#shamelessly shounen

[magicalgirlagency]

I know this is magical girl blog, but i wanna ask, what's your opinion on pizza tower game?

You're only asking me this because of the The Noise Update that came out just recently, aren't you? Come on, be honest.

Anyways, I absolutely adore the aesthetics of that game. It's just so absolutely bonkers and it oozes lots and lots of passion. Those five years of hard work were worth it. I haven't played it yet, but once I get myself a potent and faster PC, I'll try it! So, I'll just talk about the aesthetics!

I like how Peppino is a Wario-expy, but not in personality. Sure, he is fat and ugly like that greedy garlic-munching goon, but his personality and life are totally different: He's a stressed middle-aged man, who struggles financially and constantly oscillates in anger or anxiety. Totally the opposite of Wario, who's absolutely confident in his brute strength and will take stuff without any awareness or care of the consequences that'll soon follow.

Also, did you know that "Peppino" is a legit real life name? It's a nickname of "Giuseppe" (an italian version of the name "Joseph"). And the person behind Funiculi, Funiculá (the funny pizza meme music) was named Peppino. Giuseppe "Peppino" Turco.

While the gameplay is obviously inspired by Wario Land 4, its visuals take cues from those Gross Out medias from the 90's/00's (Earthworm Jim, Cow & Chicken, Ren & Stimpy, etc.), which it really helps in the shaping of the game's identity. Not to mention how the game was projected to give major priority to speed mechanics, hence why the reason why it was firstly showcased at Sonic Amateur Games Expo.

Another interesting thing about it, is that this game almost became a Horror game! It almost became a FNaF copycat! But for some reason, Tour de Pizza felt the need to change the concept into a Wario-like midway, BUT! The Horror elements still remained with Don't Make a Sound and Fake Peppino (the game is one year old already; everyone already knows of Fake Peppino by now).

One interesting thing about FP, is back when the game has made its official debut, people made vows of not spoiling his Boss Fight, as TdP would keep him under the shadows in the development vlogging/lives. An addendum: This happened at the same time Hogwarts Legacy came out, and people were spoiling its ending on purpose! Meanwhile the froggy abomination (affectionate) was carefully kept a secret until the time was right.

...even though FP was already spoiled in WAR, but that's just me...

And the MUSIC. Oh my God, the music. It's so divine. Some of them feel severely out of place with the goofy aesthetics of the game, and I wouldn't have it any other way. The use of leitmotifs is clever and adds a lot of charm to the player character. They didn't have to go hard on the Ha Ha Funny Pizza Man Game, but they did it.

Also, the Final Boss has given me the adrenaline rush and catharsis that no modern-era Shounen has managed to do for me. No items, no power-ups, just pure, raw, and italian strength and blood-boiling rage (and the occasional tag-teaming of good ol' Gustavo).

As for The Noise Update, it's still pretty fresh, so I won't spoil anything major about it. However, I'll say that he is different than Peppino in every single way, not just in gameplay. While Peppino functions on Fight-or-Flight mode and is only concerned about getting things done and over with, The Noise does stuff for the shits 'n giggles, and WILL shamelessly gaslight you into getting the highest rank. And also with violence. Lots 'n lots of violence.

Also, The Noise's full name is "Theodore Noise" (yes the "The" in the name is not a definite article, it's short for his birth name). But I guess everyone already knows that, too. Just felt like remembering it, just in case.

[allthefujoshiunite]

Can I ask your opinion on shipping for non canon couples in shounen manga/anime (especially for m/m ships)?

Hi, sorry for just jumping in asking, I'm not a BL manga reader but I love MLM fanfics.....and I love your tweets on various topics, actually I may try to read BL manga one day because of you..... since a few years back, every time I watched anime, I must have fav ships (most of them are not canon because they are from shounen anime).... Do you think I'm weird? Also, do you have any ships from shounen anime/manga that you love? Sorry for this long ask, it's just that I have a long debate with my mutuals and they said, that if you love mlm ships better just read BL manga/manhwa and not "ruin" the shounen anime/manga.....

My fav ships are from BNHA, Haikyuu, Attack on Titans, and Bungou Stray Dogs....

I'M FUMING!! How dare they make you feel weird! Anti-shippers have been rampant for the past couple of years and they go around spreading the most harmful sh*t and misinformation... A mutual of mine over Twitter has one of the most comprehensive archive of resources & definitons you can find online! If you're ever curious, I suggest you check it out (you can find more info on the discourse under the anti-fujoshi segment at the top):

As for my personal opinion on the matter, I've been reading BL for more than a decade and while there have been a time where I had a more strict views on shipping, I now shamelessly ship characters who haven't even interacted in the said show because in the end... who are others to judge the way you consume a media? Once the work is completed and is released out into the ether, the consumer is free to interpret them however they want.

This freedom and detachement from the intentions of the original creator are what enable us to read a piece through, for example, a feminist/gender critical point of view and it's something I understood better through reading literary criticism. What I mean to say by that is that, for example, an author might write a historical novel that focuses on war without intentions to critique women's positions in it, but just because it wasn't their intention, it doesn't mean that one cannot read the said novel through that perspective or criticize it. The same goes for shonen: gender sure isn't at the top of mangaka's list of things that they are critical of when creating their works but any piece of art in itself is political, and the artists' depictions of their characters are open to criticism. I hope I make sense.

So full disrespect to your mutuals but if your shipping is "ruining" their engagement with the said series, then it should be your duty to ruin it more by shipping harder. We are responsible for these things and these things only: to curate our timeline & not to engage with things that trigger/make us comfortable, and to not sh*t on others' preferences.

And to conclude, I have a lot of ships I love from shonen series!! Like Yoshida x Denji from Chainsaw Man, Zeke x Levi from AoT or Nanami x Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen. And sometimes I see a fanart of a ship I've never thought of myself before and become obsessed with them xD It's the kind of hell that's better with others!

I really hope you find a more comfortable circle to be in where you're welcomed for what you love and not shamed for it. Life is too damn short and challenging already to spend your energy on those kinds of people. With love ~

[wazzuppy]

i deeply appreciate men who shamelessly watch shojo, but at the same time whenever i hear a guy talk about it i just feel. like i should be on guard? does that make sense??

like, as a woman, fandoms around shojo series are some of the few places within the anime community where i dont feel excluded or threatened. and whenever some cis dude talks about them, even if its just the one significantly popular shojo show that came out that year (since pretty much only one shojo is ever discussed as frequently as the twelve different shounen everyone else is freaking out over and its been fruits basket for the past several years), i almost feel like my safe space is being invaded.

and it sucks because i WANT to be welcoming and nice to men who can indulge in femininity, i dont WANT them to feel excluded in the same ways that i do, but ive developed such a distrust towards cis men bc of my own experiences and the ones of women around me that its just really hard for me to actually engage with them. and i feel really guilty over it when i KNOW i probably shouldnt.

[kawaiijellymonster]

Black clover is an amazing show/manga and anyone who disagrees is wrong. Yeah thats a strong statement but its true. Black Clover is shamelessly shounen but in the best way possible. The main character is an underdog, so far so shounen, but the thing that makes him different is that his underdog status is never magically resolved, yeah he got a cool new power but unless he had spent years training his body that power would be useless, and as the witch arc showed us even after he got the power he had to do a whole training montage with a weird guy in the woods just to learn how to use it properly, his skill now is a culmination of a decade of work and everything he achieves will be because he put in the effort. Also people don’t recognise that he is as amazing as we know him to be, he's just that weird kid from the black bulls, the kid with no magic, he doesn’t get taken seriously until he shows off what he can do and even then some people still think that there's a trick. This is starkly different from shows like BNHA that give like an episode long training montage and then kinda call it good enough, give the mc a cool power and then they use it recklessly. Asta is painfully aware of his own incompetence. He knows that if he screws up thats it, so he has to be careful with his body, take care of it, eat, sleep and keep up with his exercise or else he’s doomed. “He still got hurt” I hear you say” and you’re right, he did get hurt because it was hurt his arms or let everyone he cared about die, and then he sat there yelling at fate saying he’d find another option and that he won’t stop. Its a kind of shounen tenacity that you don’t find many other places, in mha if izuku hadn’t been given a quirk he probably would have given up, he was kind of fed up with being told he couldn’t do it and was ready to agree, Asta only agreed once and for a single moment because the moment he stops thats it and he knows it. How they incorporated rivals was fantastic, most shows pick one or two rivals and that's about it, but in black clover just about everyone has declared themselves astas rival. They are acknowledging his strength and daring both him and themselves to do and be better. It lends an air of intrigue and tension to just about every scene he’s in because they’re competing, always This leads into my next point, the pacing is fantastic. Maybe not in about the first 18 episodes which was largely responsible for its downfall in the anime community due to the (bullshit) "three episode rule". However its like demon slayer in that it goes from action to action to action, it gives you maybe an episode or two of what me and my friend call "TA episodes" where it gives you a moment to breath but otherwise its moving forward, every action scene progresses the plot or the characters in some unique way that makes it so you can just...binge it all since the end of the episode is never the end of anything, theres always something more, something to wait up at night or to wake up early for when the new episode airs. It does have a "harem" I guess if you wanted to call it that, which lends back into the "shamelessly shounen" aspect of the show but it doesn't disgrace these characters, the three characters who are in love with him, noel, mimosa, and that girl he saved in that town that one time (can't remember her name, sorry) haven't changed anything about themselves to make themselves more appealing to him, they don't fall over themselves for him, yeah they're awkward but like...thats how love works. There is only one "fanservice" character in the whole thing, which is vannessa however shes not dressing for anyone else but herself and despite the fact that shes wearing a bra and panties and drunk af most of the time none of the characters sexualize her and treat her badly/as less than because of it. This show drinks its respecc women juice and you cannot change my mind on that. On that point, although there is a clear male female imbalance within the group the women are pretty strong and they're hella respected, nobody fucks with meleorelona, nobody questions dorothy unsworths place in the captains even though she sleeps all the time, a whole squad of girls? yeah and nobody teases or gives them shit for it kuz they know they will get beat the fuck up. Also going back a moment, Asta, despite having a harem only has eyes for one girl!! his whole life he just wants to marry the nun from the orphanage he grew up at, he has girls desperate for his attention and he still just wants to marry this one girl and if that isn't the greatest dedication you've ever heard of in a shounen (aside from everyone loving nezuko in demon slayer) you get get the fuck out. Then the foreshadowing, the whole first arc/plot story thing with the elves had so much foreshadowing, they played the magic king defeating the demon in the start of every episode and I had no thoughts I skipped it every episode after the first like 20 times and then it shows it again and you learn this giant lesson about how there are often two sides of the same coin, because to the people it was "yeah the magic king defeated the giant monster" but to the magic king it was a mercy kill on his best friend who didn't want to hurt anybody but it was the best of his few and all bad options. It was the biggest slap to the face that nobody expected but it was perfect anyway. Thinking about duality, many people in the story have an issue where they were brought up a certain way and think a certain way, often that they are incapable, or that their power is somehow flawed or useless. But the show straight up says that its not that your power its useless you just haven't found the right application for it yet. noelle thought she couldn't do anything but with more training, a wand, and more defensive spells or the suit shes able to accomplish things she never thought she could. Finral was always told his magic wasn't useful because it was passive rather than attack magic, but when used in conjunction with vannessa and asta they were able to down one of the eyes of the midnight suns biggest guys, it wasn't that he was useless he just wasn't thinking of how to apply it to make it useful before and now that he does he has so many options its amazing. these are just my off the top of my head reasons why I think that black clover is one of the best shows ever but yeah, tell me what you think, or not, totally up to you.

[bee-calm]

a gallery date (+ a realisation or two)

[kermitbread]

here's the real one pls don't shoot me—

based off that cute official art of the star festival arc bc why not

u ever think of these two and be "yes, i shall think of every single good thing to happen to you"

and as requested, tagging @hananeneheaven on this ride :)

[serinrin]

This is the ideal Chinese anime, you may not like it but this is what peak gay representation looks like

[sapphicobsessions]

A shoulder to cry on manhwa review

Summary: Dayeol hears two guys fooling around in the nurse’s office and accidentally knocks over the curtain rod. When the nurse walks in on the scene, devilishly handsome Taehyun tells her that Dayeol tried to make out with him. Before Dayeol can correct the misunderstanding, the rumor spreads and his archery scholarship is in jeopardy. To make matters worse, Taehyun doesn’t show the slightest bit of remorse; in fact, he shamelessly begins hanging around Dayeol. It’s not long before the two begin walking the thin line between hate and love.

Genre: shounen ai, bl Chapters: 30

This manhwa exceeded my expectations really! I didn't expect this to get so deep. This is definitely is a well written bl which I don't see often. The characters were unique and even tho taehyun starts out as a bitch his character development was really good and i can't help but like him now ⊙﹏⊙ i really loved how they both had so much going on with themselves and it didn't feel forced or unnatural, everything felt like it was in place and these characters felt real (i hope you guys get what I mean lol) One thing I really liked about this manhwa is the way the author wrote the characters and their backstories!! It was really interesting to read and well written and made me cry lol. Honestly I did like the ending but i..still longed for more lol but this is definitely a worth a read and i loved it <33 oh and this is a sfw comic with slight nsfw in the side stories

And please look at how gorgeous the art is, definitely one of my favourite artstyles ever omg!! It's so aesthetically pleasing i wish i lived in that World

(ノT＿T)ノ ＾┻━┻ i will miss them ughh (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

[captnjacksparrow]

i dont like sasusaku and not even slightest naruhina, but its weird that you hate sakura as a character and not the creator himself. as much as i hate sakura, i used to love her development but all that went to trash right around the ending. honestly they should've just made narusasu a canon because that made more sense and even sakuino made more sense that some of the hetero pairings 🚮

Apart from the first line of your ask, I somehow disagree with everything, Anon.

Let me tell you why.

First off,

SNS becoming canon by holding hands or kissing or walking towards Sunset.... was never going to happen. So expecting that is kind of extremely childish. I was only unhappy because they wanted to go for this Next Gen shit. That made Kishi to marry off every other characters without any development until Chapter 699.

Second off,

I am immensely happy with what I got. That is NaruSasu became Soulmates. One can't exist without the Other, One complement the Other. Even though they have married those girls and have children, I don't think they will die for their families. And they still love each other more than their own families. Point me one popular Shounen with this kind of Development between 2 male Characters???!!! So, Kishimoto made something extra-ordinary, unusual and I must appreciate him for this from the bottom of my heart. From the way he has written their bond, he really wanted to end with an Open Ending... Like no pairs and trash.

Third off,

What even SakuIno means???? I mean, Sakura was totally going horny over Sasuke's dick and kiss. She was always touching his Body whenever she gets the chance. How can she be paired with a girl??? Same case with Ino. I am not Anti-SakuIno or anything. Probably you ship them for their aesthetics. But both the girls are filtered Heterosexual. They don't have any Lesbian Subtexts like SNS has. Sorry, that is just a crack ship just like SasuHina. They both are friends. That's all.

Fourth off,

Since when did Sakura's character had better development, Anon?? You mean that Sasori fight??? You are calling it as a development, and I am still calling it as a Selfish Obsession on her Sasuke-Kun. Sakura took that fight very seriously only after Sasori mentioned the name of Orochimaru. Sakura thought, if she manage to defeat Sasori, she could get information about Orochimaru which inturn will make it easier for her to retrieve Sasuke. She never fought for Gaara or Naruto, which is what she should've done in the first place. Tell me, how is this called as Development??? Just because she repeatedly punch stuffs???

In part 1, she was a total annoying Asshole and in the end she was even more of an Asshole.

It's not like the Author developed her as some Badass Girl and then dumped her for no reason. She was always written to be hated. At no point, I felt the Author made any conscious effort to make her likeable.

Fifth off,

You are asking me to blame the creator.... And why should I??? If Kishimoto can write amazing women characters like Tsunade, Konan, Kushina.... Why can't he do that for Sakura as well???

Let's take Tsunade

Her body was splitted into Two Halves. It's really gory to look. I think even Danzo had a pretty nice death... I think she is the only character in Narutoverse to have her Torso separated from her Lower Body....

Even then

She still wants to save other people with whom she had no proper connection with!! She was still thinking about saving other Kages rather than saving herself.

Tell me atleast one moment when Sakura thought about putting her life on the line to save other people??? Or tell me at what point point of the story, Sakura remotely displayed her selflessness???

You can't.

If Kishimoto can write someone like Tsunade, why can't he make Sakura, a strong person??

