#that being said i LOVE EIJUN HE'S PRECIOUS

[rineotin]

who would you be in a sports anime

[robinofinashiro]

drabble: daiya boys getting jealous to you wearing another guys jersey ! 

characters: multiple characters x fem! reader

request status: OPENED / all fandoms pinned to the top of my blog as well as rules and req status! happy sending! 

Miyuki Kazuya: 

- mans so confused? why are you wearing Eijun’s jersey. he had specifically gotten you a jersey that had his number for you to wear and the fact that you were wearing his pitchers jersey was completely throwing him off. especially because it was a game day and you were helping the girls with their cheering today and he wanted you to be in his jersey while you did it. 

- you were talking with Eijun and Nori, trying to get their pre-game jitters to settle the tf down. it didn’t even seem like you bothered by the fact that you wearing Eijun’s jersey and although Miyuki did not want to cause a scene, a part of him wanted a explanation. 

- as he was about to walk to you for an explanation, you got dragged away by the girls as he was called onto the field. he saw you a bit later on the stands, you were talking with the girls, every so often, the in field camera would pan to you and show off you wearing Eijun’s jersey. his eye continuously twitched at it and it wasn’t until the end of the game when he finally got the chance to approach you about it. 

- “why are you in his jersey?” he asked, lifting the jersey as if it was dirty. you laughed, sensing that he wanted you to take it off so you did, “i got Red Bull over the spare one you gave me and Eijun offered to take me to the locker room to get another one of yours but i guess i grabbed his spare by accident,” you laughed. Miyuki sighed understandingly but took his sweaty jersey off and putting it on you, “yours stinks you know,” you told him, giggling at his possessiveness, “i know but i’d rather you smell like dirty me than to have that idiot smelling line you.” you laughed, kissing his cheek as you heard a few of the girls call you over to catch dinner, “i’ll see you after dinner!” you screamed as he watched you, finally satisfied that you were wearing his jersey now. 

kuramochi youichi: 

- you thought you got off easy with miyuki? MANS WAS PISSED. you were adorning Shinji’s jersey when he had specifically given his to you. kuramochi walked up to you, seeing you talking to a few of your friends in front of your home room. he didn’t even ask, he practically dragged you over to a corner. 

- “what up with the jersey?” he asked, pointing to Shinji’s number. you rolled your eyes, “um, this is the one you gave me? what the hell are you on?” you asked, trying to see the number. he shook his head, “the fuck it’s not. you’re wearing Shinji’s jersey!” he exclaimed, “take it off,” he stated, as he yanked your back pack off you and watched you annoyingly take it off.

- kuramochi looked at the time. you had about ten minutes before class started and that gave him enough time, “come with me,” he said, dragging you out of the hallway and basically darting to the boys baseball locker room. you were screaming at him, asking him where the hell he was dragging you off too. it wasn’t until you saw the boys locker room approaching when you finally realized. 

- he told you to wait a second and not even a minute after, he walked out of the locker room, holding his jersey in his hand and throwing Shinji’s into the hallway, not caring where it landed. Mochi put it on for you, making sure his number was showing. you looked at him and saw a blush on his cheek, realizing that he was flustered by how you looked with his jersey on. 

- you leaned up, giving him a kiss on the lips before smiling, “i like this one better,” you giggled. he gave you a hearty laugh, before returning the kiss, “you better because it’s mine,” he said in-between kisses. the kiss seemed to go on longer than you had realized as the two of you heard the two minute bell ring off, “race you to home room,” you told him as the two of you basically darted off to class. 

Narumiya Mei: 

- GODDD, you got the whiniest of the bunch, omfg. he sees you wearing Carlos’s jersey and he immediately starts getting dramatic. he complains to Itsuki about why aren’t you wearing his and when he finally approaches you, you could see the whiny look on his face, “why are you wearing Carlos’s jersey!” he said. 

- “i decided to wear everyone’s jersey as a way to support the team as the manager,” you said, not bothering to play into his attitude. he could tell you were annoyed by his attitude and figured since you were being this way, two could play this game. he knew you found his fan girls annoying as FUCK so he went to the common area and immediately got flocked with attention. 

- you had walked into that same area to get a water for yourself and saw the commotion around Narumiya. you saw the way girls were basically hanging off of him and realized this was his way of revenge for wearing Carlos’s jersey. you felt slightly annoyed, kinda jealous but knew the best way to get him back for it. and that way was to openly flirt with Carlos when he finally made his way to the dugout. 

- once you got Carlos into the plan, he waited until Narumiya arrived to take his shirt off in front of you. you had seen this plenty of times before but acted ‘flustered’ to get a reaction from Narumiya...which is exactly what you got. you flustered expression around Carlos made Narumiya pissed as he saw Carlos basically laying it on thick. he was being extremely flirty around you and even wrapping his arm around you for a few seconds at a time until Narumiya finally had enough. 

- he, without hesitation, took off his own playing jersey and yanked Carlos’s off, “wear it....now,” he stated, darkened jealous eyes showing. you had never expected his reaction from him before but giving yourself the benefit of the doubt, you slipped his on but still saw the expression written on his face, “we’ll deal with this later,” he murmured as crashed his lips onto yours, giving everyone in the dugout a free show. you were stunned with silence as Narumiya let you go and wiped away the lipstick you wearing in front of Carlos. 

Sanada Shunpei: 

- you were wearing Todoroki’s jersey and frankly, he was upset but not as much as he should’ve been bc i mean, it was Todoroki, you couldn’t get mad at that cinnamon roll for a long time. it was hard when Raichi was basically a walking two legged version of the sun but that was besides the point, he hated seeing you wearing another number that wasn’t his. 

- you were talking to Todoroki, giving him a few tips on how to keep his bat in decent care when Sanada finally approached the two of you. he had a tight lipped smile as he sat next to you and putting his hand on your thigh and giving it a tight squeeze, causing you to squeal slightly in the process. Todoroki hadn’t noticed as he continued to blabber on about his precious bat. 

- finally, his dad had called him over for something, causing Todoroki to run over there as Sanada looked down to you, “what up with Todoroki’s jersey?” he asked, making sure he emphasized his name. you shrugged, still smiling at him, “felt like supporting him,” you explained, “he’s like a little brother to me and i wanted to make sure he knew he had someone’s support on the stands.” Sanada’s heart fluttered, any sign of jealousy leaving his body as he heard what you were saying. 

- he loved the fact that you were so sisterly to Raichi. there would be days where you would bring all three of you lunch on the field as you knew that if Raichi didn’t eat school lunch, he’d practically be running on a banana diet for the entirety of the day and you were not about to have that happening. 

- you leaned up, giving him a quick peck on the lips, “don’t worry, the only other person’s jersey i would wear is yours,” you whispered into his ear, “and if you win today’s game, you can see me in just that and nothing else.” Sanada instantly perked up up, agreeing to what you were saying as he got dragged up from the bench by a few of his teammates. 

hongou masamune: 

- he’s seething and that doesn’t even begin to explain it. one of the first things he did as your bf was give you his jersey to make a statement that you were his and to back THE FUCK off and now here you were, wearing Renji’s jersey for some god awful reason. he knew Renji was his best friend but seeing you wearing Renji’s jersey just ticked him off more than usual. 

- Hongou approached you, dragging you away from the team as you tugged yourself back, trying to get him to explain why tf you were getting dragged away from everyone. when he finally got you to himself, he didn’t even hesitate to yank off Renji’s jersey, “why?” was all he asked as you sighed in disbelief, “why am I wearing Renji’s jersey?” you asked as he nodded, “because i lost a bet with the fucking idiot and my punishment was to wear his jersey to a game.” 

- Hongou didn’t really like the idea of this bet so he practically gripped his best friend’s jersey and took his off in the process, “you’re wearing mine and that’s final,” he stated, walking back to the loccker room to get his spare jersey from his stall. he shrugged his on as the two of you walked back to the team and he practically whipped Renji’s jersey back to him, “take yours back idiot,” he screamed to Renji making you laugh. 

- you shrugged, not really knowing what to say to Renji as he was caught off guard, “told you he’d react that way!” you exclaimed, laughing now, “you act like you don’t know your own best friend,” Renji silently agreed knowing you were right. you saw Hongou on the field, practicing extra harsh as you silently apologized to the other team for the ass kicking they were about to receive bc of Hongou. 

- you waved to Hongou throughout the game, whispering ‘i love you’s’ you him to try and get him to calm down but you knew that was no use. being Hongou’s gf meant that you were going to have to get used to dealing with his constant angry attitude and you knew that nine times out of ten, you were going to repay for your little bet with Renji bc of it. Hongou’s punishments on the other hand weren’t as bad as you liked to make it seem tho. you usually got some pretty good aftercare from him when it was all said and done. 

[kizoojin]

what i really like about daiya is the consistency, like a repetitive sequence but so subtle you have to like squint to make sense of it

like say, there's the three new first years that made to first string

the ever small yui, wolf-boy okumura, and then there's yuuki

the similarity to last year's first years are so obvious it's hilarious

yuuki is a genius batter like haruichi, yui and okumura are both catchers while sawamura and furuya are both pitchers, like come on now there's no way that ain't on purpose

yui is literally sawamura's counterpart, funny right?

both have high expectations of themselves

always wanting to improve, forever growing

while sawamura lacks experience, yui lacks physical

sawamura absorbs everything like sponge, while yui proves height is not the only thing you need in baseball w his skills

sawamura's fixated on miyuki's approval, yui's fixated on furuya's approval

theyre literally sunshine children

both work so hard, but very little recognize it

it took almost a year for sawamura's teammates to acknowledge him, yui tries so hard to play the position he wants to play but he's been tossed around everywhere without being able to really prove himself]

then there's okumura that basically is furuya

both had bad experience w their past baseball team

furuya came to seidou for miyuki, okumura came for sawamura (and maybe furuya too?)

