#he’s high AND watching nyan cat like ‘ha. the things they come up with!’

[bastard-of-a-bog-being]

What if… Lenny?

“My eye! I’m not supposed to get eraser shavings in it!!”

[astringofmadhousefloozies]

Surprises

Surprises of all kinds, found after a shopping trip goes wrong. Content warning for coarse language, sexuality, threats of violence, mentions of suicide and incest, and copious amounts of headcanons.

As always, there is more in my Twisted Wonderland Fanfiction tag, and send me a message if you liked it, I crave positive feedback.

~*~*~*~

TXT: where the fuck are you guys it's already quarter past

After a few minutes, you got a ding.

M: idia doenst want t leave something about a person see you aftr he needs freind

Oh goddammit, it's so fucking hard to get him out and about. At least Mal was with him.

You looked to Grim at your feet. "Looks like it's just us, buddy."

~*~*~*~

It was just you and Grim browsing through the dollar store, when a boy in a ratty shop apron came up to you. "Ma'am?"

You turned to him, and he coughed. "Uh, Miss. You're not supposed to have pets in the store."

Grim bristled at him. "I'm not a pet!"

Poor kid, he looked so startled. And you decided to make it worse, because yanno, why not. "How dare you refer to my son as a pet! Does he look like a pet to you?"

He looked between your face and Grim's, confusion growing. "Wh-"

"I know the resemblance isn't the strongest, but honestly! How could you say such mean things about him!"

Grim, bless him, actually caught on and decided to play along for the chaos of it. "Why are you being so mean to me? My mom works hard to keep me happy! She said I could pick out a toy today!"

The confusion had turned to anger. "That's not your kid! You're too young and he's an animal!"

Grim looked up at you, mock tears in his eyes. "I'm your kid, right? I'm not adopted like the boys at school say?" He started sniffling. "I'm not adopted, right?"

You clapped your hands over Grim's ears and glared at the now horrified shopboy. "Look what you've done! I hadn't told him yet!"

He just fled in horror, and it was all you could do to keep from laughing.

~*~*~*~

The village on the island wasn't the worst appointed. Being equidistant between two prestigious magic schools, it had a few places worth going, and after hitting up your personal favourite, you went to a small park, settled down on a bench, and started unwrapping your prizes.

You have a love for gashapon machines that bordered on a serious problem. In your biweekly trips to buy snacks and supplies to stock up your miserable, beautiful dorm, you easily fed 3000 madol (which you think was about thirty-five dollars or so at home, but couldn't be sure) into the long rows of machines in the drug store, coming out with tiny keychains, figures, and various useless but wonderful little totchkes that you kept lined up in rows in your bedroom. The joys of tiny presents! And the containers were useful too; for a creature who heavily insisted he wasn't a cat, Grim lost his shit like one every time your rolled a ball with a bell inside across the floor.

You were marveling over a tiny, perfectly realistic jellyfish on a phone strap as someone sat down heavily beside you. "Is that," they pointed to Grim poking his way around the cattails by an ornamental pond, "yours?"

"... Yes?" You turned to examine your seatmate. Charmingly strange looking, they sat impeccably robed in forest green velvet and squinted at you from behind perfectly round sunglasses. Flat-faced and thin-lipped, they reminded you of a toad, with their roundness and severe expression.

"Ah, then you are the one I am looking for. You're the pet of the prince."

"I'm a friend of his. Is that a problem?" You decided to keep opening your prizes, and pulled out a heavy ball from the bottom of your bag.

"His Highness does not have human friends."

"And yet, I am." This one, unwrapped, was the chase in the set: a tiny cauldron the size of a thimble that seemed to be actual cast iron. The chill of it was pleasant in your hand, and instead of returning it to your bag, you left it in your lap.

This presumptive stranger leaned in. "You're a diversion. A distraction from what he should be learning. Instead he plays with mortals and lets them forget their place."

"If it was so important that he didn't play with mortals, then why was he allowed to attend here?" You got a cheap set of rings on a goldtone chain in this one. Boo. You'd wanted the miniature necklace of the set for your doll. "He's very happy with the company of us all."

"Too happy. He forgets his place." The toady eyed the glittering paste gems before looking away. "Above you. Instead he crawls into your lap and serves you like a dog."

You froze. "Now, where did you get that idea?"

"We have sources." They leaned in further, smiling. A barely perceptible line of triangular teeth, sparsely placed and translucent in tone. "Foul things happen to the unwanted lovers of heirs, don't you know?"

"I am a wanted friend." 

"You're a parasite who should flee."

You realized something, and turned to face your strange benchmate. "Why are you threatened by me?"

They scoffed. "Why would we be threatened by you?"

"If you weren't," you said, dropping your voice as your leaned in, "then you wouldn't be here trying to put the fear into me." They leaned back, glasses slipping off their nose. The eyes in their face were exquisite, shining gold and black speckles with a ring of gold around an oval pupil. You could help but laugh. "Pretty eyes. You really are a toad. Who sent you? The Thorn Witch? Can't be, I'm not worth her time and if I was, she'd've sent a fucking letter."

"We're a concerned party, preventing our future king from making the mistake of dealing with filth." 

Well, that one pissed you off. You grabbed their wrist, feeling bumps and warts on their skin through the fabric, and pressed the tiny cauldron to the back on their hand as they started screeching.

"You," you looked them dead in their impossibly lovely eyes, "You go back where you came from, tell them I'm not a threat to whatever stupid bullshit they're worried about, and never bother us again. Or I will make you swallow this and you'll beg the precious prince you're so damned worried about to burn you alive to stop the pain."

You'd never seen anyone run so fast in your life when you let them go.

"Hey, Grim! We gotta go."

~*~*~*~

TXT: MAL SOMEONE SENT ME A TOADY SAYING I CAN'T BE AROUND YOU ANYMORE

TXT: MIGHTA BEEN YOUR GMA BUT I DON'T THINK SO

~*~*~*~

"I'm gonna kill that fucker."

"Killing them might start an international incident. If one hasn't happened already. You burnt them with iron, Yuu."

"I should have done worse! Whoever the fuck they were, that's two friends they've tried to threaten to stay away from you! That we know of!"

It turns out that the mystery toady had been the person to scare the piss out of Idia the night before. Not that they'd gotten far into their leave-the-prince-alone spiel, Idia had simply kicked them square in the stomach and fled, assuming another kidnapping attempt.

"It wouldn't have been my grandmother. In the last letter I got from her, she said it was very nice that I was making friends. She said to keep making them, even."

"She'd probably care if she knew you were sleeping with said friends." Idia was curled into the corner of his bed, and from the looks of it hadn't slept since his own encounter.

"No she wouldn't."

"You sure about that?"

You'd said that that was only going to happen once. Everyone agreed. But when all three of you settled in to play a game or watch a movie, hands moved and bodies flushed and you all seemed to find yourself tangled and gasping. And it didn't seem to require all three of you - you no longer had the strength to say no to Mal's obvious advances, and you'd walked in on your boys more than once. At least you were still friends? Really, really close friends?

"She wouldn't."

"Could they be worried about heirs?" That seemed logical. Even if no accidents were happening, they might not know that.

"That's not possible."

You raised an eyebrow. Everything worked right, and you all knew it.

Mal looked back at you. "Yuu, I hatched from an egg. I could have you both five times a day for a decade and all there would be to show for it is you couldn't walk. I cannot have children with either of you without magical intervention."

Idia made a truly impressive death rattle before mumbling something about the end of his bloodline, and you just nodded. "Makes sense."

"It's quite interesting, really, it requires numerous spells and potions, that if not kept up on, the babe will-" Malleus placed his hands together, back to back, and mimed the motion of tearing something open.

You flinched. "That's awful, goddamn."

"I have a direct ancestor who took a great deal of human women as breeding stock and simply let them be eaten from the inside out. That's what started one of the earlier human/faerie wars." 

"... Wow."

"I am not proud of her."

"Can we please talk about anything else?" Idia looked ready to be sick. "I don't want to think about any of this."

"Sure, let's grab one of your doujins."

~*~*~*~

"So you're already engaged?"

"As soon as it was clear I would survive to adulthood, yes. Idia, what is this series?"

"Nyan Neko Sugar Girls. It's not that great storywise, but it has great gags." He reached over and grabbed the next one in his pile. "It's not that unusual. My mother wanted Ortho to marry my cousin Alecto when they grew up, before..."

"Before he made a lifestyle change?" That seemed the politest way to put it.

"Before she went to the criminal ward."

You shut your book with a soft thump. "What?"

"I remember the trial." Mal sighed. "Strychnine in the sugar bowl at Sunday dinner. I made sure to get the newspapers sent to the palace."

"Mother was heartbroken over it, until she realized that the wealth of that entire Shroud branch defaulted back to us." Idia shrugged. "It's sad. She was just eleven. I still send her emails."

"Idia."

"Mm?"

"Why the fuck would an eleven year old poison someone?"

"My uncle said she couldn't get a puppy until her grades went up."

"What the fuck." You'd lie down if you weren't already doing so.

"It's the curse." He sighed. "We thought she might've been from an affair? But that proved it."

"My dearest Shroud, you can't guarantee it was from the curse." Malleus turned a page. "It might have been trauma from her mother's death."

You could see more bad history incoming. "Oh no."

"Alecto was from Uncle Jo's first marriage, to my dad's cousin Alita. She had a sister, but when her mother drowned herself, she only took-"

"Is this normal for your family? Or is that just some exceptional bad luck?"

He leaned in, lamplight eyes flashing. "Out of all the Shrouds of my generation that are still capable of inheriting, I'm the most mentally sound."

Both you and Mal had to stop and really consider the implications of that.

"So, Mal. Yours isn't that closely related?"

"Fifth cousins at most when they're finally born."

You sat up. "What?"

"I'm supposed to marry the third grandchild of the Hollyoak Baron. They're a well-respected family, and of snake fae descent so little aid will be needed for conception. His eldest child is in..." He had to think about what words to use. " I believe the term is 'middle school'?"

"They really planned it that far ahead?"

Mal shrugged, the movement rolling down his whole body. "I cannot complain. It gives me a very long time to learn how to be a husband before I have to be one."

"But what if you don't like them?"

"Marriage is chiefly a contract to produce heirs. I'll learn to like them, and ideally love them."

"And if you don't?"

"I'll still treat them as kindly as I can."

"And I suppose you'd take a lover."

"Maybe. They can too, as long as all the children are mine. For legal reasons," he added.

Idia, snapping out of his thoughts, tapped Mal's shoulder. "Does the Hollyoak Baron have any friends who are toad faeries?"

It was Mal's turn to sit up. "That... He could be worried that if I have favourites at school, I'll resent my betrothed for not being either of you. Or that I would attempt to break it off entirely."

"That still doesn't tell us how he found out about..." You gestured around the room.

Idia rolled his eyes. "All that would have to happen is any one student from the Valley of Thorns writing a letter home."

"But -"

"Malleus, you're not shy in your affections. At all."

"Yes I am," he bristled.

~*~*~*~

"Mal?"

"Mmph?"

"You have to put me down. I have class."

He made a slightly different mmph and shook his head.

You tried to pat his head, but your arms were securely pinned to your sides. "I know they're fantastic, but you have to stop."

He still refused to remove his face from your chest, making a noise that could have been purring if it cane from anyone who was a proper mammal.

"Mal, we're blocking traffic."

He still wasn't putting you down, instead swaying slightly in place.

A familiar long-fingered hand with dark nails reached from behind you and tugged at Mal's lapel. "Malleus, please stop, it's ten AM and everyone is staring."

Mal finally put you down - only to switch targets, wrapping his arms around Idia's waist and pulling him flush, fixing him with such a look of besotted fondness that you immediately felt like you were intruding.

"You look beautiful today."

Idia immediately burst into a ball of pink flame.

~*~*~*~

"... Perhaps I am a bit obvious."

Idia stared up at his ceiling. "You'd be at home in my otome games."

You chimed in. "What would be obvious, in your mind?"

"Very easy. I finish the paperwork declaring you Lord and Lady of the Bedchamber and have you officially ensconced as Court of Thorns royalty, ensuring you're both taken care of for the rest of your days."

"... Finish?"

"It seemed the easiest thing to do if either of you chose to visit my homeland."

You swatted his leg. "And you didn't think to ask us first?"

Mal was starting to clue in that he had once again overreached himself. "... Surprise?"

"I'm okay with it."

You glared over at Idia. "That's not the point."

"Look, if I ever get disinherited, I have a place to go. He won't make me go outside if I don't want to. I'll bring Ortho. It'll be great."

"They don't even have dial-up over there, Idia. Lilia told me he had to get all this stuff installed to play his MMOs."

Idia pointed at Mal, easy smile turned to outrage. "How dare you try and trap me!"

It honestly seemed like Mal and Idia had switched expressions, the look of worry on his face so strange. "It's a protective measure! If you're titled, people will get in trouble if they try and remove you!"

"That's still... wait." The gears were turning in your head. "If you finish that paperwork, whoever sent Mixter Toad is going to get in so much more trouble."

Everyone went silent as they considered this.

"... As soon as I get the official permission from my grandmother. She won't like it very much, but if I explain..."

Idia turned to Mal. "You were going to make your human fucktoys official members of the Court of Thorns without telling your grandmother, the queen. Who has a notable and often justified dislike of humans."

"No?"

"Mal."

"I simply prepared ahead."

"Mal."

"I - "

"Malleus." You leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You're so goddamned stupid. Love you."

He didn't say it back with words, but you got the message loud and clear.

[paranetics]

hiya could you do a kiadam for 17. and 22.? if your not too busy. thanks !!

17.  “Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…” 22.  “I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice.”

He’s completely minding his own business, being friendly with his physics textbook, all pressed up against the end of the bookshelf in the library, successfully having a love affair with headache-inducing math equations, when Mira ambushes him.

“Hiya,” she says, suddenly right in his face.

