#yumi ishizaki

[sydcfamily]

Name's Yumi... Remember it or Don't, I Don't Care.

Full Name: Yumichika Ishizaki

Pronouns: He/Him Sexuality: Queer Age: 27 Birthplace: Kawabata Province, Kyoh Ethnicity: Kyoh Birthday: March 2nd Pet: Botan the One-Eyed Cat

Appearance:

Yumi is 6′2 (188 cm) and has a very lean body type. He has a notably long torso, and long, slender legs. His skin is pale like porcelain and at times even ghostly. Yumi has waist-length stark black hair, which he was often bullied for at the academy. He usually wears it in a high ponytail or down his back. Yumi stores a lot of importance in his hair and takes care of it very well.

Yumi has angular features including sharp cheekbones, a pointed chin, an angular nose, and a cut jawline. His faded pink lips are curved, often into a cat-like smirk. Yumi has slender blue-grey eyes and thin brows. He also has a beauty mark on his chin. He has a lot of piercings and tattoos since he learned to do them at a really young age. Yumi has scars all over his body from his years of dangerous training and battles, and his most notable one is a slash scar over the ribs on the left side of the body. He had stitches here. 

Favorite Things:

Favorite Colors: navy blue, cornflower blue, baby blue Favorite Flower: cherry blossom Favorite Drinks: grape juice, oatmilk, herbal teas, vodka Favorite Foods: grapes, miso soup, bento box, fried fish, fondue Favorite Hobbies: reading and writing, calligraphy, swimming, playing guitar, taking care of his fish Skills: playing the guitar, horseback riding, several martial arts, archery, cooking,

Relationships:

Daigo Ishizaki, father Erina Ishizaki, mother Momoka Ishizaki, biological sister Nozomi Ito, father figure Jasika Ito, adoptive sister Shuhei Kumagai, former love interest and best friend Tsumugi-Gen Hada, childhood friend and former fiancee Charlie Reyes, love interest and close friend Daniel Reyes, close friend Alan Reyes, father figure and mentor Salice Halloway, close friend Eid Noguchi, acquaintance Rei Guong, friend and classmate Da Song, friend and classmate Yoo Joon Im, friend and classmate Umeko Kuo, friend and classmate

Personality:

Yumi has many different facets to his personality. When he was younger, he was soft-spoken and wary of others. As he grew older, he was less afraid of other people than critical of them. As he gained confidence, what other people said mattered less and less to him. He was often judged harshly for his stylistic choices and mannerisms, but somehow managed to develop a self-assured and go-with-the-flow personality. His best friend and first boyfriend had a lot to do with this. They were opposites this way, Shuhei often being hot-headed and tightly wound, and Yumi being more calm and easygoing. When you get to know him, he makes a lot of jokes and can be very flirty. He's supportive and kind to the people that he cares about and gives a lot of good advice. He values close relationships and will do whatever it takes to protect the people he cares about. Yumi is very good at choosing his battles, which is something he learned at a very young age. Yumi is someone who will go to war for his family. Not necessarily the family he was born to, but most certainly the family he found.

About Him:

Yumi's household situation was less than ideal. His father, Daigo, was a small business owner. His mother, Erina, was a stay-at-home mother. His father urged him from a young age to take an apprenticeship at his business, but that was never in Yumi's interest. Daigo was never supportive of the things Yumi had taken an interest in as a child. He would urge him to spend more time doing things 'befitting of a boy'. He would threaten to cut his hair and burn his clothes and toys. This quickly caused a divide between Yumi and his father, so quickly that Yumi can hardly recall a time when he liked his father.

He spent a lot of time with his mother because of this. She bought him his first fish, which they kept in their koi pond outside. They would often bond with activities such as these, which increasingly damaged the family dynamic with Daigo. Yumi saw how these actions affected his father and chose to stay away from home as much as possible. He didn't understand why he had to choose between a close relationship with his mother and his family's safety, but he had learned very quickly that causes have effects.

Between his time at home and at school, Yumi found refuge at a tattoo parlor down the road, where an astounding artist did his work. Nozomi Ito, he was called, lived there with his son and young daughter. He took a liking to Yumi and he often spent time with them when he couldn't stomach being home. In fact, he spent so much time there that Ito's daughter, Jasika, and Yumi became as close as siblings.

Meanwhile, Daigo's business was failing. After bankruptcy, he was desperate for a source of income. He had begun farming like many of the other families in the province, but it was not enough.

Jumping on the first opportunity at a lump sum, Daigo had hastily promised his only son to the daughter of the Hada family. They were a well-to-do family with a barren daughter, so Daigo's desperation was equal to the Hadas' desire to find a husband for their daughter. Erina was furious about Daigo's decision to marry their son off to someone he didn't know at such a young age, but it was final. At eight years old, Yumi didn't understand what engagement meant. He met Tsumugi-Gen shortly after the engagement was finalized. The two got along quite well and became friends. The families allowed them to wait to be married until they were of legal age so that the children could focus on their educations.

After this event, the Ishizaki family was at its weakest. Daigo began to take out his many frustrations on his resentful wife and helpless son, with many arguments and threats. Yumi had been hit many times, but never retaliated until he saw his mother being abused.

Yumi couldn't stand to watch his mother be punished for things they couldn't control. Yumi thought if he was just a better boy, then all of this would never happen. He thought if he disappeared, things would be better for them.

He applied for the prestigious Ishikawa Academy, where Kyoh's best and brightest were cultivated into the most important and influential figures in the country. He deemed it the golden ticket to run away from home and provide the means for his mother to finally leave his father. The Hada family wrote him a recommendation letter that helped him get into the academy. At eight years old, he packed his things and was gone, living between the Hada family home and Ito's house until he was accepted and escorted to the academy where he spent the next fourteen years of his life.

After graduation, Yumi stayed in Kyoh for a short while. He ended things with his first love to marry Tsumugi as he'd promised. After a year of marriage, his wife could see he was not fulfilled. It was hard to do, yet she told him the marriage could be annulled. He'd already done more than what was expected of him, she said, and the marriage was something that neither of them chose. Yumi had a heavy heart but they agreed that it was the best option and he assured her it was never anything she could have changed. He loved her, but not in the way that was expected of them.

Yumi then took his degree and used it to move to a bustling metropolis. He easily obtained work writing for an informer, work he was overqualified for but loved nonetheless. He lived alone with his cat for months, plagued by strange dreams he could not properly control. Dreams he's had ever since he was a child.

It was here in this place he met the girl that would open his eyes and become his forever partner.

[sisi-halloway]

Happiness is a '98 Camaro

@asranemesis

He was going back to a place he'd hoped he would never see again. He was tired of this town. He was tired of the people in it. The people who didn't love him or care about him or want him to succeed. He was tired of the busted-ass neighborhood and the run-down part of the city that he had grown up in. He was tired of the constant reminders that he was a little too old to change his ways, but young enough to be set in them for a long ass time. He was so tired. But one thing that did always drag him back to this town... his girl.

Charlie was sitting in her driveway. Her red hair was wild down her back. It was more like magic than hair. That's how Yumi saw it, anyways.

The sun shone on her face, casting long shadows on the asphalt. Her sharp chin was wet. The tears off her profile were like water dripping off the terracotta shingles of a gorgeous house. He sighed as he neared her.

"You okay, kid?"

Charlie looked up, surprised to see Yumi anywhere near this place. She thought she'd never see him again... not after that time Daniel nearly killed him.

"Yumi! I- I don't... what are you doing here?" She was struggling to wipe her face with her sweater sleeve.

He shrugged. He was thinking about it the whole time he was driving over. He was here to make her disappear with him.

He couldn't fathom the idea of her turning him down, but he had to keep reminding himself that it was a possibility. She could say no and live in this shitty town for the rest of her beautiful life. That would be Yumi's worst nightmare. He couldn't let that happen.

"I came to see you. What else would I be doing here?" He ruffled that lion's mane and looked down at her. She was wearing an oversized band T-shirt. He didn't know their name. The band was probably something new, and she'd probably lent him the CD. He listened to every song probably, not knowing who the band was or anything about them. He just knew she loved them. She he'd try to love them too. That's how it would've gone.

There were beer bottles at her feet. Yumi didn't like that. He would prefer Charlie didn't develop the same treacherous drinking habit as her brother. The same treacherous drinking habit as he, himself, was battling. That drink never did him any good. Lines never did him any good. Nothing ever did him any good, except her. He knelt down and sat beside her, easing down on the ground. It was warmed by the sun. The sun... smiling down on everything like everything was all right. He loved its optimism.

"I actually... had a question to ask you."

Charlie's siren eyes were curious, they were loving, and they were his. Yumi had claimed those eyes in his bedroom a few months ago. He remembered every second of that. He cherished every moment. He owned those eyes. He had the overwhelming desire to keep them bright.

"What is it? What's up?"

Charlie had missed Yumi. She couldn't blame him for leaving. He'd risked his life just being in the city. She wished she was exaggerating, but after the fallout with Daniel, nothing was the same. So he had packed his stuff, closed down his antique shop, sold all his spare cars, and left. She didn't know where he moved to, but that was probably best. She figured Yumi didn't tell her on purpose. She figured right. He didn't want Daniel wringing that sacred piece of information out of his sister in one of his drunken fits. Her brother was becoming more than she could handle, Yumi saw it on her face every day.

Yumi was brave for coming back. Whatever he had to ask her must've been really important. That's what went through Charlie's mind as she looked at him.

"I... need to ask you..."

When Yumi gazed into Charlie's eyes, he saw every good thing about the world he's yet to discover. He saw every smile he'd ever smile and every laugh he'd ever laugh. He saw happy tears and wild screams of excitement and blinking eyes of disbelief. He saw his future. The only future he'd ever want to live. He held his breath.

"Do you want to get outta here?"

Charlie had a feeling he didn't mean what she thought she meant.

She solemn expression on his pointed features was enough to let her know this was it. This is what she'd been weighing on the scales in her head for months. He wasn't talking about going to get a burger, or going on a trip to the lake for the weekend. He was asking her to leave this town forever, as she should have a long time ago.

"Yumi... I- There's so much I have to-"

She looked into those silvery-blue eyes. Those sharp, narrow eyes that had seen too much bad and not enough good. She watched as they begged her, filling slowly with water like a clogged gutter. Yumi had prepared himself for those excuses. They were he excuses she told him every time he mentioned moving away.

"No... you gotta answer me. Do you wanna get outta here? Do you want that?"

Charlie's throat was a rose. Closed and wilted and thorny. She couldn't risk saying anything because she felt the tears coming. She reached to grab Yumi's hand. His cold, veiny hand, the one covered in scars and expensive jewelry he'd stolen.

"I can't leave Dan. And what about Sisi-"

Yumi's fear and rage were mixing like wind and rain, creating a storm that ripped at Charlie's foundations. The storm wouldn't pass without taking this house. The house Yumi had banked everything on becoming a home.

"I don't give a fuck about Dan! Salice can take care of herself, it'll be hard, yeah, but don't you want to live? She's here because she chose to be. You're here because you have nowhere else to go! Now you do, you have somewhere. I made that somewhere. Come on, Charlie! We wanted this!"

Yumi's voice cracked like the pavement.

"It wasn't just pillow talk, Charlie. I meant every word I said. I wanted a life for us, for you! I moved near the university! You can go to school. I'll pay for it. I don't care what I gotta do, but I'm not gonna let you throw all that away... You won't throw it away for anybody else. The only way you can stay here will be because you don't want to come and be happy."

