#because he was like. ah yes. my girlfriend's cat. she likes the cat

[drawnecromancy]

one thing i find very funny about my dad is that he will listen to me ramble about stuff he does not care about. he was very surprised when i told him that you CAN train cats to do tricks (because he does not like cats and avoids interacting with them), and kind of impressed when i told him a friend of mine actually teaches her elderly cat a bunch of tricks because said cat gets Bored easily.

it's the little things, you know ?

[hiitsm]

Bound by Trust: Navigating Turbulence Together

Part 1.

You hesitate to open up to your girlfriend about what's happening at home because you've been explicitly instructed not to share it with anyone.

Angst, Hurt, Undetailed physical abuse by a parent (reader's), lot's of Comfort & Fluff

-

Kindness

-

"Y/n, you're late?" my biology teacher exclaims as I round the corner into his classroom.

"Uh... uhm... yes, I'm sorry, I forgot to set my alarm," I stammer, my voice laced with uncertainty.

"Ah, it happens to the best of us. It's okay for this time. Please, take a seat and enjoy the class," he replies with a forgiving smile.

I rush over to where Alexia is sitting, relief washing over me when I see she has saved a seat for me. I flash her an apologetic smile. She must have been worried, knowing I'm never usually late.

"Y/n, what happened? You're never late and you also didn't reply to my texts. Please don't just say that you forgot your alarm because we both know that you never forget to set your alarm," she rambled in her own whisper-yelling voice, concern etching her features.

"I'm sorry, Ale, something came up at home and I kind of lost track of time. I haven't looked at my phone since yesterday in the evening. I should have let you know, I'm sorry for making you worry," it's your time to ramble now, your voice tinged with anxiety. You don't want to make the person you love the most worry too much about you.

Your hands still shake from the incident at home, an incident you're forbidden to discuss. You can't even share it with Alexia, your girlfriend of a month. You are feeling too afraid to do that.

Under the table, Alexia reaches out and takes your hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. You've been inseparable since the start of high school, and now, as you both almost get to finish your first year of university, and as girlfriends, she understands your anxiety and knows just how to help you feel calmer.

"It's okay, amor, but please try to let me know next time," Alexia says, her eyes soft with concern. You turn to meet her gaze fully, captivated by the beautiful eyes that always seem to dissolve your worries. "I will try," you whisper back, feeling a wave of emotion that threatens to spill over.

A tear—or is it?—escapes, feeling oddly placed above your eye. As you try to discreetly wipe it away, hoping Alexia doesn't notice anything amiss, you're too late.

"Amor, what happened? You have a cut right above your eyebrow, and it's bleeding a little," Alexia notices, immediately reaching into her bag for tissues and plasters.

"Oh, it must have been from yesterday's football practice," you reply, your voice filled with uncertainty. Even though you and Alexia play on different football teams—with her being on a higher level team—you both know well that you didn’t have practice yesterday.

She doesn't press further, sensing your discomfort. Whatever happened, you're not ready to talk about it, especially not in the middle of a biology class. Alexia respects your silence, offering a reassuring squeeze to your hand, letting you know she's there whenever you're ready to share.

"Psst, Ale, psst, can I please copy your work? I don’t understand," comes a sheepish voice from behind. You and Alexia turn to see Mapi grinning awkwardly at you both.

"I'm not your cat, Mapi. And why don’t you ask your girlfriend?" Alexia responds with a playful sneer, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"Ingrid wants me to do it myself so that I actually learn something," Mapi admits, causing you to chuckle.

"Because you should learn something on your own once in a while," Ingrid chimes in, lightly scolding her girlfriend from across the room.

You laugh along with them, feeling grateful for the camaraderie and the distraction from your chaotic morning at home.

Being at university feels like a breath of fresh air, offering both challenges and comic relief when you need it most.

"So, next class is physiotherapy in 30 minutes. You can take a break or stay here since it will be held in this classroom," your teacher announces. You turn towards your girlfriend.

"Shall we step outside for a bit to get some fresh air?" you suggest, already gathering your things. It's always better to be safe with your belongings.

"Yes, that sounds great," Alexia agrees with a smile.

Leaving Mapi and Ingrid behind as Ingrid tutors Mapi on her work, the two of you head out.

All four of you share the ambitious dream of becoming professional football players while earning degrees in sports coaching and physiology. It’s a demanding path, but your determination binds you together. Conveniently, you all live nearby the same block in Barcelona, with the university just a 15-minute drive away.

Just as you're about to head outside, Alexia catches your hand and guides you toward the school bathroom. "We need to clean that cut first and put a proper bandage on it," she insists.

You softly roll your eyes—Alexia has always been the nurturing type, always making sure you're well taken care of. It’s one of the things you find endearing about her.

As you walk outside, you can't help but notice Alexia's lingering worry, her grip on your hand tight and protective. You feel an urge to explain things to her, despite your fears and the restrictions you're under.

"Did you come on your bicycle today?" Alexia asks, her eyes catching sight of your bike in the school lot.

"Yes, I needed to get here quickly and my mom was tied up with some other things, so she couldn't drop me off," you explain. "You could’ve asked me to pick you up, amor," Alexia responds sweetly, a hint of concern in her voice. "I know, I will next time," you assure her, leaning in for a quick gentle kiss on her lips.

"Is it okay if I join your family for dinner tonight?" you ask quietly, hoping for a reason to avoid going home too soon.

"Yes, of course, amor. I'll let my mami know you're coming," Alexia replies warmly, her voice a comforting balm.

Relief washes over you at her sweet response. "My mother is a bit upset with me, it’s probably nothing, but I just don’t want to go home yet," you confess, squeezing her hand reassuringly, grateful for her understanding and support.

"Are you okay? What was she upset about?" Alexia's voice is gentle as she guides you to sit on the grass under the warm sun.

"That new football jacket I bought," you confess, feeling your cheeks heat with embarrassment. You wonder silently if your mother had a right to be upset over something you worked for and bought with your own money.

"Yes, I remember, you bought it with your own money even though I wanted to treat you. And that jacket looks stunning on you," Alexia responds in disbelief, her concern growing. "Why would she be upset about that?"

You see the frown deepening between Alexia's eyebrows and reach out to smooth it away with your fingers. "I don't know, she's just been having a few stressful days at work," you explain, hesitant to delve deeper into the subject. Alexia senses your reluctance to continue.

"Thank you for telling me. I'll always be here for you," she reassures you, squeezing your hands with a soft smile. Grateful for her support, you lean in and plant a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"I just texted my mami, she's excited to see you tonight," Alexia shares, brightening your mood instantly. Your face lights up at the news, comforted by the thought of a welcoming environment waiting for you this evening.

"I'm excited too. I'll let my mother know I'll be home a bit later," you tell Alexia, taking out your phone to send a quick message. Although you know your mother might not be thrilled about it, the thought of returning home when your father is also there brings you some peace, as things tend to be calmer with him around.

"You know," Alexia begins, her voice dropping to a shy whisper as a blush creeps over her cheeks, "if you ever need to stay over for the night, it’s really no problem." Even though you've had sleepovers before, this feels different, your romantic relationship is still quite new. "Not that we need to do anything, or sleep in the same bed, but.. erhm.. —"

You cut her off, leaning in to kiss her softly, touched by her thoughtful offer. This gesture means more to you than she might ever realize. "Thank you, amor. That means a lot," you whisper back, grateful for her understanding and support.

As you walk back to class, hand in hand, the hurt and turbulent emotions begin to ebb away. Although you know you can trust Alexia and plan to share everything with her eventually, a trace of fear and anxiety still lingers. You prepare yourself for the day when it might all become too much, but for now, you find comfort in the steady presence of your girlfriend beside you.

As you and Alexia return to the classroom, Mapi greets you with a mischievous grin.

"Okay, love birds, time to break it up for class. Let me sit next to my best friend Ale so I can 'borrow' some of her wisdom," she teases, gently nudging you towards the chair next to Ingrid.

[lucysarah-c]

Do you think that Canon Levi (While he is in the scouts, not post-war) would want a serious relationship or even a family? I love reading fanfictions about him falling in love with someone who is also on the scouts and even having a wife or kids, but he canonically is not a huge fan of marriages and Idk, maybe he doesn't like the idea of putting children in such a dangerous world, you know what I mean? What's your opinion? 

Hi, sweetheart! How are you? Ah, first of all, thank you for stopping by my inbox and asking for my opinion. I always get a little giggly when people ask for my thoughts on anything haha. I promise to do my best to reply to everything to the best of my abilities!

I agree with you to a certain degree, especially since you mentioned not "post-war Levi." I think post-war Levi is a completely different story, you know? This man sat down with two kids to tell them about his childhood and mother. Let's remember that Hange didn't even know about Kenny's existence during the Uprising Arc, which leads me to think that Levi didn't speak to anyone about his past before. Now he does? I mean, yes, it's a literary device—using characters completely alien to the idea to present a first-person POV of the character telling their past. I've used it myself in my main fic. But let's say that's not the case, and Levi is opening up like never before. He seems to be redoing his life and living happily after the war. I wouldn't be surprised if he decides to pursue a partner and kids for himself (if he wants, as kids and romantic relationships aren't necessary for happiness).

But Canon Scout Levi? Let me tell you, first of all, I don't think Levi really "believes" in marriage per se. I think he would treat his girlfriend as if she were his wife; he doesn't think of marriage much beyond "a tradition." Now, I do see him getting married if it would enhance the life or rights of his girlfriend. What do I mean by this? Let's say there's "social judgment" if his girlfriend is publicly in a relationship with him and "being with a man outside of wedlock" causes her social scrutiny—he may marry her. He knows firsthand how women are judged based on their "status" by his mother, so if he can step up and do the right thing, he will. For example, if he were to die and his partner couldn't land jobs because people judge that she's unmarried at her age, he would marry her. Or if she could get a pension from being married to a soldier, and every coin counts, Levi wouldn't mind it. That's what I personally think. Levi knows he won't be the one getting the sour end from not making it official, so he sees it as beneficial to make it legally official.

Then about kids, I don't see Levi "seeking" kids while he's in the Scouts. It's rather clear that Levi likes kids across the story, but he probably wants to give his kids the childhood he didn't have. And yeah, "kids only need someone who loves them, etc.," but the truth is kids need time, dedication, and MONEY. Three things that Scout Levi doesn't have lmao. So I don't see him canonically "seeking to become a dad." If there's contraception in Paradis, he's for sure using it. If there isn't, or accidents happen, and his girlfriend ends up pregnant, he would probably state that it's not the best timing for kids (especially if she's a Scout, as I doubt a woman would be allowed to be a soldier and also raise a kid. She would lose her job and stay behind to be a mother, which was usually the case back in the day). But if she decides to carry on, Levi, being an adult doing adult stuff, will take responsibility and be the best father he can given the circumstances.

Finally, about relationships… I'm a firm believer that you don't truly choose to fall in love or not haha. Like when it happens, it happens, like the cat distribution system lol. Once it knocks at your door, it's your time. Once again, I don't picture Levi going out of his way "searching" for romance. But if he slowly gets to know someone and likes them, and that person likes him back, then well… I don't know. Now that I'm rereading the manga, I'm more sure about this. Levi hardly seems "unapproachable," like "I'm so hurt, I don't want to let anyone in." On the contrary, you see he has good relationships with almost all the Scouts, even telling Nifa about Kenny out of nowhere. He's not one to fall easily, but if it happens, it happens.

I hope this was a good enough answer <3 Thank you so much for your ask.

Have a lovely day!

Stay safe!

[kuethemoon]

iwtv fanfic friday: lesbianism onto the guys

@oldbutchdaniel I'm joining the fun. it's yuri time

two-headed mother by tisiphones // e, 8.6k

"Poor darling," Armand says, and the condescension in his voice is so awful and so offensive and Lestat wants to curl up in it and never, ever leave. "It's okay to let yourself be taken care of for just one night. You can't help what you need." It's Lestat's last night in Paris. Armand makes it a memorable one.

actually world changing. mommy issues galore it's sooo fun and this fic is part of several that got me into armandstat

super graphic ultra modern girl by armanddelioncourt // e, 0.9k

“I want to watch how you insert your tampon.” “Wha—No, you weirdo,” she glanced around the mercifully-deserted aisle. “You can’t just ask me that in the store!”

yummmmmy period blood fic!!! i love period blood fics sooo much and they're so cute

More than Neither by apoptoses // e, 6.2k

Annoying, how hot it is to see Armand kneeling on the dirty bathroom floor like this. Without her heels to compensate for their height difference she looks small, delicate. Her face is on the level with Daniel’s hips and Daniel knows what’s about to happen. Armand has probably been planning for this since they stepped into the store, she realizes. There’s no way she’d catch Daniel bleeding for the first time and let that go. (Daniel gets her period. Armand helps. Written for the Queens of the Damned prompt butch/femme.)

another period blood fic pls bartender! if I tip you can add them being freaky in a public toilet? thank you very much I'll take the lot pls!! the way daniel and armand handle being women and lesbians is so well written. dyke stamp of approval. if you're starting to notice a trend don't tell me

she loves me, she loves me not by IguessIllchangeitlater // e, 2.3k

“Sure,” she panted and raised her head, tried to find Armand’s eyes, but kept focusing on her fanged smile instead. “I will wear that fucking skirt.” Push out, push in, push out, push in, Daniela was going to come just from that, she was going to die. “I can’t-ah, I can’t wear my underwear with that, I would look silly.” Push in, push out. “Yes,” Armand agreed. She rested her head on the mattress, next to Daniela’s knee and busied herself with mouthing the blood that was still there. The blood that she drew earlier. “So, what’s the plan, boss?” Daniela managed to raise herself on her elbows. Armand’s beguiled eyes looked like that of a cat in the light of the night. “For the underwear situation?” “You will wear none, of course.”

butch daniel wearing a skirt because armand said so was an idea that bounced around in my head for a whole week so you know how excited I was to read this. hell yeah they're so bad to each other

sweet things for the sea by ulatraviolet_glow // e, 2.6k

Danielle Molloy, a runaway posing as a young man on a trading ship dreams of a better life, but when her dreams find her falling overboard and into the arms of the woman of her dreams, how disturbed will Dani be when she realises that the woman is not human at all, but a creature of the sea?

siren armand do you know how much you mean to meeeeee I lay awake at night thinking of you sinfully. siren armand...

one of your girls by sleepdeprivedsurgeon // m, 4.7k

“I was thinking maybe I’d go with my girlfriend,” Daniel says. Armand sucks in a breath, a familiar blend of excitement and fever rearing its head inside him. This isn’t new— nothing is, after nearly five centuries— but it’s certainly been a while. Louis doesn’t care what he looks like, what he is, just as long as he stays below him. On his knees in the endless confessional. Marius would dress him up sometimes: Helen of Troy, Cassandra, Mary Magdalene. When the painting was finished he’d push his skirts up and take him there in the studio.

technically not yuri but beautiful feminization + crossdressing armand and I had to put it here. special treat!

[starsomens]

Headcanon for Noah who first met Y/N and his first impression of her was that she was shy and sweet

Fast forward a few years later, they’re now dating and her true colours show that she’s actually a menace. She’s hyper, chaotic, she bites Noah sometimes (he’d bite back in retaliation), when they go out shopping sometimes, she gets distracted and gets lost (ADHD lol)

she’d call him dude sometimes instead of babe or baby and has a energy of a ginger cat

I’m sorry this is a lot but I like the idea of a calm boyfriend and his chaotic tiny girlfriend

"she's adorable" was his first thought the second he had his first interaction with you

He loved the way you could only hold eye contact with him for about 30 seconds and right away look away and bite your lip

the way your cheeks would blush and how you'd trip over your words

He thought you were adorable! In addition to being adorable he thought you were just the prettiest thing he'd ever seen. You were so hypnotizing to speak with, and just the sweetest!

He had to take you on a date! and so he did :) and took you on more and more and finally made it official :D

The first year was great, you were getting more comfortable with one another, opening up and feeling just so in love

You met his friends, had gone to the studio to watch him and even went backstage to one of their shows.

Once you hit 2 1/2 years there was a change........in you :3

this man was NOT expecting the amount of ADHD and biting he was going to be in the middle of

Comes home from work, cuddling on the sofa with a movie and soft caresses and lil kisses...only for his arm to be met with either a bite or a lick

🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️"babe?"🧍‍♀️🧍‍♀️

this was the first time you had ever bitten him and he was just confused but then you looked up at him and he thought it was funny and just oh so cute! He responds to this by pinching your cheeks or even biting you back

Now in the evenings just before bed he's watching you have a mini concert in his clothes and even pretending to be him on stage with his screams, bending backwards and his spins. And yes he does clap at the end of your performance

Some days you just wanna sleep in and others you're just running from one side of the house to the other

He either films you and keeps them as memories, or joins in. Next thing you know you're both running around the house giggling like little kids because of the sudden rush of energy

"So then, Oh my god! She says 'well if you don't want to work then you can get your shit and tell him that....that..... "

"That what babe?" he asks for you to finish the story

".....ah shit I completely forgot what she said "

He thought you were doing it for jokes...but you were serious you couldn't recall what it was you were talking about or what you friend had ended up doing in the tense situation. Noah gets left on a lot cliffhangers and he's just waiting for the moment where you blurt out how it ends

2:49 am "..pst noah....are you awake?" you poke his face

"mmmmm" was all he could manage

"well he ended up taker her keys and stealing her car! Can you believe that?!" you whisper yell

He just brings you into him, covers your face and goes "shh...sleep"

then a few seconds later he goes ".....what a piece of shit...."

"I know right?"

“Kay….sleep….now”

「✨Taglist✨」 @lilhobgobbler @cncohshit @vir-tual @tdopomymind @concretenoah @misspygmypie @fvckmeorchokeme @lust-for-sacher @thescarlettvvitch @cind6547 @itsmrsfuentes @just-pretend-again @lma1986 @daylightlvrs @darling-millicent-aubrey

[demonslayedher]

Will you continue the soft au that you created? (*´∀｀)

I'm very interested in your interpretation plus, you've inspired me to create my own.

Ah yes, this one, the most popular post in my whole blog! It even beat out the Shinobu-Akaza Friendship one which has been going around for a few years. I'm glad it inspired you to make your own, because there can never be too many fix-it AUs. ^_^

Good news! Aside from this goofy follow-up to that piece, I have some older pieces of fanart which are oddly similar! This one (which I really like, except that I look at it now and dismiss it as not good because I drew Mitsuri shorter than Iguro), and this old one (which was not quite the same, since everybody is simply healthy and not beat up).

It's only half as happy, but I also got really attached to this three-part Fate-Swap one. What I did with the survivors in that one also influenced a lot of my thinking on the Softer Time AU.

So with that all out of the way, how about just some new headcanons for the AU in question?

Rengoku: As he was dying, Tanjiro tearfully asked if there was any Breath technique to stop the bleeding. Rengoku smilingly replied "no," but then Tanjiro sniffled and asked, "Can you at least try????"

So he did, and that is how he survived a punch that went straight through his solar plexus. Barely, anyway. Breath technique is amazing!! The Kakushi who soon arrived on the scene are even more amazing!!!! None the less, he has a very difficult recovery.

