#what we gonna do without deki now

[xdominiklivakovicx]

Ko je spreman za danas jer ja ocigledno nisam

[prettyboykatsuki]

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one lifetime | d. kaminari 

➳ tags ;; fluff, insecurity, existentialism (?), falling in love, fem!reader, like.. no dialogue, a singular mention of sex, alchohol ment/partying habits. implied player denki

➳ wc ;; 1.4k (literally what) 

➳ a/n ;; this was just supposed to be like a short little thing. idk how or why its this long. 

➳ plot ;; denki falls in love and re-evaluates his life as it is. 

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Denki Kaminari likes to say the same phrase when he’s living his life out. 

“We’re gonna live forever!” 

And he says it with his chest, a warm grin spread across his face. Cheeks aching and red from the night wind, brushing across it like knuckles. It’s a half-lie, half-truth, half cheeky statement in regards to his dangerous job and even more dangerous lifestyle. He knows that all those things don’t make a whole, 3 halves - but that phrase is just as overzealous. 

The point is that he likes to say it whenever he’s having fun. Whether that be at his 21st birthday, sparklers flying out of his cake or in the middle of a drunken night - head stuck out of the window. He’s not sure why exactly. 

But he assumes he enjoys dancing with the implication that it’s possible. That, by living like this, there isn’t anything finite about existence and the he could, indeed, live as long as he wanted. Somehow, he’ll be broadly immortalized by his partying habits and missed connections and videos of him dancing with strangers at clubs. That these things will live on even farther than the legacy he was supposed to have by heroism. 

Denki Kaminari likes to think the idea of living forever is really just a way for him to say that he doesn’t have to think about the life he’s already living. The fact that he’s not unhappy but he’s not exactly where he likes to be. This hollowing incompleteness that rests on the apples of his cheeks and weighs down his smile. It doesn’t matter - this loneliness or sorrow. None of it matters if we have infinity. 

We’re gonna live forever right? So why try and think about the unimportant. There are bigger fish to fry. Bigger things to worry about. 

He isn’t.. sad. And he knows he shouldn’t be lonely. He has friends who care for him, and all the girls he could ever want, and he’s doing good! On the hero rankings, he broke 10 last week for the first time. He’s something of a bigshot now. He has media coverage. He has fans. He has the life he always dreamed of as a teenager - experiences all the cool shit he ever wanted. 

But he is, anyways. Lonely, that is. If he were more honest with himself than that’s really the only word to describe it. It’s a deep, unsettling loneliness. 

And he swore to himself that he was above most things. He would live out his dreams for the rest of his life and it would be awesome. Life would be so good He didn’t need to fall in love. Or if he did, it would be with some hot supermodel or whatever else. 

Lately, Denki finds that he really doesn’t want to live forever. 

The funny thing about love is that it brings you feelings that you didn’t even know existed. Like one day you’re completely fine but the next - you love someone so much life without them seems miserable. And there’s that weird, never ending fear that they might die. Then it’s 2am and you’re crying because you love them. Love them so much that you don’t really want to live forever but that you just don’t want them to die before you. That would make you so sad. 

And you’re not really the type of person Denki imagined himself with. You used to just be the lady on his patrol who sold Taiyaki on the corner with a pretty bandana on your head and a lovely smile. You sold other things, but he likes the Taiyaki the best. And despite how much shit you’ve seen on the corner, you never seem to leave it. You say you’re too attached to ever go, you’ve been there for four years of college and you’ll be devastated when you leave someday. 

And it’s funny because he’s not sure the two of you could be more different. You’re the type of person who others love - you have that tenderness to you. Soft hands and warm eyes. Everything about you is beautiful in the same way that renaissance paintings are. That kind, dreaminess that makes his stomach feel tight. 

He really didn’t mean to fall in love with you. It just sorta happened on his part. One late patrol became many, became talking to you for hours and hours on mundane days, became asking about your life. Where do you go to school? What do you do? Hows your relationship with your parents? Do you like coffee or tea or maybe neither? And hey, are you seeing anyone lately? 

Would you like too?

Denki Kaminari didn’t really ever intend to be a settled man.

But then he met you and the the idea of you having kids or marrying anyone other than him was so upsetting - he cries over it drunk. He met you and suddenly, he thinks that you might like some flowers he bought. He daydreams about holding your pinky and walking with you. Pictures living with you in an apartment - somewhere in the city. He’d take you out on the town to eat pizza and play at the arcade and then you could make out in the park.

You always listen to him. He didn’t know he wasn’t being heard until he met you. And you sat there and listened to him talk about his favorite video games for hours and hours - the classics, the lore, the fan-theories. You kissed him when he apologized for talking so much, promised you didn’t mind. These days, if he goes off on a tangent - your smile makes your eyes crinkle in the corner and your lips turn up in a smile. You encourage him to talk as much as he likes, hold his hand and squeeze it whenever he thinks he’s being too much. 

Denki didn’t know he spent so much of his life hiding. It’s scary, he has to admit. He thinks maybe you’re the only person who’s ever seen him. Not as the funny guy, or the partier, or the hero, or the side-character - he’s just Denki. You don’t lose interested in him when people like Kirishima and Bakugou are around. When someone asks who you’re dating - you hold his arm and say his name. 

Not Chargebolt but “oh! this is my boyfriend, Denki”. You smile and nudge his side. And no matter how much he hates himself somedays - you love him, always. With open arms and an unlocked door to your apartment - where you’re cooking dinner in the kitchen wearing cute socks. You’re the girlfriend he dreamed of in highschool - the one that wears anime merch and joins him in new things and holds onto him when she’s scared. 

The one he didn’t think he could have, no matter how much he wanted it. You’re a dream that he’s living. A living, breathing dream. 

The first Denki laid in bed with you - he didn’t remember much about the sex other than the fact it was good. It was so good he cried afterwards. He sobbed into your arms and you stroked his back, ran your hands over your shoulders and kisses his head. He doesn’t remember the sex itself, not really - but he remember the way the sunlight hit your skin when morning came. He spent the whole night looking at you, would you believe it? And it was nice. It was good. 

It’s so good being loved by you that Deki no longer wants to live forever. Needs too. 

Which is funny right - because you’d think the alternative would be for the two of you to be together forever. Instead of just him, you could spend eternity together latched to each others sides. 

It sounds nice in theory. It’d be nice if the two of you could stay together until time ends, and even if you left - he’s sure he’d spend eternity chasing you again. 

But he loves you so much that he doesn’t want to live forever. There would be so much he’d miss if that were the case. He wouldn’t be able to grow old with you like he wants, and if you had kids - what if they passed before you. Or even if you didn’t, you’d outlive all your friends. You would be able to see the whole world but then you’d run out of things together. 

Infinity is better in theory than in practice. He doesn’t want to live for forever because he knows he can’t. He doesn’t need to do something so.. impractical to be happy. 

Being with you, just for one lifetime, is enough to make him happier than he could ever dream. 

When Denki wakes up with you in his bed tomorrow morning - he knows in that moment that this is all he could ever need. 

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[marigoos]

Ok AHEM *taps mic*

Fragment 1: very legible, we love it himitsu wo kyouyuu / no okage de / ko kara .himitsu is "secret" (we all know which one, ya?), kyouyuu is "share" .no okage de means "thanks to", "because of" (always in a positive way). We're missing the agent, but pretty sure it's Bakugou himself... .ko kara is 99% koko kara, "from now on", "from here" So: share(d?) the secret / thanks to [you?] / from now on

Fragment 2: ha kore / kita issho(?) / deki(?) .That ha kore is pretty meaningless without the rest of the sentence, just know that kore is "this" and ha is just a particle .kita is the end of a past tense verb, but good luck finding out which one. I went with issho (together) for the rest, because well... 一緒 it could be something else but there are so many words that start with 一 that I don't think I would finish today if I checked them all. This one has the left part very similar, it does not sound out of place (like, say, "species" would), and it is fairly common anyway, so I'm betting on it. .ki is certain, de a lot less so, could be the first part of the verb dekiru, ~"to be able to". No clue about the conjugation, it's missing the last part

Fragment 3: ima ma [...] (?) / tasukete ku / cchan .The ima is a very well recognizable "now", and the only thing starting with ma that I would put after that would be made. Meaning "until now", "up to now". The kanji on the right is cut in half, it does look like nichi but again, so many words with nichi it's not fun. Could be hibi (days), could be nichijou (daily), could be mainichi (every day) if he writes very tight, could be Sunday for all we care .tasukete ku is probably tasukete kurete. With an arigatou at the end it's a very common way to say "thanks for helping / saving me". Given the implications of the term, I think he's thanking him for saving his ass against Shigaraki you know, when Bakugou fucked around and got 2 or 3 new holes for free .And yeah the -cchan is most definitely what you think :)

Fragment 4 is: -a bitch -ACTUALLY FRAGMENT 1! If you squint VERY HARD you can more or less recognize row 3 as frag 1's row 1. The top was just hidden behind the fingers in page 1, and now they're hiding the bottom. Not even gonna attempt what's left of row 1, it's a bunch of vertical lines... Row 2 looks like keta issho (???? again?) da keta, just like kita, just seems to be the last part of an undefined past tense verb. Unfortunately those two scribbles in the middle could be an 一 with some folding lines, because the paper is all crumpled. I looked and looked for something that resembled the other kanji and at some point it looked like "mirror", 鏡, but none of the compounds made any sense. So another issho it is... that oblique line on the right does seem to confirm it. da could be fine alone ("be/am/is/are") or could be datta ("was/were"). "We were together" (for a long time? I guess?)

We can thus deduct that the contents of the letter were along the lines of "hey Kacchan I know we've been around each other for years and thanks for saving my ass back there and I did a lot of things thanks to you and thanks for keeping my secret, but I got it from here (don't look for me k thx bye)" [heavily paraphrased][random order].

Now, why did I just spend half of my afternoon losing my sight on this? Because I don't trust Horikoshi :)

See, go back to frag 3. tasukete ku- is cut off at a very convenient point... another thing you can do with it is make it tasukete kudasai

"Help me"

Which, in the context of last chapter, AND with that -cchan just below it... idk, it doesn't look like a coincidence to me :)))

Moral of the story: I don't even ship these two, I'm just an agent of chaos. Enjoy! *drops post in the pit and watches the bakudekers rise*

[fading-lace]

how Kirishima, Dabi, Aizawa, and Denki would react to a crackhead s/o

[Kirishima X g/n!reader, Dabi X g/n!reader, Aizawa X g/n!reader, Denki X g/n!reader]

warnings: crackfic...cursing...dabi-

summary: basically how the guys would react to a crack headed reader-

A/N: this gif is killing me- lol

ok ok ok ok ok ok ok owaefalskfhaskfjlawek

i feel like kirishima would be just as much as a crackhead....but would have more common sense, if that makes sense-

like he would be the type to say yes if you asked if it was a good idea to cook like Gordon Ramsay does...you know, with how he deals with the fire and all.

bad idea, you both set the kitchen and half of the living room on fire until Aizawa came and helped Bakugou and Todoroki extinguish it.

you couldn’t cook for the rest of the year and you were under house arrest with supervision-

but if you asked if it would be a good idea to tape feathers to your arms and jump off a building, he would obviously say no.

please dont actually try that- i care for all your lives. your to important  🥺🥺

aNywAys....

he would constantly worry about your safety, since you can’t be trusted with it

he came back home one day from going out to buy snacks for your daily cuddle session and saw you hanging upside down from the ceiling by sero’s tape and him knocked out on the floor-

“w-what the hell is going on?!?!”

“....i asked if sero could tape me up in a cocoon like a butterfly, he did and i swung around and hit him in the head...knocking him out.”

“......”

he got you down safely but you weren’t allowed to see anymore nature documentaries-  

*sighs* .....i feel like dabi would beat your ass everyday to try to stop you from doing these things...

like you would ask him a crackhead question and he would immediately say, “no.”

because he had to deal with fucking twice and toga’s stupidity all day, he didn’t want to have to deal with yours.

he came back one day to find you toga, and twice doing somesort or ritual with stuffed animals with stitches of different color fabric. 

