#and just decided to ignore the things minato could do???

[itischeese]

anyways i fully believe that canonically madara and/or zetsu made her do it with a slave seal because the alternative leaves me too salty to mention.

YESSSSS. I'm of the opinion that while the seal didn't fully control her, it wrecked her ability to think rationally and also probably made her mind fixate on the idea that she had to die or everyone else would.

Either way, the seal having an Effect on her that pushed her to do it makes so much more sense than her (canonically incredibly intelligent and compassionate) not considering the danger she would leave Kakashi in, or the fact that their teacher is a teleporting seal master...

[celestie0]

gojo satoru x reader | college au [18+]

kickoff ch.9 words you've been wanting to hear

ᰔ pairing. college au - soccer player! gojo x film major! reader

ᰔ summary. gojo satoru is the most popular guy on your college campus. he's tall, funny, hot, not to mention he's the most talented soccer forward the school has seen in years. but he's also a frat dude, which puts him in a world very different from your own, as he spends most of his nights partying & drinking while you spend most of yours working on your annoying film major assignments. but when he reaches out to you for a favor, you realize that helping him out might have something in it for you too.

ᰔ warnings/tags. 18+, fem reader, fluff, angst, smut, college au, fraternities, sororities, partying, drinking/alcohol, romance, jealousy, pining, slow burn, opposites to lovers, friends to lovers, she falls first he falls harder, gojo being an idiot, marijuana use, sexism, sexual harassment (verbal only)

ᰔ chapter. 9/x (probably 12)

ᰔ words. 15.6k (WHY DO THEY KEEP GETTING LONGER)

a/n. HELLO MY DEAR KICKOFF READERS IVE MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH i am soooo sorry for the wait on this one. this chapter felt very vulnerable to write for some reason lmfao, but i really hope it was worth the wait :''') see you at the bottom!! if there are typos or some things don't make sense i'm so sorry i literally gave up on proofreading this i just ended up raw-doggin it and then posting it

nav. masterlist

☾·̩͙꙳ moodboard no.1

♬.*ﾟplaylist

an additional author's note. hellooo ellie here. there are some additional warnings/tags for this chapter, i added them to the tags above, so if you know you have any sort of triggers, please refer to them before reading! but if you don't have any and don't want to be spoiled ab anything then you can keep reading lol. thank youu <33

--

The restaurant address that Kai sent you was just a ten minute taxi ride away, save for the five minutes you spent trying to evasively maneuver through the hotel lobby in order to avoid running into people you’re not too keen on seeing right now, a list that stacks up to just one person at this moment.

It’s a Korean barbecue place, it’s been ages since you’ve been to one, probably since they’re way too expensive for any sort of outing you could afford these days, but the crisp sizzling sounds of the grills and the savory air has your mouth watering in a way that makes you indifferent to the cost. Anything to get this churning feeling out of your stomach. 

It’s instantly brought to your attention that Hana’s tipsy off of Soju because she’s slid out of the booth the second you emerge to the tablestide, and she’s onto her feet to pull you into a hug. You hug her back.

“I’m ssssoooooooo glad you’re—hic—here,” she says, voice sounding loud near your ear, but her embrace is surprisingly calming to you.

Her face appears flushed when you pull away, and you give her a smile and a kind hold of her elbow. “I’m happy to be here, sorry for coming late, I just decided I wanted to have dinner with you all.”

Minato is pulling on Hana’s arm to get her to sit down, which she finally agrees to, and you glance to the left side of the table where Kai sat, meticulously turning over pieces of meat on the grill. His eyes are on you, and the seat next to him is empty.

“You look nice,” he says, eyes falling to your lap under the table once you’ve taken a seat next to him.

Your eyes fall to your lap as well. “Oh. Thanks. I wasn’t really trying to look any sort of way, though.” Just faded jeans with a few rips & holes you made yourself, way back in high school when that sort of thing was trendy.

“I know,” he says, smirk heard perfectly through his words, “I like that.”

You ignore him, a fleeting thought passing through your head of how annoyingly forward men are to women they’ve met within a day, just something you’ve noticed recently, and then you’re accepting the glass of Soju that Minato’s poured for you. Quick to tip it back, you feel a burn on your tongue that’s just enough to distract.

“Today’s game was pretty interesting,” Minato speaks up, picking up a few pieces off the grill with his chop sticks and placing them on Hana’s plate first before taking some for himself. You find the gesture sweet. “The first half was intense.”

Hana nods enthusiastically, elbows rested on the tabletop as she waves her hands around in the air. “Uh huh, uh huh, the boys kicked the ball like whoosh. Goes all over the place! Can’t get a—hic—can’t get a single shot. No, I mean me, I can’t get a camera shot. Not them, they can get the shots of goals. The goals of shots? Huh.”

“Alright, you’ve had enough,” Minato grumbles as he drags the glass of Soju that she was nursing away from her. 

Kai lets out a laugh beside you, his knee bumping against yours under the table. “I’ve watched so many of these soccer games for this job, and I’ve still got no damn clue what the rules are.”

You blink down at your empty plate for a second before grabbing the silver chopsticks laid neatly on your napkin, and taking some food from the center of the table. “Really? I’ve only been to a couple, and I feel like I get the gist of it.” Maybe it’s because you had a personal interest, though.

Kai lets out a low whistle next to you. “Okay, you’re a smartass then.”

You give him a sidewards glance. “Maybe you’re just dumb?” 

Your own words startle you a bit. Minato lets a laugh out, but under his breath, while Hana does absolutely nothing to conceal hers. Kai’s eyes just widen. You bite down on a carrot stick.

“Hey, hey, hey, y/n,” Hana chirps, tapping at your wrist, “do you know any of the soccer players? Utahime said you doooo.”

You swallow slowly to buy yourself time, but give a preliminary shake of your head before answering, “no, not really.” You catch a whiff of the cologne on your wrist when you lift your glass to your lips.

“Oh,” she sulks her shoulders and then sinks down into the booth again, her head falling onto Minato’s shoulder. The man stiffens a bit and then there’s a content smile playing at his lips. A hint of a smile develops on your face too at the sight when you put two and two together. What an adorable little crush. It makes you feel sick.

Kai pours you some more Soju the second you drink down the last of it in your glass, and you nod to him as a thanks. “Pretty sure most of my photos from the first half are fucked,” he says, dragging the opening of the bottle against the rim of your glass before pulling it away, “didn’t realize until way later that my aperture was way off.”

You bring the glass to your lips, inhaling before taking a sip. You’re about to speak up about that when Minato beats you to it.

“Are you serious?” he asks, disappointed, like they’re suddenly talking business now. “I better see some good shots. Your side was where most of the action took place. Like that through-pass, tight behind the defensive line, from Nanami Kento to Gojo Satoru before he sunk it a couple mins before the half ended.”

You choke a little on your Soju at the mention of Gojo’s name, and then all three of them are looking at you. You wave a hand in front of your face. “Sorry.” 

Kai grumbles something under his breath and then stuffs a piece of pork belly into his mouth. “Yeah, whatever, man. I’m pretty sure I got some good ones. Don’t worry.”

Dinner goes on like that, where you count the number of times Kai thinks that someone saying something funny across the table is an excuse to press his thigh against yours, but at least the cute way that Hana and Minato seem to inch closer to one another all night is enough to put you at some sort of bitter ease. But that unsettling feeling in your stomach from a couple of hours ago still lingers.

The four of you stand outside the restaurant, heels rocking back and forth in the cold as you all take up the last chance to debrief the day, and then Minato’s glancing at his watch.

“Alright, it’s probably time to head back. We can all share a ride to the hotel, it’s cheaper that way,” Minato says. Hana’s clinging to his sleeve.

“Oh, uh, I was going to stay here. There’s a cool camera shop around the corner. I was gonna check it out,” Kai says, pointing over his shoulder before glancing at you. “Wanna come? I saw they’ve got used film cameras.”

You twiddle with the hotel key card in your pocket. It’s cheap plastic, could break easily with just the right amount of pressure. Like your resolve right now. “Sure.”

He smiles at you.

“Alright, well I need to get this one back to her room,” Minato says with a sigh, pointing to Hana, “so I’ll see you all at the next game?”

You and Kai nod at him and then watch as he walks away with Hana on his arm towards the curb, pulling his phone out to call for a ride.

“Where’s this camera shop at?” you ask Kai once the silence between the two of you stretches out a little too long. 

“It really is just around the corner,” he says, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He starts walking down the row of miscellaneous shops and establishments under dim street lighting, and you follow after him before the two of you circle to the adjacent end. A tiny shop in the distance catches your eye. The LED sign above the storefront was blinking sporadically, and read 17th St Camera & Rentals, except half the letters were extinct of any light. Next to it was a 24/7 liquor store.

It’s only when you walk right up to it that you realize the sign dangling behind the glass door that says closed.

“Oh. Bummer,” Kai comments in a flat tone. “I swear it was open before I got to the restaurant.”

You sigh, pulling your phone out to glance at the time. “Yeah, at 8pm? It’s past 10 now.”

He looks at you and taps the camera case still hung at his neck. “That’s fine. I’ve still got a camera to show you, anyways.”

You blink your eyes at him, suddenly feeling a bit exhausted and then glance over your shoulder at the curb of the street to see if Minato & Hana were still there waiting for a ride. You don’t see them anymore. 

A distraction. Wasn’t that what you wanted?

“Yeah, show me.”

Kai seems to know the area better than you, since he walks down the haphazardly lain sheets of concrete across the ground with more confidence than a tourist would. The thought occurs to you that maybe the newsletter photographers have eaten here before during their time in Kyoto.

“What made you start working with the newsletter?” you ask, glancing at him as the two of you walk down further, into what seems like a neighborhood.

He shrugs. “First job I could find out of college. I had a lot of freelance experience, so I’m assuming that’s why they hired me.” He nudges your arm with his elbow. “What about you?”

“I’ve known Utahime for a while. She was impressed with my work.”

“Ahh, connections,” he muses, “smart. That’ll get you far as an artist.”

He suddenly stops walking and peers off to the right, into a darkness that you can’t really make anything out of until you’ve spent a few seconds staring too. He walks in that direction, the loud echoing stomps of his boots on concrete no longer audible once he crosses the threshold onto grass, and you follow behind to what seems like a deserted children’s park. You wish there were more trees in the city. There are a lot here in the countryside, and it makes you homesick for something you’re not even sure of.

A gust of wind brushes through, rattling the set of swings hung on rusty chains. The wood chips underneath your feet feel stale, with no snap to them at all as you follow Kai through the playhouses set up in connected fashion. There are two picnic benches, one looks like it’s been freshly painted with faux effort to improve its image in the line of sight of the street, while the other has red paint peeled back to reveal bronze underneath the moonlight, neglected and tucked behind a few trees. The latter is what he chooses.

He slides into the bench, and he shakes his head when he sees you try to take a seat on the other side before patting at the seat beside him. “It’d be easier for you to take a look at my side.”

He has a point, so you sit next to him instead. Although at this point in the night, you were feigning interest. He zips his camera bag open and you take a better look at the lens. There’s no way it was as cheap as he told you it was.

“There’s no way this was as cheap as you told me it was,” you say.

He laughs, pulling the camera out and handing it to you. “Yeah, maybe the guy cut me a deal since I’ve bought from him before.”

You’re smart enough to put the strap around your neck, even though you’re only holding it a few inches above the table, because a camera like this deserves the care and respect. The material is minimalist and sleek, and it’s heavy in your hands. You click the shutter button, screen coming to life with a few mechanic chirps. “Woah. Is it LCD or OLED?”

“LCD.”

“That’s nice,” you say, “paying for the OLED just seems silly to me.”

“I concur, Canon. Color accuracy is king.”

He shuffles to pull something out of his pocket while you continue to inspect the camera in your hands, and you see him fidget with said thing over the table in the corner of your eye. The flick of something and the light of something makes you turn your head to face him, and he’s pinching the end of a joint to his mouth, lighting the other end.

He gives you a glance when you stare for too long, inhaling from it before pulling it from his mouth. “What?” You can see the smoke leave his mouth in the chill of the air.

“Is that why you chose the secluded bench?”

“I did? Didn’t even notice.”

You blink at him, and he places his elbow on the table to lean closer to you. 

“Do you mind it?” he asks.

“No, not really.”

“Wanna smoke with me?” Two fingers pinching the origin of smoke tilt towards you. “This is my good weed, though, so, I charge by the drag.”

“That’s ridiculous, and no thanks. It doesn’t suit me.”

He lets out a laugh, releasing whatever tension he was building in your space, and the smell of weed is nauseating, but at least it's a new sensation to you.

“You’ve gotta be the only film major on the planet that doesn’t smoke weed. How do you manage?” he asks, the orange flicker of his joint being the only color you can distinctly see under the similarly flickering street lights. 

Your finger traces the rim of the camera lens and is careful to not smudge the glass. “I think I manage just fine.”

“Yeah. With delusion,” he says, coughing, scattering smoke into the air this time instead of a clean blow.

You turn a bit in your seat to face him more, placing the camera down. “You’re extremely blunt.”

His eyebrow raises in amusement and you close your eyes with annoyance at the pun. You brush it off.

“I mean, seriously, I get you’re probably just looking out for me, I guess. I appreciate that. But do you really think my dreams of becoming a filmmaker are that far-fetched?” you ask. There’s a crack to your voice at the end that you didn’t like.

He sighs, setting his wrist down on the table. There’s a long pause where he thinks about what to say. Probably the most you’ve seen him consider what words leave his mouth next. “I was in the same shoes as you, y/n. A couple years ago. I, too, had big dreams of making movies. I was going to apply to film grad school as well, although you’re shooting higher than I was at the time. There’s no way I would’ve gotten into UTokyo’s.” He tilts his head to the side a few times while looking straight off ahead. “I sent scripts in everywhere. To every fucking production company, creative agency, you name it. Never got a callback, not even once. While all my fellow grads were landing decent, respectable jobs.” He brings the joint to his mouth again, but he doesn’t inhale, just bitterly bites it. “I could’ve went on like that, but,” his brow furrows, “I’ve seen my peers torture themselves for years for those dreams of theirs. I swore I wouldn’t be one of them. Because they’re all delusional fucks.” He finally glances at you. “Are you one, too?”

Your shoulders drop a little and your lips purse. “I don’t know yet. It’s too early to say.” 

“It’s never too early to say, if the outcome is all the same,” he tells you. 

You consider his words for a moment. It’s the easy way out. You should consider yourself lucky. Everyone wants a reason, a sign, to turn away from the one thing they’re scared to think about. And here he was, giving that to you on a silver platter.

But if what you wanted was really all that fragile, then it means there’s nothing to show for any of it. For all the effort it took you to get here, and all the effort you’re still willing to give. 

“I’ll keep going until I fail,” you say, “or until I succeed.” It’s not really something you say for him, but for yourself.

He juts his bottom lip out and raises his eyebrows, slowly nodding his head, like he’s impressed by you. But his posture remains lax. “I mean, you’re working this job. You’ve got some sort of plan, at least. It’s not like I’m your parent to tell you what to do and what not to do.” He finally takes another drag, eyebrows pinching together at the same time his fingers pinch close to the burn of his joint to pull it away. “What’s that one saying? You can take a horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink.”

“Wow. You don’t sound a day older than sixty-five.”

He smirks at you. “You’ve got a lot of attitude, Canon. Where does it come from?”

You sink a little in your seat, turning away from him to look down at your hands that were still messing with the features of his camera. “My annoying feelings lately.”

“Feelings about what?”

You consider telling the truth. But you don’t. “My car is in repair and I’m not sure I can afford to pay for the bill, since things keep coming up with it.” It was the thing at the top of your mind at the moment though, for some reason, so partially truthful.

He laughs. “Yeah, cars have a way of doing that when you’re finally getting caught up on bills.”

“At what point does spontaneously picking up random, obscure jobs go from omg I’m so excited to have this opportunity to I just need the money?” you ask.

“You mean you’re not already at that point yet?” he says with a scoff. “Soon, then.”

You sigh.

“Y’know I used to work at this lousy cinema a few miles away from Central,” he tells you, hand tapping the table with a rhythm that makes no sense. “Busted my ass working minimum wage on night shifts because I thought I’d catch a big break in conversation with a director, as if Martin Fucking Scorcese would choose to host his opening night at a random Edwards in Tokyo.” His tapping on the table stops. “Tell me that isn’t pathetic as hell.”

“That’s pathetic as hell.”

“The things you’ll do for money,” he says with a sigh. He sounds detached, like it’s really just a message for you.

You lick your lips, skin feeling dry from the wind that occasionally brushes by, and when you glance at Kai again, there’s a grit to his jaw.

“Should’ve been born as one of those damn college athletes,” he grumbles, sucking in fast through the joint that was close to withering away. “Those fuckers don’t pay tuition.”

The harsh colors of the soccer team’s color-coded practice schedule on your phone are visible when you blink, as well as the exhaustion under Gojo’s eyes in the warm lighting of the hotel lobby earlier tonight. “They work hard.”

He looks at you. “I work hard, too.”

Your shoulders tense. “I’m sure.”

“You work hard as well.” Just to include you.

“Yeah.”

“I mean, you can’t tell me that it’s fair.”

Your mind wanders to some of the people you’ve met on that team, who have been nice to you. You think of Gojo, and the memory of him makes you wish you were with him right now. Despite everything.

“I guess it’s not fair,” is all you say, a tactic to diffuse the conversation, one that you’ve had to use twice with him today. The sound of the swing chains clinking together from the wind in the distance runs a chill down your spine.

You feel heavy in your chest, and you glance at the joint pinched in between Kai’s fingers. He’s not keeping an eye on it, so it’s easy to steal, and you bring it to your lips before sucking in. You instantly let out a few coughs. He’s looking at you with surprise. And you’re still in desperate need of that distraction you’ve been craving.

“How long does it take for it to kick in?” you ask, coughing again and pressing a hand to your chest.

“Super long when you can barely stomach a single drag.”

You try again. He watches you. You swear you feel a buzz this time, and you hand the joint back to him. You feel like you’re having an out-of-body experience.

“How are you feeling?” he asks.

“Good,” you tell him, “really good.”

“That’s gotta be placebo, Canon.”

“No, really,” you sigh it. Even if it was, maybe your mind was just blessing you with a single moment of reprieve. “I feel…really good,” you say with your head in a haze. “Best I’ve…” you don’t know why you have to blink back tears, “best I’ve felt this whole week.”

Kai’s silent next to you. You look over at him, and he’s got a scrutinizing expression on his face. His eyes are glazed. “You seeing anyone right now, Canon?”

It’s the savory question you know has been on the tip of his tongue. Ignorantly asked, as if you would’ve been sitting here with him right now in the dead of night if the answer was yes. 

“No.”

He’s leaning towards you, and you’re dazed and also sleepy. His face is close now, there’s an urge to giggle, which means there’s no way this is all just placebo, and when his lips dip towards yours, you’re conscious enough to push him away by a weakly fisted hand pressed to his collarbone.

“Oh. I. Um,” you stutter.

“What?” he asks, eyebrow raised, still close to you.

“No. No thanks.” Because it felt wrong. 

He fully pulls away from you, and runs a hand through his hair, a deep sigh leaving him. “Alright.”

You’re breathing faster now, surroundings feeling vague, like you’re in sweltering heat but the air only bites cold.

You stand up suddenly. “I…I want to go back.”

“Go back where?”

“To the hotel. To my room.” You pause. “I mean, by myself. Not with you. We can share a ride, though.”

He stands up too, hands reaching for you, gripping the straps of his camera still hung around your neck and he pulls it off to place it back into the case. You feel like you’ve lost favor with him somehow. “Okay. Sure.” 

“But not with you.” You felt the need to clarify again.

“I get it, Canon. It’s fine.”

—

“Maybe you just need to fuck him aggressively without mercy.”

“I beg your finest pardon?”

You’re sitting in a booth inside this streetside KFC with Mina sitting across the table, waving a fry around in the air, and with Nobara next to you as she tries to open a packet of ketchup with her teeth. The hangout the three of you have been hyping up all week, just to be sat in the same place you always go to. You were about to take a bite out of your sandwich, but you set it back down on your tray.

Mina points the fry at you and shrugs. “I’m saying. Maybe you’re having such a hard time getting over Gojo because you got so close to fucking him in that bathroom, but you didn’t, and now you’re in, like, this constant state of edging.” She bites down on the fry. “The clit knows what the heart doesn’t.”

“Your theories never fail to amaze me,” you mumble, sinking further into the booth. 

“Perhaps it’ll take the edge off.” Mina sucks through the straw of her Diet coke. Nobara finally succeeds in opening her packet of ketchup.

“I doubt it. Besides, I technically already gave him an invitation to,” you say, fingers rubbing at your eye with a swipe as you wince from the memory, “and he rejected me, so, still swimming in the self hatred from that one.”

Mina hums. “There’s no way he’s not foaming at the mouth for it, y/n. Men never let a meal they were craving go unfinished,” she states, dramatically stabbing a chicken nugget with a fork.

“What kind of pigs do you guys associate yourselves with?” Nobara asks. She’s a lesbian, by the way.

“I raise another question. Why are we talking about this in a public restaurant?” you offer.

“Listen, babes,” Mina continues, like your words fall on deaf ears because she’s got some point to make, “it’ll either poof. Make your feelings go away like the drop of a hat because you find out he’s a bad lay. Or it’ll be so good that you realize you’re never getting over him and you’ll be thinking of his dick instead of your husband’s on your wedding night.”

“We’re. In. A. Public. Restaurant.”