Oyakata-sama and family: He sure had everybody convinced he perished, huh? Joke's on you, the mansion had a trap door.

Once Muzan was defeated, the curse on his family was finally lifted, so he started making a slow recovery from his illness after that, including slowly regaining his sight little by little. Once he's in better shape, Amane wants to go on a romantic getaway.

Himejima: So that curse on the Ubuyashiki family? Turns out The Mark was likewise only a curse, and it too has been lifted! Losing a leg can't keep this man down, of course, he's just too strong.

Still, he got close enough to death that he got a nice visit from his ghost kids, and when he woke up, sure enough, that Kakushi at his side was Sayo! She aids him in his recovery.

Himejima eventually finds out about Kaigaku from Zenitsu. He is saddened and cries.

Now that he doesn't need to train, Himejima become the Crazy Cat Man. His home is a cat shelter. After a year or so his shipper heart gets antsy and he starts annoying other Hashira to hurry up and have kids.

Sanemi: Hangs out with Oyakata-sama's kids a lot. Is really annoyed with Himejima bugging him to get a girlfriend. Since this is a Softer Time, Sanemi is busy making up for lost time with his brother anyway.

Shinobu: She managed to be swallowed whole by Douma without getting seriously injured in the process. She has burns from being partially digested (an idea I picked up from @sweetreichel) and this was enough for the poison to have the desired effect. As Douma's body starts to melt, Inosuke reaches in and pulls her out, much to her surprise.

Because this is a Softer Time, we're going to say that this Shinobu-Inosuke interaction, and this Shinobu-Inosuke interaction, and especially this Shinobu-Inosuke interaction (or something like it) has occurred.

This is no longer a world in which Inosuke takes to Nezuko like she's a mother figure, noooo. Shinobu is now his mother figure whom he dotes on. Shinobu is slightly weirded out by it, but this is her dashing rescuer, after all, so she soon makes peace with Inosuke's attention and care. She doesn't feel good in her recovery anyway; it's nice to get rides on a trusty steed. All this leverage means she finally convinces him to let her (or rather, Aoi) wash that dang animal head, at least.

So is this a GiyuShino AU? I suppose it has the opportunity to be. If Giyuu indicates any interest in Shinobu, he's going to need Inosuke's approval. And Inosuke gives it easily, because Han-Han-Haori is strong. But if Shinobu shows any indication of having a crush on Giyuu, Himejima is going to squash it the moment he bugs her to hurry up and have kids.

Iguro & Mitsuri: This is pretty much a repeat of the Fate-Swap AU.

Iguro promises to marry her as he thinks they are dying, but she wakes from her coma before he does happily anticipating that he'll keep his promise in this life. It's a bit of a relief that he's probably lost his sight, because the damage to her ear and jaw is pretty ghastly; not to mention her belly was cut pretty deeply. She's accepted with disappointment that she probably would not be able to have children, which is why she has not asked for any details on that (to which question a doctor would respond, "nope, that all looks good." Likewise, being too quick to accept Iguro's blindness means no one has asked about the actual state of his eye injuries, to which a doctor would respond, "Yeah, one of them should still work once the bandages are off.")

Iguro is stunned to find himself still alive and full of tainted blood, and he tries to insist that his promise was under the understanding that they were both dying, which makes Mitsuri upset that he didn't mean it and he doesn't actually want it, which of course is not what he means at all, so he has to fully explain himself.

Mitsuri is understanding but also points out that this is very silly, and that she's not so good of a bride either, so they deserve each other fully, the good and the bad. Iguro is so eased by her words that he feels washed clean, especially for having lost so much blood in ridding the world of demons.

And then, surprise!! He can see her after all! And then, surprise!!! They can have babies after all! Himejima is also as thrilled as they are.

Giyuu: Look at him!! He smiles!!!!!! And he has so many people who talk to him!!!!!!! Which means they're finally going to hold him accountable for acting like he was better than them. Giyuu is flattened with the realization that this is what everyone thought he meant when he said he was "different" from them, and he must explain himself. If there is a hole, he wants to go into it.

But!!! They forgive him?????? They accept him?????????

Well, sure they do, but he can't stop smiling and it's starting to weird everyone out.

Uzui: As usual, he is busy being a family man. He finds it kind of funny to hide from Himejima the fact that one of his wives had a baby. Himejima is really hurt when he finds out and Uzui feels terrible. If there is a hole, he wants to disappear into a puff of smoke in it.

Muichiro: Watch out world, that mouth of his is only going to get worse in his later teen years. He and Kotetsu are going to annoy everybody.

Muichiro hangs out with a lot of different people, since the whole Corp feels like his family. When he's not being treated like Kanamori's adoptive son, he's often goes over for dinner with the Ubuyashiki family, where he winds up hanging out with Sanemi. However, because they are closer in age and have more shared experiences, he is more naturally inclined to form a friendship with Genya.

Muichiro also hangs out at the Rengoku estate, because everybody loves Rengoku, and it's still hard for him to go out much on the days when his old injuries bother him. Again, being closer in age, Muichiro winds up forming more of a friendship with Senjuro, who happens to be Kotetsu's penpal via Tanjiro's introduction. Genya also knows Kotetsu but doesn't really hang out with him until Kotetsu is a little older, and eventually the four of them are a squad. Tanjiro is sort of an honorary member of this unofficial squad, but Muichiro and Kotetsu find themselves bullying Zenitsu and Inosuke a bit.

[alicedash2]

Shanks x Y/N with ADHD

Warning: nope, just fluff

- YN, so, I just wanted to say...- Shanks started to speak, but YN at first paid attention, but, suddenly, his mind started to wander

"Should I have studied? " YN starts to think

"That cloud looks like a boat"

YN starts looking up at the sky, then turning back to Shanks

"His face, he didn't trim his beard like usual"

"What did I eat yesterday?"

- Got it?- Shanks said at the end, YN having his attention back to Shanks

-Hi?- YN said.

-ah, I understand, you can leave it to me- YN said nervously

-... Can you repeat what I just said? - Shanks asked

- ah... - YN gives a nervous smile

- I'll say it again, try to focus, I'll speak more slowly and briefly - Shanks said

- sorry, Shanks- YN says

- ok, it's simple, you just need to reload the pistols and help me load some chests - Shanks says

-Oh, okay!- YN said with a smile

" let's go!" YN think

°•°°°•°•°•°

- It's the last chest...- YN was about to pick up and take the last treasure chest to the ship, when she sees a cat, which was rubbing against the chest

- how cute! He is so sweet!- YN was petting the kitten, completely distracted, but little did YN know that there was someone watching her from afar until a certain moment, YN felt something on her head, behind YN there was a pirate pointing a gun at her head

- don't scream, don't move, just give me the chest...- The pirate said

-Who are you?- YN asked

-Who am I doesn't matter, you're the redhead's girlfriend, huh? You'll serve a good hostage...-

The pirate takes her by the collar and lifts her, he takes her to the ship

- I can't believe it, YN, getting into trouble again? - Yasopp said laughing

- do not laugh! He has a gun pointed at me-- What is that? Wait, he has a gun pointed at me! And why am I being used as a hostage? YOU ARE DISGUSTING!- YN screams angrily

- you're the redhead's girlfriend! You must cost good money for your head, and shut up! - the pirate said while putting the gun on YN's head again

- Red-haired! Give me all your treasure and I'll set she free! Nobody gets hurt!- the pirate said in a big cruel smile

-he... better not - Shanks would say, he knew you would be safe

- why not?! I'll shoot her in the head if you don't do what I say!- the pirate starts screaming, trying to intimidate Shanks

- I think it's hard - Shanks turns and starts walking

- let's go to the ship, let's leave soon - Shanks gets a "yes" from the crew

-I WILL SHOOT- - The pirate finally realizes that YN was out of his hands

- How did she get out?! Where is she?! - the pirate asked

-I think I'm forgetting something, Shanks- YN saidp

- did you clean all the pistols?- Shanks asked, YN nods positively

- and the chests? We're going to need them - Shanks climbed onto the ship

- oh right, I ended up forgetting one! - YN says while going to the chest that he ended up forgetting and takes it back to the ship

- Hey! What are you doing?! You are my hostage!- the pirate frustrated with the situation spoke pointing his finger at YN

- am I? I didn't notice, sorry! I have to go, bye! - YN said while going up to the ship

-What a strange guy! - Yasopp said laughing

- he tried, let him, and YN! - Shanks called YN and then goes to her

- be more careful, although you ran away from him, he could have hurt you - Shanks runs his finger across YN's face

-but... I...- YN tries to speak, but Shanks turns around, asking them to leave soon, because he was having a party and he wanted to drink soon

- come, YN- Shanks called her, YN goes to Shanks-, who puts his arm over YN's shoulders and kisses her on the cheek

- you do thing that's just you can do it!...- Shanks whispers

- It's not my fault!- YN protests

- I know! Go drink and eat something, you haven't eaten anything today- Shanks would say taking her to the kitchen with the rest of the crew, they have fun for the rest of the day, just relaxing and partying

- you're so beautiful - Shanks said

-hm?- YN look at Shanks

- what? - Shanks ask

- I am what?- YN ask to Shanks

- ...-

-...-

-... nothing, let's go- Shanks said and starts walking towards the crew who were drinking

- WAIT! REPEAT! REPEAT WHAT DID YOU SAY! Did you call me what?!- YN scream at Shanks following him

[omgsquee2001]

Chapter 2: Hell is Forever

As Charlie left to take the phone call with her dad, Angel looked over at Vaggie, [Y/N] and Alastor.

"Hey, I have a question. If freaky face over there is so powerful, then why can't he just make people stay here?" Angel asked.

"Oh, trust me," Alastor smiled menacingly. "I can." Alastor said. Dark Magic swirled around his closed hand.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Husk asked. Everyone looked over at the winged cat demon behind the bar. "You actually think I'd be cleaning bottles and listening to you fucks bitch and moan all the time if he wasn't forcing me?" Husk asked. He wasn't mad at [Y/N]. Despite being upset with their father, Husk actually liked [Y/N]. He thought they were a good kid, despite knowing their secret. As Husk was cleaning a bottle, Niffty popped up from behind the counter.

"I like being forced." She said, and smiled.

"Keep that to yourself, Nif." Husk said, glaring at the smaller woman.

"What? You don't love being here with me, Whiskers?" Angel Dust teased. Husk glared at Angel.

"Call me Whiskers again and I'll jam that bottle down your throat!" Husk shouted, a cat like growl coming from him. Angel smiled.

"Kinky~ Come on, keep talking dirty." Angel said, smirking. Vaggie sighed.

"Angel. Let Husk do his job. And, no, we can't force sinners to stay here." Vaggie said. [Y/N] nodded and looked at the Spider Demon.

"Vaggie's right, Angel. They need to choose to stay here." They said. Angel shrugged.

"I'm choosing to be here and I think it's all stupid. We're in hell, toots. That's kind of the end of the road, ain't it?" Angel asked. Vaggie sighed again.

"Well, Maybe it doesn't have to be. Just because nobody has made it out before doesn't mean it's not possible." She said. [Y/N] nodded. Angel placed a hand on Vaggie's shoulder, giving her a deadpan expression.

"Hey, whatever means I can keep crashing here rent-free. Crack is expensive." Angel said. Charlie was still talking to her dad on the phone. She nodded excitedly.

"Yeah, I can totally, yeah. I'll head over there right away. Okay?" Charlie said, and hung up. She let out an excited gasp. "Yes…YES!" She giggled in excitement and leaned out in front of the wall. She called over to Vaggie. "Vaggie! Holy, shit!" In her excitement, it sounded like gibberish. Vaggie's eye widened in surprise.

"Ah! what?" She asked. Charlie waved over at her girlfriend.

"Get over here!" She mumbled excitedly. Vaggie sighed, a happy smile on her face. She walked over to Charlie.

"What's going on?" Vaggie asked. Charlie took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"My dad just called, he said that the leader of the Angel Army wants to meet. He asked if I could go instead." Charlie said excitedly. Vaggie placed her hands on Charlie's shoulders, trying to calm her down.

"But-but, the extermination just happened. What could they want this soon after-" She didn't get the chance to finish her sentence as Charlie suddenly started singing.

"I can do this! Somehow, I know it!"

"I'll get Heaven behind my plans!"

Vaggie sighed.

"Charlie, hold on..."

"There's just no way I could blow it."

"Not this once-in-a-lifetime chance!"

"It's just a meeting." Vaggie said, trying to calm her girlfriend down.

"To change their minds

"And touch their hearts

"Or... whatever angels have!"

Vaggie sighed.

"This could be bad..." She said. Charlie walked over to Vaggie and grabbed her hands. Charlie smiled.

"Cheer up, Vaggie!"

"This could be swell!"

"Something tells me that today will be a happy day in Hell!"

Vaggie sighed.

"Okay, but just don't... sing to them." Vaggie said. Angel, Niffty, Alastor, Keekee and [Y/N] all watched as Charlie bounded out the hotel doors into the partially destroyed Pentagram City.

"That bitch is halfway down the street!" Angel said, smirking. Vaggie sighed.

"Is she—?"

Angel smirked and nodded.

"Oh, she's dancin'!" Angel said. Vaggie groaned.

"Ugh, no!"

Charlie made her way down the streets, oblivious to the destruction and dead bodies of demons everywhere as she continued to sing.

"There's a warm, fuzzy feeling.

That wafts through the air."

"Every street so revealing. It's hard not to stare!"

She came to a window of a sex dungeon where a Hellhound was humping against an imp, wearing a sadomasochism mask. The two looked at the girl and she awkwardly walked away from the scene, continuing her song.

"It's a realm so appealing it beats anywhеre.

If you don't mind the smell..."

Charlie accidentally stepped on a dead shark demon that was releasing a fume, making Charlie hold her nose in disgust. She avoided the corpse and continued on.

"It's a happy day in Hell!"

Charlie waved at a demon who was holding a newspaper, however, it was revealed that he had a spoon full of meth.

"Hi, mister!" Charlie said gleefully.

"Go fuck yourself!" The demon shouted. Charlie gave a tight lipped smile and continued on. Another demon opened his window, showing a fire behind him.

"There's an endless trash fire that's burning my soul." The demon sang.

Charlie continued to greet each demon she came across.

"And a ton of barbed wire to shove in his holes!"

"Doing what is required, we all have our role."

"I'm not doin' well!"

"Another shitty day in Hell!"

Charlie climbed up onto the trunk of a destroyed car and faced the other direction from the demons.

"If I can show them the dream I've dreamed.

That any soul can change!"

From the Hazbin Hotel, Vaggie climbed into the watchtower, as if calling out to her girlfriend.

("Those angels' minds are hard to change.")

"Then they will know everyone can be redeemed.

From the evil to the strange!"

("They're bloodthirsty and deranged!")

"I can hear all their stories.

The lost and displaced."

"And I know that they're more of an acquired taste.

But! if I open the door and I give them a place.

At my Hazbin Hotel. It'll be a happy day in Hell!"

A truck drove by, and Charlie hitched a ride from the back to get around the city. She passed porn studios and Cannibal Town.

"From the porn studio.

Where the cinephiles go.

To watch award-winning demon bukkake shows!"

"To the Cannibal Town. Where they don't wear a frown 'cause," Charlie got hit in the eye with the blood from one of the corpses the cannibals were feeding on. "Holy shit! Ew, my gosh! WHY?!" Charlie frowned in disgust. Her frown then turned to a smile.

"And I don't give a crow that. His brain's got in my eye!

Cause with the Shifters gone, I know I can spare them. From Heaven's genocide!"

"I can do this, I just know it!"

"I'll get Heaven behind my plans!

There's just no way I could blow it."

"Not this once-in-a-lifetime chance!

To change their minds."

Right then, a slug demon with a trench coat appeared in front of Charlie, exposing his nude body to her, which freaked her out.

"And touch my parts!"

Charlie smiled awkwardly and with disgust.

"Uh... No thank you. I'm just gonna...

Fulfill my destiny!"

The demon rolled his eyes and pulled his trench coat over his body again. "Your loss, bitch!"

"I can already tell!

Today is gonna bе a fuckin' happy day in Hell!"

~~~~

[Y/N] sighed, a guilty look on their face. They walked into their room and walked over to their window, overlooking Pentagram City. They wrapped their arms around them, and sighed again. There was a sound of a whisper behind them. They already knew that their father was in the room with them.

"[Y/N]? What troubles you?" Alastor asked, walking over and placing his hand on his child's shoulder. [Y/N] sighed and leaned their head against Alastor's chest in comfort.

"I'm, debating whether or not I should tell the others what I am. About me being a Shifter." [Y/N] said. Alastor hummed.

"Well, it is ultimately your choice, my dear." Alastor said. [Y/N] nodded.

"I know that. But, what if they get mad at me for not telling them? I mean, Shifters were the only species of Hell Born that could actually kill an angel." They said. Alastor hummed.

"Well, put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Suppose that the child of the Radio Demon told you that they were a Shifter. How would you react?" Alastor asked. [Y/N] shrugged.

"I dunno. I guess I would be upset for a while, considering I thought that all the Shifters were dead. But, after they explained that they were the last Shifter and couldn't possibly defend all of Hell from the Exorcists, then I might be a little bit more understanding." [Y/N] said. Alastor nodded, and smiled gently down at his child.

"Well, there you go. They might get upset, sure. But, I'm sure coming out with the truth would be better for them, and for you." Alastor said. [Y/N] sighed and nodded.

"Maybe. Can, can I ask something of you, dad?" [Y/N] asked, looking up at their father. Alastor nodded.

"Anything, my dear." Alastor said.

"If and when I do tell them, would you be there with me? Just in case things turn south?" [Y/N] asked. Alastor smiled.

"I promise I will always be there for you, my dear." Alastor said, pressing a kiss to [Y/N]'s head. [Y/N] smiled and wrapped their arms around Alastor's waist in a hug, the Radio Demon returning it, resting his head on their own.

"Thanks dad."

~~~~~~

Charlie walked up to the Heaven Embassy, where she was going to meet the leaders of the Extermination Army. She pushed open the door.

"Hello?" Charlie called out, her voice echoed in the empty hall. She walked through and found the Embassy to be completely deserted. "Hello? Creepy." Charlie commented. Her footsteps echoed through out the hall.

Charlie came to the front desk. No one was there. The only thing there was a bell to ring. She tapped the bell. In an instant, a golden scroll and a feather pen appeared before her. "Oh, okay. Also creepy." She said and signed her name. The scroll and feather disappeared. To her right, a set of twin doors slid open, showin Charlie an empty meeting room. She cautiously walked inside.

"Uh...hello? Is anyone here?" Charlie called. Suddenly, the lights switched on, revealing two Angels. One of them was dressed in black and gray armor. The other, dressed in a white robe with gold accents. What was interesting, was that both Angels had masks with what looked like demon horns on them. The angels were Lute, the lieutenant of the Extermination Army, and Adam, the leader.

"'Sup!" Adam greeted, surprising Charlie.