“it worked!!!”

“he has come!!”

“i wasn’t apart of this-” shigaraki said while casually walking to a different room.

“(Y/N)...who’s idea was this?”

“....toga!!” you said while pointing at her.

“what!! this was your idea!!”

“no!!”

“who did it. now.” he said while threatening with his quirk

“f-fine fine i did it!! we were using the stuffed animals to summon you because they have stitches and look like you!....”

run.

just run.

he sighed and walked closer to you.

“(Y/N)....im going to have to punish you..”

FUCKING RUN I-

you ran and ran, but he caught up to you and punished you with cuddles and no stuffed animals.

he would never actually hurt you, ok?

this poor, poor man...

he already has to deal with mic, and yet you can’t even manage a whole day without doing something stupid.

one day he was fucking you into the mattress until you RUINED the mood by saying 

“sex is just like riding a bike, you can do it alone, but its much better with more people.”

he pulled out of you, got some boxers on, and l e f t the room.

“w-wait im sorry! i was just joking!!”

to late, he has already indulged in the 5 cats you have as pets.

great job, you ruined everything-

or there was another time where he came home after a long, exhausting day with his class and mic to find you doing the thing that inosuke does-

you know...

this thing-

“(Y/N) what the hell are you doing?”

“...yoga-”

“your gonna break your back if you keep doing that-”

“nah i’ll be fin-”

you broke your back and was left in the hospital for almost a month before going back home-

this boi is just as stupid as you are. literally.

you both have to be under supervision when alone

because if you aren’t...oh boy...

you both managed to set the toilet on fire-

you actually wanted to make a cursed image with candles on the toilet seat but it caught on fire...the water to-

 one time you convinced Denki to make everything work faster by using this quirk on the electronics.

that gave you guys a power outage for the next three days-

and also a stupid Kaminari-

he convinced you to eat a Carolina reaper, Aka: the hottest pepper in the world

you actually ate it and ran out of milk the day before-

you both started shoving ice, mints, water, bread, butter, anything to make the burning stop-

and somehow you convinced todoroki to make some of his ice for you to munch on-

it still didn’t help-

you cried so much and actually almost went to go get your tongue chopped off-  

thankfully deki was smart enough to know that getting your tongue choppd off wasn’t a good idea-

you decided to spray some of that fire extinguisher stuff in your mouth to see if it would help-

Uraraka had to call poison control-

but you managed to live in the end!! so thats good!!

just...try to think before you do anything for now on- 

[captainchocolatesstuff]

A Western Swallowtail in the Sky

Butterfly! Denki Kaminari x Reader

How you met Denki was… comedic in a sense, but at the time you both scared each other.

You could almost remember that day clearly as if it was just yesterday that you met Denki, in reality, it was only a few months back that you met him. 

You were just tending to the shop below your flat that your grandma gave you after her passing, it was a normal day really, lonely but normal, and in the back of the shop was a big greenhouse connected to the building and it was also filled to the brim with plants and flowers. Admittedly, you weren’t too interested in taking over your grandma’s business, but you were having a hard time in the city and brought back some nostalgic memories of when you were happy in tending to the garden as a kid.

So you took it without much of a fuss, and during that time you tended to the flowers, watering them, checking if any pests got in, and keeping the soil clean. When you got the last column you noticed that there was a noticeable trail of pollen, you covered your face in your mask so that whatever pollen in the air wouldn't enter your nostrils as you looked around the area. 

There wasn’t anything else other than the hole in the ceiling and the pollen trail, tightening your grip on the watering can you held you followed the trail, noting that you may have to call someone to fix the ceiling and you’d put a tarp over it for the time being. You took caution as you kept your eyes on the trail and soon enough it led you to the storage house, the door was slightly ajar so with a deep inhale you slammed the doors open with as you shouted, “Oi! Get the hell out of my shop intruder!”

This “intruder” froze mid pause with a sunflower in his mouth, and you also stood frozen at his appearance, he had antennas protruding from his head, blonde hair with a black lightning bolt looking streak, and a set of his wings on his back. Wings that looked like a western tiger swallowtail, basically a butterfly, this guy was literally kin to a butterfly. You didn’t know what else to do as he finished eating the sunflower in his mouth, you both stared at each other for a long while, it was silent for a while until he gave a shaky smile and a wave of his hand.

“Uh~... Hiya?”

“.......”

“AHHHHH!”, you both scream when you blindly throw your watering can at him before running out of the storage house. You heard him running after you as you ran through columns of plants and flowers, calling after you.

“Hey! Wait-Ack! I can explain just don’t call your weird white coats!”, he pleads. You look back at him, missing the chance to jump over the watering hose thus causing you to trip and fall flat on your face with a yelp and groan following after. The butterfly guy also fell on top of you making you groan louder as he yelped, you twisted around to face him before propping yourself on an elbow while your free hand rubbed your nose.

The butterfly guy whined as he rubbed his forehead before looking down at you, “You humans have a really weird way of greeting others ya know”, he pouts.

“Wh- What~?”, you blink at him.

“That watering can hurt you know~ Ugh I think I’m gonna have a bump forming on my head soon”, he whines again as you shakily point at him, catching his attention.

“What- What exactly are you? Who are you?”, you ask as he stood up, spreading his wings with a smile.

“I am a bugmorph! Think of it as a fairy or sprite without the magic, except the shrinking and growing part~ Anyways, the name is Denki Kaminari!”, he introduces with a chirpy tone. He outstretched his hand to you as he tilted his head to the side, “And you? What’s your name?”.

You look at his hand hesitantly before sighing and grabbing it, giving him a shaky smile, “I’m (Y/n) (L/n)... I work here now”, you trail off as Danki helped you stand.

“Wait, (L/n)? OH! You must be Mrs. (G/n)’s granddaughter!”, he excitedly chirps, his wings fluttering as his antennas twitched, it surprised you that he knew your grandma.

“H-How do you know my grandma?”, you couldn’t help but ask.

He gave you a toothy grin as he began to explain, “Well, she helped me and some friends of mine get back on our feet, you see, some of our wingers were damaged due to some circumstances and there was a storm out, none of us could fly or anything so we were trapped in this greenhouse part of your grandma’s shop when she found us she was nothing but kind and she cared for us during our stay”, he smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“She told us about you whenever we asked, that’s how I got to know you a bit, but when we were up to speed we had to leave though we all made sure to visit her when we could”, he finished, then a sad sympathetic smile came onto his face as he looked over at you, “When we heard of her passing we had to come, we wanted to know what would happen to her home, we were all sad that she was gone at the time but when we found out that someone in her family would be owning the place we got excited and anxious to some extent”, he finished.

You were in awe, he had a history with your grandma alongside his friends, and it made you really happy to know that she didn’t feel as lonely with these “bugmorphs” around. 

“You know I’m glad that it was you that got hold of this place, Mrs. (G/n) said that out of all her grandchildren you were the one that had a green thumb and you like being here, she said she wouldn’t know what to do with this place but she didn’t want to give it away since she and your grandpa put their lives work into making this place”, he smiles.

You laugh lightly, “Yeah, they did, they really loved gardening together… it really was their lives work but…”, you trail off as you bit your lip before giving a nervous smile, “I don’t feel like I got what it takes to keep this place in shape again, it’s been a long time since I took care of this place, I barely remember what I’m supposed to do~ Oh, and- uh- sorry about the watering can by the way”, you laugh weakly.

Denki hummed as he rubbed his chin before snapping his fingers, catching your attention, “How about I show you the ropes then! To get you back into the rhythm, I often watched as your grandma went about taking care of this place, and helped too of course, so I know the drills! And it’s fine, it doesn’t hurt anymore, as long as I get to help you out then I forget about the water can thing, deal?”, his eyes twinkled as he stuck out his hand for you to shake and he gave you a cheeky grin.

You smiled at him before grabbing his hand and shaking it.

“It’s a deal, Denki”

~~~

And that was how your friendship began with the bugmorph, he was goofy but there were times where he could be too much to handle, still, he was always well-meaning about his intentions. As difficult as it was for you to admit it, Denki was actually someone you truly considered as a real friend, sure you had the ones from home and school, but admittedly you knew you weren’t that close to them. 

There were times when Denki told you stories of his friends and all the things they experienced, he even told you of times he and his friends hung out with your grandma. You caught yourself being a bit envious of him a few times, but learned to be more open and come to terms with your minor envy as he continued to reveal many things to you.

Denki even shrunk himself in front of you one time, you jolted at the sudden size change only to see him fluttering his wings right in front of your face, he told you that whenever they were small the majority of people would see them as regular bugs unless they allowed a specific person to see them, it had something to do with the pheromoans in their antennae if you faintly recalled. Since then Denki used his size-changing technique from time to time to rest in your hair while you run your shop during opening hours, some people commented on it and some kids wanted to see him, Denki didn’t mind as long as they didn’t handle him roughly. It was during this time you figured he really liked the attention, you only smiled.

Currently, you were just watering some plants and had your usual customers come and go, Denki was, again, in your hair as you tended to the sunflowers. 

“So how are your relationships back home (Y/n)? So far I’ve been telling you about mine…”, Denki trailed off as you paused mid watering a plant nearby. Denki was quick to notice your silence as he then stumbled on his words as he waved about, “I-I mean-! That’s only if you want to talk about it! Of course!”.

You smiled as a chuckle escaped you, “It’s fine Denki, besides, back at home it’s… kinda hard to say honestly”, you put down the watering can as Denki made his way to your shoulder. He was quiet as you sighed, rubbing your temples before picking up a flower pot.

“You see, my home was too… dull in a sense, my parents were alright and everything but sometimes I just felt, I don’t know -um- it felt like my presence was fading into the background as they went about their lives, I honestly don’t blame them but what hurt more was… the fact that they only acknowledged me when it came to school or job stuff”, you huff, Deki felt your shoulders tense before feeling you relax as you sighed, he gave you a worried look as you continued, “My older sister was often praised, and even my younger brother too whenever they brought up something from school or work… I had friends but I’m gonna be honest and say that it didn’t feel like I was truly their friend, I think they only saw me as a tagalong. Anyways, when I heard that my grandma passed away and gave me her business I was both… happy and sad”.

Denki’s wings fluttered as he leaned closer to your neck, seeing a faraway look of melancholy in your gaze, “Sad that I lost the person I was really able to connect with, but yet… happy that she gave me an escape from everything, it kind of feels like she knew what I was having trouble huh?”, you chuckle as you set the pot down to place soil in it.

“She did talk about you a lot, said you were her garden buddy”, Denki smiles as he recalled the conversation he had with the elder (l/n).

You laugh lightly, “We were, heh, we were”, you hum.

“(Y/n)...”, Denki called out to you.

“What is it Denki?”, you ask, looking at him when he flew up to your face.

“You don’t feel lonely, do you?”, he asked.

You smile fondly at him, “No, I haven’t felt lonely once since I met you, you keep the place entertaining you know~”, you coo at him before you head the bell ring, “See you around Denki!”, you grin at the bugmorph before leaving.

Denki gave you a smile in return as he watched you leave, a light pink hue covered his cheeks as his fist rested on his chest, “I’m glad…”, he said to himself.

“... that you’re not lonely anymore”

~~~

Every so often Denki would bring his friends over, when you first met them you were absorbed by their appearances and personalities. Mina was the most colorful if you were being honest, and quite fluffy, being the Rosy Maple Moth she is, Hanta was a similar species of Denki’s swallowtail but he was of the Spicebush breed, Eijiro was a Ruby Tiger and nearly as fluffy as Mina. Then there was Katsuki, and considering all the times he yelled “DIE” in a distance within ear shot, you found it fitting how he was a Death’s Head Hawkmoth. 

You got to know them well enough to say that you could genuinely call them friends of yours. Currently, while you were talking to Mina and Eijiro, Denki was with Katsuki and Hanta talking about things back at home or what not.

Denki occasionally glanced in your direction and sometimes he offhandedly stared at you for a bit of a long duration of time. Hanta and Katsuki eventually caught onto this when Denki’s voice trailed off as they were talking about a new schedule given to them by a teacher of theirs who still dragged around his cocoon.