Let me tell you... If I am an Author and if I want to make a character likeable, the very first thing I would do is, to make that character be nicer to the Titular Character. This is an inherent and unwritten rule. That's exactly why Hinata was liked by many people.... It's funny, people really liked her a lot in Part 1 (not realizing her inherent shittiness)... But he decided to potray her in a wrong way starting from Part 2. If only Sakura was nicer towards Naruto, I repeat nicer... not to love him... people would have liked Sakura more. But all she did was behaving extremely horny towards Sasuke but showing Drainage-level care towards Naruto. And do you really think Kishimoto don't know this logic?? At no point, I've seen her being completely genuine towards Naruto. Even when she wanted to feed him Ramen, she only did it because of Naruto's devotion towards Sasuke.

Throughout part 1, she was an asshole... Towards the end of part 1, she was nice because she needs Sasuke's dick.... And in the beginning of Part 2, She totally was using him to retrieve Sasuke... She cared him here and there.. In the middle of Part 2, she shamelessly fake confessed him.... In the end of Part 2, she was begging Sasuke to like her... She didn't care about Naruto or Tsunade, who were about to be killed by Sasuke...

Where is this development you speak of, Anon???

I am Sorry, I still feel like you are a big Sakura fan and want to make an excuse by pushing the blame on the Creator. Because Hinata fans also always do this same thing... Like pushing the blame on Kishimoto for writing her that way. They never once realise that the character they like was piss poor because the author wanted it that way.

By that logic, I must criticize him for making Sasuke take certain decision which I am not OK with, too... Right???

If your favourite character don't behave in certain way like you expected, then there's only one thing to do. Blame the Author.

Sorry, I won't be doing it for any other characters in Naruto series. I accept every characters with the way the author has written.

Sakura is a pathetic character and she was meant to be. It was intentional and deliberate from Kishimoto's side. He wants this character to be hated and that's why he wrote her that way... And I know The reason for why he did it... Which is not the point of this post.

Just ask yourself, this question Anon...

If a secondary character like Ino who was very similar to Sakura, got a good development towards the end... There are so many good woman characters inside the Narutoverse. But still, in the end, why Sakura and Hinata alone was shown to have a negative and ugly development??? What makes Sakura and Hinata different from the other women??? Why particularly these two women???

Just give this question a deep thought and you will find the Answer.

People taking the wrong cue about a Character and blaming the author for the Character's shittiness... I am Sorry, I don't support this logic.

I would really appreciate those Sakura fans who completely accept her shittiness, mistakes, flaws and still able to love her... Without blaming the author. Because I've seen such fans but they are very rare to come across.

[egelantier]

Tian Guan Ci Fu

where is it and what is it

it’s a chinese webnovel by mxtx, the same author who did untamed; it exists as a webnovel, finished and kindly translated here, the manhwa, the donghua (animated adaptation) happening right now, and there’s a live action adaptation in plans, directed by the same guy who did untamed. the donghua is gorgeous, the adaptation i’m unsure about but prepared to be hopeful, the manhwa seems to be very pretty. but all the adaptations only cover the very beginning of the novel for now, so i went ahead and read the novel, and i have no regrets. it helps that the translation is very good - not without awkward translatorese, but it has consistent and engaging flow and style, and it’s also pretty good at conveying mxtx’s humor without awkwardness. it reads pretty well.

what’s it about?

the world is split into two parts: mortals and various ghosts and demons and entities share the land, while ‘heaven officials’, aka gods, live in the heavenly kingdom in the sky. pretty much anybody can become a god if they do something really heroic or memorable and/or cultivate (meditation, training, virtuous behavior) really hard. when above, the gods rule their domains and fulfill their believers’ wishes; they work sort of like pratchettian gods, dependent on their followers’ beliefs and getting influenced by them. heavens are strictly hierarchical, with their own economy and pecking order, and the gods aren’t particularly sinless or benevolent; mostly it’s a question of scale.

our hero, xie lian, is a prince of a prosperous kingdom who’s been on a fast track to ascension for most of his very short life; he’s talented, he’s virtuous, he’s kind, he’s strong, and his only peculiar flaw is (somehow naive, but well-meaning) obsession with equality and value of human lives and so on. he becomes a god, unexpectedly, at seventeen, after slaying one especially dangerous god, and rises in heaven at the peak of his faith, influence and happiness.

…and then he finds out about drought and incipient trouble in his own kingdom, and, being a young and righteous god too close to his mortality, eschews heavens and returns to save everybody. it, to put it lightly, does not go well. at all. in fact, it goes catastrophically wrong, and, having lost everything, xie lian ascends again, only to get into a fight with the heavenly emperor, and get banished again, this time for good. he roams the mortal lands for next eight hundred of very lonely, luckless and hard years, technically immortal but not invincible, with his powers and his luck stripped away, and leans to make do, eking out a living as a scrap collector. his temples are desecrated, his name is forgotten, his kingdom is long gone, and - well. so it goes.

so it goes! until one day, to everybody’s great surprise, he ascends once again: a humble, gentle, immune to embarrassment, unflappable man, an embarrassment to heavens, a 'laughingstock of three realms’ who just wants to be left well enough alone. he’s Tired.

instead of rest, he gets sent to investigate a dangerous ghost stealing brides who pass through its mountain, and there, during the course of the interrogation, has his first (he thinks) meeting with a terrifying, old-powerful and vengeful ghost king named hua cheng, who likes to terrorize heavens from time to time. but said ghost king seems to be very benevolent and very interested in helping xie lian, and xie lian is pretty instantly smitten… with knowing what’s the cause of such interest.

…and meanwhile, in the beginning, there'was an unlucky boy, born under the worst stars, whom xie lian saved from falling once, while still mortal, and promptly lost track of. a lot of things happened to this boy, who wanted to be the most devoted worshipper to xie lian the god of the sword and the flower. as one does, you know.

that’s the beginning! from there on: investigations, heavenly secrets, old friends and enemies and acquaintances, thematic parallels, old tragedies, more pining than you can shake a stick at, grand acts of love.

is it good?

it’s very, very good. it’s the first fantasy cnovel i read (aside from the hilarious one about a guy traveling back in his own timeline and becoming a sugar baby to a mafia boss, which was in a very different league), so i don’t know which things are baseline and which things are unique, but it had a very solid foundation: ambitious multilevel, multi-timeline plot coming together in the end both events- and emotions-wise, beautifully iddy main relationship, maybe multifaceted characters who change and grow and clash together in fun ways, a clear and heartfelt understanding of its own core themes.

it’s also, unexpectedly, very funny, in this visual, slapsticky, begs-to-be-adapted way - i found myself laughing out loud over it a lot of times, and it possesses this gift of swerve between understated but earnest emotions and all-out jokes that i associate with… a bit of prattchett and a bit of gintama, honestly. take it as you will.

(oh my god the mecha. i will laugh over this one until i die.)

it also made me cry several times; granted, it’s not like it’s this time, but those were very heartfelt tears.

and the main duo?

first let me say that xie lian was lifted out, wholesale, out of my deepest character preferences. he fell really, really far, and did some bad things, and some very horrible things were done to him, and by the time we meet him he went through everything and achieved this effortless kind of traumatized, humble, accepting, wryly self-deprecating, utterly competent chill that makes a character incredibly appealing to me. he’s kind, and he’s sweet, and he’s gotten any possible embarrassment at least a couple of centuries ago, and he kinda made peace with himself and kinda didn’t. i love him.

and, thankfully for me, hua cheng, the ghost king, loves him a whole damn lot, a ridiculous amount, an epic, over-the-lifetimes, life-shattering amount, and he’s a terrifying presence to everybody else and a shy, protective, sweet dork to xie lian, and every time they’re together on page my entire heart is just. it’s AMAZING. he’s a great combination of playing the obsessive protective yandere stalker-lover trope straight and putting it on its head, by making hua cheng not just revere but respect xie lian, in all his good and bad decisions.

they are just so - good for each other, holy shit. they get each other so well. they’re the best ever power team. i love them.

(the rest of canon is various character reenacting “really? in front of my salad?” meme at them. it’s hysterical, and it’s the best. everybody teams up to tell xie lian that his boyfriend is Problematic way, way before xie lian clues into the fact that he does have a boyfriend, and he’s having none of it. i love it.)

and the themes?

okay, so. roughly half of this novel is ridiculous iddy pining, and a fourth of it is various tropes (off the top of my head: soulbond, sex pollen, body switch, de-age, various shades of identity porn… crossdressing…) played very shamelessly. but it also really benefits from having an overarching set of ethical questions, and while it deals with them a bit shounen-style, it still deals with them, and it makes the whole text fresh, and sweet, and bold.

is it possible to save everybody? should you try to save everybody? if you lack the powers to back your convictions, does it make you complicit? when is it possible to stop the cycle of suffering, what can you do if you want to but can’t? if you tried and people you failed turned on you, whose fault it is, where does the blame stop?

Detailed spoilers begin from here, and i would REALLY advise to stay unspoiled, because the domino reveals are very fun

i loved the various ways the novel sets all those pieces up and then overturns them and then returns to them. xie lian wanted to save everybody and it was arrogant naivete of an untried, untested, privileged young man who never had a real challenge before; his presence made things escalate quicker, and yet everybody around him pretended it was his attempt to make things better that ruined everything, and not a combination of factors outside of his control. and yet he accepts the blame, because it dovetails with his shame at not having enough powers to back his intent up; and yet his triumph over bai wuxian is that he doesn’t, after all, renege on his initial drive to help people.

my most favorite part of this novel is that its turning point, the lynchpin of the whole novel, the moment that keeps xie lian’s soul and safety intact, is not his personal purity and drive; it’s not even hua cheng’s devotion and sacrificial love. it’s just a moment of little, grudging, human kindness from a little, petty, rude man whom the history will sweep away soon. the bamboo hat in the rain. the rest of the plot keeps twisting and turning and coming back to itself, but this? this was unquestionably, beautifully clear, and i loved it. it’s never about the gods, it’s all down to - fallen human is human, ascended human is human, and human is not some state, virtuous or sinful, you get stuck with - it’s a multitude of choices, and there’s never a final one.

and incoherent spoilery screaming for people who read it already

oh my god i had SO MUCH FUN. i’ve been flailing on meme for days, because somebody just finished reading there too, and i’m still bursting with ALL THE FEELS. ruoye origins oh my god! that hat! jin wu’s backstory and ultimate end! e-ming’s praise kink! pei ming’s little shippery 'hoho’! hua cheng’s horribly handwritten stick and poke tattoo of xie lian’s name! the lanteeeeeeeeeeeeerns. feng xin and mu qing on the bridge, making up with each other and with xie lian! hua cheng trying to explain to xie lian that his habit of using himself as bait and pincushion at any given moment is deeply emotionally upsetting to him, and succeeding! banyue’s learning from xie lian to be a truly horrible cook! the entire deal with shi qingxuan and he xuan and the wind fan in the end. THE CAVE. THE GIANT MECHA. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and aaaaaaaaaaaaa and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa and i am beset, beset by feelings. come scream with me.

[magicalgirlagency]

I've been following this blog for a while, and is it me,or has your opinion on Madoka seemingly softened over the years? Like I know you still criticize it a lot but although you have a lot of criticisms of it, at first I thought you despised it but now it seems you're more 'eh' about it?

Because I was still learning on how to tumblr at the time, so it was all one huge mess because I'm a major klutz.

Like, I'm a firm believer that there are no bad ideas, only bad executions. And Madoka Magica is a clear case of that.

You COULD create a story about the seedy underbelly of the world as a Magical Girl; like how it's often a thankless job, it makes you feel like an outcast, you can't reveal your identity to anyone in fear that they might be the enemy in disguise waiting for an opportunity to strike, and can most likely drive you to paranoia as your friends and family could be put in danger at any minute, among other things...

But, Madoka Magica didn't do any of that? It just tells us that the driving force of the world is feminine hysteria? That women are pre-disposed to hate eachother and fight to death? And the MC had to DIE in order to alter the system? And even after the change, more innocent girls are STILL dying?! And you're telling me this ending is supposed to be the HOPEFUL one?!?

Are you sure that Madoka Magica's original ending isn't dragging me into a death cult like Midsommar...?!

And I still stand by my argument that this anime is shamelessly sexist. HOWEVER, I will make myself clear that this argument of mine is based on the entirety of the Magical Girl genre; I'm aware that Urobuchi's brand of despair is unisex, but if we see through the point of view of a genre instead of an entire industry, it IS sexist, no ifs, ands or buts about it.

Though that's not a fair argument, the anime/manga industry is STILL sexist anyways. I mean, just look at the state of the Shounen genre.

And I can guarantee to you that almost every trope that Madoka Magica utilizes has been done in a past Magical Girl series in some shape or form (mostly in Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure). The only original things that this anime had was its dadaist aesthetics for the Witches and the use of more elaborate weapons like swords and guns.

And also, it has been 10 years already; we all have grown up, and our opinions have changed along with us. Certainly, many of the tropes that Madoka Magica used have aged like milk and wouldn't fly in the 2020's. Are we REALLY going to forget that Urobuchi has once compared Magical Girls to TERRORISTS?! Come on, man!

And don't get me started on Rebellion!

I have promised myself to keep my expectations for Walpurgis no Kaiten as low as possible to avoid disappointment, but there's a small voice deep within my brain telling me that SHAFT will realize that there's a demand for LGBT+ characters in today's market and make Madoka develop Stockholm Syndrome by the end of the fourth movie.

Madoka Magica HAD potential. But in the end, it's just some mindless drivel about how women are horrendous monsters for wanting things for themselves. It only got popular because of how much marketing buzz it has gotten. The Magical Girl genre is no stranger to dark moments (Sailor Moon, OG!Winx Club and Pretty Cure have plenty of those!) and/or darker series (does anyone even remember/has heard of Shamanic Princess, Vampire Princess Miyu and Uta-Kata?), so the boom for darker Magical Girl stories in the future was inevitable.

And even with its hiccups, its spinoff, Magia Record (the game, not the anime) has shown to be much better than its original source, as in while it presents dark storylines as per Puella Magi tradition, it has the heroines atoning for their past mistakes and fighting for a better future... and they succeed!

It's like it's THAT indeed easy to write a serious Magical Girl story and not punish its heroines for wanting things! Crazy! Bonkers, even!

Turns out I have been pavloved into hating this anime by the annoying stans who can't take a criticism without breaking out in hives, and treat the series and its characters as binaries instead of spectrums as if the motherfucking show didn't referenced Goethe's Faust and Nietzsche.

Truth be told, I don't really HATE Madoka Magica; hate is such a strong word, and there are other Magical Girl series that have done much worse and deserve my hatred more, like Mahou Shoujo Site, for example.

Just look at this shit.

Disgusting. Rotten. PUTRID.

[pines-troz]

Weekend With The Warners Chapter Two - Animaniacs & Pinky and The Brain

Summary: When the CEO tasks Pinky and The Brain with the important assignment of watching over the Warners for the weekend, Brain is prepared for any antics that the children have in store. What he didn’t take into account was forming a familial bond with the kids. 

Word Count: 3,017

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27849962/chapters/68388166 

The mice continued on their way through the studio lot, holding hands as they went. As they found themselves alone near the lot entrance, Brain decided to discuss his latest plan with his partner.

“Listen close, Pinky, for I have devised a surefire plan to take over the world. Your ingenious decision of choosing The Iron Giant as our date night movie the other evening has greatly inspired me, Pinky. We will build a giant robot to assert our dominance over humanity!” Brain eagerly declared, choosing to ignore the pacifist message of the beloved animated movie. “I’ve already made calculations for our finances, and we would need exactly five million dollars to buy the necessary parts. Fortunately, I’ve come up with a brilliant way to acquire the funds.” 

Brain pulled Pinky closer as he explained. “We will start a family-friendly crafts tutorial channel on YouTube, teaching children how to make slime among other wholesome DIY-projects. After we grow a substantial following, we’ll shamelessly peddle overpriced merchandise! Once we make a fortune from selling our wares, we will then purchase the necessary materials to construct our mech which we will use to intimidate the Canadian Prime Minister and ascend to power!” 

The Brain began to chuckle evilly, and Pinky joined in with his eager giggling. 

“But first, we must purchase filming equipment from the electronics store and return to the lab!” Brain commanded. 

“Say Brain, how do you spell DIY?” Pinky asked, taking out a pen and notebook. 

Brain blushed furiously upon hearing his boyfriend’s moronic question. “Pinky, you are without a doubt the most imbecilic mouse I’ve ever met. But, by Ptolomey, I am madly in love with you.” 

“Aw Brain!” Pinky cooed, moving his tail into the shape of a heart. 

