—Zeff hadn't even known backs could be ticklish—making an alarmed high-pitched sound that Zeff could only call a squeal, grip around the pillow tightening, trying to hide his embarrassment or laugh or something, Zeff figured.

After a few more moments, Zeff stopped, pulling his hand away and waiting for Sanji to collect himself. It took a long time for his laughter to calm down, but Zeff only watched, unable to help his own amused smile.

Finally, Sanji removed his face from the pillow, looking up at Zeff. His face was completely flushed, and he had a large, dopey smile on his face that Zeff had only ever seen when he was talking to a girl. Dumb kid.

"Um…" Sanji brought the pillow to his chest, hugging it tightly and partially obscuring his face. "What was that?"

"Tickling. Ever happened to you before?"

He shook his head, eyes flitting away from Zeff with a sad look. He was quiet, seemingly lost in thought, and Zeff watched him, waiting for Sanji to gather himself. 

It took a few minutes before he dropped the pillow, propping himself up. There was still a trace of sadness, but there was something else, something Zeff couldn't quite place.

His eyes were big and droopy, fatigue weighing down his lashes and a smile, albeit faint, dragged across his lips. In the quiet of these late nights and early mornings, there was something different about Sanji, more tender. Like the darkness of the sky cloaked them in a veil of security, wrapping around his shoulders and tucking him in with the same comfort of a loving parent.

Leaning closer, a yawn breezing past his lips, Sanji shifted further towards Zeff, mumbling, "'t's nice."

"Guess so," he grunted and, seeing the expectant look on his face, reached back out, curling his fingers into Sanji's side until he burst into another fit of giggles.

Zeff supposed it was quite nice.

-

Sanji, by some miracle, had actually managed to fall back asleep after crying for mercy. 

Zeff wasn't tired, but he stayed, figuring Sanji wouldn't like waking up alone, and there wasn't much work to be done today anyway; he could let him sleep in. He grabbed a book at random from his shelf, biding the time by staring absentmindedly at the pages, his attention always somehow drifting back to Sanji. It was almost annoying, the grip that the kid had on him.

When he did wake up, scolding Zeff for letting them stay in that late and wasting so much of the day as if Sanji was actually the adult. It was stupidly endearing.

Zeff, like always, brushed away his concerns. "Then stop complaining and help me get ready."

"Help?" Sanji asked, indignant, and Zeff sorrowfully remembered what an attitude he had on him. "What do you need now, old man? A diaper change?"

Sighing, he only gestured to his face, watching the confusion spread across Sanji's face and sighing again. 

"The braids," he huffed, untying the ribbons. "They need to be redone."

Sometime during the night, or perhaps during his horseplay with Sanji, the hair had become wildly unruly, strands unwinding and sticking out at odd angles.

Sanji stared at him for a long moment like he was stupid. Then asked, in an oddly anxious voice, "What?"

"You heard me. Get on with it."

He couldn't bite back his smile. His whole face lit up, and no matter how hard he always tried to hide it, Sanji still always wore his heart on his sleeve, and his joy was infectious. Shuffling closer, he carefully reworked Zeff's mustache, hair now slightly curled, into a neat braid, redoing them both a few times until he was satisfied with his work, staring at Zeff proudly.

It was better than the ones yesterday; Zeff had to give him credit for that.

"Good work, little eggplant," he said, staring at himself in the mirror. "Now you go get ready. It's late."

Sanji, ever the dutiful worker, hurried out, but Zeff caught the blinding smile on his face before he left.

It was worth the odd stares he got from the rest of his crew, and none of them had the courage to say anything after Zeff stared down the first person who'd so much as uttered a word about it.

Unless it was a compliment, which he tolerated in silence only because it brought that bright smile back to Sanji's face, and the kid deserved the praise. 

The day was slow and calmer than Baratie had any right to be. 

There was an odd lightness in Sanji; Zeff didn't know if it was because of him, but he was glad.

And he was even happier when it seemed to persist into the next day and the next. 

They still bickered, of course—the kid—his kid—just had to bitch about every little thing. They spent long days cooking together, sweating and struggling in their somehow always understaffed restaurant. They trained together on those off days, splitting time between cooking and fighting. And in those early mornings, late nights, and all the time in between, they regarded each other with a new softness, with the playful and affectionate touches Sanji had become accustomed to, the ones he craved.

And Zeff, forever worn out by the rude, annoying kid he'd ended up with, always indulged him, his little eggplant.

[pinkanonwrites]

It’s You I Like

Vash/Reader, songfic, 1500+ words I don’t normally write Isekai stuff for Vash but this was too good an opportunity to pass up, and I ended up liking it a lot so maybe I’ll do more little drabbles with this specific isekai!reader

"Well, at least we managed to stock up on everything before we left."

“...”

“You said the next town was, what? About forty iles? Doubt we’ll make that tonight, but it’s not too bad considering.”

“...”

“So I can set up the sleeping bags if you want to get a fire going, how ‘bout that Vash? …Vash?”

“...Hm? Oh. Oh! Y-Yeah, no problem… Here, here’s this.” Even though Vash responded to you, his gaze hadn’t yet left the direction the two of you had just come from as his bag thumped into the sand next to you. Or rather, not so much came from as fled from. You were just about to make yourselves comfortable at the local inn for the evening when someone managed to recognize your red-coated traveling companion, and it wasn’t long before the entire town was hot on your tail. Miraculously, somehow, the two of you managed to escape the hailstorm of bullets completely unscathed and with all your meager travel gear intact, but now you found yourself far past the outskirts of the town and left to your own devices in the barren wasteland.

Not like you had any room to complain though. Considering your sudden and unorthodox appearance in one of your favorite series, you'd much rather cling to the familiar presence of Vash the Stampede than risk your luck bumming around any other town on this desolate rock. How fortunate were you to not only find the spiky protagonist, but also to have him listen to and believe your wildly unbelievable tale of woe. Mentioning the SEEDS ships helped, you supposed. Now wherever Vash went you had no choice but to follow.

Again, though. Definitely not a complaint.

Vash was still quiet as the two of you cobbled together your camping site at the base of a large outcropping rock. There was a small smile on his face, framed by the fire's amber glow. But even without having read the manga and watched the anime you could tell it wasn't a real one. It didn't quite reach his eyes.

"You were probably looking forward to an actual bed tonight, huh?" He joked, gaze never leaving the small fire. "Welcome to the life of an outlaw! I assure you, it's always this glamorous."

"It's no big deal! Camping's not bad either, at least when you have the sleeping bags."

He didn't look convinced by your words, but he nodded anyway, an uncomfortable silence falling between the two of you. You kicked your boots off and pulled your knees to your chest on top of your sleeping bag, watching the fire crackle.

"...Is it hard?"

"Hm?" When you glanced over to Vash he was finally looking your way, elbow propped up on his knee and his cheek resting in his palm. Despite the casual pose there was a melancholy behind his eyes, a deep remorse. "Is what?"

"Running around like this. I doubt you're used to it."

"It's… Well I won't lie to you, it isn't easy." Vash barked out a laugh at your brutally honest response. You pushed forward, unabated. "But honestly? I'm probably safer with you than I am anywhere else on this planet. I don't know any people, any places… The only thing I really know is you." A prickling heat began to crawl up the back of your neck at your openness, and you rested the side of your head down on your knees as if it would deter the sudden fluster. "I'm really lucky you found me."

That seemed to catch Vash off-guard, as he began to awkwardly fiddle with his cybernetic hand as his gaze flitted around. "That's, uh, I mean… you've got a pretty skewed idea of luck, I think. Heh…"

There was an awkwardness that fell in the next extended silence too, but it wasn't quite the same. It was a little softer around the edges, more vulnerable. Off to your side you could hear the soft clinking of Vash disassembling and cleaning his gun, bits and pieces placed carefully across his sleeping bag to make sure nothing was lost in the shuffle. As you stretched your legs out in front of you in a v-shape, you hummed softly to yourself as you watched the embers stir and crumble into the sand. 

"What song is that?" You glanced at Vash, biting back a chuckle at his furrowed expression, tongue peeking from his teeth as he stared down the empty chambers of his revolver with a cleaning pick and a look of intense focus.

"It's a children's song from home. It's from an old TV show, I think." You hummed the first line a little louder, just enough so Vash could hear the melody over the fire's crackle. You doubted he even knew what a "TV show" was, but he didn't seem too fazed by it.

"Do you like to sing?"

"I like it. I'm average, I think, but I always have fun when I'm singing." Out of the corner of your eye you could see Vash looking at you again. "Oh, absolutely not. Not gonna happen."

"Hey, I didn't even say anything!"

"You didn't have to! I could tell by your face! I'm not gonna sing, it's embarrassing."

"No it's not! Besides, you said you like it. And it's a song from Earth, too! I wanna hear it." He probably didn't even realize it, but he was flashing you those big, sad puppy-dog eyes that he didn't yet know you couldn't resist. You let out a small, irritated whine, hand finding the back of your neck and resting on the flushed skin there as you drew your gaze back to the crackling fire.

"...Fine. Just this once. And don't… Don't say anything weird."

"You got it!" You could see him salute out of the corner of your eye, and couldn't help the quiet snort of laughter that came from you in response. Dork. The quiet click-clack of him beginning to reassemble his firearm returned, so now was as good a time as ever, you supposed.

"It's you, I like."

There was a sharp tink! of Vash fumbling part of the barrel and it clattering down into the remaining pile of gun parts, but you were far too self-conscious to glance over and gauge his expression.

"It's not the things you wear. It's not the way you do your hair, but it's you I like."

You could feel him staring, but you kept your eyes locked on the low, rolling flames.

"The way you are right now, the way down deep inside you. Not the things that hide you…"

Stretching your foot out just a bit, you tapped next to the pile of gun parts sorted neatly on his sleeping bag.

"...Not your toys, they're just beside you."

He chuckled, so quietly that he probably didn't expect you to hear it. But you did, and it made your face positively burn. 

"But it's you, I like. Every part of you. Your skin, your eyes, your feelings, whether old or new."

You couldn't ignore Vash's continuous shifting around any longer, flicking your gaze over to him. He'd turned himself completely to face you, cross-legged, chin perched in his palm, a look in his eyes so soft it made your heart feel like it was thundering right up against your ribcage. Your voice wavered for just a note, but you pushed forward.

"I hope that you remember, even when you're feeling blue."

Blue, so blue, his deep cyan eyes finding yours and not flitting away, watching you so gently, yet so intently. Despite your embarrassment, you couldn't find it in yourself to look away either.

"That it's you, I like. You yourself, it's you…"

He seemed to lean in at your every word, like a sailor to a siren. You hardly found your singing to be enough to hypnotize like mermaids in old fairy tales, and yet here he was.

"It's you, I like."

With your song ended, the silence that stretched between you was only interspersed by the soft crackle of the fire. A sharp humiliation suddenly rushed through you, face burning hot at your own vulnerability. Seeming to blink his way out of a trance, Vash began to speak.