“So how long are you going to beat around the damn bush until you tell her dunce face?”, Katsuki grumbled as he slurped up some spicy noodles.

“E-eh? Beat around what bush exactly?”, Denki looked back at his two friends with furrowed brows, Hanta snickered as he pointed at him.

“Dude, I thought it was obvious for you, the way you look at (Y/n) for a longer than normal amount of time, the way your face gets a tad darker when we talk about her, those should be pretty obvious even for you bro”, Hanta grins as he leans back on the table behind him with arms crossed.

“...I don’t get it- OW!! Bakago what the heck!”, Denki whined, rubbing his head where Katsuki hit him while the avrigated hawkmoth sharply set down his bowl before crossing his arms.

“I knew you were stupid, this this is scatterbrained even for you!”, Katsuki hissed.

“Hey what’s going on over here?”, Eijiro chimed in as Hanta looked behind him.

“Where did (Y/n) and Mina go?”, he asked.

“They went upstairs, Mina wanted to look through the clothes (Y/n) has”, Eijiro explained before looking at a still whining Denki, “What’s going on here?”, he asked again.

“Dunce head over here is beating around the bush about his stupid crush on the flower care taker”, Katsuki huffed as he went to pick up his plate while Eijiro did a double take and gaped at Denki.

“You like like (Y/n)!”, Eijiro exclaimed.

“Hey! I didn’t say anything about loving her!”, Denki shook his head and waved his hands around as Hanta sighed but kept his smile.

“You said ‘love’”, Hanta pointed out.

Denki choked as he stumbled back before catching himself and huffing, “S-So what if I did! Would you be jealous or something?!”.

“Nope, but it’s nice that you admitted the fact that you do like her romantically”, Hanat chuckled as Eijiro went along with him as Katsuki came back with a second bowl of ramen.

Denki huffed in frustration before sighing, giving into his friend's interrogation, “Okay yeah I like her but i’m sure she doesn’t return those feelings”, he frowned as his antenne twitched while he sat on the nearest table.

Eijiro and Hanta looked at each other in concern before looking back at their sullen friend while Katsuki watched with a raised brow, the way Denki’s wings dropped made them notice just how genuine their friend’s feelings were.

“Hey man, I’m sure it will turn out fine, as long as you are confident in your feelings and pursue her with all your heart, then there is nothing stopping you from becoming a real man!!”, Eijiro encouraged.

“Yeah, I mean, you never know unless you try right?”, Hanta adds, trying to help his troubled friend.

When they heard a bowl slam down they all turned to Katsuki as he huffed while finishing up his meal, “What’s the point of running after her if you can’t confront what you feel for her, it’s your problem so step up and deal with it already damn it~ Seeing you do nothing about it is starting to piss me off”, Katsuki growled as his friends stare at him in awe.

“That was a manly thing to say!”, Eijiro grinned.

“Wow Bakugo, I didn’t know you cared this much”, Hanta teased.

“Shut up both of you! I’ll kill you if you don’t shut up!”, Katsuki roared as the two laughed, leaving Denki to his thoughts before a small smile formed on his lips.

Meanwhile, you and Mina tried on many of your only and new outfits together while the boys were talking, Mina wanted you to try a spaghetti strap sundress that had bumble bee and sunflower prints you recently got yet never found the chance to wear.

“Awe! It’s so cute (Y/n)~! You should totally wear this tomorrow!”, Mina squealed as you chuckled.

“I don’t know Mina, I’m not sure if it’s going to be sunny tomorrow~”, you sheepishly say as you adjust the straps.

“It’s gonna be very sunny, trust me, you’re gonna want to wear this”, Mina assures as you sigh a smile.

“Alright, Alright, I’ll wear it”, you give in as she clapped her hands with a squeal, passing by the window you look down to see Denki talking with the others, his mute laughter made the corners of your mouth lift while Mina looked over your shoulder only to grin wildly when he traced your line of sight.

“So~ Denki huh?”, she chuckled as you looked over at her with a raised brow.

“Hm?”, you look over at Mina, “You say something Mina?”, you ask.

“You like Denki don’t you~!”, Mina 

“MiNa!!”, you gasp at her sudden (but accurate) claim.

She giggled as she locked arms with you, “I knew it! You love him don’t you?! You should tell him! I’m sure he likes you back!”, Mina chirped only to pause when you looked away, “(Y/n)? Something wrong?”.

You look back at Denki before giving a heavy sigh, “I- I don’t know Mina… would he like me back?”, you ask. 

Mina looks at you before smiling at you as she wrapped an arm around your shoulders, “Hey, it’s okay to be a bit nervous about your feelings, take it one step at a time, Denki might be a bit of a dummy but I’m sure even he can recognize an amazing girl like you! Otherwise he’d be very stupid to not see how good you are!”, she exclaims, making you laugh as she poked your sides.

“Okay! Okay! I get it! I-... I’ll try my best”, you smile as she hugs you.

“That’s the spirit (Y/n)!”, Mina gushed.

Once you were done changing back to the clothes you wore that day, you escorted Mina back to the group and chatted more with them before they decided to leave, they all bid you farewell until Denki was the last one left.

He turned to you with a big smile as he waved back at you, “See ya tomorrow (Y/n)”.

