#their friendship is criminally underrated

[bberetd]

Nintendo needs to give us more of them 🤌🏾

Mario and Daisy coming soon ;)

[ikram1909]

My Gavi and Eric ❤️❤️

[cornerdreams-txt]

no thoughts. head empty. alby braiding newt's hair while he was recovering from his leg injury so it would stay out of his face because he was too tired to do it himself.

[queen0fm0nsterz]

Thinking abt writing a Roger and Lady story I'm ngl. I have this old plot that I never wrote out and now I kinda want to

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

🧡&💛 for hero and aubrey? It's one of my favorites but it's hard to find that much content of them >_<

Awww! I’m squealing over this ask—thank you so much for sending this in and for playing our “Hearts for Hero” Headcanons Game! 🥰

Hero & Aubrey friendship is one of my and Sprinkles' favorites too (probably my personal favorite of all of Hero's platonic relationships besides maybe his brotherly bond with Kel), and this ask really couldn’t have come at a better time since we spent the last weekend writing about Hero and Aubrey friendship for our current wip so the brainrot is so strong! 😁 Thank you so much for the opportunity to do something constructive with it!! 💖

I absolutely agree the world needs more Hero & Aubrey friendship content and hope you enjoy these headcanons! Cheers!!

🧡— Childhood Friendship

Since Aubrey’s parents weren’t around much when she was growing up, it was actually Hero who taught her how to ride a bike. Aubrey didn’t ask him to, but, even as a young kid, Hero was perceptive and sensitive enough to notice how she watched Sunny and Kel riding their bikes—wanting to join in but being unable to. Hero gently offered to show her how to ride one if she wanted, and though Aubrey tried to play it cool, she was very grateful.

They practiced on Hero’s street, and Aubrey caught on very quickly. Hero was so proud of her when she finally rode her bike down the whole street! For Hero’s next birthday, Aubrey got him an ornament shaped like a bike to thank him. He still has it, even in the future, and hangs it on his tree every year.

💛— Friendship (General)

As they age, Hero and Aubrey actually have a lot more in common than it might seem on the surface, especially in that they both struggle opening up to others and would much rather handle things alone instead of “burdening” someone else with their issues. Their motivations for that might be different (i.e. Aubrey is jaded & feels she can’t really rely on anyone but herself, whereas Hero just wants to keep the peace and is terrified of hurting someone by “dumping” his problems on them), but the end result is the same: they both deflect and hide their hurts from the world behind tightly locked doors.

This similarity makes it difficult for them to hide their pain from each other, however, and generally means they can’t lie to each other like they might be able to mask their true feelings to their other friends. This is especially true after they learn the truth. For that whole, difficult summer after Sunny moves away (and beyond), they both become really in-tune to changes in each other’s moods and can tell if the other is struggling or having a bad day.

Hero and Aubrey spend a lot of that (post-game) summer worrying about each other more than they’d let on. When Hero knows something is really bothering Aubrey, he will leave little notes in her mailbox on his morning jog just to let her know he’s thinking about her, and Aubrey tends to call Hero on his days off from his summer job since she knows how difficult the idleness is for him. Ultimately, Aubrey is the only person blunt enough to tell Hero he needs to take care of himself while Hero is respected enough by Aubrey that she might actually believe him when he reminds her that it’s okay to lean on her friends once and a while.

[acacia-may]

I love the friendship between Gajeel and Juvia, even though there's not a lot aboutvit in canon, so... can I please request their bond for your game, please? With 💛🧡💚

Aww this is so wholesome, Anon! Thank you so much!! 🥰 I absolutely love the friendship between Gajeel and Juvia too, and I really wish we got to see more of it in the canon. [A/N: It's actually kind of funny that I got this ask because my sister was just teasing me the other day for somehow managing to cram this friendship into my Fairy Tail fic (even though it wasn't really about that) just because I love them so much 😅 but I digress...] I would be delighted to write some headcanons about them for you, and I really hope you will like these! Thanks again for the ask and for playing my game! 💛

Questions from this "Bye Bye Writer's Block" Ask Game

Gajeel Redfox & Juvia Lockser Friendship Headcanons

💛-- Friendship

A long time ago Juvia made a loaf of banana bread and gave it to Gajeel on a whim, and Gajeel's grateful reaction convinced her that it was one of his favourite foods so to this day she goes out of her way to make it for him on special occasions or just to show that she's thinking of him. In an attempt to thank her once, Gajeel tried to bake his own banana bread for Juvia, but it didn't turn out. However, Juvia was very touched by the thoughtfulness of his gesture and offered to teach him how to make it.

The truth is that Gajeel doesn't really care for banana bread--he was merely grateful that Juvia had made him something and was moved by her kindness, thoughtfulness, and generosity. He doesn't ever correct her, however, because he loves how happy she is when she gives it to him and is very thankful to have something they can share together as friends.

🧡-- Childhood/Backstory

Though Gajeel would most likely deny it, he has always felt protective of Juvia in an older brother kind of way and has (albeit secretly) tried to look out for her from their days in Phantom Lord. When Juvia first tried to join Phantom Lord, Gajeel couldn't really understand why someone like her would want to join the Phantom guild in the first place and honestly thought she was stupid a little naive in the beginning. Surprising even himself, however, this really struck a nerve in him, and he decided she deserved to be protected, a duty he took upon himself. Unbeknownst to Juvia, Gajeel really went out of his way to make sure no one else in their dark guild (especially its more rough and unsavory members) messed with her, and this ultimately helped her be accepted by Phantom Lord much more easily and quickly. To this day, Juvia has no idea that Gajeel was secretly looking out for her all this time, a bit like her guardian angel (though he probably wouldn't like that title), and he doesn't plan to tell her. (Panther Lily and Levy have both figured it out, however, and think this big brother side of him is very sweet).

💚-- General

Gajeel has quite the collection of hand-knitted gifts from Juvia. The collection started when one winter, Juvia knitted him a pair of mittens, and even though Gajeel isn't usually the type to wear woolen, winter mittens (he generally gets uncomfortably warm if he bundles up too much), he was genuinely moved by the gesture, especially the time and effort Juvia put into making them for him and kept them in a safe place. Juvia eventually knits a matching scarf and two matching hats, one for Gajeel and one for Panther Lily (with holes cut out for his ears of course). Gajeel keeps all the gifts, but the ones he gets the most use out of are the socks. He wears each pair of socks Juvia knitted for him down until they're tattered, and somehow Juvia always seems to know when his socks are wearing thin because she'll somehow have another pair ready to give him at the perfect time. What Gajeel doesn't know is that Juvia has a whole box of socks she has knitted especially for him for whenever he might need them.

[galaxina-the-pyro]

Okay, so am I the only one who wishes we got an episode where Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet hung out with each other? Not to exclude Phineas and Ferb, but friend groups can divert sometimes - each of the kids have had time to spend with Phineas and Ferb without the other two around, particularly Isabella. So I don’t see why those three can’t hang out outside of the boys once in a while.

It’s not even that the three don’t have established relationship dynamics, or that they’re ONLY friends because of Phineas and Ferb - I think it started that way but evolved over the series. But I never see the three being a general focus so to speak. We get IMPLICATIONS that they hang out together beside Phineas and Ferb like in AT2D, but they WERE initially waiting around for them to come back, so it wasn’t even first instinct. And it’s not like they COULDN’T - Isabella always hangs out with the Fireside Girls outside of the guys, and they get invited to hang out with Phineas and the others too.

Anyways, I guess what I’m trying to say is, I wanna see more content of these three, so I’m gonna draw them hanging out.

[stonecoldsilly]

Right you are, James, that's right,

I'm a maid, and as such, I can tell you that I've got all the breadcrumbs ready and all the spices and seasonings and a nice lemon wedge

for when I turn your fucking face into a plate of calamari.

It's gonna taste delicious going down.

And I'm gonna keep you alive to watch it, I'm gonna feed it to you, 'cause it's not healthy just to be eating brains, James, and I care about your health and your wellbeing.

Cathilda the Black

[cubedmango]

HELP):£:)😭 the idea of him being completely clueless until the very end with them actually clarifying it has me in tears cause it’s not even in the usual annoying straight people way it’s just him being: Rokkaku™️ and because he loves the both of them so much I can imagine after his 404 error moment he’d be so happy for them to the point where ppl joke that he’s their work son with the way he trails behind them everywhere (forget work husbands/wives this one’s NEW!) like remember at the wedding he was one of the most elated people there right next to fujisaki oh I love them☹️

YESSSSSS WORK SON ROKKAKU IVE BEEN SAYING THIS SINCE DAY 1 !!!! HE WOULD DO THIS !!!!!!!! hes a little lost at first but hes got the spirit hes going to support them in everything!!!!!! literally the littlest guy ever he cares all his senpais so much Weeps ......... i wish everyone a rokkaku in their lives tbh 😔

[swasdoodles]

Captain's mad. Watch out!

[strznringz]

Wtf is no one talking about about Rabastian death in Crimson rivers 😦😟

[storm-of-feathers]

man we talk a lot ab how weiss and penny thought ruby was dead.

but so did jaune. 

[hero-deserves-to-be-happy]

When Sun Shines Again: Chapter 3 "To Lead A Better Life" Part 2

⛅CHAPTER 3⛅ "To Lead A Better Life" Part 2

Chapter Description: While driving Aubrey home from work, Hero realizes that something is really bothering her, but he isn’t sure how he can convince her that she can open up to him about it. Hero thinks it’s probably just as well—no matter how much he might want to help Aubrey, how much good could he really do when he can’t even help himself?