"Holy, shit!" Charlie shouted, surprised by their sudden appearance. She quickly got back up and smiled. "Hi, I'm Charlie. My dad asked me if I could meet you." Charlie said. Adam nodded, seeming uninterested with what she had to say.

"Yeah, I know." He said. He had a plate of ribs sitting before him, eating them casually. Charlie chuckled awkwardly.

"Okay, well, it's nice to meet you." Charlie said, reaching her hand out. Adam smiled at her and reached his had out as well.

"Totally. It's nice to meet you, too." He said. Charlie reached for his hand, but it suddenly slipped through, scaring Charlie. It was revealed that Adam was just a hologram. Adam burst out laughing. "Ha! I fucking got you. Did you see that?" He asked, turning to Lute, who just nodded. Adam laughed again and leaned back in his seat. "Ha. Good shit." Adam said. Charlie narrowed her eyes.

"Uh...so, wait. You aren't here?" Charlie asked. Adam scoffed.

"No, you think I'd come down there?" He laughed in a condescending way. "No, I mean, I love the vibe, totally, I love your tunes. Pretty fucking hardcore, don't get me wrong. But! it's such a bummer! man. Everything down there's just so "eugh", ya know?" He chuckled again. "Ew." He shook his head. Charlie smiled awkwardly.

"Right. So, I'm happy we've got this opportunity to meet. There's a project that I've been working on that I really want to talk to you about-"

Adam put his finger to Charlie's lips, silencing her for a moment.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, slow down. We've got time. How about we get to know each other a little, hmm? How about lunch? You hungry? I got you." Adam said. He took the plate of ribs he had been eating and handed it towards Charlie. "Here's my personal favorite. You'll love it." Adam said.

"Uh...thanks." Charlie said. She reached for it, completely forgetting that it was a hologram. Her hand went through it again, freaking Charlie out again. Adam let out a bark of laughter.

"I got you again, bitch! Fuckin' hilarious!" Adam said, laughing. Charlie chuckled, unamused. This was going to be a long meeting.

~~~~

Back at the hotel, Vaggie was walking back and forth in the lobby. [Y/N] and the others were sitting in various chairs and couches. Angel Dust was constantly looking at Husk and winking, while Husk was glaring daggers at him. Vaggie sighed.

"Okay, so, Charlie is dealing with something very important, so while she's gone, we are making a new commercial. One that represents her vision and what we're doing here. So, we need a camera." Vaggie said. She looked over at Alastor. "Alastor?" She requested. Alastor snapped his fingers and conjured up a camera for Vaggie, however, the camera was a folding-type old camera from the 1930s with no recording films at that time. Vaggie glanced at him, unamused. "A video camera?" She requested.

"Hmmm." Alastor hummed in distaste and snapped his fingers again. A modern day video camera appeared in Vaggie's hands, replacing the older looking model. Vaggie smiled. "Alright! Let's do this!" She said excitedly. [Y/N] was watching behind Vaggie as she was recording Husk and Angel at the bar.

"And, action!" [Y/N] called. Husk was looking down at the script he had, reading right from it with the script in his face.

"Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel. Can I help with anything?" Husk read, looking up at Angel, who was sitting at one of the stools. Angel smiled and winked at Husk.

"I've been a bad boy, and I need a big, strong daddy to put me in my place…on the path to redemption!" Angel said. Husk groaned in distaste. [Y/N] cringed lightly at the scene. Husk looked down at the script again.

"Well, you come..." He was interrupted by Angel moaning.

"Oh yes!" He cried out.

"To the right place." Husk finished, not looking amused. [Y/N] sighed and pinched the bridge of their nose.

"Cut! Okay, Angel, we need you to be less horny if possible, and Husk, can you maybe not have a script in front of your face." [Y/N] requested. Husk looked over at [Y/N] angrily.

"I ain't no actor! I can't memorize this shit!" He shouted, smacking the script. Angel leaned over the bar, smiling seductively.

"Well, we could improv this shit, baby cakes," he got closer to Husk and purred seductively. "Rrawwr."

Husk growled and shoved Angel off the counter, making the porn star fall onto the floor. Husk shrugged.

"Whoops." He said, and grabbed a bottle of alcohol and began drinking from it. Vaggie sighed.  

"Husk, come on." She demanded.

~~~~~

Back with Charlie, she was being bored to death by what Adam was telling her about his weekend.

"So, I was playin' this gig, and for some fuckin' reason, this virtue chick was diggin' on the drummer, and it's like, "do you know who I am? I'm fuckin' Adam. I'm the original dick!" He complained, pointing to his nether regions. "All dicks descend from me. You think you want drummer dick?" He asked, looking to Lute, who shook her head. Adam nodded. "No way! I'm the Dick-fuckin' master!" He shouted. He then ate a rib, speaking with his mouth full. "So, anyway, then we fucked, and it was awesome. What'd you do this weekend?" He asked, looking at Charlie. Charlie sat up straight in surprise.

"Wait, your name is Adam? Like the first man Adam, that means you…Oh…." Charlie put two and two together, realizing just why her mother had left Adam in the first place. "That explains so much." She said, wincing. Adam smirked.

"I know. I fucking rock." He held up his hand in a rock pose. Charlie cleared her throat and got back to the matter at hand.

"Well, Adam, sir. Mr. Adam, sir." Charlie said awkwardly. Adam smirked.

"Call me, Dickmaster." Adam said. Charlie gave him a deadpan look.

"Adam. You seem like a smart, well, stand up guy!" Charlie said, trying to appeal to his ego. Adam picked at his teeth, clearly uninterested.

"Uh-huh." He said.

"And I know you are the leader of the angels. And you are a big thinker, a revolutionary. You and your Executioners killed an entire race of Shifters! You're, well, a, a genius!" She said. Though she hated talking about how he killed the only beings that could protect her people, she had to get him on her side. Adam scoffed.

"I mean, your words, babe." Adam said, smiling. Charlie smiled.

"Who would really love to put his name on something." Charlie said. Adam sat up, a big smile on his face.

"Fucking love putting my name on shit! Shit's the best!" He shouted. Charlie smiled.

"It's a solution to our biggest problem!" She said, thinking that she was finally getting somewhere with him. Adam's eyes widened.

"Oh, Herpes. Yeah, that's a bitch." He said. Charlie groaned lightly.

"No! Our... other biggest problem." She said. At this point, Adam was just messing with her.

"Oh…uh..ugly people? Math? Global Warming? Nah, wait, that's Earth's problem." Adam said, listing off all the "problems" that they shared in common. Charlie stared at him, unamused.

~~~~

//I'm going to go ahead and skip a few scenes cause I feel like this is getting really long.//

"When you take her out for the fifth time and she still expects you to pay the check but you're like, Hey, I thought you wanted equality." Adam complained. Charlie groaned, getting fed up with Adam and his ego.

"NO! our shared problem of overpopulation in Hell!" Charlie shouted. Adam's eyes widened in realization.

"Ohh, well that's not a problem! We got that covered!" Adam said. He turned to Lute. "Lute, how many demons did you kill this year?" He asked.

"Got a good 275 this year, sir." Lute said, talking as if it was some ground breaking record. Adam's eye brows rose.

"275? Woah! Badass! Awesome job, danger tits! Pound it." Adam raised his fist for Lute, who gave him a fist bump. Charlie frowned.

"Uh no, not awesome. Those are my people, you know that right?" Charlie asked. Adam looked at her and nodded.

"Oh yeah. That must suck for you!" Adam shouted, bursting into laughter. Charlie frowned. She didn't understand how Adam and Lute could care so little about the souls in Hell.

"But these are souls...Humans souls just the same as the ones you have up in heaven." She said. Lute frowned at Charlie.

"They're not the same. They had their chance and they earned damnation." Lute said coldly. Charlie shook her head.

"You're wrong. Sinners made mistakes, sure, but everyone makes mistakes." Charlie said. Lute narrowed her eyes at Charlie.

"Angels don't make mistakes." She said. Charlie rose her eyebrow in challenge.

"You really think that."

"I know that." Lute said. Adam smirked and nodded.

"Yeah, I've never made a mistake in my fuckin' life." Adam said. He chuckled. "If anything, you should be thanking us." He said. Charlie frowned.

"Thanking you?" She asked. Adam nodded.

"Uh, fuck yeah! We got rid of the very beings that were allowing the over population in Hell to begin with!" He said, referring to the Shifters. Lute walked around the table towards Charlie.

"The only reason you're still here is because daddy gave you and your hell born kind a pardon from an exorcist blade. How does that feel, to know how little you matter?" Lute asked. Charlie looked down, frowning in sadness. Adam perked up.

"Oops, almost out of time. Guess we should get into it." He said. Charlie's eyes widened.

"Oh fuck!" She shouted. She rushed to present her plan as fast as she could. "Okay I've got a lot to get through and not a lot of time and I feel like you weren't hearing me before so here it goes." She cleared her throat and started talking at a fast speed to get through everything. Which eventually turned into singing.

"I know Hell's population is out of control.

It's a bad situation.

It's taking a toll."

"If we rehab these Sinners.

And cleanse all their souls.

At my Hazbin Hotel,"

"Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself!" She shouted. She quickly picked up a drawing of the Extermination Angels flying down to Hell.

"Right, Extermination." She said.

"I know you guys fly down.

Just to kill once a year."

"And it must be annoying.

To schlep all the way here."

"If they join you in Heaven.

"That trip disappears!

You can wave that chore farewell." She took a deep breath.

"It'll be a happy day in..."

She was cut off by Adam.

"Let me stop you right there." Adam began singing. Charlie stopped.

"Oh."

"Save us all precious time."

"Okay..." Charlie hesitated.

"If what you're suggesting.

Is letting them climb.

Up the ladder.

Oh, they'd rather cross the Pearly Gates?"

"Well, uh—" Charlie started, but was stopped by Adam.

"Sorry, sweetie. But there's no defyin' their fates!"

"'Cause Hell is forever.

Whether you like it or not.

Had their chance to behave better.

Now they boil in the pot.

'Cause the rules are black and white.

There's no use in tryin' to fight it. ♫

They're burnin' for their lives.

Until we kill 'em again!"

"Okay, but.."

Adam smiled down at Charlie.

"Just try to chillax, babe.

You're wasting your breath."

Charlie chuckled awakwardly.

"Did I hear you imply.

That they don't deserve death?"

"Are they Winners?

Are they Sinners?

Without the Shifters

It's cut and dry."

"Well, actually, if you take a look..."

"Fair is fair, an eye for an eye, yeah!"

"And when all's said and done,

There's the question of fun.

And for those of us with Divine Ordainment.

Extermination is entertainment!"

"Bow-now-now-nownow

Guitar solo, fuck yeah!"

"Oh, da-ah-ah now-now-n-now-n-now-n-now-n-nownownow!"

 "Hell is forever.

Whether you like it or not."

"Had their chance to behave better.

Now they boil in the pot."

"'Cause the rules are black and white.

There's no use in tryin' to fight it.

They're burnin' for their lives.

Until we kill 'em again!"

"Fuckin' Hell's forever.

And it's meant to suck a lot.

So give up your dumb endeavor.

'Cause you don't have a shot!"

Charlie growled in anger. Her demon form coming out as she burned some of the papers she was holding.

"Long as I've got your attention.

I guess I should probably mention.

That we made the determination.

To move up the next Extermination!"

Charlie's demon form faded away as her eyes widened in horror.

"What?!" She shouted.

"Can't wait a whole year.

To slaughter those little cunts.

I know it's just been a week.

But we'll be back in six months!" Despite being a hologram, Adam grabbed Charlie by the wrist and threw her out the door. Charlie tried to rush back to the door.

"Um, wait, you-you..ugh SHIT!" She shouted, slamming her fist onto the door.

~~~~

//Whew! This is a LONG one. I apologize for that. Let me know if you like it being long, or if I should cut it down.//

[erimeows]

Priorities

Jumin Han is uncomfortable as he sits across from his father, tapping his finger tips against the tabletop of the table they’re at in the middle of the brewery-restaurant. 

While lunch with the Chairman tends to be a pleasant occasion, Jumin knows the moment that Juyoung comes into the restaurant that this lunch is going to be the exact opposite of that.

Usually, they meet to talk about business ventures. But, when the other man walks through the door without any other businessmen or even any files held in his wrinkled hands, Jumin knows that this isn’t about business. 

It’s a personal lunch.

And that’s not inherently bad. Lately, though, the chairman has been concerned about his personal life. It makes sense- he’s thirty, unmarried, his best friend since childhood was shot dead, his other best friend is now in a mental hospital in another country, and he spends all of his time with his aging cat. Understandably, Chairman Han is concerned and doesn’t understand Jumin or how he grieves. 

Instead of putting his feelings out there for the world to see, Jumin chooses to act like his mother and keep his grief locked inside. Sharing it with others won’t help him, anyway.

But of course, his father couldn’t possibly comprehend that- because deep down, he and Jumin are nothing alike. So, like Juyoung does when he’s upset, he tries to encourage Jumin to find something to make him happy and distract him from everything that’s happened. 

The two men order their food and craft beer, exchanging smalltalk between bites and sips. 

Juyoung is going through yet another divorce. Jumin found out from the tabloids before he heard the news from his father’s mouth. He doesn’t mind either way, though. He’s not surprised. All of his father’s relationships are failures. Every time, he tells his father that the new woman he’s with is after him for his money, and every time, his father dismisses his concerns. Then, when it inevitably blows up in the chairman’s face, he says he knew all along that something with his wife was off. Jumin can’t help but roll his eyes as his father continues to complain.

“Ah, I should’ve known she was no good when she told me the ring I proposed to her with wasn’t big enough!”

“Yes, Father, that’s what I said to you when you informed me how displeased she was following your proposal,” Jumin sighs. “Despite the thousands of dollars you spent to go to France such short notice…”

“Oh, don’t act like you knew,” Juyoung offers a dismissive wave and shakes his head, then gestures to Jumin with his fork. “So, son, have you had any luck?”

Jumin finishes his food, dabs his mouth with a napkin, and sets his silverware down on the plate in front of him before furrowing his brow in confusion.

“Any luck in what regard?”

“You know, dating? At this rate, I’m gonna be on my tenth wife before you get your first girlfriend,” The Chairman jokes.

“And who said I want a girlfriend?”

“Well, a boyfriend is fine, too! I’m very open-minded-”

“No, no, Father,” Jumin huffs and takes a swig of his beer. “What I meant was… Why are you assuming that I want to date at all?”

His father frowns, a concerned expression taking over his face.

“It’s about time that you start prioritizing love in your life. You have me, and I love you so dearly. I’m proud of the man that you’ve become and I wouldn’t change a thing about you, but I won’t always be here to love you,” Juyoung explains. “I just want you to have someone aside from your cat and your little group. Elizabeth won’t live forever, either.”

“You say that you wouldn’t change me, yet it seems as if you’re dissatisfied with the direction I’ve taken in my personal life,” Jumin points out, hurt welling up in his chest. He’s not a sensitive man, but he loves his father dearly, so the chairman’s opinion holds a lot of weight. With Juyoung constantly criticizing his non-existent love life, he can’t help being upset. No matter what Jumin says, every time they have this conversation, it goes the same way- and the next time they have a lunch where Jumin shows up without a woman on his arm, his father will be disappointed in him yet again. “My ‘little group’ happens to be full of my dearest friends. They are enough support for now, and in regards to Elizabeth, I am fully aware that she will pass soon. The last thing I need from you is to be reminded of that.”

“I just-” Chairman Han pauses, then looks away, unable to meet Jumin’s eyes. “I would love for you to have someone to cherish… Someone who isn’t tied to V and his fiance.”

“A woman will never help me to get over what happened to V or over the things that Rika did. It’s shallow of you to think that all of my problems can be solved by falling in love. I’m not like you, Father,” Jumin hisses in a low enough voice that none of the other patrons are able to hear him. Still, Juyoung won’t meet his eyes, even as Jumin stares at him with an icy glare. He normally wouldn’t be this disrespectful, but after so many instances of the same monotonous argument, he’s grown tired of his father’s persistence. “I’m not going to ignore the things that are wrong in my life and distract myself from my flaws by putting all of my time and attention into a woman who doesn’t even want me.”

As Jumin finishes the rest of his beer, his father guiltily frowns while looking at the reflection of himself in his. 

“You know that’s not what I meant, son. You should never use a woman as an excuse to ignore your problems.”

“Then why is it acceptable for you to do it and insist that I start doing the same?”

“Jumin… Don’t be like this. You know that I only want what’s best for you.”

Just then, the waiter comes by with the ticket, to which Juyoung gives the man his credit card. The waiter quickly bows and retreats back to the front desk of the restaurant.

“Yes, I’m aware,” Jumin takes the opportunity to stand to leave, so agitated that he can barely look Chairman Han in the eye. “Thank you for the meal, Father.”

“Promise me you’ll think about what I said,” Juyoung says, reaching out to grab Jumin by the wrist. Jumin turns to look back at his father over his shoulder. “I want to see you happy.”

“...Yes,” Jumin nods, eyes falling shut. “I promise. As always, I carefully consider your input… But you do know by now how I feel about this.”

“Okay. I’ll see you soon, son.”

With that, Jumin rushes to get out of the restaurant as fast as he can. He tosses his coat over his shoulder and brings it with him instead of taking the time to pull it on. Then, he locates the car that Driver Kim is in, gets into it, puts on his seatbelt, and uses his cellphone to check on RFA’s messenger. 

Jumin Han has entered the chatroom.

Upon entering the chatroom, Jumin notices that Jaehee, Zen, and Yoosung are present. He briefly wonders why Seven isn’t there. For some reason, disappointment washes over him at the realization that Seven is offline, but he tries to ignore it as he watches messages flood onto his phone screen.

Jaehee Kang: Mr. Han, how did lunch with your father go?

Jumin rolls his eyes. It’s been years since Jaehee quit her job as his assistant to open her coffee shop, yet she still calls Jumin ‘Mr. Han’ regularly. Since she’s no longer his assistant, and has since become a good friend, he can’t help but become uncomfortable when she refers so formally.

Jumin Han: Jaehee, I told you that you can call me Jumin now.

Jumin Han: Since you are no longer my assistant.

Jaehee Kang: Right,

Jaehee Kang: My apologies- it is quite the adjustment after almost three years…

Jumin Han: I understand, but to answer your question, it went…

Jumin Han: Not the best.

At that, Zen decides to contribute to the chat, to which Yoosung quickly follows.

ZEN: ????

ZEN: What happened dude

Yoosung★: Yeah, your dad’s a pretty nice guy! What’d you do? Lolol

Thankfully, as Jumin rides in the car, Driver Kim doesn’t talk to him. Having been Jumin’s chauffeur for as long as he can remember, the man can easily sense when Jumin is or isn’t in the mood to chat. So, he plays calming classical music and puts up the privacy window between the front and back seats. 

Jumin Han: I didn’t do anything,

Jumin Han: He, however, is insistent that I prioritize ‘love’.

707 has entered the chatroom.

Saeran has entered the chatroom.

