#running a tournament gave me appreciation for the fact that so many are run so poorly

[ofpd]

the top ao3 ships bracket is being run extremely well i must say

[4stars-uswnt]

My Muse, My Valentine [Christen Press x Reader]

requested by anon: Not sure if you’re accepting any request but can you write a cp x photographer gf where her gf surprised her at man u, like her gf secretly transfer there to be with cp. Thanks

A/N: please ignore some of the inconsistencies this story has with reality :) but anyways... hope you enjoy and have a happy Valentine’s Day (tomorrow) and remember it’s a day about LOVE, whether that be romantic, platonic, familial, or self ❤️

“I’m gonna miss you,” you whine, as you watch your girlfriend pack her suitcase.

“I know, babe. I’m gonna miss you too, so much.” Christen leans down to quickly peck your lips, before continuing to fold her clothes.

You and Christen had been dating for almost three years now, having met after you’d photographed one of the USWNT’s matches. You instantly felt an attraction to the curly-haired forward, your camera always drifting towards her wherever she was on the pitch.

After you’d posted a couple of your photos on your Instagram, which Christen made a point to like and repost, you gathered up the courage to approach her after a game, and thus began your relationship.

With yours and Christen’s busy schedules, it was sometimes hard to find time for each other, but you made it work, sharing an apartment in Portland during the offseason and flying out for matches when you could. But being a sports photographer did have its benefits, as your work often led you to spending more time with your girlfriend and admiring her speed down the field and score goals.

But now, with the pandemic, as the NWSL was struggling to field games,  you found yourself with little work. Christen herself was not quite satisfied with the league’s plan for the season, so when Tobin proposed the idea of going to the WSL, she desperately wanted to, yearning to get back on the pitch.

At first, when Christen approached you with the subject, you immediately opposed, not wanting to be so far from your girlfriend for such a long amount of time. Additionally, with COVID, it would be nearly, if not completely, impossible for you to visit. But after a blowout fight and discussing it further, you realized that this is what would be best for Christen and her career.

“Do you have to go?” You pout, sitting up and moving to the end of the bed.

“You know I do, (Y/N/N).” Christen playfully rolls her eyes.

“Humph.”

“Babe, come on, don’t make me feel worse about leaving you.”

“Then don’t,” you quip, grabbing your girlfriend by the waist, pulling her down on the bed with you.

“Babe!” Christen squeals, as you blow raspberries into her skin.

You lift your head from the crook of her neck, your eyes locking with hers. “I know that you have to go,” you admit seriously. “Doesn’t mean I like it, but I know that this is what’s best for your career.”

“Thank you, (Y/N),” she says earnestly, giving you a small smile. “We’ll text and FaceTime everyday.”

“I’m holding you to that.” You cup her face and bring her in for a kiss, savoring the feeling of her soft lips on yours. “I also know that you’re gonna kill it over there in Manchester. The WSL isn’t gonna know what hit them.”

Christen ducks her bashfully, a small blush arising on her cheeks. “You know I love you, right?”

“Of course, Chris. I love you, too.”

“Good.” She gives you a quick peck, as she gets up from the bed. “Now, either quit bothering me or help me. My flight is early tomorrow morning, and I haven’t even finished packing.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

—————

It had been a little over five months since you’d dropped Christen off at the airport and she left for Manchester. Despite the constant texting and the nightly FaceTime calls, you couldn’t help but ache for your girlfriend. Without her, the apartment was lonelier and the bed felt bigger.

It had helped that your work had started back up, first with some freelance work and then with the NWSL fall series starting, which gave you something to do and kept you fairly busy.

Currently, you were sitting at the kitchen counter, sipping on a cup of coffee, as you edited some photos for the Thorns. Just as you were saving your work and closing Lightroom, about to shut your computer, a ping alerts a new email in your inbox.

Switching tabs, you notice the message is from an unfamiliar address, so you presume it’s a new client. You click and open it, your eyes widening, as you scan the email:

Ms. (Y/L/N),

I noticed your professional portfolio through many referrals, particularly your work form the World Cup. I am writing on behalf of the BBC News Media Centre, and we’re looking for an excellent sports photographer to join the team, specifically to cover the FA Women’s Super League and the Premier League.

Your experience is outstanding, adn your work speaks for itself. I think you’d be a great fit for this role, and I’d love to tell you more about it and hear more from you.

Would you like to set up a phone or Zoom call soon? If so, let me know when you’re available.

Best,

Charles Smith

Director of Media Relations at BBC Sport

You quickly reread the email, and then reread it again, just to make sure you’re not dreaming. This was too good to be true. But you shake yourself out of your stupor and quickly type out a response to set up a phone call as soon as possible.

After hitting send, you shut your computer with excitement and throw your hands up in the air.

“Yes!” You exclaim into the empty apartment, as you throw your fist in the air and jump off the barstool.

Knowing you needed to distract yourself, otherwise you’d just be staring at your computer, eagerly awaiting the response, you decided to go on a run.

Jogging through the city, you think of your girlfriend and your potential reunion if this job offer worked out. You decided that if you did in fact take this position, you’d surprise Christen at one of her matches, hopefully one that you’d be able to photograph.

As soon as you arrive back in your apartment, you make a beeline for your laptop. You anxiously open your inbox and beam when you see Charles had replied to set up a Zoom call at 9:30 tomorrow morning. You excitedly type out pleasantries, telling him you’re looking forward to it.

For the rest of the afternoon, you were in an increasingly good mood. So later that evening, when Christen called you for your routine FaceTime, she could tell something was up.

“Why do you keep smiling like that?”

“Can I not be happy to talk to my girlfriend?” You tease, a huge grin plastered onto your face.

“You can,” Christen trails off, not quite believing you. “But you have the weird giddy look you get when something’s up?”

“Nothing’s up. Just had a good day,” you shrug nonchalantly.

“Okay,” the forward accepts, still eyeing you suspiciously. “Anyways, you know She Believes is in a couple weeks, are you working the tournament?”

“Yup,” you nod and make a mental note to mention that to Charles tomorrow.

The two of you continue updating each other, chatting about topics ranging from what you had for breakfast that day to re-inc’s upcoming drop.

“Alright,” Christen yawns. “I think I’m gonna call it a night.”

You check your phone and see it’s 5:37 pm, meaning it’s almost midnight in Manchester.

“Okay,” your eyes softening at the sight of your sleepy girlfriend. “Good night, Chris. I love you.”

“Love you, too, babe. G’night.”

After ending the call and shutting your laptop, you head into the kitchen to make some dinner for yourself, getting on with your evening.

—————

The next morning, you anxiously await for Charles to begin the Zoom call, nervously bouncing your knee and biting your lip.

“Hi, (Y/N),” Charles greets, his face appearing on your screen.

“Good morning. Or rather good afternoon?” You correct with a light chuckle, to which he reciprocates.

“Well, as you know from my email, we are looking for a photographer to join our team, and from many referrals, you seem to be a very good candidate,

“So, I was thinking maybe we could look at your portfolio really quickly and then hash out the logistics to see if this is something that could work out.”

“Sounds good,” you agree, as you pull up some of your best pictures and share your screen.

The two of you look through your photos, many from the 2019 World Cup, some of the Olympics, and a few from random NWSL games.

“Well, (Y/N), your work is quite impressive. If you’re ready, and you’re seriously interested in this position, we can talk specifics, scheduling, all that good stuff,” Charles offers.

“I’m definitely interested, but can I just preface by saying that my girlfriend is a major part of this decision, so depending on what she wants to do at the end of the season will impact my contract.”

“Oh?” He raises his eyebrows, clearly not expecting your candor. “Your girlfriend plays in the WSL?”

“Yeah, well, technically only for this season. Her contract is up in May,” you explain.  

“(Y/N), to be completely frank, we’re looking to hire because a couple of our photographers had some personal issues due to COVID and had to leave mid-season,” Charles reveals. “So if it turns out that your girlfriend wants to go back to the NWSL, then we can work that out. And if she wants to stay, and you end up liking it here and you fit in well, we can also work that out. We’re pretty flexible.”

You sigh in relief, giving him a small smile. “Wow, thank you so much. So what would my contract look like?”

“Well, we can sign you to three month contract with the option for extension,” he offers, as you nod along enthusiastically.

“That sounds great,” you exclaim, beaming. “And just to let you know, I’ve already signed on to work the She Believes tournament from the 18th to the 21st.”

“That actually aligns with the WSL’s international break, and there are a couple Premier League matches that weekend, but I think we can manage, so that shouldn’t be an issue.”

“You guys are too kind and so flexible. I really appreciate it so much,” you say earnestly.

“It’s really just us being desperate for a good photographer,” Charles jokes.

“Either way, I’m grateful for this opportunity.”

“We’re excited for you to join our team,” he reciprocates. “So, in terms of when you’ll begin, I honestly would like you to come over as soon as possible so that you can get settled and get acclimated.”

“I am honestly ready to start whenever you’ll have me.”

“How about next week? The Manchester Derby is on Friday, and honestly, given your portfolio, I’d love you to photograph that match,” the British man admits.

“That’s perfect!” You were in complete awe of how perfectly everything was working out. Photographing a Man United match as your first job meant you could surprise Christen, maybe as an early Valentine’s gift.

“Great,” Charles smiles.

The two of you discuss and finalize your contract and the logistics of you starting the job. Once everything’s settled and you each have the information you need, you wrap up the call.

“Well, thank you so much, Charles, for this offer, and I can’t wait to see you next Tuesday.”

“I can’t wait to work with you and meet you. See you next week. Cheers.”

After ending the Zoom call, you begin to make a COVID test appointment, book your flight, and arrange your hotel room for the few days that Christen doesn’t know you’re there, preparing yourself for moving across the world.

—————

After landing in London, getting settled into your hotel, and meeting with the BBC team and the other photographers, you were now on your way to the Manchester Derby.

In the back of the black cab, you pull out your phone to text a good luck text to Christen.

It was difficult to keep your surprise a secret, especially when you were actually in England, because it was much more difficult to FaceTime without her noticing your change in setting. You had to make up the excuse that you were swarmed with editing and preparing for the upcoming Thorns trainings.

As you pull up to the Academy Stadium, you hear your phone ding.

Chris ❤️

Thanks babe. Miss and love you 😘

You quickly type out a response, before heading into the building.

(Y/N/N) 💗

Love you too. I miss u too but go kick butt.

The match was exhilarating. Not only were you a sports photographer, but you were also a huge fan of the game, enjoying a good game when you see one.

You watched in awe, the level and style of play significantly different from than NWSL. While snapping hundreds of photos of both teams, your camera would always somehow land back on your girlfriend.

Your heart ached for the curly-haired forward, as you missed her dearly. Until you saw her back on the pitch, you hadn’t really realized that you missed watching her play the game that she’d mastered, her movements around the pitch and on the ball effortless and elegant.

As the ref blew the whistle, signaling the end of the half, you scroll through some of the photos you’d taken, deleting some of the blurry and unfocussed ones.

A smile immediately forms on your face when you see a picture of Christen during warmups with a huge grin on her face. You spend all of halftime editing said photo and putting together an Instagram post for your girlfriend.

About fifteen minutes later, the teams take the pitch and you go back to doing your job. Throughout the second half, you could tell that Christen was getting increasingly frustrated, her team getting down 3-0 with only about five minutes left.

You watch as the players high five and hug each other, and you want nothing more than to run onto the field to be with your girlfriend, but you had a plan to stick to.

As the team goes back into the locker room, you pull out your phone to post a photo on Instagram and then you shoot a quick text to Tobin:

(Y/N)🤓:

toby go check out my ig post :))

Back in the Man United locker room, after Casey went through her post match speech, Tobin checks her phone and sees a text from you. The injured forward playfully rolls her eyes at your message but follows your directions.

Upon opening the social media app, Tobin raises her eyebrows, her eyes widening. She glances across the room to see if her best friend had seen your post, but Christen was minding her own business, changing into sweats after her shower.

“Chris!” The older forward calls over to the other woman. “Have you seen your girlfriend’s Instagram post?”

Christen furrows her brows in confusion. “What? No, what is it?”

Tobin waves her friend over and shows her the post:

Liked by mrapinoe, ashlynharris24, and 638,231 others

yourusername: My muse, my valentine.

“As I sat and looked at her

and the rolling hills she sat upon

I thought,

what amazing luck I have

that the world had created

such beautiful things

and given me the eyes to see them.”

- atticus

tagged: christenpress

- - - - -

mrapinoe: Stunning pictures, (Y/N). Love you guys 💖

alikrieger: These photos are 🔥🔥🔥🔥

alexmorgan13: love this 😍😍

cdunn19: Beautiful!

glennondoyle: Love love love love this!!

ashlynharris24: Holy shit! Are you in Manchester????

↳lavellerose: Was this today??

↳sammymewyy: Oh my gosh it was!

↳kellyohara: Valentine’s Day surprise for Pressy?? 👀

Christen zooms in on the photo in the center, her eyes widening when she realizes that it is from today’s match.

“How did she get that picture?”

Tobin mentally slaps her forehead at her friend’s denseness. “Knowing (Y/N), she probably took it.”

“But that’s impossible. She’s in the States,” Christen states and shakes her head, dumbfounded.

“Actually,” you speak up, stepping into the locker room, deciding to make your presence known. “I’m right here.”

“(Y/N)?” Your girlfriend looks up at you, her mind in a state of shock.

“Hey, love,” you greet shyly.

Once her mind caught up with reality, Christen runs and jumps into your body, kissing you passionately but briefly and wrapping you into a bone crushing hug.

“I can’t believe your here,” she whispers into your neck. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, babe, so much.”

Unwrapping herself from the hug, Christen stares at you in awe. “What… how are you here?”

“We can talk about that later,” you give her another quick kiss. “But right now, I just wanna spend time with you. Maybe we can grab some dinner? You can show me around Manchester, considering I’m gonna be spending a lot of time here.”

Your girlfriend looks at you puzzled, but you just give her a wink with a small smirk on your face.

“Well, c’mon lets get out of here.”

—————

Back at Christen’s apartment, the two of you sit down for a nice and casual, but romantic, dinner you’d prepared along with a bottle of red wine.

After catching up, the forward finally decides to address the elephant in the room. “So how are you here? What’s going on, (Y/N/N)? You said earlier that you’d be spending a lot of time in Manchester, what does that mean? I’m so confused. Not that I’m grateful that you’re here right now and that I get to see you, but I thought you were working She Believes, and—“

“Chris,” you cut off your girlfriend’s endearing rambling. “Babe, you’re rambling.”

“Sorry,” she blushes, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

“I got a job with BBC Sport till the end of the season,” you answer her parade of questions.

“Does that mean what I think it does?”

You nod, while taking a sip of your water. “It means I’m yours if you’ll have me.”

Not having the adequate words to express her joy and excitement, Christen gets up from her chair, walks over to sit in your lap, and connects you lips for a searing kiss.

“I can’t believe you,” she breathes, rubbing her nose against yours. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you quickly peck her lips while rubbing circles on her hip. “But as much as I love you and all this romance, we gotta get going soon.”

Your girlfriend tilts her head in confusion.

“Do the words ‘She Believes’ ring a bell?” You tease. “If I remember correctly, our flight leaves in a couple hours.”

“You’re coming with me?” Christen asks, her brain trying to wrap around the fact that her girlfriend, who she hadn’t seen in almost five months, would now be living with her in England and flying back to the States with her for the next week.

“Of course, Chris,” you give her a cheeky smile, along with a kiss to her nose, as you quote a book Becky had convinced the whole team to read. “You should know by now that I’d follow you anywhere. You’re the only good thing left in this world.”

[nintendousimp]

Train of Thought…

Epilogue: Marry Me, Please?

Previous 👈 Master

Word count: 2,9k

Released date: May 25th, 2021

Warnings: NSFW 18+, language and some grammatical errors.

Disclaimer: All Characters in this story are aged up!

I’m sorry I haven’t posted in a while now! Life hasn’t been easy and depression came and gave me absolutely no motivation to finish the story until now. So my apologies for posting it so late ��😅 but now I’m back and I feel ready to write more! So request are now open once again!

With all that being said. Please enjoy the last part of this now completed story! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

It had been two years since Atsumu and y/n parted ways, and yet, He still remembers that day like it was yesterday. The pain he caused his now ex-wife was something he carried with him for the rest of his life. Even though they’re on friendly terms now. The young man knows his decisions caused the woman he once loved to carry her life without him. Time moves fast when the wounds caused by another heal—something Miya had to learn.

The day Atsumu found out about y/n’s relationship with Akaashi, he was sitting outside of the old coffee shop you both used to go to. Scrolling through his social media, he noticed a picture she posted of her and Keiji at what looks to be a carnival. At first, he’d denied that it saddened him, even brought some painful memories of the past. Still, looking at the photo she took, he can tell that her facial expression gives that of a woman deeply in love. That made Atsumu happy, knowing the girl found love once again.

Done with his coffee, Atsumu signals the waiter. As he’s getting ready to pay, he noticed the young woman making her way towards him. “I hope we didn’t keep you waiting long,” the woman says.“No, not at all. I just got done with my coffee,” Atsumu says. He approaches the woman and gives her a friendly hug. “Thank you for letting me spend the day with our son. I know this must be hard for you, but I very much appreciated it”, He says as he makes his way towards the stroller to pick up the small infant boy.

At first, the boy gave Atsumu a confused look. His brown eyes focused on the sight of the man holding him. The infant stared at his fathers’ eyes for a while before falling asleep in the young man’s arms. “I wish he’d fall asleep as easily as he does with you,” the woman jokingly said. Atsumu smiled at the woman who took her backpack purse off the stroller. “Got a lot of errands to run?” Atsumu asked as he slowly put the boy back in his stroller.

“Not a lot of errands, but you did remind me that I need to stop by the market and pick up some ingredients I don’t have for dinner,” she said while taking her planner out of her bag to write that down. “ Miya san, do you got any plans for today?” she asked while putting away her planner. “We’re going to spend the day with the team going over last week’s game; after that, Bokuto and Shoyo Kun would like to take the baby to the aquarium,” he says. She handed him the diaper bag while he took the stroller from her.

“I hope you guys have a great time; remember not to let him have too many sweets and don’t let him take too many naps, or else he’ll be fussy,” The woman said as she kissed the sleeping boy on the forehead. She said her goodbyes and headed out to run her errands; meanwhile, Atsumu stood there staring at his son in complete awe. Who would’ve thought that he’d be a father?

A few months after the split, Atsumu got a call from your ex-best friend. He found from her that she was pregnant and gave birth a month or two after the divorce. At first, it took him by surprise. It had been almost a year since he last saw her, let alone heard from her. To drop these kinds of news really took everything in his willpower not to freak out.

As soon as Atsumu got off the phone with the woman. He immediately dropped everything and called his younger brother to let him know of the news. At first, Osamu didn’t know how to react to his older brother’s statement. The younger brother didn’t know whether to be disappointed or happy for his brother. To think the world was punishing Atsumu was an understatement. Osamu never believed that a pregnancy would come out of his brothers’ infidelity; he never thought of his brother as the father-type man; nevertheless, he decided it was better to advise his twin brother to take responsibility and be in his sons’ life.

Even if it was the right thing to take responsibility for his son, Atsumu felt like he’s betrayed y/n once again. She often wished to have his children; he remembers the times she’d get up in the morning to check on her cycle to see if she were ovulating. He also recalled that one time you both went shopping at a mall in Tokyo. He thought he lost the girl that day. He later found her in a baby store, looking at the baby outfits. Atsumu saw the joy in y/ns eyes when she picked out and bought two of the infant outfits.

The whole way home, they both talked about baby names and what future their children would have. She had even joked that his genetics would take over their children, and they’d end up being in love with the volleyball like their father. It made Atsumu so happy to know that she daydreamed about having a family with him. At the time, he would’ve wanted nothing more than to give her the life she wanted with him. He would’ve done anything to have children with her, but dreams can become the worst of nightmares.

The disappointment of finding out you would never become a mother really took a toll on you. You had become so depressed you rarely left the house. It took Atsumu months to get you to agree to do something with your free time. Around that time, you begin to take an interest in writing your book while your husband was out of town for volleyball tournaments. Neither Atsumu nor you noticed that you both had distanced yourselves from the other. You both did however noticed how often you’d get into arguments and days where you’d much rather spend your time working away from home than be in the same room as the other.

That night you didn’t come home was all it took for Atsumu to break the bond that shared your marriage. He knew what he’d done; he cheated on you. Atsumu wasn’t dumb, but he found comfort in her. The nights he spent with her (although it was so wrong of him to do!) were nights he felt loved. Atsumu has always had a talent for reading people. It’s what makes him one of the greatest setters in Japan. Your best friend was no different. He knew that she was falling in love with him. However, he told her many times that she meant nothing to him. He knew as well that he was falling for her too.

To avoid feeling that way, he always made sure to remind her every time after they’d fuck that he’d never leave you and never to think otherwise. He knew what he felt for her was more like a coping mechanism rather than love. It was lust and being loved by another woman, something he became so dependant on.

Even though it’s a thing of the past now, Atsumu is happy being a father. “Yer the one person I love the most, I hope you know that, my mini-me,” he said to his sleepy son. “Let us go meet up with your crazy uncles, or they’ll never leave me alone,” Atsumu said while pushing the stroller onto the sidewalk.

When it came to y/n’s love, Atsumu knew there was no way he’d ever win her back. Especially now that her relationship with Keiji is getting pretty serious. The only good thing from his relationship with your now ex-best friend is the child they now co-parent together. At the end of the day, nothing mattered more to Miya Atsumu than his son.

…

The night Keiji came clean of his feelings for y/n, He remembers he smiled at the fact that she was a blushing mess, like a high school girl getting her first confession. That’s what she reminded him of. It was even more shocking for him to know that the girl reciprocated his feelings back. The happiness she brought him that night was one he wanted to keep experiencing with her for many lifetimes to come.

Later that night, he was driving the girl home from the date. Akaashi remembered she had fallen asleep on the passenger seat. Even though he was focused on the road, Keiji couldn’t stop glancing at her every chance he got. He’d always found y/n so beautiful. To the man, this was a surreal moment. He never thought he’d be in love, let alone his feelings be reciprocated back. With just one look from the girl, the man became foolishly in love with her. Keiji dreaded the drive to her house. Part of him wished the morning would never come. He wanted to keep her, even if it was for just a little longer.

When they arrived at y/n’s place. Keji noticed the girl was still sleeping; seeing how peaceful she looked, he decided it would be best to carry the girl and bring her inside. He got out of his car and walked to the front door. Once he unlocked the door, he returned to his car and opened the passenger door. Akaashi unbuckled the girls’ seat belt while trying not to make too much noise and gently picked her up. He made sure to pull her out of the car without moving her around too much.

He shut the car door and made his way inside y/n’s house. Keiji took the girl straight to the bedroom and laid her on the bed while taking her shoes off. Carefully he pulled the comforter from underneath to cover her up. Tucking a loose strand of hair that previously covered part of her face. He stood there for a bit, admiring how peaceful she looked. He leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead. He got up closer to her ear and whispered, “Can I keep you forever?”

As Akaashi was getting up to leave, he felt the girl’s hand lightly pull on his jacket. “Will you stay with me tonight?” she asked while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. He blushed at her request. Keiji has spent many nights with y/n. It was usually the nights where they would work on her book or when Bokuto came back from his many trips and wanted to spend time with the both of them. But they never spent the night as a couple. “Please stay with me tonight. I don’t want to fall asleep without you.” Keiji took his jacket off and placed it on her chair. He went to her closet and took out a pair of black shorts and his old volleyball T-shirt from years ago.

While Keiji was changing out his clothes, the girl was slowly drifting back to sleep. Before that could happen, Y/n got up from under the covers and went to get changed into more comfortable clothes. She went back to the room and found Keiji was already under the covers, reading a book he found on her bookshelf. “Ready for bed, sleepyhead?” The girl nodded as she walked towards the bed. Once she was inside the covers, y/n consciously moved closer to Keiji to feel his warmth. He found a stopping point and placed the book on the nightstand next to him.

As she made herself comfortable, y/n was fast asleep; or so Keiji thought. He felt his eyes get heavy. As he was falling asleep,y/n got up close to his ear and responded with, “I’m already yours, Keiji.” She kissed the man on the cheek. The girl laid down and went back to sleep. What y/n didn’t know was that Akaashi heard everything but was too embarrassed to say anything back. He couldn’t believe that she listened to what he said to her. He pulled her closer to him and fell back asleep. After that night, the man knew that he wanted to marry the woman sleeping right next to him.

…

A few years have passed since Akaashi confessed his love to Y/n. As of now, a lot of things have changed. A year and a half ago, before things started to get serious. Keiji had asked the girl to move in with him.

The woman looked at him, shocked. “Did you causally just ask me to move in with you, Keiji?” The man looked up from his computer and said, “yes,” and continued back to typing. The girl couldn’t help blush at how honest and causal Keiji became around her. Over the years they’ve been together, the woman noticed how Keiji loosened up around her quite a lot. He became more affectionate physically and would call y/n cute pet names like my love or darling.

When Keiji went out of town for important meetings, he always made sure to send y/n her favorite flowers to let her know he’s thinking of her. To say that she hadn’t thought about moving in with Keiji would be a complete lie. y/n wanted nothing more than to live with the man she loves, but her mind kept wandering back to the time she and Atsumu lived together. It made her realized she’s been living on her own for quite some time. It made sense to moving in together, but why couldn’t she tell him yes already?

By now, Keiji felt the room go silent. He got up from his chair and walked to the sofa, and sat next to the girl. Placing his large hand on top of hers. “I’m sorry for suggesting us moving in together. I should’ve known it was too soon.” He said. “I want nothing more than for us to live under the same roof finally. But are you sure you want this Akaashi?” y/n asked. She reached to grab his face. It didn’t even take him a second for him to lean into her touch.

“I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t sure, my love. It wouldn’t make much of a difference since a lot of your stuff is already at my place.” The girl chuckled at the man’s comment. She pulled his right arm and leaned her face on his large hand. Keiji rubbed circles on her cheek as she stared lovingly into his eyes. “Let’s move the rest of my stuff this weekend. I’ll ask Bo and Omi if they can help out.” He got up from the sofa and pulled y/n up with him for a hug.

He didn’t need to say anything to the girl. She knew how he felt. Keiji couldn’t hide the happiness he felt that night when you agreed to live together. That weekend, Bokuto and part of the MSBY team came and helped get y/n moved into Akaashi’s place. It took her a week to unpack and organize all her belongings.

Living under the same roof took a little to get used to. Not once did Keiji regret his decision to live with y/n. Every day started and ended with her. The number of memories they built over the years they’ve been together as a couple made Akaashi realized he wanted to grow old with this girl.

…

The day their anniversary came. Keiji planned to take y/n to the ocean, where they had their first date. When they arrived, Akaashi found the spot where they had their picnic. He placed the blanket on the ground and signaled the girl to sit down with him. He puts the basket in between them, opens it, and hands her an onigiri. She thanked him for the food as she took a massive bite out of it. He poured sake into one of the cups he brought and gave the drink to the girl. They both ate and drank and conversed for a while.

Once finished with their food. Keiji and Y/n sat in comfortable silence. Watching the sky fill up with stars while listening to the ocean waves. He couldn’t have planned a more perfect date. He glanced at the girl who was still distracted looking at the stars and quickly pulled out the small velvety box from his jacket pocket. He set the picnic basket to the side and moved closer to where y/n was sitting.

Y/n laid her head on Akaashi’s shoulder without taking her eyes away from the view. He kissed the top of her head and rested his head on top of hers. Half an hour went by; Keiji got up from sitting on the ground and pulled the girl up with him. As she was stared into view of the ocean, He got down on one knee and took out the ring from the velvet box.

“Hey, Y/n?” Akaashi asked.

“Yes, Keiji?” she asked as she turns to look down in shock at Keiji, who was on one knee, holding an engagement ring in one hand.

“Marry me, please?”

…

And with that concludes Train of Thought! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story! I was beyond static to receive so much positive feedback and I truly appreciated!

Summary:

L/N Y/N a young adult working on their first ever book with the help of editor and friend (Akaashi). Discovers that their husband has been cheating on them for the past few months that they’ve  been working nonstop. Heartbroken y/n decides to drown herself in their work. Will they be able to Forgive their cheating husband from his infidelity or will they approach the man who fell in love with them while working on their book?

© All fiction rights of the story belong to @nintendousimp​

Characters belong to Haruichi Furudate.

Taglist: @h0wab0utw3d0ntd0that , @brnda7rdrgz , @tsukkiswifeey

[steve0discusses]

S5 Ep6: Joey Wheeler is on Fire, Yet Again

Came down with a little sickness-not the biggie, just a little sly guy. But I took some meds, I’m a little floaty, I’ve only been listening to baroque music all morning for some reason? And I hate baroque music usually? But I’ll leave it to bro to tell me if this is fluid enough.

Just so you know, these caps were kind of a hot mess for a while and some of them read like that Garfield in of hot eat the food comic until...today. So pls don’t judge me, Judge my damn DMV where no one was following Covid regulations because I’m pretty sure that’s where I got this damn cold.

We start off with Roland getting more attention than he ever has in his entire life. Like honestly, I don’t know what Roland’s job really is...but he’s got a very diverse set of very useless skills. One of which, is knowing how to announce sports games that aren’t really a sport, while those games he’s announcing slowly fall into chaos.

Anyway, Roland’s taking so long cherishing his sweet time before everything goes to hell, that he’s boring Joey, who’s kinda turned into a ball of stress in the waiting room.

A lot of this episode is us watching them watching Joey having a break down moment by moment, TBH.

(read more under the cut)

Yugi telling Joey to study his cards and straight up--what?

Like at this point they know what’s on the cards, right? Like there comes a point where even Yugioh cards have a finite amount of words and I’m just going to assume that like...Joey probably knows them all in his own deck, right?

