#ty for the ask anon! sorry about the late reply and the word vomit it was accidental

[welcometoteyvat]

random but have you thought abt gaming and hutao?

funny story anon, when I was writing ga-ming's fake voicelines and needed to give him more characters to talk about, I was considering adding a hu tao voiceline, but decided against it because I didn't really see a reason for them to meet (besides via friends (new liyue 6ang addition?!?!?!)). lowkey I now feel validated bc they don't have any in-game voicelines abt each other, but this would be a very boring ask if it just stopped here lol.

there's something to be said about gaming and hu tao's family baggage vs their cheerful external demeanor vs both doing a job that isn't super well received (?) by people in liyue harbor. but hu tao leans into her eccentricities a lot more while gaming is on the 'likeable by everyone' grind LOL also the dad similarities might increase if we ever get 76th funeral parlor director lore: hu tao's parents have been conspicuously missing forever, where did genshin put them? an interesting possibility would be if the 76th somehow split off from the family trade and subsequently got wiped from the family tree bc of ideological diffs (like ht's beef with baizhu), which could increase gaming and hu tao's possible shared father(?) troubles. but besides that I feel like there's not too much similarity there. They're both enthusiastic outward facing individuals, but idk if they'd have an interesting dynamic if they met.*

Although, you know that voiceline where hu tao does a magic trick and makes a butterfly of fire? and also how she plays with those lion statues outside the ministry of civil affairs? those two things would be straight up gamings alley ngl like he'd be so down for that kind of whimsy and playfulness. also hu tao would be a good candidate for a 2nd lion dance partner. she'd be completely down for doing odd jobs and this is absolutely a fun odd job, at least until she gets tired of it or has to focus on official business lol. idt she's the type to work hard at it; she's just there to try it out because it looked cool but gaming appreciates the enthusiasm regardless. would request to be the lions head in order to lunge at people and also pick greens. also there's potential for a gaming yun jin xingqiu hu tao tea appreciation club

oh also i think smth underrated abt hu tao is how shes like cheery and eccentric but takes her job seriously and has unidentifiable but occasionally present baggage .... which i already mentioned before is similar to how 75% of gm's voicelines are cheery, and then the other 25% is emotional conflict. idk! maybe under the right conditions, they could open up to each other and sympathize

*addendum: imo, hu tao has mostly moved on from her grief over her grandfather's death, and she doesn't have any regrets about the state of their relationship when he passed away, since they were pretty close and never on bad terms. My personal hc is that she still has some things she wished she said, ie. sincere thoughts and feelings from the heart that she usually avoids talking about (she would say "nice speech, but that kind of killed the mood" if someone made one of those anime protag power of friendship monologues). in my head, her grandpa taught her everything about death and funeral customs, played with her/listened to her poetry, pretended to go along w her pranks, and was in general a very loving person, but I don't think hu tao ever explicitly told him "I love you" before he died. she canonically tried to find him right after he passed away but knew that he wouldn't be there. by now i think she's made peace with his death, but still has a certain wistfulness about things she didn't think of saying. and then on the flip side, if ga-ming could see his mom again, he'd probably spend a whole day talking to her i think. he's also not someone to get drunk on grief or regrets, but i don't think he's quite gotten over it completely, and his rocky relationship with his father (before lantern rite 2024) makes this more emotional idk. not sure where I'm going with this, but maybe hu tao would be able to talk him through a bit of this messiness and urge him to simply continue with his own life. or show him that his mother was not at the border, perhaps never lingered there, because she didnt think there was any unfinished business with him or his father that she needed to worry about. the annoying thing about death is that even if the dead person was free of regrets, those who are still living will still miss them. maybe both gaming and hu tao would be able to understand that and/or sympathize with it. or maybe they'd just be silly together who knows, up to you

edit: it'd also be so funny to have gaming call hu tao "boss hu" 胡老板～～～～～～～

[fullmetalscullyy]

Can you write something with "when were you going to tell me?" in it? I saw it in your angst starter list and thought it could be interesting. Also could it be Roy and Riza and, please don't make the ending too angsty, there's only so much I can handle. Love your fics, byyye.

ty for this one anon uwu i struggled for a little while to figure out a way to go with it but it literally just hit me and hohoho i thought this one was perfect for angst ಠ ͜ʖ ಠ

rated: t | words: 1163

"When were you going to tell me?" Roy asked her, his voice hard, gaze cold. It was understandable - she had hidden this vital piece of information from him, but it was for his own good. Everything she did was, and he just didn't get that. There was no malicious intent. There was no spite. Riza just wanted to keep him focussed so he wouldn't end up being killed because he was too distracted - an entirely likely situation. The man attracted danger wherever he went with his obnoxious need to prove himself to be the best in the room.