“Aisghls!” he gurgles, in a completely manly way, thank you. She sits back on her heels and laughs at him, loud and mocking. He scowls at her.

Her braces are blue now, matching the streaks in her hair. She looks nice, he decides, all neon green and blue. The loudness of her wardrobe suits her -- she’d be strange to him if she ever tried to tone it down.

“Oh, man, you should’ve seen your face.”

“Fuck you,” Kai snaps, smoothing out the pages of his book. “I am busy learning how to destroy the AP Phys exam. Stop being a distraction.”

She pouts at him. “Come on, you're seriously not still mad at me about the ceramic pig.”

“I’m always going to be mad at you about the ceramic pig,” he says primly. Then he sighs, unable to resist. “What’s up?”

Her smile turns bright, and his heart does that familiar little stutter. Kai has always, always loved her. Sure, she’s Adam’s best friend and has inclinations more Reeve-based, but there’s always going to be something about her that just catches him in the right spot. He’s over it now, and he has erm, other areas of interest, but she’ll always be special.

“Nessa’s having a party--”

“Ugh,” Kai interrupts.

“--with alcohol--”

“Double ugh.”

“And cute boys will be there,” Mira wheedles, whipping out her best puppy-eyes.

“I don’t care,” Kai says, shuffling away from her and looking back at his textbook. The particles will... he reads.

“Adam will be there,” she tries. Obvious trump card. Goddammit.

He cuts his eyes toward her, calculating. She’s grinning, triumphant, confident that she’s got him. He groans internally, because it’s either that he goes to this party and enjoys at least twelve percent of it, or Mira and Adam will wake him up from a dead sleep sometime in the AM, drunk and needy.

Part of his resistance is a lie, he always likes parties. He doesn’t like Vanessa, but she’s Reeve’s friend, and by proxy, Mira’s friend. He can pretend to like her for one night, especially if he gets to hang out with people. What can he say, extroversion. It’s a disease.

It’s just, recently, there’s been this trend. It’s like he’s been cursed.

Kai pretends to think about it.

“Fine,” he grits out.

“Yay!” Mira says, standing up and doing a little celebratory wiggle. She pulls her phone out of her pocket and unlocks it. “I’ll add you to the group text. Also, I want Reeve to drive me so you’re taking Adam alone okay bye.”

“Huh,” Kai says as she speed-walks away from him. “What? Hey!”

But she’s gone, vaguely eucalyptus-scented-shampoo left in her wake. Alone? With Adam? Fuck.

His phone buzzes.

-

Group: party 🎉🥂🥳🎊 time

mirakat added humantorchkai to the group

abeaverdam: Oh he’s coming?

lochnessa: Damn I didn’t know he left his house anymore

mirakat: ya i cornered his ass in th library

mirakat: hes a total slut 4 skool

mirakat: kais my bitch tho lol so ya hes comin

mirakat: dam hes drivin u

abeaverdam: Is that ok kai?

humantorchkai: yeah

humantorchkai: when?

lochnessa: Friday.

-

Kai’s late to first period on Wednesday, which Reeve notices, and bugs him about for ten minutes straight. He rolls in twenty minutes after the bell, wearing the clothes he left on his bedroom floor, all rumpled up and disorganized, and without a note. He drops into his seat and makes it approximately two minutes before Reeve leans over, into his space, and starts the interrogation.

“Oh my God,” Kai says to the ceiling. “For the last time, my alarm didn’t go off.”

“My Spidey-senses tell me you’re a liar,” Reeve says, and seriously, what does Mira see in this complete dork? He’s so nosy.

Kai drags his gaze from the ceiling to stare at him. “I think your janky-ass ‘spider-sense’ needs a psych eval.”

Reeve crosses his arms and sniffs at him. “Rude. I thought we were friends.”

“We are--” Kai scrubs his hands through his hair violently, frustrated. He catches the smirk on Reeve’s face. “Hey! That doesn’t work on me anymore. I’ve evolved.”

The smirk doesn’t leave Reeve’s face.

The truth is, Kai’s late because he had a nightmare. Or a wet dream. Depends on your definition of either thing. It’s been reoccurring pretty consistently, and Kai always wakes up from it breathing hard, adrenaline in his veins, and a hard-on. Today just happened to be shittier, and he couldn’t get back to sleep right away, so he overslept when his alarm went off.

It’s pretty much the worst, been happening for almost a month, and Kai is slowly losing his mind. But. whatever, the important part is this: he’s with Adam, and Adam kisses him. They could be in space, or in a submarine, or whatever Kai’s subconscious feels like cooking up. They could be anything, pirates, elven rebel warriors, it doesn't matter. In every dream, Kai’s with Adam, and at some point Adam leans over, the smell of Hennessy whiskey on his breath, and kisses Kai.

It’s why Kai’s been so rigid lately, avoiding his friends and refusing to go to parties, because of what happened Last Time he’d gone.

Mad Libs! Fill in the blanks, Sherlock.

He’s so totally, totally, totally screwed. And no one is allowed to know, not even Reeve, who knows Adam’s a flirty drunk and that Kai’s pathetic, and hasn’t even told anyone any of Kai’s other secrets, because this? This is world-ending levels of FUCK.

So, when the bell rings, Kai basically sprints out the door to avoid Reeve.

-

Group: party 🎉🥂🥳🎊 time

speedyskeet: should i bring da weed

reever: ohhh shiiiit hell yeah

lochnessa: No LSD though

speedyskeet: :O

speedyskeet: um ok MOM

reever: wtf ness

reever: psychedelic rights!!!

speedyskeet: let me get us fkd up!!

mirakat: wait didnt we hav 2 call an ambulance 4 coop last time u brought more than weed to a party

mirakat: or was tht a different school

speedyskeet: .........

speedyskeet: ok so im assuming edibles and my bong right

-

Kai takes his lunch to Mr Tucker’s room.

Mr Tucker is the APUS history teacher for the senior class, and he is the only non-STEM teacher that Kai likes. Mira is also his favorite student, so he lets them eat lunch in his room. It’s better than fighting for a spot in the crowded cafeteria, and Kai likes hiding from the rest of the student body.

Adam, Reeve, and Mira are sitting at one of the table groups when Kai walks in with his plate of chicken nuggets, Vanessa and Skeet nowhere to be seen. They’re probably getting high in the parking lot.

Mr Tucker is scrolling through youtube, his computer desktop displayed on the projector screen.

“Why’d you look up Nyan cat?” Kai asks, tilting his head as he watches Mr Tucker scroll.

“It’s stuck in his head,” Mira pipes up, helpfully. 

Mr Tucker grunts confirmation and apparently selects the version he likes. Reeve groans when it starts playing, slumping forward over his tuna salad. Mr Tucker picks up his normal vegetable-based salad, his bushy mustache wiggling in that way that means he’s smiling.

Kai sits next to Reeve, across from Adam. Mistake, Kai realizes too late. Big mistake. Because now they have to make eye contact, and Kai’s belly catches fire at the memory of drunkAdamhe’sKISSINGMESOMEONEHELP when he looks down at his plate of chicken nuggets. It’ll be obvious on his face in a few moments, he’s never been able to fight off a blush well, and then there’s going to be Questions. Capital-Q Questions.

But Reeve’s talking about, like, whatever drama majors talk about, and when Kai chances a peek up, Adam’s not looking at him. So.

Kai can’t help it, okay? He’s creepy. Sue him. No wait, that’s not-- ugh.

Kai studies the contours of Adam’s face while he’s not looking. His high cheekbones and his sharp chin. His heavy eyebrows that are shaped perfectly (”Ugh, you’re so fucking gross,” Reeve had said when Kai had voiced this thought aloud. “His eyebrows? I think you need to ask him out. Get it out of your system.”) and his eyes are that warm shade of brown, almost gold, soft and kind.

His hair is longer now, and errant curls flop over his forehead and around his ears. Kai watches the long line of Adam’s throat when he tilts his head back from the force of laughing at something Reeve said. Kai’s transfixed by the inviting stretch of dark skin, entertaining a thought of leaning over and just biting down so it’s not his fault he doesn’t see it coming when Reeve violently jabs him in the rib.

Kai jumps. “Ah! What the fuck?”

“Language,” Mr Tucker says in the toneless inflection of someone who doesn’t really care but responds on reflex. He’s now scrolling through Seasame Street videos.

Reeve shrugs, unrepentant. “You were gone there, dude.”

“Yeah,” Adam agrees, eyebrows raised in polite curiosity. “Planet Zenon gone.”

Kai ducks his head. “I’m, uh, stressed about AP physics?” he tries.

“Uh-huh,” Reeve says, “and are you asking us to confirm that for you?”

“Leave him alone,” Mira interrupts mildly. “Only, like, a hundred people a year get above a three on that exam.”

“Wow, how is that class still funded?” Adam asks.

“Elitism?” Mira guesses. “Maybe it’s like, a torture thing. Like, a test within a test.”

“What,” Reeve says, “like, if you pass you can become a super-secret spy?”

“Or I can, like, do another Chernobyl. Or I’m allowed secret access to government secrets. Ooh, maybe they’ll tell me the moon is a projection into the sky.” Kai says, warming to this idea.

“Then how would they explain waves?” Reeve asks.

“Uh, giant wave pool,” Kai answers.

“Hot take: the world is in a giant wave pool,” Mira grins at him.

Adam blinks almost in slow-motion, the sweep of his eyelashes against his cheeks, a smile growing on his face, and Kai is once again caught like a fly in honey. Just like that, all the saliva is gone from Kai’s mouth, and he’s completely lost the thread of whatever’s happening around him.

Okay, so, recap: totally, totally, totally screwed.

-

adam: U sure you’re ok driving me?

kai: dam i swear its fine

kai: i’d say something if it was a problem

kai: my parents have been trying to kick me out basically every weekend, this’ll make them so fucking happy

adam: Lol

adam: [A stock photo of two white parents sitting on a beach towel in a tropical location, smiling adoringly at each other. In the blurry background, a toddler with similar skin color and hair is being attacked by a seagull.]

-

“There is a PROBLEM!” Kai announces, flopping heavily onto his bed, tossing an arm dramatically over his forehead. Mira doesn’t even look up at him.

“Hm?” she says from the floor, knees drawn up to her chest, eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. She’s looking more at her iPad than at him.

“Oh my God,” Kai groans. “You don’t even care. I’m nothing to you. You enjoy my suffering.”

“Die white man,” Mira says tonelessly. “I’m trying to beat my old high score in Tetris. What’s your damage.”

“I have nothing to wear on Friday,” Kai moans, pained.

“What? Why do you even care? Your regular clothes are fine.”

“Oh my God, Mira! It’s a party,” Kai breathes the word like its holy, a precious thing nestled in the crook of his tongue, not to be defiled by people who wear school clothes to special events. “And I want to get hit on.”

“I’ll hit on you,” Mira promises. The iPad makes a wah-wah-wah sound. She sighs, setting it aside and looking up at him, expression thoroughly unamused, clearly blaming him for her high-score loss.

“I did not do that,” Kai says. The blood’s started rushing to his head, so he sits up and blinks away the black spots as they dance in front of his vision. “I just wanna be hot,” he whines. 

“Okay, so, wear that stupid blue button-up with the tigers on it, and the black skinny jeans. It brings out your eyes,” she elaborates. “And tucked-in button-ups are hot on dudes. Oh, and--”

“If you’re gonna Queer Eye me, I swear to God,” Kai complains.

“Will you just... I was gonna say you should wear a tiny bit of eyeliner. It’s like, accentuating your features or some shit.”

“Why should I trust you?” Kai asks playfully. “I’ve never seen you go anywhere near a make-up in my life.”

Mira shrugs. “I saw it on Instagram. Anyways, Reeve said I have ‘good bone structure’, what does that even mean?”

“That he’s an idiot and I can’t believe you’re into him?” Kai ventures. Mira glares at him, so Kai leans back on the bed, rolling his eyes up to the bedroom ceiling at the glow-in-the-dark stick-on stars that have been there since he was seven. “Okay, okay. He was probably trying to compliment you, but since he’s a robot sent by aliens to infiltrate the earth he did it in a really bizarre way.”

Mira perks up. “You think?”

“He said ‘good’.”

“What should I say back?”

“Erm, that you’ll have his babies?”

Mira throws one of her glittery highlighter pens at him. It bounces off the center of his forehead and onto his lap. He laughs, picking it up and tossing it back.

“I don’t know,” he admits. “Maybe say that you like his bones, too.”

Mira takes out her phone.

-

adam: [A picture of a pina colada sitting on a kitchen counter in a pool of sunlight.]

adam: Winky face

kai: you could just like, use the emoji keyboard instead of typing it out

adam: Don’t make me frowny face

-

Kai spends fifteen minutes messing with his hair in the mirror. He gels it sticking up, twists his mouth critically at his reflection, and wets his hands to wipe it out. Nothing’s working for him today. It’s just one of those things, his clothes seem to hang off him awkwardly, and nothing looks right.

He makes a sound of frustration, and his mom pokes her head into the bathroom.

“Oh,” she says. “I thought you were going to a party?”

“Mom,” he growls. “I’m getting ready!”

“Hm.” 

She pushes the door all the way open, surveys him from head to toe, and reaches over to run a hand through his hair, leaving parts sticking up in her wake. Kai looks in the mirror. Now, instead of awkward ‘trying-too-hard’, he looks artfully tousled. He unbuttons two top buttons of his tiger shirt, and messes with the collar to make it look like someone had grabbed it and reeled him in for a kiss. He grins at himself.

“That’s better, I think,” she says.

“Thanks Mom,” he says, shuffling past her and out to the hallway.

“Limit yourself to three drinks!” she calls as he stuffs his feet into old converse. “If you get too intoxicated to drive, spend the night! Just text! Don’t forget to wear condoms and--”

Kai shuts the door in her face.

His car is a silver Prius, owned five times prior to him. The interior always smells a little bit like shamrock shake and in the winter requires a prayer and three engine turnovers to start. Kai loves it.