You smile, “See you tomorrow, Denki”, you wave as his wings flutter, you both stood there for a moment longer before you chuckled at one another. Denki gave you a final wave of goodbye before leaving, shrinking as he did.

~~~

You were content as you ran the flower shop, something about today made you feel like something good was going to happen, you weren’t sure what but it made you excited for some reason.

Your regular customers also noticed this, and sometimes asked you what made you so happy today, your simple response was that “Today feels like a good day”.

At the counter you went about arranging the flowers while tending to them, as you did you heard the bell chime, looking up you saw three people enter, two males and a female. All of them looked related, the oldest male seemed to be around his late twenties, the young male and female seemed to be around your age.

“Welcome to Anothousai’s Garden, if you need anything please ring the bell”, you gesture towards the call bell on the counter before continuing on with your work after the older male and young female smiled and waved at you before talking about some plans of theirs, something about a wedding? You shrugged it off as you continued with your work.

As you picked up a pot you heard a cough and rhythmic tapping on a table, looking over your shoulder you saw it was the younger male that entered with the other two, you rose a brow at his smirk when you locked eyes and mentally sighed to yourself. You felt your mood damper as he began to “converse” with you.

Denki flew through the garden house before resting on a flower in the shop, he sighed as he wiped off some sweat that gathered on his temple, when he heard your voice he jolted in excitement as he turned towards you and marveled in the dress you wore, a sundress with bumble bees and sunflowers. His attention was then directed towards a male in front of you, his wing twiched in interest when he saw a male leaning on the counter, talking to you.

“-so how about it huh? A date with a cutie like you and a ceat guy like me~ We can hit the movies, walk and do stuff before having some fun~”, he purred.

Denki’s wings fluttered in irritation as his antennas twitched, “Who the hell does he think he is?”, he silently seethed.

“Sorry but I’m not interested, I- I already have-”

“A boyfriend?”, the guy scoffs as you silently cringe at his dismissive behavior when he cuts you off, “I bet he’s lame and boring, how about I change your mind huh? I can give you the time of your life”, he smirked as you looked away.

Denki scowled before straightening up and discreetly flew up stairs to find the spare clothes your grandma set aside for him, a smirk came onto his lips as he morphed into his human height.

“So how about it?”, the guy pushed.

“Look, I told you already I have a boyfriend already”, you try to keep your composure as you give the guy a strained smile.

“I suggest you listen to my girl, I wouldn’t like starting with a fowl day, especially since we already have a date scheduled for tonight”, you hear Denki from behind you, nearly making you jolt as you turned around to see him walking down the steps casually with a grin on his face.

You smile at him in relief before lightly blushing at his last statement, shrugging it off for now you played along with him, “Denki~ I thought you were going to sleep in, weren’t you tired from yesterday's work?”, you ask.

Denki smiled down at you before wrapping his arms around you, pecking your temple as he rested his head on your shoulder as he closed his eyes, “I have the day off today, so I thought about helping you around your shop to ease off your loadwork”, he then opens an eye as he stared down the male in front of you, “Besides, I wanted to help you with any trouble you might have”.

The male customer coughs in his fist awkwardly as he takes his leave, and once he was out of eye and ear shot you both sighed as Denki let go of you.

“Thank you so much Denki, I owe you big time for that”, you grin at him only to tilt your head when he gives you a smile and a raised brow, “What?”.

“You said you owe me one, so~ I thought of something~”, he purred as you sigh.

“What is it?”, you ask in defeat.

“How about we make that date thing come true yeah, as payment for this whole thing, sound like a deal?”, he asked, a pink hue dusted over his cheeks as he smiled down at you, and you took note of the fidditing he did. You smiled as you curtly nodded your head.

“Deal, oh and Denki”, you call to him after he grinned in victory before tilting his head at you, he momentarily squeaked when you tugged him down your height before you langed a soft kiss on his cheek before pulling back to look up at him.

“Thank you”, you smile as he touches the area you kissed him on before walking away as he stood there dumbstruck.

He then turned to where you left in as he jogged after you.

“Wait! Wait! Wait! I want another one!”

[yrpspiritsintheshadows]

Cooling Down

Cooling Down

Carmen had been waiting for Ejij, her computer set up in the family room that overlooked the deck near the driveway.  It was getting late though. Even late by investigation standards.

He’s never been gone till three.

Carmen fidgeted with her necklace, glancing down at the driveway again. This wasn’t like her husband. Especially when he had papers to grade in the morning.

“Please, be okay…”

I know this one had some bad memories for us… but they’d text me if something was wrong… Right?

Her hands went from her necklace to wrapping her arms around her midsection.

Bright lights rushed past her head, her hand gripping tightly at her husband’s hand as he tried to keep up with the medical staff.

“Don’t worry, I promise I’m gonna be right there. I’m right here.” 

“Eiji…”

He gave her a reassuring look, trying to hide the fear in his eyes.

“I love you.”

He’s always trying to take care of people. Even put up with having to be by my head during my c-section… 

I just want to be there for him too.

It wasn’t long after that the van pulled up. She watched as Eiji bid the team goodbye before heading up the deck.

She didn’t even give him a chance to open the door as she flung it open for him. His tired eyes met hers as he stepped inside the house.

“Hey…” He whispered.

“Hey…” Carmen frowned, cupping his cheek. “You okay?”

Eiji shook his head, bringing his arms around her.

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” He whispered, keeping her close. He was just relieved to be home, away from all that nonsense.

It had been a hard night.

Carmen stroked his back, concerned at how exhausted he really was. 

“Let’s go upstairs. Get you into bed.”

“Okay…” Eiji followed her upstairs, keeping quiet as they walked down the hall. He peered into Ken’s room, seeing the boy was fast asleep, huddled close to Okami. 

Safe and sound.

He peered into Hikaru’s room, finding the teen halfway off his bed but soundly asleep from the way he was breathing.

“That can't be comfy.” He remarked as Carmen peered in after, giggling a bit.

“Oh, Hika…”

“I got him.” Eiji went in, lifting him back into his bed. Hikaru churred a little in his sleep, nuzzling into his pillow.

Eiji smiled softly, stroking his hair.

“Dream on.” He tucked him, back in, before going back to Carmen. She had a warm look in her eyes, cupping his cheeks.

“You’re such a dad.” She whispered, kissing him quickly.

He smiled sheepishly, kissing her forehead.

“I can’t help it… Is Hideki…?”

“Already checked on him. All curled up in a ball and asleep.”

Eiji nodded, touching his forehead to hers.

“Sorry.”

“Stop being so silly. You’re worried about them.”

“Not that… Sorry… I didn’t listen to you.” 

Carmen frowned, pulling him into their bedroom, closing the door.

“Why? Because you wanted to help someone with an object they didn’t know was haunted?” 

Eiji shook his head, changing into his night clothes before nearly collapsing into the bed. 

“No… because it turns out, she made it haunted herself. Carmen, she was using a spirit board and knowingly didn’t close the portal.”

Carmen froze up before getting into bed with him.

“Eiji… That’s horrible!” She looked him over. “Are you alright? Did anything-”

“Only Skyler got attacked. We cleansed the house, closed it up… and dealt with an old foe..” Eiji closed his eyes tightly, curling up next to her. “I said I didn’t wanna talk about it but… It keeps haunting me.”

Carmen laid beside him, resting a hand on his side.

“Eiji, you can tell me anything.”

Eiji buried his face into her hair, his shoulders shaking. He had been fine leaving the house… but after, it took everything to hold it together until he got home. 

He thought it didn’t hurt him anymore. After twenty years, he thought he was an expert at keeping things to himself about it.

“Carmen… I…” He shook his head, eyes stinging. 

“Shh….” She stroked his side a little, kissing his forehead. “You’re okay. It’s okay mi amor. You don’t have to.”

“It was the spirit that attacked me when I was a kid. The idiot who hired us managed to summon THAT ghost.” 

Carmen’s eyes widened in alarm, before hugging her husband tightly.

“Oh, oh, oh Eiji…”

Eiji closed his eyes tightly, biting his lip, tears running down his face, trying to fight down the memories.

“What’d I do that was so bad? I was just a kid…”

“Shh…” She kissed his head again. “Shhh… You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I just wanted to protect my sister.” He whispered. “I just… wanted to be a good big brother.” 

“And she lived.”

Eiji nodded, keeping close to her. He was exhausted, his mind was going at a thousand thoughts a minute.

“Shhh…”

He looked to her with a pained look.

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop.” She touched her forehead to his, keeping eye contact with him. “Deep breath.”

He took a shaky one.

“Exhale.”

He released it, his body slumping a little. Sleep was creeping up on him. The whispered reassurances from his wife, the warmth of their blanket as she pulled it up over them…

Her very presence by his side.

“I love you…” He whispered, before his eyes slid shut.

What would I do without you?

oooooo

The next day, there was something definitely off in the household. Namely, when the boys hurried downstairs, Okami in tow.

“Hey, where’s Dad?” Hikaru looked around. “He’s always up right about now.”

“Or if he wasn’t, he’d be waking up as soon as Okami started making a racket.” Hideki added.

Carmen yawned, gaining their attention, to where she was at the stove. 

“You’re dad, had a really rough night last night guys. He really needs his sleep right now.” She explained, keeping her voice low. “So, we’re just letting him sleep in since it’s still the weekend.”

“Okay… Can I help with breakfast?”

“Sure can, Deki.” 

Hikaru and Ken glanced back upstairs, exchanging a worried look.

“He’s okay… right?”

“Just tired.” Carmen gave them a reassuring look, motioning for them to come away from the stairs. “We’ll get him up later.”

“Alright.” Hikaru lifted up Ken before the smaller boy could make it back up the stairs.

“EEP! Hey, Hikaaaa!”

Hikaru let him hang off his shoulders by his ankles, eliciting a stream of giggles as Ken tried futility to get free.

“Nooope! C’mon, let’s see that parkour mastery of yours get you out.”

Ken grinned, mischief in his eyes.

“Okami, halp!” 

Hikaru was standing one moment, the next, all he saw was a bullet made of dark fluff running right at him.

“Oh, fri-”

THUD!

“OOF!”

Hikaru groaned, squirming out from under the massive dog, giving Ken a sour look. The little boy was happily cuddled up to her, getting nuzzled.

“I hate you.” He said, letting his head hit the floor again.

“I love you too!” Ken chirped.

Carmen cleared her throat, giving the boys a warning look.

“Take it outside.”

Hikaru held up his hands in an “I’m unarmed” position before getting up.

“Hey, I was just trying to keep him from waking up Dad.”

Ken pouted.

“I wasn’t gonna wake him up.”

“Maybe not but she-” Hikaru gestured to Okami. “Can easily wake anyone up by just jumping on the dang bed.”

Ken huffed before getting up.

“I’m goin outside. Call me when breakfast is done! C’mon Okami!”

Okami perked up, hurrying out the backdoor with him.

“Mom, you want me to…?”

“He’s fine.” Carmen looked out the kitchen window. “He knows not to go for a long walk before breakfast - and Okami’s with him. She’s fierce when she has to.”

“Duly noted… I’m gonna go tinker for a bit then.” 

And keep an ear out for Dad.

Dunno if he has issues with nightmares too but seems we all get them.

Hikaru quietly made his way back upstairs to his room to grab his toolkit. The hallway was quiet, the only sounds coming from downstairs.

He was quick, grabbing up his latest project and tools, heading out of his room… letting out a sharp gasp, stumbling back as Eiji let out a sharp gasp of his own, eyes going wide.

“Oh Poseidon…” Hikaru muttered, putting a hand over his heart. 

“Vitalis Above…” Eiji gasped, trying to slow his heartrate. “You scared the crud outta me.”

“You are so one to talk.” Hikaru replied, raising an eyebrow. “I thought you were sleeping.” He remarked, noting how Eiji was dressed.

He was wearing a grey T-shirt with light blue jeans, foregoing his hoodie for now.

“I…” Eiji grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I couldn't get back to sleep. I thought it was time to get up and I was gonna go outside. Maybe go for a run through the property.”

“Oh.” Hikaru leaned against his doorway. “Kenny’s already outside. He’ll love that.”

“You wanna come with?”

“Hm… Maybe. Maybe after food.”

Eiji’s stomach growled as his face turned red.

“Maybe food’s a good idea.” He chuckled. “Sleep well?”

“Yup. Had a nice dream too for once.”

Eiji was relieved to hear that. Hikaru's nightmares were still present but slowly fading. Enough that his therapist didn’t think he needed dream therapy after all.

“That’s wonderful.”

Good. That’s progress. Really great progress. 