This Chapter is Hero & Aubrey's Friendship-Centric.

Chapter Word Count: 8390. Link to Chapter 3 on AO3.

Description (for the entire work): When tragedy struck, Hero lost not only his dearest friend but also his dreams for the future. Even years later, Hero doesn't know what his "forever" looks like without Mari in it, but somehow he finds the strength to carry on and build a new life for himself. With his family and friends both old and new by his side, Hero struggles through life's ups and downs--the joys and sorrows he faces in a world without Mari. In the beginning, he's only looking to survive it all, but somewhere along the way, he might find a purpose, a reason he's still here. Maybe there really is a way he can learn to be happy again, and maybe, just maybe, when he's least expecting it, he might even find himself slowly opening his heart to love again--he might even find himself believing that even the darkest, stormiest of times will eventually pass and the sun will shine again.

A Hero-Centric story spanning 15 years of his life post-good end. Focuses on Hero finding healing & building a life for himself after the loss of Mari. Eventually includes him learning to love again after an extremely slow burn. All pairings are tagged upfront. Rated T for heavy themes & some language. Reading the prequel is recommended.

⛅Tags For The Story As A Whole (So A Lot Of These Are "Eventual" Tags):

Romantic Relationships: Main Ships: (Past) Hero/Mari and (Eventual) Hero/OC. Side Ships: Brandi/OC and a brief mention of Mikhael/Bebe are the only side ships involving canon characters.

Platonic Relationships: Hero & Brandi Friendship, Hero & Original Characters Friendship. Some Hero & Kel Siblings Relationship & Brotherly Friendship. Hero & Aubrey Friendship. Hero & Basil Friendship. Hero & Sunny Friendship. Hero & His Family.

Characters: Major Canon Characters: Hero (POV Character), Brandi [Intimidating Girl], Mari and Mari's Memory, & Kel. Major Original Characters (Hero's college friends): Kyle, C.J., Zoey, Tamra, and Lorraine. Other Included Canon Characters: Sunny, Basil, Aubrey, Sally, Hero's Parents, Bebe (Short Haired Girl/Fountain Girl) & Mikhael (The Maverick).

Genre: Hero-Centric Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Slice of Life, College Life, Lost Love, Finding Love Again, Finding Healing After Grief, Slow Burn, Developing Friendship, Developing Relationship, Greiving, Catharsis, Heart-To-Heart Chats, Hopeful/Happy Ending, Post-Good Ending, Hero Needs A Hug, Hero Deserves To Be Happy

Rating: T for some heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some language.

Warnings: Major Spoilers for OMORI! Heavy themes and thematic elements (i.e. grief & healing from grief and trauma. Implied/Referenced Canonical Character Death & Implied/Referenced Mental Health Issues including depression & suicide. Mentions of Underage Drinking & Partying). Some Language.

Link to Entire work on AO3.

⛅ Link to the "When Sun Shines Again" Masterlist. ⛅

Full chapter text below the cut. Thank you for reading! ⛅

“You know I was kind of hoping you weren’t going to show up,” Aubrey teased, shaking her head with a half-affectionate, half-exasperated smile as Hero helped her load her bicycle into the back of his car.

“You know I wouldn’t do that,” he said with a smile, and Aubrey sighed with a roll of her eyes. Wiping off a little excess water, she climbed into the passenger seat of his car.

“Yeah, I know…” she sighed again as he backed out of his parking space. “But you really didn’t have to do this. The storm is letting up a little bit anyway.”

Hero’s brow furrowed. The parking lot at Faraway Plaza was still slick and wet from the rain—shimmering through Hero’s windshield which was obscured by frantic swishes of windshield wipers. Though he supposed the storm had let up a little bit in the last few hours since he had been here with Kel, it was still pouring in a consistent drizzle, and he found himself ruffling water out of his hair before he turned out of the parking lot.

He didn’t say any of this to Aubrey, however, and instead gently insisted, “I really don’t mind. It’s practically on my way home—you just live a street over.”

“Hero—” Aubrey began to protest again, and though Hero hesitated, he eventually somewhat sheepishly cut her off.

“Besides this is really for me, remember? So I don’t have to worry about you.” As he smiled, he could feel Aubrey fidget beside him.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that. I can take care of myself, you know?” She paused, letting out a long and heavy exhale before her voice began to taper off, “I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time now...”

Hero’s chest twisted. He would never admit it to Aubrey, but that was the problem. She shouldn’t have had to take care of herself, not when he should have been there to look out for her—to take care of her and support her like the older brother he had always felt he had been to her. If he had, maybe then she wouldn’t have pushed Basil into that lake or started terrorizing the neighborhood with that nail bat. As it was now, however, Hero had been so wrapped up in his own problems that he hadn’t been there when she needed him, and he couldn’t help but feel guilty about it—couldn’t help but wonder if things would have been different if he had been a better friend for her because now Aubrey had been hurting, suffering alone for such a long time that she didn’t even know how to accept help anymore. She pushed everyone away—hid behind locked doors and impenetrable walls. Hero could never bring it up to her, knowing it was none of his business and that even mentioning it would make him a hypocrite, but his heart ached with an empathetic sadness whenever he thought about it. He knew how painful and how lonely it was to live that way, and he wanted more for the girl who had been his younger sister long before he had had one by blood.

Unsure of what exactly to say, Hero merely nodded, and after a short pause, the sharp edges of Aubrey’s voice softened. “Listen, Hero, I appreciate it—I really do. But I’m okay. I don’t need charity.”

Aubrey shuffled then shoved something into the cupholder in the center console of his car. Hero tilted his head curiously, but unwilling to take his eyes off the road during the storm, he could only speculate about what it was until he finally parked safely in front of Aubrey’s house and caught sight of a wad of cash.

Face flushing, Hero frantically insisted, “No, you don’t need to pay for a ride home. It really wasn’t out of my way at all.”

Aubrey’s shoulders twitched, but she wouldn’t look at him. “This is your money. You way over tipped me today—I can’t take it.”

Hero’s blush deepened, and he sheepishly scratched the back of his neck. Of course, she had noticed. Still, he stumbled his way through, “Keep it. You earned it. It was great service.”

“Hero…” She pointedly tilted her head at him then at the money he was holding out to her again. “This is almost more than your whole check.”

“Brandi wouldn’t let me pay,” Hero explained with a sigh. “And I had already set aside this money for the meal so I just…”

“Then give it to her,” Aubrey insisted, shoving the money back at him.

Hero sighed again. He was almost certain that Brandi wouldn’t take it, but it seemed that Aubrey wouldn’t take it either even though he was sure she needed it. He tried to laugh it off, play at a generous nonchalance. “I used to wait tables myself, you know? I know how much you depend on tips. Just take it.”

“Tips are great and I really appreciate it, but this is extreme, Hero, and I know you don’t have this kind of money. You’ll be going back to school soon and need to pay for your books and stuff.”

Before Hero could even begin to pluck up the courage to protest and insist that Aubrey needed the money more, however, Aubrey cut him off, “And don’t give me some bull—” She stopped abruptly, a faint tint of pink in her cheeks like one might if they almost cursed in front of a child, before she continued, “about me needing the money more. I don’t, okay? I didn’t get this job because I can’t feed myself or something.”

“Why did you get it?” Hero asked partly curious and partly desperately latching on to an ‘out’ from this argument. His brow furrowed as Aubrey’s face flushed an unexpectedly deep red. Though she tried to shrug it all off, she stared down at her twisting hands, pursing her lips.

“I dunno…” she mumbled. “I guess I’ve just been…kind of thinking about the future. I’m not gonna be in high school forever, you know?”

“You’re thinking about what you’re going to do after graduation…?” It wasn’t really a question, but Aubrey nodded.

“I guess.”

Hero leaned forward with a reassuring smile. “What have you been thinking?”

“I dunno,” Aubrey mumbled again, but the look on her face said otherwise. She shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing big or exciting like you, the future doctor, but I guess…we’ve just been spending so much time in all these hospitals this summer and I keep seeing all these nurses and thinking ‘well maybe I could do that one day…’”

“That would be awesome!” Hero replied, a bright smile spreading across his face. “You’d be an amazing nurse.”

Aubrey’s cheeks flushed, but she wouldn’t look at him. “Yeah, well…it’s probably just a pipedream. College is way too expensive and with my grades who knows if I’d even get in,” she chuckled derisively, self-deprecatingly shrugging her shoulders as if she didn’t care, but Hero knew that she did. Like with most things, Aubrey cared a lot more than she let on.

“Aubrey, there are lots of scholarships out there,” he reassured her, reaching out to pat her arm. “I wouldn’t have been able to pay for school without one.”

“But you’re smart, Hero. You’re probably the smartest person I know.”

Hero flushed. He never could take a compliment, but he quickly shoved the thought away knowing this wasn’t about him. “They have scholarships for everything, Aubrey. I know someone who has one for Lacrosse and—”

“Do I look athletic to you, Hero?” she quipped dryly, and Hero twisted his mouth.

“I just meant you have lots of options, and you’re plenty smart. Those standardized tests are just hard and there are some tough classes in high school too, but I know you can do it.” He paused, patting her on the back and smiling reassuringly at her. “If you don’t go to college, that’s okay. It’s not for everybody, but it’s going to be your choice—not because you couldn’t get in.”

“Hero…” Aubrey rolled her eyes, but the affection and gratitude in them was not lost on him.