As the lab mice were about to exit the movie lot, they were stopped by Ralph the security guard. 

“Uh, hold it right there.” The bumbling guard ordered. “The CEO wants me to bring you two to her office by cone, duh-I mean drone!” 

The mice were immediately swooped into a net and carried above by the drone. Ralph had some difficulty controlling the drone, but he managed to fly the rodent actors over to the main office building in the middle of the studio lot. 

“This is utterly mortifying.” Brain commented as he tried to prop himself into a more comfortable position. 

“Oh cheer up, Brain,” Pinky consoled. “Think of it like we’re on a magic carpet ride!” The taller mouse wrapped his arm around Brain, pulling him close as he began to sing. “I can show you the worl-”

But Brain clapped his hand over Pinky’s mouth while wearing an indignant frown. “Don’t.” The smaller mouse spat.

As the drone flew through an open window in the office building, the mice were immediately greeted by the company CEO, Nora Rita Norita. The businesswoman brought out a pair of scissors, cutting through the net. Upon liberation, the mice fell down onto one of the leather chairs facing the front of her desk. 

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me.” Ms. Norita addressed. 

“Frankly I would have preferred some prior notification about this emergency meeting, such as an email or a text message, as opposed to being captured in a drone and flown over against my will, but here we are.” Brain soured. 

“Are we in trouble?” Pinky asked worriedly. The taller mouse paced back and forth on the chair as he started to panic. “I swear I didn’t do anything wrong! I’m innocent, I tell you! Innocent! You can’t make me go back to the big house!” 

“No, I can assure you that you’re not in any serious trouble.” The CEO told the buck-toothed mouse.

Pinky was immediately relieved by the news. “Oh thank goodness.” He sighed. “Sorry if I got a little carried away there.” 

“A little?” Brain snapped sardonically. 

“Gentlemen,” Ms. Norita curtly alerted the mice, who gave her their undivided attention. “I’ve called you here because I have an important task for you to complete over the weekend. I have a very important business conference with some very important people in the Warner Brother’s office and I don’t want the Warner children to cause any problems. And since I became aware of your friendly rapport with the Warners, I have decided to give you two the important task of watching over the Warners starting tomorrow afternoon, where you will take care of them outside of the movie studio until Sunday evening.” 

Pinky stood up and cheered. “Oh, we’re going to have so much fun with the little angels over the weekend!”

Brain, on the other hand, was shocked that the CEO would disrupt his regular routine and plans for world domination, one of the few things he had complete control over. 

The CEO confidently smiled, happy that at least one of them was on board. “And to sweeten the offer, I already booked a nearby hotel with five-star accommodations and you can use the company credit card for any additional payments over the weekend that aren’t related to world domination.” She said, showcasing the golden credit card. Pinky’s eyes glistened as he gazed at the card, clearly enamored by how shiny it was. Brain, however, let out a defeated groan since he couldn’t use the card for his own selfish purposes. 

Ms. Norita continued to speak. “I sent you all the information in an email, and-”

“Why are you assigning us to complete this task?” Brain interrupted. 

“Because I noticed how well you and your partner get along with the Warners.” The CEO answered with feigned enthusiasm. “And who can do a better job at watching those troublesome kids than people who could put up with their antics.” 

Brain cringed when she referred to the energetic kids as mere troublemakers. He genuinely enjoyed being around the Warners ever since the original run of Animaniacs. He recalled the days where he and Pinky spared some of their free time to check in on the Warners. From sharing the same table during lunch hour to visiting them in their home in the water tower before sunset, when the mice had to leave for Acme Labs. Even though the kids had a knack for craziness, the Warners were genuinely good kids who craved validation and attention. 

But despite being on good terms with the children, Brain was far too upset that his usual schedule had been suddenly modified by a force outside of his control. He didn’t want another chance to take over the world to skip off into the sunset. 

“But Pinky and I already have plans for the weekend!” Brain argued. “And besides, shouldn’t you recruit a more qualified candidate like Bugs Bunny?”

“He’s busy filming for the Looney Tunes Cartoons and the new Space Jam movie.” Ms. Norita explained. “And what, may I ask, did you have planned for the weekend that’s so important to you?” She asked dryly. 

“We were going to take over the world by making a crafts YouTube channel for the little kiddies!” Pinky answered. 

“I think you can put your little pet project on hold,” Ms. Norita explained to the smaller mouse. “So I suggest you accept the task like the grown-up that you are or I’ll fire you, inform the press it was a matter of ‘creative differences’ and have Edgwin on board as your replacement.” 

The two mice exchanged shocked and horrified glances at the sheer audacity the CEO had for even considering the idea of messing with their brilliant chemistry. 

“Why would you do something so cruel!?” Pinky remarked, but Brain gently took the taller mouse’s hands into his own. 

“Please, ignore my partner’s outburst, for I’m more than happy to cancel my weekend plans!” Brain exclaimed with a nervous chuckle. “After all, we do have the previous child-rearing experience, making us more than qualified for the job!” 

“That’s what I like to hear.” The CEO got up from her desk and walked over to the door, opening it up and gesturing the two mice to make their leave. “Have a fun weekend.” 

Brain grabbed Pinky by the hand and they made their jump from the chair onto the floor. The pudgy mouse tugged his lanky partner as they exited her office. 

Once the mice were gone, Nora Rita Nortita retrieved her cell phone, scrolled through her contacts until she found the name she was looking for. 

Inside the water tower, Wakko and Dot were watching a competitive baking show on Netflix while Yakko was snug in his ball pit bed, watching a shounen anime that Wakko constantly infodumped on his tablet while eating a bag of potato chips. While he initially watched the show so he could better connect with his sibling, the eldest Warner became emotionally invested in the story. As the big fight scene was about to start, he felt his smartphone vibrate in his pocket. The eldest Warner fished out his phone, saw Nora Rita Nortita’s picture on the home screen. He pressed pause on his tablet and quickly answered the call. 

“Yello, Warner residence! Totally responsible young adult Yakko Warner speaking!” He answered, trying to sound as mature as possible. 

“Hi, this is Nora Rita Norita.” The CEO answered. “And I have some rather exciting news to deliver.” 

“Oh?” Yakko replied in a casual tone. 

“As you may know, I will be holding an incredibly important conference this weekend, so I assigned Pinky and The Brain to watch over you and your siblings at a five-star hotel this weekend.” 

“Really!?” Yakko asked with child-like enthusiasm. “Pinky and The Brain are taking us to a fancy hotel this weekend! Oh man, that’s fantastic news!” 

Wakko and Dot paused their show and immediately rushed over to their brother’s bedside upon hearing the words ‘Pinky’, ‘The Brain’ and ‘fancy hotel’. 

“The mice will pick you up tomorrow in front of the water tower at noon, and you better not come back to the studio lot at any point before Sunday evening.” The CEO informed him. 

“You kidding? We rarely get to hang out with those guys, considering how busy they are trying to take over the world. So we intend to cherish every waking second with those two!” Yakko answered. 

“Great,” Norita drawled. “I’m sure the five of you will have a grand old time this weekend. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a power-meeting to attend.” 

Yakko heard the phone click on the other end, but he was too excited by the news to care about the CEO’s rude behavior. “Hey sibs! We’re spending the weekend with Pinky and the Brain!” The eldest Warner proclaimed. Wakko and Dot cheered uproariously, bouncing up and down with excitement. 

“Say, do you two remember during the original run of Animaniacs when those two would usually hang out with us on the studio lot whenever we weren’t filming for the show?” Yakko asked his siblings, feeling rather nostalgic. 

“Like how we’d sit at the same table at the commissary during lunchtime and they’d swing by the water tower?” Wakko reminisced. “Or how Pinky would make us bowls of macaroni and cheese, and Brain would read me my favorite picture books!” He reached into their hat and took out The Very Hungry Caterpillar and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. 

“Or the times I’d give Pinky makeovers, and how we would pester Brain into taking us to McDonald’s!” Dot added as she eagerly clapped her hands. 

“Ah, those were the days!” Wakko blissfully sighed. 

“And not only do we get to relive those days again, but we’ll be staying at a luxury hotel! It’ll be like having a weekend-long sleepover!” Dot exclaimed. 

“Well sibs, I think it’s best if we start packing!” Yakko declared. The three siblings immediately took out their suitcases and began to pack away their essentials for their weekend vacation. 

Yakko put in a dozen pairs of brown slacks into his brown suitcase. Wakko took the refrigerator and stuffed it into their blue suitcase. Dot placed her finest attire into her purple suitcase. 

As the Warners continued to pack, they fondly remembered the good times during the original run of Animaniacs. While Yakko, Wakko, and Dot were mostly on their own, there were a handful of adults who spent quality time with them. Bugs Bunny, Slappy Squirrel, and Pinky and The Brain were their usual suspects. Bugs and Slappy usually entertained the kids with stories from the golden age of their careers and gave them helpful advice on thriving in the industry. Pinky and The Brain, however, proved to be a rare exception, since they’re genetically-altered lab mice and not technically toons. Regardless of their status, the mice would usually check in on the kids, make friendly conversation and share gossip, and indulge in their interests. But the mice always made sure to leave before the twilight, since they had to return to the lab and develop their schemes for world domination. And, like Bugs and Slappy, the mice never talked down to them and always treated them with kindness and respect. 

The Warners were eager to spend quality time with the mice once again. 

-                     -                       -                         -                       -

By the time evening rolled around, the mice returned to Acme Labs. When they arrived in their humble abode in the green cage, Brain decided to take some time to cope with the drastic change in his routine schedule by engaging in his deep breathing exercise. During his moments of self-reflection, Pinky looked on at his partner with loving eyes, proud that he was applying the techniques he learned from therapy through his own volition. The lanky mouse then put on his frilly green apron and scurried outside the cage to make his world-famous no-bake cheesecake for his roommate. 

Once Brain completed his mindful exercise, he came to the realization that he can make the most out of the weekend. He would receive some fulfillment from seeing Pinky happy. Additionally, spending time with the Warners would guarantee to bring some excitement to his nearly absent social life, and there was also the possibility that some of their antics could be a source of inspiration for potential plans for world domination. Everybody would win in this situation!

The mouse immediately went over to his tablet and began to conduct his research on the hotel and potential activities to do over the weekend. Finally accepting his role as weekend guardian, he was not going to do a sloppy job with the task he was assigned. 

“What common activities do most American families engage in during the weekend?” Brain pondered aloud. “Oh, I know, a trip to the library or an afternoon at the local park,” He muttered as he jotted down his thoughts on notebook paper. Then there were activities that required monetary exchange. Knowing that he would have full access to the company credit card, he was definitely going to have a field day with treating everyone to expensive spending sprees. Trips to the mall if the kids wanted anything in particular. Even splurging on the finest toy clothes that Pinky and himself would love to add to their wardrobes. Brain was also wildly determined to have at least one fancy fine-dining experience over the weekend!

Just as Brain neared completion in devising his plans and contingency plans for the weekend, Pinky arrived, carrying a big plate of cheesecake over to the wooden spool. 

“Oh Brain, I made you your favorite!” Pinky called out whilst flirtatiously fluttering his eyes. 

The pudgy mouse placed his work aside and eagerly rushed over to the makeshift table, where Pinky finished setting two additional plates and silverware. The lanky mouse gave his roommate a generous slice of cheesecake before taking a smaller portion for himself. Taking a fork, Brain scooped a piece of his cheesecake and ate it. The mouse was in a state of euphoria, savoring the scrumptious dessert. After allowing the cheesecake to melt into his mouth, he swallowed the pastry and let out a contented hum. 

“Pinky, your pastries are simply divine!” Brain complimented. 

Pinky blushed at the praise he received. “Aw Brain, I’m just happy that you like my cooking. Zort!” 

Brain took a napkin and wiped away the crumbs from the sides of his mouth. He decided to engage in some amiable small talk. “So Pinky, are you looking forward to our mini-vacation tomorrow?”

“Oh yes! I’m going to have a fun-fun, silly-willy time watching over the kids!” The lanky mouse cheered. But his grin slowly faded into a worrisome frown. “But Brain, while I was preparing the cheesecake, Jerry the Gerbil dropped by and he told me that the scientists were planning a big, month-long separation experiment starting Saturday!” 

“A month-long separation experiment?” Brain repeated with great concern. 

Pinky nodded. “He said that the scientists would take some of the rodents that roomed together and place them in different parts of the lab, where they would write about our emotions and stuff!” 

“That’s terrible news.” Brain remarked. “And what serendipitous timing…” 

“What do you mean, Brain?” Pinky inquired. He was surprised to see his roommate take his hands into his own. 

“Since we’ve been tasked to supervise the Warners over the weekend, we needn’t worry about the experiment.” Brain consoled his roommate as he caressed Pinky’s hands. “We would be outside of the lab during the beginning phase of the experiment and by the time we return, the scientists would have already selected the other poor souls residing in the lab as their test subjects, and we would avoid any emotional trauma that would come from participating in the cruel test in its entirety.” 

“Oh, that’s a relief!” Pinky sighed.

“So there’s no need to dwell on such things, Pinky.” Brain soothed. “Try to divert all of your energy and attention on preparing for our little trip.” 

“Right-o!” Pinky concurred with renewed enthusiasm. The mouse released himself from Brain’s hold and retrieved his floral printed suitcase. 

“Now make sure to pack all your essentials,” Brain commanded. “I have a feeling that we are about to have an unforgettable weekend.” 

AN: Another quick chapter that’s essentially build-up for what’s to come. When it came to writing Brain’s initial refusal to take the job, I felt like having him freak out over not having control over his regular routine is more in-character to him, plus with the added stakes of the CEO threatening to fire him. So he just swallows his pride and tries to make the most out of the situation. 

I also included one of my other headcanons where The Warners had a handful of toon guardians who checked in on them on a regular basis (Pinky and the Brain, Slappy Squirrel, Bugs Bunny) because they’re well aware of how poorly the industry treats people like them and they want to make sure that the kids are okay. 

Jerry the Gerbil was actually a reference to the Pinky and The Brain episode ‘The Family That Poits Together, Narfs Together’. We don’t see him at all, but Brain and Pinky reference him. Plus it seemed like the most logical choice to have Pinky get the news of the experiment from another rodent in the lab. And yes, this plot point will come back into play later in the story. 

And I also wanted to have a scene where Pinky makes cheesecake for Brain, as a nice little nod to Future Brain (which is easily my favorite segment from the reboot) and I love the idea of Pinky baking food for Brain, and it gave me a great excuse to write some domestic bliss between the two!

And I want to give a special thanks to @themurphyzone for beta reading this chapter!

The next chapter will be considerably longer, so it may take a bit to post it up, but it’s full of fluff and fun bonding scenarios. 

Thanks for reading!