"That was-"

"GOODNIGHT VASH!" You yelped, quickly rolling over and burying yourself in your sleeping bag facing away from him, the edge of the fabric pulled all the way up to your nose. He didn't push, letting you curl up and wallow in your own embarrassment, the clicking of his continued gun reassembly peppering the background silence.

And then he began to hum. Quietly, carefully, he felt out the unfamiliar melody.

"It's you, I like."

You could hear the smile in his voice.

"It's not the things you wear."

Warmth blossomed in the pit of your chest, curling up around your heart and settling fluffy and light. He was a good singer as well, his lack of familiarity with the song the only thing slowing him down. But he continued, metal bits and parts snapping together under careful hands as he sang your song.

"It's not the way you do your hair…"

Eyelids dipping heavily, you let them slide shut, Vash's voice filling the empty wasteland and pooling low and sweet in your tired mind.

As sleep began to fog at the corners of your mind, you were completely oblivious to Vash's fond gaze upon your bundled-up form as you began to drift into unconsciousness.

"...but it's you, I like."

[intotyun]

Road to forgiveness

Something that has been on my mind is if Shinji and Hinamori are capable of forgiving Aizen.

What exactly did Aizen do to them?

1. momo hinamori

This is pretty self-explanatory. He basically manipulated momo into thinking that he was a kind and reliable captain and someone she could look up to and seek comfort. All this, so she would never suspect him when he was scheming behind the scene to betray soul society.

And if that weren't enough, after momo was frantically trying to find his “killer”, he appeared right in front of her: well and alive. And that mentally fucked up momo again. Aizen comforted her before she was stabbed with his sword :/

But when he found out she was still alive, he proceeded to try and kill her again by making her childhood friend stabbed her.

2. Moving on to shinji hirako.

You see, shinji is different. He knew aizen wasn't up to no good and aizen made use of that suspicions. Which resulted in him and his friends becoming hollowfied experiments, aizen taunts Shinji and tells him that the reason why his friends are lying on the floor is because of shinji.

Aizen was going to kill all of them before urahara came in.

But even then, this resulted in them having to run away from soul society: their own home as central 46 were going to “deal with them like how they deal with hollows.”

And during the battle, hiyori was cut in half by gin after aizen tauted her to attack him.

So you can see how Aizen basically ruined both of their lives and betrayed them in very different ways.

Death save the strawberry

this is basically the aftermath of aizen's defeat. Shinji is telling hinamori he is considering taking his old position back. Some very interesting moments that we see is:

Section 1: pg 60-68

1. Shinji telling momo that he should have “killed aizen no matter what it took!”

2. momo then bursts out crying, telling shinji she understands that aizen had betrayed and hurt many people including her. But all the moments that they spend together were some of the happiest and that she looked up to him as a role model.

3. Shinji then agrees with momo and tells her that he “would be lying, if I were to say we didn't have any fun moments. We did indeed have some good times together.”

Section 3: pg 163

1. momo quoting aizen's words and shinji jokingly asks her to say that shinji was the one to say those words of wisdoms instead of aizen.

So it seems that both of them have somewhat recovered from aizen (?). They know that aizen betrayed and lied to them, but at the same time, they remember the good times they had and bring it up even though deep down they know it was probably all fake.

Lost agent Arc

We see shinji again when ichigo tells the gotei 13 he is going to continue to be a substitute soul repears. But they were all shocked when ichigo suggested the retrieval of ginjo's body to give it a proper burial.

“Hey Ichigo, that guy messed up your family and friends. Can you forgive a guy like this?”

if you think about it, there is some parallel between ginjo's betrayal and aizen's betrayal:

1. Both used people thay trusted for their own goals and betrayed.

2. Both didn't just hurt their victims but also their friends and families. (Shinji with hiyori and momo with toshiro)

shinji reaction is interesting. I think he sees the parallel and is asking ichigo the obvious question, a question he would ask himself if ever given the opportunity, “Can I forgive a guy like aizen? Or rather.. should I?”

Shinji sees ichigo (sort of) forgiving someone who ruined his life, and I think he is asking ichigo if he can forgive someone like him, like aizen. Keep in mind that shinji used to be ichigo mentor of sort so he must have felt his own student showing some feelings to his enemy.

One key thing that in the manga and show is that ichigo has unconsciously changed alot of people in soul society. Shinji is no exception. As seen with his relationship with momo.

TYBW

If you read the manga, you should know that when aizen were released, people like shinji or momo didn't say anything. Hell, shinji just had one panel of him reacting to it. But thus, the panel of shinji just looks like: I know it's wrong to release aizen, but this is the right thing to do. There isn't hatred in his expression.

Funny enough, the people that were shitting on aizen were people that aizen didn't really hurt that much as compared to this two. I hope kubo is going to fixed this problem in the anime and have some interaction between shinji and momo. Like he's I understand they have recovered from aizen but having confirmation in the main source would be better

Now the point is: can shinji and momo forgive aizen? Tbh idk it's vv iffy but I don't think they would be seething with as much hatred as before when they see aizen and has learn to move forward and not be too caught up in the past.

[lutawolf]

My Personal Weatherman and the D/s element Ep 2

I got my regular inbox from @notfreetoday I adore you. Thank you for always taking the time to explain things and cheer me on. So let's start this post off with some info from them. Also, if you haven't read ep 1 first, that can be found here.

"Oh oh @LutaWolf 💜 you might want to know - about the whole dryer/only 1 bedsheet thing - The author of the original manga clarified through a tweet that the line "it's been 3 years since then" that was posted in Ep 1 actually meant it's been 3 years since the convo they had in the library - at this point in the story they've only been living together for a few months. Hahaha, too many people were confused by how they've been supposedly together for 3 years but seem relatively new to each other"

For further elaborations from notfreetoday check out their post here.

Poor Yoh, he's already missing the D. Bless him. I personally feel this is a valid response to a lack of sex. I would likely have skipped making the cute doll and gone straight to the priest. But that's just me.

As soon as Segasaki enters the house, he's looking for Yoh. When he looks around and notices a dark home, he goes right to his room. Yoh is concerned because he thinks this must be due to Segasaki wanting food, but Segasaki immediately corrects this.

There is a lot going on. First, Segasaki knows something is wrong with Yoh. Okay so, it's been three years since the conversation but a few months of living together. Yet Segasaki already seems to catch on to things concerning Yoh, which I would expect from a Dom but not this fast. It makes me wonder how long Segasaki actually had been watching Yoh prior to even approaching him with the deal. Also, he left the door open when he left. Like offering up an invitation. Come out here. Come be with me.

Then in the next scene. There he is, immediately sitting down and being with Yoh.

Sure, he makes excuses as to why, but only Yoh doesn't realize their excuses. He's also being super considerate. He could demand Yoh spend time with him, but he's trying to find Yoh's boundaries. Then when Yoh goes to fix him a plate, he immediately stops him. Though it's in such a stoic way as to confuse Yoh.

A Dom can feel insecure too, and that's what I feel we may be seeing from Segasaki. Which is why we are getting attention seeking demands from him. That Yoh once again completely misreads. Segasaki wants to feel connected to him.

Again, he notices something off with Yoh and asks, but Yoh doesn't talk. And he doesn't push. The drink. I freaking love that he drinks from Yoh. I do this so often but have never seen it represented in a show or movie before, it tickles me.

These two are both so in love with each other, but they're both just stupid. Waking him up to make sure he goes and sleeps in a bed. Segasaki's sadness at being late and likely missing the Yoh making him dinner. You can see Yoh's instant sadness at being told not to make dinner for him. For all he complains about being a "servant" he sure does get upset when the duties are taken away. And let me repeat, in my opinion he is in no way a slave/servant, that's just how he views himself. It is not how Segasaki views him, and for a slave/servant he is given far too many liberties.

Here is the thing about M/s relationships. The master owns the slave. Slaves have absolutely no power. The best example is actually Hira from My Beautiful Man, prior to them developing a relationship anyway. Now, outside of fiction, the submissive 100% consents to this. This is not what we are seeing with Yoh. He is giving off all kinds of brat vibes, and Segasaki is allowing it. Which is why I'm saying what I'm saying about Yoh.

In general, M/s and BT/b won't be in the same room. We have a whole different view on D/s relationships. A Brat Tamer and brat will likely have experience in M/s relationships, but a M/s will have zero experience in BT/b relationships. Did I lose you? A Brat Tamer and brat when entering the kink community will often explore themselves and all the D/s spectrums, but once landing on BT/b, they stop. They've found themselves. A Master and slave will never explore BT/b, we either disgust them or confuse them.

I adore how he realized what he was doing and threw down the teruteru bouzu like it was going to contaminate him.

Ugh, why we got to talk about a woman's cleavage. Especially as another female. Why put a female down over fucking tits? I get that this story line is meant to sure as initiating the jealousy from Yoh. I personally don't appreciate it, though. They could have easily established it without discussing how a female should or should not dress. Honestly, though, I think they did it in order to put the woman's tits on display, and I'm not mad at it. I hit the pause button and gave suitable appreciation for the support that bra was giving her.

Segasaki is completely oblivious to anyone other than Yoh and given the opportunity of getting home early to him. He is taking it. Sorry party lovers.

OH, that look Segasaki gives after the initial "huh!" is a look that I'm sure had subs alike backing up from their screen. That look, is a Dom's I'll be damned, look. I personally got giddy over it. Yup, "You have the nerve to do this when someone is holding back?" The fact that he was allowed to push him away, and rather than getting punished, Segasaki begins cleaning up after him. That's a Brat Tamer and brat. Each Dom in my opinion has a different type of patience. You can't beat a Deep Dom when it comes to play but lifestyle, that's hands down a Brat Tamer. We are more likely to be charmed and amused by things that would set other Doms off. But there are no doubts that he is Dom. He said stop drinking, and he isn't backing down.

Oh, that shut up takes him by surprise and pauses him. His face tightens in annoyance, but he waits and listens to Yoh. He is not too happy when Yoh says that he'll make lots of money and get out of there. He wants an explanation, but his brat pushes him away. These two are a shitshow. A train wreck that I can't look away from. Drunk Yoh is a brave and talkative Yoh. On the bright side, we are getting mush needed things said.

Oh damn, there is lots of anger there. Yoh is very pushy, and let me say that only a guilty Dom would put up with that shit. "You never smile at me like that."

"I'm tired. I'm tired when I'm with you. I hate it."

And I have just fallen in love with Segasaki as a Dom. I've been falling since the first episode, but now he has cemented it. When Yoh says this, Segasaki becomes self reflective. Sure he's sad, that's expressed in facial expression and body language, but he isn't mad, and then we see that he's appreciative. Which he expresses to Yoh.

