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spike-and-faye · 3 years

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Hello, I require your infinite wisdom please!! :O So I just finished cowboy bebop and I am so confused like who the fuck was Julia. WHAT was Faye's past. I literally never process tv shows and the bebop was not immune to my stupidity LMAO like... I guess the ending just really confused me, from what I gathered Spike and Vicious were friends? But then they weren't? And Julia dated Vicious but also Spike? And he? Went after Vicious even after Julia had died? I am Confusion. Please help. Thank u...

Oh BABEY I am so glad you asked! :) Be prepared for a long answer and I apologize in advance for how incoherent it will probably be.

ALSO Please note: this show is fucking complicated. I have watched it all the way through several times a year, every single year, for over a decade now, and I am *STILL* finding new shit every time I watch it. It's packed with symbols, motifs, allusions and underlying themes that are just so rich. It is so extraordinarily well-written that it could give a lot of classic literature a run for its money. I'm literally working on an in depth literary/film analysis my husband lovingly calls my Manifesto on the series right now. SO PLEASE don't beat yourself up about not catching everything on the first go round.

HEY BTW for anyone who hasn't finished the show, please know there will be MANY spoilers ahead!

Anyways ~

1. Spike / Julia / Vicious:

The information we get on Spike's past, including Vicious and Julia, is pretty limited considering how big of an impact they have on the story. We get our first glimpse in Session 1: Asteroid Blues, then again in Session 5: Ballad of Fallen Angels, Sessions 12 + 13: Jupiter Jazz, and Sessions 25 + 26: Real Folk Blues. I recommend reviewing these episodes for you Julia and Vicious fix.

What we know:

Spike and Vicious were both members of an organized crime syndicate called the Red Dragons, which is roughly analogous to the Yakuza or the Mafia. Their positions in the organization are not clear, but there are some images alluding to them being hitmen, and they likely rose up in the ranks as they were close acquaintances of Mao Yenrai, a Capo of the Red Dragon.

Spike and Vicious were close comrades. Spike taught Vicious everything he knew about fighting, and the two had a deep trust in each other. Which Spike fucked up ….

^^Vicious looks hot asf here

Julia was Vicious' lover/girlfriend. One night in 2068 (three years prior to the time we watch in the Bebop) Spike is injured, presumably from a syndicate-related fight and he passes out in front of her door. She takes him in and nurses him back to health and he SIMPS HARD for her. We’re all but told he's in LOVE love with her. They start an affair, and Spike tells her he's ready to abandon the whole life - the syndicate, Vicious, Mao, all of it - and they could run away together.

WELL Vicious finds out about this whole affair, and is DOUBLY betrayed because his literal best friend and girlfriend have been having an affair, and tbh I think he was just as jealous of Spike's attentions as he was of Julia's. (Whether or not it’s a sexual thing for Spike … well … I have my own headcanons about that). SO when he finds out they're going to run away together, he gives Julia an ultimatum: you can either kill him, or I'll just kill you both. Spike had written her a letter about meeting him in the graveyard to start their new life together, which she tears up to hide his location from Vicious. (This is the falling ripped up pieces of paper we see in Spike's flash back in Session 5).

^^ r/gifsyoucanhear

**NOTE: There are those who disagree with this view, (looking at you Cowboy Bebop wiki) instead suggesting Vicious and Spike were buds in the past, but then hated each other once they were both considered as potential successors to Mao. That's why Vicious wanted him dead, and he was enlisting Julia (who he didn't necessarily have a romantic connection to) to help kill Spike since he knew Spike loved her. Personally, I think there is plenty of evidence that Vicious also wanted Julia, and in fact was already with her, when Spike started seeing her. If you want me to cite my sources please send an me an ask about it :)

Spike gets the idea, whether by her just not showing up or word around the syndicate being like YO Vicious wants you dead. Despite Vicious' ultimatum to Julia, he was gunna kill Spike either way. SO he sets up an ambush, and SadBoy™ Spike walks intentionally into their trap. Somehow, he doesn't die, though the entire syndicate thinks he did. (Note Annie's reaction to seeing him alive in Session 5). It’s also implied that this is where he lost his eye.

HIS EYE - possibly the most important symbol in the show so I do have to mention it. In episode 26, he explicitly explains to Faye that one of his eyes only sees the past. (PS this isn't dissimilar to Jet's arm… we can get into that another time). Basically, he's constantly living halfway in the past and halfway in the present, and describes the past like a dream he can never wake up from. Because dysfunctional or not - the syndicate WAS his family. (Again - see his relationship with Annie, Mao, and Vicious (prior to Spike's betrayal)). It's his reminder that Julia didn't run away with him, and that he'd left behind that life for her. (He didn’t know she was being threatened until the final episode). Basically Spike is hyper-fixated on what he had and what could've been.

Not long after this, Spike starts bounty hunting because like? What else is he going to do. He doesn't care if he lives or dies but if he has to be alive, he may as well be able to eat. He joins up with Jet Black on the Bebop.

TL; DR: Spike stole Vicious' lover, Julia, so Vicious made Julia choose between her killing Spike or Vicious killing them both. She instead went into hiding and Spike thought he'd been stood up. He fake died and got the hell outta dodge.

2. What was Faye's past?

Ok let me start by saying Faye is my wife and my life. HOWEVER I hated her the first time I watched this show circa age 13 because I thought she was annoying/vain/shallow (also because #internalizedmisogyny lol am I right fam). Good news! She is all those things! But she's also very lonely and scared and an amnesiac and secretly a sweetie and she realizes she loves the crew of the Bebop like family.

SO my wife's backstory:

she was born in the 1990s (#only90skidsremember). There's some debate over her race/nationality, but due to the images of her hanging out in Merlion Park in Singapore, my bet is that she's Singaporean. She comes from a wealthy family with a big house, and we see some utterly *adorable* film of her as a child/young adolescent in Session 18: Speak Like a Child. I cry everytime </3

^^ Holla for the representation

In 2014, circa age 20, she and her parents were going into space when the shuttle they were on had some kind of malfunction/accident and it killed an unknown number of people, including her parents. At the time, the technology didn’t exist to be able to save her, so she was put into a cryogenic sleep state. Meanwhile, the Lunar Gate accident occurs, breaking up the moon and causing rock showers on Earth's surface. Most people died, moved to Mars, or settled underground.

She wakes up from her cryogenic sleep in 2068. (Also the year Spike leaves the syndicate.) She's 'woken' by the corrupt Dr. Bacchus who plans on charging her for the years and years of medical debt she's accrued. (See Session 15: My Funny Valentine.) Luckily a lawyer takes interest in her case (Whitney Haggus Matsumoto) and tries to help get rid of her debt. The two fall in love, but turns out Whitney is a Scumbag. He's actually Dr. Bacchus's nephew, and faked his death, writing Faye as the sole inheritor to his will. This means she'll take on all his debts. So baby girl has LOTS of debt at this point.

In the intervening years prior to her joining the Bebop, she gambles, cheats, gains a lot of street smarts, and adopts a very seductive character to get her way. She joins the crew on the Bebop in Session 3: Honky Tonk Women.

TL;DR: Faye is Austin powers

YIKES this is so long I am so sorry. Bitches are obsessed with this show. (I am bitches)

3. The Ending

Okay I'm going to present this in the way, in my scholarly opinion, would be correct, though there are SO many interpretations other than simply 'Spike died :/".

To understand the plot of the last couple episodes we actually have to go back to Session 5: Mao is instructed* to sign a treaty with a rival syndicate called the White Tigers. (*He's instructed by The Van (Council of identical creepy old men) who are the actual head of the dragon. I think we only see them in Session 26.) Well - Vicious is a Bastard Man and he and his fellow mutineers blow up the White Tiger guys' ship and slit Mao's throat. Before he dies, Mao is like "Gotdamnit if Spike was still here this shit wouldn't have happened." Later in the Cathedral battle, Vicious explains to Spike he killed Mao because Mao 'lost his fangs'. He planned on killing Spike for good her, IMO, so there'd be no rival to take over as Capo for the Dragons.

^^These guys are The Van btw

THEN in Session 25, the Van basically catches Vicious and is like “you killed Mao and now you have to go to Time Out.” The Van also decides to just kill everyone associated with Vicious, just 2 B safe. That's why there's a big ass shootout at the Loser Bar where Jet and Spike are chilling, drinking, (missing Faye and Ed and Ein lol) and Shin (younger brother to Lin, who's helping Vicious overthrow the Dragon) explains all this to Spike. OH and PS JULIA IS ALIVE AND HERE IS HER LOCATION :). (**Notice Spike's reaction at this point is different than his reaction in Jupiter Jazz when he hears there's a Julia on Calisto. Much less excited… hmm…).

SO THEN you know we get some flashbacks of the past as previously explained *and* Julia just happens to run into Faye. She recognizes that Faye is one of Spike's friends from the Bebop (she was keeping tabs on him it seems) and picks her up. Faye doesn't know who Julia is but is like damn bitch I'm a little gay for you. (I mean … that may just be my bi ass projecting, but Faye is REALLY struck with her. Look at how she describes her to Jet, I mean come on.)

Faye's like, 'we should team up' and Julia says 'no thanks but also tell Spike to meet me at *the place*'. Meanwhile back on the Bebop Spike and Jet are talking and Spike goes on about some dream woman who was his other half. (We assume he means Julia … I have my reasons to doubt this … I have a lot of angry DMs about my opinion here lol but I just do not give a fuck (: I can expand on this in another post or you can refer to the title of my fucking blog haha) Personally, I think Watanabe personally left this specific scene open ended, the same way he does with the ending and various other things.

more like SIMP Spiegel

ANYWAY Faye comes back to the Bebop to tell Spike about Julia, and Jet gets intel from a former cop buddy that there's some shit going down with the Dragons. (Again, the Van is hunting down everyone ever associated with Vicious, including your pal Spike). Bebop is attacked, Faye tells Spike what's up with Julia, and he heads out.

PAN TO VICIOUS chained up - about to be executed - but what's that!? It's a bird!? It's a pla- no it's just a bird. (With one glowing red eye … hm … reminds me of Spike, also the drug Red Eye. Pls let me know if you have any thoughts on this). Just a bird with a BOMB! Explosion (RIP bird c. 2065 - too soon), Vicious kills the elders, his buddies show up and are ready to go fuck shit up.

this show could not be more of an aesthetic

MMMPhhh okay RAINY CEMETERY. Spike and Julia. She draws a gun, explains why she didn't meet him that day, and then hugs him. Now Spike is not *great* at showing his emotions but he literally just stands there. Maybe it's a stoic expression of how sad he is that he never knew she still cared, when it seemed like she dumped him. Maybe he's finally getting some closure on his past. Maybe the past doesn't mean the same thing it used to. (I'll elaborate later on this).

They go to Annie's to get stocked up on stuff, she lets them know she denied knowing Spike was still alive and hey also the Van was assassinated by Vicious and his guys so. Watch out for that. Then her shop is surrounded by Vicious' guys and she dies :(. Spike and Julia escape to the roof, but she's shot and dies in Spike's arms, and says 'it's all just a dream' :(. (Refer to: Spike living in a dream of the past).

Anyway Jet SAID he wasn't gunna go after Spike but. Jet's parental instincts kick in (oh yeah he was shot in the leg earlier btw) and he goes to Sitting Bull to see if he knows where Spike is. He basically says yeah Spike's about to die somewhere. (I want to do a further analysis on all the Sitting Bull scenes.) Well conveniently Spike returns to the Bebop, eats, tells his story about a tiger-striped cat. (At one point Jet asks if he's going there for her, and Spike is like well she's dead now so whatever). THEN we get to the scene where Faye is like HEY YOU CAN'T GO OFF AND DIE ASSHOLE and he's like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I 've been living in the past so I might as well see if I'm living now. (**This will play heavily into my interpretation of the ending). Faye is pissed, shoots the ceiling and he goes off to the syndicate headquarters to fuck shit up.

He basically John Wicks his way through the building, Shin dies, he and Vicious have the big boss battle and whatnot. He kills Vicious and stumbles back out down the stairs and says "Bang!" and collapses. We pan to the sky and see a star fade away.

Well that explains the plot … now here's what I think happened!!! ALSO may I mention, anon - you picked up on something I feel like a lot of people miss out on. Why *did* Spike go back to kill Vicious if Julia was already dead??

Basically, once it became clear that anyone associated with Vicious was being killed, Spike knew they'd hunt him down, and they weren't beneath Kill-Billing their way to him, (i.e. systematically destroying this companions to get to him). And for all his apparent indifference - he really loves his new found family. Jet is literally like an older brother to him. Ed is a little sister. Ein is well … a very good boy. And Faye? Well the relationship is complicated, and I'm not going to get into the 69,420 reasons I ship them here, but I think it is beyond argument that he really does care for her, even if that just in a filial way. He didn't want the syndicates to kill them for their association to him, or in order to get to him. So he did what he had to do to protect them. *AND NO* I am not saying that he didn't love Julia. But it was clear that his desire was no longer to run away with her. I think he genuinely loved and cared about her, but at some point between Jupiter Jazz Pt 2 and now, he accepted that their time together was over. Now he had a new raison d'etre, which is the Bebop.

I think at this point Spike has 'woken up' to reality (as he implied to Faye in their final conversation in episode 26: "Look at these eyes. One of them is a fake, because I lost it in an accident. Since then, I have been seeing the past in one eye, and the present in the other. I had believed that what I saw was not all of reality...I thought I was watching a dream that I would never awaken from. Before I knew it, the dream was all over." (This is from the sub btw I'm too lazy to look up the dub transcript.) He wasn't going there to die, he's going to find out if he's really alive. This line is fucking cool and everything - but it's implications are multitude. I won't go into them all here but basically : what makes him alive now is that he's free from his past. He's alive because he has this new family and protecting them is all he really wants now. Spike was protecting Jet, Faye, Ed, (and Ein) by going and facing the entire syndicate, knowing that their lives would all be in danger.

SO - did Spike die? Well again - Watanabe has purposely and artfully left this open ended. Well, if we're following the symbolism from Sitting Bull, then yeah, the man is as dead as disco, and wouldn't that be a fitting ending? BUT at the same time, Spike always refers to having 'died' before (meaning when he was ambushed by the syndicate, and they all thought he died, and he pretty much did). Don't forget that in movie (takes places roughly between episodes 22 + 23, and yes, was made AFTER the series but whatever) he like .. DIES dies. He goes to the afterlife and everything. He wakes up to find he's chilling with Sitting Bull, who's like nah it wasn't your time to die yet. So the fact Sitting Bull confirms Spike will die in the final episode, means yeah, Spike is pretty much dead.

BUT -- okay now hear me out -- could this death in the final episode be a death to his previous life? The person he was in the syndicate? Now that he's extinguished the Red Dragons for good, is it not possible that its merely *that* life which has ended? That's the optimist in me saying that, but if it keeps me from staying up all night crying, I guess it'll have to do. Watanabe definitely wants to leave it up to the viewer, so whatever you think, I feel like there's validity to it.

WELL any anon, sorry for the fucking lecture - and believe me, I could've said MUCH, MUCH more - but I enjoyed this question. I always love talking about this show so please all you fuckers feel free to message me or send an ask about anything any time. I am really slow at replying because #life'sAbitch.

Love you all.

SY,SCB <3

#sorry for the long ass rant #i could seriously talk about this all day.#i even trimmed this down so much #cowboy bebop #fuck man this show is everything #spike spiegel #julia #faye valentine #jet black #vicious #radical ed #ein #<3 #spoilers #rant

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i-need-entertainment · 3 years

Text

Just Right

Character: Chronostasis x short reader

*In this story the reader is about 5′0, Chrono is in the 5′9-6′0 range*

*DISCLAIMER, I will do my absolute best to portray a short reader but I can only be so accurate...since I myself am 5′9..BUT I love the idea and will do my best! Thank you to @goblinchild99 for requesting! I hope you enjoy it!!<3

TW- Mean words from dad, reader self doubts, mentions of insecurities

“Wait…what..?” Your heart shattered as you sat in front of your stone-faced parents. Your family was head of one of the many Yakuza of Japan, and your father was a cold and ruthless man not like your mother was much better. “You will be given to the Shie Hassaikai. What they do with you is none of my concern, but for our sake and for your own, behave. I know you are not wanted because of your…stature…but do not be a bother. I don’t want you being sent back h ere, I cannot imagine the shame you would bring to our name if you upset the new young leader.”