A soft whimper escaped her lips. Yumi had seen right through every puff of smoke and every mirror she could have possibly come up with. And the truth, the hard truth? Charlie wanted to be happy. At this point, she was willing to try anything to achieve that. Yumi was convincing her of things she already knew and believed. He was the preacher and she was the entire choir.

Yumi grabbed her hands hard. Those little hands that played bass and made braids. Those little hands that had helped him fix cars and make breakfast and count drug money. He loved the hell out of those little hands and would do anything to make sure they stayed delicate and soft.

"Tell me you don't want to come with me. Tell me that and I'll leave you alone."

Charlie couldn't turn this down. This was her shot. He was her happiness. Her Romeo. He was the kamikaze that would go up in flames for her. How could she possibly tell him she didn't love him? How could she lie like that? How could he possibly think that she didn't feel the same way about him as he felt about her? The answer was clear now.

"I want to come with you, Yumi."

Yumi waited a moment, processing everything that happened in the moments that felt like years. He couldn't hold back his sobs. He was nodding, hand smearing gritty asphalt onto his tear-streaked face. His shoulders relaxed for the first time in years and his body felt fifteen pounds lighter. The way he cried made Charlie cry too.

They were finally getting out of this town.

Just like he promised.

"Go get your stuff. I'll help you put it in my car. Everything you can grab. We're not coming back here."

Charlie nods and struggles to stand, still holding Yumi's hands. Just a split second goes by, but that's all they needed. In that second they shared a look that spoke volumes. They knew that this was the first step.

Forty-nine minutes later, they were on their way.

Charlie and Yumi had figured out that summer evening that happiness was what you wanted it to be. It could be anything. It could be sitting in the passenger seat with your feet on the dash drinking a cherry slushee. It could be four missed calls from your brother. It could be rock music and the windows down and laughing because you finally know what it's like to feel a world without gravity.

It could be skipping town in a '98 Camaro, everything you own in the backseat, driving into the sunset on your way to a better life.

Today they were finally happy.

[viranesque]

20/02/2022

[fa-cat]

Japan women qualify for Beijing 2022

Japan beat Korea by 8-5 in Friday morning’s first play-off game of the Olympic Qualification Event, to book their place in the line-up of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games women’s competition in February.

This means they will join already-qualified round-robin winners Scotland (who will compete as Great Britain) in Beijing while Korea have a second chance to join them, in the second play-off game against fourth-placed Latvia.

---

After the game, a delighted Fujisawa said,” I’m really, really happy to win this game. I was a little nervous about playing Korea in this game, but I stayed strong and that’s why I’m so happy to play well in this game. The situation in the ninth end was very tough but we kept our communication at its best and that’s why we’re so happy.”

[sisi-halloway]

I Just Watched Ant-Man So I'm Making It Everyone Else's Problem

1

-----

"You said you wanted to go the quantum realm?"

Sisi was puzzled. She hadn't heard of this before, only in movies. The Ant-Man movie to be exact. Her least favorite marvel movie.

"Yeah, it's totally possible!" Yumi was walking around erratically in his garage laboratory, one that Sisi knew she shouldn't be standing in.

"No... I don't think that's a good idea, Yumi. That's... actually insane."

"Sisi... you shouldn't doubt me like that."

Yumi was leaning over a table, one of the ones that's set up at a barbecue. The white vinyl ones. It had some sort of contraption that likened to a gumball machine. Sisi didn't want to look at it anymore. It could only mean trouble.

"Does Daniel know you're using the garage for this?" She asked.

Yumi rubbed his chin. He'd be lying if he said Daniel was okay with all this. Actually, he'd be lying if he said Daniel knew about this at all. Yumi knew that this was all guaranteed to go to disaster if he knew. There was only a slighter smaller chance of all this going wrong if he didn't. He'd go with that.

"Here... Sisi. Let's just keep this between us, okay. It would be better if this was our little secret, hm?"

Sisi crossed her arms. This already sounded like a terrible idea. And it just kept getting worse.

"That's what shady people say about things that are gonna turn out badly."

Yumi bit his lip and nodded. Sisi could count on her ten fingers the good ideas he's had. She'd have to use all the stars in the sky to count the bad ones. She just knew this was one of them

"Okay, whatever. Show me how this thing works then."

Some part of her was skeptical that it actually worked at all. That brought her some comfort.

Yumi walked over to the counter by the window, getting some dust particles off the machine cog he picked up. It was something so futuristic, Sisi could have sworn she'd seen it in Tron or Blade Runner or literally any movie. Sisi thought she should stop thinking about this whole thing like it was a movie. Then something tragic would happen to her, like in the movies. Except it wouldn't be romantic, fun, cute, or anything like that. It would be scary as hell and she would probably die.

"Okay, you take this. This is the switch. The switch connects to this lever. Well it's not really a lever; it's more like a dial. And you turn it like a radio. The thing about the quantum realm is that, it's not just one place like they make it seem in the movie. It's a spectrum of places, of universes smaller... and bigger... than this one."

Sisi nodded her head in understanding. She knew the whole thing about light being a spectrum, and gender being a spectrum, and sexuality being a spectrum... and this kind of sounded like that. She understood that. Except none of those other things were dangerous. All she could think about was how fucking dangerous this shit was.

"Keep going."

"Okay, and when you turn the dial to the left, you can access all of the communication waves that we can send down to those smaller universes. There's a spectrum like I said. And you turn it until you can get to the right frequency, and establish a connection to that plain of existence."

"Kinda like a telephone?"

"Yeah, like a telephone."

"You're gonna call the Quantum Realm?"

"Yeah... well no. It's like the Quantum realm is calling me."

Ha ha ha. Very fucking funny.

"Okay so when you get to the right frequency, then what?"

Yumi ran his hands through his long hair. He should have it in a ponytail or a bun or something. What if some fire comes out of the Quantum Realm and roasts his ass like a Thanksgiving turkey? That's how Sisi was thinking. She was like the resident risk assessor of their found family. Dan was the risk prohibitor. Yumi was the walking risk. Charlie was usually what inspired said risk, and there they would be, fighting for their fucking lives.

"When you get to the right frequency, you grab..."

He reached over and turned a few machine parts on the table, shoveling and sifting through them like they were just some dirty laundry on his room floor.

"You grab one of these..."

"What's that?"

I'm about to tell you." Yumi said.

"I'm waiting to know..."

"It's a hydro-paula-icitatortron.... or something."

"Oh, that sounds so official and gives me so much confidence," Sisi told him, rolling her pretty green eyes in exasperation.

"Your sarcasm is enchanting, really."

"Okay seriously, what actually is it."

"It's the locator. So kinda like in Minecraft, you know you have the coordinates?"

Sisi nodded. It insulted her a little bit that Yumi had to resort to Minecraft analogies to get her to understand his science project that could potentially get her killed. But if that's what he had to do, then that's what he had to do. And Sisi would listen, because she's not too proud for that.

"Yeah, it helps me know where I am when I'm mining and when I die, I can go back to that exact spot."

Yumi lights up. His pearly white teeth looked clean. Looking clean and being clean were two different things, but they were probably the cleanest thing on his body. He looked like he had been down here for days, wearing the same clothes he did the last time Sisi saw him. Which was.... a couple of days ago.

"Yes!" He points at her, bright blue eyes wide with excitement. He was excited to teach her something. He was passionate about this type of science. He thought he'd be an IT nerd for the rest of his life but Marvel movies really inspired him. So it was like Marvel Movies and the Dark Web had gotten married and created this Illegal Quantum Realm Catastrophe that Yumi had become obsessed with. Today would mark somewhere around three years.

"Yes! exactly, exactly. So with the locator, we find the exact coordinates that we had come across using the..."

"The switch"

"Yeah... with the switch!"

That's why Yumi gave all his tools and objects simple names. He was a scientist, but a scatterbrained one. He might as well have instruction manuals on everything too. There were multicolored post-it notes on every surface... so it was practically the same thing.

"So when we get the coordinates from the locator..."

Sisi leaned over cautiously to see more closely just was Yumi was going on about. It looked like one of those headers in the Time Square, or like Wall Street, with the pixelized information and text floating across the interface over and over. but those were words. Movie times and stocks and headlines and stuff. Those things Sisi could understand. This looked like something she had seen in her college physics course but hook it up to an IV and put whatever Dolph Lundgren and Arnold Schwarzenegger had taken for all those years directly into it. But multiply it by one hundred thousand infinity. How could Yumi even understand this?"

"We put these coordinates in here."

There was a separate part of the machine. A kind of annex, but it looked even more important than the first part. Yumi used a keyboard that looked like it was from like Star Trek or something to type in the same text from the first machine part.

"Yumi... Are we done with the MasterClass or what?"

"Hold on... I can't get this part wrong. If there's a single mistake, it could be really bad."

"Wait... then how'd you make this thing if you couldn't make any mistakes. Isn't that what science is? A bunch of mistakes until you've found something even semi-concrete."

There was silence for a few more seconds until Yumi was done transcribing the Klingon.

"Well... yeah. That's kinda the thing Sisi. I just built this. And what I'm doing now... I'm gonna test it."

Sisi went cold.

She thought of every possible thing that could go wrong. Every possible outcome that resulted in her getting obliterated, fried, disintegrated, or lost forever in a world she had no idea ever existed. She looked at Yumi with a blank stare. One that she tried to break, but just couldn't.

"You... can't be serious Yumi." A nervous chuckle came from her lips. She quickly realized, when he didn't shift, smile, laugh, or blurt out 'just kidding!', she realized he was dead serious. And the dead part might be the most relevant right now.

"No. I'm telling Dan."

She turned and marched up the garage steps to the door that led to the house. Yumi had caught her wrist before she could get too far.

"No!"

Yumi Ishizaki was shaking. He hadn't really felt this way about anything else before. He found a passion. He had a boring life before, such a boring life that going to a Marvel Movie would be the highlight of his fucking 3 month quarter. But now, after all this hard work and research and sleepless nights with something like this keeping him going... he felt like he finally found a passion. A purpose. And sure, maybe he thought he felt like that when he got a new job or a relationship or something, but this was the first time he felt like he was doing something that was actually gonna matter. Yumi didn't wanna die without doing anything spectacular. This was fucking spectacular. And he would be damned if Daniel was gonna come in here and smash up 5 long years of hard work because Sisi cried wolf.

"No, Sisi. Wait. Please. Don't tell him. I'll do anything. Just... I need this."

Salice had tears in her eyes. Alarmed tears. Her heart was racing and she was shaking too. Not because this was considered her life's work or anything, but because this type of invention could make short work of her life! And Yumi's and Daniel's and everyone who lived in this house, on this street, in the neighborhood, or even on the fucking planet. This was not meant to be some garage project. This type of information belonged to some powerful, invisible people that Salice would never know and would be okay with not knowing. Because, unlike Yumi, she was okay with the life she'd built here. She was okay with her messy, on-again-off-again relationship with Daniel. Her sisterhood with Charlie. And the best friend she had come to find in Yumi. And she would be damned if something like a stupid, silly garage project ate her family up like a three-week-old genetic material that turned into a monster and ambushed a 2nd grader as he opened his lunchbox.

"Yumi... I can't let you do that. It's dangerous... thank you for telling me... but I can't."

Yumi was practically begging her now. "Please, please. I'll wait, I'll hold off on testing it, just please don't make me quit doing this. This is... something amazing. Something I don't wanna lose.

Sisi was empathetic to him, but only so much that she rubbed his hands a bit before taking a few steps out of his grasp.

"Okay... Fine. But... I have some conditions.

---

"We have to call someone who actually studied this..."

