#and Midori would be a slightly different person too for a… different reason | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

i-need-air · 3 years

Text

"Dude" — Bakugou Katsuki x Reader.

Summary: Your former bully, Midori, has confessed her undying love for one of the most famous guys at U.A.; you're just venting gossiping about it with Mei, not knowing Bakugou Katsuki is right around the corner, listening;

Warnings: None. Well, Bakugou Katsuki having various anger induced strokes > the normal > no warnings; light crackfic? subtle ending;

Word count: 4.5k;

[ Part 2 ];

"She confessed to him." You grinned, throwing a bunch of fries into your mouth like the absolute animal you were.

Mei on the other hand continued her work on whatever in the world her new prototype, or "baby", was. Still, you had the honor of having half of her attention, which was a compliment to say at least.

She just smiled, shaking her head, leading you to continue, not knowing a blond was quite literally behind the corner, just outside the door leading to the support department, frown on his face.

"She came to class giggling like an idiot saying she's got a plan." You made a face into the distance, remembering your classmate's obnoxious squeal. "Ugh, she started telling the Divas how she's gonna have The Bakugou Katsuki in the bag." An ugly snort left your body, which earned an amused chuckle from Mei.

Both of you were pretty well known to be very good friends, and as much as you hated to admit it, you were both quite the social pariahs too. She was a little bit strange or weird, as some called her, but not for a single second she cared, which was the reason you admired the girl so much in the first place. Meanwhile you've taken the role of the bitch of the whole school by far. Sadly, you were placed in the same class as your archenemy, only increasing your chances of being called said endearing term.

Middle-school was a nightmare to say at least, getting bullied for your looks, the way you spoke or dressed, anything really as long as you were the one being mocked. And who was the one doing the bullying? Midori. Stunning, graceful, baby-faced Midori. Petite yet elegant, a devil in disguise. Whoever crossed her path suffered her malice unless she had something to gain from them.

And now, sweet Midori was in the U.A.'s General Studies, coinciding with you in the majority but not all classes. It had to do with the tragedy that your quirk was so rare that the principal Nezu had to adjust a new schedule just for you. Just kidding, it was amazing. The actual tragedy was seeing her face every day.

Back to your heartbreaking backstory and origin; time made you tough, comments made you build a wall so tall and thick nobody could crumble it. Backstab after backstab made you learn that not everyone has good intentions, but in your loneliness you found Hatsume Mei. So honest and dedicated, so raw and passionate. A good person. The type of person your parents promised you'd someway cross paths with and gain such a strong friendship that nothing could tear it apart.

Becoming friends with her was easy, kinda. It took snapping back at Midori when she started her normal bullying routine on Mei, which ignored it without a care. You stepped in and the rest is history. It did feel good though, calling her a pathetic bitch before turning to the stranger with a cool gadget in her hands to compliment it. And, since she's a sucker for her babies, you had to deal with an hour of sparkly eyes and monologues about her plans and prototypes.

Funny girl, Mei. You remember thinking but the following day you passed by her usual spot to fill your curiosity, asking if she did solve the problem she was complaining about.

"He was the one she was planning to ask out?" She screamed at you, head inside a giant metal gauntlet and the reason you two started talking about said man in particular. News were extra-fresh anyway.

"Oh, yeah!" You shook your head, ashamed to exist in the same general proximity as a person like your former bully. "He's gonna be so rich and famous!" A high pitched squeal left your mouth as you tried to copy her voice. "Poor fucking guy, if only he knew."

"But people know she's a bitch!" She screamed again, repairing or adjusting something with almost all of her body inside the gauntlet. A smile, genuine and soft this time, formed on your face. The pink-haired girl wasn't one to talk bad about others or even care, but it was clear she wasn't particularly fond with Midori either, although the conversation was more for you to vent rather than gossip. Sure it was.

"Like the people from the Hero Department even care about us, the commoners." With a roll of the eyes, you followed. "If he's smart, he'll run away. If he's an asshole, he could use her too."

"What do you mean?" Pink flocks of hair suddently submerged from the gadget, eyes curious zooming on you. That probably got more than 50% of her attention and it was a new personal goal while she was at the workshop.

With shrugged shoulders, your answer came nonchalant. "He could date her and dump her like she's nothing. Would serve her right for all the shit she's talking about him." But the only response you got was a short quizzical look, followed by your exagerated sigh. "She's talking shit about him constantly, but then says he's hot and that his personality doesn't matter anyway. Money, fame, looks. She has a whole fucking life-plan! Then calls him a rabid dog!"

"Woah—" that surprised her.

"Woah indeed! Insane. It's insane. I don't know the guy but no one deserves that shit." When you got no response, you continued your speech, munching in the food with passionate hunger, words coming out almost indistinguishable. "Doubt he'd play her though. He looks like a smart guy. I've seen the Sports Festival—" you picked up your burger, giving it heart eyes. "—and I've seen the news. He's probably a good guy too, the issue is people don't see that and... Well, I understand what's it to be judged... Not many have what it takes to be a real hero but he does. Hope he finds happiness in life." Much talk for someone that doesn't know shit about the guy in particular, but even so faint, your gut instinct was trained well enough to spot malice and he lacked that. "And a therapist." And there's the little shit in you that had to drop a cheeky comment.

Mei's gaze turned downwards and even if you could see her brain do mental gymnastics to solve whatever problem she had in front of her super-eyes, she also contemplated your words with great care.

"He comes here from time to time—" she grins, smacking the grenade looking gauntlet with her weird utensil. "I noticed you two are similar." Your face twisted, eyes wide towards the girl.

Similar how? He was loud, bold with a foul mouth, definitely needed a therapist for those unresolved anger issues... But he was also bright as in whenever he went, people looked in his direction, like he shined; obviously strong, also from what you've heard smart, popular, lucky to be surrounded by kind people. Example being that very nice pink girl that had a joyous conversation with you the very first day of school and, much to your surprise, continued greeting and having sweet small talks with you every single time you saw each other. Or the blond haired guy that showed off a little bit too much and made dumb flirty comments with no bad intentions, the same blond that waved at you with enthusiasm when you'd cross paths. There was the red-head, Kirishima, that was an absolute gentleman, opening doors for you even if you had two functioning hands and smiled so bright it made your corneas burn, or also the dark haired guy, Sero, that you've seen helping literally anyone in need around the school campus with an easy going attitude and gentle grins. Bakugou Katsuki was surrounded by good people, good heroes just as amazing as him and if they liked him, he must've definitely had some good in him, right? Another point appeared in your mental presentation about the brash hero in the making was that he was way too attractive but the wise burried deep inside of you made that particular point dissappear. No need to think about that. Overall you weren't even remotely similar. Not even close. Two completely different human beings from two completely different worlds that would never collide. With that being said, there was the small chance that Mei hinted for you to get a therapist too, who knows.

"How even—"

"I mean!" She screwed something in place. "I mean in your— determination?"

"I wouldn't know that." You muttered.

"He screams I'm gonna be the best every time he's here—"

"Cute..." You vomit that endearment without thinking, but thankfully it got ignored.

"—and it always reminds me of you." A small chuckle left your mouth.

"Don't make fun of me."

"You say it too~"

"I just heal, Mei, it's not the same." Principal Nezu's speech, the speech he gave your parents months into the first year as they found themselves aware of your power made you hold your words. You had it in you. The potential. If incredible people like your teachers, like Shuzenji Chiyo or Principal Nezu twisted things around for your quirk, for how rare and powerful it is, you'd accept it.

"But you're gonna be the best healer ever, aren't you?" She taunted.

"Of course. Which reminds me—!"

"Hmm?" Her attention faded away slightly, but it wasn't a problem.

She cheered, both at you and at her finished masterpiece and proceeded to eat too, passing through the lunch hour without interruption.

"Recovery Girl is putting me on active duty at the infirmary from now on. Finally!"

Innocent pale purple eyes stared into deep crimson ones, furrowed brows covering them.

—

Bakugou Katsuki wasn't one to enjoy being annoyed or surprised and this extra managed to make him feel both things in a short notice.

Everyone around him froze in fear or wonder, awaiting his response without breathing or moving an inch. Meanwhile Whoever-she-was held a pink envelope in front of him, a perfume too sweet coming from it making him want to literally gag in the spot.

Another thing the boy did not appreciate was to have someone bullshit him. His senses were telling him to back off, alarms ringing in his head and those purple eyes held hidden intentions; he wasn't having any of it.

"Fuck off." He snapped, yet his stance was casual as he refused to move out of her way since she was the one that had the audacity to run into him.

Some gasps, even coming from his so-called idiotic friends, could be heard and an indignant Bakubro behind him as he got slapped in the shoulder but he did not care. Not until her lips started to tremble as she retreated her confession letter towards her chest dramatically. His eyebrow started to twitch at the sight.

It was a spectacle for anyone surrounding him.

"What's going on?" Shushes and whispers.

"Bakugou Katsuki just got a confession!" Gossip.

"What!? Who?!" Confusion.

"You said Bakugou Katsuki?!" Shock.

"Oh, she's pretty!" Awe.

"He told her to Fuck off! What an asshole!" Outrage.

"Is that Midori?" Surprise.

"The nerve—" Anger.

"Midori from—" Disbelief.

"Oh, my God, she's really doing it~!" Giggles.

He frowned deeper. If people were to talk about him, they should be talking about all the crap he's been doing and all the lives he saved, not because of a fake bimbo decided to cross his path.

Bakugou wasn't stupid either. With time he knew these things would eventually come in his direction, stuff he'd have to deal with in the future as fame would take over, but not now. He did not have time to entertain this show anyway.

There was only one destination in his mind and she was keeping him in the middle of the whole school cafeteria with prying eyes on them both.

"Bakugou, do something, she's about to cry!" Dunce Face harshly whispered, but turned towards the white haired girl that looked devastated in front of them. "Ignore him! Ask me out, I would never make you cry!"

He rolled his eyes so back in his head it almost hurt. With a need to hurl the food he just ate, he made a step to leave the scene but small hands with claw-like fingernails gripped his arm and he looked at her in utter disgust.

"No, I would never! He—" she sniffled but had no tears in her eyes. He gave her a scowl, trying to take his arm out of her grip but she scratched him in place with her tiny rat hands. "You're the one I love! I—" her bangs covered her face as she continued her show.

"Bakugou! Dude! Do something!" Shitty Hair said, his dumb and blind trust in people buying the act. A vein almost popped on Bakugou's forehead.

"I fucking said—" he pulled his arm so hard she fell on her knees by his side. "Fuck. Off."

Another set of gasps filled the room.

"Bakugou!"

One thing he did not want, even if he could tell it was a foul theater, was to hurt somebody. His asshole act ended at that but his pride stopped him from saying anything.

Glancing to see if she's hurt, Pink Idiot was by her side, helping her up and asking way too many fucking questions.

"No, I'm fine..." she said with such a meek voice he scoffed, also hearing all the shit everyone around him was talking.

"He's such a brute."

"What a mean guy—"

"She's crying!"

"Fucking asshole."

He gritted his teeth.

After the disaster with the League of Villains in the first year, people started to respect him for who he was yet one single, minuscule shit like this and they were all at his jugular.

"I took Bakugou-san by surprise." She excused his behavior to Ashido, which then suggested they should eat lunch together sometimes to make up for the trouble after apologizing in his behalf.

"Yeah, we'd love to have you around! Isn't that right, Bakugou?" The apologetic and almost pleading voice of his blond friend, if he ever was going to call him that anymore, just made him bare his teeth. If they wanted to get played like fools it was their problem, not his.

And that's how he found himself eavesdropping on the weirdo and an extra.

And with a single "Whatever." he left the cafeteria, going to check if his gauntlets were ready, annoyance oozing off him, making the sea of people part from his path. Except he didn't notice you rushing away a little bit in front of him, holding a bag of food, all amused.

Why the fuck was everyone talking about him? Can't they fucking keep his pretty name outta their mouths? With time and without finding a reason why the hell he was glued in place, he listened attentively, his suspicions confirmed and his ego hurt, but whoever was talking about him calmed his nerves a lot. He just needed to put a face to that voice. Just to see who's gossiping about him, nothing else.

—

With a full belly and a whole afternoon to study by Recovery Girl's side, you marched towards the infirmary after you bid your farewell to Mei. There was still time to walk around, grab something sweet for later and save any poor soul that Midori decided to sink her teeth in. It was common at this point, you getting in between her and her victims and taking the hit, yet somehow also being called a bitch by everyone. That's how high-school worked. She did have friends and they spread any word she spat. Vultures.

It was fine though. Hero [Y/N] is there to save the day no matter what. You scoffed at your own stupidity, turning the corner just to step on a leg that was sprawled on the floor.

He clicked his tongue, getting up with no worry in the world, but made no action to leave, settling for observing and analyzing you way too intensely.

"Watch where the fuck you're going, idiot." The man of the hour, the guy you've defended in front of your friend just screamed at you as he dusted off the imprint of your shoe left on his pants. Meanwhile you just paled in place before regaining your composture.

"Why are you sitting on the floor?" You said, tilting your head with a frown, already knowing you will not apologize.

Unimpressed by what was going on, even if you truly couldn't point out what really was going on, you made an attempt to move past him towards the vending machines not far behind, but he caught your arm in a firm grip.

You blinked stupidly at the skin contact.

"Heard you were talkin' shit."

Your stomach dropped. Legs almost gave up too if it weren't for his iron grip holding you still. In the silence and at the satisfaction of the reaction you let out, he smirked and raised his chin, only Mei's singing voice coming from her workshop could be heard. Realization hit you. Hit you? Bitchslapped you in the face and left a mark for sure, because your cheeks started feeling heated, tingly.

He dragged you away, maybe to have the privacy to murder you in peace, but your common sense kicked in and you came back from the land of the mortified.

Much like he did before, action you saw with your two own eyes and repeated, you pulled out of his strong grip and stared as he turned towards you, mouth already opened to probably eat you alive.

"I wasn't talking shit about you, dude." You quickly spoke first.

"You don't fucking know me." He growled back, taking a step towards you but like hell you'd back down.

"Don't need to be besties to say what I said." Without understanding why he was so agitated, the only thing left to do after this beautiful turn of events was to defend the honor remaining in you, so you raised your chin to be at par with him. The action clearly took him by surprise, making him glare more, if even possible.

"I don't fucking appreciate when extras talk about me behind my back!"

"I don't give a shit what you appreciate, dude." Your laugh was the complete opposite of his menacing loud voice, like ying and yang.

"Bakugou, the name's fucking Bakugou, you extra!" Bakugou recovered quickly at your snappy self, getting more bothered as you talked.

"Okay, dude." His hands fisted, shaking in place as he stared you down but did not continue.

Silence; the hallway was now filled with silence as he boiled in his own anger and as you raised your brows in confusion. Now what? Was it time to leave? You've never met anyone like him, this was peculiar—

"NOW IT'S WHEN YOU FUCKING TELL ME YOUR SHITTY NAME, YOU FUCKING DUMBASS!"

A second passes; two; at the third you're wheezing your lungs out, laughing at the ridiculousness of the scenario.

"What the fuck are you LAUGHING AT?!" His voice got louder just to top your howling. You did not expect that.

Through a sigh, regaining your breath, you say "It's [L/N] [Y/N].", seeing him retreat in his form and cross his arms. He was still seizing you up.

"If you have shit to say to me, say it to my fucking face, understood?"

"I—... Say what now?"

"I—." He copied in a mock, getting an incredulous look from you. "You stupid or what?" Your upper lip lifted, ready to cuss him to infinity and beyond but he continued. "Like about that bitch from before and shit—" even if he still was loud, he placed his hands in his pockets and looked more interested in the way the tiles on the wall were placed instead of your person. "An' like you told the weirdo—"

No time to be shocked at the implied; his last word enraged you, making your body shake with rage. "Don't fucking dare to call her a weirdo ever again."

Like a challenge, he snapped his face back at you, ready to take it.

"Or what?"

"Listen here, fucker—" now that was a nice surprised face he was pulling. "Just because I gave you a pat on the back in there doesn't mean you can disrespect people just because you think you're the shit. You're not. Now get out of my fucking way." With a final push to his shoulder, your mind was focused on going to the infirmary, steam almost coming out of your nostrils.

"Hey, extra!"

Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him. went through your mind, marching away without a glance back. Not until—

"[L/N]! You're a healer, hah?" That's interesting. He stood where you left him, watching.

"What's it to you?"

Someone sane would've left at your tone but this guy walked towards you then showed you his arms, recently scratched. Images came back to you about the cafeteria incident but did not underst—... did he want to get healed?

You scoffed.

"They're scratches, dude."

"They annoy me. Now heal." All the energy you had left in your body was channeled towards the slow blink you threw at him, at which he scoffed. But they did look nasty— and Midori did them. It was a curse by itself to look down at your own arms and remember that face, so the guardian angel in you decided to take control and be the better person.

Gentle fingers barely tapped his muscular arm. Smile crept up on your lips, feeling absolutely delighted at his obvious stiffness at the skin contact and the clear interest in his eyes, specially when the scratches started disappearing into nothing, leaving smooth silk skin under.

"Hey— Wha— Where the fuck do you think you're going?!" raspy voice got lost in the distance and one thought in your head.

"Want a lollipop for being a good patient too?" You mock and his face explodes in all shapes of red. It would've been great to mock him more, enthralled by his reactions, but with that you turned and left, ignoring the tingling under your fingers that should not be there and your stomping heart.

Did he wait all the lunchbreak to talk to you?

—

A long queue was ahead of you, earning the longest sigh out of your lungs. Life was pain sometimes. Mei couldn't hang out, food was too far away, the delicious croissants Lunch Rush made ran out as far as you could see. Pain. Just pure pain.

And disappointment. When you walked away with your food in a bag, maybe to sit under a tree and enjoy some peace and quiet, you saw her. Midori sitting at a table you did not expect. At the same table where Ashido Mina, Denki Kaminari, Kirishima Eijirou and Hanta Sero sat at. Good people. Honest, good people about to get bitten by a snake. If she was there, then Bakugou decided—

"You. Sit."

Thinking about the boy somehow summoned him behind you. Food in hand and bored expression on his face, he passed you not without giving you a stink eye. Indeed, disappointment.

You shrugged, trying not to pay much attention to the pang in your heart as you moved forward, but a voice— his voice stopped you in your tracks.

"You. Get the fuck out of my face." His growl made everyone around him turn to watch, you being one of them. There was no excuse to what came next, no way to run away past it and dissappear. He nodded his head at you out of all people and pointed at the seat still occupied by Midori; her purple eyes big, shocked, running between your frame and the blond's.

Do you know what it felt to be put in the spotlight without warning? Well, congratulations because that was your life now.

"Ba—Bakugou-san?" Her voice, now highed up and meek followed, then a small scream as Bakugou slammed his food on the table. His friends sat there, wide-eyed, but made no attempt to interrupt.

"Did I fucking stutter, bitch? Or want me to turn into a rabid dog for fucking real?"

You choked on your own spit, bag of goodies about to drop on the floor once you saw her horrified face. She knew that he knew. And when her pale eyes, filled with sudden malice, act dropped, turned to you it's when you realized she figured out where he found out from.

Not like you cared, really, but the little shit that always had to poke out every time she was in the same room as you decided to finally show up, making you wave and send her a wink.

"I said MOVE!" now— that growl, raspy and filled with anger startled her. The orange juice in her hands spilled all over her uniform and woke her up from whatever delusion she was in. With zero time to reconsider, every belonging of hers was picked up with trembling hands and she ran away to her group of cockroaches.

A smile was already settled on your face; your brain was storing that whole interaction deep within, ready to bring it back up whenever you needed a good laugh.

Life was pain and disappointment, you say? No. Life was great. Or more importantly, Bakugou was. Not like he needed to know. But he was a decent guy as he proved—

"THE FUCK YOU STANDING THERE LIKE A DUMBASS?! I SAID SIT!" —to be a pain in the fucking ass and the bane of your existence.

You gave him a face then turned to walk away, even rushing more when you heard his chair screeching on the floor. The exit was so close, so near, freedom never felt this great, the sunlight kissing your skin giving you a new hope to live. But not for long because he grabbed your hand and started dragging you towards his table.

Your hand was in his hand and he was dragging you—

Your hand— his big, warm, a little bit sweaty hand—

How could you ruin such a beautiful moment? Eyes on you two, shocked, silence, his adorable red ears being the only thing you could see as he was completely in front of you, still dragging you towards his friends...

"Did you wait all lunchbreak yesterday to talk to me?" You collided into him as you finished the sentence, his way taller form stiffened so much you felt you single-handedly broke Bakugou Katsuki for good.

But when he turned... Oh, when he turned. Biggest deer-caught-in-the-headlights eyes you've ever seen on anyone, cheeks painted so red you almost melted in the spot, lips trembling as his head worked a thousand miles per second just to find a retort. And you prepared yourself for—

"NO, I FUCKING DIDN'T! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, YOU FUCKING EXTRA? I'D NEVER WAIT FOR SOMEONE LIKE YO— ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!" Mina's waving hand caught your attention and smiled at her. Your hand was still in his, gripped harshly as he still hasn't noticed it's still there.

"Hey! [L/N], long time no see!" She cheered, ignoring the living shit out of her screaming friend, like she's used to it.

"FUCKING LOOK AT ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU—"

"Hey, chill, dude. Now let go of my hand, I wanna talk to Ashido." You smiled sweetly, making extra effort to wave your linked hands arond until he finally noticed. He zapped his hand away so fast, like he's been bitten by a wild animal. Maybe even a rabid dog, if you will.

You couldn't ignore your own flustered state as you walked past him, giving him a one up, adding the absolute scandalized face he had into the back of your mind for safekeeping.

"Come sit with us!" The pinkette offered.

"Oh, hey, I know you! You're by Hatsume's workshop all the time!" Kirishima intervened with a surprised face that broke into a grin. "Nice to officially meet—"

"I fucking said." he appeared, sitting in front of you. "My name's Bakugou."

"Ok, dude, but I'm talking to someon—"

"BAKUGOU KATSUKI!" Could be heard from the stratosphere.

Note: I just realized Midori means Green [ fucking duh ] but I'm not gonna change the name or her description. I think her parents fucking up her name was the start of many accidents leading into the Midori we all know and hate. Also, I know you understand. We all know a Midori in our lives. Much love.

Note 2: I keep editing it but tumblr dot com slash Install App on Phone fucks my editing and switches paragraphs all around! If you find any PLEASE tell me, I'd really appreciate it!!!