Mina steals a biscuit from your tray. “If it ends up being the first outcome, then the whole thing was my idea. If it’s the second…then just know that Nobara has steered you wrong.”

“Why the hell do you have to drag me into this?” Nobara asks.

You’re about to take a bite from your sandwich again when you’re interrupted by the buzzing of your phone in your purse. You pull it out and glance at the caller ID, then let out a sigh.

“Sorry, I have to take this,” you mumble, slipping out of the booth and towards the restaurant’s exit, pushing the tense door open with a gust of fresh air brushed through you.

“Hello?” It’s the car repair man. “Really? I thought you said it was fixed.” Apparently something else came up. “Okay…how much longer will it be in repair?” Much longer than you had thought. “And how much will it cost?” Much more expensive than you had thought. “I don’t know what to say. I mean, really, I feel as though every time I’m on the line with you all, I have to wait longer to get my car back, and the bill just racks up higher.” They’re trying their best. “I know. Is it necessary to fix in order to drive, though?” State laws require it. “Okay…thanks for the update.” And then you hang up without another word, and with all the frustration in the world.

You head back inside and grumble about your car woes to Mina and Nobara, who try their best to respond with interest.

“Why can’t your insurance cover it?” Mina asks.

“Apparently they can’t claim it’s because of those rocks I drove over,” you sigh, “since it looks like it’s been a problem for longer than that.”

“Can you afford it?” Nobara asks.

“Not really,” you say. “I’ll just have to postpone having my car for a bit.”

You sigh with a glance out the window of this fine dining establishment, into the blue skies just beyond, head drowning out the voices of Mina and Nobara as they continue to grill you about all sorts of questions that you don’t have the energy to answer right now. You had another student loan payment to make once you got home today, and just the thought of it makes your heart drop a little. And you realize you just can’t afford to be picky about your financial situation anymore.

—

“Thanks for helping me out with this,” you say, footsteps over familiar grassy hills as you head towards the UTokyo’s practice field, your digital Canon EOS hanging from your neck. 

“Sure,” Kai says as he keeps pace next to you, “why the sudden mission, though?”

You’re gazing off straight ahead, a nervous pit in your stomach since it’s been a while since you’ve walked across this landscape towards the field. 

“I just feel like I need to diversify my income somehow,” you sigh, the buzzwords leaving a bitter taste in your mouth as you say them but it was the reality of your situation, “to make ends meet. When you mentioned freelance work during our conversation last week, it made me think it’s time for me to pick that up too.”

Kai hums. “Yeah, it’s a good plan. I’ll try to show you what I know.”

Once you’ve made it to the top of that hill, the one that oversees the field, your eyes instantly scan the field for familiar silhouettes, and your breath catches in your throat when you spot Gojo passively kicking a ball back and forth between one of his teammates for warm-ups.

It’s the second time you’ve seen him since that argument the two of you had in the hotel lobby, the first being at the post-game conference in which you did everything in your power to swiftly avoid him, and you plan on keeping that up. There’s also an urge to run away, but you’re starting to realize that’s not much of an option anymore.

“Honestly, you don’t really need to worry too much about shutter speed with freelance like you do for shooting sports,” Kai is mumbling next to you as he messes with the settings on his camera, the two of you making your way down the hill towards the field, and you’re not really listening because your eyes are on Gojo, who’s yelling something across the field to his teammates with a look of concentration on his face.

“Uh huh, I see,” you say. You see Kai glance at you in his periphery.

“You again!” you hear a familiar harsh voice call out, and you turn on your heel to face Coach Yaga who’s standing a few feet away in his custom UTokyo tracksuit with his arms crossed against his chest. “Why are you on my field?”

You hold your breath for a second. “Hi, Coach Yaga, so sorry, but I’m just here to take some more photos.”

He lets out one of his hmphs, unrelenting. “You’re a distraction. Get off my field.”

“D-Distraction?”

“Coach!” Suddenly, Geto’s in your line of sight as he emerges with a light jog up to your side. “You should really be nicer to our photographers, they give us a lot of publicity for our games. And publicity means funding.”

Coach Yaga narrows his eyes. “I need all my players focused right now. Even during practice.” He gives you a disapproving glance and you’re still confused, but also weirdly angered.

“Excuse me, Coach Yaga, but last time I checked, this field is technically open for all students. And I’m a student,” you say to him, crossing your arms across your chest now. “So, I can be here if I want.”

You have no idea if that’s true at all, but sometimes you’ve just gotta fake it ‘til you make it.

Coach Yaga grumbles something and then waves his hands in the air. “Fine! I’ve no bandwidth to argue about this anymore! Just don’t distract my players.”

You’re shocked that it worked, and Geto nudges you with an elbow to correct your expression so that Coach Yaga doesn’t catch on to the bullshit you just spewed. 

“Are you here to take some photos?” Geto asks, facing you. He’s got his hands on his hips, breathing slightly fast, some of his hair falling onto his forehead. 

“Yeah, I am, just for practice though. I’m here with—” you glance at Kai, who’s standing with his fists shoved into his pockets, “Kai. He’s also with the newsletter.”

There’s a moment where Geto studies the two of you for a second before speaking. “I know,” he says, extending his hand out for Kai to shake, which he does, “I think I’ve seen you around. Not sure if we’ve formally met, but it’s nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, likewise.” Kai’s hand is then shoved back into his pocket.

You feel awkward suddenly, and then quickly say something to Geto about how he should probably get back to practice, which he agrees to, and then you’re standing at the chalk sideline with Kai as he shows you the ins and outs about digital photography.

“Have you tried shooting in burst mode?” he asks, switching the feature on your camera and then handing it back to you. You sling the strap around your neck.

“Hm…” you start, pointing your camera across the expanse of the field to multiple areas. The trees off into the distance, the goal posts, Coach Yaga’s yapping Pomeranian. “Not really…” The grass beneath your feet, the sky above your head, and then blurrily focused before settling on Gojo who stood in the distance straight ahead.

You see through your viewfinder that he’s caught sight of you too, a look of surprise on his face seen only by the level of zoom, and you glance up from the screen to make eye contact with him in reality. He’s fully staring at you, and you can barely see the way his expression relaxes from that one of athletic concentration to something wistful and strange that you’ve had a hard time reading lately.

“Canon? Are you even listening?”

“Huh?” you snap out of it and look at Kai. “Sorry. Could you repeat that?” You quickly glance toward Gojo again, and his line of sight points towards Kai now.

“I was asking if you’ve tried panning before,” he says, reaching for your camera, pulling it towards him, but the strap around your neck means you’re pulled closer to him too. 

“Satoru!” Coach Yaga yells in the distance. “Eyes on the ball!” 

“Just got to set your camera to manual mode first,” Kai mutters, confusion in his voice. “Where the fuck is it?” He’s turning your camera in his hands, which only has you stumbling with another small step towards him, your chest pressed flush to his arm, and he looks down at you for a brief second with a smirk on his face.

You hear the sound of a ball being kicked on the field, followed by the shout of one of the players.

“Ah, here, found it,” Kai says, handing your camera back to you, and just as you’re about to say thanks and you hold your camera up, you’re hit straight in the face by a flying object and fall backwards onto the grass with a painful thud.

What the fuck?

Where are you?

Who are you?

Okay, that’s dramatic, it wasn’t that bad.

There’s shouting in the distance as you hold your head with a groan, eyes shut tight with images of your life flashing behind your eyelids, and when you open your eyes again from where you’re sat up on the grass, you’re surrounded by soccer players.

Gojo’s suddenly in your line of sight, knelt down beside you and he’s holding your shoulders, trying to get you to look at him but you’re still blinking away the stars you’re seeing. “Fuck, y/n, are you okay?” he asks, and you register the concern on his face.

“Dude,” one of his teammates kicks the heel of his cleat, “where the fuck were you looking? It was clear as day I was tryna pass to you.”

Gojo grumbles something to him, his brow furrowed, and he’s lowering his head to try to make eye-level contact with you but you’re still holding your head with a wince.

“Oh shit,” Kai comments, “she’s bleeding.”

You pull your hand from your face to glance down at the wetness that you feel, and bright red color stains the tips of your fingers.

The next thing you register is Gojo picking you up off the hard grassy ground into his arms, and starts carrying you away down the field.

“W-What the hell are you doing?” you ask, his pacing across the grass is fast and you have to wrap your arms around his neck to keep from getting dizzy.

“I’m taking you to the hospital,” he says, voice strained in his throat, and you’ve never seen him look so worried before. 

“The hospital?! Please don’t, I don’t have health insurance right now.” His face is so close and you’re distracted from the pain of your headache.

“You’re bleeding on the face, I’m taking you whether you like it or not,” he grumbles.

You dig your nails into his shoulder through the nylon of his shirt, and he hisses from the pain before stopping in his tracks. “I don’t need to go to the hospital, Satoru, I just need a fucking bandaid.”

“You could have a concussion.”

“A concussion?!” You kick your feet for him to let you down but his grip on you only tightens. “You’re being ridiculous. Let me go, or I’ll bite you.”

He scoffs at that and continues walking forward. “You’re gonna bite me? That’s the most threatening thing you could come up with?”

“I’m being so dead serious, Gojo Satoru. No hospital.”

He grumbles something under his breath at your use of his full government name, and then says “fine” but he’s still walking down the grass until his cleats begin to tap on concrete, and then on what sounds like tile as he carries you into a building a few yards from the field.

He seats you on a cold counter, your hand gripping the faucet of a sink, and you finally take a comprehensive look at your surroundings. light blue, faint scent of chlorine in the air

“Is this…a locker room? The men's locker room?”

He sighs, bending his knees a bit to look at your face closely. You flinch when his hand reaches out, and he pauses, but you relax slightly and then he rubs his thumb over your cheek. You feel the smear of a droplet of blood. “Yes. I need running water.” He turns the faucet of the sink on to run his thumb under.

“For what?” you ask. His thumb is running over your cheek again.

“To take care of this cut.” He disappears behind a tile wall for a moment. You can hear metal clanking, probably of a locker opening and closing, and he re-emerges with a first-aid kit.

You slide your butt across the counter to the edge, about to hop off and make a run for it when he grabs your hips and puts you back into place. “Don’t even think about it,” he grumbles. He leans forward, grips you strongly, and you see that he’s still breathing heavily from practice, strands of hair stuck to his forehead with sweat, and you can practically taste the salt on his neck. 

You press your shin to the front of his thigh, desperate to put some space between the two of you. “I don’t wanna be in here. Men are scary.”

“Well I can’t take you into the women’s locker room,” he says, ripping the packet of an antiseptic wipe open with his teeth, “I’d get registered as a sex offender.”

You attempt at an escape again, and he’s quick to get his hands on you to stop it.

“Quit manhandling me, or I’ll scream,” you threaten through gritted teeth, because you’re still mad at him. For everything.

“Go ahead,” he says, using his knee to spread your legs apart, then finds a place to stand between your thighs to get closer to you. “I’ve got a lot of ways I could shut you up.”

You blink at him, breath catching in your throat, and the expression on his face tells you he’s not interested in dealing with your stubbornness anymore.

“Just hold still,” he grumbles, placing the packet down on your thigh and then stepping off to the side to wash his hands under the sink.

“What exactly happened?” you ask, watching him dry his hands off with a few paper towels. One moment, Kai was trying to explain good digital photography to you, and the next you were dizzy from being knocked back onto the ground.

“You got hit by a soccer ball.”

“I know, but how?” You remember your camera hit your face from the impact too, and now you’re worried about it.

“I…wasn’t paying attention when my teammate passed it,” he admits with a sigh, finding his place in front of you again, the knuckles of his clean hand brushing across your cheek, caressing. Your expression softens slightly. He uses a hand spread across the small of your back to push you forward to him, then he gently passes the wipe over your wound.

“Oh okay so, you failed to protect me from a flying soccer ball.” 

He pulls his hand from you to read the lettering on the back of the packet. “I’m patching you up now, aren’t I?” he says, annoyed. “…oh fuck, I was supposed to go in with water first.”

“So glad to be in such good hands right now.” 

He gives you a pointed look, but you ignore it and turn your torso to see your reflection in the mirror for the first time. You had a small wound on your cheek, right over the bone, with some bleeding and it’s wider than it is deep. But when you look at Gojo again, who’s putting some ointment onto a Q-tip now, the look of guilt and worry on his face makes you feel satisfied for some reason, and you wanted to make it worse.

“Does it hurt?” he asks, brow furrowed, applying the cold gel to your cheek.

“Mhm. A lot.” Not really, no.

“Fuck. I’m sorry,” he sighs, head dipping towards you slightly to get a better look, “can you feel this?”

“Ahh, yeah. Ouch. So much.” Barely.

His other hand is placed flat on the counter next to where you’re sitting, and you allow it when his thumb starts to run soothing circles over your hip.

“Hmm…” you start, wide eyes looking up at him as he seems to lean closer and closer to you with every word that leaves your lips, “I really wonder if it’ll leave a scar.”

He looks tortured. His hand that was maneuvering the Q-tip in his hands drops to the counter now, and he brings his other one to your face, cupping your cheek. His eyes dart from the wound, thumb pressing at the plush of your cheek, and this time, it hurts a little so you wince. His expression is tense, some sort of inner turmoil you could read across his forehead, and then his jaw hardens.

“Who was that guy you were talking to earlier?”

You blink a few, then tilt your head slightly. You feel like you’re on a game show, where there’s four options and only one right answer. New boytoy, gay best friend, fuck buddy, or— “He’s my coworker.”

“That’s it?”

“Mhm.”

“Has he tried anything funny with you?” 

You almost roll your eyes. “No, dad, he hasn’t.”

“Woah. Say that again but make it daddy.”

“Hey just a quick question for you. Where do you get the audacity?”

His bent index finger finds a place under your chin, tilting your head up so you’re forced to look at him. “It’s your fault, really. I can’t help it sometimes,” he says, voice lower now. You’re squirming a little, wanting to push him away but his lips get close to your cheek, brushing near your wound, like he wants to make it all better somehow. “I really am sorry,” he whispers, near your ear. There’s a whimper you have to stifle in your throat. He pulls aways just enough to where he can look into your eyes. “A cut…” he starts, thumb now passing over your bottom lip, “on your pretty face.” He sighs. You shouldn’t, but when he prods, you tuck his thumb under your front teeth and your tongue presses slightly against the padded skin of it. He looks like he’s being driven to insanity, and his other hand has no shame at all in pulling you towards him, to seat you at the edge of the counter, and you miss the texture of his thumb on your tongue when he pulls it from your mouth. But it’s so he can dip his head down to kiss you instead.

Of course the sensation of his lips on yours only lasts for a second, because the universe really fucking hates (or loves?) you, so the loud clanking of a metal water bottle against tile interrupts with harsh reverberation throughout the locker room walls, and he pulls away from you when you jump at the sound.

You both turn your heads towards the origin, located at the curved end of the entryway hall, and one of Gojo’s teammates is standing there with his duffle bag slung around his neck and hanging heavily to his thigh, his water bottle clutched in his hand. He blinks at the two of you.

Oh. It’s the one you kissed at that party a few weeks ago.

“What—…Why is there a—” his teammate starts, panicked, turning his head to double check the sign on the locker room wall as if he’s hallucinating, and when his eyes land on you again, they widen with recognition. His gaze shifts, and his chin tips down at the sight of Gojo’s irritated side eye from where he was still all up in your personal space. “…you know what. Nevermind.”

His teammate’s eyes are on you again, and you give him a shy little wave, just a fluttering of your fingers in the air paired with a small smile, legs swinging back and forth under the counter. He lets out an amused scoff from the entryway, lifting his hand to return the gesture, some cheeky grin on his face as he then scratches the back of his head before turning on his heel to leave the locker room, out of sight. You let out a sigh, hand dropping to your lap, and you don’t need to look at Gojo to tell that he’s staring at you with disbelief.

“What the fuck was that—”

“You,” you interrupt him, finger jabbing at the center of his chest, “have seriously got a lot of fucking nerve,” you hop off the counter, “to not only allow a soccer ball to sock me in the face,” he’s taking a step back with every harsh jab of your finger, “but to also hold me hostage in a mens’ locker room,” his back is pressed up against cold tile wall now while he just looks down at you with wide eyes and something akin to fear, “and then, oh my god, the audacity to kiss me?”

“I—”

“I don’t wanna hear it!” you yell, which shuts him up. “You really are just a fucking player.”

He’s stiff, not wanting to catch a punishment from you right now.

“But it doesn’t matter,” you grumble, still drilling your finger into his ribcage with the intent to cause pain. You didn’t need to be this close, but his body is warm, probably due to the blood pumping from practice, and it feels nice to be pressed up against. “Because I don’t have feelings for you anymore, so just fucking get over yourself.” It was a lie if you’ve ever told one, but you wanted to believe it so much that it could come off as the truth.

His eyes narrow down at you, eyebrows flattening. “You don’t have feelings for me anymore?”

“No, I don’t.”

“I don’t believe you.”

You roll your eyes. “Why? Because you want me to keep suffering?”

He grabs your hips, then makes a motion that is evident of his desire to pull you flush to him, but he stops himself. There’s a moment where he just takes a few deep breaths and looks at you with a hardened expression, then a split second where his eyes fall to that little cut on your cheek, and every single feature of his face softens, and then he lets you go.

You take a small step back, breathing heavily of your own, and you feel the ghost sensation of his fingertips wrapped around your hips. It makes you feel dizzy, and your thoughts are a mess. 

He sighs. “Sorry. For the soccer ball, and this locker room. But I’m not really sorry for kissing you, and if that makes me a jerk, then so be it.”

Your heart is beating fast. “You are a jerk, Satoru,” you say. He doesn’t like you, he doesn’t want you. A mantra played over and over in your head that you’ve started to hear it at night. “A real fucking jerk.” And you leave him standing there in a way that feels like the hundredth time.

—

2:34pm kaito (work): yo

2:34pm kaito (work): i had my guy look at your camera

2:35pm kaito (work): it’s pretty fucked up

2:37pm you: :( oh okay isee. does he have an estimate for the fix? the lens is okay though right?

2:39pm kaito (work): yeah lens is fine, you should really count your blessings on that. 

2:40pm kaito (work): but nah, fix would be around the same as the cost of it, so you’re better off getting a new one

2:42pm you: i don’t have thousands of yen laying around unfortunately. my car bill has sucked me dry

2:44pm kaito (work): well let me check with him. maybe he can hook you up with a good deal on a used one

2:45pm kaito (work): i got a 50% off on one of my canon cameras i bought from him a few years back. maybe he’s still got some like that

2:46pm you: yes could you check with him please? thanks so much, really

2:48pm kaito (work): sure. although i think the guy that kicked the ball to your face should be paying for your camera replacement

2:51pm you: they were just practicing. it’s their field

2:56pm kaito (work): alright. btw, you free tonight?

You blink at your phone screen from where you were sprawled across your bed. Before you have a chance to type out a response, your phone lights up with a phone call from kaito (work). You accept the call.

“Oh, hi,” you say.

“Hey, are you free tonight?”

“Oh uhh, I was just about to check my schedule.” You shake your head at your inability to come up with an excuse on the spot.

“Okay,” he says on the other line. You hear the sounds of cars honking in the distance. “Well let me know. I just left my camera guy’s shop, and he was telling me about how one of his friends does visuals for a short-film director, and that the director is looking for an assistant.” Kai grumbles something about someone he walked past being rude. “I think the director’s agency is Verve Films, so.”

You sit up in bed, eyes wide at the mention of the name. “Oh, oh wow. That’s insane.”

“Yup,” he says, “anyways, apparently the director is busy as fuck, so he left the hiring process up to my camera guy’s friend. I told him I knew someone that might be interested. Are you?”

You take a deep breath in and out. “Yeah, I am. Most of my experience on my resume lines up with short-film, so I’d be able to—”

“Alright great,” he interrupts, “so we can hold the interview tonight.”

“We?” you ask.

“Well yeah, me, my camera guy, the hiring guy. Maybe go for drinks or something.”

Your brow furrows. “That hardly sounds like an interview.”

Kai sighs. “Well, it’s not an interview for a desk job or something. It’s more of like—well, like building connections. I know you know all about that, since Utahime got you the newsletter job.”

Well, yes. She put a word in for you, which helped get the interview, but you still went against qualified applicants. “I guess.”

“It’ll be like that. Most opportunities you’ll get if you still want to pursue filmmaking are going to be like that,” he tells you, “if it feels informal, it means you’re doing it right. You might not think so now because you’re still in school, where they practically serve opportunities to students on platters, but it’s going to be different in the real world.”

You lay your head back onto the pillow, feeling like you’re receiving a lecture you didn’t ask for, and your first instinct is to pretend that you know better than he does. But when you think about all the stress recently, all of the not knowing, and the unsure, you question if you should start leaning into the advice of the people around you, and start to accept this career path for what it’s known to be. Unruly, unconventional, and a lot of times, unfair. 

“I see. Well, can I think about it? Tonight is too soon, I’d need time to research the director, put a portfolio together, and also do some interview prep,” you say, pulling your phone from your ear to glance at the time.

“Well, tonight’s the only night that works since their team’s shooting abroad for the weekend and they leave tomorrow morning,” he says.

You purse your lips together.

“But also,” Kai says, “it’s the nice thing to do, y’know, since my camera guy is taking the time to look at your camera for free, you could at least help his friend out. By the way, he just texted me, he does have some used Canons available at discount.”

You close your eyes for a second, just trying to process this conversation right now. Kai was speaking too fast, hardly enough time for you to even think.

“So do you want to do the interview tonight?”

“Yes, sure. Okay. Just— just send me the details. I’ll be there,” you say.

“Alright cool, will do.” 