“I can even help you study, if you want. If you ever want help prepping for your SATs or help with a class or something, I’m just a call away, and I’m always happy to help.” He pushed the money back into Aubrey’s hand. “And why don’t you go ahead and keep this, use it to buy some books or something?”

“Alright fine. You win,” she conceded though her mouth twitched in the corners. Her expression softened as she shrugged her shoulders slightly, “Thanks.”

Hero wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her. It was a little awkward trying to hug her over the center console of his car, but it was all he could think of to do to tell her that he believed in her and was always on her side if she ever needed him. He didn’t know if Aubrey would ever bring herself to ask for his help, but even if she never reached out, he wanted her to know he was always there for her even if he didn’t really have the words to say it.

“You know, speaking of the hospital, Kel and I were talking about going to visit Basil on Sunday and wanted to know if you—” Hero stopped as he watched Aubrey’s shoulders grow rigid and her face twist—something sad, pained crossing over her eyes.

“Thanks but uh…maybe not this time,” she mumbled, and Hero’s brow furrowed. The growing distance between them was palpable again, and his hands started to shake—worried for her but more worried about crossing a line and sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong.

He barely managed, “Is everything okay?”

Aubrey shrugged, quietly staring down at her hands. “Yeah…I’m just…I think I need some space for a while.”

“Oh.” Hero could understand that. After all, the Truth was a lot to take in, and Aubrey had forgiven Basil and Sunny much faster than anyone was expecting, especially Sunny and Basil themselves. She was more than justified in still having some complex feelings about the whole situation—Hero knew he still had them. He wanted to reassure her that that was okay, but he wasn’t even sure how to reassure himself of that. All he could really manage was a gentle, if a bit stumbly, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really with you.”

Hero flushed, but Aubrey stopped abruptly as if she hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “Sorry…that’s not what I meant,” she added hurriedly. “I just…I meant…I don’t really want to talk about it with anyone.”

Nodding, Hero pursed his lips together, but before he could even scramble to think of something more to say, Aubrey had gathered her things and opened the passenger-side door with a wave of her hand and a “Thanks again for the ride.”

“No problem,” replied Hero. “Anytime.” A slight smile twitched in the corners of her mouth as Hero watched her run through the storm and disappear through the front door of her house, but there was a deep sadness in her eyes that Hero knew she didn’t want him to see.

After several moments of staring at her front door and debating whether or not he should chase after her, Hero ultimately decided that it really wasn’t his place. No matter how worried he was about Aubrey, she had specifically told him that she didn’t want to talk to him about it, so it was probably for the best that he leave her alone for a while and hope that she knew that if things changed and she did want someone to talk to, he was always there.

As he turned around and drove home, Hero tried and failed not to worry. He pushed his thoughts of Aubrey away, focusing instead on the upcoming dinner with his family and his surprise at finding his father’s truck in the driveway.

With a curious tilt of his head, Hero gathered the few bags of groceries he had picked up for his mom and headed in through the front door. His brow furrowed when he heard his dad and Kel’s boisterous laughter coming from the dining room.

“Oh good! You’re home and just in time for dinner,” called Mom with a smile, peeking her head out of the doorway and motioning for Hero to follow her. “Kel and your father made it home in time for dinner too.”

“Thanks to Kel’s quick thinking with that dishwasher,” chimed Dad, beaming at Kel as Hero sat down at the table.

Kel shrugged, but his smile widened. “Eh, it was nothing.”

“Getting your father home before the middle of the night was definitely something,” insisted Mom patting Kel on the head then taking her seat. She tilted her head towards Dad with a pointed, somewhat playfully pouty look. “You’ve been working late all month, Ramón.”

Chuckling lightly, Dad held up his hands in a somewhat bantering defeat. “I’m sorry, Mi Estrella. I’ve said a thousand times I’m sorry. How can I make it up to you?” He playfully but affectionately kissed her cheek several times in succession causing Kel to grimace with a quiet “Ew” as Hero stifled a chuckle.

Mom’s face scrunched up as she laughed, patting Dad’s arm before she pulled away insisting, “Not in front of the children.”

“They’re hardly children anymore, Dolores. Look at them”—Dad motioned across the table to him and Kel—“They’re taller than me. And soon enough Kel will be running my business and Hero will be a doctor. We’ll only have little Sally to help us regain our youth,” he teased, leaning over and giving Sally a kiss on the head as she giggled in her highchair, seemingly, incredibly pleased with smearing her sweet potatoes across her cheeks.

Kel sat up in his chair, straightening his back and shoulders with pride as if showing off the height his father had just praised. Hero blushed a little himself, but his mouth twitched in the corners. He certainly felt old, far older than he actually was, but it wasn’t often he thought of that as a good thing. It made him think of Aubrey—practically raising herself after her father left—younger than him but perhaps, in a way, even older than he was. That weathered, weary sadness that had passed over her face as she had run into her house wasn’t one a sixteen-year-old should ever have in her eyes. Hero swallowed hard, staring down at his food. He suddenly wasn’t hungry anymore.

Kel’s brow furrowed at him, and Hero watched him mouth, “Are you okay?”

Somehow managing a quick nod, Hero tried to give Kel a reassuring smile, but unable to push his conversation with Aubrey out of his mind, he found all he could manage was a twitch of his lips in the corners. Was she going to be okay? The truth was a lot to take in. Hero knew this possibly better than anyone, but Aubrey had looked so sad, so defeated. Was it all hitting her at once after the fact? Had he done or said something to trigger her painful memories?

He couldn’t stop thinking about it—couldn’t stop worrying. Even though he knew she wouldn’t want him to, he wasn’t strong enough to stop himself, just like grieving Mari. Even in the darkest time, he had known she wouldn’t want him to throw his whole life away on her account—that she would want him to keep living instead of wasting away in his bed for over a year, but the sadness was unbearable. He wasn’t strong enough to weather it, wasn’t strong enough to respect her wishes or rather what he knew they would have been. He wasn’t strong enough for that even now—not really. He was just strong enough to fake it. After all, no matter what it may have looked like from the outside, what he had been doing for the past three years couldn’t be called living. 

And now, he couldn’t help but wonder if Aubrey felt the same way.

*-*-*

Hero didn’t hear from Aubrey for several days after that, and if anything, he got the impression that she was purposefully avoiding him—though he supposed it was possible she just didn’t see him when they had both been in the parking lot at Faraway Plaza at the same time or when he had waved to her as he jogged past her house when she was mowing the lawn.

She was not out of sight and out of mind, however, as Hero spent the next week thinking about—no, worrying about her more than he would ever be able to express with his words. Though he tried his best not to speculate about what was troubling her and if she was okay, his concern for her only grew with each passing day leaving him feeling uneasy and pensive.

On Saturday, the day before they had planned to visit Basil, Hero almost called her just to see if she had maybe changed her mind, but all he really did was stare at the receiver for nearly twenty minutes until Kel had walked in with confused questions about what he was doing staring at their telephone. It was all he could really bring himself to do, despite the fact that, like a loving, honorary big brother, he would have dropped everything at a moment’s notice if Aubrey needed him. If she called him up at two in the morning and tearfully wanted to open up about what was bothering her, he would have taken the phone down to the coat closet on their first floor so he wouldn’t wake anyone else in the house up and talk to her all night if that’s what she needed. But reaching out to her was a different story.

Whenever Hero thought of trying to check in on her to see if she was okay, he always reasoned himself out of it—too scared of prying into Aubrey’s business and convinced it wasn’t his place. Aubrey was so private about her struggles and feelings. Hero didn’t feel he had the right to ask her to share them, and he didn’t want to put her on the spot and make her feel obligated to talk to him. In this situation in particular, she had told him flat out that she didn’t want to talk to him. He couldn’t and wouldn’t forget that, and he couldn’t shake this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that when she had said she wanted space from Basil, it had actually extended to him too.

He tried his best to push it all out of his mind and keep her secret from Basil and Kel who would likely be hurt and worried if they knew she was upset and purposefully distant again. Kel, at least, believed him when Hero told him that Aubrey was too busy to tag along with them on their trip to visit Basil in the hospital, but when he had had to tell Basil the same thing, it was obvious that he didn’t believe him in the slightest—his entire face lighting up with panic like a movie screen despite his polite insistences that that was okay and he understood.

As always, Hero tried his best to keep the peace and lighten the mood though he knew he wasn’t much of a liar himself and trying to keep Aubrey’s discontentment a secret was proving much more burdensome and exhausting than he would have expected. He was grateful when Kel suggested they play Crazy Eights, but even as Basil agreed, Hero watched the anxiety growing in his eyes over several rounds of cards. He could tell Basil’s thoughts were spiraling to worst case scenarios in which Aubrey despised him and probably would forever, and when the time finally came to leave, the words Hero could only imagine Basil had desperately wanted to say for the past two hours finally tumbled out of his mouth.

“Do—do you think…Aubrey…is upset?” Basil stammered as Hero and Kel began to say their goodbyes. Hero blanched—his stomach twisting at the prospect of having to lie again, this time blatantly.

Shaking his head, Hero offered a “No” in as reassuring a tone as he could manage despite his wavering voice and sudden interest in the ceiling.

He sighed in audible relief as Kel chimed in with an actually reassuring, “She’s just really busy. I mean I haven’t even talked to her in almost a week since she’s been so busy. Maybe she’ll be able to come next time.”  