#bakugou katsuki x reader #bnha #noire writes #bakugou x reader #bnha x reader #i just wanted to make myself uwu #reader is op

941 notes · View notes

welcome-to-the-end-of-eras · 2 years

Text

The post I wanted to do today was “pulleyverse characters and how they deal with breakups” bc I thought that would be fun, but I realised that it would just be a bunch of gifs of the self destruct buttons from Phineas and Ferb, so instead I’m gonna do Pulleyverse Characters and Their Starbucks Orders:

Raphael: he goes to like Fancy Coffee Shops that sell Real Coffee and ends up paying $8 for a small cappuccino, but at Starbucks he just goes for straight espresso bc if he’s at Starbucks he’s not looking for taste, just caffeine. Also hates to admit it but he’s a sucker for the cake pops.

Thaniel: he wants to try the funky drink combos every time he goes but he doesn’t like making the baristas do extra work so he just gets like a hazelnut coffee and that’s it. He also tips very well.

Six: it’s either a vanilla bean frappuccino or a straight black coffee (I can’t decide which is funnier), but she gets the same thing every time so no one bothers to ask her what she wants. Will occasionally ask for a slice of the iced lemon loaf if she thinks she’s done something that deserves a reward (and her parents are complete softies so she gets it every time she asks).

Merrick: he definitely goes for whatever seasonal drink they’re advertising when he goes in, but if there’s nothing seasonal he goes for some sort of mocha contraption that changes slightly every time he orders it. Or a chai latte. Idk why he just gives me chai latte vibes.

Grace and Matsumoto: Grace is Not Like Other Girls so she goes for a straight black coffee, but she hates the bitterness of straight up coffee so Matsumoto gets whatever fruity drink she wants and they switch in the car. She will not go to Starbucks without him for this exact reason (Matsumoto is not a fan of straight coffee either, he just loves his wife enough to help her defend her image).

Mori: he despises the tea they have at Starbucks and won’t even look at any of the tea drinks, so he just goes down the list of coffee drinks and orders a different one each time. He also tips well, but only because he has no idea what an acceptable tip is, so he’ll give them like a twenty for a drink that costs $4.29.

Kite: my man drinks Dunkin’ I know it in my heart and soul. Medium caramel iced, regular. That’s his order. And a bacon egg and cheese because they’re SO GOOD-

Joe: he’s an iced tea kind of guy, so he will usually get one of their iced tea lemonades, but cannot stand the texture of the dried fruit they put in it some of them. If he accidentally gets one with the fruit on there and can’t go in and ask for a new one, he’ll steal other people’s straws and use them like chopsticks to pick each individual piece out before taking a sip.

Pringle: the most god awful contraptions you’ve ever laid your eyes on. Frankenstein’s Creation levels of fucked. And chugs it in the store no matter what it is. But he always gets egg bites no matter what, and they’re the main reason he goes to Starbucks.

Takiko: she gets french vanilla almond milk lattes like the classy bitch she is, I will accept nothing else.

Midori: is the one who got Takiko hooked on the french vanilla almond milk latte because she is also a classy bitch. Plus a croissant bc she’s bougie.

Agatha: she’s also a latte kind of person, but her guilty pleasure drink for when she’s not too worried about image is the most sugary frappuccino known to man; she orders it after a particularly long day of dealing with investors and whatnot, and just has herself a night every time. I’m talking 5 shots of vanilla and caramel each. Just pure, teeth-rotting sweetness. It’s her self care.

Wellesley: she always orders some “secret menu” item she found on like social media or something, or she just makes one up herself. It’s usually pretty good, but she’s made a couple that she absolutely despises, and she marks them all down on a big chart that says “worst drinks known to man” and ranks them. Occasionally she’ll trick people into ordering one of the bad drinks as a prank, but will always get them a new one they actually like afterwards.

Vaulker: he gets a boring ass venti hot coffee with whole milk, but every time he purposefully says “large” and corrects the barista every time they say venti bc “A gRaNdE sHoUlD bE a LaRgE bEcAuSe SpAnIsH” like an annoying little prick. And even if they say large just to go along with it he’ll go on a rant to them about how stupid the naming system is thinking they agree. He tips no more than 50 cents, if that.

Kuroda: again, large black coffee, nothing special, but he openly makes fun of people who order any of the specialty drinks bc they’re “not ordering coffee in a coffee shop”. The opposite end of the “annoying middle aged man in Starbucks who orders a plain coffee” spectrum.

Tanaka: iced water with whipped cream. And he drinks it in front of the baristas. Every last drop. And chews the ice when he’s done. He’s just trying to establish dominance.

#I love making these #I wanna make one that’s like what part of the US they’re all from #I feel like it could be fun #the watchmaker of filigree street #the lost future of pepperharrow #the bedlam stacks #the kingdoms #twofs #tlfop #tbs #natasha pulley #pulleyverse brainrot

22 notes · View notes

five-rivers · 3 years

Text

Long Night in the Valley, Chapter 6

Plans were made.

And discarded.

Different plans were made.

These were also discarded.

The problem (besides the fact that their best planners (except Yaoyorozu) were out of commission) was that no one knew what needed to be done. If anything. Yes, Midoriya had run out of the testing center. Yes, the whole situation where Midoriya was initially placed in a group apart from all the rest of them was shady. Yes, the fact that Aizawa and the other half of class was still missing was distressing.

But they didn’t know what was actually happening. They didn’t know if the others needed help, or what help they would need. They didn’t know why Midoriya was running, chased by heroes of all things. Jirou had wondered out loud if Midoriya had been mind-controlled by a villain with a quirk like Shinsou’s. In response, Kaminari had a (brief) breakdown agonizing about whether he had inadvertently helped a villain kidnap his friend.

What a mad banquet of darkness.

Luckily, they were training for… well, not situations like these, to be honest, but situations. Just. In general. Dark, mysterious situations, where one wrong step could send a person plummeting into an abyss of misery.

Anyway.

When in such a vexing a perilous situation, the thing to do, as Momo had pointed out, was gather information.

Was Jirou plugged into the wall? Yes. Did Shouji manifest enough ears and eyes to make even Fumikage slightly disturbed? Yes. Did Yaoyorozu make tiny listening devices that fit on the mice and insects that Kouda had called? Yes. Did Kaminari spontaneously manifest hacking skills that no one knew about and then deny that they were hacking skills? Yes. Had Dark Shadow pressed herself flat to sneak under doors and temporary room partitions?

Also, yes.

He tugged on Dark Shadow with his mind, directing her to return.

“Find anything new?” he asked. Tsuyu, his current partner in not-crime-quite-yet and lookout, leaned closer as well, interested.

“The lady whose quirk they were using passed out,” reported Dark Shadow. “Everyone she used it on is still asleep.”

“Nothing about Midori?” asked Tsuyu.

Dark Shadow’s facial expressions were often limited, but, this time, her scowl was clear. “Stupid stuff.”

“Like?”

Dark Shadow huffed, and Fumikage felt her annoyance. “Like he’s a villain or a spy. Stupid.”

Tsuyu closed her eyes and swallowed with obvious distaste.

“Do you think that’s why he ran? It seems unlike him.”

“Huh?” said Dark Shadow. “Midori didn’t run.”

“What are you talking about, Dark Shadow?” asked Fumikage. “Speak clearly.”

Dark Shadow elbowed him. “Midori’s friends ran!”

“You mean Ochako, Todoroki, and Iida?” asked Tsuyu.

“No, they’re still asleep. His friends. Like you and me are friends, Fumi!”

“You mean his quirk?”

“Uhhuh,” said Dark Shadow, bobbing. “They’re like us. Isn’t it obvious?”

“Not really,” said Tsuyu.

Fumikage leaned and against the wall and slid down to put his head in his hands. “What a mad banquet of darkness, indeed. It is as if we journey at night, through a verdant and shadowy valley—”

“Come on, we have to tell the others,” said Tsuyu, nudging him.

“What happened?” asked Hitoshi, softly, not quite believing what he’d heard. He rubbed his fingers over the folds of his artificial vocal cords, stored in the top pocket of his backpack. Legally speaking, he wasn’t supposed to have it, or any hero support gear, outside the school he wasn’t licensed, even provisionally. But Hizashi had insisted, and Kayama-sensei didn’t object, so…

“According to the Hero Commission,” said Hizashi, voice tighter than his hands around the wheel, “Shouta and some of the 1-A students were targeted by a villain at the testing center.”

“What? What villain? Shigaraki?” That was the one that had been targeting 1-A again and again and again. The one that had hurt him so badly at the USJ.

“No,” said Hizashi. “They said it was Midoriya.”

Hitoshi blinked, his brain first trying to find a villain that matched the name before shoving his fellow student’s face into his mind’s eye. “You mean, he’s the one that wound up fighting the villain. How many bones did he break this time? Or did he get a new quirk?”

“No,” said Kayama-sensei. “They’re really saying that Midoriya is a villain.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” stated Hitoshi. “They think the second coming of All Might sunshine child is a villain? If he got locked in Tartarus, half the population would, I don’t know, start confessing their sins and become model citizens before the day was out. If his quirk wasn’t bone-breaking nonsense, I’d say it was the power of friendship.” He stopped, considered that last sentence. “Wait, this is about his quirk, isn’t it?”

“We don’t know,” said Hizashi.

“They’re saying he kidnapped All Might.”

Hitoshi wondered if this was what people felt like when he used his quirk on them, because his brain had just bluescreened and was struggling to restart.

“They’re what?” screeched Hizashi. It was a good thing he was the one driving the car. Hitoshi winced and covered his ears.

“Didn’t All Might steal Vlad-sensei’s car?” asked Hitoshi, feeling dazed. “How do you get from that, to Midoriya kidnapping him from across town.”

“I don’t know,” said Kayama, “but it’s all over Heronet and the commission is starting to release it to news networks.”

“That has to be the- the stupidest thing I ever heard! I’d put more money on Yagi kidnapping Midoriya,” said Hizashi, loudly and angrily.

“What the rat god said before we left makes much more sense now,” said Kayama, mournfully.

Hitoshi blanched at her reference to the principal. But then curiosity got the better of him. “What did he say?”

“That to keep custody of all our staff and students, we were going to have to be creative.”

Hizashi had expected many things upon arriving at the testing center. Being refused access to the unconscious teacher and students was one of them. Obstructive bureaucracy was one of them. People telling him something was illegal or forbidden by protocol when he knew it wasn’t was one of them. Chaos was one of them. Confusion was one of them. Lack of organization was one of them.

In these things, he was not disappointed.

What he didn’t expect, however, was for the remaining half of Shouta’s class to not only be one hundred percent down with kinda-sorta kidnapping, but to have already laid a lot of the groundwork for it already.

Maybe he should have. But he didn’t. How was it that Shouta, aka Mr. Expulsion, aka Mr. ‘you have no potential,’ had kept all the students from a class that had no scruples against committing things that most people would consider crimes? A class that, having been given time to bond, would probably collectively turn to villainy rather than betray one of their number?

He paused and considered his long relationship with Shouta. Mentally squinted. Never mind. He could see it now.

Well. It wasn’t as if Hizashi wasn’t like that, too. He’d never really considered expelling any of them. Except Mineta. Grape Juice was on thin ice.

“We most likely would have acted already,” Yaoyorozu said as the rest of the class distracted the commission officials who were supposedly supervising the pickup of the children, “but we didn’t know what we’d do after. No escape plan.”

Reasonable. The bus driver (Green Light, the Transit Hero) had gone back to the school after dropping them off and had to turn around once he heard the news.

But, now, Recovery Girl was coming around with a fleet of ambulances from the hero hospital UA contracted with. A hospital that was, incidentally, not the same as the one the Hero Commission wanted to bring all the people still affected by Saito’s quirk.

Ambulances had room for riders. It was unorthodox, but it would work.

“Well, you have one now,” said Hizashi, quietly. No one expected him to be quiet. It made him almost invisible when he was.

“I know you already have a plan,” interjected Hitoshi. “But is there anything I can do?”

Momo blinked. “Actually, yes. We could get them out anyway, but it would help a lot if we had the keys.”

The search for Uraraka hadn’t been going well before the city started to fall apart around them. In fact, it had been going incredibly poorly, because various versions of All Might kept popping up to try and punch Suzuki’s face off. Literally. At least two of the All Mights had declared that as their intention prior to attacking.

Tenya wasn’t sure if he should be concerned about his friend’s mental state or baffled about his incredibly violent mental view of All Might.

Perhaps the eyeless villain in Kamino had left a strong impression on him? But All Might couldn’t have been responsible for the villain’s injuries! It was All Might. He hardly ever injured villains he took down.

On the other hand, the villain at Kamino had been terrifyingly strong. If there were to be an exception to the rule, he was certainly it.

But the real reason, in Tenya’s opinion, the search had been going poorly was Suzuki. The man would not stop talking. His theories were even worse than Todoroki’s!

“That All Might is fake,” he was saying. “He isn’t even using his quirk, just like Midoriya.”

“I think we all know that the All Might that exists in Midoriya’s mind is not, in fact, the real All Might,” said Aizawa.

“This destruction is just another ploy, another distraction—”

“We get it,” said Aizawa. “But it isn’t centered around us, so, logically, it must be centered around Uraraka.”

Suzuki scoffed. “We should be looking for what Midoriya is trying to hide.”

“The only reason we aren’t beating you up right now,” said Aizawa, “is that we are looking for Uraraka. So, shut up.”

“What about me?”

Tenya whipped around to see Uraraka stooped over behind them, breathing heavily, hands on her knees. “Sorry,” she said, “I ran all the way here.”

Aizawa hurried over to her. Tenya noted that he never quite turned his back to Suzuki.

“What happened?” he asked. “Where were you?”

“D- Izuku wanted to talk to me,” she said. “He said something dangerous was about to happen, but if we went farther in, we could maybe get out?”

Under normal circumstances, the overly vague report would have been cause for scolding, but Tenya could see how her eyes flicked to Suzuki. There were details she didn’t want him to hear.

“Did he say how to go further in?” asked Aizawa.

“No. That happened and he ran off.” She gestured towards another building that was slowly collapsing.

“Wait a moment,” said Suzuki. “If you’re here, what’s there?”

“Uh,” said Uraraka.

“He told you, didn’t he? What did he say?”

“Excuse me!” said Tenya. “You are being very rude right now! Uraraka has just come back from a harrowing experience!”

Tenya was not very good at lying, but this wasn’t really a lie, per-se.

The distinction didn’t seem to matter to Suzuki, who gave him a brief, incredulous look before turning back to the gathering storm. “He doesn’t want us to see this.”

“Don’t you dare,” said Aizawa, eyes narrowing.

Suzuki didn’t listen.

Tenya caught up to him without any trouble and punched him in the back of the head. “Ow,” said Tenya, who had forgotten he wasn’t wearing his hero costume.

“Did you break your fingers?” asked Aizawa as he dragged Suzuki back by the foot.

“I’m going to have you all arrested and stripped of you licenses, unless—”

“Because we didn’t help you with an illegal interrogation? No, you’re not,” said Aizawa.

“Nana!”

The voice bounced off the buildings and was swept away by the wind.

“Nana! Master, where are you?”

It was the voice of the younger, vigilante All Might.

“Is he calling the name or the number?” asked Uraraka.

“Master! Please! Answer me!”

With a shuddering heave, the building right next to them tipped over, falling into rubble before it even hit the ground. The storm wind, heavy with rain and lightning, whipped down the street with all the force of a hurricane. Tenya had to brace himself and cover his eyes.

When he could see again, it was to discover Suzuki had run off again. Towards the fallen building.

Tenya was honestly torn between letting him get beaten up by whatever had flattened the building, whether it be Midoriya’s subconscious, the illusory All Might, or something worse. Although, arguably, all those were the same the same thing.

But Tenya was training to be a hero. Heroes couldn’t pick and choose who to save. He, and everyone else took off after Suzuki.

They all stopped, though, when a boy in a torn UA uniform clambered over the rubble. The boy cupped his hands around his mouth. “Nana!”

That hair was recognizable from a mile away, not to mention the height. All Might. Yet a different version. Tenya had known UA was All Might’s alma mater, but seeing him in a uniform like this, seeing him vulnerable, not in the way of a man at the end of his career, but as someone just starting out, someone like them, was oddly humbling and completely terrifying.

What pushed him to this? What put that distraught tone in his voice? What put that bloody slash in his uniform and bruised his face?

Tenya had a sinking suspicion he knew what. He didn’t even want to come into contact with the memory of that monster from Kamino.

All Might was scanning the ground, looking for- Looking for something. Someone?

His eyes fell on them, and even from this distance, Tenya could see them widen. All Might began to scramble down the hill.

“You,” he shouted, as he came closer. “You—Underclassmen. Have you seen-?” He gasped for air.

Even Suzuki, from what he could see, looked taken aback.

“Have you seen a woman about—” He hesitated and adjusted his hand downward, to about the height of his chin. Which was still taller than Tenya.

All Might was tall in high school. Or, at least, Midoriya thought All Might was tall in high school.

This was confusing.

“A woman about this tall. She’s—She has black hair, and she wears it, um, half up.” All Might fanned his hand behind his head to illustrate. “She’s a hero. Wears- Wears yellow gloves.” He paused for a moment, eyes flicking from one to the next. “You haven’t seen her.” He whipped back around. “Nana!”

“What even is this supposed to be?” demanded Suzuki.

“Truly,” said Todoroki, “their bond is inspiring. For All Might to tell Midoriya even of this tragedy…”

“Todoroki! That’s entirely inappropriate!” exclaimed Tenya, turning to face his classmate.

The wind picked up again. The buildings began to twinkle.

Earlier, you said something about being a vigilante. What was up with that, anyway?

Midoriya’s voice sounded like it was right next to him, and yet the sound was entirely sourceless.

The colors shifted.

Izuku wasn’t sure if he wanted to curse the bystander culture encouraged by the hero system or bless it for its unintentional effects. Even though Toshinori was clearly suffering, slumped against a wall and shoulders heaving, no one stopped to help him. In fact, most people were averting their eyes, barely looking at him.

Generally speaking, Izuku decided, he’d curse it. In this particular instance, however, it benefitted them.

He looked back and forth before dashing across the street, not caring about jaywalking at the moment. He jogged up to Toshinori, swallowing the name before it left his lips. Right. They were undercover, and the commission definitely knew Toshinori’s real name.

“Dad,” he said instead, and mentally felt himself collide with a wall. Couldn’t he have picked something else? Come up with some fake name? Or just not used a name to begin with. With effort, he picked himself up and his dream-self kept running. “I got your text,” he said, instead, for the benefit of anyone listening. He inserted himself under one of Toshinori’s arms. “Let’s go home.”

He smiled at a couple of people who were staring and hoped they wouldn’t report this.

“I can walk, I can walk,” said Toshinori heaving himself off the wall with a shudder. “I’m fine.”

This was a lie. Izuku could still see the flashback playing out in his mind’s eye. Even so, he nodded and tried to give Toshinori space, even as Toshinori put one hand on his shoulder and leaned on it heavily.

This mental invasion was wearing both of them out. No. All of them out. This was not, they reminded him, at all normal.

Five gently pressed ways of dealing with flashbacks into his awareness. Thank goodness for Five and his comparative normalcy.

“We’re okay,” he said. “We’re just on a street in Musutafu. You can feel me, right? And the sidewalk under your feet. And you can hear the traffic and smell the cars.” He kept going.

Toshinori gave a hum of assent after each item Izuku listed, but he could tell it wasn’t enough. He might be able to see and hear, to touch and taste, but he could do the same things to that mental battleground.

“What if,” said Izuku, desperately, “you tell me a story?”

“A story?” rasped Toshinori.

“Y-yeah. Earlier, you said something about being a vigilante. What was up with that, anyway?”

It isn’t well known, said Yagi’s voice as the world came back into focus in an entirely different city with entirely different weather and signage, but I didn’t grow up in a terribly pleasant area.

In fact, there was quite a lot of crime.

Aizawa caught sight of a familiar head of yellow hair positioned above a plain gakuran. The younger version of Yagi was staring down an alleyway.

Suddenly, Aizawa felt himself pulled to stand right behind Yagi. A man with a mutation quirk was being mugged by two young men with fire quirks. He blinked. The scene didn’t change, even behind his eyelids. He couldn’t see his students, or Suzuki.

What was this, a cutscene?

I, ah, rather disliked that. Obviously, my thoughts about become a symbol of peace for the world were, well… Just thoughts. But even then, for my own little corner of the world, I wanted to make a difference.

Yagi, showcasing the fact that he’d always been a bit of an idiot, pulled on a medical mask and threw his bookbag at one of the muggers and punched the other one in the face. At least he wasn’t using his quirk to do it. The villain would have been paste on the side of the building.

On the other hand, this was presumably some imagining of Midoriya’s, possibly based on a story he heard from All Might, if the voiceover was anything to go by.

Oh, said Midoriya, I did that a couple of times. Stop a mugging, I mean.

I thought you said you weren’t involved in any vigilantism.

It wasn’t vigilantism! They were just things I happened to run into, and I couldn’t just not help.

Sometimes, I wonder if your quirk really isn’t something like a villain magnet…

The scene shifted again, making Aizawa feel dizzy, even though he wasn’t moving. Except, maybe that was why he felt dizzy. Motion sickness.

I never knew my parents. I grew up in a foster home.

Aizawa blinked, and the scene became clear. A small apartment building with a tiny, tattered lawn. Someone’s shoe had been left on the sidewalk in front, and Yagi was climbing the stairs to the door.

Then, Aizawa was inside, and internally wincing at the noise level. Screaming preteens were so far out of his comfort level you couldn’t see it with a telescope.

(The exception, of course, was Eri.)

As he watched, Yagi was shoved several times, tripped, and had a water-manipulation quirk used to drop something that Aizawa suspected was toilet water on his head.

Overall, the attitude towards people like us wasn’t quite what it was now, but to be parentless on top of that? Many of the other children at the home thought there had to be something wrong with me. There was a sigh. Judging from what I’ve seen of your memories, I suspect you had the worse time of it.

I had Mom, though.

Aizawa found himself in a small bedroom. Pinned to one of the walls was a corkboard. Which looked distressingly like Todoroki’s. Yagi crossed his arms as he contemplated it.

Once I had built up my confidence, one of the things I was trying to do was find out about a human trafficking ring.