(bro note: they have no limit on what they will put on a card)

Then again, maybe Yugi doesn’t know what “study” means?

Also, appreciate how some artist crosshatched the hell on Joey’s nose there and I zoomed out and ruined it.

Now for some reason every duelist is hanging out in the duel lodge, including our current arch-villain guy who’s brought a book. I want to know what book this guy even reads so no one could suspect he’s actually a hacker who uses computers. He’s reading romance, right? And I don’t think he’d even be into Twilight, I think he’s straight up into hard core Mom romance like a lame ass Nicholas Sparks over there reading “Dear John” for the millionth time because he is completely un-phased by anything else happening in this room.

Joey, our hero, just out there being an asshole for no reason.

After Tea is pushed into a locker or something screaming about her need for female friends (which she screamed in earshot of Rebecca again, who I figured was on friends terms with her after last episode...but I guess not) Leon hops up to remind us that we should be caring about the fact that his character exists.

And like, I love Leon’s hair color--that’s a good choice, and legit that is the color I tried to dye my hair at the beginning of the epidemic (it didn’t work PS, my hair cannot take dye for the life of it) but also like...he just kinda feels like a weak Rebecca as far as characters go. He’s young, he’s good at cards...I think he goes to a private school? That’s all I can think of about Leon.

He mostly just reminds us that the big prize of this tourney is to duel Yugi, who anyone could have dueled at any point even without the tournament.

On the way out of the...duel room? lounge? Area? Joey decides to like...make peace with Zigfried, and I gotta tell you, I kinda have to side with Zigfried, because Joey spent the last ten minutes being a freak in the dressing room/lounge/bathroom and at one point looked like he was going to hold the entire locker room in a stranglehold.

I would also want some space from Joey Wheeler, is what I’m saying.

After insulting Joey’s style (which honestly, Joey...has a style? He pops his collar, that’s his entire style.) Zigfried assures us that Joey’s gonna lose and like...

...probably, right? Just looking at the plausible direction this season will go.

Anyway, Joey is such a mess (which is the theme of the episode, that Joey needs to learn to chill in order to win at card games) that Rebecca is like “I understand if all of you leave me to go help our poor baby Joey.” And no one felt bad for her.

Mokuba comes over to tell everyone all of the Kaiba family secrets because Mokuba has no filter.

Seto has devoted himself to staring at a computer screen for the rest of this episode. I guess he’ll put their names into Google, realize that social media hasn’t been invented yet, and then just lie his head down on the desk and take a power nap until the tournament is over. Much like I did after taking Dayquil this afternoon.

I like how Seto dressed for success and then locked himself in the server room for most of this arc so far. Maybe he’s just...really tired, I dunno. I don’t really blame the guy, he’s had a hard time.

And then Yugi was like “DAMN IT MOKUBA, JUST ONCE CAN YOU NOT INVITE THE ILLUMINATI???”

And we had a weird scene where Yugi just started talking to the ghost and it was while he was talking to everyone else, and the show didn’t treat it like that’s a weird thing to do...but it was a weird thing to do.

This show does that sometimes, where I guess they imply that Yugi’s Pharaoh conversations are split second conversations but...they’re not, right?

Also this chick ain’t gone yet, and Mokuba is just failing at his entire job for not zeroing in on vibes coming off this chick like stinky cheeseman.

So listen.

Did the Kaibas make like 3 types of Blue Eyes Caboose to one up Noah? Because Noah made one choo choo dragon, and then Mokuba and Seto were like “how dare” and then made sure that everyone ride every single version of the blue eyes caboose just to see how proud of them they were.

How many months of troubleshooting was the train? Like how long in development did Seto and Mokuba spend on these? A lot right? Like most of the time?

I did not check the subs to see if Roland said Jumping or Champion but I like to believe that Roland thought it was a cool new name he gave him.

Then these guys all showed up.

Hey so...can we talk seating arrangements?

Tea decided not to sit next to Yugi after complaining about not spending time with him for like how many episodes? Or was it too awkward to sit on top of what was probably Pharaoh?

Or did Mokuba go like “please, Tea, I cannot sit next to the others because I’m pretty sure one is a mole that is about to go cray” and was Tea like “Good, I need female friends, these ones are driving me crazy!” and then was Mokuba like peering desperately over the edge of his self made dragon train prison realizing he has to listen to Tea complain about boys for the rest of his ride across molten lava?

Headcanons abound about this weird seating arrangement that the animators drew for the reasons they did...but reasons I cannot fully understand. That and the Dayquil is making me overfixate on random stuff.

And also, Tea is kind of the Kaiba’s security’s understudy. Just there to always protect Mokuba with her ass because she’s the strongest woman alive.

PS I missed the tumblr wars because at the time I was trying to like...run a proper business on blogger. When Blogger died and I jumped over here it was like a weird ruin where everyone was like “tumblr is the most toxic place alive” and...I’ve had a really nice time here, actually. Completely missed that civil war period and I have no regrets.

Now I was there for the Petz wars (warz, I guess) where people were very militant about Petz abuse (abuze?) where apparently people were using the spray bottle on their catz too much and people were very, very upset about it to the point that they were like campaigning about it on their angelfire websites with the most bizarre grassroots campaigns that I still recall, to this day because they were like...well they looked like this:

PLAPA. Not only am I 100% positive that only this one guy ever called this movement PLAPA, but I’m 100% positive that not only are Catz not real people, but also this wasn’t actually happening and we never had any proof that it was. Either way, if people knew or suspected that you hadn’t deleted the spray bottle from your game (which at the time I had no idea how to do because I was a wee child) they would basically assume you were on a one way road to being a mass murderer in real life.

In real life we were 7 years old so like...thanks?

But that’s the closest I got to toxicity and at the time I was too young to make an email account and actually converse with these people. I was just there to download their Petz hexes, and I already made a post about how wonderful and incredible Petz Hexing was.

And y’all, I heard, just now after a little deep dive into the Petz Abuse debacle (which yes, is on the wiki), that apparently, like gardening, Petz Hexing came back in a big way during the epidemic--and I have found an active Petz forum in this the year 2021. The only problem is that I no longer remember how to use old timey forums...and I think I’m locked out of seeing most of these threads (and like this forum is so old I think I have to send them a letter in the physical mail to apply). But, I’m pretty sure they’re hosting a picture contest for who’s dogz poses the best. And I’m pretty sure someone created a hexxed Pickle Rick. Or it’s a photoshop that was made to look like a hexxed Pickle Rick.

Dammit why did it have to be Pickle Rick? That’s not worth re-installing Petz and getting it to run on Windows 10...

Guys is this the Dayquil? Is this really happening? I feel like I’m losing my mind for so many reasons...

Anyway, speaking about useless hexing it’s about time that our villain did something that was actually dangerous, so Zigfried decided to install a new virus that does more than turn off the lights. (it still turns off lights)

the Spreadsheet Virus!

Confounded by the spreadsheet software, it...um...it does this:

Straight up how does Excel make a volcano erupt? Is that why I have to pay for Microsoft office now?

All this because Joey made fun of Zigfried’s naturally pink hair? Which is the most normal hair on this series outside of like...Tristan?

Hey guys...Joey’s fine, right? Like how many times has Joey been on fire? And once in an iron cage next to like...a Fire Golem?

Joey’s fine.

MAN I miss Fire Golem. He had a good mug.

And then we just kinda watch chaos go across the park, chaos that includes: Too many ghosts in the haunted mansion (which honestly--you’ll get your money’s worth, sounds great!), the Ferris wheel goes kinda fast and thus might accidentally be fun, the lights turn off at some concert stage that only had 2 people on it (so it might just be motion detector lights and not even a virus), and um...literal fire and magma are going to set Joey Wheeler on fire.

Just...one of these events does not seem like the others. In fact most of these things sound like good improvements to the park and they should just hire Zigfried at this point.

Roland puts down his microphone and jogs across the stage, about a mile through the audience bleachers, and into the staff lounge, to go and bother Seto Kaiba, who is in a room that has a hi-def classical painting copy-pasted on the wall and I can’t look away from it.

I almost did a Google search on this painting but then thought better about it. There’s like...a billion classical paintings that look exactly like this, and they wouldn’t use like a Monet, they would have to do something that’s harder to catch to avoid copyright issues (because yes, even old ass paintings have copyright issues, but no one tell NFT’s which are going to be so freakin screwed and was such a bad idea, that I can’t even start).

Anyway, I have no idea who it is and it is legitimately driving me up a wall, but I’m on too much meds to do the effort of putting it in a reverse google image search.

Plus, a reverse google image search would only pull up Seto Kaiba.

So Kaiba takes us on a little flashback to his weird ass past, a weird ass past that just...doesn’t follow any of the established timelines, but I assume was shortly after adoption but before Seto got into a phase where he wore his school outfit everywhere and tried to shove his MMO off onto his Dad as a business model.

Seto is like 8 for some reason. I don’t know why, they kinda drew him younger this season anyway, like maybe they got a lot of fan mail and realized “Hey I think we made the 16 yo boy too sexy?” And they just toned Seto the hell down. That, and it’s a different animation team, and maybe they looked at Seto’s character design and were like “we don’t get paid enough to draw this well.” So...since Seto actually looks like a teen again, I guess his 12 year old self has to look like he’s in Elementary school.

Also, I only recognized this, because at some point in S3 as I was roasting Noah Kaiba’s weird fashion:

I remember distinctly roasting that little bow tie. I don’t remember when I wrote it, I think there was a version of this outfit that was in color...but I don’t remember where.

Anyway, it’s not the same jacket...but man that’s kind of awkward, ya? Like the maid who dressed Mokuba deffo got fired?

He um.

Turned the lights off a little bit.

Guys this villain is like...

...why does he think lights are scary? Like look at little Seto here. The boy is already bored. Seto duels on the edges of cliffs...he doesn’t care about the freakin dark.

We had a guy who killed everyone on the planet last season, and this season we have a little fashion gremlin standing in the corner and flicking the light switch going  “wooooo you never catch me!” and it’s like...

...I’m starting to think this guy isn’t a witch.

Like we’re at Episode 6, there’s still time for this guy to be a witch...but I really am starting to think this guy is just...straight up not a witch. It’s everything Seto wanted, a rival who isn’t a freakin magic person...and sets Joey only fake on fire instead literally on fire like last time...

and Seto is just completely unhinged by it.

Anyway, I’m off to go drink a bowl of soup and pass out. If you’re new here, this is a link to read these in chrono order.

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[crystalgirl259]

Life of a High School Vampire One-Shots 6 One Night Stand

WARNING! This chapter will include alcohol use and implied sexual content. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

**************** Summary: After a high school drinking session, Kai is trying to slip out on his one-night stand when his date wakes up needy, but he quickly gets clarification on what real neediness looks like... ****************

Kai groaned in pain as the morning sun peaked through the curtains and into his closed eyes. He wanted to go back to sleep when his ears and brain were filled with the loud, annoying sounds of dozens of birds chirping loudly. His head was still banging from last night, it felt like someone was using his head like a drum and using ice picks from the drumsticks. He could hardly remember anything about last night. The last thing he could remember was Lloyd dragging him and a reluctant Jay out for the night.

All the schools in the city were gathering together for tournaments and some of the older ones were going out drinking, something Lloyd all but bullied his teammates into.

After that everything was a blank. Groaning, Kai sat up in his bed and he rubbed his sore head and tired eyes. He was never drinking alcohol again. As he opened his eyes, however, he made a disturbing discovery. This wasn't his dorm room. Looking around, he nearly screamed when he saw a strange man fast asleep in the same bed. The man had dark skin with shaggy, raven hair, bushy eyebrows and was snoring loudly. He was so muscular, that Kai thought he was in one of the sports teams that showed up last night.

That is until he saw a sweater from the uniform for the boarding school known as Marty Oppenheimer School of Performing Arts.

Kai didn't care about that, however, as he quickly backed off the bed, falling to the floor with a heavy thud and taking the covers with him. It was then he saw that they were both completely naked, with their clothes scattered around the room. Kai also took note that everything below his waist was aching, but he hoped that that was just from him falling off the bed. Unfortunately, he wasn't stupid. He wasn't a virgin and had been with both men and women, so he knew what that pain was.

As he got to his feet, Kai looked around the room and found a student lanyard with a badge.

On the badge was a picture of the man, showing his soft green eyes and his name; Cole Brookstone. That was when everything came rushing back to Kai. He remembered going to the bar with Lloyd, Jay, and dozens of other students from other schools. He remembered meeting Cole when he left on his own and they started talking. He remembered Cole confessing all his problems at home, school, and with his widowed father to the young vampire as they both got drunker and drunker.

Thankfully, Kai wasn't drunk enough to tell Cole he was a vampire.

The brunette looked the human over again and blushed when he fully took in Cole's body and sized. When his eyes reached Cole's feet, he burst out laughing when he saw it. However, the sound caused Cole to groan and Kai panicked. His instincts suddenly kicked in, telling him to either bite the sleeping man before he woke up and alerted other humans, or hide and escape before he got discovered. Kai quickly dove under the bed, trying not to gag at the hills of dirty laundry and take-out boxes, and waited.

Luckily Cole didn't wake up and soon started snoring again.

Not that the human would probably believe him anyway. Once he was sure his one-night stand was still asleep, Kai carefully crawled out from under the messy bed and started getting dressed. As he collected his clothes from around the room, he found large dumbells, many types of vinyl of soft rock, and dozens of CDs scattered around a large boom box. He also found a few framed pictures of Cole with what Kai assumed to be his friends and father.

He wouldn't be shocked if Cole turned out to be sarcastic and possessed a strong passion for music and exercise.

What shocked the vampire was a picture that showed Cole outside a concert hall with Jay, his and Lloyd's roommate. Kai wondered if should ask Jay about this strange conscious, but he decided not to. It wasn't like he was ever going to see this Cole person after he left. Just as he grabbed his bag, Cole groaned again and started waking up. Kai considered making a break for it but thought against it. He was curious to see how much this Cole remembered and what he thought about Kai.

After a few minutes of waiting, Cole's eyes slowly blinked open, only to cry out and jump when he saw Kai standing in the doorway in all his Gothic glory.

It took a few seconds for the human to fully wake up and calm down, and Kai could hear his racing heart return to a normal pace.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were a ghost or something." Cole gulped as he stifled a yawn and sat up. It was clear to Kai now that Cole did indeed remember what happened between them last night, and that just made this more awkward to the vampire.

"You're sweet." He replied before adjusting his bag and turned to leave.

"Wait! You're taking off already?!" Cole shouted after him in confusion and hurt, causing Kai to stop and turn back to him.

"I didn't want to rouse you, you were resting in peace." He shrugged, figuring that if Cole wanted him to stay then he would creep the human out so much he would run for the hills, just like all the others.

"Yeah, sorry if those birds woke you up, they're like the worst." Cole chuckled lightly and glanced out the opened window as the birds continued to chirp. How anyone could sleep through that was beyond Kai. An awkward silence filled the bedroom until Cole cleared his throat. "Well, before you go, do you think I could get your, uh, get your number?" he asked with a nervous blush, catching Kai off guard.

"Why do you want my phone number?" He asked. Humans always either avoided him or mocked him, not ask for his phone number. The only ones who spoke to him on a near-daily basis were Jay and Lloyd, but that only because they shared a dorm room together.

"I don't know, so I could call you or something?" Cole replied in confusion.

"I don't really use a cell phone." Kai shrugged, not lying. When they found out he didn't have a phone, Lloyd got him one and had already put his and Jay's numbers in it, without the ginger teen's permission, saying that a phone was a necessity in a teenager's life. But Kai didn't believe that so he often left his phone at the dorm, just like he did last night.

"Cool, yeah, I don't want to be a prisoner to technology either... so that's awesome, I guess." Cole chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, but it just made things more awkward. "So I take it that you're not online either?"

"No," Kai replied harshly. The thing he hated more than humans were their dependence on social media. There were too many disadvantages of social networking. It caused a lack of emotional connection, gave humans a license to be hurtful, decreased face-to-face communication skills, conveyed inauthentic expression of feelings, diminished understanding and thoughtfulness, and caused face-to-face interactions to feel disconnected. This response just made Cole even more uncomfortable, which is what Kai wanted.

"Oookay, um, so how can I get in contact with you?" The noirette asked.

"I have an email address; inmemoryofKaiSmith ." He replied, trying to hide a smirk as Cole process that.

"That makes it sound like you're dead." He laughed.

"I like to plan ahead." Kai shrugged, but to his annoyance, this only seemed to make Cole more eager.

"Alright, so I'll email you then." He smiled at the brunette.

"Do you really wanna see me again?" Kai asked, feeling an uncomfortable mixture of anger, frustration, and confusion as Cole's insistence.

"Yeah, Kai, of course! I mean, I like you." He admitted with a blush, and Kai was horrified when he felt his own cheeks heat up with his own blush. "You're not like other guys I've seen in Ninjago."

"That's accurate." He smiled weakly, but he still didn't like the fact this human wouldn't take a hint.

"D-Do you like me?" Cole suddenly asked, soundly slightly worried but hopeful, but Kai saw this as another chance to get rid of the teen.

"You're alive, aren't you?"

"Yes?"

"You're welcome," Kai smirked as Cole paled slightly. He could tell this human was different from all the others he had met and it might be fun to see him again. "I'll find you when I'm ready to see you." He added as he grabbed his bag again and made to leave once more.

"B-But you don't have any of my contact information!" Cole exclaimed.

"Don't worry, you won't be hard to track down."

"Let me at least walk you out." Cole offered as sat up some more to get up.

"I appreciate the gesture, but your chains don't reach that far." Kai grinned mischievously and started walking again. Cole frowned in confusion and he made to get up, only to freeze when he felt something on both his ankles. He ripped the covers away and gasped when he saw a pair of thick, metal shackles on them and chains connected to them to the bed. Cole looked up again to ask Kai what was going on, but the brunette was long gone.

Before Cole could think of what to do next, a bone-chilling banshee-like shriek filled the air outside the bedroom window, followed by the birds going crazy and a sickening crunch.

All was silent after that. There were no birds, no people, or cars driving past for a few seconds before they returned. All except the birds annoying chirping. He just shrugged it off as a cat or two attacking and scaring the birds away. Cole sat in his bed for a few minutes as shock, fear, and excitement filled him. He couldn't explain it, but something about Kai thrilled him and he couldn't wait to see the brunette again. If he ever got out of these chains, however.

With a heavy sigh, Cole grabbed his phone off the bedside table and called a locks smith.

This was going to be hard to explain...

[pearlsephoni]

The Trial of Shoyo Hinata’s Rising Heartrate, Evidence Two: The Present

Can also be read on AO3!

Rating: T

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

Pairing: Kagehina (Kageyama/Hinata)

Characters: Shoyo Hinata, Tobio Kageyama

Word Count: 1,904

Summary: In the post-Inter-High rush to improve his playing and his grades, Hinata somehow manages to forget his own birthday.

A/N: Author’s notes can be read on AO3.

They lost the Inter-High Prelims. Oikawa’s cold analysis of their quick attack managed to block Shoyo’s spike and end the game before he could even land. 

Defeat was a cold, bitter thing. It felt familiar, creeping up Shoyo’s throat and making his eyes burn in a way he hadn’t felt since his only middle school game. It was a feeling he didn’t want to feel this soon, a feeling he didn’t want to see reflected in his teammate’s eyes...in Kageyama’s eyes. 

He wanted to win. More than anything. And he wanted to win with this team, with Kageyama tossing to him. The setter’s dejected apology had made ice crawl through Shoyo’s veins, chilling and painful and making him shiver under the bright afternoon sun. He would never again let Kageyama apologize for tossing to him, would never let him regret falling back on their freak quick attack. 

So he worked. He gave his all to every practice, did his best to collaborate with every member of the team (even Tsukishima), and when he finally came face-to-face with Ushiwaka, his anger over the ace’s flippant attitude towards Seijoh made him throw a challenge at his face. Which meant he had to work even harder if he wanted even a hope of seeing that challenge through.

And Kageyama was at his side the whole time. Part of Shoyo was tempted to feel a little bitter over the setter’s ambition -- he already had boundless talent, was already called a genius by almost everyone who saw him play. Couldn’t he let Shoyo have even a chance at catching up to him? 

But a larger part of Shoyo was thrilled that his partner on the court was willing to be his partner off the court as well. When Takeda fell into the gym and announced the upcoming weekend practices with Nekoma in Tokyo, Kageyama had been right at Shoyo’s side, vibrating with the same excitement. When Shoyo had thrown the challenge at Ushiwaka, Kageyama didn’t scold him for once. No, he met Shoyo’s eyes with a glint in his own and a smirk on his face, wordlessly telling him that he would make sure that challenge was seen through. 

He was still an asshole. That much stayed the same. But he was an asshole with the same hunger and drive as Shoyo, an asshole who pushed Shoyo to be better and never let him get complacent, an asshole whose moments of quiet observation and unspoken encouragement made Shoyo feel...safe. And happy. And like he could fly even when he was nowhere near the volleyball courts. 

He hadn’t thought that having a team he could rely on and a partner he could fight beside would make him feel like this. But he’d learned a lot of surprising things in just two months at Karasuno. 

And it turned out, one of those things was the fact that he could somehow forget his birthday was coming up. In the rush to improve both his playing (difficult) and his grades (impossible), Shoyo had been focused solely on the dates of their final exams and their weekend in Tokyo. For the first time in his life, he hadn’t paid attention to the fast approach of June 21st. 

In some ways it was kind of nice. He was genuinely surprised when his mother presented him with a bowl of tamago kake gohan for breakfast, and the dish tasted even better than it usually did thanks to the surprise. The “happy birthday” texts he got from Kenma and his middle school friends made a smile stretch across his face with each one, and when one of his classmates presented meat buns to him with a silly sense of gravitas at lunch, his laughter echoed around the classroom. Considering he’d forgotten about his own birthday, his heart seemed to grow another size with each birthday wish he received from a friend who did remember. 

By the time afternoon practice rolled around, Shoyo felt like he was on Cloud Nine, filled with his favorite foods and the well wishes he’d received. Then Daichi wished him a happy birthday, sparking a ripple of birthday greetings from the rest of the team throughout practice as everyone learned about his special day. 

For the first time since he’d met Kenma, Shoyo understood what he’d meant by the feeling of “leveling up.” He felt better on the court than he ever had before - he ran faster, jumped higher, hit harder. His hand stung from all the spikes he hit and high fives he received, and he noticed with a pleased jolt that even Kageyama’s brows were raised over eyes that watched him carefully. He was the only one who hadn’t said any birthday wishes, but the pang of disappointment Shoyo had felt at the start of practice melted away under the warm feeling of the setter’s quiet approval. 

All things considered, it was an amazing birthday. The best one he’d had in a while. He felt so good after practice, he didn’t even notice that he was humming until Kageyama’s nudge made his voice crack off-key from surprise. 

“Hey.” 

Shoyo looked up from his bag to find Kageyama standing over him, holding out a small package wrapped in bright orange paper. “What’s that?” 

“...Happy birthday.” 

“Huh?!” 

Kageyama’s face was slowly turning red, and his eyes were stubbornly turned away from Shoyo’s as he continued holding out the package. “It’s your birthday today, right?” 

“Well, yeah, but...you didn’t say anything before...” 

“Because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Do you want the present or not?” 

“Of course I do!” Shoyo cried out, grabbing at the present before Kageyama could take it back. As Shoyo began tearing open the paper, he noticed Kageyama’s hands fidgeting at the strap of his bag, and his cheeks warmed at the realization that the setter was feeling shy over the gift. Weird. 

Then he got the package open, and he let out a shout of excitement. 

Wrapped inside the orange paper was a double-pack of Air Salonpas. “Woah, nice!” Shoyo exclaimed, a wide smile splitting across his face. “I just ran out of these! How’d you know?” 

“I didn’t,” Kageyama muttered. Shoyo’s excitement clearly reassured him, his eyes finally meeting his with a distinctly pleased glint in them. “But you wouldn’t shut up about them during the tournament, so...figured you’d get excited over getting some.” 

The mention of the tournament subdued Shoyo’s excitement, but not enough to make him stop smiling at Kageyama. “You remembered! That’s...that’s really nice of you, Kageyama. Didn’t think you had it in you.” 

“Oh, screw you!” The smug pleasure in his eyes was replaced with annoyance, a look Shoyo was much more used to seeing. Just as he’d planned with the teasing barb, Kageyama turned away and stomped away to leave the clubroom, missing the shy flush coloring Shoyo’s cheeks and ears. “I was gonna get you some meat buns after practice, but if you can’t even say thank you for this…” 

“Wait, what?” Shoyo scrambled to stuff his present into his bag before grabbing his stuff and hurrying after Kageyama. “H-hey, Kageyama! I want some buns!” 

“Say thank you, dumbass!” 

“I already did!” 

“Like hell you did!” 

“Kageyaaaamaaaa!” 

For all his teasing, Shoyo couldn’t stop turning over how thoughtful Kageyama’s present was. Yeah, it was a simple spray he probably picked up at the local sporting goods store. But he had taken the time to wrap it up in paper that matched Shoyo’s hair, and he’d bought it with the memory of Shoyo’s excited comments during the Interhigh Prelims. Out of everything that had happened over those two days, Kageyama’s tiny brain had remembered his excitement over the smell of Air Salonpas. 

It didn’t take much for him to catch up to Kageyama. As soon as his hands could reach his shoulders, Shoyo used his hold to launch himself into the air with a shouted, “Kageyaaaaaamaaaa!” He knew it would piss the setter off, but it was worth it just to hear the squawk that escaped him as he stumbled forward from the force of Shoyo’s jump. 

“What the hell?! Are you trying to kill me?” 

“So dramatic, Kageyama-kun,” Shoyo sniffed with a grin, falling into step next to him. “Hey, are you really going to buy me meat buns?” 

“After that shit you just pulled? Hell no.” 

“Aw, pleeeeease? It’s my birthday!” 

“You already got a present.” Kageyama finally cut him a sideways glance, and Shoyo met his glance with a wide smile that made those blue eyes shoot forward and those cheeks flush again. 

“It was an awesome present! I’m gonna use it everyday in Tokyo, I can’t wait!” 

“Don’t use it all up, I’m not gonna buy you more for the Spring prelims, dumbass.” 

Shoyo just smiled again, and rocked into Kageyama’s shoulder with a gentle nudge. “Still. I appreciate it.” 

“Yeah, yeah…” Kageyama didn’t look at him, his eyes weirdly fixed on the road ahead, and when he spoke again, his voice was so low, Shoyo almost didn’t hear him. “...How many buns do you want?” 

“Really?!” 

“Answer the question, dumbass.” 

“Two!” Shoyo hooted, running ahead to bounce in front of Kageyama. “You’re really gonna buy them for me?!” 

“Why are you so surprised? You’re the one who wouldn’t shut up about them just now.” 

“Yeah, but I didn’t think it’d work!” 

“What, you were just trying to annoy me?” 

“Man, I wish it were my birthday everyday,” Shoyo sighed wistfully, deliberately ignoring the question. “Then you’d have to be this nice to me all the time.” 

“Would not.” 

Shoyo’s smile and the pink on Kageyama’s cheeks remained for the rest of the walk to Sakanoshita, where Kageyama made good on his promise, shoving a paper bag with two meat buns at Shoyo. “Here. Happy now?” 

“Super happy!” Shoyo chirped, immediately digging into the bag and pulling out a bun. But instead of shoving it into his mouth, he held it out to Kageyama, who only blinked at it in confusion. “For you!” 

“Huh?” 

“To thank you!” 

“It doesn’t count if I paid for it,” Kageyama grumbled, but he took it with a twinkle in his eye and lips that quivered around a suppressed grin. “I don’t really like meat buns, but...thanks.” 

“Really? What kind do you like, then?” 

“Curry buns.” 

Shoyo hummed around his mouthful of food, and he realized that...yeah, every time the team had gotten buns, Kageyama had gone for the bag with curry buns instead of meat. “Ok! I’ll remember that for your birthday.” 

“Your tiny brain’s not gonna remember that in December.” 

“Sure it will! I always remember important stuff!” Shoyo glanced at the time on his phone, missing the surprised blink his words earned from Kageyama. “Shoot, I gotta get home. Shoot, I forgot my bike!” He took off running back towards the school, turning to run backwards as he waved. “See ya tomorrow, Kageyama!” 

It took a second for Kageyama to wave back, but when he did, he shouted, “Happy birthday!” The words made Shoyo’s smile stretch even wider, and he couldn’t help jumping to wave with both hands before he turned back around. His cheeks burned from how big his smile had gotten, or maybe it was the effort of running after practice, or maybe...nah, it wasn’t anything else. 

He was just really happy. It really had been an amazing birthday.

[youtuberswithalex]

PRVL, Volume 3, Chapter 4: Lessons Learned

Summary: With the second round of the tournament arriving, some of the team can't help but question where they stand in the minds of those they love.

Word count: 7,205

Warnings: Fighting (In a tournament), arguing, breakdown, talk about past death of a parent

I spent the last few days pounding out this chapter so I could post it today. Miss you, Monty. Keep moving forward.

Masterpost – Volume 1 – Previous - Next

-----

New Message from: Mom

Hi, sweetie. Been thinking about you a lot lately. I ran into Anise at the store yesterday (Remember her? Your friend Dominic’s mom), and she said she saw you fighting in the Vytal Tournament, so your dad and I looked it up. Happy to see your team made it into the next round. Dominic’s team apparently lost. He’s a little broken up about it. Maybe you could reach out, if you can find him. Anise would really appreciate it. I know you used to be close, so I’m sure he’d be happy to see you again.

New Message from: Mom

Your sister said she tried to text you. Did they come through? She’s worrying her scroll might be getting a little old…

New Message from: Mom

Could you message me back, please?

Delete Messages?

>YES<   >NO<

 ---------------

Gunshots echoed through the training area, followed by a scream of frustration and the skidding of boots on the floor. Metal clanged and echoed, and footsteps pummeled.