He pulls up to Adam’s street and texts without looking that he’s close. He parks in the street, and jogs up to Adam’s front door. He raps his knuckles on Adam’s door, the red one with caterpillar decals, and a blue handprint on the doorknob.

Adam throws open the door. “Gimme a sec, gotta grab my jacket.”

He’s wearing a white shirt and Kai’s favorite jeans of his (do Not judge him, okay, liking your crush’s ass is basically a given and is no longer considered a sin under the New Testament, so really Kai’s not weird for liking this pair of Adam’s jeans because it accentuates his butt.), the ones with rips in the thigh and at both knees, because Adam lives reckless and dies reckless.

He jams his feet into vans and grabs the heavy olive jacket off the coatrack and follows Kai out to the Prius.

“You look nice,” Adam says, offhand. Kai feels how hot his face immediately gets and hopes it isn’t ugly, sometimes his blushes look like a rash.

“Thanks,” he says, rubbing his neck, right hand fumbling for his keys.

They slide into their seats, and Kai is hit with the violent-sense memory of Hennesy whiskey, and dark streetlamps, and Adam’s soft voice and brown puppy-dog eyes imploring Kai, look at me. Look at me, please. And. And.

His phone buzzes.

“Oh, Vanessa wants us to pick up some soda,” Kai says through the rock in his throat.

“Ooh, ooh. Cherry 7-Up, Jarritos Lime, uh like, a ton of Mountain Dew... and Coke! We’ll need Coke,” Adam rambles as Kai pulls away from the street and heads toward the local general store.

-

mira: WHERE

mira: R

mira: U 

mira: 2

mira: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kai frowns at his phone. They’re in the check-out line, waiting for their turn with about three tons of soda on the conveyer. Kai’s got a fifty dollar bill from his parents, because they’re stupidly open-minded, but he’s still gonna make Vanessa pay him back. Adam’s inspecting the tabloids, making comments about all of the covers and whatever he thinks about them.

kai: WE’RE

kai: FUCKING

(Not sent !) kai: GETTING

(Not sent !) kai: DRINKS

mira: FUHDUK WHATTTT!!!?????????

Kai groans.

-

The party’s already alive by the time Adam and Kai get there, music thrumming against the walls of the house, the glass panes of the windows shaking with the vibrations. Weighed down by plastic bags full of drinks, and a little bit anxious, Kai fumbles with the door handle three times until Adam reaches over him and opens it.

The crowd is huge. He didn’t even know that Vanessa and Skeet knew this many people. There’s a wall of heat that hits them when they step inside, the difference between the inside and outside must be a solid ten degrees. Most people are crammed in the living room, near the speakers, where a sort of impromptu dancefloor has evolved. There are plenty of people lining the hallways, sitting on the stairs, and spilling over into the other places of the house. 

Vanessa has changed the lightbulbs to fuschia, cobalt, and teal colors, so the house looks almost like a club from a TV show. There’s this haze over everything - and, yep, definitely Skeet’s weed - that makes it seem smoky and mysterious. Adam kicks the door shut behind them as they begin to navigate the crowd.

Skeet’s leaning against one of the walls, talking to a tiny girl with piercings and too much eyeliner. She tosses her head, her hair flying up like a halo for a moment, luminescent in the multicolored lights of the house, and leans closer to Skeet. She’s holding a red solo cup, Skeet’s holding weed, and Kai’s arms are starting to hurt from all the soda.

“So, your, like, real name is Skeet? What kind of name is that? I mean, like, who does that to their kid?” she’s asking, valley girl accent and everything, even twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

Skeet shrugs, unbothered. “My parents are hippies.” he spots them, then, and lifts his joint in a get over here gesture. Kai and Adam shove some people to stand in front of him. He grins. “Oh, dudes, nice. You got drinks. I wasn’t sure if you would, since Mira told us that you, uh, made a pit stop.” he waggles his eyebrows.

Kai groans, flushing.

“Uh, yeah,” Adam says, lifting up his bags. “for drinks? Hello?”

Skeet leers, grin stretching bigger. Kai scowls. He’s going to eat her one day, all Hannibal-Lecter style.

“Where is Mira, anyway?” he cuts in before Skeet says anything weird. “Where should we put the drinks?”

“Oh, just, you know,” Skeet makes a vague gesture with his hand that doesn’t really mean anything. “I think I saw her in the kitchen?”

“Thanks,” Kai mutters, shoving through the crowd and deeper into the house.

Mira and Vanessa are leaning against the sink, Reeve’s standing at the counter, completely covered in bottles of alcohol, thumb and forefinger at his chin like he’s surveying fine art. 

“Oh! You made it! I hate vodka without coke,” Mira says, striding forward and grabbing the bags from Adam.

Kai followers her back to the counter, and shoves the receipt into Vanessa’s limp hands without looking at her. Together, Kai and Mira start to set up the drink line, stacking up all the empty red cups at the edge of the counter as they try to make sure all the soda and alcohol are equally accessible. How Skeet even gets this stuff... he shudders to think. 

Kai waits until Adam and Reeve have wandered out of earshot to lean into Mira’s space. Vanessa had vacated the premise the moment it looked like any physical work would be happening, so he doesn’t worry about her particular brand of nosiness. He takes his phone out of his pocket and tilts the screen so she can see it.

“My texts didn’t send,” he tells her in a low voice. “We weren’t actually, you know.” he flushes violently.

Mira shoots him a grin. “No, I guessed that something had happened. It was just funny. You look nice.”

He smiles at her, genuinely, which means his gums are probably showing. She looks nice too, in her little black dress with a flared skirt and combat boots. The neon green streaks in her hair glow in the weird light of the house.

“I like your outfit,” he says. The din in the background is starting to grow. More people have probably showed up.

She nods at his jeans. “Cuffed jeans. The true mark of a bisexual.”

Kai nods very seriously. “I can’t leave my house without announcing every aspect of my sexuality to the entire world.”

Adam’s talking to a group of people at the other end of the kitchen, his smile is blindly white in the pink light, skin pitched a shade darker, a stark difference against the glow of his white shirt. Staring, unable to look away, Kai steals Mira’s cup and takes a swig. It’s straight vodka, so Kai coughs immediately when it hits his tongue.

Mira laughs at him.

-

Group: party  🎉🥂🥳🎊 time

speedyskeet: do any of u know anyone named travis montery

mirakat: no

lochnessa: No

abeaverdam: Nope!

humantorchkai: no

reever: nah

speedyskeet: fucking L lmao

speedyskeet: im kicking this fool out then

-

Kai’s wandering around, pleasantly buzzed from two Cherry 7-Ups with a tiny bit of vodka, looking for any familiar face. Mira and Reeve had abandoned him pretty much straight away, he’d left Adam alone in the kitchen, and he’s actively avoiding Vanessa. 

He stumbles around, moving his shoulders a bit in time with the music, his body gone languid and loose from the heat and the alcohol and the atmosphere.

His phone beeps at him again. He really hopes it's not Skeet checking with them before he bounces a guy again. It’s just Mira, he sees, when he’s fumbled his phone out of his back pocket. He has to squint to read in the pink light amid the thrumming bodies of people all around him.

Eventually, he escapes the crowd and heads down the stairs to the “game room” and finds another living room, with a soft white carpet and a couch in front of a big flatscreen. There’s a group of about a dozen kids, plus Kai’s friends, sitting on the carpet in a circle by the couch, with a beer bottle laying on a Monopoly game board. Kai blinks, the lights here aren’t fun colors, and everyone in the circle raises their arms and cheers when they see him.

He walks over to them. Mira grabs his arm and begins to drag him onto the carpet beside her. The group begins to chant.

“Spin the bottle! Spin the bottle!”

Oh, no fuck, Kai thinks, beginning to resist Mira’s grip on his arm. His drink is sloshing about, and Kai holds it away from his shirt and pants as he tries to reverse his crouch and pull his arm back. Skeet reaches up and confiscates the cup, downing the rest of it in one go.

“Spin the bottle! Spin the bottle! Spin the bottle!”

But he’s buzzed and his coordination is spotty, so when Adam reaches out with his hand and spins the beer bottle, Mira tugs once, hard, and Kai crashes onto the carpet, and the bottle spins,

and spins,

and spins.

And points the neck straight at Kai’s disheveled spot in the circle.

So, let’s revisit that cursed theory, shall we?

Kai looks at Adam, and Adam looks at him. He’s got that dopey half-smile on his face, and his pupils are blown wide, iris a thin gold ring around them. Kai knows when Adam’s drunk, or blackout, and he’s tipsy right now, just like Kai. And... oh no. But the kids in the circle are jeering, giggling delightedly.

“Uh,” Kai says.

Adam licks his lips, and Kai tracks the movement of his tongue helplessly. His eyes are moving on Kai’s face, like he’s cataloging everything, like he can’t keep them still. Kai’s mouth is very, very dry, and he misses having the cup in his hand.

“So, uh,” he says, and the tension buzzes even harder. “Is this, like, a kissing thing?”

Skeet grabs him by the arms and manhandles him up. Reeve and Vanessa grab Adam and start frogmarching them down the short hall toward some rooms and closed doors.

“No,” Skeet says, “This is more like a seven minutes in heaven thing.”

“Wait,” Kai says. Skeet reaches past him and opens a door. “Wait.” Skeet pushes him in, and Adam follows behind. “Wait.” The door clicks shut, then there's a clunk, then the sound of something heavy being pushed against the door.

Kai tries the knob, but it's locked. He jiggles it, but his muscles won’t cooperate and yank hard enough. Adam could probably break it open, but Kai has the vague thought of Vanessa’s parents and property damage, and underage drinking.

“Guys!” Adam yells. He pounds on the door with his fist. “Guys! This isn’t funny!”

But they don’t answer.

Evil. Mental note: make sure your friends aren’t evil next time.

“Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while,” Kai sighs, giving up on the door.

They’ll just have to wait out the seven-minute sentence. It’s simultaneously worse and so much better than the alternative. This way, Adam won’t have to kiss Kai if he doesn’t want to. But also: he won’t have to kiss Kai if he doesn’t want to. It’s a testament to how drunk all of them really are.

Kai turns, presses his back against the door, and slides down it, pulling his knees to his chest, wrapping his hands around his shins, and resting his cheek on his knee. He surveys the room. It’s small and dark, Kai doesn’t have the wherewithal to search for the light switch, but from what Kai can see it looks like a guest room no one ever uses and has accumulated with old junk. There’s a tiny window at the opposite wall that leads up to the lawn. Adam groans and drops onto the ground beside Kai.

The night is clear the moonlight is touching the window and peeking into the room. Adam’s shirt is glowing against his skin from the moonlight, his eyes a bright point in the semi-dark of the room. Kai locks eyes with Adam, and the tension from earlier crops back up tenfold.

This situation is... stupidly pointed. Kai’s pretty sure Reeve is the only person in the world who knows Kai thinks Adam is kinda hot, but he’d also have to be massively stupid to ignore the strain in their friend group lately.

Adam’s looking at him the way he does right before he reaches out to touch Kai’s hair, or brush his fingers against Kai’s freckles, or leans over to kiss Kai’s cheek. He’s looking at Kai like a hungry man, like he’s about to make the stupidest decision of his life and never look back. Kai can feel the pull of that look drawing him in, the temptation to run his hands against Adam’s chest, touching his shoulders or his mouth.

So Kai does the only thing he can think of.

“What did you think of that new Hey Arthur episode?”

Adam blinks at him. “Uh. You mean that kids show?”

Kai bites his lip and nods vigorously. 

Totally. Totally. Totally screwed.

-

reeb: [A video of Mira on the dancefloor among a huge throng of teens. The song in the background is completely drowned out by people attempting to sing along drunkenly. She’s grinding against Vanessa, who’s wearing Skeet’s sunglasses and drinking a mimosa with a cocktail umbrella in it.]

(Not sent !) kai: let us out of here!!! its been like 15 mins!!!! guys!!! dam’s phone is dead!!!!!

(Not sent !) kai: goddamn it COME GET US

(Not sent !) kai: NOTHING IS SENDING!!

reeb: lol wya we cant find dam either

(Not sent !) kai: YOU LEFT US IN THE BASEMENT

-

“Ugh,” Kai says, flopping back down onto the pillows beside Adam. At some point during their imprisonment slash debate on the ethics of twenty-three seasons of the same children’s cartoon, they’d moved from the floor to the twin bed. “I’m pretty sure they forgot about us.”

“Well, it’s been like thirty minutes. And they’re drunk.”

Kai’s starting to sober up. He has to pee, and his mouth tastes like cherry coughdrops. He stands up on the bed, bouncing a bit on the mattress. He reaches up and touches the seam of the window and the sill.

“What are you doing?” Adam asks, trepidation in his voice.

“Uh, escaping?” Kai says.

Kai presses his foot onto the upside down elliptical that’s propped precariously against an old wardrobe. He puts some of his weight on it, testing. Satisfied that it won’t give, Kai lifts himself up onto it, closer to the window, and pushes against the glass pane. The window opens out suddenly, making Kai wobble. The wardrobe groans.

“Careful!” Adam barks.

Kai glances back at Adam, his worried eyes watching Kai from the bed, sitting up on his knees in a half crouch. Kai sticks his head out the narrow window, then his shoulders, and manages to drag himself up and out.

He turns back around and offers his hand to Adam.

“Come on,” he says. “I’ll help you out.”

Adam climbs up onto the elliptical like Kai had, reaches his right hand to Kai’s left and uses his left to leverage himself closer to the window. The wardrobe and the elliptical make that sound again, like they’re scraping together.

“Hurry!” Kai says, afraid of the whole makeshift apparatus falling apart. Adam’s left palm slaps against Kai’s right and Kai pulls.

The elliptical falls over as Kai yanks Adam up, a great big crash resounding in the room they just escaped. Kai’s momentum and Adam’s weight makes Kai step back once, then twice, then his footing goes and he sprawls onto his back, Adam on top of him, in one big undignified heap.