He still was a bit out of it, the remnants from the night before trying to come through. He was trying to get his mind off of it though since trying to sleep only brought up hazy dreams about haunted dolls and spirit boards.

Eiji headed downstairs, motioning for Hideki to keep quiet, coming up behind Carmen. 

He wrapped his arms around her, kissing the back of her head.

“Morning.”

“Hey…” She gave him a gentle look. “Welcome back sleepy head.”

“Good to be back. Coffee?”

“Already brewed.” 

Eiji hugged her tighter before going to make himself a cup. 

“So, what are you gonna do after breakfast eh?”

“Go for a run, maybe take the kids, unless you don’t want the house to yourself.” He grinned, before glancing to Hideki. “You wanna go out with me and your brothers later?”

“Maybe. I was gonna call someone…” He murmured, his cheeks going a bit pink.

“Oh?” 

“Just a… really good friend.”

Hikaru walked by him, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Her name is Tomino.” He grinned, earning a hard elbow to his stomach. “OOF! Worth it….”

“Get outta my kitchen!” 

Eiji had to think for a moment before the name registered. She was one of his students and if he recalled right…

She’s also in the music club and trying to start some kind of band. Least that’s what hallway chatter’s led me to believe.

“So… It’s THAT Tomino? Very nice choice.”

Hideki’s face was bright red.

“No comments from the sleeping gallery.” He muttered.

Eiji held up his hands.

“No worries, I’m not gonna tease.”

Yet.

Awww my shark pup might have a crush.

“Good or no food.”

“I share that sentiment.” Carmen smirked, nudging her husband a bit. “Now, go.”

“Going, going.”

Ah… I love my family.

After breakfast, Eiji grabbed his coat, getting ready to head out.

“Last call! Whoever wants to go out and get some fresh air and sunshine, say “aye” and follow me. If not, you’re free to stay home and we’ll go out later.” 

Ken hurried over, Okami right next to him.

“I wanna go!”

He chuckled, ruffling his hair.

“Alright buddy, let’s go. Hikaru? Hideki?”

Hideki walked by, holding up his phone and putting a finger to his lips. Eiji nodded, giving him a thumbs up.

Hikaru looked down at his robot he was tinkering with before getting up, dusting himself off.

“Sure, why not?” He grabbed his sweater before hurrying out with them.

Eiji gave him a grin as they started walking towards the end of the yard and into the forest itself.

“So, ponte un sueter?” He guessed.

“Guuuh yes. She pulled that at pick up from robotics club when we ran late. In front of all my friends. Including Marco.”

“Oof.” He winced. “Sorry kiddo.”

“Can’t complain too much eh?”

Ken walked between them, giving his older brother a playful look.

“But big bro! Mommy had to say it TWICE remember?”

“Why you little-!”

Ken ducked behind Eiji, whining a little. The man rolled his eyes, patting his head.

“Alright you two, chill… though seriously, bummer. Her mom still does that to her whenever we visit too.” He made his voice sound a bit high pitched, covering his mouth with his hands. “CARMENITA!” He exclaimed. “YOU’RE GOING TO GET DOUBLE PNEUMONIA! PONTE UN SUETER VAMANOS!!!” 

The boys busted up laughing.

“PFFT! Oh gosh! Guess it’s a good thing I haven’t met her yet!” Hikaru laughed, throwing his head back.

“That’s Abuelita alright!” Ken agreed, giggling up a storm. “Ken! You’re too skinny!” 

Eiji snickered.

“Yup, that’s your grandma. Least on your mom’s side. My mom’s… a bit more chill.”

“Just a bit eh?” 

Eiji nodded, looking around them. The forest was quiet today, the only sounds coming from the nearby river that ran through it and the birds chirping overhead.

“Honestly, can’t complain. She helped pay for our house.”

Hikaru stopped short as they kept walking.

“Wait. Seriously, Dad, how rich are we!?”

“Eh, enough?” He shrugged. 

Hikaru shook his head, running a hand through his hair. 

“Seriously, what do I have to do to get on her good side?”

“Not knock over her favorite vase!” Ken quipped, a guilty look coming to his face. “Especially not the blue one with the tiny birds.”

“... Oh… Noodle incident?”

“Literally.” Ken and Eiji retorted.

This family is nuts.

I love it.

Eiji looked up towards the sky, sighing a bit.

“I needed this.”

“How bad was it?”

“Enough that I really don’t wanna talk about it. Let’s just leave it at never use a spirit board. Kay?”

“Um… Alright.” Hikaru frowned a little. “You sure you're okay?”

“Yeah. Just gotta keep busy.” He broke into a jog. “C’mon. keep up!”

Ken broke into a sprint after him, giggling.

Hikaru shrugged, picking up the pace. If this was how Eiji coped with the things that he was afraid of, then he could get used to it.

Definitely can get used to it.

Eiji glanced back at the boys, smiling.

I’ll be alright. 

I’ve got a lot more depending on me now and I’m not gonna let them down.

[longeyelashedtragedy]

Writer ask meme

I was tagged by the flamazing @feedingmyinsomnia​ <333 and i will tag...if you want!... @perfectpiety @amethyst-fox-jv @ayerlind @sitkowski and anyone else who writes who sees this!  but you don’t have to, just feel honored that i tagged you ;)

ao3 name: catmanu!

fandoms: currently writing in the football (as in soccer) rpf fandom, but always have other things on my mind as well.

number of fics: i’ve written SO many in my lifetime and most have never been published anywhere.

fic i spent the most time on: technically “exit right” because it took me like...a year and a half to write it?  in terms of like...period of time spent actively writing it’s definitely “trophy boyfriend.”

fic i spent the least amount of time on: either “fly faster!” which i wrote in like, an hour or “jet ski još čeka” which i wrote over the course of a day.

shortest fic: my shortest standalone fic on ao3 is “the world drowned” at 370 words--my ancient shireen baratheon/rickon stark futurefic 

most hits / most kudos / most comment threads / most bookmarks / highest total word count:  ok im leaving out the drabble collections.  omg without even looking i know this is all gonna be fuckin... “captivated” because i’m The arya/jaqen person on ao3 even now.  let’s see.  most hits: “captivated,” most kudos: “captivated,” most comment threads: “trophy boyfriend,” most bookmarks: “captivated,” highest total word count: “trophy boyfriend.”  sigh

favorite fic i wrote: omg i think i made a post like this recently?   most recently my favorite fics are “trophy boyfriend,” “5.VII.,” “ça c’est ma dope,” “what we do in the élysée,” “victory rain,” “the heat of it all,” “soy loca con mi tigre,” “chief of the armed forces.”  in the past i love all my arya/jaqen stuff so much.  i really do love most of what i’ve written that i posted, but these stand out to me.  oh, and how could i forget-- “modernity towering in front of the sky.” still slaps tbqh

fic i want to rewrite/expand on: everything i’ve written is its own thing.  i don’t usually write things that require a sequel or anything, so there isn’t really anything i can think of?

share a bit of a wip or story idea you’re working on:, ok, so, ahhhh.  i post a lot from my current big ass wip “mare liberum,” but another thing i’m agonizing over is my šluka (šime & luka) longfic “we light up the world.”  i thought it was going to be a fun little jaunt but it’s killing me because there’s not much of a precedent for it and i honestly have no idea how to write the pov.  F in the chat for my pov.  but sigh, i’ll stick a bit of it below; read at your own risk...

Tonight there really is a reason for him to be available and he’s had enough rakija on an empty enough stomach (what was the last thing he ate? How come he can’t remember?) to feel like putting his hand on Luka Modrić’s strong heroic leg and leaning into his face till their noses touched just like on Zadar beach and saying…well, he’s not sure what he’d say.  But he has to pretend he’s sober because Luka is pretty sober and his whole family is here anyway.

Fuck it!  They should have just done the grapes thing!

Šime pulls out his phone and makes Deki a Happy New Year! video instead.  It feels really good to talk to Dejan, even if he can’t talk back.

He gets an idea in the middle of this.  “Hey, look,” he says to his phone.   “Look who’s here with me.  Wait for it…wait for it…HEY…CAPTAIN!”

At least Luka looks happy to see him, and that makes him feel warm all over, warmer than you get from drinking alone.  He turns away from Vanja.  “What’s up?”

“Wanna say hi to Dejan with me?  Say hi, Captain Luka.”

Luka smirks.  “Are you two live?  I don’t want to be in any of your lives.”

Šime clutches his heart.  “Did you hear that, Deki?   Our captain doesn’t like our lajjjjjjvs.  Think we should—mutiny.”

Suddenly Luka’s bony chin lands on Šime’s shoulder.  “Happy New Year!” he yells in Šime’s ear.  Šime doesn’t really mind.  “Are you back in Croatia?  How many times have you bullied Davor this—oh, you’re not live.”  He ruffles Šime’s curls.  Dejan’s not going to be too thrilled about that, but considering he and Šime are both, well, married—and not to each other—Šime figures he can’t reasonably complain about someone else touching his ljubavi’s hair.  And he’ll tell Deki that if he does.  “You should have told me.  I feel stupid.”  He winks.

“Well...you said you didn’t want to be in any of our lajjjjjjvs,” Šime sings.  “So, now you’re not.  See?”  He sticks his tongue out at his video for Deki.  “C’mon, brate, I’ll show you who else is here.”  He moves away from Luka quickly.  Just in case.

He isn’t sure how much time has passed, but he’s definitely helped himself to another drink or two or more than two, and suddenly Luka has appeared next to him.  His hair looks so soft and fluffy and beautiful and Šime just wants--really, really wants to take Luka in his arms and put his nose in his hair and just hold him for a long time.  Rest his head on top of Luka’s head, maybe.  Whisper we’re so lucky to have you.  Please don’t ever retire, play until your bones turn to dust.  Please don’t leave.  

“Hey, do you want a ride home?” Luka asks.  All of a sudden he puts his arm around Šime and Šime pinches his leg pretty hard to make sure this is real.  Luka’s arms are—tricky.  When you first see them, you don’t realize how strong they are.  But when you feel them, you know.  And when one of them is wrapping around your shoulders like a big, heavy snake, you really know.  “I don’t know how you got here, but you shouldn’t get home that way.”

Šime snorts.  “Thanks, Mom.  Since when do you care…I’ve seen you way more drunk than I am right now.”

Luka is playing with the ends of his hair.  Why is Luka playing with the ends of his hair?  He pinches his leg again and it stings a little, but, is he dreaming that he’s pinching himself?  Did someone put something in the rakija?  He stares around the room wildly for a second, wondering who in there’s trying to get him in bed.  “Yeah, but I had people to take care of me, then,” Luka says.  “Even if people was just you and Domo holding my legs.”

“Mmmmm,” Šime agrees, remembering much more about those days than just that.

“But especially you.  You always look out for me when I get like…”  Luka gives him a wet kiss on the forehead and lets go of his shoulders.  “So let us drive you back.”

“Uhhhh.”  Šime stares at Luka till his eyes cross.   Wow, he’s definitely more drunk than he thought he was.  “Okay,” he says.

Sofia is asleep by the time they leave.  Vanja carries her to the car.  Their older two’s eyes are closing as they walk, so Luka holds their hands.  Šime walks a few steps behind them, feeling kind of like the family dog.  It’s not too late to call an Uber, right?.  He really should just call an Uber.  He will, actually.  He pulls out his phone only to realize that making Dejan a video had used up all the battery.

“Go on, sit in the front.  Come on.”  Šime blinks. Vanja is smiling at him. 

“No, that’s...You should sit next to Luka. I’m totally cool with sitting with the kids! They’re all so awesome.”

“They’re all so asleep,” Vanja says. Šime peeks into the car. In the back, Ivano and Ema have already passed out. “Take the front. You’re our guest.”

Šime flops into the passenger seat. He doesn’t want to be rude to Vanja, or make anything even more awkward. But it’s just that up here Luka’s cologne smells so strong and it would be so easy to reach over and just touch him while telling him he still thinks about being a Zadar kid with him just about every week. And he’s so bad at resisting temptation when he’s drunk. Mmmmm, my sinner, Dejan would say sometimes. My beautiful sinful sinner, God, my beautiful perfect—

“Hey, got a playlist?” he asks quickly.  If he gets hard thinking about Deki this won’t get any less weird. “How about some Marice, mariceeeeee--”

“I wish,” Luka says. “But the kids…”  Šime watches how the streetlights light up all the interesting angles of his face.  “Once they’re asleep, you’ll do anything to make sure they stay asleep.  You know how that goes.”  

Šime swallows around the guilty lump that’s suddenly appeared in his throat and he nods.  He keeps his eyes fixed on Luka’s face.  Each time a car’s headlights flash across it, it changes.  Sometimes he looks much younger than he is. And sometimes he looks…older than 34.  Like an eternal captain, like he’ll somehow be Šime’s leader forever even after he retires.

“Luka, stop talking to him,” Vanja says from behind him.  “He looks about as exhausted as the kids.”

“What?  That’s like asking me to stop playing football,” Luka says. “I could never stop talking to Šime.”  And keeping his eyes on the road, he takes one hand off the wheel to rest it on Šime’s leg. “We go way back.  Zadar kids and all.”

Suddenly words are hard.  “We, uhhh—yeah.  It’s not like I knew you back in the day.  We don’t go back that f--that--we…”

“What did I say?” Vanja said.  “Your best right-back’s falling asleep.”

“No, ‘m…’m not, I…”  And Luka is gently squeezing his knee, and--

