#this would definitely annoy Munakata more than Mikoto

[ridiasfangirlings]

saruhiko is attacked by a strain that makes him invisible, he uses this as an excuse to torment yata

Fushimi would definitely find teasing Yata to be a fun application of his new power. Imagine this pre-S1, he was out hunting a Strain on his own and gets attacked. The Strain manages to escape and Fushimi decides to go back to headquarters for now to compile the intel he gathered while out and get the paperwork done while he decides his next move. As he’s on his way back though he finds himself dealing with a lot of annoyances, people keep bumping into him on the sidewalk and then look spooked afterward, and when he gets tired of that and tries to call a taxi they all just drive by. By the time he gets back to S4 he’s tired and more irritable than usual, sitting down to write his report. Doumyouji suddenly screams, Fushimi clicks his tongue as Hidaka asks what’s wrong. Doumyouji says there’s a ghost at Fushimi-san’s desk, the computer turned on by itself and the keyboard started typing on its own. Fushimi clicks his tongue again and is about to ask what idiocy Doumyouji’s talking about when Hidaka’s like wait did I just hear a tongue click. Doumyouji thinks it’s the ghost of Fushimi and Hidaka’s like but he’s still alive, Doumyouji thinks maybe Fushimi was so mad about the last report that he created a ghost out of his anger that’s going to haunt them all by making them rewrite all their reports.

Fushimi realizes something weird must be going on by now and decides to go over the info in his PDA alone, reading about the odd ‘disappearances’ caused by the Strain and figures out that this Strain must have invisibility powers. He’s actually not upset about this either, figuring this is one way to get his annoying subordinates to stop bothering him (imagine Munakata walking by and Fushimi freezes, the squad all run up to him to tell him about the ghost and he keeps telling them not to worry while looking vaguely in Fushimi’s direction. Fushimi mutters ‘creepy’ under his breath and decides to take his leave for now). Since he’s invisible Fushimi figures this would be handy for completing his mission, he can gather information and no one can see him, so he heads back out on his own.

Of course he’s barely away from S4 when he encounters Yata, and Fushimi absolutely can’t resist the urge to bother Misaki. Imagine he throws a knife to knock Yata off his skateboard, Yata goes flying and then looks up to see what he hit but all the knives that were on Fushimi’s person when he got hit by the Strain are also invisible so he doesn’t see anything. Yata’s like ‘huh, that’s weird’ and goes to pick up his fallen skateboard. As he’s about to touch it something kicks it just out of his reach. Yata’s all okay what the hell and reaches for the skateboard again, once again it moves just out of his reach. Yata pauses and then dives for it, the skateboard rolls back the other way. Yata’s like what the fuck is going on and suddenly his beanie to yanked off his head. Yata turns to yell at whoever pulled his hat off and suddenly sees his hat seemingly floating in the air. Yata starts stuttering out ‘a g-g-ghost’ and the hat is thrown right in his face. He grabs it and his skateboard and dashes off, terrified, while Fushimi stands there with his hand over his mouth trying to stop himself from laughing too hard.

He decides to follow Yata to Bar Homra, where Yata is telling Kusanagi and the others about the ‘ghost’ that attacked him. Kusanagi wonders if maybe it was a Strain of some kind, Yata’s like no way it had to be a ghost nothing was there. Fushimi is standing just outside and imagine Mikoto sitting up and looking out the window with Anna next to him. Kusanagi asks if something’s wrong and Mikoto says ‘nothing’ while Fushimi sits a little lower and quietly clicks his tongue. Yata’s still on edge so Kusanagi suggests he go home and rest a bit, Yata’s like yeah maybe that’s a good idea. Of course the ‘ghost’ has to follow, Mikoto is watching them leave and Anna says it should be fine, Mikoto shrugs in reply and Totsuka wonders if King and Anna saw something interesting that the rest of them couldn’t.

Yata gets home and is like maybe I’ll rest a bit, yeah, just lay down on the couch for a while. As soon as he does though Fushimi decides to tie his shoelaces together, and then goes to see what else he can move around to tease Misaki. Imagine he’s having fun like moving everything in the kitchen half an inch to the left and putting eggs in Yata’s bed, thinking it will be fun to see Yata start flailing once he wakes up. Fushimi opens Yata’s closet planning to rearrange all his clothes but then imagine in the back of the closet he finds this box. Fushimi snickers all oh my Misaki, to think a virgin has a secret stash, he’s definitely going to scatter this all around the apartment. When he opens it though inside is what little Fushimi left in their old apartment before he went to S4, a handful of clothes and personal items, and Fushimi’s face twists. He ends up shoving the box back in the closet and decides he has work to do, he can’t waste all this time dealing with useless things. As he’s leaving he stops just briefly, looking down at Yata’s sleeping face, and then mutters ‘stupid’ and leaves, letting the door slam behind him. (Yata, having missed all this angst, sits bolt upright, tries to get off the couch and promptly face plants on the floor because his shoes were tied together.)

[cheselle]

/whispers: ARE YOU REALLY DOING A FIC MEME CHESRA??? if so, i'm gonna give you #44 for royal murder divorce or hisaru, your choice!! :DDD

/whispers I AM!!! can u believe!!! also i would have loved to hisaru this but this is just plain a mikorei hell disaster and i had already typed half of it before i even knew what was happening AHAHA why does this always happen to me when it’s this ship

–

Mikoto has tried everything. Earplugs. Soundproofing the walls of his room. Sleeping with ten pillows. Drinking himself to a stupor. None of it has made any difference, and the last only gave him a hangover.

Totsuka shrugs, clearly unbothered.  “Classical music isn’t that bad,” he remarks as he pours him a cup of tea, humming along. Mikoto begs to differ. Maybe in an elevator, or in hotel lounge rooms, where he can drink Kusanagi’s mixes and drown everything out with alcohol. But in his own apartment? He tolerates enough noise from everyone else - his home is where he should be enjoying the blessed sound of silence.

“I’m going to kill them,” he says. Totsuka just puts the miso soup in front of him.

“I really will,” he insists, as Kusanagi pads out of the bathroom, yawning.

“What’s Mikoto whining about?” Kusanagi asks Totsuka blearily as he slips into the last remaining seat on the dining table.

Totsuka tilts his head towards the floor. Kusanagi makes a sort of aaah sound as they listen to the slight reverberations from the music. The worst part is all the orchestras keep drumming up to crescendos, leaving Mikoto cringing as he anticipates the crash.

“I actually like it,” Kusanagi says, after a few minutes. “It’s kind of soothing. It also drowns out the buses honking on the streets.”

Mikoto can’t believe he’s been betrayed by his own best friend.

“He plays it all day long,” Mikoto hisses. Can’t these people see - or, more accurately, hear - the problem here?

Totsuka has the audacity to laugh. “Then you probably shouldn’t spend the whole day at home, Mikoto-san,” he says, teasing.

Kusanagi snorts. “If this actually gets you out of the apartment, I’m sending our neighbor a bottle of wine as a thank you.”

Mikoto leaves the table without another word.

–

Later, after his afternoon nap, which was still plagued with nightmares, but this time with a matching soundtrack reminiscent of a full ensemble with a saxophone solo, Mikoto has decided that enough is enough, and marches one floor down.

The music still wafting from the room, though admittedly at a lesser volume than this morning. Don’t the other people in the apartment complain? Mikoto should organize a protest.

He’s already at the offending door when some of his neighbors pass by. “Oh!” One of them say. It’s the dude Totsuka is always borrowing spices from. “Looking for Munakata-san?”

Mikoto raises an eyebrow.

“He’s got such great taste in music,” chimes in the smaller guy beside him. Mikoto sees him sometimes, twirling his umbrella while some pink-haired chick clings to his arm. As always, the girl is there by his side. They’re pretty inseparable at this point. Now that he thinks about it, Mikoto has never seen the three of them apart. “I’ve never met another fan of Unsuk Chin before.”

Spices dude nods. “I confess I am more familiar with the classics,” he says, with a tone of reverence. “But he’s introduced me to some excellent contemporary composers.”

“I think it’s annoying,” the girl says, her mouth twisted in a frown. Mikoto inwardly thanks her for being the voice of reason. “When he’s playing the one that goes bum-bum-bum-dAAAAH. I liked it better when it was all the ding-ring-room,” and she starts to dance around to demonstrate.

Mikoto retracts his internal gratitude immediately. Instead he frowns at them until they go inside their own apartment room, and then he starts knocking on classical music guy’s door.

He’s knocked about nine times when the door opens to an unpleasant looking face. Mikoto instantly dislikes him and his patterned sweater, and wishes he hadn’t held back his fist from slamming right into his nose.

“It’s polite to only knock a maximum of three times, you know,” he says, with a smile. “I was going to answer the door eventually.”

“Figured you wouldn’t be able to hear it,” Mikoto says. “With all the racket you’re making.”

The guy’s smile doesn’t waver. “I apologize,” he says. “Would you like to come in? I’m brewing tea.”

“No,” Mikoto snaps. “I’m only here to tell you to keep your noise down. Not everyone appreciates it.”

“Clearly,” he responds, this time with a definite smirk. “Thank you for your opinion. I will most definitely keep it in mind.”

In the face of such superficial politeness, Mikoto is left to nod his head and go. He’s almost tempted to grab the doorknob close it on the guy’s face, but he’s leaning on the doorway and there’s no physical way of doing it without bodily violence. But still.

He stomps up the stairs and goes back to his room to sleep, this time without any music.

–

“Mikoto-saaan,” Totsuka says in accusing tone. “You did something to our neighbor, didn’t you?” It’s a quiet Friday afternoon, emphasis on quiet. Mikoto’s curled up in the couch, peacefully napping. All is right in the world.

“I hope you didn’t actually kill him,” Kusanagi chastises. “What will our landlord say?”

“I didn’t kill anyone,” Mikoto says, offended. “I just asked him to turn the music down.”

“You’ve made Anna upset,” Totsuka says. “Honami says she enjoyed the music.”

There’s a slight guilty stab there, but Mikoto refuses to be felled by it. “We can buy her a CD,” he suggests.

“You don’t know who those artists are because they don’t have lyrics!” Totsuka says mournfully. “Do you know how many classical composers exist?”

This whole conversation is irritating Mikoto. “Why don’t you go ask him, then?” The minute the words fall out of his mouth, Mikoto realizes he’s just stumbled into a trap, even before the matching cheery smiles light up on his friend’s faces.

Damn it.

–

“Hello again,” the guy says. “I’ve kept the music down, as requested. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

God, Mikoto absolutely loathes the guy.

“Who made those songs?” he asks abruptly, because he doesn’t have time to waste and neither does he want to spend a minute longer talking with this guy.

He raises an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t like it,” the guy says, with a very annoying smile.

“I don’t,” Mikoto grits out. “But other people seem too.”

“Hmm,” the guy says, pausing thoughtfully. “It’s good to know other people have taste. Unlike you.”

Mikoto fantasizes him dropping dead. Or his apartment room burning down. He can practically hear the sirens ringing in his head, converging into familiar melodies. It almost sounds like music in his ears for once.

“Which one did they like in particular?” he asks. “I could lend some CDs, if you want.”

Mikoto considers saying no, just to spite him. But then he imagines Anna’s disappointed face, and sighs. “The one..that sounds like bells,” he says grudgingly. He disliked that the least, whenever it started playing. Hopefully Anna had liked that too.

The guy scratches his chin thoughtfully. “I think I know what you mean,” he says. “Would you like to come in while I check my collection?”

“No,” Mikoto says. The guy quirks his lips. “Suit yourself.” He slips back inside the room, closing the door. Mikoto leans against it, sighing.

A few minutes the door opens again, and Mikoto saves himself from an embarrassing fall with his excellent reflexes. With the way the guy is smiling, though, he had obviously noticed. “Here,” he says, handing over half a dozen CDs. “If you plan on playing them, I wouldn’t mind hearing,” he adds, with a smirk.

Mikoto takes the CDs and leaves without another word, because it would be rude to punch someone just after borrowing something from them.

He’s gonna get this guy back, one day. Mikoto grimly hopes he’s ready for it.

[mistleto-3]

Composure: Part 2

The tension between the two Kings finally builds to breaking point, but at first, it doesn’t seem mean the same to Mikoto as it does to Reisi.

Pairing: Mikoto/Reisi, Mikoto/Tatara

1,452 words. 

(A lot of people requested a happier continuation to this fic on AO3, so here’s part two! It’s looking to be about 6 chapters in total, but I’ve been wrong on my chapter count estimates before.)