You held back tears at your father’s decree. ‘Given…? Is that all I’m good for… To be given as a peace treaty when one of my brothers makes a mistake… Why do I have to pay the price for their actions…why am I just being used as compensation?’ Quickly wiping the tear that fell you stood up and left the room, going to your room to pack since you’d be leaving that evening. You sat down on your bed, sobs racking your body as you clutched your small frame. Your whole life you had been treated as an outcast, as the disappointment of the family. All because…because what? Because you were shorter than most? Because you were more ‘petite’? Just because you were small it didn’t make you any less important…any less deserving of love and affection. Instead you were being bargained off for ‘peace’. The sadness you felt was replaced by frustration. You angrily took out a suitcase and filled it with clothes, precious items, and whatever toiletries you knew you’d need. Without saying a word you rolled your suitcase out of your room, where an underling of some sort took it from your, and made your way to your parents. “Goodbye mom…dad…I wish you both the best.” You hugged your mom while your dad gave you a nod. “Make us proud, Y/n.” You held back your tears at your dad’s heartless reply and instead chose to nod, walking out the door and never looking back. After a good 2 ½ hour drive you made it to your new home, the Shie Hassaikai Headquarters. Where you would spend the rest of your life…Now anyone in your position would probably assume the worst..especially being a small female. But you were more afraid of being killed than…that. I mean, Overhaul was a major germaphobe so that stilled some worries you supposed…The car stopped and you shook yourself from your daydreams. Unbuckling your seat belt you exited the car, thanked the driver and made your way to the front gate. There to greet you was a man, who was much taller than you, wearing a white raincoat that reached just below his knees with black shiny boots. But the things that stood out to you the most was the hood he had covering his head, and the mask that covered his face. “Y/n L/n?” You looked up to the man, meekly nodding. He waved over one of the other masked associates, this time a man with a black mask, coat and hat to get your bag. The man in the white coat turned towards you. You couldn’t see his eyes but you could feel them burning holes through you. “Follow me, Overhaul would like to meet you.” You nodded, “But, put this on first…and don’t touch him, I imagine you wouldn’t like to die on your first day here.” You stilled as you shakily took the white medical mask and put it on, clasping your shaking hands together as you followed behind the strangely dressed man. “You don’t talk much…do you?” You looked up as you walked through the dim hallways of the Shie Hassaikai basement. “No…not to strangers, anyway…” You tried your best to sound normal, but you couldn’t deny you were scared. And rightfully so! “Yeah, well that might actually do you well here, you’re less likely to tick him off then.” You made a sound to let him know you understood, still not feeling well enough to answer him with a real response just yet. The two of you stopped at a door. Being raised in a Yakuza family you were no stranger to scary encounters, but this would be the scariest you’ve ever faced by far. Let alone faced by yourself. The man, who you had to have learned his name knocked on the door, answering that ‘L/n was there’ before the boss man told him (and you) to enter. Entering the office you were ushered over to the couch to sit down. So now here you were sitting directly across from a man that could kill you with a single touch. “L/n, I’m sure you know who I am, yes?” You nodded your head, looking down with your hands crossed in your lap. Overhaul may not have been the biggest guy, but he was still easily almost a foot taller than you…not to mention he had a fairly big build. “I won’t lie to you, I wasn’t fond of your fathers implications of why he was sending you here, but I assure you I have no intentions of following through with his original plans.” Your head shot up at this. “You may be small in stature, and it’s true that could be a weakness, but you also have a strong quirk. I’m offering you a place here, amongst me and the precepts…not everyone gets that opportunity. Should you choose to take it you will be taken care of, and your abilities will be praised.” You felt like you could cry, not from fear, but from being…wanted. “So? Will you join the Hassaikai, not as whatever it was your father wanted, but as apart of it?” Your face took on a determined look, “…I’ll do it. I know I’m not the strongest, and I’m not very strong, but I promise to do my best. Thank you..” Overhaul’s expression changed to a happy one. “Wonderful, I am aware of your inability to fight or defend yourself, so I’m putting you directly under Chronostasis,” He motioned for the said man to step forward. “Chrono, become acquainted with her, show her the ropes, teach her to fight, and utilize her natural abilities. Consider her your…assistant for now. Understood?” Chronostasis as you had learned his name was nodded, “Yes sir, come on L/n, I’ll show you around the base.” You nodded, standing up you bowed, “Thank you for this opportunity, I’ll do my best.” Overhaul nodded, walking passed you to his desk. “The pleasure is mine. You both are dismissed.” With that the two of you left the room and started navigating the hallways. “I’ll show you around first before getting started on what you’ll be doing here if that’s okay with you.” You nodded, “That’s fine.” You started walking, while you were talking he showed you the different rooms, which ones to avoid and which ones you’d be spending a lot of time in. “This is my office, which will be yours now too I guess.” He opened the door and stepped in. You didn’t follow. “…I’m sorry…” He turned around, “For what?” You nervously looked down, hands wringing together. “For being a burden…” He sighed, lightly guiding you into the room. “Listen, you’re not a burden, in all seriousness I could use the help, Overhaul gives me too much as it is anyways. And…I have a pretty good idea of how you were treated at your family’s Yakuza, and it kinda ticks me off. So I assure you, you’re not a bother.” You smiled at him, “Thank you…” “Yup.” He shut the door and sat down at his desk, motioning for you to do the same at the couch in the room. Without warning, he removed the mask he had on, the hood falling to his shoulders as he did so. “You can go ahead and take the mask off, I don’t wear mine when I’m not around Overhaul and he doesn’t care as long as you’re not interacting with him.” You sheepishly nodded, desperately trying to hide how flustered you were, because he was attractive. Not just the ‘oh yeah, he's good looking’ kind, more like the ‘Oh my gosh, I think I JUST DIED ‘ kind. He had the perfect proportions of traditional attractiveness and uniqueness to make him that much more appealing to you. He had sharp narrow dark gray-blue eyes, a jawline that could draw blood and a general intensity about him that made your heart stop beating. Remembering you were probably staring you quickly looked away. But something else about him caught your eye…his hair. It was a white silvery color, and medium in length, but as you examined him further you noticed the ends of his hair ended in arrow shapes. “Is that part of your quirk?” His dark eyes met yours, he figured you’d ask, most anyone who had ever seen him asked sooner or later. But when he looked at you, you weren’t looking at him like he was a freak. Your eyes held an innocent and honest curiosity. With no malice to be seen. “I’m sorry if that came off as weird or rude!! It’s just…I’ve never seen anything like it…” He nodded, “It’s fine, I kinda figured you would. My quirk is called Chronostasis. I can extend these clock needle things to pierce someone, but I need to be extremely still. If I do pierce someone I can slow them down, but the length depends on which hand I struck them with. If I use the minute,” He pointed to one of the ‘clock needles’ on the end of his hair, “They’re slowed for a minute, same thing if I use the hour.” He looked at you, noticing your expression. “I know it’s weird but-“ “I don’t think it’s weird.” He looked at you in shock, “You don’t? You can be honest, it’s pretty weird.” You shook your head, that honest and sincere glint never leaving your e/c eyes. “I think they’re really cool…beautiful…even..” In his 22 years of life, no one had ever told him his quirk was cool, let alone beautiful. If words could kill, Chronostasis would probably be dead. The red tint on his cheeks giving aware his flusteredness. “A-Uh..Thanks…What’s your quirk anyway?” “It’s called Seamless…Um basically I can sew without using needles, controlling the threads and what not…but it only works on sewing things, I can’t use it on people or anything..” You looked up, expecting him to be bored only to see interest gleaming in his eyes. “Sounds cool to me, useful too.” Never in your life had you felt so secure, safe, appreciated…it felt good. It felt good to know there were people out there who wanted you, even if it was just for work it still felt nice. Fast forward a bit, you’ve been with the Hassaikai for a year now. You had cemented your place here, and you felt great. You didn’t use your quirk too much, but you did save them a lot of money on clothes. You had also become a lot closer to Chrono, or Kurono Hari as you had learned his name was, and called him in private. You talked a lot, ranting to each other about your problems, spending time together even if it was just doing your own things in silent. It was safe to say the two of you had become good friends, but more than that you had developed feelings for the man. That was why you were on your current mission, making your way to Overhaul’s office. You knocked, and after hearing a ‘come in’ entered. He was sitting at his desk, fiddling with papers and what not. “Ah, L/n, what can I help you with?” You walked to stand in front of his desk, nervously messing with your fingers and fidgeting. “…I came to ask you something…” Overhaul sighed as he set his pen down, leaning to place his chin in his hand, which was propped up on his desk. “Oh? What is it? I take it everything is going fine?” Over the past year besides getting close to Chronostasis, you had also gotten close to Overhaul. Although you noticed he acted very protective of you, like an older brother. You had asked him about it a few months ago, he had simply told you he had met with your father a few years ago when he accompanied a business meeting with Pops. He had seen how you were treated and it made him sick especially because of how much potential you showed. In his own special way, you knew he cared somewhat about you. You nodded your head. “Everything’s fine, great, actually…I need to talk to you about something else…someone else….”. His eyebrow raised in interest, he pretended to act surprised but he had an inkling of why you were really here. “I want your permission to…to…” You opened your mouth to speak but ultimately chose to close it, not really knowing how to go forward. He sighed again, leaning back in his chair while his hands clasped together, resting by his mouth. “Let me guess…you’d like my permission to pursue a relationship with Chronostasis? Am I correct?” You felt heat raise to your face as you stiffened. ‘How did he…?’ “I may seclude myself to this office and limit my interactions with people to a minimum, but I’m not blind. I am well aware of he feelings the both of you have for each other.” You gulped, here it comes…”I don’t care, just don’t let it get in the way of your work. But if it ends the pitiful gazes and flirting between the two of you, by all means, get married for all I care.” Your eyes widened as your brain proceeded to implode. “A-are you sure?! You really don’t mind?!” He looked at you in disbelief before shrugging. “Nope, just don’t do any of that lovey-dovey stuff around me, affection like that makes me nauseas.” You nodded, “I promise.” He nodded and got up, walking you to the door. “…I’m trusting you won’t tell him what I’m about to say but, take care of him…He’s stupidly in love with you, so I know he’ll take care of you, but please be good to him…” You smiled, nodding your head. “I will…wait, did you say he’s in lo-“ “Time for you to go, goodbye L/n.” Before you could refute, he pushed you out of the room, shut the door and locked it. Sighing, you made you way to your and Chrono’s office, finally ready to tell the man of your dreams your feelings. To most you may be considered ‘short’ or ‘small’, and to some they might even think of you as ‘inadequate’ or ‘lesser’ than them. At one point you probably thought Chrono felt that way. (but as you were soon about to find out)But to Chrono? You were just right, just...perfect.

#chronostasis x reader #chrono x reader #chrono #chronostasis #bnha x reader #BNHA #bnha fanfiction #bnha villains #shie hassaikai #y/n #angst #requests

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narumi-gens · 3 years

Note

For the 500 follower event: I found your AO3 through Hard and Fast many moons ago. Besides me obviously being into dangerous, hot older men, I loved the reader's character so, so much!!! So I've been wondering whether Nishitani ever replaced the tights he ripped that day and how did that go? You also tagged it as Majima/reader. Would you mind sharing your hc for them? Only if it's okay and you still remember because it's been a while since you wrote it! 👉👈 Oh, and congrats on 500 followers! 💖

Thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Hard and Fast is a fic that I get annoyed I haven’t finished because I love the characters in it so much and have so many ideas and everything that’s written for it was super fun to write, but I just hit a brick wall when it came to motivation. I actually started working on it for the first time in a while recently because I’ve been slowly working my way through the entire series (I’m now like 25% of the way through Yakuza 5) but ended up losing motivation again. All of that is to say, I’m glad you like it and of course, I still remember! ❤️

As for Nishitani, he does replace MC’s tights but that’s more out of habit because he’s so used to needing to do so than anything else. And then for Majima, instead of straight-up hcs, I decided to do the outline of the Majima/Reader section of the fic (which would be Chapter 3) and then two snippets.

Hard and Fast HCs

♠︎ For context, chapter 2 involves MC visiting Nishitani on the night he dies in jail. It’s their anniversary and she’s pissed that he got himself locked up and ruined their plans together, but he sweet talks his way into her good graces. But as she’s leaving, she runs into Billiken when he’s bringing Majima in.

♠︎ Chapter 3 takes place a year later, on the anniversary of Nishitani’s death. It starts with Majima having these nightmares about his time in Sotenbori and for some reason, he keeps dreaming about how Nishitani was killed and waking up in cold sweats. So, on a whim he decides to chance a visit Osaka and see Nishitani’s grave.

♠︎ On the same day, you’re also visiting Nishitani’s grave, bringing Nishtani’s favorite sake and a pack of his favorite cigarettes as a small offering. And Majima stumbles upon you as you’re updating Nishtani on how you’re doing, how you’ve quit the bar and gone back to college like he was always nagging at you to do, how you regret not telling him you loved him when you had the chance. And of course, you’re startled when a strange man, clearly yakuza, appears.

♠︎ So, you do the only thing you can think of. You pull out Nishtani’s knife that he left with you and point it at him to fend off any danger. But when the man says, “That’s not the first time that blade’s been pointed at me,” it makes you pause and you take a moment to really look at the man. And then you remember how Billiken brought a man with an eye-patch with him to meet with Nishitani and how a man they now call the Mad Dog of Shimano had escaped the jail.

♠︎ But instead of putting you at ease, the knowledge only makes you angrier. This is the man who got Nishitani killed. This is the man that Nishitani died for. So, rather than put the knife away, your arm shoots out to hold the blade to Majima’s neck. Then, there’s a scene cut and your back is pressed to the inside of the front door of your apartment, your legs are around Majima’s waist, and your lips are attached to his, and the two of you end up sleeping together.

♠︎ In the aftermath as you’re both coming down from your highs, you have a long conversation about your grief, the reason he came back, and trying to move on. Finally, when it’s time for Majima to go, he leaves you with, “I think you’ve mourned long enough. Nishitani would throw a shit fit if he saw you like this.” But he pauses in the doorway to your bedroom and looks back at you for a long moment before finally say, “If you’re ever in Kamurocho, just let me know.”

snippet 1

You felt Majima’s hands on your hips and the way he was shifting under you as he prepared to begin thrusting up into you. But before he could, you placed your own hand on one of his to stop him.

“Wait,” you pleaded quietly as you continued to let yourself adjust to having him inside of you. “I-I haven’t…”

You took a shuddering breath and rested your forehead against his as you closed your eyes, no longer able to meet his gaze. His thumb began to rub soothing circles on your hip.

“I haven’t been with anyone since Homare,” you finally admitted in a voice so soft that Majima only heard what you said because he was so close to you. You felt him tense against you for a brief moment as he seemed to fully realize what you were saying before he relaxed and then began to trail the softest kisses up and down your neck.

snippet 2

“I’m just surprised there’s someone out there crazy enough to want to spend their life with Nishitani,” he mused

You weren’t sure if you should be offended. You looked at him for a long moment before deciding that he hadn’t meant for it to be disparaging. And he did have a point. Who would be foolish enough to fall in love with Nishitani? A bittersweet smile appeared briefly on your lips at the answer.

“You were with him at the end. Is it really that surprising?”

Majima looked slightly taken aback at your question. After a moment, he gave you a sad smile of his own before looking away.

“No. No it’s not.”

500 Followers Event!

#anothermeansofprocrastination #yakuza #yakuza 0 #majima goro x reader #majima goro #nishitani homare x reader #nishitani homare #500 event #hard and fast #yakuza hc #hard and fast hc

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alitaimagines · 4 years

Text

character- bakugou katsuki - my hero academia

song recommendation: play date - melanie martinez

note: another Yakuza/Mafia AU.

“what did I tell you!” Bakugou screamed to his men as they all jumped in fright, “I said that if we didn’t get our last job done and done right, all of you would be dead where you stood!”

he paced the room before grabbing the gun from his waist and held it to the temple of one of the men. the rest of them trembled in their shoes before hearing the gun shot go off.

“sad he had to go, right?” he asked them rhetorically, “and if you let me down one more time, it’ll be all of you!” Bakugou slammed his gun on the table making his red headed right hand man start to clean it.

whenever Bakugou had a day like this, he always left the house for a few hours. it cleared his mind and got him ready for his nightly activities.

being that it was mid November, the air was chilly and there was several kids ice skating in a small pond not too far from his home. he parked the car and sat down on a bench to people watch.

couples skated together, kids learning how to play hockey tried to shoot into their small net, and others just sat and watched along with him.

“is there anyone sitting here?” he heard a soft spoken voice say. Bakugou was ready to snarl at whoever interrupted his peace but as soon as he looked up, his voice went mute.

you had a laptop in your hand with a little contraption in the other. he figured it was a hot spot receiver. Bakugou shook his head no as you have him a smile and sat down next to him.

he wondered why you decided to sit in the middle of the cold and do work but he didn’t bother to ask you. after a while of just sitting there, he could notice you shiver every now and again.

not a word was spoken until he noticed a hockey puck was heading your direction. he managed to grab it bare armed and immediately felt the tingling in his hand.

“are you okay?” you asked with nervousness in your voice. you immediately grabbed his hand and checked it. his hand had small cuts and a huge gash running through the middle of it, “we should get you home and get it cleaned.”

Bakugou still hadn’t said a word but you dragged him down the street, “my car is this way,” he murmured as you perked up at the sound of him talk, “do you want me to drive? there’s no way your hand can possibly grip the steering wheel this way.”

he handed you the keys to his VERY expensive looking car and you jumped into the drivers seat before taking another look at his now bloody hand. there was streams of blood running down his very muscular forearm.

what you said was true. your house wasn’t too far from the pond but your house wasn’t exactly a house. it was a rundown apartment that looked too cheap and ugly for his liking.

“sorry, from the looks of it, it looks like you have enough money to afford nice things so my apartment is probably really ugly,” this made Bakugou chuckle, “it’s fine,” he grumbled in his deep voice.

you fished the keys from your purse and unlocked it. your apartment on the inside looked well put together. he smelled the fresh scent of a holiday candle roaming through the air.

“I’m a nurse so I can patch you up and get you on your way in a moments notice,” you chirped taking out the first aid kit from underneath your kitchen sink, “now if you want to prop yourself up on the sink, I can get to work!”

had this been any other person, Bakugou would’ve probably screamed at them for even touching you but for some reason, with you, he didn’t even want to raise his voice an octave higher than his regular voice went.