You say bye, and then he hangs up.

A few hours pass by, where you spend some time putting together a flash drive of a couple of your best short films you’ve worked on in the past with other directors, as well as a portfolio of some recently developed film photography. The last thing to do was grab your emergency stash of print outs of your resume, and then you stuff it all into a folder before glancing at the mirror to take in your reflection. It felt extremely weird to show up to a job interview in something as casual as what you were wearing right now, but Kai insisted to not wear anything business. But at least you opted for jeans that don’t have any DIY holes in them.

Your face is glued to the navigation on your phone screen the second you get out of the taxi, and you walk down the bustling nightlife streets of Tokyo to get to this bar that Kai sent you the address of. But just as you’re about to turn the corner to your destination down the bar strip, you bump into someone’s chest due to lack of paying any proper attention.

“Ah— I’m so sorry,” you say, your grip on your phone tightening when you realize it was about to get knocked out of your hand, and then you look up to see a familiar face.

“Oh!” Geto exclaims from where he’s standing right in front of you, “You’re everywhere, y/n. What are you doing here?”

You open your mouth to speak, hesitate for a second, and then continue. “I’m here to…get drinks with some of my friends.”

He gives you a smile. “That’s nice. I am too.” He points over his shoulder to behind him. “Nanami got into his MBA program earlier this week, so, Satoru, Choso and I are buying him a few rounds. Or possibly a million. The plan is to incapacitate him as punishment for giving up on playing in the national league with us.”

You humor him with a laugh. “That’s sweet. Or not? Well anyway, tell him I said congrats.” Your heart starts to beat a little faster, because from the direction Geto came from, it meant Gojo was likely just around the corner somewhere. “Where are you heading to now?”

“We’re bar hopping, and I think I forgot my phone at the last one we went to over there,” he says, pointing across the street. “So I’m going to go look for it.” 

“Oh alright,” you say. “Good luck with that. I’m going to go find my, uh, my friends.”

Geto tilts his head at you and had a slightly more serious expression on his face, glancing at the folder in your hands. “Thanks. And stay safe.” 

You nod at him and then walk past him to round the corner onto the street that had groups of people loitering in front of restaurants, bars and all sorts of establishments as they wait in the cold to get inside or be seated. You recognize the name on one of the signs hanging as the one Kai sent you in his message, and when you’re a few feet away from it, you spot Kai. He’s wearing his typical street photographer wear, with a red flannel over a gray shirt and pants that are possibly a size too big for him, but that’s likely the style he was going for. He’s standing with two other people.

“Hey,” you greet Kai first, who has a pleasant look on his expression before he greets you back and gestures to the two people he was with.

“Yo, this is Junichi, my camera guy,” he says. “Don’t bother shaking his hand, he’s a germaphobe. Gotta keep ‘em clean for the electronics.”

“Oh,” you say. Junichi is a big man, broad shoulders and thick muscles. His neck is almost as thick as his bicep, and he has no hair on his head. His arms are crossed. “It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for taking a look at my camera.”

He nods at you in acknowledgment. “Sure thing. Pretty Boy here says you want to buy one of my used Canons. I don’t refurbish them, so you’d better know how.”

Kai sighs, nudging Junichi a little with a fist. “Relax, dude, we can talk about that later. Also, stop calling me that.”

Your eyes flicker to the right, where another man stood, who you assume was Junichi’s friend and this Verve Films director’s visual effects specialist. He’s similar in stature to Kai, with that casual artist look, and he has a scuffle of facial hair littering his jaw in less of an intentional fashion but rather a five-o-clock shadow fashion. You vaguely register the scent of weed, familiar to the one that lingers in the photo lab on campus after class hours. He reaches his hand out to you first.

“Hi, I’m Ren. I work in visual effects for director Akira Ko at Verve.”

Your eyes widen as you shake his hand.  “That’s amazing. I’ve studied a lot of his contemporary works, I’d love to learn more about his process.”

Ren lets a fast exhale out through his nose. “Yeah, you’ll learn a lot under him.” He pauses to shove his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “Most of his assistants always do.”

“We’ve been waiting for too damn long,” Kai interjects before you could ask any questions about the assistant position, and he glances at his watch, “and there’s still a lot of people ahead of us.”

You glance around to the small groups of people gathered in front of this bar on a lively Friday night, eyes jumping from one area to the next, until a familiar silhouette catches your eye.

You see Gojo standing with Nanami and Choso a few strides away, near the lamppost. He’s mostly turned away from you, Nanami nudging his arm annoyed at something he said, and the sound of his laughter in the air makes your heart feel like it’s at stray. Like that was where you were supposed to be right now, not here.

You watch him from the distance as he sighs, shrugging his shoulders up and down slightly before crossing his arms when Choso gestures towards the entrance of the bar, and so he looks in that direction too. He’s frowning slightly and he brushes some of the hair fallen over his forehead away from his eyes, in that boyish way that makes your heart skip a beat, and you know he’s just doing it to see a little bit better, but it makes you want to cry. 

Geto walks up to them and rejoins their little circle, and holds his phone up in the air, and then there’s the melody of their voices bouncing off one another’s again. Geto rests his elbow up onto Gojo’s shoulder, leaning in a bit closer to tell him something, and when Gojo hears it, you see his entire body tense before his wide eyes are searching his surroundings, until those eyes land on you.

Your breath catches, and you hold his eye contact for only a moment before you look away, because it almost felt like too much to bear.

“What’s that folder in your hand?” Ren asks you, and you turn completely to face him so you can’t see Gojo in your periphery at all anymore.

“I just brought some of my work, for your—er, I guess Mr. Ko’s—reference if he’d like to see it after today’s…interview,” you say. “There’s a flashdrive, too.”

Ren has an amused look on his face and he shoves Kai’s shoulder with his palm. “Dude, you didn’t tell her?”

Kai shakes his head. “Tell her what?”

“Ohh, I see how it is,” Ren muses.

“What?” Kai asks, starting to sound annoyed.

Ren tips his chin up slightly to study Kai’s face, and then his look of amusement dissipates into one of understanding. “Nothing.”

“Tell me what?” you prod.

“Just that you didn’t really need to bring all of that with you,” he says. “Sorry for the trouble.”

You shake your head. “It’s fine, but if you could still give it to him—”

“I’m surprised Kai suggested someone when I asked if he knew anyone,” Junichi jumps in, “I’m used to him grumbling on and on about how shit the work is in filmmaking. Would’ve thought he’d convinced you to look the other way by now.”

You blink at the gruff man, then look at Kai, and he’s just staring down at the dirt of his shoes. “Well, we had a conversation about it. But I’m pretty set on what I want to do,” you say.

Kai lets out a scoff. “Yeah, I don’t really know how else to warn you about the shit show you’re in for, but if you want to be in debt to grad school for the next couple decades of your life, then it’s up to you.”

“Hey, jackass, try to be a bit nicer,” Ren speaks up. “She’s got some goals. Big fuckin’ deal.” He turns to you. “Although, he’s got a point sweetheart, school’s not going to get you anywhere in this industry.”

You frown. “A lot of directors I look up to went through graduate schooling. Most, I would say. I don’t understand where this rhetoric is coming from.”

“It’s coming from real people with real experience,” Ren says, and you dislike the way he takes a step closer to you to reiterate his point, “honestly, you should save yourself some time and give up on applying. It’s not worth it.”

“I’ve already put my application together,” you say, brow furrowing slightly, “I’ve asked professors for my references, spent the past four years working on my profile—” 

“But working under a director, I mean really getting to work under one, beats all of that. Which is why you’re here, right?” Ren asks, but it’s not curious, it’s testing.

You feel a sheen of sweat build at your forehead, even in this cold, and you clench your hand into a fist once, twice, thrice. You’re breathing fast, and the three sets of eyes that are staring so scrutinizingly into your soul right now have you faltering, like if they took another step forward, tried to intrude what you thought you knew one more time, you’d fall backwards over the cliff.

Suddenly, a hand wraps around your upper arm, and when you turn your head to the left, you see Gojo standing there.

“Hey,” he says to you, sparing one single sidewards glare towards Kai, who immediately averts the eye contact, before Gojo’s eyes are on you again, “can I talk to you for a second?”

You look at the three men in your circle, who suddenly adopt skittish body postures, and Gojo doesn’t really wait longer than a few seconds before he’s pulling you away from them over towards the edge of the curb towards the street.

“What?” you ask once he lets go of your arm.

“What are you doing here with those guys?” he asks.

“I’m—…why does it matter to you?” you ask.

“It matters to me because of the fucking absurd conversation I just overheard,” he says, “now answer me.”

His tone annoys you, and you cross your arms. “Are you eavesdropping?”

“I’m going to ask you one more time,” he says, taking a step forward to you, “who are those guys, and why are you here with them?”

You blink at him, furrowed brows relaxing slightly as you drop your crossed arms to your side, and you stare straight ahead at the blankness of the white t-shirt he’s wearing, as your mind runs blank to his question. Why were you here with them? Was it because you had no other plans? Was it because the opportunity sounded too good to be true, and you just had to see for yourself? Was it because you’ve been unable to sleep at night from all the stress, the financial worries, the rejection, and you just want to finally feel like you’ve done one good thing for yourself? To feel like you’re at least making one step in the right direction, no matter the cost?

“I’m here for a job interview,” you say to him. Your tone is flat, and you feel numb.

“A job interview?” he asks, with just about as much incredulity you would’ve expected to hear from him at that answer, “At a bar? How does that make any sense?”

“It…” you start, “sounded fine.”

“It sounds shady as fuck.”

“This doesn’t concern you, okay? I’m—…I’m just trying to make my goals work for me, Satoru, and I really don’t expect you to understand.”

“Why wouldn’t I understand?” he asks. There’s confusion in his voice, and maybe even a little bit of hurt.

“Because you can’t even understand how unfair and painful it is for me that you keep—” you have to purse your lips together briefly to fight back the knot in your throat, “…that you keep interfering with my life everywhere I go.”

His expression softens, and he silently stands in front of you for a moment. His eyes dart across your face, and then he reaches out to grab your hand. “Listen, if you still want to get drinks tonight, then just get drinks with us. But don’t hang out with those guys. They’re bad news, especially the dude with the flannel, and I don’t think you’re in a good place right now to see that.”

Your eyes see white fury at that, and you all but snap. Because the irony of this whole situation, is that you’re not in a good place right now because of him. Because of all the pain that he’s put you through, for promising to stay away but then always being near, for saying he doesn’t want you but then acting like he does. 

“You know what I think, Satoru?” you ask through gritted teeth, yanking your hand from his grasp.

He’s looking at you, studying. “What?”

You take a step forward, threateningly, and he takes a step back so that he steps off the curb and onto the road, and you’re at eye-level with him now. “I think that you’re jealous,” you say, eyes glaring daggers into his.

He blinks at you, almost dumbfounded for a moment before he says “what?”

“You’re just fucking jealous that I seem to be moving on after you rejected me, because for some weird reason, you think it’s okay to not want me, and yet not want me to be with anyone else,” you say, practically hissing the words. “You don’t like seeing me with any guys other than you? You don’t want to believe me when I say that I’m over you? You’re not sorry for kissing me? Even after knowing,” you take a pause to breathe, because you feel like you can’t, “even after knowing that I like you,” eyes blinking fast because you don’t want him to see you cry right now, “you know that I like you so fucking much, and that it’s hurtful, and that it’s wrong— and even after all of that, you act the same, and still won’t promise me any commitment of your own.”

He’s looking at you with an expression you can’t read, but you’ve lost all interest in trying to understand it anymore.

“You don’t want me hanging out with them?” you repeat after him, “I’m not listening to that. Because it’s possessive. And it’s wrong.”

At the mention of them, Gojo clenches his jaw. “That has nothing to do with you and me, right now. What they’re trying to convince you of doesn’t make any sense, and it won’t help you achieve your dreams either, y/n.”

“You don’t know anything about my dreams, Satoru,” you say, just to hurt him. But you think about the sincere expression on his face the first time you met him when you told him that you wanted his help with your assignment. You think about the playful nudge of his elbow that night he stayed with you on the curb, and told you that you just had to try to put yourself out there, because you couldn’t accomplish anything without facing your fears. You think about how he’s always the first to like every single one of the slideshows you post of your pictures on Instagram. You think about the adoration in his eyes, reflected off the moonlight through the hotel window, when you told him about a little cottage on the countryside, one you’ve always wanted, and those eyes told you that he was really rooting for you. “You don’t know. Because you—” there’s an echo of words in your head. Someone else’s words, not yours, “Because you’re a college athlete. And—” you let out an exhale, “and you don’t pay tuition.”

His brow furrows. There’s a beat of silence as his confusion settles in. “What?”

“You were born blessed with talent, and you’re popular, and people adore you, and you don’t have to worry about internships, or jumping from job to job just to make something of yourself,” you say, picturing your life in your head along with all the strife, “or about all of the sinking debt, and the worry, and the— and the car repair bills,” you say, almost with a scoff, eyes sheening with tears, like you’re losing your mind, “all of the fucking car repair bills.” Your chest is heaving as you shake your head. “Because you’re set for life as long as you kick a fucking ball.” 

His lips purse together, like he can tell there’s more on your tongue to say, more hurtful words, and he wants to hear you say them. And so you do.

“You’ve never had to suffer or worry about a single thing in your life. So don’t pretend like you understand what I’m trying to do here tonight,” you say, inflection signing off on the end, to tell him that you’re done. 

He stands in front of you, practically motionless except for the slow movement of his chest as he breathes. His expression, tense and hurt, softens slowly, and you see him digging his nails into the skin of his palms through fidgeting clenched fists at his sides. And then he relaxes them, too.

“Does that make you feel better?” he asks.

His question confuses you, and for some reason, regret washes over you. “What?”

“Does thinking of me that way—…does it make you feel better about all of this? Between us?”

You’re breathing fast, eyebrows pinching upwards to look at him, and the defeated expression on his face makes your heart ache. He’s waiting for an answer, and so you give him one. “Yes.”

He glances down at the ground for a moment, then at your collarbone, before meeting your gaze again. “I’m sorry. For everything. And I—” the words catch in his throat briefly, “I’ll try to leave you alone tonight.”

His use of the word try doesn’t escape you, but you give him a furtive nod, and he studies your face for a few moments before he steps back up onto the curb and walks past you. You watch him walk all the way, no longer with that confidence or conviction you’re so used to seeing in him, as he steps back into his circle, to Geto’s side. Geto gives a small glance over his shoulder to look at you with discerning eyes before looking at Gojo again, and then he’s turned away from you. 

Heavy feet drag you back to Kai, Ren, and Junichi, and you feel feverish. They mention something about the table being ready, and you nod. The bar is rustic, with more tables than barspace, and the four of you are seated and then presented with a small food menu. You’re seated next to Kai, Ren is right across from you, and Junichi is to his right. You watch a waitress usher Nanami, Choso, Geto and Gojo to one of the tables as well, two away from yours, and you forcefully blur your vision so you don’t have to catch sight of the expression on Gojo’s face.

“So,” Ren speaks up as his eyes peruse the food menu and Junichi waves the waitress over to order a round of sake, “tell me more about your experience, sweetheart.”

You blink at him, eyes feeling heavy, heart feeling heavy. “I’d prefer it if you called me by my name.”

Ren lets out a coo, and you briefly glance at Kai who’s shaking his head with a sigh. “My bad, y/n. Your experience?”

Your hands play with the folder sitting in your lap. “I started writing screenplays for small-scale directors when I was a freshman, and was greenlit on a couple into my sophomore year. One of the films I worked on, I had directing credits for, and it was nominated for best screenplay at Etoile Film Festival the year following.”

Ren swallows slightly, shifting in his chair and pushing his shoulders back, like he’s trying to establish himself now. Kai is clenching a fist on the surface of the table.

Ren clears his throat before speaking again. “Wow, okay, so you’ve actually got some serious shit going on.” His voice is a faux octave deeper. “What do you know about being a good assistant? Ever worked in customer service? Secretary?”

“Oh, I mean I have worked in customer service, but I wasn’t done sharing about my experience—” you try to say but Junichi cuts you off.

“First round’s on me,” he declares, “for bringing her out here.” He tips his chin to you and then sends Kai a glance.

A waitress brings by a bottle of sake, and Junichi begins pouring drinks into the glasses, then slides them across the table. Kai gives Ren a pointed look. 

“Don’t get too wasted,” Kai says to him as he brings his glass to his lips, “you start running that mouth of yours a little too much when you do.”

Ren grins at him and immediately knocks down the glass Junichi barely finished pouring from him in one go, and the gruff man beside him is grumbling. “Whatever you say.”

Something had been bothering you since you came here. “Wait,” you say, pointing between Kai and Ren, “do you two know each other already? Because,” you turn to look at Kai, “on the phone earlier, you sounded like you didn’t.”

Kai’s eyebrows raise in surprise, as though he’s discovered you have some skill for foresight. You glance at Ren, and he gives Kai a puzzled look.

“Uh, yeah. I’ve known Kai for years,” he says, “we go way back. We went to highschool together.”

Kai shifts a little in his chair. “Sorry. Probably forgot to mention it.”

You glance down at the glass of sake in front of you, and the way it twinkles under the lighting of the bar. You slowly bring it to your mouth, taking a small sip, and the way it coats your tongue is less than pleasing. 

“Can you tell me more about the assistant position?” you ask Ren, who’s emptied out the bottle of sake and waving someone over to order more. He already has a slightly flush to his face.

“Yeah, yeah, will do,” he says, “but first, let me tell you about what I do in visuals.”

Another round of sake is dropped by, and then another, followed by another, as Ren continues to ramble on and on about what he does for work, and how it’s entirely integral to the final piece of the film, although you’ve never really had a terrible level of appreciation for visual effects in short-film craft, since it’s hardly much work. But you wouldn’t say that, you just continue to nurse your one glass of sake as the three men surrounding you knock back more and more, and there’s slurs to their speeches now.

“Sooo, I’m so sorry, sweetheart—I mean y/n, for cuttin’ you off earlier,” he says, “but what was that experience you wanted to talk to me about?” Ren asks from across the table, and his eyes are all traveling over you.

“I…” you start, “well, I started to work with one of my professors last year, she’s a two-time Cannes Film Festival winner, and she let me under her wing for one of her projects last year.”

“Who is she? Oh wait, nevermind, probably wouldn’t have heard of her anyways,” Ren says, but when you fail to laugh, he waves his hand in the air. “Joking, joking. What’s her name?”

“Naoko. Naoko Ogigami.”

“Oh shit. I have heard of her,” Ren says, followed by a shallow hiccup. Junichi shrugs his shoulders, and when you look at Kai, he’s nodding slowly and toying with the rim of his glass with a finger.

“Yes. Well, anyways—” you start up again, before Kai sets his glass of sake down particularly loud.

“This is all bullshit. Really. I told you, filmmaking is a waste of time. Just focus on your photography, and your freelance or whatnot,” Kai says, grit to his jaw, face looking red with possibly something other than just a tipsiness. 

Ren lets out a laugh. “Fuckin’ Kai. What a pessimist. Don’t listen to him, sweetheart,” he says, slurred, and you furrow your brow at him with a glare, “sorry. Don’t listen to him. Trust me, you’ll learn a lot under Mr. Ko. He’s a suuuper nice guy.”

“What’s the compensation?” you ask. It’s a brazen question, one you’d never ask so soon in a formal interview process, but this table was hardly anything formal.

“Real good. Mmm I think like…5200 yen an hour, and then also, you get your foot in the door.”

“Oh,” you sit up a little in your chair. It was higher than most entry-level anything for undergraduates or even new grads. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he drawls when he sees you’re more interested. “Good stuff. Kai used to pick these kinds of jobs up, too, back in his college days. I remember. Although, he’s hardly Mr. Ko’s type, so I doubt he’d be any good for this one.”

Your head snaps to Ren again at his words, face tensing. 

“Tell her about what a job like this—hic—entails,” Ren says as he extends his glass out for Junichi to pour him another.

Kai glances at Ren once, and you watch him grind his teeth for a moment, and then there’s a hint of a smirk on his face.

“Oh. Y’know, clerical work. Stuff like printing scripts out,” Kai starts, Junichi filling up his glass and then he raises it into the air to watch the liquid swish around, “grabbing him coffee. Making sure his trailer is stocked.”

“Blowing him in said trailer,” Ren says. It’s something quiet, under his breath with a small laugh, where you could barely hear it across the table. But you heard it nonetheless. And your heart sinks to the core of the earth.

“Excuse me?” you say. The benefit of doubt sitting on your shoulder, watching in disbelief as well.

“He’s joking,” Kai says, quickly, “runnin’ his mouth.”

“Oh fuck off, Kai,” Ren says, throwing his hands up in the air, “don’t act like that’s not why you brought her here.”

Your head slowly turns to Kai, who can’t meet your gaze. Your eyes flicker to Junichi, who looks amused. 

Ren leans over the table, elbows resting on top, to look you straight in the eyes. He’s got a sleazy smile, and you can smell the alcohol on his breath, and he dips his tone down low enough to where you can hardly hear it over the sounds surrounding you in the bar. “That’s how you’ll make it in this industry, sweetheart. Whether you like it or not, you’ll be working under those directors until you make it.”

You stand up so fast that your chair falls behind you, hand raised in the air, and you swiftly slap the man across from you so hard across the cheek that it leaves his skin even more red than the flush from before, and your palm is stinging. 

There’s gasps all around the bar, hushed voices, eyes on you, but you don’t care. There’s not a single thing in the world you care more about right now than the anger swelled in your chest.

Ren holds his cheek, surprised, blinking like a pathetic animal. He almost looks like he’s about to cry, and you let out a scoff at the sight.