Oh, yeah, those suck.

… Why do I feel like you have personal experience in the subject.

It wasn’t my fault.

Soft, fond laughter filled the room before it was whisked away and replaced with a warehouse that just screamed ‘villain hideout.’

There was a fight.

I tried my best, tried to be sneaky… I knew I wouldn’t win in a straight-out fight. But…

Yagi was surrounded and clearly losing. Then the doors burst open. A figure floated, framed by the threshold, backlit by the streetlights.

First contact, whispered a voice like the wind.

Nana, said Midoriya.

Nana, agreed All Might’s voice. She saved me. I… Didn’t want to get caught. I ran. Went back to the muggings.

And then?

And then—

Another change in scenery. A sidewalk by a stream. Yagi stood in his gakuran a few meters away from a woman in a hero costume. The yellow gloves stood out.

And then, a week later, she found me.

The woman’s head snapped in Aizawa’s direction, and he had just enough time to realize she could see him before the scene glitched out and he was falling through an empty sky.

#bnha #boku no hero academia #fic #my fic #long night in the valley

39 notes · View notes

firebirdsdaughter · 4 years

Note

We really ignoring Horobi murdering Izu who not trying to kill him and the fact while he didn’t started this cycle. He sure as hell doing himself no favors by murdering Izu who Artuo closet ally and act all surprised when Artuo hate him. Not acknowledging he the cause for this malice in Artuo. Should Artuo still try to get though to him even though he murder Izu who got no back up compare to Jin who died before and can very well be bought back again?

…

Uh.

Can I just ask… Why are you on my blog? It’s not like I’ve been subtle about my love for Horobi. And you must be on my blog bc I’m pretty sure I haven’t put any of those thoughts in the main tag, and have been carefully tagging them as complaining/negativity/opinions/salt.

1) I’m not saying Horobi was ‘right,’ I’m saying he isn’t in a sane place right now and this wasn’t a ‘cold blooded murder,’ esp bc I’m pretty sure he understands that he regrets it now. He’s been trained for more than ten years to respond to things w/ extremity and violence, as evidenced by the Ark having him repeatedly take out or try to take out things/people that were making him feel in any way—what happened w/ Midori, why he was driven to attack Jin in 41. From Horobi’s extremely damaged and fucked up perspective, he just wanted to make the pain and confusion go away. He didn’t try to hunt out Izu, she approached him, and knowingly endangered herself. Which is why I’m also calling the fact that we’ve seen Izu move faster than a car, she could have dodged the shot and didn’t, so it’s ineffective as drama bc it was easily preventable. I’m calling bs on the writing.

2) Horobi’s definitely not surprised that Aruto hates him? He might be surprised that Aruto went full Ark (I am, too, that feels out of character, I would’ve expected him to just go regular berserk on his own). I’m not saying it’s wrong for Aruto to be mad. Like I just said, I would have expected him to go berserk on his own, which might have ended up leading to Jin’s death anyway. Like… Where did you get that. Actually don’t answer that. Aruto getting angry and going after Horobi would have been one thing, though the way he went Ark is weird to me. What bugs me is the way it’s being treated/reacted to as a ‘black and white’ situation when it should be more grey. Horobi is mentally unwell, and there were multiple factors at work/responsible for the situation. This isn’t just ‘Horobi is a bad person it’s all his fault.’ This is also ‘contrived drama by the writers who are hoping we forgot Izu can break land-speed records.’

2.5) I’m not expecting Aruto to reach out to him at this point. Hell, I’m not even saying ‘forgive’ him, even though I think by this point Horobi has figured out he regrets it. What should really happen is someone else intervenes and keeps them away from each other until both are more stable. Really, someone should have stepped in to control that on both ends. Aruto shouldn’t have been left alone. Neither of them should have. I do think more effort should have gone into reaching out to him before it happened. If they hadn’t been alone in there/if someone w/ a little more ‘emotional/mental experience’ had been present, things might’ve gone differently.

3) Izu still not having a back up is ridiculous, literally everyone knows Aruto is Zero-One, this feels like just terrible planning/lack lustre writing imo, and on top of that, Horobi didn’t know she had no backup. Still doesn’t make his reaction ‘okay,’ bc violence is never the answer, but he’s shown before he believes in bringing AI back through backups, so it may not even have occurred to him that she wouldn’t have one. Additionally, we don’t know Jin has a back up. We can’t say he ‘can very well be brought back again’ bc we don’t actually know that. We don’t know if ZAIA kept that data, Williamson just said they ‘repaired’ him. And that’s also it, even if it exists, ZAIA has it. Not Horobi. Also… This is KR, they could figure out some MacGyver to bring Izu back, even if it’s not clear now, though that’s more of a meta thing. Actually, what I would love to happen is Horobi helps bring her back, maybe as part of therapy.

Look, disagreeing is fine. That’s why I’ve been trying to keep my negative reactions out of the main tag. I’m not trying to get into fights, I’m just venting. I’m analysing what I see and interpret. It’s not that Horobi was ‘right’ it’s that he’s mentally and emotionally unstable rn bc of what happened to him, he should not be expected to know how to react calmly to things, esp if under pressure and in an intense situation. I also literally just wrote a post about how I don’t think it’s fair to blame Izu entirely, either. I comment about blaming the humans (esp Yua and Fuwa (whom I love dearly), but they did escalate the situation and then leave Aruto alone there, wtf did they leave him alone???) bc if they’d listened to Izu at the start we’d likely not be in this mess, or if they’d actually tried to reach out to him before, things could have gone differently.

This is my point of view. If this is upsetting to you, which it seems to be from the tone of this Ask, I recommend blocking my blog, bc these are my feelings on this, and I’m not going to change. I’d block you so that you wouldn’t have to see my posts, but then you wouldn’t be able to see this answer, which I hope explains some of my position, so I’ll leave it for now. Besides, in the end, it’s just a tv show, and it doesn’t actually matter, for all I can get very emotional about things, esp bc Horobi as a character became very important to me.

I hope at least some of that was coherent. I have a hard time articulating my thoughts (part of why I repeat myself so much), and I have been extremely exhausted for the past few days bc my sleep schedule is messed up, so it’s even worse.

I’m not apologising for having an opinion and an interpretation of a piece of media, and I never will. That’s not something I should be required to apologise for. I’m not hurting anyone, bc, again, it’s just a tv show. I’m just in my corner, rambling. I don’t mean any of it as an attack against people who disagree, everyone interpret things differently. For instance, I have things in media that I dislike so much it makes me feel physically ill to think about them, but I just filter them out and it’s fine. I’m even on friendly terms (I hope?) w/ people who like some of those things that make me feel sick, but it’s fine, bc we just don’t discuss them. I know people I disagree about things w/, less viscerally, and have actually had discussions w/ them about that stuff.

Having differing opinions is one thing, but I don’t appreciate the aggressive tone here. I’m saying this partially bc I do understand getting very fired up about something, even if it’s fictional (*looks pointedly at my own blog*), so I’m assuming you just feel very strongly on the subject, but please be aware of how your words might come across—bc the another part of the reason I’m saying this is that I know if I had been in a slightly different mood when I saw this, it might have greatly upset me to unwell levels. I hope it was not your intention to attack me on anything, and that this is just something you feel passionate about, but as someone who often struggles w/ tone and knows it… Please consider it. It can be harmful.

#Anonymous #Asks #Firebird Opinions #Firebird Personal #Firebird Negativity #Spoilers #as it is… I have a stress headache #lovely #like I said I hope you were not intending to cause harm #it's just a tv show sure but sometimes its not what the words are about it's the tone #and for someone w/ depression and anxiety that manifest as paranoia and nonexistent self esteem…#you're lucky I was on my walk and listening to music otherwise I'd've been much less reasonable #…#that sounds like a threat doesn't it #I didn't mean it like that #I know I struggle w/ tone when I get passionate #so I'm trying to spread awareness #I hope you didn't meant to be hurtful #but please know that your words did come across that way

4 notes · View notes

evilrubberducke · 4 years

Text

IzuMina Week Day 2- Let Me Count the Ways I Love You

And here’s day two of IzuMina week. This time around, the prompt I chose is ‘Night-time Stroll’. A little bit happier and fluffier than the last prompt, so hopefully it will help you fell better in this trying time.

As I said in my last post, I finally made another blog for my writing/Mina obsession. If that’s the content you follow me for, feel free to go give it a follow so you don’t get quite so many extraneous/personal posts from me.

Read it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23302390

Or on FF.Net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13530836/2/IzuMina-Week-2020

"Blergh!" Mina exclaimed in frustration, collapsing back into her chair, "Midori, I can't take any more of this. Can't we be done?"

Izuku leaned back in his own chair, and set his pencil down. The two of them had taken over one of the common room tables for a study session that afternoon, and had hardly left the table since. For Izuku, that was a fairly normal study session, but for Mina it was the kind of epic studython that she rarely engaged in.

They had gone through each and every subject, with Izuku meticulously explaining each part she didn't understand with the same patience and kindness that he always displayed when helping her study.

If it weren't for him, she never would have made it this far. She had always found it hard to concentrate on studying when there were so many other interesting things she could be doing. Even if she sat herself down in front of a textbook and refused to get up until she had finished a chapter, the words often refused to stick in her brain, and her eyes had a tendency to glaze over as she skimmed through the book without really understanding any of it.

Studying with Izuku was different though. She swore that her boyfriend could read the phone book to her, and he would still find a way to make it interesting. She wasn’t sure if it was something about his voice, or just the way he explained things to her without seeming like he was talking down to her that did it, but whatever the reason was, having him read the material to her was way more effective than any study method she had ever tried before. It wasn't a perfect system, and she still needed plenty of repetition to actually cram everything into her head, but it had helped her raise her grades significantly.

“We have been studying for quite a while,” Izuku admitted, “I suppose a break could be good, so long as you don’t make it too long.”

“Yes!” Mina cheered, hopping to her feet. She was happy that her grades were rising, especially since it meant her parents had upped her allowance significantly, but she had always been an active person, and sitting still for so long had been driving her a bit stir crazy.

She stretched her arms out above her head, leaning to the side as she did so to help work some of the kinks out of her back. As she did so, the light of the full moon pouring in the window caught her eye, and she was suddenly struck with the perfect idea for how to relieve her stress, and maybe buy a little extra break time for herself too.

“Hey, Midori, want to go for a walk with me?”

He cocked his head in confusion, then turned to stare out the window into the night beyond. “Ummm, isn’t it a bit late for that?”

“Nope!” Mina chirped, “We’ve still got tons of time before lights out. And there’s plenty of light, cuz of the moon. It’s the perfect night for a stroll!”

“Mina, I really can’t. I still haven’t started on the essay for English, and I really should go over this section ahead of time for when we review it together,” Izuku said, gesturing at the textbook that was in front of him.

Mina blew a raspberry in response. “C’mon Midori! That essay isn’t due till next week. Besides, you’ve been studying for even longer than I have. You need a break as much as I do.”

He wavered for a moment, and Mina seized the chance. She put on her best pleading face, knowing that Izuku was helpless when it came to resisting a pair of puppy dog eyes. She’d realized that little tidbit rather early on in their relationship, and had made great use of it.

Their eyes met, and his resistance crumbled as a small smile spread across his face. “Okay, okay. I’ll come with you. But we are going to finish studying when we get back.”

“Fiiiiiiine,” Mina said with a sigh. Having that hanging over her head would bring down the mood a little, but she would manage.

Despite how warm the day had been, the night air was cool and crisp as Mina stepped outside. She had pulled on a light jacket before heading out, but she still cuddled up to Izuku’s side and pulled his arm around her before they could even start their walk.

Even though they had been dating for several months now, Izuku’s cheeks still flushed slightly from the contact. She liked that look. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know that no matter how much time they spent together, and no matter how many times they cuddled, Izuku still cared enough to get flustered over something so simple.

She didn’t really have a destination in mind as the two of them set out into the evening. She just wanted to move around and spend time with her boyfriend thinking about anything but homework. Thankfully UA had plenty of walking paths for them to explore.

The one they ended up choosing wove around the edge of the campus and through the carefully maintained trees there. With the only light coming from the moon overhead, Mina felt like they were walking through an isolated patch of forest instead of the nearly urban school grounds.

“Pretty romantic, huh?” Mina said, glancing up at her boyfriend. He wasn’t that much taller than she was, but the difference in height was noticeable enough when they walked arm in arm.

“Yeah, it really is,” Izuku said, turning his own gaze up to look at the night sky.

“Sooo, why don’t we make it even more romantic?” Mina asked, giving him a light poke in the ribs to pull his attention back to her.

“How so?”

“Like this!” Mina said, stopping in her tracks and turning slightly so she and Izuku were face to face, arms wrapped around each other.

“I like you because you’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. You never make me feel stupid for not understanding something, even though it takes me forever to get math. I like you because you’re so passionate about everything you do. You never stop giving it your all, even when things are super tough and it's honestly so inspiring. Everyone in the class looks up to you, me most of all. You make me want to do better, to be better all the time. And even when things are tough, you always help me out. I really, really, really like you, for all of those reasons and a bunch more!”

As she finished, she pulled Izuku in close and planted a kiss on his lips. She put all the feeling she could into the gesture, wishing that she could convey even a tenth of what she felt for the wonderful, adorkable boy who had stolen her heart all those months ago. She couldn’t, of course, but she still tried her best.

By the time she pulled back, Izuku had turned completely red. Mina had thought she had seen him at his blushiest before, but that had been nothing compared to this. Honestly, he looked like he was going to keel over from the amount of blood that had rushed to his head. Not that she really had any room to judge. She could tell her own cheeks were flushed

“Th-That’s not fair,” Izuku mumbled, “You need to warn me before you say stuff like that.”

“No way,” Mina said, “That would mean I don’t get to see your flustered face anymore, and that’s way too cute to never see again.”

“I’m not cute,” Izuku protested, “I’m just… plain.”

“You are a cutie-patootie, mister,” Mina replied, booping him on the nose to forestall any protest, “And sure, I’m a little biased because we’re dating, but that doesn’t change facts. Besides, being cute is more than just looks. It’s how you act too, and that’s something you’ve got down pat. I’ve never met someone who acts quite as cute as you do.”

To her surprise, that last line didn’t send Izuku into another spiral of blushing. Instead, a soft smile bloomed on his face as he locked eyes with her.

“I can think of someone,” he said calmly, “And she’s standing right in front of me.”

Now it was Mina’s turn to be reduced to a blushing mess. There was something about seeing the change in him, from shy and awkward to surprisingly smooth that never failed to set her heart racing.

He wasn’t done there, though. “Mina, I really, really, really like you too. You’re the kindest, sweetest, happiest girl I’ve ever known, and just being around you is enough to make me smile. But that’s not enough for you. You keep getting stronger, and faster, and more amazing every day because you never give up. Even when it’s tough, you just keep smiling and making the world around you a brighter place, just by existing. You’ve taken my breath away since the moment we first met, and I can’t wait to see how you’ll do it next.”

Whereas Mina’s kiss had been quick and passionate, the kiss Izuku laid on her lips was slow, gentle, and so loving that it was all Mina could do not to melt into a happy pink puddle right then and there.

Thankfully, she resisted the urge, and they spent several minutes simply standing there, arms wrapped around each other as they enjoyed the simple intimacy of being close to the person they loved most in the world.

Eventually, however, they did have to break their embrace and return to the dorms. Neither of them were in Aizawa’s good graces at the moment, so any curfew violations would see them cleaning the dorms for a week.

To Mina’s surprise, however, she wasn’t as reluctant to return to the dorms and the pile of unfinished homework within them as she had expected to be. Hearing Izuku’s confessions of affection had been exactly what she needed to recharge her batteries.

It was still going to be a long evening, but she felt like she could handle it. After all, she had her favorite person in the whole world to help her out, and together they could conquer anything.

#izumina #midoriya izuku #mina ashido #izuminaweek2020 #day two #Night-time stroll #fluff #two dorks in love #dekumina #minadeku

7 notes · View notes

secretariatess · 4 years

Note

LEN/MIDORI for uh T, Y, U?

T- Truth1. Are they honest?You’re more likely to get a straight answer from Midori than you are Len. She’s pretty honest unless she’s got a reason to hide something. Len’s somewhere in middle ground because I wouldn’t say he’s completely dishonest. Depending on what’s being talked about, he’ll give half-truths, roundabout answers, or flat out lie. Those who can break the wall (or were already behind the wall) he has, he’ll be more honest.2. Can they tell if someone’s lying?They both have a gut sense that tells them if someone’s not being truthful, though Midori can be easier to trick. Len fits the phrase “takes one to know one,” so anything that fools Midori isn’t going to fly by him.3. Is it obvious when they’re lying?With Len, you never really know. If he gives you answer that’s not roundabout, then it could be the truth, a half-truth, a joke, or a lie, and as far as anyone can see, he’s got no tell. Midori has a certain tell that Len’s able to pick up on, and will be exaggerated the bigger the lie is. So little lies she can get away with. With big lies it’s obvious, but she says it with such determination and rigidness that it’s clear she won’t give you the truth as it is.4. Have they lied about anything they regret lying about?Midori’s thrown harsh words (such as “I honestly hate you”) to family members she really loves, but in a moment of built up anger wanted to hurt them. It was several years before she could come face to face with them again and amend what was said. Len’s numbed himself to the guilt of lying, so it would have to be a really big moment for him to feel regret over it. At the moment, I can’t think of anything he regrets lying about.5. Have they told truths that were spread against their will?Not that I can recall at the top of my head. Both of them are not easy trusters (now that I think about it, it’s amazing they let each other in enough to get married), and don’t tell people they don’t trust deep truths about themselves. Or other truths they don’t want to spread around.

U- Underdog (My mind insists on either putting these in the form of a word or alphabetically)1. Have they been bullied?Midori’s experienced being bullied when she was young. When she became a teenager and entered in Riverside, a foster boarding school, she exuded almost a tough girl mien as kind of a defense without realizing it. Len actually strays more towards being the bully, so that’s next question.2. Have they bullied anyone?Midori’s only done defense. Strike first, and she’ll make you regret it. Len would be considered more the bully. He does a lot of practical joke kind of stuff or daredevil things (collecting spiders from around Riverside to plant in a breakfast dish in the cafeteria, and going to the top of roof to try and climb all the way down). But he also does a lot of teasing and annoying because he loves reactions. Not stuff like flat out insulting, but things he knows will get under someone’s skin. when he was younger he did it a lot to Midori because he liked her (and she gave the most visceral reactions), but he’d also do it to people he didn’t care for. Like a girl named Relsha who was infatuated with him. Even if he didn’t intend on being mean, his tactics to some came off rather harsh and hurtful, and not everyone took what he did as a joke or trying to get under their skin.3. Have they ever been physically attacked by a bully?Len’s had abusers/tormentors before he went to Riverside, so if they count as bullies, then the answer would be yes. However, I feel “bully” is too soft a word for that. Midori’s also been physically attacked. And because of the situation and the fact that the bully who would physically attack was a sister, the issue was never addressed in time.4. Have they ever been doubted?Both of them have. Midori was considered the weak link in her family. She ended up gathering a group of friends that took down the evil part of her family. Len . . . was always expected to cause trouble and it was widely believed by many adults who were put in actual charge of him without a harmful agenda that he wouldn’t amount to anything.5. Have they surprised people with being good at something?Midori’s surprised friends with her prowess with fighting. But that was more because she never shared her life before knowing them, so they never knew that she was trained when she was young. Len surprised staff at Riverside with becoming the top Search Agent in the country, which is basically a bounty hunter meets private investigator, to put it simply.

Y- You1. How old were you when you created them?Uhhhhhhh . . .. Twelve? Thirteen? Around there. Len’s actually been around longer, but his name wasn’t originally Len. I think I made him closer to when I was twelve, and Midori closer to when I was thirteen.2. What inspired you to create them?lol, um, the Vocaloids. Eyyyyeaaaaaah. I had an idea of creating my own Vocaloid like characters. They weren’t originally supposed to be a part of a big story as they are now, but here we are. 3. Were they different when they were first created?Oh yeah. Midori not so much, but Len definitely. Midori was inspired by Miku Hatsune, and her earlier designs had her in a costume that was based off Miku’s own traditional costume. But with the development of her character, her taste in clothing led her away from that design and more into rough and tumble clothes (actually, no skirts now! Only on special occasions). Hair and eye color remained the same (mint green) and her hair had slight variation in style. Her personality has become more defined and she’s a lot more strict than she used be. Len was ORIGINALLY named Kuro Ameiro. Kuro had black hair that went slightly past his ears, wore a coat like Ed Elric’s without the symbol on the back (though I didn’t know who he was at the time), had a sword as his weapon of choice, and had a bit of a more serious personality. Now, he’s known as Len, he has really long blond hair that’s kept in a ponytail 99% of the time, wearing a coat like Ed’s isn’t something he’s opposed to but wouldn’t last long, daggers and other bladed items that can be thrown are his weapons of choice, and he’s definitely not as serious anymore. I actually didn’t want to name him Len because that was his original draft name (guess where that came from), but Kuro was not fitting him (also, “Shiro”, Kuro’s sister, wasn’t fitting Liesha correctly). At this point, however, I think he’s developed enough and styled differently enough that while the inspiration can be seen, he’s a different character altogether.Maybe one of these days I should do comparison art of the two to show how much they’ve changed.4. Do you enjoy writing them more than other characters?Len is one of the character I enjoy working with the most, and definitely more than Midori (sorry honey), but the both of them, yeah. They’re part of the original seven characters whose story ultimately opened up the world I have now to something bigger, and had even opened the door to restarting older stories I had abandoned by the time I created them. So they have a special place in my heart and are part of the reason why I don’t really want to write the decalogy I have planned. Because then that’s the end. It’s such a melancholy feeling.5. What’s your favorite thing about them?Their personalities and their relationship dynamics. Just imagining their married life together, and how they grow to a point where their personalities actually end up complimenting each other. Also, it’s so fun writing the scenes where Len pesters Midori, before they admit they like each other, because there’s so much hidden intent and other things behind it that they either don’t know or won’t admit to.

Thank you so much for asking, and thanks for you patience! ^_^ I was at the church for most of the day, showing it off and such. XD

3 notes · View notes

cyb-by-lang · 6 years

Text

Shell Game (24/?)

Talk no Jutsu, Midoriya-style.

Midoriya and Todoroki were both terrifying for different reasons.