they're both so competitive lolol

both also have trouble eating

they both had shoujo moment with the ppl they chasing LMAO, like come on when miyuki caught furuya's for the first time then there's okumura who warmed up sawamura for the first time

precious children

i fr think they meant for okumura to not make it to first string as fast like furuya did, but made yui make the first string just as quick like eijun didn't its wild, the consistency to these characters are so mindboggling

and then last is yuuki w haruichi

both have really deep respect for their older brothers

came to seidou to see what their brothers seen

obviously both "better" than their brothers

yuuki knows he can surpass tetsu, ryousuke knows haruichi can surpass him

ive not rlly seen much of yuuki, honestly and its sad bc his character is so comical lmaoo. very similar to his brother who so adamant on being so bad at shogi and not knowing it

daiya is such a slow build anime, it takes HELLA patience to like it. i honestly dropped the anime so many times and only went back to it recently bc i want more of miyuki, but then fall and daiya ii happened and gawd, im just mindblown bc the characters start to build up on you

i freaking love mei LOL, i legitimately hated him in the first season but this boy is so hard to resist

you dont understand how much i screamed when he said "I AM KING" like YES MY BABY LMAOOO yakushi makes me smile and i luv raichi and sanada, but man their participation in koushien despite losing to seidou made me eh for a bit bc kinda wild

seidou and inashiro been fighting to go to nationals tooth and nail for the last six or so years and then there's yakushi. i get why tho, but doesnt mean i like it

i also didnt like eijun much, but my baby grew so much you just cant help but love him. even his annoying shouting spree became so endearing, i look forward to it every time he's in the bullpen. that pitching he did during spring against Ichidai is so fucking precious like OMG i understood what the coach and miyuki were trying to do, but they were basically babying furuya knowing he was anything but that, furuya is stronger than that as miyuki put it and ik they have a lot of expectations on aces but god that scene made me so sad bc furuya's alone in his thoughts as it is then they left him even more alone even w eijun there to help him, help them. it's not just furuya that's fighting something, bc eijun is too, everyday and it hurt that they made eijun cry and made him feel like he's not even good enough to be prioritized when he can be so much more. even furuya acknowledges it and it makes me sad bc i really ship miyusawa, but at that moment, i just didn't

anywho i love daiya LMAO, im waiting for the moment the chapters are at least updated bc i cant take cliff hangers rn lolol

ALSO OMG LOL I FUCKING LUV HIS EYES HERE

[catcherkazuya]

🥇⚾ daiya no ace liveblogging, episode 45 ⚾🥇

(there’s a lot of screaming in this one apologies lol GO EXCEEDDDDDD)

- THE TITLE IS GO EXCEED - AAAAAAAA - I know what this means!!! - I'm gonna cry I'm gonna cry I'm gonna cry - also it's the first op of the first season of daiya 😭 #memories - FUCK IVE WAITED SO LONGGGG - I CANT BELIEVE ITS HAPPENINGGGG - @2:48 I don't even need to say anything 😍

- precious little first years - ono is such a chismoso just telling everybody's business lol - FUCK COACH FROG - why he always gotta say something about sawamura - yo are the baseball team the ones in class who are always rowdy for no reason - just looking for smoke constantly lmao 

- THEY FUCKING PLAYING MY MAN'S THEME SONGGGG - neraiuchiiiiii~ 🎶 - foreshadowingggg - I knew what it was in 0.002 seconds - lmao I need a life - SUMMER TOURNAMENT IS HEREE - I'm ready to see all my BOYSSS 😍😍

- okay okay - INASHIRO (just for Carlos) - ICHIDAIIII YAKUSHIIIII

- amahisa my love sanadaaa aaaaaaa raichi my SON - Teitou! Seiko! Ugumori!! Akikawaaa! 

- THE MAIN EVENT - THEY'RE HERE - GET THE FUCK OUT THE WAY

- if you pause @10:39, you'll see a picture of my religion - KINGS WALK AMONG US !! 👑 - Ugh I'm in love 💕 - "did he bulk up" ahah - shitt I don't see why not lol

- PRESENCE THEY SAID DOMINATION THEY SAID 💪💪 - AAAAAAAA - THE 1 !!! 

- ITS HERE HE'S HERE - SAWAMURA EIJUN - THE MOTHERFUCKIN ACE OF SEIDOU HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL TEAM - YES YES YES !!!!! 

- LETS - GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - IVE WAITED 6 YEARS FOR THIS MOMENT - I AM NOT CALM - IM CRYING - ACTUAL TEARS 

- AAAAAAAAAAAAAA - GO EXCEEDDDDD FUCK FUVK FUCKKSHDKD - THE OPENING MONTAGE - OMG THE PROGRESS - I FEEL LIKE IM WATCHING MY SON IS BEING BORN ?? OR WATCHING HIM GRADUATE ??!?! - I DONT KNOW MY EMOTIONS - HE'S THE ACE HE'S THE ACE 

- HE'S THE FUCKING ACEEEEEEEE - I'm literally so happy I'm over the goddamn moon - oh wow coach called out okumura and yuki bro - get ya grades up! - omg sawamura is such a dork - trying to see the number on his own damn back 😂

- omg furuya CHILL BRO - yo OKUMURA DIED - and FURUYA haha

- y'all I'm not gonna lie this first game is gonna get me so heated I can remember it now from the manga - and i think the show is gonna end on it too 😠 ughhh so irritating - it's fine it's fine I'm just gonna yell a lot this week's end card ♦️ (ft. A SMILEY MIYUKI 💞😤💖😳)

extra: ACEIJUN !!! 

[musicprincess655]

Mei clicked his tongue as another person cut in front of him, despite the fact that he’d only left a respectable amount of following distance from the car in front of him. For a country that had built itself so firmly around cars, most Americans really didn’t know how to drive.

Granted, Mei had learned how to drive after he’d moved here, so he wasn’t sure he was all that much better. Ueda had been the one to teach him, though, driving around an abandoned mall parking lot, and Ueda had learned how to drive in Japan. He’d instilled a healthy respect for right of way and safety laws, and Mei had never quite been able to shake it. Everyone else on the road didn’t seem to share that feeling.

Still, once he got through the tunnel every insisted on hitting their brakes for – why? – and everyone peeled off at the exit to the first big neighborhood after that tunnel, the road opened up, twisting around until the trees fell away and the entire cityscape was laid out before him, lit up by the sun setting behind it. Driving so fast, barely allowing himself to look at it, the skyscrapers blurred until they could’ve belonged to any big city, anywhere in the world. It was only ever when someone else was driving, when Mei had time to look and let his eyes focus, that he could pick out the pieces that made this skyline uniquely Pittsburgh.

Mei went past his exit without slowing down. Sometimes the knowledge that he had the power to just leave, to go anywhere he wanted without anyone to answer to, was enough of a promise that he didn’t feel the need to follow through.

Today wasn’t one of those days.

Over another of so very many bridges that ringed the city, out yet another tunnel that seemed to scare people no matter how many times they must go through it, past the last few neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, and within thirty minutes, Mei was one of only a few cars on the road, open enough that he could press his foot to the floor and throw all respect for the posted speed limit away from himself.

He could go anywhere, and maybe he would. For now, he was content to roar down the highway that was truly a highway now, not just a major road in the middle of a city, and the freedom roared just as loudly in his veins. He owed nothing and to no one, and he could just be.

The dying light slanted across the road, dipping into his eyes as he twisted around curves. No highway was straight here. They wound around tiny towns, around far-flung apartments and stubborn little settlements, bending to the shape of America.

When he finally turned enough that he could watch the angle of the dying light instead of being blinded by it, he couldn’t help a stir of nostalgia, though he couldn’t place it at first. Summer was slowly ending, turning into an autumn that would last a month if he was lucky, and then it was on to winter. It looked like ending, and Mei tried to hold onto the feeling. He’d always loved summer, although he’d never known if that love came from baseball or if maybe his love for baseball had grown from a love of the season it belonged to.

And as his mind wandered, chasing errant streams of dying sunlight, the memory suddenly struck him. Warm brown eyes and warm brown hands and a helpless smile and dying, dying sunlight as they chased each other into a secret place, hidden from the prying eyes of their teammates, somewhere they could just be.

Owing nothing and to no one.

Mei remembered it as sharply as if he was back there, how it had felt to have Itsuki look at him like that, how it felt to lace their fingers together and fight back laughter as they wove around teammates, the bitter sweetness of Mei’s last summer leaving them behind. The light looked the same now as it did back then, and Mei couldn’t breathe.

He very nearly slammed his foot on the brake so hard it would send him spinning out of control, and it would have been a fitting end, matching the outside to what he felt, but somehow muscle memory took over until the car was parked off the side of the road, and all Mei had to do was lower his head to the steering wheel and fight for air.

He’d been wrong. He’d been so, so wrong. Opening up this wound, trying to get everything he’d left unsaid off his chest and out into the open, trying to clean up everything he’d let fester for all these years, it was the worst kind of mistake. Even if it had been infected, even if it had never healed right, it had healed enough. It had let him live in willful ignorance, covering the hole in his chest with a scab that he only now realized had been too thin to stand up to a true test.

Mei had tested it, starting those letters to Itsuki, digging into it until it ripped clean off, leaking everything it had held back for these long nine years. Now he could only choke on it.

How was he supposed to go back to how he’d been? Now that he couldn’t even look at the last gasps of sunlight without remembering that one glorious summer where he and Itsuki had just existed and been them and felt no obligation to be anyone else, had been happy with just each other, how was he supposed to pretend to be okay?

Mei gasped sob after sob against the steering wheel, fighting so desperately for breath that he was convinced his lungs would never be whole again. He had to get this under control, because if he let himself go, would he ever come back? Was the promise of leaving enough to convince him to stay, this time?

Eventually, though, his sobs did slow down, and his breath came back to him. Mei desperately wanted to hear someone else’s voice. He had friends here, friends he’d called in a crisis before, friends that had called him in a crisis, whether it was a sick child in the hospital that needed distraction from the looming threat of death or the loss of a beloved parent and everything in between.

Mei didn’t want a single one of them.

There really was only one number he could feasibly use now, damning all the consequences of an international call. He didn’t have the energy to check time zones, only hoping it wasn’t too early for whatever he needed to ask for.

“H’lo?” Kazuya’s voice was thick with sleep, Japanese slurred, and Mei almost sobbed again in relief.

“Kazuya,” Mei said, and he hadn’t thought to control his voice, but it came out wrecked, too late now to change it.

“What’s wrong?” Kazuya asked, instantly more alert. “Ei, hush, go back to sleep.”

That, of all things, was what nearly broke Mei once again. The easy way Kazuya said it, the casual manner of assuring a lover, the effortless way it was said without even thinking. Kazuya and Sawamura fit so easily around each other, and once, Mei and Itsuki had fit together in just the same way.

And Mei had thrown that all away. It was his fault it was all broken, and for what? Because he was afraid? Itsuki had been afraid too, and they could have faced it together. But Mei had held it in, had lied by saying nothing, had let what was precious between them go brittle until he shattered it.

“I can’t fix this,” Mei said, trying not to sob once again. “I can’t fix it, and now I can’t even fix me. How am I supposed to live like this? I can’t put it back.”

“I don’t know.” Kazuya sounded so tired and helpless. “I thought it was getting better? Talking about everything was helping you?”

“I was an idiot, and I should’ve left it alone,” Mei said. “You were right. I never should’ve gone to talk to him that night.”

“Was it really better? Pretending nothing ever happened?” Kazuya asked. The faint sound of a door closing leaked through the phone. “Would you have been able to do that forever? Was it even working before?”

“I didn’t break down sobbing because I saw some fucking sunlight before,” Mei snapped. “I was okay. How am I supposed to be okay again?”

“I don’t know,” Kazuya said again. “I really don’t. But…can I make this about me for a second?”

“Fine.”