Sisi thought about this logically and rationally. If they were gonna do some stupid shit like this, they needed someone who knew the official ins and outs of everything theoretical and hypothetical that could happen. Someone who could save their asses if things went horribly and terribly and inevitably wrong.

"Where are we gonna find someone like that? I mean, all the guys I was looking at research from are like fifty-year-old men who live in another country."

Sisi smiled bittersweetly. She knew someone like that. She knew someone who would be excellent for this type of thing. But she didn't really wanna call him. Not after everything they'd been through. Not for a favor, anyways. She couldn't call him to ask how he was doing, so it would be ten times harder to ask for a favor.

"I know a guy. He lives in another country, yes, but he's more like thirty-two."

Yumi was hapless. Who could Sisi possibly know that knew anything about Quantum Physics?

"Who? Can you call him now?"

"Just.... hold on. I'll call him this week. We're not doing anything else until he gets here."

Yumi's next question was if he could trust him. A lot of people would be at his throat for this work of his. Especially because he managed, in theory, to figure this all out in a garage with one-sixteenth of the budget of any lab at any worthwhile university or institution. And people would be out to steal all their credit. They'd maybe even go as far as to trap them in the Quantum Realm to keep the public from finding out about all this if they were really so evil.

"Wait... who is it, Sisi?"

"He... He's a really close friend."

[sisi-halloway]

I Watched Ant-Man And I'm Making It Everyone Else's Problem

2

Sisi rubbed her head while she sat at the kitchen table, and stared at her cell phone. Why did she volunteer to do this? How could she possibly dial someone she hasn't talked to in years? She didn't really know how he would take it. She was afraid to know. She was afraid to find out things she didn't want to know. All she did know is that she hoped he was doing better than she was.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Daniel came up behind Sisi, putting his hand on her shoulder.

Calling an old friend that might threaten your very existence in my life, that's all.

She didn't say that.

"Just thinking. I don't really know what about… How was work?"

She tried to divert the attention away from her years-long battle with her "friend" that really wasn't her friend at all. He was probably her soulmate, to be honest, but she had never sealed the deal on that. And although she loved the family she found, she often thinks about what a family she could have made.

"Work was alright. What did you and Yumi do?"

Sisi froze. She didn't know what to tell him. She knew what not to tell him. And that was about this little project of theirs. She knew that was just as stupid as anything Yumi's capable of doing or has done, but it was best to keep this a secret from him, for now. If Daniel found all of Yumi's research and destroyed it, she'd be dealing with the blows of the century. No amount of apologizing or begging or pleading would ever make Yumi forgive her. Or make Dan forgive her for lying to him. Well, maybe that second part was untrue. Sisi had forgiven Daniel for a lot of lying. He could swing some of the same energy back, couldn't he?

---

Dinner that night was tense.

Yumi and Sisi shared knowing glances through the whole of it. Daniel and Charlie probably noticed. Sisi hoped they didn't notice.

They ordered takeout as was traditional for most Fridays. Charlie sat next to her friend, who was never going to officially be her sister-in-law by any means. That didn't mean they weren't close, still.

"So, how was your day?"

Sisi shrugged. She wanted people to stop asking. She found out her roommate was building some stupid invention that wasn't by any means safe or necessary and now she has to lie to everyone about it. She also has to call a guy she thought she'd never talk to again really. That was a blessing in disguise. This gave her an excuse to call him. She had wanted to call him before. And every time before, she had been too afraid.

Anytime she had undergone a life change, or something exciting had happened to her, she'd wanted to call and tell him. It was about stuff he knew about like her jobs or her certifications, but Sisi found herself wanting to call him for even the smallest of things. Things that were as unimportant as finding the kombucha she liked at the store or getting the Renassaince Fair tickets she had waited far too long to buy because nobody wanted to go with her. Sisi had even gone as far as calling his old cell phone number and leaving a series of long voicemails whenever she wanted to talk to him. It seemed good enough to curb the cravings.

She prayed he'd never hear those messages. She sounded desperate in them.

Maybe she was.

"It was fine. Just cleaned up a bit. The house was a mess. Looked at Yumi's science things in the garage."

Yumi looked at Sisi with a kind of look that made her want to piss herself. She didn't see anything wrong with mentioning his projects. He had definitely told everyone one or two things that he was working on. That wasn't the secret. The Quantum Realm thing wasn't even the real secret. It was the fact that he'd actually (almost) figured it out. That was the secret. Charlie and Daniel were still under the impression that all Yumi was doing down there was making clear ice and sulfuric stink bombs.

"What? I can talk about your science things, right?" Sisi folded her arms and took a drink of her tea. She wasn't enjoying being made out to be the bad guy. She was the guy trying to make sure things didn't go bad.

Charlie wrote it off with a smile, taking a bite of her noodles. "Sisi, he's just shy. It's okay, baby. I support your science things. We don't have to talk about them if you don't want to."

Daniel chimed in after finishing his beer.

"You've been keeping all your junk in the garage for a while, maybe we should?"

Charlie wasn't pleased with that comment. Yumi had been really excited about all his projects, more so at the beginning than now. She knew that over time they had all become less and less impressed with his work and more and more concerned about the inconvenience it was to them. Recently, Charlie and Sisi and even Daniel had been trying to support him more, but he was reluctant to open up. That wasn't his fault, it was theirs. Sisi cleared her throat.

"All I meant was that Yumi showed me some stuff in his lab and I helped clean it. There's no need to tease him, Dan."

Dan claps Yumi on the back.

"I'm just teasing, Yumi. Sorry."

Yumi just nods and shrugs it all off. That was the thing. The teasing. He didn't like being discredited. He had gone to school with his due diligence, got a degree, made a ton of money working IT, and worked on his science in his free time. It didn't bother anyone, not so much anyways. Dan told him he didn't mind that he used the garage. Yumi was courteous and, for the most part, contained. There was even still space for a car! Still, sometimes the teasing got to him. It was fun and all, and he knew they were joking but Yumi couldn't help but link all those comments back to the skepticism and the doubt. After all that, he still decided to live with his family because they loved each other and it was easier than wounding them and explaining why he needed some space. He didn't have to be here. He could go right now and get a place somewhere far, get a self-storage unit for his lab, and call it a day. Sometimes, when people treated him like this, he wondered why he didn't do that in the first place.

Yumi smiled. It was a hollow one.

"No, it's all good man. Don't worry about it."

---

Sisi was walking back to the building after lunch. She'd decided to spice up her mundane Tuesday at the office and go grab a burger at an artisan joint down the street. She really liked it. It reminded her of the hamburger place Cole and Matthew and Thomas used to drag her to in college. They'd drag both her and Isabella and all 5 of them would sit there and talk about god knows what. She missed that.

She missed Thomas.

She looked at her dainty watch. She still had about ten minutes before she had to be back at her desk. She decided it was now or never. She'd use those ten minutes to do what she'd been agonizing for the past week. She'd call him.

The lights in the parking garage flickered and cast shadows on the crumbling concrete pillars. Sisi kicked some dirt off her heel against the side of one and hovered her thumb over the keypad.

She had to remember Thomas' new number, since she used the old one so much, it would've been easy to get them confused.

Here goes nothing.

She delicately typed it out. The call will probably cost something, she thought. He was still overseas after all. He went to a university in a Scandinavian country. Sweden or Finland, she couldn't remember. She might not remember everything about where he went but she remembered vividly that last goodbye at the airport.

--

"Hey, is this it?" She asked, bundled up against the nip in the air. The branches of the trees danced wildly around the terminal, and they scraped against the structures outside. It created a noise so whimsical it seemed like it really was a scene out of one of Isabella's dramatic romantic movies.

"Yeah... I do believe this is it." Thomas stood there in his peacoat. Sisi always liked that coat. It was brown and thick and just scratchy enough that when he put it around her it would make the skin of her cheeks just a little redder than the cold had. She would nuzzle against it anyway. It smelled just like him.

His luggage was by his side. It was a leather set, with a messenger bag and a rolling suitcase. How Thomas, and men in general, could fit all his stuff in here was a mystery to Sisi. She'd need ten suitcases to move anywhere for a weekend, let alone eight years. Thomas had always been a simple guy. He was complex in other ways like his emotions and his mannerisms but his tastes were simple. He had a few shirts, a few good pairs of pants, a couple of pairs of shoes, and various accessories, like a scarf and a hat or two, all in neutral colors. He was wearing them now. Sisi giggled at the thought.

He was definitely ready for the aesthetic graduate life at his new university. Drinking coffee in the mornings at the various shops around in beautiful stonework buildings that had been there since the 1800s. That life would look beautiful on Thomas Zieragh.

"Salice? You okay?" Thomas had looked down at his friend of a couple of years now and seen something beautiful in her eyes. He'd seen her concern, her worry, her pride, her admiration, and something that looked a little like love. Thomas had seen all of these reflected in that green gaze before, but now he was seeing it all at once. It was enough for him to regret every time something could have happened between them and didn't. It was enough for him to make something happen between them now.

"Huh? Yeah... Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just really proud of you, that's all. And I'm really gonna miss you."

Thomas melted like ice cream on a hot summer day. He pinched her cheek, summoning her kiddish smile. How he wanted to make her smile for different reasons, every reason under the sun. Maybe it was too late for that... The way she was looking at him told him that maybe it wasn't.

"I-"

It was now or never. Something pulled his attention away. The only thing in the world that could possibly be more important than what he was about to say.

"Oh... I guess that's your flight then..."

Thomas cursed the gods and everything they made.

"It is... You know Salice, you can visit any time okay?"

She tried to hold her tears back. It would be nearly impossible to visit, but he didn't know that. She would have to leap and bound through every hoop imaginable to get her passport since she was something of a quasi-legal immigrant in the country. It was expensive and it would take years, but maybe something would bring them together again soon.

"I know, Thomas. Have a safe trip and good luck with everything okay?"

He nodded and smiled politely, taking a few steps away from her toward his gate.

"Okay... thank you Salice. For everything, really."

She waved at him through teary eyes. Watching him go. She should've realized then that would be the last time she was gonna see him. Maybe she did. Maybe that's why she knitted him that pair of mittens that were still on her hands.

"Oh! Thomas wait!"

She had run up to him and caught him right before he was to check-in. She had taken the mittens off and shoved them into his already gloved hands. She thought now that it might have been silly, but she didn't care. It was cold where he was going and she wanted him to have something that reminded him of her.

"Oh? Are these for me?"

Sisi nods, wiping the stray tear from her cheek. She chalked it up to the cold but she was really devastated that Thomas was going. She had loved him far more than he knew. And these mittens were the last physical proof of that. Or maybe every tear she cried when she got back to her dorm would be. In any case, these mittens were something Thomas could perhaps cry over. And that's why he needed to have them.

"Yeah... wear them when it gets cold? I don't want you getting sick up there."

Thomas' heart skipped a beat as he held the gift to his heart.

"I'll wear them... thank you so much, Salice."

He didn't hesitate to embrace her this time.

The way he wrapped her in his arms would be engrained in Salice's brain for the rest of her life. The way that hug made her feel... it was the closest she had ever come to the kind of love that made everything inside her still. She was overcome with the peace of the ocean at sunset, where not a single wave disturbed the beautiful quiet that the gods had provided. Even 10 years later, Sisi had never felt a love like that.

"Of course... go learn about Rocket Science or whatever it is you do," she teased.

Thomas' cheeks were hot with a flush. Hot with the love he had for her. Hot with the shame he had that he couldn't tell Salice his feelings before he got on that plane. Hot because suddenly he was thinking about staying here and all the possibilities that could've come with that.