You turn to face Kai, whose eyes are wide and he’s staring up at you. Your fists are clenched at your side.

“Is this why you brought me here tonight?” you ask. Your voice is trembling, anxiety at the wake, the white anger spotting your vision. But there’s also pain. So much pain, and you’re just so fed up with all of it. “Because your belittling, condescending words weren’t enough to tear my hopes apart, so you had to humiliate me in front of your friends instead?”

Kai holds his hand up. “Woah, Canon, relax. He was just joking—…” Kai glances at Ren, who’s still holding his cheek and biting down on his lip, and then his gaze hardens. “Y’know what? It’s about fucking time you get this wake-up call, y/n. I’ve been trying to do the nice thing to steer you in the right direction, and the least you could—”

“Steer me in the right fucking direction?!” you’re yelling now, registering the way your voice echoes in the bar. “You know what I think this is all about, Kai?” You grit your teeth, “You’re a sick, stupid, sexist fuck who didn’t have the balls to go after what he wanted. So miserably pathetic that you’ve got no other fucking business than to pull people down to your level.”

Kai pinches his eyebrows together, hand on the table clenching into a fist. 

You lean down closer, an exasperated scoff leaving your lips. “Why don’t you go be his assistant instead? Since I’m sure you’re good at taking it up the ass.”

Kai’s eyes twitch, “you fucking—”

You grab his glass off the table and throw the alcohol into his face, eliciting another round of noises around the bar, and his mouth falls agape in shock before he gets up out of his chair, hand reaching out to grab for you. You close your eyes shut with a flinch to expect pain. Any sort of pain. But you don’t feel anything at all.

When you open your eyes, you see Gojo standing to your left, veins of his arm tense with the tight grip he has on Kai’s forearm, and you can see he’s practically shaking with rage. He steps in front of you, guarding, and you can’t see the expression on his face, but the fear in Kai’s eyes is enough to say it all.

“That’s enough,” he says, the clench of his jaw evident through the strain in his voice, “try to put your hands on her again, and I’ll split your fucking face in half.”

You can see Kai’s breathing pick up from where you’re peering over Gojo’s shoulder, and then Gojo shoves him backwards right as Choso kicks the fallen chair to his feet so he trips over it backwards then hits the ground with a loud and indignant thud.

Gojo’s hovering over Kai, his hands shoved in his pockets as he glares down at him, while Geto and Nanami put space between you and the other two men at your table. You feel a searing flush to your cheeks. You’re breathing fast, the peering eyes all around you are scrutinizing, looking at you with surprise, confusion, shock, and pity. Your mind is racing, and you wonder what your parents would think of all this. What your friends would think of all of this. What the people who support you would think of the fucked up situation you’ve found yourself in, and the humiliation courses so deep through your veins that you just want to run away and hide. The ground could swallow you whole right now, and it still wouldn’t be enough.

You take one step back, then another, before you turn on your heel to rush out the door into the night, and you barely register that it’s raining. You can feel your heart thumping fast in your chest and in your head, that familiar knot in your throat twisting tight as you walk fast down the street and ignore Gojo’s call of your name from behind you.

You don’t want to see anyone right now. You don’t want to be seen by anyone right now. Especially Gojo, of all people, because he was right about everything, and the fact that you had shut him down about it, and the way that you had shut him down about it makes your head numb and your breathing pick up fast.

“y/n,” you hear him call out from behind you, his pace is getting faster and so you’re resorting to longer strides as well, puddles of water splashing under your feet with every step, “just wait—”

“I’m seriously,” you start, and the tears begin to fall, “I’m seriously so, so, so, so, so fucking embarassed right now,” you gasp out the words with no air left in your lungs to breathe as you continue to run away from him, “so please, just leave me alone.”

You can picture it all in your head. Something like I told you so from his lips, because after what you’ve been put through tonight, you just want to assume the worst in people.

But just as you round the corner into an alley, feeling lost with the sight of a dead end, you feel a hand wrap around your arm and then you’re being pulled into an embrace.

Your eyes are blinking with tears streaming, your face buried in a chest that is warm, with a heart beating so fast that it’s keeping time with your own, and the fragrance that surrounds you is so painfully him that it makes you sob even more.

Strong arms wrap around you, pulling you closer, and Gojo rests his chin at the top of your head. “I’m sorry,” he says softly, and you can feel the rumble of his voice, “I just needed to stop you from running.”

Your arms are weakly raised, an outline over his torso but not yet grabbing on, until you hesitantly do. And when you hold onto him, it’s so tight and strong, and you realize that after everything between the two of you, it’s the first time you’ve been wrapped in his arms.

“I feel so stupid,” you start, already hating the words because you want to be stronger right now, but you can’t.

“You’re not stupid,” he quickly corrects you, “those guys are fucking insecure losers. You’re just trying your best. You always have, for as long as I’ve known you, and it’s something you should be proud of yourself for.”

You don’t know what to say to him, you just cling to the damp fabric of his shirt in the rain.  

“Things are going to work out for you, no matter what, because I know you’ve got what it takes and you’re willing to work hard for it,” he says, his chin nuzzling so you’re tucked into him even further, “and if things don’t work out, that’s okay, you’re strong and you’ll always get back up. And I want to be there to help you through everything.”

You pull your face from his chest to stare up at him, droplets of rain falling to your face and making you flinch occasionally. “I’m confused.”

His hand comes up to cup your face, swiping at a tear on your cheek, or maybe it was rain. “I thought that—” he starts, his thumb briefly running over the small cut still healing on your cheek, his brow furrowing, “I thought that I’d be okay with watching your life from afar, through cropped pictures on a screen,” he says, a chill running through you, “but I can’t. It’s killing me. And I’m really sorry that it took me this long to tell you this, but I like you so much and I really want to be with you.”

Your eyes widen at his words, and you don’t know how to feel. You push your face into his chest again. His thumb runs circles at your side through the dampness of your shirt.

“There are a lot of reasons I didn’t feel like I could date you, or show up for you,” he says, “but the pain of not getting to be with you, of not getting to hold you, and just share my life with you is way worse than whatever reasons I kept trying to convince myself of.”

You nod slowly, because there was a part of you deep inside that knew that all along. 

His grip on you relaxes slightly and you take that as a request from him for you to look up at him, so you do. “I know I’ve put you through a lot of pain, and I’m really not a perfect person, but if there’s room in your heart to forgive me, I promise you that I’ll do everything I can to make you feel happy and cared for.”

Your eyes study his face for sincerity. They’re words you’ve been wanting to hear, words you could’ve pictured in your head, but the adoration in his eyes makes you realize you never could’ve imagined the true sweetness of those words when they’re said from him.

You press your cheek to his chest again. You’re not crying anymore. “I’m sorry for what I said to you earlier. About kicking a soccer ball, and having it easy,” you bite down on your lip, because now there’s tears in your eyes again, “I didn’t mean it.” You sniffle a little, “I know you work hard. And it was a really mean thing to say.”

He sighs, holding you flush to himself. His cheek presses against the top of your head. “That’s okay, you don’t have to apologize for that.”

“But I do.”

There was no grudge at all. There was nothing withdrawn from you, nothing taken away as punishment. He just held onto you, exactly as you are, and you felt so safe in every second you spent in his arms.

You look up at him again. His hair is damp, strands clinging to his face in all the places they usually fall over, droplets of rain falling from his fringe onto your face and he does everything he can to wipe them away. “It’s too late,” you tell him, and he immediately knows what you’re referring to.

He just holds you closer. “I know.”

“I don’t have feelings for you anymore,” you say through a sniffle.

He knows you’re lying, and that you say it just out of spite, but he holds your head to his chest. “I know.”

“You’ll have to beg and grovel, and even then, I might not like you ever again,” you say, gripping so tightly onto his shirt for purchase, your voice sounding muffled as you breathe in the scent of him. “That’s your punishment.”

He presses a kiss to the top of your head. A firm press of his lips, lasting as he takes a few deep breaths. And then he kisses the same spot again, staying still in that position as he repeats himself.

“I know.”

--

a/n. phewww thank you for reading, i swear, this chapter felt like a goddamn war to write. my emotions were all over the damn place, i think cause i wrote from a place of bitter experience lol. i dedicate this chap to my lovely friend she’s a film major (she inspired me to create this story) and i srs wouldn’t be able to write kickoff without her 😭💕 dear M♥︎, i thought of you sm while writing this chapter, i can only hope i’ve captured even the slightest bit of the understanding i will always aim to have of you, and that you feel seen. i’m incredibly proud of you, always rooting for you, so often thinking of you, and terribly missing you so much rn (plsssssss visit meee😩💔 ) dedicated w sm love 💕 -bitchasshoe this chapter is also dedicated to anyone who’s going through a hard times n maybe just trying to figure themselves out :”) i am so proud of you, you should be so proud of yourself, there’s still so much to live and learn, and i hope the universe blesses you w everything you’ve ever wanted!! big thank u to my lovely m00t @quinnyundertow she pulled me out of my writers block for this chapter and also beta read a lot of it for me there’s only three chapters left for kickoff (i’m gonna cry just thinking ab it :”)) which doesnt sound like a lot but there’s still a lot i’ve got planned 😭 i’m just noticing that i very poorly planned the second half of this series. chapters 1-6 combined have less words than chapters 7-9 combined 😅✨ sooooo i may increase the chapters from 12 to 14 by splitting them up to make it easier on me, or just stick to the plan and come out with long chapters like the last two. idk. i’ll figure it out. thank u to everyone for reading i love you all dearly 😭💕 i’ll see you in the next one!!

➸ take me to chapter ten!

➸ wrote some kickoff headcanons here

--

taglist: @who-can-touch-my-boob @therealestpussyeater @lost-resonance @hojoslutoru @foulprincesscycle @luniunia @alekssashka7 @bsdicinindirdim @tsukikourito @getitsatoru @slut-4-gojo @cactisjuice @kissofife @tiredflame132 @cliosunshine @ethereally-lyann @btszn @prince-wyiilder @semra4 @gojosimp26 @drthymby @ninitoru @bbyxxm @fvsm4x @sadmonke @zoinks1010 @bakuhoethotski @horisdope @sykostyles @aquaberrydolphin @colouringfrogssittinginleaves @ri-sa20 @purplehallow11 @mwtsxri @ritsatoru @bxddiebloss @chwesuh-imnida @mo0nforme @viware @still-fking-single @megumisthirdog @gintokhi @karvokr @cierocanteat @imjustaweirdnerd @ronniebird @bloopsstuff @mwtsxri @witchbybirth @tetsuski @fffinskye @gh0ulkz @beabadobeee @mandysfanfics @erencvlt @laviefantasie @sukunamylovexoxo @girlkissersco @itzjuliana @yell0wdreams @1dimas7 @strayedjeno @mo0nforme @yungbloode @sullybrothersmate @oaooaoaoaoa @swagangelllamawolf @banenemilk @inniesblog

(hope i didn't miss anyone thank u all sm!!)

[pinkroseblooms]

i just started Bucchigiri and love your stuff!!! 😭 Can you do one for Matakara having a crush on a new transfer girl? She wears the boys uniform and a hoodie over her head so she doesn't get attention. He only finds out cuz she helped treat his wounds after a fight once and it's been their secret ever since

Thank you so much! Hope you like this!

Just Between Us

Matakara/afab!Reader

Summary: Matakara takes it upon himself to befriend the new introverted transfer student and develops a crush, unaware they're both keeping secrets from the other. wc: 2.2k a/n: no warnings, mostly just fluff and a few swear words. reader is afab but I personally written them as being gender fluid. I also headcanon Matakara as bi disaster. Enjoy!

You yawn, barely paying attention as your teacher goes on about something to do with…history? English? Biology? At this point you don’t bother keeping track; no one else does. Usually everyone in your homeroom is openly hooting and hollering over the lecture; on good days, most of the other students are zoned out or passing notes, not even attempting to be sneaky about it.

Speaking of, a folded up card gets flicked on your desk; you look, puzzled at it, and back to your seatmate. On your right is Matakara Asamine, smiling patiently and pointing to the paper.

You roll your eyes but smile back; he has your number, the two of you could easily have a whole conversation over text if you wished to. Still, you open the little piece of paper and read what Matakara scribbled: he’s asking if you want to see a movie after school. You stifle a chuckle and write back an affirmative, deliberately sliding your hand over the surface of his desk; after he reads your answer, Matakara pumps his fist silently in a display of excitement. Your profile is obscured with your hood up and your head turned, so you hope he doesn’t see how wide you’re grinning. 

It’s only been a few months since you transferred to Ichizu and you’re grateful to have made a few decent friends; with the district's reputation, you hadn’t expected to do much in the way of socializing. You weren't particularly street smart or experienced in self defense even: you were one of the few students who fell into the “harmless wallflower” category. There were a handful of kids at school who were like you; they just sort of walked around, didn’t speak much, and were largely ignored by the majority of the school populace as too weak and plain to bother with. 

The Minato Kai and Siguma members mostly kept to themselves, interested in their own rivalry and their own personal circles of friends and acquaintances. Normies like you were mildly entertaining to mess with, and while you did get some teasing and the occasional shove in the hallway, you had sufficiently flown under the radar.

At least, until Matakara Asamine decided he wanted to make you his friend. From the beginning you were surprised, but not especially wary. The general opinion of Matakara was that he was strong and had integrity, two traits that Minato Kai prized; his revered older brother would surely be proud, who you had also heard good things about. With all that in mind, you didn’t hesitate too much when Matakara and his friends asked you to sit with them to eat or tag along to the batting cages. Frankly, you let everyone else do most of the talking; it was fun though. You genuinely enjoyed the company and Matakara shot down any attempts to get you to pledge with their gang. 

“What are we going to see later?” You ask as you take a seat next to Zabu, handing him the manga he had lent you a week prior. “Sorry it took so long, I lost it in the pile.”

“Eh, you can keep that if you want.” Zabu scrunches his nose at the volume, sliding it back towards you. “I’m not into that sappy shit.”

“Huh?” You raise an eyebrow. “Why’d ya buy it?”

“I heard it was supposed to be good, but it was cliche as hell.” Zabu shrugs, jabbing his elbow into Sakegaki’s side; said boy had been reaching his chopsticks into Zabu’s bento to nab a piece of grilled meat. “What movie? Are we going to see a movie?”

“Um-”

“Hey guys!” 

Matakara almost startles you with how loudly his voice booms; he plops down onto the bench next to you. “Sorry, the bread line was crazy today.”

“Figures, it’s half off day. What’d you get?” Zabu asks curiously.

“Yakisoba, here,” Matakara takes one of the sealed baggies of treats and puts one on top of your plate. “I owe you for last time, your favorite is the melon bread, right?”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to.” You add. “Thanks though.”

“No problem.”

Lunch period comes and goes and you completely forget to ask what movie the four of you are going to see, but it doesn’t bug you much. You don’t really mind if it means you get to sit by Matakara again; the last time you went to the movies with him he had shared a bucket of popcorn with you, whispering into your ear every now and again to comment on something. You spend the rest of the day hoping you’ll be able to sit next to him again, maybe have one of those moments where your hands touch by accident. Zabu doesn’t know what he’s talking about in your humble opinion: if it was up to you, your school life would be one big, romantic comedy cliche, and Matakara would be the male lead.

Except, as things are now with you passing for a boy, you’re pretty sure your role as of now is the quiet friend, the awkward loner adopted by the popular kid. Not a bad deal all things considered, but it makes having a crush something of a pain in the ass. Still, you’ll take some yearning on your end if it means you can continue going through your school days mostly unnoticed and unbothered. The fact of the matter is presenting as a girl is a hassle; even the toughest girls in your class have to deal with being pursued and bugged by obnoxious wannabe casanovas who think they’re the earth’s gift to women. 

So far, you haven’t had any risky encounters: the gender neutral bathroom, dirty and falling apart like everything else in the school, helps avoid your secret getting out and you skip changing for gym because…well, pretty much everyone else does anyway and the teachers don’t care. You can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t keep passing as a boy until graduation; not to mention, the boy’s uniforms are comfier. 

“Where’s the guys?” 

It’s the late afternoon and you’re changed into baggy sweats and battered sneakers; inside your jacket are four packages of candy picked up from the convenience store you’re presently loitering outside of to sneak into the theater. Matakara is late; you’re about to text him when you hear his voice calling out to you. Down the sidewalk, Matakara is running your way, smiling wide and out of uniform; as he reaches you, your eyes widen.

“What the hell? You’re bleeding man.” You step up to him, craning your neck to get a good look at the cut over his eyebrow. “What the hell happened?”

“Ah, one of Siguma’s guys challenged me on my way here.” Matakara raises his fingers to the small gash. “Oh wow, I didn’t realize his kick landed that hard.”

“Matakara, hold on a second.”

“Where are you-?”

You rush into the store; in three minutes you’ve returned with a box of bandages, a small bag of cotton swabs, disinfecting ointment, hand sanitizer, and a bottle of water.

“What’s the water for?”

“Flush out the wound. Some of the blood’s drying.” 

You make Matakare sit down on the wooden bench on the side of the building and lay out the supplies. He watches you silently as you pour some of the clean water onto a swab and begin to carefully wipe off the dried blood, soaking up the bit that’s still oozing. Matakara is obediently still and doesn’t wince as you swipe a few dabs of ointment over the injury after sanitizing your hands properly. 

“You do this a lot?”

“Nope.” You confess, handing him the bottle of water. “Here, have some. It’s always a good idea to drink water. I’m gonna put the bandaid on; can’t believe you didn’t realize you got hit so hard.”

“I was kinda in a rush.” Matakara’s hand dwarfs the plastic bottle; he’s looking down a bit guiltily. “Sorry I was late. I thought it’d be over quicker.”

“Well, the guys are late anyway, so it works out.” You gently smooth the bandage across his eyebrow. “There, it should be fine. Are you sure you don’t feel dizzy or anything? Maybe we should skip the movie.”

“No!” Matakara says, sitting up straight. “I’m totally fine, seriously. Thanks for taking care of me.”

“I should be the one saying that.” You sit next to him with a sigh. “Don’t apologize; I’m lucky you want to hang out with me at all.”

“Of course I do! You’re fun to be around and you’re a good listener and you’re really-” 

Matakara stops talking; he suddenly looks away and takes a sip of water. You stare at him, a bit flattered and a lot confused. Matakara's been acting a little off all day come to think of it.

“Should I text the guys? You told them where we were gonna meet, right?” You check your phone while Matakara finishes the water. “Think they went straight to the theater?”

“Um, actually, Sakegaki and Zabu aren’t coming.” Matakara tells you; he scrunches up the bottle and tosses it cleanly into the recycling bin next to him. “You don’t mind, right?”

“Oh. No, it’s cool.” You’re not lying but now your curiosity has peaked. “Is everything okay with you guys?”

“Yeah, nothing wrong.” Matakara says quickly. “If you want I can call them, if you’re not comfortable with it being just us.”

“Why wouldn't I be?”

“Because…” 

Matakara’s hands are clasped and he’s still looking at the ground; he looks troubled and you feel bad for pushing the issue, whatever it is, but something is definitely wrong. 

“I don’t mean to presume.” Matakara begins slowly, measuring his tone. “It’s none of my business, but I, um, when you got close to me, I kinda felt…your chest.”

You stare at him blankly; Matakara’s cheeks flush and he finally gives you a ‘look’. 

“Oh.” You blink. “Shit. I guess you found me out.”

“So, you were born a girl?”

“Yeah.”

“Why are you…?” Matakara averts his stare. “Wait, sorry, it’s none of my business.”

“No, you’re fine. The thing is, it’s just kind of easier to pass myself off as a guy, ya know?” You pat his shoulder. “So, would you mind keeping it between us? Honestly, I don’t really care if people see me as a guy, girl, whatever, but it would make my life easier if you didn't go telling anyone else.”

“A secret?” Matakara perks up. “Between us?”

“I’d appreciate it.”

“Sure!”

You’re a bit taken aback; you know Matakara’s a nice guy and all, but you didn’t expect him to be this easy going about your charade.

“You can trust me.” Matakara puts a hand over his heart. “I can swear it in blood.”

“No, no more bleeding!” You blanch at the thought. “Dude, it’s not that deep.”

“I know, but it’s just nice.” Matakara rubs the back of his neck; he’s beaming at you, eyes crinkling in the corners, cheeks flushed. “You know, we’re always around other people or you go off on your own; when we are together, you don’t say much…I feel like we haven’t actually gotten a chance to really know each other, so I like we have this thing that’s only for us. Does that sound weird?”

“A little, but I see what you mean.” You tug the strings of your hoodie so it closes more around your face. “If you want, we could do this more.”

“This?”

“Hanging out,” You clarify, voice softer than you mean for it to be. “Just the two of us. If you want.”

“Then, it’s okay I didn’t invite the others? You’re not uncomfortable with it?”

“I probably feel the most comfortable around you, Matakara.”

You chance peeking out and realize you’re screwed: Matakara is leaning over, right in your face, eyes glued to your face and almost shining. He radiates warmth, like he’s trying to make you gravitate closer to his side, unknowingly pulling you toward him.

"Really?"

Actually, it’s more like his hand is placed over yours and he’s moving his face close to yours; for a moment you and Matakara stare at each other mutely. His hand covers yours and you don’t feel uncomfortable but your heart might actually combust inside your ribcage from how tenderly Matakara is gazing at you. 

“Do you really mean it?” Matakara breathes, voice almost like a sigh. “Can we go to the movies now? Just you and me?”

“Uh huh.” You nod dumbly, swallowing the spit you didn’t realize was pooling from glancing at his lips. “I, um, bought candy for everyone, four of them.”