Previous part | All parts | Next part

AO3

When Mikoto arrived back at the bar from Sceptre 4’s headquarters, it was mostly empty, except for Tatara, who was napping on the sofa as he usually did during quiet afternoons.

“Oi,” Mikoto said as he sat down on the couch beside him. “I told ya not to sleep in here.”

Tatara, roused by his voice, looked up groggily and gave his friend a dopey, half-awake smile that made Mikoto’s chest feel tight. “I was just napping…” he protested weakly, interrupted by a yawn part-way through the sentence.

“There’s a bed upstairs. You’ll get sore sleeping on the couch.”

“You’re starting to sound like Kusanagi-san~. Since when do you care so much?”

Mikoto shrugged. “Difficult enough takin’ care of you when you don’t have a bad back.”

“Now you just sound like an old man~,” Tatara teased, sitting up with the blanket still draped around his shoulders like a cape. As he did so, he seemed to catch sight of something, and the sleepiness vanished from his expression to be replaced immediately by a look of intrigue.

“Is that…?” he asked, tilting his head as he stared at Mikoto’s throat, and then he reached up to pull back the collar of his shirt to reveal more of the mark he’d spotted. “I thought so! King, why are you covered in love bites?”

“Got laid,” Mikoto said with a shrug.

“Yes, I gathered that. Tell me the juicy details! Who’s the lucky lady?”

“We’re in the middle of the bar,” Mikoto protested in a deadpan voice- it wasn’t a conversation he especially wanted his clan to walk in on, especially not Anna, or worse, Izumo. If Izumo found out about this he’d never hear the end of it. And he didn’t need Misaki finding out he’d fucked the Blue King either- he still harboured a grudge against Sceptre 4 for what he perceived as stealing Saruhiko, and Mikoto didn’t particularly want to deal with the inevitable reproachful looks he’d get for ‘sleeping with the enemy.’

“Then tell me upstairs where we won’t get interrupted,” Tatara insisted, immediately on his feet and seizing Mikoto’s wrist to pull him upstairs. Mikoto couldn’t say no to that face, and with a sigh, he stood up and allowed Tatara to tow him up to the apartment above the bar. The pair took a seat on the sofa in Mikoto’s room, and Tatara gave him an expectant look, repeating his earlier question:

“So who is the lucky lady?”

“Munakata.”

Tatara took a moment to digest this information, a look that was half intrigued and half scandalised crossing his face. Finally, he burst out: “How didn’t I figure out you were into men? The accessories should have at least given me a clue!” he complained, more to himself than to Mikoto, and as he spoke, he reached out and brushed the necklace Mikoto wore with his fingertip, seeming exasperated. “And the hair, the skinny jeans…”

“Isn’t that stereotyping?”

“Shush, I’m gay; we know the signs. I’m annoyed I never saw them before.”

“You’re gay?” Mikoto said in mock surprise.

Tatara stuck his tongue out at him.

“If it’s any consolation, I didn’t figure it out until this morning anyway. Not really.”

“So you screwed a guy while you thought you were straight?” Tatara raised an eyebrow at him.

“I had suspicions. Screwing a guy confirmed them.”

“I see… so it was just an experiment then?” Tatara said, but there was an odd quality to his voice, almost reproving.

“Didn’t intend it to be that way.”

“How did it even happen?”

“We were fighting, he had me pinned against a wall, and then we were kissing. He took me back to HQ and we fucked.”

“And you don’t have any romantic feelings towards him? Don’t wanna date him or make this a regular thing?” He almost sounded… jealous? No, that wasn’t possible.

“Don’t think so.”

“King!” Tatara sounded scandalised.

“What?”

“That’s awful!”

“What’s wrong with casual sex?” Mikoto’s eyebrows creased in the middle at Tatara’s judgemental tone.

“Nothing, but that wasn’t what it was to him!”

“What d’you mean?”

“Honestly, King, if you can’t tell that Munakata has a crush on you from twenty paces…”

“…Really?” Mikoto’s stomach dropped.

“I’d bet 10,000 yen on it.”

“…Ah.”

“…What?”

“How can you tell?”

“He looks at you like… well like someone who has a crush on you!  I don’t know, anyone who’s not completely socially inept would tell you the same thing. Ask Kusanagi, I bet he’ll agree with me. And he has connections; he’s totally screwing the Blues’ Lieutenant- she’ll definitely know.”

Mikoto was quiet for a moment as a pang of guilt twisted in the pit of his stomach. That explained the odd look on Reisi’s face as he’d left that morning. How badly it must have hurt him… Mikoto could only imagine how he would have felt if he’d slept with Tatara only for him to tell him he was in love with someone else immediately afterwards. And the most humiliating thing was that Mikoto had no idea that Reisi felt that way until it was too late and the damage was done. He felt like an idiot. Maybe he and Reisi never quite saw eye to eye with one another as Blue King and Red King, but as Reisi and Mikoto… he had to admit he was fond of his counterpart. Maybe in different circumstances they would have been good friends. He’d certainly never had any intention of bringing harm on him, not like this.

“…What’s that look for?” Tatara asked sceptically. “Don’t tell me it gets even worse…”

Mikoto sighed. “I told him after that I’d figured out my sexuality ‘cause of it.”

Tatara narrowed his eyes, sensing an unspoken second half to that sentence. It was eerie how clearly Tatara could see right through him. “And…?”

“…And I told him ‘cause I figured out my sexuality with him, I figured out there was another guy...”

“So let me get this straight. You slept with Munakata, and then told him that you like someone else, but you weren’t sure you liked that person romantically because you didn’t know you were into guys until you slept with Munakata?”

Mikoto grimaced slightly at the word choice- liked felt so middle-school, so incapable of encompassing what he felt for Tatara, but now wasn’t the time to protest. “Yeah, something like that. I didn’t do it as an experiment, it just sorta happened, and figuring it out was a side effect.”

“Oh, King… That’s still really messed up...”

“I know that now.”

“You need to apologise to him.”

“Wouldn’t it just embarrass him to know I know he feels that way?”

“He probably feels like crap, so at this point exceptions should be made- you’d do more good by apologising than bad by embarrassing him. So you really should go and talk to him.”

Mikoto sighed, then nodded. “Yeah, I will.”

Tatara caught his gaze- Mikoto hadn’t been making eye contact with him- and he gave him a sympathetic look. “Don’t beat yourself up too much. You didn’t know.”

“Doesn’t mean it wasn’t shitty,” Mikoto replied, looking away once more.

“Let him get a few extra free punches in the next time you two have one of your King Battle Extravaganzas, might make him feel a bit better,” Tatara said light-heartedly.

Mikoto gave a half-hearted chuckle at the suggestion.

“…So who is it you told him you liked?”

Mikoto tried his best to keep a blank expression as he shrugged and said: “Doesn’t matter.”

“You’re worried about hurting them,” Tatara said, more of a statement than a question.

Mikoto had been avoiding his eyes as best he could until this point, but he couldn’t help but look up at Tatara in astonishment at that comment. No matter how many times it happened, it was still somewhat unnerving to Mikoto when Tatara did that- stared straight through him as if his every thought was written upon his skin. He had no idea how Tatara could have worked out that part of the reason he didn’t want to mention anything to ‘his love interest’ was that he didn’t want to put him in harm’s way- first it had just been because of how dangerous his powers were, but now after what he’d done to Reisi…

Mikoto sighed again- part of him had been worried Tatara might figure out it was him that he’d told Reisi he was in love with, but thankfully he showed no sign of suspicion.

“This doesn’t make you a bad guy, King. You didn’t know, and you didn’t mean for any of this. Just go and talk to him, clear the air, and you’ll both feel better, okay?”

“Okay.”

[mikototsu-trash]

Hi! This is the Anon who asked the Munakata Emergency Break question. Loved your response and I agree with a lot about what you said. I like both Mikorei and Mikototsu, heartbreak and pinning and jealousy make for great fanfics! I look forward to your fanfic if you ever write it. Do you have any Headcanons about Mikoto's family life? Like was his family like Misaki's and he's always been, well Mikoto? Or was there a tragic backstory?

Thank you!! I’m starting my K rewatch soon after I’ve wrapped up a couple of writing projects, and then I’m gonna start working on the sequel to my mikototsu “what if Tatara survived the shooting” AU as well as a yatamoto and reisaru-centric longfic with elements of past/one-sided mikorei and sarumi so that’s gonna be painful as hell ;) 

A little of Mikoto’s backstory has been revealed in Kingdom of Red, and the lovely @kara-no-ai translated this snippet which deals with Mikoto’s early family life- I’ll quote the relevant bit here

Suoh’s grandfather, who had become his guardian after the death of his patents, was narrow-minded and only did the bare minimum when it came to scolding Suoh in his younger years, so there was almost no one who interfered in his affairs.

There was nothing that he lacked and nothing in particular that he was held down by.

So it seems Mikoto did have something of a tragic backstory, with his parents dying when he was young and being raised by a man who seemed vastly uninterested in him, and I think that definitely contributed a lot to the way his personality is- he would have learned at a young age that he shouldn’t care about others, or at least shouldn’t show it, because as far as he was concerned, while he was growing up nobody cared about him. This is definitely the kind of childhood that would make someone very closed off and apathetic- his personality is likely very much a defence mechanism. Don’t let yourself care about anyone, because they don’t care about you. 

Especially considering the things his grandfather said to him:

(You need to decide how you’re going to go about dealing with that “annoying thing” you have inside of you.)

This is quite obviously a precursor to his issues with controlling the Red aura- from the very start he was taught the things inside him would be a burden and a nuisance to others, which would explain a lot in terms of why his answer to controlling his powers is to bury and suppress them and isolate himself. 

I think the way he was raised was also a part of why he chose the path that he did in season one. As his grandfather was growing ill, he refused medical treatment, instead saying:

(I’ll live my life freely and die freely. You should live freely too.)

This teaching that he should never reach out for help combined with Mikoto’s feeling of being a burden and of wanting to shut himself away is probably what’s responsible for how he handles himself later in life- Mikoto shows some pretty classical symptoms of depression, but he doesn’t reach out. He only rarely asks for help from Tatara, only when he really needs it (there’s that scene in ROK when Tatara taps him on the shoulder and the aura around him fades, and Mikoto says something along the lines of “I didn’t call for you,” even though it was clear he was struggling, implying that Mikoto is still uneager to ask for help even when he really needs it.) 

So yes, to answer your question, Mikoto very much does have a tragic backstory- at best his grandfather was neglectful, and at worst he was emotionally abusive, and the way he was treated as a child almost certainly affected the way he turned out as he grew older. Sorry this was more meta than headcanon!

[emeraldwaves]

Title: Don’t Look Down DJ AU Chapter 10 (Read from beginning Here or Here) Pairing: Sarumi Rating: M Word Count:  7,094 AO3 Summary: When Fushimi Saruhiko is dragged to a club by some of his co-workers, he refuses to dance, earning him the attention of the lively, up-and-coming DJ, Yata Misaki. After a heated argument, the boys go their separate ways, never expecting to meet again. Little do they know their first meeting is only the beginning of their now intertwined lives.

Full Fic Under Cut. Thank you to @its-love-u-asshole for betaing!

Regret began to settle into Saruhiko's being a few days later when Doumyouji and the others caught wind of the performance Saruhiko had agreed to do with Misaki. This subsequently meant Munakata had found out as well, and that made Saruhiko feel even worse. So much so, he attempted to avoid Munakata every time he locked eyes with the man in the office.

However, by the afternoon a few days later, there was absolutely no avoiding his boss.

"Oya! Fushimi-kun, I heard you're going to participate in a live performance this weekend. How thrilling!"

Thrilling was one word for it. It certainly felt like something out of a horror movie. Saruhiko clicked his tongue. "Tsk, sure."

"I think it would be wonderful if the office went to hear this song of yours," he grinned, and Saruhiko knew it was a telling grin. One that let him know, Munakata had known everything anyway and he wasn't about to let Saruhiko say no to the entire office coming to see him. He also had to know how much Saruhiko despised the idea of performing live and was silently hoping Misaki would change his mind.

Of course, Misaki had shown no signs of doing such a thing. In fact, it was more the opposite. Misaki wouldn't shut up about how excited he was. He was constantly texting Saruhiko, which wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but every text was related to how excited or nervous he was to perform live. The emotions fluctuated depending on the day, and Misaki was a ball of anxiety whenever he called Saruhiko and left him a multitude of messages.