[eradicatetehnormal]

Rambling About Sk8 Infinity 'Cause I Just Caught Up

So yeah, when I initially watched it, literally my first reaction was "aw man, it looks like this show will have no real consequences for any of the main characters' actions, that's the typical shonen formula I guess." Then, as if a direct frick you to me, there WERE consequences. It didn't come from the reckless skating or beefing with scary competitors, no, it came from the person who's kinda the hero of the series, Langa, being TOO good at fulfilling his role and leaving Reki to feel left behind and like he can't match up to the rest of his comrades. Now this is resolved rather quickly within the span of 3 episodes, but what I think made it stand out to me was the way it was resolved and the perspective that this conflict was seen from. You see I think Reki's little mini arc here goes to show you the shonen hero from the perspective of his weaker companion. We've had stuff like this before but I think it's special here because 1.It shows the perspective of the weaker comrade and STAYS there. 2. Even when these characters get frustrated at their lack of strength, there's usually a scene where the protag will say some pseudo-inspirational garbage at this character. This is never genuinely done by the writers to empower the weaker character. It's done to make the hero stand out even more for being a nice person ON TOP of being a badass shonen hero. (man, aren't we getting the whole package...>:/ ) and the way the resolve this, isn't by having same "manly" fight scene where the weaker character tries to prove their worth or some sh*t, no, Reki and Langa talk it out after Reki remembered why he skates. And why wouldn't they be able to do that? They're friends :) It's moments like these that kinda almost make the show feel more like a Shoujo than a Shounen to me. Good series is good series, 7.7/10 to bullet point the things I didn't like -Langa isn't really shown to have any flaws or insecurites, it is only season 1 though

-the character design is low-key kinda weak. There's a reason why I keep comparing them to Katekyo Hitman Reborn and Kingdom Hearts characters, it's because their designs are super generic that you mix them with character designs from other anime and anime-like media in your head. Even with the designs I do like, Reki and Miya's, I feel like their silhouettes aren't that interesting. You can black them out and put them next to any spiky haired character (with reki) and any character with cat ears (with Miya), and they'd blend in together with all the other character if it weren't for those skateboards -creepy villian. Man with bad touch... (seriously though, why is the default for making a villian scarier, making them rapey? they did it with Sephiroth in ff7 and Scar from the lion king if you saw that deleted song...It's weird) Alright now lets's talk about the important thing here. The real reason I kept watching, and it's not the skateboarding scenes (though those are well directed). It's, T H E Y. Not even because of the ship, but because their relationship is just really cute, healthy, and just like wholesome my dude....BUT NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THE SHIPPING ASPECT SHALL WE?

wow, there's so much gay in these two, they could rid the world of heterosexuality with a doom impending glitter gay bomb lol. Seriously though, I knew everyone shipped them so I expected them to be extremely close and maybe have a little bit of not-straight implications. Shounen tends to have moments between its male characters that are very intimate and can be seen as romantic, regaurdless if that was the intention or not, but I didn't expect the implications to be THIS blatant. I feel like even the "dude-bros" had a hard time trying to keep it straight. From the very beginning they get along almost immediately and never really went through any real rivalry phase. Even when Reki avoided Langa and quit skating, it wasn't because of any bitter feelings towards Langa, but because he was getting insecure and felt like he couldn't stand to him. For most of the series, they continue to inspire each other throughout the series and become each others main motivations for waking up happy and just skating. One of the biggest examples is the scene where Reki races with ADAM and another being when Langa races with Kojiro. Even when Reki gets, dang-near molested and the race track and loses courage, it's Langa's words that reminded him of what he was fighting for and gets his head back in the game, even if he does end up losing. With Langa, it wasn't until he saw Reki's face and heard his voice from the crowd, did he start to feel passionate about winning the race, as his hearts not in skating, if he can do it with the person who got him into it (he really asked Reki if they could skate for infinity ah *cries*) (It kind of makes me wonder if the original manga writer wrote a bunch of BL before writing Sk8 and is stuck in this awkard phase were they are literally incapable of writing to male main characters who AREN'T into each other or if they are just going to make Reki and Langa a couple. I'm gonna guess it's the first one, because let's be real, when companies see that people ship a gay pairing, they WILL pander to the fraction that ships it shamelessly and then will never go through with it in the end. I'd be happy to be wrong here though.)

Aw yes, one more thing before I go. I like to think that these two scenes were meant to parallel each other:

uhhh Okay, so you can barely tell but these pictures are basically Reki, Langa, and Adam tangoing with each other on skateboards. I like to interpret as Langa being able to turn what has been seen to be spirit breaking for Reki into something positive, if only for a brief moment. A more intellectual queer could put the relationship between these 3 through a queer theory lens and say that they represent being in vs being out of the closet, a metphor for grooming, or perhaps even trying to reclaim your youth, but to be frank, my a** is not fat enough, nor is my brain big enough to be this person.

[yellowcanna]

Promise of a Lifetime

Summary:

“Where have you been, Xiao?! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Hu Tao shouted, grabbing Xiao’s hand and dragging him into the parlour where Zhongli was waiting.

“Master,” Xiao dipped his head towards Zhongli who was standing there looking at him…apologetically?

Xiao instantly had a bad feeling, and that feeling came true when Hu Tao went on a ramble about how they received a huge sum of mora. The green-haired youth gritted his teeth and took a deep breath in an attempt to stay calm.

“Young master,” he stopped the girl who wasn’t getting anywhere other than mora. “These mora you mentioned…were they by chance given by Tartaglia?”

“Yep!” Hu Tao answered cheerfully, not the slightest bit ashamed in admitting that she had once again sold Xiao to the bastard.

The corner of Xiao’s lips twitched, but he controlled himself as to not show any form of disrespect towards Hu Tao and Zhongli.

“May I ask what is requested of me this time?”

“Simple! You just have to attend a party as his lady partner!”

Xiao was going to kill Tartaglia.

[AU where the gods and adepti are humans in Teyvat and Xiao was a former assassin of the Abyss Order]

Genre: Fluff, Canon Divergence, hurt/comfort, touched-starved, Enemies to friends to lovers, shounen-ai

Rating: T

Pairing: Childe/Xiao

Author: Canna / Yellow Canna

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Available on AO3!!

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It was a bright sunny day in Liyue Harbour.

The green-haired youth sat on the open windowsill with one leg propped up and his elbow resting upon his knee. His bright, cobalt yellow eyes gazed out to the endless blue sky without a speck of cloud.

He closed his eyes when a warm breeze blew by, carrying the scent that was exclusive to Liyue. Feeling something settling down onto his elbow, he opened his eyes and was greeted by a little brown sparrow. The tiny bird chirped and hopped around his arm. Xiao didn’t move. He quietly observed the bird jumping all over him. And then, the serenity was ruined by the sound of footsteps before the door was rudely opened without any knocks.

The sparrow squawked and flew away while the youth heaved out an irritated breath.

“I figured you’d be here, Xiao!” A cheerful voice greeted, but the youth on the windowsill didn’t move.

He stared at the sky, determined to ignore the nuisance behind him.

The intruder didn’t mind the silent treatment. He sat down by the table at the center of the room where there was a teapot and a cup of half-drunken tea that had already gone cold. He picked up the ceramic cup and drank the remaining content.

That earned some reaction from the youth who glanced over his shoulder, eyes narrowing.

“The master is away,” Xiao finally spoke. Although he tried to keep his voice indifferent like he usually does, there was a mild irritation which the other man was keenly able to pick up.

“I know,” the man smiled around the rim of the cup before setting it back onto the table. He reached for the teapot and poured himself some more tea. “I’m not here for Mr. Zhongli.”

“Young master Hu is away as well.”

“I’m not here for your young master either,” the brunet took a small sip on the hot tea and frown. “I don’t get why the people of Liyue prefer hot drinks when their climate is so warm. Wouldn’t cold tea be more convenient?”

Xiao didn’t respond and turned his attention back to the outside. Instead of looking at the sky, he was now eyeing the street below.

“Hey now, don’t be so eager to leave!” The man chuckled, easily seeing through what Xiao was thinking. “Aren’t you at least curious what I came here for?”

“No.”

“You’re no fun,” the man lamented with a soft sigh. “Someone is after my life.”

“I see,” Xiao turned around to fully face the man. “The Wangsheng Funeral Parlour will accept to host your funeral. Come back once you've brought the necessary funds.”

“Hahaha!” The man laughed. “Looks like staying in this old place has rubbed off on you! I didn’t think I would ever hear you crack a joke!”

Xiao just stared at the man impassively.

“Fine, I’ll get to the point. I need your help.”

“I refuse.”

“Aw, don’t be like that!” He pleaded. “Help a friend out.”

“I don’t recall ever being friends with you.”

“How could you say that after all of our bonding time?”

Xiao’s brow twitched upon remembering what this man viewed as bonding time. This man would keep pestering him, keep pushing his buttons, keep crossing the boundaries until Xiao couldn’t take it anymore and in the end, they would always clash with their blades.

Xiao could still clearly recall his first meeting with the man around this time last year.

As an envoy from Snezhnaya and one of the Eleven Harbingers—Queen Tsaritsa’s Royal Knights, this man known as Tartaglia was a formidable opponent.

The first time Xiao met this man was through his saviour and master, Zhongli. Xiao knew little about the world of business, so Zhongli brought him outside to see the world.

When Xiao first laid his eyes on the Harbinger with ochre brown hair, he knew he wouldn’t get along with him and he was right. The next time they met, this man came up to him and brought up his past.

This envoy from another nation had dug his claws deep into Liyue and pulled out a secret that was meant to be buried, and that was the Yaksha.

For as long as Xiao could remember, he was already walking within the darkness—chained and broken. Perhaps there had been a time when he was freed, but it was a time he couldn’t remember anymore. With a slave mark engraved into his soul, Xiao was powerless against the creature he was forced to acknowledge as master. Without his master's command, he couldn't even take his own life.

The Abyss Order was the name of the organization and Xiao was one of their few human slaves that survived. Since young, Xiao was trained to become an assassin and spy so that the Abyss Order can keep their eyes on each nation. Because he was originally from Liyue, that was where they assigned him to. Due to the demon mask he wore whenever in a battle or assassination, he was given the name of the Yaksha by the citizens of Liyue as a symbol of their fears and hatred.

Xiao could no longer remember how many people he had killed. All he knew was that two years ago, all seven nations combined their powers to finally rid Teyvat of the Abyss Order. During that battle, Xiao was naturally called upon the battlefield where he met Zhongli.

Though the man claimed to be a councillor from the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour, he was in reality part of the Qixing. Zhongli was the only person who saw through the slave mark binding Xiao and freed him from the chains that had bound him for so long instead of slaughtering him like the rest of the Abyss Order.

The name Xiao was the new identity given to him and since then, Xiao had settled within the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour.

Xiao never understood why Zhongli would go through so much trouble when it was easier to kill him. Even though Xiao may not want to be saved, he was nevertheless grateful for the man’s kindness—as well as Hu Tao’s for giving him a place to stay. Xiao was never one to take anything for granted. Since they extended their kindness to him, he must repay them.

It was as simple as that.

A year following that battle, he tried to live putting the past behind him, yet talks of the Yaksha would still be heard from time to time. There were still people investigating the origin of the Yaksha, for that the demon mask in Xiao’s possession oddly resembled the mask of an ancient clan of exorcists that was annihilated twenty years ago.

Though Xiao heard the rumours, he never bothered to investigate the truths behind it because it did not matter anymore. That clan was no more and even if there were survivors, Xiao doubted they would accept him—especially when he was the one who had killed so many of these exorcists during his time in the Abyss Order.

For a whole year, Xiao’s real identity was only known to Zhongli. Not even the other Qixing or Hu Tao knew about his identity.

No one had ever linked the Yaksha to Xiao.

No one but the Eleventh Harbinger, Tartaglia.

Tartaglia had found out about Xiao’s identity as the Yaksha and confronted him at Tianqiu Valley when Xiao was sent there on a task. He even used his identity to provoke Xiao. Enraged by the man’s action, Xiao drew his spear for the first since the battle that ended the Abyss Order.

Xiao had gone all out, even donning the mask Zhongli had specifically told him not to bring out. Tartaglia had put on a mask of his own, wielding both Vision and Delusion. The whirlwind summoned by Xiao’s power mixed with the violent rain and lightning from Tartaglia created a storm Liyue had never seen before.

Had Zhongli not arrived in time to stop their fight, one of them would surely die that night.

The third time they met was two days after when the man waltzed into his room as though nothing had ever happened. Needless to say, another fight broke out between them and half of the parlour was blown apart.

Hu Tao was hysterical when she returned to find the second floor of the parlour completely gone. However, that matter was swiftly settled when the Fatui shamelessly offered to reconstruct the entire building and even expanding it as compensation.

Since then, whenever Tartaglia dropped by, the young master would look at Xiao with stars in her eyes, desperately hoping for the two to start another fight.

As much as Xiao tried not to, he was still provoked into stabbing the man on multiple occasions. Each time something within the parlour was destroyed, Tartaglia would pay for it. Eventually, this became a pattern and Xiao’s fight became the highest source of income for Wangsheng Funeral Parlour.

“Leave, I have no interest in fighting with you.”

“I’m not here for a fight this time.” The brunet rested his chin into his palm. “I need your help, Xiao Xiao~”

“Do not call me that,” Xiao gritted.

“But you let the young master call you that—Ah! Wait, wait!” He called when Xiao had already gotten up, crouching on the windowsill and preparing to jump out any moment. “I got information that someone is plotting against me and there’s a high chance of assassination. Unfortunately, the mastermind’s identity is covered up pretty well so my men are having trouble locating them. I want to hire your help as a former assassin.”

“I reject.” With that, Xiao leaped out the window and was gone in a gust of wind.

Knowing how persistent that man could be, Xiao took his time strolling around the outskirt of the city. It wasn’t until the sky became completely dark and the lanterns on the street lighting up that he returned to the parlour.

“Xiao Xiao!”

What greeted him when he stepped through the front door was the excited young master of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour—Hu Tao. The raven-haired girl ran up to him, eyes sparkling in a way that Xiao long learned to be wary of.

“Young master Hu,” he greeted politely with a bow.

“Where have you been, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” She gasped, grabbing Xiao’s hand and dragging him into the lobby.

“Master,” Xiao dipped his head towards Zhongli when he spotted him standing there looking at him…apologetically?

Xiao immediately had a bad feeling, and that feeling came true when Hu Tao went on a ramble about how they received a huge sum of mora. The green-haired youth gritted his teeth and took a deep breath in an attempt to stay calm.

“Young master,” he stopped the girl who wasn’t getting anywhere other than mora. “These mora you mentioned…were they given by Tartaglia?”

“Yep!” Hu Tao answered proudly, not even the slightest bit ashamed in admitting that she had once again sold Xiao to the Fatui.

The corner of Xiao’s lips twitched, but he controlled himself as to not show any form of disrespect towards Hu Tao and Zhongli.

“May I ask what is requested of me?”

“Oh, that’s easy! You just have to attend a party as his lady partner!”

Xiao was going to kill Tartaglia.

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Xiao sat in front of the mirror and stared at his own reflection. He fixed the Glazed Lily ornaments on the left side of his hair before picking up a piece of red Silk Flower paper and smeared the colour onto his lips.

He put on the pair of emerald earrings, slipping them through the earholes which he had not used for a long time. He then picked up the pair of black satin gloves on the table and slipped them on. The long gloves reached to his elbows, leaving his upper arms bare.

Xiao skillfully wrapped a piece of thin red string around his Vision before tying the string around his neck, creating a necklace. He tucked the necklace under his cloth with his vision hidden under the fake chest he made.

He buttoned up his top and closed the collar over his throat to conceal the budge on his throat that woman would not have. Once he was done, he stood up and headed for the door. His elaborate green and black qipao with Ameno pattern flowed down to his ankles and each time he took a step, the qipao would flutter, splitting at his hip showing off his long, milk-white legs.

“Eeeh? Why can’t I go in?” Xiao heard the familiar whine of Hu Tao from outside his door.

“Xiao said he can dress on his own, young master Hu,” the deep voice of Zhongli’s explained.

“But what is he needs help? And do you really think he would put it on? For all we know, he could have already shredded it and—”

Xiao opened the door. The raven-haired girl who was facing Zhongli spun around on her heels, mouth already open to say something, but her voice never came out. She stood there, her eyes as wide as her open mouth as she gawked at Xiao.

“Xiao Xiao?!”

Xiao heaved out a sigh and let the girl inspected him. He looked over to Zhongli and bowed respectfully. “Master.”

“You look beautiful, Xiao,” Zhongli complimented with Hu Tao hurriedly nodding in agreement before her eyes fell to the B-cup swell around the man’s chest.

If possible, her eyes widened even more and she reached out both hands to start groping them.

“T-they feel so real…!” She gasped in awe as she squeezed and kneaded the softness on Xiao’s chest. “Don’t tell me…Xiao Xiao you’re actually a—”

“It’s made with condensed slime,” Xiao deadpanned, not even wanting to hear the rest of that sentence. He took a step back and angled his body away so he could save his fake chest from her devilish hands.

“Ahem…young master Hu,” Zhongli coughed into his hand. “I believe Childe has been waiting long enough.”

“Huh? Oh! That’s right!” Hu Tao clapped her hands together. “That guy’s already waiting for you in the lobby and—oh, shoes! Let me get your shoes!”

The girl rushed off and came back with a pair of black heels with the same Ameno pattern that matched the qipao. Xiao slipped his feet into the shoes, finding it odd how well it fitted, just like this dress. At first, he thought these clothes were something Hu Tao prepared, but considering her personality, that now seemed highly unlikely.

Zhongli couldn’t have prepared these for him either, since if it was Zhongli, he would have bought all the clothes the store had to offer and piled them into Xiao’s room.

“Young master Hu, may I ask where you got these garments?”

“Oh, Childe gave them to me!” Hu Tao said happily and immediately veins started to stick out from beneath Xiao’s pale skin.

To the side, Zhongli lightly shook his head.  

With another bow to the two, Xiao headed for the lobby, his heels clicking as he went.

As he was descending the stairs, he spotted Tartaglia in the lobby, dressed in the same clothes as usual. Hearing the sounds of heels, Tartaglia looked up and froze. For a split second, the man was taken back, looking completely stunned, but he recovered the next moment with a weirdly serious look on his face.