Jumin’s frown turns into a smile upon seeing Seven and his twin brother’s names on his screen. Years ago, after you suddenly joined the organization, Rika’s ‘Mint Eye’ was exposed. Seven went on an insane man hunt to find his brother and, with Jumin’s help, took the organization down and got Rika hospitalized. V died during the raid and Jumin doesn’t think he’ll ever ‘get over it’ like the rest of his friends think he has, but he’s managed to adjust somewhat well to this ‘new normal’.

Or, as well as he can adjust considering that he’s been left in charge of the RFA and no longer has a reliable chief assistant. He tried to get you to work for him, but sadly, you were determined to help Jaehee with her coffee shop. So, he’s busier than ever with work, constantly being hounded by his father about his lack of a girlfriend, and grieving his best friends.

Life is… Stressful, to say the least. As much as he hated them before, Seven’s jokes have been a comfort to him the last few years, so Jumin logs in at the times that Seven is normally there. The man has started working as the head of C&R’s security division since leaving the agency he previously worked for, so Jumin has become quite fond of him as a friend- and as an asset to his business- despite his peculiar sense of humor.

707: Whoot whoot~

707: Who’s this guy!?!?

ZEN: lol Seven, did you read what Jumin said?

707: ya

707: and I agree with daddy dearest

707: what’s wrong with a little love in your life Juju? Lol sounds like you need it 

Saeran: His love life isn’t any of our business…

ZEN: I actually have to agree with Seven for once… A girlfriend wouldn’t kill you, Jumin. God knows you could stand to loosen up a bit

Yoosung★: Yeah Jumin, I don’t get why you’re single still when you could have anyone you want! 

Jaehee Kang: You all have to understand that Chairman Han has always had a rather turbulent love life. 

Jaehee Kang: Following his advice in regards to love… It’s never wise. Perhaps it’s best that Jumin stay single. 

Saeran: I mean it’s fine if he stays single because he wants to, but he shouldn’t do that just because his dad’s type happens to be gold diggers… 

707: where’s (y/n)? They might have some good insight!

Jaehee Kang: Unfortunately, (y/n) is busy covering for me while I’m on my break. I should actually get back so they’re not alone at the counter for too long. 

Jaehee Kang has left the chatroom.

Jumin Han: I’m single because there is no one that I want. That is all there is to it.

707: damn lol you must be picky !!

Saeran: Harsh.

Jumin Han: And I don’t believe it is my father’s business to try and force women onto me… Especially after everything that has happened with my mother- his first wife- and especially considering his terrible taste in women…

ZEN: Is it really that bad?

Jumin Han: He’s been divorced four times.

Jumin Han: The fifth divorce is currently being deliberated in court.

Jumin Han: So, you tell me if it’s ‘really that bad’.

ZEN: Damn dude, that’s brutal

Yoosung★: Wow, it sounds like your dad is having a hard time with relationships

Yoosung★: That’s so sad ): I feel bad for him

707: eh, I don’t lmao. I mean you’ve read about them right?? And every time mr. chairman has a new gf Jumin comes in here and complains about how terrible she is, and he’s always right

707: Jumin tries to warn his dad about the type of women he picks up 

707: and his dad never listens! 

Jumin Han: Exactly. I wish he would leave me alone about settling down… I still have plenty of time.

Saeran: Yeah, you do.

Saeran: You’re only in your twenties. And a relationship doesn’t guarantee happiness… you can stay single and live just fine.

707: I’ve been seeing looooooots and lots of articles about you lately, Mr. Trustfund Kid 

707: ‘Does Jumin Han is gay?’ rephrased in a gazillion different ways for headlines lmao

Jumin Han: Don’t even get me started.

ZEN: Oh, yeah, I’ve been seeing em too

ZEN: people think you’re gay because you don’t have a girlfriend or anything lol

ZEN: Kind of a reach tbh

Yoosung★: Wow, really? I hadn’t heard that people were posting stuff like that online

Saeran: You haven’t seen any of the tweets? none of the clips from the news? none of the youtube vids with weird photoshops of Jumin and Zen making out and Jaehee being jealous in the bg even though she’s the only one in the group that’s actually gay?

Saeran: It’s been the main cover story of every news station for like two weeks 

Saeran: You really are a recluse yoosung 

Yoosung★: :p Saeran you wanna hop on a stream with me?

Saeran: Sure ((:

Yoosung★ has left the chatroom.

Saeran has left the chatroom. 

ZEN: Can’t believe those two just left like that in the middle of such a serious conversation…

707: anyway, mista trustfund

707: I bet those articles are just making your dad nervous

707: though rather that’s for publicity reasons or because he himself is nervous about you being gay…

Jumin Han: My father may have poor judgment, but he isn’t homophobic. 

Jumin Han: He doesn’t even care about me having children. He mainly wants me to settle down because he believes it’ll make me ‘happier’.

Jumin Han: He has grown especially concerned about me becoming lonely after Rika’s hospitalization and V’s passing…

ZEN: Can’t you just tell him you have a girlfriend? If you think it’ll ease his nerves a little bit

ZEN: You could even tell him that you broke up because she cheated on you or something- then he’ll feel bad and stop talking about it for a while!

ZEN: Get creative

Jumin Han: Ah, yes, get creative with lying to my own father who only has my best interest in mind.

707: it’s not like you’d be lying to be malicious

707: just to ease his stress! Think of it as getting creative with appeasing your father’s concerns about his lonely son

707: it’s really not that bad of an idea, but there is one issue

707: What about when he wants to meet Jumin’s “girlfriend”? Then he’s screwed

ZEN: He has enough money that he could hire a thousand girlfriends

ZEN: Hiring one shouldn’t be that much of a challenge

Jumin Han: Until she goes to the media, tells them about my hiring of her, and gets a massive paycheck in return for ruining my family’s reputation.

Jumin Han: We’re already dealing with plenty of issues following my father’s most recent divorce- the last thing we need right now is another blow to C&R’s public image.

ZEN: Oh… Yeah

ZEN: Good point 

ZEN: Rich people problems smh

707: So what you guys are saying is that it just has to be someone he knows who he can trust not to tell any news outlets!

ZEN: I mean, I guess? But literally the only two women that he knows are…

Jumin Han: Jaehee and (y/n), yes… And asking either of them for this monumental favor feels disrespectful to their relationship. 

707: Yeah… nvm

707: Well, actually 

Jumin Han: What is it?

707: You know how I cosplay?

ZEN: Oh, god, I get where you’re going with this

ZEN: Gonna save myself the embarrassment and leave. I’ll be sure to drop a selfie to purify the chatroom later lol, bye guys

ZEN has left the chatroom. 

Jumin Han: I… Don’t understand 

707: I could just pretend to be your girlfriend!

At that, Jumin blinks and rubs his eyes, then looks at the screen again to make sure he’s reading Seven’s words correctly. Seven… Pretending to be his girlfriend.

Out of all of the ideas they came up with… It is, unfortunately, the best one to dissuade Jumin’s father.

707: it’s perfect : D and I’ll be so annoying that he’ll pray you never date again because you have such terrible taste in women

707: We’re friends, you know I won’t betray you by selling you out to anyone who might want to know about this, AND believe it or not, I’m a VERY convincing woman 

707: 707, the Defender of Justice, coming through once again!

Jumin Han: Something is telling me that this seems like a terrible idea.

Jumin Han: But… I can’t think of any logical reason why it wouldn’t work. 

Jumin Han: Why don’t I reach out to my father and arrange a dinner?

707: Sure!

707: Just lmk my bae character : D

707 has left the chatroom.

Jumin Han has left the chatroom. 

Right as Jumin logs out, Driver Kim pulls up to the penthouse. Jumin exits the car and enters through the gates as a sigh falls from between his lips. 

Hopefully Seven’s plan works…

Jumin walks into his penthouse, sits down on the lush white carpet, and smiles with relief when Elizabeth 3rd crawls into his lap. She lies down, purring as Jumin dials his father’s phone.

“Father? I wanted to apologize for how I talked to you at our lunch today… Yes, I’d like to make it up to you. I was afraid to introduce the two of you, but I met someone recently. How would you feel about attending dinner with us next week?”

“That sounds wonderful, son.”

~

And so, a week later, Jumin is walking into the fanciest fine dining restaurant in Seoul with Seven on his arm. After sorting out some minor details- from Seven’s disguise (a classy and feminine look) to how Seven would act (like himself) to what name he would use (his true name, Saeyoung, because it’s considered feminine)- they managed to arrange a time and date. They are quickly led by the maître d' to their private table, where Juyoung is already waiting for them. 

“Wow,” A knowing sort of look crosses Chairman Han’s face the moment he lays eyes on Seven. For a moment, Jumin panics. His father has seen Seven in passing multiple times at the RFA parties and at C&R. How stupid he was to think a disguise like this could fool him… But then, right as Jumin is about to burst into an awkward apology for even thinking of doing this, Chairman Han’s expression changes to one of delight- and Jumin starts to think that he must’ve imagined that other one. “Jumin, what a beautiful young lady you’ve found.”

“Why, thank you, sir! You’re Chairman Han, aren’t you?” Seven sits at the table, directly across from Juyoung. He holds his hand out for the chairman to shake- and, just then, Jumin notices how Seven is dressed; delicate, dainty pale hands with his fingernails painted ruby red, mascara and eyeliner adorning his amber eyes, a light blush dusted across his soft cheekbones, and a beautiful green dress adorning his narrow-set shoulders and curvy hips. His glasses are abandoned in favor of a pair of contacts, and his short mane of bright red hair is covered with a straightened auburn wig. The long hair goes down to the middle of his back, and there’s straight-cut bangs in the front that cover his forehead. “You’re very handsome. I can see where my Jumin gets his good looks from. You know, you look way better in person than you do in the pictures Jumin takes!”

The greeting makes Jumin’s ears ring- both because of the backhanded insult about his poor photography skills and because of the ridiculously high-pitched voice that Seven chooses to communicate with. Oddly enough, though, it makes for a convincing woman, so Jumin just grits his teeth and accepts it as he waits for his father’s reaction.

“Ah, that’s true, isn’t it? We’re lucky my son didn’t decide to pursue photography,” Chairman Han holds his hand out and shakes Seven’s before pressing a kiss against the hacker’s knuckles.

Jumin lets out a sigh of relief.

“Well, honey?” Seven turns to Jumin with a shiteating grin, sounding sickeningly sweet. It’s clear that he’s enjoying this. Jumin wonders if he shouldn’t have agreed to trick his father… Perhaps Seven’s behavior is going to be his karma. “Why don’t you come sit down with us?”

“Yes, Jumin, don’t look so uptight,” His father agrees. “Treat this like any other get-together we’d have. Saeyoung is part of the family now.”

Jumin sits down, biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from scolding Seven. Of course- of course- the man would enjoy messing with him, even in this context. Jumin sits next to Seven and damn near jumps out of his skin when one of Seven’s hands is creeping over to hold his underneath the table. He allows Seven to unfold his tightly clasped fist and lock their fingers together, resting their intertwined hands on top of Jumin’s thigh. From across the small table, Chairman Han reaches forward to ruffle Jumin’s hair.

Meanwhile, Seven is still sitting there with a shiteating grin on his face, clearly getting some sort of sick pleasure from watching Jumin writhe. 

Jumin rolls his eyes. In hindsight, he should’ve expected it to play out this way.

Seven never does favors for free, after all. 

~

The dinner goes worse than Jumin imagined, but better than he expected. Seven and his father chat for the entire meal while practically ignoring Jumin, which he supposes he’s glad for. Not having to contribute to the conversation made the already exhausting ordeal much less mentally taxing.

Unfortunately, the plan did not seem to work. At least not entirely. His father believes he’s dating and will probably stop bothering him for now about getting a girlfriend. The caveat of that, however, is that Seven didn’t annoy the ever living hell out of the chairman like they expected. Rather- Jumin’s father seemed to be charmed by Seven’s peculiar sense of humor, and insisted that they get together again soon, possibly even without Jumin there. 

Jumin sits in the passenger’s seat of Seven’s car, his face bright red and his hair still ruffled from his father’s affectionate gesture as Seven drives him home. While he pointed out that he could just call Driver Kim to take him home, Seven rebutted with the fact that his father might find it odd if they left in separate vehicles.

“I gotta say, I did a great job!” Seven grins as if this whole situation isn’t bizarre. He reeks of expensive floral perfume that he doesn’t normally wear- or maybe he does? This arrangement is making Jumin notice all sort of things he didn’t bother to pay attention to before, from the jasmine wafting off of Seven’s neck and hair, to the gorgeous hue of amber that colors his eyes, to the many small scars on his hands and arms that are barely covered up by concealer, to a crooked tooth he has, to his chapped lips that are painted dark red to match his wig. Jumin realizes he’s staring far too intently and leaning in far too close when Seven turns to look at him and almost bumps his nose against his nose. Jumin jerks away and sits his back against the car seat. “Don’t ‘cha think?”

“Yes,” Jumin answers, staring straight ahead to avoid Seven’s prying eyes. “You were… Quite convincing. I doubt my father will be bothering me about my love life for a while.”

“Yeah, unless he starts pushing you to propose,” Seven turns to wink at Jumin and laughs- a laugh that Jumin thought was slightly annoying before, but now finds melodic. “Just to let you know, I’m more of a silver girl than a gold girl, so I’ll turn you down if you show up with a gold engagement ring!”

Jumin rolls his eyes, not even dignifying Seven’s joke with a response.

Still… He can’t help but look at Seven when the other man’s golden eyes are focused on the road.

Jumin has never thought of Seven as date-able before- not because Seven is a man, but because he genuinely hasn’t tried to see Seven in that light. Now that he’s in a position where he and Seven are ‘dating’, he can’t help but overthink it and become flustered… Or perhaps, this is what a crush feels like? He isn’t sure. Is it only because Seven was dressed as a woman? Is it worth wasting the time to think about?

He’s never had any time to think about his love life in general. At first, he was too young- then, he was focused on school- then, it was V and Rika, and the RFA, and Mint Eye. It’s been so many years now and while things have finally settled down… He’s just… Never bothered. Between work and making sure Elizabeth 3rd’s needs are met, he’s never had a lot of spare time.

Romance isn’t a necessity, anyway. At least not to Jumin. No, to Jumin, romance has always been impractical- and in the business world, there’s never been much room for impracticality. While not necessarily intentional, he realizes that he’s avoided relationships to avoid becoming like his father even after everything. Juyoung is a good man, and Jumin can handle embarrassment well, but more than anything, he’s terrified of experiencing what heartbreak is like after having seen it so many times throughout his life.

Women, women, women. Jumin’s father wasn’t the worst parent, but he wasn’t the best, either- all because of this vice of his. Jumin hated most of the women his father brought around, but as he grew older, he realized that most women aren’t like that, and that his father is just horrible at choosing which ones to court. Most women, like most men, are kind and have good intentions. They can be good friends, like you and Jaehee, but even having met the two of you and so many other wonderful women over the years, he’s never found himself taken over by butterflies in his stomach or plagued with a heart that skips beats because of one. 

Men haven’t caught his attention, either. Him and V were close for so many years and nothing happened between them that was even remotely romantic. Jumin has never put too much thought into it- gay, straight, bi, pan, ace- what does it matter as long as he’s content? People waste too much time trying to decide on labels for something as fluid as sexuality. Or, that’s what Jumin thinks. He isn’t one for labels.

Then again, perhaps he just doesn’t want to consider the possibility of falling in love… Or even developing a crush. Something so inconvenient; the constant thinking about them, the potential of ruining the relationship, his father’s opinions, the media, his company, his money. There’s not many people he could let his guard down around, even if he wanted to, in order to date. Jumin is self aware enough to realize that he’s just personable enough to be a successful businessman, but not personable enough to attract most people to him for a personal relationship. Most of the ones who would express interest would surely only be after him for his riches and status- the same goes for friends, too.

Well, maybe not all of his friends, especially in the RFA. Seven, whose golden gaze stays focused on the road as he drives this gaudy neon green sports car, has hardly ever inquired about Jumin’s money. In fact, the man has so many sports cars and such an expensive house that Jumin suspects he must have made enough to live the rest of his life in luxury back when he worked at the agency. Even if Seven were poor, though… Jumin has learned how to tell when someone plans on taking advantage of him.

Seven isn’t someone who would take advantage of anyone, especially these days. At least not in any way that’s really harmful. Seven, even with his weird humor and awkward personality, is a good person… A good person that Jumin considers a friend.

It suddenly clicks. This burning, sickeningly fuzzy feeling in his belly that he’s had since they went to see his father- the way his heart is beating unusually hard and fast within his chest- the way he can’t stop staring at Seven- this must be it. The romance that everyone has always talked to him about. The crushes that he’s read about in the books. The falling in love that Zen portrays in his stupid plays.

“Ha, Jumin, why do you look so embarrassed all of a sudden?” Seven asks, fiddling with the GPS screen on the dashboard of the car. It shows that they still have a half hour left until they’re going to reach Jumin’s penthouse. “I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you blush! So cute!”

“Take that wig off,” Jumin orders, desperately trying to hide his flushed face by turning to look out the window. 

Seven acquiesces with a shrug and removes the long-haired wig as well as the cap he had on underneath to hide his natural hair. Both are haphazardly tossed into the back seat of the vehicle, which is already loaded with empty Honey Buddha chip bags and PHD Pepper cans.

Seven runs his long, skinny fingers through his hair and grabs some makeup wipes from the glovebox to take his makeup off when they reach a stoplight. Somehow, that makes Jumin’s face heat up even more. When did Seven become this attractive? Has he always been this beautiful? Why didn’t Jumin notice before? 

Clearly, he is not feeling this way exclusively because Seven was dressed like a woman… 

Shit.

“Um, dude, are you good? You’re seriously red! Like, as red as my hair,” Seven points out and switches to driving with one hand so he can use the other to reach over and feel Jumin’s forehead. “Did you get food poisoning or something? Or have you been around someone who’s sick lately?”

“No, nothing of the sort,” Jumin quickly answers and slaps Seven’s hand away. “I’ve heard the air quality is supposed to be poor this week. It’s my fault for not wearing a mask when we went out today. I’ve always been sensitive to that sort of thing.”

“Ah, I see! Let’s get you home to your fancy penthouse then! I’m sure you have the nicest air in South Korea circulating through there.”

Jumin rolls his eyes for what must be the millionth time that night, leaning his head against the window and allowing his eyes to fall shut.

What the hell did he get himself into…?

~

Weeks pass, and for a while, nothing happens. Seven doesn’t talk about the dinner, Jumin doesn’t talk about the dinner, and Jumin’s father is busy with his impending divorce. So, it’s easy for Jumin to forget most of what happened- except for the most important part; the realization that he has feelings for Seven.

He supposes he doesn’t mind. As terrified as he was of falling in love before, simply having a crush on someone is… Nice. Exciting. The butterflies in his stomach when Seven comes into the chatroom, the warmth that floods his body when Seven sends a selfie, the adrenaline that has him nearly tripping over nothing when he sees the other man at work. They’re all new and exhilarating. Jumin would never admit it to anyone else, but he now understands why his father is addicted to the rush of falling in and out of love over and over again.