“Maybe help him get inside,” Vanja is saying.  Šime blinks.  Somehow they’re back at his place and he has no idea how it happened.

“Hey, did I snore?  Did I talk in my sleep or something?”

“Nope,” Vanja says.  “I hate to say it, Šime, but you’re pretty boring when you sleep.”

“Oh?”  He yawns.  What is he, an old man all of a sudden?  A few drinks and this is what happens to him?  “Dejan says I’m cudd--”

“Okayyyy, out,” Luka says.  He’s totally covering up a laugh.  Shit!  “That’s a good idea, Vanja.  I’ll get him inside.  Can’t lose a defender, right?”

Šime says goodnight to Vanja, who now definitely knows he and Deki are fucking, but she’s a pretty chill person, so it really could be worse.  His legs wobble underneath him, and he bumps into the warm hood of the car.

[hanak0toba]

Lyrics Translation: BAD HOP - KAWASAKI DRIFT

*this song contains some explicit lyrics in English

This song is from their BAD HOP HOUSE album (2018).  Side note, I was a little more casual and used more slang than I usually do when translating, but it fits the song style better.

KAWASAKI DRIFT Romaji

[HOOK: YZERR] Kawasaki matagari zenkoku HANDORU kiri Low kara TOP Kinou no ore furikiru kyou AKUSERU zenkai de ikou Machi no fame, kane ni CHENJI Suruze kono Flow Kowasu chain, fukasu ENJIN Machi wo DORIFUTO

[Verse 1: Vingo] Machi kara kuni e　daishibashi no ue Tokyo kara Kawaski-koku　nakama no moto e Tokyo ga ore PAWAASUPOTTO Notteru Iketa oto Majime dattara deki ne Orera zenkoku muteki menkyo? Hi wo fuku MAFURAA　mitoreru onna Hayasa wa Kawasaki Ninja H.2.R Mieru ore wa toughboy Nokosu TAIYAkon Hisshi ni senaka otteru dake De omae no tabi wa long way Susundara kaerenai Home e Yasunde mo tomaranai tokei Kagami ENEMY Yasumanai oretachi Furikitta mukashi no DASAkatta ore

[HOOK: YZERR] Kawasaki matagari zenkoku HANDORU kiri Low kara TOP Kinou no ore furikiru kyou AKUSERU zenkai de ikou Machi no fame, kane ni CHENJI Suruze kono Flow Kowasu chain, fukasu ENJIN Machi no DORIFUTO

[Verse 2: G-k.i.d] Skrr skrr　SATSUyori saki ni Skrr skrr　MAFIA ga ugoki Mata yobidashi Naru phone ga mezamashi Chi de chi arai　shigaramu machi Furyou kara mananda SHINOGI ni reigi HAMAtteta BARI kara ongaku ni CHENJI Highway kazakiri　wataru hashi Mirror utsuru Kawasaki ghetto city

[Yellow Pato] Ima ja kanshi KAMERA no naka　tobidashi SUTEEJI no ue shashin wo torareteru　oretachi ARAsagashi ni Hater wa hisshi Ogame toki na gamen goshi ni Saki ga nee　sarumane　dake no fake Tsuruma nee　subete ga masayume Orera wa yasuma nee Wakate　chuuken karaku okizari KYASSHU de omoi BAGGU Sekai no KAWASAKI

[HOOK: YZERR] Kawasaki matagari zenkoku HANDORU kiri Low kara TOP Kinou no ore furikiru kyou AKUSERU zenkai de ikou

[Verse 3: Bark] Mata dareka ga tsubuyaku Kono machi kara derenai Yokubou ga machi uzumaku Dedokoro na ikegami Gang bitch yokome fukasu weed ni AKUSERU NEZUMI no you　CHEDAA ou KIDS tachi no yume ni naru Hi wo fuku Ninja KAWASAKI

[Tiji Jojo] Jamamono tachi furikiru Flow Orera no mae ja subete ga Slow SUPINsuru TAIYA agaru kemuri Kozeni ni surane seikatsu nukete　mukau TOP Sodatte kita machi　tobitatsu GARUUINGU Antei nante iranai　tataka nee ishibashi Yogore teru te de hoshii mono zenbu ubau JENGA no you　kane tsumiageru

[Benjazzy] Dou kirinukeru Machi no jiken wa taema nee Dare ga mukashi KATAGI de Katae atama to KORUKU METTO Hayaji ni shite YATSUra no sonae Te wo nobasu furousha to onaji DNA Orera kakuse nee Kenami kara chigee MISUrya ato ga nee GAKI no akogare Mi kara deru sabi de sabita katai chain Tsunagareru　nariagari no tameni Orera tomaranee

[HOOK: YZERR] Kawasaki matagari zenkoku HANDORU kiri Low kara TOP Kinou no ore furikiru kyou AKUSERU zenkai de ikou

[Verse 4: T-Pablow] Doromizu kara champagne KAPPU men kara ROBUSUTAA Kawarazu owareru mi Shounen A kara SUPERSTAR Tsugi ni okumanchouja naru RAPPAA dare Mochiron sore wa ore (pablow) Mochiron sore wa ore NINJA hiku RAJIKON　Nintendo FAMIKON Ore no machi de wa sugi ni hagare sabite kusaru PACHIMON Kawasaki-ku de yuumei ni naritakya Hito korosu ka RAPPAA ni naru kada ARU PACHIINO janakute ARU KAPONE Yakudzukuri janakute kore wa ikizama I’m a trouble man

[HOOK: YZERR] Kawasaki matagari zenkoku HANDORU kiri Low kara TOP Kinou no ore furikiru kyou AKUSERU zenkai de ikou Machi no fame, kane ni CHENJI Suruze kono Flow Kowasu chain, fukasu ENJIN Machi wo DORIFUTO

KAWASAKI DRIFT English Translation

[HOOK: YZERR] Kawasaki takin’ over the country Swervin’[1]  from down Low to the TOP Today I’m shakin’ off my past Gonna take off with the accelerator at full throttle My Flow is gonna change This town’s fame and my fortune Breakin’ the chain, revving the engine Drifting [all over] the city

[Verse 1: Vingo] Heading to our hometown from the city　over the Daishi Bridge From Tokyo to our native Kawasaki　back to the place we all began Tokyo’s my power-spot Riding that sound I can do it if I really try, [2] ya know Can we get a nationwide license to do what we want[3]? Ladies so attracted to　the flames shooting outta my tailpipe Our speed is like a Kawasaki Ninja H.2.R[4]  I look like such a toughboy Leavin’ behind tire tracks All [you see] is my back as you desperately try to keep up But you got a long way to go [to catch up] If you keep moving forward, you may not ever make it Home Even if you stop to rest, the clock won’t stop ticking The ENEMY is in the mirror So we ain’t never gonna rest [Til] I’ve outraced my messed-up past

[HOOK: YZERR] Kawasaki takin’ over the country Swervin’ from down Low to the TOP Today I’m shakin’ off my past Gonna take off with the accelerator at full throttle My Flow is gonna change This town’s fame and my fortune Breakin’ the chain, revving the engine Drifting [all over] the city

[Verse 2: G-k.i.d] Skrr skrr　[stayin’] ahead of the cops Skrr skrr　the mafia [5] is on the move Another call comes in Blowing up [6] my phone Their bloody feuds　are tied to this city Because of the gangs, I learned how to survive But because of those snags that tore at me, I became a musician Blowing down the Highway　crossing that bridge My Mirror reflecting Kawasaki ghetto city

[Yellow Pato] Now we’re busting out of the surveillance cameras And they’re snapping photos of us　on the stage Haters always tryna find fault with us While they worship us through the screen First off, yo　they ain’t nothing but fake　imitators It’d be a dream come true　to never have to deal with them Yo, we ain’t ever gonna stop Leaving those trivial, mediocre　kids [in the dust] Our wallets fat with cash [That’s] world-famous KAWASAKI

[HOOK: YZERR] Kawasaki takin’ over the country Swervin’ from down Low to the TOP Today I’m shakin’ off my past Gonna take off with the accelerator at full throttle

[Verse 3: Bark] Someone’s bitchin’[7]  again Ain’t never getting out of this town Desire [for more] flooding the whole city My birthplace, Ikegami[8]  Glancin’ at that Gang bitch smokin’ weed as I fly by Chasin’ after that cheddar　like a rat Becoming the dream of all the KIDS My fire-spouting Ninja KAWASAKI

[Tiji Jojo] Leavin’ those lame-asses in the dust with my Flow Everything in front of us is movin’ so Slow Raisin’ smoke with my spinning tires Heading towards the TOP　to a lifestyle where money ain’t no thing In this town where I was raised,　them gull-wing doors [9] going up Don’t need no predictability;　I just go for it[10]  Snatchin’ up everything I want with my grubby hands Stackin’ up that money　like [I’m playin’] Jenga[11] 

[Benjazzy] How you gonna survive? The trouble in this city is endless [Honestly,] who’s that out of touch with reality[12] ? So hard-headed [it’s like they’re wearing] a helmet[13]  This goes out to all those guys who died too young Reachin’ out my hand to all you outcasts [14] with the same DNA We ain’t gonna hide We can’t change who we are It ain’t no mistake We’re what little punks [15] aspire to be We’re like family[16];　sendin’ this out to all the young wannabes Rust rubbing off on their skin from their tarnished chains We ain’t gonna stop

[HOOK: YZERR] Kawasaki takin’ over the country Swervin’ from down Low to the TOP Today I’m shakin’ off my past Gonna take off with the accelerator at full throttle

[Verse 4: T-Pablow] From muddy water [17] to champagne From cup-noodles to lobster Unrelenting in the pursuit of my true self [I went] from “Boy A[18] ” to SUPERSTAR And then which rapper was it who turned into a millionaire? It was me, obviously (pablow) It was me, obviously Runnin’ you over with my R/C[19]  NINJA　[got my] Nintendo Famicom[20]  My town used to be a cheap imitation, rusting and peeling But I’ve gotta become famous in Kawasaki ward [The only way to do it is] to become a murderer or a rapper Like Al Capone instead of Al Pacino[21]  This ain’t about having influence, it’s a way of life I’m a trouble man

[HOOK: YZERR]

Kawasaki takin’ over the country Swervin’ from down Low to the TOP Today I’m shakin’ off my past Gonna take off with the accelerator at full throttle My Flow is gonna change This town’s fame and my fortune Breakin’ the chain, revving the engine Drifting [all over] the city

Translator’s Notes:

 [1] This uses a phrase that basically means “cutting the steering wheel” (ハンドルきる/HANDORU kiru).

 [2] He switches back and forth (as do a few of the other guys) between singular 俺 ore / rough-sounding “I” and rough-sounding plural “we” (using ore with suffixes tachi or ra).  I did my best with the pronouns in a couple places, but it wasn’t obvious if he was saying “we” or “I” in this line.  He said “I” in the Tokyo power-spot line, and then “we” in the certified invincible line next so…

 [3] This seems to be a play on 無免許 mumenkyo, meaning unlicensed (driver).  無敵 muteki means “invincible, unrivaled, undefeatable,” so basically, a license that can’t be taken away or a license to be whatever they want to be without limits.

 [4] The Ninja H2R is a hypersport motorcycle produced by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.  It’s apparently only intended for closed-course racing and is not street-legal (so you can’t drive it on public roads or highways).  It’s hella fast, with a quoted max speed of 240mph/380kph, and since it doesn’t have to meet sound ordinances for public-street use, it’s also super loud.

 [5] Kawasaki has a yakuza presence and is the home grounds of the Yamakawa-ikka syndicate.  More info here, though the page is only in Japanese.

 [6] The word used is 目覚まし mezamashi meaning “alarm clock” or “keeping oneself awake.”

 [7] The word used is つぶやく tsubuyaku, which could mean either “to tweet (as in on Twitter)” or “to mutter/grumble.”

 [8] Ikegami is a city in the Kawasaki ward.

 [9] Gull-wing car doors hinge at the roof rather than on the sides, so they open upwards.  Some older-model cars (Mercedes Benz from the ‘50’s and ‘70’s) had gull-wing doors; as far as I know the only recent-ish model with them is the Tesla Model X.  This could also refer to the style of door on many Lamborghinis, which open on an angle rather than a real gull-wing (also called scissor doors or Lambo doors.) More on cars with gull-wing doors here and scissor doors here.

 [10] This seems to be a variation of the idiom 石橋を叩いて渡る / ishibashi tataite wataru which is literally translated as something like “inspecting the stone bridge [for damage] before crossing.”  The English equivalent is “look before you leap,” meaning, think about what you’re going to do and weigh the consequences before proceeding.  The way he’s phrased it (叩かねぇ石橋 / tataka nee ishibashi) has removed the verb for “crossing” but turned the verb for “inspecting” to a negative as well – so it’s literally something like, “I’m not even checking that bridge,” which in turn means he’s not being cautious or careful, but just doing what he wants without really thinking about it too much.  More info on the idiom here (in Japanese only).

 [11] Jenga is a game of physical skill where players take turns trying to remove and replace wooden bricks from a stack which becomes increasingly unstable as the game progresses.  More on Jenga here.

 [12] 昔カタギ mukashi katagi literally means “old-fashioned spirit, old-fashioned way of thinking,” which is the kind of thing you’d say about someone who is stuck in the past and doesn’t see what’s going on around them.

 [13] He says コルクメット KORUKU METTO, which is literally “cork helmet.”  Specifically, pith helmets are made of cloth-covered Indian cork, so I assume that’s what it’s meant to refer to.  More about pith helmets here.

 [14] This is a little loose.  The actual word is 浮浪者 furousha which means “vagrant, vagabond, tramp.”  

 [15] This is the noun ガキ gaki, which is a kind of derogatory word for kids.  It’s usually “brats, urchins, little devils” and the like, not typically well-behaved children.  The kids in the tough neighborhoods where they grew up want to be successful like them; they’re not necessarily saying the kids themselves are bad, but the area they’re from is not the greatest, so they’re all kind of assumed (by people who don’t know them) to be punks and hoods.

 [16] This isn’t family in the traditional sense – 繋がれる tsunagareru is defined as “to be tied together, to be connected to, to be related to” but not necessarily in a blood-relative kind of way.  This is like, “We understand where you’re from because we’re from there, too.”

 [17] So, 泥水 doromizu can mean either “muddy water” or “red light district.”  I’m going with water, because these lines are saying “We used to be on the bottom, now we’re on top,” or “We went from rags to riches.”

 [18] The only real references to 少年A / Shounen A I found online were in relation to the Kobe child murders (the murderer was given the nickname Shounen A since he was too young to have his name released in the media) – but I think this is just meant to mean, “I went from being from some no-name kid nobody knew to being a superstar.”