So far, Saruhiko had been consistently avoiding practice, in hopes that Misaki would maybe forget the whole thing and he could silently slip away into the shadows. It was a foolish thought, since Misaki rarely forgot about anything regarding Saruhiko and music, let alone something he'd been dying to do his whole life.

Saruhiko was stuck it seemed. At the very least, he wasn't going to let the whole damn office come and watch him make a fool of himself on that stage. "No," he said finally. "No one is coming to watch." Just thinking about the performance made him want to throw up.

"It's good for co-workers to support each other's endeavors," Munakata smiled.

"I wouldn't exactly call this my endeavor," Saruhiko grumbled. He assumed there was no way he was going to get around people coming to watch, especially if they already knew about it. It wouldn't be difficult for them all to figure out where and when it was, especially if they were smart enough to ask Misaki.

"But Fushimi-kun, we still would like to support you, whatever it is you do." He doubted any other boss cared as much as Munakata. As annoying as it was he did mean well, and he cared, more than Saruhiko could say about most of the people throughout the course of his life.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, sighing as he rolled his eyes, watching Munakata finally leave him alone. He knew he was probably going to see him, Hidaka, Akiyama and the rest at the performance whether he wanted them there or not.

He was going to have to cave to Misaki and actually start practicing. This performance was a reality and in order to not make a complete fool of himself, he had to start somewhere.

Picking up his phone, he replied to one of the messages he had been avoiding this morning.

[Text Reply] Misaki: Alright, we can practice. I'll stop by after work.

[Text]: GREAT! Where the hell u been? We shoulda started days ago. [Text]: We can show Kamamoto so u can @ least do it 4 some1 b4 the big night

Saruhiko wished Misaki would stop mixing numbers into his words when he texted, and he really wished he would stop referring to it as 'the big night'. It was far too much pressure for Saruhiko to handle. He wasn't a performer.

And that became painfully obvious when he stood in Misaki's living room, frozen as Kamamoto's eyes were on him before the song began. Or well, he thought Kamamoto's eyes were on him, he couldn't tell behind the idiot's damn sunglasses. Him being in the room was more than enough to set off Saruhiko's nerves, even though Kamamoto had presumably heard Saruhiko practicing in Misaki's room simply by proximity. He pursed his lips, opening his mouth, as though he were about to begin, but when the intro ended, he could barely open his mouth.

Misaki had promised him happy memories, but if he couldn't actually make any sound, there weren't going to be any happy memories for the two of them.

"Saruhiko!" Misaki said, slamming his hand down on the button, after it happened for a third time. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sick," he coughed awkwardly, clearly fake. "The sound isn't coming out."

"Bullshit you're sick! What's going on? You've sang for me plenty of times and Kamamoto has heard you a ton of times!" Misaki folded his arms and flopped on the couch next to Kamamoto.

"I told you I'm not a performer," he said.

"Yeah but you also agreed to do this for me!" Misaki jumped up. "I get that you're nervous...but I know how you can sing, I've heard you and I fucking love it! They're all gonna love it too, and even if you fucking hate it, it's barely 5 minutes of your life, it'll be over before you even know it!"

Saruhiko hated that he blushed when Misaki said he loved his singing. It wasn't something he was proud of, or something he wanted to pursue. He wasn't like Misaki, but he did like Misaki, begrudgingly, or less so as of late. If he could make Misaki love something, that was slowly becoming enough to spur him on. He wasn't sure when it had become like that, their relationship, but he didn't hate it.

"And it's not like you're gonna be alone! I'll be there right next to you, or well, behind you, sort of," Misaki said, and Saruhiko hadn't realized the shorter had still been talking.

"Alright, alright. Do it again," he scoffed.

"Right!" Misaki said, standing behind his mixing board as he started up the track again.

This time, Saruhiko sang out, and even behind Kamamoto's sunglasses, he could see his eyes widen. He didn't move much, and Misaki said that was something they'd have to work on, especially since Misaki was often so energetic, but Kamamoto noted the sound was so good, he didn't imagine many people would care if Saruhiko sat like a lump on the edge of the stage as long as he sang like that.

"I didn't expect you to sound like that, even from just hearing you guys through the wall and the recording," Kamamoto noted.

Saruhiko rolled his eyes. "Surprises, I'm full of them apparently." But the person he kept surprising the most was himself.

"See!" Misaki cheered, shutting his laptop. "You're gonna be amazing! Just...move a bit more and you'll be fine!"

More than anything, Saruhiko wanted to believe Misaki was right, just this once.

~~

Misaki had imagined many times what it would be like to actually meet a music producer who was willing to hear him, to give him that one chance he had always assumed he'd needed. And now it had happened and he was going to do a test performance. It didn't feel real.

After he had called Kusanagi to confirm the performance, he woke up every morning and thought about it. Every day he had to remind himself he was in fact going to perform for a real time producer. Mikoto's producer no less.

"Kamamoto. Can you believe tonight...I'm going to do a performance for a real producer!" Misaki cheered.

"I can believe it!" he said, nudging his friend. "C'mon Yata, we've all known how freaking talented you are. It was only a matter of time!"

"I dunno. It still doesn't feel real to me!" he said, glancing at his watch. "Shit!" he cried out, dashing into his room as he dug through the pile of clean clothes on his bed. "I gotta get ready!"

"Uh, Yata," Kamamoto mumbled, peering into his room from the doorway. "You have plenty of time."

"Yeah, but I gotta look perfect!" he said, holding up a shirt.

"Right, I'll get dinner ready." Kamamoto sighed, and left Yata to dig through his clothes.

He wondered what Saruhiko planned on wearing. They had to look professional, but casual, right? What the hell were they supposed to wear? He wasn't any sort of fashion expert, but he also didn't want to look like an idiot.

He blushed thinking about the song once more. The best idea would probably be to go with an outfit that matched their style. Being himself was definitely the best option. The song ran through his mind, Saruhiko's voice ringing in his ears. He couldn't wait for them to hear how amazing Saruhiko was live. If only Saruhiko would believe that. He prayed the idiot would be able to handle it.

Misaki knew he really owed Saruhiko a lot. This was the third or fourth thing he'd convinced Saruhiko to do against his will. "I'll make it up to him, somehow," Misaki muttered under his breath. Briefly, a memory of them making out in the tent flashed through his mind, but he quickly shook the thought away. He couldn't just repay Saruhiko with those kind of favors.

Sighing, he pulled a white hoodie on, smoothing out the flyaway hair which stuck out every which way. He probably was going to wear his beanie like he normally did, and as his heart beat with anticipation, he made his way to the kitchen.

~~

The bar venue was smaller than Misaki expected, but he wasn't upset, in fact, he was relieved. He was used to playing in smaller clubs. The smaller the crowd the easier it would be to get people moving. Bigger crowds were far more intimidating. Though he had to admit, he was surprised Mikoto was playing at a place like this. He knew Kusanagi, Homra's producer owned the place, and it was where the company had gotten it's start, but he was surprised the place wasn't swarming with Mikoto and Totsuka's fans.

"Yata! Good to see you!" Totsuka bounced forward, holding out his hand. "King just got here too! Is your singer here? We're gonna do a quick soundcheck!"

"Not yet," Misaki smiled, staring at Totsuka. He still hadn't gotten over the fact that he was actually going to be an opener for Totsuka and Mikoto, his music heroes.

"That's alright! King and I can go first." Totsuka turned away, waving to the tall, red-haired man who emerged from a backroom. "King! Come say hi."

The man approached slowly, his body swaying back and forth with each casual step he took forward, and Misaki held his breath, watching as the man he'd admired for so long walked closer and closer. He held a cigarette behind his lips, and stopped next to Totsuka. Mikoto was taller than Misaki had realized, it was difficult to gauge that sort of thing when he was just watching someone one a stage.

"Yo. Yata-san, yeah?" he said, pulling the cigarette from between his lips.

"Uh...Y-Yeah! It's such...such an honor to meet you, Mikoto-san!" he said, bowing his head. "I've been a fan of your music for...as long as I can remember!" he yelled.

"Mm," Mikoto smirked, and placed his hand on Misaki's shoulder, giving him a pat. "You're good." And with those few words, he walked with Totsuka to the stage.

Misaki was frozen. Suoh Mikoto had complimented him. Him, and he was going to open for him tonight. His heart was pounding so hard, he thought his chest might explode from the excitement.

"Tsk. Misaki, don't keep your jaw on the floor, it's dirty there."

A familiar voice broke Misaki from his daydream as he turned to face Saruhiko, who was staring at him skeptically. "S-Saruhiko!"

"I think you're drooling," Saruhiko smirked.

"S-Shut up! Do you realize that was Suoh Mikoto! THE Mikoto!" he gasped.

"I realize," Saruhiko replied flatly. He looked annoyed, but then again, when didn't Saruhiko look annoyed. He did, however, look damn good in the outfit he had picked out. Tight jeans and a button up shirt with a unbuttoned gray vest. Misaki pursed his lips, trying to focus on the situation, instead of wanting to kiss Saruhiko.

"Look I get that you don't care, but tonight is a big deal to me!" he snapped, folding his arms.

"I'm here, aren't I?" he muttered, shaking his head. "Let's get ready." Saruhiko brushed by him, heading towards the stage to soundcheck.

Misaki's heart was starting to race. He could guess there probably wouldn't be more than fifty to hundred people in such a small, casual bar, but meeting Mikoto had made him even more nervous. This was Mikoto, Suoh Mikoto. It was his dream to open for such an amazing talent. The man who had inspired him to do this in the first place.

"Misaki? You coming?" Saruhiko asked, bringing Misaki back to the present once again.

"Yeah! Duh! I'm ready. Completely ready!" he said, hopping up onto the small stage. Saruhiko's brow was raised as Misaki walked by him, but the shorter boy chose to ignore him. Saruhiko's attitude problem wasn't going to change Misaki's utter excitement, and it certainly wasn't going to help his nerves. Ignoring it was the far better choice.

Standing behind his laptop, he slipped the headphones over his ears, his head already felt hot, his ears wet with sweat.

"Alright, just do the beginning," Kusanagi called out from next to the stage. "Just a couple lines, we just need to make sure we can hear Fushimi over the music. Fushimi, make sure you sing as loud as you think you can."

Misaki swallowed, he hoped Saruhiko would actually sing out, especially after they had practiced for so long. The music began to swell in his ears, and Saruhiko's cue was about to hit. Of course, there was silence for a moment, Saruhiko coming in late as his sweet voice finally rang out. Misaki's chest deflated, letting out a sigh of relief. There wasn't much of an audience yet, but he hoped Saruhiko would keep his confidence up. He wanted him to come in on time.

"That's great, thanks!" Kusanagi said, waving to them, the song stopping abruptly. "We're going to double check the soundcheck on Mikoto, so hang out in the backroom for thirty or so. We'll call you out when it's time."

"Right," Misaki nodded, stepping off the stage to stand, or pace rather, in the backroom.

"Sit down," Saruhiko grumbled. He'd plopped down onto one of the large red cushion chairs. He folded his legs and arms, looking just as grouchy as he had before.

"I can't!" Misaki said, rubbing his hands through his messy hair. "I'm too nervous! This is Mikoto-san! Mi-ko-to!" he said.

"I know. You've said that. I don't know why it matters so much. You'll be just as good, if not better."

Misaki blushed. Did Saruhiko really think he was better than Mikoto-san? That was ridiculous, there was no way he was. Saruhiko probably just thought that because he didn't know very much about music.

"No way!" he scoffed. "No way will I be better than Mikoto-san!" Misaki jumped up and down a few times, shaking his hair out.

"Fine. You won't be. Can you just sit down?" Saruhiko scoffed. "You're...making me more nervous than I already was."

Misaki froze, and quickly took a seat. He was used to feeling nervous, but Saruhiko was not, and it was imperative that Saruhiko actually sang tonight. "Sorry," he muttered.

The two sat in silence for the remainder of the time, but Misaki kept bouncing his leg up and down quickly, though Saruhiko attempted to stop it by grabbing his thigh every so often, hoping to quell the vibrations.

"We're ready for you!" Kusanagi smiled. "We've got a nice small crowd, so nothing to worry about."

"Right," Misaki nodded, the two boys standing up to make their way to the stage.

"We've got quite the treat for you before King and I do our set," Totsuka smiled. "Introducing the next DJ hit, Yata Misaki and his incredible singer, Fushimi Saruhiko!!" The small crowd clapped, as they walked onto the stage. Misaki was quick to wave, the nervous energy hitting him positively. Kusanagi was right, there was no reason to be nervous, this was his night, best to have fun. Saruhiko kept his gaze forward, as though he could only stare at his goal, the microphone on the stand in front of him.