The thing is, though, Jumin doesn’t want to fall in love with anyone else.

He wants Seven to fall in love with him, and for them to be in love with each other for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, though, other people are complicated. At first, Jumin concocts ways to woo the other man; expensive gifts, romantic dinners, a heartfelt confession- perhaps even (supervised) time with Elizabeth 3rd. Then, something else clicks.

What if Seven already has feelings for him?

That would make things easier, wouldn’t it?

At first, he thought it unlikely. What are the chances?

But then, he remembers that Seven is a complicated man with complicated feelings. He either loves Jumin back or he doesn’t, but whichever it is, he will never tell- because even after so many years, Seven is still a man who wears a shield made of secrets to keep from being vulnerable.

Jumin never cared before, as it didn’t affect their relationship. Now, though, he’s determined to somehow tear down that shield and expose the truth. And if Seven doesn’t reciprocate, he will continue to be a good friend to him, and learn to move on.

Unsure of what else to do, Jumin arranges another dinner. He calls his father and tells him that they should all meet up for a meal again since his ‘girlfriend’ was so fond of him after the last time. 

Then, he calls Seven and tells him that his father ‘insisted’ they meet up again. Seven agrees and meets Jumin at his penthouse so Driver Kim can transport them to the nearest bistro. 

The plan seems to be coming together brilliantly. Before, V would’ve advised him against this and encouraged him to be honest- to tell Seven that he’s fallen for him and that he would love for him to come to another family dinner- ironic. Jumin finds the lie to be harmless, though. 

The two arrive to the restaurant, Seven with his arm linked to Jumin’s once more. Jumin is dressed in a button-up shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. Seven is in a more casual outfit than last time; green pumps, a black skirt, and a green and blue floral shirt. His nails are painted green and his long auburn wig is tied back into a low braid that shows off his soft jawline.

Tonight, Jumin shamelessly stares. It seems Seven is too oblivious to notice anyway as he greets Juyoung and pulls Jumin to sit across from him. Jumin pulls Seven’s chair out, and the two sit down together. 

Jumin smiles as he listens to Seven and his father exchanging pleasantries. Everything is going great- at least until Jumin’s father says-

“I was surprised when my son told me he wanted to get together like this! I was afraid I’d embarrassed him last time,” Chairman Han exclaims with a bright, brilliant smile. He obviously has no idea that Jumin intended for Seven to think it was him who initiated the get together, rather than Jumin. Jumin’s stomach drops. “I’m glad that’s not the case.”

“Oh, he arranged this, hm?” Seven says. Instead of becoming angry- which Jumin expects, considering he had the poor man dress up and come here with an hour’s notice- Seven gives him the smuggest grin he can manage before reaching over and placing a hand on Jumin’s arm. Jumin’s sleeves are rolled up, so Seven’s warm touch feels like fire burning against his skin. “That’s so nice of you, Jumin. You’re such a good son! It must be hard to maintain time for your personal relationships with how much you work, but you always find a way!”

And, to Jumin’s embarrassment, Juyoung beams.

“He certainly does.”

The two men start to chat once again with Jumin dying in the background. 

Now, he almost wishes V were here to talk him out of this…

For the rest of the meal, Juyoung and Seven talk as if nothing is wrong. Every once in a while, though, when his father is distracted, Jumin catches Seven glancing over at him with a look he can’t quite read. Said look stays on the hacker’s face, even when they eventually excuse themselves and get in the back of Driver Kim’s car. 

They sit as far away from each other as possible as Driver Kim types the address for Seven’s home into his GPS and heads that way.

“So…”

Seven starts, awkward, only to pause and pull his makeup painted lips tight together. Seven opens his mouth again, as if he’s about to say something else. Jumin is relieved that Seven is going to address the situation first, as he personally has no idea what to say… But then, a minute passes. And then another. And another.

Slower than both of them would’ve liked, Jumin realizes that Seven is just as humiliated as he is- as well as at a loss for words. The redhead takes his wig off, sets it on the seat that’s between the two of them, removes his diamond stud earrings and puts them in one of the empty cup holders, and leans forward to rest his head against the back of the passenger’s seat before letting out an exasperated groan.

“I…”

“If you wanted me to come to dinner again with you guys, you could’ve just said!” Seven finally exclaims, frustratedly running his hands through his hair. “You didn’t have to lie to me!”

“It’s not… I assumed it was a one time thing,” Jumin furrows his brow, confused and guilty. Seven is flustered, but he doesn’t seem angry… Is there a possibility that he actually wants to be doing this with Jumin? Why? “You truly don’t mind?”

“Huh? Well, no, not really!” Much to Jumin’s surprise, Seven crosses his arms over his chest and looks away, refusing to meet Jumin’s eyes. He’s getting defensive…? “Your dad’s a nice enough guy.”

Jumin sighs and shakes his head. Perhaps going and trying to be clever to figure out Seven’s feelings was foolish… Perhaps he should have been more direct.

“I didn’t want you to come to dinner so you could mingle with my father, Saeyoung.”

Seven blinks at the use of his real name. Even since he told everyone his name, no one refers to Seven by it- after all, they knew him as ‘Seven’ and ‘Luciel’ for so many years. But, in situations like this, it’s enough to catch Seven’s attention. He quickly uncrosses his arms and stares at Jumin with a questioning look. 

“Then what is it? Is there a business deal or something? Or is he wanting us to get engaged? Is it serious? Because I can fake an amazing surprise proposal with you and-” 

“Saeyoung,” Jumin interjects and reaches out to hold Seven’s hand within his own. Seven jumps back as if Jumin is poisonous despite having had his hands all over Jumin in the most obnoxious way possible during both dinners with his father. “Why did you decide to do this?”

“To help you,” Seven answers, though he avoids Jumin’s eyes again. The man is usually incredibly direct and has no issue looking Jumin in the eye, so he finds Seven’s sudden avoidance of eye contact to be a sign that he must be lying- or at least hiding something. “You were having a hard time, and you’re my friend, so…”

“You could’ve done anything else,” Jumin insists. Briefly, he registers that Driver Kim is in the front seat listening to this, but he doesn’t care enough to halt the conversation. “Hired someone for me that you thought was reputable enough not to sell me out, made up some crazy scandal about C&R and put it out there to distract my father- hell, you could’ve ignored it entirely, because my father frequently worries about my love life when his has gone to shit.”

“So? The cross dressing was just the first thing that came to mind! Why does it matter?” Seven becomes increasingly defensive, now crossing one leg over the other, crossing his arms again, and turning his head to stare out the window with a pouty huff. “Can’t I just be doing it to help a friend?”

“You never do anything as complicated as this without some sort of ulterior motive.”

“What, like I’m getting anything out of this? I didn’t even ask you to pay me!”

“I didn’t mean-” Jumin shakes his head, and then sighs. “Never mind.”

“Look, if you don’t want to-”

Suddenly, as they pull up to Seven’s house, Jumin’s phone buzzes. He checks it to see that his father has requested for them to get together again. 

“My father just sent me a text asking if we could meet him for breakfast tomorrow,” He interjects.

“Did he? Or are you making that up so I’ll go with you guys again?” Seven snarkily asks, to which Jumin huffs and shoves his phone in Seven’s face. Upon reading the text, Seven’s face turns so red that Jumin can differentiate his natural blush from the light pink makeup splattered across his cheekbones. “Oh, okay. Well, um, sure. I’ll see you guys there.”

Then, Seven rushes out of the car, leaving Jumin there to dread the disaster that is going to be tomorrow’s breakfast.

~

“Saeyoung, it’s wonderful to see you again.”

Jumin feels a little piece of him die inside as he sits with Seven and his father for the third time within the span of a month. Again, the two of them chat amongst each other, pretty much ignoring him. Seven is in a blouse, skinny jeans, and clunky boots, as the chairman insisted that Seven pick his favorite breakfast restaurant- which just so happens to be a casual diner.

While Jumin is incredibly uncomfortable in the unfamiliar setting, his father, who looks completely out of place in his two piece suit, doesn’t seem to mind and (embarrassingly enough) keeps hitting on one of the older waitresses who (thankfully) flirts back with him every time she comes to check on their table.

When the waitress brings them their food, Jumin’s father slides her his cell phone number, written on a napkin. Jumin doesn’t miss how her eyes flicker to the man’s fancy suit and golden watch, but apparently, Juyoung does. 

“Father, is now a good time to initiate dating again?” Jumin questions as Seven- weirdly enough- reaches over and starts cutting up his crepes for him. “Your divorce hasn’t even been finalized in court yet.”

“Well, son, you have to remember that I don’t have as much time left as you do,” The chairman shrugs, then starts to eat, but not before pointing at Seven with his fork and saying- “I’ve gotta hurry up and find myself a pretty, doting girl like you’ve got!”

“I’m sure you’ll find someone,” Seven interjects before Jumin can say something that gets them arguing about their perspective on ‘love’ once again. For that, Jumin is thankful. “Sometimes, love comes when you don’t expect it to!”

And, without so much as a warning, Seven turns to face Jumin and gently places a hand on the side of his face. Jumin’s breath catches in his throat as Seven leans forward and kisses him on the lips.

Jumin’s heart drops to his stomach in the best way possible.

He’s breathless.

But before he can kiss back, Seven pulls away and begins to eat his plate of pancakes and bacon- as if nothing happened.

Jumin’s father merely grins, both at Seven’s words and at his public display of affection. 

“Yes, that’s true, isn’t it? Love always comes when you least expect it.” 

Jumin misses the feeling of Seven’s lips on his lips, but doesn’t dare ask for another kiss while his father is still present. Instead, he shoots Seven the occasional confused glance, all of which are completely ignored. Jumin buries his face in his hands as his father and ‘girlfriend’ finish their meals. 

Shortly after, Seven grabs him by the hand and pretty much drags him out of the diner. 

“You kissed me,” Jumin weakly mutters as they get into Driver Kim’s car.

“Yeah, and?” Seven snarks as he puts his seatbelt on. Jumin follows, his entire body still hot from the kiss. Part of him wonders if this is revenge for his trickery the night before. “What about it?”

Surprisingly enough, despite it being the second day in a row of this nonsense, Driver Kim continues to ignore them in favor of driving back to Seven’s home. Though, he does roll up the privacy window between the front and back seats, which Jumin is thankful for.

“You kissed me,” Jumin emphasizes through gritted teeth. On a normal morning, he would be able to keep his composure and brush this off, but today, he’s so close to losing it that his face burns red with the restraint it takes not to bite Seven’s head off. Somehow, Seven is even worse at communicating than he is. “Why did you kiss me?”

“To make it more convincing, duh,” Seven says with a shrug, as if it doesn’t even matter. His lackadaisical attitude makes Jumin’s blood boil. “It’d be pretty weird if we were dating but never kissed… Right?”

Jumin crosses his arms over his chest. He isn’t very experienced with love, but he’s not an idiot. Seven didn’t have to kiss him if he didn’t want to. So, the logical conclusion is that Seven must have wanted to kiss him.

“You could have asked permission beforehand.”

“Like your dad wouldn’t think that was weird if I asked to kiss my own ‘boyfriend’?”

“No, I meant that you could have asked for permission before we got to the restaurant, Saeyoung,” Jumin sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and pointer finger. His head starts to throb from the stress. “My God, you make my head hurt.”

“You’re overthinking it. So what? It was just a kiss. Never had one before?”

Jumin blushes. He thought the answer to such a question would be obvious. Apparently not.

“For your information, no, I haven’t.”

“I… Ah,” Seven appears embarrassed, uncrossing his arms and rushing to apologize with a guilty laugh. “Oh. My bad! I guess it does suck that I stole your first kiss! I mean, honestly, I had no idea-”

“That’s not the problem.”

“Then… What is it?”

“The problem,” Jumin leans over to caress Seven’s cheek with one hand, to make Seven look at him. He sees Seven’s mouth and neck move slightly when he swallows, tense, his golden gaze burning into Jumin. “Is that you kissing me in such a manner… Makes me desperately want to kiss you back.”

The car stops in front of Seven’s house. Driver Kim puts the car in park and unlocks the doors.

“...Oh,” Seven takes his seatbelt off as fast as humanly possible and opens the car door. “Looks like we’re home!”

“I-” Jumin cuts himself off, completely baffled. Did Seven just ignore what he said, or is that his way of trying to let Jumin down easy…? “What?”

“We’re back to my place! I gotta go, ‘kay? I’ve got some work to do-”

“You realize that you work for me, yes?” Jumin interjects and catches Seven’s wrist in his hand to keep him from leaving. “Exactly what work do you have to do?”

Seven can’t even muster up an answer. He looks at his front yard, at the ground, at the sky, and literally everywhere else that isn’t Jumin’s face. He stutters over his words, only to fall totally silent. It seems as if he’s given up on so much as trying to argue. Still, he doesn’t relent to Jumin either. Instead, he jerks away from Jumin’s grasp and starts heading to his front door.

What he doesn’t expect is for Jumin to get out of the car, shut the door, signal for Driver Kim to leave, and follow.

““Look, I just wanted to make it more convincing. I wasn’t thinking, and I did something stupid, and I kissed you. I’m sorry, okay? I’ll make it up to you somehow, but right now, I’m really embarrassed- so just go home,” Seven demands with a blush that spreads from the tips of his ears to his cheeks and down to his neck. He frantically struggles to unlock his door, even sticking the wrong key on the lock. Jumin sighs before reaching over and plucks the keys from Seven’s hands to unlock the door for him. Once the lock gives, he opens the front door. “What are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I asked!” Seven snatches his keys from the lock, throws them into a cat-shaped bowl that sits on a table by the front door, and rushes into the house. He tries to shut the door, but Jumin quickly interjects by sticking one of his long legs between the door and the jamb. Seven glares at him. “Why are you being so weird?”

“If you don’t return my feelings, Saeyoung, simply say so. I’ll respect it.”

“Feelings? Since when have you had feelings for me? Hell, why would someone like you have feelings for me?” Seven frantically rambles, walking into his living room. Jumin enters the house, closes the door, and follows close behind Seven. “And why are you calling me by my real name all of a sudden?”

“Saeyoung-”

“Look, I get it! I’m funny, I’m charming, and we’ve been doing this pretend dating stuff- and I kissed you! And it’s like I said; I am a very convincing woman! So, maybe you’re a little confused. Maybe you think you have a cute little crush on me,” Seven plops down onto the couch, taking off the rest of his accessories and makeup and kicking his shoes onto the floor. Jumin stands there aimlessly in the middle of the living room. Though he’s hardly had the chance to say anything, Seven just keeps on responding. “But you can’t call that ‘feelings’ like it’s something serious when you’ve never been in a relationship before, y’know? You’re Jumin Han, the future chairman of C&R- and I’m-”

“Wonderful. You… Are wonderful, Saeyoung. Maybe I didn’t communicate this well enough before, but you’re a good friend. I admire your sense of humor, and since we’ve been doing this ‘dating’ thing, I’ve come to love you even more,” Jumin sits down on the couch next to Seven and places a hand on one of his thighs. Seven freezes as Jumin looks him in the eye and continues. “And my feelings for you are serious. If you don’t return them, that’s fine, but don’t tell me how I feel. It isn’t fair.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Seven runs his hand over his hair as if trying to smooth it even though it already looks perfectly fine. A nervous habit, Jumin figures. “I mean, seriously, Jumin! What’s up with this all of a sudden? Did you decide you’re going to try and prank me or something? Y’know, it’s like Zen says, you really have a terrible sense of humor!”

“What? That’s utterly ridiculous- why would I try to prank you in such a cruel manner? Why can’t you just take my words at face value?”

“Because there’s no reason for you to feel that way,” Seven throws his hands up in frustration. “I mean, we’ve known each other for how long now? You have to be screwing with me, and you have to understand that it’s not cool to-”

“And you need to understand that I’m serious about you. I want you. I’m just sorry that it took me so long to realize that,” Jumin places his spare hand on the side of Seven’s face, and while Seven doesn’t pull away, he doesn’t lean into it, either.

“Jumin, you can’t-”

Before Seven can finish, Jumin cuts him off by leaning forward and pressing their lips together. Seven halts, but it seems like as soon as he realizes what’s happened, he’s melting. He places his scarred hands on the back of Jumin’s neck, threads his fingers through Jumin’s silky black locks, and kisses him hard and deep. The younger man tastes like makeup and cherries so strongly that the taste lingers on Jumin’s lips as he pulls away.

“I can,” Jumin finishes his earlier statement with a small smile as he rests his forehead against Seven’s. “And I do love you, Seven.”

“I… Love you too,” Seven responds, and then laughs. “So, does Jumin Han is gay?”

Jumin lets out a small chuckle and answers with-

“Mayhaps.”

~

Weeks later, Jumin finds himself sitting across from Juyoung in the other man’s office. Obviously, he and Saeyoung haven’t been getting together with his father for meals lately since they’re actually dating now and don’t feel the need to keep up their old ruse. Jumin knows full well that he needs to come clean before so much as thinking of bringing Saeyoung around again.

So, he’s called a ‘personal meeting’. 

The two men are alone, directly across from each other. Though Jumin has already been there for a couple minutes, he doesn’t know where to start, so they’ve been almost completely silent.

“Father… I have to tell you something,” He finally starts, to which the chairman looks like he’s struggling to hold back a laugh.

“Is it about your ‘girlfriend’?”

Jumin blinks. And, at that, his father full on bursts into uncontrolled laughter.

“I’m sorry?”

“Look, son, I’m not going to make you go through this entire spiel with me. I knew all along that ‘she’ was your friend. You two didn’t even bother to give her a different name. I’m not stupid. I was just waiting to see how far you’d take it, honestly,” Chairman Han sighs, practically oozing secondhand embarrassment as he wipes tears from the corners of his eyes. “Is she transitioning or something?”

“What? No.”

“Then… Crossdressing?”

“Precisely.

“But are you two actually dating and just afraid of being openly gay, or was the whole thing a ruse to get me off your back about settling down?”

“At first, it was the latter, but we ended up dating because of it,” Jumin says.

“Huh,” His father simply shrugs and begins to organize the cluttered mess of paperwork that sits on his desk. He doesn’t so much as bat an eye at Jumin. “Well, then, it was rude of you not to bring him here to see me! That Saeyoung is a good kid.”

“Really? Your feelings aren’t hurt?”

“Oh, no. You’re young- sorting out your priorities can still be so hard at this age. I’m just happy that you’ve got it figured out,” Chairman Han smiles and offers a dismissive wave of his hand. “You’re the happiest I’ve seen you in a long time.”

At that, Jumin grins, thinking of Seven, who is at home with Elizabeth 3rd waiting for him. 

“Yes… I suppose I am, Father.”

[rolesplay]

・┆✦ON IDEAS — a zayne/fmc fanfic.

She had a thought about his EVOL, and she just can’t wait to give it a try. ⚠️rated mature for its suggestiveness, as the characters reference and talk about sex

“Zayne.”

“Hm?” He barely looks up from the book he was reading.

She walked closer to her boyfriend, and she stood in front of him, as he was sat down on their couch reading.

“I was thinking.”