 [19] ラジコン / RAJIKON is short for radio-controlled, often abbreviated R/C.  This is usually a toy (typically a car or other vehicle) that you can control with a joystick or buttons to drive it around.  From the “Ninja” reference, and the references to the Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle earlier, I’m guessing he’s talking about a radio-controlled motorcycle toy.

 [20] 任天堂ファミコン Nintendou FAMIKON was the original Nintendo “Family Computer” platform that was remarketed and exported as the Famicom or simply N.E.S. in the US.  It was one of the best-selling game platforms of all time.  More info here.

 [21] Al Capone (also nicknamed “Scarface”) was a notorious American mafia gangster. Al Pacino is an American actor who plays a lot of gangster-type characters in movies (including a few loosely based on Al Capone), but is not, in fact, an actual gangster.  So one is (was) way more dangerous than the other, who is only acting like a gangster.

[yrpspiritsintheshadows]

After the Rain

After the Rain

Hikaru yawned, making his way downstairs, still pretty out of it from the night before. As comfy as it was, sleeping in a pile with his family… he did not find waking up with the family dog laying across all of them to be very appealing. He was the last one out of bed, once Ken woke up and shot off like a rocket.

He was relieved, though. The dream therapy was working well, it seemed. Ken was back to his usual energetic self.

What time is it even?

It was Saturday, that much his half asleep mind was aware. He just didn't care what time it actually was.

"Morning, Hika!" Hideki called, looking over from the stove, a bright smile on his face.

Hikaru smiled tiredly, walking by his brother, ruffling up his hair.

"Mornin, Deki."

"Hey, you." Eiji greeted, stirring a pot on the stove. "Hope you're not sick of our little weekend tradition."

"Nope." He sniffed the air, sighing happily. "Is that broth with the leftover fish bones from yesterday's supper?"

"Well, yeah, can't let a good aji head go to waste."

"You're the best, Dad." He smiled before going to sit down.

"Anything for my boys."

Hideki gave his brother a confused look before a smile came to his face.

Awww Hika. I'm proud of ya.

Ken tugged on Hideki's night shirt, giving him a puppy eyed look.

"What do ya need, Kenny?" Hideki asked, looking up from his whisking.

He was just glad the power had come back on by the time they had all woken up.

"Can we play in the pool again?"

Hideki grinned.

"But of course!"

Eiji chuckled, looking behind him at his family. Carmen and Hikaru were talking quietly while Ken was trying not to get in Hideki's way too much.

It was looking to be a good day… until Eiji looked behind him to where his duffle bag of soaked equipment was.

His shoulders sunk, sighing heavily.

He still, had to fix that. It wasn't that he couldn't afford to replace it but he didn't WANT to. A good few of those pieces weren't under warranty anymore… He would worry about that later, though.

Just focus on your family.

oooooo

That, was how Hikaru found him a few hours later. Eiji had his tool kit spread out on the family room floor, several pieces of equipment strewn about on a tarp. He was sitting cross legged in front of the coffee table, tinkering at one of the cameras.

He watched him silently, mostly out of sheer curiosity.

Eiji wasn't an expert at tech repair. He knew enough to keep his equipment from failing, enough to repair a great deal of it…

But after awhile, Hikaru was uncomfortable because it was clear Eiji had no idea what to do with this amount of damaged equipment.

"Oh Titan-Move!" He hurried over, nudging him aside. "Let me!"

"I got this, you can go have fun-" Eiji tried to insist.

"Nope." Hikaru looked up, smiling. "This is my fun."

Eiji decided to work at a different piece of equipment, keeping an eye on Hikaru out of the corner of his eye.

The boy's hands were quick and precise, repairing the SLS camera in his hand with ease. His posture was relaxed and calm as he tinkered, a smile ever present on his face.

Eiji smiled before going back to his own work. If this was what he wanted to do, he was happy for the company.

"Did you get any sleep last night?"

Hikaru smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment.

"Actually… that was the best sleep I've had in over a month." He admitted before going back to work. "Okaa-san and Otou-san, we used to sleep in piles like that sometimes before. Especially when we were living underwater for awhile… Namely, when we first came to the states."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mm-hm." Hikaru was nostalgic as he turned the camera over in his hands. "It was fun but I missed having stuff like my games or my toys that ran on electricity. Can't exactly plug that stuff in under the waves."

Eiji chuckled before a thought came to him.

"You have all that equipment in your room and those little things you're always tinkering with… you ever consider joining the school robotics club? When you're ready to go back, of course."

Hikaru froze up a little before frowning.

"I used to… I think I've been away enough that they'd kick me out." He murmured, looking back down. "No one wants the guy who was basically dead."

"I doubt that. You got skills, kiddo. Serious skills that any robotics team would want for themselves." Eiji squeezed his shoulder. "I'm not pressuring you… but think about it."

HIkaru smirked a little.

"Are you going to go to every competition and be a total embarrassment?"

Eiji smirked.

"I'll be doing my darndest to be the most embarrassing dad ever."

"Then I'll think about it." He frowned a little. "Will I have to go to a school counselor too?"

"Only if you're comfortable. No one's gonna make you do anything you're not okay with."

"Okay, Dad."

Eiji's heart warmed, hearing that once more.

"Love you, Son."

Hikaru smiled.

"Love you too. Think we could have tinker time together more often?"

"I don't see why not. You having fun?"

"I like this. It helps my mind quiet down more." He replied. "I like fixing things… and making new things."

Eiji reached over, ruffling his hair, earning a small laugh from the boy.

"Hey!"

"And I like, hanging out with my son and working on things too." He smiled softly. "This can just be our thing."

Hikaru perked up, joy coming to his eyes.

"I'd really like that."

"Than it shall be."

oooooo

"Heee! Up again, again!"

"Alright, up you go!"

SPLASH!

Carmen looked up from her laptop as Ken emerged from the water, giggling up a storm before trying to climb on top of Hideki to make him go under the water, trying to dunk him in since he couldn't throw him into the air.

Even in his powerful, tiger shark form, Hideki was still as gentle as ever with his little brother. He was just content, to be able to change and swim any time he wanted to without issue.

"Mommy, Mommy!"

Carmen was snapped out of her train of thought, seeing Hideki swim by with Ken on his back, the youngest waving to her.

"Hey, Mijo!" She waved, giggling a bit. "You two having fun?"

"Yeah-"

Hideki lunged up as Ken was knocked back into the water with a large splash.

"EEP!" He popped up, grinning playfully. "Hey!"

"Gotcha." Hideki grinned. "Alright, how about you work on that butterfly stroke huh?"

"Okay!"

Ken swam off as Hideki floated to the other side of the pool, content to relax for a bit.

Carmen set her laptop aside, going over to the side, sitting over the edge.

"So, be honest, is he driving you crazy?" She whispered.

Hideki chuckled, leaning his head back.

"Nah, never. It's nice to be the older brother. Been the "youngest" my whole life - even if it's just by five minutes." He replied. "I honestly love every second of it."

Carmen smiled softly, stroking his head fin, eliciting a loud churr from him.

"You are too cute." She chuckled.

"Even for a shark?"

"You are the cutest, shark ever."

Hm… I wonder…

She poked his snout, eliciting a squeak from him.

"Eep!"

"Boop."

He blinked before laughing, shaking his head.

"Whaaat?"

He smiled up at her.

"You're so silly, Mom."

Carmen's eyes widened a little, smiling.

"That's just how it is. You got a silly mom and a massive dweeb for a dad."

"And I love you both." Hideki reached up, hesitating a bit. He knew this form wasn't exactly the cuddliest.

She probably doesn't want a hug while I'm like this. Later.

Before he could lower his arm, Carmen pulled him halfway out of the water in an embrace, kissing his head.

"M-Mom?"

"Never think I don't want a hug, okay?" She moved him a bit to arm's length, giving him a gentle look. "I'll always want one. Claro?"

"Claro…" Hideki's eyes were misty before hugging her again, churring up a storm.

Carmen kept him close, nuzzling the top of his head. His tail swished in the water below them as he curled up a little.

"This really okay?"

"Always." She gave his snout another poke as he squeaked.

"Moooom!"

She hugged him tightly, tucking his head under her chin… trying to hide the tears of joy welling up in her eyes.

He called me mom… He's calling me mom…

"I love you, Deki."

Hideki relaxed against her, hugging her tighter.

"I love you too, Mom."

Carmen was content to be right there. Work could wait. She wanted to savor every moment of this.

Ken quietly snuck up by them, tapping Hideki's tail to get his attention. He blinked. giving him a confused look.

He motioned as if he was pushing someone before pointing to their mother, a smirk on the six year old's face.

Hideki smirked.

"Hey… How much do you love us?"

Carmen didn't like how that voice sounded. That tone reminded her too much of her husband when he was being sneaky.

"... A lot. How much is it gonna cost?"

The boys snickered before Hideki threw himself backwards… pulling Carmen into the water with him as she let out a shriek of shock.

SPLASH!

"HIDEKI! KEN!"

The boys swam backwards as Carmen rose out of the water, her hair sticking to her face, her clothes totally soaked.

She grinned wickedly.

"I'm gonna get you! C'MERE!"

"EEP! MERMAID MOMMY!" Ken squealed, climbing onto Hideki's shoulders. "Dekii-nii haaaalp!"

"Mermaid Mom's gonna get her two little pups!" She swam after them.

Their laughter was echoing off the walls. She could care less about her clothes.

Her children were happy… and so was she.

"What the heck are you three doing?"

They froze up, looking up as Eiji and Hikaru looked down in the pool.

"Do you have any tech on you?" Hideki asked quickly.

"No? We left all that upstairs, even our phones-Oh no." Hikaru trailed off as his twin grabbed his ankle. "Dad-DAD HELP-"

Eiji grabbed his arm two seconds too late as Hikaru was yanked into the water, his form shifting immediately… the extra weight of his tail causing Eiji to stumble forward into the water as well.

SPLASH!

"ACK!"

"Well, now you both HAVE to take a break." Carmen swam up to Eiji, pecking him quickly on the cheek. "C'mon you."

"Yeah! Come play with us, Dad! Mom is!" Hideki grinned.

Eiji was very, very glad he was already covered in water, the happy tears already welling up.

"Sure… Why not?"

Work could wait.

[yrpspiritsintheshadows]

The Way Home

The Way Home

“So, since we weren’t on the boat, I gotta ask… How did you dispatch the adults?” Lucian asked the scientist as he followed him. 

“Hm? Thought it’d be obvious. Euthanasia, than cryogenics to preserve the coprses.” The scientist smiled. “It was honestly rather easy once we had them under wraps. They’ll do anything for their young. Quite different from normal sharks.”

“Is that so? Did they… say anything? I just find it frustrating that you didn’t try to talk to them first, to study their intelligence.”

“That’s what the juvenile is for. The adults were already past their prime anyways.”

Just keep talking. The court is gonna eat this up. You all are going to jail for murder.

“Honestly, isn’t it exciting? We’re introducing a new species to the world!”

The scientist opened up the door to the supply room, sliding a rather hefty cart with a collapsible sling on it.

“Oof, here!”

“Thanks… Mind if I ask you one more thing?” 

“Hm?”

Lucian rushed him, slamming the man into the wall, grabbing him by his neck.

“How much does this hurt?”

“AUGH!”

These sickos… They were a couple. They were in love. They were trying to raise a family.

“I’m going to ruin your life.” He whispered before hitting a pressure point as the man slid to the floor unconscious. Lucian looked through the man’s pockets, finding an ID, a keycard… and the man’s wallet.  

“.... This’ll do.” He took out the cash in the wallet, pocketing it. “Consider it your payment for me NOT killing you.” 

He grabbed a few other supplies before hurrying off with the cart, locking the supply room behind him, leaving the man where he was. No one would be going there, at least, not right now. He knew Eiji wanted in and out as fast as he could.

Soon as he was in the room with the tank, he composed himself, waving his “colleagues” over.

“Got ‘im. Our guide had to… go away.” He smiled thinly, a cold look in his eyes.

No one wanted to know what he meant by that.

“What do you got for us?” Eiji asked.

He held up the key card, a wicked grin coming across his face.

“...Oh, you absolute genius.”  Eiji rubbed his hands together. “Let’s roll.”

“Right, just follow me. I saw an elevator in the hall.”

“Perfect.” 

They hurried off, heading right on to the next level of the building.

Now, they were on the level that lead to the tops of the different tanks. Most were empty, nothing but concrete awaiting below.

“Just act normal. Perfectly normal.”

“We’re alone.” Lucian looked up and down the hall, scoffing a bit. “Besides, I wanna have a few words with the rest of ‘em.”

“Lucian, we can’t go to jail for killing murderers. I’m already pulling in enough favors so we don’t get slapped with vigilante justice.” Skyler hissed, smacking his shoulder.

“I know, I know.”

Chase looked around, noting the cameras in the area were on the ground. He occasionally got a glimpse of a shadow along the wall.

“I think we’re getting a warm welcome.”

“Good.”

Before long, they were at the old Great White enclosure. The filters caused the water to ripple and shift on the surface.