“If Eijun had let me make the biggest mistake of my life, if he’d let me break up with him because I was scared, and I got beyond the point of fixing it and beyond ignoring it…I’d want to be able to grieve for him.”

“He’s not dead, though,” Mei protested.

“But he’s still gone, and it’s still a part of your life you can’t have back,” Kazuya said. “I don’t know, I think you’re still allowed to grieve for that.”

“Isn’t that what I’m doing?” Mei asked. “What else would you call pulling over to cry like a fucking loser in some shitty chick flick?”

“Beating yourself up,” Kazuya said. “You’re hard on yourself. We both are. But just because it got so bad you couldn’t ignore it anymore doesn’t mean you’re grieving. It just means it exploded out of you.”

“So what then?” Mei asked. “I mourn for what I lost, and then what?”

“I don’t know,” Kazuya said. “But maybe it’ll get you farther than bottling it up for, what, almost nine years? Maybe this is just the first step, and you’ll figure it out as you go.”

“You’re not that helpful, you know that?”

“You’re the one who called me at seven in the morning to talk about feelings,” Kazuya said. “When have I ever been good at those?”

“Fair point.”

“Do you have somewhere you can go? Somewhere you won’t be alone?” Kazuya asked. “I really can’t do much to help from Japan. There has to be someone you’re willing to talk to over there, right?”

Mei was about to reply that if someone like that did exist, he would’ve called them, but then he paused. There was someone who had let him sit and work through homesickness for years after he’d first moved to America. It wasn’t the same thing, but it might still work.

“I do,” Mei said. “Sorry for calling so early.”

“I won’t hold it against you,” Kazuya said. “I hope whoever you’re going to is better at this than me. Text me later and let me know you’re okay?”

“Never thought I’d hear that from you,” Mei teased weakly. “Okay.”

He turned around as soon as he could, going back to the city but pulling off in one of those neighborhoods in the south, before the tunnel, outside the cradle of the rivers, outside of the city proper. It wasn’t until he rang the doorbell and was met with an unexpected face that Mei considered Ueda might not even be home.

“Uh,” Mei tried intelligently. “Hi?”

Talia Ueda stared at him, eyebrow raised in question.

“Is Ueda…is your husband around?” Mei asked.

“He had a meeting,” Talia said. “Do you want to come in?”

“I don’t want to bother…”

“Mei.” Her tone was firm, even if it was gentle, and he trailed off. “Come in. I’ll make you hot chocolate.”

“Don’t people usually offer tea?” Mei joked, following her into the house. “How bad do I look?”

“Like death flash frozen and then microwaved,” Talia told him. “Sit.”

Without anything else to do, Mei obeyed, sitting down at the table as Talia made the promised cup of hot chocolate. When she put it in front of him, he curled his hands around it, careful not to burn them.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Talia asked.

“I…fucked up,” Mei said. “A long time ago. I broke someone’s heart. And I guess I broke my own at the same time. And I can’t pretend I didn’t anymore.”

“First love?” Talia asked.

Mei shook his head. Between the puppy crush he’d had on Kazuya when they were kids and the string of girlfriends he’d had in high school, he’d definitely loved before Itsuki.

“I don’t think I ever got better after,” Mei said. “I don’t think I ever really tried.”

Talia considered him with eyes that were far too bright and entirely too sharp. Mei took a sip of the hot chocolate just to take his attention away from her. The sugar actually helped, somehow.

“You must be quite angry at yourself,” she said finally. Mei snapped his eyes back to hers.

“What do you mean?”

“To hold onto this pain for so long, to keep yourself from healing or moving on, it sounds like you’re punishing yourself,” she said. “I wonder if whatever you did was enough to justify this level of punishment.”

“I lied to him for months,” Mei said, not at all worried if Talia suddenly grew cold, knowing Mei had loved a boy. Still loved a boy. “I broke his heart. I knew he loved me, and he probably thinks I was just using him the whole time.”

“That’s not good,” Talia agreed. “But do you think it will help his pain? If you keep punishing yourself, will you erase what he felt?”

“Maybe it’s not about him.”

“Then is punishing yourself about you?” Talia asked. “Why? How does that help?”

“Because I deserve it.”

There. He’d finally said it. He’d finally admitted that deep down, he knew he had earned all of this pain, and if it could somehow balance a scale that would let Itsuki live free of it, he’d take it gladly.

“You know, forgiveness is a learned skill,” Talia said. “People seem to understand that part of it fairly well. We spend our lives learning to forgive. I’m almost thirty-three, and in some ways, I’m still learning. What they don’t tell you, though, is forgiving others is easy. It can be learned by the end of childhood. The much harder part, the part I’m still learning, is how to forgive yourself.”

“Maybe I don’t deserve forgiveness.”

“Maybe it’s not about deserving. Maybe it’s about healing, and acknowledging the mistake without letting yourself drown in it.”

Mei blinked at her. Not about deserving? How could he deserve to forgive himself? But…what would staying like this help? If he cried at sunlight and gasped sobs for the memory of hands in his, did it really matter if he deserved it or not? Could he just…learn to let himself heal?

“I don’t think it’s that easy,” Mei said quietly. He couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. Could he really just let all of this pain go?

“It’s almost certainly not,” Talia said. “The thing about big mistakes with a partner is, forgiveness doesn’t happen just one time. You have to wake up every day and decide that forgiveness means forgiveness, and you don’t get to walk that back. I think it’s the same with yourself. If you make the decision, you have to stick to it. You don’t get to suddenly revoke it just because you’re having a bad day, or you got reminded of the mistake, or whatever else happens. You can be upset, but you can’t walk the forgiveness back, even if it’s only for yourself. That’s how it works.”

Mei was going to need a lot longer to think about that, and probably an email to Itsuki to try and parse out his thoughts.

“Tally, did you say you wanted green onions or white?” Ueda’s voice called from the front door. “I tried to text, but you weren’t answering your phone, and the store was going to close.”

Ueda stopped in his tracks when he saw Mei in his kitchen.

“Look who I found on our doorstep,” Talia said. “Here, let me make dinner.”

“Are you okay?” Ueda asked Mei, trading the groceries off with Talia to take her spot at the table.

“I’m fine,” Mei said, trying for false cheer.

“I mean it.” Ueda reached out for Mei’s shoulder. “Are you okay? You’ve been a little off since we went back to Japan, and I know this isn’t homesickness. You look sad in the same way you were when you first got here.”

“I…” Mei’s insides were a churning mess, but rising from the chaos, against all odds, was hope. Mei hadn’t forgiven himself yet, but for the first time, he considered the possibility that he might, just maybe, be able to. And just that possibility was enough to keep him from leaving. “I think I will be.”

“That can be good enough,” Ueda said. He gave Mei’s shoulder one more squeeze before he got up, going to help his wife with dinner. “You can stay, if you want. We’ll feed you.”

“So generous,” Mei said, finally reaching for a genuine smile. “I feel so cared for. You two will make excellent parents.”

Talia dropped the pan she was holding.

“I thought we weren’t telling people yet!”

“We’re not!” Ueda rounded on Mei. “How did you know?”

“Know what?” Mei looked between them until the protective way Talia had dropped a hand to her stomach made sense. “Oh. Oh. Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Talia said. “Keep it to yourself, though? Like I said, we’re not telling people just yet. It’s a very new thing.”

“Still, that’s exciting, right?” Mei asked. “You’ve been trying.”

“And that’s the extent I want to discuss my sex life with you,” Ueda said. “I’m glad you’re here, actually. I was just about to email you anyway. I was in a meeting about your contract. The Pirates have offered you a very generous extension. I’ve been through it, obviously, but you should still have a lawyer look at it before you sign.”

Ueda handed Mei a stack of papers, and Mei took them numbly. Oh. That was a lot of money. That, and the obvious exhaustion in Ueda’s frame that spoke of a long meeting to get it, was nearly enough to stop his next request.

“I think I want to change teams, actually,” Mei said. Ueda blinked.

“Do you have offers I don’t know about?” he asked. “Because they’re all supposed to come through me. Is it about the money? Because this is a lot of money. We can even maybe get more if you tell me how much.”

“It’s not about that,” Mei said. If he was considering forgiveness an option, then maybe he should consider that he didn’t need to stay so far from the place he’d been born that he barely even returned for the biggest holidays anymore, an adventure that had nearly turned into a self-imposed exile. “I think…I think I might be ready to go home.”

[hiraethstill]

THIS WEEK AND LAST WEEK ON DAIYA NO ACE (7/16 and 7/23)

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT!

7/16 LIVEBLOG:

IMMEDIATE assault by eijun's handsome face

and his DETERMINATION

every time the OP comes on im like where are the babies? THERE THEY ARE @ firsties

the way i GASPED

THIS IS HOW WE FELL IN LOVE WITH EIJUN I TELL YOU

haha poor audience member doesnt know sawamura is mostly good at swinging from the bunt stance

eijun... you have every right to be frustrated

ugh... the way he looks when he was a doormat to the ace... i feel this too much my chest hurts

"if i had pitched like furuya did today i wouldve been subbed out" TOO TRUE AND OUCH

HE HITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

THE BOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGENDDD

AND JUST LOOK AT ASADA AND KUKI'S F A C E S

DOUBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

lmao did eijun learn to run bases from mochi? now i want this

uhhh the announcer was wrong? the STANDS were all cheering and happy, it was mostly the dugout that was surprised

bc this is level of trust he gets from first string sigh

sorry all my frustration is here

HAHA OKAY BUT why does this look gayalso sawamura's little "na!" with the pew pew is so cute wtf

his lil cheeky face in the corner im hashjdlkdgj

haruichi and toujou in that shot look like they'd been helping him practice batting and it paid off 

hslkhg eijun and his "hips!" i cant

KANEMARUUUUUUUUU

HELL YEAH TAKUMI NICE SHOULDER

nice eijun is safe

haha i never know who to root for bc i love all the bois

okay but

has anyone ever talked about how cool amahisa's eyes are???

i mean

look at this

so cool

yoooo wtf amahisa's voice in this part is really appealing??? damnn

so... kanemaru's a capable batter even if he's not top tier, why you gotta keep making him bunt

oh well, i like that face you're making kanemaru

noooooooooooo

it's okay kanemaru you did your best

cmon mochi bring him home!!!!!!!!!!

EIJUN ENOUGH WITH THE HIPS LMAO

yeah thats right mochi + other batters, give him the run support he deserves

AMAHISA THE DISASTER BI IM

"did he shave his eyebrows? he looks like a strong fighter" are you just checking him out

you'd want him to do those jump kicks amahisa

moon-face?????

omg i feel the tinglings... of a rarepair... amakura.....................

what was i saying about his EYES??

come the fuck ON dont leave eijun stranded on second!!!!!!