He rubs his head, "You talk a lot when drunk." Then he smiles. Ohhh, I was wrong about the rain. It happens people. I still maintain that he saw Yoh's anticipation and enjoyed it, though. You are not going to convince me otherwise. Segasaki was trying to respect a boundary. Meanwhile, Yoh is like, "Can't we buy a dryer." Bro isn't good with just going and buying an extra sheet. No, homeboy wants a dryer so he can get that D on the regular without worrying about sheets.

OMG! I love these two so fucking much. Segasaki is like, you accepted my proposal, and now you're saying you don't want it. Giving a whole new meaning and light to it that has Yoh scrambling to catch up. Segasaki calls him an idiot. He also asks Yoh if he hates him and when Yoh says nothing, he says whatever and rubs Yoh's head. Though this time it's not affectionately. I think he knows that Yoh doesn't really hate him, but he doesn't know how to get the relationship on track either.

The next previews look promising and I'm excited!

Hope you guys enjoy! 💜💜💜

[windywriter]

This is in reference to this post it turned out longer than I thought it would so I put it under read more.

The first time Baji realizes how much of a different world you live in compared to his was when he had to be hospitalized for a fight he got into. It wasn't the first time something like this happened. The punk got lucky, but Baji made sure that he didn't go down without a fight.

When he finally was discharged he was greeted by the usual heckling and boisterous welcomes at school. All the usual stuff, except when he finally came to you. Your eyes were red and puffy, contrasted by the heavy dark circles that had begun to form under them. Usually, you'd run into his arms, fussing over him and every little scratch or cut he had gotten. At first the whole ordeal just annoyed him, but soon enough he had learned to love those moments. But now, you stood before him, just out of arm's reach, your body trembling from was it sadness or perhaps rage?

"Do you have any idea ho-how worried I was for you?"

You sniffled out, wiping away burgeoning tears. The answer was obvious, but for some reason, Baji just couldn't seem to grasp it. I mean, he's still here right? This wasn't the first time you've seen him hurt, so what's the big deal? Frustration tickled the back of his throat, but he knew better than to give in to that right now. Taking a tense breath, Baji slowly reached for you with his good arm. All he needs to do is just calm you down so he can show you once again, that everything's fine and you-

"Don't touch me!"

Instinctively Baji immediately rescinded his hand, his eyes snapping to you in attention.

"You were gone for a week! Do you even understand how scared I was when I found out you were in the hospital?! How could you!?"

And before he could even muster up a reply, you had already run past him, your sobs trailing behind you as you left. Normally hed chase after you, just like in those boring shojou mangas chifuyu kept recommending him ever since he started dating. But, something felt off. And then it hit him. You...you weren't used to this, were you. The violence, the blood, the bruises. All things Baji had grown accustomed to, and perhaps even began to enjoy. Those were things you had never known. And suddenly, the hall you had sprinted past him seemed to only grow longer. A deafening silence filling his ears even as the school bell rang.

Later that day Baji skipped the rest of his classes with Chifuyu and went to your favorite bookstore. You had mentioned once that you were looking forward to pick up a new book that was coming out. Though his foul temper did little to help with his concentration in finding it. That coupled with the throbbing of his broken arm made the minutes seem to stretch into hours. What volume was it again? Was it even apart of a series?

"Baji san, you okay? You've been looking at the same shelf for a while now." Chifuyu asked.

Letting out a sigh he didn't even know he was holding, Baji clenched and unclenched his fist before grumbling out.

"I fucked up."

[bloodlessbelmounte]

Eternity Will Bring You Near - Chapter 2

Masterlist

Summary:

Wade understood that Logan was from a world where Alpha, Beta and Omega were everyday terms, not exclusive to red-pilled incel fuckheads who kept inventing new performative male genders. Wade would’ve been classified as a Beta. Logan, however, was an Alpha - Wade’s read enough fanfiction and yaoi manga to know what that means. Though it doesn’t explain why Logan keeps sniffing him.

Pairing: Alpha!Worst Wolverine/Deadpool Genre: A/B/O, Smut, Domestic-ish Warnings: A/B/O Dynamics, Blood, Lots of Logan Biting, Mutual Masturbation/Frotting, Blow Job

Beginning Note: It's been a hot minute since I last wrote any smut and I can't remember if I've ever written a blow job scene before so I dont feel too confident. Also sorry for any errors. I didn't want to subject my girlfriend to the smut scene.

Cross posted to AO3

Welcome back frienderinos, so many kudos on the first chapter in twelve hours – the author hasn’t experienced that before. The comments are appreciated too, sadly this failed excuse of a human can’t take a compliment and so never knows how to respond. The validation made them quite happy though. How was that vacation by the way?

Well considering that I was working on this in my non-social times, pretty okay. I got a mosasaur tooth and screamed at Poseidon.

Nerd.

Oh fuck off. Don’t make me get the spray bottle.

Okay, okay! Fine.

Wade awoke – still clinging to the offered arm – to a solid mass against his back, an arm slung heavy across his waist and warm steady puffs of air on the back of his neck.

“Oh my God fellas, I’m being spooned by The Wolverine!” Wade whisper-yelled, trying not to wake the sleeping man and ruin the precious moment. In fact, he tried to nestle in closer to the older man and eliminate as much space as possible. Ass to crotch as nature intended. Logan remained blissfully asleep despite the jostling and nuzzled his nose into the nape of Wade’s neck, which sent an involuntary shiver down his spine. Don’t get a boner. Don’t get a boner. Don’t get a fucking boner. There was no way he could jack off in good conscience knowing a minor with fucking super hearing was sharing a roof with him. Oh he’s going to have to sound proof his room once they found a bigger place because fuck that. It was at that moment Logan simultaneously sniffled, groaned and canted his hips into Wade.

“Sweet,” he mumbled, his voice husky – thick with sleep.

Shit.

So much for that valiant effort. Abort mission. Abort mission! Wade extracted himself from Logan’s almost steel grip with a surprising amount of effort as the other man’s hold on him only tightened with his struggle. But Wade prevailed, and fell to the floor very gracefully with a dignified “Oof”. Needless to say Logan woke up rather confused, wiping the sleep from his eyes to better glare at the idiot tangled in sheets on the floor.

“Bub, it is too early in the day to be dealing with y'shit.” His voice still had that sleepy roughness to it. Could this man stop being sexy for even one second?!

“Well maybe don’t hump my ass in your sleep! I’m not into somnophilia and we have a child in the next room!” Wade hissed back, covering his lower half with the blanket he was tangled in, “Last thing I need is her being even more sus about me than she already is.”

Logan had the decency to look embarrassed, averting his gaze from the merc, “Sorry. I’ll sleep on-”

“Hey! I don’t mind the spooning. I love being little spoon. You don’t have to sleep on the floor.” In hindsight it was Wade’s fault as he had snuggled closer. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to take a rather cold shower.”

Logan watched as Wade turned away and bundled the blanket around his waist. God, the merc confused him sometimes. Not a word about the stiffy he had when they were tied together but all modest about his morning wood. Wade escaped into the bathroom leaving Logan alone in the living room. He stretched out on the bed, joints cracking in protest.

He took a moment to lay there starfished as Wade’s scent and warmth clung to the bedding. Logan breathed in deeply. Gunpowder, leather, petrichor, the sour note of cancer and something sweet underlying that. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on but it was familiar and grew stronger when Wade was aroused. Yet that sweetness wasn’t there in the Void. He didn’t taste it in his blood. So maybe it was something about Wade’s universe that brought out the undertones. That sweetness had invaded his dreams, clouded his thoughts as he imagined burying his face into the scarred man’s neck, biting down to give him no escape as he drove his-

Yeah… shouldn’t linger on that.

Logan rolled off the bed and sat on its edge, scrubbing his face like he was physically trying to scrub away the inappropriate thoughts. He got up with a grumble and set to work putting the bed away, placing the bedding in a pile to the side. He had just moved the coffee table into place when the ladies of the house – Mary Puppins included – emerged from their room. Althea had Mary under one arm whilst her other hand wrapped around Laura’s elbow, allowing the teen to help her navigate. Logan laughed softly at how their pyjamas matched. Althea must’ve had spare sets. He briefly wondered how they were matching as he doubted it was Laura’s idea. The mystery would be solved later in the day during idle conversation with the elderly woman, Wade had sewn Braille into the labels so she could identify her clothes. Surprisingly thoughtful for someone who refers to her as ‘Blind Al’.

“Is Wade in here? I heard the shower going so it’s either him or the new guy in there.” Althea asked Laura as the girl deposited her in an armchair.

“Wade’s in the shower,” Logan answered for her, “would anyone like a coffee? Least I can do.”

“The offer itself is a damn sight more than what Wade does on the daily. I’ll take my coffee strong with sugar, no milk.” Althea responded, stroking Mary’s only patch of fur between the ears.

Laura curled her feet up under her and yawned, “I’ll just have a glass of water or juice.”

The bathroom door creaked open and Wade stepped out with nothing but a towel around his waist. Call it paternal instincts or whatever, Logan covered Laura’s eyes immediately. His eyes, however, roved over the merc’s form against his better judgement. Well toned musculature and lean. Built for his style of over-the-top gymnastic violence. If he had been an Omega in Logan’s universe he would have been highly sought-after by other mutant Alphas. Mary barked as her tailed wagged happily, breaking the older mutant out of his revere.

“I heard an offer for coffee?”

“Put some clothes on, Red.”

“I’m not naked. All my clothes are in Blind Al’s room, couldn’t exactly waltz in there and grab a change of clothes.” Wade countered, adjusting his towel ever so slightly, “Anyway, I like my coffee how I like my men: Strong enough to beat the shit out of me. No safewords.”

With that Wade exited into the bedroom and Logan lifted his hand off Laura with a sigh. He walked over to the fridge to find the young mutant her juice. Inside, he noticed a few bits and pieces that could be scraped together to cook enough breakfast for everyone, so he grabbed those too.

I’ll stop you there, dear author, because I know that you don’t know how coffee or tea is made in America since you’re British and have those doodads called ‘Kettles’.

Squirt. Squirt.

Fuck, that burns! What have you got in that bottle? Acid?

Boiled water from my kettle you cunt.

Now that’s just mean.

I told you to fuck off.

Wade re-emerged from the bedroom dressed in jeans, some kinda horse graphic white t-shirt with a red and black cardigan. He was greeted to the smell of freshly made coffee as well as eggs and bacon. Logan was stood over the stove tending to a saucepan and a frying pan while Laura buttered toast and put more pieces of bread in the toaster.

“In the words of that bad bitch Nobara: ‘Rejoice, boys’. For I have returned to save you from the mundanity of Honey Badger’s inner monologue,” Wade joked, taking the only coffee mug on the counter top, which he assumed was for him, and sat down on the sofa. “So what’s the itinerary for today? Jointly sign-up for sobriety programmes? Creating false identities for you’s twos? Booking apartment viewings?”

“We’re taking Laura clothes shopping and, yes: getting the TVA to give us different identities. I don’t need your Logan’s enemies on my ass.” Logan replied with a pointed look, flipping the bacon.