He was thinking of Salice in a beautiful white dress. He was thinking of her with a round belly. He was thinking of her handing him the child he'd always wanted and he was thinking of how it would look exactly like her, maybe with his unfortunate nose. He was thinking of her with wrinkles and scars that she hated but he loved and that he worshipped every day. He was thinking of rocking chairs and peach pies and crochet and bingo and all the things people do when they're too old to care about material things and just young enough to enjoy the last bit of life they have left with the person they love. He was thinking of all that when he said-

"It's quantum physics..."

Sisi laughed. That laugh threatened to throw Thomas back into the flash of the life he'd never live if he didn't do something.

"You're such smarty pants. Sure, yeah. Quantum physics. Talk to you later, Thomas."

Sisi thought about all that. She thought about how now... now was that later she'd been talking about. She slowly smiled at the memory as she called.

---

Waiting for him to answer felt like the hardest thing she'd ever had to do. Part of her wished he didn't, to save her the embarrassment.

One ring, two rings, three...

"Hello? Dr. Zieragh speaking."

Sisi couldn't help but smile as she lit a cigarette. The concrete post she rested against was scratchy against her back. She was probably getting debris on her overcoat. Her arms were around her because it was winter once again.

"Hi, Dr. Zieragh. Do you have a minute?"

There was silence on the phone for a heartbeat, but then he must have recognized her voice. It had gotten more sultry, more melodic, but it was still just as sweet. Maybe even sweeter.

"Salice?"

Thomas couldn't believe his ears. He couldn't believe he was talking to that girl he'd said goodbye to at the airport all those years ago. He figured she was a woman now. He couldn't believe that he hadn't seen her since then. It was really a shock. Had it really been so long?

"Yeah... How are you, Thomas?"

"I..."

He didn't know how to answer that. He was doing well, sure, all things considered. He had graduated and gotten his Ph.D., as was made clear by the whole Dr. thing. He was working at a university, teaching classes, and doing research that seemed so mundane compared to everything he had done in his life to get to that point. He had done Ted Talks and traveled the world giving speeches and demonstrations of the wonderful and dangerous work that he eventually had to leave behind. Because of that work, he suffered a catastrophic accident causing his research to be confiscated by the government, resulting in Thomas becoming something of a recluse. But before he could vanish from the public eye and rightfully steep in his depression, he was required to lie to the media about the reason he had concluded his studies. Once the powers at be had their bases covered, they let Thomas go. He disappeared into his private life and decided to never talk about it with anyone. Not even a therapist. All the stress he'd been under for more than a few years was weighing on his conscience insurmountably. Thomas was hiding a plentitude of information from a great many people. And on top of all that, he was living with a woman he didn't love with no children to call his own.

"I'm great! How are you? What are you doing?"

Salice relaxed at the chipperness in his voice. It was deeper for sure, but that same good-natured stammer was still hidden underneath all that masculinity.

"I'm okay... I'm working at a sports reporting agency... blogs for race cars... cool stuff. I take it you're still in Sweden?"

"Yes! Yes actually... Still here. I took a job at the university I graduated from. Still doing research and learning as well as teaching, so I can't complain too terribly much."

Sisi's heart swelled with pride. She listened to him speak. The air of intellect in his voice. She was so impressed with all that he had accomplished. She remembered seeing him on television. Seeing him on the news and on Ted Talks. She watched all she could, knowing that she believed in him. That made her the happiest. Believing in someone who showed her that there are still some people out there worth believing in.

"Well, I'm so happy to hear it."

Now was to get to the point of why she called in the first place.

"I'm sorry to ask this... but I have to ask a favor. Maybe even a proposition for you, hm?"

Thomas raised his brow in curiosity.

"Out with it then. Go on."

He was aching to know what she could possibly be proposing. So sad to assume it wasn't marriage. Sisi was a sweet type, but there was a kind of mischief woven into that velvety young woman and Thomas had always dreamed of it taking him away.

"I think a friend of mine has gotten himself into a bit of Quantum trouble... and I was wondering if you could fly down and take a look. I wouldn't ask you to come if it wasn't serious."

Quantum trouble? What could she possibly mean? Thomas knew what that meant. Unfortunately, he was the man for the job because he did know what it means. If this had been anyone else, he would probably turn this down. But Salice had called.

Salice brought a vibrancy to his greyscale life. Even after 10 years of not seeing her, Thomas still knew this was true. He wanted to seize that vibrancy, perhaps selfishly, for himself. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. He was ready for an adventure.

"When do we start?

[sisi-halloway]

Sweet Ride (Charlie x Yumi)

A writing exercise because I am so so so out of practice. Here's the link to the prompt:

"This stupid thing..." Charlie wiped her brow, putting her hands back on the searing metal of the old car. She was deep into the hood, looking at what could've gone wrong when trying to start it.

Orange, dying daylight spilled over the pavement, through the trees of her apartment complex. Soon, she wouldn't have any and this project would need to wait until tomorrow. She didn't want to wait any more days. She was ready to fix this car. Her brother Daniel would eventually teach her to drive, and then she'd be a free bird. The problem was he always had work, which meant he was never home. Including today. Wasn't home to fix the car, wasn't home to teach her in his. His girlfriend, Sisi would teach Charlie sometimes between her shifts at her store, but it was few and far in between. But maybe there would be someone else-

"Hey! Whatcha lookin' at?"

A car pulled up in the street behind Charlie, purring in a low rumble. She turned to see who it was, shielding her eyes against the sun.

Who else would it be?

"Yumi?"

Yumi was Dan's longtime friend, his best friend in fact. He lived about twenty minutes away and came by often. He and Charlie had spoken quite a bit, but they weren't close by any means. He was a few years older and Charlie was always too shy to talk to him. She smiled shyly.

The black convertible shone in the light, and the rims twinkled like stars. He always had taken care of his car, didn't matter which one he had, or what it cost. From the old junkyard fix-up that was his first car to the luxury he owned now, every single time Charlie had seen his car, it had been just as clean and handsome as him. Yumi did love his cars.

"Yeah... I came by to see Dan, but he's not here is he?"

Charlie shakes her head. "No...working."

Yumi puts his car in park, lifting his long hair off his neck. It was sticking to his neck in the sweltering heat, causing him to sigh. Charlie watches closely as he gets out of the car. He walks toward her and takes off his sunglasses. Those pretty blue eyes...

They made Charlie freeze.

"Mh, what are you doing? Need any help?"

Yumi strode up the driveway with his hands in the back pockets of his dark denim. He had on a band t-shirt, one that Charlie really liked. It hugged him in all the right places on that long, slender body of his. It made Charlie blush. She rubs the back of her head, shifting her weight nervously, kicking at her old car's tire.

"Oh, uh... I'm just trying to get this thing to start..."

Yumi gets close, closer than he's ever been before, leaning over Charlie's shoulder. He was close enough that she could smell his hair.

"Mh... lemme take a look..."

After a little while with his hands in the nooks and crannies of her car, Yumi raises his eyebrows and smiles. He wipes the sweat off his brow with the back of his pale hands, now covered in soot and oil.

"Well... good news is, I can fix it tonight?"

Charlie's eyes light up. "You're serious?"

He leans back and puts his hands on his hips, smirking. "Yeah? Let me get your brother's tool box."

When he walks toward the garage, Charlie can't wipe the silly grin off her face. Really, all her problems seemed to be solved in less than 5 minutes. She bites her nail and looks at him go, just to see him turn when he realizes she wasn't following.

"Come on! You're gonna help."

(To be Continued)

Charlie followed him like a puppy into the garage. He put the tool box in her hands gently, and she admired his many tattoos as he did so. He put his hair in a ponytail.

"We're gonna need... this..."

He grabbed a separate wrench and a few jugs of something from Dan's auto shelf. It was oil and coolant, but Charlie didn't know the difference between that and a jug of chocolate milk... she was glad Yumi was here.

Going back outside, Yumi looked down at her. She was really so cute. So small. Her curly red hair is a messy knot at the nape of her neck, only a few fiery tendrils escaping. Her little red nose and cheeks, a bit dewy from the heat. He melted. He's seen this girl a lot, for a lot of years but he thought it wqsbalways better not to get too close. He was reconsidering that now.

"Mh, how was your day?"

Charlie looked at him, thinking for a minute who he was talking to. Then she suddenly realized it was her.

"Oh.. it was good.. and you?"

Yumi tried to keep back his small smile.

"Pretty good, I had work and then plans to come get smashed and play video games with your brother... But it seems like you had other plans for me, huh?"

Charlie scoffed and looked away, while Yumi leaned down to unscrew the cap on the coolant. He didn't seem to upset about his change of plans, now did he?

[sydcfamily]

"Charlie... It's nice to meet you."

Full Name: Charlie Alba Reyes

Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: Bisexual Age: 25 Birthplace: Calabria Ethnicity: Afro-Latina Birthday: April 15th Pet: Iron the Great Dane

Appearance:

Charlie is a little above-average height. Her body type is lean and athletic with strong thighs and a small waist. She's in good shape since she trains quite a bit. She has dark brown curly hair and brown eyes with long black lashes. She gets freckles when the sun is out and has a scar on the right side of her face, vertically over her eye. She has a lot of tattoos and piercings, including a septum piercing, a tongue piercing, and generously decorated ears. Her tattoos include an arm sleeve and a few on her legs.

Favorite Things:

Favorite Colors: black and some pastels Favorite Flower: orange blossom Favorite Drinks: bubble tea, vodka redbull Favorite Foods: onigiri with tuna mayo, chocolate bread, sushi, mcdo, pasta with shrimp Favorite Hobbies: making music, cooking and baking, blowing off steam in the gym, going to concerts, getting tattoos, watching studio ghibli, perfume collecting Skills: playing the bass, boxing and kickboxing

Relationships:

Alan Reyes, father Amadea Reyes, mother Daniel Reyes, brother Yumi Ishizaki, love interest Salice Halloway, best friend Jasika Ito, friend Autumn Novak, friend Renee Blackburn, friend Zelda Aldama, friend Yousef Aldama, friend Jace Clark, friend Miguel Dias, frenemy

Personality:

Charlie is quite shy and is slow to trust. She suffers from severe anxiety and undiagnosed ADHD. She finds that being alone is easier than trying to make friends, but she loves when a friend finds her. She's sarcastic and funny when you get to know her, but very few people get to this point. Otherwise, people might assume she's rude, scary, or standoffish because of her appearance. The tattoos, piercings, and resting scowl don't help this assumption but keeps away men who try to talk to her. She always has an earbud in, listening to her favorite music. She enjoys hard rock music and alternative. Anything with heavy bass guitar or guitar elements, in general, is gonna be her go-to. Charlie is very kind if you're close to her, but she does know how to hold a grudge. She doesn't forgive easily.

About Her:

Charlie grew up with her parents, Alan and Amadea, and her older brother Daniel. Her mother is a nurse and her father is almost always involved in some type of criminal activity. Because of this, they're well off, but always in some element of danger. He tried his best to keep his family separate from his work, creating a sheltered environment for them. Alan and Amadea met when he was young, always getting into trouble and visiting the hospital frequently. She was working as a nurse there at the time. They fell in love and eventually settled down, having their first son at a relatively young age. Four years later, they had their second child, Charlie. Daniel and Charlie get along, but he's very protective, coming across as a bit of an asshole sometimes. He cares about her deeply and keeps her out of trouble, even though some would assume it's the other way around. They both like to smoke and drink and get into fights. Charlie is more reckless than her brother. He does his best to protect and bail her out when she needs help, but never without a good scolding. Charlie eventually loses her mother due to Alan's work. This shakes the family dynamic, separating them emotionally. They try to repair their family, but it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of love.