He stopped at that, looked up at her. His eyes twinkled with mirth as he says, “That’s dangerous. You don’t usually do that.”

She gasped, offended, as she swats him. He catches her hand, because of course he does. He’s used to her antics. His lips slightly upturns on the side. He was grinning.

She glared at him, and tried to wriggle her wrist away from his hold. “At least let me finish first before saying anything!”

He gives a short, breathless laugh. Barely there, but it’s there. It’s very rare that Zayne laughs, and she ends up blushing because of it. She’s not used to it, and it makes her heart do sommersaults.

“You’re so annoying, Doctor Li,” she continues. She’s flustered. With her free hand, she takes one of the couch pillows and pushes it on his face. She harrumphs. “Stop making fun of your girlfriend!”

She can see his shoulders shaking with laughter still.

Long ago, she thought this man was expressionless. He was not. His expressions were just tiny, hard to see if you’re not used to it.

Zayne finally lets go of the book, placing it neatly down on the coffee table, so that he can use his now free-hand to remove the pillow from his face. “Fine.” He schooled his expression as he moved both his hands and placed it on her hips, pulling her down so she was sitting on his lap. “What were you thinking about?”

Zayne—and she found this one out early on in the relationship —liked having her sit on his lap. He also liked hugging her, holding her hand and the like. Perhaps it was because of his EVOL, and it makes him feel cold, but he was almost always subconsciously looking for warmth.

Situated on her boyfriend’s lap, she sighs and places her head on his shoulder, refusing to look him in the eye. “I don’t know.” She’s still grouchy. “I don’t want to tell you anymore.”

He pulls away just enough so he can cup her cheek. “I apologise.”

She stares back at him. For a second. And another.

She nuzzles against his hand.

Zayne watches her with rapt attention. “You’re like a cat.”

She briefly glares at him but ignores his comment. “If you’re really sorry, you have to say yes to what I’ll say." 

Zayne’s eyebrows raised in question, his curiousity piqued. "I’m not making any promises. You have a tendency to think of very… atypical ideas.”

She pulled away from his hand with a groan and rolled her eyes. “I hate that you’re so thorough.”

A soft, small smile appeared on his face, clearly amused. “Do you?”

She reaches out, entangles her own hand with his. “I was just wondering if you’ve ever made anything of actual ice, outside of fights. You always do snow—powdered and crushed—but I’ve never seen you create anything out of ice.”

“…are you planning to do an ice sculpture?”

“No, I…” she paused, took a deep breath. “Have you ever thought of using your EVOL while we’re having se— ah!”

He gripped her hand tight at that, making her stop talking. His face is impassive, tone serious. Any of the teasing from earlier was gone.

“I can’t do that to you. You know I can’t control—”

“Yes you can,” she immediately protested. “It’s not like you’re gonna go on it full force!”

He sighs as he moves the hand he had placed on her hips to the bridge of his nose. “You really don’t listen.”

“And you always say yes to my requests eventually.”

He stopped to stare at her. “…you noticed.”

“Hard not to,” she laughs quietly. “You’re strict, yes, but you’re quite soft with me.” She poked him on the cheek. “I can take it, Zayne. Besides, you’re a doctor. Surely you would know if I can take it or not.”

“It might be dangerous.”

“You’re looking at someone whose middle name is danger.”

He gives her joke an unimpressed look.

“Oh, come on!”

He huffed. “…you really want to try it?”

“Yes.”

“It won’t melt, you know. It won’t be like last time.” They’ve done temperature play before.

She grinned impishly back at him. “Sounds great to me. Don’t you want me overlysensitive and begging?”

Zayne lets go of her hand only to pull her in for a hug, head buried on her shoulder. “You ruin me, you know?” he mumbled.

“So… is that a yes?”

She gets a bite on the crux of her neck and shoulder as a reply.

[toxinoire]

Okay so due to major boredom, waiting for the Miraculous World Special, absolutely emotionally dead over the fact that Miraculous season 6 won't be out for who knows how long and my dumbass thinking it was a good idea to rewatch the final ep of Supergirl and absolutely falling back into Supercorp, have a crossover of The Love Square and Supercorp. As incorrect quotes of course, I haven't written an actual crossover au.

...

Yet.

~~~~~

(Let's pretend that all this is post reveal for MLB yeah?)

Supergirl: I can fly high enough that If I drop a rock in from the stratosphere it could break the ground.

Chat Noir: *gasp* I wanna see that!

Supergirl: Or you could try it! You have that suit power up that makes you fly!

Chat Noir: *more gasping* YEAH! I COULD-

Ladybug: NO!

Lena: NO!

Ladybug: Fuck no!

Lena: Absolutely not!

Supergirl and Chat Noir: But-

Lena and Ladybug: no

~~~~~~

Kara: So this boy, who would literally follow you to the end of the universe, had called you "just a friend" more than you can count?

Marinette: Yep. It drove our friends nuts.

Marinette: And me too, so...yeah.

Adrien: You're not gonna let that go are you?

Marinette: Nope.

Adrien: Didn't you partner zone me?

Marinette:

Marinette: I did, didn't I?

Lena: So...

Lena: So basically, you two rejected each other...for each other? When even was your first kiss?

Marinette: During Adrien's flight to London-

Adrien, at the same time: Our date as Marinette and Chat Noir-

Adrien and Marinette: What???

Marinette: Wait, wasn't it during Oblivio?

Adrien: We don't remember that at all.

Marinette: Okay then-...Dark Cupid?

Adrien: I don't remember that!

Marinette: Then when was it-

Adrien: I don't know-

Lena:

Kara:

Lena:

Kara:

Kara: Oh that is complicated...

~~~~~~

Adrien: How is it like dating an alien?

Adrien: Because like, she appears human but she isn't. So how does that work?

Lena: Adrien...

Lena: Aren't you made from a feather?

Kara: I feel like it's more he is a feather.

Lena: Ah, right. And you appear human, but you aren't.

Kara: Yeah, how does that work?

Adrien:

Marinette: Yeah so spending time with you two was a bad choice.

~~~~~~

(Fighting a villain)

Supergirl: Crap, we have to get there but the path is blocked.

Lena: We need to distract them.

Ladybug: *glances at her Lucky Charm that is a bottle of perfume* Oh I know! Chat, can you-

Chat Noir, already putting opening Spotify and playing Careless Whisper: *jumps in the middle of the warzone*

Supergirl:

Lena:

Ladybug: Perfect. Now I need you two to drop that pilar on them and-

Lena: Is this how you two normally operate?

Ladybug: Well yeah and then there's me using whatever I get from the Lucky Charm to win with the laws of physics and Chat Noir's cataclysm.

Supergirl: And you win?

Ladybug: Yeah.

Lena:

Supergirl: How-

~~~~~~~

Kara: Hey! What did you think of Marinette and Adrien?

Alex: Those two...

Alex: Are the jumpiest most traumatized pair of 14 year olds I've ever fucking seen. It's like they're war veterans.

Lena: They kind of are war veterans.

(Meanwhile)

Marinette: Alya, how'd meeting Kara and Lena go?

Adrien: What did you think of them?

Alya: They are literally just you two except they're adults, both women, use technology, have siblings and only one of them had a secret identity.

Alya: Seriously, a smart human who has access to magical shit and a non human blonde who both saved the world, almost lost each other, dated other people before one another, make a great team and severely traumatized? It's literally you two in a different font.

~~~~~~~

Kara: Marinette, control your cat! He stole my food!

Adrien: I took one potsticker!

Kara: Still stealing!

Adrien: It is not!

Kara: Yes it is! What if I just took your pastries?!

Adrien: Hey! These are from my girlfriend!

Kara: Those potstickers were also from my girlfriend!

Marinette:

Lena:

Marinette: Wanna see how I made the contraption I used to hide Miracle Box among my things?

Lena: Oh absolutely.

~~~~~~

Lena: Oh, Nia. I see you've met Marinette and Adrien.

Nia: I have.

Kara: So what did you th-

Nia: Can we keep them? Please?

Supercorp: What-

Nia: I seriously vibe with Adrien's puns and Marinette is so fricking creative and I relate to her awkwardness.

Nia: Please can we keep them?

~~~~~

Lena: You...attempted to cataclysm your classmate for hurting Marinette? I mean, get mad and yell sure, but cataclysm?

Adrien: Yes. I do not regret that one bit.

Adrien: Besides, cataclysm doesn't kill, it just gives you excruciating pain that you'd wish you were dead.

Lena: What the fuck-

(Meanwhile)

Marinette: So you just dropped the plane with the toxic chemicals, not even bothering to check if you were flying over a population or not, and just took your fucking chances so you could save Lena?

Kara: Yeah. I'd do it again.

Marinette: But what if she hadn't made the jump?

Kara: I'd drop the plane and catch her.

Marinette: What if you were flying over a population?

Kara: Still dropping the plane.

Marinette: Okay then-

[quietbluejay]

Fulgrim Abridged: Part 1

I'll be posting these to SB and/or possibly AO3 once they're done

(Pardon me while we have a strange beginning interlude) Serena: hello I am a beautiful painter Ostian: hello I am a shy yet charming sculptor Bequa: hello I have blue hair and pronouns. I’m also beautiful. And a prima donna Serena: Bequa is a great musician! Let’s go to this concert Ostian: doubt.jpg (at the concert) Ostian: huh Ostian: She actually IS a great musician (music stops) Bequa: say thank you everyone to this one rando for ruining your night. LET THIS BE A LESSON TO YOU ALL NO TALKING. CONCERT OVER FOR EVERYONE. Fulgrim: (bishie sparkle) even me? (bishie sparkle) (sad eyes) (the audience swoons dramatically) Bequa: well. Okay fine. I’ll restart. Ostian: this is the most beautiful man I’ve seen in my life. I NEED to sculpt a statue of him (Ostian’s Galatean thoughts are interrupted as everyone applauds Fulgrim and starts crying because he’s just that beautiful) (and now, the actual plot) (Strategy meeting time!) Julius: let’s talk philosophy of art Lycaon: ew no that’s for nerds Fulgrim: who’s up for exterminating snakes? Sure the top minds of the Imperium think it’ll be too costly and we should make them a protectorate instead, but xenos don’t deserve to live! What do you all think? bit character: why are you even asking if you already sent space marines down? Julius, internally: gasp! How DARE he talk to Fulgrim like that??? Fulgrim: what, are you a scaredy-cat? (Looms) bit character: n-no Fulgrim: good! Julius internally: ah, sasuga Fulgrim-sama, this was just a rhetorical question meant to put that bit character in his place Fulgrim: Julius? How about you? Julius: squeeeeeeeee whatever you say Fulgrim: dramatically throws off robes (there was much rejoicing) Fulgrim: TONIGHT WE DINE ON SNAKE

(Time to fight the Laer) Solomon: I have a question Solomon: how do we kinkshame the snakes Solomon: I did not consent to this. Laer: stab me harder~ Solomon: BEGONE THOT! LEEEROY JENKIINS Marius: hey Solomon are you there? Solomon? (Solomon was not wearing his helmet and did not reply )Marius: aah that wacky Solomon Marius: he’s probably not wearing his helmet, out of ammo, and completely separated from everyone else because he decided to Leerory Jenkins. Marius: what a pal (Back on the ship) Bequa: heyyyyyy Ostian Ostian: uh Ostian internally: wow that’s a lot of cleavage Bequa, waggling her eyebrows: man wars are really sexy, and haha did I say men? Because they’re so manly? Geddit? Ostian: ???? Bequa: let’s have sex on this deck (kabedon!) Ostian: uhhhhhhh I have a girlfriend (please move at least 5 feet away from me) Ostian flees! Bequa: HE HASN’T SEEN THE LAST OF ME. NO ONE SAYS NO TO BEQUA KINSKY. I’LL HAVE MY REVENGE

(timeskip. There are high levels of casualties because the Emperor’s Children should all be named Leeroy Jenkins. But they are managing to kill various snakes as they go boing boing out of their holes)

FABIUS BILE'S LABORATORY OF HORRORS WONDERS ENTER FABIUS, IN SUSPICIOUSLY STAINED LAB COAT Fabius: muahahaha…Igor! Bring my my pinking shears! Fulgrim: bit of an unusual greeting but I’ll allow it Fabius: Oh! It’s you, my lord Fabius: welcome to my crib Fabius: behold my dismembered enemy corpses Fulgrim: I don’t know what I expected when you asked for them Fabius: the Laer are super cool and kind of…perfect Fabius: I can use them! For spare parts! Fulgrim: squints Fulgrim: I don’t think my father the Emperor would like you saying that. Are you saying that filthy xenos are as good as us? Fabius: noooo? Fabius: but we can steal their homework to make ourselves better Fulgrim: the Emperor’s work is perfect already Fabius: is it though Fabius: uh you do remember what happened with the EC geneseed- Fulgrim: YES I REMEMBER OKAY (beat) Fulgrim: hmmmm Fulgrim: guards! leave us (the guards leave) Fulgrim, whispering: Okay fine. Go ahead. Just don’t do anything TOO weird. Fabius: yeeeeesssss.....

[empressyu123]

It’s you… - chapter 3

Flashback

Yesterday after the phone call from the mystery person Isagi then goes to Anri to ask for something.

as he stands there he thinks for a minute, hesitant but then knocks.

Isagi: Anri.

Anri: hello Isagi, is something wrong?

Isagi: No, no, everything’s fine it’s just i’m here to make a request and i’m going to need your’s and Ego’s permission

Anri: oh, then what is it?

Isagi: if it’s alright with you could i use my points that I earned previously to visit someone?

Anri: oh

Anri: i don’t think we could do, because we’re a little too busy with the upcoming party…

she looks at him with an apologetic smile.

Isagi: oh, okay… sorry for bothering you i’ll head back

looking like a sad kitten Isagi slowly starts to walk away, and Anri witnessing this felt a pang of guilt suddenly perks up with an idea.

Anri: hey,

Isagi turns then tilts his head

Anri: how about you bring them here?

isagi, perks up: really?

Anri: sure! just call text her and we can make that arrangement!

Isagi: Yes!

he’s about to make the call until he actually process what was just said

Isagi: her?

Anri: your girlfriend?

there was silence.

Isagi: … I don’t have a girlfriend.

Anri: oh? oh! then your boyfriend then? (tryna be open minded)

Isagi: no, um … don’t have that either,

Anri: …

there was a much longer awkward silence that was almost to long for their likings. Thankfully Anri broke it by apologising.

Anri: A-ah… sorry!

Isagi: are there perhaps rumors about that with me?

Anri: ! (why did I trust those damn rumors?!)

Isagi: don’t worry i’ve heard, i just didn’t think they’d spread so fast, or that anyone would believe them.

Isagi thinks back to the moment of when he heard his friends talking about it.

Isagi thinking: (honestly just ask me, is it that hard?) *sighs*

Anri: ah… sorry

Isagi: it’s alright I was gonna tell everyone later on

Anri: if you don’t mind me asking then

Isagi: ?

Anri: who’s coming today?

Isagi: my brother

Anri: brother?

Isagi: yea my eldest brother to be more specific, he’s really nice and kind and is amazing at everything he does or puts his mind into!

Anri: he sounds like a great person if you’re talking so highly of him,

Isagi nods vigorously and smiling silly

Anri: (strange in his report it doesn’t say anything about him having any siblings)

trying to remember on his report if he had siblings or not, she realised something

Anri: isagi?

Isagi who is not paying full attention as he’s still giddy with excitement

Anti: i think you’re late for training

Isagi: ? … OH SHOOT!

as he realises, he quickly runs off to his next training session. but before doing so, he turns his head to the lady.

Isagi: thanks, Anri you’re the best!

as Anri watches the cat like boy run off, she couldn’t help but giggle to herself,

Anri: now…

turning herself to her paperworks. as if she’s preparing for war

Anri: let’s finish these and then go to Ego!

As soon as she got to work she forgotten to go to Ego

End of flashback

In the monitor room. Five of the masters (yes Mick is alive in this story) were chatting about their trainees when a certain albino man comes in.

Noa: has anyone seen isagi?

Mick: what’s up, can’t find your protégée? wanting to do some bonding with him~

Noa rolls his eyes at his stupid words.

Noa: no.

jesters the person behind who is Ego himself

Noa: This guy needs to speak with him.

Ego: Apparently he’s invited someone over early without my permission or knowledge. I have to go meet them now.

Loki: i think he’s with someone right now

Ego: Anri?

Loki: no but yesterday he did asked Anri for permission too meet someone.

Snuffy: *smirking* “someone”?

Lavinho: yea?

Loki: think it’s the girlfriend

Snuffy: definitely,

Lavinho, Mick, Chris: GIRLFRIEND?!?!

Noa: we don’t know if it IS. it’s just an accusation that the trainees made

Mick: Well then,

Mick who is now smirking

Mick: should we go, see if it’s real or not then?

Noa: what.

A wide grin takes half of Lavinho’s face,

Lavinho: why not? i’m quite curious

Noa: but

Chris: Oh come on, don’t tell me you’re not at least a little curious!

Noa sighs and looks Chris dead in the eyes with a blank stare

Noa: i’m not.

Chris: oh c’mon cyborg!

Mick and Lavinho: Booo, boring!

Snuffy: *laughing at the scene*

whilst everyone was discussing the topic of who this “mystery girl” was Ego turned to the youngest striker next to him, clearly annoyed

Ego: how’d did you know?

Loki: charles overheard their conversation yesterday.

Ego: and Isagi didn’t think to ask me first?

Loki: Anri was supposed to tell you yesterday, did she not?

Ego: …

Ego: that woman…

frustrated, he thought of a way to scold her and Isagi, when suddenly,

Chris: … wait.

everyone turns to look at Chris who’s looking at the monitor. then point to one of the screens

Chris: is that her?

everyone look at one he’s pointing at. The person was far away from the outside entrance camera and you could only see their back but even from that angle and distance,

Mick: holy shit…

Everyone: (She’s extremely beautiful)

but for some reason she looked. familiar?

however that thought was soon interrupted but Chris’s screeching

Chris: Just how, HOW? she’s GORGEOUS! and she looks 20!

Lavinho: *laughing* i’m dying to find out how he bagged this beauty!

Mick: Well what are we waiting here for? LETS GOO-

before they could all go to the entrance, there was a cough.

Ego: unfortunately for you.

Everyone stops in their tracks, then looks at Ego who’s pointing at the monitors all their teams who were up to trouble

Ego: you lot have the to go do your jobs

the masters: …

Ego: well then?

Noa: *sighs* we’ll be off then

Chris: make sure to introduce us to this girl once you meet her!

once all gone Ego slouched on his seat

Ego: haaa….. you paid for them, you paid for them, you PAID for them.

but as soon he looked at the figure in the screen again, he could help but wonder

Ego: … (why do you look so familiar?)

After waiting for some time, Isagi wondered if he should’ve have prepared a welcome home gift,

tugging on the green scarf that he wore the first time entering blue lock and looks nervously at the time on his phone.

Isagi: (it’s been a while) maybe i should call him-

??: Yoi!