As Hero’s brow furrowed, he swallowed hard. Kel hadn’t talked to Aubrey either? Was she avoiding him too? Was she avoiding everyone? Maybe this was more serious than he thought.

While Kel’s words only served to make Hero more anxious, they actually did seem to have a comforting effect on Basil whose shoulders relaxed as he nodded and said, “Okay. Well tell her I said hi then, please, the next time you see her.”

Kel’s smile widened, and he nodded before draping an arm around Basil’s shoulders. “I will. See you later.”

“Take care, Basil,” said Hero—trying and failing to push thoughts of Aubrey out of his mind as he gave Basil a short hug goodbye.

“Thank you for coming,” Basil sniffled into his shoulder, and Hero patted his back. “I’m sorry for all the trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Hero gently insisted before Kel interjected.

“Yeah, you’re our friend. Of course we’re gonna come visit you!”

Nodding in agreement, Hero pulled back from Basil so he could see the earnestness in his face. “If ever you need anything, you just let us know, okay?”

Basil sniffled again, and his face flushed before he stared intently at his twisting hands. “Would you—” Basil’s voice cracked before he quickly stumbled, “Well…um…I mean if it isn’t too much trouble…could you check on my flowers, please? I know Polly is taking care of them, but it’s a lot of work for just one person and I’ve been worrying about her having to take care of the whole garden alone.”

Hero’s expression softened. “Absolutely. It’s no trouble at all. I’d be happy to help out.”

“Me too,” chimed Kel who hugged Basil one more time before they said their final goodbyes. As he waved them off, a real smile twitched in the corners of Basil’s mouth. It was only a small smile but a genuine one that reached his eyes, and it warmed Hero’s heart all the same. He smiled at Kel—grateful his brother was there to help though struggling to find the words to say it without inadvertently revealing his concerns about Aubrey. Kel smiled back, but strangely enough it faded quickly.

Hero’s brow furrowed, but he tried not to read too much into it. This was, of course, easier said than done when their car ride home from the hospital was oddly quiet with very little of Kel’s usual stream of consciousness prattling. After nearly an hour of driving filled with the low roar of the radio and a few comments from the uncharacteristically quiet Kel, Hero found himself switching immediately from worrying about Aubrey to worrying about his brother again. Scrambling to think of something he could say to cheer Kel up, he decided to try a compliment.  “Thanks for reassuring Basil back there. That was really nice of you. You’re a good friend.”

Kel shrugged his shoulders, but he bit his lip. “Yeah, he looked pretty upset, but I…” His voice trailed, and Hero’s brow furrowed, frustrated with having to keep his eyes on the road and being forced to speculate what kind of expression was crossing over Kel’s face. His brother took a deep breath. “I just feel kind of bad for lying to him, you know?”

 “Lying?”

Kel shifted in his seat but admitted, “Yeah. I know Aubrey’s upset…or at least I think she is. She…won’t really talk to me about it.”

Yeah she won’t really talk to me about it either, thought Hero with a heavy sigh, but he didn’t think it would be fair to say that aloud. Instead he asked, “Why do you think she’s upset?”

“Just a feeling, I guess and the fact she’s been avoiding us. Ever since that conversation we had when we were driving home from the hospital the last time, I just—” Kel stopped. “She looked so upset…and she’s been acting weird ever since then.”

With a slight twitch of his shoulders, Hero twisted his hands around the steering wheel. He hadn’t thought about that, but he supposed Kel had a point. Somewhere after Kel’s rendition of “99 Bottles of Pop On the Wall,” Hero had steered the conversation into another topic before Aubrey and Kel started bickering again—going stir-crazy from being stuck in wall-to-wall traffic. He had picked something he felt was innocuous enough: talking about how much better Basil seemed to be doing and his hopes that he would get to come home soon. Honestly, he had never imagined the conversation would quickly turn to a discussion about Mari and about  the truth again—though he supposed he should have expected that it was on all of their minds. After all, Hero himself had hardly stopped thinking about it.

“You know, Aubrey said it was so hard to wrap her head around the fact that Mari wasn’t actually depressed…” Kel continued, seemingly taking Hero’s silence as evidence that he didn’t remember. “And I understand that, but I mean…it’s a good thing that she wasn’t so tortured and miserable like Basil, right?”

Hero’s chest panged, but he somehow managed a nod. If he was being honest, he kind of felt the same way.

“You said something kind of like that at the time right? About how it’s kind of a relief to know that she didn’t…you know…”—he bit his lip— “And now you don’t have to blame yourself for not knowing she was depressed because she actually wasn’t all along…”

Hero let out a long and heavy sigh. That wasn’t exactly how he remembered it. He had barely said anything about himself—maybe an offhand comment about how difficult Mari’s death had been to accept when they hadn’t known she was struggling but certainly not enough to warrant such a big chunk of Kel’s account. While it was undeniably true that Hero had blamed himself for Mari’s death and for the fact that he hadn’t known she was depressed, he couldn’t imagine saying much about that to anyone, especially not to Aubrey or Kel. In his mind, all he could remember was trying to comfort Aubrey and tell her he understood that it was hard and that the truth was a lot to take in.

“She just looked so upset…” Kel sighed. “Do you think she’s angry again?”

“I don’t know…” He wasn’t sure if angry was the right word—maybe it was, but hurt and confused came to mind first. On the other hand, this was Aubrey they were talking about. “Maybe…But can you blame her?”

Hero could feel Kel fidgeting in his seat before he finally, quietly admitted, “No. The whole thing’s just really sucky…” He paused. “But you and me—we didn’t do anything so I don’t know what she’s mad at us for.”

“I’m not sure she is mad at us, Kel. I think she probably just wants to be alone, you know?”

As Kel shifted, Hero could feel his feel mood stiffen—growing frosty and worried. Hero swallowed hard—his stomach coiling as he worried he had said something wrong. Kel’s voice softened and he barely choked out a stumbly, concerned, “You don’t…you don’t think she’s…depressed…do you?”

Biting down hard on his lower lip, Hero tried his best not to picture the expression on Kel’s face—tried his best not to imagine his brother was thinking about him and worrying he was going to lose Aubrey just like he had lost him in that year after Mari had died, scared to death of having to go through that again. Most of all, Hero tried his best not to think about how that was all his fault.

“I think Aubrey’s okay, Kel. She’s just dealing with a lot right now, but she’s going to be okay.” His reassurances were weak, but it was all he could manage.

Kel nodded with a slight, “Okay,” followed by a thick and heavy silence. It was so deafening that Hero frantically reached for his radio dials and asked if Kel would like to listen to some music to much the same response.

After a handful of songs that Hero barely listened to—far too worried about Aubrey and Kel to pay much attention, Kel asked, “Is this The Pretenders?”

Hero’s brow furrowed, trying his best to focus on the song on the radio. When he finally caught a full line: “Kid, my only kid, you look so small. You've gone so quiet,” he couldn’t help but shake his head with a sigh. Sometimes the radio had a certain intuition—playing the perfect song for a moment, and as much as Hero’s heart might have broken at the angst of it all, “Kid” by The Pretenders was certainly the song of the moment. How could it be anything else with an opening line like, “Kid, what changed your mood? You got all sad so I feel sad too.”

“Yeah, it is,” Hero answered, pushing his thoughts away. “Do you like them?”

“They’re pretty cool, I guess. I was just thinking about them since we just found one of their cassettes while we were going through those boxes the other day. Haven’t listened to anything by them for a while though.”

“Yeah, me neither,” sighed Hero. Truthfully, besides the occasional song on the radio, it had been years since he had actually listened to a song by The Pretenders. Mari had been the one who really loved them and was the whole reason he even had the cassette Kel had mentioned in the first place. Hero had always liked this particular song well enough, but now, in this context after everything that had happened, it absolutely gutted him. He felt lines like “You've turned your head. You've dropped my hand” in his bones, making his chest ache the more he thought about Kel and about Aubrey.

Especially Aubrey. That closing stanza could’ve been written about her. “Kid, precious kid. Your eyes are blue, but you won't cry, I know—angry tears are too dear. You won't let them go…”

Hero’s eyes widened. That actually gave him an idea. “Hey, Kel?” he asked. “Do you know if Aubrey has a way to play cassettes?”

*-*-*

While it had seemed like a good idea at the time, Hero started to worry that he had overstepped or upset Aubrey by the gesture after she didn’t talk to him for several days after that. He wasn’t sure she had even found the cassette he had left in her mailbox on his morning jog that Monday, and by Thursday, he was trying to hold himself back from calling to apologize to her for it. Luckily, he had a busy week of work to keep him plenty distracted, but even that could only do so much to temper Hero’s concern. He tried to tell himself that if Aubrey needed him or wanted to talk, she would call and that he already had made it obvious that he was thinking of her and was there for her if she needed him and, in that respect, Hero wasn’t sure what else he could do.

He would be lying if he didn’t say he practically jumped whenever the phone rang, hoping it was Aubrey calling to reassure him she was okay, even though it never was. It didn’t stop him from hoping though, and when he got back from his afternoon of work at the pool that Friday, he let out a long sigh of relief when his mom told him he had missed a call while he was out. Taking a deep breath and trying to convince himself not to get his hopes up, he asked, “Really? From who?”

“Someone named Kyle. He said he’s a friend of yours from school.”

Despite his best efforts not to appear too disappointed, Hero felt his face fall and his shoulders begin to slump. Still, he managed a slight shrug and the twitch of a half-smile. “Oh uh…yeah…we had a few classes together. Did he say why he was calling?”