After a moment, wings fluttered, and a body skidded across the floor. Roman groaned as he began to pick himself up.

“Had enough yet?”

Growling, he shot a glare over to where Anole was putting the halves of his bow back together. “Y’know, when I asked you to join me in training this morning, I meant helping me instead of, you know, absolutely destroying me.”

Anole returned the look with a cross of his arms. “Uh, y’know,” he mocked, “I wouldn’t be kicking your ass so hard if you took two seconds to pay attention to where you are before you attack.”

“I do!” Roman exclaimed. When Anole only raised an eyebrow, he got to his feet and put his hands on his hips. “I do!”

“So what you’re saying is, you meant to be blasted by Thomas’s semblance when saving Patton during round one and get your Aura knocked down by like, fifty percent?”

Roman’s face reddened. “That—That was one time!”

“And you were totally aware of that Cephalo when you stopped to talk to Virgil when your teammates were in danger on your mission?”

“Alright, that’s hardly fair—”

“And you knew the White Fang was coming to kidnap you, and you let them do it on purpose?” Anole held up a finger in pause. “If that one’s true, I might have to kill you myself.”

Roman groaned and threw his hands in the air. “Alright, I get it! So I tend to get tunnel vision in fights; big deal! It’s not like the distractions aren’t coming from the target themselves most of the time…”

Anole furrowed his brow and threw his arms out. “Wh—none of those distractions came from—!” He cut himself off and sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. “Roman. Dude. It’s not just about fighting,” he said. “You gotta think about this stuff in regular, day-to-day life, too.”

Roman let out a laugh. “As if we aren’t training for fighting to be our day to day life.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Anole snapped. “This is exactly what I’m saying! I’m talking, like, people, and relationships and stuff, but you’re still focused on Hunter stuff!”

“Well, yeah! In case you haven’t noticed, we’re kind of in the middle of a biannual world tournament!” he exclaimed. “I do want my team to win, you know.”

“You were already knocked out! Because you weren’t paying attention!”

“I was! Just because it was on my teammate instead of my opponent doesn’t mean it was a bad thing!” Roman shot. “Patton could have gotten hurt if I hadn’t caught him!”

“And you got hurt instead,” Anole lowly pointed out.

Roman reeled back into stunned silence. “I-I didn’t…” His fists balled as he searched for his words. “I still had Aura left…”

Anole let out a breath and stepped forward, opening his arms in invitation. “I know,” he said. “That’s not what I meant.”

Roman looked at his brother for a moment, eyes flicking down to his open arms; his breath came out in a rush as he tucked himself into his grip.

Anole held him close for a long few minutes, saying nothing about his shoulder growing increasingly damp. He rocked him gently and ran his fingers through his hair. In return, Roman’s wings slowly curled around them.

“You’re not bad at fighting,” Anole eventually muttered. As Roman’s grip tightened, he hastily added, “Really, you’re not. I’ve seen you wipe the floor in 1v1 classroom fights a hundred times over. You’re good at what you do. You just… can’t be an idiot. You need to think, and pay attention, especially when you’re in the field. People are going to get hurt if you don’t.”

“I know,” Roman choked out.

“And that applies in regular life, too. You can’t just rush head-first into things without considering where they’re going to end up, or who it’s going to affect other than you… Especially when it involves other people.”

Roman frowned. He pulled back just enough to look Anole in the eye. “What do you mean?”

Anole, while he had the grace to appear the slightest bit embarrassed with the flush of his cheeks, gave his shoulders a squeeze and shrugged. “W-Well… Y’know, with you and Riad…”

“What about us?”

“I…”

Yanking himself away, Roman put his hands on his hips and shot a glare that felt a hundred times worse than the ones just moments ago. “No, go on. I want to hear what you have to say about me and my boyfriend’s relationship.”

Anole looked away and shuffled. “He’s not just your boyfriend,” he attempted to say under his breath.

Roman could do nothing but stare at his own brother for a long moment, just processing the words that had come out of his mouth. If it wasn’t for the cool, early morning light seeping through the windows, he could have sworn he was starting to see red.

“Is that what your problem is with us being together?” he snapped. “The fact that you don’t get to spend as much time with him anymore?”

“What? No, Roman—”

“You spend almost every moment with him that I’m not there, not to mention an entire year before me, and you’re jealous?”

“Ro—”

“I cannot believe that that’s what’s been up your… your scaly ass this whole time! Jealous because your brother and best friend are taking time away from you to be happy together!”

“I don’t want you to get hurt!”

Roman froze. Anole huffed out a breath and ran a hand through his hair.

“Look, I just— I don’t know what I’d do if one of you got hurt because of the other,” he admitted. “It would suck so much! I love you both so much, and I hate seeing either of you in pain! I hate seeing anyone I love being in pain! And… And knowing I’d have to pick a side, pick only one of you to stick by, it’s just… Gods, I hate it! And I’d especially hate it if I knew there was something I could have done to stop it!”

“…You think I’m going to hurt him,” Roman slowly said.

Anole stiffened. He finally looked back at Roman.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I think I know exactly what you meant.”

“Roman…”

Before Anole could say another word, Roman shut his eyes and shook his head. He turned and headed towards the door.

“I know you hate us being together,” he called over his shoulder, “But you don’t have to be such a jerk about it.”

The door slammed shut a moment later. Anole was left in suffocating silence.

 ---------------

“You’re absolutely sure you’re okay with me being your partner for this?”

Logan let out a soft sigh as he turned to look at his teammate. Patton’s fingers fiddled with the edge of his shield, and he was staring at the arena floor as if he expected it to jump out at him.

“Yes, Patton,” he said for what must have been the fifth time since they stepped onto the field. “You are undoubtedly the best choice for this fight, in many more ways than one.” After a beat, he added, “Besides, even if I were to change my mind, it’s far too late to do anything about it now.”

Patton’s head snapped up, eyes blown wide. “I-I’m sure there’s still time! The other team isn’t even here yet; I could run and go get Virgil, if you want!”

“There is no need, Patton. I was merely expressing a hypothetical situation,” Logan quickly corrected. “I am happy to have you joining me for this fight.”

There was a beat where Patton could do nothing but blink owlishly at him; even after it passed, all he could do was look back at the floor and say, “…Oh.”

A purple rubber ball rolled up to their feet.

“Sorry!” a voice cried.

A girl wearing a red and white sports uniform sprinted over and scooped it up before jogging back to the other side of the platform, where another person stood, shaking his head.

“Valerie, come on,” he chuckled. “We haven’t even started and you’re losing track of that thing.”

“Come on, I just dropped it!” Valerie said back.

Her partner rolled his eyes, smile on his face, and leaned his weight on the long spear in his hands that was about his same height. His cloak slipped off of the gold plated armor that rested on his right arm. “Uh huh, and which piece of padding did it ‘drop-bounce’ off of?”

“Jo!” Valerie huffed.

Patton giggled at the banter, only to slap his hand over his mouth when it drew the attention of the other two to him. They stared at him for a beat, and then looked at each other and began to laugh.

“Nice to meet you,” Jo said. “Patton and Logan, right? Team PRVL?”

Logan nodded. “And you must be Valerie and Jo of Team SVIJ.”

“Huh, would you look at that,” he replied. “The boys and the girls both did their homework.”

Valerie winked at Jo. “But only us girls are making it to the next round.”

“I’m not one right now, but you’ve got the spirit.”

Patton let out a soft whimper, but Logan only smiled.

“We’ll see about that,” he answered.

The platform beneath them shifted as the fields began to fill into place; all four turned and inspected them as they rose to the floor. A forest, pirate ship, the geysers, and…

Valerie gasped. “The gravity fields! Oh, you two are going down!”

“Val, don’t give our strategies away!”

“In three… two… one…”

They scrambled to get into position.

“BEGIN!”

Valerie threw her ball in the air and jumped after it, twirling up just high enough to slam her padded knee into it, surrounding it in a bright purple glow, and send it flying towards Logan and Patton. The two dove out of the way just in time; when the ball hit the ground, it dimmed and skidded like it was made of stone. She leapt towards it and grabbed it while somersaulting, and as soon as she was back on her feet, she tossed it up and began to bounce it between her knees. The purple glow grew with each hit.

Logan caught himself from tumbling by placing one hand on the ground and pressing down hard until he slowed to a stop. The second he regained his balance, he changed his book into its pistol form and aimed at Valerie’s ball; just as he was about to fire, Jo’s spear flew in and knocked it out of his hand. While his weapon skidded away, the spear redirected itself and soared right back into Jo’s hand just as he started to charge at Logan.

He was quick to throw up his arm and block the first swing, but Jo was quicker, grabbing the bar between his spear’s double-blades and detaching it from its handle. He balanced the pole on Logan’s forearm armor and spun it; Logan ducked down and somersaulted underneath Jo’s legs just before it collided with the back of his head. Jo whipped around and slammed the blades toward him, but they smashed into the ground while Logan leapt up and sprinted towards his own weapon.

“That’s my son!” a voice cried from the stands.

Logan cast a quick glance up to where his father was on his feet, screaming and jumping up and down. He let out a huff of exasperation before focusing back on the fight.

Letting out a yelp, Patton hastily threw his shield in front of his face just before Valerie’s ball could hit. It bounced off, the impact creating a vibration so intense he could practically feel his bones shake, and shot back towards her. She jumped a few inches off of the ground to headbutt it against the purple sweatband on her forehead, right back into his shield. Patton whimpered and took a step back as another bout of discomfort shot through his whole body. He squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to focus, but at the next hit, he felt a tingle run up his arms. He bit his tongue and tried to keep it in.

“Patton!”

A strap wrapped around his bicep and yanked him away just in time, the ball just grazing the side of his head as he was whipped away. He found himself tumbling across the floor, only landing on his feet by chance; when he inevitably lost his balance, Logan caught him by the shoulders and righted him.

“Breathe, Patton,” he ordered. “Try to focus it.”

With a battle cry, Jo leapt into the air and brandished their re-combined spear over their head. Patton shoved Logan away and held up his shield. Jo didn’t miss a beat; he shifted just enough to use it as a springboard and flipped over him, choosing instead to javelin the spear at Logan, who sidestepped it and flung his book into his stomach. The impact sent Jo flying into the gravity fields, and his spear wasn’t far after.

A split second later, the glowing rubber ball flew between their heads, followed by Valerie chasing after both it and her teammate. She turned and shot a wink at them, smile as bright as her weapon.

“Catch us if you can!” she laughed.

As soon as her feet left the middle platform, Valerie soared into the air, leaning forward enough to hit her ball against an elbow pad and send it towards Jo; she flipped a couple of times before coming to a gentle landing on one of the large walls floating above the ground. Jo stood upside down on a platform above her and swung his spear at the ball, knocking it back to her like a game of baseball. She sent it back with her knee and ran up the wall to get closer to her teammate.

“That’s what the gravity fields do?!” Patton squeaked.

But Logan was already sprinting towards their opponents, only allowing himself a little wobble when he jumped off of the main floor and was pulled towards a platform three away from the others. Patton swallowed thickly and followed after.

His head began to swim once he was in the air, feeling himself being pulled towards or against all sorts of different directions; immediately, his arms and legs shot out, trying to get the balance that the area had no laws over. His stomach flipped as quickly as he himself did, and he watched as patches of ice started to form on the platforms he passed.

In the stands, Virgil cringed and ran a hand through his hair, ducking half his face beneath the wall in front of their seats as if it could shield him from what was happening to his partner. “Oh, Pat…!”

“That can’t be good,” Thamir said.

Logan somersaulted and used his hands to launch himself off of his platform, righting himself perfectly to land the final gap between himself and Jo. Jo turned to glance at him and smirked; the ball came flying in, and he batted it towards Logan, who threw up an arm for it to bounce against. It sent a shot of pain through his muscles, but it bounced at just the right angle for it to fly away from either of the members of Team SVIJ. Valerie began to maneuver her way back to it while Logan reared back and threw his book at Jo.

The strap wrapped tight around his spear, and Jo attempted to yank back and pull Logan with him, but he dug his heels into the floor and held his ground. He grabbed the strap with both hands and pulled, locking them in a tug of war of weapons.

Beneath them, the white glow around the edges of the platform switched to purple, and their feet lifted off of the floor. As they fell, they both yanked themselves towards each other, punching and kicking when they were close enough, until the side of another platform separated them. They both slammed against the floor of their respective sides.

As Logan clambered to his feet, a hand brushed against his hair, and he looked up in time to watch Patton yelp as he floated by.

“Logan, help!” he cried.

“Get to a platform!”

“I don’t know how!”

Before Logan could reply, he was yanked away and over the edge of the platform, the force causing him to lose his grip on his strap and send him flying in a completely different direction. He crashed into a large cube with a grunt. As he pushed himself up, he watched Jo tuck his book into his jacket and leap off to another platform.

Logan growled and pushed himself to his feet, only for the gravity to begin to shift again. He sprinted up the wall as fast as he could and dove, grabbing onto the corner just as his feet lifted off of the ground. Carefully, he swung his other arm up and pulled himself to the top as he calculated how to get to either Valerie or Jo from where he was.

Just as he began to stand, a yell sounded behind him, and a body slammed into his back, sending them both back to the floor. Valerie’s ball rolled innocently across their faces as he and Patton hurried back to their feet.

“H-Hey, I made it to a platform finally!” Patton laughed.

Logan glared. “Patton…,” he growled.

Before he could say another word, Patton reached down and snatched the ball up, tucking it under his arm. “Well, if they can steal your weapon, we can steal theirs, too! No need to play dirty in a tourna—Oof!”

Valerie slammed her feet into Patton’s back, sending him flying off the platform and her ball out of his grip and into the air; she hit it up with her elbow and blocked a punch from Logan before kicking him in the chest and sending him back a few steps. They repeated this a few times, with Valerie playing keepie-uppie with her weapon and Logan throwing attacks in between, until Logan’s legs were knocked out from under him and he dropped to the floor.

He rolled to the side just in time to dodge Jo’s spear coming towards him and slamming his elbow into his chest. As Jo recoiled, Logan smashed the heel of his palm into his chin and kicked him back into Valerie, who dropped her ball as the two stumbled off of the edge.

Logan was about to leap after them when Patton crashed into him again and sent them flying in a different direction than intended. They each grabbed onto each other by instinct as they swirled around, but once Logan’s head stopped spinning, he huffed and shot Patton a glare.

“I’m sorry!” Patton yelped in return. “I didn’t mean to!”

In a split second decision, Logan grabbed his teammate’s wrist and whirled as hard as he could, launching Patton out of the gravity fields and back towards center stage. Patton’s gasp and wide eyes followed Logan as the momentum sent himself onto another platform; as he landed, he checked to make sure safely made it to the floor.

Roman threw his hands in the air and jumped up, practically yanking Riad out of his seat when he refused to let go of his hand. “What is he doing?!”

Virtus and Esther glanced at each other, both letting out a soft, deflating sigh.

A blast of wind slowed Patton’s trajectory down, but he tumbled across the floor no less. With a quick glance at the scoreboard to check his Aura, Logan determined Patton would be alright while he took Team SVIJ out on his own.

Jo threw his spear at Valerie’s ball and knocked it over to where the two of them stood; she jumped up and caught it, and as soon as his weapon was back in his hands, they turned their backs to each other and looked around.

“Where’d you go, kid?” Jo muttered.

A blur shot by to their side, and they snapped their gazes over in time to see Logan high in the air above. His fist was reared back, and his necklace about to hit himself in the face; the platform behind him began to suck him towards it, but the gravity shifted just in time.

He let out a cry as the fields launched him towards the two.

They each jumped to the side just as he smashed into the ground; they reared their weapons back, but Logan was quick to block. He swatted Jo’s spear to shoot over his shoulder, and punched Valerie’s ball up and away. Jo threw his weapon across his body and pulled him tight to his chest, but Logan grabbed it and shoved it away, throwing his head back to collide with his jaw. While he stumbled, he ripped it away and used it to swipe Valerie’s feet out from under her.

He spun and crouched, holding the blade towards Jo while he recovered. As soon as he realized what had happened, he glared and pulled Logan’s book out of his jacket, switching it immediately into its pistol form and firing a few rounds. Logan spun the spear to block each bullet before charging towards him, blade out.

As soon as he was close enough, Jo ducked and somersaulted underneath Logan’s legs, purposefully knocking one out with his shoulder. Logan stumbled and rolled; he got back to his feet as fast as he could, only for the rubber ball to slam into his chest. The force knocked the spear out of his hand and sent him flying up and off of the platform.

He managed to right himself before landing on the closest ground he could find, only dropping to his knees when it pulled him in faster than he was expecting. He allowed himself just a moment to catch his breath and assess the situation when bullets began to strike the ground around him. Shooting to his feet, he ran, glancing over to watch as Jo fired Logan’s pistol while Valerie charged up her ball.

Logan was just about to leap again when a bullet knocked the book out of Jo’s hands; shortly after, another hit the ball away.

Right on the edge of center stage, Patton held up his shield, one eye shut for aim as he fired at their opponents.

A spark of pride shot through Logan’s soul just as he reached the top of the platform. He turned to send Patton a smile and thumbs up, when—

His foot slid out from under him.

Logan sucked in a gasp as he slipped off of the edge, hands reaching to grip the edge and catch himself, but they were only met with slippery ice. As he tumbled towards the ground, he bounced off of no less than two separate platforms; he slammed into the corner of the third and final one before he found himself hitting the tiles below.

A buzzer sounded.

“Ooh, and there goes the powerhouse of Team PRVL!” Professor Port’s voice yelled. “A rare ring-out caused by a student’s own teammate!”

Logan felt the blood drain from his face.

“It’s up to Mr. Passio to save this match now! But can he do it without any aid from his team?”

Patton’s eyes widened as Jo and Valerie started to make their way over to him. He fired a few rounds towards them, but they dodged without missing a beat.

“Pat, go for cover!” Virgil screamed.

Just as they were leaping off of the last platform, Patton turned on his heel and started to sprint towards the trees. He heard them hit the ground, and just a second later, Jo’s spear flew past. He yelped and spun around; immediately, he threw his shield up to block the ball. A whimper ripped out of his throat at both the sound and the shock crawling up his forearms.

Patton forced himself to take a deep breath before allowing himself to look up; the two were sprinting towards him at full speed. He squeezed his eyes shut and threw out his hand towards the ground, trying to focus on the fear running through his veins instead of the electricity.

Just as he opened his eyes, Valerie stepped on the sheet of ice that had formed in front of her. She froze and cried out, face contorting in pain, and stumbled down to the ground before ripping herself away from the area.

A blast of wind knocked Jo back a few steps while Patton gasped, but he recovered quick enough; his spear flew back into his hands, and he swung it towards his side. Patton jumped sideways and blocked it with his shield. While he was turned away, Jo jabbed his fingers into the side of his neck, and Patton screamed. His knees buckled, hand flying up to protect the area.

Jo startled at the reaction and went to catch him, but ice shot out around them, and he fell to the ground on top of him. He was quick to roll off, but a statically charged punch hit him in the stomach, causing him to slide halfway across the field. He landed near Valerie, who was just shaking off her own pain and reaching for her ball.

Patton, back on his feet, whirled around to look at them, eyes filled with panicked tears and hands cupping his neck. Crackles of electricity flew off his forearms, and his breath came out in erratic gasps.

Jo and Valerie shot each other concerned glances.

In the stands, both Virgil and Roman shot to their feet and grabbed the wall in front of them in white-knuckled grips.

“No, no, no, not now!”

“Breathe, Patton, breathe! Shit!”

Carefully getting to her feet, Valerie looked over at Patton. “We gotta end this,” she stated to Jo.

He glanced up at the board and pulled his spear into his hands. “His Aura’s low. One good hit should knock him out,” he replied. “Watch out for his electricity.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

Jo planted his feet in the ground and held out his spear; Valerie grabbed onto the handle between the blades and started to run. He whipped her around himself a few times before she detached the blades and skated at full speed towards Patton. He threw out his left hand to try to catch her, but she grabbed him by the shield and twisted his arm behind his back. Bolts of lightning started to shoot out, but she held tight, using his weapon to her advantage.

On the other end of the stage, Jo backed up as far as he could before sprinting to the ice and hopping on, arm reared back as far as it could go. He slammed his fist into Patton’s stomach and used his torso to catch himself, sliding to a stop next to Valerie.

Patton fell to the floor and covered his ears as the buzzer echoed through the arena.

The screams of the crowd and the cheers of the announcers were lost to their ears as they dropped down next to him.

“Are you okay?” Jo asked.

Patton nodded, despite choking on a sob.

In an instant, Logan was skidding across the ice on his knees to make it to his teammate. He reached up and grabbed both of Patton’s biceps, squeezing them tight when he whimpered.

“Patton? Patton, it’s alright,” he tried.

Virgil and Roman bolted as soon as the fight was over, nearly tripping over Virtus and Esther in their haste to get to the aisle. Esther was quick to follow, and Riad and Thamir weren’t far behind.

Just as Virtus was getting up to join them, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he froze. The all too familiar feeling of eyes on him caused his skin to crawl. His eyes flicked around the crowd until he found the source, standing at the bottom of the balcony two sections above.

Despite having been caught, the woman stood her ground, and they started at each other for a long, arduous moment. Virtus couldn’t read her expression from as far away as she was, especially with half of her face covered, but between her crossed arms and stiff posture, he could only find himself putting his guard up.

After a long minute, she finally turned and headed up the stairs, magenta ponytail flicking behind her.

Virtus watched her go before following after his family.

 --------------------

“Patton— Patton, please just let me—”

“Ah—Ah! Roman…!”

Letting out a soft huff, Roman sat back on the bed, ice pack dropping to his lap. “It’s going to bruise if we don’t ice it, Pat,” he stated. “Do you have any idea how painful bruised gills are? Because from what I hear, it’s a lot.”

“It feels fine right now,” Patton whined.

“Yeah, because Virgil’s holding you.”

Virgil’s already-closed eyes squeezed tighter, and he pulled Patton closer against his chest. “Don’t distract me,” he muttered.

Patton patted his arm with his free hand while his other gripped white-knuckled at his collar. “C-Can’t we just put it on top of this? The cold would get through eventually, right?”

“It would if you’d let me touch your neck,” Roman pointed out.

He immediately curled in on himself, shoulders almost coming up to his ears; they bumped against Virgil’s jaw, and he flinched. Patton let out a hiss when the pain started to seep back in.

“Gah—sorry, sorry!”

Virgil quickly pulled him into his arms again. Roman could only watch and offer Patton a pointed stare. When the ache began to ebb, their leader looked up and sighed.

“Am I allowed to hold it instead?” he asked, voice wavering dangerously close to tears.

If there was anything that could convince Roman to break every rule he knew, it was a sad Patton.

Reluctantly, he handed him the ice pack. “You can’t hold it on for too long at a time,” he said, “Or it’s going to burn your scales and hurt even worse. Fifteen minutes at a time, max.”

Patton wiped at his eyes and carefully peeled his collar away just enough to set it on his swollen gills. A shiver wracked up his spine, prompting both Virgil and Roman to reach to wrap his detached cape tighter around him. He squirmed under the attention.

“Guys, I’m fine, really,” he whispered.

Letting out a soft sigh, Virgil carefully rested his forehead on Patton’s opposite shoulder. “We know, we’re just… worried about you,” he said. His eyes flicked over to the empty other side of the room. “…Logan, too. But he’s too stubborn to let us take care of him.”

“He isn’t not letting us take care of him,” Roman replied. “I’m sure he just wants to be with his parents right now.”

“…He really wanted to win, didn’t he?”

The question hung in the air, answer only coming with the silence it created. Patton frowned and lowered his ice pack, fingers reaching up to fiddle with the clasp of his collar.

“I hope he’s alright.”

 --------------------

Logan clutched tight at his necklace, tugging at it as if it would help his cause. “Father, please.”

“Logan, no,” Virtus answered. “You don’t need to do any training tonight. You fought great today and deserve a rest!”

“I do not. There is clearly a need for me to keep working, and I would like to take advantage of you being here while you are,” Logan shot back.

Virtus rubbed a hand over his face, leaning back against the wall outside of the training arena. “You won’t learn anything if you’re exhausted.”

“Falsehood. Any training will still extend to my muscle memory.”

“But your brain isn’t going to retain it after a day like today.”

Crossing his arms, Logan raised an eyebrow. “Father, you of all people should know that we won’t have time to rest and recover when we’re in the field,” he stated.

“I do know that, and that’s exactly why I’m pushing you to relax,” he said, waving an arm out. “Look around you. You’ve got yourself surrounded by friends, training partners, time to study and do what you want… Take advantage of it while you’re here, Logan. This isn’t going to last forever.”

Logan scowled. “Why should I take advantage of it when it only serves to underprepare me? I can’t let myself get used to the luxuries here.”

“Because you’re going to miss this.” Virtus shook his head and looked around campus. “These four years are your last chance to be a kid, you know. Enjoy it while you can. It might not seem like it now, but after you graduate, you’re going to wish you had another chance to be young and reckless without any serious consequences.

“I don’t want you to look back with regret that you grew up too fast. I know you already did when… when we lost your mother. You deserve a chance at the same carefree childhood that the rest of us had. I know you have that here with your team, your friends. You can’t just push away everything that’s kind to you to harden up for the real world. It’s going to eventually do that for you anyway.”

Logan’s face slowly began to soften as he mulled over what he’d been told. A deep, weighted breath tumbled out of his lungs, and he looked away, closing his eyes.

“Father… I understand what you’re attempting to say,” he muttered, “But I can’t… I can’t—I can’t let myself continue to be a failure because I didn’t push myself enough when I could have.”

Virtus froze. “Failure?” he asked. “When have you ever been a failure?”

Letting out a huff, Logan turned and began to pace.

“I have been consistently failing at nearly everything from the moment I arrived at Beacon Academy!” he admitted. “I fail to keep myself focused on my studies instead of getting distracted by the world around me. I fail to understand how to form relationships of any sort; all of my friends so far have either been through assignments or association! I failed to realize Virgil was starting to struggle with anxiety before it impacted his health, I failed to save Roman before he got himself into danger twice, and I’m still failing to help Patton cope with what we’re increasingly suspecting to be autism, despite the fact that I’m autistic and am the most qualified of our team to teach him!”

Virtus opened his mouth, but Logan whirled around with desperate eyes before he could get a word out.

“And you saw what happened today!” he cried. “I thought I was making the right decisions, but everything I did was wrong! I failed my team, I failed Patton, I failed you! And I…”

Logan sucked in a trembling breath, turning his face away before his father could see the growing wetness of his eyes.

“…I failed Mother.”

Virtus could only think of one time where his world was rocked so suddenly.

“Logan… Logan, no, no, Logie!”

His breath rushed out of him as he rushed to his son, wrapping his arms tight around him and burying his nose in his hair. He cupped the back of his head and gently began to rock them; when Logan hugged him back, he could feel the slight tremor in his arms.

It was a long few minutes before they moved again. Virtus pulled away first, keeping a hand on Logan’s back, and directed them to a nearby bench, where he had Logan sit. Virtus kneeled down in front of him and pulled his mask down to his chin.

“There has not been a single moment since the day you were born where I wasn’t so incredibly proud of the person you’ve become,” he assured. “You are, without a doubt, the greatest thing that ever happened to us. You’re strong, you’re brilliant, you have a good heart, even if you struggle to express it sometimes… It’s like someone took the best parts of your mother and I and put them into one person. How could I ever not be proud of you?”

He reached up and gently took hold of Logan’s necklace, an old ache hiding just behind his eyes.

“I knew your mother better than almost anyone,” he said, slight crack in his voice, “and I know she felt the same way. She never, never would have seen you as a failure. Especially not over something as silly as a tournament.”

“I wanted to win for her,” Logan choked out. “I thought… I thought if I could get as far as she did, then I’d have lived up to her expectations. I’d have lived up to her. But I-I couldn’t even do that.”

Virtus took Logan’s hands and held them tight. “The only expectations she had for you was for you to be happy, Logan. She couldn’t have cared less about your skills as a Huntsman. You could have been knocked out by a gust of wind, and she’d have loved you all the same. You were her pride and joy, and nothing in this world could have ever changed that.”

He pulled a hand away to cup Logan’s cheek, doing what he could to cover the scars from view. A soft smile formed on his lips.

“I see so much of her in you,” he whispered. “The way you fight, the way you speak… The way you put so much pressure on yourself to do better, even when you’re already giving more than you have to offer.” He started to rub soft circles into his skin. “And I’m going to tell you the same thing I always told her: You’re doing fine.”

Logan shook his head, refusing to look at him. “But Mother—”

“—Had her flaws, too,” Virtus interrupted. “She didn’t win every fight. She didn’t catch every sign when her friends were struggling. And she certainly wasn’t perfect. But she was so, so loved, not just despite all that, but because of it, and you are, too.”

He pulled his hand away from his face, scooping up both of Logan’s again.

“You are, too,” he repeated.

Sucking in a trembling breath, Logan nodded. His shoulders hesitantly lowered, as if he was forcing himself to lift a weight that had haunted him for years.

“Okay,” he whispered. “Okay.”

“And Logan…”

Virtus sighed, looking at the ground.

“I love you and I am so proud of you,” he said. “I know you know that, and I know you know Esther does, too. And we always want to you understand that you can always come to us when you’re struggling with something.”

He squeezed his hands before turning back to him. “But you need to rely on your team, too,” he stated. “They love you and care about you just as much as we do, and I’m sure they want to help you as much as you want to help them. I know you’re strong, and you’re capable of handling things on your own; you’ve been doing it since the day you scaled the bookcase in the living room when we put your favorite story on the top shelf.”

Logan let out a weak laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you scream louder than when you saw me.”

“And I never saw your mother move as fast as she did when it startled you and you lost your footing,” Virtus chuckled.