H

HHHHH

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

MY BOISSSSSSSSSSS

SHOW ME YOUR FACEEE

(and u rite yall amahisa is yabai)

THERE BE YOUR FACEEEE

IM SO EMOTIONAL

AND HIS VOICE

FUCKLE

AND HIMSTDVEEE

whoaaa that slowmo pitching sequence!

HARUCCHIII

oh hello eijun upping the tempo and looking great doing it

wow this super HD sparkle miyuki

EIJUN IS BEAUTIFULLLL and lowkey this looks like the OP

ASADA AND KUKI MY SONS I WOULD DIE FOR YOUUUUUUUUUUUU

BEING SO EXCITED ABOUT THE CUTTER KAI AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I ALSO LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

HLKDHFS AURA

okay sun we gettin a lil cap happy

another pretty eijun shottttt

WHOA 3D BALL

3D SLOWMO BALL

N* H* TT * R

i feel like i jinxed him sorry eijun

also i LOVE when the stands yell OSH OSH OSH back

wow toujou's voice was. so cute??

noriiiii i love you so much and thank you

furuya silently reflecting huh?

YO WTF IN THE MANGA NORI'S CAP COVERS FURUYA'S NUMBER WTF ANIMATORS ITS ICONIC

awww theyre all patting him i wanna pat eijun too

NORIIIIII YOU ARE SO PRECIOUS

kanemaru's eyes are gray??

kousei-san.......... mayhaps i have.......... Feelings about this

"gureato" man tahara is great

HLJSKDFHKGSFJGKFHDGLDF BLONDE AMAHISA

THIS IS JUST FUELING MY AMAKURA LMAOOO

WHY IS BLONDE HAIR IN MIDDLE SCHOOL A RUNNING JOKE IN ANIME

kuramochi, amahisa, hyuuga from knb, alla dem yankees

oh my god is that suddenly shaved head amahisa still in first year he's so smol

wow kousei is so eccentric haha i love it

YESSS BRINGING BACK MANAKA-BOY

omg yakushi cameo!!

wow this is so pleasant to look at and idk why??

his eyeeesss

and this too omgg

I SEE NISHINO

omgggg are they who i think they are

YES THEY AREANIMATORS REALLY BE FEEDING ME TODAY

sorry mimei that was too much tension in a single glance not to be homoerotic

go shirasu-senpai!

wellll shit, rip zono and rip seidou

142 pitches???????? are they throwing out amahisa's arm imma fight

YO OKAY BUT DOES THIS MEAN INAJITSU VS ICHIDAI

"that wouldnt be any fun" uh you do realize you're talking about a person's physical health right audience member???

the. ace. is. not. the. only. player.

its okay this is the peanut gallery they dont matter in the long run

omg are the first years wearing their school uniform slacks

AWWWW TAKU OFFERED TO CARRY SAWAMURA'S BAG

taku always worried about everyone and sawamura looking rather nice actually

HLJSKFDHGD AMAHISA'S FACE LIGHTING UP AT EIJUN

omg was that a little bow eijun made at amahisa before moving on?

"something i want to ask you" are you boutta ask him out amahisa

im sorry i love eyes too much

and also! eijun getting the recognition he deserves!! buuuut from another team rip

cmon eijun he's trying to be nice tbh

lmao koushuu and shirakawa should meet... resting bitch face club 

"i've never seen kousei-san take interest in another pitcher" THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS TO UNPACK IN THIS STATEMENT

LMAO HE DID HE DID ASK FOR HIS LINE

my sonsssss

yes asada and kuki, be free! go move around!

asdkfh i just squee every time taku

and these lines on koushuu look so nice??

intense son

scremmm

he's so happy and fired up to see koushuu fired up im

wholeass Sons™

lmao koushuu getting mad for sawamura

my inexperience... yes kataoka

teito and inajitsu coaches lmao

500K rivals to fwb to lovers

ive always thought kunitomo's neck crack is so funny

UHHHHH CARLOSHIRA REALLY TOYING WITH MY HEART HERE

THIS IS NOT OKAY

IM NOT OKAY

mochi looking mighty fine in this shot

aw... ejun sitting alone....

just wanna say oda and kuroki very lesbian in the ED

preview

ooh mei batting

sawamura and furuya watching so intently!!

INUI KENGOOOOOO

aw... eijun turning to harucchi for support

oh man third years...

SUMMARY (7/16):

eijun DOUBLES!! 

rip seidou tho 

amahisa's eyes??? pretty??? 

ATTACC BY INAJITSU CAMEO 

taku offering to carry eijun's bag + serious senpai face 

careful amahisa your gay is showing 

koushuu mad on eijun's behalf lmao

inajitsu vs teito next!

7/23 LIVEBLOG:

ah yes, that tension-filled mimei look

CAN THEY STOP TESTING ME WITH CARLOSHIRA SCREENS

ooh this parallel of mei and mukai #1s

why does mei look so young at bat lmao

rather nice shot of mukai tbh

omg that tiny background akamatsu is adorable

WOW i love this shot

hell yeah mei kicking ass and taking names

boi... what you doin

KANETOU RIGHTS

kuraharu rights too!!

wow mochi's voice, never over it

BOI ARE THEY JUST SHOWING SHIPS LOOK AT MINORI

lookit mochi bein a good senpai

ooh eijun finally said no huh

mochi and harucchi look so concerned tbh i am too

mm and miyuki and furuya too huh

WHAT IS THIS BLEP STAHP

oowada always cracks me up lmao

esp when mine is so grave next to her

oh so mukai likes gambling? im not surprised lmaooo

INUI-SANNN I LOVE YOUUU

THE BOIIII

HE

H E

H I M S T

omg the way tetsu says carlos sounds all proud and im soft

PRETTY BOIS DOIN J O B S

GETTIN THAT BREAD

omg two RBIs too good job shirakawa!!!

omg im so glad mei encouraged itsuki

have i ever mentioned

inui x mukai RIGHTS

ESP THIS SEQUENCE OF MUKAI (AND INUI) PRACTICING

BOIIII

that toujou face... some toujou and mukai art i saw comes to mind

DAMN THE IMAGE WHEN INUI HITS IM WOW

also is carlos actually wearing his compression undershirt holy wow

he didnt used to at least

ANYWAY INUI DINGERRRRRRRRRRRRRR

HELL YAHHH

omg was that a little tiger next to inui SO CUTE

oh my god "mei-san mei-san" too cute

LMAO TOO LONG

MEI I SWEAR

yoo mei you okay there

SLOW MO BALL

okay why does he look so good please

OKAY WHY DOES HE LOOK SO GOOD PLEASE

do you know how many times i had to rewind for this screenshot

shirakawa also looks good frustrated fuckle

mei stop shakin off signs dammit

ooh nice akamatsu shot

seidou shares one (1) brain cell in this screen

much too short a game damn...

ive heard we were robbed of itsuki's blush??? cause hello i need catcher catcher goodness with him and inui

omg... they're literal children

SSLKDFHLSKDHGSSTOPPPPPPPPP

IM WEAK OKAY

I KNOW IT

I ACCEPT IT

HOW DAREMSTDVE

AND HIS V O I C E

WTFFFFFFFFFFFFF

hahaha anyway im just laughing at carlos being a momentary harada

"mei-san" !!!

mei x mukai... so chaotic

wow amahisa looks so nice???

lmao they really didnt HAVE to put harucchi in the bg when miyuki's talking to furuya but they DID

miyuki... looking at mei too long not to be homo there

eijun :c

oh man

that really hurt

the face of a SON tho

"so you are human after all" so many things i want to say about this

sawamura... doesn't seem to hold a grudge against furuya at all and honestly wow...

tho its def not furuya's fault i think thats a mark of him being pretty mature!

anyway im glad furuya wants to watch the video too

also nabe!!!!! i wonder how close eijun and nabe are and how many times eijun has bothered him for the videos haha

ochiai, a backup catcher... interesting

"he must overcome this on his own" do you know how many problems there are with this statement

yeah it wasnt fair

"for better or for worse" are you kidding

oh furusawa lmaoo

and nabe just patient over there

oh hello masayui and kanetou

anime fist clench

koushuu!!!

oh man miyuki introspection......... i know where this is going.........

appreciating sawamura's hard work and optimism!!!!!

HE IS READY DAMMIT

how many more times does he have to prove it to you

loveLY but also reused?

WOW IM EMOTIONAL ALL THESE MEMORIES...

ALSO THIS IS PRETTY DAMN GAY...

and the shadow of miyuki in the background... WOW

three months............. until the third years retire...........................................

im not okA Y............................

all the things this smile hides

preview

BOI YOU ALREADY PITCH THAT WELL

wow too many sons

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

BABY TAKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

AND BABY KOUSHUU

END CARD WITH MANAGERS AAA CUTE

SUMMARY (7/26):

mei kicking ass and taking names 

mukai and his fooken BLEP 

PRETTY INAJITSU BOIS DOIN JOBS 

INUI DINGERRR 

inui/mukai rights 

mei + mukai actual CHILDREN 

carloshira stop attaccing sun challenge f a iled 

eijun @ harucchi :c 

three months... 

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK! 

[kurr-dappya]

DNA ACT II: I DONT EVEN KNOW IM JUST IN PAIN Chapter 131

Buckle up because i'm sad, and angry and happy all at once because of this chapter.

So let's start why i'm happy. It's only becaus of two things. First:

EIJUN IS STILL EIJUN. And it just seems impossible for him to change as a person even if he's matured in every way. He's still loud, but will always be encouragingly loud. It's just impossible to not be fond of his exuberant nature.

Second:

This scene in particular. Because?!!!! Uhh?!! Excuse me, are you really-- holy shit.

OH MY GOD. he's asking Miyuki to tell him about Eijun uhhh, BABE THAT'S THE ORIGINAL CATCHER BAE AND YOU'RE EXPECTING ME NOT TO TURN THIS INTO A LOVE TRIANGLE MATERIAL IN MY GAY SHIPPING HEAD. Like no?

No but kidding aside, this made me so happy because, he's just soo... determined to not only be a better catcher but a better catcher for Sawamura. Like he's already sure he'd be the ace and they'd be the main battery. He's determined to make it happen. To support his ace, the ace he's vouching on. It's making me so happy. And he's asking one person, the person he thinks who'd know a lot about Sawamura, Miyuki. He acknowledges this partnership, acknowledges that one of the potentially strongest weapon on the mound was honed by this man. While this is the man you have to catch up Okumura, there's also Chris, the one who made Sawamura the pitcher he is today, the pitcher you admire.

I hope they meet.

Bonus:

LOOK!

LOOK AT THAT SMILE. The smile that speaks "I know you would." Wow im weak.

⚾️⚾️

So let's proceed to why i'm sad :((((

Simple, it's because i love everyone and this series is hurting characters and every character is precious to me. Why cant Terajime just hurt Ogawa and then we'll all be happy?