[sisi-halloway]

I Can't Lose You

@asranemesis

There normally wasn't a single thing these two couldn't do. They married their natures, opposite but so much alike. A cool demeanor balanced hot-headedness, brashness brought out the best of a careful, collected and calculated approach. The two of them, once enemies but no longer, were the best at what they did: then separately, and now together. But their love strengthens their bond, to the point where neither of them will risk anything to break it.

"Stay here and wait for me, understand?"

Charlie sheathed her knife and looked up at her fiancé in the dark. The patio of the Calabrian mansion was no longer lit by the candles that had been blown out during their ambush. The only light was coming from the infinity pool, casting beautiful reflections on the canvas of Charlie's body as she took a few steps forward to challenge Yumi's command.

"What? No. I'm coming in."

Yumi already felt the adrenaline from their altercation with the security detail draining out of his body. He relaxed as Charlie came toward him. He tried not to. One of the things he hated about working with her... she made him soft. This line of work they were in, well, soft isn't exactly a good thing.

He shook his head, his braid tickling his back through his sweater. He couldn't risk her going in to such a dangerous place. Their other missions had been different. This... this man? He was a power player on a global scale. The best technology was at his disposal, intelligence that was current up to the second. Right inside this house are some of the world's most sacred treasures and perhaps the most disturbing secrets. Those things will be protected by any means. Dangerous means. Means Yumi was used to dealing with, had been professionally trained to deal with. He was confident in his abilities to complete this simple but daunting task. And he was confident he should do it alone. He had his own treasure he was determined to protect.

"It's better if I go in alone. I'll be in and out, okay?"

Before he could turn around, a firm grip was on his wrist. Even through his leather gloves, he could feel the cold of her fingers. Her voice was hard when she spoke, as she made an effort to disguise her concern.

"No... Yumi. That's crazy. Are you crazy?"

He turned to look at her, never seeing her eyes so worried, yet so fiery in his life. He smiled bittersweetly under his fukumen. That was the woman he was going to marry. As soon as all of this grief was put behind them.

"Such a pretty girl making a fuss over me..." He cooed, tucking a stray tendril of red hair behind her ear. He let his fingers linger there, coasting down her face lovingly as she scoffs in disbelief.

"You're joking? This is serious Yumi. You're not going in there by yourself."

Charlie gripped his wrist tighter. She wanted to slap him. He was always telling her not to be so rash and to think things through! Then here he was making one of the most foolhardy decisions anyone could ever make: going into a dangerous situation alone, thinking you'd be better off without someone to watch your back. Without the person who loved you the most, to watch your back.

Little did Charlie know, Yumi had thought this through. He had lain awake at night thinking about this almost every time the sun would go down. He would think about this nearly impossible job. This nearly impossible job that he had to do or it would most likely cost him his life and the lives of everyone he cares about. This frivolous job that honestly had nothing to do with him at all:

To slit the throat of this godfather wiseguy who was nothing but a jealous, insecure street urchin from the slums of Calabria with billions dollars, a spine-chilling ambition, everything he could ever want... and a foolish vendetta against Alan Reyes.

A silly, stupid, self-centered vendetta that meant absolutely nothing to Yumi except the fact that it had thrown a wrench in the plans for his marriage to the woman he loved. The Reyes family was not out of danger until this man was dead... so this made things personal. Yumi tried not to let his personal life interfere with his work, but this time it was very personal.

So was he crazy? A little. However, it was only concerning one thing.

She was standing in front of him.

"Two is going to be impossible to manage in there. You saw the layout of this place. He's got cameras everywhere, motion sensors, everything. I've been trained for this, Charlie I'm fine."

Charlie looks up at the sky full of stars. Night skies in Calabria were more like the ocean, littered with lanterns of light of different colors. Yumi had never seen so many red stars in his life. He knew she wasn't looking at that. She was looking for the right words to say. To get him to listen to her.

"What are you even trying to prove?"

Yumi's face softened. That was a valid question. Yumi thought he had proven himself enough, to everyone in his life. It was wasn't so much as something egotistical to prove, but a promise he had to keep.

Protect my daughter.

He didn't need Alan to tell him to do that. He was going to protect her either way. Protect her from everyone and everything that could do her harm... including herself. Charlie was good. Good at this job, good at this work, good at everything except for peeling boiled eggs and dancing without an alcohol in her system. But Yumi knew that the man they were tasked in killing... he was better.

"I'm not proving anything. I just.."

Yumi couldn't exactly find the words. He trained his eyes on Charlie's knitted brows. They made that strong girl look so helpless. They made her look how he felt.

"I can't lose you... I can't."

She hesitated when he said that to her. She looked into those blue eyes that she loved so much. They reflected her own face, but galvanized her feelings of confusion and uncertainty with sureness and confidence. She left her lips parted for too long without giving him an answer. She had so much she wanted to stay but she couldn't seem to get out a single word.

Yumi took the opportunity to pull down his mask, pull off his glove and and press a soft kiss to her lips. He cupped her cheek, brushing his bare thumb along the scar on the left side of her warm face. Yumi's eyes fluttered shut when he kissed Charlie. He touched her gently, how she deserved to be touched. How he planned to touch her for as long as he could.

Charlie blinked in disbelief when Yumi's lips touched hers. She had seen him pull down his mask, and pull off his glove. She hadn't any idea what he was doing. When he kissed her... she melted. She hated this part about working with him. She knew he always made her soft. They were better together, yes, but they were each other's weakness. They both knew it.

Working together made them make decisions based on emotions. Foolhardy decisions that were justified using every reason, excuse and explanation except the true one:

Love.

Yumi separated from his fiancée to look into her eyes one more time before he looked danger in its eyes. He knew he was going to be fine. He always was. Even though there was a small chance, an inevitable doubt that he wouldn't, in fact, be fine. Charlie chose to let that doubt be her reality. She looked at Yumi as if he were walking into a burning building with a blindfold on.

"Charlie... do you trust me?"

Charlie couldn't move. She couldn't talk. She couldn't think. Her knees felt weak and her legs felt wobbly on a mission for the first time since Qar. The place where Yumi touched her face felt overly warm, like she was running a fever. Her lip was quivering and her heart was slamming in her chest, almost strong enough to rattle the clasps on her tactical vest. She was petrified. Petrified that Yumi was about to do something ridiculous, and she would be too frozen, too shocked, too taken aback to stop him.

"Yumi, I- No, you can't go-"

Yumi took a step back, his hand slipping away from her face. It skimmed along her neck, down the curve of her shoulder. That smile he had on his face. That smile was him telling her everything would be okay. Every time Yumi had saved her, he had given her this smile.

Charlie didn't like it. It wasn't often she had things perfect in her life. She finally had things perfect now. And he was going to run off and perhaps ruin that, for what? She watched in utter bewilderment, at that smile he gave her, his sweetly perfect smile...

His voice was so even and calm and unworried when he spoke. It unsettled her to no end.

"I'll be back, mh?"

With that he slipped out of her grasp. Charlie watched as he fit his glove back onto his finger and pulled his mask back up over his nose. He took another step back and turned to run toward the side of the terrace. She watched him climb up the lattice and hoist himself up onto one of the low hanging balcony ledges before she finally got her wits about her. She wasn't going to let him face anything alone. They made that promise to each other, and she was going to abide by it whether he liked it or not.

There were footsteps coming from around the side of the house. They were due to see the bodies littered about the yard, the blood seeping into the grass. Soon after, Charlie knew how it would go. They would sound the alarm, alert the other security and everything would be a big mess. She couldn't let Yumi go in there and face all of that by himself. She just couldn't.

She took one step, then another, until she was running at a full sprint toward the terrace. She climbed it with ease, fitting her fingers into the crumbly stone ledge to get enough purchase to pull herself up.

Yumi had one hand on the sliding patio door when he heard Charlie's little grunts of effort. He squinted his eyes and hurried back over to the side to see her, dangling from the balcony. Her little nose was scrunched with the concentration. Yumi leaned over and held out his hand so she could take it.

Charlie clapped her hand into his. He gripped her tight, not letting her go until she had two boots on the ground next to him. He looked at her with fond eyes. He was angry, angry that she didn't listen. He asked himself though, what did I expect? Charlie was the most stubborn girl he had ever known. One of the many reasons why he loved her.

"You... you don't listen. Didn't you hear anything I just said?"

He scoffed and shook his head good-naturedly. He could hear her shaky breath.

This was it, potentially the last peaceful moment they'd ever get. Yumi wished she didn't think of it that way, but he knew what was going through her mind. She managed to hide all of her emotions, but let a reassuring smile grace her lips. Charlie squeezed his hand tightly for a moment.

"I know. I did... but I don't care. Because I can't lose you either."

[sisi-halloway]