In one corner: Midoriya, whose pain tolerance was better suited for creatures without skeletons to pulverize and whose off-hand flick could launch a human being the length of the entire stadium. If not for the fact that the backlash tended to keep to internal damage, Kei thought that it’d be safe for the event staff to be looking for violently ejected bits of Midoriya’s bones in the stands.

In the other: thermodynamic equilibrium writ large in the form of Todoroki, who had apparently only been using half his goddamn Quirk for the entire Sports Festival so far. In addition to on-demand icebergs and tremendous ice floes he could put out at a moment’s notice with his right side, his left could launch the kind of fireballs Kei tended to only see from Uchiha on a rage-bender. This was the kind of unpleasant surprise she got for not paying attention to introductory spiels from people like Present Mic.

Well, at least throwing a fight with Todoroki would be easy.

“Midoriya broke two fingers earlier, and he’s still going into this,” Shinsō said, his eyes narrowed slightly as he sized up each of the other boys.

“It’s Midoriya-san,” Kei said. “He’s…” She frowned suddenly. “Todoroki-san spoke to him earlier, but I don’t know what happened. Something’s different, though.”

“Different how?” Shinsō asked.

“Midoriya-san usually doesn’t seem to be the type to get intense like that,” Kei tried to explain. “He’s the type to back down at the first sign of trouble so everyone can go away happy.”

“What obstacle race were you watching?” Homura sounded utterly incredulous. “He triggered twenty mines at once!”

“That’s not the same thing,” Kei told her. “That’s a competition, sure, but Midoriya-san doesn’t really want to hurt anyone. Even in his fight against Shōda-san, he did everything he could before actually using force. His Quirk is an option of last resort.”

But he had gone full-force for Facepalm-kun at the USJ. Even then, only when he’d been scared out of his mind that the villain was going to kill one of his classmates in front of him. Not that Kei could share that observation with Shinsō. There were certain things she wasn’t supposed to know, and he really oughtn’t find out.

Nevertheless, Kei found her opinion of Midoriya steadily rising. Though he needed a bit of help standing up for himself, she could respect someone who put everything into defending other people. With any luck, though, he’ll never be forced to the extremes she had in pursuit of that goal. He’ll be a hero instead.

Midoriya, down on the field, had his shoulders squared and his arms held in a ready position, putting all of his attention into the fight. His mouth was twisted into the most wobbly smile Kei had ever seen, but that wasn’t really what he was trying to do, was it? Midoriya could put on a brave face for the crowd, but his concern was all about Todoroki.

Todoroki’s expression was so flat Kei could have balanced a level on his nose. And she had to wonder what had hollowed him out quite like that.

“I don’t know him that well, but something put steel in his spine.” Kei’s gaze focused on Todoroki. Whatever that kid had said, Midoriya was not going to back down. The days of Midoriya rolling over and playing dead were dead and gone. “This match might get out of hand.”

Which it did.

The second Todoroki created his fuck-off ice attack, designed to push Midoriya out of the ring, Kei was already at the front of the box with her hands braced on the wall. While the noise was nearly overwhelming, that wasn’t the important part. Lipreading was a shinobi skill, too, even if she usually took the lazy route and brought teammates with perfect or better hearing abilities. Genma was a frequent victim of her team-building philosophy.

There was a noise like a cannon going off in the other direction, blasting the ice apart in one huge wind tunnel of doom that was unmistakably the result of Midoriya’s Quirk breaking another damn finger.

“He has seven more to go,” Kei noted aloud, watching Midoriya clutch at his right wrist.

“Seven what?” Shinsō asked, as a brief hush fell over the crowd.

“Fingers,” Kei said, and Shinsō winced.

Out in the middle of the arena, Todoroki recovered from the attack only to send another wave of ice in Midoriya’s direction. Once again, the would-be glacier ripped across the concrete like it was a living thing, and once again Midoriya blasted it into next week.

More ice.

Another smash.

This time, the snap of Midoriya’s Quirk was strong enough to send Todoroki skidding backwards until he hit an ice wall of his own creation, bracing against any further attempts to hurl him out of the ring.

“Six,” Kei said, trying not to let tension bleed into her voice.

Next to her, Shinsō seemed a bit green around the gills. “I don’t… He’s not thinking past this match.”

“Probably not.” Kei shaded her eyes against the glare, peering closer at the battlefield. “There is no way in hell he’s using that hand like that again. He’s down to a thumb.”

Todoroki’s ice snaked out again, before Midoriya could recover from the backlash of his own attacks. This time, though, a lack of spare fingers kept Midoriya from automatically blocking the attack in the only way he knew how, the ice grasped his leg.

Once again the ice shattered, sending frost and fragments flying all across the audience opposite Midoriya and blasting Todoroki back.

Kei raised an eyebrow as the air settled back to normal.

Midoriya’s entire left arm was limp, purple with burst blood vessels. Using the entire arm might’ve been a reflex, but nevertheless Todoroki’s attack had fucked him up good.

“Well,” Kei muttered while pinching the bridge of her nose. “He didn’t use that hand.”

“What the hell is wrong with this kid?” Shinsō said faintly, eyes locked on the fight.

Kei didn’t answer. While Midoriya was probably riddled with shards from his own skeleton, he was still upright. That situation would change when it changed.

Across from him, though, Todoroki was shivering. A quick shot of him—standing with his back to an icy wall and short of breath—flashed across the jumbotron screen above. Frost crawled along his face and his right arm, shining in the sunlight.

So his Quirk did have a limit.

The battle reached a brief lull. Though the two kids were being drowned out by the audience, per usual, Kei squinted at the combatants anyway.

“Are they just talking now?” Homura asked, leaning forward.

“Something… about Todoroki-san’s father,” Kei muttered, trying to strain her ears at the same time. It wasn’t working.

Shingetsu gaped at her. “You can read lips that far away?”

“Sort of?” Kei leaned back from the fight for a second, hoisting herself up onto the divider wall and craning her neck to see above their little alcove. Endeavor was definitely in the audience—it was hard to miss a flaming face like that—but she needed binoculars to make out much else. Still, Todoroki had looked that way, hadn’t he?

“Get down,” Homura said sharply, and Kei obeyed.

“Still,” Kei said as she settled back onto solid ground, “there’s something else going on here. And Midoriya-san knows what it is.”

Homura paused. Her hair had gone out, again, so she was wearing a fellow student’s uniform jacket like a turban. “…You mean like why Todoroki-san isn’t using fire? He almost did during the cavalry battle, but I’m not sure either of you could see it…”

“All I saw was a lot of ice,” Shinsō said, frowning. “Seriously, what is Midori—?”

And Midoriya, with all the lung capacity of someone hopped up on adrenaline, clenched his broken fingers into a fist and shouted, “Come at me with everything you’ve got!”

A shudder ran through the entire 1-C box. Someone needed to stop Midoriya before he tried using his Quirk in a headbutt or something and actually managed to kill himself. He was already breaking himself into bits on public television. Todoroki would be an accessory to any death-related crimes.

Todoroki, perhaps having a brainfart moment, responded to Midoriya’s declaration by creating an ice bridge and charging the kid with the almost uncontrollable super strength Quirk instead of just trying to go for ice again at a stretch. He was butting up against his own limits, but they didn’t seem to involve shattering bornes. More frostbite and hypothermia.

Midoriya, probably having an equally boneheaded reflex, punched Todoroki in the stomach with his right arm alight with power. And all his fingers still quite thoroughly broken.

Everyone in the audience gave an awful “oooh” of sympathetic pain as Midoriya finally started screaming.

Opposite him, Todoroki was nearly folded in half by the the punch and blown off his feet. He skidded the length of the stage, coming to a stop only against a low ice wall. He rolled to his feet unsteadily, breath coming in short, foggy gasps. From the screens overhead, ice still crawled along his right side. His personal timer was ticking down.

“Why isn’t Kayama-sensei calling the match? Her or Cementoss,” Homura fretted, her eyes like saucers in the face of all this carnage.

“Technically, neither of them is immobilized, unconscious, out of bounds, or surrendering,” Shingetsu half-guessed. When Homura whirled on him, he spun his head around to avoid having to meet her eyes as her hair flared blue. “I’m just trying to explain their reasoning!”

“Midoriya-san could die,” Homura insisted to the back of Shingetsu’s head.

“He’ll be fine!” Shingetsu countered, sounding more desperate than convincing. Behind them, the rest of 1-C was getting more anxious the longer it took for harmony to be restored. Also, they were horrified by Midoriya and Todoroki’s match because they had pretty decent compassion, whether or not it was mixed with a healthy dose of “how badly it hurt to break a bone” empathy.

Shinsō leaned away from the arguing class reps. Instead, he muttered, “What is Midoriya’s play here?”

Kei’s gaze flicked up toward the screens overhead, again. There was no way audio recording equipment could fully catch what was happening in the ring without being blasted out of existence by one of the combatants in this match. While she could lipread only a fraction of what the cameras showed, it was clear the pair of them were talking.

More ice flooded across the field, and—

“There goes his thumb,” Kei said, while blood flowed from Midoriya’s mouth. He’d used his cheek to get enough resistance to use his Quirk.

“I can’t watch this,” Homura whimpered, hiding her face in her hands.

Shingetsu patted her shoulder, and his hand nearly caught fire when Homura shook her head hard enough to disturb her flaring hair.

“I want to be a dependable, cool, smiling hero!” was what Midoriya had to say for himself. Approximately. “If you become the number one hero without giving it your all, then I don’t really think you’re serious about denying him everything!”

Kei’s mouth pressed shut in a thin, unhappy line. She found herself glancing toward Endeavor again, checking for his reaction.Nothing.

Midoriya is being Naruto.

Pardon? He is not a toddler.

Wrong Naruto. Kei crossed her arms on the front of the box, sending a vision of the Naruto-versus-Neji fight from a very different tournament to Isobu for perusal. Particularly the bits before Naruto pummeled Neji into submission while miraculously avoiding an otherwise-earned dental bill. There’d been a lot of shouting Kei couldn’t entirely remember, but the parallels were clear.

Todoroki said something, but Kei didn’t see what it was because her eyes were on Midoriya just as he screamed something along the lines of, “Your power is your own!”

And at that point, Todoroki caught fire. Starting from his left eye, flames crawled up his face and down his shoulder, until the entire upper left side of him was engulfed in a tower of fire.

“So, since Todoroki’s stopped holding back…” Shinsō nudged Kei’s elbow. “Midoriya’s already lost.”

Kei nodded. At this point, it was all over bar the screaming.

Speaking of screaming, however, Kei’s eyes shifted to Endeavor once again. While the boys on the field were probably going to annihilate each other if Cementoss didn’t stand up and do something, the big arsonist himself was stomping down the stairs with his own head almost fully ablaze. He was shouting something, though, and Kei wasn’t optimistic about the chances for those words being helpful, kind, or any good for Todoroki’s mental health.

Kei carefully revised her regard of Endeavor downward. And kept going until she was almost tempted to let him know—to his face—that Itachi had set the themed onesie on fire. An ironic death for that particular outfit.

If I were to extend our chakra in that direction, I could theoretically douse his flames.

That involves at least one chakra tail, doesn’t it?

I did not say it would be subtle. You do not use my power because you want to get away with the enemy unaware of your presence.

True.

In the arena, Midoriya and Todoroki were charging their final attacks. Ice hurtled from Todoroki’s right foot in a wave as overwhelming as one of Kei’s bigger ninjutsu, while Midoriya’s right arm and left leg lit up with the red-streaked light of his ridiculous Quirk. The ice curled around his shattered arm flaked off into nothing as the wind whipped around into the beginnings of a tornado.

Midoriya threw himself forward, over the wave of ice with the exact same technique that had shattered his legs at the USJ during All Might’s arrival.

Todoroki disappeared into yellow-orange fiery light, all coming from his left hand and arm as Midoriya closed in.

“Everybody down!” Shingetsu shouted, while Homura’s hair once again got blown out. He waved his arms and most of the 1-C students obeyed, out of fear of being caught directly in the backwash of the two monster attacks. These two combatants had already more than proved they had no sense of how to scale back their AOE attacks meaningfully.

Five concrete walls leapt upward from the center of the arena before the two boys could make contact as Cementoss finally got off his ass.

That was the last Kei saw before Homura grabbed her and Shinsō’s collars and dragged them behind the 1-C box’s front wall. It probably saved her a few minutes of flash-blindness from the resulting inferno-slash-shockwave. And possibly her eyebrows.

Hot air flowed over the dividing wall, drying eyes and sending bits of concrete rubble and plenty of dust raining over the crowd. For a second, Kei was tempted to use Water Release ninjutsu just to stave off the worst of the effects, but it was over quickly enough to cut the impulse short. It was the next best thing to a steam explosion that didn’t end in raining limbs, but Kei still found herself up and almost over the front of the 1-C box just to see what happened to Midoriya and Todoroki.

Homura, her hair once again blown down to orangeish embers, made sure Kei couldn’t get stand on the divider. It seemed to be a new reflex for Kei’s civilian companions to develop, and Homura was admirably on top of things. Now she just needed to learn to shamelessly blame Kei if she got caught up in ridiculousness.

Not that anyone could see into the ring. Todoroki’s initial ice attack had been pretty thoroughly turned into steam by his follow-up, and the concrete walls that Cementoss had raised were still falling like ash. It was about as bad as Kei’s earlier Hidden Mist ninjutsu, only people without heat-adaptive Quirks were sweating a little instead of feeling chilled.

“Midoriya is out of bounds!” Kayama-sensei announced, once the steam cleared just enough for her to make out the tiny, slumped form at one end of the field. “Todoroki is the winner!”

It looked kind of like the crater Kirishima had put into the concrete as a direct result of Kei’s attacks, but Kirishima could take those kinds of hits. Midoriya, by contrast, could’ve slipped past “unconscious” to “dead” with worrying ease.

But hey, Todoroki was still standing. Barely. And in the ring!

Kei settled back into the 1-C box as the medics carted Midoriya away. Her heart was beating faster than she’d expected, and it took her a second to identify the reason why. While, yes, she’d seen the kid shatter bones before, there was a little tickle in the back of her mind regarding another big-hearted, green-themed kid who’d gotten limbs crushed in a public sporting event. Or nearly.

“Be right back,” Kei said as she nudged Homura aside. “I’m going to see how he’s doing.”

“Midoriya won’t be able to tell you anything if he’s doped up to the eyeballs,” Shinsō told her bluntly.

“I know.” But Kei was already taking the stairs three at a time.

“Tell Midoriya he’s terrifying! And don’t miss my match!” Shinsō called after her, but that was all.

Kei ended up joining the small group of Midoriya’s friends who were likewise trooping toward the medical station, because the center of this little social group was literally self-destructive to a degree that earned him some worry from others.

And on the way up to Recovery Girl’s office, Kei checked her phone.

#Shell Game #todoroki shouto #midoriya izuku #Keisuke Gekko #shinsou hitoshi

66 notes · View notes

multifaceted-diamond · 6 years

Text

A Strong Connection!

That night, I had a dream that I would never forget. It was sunset, and I found myself in a meadow of red flowers. The wind blew, lifting a few petals off the ground and into the air, several forming a large tornado. Suddenly, the pink sky turned a vibrant red as the red petals seemed to blear with the white wind, turning the tornado into a firestorm. Rather than be sacred however, I was intrigued, especially with how the fire didn’t burn me. As the firestorm got bigger, throught it I saw a familiar pair of eyes looking at me. Soon, the firestorm engulfed me, revealing to me what was looking at me from the inside. It was a large, nine tailed fox! It had firey orange fur with white flames at the end of each tail. “Are you ready?” the fox asked in a rough, growling voice. “R-ready?” I asked, bewildered but still not scared. “When our eyes first met, I sensed your hesitation.” he explained. My eyes widened. He must’ve meant my hesitation to start beyblading again. “You’ve no need for doubt.” he said, grabbing my attention. “All you need to do have faith. In my power, and in yours.” “My power?” I asked, confused. Before I could ask more questions, the fox’s body turned into pure fire and started to dissipate as the red sky turned back to normal. “Who are you?” I asked the disappearing fox. “Hbkal Hfqprkb” The fox answered as he completely vanished. When I woke up, I looked to my bedside table and saw my new bey and I recognized the canine face and nine tails on it. Somehow I knew this bey was connected to the fox in my dream. Suddenly, for some reason I understood what the fox said before he vanished. It was the bey’s name. His name. ”Kendo Kitsune.”

I thought about my dream as I arrived at school. My first class was with Valt. I sat between him and a boy with bright red eyes and white hair. I recognized him as Shu Kurenai, one of the best bladers in Japan. Back in America, he made me learn about all the best bladers in every nation. He seemed especially interested in Shu. After class, Valt introduced us and told me that they knew each other since they were little. I was slighty surprised by that. Shu was known for being cool and collected, while Valt was loud and energetic. It was actually kind of touching that they were friends at all, let alone since they were little kids.

I saw Valt again during gym period. He was with his little brother and sister, and a few other guys. One guy was tall with blonde hair, a black coat worn like a cape, and a giant fan. The other guy had long, spiky black hair, a green coat (worn like an actual coat) and a puppet on each hand. They were all around a bey stadium when I approached them. “Hey Keenan!” Valt shouted, waving me over. “Hey Valt.” I replied. Valt turned to the other guys. “Guys, this is Keenan Glass.” he said. “He just moved in across the street from our place.” Toko chimed in. “He’s new here at school.” Nika added. The tall guy spoke up first. “Well, nice to meet ya!” he said, putting his hand forward. “The name’s Rantaro Kiyama. You can call me Honcho.” he said as we shook hands. “Nice to meet you, too...Honcho.” I said, feeling slightly awkward. I turned to the puppeteer when I saw turn away. “Welcome to Beigoma Academy”, he said with a goofy voice through the red puppet on his right hand. “He’s Besu and I’m Keru.”, he said, giving a scratchy voice to Keru, the blue puppet on his left hand. Keru, then pointed to the person controlling him. “This guy’s Ken Midori. Wherever he goes, we go.” he asserted. “We’re kinda like his entourage.”, Besu piped up. I chuckled, both amused by the puppets’ personalities and Ken’s ability to make them both talk in completely different voices, all while not moving his mouth at all. “It’s nice to meet you. All of you.” I said, smiling.

Valt and I talked about beys. He introduced me to his bey, Victory Valtryek, and I introduced him to Kendo Kitsune. Rantaro and Ken showed me their beys, too. Raging Roktavor and King Kerbeus. Valt, then, told me that he was about to bey battle with a guy named Daigo Kurogami, his next opponent in the District Tournament with a bey called Dark Doomscizor. As if on cue, he arrived. He had short, spiky black hair adorned with skull beads, a red headband, and wore a black and purple jacket. Despite his kind attitude towards Valt, he seemed, in a word, dark. Just like his bey. When he battled, however he revealed that the whole “nice guy” routine was just to get the drop on his competition. Even going as far as bursting Valtryek in his hand! “Oops, made a mess. Wanna clean that up?”, he snarked, carelessly dropping Valtryek’s pieces to the ground. Valt was understandably upset. “Daigo! I’ll never forgive you for this!” he shouted as Daigo walked away.

As mom drove me to Young 5, I thought about what happened at school. My mind immediately flashed back to my days in America. I lost constanly and was constantly picked on. He didn’t make it any better with all the pressure he put on me. “Do you enjoy embarassing me, Keenan? I sing your praises every chance I get, only for you to fail misreably and constantly. Does making me look bad somehow make you feel better about yourself. Knowing how successful I am and how much of a failure you are, I think I have my answer.” Nothing I did was ever enough. Not the countless hours I spent training instead of studying. Not the intensive research I did on prominent bladers. Not even the few battles I actually won were enough for me to even earn so much as a smile from him. “We’re here!”, Mom announced, bringing me back to the present. “You okay? You looked like you were in another world.” I took a deep breath and looked mom dead in the eyes. “I’m okay.” I said. Mom and I gave each other kisses on the cheek as I got out of the car. As the car left I walked toward the Young 5 building with Kendo Kitsune and my launcher/beypointer in tow. Mom said moving here meant a new start. I guess I’ll see if she’s right.

#beyblade burst #oc story

3 notes · View notes

tadakixd-blog · 7 years

Text

Keiichi Yano’s World of Figure Skating Music

Long time no translate XP This is an article about Keiichi Yano, a well known sound designer amongst Japanese skaters. This article is part 1 of a two(?) part series published in Victory Sports News.

After that the email discussions continued. Things like "Here I would like another 5 seconds" and "At the end, I want to raise the tempo so slightly that you hardly notice it and finish it within the time limit". As his practice progressed on, with things like "At the end I would like to have Taiko drums" and "I want to add a 'space' here", in total Yano made 33 versions of SEIMEI.

In which we learn how Yano became the go to sound designer, and also the difficulties with music copyrights.

Full translation under the cut. (and spot the many links I’ve included XD)

(Courtesy of Victory Sports News)

The world of "Figure Skating Music" that sound designer Keiichi Yano has spun (Part 1)

There is a person in the world of Japan's figure skating, and that is Keiichi Yano. Be it competitions or ice shows, his work involves every aspect of the sounds that play at the venue, and that's not all. He has done sound editing for top skaters like Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno, and in some cases has created a song from scratch. He stands right by the skaters, and through "sound", he supports their performances. This article takes a close look at his work and philosphy.

---- Text by Yamane Itou

From Sounds to Music Editing

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Mr Keiichi Yano; At most, his main job is being the venue's "Sound (PA)" (t/n: sound engineer). Having more than 30 years experience in the business with figure skating, during world competitions he can have more than 300 pieces of program music in 100 groups under his management. Those involved in the event, especially the skaters and their coaches have placed in him their absolute trust when it comes to adjustments prior to the event and the rehearsals just before the competitions, as well as the minute details of the actual performance.

He first became directly involved in program music when he worked with Midori Ito, the silver medalist of the Albertville Olympics. Then he was working as an engineer affliated with Yamaha, in charge of recording and mastering original music. It was a huge undertaking where he would re-record what Yamaha music students would compose on the Electone into full orchestral music. (t/n: Midori Ito had skated to at least 10 songs that were composed by these students, see wiki article above)

After that, although his work with figure skating continued, he was troubled by the music that played at the venues. The sound quality, volume, the way the music was cut, he found it all poorly done. Just as he thought "isn't there anything that can be done about this?", he received word from the skater Shizuka Arakawa. She wanted to increase the volume of the beginning of her song in the long program.