Bakugou opened his hand as you dabbed the alcohol onto the cotton swab. you gave him a warning to brace himself however as soon as you started cleaning the cuts, it was like it didn’t affect him.

“does this not hurt?” you asked. Bakugou laughed before shaking his head no, “you must have a huge pain tolerance to be just sitting there and taking it,” you responded.

you noticed the lack of conversation Bakuou was making with you but as soon as you took the gauze out, you were able to tell that the hand was turning a purpley-blue.

“all better!” you said in a childish voice before giving his hand a slight squeeze. your eye widened in embarrassment, “I am so sorry! I’m a pediatric nurse so I’m used to dealing with children!” you rambled to explain yourself.

“pediatric nurse? living in an apartment like this?” he asked, remaining on the kitchen ledge. you shrugged, “I know but the hospital I work at is very small and they can’t afford to pay me more than the actual doctors. they don’t have enough of donations to raise wages or anything of the sort,” you said with a tinge of sadness.

Bakugou watched your face fall to the ground, “but I love what I do and I’m a very popular nurse there so it’s not like I just can’t get up and quit,” you added, “but enough of my troubles. you’re good to go! just be careful with your hand for the next few hours.”

he nodded as he jumped off the ledge and went to the door, “what hospital do you work at again?” he asked, “oh! I work at St.Lukes downtown! it’s the small pediatric office next door to the actual hospital.

Bakugou hummed a response before waving you goodbye.

you woke up the next morning with an odd feeling. it wasn’t a bad feeling but you just felt like there was something going to happen today. without putting too much thought too it, you looked to the clock on your bedside table.

5:30 AM

your shift at the hospital started at 6:15 so you had enough time to quickly get dressed before stopping at the coffee shop near your job for a large coffee before your shift.

after picking up your coffee, you walked into the employee entrance to see all of your coworkers as well as the head doctor freaking out around a table.

“hey, what’s going on?” you asked the general crowd, “we got a donation last night. a $100,000 donation!” your eyes widened at the amount as the lead doctor held the check in his hand, “who’s it from! did they leave a note?” you exclaimed.

“it just says, “to the cute pediatrician,”.”

your heart stopped for what felt like minutes. it was from Bakugou. the man that you helped yesterday. you didn’t bother say another word knowing if you did, you would never hear the end of it.

“well, we should get to our posts. our first appointment starts at seven,” you murmured before putting on the rest of your uniform, “hey, you okay?” one of your coworkers asked.

you didn’t bother to respond as you felt your heart heavy with several different emotions. it was such a big sum of money for someone you only interacted with for a few minutes. maybe he took pity on your story last night but all you hoped was that you seen him soon to thank him profusely.

after the initial shock wore off for everyone, the day started as any regular Monday. you did a few vaccinations for newborns before getting sent to do some work at the front desk.

“hey, ( your name ), your lunch is on the table,” the secretary said, not bothering to look at you, “my lunch? I didn’t order any,” you thought before making your tread to the back room.

you noticed a box of food sitting on the table with a card on top of it.

“enjoy. didn’t know what you liked but if you want to meet up again, I’ll be at this bar tonight. 10:00 pm.”

you couldn’t help but smile at the note before stuffing the lunch inside of the fridge and going back to your desk.

after you left work and went back home to rest, you were laying down after awakening from your nap when you looked at the clock reading that it was past eight.

you pondered on the thought of actually meeting Bakugou again. you wanted to thank him for not only donating so much money to your job but for the lunch you had.

you read the note again and looked up the bar. it was on a sketchy side of town but nevertheless, you gulped down your fear and started slowly getting ready. all you dreaded was that you were going to wake up tired the next morning.

you put on black ripped jeans with a cute top and dark heels before fixing your semi messy hair. you couldn’t help but pick at your nails as you waited for your time to head out.

all that was running through your head was how weird it was to be going to an end of town that was semi closed off to the general public. the bar was located on a side of town where a lot of yakuza business was handled. it wasn’t like it was prohibited however not many people entered the area because they wanted their lives to spared.

as you drove to the bar, you could see the city lights dimming down and how the area was particularly quiet in the sense of people being out on the street.

after you found parking at the bar, you walked to the entrance before noticing how many men were looking at you. you played with your fingers before noticing Bakugou in the back.

you walked slowly towards him as he had his men sitting around him. not at the table with but at the surrounding tables.

“Bakugou?” you said in more of a question. he whipped his head up before giving you a tiny smile before waving you towards him, “I’m glad I found you, people were starting to freak me out,” you admitted.

you sat down next to him as a waiter immediately came to the table, “is there anything you’d like to order?” he asked. you quickly looked down at the menu, “can I order a bottle of wine? red specifically?” the yellow haired man nodded before running back to get you the bottle.

“Bakugou, did you send money to my job?” you asked suddenly. his internal panicking started as he shook his head, “you have no idea how much I can thank you for that!” you exasperated, “you have no idea how much that’s going to help us as a job and how many patients are going to get treated. our facility also helps families that can’t afford treatment like others so that’s going to help us a ton!”

he chuckled before swooping you into his lap, “did you like your lunch?” he reminded you, “of course! the steak was amazing, it was so juicy and soft! I haven’t had a steak like that in was feels like years,” you exclaimed.

the night continued with the both of you talking until it was time to close the bar. it was already nearing two in the morning and you had to be up in a few hours for work.

Bakugou walked you to your car to make sure that nothing to happened to you and also that you didn’t get stopped by one of his men unintentionally.

“tonight was amazing,” you whispered as he grabbed you by the hand, “we can do it again if you’d like,” he replied as he felt you grab his tie and pull him toward you.

you gave him a kiss that quickly turned heated. you opened the door and laid him on top of you as you ran your hands up and down his arms. there was a muscular feeling to him that was not shown because of his suit.

“I should get home,” you told him, “I have work in the morning.”

he nodded as he got off you and dusted himself off. you laughed at the lipstick stains on his lips. you licked your finger and wiped it off his face.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked as you nodded yes, “I’ll get you from work,” and with that, you got back into your car to head back home.

weeks had passed as you continued seeing Bakugou. you had gotten to know him more and the more you got to know him, the more he opened up to you.

Saturday finally came and all you wanted to do was sleep until you absolutely had to get up for food or the bathroom.

you didn’t bother to wake up until noon and the first thing you seen when you got onto your phone was Bakugou’s plethora of messages.

he had told you that he wanted to pass by your house before the end of the night and while you would have freaked out about not being ready, for some reason, you didn’t want to get ready.

just as you were about to make your first cup of coffee, you heard a banging on your door. you jumped at the sound of the banging before hesitantly walking towards the door. you peeped inside of the door hole before realizing it was Bakugou.

you whipped the door open to see him bloody, bruised, and looking like he was ready to pass out.

“hey, what happened?” you yelled as you shoved him inside, “did you get hurt? were you in a car accident?” you continued.

he didn’t say anything as he hopped on the kitchen sink ledge to let you patch him up, “I just got into a fight, nothing to worry about,” he mumbled as you wiped the blood from his eye.

“Bakugou, you could’ve died from your injuries!” you lectured making him laugh, “here, let me see! did you get hurt anywhere else?” you asked as he shook his head no.

once you finished cleaning his hands and face, he brought you in for an embrace, “I wanted to bring you this,” he murmured into your ear as he dug into his pocket.

he fished out a necklace for you. it was just a gold chain and although you wanted to ask him why he got you it, you realized that it was real gold that must have costed him a fortune.

“Bakugou, it’s gorgeous!” you whispered as he wrapped it around your neck, “but why?” you asked.

“because, I need these other extras to know that you’re mine.”

ALITA

#bnha #bnha imagine #bnha imagines #bnha x reader #boku no hero academia #boku no hero academia imagine #boku no hero imagine #boku no hero academia x reader #mha #mha imagine #mha x reader #my hero academia #my hero academia imagine #my hero academia x reader #bakugou katsuki #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou katsuki imagine

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bloodyspade0000 · 3 years

Text

30-day knb challenge: Day 1- Favorite Male character

↳ Haizaki Shougo

I am not justifying Haizaki's behaviour. I think he needs a tall glass of respect woman juice and therapy. This is just meant to explain why he is my favourite character and help you better understand him as a character. Do not send hate or take my words out of context. You will be reported, deleted and cancelled. Thank you and enjoy. :)

My favourite character is Haizaki Shougo *dodges tomatoes* a lot of people in the fandom hate this guy for many reasons. It's kind of funny how many people hate him and the amount of hate he gets just for existing. Like bruh; he's sixteen, leave him alone. 😂

His whole existence is just sad. He was literally created to be hated.

Like straight up, Tadatoshi Fujimaki even admitted that he hated Haizaki. Haizaki's sole purpose of existing is to make the Generation of Miracles look better even though they’re just as problematic as he. No one is fucking perfect and is about time people woke the fuck up and realized it. Your faves are problematic move the fuck on.

Yes, the Miracles are redeemable but so is Haizaki. Yet, unlike the Miracles, he does not get redeemable. No, he disappears and is never seen again. Like bitch, what the fuck!? if you’re gonna introduce a character to only have them disappear for a long time and either have them show up again or just never mention them again. Wasting the potential they had to be a very good character or not having them redeem themselves while the other characters who were just as fucking problematic get a fucking redemption arc because they’re fucking main characters!? What’s the point of that character even existing in the first place? What kind of bullshit is that? Just to have them exist to make the main characters look good? How the fuck does that make sense? Like where is my Haizaki redemption arc? Do I have to write it on my own? I will write it. I am writing one.

Haizaki is the only character I could relate to. Being second best, struggling to find somewhere to fit in and overshadowed and replaced by someone everyone thinks is better than you. It's fucking depressing, okay? You spend your whole life thinking you’re not good enough, and it hurts. I don't feel like going too deep into it because I don't owe you a detailed explanation of my trauma, okay?. So I'll save that for my fics where I self-project half of it onto Haizaki. It’s a coping mechanism, okay? Therapy is fucking expensive.

The anime ruined his whole character, got rid of his whole arc and shorted it down, and made him worse than he really is.

A post explaining how the anime did him dirty and goes more in-depth about his character

I am not trying to justify his actions, i.e. him manhandling Alex and beating Himura up. He does terrible shit. We all do lousy shit sometimes, but that doesn't make us bad people. Making mistakes is a part of being human, and we're supposed to hold people accountable for their actions and help them realize what they’re doing is wrong, allowing them to grow and change. Not condemn them and ostracize them, which leads to isolation and a lot of psychological trauma and self-hatred, and as someone who has dealt with—is still dealing with all three. It is not fun. It makes living painful. Highly unrecommended.

Haizaki does not have a positive role model in his life nor anybody he can turn to, everyone has already given up on him. Even Nijimura and Kuroko didn’t even try to help him, being more focused on the Miracles. (Yes, I know kuroko tried to stop him from throwing his basketball shoes away, but that doesn’t fucking count because after that Kuroko just gave up on Haiazki too). Haizaki has probably grown grew up knowing only violence and not a single ounce of kindness, turning him into the bitter and angry little boy he is.

Haizaki had so much potential. But instead of making him a great villain that potential was WASTED on fucking Kise.

Also, the Kaijo vs Seirin match in the winter cup was completely useless because Kise already got redeemed and he literally got no character development from it.

And Seirin was gonna fucking win anyways because duh thier the main characters. 🙄

Now some headcanons I think about a lot:

1. He gets abused. Some psychological behavioural consequences of child abuse are unhealthy sexual practices and juvenile delinquency, and Haizaki exhibits all three which are some external behaviours of most (NOT ALL) male abuse victims. Haizaki's a womanizer, aggressive, hostile and violent. Yet, he backs down when someone stronger than him comes around and puts him in his place i.e. Aomine and Nijimura.

a factsheet explaining the long term consequences of child abuse and neglect

How to help a friend dealing with family abuse or neglect

How to Handle Abuse

2. He's a victim. And when you're a victim, you either become angry and cynical with everything and everyone around you, swearing never to be a victim again and struggle with gaining back control of your life. Not wanting anyone to see you being vulnerable because being vulnerable makes you weak. Being weak makes you shatter. You always shatter like glass, cutting yourself every time you pick up broken pieces, watching as blood trickles through your fingers.

Your body is constantly on high alert. The default is flight or fight—survival to the fittest.

Or you bite your lip and keep your head down, bottling everything inside and looking for escapes or seeking validation. You want to be wanted and loved because you struggle with loving and accepting yourself. There's always a voice in the back of your head telling you, you're not good enough or that it's your fault. That everything is your fault. Self-hatred and self-doubt are your tormentors.

Or it's a combination between both—a constant struggle.

And I believe Haizaki portrays both from the way he acts and presents himself. Especially since his motto is literally "Survival of the fittest,” and he had once told Kuroko, " there are bad guys and then the really scary people," or something along those lines, which I believe he is talking from experience. You learn from your experiences. They either make you or break you.

3. He's touch-starved.

What Does It Mean to Be Touch Starved?

4. He's bisexual and has a lot of internalized homophobia. I can just feel his internalized homophobia rolling off of him. Bruh, I just know cuz I am bisexual, and I have struggled with internalized homophobia and still sadly struggle with it cuz I grew up surrounded by homophobic people.

I still live with them. 😭

Also, we live in a society that thinks straight is the default.

What internalized homophobia is.

5. His sexual awakening was probably Aomine or Kise. Could be both 😂?

6. He cries himself to sleep every night.

7. He's observant and a great judge of character. It's a fact. This guy literally predicted the downfall of the Miracles. Straight up warned Kuroko too. Too bad Kuroko didn't listen to him.

8. He's hilarious. When he first appeared in the manga, he literally called Himura a loser, lol. XD

9. He's a closeted softie and a total tsundere.

10. doesn't know how to react to kindness and will think you're threatening him or will feel really awkward and uncomfortable but will cover it up with his scowl, or he'll have a breakdown.

11. needs a lot of reassurance and head pats

12. swears a lot. Has no filter.

13. His bother is in the yakuza or some high position of power, and he feels inferior to him. It also explains why Haizaki gets away with things because he would have been kicked out of school if his bother wasn't either-or. I'm talking about his bother being in the yakuza, lol. XD

14. He and Momoi dated for a while but broke up on a mutual understanding that thier relationship just didn't work out. They're best friends and hang out sometimes.

15. Haizaki's good with kids and just genuinely likes them. He would be a great father and try his best to raise his kids right.

16. He gets sick really easily

17. He's clingy

18. He has no friends, mainly because he doesn't want people to get close to him because he's afraid of getting hurt again. Also, everyone in knb hates him.

19. He watches cartoons cuz he was never allowed to watch them when he was a kid. His childhood is trash, okay?

20. He hides in the closet because that's where he feels safe the most—rhetorically and literally.

21. Sleep-deprived and only runs on caffeine and spite.

List of fics that portray Haizaki better than the anime:

Heavy is the head by extrastellar

Idle Hands by DarkWoods

Another Chance by regretting my username_ (777imou_offline367)

What Matters is that We're Together by StrawFairy

06:00:00 of Haizaki Shougo (4) by ReiClien

This Is Happening by SharkGirl

What is Love by voices_in_my_head

A completely uncalled catharsis by oddball

One-shots

intertwined, under a spell by kornevable

ԼƠƔƐ & ӇΛƬƐ by Arthuria_PenDragon

delirium by extrastellar

me with you by doublejoint

Turn My Camera On by wordsliketeeth

At Summer's End by doublejoint

Taste by Hibari1_san

I Can't Get Enough of You by HisDarkSecret

I don't care if it hurts by llowsywriter

Ashes by doublejoint

broken things by lowsywriter

Series:

Finally found each other by suzakukills

This Is Happening Universe by SharkGirl

DNA by flowerway

My WIPS:

Isn’t it lovely?

Broken Crown

Love me, Love me, Love me

Grey skies

Rabbit hole

A playlist of songs that I believe fit Haizaki

Kuroko’s basketball’s manga

In conclusion, You can hate Haizaki as much as you want. But just keep it to yourself. Haizaki is my baby and I will protect him with my life.

#kuroko no basket #knb #haizaki shougo #long post #rant #favorite character #knb 30 day challenge #favourite male character #headcanons #one shots #fanfiction #rec list #manga #tw swearing #tw mentions of abuse

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doog20 · 3 years

Text

Madness, Atonement and Love

Content Warning: Yakuza 0 to LaD spoilers Content Warning: i jump between Yakuza 0 and 4 plot remember that there is a time difference between the events

Majima is the best way to explain yakuza, its very funny one minute, hahaha funny face man does break dancing as a fighting style, and the next moment he is face with the decision to either kill an innocent woman to get back to the world he has been dying to live in again or let her live and live a life of hiding and protecting her from those that set you out to kill here. Majima has so many layers, that are all centred around one core theme, his sworn brother Taiga Saejima or his kyoudai. Majima on his own is amazing but he gets better when he is whole...

Saejima is hands down one of my fav characters in yakuza, his arc throughout the games is just brilliant but i especially like his first game, at first you think he is a cold no nonsense killer convicted for killing 18 people making him a legend in the yakuza world (and they say yakuza is a silly game ahaha... they dont know shit) many years after the events of yakuza 0 Saejima breaks out with his new friend Hamazaki (who i may write a blog post later) once he is out Hamazaki is shot and we presume he is dead. now Saejima is on the run to look for his kyoudai for answers, he may have to kill majima or maybe he doesnt...