Standing behind his laptop, Misaki placed the headphones back on his head, though he left one ear open as he picked up the mic on the table in front of him. "Hey everyone!" he smiled. "I'm Yata Misaki and I'm thrilled to be here tonight with Saruhiko for our first live performance of this song. I hope you guys like it!" he smiled. There were a few more claps from the audience, but Misaki didn't wait for them to finish as he turned up the bass on the soundboard.

The familiar tune flowed into his ears, and it was like he forgot where he was. This was their song, his and Saruhiko's, and now they were going to perform it together. That alone was amazing, everything with Mikoto aside, the fact that Saruhiko was actually going to sing live for someone other than him was incredible.

This time, Saruhiko started perfectly on time, the song sounding almost as flawless as it did in the mix track. Misaki smiled, bouncing with the track, his body moving in time with the music. Even Saruhiko seemed to be moving, his hips swaying back and forth, and he even moved his arms a few times, as though he was actually enjoying performing the song. He looked good, damn good. From as far Misaki could tell from behind, Saruhiko's gaze stayed up and out, not looking down once out of fear or nerves.

Misaki couldn't believe it. He'd dreamed about this moment, a time he and Saruhiko would perform live together, and he was opening for Mikoto. It was perfect, the way they moved together on stage, the excitement and passion building within him, like a flame engulfing his every being. And before he could really even take it in, it was over, perfection ringing in the still air.

~~

Saruhiko was shocked sound actually left his lips when the song began. He knew where to sing, he'd done it so many damn times in recording, and in front of Kamamoto and Misaki. It would've been dumb to miss his cue like he had during the soundcheck.

The lights were much brighter now, and though he could make out some of the tables, mostly Saruhiko couldn't see a thing, and the music was so overwhelming, he couldn't bring himself to do anything but sing, and once he did, he realized how much sense it made. His voice belonged in this track. If he hadn't sang, it would've sounded wrong, and empty.

So he sang, loud. His voice didn't sound like his own, his body didn't feel like his own, his hips beginning to sway in time with the music. Behind him, he could feel Misaki's energy pulsating, and he felt him jump up and down a few times. People in the audience were cheering, but Saruhiko could barely hear that, nor did he care. This was something he and Misaki had made together, and they were sharing it together now.

His heart was pounding in his ears, and the rush was incredible, addicting. For a moment, he wondered what it would feel like to do this all the time, for a larger audience, blinded by lights every night. The thought made him a little sick, but it didn't stop him from moving and singing. He didn't hate it, and he hated that he didn't hate it. He despised having a brief moment of understanding why his father had missed this, why his father hated him so much. But mostly, he couldn't stop thinking about Misaki behind him, and he hated how much that affected him and his performance, how excited it made him.

And then it was over, and Saruhiko slowly lowered the mic back onto the stand, his hands trembling. He swallowed, bowing his head toward the now cheering crowd. They were shockingly loud for such a small space, but Saruhiko felt his ears throb from the silence, his ear drums remembering where the music had once been. Misaki ran forward, and hooked his arm around Saruhiko, forcing Saruhiko to bow to the crowd.

"Thank you!" Misaki cheered, waving his hands up and down frantically. "Thank you," he whispered quietly, Saruhiko barely able to hear him, but he knew Misaki was grateful.

The two made their way off the stage and Saruhiko couldn't stop his entire body from shaking.

"Great job boys," Kusanagi said, patting Misaki on the back, as the two headed to the backroom. "Feel free to take a seat at the table in front if you guys want to watch after you've settled down," he smiled, heading towards the stage to introduce Mikoto and Totsuka.

Shutting the door behind them, Saruhiko immediately fell backwards, his back smacking against the door as his lips were met with Misaki's. The shorter was kissing him, his lips trembling against Saruhiko's. "Thank you, Saru, you were amazing!" he yelled, nipping at Saruhiko's lips.

Gripping Misaki's hips, Saruhiko turned him around and pushed him against the door, pressing their lips together once more. He had so much excess energy, and unsure of what to do with it, he took it out on Misaki, kissing him hard. He pressed his tongue into Misaki's panting mouth, pressing their hips tightly together. Misaki moaned, and fought against his tongue, their wet muscles intertwining. Misaki panted, pulling back, his chest heaving.

"D-Damn. We really should...perform more," he said.

Saruhiko rolled his eyes, taking a step back now that he had gathered his thoughts. "Forget it. I said this once was enough."

Frowning, Misaki leaned forward and flicked Saruhiko's shoulder. "C'mon! You're amazing! That was amazing!" he said. "We have to make more songs! Maybe we could get signed and make a whole ALBUM!" Misaki cheered, his flushed face sparkling from joy and sweat.

"Slow down," Saruhiko sighed, wiping his face with a towel. "Why don't you see what Kusanagi says later alright?"

"Fine, fine!" Misaki said, puffing out his cheeks. He tucked his laptop into his bag, and wiped his his brow with his sweatshirt. "But...seriously, Saruhiko, that was...amazing. You were really good. Thanks...I...I really owe you," Misaki mumbled, his face flushing even more from the blush rising to his cheeks.

Saruhiko shook his head. "I'm only as good as you. You made the song, and you can repay me by not asking me to perform again," he snorted. It was a silly lie he was telling himself. He knew he would have a hard time saying no to performing again, especially if Misaki asked him.

"You seemed to be enjoying yourself," Misaki teased, nudging Saruhiko with his shoulder.

"Not likely," Saruhiko grunted, clicking his tongue. "Hey, you're going to miss Mikoto's whole set if you don't hurry," he continued, strategically changing the subject.

"Shit! You're right," he said, grabbing his bag as he rushed out the door to take a seat at the table Kusanagi had set aside for them.

Saruhiko followed, sitting next to Misaki who had proceeded to ignore him completely. He really should've expected that to be the case. Whenever Suoh Mikoto was involved, Misaki was gone, lost to focusing on this supposed musical prodigy. It was so strange to Saruhiko, how much Misaki seemed to idolize the man. He claimed to emulate him, but Mikoto's musical style was so much more boring compared to Misaki, and though it did have passion, it came from a much lazier place. Misaki's music always awoke something within Saruhiko, a kind of dormant energy. Mikoto's music made Saruhiko want to sit and chill out.

But Misaki was always so captured by Mikoto. He hadn't even looked at Saruhiko since they had come out to watch. His eyes were on Mikoto, mouth agape, as though he were watching a king. Saruhiko wondered what it would feel like if Misaki looked at him like that. Overwhelming...probably...

When the set ended, Misaki finally sat back with a sigh. "Man, no one does it as good as Mikoto-san!" he smiled.

The red-haired man bowed with Totsuka, and both of them stepped down off the stage, immediately rushed by a group of fans, all looking to talk to him. Misaki looked a bit disappointed, but sat back with a shrug. "I'll talk to him in a bit," he nodded.

Saruhiko practically jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he was both surprised (and not) to see his boss, Munakata Reisi standing behind him.

"Oya! Fushimi-kun, an amazing performance as expected. It was lovely seeing you up there. You were practically a different person!" Saruhiko's face paled, and he immediately glanced around, waiting to be rushed by the others. Munakata let out a soft chuckle, waving his hand back and forth. "No, no, Fushimi-kun. I came alone. Don't worry, I didn't out your location to the others." Munakata placed as finger over his own lips. "It will be our secret. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to say hello to an old friend."

Saruhiko blinked, watching Munakata make his way towards Kusanagi, smiling as they greeted each other. It was an oddly small world, his boss knew Kusanagi, and Mikoto it seemed. But mostly he was surprised Munakata had actually respected his wishes to keep his performance a private affair. It would be nice to go into work and not be swamped by his co-workers, desperate to get information out of him.

The crowd around Mikoto had finally begun to disperse, so Misaki jumped up. "I'm going to go say thank you to Mikoto-san, and tell him how amazing he was! I'll be right back," Misaki smiled, leaving Saruhiko behind at the table. Shrugging, he rest his chin on his palm and watched as Misaki cheerfully greeted Totsuka and Mikoto. There was a huge smile on Totsuka's face, who gave him a hug, and Misaki's face turned so red, Saruhiko was surprised the shorter boy hadn't fallen over.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I join you for a moment?" A man with dark green hair in a wheelchair rolled up next to his table.

"Uh..." Saruhiko began to refuse, trying to make up an excuse that he was tired after the performance but he couldn't think of anything to say.

"Nagare Hisui," he said, his lips curling into a devilish smile as he pulled out a card and placed it on the table, sliding it towards Saruhiko. "I'm a DJ as well."

"Ah..." Saruhiko muttered, picking the card up off of the table. He had heard Nagare's name before, though he hadn't taken the time to listen to his music. Mostly because he didn't care.

"I enjoy working with a variety of singers on different styles of songs," Nagare explained. "I'd really be interested in collaborating with you if you're interested. Your voice is just what I need for a new track I'm working on."

Saruhiko pursed his lips. He really hadn't meant to make anything of this singing thing. He had begrudgingly sang with Misaki once and that was it. He definitely didn't want to sing with anyone else.

"Thanks, but I'm not actually a singer," he said, tucking Nagare's card into his pocket.

"Oh, but you are," Nagare smirked. "You're very talented. I'd love to have you on at least one of my songs."

"Mmm. Like I said, singing isn't really my thing," Saruhiko muttered.

"Still," Nagare replied. "You have my card. Consider it, if you feel like working for a more...professional DJ." He wheeled himself away, leaving Saruhiko to wrinkle his nose as how damn pretentious Nagare seemed. This was exactly why he had no desire to be in this DJ world.

"Saruhiko!" Misaki called out, plopping back down in his seat. "Were you just talking to Nagare Hisui!? I can't believe he was here!" he said.

Saruhiko shrugged. "He liked my singing."

"Yeah because you're amazing! Fuck, that’s so cool!" Misaki said, running his hands down his face. "And guess what, Mikoto-san and Kusanagi want to meet with us tomorrow! Can you believe it?! You gotta come with me!"

Saruhiko rolled his eyes. Actually he could believe it. Their performance tonight had been amazing, even if he refused to admit it out loud. Of course Misaki was asking him to go with him, Saruhiko wasn't sure why he had expected anything else.

"Fine," he said, deciding not to argue with him. It was easier. "If, and only if, you come home with me tonight," he grinned, loving how quickly Misaki's face heated up.

"Yeah..." he muttered, rubbing his arm. "Yeah I could do that."

"Good," Saruhiko replied. He wanted Misaki to look at him, and only him for the rest of the night.

~~

When Misaki awoke the next morning, Saruhiko had already left for work. He had promised Misaki he would come to the meeting on his lunch break, but he still had to go into work to finish up a few computers.

Yawning, Misaki sat up, the blankets sliding down his bare chest. His face flushed, as he thought about the evening before. Saruhiko had thrown him down on the bed, and then he'd been wrapped up in him for the rest of the night. He panted and moaned, his breath filling the hot air, their hips falling back into the rhythm of each other. It was nice, to be connected to Saruhiko in such a physical way, especially after they had been so connected through his music before.

He sighed, flopping back onto the bed with a large smile on his face. Saruhiko was amazing, they were amazing, and their performance had been even more amazing. The best part was, Mikoto and Kusanagi wanted to meet with him again today. He wanted more than anything to sign with Kusanagi, and keep making music. Make actual money, do actual performances...it sounded amazing. Maybe Saruhiko could sing more and quit his job. Though Misaki wasn't sure if that was something Saruhiko really wanted.

He knew he had to stop pressuring Saruhiko into doing these things he didn't want to, but whenever Saruhiko broke free of the chains he put around himself, it was always so damn beautiful. Misaki loved it, hell, he was starting to think he maybe even loved Saruhiko. Covering his eyes, Misaki ran his hands down his face. Glancing at the clock, he decided it would be better to think about this later, since he had to get ready for this damn meeting

Today was the day he hoped his new career would begin. Grabbing his clothes, he decided to leave early to change at his apartment, figuring it would be easier to look semi-decent with his own wardrobe. Plus, he didn't really want to show up in the exact same outfit he had worn the night before.

"Yata! You were amazing last night!" Kamamoto said, almost immediately as Misaki walked through the front door of their apartment.

"Thanks!" he replied, dashing through the living to his own room. "I have a meeting with Mikoto-san and Kusanagi right now!" he called out.