During the Torino Olympics too, Yano had a hand in her chosen piece "Turandot". It goes without saying that he was overjoyed with Arakawa's gold medal. Having been stretched for time while editing the music, it was a moment where (he felt) his efforts paid off. (t/n: Shizuka originally used Turandot as her SP before switching it to her LP mid-season, hence he did not have much time to re-cut the music)

"Recently I have been making more songs from scratch. Where jumps should be placed, where spins should be placed - those discussions come afterward. It seems that without creating a complete piece of music, the choreography cannot be determined."

He starts off from the so-called "drawing block" but following that, through discussions with the choreographers and skaters, he comes up with the finalised piece of program music. His job comprises all of that. In figure skating competions, the winner is determined by the combined score from the Short Program (SP) and the Long Program (LP). The SP is 2mins50secs, and the LP is 4mins30secs for men and 4mins for ladies. Within these time limits, he has to design a complete, original piece.

There is an unending list of skaters and coaches who rely on Yano's music editing. Occasionally skaters even visit his personal editing studio. Kozuka Takahiko's "Respeto y orgullo (Farruca)" too, was finished in his study.

"It's actually easier for me if they come over, because then I can create a piece that that individual person is most satisfied with on the spot."

Combining 7 songs, Hanyu Yuzuru's SEIMEI

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

That Yano cut the music to Hanyu's program SEIMEI from the soundtrack of the movie Onmyouji is a well known fact amongst figure skating fans. It is said he was sent a proposed demo track from Hanyu beforehand.

From Hanyu came the simple request of

"I definitely want to use music made from the Ryuuteki with the main theme of Onmyouji. Beyond that, I leave it up to you."

From there Yano picked songs from 2 albums that seemed to go well with skating and cut them into one. Whilst imagining Hanyu's skating style, he combined 7 unique songs.

"In his case, he is very particular about music. He said "For now I will use this as the base" and went to his main training ground in Canada to begin creating the choreography for the full-scale program with his choreographer".

"The requests kept piling up. But, I am also a professional and I won't say I can't do it."

In the middle of the program, there was a point that became a topic of discussion amongst fans. It was the part where 2 pieces of music from different albums were joined and cut together into 1 piece. It was a suggestion from the choreographer Shae-lynn Bourne. The piano and ryuuteki were playing the same melody, but the pitch and the tempo were completely different, and it was certainly not an easy task to combine them together. Yano had to work extremely hard to put up that beautiful part of the piece.

Not an original music but as "one creation"

(Courtesy of Keiichi Yano)

In program music there are original pieces of music, and thus there are composers involved too. When it's Chopin or Puccini, there is no real need to take special measures. The problem arises when the composers involved are still active in the field. By the way, "Onmyouji" is Shigeru Umebayashi's work. I tried to explore the above point a little further.

-- Have you spoken to the composers of the original piece of music?

"I don't particularly speak to them. If I arranged the music weirdly then they might complain about it, but if it's executed well then it doesn't really become much of a problem. I would be grateful if they could understand it as "one creation of figure skating".

Up until now, between the two responses, there have been more people in favour (of Yano's work) than not. For example, when Daisuke Takahashi used the accordionist COBA's song too, a large part of it had been edited.

"I wondered if it would turn him off but the download numbers of the original piece increased and instead he was grateful for it. After that, there was a dialogue event between Takahashi and COBA and they even planned a combined performance during a show. They developed a very good relationship with each other".

"Hope and Legacy", Courtesy of Hisaishi Jou

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

When Hanyu brought Hisaishi Jou's song to me, everyone around me became flustered. Hisaishi is the composer who represents Japan, and he's famous for his works for Studio Ghibli's animations.

"I can make it but I told those around Hanyu who assist him 'Please get permission alright?'. The editing ran in parallel with that process."

There was a reason why Yano said that. Prior to this, Takahiko Kozuka himself had edited a piece of Ghibli's music without obtaining permission to use it, and had to go through a series of events to re-record it for use in his program. (t/n: Kozuka skated to Fantasia for Nausicaa for his 2011-2012 skate, and it took a while for Ghibli to approve it. Hisaishi Jou apparently helped give advice on the editing though) Therefore, Yano paid careful attention to Hanyu's request. Of note, at the point in time when he was told about this request from the people involved with Hanyu, permission had not been granted.

The biggest problem was using 2 different songs and joining them together. The process of composing the songs and the concept of the songs were completely different and combining them together went against the composer's intentions. If either one of the songs were to be edited and used, then it was not like they couldn't just close one eye. But from the view point of one who cherishes the musical composition of each song, joining them up proved to be something difficult to give permission for.

This explanation that was readily acceptable by anyone involved in music. Even so, Yano looked for a way to get (the composer's) understanding. This time, with mediation from television representatives, Yano and a few of the skating representatives went to Hisaishi Jou's company to make a new request.

"(Hisaishi) himself was not around but I was able to play the actual piece I had edited for the program to the company representatives. And there (we explained) that figure skating was not for commercial purposes, but purely a form of sport. We wanted to use Hisaishi's music in one of the competition programs, and we wanted to obtain his permission to edit it in accordance to the competition time limits and performance. We told them we wanted to, once again, make this request of him, and that it seemed as if Hanyu had already formed an image (of his performance to this music) inside of him, so if somehow (the company) could convey our request to Hisaishi, (it would be appreciated)."

After that, they received permission from Hisaishi. However, this was a special exception that was only for that time and made possible through the courtesy of Hisaishi. The program song Hope and Legacy was created by interposing the beautiful piano piece of View of Silence with the exotic Asian Dream Song. This one and only gem of a program piece became Yuzuru Hanyu's representative work of art.

Soon after, those involved in Hope and Legacy were invited to a consert in Tokyo. Then, Yano was able to meet Hisaishi himself for the first time.

(The 2nd part of this article will be about the accident and surprise that occured at an ice show, and Yano's own philosophy with regards to figure skating music.)

-- End --

Bonus: You may be interested in this article by @nanoka12 from Figure Skating Life Vol. 4 :)

#yano keiichi #yuzuru hanyu #joe hisaishi #fstranslations #this is interesting stuff #don't hear about music copyrights very often #i know there was a video of kozuka going to visit yano somewhere #wonder when's part 2 coming out #long time no translate #do i include too many links hmm

69 notes · View notes

elliearchive · 5 years

Text

YOU’RE ONLY BRAVE IN THE MOONLIGHT ➝ RYOVAN.

TAGGING ➝ Donovan Smythe, Rylan St. James.

LOCATION ➝ Bar, then Rylan’s house.

TIME FRAME ➝ 4/29 evening through 4/30 morning.

WARNINGS ➝ NSFW.

NOTES ➝ Don has been avoiding Rylan but then they end up in the same bar and things happen.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Things were weird. Weirder than they had ever been, in fact. Donovan was already around the day Rylan was born, she literally had never known a time without him, but now here she was, with the two of them evidently not on speaking terms. She’d tried calling and texting a couple times, but to no avail. Eventually, she was going to just show up at his house, but she figured it was important to give him his space, at least for now. She was the one who had chosen to ignore what’d happened between them, after all. It was rare she’d go on nights out without Donovan, but she now found herself in an overly crowded bar with a couple people from work, trying to enjoy herself and forget about everything that’d happened between she and her best friend. That was easier said than done when she’d caught sight of him only moments after entering the place, but Rylan did all she could to stay away, to keep allowing him his space. Usually, when she was at these trashy bars, she was with Donovan, therefore people would leave her alone. Now, though, it was her and a couple other women, so the flow of people unashamedly hitting on them had been pretty consistent. There’d been one particular guy, a little older than her, who had continuously tried to talk to her, offering her drinks that she was yet to accept. However, mostly to shut him up, she decided to take the one he’d just bought for her, humoring him. She hadn’t expected him to take that as his invitation, though, and as his hands gripped onto her hips, Rylan found herself recoiling, shaking her head up at him. “No, come on, I told you, I’m not interested,” she frowned, though he reached for her again. He was kind of cute, she guessed, and although she wasn’t going to go home with him, she found herself playfully rolling her eyes without pushing him away, though she was probably very visibly uncomfortable, in spite of her small laugh as he used his hands to move her hips, making her dance with him.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Donovan was avoiding Rylan. For obvious reasons. She’d hurt his feelings and he’d decided to be a jerk about it. It really wasn’t either one of their faults. Or, it was technically both of their faults. Either way, neither one of them had the higher authority here. They had slept together and both of their reactions were garbage, but in Don’s mind, his reaction was less trash than hers. His was only a counterreaction. So, he was angry and that was how he’d ended up at a bar that night. Even though he knew the Uber back to his place was going to be ridiculously priced. Usually if he drank in the city, he would wind up at Rylan’s house, but that was because she was the person he almost always found himself drinking with. Not this time. He was out alone. Drowning in sorrows in something called a midori sour that just tasted like Sprite. His eyes scanned the bar, stopping as they fell on the one person he had been hoping not to run into. Or maybe he wanted to run into her. He really didn’t know anymore. He was pretty sure he was going to just sit back and let her come to him, but then he noticed a guy. A guy dancing with her and he could tell that Rylan was shaking her head. It didn’t take long for Don to leave his seat and head over in that direction, immediately stepping in between her and the guy attempting to grind on her. “Little close, aren’t you?” He snapped, pushing the man away from her. “She clearly doesn’t want to dance with you. So, back off.” The guy stepped closer to him, getting in his face, but Don didn’t back down. He shoved him again, a sigh escaping his lips as he stared at him. The guy mumbled something about Rylan not being worth it, so Don shoved him again, this time knocking him over slightly. The guy rolled his eyes and walked away, deciding to just leave it alone. Don turned back to his friend, his jaw still clenched from anger. “You okay?”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

For obvious reasons, Rylan didn’t like when pushy people got in her personal space the way this stranger had. She was sure that nobody really enjoyed it, but it brought memories back to her that she’d always tried hard to forget, so she was generally quick to panic. She felt like she had this under control, though. Her friends were close by, and there was nothing harmful about swaying her hips along with his. She was sure one of her friends would intervene soon enough. What she hadn’t expected, though, was for that friend to be Donovan, and it took her a moment to register what was even going on at first. She jumped a little as she watched her best friend pushing the stranger back. “Don, it’s okay,” she tried to reassure him, placing her hand delicately on his arm, but then he was pushing him again, and Rylan found herself raising her voice to get his attention. “Donovan, it’s fine, okay? Cut it out.” She watched as the man walked away, and as grateful as she was for him leaving, something inside of her seemed to have clicked, and she really wasn’t feeling so positive in regards to her best friend. He could change his seat on the plane, ignore her for days, but then he’d just show up from nowhere and she had to deal with him being her knight in shining armor? It didn’t work like that, and there was a look of anger in her blue eyes as she stared up at him. “I’m fine,” she hissed, glancing toward the hallway leading to the bathroom. She figured it might be a little less crowded there, and took ahold of Donovan’s arm again. “Can I see you for a second?” She led him over to the corridor, letting go of his arm and folding her own over her middle. “What the hell was that?” She half yelled, looking up at him. “You disappear for days, and then you show up here and play the hero? Fuck no,” she shook her head. “I don’t need you to save me, you’re not my boyf—” She trailed off, backtracking. “I was fine.”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

This really was not the way he wanted to ease back into conversation with Rylan. Donovan wanted to apologize to her and tell her that everything was back to the way it was. Even if he didn’t fully believe it, he knew that she needed everything to be normal again. And he needed her back in his life. A few days without communication was really enough. But his blood was boiling at the sight of some other guy touching her hips and forcing her to dance with him. He couldn’t even hear her trying to get his attention during the altercation. That was all he could think about it. He sent her a confused look as she pulled him down to the hallway, not really sure where they were going. “Are you being serious?” He griped, letting out a small sigh. He wasn’t her boyfriend. She was right about that, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t protect her. Sure, they hadn’t talked in a couple days, but everything he’d done for her just now was normal Donovan stuff. It was no different than what he would have done if their relationship wasn’t all wonky. He was never going to let a guy touch her like that when she didn’t seem to want it. He knew how she liked to be touched and he knew what her face looked like when she was enjoying it. He knew he should have punched the guy. Maybe she would have been more grateful then. “I just helped you with that guy and you know it. Or is your selective memory acting up again?” He mumbled with a slight shrug. He brought his gaze to meet hers, knowing that the two of them staring at each other for too long always led them down a dangerous path. He didn’t really want to argue with her. That was the last thing he wanted to do with her. The first thing he wanted to with her was kiss her, but that was out of the question. “Ry,” he started, taking in a deep breath as he stepped closer to her. “You’re really going to tell me that’s really what you wanted?” He asked, keeping his gaze on hers. “You wanted his hands touching you?”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Under different circumstances, Rylan would’ve been much more appreciative. She would’ve thanked him, and probably just clung to him for the rest of the night. In fact, they probably would’ve left right away and gone to hide out in her house, just the two of them, where she felt safe. But these weren’t different circumstances, they were the sucky ones caused by them giving into what was evidently a deeply rooted desire the other day. “Of course I’m being serious,” she snapped, unsure as to which part of this seemed like a joke to him. Everything was screwed up, Rylan hated what was happening here. She hated being mad at Donovan, but she was. She couldn’t help it. She was sad too, which was maybe driving her even more than her anger. His dig definitely did not go unnoticed, and she found herself shaking her head, laughing sarcastically under her breath. “Of course that’s what this is about,” she muttered, bringing a hand up to run through her hair. Her other hand was now planted on her hip, and as much as she was trying not to make eye contact with him, she knew she was failing. “No,” she shook her head, trying to look past him, but her gaze met his, with Rylan shaking her head. “No, that’s obviously not what I wanted. I don’t want some creepy guy in a bar. But I was handling it.” Her tone was still angry, though she wasn’t yelling. She watched the way he moved closer to her, her gaze drifting down toward his lips briefly, though she quickly closed her eyes. “God, you’re so frustrating,” she sighed, bringing both hands up to rest against her forehead. She dropped them to look up at him again, volume increasing. “What the fuck are we doing, Donovan? This isn’t us! We don’t fight like this. We don’t avoid each other. We don’t…” She trailed off, gaze drifting to his lips again. She let out an angry huff, quickly bringing her eyes back up to his. “We don’t fucking hold back. So what the fuck are we doing right now? Why are you holding back?”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Donovan wished they were anywhere, but here. He only liked places like this when he was with her anyway. And he definitely wasn’t interested in it when the two of them were arguing with one another. He rolled his eyes at her. Of course, he was still mad about that. She’d decided all on her own that what happened between them just didn’t exist anymore. That made him angry. And he didn’t even know why. If anyone asked him how he felt about Rylan, he wouldn’t know what to say, especially if you asked him to talk about what the other night meant to him. He shouldn’t have blamed her for wanting to forget about it, but for some reason, he did. “You’re not really a walk in the park either,” he snapped with a shrug of his shoulders. If she thought he was frustrating then she should have tried having this conversation from his end. She was the most stubborn person he knew. And it didn’t seem like she was going to back down from yelling at him anytime soon. He didn’t even know why he’d decided to step closer to her. Well, deep down he did know why, but he couldn’t think too hard about that. He could not answer any of her questions. He didn’t know what they were doing. They were arguing next to a bar bathroom and he was trying to focus on both of their words, but his eyes just kept drifting down to her lips. She was really hot when she was yelling at him. “You don’t want me to hold back anymore? Fine.” He sighed, bringing his eyes back to meet hers. He took another step closer to her, his voice a lot softer than what it had been when he was insulting her. “What the fuck do you want from me, Ry?” He asked, not breaking his eye contact with her. “You know what I’m thinking about right now. You know me. I don’t have to say it. And I know you don’t want some creepy guy in a bar. I know who you want.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

As frustrating as this was, it also kind of beat the alternative. It wasn’t like she wanted to fight with Donovan, but at least this way, he was talking to her. He was actively paying attention to her, and that felt better than not having him there at all, the way it’d been the last few days. She found herself sarcastically laughing again at his words. “Please. At least I’m not ignoring you. I haven’t avoided you trying to reach out to me. Not that I’ve had the chance to avoid you, of course, considering you haven’t even tried. Who knew you’d find it so easy to push me away?” She’d struggled to ignore what’d transpired between the, she’d struggled to avoid it and pretend it had never happened. But Donovan had seemingly disappeared so easily, it was almost insulting. It added to the reason she was yelling at him now. The idea of talking any more calmly was out of the question. Rylan was mad, she was hurt. She was confused and she was frustrated, and Jesus Christ, she was sick of finding herself looking at his lips, desperate to step forward and close the gap between them. That was what she’d been trying to avoid. But then he was moving closer to her, his voice was softening. Rylan could feel how hard her heart had begun to race, just from having him so close to her. And she knew what he was implying. She knew that he was right, and she knew that he knew it, too. “Right, and who do you think I want?” She questioned, voice still angry, “You?” She couldn’t deny it even if she wanted to, because her gaze was drifting to his mouth again, and before she could even stop herself, she was taking a step closer to him and reaching up to cup his cheeks in her palms, her lips crashing hard against his. All of her sadness, all of her frustration, it seemed to fade with the feeling of her lips against his. “I do,” she heard herself saying as she pulled back from the kiss, though she kept her hands on his cheeks, she remained close to him, her tone for some reason still annoyed. “I do, I want you,” she mumbled, licking over her lips. “I want you and it fucking terrifies me.”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Donovan wasn’t really someone who got mad often. He wasn’t even sure if he was mad now. He just knew that he had to keep going back and forth with her. He couldn’t let her just keep denying everything that happened between them. And he definitely wasn’t going to let her put the blame for their disconnect on him. Sure, he had avoided her, but that was because he had to. She was acting insane. “Not talking to you. Not seeing you. It’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But don’t act like I was the only person avoiding something.” She might as well have been avoiding him when she deciding to pretend like what happened just didn’t transpire at all. His heart was broken and he didn’t even know why. It was like she was avoiding the connection they’d forged that night and for some reason, that really upset him. As he stepped toward her, he was very aware of his own movements. He didn’t know why he was doing it. Except well, maybe he did. The best way to stop her from avoiding talking about what happened was to kiss her again. He knew she wanted to. Her eyes kept falling to his lips just as much as his kept glancing at hers. He raised an eyebrow at her when she pretended to protest like he was wrong. He wasn’t. She knew that. He immediately kissed back when he felt her lips press against his. It was so familiar. It was what he’d been craving. That was why he’d been avoiding her. As much as he missed her, he knew he wanted to kiss her again. And being around someone he really wanted to kiss that he wasn’t sure wanted to kiss him back would have been just too painful. He sighed when she pulled away, his eyes staying on her. “I want you too,” he breathed out, knowing he didn’t have to say it. It had been pretty obvious. Her words from the other night just kept running through his head, and he knew she had been right then too. “It should've always been you. That's the scariest part,” he mumbled out, ducking down to meet his lips with hers again.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Right now, being mad was easier. It was better than being sad, and it was just coming so naturally to her, because seeing Donovan had been almost as frustrating as not seeing him. Rylan had so many things she wanted to say to him, she just didn’t know where to start. She didn’t know what she could and couldn’t say with her own stupid act and her self-made rules for pretending there was nothing between them, because obviously there was. There was something there, neither of them could deny it. They could ignore it, sure, but they couldn’t deny it. “You seemed to pull it off pretty damn effortlessly, dude,” she scoffed, eyes rolling. Which was weird, because usually when Rylan rolled her eyes at Donovan, it was in a playful manner. But not now. Nothing about this was playful. It was serious and it was emotional, it was clear everything was just so raw and real between them. Honestly, it was kind of terrifying. No more so than when their lips were together again, though. Rylan knew that she was done for, that there was no turning back from this, because it was so much more than just a spur of the moment kiss. It meant something. Their words only confirmed that as they parted, then moved back in all over again. “It’s you,” she mumbled against his lips, her arms lifting to wrap around his neck now. Rylan tightened her hold on him, pressing her body against him and in the direction of the bathroom. Apparently, they were going to make a habit of that. But the last thing she wanted to do right now was pull away, or to wait until they got back to one of their homes. She needed more, like she was throwing all of her emotions and her anger from the last few days into that desperate kiss, her lips parting slightly to move her tongue against his.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

It was hard fighting with someone who knew exactly what to say to push his buttons and exactly how to say it. It was a very similar to when they were hooking up and they didn’t have to say a single word to each other to really know what the other person wanted. They had been best friends for years. They knew exactly what to do to each other. Whether it was to make each other mad or to just get each other turned on. He was tired of fighting with her though. Relief spread across his body once their lips were reconnected. That’s what he wanted. It’s what he wanted the entire day when they were with their families, and it was what he’d wanted to do the other morning when they woke up and she wanted to pretend like everything hadn’t happened. The truth was, he had always wanted to kiss her. Even long before that day. It was like white noise. Just always there. All of this was extremely confusing. The words pouring out of her mouth, agreeing with him that this was something. He didn’t really know what to think of all this. It was a good thing her lips being on his and the way she was pushing them toward the bathroom was enough to clear his mind of any other thoughts. He kept his lips on hers as he felt his back finally hit the bathroom door. He lifted his arm slightly to reach for the handle and turn it, smirking against her lips as he pushed the door open. He moved her body up against it to shut it behind them, never taking his lips off hers. Now that he was kissing her again, he knew that he didn’t want to stop anytime soon. He brought his hands down to grip onto her thighs, lifting up her legs and wrapping them around him. He pulled away from her breathlessly, his lips still sore from how rough she’d kissed him. “I missed you,” he mumbled out, pressing his body against hers.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Until the other day, when she and Donovan had wound up kissing and then ultimately hooking up (twice), Rylan had genuinely never thought about so much as kissing him. But the way it felt to do it now made her wonder if it was something she’d forced out of her mind, like she’d always just considered it something so out of the question that she wouldn’t even entertain it with a thought, because it was evident now that this wasn’t a new thing. Nobody kissed somebody as hungrily and as passionately if they’d only just begun to feel something for them, she was sure of it. But that was exactly what this kiss was; it was hungry, it was passionate. Rylan wasn’t even concerned about the fact that they were in the bathroom of some trashy, crowded bar, because all she was thinking about was Donovan, and a small moan fell from her lips and into his as he pushed her back against the door, her legs instantly wrapping around him with his help. The door against her back, as well as the way she was now holding onto him with her legs, helped her to stay upright, so she was able to unwrap her arms from around him, her hands immediately trailing down his body to push her fingertips slightly under the fabric of his shirt, able to feel his already familiar abs beneath her touch. She didn’t want to pull away, but once they had, her gaze instantly met his, and Rylan found that she was a little breathless as she looked down at him. “I missed you, too,” she nodded, hands lowering to unfasten the button on his jeans. She was still staring at him as she tugged down the zipper. “You’re all I’ve thought about. You’re all I want.” Apparently, she wasn’t holding back so much today. Truth be told, every man in that bar could’ve come over to hit on her, and none of them would’ve measured up, because none of them would’ve been Donovan. With the way she was feeling, she would likely tell him that, too.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