Another noise came out of Logan, this one a mix between a laugh and a sob; a tear trailed down his cheek. He reached to wipe it away, but Virtus gently caught his wrist and used the pad of his own thumb to do it instead.

“My point is,” he said, “You don’t have to do everything alone, Logan. Let your friends take care of you. I’m more than willing to bet that they’d be honored to have the chance. Okay?”

Logan nodded, but the deep frown on his face didn’t budge. “I… I just don’t think I know how,” he admitted.

Virtus offered him a soft smile.

“Then let them teach you.”

Logan considered this for a long moment, and then he nodded again, tipping forward to rest his forehead on his father’s shoulder. Virtus wrapped his arms around him and held him close.

For one blissful moment, it almost felt like everything was okay in the world. Every problem, every emotional strain and social struggle fell away when his father was there to shield him.

In the back of his mind, Logan was reminded of a time where he felt the cold sting of a winter breeze on his ears. The crunching of footsteps against a thick blanket of snow landed in time with the jostling of his tiny body against her shoulder. He could practically still smell the vanilla and coffee radiating off of the thick coat he rested on. Her silky brunette hair tickled when it brushed against his face.

He didn’t want to open his eyes. But he knew it wasn’t going to last forever.

When they finally pulled away, a soft set of footsteps approached.

“I think you’ve both earned a little something nice today,” Esther quietly spoke, holding out the drink carrier in her hands. “Hot apple cider with a hint of caramel, fresh out of the press.”

Virtus climbed up to the bench to sit to the left of Logan, and Esther sat herself on his right, passing out the drinks with only soft “thank-you”s to break the silence. Their shoulders rested against each other as they sipped, despite the ample room on their seat, serving as a gentle reminder of their presence.

Logan found his eyes drifting towards the building where his dorm was. He could see the light on inside, but they were far too distant to be able to make out anymore details. A dull pang settled in his heart at the thought of them having fun without him; he pressed his lips together and looked down at his lap.

Perhaps he could skip training for one night.

[eli-corvis]

The Devil Amongst the Dead

Summary: It has been some time since the Kengan Annihilation Tournament and while many believed Ohma Tokita [The Asura] to be dead he is in fact still alive. Hidden in the Kure Village and recovering from his heart transplant performed by none other than Hanafusa Hajime [The Dissector] himself. But this story is not about him. No it’s about the Kure Clan’s strongest but most out of control member. Kure Raian [The Devil] and what would be his usual assassination contract takes an unexpected turn when he is sent to an island city with just as much crime and corruption as The Inside. This city is called Roanapur. Known to many who live there as the city of the dead.

Prologue: The Devil Approaches

[Six Months After the Kengan Annihilation Tournament]

Black sclera eyes slowly open up to see a clear blue sky. The scent of sea salt from the ocean is heavy as the sounds of seagulls can be heard overhead. “Hm, must be here already” thought the young man as he sat up from where he was laying down from. Rubbing his black sclera eyes and taking in his surroundings to still be on top of a shipping container on board a cargo ship he stowed away on. He looked around to see he was close to his destination and from a distance he saw a large headless Buddha statue carved in a tall rock and beyond that further away is a city resting on an island.

“Heh, so this is where the bastard is hiding” he scoffed to himself “about time I got here, I was getting tired of hiding on this piece of shit like a fuckn rat ” he said as he stood up to get a better view as the cargo ship approaching the island. The man on board this cargo is none other the Kure Raian. A member of the infamous Kure Clan that has been around for 1,300 year. Looking back on the events that led up to this Raian started to wonder “why did the old man pick me for this shit?. Normally I could’ve been sent off to wipe out a crime syndicate, a terrorists cell, or even some elitist asshole with enough money to hire a private army. At least those got my blood pumping.” Irritated that he could’ve been on a job that usually left a trail of body has Raian pissed off at the fact he allowed the old man tricked him into taking this contract in the first place.

[48 hours ago in the Kure Village Around a particular city, 500 kilometers away from Tokyo]

Kure Erioh the Patriarch of the Kure Clan was given an unusual commission for a contract by an anonymous client, to a place he hasn’t been to in years, Roanapur. An old Thai port in southern Thailand, where the deserters and the losers of the Vietnam War took refuge and were joined by the worst villains and criminals of the planet. Prostitutes, drug-addicts, mercenaries, killers, and psychopaths of any nationalities compose the population of Roanapur.

Erioh’s knowledge of this crime infested cesspool is limited due to only have gone there during his time as The Fang. Any useful information is hard to come by without a inside source. But luckily for him he has just the right man for the job. Having his great-grandson summoned to the main room of the Traditional Japanese house, Raian walked in and approached the head of the Clan “What do ya want grandfather?” Raian said clearly annoyed at being called upon, Erioh didn’t seem to care of his grandson's annoyance. “I got a job for you Raian, something to get you more active since The Tournament” Raian arched an eyebrow at this “well I’m not interested in whatever bullshit you got for me, get one of The Three Stooges to run your damn errands.” Raian referring to Kure Hollis, Kure Reiichi, and Kure Horio. “Their each fulfilling their own obligations at the moment. And I’m sure that this contract will not bore the likes of you, if i was to send you, their is nobody more suited for this contract, or must i send someone else take this contract.” He said while stroking his chin in thought. “Perhaps this might be that too much for you to handle you spoiled brat.”

Erioh said mockingly while giving Raian a challenging smirk. Raian returns the smirk with a murderous grin of his own. “Better watch it old man or I might just kill you right here and now” he said as he took a step closer to his elder. “You can try boy, but as I stated before, I’m not going to let some snot-nose brat kill me just yet. Besides I think you’ll find that this worthwhile if you were to listen for once, I can be sure of that.”

Erioh calmly said as he stood up from where he was sitting and headed towards the door, Raian adamantly followed right behind him. “Ever since your fight against Tokita Ohma and Hayami Katsumasa's Guardians back on Ganryu Island you have not been active in these past six months.” Erioh gave Raian a glance over his shoulder as they walk down the long halls of the Traditional Japanese house. “Yeah so what, still haven’t give me a damn good reason why I should take this job in the first place.” Raian angrily said “Patience Raian, patience. First you’ll need to be informed on your target” arriving at the back door of the house Erioh opened the door to reveal Kure Fusui.

Raian’s younger sister and the liaison between the Kure Clan and the Kengan Association, she turned around to greet her grandfather “Hello grandfather, how are you doing?” she said to while walking up to and embracing him in a hug. “Oh I’m doing just fine don’t worry about this old man, tell me how have you been my dear?” Erioh said being the doting grandfather he is known for amongst the the Kure Clan. Fusui smiled and perked up “I’m doing great grandfather, and before you ask Karla is doing good as well both in school and at home, and Mr. Yamashita though still broken up about Ohma, he’s done quite well from himself these past few months. Speaking of Ohma, how is he doing?” She asked curiously. “Oh don’t you worry my dear Fusui, Tokita Ohma is doing just fine and with the help of our secret healing techniques, he will recover in no time.”

“I’m glad to hear that” she said with a smile. “So what are you and big bro up to?” she asked just noticing that her older brother was standing there with his arms crossed. “Remember that special task i asked of you before you left?” He asked. Fusui perked up “That Roanapur job right?.” Erioh nodded “Well from what I could gather I’ve confirmed the target has been spotted there but it seems like he’s hired one of the local gangs as hired muscle, so getting to him quickly won’t be so easy, and even if you manage to take care of both of them the other gangs will most likely jump in, which will make things more complicated” she stated “Well that won’t be much of an issue, because your brother will be taking the contract, won’t you Raian” Erioh said in a taunting manner.

“You sure about that grandfather, I mean I have no doubt big bro can deal with this no problem but-” Fusui was then interrupted by her brother “Hey now the old man has been very persistent about this shit, so tell me who’s the fucker that the old bastard is sending me kill and I might just consider it.” Raian said eagerly “Oh, umm alright then.” She then pulls out a laptop from inside her bag and passes it to Raian.

Raian takes the laptop, opening it up to see the screen presented to him.

[Contract Briefing]

•Target name: Dr. Alton Blonsky

•Age: 59

• Occupation: Bioengineer/Geneticist

• Adjective: Eliminate Dr. Blonsky and destroy any and all research found and eliminate any and all who would stand between your adjective.

• Last Confirmed Location: Roanapur, Thailand

• Target Price: $50,000,000

• Target information: Dr.Blonsky is a Bioengineer and Geneticist and researcher for genetics he has went into hiding after it was discovered you was selling his unethical research on the black market for the highest bidder. Years after his disappearance sources have spotted him active in the city of Roanapur. He is seemingly under the employment/protection of the local criminal organization.

• Payment Method: Upon accepting this contract the first half of the payment will be sent through wireless transaction method of your choice. And receive other half of payment upon completion.

[End of Briefing]

□Accept □Decline

Raian closed the laptop and handed it back to Fusui. “So some mad scientist is selling trying the secret of immorality or some shit right?” Taking the laptop back and placing it back inside her bag Fusui shook her head and said “I don’t know the details on what he was working on or who’s he trying to sell his research too, all I know is that some very big players are going to be interested in buying whatever he has cooking up, so whatever he’s making it must be a really big deal.” Erioh then stepped into the conversation. “So, Raian tell me do you accept?”

[48 hours later on the Ports of Roanapur]

As the crew of the cargo ship started to unload their shipments and do an inventory check Raian snuck pass all of the of the crew without them even noticing he was there. Now heading to the main street through the docks he pulls a piece of paper Fusui has given him before taking off with all contact information he will be needing during his time here. “Don’t plan on being here long but this shit will come in handy when I need it.” He said to himself as he reads off the address for his safe house with a side note at the below saying.

“While you’re there can you do me a huge solid and pick up a modified sniper rifle I ordered there, it should’ve been sent out days ago but since you’re there you can do it for me please, appreciate it bro.

-Love your favorite sister Fusui.♥︎”

Raian could only scoff while reading the note his sister left him. “The hell does she think I am, her errand boy” reading the address the only thing it said was The Church of Violence “I don’t got time for this shit” he said as he balled up the piece of paper and placed it back inside his pocket before walking off towards the direction of his safe house.

The city of Roanapur is known for many things, one of which is being the world capital for crime and corruption, for criminals and madmen to thrive. But now The Devil has arrived, beware for the man know as The Devil has come, and he will destroys any and all that stands in his way.

Author's Note: Hey ya’ll, if you haven’t figured it out yet this is a Kengan Ashura x Black Lagoon crossover the idea kinda popped in head one day and I was like “how am I going to make this work” so days of brainstorming later I’ve my story layout but the question was who am I going to send from kengan to the den of criminals, and obviously my first choice was Raian but the i thought about it some more and thought about having Agito Kanoh, Hatsumi Sen, Muteba Gizenga, Kiryu Setsuna, hell even Tokita Niko came to mind. The setting of black lagoon takes place in the early 1990s so it make a lot more sense for Niko to be there timeline wise but after talking about it with another writer here I stuck with Kure Raian, now this is my first fanfiction, like every but that will be no excuse for my writing to be shit, like spelling mistakes or grammar errors or major OFC. I’ll do my best to stay faithful to each character. And since I’ve picked Raian for this story, I’ll be making some small changes to the black lagoon universe to fit with the world of Kengan. If you haven't noticed I implied that Kure Erioh has been to Roanapur in the past, who know I might just make a side story exploring that plot point...maybe. Ok that’s enough of me ranting for now, until next time.

[sincerlypadfoot]

Comfort And Death (6) (Part 2)

~After the death of Regulus Black, you take confinement in Sirius who cared for you like a sister after Reguas died, becoming each other's person, you stay at the black house, after having a hard time griefing one night, you go to the place Regulas died.

Word Count-2246

Send Requests Here

Warning - Underage drinking! Swearing!

                                      December 24th 1994

“Dinner looked wonderful Molly,” I smiled walking into the kitchen behind Fred and George who looked more sober than hunger. Sirius stood beside me sucking on his breath mint.

“Thank you dear, sit down,” Molly pulled out the closest chairs near us for Sirius and I. “Dinner she'll be served,” With a wave of her fingers plates of chilli appeared in the air, floating down and landing infront of everyone.

“I would like to make a toast,” Harry said standing up and lifting his glass of water out. “To the triwizard tournaments, and the numbness that comes with it!” little cheers came from his friends making me let out a low laugh. “To the people who raised me,” 

Everyone looked over at Sirius, Remus and I who let out a smile, looking around the room, I grabbed my wine glass in confinement. 

“Cheers,” I broke lifting my glass of wine up, the room filled with the sound of glass hitting another and people enjoying themselves. “I hope everyone has a wonderful time tonight,”

We all sat back down, digging into the food Molly made, I ran my fingers under the table as I finished, spinning my ring around my finger, almost feeling guilty.

“I might toss the white flag in, i’m getting a bit tired,” I admitted to Sirius and Remus, not letting Harry overhear.

“Nonsense Stella, I have almost never seen you let loose and you’re in a great deal of it please, one night and that's it,” Sirius said grabbing my hand, his slipped the ring off, I went to react but remembering we were in a room full of people. “For one night, don’t let his death burden you, smile,”

I let out a fake smile taking a sip of my win and finishing up the food that laid infront of me. Everyone finished eating at the same time.

“Well you take care of our children for the night, I trust Stella and Remus, you two will take care of the kids for the night,” Molly seemed the be released. “Arthur and I haven’t had a night of the house empty in almost twenty-five years,”

“We will take very good care of them Molly, you and Arthur have fun tonight, we will see you tomorrow for christmas,” Remus said standing up, he walked Molly and Arthur out, not a second later Sirius pulled out bottles of Firewhisky from under the table and smirked.

“Anyone ready to party?” He asked, cheering came from all around the room. Everyone moved into the living room, Remus shortly joining us and sitting beside me.

“And Sirius wondering why Molly doesn’t like him,” Remus whispered in my ear as we watched Sirius mix fire whisky into Langston Cream Soda, it was Sirius’ favorite mixture.

“Yeah well, i’d rather know that Harry is a responsible drinking, not going out and drinking without us knowing,” I whispered back at Remus.

“And for the lady and gentleman,” Sirius smiled holding out to cups infront of him. “Have fun, let loose, relax,”

Remus grabbed his drink first, I copied, Sirius walked away.

“Look at you,” Fred Weasley said moving beside me. “Cheers,” He smirked, I rolled my eyes lifting up my drink, both our glasses hit each other and we took a drink. “You know I like your eyes,”

“Fred Weasley,” Remus said looking at him, I let out a laugh leaning against the couch. “Don’t be flirting with someone half your age,”

“Yeah Freddie, you know she likes me anyways,” George said moving and sitting beside Remus, I rolled my eyes and stood up. 

“I’m going to the bathroom, don’t have to much fun without me,” I said to Remus walking out of the room, Sirius caught my eyes but I continued to walk out, almost running up the stairs and locking the door once I got into the bathroom.

My drink landed on the counter as both my hands leaned into the sink, I looked down then up at myself in the mirror, my makeup was smudged from crying and my face a reck.

“Unbelievable,” I whispered to myself, picking up my brush and brushing out my hair, my hair had turned almost back with rage, I pushed it back, ignoring the thing I dreaded in myself, forgetting it years ago. I put my hair up only halfway, leaving some of my black hair to hang at the back on my shoulders. I fixed up my makeup and refreshed myself.

“Are you okay in there?” Remus asked knocking on the door, I picked up my drink, finishing it off and unlocking the door.

“Better than I could ever be, I just needed to fix my makeup,” I let a fake smile out looking down at my cup. “I need a refill come on,” I started walking out the door but Remus grabbed me, pulling me back from the stairs.

“Do not listen to Sirius tonight, you be yourself, don’t change because Sirius thinks you need to let loose okay,” Remus said almost making me upset. “You are okay Stella, and we’re all here for you,”

I let out a low laugh and shook my head. “I know that Remus, I just do think Sirius is right, it’s been almost nineteen years, I need to forget about it,” I moved myself away from Remus and walked down the stairs.

“Stella your back,” Sirius cheerfully said wrapping his arms around me.

“The nights only started and your already as drunk as a cow,” I said as he held me tight.

“Yep, come on, your turn,” Sirius let go of me, grabbing my hand and placing me on the couch, he took the cup out of my hand and filled it back up, handing it back, I felt dropped of my drink land on my clothes but at that moment I didn’t care.

“Auntie Stella,” Harry smiled, walking across the room and sitting down beside me. “Thanks for letting us party, I really do appreciate it,” 

“Cheers Harry, i’m glad you asked for a party, I needed it,” I raised my drink up in the air, we both hit our glasses together and drinking up.

Remus walked in, he gave me a quick glance but looked away once music started to by.

“Remus love, dance with me,” Sirius shouted taking Remus hand. I watched the two, I watched as Ron and Hermione stared dancing, then Neville and Ginny.

“Care to dance?” Fred Weasley asked standing infront of me. Harry let out a laugh and stood up, walking away from us.

“This means nothing Fred Weasley,” I took his hand, placing my drink on the table and walking to the middle of the room.

“You know, I know you're like really older than me, but I digger the older woman,” Fred shouted making me smile.

“I don’t date Fred, bad history,” I shouted over the music, knowing it could be as loud as we liked since the muggles didn’t even know we were here.

“Well lucky for you, I like a reset,”

“You really don’t give up, do you?” I asked letting my hair loose, my black hair was now a bit longer then the bathroom. Magic really was getting the best of me at the moment.

“Not with pretty woman like you, at least give me a chance,” Fred asked, my attention left him as the music stopped, Remus and Sirius were laughing, Harry was dancing with Ginny now and Neville, Dean, and Cedric were chatting on the couch.

“I think your a little to young for me, sixteen year old and a thirty-two year old,” I whispered patting his shoulder and sitting back down on the couch, I finished my second drink and leaned back, closing my eyes.

“Don’t be a mood killer Stella, come on, dance,” Sirius said standing infront of me. “Please,” He peaked his bottom lip out.

“Fine,” I grabbed Sirius hand, shaking my hand and standing up. “You know, I think Regulas would love Harry, he would love all of this,”

“Don’t talk about my brother right now, forgetting about him for one night, please,” Sirius asked making me annoyed.

“He was your brother how could you say that,” Tension rose along the room.

“It’s been nineteen years Stella, he would hate seeing you like this,” Sirius shot back shaking his head.

“Yeah like you would know, you hated him for most of the years,” I spit turning around, I grabbed a bottle of fire whisky and stormed out of the room, running up the stairs, to the end up the hall, last door on the left and shutting myself in, falling once again to the ground.

“For fuck sakes!” I screamed leaning my head back and crying. I stood up and walked over to the wall, bashing my fists against the bricks, unsure how many times I did it, until my knuckles were bloody and bruising.

“Are you okay?” I heard behind me, I turned around in a rush, looking at Fred who stood at the doorway. “I’m not sure what happened down there but I just thought I should come check on you,”

“I’m fine Fred,” I mumbled whipping my tears away. “Sirius and I get a little too carried away with our words, it’s normal, its okay,”

“What did the wall ever do to you?” Fred asked making me let out a low laugh in between sobs. “Come on, George does this all the time, I can fix your knuckles up,”

I followed Fred out of the room, he opened the bathroom door and we both walked in, I placed myself on the sink, taking a long drink of the firewhiskey bottle I held.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Fred asked running a cloth under the water. “You don’t have to if you don’t want,”

“I dated a boy, since we were in hogwarts together, his name was Regulas Black, Sirius brother.” I paused flinching in pain as Fred pressed the cloth against my right hand. “He died in 1979, and Sirius thinks I should be over it by now, but I just can’t,”

“I didn’t know, i’m sorry” Fred said lowly removing the cloth from my hand. “You’ve broken some bones, your whole hand in fact,”

“Honestly, I deserved it,” I leaned back against the mirror, taking another drink from the bottle. “Do you wanna a drink?” I asked looking at Fred, I moved myself a bit so Fred could jump up on the counter beside me.

“Thanks,” Fred took the bottle out of my hand and took a drink. “Do you still love him?” 

“Regulas?” I paused looking at Fred. “Of course I do, and I think that's the problem, i’d feel guilty if i’d ever get with someoen else, like he’ll know,” 

“I mean, a kiss wouldn’t hurt, it’s not illegal here,” Fred said making me smile, “Maybe it’ll help?” I turned my head and looked at Fred, my head was spinning and my body felt out of control.

“A kiss wouldn’t hurt,” I whispered leaning in, as the both of us were inches away from each other, the doorknob turned and I pulled back, looking at the door, Remus walked in with a bottle in his hand.

“I’ve looked all over for you, we’re just getting the party started, come back downstairs,” Remus said almost yelling. 

“I think that's a good idea,” I grabbed the bottle from Fred and jumped off the counter. “Come on, the party is just getting started,” I looked back at Fred who had a smile on his face.

“You’re right,” The three of us walked back downstairs to see Sirius and Neville longbottom dancing, which made me smile, imagining him and Frank dancing in the common room on a cold night.

The night went on, everyone slowly making their way into different rooms, Remus and I almost to drunk to be responsible placed everyone in different rooms.

“Tonight was fun,” I whispered leaning against the hallway walls with a half empty fire whisky bottle.

“It was, it really was,” Remus said smiling, leaning beside me. Sirius walked out of the bathroom, whipping his mouth and smile. “You good there Padfoot?”

“Never better, come on, I hear our bed calling our name!” Sirius grabbed Remus’ hand, dragging him away. I smiled looking at my bedroom door, I walked in to George Weasley passed out on my bed.

“How did you get in here?” I whispered walking in, I grabbed my blanket, tossing it over his body and walked out of my room, downstairs to the couch.

“What are you doing?” I heard as I walked in, I looked at the corner of the room, Fred was laying on the couch.

“What are you doing, why aren’t you in a room?” I asked sitting down on the couch across from him.

“I don’t think I could move off the couch, my whole body feels like jello,” Fred said making me chuckle.

“Well at least let me put a blanket over you, you look cold,” I pushed myself off the couch, almost falling but held myself up, grabbing the blanket from behind me and placing it on Fred.

“What are you going to sleep with?” He asked as I covered his body up. 

“I’ll manage, if you need anything i’ll be roaming around the house,” I went to go walk away from Fred but he grabbed my wrist.

“Please stay with me,” Fred whispered, I nodded my head, sitting down beside him. “Regulas would have wanted you to move on,” 

“I know,” I ran my hands threw Fred hair as he moved his hand onto my lap. 

“Kiss me,” Fred whispered looking up at me, I looked down at him.

“No, I don’t think I will,” I leaned down planting a kiss on his forehead. “Thank you for understanding what I have to do,” 

[is-that-another-soulmate-au]

@mypureessence

Korrasami/wuko/oc insert soulmate au part idk at this point

"No, no, Tahn, here" Lee shifted his stance so it was closer inward "take a breath and imagine your fire not as a flame but as boiling water coursing through your veins" she then reached her hand to his face "now close your eyes and imagine it"

Tahn nodded and did as she told him, taking a deep breath before shifting his stance and punching out a blue flame just as he opened his eyes, his face turned from doubt to unfiltered glee as he punched out two more blue flames. Turning to Lee who was smiling ear to ear "I did it"

"Im so proud of you" she said only to be caught in a tight hug. Which was broken apart once Tahn realized his mistake and clearwd his throat.

"Sorry, captain"

"It is not a problem, you deserved a little hug for that. Now, everyone else, do just as Tahn did just then" she had been demonstrating fire basics for a good week and a half now and Tahn was the first to accomplish lighting a blue flame, but by the end of that week every single firebender in that room was capable of bending blue fire and blocking small explosions.

Lin was incredibly proud of her and went to say as much by asking her to join her for dinner that evening. But Lee's smile and excitement to say yes faded into a look of fear with an attempted mask of irritation "Im flattered, and I understand we're soulmates but we should really focus on work right now. I'm sorry."

Lin stuttered for a couple seconds, honestly shocked at the response "I figured you'd be excited to go out to eat as a celebration, it doesn't have to be a date"

Lee sighed "but you'd look at it as one"

"No, no I wouldn't, its just... two colleagues who happen to be soulmates going out to eat as a celebration for reaching a goal" Lin offered a hand "what do you say?"

Lee looked at her hand and then at Lin and let out a sigh "Lin, I appreciate the offer, but I have to decline. I'm sorry, maybe another time"

They managed to tiptoe around eachother until the day that Amon announced his demand for the probending tournament to be canceled. That day Lee marched into the council hall with Lin who interrupted the gavel drop Tarrlok was about to do.

"And what exactly does little mousey have to do with this?" Tarrlok mused

Lee smirked "firstly three tails, its Foxy, and this is what I have to do with it," she nodded to Lin and then Korra who both nodded back.

She tossed up a remote controlled bomb and Lin pulled out the remote for it, catching the council members off guard just as Lee jumped up onto Korra's palm, then Lin's shoulder and finally off Korra's head to light a blue flame as the small explosions started. She quickly engulfed the explosion with her own blue flame and slammed it onto the ground as she came back to the floor with a bang.

Lifting up the hand that deflected the explosion she crumbled a small box into ashes and stood, dusting off her jacket "With Lin's metal benders and my bomb squad, the arena will be perfectly safe."

That is certainly what they thought. The night of the championship came and Lee was about to do rounds on her floor with Tahn but was stopped by Lin grabbing her arm. "Lee, I know you've got this, but please... if anything happens to you and you can't get out, kick, flail, scream do anything you can to get the attention of my metal bendersz Tahn or myself"

Lee gave her a smile and a nod "alright, you got it chief" and with that they had separated and Lee went with Tahn to their floor.

She was expecting a quiet walk but Tahn had other plans "say, Captain Fox, I noticed you and Chief Beifong are soulmates" Tahn leaned forward while he was walking and gave her a look.

She flushed and cleared her throat at the mention of the obvious "you didn't notice, I announced it the first day of training with you lot"

"Right right, but I did notice that you've been avoiding being affectionate towards her, and I also spotted a gold speck in your other eye when I hugged you that one day"

Lee froze in place, she forgot that others could see it if they got close enough "that-"

"Was from a soulmate passed? I know, I have one too, and I was in a similar situation with you and the chief, only, He didnt back down and made me open up about why I was avoiding giving him love." Tahn reached out a hand "I know you care about her and you know she cares about you, she's never been gentle with any one as she is with you."

Lee sighed and looked up at him "I dont want to ask how they died for you, but do you mind me telling you?"

"Of course" and with that response she took his hand and then linked arms instead as they continued to walk

"The bar I worked at is owned by a father and son, and they pulled me and him off the street when we had nowhere to go. Things were okay, I already sang as a comfort and they taught me how to properly sing while teaching him tap dance. He was a nonbender and thats why is parents put him up for adoption like my parents did for me." She paused "thats how we met in the first place"

"At the orphanage?"

"Yeah, before it blew up with only him and I surviving on the slim chance that I managed to develop blue fire on a survival instinct." She took a breath "anyways, while we worked at the bar I earned the title white fox and him the title of black fox, for obvious reasons, there were and still are alot of people there that had a strong distaste for either me or him." Turning to Tahn she frowned "and there were many attempts on our lives, they assumed he was a firebender and I a nonbender and often times went for him first but we normally had body guards and what not."

"Except for one night" she looked at her feet "one night after we both turned 19 they let us have a night without a body guard to fool around. When we finished we went to sleep. I dont know all of what happened because its kind of blury, but all I remember was waking up to him covered in blood and attacking and killing the woman who hurt him." She released his arm to wrap herself in a self hug sort of move.

"I can still smell it" she whispered

"Smell what?" She shook his head to the question "I cant talk about it anymore, Im sorry"

"No no, youre okay, Im glad you managed to talk about that much, but you'll trigger a ptsd attack if you keep up, hey, would a hug be alright? You look like you need one"

She did need one, so she nodded and was wrapped in a tight hug, that somehow was just what she needed to relax. She smiled "thank you Tahn" he pulled back and gave her shoulder a pat.

"Anytime, I dont have a big elaborate story on how my soulmate passed, she was hit by a car and died in the hospital with me there holding her hand" he gave a sad smile "Im sorry about what happened to you Captain, but just know I'm always here to talk, and so is Lin."

And thats when it clicked in Lee's head. She was running from accepting the fact that she found Lin in an effort to never love her and lose her, but in that effort she was already failing. She already loved her and she could lose her either way. She nodded "I'll keep that in mind"

They managed to get to their separation point and Lee nodded to Tahn "stay safe and remember to keep an ear, eye, and nose open at all times"

"Yes captain" he nodded back and they went their separate ways

Walking down the hall she could still hear the championship going down and she smiled knowing Lin was there with Tenzin and she was safe. However when she passed a set of doors she felt a zing of electricity hit her fingertips and she turned quickly to open the doors and took an attack stance.

"Well well!" A man said while standing up from the small box he had in his hands "guess a little mouse found me, I wonder how you managed to, I was so quiet, and only firebenders can sense that electric shock I used just now" hs smirked but only his mouth was visible, so she couldn't read the rest of his expression. She just narrowed her eyes and coughed out a small bit of blue fire while not breaking her glare at him

"Ah! So youre not a little mouse" he chuckled "a little fox then, oh what a trickster you benders are" she lunged at him but he just dodged and spun around and out of the room "have fun blowing up dear, I have somewhere else to be" and with that he ran off.

She spun around when she heard a click and managed to deflect the explosion from the box he was by in time but it sent her back into a large filing cabinet the started to tip. "Shit" she yelped and went to run from it but it still fell and pinned her by her left leg. She screamed when it fell and a loud crack could be heard. Her eyes welled up with tears and she tried to get out but it was useless, she was pinned and her leg wasn't going to budge. "Lin! Tahn! Korra! Someone! Help!" She cried out, but it was a fruitless cry. There were very audible explosions happening elsewhere and they were preoccupied.