These are my babies, and god, sanada's hurt. Raichi's expression and the gloomy atmosphere in my second favorite team is killing me. Yes they have some intense looking first years, but they'll be needing a healthy ace for summer and i hope everything ends up fine.

Also this!

the third years :(((( we all know by now, who's gonna be put in the roster and the fact that i know this is breaking my heart. Highschool baseball is cruel sometimes.

And... uh... ono? Anyone? Anyone hurt bcs ONO?! Ono :((

I know... i know it has to be done if he's condition does not get better, but like, he had been a good senpai and had proved himself in the last few chapter and he had been growing on me since i cant even remember when. And god, :(( i just want him to play mmore i want him to guide these players once more.

⚾️⚾️

SO IM ANGRY OKAY. IM UPSET AND DISAPPOINTED. BECAUSE!

Are we back to square one again furuya? :(

The last time you said something the same to yui, i thought it's you who being considerate, because you still couldn't control your pitches and that you might hurt him. But this? I hope this isn't you underestimating him. I love you but come on! :(((((((

Okay that's all, im sorry for the long post. And probably nonsense too.

[miyako-no-prince]

I agree with you 💯! (About DNA) This is about the mentality of the team growing with Eijun. The team seen Eijun struggle throughout the time they spent with him. He is growing, but he is not complete (yet). Sure we wanted this development with him, but the fact is the whole team did not mentally grow as much as he did. I believe that this is a flaw that they need to work on because Eijun has always been a support for them (and Kuramochi mentions this). Kuramochi is the one who should tell-

(Cont. 2)- the one that notices little changes about the team and the most observant, but he is not the one that cannot mentally help him. I believe the best person who can help him mentally is wolf-boy. He has been through so much, and if Eijun and himself go through this mentality, then the next best thing that can help him is someone off the team. Let’s say he needs a mental break, and he gets a random text from a certain pitcher, he might mentally help him. I thought about Chris, but he-

(Cont. 3) Chris might help, but the other person we know who has mental problems when it comes to pitching is the one from a different team... maybe it might be someone from his line chat, maybe not. But thinking TJ is writing a way that is making people think something is terrible (it’s not the best, but there is something that he is planning) and I am sure he is going to have some payoff. And Eijun will grow from this and the team for sure hell will as well. I am counting on it

yes, I think you make a very good point! eijun’s mental growth is the focus of act 2 so far, as he stops just thinking about what single thing he has to do at any given moment. he can now pitch reliably well without thinking “check my grip, relax as much as possible, make a wall with my right hand, now focus everything in my fingertips!” so naturally, he starts seeing more things around him and thinking about more complicated stuff like strategy. he also already learned the hard way how much is on the line in the summer tournament, so he can’t not think about it (unlike last year where he was surprised to hear they only had one game to go until nationals)

and while his team has certainly noticed that eijun was stiff and nervous, nothing they did pre-game or during it really helped. eijun feels like there’s a huge amount of expectations on him, spurred on by miyuki telling him he’s excited about trying the numbers against strong teams. and when he was off to a bad start in the game, he didn’t see his teammates trying to support him as a good thing at all. he wasted a precious timeout! (even tho that’s exactly what they’re for, so it wasn’t wasted at all) and when kuramochi tells him it’s alright to lose runs because they all have his back and will just score more than the opponents, eijun just sees this as himself failing to live up to the expectations. it just reminds him he’s causing trouble to the team because he should be better, instead of cheering him up.

eijun clearly sees all the ways he culd be better, and in the words of the manga “the gap between your current and your ideal self only grows”. while this wasn’t said about him and everyone’s version of this problem varies, eijun is basically going through a mix of what the seihou pitcher went through in his second year, furuya after senbatsu and mei in the fall tournament.

but with both miyuki’s and mochi’s approaches failing so far, I’m really interested to see how this will get adressed and resolved. okumura is certainly trying to get eijun to relax, trying to get him to make his ‘unsightly loose’ face, and he may come up with the right thing to say. I’d absolutely love it if somehow amahisa (or mishima if they actually added him to the line group lol) ended up being the one to get eijun back on track, but it’s questionable how much eijun talks to them or is willing to listen. chris is a great candidate, whom I’d also love to see help eijun. furuya has succeeded the most so far, and who knows maybe they can kinda get over it together. I wouldn’t count kawakami out either, since he’s both a third year and a pitcher who’s struggled a lot with being nervous. even if he just sets a good example on how to do it in this match it might help.

regardless of how eijun will get over this and who will help him along the way, I’m excited to see where tera is taking this!

[fydaiyanoace]

Fydaiyanoace’s secret santa

From: @juanaydaiya

To: @kanakotakaya-theshipper​

SS’s Notes: 

I choose the Kurasawa+videogames+comforting (kind of) for this prompt. Hope you like it!

This was set a little before the first years made his first appearance, that’s why they are alones in the room.

Boyfriends

Sawamura was sad. That much was obvious. He spent the morning and afternoon just letting out sighs and looking pensive at nothing in particular.  What a problem.

Now, pre-boyfriend Sawamura would have shouted his discomfort to the seven winds. Actual-boyfriend Sawamura kind of just… waited until Kuramochi noticed before doing it. And the worst part is that Kuramochi always noticed. He knew something was wrong from the moment everything went quiet at some point in the afternoon.  

Because the only difference between pre-boyfriend Kuramochi and actual-boyfriend Kuramochi was that now Sawamura knew he cared. And now Kuramochi had to pretend that Sawamura didn't had him wrapped around his finger.

So, after practice, Kuramochi followed a basic routine of getting food and a bath; always ignoring the kicked puppy eyes that were staring holes into his body. Fortunately, Haruichi was as good as him (or even more) in the Sawamura front, so he consoled the idiot long enough for Kuramochi to get to his room.

As a side note, he was not hiding or neglecting his emotional boyfriend. He was avoiding potential public embarrassment and/or breaking a few bones.

The thing with Sawamura was: he craved physical contact. He wanted to touch and be touched. Hugs, good morning kisses, fast pecks when nobody was looking (and that’s a lie, someone was always looking). Sawamura had made his mission on earth to pour all of his love on Kuramochi.

And Kuramochi was fine with that. Hell, he loved it and gave back with the same devotion... As long as it was in private, away from the judgmental stares that could make him break some bones; and more importantly, away from the jeering faces of Miyuki and Maezono.  Assholes.

But Sawamura was… well, after some incredibly embarrassing major display of public affection, it was safe to say that he did not give a single fuck about privacy or being looked at. He was gay, he has a boyfriend and if the world did not like looking at him throwing himself at said boyfriend to be consoled about some, more of often than not, dumb shit; well, the world can suck it.

Kuramochi searched between his fighting games the one with the less blood, starting to play it, and waiting.  He didn’t ignore Sawamura just to evade the public embarrassment. He was planning. And now, he was ready.

Sawamura entered the room shortly after. The pitcher closed the door behind him and in silence, made a beeline for Kuramochi, getting on his knees behind his boyfriend and letting himself fall against Kuramochi´s back. Then he let out a sound that could be compared with a distressed whale.

Kuramochi used a hand to pat him two times in the head without even looking at him.

“Bad day?” he asked, performing a sick combo on his rival. The A.I was really shitty on this one.

Sawamura answered with another whine. Kuramochi answered back with a hum.

“Come on, let’s play a little” He asked, giving Sawamura the controller that was strategically waiting on his laps.

“I don’t want to play”…

Kuramochi had to contain himself to not click his tongue. A sad Sawamura was something he could never tolerate very well. He could pick annoying happiness over this any day.

“Just one round.  After that, we hit the bed early”

In Sawamura’s mind, hitting the bed early would mean lots of hugs and kisses and even more hugs. So he let out a sight and took his place at Kuramochi‘s side, taking the control and selecting the first new player that appeared on the screen

Kuramochi pulverized him in seconds. Not that Sawamura was really trying, but it was still impressive.

“One would think the future ace of the team would be decent at videogames” Kuramochi said, looking at Sawamura from the corner of his eye to watch his reaction.

Sawamura immediately perk up, looking at Kuramochi so fast, his neck must have hurt.

 “You think that I”…

“That you suck at videogames, yeah”.

“That I will be the ace?”

Ah, Kuramochi could almost feel the desire in that question. A simple "yes" would leave Sawamura satisfied. But Kuramochi did not want to see his boyfriend just satisfied, he wanted to see him happy.

“Not with those fighting skills” he answered instead, with a smirk.  Kuramochi could practically smell the fire of competition starting to burn inside his boyfriend.  Good.

“Another round, please!”  Sawamura screamed, looking back at the screen, holding the controller with too much force, actually thinking twice about the character for the fight.

Now this part was tricky. Kuramochi needed to lose, but not without kicking Sawamura ass a little. Problem was: he always had trouble with just kicking Sawamura' ass a little. That ass was as kickable as it was cute.

With some great display of self-control and well timed mistakes, Kuramochi managed to lose.

“Look sempai! I won! Look!”  Announced Sawamura, looking at Kuramochi like he was waiting for something.

“By pure luck!” Kuramochi said, selecting his player again. Nothing was easy on this world. “Come round, second round!”  

Kuramochi destroyed Sawamura in less than thirty seconds.

“Another round, please!” asked Sawamura.  Because he knew that nothing was that easy.

And so it began a fierce competence… of Kuramochi deciding when to lose and when to destroy Sawamura, but it was still entertaining.  Before they knew it, they in the seven round.  And every time Sawamura won, he looked at him with a big smile on his face. Kuramochi felt his cheeks starting to burn.

“I won! I won again!”

Sawamura was acting like a child getting a prize at a carnival every time he won, tugging at Kuramochi’s sleeve while looking back and forth between Kuramochi and the screen. He looked so excited by the prospect of winning against the king of games (and thus proving his ace qualities) that Kuramochi had a hard time stopping himself from grinning like an idiot –or blushing for that matter-.

“Well, look at that, miracles do exist.” Kuramochi said, looking as unimpressed as he could. “I mean, you keeping up with me? Ha!”  

“Is not a miracle!” insisted Sawamura. “I’m reaping the fruits of my hard work and dedication! Prepare yourself, Kuramochi-sempai, I’m taking your crown!”

“Kyahahaha! Let’s see about that!”

“Okay, next fight is all or nothing! If I win, I will be the next king of games!”

Kuramochi waited just before the players gave their pre-fight scene speeches to answer Sawamura.

“In your dreams!” Kuramochi screamed with the same energy. “But if you win, I will give you a gift, okay? Now try to do something about this!”

Sawamura looked at Kuramochi to inquire about said gift, but had to go look back at the screen to save his character from death. The fight was going in the right direction, with Kuramochi destroying Sawamura with a high level combo. Now, to do the most intricate part of it all, Kuramochi must let himself take a few punches, retaliate, take some more damage and then, win.  That would assure that Sawamura…

“I won”… declared Sawamura, sounding as if he himself could not believe it.

