#it--i would have course corrected and made it so missing link WASN'T the game we needed to know next then (because we know from the phase 2

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Not to be a Negative Nancy... but is anyone else worried that with Kingdom Hearts IV coming out after Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, it's going to feel so much lesser in comparison?

Because I kind of feel that way... and I know I'm not the only one, in some cases. Like, I remember how in the Key Keepers' spoiler discussion Final Fantasy XVI spoiler cast, Audrey (somewhat jokingly) mentioned how no matter what epic thing they try to do with the boss fights in Kingdom Hearts IV, it wouldn't be on the level of the Eikon fights in Final Fantasy XVI, so it wouldn't have as big an impact on her as those did (paraphrasing here).

And then KHInsider has a thread going on right now, about how Kingdom Hearts IV shouldn't try to take too much from FFVIIR--as they are different games--and user Luminary agreed with that, but brought up how I feel: that if they do take any inspiration from Rebirth, it should be the good character writing and interactions, and cinematography--since they've now shown they know how to do that, and if they don't do that in KHIV, it'll feel like a downgrade.

But I'm just worried that they won't. Especially where the girl characters and interactions are concerned.

I mean, we have new writers on KH now, so maybe they can help make things better than they have been before. But IDK.

[kkurainmyheart]

JEANPIKU WEEK DAY 6, ALLIANCE

I had nothing for days 4 and 5, sorry.

The link in Spanish and below you can read it in English (which is not my first language, so sorry for the mistakes)

It's right at the end of 139.

Her eyes burned. Maybe if she closed them for just a few seconds she could continue what she was doing, even though she risked falling asleep, she was so tired.

The afternoon meeting with the Queen of Paradis, Historia; it had been tense. Still with the presence and support of the Azumabitos, represented by Miss Kiyomi, trying to put up with the stubborn Yeagerist Generals had made her head explode. Some of them had been quite lewd. Pieck still felt chills down her spine and her stomach churned as she remembered the red-haired guy who had tried to get her attention with highly sexualized comments.

She opened her eyes, watched Armin read carefully the pile of sheets that were scrambled on the table. The movement of the stranded ship rocking to the rhythm of the waves. Annie was sitting next to him clinging to the warmth of her steaming cup of tea; She looked tired, she wore a shawl around her shoulders that matched her eyes. Pieck took a sip from her own cup, fiddling with the delicate pen, looked at the clock, it was 4 in the morning; she sighed.

"Are you okay, Pieck?"

The blond scowled at her, they had been discussing the best strategies to convince Paradis that the deals were safe enough. Despite all these years, for the leader of the alliance Pieck's opinion was always the most important, then perhaps Jean's would come. Inside, Pieck knew that Annie was the one who really controlled most of the situations.

"I'm just sleepy," she replied monotonously, stirring her mug.

"You better go to sleep," Annie spoke.

Pieck looked at her childhood friend, she had moved closer to Armin. Sometimes she wondered why her relationship with Jean was hidden? It had been more than 3 years since the rumbling since both had started a game of innuendo and flirtatious looks that turned into a kind of relationship over the course of 1 year. Looking at Annie and Armin, caramelized, holding hands across the table; Pieck realized that she too could have the same without hiding, was it her own insecurity? If she analyzed herself, the truth is that anxiety still ran through her, she was afraid that a day would come when Jean would remember that she had always been in love with Mikasa with the same intensity that a sun lights up the summer; that Pieck was only a substitute while he was away from the Ackerman girl.

She held her breath. She had somehow checked it today, before getting off the ship; because like Reiner he was obsessed with seeing the queen again; Jean hoped with the hope that Mikasa would be at the dock to greet him, to start a family with him, just like those dreams he once told the former cart titan. And that's why her relationship with the tall boy with the ash blonde hair and amber eyes remained stagnant in the form of furtive hugs and kisses, midnight conversations, subtle brushing of hands, and sometimes sleeping together on the couch.