She turned to look at her pinned leg and quickly turned away from the sight, there was a good amount of blood pooling around and she bit her lip. She had to cauterize the wound soon or she'd bleed out before anyone had the chance to find her. "Okay Lee. You got this" she moved her hand down and took a breatj "this is gonna hurt" was all she whispered out before lighting a bright blue flame on her leg for a good ten seconds before extinguishing it and resting her head on her other arm. "Hury Lin"

By the time the whole Amon performance went down and everyone was safe and evacuated from the building Lin found Tahn helping a young lady calm down. "Tahn, where's Lee?"

Tahn looked up from the girl confused "what do you mean? I heard the explosions start and thought she had already joined you guys, wait-"

their eyes went wide "She's still in there" they said in unison and hurried towards the building

"Korra! Come with me! Lee might need a healer" Lin shouted as they reached the building. She lifted her leg and slammed it back down to locate her, once she did they were off, running up stairs and down a hall. Where they heard sobbing. "Lee!" Lin shouted as she slammed the doors open.

"L-Lin?" Lee's strained voice came from the floor.

When Lin's eyes finally settled on Lee they grew wider than before and she gasped "Lee!?"

Lee gave a half hearted chuckle "you found me" immediately after the words left her mouth Lee collapsed and blacked out to Lin, Korra and Tahn shouting her name.

She was set up with healers for a good two days before she woke up, the entire time Lin either stayed by her side or had Bolin watch her if she was busy, and Tahn took over the bomb squad as temporary captain. The morning before she woke up Tahn came to check on Lin and her.

"Chief?" Tahn called quietly, managing to get her attention enough that she turned to look at him "may I come in?" She nodded and he entered the room with a bowl of soup in his hands "here. You need to eat.. I also wanted to tell you something"

He sat down and set the bowl on the small table beside Lin "what is it?" She asked in a grumpy but attempted gentle voice.

"There's a reason she had walls up for you" Tahn said softly while looking at the sleeping Lee "Im sure you've seen that speck of gold in her eyes"

"Yes, I have"

"And you've seen my blue right?" With a nod as a response he continued "you both were meant to have another soulmate, she had met them and lost them. Just like I had known another soulmate but lost them. I lost mine to a car accident, but she... she had them killed right beside her while she slept."

"I- why didn't she just tell me?" Lin narrowed her eyes at Tahn "and why would she tell you?"

"Because I asked and I managed to put two and two together and show a connection with knowing" he sighed "Im not saying this to act like I know more about her, Im saying this so you understand why she's hesitant to let herself fall in love with you. Just, be patient with her, she'll come around"

Lee stirred in the bed and made a small whine "bright" she whispered

"Lee?" Lin whispered

"Lin?" Lee slowly opened her eyes to look at Lin and Tahn "I can't.. I can't feel my leg" she looked down "Oh my gods! Where's my leg!?" She sat up quick and held her head when it started to pound

"Woah now, easy there Captain, you were aleep for two days, let me get you some food and water"

"Tahn? What... what happened to my leg?"

"It was crushed under a filing cabinet and the healers couldnt save it" he frowned "Im sorry. I'll be right back with some food and water"

"Just get her water, I'll share the soup" Tahn nodded at Lin and headed out to get the water while Lin pushed some pillows behind Lee so she could sit comfortably.

"Lin... I.." Lee stared at her hands, trying to form her words "I'm sorry"

"Your apology is accepted, though Im not sure what you're apologizing for"

"For.. avoiding you as a soulmate? I don't.. I dont want to tell another person the whole thing, but I just... we had another and he.. he was" she held her chest while she tried to breathe

"Hey, hey, its okay, Tahn told me, you don't have to retell it. But Im glad you felt safe to try. And don't worry, I'll be patient with y-"

"Can you kiss me?" Lee blurted out

Lin blinked a couple times and stammered for a moment before managing out a "are you sure?"

"More sure than I've ever been, I know youre not too touchy feely and what not, but just once can y-!!" She didn't manage to rant much more because she was silenced by a pair of lips against her own.

Lin held her cheek when she pulled back and grinned. "You talk too much" and sealed the distance once more.

[osakaso5]

Spirit Kaleidoscope: Empty Absolution

Chapter 25 - Epilogue

Chapter Index

Katanashu Station - Reception Room

Hanabusa: Sorry that you had to come all the way to the station. If anything, I feel like I should've come to the Phantom Realm to deliver my apology...

Mizuchi: I don't mind. It's not as if you can get into the Phantom Realm.

Hanabusa: Some of our troops caused you a great deal of trouble. As a representative of the katanashu, I offer you my sincerest apologies.

Mizuchi: ...You're the one bowing your head to me? Even though you were betrayed, yourself?

Hanabusa: The misdeeds of my subordinates are my responsibility, as the superior officer. I failed to notice their schemes and prevent their rebellion.

Hanabusa: In order to appease the people of Hikagemachi, our troops' actions will be strictly regulated from here on out. I aim to rebuild the trust that was lost due to these events.

Mizuchi: Fufu. I doubt the people of Hikagemachi care that much about what happened.

Mizuchi: ...Now that I'm talking to you like this, I finally understand why you stopped me from striking Kasane with lighting back then.

Hanabusa: .........

Mizuchi: You even shielded him with your body, did you not? If I'd struck right then, you could've been badly injured, or worse.

Hanabusa: Human laws are different... I couldn't let his punishment be left up to the rules of Hikagemachi.

Mizuchi: I see.

Hanabusa: ...I'm well aware that I'm pushing our own morals on you, however.

Hanabusa: I don't expect you to accept the fact that I stopped you from taking out your anger...

Mizuchi: ...Right. It was a struggle for me to bring a storm back then... But these sorts of incidents have happened many times before.

Hanabusa: ...They have?

Mizuchi: When I was in the human realm. I told you about all the warriors who would challenge me, didn't I?

Mizuchi: Plenty of them wanted not only to battle me, but to take my powers as well.

Hanabusa: ...Like Kasane.

Mizuchi: Fufu. Thanks to it, I experienced something that made my heart race for the first time in ages. I suppose trouble like that isn't always bad.

Hanabusa: I'm glad to hear that... But wasn't that the reason you left  the human world and began living  in the Phantom Realm?

Mizuchi: That was one of my reasons for it, yes.

Aoi's Voice: You two! Stop sneaking into the station!

Hanabusa: Was that Aoi..?

Mizuchi: Hahaha. It's so lively here.

Katanashu Station - In Front of the Grand Gate

Onibi: Uh oh! Aoi caught us..!

Kamaitachi: Hurry, Onibi! If we pass through the gate before he catches us, we'll be fi... Ow!?!?

Onibi: What is that!? Water!? Owie..!

Aoi: ...Idiots. I set up a holy water trap on the gate. You won't get through this time.

Onibi: What!? A trap!?

Kamaitachi: That's no fair!

Aoi: Hmph. I don't care.

Madoka: You guys sure have a lot of energy. Leave them be, Aoi... They're always sneaking around, anyway.

Aoi: ...Madoka... Shirking your duties, as always.

Madoka: Yeah, sorry about that, Mr. Model Employee. Yawn... So tired...

Aoi: Don't apologize while yawning. ...Don't tell me, you've been in bed up until now? It's already noon.

Madoka: Nope. I'm tired because I've been doing paperwork all morning. We had a mountain of reports about the tournament, remember?

Madoka: I gotta say, that holy water of yours is pretty effective. Your family owns a shrine, right? Is the god there extra benevolent or something?

Aoi: I don't know if they're benevolent or not, but I hear they're a really powerful serpent god.

Aoi: Apparently they laid waste to a human village with heavy rain in order to save a shrine maiden who was going to be sacrificed... We worship that destructive spirit.

Aoi: We're descended from the shrine maiden they saved. It was such a long time ago that I don't know if any of it really happened, though.

Madoka: Wow.

Madoka: Aoi, are you sure?

Aoi: .....? About what?

Madoka: About letting Onibi and Kamaitachi slip through the gate just now.

Aoi: ...Huh!?

Phantom Grotto

Sana: Shisei-san, it's time for to eat! Come out.

Shisei: ...Oh, Sana. Good morning.

Sana: It's already noon!

Shisei: Fufu, I see. ...It smells delicious, as usual. This is...

Azuma: Heh. I tried my hand at making some stew. I slaid a mighty pig, and even got a pot for it.

Shisei: ...Even a pot... You're becoming quite the professional cook.

Azuma: Might was well build my own kitchen somewhere around here.

Sana: A kitchen..!? We'd be living very nicely if you did!

Hokuto: ...And Shisei's still holed up in this grotto.

Hokuto: After you finally got around to visiting Hikagemachi, too. What's so great about this damp old place?

Shisei: Even if it is damp and old, I've lived here for so long. ...Besides... It feels more comfortable now.

Hokuto: ...Does it? Well, as long as you're fine with it, I suppose.

Shisei: Fufu... It does.

Sana: ...Ah. But Shisei-san, aren't you going to go eat ramen in Hikagemachi?

Sana: I believe it was Mizuchi who invited you...

Hokuto: ...Mizuchi!? Why haven't I heard about this!?

Shisei: He'll treat me as thanks for helping him the other day... Apparently, this "ramen" sold by a shop named Kuzunoha is quite the treat.

Shisei: I hear it's like thin udon noodles.

Sana: Hmm..? I'm not so sure about that... They’re a bit different, in my opinion.

Azuma: Oh, so you've had some too, Sana?

Sana: Of course! There were places that sold it in the capital when I was still a human.

Hokuto: ...Hmph. Ramen isn't much of a reward for saving a mighty water god.

Azuma: Ramen, eh... I want to try it, too. It'll be a good chance  to experience new flavors.

Shisei: Then... Why don't we all go together?

Sana: Ah..! That's a great idea! Let's go as a group!

Hokuto: Huh? Why do I have to...

Azuma: Just come. ...I know you want to, despite your grumbling.

Hokuto: Shut up. ...Fine, I'll come! Got a problem with that?

Shisei: Fufu... I can't wait to eat ramen with all of you.

Ramen Kuzunoha

Kasane: Ow... Sigh... My bottom hurts so bad I can't sit right...

Kasane: Kamaitachi gave me a real beatin'. Not to mention I got lectured by Hanabusa-han and Madoka...

Uta: They were super pissed. Commander Hanabusa was so mad that his face looked like one of those ogre masks!

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: Even Kamaitachi was actually mad, for once. ...Fufu. Just be happy that he didn't cut you up into little pieces with his sickle.

Kasane: Oh dear. I'd rather not be turned into mincemeat.

Uta: Why don't you just forget about all that, and have some ramen? My treat, Kasane!

Kasane: Why, thank ya. ...So, yer droppin' the honorifics as soon as I get demoted, huh?

Uta: You're just a regular soldier now, aren't you? Our ranks are the same now that your job got taken from you.

Uta: Things have really calmed down now that Commander Hanabusa's taken charge of both the first and second squadrons.

Kasane: Sigh... Ya sure seem to be enjoyin' this, Uta. Yer sadism really gives away how ya were raised.

Uta: Oh, sorry about that. But... Fufufu! I'm just happy to finally get on your level!  

Uta: ...Or more accurately, that you were brought down to my level.

Kasane: ...Yer level?

Karasutengu: Right. You're talking about the time you tried to trap me into being your slave, aren't you?

Uta: Ugh..! Karasutengu!? ...Sir!

Uta: Ah... I think it's about time for me to get back to the station...

Karasutengu: Not so fast. I won't let you run away this time.

Karasutengu: I told you that I'd blow you away if you kept doing that during the tournament.  

Uta: Ahaha... You did..?

Kasane: ...What's this, Uta? Not a fan of Karasutengu, are ya?

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: Oh. You don't know, even though you're in the same troops? ...Uta tried to do the exact same thing as you once.

Kasane: ...Did he, now?

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: To Karasutengu instead of Mizuchi, though. ...Fufufufu.

Uta: ...It was the biggest mistake of my life... I didn't know what a quick-tempered and brutal yokai he was...

Karasutengu: Who are you calling quick-tempered? I showed you plenty of hospitality when you came to pick a fight with me, didn't I?

Uta: If by hospitality you mean giving me a beating...

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: Uta was so scared by Karasutengu's anger... It was too pathetic for me to even watch...

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: ...Pfft. Ahahahaha!

Uta: ...Hey, Owner! Do you have to laugh at me!?

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: Why not? It gets me every time.

Uta: Don't joke about my trauma! Ever since then, every time he finds me he makes me help him with his work while kicking and trampling on me.

Uta: Even on the day of the attacks, he was using me for slave labor... Sigh...

Kasane: ...Huh. That's quite the incident.

Kasane: I knew ya had made some kinda big mistake back in the capital, but I'd never heard the full story.

Uta: Well, that wasn't all there was to it. ...Can you understand how I feel now?

Kasane: Sure... Ugh. Just rememberin' Mizuchi's face gives me the chills...

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: Hey now. I don't want to see those gloomy faces in my establishment. ...Have some ramen.  

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: The fried tofu on top will be on the house.

Uta: ...Huh!? Owner, you're cooking ramen yourself..!?

Kasane: ...What's so special about a ramen seller makin' ramen?

Uta: ...No, it is special! You're a first-timer here, so you wouldn't know... It's not just weird, it's practically like some kind of natural disaster!

Uta: Maybe we'll get hit by a meteor next...

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: Fufu. I had a good time at the tournament thanks to you. I thought I'd give you some customer service for once.

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: Here, my handmade ramen. Make sure to appreciate it.

Kasane: Why, thank ya. I dunno why ya look so smug, though...

Karasutengu: Oh, Kyubi-no-Kitsune. I'll have a bowl, too.

Kyubi-no-Kitsune: You can make it yourself.

Karasutengu: Why!?

Forest on the Outskirts of Town - Big Maple Tree

Momiji: .........

Ungaikyo: ...Are you looking into the kaleidoscope?

Momiji: Ungaikyo... Sitting in the tree again? You're like a child.

Ungaikyo: I'm way older than you. ...You came here again, huh. The katanashu sure have a lot of free time.

Momiji: Not as much as you do. I came to bring you the kaleidoscope today. You've had it longer than I have.

Momiji: I thought you should be the one to have it.

Ungaikyo: .........

Ungaikyo: ...Nah, I'm good. Keep it.

Momiji: But...

Ungaikyo: I really don't need it. ...I'm fine with katanashu being  around me now, so I wouldn't  use it anyway.

Momiji: ...I see. I guess it did originally belong to me.

Ungaikyo: ...Did you want anything else with me?

Momiji: Of course I do. Come down from there. We're going to have another match.

Ungaikyo: ...That, again... I don't wanna. Plus, you come ask me for a rematch every day.

Momiji: ...You're not coming down?

Ungaikyo: Nope. I'm gonna eat cup ramen and take a nap.

Momiji: ........ I see. Then you leave me with no other choice.

Momiji: ...Tadaakira Inui.

Ungaikyo: ......!

Momiji: Get down from the maple tree at once. We're going to battle.

Ungaikyo: Wha... Whoa, whoa, whoa..!

Thud!

Ungaikyo: Ow... You made me fall! Don't call my name so carelessly!

Ungaikyo: What do you think people's true names are, exactly..?

Momiji: You've used my true name before, too.

Ungaikyo: ........ Yeah, but... That was a long time ago!

Momiji: Haha. Now, let's fight!

Ungaikyo: I said I didn't wanna... ...Ugh. I guess I have to. If I win, you're treating me to lunch.

Momiji: Deal. You can eat whatever you like.

Ungaikyo: ...Seriously!? In that case...

Ungaikyo: If I get to eat ramen, I'll think about it.

The End.

Translator’s notes..? 

this took a pretty long time, but it’s finally done! i’m probably not going to do extra stuff for a while again, but i’ll still be posting card translations every other day! 

[danwhobrowses]

AEW Double of Nothing 2020 - My Thoughts

Well that was a long night, it’s tough watching USA PPVs in the UK. But Double or Nothing is in the books and since I have free time I thought I’d talk about some stuff I liked and disliked I’ll have to note, I’m not a sole AEW fan, I like stuff from WWE, NJPW, Stardom, TJPW and DDT Pro too, dabbling in ROH, Impact and NWA from time to time and reminiscing fondly over the time Lucha Underground was great. But I say this because I don’t want people quickly pointing fingers at me accusing me of being a stan for AEW or WWE just because I like or dislike something they disagree with, I’m not playing bias I am literally working on impulse and sleep deprivation

Spoilers for AEW Double or Nothing 2020 obviously, watch, enjoy, look at some gifs maybe and come back here

The Buy-In:

Private Party vs Best Friends (Winner is No.1 Contender for the AEW World Tag Team Championship) Winner: Best Friends via Pinfall (Strong Zero to Marq Quen)

For a pre-show match it was fine, the Buy-In stream did start way too early and streaming and audio issues would plague both Fite and BR Live streams throughout. As for the match, it was a tad sloppy at times but it is worth reminding people that PP haven’t been wrestling in a while. And they weren’t terrible botches, just a few overexersions, people can’t be as crisp as Rey Fénix every match, especially since there’s more margin of error the more people involved in the spot there is. The match was very back and forth at times, and the highlight has to be the G9, PP (and Big Swole) had been wearing SG armbands in honor of Shad Gaspard, who tragically died in Venice Beach due to a rip current submerging him, I had been a big fan of Cryme Tyme (and PS4′s God of War which he did motion capture of Kratos for) when they were in WWE, so the nice homage of using their finisher was a nice touch. As for the result I didn’t mind either way, I had backed PP due to their ongoing BTE feud with Hangman Page, but the Best Friends have definitely been consistent enough to challenge and possibly even win the titles, it would be sensible for them to win it too since they have lingering feuds with TH2, Death Triangle, The Superbad Death Squad and Butcher and Blade.

Main Card:

Intermission build for Casino Ladder Match

It was mostly people explaining how and why they were gonna win, but I did have to make a separate mention for Jimmy Havoc, dressed to fucking drip. Man looks like a bond villain.

Casino Ladder Match (Winner is No.1 Contender for the AEW World Championship at Fyter Fest) Winner: Brian Cage An early point I wanna make, I think AEW are spying on me because I had much earlier thought up a similar idea of a ‘Bargaining Chip’ to work as a guaranteed contendership boon. If Tony Khan wants to pick my brain all he has to do is call, I still think all non-title ‘Double or Nothing’ matches should be worth 2 wins/losses in the spirit of the PPV name. I also didn’t mind the giant chip, would’ve been silly if it was regular sized. AEW has a winner with this format I think, the battle royale format was good for introducing a group of new faces, but in a more condensed format the Casino rules for a Ladder match work two ways, the early people have less opposition to win while the last people are fresh, the red ladders were a bit much for my tastes though. As for the match, it was still a bit messy but there were 9 people plus interferences to deal with, also since Fénix was pulled from the match we have to give benefit of the doubt in terms of the match narrative changing. It was an odd choice picking both members of SCU to start but we may be setting up Superbad Death Squad vs SCU tensions as well, adding Darby in the halfway mark was a good burst of energy but you really do wince with the stuff Darby ragdolls through. OC was his usual hilarious self, the low-effort reach attempts, the brief pause with Cabana. The frenetic energy of Janela resumed the pace from the comedy segment until the super heavyweights came in; I did find that Luchasaurus did prioritize a fight over the match itself, but it worked for his heavyweight mentality and after being undone by Allin’s sunset bomb, gave us the space for the final entrant. Brian Cage, I love that man he is just nonsense talented, his moveset is unique and malleable and his power is insane. What a way to debut as well, completely ripped apart a ladder, murdered Allin with a ‘F-5000′ (Props to Excalibur as always) and was running roughshot - aside from OC, who almost hilariously piggybacked a win - until most of the competitors basically flattened him under a bunch of miscellaneous objects and a giant poker chip. This gave Luchasaurus some time to have some fun as the ‘Big Man’ too, really did enjoy the Marko mini-ladder and OC channeling the Hurricane with the chokeslam attempt, I do appreciate that Best Friends and Jurassic Express still have that rivalry, also Janela’s running DVD to OC on top of the pile of miscellaneous objects was a great spot, but it was all leading up to Cage bursting out and squaring off with the Dino, more of this! There was a bit of wobbly knees but the powerbomb on the ladder with gnarly, and we are due a hoss match for Luchasaurus since his feuds with Wardlow and the Butcher fell through due to COVID. But this was Cage’s time, I thought Allin was gonna sneak it for a moment but then I remembered that Cage winning was much more story-based. The ladder spot was brutal and a bit too much for the finish but the result I am still quite happy with. Before Fénix was pulled I backed him to win because I felt that the world title picture needed some speed after the methodical match with Hager, but Cage does have the speed and the power to put on a good show, he’s a proven world champion at Impact and he has been on AEW’s radar for a long time, injury keeping him out.As much as one can complain that this was just a gratuitous spot fest there was storyline; the faction conflicts of SCU, Superbad Death Squad, Best Friends and Jurassic Express was apparent but the main story by the end was the story of Allin and Tazz, Tazz was angered by Darby’s hostile response to his offer of managing him after his loss to Cody, so he’s taken Cage under his wing to enact some payback. It’s a solid looking pairing too, using the legends as managers is something AEW does well and using Tazz as Cage’s manager with his promo skills and their physical similarities is an interesting combination.

Jungle Boy vs MJF Winner: MJF via Pinfall (Modified European Clutch) This was one of my favourite wrestling matches on the card. The back and forth between MJF and Jungle Boy had some great athleticism and technical wrestling. This can easily be a top tier feud between the two later down the line, they are like two sides of a coin. The match had great storytelling in the fact that MJF worked Jungle Boy’s arm, which allowed him to escape situations like the crossface and hold on to the final pinfall, MJF was pulling great heel works and trickery while trying to work Jungle Boy into the Salt of the Earth finisher, the knee injury fakeout was great. But Jungle Boy also rallied with the babyface resilience, the explosive anger in the face of MJF’s undermining and proved his strength. I appreciated the finish as well, MJF won clean but Jungle Boy looked excellent, and it avoided Wardlow ex Machina. MJF continues to look more and more like world champion material and I can see him stealing it from Moxley.

TNT Presentation with Mike Tyson

Okay, I don’t like the belt. I’m sorry, I know it’s unfinished due to COVID so there’s room for improvement but it just looks too simple on the main plate. It seems like every other belt AEW releases is a bit lacking. The World and Tag titles are sublime but the Women’s title is far too small and the TNT title just lacks detail, it’s also hard to not think it looks like the WWE Raw Tag Titles mixed with the 24/7 title, I have never been a big fan of plastering the name in BIG DISTRACTING LETTERS in the middle. Granted, I get why silver was used for a midcard belt, and not every title can be Big Gold, Winged Eagle, NXT UK,  IWGP or the ROH world title, but it could’ve taken more inspiration from the IC white strap, NXT NA title, AWA Southern Heavyweight or even the NJPW US title if you’re so adamant about the bright red strap. Frankly I was just disappointed that AEW presented such a weak design.

TNT Championship Tournament Final Winner: Cody via Pinfall (2 Consecutive Cross Rhodes) The finals for the match started off impressively, Archer looking like a total monster even bringing in some poor sod to decimate in front of an entertained Tyson before striking early with his finisher on Cody. Cody fought from under Archer’s offence to get some licks into his core. Sadly not all the cuts to Tyson were great, the one that’ll dominate media being the one where he was caught yawning. Before smarks jump at it, people are allowed to yawn, it’s not always a sign of boredom, given that Tyson is 53, has been hitting the gym hard and it was past 10pm, every other time they went to him he looked like he was loving the match, especially Archer’s heel intensity. The match didn’t have enough of Arn and Jake for my liking, given what was hinted at during Dynamite, I didn’t mind them being ejected especially since Arn was playing dirty too. Cody did pull out some storied offence with the Stringer Splash and Dustin’s Final Reckoning, but the ending kinda felt like the wrong result. After Jake was scared away by a Ripped Tyson from bringing his snake to the ring, Archer just became undone by Cody wriggling out of the Black Out and nailing two Cross Rhodes (third of the match) for the W. It was a bit iffy, I mean Cody has used the double Cross Rhodes to win a few matches already, so it felt like for me if Cody was to win then he’d need to pull off something extra. One Cross Rhodes made Archer kick out at one after all. Many people will use this as ‘Cody is an EVP of course he books himself as champion’ trying to liken him to Triple H or Jeff Jarrett, but while I disagreed with the result, I don’t think it’s bad that Cody wins a midcard title. He is never going to win the world title, he’s been a consistently great babyface for the company too and put MJF and Jericho over, as a wrestler you can’t have Cody not win a title ever. But that being said, I think defeat did hurt Archer, he was so in control of the match and just came undone right at the end, there was a heavy contrast to the Archer that started the match and the Archer that finished. It doesn’t mean he’s lost his aura completely, but winning the title would’ve done him more favours than it would have done Cody at this current time.

Intermission: Britt Baker Injury Update To prelude the Ford/Statlander match, there was a small bit explaining the nature of Britt Baker’s injury. It was kinda decent to still sell Britt’s gimmick by the doctor admitting that she’s being a handful, but the 6-8 week time frame is a shame, that’s only competing though, it’ll be interesting what they do with her on next Dynamite, she may get herself an enforcer too (Nyla could work, or Sadie Gibbs since she’s due a re-debut).

Penelope Ford vs Kris Statlander Winner: Kris Statlander via Pinfall (Big Bang Theory) While Penelope only had brief involvement in the Casino Ladder Match (she did have a weird space of just standing there for a bit as OC started to use 0.5% of his full power), hers and Kip’s entrance did put a smile as Kip sold the ladder match hard, as did Kris’ booping to the crowd and the joyous reactions of Nakazawa, Austin Gunn and Suge D/Pineapple Pete from it. The match itself was okay, this stage felt like a palate cleanser if anything. Ford and Kris did work pretty well, there was a nervy suicide dive where Kris’ head almost went into the barricade but we also got some great strikes, a good hurricanrana from Ford and a solid end as Kip tried to break the pin using his crutches. Ford has been lowkey great for the women’s division, her surprise win over Riho is proof of that, but Statlander was due a win. I felt like against Britt she was due a loss but now it feels like we can expand on that feud a bit, it’s good signs from AEW’s weak spot and it just needs a bit more faces - which of course is limited by COVID but I do really miss seeing Bea, Allie, Swole (who almost every heel in the crowd seemed to wanna rile up), Anna Jay, Shanna, Riho, Emi Sakura (who streamed her reactions of the show) and personal favourite Yuka Sakazaki in the ring, as well as hoping for returns from Ivelisse, Jamie Hayter, Sadie Gibbs and Awesome Kong for the Women’s Division, also maybe bring Vickie into the fold as a manager, she was a presence in the crowd.

Dustin Rhodes vs Shawn Spears Winner: Dustin Rhodes via Pinfall (Final Reckoning) Sadly this was the weakest match on the card. Started pretty well though, Spears was heeling it up a la Booker T in KOTR when Angle wasn’t cleared to compete and still demanded that they be counted out. There was also the HBK Montreal music fake-out which was pretty good, but he did wait a bit long to pull off the smile. Brandi halted the count allowing for Dustin to pull a sneak which was made great by the camera movement but from there it started to devolve into a weak spot. Comedy matches are fine, but times and place work for it, and Shawn Spears’ continued pursuit against Cody should not have been a comedy match in my opinion. I never dig the strip bit as well, there’s only so much you can suspend disbelief and Shawn being stripped to his boxers that have Tully Blanchard’s face on them is over that line.  If Dustin was to win then I wished it wasn’t this way, sadly Spears has been hit with a revolving door of gimmicks, the Chairman was good but lacked intensity, the needing a partner looked to be going somewhere until COVID limited his options (and sank Brandon’s push) and this new anti-Cody gimmick has suddenly became a joke, it’s not a good spot for him especially when he had a pretty good match with Cody in the TNT tournament. We know through MJF that he can do comedy, but the key to comedy is timing and Shawn’s character should’ve been looking towards him contending for Cody’s newfound TNT title rather than being humiliated ass-cheeks out on TV...at least Peyton has something to giggle about at home though. Pre-Match Tribute to Hana Kimura (1997-2020)

I was glad that AEW took a moment to tribute Hana’s death. After the homage to Shad in the Buy-In I was hoping that they would reference her before the women’s title match and my hopes were realised. Reading the headline of her death yesterday morning put a horrid pit in my stomach, I had always felt that Hana was one of the most talented women in Stardom, as ‘Dark Hana’ in Oedo Tai, ‘Rave Hana’ when feuding with Kagetsu, ‘Death-Hana’ when teaming with Yama and of course as the TCS leader, I easily saw her in a few years time being the face of the company, her faction was on a high, she partook in Stardom’s first ever Tokyo Dome match at Wrestle Kingdom, she had wrestled in guest entires for DDT Pro and ROH, and I also hoped to see her in an AEW ring one day (Brandi had Stardom ties after all). Her dedication to the business was palpable as she even went into a reality show to try and get more eyes on wrestling, and yet cyberbulling drove her to feel so sub-human that she likely took her own life. It was a horrible, horrible thing to read about, and I really wanted to vent this out yesterday but didn’t due to the fact that I didn’t tribute Shad’s death and didn’t want it to appear that I only cared about Hana’s death. Shad’s death was sad of course, he nobly prioritised the rescue of his son and sadly time was not on his side against the elements, it’s obviously terrible that he died and the world is poorer for his loss as well, but Hana’s death hit me harder for different reasons. For one, she was 22, 5 years younger than me, her career was bright and her smile wide, and yet anonymous sadsacks were able to torment her enough for no reason other than so they could bring a young woman down to make themselves feel better, as a person who underwent a lot of bullying at a young age - I was forced to eat dirt once in primary school - this did hit hard for me, because despite both deaths being tragic: Shad died because of the elements nobody can control, Hana died because of people, sad, despicable people and even though I never knew Hana or would’ve even been able to reach her, it sucks feeling that there was nothing we could do to help her. In conclusion, bullying sucks, and Excalibur put it aptly as many others have, it doesn’t cost a thing to be kind and if you’re struggling there’s people who’ll be there for you.