“Oh Snookums, he’s not my Logan. There’s only one Wolverine in my heart and that’s you.” Wade kissed the tips of his pointer fingers and shot them in Logan’s direction.

Logan abruptly turned away grumbling to himself and focused on cooking breakfast.

Look – we need to speed this up because we’re at nearly one-thousand-five-hundred words and I’m not missing out on fucky-fucky action in this chapter. Show don’t tell is going out the window for this bit. So here’s the run down: We have a lovely family breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs (I would say I like mine fertilised but I can’t exactly do that on account of all the cancer ravaging my body) on toast with a side of bacon cooked by GirlDad and DadGirl. Logan threw on some of Blind Al’s dead husband’s clothes. She was a widower, weird I know. Never took her for the type of girl to settle down. Anyway, back on track. The TVA was our closest stop on the day’s list so we paid them a little visit first. Turns out they had already set up bank accounts and identities for the timeline hoppers. Very efficient, very mindful, very demure of them. Logan Howlett was now James Logan – not abundantly imaginative of the author. Laura got to keep her first name and was given Logan as a last name. We then went on a fathers-daughter bonding shopping trip to Hot Topic and some place that sells outdoorsy clothes. And after all of that we sat our asses down to look online at potential apartments until there was a knock at the door.

Thank all that is holy that I’m not having you abducted again.

Why do you hate me so?

Who insulted me in the intro to the previous chapter?

Don’t blame me for your self-deprecating tendencies. You wrote that monologue.

…

Wade opened the door. Outside was, well, everyone. Peter, Vanessa, Colossus, Negasonic, Yukio, Dopinder and the others. They must have arranged it all in the group chat. God, Wade really needed to get a new phone already. It had been three months since the last one got lost on top of a car at the dealership. Peter had a crate of beer in his hands.

“Hi Wade,” Yukio waved with her always bright smile.

“Hi Yukio,” Wade gave her a smile and wave in kind, “Before y’all come barging in here, there’s some people I’d like you to meet. Peter met one of them already. Now they have super hearing so don’t talk all at once in case you spook them.” Wade instructed as he ushered them in.

Negasonic was the first to react, brows furrowed and jaw set, “When the fuck did you get to know Wolverine? He’s meant to be on a mission right now. Are you slacking off, old man?”

Wade stepped in front of her, his face set in a somehow playful scowl, “Cool your jets teen rebellion. This here is my Wolverine,” He stood behind the kitchen chair Logan was sat and patted one of the other man’s nippleoons. He noticed how intently Vanessa watched the interaction, her gaze lingering on his hand.“He’s from a different universe. Me and this fella saved the Marvel Multiverse together.”He gestured to Laura who was seated next to Logan, “And this munchkin here who is about your age and just as spiteful is Laura, your Logan’s biological lab-conceived daughter. But things for her are a little complicated because she’s technically travelled back in time. Last but not least,” Wade bent down and picked the dog up from the floor, “We have Mary Puppins aka Dogpool. In our efforts to save the world she tragically lost her father to… other Deadpools.”

“Shame really, the Deadpool Corps are great,” Peter piped up with a grin.

“Of course they are, they’re all me,” Wade motioned for everyone to find a seat, “That’s the three newest members of our group introduced. Shall we all settle in? Or are we all going to stand around awkwardly?”

Wade took the available seat next to Logan and was somewhat surprised Vanessa came to sit next to him. For the most part they talked to the people around them, Wade was definitely trying to avoid any small talk with her. He still wasn’t used to the new dynamics of their relationship turned friendship. How do you navigate going from engaged and failing to start a family to just friends? Especially when you didn’t start off as friends. There’s no baseline to fall back on. Can’t exactly do the old routine of overtly sexual flirting and trauma bonding when she had a new fella. At some point pizza had been ordered and everyone helped themselves to it.

Logan, apparently, read Wade’s hesitance differently, “Give me the fucking dog, talk to the girl.” He demanded nodding towards Vanessa, his hands already gently grasping Mary and apprehended the pup before turning to Laura who laughed and poked Mary on the nose.

There goes his anchor. His hands gingerly rested on the table now that they were empty. What should he say? What can he say? Was there anything to salvage? Wade glanced over to Vanessa and accidentally made eye-contact which caught her attention.

“Oh, hi,” She said softly, humour in her tone and a gentle smile on her lips, like she thought she’d spook him.

Wade forced a smile, “Hi.” It came out as a wheeze as if the lump he felt in his throat was a physical barrier not a mental hurdle. He cleared his throat to dislodge it.

“You’ve been busy.” She glanced over his shoulder, still grinning.

He nodded. What the fuck should he say? What would she want to hear? Perhaps…

“I did it for you. Even if you don’t want me, I did it for you.”

Her smile dropped briefly, her hand enveloping his with a reassuring squeeze, “You did it for all of us. Can I have a word with you in the hallway?”

“Uh, yeah sure.”

Wade followed her into the hallway outside the front door. She had her arms crossed as she looked up at him, eyebrows pinched together like they always did when she was concerned about him.

“What was that? Seemed like you were masking in there.”

“I’m bad with complicated emotions, we both know that Ness.”

Vanessa snorted, looked to the floor and pinched the bridge of her nose. Oh she was getting frustrated. Not good. “If you’re trying to make your boyfriend jealous, please don’t use me. I don’t need the drama.”

“B-Boyfriend?” Wade choked, utterly blind sided by the statement, “What boyfriend? You’re the only one here with a boyfriend.”

“Right, so that’s not what’s going on then,” She mumbled to herself. She grasped his arm and made him properly look at her, “What’s the situation with Logan then? You were draping yourself all over him when we arrived.”

“Nothing! I like him too much and he hates me but we kissed-”

“You kissed?”

“Yeah, it was after the whole sacrificing ourselves thing and I was afraid he died. Obviously he didn’t but he had been hurt and I was just so relieved he was okay and there was the thrill of surviving against all odds-” Wade quick fire rambled, rubbing the back of his neck while blood rushed to settle across his cheeks.

“You love him.”

“No I-”

“Wade, I know you. When you fall it’s hard and fast-”

“Just like how I fuck.”

“Exactly. The way you look at him is just like how you looked at me in the beginning. Logan looks at you the same way, I’ve seen it at that table. But I’ll let him talk to you about that himself.”

A cough came from the doorway which made Wade startle and jump as Logan stood there, hip cocked and smirking. He hadn’t noticed that Vanessa had left the door ajar.

And how was Logan able to sneak up on me when he had metal bones and weighed at least four hundred pounds?

Wade looked backed to Vanessa for an explanation.

“Super hearing.” She said simply.

“You set me up!” Wade cried in faux outrage.

“I just got the ball rolling,” she shrugged, she patted Logan on the arm as she moved past him back into the apartment, “it’s in your court now big guy.”

The door shut behind her.

“C'mon, let’s go somewhere actually private,” Logan stated, grabbing Wade by the wrist and pulling him down the hallway and up the stairs.

Wade was struggling to keep up, tripping over his own feet and stumbling up the steps as he was dragged behind the older mutant. He had to catch himself on the handrail a couple times to stop himself from defying gravity and falling upwards. How was Logan going so fast?

Was he taking them two at a time?

In nearly no time at all they had made it up onto the roof. The cold evening air welcoming them. As the door slipped shut behind Wade, Logan turned to him and slammed a hand onto the door boxing the younger man in.

Wade turned to the arm caging him in, “Kabedon,” He murmured addressing you readers, “Veteran fans of shojo anime and manga will know what I mean.”

Logan lightly gripped Wade’s chin and made him face forwards, “I know what y'mean, I did live in Japan for a while. I know the language. But I’m not much for words. I prefer action.”

He wasted no time in capturing the merc’s lips, his grip moving to instead cup Wade’s cheek, a calloused thumb tracing over the scarred tissue beneath. If Wade could physically melt into a puddle on the ground, he would have done as tension he had been unconsciously holding seeped out of his muscles. Taking the bull by the horns as it were,his hands rose up to tangle his fingers into Logan’s kitty eared cowlicks trying to deepen the kiss, noses bumping into each other.

He should definitely grow them out, he looked so cute with bigger tufts when he was younger.

Logan nipped at the younger mutant’s bottom lip. One of those little fangs of his nicked it, drawing just a drop as blood that was quickly swept up by a flick of his tongue. Wade’s lips parted in a gasp that Logan took full advantage of. A hand fell onto one of Wade’s hips, pulling him into the other while he was being pressed into the door. Logan rutted into him, his arousal brushing against Wade’s.

Yeowza. Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Unfortunately, despite being functionally immortal, both mutants still needed to breathe. The two broke apart, Wade panting and oxygen starved focused on bucking his hips to match Logan’s rhythm. Logan traced mouth along Wade’s jawline and down into his neck where he started to nip and lick at the rough skin, teasing out moans and groans. Wade gave a particularly harsh tug to the hair still in his grip when the bites got hard enough to break skin. Then there was hands working Wade’s jeans open, pushing the offending material along with his boxers down far enough for his cock to spring free.

“I’m not sure you know this Logi, but I’m not a natural bottom – as the readers have seen me say nearly a thousand times already – and I very much doubt you are either, being an Alpha and all that.” Wade babbled. How was he still coherent in this situation? He’s about to have Wolverine’s hand on his dick. “So I don’t know what the procedure is here. How are we going about this?”

Logan tore himself away from where he was futilely trying to litter Wade’s throat with marks that healed far too soon, his pupils blown into molten tar and a faint hint of crimson tinting his lips, “I guess I’ll just have to train ya, Princess.” He growled.

Wade’s brain must have short circuited because in the next instance Logan had freed his own member and had it pressed against Wade’s. It was longer than his by a good few inches, and Wade wasn’t average (nor was he below it). It was thicker too.

Hoe my God! The glimpse I got yesterday through those sweats did not do him justice. That’s a weapon. He wants that in me?!

Logan held up his hand, eyebrow raised expectantly. Wade gathered the saliva in his mouth and gave it the ol’ Huktuh into the waiting palm. Logan wrapped that hand around both their cocks and started stroking them slowly. Wade whined at the glacial, almost teasing pace, one of his own hands reached down to thumb at Logan’s tip which was starting to leak precum. Wade’s, however, was dripping wet which added to the slick glide. He briefly wondered what Logan thought of the texture of his dick against his, of the hand giving attention to his head. But again his mind went blank when Logan picked up the pace and began to thrust up into their hands. Wade’s head fell against the door with a thud, his eyes rolling back. Fuck. The friction felt amazing. Logan grunted lowly as he worked their shafts, his mouth back on Wade’s throat.

“Logan- shit. I imagined something like – ah – this happening when your suit exploded yesterday. Hngh- Dreams really do come true,” Wade groaned, fucking up into Logan’s tightened grip.