That made Xiao’s step slowed just a little. He had expected the man to come up to him and tease him, but not eye him with such stoic expression. Xiao kept his face blank and finally arrived in front of the taller man.

He crossed his arms, waiting for the other to speak.

He waited for five long seconds and Tartaglia still didn’t say anything. Instead, the man turned to the attendant that was beside him.

“Bring the good.”

The attendant looked a bit dumbfounded at first, but when he realized what his master was asking for, he hesitated.

“But Master, that’s the gift for—”

“Do I need to repeat myself?” Azure blue eyes narrowed dangerously. In an instant, the attendant bowed down and hastily excused himself.

Xiao watched the man ran out and came back only seconds later with a beautiful ice blue box. From the unusual design on the box as well as the material, the green-haired youth knew it was a box crafted from Snezhnaya.

The attendant presented the box to Tartaglia who opened it up to reveal snow-white fur within.

“This is made by the pelts of the snow foxes that dwell within the mountain of Snezhnaya,” Tartaglia explained, pulling out the long white fur with great care. The pelt sparkled under the lighting and even looked as though it was emitting breathes of coldness from its origin.

Tartaglia ran his fingers over the pelt before he walked up to Xiao and wrapped the pelt around his shoulders and over his forearms. The rest of the pelt flowed down his side, the soft fur tickling his exposed hips and stopping just a couple inches below his knees.

Xiao was stunned by the man’s act. His previous anger was forgotten the moment the fur touched his skin. Never in his life had he ever felt something as soft as this. He looked down at the pelt hung around his arms, able to feel the strange coolness seeping into his skin despite how fur was known to do the opposite.

From how stiff the attendant was standing behind Tartaglia plus his previous behaviour, Xiao could tell that this pelt was meant to be for someone else.

“Master, then the gift…” the attendant began meekly.  

Tartaglia spared the man a sideways glance and waved him off. “Just replace it with something else in the treasury.”

Tartaglia looked over Xiao up and down as his hands reached for Xiao’s face. Xiao stood still, watching the man warily as those hands disappeared from his vision and he felt his earrings being removed. The brunet didn’t say anything. He took off the right earring first, then the left one.

After that, he tossed the two earrings to the attendant and reached up to remove his red earring hanging off his left earlobe. Xiao was quiet the entire time, even when the man leaned over him and slipped his earring through Xiao’s ear.

“Does it hurt?” Tartaglia suddenly asked.

“…No,” Xiao replied, feeling the weight of the new earring before looking up at Tartaglia. How odd of the man to question him such a thing considering how many times they left each other injured after a fight.

“Good!” Tartaglia wrapped his arm around Xiao’s elbow and pulled him outside where the carriage was waiting. “Then let us depart!”

The ride in the carriage was quiet.

Xiao was always one to enjoy the silence, yet silence with Tartaglia was never a normal thing. He glanced over to Tartaglia who was blatantly staring at him which made Xiao shift in self-consciousness.

“If you have something to say, just say it.” Xiao finally said after a long while.

“Hm…” Tartaglia hummed, eye drifting down Xiao’s form then shifting back up to meet the other's irritated gaze. “I thought you would at least try to punch me by now.”

“Because you made me dress as a woman?” Xiao huffed, turning his head away and stared out the window. “I am not unfamiliar with such disguises.”

“Past experience?”

“…Due to my build and face, I was required to dress as a woman many times to approach my targets.”

“I see…” Tartaglia’s voice was quiet and distant, yet there was no form of pity or sadness in that voice. It was the one reason why Xiao always found himself comfortable with talking to this man about his past.

That and the fact that even if he didn’t say anything, this man will dig it out anyway.

“What did they do?”

“Surely you don’t need me to answer that,” Xiao said dryly.

The Snezhnayan did not try to pry anymore, because he knew the answer. While it was obvious these people could never get far because Xiao wasn’t a real girl, some level of intimacies were still inevitable.

“You look gorgeous.”

Xiao glanced back at the man with narrowed eyes. The distrust in those golden orbs was as clear as day.

“I’m serious,” Tartaglia chuckled before his smile fell again. “More than I ever thought you’d be. I’m just disappointed. These clothes don’t fit you at all.”

“What do you mean?” Xiao bristled lightly at what he assumed was an insult.

“For one thing, they pale compared to your beauty,” Tartaglia lamented. He reached out and pinched his fingers around the tail of the fur. “Even the finest fur of Snezhnaya failed to match up to you.”

“Enough with your empty flattery.” Xiao shot the man a sharp glare. “How did you know my size for the dress and shoes?”

“How many times do you think we’ve fought?” The man laughed. “I’m a keen observer! I’ve memorized how your body moves in order to predict your next attack. Knowing your size is hardly anything special.”

Xiao didn’t believe that kind of explanation, but he didn’t bother trying to find out the real answer and instead got down to business. “I assume the one after your life will be attending the party?”

“Yeah, most likely.” Tartaglia nodded. “I have a few suspicions, but I can’t be certain yet. As an assassin, I like to hear your input.”

“You’ve hardly given me any information for me to have opinions.” Xiao crossed his arms and looked back out the windows. “But…I can think of some methods they may use. Halfway through the party, find an excuse to leave me alone and I will identify the perpetrator for you.”

“How dependable!” Tartaglia clapped. “But if you’re alone, you’ll need to talk. Can you take up that task?”

Xiao’s brow twitched, but he softly cleared his voice and spoke in a higher-pitched voice, “naturally.”

It was a beautiful sound with no signs of forced or strained as fake voices generally have. If Tartaglia hadn’t heard this voice coming out of the apathetic man before him, he would have believed the voice to be a real woman’s. He laughed, looking thrilled and extremely interested at how Xiao was able to change his voice like that, but the former assassin was done humouring him.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at the dock where Xiao saw people dressed in fancy clothes being escorted onto a ship. So the party will be in the sea…

Xiao was now a hundred percent certain the assassins would come for Tartaglia after they return to land. With this, Xiao was now certain what kind of method they would use to take Tartaglia down, but decided to keep that to himself. Tartaglia hired him for protection, so he will fulfil it to the contract.

The door to the carriage opened. Tartaglia stepped out first before turning to Xiao and offered his hand. Xiao didn’t hesitate to reach for his hand. He placed his hand upon the larger one like a woman would and allowed himself to be guided out. Once standing side to side, he wrapped both of his hands around Tartaglia’s arm and pressed his body close to the man.

Tartaglia’s attendant was already waiting there. At the sight of his boss, he hurried over and presented the same fancy box that once contained the fox pelt. The Harbinger opened the box a little, taking a quick glimpse inside and snapped it shut.

“It will do,” he said, putting on his smile and led Xiao towards the boat.

At the appearance of the young handsome man with a beautiful female companion, eyes were automatically drawn towards them and whispers of the pair began to travel. Neither of the two at the center of this attention cared as they boarded the ship after Tartaglia showed the guards his invitation.

With the sun long set into the sea, the ship was lit with large lanterns, brightening the dock with waiters walking around carrying beverages. When Tartaglia made his appearance, these people swarmed towards him like bees to honey. As the Harbinger who oversaw all the Snezhnaya banks across the nations and establishes trades, Tartaglia has made quite a name for himself in the business world.

Every merchant in Liyue knew about him and was all too eager to establish a relationship with him. That and there was also the fact that the female companion he brought was simply breathtaking. Many men ogled Xiao, though none dared to look too long in fear of being discovered.

With Xiao latched onto Tartaglia’s side and Tartaglia taking control of any conversations that came their way, the green-haired youth didn’t need to participate in any of the interactions. While pretending to not care about everything around him, Xiao was cautiously eyeing their surroundings and checking on all the people that came up to talk to Tartaglia.

The boat has now set off into the sea and the host of the party was making a long speech on the stage.

Xiao was staring at a group of people talking not far from then when a glass of wine came into his vision.

“I don’t drink,” Xiao said quietly, keeping his voice low so no one would overhear.

“Try it, you’ll like it.”

Xiao frowned but knew this man would probably keep pestering him if he didn’t. He took the glass by the stem, swirling the fluid inside around to release the aroma. He took a small whiff before putting the glass against his lips and tilted his head back to take in the fluid.

There was a very unusual taste in the wine—one that was foreign to Xiao.

“I told you you’ll like it,” Tartaglia said with a knowing grin. “It’s Dandelion wine from Mondstadt.”

“…I prefer not to drink, especially during work.” Xiao handed the glass back to the man.

Tartaglia chuckled, bringing the glass to his lips—exactly over where Xiao’s mouth had touched—and took an elegant sip.

Once the speech was over, the guests started to go up one by one to hand their gifts to the host of the party. It was then that Xiao—having not paid any attention to the speech, realized that this was a birthday event.

“Come now,” Tartaglia wrapped his arms around his waist and guided Xiao up the stage where he had his attendant offer their present. “A small gift from Snezhnaya, for the beautiful Madame Zhang.”

The attendant opened the box to reveal a large green gemstone that Xiao had never seen before.

“Oh my!” The woman who Xiao assumed was Madame Zhang gasped at the sight of the gemstone. “Such beautiful emerald! This is the first time I’ve seen one in such quality!”

“We offer you only the best, for you are the star of tonight,” Tartaglia replied smoothly. 

“That is very thoughtful of you, master Childe,” Madame Zhang giggled while her servant took the box and set it aside with the other ones. “Though I believe that there is a lady that shines brighter than any stars or emeralds I’ve seen. What is your name, young miss?”

“I am Xiao, Madame Zhang.” Xiao dipped his head and spoke in his fake voice. “It is an honour of mine to be invited to your party.”

“You two sure make a lovely couple.” Madame Zhang hid her smile behind her paper fan. “Reminds me of when I was in my youth!”

“What are you talking about, Madame? You’re still in your youth.” Tartaglia commented, earning another round of giggles from the old Madame.

They left the stage soon after, making room for others to step up.

After all the guests had their turns presenting their gifts, the party resumed.

More people came to speak with Tartaglia and Tartaglia politely spoke back while making lighthearted jokes. When one man came up to the Harbinger and requested on speaking to him about business ideas and proposal for the bank, Xiao knew this was a chance.

Just as he thought, Tartaglia smoothly accepted the man’s request to talk privately.

After telling Xiao to wait here for him, he walked away with the man to discuss the matter somewhere more private and away from the rest of the people. He didn’t go too far on the deck, but far enough where the light of the lantern did not reach. Many people took notice of the two men’s distance, but the people that gathered here are high in social status. They all knew better than to walk in or interrupt a private conversation.

Xiao stood by the banquet table with his arms crossed and eyes closed, acting disinterested in everything that was happening around him—which was not so much of an act.

With Tartaglia gone from his side, men around began to openly stare at him. Many had the desire to approach him, but the cold aura Xiao was emitting created a barrier that only few dared to cross.

Those who managed to gather enough courage to speak to Xiao always ended up walking away seconds later, discouraged by the lack of conversation yet they dared not to bad mouth him due to him being Tartaglia’s companion.  

“Miss, I couldn’t help but notice you are alone,” another man said, walking up to Xiao as though he did not notice all the other men that were sent away. “If I may have the pleasure—”

Xiao just turned his head and tune the man out. After a long minute of not receiving any response and being ignored, the man walked away defeated like many others.

Just as Xiao was getting tired of these useless people trying to approach him, a glass of wine came into his vision. It was a familiar sight, except the glass of wine was held by an unfamiliar hand.

Xiao stared at the wine for a long moment before his bright Aureolin eyes shifted to meet the man standing in front of him. He was dressed in foreign attire, but Xiao had little knowledge of anything outside of Liyue so he didn’t know which nation those clothes were from.

“Pardon me, my lady.” The man bowed, taking off his hat and placing it over his chest. “I couldn’t help but noticed you seem to enjoy Dandelion wine.”

Xiao’s eyes dropped back to the wine held towards him. He reached out and took the glass, their gloved hands brushing as he did so. This was not the first time a man came up to him with drinks. Some of the men that Xiao brushed off earlier had as well, though all of them offered him women’s cocktails instead of actual wine.

He swirled the cup around under his nose and took a whiff of the aroma. There was a very light and bitter scent coming from the wine that Xiao was quite familiar with. His lashes fluttered lightly, yet his face betrayed nothing.

“I don’t dislike it,” he said, lifting his eyes to meet the man’s. “How did you know I enjoy this wine?”

“You were so beautiful I could not help but stare,” the man admitted bashfully.

Xiao softened his gaze and for the first time that night, he smiled. It was a fake smile that didn’t reach his eye, yet that was enough to cause those who saw his smile blush—including the man in front of him.

Xiao pressed the rim of the cold glass against his lips. Just as he was about to drink the content inside, a gloved hand came in and took his glass away. The former assassin was immediately alarmed, but he couldn’t show it with so many eyes on him. He just pretended to look annoyed and turned to glare at Tartaglia who appeared behind him with an arm around Xiao’s waist.

“My apologies, my partner here isn’t good with alcohol, so allow me.”

Xiao placed a hand over Tartaglia’s chest and pressed his body into his side. In the eyes of other people, it was a very seductive and affectionate move, but in reality, Xiao was pressing his palm hard into Tartaglia’s chest.

The Fatui’s smile didn’t even falter as he drank the entire glass in one smooth motion.

He didn’t even leave a drop behind.

“Master Childe can certainly hold his alcohol!” The man complimented, raising his glass and also downing the wine inside. 

The two happily chatted for a short while before the man walked away.

Xiao on the other hand already couldn’t be bothered with that man anymore. He tightened his grip over Tartaglia, only to feel a hand overlapping his in a reassuring gesture. Tartaglia didn’t say anything and continued greeting other people.

As time slowly passed, Xiao began to see sweats forming over the man’s forehead. Tartaglia’s face was becoming even more flushed and the grip around Xiao’s waist tightened. Eventually, some of the guests noticed Tartaglia not looking well and asked if he was alright, but Tartaglia just laughed and brushed it off as being a little drunk.

Tartaglia managed to keep up his appearance to the very end as the ship returned to the dock.

The moment they got back into their carriage and closed the curtain on the windows, he collapsed into the seat.

“You fool!” Xiao hissed, face distorted with rage. “You should have let me drink that, my body is capable of withstanding poison!”

“They wouldn’t use poison. They’re not so stupid to kill me with so many witnesses,” Tartaglia laughed as though this was something he could joke about. “Though…ngh…this is some potent stuff.”

“Which was why you should have let me drink it,” Xiao retorted and looked down to see the noticeable bulge in the man’s pants. It was impressive of the man to hold his hard-on back for so long. “Shall I drop you off at a brothel?”

“You’d abandon me?” Tartaglia groaned, cracking open one eye to look up at him. “How cruel...”

“I’m trying to help you.” Xiao clicked his teeth, not sure why this man was being so difficult. “If you had let me drink it, you wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“Your body might be able to stand poison, but not aphrodisiacs, am I right?”

Xiao paused a bit before he let out a small huff. “I would have been fine. I’ve endured through it plenty of times.”

Now, both of those blue eyes were open and staring at Xiao. Xiao knew the man wanted to hear more. If this was normal circumstances, he would have ignored him, but…

“Events that required me to dress as a woman were always messy. Uses of drugs were not unusual. We were all trained to fight while enduring the effects of strong aphrodisiacs to see if we would succumb to pleasure.”

Xiao paused when Tartaglia let out a quiet, barely suppressed groan.

“You’re going to a brothel.”

“What if the assassins are waiting there to finish me off?”

Xiao pressed his lips together, unable to deny such a possibility as he had done something similar in the past. Finally, he let out a deep sigh before he ordered the carriage to bring them to a secluded alleyway where there won’t be any civilians or Millelith passing by.

Xiao took in a deep breath and glanced down at the person lying on the seat. “If you ever speak of what I am about to do, I will peel your fingernails off and shove them down your stomach along with your tongue, am I clear?”

“Hmm…then let’s do a pinkie promise," Tartaglia suggested, not the slightest bit fazed by the threat.

“…A what?” Xiao blinked at the man, wondering if the drug was getting to his brain.

“Pinkie promise.” Tartaglia raised a pinkie at him. “I do it with my siblings all the time. Come on, hook your pinkie around mine.”

Xiao was skeptical but did as he was told and resisted the urge to pull his hand away when the man hooked his pinkie around his.

“You make a pinkie promise, you keep it all your life.” He began, lightly swaying their hands back and forth. His voice was quiet and calm, but Xiao could hear a strange tenderness within it. “You break a pinkie promise, I throw you on the ice. The cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend, the frost will freeze your tongue off so you never lie again.”

Xiao stared at their linked fingers until Tartaglia finished the strange vow and pulled away.