There was nothing sexy about their current location. The bar was old and crowded, and full of drunk people that Donovan didn’t want to be anywhere around. The bathroom wasn’t anything special either, but it didn’t matter because the girl he was currently holding up and pressing against the door was sexy. That was something he never thought he would actually admit. He’d never looked at her like before, but Rylan was really hot. Other than a few stolen glances over the years and maybe an awkward boner or two that he refused to address, he’d never tried to look at her like that. But ever since the other night, it was impossible for him not to. The moment he saw that guy grinding on her, he was pissed. He was pissed because he wanted to be the one touching her. The feeling of her fingertips grazing against his bare skin caused goosebumps to prickle up trailing behind her hands. Her words were just a simple reply to his, but it still turned him on. Or maybe it was really the way she was staring at him as her hands located the button and zipper on his jeans. Apparently, they really liked eye contact. For two people that should’ve been more embarrassed that they were hooking up with their best friend, they both like being hyper aware of exactly what they were doing. “You have me,” he breathed out, pausing for a moment to move the two of them away from the door and over to the sink. That was becoming a thing for them too. “I’m yours.” Clearly, he was still confused. These weren’t things you said to your best friend. You didn’t avoid your best friend for days and then hook up with them again the moment you were back together. These weren't normal best friend things. His hands fell to the buttons on her jeans, unfastening them before dipping his hand underneath the fabric to meet her wet panties. He found her clit, rubbing it softly over the fabric of her panties. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered out before pressing his lips against hers again.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Rylan knew what she was doing now. Not that she’d been so wasted the other night that she’d acted under the influence; she may have been tipsy, but she was fully aware and consenting to what they were doing. Tonight, though, she hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol. She didn’t need to drink to have a good time, and she’d driven here, so she wasn’t trying to drink and drive. She was of a completely clear and conscious mind, and she only wanted Donovan even more than she had the other day. The way her heart raced wasn’t fear of the unknown this time, it was in sheer desire for him. She could tell he felt the same way, too. She nodded at his words, unsure of whether he realized just how powerful they were. She had him. She wasn’t going to let go this time. At least she didn’t think so, anyway. Her arms wrapped around his neck again as he begun to move her over toward the sink, then she was back to trailing her hands down his body again, her stomach tensing slightly as his fingers popped her button and trailed inside of her pants. The touch of his finger against her clit, even over her panties, was something she hadn’t realized she’d been craving from him, but it instantly pulled a reaction from her in the form of a soft whimper, her hands moving down to push her jeans down her thighs, hoping he’d do the same with her panties. Rylan really never thought she’d hear Donovan tell her she was beautiful, and she never thought it would feel as good as it did to hear those words coming from him, but it did. It made her feel so wanted, just the way she wanted him. “Show me,” she mumbled against his lips as they moved back in, though she only stayed there for a moment, before she’d begun to trail kisses down his jaw. Her hands moved to the waistband of his jeans, looping under the fabric of his boxers, and tugging them both down. “Show me how beautiful you think I am.” She breathed out against his neck, teeth biting gently onto his skin.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Donovan needed her in a way he had never needed anyone before. He just wanted his hands all over her, but it was hard to be as flexible as they both probably wanted to in such an enclosed space. There was still a lot of confusion running through his mind, but he wasn’t confused about wanting her. He knew that. The first time they’d hooked up, he’d had a couple glasses of champagne and tonight, he’d had one drink, but his decision-making skills were all clear. He couldn’t hide behind any of the alcohol he had chosen to drink. He just wanted her. There was no excuse for it. He followed her lead as she pushed her jeans down her legs and slid her panties down behind them. Finally, his fingers could reach her wetness without the fabric of her panties blocking him. He circled his fingers over her clit, a small moan leaving his own lips. Telling her she was beautiful had really just slipped out, but he meant it. She was beautiful. There was something even more beautiful about her in this moment though. Maybe it was because of how intimate it all was, or maybe it was because he was finally seeing her the way he should have. it didn’t matter. He leaned his head back as her teeth hit his beck, a soft moan escaping from his lips. He brought his head back down as he positioned himself at her entrance. They had both waited long enough. He knew what they were both craving and knew he needed to give it to them. He slowly guided himself inside of him as a deeper moan left his mouth. “Fuck,” he breathed out at the contact. “You are so fucking beautiful,” he moaned out again, bucking his hips forward slowly. This had been in the back of his mind ever since he left for the airport that morning in Rhode Island. He pulled his head up, wanting to look into her eyes again. It was that hyper-aware thing again. There was nothing sexier to him than knowing he was with her. He bit down on his bottom lip as he stared at her, his speed slightly increasing. “Say my name,” he begged.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

If this was going to become a thing, they really were going to have to start doing this in more functional places. It was hot, knowing they wanted each other so badly that they had to make do with a bathroom sink as their surface of choice, but the image of Donovan in her bed, of the two of them doing this, made Rylan ache, her body already so sensitive to his touch. She knew he could feel how wet she was through her panties, so even more so now that he’d moved them out of the way. She wished their clothes could come the whole way off, just like they had in the hotel room, but that wasn’t practical here, so they would just have to deal. Not that she was complaining; she wanted Donovan regardless of where. Her legs spread further as she felt him positioning himself against her, with her lips sucking gently down on his skin, a soft moan vibrating against it the moment he’d slid himself inside of her. She had to pull back from where she was kissing him, needing to make that eye contact with him all over again as she began to rock her hips with his. “You’re gorgeous,” she stammered out, the pace of her breathing already quickening as she hung one arm over his shoulder, fingers trailing across his back. “You feel so good, Don,” she whimpered, bending her legs to clench her thighs around his waist, the new position making it easier for her to roll her hips in time with his. She had to hold onto him, though. Especially as their speed picked up. “Fuck,” she moaned, the way they moved together causing him to touch all of the right places, making her walls clench around him as he pumped in and out of her. “I need you,” Rylan breathed shakily between another series of quiet moans, unsure of what she even meant, considering they were literally having sex. But she knew that whatever it was, she meant it, she needed him. In more ways than one.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Don knew that he didn’t want this to be their last time together. As scary as that was to admit to himself, it was clear that neither one of them could really leave this as a one-time thing. Well, a three-time thing. This was their third time hooking up and Don had yet to be disappointed by any of it. They were so in sync. Now it all sort of made sense why everyone thought they were secretly in love with each other for so long. It was obvious to everyone else that they had chemistry, but it was not evident to the two of them. They had just never noticed it. Until now, anyway. Until they were locked in a bar bathroom, wanting to feel every inch of each other. He loved hearing her say his name. It was another one of those hyper-aware things. If she said his name then it meant she was right there with him. They both knew what they were doing and who they were doing it with. He rocked his hips with hers, sliding himself in and out of her with every single stroke. His length was throbbing inside of her and hearing her whisper that she needed him really just made him harder. He sipped his fingers back into her clit, beginning to make circles on it again. Maybe this was about her. He wanted to make sure she couldn’t forget him. Even if she had been completely pretending before. She wasn’t going to be able to do that again. This was going to be worth remembering. He sped up the pace of his fingers as he quickened the movements of his hips. He really didn’t know how long he was going to last. He had been waiting for this since their first two times. His breath was hitching as he kept rocking himself inside of her. “You’re gonna come,” he whispered out, looking into her eyes. “And you’re gonna scream my name.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

This was amazing. Being with Don was truly amazing. He knew what he was doing, he seemed to know Rylan’s body already, although that really wasn’t surprising; they knew each other so well, it made sense that that would extend to something like this. Already, she was learning what he liked, too. He liked to hear her say his name, and Rylan wondered if it was for the same reason she’d been so scared to say it the first time. Because it just made everything so real. It was a reminder of what they were doing and who they were doing it with. Honestly, in that moment, she couldn’t think of a single person she’d rather be doing this with. Their bodies were in sync, right down to the way he moved so perfectly in and out of her, the way he filled her. The whole thing was already making her moan almost desperately, drawing her closer to the edge, so when Don’s fingers found their way to her clit, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to keep this up much longer. “Just like that,” she stammered, her legs tightening their hold on him as her hips moved in time with his, her volume already increasing as she moaned between short, fast breaths. How she was keeping eye contact with him was beyond her, but she was, and she was completely under his spell. He could’ve asked her to do anything and she would’ve done it, so given the volume she was already moaning for him, it was really no hardship to do what he wanted. “Fuck,” she moaned out loudly, head tipping back as she reached her release. It was natural, the way she screamed his name, her walls tightening around him, orgasm taking over completely.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Don could tell from the way her body was reacting that she was enjoying every second of this. He already knew he was and he had inkling that she was too, but his gal was to make sure this was so good, it was impossible to avoid. He thought he was doing a pretty good job of it so far. His body moved with her as he rolled her clit in between his fingers. The words of encouragement were enough to cause him to speed up even more, knowing that she was probably just as close as he was to releasing. All of this had been amazing. Just the way they meshed together so well, even though before the other night, they weren’t even convinced there was any chemistry between the two of them. He felt his eyes flutter shut for a moment as he drew closer to his breaking point, but they reopened pretty quickly. He liked looking at her and he liked that she was looking back at him, even though keeping eye contact with each other was getting harder and harder because of the way they were moving. Then she screamed his name and he knew he was done for. His movements slowed as he felt himself reaching his release, his body going stiff as he moaned. He let out a deep breath once he was done riding out his orgasm. His body still shaking and his breathing still heavy. He pulled himself away from her, but pressed a small kiss to her lips before he bent down. He grabbed her panties and started to slide them back up legs, trailing small kisses against her skin as he did so. He placed one final kiss against her inner thigh before leaning down to collect his own bottoms and pull them up. “My place or yours?” He questioned, buttoning up his jeans. “If you want to talk, we can talk...” He started, looking down to make eye contact with her. “Or we can not talk.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

How they’d gone this long without jumping into bed together before was an honest to God mystery at this point, because the chemistry between the two of them was undeniable now. It was like a switch had flipped the moment their lips had grazed at the party, and now here they were, completely addicted to each other. It was terrifying, it was something Rylan would probably go back to being weird about tomorrow, but not right now. Right now, everything was about Donovan. It was about screaming his name, making him come for her, her coming for him. She was almost afraid for them to stop, worried that things would be automatically weird again, but it wasn’t. She stayed where she was, still whimpering softly as she came down from her high, her lips pressing back against Don’s easily. She didn’t want to let go of him, but brought her arms back from around him, running her fingers through her now messy hair, her skin tingling under the touch of his lips as he pulled up her panties for her, her legs instinctively spreading once he’d moved to kiss her inner thigh. She wanted him to go down on her, especially when he was in that position, but she wasn’t really in any hurry to stay in this bathroom, so she offered him an appreciative smile as he pushed her panties back into place. Rylan kept her eyes on Don as she climbed down from the sink, leaning down to pull up her jeans. “My place is closer,” she said without thought, fastening her jeans. She evidently didn’t want to keep her hands off of him for too long. She licked over her lips as she reached out to cup his cheeks, leaning up to press her lips against his. “Don, I want you in my bed,” she whispered as she pulled back from the kiss, gaze locking with his for a moment. She finally let go of his face, her hand grabbing ahold of his as it fell. They could figure out if they wanted to talk later. For now, she simply led him out of the bathroom, shooting her colleagues a departing smile as she brought him to her car.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Donovan completely understood why Rylan had acted so weird. It all made sense. The chemistry that the two of them had was so obvious now that they could not keep their hands off each other. Don knew they were probably going to be weird about this tomorrow. She might even go back to just ignoring it, but that was tomorrow. Not tonight. Tonight they were going to continue to be engulfed in each other, soaking up every moment of living in the present and just being together. They’d have the rest of the week to stress and worry about what all of this meant. Tonight would be something else. He didn’t really want to move away from her. Even though they were finished, he didn’t want to fully pull away, but he had to so they could both fix their clothes. He was eager to hear what her answer would be to his suggestion. He wanted to go home with her. A smirk spread across his face offer her reply. She was right. Her place was closer. “I really want to taste you,” he murmured out as she pulled her lips away from his. It was a lot to admit, but she had seen how eager her was to lay kisses against the sensitive skin on her thighs. He definitely wanted to keep going. Just not in here. He followed her lead and made his way out of the bathroom, inwardly acknowledging how weird it was to hold her hand. Clearly, they’d done it before during their little act, but this wasn’t a part of an act, and that didn’t make it feel any less natural. A sigh of nervousness escaped from his lips as they approached her car, sliding into her passenger seat as he waited for her. He didn’t know if he should try to get her to talk about anything. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to talk about what was happening between them. It was awkward and confusing, and it was clear that the two of them would rather just have sex than actually deal with what was right in front of them. “I am sorry,” he finally spoke up, his voice a little uneasy. “I shouldn’t have avoided you. You’re my best friend... I just shouldn’t have done it.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

They didn’t say things like they wanted to taste one another, but that was exactly what was happening right now, and Rylan couldn’t bring herself to dislike it. If anything, the thought made her clench between her legs. “I want that, too,” she agreed, licking over her lips. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d wanted someone the way she wanted Donovan, and it only made things even more confusing to her, but Rylan was trying not to question them. She was trying not to get too deeply in her head because then she’d freak out again, and now just wasn’t the time nor place. Not with Donovan’s hand in her own, their fingers easily lacing as she led him to her car. Rylan climbed in the driver’s seat, buckling up, before quickly starting up the car. She’d explain things — through means of a lie, of course — to her friends from work tomorrow. For now, everything was about the two of them. It was fortunate that her house was close by, because the longer they were in the car together, the more likely they were to have to talk about everything, and she wasn’t ready to do that. She kept her eyes on the road as Don began to speak, eventually shaking her head. “It’s okay,” she promised, finally turning to look at him briefly. She should’ve apologized too. If anyone should’ve been apologizing, in fact, it was her. But that would be pointless, since she was going to be back to pretending this didn’t happen again tomorrow. She’d decided already. Apologizing just felt like a false promise. She offered him a small smile instead. “It’s really okay, we’re okay.” For good measure, she took one hand off the wheel, reaching over to settle it on top of Don’s, her fingers gently squeezing his, before she moved back to the steering wheel again. They weren’t talking about this, she wasn’t going to let them. Rylan pushed the awkwardness from her voice, changing the subject. “What was that you were saying again?” Her street was coming into view. “About tasting me?”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

The idea started to creep up into his mind after they left the bathroom, but Donovan tried his hardest not to let it sink in. Was his best friend using him for sex? It was really starting to feel that way. He didn’t want to think of Rylan doing something like that to him, but the way she pulled him to her car, the way she’d chosen to not even acknowledge that it had ever happened, it was all becoming a lot clearer to him. He felt his heart sink as she attempted to move on from his apology. His apology didn’t matter because she didn’t care about any of that. This was just sex. It was only about the connection they were making when he was inside of her. It definitely broke his heart, but he wasn’t going to dwell on it and let it ruin the moment building between them. He sent her a small smile once she rested her hand on top of his, a sigh leaving his lips. He didn’t want to look over at her right now. He just wanted to focus on the road. He noticed that they were nearing her street and he could feel himself start to calm down a little. At least he’d have her for tonight. Even if it was abundantly clear she wasn’t interested in him as anything more than a best friend and a meat stick, it didn’t matter because at least they would have tonight. “I remember you saying how much you wanted that too,” he mumbled as the car came to a stop. He popped open his car door and stood on the outside, smirking over at her. “You still want me in your bed?” He asked with a grin, already knowing the answer.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Rylan knew how this could’ve looked. In fact, she was sure it really did look that way, like this was just sex to her. And maybe that was because that was what she was trying to make it. There was clearly something deeper there, but she wasn’t ready to address it. Honestly, she was scared to. It could change everything between them, and what if that wasn’t in a positive way? The smart move would be to stop sleeping with him, but that was the only way of addressing that connection. It meant putting her feelings out there without verbally admitting to them. It was just easier, she had herself convinced of that already. Something felt weird between them. Like Donovan was thinking something but not voicing it. Then again, Rylan was doing the same thing, so she wasn’t going to question him. She just shot him another small smile, focusing on the road. Pulling up outside of her house almost made her nervous, and she stayed put for a moment as Donovan climbed out of the car, just looking out at him when he spoke. “I do,” she nodded her head, her own smirk soft, though it was kind of forced. The idea of him in her bed was incredibly hot, it was too appealing to pass up on, but she couldn’t help this worry washing over her. Still, she licked her lips, then pushed herself up from the car, locking it behind her as she led the way to her house. She stayed quiet as she unlocked the door, letting Donovan in first, before closing it behind her once she’d followed. Turning to look up at him, she caught his gaze, her heart suddenly falling. “I don’t know what we’re doing,” she whispered, her tone small and honestly sad sounding. She was afraid to turn on the light, to properly see his expression. “What are we doing?”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

It might have hurt Donovan’s feelings, but be really didn’t want her to notice. He knew she would probably notice any slight difference in his tone or facial expressions though. She was his best friend. She noticed everything about him. He did the same with her and even though he was trying his hardest not to stare at her, he could tell she was thinking. She had her thinking face on. She had a lot of different faces and he of course knew every single one of them. There was clearly something going on here. At least on his end, but it didn’t seem the same for her. She barely wanted to say his name while they were having sex. As much as there was nervousness building up in his stomach once they reached her place, there was also an ounce of hopefulness brewing under the surface. He was hopeful that maybe things would change for her. Maybe he’d kiss her and she would be able to see what he saw. That this was definitely not just a one or two time thing. He didn’t know why it was so important to him for her to want more than sex from him, but he did. He nodded his head as she confirmed that she still wanted him in her bed. He closed the car door behind him and made his way inside after she opened the door, a nervous sigh escaping his lips as he waited for her to turn on the lights. But she didn’t. “Huh?” He spoke up, waiting for her to explain what she was talking about. “I thought we were gonna have sex again...” He trailed off, the amusement obvious in his voice. “You don’t want to talk about this, Ry,” he mumbled out, shaking his head. “I want you. You want me in your bed, right? What’s there to talk about?”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

The last thing Rylan wanted to do was ruin this, whatever it was. She wasn’t trying to ruin the mood, nor was she trying to prevent anything from happening. She’d just managed to get in her head somewhere during their drive over here, and now she was standing face to face with her best friend, and all she could think about was getting him out of his clothes. That wasn’t how it was supposed to be, they weren’t supposed to feel that way about each other. “We were,” she agreed, voice still soft. “I mean, we are.” Slowly, she took a step closer to him. The light was still out, but the lights from outside were giving them enough exposure to at least see each other. Rylan swallowed as she looked up at her friend, studying his face. She’d reached out to settle her hands on his chest almost instinctively, without even realizing it. It was like she just needed to be close to him, she just needed that comfort. Everything he was saying was the truth, right down to the fact that she didn’t want to talk about it. She still didn’t, and gently bit down onto her lower lip in thought. “Is that okay?” She questioned, arms snaking around his neck. She pulled their bodies closer together, eyes never leaving Donovan’s. “If we don’t talk about it? Not right now. I do want you, Don. I just don’t know how to talk about what that means.” This was probably the most she’d actually opened up about their situation at all, and while it wasn’t much, it was something. Her voice remained soft, arms tightening around him. “You know where my room is. Take me up there.”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Don could feel his heart skip a beat as she stepped closer to him. This was all too much to think about. He had sort of come to terms with the fact that their friendship was always going to be weird after this. He was always going to look at her differently. He was sure that a small part of him was always going to want her after this. Now that they’d gone for it, he was sure that it was always going to be in the back of his mind forever. He smiled softly when he felt her hands on his chest. He loved being close to her, even if their minds were foggy and they were without a doubt emotionally distant from each other, but that didn’t mean they didn’t want each other. Clearly, that wasn’t the problem. “We don’t ever have to talk about it,” he agreed, letting out a small sigh. He finally understood why she didn’t want to talk about it and he was going to do what she wanted. He didn’t want to live without his best friend anymore. He just wanted to make her happy. And if bottling all of this up and just letting it go was going to help with that then he was fine with it. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled their bodies closer together as he lifted her off the ground. He made his way toward the stairs, carrying her with him into her bedroom. He placed her back down on the ground once they were there, sending a smirk in her direction. If this was going to be their last time together then he was going to make sure they both enjoyed it. He brought his hand up to cup her cheek as he pressed his lips against hers before pulling her closer to him to deepen their kiss. “Take off your pants,” he instructed as he pulled away. He took in a deep breath as he stepped away from her, exhaling as he removed his own shirt.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Keeping so quiet about everything going on between them had seemed like a problem before. Back in the hotel room, when Rylan had tried to ignore it’d happened, and Donovan had freaked out at her for it, she figured he’d be the same way now. So to hear that he was on the same page, that he didn’t need them to talk about it, that made her feel better. She chose not to respond, at least not verbally, and simply offered him a small smile, nodding her head in understanding. Rylan was positive things would be different tomorrow, but she was happy to get lost in the moment with her best friend for now. She needed him, whether that meant physically or emotionally. She just needed him. Her legs wrapped easily around his waist as he picked her up, with Rylan ducking her head to press her lips gently along his jaw. Now that she’d started, she didn’t want to stop, so once he’d set her down on the ground in her room, she found herself moving closer to him, in spite of unwrapping her arms from around him. She appreciated the kiss and allowed herself to get lost in it for a moment, lips almost stinging to feel Don’s against them again the moment he’d pulled back. “You take them off for me,” she whispered, watching as he begun to peel off his shirt, her eyes drinking the sight in. She didn’t give him the time to begin removing anything else before she was stepping forward to cup his face, her lips moving back to his as she begun to back toward the bed, leading him blindly along with her. It was like she needed that intimacy, like she could put her feelings into their kiss, rather than saying them aloud. Her lips partied instantly to deepen it as her legs hit the back of the bed, her tongue moving to massage against his. It was of course a turn on, kissing Don like this, but there was something else about it, too. Something Rylan couldn’t quite put her finger on. She knew that she didn’t want to stop, though, not even as she sank back onto the bed, pulling him down with her.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Don wanted to keep this as strictly sexual as possible. He has convinced himself that was what Rylan wanted. She wanted this to be as disconnected as possible and that was what he was going to try to do. But it was hard. At the end of the day, they were never going to be two random people hooking up. They were always going to be Rylan and Donovan and that was hard to shake. She wasn’t making it any easier. He was expecting her to just do what he said. Slide off her pants and then he was going to give her what it was obvious she was craving. But she didn’t. And the way she kissed him was different. He hadn’t been expecting it at all. His lips parted instinctively as she deepened the kiss, following her lead over the bed and hovering over her as she fell back. He pulled back slightly just to stare into her eyes. He really wasn’t going to do that this time, but he couldn’t help himself and he couldn’t think properly this time. “Fuck,” he breathed out, even though they weren’t really doing anything yet. It had just sort of hit him that he liked her. As he laid there, staring into her eyes, he just knew it, and he was terrified. He met his lips with hers again, trying to distract himself from his thoughts by kissing her. His hands found the button on her jeans for the second time that night. He unfastened them and pushed them down, moving his lips away from hers so he could slide her jeans off. He started doing what he promised and returned his lips to her legs, kissing softly against him as he led himself to her inner thigh. He pressed a few kisses against her center through her panties mentally acknowledging just how wet she was again. His hands found the waistband of her panties, slowly guiding them off of her before he repositioned his mouth at her entrance. He slowly started stroking his tongue over clit as he slid his index finger inside of her. He didn’t want to think about feelings, so getting lost in the taste of her seemed like the better option.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