"You do?! Do you think this could be it?!" Kamamoto asked.

"Yeah! I hope so! They loved what we did last night, so keep your fingers crossed for me!" Tossing off his clothes, he jumped in the shower, getting ready, which didn't take long, since Misaki had so much nervous energy. Dashing back by Kamamoto in a new outfit, he waved and practically ran out the door.

He was thankful when he saw Saruhiko standing outside of the main office building where HOMRA Talent was located.

"Saruhiko!" he called out, waving as he ran up next to him.

"I'm surprised you're on time," Saruhiko teased, glancing at his watch. "I was starting to think maybe you were going to be late to your own meeting."

"Hell no! I wouldn't do anything to screw this meeting up!" he smiled, hitting Saruhiko on the arm. "Thanks for coming."

Saruhiko clicked his tongue. "I didn't want to do anything to possibly ruin your chance," he muttered. "Still, I don't want to be a singer, so I'd rather not...sign anything," he clarified.

Misaki let out a small sigh. He should've expected Saruhiko to say something like that, but there was a small part of Misaki which hoped Saruhiko would change his mind and be his permanent singer.

"Right, well, let's go," Misaki said, leading the way inside.

Once they made it to the 7th floor, they were greeted by Totsuka, smiling brightly. "Hey guys! So happy to see you both made it!" Totsuka said. "You were both so fantastic last night! King was so impressed!" he said, leading them down the hall.

"Was he?!" Misaki said, looking so eager. He couldn't believe Totsuka Tatara was actually saying this to him.

"Mhm!" Totsuka nodded. "We have lots to discuss!" Opening the door, he led them into the room with Mikoto and Kusanagi. Misaki swallowed, wanting to pinch himself. He couldn't believe he was actually here, in this moment. His dreams coming true.

"Yata-san, Fushimi-san, please take a seat!" Kusanagi smiled, gesturing for the two to sit down in the chairs in front of them "We're very happy you're both here. You both performed wonderfully last night," he continued, pulling out a few folders.

"As I said before, we have a lot to discuss!" Totsuka smiled.

"Right," Kusanagi chuckled. "We'd love to bring you on as one of our talent, Yata-san," Kusanagi said, pulling a contract out of one of the folders. "With this, you are required to make a twelve track album. It will include the single you have already released, and we would like to offer Fushimi-san the chance to sing any of the songs he wishes with you. We also want to offer you a collaboration with Mikoto and Totsuka. This, we would sell as your second single," Kusanagi explained. "It would boost your popularity and get your name out there, which is exactly what we want. If the album does well, we can talk about a longer contract for more albums, but for now, this is for your first one."

Misaki glanced at the paper, and then back at Kusanagi and Mikoto, and once more to Saruhiko. In front of him was the contract to actually make an album, a real album. His songs would be heard on the radio, maybe he'd even go on a tour! Plus, he would get the chance to collaborate with Mikoto. He was sure he was dreaming now.

"Really?" he said, speaking finally, though his mouth felt dry and his hands felt clammy.

"Yes, really. Are you interested?" Kusanagi said. "Mikoto has already begun the track you are to collaborate on. He's looking for you to add to it, and perhaps Totsuka and Fushimi could duet for it?"

"Of course I'm interested!" Misaki said, leaning forward in his seat.

"Great! We brought a copy of the track for you to hear so far."

Pulling out his phone, Mikoto placed it on the table. "Here," he said quietly, pushing play. It was softer, and slower than music he normally created. It certainly sounded like something Mikoto would make, and it was definitely something he could work with.

"You want me to...add to this?" he asked, and Mikoto nodded. "Shit..." he cursed. "I'd be so honored!" he said, bowing his head to Mikoto, his heart pounding. He couldn't believe Mikoto actually wrote a song with him in mind!

Next to him however, Saruhiko clicked his tongue. He had been oddly quiet this whole time.

"Fushimi-san?" Totsuka said, still smiling. "You've been very silent. Are you interested in singing with me?"

Biting his lip, Misaki turned towards Saruhiko, nervous he already knew the answer.

~~

Saruhiko wasn't really sure what the fuck was going on, but he hated the song that had come from Mikoto's little device. It was boring and slow, and it had none of the heart Misaki's music usually had. Even if Misaki added to the song, there was no way it would be his regular sound.

But of course the idiot looked incredibly excited about it. It was Mikoto-san and how could Misaki possibly say no to him. He was the definition of selling out.

Clicking his tongue, he glared at Totsuka when he asked him to sing with him. He had explicitly told Misaki he wasn't going to be a singer anymore, really he had just come for moral support, though it really hadn't mattered.

"No, I'm not," he said bluntly. "I already told Misaki I wasn't interested in singing anymore, but I'm especially not interested in singing something that sounds nothing like what Misaki normally does." Standing up, he made his way out of the office. He was done, there was no reason for him to be here. Misaki was going to sign the contract, and he could go back to his regular job. Misaki would probably forget about him completely once he was wrapped up in the whirlwind of his new life.

"I'll talk to him!" he heard Misaki call out behind him, but he kept walking towards the elevator. "Saruhiko! Saruhiko what the hell!?!" he yelled, stopping him before Saruhiko could escape onto the elevator.

"What do you mean what the hell?" Saruhiko asked, folding his arms. "I already told you I wasn't interested in singing more, especially not for a shitty song like that."

"But Saruhiko, Mikoto-san..."

"Fuck," Saruhiko snapped, clenching his fists. "I am so damn tired of hearing about 'Mikoto-san', Misaki! You're good on your own! You don't need his fame to carry you, and I get he's your...idol or whatever, but your sound is yours, and it sounds nothing like his, and I'm not going to sit here and watch you suck his music dick, just so you can do some shitty song with your hero! You can sign the contract, and get your music career without me," he scoffed.

Misaki's eyes were wide as he listened to Saruhiko yell at him, he almost felt bad. He knew this was an important moment for Misaki, but he was so tired of being second to Mikoto. He hadn't wanted the attention from Misaki before, but now that he'd had it and lost it, it didn't feel good.

"This is a big deal for me Saruhiko!" Misaki yelled. "I've been waiting to be noticed by someone, anyone, and the fact that it's Mikoto-san is amazing! Yeah I might be good, but I'm never going to get anywhere if I just keep doing what I'm doing! So stop being an ass, and just...come sing with us!"

Frowning, Saruhiko brushed by him, pushing the button on the elevator. "I already told you, you can do whatever the hell you want. I get it, Mikoto-san is amazing, and you're willing to give up everything to do whatever he wants. That song sucks Misaki, and I'm pretty sure you know it. But you don't need me, you've got them. I'm sure Totsuka can handle singing the whole damn thing," he snorted.

"You're invited to sing with us, Saruhiko! It's not like I'm...replacing you!" Misaki yelled.

Stepping into the elevator, Saruhiko rolled his eyes. "Even if I wanted to sing again, I would want to sing your music, not his. Goodbye Misaki," he growled, pushing the button to close the doors to the elevator.

"Fine! Do whatever the hell you want, I'm tired of trying to work with your difficult ass!" Misaki snapped.

Saruhiko was positive Misaki was still talking as the elevator lowered to the floor, but Saruhiko didn't care. Misaki was going to be perfectly happy without him. He'd made it clear he did not need Saruhiko anymore. Misaki had used him to get exactly where he needed to be, and now he could become a carbon copy of Mikoto. The worst part was, Saruhiko had actually fallen for his stupid ass.

Clenching his fists, he reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out Nagare Hisui's card. He grabbed his phone and input the number, waiting for the DJ to answer.

~~

Storming back into the office, Misaki bit his lip trying not to cry. He couldn't look like an idiot in front of them. Stupid Saruhiko! Of course he was excited to be signing with an actual agency, and of course he was excited to work with Mikoto! So yeah, maybe he didn't need Saruhiko, but he wanted him. Saruhiko was the best person he had collaborated with, even if he was a stubborn shithead.

"Is everything okay?" Kusanagi asked.

Misaki sighed, shaking his head. "Saruhiko really doesn't want to be a singer."

"Eh," Mikoto shrugged. "He's good, but if he doesn't want to, don't force the guy."

"Yeah..." Misaki said quietly. "I won't."

Totsuka placed a hand on Misaki's shoulder. "It's alright! You'll find other great singers for your music. I'd be happy to collaborate with you, and I'm sure other singers would too!"

Smiling, Misaki nodded. He was a good DJ, and he was about to make an amazing album...anyone would be excited to work with him! "Thanks Totsuka!" he smiled. "You're right, we can...find more singers."

"So you're still interested then?" Kusanagi asked, and Misaki nodded, reaching forward to take one of the pens. He grabbed the contract in front of him.

"I'm honored to be a part of your team," he said, bowing his head as he signed his named on the line.

Even without Saruhiko, Misaki was going to make music, and it was going to be amazing. Or that was what he kept telling himself.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Not sure if anyone had asked this before but, what do you think the characters would do if they had gotten their hands on a death Note? Who would end up using it and for what?

Imagine middle school Fushimi with a Death Note, writing ‘Fushimi Niki, gets run over by two dump trucks, crawls to the curb and gets hit by a motorcycle, then falls into an open sewer and gets chewed on by alligators.’ Older Fushimi I could see just keeping the Note ‘in reserve,’ I don’t think he’d go all Light Yagami killing people (voice notwithstanding XD) but I could see him figuring this will come in handy in a pinch. Like he doesn’t see the point in using it against normal Strains that he could handle on his own but if backed into a corner or there’s like a hostage situation he’s fine with using it (he does have to resist the urge to use it on certain squad members when they annoy him though). By contrast I can’t see Yata using it at all, I feel like he’d be more nervous about straight-up killing someone and anyway isn’t that cheating, like he feels that if someone’s doing something bad Yata should be able to kick their ass on his own without needing to rely on some weird notebook. 

Munakata I actually don’t see using it much at all, even though he does want to bring about justice and all that — in fact I think that’s precisely why he wouldn’t use it, because vigilante justice isn’t justice at all. I think Munakata would rather use his own skills and intellect to take in even a dangerous criminal alive rather than just writing their name down in a notebook, especially if he hasn’t even been able to speak to this person on his own to understand their circumstances. I could see him keeping it in reserve for a last resort (or actually even giving it to Fushimi for that purpose, or to Awashima as a way of handling his Sword falling that doesn’t involve having to stab him) but in general he wouldn’t have much interest. Awashima I think is the same, she would probably defer to Munakata’s judgment and wouldn’t use the notebook unless there’s no choice.

On the Homra end, somehow the idea of Totsuka having a Death Note feels very frightening XD I feel like he would be the sort to constantly tease everyone like ‘oh should I just write that name down in this book’ and everyone yells at him to stop and then he just grins like ‘kidding.’ I think if needed though he wouldn’t really hesitate much, like if this is a thing we need to do it’s fine, it’s good to use the resources at your disposal. Kusanagi I see having similar feelings though perhaps with more reservations, I think Kusanagi would be wary about just getting this magical Death Note out of nowhere with no apparent strings attached. Mikoto I don’t think would use it at all, if someone needs to be burned he’ll do it himself and if not why should he bother with the notebook. 

Hisui on the other hand I think would definitely be chill with using it, like it’s best to use advantages when they’re obtained as long as it remains within the rules of the game, and this is a good way to help achieve his dream. Actually in a case like this I somehow see Iwa-san being the one to take control of the notebook, like he doesn’t think Nagare should be the one dealing with this sort of thing and why not let the old man take care of it, Iwafune would totally write Kokujouji’s name down in Hisui’s place. Sukuna I think would find the whole thing cool and probably doesn’t think too hard about the whole actual murder portion of the Death Note. I sorta think Yukari wouldn’t care much for it though, like it’s much more beautiful to kill people yourself with your sword than to use a book.

The Silvers are probably most likely to accidentally cause mayhem by not realizing what they have. Kuroh would definitely never use the notebook, his sense of justice wouldn’t let him play judge, jury and executioner. Shiro does the Totsuka thing and jokes about using it a lot, much to Kuroh’s irritation, but I don’t think he would ever use it either, if anything he’d probably want to study it to see how it works. Neko accidentally kills a local fishmonger by using the Death Note to write a grocery list. 

[ridiasfangirlings]

Rei and Mikoto have a hook up before either of them become kings and then later have to come to terms with it when they meet each other officially.