“He’s having a bunch of people over next weekend before he leaves on vacation with his family and wanted to invite you,” said Mom, handing Hero a piece of paper on which she had written Kyle’s phone number. “He lives in Seaport which is just a couple hours away, and he says a lot of your friends will be there like Brandi and…there’s someone named Zuzu he said he really wants to introduce you to.”

Hero sighed. It was nice of Kyle to think of inviting him, but after the summer he had been having, the absolute last place he wanted to go was a college party filled with strangers and people he barely knew. He’d have plenty of that when he returned to campus for the fall semester, and despite Kyle’s kindness, Hero just didn’t think he had it in him to fake his way through a party right now.

Luckily, he knew that he had to work next weekend so he had a reasonable and polite “out” despite Mom’s gentle insistence, “It would be nice if you could go. You probably miss your friends, right?”

“Yeah, but unfortunately, I have to work next weekend, so I don’t think I’ll be able to make it. Maybe next time.” He tried to give Mom a reassuring smile, but she tilted her head questioningly at him as if she didn’t fully believe him. Hero didn’t blame her. He probably wouldn’t fully believe him either. Turning away from Mom, he held up the piece of paper with Kyle’s phone number on it. “I’ll have to call Kyle and thank him for inviting me though. That was very nice. Thanks for taking the message.”  

He gave his mom a quick hug before taking the paper and the phone up to his room, but he hesitated before dialing the number, thinking he should probably call Sunny instead. After all, he had been planning to call him for nearly two weeks now but had just been too busy. It was only fair that he call Sunny first. Before he could even do that, however, the phone rang in Hero’s hands.

He answered it with “Hello. Padilla residence. This is Hero—” but the voice on the other line started talking at the same time.

“Hey, it’s Aubrey.”

Hero stopped—his hands trembling so much he nearly dropped the receiver. “Au—Aubrey? How are you?” Hero stumbled, trying his best not to sound too surprised.

There was a pause and some muffled noises on the other line, but Aubrey finally mumbled, “Fine. How are you?”

“I’m…doing alright…”

“I just got off the phone with Kim. She says you talked to her today at the pool.” She huffed. “Is that what you’re doing now—hunting down my friends to ask them about me?”

Hero’s face flushed. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to—I mean I saw Kim was there with Vance and Charlie, and when my shift was over, I was just saying ‘hi’ and asked if they had seen you recently.”

“I wish you wouldn’t do that, but...” Aubrey let out a long sigh. “I know that you’re worried about me.”

“Sorry,” he apologized again, his face burning.

Aubrey sighed again. “You know I was kind of thinking about you…” Her voice started to trail. “It looks like rain.”

Glancing out the window at the dark storm clouds and overcast weather, Hero swallowed hard. Had he worried Aubrey somehow—been too obvious about the fact that idle, rainy days were difficult for him? If he wasn’t so upset by the idea that he had burdened Aubrey with his own issues despite his best attempts to bury them, he would have been kind of impressed that she knew him so well. Aubrey really was a lot more perceptive than everyone gave her credit for.

Hero twisted his fingers around the phone—struggling to think of what to say in response, but, just luckily, Aubrey cut him off. “Are you doing anything right now?”

“Nope.”

“Do you want to meet up? I can return that tape.”

“Yeah, that would be great,” Hero replied, trying his best not to sound too relieved. “Do you want to come over or I can come pick you up and we could go out somewhere or…? You know Kel’s still at work actually, so we could wait for him if you’d rather…”

“I can come over in about 15 minutes,” Aubrey interrupted. “Is that okay?”

“Absolutely.” Hero was going to ask if there was anything special she wanted him to get or make for her when she came over, but she quickly cut him off.

“Okay. See you soon. Bye.”

Somewhat frantically, Hero hurriedly tried to clean up Kel’s side of their room. He felt bad for going through his brother’s things, but he didn’t want Aubrey to have to wade through the mess. Then, he ran downstairs to put the kettle on the stove and doublechecked with Mom that it was alright if Aubrey stopped by to which his mom merely smiled and said of course and asked if she was planning on staying for dinner.

When Aubrey arrived fifteen minutes later on the dot, she was greeted by kind smiles from Hero and his mother and a warm cup of tea.

“You really didn’t have to make tea or anything,” Aubrey insisted as she followed Hero upstairs—taking a seat on the rug by his bed.

“I was making it anyway,” Hero lied, ineffectively. “You know I love tea.”

Aubrey’s brow furrowed, but she just blinked at him before turning her attention to the several stacks of cassette tapes on Kel’s desk. “Wow. That’s a lot of tapes.”

Sheepishly scratching the back of his neck, Hero shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah…we’ve been going through some boxes of old stuff recently and found tons of cassettes.”

“Well, you can add this one back to your collection.” She handed him the tape he had left in her mailbox. It even had his little sticky note on the cover where he had written the first line of “Kid”, “Kid, what changed your mood? You got all sad so I feel sad too” along with the track number. He wondered if Aubrey had listened to it, but he thought it would be best to let her tell him that.

“You can keep it,” Hero gently insisted, pushing the tape back towards her. “We clearly have plenty, and honestly, I haven’t listened to that one in a long time.”

Aubrey blinked at him before she turned away—something misty and bittersweet in her eyes as she mumbled, “Mari loved The Pretenders, didn’t she? There was that one song of theirs…“I’ll Stand By You” or something like that…that she listened to all the time. She used to sing lines of it to me when she was worried about me—wanted me to know I could talk to her.”

Something panged in Hero’s chest, but he nodded. “Yeah she used to sing some of it to me too…” He paused before he tried his best rendition of the little bit he remembered, “When the night falls on you, you don't know what to do. Nothing you confess could make me love you less—I'll stand by you.” His voice hitched. Something burned in the back of his eyes as he could almost hear her singing now.

“Yeah, that’s the one…” said Aubrey in a wavering voice. “Though she also sang those lines about getting mad and not being ashamed to cry and stuff too. I guess the whole song is kind of like that—encouraging someone that they really can open up to you even if it’s hard for them.” With a sigh, Aubrey stared down at her hands. “It was…always kind of hard for me, I guess. But I guess it’s hard for you too, huh?”

Hero fidgeted under the weight of her gaze as Aubrey looked up at him. With a slight nod, he swallowed hard, silently praying that she wouldn’t try to make this about him. Aubrey’s next statement made it abundantly clear that it hadn’t worked.

“I can’t imagine how hard this has been for you.”

“I’m okay, Aubrey. This isn’t about me.” His face flushed. The words were a little more forceful than he had been intending. He hurriedly added a stumbly, “Unless…I mean…unless you’re angry with me.”

Aubrey shook her head. “I was angry with the world, Hero, but I was never angry with you. I knew—we all knew you loved Mari so much and you took her death so hard. I knew you were hurting—probably even more than me—but I didn’t know until that day in the car when we were driving back from the hospital last time…I didn’t know you had thought it was all your fault.” Her voice cracked, and Hero’s insides twisted. So Kel had been right after all? He felt so stupid for not realizing it before and so guilty for bringing up whatever it was he had said that had brought his friends so much grief.

“Aubrey, I’m sorry…” he began to apologize, but she cut him off.

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who’s sorry. I should’ve known…” She shook her head bitterly, then clenched her hands into fists.

“You know, I just can’t get over it, Hero. I really thought that I was,” she shakily confessed. “Sure, I was furious with Basil and Sunny at first, but I knew it was an accident—they hadn’t meant to hurt Mari. But then I just kept thinking about it…” She stopped—something pained passing over her eyes. “What you said about how you blamed yourself for Mari’s death and felt so guilty because you hadn’t even known she was depressed, when really she wasn’t—” Aubrey’s voice hitched. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about how that’s all Basil’s fault, because of what he did, how he tried to cover it up, and I just get so…”

As frustrated tears started to glisten in the corners of Aubrey’s eyes, she shook her head, her voice trailing. She didn’t need to finish that sentence. Hero’s chest twisted. He knew how she felt—though he didn’t feel angry, just a deep, bitter sadness.

“You have every right to be angry,” he gently reassured her, running his hand across her back. “But please don’t be angry at Basil on my account.”

“Someone has to be,” Aubrey insisted, jerking away from him with a huff. Hero pursed his lips as his chest ached.

“I don’t think so. I’m not angry with him or with Sunny,” Hero admitted though he gently reassured her. “If you are, that’s okay, you feel what you feel, but for me…if I’m angry at anything, it’s Mari’s bad knee. It just never healed right—if it had, maybe she wouldn’t have fallen.”

“But that’s the thing, Hero, she fell. Don’t you think it would’ve been better if we all knew that? If you knew that?” Running a hand through her hair, Aubrey shut her eyes tightly. “I just can’t understand why he would do that—why anyone would do that? What Sunny did was an accident, I can see that, but Basil…why? Why would someone do something like that on purpose?” Her voice cracked—tears beginning to struggle free from her eyes. “What kind of heartless person could just stand there—not only not call 911 but then turn around and cover the whole thing up? Could see how much everyone was suffering and never tell us the truth?”

Placing a gentle hand on Aubrey’s shoulder, Hero sighed. He would be lying if he said he didn’t struggle with the same questions, but he tried his best to comfort her—to tell her the things that he told himself. He wasn’t sure if they’d make her feel better, but it was worth a try.