Disappear

@asranemesis

~~~

"And what happens if I disappear?"

Bellamy reached for his mother, who knelt down by his bedside at his question. She was just reading him nighttime stories uncle Yumi had written for him and for his cousin Nell. This particular story had been about a magic peacock, and when the peacock touched you with its feathers... you disappear.

"Oh, Bellamy, dear. It's just a story, you won't disappear."

Salice cleared curly mess of hair from her son's face. He look up at her with her very own green eyes... with a gentle and inquisitive gaze, which he had gotten from his father.

Bellamy sighed and looked over the edge of the bed, towards his bin of toys. That gentle look surrendered something likening to grief. An apathetic bastardization of grief. A complex emotion for a six year old to show. His voice was heavy when he spoke, barely above a mutter.

"But momma... sometimes I just want to disappear. Things might be easier?"

Salice's heart and stomach sink into the floor. Bellamy, her little ray of sunshine... had just told her he wanted to disappear? She hadn't anticipated figuring something like this out so soon... she was still figuring out her own bout with wanting to disappear. She and her sister, Charlie. They had both struggled with that.

"Honey..." Salice caressed Bellamy's bruised cheek. He and Nell liked to wrestle, and even though Bellamy was bigger... Nell was quite the fighter. Just like his parents.

"Sometimes... we all want to disappear. You think it might be easier, but we don't know."

She presses a gentle kiss to his forehead.

"Whenever you feel like disappearing... come tell me. We'll... we'll... we'll both disappear in daddy's big arms, okay?"

That was all she had. She couldn't tell him anything else. There wasn't anything she could make up so soon... that seemed genuine anyway. Disappearing into her husband's arms was probably the best thing that could happen to her right now. She needed help figuring this out. Figuring out how to help someone else when you're barely keeping yourself together as it is.

Bellamy manages to smile. "Daddy does give the best hugs."

Salice nods. "Yes, he does... He will be home soon. Daddy will give you your goodnight hug... even if you are asleep. Just like he always does."

Bellamy grabs his mother's hand before she turns to walk to the door.

"You need a goodnight hug, too, momma."

Salice takes a deep breath, holding back her tears before turning to envelope her son in her arms. His little arms and his little hands squeezed her tighter than she thought he could have.

"Oh, baby... oh I love you."

Salice couldn't quite disguise the crack in her voice as she was both hurt and comforted by her son all in the same minute. She hugged the clingy boy until he wanted to let go, and even that seemed way too short.

"I love you too, momma."

Salice kisses his head and his nose and pulls the covers up tight around his body before lighting a small ball of magic and sticking it above his doorframe. That was his nightlight. She made it for him every night. Salice feared the day he would tell her he didn't need it... even then.. she would probably still make it. She couldn't bear to think of a time where that wouldnt be routine.

She eyed the soft green light before cracking his door and going to get undressed for bed.

***

Daniel came through the door not too long after, maybe an hour. Bellamy was fast asleep, but Salice was wide awake. She lay on the couch, curled up with their old dog Blue, who snored softly on her breasts. Her tired eyes were trained on the heavy oak door that, in fact, Daniel had actually carved himself. She blinked twice when she heard the keys jangle in the lock and the sticky knob finally give. She was up in a second, and before he could step one foot into the house, she was there taking his bag.

"Oh.. hello love. Sorry I'm late co-"

He couldn't get his words out before Salice's arms were around his neck, squeezing him to high heaven. He tensed with the shock, but slowly relaxed as the mother of his child ran her nails along the back of his neck and pressed her body to his. He wrapped his big, strong arms around her waist, smaller now that all her new motherhood weight had almost disappeared. He had never fallen out of love with her shape. He squeezed that shape, feeling the softness of her underneath her nightgown, his hands travelling down her back. He took a deep breath of her sweet, warm scent and held her by the hips to get a good look at her. Her eyes were already droopy with sleep. But there was something else there too. He cupped her face when he noticed.

"Salice... is everything okay?"

She sighed and shook her head, biting on her pretty finger. "Daniel... Bellamy told me he wanted to disappear... That it would be easier to disappear..."

Before her husband returned home, repeatedly in her mind, she asked herself... 'what thing is more scary and fucked up than your young son telling you so nonchalantly that it would be easier to disappear?'

She couldnt name a single thing.

When Salice said her words, Daniel's face fell, and his hold on his wife loosened. He could see the tears in her eyes as she tried to go on, so he shook his head to stop her.

"Sisi... I'm not going to let that happen. We'll... we'll all talk about it together, okay? That's something... we really need to talk to him about. We'll do it soon..."

Salice nods, Daniel's deep voice bringing her comfort. He kisses her forehead soothingly, rubbing the sides of her hips. Ever since she was a teenager, she had been safe in these arms. He turned and walked her gently to their bedroom, stopping in quickly to hugs and kiss Bellamy in his sleep.

This time, Daniel took a little longer pressing his lips to the boy's cheek. He took his time carefully engulfing him into his arms. He held him as tight as he could without waking him. Salice stood in the doorway, her arms folded. It was hard to smile, feeling so distressed. The image of her husband and son was normally enough to make her swell with warmth and joy, but this time it was hard: feeling anything else but fear.

Daniel spoke softly to Bellamy's hear.

"Don't worry, Bell...I'm not going to let you disappear. Not you, not mommy... not aunt Charlie... not anybody."

Bellamy opened his groggy eyes for just a split second before they closed and he was lost into sleep.

That second was enough to understand that he had two people, who would go to the ends of the earth to make sure that he did not disappear.

[sisi-halloway]

I just wanna say thank you to everyone who reads my self indulgent writing. Like my OC and their love interest literally has nothing to do with you but you choose to read about them anyway.

I love y'all

[sisi-halloway]

Waking Up With My OC’s

Salice:

She’s a light sleeper, so she’ll wake up first most of the time. If you stay still or if she’s really tired, maybe you’ll wake up before her.

While an Iliochorís, please for the love of all that is good, keep the blinds/shutters/curtains closed. The sun will wake her up and make her skin itch. She’ll act like it doesn’t hurt, but it does.

If she’s human, she’ll love the sun coming to tickle her face and prefers the curtains open.

Her feet are on you, always. 

She normally doesn’t move in her sleep, so however she went to sleep, loosely, is how she will wake up.

She has the cutest morning face. She squints one eye and rubs them softly.

“mm... Good morning...”

Her sleepy voice is light and groggy. 

She’ll come in for extra snuggles, folding herself into your arms. She likes to feel your warmth.

She likes to sweet talk in the morning with her husband, he’s the best at it.

With her head buried in your neck, she sometimes asks what you need her to do for the whole day, so she can make a mental note to actually do it. 

Poor baby gets sidetracked. 

Her skunk will crawl in the bed, and that’s something you’ll have to accept. She likes it when Sofós lies between you two when you’re morning snuggling.

Sometimes she might need a drink. She’ll never ask, but you can normally tell she needs one if she teethes or suckles you while she sleeps. You’ll find little bite marks on your body.

You have to offer.

“A-are you sure?”

Even if you’ve been together for 3 years, she’ll always ask.

“Alright... just a little sip. It’s too early for anything more.”

She’ll come forth and kiss your neck so gently, then push her teeth in, quick and soft. 

She’ll take little sips and her sighs of relief are so cute. 

She always stops before she gets full, (she’s able to drink around two gallons of blood in one sitting if she’s gorging herself)

She licks your neck when she’s done and she apologizes. Every time she says she’s sorry. And when you tell her it’s okay: 

"Oh... oh alright...... thank you.”

If she’s a pretty human, you won’t have to deal with any of that. 

She’ll offer to cook the two of you breakfast. 

She just enjoys morning time in bed overall.

Shuhei

He’s always the first one to wake up. His body is literally programmed to wake up at 4 am, and he’s so used to sleeping outside where there’s imminent danger. 

He normally sits and watches you sleep for a little, before going back to sleep himself.

Sometimes he’ll get up and go outside if he knows he won’t wake you. He gets some training in, or maybe meditates a bit, or just enjoys the outside until you come to find him or he goes back inside.

He’s liable to draw you while you’re sleeping if you two are that comfortable (which he and his WIFE are).

He might go start on breakfast, which really means sitting in the kitchen waiting for you to get up and then he starts (because he cooks QUICK).

Or he might clean up, he’s kind of a neat freak.

All of this he does very very quietly, so he won’t wake you.

If he manages to run a marathon before you wake up, he’ll just crawl back into bed with you and cuddle up to you and close his eyes.

His hair tickles your skin

He likes to feel your heartbeat on his cheek.

If you’re awake though, he’ll smile softly at you and the two of you would just enjoy the raw moment together.

He’s a fan of holding hands so he’ll reach out and grab your hand when you’re first waking up

Kisses on the temple, on the forehead, on the hand

“Took you long enough...”

“You know, you sleep for a long time...”

“Oh good, you’re awake. How did you sleep?”

He’s so happy to see you

Takara, his leopard gecko, is happy to see you too. 

He likes to sleep on either his face or yours, and you gotta deal with that.

Takara licks and pokes you to wake up if you’ve been asleep too long.

Shuhei waves him off, picking him up and setting him aside

Shuhei is ready to start the day with you, but a few extra minutes in bed couldn’t hurt.

Sometimes if he REALLY CAN’T WAIT FOR YOU TO WAKE UP... he’ll wake you up himself.

He pulls you close to him and slowly makes out with you, lightly, softly, gently

His hands are running up and down your back

He puts your leg over him

He likes to compliment you, the hair, the eyes, the sleepy voice, if he loves it he’ll tell you

He cradles you quite literally

He just wants to be close in every way he can, and mornings are one of the best times for that

Yumi

He gets up early too

Very early.

His hair is actually everywhere, so he smooths it back so he can see

He normally has a book by the bed, so after kissing you a few times on the head, he begins to read.

So it’s silent except your light snoring and the pages flipping in his book.

Botan the cat likes to get up in the bed and snuggle with you two. If he’s feeling hellish, he’ll bother Yumi while he’s reading. If he’s feeling soft, he’ll snuggle you while you’re still asleep.

Once you begin to stir, Yumi puts the book away and rolls over to face you.

He pets your head while you open your eyes, saying soft, sweet things to you

“It’s about time you opened those pretty eyes... sleep well?”

His voice is clear, since he’s been up for a while.

He likes to listen to you talk, as he’s normally a quiet person.

Anything you have to tell him or say to him, he’s very receptive and all ears.

He gives off such a calm aura in the morning.

He’s not so much after your body in the morning... He’s perfectly content with just staring at you and placing chaste kisses to any part of your skin you dare leave exposed to him.

But if he is wanting something from you, he always waits for you to ask. It’s just his nature.

So.

If you show him you want a little something, he’d be happy to oblige.

It always starts with snuggling.

Some head in your neck, leaving sloppy kisses snuggling.

Hand in your hair snuggling

Soft voice on your skin snuggling

Saying dirty things to you snuggling

Rolling his hips on you snuggling

Snuggling that will certainly lead to that something else if you show him that you’d like to do it this early

Whether its that, or you two going to sit on the sofa and lounge the exact same way as you’d do in bed... he’s always happy to do it with you.

[sisi-halloway]

I Missed You More

Yumi x Charlie angst! With a good ending tho <3 I hope you like iiiiittttt!

@asranemesis

_______________________________________________

Sunsets looked pretty in Vesuvia if you were standing in the right place. The sun would kiss the spires of all the buildings and spill over all the treetops. If you looked far enough you could see the orange light reflect off the ocean, glittering in the form of blinding white light. The canals running through the city would be the same way, and in some places the water would be clear and you could see the fish skittering about underneath the surface. You could see the things that people have dropped, the faint vegetation growing on the bottom... For Charlie, it looked pretty because she was on the roof of the apartment she shared with her brother, Daniel. Just looking out at the world that didn’t seem to treat her as pretty as it should.

She had been up there for a while. Her brother had come to ask her if she wanted dinner but she politely declined. He decided to leave her be, to not press the issue, but the look in her eyes as she gazed out over the city made his stomach contract. There wasn’t much there. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking... but he knew it wasn’t so good.

So he had gone back down, into the kitchen and fished around for something to eat. He hadn’t made anything in a while so, maybe something they both liked... for when she was feeling hungry. Daniel made her favorite. 

A knock on the door sounded and Daniel went to go open it. 

“Hey, handsome devil.”