This is just making me imagine the two of them having like a drunken regrettable hook up and then a couple years later meeting in the park and Munakata is trying very very hard to act professional and Kingly and disapproving and Mikoto’s just like didn’t I fuck you once I’m pretty sure. Like maybe this happened at some point either before Munakata went to school overseas or while he was home visiting, say just a month or two before Mikoto awakens as King. Munakata has been convinced to try some alcohol for the first time and he’s feeling very rebellious because he’s not quite old enough to drink yet and he’s never disobeyed the rules before (maybe his brother made some comments about how it’s a rite of passage for high school kids but since Munakata’s going overseas to a fancy school he probably won’t ever get to do this, Munakata decides this is a new experience he must try. He doesn’t even consider making a fake ID and doesn’t need to, the bartender just gets swept up in his aura and doesn’t even ask). 

Munakata intends to only have a single drink but then he runs into Mikoto, who’s been doing some work as a bouncer for easy cash and so he can beat people up. They immediately clash and this turns into a drinking contest, which then turns into a drunken makeout in an alley with their hands down each other’s pants and eventually renting a hotel room. The next morning Munakata coughs primly, gathers up his clothes and leaves without a word, making a note that it seems he has finally had one of those new experiences he was hoping to try. Mikoto’s not surprised that Munakata just leaves and he doesn’t really care, it’s not like he was expecting anything out of this and hey it saved him from having to listen to that guy talk. 

Jump a couple years later and they meet as Kings, Kokujouji does notice that when he gives Suoh Mikoto’s dossier to the new Blue King Munakata raises an eyebrow and gives the smallest cough, like it’s barely a reaction but Munakata’s so completely in control otherwise that this is notable. He doesn’t give any indication when he runs into Mikoto for the first time either and it’s not until their third or fourth fight that Mikoto just grins and says Munakata’s become even more of a tight ass since they last met, Munakata notes that Mikoto is still just as uncouth and Mikoto just smirks because he figured this was the same guy.

 I imagine this being mostly a secret between them but everyone kinda knows something is up because every now and again Mikoto will make what seems like an innocent comment but gets Munakata noticeably annoyed, or Munakata will say something cold to Mikoto that feels weirdly personal and Mikoto looks a little more irritated than normal. I imagine Mikoto finds the whole thing sort of amusing in a ‘easy go-to way to piss Munakata off’ sense but he’s also not rushing to tell anyone else either. Kusanagi definitely ends up finding out somehow, imagine the two of them drinking at the bar and Kusanagi wonders why Mikoto sometimes acts like he and Munakata have known each other for a while and Mikoto just shrugs and offhandedly mentions he screwed Munakata once. Kusanagi’s in the middle of taking a drink and he spits it all over the floor like wait wait go back you did what. Mikoto doesn’t elaborate and now Kusanagi is just like seriously please tell me you’re kidding. Somehow this gets into the rumor mill and both Homra and S4 have gossip that Mikoto and Munakata are old exes, a rumor which neither King bothers to confirm or deny. 

[ridiasfangirlings]

Ridia-san, i hope you had a lovely day! You've done a lot of reaction what if of three dad au!saru murdered by colorless. But what about son of blue king!saru au being murdered by colorless instead? What would munakata and s4 do? And how homra and the rest of the kings handle a livid munakata? Thank you!

I think the biggest difference here is that unlike Mikoto Munakata's Sword of Damocles is in good shape and could presumably handle the strain of him killing another King so it's a bit less of a 'we need to stop him or everyone dies' situation. Going with AU where Fushimi gets to be Munakata's kid, maybe this was a scenario where Munakata became King earlier and Niki was like a Strain that S4 arrested, at which time Munakata sees young Fushimi and decides to take him in and raise him. Fushimi basically grows up as Scepter 4's communal child, once he's a little older he gets to join the clan and shows everyone that he takes after his 'dad' Munakata and is a super talented person. Munakata is particularly close to Fushimi, always treating Fushimi as his precious child and basically being even more doting than in canon. Fushimi usually just rolls his eyes and complains that Munakata's annoying but he's attached to Munakata as well, I imagine he'd be less standoffish and much more willing to accept the affection that the members of S4 give him.

Then one evening Fushimi goes out to buy a drink at the convenience store and never comes back, meeting the Colorless King on the way. Fushimi manages to call Munakata while he's bleeding out and Munakata and Awashima get to be the ones who find him and hold him while he dies. In the aftermath Munakata immediately uses all of S4's resources to figure out who killed Fushimi and that's when they're able to retrieve the video feed from the place where Fushimi died and they find out about Colorless. At this point I imagine Munakata putting all of S4's resources towards seeking out the Colorless King in order to bring him to justice, to a degree that there's probably an uptick in criminal Strain activity because S4 has more important things to do. Even so Kokujouji at most sends him a half-hearted missive about it and then lets Munakata do as he will, seeking out the Colorless King is also part of S4's duty in this case so he'll allow Munakata to make his own decisions.

On the Homra end this would probably be a lot less personal in this AU versus a 'normal' Fushimi Dies AU, since presumably Yata and Fushimi never became friends here and Fushimi never joined Homra. Instead the main question would be what do they do about Munakata and honestly I could see Mikoto largely letting Munakata go ahead and do whatever he wants, as far as Mikoto's concerned if this is what Munakata wants to do Homra has no standing to step in and stop him. I could even see them helping S4 in the right situation, like maybe instead of Fushimi just getting randomly killed by Colorless he gets killed saving Totsuka and now Homra has a feeling like they 'owe' it to Scepter 4 to help find the guy who killed Fushimi.

I think Mikoto would have Kusanagi keeping an eye on things with S4 (and if Colorless decided to try and strike at Homra at all that would definitely get Mikoto to actually step in and go after Colorless as well to defend his people) and I could see him at least talking with Munakata at some point, expressing surprise that Munakata is letting this get to him so much. Munakata denies that, claiming he is perfectly in control, and Mikoto notes that Munakata's been burning through everything he can in order to find Fushimi's killer and it isn't like him. Munakata finds it rather funny that Suoh Mikoto of all people would be lecturing him on losing his cool, Mikoto shrugs and says no one else will tell Munakata the truth so it might as well be him. Mikoto tells Munakata that he should know what could happen if he loses control, like 'don't make me be the guy to have to clean up your mess' and Munakata can't help but chuckle a bit at that. Munakata says he will keep that in mind, but even so he will not waver in his resolve to bring Fushimi's killer to justice.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Fushimi urged Kusanagi that it's fine to rant or maybe mourning without holding back post ROK? Poor Kusanagi need all the break he can get. He's and adult now anyway, so Kusanagi can be more at ease with Fushimi. Also maybe it would be easier for Kusanagi to talk if it's someone who's in a lil bit similar wavelength you know. Back then, Fushimi mentioned bout Kusuhara to Munakata, and in the conversation Munakata mention smtg bout Fushimi attempt to make him angry, so this thing came in mind

Kusanagi probably thinking he's definitely got a problem when Fushimi's the one giving him advice on how to get in touch with his emotions XD I feel like Fushimi might be a good one to talk to Kusanagi about this though, not just because Fushimi knows a lot about not facing your actual emotions but also I think because Fushimi's someone who cares about Kusanagi but is a bit 'removed' from it all, like it's a little different than Kusanagi spilling his feelings to someone in Homra. Maybe one day Fushimi stops by the bar to meet Yata but it turns out Yata had to cancel and Fushimi missed his message. Fushimi intends to leave but Kusanagi suggests he stick around for a bit and have a drink. Fushimi's a little uncomfortable about it but he says fine and he'll pay for it too, Kusanagi smiles thinly and says he isn't going to charge Fushimi to keep him company. Fushimi says even so, he'd rather pay for the drink. Kusanagi nods and notes how Fushimi's grown, Fushimi shrugs and says maybe. He looks over at the pictures hanging on the wall of the bar and without realizing it he says the bar feels different without Mikoto and Totsuka here. Kusanagi's back stiffens slightly but when he turns to face Fushimi he's smiling again, handing him the drink.

Fushimi stares down at his glass, quietly apologizing for bringing things up he shouldn't. Kusanagi says it's fine, Fushimi didn't say anything wrong. Fushimi's looking at him kinda curiously and finally Fushimi gives this slightly exasperated sigh as he's like you can be mad at them you know. Kusanagi's a little blindsided by that and Fushimi looks down at his drink, somewhat awkward as he says he knows that sometimes there are things you need to say out loud and maybe he's not the best person to be giving this advice but if Kusanagi wants to be angry he should be angry. Kusanagi says he isn't angry and Fushimi wonders why not. Kusanagi looks at him in surprise and Fushimi's actually very serious as he says he would be angry, if he was in Kusanagi's shoes.

Fushimi knows he's not part of Homra anymore and so it's not really his place to say any of this, but if Kusanagi wants to be angry and complain freely without having to worry what those other guys think or having to spare everyone else's feelings or anything like that, Kusanagi can always complain to Fushimi. Kusanagi gives him a slight smile and says it isn't necessary and Fushimi says it might make him feel better. Maybe he makes a comment himself about how annoying Totsuka and Mikoto were, like no wonder those guys ran to an early grave and without even thinking Kusanagi says they weren't the type to be careful and someone else always had to watch out for them and then look how that ended up, with them leaving Kusanagi all alone. As soon as he says it Kusanagi's surprised with himself, like that just slipped out, but Fushimi's smiling slightly as he's like it feels better doesn't it, so if you want to complain about those guys for a bit go ahead and I'll listen, as part of my payment for the drink.

[ridiasfangirlings]

If not too offensive for you, but K world Squid Game?

I already wrote something like that here focusing on just the Munakata-Mikoto-Fushimi-Yata group so I'll try to expand a little more here and not repeat myself ^^;; Imagining like the whole cast getting stuck playing the game (except Anna and Sukuna, who are just kids and probably wouldn't be allowed to play, and Kotosaka who's a bird...and possibly Neko since she's a 'cat') maybe they all break off into their little clansmen 'groups' after the first game because everyone has a different idea of how they should play. I could see Munakata being the one to take charge when the first game happens and everyone realizes how dangerous it all is, like when the first person gets killed – and let's face it, it's probably Totsuka – Munakata is the one who starts rallying people to gather themselves and try to win the game properly. On the Homra end assuming Mikoto still knows Totsuka in this AU I think he would be pretty angry over them not being told the danger this game puts everyone in and Kusanagi has to grab him by the collar and remind him that rushing forward to punch some guys in masks isn't going to help anyone. Kusanagi would probably be the one mustering the Homra group in this situation, telling everyone when to run and when to hold still (Yata definitely almost falls at least once and gets caught by Fushimi, who just acts like he was saving Yata because it would be annoying if Misaki got killed in front of him). Meanwhile Kuroh and Shiro sort of team up, Kuroh probably concerned that Shiro isn't taking this seriously and feeling like it would be wrong to abandon another person to death. The Greens are more intrigued by this than anything, since this is AU imagine Hisui is not in his wheelchair but maybe it's like him and Iwafune competing and Iwa-san suspected something was up about all this. Yukari is one of the first across the finish line and watching Hisui complete the game and the way he's clearly observing everything catches Yukari's interest.

After the game is over Munakata I think would be the first to suggest they all get together to forfeit, not wanting to see more loss of life. Kuroh would be strongly in agreement, feeling that no money is worth what they just went through. In the end though say they can't get everyone to agree (because I feel like Munakata in particular would not want to come back even if he was backed into a corner, he would try to find another way that doesn't involve wasteful loss of life, and I think Kuroh too would just refuse to be part of this again). At some point one guy, Colorless, decides to just beat up and kill another contestant, noting that well no one said the losers all had to be killed by the games and that's when everyone starts breaking off into factions to protect themselves. Homra is definitely the friendship group, where they all want to work together and win the games with passion and pride and they'll all bring home the money together. Everyone circles around Mikoto because he seems so strong but also really cool and like isn't going after weak people and stuff, Yata is definitely charmed by him.

Fushimi is originally dragged into that group too and maybe it's not until the marbles game that he leaves, like say the Homra guys all pick partners randomly and so Fushimi gets stuck with someone who's not Yata. He's pissed about it until he realizes that this just saved his life, because there's no way he could have let Yata be the one to die. While all the other guys are devastated that they had to kill their friends Fushimi alone argues that they need to stop playing family and start looking out for themselves, deciding that he can't keep Yata alive if Yata's so worried about the safety of others. Yata does survive the game but would probably be pretty crushed by it, especially hearing Fushimi being so cold afterward. This is definitely I think where Mikoto dies, I feel like he would lose on purpose to pretty much anyone rather than letting them die for him. (For maximum pain, maybe he gets to die for Kusanagi and now oh look All Kusanagi's Friends Are Dead.)