“More for us.” Matakara smiles brightly, standing up; he’s yet to let go of your hand. 

“Works for me.” You don’t try to pull your hand away, allowing Matakara to pretty much lead you down the sidewalk in the direction of the theater. You’ve never seen him act almost childishly eager and his attitude is admittedly infectious. “Let’s share a popcorn bucket, it'll be less expensive.”

“Yeah, we should split a drink too.”

Matakara looks back, and you can’t miss the mischievous glint in his eyes as your cheeks grow hot.

“…I’m gonna have to watch out for you.”

“I don’t mind. In fact,” Matakara is grinning a little too innocently for the look he’s giving you over his shoulder. “You can look at me all you want.”

[yellowocaballero]

“I’m afraid I must call you out of retirement for a final mission.”

Cold ice shot through Tobi’s chest. Fuck.

Did he know? He couldn’t. If he knew, he wouldn’t show it like this. His visit with T&I would be a lot less cheerful, that’s for sure. Was he prodding Tobi, watching for his reaction? Did Sarutobi honestly think he’d slip up? Tobi was incapable of slipping up. He couldn’t tell the truth with a kunai to his throat at this point.

“What sort of mission is it?” Tobi asked excitedly, ripping open the folder. He held the paper up and slowly mouthed the words on the page, fighting to get through the page. Look at him, he filled out his mission reports in crayon and could barely read. “Mission report…assignment duration, promotion or release…pay…oh, ew…assignment…jounin sensei…”

Tobi trailed off.

Distantly, he heard himself say, “Um. Maybe this is a mistake?”

As promised in last post. Kakashi & Obito roleswap. Barely. It's complicated. Please pay no attention to how many roleswaps I have written. Just ignore it. Do me a favor and do not think about it. OK? Thank you.

Snippet from a much longer, much messier document. This part was the very first part writiten and very much a proof of concept. I'm trying to figure out if I should overhaul the thing and turn this into an actual story, so let me know.

Short beginning scene of Tobito's Wild Ride under the cut.

“Tobi. Thank you for coming.”

Obviously, Tobi didn’t bow or kneel. That wasn’t the sort of person Tobi was. He just grinned broadly, waving so broadly that his body swayed with the motion. “Gramps! Hello! Wow, you’ve gotten old since I’ve seen you!”

Sarutobi chuckled, raising a pipe to his mouth. The pipe - either ‘I’m thinking hard’, ‘I want to pretend I’m thinking hard and giving due consideration to your idea when I don’t really care’, or ‘I’ve already decided and I’m pretending that you have a say in this’. What was the point of the last one? This was a literal military dictatorship. Tobi forgot how exhausting this man could be. 

“It has been a while,” Sarutobi said indulgently. “Since…the T&I incident, I believe?”

Tobi giggled, high and childish. “Inoichi-san got sooo mad. But Tobi said he was real, real, real sorry, so I hope he’s not still mad…oh, no.” Tobi gasped, face falling in desolation. “Is Inoichi-san still mad at me? Oh, Tobi can go apologize again -”

“It’s water under the bridge.” Tobi exhaled gustily, wiping the back of his hand against his brow. It wasn’t his fault Inoichi hated him. Apparently his mind was absolutely impenetrable. Something about constant children’s lullabies just playing full blast in his head. Or songs regarding a specific time of day someplace in the world. “I have to apologize, Tobi. I always feel as if I should keep a better eye on you. There’s never enough time in the day for all of the people we care about. Please forgive me for my inattention to you.”

Manipulative old fuck. Tobi panicked, embarrassed by the attention and affection. He waved his hands quickly, almost jumping up and down. “Gramps! It’s okay! Tobi’s not lonely or sad! He still has Sasuke-chan! Sasuke-chan wasn’t brutally murdered, so Tobi’s A-OK!” Tobi had to tell himself that a lot. Every morning after a nightmare, which meant every morning period. “And I met a really nice old lady yesterday and helped her down the street. She gave me an apple sweet. It was delicious! So there’s nothing to forgive, Gramps!”

“I’m glad,” Sarutobi said warmly. Ugh. Tobi knew objectively that Minato-sensei had tried to imitate that tone, but he still liked to convince himself that Sarutobi was mimicking Minato-sensei. That was a good one, he’d have to use it. “Sasuke-kun is actually why I called you here today.” 

That kid. Tobi sighed. “Tobi is sorry that Tobi cannot control Sasuke-chan. I’ve told him that punching Naruto-kun is bad, but he just doesn’t listen…”

“I’m sure you’ll find a method somehow.” Sarutobi pushed a thin file folder across the desk, and Tobi curiously stepped forward and picked it up. He’d know a file like that anywhere. It was a mission assignment folder. “I’m afraid I must call you out of retirement for a final mission.”

Cold ice shot through Tobi’s chest. Fuck.

Did he know? He couldn’t. If he knew, he wouldn’t show it like this. His visit with T&I would be a lot less cheerful, that’s for sure. Was he prodding Tobi, watching for his reaction? Did Sarutobi honestly think he’d slip up? Tobi was incapable of slipping up. He couldn’t tell the truth with a kunai to his throat at this point.

How did Tobi feel about this? Tobi sure as hell knew how Obito felt - desperately wondering if a T&I visit was in his future. Tobi was scared of the missions, sure. But he was a five year old. How would a five year old react to these things? 

Well. Tobi knew how he would have reacted. He would have sighed and rolled his eyes about yet another mission. Pretty impressive when you were burned out of your career at five years old. He blamed the two month graduation for years before he learned of Rin and Kakashi’s hell and eventually concluded that it could have been worse. At least Tobi was paid for his war zone. 

“A mission?” Tobi gushed. He clenched on the folder far too tightly, like a child clutching a wheezing frog. “I’m going on missions again?” He jumped a little, his usual little show of excitement. Kept his energy up. “Does that mean Gramps isn’t mad at me anymore?”

Tobi carefully snuck a glance up from the folder, checking Sarutobi’s expression. Sarutobi’s face was impassive stone, as usual, but he looked a little worn too. “We were never angry with you.”

Tobi fully looked up, tilting his head and frowning. “Nuh-uh. Tobi remembers. Everybody was so mad at Tobi. Just because his hand slipped…it wasn’t Tobi’s fault.”

“We know,” Sarutobi said gently. “Minato didn’t retire you because he was angry with you. He was only looking out for you.”

Well, Tobi didn’t want to be out of fucking retirement. It was objectively insane to put him on any mission. Tobi had gotten sabotaging every attempt to make him a useful member of society down to a fucking art. He had a shitton of inheritance to blow and a nice long civilian life to blow it on. Maybe he was too stubborn about it - Iruka was definitely convinced that he was the second laziest person in the village and sabotaged his assigned jobs on purpose, which Tobi would have resented if it wasn’t absolutely true - but spite was important. Spite woke him up in the morning. 

The only thing that helped him tolerate this stupid village was his hate for it. Ain’t that just the way.

“What sort of mission is it?” Tobi asked excitedly, ripping open the folder. He held the paper up and slowly mouthed the words on the page, fighting to get through the page. Look at him, he filled out his mission reports in crayon and could barely read. “Mission report…assignment duration, promotion or release…pay…oh, ew…assignment…jounin sensei…”

Tobi trailed off.

Distantly, he heard himself say, ���Um. Maybe this is a mistake?”

“Trust me. You’re hardly our first choice.” Finally, they agreed on something. “But you’re the only one in this village with a Sharingan, Tobi. You’re the only one who can teach Sasuke how to use his power.”

“Nuh-uh. Um. This is a mistake. Ha ha.” Tobi ripped the paper from the folder, crumpling it into a ball and tossing it over his shoulder. “Because, um, I can’t use my Sharingan. Did Gramps maybe forget that? Ha ha?”

“But you still remember how to use it. Even if you can’t use it yourself, you can still walk Sasuke-kun through using his.” Sarutobi eyed Tobi knowingly, the dim glowing embers of his pipe reflecting a soft light in his eyes. “You were once a genius with the Sharingan, Tobi. They said you were the best since Madara.”

Yeah! Yeah, they did say that, old man! That was the whole fucking problem!

Mention of the Sharingan or Tobi’s old talents always upset him, so this was a great springboard into nipping this in the bud. He’d throw a hissy fit if he had to. Tobi had killer hissy fits. That was how Sasuke was given a seat as head of house in the Clan Council. Tobi’s wail could pierce eardrums and Sasuke had deserved that fucking seat. 

“Tobi doesn’t like the Sharingan anymore!” Tobi exclaimed. “Tobi wants to help Sasuke-chan, Gramps, cross Tobi’s heart! But Tobi doesn’t like the Sharingan and the Sharingan don’t like Tobi. And that’s just the truth.” Tobi crossed his arms, sniffling and scrunching his nose. “And don’t say what you’re gonna say. Tobi knows what’s up. Minato-sensei’s little boy is on that team too, isn’t he?”

He absolutely was. Tobi had speed-read the entire document while he was reading it out loud. But even the remnant of Obito’s genius was still considerable, and Tobi’s moments of keen insight were useful for pushing the enemy into a corner. 

“I thought you might appreciate the chance to look after your sensei’s son,” Sarutobi said mildly, removing a silver lighter from his pocket. Engraved, a gift from Biwako. Was that on purpose? A mind game on Tobi, an unconscious memory on his part, or a purposeful evocation of a memory just for him? Was he trying to remind Tobi of something or corner Obito? Damn this man. “Help him like your sensei helped you.”

The really great thing about Tobi was that he could get away with saying this. It was only to the left of cathartic, but at least it was in the zone. “I’m not stupid, Gramps!” Tobi yelled. The ANBU in the corners twitched, but when Sarutobi’s fingernail clicked on the silver lighter they subsided. “You’re giving Minato-sensei and Kushina-neechan’s little baby and his fox to the last Sharingan because you want the Sharingan to eat the Fox! Why are you doing what you want when you know it won’t work? Tobi’s tried, he can’t - he can’t, Gramps.”

It wasn’t the sort of thing any self-respecting Uchiha would admit. Half of them would kill themselves if they lost their Sharingan. Uchiha Obito, whose Sharingan was the pride and joy of the clan - who was the Uchiha’s Uchiha before Itachi-kun was even a twinkle in his mother’s eye - would never abandon his one point of value. 

And everybody knew how prideful the Uchiha were. There was no Uchiha alive who would pretend to be Tobi. Could you imagine? What Uchiha would humiliate themselves like this with a goofy smile on their face? A regular human being could barely do it. An Uchiha? Forget it. Impossible.

But Kushina-neechan’s favorite shinobi was always the most surprising of all. And Obito cared about that more than all the rest. 

The only ninja who would have ferreted him out was Kakashi. Kakashi and his dopey, stupid smile. His ridiculous porn books and his clumsy pratfalls. His laziness, lateness, and utter underachiever lifestyle. Only Kakashi ever said those words, with a wink and a smile: a true shinobi looked underneath the underneath. So save your energy and watch the clouds with me, Uchiha-kun. No? Maybe next time…

The next time never came. Being a good Uchiha had always meant something, and the useless son of a disgraced clan meant nothing at all. Nothing to anybody but Minato and Kushina and Rin and Obito.

“You’re better than nothing.” In that second, Sarutobi really did look very tired. He didn’t look like he was lying at all. “You’re the best we have, Tobi.”

Tobi was silent. Sarutobi knew it wasn’t much of a compliment. Even somebody like Tobi would know that. 

“As a favor to Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun,” Sarutobi said, “and as a favor to me. Please give these children the help you can. Don’t worry - I’ll ask the other jounin to pitch in and help.” 

Tobi lowered his voice, and he allowed his tone to grow a little more serious. “I’m not strong. I’m not good at molding chakra and I haven’t really fought anyone in a long time. I can’t protect the children.” 

“We’ll be careful,” Sarutobi allowed. But there was something in his eye… “You may be rusty, but I doubt you’re out of the ring yet. Have a little faith in yourself.” The look in his eyes glinted and grew, and for the first time he stared right at Tobi. “You did hold your own against Uchiha Itachi.”

They stared at each other for a long second, two. A little too late, Tobi laughed and scrubbed the back of his neck. “Silly Gramps! I said a billion times. Tobi hid. I don’t think Itachi-kun thought it was worth it to kill me…I don’t think Itachi-kun ever thought I was a real Uchiha. But we’ve showed him, huh?” Tobi grinned, jabbing a finger at his chest. “Now there’s three whole Uchiha in the whole wide world! One third’s a serial killer, one third’s twelve, and one third is…drumroll please…Tobi! Konoha’s in good hands, ne?”

Tobi smiled at the man who ordered Uchiha Itachi to kill their entire family.

Sarutobi smiled back at the man who was currently pulling the most intricate and improbable lying campaign in a village of ninjas. In Obito’s defense, it was to save his own life. Sarutobi had murdered his family to - well, save the village, but Tobi didn’t have to like it. 

“Thank you for accepting the mission. I trust you’ll do splendidly.”

“Uh. Tobi didn’t -”

“The children ought to be waiting for you in the schoolroom at 1000 hours. You ought to head over - I expect you’re already late.”

Tobi squealed, looking at the unwound watch on his wrist and slapping his head. “Oh no! I’m late, I’m late, I’m late! Bye, Gramps! You promise-promise to get back-up for Tobi, right?”

Pleasantly, Sarutobi said, “I would not trust you alone with those children, no.”

“Yay! Okay, gotta goooo!”

When he left Sarutobi’s office, he was about ten minutes late to his meeting with the children. By the time he arrived at the school he was over an hour late. Lost on the road of life and all that. It didn’t matter - venting about this ridiculousness to Kakashi was way more important than meeting the brats on time.

This would be a disaster. There was no way this would end well. Tobi was a brain damaged, traumatized moron who couldn’t use his one skill and who hadn’t been on active duty since he whoopsie-daisy’d his sword into his best friend’s heart. If Sarutobi didn’t keep up his promise and drag in the other jounin to take up his slack then he’d riot. Did he want Tobi to do work? Tobi? He had resigned from capitalism and the military industrial complex. Pulling him into this shit again - as if he hadn’t suffered enough -

As if Sasuke and Naruto hadn’t. Maybe one of Sarutobi’s stupid-ass motivations was because he knew that only Tobi would be nice to Sasuke and Naruto. Damn Naruto especially. For that, at least…if only as a favor to Minato-sensei…

To make up for it…maybe a little bit of real work would be the least he could do.

Ugh. Hopefully not that much.

Tobi finally touched down at the school, following the Academy hallways to Sasuke’s classroom by route memory. He dropped off Sasuke’s lunch a lot. It embarrassed him so much. It was classic.

Tobi walked into the classroom and allowed a large basket of glitter to fall on top of his head.

A peal of laughter squealed throughout the room, and Tobi opened his eyes to see Uzumaki Naruto clutching his sides and laughing his ass off. Quite rudely, Sasuke had his feet propped up on a desk. That third girl was sitting primly in her seat, terrified. 

“What an idiot! Our new sensei actually fell for - wait.” Naruto straightened, squinting at Tobi. He yelled, jabbing a finger at him. “Hey! Number Two Ramen Fan! What the hell are you doing here?”

Sasuke almost fell out of his seat. He scrambled to his feet, panicked in his special Sasuke way - that was, eyes a little wider than usual. “Tobi? Did I forget my lunch?”

“Um?” Sakura Haruno hunched her shoulders in her seat, picking at the corner of a scroll. “Uchiha Obito’s our sensei. I thought you knew. Did you…not know?”

“Is this a joke?” Sasuke cried. “Who the hell thought this was funny? Tobi couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag! If they’re bullying us again, I swear to god I’ll strangle whoever -”

“Whoah,” Naruto cried, impressed. “Violent!”

“Everybody’s always bullying Tobi,” Sasuke snapped. “I’m an Uchiha. What sort of Uchiha would I be if I tolerated that?”

Glitter dripped down Tobi’s hair and sprinkled onto his clothing. He smiled, big and bright, and clapped his hands together. Sasuke was groaning, but Naruto and Sakura just leaned in closer - caught in a morbid curiosity, desperate to meet their own fate. Signed and sealed. “Tobi’s first impression of you all is…you’re so funny! Tobi likes you!”

The kids paled. 

[mixelation]

was thinking about orochimaru & the chunin exams in reborn au

so, i think orochimaru has less of a personal stake in the chunin exams without hiruzen as hokage, and also he probably wouldn't directly confront minato because that's uuh a good way to get your ass kicked. but also he attempted to start a village and failed so probably he's itching to do something Dramatic

in order to make an attack a sourc of real narrative tension, i do have to come up with a way to split up and distract a bunch of people. but i don't want to rehash the suna invasion, because certain people would NOTICE. but im playing with the idea of OC antagonists and/or ex ROOT people willing to help orochimaru with a coup. i think if his edo tensei plan we executed more stealthily (like sending hashirama and tobirama in opposite directions, to split people up), more chaos could be generated, maybe

anyway what i'm imagining right now is: some major shit is going down and tori is like "i can waste orochimaru's time for as long as you want. how long do you need" and she runs off and literally just bats her eyelashes and offers to give im a lab tour. and my ultimate Vision rn is that she shows off hashirama trees that started as HIS experiment and then uses their chakra to trap him in a barrier and is like, "isn't this embarrassing for you?"

and orochimaru tries his own mind game because he KNOWS she;'s involved with danzo's downfall somehow, and he's like, "is it true you saw the shinigami?" because to HIM seeing the shinigami as a mortal is the most terrifying thing that can happen-- to see it is to fully comprehend your own mortality.

and tori has an entire villain speech LOCKED AND LOADED. actually, she's NOT LIKE OTHER GIRLS---

and then she realizes that even if she gives a different speech from the one he's expecting, this is still letting him win. he wants her emotional and yelling. and so she decides the most emotionally devastating thing she could do is ignore him. and she simply walks away and leaves him

and then she goes and regroups with someone idk

minato, off the back of some very dramatic battles: you did WHAT why would you think tht was the best solution TORI I AM SO STRESSED RIGHT NOW

so obviously orochimaru is gone by the time anyone goes to check. also now he's OUT for tori because she DID get under his skin

also maybe he kills hiruzen on the way out so actions can have consequences, who knows

not itachi have Feelings bout tori getting people who ordered the massacre killed

[twig-tea]

BL/QL Ask game : The Ugly, the Bad and the Worst

Thank you for the game, @clara-maybe-ontheroad! And thanks for tagging me @clara-maybe-ontheroad and @lurkingshan! I started out by saying to myself that I'm going to do my best to ignore my urges and just answer the first thing that comes to me rather than treating this like a quiz. And then I went into a fugue and worked on this for >5 hours. WHOOPS.

Original version here for anyone else who wants to play!

Also quick warning, this is asking about the worsts, so TW for mentions of horrific plot points below.

Worst soundtrack / weirdest song choice in a BL

Ohhhhh man, ok so the first thought that came to mind was Never Let Me Go, which mostly had fantastic background music, and that's maybe why when it didn't hit it stood out so badly (sorry to my man Pond, not all BL actors should be singers! And having his OST play over their kiss in Part 7 4/4 was just mean). For the record I love this show (actually maybe it should go in one of the below categories because so many tumblr folks dislike it) but this was rough.

Most cringe-inducing line (cute)

These don't tend to stick with me...there are so many, and I am allergic to sincerity so everything earnest is various levels of cringe to me. So with that in mind, basically everything Gavreel ever said in Gameboys counts.

Most cringe-inducing line (actually bad)

Anytime someone said "Once I start I won't be able to stop" or some variation.

Most stupid decision made by a character

Jun Ho deciding to die rather than bite Min Hyun in Kissable Lips. Min Hyun was offering. it would have made Jun Ho human. He could have had his friends around to make sure he didn't go too far and kill him. Instead he decides to fade away in his arms like a dick. WHY.

Special mention to NuengDiao going back to his hotel where his murderous uncle is waiting with no plan other than to walk in wearing a suit and a cocky expression in Never Let Me Go.

[@bengiyo and @wen-kexing-apologist are correct about Teh giving up his spot to Oh Aew in I Told Sunset About You as the actual correct answer, btw]

Worst plot line

Every penultimate episode crises resulting in the leads splitting up so that they can reunite in the finale that are not earned and significantly detract from my enjoyment of a series [this list is not comprehensive]: 2Gether, Minato's Laundromat S2, Enchanté, Love Class, Plus & Minus.

The most problematic show you've watched

I've seen literally all of them so this feels like an unfair question lol there are layers of problematic; like, is it even worth considering all of the problems with A Round Trip to Love, or The Shortest Distance is Round, or What the Duck s2? I wrote out summaries for these and then decided no thanks. If anyone wants to know they can DM me.

In terms of series that are problematic but not often considered problematic, I'm calling out Love Area the series. It hits two of my pet peeves: shitty treatment of a poor character by an oblivious rich love interest that directly affects their sources of income, and an ableist subplot. I think it also has an unearned separation in the penultimate episode but honestly I remember thinking they should stay split up so maybe it was earned.

A show people love but you find bad

Vice Versa. Sorry to all who love that show. I wanted to like it; the colouring and cinematography are beautiful and the alternate universe was neat worldbuilding. But the plot makes me so, so angry.

Ditto Cutie Pie the series. I just can't enjoy it.

A show people find bad but you will defend

Honestly there are several, but the one that is most disliked that I will ride hardest for is probably Secret Crush On You (which I argued ended with one of the most healthy relationships in a BL here LMAO). I get why people find this show hard to watch, the cringe is real. But the gender expression! The found family! The "he's a weirdo and that's why I love him" dynamic! The mutual lusting! The body dysphoria! The fact that both start by playing into BL tropes and it's only by throwing those out that they can actually have a meaningful relationship! The way both characters have real growth! And like yes Toh is a fanboy stalker but that is problematized in the show! It gave us the growth from fanboy to faen that Be Mine Superstar didn't. I have a lot of emotions about this show.