Adam looks down at him. He looks more sober, too, like he hasn’t had much to drink. Kai should really be pushing Adam off of him. Or trying to sit up. But his hands are on Adam’s waist, and Adam’s looking at Kai’s face like he can’t quite look at anything else, and Kai cannot, for the life of him, break this moment.

Adam’s hands are on either side of Kai’s face, boxing him in. His breath puffs against Kai’s mouth over and over as he breathes shallowly. His eyes flick all over Kai’s face, and Kai’s thinking kiss me, please so hard he’s pretty sure NASA catches the brainwaves.

“I’ve seen the way you look at me when you think I don’t notice,” he says, voice soft and vulnerable, like Kai has the power to hurt him with whatever Kai says next.

Kai’s hands tighten on Adam’s waist. He’s thought about this a lot. Like, a stupid amount. Who doesn’t daydream about confessing to your crush? But Kai cannot dredge up any words to say. He’s dry, completely dry, and he can only think about how good Adam’s weight feels on him. He dips his eyes to Adam’s mouth and thinks This is where I kiss him, right? and Adam’s eyes slide shut as he leans in, towards Kai, and Kai loses his mind.

The backdoor opens, the sounds of the party spilling out into the night air, pink light washing over them. Adam scrambles off Kai so fast that he’s pretty sure he breaks the world record for speed, and stands up.

Kai props himself onto his elbows and squints at the silhouette in the doorway.

“Vanessa?”

“Oh my God, there you guys are!” she leans back into the house to yell, “Guys! I found Adam and Kai! They were fucking around in the backyard!”

“Hey!” Adam snaps indignantly. “You locked us in the basement! We had to escape!”

Vanessa rolls her eyes at them.

-

adam: hey uh

adam: sorry about what i said when i was drunk lol

adam: i didn’t mean it

-

Kai turns his phone off and stuffs it into his bag, frustrated. He hadn’t meant to not talk to Adam all weekend, he’d just needed to think things through, and then his dad had asked him to help paint the deck, and he’d had to finish up some code for robotics and time had kinda slipped away from him without really meaning to.

He hadn’t meant to ignore everyone else, either, but they weren’t in a Situation with Kai on Friday night, and he’s not in love with them, and they didn’t seem to mind so much. 

Kai had spent all weekend staring at the texts, in between being too busy to answer them, but he can’t figure out what to say back. He’d gotten them Saturday morning after the party, probably because he hadn’t stuck around long enough to be left alone with Adam again.

Kai had left because.

Well, because.

Because he feels played.

Is that it? He can’t tell. He just feels so hollow about it. Adam doesn’t mean to, Kai knows that, but it still feels like he’s being led on. Adam has kissed him once while black out and almost kissed him while tipsy and flirts pretty outrageously, and it’s all too much for Kai’s head, which is designed for building robots and lying to his English teachers.

So at lunch, instead of going to Mr Tucker’s room, he lets Freddie from Calc drag him to the auditorium to help build the drama department’s Spring play set.

He’s not avoiding anyone. He’s just... helping his friends.

Fuck.

-

reeb: ok i give

reeb: wtf is going on

kai: ?

reeb: don’t “?” me mfer

reeb: adam is sulking n shit and u’ve been sorta MIA

kai: i’ve been busy, sorry

kai: i am the captain of a team u know. its not personal. i’ll hang out with you guys soon

reeb: spidey sense says there is something u are not telling me

kai: i really do think your spidey sense is actually overactive bladder syndrome

reeb: [An image of the caveman spongebob meme.]

-

He’s in the library, sitting in his favorite spot nestled in the bookshelves, brow furrowed over The Great Gatsby, his English journal, the notes Hannah lent him, and the Sparknotes page for the novel, surrounded by every color highlighter and pen, just trying to get his homework done, when Adam ambushes him.

“You’re avoiding me,” he says, out of nowhere.

Kai jumps, sending his highlighters and books flying. Adam is standing above him, eyebrows furrowed and his arms crossed. He looks a little bit light a superhero, all righteous indignation at injustice, his muscles buldging slightly. You’re dead. Goodbye. his brain supplies.

“Holy shit,” he says, gathering his stuff back up slowly. “You scared me.”

Adam’s eyes soften. “Sorry,” he murmurs.

Kai shrugs. “Don’t worry about it.”

The silence hangs there as Kai avoids his gaze, reshuffling Hannah’s notes back into their correct order. He’s lost his page in the book, so he opens it to the middle and starts looking for the correct page number. There’s no sound in this corner of the library except for Kai’s over-loud breathing and the turning of pages.

Go away go away go away, Kai prays, wanting the world to end so he won’t ever have to face this moment. He thinks about the echo of Adam’s voice in his memory, Kai, look at me, the feeling of Adam’s weight in his lap, the ache Kai feels when he looks at Adam, and wishes that he could just stand up and run.

Adam clears his throat. “You’ve been avoiding me,” he says again, only this time it comes out more like a question.

Kai keeps his face as blank as possible, schools it into something politely curious unlike the shattered glass mosaic he feels like. “Am I?”

Adam rubs his hand across the back of his neck. “Look, I’m sorry,” he says haltingly, sliding his hands into his pockets. “I shouldn’t have... come on to you like that. It was inappropriate, and we were both drunk. And I didn’t mean it.”

Kai looks at him for a long moment. He can feel it, a rock on his chest, crushing him. He feels the ball in his throat, the hot prickle against the backs of his eyelids. “I know,” he says eventually. His voice comes out steady, even though he feels like he’s falling apart.

“So... we’re cool?”

Kai forces himself to nod. “Okay.”

“Really? Because I still feel like I fucked up somewhere here.” Adam takes his hands out of his pockets to open them, palms up, like he’s pleading. “Tell me what I did wrong so I can fix it.”

And it’s now or never. As much as Kai abhors the idea of talking about his feelings in the school library at 4 PM, as much as he wants to just lie through his teeth and stitch this all back up into one big internal bag of FUCK and pretend like nothing happened, he’d be leaving Adam hanging, and Kai’s not a dick.

He takes a deep breath. Then another one. He tries to channel his internal Reeve, but decides against it because Reeve’s kinda an asshole.

“I just... wish you did,” Kai says eventually. If he wasn’t himself, he’d slap him. Adam stares at Kai like he’d just spoken another language, like he’d just spat out part of a puzzle to piece together.

“Wish I did... what?” he asks slowly.

“Mean it,” Kai grits out, the words dragged from him. He feels ridiculous. This is stupid.

“Mean...?” Adam says, like he’s stupid. Kai scowls at him.

“Do you remember the St Eve’s party?”

Adam shrugs, looking helpless and confused.

“I drove you home that party. I drive you home every party. And every time we’re alone, you say that you like me, that you want me to go inside with you, that you think about me all the time,” Kai’s stomach is churning and Adam looks like he’s about to faint.

“I didn’t...”

Kai can’t hear him say it again. “And I know that you’re just drunk, and that’s just what you’re like when you’re drunk, but I just... I just wanted it to be true so bad. Part of me kept driving you home because I wanted you to be like that with me, part of me just wanted to pretend. But then you kissed me, and I just...” Kai makes a helpless gesture with his hands.

Adam licks his lips. He’s breathing a bit hard.

“...Fell apart,” Kai finishes.

Adam’s looking at him, wide-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights look, pure panic. Kai’s fucked it up, ruined their friendship, destroyed their friend-group, and will probably be unable to look anyone in the eye for a very long time. 

Adam didn’t want to hear this. Kai should’ve just lied, shut it all up and let himself wither up inside. He should’ve avoided Adam harder, or refrained from falling in love with him in the first place. He should’ve just dated Jesse when she’d asked and made himself get over Adam.

 “How long?”

Kai blinks. “Huh?”

“How long have you wanted...?” he shrugs.

Ah. The million dollar question.

“Officially? Middle of junior year. If I’m honest with myself? Probably since middle school.”

Adam’s mouth opens and closes nonsensically. Kai asks God to strike him down, just so this can end, just so Kai can go back to trying to figure out what the fuck is up with Gatsby and Jay, just so Adam will stop looking at him like that, like Kai’s killed his puppy.

Adam drops to his knees in front of Kai.

“Okay. Since freshman year. And I’m a liar. I did mean it. I kept thinking, you know, maybe you’d like me back, because I could see you looking, but I just couldn’t make myself say anything. And I meant it. I mean it. I do. I want to kiss you.”

Kai swallows. He’s feeling that dangerous thing again, like there are snakes in his chest, or his feelings are in a bucket that’s about to overflow.

“Okay,” he squeaks out.

Adam leans down and fits their mouths together. It’s chaste, and Kai’s lips are a little bit chapped, and he didn’t close his eyes, but when Adam pulls back Kai smiles so hard his mouth hurts. 

And he leans up to kiss Adam, insistent, insistent, tasting Adam without Hennessy whiskey (and he does taste fantastic), and something electric happens to Kai’s spine when their tongues touch. He feels like he’s going to burn up, burst into stars, create a fissure in the earth that goes down to the core, or all three at once.

Adam licks along the roof of Kai’s mouth and yeah - that’s the one thing he’d like to never, ever, ever forget.

He’s about to be totally, totally, totally screwed. 

-

Group: dandilyin hoes MFERsssss!! skeet DONT CHANGE CHAT NAME

mirakat: omfg

mirakat: k & a suckin face in library

mirakat: [A blurry creeper picture of Kai pressed against the bookshelves, Adam leaning over him. Their silhouettes are blacked out against the sunlight streaming in through the window, so they almost look like one body. It’s taken at an angle and half of a wooden shelf is in frame.]

speedyskeet: arent they in this GC too

lochnessa: Lmfaaooooooo

speedyskeet: they r gonna see this.....

reever: WTF ADAM’S INTO KAI???

reever: ?????

lochnessa: What planet do you live on

speedyskeet: fuckin jesus christ reeb

locknessa: Literally no one knew KAI was into Adam. EVERYONE KNEW ADAM WAS INTO KAI

reever: WHY AM I THE LAST ONE TO KNOW STUFF

mirakat: s2g i tld u this whn we were @ fortescue’s u nvr listen 2 me

-

“I hate them all,” Kai announces.

Adam looks up at him from where his head is pillowed on Kai’s thighs, Pride and Prejudice held aloft. 

“Don’t worry, I set all their ringtones to Maroon 5.”

send me a ship + a prompt and i’ll write you a drabble!

[fearnyas]

TAGGED: @etoilenyas​ bc we love to suffer! TAGGING: i don’t even remember who’s active in my following man just steal it from me

▌𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄 : Oliver Quincy Issac Wright.  ▌𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 : In an established relationship with Dmitry Jones. The state of their relationship varies throughout their canon. They’ve been dating since high school: for four years by the time the Vegas Arc takes place, and they’re engaged in the NYC Arc after Ollie proposes. Post-NYC Arc, they get married. ▌𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐑 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐒 :

Uses a magical bell to transform into Nyan Diamond, defender of love & justice and second-in-command of The Cat’s Nyas. His bell when not in use is often worn as a choker.

Thanks to the contract, Oliver has cat-like senses. Meaning, his eyesight, hearing, sense of smell, etc. are all heightened even outside his transformation. This effect is permanent so long as the contract is enforced. Better vision at night. Includes cat-like reflexes, flexibility, quicker speed, and the ability to still land on his feet were he to fall from a great height. He may still obtain injuries, but is objectively safer than an average human might be.

Additionally, in the early years of his contract, under intense emotional stress (whether that’s positive or negative) he may sprout a cat ears and tail, or completely turn into a cat temporarily. (His particular breed is a Scottish Fold!) How long these consequences last varies on how much stress he was under, but he will eventually return to normal. He can still talk normally even in his cat form, which is...distressing...so any meows around non-Nyans are entirely fake. Eventually, the Nyans gain more control over this, and it becomes less of an inconvenience. 

When transformed, he has the ability to use water magic to attack his opponents.

The strength and usage of these attacks vary. Typically, he’ll summon blasts or waves of varying temperatures and strengths, but the possibilities are only as limited as his imagination is. However, everything new takes time to practice before he can use it to its full potential. Not limited to exclusively water, but anything liquid. 

This eventually extends to manipulating ice states, but the element itself is not something he can control outside of what he’s summoned. Pre-existing resources in this instance are of no use to him.

Water that he summons, if paired with another Nyan’s element, is beneficial. For example, combining his abilities with Nyan Clover’s vines/plant magic, Clover’s plants grow stronger, and Diamond’s water magic serves as a boon.

Most if not all of his summons come directly from his staff. The crystal embedded within it serves as a way to store his magic, and it makes any attack easier to control. His weapon-of-choice makes it so he’s more effective at a distance, but he’s comfortable taking enemies on close range if he has to.

After the Nyans defeat Oleander, the vice that Oliver forms in the middle of the Vegas Arc, he gains luck magic. Rather, the ability to manipulate luck itself. At its best, this is a major boon for the team if it works in their favor. However, when first obtained, it isn’t something he can predict accurately, and poses a high risk if used improperly. Has to rely on intuition and chance, luck and probability can be shifted at a price. It’s something he needs to be incredibly careful with.