“What”… Kuramochi answered, not believing it, even thought he was actually looking at the victory pose of Sawamura’s character. “How?!”

He knew how. He was so busy checking Sawamura’s healthbar that he forgot to check his own. The last punch he let himself take was his doom. In his defense, why would he actually pay attention to his bar? Sawamura sucked by comparison. All the hits the pitcher connected were all part of his design. Well, not all of them apparently.

In a way, this Sawamura actually managed to win. In a way… that little…   

“I won! I freaking won!”   Sawamura screamed with all his force, letting the control fall and throwing himself towards his boyfriend.

“Wait”…

Alas, Sawamura did not wait. After all, he was the victor. And to the victor, the spoils.

Kuramochi found himself against the floor, in a very awkward position, with Sawamura half on top of him, kissing every part of his face that his lips could get close enough, which was everything.

When Sawamura went for his lips, Kuramochi had no other choice but to put his arms around Sawamura´s neck and kiss back. Because this was the Sawamura he fell like a fool for. The one full of passion and love.  The one who could never be talked out of displaying his love in public. This Sawamura Eijun loved Kuramochi Youichi and the latter could still not believe his luck.

“I won…” Said Sawamura when they finally parted, looking at him with soft eyes, “What is my prize?”

Kuramochi could have easily settled all of this with another kiss and some sappy phrase. That would have made Sawamura happy. That was probably was this romantic victor was expecting. But dammit, with Sawamura, nothing was enough anymore. He needed more. They booth needed it.

Suddenly, the forgotten control at his side was more interesting than the face of his boyfriend. There was no doubt he was blushing by now.  

“Well… you, uh, you can have the honor of calling me… calling me Youichi… When we are alone!” Don’t want those assholes making a fuss over it”…

Sawamura looked at Kuramochi like he just opened a Christmas present.

“Youichi… Youichi”…  Sawamura said, tasting the name. Never stopping from looking directly at Kuramochi.

“Don’t make this weird” Kuramochi mumbled, still feeling incapable of looking at Sawamura’s face

“Youichi! Youichi!” Cried Sawamura, hugging him with all his force, hiding his face between Kuramochi’s neck and shoulder.  It hurt.  

“Dammit, I like you so much”. Said Kuramochi reciprocating the hug as best as he could.

“I like you too, Youichi! Call me Eijun!”

“Eijun… shit, Eijun, your name is so…” Gorgeous, precious, beautiful.

Kuramochi wasn’t dumb. He knew Sawamura would use his name in public, albeit, unintentionally. He was just that cute. But who cares, Sawamura was worth the world’s stares and more.   

There was not more need of gaming. When the floor became unbearable, they moved to the lower bunk.

Now this was something Kuramochi liked. Sawamura at his side, his arms and legs entwined to his body. Kissing his cheek from time to time, while Kuramochi just kissed that cute face of him as an answer, while one of his hands on Sawamura´s butt. Firm enough to let his presence be known, but not enough to be a pervert. Perfect.

“So, what were you sad about?” he finally asked.

“You noted it?” Sawamura asked back, delighted to see his show of sadness did not fell on blind eyes.

“Kind of. So what was it?”

Sawamura huffed.

“The latest chapter of Kimi Ni Todoke ended in a cliffhanger. Again! It was so, so frustrating!”

Kuramochi did not look surprised by this. Because, really, he was not.

“I don’t know if I should hit you or kiss you” he said.

“Kisses please!”  Sawamura said, cheerfully “By the way… you didn't let me win, did you?”

Kuramochi let out a scoff.

“Of course I did, I wanted to make a moron of a boyfriend happy” Kuramochi let out the details of the last fight because, details.

“Kuramochi-sempai, you truly are the coolest boyfriend” Sawamura said, looking at him with solemn admiration.

“Damn right. Now kiss me some more”.

Sawamura let out a playful giggle before gladly giving Kuramochi what they both wanted.

“Youichi, you are such a needy boyfriend!”

END

I hope you like it!

[gastricpierrot]

Title: When Stars Align

Series: Daiya no Ace 

Pairing: KuraRyou 

Rating: T

Summary: Nothing good ever comes out of an intimate relationship between a human and a youkai, Ryousuke knows. He's heard more than enough stories on betrayal, on disasters, on families being shunned. And being an onmyouji, he knows better than anyone else. 

And yet, he lets himself fall.

Warning: historical inaccuracy, i have no idea what am i doing

Also available on AO3

[Ch.1]

Ryousuke didn't become an onmyouji for the glory or anything.

There’s not much glory left for him to have, really. Ever since Abe no Seimei's death some sixty years ago, immersion into the Onmyou arts have been losing popularity. The number of people who are born with the ability to see spirits dwindled. Not many had the interests to learn the skills to read stars and constellations or how to predict future events, choosing to delve into the rapidly growing world of trade instead. Even less wanted to memorize the numerous sutras and the events for which each is required.

No, Ryousuke became an onmyouji out of pure spite.

Not exactly the noblest reason, he knows, but it didn't stop him from working so hard at it that he eventually became one of the best of his time—perhaps even in history, he’s told. He only had too much suppressed bitterness and tenacity to spare, after all. He decided long ago that he might as well put them to use somewhere so he could have the final laugh at the faces of every person who looked down at him and said he couldn’t.

"Make sure the talismans are always intact; even a small tear on the spell can break the barrier," he explains to his client, gesturing at the nearest slip of enchanted paper pasted securely on a sliding door. "It should last a year otherwise, long enough for the youkai to lose interest. Send someone straight for me immediately if you sense anything wrong during or after this time frame."

"Oh, you have our utmost gratitude, Ryousuke-sama!" the nobleman exclaims, wiping sweat off his brow with a dainty handkerchief. He then wrings his hands, his gaze flitting about with nervous energy as though he expects another youkai to appear right in front of his eyes. "It terrifies us to think what could've happened to precious child if you weren't here."

Then don't think about it, Ryousuke retorts internally, his demure smile not wavering even by a fraction. He humours the man the whole way to the exit of the property, feigning impression when he claims his child must have a lot of spiritual energy, to be targeted by youkai so often even though Ryousuke himself knows better than anyone there's no such thing. Aristocrats like him are the ones who can afford paying him higher sums of money, and he has a younger brother to feed besides himself. He's willing put his pride aside and humour a rich man’s ego if that's what it takes to get on their good side and ensure a slightly larger income than his usual.

Ryousuke doesn't allow the tired exhale from making an appearance until he's pocketed the three gold pieces and moved three streets away into an empty lane. He's been out and about almost the entire day, spending his morning at the Onmyou institute coaching the handful of students he has and his afternoon tending to clients. He turns toward the direction of the setting sun, trying to gauge the time. He's finished all his tasks for now; all he has left is a routine visit to the mountain later that night. He turns a corner, and heads home.

He's greeted by his younger brother shortly after he removes his sandals at the entryway and puts them aside. Ryousuke's chest fills with a certain warmth as it tends to when it comes to Haruichi.

"You seem free. Shouldn't you be practicing your divination around this time?" He isn't about to let Haruichi notice any of that softness, though.

Haruichi flushes slightly as if he's been called out, though Ryousuke actually doesn't think he's slacked off for even a second. "I was expecting you to be back soon, so I took a break to make us dinner."

"Hmm, is that so." Ryousuke smiles a little wider when Haruichi's blush intensifies. It's always fun teasing him.

"We need to eat," Haruichi bravely manages, then almost indignantly, he adds, "and it's not like you can cook, Aniki."

"Fair point," Ryousuke concedes, stepping inside and making his way into the lounge together with his brother. "Will Eijun be joining us?"

Ryousuke secretly hopes not. Eijun can be obnoxiously loud and no matter how much Ryousuke loves Haruichi he has a limit to how much he can bear on occassion.

"He won't," Haruichi confirms and Ryousuke decides the day is being kind to him. "He said 'onii-san looked like he's about to exorcise me the last time,' so he decided he'll stay away for a bit when you're around."

Ryousuke raises his eyebrows. "Didn't know he could be so observant," he says, to which Haruichi responds with a protest of "Aniki!" in his friend's defence. Ryousuke chuckles, otherwise making no further comments.

They always had dinner together, no matter how busy it got. It's usually just the two of them, but sometimes Haruichi's best friend since childhood, Eijun, would join in and liven the entire house with his ceaseless yelling that even Haruichi found overbearing at times. Ryousuke would've liked the boy a little more if he could just learn to control the volume of his voice, but after all these years of convincing himself that it's for Haruichi's happiness, he'd developed an impressive level of tolerance towards him (and almost everything in general, frankly—he has Eijun to thank for that). Haruichi had always been soft-spoken and a little shy, and several months of observation had led Ryousuke to believe that being with Eijun would do him good. Eijun probably doesn’t notice it himself, but there’s something about him that brings out a firmer, stronger side of Haruichi. Ryousuke would never say it out loud, but he’s grateful for all Eijun has done for his younger brother’s growth.

"How was work today?" Haruichi eventually asks midway through dinner, between bites of tofu. His gaze is steady, his amber eyes expectant. He’s always thought of being an onmyouji as a honourable profession no matter how Ryousuke tries to convince him otherwise. It only occurred to him a few years back that perhaps Haruichi thought so because Ryousuke himself is one. He always did idolize him to a borderline unhealthy extent, always trying to follow whatever he does.

Ryousuke takes his time answering, savouring the taste of Haruichi's cooking before he bothers to speak. "It's the usual. There's going to be a drought in five days’ time, one of the Imperial Princes might die soon, another noble thinks too highly of his child when it's really his own actions that caused the haunting."

He says it all with barely a hint of emotion, merely stating facts as they are. Haruichi's expression changes from excitement to thoughtfulness for a moment, his hand lowering his chopsticks by their own.

"I thought the drought would come in six days," he mumbles, almost hesitantly. Ryousuke tilts his head slightly to the side.

"We should warn the village to prepare for both, then," he says in all seriousness. "After all, your predictions have been more accurate lately, Haruichi."

"R-Really?" Haruichi perks up, his cheeks pink from the compliment. Ryousuke can't help but smile, fond albeit lopsided.

"You mean you don't realize it yourself?" he asks, to which Haruichi only responds with a sheepish laugh.

"I still get them wrong often, so not really." And because your criticism still harsh as ever, he doesn't say. Ryousuke still notices the undertone nonetheless. He's aware of how hard he is on his younger brother. Part of his intention has always been to teach him to be tougher; both against aggression and in the face of challenges. Haruichi may still be meek now, but Ryousuke's proud of how determined he can be when he sets his mind to achieve something, and also how Haruichi has learnt to rip people apart with his sweetly voiced words alone if the need arises.

That, and Ryousuke's always harsh on him because he has talent; possibly much more than his own. If Haruichi is to pursue mastering the Onmyou arts, he would no doubt surpass Ryousuke in no time. He's yet to express such a wish though, presently only practicing as a passionate hobby.