It would be easier to separate this from anything emotional, or at least it would in theory. In reality, it was much harder to do, and when Don had instructed her to take off her pants, Rylan had kind of hated it. Not that it wasn’t hot, him telling her what to do, but because everything was in those little details. They couldn’t verbalize their feelings, but they could show them in the attention they paid to one another, and in the way their bodies connected when they were close. That same connection shone through as their gazes locked again once Don was hovering over the top of her, and Rylan almost desperately scanned his eyes, her heart beating hard as she tried to ignore whatever she was feeling. Whatever he was trying to tell her with that look. “Me too,” she whispered, kind of against her will. She didn’t even know what she meant, but him cursing out had stuck with her, it had just made sense. His lips against her own served as a welcome distraction, and she kissed him back hungrily, her arms wrapping around his neck again, hips rising instinctively as he popped the button on her pants. Soon enough, he was moving down her body, and Rylan’s hand followed, trailing down his back as she lifted her hips to help him take off her jeans. She was still sensitive from before, so given the way they’d just been making out, the kiss to her now bare thigh caused a shiver throughout her body, a small whimper falling from her lips in response. She wanted more, and as soon as he’d discarded of her panties, she was spreading her legs, her fingers finding their way into his hair. “Fuck,” she muttered in response to his tongue stroking against her, her hips moving slightly with the feeling of his finger inside of her. He knew exactly what he was doing, and she found herself sinking back into the pillow as he worked his tongue against her, the sound of her moaning already beginning to pick up. “Fuck, baby. You’re so good at that,” she breathed, the pet name completely passing her by. She was too lost in what was happening to even register it.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

A few moments ago, Don had been pretty convinced of what this was. It was a hookup. Sure, it was between best friends, but it didn’t seem like she wanted it to be anything else. And he wasn’t sure if he wanted it to be either. But the way they’d kiss was something else. He could feel it, which he’d made apparent by the way he’d stared at her when he pulled away. And it seemed like she felt something too. Her words stuck with him. It was the first time he felt something from her that wasn’t just physical. She’d confirmed that she was feeling something too. This was what he’d been trying to avoid. He knew that if they connected like this again, staring into each other’s eyes, making love to one another, then it was going to be harder to keep his promise to her. He said he wouldn’t bring it up after tonight, but with the way she was making him feel, he didn’t know what he was going to do. He was happy once he’d found his way down to her center, knowing he could get her off without having to make any eye contact. So maybe, it would feel disconnected again. Maybe it would feel like two random people with no feelings for each other. As he worked his tongue against her, he heard her call him baby and his plan was ruined. It only made him want her more. It was all about her. He slowly slid another finger inside of her, quickening the pace of his tongue. He gently sucked at her clit as he moved his fingers in and out of her. “You taste really fucking good,” he mumbled out as he pulled away for a second. It didn’t take long for him to return to what he was doing, his tongue making circles around her clit as he sped up the movements of his fingers.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Rylan had had boyfriends and girlfriends before, though never anything too serious. She’d never felt something so deeply behind a kiss with any of them, though. Not like she did kissing Donovan. She didn’t know how to explain it. In fact, she wasn’t sure she even wanted to question it, but his kiss made her heart race. It made her crave more of him, and although neither of them had explained themselves, she knew he felt whatever she was feeling, too. Like she’d been telling herself all along, sex was easier. It was easier than feelings, and once Don’s tongue was against her, his finger inside of her, Rylan could focus on that. She could get lost in the way he was making her feel, in how sensitive she already was to his touch. Her sounds were repetitive as he worked her up, her hips rocking a little bit along with the feeling of him slipping his fingers inside of her. “You’re going to make me come so hard,” she breathed, her voice higher pitched as her fingers tightened in his hair. It was never going to take much, considering she was still turned on from them fucking in the bathroom, but he was really, really good with his mouth. “God, baby, I need you,” She panted, hips moving at a quicker pace. Evidently, she still wasn’t processing her own words. Her free hand gripped down onto the sheets below her, the other still tugging on his hair. It wasn’t long until she was reaching her release, his name moaned out loudly in the process.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Don didn’t even want to dwell on what all of this could mean. Clearly, they weren’t cut out to address this situation. They were good at sex, but actually talking about and evaluating what it could mean was out of both of their comfort zones. It was clear they were both choosing to focus on his tongue and his fingers and the way it was all making her feel. Seeing her body squirm had completely turned him on. He liked knowing that he was the one doing all of this to her, and he found it incredibly sexy when she warned him that she was getting close. He slowed his movements with his tongue in order to drive her closer to her breaking point, almost stopping when he heard her call him baby again. That was something he could get used to. Even though he knew he shouldn’t. But it was hard not to enjoy it. It was hard to see all of this as just sex because deep down he knew that it wasn’t. There was something there between the two of them. When it was obvious that she was done riding her wave, he pulled himself away from her and brought his hand up to wipe his mouth as he began searching the floor for his shirt. He figured this was over. They’d done their thing, so he should probably leave before things got awkward again. He could feel the sweat that had built up on his body during the whole thing. He reached up and ran his fingers over his messy hair as he looked down at her with a smirk. He wanted to lay down next to her and not leave, but that would make things weird. This was just sex. She wanted just sex. “I think I might head back to my office. That’s where I left my car. Good work tonight, bud.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Rylan didn’t want to think about what would happen when this was over. Were they going to fall asleep together, then wake up in the morning feeling uncomfortable, the way she’d felt at the hotel? It was a situation she really wasn’t looking forward to, but fortunately Donovan was keeping her pretty well occupied with his mouth against her, his fingers inside of her. It was over almost too quickly, but that wasn’t his fault. He was just really fucking good, and Rylan could barely focus as she rode out her orgasm, her body still reacting as she laid back against the pillows, trying to come down from her high once he’d moved away from her. She was still breathing harder, but at least had enough energy to prop herself up on her elbows as she looked over at him searching the floor for his shirt. It was confusing. She hadn’t really expected him to come over, get her off and then leave right away. Then again, she didn’t know what she’d expected, so it wasn’t like she could really say anything. If this is what he wanted, to leave right away, then what could she do? “Uh, okay. Sure,” she nodded, expression a little confused. She smoothed it out quickly, pushing herself upright now and running her fingers through her hair. She scooted over to climb off of the bed too, reaching for her panties and jeans. “I’ll drive you.” It wasn’t far, but she wasn’t about to let him walk, and there would’ve been no point in taking an Uber or Lyft when she was perfectly capable of driving him. “You don’t have—“ She paused, stopping herself. Rylan shook her head, offering Don a forced smile as she pulled on her clothes. “Never mind.” She motioned to the door, her voice more defeated than she meant it to be. She grabbed her keys. “Go ahead.”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

The last thing Donovan actually wanted to do was leave, but he felt like he had to. Every part of him was telling him that Rylan didn’t want this to go any further than it had. He still remembered how she reacted after the first time they hooked up. She didn’t want this to become a thing. She didn’t want this to affect their friendship. And he had promised her that he wasn’t going to make her talk about it. And he didn’t break the promises he made to her. He knew that his standing up and immediately being ready to leave was probably a little confusing. He didn’t really know that was going to be his next move until he made it, but he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. He finally found his shirt, lifting it up and holding it there in his hands. He didn’t know what to do. He was even hesitating getting dressed because he really didn’t want to leave. His eyes stayed on her as she located her own clothing. “You don’t have to drive me. It’s a short walk.” A small part of him was afraid of what they would do alone in a car together. They would either actually talk or they would end up fucking again. There wasn’t really another choice of what could happen. “Do you want me to leave?” He finally spoke up, pulling his shirt over his head. Every part of him wanted her to say no, but he really wasn’t sure what answer he was going to get out of her. Everything that was happening between the two of them was all so confusing. “I don’t know what to do, Ry,” he explained with a sigh. “If we get into your car together, I’m pretty certain this is going to happen again. If I stay here, then we’re going to wake up next to each other and I don’t think you want that.” He didn’t know what what possessed him to be so honest, but he knew he was not ready to walk out of that door and leave her bedroom just yet. “Just tell me what you want from me and I’ll do it.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Honestly, Rylan had no right to feel the way she currently did. It had been her who had wanted to avoid talking about this. She was the one to have completely ignored the fact that it’d even happened back at the hotel, so for the feeling of being used to wash over her now was ridiculous. Donovan wasn’t using her. If anything, it would probably look like it had been the other way around; she’d brought him to her house, he’d gotten her off, and now she was going to drive him back to his car. Except she wasn’t the one making him leave this time, he was doing that all on his own. “No, it’s fine. I have to run out and grab coffee creamer anyway,” she lied. Their relationship wasn’t supposed to change. If she couldn’t even drive him to pick up his car, then it was already changing. She couldn’t cope with that thought. Her head was a total mess, and she really had no idea how to even answer his question. Of course she didn’t want him to leave. But what would telling him that do? She simply stayed quiet, just offering him another weak smile, then went back to fastening her pants. But then he continued, and Rylan let out a short sigh as her fingers brushed through her messy hair all over again. “Is that why you just finished up going down on me, immediately went to look for your shirt and announced that you were leaving? Because you wanted me to stop you?” She asked, not meaning to sound as annoyed as she did. But she was annoyed, because they weren’t supposed to play games. They weren’t supposed to do a lot of things, but here they were. “If you want to leave, leave. If you don’t, don’t. I’m not going to tell you what to do either way.” The hint of annoyance was still in her tone, but Rylan found herself sitting down on the edge of the bed, defeated. She clasped her hands together in her lap, staring at the wall across from her. “I don’t know what the fuck’s happening.”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

She was lying to him. He could tell that she was lying. That was problem with being friends with someone for so long. They could tell you that they needed to go out and get creamer and you could tell that they were full of shit. Donovan still didn’t know what was going on. It didn’t seem like she was all that happy with him. It was clear to him that he hadn’t been using her. He didn’t get anything out of this deal. She was the only person who orgasmed in that bedroom. But maybe it looked shitty because he was ready to leave, but he was only so eager to leave because he didn’t want to make things awkward for her. Clearly, his plan had been absolute garbage. “You’re mad at me?” He questioned confused by her tone. He wasn’t playing any games with her. He just wanted to know what the hell she wanted from him. It was a lot to ask, especially since he didn’t one hundred percent know what he wanted. He just knew that he wasn’t ready to leave. He could have, but he wanted to know if she wanted him to. He had to know if she wanted him to. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he frowned, already done with the attitude she was giving him. “I don’t want to leave, but I think I should. I want to stay here with you. I want to kiss you again and fuck you. And I want to hear you scream my name for the rest of the night, but I know in the morning it won’t mean shit to you.” His voice snapped at the end of his argument, a sigh of exasperation leaving his lips. It was a lot of honesty. Maybe more than he knew he was going to give her, but he couldn’t stop there. “I told you what I want. What about you?” He questioned, his tone still slightly angry. “I can’t keep being the only one that cares.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

She wasn’t mad at him, she was mad at the situation. And maybe a little bit at Donovan… But that was only because they’d both done this, so on some level, she was mad at them both. She chose not to respond to his question, though, and instead just glanced up at him, expression annoyed, before averting her gaze. This whole thing was a mess, one that Rylan didn’t know how they were going to come back from. If she could just get over herself and actually admit to whatever she was feeling, maybe things would be better. It didn’t seem that Donovan had a problem with pouring out his thoughts, even if he did sound kind of angry while doing so. Her gaze drifted up to him again as he spoke, and this time she couldn’t even bring herself to look away. She tried to ignore how hard her heart had begun racing, though. “You don’t know me as well as you think you do if you think none of this means anything to me,” she muttered, slowly shaking her head. “Do you really think I’d be acting this way? If this didn’t mean anything to me? If you didn’t mean anything to me?” She hadn’t been ready to open up yet, but apparently they were doing this right now, and now that she’d begun speaking, it was all just kind of flowing out freely. Rylan paused, swallowing as she scanned his face. “Fuck you if you really think you’re the only one that cares, Don.” She licked over her lips, almost like she was daring herself to continue. “I want you,” she finally said, no longer focusing on the wall. Her eyes were trained on him. “I want you, and I don’t want you to fuck me and then leave. I want you to stay. I want you here with me. And you know what?” She hadn’t realized her voice had raised, or that her tone had grown angrier. She was just frustrated, so much so that her eyes were beginning to sting a little bit. Rylan ignored that, though. “I’m so fucking pissed at you for getting up and trying to leave just now. You should be here. You should be here with me, and if you don’t come and kiss me…” She didn’t even have an end to that sentence. She locked her gaze with his. “Kiss me. I’m asking you to kiss me.”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Donovan did not know what was going on between them two of them. One minute they could not keep their hands off of each other and the next it seemed like they were arguing. He didn’t want to argue with her. He would have rather done the other thing, but that also was not the best idea. Even though they had a great deal of chemistry, it did not make any sense for them to keep hooking up and just fight about it constantly. That would have been ridiculous. But there they were. Alone in her bedroom. Avoiding eye contact with each other. He wanted to kiss her, but what was new? Ever since their first kiss he wanted to kiss her again, but he tried not to think about it. The truth was, she was right and wrong. If he didn’t think she cared about any of this then he didn’t know her all that well, but he did know she cared. He had seen it in her eyes when they locked earlier in the night. Sure, the two of them wanted to keep it under wraps, but it had been obvious from both sides that they were interested in each other. And it was more than just sex and it was definitely more than just friendship. “I want to mean more to you than just your friend.” He couldn’t believe those words had come out of his mouth. He wanted to take them back. They were needy and reckless and not what he should have revealed to her just yet. It was hard making eye contact with her again. Because that need to kiss her was still there and it only made it worse when she licked her lips. But then she continued. And it seemed liked she was being open and honest with him. His eyes fell to the ground after it became obvious just how upset she was. There was water forming in her eyes. Although, he knew she would never admit to them being tears, that was what it looked like. It didn’t much longer after she told him to kiss her for him to close the gap between them and make his way over to her, connecting their lips. His tongue slipped in between their parted lips to immediately deepen the kiss. They’d addressed something. So, it had to count for something. “I want to stay here with you,” he mumbled as he pulled away slightly. “I’m sorry for trying to leave you. I don’t want to go anywhere, babe.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Despite everything, despite the fact that she was spilling her thoughts and feelings and that Donovan was doing the same, Rylan would still argue that she didn’t want to talk about this. She didn’t want to complicate things. But if she really thought about it, they were already complicated. They were more complicated than she’d ever expected things to be between she and her best friend. Because he wasn’t just her best friend anymore, there was something else there now, too. “You already do,” she stated, figuring that she’d already made herself completely vulnerable, so she might as well continue. Not that she could even stop herself if she wanted to at this point. It was clear she needed to talk, whether she wanted to or not. They both did. There was obviously a huge amount of passion between them, and it all spilled out into that next kiss, when Don moved forward to do as Rylan had asked. Like his, her lips parted immediately, her eyes fluttering shut as she leaned up to kiss him back, pulling him back down onto the bed with her. She nodded her head as they pulled back, but didn’t move far enough away from him that she couldn’t move back in. Her eyes were still closed, heart beating hard. “You can’t leave me,” she whispered, voice cracking slightly, “You can’t ever leave me like that. I don’t know what to do without you.” Finally, she looked at him again, her hand resting on his cheek as she scanned his face. “Stay. Stay and lay with me. Keep kissing me.” Her fingertips brushed softly against his cheek. “Just stay with me, Don.”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Things between them were clearly a mess, but Don wasn’t going to focus on any of that. He was going to focus on how vulnerable his best friend was being. He was going to focus on how they’d met each other half way. They were best friends, but something had been brewing underneath the surface ever since that first kiss they’d shared. They were more than that now and both of them had admitted as much to each other. She made his heart race in a way that a best friend shouldn’t. And they had done things together now that best friends definitely shouldn’t have done, but they didn’t know how to stop themselves. He didn’t know how to control himself around her and it seemed like she may have had the same problem. Either way, they’d passed the point of no return and at some point they were going to have to deal with the consequences. It didn’t seem like either one of them wanted to deal with them anytime soon though. Kissing was easier than talking. It was obvious that they were better at expressing themselves physically than verbally. But it was refreshing to hear Rylan stay vulnerable with him and tell him that she wanted him to stay there with her again. It was what he wanted. His head hit the pillow next to her and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her as close as he could to his body. His eyes met hers as he sent her a small sincere smile. “I’m right here,” he mumbled out, leaning forward to press a small peck to her lips. “I will never leave you. Not like that. I am right where I’m supposed to be.” He brought his lips back to hers, pulling her back in for a slow deep kiss. He didn’t want to pull away again. He just wanted to do this all night. Lay next to her and kiss her the way he always should have.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Falling asleep in Donovan’s arms last night hadn’t been scary, not the way it was the last time. Nor had waking up in them, and despite the fact that it took Rylan a moment to adjust to her surroundings, once she pieced together how they’d gotten there, naked and tangled up in one another, she felt way more calm than she had before. Glancing up at Donovan to see that he was still sleeping, she wondered if she should leave him be for a couple hours. He’d have a long day of work to deal with later, and they hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. There was a part of her that missed him, though, which was kind of crazy, but it was true. That seemed to be the part that won, and despite the fact that she slipped away from him carefully, making sure not to wake him as she moved his arm from underneath her, she knew he wasn’t going to stay sleeping much longer. Not as she fixed her gaze on his face, her smirk soft as she turned onto her front and shuffled under the covers, her legs straddling his. Rylan began to kiss slowly down his body, knowing she would’ve woken him by now, until she was settling herself between his thighs, her fingers wrapping around his length and moving gently. They’d had a lot of sex last night, but she hadn’t gone down on him like he had her. She wanted to make up for that now. She lowered further down the bed until she could duck her head, taking him into her mouth and moaning softly for effect against him as she began to move her head, taking him further in. Her fingers were still wrapped around the base, moving slowly up and down as her mouth worked the rest, her tongue flat and rubbing against him. This was definitely not how they’d ever woken up in the same bed before, but she had a feeling he wasn’t going to complain.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Donovan hadn’t expected the night to turn out like it had. But he had ended up staying at Rylan’s with their bodies wrapped around one another. It was surprising to him. He figured she would have sent him home after they were done having sex, but they had fallen asleep together. When he fell asleep, he hadn’t been thinking about how he needed to wake up the next day for work. Or how awkward things were going to be the next morning. He just enjoyed the feeling of sleeping right next to her, and once he was there he really wasn’t in a hurry to get up. Don was usually an early riser. Living on a farm with tons of animals, he had to wake up pretty early everyday, but lying next to Rylan, he didn’t feel the urge to get up at all. His eyes started to peel open after he feel a tickle on his body. He was surprised to see his best friend working her lips down his body. This wasn’t how he thought she was going to act the morning after they spent the entire night having sex. He thought she was going to be awkward again. But there was nothing awkward about the way she was stroking his length. “Good morning,” he breathed out with a smirk spreading across his face. A deep breath escaped from his lips once he felt her mouth taking all of him in. “Fuck,” he moaned, leaning his head back on the pillow. This was new. Definitely not something he ever would have seen coming, but here they were, with her sliding her tongue on his shaft. He reached his hand down and tangled his fingers in her hair as he guided her mouth further down in his length. “Your mouth feels really fucking good.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

It wasn’t all about sex between them. That much was obvious given the way they’d both opened up last night, the way Rylan had actually gone ahead and made herself vulnerable. But it was a good way for them to express their feelings, and she figured Donovan wouldn’t be upset to be woken up like this. She already knew she was turning him on, given the way his length was hardening right there in her hand, but his moan that followed her wrapping her lips around him, the way she felt his body move, that was a much clearer sign. It made her feel smug as she moved her lips against him, his fingers in her hair causing her to let out another soft moan of her own as her tongue rubbed up and down his shaft. That was hot, the way he was guiding her, and his words were only giving her that extra push to move faster, to want to draw more from him. Her hands rested on his stomach, trailing upward to dance her fingers over his abs. She would probably never get over how hot he was, not now that she’d really allowed herself to appreciate him the way she had. Rylan moved her head faster, her hands sliding down to rest on his thighs, fingers gently squeezing. She wanted to talk, to tell him to come for her, but she wasn’t ready to move her mouth away from him, so she hoped that the way she was moving, the way she moaned against him would make her intentions clear enough on their own.