"The boys already went to sleep hours ago, you should do the same."

"Why don't they help us with this?" Asked a very confused Annie.

"Jean and Connie have permission from the queen to see their families and Reiner is ... Reiner."

"I can wake him up by kicking his bed."

"Annie," said the blond with a smile on his face, "it's better to leave everything for today and go all to sleep."

Pieck watched the exchange in silence, decided to say goodbye to the couple, and return to her cabin. When she came in she thought she was in the wrong room. Jean was sitting on the edge of the bed, his shirt ajar and his hair messy, he looked at her with tired amber eyes and a reassuring smile. Had he been waiting for her all this time? He got up and approached her, stroked her black hair and kissed her forehead gently, then held her hands and stayed that way.

"How long have you been here?" She asked worriedly.

He simply ignored her question.

“Tomorrow. In a couple of hours” He corrected himself“I'm going to see my family. I wanted to invite you to meet them, it's just my mother and father, how do you know” he wet his dry lips with his tongue” but it would be good if you could see where I was born and raised; I know my mom will like you.”

Jean dragged her with him to the bed, sitting side by side; He continued his monologue with a more serious expression.

"I want to try to convince them to come with us, as Connie will also with his mother." The Island is not safe and although neither is our home, at least we will be able to protect them in a better way.”

Pieck nodded at the last statement and looked at him in surprise. Jean's eyes shone brightly at each word, hypnotic.

"Do you want me to meet your parents?"

"Why not? You are my girlfriend, oh!”

The realization collided with Jean depressing him, he raised a hand to caress the small woman's cheeks, tucked the black locks behind her right ear.

"You don't want any of the boys to know," he whispered, " but you can say that you accompany me as a friend."

“Jean…”

"So the problem is my parents? Because the same excuse serves us.” He laughed at the thought.

In front of her, the tall man looked so tiny; as if he wanted to disappear from shyness and embarrassment. When she had him like this in front of her, pouring out all that she held in her heart with so much confidence, she realized that her fears were just that, fears unfounded in her own insecurities. It wasn't fair to Jean. Pieck swallowed saliva and replied animatedly.

“I would love to meet your family, like your girlfriend… is that okay?”

He felt the man's chapped lips in a harsh, surprising kiss.

"Maybe," the brunette continued calmly, " we could tell everyone at breakfast."

Jean's smile was so bright it could replace the stars in the sky

“but…”

He watched her wide-eyed, waiting as if at any moment the woman in front of him would disappear.

"You must let me sleep, I don't want to look bad in front of your mom," she replied charmingly.

Jean got up quickly from the bed, kissed Pieck on the lips, and ran to the door muttering a "good night". The girl laughed. When he reached the door he stopped and turned

“You”

“What?”

"You asked me who I was trying to impress when I was doing my hair this morning at the meeting. You" he smiled with tired eyes as he clung to the door and yawned" good night, see you in the morning. I love you”

Pieck undressed and got into bed with a smile. She regretted not asking Jean to stay, she would have appreciated the warmth, the ship was too cold; she covered himself with the blankets and closed her eyes. He wanted everyone to know and that made her very happy.

[degenerate-otaku]

Another one shot of Future Gohan and Trunks for yall

https://m.fanfiction.net/s/13896221/1/Before-the-Rain

(Links in case you prefer)

In the times that had followed the androids' destruction, younger generations were highly protected, as they were the earth's only hope. The government set up an initiative to get more children out of dangerous cities that housed gangs and violence.

Children and any family they had would move to countryside camps, wherein they would receive food, safety and education in return for doing manual labour such as farming and sewing, as well as taking care of the sick.

Trunks somewhat hated this, as it meant that many children in West City, including his own friends often moved away when things got too difficult, leaving him isolated, in terms of having friends his own age.

Sure, sometimes he'd visit, taking the underground railway system, or by hopping on the nimbus, or even flying when he had learnt to do so, but it felt like an arduous task.