▌𝐄𝐘𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑 : Naturally violet as a civilian. | As Nyan Diamond, the color shifts to light blue with purple and pink hues throughout. ▌𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑 :   Light honey brown as a civilian, has natural red highlights. | When transformed as Nyan Diamond, his hair is light blue. ▌𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒 : Scarlett Wright, often goes by Carly or Carla - mother. She primarily works from home as an accountant. Prior to moving to America, he saw her the most often, so he was naturally closer to her. She was the first person he confided in about his sexuality and both her and Samuel have been incredibly supportive. | Samuel Wright - father.  Works as a sports coach and physics teacher, the main influence on a lot of Oliver’s interests and hobbies. When he wasn’t busy helping the local secondary school teams, he’d spend a majority of his time planning short family trips or trying to bond with his son. Oliver and him have a positive relationship, as far as families go. | Oliver doesn’t keep in contact with his extended family due to a variety of factors. He uses the distance as an excuse, though it’s an obvious lie. His relationship with them has always been incredibly strained, particularly after he realized his sexuality. As a result, he’s never come out to them, and he doesn’t intend to. ▌𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐒 : Presently, he helps take care of their contractor, Lucky, with Dmitry. Prior to his move, he had three dogs. All border collies, Lexi, and two of her twin puppies that his family grew attached to. Their names are Parsley and Sage! | While not pets that he owned, when his family was able they also fostered a variety of animals. As a result, it’s something he wants to take up again in the future. ▌𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐊𝐄 : People who are unnecessarily cruel for no reason. He doesn’t personally like swearing, and quit himself ages ago, he’s willing to overlook it for other people. Doesn’t really like religion as a whole, or people who force their beliefs on others (especially unprompted! The kinds of people who assume you’re just like them and share the same mindset, that kind of thing.) Not necessarily fond of himself, or how easily he cries; doesn’t like being overly sensitive. Absolutely hates being lied to, or people who skirt around the truth; thinks its easier to hurt temporarily than to hide something, which is...terribly ironic. ▌𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒 / 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 : Gambling and cardistry. Sports, both playing and watching--likes playing soccer, rugby, swimming primarily. Watches national games for the former two, as well as American football, albeit with less interest. Cooking, baking, trying to figure out recipes for both himself and Dmitry with varying degrees of success. Binges of romcoms or trashy ‘dating’ shows. Violin. Most outdoor recreational activities--primarily hiking, fishing, or camping. Studying. Logic puzzles. Taking care of animals. Sewing. Playing video games casually, usually popular titles. ▌𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐔𝐑𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 : Not intentionally! His vice caused a lot of harm, but it was mostly contained within its own realm. Doesn’t get into fights otherwise. ▌𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 : No, keeping his vice contained + it’s own abilities (ironically) helped prevent casualties. There were cases of severe injury though, although not many. ▌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐌𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 :  Scottish Fold cat. ▌𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐒 :   He second-guesses himself a lot, rather than listening to his gut, as a result--this tends to backfire. (Vegas Arc) He’s meek, and doesn’t stand up for himself or speak his mind. Bottles up more of his feelings than he actually expresses, which leads to...some more than unsavory situations.  Has a tendency to doubt other’s intentions and feelings towards him, making assumptions of what they feel towards him even without provocation. Pretty petty and passive-aggressive, especially on shift, it’s rare this is directed towards his friends. Tendency to isolate, or at least makes attempts to. Assumes the worst of most every situation. Extremely self-depreciating, will find a way to shift the blame to himself if something goes wrong. Apologizes for literally everything. Hypocritical in the sense the advice he’ll willingly give other people is the same kind he knows he should take, but doesn’t. ▌𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐒 : His best friend, Lacey. His boyfriend, Dmitry. The other Cat’s Nyas, his friends. (Jules and Romeo especially!)   ▌𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 : Homoromantic homosexual. For a while, especially when he was closeted, he dealt with varying degrees of internalized homophobia not aided by the influence of his extended family, which fed into his worsening mental health. At home, he was selective and hesitant with who he came out to as a matter of safety. This is no longer an issue. ▌𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐆𝐄 / 𝐊𝐈𝐃𝐒 : He didn’t think much of marriage prior to dating Dmitry. Mostly, he didn’t think he’d be able to, or that he deserved to. That being said...he does think highly of it, and absolutely wants to. He thinks its sweet, and by the time they’ve graduated high school he would have already brought up the idea of it. When he eventually proposes, he already has a vague idea of what he wants in his vows and the ceremony he’d like. Isn’t sure about children due to a small degree of self-doubt, but isn’t opposed to adoption. No opinion on how many kids he’d want to adopt, as he hasn’t really thought about it. ▌𝐒𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒 : Dress casual and light colors. Button ups and cuffed jeans, muted or slightly pastel-leaning colors, he likes loose t-shirts and jackets/cardigans, anything that looks nice but too flashy. Doesn’t wear a lot of jewelry outside of his piercings and the trinket. ▌𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 : Dmitry, first and foremost. He’s his first and only boyfriend and he’s honestly never been happier with someone. Didn’t buy into love at first sight until he met him, and even then, he only found more reasons to fall harder. He loves his childhood friend, current friends, and his parents too of course, and would do anything for them, but his feelings for Dmitry are notably stronger. ▌𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒 : Tries his best to be amicable, albeit, he’s extremely shy. He grows out of his shyness by the time the NYC Arc is in place, but he’s still pretty soft-spoken and is inclined to let them lead in conversations and plans. Relatively warm and easy to get along with, and likes hanging out with the friends he has when he’s able. Goes out of his way to try and talk to people who seem like they need the company, and is deeply empathetic, willing to lend an ear to those who need it. Although this doesn’t go both ways. He doesn’t want to burden them, so he often overextends himself with making others happy at the expense of himself. ▌𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐊 : Alcoholic, he likes beer most, particularly lagers or ale, but isn’t opposed to anything else. Non-alcoholic, black coffee or fruit-based teas are an immediate go to. Doesn’t drink a lot of soda. Should drink more water. ▌𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂�� 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐀𝐓 : The easy answer is anywhere his boyfriend might be. The more in depth answer is anywhere outdoors; he likes to sight-see and experience new things. Favors beaches or local parks. Likes hanging out at the casino he works at as well, even off shift; it’s lively and he has a good time actually placing bets of his own, he knows a few of the regulars by name. ▌𝐒𝐖𝐈𝐌 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐂𝐄𝐀𝐍 : Ocean, no questions asked. History aside, he enjoyed going out to local beaches a lot as a kid, and swimming in the ocean was something he really liked. Give him directions to the nearest beach please and thank you! ▌𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐄 : Romantically, someone who’s self-assured and knows what they want in life. Someone with a good heart who does good things, or at least tries to. Someone patient who won’t judge him for his seemingly-endless list of fears and is willing to help him as he tries to ‘get better.’ Someone who takes the time to understand him, just as much as he does them. Brave, beautiful, and willing to set aside time just for the two of them. Basically, everything Dmitry is, thanks, he thinks he’s perfect and this has never changed. Platonically, he just likes people who are kind, funny, and humble--he doesn’t like braggarts or anyone with a huge ego--the most important thing is just being willing to understand him and not judge him for what he perceives to be his many, many flaws. ▌𝐂𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐎𝐑𝐒 : Camping, absolutely. He’s a surprisingly outdoorsy type, and he has gone on a few family camping trips before. Not to mention, stargazing is kind of romantic if you think about it...he’d really like to do that at least once with someone he really, really loves. (Hey? Dmitry? Are you listening?)

[shoushatohaisha]

report: haikyuu!! summer week day 3 (karasuno, fukkatsu!!)

previously: day 1 (shoen) day 2 (itadaki no keshiki)

guests: shouri, naoki, shou, acchan

it's been really interesting to see how each screening has a different flavor depending on the show and the guests. for example, the first two shows were very much influenced by the interaction between the audience and the screened content, while the first act of this event was not so much a screening of "karasuno, fukkatsu!" as it was a live-action show of "kondou shouri, fukkatsu!" like. oh my god. I THOUGHT KENTA WAS BAD ABOUT REENACTING CHOREO at least he stayed seated half the time, shouri was straight up diving and rolling across the stage for every single one of nekoma's matches plus some of his white coat scenes as well. because if you put him in front of an audience this is just what happens.

BUT I DIGRESS. let us begin at the beginning.

first let me apologize for the fact that the first act will be light on shou and acchan because i was way up front, meaning i could only watch one half of the stage at a time, and it was real hard to watch anything other than The Kondou Shouri Hour. but more about them in the second act and aftertalk!!! ...also, i'm not gonna lie, i did not absorb a lot of the first five minutes or so because i was like, entranced by naoki's face. good lord that man has cheekbones. ANYWAY.

shouri: tbh this is the first time i've had a script to MC an event… honestly, who needs it. (tosses the clipboard over his shoulder)

he also mentioned he was at the screening the night before to figure out how this whole cheering thing worked, WHICH WOULD EXPLAIN THE PART WHERE RYOUTAROU AND JUSTIN WERE CLEARLY LAUGHING AT SOMEONE IN THE WINGS fldajfkldjf i thought at the time it was juudai and sonde, or maybe that kenta was there again (…i mean, he was, lol), but i bet it was shouri.

so then it was time for cheering practice. nice kill, nice receive, jump serve… shouri: oh and then when someone gets a point, cheer for them. you know like, I-I ZO, KU-RO-O, O-TO-KO-MA-E (roughly "NICE, KUROO, YOU'RE THE MAN") naoki: LOL WASN'T THAT YOUR CHEER IN HIGH SCHOOL shouri: yes :D shouri: ii zo, shouri, otokomae!! naoki: oh my god shouri: …let's do it now :D naoki: WE REALLY DON'T HAVE TO shouri: (already backing up for a run up) naoki: ok. cheer for kuroo, ok. shouri: no, for shouri :D naoki: ……………. shouri: (runs up and does a massive jump spike) audience: I-I ZO, SHO-U-RI, O-TO-KO-MA-E!! sound tech: (WHISTLE BLOWS)

to explain the whistle thing – so each night when the cast got too far off track or were going too long, a ref's whistle would sound. the previous two nights, it happened once or twice. how many times did shouri get whistled off? A LOT.

of course we practiced the datekou cheers as well! shouri: datekou, please show them how to do it acchan: but i mean, in the actual show, nekoma-san did this part, right shouri: right!! we did!! in the white coats acchan: so we'd like to leave it to you now ok thank you :) shouri: ...wait

(in the end they both did it.)

they then cued up the next screen… which was the entire datekou vs karasuno rap. XD shou: look. the rap is long and complicated, it's tiring, i'm sure it would be tough to do the whole thing. but even if you can't. everyone just please be sure to do sakunami's line. "funk it block." naoki: and yamaguchi's. shoubu no wakareMEEEE.

then shouri started explaining the special cheers/moves he thought up that he wanted us to do flfjaf;djkfdf. when nekoma sway back back and forth to their theme he wanted us to wave our thundersticks in time. "I THOUGHT THIS UP A MONTH AGO," he said proudly. "I WAS REALLY EXCITED FOR THIS EVENT!!!"

shouri: and here's another one i thought up a month ago shouri: in the manga there's a cheer that goes ike ike nekoma, right. so this is what i want us to do -- shouri: ike ike nekoma, nyan nyanya nyanyanyan! (waves cat paws) sound tech: (WHISTLE)

as before we ended by chanting ose ose nekoma / go go datekou except this time after about two seconds shouri and shou were like, yelling out at the top of their lungs running around the stage while naoki maded increasingly desperate whistling motions toward the sound booth. shouri: let's do it again! naoki: ISN'T THIS ENOUGH shouri: IM THE MC I MAKE THE RULES naoki: kansai people are terrifying. shouri: (super thick kansaiben) I'LL DO ANYTHING FOR A LAUGH

(and that, incidentally, is the difference between what shouri and kenta were doing w/r/t choreo -- you get the impression that this is probably how kenta watches these shows at home whereas put shouri in front of an audience, even if that audience is two people, and he can't help but perform. his and takato's consistently over the top ad libs suddenly make so much sense…)

all this, and the actual screening hadn't even started. deep breaths.

tonight the audience started calling out "furudate haruichi!" "worry-san!" "nakayashiki-kun!" when their names appeared on screen just like they were some of the players, it was cute. XD also even though kiyoko wasn't yet physically present, every time she "appeared" off stage the audience swooned "KIYOKO-SAAAAN".

so for the opening, of course they came out and did their own parts (props to acchan and shou for how well synced they were with the screen, their timing was super impressive) but then they all took turns doing not just a little bit of the rest but EVERYONE else's. iirc shouri was oikawa, naoki was iwa-chan, shouri was daichi, naoki was suga, shou was asahi, acchan was tanaka and ennoshita (the timing broke down a little bit here XD), naoki was takechan, shouri was ukai, naoki was kageyama, and shouri was hinata.

it was funny because like, when they first start doing other characters naoki was like, laughing at himself, still a little self-conscious but by the time he ran out to do kageyama's jump he was super into it and getting huge amounts of air lol. that was sort of the pattern of the night, naoki was clearly enjoying himself and excited in a normal person way but then kept getting dragged into increasingly weird shit by shouri and by the end would be like FINE LET'S GO LET'S DO IT.

as previously mentioned this resulted in them reenacting the vast majority of nekoma's choreo in full, in the center of the stage. flips and rolls and dives and all. shouri also kept forgetting this was not, like, a concert or something and would literally be bouncing up and down waving his thundersticks when he wasn't actively dancing. but then he got all embarrassed during kuroo's "that sparkling stage…!" speech and walked off stage... but BARELY, he was hovering so close in the wings that i could still see him ahaha. the closest he could physically force himself to actually leaving the spotlight. XD in contrast, naoki was so embarrassed during his first couple lines/closeup that he tied his nekoma towel around his face, walked off stage, and didn't come back for a full minute. hee.

shouri also made naoki leave the stage with him so that they could walk back on for nekoma's pre-match entrance, this time with shouri wearing his jacket specifically so he could reenact the dramatic toss and catch, which he then intentionally dropped a la the DVD blooper roll, as naoki took hinata's role of pointing at it in shock.

naoki was also apparently the "voice" of kiyoko behind the "tobe!" flag, shouri was very excited to make sure we knew that. OH for the first scene between kuroo and kenma, SHOU came out as kenma with shouri trailing after him measuring the height difference between the two of them and making exaggerated confused faces. and after nekoma waved goodbye and left the stage after the practice match was over, naoki also waved goodbye and walked off but shouri was so caught up in watching that he didn't notice naoki was gone for at least a minute and then did a huge doubletake at the empty chair. XD

last but not least, for the kurotsukki fans out there, i know you're reading this, during the practice montage at the end of act 1 shouri acted out tsukki's bit standing there tossing a volleyball with one hand like :|, and his attempt at a bored tsukki expression was hilarious, shouri's face just doesn't do that naturally. XD

so while the first act was like a show on stage we were watching, the second act was, of all the screenings so far, the most like an actual proper call-and-response cheering event. first was the tokonami match, of course, and honestly the biggest compliment to how well and effectively this match was staged is that there was zero snark – instead, i heard several people sniffling -- and the applause after ikejiri walked off stage went on for a long, long time.

but then the datekou match had so much for the audience to do! there was a LOT of cheering and chanting to take part in, and of course acchan and shou acted out big scenes like aone and futakuchi's "lock ON", the big blocks, "TEPPEKI DA" etc. by the end acchan was just on his feet making frustrated faces when he got blocked out ahaha. but this is the part that felt closest to actually being part of the student cheering squad at a volleyball game… if part of the cheers were a rap.