Daniel smirked a bit when the biggest smart-aleck he knew popped his gum and called him that stupid nickname. Daniel reached out and pushed him in the chest, causing a breathless laughter. The blue-eyed bastard was leaning against the door, a lanky arm reaching the sill above the frame comfortably. He could almost touch the porchlight. 

“Pfft Yumi, shut up.”

Daniel moved to let him in, closing the door behind him. Yumi took a few steps inside the house, stretching his arms above his head, his shirt coming up a bit. He raked his hair waist length hair back and took a deep breath, appreciating the smell of Dan’s cooking.

“Okay, okay,” he started in his assured and tranquil voice. He shrugged off his haori and put it on the coatrack. “Smells really good in here. Making me a little hungry. Got room for one more?”

Daniel turned his back and made his way back to the kitchen. “For you? Always.”

Yumi followed close behind, sitting on an open counter, dangling his feet off the side. Him and Daniel had known each other for a short time, but they were already good friend. They got along well and they always felt at home with each other. 

“So.... what’s been goin’ on?” Yumi asks. He plays with the hair tie on his wrist as he watches Daniel cook. He couldn’t help but notice the new ripples of muscle in his back... had he been training more? Without him?

Dan shrugged, reaching up in the spice cabinet for something. “Nothing, really. Uh. Work is work... and the liquor still flows around here.”

Yumi sighs. “Ain’t that right... how’s your pretty girl? Sisi.”

Dan smiles to himself at the thought of that green-eyed girl he’d been seeing. Salice wasn’t his girlfriend or anything, not yet, so it was an overstatement when Yumi called her that. It made his heart do a thing, regardless. Salice and Charlie were good friends, especially after her and Dr. Halloway helped her with the broken arm. They hung out often, when she had the time of course. So Daniel saw her quite a bit too. She liked Daniel a lot, and the feelings were mutual, but the two were slow to get around to anything. Daniel wanted to take it slow. He wanted to do things right with her. 

“She’s good. She’s been really busy with her surgery and everything... haven’t gotten to see her much. You just missed her actually. She came by earlier today to bring those,” he gestured to an open tin of spongy lemon pastries with powdered sugar on top. “They’re over there if you want some.” 

He gestures to the tin and Yumi gets up to inspect them. They smelled reaaaaaally good. Yumi liked good food. And he really liked good sweets. He picked one up and didn’t hesitate to take a big bite, closing his eyes and groaning lewdly. This was probably the best lemon pastry he’s had ever. The ones in the Kawabata bakeries were good, but not like this.

“Oh. I like her. I like Sisi a lot. Marry her, please.”

Daniel snickered, Yumi really catching him off guard with his comment. He couldn’t hide the blush on his face. That seemed to be a little far away, but the idea of marrying that girl... it made him really warm.

“Ah.. you like them then?”

“Yeah, I’m taking some of these home. That’s final. That’s fucking law.” Yumi finished he one he was holding, and shoved another one in his mouth. They were so chewy. 

“She made them for Charlie, so don’t take too many. You know how that girl likes her lemon things.”

Yumi perked up when he heard Charlie’s name. He had been talking to her and the two had grown pretty close. It was pretty clear they felt things for each other, but Yumi was just waiting to see if she’d be comfortable with a relationship. To be honest, he didn’t know if he was ready... but he knew they were gonna fall in love sometime. He’d seen it in a dream. His dreams never fall through.

Until then though, they were really good friends. And she was a hell of a sparring partner.

“Charlie.... Where is she?” Yumi talked with his mouth full, coming up behind Daniel and putting a hand on his back. He puts his head on Daniel’s shoulder, nuzzling his neck. 

Daniel had gotten used to Yumi’s touchy nature by now. It was strange to him at first, and a little comical... but it was kind of nice. Daniel noticed Yumi kept a respectful and comfortable distance with Charlie. Never touched her unless she initiated it. Never stepped out of line. Yumi was one of the better male friends she’s had... nothing like the guy guys of her past. Daniel had no complaints about that. 

After Yumi swallowed his current occupation, he placed a chaste kiss on Dan’s neck and he tasted what he had going on the stove. Daniel tried not to flinch at his cold lips, but he was a little ticklish there, he had to admit. Yumi was impressed with his cooking. Fucking delicious.

“She’s up on the roof... She didn’t really want to talk to me, though.” Yumi noticed the forlorn look in his friend’s eyes and immediately sobered up. He knew how to read a room. Yumi slid a hand up to Dan’s shoulder and squeezed in reassurance. His hand was cold, unusually. They ran cold like his sister’s hands.

He knew a little about their situation. About how they didn’t have any parents. How he was raising his sister the best he could. They had shared things with each other slowly, over drinks normally. Shared things they couldn’t really afford to tell anyone else. Daniel knew about Yumi’s demons... and Yumi knew about Daniel’s. They were bound to each other that way. Always close. 

Knowing the things he knows, Yumi never spared the acknowledgement and recognition of Dan’s strength. He was really a good man to his family. The man from Kyoh never missed an opportunity to tell him that.

“Hey, don’t take it personal... There’s just some things that aren’t easy to share. I’ll go and ask what’s up, if you don’t mind it?”

Dan nodded, watching Yumi’s hand slip off the taught fabric of his shirt. “Yeah, go knock yourself out. I’m worried about her.”

Yumi nodded, picking up a few lemon bars and cradling them in his hand. “Don’t worry too much, Dane. You’re doing all the right things.”

Yumi made his way to the door to the roof. He rattled it, since it always stuck. After getting it to budge, he bounded up the steps pretty quick, using his long legs to go three at a time, careful to make sure the lemon bars didn’t topple out of his hands. He shielded his eyes against the bright Vesuvian sunset, looking around the roof for Charlie. He spotted a toss of red curls, blowing gently in the whisper of the breeze. She was sitting on the edge, her legs dangling off the side. He sighed in relief and sashayed over to her.

“Sunsets here are pretty, but the ones in Kyoh are better.” He starts, walking up behind her and leaning on a metal railing. He picked up one of the snacks in his hand and nibbled on the square corner, real blasé. 

She turned around and looked at him in surprise. She wasn’t expecting him to come around... at least not today. He was busy a lot, with work and stuff. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw his cool smile and the way he crossed his legs. His hair was blowing in the wind like a dark horse mane, it was always so pretty to Charlie. Shiny and silky and gleaming in the sun.

“Really?” Charlie asks, turning to look back at the sinking sun. Yumi tentatively comes up to sit next to her, dangling his own legs off the side of the roof. Heights didn’t scare him, but he didn’t like Charlie so close to something so dangerous. He felt better now that he was next to her.

“Sure they are. And where I’m from, these pesky buildings aren’t in the way. There’s mountains and rolling hills and a really pretty river...”

Charlie sighed, thinking of how pretty that would look. Yumi didn’t talk about his home country a lot, but she liked it when he did. “I’d love to see that,” she mentions. She looks down at his hand. “What’s that?”

“These?” Yumi gestures to his snack, the ones Sisi made. He holds them out to Charlie. “Your friend made them. Dane said she came by today to drop them off for you.”

Charlie takes one and bite into it, the lemon flavor bursting in her mouth. It was really good. Sisi loved baking for them, both her and Daniel. Charlie smiled. 

The two of them ate their snacks in silence until all of them were gone. Yumi looks at Charlie from the side of his vision. Her eyes weren’t glued to the sunset... they were staring down between her legs at the several story drop. He understood what Dan meant when he said he was worried. He recognized that look.... he’s seen it in the mirror.

“I could jump right now,” she said. She says it with a shrug, licking the powdered sugar from her fingertips. Yumi tensed up, trying to see if she was as nonchalant as she sounded. He just stares at her, trying to figure it out. He didn’t want her to have those thoughts running rampant in her mind like that. swirling around threatening to consume her. He didn’t want her to ever feel like had felt. That was something he wouldn’t wish upon his greatest enemies... so he definitely didn’t wish it for his greatest blessing. She catches him staring.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

Yumi snorts, not letting his concern bubble to the surface of his serene composure. He decides to keep it light. He knows she didn’t like to get too deep. He wasn’t up there to lecture her. He knew that. He was up there to try to help her feel better. So that’s what he was gonna try to do.

“Kinda hard not to when there’s crumbs on your face.” 

It was always hard not to stare at her. She was so beautiful, so raw and gorgeous and unrefined. But he’d tell her about just the crumbs... for now.

Charlie wiped them off quickly, a little embarrassed. 

“Did Dani send you up here to check on me?” She asked. It was a pretty nifty coincidence that Yumi shows up when she’s all alone on the roof. She wouldn’t be mad if Daniel did send him... but she also wanted him to know that she was fine. He didn’t have to worry. What she didn’t know is that he’d always worry, no matter what she told him.

“No, no. Your brother didn’t send me. I came over to see you and you weren’t downstairs... but he is worried, Charlie.”

She huffed, looking at the people below. They looked so small, like raisins in a loaf of bread. Small, dark and indistinguishable. She squashed a person with her index finger and thumb, squinting one eye. “Yeah... I know. I’ve told him I was fine... but he doesn’t ever believe me.”

Yumi put his hair in a ponytail, and Charlie watched. His hair was mesmerizing. He blinked open his eyes, squinting against the bright light. It made his irises look silver. He bit his lip, his flyaway hairs rolling over his forehead like tumbleweeds. “He’s gonna worry. That’s what your loved ones do... if they’re any good at least.” 

He looked down at his pinky tattoo. He had to train himself not to worry about Shuhei. He had to banish him from his mind every time he wedged his way in, for his own sanity. He was in good hands. Besides, there was someone here who needed him more. Someone that he needed more. 

“It’s a pretty long drop from here...” Yumi said. He placed his hands on either side of him, is fingers laying on top of Charlie’s. Their hands were both cold, he couldn’t decided who’s were colder... but her touch made him warm. She blushed too, but she didn’t let him see.

“So...” He tried to find something to say. He was lost for words, but you never would’ve known it. “If you ever did want to jump.... Lemme go ahead of you, so you know what you’re getting into. You know me, I always land on my feet.” He turned and winked at her.

Charlie shakes her head, scoffing and smiling. It was getting harder and harder to hide her feelings for him, especially when he said shit like that. What he said was... sweet. And he said it in a way that made her believe him. She heard it in his voice. But she didn’t want to think about her friend doing that for her. She loved him too much.

“I’m not letting you jump first.”

They locked eyes for a minute as the sun finally sunk down behind the farthest rooftops of Vesuvia. Yumi watched as the waning light turned Charlie’s eyes from dark brown pools of honey, to the trunks of mahogany wood trees. They were beautiful no matter what. She turned away, feeling like he was staring for too long. It made her feel things in her stomach. Things she wasn’t ready to confess.

“Ahem.. anyways... I missed you. I didn’t expect you to come today.”

Yumi lets himself smile. Charlie took it in. He didn’t smile often, not genuinely. There was always some coy or smart ass quality to it. This seemed real. It made her melt.

“Aw... you missed me? You’re getting soft, Charlie...” 

The smart ass was still there. Charlie punished him by punching him in his bony chest.

“Shut up.”

A beat of silence was shared between them, the start of the night sounds kick starting the busy streets. People hollering trying to sell their last wares of the day, rikshaws making their cluttered noises, horses whinnying. There was a lot going on down there, but it was just him and Charlie up on this roof. Him and the girl he was falling in love with.

Yumi took a breath before deciding to say something else. He felt around for her hand, finding it in her lap, hidden in the sleeve of her oversized bomber jacket. He pulled it up to his lips and placed soft little kisses on her knuckles. She had little marks and bruises on her hands from beating him up on the mat. The girl was good. It made Yumi’s head spin. 

Sometimes though, he had to remind her she didn’t need to be so tough all the time. It was okay for someone to love you, for someone to worry, for someone to care.

“That’s okay. I’m getting soft too... ‘Cause I missed you more.”

[sisi-halloway]

Water Rings

@asranemesis

____________________________________________________________

It was raining hard in Vesuvia yet again. This time, the gloom had crept in the windows of Yumi’s Goldgrave apartment. It seemed to be completely still and silent in Vesuvia that day. There wasn’t a soul in the street, not a sound in the house. Everything and everyone seemed to hold their breath and listen to the thunderstorm giving its soliloquy outside. Yumi and Charlie weren’t holding their breath... but they were still enjoying the silence. 

Two cold hands brushed as Yumi handed his girlfriend a mug of tea. She had a book open, cross legged on the sofa under a blanket, but she was hardly reading it. Her eyes kept lidding with sleep. The two of them had woken up early and enjoyed a big breakfast together; Yumi had cooked for her. Then they sat outside on his balcony and watched the rain fall for the better part of an hour. They were supposed to run errands that day, but the weather hadn’t permitted it. Yumi had to go buy some more food for his fish, and also he wanted to take Charlie to go look at knives. She had been wanting a new one for a while and he was gonna buy one for her. He loved to get her things that she wanted. And also things she didn’t ask for.