However, when Gohan decided to volunteer as a teacher, Trunks thought it would be a good idea to attend full time, as the pair could go together. Trunks was surprised when the day before Gohan revealed he was rather nervous about it.

“C'mon, you're an amazing teacher to me, so I'm sure you'll be able to teach more kids!” Trunks reassured him, snuggling into bed. He always loved when Gohan would stay over at his house, it was so comforting to know he was right there beside him.

“Yeah...but that's you...and I've known you since you were born...and there's a lot of kids!” Gohan hung up his smart looking outfit, which Trunks remarked as being nerdy, on a hanger, before sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Trust me, they aren't as annoying as me. You'll be fine...Good night.” Trunks smiled at him before switching off his light and pretending to be asleep before Gohan could worry further.

Gohan sighed and tucked the boy in a little more before heading to sleep himself.

The next day, the pair flew to the makeshift school building, and landed away from sight before coming in together.

To keep Gohan distracted from his nerves, which Trunks viewed as highly irrational, considering Gohan was also "The Golden Warrior", he inquired,

“Doesn't your mom cook for the kids here a lot? My friends said that a lady called Miss Son is the most amazing lunch lady ever.”

“Huh? Oh...yeah,” Gohan laughed, lifting his head from the book held in his hands.

“I mean...she's used to cooking in massive quantities for me and for when my dad was around...it's a chance for her to share her...motherly-ness.” He smiled, then stopped at the door, listening to the sound of children chattering inside.

“You can do this!” Trunks grinned, taking his bag off his shoulder as he stepped in, Gohan following, the class immediately silenced, intrigued by the smart young man, that was clearly strong looking, his muscles bulging even in his clothes.

“Uh...Good morning class!” He began, picking up a pen and writing his name on the board.

“My name is Mr Son...and I will be your new teacher!” He smiled politely, awaiting a response.

“Oh my god, are you married to the lunch lady?!” A girl exclaimed.

Gohan frantically shook his head, “N-no, she's my mom!” His face had gone red as the class giggled, but he soon regained composure, laughing it off.

“Gosh, she cooks like that for you all the time?!” Another kid chimed in and he scratched the back of his head,

“Yeah...I guess so! I just hope she doesn't come in and embarrass me!” He answered.

Trunks gazed up at him from where he was sitting. He was glad to see his best friend adapting so well to his new job.

“Alright! Our first task is going to be a written task, which I'll get you to read aloud at the end.” He instructed them, handing out some paper, taking a look at every one of his new students.

“I want you all to write about what you did during your summer. Which programs did you volunteer in? Did you visit anywhere?”

He returned to his position at the front and passionately spoke, “I really wanna know about you guys! Oh...maybe I should take the register to learn your names...tell me if I mispronounce any!”

Gohan sat down, getting out the list of names and calling them out, one by one, receiving a pleasant "Good morning, Mr Son“ each time. It was strange to hear Trunks call him that, and by the sound of it, the title was strange for the boy to speak aloud too. The two just had to pretend as if they didn't know each other, Gohan made it a priority not to show favouritism towards him, but he knew it would be difficult.

He loved that boy unconditionally.

”Sir, how long do we have?“ A girl named Cherri, who he knew to be Trunks' friend that used to live not far from Capsule Corp, asked.

”Oh...right, I forgot to tell you that! Uh...you have until half past.“ He answered, before scribbling down more lesson ideas in his book.

The truth was that he had no clue about what he was doing. He was planning his lessons as he went along.

The time passed quickly, and Gohan decided to pick out random students to read out what they had wrote. A few passed, and he made some notes about them in his book.

”Alright, last but not least is Trunks.“ Gohan called out to him, snapping the boy out of a daydream.

”Oh, ok...“ He reluctantly stood and read from the paper, ”Last summer, I mostly stayed at home, played video games and studied. I went to the beach with my mom a few times....uhh I watched TV and...uh yeah.“ He sat back down.