Ryousuke truly hopes it’ll stay that way.

"I'll have to visit the mountains again tonight," Ryousuke tells his brother when they clean the dishes together, not glancing his way as he scrubs soap studs from a polished clay bowl. With his sleeves tied up, his arms are soaked halfway to his elbows. It's a nice change on his skin to the confines of his stuffy clothes. "I'm not sure when I'll be back, so no need to wait for me."

Haruichi hums, drying the last of their dishes and hanging the cloth on a peg. "Be careful, Aniki."

"I will," Ryousuke assures, his tone almost amused. Haruichi notices it shortly, and breaks into a smile at the silent joke shared between them.

They both know who are the ones who should really be careful.

xXx

Youichi does not feel ready to handle the responsibility of watching over a mountain.

He's not ready and it shows, his feathers are shedding almost as much as they do when he was still undergoing his training. At this rate his wings would be bald in no time and boy, would he not want to be seen like he has the parts of a chicken ready to be marinated and cooked. Being a tengu is still a pretty big thing this time and age; it'd be downright mortifying if someone were to see a pseudo-deity balding from stress.

"...ot leave the mountain after sundown or else the lesser youkai might breach the borders and cause havoc in the village," Tetsu, his senior in the job, is telling him. Tetsu-san's recently been promoted to Daitengu and is to oversee a larger, more famous mountain, hence leaving this one to Youichi. His expression is stoically serious as it always is; Youichi has rarely seen him showing much emotion. He's instead learnt to read the subtler signs: the slight quirk of his lips or eyebrows, the occassional barely noticeable change in his tone of voice. "Always be sure to double-check the barriers if you must leave. Though the youkai here are relatively tame, it'd spell trouble if any foreign ones are to intrude into the territory."

Youichi nods, realizing the contradiction a bit too late. "Wait, why would you worry about youkai messing with the humans if they're tame?"

Tetsu gives him a significant look. "They haven't always been tame."

Now Youichi's confused. He frowns. "What do you mean?"

"There's this human child," Tetsu explains, a hint of fondness as well as awe mixed into his voice, "not only can he see youkai, his spiritual energy and skills in Onmyou arts are nothing to be joked about."

Youichi takes a moment to put the pieces together. "So... there’s this guy from the village who's an onmyouji and he’s managed to scare every youkai there is in this place?"

Tetsu's face does not even twitch. "Basically, yes. But they're not just terrified of him," his tone changes to sound like he's including himself in this cluster of youkai in question, "they respect him, too."

Youichi's frown deepens. "I don't really understand."

"You will when you meet him," Tetsu assures. "Ryousuke's got a sharp tongue, but he's not a bad person. He can probably even help you out if you find yourself in a pinch in this job. In fact, I'm fairly certain you'd be seeing him quite often since our duties and his are rather similar in nature."

"Well, if a Daitengu says so," Youichi reluctantly takes heed of his senior's words. If even Tetsu-san likes him, maybe this Ryousuke isn't as bad as Youichi feels he would be. Tetsu gives him a firm pat on the shoulder, which is about one of the highest forms of encouragement one can get from him.

"You know where to find me if you really need to," he says, then seeing Youichi nod, he turns away. "I'll be on my way then."

He readjusts his mask, checks the strap of his hat, and takes off into the air, practically silent despite being humanoid in size. The spread of his black wings become a blur against the night sky in no time.

Youichi lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding once Tetsu has left, idly kicking at yet another of his fallen feathers on the ground. This seriously needed some getting-used to, and he has to get used to it fast. He takes his responsibilities seriously, and even he wouldn't forgive himself for a sloppy job, let alone his boss. He has to get his grip real soon.

Youichi breathes another sigh, grumbling to himself that he'll take a stroll around to know the place better just for the sake of it. It’d helps ease the pressure building in his chest, if only a bit. He hopes he won’t leave a trail of feathers in his wake, though.

Moving around has always helped Youichi take some load off his mind and this is no exception. He finds the tension in his shoulders easing as he explores his new ward; marvelling at the sheer undisturbed beauty of the forest, the clear streams, the roaring waterfall. Most of the youkai he bumps into along the way seem relatively docile, all minding their own businesses and acknowledging him curtly when he greets them. There are a few large and fairly powerful ones wandering about as well, but Youichi decides they're nothing he can't handle. He's been placed here on the job for a reason.

He hears the sound only when he approaches the foot of the mountain. It almost sounds like a bird's song, but a few seconds of focusing his ears tells him it's actually man-made. An instrument, perhaps. Without really stopping to think, Youichi follows its direction.

He doesn't expect a lot of things, and stumbling into a youkai gathering in a forest clearing with a human in the centre is definitely up there at the top of the list.

Youichi notices his strange pink hair before anything else, so pale under the half-moon light that it's almost white. Then he sees his closed eyes, his robes, the bamboo flute pressed to his lips as he blows notes after notes of soft, enchanting music.

Then finally, as laughable as it is, he registers his insanely terrifying aura.

Youichi's first thought after the customary "Yikes!" is that an ordinary human should not have that kind of spiritual energy. It rolls over him in waves, making his teeth clench and muscles tense. How do those youkai sitting there look so unbothered by this? Six seconds in and Youichi has the biggest urge to either burrow into a hole and hide or fly over and punch him in the face to make him stop doing that.

But before he can decide what exactly he wants to do, the sensation disappears just as suddenly as he’d noticed it.

Even with the human's eyes still seeming closed, Youichi senses him looking at him somehow; hinted by the slight turn of his head and the flutter of his long eyelashes. His poise remains elegant, not even the smallest falter in the tune he's playing. And oh, something conveniently clicks in Youichi's mind even before he has the chance to hear the human speak. He must be Ryousuke.

At the exact moment he realizes it, Ryousuke smirks at him like he knows. Youichi bristles. There's something about this human that rubs him the wrong way besides that cocky smile. His presence, for one thing—it takes a lot to completely mask that amount of spiritual energy so perfectly, and he’s turning it on and off with seemingly to little effort. Youichi has come across a handful of skilled onmyouji over the years, but none of them could compare to Ryousuke in terms of the air they gave out alone.

None except one.

Youichi crosses his arms, leaning against a nearby tree. The youkai gathered there looks to be enjoying Ryousuke's performance and he doesn't exactly feel like interrupting. He figures he might as well join in and listen. He takes a breath and exhales slowly, allowing himself to immerse in Ryousuke's song. He's playing a different one now, a haunting, ethereal melody that somehow reminds Youichi of the hymns of wind spirits. Whatever issues he might have against Ryousuke, he must admit he can really play the fue. It takes a while for him to realize, but Youichi eventually notices how he's slowly growing calmer as well, his earlier anxiety and fatigue fading from his being. Could it be an enchantment? Can onmyouji even do that?

Ryousuke plays two more songs before he announces that that's the last of it for tonight. Youichi keeps watching as the onmyouji stands from his seat on a tree stump and faces one of the bigger youkai at the front row, saying something Youichi can't hear amidst the din of dispersing spirits. He only manages to catch the last of their conversation, something along the lines of "just try not to be too obvious next time if you don't want me to be called over." Youichi wonders what's that about.

Ryousuke remains unmoving from his spot after that despite exchanging level stares with Youichi (his eyes still look closed though??), as if expecting him to be the one going over when there's clearly a bit of difference in existential class between then. Well, two can play this game, Youichi thinks, trying to convince himself he's actually offended rather than feeling intimidated by Ryousuke's presence—or lack thereof.

Unfortunately for him, the human seems to see right past his front.

"You must be the new mountain guardian Tetsu was talking about."

Ryousuke's voice is mild, his gentle lilt resembling the notes he plays on his flute. The corners of his lips are lifted, but Youichi swears he's lowkey mocking him for being wary of a lowly human like himself. And wait—Tetsu? They're on first name basis without honorifics??

"You're not afraid of me, are you?" Ryousuke asks when Youichi fails to voice a response, this time definitely laughing at him. Annoyance flares in Youichi's chest, a volatile fire he's trained hard to tamper down in order to assume the duties of a tengu. He inhales sharply. Don't lose it, don't lose it.

"I could ask the same to you," he tells him with as much coolness as he can muster. He tilts his chin up slightly to feign confidence. "Don't you think standing so far away from the new mountain guardian is a little rude?"

"Arrogant, aren't we," Ryousuke muses, his expression unchanging even by a fraction. He makes a show of keeping his flute in the folds of his robes and brushing dust from his lap. "I didn't mean to be rude, Sir, but as you can see, I've been sitting and playing for the past few hours and my legs aren't quite in the condition to walk yet. My apologies."

He even manages to make an apology sound condescending. Youichi takes yet another deep breath. Fine, he decides. He wins this time. Pointedly ignoring Ryousuke's infuriating smile, Youichi walks over.

"Just Youichi's fine; being called 'Sir' feels weird." He scratches the back of his head, focusing his gaze on a particularly interesting tree to his right. He hesitates for a second before adding, "you play the flute really well, uh..." He trails off just to be sure.

"Ryousuke," Ryousuke supplies, watching Youichi in a way that tempts him to fidget. Now that they're closer, Youichi realizes just how short Ryousuke really is. He only reaches his shoulders even on his full height. "Kominato Ryousuke." The edges of his smile soften to something slightly more genuine. "And thank you, Youichi. It's nice to know that fifteen years of practice haven't gone to waste."

Dumping the honorific right away, huh? This one is definitely different from the humans Youichi's used to seeing; all who only knew how to depend on deities whether for blessings or blame. Ryousuke's probably powerful enough to defeat even a pseudo-god and he knows it better than anyone.

"Fifteen years?" Youichi raises his eyebrows in curiosity. "How old are you now?"

"Twenty." The smug look returns to Ryousuke's features when he steals a glance at Youichi’s bare feet. He tilts his head slightly. "I'm older than you are, aren't I?"

"I'm about two hundred in youkai years, which means..." Youichi counts his fingers, and feels sweat well up in his palms when he manages to do the math. He does not want to know how Ryousuke managed to guess that.

"That's around eighteen or ninenteen in human years," Ryousuke chimes in unhelpingly, still sounding sickly sweet. Youichi's fully aware of what he's trying to imply and wonders if he really needs to humbled so much that he’s sent here.

He wants to remain stubborn, really. He's a tengu, one of the highest ranked in yokai monarchy. As inexperienced he admits himself to be, there's still a certain level of pride he wants to maintain before he stoops to the level of a human. Then again, Ryousuke is obviously not just an ordinary human. Tetsu-san seems to hold him with a high regard as well, and he did mention about how Ryousuke could guide him a bit in this guardian business. Youichi's learnt many bitter lessons on putting his ego aside, and he figures it'll probably be for the best if he does it now. He'll need a lot of his help if he wants to stop shedding feathers anytime soon.

That doesn't mean he likes it, though.