But still… Roy looking at her like he was now… He felt betrayed by her. Riza saw it in his eyes. There was doubt there too - and that hurt the most. She'd never wanted to give Roy a reason to doubt her loyalty and her trust. That wasn't the reason for her secrecy.

"It was to keep you safe -"

"Bullshit." Riza frowned. "How would not knowing that keep me safe?" The edge in his voice turned to a growl.

"To keep you focussed. And, to allow me to do my job effectively. I couldn't do that if you'd kept me back at the office."

You -!"

"What, Roy?" Riza finally snapped.

He huffed angrily, hands clenched into fists as his shoulders and jaw set. He spun on his heel and marched to the door.

"Roy?" She couldn't help but call for him. Fear had gripped her as she watched him walk away from her, terrified that this was finally the last straw for him. His hand gripped the doorknob tightly as he paused and Riza's ability to breathe stopped as she watched on. She didn't know what to do about him leaving like this. She didn't know how to make it right while stuck in this hospital bed.

She needed to make it right. Now. Before it was too late.

Opening her mouth, she was cut off by him. "I'll inform your doctor you're awake."

"Roy -"

"He wants to check over the -" Roy choked on the word, unable to say it. Dread coiled inside Riza's stomach. No, no, no. "The baby. To make sure they're okay."

The door slammed behind him, causing tears to jump into her eyes. They fell silently as Riza stared at the closed door.

----------------------------------------------------

Roy stormed down the corridor. He couldn't believe her. Riza had always put herself in front of others but this was something entirely different. She'd put a - He still struggled to even think the word. His emotions were a hurricane inside of him, unable to latch onto one in particular. Unable to think the word that changed everything for him. For them.

She'd put a foetus in danger today. Her baby. Their -

Roy stumbled to a stop, grasping the wall beside him to keep him upright. 

Their baby.

And she didn't fucking tell him.

It's been 3 months. She was 3 months pregnant. The wound on her abdomen had narrowly missed her tiny bump. Narrowly missed their child.

Roy dove into the nearest restroom and vomited up his lunch.

He'd almost lost his child today and he would never have known.

She'd kept that from him.

Why?

He would find no answers in his miserable reflection in the mirror, no matter how hard he stared at it. The only one who could answer it was lying in a hospital bed down the hall.

Roy was angry with her. She never had any real concern for herself, only him. The result of that was she'd almost lost her baby today. That was inexcusable, and Roy would feel the same even if it wasn't his child. She shouldered everything under the pretence of "protecting him", but how would not knowing he had a kid protect him? It was bullshit.

He'd looked into her eyes before he left and he saw the fear held in there too. She was terrified by the whole thing - terrified of losing their child too - and Roy wasn't helping by storming out, but he needed a break. Hell, he'd just found out he had a kid on the way an hour ago, and then found out Riza's recklessness had almost gotten them killed.

Of course, he couldn't entirely pin the blame on her. He'd dragged her into this mess they now called a life. Ishval, the military, the Promised Day. She'd gotten hurt through all of them because of him. He was angry at himself, and needed to remove himself from the situation before she thought that all that anger was directed at her.

The whole situation was a fucking mess.

He cleaned himself up and walked back the way he came. Taking a deep breath, he entered the room and saw her facing away from him. She was looking out towards the window, no doubt watching the little robin that was hopping along the windowsill. Her hair tumbled down her back and splayed across the sheet. Her shoulders were rounded in on themselves, revealing she'd either been crying or was about to start.

Roy parked himself at her back, staring at it as he heard the quiet hitches in her breathing.

"I'm sorry for storming out," he murmured. Her shoulders and spine tensed but she didn't reply. "I just… I needed to leave before everything overwhelmed me. I didn't want to lash out at you."

Slowly, Riza rolled over to stare at him. Her hands were placed under her cheeks, and her body curled into a ball. Red eyes met his and Roy instantly felt guilty.

"I was never going to keep it from you forever," she whispered. "I just didn't want you to worry -"

"Riza," he admonished softly, followed by a smile. "At this point I'm always going to worry about you."

Her gaze held his for a second longer before she nodded, dropping her eyes to the bedsheets. "I just… I wanted you focussed. It was unfortunate what happened and I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

Silence reigned and her eyes never left the bedsheet. Roy's hand gently pried on of hers from underneath her cheek. It was warm to the touch as he grasped it tightly.

"We're going to have a baby," he whispered quietly, a quiet laugh of disbelief leaving him. Tears of happiness filled his eyes. 

Riza's gaze lifted fearfully, then paused when she saw the tearful happiness on his face.

She nodded, gripping his hand tightly. "We are," she whispered.

Roy's head bent and captured her lips with his. If was a soft kiss, but one he used to convey how sorry he was for overreacting and how he forgave her.