AEW Women’s Championship (No DQ or Count-Out) Nyla Rose (c) vs Hikaru Shida Winner: Hikaru Shida via Pinfall (’Three Count’ Knee Strike) Perhaps one of the best women’s matches AEW have put on, I was very looking forward to this matchup. I am not one of those people who disliked Rose winning the title, she (yes she, grow up) was a good, dominant heel and I bloody love that jumping knee strike. But I also love Shida, she’s been a consistent force in AEW, being a part of most of the Women’s Division’s best matches, also she as a person is very likeable. I have to add a note that while I’m not too familiar with Final Fantasy (Tumblr seems to think I am mind you), I did like the small Tifa Lockhart cosplay in Shida’s attire. In general the fancy entrances and attires were sadly limited by COVID, but when you did see them it did make it a little special because of its rarity. The No DQ stip was a good one, I did worry it would lead to Shida’s downfall but the storytelling revolving around Shida’s tenacity, Nyla’s brutality and the coveting of the kendo stick all really meshed together well. There were some solid spots and some proper brutal strikes. I appreciated the attention to the fact that Nyla’s arm and Shida’s leg were weakened and that came into play as they landed their big moves to a near fall. The finale though was good, following a beautiful sequence of an Avalanche Falcon Arrow and the weak-legged ‘Three Count’ at two, Shida’s resiliency proved too much for the native beast as she laid her out with a Kendo stick to the head and one more ‘Three Count’ for the eventual namesake. While Nyla’s reign was long, COVID did sadly prevent her from defending much and that was a shame, her only real defense being against Statlander, but it was the right call to pull the trigger on Shida. Like Asuka in WWE, she has been a consistent fan favourite with star aura, being No DQ also aided Nyla in saving face; Shida only won due to her Kendo strikes and out-of-ring spots, so it made her strong that it took that stipulation to bring her to her limit. I do welcome the type of storylines they’ll have to build opponents for Shida too, with Britt in recovery it gives her time before they can renew hostilities, which grants a platform for other heels to develop and challenge. Also do appreciate that the top titles were carded back-to-back, speaking of which...

AEW World Heavyweight Championship Jon Moxley (c) vs “The Exalted One” Mr. Brodie Lee Winner: Jon Moxley via KO by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) While the build to Moxley and Brodie started abrupt, one had to appreciate jumping at this matchup sooner rather than later. Both men were lacking a strong feud to go with since the Inner Circle were still involved with The Elite and SCU were being preoccupied with the TNT title. The Dark Order had gained a resurgence with the mystery of the Exalted One, and with some impressive squashes by Brodie and Preston Vance impressing as his new protegee ‘10′, things were looking decent for the faction, but this still remained a risky angle. For Brodie this would be a make or break moment for his character, he had already gotten some disdain as people compared his gimmick to a Vince McMahon caricature and questions rose on whether he was ready for this spot, if he wasn’t then the Dark Order would’ve fell to square one. But that didn’t happen. From the moment Brodie came out with his horde he exuded a brilliant amount of heel smugness, feeling as if being champion was already a certainty (I do also love how previously he had a minion carry the belt for him like a boxing entourage), the mind games already on display before the bell even rang. Moxley also looked raring to go, his usual swaying self with a bit of purpose and a lovely gold sprayed jacket as he strided to the ring, separated by a row of security to sell the animosity between the villain and the antihero. The match was very strong, a really enjoyable world title match that meshed the brawling styles of both men, the advantage going to and fro as Brodie used his power to gain advantage while Moxley used his unconventional assault - even grabbing Lee’s beard for a headbutt - and the outside of the ring with a lovely Paradigm Shift through the ramp that brought some believable (in the context of the spot) colour to Brodie’s face. The finish increased the pace in brilliant fashion as Brodie shockingly kicked out of the Paradigm Shift at one, from there Moxley looked desperately to put Brodie away before he could rally, hammering at the head wound before cleverly bringing Brodie down with a Rear Naked Choke. I was surprised a lot of people didn’t like that finish, it kept Brodie strong that he didn’t tap out and a rear naked choke is a great finish, it has legitimacy since it ends many UFC fights, it was smart as well because Brodie was bleeding, so on top of blood loss making him light-headed Moxley cut off his blood flow to his head to knock him out. You also have to appreciate this incorporation to Moxley’s moveset, adding submission means there’s a new way he can win and it comes from the MMA background of Hager, like the Gotch Piledriver adopted from Minoru Suzuki (and I have to say Kaze ni Nare whenever I see him do it), seeing Moxley adapt his moveset is a nice little tidbit that helps Moxley feel more studied in his experiences. Also side bar, god bless Leva Bates. In the past two matches she kept in-character and rescued a laptop from destruction. Her wrestling does need a bit of fine tuning but her character work is undeniably great. Overall, like Jungle Boy vs MJF, it did help the match not to have interference, it was two people decking each other to see who’s best and Moxley proved himself more ferocious. Brodie showed himself as a main event quality wrestler who looked good with the title on, pushing through assault multiple times to only be eked into defeat (unlike Archer). Hopefully his story furthers in either respecting that even he must strengthen or lashing out because of his weakness.

Stadium Stampede Match Winner: The Elite, ‘Broken’ Matt Hardy & ‘Hangman’ Adam Page via Pinfall (One-Winged Angel on Sammy Guevara) Well, that was surely something. Not to be outdone by MITB, the storied rivalry of The fractured Elite, Hangman and Matt Hardy against the Inner Circle went hilariously wild and creative with the Stadium Stampede and I loved every single second of it. I’ll try to remember everything in the match to praise so here goes; the Inner Circle’s entrance like an NFL team was great fun, would’ve liked them to jump out of a paper symbol of the Inner Circle but it didn’t take away from the entertainment value. The Elite started without Hangman as they charged at the IC to meet in the middle, some fighting in the ring and some out. Hangman won the entrance game though by ominously strolling on horseback as Sammy Guevara quickly read between the lines and bolted, only to have shaken off Hangman to return for a missed shooting star press on Matt and then a very nearly uncaught one out of the ring too. Not to be outdone, Matt Jackson - broken ribs and all - pulled off a crisp moonsault off the goal post of the stadium while the Bucks tussled with ‘Le Sex Gods’, Santana and Ortiz tussled with Omega and Hardy and Hager went to search for Hangman, who had since dismounted after locating the lobby bar. Kenny had a rough double powerbomb table spot which was quickly cut to replay in order to mask either Santana and/or Ortiz losing his footing on the table and fell off it, but the cut allowed that moment to be skipped as the tag team focused on Hardy. Broken Brilliance would ensue as the team would try to drown Matt in a swimming pool(!?) that happened to be a pool of reincarnation, surfacing Team Extreme ‘Classic Matt’ and then ‘V1 Matt’ with graphics of ‘MATTer of Fact’ that Santana and Ortiz hilariously acknowledged with confusion, all the while an underwater cam would film Matt still happily doing his Team Extreme/V1 hand gestures while drowning. Damascus resurfaced from the pool to deal with the duo, sending both through a table, immobilizing Ortiz by ringing a bell with his head inside and taping him to a ‘chair of wheels’ and then getting his own back by locking Santana in an ice box. I will have to say, while this was great fun with Matt, I do worry a little for Santana and Ortiz. The former LAX were one of the best tag teams in the world leaving Impact and I had hoped they’d take the tag titles in this feud, but they’ve been kept from it like the Bucks have, between the Lucha Bros, SCU, Best Friends and rumours of FTR, the pool does have a lot of strong teams and it’s easy to get lost in the fold. But back to the action, Hager finds Hangman enjoying a whiskey, after a brief ceasefire to drink the bar brawl hits the right notes of great western tropes, including cue stick strikes, Hager dragging Hangman across the bar stand and table spots. Hager looked really strong here, taking on Page and the arriving Omega before being sent wobbly by multiple bottles of bubbly to the head, followed by a V-Trigger and a Buckshot Lariat over the bar as Kenny platformed for Page’s flip, a nice resolution as the tag team get on the same page, sharing a whiskey and a milk. Stories returned to the stadium as the Bucks and Jericho had their own mixture of creative spots and comedy; Matt did a ‘100 yard’ chain of Northern Lights Suplexes onto Guevara while Jericho demanded a VAR replay on a 2 count from Aubrey Edwards (I love how involved Aubrey gets as well), Le Champion also sent Nick through a Jaguars jaguar head’s mouth and did a Judas Effect on the team mascot while Matt was penalized after his touchdown dance referencing Alan Wright, leading to the ref being Superkicked. The Bucks then were able to isolate Jericho and lay him out with Nick doing a bonkers splash through a table starting from the steps of the stadium all the way down to the field, added insult to injury following as Hangman drove over Jericho with a chalk liner But the star of the match had to be Guevara. That kid is a literal star, his expressions and delusion is so on point as well, Spanish gods bless him and his 1000+ lives. After recovering from the 100 yard suplex run, he collapsed onto sprinklers which turned on, his mindset loopy as he started celebrating thinking he won, his face slowly dropping perfectly as the return of the Golf Kart gave him flashbacks of a past death of his in the Tag Street Fight on a previous Dynamite. Sammy was a little wiser and faster though, escaping into the seats out of the Kart’s reach, he slowly ended up being cornered by Matt and Kenny as the Bucks and Hangman watched below, Guevara fended off Matt, but was distracted by Vanguard-1′s reincarnation, NEO-1, for Kenny to daze him. The finish coming as Kenny One-Winged Angel’d Sammy off the ramp to a crash mat below at an incredible height, Aubrey needing to climb a ladder to count the win. Afterwards, the Elite celebrated with Matt and Hangman, hinting that Hangman has reconciled with the Elite as graphics appeared again on the stadium, closing out the PPV. Fantastically bonkers match, but once again this match had a great story in the terms of how the Inner Circle lost. For weeks, the IC ended consecutive Dynamites with the advantage due to their masterful use of the numbers game, but in the Stadium Stampede they are defeated because they split ranks, together they were strong but alone they were broken down, it’s only when the likes of Hager, Jericho and Guevara were isolated did the Inner Circle begin to lose the tide. There was also the recurring elements of the Icebox, Matt’s Broken character, Nick’s prior injury by the IC, Kenny bringing the broom and Hangman’s Cowboy Shit and strained relationship with Kenny and the Bucks, not to mention the many deaths and PTSD of Sammy Guevara. Say what you will about the Elite favouring spots, but you cannot deny that even in this Inner Circle feud, they have made stars out of Guevara and Hangman, it isn’t just self-indulgence. I will say though, I was surprised not to see FTR make a jump, we already had the IC and Elite have graphics on the Stadium so I hoped that the final one would be FTR, but maybe they’re saving it, after all, Blood and Guts is still waiting to be used.

Final Thoughts Outside of the matches itself it was unique that foley crowd sounds were added in to add to immersion, if it weren’t the Empty Arena era of course it would be a down but under the circumstances it made the PPV feel bigger having at least some white noise. The roster as a crowd continues to be good as we saw various personnel react but not steal any spotlight. We do have to appreciate that AEW acknowledges some shortcomings such as the TNT title’s unfinished model and the injuries to Fénix and Baker. Production issues should not have persisted as long as they have, and while it may not all be AEW’s fault due to COVID and the alternate streaming services they must be aware that this will continue to be treated as a blemish, unfortunately whatever AEW does will be compared to WWE - like the Women’s and TNT title have or the respective pushes to select wrestlers. While the current wrestlers are doing well and Dark is providing a platform for local talent - some like Jay, Suge D, Vance and Angels capturing the eye of AEW - it’s worth not forgetting the roster still there; Janela, Kiss, Swole, Avalon, Leva, and practically anyone in the crowd of shows should be able to compete right? All of personnel are tested for COVID so I do appreciate the attention to safety but from a fan’s perspective you do hope that talent get proper exposure. I will also say that I think we’re reaching a threshold of ‘Legends managers’ for the singles men’s roster, we’re fine for now but you don’t want to overdo it. But, overall Double or Nothing was a solid and enjoyable show, had some fun moments and strong matches. While I found the Archer finish and the Spears match disagreeable, it wasn’t too much of a down to ruin the show, the highs still outweighed the lows and there was still a good amount of variety, decent pacing due to good card positioning and nothing overstayed its welcome. We’ve got intriguing directions now too as we build to Fyter Fest; a feud between Moxley and Cage, Cody and the TNT title, fallout for Brodie and Archer’s losses, Best Friends in the tag title hunt, Britt Baker on promo and new champion Shida waiting for us in anticipation of the next show.

[eerythingisshaka]

Will the Bell Ring?  Pt. 5

[Erik Killmonger x Black OC]

Word Count 5.3k

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

The speed in which Kimara peeled out of the parking lot of the Korean BBQ place gave any witness whiplash as she channeled her anger through the accelerator.  Kimara cursed out the air and any driver in her way as she rode around the streets of midtown.  It’s a damn miracle no cops were around to pull her over or they would’ve caught some serious heat from her their damn self.  Not long after running her fifth yellow light turning red, Kimara began to feel her tears well over profusely.  Her whole body shook as the sobs came more powerfully and she couldn’t control the car properly anymore.  

Pulling over, Kimara puts her car in park as she lays onto the wheel causing it to honk one time before she unloads her emotions completely.  This isn’t what she expected, which is an outcome that is actually more common throughout this fertility process than she’d care to look back on.  She’s exhausted with all the waiting and trying and disappointment, Kimara just wants an answer or some quick fix that’ll give her what she needs.

*knock knock*

Kimara jumps at the sharp sound on her passenger side window, breathing out with relief once she recognizes the kind face.

“T’Challa!  What are you doing here?”  She sniffles as he opens the door to sit inside looking at her with pity.

“It’s not so taboo to be here shopping around as it is to sit in a car and cry.” He quips.

Kimara chuckles gruffly before getting caught with a hiccup from her weeping.  “I don’t do this all the time, I swear.”

T’Challa studies your face appearing suspicious.  “Are you…”

She stares at him trying to catch on until she rolls her eyes.  “Not every emotional moment with a woman is attributable to hormones man, damn!  I’m not pregnant, not on my period.  I’m just dealing with fuckboy bullshit.”

T’Challa melts in his seat with embarrassment.  Just two minutes with her and he’s already regretting making his presence known.  “How are things with Erik?”

“Terrible.”  Kimara mutters.

“Elaborate.”

She wipes her face, crossing her arms.  “You know he can be such a damn idiot sometimes.”

“Specifically?”  T’Challa draws out.

Kimara tuts at him, throwing up her hands.  “I thought you didn’t want details on our shit.  TMI and whatever.”

“I want details on what is going on with you.  Good or bad.”  T’Challa says softly, waiting patiently for her response.  

Kimara drops her attitude, playing with her nails anxiously.  “I had a doctor’s appointment today with Erik.  Nothing’s wrong with him.”

“That is good, right?”  

She lays back on the headrest, looking out the window.  “It is, health is always good.  Just...what else could it be now?  I thought that would give me my answer.”

“Does Erik know you are here?”

Kimara shakes her head.  “I left him at a Korean spot.  He was picking up his car anyway but I was tired of him too.”

“Did you like that place?”  T’Challa voice rises an octave in anticipation.

She nods, smirking.  “It was very nice.  Erik told me you picked it.”  Kimara looks over at T’Challa.  “Thank you for having good taste.”

T’Challa smiles softly.  “It is not something one can learn, I told you.”

Kimara tuts at him before looking away wordlessly.

“But why are you crying alone from your husband?”

“I don’t know.  I’m regretting what I said, or at least how I said it.  But Erik started off blaming the doctor and not taking the positive notes she gave us.  The whole appointment it was like he was stewing, ready for a fight or something.  I don’t know what came over him then but he flipped out.”

“That may be his way of accepting the news himself.  He is probably just as over the process as you are.”  T’Challa says.

“I know, I know.  But it’s like...what does he know?  How can he come in here blaming anybody for this when he’s barely wanted to follow instructions on how to better our chances.  He flip flops so much, then there’s work.  I’ve seen him act like this before.  When he wants something, he goes for it.  But this?  He’s in a whole other world. And I’m this close to done, I cant take his childish behavior anymore.”

“Have you told him?”

“No, this just happened.”

“I mean from before.  Your shame: did you tell him?”

Kimara goes quiet.  That said everything.

“Kimara-”

“I know!  I should.  But this isn’t the time.  Not when we’re rocky like this.”

T’Challa grows impatient with her.  “It has to be now!  You are not over that time in life and if he does not know you are harboring, your emotional duress appears out of the blue.  He will feel attacked.”

“Well he should!  I gave up a huge part of me for him and I don’t know if he could do the same.  He hasn’t proven that yet!”  

T’Challa grabs Kimara’s hand.  “Give him a little credit for what he’s been through.  Look.  Until you talk with him this is all speculative.”

“Well I have a right.”

“Do not be stubborn.  Remember this situation before?  I knew where Erik was, but you were not ready to let go of your anger to let clarity come through.  You must seek him out on this, be truthful.  If you do not, I cannot see this ending well, Bast forbid.”

Kimara holds his hand tightly before resting in his shoulder.  “I remember...I get that.  I don’t wanna leave him like that.  He doesn’t deserve that if he doesn’t know.  I’ll...trust the process.”

T’challa nods.  “That sounds familiar.  So you were listening to me.  You are a special woman, I just hate to see you go through this without all of the facts being known on his side.  The only way I can comfort you is because I know everything.  Whether I like it or not.”

They chuckle a moment as they held it together quietly, grazing their knuckles in small circles with their thumbs.  Kimara remember a lot about those times when Erik recovered from his combat brainwashing, how much coaxing it took T’Challa to see him through a new lens.  T’Challa never let Kimara down.  His word is always his truth and she appreciated that.  She didn’t give it a serious thought until just now.

T’Challa kisses the top of her head with a small peck, making her look up at him with a faint smile.  His eyes draw her into the features of his face, different from Erik’s but just as handsome.  She felt a dip in the pit of her stomach as her eyes fell over the bow of his top lip-

*brrrring!  brrrrring!*

Kimara’s phone breaks the trance as she nearly hops out of herself to stop the maddening noise.

“Hey Erik?  Yeah, I’m just over by the shops on 48th?  I needed some...I know…..It’s ok, really.  We’ll talk when I get home, don’t worry.  I’ll be there soon.  Love you too.”

She hangs up, growing timid.  “Sooo if you’re good I’m gonna head home.  Talk to this boy about stuff.”

T’Challa has his elbow on the passenger window, balling his fist up but with a calm expression.  His face reads a multitude of words just hanging from the cliff of his mind but his jaw is too tight to speak them.

“T’Challa?”

He nods, snapping out of his mind to give a tight smile.  “Of course.  Drive safely.”

--

Erik’s been working with his team at Boeing for a few weeks now trying to get some ideas off the ground.  He prides himself on being a superstar of the company, earning them easily millions and it’s all lightwork for his IQ.  But they were turning more commercial driven, and that doesn’t vibe with him.  And now that he works with Bryan, being the son of his boss, his wings are nubs at this point.

“Listen.  We have competition out there that are able to carry more passengers on longer flights.  We gotta keep up or we will be left in the dust!”  Edward exclaims.

Erik rubs his eyes as he leans back in the conference room chair.  “I’m not going rounds with you over this.  That’s the last thing we need to be focusing on right now.”

“Profits?  Profitability is never last Erik, it scares me how often I have to remind you of that.”

“Hey guys?”  Bryan says.

Erik tunes him out.  “When profit hunting cuts into innovation, TRUE innovation, that betters the product in the long run and sets an example for others in the industry, we fail!  And in your case we already are!  The Russians landed on the moon first bruh!”

“Guys!”  Bryan interjects.

Edward holds up a finger.  “One second son.  Listen here, I’ve been in this business for 30 years now, you think-”

“I think your father shoulda taught you better than this, yeah.”  Erik quips.

“GUYS!  I have a fucking idea, can you stop to hear it?”

Erik and Edward fume, looking at one another before going back to their respective corners.

“Sure son, and please speak with common sense.”  Edward says rolling his eyes as he sips some bourbon.

“How about we just knock out on engine on each side of the aircraft, so that gives room for the extra passenger space to be added?”

Erik’s face screws up “BOY THAT’S THE DUMBEST-”

Edward stops Erik.  “Hang on.  There are no wrong answers here.  Keep talking, what do you mean by that?”

Erik is incredulous.  “There are literally very wrong answers that can be given when discussing the composition of an aircraft!”

Bryan clears his throat.  “Well, of course we have to map out the logistics of it all.  But that’s the difference between us and our competitors.  They have constructed their aircrafts to be able to accommodate the extra passenger space by having the bodymore elevated from the ground.  The only thing blocking ours is the extra engines.”

“There are so many things wrong with what you just said, it’s hilarious honestly.  But you have a good time figuring it out.”  Erik gets up to leave.

“Oh actually, if you have space in your schedule, we need you to help with this one.  I really wanna get the ball rolling on this so we can be prepared to roll out by next spring at the latest.”

“Why the fuck would I work on something that ain’t my damn idea?  Your boy said it, let him handle it.  I don’t need no credit for this.”

Edward scoffs.  “That’s fine.  You can do the work and get none of the credit.  How’s that?”

“What?”

He pats Erik’s shoulder.  “We have a father son golf tournament we wanna get some practice in for anyhow.  Erik, I trust you.  You’re my most senior person in this department, and at your age, that is incredible.  I’d love to see you running this place one day, but to do that, you have-”

“I don’t like sports, I don’t do teams, and the only player I am has nothing to do with this company.”

Edward smiles amused at Erik’s tenacity.  “That is good!  I love that enthusiasm.  So I need something, anything crossing my office floor by month’s end or you know, we’ll talk.”

“That’s some bullshit, you know it.”

“Oh, don’t worry.  I did get you some help to soften the blow.  They should be waiting in your office.”

Erik rolls his eyes.  If he has to see one more white person giving him orders, he was gonna make the 5 o’clock news in no time.  He makes his way down the hall and around the corner to trudge his way to his office, checking his pockets for his phone.  He sees a text from Kimara and starts to open it as he walks in.

“Well how you, handsome?”

Erik’s feet make tracks on the tiles as he screeches to a halt.  Looking up he starts to turn warm, eyes widening as he catches a glimpse of a familiar figure.  

“My, my.  I guess you do recognize me.  I’m a lot different outside my work clothes.”  She says, rubbing the back of her neck as she clutches her leather satchel.  She does look a lot different than their first encounter, but the curves can’t hide under her tailor navy blazer with gold piping along the collar and sides, with matching pencil skirt to boot.  The only thing that didn’t change is the heels, that had to be flirting with workplace dress code etiquette for height.

Erik tucks his phone in his pocket.  “Uh, you, uh…Chanel, right?”

She rolls her eyes, fighting an embarrassed smile.  “Whatever I told you that night was a lie.  I never tell dudes I barely know my real name.  It’s Alaina.”

Erik walks across the way offering a hand.  “You didn’t seem too bothered with me being a stranger though.”

She shakes his hand firmly, still smiling slyly.  “Well, that was then.  And I was off the clock.  I can’t be held responsible for what happens after hours.”

“Mhm, if I wasn’t with my boy, you would’ve given me some trouble.  That wasn’t a meat market ma’am, I wasn’t lookin to cut either.”

She raises her hands.  “Hey, I get it.  Especially now.  You have my word I will behave myself.  God blockedt it!”

Erik takes a seat behind his desk as Alaina sits in the chair across from him.  “So you are the secret weapon to getting this bullshit idea off the ground, huh?”

Alaina shrugs.  “I’m here to get a paycheck and possibly a promotion.  I’m here on contract, I gotta make my moves while I can.”

“Ok, that’s cool.  It’s funny how he got all the Black folks working this together for him, but I won’t get into that today.”

She rubs her forehead.  “Please, refrain.  I don’t need a lecture on corporate politics from Brother Erik today.”

Erik chuckles, impressed with her wittiness.  Chanel, or Alaina, was more than just a fat ass in some FashionNova, but a brain on top to boot.  

“You right  Listen, Edward got you here close to my clock out time, so I was gonna go to my bar spot up the street, let off some steam.”

“The Magnolia?  Ooh, I love their martinis at happy hour!”

“And it just started too.”  Erik pulls out his keys and gets up to leave.  “So that’s where I’m headed.  We can pick this up tomorrow, if you not up for martinis.”

“When am I not up for a martini, is the real question.  One drink can’t hurt, I’ll treat you.  And don’t worry about what I said earlier.  I’ll be on my best behavior after hours too.”

--

Kimara comes home to the house dark and empty yet again.  Erik has been taking a lot of time to work after hours and it’s been killing her vibe lately.  When she comes home from the studio, she’d love to see her man welcome her home, but he hasn’t been available.

Phone calls from the fertility specialist urging her to start considering IVF as an option is stressing her out.  Erik isn’t getting the calls, nor is he there when they come.  The most he can give is a hurried, ‘oh what’d they say?  What you wanna do then?  Look I gotta go!’

Kimara was not keen on even thinking about trying to get fertility treatments yet.  One day she invited Lia over, a friend she’s gained from her recent sessions at the studio.  

Over a bottle of wine and junk food, Kimara opened up about her situation as of lately.  It’s hard to avoid as a topic since it’s been consuming her all this time.  

“Sheesh, it’s been that long?”  She exclaims taking a strong sip of her glass.

Kimara nods emphatically.  “I wish I was lying but yeah.  We are closing in on a year pretty soon, and I’m not getting any younger, so I may have to look into this pretty soon.  It’s not like we are having a whole lot of sex these days anyway.  He’s at work constantly.”

“Girl, fix that ASAP!  Nothing makes me more jaded than not busting one every so often.”

“No one said I wasn’t busting, I would like to have my man in on it too, every once in a while.  I need a new charge cord for my shit now!”

Lia guffaws.  “So who’s ignoring who though in this situation?  I know he can’t resist our fine ass.”

Kimara scratches her head.  “Well…”

“Oh!  Now we don’t have much to say!”

“I mean!  He comes in late as hell.  I’m in my bonnet, got on my mask, knee deep in Blue Bell watching my shows when he comes in.  By the time I’m in bed and he takes a shower, he tries to get handsy.  But I don’t wanna just be devoured and tossed aside, I want some damn communication!”

“Well at least you know he wants it still.”

“Yeah yeah, but when I call him on the bullshit he turns his ass back over real quick.  He won’t talk to me and I’m getting so damn tired of trying.”

Lia looks at her phone.  “Shit, I gotta go girl.  The sitter won’t hesitate to charge me extra for being late.  But girl, just take some deep breaths.”

Kimara does.  “Will air give me a baby and my hot and horny relationship back?”

“No but it’ll give some blood flow to that crowded ass brain of yours so you don't get to talking foolish.”

Kimara hugs her and walks her out the door when she sees some headlights pull into the driveway.  Lia looks back.

“Be nice, but stand your ground.”  She winks before walking on, waving wildly at Erik’s car.  He waves back nonchalantly as he walks in after you.

“Who was that?”   Erik asks.

“A friend from the studio.  Just keeping me company.”  You say, discarding you glasses.

Erik tosses his keys on the counter, taking his shoes off.  

“You want something to eat?”  You ask at the kitchen sink.

“Nah, you good.  I already ate.”

“This late?  So work came with dinner today?”

“You could say that.”  Erik sas in a monotone as he takes his jacket off.

Kimara stans there tapping her foot impatiently.  “Well, what do you say?”

“...you forgot to clean the dishes again?”

“Erik!”

He laughs.  “I’m just kidding!  Damn, how’s your day?  Love you.  Thanks for everything.  I’m takin a shower.”He kisses a fuming Kimara quickly sensing his job being done.

Erik heads upstairs to the master bathroom as she loads the dishwasher, which has become like a part time job for her.  Erik used to try and pull doing the ‘traditional’ household tasks mess on her.  But Kimara snapped him up quick with some facts, ultimatums, and peppered threats to get her point across that that was not how things would go down.  But he’s fallen off the wagon this month.  Kimara sets the washer on and rinses her hands with fury before bounding up stairs.  She hears the water running and open the door.  Erik’s silhouette is frosted and murky behind the foggy glass of the shower door.  The scent of his body wash fills her nostrils, lighting up her senses.  Kimara loves the soap he uses and can’t resist when he’s cleaned up to get him dirty all over again.  But like she told Lia, she hasn’t been in the mood as of late he didn’t earn that ass yet.  

Kimara sits on the toilet lid.  “Erik, what’s been going on?”

Erik opens the door a crack and peeks his head out, sudsy bubbles speckle his skin as he grins.  “Yo, what’s it look like I’m doin?  You tryna join me?”

She shakes her head.  “I wanna know where my husband has been spending his time.”  

Erik’s smile fades as he closes the door again talking over the water.  “I haven’t done nothing but work.  And trust me, I don’t like it no more than you.”

Kimara makes face of frustration.  “So what changed?  This isn’t normal for you still.”

“I mean...there’s nothing to talk about now, but I got this project on my head that had a strict deadline and me and this partner have just been…..you know, hammering it out.”

Kimara sighs.  “It’s not the same not having you here.  I don’t like it, it’s not fair to me.”

Erik shuts off the shower, getting out with his body glistening wet and clean, grabbing a towel across the way to dry off.  “I ain’t no fan either, but I’m tryna do some big things here that will hopefully make some history and that takes a lotta time and energy.”

“So does a relationship!  I been having dinner by myself, sleeping by myself.  I get calls from the doctor asking for us when there is no US to consider.”

Erik peaks from behind the towel on his face. “Hey hey!  We still us, don’t trip!  Like I said, I-”

“BUSY!  Sure Erik, whatever fits your conscience.  This project better have a break time, cuz WE have things to do too, remember?  So you and your boy, whoever your project partner is are gonna have to work something out.”

Erik wraps his towel around his waist before kneeling in front of Kimara.  “I know you think I forgot but I haven’t.”

Kimara’s eyes shift from him.  “What?”

Erik smirks.  “Now you gonna hurt my feelings if you forgot.  Tomorrow…..our anniversary?”