“Aubrey, we’re never going to know why Basil did what he did. I don’t even know if Basil knows why. He was just a kid and he panicked—wanted to protect Sunny probably…” He paused—his expression softening and something burning behind his eyes as he continued, “But what I do know is that Basil and Sunny loved Mari and never wanted to hurt her. And they never wanted to hurt us either.” He swallowed hard—blinking back the tears in the corners of his eyes. “It’s just a horrible, horrible situation with a lot of collateral damage that we all got caught up in. I don’t think anyone intended or could’ve foreseen any of this—it was all a tragic accident.”

Pausing, Hero took a deep breath before he placed a hand on Aubrey’s shoulder. “But no one blames you for being angry.”

With a heavy sigh, Hero turned away from her, staring out of the dark and gloomy window. “You know, I’ve…never really had a lot of fight in me…” he admitted quietly, a faint flush in his cheeks before he let out a light, somewhat self-deprecating chuckle. “It’s something I’ve always thought I should probably get a little more of. But you…” His expression softened, and he smiled at her as he met her eyes. “You’ve always been a fighter, and I’ve always admired that about you. You want to protect everyone—fight for your friends even when they can’t or won’t fight for themselves. But I’m your big brother…”—he took a shaky breath and patted the top of her head—“I’m supposed to be the one protecting you, so you don’t need to protect me, okay?”

“But that’s the thing, Hero—you’re everybody’s big brother. Without Mari, you don’t have anybody to protect you anymore. And as long as you feel like you have to protect me and Kel and Sunny and Basil—as long as you feel like you have to take care of us, you’re never going to tell us what’s wrong, so you’re just going to suffer alone and none of us want that. We all worry about you too.” Aubrey paused, wiping her eyes. Hero froze. His hands trembled. He didn’t know what to say—didn’t even know how he felt. To see Aubrey so broken up and worried about him was like a wrench to his heart. First, Kel. Now, Aubrey. Could he do anything without hurting the people he cared for most in the world?

“Aubrey, I…” he began to stumble as tears pooled in his eyes.

“No, I—” she cut him off. “I didn’t say this to make you feel bad or feel guilty. I just…I know you, Hero. I know the way that things are—the way you always push aside how you feel to take care of everyone else, and I guess that’s part of the reason why I was so upset—because I knew how much you were suffering all alone and how you didn’t have anyone you felt like you could talk to. I know you’re never really going to be able to talk to us about what’s wrong—but I just…I think we all want you to have someone you can talk to. Someone you feel like you don’t have to protect. I know that’s never going to be me or Kel or even Basil or Sunny—you’re always going to be our big brother, but I want to believe there’s somebody out there—maybe even several people—maybe Brandi or your friends from school or I don’t know just anybody…somebody who you feel like you can tell these things to, somebody you can always go to who’ll try to understand and will comfort you and support you no matter what. I want you to find that person, Hero—because you’ve always been that person for me.”

As tears struggled free from Aubrey’s eyes, Hero wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Sniffling, Hero wiped his own eyes, but he hugged her tightly—like she was that little girl he and Mari had found crying on the side of the road after she had lost her shoe. He knew she wasn’t that little girl anymore—that she was jaded and wounded by a life much harder than it needed to be and much more difficult than she deserved, but Hero always knew that to him, at least of a part of her would always be that little girl who needed a big brother to look after her.

Before Hero could say anything more, however, there was the clattering sound of footsteps bounding up the stairs and through the hallway.

“Woah, group hug!” exclaimed Kel’s voice as his brother appeared in the doorway. He rushed over, sliding across the rug until he wrapped his arms around both Hero and Aubrey. They chuckled lightly at Kel’s enthusiasm, but Hero watched as Kel’s expression softened as he patted Aubrey on the back.

“Are you feeling better now?” he asked.

Aubrey nodded and smiled slightly at Hero as she replied, “Yeah, I’m feeling a lot better now.”

As she leaned against Hero’s side, Hero patted her head again and pulled both her and Kel close. With his brother by blood on one side and his sister by something possibly even stronger than that on the other, he closed his eyes and a genuine smile tugged at his mouth at the thought that no matter what had come before or what might come after, for this moment at least, Hero was holding the whole world, and for once, for possibly the first in a long time, everything was right in it.

[acacia-may]

Pancakes for Dinner

Charmy x Rill Pairing and Charmy & Finral Friendship Fluff/Humor Fic 

This is just some fun and silly fluff (please don't take it too seriously) because I love Charmy and Rill (platonically and romantically), Charmy & Finral’s friendship is criminally underrated, and I’m really attached to this headcanon that Vanessa & Charmy open a bar & grille style restaurant together in the future. (The title is inspired by the song “Pancakes for Dinner” by Lizzy McAlpine as this self-indulgent fluff piece was inspired by listening to that song on repeat!) Thanks for reading!! ^^ 

Description:   Charmy Pappitson knows herself and knows that she is much better with food than with feelings. Even if she's officially dating “pining expert” Rill Boismortier now and might just know a thing or two about love, she’ll never stop wishing that pancakes with extra syrup would make all ailments of the heart disappear for her friends—particularly when scatterbrained, lovesick Finral is wistfully spacing out at her restaurant and making goo goo eyes at her patrons. While Charmy is happy to think he might be putting himself back out there after a particularly painful heartbreak, she's trying to run a restaurant not a dating service, here, and can't have Finral scaring away her customers! Where is Vanessa when you need her? OR  Is it some “serious pining,” lingering heartbreak, or something else entirely that is preventing Finral from showing Charmy's delicious noms the proper attention they deserve? Charmy, Rill, & Vanessa are teaming up to find out!

Rating: G

Fandom: Black Clover (Post-Series) 

Genre:  Fluff, Humor, Love Detectives, and Pancakes!

Characters: Charmy Pappitson, Rill Boismortier, Finral Roulacase, & Vanessa Enoteca. 

Pairings:  Charmy/Rill Pairing (& friendship), but more focus on other friendships particularly Charmy & Finral (Possibly(?) Finral/Vanessa too...if you want to see it. I don’t know...Charmy doesn’t know either lol...) Mentions past Finral/Finesse. 

Word Count: 3863

Link to original post on AO3.

Story Under the Cut:

“Will you please just tell me what you want to order?” huffed a particularly irritated Charmy. She felt like she had been fighting with spacey, scatter-brained Finral for hours though it was probably closer to ten minutes.

“Um…” hummed Finral distractedly—his voice trailing again. Charmy sighed. It was a busy night at the restaurant, as usual, so she didn’t have much time to spare coaxing a particularly dazed Finral to finally focus enough to actually place an order. Though she always set aside a table for her friends, she generally wouldn’t be the one to take their orders if the place was this busy, but her wait-staff had come to get her for help after trying and failing to take his order themselves. Given the fact that he had spent the last several minutes zoning out like he had gotten hit on the back on the head, Charmy could understand why they had been having so much trouble.

She poked him in the arm in a last-ditch effort to get his attention. “Finral?”

“Um…I don’t know…pancakes?” he replied absent-mindedly staring off into space and swirling his spoon around in his teacup. Charmy rolled her eyes at the glossy, glazed-over look on his face, but she smiled.

“Pancakes for dinner?” she repeated, but her smile widened. “Good choice, la.” Maybe she had been getting a little too tetchy with him for spacing out and taking forever to order. “What kind of pancakes?”

Silence. Charmy blinked. Nevermind then. Rather than waiting for him to respond again, she started listing them off. “We have lots of different kinds, la: chocolate chip, pumpkin spice, banana, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry…”

“Sure,” mumbled Finral. Charmy rolled her eyes. Usually Finral’s scatterbrain didn’t bother her all that much, but this was just disrespectful to her delicious noms.

“Which kind?” she insisted to, again, no answer. What in the world was so interesting that he was zoning out and staring at it rather than paying attention to her food?

She shifted and tilted her head so she could see Finral’s line of sight. She sighed. He was staring at the bar which was currently filled with rowdy patrons and a group of beautiful young women in particular—she should’ve known…

Charmy rolled her eyes, but her mouth curved into a bit of a mischievous smile. “How about anchovy?” she suggested.

Finral nodded and hummed. “Sure…”

Charmy raised an eyebrow. “And some balsamic vinaigrette, la?”

“Sounds great,” he sighed.

Charmy’s eyes narrowed—this was a bit much, even for Finral. “And bleu cheese and parsley?”

“Yeah…”

Blinking, Charmy’s brow furrowed. “So let me just make sure I’ve got everything, la,” she began, trying not to laugh. “You want pancakes with anchovies, balsamic, bleu cheese, and parsley?”

Finral paused, and Charmy tilted her head wondering if maybe he was catching on to her little joke—but no, he nodded in a dazed agreement. “Yeah…sounds great. Thanks, Charmy…”

Charmy shook her head before she headed back to the kitchen. She couldn’t help but feel that she was more shocked than she should have been given the fact that this was Finral. She decided to cut herself some slack, however, as it had been a very long time since she had seen Finral in that daydreamy flirt mode—and old Finral would’ve definitely been chatting up those girls at the bar by now rather than just staring at them wistfully from a distance. But, Charmy supposed, he had to start somewhere, and this was at least better than drowning his heartbroken sorrows and crying his eyes out about how he would “never love again” like he had been doing since he and Finnes had broken off their engagement—or someone decided she was actually betrothed to Langris or should be or something…? Charmy wasn’t entirely sure what had happened just that Finral had claimed it was a mutually agreed upon decision to end things but still wallowed in heartbreak for a year like he had been dumped in cold blood.