ALSO because I cannot stop, I will forever to my dying breath defend Color Rush. I don't care what you say about dead fish kisses I can't hear you over the incredibly powerful metaphor about the queer experience!

A show that is just objectively bad but you enjoyed it

Bahahhaha. Um. So many, my friends. OH I'm going to take this chance to shout out the lesser-known webseries Discipline Z: Vampire (Korean, YouTube, 2020). It's ostensibly a sequel to Discipline, but the only thing they share is a single character so you don't need to watch it to understand what's happening in Discipline Z (they are entirely different shows in every way; Discipline is more youth slice of life with a queer story as part of the ensemble). Listen, I'm talking about this show in this category for a reason; it's about a vampire who falls for a street dancer, whose motley crew of hacker friends help rescue the vampire from an evil corporation that wants to experiment on him to understand his immortality. It is BAD.

But. BUT! I love it. Everyone is so pretty. There is a cute hacker girlie. There is scifi nonsense to explain immortality. There is a good kiss. There are characters willing to sacrifice to do the right thing. I am a simple woman. [Fair warning to my happy ending only pals: this ending is ambiguous at best; there was supposed to be a follow-up epilogue for the couple, but it never got filmed.]

Bonus, En of Love was absolutely trash and it has a very special place in my heart. It's not good (like, at all), but it's great.

A bad show that you kept watching because you were intrigued/fascinated

Let's go with Physical Therapy the series. At some point I just kept watching like a car wreck to see how bad it could get. Also shout-out to Dinosaur Love, which was...similarly bewildering.

A bad show that you kept watching because you were horny

@lurkingshan already stole my first answer for this, but oh man I stay a Why R U apologist for the Fighter/Tutor chemistry. I actually think somewhere in there is a really interesting show, if the pandemic hadn't made it impossible for them to film the ending that they wanted to, but based on the Korean version and the parts that we were told had to be cut, maybe it would have actually made it worse. But just to get on my soapbox for half a sec, Tutor was in debt, working himself to exhaustion, and Fighter (after he got over himself) protected him at his one job, joined him to help him meet his sales targets at another, hired him for a third, paid off his debt collector to take the pressure off, and then took him on vacation to help him relax--twice. I have issues with depictions of poverty in BL but at least my man secured the bag while also pursuing love or whatever. Also he whispers "get inside me" while they're making out, sorry, Tutor will forever be a fave of mine.

Since that's taken, I'm going to use this as an excuse to shout out the hotness of My Day the Series. It was predominantly not great but the heat moments....

A bad show that you kept watching because of that one character

I'm giving this to Noey Watplu from I Will Knock You. I was obsessed with him. I want his confidence so badly. I love how he's essentially a dork in cosplay but gets away with it because of his rizz. Truly iconic. This man decided he was being seduced and said "bet". I really enjoyed this show because of him and him alone.

A bad show that you would still recommend

I'm going to put Ghost Host Ghost House here. It's "bad" in the sense that it had low production values (like, really bad, so bad the time of day changes at random because they lost the light while filming). But the romance was cute, the story around the romance was interesting, the worldbuilding around the merit credits was fascinating, the side mystery was so heartbreaking, the various characters actually had a lot of difficult emotions to portray, and overall I think this show is underrated.

I also already have and will again recommend YYY as a fun and fascinating watch to anyone who asks about it, @waitmyturtles is correct on that call.

The character that ruined a show the most

There are several annoying sides in BL, but I'm giving this to the side hets in My Oxygen. A fujoshi who records people without their consent for online clout is bad. A doctor using his role as a doctor to get closer to his patient is really bad. Pretending to be interested in his friend because the girl he likes is a fujoshi is worse; then using her brother as his friend's stand-in when his friend won't put up with it anymore is the WORST.

Most awful character that you hated

I mean, Lhong in TharnType takes it for not only arranging the gang rape of Tar, but being forgiven for it in the series. Neung in Tonhon Chonlatee comes a close second for attempting to rape Chonlatee and then claiming the moral high ground against his homophobic "friend". Tony in History 5: Love in the Future doesn't get enough hate for trying to murder someone just because he was his love rival. Namning in La Cuisine had her love rival bullied, beaten and who knows what she was going to do with that gun. Also shoutout to @wen-kexing-apologist's answer of Korn, in KinnPorsche, he was so insidiously evil, it was so well done.

Most awful character that you loved

I'm going with "awful" as not necessarily (just) morally bad but that people didn't like: Jaime from Win Jaime's Heart. Objectively he's a fuckboi of the worst calibre. He agrees to go on a webshow in which he dates Heart so that he can seduce the creator of the show Winston. And Jaime is so charming that I don't care about his bi wrongs (partially, to be fair, because the premise is ridiculous so it's hard to take too seriously).

Special mention (because it's not a series) to Wine in Red Wine in the Dark Night. I love a murder twink (speaking of, things are looking really good for me to stay in love with Ai Di from Kiseki if it keeps on this track).

If we're interpreting "awful" as characters that other people don't like, it'll probably go to Toh from Secret Crush on You or Gus in Diary of Tootsies. They're flawed, they're femme, they're fantastic.

A character that wasn't awful but that you just don't like

Can in Love By Chance and the sequels. Tinn is an asshole and knows it; Can is an asshole but is also self-righteous, but in all honesty his biggest flaw for me is that he's not competent and I have little patience for that.

A hero that should have been a villain

Tempted to give this to Ko from Love Poison for essentially trying to love spell date rape his love interest--this is only not that bad because magic isn't real so of course it doesn't do anything.

Possibly Athit (Boun's character) from Even Sun? I put a question mark there because this was so convoluted and hard to follow I'm not even 100% sure I remember it right, but from what I remember, this was not a romantic story at all.

Taking a totally different approach to the question, Joke from Hidden Agenda should have been a secret villain (in the sense that he should have been scheming and sociopathic but hiding it, ineffectually, from Zo) in order to make the series make sense, but apparently I can't have nice things.

And finally, special mention to Phu in The Promise for being the villain for so many of us already.

A morally bad character you're into

Zhu Zi Shu, canon war criminal and child murderer from Word of Honor. He thought he was doing bad things for good reasons (protecting the people he loves), realized he was just doing bad things and the people he loves were all dead anyway, and crafted a convoluted plot to get out of the secret society rules that he created to prevent anyone from leaving. And then he wanders aimless until he meets Wen Ke Xing and becomes as loyal to this equally morally dubious man as he was to his secret society. I love him (and them) so much.

Same type of deal, different scale of crime: Akk from The Eclipse. I have a soft spot for this trope.

A morally bad character you're not into and you wish people would stop being into

Xue Yang from The Untamed. Also a mass murderer, but doing it just for the vibes/to avenge his finger, so he gets zero love from me. People woobify him just because he's sassy it's...rough.

The show that disappointed you the most

From hype to execution? So Much in Love / Ni Yam Ruk. I slogged through such awful subs TWICE (because they claimed they redid them, but they are still terrible) to try to give this show a chance, because the premise sounded right up my alley. I still think there's a show in there that I would have liked, but it is literally unwatchable.

Most disappointed from what the show seemed like it was doing at the start to what it delivered in full is a tie between The Shipper and Step By Step.

The Worst Show of Them All Because of Your Own Reasons

That's My Candy. I've only ever dropped/not finished I think 3 or so shows? And this was the most painful and the one I am least likely to ever finish. The pairing was overplayed, the comedy was heavy handed, and the plot was absolutely cringe inducing. It was literally torture trying to watch this.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading!

Tagging @visualtaehyun @nothingsbetterthancoffee @lurkingteapot @snidgetwrites @formayhem @slayerkitty @respectthepetty @ginnymoonbeam no pressure as always! And if you play and I didn't tag you but you're reading this, tag me anyway! I love reading everyone's answers.

[minevn]

Hallo! Regarding the LIs/characters, what would they do if they're feeling really angry/violent/about to go batshit yandere crazy and MC just kinda, gives them a cooldown hug and a gentle kiss on their lips? Like, who just freezes up and blushes, continues the kiss/makes it longer, etc.

I decided to add Aki, not that she would get as angry as the others but I just thought it'd be fun to write angry Aki :3 Also this was hard just cause I think it would take a bit to get certain characters to that level of anger, which would definitely be possible with this scenario, but a lot of them wouldn't even let you two stick around whatever/whoever is getting them angry. A few are also REALLY good at hiding their emotions(Mainly Kei lol)

TW: Creeps, harassment(Not like extreme harassment but there's forceful wrist grabbing and mentions of gross lewd things said to you. I try not to be super descriptive, but just in case it still may be triggering, skip over this post if these topics trigger you) The keep reading is under the scenario for these trigger warnings :3

Scenario: You were out on a date with your s/o, having a blast as you typically do with them. But of course, creeps have to ruin all the fun. They ignore your s/o, and if they acknowledge them then they d it to put them down. You could tell your s/o was getting annoyed with the creeps words, but it got worse when the creep decided it would be a good idea to grab your wrist and try pulling you away from your lover.

Minato: He's pissed, like the most angry you've ever seen him. Normally your giant of a boyfriend is very calm and gentle and can maintain that image even if he's feeling protective. It was scaring you a bit if you were honest. Despite your nerves, you hugged Minato. You knew he would calm down if you showed that you were fine. Feeling his body tense in your arms was something you were used to feeling, it never failed to amuse you though. Minato turned around slightly to face you, calming down significantly just from seeing you okay. Still, you pulled him down and planted a soft and gentle kiss on his lips. Minato bluescreens and makes no effort of pulling away. After calming down slightly, he forgets about the person who pissed him off, now all he wants is to go home with you.

Haruto: Haruto instantly has the creeps wrist in a death grip, looking at them with an expression you've never seen on Haruto before. You knew he could be protective and clingy, he'd get jealous if you even looked at a person, but you've never seen this expression. Maybe he had been holding back his jealousy for your sake and so he finally snapped. You hugged him, trying to pull him away from the creep, and thankfully it worked! You made Haruto face you so he wouldn't have to see the person any longer and he would calm down. Still, he tried glaring at the person, so you pulled him down and pressed a kiss to his lips. His eyes widened as his eyes looked at you own closed ones, he ended up melting into the kiss. Almost forgetting the creep, but when he remembered he smirked into the kiss as the creep walked away.

Jun: Jun pulls you away from the creep and holds you in her arms. "Y/n is mine! Stay away you creep, don't ruin our date." Jun starts off all pouty and clingy like usual. "Why are you still with this shorty? I could absolutely treat you better." The rando said, grabbing your wrist again. "Hey, let go!" You try pulling your hand out of the grip the creep has on you. Jun's grip around your waist tightens slightly, not enough to hurt you though. Jun covered your eyes before digging her long nails into the creeps wrist, drawing blood. "Don't EVER touch Y/n again." Jun's voice was low and the grip around your wrist disappeared. "Jun, let's just leave..." You grabbed Jun's cardigan, hoping to stop her, but it didn't work, she was still pissed. You just wanted to get away from that creep so you continued to grab Jun's cardigan and try pulling her away. Thankfully, it wasn't too difficult to drag Jun away but she was still extremely pissed, clenching her fist and glaring in the direction that you two just came. You tried calming Jun down by talking but no words seemed to soothe him. You weren't sure what to really do, so as a last resort you pressed a kiss to her lips. You smiled feeling Jun relax on your lips, pressing a kiss back on your lips. After pulling away, Jun looked down in embarrassment and shame. "Sorry Y/n...I lost my cool and looked unflattering." When she looked at you she felt her worries wash away seeing your comforting smile.

Hoshi: "Hah? Let go of them ya fuckin' creep." Hoshi looks at the creep with disgust, slapping the rando's off your hand. The creep's brows furrow as he starts defending himself. "Do you hear yourself, you sound so stupid?? Don't touch my fucking partner you disgusting pervert." Hoshi stepped in front of you, shielding you. "Uhhh Hoshi lets just go?" You gripped the side of his shirt, trying to get his attention and pull him back. "Go follow your owner, mutt." The creep laughed and shoved Hoshi back. Hoshi was quick to recover and instantly landed a punch of the creep's face, causing the rando to stumble back. Hoshi Started kicking the creep, laughing at them and taunting them. Despite wanting to stop Hoshi, you also didn't want to get caught in the crossfire or risk Hoshi taking his anger out on you, not that you think he'd hurt you physically on purpose, but maybe you'd catch him at the wrong time and he wouldn't be able to stop the momentum of his fist and therefore hit you. You waited until he was gasping for breath, standing over the creep with his fists clenched. You walked over to him and pulled him away from the creep, pulling his face towards yours to try and ground him, you ended up pulling a bit harder then you meant though because your lips ended up on Hoshi's, still you made no plans of moving, it was meant to be. You smiled into the kiss seeing Hoshi come to his senses as his face turned red with realization of what was happening. After pulling away Hoshi's eyes remained wide and he looked down shyly. "Let's go home." You said quietly, Hoshi just nodded and grabbed your hand, dragging you away from that scene.

Habiki: Habiki glares down at the hand holding your wrist with disgust before slapping it away and pulling you closer to him, continuing on your date. The creep doesn't stop pursuing though and Habiki is getting more and more fed up, with the creep, with himself, with seeing you uncomfortable, with seeing how you telling the creep "no" and "stop" gets ignored. He's done. Quickly and without hesitation he punches the person bothering you before running off with you, trying to lose them. Thankfully it works. "Should've done that from the get-go, I'm sorry. I thought they'd take the fucking hint." Habiki sighs, holding your hand and rubbing it in a comforting manner, though he'd understand if after that situation you didn't want to be touched and he wouldn't push it at all. "It's fine...well it's not, I'm upset that happened, but you're okay, no need to blame yourself. Let's just go home." Habiki gives you a smile and nods, heading home for a nice at home movie date. However night time rolls around and Habiki can't stop thinking about the situation that happened earlier, and the more he thinks about it the more pissed they're getting. Habiki ends up not sleeping that night. The next day he goes out to get some coffee and whatever you want to drink or eat. He see's the creep while he's out though and his brows furrow again and he's awake 100%. Before he even knows what's happening, his body moves on it's own as he goes up to the guy and punches him. He continues to beat the guy up until he hears your voice. Without meaning to, he turns around and glares at you, still you don't back down, you've gotten used to those glares. You pull him down and kiss him, his glare disappearing as he finally relaxes, the anger dissipates. After you pull away, you bonk him on the head gently. "You forgot your wallet." You hand him his wallet and he thanks you. "Wanna continue our date from yesterday? I don't think anyone will bother us anymore." Habiki smirks as you nod. Safe to say, the situation blew up online and people knew not to mess with you.

Kage: Kage stares at the hand grabbing your wrist and tensing up. Now would be a time to protect you, try to land some sort of hit on this person...but they're frozen. Kage has 50+ ways to protect you running through their mind and they aren't sure which one to do. He can't think straight on the methods of protecting you because he's also hyperaware of what the creep is saying, about him, and about you. With each disgusting word the creep says to you, Kage feels himself getting more and more pissed. Kage had enough when the creep leans closer to you trying to whisper some more disgusting shit in your ear. The punch wasn't super strong, but a lot of Kage's anger went into that punch so it was better then any other punch Kage had thrown. Still, it wasn't enough to get the creep to stop grabbing your wrist. "F-FUCK OFF! I'm already dating Y/n!" Kage grabbed the creeps wrist, trying to pry it off of yours. Kage couldn't think straight, this was too much for him! His mind was blank, his legs were shaking horribly, but his arms still worked in a fit of adrenaline. Things didn't end up going as planned. Kage got his concaved ass(sorry) handed to him, but at least you were safe. Kage smiled to themselves, there might have been some bruising from the grip the rando had on you earlier, but other then that, you were well physically, and Kage could be there for you mentally as well. Still, Kage didn't really want to leave it there, the creep was hardly injured and Kage was pissed about that. Mustering all of their remaining strength to get up, Kage started walking towards the rando, thankfully you pull them back. "Kage, don't. Lets just go home okay?" Honestly it was amazing that Kage didn't snap out of this adrenaline rush at the contact, that's what made you realize how serious this was. Positioning yourself in front of Kage to try and snap him back to reality you notice his eyes were completely set on the creep and he had a little smirk on his face. You weren't sure what to do, so you leaned in and kissed Kage. Kage didn't process what was happening until they realized they needed air. Their face completely flushed and they pulled away, panicked. You sighed in relief, happy to have your Kage back. "Come on, lets get you patched up my hero." Yep that's it, Kage's completely overheated, practically melting. Your HERO??? oh gosh, Kage loves you so so much, they're so sorry for passing out.

Kei: Kei looks at the creep and then down at your wrist, then back at the creep and you wrist again. "Excuse me...do let go of my significant others wrist. I don't believe we know you, and I'm very certain I didn't hear my lovely partner say it was okay for you to lay your disgusting hands on them." Kei tries remaining calm, inside he's fuming, but you wouldn't be able to tell from an outsiders perspective. The creep doesn't let go though and Kei can feel his patience draining. Fast. Kei sighs and grips the things wrist tightly, glaring daggers at him, causing the thing to let go and recoil in slight pain. "I tried being nice." Kei says matter-of-factly, shrugging and he holds your hand and you two continue on with your date if you feel up to it, if not you two go home and watch movies and Kei will make you dinner. After he's sure you're asleep, he goes on his computer. He would LOVE to hold you in his arms and sleep with you, but he has business he needs to take care of. That thing from earlier, yeah he gets all the info on it. He heads out towards the address and kidnaps the thing, bringing it to an abandoned storage complex where dozens of skeletons remain, some bones moved and chewed up due to the wild animals he lets in. There Kei will make sure that the creep really learned it's lesson, making it feel stupid for not just accepting Kei's kindness the first time. Kei goes on for hours, finishing up with cutting the arms and legs off this thing and performing medical care so it won't die. He still wants to torture it. This continues for a few days, him making sure you're sleeping and then heading out to punish this thing. But he didn't account for you being awake when he got home after the 6th day. "Kei, where have you been going for the past 6 days?" Your arms are crossed and your brows are furrowed in anger, sadness, worry. You trust Kei mostly, but this just felt too weird. Leaving the house after he was sure you were sleeping? What was he being so secretive about? You finally caught notice of the blood covering his glasses and caught in his hair, then how his black clothing actually seemed kind of wet, ad gosh he reeked of blood. Kei chuckled, "I was just teaching a creepy little thing some manners, no need to worry my love." Kei doesn't go into detail, and honestly, you don't NEED to hear any details, you can already guess. After helping Kei clean up the blood on him you kissed him. "I can't go back in time and stop you from doing what you already did, just...tomorrow actually finish that person off. And stop hurting others Kei." You pout and Kei just chuckles. "I will finish it off tomorrow, love. I haven't done anything like that in a while, but that thing was touching you like it knew you and making you uncomfortable. As far as I'm concerned it deserved what it had coming for it." Kei doesn't have any plans to stop completely, but Kei will stop letting them live so long and will stop bringing in every person that touches you casually. Kei needs you, and most importantly, you need Kei.

Yani: Yani stares at the hand on your wrist with wide eyes. Maybe before Yani got with you she would've tried holding back some to not scare you away, but now she's dating you and you pretty much know everything about her. Yeah you want her to change and she has really been trying...but who the hell is this creep putting their hands on you without your consent??? Yani's pulling out the knife and stabbing the guys wrist, positioning itself in front of you. "Don't touch Y/n without their consent..." Yani is glaring daggers at the creep before turning around and looking at you with a smile. "Sorry Y/n but they touched you so suddenly on our date, I was just protecting you!" Yani leans in to kiss you but stops right before your lips, "Besides, they're alive so it's alright, right?" Yani smiles before pressing the kiss to your lips. Everything happened so quickly that you didn't even get to calm Yani down, she calmed herself down with your lips :)

Aki: Aki glares at the guy before slapping his wrist away. "Hey, dude, ever heard of 'consent'?" She pulls you behind her in a protective manner. "Don't touch my partner again, they don't know you and are clearly uncomfortable." Without giving the guy a chance to respond or even think about touching you again, Aki pulls you away, clearly pissed. Once you two get somewhere away from that creep, she faces you, eyes furrowed in worry. "Are you okay? Like he didn't hurt you or anything, right?" Aki is checking your wrist for any bruising. Even if you say you're alright, Aki still kisses your wrists. "I kind of just want to go home. That was a nerve-racking experience." You give an apologetic smile to Aki, feeling bad about wanting to cancel your date early. "Hey, no worries! It's probably for the best and we don't HAVE to cancel our date, there's plenty of fun things to do a home!" Aki smiles as she interlocks her fingers with yours and starts heading home, however it's clear that the incident is still weighing heavily on her. "Aki, wanna talk about it?" Aki sighs before speaking. "I cannot believe that some people are like that! Like c'mon now, it's 2023, learn consent. Sorry for getting so mad, it's just frustrating that people still don't know decency and common knowledge." You giggle and press a kiss to Aki's lips, catching her off-guard and making her completely forget about her anger for now.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

I need something to free Kakashi from the statement "he's one of the worst senseis", am I one of the few people who knows what a sensei is like or I don't understand the anime? I'm tired of always having to explain the same thing to the fandom. Sometimes I feel like I'm crazy or that I'm the only one who sees that it's not like that.

sorry about this😣

This fandom seriously has a problem understanding a Sensei’s job or even seeing things with a clear look tbh.