Kimara tears well up instantly.  Of course she thought he had forgotten.  He hasn’t said a damn thing leading up to today, what else would she think.

“I don’t want you crying on the happiest day of my life, you hear me?  We in that year three, third times the charm right?”

Kimara really starts to ugly cry now.  “Why you makin me cry if you don’t want me too?”

Erik kisses her hands.  “You are my life.  My one, my baby.   One thing we learned together no matter how far I go, we come back together as one, you know?”

Kimara sniffles, leaning her forehead against Erik’s thinking over their years together.  That statement didn’t always ring true to her, but in a small way he has been right.

“No decision I make goes without thinking of you, our family.  I got us reservations tomorrow, and tickets to that comic you love on the Boulevard.  We got the whole day to do what we wanna do, don’t trip.”

“Don’t scare me like this.”  Kimara says with an exhausted tone.  “Even for surprises, don’t.”

Erik’s eyes met hers.  “Nothing is keeping me from you.  Tomorrow let’s make that appointment with the doctor too.  I’m feeling pretty lucky right now, we are gonna get our shot.”

“You feelin lucky to get lucky?”  Kimara says stifling a laugh.

Erik pulls her closer to him by her hips.  “No lottery better in the world.”

They kissed sweetly at first, feeling a familiar urge that makes her legs tighten up.  Kimara pulls away first.  “I thought about something you said though before, about a different doctor.  My friend knows a fertility specialist that may be worth looking into, maybe we can them next.”

Erik nods, looking lost in her face, running his thumb along her cheek.  “Sure, I’m up for whatever.”

“Also, while you been busy, I’ve been looking at spots for a vacation.  I’m; narrowing it down to the DR, PR, Turks and Caicos, or Belize.”

Erik buries his face in her chest, kissing the softness of her skin.  “I trust your judgement.”

Kimara defends herself against his ticklish lips.  “But I want your opinion too!  And since things been going good with T’Challa and his lady, they should join us officially.  We can have dinner with them next week to get acquainted and start talking about it.”

“Ok!  You gonna help me cook?”

Erik scoffs.  “Who said that?  We cookin now?  Why don’t we do like them damn Koreans and just say bring your meat and here’s the stove. Ge to it!”

She rolls her eyes.  “I’m am so sick and damn tired of that smart mouth of yours.”

He cocks an eyebrow, giving your thighs a squeeze.  “It knows what to do when you need it to.”

“Oh?”

They smile into each others mouth as their lips come together in an embrace.  Kimara’s hands play in Erik’s locs, carefully rubbing his scalp as he moans under the sensation.  Her knees rub around him causing his towel to fall.  

Erik picks her up, kissing at her neck with neediness.  “I know you not tryna fuck on this toilet?”

Kimara sighs erotically rolling her head back to take in his mouth.  “Like I give a shit where I get it right now…”

Eight Years Ago

Kimara sits in the studio after hours, playing around with the keys on a keyboard.  The day was done but she had plans to meet with someone so she was just biding her time.  In the distance she could hear the bells jingle on the front door of the studio as someone walks in.  She checks her phone for an ‘on the way’ text but there is none, and curses herself for forgetting to lock the door.  

She slowly comes out from the back room.  “Uh, sorry but we’re clo-”

The jean jacket he loves, little locs bound atop his head, and a pair of broad shoulders hunched looking through framed photos of musicians spanning decades in a display case told Kimara all she needed to know for identification.  Her heart lurches into her throat, cutting off her breath to produce sound as Erik slowly turns to look at her.

“Wassup?”  He says with a casual grin.  

“H-hey.  How did you-”

“Find you?”  She shakes his head looking back at the photos.  “It ain’t that hard to figure out.  Not as hard as getting to Wakanda to see me I guess.”

Kimara folds her arms walking slowly towards him.  “Erik, I couldn’t go all the way over there.  For what?  Your cousin told me you were safe, and frankly that’s all I was worried about.”

He nods, turning to face you with his hands in his pockets.  You take a deep breath looking him over.  Still as big as ever, and looking good to have gone through and done all T’Challa told her happened in Wakanda.  And in a small way his eyes seemed different and familiar, not like the night he left.  But like the friend she once knew.

“I’m glad he filled you in on that.  Yeah, it took a lotta counselling with my demons, but...I figured out what I needed to let go and change for the better.”

“Good.  I’m glad, really.”  Silence comes between the both of them.  Him just standing there looking at Kimara made her feel shy all of a sudden.  She thought about this day often: what she would say or do if she caught him out here after all he put her through on her own.  But now that spirit just isn’t in her.  She felt stagnate, like her whole system shut down and is preparing for a reboot.

“How have you been?”  He asks, scratching his beard humbly as his eyes drop a second from her face.  “You look nice by the way.”

Kimara shrugs.  “I haven’t been up to much recently.  I teach music to school kids and...since you found me here maybe you heard I do backup for artists sometimes.”

Erik shakes his head.  “Nah, I hadn’t heard that actually.  Congratulations!  You deserve that, your talent is outta this world, Mara.”

She gives him a weak smile.  “And we’re closed now,so I mean if you want to meet up another time, I gotta-”

“Did you miss me?”  Erik asks.

Kimara stammers.  “Uh…”

Erik leans on the case hanging his head low.  “I know I shouldn’t have come by your place that night.  I don’t know what has gotten into me but I promise you I hadn’t planned for any of it.”

“I know that now.  You came to me confused and left me just as such.  I thought you were staying with me.”

“I know, and I was.  I just wasn’t ready-”

“To be a man? To be grown enough to take responsibility head on?”

Erik shrugs looking slightly bewildered.  “Possibly, I don’t know!  I didn’t want to hurt you and leave you without me seeing you one more time but that night made it even harder for me to want to go.”

“Then why did you?  Why did my body become your test of ‘should I stay or should I go?’  You were planning to leave regardless, you just said!  So why weren’t you upfront with me?!”

“Because I love you and didn’t want you to get hurt!”

“But you hurt me Erik!  You did!  You came over feeling big and bold, I softened you up but a minute before you peaced out on me.  Like that shit didn’t matter?  Like that’s even something we did before.”

Erik’s eye hang low.  “I didn’t mean for the first to be the last.”

“I don’t give a fuck about the sex Erik.  I was just another in a line of females you wouldn’t look twice at.  You ain’t my first to do that, I don’t give a shit.  But if you weren’t interested in being my man, you could’ve at least been my friend and thought for one second how leaving to do a homicide suicide mission with who knows and where and leaving me high and dry!  I was a MESS!  I was inconsolable, Erik we practically grew up together and you just that easily forgot what all that shit meant?”

Erik shakes his head emphatically, walking slowly over to her with outstretched hands.  “Mara I’m sorry.”

Kimara gulps for air between sobs, feeling herself go weak.  “No!  Don’t do that.  I’m sick of you.”

Erik wipes his face eyes turning red, looking sorrowful.   “I been sick of my damn self.”

Kimara grabs Erik by the collar of his jacket.  “I’m so sick of you bringing this tye of shit outta me.  I was over you, I swear I was.”

Erik’s arms wrap around Kimara tightly as she burrows her face into his chest.  They shake with emotion together, swaying side to side and letting go on one another.  Kimara hugs Erik as tightly as she can, feeling rubbing his back, caressing his head to make sure he isn’t a dream.  But it’s real.  Erik’s hads travel the length of your back before finding either side of your face to pull your gaze to his.

“I won’t put that pressure on you again.  I’m not leaving your side either.  I don’t even care if you got a nigga, I got your back when he fuck up.”

Kimara makes a noise that’s a combo of a sob and a laugh while holding the back of his hands in his.  “You still a damn fool.”

When Erik’s eyes meet Kimara’s, there’s an energy that kept accelerating, building between the two of them.  It was tortuous, almost irritating how lonely her lips felt when she looked at his, and Erik definitely felt the same.  

God’s hand seemed to keep twirling around their heads, bringing them closer bit by bit until their mouths met.  Kimara’s body felt like a whole piece again once connected with his.  She had found a peaceful existence without him but she had no clue she missed him so much until he was right in front of him.  

When they parted for air Kimara rested her forehead on his chin.  “Erik, I can’t just jump into this.  I’m still not there.”

Erik pats her head gently.  “Mara, I ain’t worried bout that.  You here, I’m here.  I don’t need nothing else.  Imma work on my situation, get myself stable.  And you just live your life like you was.  Just this time you can call me.  For whatever.”

Kimara hugs Erik tightly, breathing him in when she feels a vibration in her back pocket.  

“Sorry, hang on.”  Kimara reaches for it, looking to see T’Challa’s name flashing as an incoming call.  She declines it, texting him back to cancel their night together.

Part 6

Masterlist

Ragtag

@chaneajoyyy @sarcastic-sunshines @muse-of-mbaku@dameshaemonique  @fonville-designs@destinio1@bakarisangel@wakanda-inspired@klaine15689 @savageiz@nickidub718@yoyolovesbucky @alexundefined @forbeautyandlife@bakarisangel

[feelingfredly]

Tea for Three?

Part 3 of the Better Living Through Chemistry series

Grimmjow was a surprisingly good companion—Ichigo refused to call him a date, no matter what Nelliel said—the only problem was his enthusiasm.

And his ego.

Oh, and don’t forget the fact that he constantly forgot they were surrounded by humans.

Okay, he was a horrible date, but it was still good to not be the only one in the audience looking at the kickboxing “experts” and thinking they’d last about a minute and a half in a real fight.

“Sit down, you idiot,” Ichigo hissed, for what seemed like the fiftieth time. “I told you, they don’t take challengers.  Anyway, you’re in a fucking gigai.   What makes you think you could take them anyway?”

Grimmjow growled and dropped back onto the bench. “I could take that asshole in the black with my teeth. I can smell his fear from here.” He pulled his lips back in a feral grin and Ichigo had to admit, they were impressive teeth for a gigai.   Kisuke’d even let him keep the almost-fangs. “Everything he does is for show and then he runs away where the other guy can’t hit him.  Fucking coward.”

Ichigo made a noise that could have been agreement.  “The guy in white has great range, though.  I thought he was going to pull the guy over completely when he grabbed that last kick. Good leverage.”

Grimmjow grunted. “Should’ve just broken his ankle.  Gloves are for weaklings.”

Ichigo didn’t argue.

They sat like that, alternating between hunched forward staring intently and throwing themselves back in their seats in frustration as the fights went on, until neither of them could stand it anymore.

“Race you to the training grounds at the shōten.”

The almost-fangs shone in a blood-thirsty answer. “Thought you’d never ask.”

***

They trash talked as they raced through the streets of Karakura and Ichigo had to fight Zangetsu down more than once, his inner hollow feeding on the aggression.

“Aw, is the Baby Hollow giving you a hard time, Kurosaki?” Grimmjow laughed at the glimmer of gold that Ichigo knew was edging the brown of his eyes.

“Fuck you, Grimm,” he said, tripping the taller man as they turned the last corner before the straightaway towards the shōten. “Zan would wipe the floor with you, gigai or not.”

He could hear the crazy laugh in his inner world and growled internally. Don’t get any ideas. Grimm is MY fight.

Zangetsu giggled again. Sure, King. Fight. Right. Say it a little louder and maybe you’ll believe that’s all he is.

Ichigo frowned and ignored the taunt.  Zan had jabbed at him more than once about the time he spent with Grimmjow, whether they were arguing or sparring or trying to sort out what exactly was going to happen now that Aizen wasn’t running Hueco Mundo. If he didn’t know better, he’d say the white bastard was jealous. And Kisuke was no help.  He just smiled and said that it made sense for Zan to want to prove his dominance over the nearest hollow, and if Ichigo was going to continue spending time with Grimmjow, he should either get used to his inner world being a constant snarkfest, or give in and let Zan have it out with Grimm once and for all.

That sounded like a recipe for disaster of absolutely Kisuke proportions.

“Cheating bastard.” Grimmjow laughed and scrambled to his feet so fast it was as if he’d never lost his balance. “Didn’t think you had it in you, Kurosaki.”

“You have no idea what I have in me,” Ichigo said, throwing himself forward at full speed.  Even in his human form he could feel his reiatsu humming along his skin, and he couldn’t wait to hit the training ground to beat Grimmjow and Zangetsu both back into line.

They hit the door of the shōten at almost the same time, but Ichigo had the edge of familiarity and he had the door in his hand before Grimmjow could grab it. “Beat you, Grimm.”

Grimmjow snorted and leaned against the wall, the only sign of their hell-for-leather race being his breathing a little more heavily than usual. “What was that? You wanted to use all that practice you’ve gotten beating off, eh, Kurosaki? Why didn’t you just say so? Didn’t have to…”

“Shut it, asshole,” Ichigo slammed the door, just missing Grimmjow’s foot, “save it for downstairs.”

Just then Kisuke wandered out of his lab, hair mussed like he’d been running his fingers through it. “Grimmjow-san! Ichigo-kun! Welcome back! I didn’t expect to see you so early. I take it the kickboxing tournament failed to hold your attentions?”

Grimmjow pushed off the wall and sauntered across the room. “Tournament? Bunch of losers you mean.  One adjuchas could’ve kicked all ten of their asses, and then eaten the damn trophy at the end. Right, Kurosaki?”

Ichigo hated to agree with him, but he wasn’t wrong.

“Yeah. It was a little frustrating, honestly.  Too much padding.  Too many rules.  Made us want a real fight.  I thought we’d use the training ground and burn off some steam before Grimm headed back to Hueco Mundo.”

Kisuke looked from one to the other and then shook his head a little apologetically. “Oh, but Ichigo-kun, don’t you remember?  The experiment I’ve been working on is finally ready, and you promised to help me test it this evening.  I’d say that it could wait, but unfortunately the compounds in this batch are quite volatile.”

Ichigo groaned.   Right now, the last thing he wanted was to do another one of Kisuke’s tea drugging experiments, but he couldn’t back out.  Kisuke’d been working on this one for three weeks.

“I’d totally forgotten.  Crap. Sorry Grimm, but I’m going to have to take a raincheck on the fight.”

Grimmjow wasn’t having it. “What the fuck is so important that it can’t wait until I’ve kicked your ass around a little?  We weren’t even going to be back for another hour, and it won’t take me that long to beat you into a bloody pulp.  Then the mad scientist over here can use what’s left for his experiments.  Win/win. Everybody’s happy.”

Zangetsu hissed in the corner of his brain. Let me kick his big blue ass, King.  I’ll take him apart until he’s nothing but little pieces that Kisuke can let Benihime practice sewing on. Fucking prick.  All talk.  Let’s fuck him up so badly that you’ll have to throw him through the garganta back to Hueco Mundo.

Ichigo knew from the look on Kisuke’s face that Zan had taken enough of a hold on him that his eyes were bleeding to gold.  Fuck, this wasn’t what he’d planned for this evening.

“Grimmjow-san, I am sorry to say that the bloody pulp would not be sufficient for my experiments,” Kisuke gave a little bow, “although I appreciate your willingness to adapt your plans to suit mine. For this experiment, though, I need Ichigo-kun at his strongest.  He will have to be to deal with the effects of the tea.”

A blue eyebrow rose. “Tea?” The disbelief was palpable. “Is this one of those tea drugging things Kurosaki was whining about a couple weeks ago?  I mean what?  You made him throw up for a couple hours.  Surely that isn’t something that he’d have to be in top form.   Or are you going to actually poison him for real this time?”

Ichigo shoved him.  Hard.  The bastard barely moved, though, and that just pissed him off more. “If Kisuke says I have to be in top form, then I have to be in top form.  You’re just lucky you’re not the one getting dosed.  You’d probably be crying in a corner like a kitten when it was over.  Asshole.”

Grimmjow stepped into him, forcing him to look up to meet his eyes. “Anything you can take, Kurosaki, I can take twice over.  Fucking drugged tea.  Give me a break.  He’s probably going to dose you with a sleeping pill so he can finally have a quiet night without listening to you whine.”

Kisuke stepped forward. “Boys, boys, calm down.”  He raised his hands placatingly. “I’d really rather not have to close the shop because you two ripped the displays apart.  Again.”

The two of them separated looking a little sheepish.  Well, Ichigo looked sheepish.  Grimmjow just looked pissed.

“Grimmjow-san, coincidentally enough, you might find the experiment interesting after all.  It was, in fact, designed to interact with Zangetsu-san, so it should, in fact, affect you as well.”

Broad shoulders rolled back at the challenge couched in Kisuke’s voice. “If the white punk could take it, then I can.”

Gray eyes turned to Ichigo and a blond brow rose in silent query.  The penny dropped, and Ichigo remembered what Kisuke had told him about this particular experiment.

 Hollows, no matter how evolved, whether they’re like Zangetsu-san or the Arrancar, are more driven by instinct than humans or Shinigami or Quincies.  At the bottom of every interaction you will find one of the major impetuses—fight, flight, or, to be blunt, fuck.  Most of them revert to flight.  The stronger ones fight.  Very few fuck.  What if we could find a formula that would change that? It would be much easier to kill a hollow that’s trying to chase an orgasm than one that’s trying to kill you, ne?

At the time it had sounded impossible and insane, but honestly many of Kisuke’s best/worst ideas started that way. And now… he’d done it. Or he’d gotten close enough that he wanted to try it on Zan and he didn’t think it would do any lasting damage if it didn’t work.

Zan’s wild laughter had quieted, but the anger still simmered deep inside and Ichigo wondered what the hollow would be like if he was just horny instead of murderous all the time.

What would Grimmjow be like?

That was what Kisuke was asking, wasn’t it?  Did Ichigo want to include Grimm in this mad trial? What would the brutal attention he brought to his fights be like if it was turned into sex? Did Ichigo want to bring that into their lives?  Into their bedroom?

“Two test cases are always better data sources than one, Ichigo-kun.”  A sly smirk spread across Kisuke’s face and Ichigo could feel a flush begin to crawl up his neck and across his cheekbones as his jeans became just a little tighter.

“Fuck it.  Bring on the tea, Kisuke,” he said, flinging himself onto the cushions by the low table in the lounge. “First one to cry uncle loses.”

***

“Now, Grimmjow-san,” Kisuke had brewed two cups of his best matcha and set them in front of Ichigo along with two glass vials filled with dark amber liquid, “normally I wouldn’t inform you of the expected effects of one of my experiments due to the possibility that foreknowledge would skew your reactions, but because you are coming into this totally blind I find myself in a quandry.  Most people would tell you I have no morals to speak of, and they’re typically correct, but I cannot in good faith let you take part in this without your understanding and consent.”

Grimmjow was shifting on his cushion clearly wanting to get to the next stage of the action, whatever that action was, but Ichigo couldn’t help but appreciate the fact that Kisuke was at least trying not to take advantage of the big idiot.

“Yeah, yeah, so what’s this going to do?  Make me howl at the moon?  I already do that sometimes, you know. Roar, not howl, but it’s pretty close.”  He grinned, and Ichigo could just imagine him on the dunes of Hueco Mundo roaring into the night, all the other hollows running in fear from the sound.

“Yes, it isn’t quite that simple, Grimmjow-san.”  Kisuke knelt in a graceful seiza and reached for one of the vials. “If I asked you what drives you, what would you say?”

It only took a second for him to answer. “The fight.  Being the one that’s still standing. That’s what it all comes down to.”

“This,” Kisuke waggled the vial, “will change that.  You’ll still have a drive, and it’ll ride you as hard as your desire to fight, but it won’t be the same.  You may want to run—to flee from whatever you see as danger.   You may want to fuck your way through it, to survive and thrive by spreading your seed as far and wide as you can.  I don’t know.  All I know is that while you’re under the effects of the formula, you *should* react differently than you normally do.”

Grimmjow made a sound in his throat like he had a hairball. “Flee my ass.  I’ve never run from anything in my life and no fucking formula is going to change that.  Fucking?  I don’t care about that, but who’m I going to fuck?   You?  The Berry over here? If you’re saying I’m going to sit around with blue-er balls than usual, I’m going to reconsider this whole thing.”

Kisuke didn’t say anything, but Ichigo couldn’t help but shift his weight slightly and Grimmjow’s eyes widened a fraction when they landed on him. His face was red, he knew, but he wasn’t going to be the one to back out of this.

“Well, well, well,” Grimmjow said, his voice dropping a little lower, his eyes moving from blond to redhead and back again, “not the wrestling match I expected, but I’m game.  Any other side-effects you want to mention before we get this show started?”

Kisuke shook his head and shifted until he could lounge more comfortably. “Well, there are always unforeseen side effects, but they should be minimal.”

Grimmjow looked back and forth between them once more and then took the vial and downed it before raising his cup of tea in a salute.  “Good enough.  If I end up bald or with an extra leg, I’ll just kill you tomorrow.”

“Fair enough,” Kisuke laughed and removed his hat back in a show of rare openness.  “If that happens, you are more than welcome to try.”

Ichigo reached for his matcha and the other vial. “You’re lucky you’re not getting the pink spotted camouflage tea, Grimm. I should’ve gotten a medal for that one.” He slugged back his dose and made a face.  It tasted terrible.  Again.

“Pink spotted camouflage?” Grimmjow’s voice cracked and Ichigo thought he looked a little panicked at the idea. “What the actual fuck?”

“I don’t know, Grimm,” he said and settled back to sip his tea. “It’s Kisuke. What can you expect?”

***

Zangetsu was quiet, and it was making Ichigo nervous.

“Kisuke?” He looked across the table at the blond and sighed. They’d shifted from tea to sake, but he was still not feeling anything but a little warm around the edges. “I don’t think this is working.  How certain are you about the formula’s projected outcome?”

Kisuke took a sip from his cup and very pointedly did not look at Grimmjow. “Oh, fairly certain, Ichigo-kun.  I expect that you’ll be noticing something shortly.”

The Arrancar growled and sucked in a shaky sounding breath. “Yeah, I can pretty much guarantee that if the bleached bastard isn’t making noise in that noggin of yours, it isn’t because he isn’t feeling it.”

Ichigo couldn’t stop his smirk. “Does that mean you’re feeling something Grimm?  Still want to see what Pantera looks like with a high-gloss coat of blood, or have you lost your taste for it?”

Grimmjow’s eyes narrowed and Ichigo could see his throat move in a convulsive swallow. “Not sure you want to tease, Kurosaki,” his voice sounded like it was being dragged across broken glass, “I may want to swing something other than a sword right now, but you covered in blood wouldn’t be a deal breaker.”

Ichigo’s throat worked on its own swallow at that.

Fuck yeah, Zan finally pushed through and Ichigo felt his breath catch at the overwhelming wave of awareness that came with him. Hold him down and lick him open. Stab his pretty hole with my tongue, stab him with my cock. Make him beg.  Make him cry.  Make him come all over himself.  Pull his hair and fuck his mouth and stripe that face with come until he smells like me, tastes like me, aches for me…  fuck, fuck, FUCK.

Ichigo must’ve made a noise because suddenly Kisuke’s eyes were focused on him, measuring. “Ichigo-kun? Everything okay?”

He was too far away.  Ichigo couldn’t feel him.  Couldn’t feel the warmth of his skin.  Couldn’t smell the ink and sandalwood and sword oil that meant Kisuke.

“Finally hit ya, huh?” Grimmjow asked, tossing back the dregs of sake in his cup. “Wondered how long I’d have to wait.”

Ichigo turned to face the Arrancar and could see the wildness flickering in the depths of his gaze.  His face burned because he knew what Zan was saying.  What he was thinking.

“Kisuke?” He pried his gaze away from Grimmjow long enough to ask, “You still have the wards up on the bedroom?”

The blond was already half-way to his feet as he answered, “Yes.”

“Good,” he said, holding on to his control by a thread. “It’s time to move.” He bared his teeth and lunged at Grimmjow with a growl, sinking his teeth into the long tendon there that had been tempting him for longer than he wanted to admit.  “Now.”

***

The futon was barely big enough for the three of them.

Kisuke had hesitated, standing to one side while his measured gaze following Ichigo and Grimmjow as they’d all but attacked each other, but Grimmjow stopped and reached out, his long fingers twisting in the front of his samue, pulling him inexorably closer.

“You don’t get off that easily,” he laughed, dark and suggestive, “or maybe you will, I don’t know.  What does it take to get a mad scientist off, Kurosaki?”

Ichigo pried himself away from Grimmjow’s neck long enough to answer. “He likes it all, Grimm, but if you want to knock his geta off, rubbing his prostate while you’re sucking his cock as deep as possible usually works for me.”

Kisuke visibly shuddered at the words and Grimmjow and Ichigo shared a grin.  “Can’t say I blame him.  Nothing like a good face-fucking to get things started.”

Another time Ichigo might have snarked about how quickly Grimm went to his knees, but watching him strip Kisuke so efficiently, pulling his cock out and licking a strip from crown to balls and back again, drove everything from his head except, “Fuck, yeah.  Just like that. Holy shit that looks amazing.”

Kisuke groaned along with him as he grabbed two handfuls of blue hair, jerking his hips forward just as Grimmjow wrapped his lips around him, the glistening tip of his prick disappearing and then reappearing with a lewdly wet pop. “It feels amazing as well, Ichigo-kun.” He pulled back and angled himself so that his next thrust slid his length along Grimmjow’s jaw, smooth in a gigai, but they were all thinking about the sharp edges of the bone mask that should’ve been there.  Instead, there was a trail of pre-come tracing his jawline that made Ichigo itch to kiss it and taste the combination of slick and skin.

Kisuke reached down and stuck a thumb in the side of Grimmjow’s mouth, “I can’t wait to ruin this pretty mouth,” he said, pumping his cock in alongside it, the tips of his fingers pressing against the hinge of Grimmjow’s jaw holding it open as he fucked into it, “fill your mouth until you can’t breathe.  Let those blue eyes beg enough and maybe I’ll let you.”

The tone, threatening enough that normally Grimmjow would be raring to strike out at anyone who dared to talk to him that way, was clearly pressing different buttons.  His eyes fluttered closed and his tongue lolled out beneath Kisuke’s cock, drool leaking from the corners of his mouth.

Ichigo watched the scene unfold, Zan howling in the dark corners of his mind as he watched the two men, deadly and beautiful, and all he could hear was the drumbeat of mine, mine, mine, drowning out every other thought.

Grimmjow had worn regular human clothes for the tournament and the tight black trousers clearly showed the outline of his hard-on, huge and heavy, pressing against his zipper. Ichigo sucked a breath in through his mouth, the musk of Kisuke’s arousal and the heady scent of Grimmjow going straight to his head, and he knew had to see it, to touch it, to taste it.

“Shift your leg, Grimm,” he said, trying to pull the fabric down and out of the way without tangling Grimmjow’s legs up painfully.  Finally he managed, and his mouth literally watered when he got his first glimpse of the Arrancar’s cock.  A hot spurt of pre-come squirted out of his own, and he pressed a hand into it to try to minimize the wave of sensations that swamped him.

“Like what you’ve uncovered, Ichigo-kun?” Kisuke managed to sound mostly unmoved, but Ichigo could hear the hint of breathiness that was the first sign of his loss of control.  He and Grimm may have been the ones dosed, but none of them were getting out of this unscathed. “He has an impressive cock, doesn’t he?  I can’t wait to see it disappearing into your slick, stretched hole.  Zangetsu-san will hate that, watching you allow another hollow to ride you, to fuck you…”

He swallowed the last word on a strangled groan as Grimmjow took him deep into his throat, and Ichigo could just imagine what that tight ring of muscle felt like, wrapped so tightly around him that it stroked him with every millimeter he moved.

The redhead couldn’t wait anymore.  He stood and shucked his clothing, not caring where it landed, and he wrapped his hand around his own length, pumping it in counterpoint to Grimmjow’s movements. The blond watched him, eyes hooded, and Ichigo could see the wheels within wheels moving in his head.

“You should take care of our guest,” the words were mild, but they triggered a wave of hunger that consumed him, the idea of touching Grimmjow’s muscular ass suddenly becoming the most important thing ever.

“Fuck, Kisuke,” he said, breath stuttering on the upstroke, “yes. Yes.”

He stumbled over Grimmjow’s legs where he was kneeling on the futon and grabbed the pot of slick from the bedside table, somehow managing to open it without spilling it everywhere.

Grimmjow was working up and down Kisuke’s cock like it was the only thing in the world, his chin dripping with saliva and pre-come, until Ichigo’s weight fell against him. He pulled off with a wet pop and glared.

“Watch it, Ichigo,” he said, hoarse from the fucking Kisuke’d given his throat, and Ichigo felt a shudder ripple through him both at the sound of Grimm’s broken voice and the sound of his name being said with it.

“I am watching it,” he said, hiding behind a little of his standard bravado, “and if I can say so, it’s well worth watching.”

He ogled Grimmjow’s ass and waggled his eyebrows until both the big Arrancar and Kisuke let out rough laughs.

“Watching isn’t going to cut it tonight,” Grimmjow arched his back a little and spread his knees, balls hanging heavy between his thighs and Ichigo just wanted…  everything.

“Want to fuck you, Grimm,” he said as he ran a sword-calloused finger down the graceful line of the other man’s spine, “Zan’s going a little crazy about it, but this…  this is what I want.” He dipped three fingers in the pot of slick and let the other man see them for a moment, and then, before he could react, Kisuke grabbed him by the sides of his head and thrust his cock between his gasp-opened lips.

Fuck, Kisuke. Zangetsu was as turned on by the blond’s move as Ichigo was, So hot.  Fuck his face.  Choke him on your cock.  

Ichigo pressed the tip of one finger against Grimmjow’s entrance, the muscle there tight and hot, and all three of them groaned from the domino effect of the sensation.  A second finger quickly followed the first, and then a third, the knowledge that Grimmjow was probably the most durable person he could ever fuck soothing whatever pangs of conscience he might have about proper prep.