Logan huffed out a chortle, raising his head only to rest his forehead against Wade’s, “Here I thought I’d found away to shut y'up, Bub.”

Wade’s gaze darted between the other man’s eyes and lips, his tongue peaking out to wet his own, “Make me then, Honey Badger.”

There was a growl from the mutant, almost primal sounding, followed by hungry searing lips seeking to consume him. And God, did Wade want to be consumed. To let this man take as much as he wanted from him then and there. But it was all getting to be too much, he was getting close. The telltale signs of his balls tightening and the heat pooling low in his stomach. He abandoned his attentions on the other man’s tip to clutch his back.

Wade yanked on Logan’s hair, regrettably pulling the other away, saliva bridged between them, “I’m gonna- fuck! I’m gonna cum,” He whimpered.

Logan readjusted his grip, letting go of his own straining cock to focus solely on Wade’s, “It’s okay. I got y'. That’s a good boy.”

Wade’s vision whited out as he came with a shout. His fingers raking through Logan’s hair and across his clothed back. His back arching like a bow drawn taut while Logan wrapped his hand over the head of Wade’s cock. He slumped against the door, took a moment to catch his breath and cracked his eyes open. When had they shut? Afew seconds later the world came into focus but oh he was not mentally prepared for the sight before his eyes.

There was Logan licking his cum of that glorious hand like it was a fucking treat not to be wasted while his other hand lazily worked his still present hard on.

“I think I must’ve died and gone to heaven,” Wade panted, “Because no way is this real.”

Logan just grunted in acknowledgement. Either he was close or concentrating on getting there.

“Would you like a hand with that? I might not be the Blowjob Queen of Saskatoon but I can give Truthful Timmy a run for his money.” Wade offered, pushing off the door to flip their positions.

“Do y'think y'can take me, Mouth?” Logan teased with a grin.

“As long as you don’t knot my throat and give me a really unfortunate case of lockjaw while we have guests over.”

“Y' don’t have to worry about that Bub, only happens when the person I’m fucking is ovulating.”

Wade dropped to his knees and lifted the material of Logan’s shirt and under-shirt to reveal those Hawaiian rolls, finally running the flat of his tongue up them like he’d been dying to do, “So what you’re telling me is that if I ever wanted to be stuffed like a Twinkie fit to burst, I just need to buy some sort of pheromone or hormone perfume. Noted.” His teeth grazed over one of the muscles.

Gotta love ‘em while they’re still there ‘cause I’m gonna make sure Wolvie is properly hydrated.

Wade nuzzled into the coarse hair of Logan’s groin. He took a deep breath, savouring the heady musky scent as drool pooled in his mouth. He lightly gripped the other’s member with both hands, mouthing along his length, teasing kitten licks and kisses. He paid special attention to lap at the underside of the tip. Logan groaned making Wade glance up at him. His eyes were squeezed shut, fists balled up at his sides.

“You can touch me, you know,” He snickered then swept his tongue from base to tip before enveloping it in the warm wet heat of his mouth.

“Fuck!” Hands shot down to grip his head, thighs twitching in what Wade could only assume was restraint.

This is where I miss having hair at times. Maybe I should alter one of my spare masks to have a mouth hole. That’ll give him some leverage.

Relaxing his throat, he tried to take in as much as he could. His jaw already ached. Damn he was out of practice. But then he’d never had a log quite like this before. Good thing his gag reflex was no longer existent. Wade hollowed his cheeks and began bobbing his head, taking in an inch or two more when he could, spit leaking from the corners of his mouth. He removed his hands and rested one on Logan’s hip, moaning and pulling him forward. The other dropped to massage his balls. A choked gasp came from above him. The grip on his head tightened, holding him in place as Logan began thrusting, shallowly at first but quickly becoming rougher. Wade choked when Logan hit the back of his throat but the whorish outcry from the other made it worth it.

Relax, breathe through the nose.

He tried to swallow and tighten around the thick length, rewarding him with desperate bucks and low growls.

“Shit. Fuck. Can I cum in y'mouth? Would y'do that for me? Swallow everything I give ya, Red.”

Wade moaned, eyelids fluttering as he made himself take Logan down to the base. A few more thrusts and salty bitter spend spilled into Wade’s waiting maw which he eagerly swallowed down. He pulled away, working to clean up whatever lingered. Trembling hands dragged him up onto his feet. Logan wasted no time in drawing him close to lap up the cum that had dribbled down his chin, catching him in a kiss, the taste of both of the mingling. It was messy but brief.

“You nasty. I like that.” Wade heaved when they separated.

Logan gave him a crooked smile, humming in amusement, “We should get back down to the party. They’re there for y'after all.”

“I don’t want our little romp to end though, Wolvie.” The younger pouted.

“There’ll be more to come later. I’ve got to break y'in don’t I?”

Logan shot him a wink and tucked himself back into his pants, Wade doing the same.

“We uh, should probably brush our teeth when we get in. So Laura doesn’t uh… So we don’t make her uncomfortable.” Wade suggested as they made their way back down to the apartment.

“Won’t stop us from smelling like sex, Bubba. Her sense of smell is just as strong as mine.” That response was far too casual.

By the time they had made their way back, the party was winding down. Vanessa smirked, eyeing both men with a knowing look. She had been in conversation with Laura who had turned pale when they entered, her face a mix of abject horror and disgust that comes with the realisation your parent is boning. Poor kid. To give her a small mercy he retreated to the bathroom with Logan hot on his tail. He tossed a bottle of sandalwood body spray to him while he got to work brushing his teeth more thoroughly than he had ever done before in his life. Once he was done they swapped. Most of the evidence of their activities erased. What a shame, he would have loved to brag about it but he didn’t want to traumatise the kid any further.

It wasn’t long before people were calling it a night and saying their goodbyes. Wade gave Vanessa an extra tight hug and a whispered thanks. Really, what would he do without her? Laura had evacuated to the safe space of the bedroom with Al and Mary, which was understandable. Wade and Logan had another beer each then set up the sofa bed. And when they settled in for the night, Logan pulled the merc to rest against his chest.

“In case it wasn’t clear, I like ya. I can’t say it’s love ‘cause I’m honestly not sure. But moments like this and the roof, I could get used to it.”

“So should we be looking for four bed or three bed places. Oh! I should ask Hank if he can invent some sort of sound barrier device for us!”

Logan rolled his eyes, “Dumbass.”

Again the ending with a bedtime scene!

Hey, someone needs to remind the readers to go to bed. Anyway next chapter will take place after a short time skip okay?

Fine! But there better be some penetration or I swear I’ll-

Squirt.

[dreaming-hibi]

I'm the kind of person who goes straight to the source to try and straighten things out, just so I can have some peace of mind.

Warning: this is about KHR.

I couldn't remember exactly what was the deal with Luce - Aria - Uni. I was pretty sure Luce was dead, we were never given any indication as to the contrary, but Aria... Aria was different.

To begin where beginnings begin, when I was watching the KHR anime and then reading the manga, I always found it mighty suspicious that the anime got so many details about the Arcobaleno right. I knew for a fact that the anime-only Arcobaleno Trials Arc aired before the Curse of the Rainbow Arc, so how could the anime have details that were yet to be revealed in the manga? That's when I discovered that this anime-only arc was personally supervised by Amano-sensei herself. Long story short: this arc confirms that Aria was still alive in the present.

But then, why is Aria gone during the Curse of the Rainbow Arc? And why does Uni look exactly as she did in the future?

Let's remember once again the ability of the Arcobaleno pacifiers: the Pacifiers exists in moments. The pacifiers exist as points in time and space, thus allowing them to move between times and spaces. Now let's also remember that Luce, Aria and Uni have this particular ability to see the future.

----This is about to get complicated so buckle up!---- Aria saw the future gifted by the Arcobaleno, but she also saw another future: the future in which the curse would be broken (I'll be back with another theory in which the characters are now living in a different timeline than the one with the future we know). Aria thus chose to give that opportunity to her daughter but, Uni would have been a child in the present and not able to participate in the coming battle. But here is the thing, what if Uni no longer existed in the present? What are you talking about, Kei?? Uni disappearing in the future has no impact on the present! But, what if it did? Uni is the Sky Arcobaleno, she gave her life to revive the other Arcobaleno. What if her decision to give her life for the other 5 also meant she would cease to exist through all timelines? Because, again, the Arcobaleno exist as a point in time and space, a moment that comes and goes as the circumstances see fit.

And here is when I come in with my source: Chapter 354! γ 「あんたの娘ユニと共に散った未来の記憶を受け取ったあの日・・・あんたはおしゃぶりを残して消えた…」

Gamma: "On the day I received the memories of the future in which I died together with your daughter, Uni... You left, leaving behind this pacifier."

γ 「その後　この時代に誕生しているはずのユニも探したが・・・未だ消息はつかめない…」

Gamma: "After that, although we searched for Yuni, who should have already been born in this period... To this moment, we haven't found a single trace of her."

Gamma claims that Aria disappeared right on the day they gained their memories from the future, leaving only the pacifier behind. Their subsequent search of Uni yielded no results, even though they were sure she was already born and why is that? Because Uni no longer existed in the present time! Then how does Uni come back, Kei? Aria, and by a miracle we are all very familiar with. Being the Sky Arcobaleno of the time, Aria gave her own life to revive Uni. But why wasn't she revived as a baby? Because Aria revived the Uni she had seen in her vision, someone who would be capable of entering the Representative Battle and break the curse. Uni is the same age as she was in the future because that's who Aria revived in the present time.

That's my rant, have a good day everyone

[zeke-in-devildom]

Dissonance - Chapter 8: The Witty Sorcerer

Zeke started exploring his new room as soon as Asmo left. There was a couch in front of a fairly large tv. The makeshift study had bookshelves and a tall wooden cabinet sat near his alchemy workstation. Apparently Barbatos had managed to bring all of his books here sometime between taking him from the human realm and Lucifer bringing him to the house. It wasn’t just his books lining the shelves, though. There were a couple of horror manga series that he didn’t recognize, as well as a book series called The Tale of Seven the Lords which he did know, because they sold it in his world too. Fantasy wasn’t his favorite genre, but he enjoyed this one. 

More interesting were the additional occult textbooks. He wondered who had set these out for him. It was impossible to resist flipping through a couple of them. Zeke spent hours studying intently. He had found his textbooks and class schedule set out on his desk. Undoubtedly he was terribly behind on all of these subjects compared to demons who had been attending RAD for years, so if he wanted to excel he had to be proactive. It didn’t hurt that it was all fascinating.

The hours ticked by all too quickly with him so engrossed in reading. Zeke didn’t look up again until the D.D.D on his nightstand started beeping annoyingly with his wake-up alarm - that he didn’t set. Lucifer probably did before even giving the thing to him. That seemed like a very Lucifer thing to do. How telling was it that he’d met the demon yesterday and already knew that was absolutely on point?