Like i’m not going to say Kakashi’s perfect as a Sensei, he’s not

But everything he did that people hatw, the other Sensei’s did

Kakashi entered his team into the chunin exams after only a year of training? So did Asuma and Kurenai. Sakura wasn’t prepared for the chunin exams? Neither were Hinata and Choji but their Sensei’s still put them in.

He also allowed his Students to ultimate choose if they wanted to do the exams, lying about the applications so Naruto and Sasuke didn’t pressure Sakura into doing something she wasn’t ready to do. Gai did the SAME with his team, but his team decided to wait a year. Team seven did not.

Kakashi also had two of the most difficult cases in the villages so he had a lot going on. He had Sasuke who was a ticking time bomb of anger and was being chased after by Orochimaru. He had Naruto, who was a ticking time bomb of energy and needed attention because he had a sever lack of it, and Kakashi couldn’t always provide that attention because of Sasuke’s situation.

He didn’t speak perfectly to Sasuke when trying to get him to stop fighting his teammates and calm down, but he was also trying to be a Sensei a a Konoha shinobi who was being sent away on a mission asap

He didn’t train Sakura enough but tbh that’s also a writer’s issue and Sakura issue. Writers issue because Kishi just didn’t care to give her the story she should have had, Sakura’s cuz she never reached out for more training like Naruto did. Kakashi trained her where he could, recognized her talents, and talked her up to Tsunade to a point where Tsunade happily became her new master

He also didn’t ignore any of his students. While Gai was so hyper focused on Lee after his fight against Gaara that he forgot to train Neji for his chunin exam finals, Kakashi trained Sasuke while also finding a Sensei for Naruto who could help him with his weakest point (chakra control) and that teacher was only replaced cuz Jiraiya knocked him out for calling him out on being a creep (Ebisu is a perv, but he never stepped over the line into creep territory)

Kakashi is the main Sensei we see so he gets the main brunt of crap, largely cuz it was the main character’s he was the sensei to, but his job was never to teach them

Minato didn’t pass on any of his skills to his students. From what Kakashi says he learned Rasangan on his own. If anything Minato probably told him how to learn it (which we see Kakashi say to Naruto as well) and Kakashi took off with that training on his own

Kurenai didn’t teach her students any of her jutsu’s/moves

Asuma didn’t teach his students his

Gai did admittedly try to teach Neji and Tenten his, but this is a perfect example of how a Sensei is supposed to be more of a lead. Both Kakashi and Gai had one student they taught their moves to (Lee and Sasuke) while supporting their other students in their seperate aims/goals (Naruto, Sakura, Tenten and Neji). So to shit on Kakashi for ‘not teaching his students is 1) wrong (he taught them his ‘ninja way’ aka Friends over mission which they took to heart (at least Naruto did and Sasuke did until he dove head first into darkness. He also taught Sasuke chidori, helped Naruto create his own jutsu and taught Sakura Qi release when she was a genin (it’s a jonin rank jutsu)) 2) not his job.

There’s also the fact that Kakashi is often viewed as lazy because when we see him train his students he’s hands off (laying on a bench while naruto trains, teaching the kids chakra control for tree climbing and then allowing them to practice) but that’s what a sensei is supposed to do. He shouldn’t be holding their hands every step of the way.

He’s also effective. Naruto created a whole new jutsu in DAYS because Kakashi taught him how to use his shadow clones to his advantage in a way no one else could. Sasuke improved his speed to such extreams he was on par with Lee without his weights, and Gai recognized that as being the result of Kakashi’s training. He also learned chidori in that same month, which is a difficult jutsu

Kakashi was actually a really good Sensei, he just had the world stacked against him in keeping his team together, and because we see more of his mistakes people make him seem worse than he actually is rather than… just recognizing his faults and success’. Like i’m sorry to anyone who thinks another Sensei could have done better, they would not have

Gai couldn’t have stopped Sasuke from leaving the village

Yamato would be equally hands off because of how he was raised/trained

Asuma is more likely to highlight their faults than their success’ (probably a result of being the hokage’s son and having a shit ton of expectations placed on his shoulders growing up)

Minato wouldn’t have taught them anything

Jiraiya was EVEN MORE HANDS OFF AND SPENT HIS STUDENTS MONEY ON WOMEN AND BOOSE WHILE ALSO TELLING HIS STUDENT TO STAY IN HIS SEXY NO JUTSU FORM

[candykalewrites]

BSD - Part Four - War

Part One - Alcohol Part Two - Forget Part Three - Desk

A few days later, Chuuya and Dazai found themselves in a hotel room in the Minato ward, Tokyo, across the road from the American Embassy. It was just past midnight, and this part of the city was quiet.

They’d taken a train up from Yokohama the night before, and after a morning of Dazai sight-seeing and forcing Chuuya to accompany him as he dragged him around all the tourist traps, they’d ended up back at the hotel, focused on the mission ahead of them. Well, at least one of them was.  

“It’s your turn. Put that down and take over,” Chuuya said, not bothering to hide his irritation. He was sat on the windowsill, back leant against the frame and head on the glass. He’d been watching the building in front of him for over two hours with nothing exciting to report and was starting to get cranky. This was turning out to be a lot less exciting than he had originally anticipated.

“I can’t, I’m just getting to the good part.”  

Dazai was lying on top of the hotel bed – king-sized, just the one. Chuuya had blown a fuse when they first came into the room, determined to strangle whoever back at headquarters had booked it, clearly fucking with him. Dazai had simply laughed. His spoils from the morning were spread out around him. These included several opened packets of different flavoured mochi, a floral print sun-umbrella and a tiny ginger cat plush which Dazai had taken to referring to as Chuu-Chuu.  

He was holding a trashy paperback out in front of him. Chuuya couldn’t see the name from where he was sat, but the picture on the cover was of a young Samurai, katana in one hand and a woman Chuuya could only assume was his lover in the other. Pink and white petals drifted around them. Chuuya thought it looked terrible, the kind of thing he would expect a lonely housewife to read, not the 18-year-old Mafia exec in front of him.  

“It’s so beautiful,” Dazai continued. “This young man has been exiled from his hometown and sentenced to death for daring to fall in love with the Shogun’s daughter. They’ve ran away together, but they’re being hunted. They’ve decided the only way they can be together in peace is to commit double suicide.” He dramatically brought his hand to his forehead and rested the book on his chest with an exaggerated sigh. “I can’t think of anything more romantic.”

Chuuya shook his head in disbelief. “If you’re not gonna help, at least throw me some mochi. The matcha ones.”

“Sorry, all gone,” Dazai replied, as he picked up the last of the matcha mochi and popped it in his mouth.  

“You just ate that on purpose!”

“Not at all. Just bad timing on your part. Here,” he sat up, sorting through the assorted packets. He picked up a pink one and threw it at Chuuya who caught it and looked down at it. They were strawberry flavour, and the packet was still full, though he noticed one of the pieces had a bite mark in it.  

“You can have those,” Dazai said, “I don’t like them.”  

Chuuya picked one of the mochi out of the packet, ignoring the half-eaten piece. “Gee, thanks, how generous.” He chewed off a small piece; the taste wasn’t too bad. Not quite up to par with matcha but it’d do. He turned back to look out the window as he swallowed it down.  

The two of them had been tasked with gathering information on an American skill user who was rumoured to have been behind the attack at the bar a few weeks earlier. Although Chuuya had managed to get out with just a new bullet wound to show for it, other members of the mafia hadn’t been so lucky. Since then, everyone was on high alert to catch this American, and they’d had intel that he’d been hiding out at the Embassy.  

For a while, they sat in silence, Chuuya slowly making his way through the strawberry mochi, whilst Dazai slowly made his way through the paperback. As Chuuya picked up the last piece, the half-eaten one, (he was hungry, he reasoned. It’s fine.) he noticed a black Honda City pull up outside of the Embassy. He finished the mochi, licked the sugar off his fingertips and grabbed the pair of binoculars he had beside him.

The windows were blacked out, which wasn’t uncommon for business cars or those belonging to officials who wanted additional privacy, but the license plate had been tampered with, making it impossible to make out the registration. Other than that, there were no defining features that would help to tell it apart from the myriad other Hondas in the city.  

Chuuya watched as the driver exited the vehicle, looked around, and then opened the rear driver’s side door. A moment passed before a man stepped out. Despite the darkness, Chuuya could see that the man had slightly curly, dark ginger hair, not unlike his own. He was wearing a simple white shirt, with far too many of the buttons undone, and black pants. Suspenders were clipped to his belt, but rather than wearing them up and over his shoulders, they were hung loose by his side. Chuuya sat up straight, tapping his finger on the glass as he gestured across the road.  

“Dazai. That’s him, that’s the guy. He matches the description in the file.” Chuuya held out the binoculars towards him.    

Dazai snapped his paperback shut and threw it onto the bed amongst all the other items. He jumped up and came over to the window, taking the binoculars and bringing them up to his eyes. After a few seconds he brought them back down.

“No question,” he smirked. “He’s our guy. Quite the abode he’s got himself over here isn’t it? I wonder what the room service is like.”

“What are we going to do?” Chuuya asked.

“As we were told. We go in, we have a nice polite chat with our Yankee friend, and then we leave. Just like Mori wanted.”

Dazai grabbed his coat off the back of a chair and started to put it on. “Let’s go Chuuya,” he said, picking up the other mafia member’s coat and flinging it at him. Chuuya caught it before it hit him in the face and rested it across his lap. He paused for a moment.  

“Dazai. Are you sure about this? Do you think the Boss has made the right call this time? That’s American soil. If we go in there, we’re gonna start an all-out war.”

Dazai turned to face Chuuya, an unreadable expression passing across his face before a sinister grin took its place.

“War? That’s what I’m betting on.”

[karasuozakaya]

Sakigake Komao x Karasu (OC) pt 2

18+ MINORS DNI

 Zabu glances around, making sure they aren't seen. Komao still has a grip on Karasu’s hand and looks at her, smiling proudly.

“You did great, I- I wasn't expecting you to get involved like that.”

Karasu is taken back by the compliment, as she is stil trying to catch her breath. “ I... Honestly didn't want to get involved but once he grabbed me, I knew I had to defend myself..”

Komao chuckles and pulls her in close, his expression becoming serious. He brushes the hair out of her face and stares intently at her. “I know. It was brave of you, you should be proud.” He leans in closer and their faces are now only inches apart.

Karasu feels her face getting hot as they are standing so closely now. She wasn't expecting him to be so warm toward her. This guy is in a gang? Why is he being so sweet to me? Isn’t he supposed to be tough? “Oh.. Thank you..” is all she manages to respond with.

Komao doesn’t seem to plan on pulling back anytime soon as his eyes become more intense and he steps even closer, his expression softening slightly as he speaks in a low tone.

“…You looked even more adorable when you were being all badass back there.”

Zabu is clearly uncomfortable with the situation unfolding before him, “Oh my God Komao are you seriously hitting on her right now? I'm right here!”

Komao ignores Zabu as his eyes stay glued on Karasu’s. He leans even closer until his lips are only centimeters away from hers. Karasu feels her breath hitch as he gets even closer to her.. He pauses for a moment and then whispers to her, “If we weren’t in such a sketchy  situation right now, I would kiss you.” Komao blinks suddenly, as if realizing what he was about to do. NO WAY! Karasu thinks to herself. He was about to kiss me?!

The two snap back into reality as Zabu speaks, “Komao, we don't have time for this right now.. We need to get her out of here!!”

Komao hesitates for a moment and then finally pulls back. He sighs and shakes his head.

“…Yeah, you’re right.”

Komao turns to face Zabu, and then looks back over at Karasu, his expression turning somber. “It isn’t safe for you over here. You should come back to our territory with us. It’s only a few blocks away, so we can walk.”

“You mean to Minato Kai? You think it would be okay?” she asks.

Komao nods. “It’s the only safe place for you right now. You’re vulnerable outside of this area.”

Zabu adds, “And if you come back with us, you could learn a little something about being a delinquent!”

“Don’t scare her away, Zabu…”

Karasu totally ignores Zabu’s comment. The only thing she can think about now is getting close to Komao after he almost kissed her. She wanted that kiss. “I think after seeing what I saw in the fight, I'd feel much safer being with you guys.. Let's go.”

Both men nod in agreement. Komao steps up next to her and slips his arm through hers, pulling her close and pointing out their next destination.

“Let's go.”

The trio eventually arrive back at Minato Kai, a few other members have arrived back already as well. Komao and Karasu sit on a bench just outside. Komao lights a cigarette and leans back on the bench, taking a drag  and then exhaling the smoke into the air. He sighs and looks at Karasu with a soft smile.

“I'm glad you decided to come with us.”

Zabu sits down beside him on the same bench, lighting a cigarette of his own.

Karasu smiles back, “Thanks... I am too. You weren't joking when you said Siguma was ruthless..”

Komao shakes his head and takes another drag from his cigarette. He lets out a puff before speaking again, “ They are absolutely brutal. They have the mindset of ‘no rules, no boundaries.’ They will attack anyone and everyone if it means winning.”

Zabu coughs out a bit after taking a drag of his cigarette.

“Hey, don't smoke so fast, you’re gonna start coughing your damn lungs out.”

“But like... Why? Whats their motivation?” Karasu lifts her leg slightly to cross her legs, a flash of her purple lace panties catching Komao’s eye. His mind begins to wander to places it shouldn’t be..

Komao stops himself from staring as he realizes what he’s doing. He awkwardly clears his throat and fixes his collar before answering Karasu’s question. Zabu definitely picked up on this interaction and turns away to hide his smug grin.

“They’re fighting for territory, as dumb as that might be. They want this area to be their turf so they can do whatever they want. It’s a really immature mindset.”

Karasu doesn't seem to notice Komao’s eyes wandering, and she continues, “But wouldn't it just be better if you guys joined forces instead of fighting? Then you'd be twice as strong..”

Komao starts to laugh and Zabu starts chuckling quietly as well. Komao shakes his head and takes another drag from the cigarette as Zabu speaks up. “You really don't understand how all this works, do you?”

Karasu crosses her arms and shrugs, “ I just don't see the logic in it, I guess.”

Zabu continues to chuckle, resisting the urge to bust Komao’s balls. Komao takes one last drag of his cigarette before stamping it out. He leans back again, resting his arms behind his head. He exhales a last bit of smoke and looks back at her.

“I'll be the first to admit to you that there isn't much logic to this whole thing. This is pure pettiness fighting over territory for ego sake. We're all young and hot blooded around here, which doesn't really make for good decision making.”

Karasu sighs. There's no getting through to these guys.. She changes the subject,” So.. What's the deal with that Matakara guy?”

Zabu immediately responds, “What, did you think was cute or something?” Karasu realizes how this question sounded. Crap.

Komao elbows him and speaks quickly before Karasu can respond to that. “Don't be a jerk, Karasu was only asking a question. Cut her some slack.”

Zabu rolls his eyes and leans back on the bench, mumbling something under his breath.

Karasu laughs, “No, that's not it. He was just a really strong fighter.. And the guy is huge...”

Komao looks at her suspiciously, he leans over with a serious look, “…..do you think he’s cute though?”

She smirks. He IS jealous. Let’s see how far I can go with this.  “Well I mean I guess he is pretty cute too..” she looks slyly over at Komao, waiting for his reaction.

Zabu and Karasu make eye contact and he tries to keep a serious face when he realizes Karasu is toying with Komao. Zabu never wasted an opportunity to mess with his best friend.

Komao stiffens and sits up slightly. His expression starts to turn a brighter shade of red as he begins to speak. “You think he's cute?” His voice is a bit higher than normal, and he can feel his chest heating up as the blood rushes to his face more. Zabu snorts and stifles his laugher.

*Karasu giggles, “…Jealous?”

Komao’s face turns even brighter red and he clears his throat. “N-No, I'm not jealous.” Zabu shakes his head and continues to snicker as Komao continues to speak. “I mean I admit that he’s-… Yeah, I’m a little jealous. I mean, he’s tall, a powerful fighter, and he looks cool. What’s not to like about him?”

Karasu stands up and walks in front of him. She leans down so her face is parallel with his, “I don't know... Wouldn't it be a shame to have to compete with Matakara for my attention?”

Komao’s eyes follow her as she moves in front of him and leans down to match his height. Zabu’s eyes bulge slightly as he watches from a couple of feet away. Komao starts to stutter slightly as his chest heats up, feeling her presence so close next to him.

“C-compete? W-with Matakara? I- I don’t think I can compete with him..”

Karasu is enjoying this. Time to make this man really sweat. “Oh, that's too bad.. He should be back soon.. Maybe I'll go talk to him..”

Komao starts to get flustered over her teasing. He starts to play along with her game, trying his best to hide his jealousy.

“Y-Yeah, that's a good i-idea. You should tot- totally go and talk to him right now. I bet he'd be more than happy to have your company.”

“Oh you really think so?” She feigns dumb and turns away from him, pretending to leave.

Komao’s stomach ties itself in knots at the thought of someone else taking her attention from him. He quickly grabs her hand and pulls her back to him, his grasp gentle but firm.

“Wait, wait, don't go.. He doesn't know how special you are. I don't want him to come around and swoop you off your feet before I get the chance to do so.”

She lets out a light gasp at his touch. She finally broke him down, she finally got him to admit that he was serious about her. I knew these gang boys didn’t like competition.

Komao can feel his heart starting to race even more as his grasp tightens on her hand. His expression softens slightly in the face of her reaction and he leans closer to her until their faces are mere inches apart from one another.

“I-I don't want him to steal you away from me. I want you to be mine..”

Zabu is watching this situation unfold before him. He's unsure if he should be supportive or embarassed. Karasu looks into Komao's eyes as he continues holding her, “I... Wasn't serious about Matakara. I'm not into him like that..” she stutters out.

Komao chuckles a little and lets out a breath as relief washes over him. But even though she might not be into Matakara, his presence still bothers him. He speaks in a half amused, half frustrated tone.

“Ok, but what if he tries to make a move on you? Do you think he would? I really hope he isn't the flirty type...”

Karasu leans close to his ear and whispers, “But I don't want him.. I want you..”

Komao stops breathing for a moment, stunned that she said those words. Her whisper sends a shiver down his back as his grip on her waist tightens. He nods, unable to speak, as all he can do is process those words.

“You want... Me?” His voice is breathy as his eyes stare back at hers, hoping he heard right.

“I like spending time with you.. I wanna see where it goes..”

“Wait, you’re being for real right now?”

Karasu nods. He can tell she’s actually being serious now. His eyes fill with happiness as he finally releases the breath he was holding in. His expression softens as he smiles at her. His arms squeeze her a little, pulling him closer to her as she speaks. Zabu stares at the two, unable to stop his smirk from growing bigger.

“I... I want to see where it goes too..”

Karasu smiles, relieved. She knew that he was into her but hearing it was so much better. Truth was, she had been crushing on him since the day they met, but she didn’t want to seem desperate or uncool by speaking out first. Now that he had made his feelings obvious, she felt safe in doing so as well.

A moment of silence passes as the two smile and look at each other.

Zabu starts to snicker loudly to break the silence and comments, “Well look at that! You two finally got over your fear of admitting your feelings for each other! What a couple of wimps!”

Komao looks away and glares at Zabu and mutters under his breath. “..Shut it, Zabu.”

Karasu giggles quietly as the two exchange glares. Komao sighs and looks back at her. He notices her smile and is immediately tempted to mess with her again. He leans his head close to hers again, getting into her personal space. His voice is a bit lower this time, “How do you think we should spend some time together? I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but I'd love to bring you somewhere private...”

Karasu whispers back, a smile forming on her face, “Just you and I?”

Komao nods, his mind starting to run wild now. He puts his hands on her hips and pulls her close, their faces only inches away.

“Just you and me... Alone together...”

“Hmm..That sounds nice..”

Komao leans in even closer. His breath is warm and he presses his face up against her cheek. His deep voice comes in a whisper just loud enough for her to hear him.

“Then let's get out of here and go somewhere alone... Just the two of us...”

Karasu smiles and nods, “Alright, you wanna come to my place maybe? Do you Think Zabu would mind?”

Komao is in pure ecstasy, his heart starts to beat slightly faster as she asks him to come to her place. Her innocent and cute personality is melting him as he tries not to get too excited. It's a huge change of pace for him, typically it's girls falling over themselves for him, but she is the one in control right now. He tries to remain calm and not jump all over her.

“I don't think that Zabu would mind...”

Karasu stands up, “Alright, let's go.”

Komao grabs her hand and smiles widely, his chest filling with excitement about this. He pulls her away from the bench and starts to lead her away.

“We’ll catch you later okay Zabu?”

Zabu chuckles and shakes his head, knowing exactly why they were leaving and knowing that he'll have more ammunition to torture Komao with when they get back.

“Alright… Catch you later love birds!” He jokes,

“Bye Zabu!”

Zabu laughs as the two of them start to leave. Komao can't help but notice that her grip on his hand is tight, almost like she doesn't want to let go. He chuckles to himself as he leads her down the sidewalk, turning on his heel to look at her. His expression is pure happiness. He can't believe that a girl likes him back, and likes him enough to be the first one to admit it.

[dxfiedfxte]

Thread move to new editor || Continued from here: X || @shootingxstardust

🌙 - Noctis Morte

Marion had destroyed the equipment without much thought in it. She was so focused in keeping the guise of being evil and spooky that she didn’t even stop to think “Hey maybe this device is actually expensive, and these three had to spend their hard earned money on it.” She continued to gaze at the three, mainly studying them, but there was one thing she couldn’t ignore right now. Zero’s fear. It was delicious. Noctis Morte wasn’t necessarily a malicious  being, but being a nightmare goddess, she was bound to freak a few people out, and if she could feed off their negative energy, that was merely a bonus.