(at some point shouri and naoki came back on stage as well, and to be fair to them, for a split second when they came out again i was like OH NO LET THE DATEKOU KIDS HAVE THEIR CHANCE TO SHINE but while shouri did get very into reenacting their choreo he stayed off to the side and didn't distract from the main characters. thanks kondou-kun. XD

daichi: like [iwaizumi] said, datekou are really strong acchan: ^__^ (nod) suga: three months ago their iron wall totally destroyed us acchan: ^____^ (nodnod) suga: to be honest, we still haven't wiped out the fear from that time acchan: ^________^ (nodnodnod)

my favorite part about datekou, though, was at the end, when we got our first real emotional casualties of summer week. so first, aone's handshake with hinata also got a really, really long ovation, and shou started to look super emotional. then the datekou third years' retirement scene happened. because i know kimura atsushi, i was locked on (heh) to him from the moment it began, and was therefore able to watch in real time as his mouth slowly turned down and his face crumpled and his eyes glinted with tears. then when moniwa started talking about how next year's iron wall would be even stronger, he suddenly stood up and just nodded emphatically at every line but couldn't even smile. acchan i love u.

another sweet thing was that during that scene, the final "we played… we played volleyball!" scene with the losers, shou just took a long, slow look around the audience with this really gentle expression and later in the aftertalk he said he could see people crying and that he was really touched and grateful.

so, speaking of the aftertalk!

shouri and naoki also talked about aiia closing and how it felt kind of destined that it was where they had both their haikyuu debut and now their last haikyuu event. naoki: appearing as members of the cheering squad. shouri: as the ensemble cast. naoki: shouri, you were definitely the loudest person here. shouri: because i'm the MC!

they dragged-slash-complimented shou for his scary aone face. "yeah, i'm kind of scared by myself when i see the recording tbh because it's not like i could SEE myself when i was made up on stage." acchan: but off stage he's really nice!! naoki: yeah, you always gave off this kind of sweet idiotic air in the dressing room. shou: …actually… something like that happened today…

and then he explained how during the scene when aone is blocked out by hinata and lands with a thump back on stage, he reenacted it today… and when he landed in a crouch, his pants tore. XDD CUE EVERYONE DUCKING BEHIND HIM AND LIFTING UP THE SHIRT TIED AROUND HIS WAIST TO CHECK OUT THE TEAR AND FALL AROUND LAUGHING like literally naoki was lying on the stage paralyzed with laughter. shouri kindly demonstrated to us exactly where and how large the tear was, thanks shouri. "lucky i wore a shirt around my waist today!" shou said.

acchan also explained how he and shou did different variations on the "lock ON" on asahi, so of course shouri made them demonstrate – and they did one in which futakuchi tries to push aone's arm down, it pops back up, and futakuchi then walks his fingers cutesily up aone's arm as he says "yamenasai!"

then naoki told us about how during the scene when hinata spikes with his eyes open, one day takeru came up to him and said super seriously, "what's the deal with hinata closing his eyes? don't you normally spike with your eyes open?" naoki explained there was a line about how he hits with his eyes closed earlier, to which takeru replied, "i didn't hear anything about that, idk what you're talking about" and that was when naoki realized he was speaking as yaku. "i get staying in character but he WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO ASK ME ABOUT IT."

speaking of, shouri also said that the show was just around the time the volume with the nekoma third years' backstory came out so that if you watch the full stage recording you'll see kuroo and yaku squabbling and kai trying to break them up in the background and such.

then, another takeru story, for one particular scene when the nekoma cast was holding up the iron wall it was always incredibly hot, because they'd already worked themselves into a sweat during their actual match as nekoma, then they'd have to put on these long white coats, so it was unbearable… and then on top of that, takeru would come over and like. squish up next to him. and it would be even MORE hot. so naoki would be like, "pssst get away from me" and takeru would just sit crouch there dead still staring straight ahead. "i got SO MAD AT HIM."

so that’s why today takeru was tweeting "…what did shouri and naoki say about me." XD

finally, their final messages! that's when shou said the bit i mentioned earlier about how moving it was to see the fans' reaction, and added "I'M DEFINITELY COMING BACK i mean i don't know if that's actually possible BUT I DEFINITELY WELL." acchan fell all over his own words and then was like I CAN'T PUT HOW GRATEFUL I AM INTO WORDS i love haikyuu bye. naoki said how how grateful he is that his first and last experiences at aiia were both, specifically, "karasuno, fukkatsu." and shouri just talked about how WOW HAIKYUU'S AMAZING WORRY KINOSHITA IS AMAZING. (naoki: just pretend he's an alien or something, ok guys?) and then, also, that he owes his career to the show basically and is super grateful and proud to have been involved.

OH, AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST -- the sound tech got the last laugh on shouri. they thanked us for coming and bowed... and then the credits music didn't start like it did for everyone else, they had to start singing it themselves – "da da DAH da da da DAH da da da DAH da da da dah" while shouri yelled at the sound booth "HEY, DON'T PUNISH ME" until the tech took pity on them and cued up the music. then shouri purposely "tripped" and fell going off stage, naoki held back shou and acchan from going back to help him, and they got whistled off one last time. XD

…the end. jesus that was a lot, how the hell are we going to get through shinka no natsu as led by shouri, we're all gonna die.

tonight: shousha to haisha………………. pray 4 me. see you tomorrow!!

[jgfiles]

Miyoshi’s character profile: Part 3 (Alternate version from drama cd 2)

Miyoshi’s character profile: Part 3 (Alternate version from drama cd 2)

“Joker Game” Metropolitan Police Department D Division investigation file (「ジョーカー・ゲーム」警視庁D課捜査ファイル “Joker Game” Keishichō D-ka sōsa file)

Surname: Miyoshi - 三好（みよし） Name: Unknown Job: Police Detective (刑事 - Keiji) Works at: Metropolitan Police Department D Division (警視庁D課 - Keishichō D-ka) Role at D Division: Police Detective (刑事 - Keiji) Superior officers: Section Chief Yūki of D Division(D課の結城課長 - D-ka no Yūki Kachō), Subsection Chief Sakuma of D Division (D課の佐久間係長 - D-ka no Sakuma Kakarichō)

Brief introduction

He’s one of the members of D Division, a Division whose men are said to be extremely excellent humans with high evaluations in intelligence, physical ability, and mental fortitude who excel in their investigations but hold certain problems concerning their human nature.

Personality

He is highly intuitive, anticipating everything that’s about to happen and is also well informed as he knew about Sakuma prior to his arrival. He’s confident, cares a lot about his hair and his look, he’s cynical and has fun tricking Sakuma and making fun of him. He shows he’s pretty picky with his food, complaining the “Nyan Nyan Cafe” couldn’t serve food suitable for his taste as he’s apparently a self acclaimed gourmet. He’s fine with drinking ice coffee though. He likes to keep Sakuma in the dark about their plans, though he claims they didn’t mean to deceive him, but they warned him they’ll take decisions depending on the situation (also Miyoshi will deliberately show to Sakuma the wrong tape for the TV program “Extreme Report, 24 Hours Police” and send a video of another division in advance in its place). Miyoshi finds the shirts with the bear application horrid and would prefer to die that wear them. Despite this he’s apparently wearing a shirt with a strange picture he bought from a dreary shopping district for 980 yen during its closing out sale. Still, he gets furious if someone criticizes his fashion sense. Miyoshi seems to be a schemer that doesn’t hesitate to use underhanded tactics to ‘destroy’ the opposite team. Miyoshi considers uncool to fall and lose the cavalry battle. Miyoshi demands from Sakuma to treat them to dinner since he thoroughly wasted their time. Although Sakuma complains it’s implied he’ll do it.

Physical appearance

We’re supposed to assume his physical appearance remained the same as the one he has in the Anime. It’s not said what he wears usually but on the cover for the cd we can see he seems to wear the same suit he has in the Anime.

Though Japanese fanartists often enjoy themselves drawing him in a police uniform, Japanese media usually represents detectives from investigative divisions as wearing a suit… so while it’s possible Miyoshi occasionally wear a police uniform, it’s likely he’s usually wearing a suit.

Relationships

Mutō

We don’t really see Mutō and Miyoshi interact, we only know that Mutō is envious of D section’s success and would like to bring it down.

Yuuki

We don’t really see Yūki and Miyoshi interact, we only know that Yūki is his superior officer and the ones who assigns him his missions.

Sakuma

Miyoshi and Sakuma interact a lot through the story, they being possibly the ones who interact the most.

The first time Sakuma sees Miyoshi he’s playing cards with Hatano and winning. He sees Hatano accusing him of cheating but Miyoshi denies it and worries Hatano’s fuss might ruin his hair.

In their first interaction Miyoshi inadvertently (or not, with Miyoshi one can never be sure) slams the door against him, causing him to fall on the ground. Miyoshi seems surprised to see him there and Sakuma explains he was searching D Division but thinks he is at the wrong place. Miyoshi tells him that actually he had found it and shows he knows his name and that he’s the new Subsection Chief. Miyoshi expresses no interest in Sakuma introducing himself and warns him he’ll learn nothing from them that will please Mutō, showing he knows of Mutō’s plans to have Sakuma spying them.

From this point on Miyoshi will always be busy showing Sakuma he could figure things out in advance or that he knew them in advance. Miyoshi will claim they’ll follow Sakuma’s instructions, he also warns him that depending on the situation, they’ll make their own decisions… which fundamentally will result in Miyoshi (and the others) always doing as he pleases openly (speeding up without warning Sakuma or telling Hatano to shoot at the speeder) or behind Sakuma’s back (like having Jitsui dress up as Kirara-chan), withholding information from him or misleading him (like when he’ll let him believe that there are cats in the “Nyan Nyan Cafe” when instead there are humans dressed as cats or that the tape he’ll show him will be the one they’ll send to the tv station when actually he’ll send them another completely different).

Each time Miyoshi successfully tricks Sakuma he actually blames Sakuma for it, claiming he’s the one who misunderstood or wasn’t thorough enough. Although Sakuma complains, ultimately he let it slide and even come to expect that Miyoshi will trick him (when the tape sent turn out being different from the one he saw he immediately suspected Miyoshi was involved with the matter).

Miyoshi also takes advantage of Sakuma, by demanding he’ll pay dinner for them for having wasted their time with the sport even or for pushing the duty of writing a report for the rifle incident on him (even though it was Miyoshi’s idea). Again, while Sakuma complains he ultimately complies.

While Miyoshi acts polite with Sakuma, he’s often subtly making fun of him, correcting Sakuma’s claim that Kira Kanako is working to the café due to her willpower by claiming it’s just because the pay is high, implying Sakuma’s view was naïve, commenting Sakuma’s motto is “like a elementary school student’s kakizome, very nice” and congratulating with him for solving his first case in a manner that, according to Sakuma, implies that Sakuma had been a disappointment.

Still when Sakuma worries for Kirara-chan he asks him not to and to trust them to know how to handle it. Later, when Miyoshi will comments Sakuma should surely understand what kind of place the D Division is, what kind of people we are, Sakuma will deny it which seems to amuse Miyoshi who comments Sakuma will stick around for a very long time and that, in the meantime, they will be in his care.

It’s worth to mention that, during the cavalry battle Miyoshi wants to be the captain because Sakuma will be the captain of the opposite team and that, always according to Miyoshi, Sakuma is also knowledgeable in martial arts (Bujitsu) and therefore a strong opponent.

On the opposite side Sakuma is the first to notice how Miyoshi is staring at Odagiri, a sign he was paying him close attention.

Kaminaga

Kaminaga and Miyoshi seem to enjoy themselves by teasing/tricking Sakuma together. Kaminaga comments Miyoshi is a “self-acclaimed gourmet”. Miyoshi doesn’t counter it. During the sport festival they’re in the same group. Miyoshi scolds Kaminaga for hitting on someone else’s wife during the cavalry battle.

Hatano

Hatano and Miyoshi’s first interaction see the two of them playing cards. Hatano accuses Miyoshi of cheating, which displeases Miyoshi who, in turn complains at Hatano making a fuss. When, at the sport event, Miyoshi criticizes Hatano’s team shirt, Hatano criticizes Miyoshi’s team shirt back, deeply offending Miyoshi. According to Miyoshi Hatano has strong physical power. When patrolling, it’s Miyoshi who encourages Hatano to shoot at the wheels of a car to make it stop. Miyoshi also comments Hatano’s aim with a rifle is very precise.

Amari

Miyoshi’s interaction with Amari is extremely small.

Amari plays the role of the referee in Miyoshi’s card game with Hatano, though actually he doesn’t pay attention to the game but prefers to watch a tv program.

Jitsui

Miyoshi and Jitsui’s interaction is extremely small.

Jitsui defines Miyoshi a narcissist. During the sport event, Miyoshi complains that if Jitsui doesn’t hold him up a little higher, he’ll tilt at which Jitsui apologizes, claiming he’s rather incompetent at this and then asks/complain on why he should lift up a person who’s heavier than him.

Tazaki

Tazaki and Miyoshi’s interaction is practically inexistent.