Charmy tried to stay as uninvolved as she could—which was a bit more difficult than she would’ve hoped given that he spent a lot of time moping around her restaurant and falling asleep at her bar after hours. Charmy tried to be supportive—trying to fix him all manner of delicious foods, hoping it would help him feel better. When that didn’t work, she called Vanessa who was much better at dealing with him weepily pouring out his heart to her than Charmy could ever be. Charmy was great with food, not feelings.

Vanessa, on the other hand, was particularly adept with feelings and all manners of alcohol. It made her a great bartender and made Charmy wonder if she should go get her for help with this situation. In any case, she’d probably be interested to know what manner of garbage Finral had ordered in his dazed confusion.

“What in the world is that?” Vanessa laughed as Charmy sat her plate of gross pancakes down on the bar counter in front of her.

Charmy shrugged. “This is what Finral just ordered, la.” She tilted her head in his general direction.

An incredulous laugh escaped from Vanessa’s mouth before she stifled it with her hand. “Why?”

Charmy motioned Vanessa closer so she wouldn’t scare their patrons with what she said next. “He’s all dazed and making goo-goo eyes at that group of pretty girls at the bar.” Charmy glanced over at them—a large party of at least eight or nine women each of them prettier than the next. She frowned.

Vanessa sighed sympathetically. “It’s been over a year-and-a-half…don’t you think it’s good for him to put himself back out there?”

“A year and a half? Has it really been that long?” asked Charmy, and Vanessa nodded. “Well…in that case, it’s better than him moping around and crying all the time like he’s been doing,” she conceded. There was something particularly pitiful about heartbroken Finral, especially when no amount of cupcakes in the world could make him smile again, but they were trying run a business here... “But couldn’t he find someone new somewhere else? I don’t want him scaring our customers away.”

“He hasn’t been moping around for at least four or five months…” Vanessa shook her head with a shrug. “And I think he’s gotten better—won’t come on nearly as strong, if he’s ready to pursue another relationship, that is…”

“Oh, he’s ready,” huffed Charmy rolling her eyes. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen him this lovestruck.”

Vanessa discreetly glanced over Charmy’s shoulder at Finral but shook her head slightly. Charmy whipped around, not nearly as discreetly. “Well, he’s stopped now, but I promise, it was some serious pining, la.”

“Really?” chuckled Vanessa.

Sighing, Charmy shuffled her feet. “Well…maybe…?” her voice faltered. “He could’ve just been distracted, I guess.”

“Maybe you should ask Rill for his opinion—he knows all about ‘serious pining,’” teased Vanessa with a wink, and Charmy’s cheeks turned a bit pink as Vanessa playfully poked her in the arm.

“I’m not going to ask Rill…”

“Ask me what?” Rill cut her off appearing behind her as if on cue. When did he get here?

“If you think Finral is seriously pining right now,” explained Vanessa. Rill whipped around with absolutely no discretion whatsoever. Charmy sighed. There was nothing discreet about Rill. However, he did seem to be taking this very seriously as his brow furrowed and he nodded thoughtfully observing Finral through his signature hand frame.

“It’s hard to say…” he said at last. “I’ll have to watch him for a while.”

“You really don’t have to do that…” Charmy began but was interrupted.

“For you, Miss Charmy, I would do anything,” he said with a bright beaming smile before taking off to, Charmy was certain, conspicuously watch Finral.

“Awww…” teased Vanessa draping her arm around Charmy’s shoulders causing her cheeks to flush a little. “He’s so cute!”

“You say that, la,” sighed Charmy. “But he’s never painted a life-sized portrait of you as a ‘food goddess’…”

“Admit it, you like the attention and think he’s sweet…” Vanessa bantered poking at Charmy’s arm again. Charmy blushed but blinked at her. She and Rill had been dating for nearly two months—she had hoped Vanessa would’ve stopped teasing her about it by now.

“What are you—twelve, la?” she bantered before picking up the plate of pancakes and walking off to deliver them to Finral.

She could still hear Vanessa laughing as she caught sight of Rill sitting down at a nearby table, very obviously hiding behind a menu. Finral, however, didn’t seem to notice—having clearly returned to his dazed and wistful pining—or whatever it was. He didn’t even look up at her when she sat down the plate of disgusting pancakes he had ordered with a “Here’s your food, la.”

“Thanks…” he mumbled with a trailing voice. Charmy nearly choked when he absent-mindedly picked up his fork and jabbed it into his gross pancake monstrosity, but by the time she recovered from shock enough to frantically try to stop him, he had already put the forkful in his mouth.

“Augh!” he cried as his face contorted in disgust—his tongue falling slack out of his mouth. Flailing, he frantically grabbed his teacup in what was clearly a desperate attempt to wash that horrible taste out of his mouth. He finally turned to look at her in horror and confusion. “What was that?”

“Exactly what you ordered, la—pancakes with anchovies, balsamic, bleu cheese, and parsley,” shrugged Charmy, and Finral gaped at her—the taste of that horrible dish clearly pulling him out of whatever daze he had been in before.

“Why is that even on the menu?”

“It’s not. You were spacing out when I took your order so I was just playing with you, la—I never thought you’d actually eat it. If I thought you were actually going to taste it, I would never have made it.” Charmy shook her head and turned around to reveal the plate of normal, delicious pancakes she had made for him, in addition to the ones he had ordered. “I made you some real pancakes instead.”

Finral’s cheeks flushed a bit pink. “Sorry…” he apologized sheepishly. Charmy shrugged.

“It’s alright—it’s good to see you acting like your old self again, la. Just don’t go scaring away my customers with your flirting, okay?”

Finral’s brow furrowed. “What?”

Charmy rolled her eyes unamused. “You’ve been making goo goo eyes at that group of pretty girls all night.”

“What girls?” he asked with a tilt of his head. Charmy’s eyebrows twitched—he had gotten a bit better at pretending to be confused than the last time they had done this.

“Those girls at the bar—there’s a whole group of them: young, pretty, possibly single but don’t ask me to find out for you, la.”

“At the…?” he began but stopped—Charmy presumed, because he was unable to continue feigning ignorance as the blood rushed to his cheeks. A frown spread across his pink face. “I was not…making ‘goo goo eyes’…” he insisted though he turned away from her.

“I already said it’s okay, la.” Charmy rolled her eyes. “And I was just teasing you about scaring the customers away…”  

Finral shifted away from her with a sigh that was uncharacteristically glum. “I know…Don’t worry about it.” His shoulders slumped forward. “I think I’ll just eat the pancakes and go home.”

Charmy frowned and sympathetically poured more syrup on the stack of pancakes. “Don’t give up, la,” she tried to encourage him. She glanced off at Vanessa who was refilling the beers of some annoying Green Mantises who never seemed to leave, and she wondered how long it would take to get over to the bar and swap out with her. That gave her an idea. “Hey, I’ll go see if I can find you a seat at the bar, la.” Then you’ll be close to those girls and Vanessa—it’s a win-win, she thought as she poured more syrup on Finral’s pancakes.

“That’s really okay…” he held out a hand to Charmy, and she glanced down at the pancakes—realizing they were getting saturated with syrup. She twisted her mouth to one side. Oops. Thus were her attempts to help Finral—food, not feelings. Where was Vanessa when you needed her?

“Do you want new ones, la?” she asked almost sheepishly. Finral tilted his head.

“What?” His eyebrows twitched before he looked down at the plate, then back at Charmy. “No…uh…that’s okay.”

“Sorry about that,” Charmy apologized before she turned to head over to the bar. She thought she saw an empty barstool near that group of girls but would need to get a bit closer in order to be sure. “I’ll go check the bar and—”

“No thanks, Charmy,” Finral cut her off—almost self-consciously staring down at his hands. “I’d rather stay here, if that’s okay…?”

Charmy sighed and resisted the urge to pour the syrup again. Maybe she could go make him dessert…? “Okay.”

_____________________________________________________

“I’m worried about him, Vanessa,” said Charmy with a shake of her head when they gathered back in the kitchen. “I said I could move him over to the bar by those girls, but he said no and got all embarrassed, la.”

“Maybe he’s just not ready yet,” Vanessa shrugged with a half-smile.

“Finral? After a year and a half?” asked Charmy incredulously.

“Finnes was his first love, and now she’s going to marry his brother. That’s a lot…”

Charmy sighed. She supposed Vanessa had a point but…

“But he’s definitely pining,” said Rill confidently, as if he was an authority on the subject. “Wistful eyes. Sighing. Staring off into space.”

“I have to agree with Rill here,” said Charmy causing Rill to beam and puff out his chest with pride and Vanessa to playfully snicker a little. Charmy blinked at her and twisted her mouth. “He actually took a bite out of those gross pancakes.”

Vanessa flinched and grimaced. “Ew…”

“That’s what really convinced me,” Rill interjected with a nod. “Once when I was pining after my food goddess”— he turned to smile adoringly at Charmy—“I took a bite out of my paintbrush thinking it was a breadstick.”

Vanessa laughed as Charmy flagged down a nearby waiter with a breadbasket. “Take a real breadstick,” she said to Rill almost frantically shoving one into his hands. Of all the awful things—to imagine Rill was so lovesick over her he actually tried to eat a paintbrush… Charmy handed him the entire breadbasket.

“Thanks!” he said as he took a bite of the breadstick with a beaming smile. “Delicious!”