Kisuke watched his progress closely, eyes glittering as he relentlessly slid his rigid prick between Grimmjow’s lips, pressing so deeply that it brought tears to the Arrancar’s eyes, and then backing off just enough for him to catch his breath before starting the cycle over again, timing every thrust to coincide with Ichigo’s fingers. The harder Kisuke pressed him, though, the hungrier he seemed, opening wider, swallowing harder, hips rocking back against Ichigo’s fingers as he strained for more, every bit as wild and driven he’d ever been in battle, and the redhead wondered if just that would be enough to get him off.

Then, Kisuke changed the game.

“As lovely as this has been, Grimmjow, I have to admit, I’m a little disappointed.” He pulled his cock out of Grimmjow’s mouth, but didn’t move far, his cock still ruby red and glistening mere finger’s-widths away. Ichigo watched, fascinated, as he gripped his own length and pumped it slowly, teasing the other man. “You’ve always talked such a good game I thought you’d be a sexual force to be reckoned with, but you’re just a little too…  passive for me.”

He smiled at Ichigo over the blue head. “Maybe I’ll just watch you try to top from the bottom with Ichigo-kun.”

Grimmjow erupted into motion, his lethal body moving faster than he had all night, leaving Ichigo wide-eyed and slick-fingered on the side-lines as he swept Kisuke into a hold that had to knock the air out of him.

“Can’t come up with a better insult than topping from the bottom, Shinigami?” He grabbed Kisuke’s legs and dropped him onto his back with a growl, pinning him there with his full body weight as he slotted his hips between Kisuke’s legs and lodged his cock between Kisuke’s ass cheeks. “I know what you’re doing, pushing me, pissing me off.  You and your fucking experiments.  You want to see what happens when you piss me off enough that I lose control? I’ll tell you. I’m going to fuck you so hard they’ll hear you in Hueco Mundo, so hard your crimson bitch won’t be able to sit down. And then? Then, I’m going to fuck Ichigo until he can’t remember his fucking name, and make you watch while my come leaks out of your ass and you can barely crawl across the futon to beg for more.”

Slick fingers pressed into Kisuke’s hole and the blond squirmed and gasped, but his cock was still jutting up, hard and demanding, and Ichigo knew he was enjoying it.

Grimmjow looked over at him and grinned triumphantly, a wild, beautiful thing, and Ichigo leaned in and caught his mouth in a filthy kiss that tasted of lust and violence and Kisuke’s cock.  He licked into Grimm’s mouth again and again, eating at the heat there, listening to Kisuke groan and hiss and sigh under the demanding fingers that were stretching him wide for fucking, and knew he’d never again be able to see Grimmjow’s battle grin without getting hard.

Zangetsu was vibrating at the edge of his inner world, cursing Grimmjow and Kisuke by turns, and Ichigo swatted him away, because these two were his, and Zan could just go fuck himself and the horse he identified as.

He leaned over Grimmjow’s shoulder and looked at his cock, ruddy and huge, dripping pre-come, and breathed into his ear. “Go on. Fuck him, Grimm. He’s a fucking slut for it.  He’ll love it.  Love the stretch and burn as you pound into him.  Love it when you hit that spot that makes his cock leak and his eyes roll back in his head.”

Grimmjow growled and pressed against the ring of muscle that was the last barrier between him and Kisuke’s heat. Then, with one rapid rock of his hips he breached his ass, dragging a low groan from the Shinigami beneath him.

“Fuck yes,” Kisuke hissed the words and rolled into the thrust, silently demanding more.  Grimmjow was more than willing to provide.

“Isn’t he perfect?” Ichigo asked, hot breath stirring the fine blue hair around Grimm’s ear. “He’s made for fucking.  Tight ass. Hard cock.   Smart enough to know exactly what to do to make you see stars.  Wait until you feel him in your ass. You’ll want him again and again.”

Kisuke let out a little moan as Grimmjow bottomed out forcefully and he flexed his muscles around the Arrancar’s length.

“Fuck,” Grimm gutted the word out. “You’re so fucking tight.  It’s like fucking a velvet vise.”

Kisuke let out a sound halfway between a groan and a laugh and Ichigo couldn’t help but feel a pulse of envy.

“Lean forward, Grimm.  Hold him down.” He wrapped himself over Grimmjow’s broad back and held on as he bucked into Kisuke, and Ichigo found his hole with questing fingers again.  He was still loose from earlier but Ichigo took his time, curling his fingers and sliding them along the rim before twisting so that he could find that spot, that incredible little spot that would make even Grimmjow whimper and whine.

He angled himself to capture Grimmjow’s lips in another kiss, this one sloppy and breathless, distracted by the pistoning of Grimm’s hips as he fucked Kisuke so hard Ichigo was almost afraid for his gigai, but Ichigo had pounded Kisuke’s ass often enough to know that a day or two of rest was all the blond needed before he was back in form, turning the tables and driving him to the edge and over.

“Want to see you fuck him, Ichigo-kun,” Kisuke’s voice broke on the words, desire so thick he could hardly speak around it.  “Want to see his face.  Want to hear you both.” He reached out with a scrabbling hand and Ichigo grabbed it and squeezed.

“Grimm?” Ichigo asked, unwilling to force the Arrancar into something he didn’t want, but apparently it wasn’t a problem.

“You heard him. You need an engraved invitation?” was all he said, but the answer rattled through Ichigo and he groaned, dragging clawed fingers down Grimmjow’s flank, digging into the dimples above his hipbones as he settled his weight behind the bigger man.

The heat pouring off Grimmjow was amazing, and Ichigo rubbed his face against the plane of his back, nipping along the bumps of vertebra, his knees splayed obscenely to either side of the well-muscled ass.  Grimmjow leaned farther forward and dropped down to catch Kisuke’s lips in a kiss, something Ichigo had never thought to see, stilling the motion of his own hips to allow Ichigo to maneuver into place, his cock pressed against the puffy red furl of his opening, slick and soft and worked loose until it practically sucked him in.

“Fuck.”  He breathed the word against Grimmjow’s skin and felt rather than hear a rumble in response.

“What are you waiting for, Kurosaki?” A dry, raspy need threaded through Grimmjow’s voice that hadn’t been there before and it made something predatory in Ichigo sit up and take notice. “Just put it in me, you son of a bitch. Fuck me with that cock.  I know you want it.  Show your boyfriend here what fucking a hollow is really like.  Let the hunger out.  I won’t break.”

Ichigo couldn’t pass up an offer like that. He snaked a hand down beneath them to where Grimm’s balls were tight against him and rolled them once, twice, gently and then buried himself deep in his ass in one thrust.

Grimmjow roared and Ichigo howled along with him.

Sweet heat exploded around his cock, and he could feel the shock waves as he lost control of his reiatsu, the waves of it pounding against the others. He rocked forward and down, forcing Grimmjow deeper into Kisuke, and the moans that broke from them both only fed the flames of his hunger. He loved that sound, loved that he was the one wringing it from them, and wanted to hear it again and again, until they were too hoarse to speak.

“Look at us, Kisuke,” he reached around Grimmjow and grasped the blond’s cock, the drooling, dripping length of it hot in his hand, “this is what you said you wanted so open those pretty eyes and watch carefully.  I’m going to fuck him now.  Fuck him and let him take you apart until you’re nothing but a quivering, come-soaked mess.”

He couldn’t have stopped now if someone had held a sword to his throat.   He started with a quick motion, rocking deeper and deeper into Grimmjow until he was working at a constant pace, shifting after every third or fourth stroke to aim for his prostate, pulling moans and curses from the Arrancar as he also almost brutally stroked Kisuke’s cock.

“Fuck, Kurosaki. Harder. Harder.” Grimmjow was holding himself up over Kisuke, the muscles in his arms rippling as he panted and bucked, his own cock plunging in and out of Kisuke at a wicked pace spurred on by Ichigo’s fucking and the redhead couldn’t tell if he was begging or threatening him. “I’m almost there.   Fuck.  That’s it.  Come on.  Fuck it out of me. Yes, yes…  right… there! Fuck!”

He jerked as if electrified, his whole body locking up as he poured his come into the blond beneath him, but Ichigo kept moving, slamming his hips against him until he was sure Grimmjow would have bruises on his ass.  He could feel his own orgasm just beyond his reach, and he stroked Kisuke’s cock in time with his own rhythm, determined to bring him off. His thighs trembled and he could feel his balls tighten as he dragged his thumb through the wet slit at the tip of Kisuke’s cock and then he heard it, that sob and gasp that he sometimes heard in his best dreams, and as Kisuke came, so did he.  Pulse after pulse of come striped Grimmjow’s chest and pooled on Kisuke’s belly and Ichigo filled Grimm’s ass as the reiatsu waves of a truly earth-shattering orgasm ripped through all three of them.

Later when consciousness had crept slowly back, they pulled themselves apart like pieces of a come-covered jigsaw puzzle, breathing heavily in the dim bedroom.

“So,” Grimmjow said, scrubbing a hand through his wild blue mane and looking at Ichigo, “I’d say the mad scientist’s experiment was a success.  What about you?”

Ichigo smothered a grin.  “I’d agree. Kisuke?”

The blond rolled over sleepily and settled between them, spooning back into the big Arrancar’s body while wrapping an arm around the redhead.   “Well, first impressions are positive, but you know how it is with these things.  One has to be able to recreate the results of an experiment several times before being certain of anything.”

In the recesses of Ichigo’s inner world, Zangetsu laughed.

[animefan299110]

Love Heals All Wounds: Chapter 1

Hey guys, this is AnimeFan299110, coming to you with the newest fandom story in my lineup. I wanted to make an AU Dragon Slayer fic because there are so few out there and I feel that with has happened between these two blondes, they could help each other heal.

As per usual, I do not own the rights to RWBY, its characters, or locations. They are all owned by the good folks at Rooster Teeth and, of course, the great and powerful Monty Oum. Wherever you are, Monty, this is my way of saying thanks for creating such an amazing show.

Jaune Arc sat on the edge of his bed staring down at the ground with a sullen look on his face. It had been a few months since Beacon Academy had been attacked by Grimm and the once prestigious school fell to Cinder Falls and her gang of cronies. Many people, including some of their classmates, survived and escaped, but others were brutally killed by those horrid beasts. Jaune, along with his teammates Nora and Ren, were able to escape and ended up at the house of Taiyang Xiao-Long, Yang Xiao-Long and Ruby Rose's father.

Both teams suffered heavy losses that day; Yang lost an arm trying to save her teammate Blake from Adam Taurus, leader of the White Fang and Blake's ex-boyfriend. Weiss' father picked her up to take her back to their home in Atlas and Blake had run off after the battle.

As for Jaune, Nora, and Ren, they had perhaps suffered the greatest loss of all: a comrade. Pyrrha Nikos was a skilled fighter and tactician who had graduated at the top of her class at Sanctum Academy. She had also won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row. Sadly, however, she was killed by Cinder after she had kissed Jaune and sent him flying toward the city of Vale in a locker.

A wave of emotions had stirred inside him after what had happened; some of which included shock, sadness, remorse, and confusion. However, the one dominant emotion that had been stirring inside Jaune ever since that day was anger. He was angry at Ozpin and his associates for deciding that Pyrrha should be the next Fall Maiden and thus putting her life at risk. He was angry at General Ironwood for questioning Ozpin and relying heavily on advanced robots that would eventually turn on the people of Vale. He was even angry at Pyrrha, though he was more frustrated than angry, for the fact that she believed it was her duty to take on Cinder even though it was a pointless battle.

But the one person he was angry at the most was himself. He was angry for the fact that he had failed to keep one of his teammates safe. He was angry that he couldn't do more to ward off the Grimm. And, of course, he was angry at the fact that he had completely ignored Pyrrha's hints indicating that she liked him. He had spent so much wasted time trying to hook up with Weiss that he couldn't see what was right in front of him. If he hadn't been so clueless and had actually picked up on Pyrrha admitting that she liked him, maybe they could have had time to spend together as a couple. Fate, it seems, had other ideas.

"Jaune?" A familiar monotone voice asked, snapping Jaune from his thoughts. He looked up to see Nora and Ren staring at him with concern. Jaune also noticed that they both were carrying their travel packs along with a rolled-up mattress pad.

"Hey, guys." Jaune said casually as he tried to put on a smile. "Are you guys going somewhere?"

"Yes we are." Ren said. "We're going to Mistral with Ruby to try and reach Haven Academy. We'll be leaving soon."

"Yepper!" Nora said in a chipper voice. "So let's get you packin'!" Immediately, she raced around the room grabbing whatever she could find and began stuffing it all into Jaune's personal travel pack.

As Nora continued her comedic method of packing, Jaune felt torn. On one hand, it was essential to get to Mistral and Haven to try and find out anything that might help defeat Cinder and her cronies. But then again, he felt as though he didn't deserve the privilege of going on this journey. One of his own teammates had died on his watch; he wasn't even sure he deserved to be a leader, let alone a huntsman.

"Actually," Jaune said, "I don't think I'll be going with you."

At this, Nora stopped moving with one foot in the air while holding onto Crocea Mors. "Say what?" She asked in surprise and confusion. Even Ren's eyes widened slightly at this announcement. "Jaune," Nora said as Jaune stood up to face them, "W-What are saying?"

Jaune decided to take a deep breath before he began. "Guys, I want to help you and Ruby with Qrow's investigation, believe me. But," he paused as his face became more somber, "I don't feel like I'm ready to go out into the world yet and take on whatever is thrown at me. After what happened at Beacon, I…I just need more time to take care of some things. Not just physically, but emotionally as well."

"But…" Nora said, sounding both hurt and sad at her leader's reasoning. "But who'll lead us?"

"Don't worry, you'll have Ruby with you." Jaune said, trying to sound reassuring. 'She'd probably be a better leader than me anyway.' He thought sadly. "And it doesn't mean I haven't given up on being a huntsman." He added. "All I ask is that you two go on without me for a while with Ruby while I work some things out."

"But Jaune, we-" Nora began to argue, but stopped when Ren stuck his arm out in front of her. As she glanced up at her childhood friend, Nora could see the answer in his eyes. Both she and Ren had lost people near and dear to them as well; they knew exactly what Jaune was going through right now. And they knew that he wouldn't be able to get over it quickly.

"Okay Jaune." Ren said as he lowered his arm and looked at the man whom he considered not just his leader and teammate, but a brother as well. "If you need time to heal, then Nora and I will let you. Just promise us you'll return; we need our leader back."

"Thanks, guys." Jaune said as he smiled with appreciation. "I promise I'll be back with you guys as soon as I can." He then shook Ren's hand and placed his other hand on Ren's shoulder, to which Ren followed suit. The two of them gave a nod of respect towards each other before letting go. "Nora…" Jaune began before Nora ran forward and hugged him. It caught him by surprise, for she wasn't giving him one of her signature bone-crushing hugs. It was the kind of hug a caring sister would give to a sibling who was hurt and needed comfort. He soon felt his hoodie get wet and realized that Nora was crying.

"Stay out of trouble and be safe, you big lug." Nora said through her tears.

"I will, Nora; don't worry." Jaune said with a small smile as he returned the hug. The two of them stayed in that position for a good thirty seconds until they separated and Nora wiped away her tears. She and Ren then made their way to the door leading out to the hallway.

Before they left, Ren turned to Jaune and said "When you're ready, we'll be in Mistral." Jaune only nodded in understanding. With nothing else to say, Ren and Nora left Jaune in his bedroom. As they left his line of sight, Jaune had to take in deep breaths so as not to cry. He knew that he should have gone with them; they were his teammates. But he also had to face his current problems. He felt lucky to know that they were understanding and caring.

As Jaune made his way to his bedroom window, he saw Ren and Nora with Ruby as they trudged their way down the snow-covered path towards Mistral. They soon paused, however, and looked back at Jaune's window. Ren and Nora gave a final wave, to which Jaune responded in kind. His gaze then turned to Ruby, to whom he nodded in appreciation. When Jaune saw the red-hooded huntress return the gesture with a smile, he himself couldn't help but smile a little as well. He knew Ruby would do anything to keep Ren and Nora safe; he would have gone with them immediately if he hadn't felt Ruby to be a capable leader. Jaune's gaze didn't falter from the trio until they disappeared over the snow-covered mounds.

Jaune then laid down on his bed and glanced up at the ceiling with a sigh; it was hard to accept that the events at Beacon and Vale had actually happened. Grimm attacking the city and the academy, people screaming in terror, Atlas robots malfunctioning and turning on those they were meant to protect, and the copious amount of negativity in the air. It almost sounded like a bad dream a child would have in the middle of the night. But it wasn't; all of that had happened…and he, along with many others, bore witness to it all.

After the battle, many of Beacon's surviving students left to stay with their families whether it was to make sure they were okay or to try and defend their villages and towns. Others applied to the other academies, like Team CFVY who transferred to Shade Academy. There were also some who went missing after the battle, like Team CRDL. Though nobody could find the bullies, it was rumored that after fighting off the Grimm in Vale, Cardin Winchester was last boarding the same airship as Velvet Scarlatina and the rest of her team. Jaune remembered how he chuckled at the thought of Cardin being in the same area as Velvet while the rest of Team CFVY gave him the death glare.

CRASH!

The sound of something breaking caused Jaune to awaken from his thoughts. He leapt out of bed and scrambled to see where the noise came from. As he made his way down the hall, he saw Taiyang, Ruby and Yang's father, bolt out of his youngest daughter's bedroom. As the father made his way downstairs, Jaune took a look inside Ruby's room. There, he saw a broken teapot and plate, the pieces scattered around the floor, and a note on Ruby's bed. Jaune then carefully made his way over to the bed and picked up the note, which read:

Dad,

I'm off to Haven to find out what Uncle Qrow was investigating.

I know you would want me to stay with you and Yang, but I can't. I can't just stand by and watch other people get hurt. If there is a way to stop Cinder and her followers, I have to find out what it is.

I won't be going alone, though. I'll have Ren and Nora to accompany me.

I'm sorry, Dad; I hope that, in time, you'll understand my reason for leaving.

Tell Yang I'm sorry as well.

Love you always,

Ruby

"Read it, I see?" A voice asked, causing Jaune to glance up at Tai. Tai then moved forward toward him and asked, "Did you know she was leaving?"

"Y-Yes." Jaune said nervously. "But I thought she had gotten your approval before he-"

Before Jaune could even finish his sentence, however, Tai grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie and moved him until Jaune's back hit the wall. "Don't lie to me!" Tai said angrily. "If you knew she was going to leave without my permission, then-"

"I'm not lying, I swear!" Jaune exclaimed in fear. "I-I seriously thought she talked to you about this. If I'd known otherwise, I would've told you."

Tai kept a hold on Jaune's collar as he looked at him angrily. The boy seemed to be sincere with his words and if Ruby seemed to trust him, then he should as well. After what seemed like an eternity, Tai finally let go of Jaune, which caused the boy to breathe a sigh of relief. "Sorry." The older blonde said sincerely. "It's…It's just been hectic lately. After what happened at Beacon and with Yang, I just wanted my girls and I to stay together for the time being. And with what just happened, I…I guess I just snapped."

"It's alright." Jaune said as he rubbed the area where Tai had grabbed him. "I get it; you wanted to keep Ruby and Yang safe and sheltered from all the bad stuff going on right now. And forgive me for saying so, but I think we both know Ruby's not that kind of person. She'd rather find a way to protect those she cares about and risk her life rather than stay put and do nothing."

"Stubborn and determined." Tai said before he chuckled. "Just like her mother. And why aren't you with them?" He asked as he turned his attention to the boy.

"Oh well," Jaune said as he placed a hand on the back of his neck, "I've…got some things I need to work out myself. But I wouldn't worry about Ruby." He added hastily. "I can guarantee that Nora and Ren will look out for her."

"I see." Tai said as he took a deep breath before continuing. "Well, if you're going to stay here for a while, you're going to have to help around the house. Accommodations aren't free, you know?"

"I understand, sir." Jaune said as he nodded his head.

"Good." Tai said. "The first thing you can do is help me clean up this mess." And with that, Jaune began cleaning up the broken shards of the teapot and plate. Once they had brought the fragments downstairs and dumped them into the garbage, Tai then said, "You're free to go; I'll call you when I need help." Jaune only nodded as he made his way back upstairs.

He had just passed two rooms on his way to his when he heard someone call his name. He turned to his right to see none other than Yang Xiao Long, the blonde brawler of Team RWBY, starring at him. She was lying in bed wearing a brown pajama top and black pajama shorts. But the most notable feature was the bandage that covered the stub where her right arm used to be. That, and the sadness that he saw in her eyes.

"What you doing here?" she asked suddenly, causing Jaune to snap out of his thoughts.

"Oh, well," Jaune began, "I felt that I needed to stay here because….I need time to think things over and work out some things."

"Oh," The blonde bombshell said almost unenthusiastically. "I just thought you might be going with your team and Ruby to Mistral."

"They wanted to." Jaune said sadly. "But when I told them that I couldn't, they understood. And I wouldn't worry about Ruby; Ren can always look after her. I mean," he added with a chuckle to try and lighten the mood, "if he could handle Nora for so many years, I'm sure he can keep Ruby in check."

Unfortunately for Jaune, his good humor was met only by silence as Yang had instead turned her gaze toward the window. Jaune figured that maybe humor wasn't the best ice-breaker at the moment. Then again, he couldn't blame Yang for not laughing after everything that had just happened to them. Out of all the students at Beacon, Yang probably suffered the most. She had lost her right arm trying to save Blake, only to have the cat Faunus run off as soon as the battle was over. Something like that could not easily be brushed off.

After a long, awkward silence, Jaune finally said, "Well, guess I'll see you around." But like before, his words didn't seem to reach Yang as she continued to stare out the window. Finally giving up on any attempts at communication, Jaune retreated back towards his room.

Downstairs, Tai sighed sadly as he had heard the interaction between the two former students. He knew that moving past all of what they had experienced was going to be hard and that it would take time. But he also knew that neither of them could continue living like this. He did, however, smile a bit when he had heard Jaune try to lighten the mood with some humor. 'Who knows?' Tai thought as he opened the door to take out the trash. 'Maybe over time, they can help each other heal.'

And thus ends the first chapter of Time and Love Heal All Wounds. Sorry if the ending seems rushed, but let's just say that I was a bit pressured by some fans of My Hero Academia to publish the next chapter of my most popular story. Also, sorry if any of the characters seem a bit OOC.

Kudos to Kerlongsj Evert Orlejov for giving me suggestions on which direction to take my story for future chapters.

Finally, don't forget to favorite, comment, and follow for more of this story.

This is AnimeFan299910 signing off and reminding all of you to go out with a "Yang"… *sigh* goddammit, Barb.

[millennial-ring]

For the drabble prompt: visionshipping and getting caught in the rain

this is like a whole year late i think oopshere are ur lesbeans in the rain

A bolt of lightninglit up the sky, and the resounding boom of thunder that followed shook theentire city and made Isis jump a little in surprise. Her gaze turned skyward,watching in apprehension as fat, grey clouds rolled over the sky and blockedout the sun. Beside her, Mai cursed loudly.

“Damn it.Two percent chance of rain my ass!” She stomped a foot and planted her hands onher hips. “I swear, they only get the weather forecast wrong when I go out.”

Isis turnedto Mai; her perfectly shaped brows were stitched together angrily and she worea pout on her plum stained lips, and the way she pursed them made Isis dream ofdragging their lips together. Her lipstick was such a lovely shade, and sheimagined it would look even better if it was smeared from a few too manykisses. For what must have been the fifth time that day, Isis let her eyesstray to Mai’s body. She wore a form fitting top with her signature plungingneckline, a cropped leather jacket, and a matching black miniskirt. Her boots,also black leather, came up well past her knee and her heels were tall, addingat least another three inches to her height.

Isis felt abit plain standing next to her in a creamy beige sundress, with a flutteringoff the shoulder tier and a slightly cinched waist. The skirt, which fell to alittle over her ankles, billowed dramatically in the breeze. She wore a goldenbelt adorned with gems like lapis lazuli and turquoise to bring some color to theotherwise boring garment. She wore her gold bracelets and armlets as a simplegold chain with a topaz gem. Mai wore a matching necklace, though the chain wassilver and the gem was a diamond. Bestfriend necklaces, Mai had told Isis when she presented them to her on Isis’most recent birthday, but Isis hoped they meant more every time she saw Maiwearing her birthstone around her neck.

She gaveherself another moment to appreciate Mai’s outfit and body before letting hergaze return to a more appropriate level.

Mai glaredat the sky, as if she could make the clouds submit to her will and dispersewith her stare alone. The angry, determined look on her face made Isis smile.

“Isn’t thatalways how it works?”

Mai turnedto Isis, her face softening as she sighed. “Yeah. Murphey’s law.” She shiftedher shopping bags to one hand and laid the other on the small of Isis’ back asshe resumed walking. Isis fell into step beside her, her nerves ignited at thetouch, her fingers curling tight around the handle of a single bag.

Mai was abit of a shopaholic, and was always eager to spend her tournament winnings onnew clothes, shoes, make up, and perfume. She was always asking Isis to accompanyher to the various malls and shops she liked to frequent and Isis always saidyes despite being more of a minimalist with her wardrobe, having a slightlymore limited income, and rarely wanting to actually shop. The stores werecrowded, everything was expensive, and the stores Mai liked to frequent rarelycatered to Isis’ more modest tastes. But she loved spending time with Mai,loved the way her eyes lit up with excitement when she found a garment shereally liked, and loved Mai trying on her clothing hauls and asking for heropinions, or dabbing perfume on her wrist and asking Isis to smell it. So shecontinued to say yes, even though she always had a hard time finding somethingshe actually wanted or needed.

But thistime around her eye had caught a gorgeous blue dress in a shop window they hadpassed, and Mai had talked her into trying it on. The fabric was made ofpolyester but looked and felt like silk, dyed such a deep blue it reminded Isisof the skies above Egypt at night. It was off the shoulder, her favorite styleof neckline, with a ruched bodice that hugged her slender waist and a mermaidstyled tail that showed off the curve of her hips.

She hadabsolutely no idea when she would ever have an occasion to wear something soformal, but it had fit her perfectly and made her blue eyes pop, and she fellin love with it as she stood in the dressing room and stared at her reflection.When she stepped out of the dressing room to show Mai, the hungry look Maipinned her with sealed the deal, and she hadto have it. She carried it home with no plans to wear it out, but she wasalready trying to think of an excuse to wear it around Mai again.

“I swear toGod if it actually starts raining before we get home I’m going to scream,” Maimuttered after another crash of thunder made the shop windows beside themrattle in their panes.

They werestill several blocks away from the train station that would take them home whenthe first raindrops began to fall. Mai didn’t scream, but she did extend a onefingered salute to the sky. Isis giggled, glad that her dress came with one ofthose plastic dress covers so it would be protected from the rain.

“It’s been along time since I’ve been caught in the rain,” Isis mused, glancing up at thesky again. Rain hit her face and she sighed contently; she had always loved therain. Growing up underground had robbed her the simple pleasure of a rainstormfor the first fourteen years of her life. After she reunited with her brothersand promised them they could live above ground from now on rain became herfavorite thing. So she didn’t complain, even as her dress became heavilyspotted with water.

However thelight sprinkling of rain soon turned into heavy sheets that almost felt painfulagainst Isis’ bare shoulders. She and Mai began jogging between storeoverhangs, pausing under the shelter of the occasional awning before dashing tothe next one when it seemed the rain was letting up. Despite their hurriedsteps and the plentitude of awnings, by the time they reached the train stationthey were completely soaked through.

Mai wasgrowling curses under her breath, and Isis could sympathize; she wore more makeup than Isis, which was in danger of running, and she carried more bags thanIsis as well, most of which were the kind of paper that could, at best, allowwater to soak the clothing inside and, at worst, break open.

Mai droppedher bags onto a bench, and Isis was relieved the overhang above the seatingblocked out most of the rain. They were dripping wet, barely an inch of dryskin or fabric between them. Isis’ long, black hair was heavy with moisture,and she rung it out before pulling it into a loose, sloppy bun.

“Well, itdoesn’t look like I’m going to have to throw anything out,” Mai said, pullingIsis’ attention back to her. She blinked, startled by Mai’s appearance. Hercurly mane of hair had lost its volume to the water and trailed down her backin loose, dripping waves. A few strands here and there stuck to her foreheadand cheeks; her face was rosy and pink from their run as well as the chill thatcame with the rain, and her eyeliner was smeared ever so slightly around hereyes.

Mai lookedup at her friend, blinking when she caught her staring. She brushed the hairaway from her face. “What? Do I look that bad? Please don’t tell me I havemascara tears.”

“No,” Isisanswered automatically, breathlessly. In fact, she had never seen Mai moreattractive than in that moment. She couldn’t hold herself back any longer andleaned forward to pluck a kiss from Mai’s berry stained lips.

Mai pulledback in surprise, her eyes wide and her peach face turning red.

Isis’s ownface burned from embarrassment and shame, realizing what she’d just done. “Ohmy gods I’m sorry, I don’t- I didn’t mean- I-”

Mai cut offher stammering by grabbing her face and pulling her in until their mouths werecrushed together. Isis let out a startled moan, her eyes falling closed as Maiworked her lips against Isis’, coaxing her to return the kiss. She did with fervor,her arms winding around Mai’s shoulders and her hands digging into her wethair.

When theyparted they both breathed harder than normal, gazes locking together as soon asthey opened their eyes. Isis fidgeted under Mai’s bright stare, not sure whatto say or what to do, but Mai spoke first.

“You… Allthis time, I thought you were straight.”

Isis let outa bark of laughter, hiding her mouth behind her hand. “I thought you were, too.”

“Fuck,really? I was sending you, like, all the signals!”

“To be fair,I grew up in a tomb. I have no idea that the signals are.”

Mai giggledand rested her forehead against Isis’, even as an old woman on the bench asidefrom theirs rudely cleared her throat. “I could teach you, if you want?”

“I’d likethat.”

Mai smiledand leaned in for another kiss. Isis met her halfway, having just enough timeto glance down at her lips before their lips met.

Her lipstickwas already smeared rather deliciously.