EIji turned to his team, giving them a serious look, taking off his glasses.

“You guys ready?”

“Ready. Hikaru’s not gonna come to the surface willingly. He knows their tricks.”  Skyler frowned, looking down into the depths. “One of us is gonna have to go in… Unless…”

“He’s also still a shark.” Eiji knelt in front of the water, rolling up his sleeve, reaching his hand in, splashing at the surface of the water, creating ripples that disrupted the filter, creating a sound. 

They didn’t have all day to wait for him. If he didn’t come up on his own after this, Eiji would go in himself… but he wanted to give the kid a chance to make his own decision.

“Come on Hikaru…” He whispered.

Chase kept his BB gun aimed at the hallway, not taking his eyes off of it.

Skyler pulled out her bat, stirring the water with it, causing more ripples.

These movements should at least make him curious. It should be close enough to the “yummy hum” regular sharks fall for.

There was movement below, coming right up at them.

“Do you hear that?” Lucian whispered.

“Their stupid hum trick? Or the footsteps?”

“The footsteps.”

They narrowed their eyes, getting into position.

“Lucian, you keep by EIji, Hikaru might be hurt.” Skyler pulled her bat out of the water. “Eiji?”

“Skyler… Go sma-ACK!” 

A sandpapery hand gripped his as tight as they could, clawed fingers digging into his skin. Eiji bit his lip, bracing himself as Hikaru pulled hard, nearly sending him into the water.

“Whoa! Hikaru! Easy! Easy! I’m not gonna hurt you!”

The boy’s head surfaced for a moment, his eyes full of anger as he pulled harder.

“Liar…” He hissed. “Liar…”

“Easy… Easy…” He pulled out his pendent, showing it to him. “I’m like you!” 

Hikaru froze up, hesitating, swimming closer, curiosity coming to his eyes.

“You’re not with them?” He murmured.

Eiji shook his head, giving him a gentle look.

“I promise, I’m not with them. You can trust me.”

Hikaru growled, moving back. 

Eiji frowned, reaching into his bag, turning the ghost box up to full volume.

“Hikaru.” The box blared out, in its monotone voice. “Hikaru, we are here.”

That, made the boy pause.

“... You can see them?”

“No… but my son can. And they lead me to Hideki. My name is Eiji. I’m from the Memoria coven.”

Hikaru sunk deeper, eyes growing wider.

Eiji held his free hand out to him.

“C’mon. Your mom and dad helped us every step of the way. We can send these people to jail.” 

“I… I can see Hideki?” Hikaru’s eyes were dark, keeping his distance… still keeping a grip on Eiji, in case he had to pull him into the water with him. He was faster. He reasoned he could outswim a human running for their life.

He wanted to trust him so badly… but he was still scared. The outside world seemed like a far away dream, compared to the way he was living now.

A test subject, ran day in and day out. Fed stuff that’s not even fit for cats. Poked and prodded. Mocked….

His eyes stung, reaching for Eiji’s hand.

“You can see Hideki. We’re going home right now. Okay?” Eiji grasped his hand, pulling the boy up, partially lifting him out of the water. 

“P-Promise?” His tail swished, unsure… something felt wrong.

“I promise.”

An alarm blared overhead, causing them to jump.

“Sorry to interrupt such a sweet theft-ACK!”

“LIKE HECK YOUR INTERRUPTING THEM!”

Eiji looked over just as Skyler swung her bat at a guard’s head, knocking him unconscious.

Chase was using the end of his BB gun to hold another back.

“You guys better get your butts moving! Time is not on our side anymore!”

Hikaru huddled against Eiji, shaking like a leaf.

“It’s okay. You're okay.” He looked at the guard with disgust. “What do you wanna do to him?”

Hikaru looked between the adults before a dark look crossed his eyes.

“Into the water….”

“You heard the boy! Eiji, go!” Lucian slid the keycard into his front pocket. “Swipe this on any doors you see and make a break for it.”

“Right.”

“You thought it’d be that easy?” Hikaru asked, as Eiji bolted off with him.

“Let’s just say I was hoping faking being a horrible person would work.” 

It wasn’t long before the team rushed to catch up to them, Chase’s BB gun missing.

“Took all my effort to not go over the side too.” He panted as they entered the elevator.

“Basement level.” Hikaru whispered to Eiji. “They brought me in through there. It’ll go outside. We are going outside… right?”

“All the way out.” Eiji held him close, cradling him in his arms.

While Hikaru was trying to keep quiet to keep minimum exposure away from them, he knew it was just a matter of time.

“One small problem…” Hikaru reached behind him, brushing a piece of plastic.

“... Frick.”  Eiji knelt down, turning him around seeing a tag protruding from the boy’s dorsal fin. “Be honest, does that hurt?”

“It did when they put it in. I know how to pull it out though. They can’t track me without it. This is tag number three.” Hikaru fumbled for it behind him. It was harder to grab it, dripping water like crazy. “If I change back it’ll be stuck in me still.”

“We’re almost to the basement.”

Skyler checked her phone, noting a message.

“One of my friends from the force just messaged me. They’re already storming the building from the front.”

“So we go out the back!” Eiji helped Hikaru reach the tag, making sure it didn’t shift, until the boy could unclip it.

It took a few minutes, the boy sighing in relief as the tag fell free from his fin. The next time he transformed into this form, the hole would be fully healed.

“How long does it take to change back?” Eiji asked. 

Hikaru sighed shakily, looking at his form. He was so tired. It normally was easy to force a shift back to human, but right now… He wasn’t sure.

“I… I don’t think I can… Not right now. You guys have no idea how hard they ran me until you guys showed up.” Hikaru looked up at the team, a frown on his face. “... Did you mean it? About… them going to jail?”

“Every word.” Eiji offered his arms to him, the boy wrapping his own around his neck. He stood, lifting him up. 

“Thank you.”

The basement floor opened up to them, rushing out.

“Left!” Hikaru cried out as Eiji veered that way. “The door’s this way!”

“Right!” 

He fumbled for the keycard, sliding it into the door as it was pushed open into the light of day as the sun shone down on them.

There was chaos outside, police were swarming the building. 

“Skyler? Be honest, are we gonna be screwed if we leave now?” Chase asked, crossing his arms. “I mean, we did our damage.”

“I’ll handle this…. Buuut.” She grabbed Lucian by the arm. “I’ll need Lucy.”

“HEY! What did I say about LUCY!?”

“Chase, go with them. I got this.” 

Chase nodded, hurrying off to handle damage control. Eiji slowed his jog to a walk, knees becoming shaky as he reached his van.

“We’re almost home free, kiddo.”

“Deki…?”

“Deki’s gonna spoil you like crazy.” Eiji unlocked the car, setting Hikaru along the back seat. 

The boy’s eyes were drooping, threatening to close at any time. He didn’t want to sleep yet. He wanted to know exactly what was happening.

Eiji squeezed his hand, giving him a gentle smile.

“You’re a tough one. I can appreciate that. I’m a twin too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yup. Older than my sister by ten minutes. How about you?”

“Five minutes older… Deki’s technically my “little” brother.”

“You’re a good big brother then for hanging in there so long.”

Hikaru shrugged, curling up on himself. He was quiet, his body shaking still. 

Eiji frowned, hesitating before looking through the van, finding a blanket Carmen had stashed in there. Mainly for the times where Ken had dozed off. 

“Is this okay?”

Hikaru looked at him, nodding a little.

“Yeah… Thanks.”

“Welcome.” Eiji wrapped him up. 

Hikaru curled up more… sniffling, as he tried to hide it. 

Eiji frowned, sitting beside him, stroking his back.

“I’m so sorry, Hikaru.”

“Why…? Why us?” He whispered, a small sob escaping him. “What’d I do bad? What’d Okaa-san and Otou-san do bad?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. I promise that.” Eiji kept stroking his back, frowning. “You didn’t deserve anything that happened… and I can’t promise everything’s gonna be perfect.”

“Nope… Hello foster family… New town…” 

Eiji shook his head, confusing him.

“When I said we’re going home… Hikaru, you boys are NOT going to be alone in this. I won’t allow that.”

Hikaru sat up, rubbing at his eyes. 

“Why?” He sniffled. “Why do you wanna help two freak kids and risk getting killed like that?”

Eiji gave him a gentle look.

“Because, I’m a dad too. If someone murdered me I’d want someone to watch out for my son. And…” He sighed shakily, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ho boy, I wanted to tell you when we got you back to your brother, but you two really are similar, y’know that?”

Hikaru tilted his head.

Eiji smiled a little.

“My friend, Skyler, she’s a social worker. She’s helping my wife and I.” He offered an arm to him. “Hikaru… we want to adopt you and Hideki.”

… What?

The boy gave him a bewildered look, tilting his head. 

“Why?”

“Like I said, we want to give you a chance. I can’t turn back time… but we can make sure you guys have a chance to just be kids.” Eiji gave him a warm look. “To go on dates, to go after your dreams, get into mischief and feel weird, in the way every normal teen does.”

“That… That sounds amazing…” Hikaru sniffled, looking down. “I… I’m sorry. I just don’t…”

“Don’t know how to process all this right now?”

He nodded, wiping at his eyes again. 

“But I do want that… I wanna… I wanna be normal. I wanna tinker with my stuff again, I wanna eat normal food and rough house with my brother and… and…”

Hikaru lunged forward, tackling Eiji a bit, hugging him tightly. Eiji brought his arms around him, stroking his back.

“I wanna go home…” He sobbed a little. “Please… just take me home.”

Eiji hummed softly, rocking back and forth a little.

“We’re gonna take you home, kiddo. To Hideki. You can meet my wife… and our youngest son. You okay with having a really young little brother?”

“How little?”

“He’s just six.”

Hikaru chuckled a little.

“Just a lil shark pup…” He relaxed a bit, curling up to Eiji… his dark brown eyes sliding closed. A small glow overtook his form, as a long tail became lanky legs. Rough, shark skin adorned with tiger stripes faded to pale skin, the fins on his head, fading away into messy black hair.

He was dressed in a purple t-shirt and khaki shorts, but he was there.

Eiji held him close, stroking his hair, taking in the boy before him.

Safe and sound. 

Right where you belong.

ooooo

“Hikaru.” 

He winced, rolling away from whoever was speaking. He was just so comfy. He didn’t want to move. It was warm… So warm…

Where am I though?

“Hikaru, wake up buddy.” 

He opened his eyes slowly, looking around blearily. He was still wrapped up in the blanket, strapped into the car. He was still leaning on Eiji at that.

“Hey there.” Eiji smiled. “Sleep well?”

“Y-Yeah…” He paused, yawning into his hand. He buried his face into Eiji’s jacket, not quite ready to move just yet. He stopped, looking at his hands, opening and closing them slowly.

Not having to stay in his predator born form to keep alive in the water… He was actually himself again. He grinned, tears of joy stinging his eyes.

“I’m…” He laughed a little. “I’m really okay.”

“That’s right, kiddo.” He ruffled his hair, grinning. “You changed back after you fell asleep.”

“Good…” He yawned again, shaking his head. “Alright, I’m up.” Hikaru, looked up at Eiji, giving him a grin. “I’m ready.”

“Come on then.” 

He helped him out of the car towards the house. Unlike Hideki, Hikaru didn’t even blink at the large house. He took note of it, more so wondering where his brother was in this large house.

Eiji didn’t even get to open the door before it was thrown open.

“HIKARU!!!!” 

The boy cried out as Hideki tackle hugged him right to the floor. His eyes went wide, looking up at his twin.

“You’re okay… You’re okay…” Hideki laughed, hugging him tightly. 

Hikaru returned the embrace, burying his face in his shoulder.

“Yeah… M’right here. Nii-san’s here.”

“Karu-Nii…” Hideki nuzzled him, a churr escaping. His grip tightened a little, keeping his sibling close to him. “Sorry, I-”

“Missed you too.” Hikaru finished, tears of joy running down his face. “I’m home… I’m really home.”

“We’re home.” 

The twins looked up at the towering house, the last of the daylight bouncing off the windows.

It wasn’t the house they grew up in… It would take time to adjust.

Hikaru ruffled his hair, helping Hideki to his feet.

“So, where’s this room I was told about?”

Hideki chuckled, pulling him inside. 

“First, come meet the rest.”

Carmen and Eiji were just inside, sharing an embrace. They had been watching, keeping their distance to let the boys have their moment. Ken was hiding behind his mother, a timid look on the child’s face.

“Hikaru, this is Carmen and Ken. They’re part of the family too.”

Hikaru bowed a little.

“Thank you for… for taking us in and…. and for everything.”

Carmen smiled gently.

“You’re family now. We’ll always have our family’s back.”

“Even weird shark kids?”

“Oh, especially.”

Ken hurried up to him, tilting his head.

“Uh… Hi?”

“Are you a new big brother too?”

Hikaru knelt down to his level, ruffling his hair up, eliciting a giggle.

“Sure am. Anytime you need me, I got your back.”

“Yay!” 

Hikaru yelped as Ken tackle hugged him, but didn’t fall over this time. Instead, he just lifted him into his arms, leaning on his twin a little.

“So, what do you think, Bro?” Hideki asked, smiling. 

“I think… I think this is what our parents would’ve wanted.” Hikaru replied, looking up to Eiji and Carmen. 

“Alright you three, c’mere!” Carmen brought all three boys into a bear hug, eliciting laughter from them.

Eiji chuckled, bringing out his phone for a quick picture.

“Welcome to the family boys. Welcome home.”