”...that's it? That's all you wrote?“ Gohan glared at his student, hoping he had a good response.

”Yeah.“ Trunks replied, thinking nothing of it.

”Trunks, you had half an hour and you wrote 3 sentences.“ Gohan sounded stern and the class silently watched.

”Well, you already know what I did last summer, Gohan-“ Trunks gasped and the class was confused.

”Wait, is he your brother?“ The boy next to Trunks, who was also his good friend asked and the whole class started chatting.

Gohan cleared his throat and sighed,

”Yes...well...I am very close to Trunks, our families are too...but this does not mean I favour him over any of you.“ He calmed the situation, then spoke directly to Trunks,

”I need you to show the same level of respect to me as everyone else in here, too, ok? It is the morning of the first day, so I will let this slide, but please give more effort.“

Trunks nodded, but rolled his eyes, slumping back in his chair, when Gohan turned to the whiteboard and wrote down the title of the next lesson, before collecting in the students' essays and handing out exercise books.

The next lesson would be a boring maths lesson, which Trunks sat through. He was ahead of his peers in scientific and mathematical subjects, thanks to his master's teaching, so sitting through a recap of something he found so simple was like watching paint dry.

Whenever Trunks raised his hand, he felt like Gohan always asked someone else. He didn't like being ignored.

He knew the answers to everything, it was incredibly annoying to hear someone who clearly didn't know something harder than expanding brackets in algebra, try to solve the equation on the board that Trunks could do in his head.

Gohan was encouraging and made sure the students felt no shame in making mistakes.

”Alright, Cherri, so now you need to get the unknowns on one side of the equation.“ Gohan advised her, writing on the board the step she just explained with his help.

The girl stammered, her face going a little red from the attention.

”The answer is 4!“ Trunks, finally fed up, called out the answer.

”Well, yes, that is correct, but I wasn't asking you, I was asking Cherri.“ Gohan put down his pen and his serious tone returned.

”She obviously didn't know!“ Trunks folded his arms, determined to not apologise for doing what he thought was right.

”It's rude to interrupt, regardless.“ Gohan told him, before moving on.

Finally, it was time for break and when Trunks decided he was going to talk to Gohan, he was surprised to find girls in his class talking to him instead, asking him tons of questions.

”So, you work out?“ One asked, taking a look at his arms.

”Of course he does, just look at him!“ Her friend cut in and Gohan blushed and nodded, explaining his reasons, which Trunks knew to be false.

”Oh, hey, Trunks!“ Gohan spotted him and took his opportunity to get out of that conversation.

”I wanted to have a chat about before.“ He approached his pupil, who was causing him some concern.

”Oh...same.“ Trunks fiddled with the sleeves of his jumper, something he always did when he was nervous, which Gohan took notice of.

”Why did you feel like you could do that?“ Gohan's voice was calm; it always made Trunks feel more at ease.

”I dunno...it just felt like...you were ignoring me. I just got a bit fed up...because I already knew the stuff and you weren't asking me.“ The teen shrugged his shoulders, not meeting his eye.

”Trunks,“ Gohan placed his hand on his shoulder, making the boy glance up at him.

”I just want to know what the others know. I know you're able to do this, but most of them aren't.“

Gohan did make sense, but Trunks was stubborn. His mother said it was a trait of his father, though she was stubborn too.

”I spend a lot of time with you...and I love spending time with you...but it's not fair to give you all my focus...

You know I really love you, right?“

That was enough to make Trunks smile.

”I know...thanks, Gohan...I mean Mr Son.“ Trunks giggled before running off.

Gohan watched as the other kids played together gleefully. It was heartwarming to see them be actual kids and enjoy their disrupted youth. It only made him more determined to fight for their safety and teach them well.

'I might be an even better teacher than you, Mr Piccolo...'

He smirked, hoping Piccolo could hear him somewhere, feeling proud of him.