AAAAAA man Makoto is so interesting, a blind woman who falls for a Yakuza, a yakuza she doesnt know the name of. he is this mysterious protector figure who always looks out for here and the people around her to the best of his ability. to her she is not the yakuza with the tattoo on his back, instead he is him, simply a man she loves, she knows that he is a man that is there to protect her from something, something bigger than the both of them, a yakuza war over a bit of land... land that is owned by none other than Makimura Makoto.

Jumping back to Majima for a moment, his chemistry with Makoto (the woman he is meant to kill) is brilliant, at first i thought it was a protective fatherly thing, but slowly it became obvious it was a... ahem thing... yeah slowly he is falling in love while this woman has never seen his face or heard his name bc she was traumatised to the point of mental blindless. as they fall in love it becomes clearer and clearer that the lives they must live are very different. bc of the this and the fact that Makoto gets shot by the Tojo Clan for (yakuza 0 plot reasons) Majima goes fucking insane, instead of this calm and collected character we met in The Grand we get this fucking love sick man (heh reminded me of BlackPink but i digress) who just wants to avenge the only one who he truly loved (sorta yakuza 5)... and this is the birth of The Mad Dog of Shimano. man the scenes leading up to his break made me so angry i was fully for Majima going mad dog on the cunts, it felt so good beating the shit out of some of them in the finale and it felt bittersweet for some... man Awano, but thats a talk for another day.

Jumping back to Saejima, after breaking out he washes ashore of a small island nation by the name of Okinawa, fans of the series know this place as the home of Kiryu and his orphanage. soon someone stumbles upon Saejima and takes him in, the person is of course Haruka Sawamura (the daughter of Kiryu). Saejima regains his consciousness and chats for a bit with Haruka, but then ummm... yeah ummm... i dont really want to type out what happened next, so lets just say that Saejima hasnt seen a woman in a long time (jesus i hate this scene and i am not defending it i am just trying to put it as nicely as possible). soon, in comes Kiryu who very quickly sees what happened and and realises who Saejima is, bc who wouldnt, but as they get to talking Saejima makes up a fake name and Kiryu goes along with it. blah blah storyy Majima sadness

AAAAAAAANND they fight. Kiryu fights in yakuza games (where you fight against him) always put the fear of a thousand suns inside you, they are so good at making you be like "OH SHIT i know that move" and then "Oh god i dont know that move what the fuck Kiryu a fucking beast" the fight ends and Saejima "wins" bc before he can finish Kiryu off Haruka comes in and has to be the voice of logic and reason, all things that sissies worry about, and she stops the fight...

now skipping way way way ahead to going to meet Majima you go to see him fight his lackies and then he comes down from the stairs, and for a man that rarely ever emotes you can see how happy Saejima is even through his tough face. Majima and Saejima walk to the batting cages for their fight, they talk about why Saejima is there and what is going to happen, its clear Majima isnt gonna go down without kicking, bc in his mind it would be disrespectful to Saejima if he didnt give him a show, in any case, it could be Majima's last.

its so amazing doing this fight, bc its been built up since fucking yakuza 0 and when you do it you are just like "YEAAHHHH HIT HIM HARDER WOOOOOO" and when its over you are brought back to the earth and you have to think, at what cost? this reuniting scene is one of the best, its so sad and so exciting, all you can think leading up to it is how it went for Kiryu and Nishikiyama, its just very well done.

The 2 chat for a bit and Saejima asks about the eyepatch Majima explains why he didnt show when they where supposed to do the hit, the very same hit that landed Saejima in jail. the reason being he was taken hostage by one of the family heads, and he explains that bc he gave them such hell the only way to shut him up was to take one of his eyes, Saejima laughs, now its clear, the kyoudais are back together and stronger than ever.

it is very very clear to me that Saejima and Majima are 2 parts of a greater whole, there is no Majima without Saejima and there is not Saejima without Majima. its beautiful how the insanity of Majima and the stoicism of Saejima mix so well, i think its beautifully shown in the Yakuza LaD scene when they do their attack, that gif is just brilliant at showing how they compliment each other haha. (sorry couldnt find the gif)

Majima and Saejima show us some people are worth it and even if they are worth it, sometimes the best call is to let them go, i of course have to finish what i started. awhile after Majima takes out the Tojo Clan, he goes on a walk, finally free from everything... and he sees her, there she is happy and she looks him dead in the eye (NO THE PUNS TODAY AAAAAAA) and doesnt see him for the protector she once did when she was blind, now seeing him as a flashy yakuza with a tattoo on his back, Majima doesnt speak knowing she would recognise the voice. soon, a man who looks like her boyfriend comes and says "Hey is this man worrying you" and in one swift move Majima takes him and talk to him heart to heart, asking "do you love her" and "will you look after her", the boyfriend is very confused and a bit scared, after all a yakuza with one eye is grabbing him talking in a very scary tone. the man answers yes and Majima walks away into the crowd, Makoto trails him with her eyes until there is nothing to see and she goes on with her life....

to be continued... ->

yeah sometimes when you love someone so much, the only okay thing to do is to let them go bc you know you would only bring them more pain if you stayed together... in a way, it would be selfish, robbing them of a normal life. this is exactly how Majima at this point sees it, and i respect him for it, maybe in the future they will meet again, and maybe just MAYBE, they will finally get proper closure that they deserve, but until then i will say goodbye and thanks for taking time out of your life to read my stupid little essay

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hazeldough · 3 years

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okay while i’m playing judgment (i’m only at the beginning of ch 4 before meeting with higashi ahdfsdf) and i have SO many thoughts-- mainly what if 6 didn’t happen?

like do not get me wrong-- i love 6 and it’s my second favorite game, right behind 0, but i also wanna see everyone’s daughter haruka kick some ass!!!!

im gonna rattle off of headcanons and just overall thoughts

basically Y6 never happened, or won’t happen until at least 5 years later

Haruka is 20 years old

Haruka arrives in Kamurocho in 2017 and went to Akiyama for help after doing odd jobs

Stuff happens at Sky Finance, and Yagami gets involved. Haruka wants to help because Akiyama is currently indisposed and Hana needs to manage Sky Finance in his absence.

While solving Akiyama’s case, Haruka and Yagami bond a bit because they both have a past they keep on getting reminded of by other people that they don’t want to bring up.

They also walk in on Kaito’s expulsion from the Matsugane family

After they close the case, Haruka asks if she can join Yagami Detective Agency and Yagami lets her on, because she’s been really helpful and insightful when it comes to talking to people and finding clues.

Also she doesn’t fear most yakuza and honestly Yagami and Kaito are really impressed by that

The overarching story would be how Haruka is waiting for Kiryu to be released from prison, but he never turns up so she’s WORRIED

Yes, it’s Tojo Clan drama again

The main theme is everyone acknowledging how important Kiryu is to them and also acknowledging that he’s been the band aid solution to Tojo Clan problems since 2005

Haruka’s main goal is to get her dad to actually live life as a civilian

Haruka’s side story would be her helping out an agency on its last legs and offering her expertise as a former idol for the people there

She says that she isn’t sure if people would be okay with her on and each substory or progression would be people understanding that she’s a good person and so is her dad

It’d be a combo of Majima’s cabaret club where there’s some aspect of micro managing and Y5′s dance battles where Haruka has to do them again to enlist new dance instructors, vocal coaches, or security

Haruka gets 3 mentors and 4 fighting styles in total, something similar to Y0 where the 4th style is unlocked after completing her side story

Honestly, this is where most of my self indulgence goes-- as if this isn’t all already self indulgent lmao

Miss Tatsu - Beast style

Miss Tatsu is introduced when investigating Akiyama’s case and they run into her while she’s out collecting

Miss Tatsu talks about an old acquaintance of hers and Haruka connects the dots along the way.

Haruka’s brute strength is built up and it’s REALLY focused on flow and momentum.

Nair - Parrying

Nair is introduced also while investigating Akiyama’s case and she’s back because she needs Yagami’s assistance

Nair teaches Haruka a more balanced fighting style, but with a focus on parrying and using her enemy’s strength against them

Areshi - Breaker

Areshi is introduced when Haruka’s side story opens up

He’s an instructor now, but he still wants to make a break

Areshi helps Haruka develop the skills she learned as an idol into battle

Komaki is present and offers help, but Haruka would say that she wants to develop her own path-- so he’s just there as a pillar of support.

Haruka’s 4th style combines the above 3. I’d like to think that she’d basically be a human beyblade at some point, maybe as a heat action LMAO

Haruka’s dynamics with everyone!!

Akiyama, Yagami, and Kaito have BIG uncle energy lol

Akiyama watches out for her the best he can, but entrusts her to Yagami since she’s working for him

Haruka and Yagami get along bc of similar feelings towards their past

Haruka gets along with Kaito because he reminds her of her dad and Rikiya

Haruka and Hana bond too!!

Hana acts like she isn’t a little happy when Haruka comments that she and Akiyama act like a married couple

Haruka and Daigo low key acknowledge each other as siblings because of how Kiryu’s acted like a father towards them

They both bond over how they were in a position they were too young for but how they grew from it

They think about while it Was troublesome along the way, they’re just glad that Kiryu put That much trust in them and that’s what motivates them

Saejima really watches out for Haruka because she kind of reminds him of Yasuko

He talks a lot about Yasuko to Haruka

Majima and Haruka are only A LITTLE awkward around each other

They haven’t really seen each other in over a decade-- maybe a LITTLE bit but not much

Majima gives Haruka a legitimate apology for kidnapping her when she was 9. Haruka says that she gets why he had to do it, but she hasn’t really held a grudge over it-- especially after Saejima told her what Majima said to him.

TEAM BATTLE THROUGH TOJO CLAN WITH HARUKA, DAIGO, SAEJIMA, AND MAJIMA!!!!

Final fight is up in the air but wouldn’t it be something if Haruka fought essentially a girlboss character LMAO

Basically the main antagonist is trying to take over the Tojo Clan and honestly she makes some good points-- but she has horrible execution of it

Since this is self indulgent: Haruka may not shoot to kill, but she may shoot as a warning

I want Haruka to be the type of character that Does refuse to kill, but also wouldn’t leave a weapon lying around within reach of the antagonist or she’d do something if the antagonist is threatening multiple lives

At the end, everyone reunites

Kiryu sees how Haruka’s metaphorically and literally fought for him and his freedom and how Daigo’s been doing his best to keep the Tojo Clan in line

One nice happy family :^)

I mainly focused on Haruka here, but I feel like it’d REALLY work if the second protagonist would be Daigo

Yes, he’s the chairman, but he has to be on his own away from the Tojo clan for Reasons lol

And then Y6 happens ( but with some differences )

#aj rambles #what was it that one tweet said? something about seeing a character and just developing more background and stuff on them?#that's me with haruka #rgg #haruka sawamura #someone enable me in haruka kicking ass indulgence #like i loved the dance battles in y5 but i also feel robbed of her throwing down y'know?#saves

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itsybitsylemonsqueezy · 3 years

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Hey, I’m here once again with the ranting (if you don’t mind)! I just finished playing Yakuza 5 and damn I have a lot of feels I want to share. When I was first introduced to the franchise, I thought that nothing could beat Zero for me, but here I am now, holding back my tears and thinking what a fine game 5 turned out to be! I really loved the bonds that characters formed along the way, it just felt so sincere and warm that my heart throbbed nearly at every dialogue Х) Like Saejima/Baba, Mirei/Haruka (and Akiyama too!), Shinada/Takasugi were absolutely delightful. And don’t get me started on the ending scene with Kiryu and his daughter. I fucking lost it there. So damn emotional and pure. And while I adore Zero for its majestic tragedy and fatalism, I also love the kind and inspiring atmosphere of 5. Of course, there were some flaws, like I didn’t find the main antagonist all that interesting (especially after Ryuji and Mine), but in the end I was ready to overlook it just because the heartwarming scenes between the characters were so well done. So yeah, for me it’s top tier along with Zero. What’s your personal opinion on the game (and your favorites in the series in general)?

Congrats! Oooooh, Game 5. I’ve got a lot of feels about Game 5 too ^^; It’s a real fav c: There’s an awful lot I love about it, but there’s one or two things that really stick in my craw. I’m not sure I could put it up with Zero, but it’s definitely a game I treasure c:

I find it interesting that your interpret Zero as fatalistic and 5 as inspiring. Zero definitely has a lot of high-key tragedy, but I think the fact that we come through the other side, that Kiryu doesn’t go into the ground with Tachibana, that Majima decides that even though he could be happy with Makoto, it isn’t what he wants, I find that really powerful and even hopeful. Not inspiring perhaps, the choices we all make in that game are crushingly hard and frequently we’re punished for things that aren’t our fault. But seeing Kiryu confront his potential for the first time and, perhaps for the last time, deciding he’s not afraid of it, that this is a mantle he can carry and do good with, really does things for me. And I’ve gone on at length before about how we ought to read Majima’s choice at the end as not sacrificial, not denial, but rather a choice of identity. What stopped him from going with Makoto isn’t fear for what it would do to her (though certainly those protective instincts are still alive and well), but rather a... with nothing holding him back, he would still choose the life he started. He could leave it all right here but... there are things he wants to do, not has to do, wants to do. And he makes the choice to be yakuza, to be the Mad Dog, crucially, before he sees Kiryu. He could leave it all behind, but then he wouldn’t be himself. He wants to be yakuza. And he couldn’t do that if he was with her. I think that’s really cool and really life-affirming.

Meanwhile 5... it’s hard for me to articulate what 5 is about because we have a bunch of different character arcs, some of which mesh quite nicely and some of which have nothing at all to do with each other. It’s probably best if I just break this down piece by piece ^^;

(spoilers follow for game 5 my little chili babies)

Kiryu’s arc, as I have articulated before, I fucking love in game 5. However, I do have my criticisms of it. In many ways, the conflict we’re facing in 5 is something that should have come up awhile back. But, even delayed, it is satisfying. It is satisfying to force Kiryu to confront his mistakes. It is satisfying to at least reach a turn on Kiryu, to have him decide that he wants to live and does feel worthy, even if it’s at the last possible second. Like, I interpret 5 as much more fatalistic because Kiryu’s dying in the snow in the middle of saying how he wants to come home to his daughter. Like... he may have finally gotten his revelation, but he was already in the middle of repeating the cycle. What would have been truly satisfying was to force him to live, to insist that he grow up and learn how to live with people because dying won’t fix it. This is a problem we’ve had since the beginning and have never really addressed. This was our chance to address it and it breaks my heart that game 5 comes so close and was going the right direction, but doesn’t quite give us that resolution that Kiryu’s going to continue his relationships and be okay now, that he isn’t going to back out this time. And if the creators had been brave they would have ended the fucking series here with that resolution. That’s SO OBVIOUSLY the main conflict in Kiryu’s plot and here, at last, we were finally fucking dealing with it and this SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE END. THIS WAS IT. THE ACTUAL FUCKING END, I- *breathes* Let me not derail this entire thing with game 6. Let’s just... never talk about game 6.

That said... one of the things I ADORE about game 5 is this is the clearest sense of motivation we’ve had since Kiwami 1. For the first time in FUCKING FOREVER character choices made sense! HALLE-FUCKING-LUJAH. I CANNOT TELL YOU what it did to me that it was Majima that got Kiryu into the game. I cannot tell you the breath of life it gave me, after all this fucking BULLSHIT, that the game came FUCKING HOME on the most important person to Kiryu is Majima. Daigo needs help? Kiryu can’t help. Haruka needs her dad? Kiryu can’t help. These are both mistakes, don’t get me wrong! Absolutely terrible decisions, but they make sense out of Kiryu’s depression, out of his fears and doubts and feelings of unworthiness, his guilt. He’s so caught up in “better off without me” and so scared and so guilty, he can’t answer people even when they ask for help. But Majima. He can’t turn away from. He hears Majima’s dead and Kiryu loses his goddamn mind. Because it’s his fault. Because he wasn’t there. Because he left him out there and now Majima’s dead. Kiryu asked him to do something and, for all Kiryu knows, Majima’s dead because of him. And... as much as Kiryu hates himself in this moment, as much as Kiryu is sure that it’s all his fault, he’s SO upset, he has to go help, he HAS to go fix it. Majima’s dead and with his last breath, Kiryu will make this fuckign right. He’s gotta try. Because Majima being dead is... unacceptable. He can’t handle it. I fucking love that. At long last, it felt like the same story I’d been watching from 1. At long fucking last, we got some fucking proof of Kiryu’s feelings. And for that alone, I love game 5. I’ve got some issues with it, but that was... vindication. Spent 3 games waffling and pretending we didn’t know him unless we’re literally in the same scene, but even Kiryu’s denial isn’t that strong. Majima’s dead and Kiryu can’t anymore. He’s gonna go there and, god help him, he’ll go into the ground with him. You look at that and tell me it was un-fucking-requited.

On that note, I just gotta gush for a second about that scene where the girl is naked in Kiryu’s apartment and Kiryu just ???? He’s not even “no thank you” he’s like PAINED. Like... she hugs him and Kiryu looks like he’s being fucking tortured! That is not the reaction of someone with even an iota of attraction to feminine bodies! This gay icon! Like, if you’d done that to Majima he would have been like “You’re pretty, babe, but I am Emotionally Unavailable” like the bi icon he is, like... you may not take her up on it, but you can still appreciate her or at least turn her down gracefully. But Kiryu out here doing his best to touch her as little as humanly fucking possible like’ he’s TERRIFIED. That’s not someone being overly polite, that was “cannot conceive of being attracted to this.” Just... this gay fucking dad. Holy christ.