Tazaki seems to think that Miyoshi, Kaminaga and Sakuma are having fun together at the Nyan Nyan café, mission how actually Miyoshi and Kaminaga are having fun at Sakuma’s expenses.

Tazaki comments that Miyoshi’s trick to make Sakuma fall during the cavalry battle at the sport event is dirty.

Fukumoto

Miyoshi and Fukumoto fundamentally do not interact at all.

We know though that Miyoshi doesn’t really appreciate the design of the shirts Fukumoto sewed for the sport event and that he thinks Fukumoto has a tight guard. Fukumoto realizes Miyoshi seems to be planning something during the cavalry battle.

Odagiri

Miyoshi and Odagiri’s interaction is extremely small.

It seems that both of them buy their clothes at the shopping center, though Miyoshi denies it.

During the Cavalry Battle, in order to win, Miyoshi threatens Odagiri to show his secret twitter account to his family, which causes Odagiri to panic and makes him drop Sakuma. Afterward Odagiri had to hurry erase his secret twitter account and seemed pretty broken by it.

Abilities

He knows how to drive.

Trivia

When divided in two teams, Sakuma’s team which has Sakuma, Fukumoto, Odagiri and Hatano is far superior in terms of physical strength and unity to the team that has Miyoshi, Kaminaga, Jitsui and Amari.

[projectsoleil]

Till The Spring Calls Again | AI-T | Trial 3.4 | Re: Gabi

Aren’t last words supposed to be exchanged during times like these? Aren’t they supposed to say goodbye?

Papillon can’t bring themselves to speak.

It’s strange, really; they’d been full of words scarcely a few minutes earlier. But now that the vote’s commenced, they don’t know what to say. Is there a point to words anymore? Arguing will make things worse, and they highly doubt apologizing would have any effect. Saying they love him won’t change anything, and they highly doubt bidding him farewell will make this feel any less final.

Only when Gabi returns to his podium and they watch him cast his vote does it hit them—

They haven’t gotten to listen to him enough.

It feels like an eternity ago they met Gabi for the first time.

In the dimly-lit casino, Papillon chanced upon a boy and his shadow. At first they had believed the tall, sunny boy to be the one they’d care about… until they noticed the gentle gleam of his shadow. And said shadow, whom they’d come to know as Gabi Morningstar, turned out to shine more brilliantly than the boy. In fact, he shone so brightly they eventually realized they had it all wrong — it’s Gabi and Rover, not Rover and Gabi.

By the end of their first day together, they’d played war. Papillon had placed a wager…

“But if I win, I want you to keep talking to me about whatever the fuck you want—”

…and had lost.

Thankfully Gabi still indulged them. The two talked and talked and talked during the weeks that followed. But given the nature of this place, their conversations were more often than not about serious topics. At the time, Papillon had assumed there’d always be time later to talk about less serious subjects. They’d have time later to discuss their favorite movies, what games they both play, the greatest desserts they’ve ever had.

But they’re out of time. They never got to talk with him about any of those things and now they’re never going to.

While Nate hugs Gabi, Papillon takes the chance to return to their own podium. Even though it feels odd being at their usual spot but in Rover’s body, they silently cast their vote. It doesn’t hurt as terribly as they thought it would… or maybe they’re just numb.

Nate has let go by the time they’ve returned to Gabi’s side. And even though there’s so much left unheard, Papillon knows it’s their turn to let go too.

Rover’s yellowish-orange eyes focus on Gabi. He forms a half-fist with his hand so that it kinda resembles a cat paw, before raising it up to his face. His grin is as blithe as ever.

Of course, when he tilts his head to the side and speaks, it’s not his voice that comes out. It’s the squeaky, high-pitched voice belonging to Papillon.

“N-nyan!”

Rover’s hand drops to his side as they sigh. The final smile he then offers Gabi is closer to Papillon’s own — awkward, but undeniably genuine.

“Now you owe me, okay? One day we’ll have to meet again so you can repay me by saying ‘fuck.’ Just like when we first met.”

And then they let go.

Rover’s eyes flicker from yellowish-orange to aquamarine. His form shifts back to his normal, easygoing idle.

On Nate’s phone, a virtual tigerperson appears. They cause his phone to buzz to signal their arrival, but otherwise remain quiet. There’s nothing to say, and besides, they’re too focused on replaying a scene in their mind from the chapter where the two princes first met:

…

“Hey Gabi, you said you installed a filter because you swore, right? And loudly at that? I haven’t really heard you say anything bad while talking to you… Can you say ‘fuck?’” they ask, leaning forward. They don’t seem to realize they’re doing this though. “I can say something else in return, if that’ll sweeten the deal. But your voice is nice — definitely nicer than my normal one — so I wanna hear.”

The next question takes him off guard a little, enough he lifts his head off his knees. “U-uh..” He scrunches his nose, but there’s a playful gleam in his eyes still. “… like, in my head I do..” Their offer is intriguing, though… Too good to pass up. “..what’ll you say? in exchange?”

A pause. And then. With complete seriousness, Gabi tilts his head and says, “Nyan?”

[jongieslegs]

[Fan Account - Kim Sungkyu Mini Fanmeet and Live]

Sungkyu’s mini live event! Namba Hatch, Osaka, Japan,  4 Oct 2017 disclaimer: all comments here are as I understood with my lower level japanese and korean, so apologies for any mistranslations!!

Ticket and Fanclub event info Inspirit Japan members got priority ticket sales and a small discount, plus the chance to enter two events: 1. you could submit a video question, which was used in the show (more on this below) 2. ten people could win a meet and greet with Gyu before the show! Event tickets were all assigned seats, no standing. My seat was 1st floor, row G, but other fanclub members I know got row O and even 2nd floor, so it really was a lottery for seats.

Intro After the lights dimmed,  There was no video intro or speaker intro, Gyu just simply walked on stage and began to sing the opening song (Kontrol) Loved hearing and seeing him like this, with no dancers or distractions, just Gyu and a mic. He concentrates so wholly on his songs, he's half hugging the mic with his arm and it really looks if he has his eyes closed for most of them. He only looks up as if to realise we are there much later in the song. wow. How I love that voice. I think other ppl have listed and videoed all the mini-live songs, so I’ll give more detail on all the non-song moments!

After 3 songs the lights go up, and he says hello in Japanese, and the mc and interpreter come on stage and beckon him to sit down on a chair. He sits, and immediately chugs water from a bottle with a straw, and says how happy he is to come to Osaka, even though he feels nervous. The (female) interpreter sits behind him and translates what the mc says into korean, as well as what Gyu says into Japanese. great idea as Gyu doesnt have to worry about trying to speak Japanese and we can just hear his natural Korean. He’s a bit more nervous than I expected, and hesitates a lot at first when he talks, he’s a little shy - used to the other members bumbling around him I guess! But he’s super cute, especially when he laughs, which is a lot tonight. Fan questions The first stage event is 'Sunggyu please teach/tell me’, where four fans (via the fanclub) recorded a video message to ask Gyu. At first we didn’t shout loud enough when this segment was announced, so the mc made us do it again, and Gyu looked very amused by us being told off by the mc. The first q is a girl who wants to know if theres any food he doesn’t eat much, or can't eat. He’s really REALLY hesitant in answering, like saying 'um... I...' and pausing, then 'um...' like he really can’t think of an answer. Then finally he and the mc talk about beef and beef dishes a lot. I think he said he did not eat beef as a child, and these days it is expensive - but I got lost on other details. The second girl records herself playing 'back' on the piano and asks what song he’d like to sing to a girl? (on a date? to woo her? not sure) she’s on the 2nd floor so he strains forward off his chair to wave at her! Firstly he praises her piano playing, then he ends up singing the chorus of 'be mine' acapella to the mc (who is pretending to be the girl) he laughs midway his song, but even does the hand gesture on 'oh!' (YES!) The third fan is a nurse and recorded her video at the hospital- she wasn’t in the audience tonight. she said she’s learning korean and wants to know his favourite word or phrase. again he was really slow and hesitant to answer, but eventually talked about a word that means friendship/you use with close friends (??) and he mentioned using it with the infinite members in his answer. If I see a J-inspirit tweet about this one I’ll RT - the details were a bit hard for me to catch. The 4th girl asks, 'you are a superstar, but what do you do to relax on your days off?' His reaction was so funny, he began: 'because I'm a superstar...' and sat up and crossed his legs really flamboyantly haha I think he really liked that question. When relaxing at home, he says he watches game of thrones season 7, and also plays games. Then the mc suggested, doesn’t he think of Inspirit? and he quickly said 'oh yes, of course, number one is thinking of inspirit, then game of thrones, then ... '(but he was laughing, such a cute liar) Hoopla. He just can’t.  Sunggyu had to play hoopla (land a hoop on a stick with a number) to play a random game. oh boy. he was so bad at this game! first of all, the front row fans told him off for being too close to the number board, and he was like 'What!!' the MC too was really shocked they were so strict, lol. then he stepped back and threw, and literally missed every single time, so then he stepped really close and threw all of hoops in the box until finally he got one. his reward- 2x speed dance! at first he looked aghast, but then just laughed and put his ear mic in and was like 'ok. come on!!' he didn’t know which song it would be. it was be mine, and he did a great job-- and looked so cutely pleased with himself when he stopped, a satisfied grin of like ‘nailed it!’. back to the hoops. oh dear. he threw them all at close range and still, still!!!! couldn’t get one! he crouched down briefly in mental breakdown mode, but the mc just blatently slid one on for him lol. his reward-- the mystery box! the mystery box was a cute brown toy dog that walks and barks- you know the kind. omg he was so funny, he looked terrified as he put one hand in then yelled 'what!!!' 'what is it??' 'its moving!!' after a few attempts to touch it he couldn’t guess, so they let him do it again, this time with both hands. he jumped again as he touched it, and even sniffed his hand (???) but then seemed to hear it barking, moved his ear closer to the box. so then he guessed correctly, and laughed like crazy when the box was turned to face him. he said 'no way-- it felt different!' and then held it, said 'cute' petted it, then suddenly pretended to go to slap it, lol. a girl in the audience won the toy after he drew her seat number from a box.

the mc assisted him (basically put the hoop on the numbers as he was hopeless) to get another two rewards. The first was a group photo with us all. He turned away from us to face the camera, but remained standing, which would obviously block a huge part of the audience, lol. So the cameraman was like ‘hey! sit down!’ and he laughed, kinda embarrassed, and did so. 

The second reward was he could draw signed posters for 2 people, but he drew 3 winners instead, so 3 won, hehe. He read the winner’s numbers out in Japanese, and tried speaking a little Japanese to the winners, just the odd word, but he does try! Kyu is so funny to give gifts. (I've noticed this before, he keeps a real physical distance when he gives a prize, unlike L or Jjong who hug or pet fans' heads easily) as he handed people their prizes today, he really looks like the professor formally giving the graduation certificate, like very low bowing and holding out the poster then shaking their hand formally then bowing again. when people won from the 2nd floor, they took a bit longer to get there, so he extended a hand very gentleman-like and helped them up onto the stage - to ‘aaah!’ from inspirits, lol.

Photo time We were given three minutes to take pics, and like the Tokyo shows, he spent each minute at a different part of the stage, and smiled and posed and crouched down a few times for people’s cameras. The stage lights were sooo bright that even though my eyes could see him well, my ipad couldn’t - but other friends got some nice shots, I’m sure plenty will be going around!

A Gyu survey The last prize lottery of the day was for a survey we had to answer and put in a box before the show. the survey has questions all about Gyu. The mc told him noone got all the answers correct, and he was like 'ah, I’m a difficult guy--'

q1- is there a food you haven’t eaten this time in japan? a-ramen q2- on long flights what do you do? a- sleep. he uses an eye mask. (one of the options was talk to the infinite members- heh yeah right) q3-which animal do you think you are like? a-cat. everyone seemed surprised and Gyu was like 'what! why are you surprised? Am I not?' the mc made him do a Japanese cat noise and paw-like gesture (Cats in Japan say 'nyan’) he did it quickly and reluctantly lol. q4- what do you do first thing on a morning? a- drink water. he says he loves to drink water, and his throat always feels dry after sleep. the mc pointed out how nice/interesting his throat looks when he swallows so we got a closeup of him doing that, and he just laughed, like ‘doesn’t everyone look that way?’ q5- immediately after the first tokyo mini live, what did gyu do? a - thanked the staff. 

He drew three winners again for signed posters. one winner  from 2nd floor had put her name on the survey form as 'sunggyu-chan'. this really amused him and the mc. when she cane to the stage he said in formal japanese 'nice to meet you... sunggyu-chan?' lol. When the games were over, he talked a little about what he’s working on now - just everything he already said at the tokyo meets, a solo concert and album, musical, plus infinite comeback and album. He said he wants to be known as infinite’s leader but also the singer kim sung kyu. He’ll work hard for both things and wants to come to osaka again. To finish up, he sang the last two songs, including ‘Because’, (whoop love that older tune) then he waved to everyone, like very cute crazy big grin two-handed waves, before leaving the stage. Hi-touch time! We had to leave our seat with our stuff and line up to high five him on the way out of the venue. Staff were strict about having absolutely nothing in your right hand so you could hi-five him easily. A small screen hid him from view. When I got around it, he was standing behind a table, with staff close by either side. He had a cute small smile, looked kinda tired but also happy. The way Japanese hi-touches work there’s really no time to talk (or think-), so i just grinned and said 'Sunggyu fighting!' as i touched his right hand. Resisted the huge urge to grab it lol! 

No candy for us, unlike Myungsoo’s fanmeet, but that’s cool - hearing Sunggyu’s vocals and seeing his cute yet surprisingly shy self on stage was reward enough!

That’s all for this time-- thanks for reading as always!