"Also, Youichi," Ryousuke continues before Youichi could think of a way to answer, his tone forebodingly demure, "that membrane you have around this place can hardly be called a barrier. I know you're new but— “Nothing could've prepared Youichi for his next few words— “Don’t you think you suck a bit too much at this?"

Youichi's not sure if tengu have gods of their own, but he prays for inner strength.

xXx

"Please don't bully the new tengu too much, Aniki."

Ryousuke barely glances up at his brother, absently twirling a large black feather between his fingers as he reads the parchment balanced on his lap. "I don't see why I shouldn’t. He's centuries behind Tetsu in terms of skills."

"But what if you anger him too much and he decides to bring a war here? Or some other sort of calamity that might endanger the entire village?" Haruichi protests, always the killjoy with his unprecedented maturity. "Besides, he probably just needs more time to get a hang of his duties. Even you didn't start out with your current competency."

“He’s going to have to work much harder than me if that’s all he can do after two hundred years,” Ryousuke says drily, picking up the letter and folding it back along its seams. He deliberately refuses to meet Haruichi’s gaze.

“Won’t you help him?”

“I’m not a tengu, Haruichi,” Ryousuke reminds him patiently. “Even I am not entirely certain of what their responsibilities are aside from those that are common knowledge.”

“I know, but,” Haruichi persists, oddly concerned about the whole affair, “you can just support him however you can, just like the way you did with Tetsu-sama. Sometimes just knowing someone’s got your back is more than enough.”

Haruichi’s speaking from personal experience at the last part, Ryousuke can tell. Frankly, he can’t care less if Youichi’s able to adapt to his duties well, but upon further consideration, perhaps it really is better if he could help him find his groove sooner. Youichi’s failure to do his job will only result in a bigger unnecessary workload for Ryousuke, and that doesn’t exactly sound appealing. He’s already got his hands full with those as it is.

“…Aniki?” Haruichi prompts when Ryousuke remains in silent contemplation for a full minute. Coming to a decision, Ryousuke gets on his feet.

“I’ll going out for a bit; it seems that something’s stirring in the Minister’s residence again.”

He hears Haruichi sigh before wishing him yet another safe day.

…

From what Youichi understands, Ryousuke’s mostly in charge of handling matters in the human village west of his mountain, he only drops by at the mountains every half-moon to play his flute and placate some spirits, and the most basic rule for every youkai in the area is to not mess with Kominato Ryousuke.

Welp. Failed step one.

He wonders if this is the product of trying to infiltrate into the Kominato household earlier. Being a tengu, it’s part of his duty to heck up cocky humans—even if the particular human he had in mind is an obscenely powerful one. He just didn’t count the equally obscenely strong barrier around the house and the fact that Kominato Ryousuke can probably sense him attempting to break into his home a mile away. Youichi realized a tad too late that he’s probably made a very bad miscalculation.

Youichi feels the smallest he’s ever been as he listens on to Ryousuke listing out every mistake he’s made and every problem he’s had ever since he took over from Tetsu-san three days ago. His barrier is still too weak, he’s not around the shrine often enough to listen to people’s prayers, he’s giving him more work, etc. Even his Master spared a few compliments here and there while training him; pointing out his strong points and how he could work on them. Ryousuke, on the other hand, seems intent on tearing down every shred of confidence he has in his own abilities.

“Is there not even a single thing I’ve done well since coming here?” he grumbles under his breath, not caring if Ryousuke hears him because he better does, really. Let him be fully aware that their resident tengu is about to call it quits and find another better, self-preserving job.

“Well, you haven’t cried yet so that’s one,” Ryousuke tells him after a moment of contemplation, smile and tone mocking as always. Youichi glares at him.

“Very funny,” he says, and Ryousuke only shrugs like it’s his problem he can’t handle the facts. Youichi spreads his arms in a fit of agitation. “If you’re gonna criticize me for every damn thing I do, at least tell me how to fix them, Ryou-san!”

“I can’t tell you how to do your job,” Ryousuke states calmly, linking his hands behind his back. “You’ll have to figure them out yourself.”

“Aren’t you already telling me how to do my job?” Youichi protests. Ryousuke’s expression doesn’t  change.

“I’m merely suggesting that there are more efficient ways to what you have to do,” he says, then just as casually, he adds, “by the way, you’re not disturbing the Minister enough. He could use more bugs flying at his face at night.”

“You, sir, are a terrible person,” Youichi points out, though he’s observed the Minister enough to agree with him. That guy could stand to treat his servants more like humans and less like animals.

“Never claimed otherwise,” Ryousuke says without a bit of remorse. When his tone alters slightly at the next thing he says, Youichi knows what’s coming for him. “Also, I understand that you were loitering around my home yesterday morning.”

Youichi feels the back of his tunic dampen with sweat. “Um.”

“I’m fine if I’m the only one you’re after,” Ryousuke continues, his voice now dangerously low, “in fact, I’d even commend you if you manage to get past my defences. But heed my words: if you do as much as touch a hair on my family—“he smiles, a deadly one—“I won’t hesitate to send you back to the Other Realm, Youichi.”

Youichi didn’t even know he came from the Other Realm until that moment—not that the discovery makes him want to return there any more than he does. He swallows thickly, and nods.

“I understand.”

“Excellent.” Ryousuke turns to peer towards the horizon. Youichi catches himself watching the way the breeze cards through Ryousuke’s hair with fascination, strands of pink shifting and swaying with the wind. He’s always given out the impression of being so firm and collected that it’s almost surprising to see him ruffled in any way. The sight only reminds him that despite all that’s said and done, Ryousuke’s still mortal.

He winces when a sudden, sharp pain pierces his gut. Something breached his barrier, the realization immediately dawns him. He focuses his senses, trying to pinpoint the location. There—at the southern paddy fields.

“Are you going to go?” Ryousuke sounds unaffected as always. Youichi doesn’t see even the slightest tension in his posture even though he knows he too, must’ve sensed the strong, hostile presence.

He takes a minute to weigh his options. The brasher side of him frankly wants to fly there and use the intruder as his personal punching bag. Fortunately for him, he’s carefully trained to ignore that side. He’s a protective deity before anything else; his biggest responsibility is to not leave the mountain unless absolutely necessary, especially at night. There wouldn’t be a necessity if Ryousuke can handle matters and hold on—Youichi’s starting to get a clearer picture of what the onmyouji expects to be going on now.

…Ryousuke’s testing him right now, isn’t he?

Youichi takes a sharp breath. “No. I’m staying here to protect the mountain in case it makes it this far.” He then fails to resist adding, a grin making an appearance on its own accord, “unless you’re not confident you can stop it?”

The corners of Ryousuke’s lips quirk slightly higher, but he doesn’t seem angered by Youichi’s taunt. In fact, he seems…satisfied? It’s hard to tell. Youichi would need more time before he learns to read him the way he did with Tetsu. What’s important is that he’s pretty sure there’s no murderous intent directed at him at the moment.

“See? You can think after all,” Ryousuke says and wow, rude. Youichi figures he must be making a face because Ryousuke laughs next and he’s really, really itching to kick him down the mountain slope. “But I’ve dawdled here enough. I should get going.” He looks over his shoulder to shoot Youichi one last smirk. “I hope I won’t have to see you soon, You-i-chi.”

Youichi physically cringes at the way he drags the syllables of his name, looking up the next second to find him gone. And good riddance, he spits as he stomps his way back to his dwelling to keep watch. He sure as hell hopes he won’t have to see him ever.

Though, he has to admit he’s kind of curious to see Ryousuke’s skills in action.

*for context on the feet, yamabushi tengu are said to have extremely wrinkled feet as proof of their long age 

[catcherkazuya]

💙⚾ daiya no ace liveblogging, ep. 10 ⚾💙

(my day was sooooooo lonnnnnng. I'm gonna post my screencaps later pinky promise)

- ugh WE LOVE RECAPS WITH DRAMA (and kuramiyu moments 💖💖) - eijun goes defaults to kanemaru when he has a problem I'm dyingg - omg I can't "it's your fault" kanemaru is everythingggg 😂😂 - asada is such a precious bean 💗 we have to protect him at all costs - he finished his food so fast; asada was like "I'm not dealing with this high school gay baseball drama let's go play catch senpai" lmao - damn I already forgot this teito v. ugumori game was happening - the drama in this game is OVER 👏🏾 THE 👏🏾 TOP but teito won so w/e - MIYUKI'S LAUGH @ 08:28 MY LIFE IS FULFILLED I LIVE TO HEAR TO HEAR HIS JOYFUL VOICE 😭😭💗💖💗😭😭 - omg he is perfect this scene did him justice he looks SOO good - miyuki isn't even remotely concerned with sawamura's ramblings,, he's still looking at the scorebook 😂 - wow this ep is steaming with misawa moments - THE FLASHBACKS OH MY GOD - asuma-senpai !!! sideways cap miyuki !!! - for three seconds, I was confused about the second flashback w sawamura + miyuki but then I realized that this was the moment when sawamura was complaining about being paired with chris-senpai and miyuki almost bitch slapped sawamura for calling Chris unmotivated,, whewww that was such a good scene 😤😤😤 - ANOTHER MIYUKI LAUGH I AM TRULY BLESSED - lmao miyuki is telling eijun to get ready for the game and furuya's aura turns on immediately - nabe does not get enough credit !!! he just did an entire full scope debrief of two games with info in pitchers, players, defense and offense NOT TO MENTION any potential spots of weakness LIKE DAMN nabe 👏🏾 go 👏🏾 OFF - YES SAWAMURA AS THE STARTING PITCHER - this is the ace we've been asking for !! - OMG YALL - ITS THE SLY SMILES - THE DEVIOUS DUO - THE ULTIMATE SEIDOU BATTERY ⚾⚾⚾🙌🏾 - "wanna mix up a few numbers?" MIYUKI YOU AINT SLICK STOP PLAYINNNN - ugh in so proud of sawamura,, for some reason he's always getting the short end of the stick with his pitching but this episode really did him justice with the three outs! - TOJO 💖💖💖 I missed u bby - YES HARUICHI COME THRUUUU - coach said work as a team and THATS EXACTLY WHAT THEY DID - OOOOoooooOooHhh MIYUKI UP TO BATTTTTT - y'all know it's time to cleanup 🙋🏾‍♀️ cleanup 🙋🏾‍♀️ cleanup - I'm so mad that cut it off right as he came up to plate !!! 😡 FUCK I WANTED TO SEE IT WHY THEY GOTTA LEAVE US ON READ ??? - yikes but he miyuki gotta look at me like that for 12 seconds u know he can't do that to me I'll implode he's to gorgeous to be doing all of that - EIJUN SINGING NERAIUCHI AT THE END OF THE ED 😭😭💖💖💖💖 - p.s. neraiuchi aka miyuki's walk song usually = 99.9999% chance of miyuki hitting a home run 

💙 screenshots for this episode here! 💙