Related GOTTA love Kiryu’s boss being “Hey, there’s a rumor going around that you’re gay! Any thoughts?” and Kiryu just “That Is A Thing People Ask Me” which is the EXACT RESPONSE of a queer person who doesn’t want to out themselves but also doesn’t want to lie. Game 5 fucking iconic for those 2 scenes alone, god bless.

Moving away from Kiryu for a second, although this game is VERY about Kiryu’s story, let’s talk about Saejima! Saejima FINALLY gets to come into his own as a character, we get to handle him properly as a character and not as a crux in Majima’s character development. I love the marked differences in how Kiryu and Saejima respond to Majima and handle him. I love that they fucking NAILED motivation here. That Kiryu and Majima mutually code romantic, that they both make batshit decisions because of each other, in that way that you do when you’re madly in love with someone. Meanwhile, Saejima loves his brother but isn’t in love with him. Saejima’s relationship with Majima is stable and trusting. He’s not losing his mind over Majima’s death because he trust him and knows him. If he’s dead, Saejima trusts that Majima did all he could and it was just his time. That’s why he’s not losing his mind, he’s resolved. He just wants to know what happened. And it’s this stability that really tells us who Saejima is and how he functions as a protag. His strength is his trust in others, which at times IS naive, but it’s also what turns Baba. It’s what keeps Saejima strong when Kiryu’s falling apart. It’s so cool to see a character who isn’t paranoid, who isn’t tore up with guilt, in this series with very complicated leads. Saejima is functional and necessary because he isn’t any of those things. He doesn’t get swept up in big emotional turmoil. He cuts through a lot of foibles that would have tripped up his brother or Kiryu and it’s just really refreshing to see and exciting to experience Saejima’s brand of problem solving. He’s not terribly clever and he’s not subtle, but he’s honest and sure that counts for A LOT in this series. Gotta love Saejima.

And, as I have gushed about before and will again, Baba. Baba. Saejima turning Baba hand me fucking ascending. Baba Known Whore Shigecki turning on a time because Saejima screams “Because we’re kyoudai!” I am LIVING. I love their relationship. I love that Baba’s a little shit. I love that he’s inexplicably a supermodel. I love that his constant vibe is “would like to choke til he cries on Saejima’s dick.” I love that Saejima has a gorgeous prison boyfriend. Well deserved! I love the idea of Baba getting integrated into the group. I need WAY more fic about him coming back to live with Saejima in Kamurocho and Saejima just has an ex-assassin boyfriend now and we all get to live with that. Ugggghhhh, bless. So good. No notes, no criticisms, just good.

Haruka was LONG overdue to be a protag, I’m so glad this game did it. But... pop idol? The thing she explicitly said in Kiwami 2 she didn’t want to be? *siiiigh* Like, I get that she can change her mind as she grows up and that that’s the Thing You Do with Japanese teenage girls, but... Imagine Martial Artist Haruka! Raised by the yakuza, surrounded her whole life by people with incredible fighting skills, who would gladly teach her self-defense. Imagine! Or even training her to become a yakuza! My wife and I joke about Seventh Chairman Sawamura Haruka, but imagine how satisfying that would have been! A whole Tojo dynasty of Kiryu’s kids! She’s so ripe for it! And I know the yakuza is a male-only organization but... c’mon, this is fiction and sexism is boring. I guess I can understand the creators unwillingness to depict violence against women, even if it’s being perpetrated by other women but uh... *eye twitch* game 5 is maybe not the BEST example of their... respecting women...

*screams into a pillow for several minutes* *breathes* *screams for another fifteen minutes* Okay... I uh... I um... can’t talk about Mirei Park without having an aneurysm. PLEASE skip this bullet point if you don’t want to read Mirei Hate. I just... I Hate Everything About Her And I Don’t Know Why She Fucking Exists. I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade and if you like Mirei, y’all welcome to feel how you feel but... she is the only thing I truly Hate about game 5. I just... leaving aside my personal feelings about the... Majima part of her story which we just... Won’t talk about... Leaving that aside... I don’t know why she’s here? She’s the person who convinces Kiryu to leave his children. She’s predatory, she took advantage of a vulnerable young girl to live out some personal dream? Like, sure, economic opportunity, independence, but we don’t get a lot of motive from Haruka that it IS her dream to be a pop idol. She has said in the past that’s not what she wants, she makes mention of doing this for the money to support her family, Mirei LITERALLY SAYS she wants Haruka to do the things she couldn’t, and ultimately Haruka asides not to do this anyway because she’d ratehr be home with her dad! So what was the FUCKING POINT of Mirei Park? Is she a villain? Is she sympathetic? What the fuck was I supposed to take from her? How the fuck am I supposed to read her? She tells this TRAUMATIC story off-hand to Haruka to... justify her decisions? Motivate Haruka? Dragging in another long-term character for no good reason and reframing how we have to think about said character. But then THIS NEVER COMES UP AGAIN. The information wasn’t even important! It’s just traumatic! If it was supposed to keep Haruka doing the pop idol thing, it didn’t work! Haruka still leaves! If this was meant to deepen our relationship to Mirei or complicate her or whatever, IT DOESN’T, SHE WAS LITERALLY DEAD THE NEXT SCENE. I just... WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?! What even the fuck was I supposed to do with any of this?! Leaving ASIDE my VERY intense feelings about what this did for Majima (for the sake of not going ogg Even More than I already am, I just won’t talk abotu it here), I just have no goddamn clue what the point of Mirei even was. She’s not useful to Haruka’s arc and she only serves in Kiryu’s arc to be a villain. We could have had Haruka leave home and decide in the end that Kiryu’s her dad and that’s where she wants to be a MILLION different ways, we could have done that MUCH more kindly and consistently with the rest of her character and values, but we don’t! We have this shitmess instead!

I’m really really sorry to anyone reading this who likes Mirei. You don’t have to agree with me! And I’m not trying to make you feel bad! I’m not trying to tell people how they should feel or what they should get out of the story. If you got something out of her, you related to her, you found her part in the story meaningful, that’s great! I’m genuinely glad that you did. I... didn’t. I have a lot of negative opinions about what happened. Usually I try to just not talk about it because I don’t want to ruin someone’s good time. I’m not here trying to start shit. So I apologize for my tone and I did try to put a warning before it and recommend it be skipped if it’s the sort of thing that would offend you. My Mirei rant is over now, I won’t talk about it again.

I have absolutely no idea why Akiyama is in this story, tbh? He contributed very little, but I’m glad Haruka got to hang out with someone cool and that one of her uncles was here watching out for her, since Majima was “dead” and Kiryu was in the middle of a personal crisis ^^; I love Akiyama, always happy to see him, but he really had nothing to do here ^^; I was sad for no Hana though 8C Wherever there is Akiyama, there must also be Hana!

Shinada... is adorable and actively injured the plot. I’m sorry, I just... no one ever talks about the fact that including Shinada in the story actively hurt it. I love him too! He’s an incredible idiot and very sweet, but why the fuck is he here? What did an ancient baseball cover up have to do with anything? This was the only way you could think of to put Daigo in the game again? Really??? And Daigo doesn’t even do very much here! So like... not really worth it. You could have had a whole substory of Daigo finding out what happened to Majima, fuck DAIGO COULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE PROTAGS. THERE’S A THOUGHT. We could have utilized, y’know, characters we already have, but no, instead we introduce this dumb fuck to do... what exactly? Oh right, beat up Baba AFTER HE HAD ALREADY DECIDED NOT TO SHOOT HARUKA! Like, YOU DIDN’T EVEN NEED SHINADA FOR THE THING YOU NEEDED HIM FOR. Saejima and Kiryu were enough of an influence on Baba to stop him! And that makes sense out of Baba’s character arc, since it’s about personal redemption and learning to be a person and his faith and love of Saejima, y’know, the character he actually HAS a relationship with, is about that. The point of Baba was him learning it WAS his choice and him MAKING that choice. See, I can’t argue that Baba’s superfluous to the plot, but he WAS the threat! He was actively involved and he’s what makes Saejima involved. Shinada doesn’t occupy the same space, he has no horse in this race, he’s not yakuza, he’s only here because he and Daigo kinda like each other or whatever, and, again, HE WASN’T EVEN NEEDED! Baba’s arc was complete and the threat was terminated without this shit! Like, Akiyama has no reason to be here either, but at least he was a true neutral, neither helping nor harming the plot. We actively waste time to bring Shinada in and he hurts Baba’s arc by overly punishing him and potentially risking the decision he just made. Like if I was Baba, I might have gone “you know what, fuck you, I will shoot her just because your self-righteous ass decided to hit me for MAKING THE RIGHT CALL” Jesus...

I hate to be nothing but a curmudgeon but just... no one brings that up and I just had to say it if no one else was gonna.

As for villains, the game would have been a lot stronger without the “thwarted destiny, I should be on the throne” bullshit especially since the story has done a SHIT JOB with the legacy of Nishiki and in NO WAY utilized the fucking koi or the burden of Nishiki’s death properly for this to hit the way it should. It makes theoretical sense that Kriyu’s last villain should be the reincarnation of Nishiki, but the story did not build that up or support it so it falls really flat. That said, the main problem in Kiryu’s arc is that dying is not a resolution. Dying doesn’t fix a problem, it only delays it. THAT’S the thing we have to confront and we almost nearly do and... I’m just so excited that we finally articulated that, I’m willing to forgive A LOT.

And finally we wrote Majima entirely out of the game only to confirm that his only reason for living is Kiryu and then, again, didn’t resolve it because, y’know, fuck ending things, I guess? But he did have that sweet fight with Saejima and can do shadow clones now I guess? Fucking ninja magic or whatever. Sure, Majima’s so OP he can do fucking shadow clones now. No, teleporting wasn’t enough, he can fucking shadow clone. That’s like a staisfying story arc right? ...right?

#Yakuza 5 spoilers #Mirei Park hate #this is probably saltier than it should be #I really do love game 5!#Just... it fucked up little things and it makes me sad #floweysky

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linphd · 4 years

Text

ex!aizawa x ex!villain!reader | mr.blue [angst]

shouta aizawa x reader

female reader

(Y/N) turned villain after many years with Shouta. But now that she's stopping, she still has to say her goodbyes.

warning : big ass angst, death, sad shouta

the lyrics are from mr.blue by catherine feeny and the whole story is 100% inspired by Bojack Horseman's ending so don't read and watch the video I've put if you don't want to get spoiled oof

youtube

(Y/N) and Shouta met when she was in her 1st year at U.A. He was a Big Three, thus he had to train her class and help them with hero work. They became the interns of the same hero, and that's when they started dating. When the girl finally graduated U.A, they moved in together. Their life was most of the time peaceful. However, when Shouta became a teacher himself, he got very busy. It was already something that hurt (Y/N), even if she knew it wasn't his fault ; he was even trying to be with her as much as he could, despite her being a pro hero as well. And she was kind of famous !

Indeed, she was one of the top 20 heroes, and the man not wanting to be in the spotlight, he was trying to avoid wherever she was going -as paparazzis were always nearby. Still, their couple and their love for each other was much stronger than busy schedules. It was Shouta who asked his partner to marry him. That night, they had gone to a fancy restaurant, they had watched a movie (Y/N) had been wanting to see for a long time, and the brunette was wearing a blue suit. It wasn't typical of him to wear blue, but it was a suit the woman had bought him. He wanted her to be happy. And after that night, it became 'the suit you asked me to marry you in' as she called it. Shouta didn't mind the name.

Their wedding was so beautiful. They both referred to it as the best day of their lives. All of their friends were there, the music had been perfect, the food had been perfect, and Shouta had even managed to dance perfectly, impressing even his now wife. He couldn't forget the smile she had worn the whole night, and even the two days after. She even got pregnant, yeah. It was a girl, and they had named her (D/N). But (Y/N) was 7 months pregnant when she had a miscarriage. Villains attacked their house, because of her rank. And Shouta couldn't do anything. Their lives couldn't be the same after that.

After what happened, (Y/N) kept training and training, her quirk affecting her sanity. It was a dangerous quirk. The legend said that whenever she was angry somewhere, the sky would turn into storm. When she would be sad, it would turn into rain. But it would only be where she would be standing, not affecting the rest of the town. And Shouta knew ; that legend was true. (Y/N) got depression. Maybe he did, too. But one day, he woke up, and she was gone.

She only left him a letter : ''(H/N) is gone. Tell the news I'm dead, that villains killed me in front of you. I'm not coming back'' it said. And Shouta knew that losing his daughter was one of the worst day of his life, but losing his wife had been even worst than anything else. He knew (Y/N) wasn't gone for real. Some nights, while he was doing his hero work, she would attack him, out of the blue, for fun. She looked like a villain, her hero costume was just a memory to him, now. Her quirk had left some traces on her ; her eyes looked crazy. She looked tired. She looked insane. And Shouta knew that that smile was fake, as the sky would always turn a dark purple with scary clouds, whenever she was.

She never got caught. Even after 5 years, she didn't get caught. As he had new students, Shouta had to investigate on the League of Villains. And weirdly, she had managed to befriend them and they were now a part of her own villain relations. They were so many. But weirdly, never once they attacked heroes he knew. The League of Villains attacked U.A, yes. But (Y/N) and her own minions ? Never once. He didn't know who they attacked. He didn't care as long as she wasn't caught.

Mr. Blue, I told you that I love you.

Please believe me.

Mr. Blue, I have to go now.

Darling don't be angry.

A few years later, it was Midnight's wedding. Everyone was having fun, and even some students had been invited as they had graduated U.A. Still, Shouta wasn't someone who partied, even after all those years. He just went outside, and stood on a hill nearby. The sky was beautiful. He was lost in his thoughts when he heard footsteps. Thinking it was Hizashi, the brunette turned his head carelessly. But how wrong he was. ''How did you hear about the wedding ?'' He asked. ''I hear about a lot of things. And I wouldn't miss Nemuri's wedding.'' (Y/N) replied, standing next to him, but far enough not to make it too intimate.

Knowing he would break at seeing her this close, the man turned his gaze back to the stars. ''She never heard I was a villain. I retired, anyway.'' The woman continued, Shouta's eyes widening. ''What do you mean ?'' He asked her, confused. ''It's over, for me. My quirk is worst than before. I may die if I use it again. I used drugs, you know ? I used to talk with the yakuzas when I was at my villain peak.'' She said, a little smile on her face -maybe nostalgia ? ''Did you like it ?'' Shouta asked, calmly. ''Well, it was nice while it lasted.'' She replied, smiling. ''Just like our relationship together.'' She continued, making the brunette sigh at her words. To him, the relationship wasn't really over. Sure, they weren't together, but there was still something

''I never broke up with you. You just... left.'' He said. He was right. It made (Y/N) uncomfortable that he was right. So she decided to make him uncomfortable instead ; it was what she used to do. ''You're wearing the blue suit. The suit you asked me to marry you in. Were you expecting me ?'' She asked, chuckling. ''Maybe ? I don't have many suits. You were the one finding them for me. Hizashi isn't really good at it.'' He explained, making the woman smile. But he kept talking. ''I loved you, for 17 years.'' He said. ''I wasn't even 17 when we met.'' She replied, chuckling.

I know that you're tired.

I know that you're sour and sick,

and sad for some reason.

''There were so many things I wanted to tell you. But now that you're here, I don't know what to do.'' Shouta said, not being able to put words on what he was feeling. ''You just feel... comforting, you know ?'' He tried to illustrate his emotions. ''Do you remember, when we started dating, you said you liked being in the same room as me, cause it was a peaceful room ?'' The woman asked, making him nod. ''I guess even after all this time, it's still peaceful.'' He said. ''Why did you never try to attack me ? You are a hero, after all.'' (Y/N) asked. ''I didn't want to. And you never did something that made agencies send me. You never attacked the school, nor our friends... you've always been clever.''

''This discussion is shit. Can you believe that ? We went through so much shit together, that we don't have anything else to say. And still, it's comforting.'' The woman said. ''I don't see why it wouldn't be comforting. I've never been mad at you. When you left, the only thing I thought was : '(Y/N) is gone, and now everything's worst.' But I don't blame you. Our life was hell. It was surely better for us to stop being together. It couldn't work, even if we still want it to work.'' Shouta said, admitting in the same time that he still loved her. He guessed she had admitted she still loved him too, as she never once said the room wasn't comforting.

''Thank you.'' She said. ''I'm sorry. Thank you.'' Those were just a few words, but they meant many things ; how grateful she had been to live with him. He was so understanding and was so in love with her, he wasn't even enraged when she left. ''Thank you, too. I'm not as socially awkward as I was in high school. You helped me a lot by making me humiliate myself in front of many people.'' Shouta said, smiling. It even made (Y/N) laugh. ''Did you want to see me ?'' He asked. ''Yeah. To tell you that I'm leaving. I've left once without telling you. I can at least see you in person now that I'm okay.'' She replied.

So I'll leave you with a smile.

Kiss you on the cheek.

And you will call it treason.