The fear she fed off of Zero, just caused her eyes to shine even brighter in the dark room, though she did notice that besides the one person that seemed to be a scaredy cat, the other two didn’t seem overly frightened.  The oldest one seemed to be inconvenienced by the fact that Zero dropped the camera, and the other seemed quizzical and was just talking. That was strange.

Her gaze softened and she simply shrugged. She could have used nightmares to really scare these three, but they also hadn’t done anything to warrant that. Not yet. “Aren’t you going to leave now Arisato san? Your friend seems scared.”  Morte questioned, not really answering Minato’s question about her wanting to show herself.

Zero stepped back, his fear still very much heightened, whole two older men continued to study and analyze her as if they were trying to debunk this entire thing as nonsense. The trio had done this a lot, they basically lived and breathed this career every single day of their lives, and with that knowledge and experience, everything just wasn't hitting the mark that would normally mean there was Paranormal Activity, nothing was adding up. Unfortunately, with Zero being the youngest of the group, despite also having this knowledge, the young man had completely forgotten it all just by this one encounter, clearly Zero still had some things to learn about this job, but for now, the two would leave him be.

Minato looked down at the camera and wasn't too pleased to see it in pieces, but instead of getting mad, Minato just remained calm like he usually did in most situations. It wasn't going to be fun trying to find this exact same model of the camera again, the only positive thing about this entire moment, the day before, Minato had taken the film from that camera, so there could at least take solace in the fact that they didn't need to worry about losing yesterdays footage of their previous investigation, this would have been a lot worse if Minato had decided to do it the next day like he originally planned to, so at least there was that.

Remaining silent, Minato and Takashi turn their heads to look at each other giving each other puzzled expressions as Zero cowards in the corner, Zero would probably need a break after this, the poor young man was traumatized. Minato and Takashi could handle some investigations alone, besides, if they ever needed help, Minato could contact one of his friends in the Paranormal community and appear as a guest co-investigator, which was something they would sometimes do.

[{ 🦋 }] - "....Takashi. You thinking what I'm thinking?" Asks the bluenette Paranormal Investigator. After carefully studying and observing the situation in front of them, it appeared that Minato had finally come to a conclusion, and he was sure that Takashi was on the exact same page.

[{ 👻 }] - "You know I am Minato." The older man simply responds. It was time to end this little game, it was pretty sad that Zero couldn't put two and two together, he honestly expected better from Zero, though he was still young, still a bit naive, so he'd let it slide this once.

Giving a nod in return, the fool turns to face the figure before the trio. Casually, Minato took a few steps toward her with Takashi following behind him, both not even showing a sliver of fear. This charade was pretty much a waste of time now that he thought about it -- he made a mental note to erase the footage recorded here today later when they were back at their hotels, there was no need for something that clearly wasn't Paranormal, they had a reputation to keep after all, and showing fake footage would essentially be career suicide, and the trio loved this job too much to let that happen -- Minato especially since he had put his life's work into building up the reputation and credibility the had spent years creating.

[{ 🦋 }] - "Takashi, can you go turn on the lights, we don't need them off anymore." To that, Takashi nods and flicks on the lights in the building, the light snapping Zero out of his fear as he realized that the investigation was over.

[{ 🦋 }] - "Alright Noctis, you can stop pretending to be a ghost now, charade's over."

Hearing his lead investigator say that immediately brought a look of utter confusion on Zero's face, he was floored by the revelation. So Noctis, wasn't a ghost? This didn't make sense.

[{ 👻 }] - "....Wait, what?" Zero comments, the confusion on his face only increasing the more he tries to process what exactly had just happened.

[{ 🦋 }] - "....I think you need to put your training wheels back on Zero...."

[panharmonium]

this sequence doesn’t need any embellishment, but i still think about it constantly.  

i’m thinking about yamato, who, for the first time here, uses his jutsu for his own interests, against the people who trained him to use it only for theirs.

thinking about the fact that kakashi’s arms are still cut up and bleeding from wounds yamato gave him, and yet here he is, breaking law after law, risking his entire life to save someone who two hours ago was trying his best to assassinate him.

thinking about the fact that kakashi comes to the foundation against the hokage’s orders, that he breaks into this facility knowing full well that it amounts to treason, that he deliberately orders yugao away before he does anything illegal, not just so she can get help, but so she can’t be implicated in the choice he’s made.  

thinking about the fact that self-preservation and concern about potential future consequences are things that don’t even register in kakashi’s mind, not when there’s an immediate ethical choice to be made.  in the future, he might be arrested for what he’s about to do.  he might be executed, even.  but all the nebulous, potential future consequences in the world can’t affect his decision, because right now, if he lets danzo do something to yamato, he’s done something wrong.

[it’s like what he says many years later in the manga: to know what is right and choose to ignore it is the act of a coward.]

thinking about how badly danzo wants kakashi dead.  kakashi is the kid he couldn’t ensnare, the one he tried to exploit by preying on the pain of minato’s death but whose spirit was ultimately too strong to be made into another of danzo’s lapdogs.  kakashi foiled all of danzo’s plans three years ago and now he’s foiling all of them again; he can’t be intimidated, he can’t be broken or brought to heel, even lost and hurting and alone as he is - at the most critical moments, he still always does what’s right, not what he’s told.  nothing danzo does can change that.  there’s something guiding kakashi that danzo can’t touch, some kind of moral magnetic north inside him that can’t be cowed by any of danzo’s usual machinations.  kakashi will not be led.  that look he gives danzo when the smoke clears - it’s all fight.  that’s somebody who’s prepared to die for a principle, and danzo doesn’t know what to do with people like that.  he has no power over them.

[thinking, incidentally, about the fact that danzo must have hated kakashi’s father, and that he must hate kakashi even more, because kakashi is the version of sakumo who refuses to recant and who repeatedly decides not to die, despite how badly he wishes he could or thinks he should.]

thinking about kakashi, outnumbered and crouched there with yamato knocked to the ground behind him, preparing to fight his way through every single person who shows up to stop them from reaching the exit, including danzo himself.

thinking about how kakashi is doing all this for someone he barely knows, who tried to kill him, who thought that death was a well-deserved punishment and who fully expected to be forsaken, forgotten, and abandoned to his fate.

thinking about what that must feel like for yamato, who never in a thousand years believed that anyone would come for him.

[x0401x]

may you please elaborate more on the kaisei part you just mentioned im so eager to read the LN now hh

By God, I sure as hell can. I’m just gonna dump the whole scene here under the cut, because I’m sure not everyone would believe me if I just wrote a summary of it. Even I couldn't believe my own eyes when I read this shit for the first time.

Just to give some context, the scene takes place at a theme park where people could interact with dogs and cats. The whole club was there, including Masaki, but they scatter to enjoy the attractions in small groups. Masaki tags along with the first-years to keep an eye on them. Minato, Ryouhei and Nanao go straight to the first circle and dive into a sea of puppies. The girls head to a corner with trained dogs, where Yuuna takes a video of Rika petting one of them. And then there’s Seiya and Kaito, who decide to go see a dog runway for large dogs. One of the dogs gets cozy with Seiya and that’s where this bullshit begins.

Ayano Kotoko really knows how not to give a single flying fuck.

“That one sure is clingy. Ain’t it heavy?”

“I’m used to it, so it’s fine. But I’ll have to take a shower before going home. Kuma will find out that I was getting friendly with other dogs if the smell stays on me.”

“Where are you gonna take that shower?”

“Minato’s place. I’ll go in from the back door so that Kuma won’t notice.”

“You’ll be mistaken for some buglar.”

“This always happens, so there’s no problem.”

Someone blew a whistle. The dogs sled to their feet and went into their hut. The song was “Greensleeves”.

English lyrics: Alas, my love, you do me wrong Greensleeves was all my joy Greensleeves was my delight

Japanese translation: Ah, my love, you're such a cruel one Greensleeves, you were my joy Greensleeves, such merry days I was happy just being by your side

Invited by nostalgia, scenes that one both would and would not want to remember came to mind. The two went into the shade to avoid the sun. Heat-haze rose from within the grass.

“I just recently learned something; the Bernese Mountain Dog has a short lifespan even in comparison to other dogs, and apparently, there’s a Swiss proverb that goes, ‘Three years a young dog, three years a good dog and three years an old dog... all else is a gift from God’. The Ainu people call bears ‘kamuy’ – ‘gods’. I accidentally named a short-lived dog ‘Bear’ and kept it by my side. This had me thinking that ignorance is such a scary thing.”

“There ain’t any problem with that, y’know? Some grade school brat gave his pet a name that sounded strong. The Ainu people saw strong bears as gods. Isn't that all there is to it? Unlike in the past, medicine is advanced now. You’re just overthinking too much stuff.”

“Fuh, you’re right. Hey, Kaito.”

“Hm?”

“Ah... it’s almost time for lunch. Let’s go back to the meeting spot.”

Under the sunlight filtered through foliage, red shoes chased after blue ones.

I don’t know if it’s okay to catch up to you, since you’re so full of secrets. Is it selfish of me to want to know what’s burdening you, or to hope that you’ll share the load with me, even if just a little bit of it?

A cool breeze blew past the two, who at some point started walking side by side.

Okay, this scene needs a break-down.

On one side, you have some very obvious stuff, like Kaito’s thoughts about Seiya. His actions have been screaming “rely on me, goddamn it” since volume 1. No news here. Did I ever imagine we’d get it thrown in our faces word by word, coming from Kaito himself? Absolutely the fuck not.

Now, the rest leaves a lot of questions. Why did Seiya bring up the topic of Kuma’s name all of a sudden, and why at a moment when he’s all alone with Kaito instead of when everyone’s together? Why did the song in the background have to be Greensleeves? Why

the fuck

did it have to be such a suggestive part of the song?

Ayano. Fucking answer me, Ayano.

The first thing that got me about this moment is that there’s a Japanese version paired to the original English. Although I wouldn’t call it an accurate translation, I think the Japanese one hits closer to home when it comes to the author’s intention in picking this song (or else, it wouldn’t even be here). These specific verses wouldn’t be used without purpose in the first place, and literally all of it matches with the story.

“You’re such a cruel one”? Yeah, Seiya is indeed a cruel person. Not in the sense that he’s ill-intentioned or mean-spirited (far from it, actually), but in the sense that he doesn’t have any mercy when it comes to protecting what’s important to him. He doesn’t play fair and ends up hurting people in the process (even the very people he’s trying to protect), but he’s fully aware of that. It’s a price he’s willing to pay.

“I was happy just being by your side” reminds me a lot of volume 1, when Kaito was a hair’s breadth away from uncovering the whole truth about what happened in middle school and Seiya’s real intentions, but decided to leave it alone because it wouldn’t be of help for anyone if he knew. Back then, it really felt like just being by Seiya’s side and watching things unfold was enough for him.

But then again, even the English version of the lyrics hits bull’s-eye, ‘cause let’s be honest, Seiya did do Kaito a lot of wrong at the beginning. From blatantly ignoring Kaito to lying through his teeth with a straight face and throwing shade at every opportunity. We really saw it all, lol.

So yeah. Without a doubt, “my love” refers to Seiya. From Kaito’s point of view.

And like.

Why. In the fuck.

Why in all the nine fucks would you use that term for two guys who are supposed to be friends?

ALSO, WHAT THE FUCK WAS SEIYA GOING TO SAY. WHY DID YOU CUT HIM OFF THERE. WHY DOES EVERY SCENE IN THIS GODFORSAKEN SERIES CUT OFF WHEN IT REACHES PEAK GAY.

I just wanna talk, Ayano. I just wanna fucking talk.

This book feels like the author channeled everything the readers have been thinking into one volume and then added some more juicy stuff to it because why the fuck not.

I just... love the way that there’s literally nowhere else to run? Like, no matter how you try to look at it, Seiya is the one “my love” is referring to, and the rest is about his and Kaito’s relationship. It’s not even debatable at all.

Am I saying that Kaito is in love with Seiya? No. But can I say for sure that he isn’t? Also no. This is the magic of Tsurune. The gay is heavy as fuck and the author doesn’t let you find excuses for it.

What I mean by this wall of text is that we now can associate a sentence as straightforward as “alas, my love” with Kaito and Seiya. In canon.

Thank you, Ayano. Fuck you, Ayano.

But mind you, this isn’t the worst of all. There’s a lot going on in volume 3. A whole fucking lot.

“That’s every volume of Tsurune” NO YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

Josi, my heart, Kinnporsche is finally over and it left a hole in my life so I need something new to hyperfixate lol. Being new to BL and all, I have come to you to ask for recommendations!!! -I already decided to check out Old fashion cupcake and Manner of Death - but please what else, tell meeee ❤️

My dear Dids, it made me so happy when I found your ask in my inbox! Thank you 🥰

I understand you so well! I love hyperfixating too and after KinnPorsche it is difficult to find something to fill this hole, but there is so much great stuff out there! Manner of death and Old fashion cupcake - good choices! Especially Old fashion cupcake! It is just soooo good!

For the following recommendations, I tried to find kind of a system 😅 (it will be a long post - so many good things out there)

Currently airing

Minato Shouji Coin Laundry

Senpai, Danjite Koidewa!

Two japanese bls with cute stories away from the typical college bl.

Love mechanics

I am a sucker for YinWar and especially Veemark, so I love this series. If you don't like cheating stories or pain, just ignore this one 😉

Taiwanese

We best love 1 + 2 - enemies to friends to lovers. Zhou Shu Yi and Gao Shi De will always have a place in my heart! Part 1 takes place in college. Part 2 takes place five years later and is more mature than the first one. And as soon as I heard Sam Lin's (Gao Shi De) voice, I was sold - he could have just read the local phone book and I would have watched/listened to him for hours doing so.

Be loved in house: I do - The chemistry is all over the screen for the main couple. And I fell in love with their story so hard! This show is just my safe place where I can go to after a difficult day. It is nothing special and nothing big, but it melts my heart with its softness.

DNA says love you - A really good story! With some twists and lovable characters. The character's actions and reactions were comprehensible and I needed some tissues.

Japanese

Cherry Magic - A quite unique story. The main couple are just the sweetest honey buns.

Old Fashion Cupcake - Would scream my love for this from the top of a mountain.

Life: Love on the line (director's cut) - The movie follows the life of Akira and Yuuki. So, for once, we learn what happens when the main couple finally get together.

Korean

Semantic Error - it is just good. You have a good looking cast with a good written story and really good chemistry between the couple - the perfect mixture!

Long time no see - Something for when you are looking for action and blood and story and chemistry and a love story. It caught me by surprise, I wasn't prepared for the good quality of this one. (the production complany "Strongberry" is specialized in queer media and everything I watched so far produced by them was very good)

Color Rush - This one has a very unique story with a little bit more depth than one would think at first glance.

Thai

He's coming to me - oh this was so good! My expectations weren't that high and in the end I was blown away by the quality and the story and the acting and just everything! Especially the acting was over the top! Highly recommend this little gem!

Triage - This was nothing what I thought it would be. Not just a hospital story. This was so much more - thriller, romance, science fiction, drama...and very well executed.

Bad Buddy - the one that set the bars for every bl coming after it really high 😅 It is definitely good, especially the acting!

A tale of thousand stars - This is one of my feel good series. It is sweet and innocent. It is not perfect, but I would always recommend it, because I love it!

I have to cut here or I'll never find an end 😅

I hope I could give you some inspiration and you find something you can enjoy and hyperfixate on a little bit🙃

[saaraofthesand]

I would like your opinion on a post I saw on tumblr, this post is defending Jiraiya as a good teacher: https://odditiesinnaruto.tumblr.com/post/649929660408512512/jiraiya-was-a-terrible-teacher-to-naruto-because

This is kinda a long and messy response, but I hope you get what I’m trying to say lol. Thanks for asking!

In general, I find it weird when people blame the children in situations where adults had responsibility.

This is a problem that I have with a lot of people in the Naruto fandom because I just feel like they don’t understand that when something is wrong with a child, it’s almost always the fault of an adult.

Like??? They need to go watch Spirited Away so they can see Hayao Miyazaki poetically explain the way adults neglect and ignore children.

A good teacher doesn’t have a 'teaching style.' A good teacher adapts to their students learning style. Most teachers don’t do this and that’s why we all hated almost all of our teachers growing up.

Is Naruto the sharpest knife in the drawer? No. Is he my favorite character? Definitely not. Do I have problems with his character? Absolutely. BUT it is not an exaggeration to say that every single notable adult in his life failed him EXCEPT Iruka (KING).

The Third Hokage? Pretty much abandoned him.

Kakashi? Allowed his trauma to affect his ability to teach and only valued Naruto because he was Minato’s son.

And Jiraiya. God do I hate him.

Jiraiya failed Naruto a lot. For conciseness I’ll just sum it up using bullet points.

He didn’t come back to Konoha to raise Naruto when he found out about MinaKushi’s death. He was Naruto’s godfather, which was the closest thing Naruto had to family. Not to mention Minato gave him the key to Naruto’s seal for a reason. Some might say, “The Third Hokage wouldn’t have let him.” But Jiraiya was a Sannin and a Sage. He could’ve just said tough and taken Naruto anyway but he didn’t. I don’t like the way this post acts like Naruto got some huge privilege in getting Jiraiya for a mentor. Jiraiya should have always taken care of Naruto.

When Jiraiya teaches Naruto the Rasengan, he just kind of dumps him in the forest for like 6 weeks until he teaches himself. He also constantly compares Naruto to Minato. And imagine how much quicker Naruto would have learned (and they would have found Tsunade) if Jiraiya hadn’t spent most of the trip hanging out in brothels.

Then (unrelated to training) Jiraiya, who should know how much Naruto needs a positive parental figure in his life, constantly abandons Naruto so that he can write porn. When you decide to take on the responsibility of a child, it is now your responsibility to take care of that child. It doesn’t matter how ‘inconvenient’ it is for you.

After almost three years away, Naruto has learned basically nothing. He’s improved on techniques that he taught himself but that’s about it. When you compare that to Sakura and Sasuke’s improvement during the time skip, it doesn’t look great.

Both the toads and Killer B teach Naruto more than Jiraiya ever taught him. So Naruto isn’t an unteachable idiot. His problem is that no one ever had the patience to actually sit down and teach him.

Now this post brings up the fact that the Ame Orphans learned a lot from Jiraiya. I would argue that this was due to it being necessary for their survival. And let’s not forget that after three years, Jiraiya abandoned them to fend for themselves in the middle of a war torn country. And also not forget, that both Nagato and Konan resented Jiraiya for doing that. Ultimately, Jiraiya’s neglect of his students cost him his life, so yeah I do think he earned a death like the one he got.

Not to get all serious on everybody’s asses, but I tend to be overly observant of the way adults treat children (even in fiction and fandom culture) because I plan on adopting teenagers eventually. When you want to adopt kids you have to understand that most of their behavior and mindset come from the adults around them. So patience is incredibly important when dealing with them. You have to be careful how you treat a neglected child because you could trigger them or further their trauma.

It is a responsibility to be put in charge of a child not a privilege bestowed upon that child.

There’s this horrible part of our culture (that is definitely the reason we’re all so fucked up btw) that believes that children are responsible for everything. HOLD ADULTS ACCOUNTABLE PEOPLE.

Kids are kids. They actually don’t think the same way that adults do because their brains aren’t finished developing. No amount of stupidity or bad behavior will make a child deserve abuse or neglect from the adults responsible for them.

[mixelation]

I have a question about the time travel Minato fic they you wrote!!!

So, I remember in Naruto that he had an ANBU guard as a kid. Do they exist in this universe? If they do, why didn’t they immediately jump the guy who’s pretending to be the 4th hokage?

Maybe they don’t actually guard him 24/7 or something?

Adding to this, was there any kind of chakra flare when Minato flashed into this universe? I’d inagine that it would take a lot of chakra to power a jutsu that would send you to other dimensions.

If there WAS a chakra flare, are there people who are tracking down Minato right now?

Oh, I meant to include a note about this and then forgot.

I am ignoring several popular fic tropes for this genre of fic. First, there is no canonical evidence that Naruto was ever persecuted in any way besides being shunned/ignored and that one time Mizuki tricked him. No one's ever hunt him down or beat him.* Second, I am using the anime or manga portrayal of his living situation (haven't decided which yet), which to me looks like an older building that's otherwise largely free of disrepair/neglect. He's not living in squalor. Third and most relevant to your question, he doesn't have a 24/7 ANBU guard. The ANBU guard thing is purely fanon, and while I don't mind it in fics and might use it in a different fic, I personally don't think it jives very well with what canon actually shows us, and I don't feel like including it as a logistical hurdle for this fic.

IIRC, the main village security is a perimeter thing. Like, they sensed Pein coming in because of some sort of perimeter, but Itachi was able to bypass it because "he knew how." Given the clusterfuck of the chunin exams, during which they knew Orochimaru was lurking and just couldn't find him, I don't think there's any canon evidence they'd be able to pick up on foreign jutsu usage that wasn't like.... loud/obvious. So Minato is accidentally in stealth mode right now. (I did intentionally make a point to describe the park as empty and poorly lit-- no one is around close enough to recognize him.)

*I did want an explanation for why Naruto is living alone at such a young age, because him living alone IS implied in the anime, but the logistics of how a small child could do that has no canon explanation. So I decided he was removed from an orphanage (which we know canon DOES have a concept of) due to abuse, and he had various caretakers visiting him until he was deemed responsible enough to care for himself. I still didn't want to lean into "comically physically abusive" so I picked some punishments that I thought a ninja village might consider fine/normal except when issued excessively.