“Is that a custom of your home?”

“You could say that,” Tartaglia smiled wearily before gritting his teeth to swallow back another noise threatening to come out.

With the man giving him such a vow, Xiao felt a little more at ease and undid the collar of his qipao to free the restrain around his neck.

Once the carriage arrived at its destination, the coachmen scurried away with his face flushed in embarrassment. The carriage was rocking lightly despite not moving anymore. Inside the carriage, moans and huffs of two people echoed softly, accompanied by the sound of rustling clothes.

Dark figures crept along the shadows and surrounded the carriage. With the curtains on both sides of the carriage down, the inside couldn’t see what was happening outside.

“Haah!” A woman’s voice cried, followed by an indecent wet sound. “Ahn!”

The men edged closer and closer to the carriage. The moment they were within range, the ground beneath their feet shook with green spears made from condensed Ameno power shot out from the ground below them.

The spears pierced through their flesh and shattered their bones. In a blink of an eye, half of the assassins were slaughtered on the spot. Those who evaded the attack instantly realized they had fallen into a trap. They pulled out their weapons and aimed for the carriage, but all they saw was a flicker of green light before their heads flew off into the air by a strong current of wind. Flying up along with the detached heads was the top of the carriage that was sliced clean from the body.

The blast of wind swirling around the carriage vanished, revealing Xiao who stood with one foot on the seat of the carriage and his Jade Winged-Spear glowing eerily within the darkness.

On the floor of the carriage behind him…was Tartaglia.

The Harbinger was shaking all over and curled up like a shrimp in boiling water. He was red in the face, but Xiao knew it wasn’t due to the man being under the influence of the drug…but that he was trying to hold his laughter in.

The former assassin felt his veins throbbed and clutched onto his spear even tighter. Thanked to the man’s reaction, his cheeks were slightly red from embarrassment—which he had never felt until now. He briefly pondered the possibility of silencing this man and dumping him amongst these corpses but knew that even if he was drugged, Tartaglia could still put up a fight.

“Since you now know who the mastermind is, my job is done.” Xiao was about to leap out of the carriage and go home when his hand was grabbed.

“W-wait, wait—pfft…ahahahaha!” Tartaglia was laughing so hard that tears were rolling down his eyes. “That was the best! Hahaha! I didn’t know you could put on a show like that all by yourself! And those sound effects were—”

“Enough!” Xiao stabbed his spear into the carriage floor, missing the man's head by half an inch “Another word and I will make sure you won’t have a mouth to laugh with!”

“D-don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,” Tartaglia let out another good laugh before finally sobering up.

He snapped his fingers and a man dressed in black and red cloak appeared. With just a simple glance, Xiao knew this man was also an assassin, one that worked for Tartaglia.

“I’ll leave you to deal with the bodies,” Tartaglia ordered before he stepped out of the carriage and pulled Xiao into the dark alley.

“Let go,” Xiao said after a while of being pulled around. He finally had enough and jerked his hand out of the other’s grip. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the droplet of sweats rolling down the brunet’s face. “If you have subordinates around, you should let them take care of you.”

Tartaglia turned and gave Xiao a small, tired smile. “Tell me, Xiao. When was the last time you were able to sleep peacefully, knowing that the world around you is safe?”

Xiao stiffened at that. He looked up at Tartaglia who was looking down at him seriously. Xiao understood the meaning behind the man’s word. Despite those being his subordinates, Tartaglia didn’t trust any of them. At least, not enough to allow them to witness or be near him during his moment of weakness.

Xiao let out a quiet sigh. “What do you want?”

“Let me crash at your place for a bit.”

“And you trust me?”

“Yes.”

Xiao was taken back. He didn’t expect Tartaglia to answer that without even giving a second of thought.  

“You think I won’t stab you in the back?”

“I think if you were to stab me, you’ll do it when I’m awake so I would know who stabbed me,” Tartaglia pointed out.

Xiao couldn’t argue with that. Despite his many dislike of this man, he also couldn’t leave him here like this when he was so vulnerable. In the end, Xiao reluctantly brought him back to his room. He used his Ameno power to carry them there while avoiding the eyes of the people in the streets. He didn’t inform anyone within the parlour and slipped inside through his room’s open window.

Xiao laid Tartaglia onto his bed before locking the windows and door.

Tartaglia’s condition was worsening by the seconds. Large beads of sweat were coming down his face and soaking through his clothes. His face was red and his breathing was harsh. He was even grunting in pain due to the tightness of his clothes—pants especially.

A normal man would have lost it long ago. They would have long thrown away their clothes and rubbed on anything that could provide them with relief, but Tartaglia didn’t do that. As someone who had periodically undergone those pain, Xiao could sympathize with what Tartaglia was going through.

He thought back to those long and cold memories, the burning pain of needs and wants…but most of all, it was the fear and loneliness that broke him. The fear and horror was something he remembered clearly even to this day.

Xiao lowered his eyes and sat down on the edge of his bed. He leaned over Tartaglia and reached a hand towards the brunet’s pants when a larger hand seized him by the wrist in an iron grip. In an instant, Xiao was thrown onto the soft mattress of his bed with Tartaglia hovering over him, pinning both of his hands over his head.

“What were you trying to do?” Tartaglia demanded, his blue eyes darkened and lips pulled into a thin line. At this moment, he was every bit as expressionless as Xiao. Beads of sweat dripped from the tip of his nose and splashed onto the youth’s pale’s cheek.

“You’ll feel better once you get enough relief,” Xiao stated the obvious.

Tartaglia’s expression turned even colder and Xiao felt the hands on his wrists tightened. “So you thought to offer yourself to me? How selfless of you.”

“It’s nothing I have not done before.”

That made Tartaglia stilled and the coldness in those eyes gradually melted away. He leaned down until their noses were an inch apart.

“Had you done a lot of such things?”

“Only with my mouth and hands,” Xiao replied in a tone as though they were talking about the weather, not his sexual experiences. “I have no knowledge other than that.”

“…I see.”

Xiao let out a quiet gasp when the man lowered his entire body onto him, pushing him into the mattress.

“What are you doing?” He inquired, looking down to see the Fatui rubbing his cheek against his fake chest with his arms wrapped tightly around his back.

“Hm…these things are in the way. What are they anyway?” Tartaglia complained, unwrapping one arm to poke at the jiggly object. Xiao slapped the man’s hand away. He undid the top of his qipao, reaching inside to pull out the slime essence paddings and tossed them across the room. He also pulled out his Vision that was hidden there and set it onto the nightstand.

Tartaglia hummed happily and rubbed his face against his now flattened chest. “Much better.”

“What are you doing?” Xiao asked again. If he didn’t know any better, he would have thought the man was going to…

“I’m going to sleep this off, what does it look like?” Tartaglia mumbled tiredly. “But of course, if you offer to spar with me, it might let me work off this drug’s effect even faster!”

“Exercising will do nothing but make your condition worsen,” Xiao stated dryly. He stared at the man on top of him. In this short moment, he could already feel the man’s sweat soaking onto his skin and clothes.

Feeling extremely uncomfortable lying down like this, Xiao used his elbows to push himself up. The brunet was latched onto him like some sort of boneless animal, refusing to even budge. At this, Xiao created a gust of wind that swirled around his room. His pillow and blankets that were neatly folded on the corner of his bed were picked up by the wind and placed against his back to prop him up.

Xiao then looked across his room to see there was a pot of tea sitting in the middle of the table. He used the wind to bring the teapot into his waiting hands.

“Open your mouth.”

Tartaglia opened his eye to look at the teapot and did as he was told. Xiao carefully poured the cold tea into the man’s open mouth little by little. It was a good thing that the tea Xiao usually drink was made with Qingxin flower that replenishes the body’s moisture.

Once the man drank every last drop of the tea, Xiao let the wind pick up the teapot once more and placed it back onto the table.

“You’re asking for needless pain.”

“If suffering through this means I get the infamous Yaksha to take care of me, I think I'm getting a pretty good return.”

Xiao frowned but didn’t say anything as he stared down at the man.

“Xiao…” Tartaglia muttered against him. “Did you know that when you accepted that glass of wine, you had a particular look on your face?”

“…Look?” Xiao frowned. Had he made any expression when he noticed the wine was spiked? No, he shouldn’t have. He always had a good grasp over his expressions.

“Your eyes became hollowed, like a child who can no longer cry.”

Xiao’s eyes flew wide and flinched upon the feeling of something touching his cheek. When he looked down, he realized that was Tartaglia's hand which was raised halfway in midair. There was a small smile on the man's lips as his hand moved again.

This time, Xiao didn’t flinch away and allowed the hand to cup his cheek. Through the thin layer of the man’s glove, Xiao could feel his unnaturally high body heat.

“So you pity me?” Xiao questioned, yellow eyes carefully searching the blue ones for any signs of lies.

“Of course not,” Tartaglia chuckled, brows furrowed with pain from the effect of the drugs. “You’re strong. You’re the last person I would ever pity, Xiao.”

Then why…?

Xiao opened his mouth, but instead of asking the question on his mind, he asked something else.

“When was the last time you were able to sleep peacefully, knowing that the world around you is safe?” It was the very same question Tartaglia had asked him in the alley, and now Xiao threw it back at him.

“When I was fourteen,” Tartaglia replied.

Xiao stared into those eyes that held so much darkness and secrets, yet he was unable to hate it because his own eyes were the same.

Xiao lifted his hands. He hesitated for a moment before he wrapped his arms and clasped his pale legs around his hips. Tartaglia froze, obviously not expecting the former assassin to suddenly embrace him like this.

He tightened his right arm around Tartaglia’s shoulder while his other hand was behind Tartaglia’s head, pushing him into his chest with Xiao dipping his head down until his soft cheek was pressed against the brunet’s forehead.

It was a very protective embrace rather than intimacy. It was as though Xiao was trying to wrap himself around the man so no outside danger could ever reach him. For someone in a vulnerable state like Tartaglia, it was a very comforting gesture.

The Harbinger felt like he was going to melt within this warmth…

“I will watch over you, I won’t let any harm befall upon you, so sleep for that I will be here to protect you.” Xiao softly spoke out his promises with his warm breath tickling Tartaglia’s face. “May you fall into a dreamless slumber, yet should you dream of nightmares, call my name.”

Xiao tightened the hold onto the man, using his action to prove that he wasn’t going to go anywhere. He didn’t know what expression Tartaglia was making, nor did he look. He raked his fingers through the ochre brown lock and waited.

None of them spoke again that night. The only thing that could be heard within the silence was the man’s laboured breathing. Xiao understood all of his pain, yet this was the only thing he was able to offer, but Xiao knew this small gesture was what Tartaglia needed. Because this was what Xiao always wanted when he still lived within that nightmare.

All he wanted was simply for someone to hold him…that was all he wanted.

So now, he will give that to Tartaglia.

At some point in the night, Xiao found himself beginning to hum a soft tune. Because of Xiao’s limited use within the parlour, most of his tasks were to go around gathering the items for the funeral. Wild Glazed Lily would be one of the traditional items needed. Due to the…unique requirement when picking these lilies, Zhongli taught Xiao a song to sing before picking them. It was the only song Xiao knew. Of course, Hu Tao taught him some songs too, but they were songs Xiao swore to never sing and threw them into the back of his mind to be forever sealed away.

Xiao hummed this song to the Snezhnayan while occasionally conjuring some wind to provide him with a bit of comfort. He didn’t know how long he had been humming that same tune for, but it must have been a long time, for that the sunlight was shining through the rice paper covering his window, brightening the room.

The body in his arms had gone completely quiet sometime in the night. The only sound Xiao could hear from the man was his soft breathing. He never let go of the body in his arms. He kept a secure hold onto the man, his face still pressed against the Fatui’s forehead.

The brunet’s hair was now stuck together in clumps from his dried-up sweat. Some of that brown hair was sticking onto Xiao’s skin, but Xiao didn’t mind the itchiness on his skin or the stench. He had smelled way worse than sweat back in his days in the Abyss Order.

Xiao looked down at the man’s closed eyelids and the way his lips were neither curving upward or down. He threaded his fingers through the messy brown hair and wondered which side of this man was real.

The one who was always smiling and making jokes, or the one that was every bit as expressionless as Xiao?

Xiao only thought over that question for a brief second before deciding that it didn’t matter at all. Whichever side was this man’s real side, they were equally as annoying.

He continued to hold the man as the sun rose to the highest point in the sky before dropping back down.

Throughout the day, Xiao would sense people coming towards his room, trying to see if he was there but a small gust of wind would always send these people away. No one thought it was weird, for that Xiao had always been like this when he didn’t want to see anyone. The only one who would barge into his room other than the man in his arms would be Hu Tao, but the lack of the young master's voice told him that she most likely went out somewhere to play and wouldn't be back any time soon.

Xiao didn’t drink.

He didn’t eat or sleep either.

He kept holding the man until night came once more and the rowdiness from the street quiet down.

It was late into the night when the city was asleep did Tartaglia finally stirred.

Cobalt yellow eyes shifted down to the man in his arms. Xiao brought a hand to the man’s face, brushing aside those brown bangs and was greeted by the sight of those azure blue eyes.

“Hey there…” Tartaglia grinned, voice raspy from his long sleep. He turned around in Xiao’s arms and reached up a hand to touch Xiao’s cheek. “Were you with me this entire time?”

“I do not go back on my words,” Xiao replied.

“Yeah…” Tartaglia whispered and soon noticed something was off. He brought his hand down and took a sniff of his sleeve before breaking out into laughter. “I can’t believe you were able to hold me like this when I smell so bad!”

“If you realized, then get off.”

Tartaglia finally sat up. He stretched his arms over his head until he got some satisfying pops from his joints. “Aah, I haven’t had a sleep like that in ages.”

He hopped off the bed, taking Xiao’s hand and pulling him along.

“Come on!”

“What are you doing?” Xiao frowned, but still followed him.

“Bath. I think you and I both need one. And I’m sure you’d want to change out of those clothes?” He said, making a show of looking over Xiao who was still dressed like a woman.

Xiao huffed but was unable to argue with that. The two of them went into the parlour’s bath that night. Since it was in the middle of the night, everyone was asleep so both baths they had were unoccupied.

Tartaglia insisted on sharing one bath, but Xiao ignored him and went into his own before locking the door shut. Once he rid himself of the Snezhnayan’s scent and dressed into his usual clothes, Xiao walked out to see Tartaglia already standing there waiting for him.

“Where did get those clothes?”

“The guest rooms.” Tartaglia smiled cockily. “Since I crash here so often, I left some of my clothes behind.” He replied as though leaving his clothes in other people’s homes was the most natural thing to do.

Xiao made a mental note to speak with the young master the next time he sees her. He tossed the red earring back to the man and walked past him. "Since your business is done and the culprit identified, leave. I will inform young master Hu that my duty is over.”

“Always so eager to leave,” Tartaglia said with a light smile. “You’ve stayed with me all this time so you didn’t eat or drink anything, right? At least let me treat you to a meal.”

Xiao paused and it was then he became aware of how empty his stomach felt.

Reluctantly, he agreed and followed the beaming man out the parlour. They arrived at the Liuli Pavilion where Tartaglia booked a private room for them and ordered an entire table of food. Xiao was dumbfounded by all these food considering there were only the two of them, but since it wasn’t his mora they were spending he had no complaints. During the entire meal, Xiao ate quietly with Tartaglia chattering next to him and introducing him to the dishes he picked. Though Xiao didn’t want to admit it, Tartaglia had good tastes in his choice of menu. If there was any fault Xiao was to comment on, it would be the fork in the Snezhnayan's hand.

After eating a hearty meal with Tartaglia paying out of his wallet, they were back on the street, heading towards the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour. The entire journey, neither of them spoke. They just enjoyed the silence and each other’s presence.

When they arrived at the main door of the parlour, Xiao was about to go inside when Tartaglia said something unexpected.

“I will be returning to Snezhnaya very soon.”

Xiao turned to the man who was gazing back at him as though he was expecting him to say…something.

The green-haired youth opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what he could say to that. He had almost forgotten that this man was a diplomat, that his stay in Liyue was temporary. The fact that he had stayed for a whole year was already surprising enough.

Liyue would never be home to someone like him.

His place will always be in Snezhnaya.

“I see…” Xiao’s gaze unconsciously shifted away from the man. “I wish you a pleasant journey.”

Tartaglia laughed weakly at the expected response. “So cold…and here I thought we have something special.”

Xiao stiffened at that last part. Before he could figure out what Tartaglia meant by special, the man took his hand into his and pulled him inside. As a frequent guest at the parlour, he knew his way around the building—especially Xiao’s room which he frequently intruded upon.