''You're okay ?'' He asked ; his memories of her being a happy person were very old, as their last moments together had just been her drowning more and more into insanity. But she did look sane, now. All the marks of her quirk were gone. Even her face looked peaceful and rest. After they lost their daughter, after she became depressed, and after her quirk drove her crazy... she was now okay. ''Yes. Are you ?'' She asked, and he nodded. He wasn't lying. He really was okay. ''We have to, anyway. We're not young anymore. We can't afford it.'' Shouta started.

''Life's a bitch and then you die, right ?'' He asked, almost laughing at his own sentence. ''Sometimes... sometimes life's a bitch and you keep living.'' (Y/N) replied. It was true. She kept living. He kept living. ''But it's a nice night, hm ?'' She asked, as she had been staring at the sky as well. He remembered how she affected the sky around her. But this time, the night was peaceful. There wasn't any dark cloud, the stars were bright and shiny. They couldn't hear the wind, and couldn't even feel it. She really was okay. She had grown. Shouta smiled. ''Yeah. This is nice.'' He replied -it was comforting.

Mr. Blue, don't hold your head so low,

that you can't see the sky.

Mr. Blue, I told you that I love you.

Please believe me.

They looked at the sky together, enjoying that it was calm and beautiful. For so many years, (Y/N) had only seen dark clouds, and for so many years, Shouta was all alone to enjoy the calm. The woman sat, as she was getting tired to stand up. Hizashi had walked outside, looking for his friend, when he saw him, on the top of a hill. He recognized the silhouette next to him. Hizashi's mouth was agape, his eyes widened. (Y/N) decided to lay on the floor completely, making Shouta turn to look at her and laugh. He laughed way too much for a simple move. But he had missed it ; she laughed with him as well.

''Yamada-sen- Yamada, what's going on ?'' Izuku asked, still being disturbed that he couldn't use the 'sensei' now that he had graduated. ''I can't tell if that's the happiest or the saddest scene I've seen.'' He whispered, still focused on the couple. Izuku didn't understand, but as he recognized the silhouette of his former teacher, he kept watching. Meanwhile, the couple wanted to say things to each other, sometimes their heads turning to look at the other and their mouths opening as if to say something, but they couldn't find anything to say ; they had lived everything, there was nothing left to be said. They just didn't have anything to say to one another anymore.

(Y/N) looked at Shouta ; he was still standing, looking at the sky. But he had a bright smile on his face. She was thankful that he had been in her life. But they lost so many things together, and she turned a villain, they couldn't get back together anymore. She hoped he understood she loved him ; she had never been the type to say it out loud, and never was he. She hoped he also believed everything she had just said to him, because she had meant everything. And as he was focused on the sky, she decided it was time for her to go, quietly. But this time, she couldn't be a villain. But she couldn't come back anyway. Once the brunette turned to look at her once again, she was gone.

note that the 'room that feels comforting', the 'nice while it lasted', the blue suit, the '... is gone, and now everything is worst’, the final dialogue and the fact that they want to look at each other but have nothing left to say all come from Bojack Horseman and I'm very thankful for that show it gives very good life lessons and helped me actually to deal with some stuff so 🤧❤️❤️❤️

and yeah I’m back with a Shouta story and it’s an angst it feels like it’s the beginning of that blog again right 😗✌🏻

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #aizawa shouta #shouta aizawa #aizawa x reader #shouta x reader #aizawa shouta x reader #shouta aizawa x reader #angst

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perfeggso · 4 years

Text

Noir (yutae)

Week III pt. 2

Tokyo – fall of 1983: Nakamoto Yuta is quickly rising in the ranks of one of Japan’s most notorious yakuza families, and he’s poised to climb even further if he can stop himself from being ruined by the pretty Korean boy who’s shown up out of nowhere.

Glossary of Japanese words

Characters: Yuta x Taeyong + NCT ensemble, Twice J-line (for funsies)

Genres: Gang!AU, angst, smut, fluff, 1980s!AU

Warnings: graphic violence, swearing, minor character death, alcohol use, mentions of drugs, period-typical homophobia, xenophobia, BDSM

Rating: 18+

Length: 9.3k

If he didn’t think too hard, Yuta was elated. He’d righted his wrong, put his desires on the line, and gotten the boy he’d been lusting over for two and a half weeks not just to reciprocate, but to come undone in his lap. As he would say, mission accomplished.

Still, if he did think about it, he was worried. As he’d expected, he and Taeyong being an item was distracting to him at work. All those little moments when Taeyong caught Yuta’s eye and Yuta would suppress his impulses before they had confessed started blossoming into full-on flirting – or worse, makeout sessions in the car or in closets at headquarters. When Yuta was alone, instead of strategizing for his mission, he would find himself strategizing how to keep everything adequately under wraps for him not to become a liability to the organization or to his men. He even sometimes worried that he was taking advantage of Taeyong.

This was all in the three days following the party at Johnny’s bar. By the fourth day and the end of the week, Yuta resolved to go easy on himself. Taeyong had given every indication of enthusiastic consent, and continued to give it, and Yuta figured once he got used to being with Taeyong, the butterflies would dissipate, and he’d be able to focus again.

Yuta sat at his desk, legs crossed on the buffed wood, throwing his pen up and practicing catching it while pushing himself side to side in his swivel chair. Taeyong was in a seat near the window, messing with his nails and making absent-minded ‘beep’ ‘boop’ noises to occupy the time.

Yuta sighed. They were at a weird midpoint in their work where they had enough information to have a plan but not to act on it. Most of the acting would happen in the week and a half leading up to the Mitsubishi meeting. On top of that, he and Taeyong couldn’t get up to anything because they were expecting a report from Johnny soon.

“What if she doesn’t bite?” asked Taeyong, ceasing his strange little symphony.

“Hm?” asked Yuta, not sure what he was referring to.

“Sana. What if she doesn’t decide to flip when we confront her? What if she stays with Yamaguchi and they still get into the meeting?”

“That’s not anything you need to worry about, Taeyong,” Yuta tried to explain, setting his pen on the desk with a clack.

“But, I mean, I’m involved now,” Taeyong insisted. “So, wouldn’t it be good for me to have an idea?”

Yuta smiled, acknowledging the merit in Taeyong’s point. “Okay. Basically, if she doesn’t side with us, we’re screwed. We’ll just have to send a large delegation to the meeting and hope we can offer enough perks to get the board of directors to agree to our demands over Yamaguchi’s, and convince them that Yamaguchi’s scheme with Miyazaki’s mistress is real.”

Taeyong rolled his ankles around, looking preoccupied.

“This is why I didn’t want to say anything, Yong. I didn’t want you more stressed out than you already are.”

Taeyong leaned forward, elbows on his knees and jaw in his hands. “No, it’s alright. I think it’s better for me to know.”

Yuta smiled, appreciative. “That’s why we’re going to make Sana flip. We can’t afford not to, and she already hates the Yamaguchi-gumi for screwing up her life, so even if she thinks we’re just as despicable, at least we haven’t proven it yet.”

Taeyong cringed. “That’s one way to look at it.”

Yuta checked his watch after a brief silence. It was 4:40 p.m.; Johnny was supposed to have been there ten minutes ago. “Where the hell is he?” Yuta grumbled.

“Johnny?” asked Taeyong.

“Yeah. Didn’t I tell you that?”

Taeyong shrugged. “Maybe.”

Yuta thought he saw concern flicker over Taeyong’s face and reasoned there might be a cause for Taeyong’s spaciness that he wasn’t picking up.

“Taeyong?”

“Yes Shategashira !”

“Come over here for a minute, will you?”

Taeyong hopped to his feet and walked over to the desk, leaning against Yuta’s side of it. Yuta remarked to himself that the etiquette he had always insisted on regarding his desk was quickly going out the window.

“What is it?” asked Taeyong. Yuta slipped his hand into the other man’s, squeezing and swinging their arms in a soft rhythm.

“Is everything alright?” he asked Taeyong. “People still treating you well? Are you getting enough rest? I’m not overwhelming you, am I?”

Taeyong laughed. “Not at all. You’re – everything’s really good, and I like all the attention you give me.”

Yuta felt a flash of fondness overcome him. Lord help him.

“I’m glad.”

“There is one thing I’ve been wondering about though,” said Taeyong, starting again at the nails on his free hand.

“What’s that?”

“I was just thinking,” Taeyong began, “what is Momo going to do? Like, I presume that she knows about you but, how does that work for her? Is she going to hate me? Is it going to be weird if I have to talk to her any time soon?”

Yuta looked at Taeyong, head cocked to the side like a question. “Why would it be, if you know she knows?”

“That’s just it – I’m not sure!” Taeyong blurted. “I just feel like it would be. Like, it’s kind of a big sacrifice for her, isn’t it? And here I am, getting to do what she would if – if you were like, wired different or something.”

Yuta dug a nail into Taeyong’s palm, getting his attention. “Yonggie, none of that is going to happen, alright? I wanted her to tell you but since you’re worried and bringing it up, you should know that she’s similarly wired .” Yuta emphasized the last part to mock Taeyong for his awkward use of euphemism. Taeyong looked confused for a moment, and Yuta watched in amusement as he worked through what he had just learned.

“Oooh…” Taeyong puzzled. “Oh! Well, that’s a coincidence.”

Yuta laughed. “It’s not a coincidence, Taeyong, it’s the reason for our arranged marriage.”

Taeyong pushed off the desk and started to pace. “This makes so much sense, now!” he said, making Yuta laugh harder. “Ooookay.”

“So, will you calm down?” Yuta asked, and Taeyong nodded, settling back in his chair.

“By the way,” Yuta offered, “how would you feel about going out this weekend?”

“Out?” Taeyong pondered, “like, clubbing?”

“Yeah,” Yuta said, hopeful.

Taeyong smiled, practically buzzing in anticipation. “Sounds fun!” he said.

“You can come over to my apartment after, if you want.”

Taeyong wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Yuta guffawed. “Oh dear,” he said, shaking his head.

“This a good time?” came Johnny’s muffled voice from the other side of the door.

Yuta pushed himself into a more decorous sitting position. “ Douzo .”

Johnny slid open the door and stood in the entryway, saluting and wearing a beige suit and orange shirt with wide lapels. To Yuta’s surprise, Mark was with him.

“Phew,” jested Johnny, “I was worried you guys would be going at each other.”

Yuta rolled his eyes “Want to get hit?” he asked, figuring that would shut his friend up. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw Taeyong blush.

“No, sorry, Shategashira ,” said Johnny, sitting in the chair across from the desk and holding his hands up in mock surrender. “I’m done.”

Yuta smirked, allowing himself some slight irritation but knowing this was all in good fun. He addressed Johnny.

“Why is Mark here?”

Mark, who was still standing, awkwardly not knowing what to do with himself, opened his mouth but was cut off before he could answer.

“He was getting bored and Haechan was there to fill in for him,” Johnny explained, as if that was supposed to be satisfying. Yuta shook his head incredulously, frustrated by what his men’s lack of discipline represented more than its actual consequences. In reality, it didn’t matter all that much if it were Mark or Donghyuck at that post – Donghyuck would have likely just been hanging out in construction projects, otherwise.

“What was Hyuck doing there?” asked Yuta, simultaneously reasoning himself out of being strict. “Oh, whatever,” he allowed before anyone could answer. “It’s fine; just try to stay at your posts.” He turned his attention to Mark. “Alright?”

“Yes, Shategashira !”

“May I proceed with the report?” Johnny asked, both eyebrows raised and hand poised at the entrance to his jacket pocket. Yuta nodded and Johnny pulled out a cigarette and lighter, getting himself a smoke before he continued.

“So,” said Johnny, “I just got off the phone with Kun. He’s going to be arriving with the Triad delegation this weekend so that they can have plenty of time to strategize, prepare, make sure our priorities align, etc.”

“Perfect,” Yuta remarked. “Do they need an escort for when they get in?”

“Kun said that would be appreciated,” replied Johnny. “However, if one is unavailable, his men are trained to defend themselves.”

Yuta rapped his fingers against his desk. “I’ll contact him and tell him that I’ll do it. I want to make sure they know they’re valued. Anything else on that?”

“No, Shategashira .”

“Alright. What did you find out about Sato?”

“He’s a simple case; got a gambling addiction,” Johnny explained.

“Sounds like your kind of guy,” said Yuta. Johnny laughed. Taeyong yawned in the corner, rolling his wrists around to get rid of the stiffness he was surely feeling. Yuta’s throat tightened up out of affection. He couldn’t wait for the weekend.

“What time is it now?”

Johnny checked his watch. “4:52, Shategashira ,” he reported.

“I guess now’s as good a time as any to head out,” Yuta figured. “Goro hasn’t sent in anything else that needs to get done, anyhow.”

Johnny stood, still holding his cigarette and pulling a pair of keys from his jacket pocket. “Can I offer you guys a ride?” he asked. “I think we all live in the same direction.”

Johnny’s car was an orange 1980 Honda Prelude with five seats that he kept parked in the underground lot below headquarters. Yuta leaned around to check on the two men sitting in back and almost broke into laughter. Johnny’s tiny car had five seats only in theory; Taeyong and Mark’s knees were nearly colliding in front of the center seat.

Johnny lowered – or more accurately, dropped – himself into the car, hand steadied on the steering wheel since it was also a bit short for his 6’1” frame to enter comfortably. He pulled out the vehicle’s plastic ashtray and stamped out the end of his cigarette.

“ Yoshi , are we ready to go?” he asked, revving the engine.

Everyone responded affirmatively and all at once, and Yuta found himself wondering, had his been the type of family to go on road trips for vacation, would it have felt a little something like this?

“Now, Taeyong, you’re going to need to give me a little guidance here,” said Johnny, pulling onto the street. “I don’t know your address.”

“Okay!” came Taeyong’s voice from the back. He was seated diagonally from Yuta, and Yuta thought he could feel his gaze almost devouring him, but he decided to feign ignorance and not return the look. He wanted Taeyong frustrated for this weekend.

Taeyong gave up and averted his eyes out the window, breath fogging the glass’s interior as its exterior beaded with a slow-moving kaleidoscope of raindrops.

“Johnny,” began Mark.

“Mm?”

“Did Kun say who’d be coming with him?”

Johnny’s brow furrowed as he ticked up the speed of the windshield wiper. “I have it written down, but I can try to remember off the top of my head for now. Let’s see. I think Yukhei, Ten, Dejun, Sicheng, Kunhang, and Yangyang are supposed to be his entourage. That could change though – or he could bring more. I just know he’ll be there, and Yuta’s supposed to meet him at Narita this Saturday.”

“Wow,” said Mark as Yuta thought he felt knees bumping around against the back of his seat as if he were in front of a child on an airplane. “I haven’t seen those guys in forever; since I was a kid, practically!”

“You’re still a kid,” Johnny deadpanned.

Yuta watched Mark roll his eyes in the rearview mirror. “At least I’m not a shatei anymore.”

The sun began to dim as they rolled through the streets of Aoyama, casting the neighborhood in a shimmery palette of greys and yellows. Wet cement, soaked tree trunks, café windows, umbrellas: grey. Ginko leaves plastering the sidewalks, neon signs, reflected headlights, and traffic signs: yellow. Johnny clicked on the radio which was playing “midnight cruisin’” by Kingo Hamada.

“So,” Taeyong began, “these Triad guys, they’re basically us but in China?”

“I suppose so,” said Yuta. “They run a similar business to us out of Hong Kong since the mainland Triads got pushed there twenty years ago. They have even better international connections than us, though. We’ve been trading between each other forever, but we’ve always run the risk of getting our ships searched and taken in by the authorities. That’s why they want in on the Mitsubishi deal. Both the Chinese Navy and the Maritime SDF have been upping patrols in the South China Sea and that means inconvenience for us unless we can piggyback on legitimate business.”

Taeyong looked nervous, his knees pulled together and his thumb nail wedged between his teeth. “I see,” he said. Yuta knew that he and Taeyong were well past the stage of pity, but he still couldn’t help the pangs of responsibility he felt every time Taeyong seemed to remember what exactly he’d gotten himself into. Moments like this made Yuta feel like he was going cold from the inside. Here they were, sitting three feet away in a car with two other people, not even having properly fucked yet and Yuta was already worried about losing what they had. Once Taeyong completed his mission he would have the choice to go back to his old life, and even Yuta acknowledged it would probably be in Taeyong’s best interest to do so, but what if leaving Inagawa also meant leaving Yuta? He had too much firsthand experience with that exact scenario to feel secure.

They dropped Mark off at his apartment, then Taeyong directed Johnny the rest of the way to his. Once there, Taeyong slipped out of the idling car into the rain, immediately getting soaked due to his lack of rain gear. His dark hair flattened, luminous, against his forehead and the black button-up under his oversized denim jacket clung in a way Yuta would not be able to forget any time soon.

Before Taeyong could scurry too far away, Yuta grabbed the crank on the interior of his car door and rolled down his window, ignoring Johnny’s grumbling that he was going to ruin the upholstery.

“Taeyong,” he called through the screen of raindrops. Taeyong turned immediately, a warmth in his face which thawed the chill Yuta had sensed before.

“Yes, Shategashira ?”

Yuta smiled. “C’mere,” he instructed, and Taeyong jogged his way back to the car until he was folded at nearly a 90-degree angle to lean into Yuta’s window. Yuta could see the soft expanse of Taeyong’s torso clearly down his collar. Fuck . He placed a finger under Taeyong’s chin and looked into his eyes, which had gone as glassy and round as the puddles in the uneven sidewalk in front of Taeyong’s building.

“Remember what I said about this weekend?”

Taeyong bit his lip and nodded, searching Yuta’s face.