Isagi turns as someone hugs him

as two coloured eyes that represented the sun and moon stare down at him, hidden behind his heart shaped sun glasses the voice called out

??: what have i told you about being wary of your surroundings?

Isagi: Aniki!

isagi then turns his body to hug back the long raven haired man.

Isagi: it’s so good to see you again it’s been ages,

laughing, the elegant man smile’s widen gently as he ruffles the smaller one’s hair

??: likewise dear, I see you’re wearing the scarf I made!

Isagi: how could I not? it’s my favourite one,

??: aww Yoichi! how come the words come out of your mouth are always so sweet?

Isagi’s eyes open wide and

flashbacks to all the insults he’s spewed on the field, probably dissed 1/4 of blue lock, adult included.

he darts his eyes away and sweats thinking if he should tell the truth or say something beautiful.

nervous Isagi: …yep

something beautiful it was.

Isagi: (oh Aniki, if you only you knew…)

??: now

slightly letting go of the hug the pretty gentleman to look up at him.

??: are you going to let me in this facility, or are we going to freeze to death out here?

Isagi: ah, of course hold on Anri and Ego are waiting inside for us!

now holding onto his aniki’s hand leading them both inside

??: of course-

??: …wait, what?

Isagi: come on, they’re waiting for you!

As Isagi drags his brother into the facility, the other raven hair’s smile could help but faultier slightly nervously. But quickly fixes it as soon as they were in the hall

Ego: Anri,

Anri: Yes?

Ego: why did you not inform me yesterday about this person?

Anri looks at Ego in confusion, then suddenly remembered that she forgot to tell him about it.

Anri: uh oh,

Anri: *coughs* ah well, i was pretty busy planning the party and i forgot to mention it to you…

Ego: why did Isagi come to you for permission anyway?

offended, Anri turns her head to him then asks blandly

Anri: Do you pay the bills here?

Ego: …

turned his head away then clicks his tough

Ego: shut up.

Anri: exactly!

Ego: let’s meet this girlfriend then,

Anri: ah, well- um you see

Anri: we’re not meeting his girlfriend,

Ego: who was that girl we saw on the monitor then, his sister?

Anri: his brother, his eldest brother to be more precise,

Anri: and you saw him on the monitor, what did he look like?

Ego: (beautiful) he had long hair with white tips

Ego: did you at least get to know his name?

Anri: …

Ego: Anri, you DID get his name… RIGHT?

Anri: look at the time IgottogotoIsagiandhisbrotherbye!

as quick as a flash, Anri dashed off to see the brothers before Ego could even call her back.

Ego: … *slaps his forehead* for FUCK sakes.

As the two black bluebell heads chatted and waited for a while, the older decided to finally ask

??: so who exactly. Is in charge around here?

Isagi: well, the woman who allowed us to meet is called Anri Teieri is the one who does all the paperwork and covers most of the jobs around here. And she’s a huge reason why this place is still running

??: wow go off queen! okay and the other?

Isagi: his name is Jinpachi Ego

the man had a smaller smile but his eyes were wide and stared in shock at what he just heard

??: Ego… Jinpachi?

Isagi: yea he’s the one who taught us all about egos and,

Isagi looked at his older brother worriedly as the beauty looked slightly pale.

Isagi: hey, are you alri-

*BAMM* the door flies open, they watched as Anri strides towards them with a nervous look on the face, clearly in her own world

Anri: Isagi Yoichi there you are, we NEED to go! is this your- oh wow…

the taller man looks at her then smiles

??: hi?

snapping out of her trance she drags both of them to Ego’s office

Anri: c’mon! Ego is waiting for us in his office,

Isagi: hey! no pushing!

Ego: *sigh and looks at the football stone on his thin tie* (i miss you…)

Just as Ego was about to turn get to work. He suddenly, heard a voice coming from outside

Anri: Ego, it’s me can we come in please?

Ego: come in,

the opens, he sees Anri and Isagi standing side by side and glares hard at them

Isagi: (fuck, he’s mad isn’t he?) hi Ego-san

Ego: Anri. Isagi.

Isagi & Anri: (here it comes)

Ego: do you know that you need at least a 2 days notice about this and you have a match and a party to attend too, we can’t be inviting people over and Anri how did you forget such an important mat-

Bravely (or stupidly) a gentle voice interrupted him

??: don’t be harsh on the poor things dear,

the long hair man emerged from behind them with the mannerisms that could only be described as like an angel

??: My little brother didn’t know till now, and the kind miss only just made a small mistake, so please be nice and forgive them,

Ego: and why should I listen to-

he looks up at the voice and is at loss for words,

Ego: you…

all that annoyance quickly vanished as soon as his eyes looked with his

silence

Isagi: ah, Ego, Anri I almost forgot to introduce you guys! sorry,

Isagi: this is my eldest brother-

Isagi’s eyes widen when Ego interrupts, he was shocked when he said his brother’s name

Ego: Ai Chouji…

Unfazed the pretty man taking off his sunglasses he smiles at Ego.

Chouji: nice to meet you again Gemstone,

(should i colour it fully?)

[elvisabutler]

dove career anon back again! do you have any sfw hcs for dove and austin? like the first time they met each other's families or visited each other's hometowns? any pets they may have (for some reason dove strikes me as a cat person)? just general light goofiness between them

no idea what we're talking about? see the little dove series masterlist for slightly more info, note it's not safe for minors at all. and note i'll eventually get out the next chapters.

you mean how austin charms the hell out of her mother despite knowing that "ah yes this is the idiot who broke my baby girl". and how dove tells austin's dad he's got a villain mustache and it's somehow still cute? dove career anon, i definitely have these.

consider. consider that any actual proper visits happen post cannes smashed in between elvis press tour dates or in the tiny sliver of time austin had pre dune and bikeriders filming. dove has to make her own tweaks to her schedule but it's not as massive as mr. go go go. after all, she gets her oscar nom but she's against some heavy hitters, when warner bros and baz and austin and everyone talk about the award press junket she kind of just says whatever happens happens.

for arguments sake she ties with stephanie hsu because i do whatever the hell i want in this. and i want austin to say that stupid line i envisioned him saying drunk.

the funny thing is though, austin's been in new york city before and she's been anaheim before but never being shown around by someone who calls or called those places home.

consider! he shows her his old elementary, she does the same. he drags her to all the places his mom would take him and she walks him to the theater stages she grew up with. her stomping ground of wanting to be in theater and acting since she was small. his stomping ground of wanting to be an actor once sports failed and he realized that it's weirdly the shy ones who do great work on film.

her trip to disneyland is one where they both keep getting stopped and the pictures except for the pap ones stay confined to small twitter circles and maybe tumblr. no annoying articles about him taking his baby of a girlfriend to disney.

she doesn't know who is more thankful about it, him or her.

when she meets his dad she can't help but blurt out about his facial hair and austin in that moment makes sure he grows it out for bikeriders because of it. just to see her reaction to his own.

his dad laughs and reminds austin that he's got to keep you because she fits right in. dove rides the high of that praise for weeks after. same thing goes for when she meets his sister and gets called her favorite one.

"of course she's your favorite, you don't have another." "shut up daddy, let her speak." "she's the only one i've called my sister, austin."

if it happens before the press tour is over that was supposed to be a hint. if it happens after, she's just being honest and truthful because dove is the only girlfriend he's ever married.

as for when austin meets dove's mom? and to a lesser extent her managers/agents who act like her dad? austin is scared shitless.

it's understandable though because all three of them read that boy for filth and threaten bodily harm if she ever come home or come to them as sad as she was after australia. he swears on his life she won't ever be like that and after that, well he gets dragged to The Diner she enjoys going to with her mom and her managers. and it's a sweet lunch/dinner.

also they have the elvis cat. who was the first pet they ever get even though austin wanted a dog first.

the two dogs come post getting their own house together and during austin's and dove's month break after the oscars to just breathe.

well one of them does. it's a little golden retriever that if they're not around to take care of she goes to stay with austin's dad. her name is jolene.

the second dog only happens post their first baby and that one is a female husky named jenna.

[neepin]

Pudding and Waugh post lesgoo (1/2)

Part 2

Waugh:

Hold on tight cause the creation of this cat girl is one hell of a ride!

Waugh is a character created initially on this panel drawn by pond. Which shows Tord’s profile picture on newgrounds being a cat girl

I then created this reference sheet to flesh out this design, made as a joke between us

She is intended to be a parody character, based on Mary-Sue crappy eye bleeding coloured cringe OCs.I have so much love in my heart for these types of characters.

Now I posted this, and here are some screenshots depicting this spiral into her becoming a character I genuinely love. Keep in mind I did not yet have a name for her yet

This is how she got her name

So yes! Her naming credits go to blackcinder666. A typo of the word ‘waifu’. It seems like such a perfect fit for a character like her

And so her story continues, with her being incorporated into bits of the comic

I was overwhelmed by just how much people seemed to like her!!!!! Seeing fanart was such a lovely thing to see, especially considering she was an oc

What lovely drawings, agh <33

And I think that’s that! Waugh is Tord’s shitty anime girl oc who he draws a lot and loves very much. As for the other one..

Pudding:

Pudding was created simply because when you have an online friend, and they are an artist to some degree as well, surely it just makes sense to create ocs together? Maybe thats just me with my experience of Internet friends, but ah well!

Tord tells edd all about Waugh and he figures why not make a cat lady himself. Her name is pudding and I love her so dearly. She follows general design similarities to Waugh, what with being very pretty, cute and somewhat anime inspired I guess ?

This the first drawing of Pudding (she has changed a little bit now)

In my head of course waugh would like girls because you know. It’s Tord we’re talking about dw I can make a joke about this common fetishisation of wlw characters because I’m a lesbian and all that I’m well aware of these implications and due to this being mentioned when explaining his oc to edd, Edd would send Tord an idea for a girlfriend for Waugh the next day.

the characters themselves evolve from a simple idea by a long shot. Tord and edd actually consider the world they live in, where they work for a living etc. I like this idea that as they talk more about the characters, they almost become similar to sonas for them ? Tord and Edd’s OCs aren’t really ‘them’, and nor would they consider them such. But they definitely put a bit of themselves into the characters. Because that’s what I did for the pond characters, and I gotta be able to slip in some meta aspect somehow !!

I’ll continue to explain pudding and Waugh more in depth, and as characters in the second part! But that is the general outline. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! i genuinely love these two characters more than you could know!!!

[mercheswan]