Fushimi decides to go join Munakata's group instead, Munakata is basically trying to guide his people through the games as best he can but he's more pragmatic about it, he doesn't want to kill anyone but he accepts that it might be necessary (say Munakata survives the marble game too because S4 also picks at random and Munakata ends up with a young starry-eyed former police officer named Kusuhara, who was dazzled by Munakata in the first game and is proud to lose for his sake). S4 is also shaken by the marble game but those who survived are more willing to push forward for the sake of their comrades. Jungle meanwhile have all won their games, they chose easy marks for just this purpose and while they are a 'group' they're also playing as individuals who will make their own choices. Kuroh and Shiro get the really hard loss, I think Kuroh would try to throw it because he feels that giving up his life for someone else would be the right thing to do, but then Shiro tricks him and takes the loss instead (except Kuroh only hears Shiro get shot and doesn't see it, and Shiro's a suspicious old guy at heart...).

The hopscotch game on the glass panels is probably where most of the remaining alphabet squad end up dead, they get unlucky early numbers and it's all very emotional. The characters who survive manage to do so by the sacrifice of their earlier companions and eventually thanks likely to Munakata and maybe Fushimi, the two who I think would be most likely to figure out the trick to tell which glass is sturdy. Munakata however is smart enough not to give away the reason why he's able to guess which glass is good and which isn't, claiming 'intuition,' and Fushimi follows suit (Yata almost dies by getting angry and being like fuck your intuition, before he can jump though one of the last remaining Homra guys goes first and ends up being the one to die). I feel like we'd probably end up with more contestants alive at the end than in the actual show and this might make the final game pretty interesting, the three members of jungle versus the remaining members of Homra – likely Yata and Kusanagi – versus the remaining members of S4 – Munakata, Fushimi and possibly Awashima – and poor Kuroh, all alone wanting to do the right thing and having no idea what that would be.

[ridiasfangirlings]

Role-Reversal AU, with S4 Yata leaving for Homra, is interesting to me because I don't think he would have been able to just leave, the way Fushimi did. Like, Yata gets so attached to people and ideas, and I think the idea of "betraying" or "abandoning" his King and Clan would been a particularly hard pill for him to swallow, either unable or refusing to accept that S4 is simply not a good fit for him, and that that's okay.

I think the process of accepting that he wants to leave and join the Red Clan would be a pretty long and hard one, personally. And that he wouldn't leave without the blessing of both Munakata and Fushimi. Munakata would give it, of course (was likely even subtly encouraging this, having realized the problem long before Yata himself), but how do you think Fuhsimi would get to a place where he's willing to let Yata go? Do you think it would send him on another self-hatred spiral?

I feel like Yata would definitely want to get Munakata’s blessing at least, he hates when people betray him or leave without reason and he wouldn’t want to be that kind of person. I agree that I could see him struggling in that sense with the idea that he might be more suited to Homra, like when he joined S4 he thought they were so cool but maybe he’s been aware for a while that he’s not really fitting in. He’s been trying — I definitely think this is a difference between Yata and Fushimi, Fushimi doesn’t even try to fit into Homra but I could see Yata going the other way, being even a little annoying in his desperate attempts to belong. Yata wants to be useful to Munakata and stay by Saruhiko’s side but at the same time he feels so drawn to Mikoto, like every time they run into the Red clan Yata finds himself just staring after them. Maybe he even runs into some of the members while off duty and he knows he should hate them but actually he gets along with them so well and he doesn’t know what to do, he feels like Homra is somehow right for him but he can’t abandon S4.

Meanwhile I could totally see Munakata trying to subtly push Yata in that direction, assuming he has no use for Yata himself (the ‘Yata is his gift with purchase for recruiting Fushimi’ scenario, if he did have a place for Yata I think he’d be more resistant but in that case I don’t think Yata would feel so out of place in S4 anyway). Munakata isn’t exactly in the business of giving up his clansmen but at the same time he has no desire to see Yata unhappy and he has no place for someone who doesn’t truly want to be here. I imagine him finding some way to get Yata to admit that he would rather be in Homra, Yata almost doesn’t realize it himself until he’s blurted it out. He expects Munakata to be mad but Munakata is calm and accepting, I think it would actually mean a lot to Yata that Munakata doesn’t frame this as a betrayal of S4 but rather Yata going somewhere that better suits him.

Fushimi would really be the problem here, because even with being in S4 from the beginning I think he would have trouble letting Yata go. I’ve mentioned before in this scenario I think Fushimi would be unable to take Yata leaving as anything less than an abandonment, even with Yata fully explaining his reasons and his desire to stay friends with Fushimi despite being in separate clans. I could actually see Fushimi letting Yata go, because telling him to stay is admitting that Yata matters to him, but I think it would be more pretending that he has no need for Yata and trying to throw him away basically, like laughing in Yata’s face and claiming he doesn’t need someone as useless as Yata by his side so Yata may as well leave. In this scenario I see Fushimi throwing the ‘traitor’ word back at Yata, which really pains Yata especially since he tried so hard not to be that way. But at the same time he doesn’t know what else to do, Munakata said it’s fine and Saruhiko is laughing in his face and telling him to go and Yata doesn’t know how to fix this. He goes to Homra but obviously it’s painful for him, leaving Fushimi behind, and I could see him constantly trying to ‘make it up’ to Fushimi somehow, internalizing that this is all his fault (and maybe in this scenario it’s Fushimi who has to go save Yata, admitting that he’s never stopped caring about Yata and that he’s the one who broke things, not Yata). 

[ridiasfangirlings]

I need more of Yata exploring his bisexuality. His physical infatuation with women, as well as his crush in Mikoto and Saruhiko. Especially against the background of his toxic masculinity. (I hope Homra will help him understand himself and accept his faling in love with Saruhiko.)

I can definitely see Yata being in denial about his sexuality for a while, thinking that of course he can't like guys and that there would be something 'wrong' with him if he didn't like girls. Being bisexual I think would complicate it a little more than if he was just gay too, because Yata knows that he's attracted to girls (he just can't talk to them) and so it's easier for him to assume that his feelings for Saruhiko are just friendly feelings and nothing else. I think he'd hold onto that for a while too, like imagine in Homra someone teases him about having a crush on Fushimi and Yata immediately gets defensive and pissed off, like what the hell are you trying to say huh. Yata I could definitely see assuming that someone calling him gay is an insult, like what the fuck I don't like guys that's gross – not realizing that the joke was less 'Yata likes boys because he's gay' and more 'Yata and Fushimi are clearly into each other and are also idiots who don't realize it.' Yata takes offense though and it's probably one of those 'doth protest too much' moments, like he doesn't know why this makes him so annoyed and he assumes that he's just mad that someone tried to act like he was 'less of a man' by insinuating that he likes guys.

Yata keeps holding on to that, any time anyone makes a joke about his relationship with Fushimi he's all I like girls so I can't like Saruhiko so there. I imagine at least someone mentions that he has a total crush on Mikoto-san and Yata's even more angry about that because he thinks it's an insult against Mikoto, like what are you trying to say about Mikoto-san. This is the point where I could see Homra helping him think more about his own prejudices and assumptions though, because I don't think anyone in Homra would consider it an insult to suggest that Mikoto might be gay. Plus I could see Yata complaining about this idly to Mikoto later, like can you believe that asshole acted like you might be gay and Mikoto just shrugs all why does it matter. Yata's all 'well...that's an insult, right? Someone as tough and cool as Mikoto-san...' and Mikoto says that doesn't have anything to do with it. I feel like this would be the moment he starts to realize his preconceived notions are wrong, because to Yata Mikoto's like the epitome of a cool manly guy, and Mikoto doesn't give a fuck about anyone calling him gay (and even more shock to Yata if he catches Mikoto like kissing Totsuka or Munakata or Kusanagi).

Once Yata gets over his hurdle about how manly guys can't be gay I think he would be more open to facing his own feelings. Like at first he's all well I guess it's okay to like guys but I like girls, except then especially post-ROK he's having all these feelings for Saruhiko and he's starting to wonder if it's more than friendship. I could see Yata maybe not quite realizing that he's bisexual at first, Yata strikes me as someone who doesn't think much about different sexualities and who might not realize there's this whole spectrum beyond just gay or straight. So since he is still attracted to girls and he knows it that makes his feelings for Saruhiko more confusing, because he's starting to realize his own attraction and he doesn't get how he could be gay but like girls. I could see him confiding in Kusanagi here and getting some encouragement, Kusanagi telling him that it's perfectly normal to be attracted to both genders and that Yata shouldn't discount his own feelings just because he thinks that he 'should' be feeling one way or another. Yata turns that over in his mind for a while and decides to just try and face Fushimi without having any preconceived notions, like don't think about being gay or straight just what do I feel about Saruhiko, and that's when he realizes that yeah, this is definitely love after all and there's nothing wrong with that.

[ridiasfangirlings]

I had no idea you were into Izuseri or Munatotsu! I never thought of the latter but yes, the sparkles and the hobbies are perfect! What if Totsuka picked up puzzling for a while and they met on neutral ground in some sort of puzzle convention or event of some kind? And of course, the exasperated or surprised fallout in their clans when they hit it off and start dating.

Munatotsu is definitely my favorite non-Fushimi related crack ship, I feel like they would just get along so well? Probably too well, to the point that everyone regrets ever letting them meet. Like I could totally imagine them meeting on some neutral ground and developing an unexpected rapport. Maybe Totsuka picks puzzles as his hobby for the week, he buys some neat 3-D ones and starts working on them in the bar and Mikoto is probably extra annoyed because this is giving him Blue King flashbacks. Totsuka's all 'oh, that person like puzzles?' and Kusanagi says that apparently the Blue King is working on them constantly, Awashima complains about it to him fairly often. Mikoto adds that Munakata always does weird puzzles too, like pictures of his subordinates' faces and Totsuka gets a thoughtful look, Kusanagi facepalms like definitely no.

Totsuka finishes up the puzzle he was working on and decides to go buy another, as he's at the store looking around he happens to run into none other than Munakata. Munakata is surprised to find Homra's Totsuka Tatara here of all places and Totsuka mentions that he's really into puzzles right now and does Munakata have any suggestions. Munakata's eyes immediately light up (he's been waiting for years for a random bystander to ask him this okay) and he starts pointing out his favorites, Totsuka mentions that he likes the 3-D ones and soon they're browsing the papercraft aisle together. Totsuka is impressed by Munakata's knowledge of puzzles and maybe they come across one puzzle that reminds Totsuka of another hobby, like oh that one with the tree is like the time I decided to take up horticulture. This has now caught Munakata's interest and soon they're discussing garden plants and advantageous bugs and just having a totally good time.

Eventually Totsuka goes back to Homra but he mentions that he wouldn't mind talking to Munakata again some time and they end up meeting a few days later at a cafe for tea. During their 'date' the two of them discuss various old hobbies of Totsuka's, all of which Munakata asks many questions about with sparkling eyes, as well as some talk of the kinds of bonding activities Homra holds versus what Scepter 4 has done (Munakata is looking for some ideas) and maybe they even get into a little people watching, Munakata deducing various things about people walking by just by looking at them and Totsuka adding in his own thoughts. At some point Munakata mentions that there's like a random festival happening nearby, like it's the annual clam diving competition or something and Totsuka thinks it sounds interesting and they should try it out, Munakata agrees and off they go to have terrible ideas together.

When they actually start dating it probably just makes everyone's heads spin, like they can't imagine how these two of all people ended up together (Mikoto and Fushimi are probably the two with the best idea of just how frightening these two would be as a combo and they both give a heavy sigh when they find out like this is not going to end well for the rest of us). I imagine Munakata being totally up for like joint bonding activities between the clans, while Totsuka will stop at Scepter 4 sometimes and the Blues can always tells when he's there because there are extra sparkles seeping out from underneath Munakata's office door. The more time they spend together the more their respective clans realize that these two really do get along well together and what a terrifying prospect that is. (Also have I mentioned I once wrote Munatotsu? Because I wrote a Munatotsu.)

[ridiasfangirlings]

Homra & S4 are pursuing a strain with the ability to swap the personalities of people who have mutual romantic feelings for each other. (They keep all their own memories, they just get an attitude transplant.) Of course members of both clans get hit and shenanigans ensue as the unaffected members try to adjust to how weird some of their co-workers are acting. I definitely want to know how SaruMi (& maybe MikoRei) would deal with it and how everyone would react if they swapped personalities.