“How about tomorrow night?” suggested Yuta.

“Okay!”

Johnny sighed, looking pointedly out the opposite window. “Let’s hurry this up, lover boys,” he quipped.

“Ignore him,” Yuta told Taeyong when he noticed the other man’s eyes straying in embarrassment. “You’ll be on patrol tomorrow without me, so I’ll swing by around eleven at night to take you somewhere fun, m’kay? Just be ready by then.”

“M’kay.”

Yuta pulled Taeyong closer for a chaste kiss, then mercifully let him go to escape the rain.

“Now, go get yourself into something warm and dry!” he yelled, smiling as Taeyong practically bounded towards the door of his apartment.

“Aye aye, Shategashira ,” Taeyong responded.

Johnny turned back to face Yuta in mock frustration. “Will you close the window now?” he asked, and Yuta couldn’t help smiling while cranking it back up.

“You guys are cute,” said Johnny, as if commenting on the heavy rain. He didn’t seem to have any intention of starting the car.

“I’m glad you think so,” Yuta responded, cautious.

“Where are you taking him this weekend?”

“Out,” said Yuta. “In Yokohama. A place where no one knows who I am.”

Johnny nodded. “I don’t doubt that you’re being careful,” he said. “I’m just concerned for him.”

“For Taeyong?”

“Yeah,” Johnny expanded. “He’s so new at this; does he know what officially joining would even look like? Someone needs to have that conversation with him.”

“ I’m going to have that conversation with him,” Yuta practically hissed. This was not the discussion he wanted to be having.

Johnny sighed, shifting into drive, “Okay,” he said. “I trust you, Shategashira .”

“Good,” said Yuta. “You shouldn’t have to assure me of that.”

***

Yuta looked at himself in his full-length mirror, doing a little spin and checking over his shoulder to get as full a view as possible. He’d sent Taeyong to go on patrol with Donghyuck and Mark for the day while he stayed at headquarters talking to Doyoung about finances.

He’d gotten home, cooked himself some packaged curry, and shut himself in the bathroom on a whim with a tub of black Manic Panic. Yuta was growing sick of the white hair, and even though he was confident that no one at Copycat knew him or would be a threat, he still felt more comfortable with a less eye-catching hairdo. It had seemed like a good idea, especially since Yuta’s nerves were still a bit on edge after the assassination attempt. It had seemed like a good idea, that is, until the chemical fumes in his bathroom were almost enough to make him pass out and he had to scrub the dregs of the dye out of his bathtub once he was done.

But that was a few hours ago and now, with his hair newly monochrome and slicked back, and the bathroom aired out, Yuta was feeling much better. He had a cassette of R.E.M.’s “Murmur” blasting from the Hitachi TRK-7020H he kept next to his bed, dancing around to the music and sipping from a tumbler of whiskey as he got ready. He wanted to take his time picking a good outfit, knowing this would be one of his last opportunities for real fun before the Mitsubishi deal. Eventually, he settled on a black leather blazer, black pants, white leather boots, a black and blue button-up, and a chain necklace.

He turned back around to face himself in the mirror, sneaking a sip from his glass and examining the layers of bandage wrap he’d wound around what parts of his chest and lower neck were exposed.

His watch said it was 10:30. Time to go.

***

Yuta got to the front door of Taeyong’s building at 11:07. He buzzed the dial for “Unit 127, Lee,” and after an electronic screech that made Yuta’s eyebrows raise, startled, his date’s voice came through the speaker. Even through the crackle, he sounded bright, like he was bouncing around on the other end.

“Yuta! I just saw you pull up!” Taeyong giggled. “Be down in a minute.”

Yuta smiled to himself when Taeyong hung up. In stark contrast to yesterday’s downpour, this was a mild, early November night with a full moon and a soft breeze shuffling the bushes outside the apartment and making Yuta’s skin tingle. As he waited, Yuta pondered the tile exterior of Taeyong’s building and how desperately it needed washing. Then, he looked up to the sky where wispy clouds were curling in the moon’s glow like steam over a cup of coffee. He wondered to himself what that sky would look like out in the countryside, where there was no light pollution and the entire Milky Way would have undoubtedly unfurled overhead for the mortal onlooker. He wondered what that moon looked like to his family in Osaka.

The front door opened, pulling Yuta out of his ponderings. Taeyong smiled and Yuta momentarily forgot to breathe. His hair had been coaxed lightly off his forehead with some hair gel, and he wore a translucent lavender turtleneck, an oversized houndstooth jacket, black jeans, and sneakers. Yuta couldn’t have designed a more fantasy-worthy man himself, and Taeyong seemed to notice the reaction he’d caused, because he grinned wickedly.

“Hi,” he said.

“My god,” said Yuta, regaining his composure and returning the wicked look right back. “I didn’t think you could get any sexier.”

Taeyong smirked, sticking his chin out so he was looking at Yuta from under hooded eyes. “I could say the same about you, Shategashira . Especially like the hair.”

Yuta chuckled, moving in slowly to peck Taeyong on the lips. He wanted to do more, but even though the street was empty, he didn’t wish for any of Taeyong’s neighbors to see. Also, he reminded himself, there would be plenty of time for that later. Yuta watched as Taeyong’s eyes flitted quizzically over his collar. He lifted a slender finger to trace over the flesh-colored bandages underneath.

“What’s up with these?” Taeyong asked.

Yuta took Taeyong’s hand in his and guided it back down between them.

“They’re for covering my tattoos,” he explained, assuming that was obvious.

“I know, but Yutaaa,” Taeyong whined, “your tattoos are so hot.”

Yuta burst out laughing. “I’m so sorry, baby, but I don’t want to risk it. Can’t have anyone assuming I’m trouble.” Yuta narrowed his eyes, trying to look sinister like a yakuza in an anime or something. Taeyong didn’t seem to buy it.

“Aren’t the bandages suspicious in and of themselves?” he queried.

“Sure,” Yuta said, “but they’re not proof.” Yuta pulled a dramatically pitiful expression. “I could be recovering from a traumatic car accident.”

Taeyong giggled. “Yeah,” he said, “recovering at the club.”

“Listen,” Yuta insisted, “just think how much fun you’ll have peeling them off me tonight.”

Taeyong bit his bottom lip in anticipation and Yuta let go of his hand. Yuta thought if he was going to survive waiting for Taeyong until they got to his bedroom, he’d need a lot more drinks at Copycat. Still, the nervous glint in Taeyong’s eyes told Yuta that having patience would make tonight so much more satisfying.

***

Copycat was a notorious gay club in Yokohama. Those in the know would recognize it for outlandish parties, drag queens, mysterious drugs, and letting people in strictly based on their looks. It was a bit out of the way, being in a different city, but Yuta decided the loss of convenience was worth the safety. They listened to The Violent Femmes’ self-titled album on the forty-minute drive there, as it had recently become one of Yuta’s favorites for amping himself up. In the car it became clear that Taeyong had pre-gamed because he was much more forward than usual. He told Yuta he’d missed being with him all day and offered him road head. As much as Yuta would have liked that, he had to explain that he’d already had a drink too and couldn’t afford to get pulled over.

The two of them made it past the line easily and slipped their way through the black box of a club. There were shards of mirrors stuck to the walls which reflected the multicolored lights that flitted about the space. Go left, and one would be face to face with a wall of caged dancers, go right for the bar. They went right.

Yuta decided to order for the two of them.

“Taeyong,” he half-yelled over the music. It was “Sex (I’m A…)” by Berlin.

“Do you want beer, or do you want vodka?”

Vodka was the obvious answer and pretty soon, they were downing a suite of shots one after the other.

The DJ must have been really into Berlin, because the next song that blared through the speakers was “Pleasure Victim.”

Yuta’s eyes bugged out when he heard it, and he hastily slapped several yen on the bar, pulling Taeyong to the dance floor.

“I love this song!”

“I can see that,” said Taeyong, tittering as he let Yuta drag him into the center of a mass of bodies, both of them being jostled in a way that would have been dangerous if they were just a little drunker. The synthesizer in the song complemented the dreamlike aspects of the dance floor (the lights; the glitter), and helped Yuta forget the baser aspects (the grime; the smell).

Taeyong looked ethereal under the twisting colors and the silver confetti that started to fall, reflecting his gorgeous face ad infinitum. The thrum of the base in Yuta’s spine and ears made him feel like he was underwater, his movements so slow and heavy in comparison to the music.

Yuta couldn’t help himself – he was enchanted. He pulled Taeyong so close that they were writhing against each other more than dancing, and planted a searing kiss to his mouth. Taeyong tasted harsh, like all the alcohol he’d been drinking. Yuta felt him pressing against his chest, trying to wriggle out of the kiss and when Yuta pulled back in concern, he was overwhelmed with fondness. Taeyong panted, offering a sheepish smile.

“Sorry,” he explained. “I couldn’t breathe.”

Yuta just laughed and pulled Taeyong close again, and the two opted to grind on each other rather than kiss for the time being.

Yuta murmured into Taeyong’s ear. “Do you come to places like this often?” he asked.

“Every now and then,” answered Taeyong. “When I wanna find someone to take me home.”

Yuta hummed. Taeyong’s body against him was making him feel like oil floating in liquid. “Say we didn’t know each other,” he began as the music switched to Lime’s “Come and Get Your Love.” “If you saw me from across the dance floor, would you try to get me to take you home?”

Yuta heard Taeyong laugh – felt the vibration of it in his neck. “I’d do everything I could to make that happen,” Taeyong answered, dropping kisses to the skin just above Yuta’s bandages.

“I’d come over to dance with you, and you’d no doubt reciprocate, cuz you would’ve had your eyes on me all night. Am I right?”

“Of course you’re right,” Yuta confirmed, dragging his hands shamelessly over the back of Taeyong’s body.

Taeyong trailed a smile over Yuta’s skin. “Then I’d make sure you couldn’t rest until you’d brought me back to yours and taken out all your frustrations on me.”

Yuta growled as Taeyong pulled away. His face was flushed. It looked like the stains left on your hands after eating cherries. His eyes had gone glassy from intoxication and the edges of his mouth curled in an adorable smile. Yuta couldn’t believe his self-control that he’d managed to wait this long to fuck him. God…

Taeyong bit his lip as he swayed his hips to the music. “But we could…we could make that happen anyway,” he offered, going bashful for a split second before drawing a couple fingers over the skin under Yuta’s bottom button. “Right, Shategashira ?” he whispered for good measure.

Yuta grabbed Taeyong’s wrist. “You’re a menace, you know?”

Taeyong cocked his head and spun around so his back was against Yuta’s chest. He kept his eyes on Yuta, batting his lashes innocently.

“It’s just what you do to me,” he explained.

Yuta could only shake his head in disbelief as he wrapped his arms around his dance partner.

***

The restroom at Copycat was cleaner than Yuta would have expected; at least as far as he could tell under the dark lighting. The almost surgical white tiles which lined most of the space were shockingly devoid of even marker graffiti. So was the red of the dividers between stalls and urinals.

Yuta stared into the mirror as he washed his hands. The empty bathroom gave him a familiar liminal space feeling as Madonna’s “Lucky Star” echoed from the dance floor, dreamlike, and he had the impression that should he walk back out the door, he would find himself in a dark void rather than a physical, tangible environment. Maybe it was all the vodka, or simply the temporary damage suffered by his eardrums that made everything sound faraway.

As Yuta shook his hands dry, a tall man in a shiny black suit with a buzzcut strolled in and made his way to the urinals. Yuta didn’t think anything of him, until he decided to strike up a conversation. Yuta watched the man’s back in the mirror.

“Having a good time out there, boss?” asked the man’s back.

Boss?

Yuta ignored the quarry, figuring it was just drunken banter, and he didn’t have the nerves for that. He started towards the door.

“Hey, it’s an innocent question.” The man’s voice came now from just behind Yuta, insistent. Apparently this guy wasn’t planning on washing his hands.

Yuta paused. “Fun!” he repeated, almost mockingly. “Yes, I’m having fun, thanks.” Yuta moved to leave but his interlocutor blocked the door.

“That boy you got with you’s a real nice piece of ass, I gotta say. You got me jealous.”

Yuta glared, his wits forcing themselves about him as he hoped desperately that he hadn’t left Taeyong in a dangerous position. He needed to be getting back.

“I’d prefer you didn’t refer to him like that,” Yuta said coolly, trying to defuse the situation.

“Oh, you got feelings, I see,” said the guy in mock apology. “He your boyfriend?”

Yuta reached into his jacket pocket and the man jumped, moving out of the way and opening the door for Yuta to walk past. Yuta pushed out a clipped breath, glad he hadn’t needed to resort to threats of violence. Still, how had the man anticipated what Yuta had been reaching for? It was probably the bandages giving him away. The man trailed after Yuta once in the hallway outside the restroom.

“Alright, sorry, sorry. Listen, so you’re having fun with your boy toy out there. What if I told you I had something that could make it even more fun?”

Yuta refused to look at the man. He almost never did drugs stronger than alcohol and nicotine. Having taken part in illegal drug smuggling and sales, he knew what kind of weird and dangerous ingredients people passed off as “the real stuff.” Not to mention his oath to Inagawa which forbade it.

“No thank you,” he said plainly.

This guy would not give up.

“Oh, come on, you haven’t even heard the whole pitch. I’ve had nothing but stellar reviews and – and it boosts your sex drive like, it’s incredible! Don’t you wanna check it out? I just gotta go get it out of a back room; you two can follow me there!”

Alright , thought Yuta, that’s enough . He grabbed the guy by his collar and pushed him against the wall. Despite his impressive height, he was thin and Yuta gained confidence when he realized how little this man could actually do to challenge him. He didn’t have the reflexes of an experienced criminal. Still, he was likely an inexperienced one.

“Go push your shit on someone else,” Yuta insisted, an implied threat of harm hanging in the air. When he was sure the bothersome man was sufficiently flustered, Yuta stormed away and plucked Taeyong from where he’d left him at the bar and where he had thankfully remained. Taeyong was about to down a Jell-O shot when Yuta arrived.

“Thank god. Let’s go.”

“Hm? What about this?” Taeyong asked, referring to the shot.

Yuta shook his head. “I’ve had enough of this place,” Yuta asserted. “Let me take you home.”

Taeyong didn’t argue with that logic, as Yuta knew he wouldn’t, and they weaved through the crowd and slipped out the back door into the cool air. Yuta hadn’t been aware of how sweaty and disgusting he’d become until he had the breeze there to remind him. He heard Taeyong let out a whooping noise at his side.

Taeyong practically sprinted the couple blocks back to the car, still buzzing with booze and dancing, and Yuta had to work to keep up. Once in the vehicle, Yuta used the car phone to call a designated driver service.

Yuta hung up. “They’ll be here in ten minutes,” he relayed.

Taeyong arched an eyebrow. “Ten minutes, huh?”

That’s all he could get out before Yuta was cutting him off with a kiss.

***

The driver followed Yuta’s instructions to park around the corner from Yuta’s place. He lived in an adjoined but separate wing of the Inagawa-kai mansion in Ginza. The main structure of the building resembled a scaled down Samurai castle painted black. Yuta had lived there since he came to Tokyo when he was fifteen. At the time, he was placed in the mansion proper, where he struck up a quick friendship with Oyabun Hirai’s daughter, but also felt constantly surveilled. Now, as an adult in his own sectioned off wing, he could come and go as he wished, with whomever he wished. Having lived there for ten years, Yuta sometimes didn’t notice the building’s slightly threatening grandeur. Yuta was reminded by Taeyong’s shocked expression when they turned the corner to see it.

“You live here?” Taeyong gasped.

“I forgot you’ve never needed to come to the mansion,” Yuta reasoned. He pointed to the much smaller and plainer structure tacked on to the side of the Oyabun ’s residence.

“I used to. Now I live there.”

Taeyong’s eyes scanned the building before him in wonder. “Still…”

Yuta laughed, grasping Taeyong’s hand. “Alright enough gawking. Let me show you inside.”

Inside was equally stimulating to Taeyong apparently, who began spouting variations on “wahhhh!” the second Yuta had opened the unit’s purple door and let him in.

Yuta’s apartment had three rooms not counting the bathroom; each with a distinctly different style which worked well alongside the others, nonetheless. The one into which the front door opened and in which they were standing was the kitchen/dining area. It was a galley kitchen with a wooden table and chairs and patterned wallpaper with fruits on it. To the right opened a traditional tatami room where Yuta kept his sofa and TV.

Yuta laughed at Taeyong as he nearly bounced off the counter space, letting his fingers titter over spice containers, an ashtray, plastic flowers; whatever he could get his hands on.

“I’m glad you find my apartment so entertaining,” Yuta quipped, a bit confused.

Taeyong shrugged. “I really like this,” he explained. “Getting a little peak at my Shategashira ’s personal space. It’s not what I expected.”

What had he expected? Black paint and walls of katana and guns? Yuta asked as much.

Taeyong laughed breathily. “Not necessarily. I’m not sure. Maybe.”

Yuta’s skin was getting itchy as he eyed the door to his bedroom on the far wall.

“Okay,” he allowed. “Follow me.”

Yuta and Taeyong made their way to the door and once on the other side of it, Yuta again observed Taeyong’s reaction. He drank in the space, black chambray wallpaper, red moldings, and silky purple sheets on the bed all being slowly processed. Yuta knew his taste sometimes delved into extremely tacky territory, but his bedroom décor made him feel like a badass and he hoped Taeyong would understand the vibe he was going for.