Charmy’s cheeks flushed a bit pink at Vanessa’s knowing and teasing smile, but she frowned slightly, saying, “I could see Finral eating a paintbrush right now, la. He’s completely out of it, and when he’s not, he looks so sad…”

“Like a lovesick puppy,” Rill interjected in support though his voice was a bit muffled by his mouthful of bread. “Definitely pining!” he insisted with an empathic wave of the rest of the breadstick. Vanessa’s eyes narrowed, and she shifted to look out the window in the kitchen door. She shook her head.

“I still don’t see it…” she sighed with a shrug. Charmy frowned, and Rill lifted her up so she could see out of the window. Finral was intently eating his pancakes and had stopped staring off wistfully.

“Maybe he’s just focused on eating his pancakes, la?” she suggested with pride. It may have taken him awhile, but she was glad Finral was showing her delicious noms the attention they deserved. “But he was definitely focused on those girls earlier, wasn’t he Rill?”

Rill nodded. “He seemed to be, but he could’ve just been staring off into space. Maybe pining after someone who isn’t here…?”

Charmy frowned. “You don’t think he’s still pining after Finnes, do you?”

“I don’t think so, but it’s possible,” shrugged Vanessa. “Though I haven’t really seen him pining at all so I’m not sure I can say…” She paused. “I believe you though—or at least want to. I’d like to see him putting himself back out there again, but the whole situation was hard on him—I can understand why he’d be nervous…” Vanessa sighed. “We don’t want to push too hard. If he’s not ready, he’s not ready.”

“Maybe he just needs a little encouragement, la? What if you went and talked to him—gave him one of your Vanessa pep-talks and told him he could come sit at the bar by those girls if he wants? And if he doesn’t want to, we’ll just leave it at that,” suggested Charmy.

“Alright,” Vanessa conceded and followed a waiter out the kitchen door. Rill lifted Charmy up again so they could both see out the window, but they soon decided that watching from a nearby hiding place might be better as they could barely see from their current location and couldn’t eavesdrop. Charmy insisted on picking their hiding place, however, and they snuck out of the kitchen doors and crouched down behind a dessert cart without being noticed—at least not by most people. Charmy watched Vanessa’s eyebrows twitch and figured she must’ve seen them, but even if she did, she didn’t let on and continued her conversation with a particularly pink Finral.

“And they’re beautiful girls and very nice. Plus, all of them but that redhead on the end are single—I asked,” she finished saying with a wink.

Finral blushed. “You…you asked them? For me?”

“No, not just for you. I was making conversation…I’m a bartender—that’s kind of what I do,” she chuckled, but her face softened as she watched Finral fidget with his hands. She tilted her head, almost apologetically. “I’m sorry. None of us want to be too pushy, but we all just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“All?”

Vanessa sighed but nodded. “Yes, me, Charmy, even Rill…” She shot Charmy and Rill a particularly pointed look, and they sheepishly crawled out from behind the dessert cart.

“Hi,” said Rill as Charmy waved at a rather confused Finral.

His brow furrowed at Rill in particular. “Is that why you came over to tell me about how you once almost ate a paintbrush when you were pining after Charmy?”

Vanessa could barely stifle a laugh as Charmy glared at Rill who just shrugged.

“I thought it would be helpful…” Rill explained to no one in particular. Charmy rolled her eyes but shook her head affectionately. Vanessa was right—his enthusiasm was really quite cute… Charmy’s smile brightened at the thought, and Vanessa laughed even harder.

“Listen, you guys…” sighed Finral. “I appreciate that…I really do, but I’m okay, really. I know I haven’t really put myself back out there yet, but it’s not because I’m heartbroken and it’s not because I’m scared—” He stopped before adding with an almost-awkward breathy chuckle, “I mean I am scared, a little…but it’s not that—it’s just that I…” He swallowed and stared down at his hands as his cheeks flushed. “I…I don’t want to…” His shoulders twitched into a slight shrug as his voice trailed, and Vanessa smiled sympathetically and reached across the table to pat his hand reassuringly.  

“And that’s okay. Give it time. There’s no hurry.” She smiled kindly as his cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of red. “You’ll be ready one day.”

“Until then, I’ll go make more pancakes!” said Charmy enthusiastically.

“You want some bread?” asked Rill holding out his breadbasket.

Finral tentatively reached out to take a breadstick with a confused, “Thank you?” as Rill took the seat across from him which had been previously occupied by Vanessa.

“Definitely pining,” she whispered in Charmy’s ear with a wink as they headed back to the bar and the kitchen respectively. She placed a hand on Charmy’s shoulder and added just as quietly, “Make chocolate chip pancakes…” before she winked again and took her place behind the bar with a beaming smile.

Charmy’s brow furrowed both vindicated and confused as she returned to the kitchen to make more pancakes, assuming Vanessa’s chocolate chip suggestion was worth trying out. She had several other orders to catch up on, first, however, and by the time she finally had the opportunity to make more pancakes, Rill had appeared to watch her cook with an attentive adoration as he doodled on a sketch pad—probably a drawing of her as the “pancake goddess,” if she had to guess. The thought made her laugh a little.

By the time, Charmy finished the chocolate chip pancakes and took them out to Finral with Rill in tow, the dinner rush had started to clear out. The restaurant was still noisy but not nearly so crowded or rowdy. It took Finral far longer than it should have to notice the plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of him as he was spacing out again with that dopey, wistful look on his face by the time Charmy and Rill returned. Charmy rolled her eyes and shared a knowing look with Rill before, it seemed, Finral finally realized they were there.

“Thanks, Charmy,” he said at last with a kind smile before taking a bite of his pancakes. His smile widened, and he looked up at her with especially excited gratitude. “Chocolate chip—my favorite! Thank you!” Charmy beamed with pride. Nothing made her happier than knowing that her food had made her friends happy.

“You’re welcome, la. But you can thank Vanessa for the chocolate chips. She suggested them,” Charmy admitted. She had not known Finral’s favorite flavor of pancakes before today—though she could have guessed it was not anchovy.

“Oh,” answered Finral with a tilt of his head, but his surprised expression softened into a smile that spread between his rosy cheeks as he returned elatedly to his pancakes.

Charmy beamed as he bit into one with an almost wistful sigh, and she glanced over at the bar with a grateful smile for Vanessa. Vanessa, however, didn’t seem to notice as she was too busy wiping down the corner of the counter that that particularly large party of girls had left. Wait…

Charmy paused, and her brow furrowed. She nudged at Rill who looked up at her in confusion before she tilted her head towards the bar. His eyebrows twitched, and he wrinkled his nose confusedly. They looked from each other, to the nearly empty bar which Vanessa was cleaning off, to the lovesick, scatterbrained Finral, who was eating forkfuls of pancakes with one hand and absent-mindly stirring the spoon in his teacup with the other—dreamily spacing out all the while.

“You don’t think…?” Rill began in a whisper, but Charmy cut him off with a shake of her head.

“No,” she replied with a playful tap on his arm, but she turned and poured some extra syrup on Finral’s pancakes—just in case...

“Hey, Rill?” she asked as they turned to head back towards the kitchen. “What kind of pancakes do you like best, la?”

The End

[autisticethanmorgan]

thinking about sarah and benny singing baby its cold outside

[carrotkicks]

alternative chuuya ship propaganda under the cut

TsujiChuu -> they had exactly TWO (2) encounters but in those 10~ minutes Tsujimura has immediately waxed poetic about how chuuya is a unique and intriguing man (as most special division agents do), and went out of her way to know more about him. and Chuuya immediately empathized her personal struggles with her ability, and gave her advice on how to both control it and accept it as part of her instead of something that was placed in her**. (hmmm stormbringer chuuya and gaiden tsujimura parallels. there's a reason they met.) Anyways Tsujimura is super high-strung and chuuya (when he's not purposely being riled up) is actually really laid back so they'd mesh well personality wise. And they could have an fbi x criminal secret romance thing happening.

ChuuRan -> they definitely fucked in the book. Lol. Also it's a match up that is spiritually similar to skk but 20x funnier because they have zero history and and wayyy more petty beef. in a more serious note, Chuuya probably does have some respect for Ranpo ---not respect for his intellect. I don't think chuuya would be impressed by anyone acting like a cocky genius, he was partnered with dazai after all-- recognizing him as the agency's "lynchpin" and all that. On Ranpo's side, i think he respects chuuya as a Threat, so that side adventure in the Poe's book was probably both to keep him away from the Cannibalism war thing and also gain an ~ally~ of sorts. IDK I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENED IN THE BOOK BRO

TaintedLemons -> Chaos and property destruction boyfriends ftw! They're canonically drinking buddies too! Chuuya is a messy lightweight, so what if when Hirotsu is unavailable, it's Kajii who helps him back home or let's him crash at his place 🥺? Kajii actually seems to be pretty high ranking, what with him just casually chatting up Kouyou and Mori trusting him with undercover missions. Kajii should be promoted, we have 2 exec seats after all. Kajii's silly eccentric personality and their friendship helps Chuuya put a positive connotation to mad scientists. Also they're literally always near each other in the group shots and official art, it's literally canon.

ChuuAku -> another one that isn't too rare but seriously underrated. Chuuya is that super supportive borderline embarassing boyfriend that takes 5 minutes each day to divulge words of affirmation, and he'd make dinner and use the cheesy pet names, the kinda stuff that makes Akutagawa want to explode/shrivel up and die. See as soon as Akutagawa is involved i think Chuuya should be flattened to the cookie cutter token love interest. He'd murder daz for a birthday gift. He's be Akutagawa's personal cheerleader and nothing more. This is also basically a canon ship btw..