Once they were back in the room, Tartaglia sat down on Xiao’s bed and pulled the smaller man into his arms. Xiao hastily put out his hands onto the mattress to stop himself from falling against Tartaglia, yet he couldn’t pull away with the man’s arms wrapped around his waist.

“You—”

“I’m just returning a favour.” Tartaglia’s fingers brushed over the tender skin beneath the mesmerizing golden eye. “You should get some sleep. It’d be a pity if such beautiful skin gets ruined.”

There was hesitance in Xiao’s eyes, but the warmth being emitted from the brunet’s body and the weight of the arm over his back was extremely tempting. A longing Xiao hadn’t felt for a long time burned him from the inside and he found that he was too exhausted to fight against it.

Xiao knew he wasn’t thinking straight, but he couldn’t help but cave in. He hesitantly lowered himself against the man, like a cat testing the water.

Tartaglia waited for him patiently, watching him with a gentle look on his face. It was only when most of Xiao’s weight was put against him that he moved. He wrapped Xiao up in his arms and pulled the blanket over them. He leaned his back against the wall next to the windowsill and held onto the smaller body protectively.

Xiao closed his eyes and let out a small breath at the warmth and comfort surrounding him. Pressed up against the man’s chest, he could hear and feel the heart that was beating beneath the other’s ribcage was strangely calming.

“Xiao.”

Xiao didn’t respond, but Tartaglia knew he was listening.

“Come with me to Snezhnaya.”

Aureolin eyes snapped open in surprise. The body in Tartaglia’s arms shifted, but the man held the other tighter and continued.

“The Wangsheng Funeral Parlour gave you a home, but you and I both know this isn’t where you belong. Blades are meant to be sharpened and used on the battlefield, not to be locked away in the shed to rust, don’t you agree?”

Xiao dropped his gaze. He knew that for a long time, but he was saved by Zhongli who gave him a place here. Both Zhongli and Hu Tao were important people to him and leaving them would feel like he was betraying them.

“I…cannot answer you at this time.”

“But you’ll think about it?”

Xiao hesitated before answering with a small nod.

“Good.” Tartaglia smiled and buried his face into the silky green hair. He rubbed his hand up and down the curve of Xiao’s back while his other hand gently rubbed his nape.

“Rest, Xiao. In the name of her majesty, the Tsaritsa, I promise I will always protect you.”

Xiao felt something inside him trembled at such promise. He knew Tartaglia well enough to know that this man always kept his promises no matter how ridiculous that promise may be. But even so, this was the first time he heard the man use his Queen’s name when making a promise. Moreover, Xiao keenly caught how Tartaglia said always protect, and not just for tonight.

Xiao parted his lips but quickly close them again. He knew there was nothing he could say at this moment—not when he didn’t know what his own feelings were. He wasn’t so cruel as to give the man a half-hearted answer.

So Xiao closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep.

Xiao didn’t actually think he would fall asleep, given the heavy promise Tartaglia gave him, but he did. He fell asleep listening to Tartaglia’s voice that was softly singing a lullaby to him.

For the first time since he could remember, Xiao fell asleep feeling warm and safe.

When Xiao woke up, he was still bathed in the warmth of another living being. Even though his mind was still muddled by the sleep, every part of his instincts was screaming to him that something was wrong.

The first thing Xiao noticed was the weird rocking feeling and the second thing was the smell.

Being in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour, there was always the smell of incense and because Xiao’s room was always so dull and empty, Hu Tao took it upon herself to always fill his room up with flowers. Right now, there was no scent of flowers or incense anywhere, only the smell of old wood and the saltiness of the sea.

In a split second, Xiao was up, eyes snapping open with the thick quill slipping off his body from the movement, causing his exposed arms to come into contact with the chilly air.

“Careful now,” the Harbinger’s voice came from the darkness before the Xiao was pulled back against the body with the blanket wrapped around his back once more.

“Tartaglia? What is this?” Xiao demanded, looking around the unfamiliar that was most definitely not his. It was a luxurious room, but the style of the room and furniture was not the style of Liyue.

There were no windows in the room, but the constant rocking motion gave Xiao an idea as to where he was. He leaped out of the man’s arms and in a flash of green light, he was across the room, tearing the door open and running out. He sped down the narrow hallway and up the staircase.

In a matter of seconds, Xiao was standing outside on the deck with the bright afternoon sun beaming down at him. He winced at the brightness and had to bring a hand up to shield his eyes from the unusually strong sunlight.

The cold assaulted his body, but Xiao could barely feel it when he saw all these people walking around him, moving the cargo of the ship. These people were all dressed in Snezhnaya clothes with some members of the Fatui as well.

Xiao’s breath came out of his open lips in a visible puff of white. His eyes scanned over the sea before stopping at the land in the far distant—covered by a sheet of white.

“Underestimate the cold and you’ll die in Snezhnaya,” Tartaglia said, coming up from behind Xiao to wrap a thick layer of white fur coat around the fragile-looking youth. Unfortunately for him, his gesture wasn’t welcome when Xiao whirled around and seized him by his collar, pulling him down until they were eye to eye.

“What is the meaning of this?” Xiao snarled, his eyes nearly dilated in his rage.

“Well, you’ll have to ask your young master Hu about that.”

“Young master Hu?” Xiao was taken back, not expecting such an answer.

Tartaglia held out a letter to him with Xiao’s name written at the top. Xiao snatched the letter from his hand and unfold it to see Hu Tao’s familiar handwriting.

He read through the long letter which basically came down to one thing.

Hu Tao had sold Xiao to Tartaglia for ten billion mora.

To be precise, Hu Tao has sent Xiao to Snezhnaya to work with their business partner as a diplomat at the contract agreement of ten billion mora.

Xiao ripped apart the letter. As though that wasn’t enough, he even used his Ameno power to shred papers until it was nothing but dust that was blown away by the ocean wind.

Where in Teyvat had anyone heard of a funeral parlour needing diplomats?!

“You!” Xiao glared at the man who had the audacity to look amused. “I did not agree to come with you to Snezhnaya!”

“Didn’t you say you’ll think about it?”

“That did not mean I agreed!”

“But if I don’t bring you here, how will you think about it?” Tartaglia laughed before he pulled Xiao into a tight embrace. The green-haired youth was mulling over whether or not to toss this man overboard when he heard the following words. “You’re not a prisoner, Xiao. You’re free to leave any time.”

Xiao frowned, trying to figure out if this was another trick.

“The contract I made with Hu Tao only says for you to help me out. As for when this help ends, that is up to you. If you want, you can end it right now and return to Liyue. The money has already been paid in full and by the rules of the contract, I won’t be able to ask the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour to give it back.” Tartaglia slowly released him and took a small step back.

Xiao stared at the man, his anger of being lied to had already faded into nothingness. Despite having pulled him here without asking him, the man was now presenting him a choice to leave.

“What’s your purpose of bringing me to your nation?”

“…I guess I just really wanted to show you my family,” Tartaglia laughed. “They’re the most precious people to me, so I wanted you to meet them.”

“Why?”

“Do I have to spell it out?” Tartaglia tilted his head and smiled at Xiao.

Xiao shook his head and looked back to the land of white the ship was heading towards.

“…Three months,” he finally said after a long time.

Xiao suddenly realized that when it came to this man, he was surprisingly lenient. Had it been anyone else that had kidnapped him into another nation, he would have killed that person already. “You have three months to convince me to stay. Otherwise, I will go back to Liyue.”

“That’s more than enough.” Tartaglia smiled before he held up his hand. Xiao watched as his fingers curled up, leaving only his pinkie behind.

“There is no need for a promise,” Xiao stated.

“Give me your finger.” Tartaglia waved his hand to urge Xiao to do the same.

The green-haired youth slowly held out his hand, raising his pinkie and hooked it around the man’s. Xiao only felt the pinkie around his tightening before Tartaglia pulled him into his arms through their linked fingers.

“I promise that I won’t make you regret this choice you made today, Xiao.”  

[mandsleanan]

tag people you wanna know better. Shamelessly stolen from @ladynox

last song: Seventeen - Sjowgren     

last movie: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie. How dare you, Shounen Anime. How dare you!    

currently reading: Moving through Doctor Sleep at a snail’s pace. There’s only a couple living authors I follow and I am years behind on their release schedules.   

currently watching: Roswell, New Mexico. Mostly through the first season, and it’s like this show was made for me. Himbos. Cowboys. Himbo-cowboys. Pretty, dark-haired men and diner food. And just because I hate the Dogged Nice Guy trope doesn’t mean I am not completely fucking weak to it.

currently craving: Ramen. Assume I am always craving ramen. Unless I am eating ramen, and then I am craving my partner’s ramen.

if you want to do it, consider yourself tagged. <3

@cryoverkiltmilk @comicgeekscomicgeek @sparklemagpie @terribleeggtrauma @msalliepants

[redbeanboi]

Page Duties

originally uploaded to ao3 on 19/01/10. 

Rating: Teen/Gen.

Pairing: Josuke Higashikata/F!Reader

Summary: Working at the library is pretty straightforward: reshelving materials and media, helping library patrons find books, reuniting lost children with their parents, and last but certainly not least—dealing with the local delinquents.

Beware: Tooth-rotting fluff galore (gross!!), also spoiler: Josuke’s a total dork

Wordcount: 5.2k

You’d been working at the Morioh Public Library for months and memorized the face of every regular patron. New library patrons would enter everyday, and, much to your frustration, you would constantly have to learn new names and new faces. One of them, however, seemed to stand out to you the most.

Josuke Higashikata.

You both went to Budogaoka High School but he probably didn’t know you even existed. He was handsome. Girls swarmed him, boys picked fights with him, and despite every teacher’s disdain towards his getup, they all generally agreed that he was a decent student. You rarely ever saw him in school, and even if you did you’d usually be greeted with the back of his marvelous head of hair. In fact, you can’t remember ever seeing his face before. Had you not been familiar with his embellished uniform or signature hairdo, you probably wouldn’t have recognized him.

He’d only started coming into the library recently; in fact, you were the one who’d given him a library card. At first you were surprised to learn that he didn’t already own one (don’t they give these out to kids when they’re in elementary school?), but considering his reputation for being a delinquent, you couldn’t say you were surprised. Maybe he lost his? Who knows.

Either way, you only remembered the experience because he’d avoided making eye contact with you the entire time, and mumbled a barely audible “thanks” once you handed it to him. When your fingers accidentally brushed the back of his hand he flinched and ducked out of the library, his friend Koichi not far behind. At first his behavior irritated you—he didn’t have to act that disgusted for having to talk to you—but you couldn’t find yourself able to blame him for very long. I mean, how would you feel if some stranger accidentally touched you?

He started coming in regularly after that—two or three times a week—for the past two and a half weeks now. Josuke never went by himself; he was usually accompanied by Koichi, or his other friend Okuyasu. What puzzled you most is the fact that he never bothered to check out materials. What’s the point of getting a library card if you’re just going to sit at a table for a few hours and read manga? Anyone can come in without a library card and sit at the tables—you only need a card if you’re planning on taking materials outside.

***

Okuyasu sat at the far corner of the table, deeply immersed in the new Shounen Jump. They’d been at the library for hours now, and his patience was running thin. When his eyes wandered towards his friend, a vein pulsed at his temple. That does it.

“Josuke, why are we here? The new Shounen Jump is at the Owson in town. I usually buy it from them anyway.”

Josuke didn’t answer. His head rested in his palm and his eyes were starry. A sigh escaped his lips. Okuyasu could barely contain his restlessness. “Are you even listening—”

“Sh.” Josuke held his finger to his lips, his gaze still directed elsewhere. Okuyasu looked on at his friend in disbelief. Did Josuke just hush him? “Just a little longer, alright Okuyasu?”

“It’s friday afternoon,” Okuyasu hissed underneath his breath. He’d lowered his voice now, maybe that would satisfy Josuke. “We’ve been here three times this week already. And we stay here for hours just sitting here doing nothing. Maybe we should actually do our homework here from now on, so at least we have nothing else to do when we get home.”

Realization washed over Josuke’s face. Of course. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

On their way out, they accidentally walked into you—well, Josuke did. Okuyasu, relieved to have finally gotten Josuke to leave, apologized rather brusquely on behalf of his friend. “Sorry about my friend! He’s a little starry eyed right now.”

You waved it off wordlessly, watching with interest as they made their exit. “So...Josuke Higashikata’s got a crush on someone who goes here.”

***

You immediately drop this theory once the next week rolls around, because he’s suddenly decided to actually study at his usual spot. Okuyasu has joined him in his study sessions too. Eventually Koichi comes, his girlfriend Yukako in tow and helps them review. You’re surprised. Mostly because you didn’t think delinquents would really care about their school work but perhaps you were just being judgemental. Maybe he just developed a newfound love for books.

This could explain why he looked longingly at the shelves every so often. One time, you caught him staring in your direction, his mind clearly wandering off. You wondered what he could possibly be thinking about. Eventually he’d take breaks from studying and would circle around the library to stretch his legs. He’d even pass by you two or three times, and would sheepishly return your polite nods. Studying can get uncomfortable, so it only makes sense to want to walk it off, though he seemed to take breaks pretty often. Sometimes every fifteen minutes. How peculiar!

They all began to sit near the children’s section, meaning they could technically talk a little louder than usual, since the children were fairly loud themselves. It also meant that you’d be seeing them pretty often.

Secretly, you dreaded shelving away items in the juvenile section—mostly because there were so many of them. Kids went through books rather quickly, and much to your annoyance, every one of your coworkers left you to shelve all these materials. After all, the kids seemed to listen to you. You were calm, and very difficult to irritate. You also were successful in getting them to calm down. Kids running around? Your calm and quiet voice often got them to settle back into their seats. A quick “be careful there, you’ll get hurt” and the little ones would quickly quiet down and go back to reading. You’d caught Josuke and his gang watching with interest as you dealt with the kids a few times, and the attention made you uncomfortable. You hoped they would quit staring soon.

After another week, Josuke found it hard to hide his crush from his friends. While they noticed Josuke’s strange behavior, it never occurred to them that it was because of his crush on one of the library pages. But it became all too obvious when they’d caught him spacing out, shamelessly peering at you over the edge of his chemistry textbook.

Their cackles were loud enough for you to notice, and you too ended up catching him in the act. Maybe they were making fun of you? You did trip on some building blocks a few seconds ago. You immediately scurried off to the nearby cart and hid behind the shelves, desperate to avoid any more attention or embarrassment.

“Oh, I see Josuke,” Okuyasu cooed, nudging the pompadoured teen.

Josuke playfully nudged Okuyasu back. “What? She’s cute. Think she goes to our school?”

“I think,” Koichi murmured, glancing back and forth from Josuke to you. “I think she might be in my class.”

After some digging and snooping around, they’d found out that you were, in fact, one of Koichi’s classmates. You were extremely polite, had some of the best grades in your class, and even had a close and affectionate relationship with your parents. Okuyasu and Koichi find it amusing that Josuke’s developed such an intense crush on a goody-two-shoes but welcome this unexpected discovery nonetheless. Perhaps you would be a good influence on him.

They all went back to their work, and eventually Koichi and Yukako left. When you finished your shift, you noticed Okuyasu and Josuke were still hunched over their notes, stuck on the same chemistry problem that they were tackling earlier. Although they were strangers, you felt some sense of familiarity with them. After all, they had been coming to the library for five weeks now, and they were often bumping into you. At some point, Josuke had even asked you where some of the Geometry books were.

Maybe you were well acquainted enough to approach them? Although you were definitely lacking in social graces when it came to people over the age of ten, you figured now would be a good time to push yourself. So what if they’re delinquents? You inhaled sharply, and before you knew it you were already making your way towards your classmates. They hadn’t even noticed you peering over their shoulders. A quick “ahem” brought their attention however.  

Josuke jumped when he realized that you snuck up on them. He stared after you in confusion. Okuyasu, on the other hand could barely hide the grin on his face.

“I noticed you’re having trouble with this one problem,” you tapped on the molarity question. “I could help you two if you like. Chemistry is one of my best subjects.”

“Oh? I guess she should help you then, huh Josuke?” Josuke shot a threatening glare towards Okuyasu, but upon remembering that you were still waiting for an answer, he veered his neck the other way to face you.

He flashed a dazzling smile and immediately accepted your help. “We’d appreciate it actually.”

You’d gone through several problems and it seemed they finally understood what you meant. You even worked through an entire chapter with them. Okuyasu immediately caught notice of the time and excused himself, leaving you with Josuke. You awkwardly shuffled your feet.