[5917]

Waited to Long

pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou / Kozume Kenma

A/N: so i think it’s been a couple months less then a year since i’ve really written fanfiction (the kuroken drabbles at are a few hundred words max don’t count) and i’ve made a return. for how long, i don’t know, but i’m incredibly proud to have written something (though i can’t promise anything for the quality). anyway, enjoy! <3

ao3

“This is my son Tetsurou,” Kuroo’s mom announces proudly. Kuroo turns up to glare at her. He can introduce himself, thank you very much.

The woman across from them laughs, hand motioning to the young boy clutching her skirt but standing resolutely beside her. “This is Kenma. Welcome to the neighborhood.”

“We’re glad to be here,” Kuroo’s mom says.

Kuroo ignores the big people talk and instead finds his gaze captured by the younger boy whose all scrawny knees and definitely not enough baby fat and far too pale.

“I’m Kuroo Tetsurou,” he announces to the boy, marching forward and thrusting his hand out. The adults silence, watching the interaction, and Kenma looks at the hand warily, unwilling to let go of his mother’s skirt. The reluctance to take his hand doesn’t faze Kuroo, a grin he’s picked up from his mom stretching his face. “We’re going to be best friends.”

*

Without second thought, Kuroo grabbed Kenma by the waist and pulled him close, the soft kiss he placed on the smaller man’s lips betraying the earlier appearance of a ferocious, blush-worthy contact.

Still, the small gathered crowd cheered and clapped, a couple wolf whistles mixed in. As Kuroo and Kenma pulled apart, they couldn’t be happier.

Finally.

*

“Kuro?”

“Hmm?”

In the resounding silence, Kuroo tears his attention away from his textbook and instead looks across the room to Kenma who seems to be focusing on his lap. Peculiar.

“Kitten?” Kuroo asks this time. When no response comes, he pushes away from his desk and swiftly crosses the room, sinking into the spot next to Kenma, letting his head come to rest in the younger man’s lap. “What’s wrong Kenma?”

Kenma says nothing but his fingers massage Kuroo’s scalp. He allows this quiet, lets Kenma build the courage to ask or say whatever it is that’s on his mind. Once the seconds have ticked into minutes, Kenma finally breaks.

“I think I’d like to study video game design in university.”

Kuroo lets a silence hang in the air, humming and nuzzling Kenma’s legs to let the boy know he’s heard him. After he’s deemed enough time passed, he cracks an eye open and addresses Kenma.

“That sounds like a wonderful plan.”

*

“It was about damn time,” Yaku said. Kuroo glared, fixing his cufflinks again. “Honestly Tetsurou, if you could have seen the two of you in high school, you’d agree.”

“Mori,” Kuroo hissed out. Yaku only chuckled.

“We’re happy for you,” Kai cut in, smiling fondly at the two. Even after all those years, he could still see the two first years he’d first been introduced to when he’d joined the Nekoma Volleyball Club. “You’ll make each other happy.”

“Of course,” Kuroo said, eyes becoming dazed as he stared at the door. It didn’t take much imagination for the other two to know what, or rather whom, was occupying his mind.

“Like I said, about damn time.”

*

Kuroo’s smirking, jaw clenched in an attempt to not laugh. Kenma glares harder.

“Don’t laugh,” Kenma hisses. Kuroo nods, smirk growing. “It’s not funny,” he adds for good measure.

Kuroo shakes his head. “It’s not funny,” he confirms.

Kenma’s glare intensifies and a glint flashes in his eyes. Kuroo has half a mind to be wary of it but is unable to when Kenma’s wearing a pair of cat ears, a Nyan Cat shirt, and ‘I ♥ Milk’ pants.

“At least my hair isn’t stuck in a daily version of bed-head.”

Kuroo flounders at the retreating back, hands on his hair protectively and a mischievous smirk engraved into his brain.

That’s just unnecessarily cruel.

*

Hotel arrangements had been unbelievably easy to make. It had been left up to Oikawa, who had been insistent about planning the whole ordeal – Kenma and Kuroo were happy to let the man have free reign.

After the hotel had been chosen, it was simple enough to pair people together by couples or close friendships. Oikawa had been grateful that he knew most of the people invited. It had saved time.

No one contested the hotel arrangements.

*

“Kenma,” Kuroo says with exasperation, a fond sigh leaving him.

He walks forward, closing in on Kenma, stepping into his personal space without any reservations and ignorant of the eyes on them. Kenma flushes under the attention he’s too aware of but still meets Kuroo’s steady gaze.

“Kuro,” he responds evenly.

“Your hair.”

Kenma’s head tilts and Kuroo doesn’t wait for a response. His hands are carding through Kenma’s hair in the next second, brushing it away from his face carefully. Kenma lets his eyes fall shut, nearly purring as Kuroo gathers the strands, tie transferring from wrist to hair, holding bottle blond locks together. Amber eyes open to watch when Kuroo’s hands linger for a moment longer than they need to. He finally steps back, grin in place, winking at Kenma as he turns away to address the rest of the team.

“Let’s circulate blood.”

“Kuro,” Kenma hisses at Kuroo’s retreating, chuckling back. Taketora laughs off to the side in the stead of Kenma’s embarrassment.

*

Contrary to the ease concerning preparation for the hotel arrangement, planning the date had been so much more difficult, nearly impossible. It was more than just figuring out a date everyone was free, there was the included flight to and New York City, New York in the USA. That had probably been the biggest problem.

Somehow though, it had been arranged and all of Kuroo’s and Kenma’s friends and family would be able to make the date.

*

“Kenma.”

Kenma startles, blinking rapidly. He looks away from his game and towards his door.

“Kenma,” his mother calls again. Perplexed, he stands and leaves his room, quickly descending the stairs.

Standing at the base of the steps is his mother, a small box and large bouquet of flowers in her hands. He idly wonders who would send her such a large number of flowers.

“Good. Here you are, I’ve got dinner to start,” she announces when he reaches the bottom step. The next thing Kenma is aware of is the bouquet and box in his hands, his mother almost skipping down the hallway to the kitchen.

He stands indecisive for a heartbeat, before turning and slowly ascending the stairs again. Carefully, the flowers are set on the desk in the corner, box placed next to it. Kenma contemplates what to do next and who the items could be from.

After a quick thought about ignoring the gifts, Kenma picks the box up again and opens it. Inside it the newest game he’s been wanting to get but hasn’t had the money for. With a sinking feeling, because there’s only one person he’s told about desiring the game, he throws the game onto his bed and searches the flowers as frantically as he’ll allow himself to get.

There, sitting to a backdrop of petals, is a small folded card. With a growing feeling of dread, Kenma plucked the card from its holder and opened it. There, in an oh-so familiar script, is four simple words.

‘Happy Valentine’s Day Kitten <3’

*

“So, there’s no bachelor party?” Bokuto asked for the tenth time in the last hour.

“No,” Kuroo said with a sigh. He was starting to get annoyed.

“But Kuroo, you can’t not have a bachelor party. We need to celebrate, one more night on the town.” Kuroo raised an eyebrow but Bokuto didn’t back down under the expression.

“We’ve never spent a night on the town,” Daichi cut in. Bokuto’s eyes widened and Daichi quickly looked away. He knew where things were headed and he wished he’d never opened his mouth.

“If nothing else, I think we should be throwing a bachelorette party,” Oikawa sang. The other three sputtered which just caused Oikawa to laugh which bordered on a cackle – and if he were another man, it would have been.

Bokuto spoke up before anything more could be said, chanting “bachelorette party,” much to Kuroo’s annoyance.

*

“Kuroo,” Kenma finally says halfway through the movie. After Kuroo’s paid 1600 yen, he’s only look at the screen for close to ten minutes.

“Kenma,” Kuroo whispers back.

When Kuroo’s attention hasn’t shifted back to the screen, Kenma finally gives in and turns his head to meet his stare. “The movie.”

“It’s great,” Kuroo agrees with a smirk and a nod.

“You’re not watching,” Kenma accuses, eyes flicking down to the people a couple rows down.

“I’ve seen it,” Kuroo confesses confidently. Kenma quickly glances back at him, eyes narrowing.

“Seen it?”

“Came yesterday.”

“Then why are we here?” Kenma whispers back, the slight twitch of his finger indicating his irritation. Kuroo’s smirk grows as he leans forward a bit.

“You wanted to see it.” Kenma’s silent a moment, unsure how to respond. “You’re missing the movie Kenma.” Taking the out Kuroo’s given him, Kenma turns to face the screen, sliding down in his seat in his embarrassment.

*

The challenge of planning everything had come after Kenma and Kuroo had told everyone. In the end, they’d determined that they’d have to do everything in the United States. They would skip on any party or anything, just have a small quick ceremony.

Once they’d decided on a list of dates, they’d taken their choices to Oikawa who had asked, begged, to be allowed to plan the ordeal. With choice made, they let him do as he wished and let the weight of the coming months sit loosely on their shoulders.

*

It’s nighttime, just past the mark of a new day and Kenma has yet to go to sleep. He’s been restless all night and finally gives up hope. He grabs his phone and opens Color 6 for some mindless playing. It’s not the most active game, but it keeps his mind focused so he’s content for the time being.

Suddenly, his winning streak is interrupted by a small ding and a notification at the top of his phone. He contemplates it for a second, idly wondering who could be awake and messaging him at 1:13 in the morning.

The answer seems obvious. He clicks it.

‘go to sleep’

Before he can respond or ignore the message and go back to his game, another message appears.

‘i’ll know. sleep kenma’

With a silent huff and a glare, Kenma quickly responds, inquiring to Kuroo’s own lack of sleep.

‘exams’

Not unexpected, Kenma has those coming up soon too. It is curious that Kuroo took time to message him though. Telling him to sleep, not so much. He informs Kuroo of that fact.

‘was thinking of you. now sleep!’

Kenma glares at the message as if it’s personally offended him. With another huff, he closes out of Color 6 and sends a quick response to Kuroo before flipping his phone over and placing it beside his pillow. He hears another quiet ding but already knows what the message will say.

*

It didn’t come as a surprise when they shared the news. Who would be surprised? Kuroo was rather upset by the teasing he had to endure, though he did think it was fair. After all, he’d made Kenma do all the work.

Still, the support was nice.

*

His hands cradle Kenma’s face perfectly in his palms.

“You’re the single most beautiful thing I’ve seen in this world.”

Gold drowns in amber and amber drowns in gold.

He can feel the warmth rising in his face, and he want to look away but doesn’t. Can’t.

A kiss is placed one cheek, then the other, and soon his eyelids are fluttering shut as kisses are laid to rest there as well.

Maybe, maybe he really is beautiful if Kuroo can say it with such conviction.

*

“Kuro.”

Kuroo grunted at the volleyball thrust into his chest. He looked down and noticed it was frayed and fading with age and was surprised to see his childish scrawl along one of the seams. He looked up, ready to question the reason he was holding his childhood volleyball.

“Marry me.”

[nelrunari]

❖ AND THE DREAM CALLS: JULIAN “JULES” FOSTER.

Character Name: Julian “Jules” Foster. Also known as Nyan Clover.

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: 16

Trigger Warnings: He has no familial support in what he wishes to do and is, despite his insistence otherwise, somewhat depressed due to this.

Appearance: Jules, in his natural appearance, has reddish orange hair that is perpetually messy. His left eye is light green and his right eye is blue, and he has a beauty mark beneath his left eye. He has a lean build and is about 5’5’’ in height. When he transforms into his magical boy form, Nyan Clover, however, he has light green hair and both of his eyes are green. Notably, his pupils are clover-shaped in this form and his beauty mark also takes on a clover shape. As the name might suggest, he has cat ears and a tail.

Personality:

POSITIVE: enthusiastic, loving, heroic, determined, cheerful, optimistic, protective, affectionate, eager, excitable, active

NEGATIVE: naive, self-destructive, secretive, obsessive, depressive, unwilling, self-sacrificial, lonely

Background: Jules was born to the Fosters, well off businesspeople who wanted their little boy to be like them and excel in business, mathematics, and take over the business one day. But unbeknownst to the pair, their son really is nothing like them at all, and is far more empathetic and gentle than they’d ever expect. He loves heroes and anime, falling in love with them after watching an episode of Nekonyasha when he was little. He dreams of becoming a translator so he can bring shows over and give other kids like him dreams like that. But he’s terrified of disappointing his parents, and doesn’t often follow through on what he wants. He ended up signing a contract with a magical mascot one day and became the magical boy Nyan Clover, part of the Cat’s Nyas, and is supposed to be saving the world, a dream of his!! But … He was already leading a double life before, is he gonna be okay with a third?

Memento: His transformation bell, on a band around his upper left arm. It doesn’t seem to do anything when it’s rung now, but he seems to cherish it a lot and never takes it off.

Natural Abilities: Due to his contract making him a magical boy, Jules has enhanced, almost cat-like senses. He can hear better, smell better, tends to have a natural, animal-like instinct. He has some enhanced strength and a natural affinity for plantlife.

ADDENDUM: Jules can transform into his magical boy form due to his contract, but it comes without the additional powers listed in power history.

Power History: Jules signed a Contract in order to become a magical boy, Nyan Clover. In this form he could control plants – from manipulation to the outright creation of plant life. He could also communicate with plant life, though according to him its not so much a conversation as projecting and receiving feelings. He also had superhuman strength in this form.

Due to the contract, the Cat’s Nyas as a whole also were at risk of sprouting cat ears and tails whenever their emotions ran high, or if their emotions got too extreme, ending up turning into cats altogether (think Tokyo Mew Mew).

Extra: His old blog can be accessed here, it has more information on things he used to do, the cat’s nyas as a whole, and etc!

None of the nyans actually read the contract but Jules in particular genuinely just didn’t read it because as soon as he heard the words “become a hero” he was already signing.

He can play guitar and speak/read/write English, Japanese, Spanish, and French.

He loves hero shows and anime in general, but his favorite is Nekonyasha.

❖ Nelrunari Section ❖

Ward: Polaris

Player Tag: Here

❖ OOC Section ❖

Name/Alias: Duck

Contact: @mahiruwus & @_princesstutu on twitter

Age: 25

Pronouns: she/her