“This is a little more what I was expecting,” admitted Taeyong, finally.

Yuta smiled, catlike, and closed the door, caging Taeyong in against it. Taeyong’s breathing faltered for a moment as his eyes fluttered shut. Yuta drew in a deep breath, the smells of the club mixing on Taeyong’s skin with his cologne and the natural scent of his body. Yuta kissed at the hinge of Taeyong’s jaw as Taeyong shucked his jacket.

“I’ve been hoping for this since we first met,” Yuta admitted, running his hands over Taeyong’s figure for the nth time that night. Taeyong preened under the touch, beginning to lose himself for the first time with the knowledge of what this was all leading up to.

He sighed, a half-smile gracing his lips.

“Please, do whatever you imagined, Shategashira ,” he almost panted. “I want you to show me everything you’ve thought of doing to me.”

Yuta smirked, planting a hard kiss on Taeyong’s lips.

“That would take a while,” he said slyly when he let up, “but I’ll give you a taste. We’ll have opportunities to get to the rest later.”

Yuta watched in satisfaction as Taeyong visibly shivered. He stepped away until the backs of his knees were brushing his bed.

“Can you take your shirt off for me, sweetheart?”

Taeyong obliged immediately, dropping his shirt to the floor and standing against the door, laughing his way into a nervous smile and crossing and uncrossing his arms. Yuta bore his gaze into him, and Taeyong quieted his movements in response.

“Good boy,” Yuta murmured, pleased when he heard Taeyong gulp down a groan in response. Yeah, he’d had a feeling…

He slipped off his jacket, instructing Taeyong’s to stay put as he folded it in half and set it on a chair in the corner. Taeyong took it like an order, with a “yes, Shategashira ,” that was so cute it made Yuta’s stomach churn. He made his way back to the man he’d left by the door, wrapping his now half bare arms around him. He noticed that Taeyong was chewing his lip hard enough that it looked painful.

“You okay?” he asked, petting his right hand over Taeyong’s hair. Taeyong released his lip, eyes fixed on Yuta’s face only millimeters from his.

“Yeah,” he breathed in confirmation.

“Good.” Yuta walked backwards towards his bed again, guiding Taeyong forward with him and stopping only when he was sitting and Taeyong was climbing up to straddle him, neither breaking eye contact the entire time. Yuta placed his hands over Taeyong’s hips.

“You seem a little nervous, baby,” he ventured.

Taeyong smiled. There we go. “You make me nervous, Shategashira . But, in a good way.”

Yuta smiled back. “I didn’t seem to make you nervous earlier,” he jested.

“The alcohol is starting to wear off now,” explained Taeyong.

Yuta sighed, dropping a quick kiss just above Taeyong’s belly button. “Tell you what: why don’t you tell me what you want right now, darling. Forget the things I’ve imagined. I want you to feel comfortable.”

“M’sorry,” said Taeyong, eyes darting off to the side, and Yuta shook his head.

“Don’t be. Just name it and I’ll give it to you.”

Taeyong’s eyes returned to Yuta as he drew his lips into the softest smirk.

“Well first of all,” he began, “I want to undress you and take off your bandages, like you promised me.”

Yuta was more than happy to oblige. He let Taeyong surround him, crawling over the bed to different sides of him to get the angles he needed to unbutton his shirt and peel off the wrappings, slowly revealing Yuta’s tattooed skin. Taeyong hummed to himself as he worked, insisting Yuta relax and stay still, and placing soft kisses to each section of flesh as soon as it became accessible. Yuta felt like he was floating with Taeyong tittering about and mouthing at him. At the same time, it was teasing him into impatience.

When Taeyong finished, he threw the bandages to the ground and placed his hands on Yuta’s shoulders to steady himself as he leaned forward, observing the ink figures that covered Yuta’s entire upper body; dragons, flames, and Oni practically crawling out from the waist of his pants.

“Shit. That looks so painful.”

Taeyong yelped in surprise as Yuta grabbed his face and pulled him in for an upside-down kiss. When Yuta pulled away, he took advantage of Taeyong’s disorientation to turn around and chase him back on the bed into the pillows.

“It was,” he confirmed finally, giggling, and pretty soon he had Taeyong laughing too.

Taeyong regained his composure and worried his lip between his teeth again for a moment before speaking. Yuta couldn’t help noticing the flush that had taken over Taeyong’s face, neck, and chest.

“Yuta?”

“Mm?”

“I want to feel you inside me,” Taeyong almost whispered. “And I want you to take over now.”

Yuta felt his dick twitch at Taeyong’s words. He settled his expression and let out a deep breath.

“Okay, baby,” he said. “Then I need you to take off your pants.”

Taeyong obliged easily as Yuta stood and removed his own, then pulled a bottle of lube from the bedside table.

Yuta looked quizzically at Taeyong’s sudden nakedness. He was so beautiful.

“You weren’t wearing underwear?” he teased and Taeyong demurred.

“No,” he admitted, and Yuta caught Taeyong’s eyes grazing over the less dense tattoos which continued over Yuta’s lower body.

Yuta shuffled back onto the bed between Taeyong’s legs.

“No wonder you were in such a mood earlier,” said Yuta, almost coldly. “You’re my naughty boy tonight, hm? Spread your legs.”

Taeyong shuffled his legs wider, his hardening cock wobbling with arousal.

“Mmmmmm mhm, I am,” Taeyong groaned as Yuta coated his fingers with the lube, smirking to himself. Taeyong sounded wrecked already from all the intimacy and the light dirty talk, and Yuta hadn’t even properly touched him yet.

Yuta scooted in closer and circled Taeyong’s entrance with his pointer finger, eliciting a gasp from him.

“You’re so sweet, it kills me,” Yuta murmured, and with that he looked Taeyong in the eyes and pressed his finger in. Taeyong keened, panting.

A few minutes later, Yuta was stretching Taeyong with three fingers, admiring the man beneath him as he rocked himself lightly into Yuta’s thrusts with one bent leg as an anchor. He had his eyes shut forcefully and chewed on his thumb nail, clipped, muffled moans emanating from the base of his throat.

Yuta’s cock was straining against his underwear and leaving a wet mark on the fabric. He was so turned on that he would almost have been satisfied just watching Taeyong ride his hand all night. Almost.

“You take my fingers so well, baby,” he teased, brushing over Taeyong’s prostate and causing his eyes and mouth to drop open simultaneously in pleasure. “You think you’re ready for my cock?”

Taeyong bucked his hips as he dropped his hand from his mouth.

“Yes, yes, yes…” he repeated as if in a trance. “Please, Shategashira .”

He mewled as Yuta withdrew his fingers, clenching around air, and then again when Yuta removed his boxer briefs. Yuta was naked save the chain he’d been wearing all night, reveling in the image of it swinging while they fucked.

Taeyong shimmied himself down into the bed until he was lying down, his arms bent and framing his head on the purple pillow.

Yuta lined himself up and pushed slowly inside, groaning when he bottomed out. He watched Taeyong’s stomach flex as he got used to the stretch and steadied his shallow breathing. Yuta ground his hips experimentally and Taeyong whimpered.

“Mmm, you feel so good around me, baby.”

“You feel good too,” Taeyong reciprocated. “I – ah – you fill me up so well.”

Taeyong reached his arms out in a fidgety motion and Yuta obliged him, leaned forward until Taeyong could wrap his arms fully around him. He took one of Taeyong’s nipples into his mouth, catching him by surprise as he began to thrust and bit down, making him whine.

Yuta wondered where Taeyong had been all his life. Sure, it sounds cheesy, but it was true. Taeyong was so tight and warm, it made him crazy, and he let the most endearing string of curses and breathy moans fall past his lips as Yuta fucked into him with increasing insistence.

Yuta pulled himself back upright so he could get a better view of the man under him, thumbing over the nipple that was still wet and inflamed from his mouth. Taeyong’s skin sparkled with sweat as he knit his brow and sent his fingers absentmindedly to his mouth. Yuta reached down and moved Taeyong’s hand, replacing it with his own, and the look Taeyong gave him when he reopened his eyes made Yuta feel a telltale clench in his gut.

“Keep your eyes on me,” he instructed.

“Yes Sha – Yes, Shategashira .”

The slap of flesh on flesh grew louder, mixing with the metallic sound of Yuta’s chain and filling the space as Yuta thrust hard enough it would probably leave Taeyong with bruises. Taeyong drew in a breath and let it out as a broken sob.

“I’m so close,” he warned over Yuta’s fingers.

Yuta wrapped his hand around Taeyong’s cock, which was angry and straining at this point, pumping him in time with his thrusts to the best of his ability. The movements were slicked by the precome that Taeyong had been dribbling consistently over himself.

“Ah, thank you, thank you, thank you…” Taeyong repeated as he bucked jerkily into Yuta’s touch, his hands wandering in spastic fits over his own heaving chest.

“You’re going to come when I tell you to. Okay, darling?” Yuta sing-songed.

Taeyong sobbed again as Yuta dragged his thumb over the head of his cock. “Yes, Shategashira .”

Yuta shuddered, nearing his own climax. He thrust deep into Taeyong, abusing his prostate as he pressed his thumb into Taeyong’s slit.

“Now, baby. Come for me.”

Taeyong wailed as he came a moment later, streaking his stomach in pearly white and huffing from all the energy he’d expended.

Yuta’s thrusts grew more erratic and his voice came out like gravel. “Fuck, baby,” he said, “you did it just when I told you to. My good boy. I wish you could have seen how incredible you looked.”

Taeyong shook his head in embarrassment against the pillow and threw an arm over his face. He kept spasming now and again from aftershocks and from Yuta still fucking into him.

“Thank you, Shategashira . I wanted to be good for you.”

Yuta let out a gut-punched sound at that. “I’m gonna come now, sweetheart,” he informed. “Where do you want it?”

Taeyong’s voice was barely there as he answered. “Inside. Please.” That alone was enough to push Yuta over the edge.

He kept grinding his release into Taeyong once he’d come, bringing himself down and pulling a new string of whimpers from the man below.

“Aah, that was so good, baby,” he said dreamily. “Let me see you.”

Taeyong removed his arm from his face, and what Yuta saw sent a residual wave of pleasure all the way to his toes. Taeyong’s cheeks were red and shiny, not just from sweat but also from the small collection of tears that had welled up at the corners of his eyes and started to spill over.

“Oh, baby,” Yuta cooed. “You look so pretty like this, it’s unreal.”

Taeyong spasmed. “Please…”

It was a bit unfair to Taeyong, who hadn’t been introduced to Yuta’s sadistic side in bed yet, but Yuta couldn’t stop himself from continuing to grind in and out of Taeyong’s entrance just a little longer than was obviously comfortable, egged on by the tears and by the little noises Taeyong kept making. When Taeyong started begging for real, he finally decided to give him a break and pulled out.

By the end of the night, Yuta was completely whipped, for better or for worse. Sometime during their post-fuck cuddling, Taeyong had informed Yuta that he liked it when he told him what to do, liked being bitten, and that as much as it had made him sensitive and squirmy, he’d have been okay if Yuta had continued to overstimulate him. The conversation turned to other things they might like and soon enough, they were both recovered enough to get hard again. Using some of what he’d just learned about Taeyong to his benefit, Yuta sat the other man on his lap and jerked him off with one hand while wrapping the other around his neck. Taeyong came over Yuta’s fingers, licked them clean, and returned the favor with a blowjob. By the time they were done and somewhat cleaned up, both men collapsed in a heap in Yuta’s now slightly sticky bed. Yuta let Taeyong cuddle into his side, thinking to himself that he was going to need to figure out how to make this work.

“How long did these take?” Taeyong asked, tracing a finger over the Oni on Yuta’s sternum.

“I got them over the course of five years, so it’s hard to say. Maybe, 100 hours?”

Taeyong raised his head in shock and Yuta laughed. “No way.” Yuta nodded. “And it really hurt?” Taeyong asked, eyes wide.

Yuta adjusted his head on the pillow, taking a drag of the cigarette he had perched between his fingers.

“I mean, it’s not the worst thing ever, but it’s pretty unpleasant. They’re not normal tattoos, either.”

“How so?”

“You get them done with this sharpened piece of bamboo and no modern equipment. It’s the traditional way for us. Someone’s granny does them; I forget who she’s related to.”

Taeyong finished tracing the Oni and moved on to the flaming border next to it. “Do you think I could ever get one? Not like, the whole thing – just something small like what Donghyuck has.”

Yuta felt the familiar pang of nervousness he got every time he thought about Taeyong’s future with the Inagawa-kai and, by association, with him.

“Mm,” Taeyong acknowledged. “Well then...”

“Have you thought at all about it?” Yuta ventured, immediately wishing he hadn’t when he felt Taeyong tense. Still, he knew the question would have eaten at him either way.

“A little bit, but I haven’t come to a decision,” Taeyong explained. Yuta took another drag and offered his cigarette to Taeyong, who took it, to Yuta’s surprise. Taeyong tried smoking it and started coughing on the exhale, scrunched his face up in distaste.

“I don’t know why I try it every time someone offers me one. I never like it,” he said.

“Sorry,” said Yuta with a laugh. “Anyway, mind giving me some insight into your thought process?”

Taeyong settled back into Yuta’s side. Yuta could feel vibrations in his ribs as Taeyong spoke.

“Well, as I imagine you understand, officially entering a life of crime or whatever is pretty intimidating even if you’ve never operated in the mainstream. It’s a big commitment. At the same time, I don’t really have anything waiting for me on the other side.” Taeyong flushed. “Besides, I’m really enjoying being with you.”

Yuta blew another puff of smoke as some bittersweet feeling kicked around in his stomach.

“Don’t let me be too much of an influence on your decision,” he advised. “We can be together anyway. I mean yakuza don’t usually date other syndicate members anyway for…obvious reasons.”

“Yeah,” Taeyong mumbled. “That’s true. But I promise, no matter what I decide, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Thank you.”

There was a short silence where Yuta reveled in listening to the slightly off rhythm of his and Taeyong’s breathing.

“Yonggie,” he began again.

“Yeah?”

“Want to hear about how I joined the Inagawa-kai?”

Taeyong turned on his stomach and placed his chin on Yuta’s chest. “Sure.”

“I grew up in Osaka, where my father worked for an Inagawa outpost. When I was a teenager, he got killed on the job. I was devastated. He was the person I admired most in the world. I didn’t have a rebellious bone in my body because my dad was the center of authority in our house and I thought he was the greatest person who’d ever lived. Anyway, when he died, I still wanted to be like him and tried to join the Inagawa in Osaka in his memory I guess, but it didn’t work out.”

Yuta paused for another drag. He continued.

“That was because the rest of my family took their grief in a very different direction. My mother and sisters blamed the syndicate and wanted to cut all ties to it, so that would rule out me becoming a yakuza, you know. I figured though, that anything my father would give his life for must be worth something, right? One of his old friends who knew Goro set me up to move to Tokyo and the rest is history. I wouldn’t say I got disowned for my decision, but I rarely talk to my family and going home would just be too unpleasant to stomach. Me being gay didn’t help either.” Yuta chuckled wryly.

“I bet,” said Taeyong. “That’s really rough though. I’m so sorry about your dad.”

“It’s all worked itself out, more or less,” said Yuta. “I still miss him though. But this is all to say that you’re the person who knows best for you. The syndicate can be a great place to find community and purpose when you don’t have that anywhere else, I’ll give it that, and that’s how most of us ended up where we are. But, you have to be okay with the violence; both the threat of it against yourself and those you love and that you will inevitably perpetrate against others.”

Taeyong nodded, his eyes fluttering down to Yuta’s chest. Yuta figured that was enough heavy talk for one night. He put out his cigarette in the ashtray next to the bed and grinned, ruffling Taeyong’s hair. Taeyong smiled back.

“I’ll shut up now,” Yuta said.

“S’okay,” replied Taeyong. “Yuta?”

“Yah?”

“Can – can I stay the night?”

Yuta balked, scratching his nails over Taeyong’s neck. “Of course!” he said. “I didn’t think that was even a question. It’s too dangerous for you to go back to yours alone in the middle of the night, anyway.”

Taeyong looked relieved and he nuzzled up into Yuta’s shoulder. Yuta hadn’t been exaggerating earlier when he’d said that Taeyong’s sweetness was killing him. He only worried he might not have the natural disposition for his current line of work.

“Thanks, Shategashira .”

Yuta spluttered, poking Taeyong’s nose. “Of course. Besides, anyone who’s that good a lay deserves to spend the night.”

“Aww,” said Taeyong jokingly, “good cause you owe me anyway, I think. I hadn’t been fucked for a while and now my ass hurts.”

“I will not apologize for breaking you back in the correct way,” said Yuta, turning out the lamp by his side, and Taeyong swatted his opposite shoulder.

“Whatever, just cuddle me and I’ll get over it.”

“Get some sleep, baby. We’ll take my car to the airport tomorrow and we need to leave around eleven.”

“Oh shit, I forgot about the Triads,” admitted Taeyong, voice suddenly breathy with fatigue.

“You won’t once you’ve met them,” Yuta joked. “Goodnight.”

“’Night.”

Yuta struggled to sleep at first, still exhilarated by the night’s events and unable to shake from his mind the memory of how good Taeyong had looked under him – better than he’d even imagined. The only thing which helped pull him under was the quiet rhythm of Taeyong’s sleepy exhales.

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