Ah. So... what exactly happens now? Should you ask about schoolwork again?

“So.” You jumped at the sudden interruption. “Do you have a name?”

You snorted at the question. What a strange way to ask for someone’s name! He’s certainly sillier than he looks. “I-I mean, of course you have a name, I just.. I’d like to actually know it. That way I can thank you properly.”

“It’s y/n.”

“Y/n huh? Thanks for helping out with Chemistry. And, for the library card.”

You nodded and murmured a quick acknowledgement of his thanks. And then silence ensued.

Josuke broke the silence with an awkward cough. “Do you go to Budogaoka High School? I think I would’ve remembered a face like yours.” The quirk in your brow sent him into a panic as he realized what he’d implied. “I-I mean you’re very cute, so—um.” You gave him a few seconds to recover, trying hard not to smile as he shrugged. “Yeah...”

The small smile you gave him in reply was enough to calm him down. “To answer your question, I go to Budogaoka... Class 1-A.”

“Oh that explains it. I’m in 1-B, so it makes sense that I haven’t really seen you around. We’ve never bumped into each other before have we?”

“Actually… we were in the same classes all throughout junior high,” you admittedsheepishly.

“Really?!” Josuke slouched forward and buried his face into his hands.

“It’s really not a big deal! I kind of stick to the walls,” you laughed, patting an awkwardly reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Josuke looked down at you and greeted you with that same infectious smile. “Sorry I kept you here after work…” His voice trailed off, but he continues when his eyes meet yours. “But you really helped us out with reviewing. Do you think you can study with us too? I mean, when you’re not working, obviously.”

His chuckle sent your heart into overdrive. A flash of heat was beginning to burn through your cheeks. Josuke took notice and his lips broke into a goofy smile. “I’ll take that as a yes?”

You nodded your head furiously and turned away, hoping you wouldn’t embarrass yourself any further.

Josuke walked you home afterwards. As it turned out, he was actually a very friendly and kind person. And while he certainly looked the part, Josuke Higashikata was no delinquent. Your conversation was cut short when a tall and handsome man pulled his car over, rolling the window down to tell Josuke that they needed to talk. Josuke asked his new companion to wait for just a few minutes, before walking you to your doorstep.

“Sorry,” he explained. “My nephew’s in town right now so he’ll want to catch up with me.”

“Nephew? He looks older than you.” you peered over his shoulder at the offstandish stranger.

“It’s a long story…” he laughed and waited until you were inside before going back to Jotaro, whose signature stoic expression faded away, revealing the all-knowing smirk on his lips.

“What’re you looking at Jotaro?”

“Gimme a break Josuke.” He tipped his hat to cover his eyes, sighing loud enough for all of Morioh to hear. “And go flirt with girls some other time, I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

A violent red blush spread over his neck and spilled onto his cheeks. “L-let’s... Let’s go home then.”

***

Josuke started coming to the library every day during the week, and you’d even held conversations with him a few times. At first conversation was hard to sustain, given how you didn’t have anything in common, but as it turns out you were wrong about that—you both liked playing video games. In fact, you both exchanged cheats every now and then.

“No way!” you exclaimed. “I had no idea that you could do that on the final boss...”

The smug expression on Josuke’s face coaxed a few giggles from you. He’s so unbelievably silly. The Josuke fanclub at school would never believe that Josuke Higashikata was not the suave delinquent they believed him to be. “Yeah, I couldn’t believe it when I found out either!”

Eventually you had grown comfortable enough to tease him and act silly. Work was dreadful, but seeing Josuke everyday made it exciting. He was a wonderful friend and even better company, especially during your shifts. You were thankful that this awful job made it possible for you to befriend Josuke. He was so kind and thoughtful. Every shift felt excruciatingly long, and you were often running around the library doing tedious work.

Sometimes, other libraries would request certain books and you’d be tasked with finding them. Before you befriended Josuke, this task would take you around an hour to complete; there were just so many books in the library and people often reshelved them incorrectly. Recently, however, all of these books would—oddly enough—suddenly appear in the cart. You could’ve sworn you’d seen them all magically hover around the library mid-air, but that would just be silly.

After a particularly exhausting day at school, you dragged your feet at work and simply felt too taxed to do anything, much less trudge through a 4 hour shift. Josuke certainly noticed the change in your demeanor, and when you were too busy to even greet them and chat for a few minutes, he’d gotten up from his seat, telling his friends he would be taking a break from studying.

It took him several minutes to find you but once he did, he understood why you hadn’t stopped by.

You were standing on the tips of your toes straining to reach the top shelf, large Geography reference book in hand. To be honest, Josuke thinks it’s adorable; you’ve puffed your cheeks in frustration, hair is haphazardly falling into your eyes, and best of all you hadn’t even thought of using the footstool that lay on the ground three feet away from you. He thinks that bringing it over to you would probably be the nicer thing to do, but nice wasn’t exactly what he was going for at the moment.

Hard at work, you’d been trying your hardest to get this heavy book onto the shelf when a calloused hand comes into your view, and when it hovered overhead, you yelped and fell backwards. 

Into Josuke, of course.

“J-Josuke?!”

“Sorry about that,” he hummed softly. “It just looked like you were having trouble… May I…?”

He gestures towards the book in your hands, and your lips part, mouth forming an “o” shape. Josuke came over to help you. You sheepishly relinquish the book, hands accidentally brushing against Josuke’s fingers. It’s just like the time you’d accidentally touched his hand when you’d given him his library card, only this time, he doesn’t flinch or back away. You look up and immediately find yourself lost in those blue eyes. You’ve always thought he was handsome, but now that you’ve gotten a closer look at him you can’t help but smile.

You snap out of these thoughts as soon as he’s finished putting the book away, and mutter a quick word of thanks before walking over to your cart. But you realize he’d placed the book in the wrong spot, and shyly ask him to move it a couple of spots down. Apparently he’d never heard of the Dewey Decimal System, so you give him a quick run through, just to give him an idea of how everything was organized. You realize he may not need your help finding textbooks anymore, but you’re happy to teach him either way.

“And you have to learn all of that?” He asked in astonishment.

“Most people do— I’ve been going here since I was five years old, so I’d like to think I know it pretty well.” You say, eyes gleaming bright.

Josuke can’t help but notice that your movements are a little sluggish today, and when he sees the cart completely covered top to bottom in books, CD’s and cassette tapes, he immediately decides to assist you.

“Josuke,” you started. “I really don’t want to keep you from studying. I know it’s a heavy cart, but I can handle it.”

Josuke shakes his head, pushing the cart at a steady pace. “I needed to take a break from studying anyway.”

He’d never quite understand why you were working here, but he can’t say he can complain; the only reason he was able to befriend you was because of your job.

Of course, you’d never hung out with Josuke and his friends outside of the library. Sometimes you worried whether they truly wanted to hang out with you. Perhaps they just needed help with homework and were nice enough to provide you some company while you worked. But these thoughts immediately flew to the back of your mind whenever you saw them at the library. They were all so kind and friendly. Work really didn’t seem as bad as it used to be.

And that was when when they got you fired.

It was an accident really. And Josuke apologized profusely afterwards.

In reality, it was just like any other day; you were helping the four of them with practice questions in the middle of your shift, and went back to reshelving books as per usual. One of your classmates recently noticed your expanding social circle, and immediately took it upon himself to keep you from associating with hooligans like Josuke Higashikata. He scoured the entire library in search of you and was relieved to find you alone, working.

“Didn’t know you started doing charity work, Y/n.”

You jump at your classmate’s intrusion. “Oh, it’s just you Tooru. Though, I ought to correct you; I’m not volunteering.. I mean I work here, but I get paid next to nothing and my boss is pretty scary, so I suppose you could call it charity work...” Your voice trails off once you realize how awful your job is.

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” He huffed, pointing an accusatory finger towards your friends. “Why would you hang out with people like them ?”

“Them..?” You realize he’s pointing at your new friends, and suddenly get defensive. “You know, Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi and Yukako are actually really really friendly and kind!” you whispered frantically, hoping your friends couldn’t hear what your classmate was saying.

With that, you turn the other way and push your book cart elsewhere, hoping he would get the message and either apologize or leave you and your friends alone. He does neither of these things, and continues to follow you as you walk away.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” he rasped, trying his best to keep up with you. “Did you forget what happened last year? A man was run over by an ambulance last year and they all just “happened to be there.” Don’t you think that’s suspicious?”

You stare at him incredulously, hissing under your breath. “That man was a murderer and their presence that day was probably just a coincidence. They couldn’t have murdered that psycho.”

Tooru brushed it off and insisted you cease any further interaction with them. “Regardless, they attract way too much trouble. You could get into a messy situation if you keep— “

A familiar presence crept behind you. “Is everything alright Y/n?”

“Josuke,” you chirped. When Josuke interrupted, you loosened up almost immediately, realizing then that he’d stopped studying to come to your aid. “Y-You… You need to study for your exam! Let’s go back to the others.”

Tooru doesn’t let Josuke go very easily, however, sidestepping his way into your intended escape route. “Actually, there is a problem. Leave Y/n alone. You’re going to get her into trouble.”

Josuke’s surprised to hear this. In all honesty, he’d been watching you ever since you left their table to go back to work. Your classmate’s sudden appearance caught his attention, and he certainly didn’t like what he was seeing. From his perspective, Tooru was tailing you around the library and getting you flustered. If he hadn’t known any better, he would have guessed that someone was asking you on a date, and harassing you for an answer at that.

Koichi begged him to ignore it, knowing it could cause trouble, but Okuyasu egged him on, warning him that he ought to take his chance right there before someone else asks you out. So here he was.

The boys were at a standoff for quite a few minutes. On the outside both seemed rather calm. Tooru was trying his best to tell Josuke to leave you alone, that he should think of your wellbeing. The lack of cooperation on Josuke’s part pisses him off more than anything though, so he starts to insult you and question your decision making. You never would’ve guessed your classmate would say such things but you’re more worried that Josuke might believe the unbelievable bullshit that’s coming right out of his—

“I think Y/n can make these decisions for herself, so you should scram.” He waves the air in between them, eyes blank and uninterested.

You wonder how he’s remained so calm towards the other boy, because if you were to assess your feelings, “pissed” would be a pretty good word to use. Tooru on the other hand seems pretty pissed at Josuke’s dismissiveness.

Of course, as a last ditch effort, Tooru implores you to simply listen to him. Delinquents are delinquents, he reasoned. Apparently you were above hanging out with “losers like that.” Regardless of whether they were dangerous, you could hang out with much better people than Josuke. You had good grades and people liked you. Why would you need to hang out with losers who sat on the ground outside Owson? It seemed as though he could go on forever, and you wanted him to stop.

Slapping him in the face wouldn’t nearly be enough to tell him off or stand up for your friends but being around Josuke encourages you to exercise self control. Josuke’s probably the most hot headed person you know, and if he can stay calm right now, then how hard could it be for you?

“Tooru sure is an idiot isn’t he, Josuke? All talk and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about—let’s go somewhere else!” you chittered nervously, taking hold of his hand and trying your best to guide him elsewhere. Josuke’s face is beet red at the sudden contact, but you’re too absorbed in your task to even notice.

“Josuke’s got the dumbest haircut the town’s ever seen, and I’m the idiot? What the hell, Y/n!”

You stiffen at the jabs. Josuke could turn into a beast when it came to his hair— you’d never seen it in person, but the stories were almost legendary. All it took to piss him off were a couple of offhand comments. But of all places for this to happen, it just had to be at your job. You quickly let go of his hand and accepted your fate. You were definitely as good as fired now.

One punch. That was all it took to shut him up. He staggered backwards into a nearby shelf and covered his broken, bloody nose with his hands before ducking out of the library. Much to your surprise, Josuke didn’t take it any further. Although the insults certainly rubbed him the wrong way, he held back. Having a big fight at your workplace could get you into trouble, so one punch would have to do. It’s not like anyone saw anyway.

Or so he thought. To your absolute horror, your boss had seen everything. He immediately called you into his office, berating you for flirting with boys on the job and starting a fight in the middle of the library.

You realize that making excuses would only make you look bad, that remaining silent and taking the abuse is better than wasting your breath on your grumpy boss. Besides— if you were going to look at it objectively, you indirectly caused the fight (if you could even call it that) to begin with. While it wasn’t your fault, you still felt guilty. Not towards the library of course; you should have stood up for your friends more. Josuke and his friends didn’t deserve to be spoken of in such a way.

Josuke, Okuyasu, Yukako and Koichi watched as you received the harsh scolding. The walls barely muffled your boss’ yelling, and it wouldn’t surprise you if everyone in the library could hear what was being said. Under any other circumstance you might have felt guilty or ashamed, but you were so fed up with work lately that you were just waiting to be permanently dismissed.

It took nearly every ounce of strength in Josuke’s body to remain where he stood, to leave you be. He nearly barged into the office when the yelling escalated, but Yukako intervened— something about girls not liking boys who stick their noses into other people’s business, and that you weren’t a baby that needed to be shielded from her boss. Josuke agreed but still felt guilty for not being able to apologize on your behalf.

The door swung open and they immediately ceased further discussion. The four of them watched as you subsequently pulled your coat on and exited the building. It takes an additional few seconds for them to realize that one of the librarians has been speaking to them, informing them that just like you, they would be banned from coming to the library again. Koichi is rather distressed about this, and Josuke makes sure to soothe him before running after you.

Unfortunately for him, by the time he’s parted with his friends and exited the library, you are long gone.

***

He searched every square inch of Morioh to look for you. You weren’t at the library (for obvious reasons), he could never quite catch you before you left your house for school, and his swarm of admirers made it nearly impossible to find you at school.

You felt guilty about it, but if he hadn’t spoken to you before you worked at the library, who’s to say that he’d want to keep talking to you after you were fired? And while you hadn’t gone out of your way to avoid him, you still weren’t actively seeking him out.

But Josuke isn’t the kind to give up, so after several long days of looking for you, he is finally met with success.

He’d gone to the rooftop to eat lunch that day. The past few days were discouraging to say the least. You had been fired, thanks in no small part to him. It’s only right that you would be angry with Josuke. The only way he could make it up to you at this point was to apologize.

Although his friends insisted that they eat lunch together, Josuke felt too downtrodden to spend time with anyone at the moment, so he snuck off to the rooftops to eat in solitude. Not the best punishment for the terrible crime he committed against you, but it would have to do for now.

You’re the last person he expects to see there. Part of him wants to sneak up on you the way he used to in the library, but it just doesn’t seem right. So he simply announces his arrival.

“Hey, Y/n... It’s me, Josuke—the idiot who got you fired?”

“Oh, Josuke.” You shuffle your feet a little. “How are you?”

You felt so incredibly guilty for not sticking up for any of your friends. And while it was true that no one hated you at school, people weren’t nearly as kind or welcoming as Koichi, Yukako, Okuyasu or Josuke were. You felt completely happy spending time with them.

But the truth of it was that you’d never hung out with them outside of the library, and they’d never mentioned wanting to hang out with you anywhere else, so now that you were fired, they’d probably lose interest in you.

You’re surprised then, when Josuke apologizes to you.

“I’m really sorry…” He’s sitting next to you now, hunched over his lunchbox. He looked much smaller in this position. “I should have let it go, really... and I shouldn’t care about what people think of my hair, but I do, and now I got you fired and I know you’re mad at me—”

“Are you kidding me?”

He flinched.

You playfully nudge him in the shoulder. “Josuke,” you start with a giggle. “I’ve been dying to leave that awful job.”

He sat there dumbly, staring at you in disbelief. “Really?”

“Yeah!” You paused for a few seconds. Now it was your turn to apologize. “I’m sorry about my classmate… These past few weeks made my job so much easier, so it felt like I just spat on your friendship. I should’ve done a better job of telling him off or something.”

Josuke took your hand and gently gave it a squeeze. “I don’t think any amount of talking will change that guy’s mind. We were more worried about you. But if we're going to be honest, he’s kind of got a point.”

“No," You argue. "He couldn’t be any more wrong about you. You’re all nice people.”

“But, Y/n—" he began in a mockingly authoritative tone. “‘Delinquents are delinquents,’ remember?”

You held your sides and shook violently. It was nice to be able to joke and laugh around Josuke again. “Does this make me a delinquent now, too?” 

“Oh yeah,” Josuke nods, matter-of-factly. “You’re one of us now.”

The smirk on his face brings a goofy grin to your face. As a delinquent, you are naturally not afraid of anything, so with this newly found confidence and self assurance, you ask him:

“So… are you doing anything after school?”