Either way he reluctantly gathered his textbooks and put them into a black leather messenger back that had been provided for him. The shower in his bathroom had amazing pressure, and he spent a few minutes more than necessary just enjoying the hot water. Out of the shower he dried and brushed his hair before going through the lengthy routine that Asmo had insisted on to take care of his skin. Amazingly the demon insisted that he’d given him a quick regimen compared to the Avatar of Lust’s own process. Even if it seemed like a pain he figured doing it was easier and faster than not doing it and having Asmo drag him back to his room to do it properly.

Besides, it was hard to argue with the results. His skin felt softer and looked clearer. The skin around his eyes wasn’t nearly as puffy as it had been, even the circles weren’t quite as dark. Still, there were shadows under his eyes, that was simply part of him at this point. He checked all of his piercings in the mirror, fiddling with the small silver hoops and black diamond studs. Satisfied with the way his appearance he headed into his closet.

Someone had left his uniform hanging in his closet, the fabrics meticulously ironed, he couldn’t see a single crease or wrinkle. Zeke wasn’t the biggest fan of uniforms, but it couldn’t be helped. This one reminded him vaguely of a military dress uniform. The metal adorned with the RAD insignia glinted as he settled it into place. He double checked to make sure everything was neatly in place and his light purple tie was completely straight before he could grab his bag and leave someone knocked at his door. They didn’t actually wait for him to answer though.

Asmo sauntered in, all bright smiles and jittery excitement. “Good morning darling! Excited for your first day?”

“Morning Asmo, yeah. Can’t wait.” Knowing that he’d be surrounded by demons all day was a bit disconcerting, Zeke had never intended to ever deal with demons, and now he lived with them and would be attending a school full of them. Still, that apprehension was the very reason he was here. Relations between the realms couldn’t improve unless they all learned to live together peacefully. He didn’t doubt all the warnings about demons he’d read in his occult books, but at least some demons were willing to try.

“Oh hon, you’re going to class like that?” Asmo was giving him an appraising look.

“What’s wrong with how I look?” Zeke frowned, looking down at himself. His uniform was on perfectly. He was sure of it.

“Nothing that I can’t fix, don't worry your pretty little head. I thought I might need to do some touch-ups for you this morning.” The Avatar of Lust took him by the hand and pulled him back into his bathroom. Zeke found himself unceremoniously pushed to sit on the edge of his bathtub while Asmo rummaged through his vanity drawers. “Ah-ha! This will do wonders, oooh, and this. We have to have you looking your best for your first day. Turn this way darling.”

Asmo had pulled out concealer and liquid eyeliner. Zeke didn’t wear makeup. He wasn’t opposed to it, but he was too lazy and didn’t care enough about his looks to bother. Since he didn’t have to do it himself Zeke shifted to face the demon, curious about how it would turn out. He had no doubt that Asmo would make him look good. That was a given. Still, he sat still and followed the avatar’s gentle directions.  It only took a few minutes.

“All done~” Asmo gently pulled Zeke back up to put him in front of the mirror so that he could admire the demon’s handiwork. “Aren’t I amazing?”

“Yeah you are.” Zeke had to admit that it looked nice. The shadows under his eyes were gone, and the black eye-liner really made the purple in his eyes pop. Now he was going to have to learn how to do that himself. No doubt Asmo would be teaching him all kinds of things about beauty and skincare.

“Aren’t you just the cutest~! After me of course.” Asmo squealed and flung his arms around him, nuzzling at his cheek happily. Before they both gathered up their bags for class and headed to the dining room.

Lucifer was already sitting at the table when they walked in, so was Beel. He didn’t see Belphie, it was the first time he hadn’t seen those two together. It made sense that the Avatar of Sloth would be a later riser, and it also made sense that the Avatar of Gluttony would usually be the first one to the table at mealtime.

“Good morning.” Zeke pulled out the chair next to Beel, who was shoving what looked like bacon and pancakes into his mouth. Asmo sat on the other side of him.

“Good morning, Zeke. Did you sleep well?” He couldn’t help but freeze at Lucifer’s question. At least his face froze too so his expression didn’t change until he forced himself to smile.

“I slept very well, actually.” Not a lie, he had slept very well yesterday, unusually well even. Zeke just didn’t sleep last night. That was normal for him. Somehow he managed not to squirm as those piercing red eyes seemed to bore holes into him. He was saved from further scrutiny by the appearance of Levi and Satan who took their seats with minor grumbling.

“Levi, did you stay up all night playing video games again?” Lucifer had found a new target. Zeke thanked his lucky stars and shot the otaku a sympathetic look. Sure, Levi had called him a normie but he didn’t seem so bad.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he tuned out Lucifer lecturing Levi so that he could snatch a few pieces of bacon and a piece of toast for his plate. There was a fresh pot of coffee on the table, he poured a mug and added just enough cream that the liquid wouldn’t scald his taste buds off.

“Is that all you’re going to eat?” Beel had paused his gorging to eye Zeke’s breakfast skeptically.

“I’m not that hungry, honestly. I usually don’t eat a lot at breakfast. Eating too heavy first thing in the morning makes me feel a little sick.” Beel didn’t look convinced by Zeke’s reasoning, but thankfully got distracted by his own breakfast again as Zeke began nibbling on a piece of bacon. It was more gamey than the bacon he was used to, but it was still good.

Mammon finally dragged himself into the dining room complaining loudly about getting up this early, with a sleepy Belphie shuffling in behind him just as Zeke was finishing up his small breakfast and coffee.

“Asmo move, that’s my seat.” Belphie grumbled. “You sat next to him at dinner. Who’s hogging the human now?”

“Sit next to Beel. I was helping our darling Zeke get ready for school.” Asmo retorted with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“He looks ready to me.” Belphie pouted with narrowed eyes.

“You’re both acting like you’re fighting over a new toy. Stop it.” Satan glared at them from his place at the table.

Oh bless Satan, or not, because he was a demon, but Zeke shot him a grateful look even as the others seemed ready to deny what Satan said.

“You’re all going to be late if you don’t hurry up.” Lucifer chided before it could descend into a full blown argument.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Breakfast had been a mildly tense and hurried affair after that, and to prevent further argument, everyone had walked to school together. Although that didn’t seem to stop them fully, since Asmo walked with his arm linked with him and Belphie was half-leaning against Zeke’s other side as they walked. Of course only Mammon complained loudly about this arrangement. For his part, Zeke was honestly fine with it. He liked Asmo way more than he had thought he would at first, and while Belphie could be a bit bratty, he liked him too. 

Once they reached school they had to go their separate ways. It made sense that most of the demons would have far more advanced classes than him, given they’d been attending RAD for much longer. Surprisingly all of the brothers, except Lucifer, shared at least one of his classes, but he assumed that was because at least one of them had to be with him at all times. It made sense.

Mammon was in his first class, which happened to be Mathematics and Arithmancy, much to Zeke’s dismay. It wasn’t that he was particularly bad at math, but it was so boring. 

Also it was hard to focus. There were so many demon auras around him, and a fair amount of them were far from friendly. Plenty of his classmates were looking at him with barely contained hostility, or hunger. Of course as it turned out, Zeke had a personal guard dog with a fairly loud bark.

“Oi! What ya lookin’ at? Scram!” To Zeke’s amazement not only did the demon currently eying him like a piece of meat scramble out of the classroom, but the teacher didn’t even bat an eye at any of it. Good to know. Come to think of it, hadn’t Lord Diavolo referred to the brothers as the seven rulers of Hell? Did that make them nobility? Didn’t they also mention the brothers making up most of the student council? 

So, not only was he one of only four exchange students, one of two that were human, but he was also living with the student council and what equated to demon lords - no wonder he was drawing so much attention. So much for trying not to be the center of attention. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of his first class had passed without incident. Mammon had walked him to his next class, which Zeke was much more excited about. Beel and Belphie were waiting for them outside the Pactology classroom. Before coming to the Devildom Zeke had no interest in pacts with demons, but now that he had a pact with Lucifer he couldn’t wait to learn everything that actually entailed, because he really didn’t know.

He felt safe sandwiched between Beel and Belphie. All Beel had to do was glance in the direction of any demon that so much as looked at Zeke and they turned away hurriedly. He supposed Beel could be considered intimidating. The Avatar of Gluttony was huge, muscular, and seemed to have a bit of a resting bitch face. Still, he couldn’t find the gentle giant scary, demon or not. Beel had been nothing but very sweet to him so far, and he couldn’t sense a malicious bone in his body - at least not towards him. Belphie seemed to sleep through the entire class, but Zeke wasn’t inclined to disturb him.

Aside from the expected hostility and being viewed as food, things actually seemed to go fairly smoothly in his first two classes. Sadly most of this first class on pacts was going over the history of pacts as opposed to methodology, which made sense, but was still slightly disappointing. Well he had a year to learn. It would be fine. The classes were long, and after Pactology would be lunch. Which was probably a good thing, he could hear Beel’s stomach rumbling.

When class was dismissed Beel didn’t even wake Belphie up, he simply picked his brother up along with both of their things. Zeke threw his own bag onto his shoulder and followed them out. Now, he was not a short person, but only two of the brothers were shorter than him - Asmo and Belphie. Beel still had almost half a foot on him and in the crowded hallways he found himself lagging behind a little. Demons that parted for Beel and Belphie didn’t mind shoulder checking him. One did so hard enough to knock him into a locker. He opened his mouth to call out to Beel, to ask him to wait up, or to get these demons off his back, but a hand went over his mouth and jerked him into an empty room he’d just passed.

Beel was so focused on getting to lunch, assuming that his human charge was still behind him, that he didn’t even look back.

Zeke felt a fresh wave of terror creep up his spine, but that spark of unadulterated rage that flickered in his chest kept it from seizing him completely. He grabbed at the wrist of the demon that had clamped his clawed hand over his mouth, trying to pull it away. All he needed to do was scream! Those claws scratched at his skin, prickling beads of blood to the surface on his cheeks and below his jaw as the demon lifted him off the floor by his face as he clawed and kicked in a feeble attempt at self-defense.

Lucifer please help me!

He shouted that thought as loud into his head as he could, and he did feel something swell inside him. A cold fury circled him like ice and the demon holding him winced. Zeke could feel Lucifer, but couldn’t summon him. Why couldn’t the class have taught him how to actually summon a pacted demon?

The door to the classroom slammed open and the demon turned from Zeke to snarl at whoever was interrupting his snack.

“Spirit of wind come forth!” That wasn’t a voice he recognized, but he wasn’t going to complain! The demon was wrenched away from Zeke by a strong gust of wind. The claws left parting gifts scratched across his jaw and neck, but he was free as he was dropped in a heap to the floor.

He heard a crash, what he assumed was the demon being flung across the room into desks and the wall, but all he could focus on was pressing his hand against his bleeding face. The scratches stung and he knew that the smell of human blood was probably a dinner bell to any nearby demons. Thankfully the scratches were shallow, but they were bleeding more than he’d have liked.