“Hey, stupid Guren, can I go this Saturday to my friend’s house to meet her brother’s tiger?” Yuu asks as he enters the living room, grabbing the attention of the three occupants of the room.

~~~

Guren gets mesmerized by the tigers’ owner. And the fact that the tiger doesn’t like him seems to be the least of his problems.

For @gureshin-week-2022 DAY 4: Animals.

Fic on AO3 - user: MerCevans or ⬇️

Guren is quietly reading some reports, while Sayuri pours him some tea and Shigure cleans her knives and weapons.

“W-What!? Yuuichiro… Did you just say..?” Sayuri exclaims in shock.

“Huh? What are you taking about? You don’t have friends” Guren scoffs a laugh.

“Guren-sama! That’s not what’s strange about what Yuuichiro just said!” Sayuri protests.

“Of course I do! Mika is my friend! And Yoichi… I guess Shinoa can also be considered one…” Yuu huffs indignant. “I don’t care what you say. Can I go or not?”

“Ah, yes, the Tepes boy. You’re obsessed with him. But who is this girl, where did she come from? You have a girlfriend already, I never thought you would” Guren snorts mockingly.

“Shinoa is not my girlfriend. That’s gross. She is annoying, but Yoichi likes her and she has been sitting with us during lunch this past days. So… I guess it’s fine”

Guren huffs. “How difficult it is to be a twelve year old boy, huh?”

“Whatever. So, can I go?” Yuu presses.

Guren averts his eyes to continue reading his reports. “Do as you like”

“Guren-sama!” Sayuri exclaims horrified.

Guren raises his eyebrow at his retainer. “What is it?”

“I believe Sayuri is worried, because Yuuichiro mentioned that he is going to meet a tiger” Shigure explains.

“It can not be a real tiger, right? Who has a tiger in their house” Sayuri questions glaring at Yuu.

“It’s domesticated. A tiger it’s just a big cat” Yuu shrugs.

“Tigers are indeed felines. But the comparison is not truly accurate. Tigers are wild animals.” Shigure punctuates.

“You befriended the Tepes boy who comes from a nobiliary house, and now, someone rich enough to have a tiger as a pet? Do you have a magnet for weird rich kids?” Guren questions.

“Ask yourself that. You adopted me too.” Yuu huffs.

“Getting you out of the orphanage was charity work actually” Guren argues.

“Guren-sama! Don’t say things like that!” Sayuri cries outraged.

Yuu snorts, clicking his tongue. He knows that Guren didn’t mean that. “Well then I’ll go. I’ll be in my room.”

“Wait a minute” Guren calls. “What’s the girls last name, she could be from an influential family”

Yuu grimaces. He hates the political stuff of being in a prominent clan. Deals, confrontations, alliances… it’s all very complicated, and Yuu doesn’t want to be mixed and all that. “Umm… I don’t know… she is just Shinoa…”

“Use your almost non-existent brain”

Yuu huffs annoyed. “It’s starts with an H… I think… it’s Hima… no— Hiro… Ah! Got it! It’s Hiiragi! Hiiragi Shinoa”

The room becomes quiet except for the sound of Shigure’s knife hitting the floor. The three young adults look at Yuu with stupefaction.

“Yuuichiro you can’t be friends with her” Shigure declares with a menacing voice.

“Huh?”

“I explained to you, right, Yuu? The origins of the Ichinose clan.” Sayuri adds.

“What are you guys talking about. What’s that got to do with anything?” Yuu asks confused.

“The Hiiragi clan and the Ichinose clan have been at odds for centuries brat.” Guren sighed out loud. “The families were once united, but there was a big betrayal because someone was assassinated. It caused a big conflict and the clans became enemies. At the present moment we are business competitors.” He explained. “I can’t believe you went an befriended one of the kids from that dammed family…” Guren groans.

“But that happened so long ago. That has nothing to do with me or Shinoa” Yuu says irritated.

“We can’t associate ourselves with the Hiiragi clan, Yuu” Sayuri smiles apologetic.

“You said the girl is the one who approached you?” Guren asks.

Yuu nods. “She is in my class with Yoichi”

Guren rests his hand on his chin, wearing a thoughtful expression. “It could be a trap”

Yuu furrowed his eyebrows. “What do you mean Guren-sama?” Shigure glares at the raven haired.

“The next clan head it’s Hiiragi Kureto. I’ve met him a couple of times. He is prepotent, greedy and a little bit callous. I don’t trust him, but he has expressed that once he is the clan’s leader, he wants our clans to come closer and make peace.” Guren reveals.

“That’s good, right? If they are powerful you can benefit from that” Yuu argues.

Guren sighs. “They could be trying to trick us”

“They can’t be trusted” Shigure adds and Sayuri nods.

“I just want to go see a tiger. Why are you making it be so complicated. Shinoa is still going to be in my class, and she can be pretty annoying” Yuu huffs.

“Okay” Guren agrees. “We’ll go to meet the tiger”

“Great! Thanks I— wait a minute. What do you mean we?” Yuu questions.

“I’ll go with you. That way we can determine if they ordered the girl to get close to you, so they’ll have a connection to our clan. It’s better to go directly to the source and show them that they can’t trick us” Guren alleges.

“I can’t just appear accompanied with you! It’s like going with your father, I’m not a little kid!” Yuu protests.

“Oh? You see me as your father, brat?” Guren smirks teasingly.

Yuu groans out loud. “Whatever. I’ll ask Shinoa…”.

With that Yuu leaves to his room. At dinner he informs his caretakers that Shinoa said that it was fine, that Guren could come too. “She teased me a lot about it! I will get revenge from this, stupid Guren!”

On Saturday, Guren and Yuu arrive and park the car next to the Hiiragi Manor.

“Whoa” Yuu whistles staring at the enormous house. “They are much more richer than you”

Guren clicks his tongue. “They are known to me merciless in business. That’s not how I like to do things” He claims.

They continue waking to the main door. “You said the tiger was that girl, Shinoa’s brother, right?”

Yuu nods. “Yeah, the tiger it’s not hers. She told me that it belonged his older sibling. It has to belong to the guy you know, right? The one who wants our clans to come closer”

Guren feels a quick spark of happiness at hearing Yuu including himself as part of the clan. He stayed with his original last name, even if legally he should be an Ichinose. “Not necessarily” The raven haired responds. Yuu quirks a brow at him. “I can’t really imagine Kureto having a tiger as a pet, not even as a power move. There’s another Hiiragi sibling. His name it’s Seishirō. He is a total imbecile, he looks more like the type of guy who would get a tiger just to show that he has an exotic animal”

“Yuu-kun!” A voice calling grabs the attention of the pair.

In front of the main gate, Yoichi waves his hand cheerfully. Next to him, Mika also waves his hand at him.

“Mika! Yoichi!” Yuu grins widely and runs to his friends.

“Good morning Yuu-chan” Mika returns a kind smile.

“Huh? You came too?” Yuu sends an unfriendly glance to Kimizuki, another student in his class.

Kimizuki huffs annoyed. “What of it?”

“Ah, good thing, we are all here already” A girl says joining the group of boys.

“Mitsuba!”

“Then let’s call Shinoa..— Who are you?” Kimizuki questions to Guren when he stops next to Yuu.

“That’s Yuu-chan’s caretaker” Mika replies., having already known Guren a couple of times. Although he is not particularly thrilled to see the man.

“Ha! You brought your father?” Kimizuki snorts teasingly. Yuu feels a blush coming to his face.

“I’m not his father. Call the intercom already. I came here for my own reasons, you brats don’t need to understand it” Guren moves his hand with indifference.

“You’re never too old to want to see a tiger” Yoichi interjects with an innocent and happily voice. Guren glares at him with a confounded face. Mika and Mitsuba silently laugh behind him.

Kimizuki presses the intercom.

“Hiiragi residence. Who— Ah! It’s for me, Aoba-san. Let me take care of it!” The group hear two voices speak.

“Shinoa?” Mitsuba calls.

“Ah, Mitsu-chan, I can see that everyone is here. Splendid. Come in!” Shinoa says through the intercom and the doors open.

The teenagers plus Guren, enter the Hiiragi Manor. The Ichinose observes that they are carefully being watched by the personnel of the residence.

“Hello guys!” A girl with purple hair and a big bow in her hair greets them. “Thanks for coming. Let’s not waist more time, Shinya is with the tiger now, so it’s a perfect moment to meet him. He always listen to him.” The Hiiragi girl claims as he motions the group to follow her to the gardens on the right side of the terrains.

Shinya? Guren mentally questions. Must be the tigers keeper. Then Shinoa meets eyes with him. The Ichinose frowns at how mature and mischievous her glare looks. “You must be Guren-san, right? Yuu-san’s caretaker” She extends her hand for him to shake in a polite manner. “I told Kureto nii-san, that you were coming, I hope that you don’t mind. He says he wants to speak with you. He is busy at this very moment, but he will come to greet you later. In the mean time, you can come with us to see the tiger, if you want”. Guren makes a sound of agreement.

The group walks around the Hiiragi Manor’s terrains. The place it’s big enough to be considered a whole neighborhood.

“Is it free? Don’t you have it in a cage?” Yoichi asks.

“He has his own space, but Shinya let’s him out when he is with him. But don’t worry, the tiger obeys Shinya, after all, he is the one who rescue him. Shinya was sixteen at that time, so, they’ve been together for years.” Shinoa explains. “Ah. There he is! Shinya!”

Some meter in front the group can distinguish two forms. One of them is huge and white and the other is clearly a boy. The boy, supposedly Shinya, waves back at Shinoa .

“The tiger is white! Oh it’s beautiful!” Mitsuba exclaims.

Guren glares at Yuu. He can’t hide that he is impressed and excited to see the animal, it makes the raven haired snort mentally.

Shinya walks to meet them and that’s when Guren fully sees him. Shinya is breathtaking. He is young, more or less his age, with silver/white hair and pale skin. His smile is warm and friendly. And his eyes. His eyes are the most beautiful blue, Guren has even seen.

“Hey, so this are your friends?” Shinya asks Shinoa who nods with a smile.

“It’s bigger than I thought it would be” Kimizuki comments.

“Oh… are you afraid?” Yuu teases with a mischievous smirk.

“It’s normal to be unsettle Yuu-kun. It’s a wild animal after all” Yoichi remarks.

“It’s like a big cat” Yuu huffs.

“Oh? We have a brave boy here… You think he is not dangerous?” Shinya asks with a smile that makes Guren tremble with an unknown feeling. It’s not amicably like before, it’s almost menacing.

“Byakkomaru” Shinya murmurs in a soft and serious voice.

A second after the silver haired utters those words, the white tiger who has been laying peacefully on the grass some meter away from them, roars loudly and begins sprinting like a wild beast at them.

Guren’s heart starts to beat out of control at the threat before him. The kids began to scream in absolute fear trying to get away from the animal.

“Yuu-chan!” Mika’s scream alerts Guren. Yuu hasn’t moved, paralyzed by the fear and the tiger is running towards him.

“Yuu!” Guren advances to stand in front of the animal but then a firm hand grabs him by the arm, making him unable to move. It’s Shinya. The Ichinose’s eyes widen in shock as he tries to get away from the grasp.

But he doesn’t manage to and he has to watch how the giant tiger jumps on top of Yuu.

“Yuu!” “Yuu-chan!” “Yuuichiro!” The kids scream.

“Let go!” Guren groans, turning around to punch Shinya.

The silver haired meets his eyes with a gently smile. “Look” He points to the tiger with his head.

Guren glares at the animal as sees him getting up. His violent attitude has disappeared, and on the ground it’s Yuu, completely unharmed although wearing a shocked and frightened face.

“Yuu-chan!” Mika moves beside his friend.

The tiger walks slowly to Shinoa’s side. It’s when Guren notices that the girl is not looking afraid like the rest of the kids.

“Well done Byakkomaru” The girl pats the tiger who purrs.

“Wha.. what’s the meaning of this!?” Kimozuki asks agitated.

“I told you it would be too much” Shinya says glaring the Hiiragi girl. He has still not let go of Guren’s arm.

“Ma.. but it was so fun to see Yuu-san acting so brave and just a second later being completely scared” Shinoa giggles.

Yuu manages to stand thanks to Mika. “This was a prank!?” He squeaks. Shinoa shows her tongue in a playful manner.

“Shinoa! That was too much!”

“I thought I was going to die!”

“You Hiiragi are absolutely mental…” Guren mutters in a low voice, although Shinya’s soft chuckle indicates that he has heard him.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help myself…” Shinoa offers.

Yuu huffs out loud. “Whatever. Don’t do that to your friends, okay?”

Guren notices that Shinoa’s face turns shocked at Yuu’s comment. I guess the stupid girl doesn’t have that many friends… He thinks.

Shinoa smiles gently. “You’re right Yuu-san. No more pranks, I promise. So, who wants to pet Byakkomaru?” She says as he caressed the tiger’s fur.

Surprisingly, It’s Yoichi the ones who approaches the animal first.

Guren observes as the children come closer and play with the tiger.

“Don’t worry, he won’t attack again. I have trained him well” Guren freezes at hearing Shinya’s voice in his ear. He turns around and meets the silver haired’s gentle smile.

“It’s crazy to have a tiger as a pet” Guren comments, looking at the other adult.

Shinya hums cheerfully. “Perhaps.” He brushes his shoulder with Guren. “You’re young to be the father of one of those…” He points to the children group.

Guren snorts. “Nah… I’m Yuu’s tutor. The boy who was attacked by the Tiger”

Shinya’s eyes widen a little. “Oh. I guess I should be happy that you didn’t break my nose when I stopped you to save the kid”

Guren grins. “I wanted to. But, your grasp was quite strong”. Shinya chuckles.

He has a nice laugh. Guren thinks. It’s a shame that the works for the Hiiragi.

“You live in the Hiiragi Manor?” Guren questions.

“Yeah. I do. I was living abroad for some time, and I decided to return to Japan” Shinya responds.

“Studying how to tame tigers?” Guren teases.

Shinya laughs. “Byakkomaru has been my loyal companion for years. Wherever I go, he goes”

“And I suppose that you’ll be staying here for the foreseeable future”

Shinya raises his eyebrow wearing a flirty expression. “Oh? Have I picked your interest?”

Guren meets blue amused eyes. “You wish” he snorts.

“I’m a very mysterious person. I know how to make things interesting” Shinya adds.

Guren chuckles. “Yeah, I bet”.

When the Ichinose decided to accompany Yuu, he could have never imagine that he would end up flirting with a Hiiragi servant. But, he has to admit that he is interested in the silver haired.

“They say that the Ichinose are trouble. You look like trouble all right”. It shouldn’t sound sexy, but Guren finds that he doesn’t mind if Shinya calls him a troublemaker.

“The Hiiragi can’t control us. And they absolutely loathe it”

“Which surely makes you very gratified” Shinya claims. Guren offers him a cheeky grin to which Shinya responds by laughing good-naturally. “So you came with your… protégée cause you think that Shinoa befriending him is some obscure tactic?”

Guren just glares at him, not wanting to confirm or deny anything. It seems that Shinya is very aware of the reality of the relationships between both clans. ‘So. He isn’t just an animal keeper… could he be a trusted retainer?’ Guren muses mentally.

“I can assure you that that’s not the case. Shinoa is not interested in the clan’s politics. She does not really brag about being a Hiiragi. But, I can’t blame you for being cautious” Shinya declares.

“And you?” Guren asks. Shinya quirks his brow in confusion. “Are you blindly loyal to the Hiiragi?”

‘Ah..’ Shinya suspires and grins. “I was brought to this family. I do not completely agree with everything they do. However, I have understood that they want an approach to the Ichinose clan. I didn’t really care, but considering…” The silver haired glares shamelessly at Guren from head to toe. “I might be in favor of that idea…”

“Maybe if the Hiiragi were more like you, I may consider it…” Guren claims playfully.

Shinya chuckles. “Don’t say that out loud, or they might send me to seduce you…”

“You think you can seduce me?” Guren grins suggestively.

“I thought I was doing a good job about it… Tell me, what does it take to seduce the mighty Ichinose Guren~” Shinya whispers, his lips brushing Guren’s ear.

‘You are doing a spectacular job’ Guren internally thinks. He has to admit that it has been long since he has felt this type of attraction for someone else. The fact that the silver haired works for the Hiiragi it’s becoming something unimportant. He has to admit that he wants to meet Shinya again once their visit to the Hiiragi Mansion ends, preferably in his house. In his bedroom to be more precise.

Purple eyes met blue ones, the tension between them is palpable. Guren hopes that the kids are busy enough playing with the tiger, so they don’t pay attention to the older men’s flirting.

The kids are indeed busy, but apparently Byakkomaru doesn’t appreciate when someone comes close to his keeper.

An angry roar breaks the intimate moment between Shinya and Guren. The raven haired eyes the animal with caution, the tiger seems to be in a bad mood, but curiously, it’s anger it’s not directed to the children, but at Guren.

Byakkomaru advances with a threatening aura towards the Ichinose. “Shinya… if it’s another prank…” Guren says, his eyes never leaving the animal.

“Byakkomaru. Stop” Shinya orders in a commanding voice, but the tiger doesn’t comply to it.

“I thought you said that he listens to you” Guren whispers to the silver haired. The tiger keeps roaring and making menacing sounds, he looks as if he is going to attack at any moment, and Shinya can’t control it.

“Byakkomaru. Down. Now.” Shinya positions himself between the beast and Guren, and glares at his tiger with harshness.

And the tiger and his keeper stare at each other for a few seconds in which they strangely appear to be having a mental conversation. In the end, the white animal decides to leave to rest in some rocks some meters away.

“That was weird…” Shinoa proclaims breaking the silence that has fallen into the group.

“I suppose our time with Byakkomaru has come to an end” Mitsuba adds.

“Oh, but it was fun! I did not expect to actually be able to play with the tiger!” Yoichi says with clear excitement in his voice.

The group of children soon begin discussing their encounter with the animal and who is the one who seems to have bonded more with him. Which apparently is Yoichi as Mika claims.

“I don’t understand what’s happened, Byakkomaru has never reacted like that to anyone before… not even Seishirō got a response like that…” Shinya comments glancing at the tiger from the comer of his eye.

Guren turns to face him. “Your tiger is clearly dumb if he prefers that brainless jerk over me” He huffs.

“I don’t know Guren… the tiger seemed to be very intelligent. Perhaps he just sensed how stupid you are” Yuu claims, entering the conversation.

Shinya lefts out a muffled chuckle at the comments that makes Guren sent him an aggravated glare.

“Shut up. In any case, it’s normal if the tiger prefers Seishirō. It’s his new master, right?” Guren puffed.

Shinya quirks his brow at him with confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Seishirō bought the tiger, right?” Guren clarifies.

“Emm… no Guren… why would you think that?” Shinya questions.

Guren frowns. “So the tiger it’s actually Kureto’s?”

“What? No! Guren, Byakkomaru it’s my companion, it belongs to me” Shinya claims.

“Yeah, I get that, you’re his keeper, the caretaker. But, the the tiger was bought by the Hiiragi, right? So, technically now it belongs to them.” Guren explains. “The brat” He points with his head at Yuu. “Told me that the tiger was owned by one of the brothers”

Shinya’s eyes widen in surprise. “Oh.. I thought you knew…”

“Know what?—”

“Shinya. Shinoa” The arrival of Hiiragi Kureto interrupts the previous conversation.

“Hello, hello, Nii-san. Did you finish your work?” The Hiiragi asks.

Kureto nods. “Yes. And I can see that you have also finished playing with Byakkomaru. Was everything okay? The staff said they heard screams”

“Just a little prank that went a little bit overboard, Kureto nii-san, but everyone it’s fine” Shinya smiles at the the older Hiiragi.

Guren snaps his neck in Shinya’s direction incredibly fast.

“Guren, it was a surprise to hear that you were coming I didn’t know that Shinoa—”

“Wait” Guren interjects, interrupting Kureto, who raises his eyebrow affronted. “Nii-san?” Guren questions, staring at Shinya.

Shinya huffs a laugh. “Yeah, I thought you knew… but, since I’m adopted, it’s true that some people don’t usually count me as one of the siblings…” He scratches his back. “I’ll introduce myself properly then: Hello, I’m Hiiragi Shinya. Nice yo meet you Guren” The silver haired offers his hand to shake.

No. No, no no! Arggg really!? Guren’s mind groans.

“Shinya was adopted when he was nine. But, he is not really much involved in the business.” Kureto intervenes.

“But, my adoptive father wants me to be more involved. That’s why I came back.” Shinya adds.

“I actually wanted to put Shinya as a representative in a little project I have in mind. One in which I was hoping our clans could work as partners” Kureto reveals. Guren glares at the Hiiragi with skepticism. “If you have time, we can discuss it while the children play inside and have some snacks”

Guren turns to look at Shinya, who offers him a gently smile. The Ichinose nods and the group walk to the mansion.

A couple of hours later, Guren enters the living room where the kids are playing some bored games. “Yuu. We’re leaving”

“Already?” Yuu groans.

“You can come whenever you want, Yuu-san” Shinoa smiles.

“Yeah, we should do this again” Mitsuba claims and the others agree with her.

They say their goodbyes and Yuu and Guren walk to their car. The young boy glances at his caretaker from the corner of his eye. The man hasn’t said a word since he began driving.

“So, what they did offer you?” Yuu asks.

“None of your business. You’re not part of the company” Guren replies.

“Maybe they are not that bad. Shinoa is annoying but she is not bad. And that Shinya guy seemed nice. You looked like you liked him. A lot. I saw you laughing. You never laugh” Yuu presses.

Guren clicks his tongue. “It’s complicated. I don’t know if I can trust them”

“What’s your heart telling you. Not about the Hiiragi in general, or that Kureto guy who seemed to be a little bit cold-blooded, but about Shinya. Do you think you can trust him?”

‘I do. But what if I make a mistake by deciding to follow what I feel…’. Guren mentally thinks.

“You overthink too much” Yuu huffs and turns to look through the car’s windows.

~~~~~

“Guren-sama. Welcome home” Sayuri greets the Ichinose.

“Hiiragi Kureto has called. He says that if you are interested in what you discussed that now was the time to work on it. That you should call him” Shigure announces.

Guren groans out loud. He still hasn’t decided what he wants to do.

“Speaking of Hiiragi…” Sayuri mutters. Guren raises his eyebrow in her direction. The retainer meets the man’s glare. “We have a visitor.”

Guren’s heart skips a little beat. Shinya? The voice in his mind sounds hopefully. A week has passed since he met the man, and the raven haired hasn’t been able to forget about him. He knows that he wants to see him again and get to know him. It’s weird for someone to grab his attention like that, but it took Shinya less than an hour to do so.

If Guren agrees to what Kureto proposed, that would mean that he and Shinya would spend a lot of time together. And he wants that.

“What visitor?” Guren asks, trying not to sound too hopeful.

“She is in Yuu’s room” Sayuri replies.

‘She?.. oh. Her’. Guren clicks his tongue and walks towards the kid’s room.

“Yuu-san, trust me with this, the presentation will look better if we do this…”

Guren hears the voice of the girl as he comes closer to the room

“It looks too pink…”

“Nonsense. Izumi-sensei likes pink. You have to go with your heart with this things!”

“Who told you that?”

“Shinya” At the mention of the silver haired’s name, Guren stops at the doorframe to listen. “He always says that you can’t go wrong if you follow your heart”

Guren breathes out, pressing his head on the wall. Should he follow his heart too?

“In any case, I did the majority of this project. So it’s gotta be pink cause I say so”

“Huh!? Oi! That’s not fair Shinoa!”

Guren lefts out a little snort before knocking on the door and entering Yuu’s room. “Hey brat”

Yuu and Shinoa meet their eyes. “Stupid Guren!” “Guren-san, good afternoon.”

Guren scoffs. “That for school?” He says pointing at the mess of cardboards, pointers and paper on the floor.

“Yes. We have a presentation tomorrow, and we needed to finish it” Shinoa answers

“It’s okay that I invited her, right? It’s for school” Yuu asks looking at his caretaker.

Guren nods. “Yeah, I’ll let you finish”

A couple of hours later, Yuu and Shinoa exit the other’s room. Guren, Shigure and Sayuri were preparing dinner.

“Sayuri-san. Thank you so much for the cookies they were delicious. Oh, and could you make sure that Yuuichiro doesn’t forget the project at home tomorrow?” Shinoa smiles.

“I won’t forget!” Yuu complains.

“I’ll remind him tomorrow” Sayuri laughs softly.

“It’s late. Should I call a cab?” Guren asks

Shinoa shakes her head. “Someone it’s coming to pick me up. In fact… he is here already” The girl says checking her phone. “Guren-san, walk me? It’s only proper”

Guren frowns at her. He senses a trap, but accompanies her outside. There is indeed a car waiting at the entrance. He has expected a servant, but then Shinya exits the vehicle with a bright smile on his face.

“Hop in” He says.

Shinoa smirks to the Ichinose before entering the vehicle. Guren can swear that the smile looks a little devilish.

“Guren” Shinya calls him.

“Shinya” Guren greets back.

“I hope she wasn’t so much of a nuisance?”

“Nah, they were working on that famous project” Guren replies.

Shinya nods as he glares at Guren. It looks like he wants to say something more, but he is not sure if he should.

“Gure—”

“Shiny—”

The silver haired chuckles. “I just wanted to say that, I know you don’t trust Kureto nii-san, and I totally get it. You should be cautious in fact. But, I guess, I just wanted to let you know that you can trust me. If we were to work together, I’d be on your side, like an ally”

Guren meets the other’s deep blue eyes. He and Shinya working together, being partners. He wants that. He wants Shinya. “I suppose I’ll have to confirm that in the future”. Shinya tilts his head in confusion. “I’ll accept Kureto’s proposal. So I guess we’ll be seeing each other more”.

Guren is pleased to see Shinya’s expression turning gleeful. It seems he is not the only one who has been wanting to get closer to the other.

“Oh that’s great news! Can’t wait to work with you Guren” Shinya smiles. “We shall celebrate, we can go to have diner next week”

“With Kureto?”

“I was thinking it would be better just us two… if you want~?” Shinya says, his voice turning a little bit suggestive.

‘Oh I want to’ Guren thinks. “Sure. But you’re paying”

“How cheap! Usually the pretty one is the one who gets invited”

Guren snorts. “Who says you’re the pretty one”

“It’s quite obvious” Shinya says pouting at his face.

Guren rolls his eyes with amusement. “Whatever. You should leave. We’ll talk about it another time. Drive safely”

“Bye Guren” Shinya winks at him before entering the car to go back home.

Guren watches the car go and he feels a sense of excitement. He might be making a mistake, but he needs to take the risk. He wants to pursue what he feels for the Hiiragi.

The raven haired enters his home again and has diner with Yuu, Shigure and Sayuri.

“Yuuichiro, don’t stay late, you have school tomorrow” Sayuri orders.

“Yeah, yeah” Yuu says engulfed in his phone.

“If the phone is going to be problem, you’ll leave it here before going back to your room” Guren declares.

“I’m speaking with Shinoa. Who is telling me something very interesting…” Yuu smirks mischievously glaring at his caretaker.

“What is it” Guren asks unimpressed.

“Apparently you’re having a date with her brother… the one who owns the tiger” Yuu smirks again. Guren’s eyes widen.

“A-A date!?” Sayuri squeals.

“I’ll make sure to send the tiger after you. And this time it won’t be a prank” Guren says trying to sound threatening to cover up his embarrassment.

“I seem to recall that Byakkomaru didn’t like you at all… so good luck with that” Yuu leaves the room laughing out loud and leaving a distressed Sayuri and Shigure and an embarrassed Guren.

It takes indeed a very long time for Byakkomaru to simply tolerate Guren. Even after he and Shinya begin to officially date.