Brash, hot-tempered Fushimi versus now gloomy snarky Yata XD Maybe the Strain's power works regardless of whether you recognize that you have feelings for the other person or not too, like imagine this is pre-S1 and Yata and Fushimi are still trying to act like they're enemies but then they get hit by this Strain who swaps your personality with the person you have feelings for. Scepter 4's been trying to chase down the Strain for some time, the Strain has been very good at hiding out and avoiding them. He's also been causing trouble in Homra's territory so both clans are hunting him down but they aren't quite working together, like Awashima and Kusanagi are exchanging info but for the most part the clans are acting separately.

Fushimi's doing his own intel gathering, probably telling himself that he doesn't have to worry about this Strain at all because it's not like he has romantic feelings for anyone (imagine him saying something to this effect at Scepter 4 and the alphabet squad all just stare at him like '….'). The Strain manages to sneak up on him though and attacks him, Fushimi's hit by the power before he can dodge. Yata happens to be skateboarding by right as this happens, he sees Fushimi get attacked and is worried in spite of himself, yelling Fushimi's name on reflex and running over. Fushimi's already getting back up as Yata arrives though and Yata kinda snorts like guess it takes more than that to take you down huh and Fushimi's like I didn't ask for your help. Yata gets annoyed and says it wasn't like he wanted to help Fushimi anyway it's just Fushimi's must have been slow to let himself get attacked, Fushimi's immediately up on his feet like who are you calling slow asshole. Yata's surprised to see Fushimi getting so angry, Fushimi's all that's right I'll kick your ass if you keep talking that way and then I'm gonna find that Strain and kick his ass too. Yata's like hey wait a sec calm down and Fushimi's all I am calm while being very clearly not, Yata's finally like whatever I don't have time to deal with stupid monkeys today and Fushimi's like good I don't have time to deal with stupid crows.

Yata skates off and as he's moving away he finds himself thinking that Fushimi was acting kinda weird, like he was almost acting sorta similar to how Yata acts. Even as he's thinking that Yata gets suddenly ambushed by the Strain, he loses his balance and falls off his skateboard. By the time he gets up the Strain is gone, Yata sits up and clicks his tongue as he mutters '...annoying.' Yata heads back to Homra where everyone is already in a bit of a fuss because Mikoto is sitting at the bar wearing a pair of fake glasses and being passive-aggressive with Kusanagi. Yata clicks his tongue again and is like what are all you idiots going on about, Mikoto looks up and greets him as 'Yata-kun.' Kamamoto says Mikoto got hit by a Strain and is acting weird, Yata's like he's super annoying today huh, what a pain. Kamamoto looks at Yata curiously and is like Yata-san you’re acting weird too, Yata grumbles under his breath like who's weird, you people are the loud weird ones. He takes out his PDA and starts playing with it while Kamamoto and the rest of the Homra alphabet exchange glances all wait this is familiar.

Meanwhile back at Scepter 4, Munakata is sleeping on the floor of his office, Awashima is trying to keep everyone on task and Fushimi is yelling at Doumyouji that if he uses crayons one more time Fushimi's going to punch his face off. Hidaka wonders why everyone's acting so weird, like what kind of power does that Strain even have. Akiyama pulls up the latest report and is like '...so it says the Strain can transplant the personality of one person with that of the person they have romantic feelings for.' Everyone looks at Fushimi who is immediately like what the fuck did you say I don't have feelings for that stupid crow. Hidaka's immediately like 'o-of course you don't, right,' not wanting to get punched, Fushimi's all fuming and punches a chair just to get his anger out (and then Doumyouji's like 'oh hey wait Fushimi-san's blushing' and Fushimi promptly puts him in a headlock).

[ridiasfangirlings]

Trans!Yata getting discriminated in public, and Fushimi wants to stand up for her, but they aren't on good terms still, so before he can do anything, the entirety of Homra (Alphabet Boys, Anna, Kusanagi, even Mikoto!!) defends their most loyal member :))

Woe betide the asshole who dares to malign trans!Yata in front of her clan, Homra is definitely not going to stand for that. Actually I could see this being one of the few times that Fushimi has an okay view of Homra, because even if he has complicated feelings about Yata Fushimi can't deny that he doesn't want to see her being treated badly this way either. Assuming by the ask that we're talking transgirl Yata here, say that when she and Fushimi were kids Fushimi was actually the one standing up for her a lot of the time, though he'd usually do it subtly because he doesn't want it to look like he's being a good person or anything. Like people probably used to get on Yata about how 'oh you have a girl's name so now you think you're a girl' or mocking her for being too rough and active to be anything but a boy. Yata would get pissed and threaten to kick their asses and just get laughed at, and then Fushimi would give the offender an absolute death glare that would actually shut them up. If that didn't do it Fushimi would find another way to get revenge, like imagine him using the same j-cube trick he uses on the bullies in LSW to bankrupt a few assholes who were misgendering Yata and treating her like a freak. Yata doesn't know why the guys stopped bothering her and she figures it's because she intimidated them into submission, Fushimi just hums quietly and gives this small smug smile in reply.

Then the betrayal happens and now Fushimi's full focus is on making Yata hate him. Maybe Yata hasn't actually told most of Homra that she's trans, the Homra trio are aware and Anna probably is too (I imagine that whole scene in Side Red where Anna walks in on Yata in the shower would likely lead to some questions and Yata being all worried about what kind of reaction she's going to get) but the alphabet boys don't actually fully know. She's kinda enjoyed being able to 'start fresh' in a way, where everyone from the start has seen her as a girl and no one treats her any different from any other girl. One day Yata's out skateboarding and maybe she gets into a fight with some guys who turn out to be some of the bullies who used to tease her in middle school. Immediately Yata suddenly feels like she's a kid again, in a place where no one believes her when she says she's a girl and this time she doesn't even have Saruhiko there as the one person who sees the 'real her.'

As it happens Fushimi's in the vicinity as well, following some leads on a Strain case. He hears Yata's voice in the distance threatening to kick someone's ass and immediately he grins widely, like he wasn't expecting some Misaki time but he's more than happy to go have a nice fight. Except when he follows the sound he finds Yata surrounded by some annoying looking guys who are calling her things like 'girly boy' and 'freak.' Fushimi immediately knows exactly what Yata's being teased about and he's suddenly oddly uncomfortable, like he wants to get Yata's attention but he can't smother the part of him that wants to step in, to grab Yata's arm and drag her away while glaring at the guys who are treating her this way. Fushimi ends up just standing there not sure what to do – he wants Yata to hate him more than anything so he can't step in, but not stepping in is making his entire body feel strangely sick.

Oh, but then maybe in the end Fushimi does do something: he grabs his PDA and sends a quick anonymous message to Bar Homra before ducking out of sight, telling himself that he's just taking care of a bothersome situation because if Yata does start fighting it could cause issues for Scepter 4. It's a reason he can accept, and this way if no one does anything it's just more proof that Homra is the worst and that Yata should just follow him to Scepter 4. Of course he can't bring himself to go very far and a minute or so later he hears Kusanagi's familiar voice wondering why these guys are bothering a lady. Yata looks up and there's the Homra trio approaching with the alphabet boys, she's suddenly a little nervous because what if the bullies spill her secret to everyone. Immediately one of the bullies is like 'this isn't a lady, you know he's a guy right.' Yata tenses and then Chitose says it's pretty low to say that kind of thing to a girl, Akagi adds that no wonder guys like that can't get dates if they treat girls this way. Yata feels this rush of relief as everyone walks over to stand beside her, the bullies are suddenly the ones feeling intimidated as all of Homra stares them down. Mikoto steps forward and is just like right there in the face of the lead bully (probably doing his best Munakata impression XD) as he says 'get outta here.' The bullies immediately turn and run as Totsuka asks if Yata's all right, Yata says she's definitely fine now though she totally could have taken those guys without their help. Then she wonders how they knew she was here anyway, Totsuka says they got an anonymous tip and Yata's like 'huh?' (Meanwhile nearby out of sight Fushimi clicks his tongue and walks away, muttering 'useless' under his breath.)

[ridiasfangirlings]

An AU where everyone has daemons (the ‘His Dark Materials’ brand). When did their daemons settle and what kind of animal did they settle as?

Obviously Fushimi has a penguin, it's canon :P Animal K would be the easiest answer but I like the idea of a bit more variety. Mikoto's is the easiest one though, he definitely has a lion and his probably settled at an early age to no one's surprise, his personality is just so intrinsically lion-like that anything else would have been strange. He would be one of the rare people with a same-sex demon though, since Mikoto's personality is more lion than lioness, even as a kid I imagine him walking around with this full grown male lion and looking totally chill about it. Munakata by contrast I could see going with animal K and having like a big shaggy wolf which gets along horribly with Mikoto's lion. Though I admit I do kinda like the idea of Munakata having a peacock daemon, just imagine Mikoto and Munakata fighting and there's Munakata's peacock waving its tail in the face of Mikoto's lion with the perfect aura of 'smug bastard' just radiating from it.

For the rest of Homra, Anna's I think wouldn't settle until at the earliest when she becomes King. I could see her daemon settling as some kind of red bird to mimic her Red King phoenix, like a red-tailed hawk or a brahminy kite. Totsuka would probably have something small and mostly helpless, like his animal K sheep would actually kinda work especially if it constantly manifests as a lamb (plus bonus 'lion and lamb' imagery with Mikoto). Or maybe something small like a cute dwarf rabbit or a field mouse, something little and relatively powerless which nevertheless is perfectly calm with Mikoto's lion. Similarly Kusanagi having an owl would be kinda amusing, especially if people keep commenting on the similarity between himself and his daemon and he gets annoyed by it, though I could also see him having something with strong motherly instincts like some species of monkey (or something interesting like a spider, carrying babies on her back and weaving webs in the background while also keeping the bar free of bugs). Yata would likely have something high energy, like he gets his very own chihuahua demon. Though actually I could see Yata having some kind of dog demon, like an African painted dog which is high energy and wants to form social bonds with everyone, once he finds Homra it's like he's got his 'pack' at last.

Fushimi I could see having something standoffish that tends to snap when in danger and his daemon probably settled early at least partly due to Niki's abuse. I could kinda see him maybe having some type of snake, likely something venomous like a type of cobra or an adder (Niki, naturally, has a mongoose and laughs whenever Fushimi's snake tries to bite him). Having a snake makes Fushimi probably stand out amongst most of his peers, while everyone else's daemons are settling as mammals or birds here he's got this snake on his shoulder at all times whose presence is like a physical wall around him and it will only slightly relax around people that he's close to. His snake never liked Mikoto's lion and was always coiling near him but it doesn't seem to mind Munakata's stupid peacock at all. Awashima I think would have some kind of Tundra animal to match her nickname, like maybe a snowy owl (and then Kusanagi has a barn owl so they have a match) or even a snow leopard like her animal K self.

For the Greens, I wonder if Hisui would even have a daemon since he's technically dead, like did it disappear when he died and then reappear once the Slate resurrected him. Maybe he makes it look to everyone that Kotosaka is his daemon but really somewhere in jungle there's a small green very rare breed of parakeet that's in like a perpetual stasis and is kept somewhere very safe because it belongs to the King. I feel like for Iwafune a raven would work really well, it just fits his whole black aesthetic thing. Oh maybe he used to have a dove when he was Ootori Seigo and then his daemon actually underwent a shift after the Kagutsu Crater, like the emotional blow was so heavy on him that it caused his daemon to change. Yukari I see having something beautiful but deadly, like imagine him having this brilliantly colored poison dart frog as his daemon. Sukuna's probably wouldn't have settled yet during the time of the series and it only finally does later on after Hisui dies (for some reason I imagine him with like a weasel, to match his weapon).

The Silvers, Kuroh definitely has some form of large dog, maybe even something like a maned wolf. Neko I think would have a cat as her daemon too but probably not a normal house cat, I could see her having something rare or endangered like a flat-headed cat or Andean cat. Shiro feels like he should have some kind of bird too, like maybe an Albatross or something, though I do like the idea of him having a mouse just to fit the theme of his clansmen – actually it'd be interesting if he had just a plain small white mouse, similar to the type that gets used in scientific experiments and people often assume the Silver King has no daemon because it's so easy to overlook. Everyone assumes that as Gold King Kokujouji must have something really majestic but actually he totally has a cute lop-eared bunny daemon and I will have no arguments on this point.