Zeke jerked away as a hand rested on his shoulder. The aura that had just brushed him was immense! It also wasn’t demonic. He looked up to see a blue-eyed, silver-haired human. That wasn’t reassuring for some reason. Aside from noting that this person wasn’t a demon and they were very powerful, Zeke couldn’t read his aura at all!

“Sorry, I won’t touch you. Let me get someone for you.” The other human raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Hear me, denizens of darkness, you who are born of shadow and you who give birth to it. Hear me and do as I command! I, Solomon, call upon you to send forth one of your number! I summon the Avatar of Lust, Asmodeus!”

The room was filled with a glowing pink light, and Zeke watched the swirls of magic with wide eyes as Asmo materialized right in front of them.

“Solomon seriously? We’re at school!” Asmo had begun scolding Solomon - apparently - as soon as he’d arrived, but devolved into a shriek a moment later as he saw Zeke bleeding on the floor. “My darling! WHO DID THIS?!”

The Avatar of Lust practically shoved the human that summoned him out of the way so that he could fuss over Zeke. He had never felt genuine anger come from Asmo until that moment. A handkerchief appeared from somewhere to be pressed against his face and neck, honestly Zeke was a bit overwhelmed. He realized that Solomon was the one putting pressure on his scratches. Wasn’t this a bit over dramatic? It only stung a bit and they weren’t deep.

“I’m okay. Just a little shaken.” Zeke didn’t complain when Asmo gathered him into his arms and held him there on the floor.

“The demon is restrained over there, Asmo.” Solomon offered helpfully. “I was hoping to meet the other human exchange student, but this is not how I pictured it happening. I’m Solomon by the way. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh, yeah, thanks for the save. I’m Zeke, also I can feel Lucifer coming, and he is pissed.” As if on cue, the Avatar of Pride slammed open the classroom door, red eyes blazing with fury. Zeke was surprised to note that Barbatos and Lord Diavolo were both behind him, also looking rather displeased. Lucifer’s aura had been so intense he’d missed theirs.

“What happened?” Yikes.

[thatoneluckybee]

Ahem. More Propaganda.

@fruit-gummiees HELLO.

Not So Shoujo Love Story: Rei is unashamedly obsessed with manga, particularly the shoujo genre. She spends her time ignoring real life and schoolwork and dreaming of the day the perfect boy will fall for her, and life becomes perfect! The best part? She knows exactly what everyone’s role is! Hansum Ochinchin (google translate his name <3) is the most adored, hottest boy in school, and Hanna, the most popular girl, will be her love rival! That is… until Hanna professes her love for Rei, and her shoujo dream is thrown for a loop! This Webtoon is really cute and absolutely HILARIOUS I’ve cried from laughing at this. Hanna is a proud and self-proclaimed pervert. The bullies (FOUR-AM!) practice dramatic poses in the bathroom. Rei gets a love rival for Hanna against her will. Hanna’s father is an st avid cosplayer. You never learn what exactly Hansum is, but he can photosynthesize. It’s a wild ride and genuinely so enjoyable I love it.

Homesick: Recommending this one since you’ve read School Bus Graveyard! It’s almost a “sister series” in that the fanbases overlap lots and the creators have done collabs too! Disclaimer that it’s mature for a reason. It covers a lot of dark topics and is a HORROR FOR A REASON. If you do choose to read it I can provide trigger warnings, though it may spoil some plotlines a bit. Rayne (my pfp!) wakes up on a rooftop with no memories at all and meets a boy named Samael, who quickly informs her that it’s the apocalypse. Cannibalistic creatures called murks roam the land, feeding on anything that makes eye contact. Rayne and Samael form a deal to survive, but things get really, REALLY messy when they encounter someone from Samael’s past and get wrapped up in something that might just be worse than the apocalypse. On top of it all, Rayne has noticed some strange things about herself, including terrible headaches that warn her of murks… (It’s so good I love it but good lord it gets dark. I really want to say more about it but the story doesn’t jump right into the main action or plot right away so I CAN’T WITHOUT SPOILING IT SOB.) FULL POST:

Our Walk Home: Fake Hating Trope, that’s it, that’s the description. Suisha Academy and Higasa High School have always been rivals, bitter ones at that. Akihiko Shiraishi is the top student for his age at Suisha. He’s the perfect student: charming, polite, smart, athletic, and kind to everyone. In reality… my poor guy is the most anxious little mess with no idea what he’s doing. Worst of all, he’s now being forced into the role of “rival” to Harumi Kurose, top student of Higasa, cold, terrifying, and maybe just enough to defeat Shiraishi. When we meet him, though, he is also literally just some guy, and neither really care about the “rivalry,” so they become fast friends. Whenever they’re with classmates, they’ll have to keep up the masks or golden boy and ice prince who hate each other, but when they’re just walking home, it’s a breath of fresh air to both. But if anyone else outside of school found out, their lives will become a living hell and be ruined forever… maybe this rivalry is a bit too intense. (Still int he early stages but this one is cute!)

Deathsitter: In this cutesy, cartoony, Easter-themed world, dying is a business. Beings called Reapers work tirelessly to ensure YOUR loved ones have a nice death! Felix, described as a “deadbeat drug addict with seemingly supernatural luck,” can’t stop annoying the life out of the local reaper, Lloyd, every time he nearly overdoses. Lloyd himself is an ever-busy, stressed-as-heck single father, and due to unfortunate circumstance and flakey relatives, must rely on Felix as a babysitter. The only rule? DO. NOT. OPEN. HIS. DAUGHTER’S. DOOR. Yeah Felix screws up immediately and thus ensues one the most chaotic, tragic, and comedic series of events as he reaps (ha ha) the consequences of his actions. It’s amazing. Definite trigger warning for violence, language, drug use, and blood/gore (I’m a squeamish person so it’s not bad + anything is all the cutesy pastel style lol.) FULL POST:

Castle Swimmer: Can’t reveal TOO much of this ‘cause spoilers but it’s a really really good story. In this society of “Mers” (merfolk), every kingdom has long awaited the day a mysterious, mythical being known as the Beacon arrives. He will grant each kingdom’s prophecy, be that granting them fortune or saving their lives. When the Beacon arrives, though, turns out he’s literally just some guy named Kappa who has no idea what he’s doing. Siren is the prince of the shark kingdom. The kingdom of the sharks have a curse that will cause them to suffer and become covered in scars and eventually die. The only way they can break the curse is whenever the Beacon arrives—and Siren, as predicted, will kill him. The only problem is that Siren REALLY doesn’t want to be a murderer, and Kappa REALLY doesn’t want to die, and they both are pining HARD. It’s a super entertaining series. There’s a bunch of evil witches who feel guilty if you get them a gift and they don’t get you one back. There’s a sea bunny. Kappa’s only weak spot, romantically, is teeth. There’s living sponges. There’s a Jellyfish who’s dream is to Kill. It’s glorious.

School Bus Graveyard: Ashlyn Banner is happy as a loner. Socializing is tired, and people are loud, which hurts because she has extra-sensitive hearing. Because of this, she hears “phantom noises,” or auditory hallucinations. She doesn’t plan to change, until two cousins move to school, and the MOST extraverted child on earth, Aiden Clark, decides to befriend her no matter what. She unfortunately gets partnered with him for a school project (as well as Ben, Aiden’s silent and reserved cousin, Logan, a sweet but shy nerdy kid, Tyler, a short-tempered jock character, and Taylor, Tyler’s twin sister who is so sweet and so amazing.) Everything is fine until one wrong stop causes the six to begin visiting a terrifying world in their sleep, and they begin fighting for their lives against monstrous entities whenever they sleep. (SO GOOD.)

[animehouse-moe]

Media I Experienced In 2023 That I'm Thankful For

It feels crazy to process that another year's effectively gone by already. A lot of people will always say "this year was worse than the last" in the context of a lot of things, and I'm usually one to disagree with that sentiment. This year though, it's been tough for entertainment in general. But that's not what I'm here to talk about, I wanted to share some of my favorite experiences from this year, and look back on the wonderful and impactful media that I've been able to read or watch!

Witch And The Beast - Kousuke Satake

Yes, this is the third volume's cover, I know. I just really love the color choices and style for it.

Anyways, this was one of those series that I'd always see and never pick up. It took some severe pestering from a friend for me to finally pick it up, and it was totally worth it.

I would say it's definitely far from bad right from the start, but I'd also say that once you reach around volume 3, Satake really catches their stride and provides some beautiful work in the volumes leading up to their hiatus. If you want a world all about magic that prioritizes form over function, it's impossible to not recommend The Witch and The Beast and its wonderful appeal.

A Home Far Away - Teki Yatsuda

Yes, this is a one-shot manga, but the grip that it had on me after I read it was so intense. You know how you can tell when a one-shot wants to go past that single volume but can't? This is like the exact opposite. The pacing, themes, characters, all of it is so well structured for a single volume run that you end up with aimless frustration that it can't continue.

The themes of various types of trauma and the idea of searching for a savior in someone else are just so strong alongside the systemic failure in caring for and helping minors. It's just so so strong and painful in how it represents a slow slip into helplessness as they claw at each other to try and unearth their freedom.

Also, definitely read their serialized manga The Yakuza's Bias! Totally different vibe that is just full of absurdity and humor.

Pandora - Hagiwara Rei

Pandora was a very healing manga to read. Beautiful watercolor artwork is donned by each page in the various short stories appearing in this work. Though each is a different person in a different situation, the themes of survivor's guilt, loss, and the hope to be found at the bottom of despair are very strong to feel. If people are looking for a heavy but positive and emotional read, this is certainly a great choice.

Okinawa - Susumu Higa

I don't think it's a secret to say that anti-imperialist Japan manga is seen as "few and far between" in English. We have a lot of impactful and important works that haven't been translated or are currently out of print, so Okinawa came along at a really great time to help drive the point home alongside other experiences like Godzilla Minus One (which is on this list, of course).

Anyways, stepping away from the general act of the war, or the (typical) experiences of it post-war, Okinawa is an incredible read for displaying the interaction and relationships between the Okinawan people and the two separate armies that occupied their space. It does a wonderful job of not painting anyone as inherently evil, but showing the sinister nature of war and the aftereffects that it leaves on a people. Very very worthwhile read that I can't recommend enough.

Until I Love Myself - Poppy Pesuyama

It's only two volumes, it's a manga essay, and it deals with LGBTQ+ content among other things. This is something that was essentially destined to be criminally underread and underappreciated.

What Pesuyama does in exposing their difficult experiences and personal trauma is beyond valuable to people that find themselves in similar positions. The idea of sexism distilled into every aspect of society through the patriarchy, and how that's reflected on someone that doesn't feel comfortable in their own body is almost impossibly poignant. The frustration, the distance, the fear, it takes an incredibly personal experience and without losing even an ounce of that value is able to translate it into something that almost any reader can grasp. An incredibly powerful piece from an equally brave author, it's also an invaluable resource and experience for many out there.