As he handed her the mug, she looked up at him with thoughtful eyes kissed with sleep. The warmth of the drink radiated into her cool palms, making her relax. A yawn came soon after.

“Mm.. you didn’t have to-”

Yumi shrugged, sitting down next to her. He grabbed her legs and put them over his lap like they were before he got up. He draped the blanket over them both before taking a long sip of his tea.

“I wanted to,” he quietly responds. She needed to understand that everything he does, he wants to do. For her, he’d do anything. She needed to understand that she deserved things. She deserved everything. And he told her with his actions. 

Charlie slowly closes her book, setting it aside. Yumi noticed she had barely read from where her last dog-ear was tucked between he pages. His blue eyes glazed up from the worn paperback to her hands. One of them held her tea, fingers tucked into the handle. Her silver rings pressed into her slender fingers against the chipped black glaze. Her pretty brown hands. Yumi loved those hands. The way they clung to him at night, the way they pinched Charlie’s lip when she was thinking. The way they could pick up a pen, handle a knife, braid hair, button a jacket... They were magical to him.

Yumi reached out and grabbed her free hand. He laced his fingers through hers, guiding her hand up to his lips and pressing a few kisses on her knuckles. He felt her hand tremble at his gentle gesture of affection. He looked up through his long black lashes at his love. He could see the fine brown hairs of her fingers, the way they were delicately bent from the wind of the ceiling fan.

She stared back at him, a red tint creeping into her face. Yumi didn’t lose her eyes as he place more kisses on her hand, then turned it over to touch his lips to her wrist. He took a deep smell of her skin. She smelled like the soap in his bathroom, from her shower last night. He had told her she could shower, if she wanted. He offered to brush her hair for her. So they had sat in his bed in the candlelight, her between his open legs. She had worn his clothes, and they stuck to her damp skin. How pretty her red curls looked last night, loose and dripping. They were gorgeous this morning, defined and tousled softly down her shoulders. 

Yumi kissed up, and up her arm and he closed his eyes. He let the goosebumps prickle at the back of his neck, this slight contact with Charlie sent him to another place. He let his lips coast across her skin, up to her elbow. There was a scrape there from the last time the two of them had sparred. He kissed it gently, the scratchy, broken skin rough on his smooth mouth. Charlie tensed at his acts, watching him kiss her.

She looked at him in the dim gray light from the open windows. His skin was smooth, like heavy cream. His linear nose brushed against her arm as he kissed up her body. His hair, which had fallen out of it’s ribbon while they slept, was finger combed. Just wavy enough, falling down his back. This is the longest she had ever seen it. It never ceased to shine. His wintery eyes flickered up and locked her in their gaze. 

“Charlie?”

She nodded slowly. As comfortable as she had become with Yumi, sometimes nerves still got the best of her. Her heartbeat had picked up and left without her, so she was left in her rattling cage of skin and flesh and bone. Yumi had filled its vacant place with his lovely voice.

“I love you.”

She softened so quickly, you’d think she was warm honey. She hurriedly put her mug of tea down on the coffee table, some of it sloshing over. They’d never drink the tea, at least not while there was steam rising from the cup. Yumi barely had time to put his down before she grabbed him tight and buried her face into his neck. Her legs had folded under her, knees pressing into the couch on either side of Yumi’s hips. He grunted in surprise when she collided into him, knocking the wind out of his lean and slender chest.

They hugged each other so tight, their faces full of each other’s hair. The blanket was tangled around them, keeping them warm against the cool air of the apartment. The thunder had never stopped, flashes of lighting flickering through the windows like soft white fireworks. Yumi’s hands spread across his love’s back, feeling the ridges of her body through the clothes. He rubbed slowly, drawing her closer and closer still. He needed to be close with her. He needed that more than he needed breath. 

Charlie’s head never left Yumi’s neck. She tucked her socked feet underneath Yumi’s thighs. The grip she had on his neck tightened as she took a deep breath of his scent. She just wanted to hug him. She just wanted to hug and smell and kiss him. She loved him so much and they didn’t say it much to each other in the form of words, so when he mentioned it to her now... it meant so much. It meant the world to her.

“I love you too, Yumi.”

He lifted her chin with his long fingers, dotted with rings and tattoos. Charlie let her eyes lid, looking at all the veins weaving their way underneath the backs of his hands. Her breath stopped when her mouth was a centimeter away from his. She looked up into his pretty eyes. They were always so compassionate.

“You’re everything to me. Everything.”

Charlie barely let him finish before she mashed their faces together in that special way, in a desperate kiss. Their lips were slick against each other when they kissed; Their tongues met in the middle, warm and inviting. Charlie’s core grew hot with want, radiating down into Yumi, drawing him in. His body pulled for her, all of his nerves firing at full attention. He moaned into her mouth at her soft touch as he reached up and grabbed the back of her throat in a tender cradle. Charlie whimpered, cherishing the careful way he held her. They kissed each other for a long time, huddled together in a tangle of limbs and hair. 

When one of them dared to separate to take a breath, lips were red and swollen and warm. Charlie sniffled, letting her hands travel to Yumi’s defined cheeks. She pressed their foreheads together. He just held on to her, as tight as he possibly could. 

“Hush...” She says. She knew. She knew the way he felt. He didn’t have to say so. She liked when he did... but she didn’t know how much she could take before she would begin to cry. Instead of letting her emotions leak out of her in the form of quiet tears, she pressed little smooches to Yumi’s lips so he wouldn’t say another word.

They stayed in the silence... the only sound to accompany the rain was the pulling of their slipping lips, ebbing and flowing away from each other. Those kisses were filled with love, with security. Those kisses wouldn’t stop in an hour... not even two. Those kisses would last, last so long that there were water rings on the table from their long forgotten mugs of tea. But that didn’t matter. 

Nothing mattered that day, except for each other.

[sisi-halloway]

Here’s a playlist for you… Yumi and Charlie♡

I didn't know I could post this here! If anybody wants some good moody, mellow music, both kpop and american, here's a playlist for my OC Yumi and his baby @asranemesis's Charlie

[sisi-halloway]

Dreams

@asranemesis

_____________________________________________________________

“See.. right there. That’s the constellation I see in my dreams. People call it different things, but I just say... well I guess I don’t have a name for it. I never really have to say it out loud. I don’t tell many people.”

Yumi points with a pale finger up at the dark night sky. Navy blue velvet, speckled with the the white paint of the stars. It was really clear tonight, swirling galaxies seeming only inches away from where Yumi and Charlie lay in the meadow grass, on a worn blanket that smelled of moss and outside.

“Tell me...” Charlie asks him to elaborate, draping her arm on Yumi’s chest. She rubbed him with her cold hands, sending chills down his front and down his spine. Her fingertips thrummed lightly on him, quickening his heartbeat. The things this girl could do to him. 

“Well,” he started, trying to think of a way to explain what he’s been experiencing for so many years. He’s never told her about his dreams and premonitions. They’ve never been so important, he’d just do what he normally does. Interpret them, and plan his life accordingly. He never saw a reason to bring them up. And what’s more, nobody’s ever had a proper understanding of his ‘gifts’. Not even him. But he’d try to tell her the best he can. 

“I was really young when I started having these really strange dreams. I would see memories of what happened in the past, from even before I was born. I’d dream about what would happen in the future sometimes too. Sometimes it would be days in advance, sometimes years.”

Charlie nodded and had long since stopped looking at the stars. She was focused now on Yumi’s light and angular face, glowing in the soft moonlight. His brows were furrowed slightly, as he tried to put into words what he could never seem to say out loud. She was drawing her own constellations in the tight fabric stretched across his chest. She toyed with the little bumps of his piercings that showed through his shirt. He breath caught a little, but he kept his cool. 

“Does it always happen? What do you see?” She asked.

Yumi shifted, drawing her closer to him. Her warm body was a blessing on this chilly night. It didn’t seem how many clothes he put on, he’d always be a little cold.

“Not always... If i were to give things, you know, a time frame... I’d have dreams at least once a fortnight. Sometimes more often, like two or three nights in a row. Sometimes they didn’t mean anything big. I’d foresee the exact date Shuhei would receive a letter from his sister.... or Botan pissing in the corner.” He laughed a bit, realizing some of his dreams were really menial. some of them... weren’t. 

“And... sometimes I’d see the face of the person I was due to kill... in a match, that is. I would see them in my dreams before the match would be scheduled. Before they’d challenge me. Those weren’t the best dreams.”

Yumi had no qualms with and no guilt about what he’d done in his past. He struggled with it then, but not now. He’s already accepted that the gates of heaven weren’t meant for him to pass through, not after the terrible things he’d done. Even if there was a place for him there... he wouldn’t want eternal life without the girl in his arms. 

He’s heard that when you die, nobody comes with you. That meant Charlie wouldn’t be able to come. Everlasting life sounded so bleak and unpromising without the love of his life. So there was going to be no heaven for him, he’s decided. Only Charlie, here and now. So he’d decided to live for her, the first day he told her that he loved her. And he’d decided to die for her too, if she ever needed. He’d vow to make her happy every day in between.

“Where do they come from? Does someone give them to you?” She asked. She’s heard about premonitions before, but she’s never understood the reasoning behind them. They were just... inexplicable happenings that were granted to someone by something....... untouchable.

Yumi scoffed. “Yeah, someone gives ‘em to me. I don’t really know what to call it,” he says. He points up to the constellation. “The bastard lives up there.”

Yumi had been taken there, to its realm. He’s had conversations with the celestial being in the form of fever dreams and sleep paralysis. He was never sure why it chose him to take on these powers. There was never a reason or purpose made clear to him. He was just... chosen. 

“You sound like you don’t like it much,” Charlie noted. 

Yumi smirked in irony. “I’d have to assume it doesn’t like me very much, the kind of shit it’s put me through. I’d like to think it’s never done me any good. I would’ve probably suffered less without these ‘gifts’...” He thought long and hard about what he was saying, maybe rethinking it a little. He did feel like a puppet to that thing up there, whatever its name could be. He never felt like he had a purpose, not after he had to let Shuhei go. Until he met Charlie. So maybe his dreams were good for one thing.

“Did... it ever give you good dreams?” Charlie asked this quickly. She noticed Yumi’s face darkening, his mouth twisting into an apathetic line. It was an expression that was all too familiar for him. He wasn’t the happiest person, that she knew. He’d only told her small amounts of his past, but she knew that he had suffered. It was written all over that beautiful face. His pain made a permanent home in those silvery-blue eyes of his. Charlie had fallen in love with those eyes, everything included, but she wished the pain would leave them. One thing she was proud of, happy that she could do, was make him smile. When he smiled, and only with her did he really smile, the whole world seemed to stand still and just admire him. Yumi had a big smile that, when she saw it for the first time, nearly brought her to tears.

“Good dreams... good dreams... yeah. I’ve had a few, mostly when I was young. But I’ve had a few in my adult years too... I dreamt of meeting someone special in Vesuvia.” He looked down at her, met her eyes. It took her a minute to realize he was talking about her. She tried to hold back her shy smile and keep the red hint of blush off her face.

“Oh... oh.” Charlie hid her face in his neck, hugging him tight. Her soft curls tickled his skin as he rolled over onto his side with her still in his arms. He draped a long and lanky leg over her, encasing her in the steel cage of his body. He spoke to her head, sliding his hand up the back of her neck to knit his fingers in that hair he loved so much.

“Yeah. It was maybe three months before I got here. I had a dream that Botan would run away... and I’d meet a stranger while looking for him. The stranger was beautiful, the dream wanted me to know that. But I couldn’t quite see her face. She was a little stand-offish. A little aloof. But she tugged at my heartstrings all the same.” He moved some bright red hair away from her ear so she could hear him more clearly. “And I dreamt that I’d fall in love with her,” he whispered.  

Charlie nuzzled into his neck, tugging down the turtleneck collar of his tight shirt and placing a small kiss on his skin. Yumi chuckled softly, treasuring the soft sensation of her lips. He loved those lips. More beautiful that any pair he’d ever seen. He lifted her chin and brought her face into view. She couldn’t hide from him forever.

“But reality is way better than that dream could’ve ever foretold.”