Skip and Loafer - Misaki Takamatsu

I'm a big P.A. Works fan. I've got a lot of their art books, I watch a lot of their series, I just think they do a lot of good work. I also had my reservations about them doing the Skip and Loafer anime, but it was wonderful.

Simply put, it's a modern classic in the slice of life/high school era genre. The characters feel perfectly childish and immature, the direction of the story and its themes are perfectly on the nose. It just has the perfect balance of everything you could hope for. There's not really much to add past that, really. If you like slice of life or high school stuff, you'll love Skip and Loafer. Incredibly refreshing experience.

Heavenly Delusion

I'm a massive fan of the manga, and I was coping insanely hard when I saw that first trailer. I was praying I was in for greatness and wasn't going to get scammed, and Production I.G brought out arguably their best work in the last decade for it.

Mori Hirotaka and the rest of the staff did an absolutely phenomenal work in transforming Heavenly Delusion into an anime. Massive restructures and thematic changes that feel like sheer art within the context of the series. Ishiguro couldn't have done it better himself, and he made that point known on Twitter. Right up there next to Frieren (and even above it depending on the significance of various criteria) for the greatest anime of 2023, and puts itself in contention for one of the best in the 2020s. Absolutely a must watch.

Undead Girl Murder Farce

Mysteries and series that really encourage you to analyze and break them apart are some of my favorites to experience. Include historical context, a penchant for intense showmanship rooted in Japanese culture, and animation and direction that will knock your socks off, and you've got the Dark Horse of the summer season.

Undead Girl Murder Farce had me absolutely hooked from the very first episode, bringing almost SHAFT-like direction and execution that brings out the absolute most in something so fluid. Lapin Track struck gold with this work. Even though they were struggling a little towards the end, they provided and endlessly satisfying and creative experience that had me on the edge of my seat breaking apart every single little frame for meaning and value. An absolute treat for a mystery fan.

Blue Giant

Like many, I discovered Nut (the studio) through Tanya The Evil. Crazy visual effects and ridiculously competent visuals for such a new studio, I was immediately enthralled with their quality.

Not that Blue Giant as a story isn't incredibly good, but that in this context, Nut brought out every last drop of greatness that could have existed in this movie. I'm really struggling to come up with more to say, but it's just so visually stunning that the experience as a whole just feels like a performance on an incredible level. Simply great, I guess I'm forced to say.

The Boy and The Heron

It's Ghibli, it's Miyazaki, need I say more really?

I don't, but I will. I went and saw it twice in theaters so that I could experience both dub and sub for it. Something that people should be 100% experiencing in theaters, and absolutely should be watching multiple times. Miyazaki doesn't tell just one or two stories with this movie, it's so many experiences in his life rolled into one. A love letter to the man behind one of anime's most beloved studios, but also one that leaves lingering feelings of sorrow for some of what Miyazaki instills in it. So yeah, watch it to your heart's content.

Godzilla Minus One

Last, but certainly not least, Godzilla Minus One. I loved it, I knew I'd love it from the moment I laid eyes on the trailer. The idea of Godzilla being presented in North American theaters, to North American viewers, as a direct and destructive of the atomic bomb and its effects on the Japanese population just set something off in me.

North America's view of Godzilla as some sort of anti-hero over the years has weakened the original sentiment that barely existed here in the first place. Minus One sets the record straight in devastating fashion, and adds to the theme in spades. I'd love to explain but I want as many people as possible to experience this without any spoilers, so I'll leave it at being one of the best Godzilla movies bar none.

And that's the list for this year. I think overall it was a "weaker" year, but I'd be more comfortable with calling it a radicalized year. The bad stuff got worse, but the good stuff got better. The best experience of the year were incredibly good because of that, but it overall felt like slimmer pickings than the prior year.

Not that this list couldn't have added any number of entries like Scott Pilgrim, Frieren, Kamonohashi Ron, Bleach TYBW, Gwitch, and so on and so forth. More so that I wanted to keep this list a little more contained. The idea of importance or appreciation begins to lose its value when everything is important or overly appreciated.

Anyways, that's all the past, this post is in the present, and I've got my eyes set on the future with things like the Hokkyoku Department Store movie, Dandadan from Science Saru, Delicious In Dungeon, and plenty, plenty more in 2024!

So with all that said: happy holidays and I hope people have been enjoying having time off and getting to spend some with their families and friends!

[the-bloody-sadist]

#we don't support peer preasure in this house

Love your hashtag above.

Can I ask how do you deal with hurtful comments on your fanfics from someone you consider a friend? Like I know if some stranger send hurtful comments it felt bad but damn when someone you know said the same thing it felt worse. Early this year I was kicked out and blocked from an animanga lover group when they find out that I wrote mlm fanfics from major shounen series (naruto,bnha, aot, jjk). This what they said :

“I'm convinced you must have never had friends before because all of these relationships are perfect depictions of what PLATONIC friendship is. If you want a gay story support ACTUAL gay couples like in BL & GL manga. Do you know how frustrating it is to see people move mountains for a non canon ship that’ll never happen then ignore actual gay manga’s and anime’s in BL & GL anime/manga...."

What do you think? Even until now, I'm still feeling a bit guilty for liking non canon mlm and wlw ships from shounen series. But when I found your blog and read your posts, I felt way better. Especially that answer of yours to anon who asked is it weird to love mlm& wlw more than wlm. Thanks for sharing your hard work (analysis, fanfics, arts, reviews).

Sorry for my rants and for my weird feelings.....

Ohhhh this is so precious please don't apologize for sending me this ask, I love feelings and hearing about other peoples' experiences with them and how my art/accounts have somehow been relatable because of that.

The peer pressure in fandoms is absolutely insane and convinces me that the social aspect works the same as any high school full of bullies. There WILL be mean girls, there WILL be cliques, and if you're a creator like me, you're going to be a MAGNET for like ten different types of them.

As for how I deal with hurtful comments, I was raised in an environment that constantly shamed me. I was controlled from all sides on what I could draw, write, and consume, so I'm used to being shunned by those who "love" me because of what I'm interested in! Because of this, the hate comments were what I EXPECTED going in and the positive comments were actually the things that threw me for loops. Hurtful comments only had the power to nag at me when I didn't have an audience (or friends) to bounce them off of so they wouldn't keep popping up as a "do I actually do this, though?" "am I actually bad for this?". But now they don't bother me; they give me the chance to either make a troll reply or spice up my friends' group chat for the day.

As far as a FRIEND leaving a hurtful comment??? I have so much sympathy for you. I am SO sorry they treated you that way.

When I make friends, I tell them openly what I do and to what extent. This way, I gather the type of people I want and push away those who don't. If they think it's not okay, they're silly.

Those friends who kicked you out of their little club? SILLY. They think they're so pure and moral for gatekeeping what can and can't be done with creativity and passion. They won't ever know what it feels like to live as freely as you do. In the end, their opinion is an opinion that is largely not shared by the logical, rational public. Any professional in the art/film/writing industry can tell you that much. How else are we supposed to make stories? Have a little IMAGINATION!! DAMN!

I'm saying a lot of this because it's the best thing to tell yourself when you read things that are clearly meant to make you feel shame when you haven't done a single thing wrong. Since this is Tumblr and I can ramble to my heart's content, maybe it'll help you if I also point out the specific tools that have been used in that message they sent you. Sometimes a good breakdown of tactics is all it takes to remind yourself you're not in the wrong.

"I'm convinced you must have never had friends before" AKA "you're so ignorant" - invalidating your experiences to crumble any foundation you might've had to stand on if you wanted to argue back. Starting off with this helps them cut you down so your self-esteem is lowered.

"these relationships are perfect depictions of what PLATONIC friendship is" - their opinion is being stated here as a fact, as if the entire world agrees with them and there's no other way to see it. First of all, this means NOTHING to the shipping world, since it exists largely to turn friendships into romances. Idk what they wanted to do with that one.

"If you want a gay story support ACTUAL gay couples like in BL & GL manga" - I'm not sure what kind of burn that is. SUPPORT ACTUAL GAY COUPLES LIKE THE REST OF US!! Okay snuffledumpkins. Guess nobody taught them how to MULTITASK!!! GUESS WHAT? I CAN SUPPORT ACTUAL GAY COUPLES *AND* NON-CANON GAY COUPLES, FREAK! WHAT NOW, HUH??? Being serious though, this is an attempt to define for YOU what ''''''true gay couples'''''' are (ACCORDING TO THEM), when this is an entirely fluid meaning and can be applied to whomever you'd like in fiction. This is THE PURPOSE OF FANFICTION.

"Do you know how frustrating it is to see people move mountains for a non canon ship that’ll never happen then ignore actual gay manga’s and anime’s in BL & GL anime/manga...." AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA! (inhales) AAAAAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAH imagine being so stupid that you don't know how much better LGBT representation can be in fanfiction and non-canon works than in actual BL/GL works. Imagine thinking that the only way you are allowed to enjoy BL/GL relationships is through canon couples, otherwise you're not helping the cause. Here's the biggest thing to remember: they don't give a fuck about the cause. They are using that language as a way to shame you. Oh you think these friends are in love??? You must not support LGBT people in real life. You must not support ACTUAL stories about ACTUAL gay people.

The logic jump is LAUGHABLE.

Ughhhh, what a long rant from me. But your last paragraph absolutely WARMED my heart, minus the part about feeling guilty. Let me just...[shines spotlight down on you][metal screech][picks up megaphone] YOU ARE NOT IN THE WRONG FOR WANTING FICTIONAL FRIENDS TO FICTIONALLY FUCK EACH OTHERS' BRAINS OUT!!! YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT THIS MATTER, HOWEVER, ARE VERY UNDERSTANDABLE AND SHOULD NOT BE INVALIDATED, BECAUSE BULLYING IS A DIFFICULT THING TO DEAL WITH AND CAUSES VERY COMPLICATED FEELINGS REGARDLESS OF WHAT IS RIGHT OR WRONG. YOU ARE A WONDERFUL PERSON AND YOUR FICTIONAL PREFERENCES DO NOT DEFINE YOU. BE FREE, LITTLE BIRDIE! SHIP THE MASSES OF BOYS AND GIRLS IN RELATIONSHIPS THAT ANIME LOVES TO TEASE ON PURPOSE WITHOUT ACTUALLY FOLLOWING THROUGH WITH A ROMANCE SUBPLOT BECAUSE THEY'RE COWARDS!!!! THEY CAN BE ACTUAL GAY COUPLES TOO! BECAUSE YOU SAID SO! AND THAT'S OKAY!!!!

[puts the megaphone down][coughs]

I hope that helps. :D Thank you for the ask, and much love to you! It means a lot that you appreciate my work and my analyses and my opinions enough to ask me about such a painful subject.🖤

You are, in fact, quite normal for your opinion, and my entire audience would agree.