DONOVAN SMYTHE

It was clear that the two of them had amazing sexual chemistry, but last night had just proved that there was more to them than that. Although, it had been clear to him since their first kiss that it was more than just something small between best friends. There was something more. Even after the previous night, he didn’t expect to wake up like this. With her mouth sliding down his length and moans escaping uncontrollably from his lips. She was driving him crazy. And he knew he really wouldn’t last very long. Not with the way she was holding onto his thighs and quickening the pace of her mouth on his shaft. She was hot. Everything about this was hot. He could feel the pressure building up inside of him as he started to approach his release. “Fuck, baby,” he swore out. His chest was heaving pretty heavily as the words poured out of his mouth. He had already slipped up once or twice the night before and called her by a pet name, but he seemed to be a lot less worried about it this morning. He took in a deep as he felt himself getting closer and closer to his breaking point, his body going stiff as he started to reach his release. He laid back, trying to catch his breath while he was coming down from his high. “I won’t be needing any coffee,” he mumbled out as his breathing started to slow down to a normal pace. It was true though. He was wide awake now. “Come up here,” he instructed, wanting to kiss her. He needed to kiss her. They were still clearly going to need to figure things out, but it seemed different than last time. She didn’t disappear into the bathroom and walk out like none of this ever happened. They were already off to a healthier start. For now. He would not have been surprised if things somehow imploded between the two of them in the next thirty minutes. They had a habit of arguing before and after sex. “I really need to kiss you.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Last night, Rylan had been trying to draw things out. Everything they were doing was for that connection, to pull every reaction they could from each other. Right now, she wanted to make Donovan feel good, but this was also her way of waking him up, so she wanted to make him come, and was proud of herself for how quickly he finished up. She slowed down as he came in her mouth, swallowing once she’d pulled away. Her hand ran slowly up and down his length as she began to work her way back up his body, finally pulling her hand away as she emerged out of the top of the covers, her body hovering over the top of his. “No? I was about to go make some for us,” she smirked, looking down at him, “I guess I got a little sidetracked.” This was so different to the last time. The last thing she wanted was to run away now. In fact, all she wanted to do was kiss him, so she wasted no more time in ducking her head to press her lips gently to Don’s. She hovered for a moment, pulling back to look down at him again, the smirk still settled on her lips. “Hi,” she finally said, closing the gap again to press another quick kiss to his lips, before pulling back once more. She brought a hand up to brush her fingers through his hair, entirely comfortable to just be with him like this. If she let herself question why that was, she’d probably freak out. She wasn’t trying to do that, though. While she was enjoying this, that’s exactly what she would continue to do. Enjoy it. “I kind of like that, by the way. When you call me baby.” She pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose. “How did you sleep?”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Donovan hadn’t expected to lose control so quickly, but Rylan had that effect on him. It was like she knew exactly what to do to get him over to that edge and she did a great job at it. He was already surprised at how well this morning was going compared to the other morning after their first time. She wasn’t pulling away from him. They both weren’t afraid to look at each other. Nothing was awkward. At least not yet anyway. “You can get sidetracked whenever you want,” he teased with a smirk. He kept his eyes on her as she finally made her way up to him. It had really only been a few seconds, but he was craving her lips on his in a way that made it feel like an eternity. He smirked as he felt their lips finally connect. He almost didn’t want to pull away. He grinned at her as she did pull their lips apart, replying to her greeting. “Hi,” he breathed out before their lips met once again. All of this felt natural. And that should have been more worrisome, but Don was done worrying. He was done being freaked out about what was going on between them. He just wanted to enjoy their moments together. He didn’t know how long they had before things felt awkward and he wasn’t just going to wait around for it to happen. “I like it when you look at me. Your eyes are beautiful and I like looking into them,” he said with a small smile. He kept his eyes on her, a small chuckle leaving his lips as she kissed his nose. “I slept great,” he laughed, shaking his head. “We really didn’t get much sleep though. Not that I have any complaints. I could stay like this all day, baby,” he muttered out, grinning as that last word slipped out. He reached up and tangled his fingers in a few loose strands of her hair, pushing it back behind her ear. “I think I have a crush on my best friend. What should I do?”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

“I thought you’d think so,” she grinned down at him, her gaze easily meeting his. They’d been pretty good with the eye contact, at least during sex. But now they were done, and Rylan was still finding it easy to look into Donovan’s eyes. It just felt natural, it wasn’t something she wanted to question. It seemed as though he was going to make sure she was aware of it, though, considering he literally brought up her eyes. They were definitely one of her more impressive features, they tended to get compliments all the time, but it never made her blush. Not like she was right now as she looked back at her best friend, the thought that he was paying so much attention to her causing her heart to flutter a little bit. “Well, I like looking at you,” she admitted, her voice a little softer. Her fingers trailed down from his hair to brush against his ear, with Rylan just studying his face. She’d seen him up close before, but not like this. She’d never paid this kind of attention. His statement made her laugh softly. “We didn’t. We’re both going to be exhausted at work. I’d say you could just come and stay here again after rather than driving all the way home, but someone’s gonna have to feed the animals.” They both knew they would both end up back at Don’s place. Even before things had taken a turn for them, it was rare they spent an evening apart. She really had been about to go make them coffee, but the idea of leaving Donovan right now just wasn’t sitting well with her, so Rylan decided to make herself comfortable. Her body was already laid over his, and she rested her palms on his chest, her chin rested on the back of her hands as she looked up at him, unable to hold back her smile. “I don’t know, I’m having the same problem,” she agreed, her fingertips stroking over his chest where they rested. “How about I put on your shirt, you put on your boxers and we go make some breakfast, and maybe it’s something we can talk about?”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

Staring into Rylan’s eyes was incredibly easy. Not only did it feel natural, her eyes were just absolutely gorgeous, so he never wanted to pull his gaze away from hers. And Don liked that him complimenting her eyes had caused a reddish tint to wash over her cheeks. He really liked that. He never thought that knowing he’d made his best friend blush would mean so much to him, but it suddenly did. A grin tugged onto his lips as she agreed that she liked looking at him as well. It wasn’t surprising because their eyes had been locked together pretty much since their first kiss, but it was still nice to hear. He was appreciative of her being vulnerable with him, even if it was something so small like telling him that she liked looking at him. Although, he was incredibly tired, he hadn’t stopped smiling since the moment he woke up with her. And the thought of leaving her to go to work wasn’t appealing to him at all, neither was the thought of the two of them staying at separate locations that night. “I’m sure Tiger will want to see you tonight. And I could always use the help with the animals.” He didn’t need any help. And maybe Tiger did miss her, but the truth was that Don just wanted her to be with him again. He wasn’t sure if they were ready for that much vulnerability, but he figured she was going to pick up on his hint. He stared up at her, softly gazing into her eyes as he listened to her speak. He let out a small playful groan before leaning up to place a peck against her lips. “I’d rather lay here with you than eat. Is that bad?” He joked, pulling himself up and regrettably sliding himself out from under her. He grabbed his discarded boxer shorts along with his shirt, and handed her the latter item before slipping on the former item himself. He pulled himself up off the bed and started heading toward her kitchen. “I can start some food if you want to start the coffee. And you can also start the conversation,” he muttered with a chuckle.

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Donovan lived on a farm, he didn’t need any help with the animals. Rylan knew he was more than capable, and she knew that he knew it, too. But she wasn’t going to question him, because for whatever reason, the idea of spending the night without him wasn’t sitting well with her, so she just offered him an appreciative smile, nodding her head. “Tiger misses me when I’m not there. He tells me you do, too,” she smirked, knowing that they were already in what was pretty dangerous territory, it probably couldn’t hurt to push just a little bit more. She’d literally just had his dick in her mouth, it wasn’t like they had any boundaries now. Rylan returned the kiss happily, laughing softly against his lips. “No, not bad. I’d rather do that, too. But we both have jobs to go to. You have animals to save,” she pointed out, climbing off of him. She allowed herself a moment to just watch him as he got up, though, taking all of him in. He really was seriously hot, and if she didn’t have neighbors to worry about, she probably would’ve told him not to bother putting anything back on. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible, so she accepted the shirt and tugged it on. Given her small size, it covered everything it needed to, but she grabbed a pair of panties from the drawer and pulled them on too, then followed Donovan down to the kitchen. “Sounds like a plan,” she agreed, making her way to the coffee maker to get it started. “I don’t want to make this anything heavy, you know? I mostly just want to make sure we don’t ruin us.” Rylan began, grabbing a couple coffee mugs and setting them down on the counter as she turned to Don. “You’re my best friend, you’re always going to be my best friend. I just want to make sure we don’t fuck that up with whatever we’re doing, you know? I can’t lose you. I wouldn’t know what to do.”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

They were clearly treading on crossing a line with each other. Well, technically they were no longer treading on that line. They’d crossed it completely Donovan knew they had already crossed the point of no return, so flirting a little more with each other was not going to hurt anything. “Tiger might know what he’s talking about,” he smirked, shaking his head. Even before they’d started all of this, he did miss her whenever she wasn’t around. She was a staple around his place. It was safe to say that she was there just as much as he was. Sometimes he’d come home to her already being there. And the idea of any of that changing was scary to him. The new uncharted territory that were currently exploring was a little terrifying because it could change every little thing about their friendship. And not necessarily for the better. “You have people to help,” he replied with a nod. “I guess we’re both a little too important to skip work.” He could sense her eyes on him once he was up putting his boxers on. And for some reason, it made him feel a little self-conscious. Clearly, he should not have been. She was checking him out for a reason. He must have looked good. But there was something about her looking at him that made him nervous. She made him nervous. It was a strange concept. The person he felt the most comfortable around also was the person the most nervous around these days. He popped open her refrigerator, pulling out a carton of eggs and placing it on the counter. He had never woken up in a woman’s house the morning after sex and felt so at home already. Maybe it was because he had done all of this before. Not in his underwear, but he’d made breakfast for her before in her kitchen. This wasn’t anything new. He looked over at her once she started speaking, nodding his head along at what she was saying. “I get that. I don’t want to ruin our friendship either,” he mumbled out. “What we did last night, and the other night, it was fun. And not just fun. It felt right, you know? And I don’t want to stop, but…” He trailed off, pausing to scratch his fingers through hair as he thought about what he was going to say. “Our friendship is the most important thing.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

Although it was strange, this playful flirting with one another, it wasn’t uncomfortable. Because Rylan realized that this was how they’d always been. They’d always said things playfully to one another, like how Don would miss her when she wasn’t there, but it had never been preceded by sex. Or by them admitting to having any kind of crush on each other. She didn’t hate it, though. Quite the opposite, in fact. “You’re right, I do.” The smile she flashed him was almost apologetic, which wasn’t very fair, considering they really did have important jobs to get to. She just wouldn’t despise the idea of laying around with Donovan all day, that was all. But they were responsible adults, so as much as Rylan wanted to just stay in bed with him, she found herself in the kitchen and preparing their morning coffee for them as Don got to work on breakfast. It was very domestic, but this was how they always were, so she wasn’t worried. Had he just been some random guy she’d brought home from the bar and fucked all night, she would’ve been weirded out by them making breakfast together. But nothing with Donovan weirded her out. Everything was just as it should be. She wanted to make sure it stayed that way, and was grateful that he seemed to be on the same page. “Right,” she nodded, quietly pleased to hear that he didn’t want to stop what they were doing. She didn’t, either. “I agree, it did feel right. And it’s not something we have to stop. I just want to make sure our friendship still comes first. So like right now,” she paused, making her way over to her friend and standing in front of him. Rylan reached her arms up to wrap around his neck, pulling his body closer to her own, then stood up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips softly against his, before pulling back to look up at him. “We can do that. But I think we need to hang out like normal, too. Do something we normally do, like go to the aquarium like we keep saying we’re going to and then never actually do. And just be Rylan and Donovan for a day, you know?” Her arms were still loosely wrapped around him, eyes still up on him. “Just so I know that we can.”

DONOVAN SMYTHE

The fact that this didn’t feel uncomfortable at all should have worried Donovan more. It was starting to make him realize that this may have always been there. These feelings. Maybe he had just been ignoring them for years or repressing them so far down in his subconscious that not even he was aware of them. The idea of lying next to her in bed all day should have seen daunting, but it seemed comfortable. Like something they should have been doing all along. And now making breakfast seemed comfortable. Likely because they did it all the time, but they never did it the morning after spending the entire night having sex. Still, he felt completely comfortable and calm. It was nice to hear her confirm that it didn’t seem like she was interested in stopping what they were doing either. He was slightly surprised, judging by the last time they’d hooked up, but last night had seemed different. They were both so open with each other. His eyes stayed on her as she started making her way toward him, a smirk spreading across his face as she wrapped her arms around him. He grinned as she pulled her lips away from his, his eyes never leaving her. “I want to do more of that,” he replied with a smirk. He knew she was right. Things had to stay normal between them too. Jumping into a sexual relationship and ignoring their decades of friendship was not a good idea. They had been friends for so long. It didn’t make any sense for them to throw it all away, even if their sexual chemistry was off the charts. “Okay,” he said with a nod. “I can do that for you. The aquarium’s a good idea.” He wasn’t really sure how well it was all going to go. If he was really going to be able to spend so much time with her and not want to kiss her and touch her. That was going to be a new facet to their friendship. “Just no hanging out on my couch or yours. I will end up with a boner. Not that it would be the first time I’ve gotten a Ry-induced boner on my couch." A small chuckle left his lips before he leaned down to meet her lips one more time, pulling away with a smile. “Alright. We’ll hang out and we won’t do any of that. It’ll be just like old times.”

RYLAN ST. JAMES

It was less terrifying today than it had been in the hotel, when Rylan’s fight or flight mode had evidently kicked in and caused her to do the latter. Mentally, she was actually kind of annoyed with herself for reacting the way she had, because this was easy now. Just being with Donovan, being open with him, it was so much easier than the alternative. It was comfortable, and the way her lips pressed so easily to his just felt so normal and so right. So much so that she wasn’t even afraid as she pulled back, and simply looked up at him with a small, content smile, arms still draped around his neck. “You and me both, buddy,” she winked, quietly noting how nice it was to still be able to call him that with her arms wrapped around him, the feeling of his lips against her own still lingering. He was right, hanging out on their couches together would be a bad idea, it would lead to more, and Rylan was about to agree before Don continued, her brow arching in amusement. “Wait, really?” Her gaze automatically drifted down his body toward his boxers, before she looked back up at him. “Aw, little Don would get excited over me even before now?” She paused, smirking up at him. “Actually, I take that back. He’s definitely not little.” Rylan stood up on her tiptoes as he leaned down, meeting in the middle to return the kiss. She pulled back but kept her eyes up on him, nodding her head in agreement. “Okay, thank you.” For a moment, she just stared up at him, voice soft as she continued. “I could get used to this, you know?” She didn’t even know what she meant by that, but pulled away before she had the time to question it, going back to the coffee machine and finishing up what she’d started.

#zoey holliday.#ryley x donovan.#ryovan x 004.#mutyler

0 notes

kindcstguardian · 5 years

Text

「 You can’t break something that is already broken 」

MISC.

Name. ( 愛死黒 ) Aishi Kuro. Date of birth. April 4th ( Zodiac sign: Aries ) Sexual orientation. Bisexual. Languages. Japanese &&. English. Blood type. O + → Physical traits ♡ Eye color. Black. Hair color. Grey. Height. 5'10 / 179cm Body. Slightly-built. → School profile ♡ Class. 2-1. Personality. Devoted &&. Kuudere. Self-defense. Capable.

VERSES.

Main verse. TAG. 「 V ♡ Lovesick ; Kuro ／ ᴹᵉᵃⁿⁱⁿᵍˡᵉˢˢ 」

He hasn’t found love, per se. All students look exactly the same to him and it certainly didn’t help the way his mother kept on pressuring to find the one. Currently holds no interest in anyone and his only friend is Midori given they had been neighbours and playmates since children. His communication skills are a bit rusty but he shows a facade of being a bit awkward yet kind and reliable.

In love ( dere ) verse. TAG. 「 V ♡ Dere ; Kuro ／ ᴺᵒᵗⁱᶜᵉ ᵐᵉ ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ 」

Already finding the reason for which he came into this world ( or so, he was indicated to believe ), he’ll do everything he can and beyond to make this person be with him and earn the approval of Ryoba. However, Kuro doesn’t wishes to cause harm to anyone since he believes everyone is also looking for that special person that gives them meaning into this life—so he resolves everything in practical and gentle ways: matchmaking, doing favors, etc. His love will be his but not through hurting, he knows too well how abuse and pain feels. Sidenote: His obssessive behavior is still present as he still stalks.

In love ( yan ) verse. TAG. 「 V ♡ Yan ; Kuro ／ ᴸᵒᵛᵉ ᵐᵉ ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ 」

He found love. He believes he found a person that he can possess and nothing nor anyone will get in that way. Kuro doesn’t care what others might believe, he doesn’t care what they might feel—it’s h i s one true love, if he needs to commit murder in order to achieve his goal. He will ( after all, hasn’t his mother prepared him for this day? ). His seduction, biology and chemistry skills are the sharpest he has, in second place comes self-defense, numbness and psychology.

Lowest atmosphere verse. TAG. 「 V ♡ Low ; Kuro ／ ᵀʰᵉ ᵖʳⁱᶜᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵖᵃʸ 」

Because of a careless and ridiculous mistake caused by a last minute reacting conscience, school is almost impossible for him to carry on with his mission—but he won’t fail. He can’t allow himself to fail again, fearing what Ryoba would do when she finds out. He decided to keep a memento of his failure, a handmade keychain of two similar looking ribbons.

Ayano & Kuro twins verse. TAG. 「 V ♡ Two ; Kuro ／ ᵗʷᵒ ˢⁱᵈᵉˢ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵃᵐᵉ ᶜᵒⁱⁿ 」

Ryoba was beyond pleased upon expecting twins, a blessing—she called it. But as her children grew up, they only saw each other as an annoying existence that happens to share rooftop and parents. They don’t care particulary about each other, but they won’t help the other if in trouble. Sharing blood didn’t mean a single thing.

Fandomless verse. TAG. 「 V ♡ Student ; Kuro ／ ᵂʰⁱᵗᵉ ᶜᵃⁿᵛᵃˢ 」

Takes place in any school. Ryoba due some circumstances had to immediatly evacuate their former home, albeit she was clearly angry and filled with hatered—they only had the option to do as told and follow her.A new home, new school—new you. Perhaps, in this place he might find love?

My candy love verse. TAG. 「 V ♡ ; Kuro ／」

Tba

Persona 5 verse. TAG. 「 V ♡ ; Kuro ／」

tw ; dark-themes, abuse, manipulation, mention of rape.

The Hermit ( in reverse meaning... loneliness, paranoia, isolation, being reclusive, withdrawal, anti-social, restrictive, paralysed by fear ) prior challenging and winning over Ryoba’s Palace, in which his confidant turns upright meaning.. spiritual enlightenment, soul searching, self-reflection, introspection, contemplation, inner guidance, solitude. Confidant skills.* x Service Butler, allows Kuro to help with housekeeping in general due to his multitasking habilty. x Facade, Kuro will gather extremely specific information about a person without leaving gaps. From routine to interests. x Hide and seek, allows a double chance for swapping two members of current party and avoid a fatal blow on both ocassions. x Emergency call, most damaged member of the party is healed a thirty percent and gets a chance to be immune for a short amount of time. x Bird watching, increases both HP and SP significally per round to the member with the lowest ones. MAX. evolves to Quick reflexes, it allows a member to dodge fatal attack on different ocassions or directly nullify an attack to a member party plus increasing SP at random.

Transfering to Shujin Academy was shocking. It was an entire different place from where they lived but if his mother had a reasoning on why to transfer him there, he had little to no choice in the matter. It was devasting knowing that he’d stay in a new house ( when did she have time to purchase and furniture one? Kuro didn’t even know what was her line of work ) but, at the very least, his mother was quick to hush his main worries: her cards were already linked and would authomatically pay for the house expenses he’d only need to get a work to pay his. It wasn’t that comforting, but he’d take what he could. New uniform, new classmates, the entire unknown enviroment... Kuro wasn’t adjusting well, he wasn’t adjusting at all. He was scared of hurting others, he was frightened of all students... Midori, his main anchor, wasn’t here. Only now it dawned on him how much he needed the presence of a friend, of some human warmth and emotional connection. All he knew was loneliness. Unbeknown to him, a group of fellow students were taking full charge of things behind the scenes: one of the teachers who was the main topic of gossip yet no one had acted on it or had actual evidence ended up confessing for every wrongdoing of his. The man was unrecognizable. It gave Kuro a hope he didn’t know he had, a small flame lit up in his dark world; it was tiny, a single blow could get rid of it... but it was warm. It was enough to burn him. His mother returned earlier than expected, he had been surviving by working on a themed café. She was unhappy, if previously her voice alone was beyond enough to make him tremble the look on her face, that palpable disappointment in the air, he feared for his life. It only took a moment for him to make up his mind and request help of these Phantom Thieves, for them to take charge and give her a change of heart he couldn’t keep living like that, it took literally being abandoned and tossed aside for Kuro to realize his beloved mother who cared dearly about him was in reality an abusive and manipulative woman and that himself was only a puppet, and only that. To come back to his senses and reach out for help, it was a relief for him when his mother ended up in jail. It also was, in a way, heart breaking: to learn that his mother had killed and ruined the life of a girl who had done nothing wrong but love his father, to learn she made miserable so many others. That he, that Kuro was the product of rape itself it’s safe to assume that he cried non-stop for hours, that he yelled at her until his voice ran out. It was the first time that he had experimented such strong and volatile emotions. After it was all over, for once in his life, he didn’t feel empty. Instead, it was the entire opposite , he felt whole, Kuro felt that he owed everything to the Phantom Thieves but it felt wrong to say he owned them, that he should dedicate his life to them hence why he decided he’d live for them and dedicate his life to actually live than reside in the confides he was used to. To expand his little world and no longer be afraid since there was nothing and no one holding him back. Not any longer, at last.

Fandomless verse. TAG. 「 V ♡ ; Kuro ／」

Tba.

RELATIONSHIPS.

These will be based on canon until someone requests to be main or exclusive!

Aishi Ryoba. His mother is the one person he fears the most in this entire world yet, at the same time, he wants to believe she is also the one person who cares about him and loves him the most, that she wants to teach him right from wrong since Ryoba makes clear she loves her child before he was even born. Kuro has a hard time understanding that he, in fact, is abused constantly. Not once his father displayed actual affection towards him but only Ryoba was there emotionally manipulating him. Shaping him into who she wanted, the concept of freedom doesn’t ring any bells he has a breakdown when she leaves for those ten weeks since now he has no one to tell him what to do, he is utterly lost and needs guidance.

Aishi Shiawase ( verse dependant ). Kuro isn't aware how he feels exactly towards his older brother even more so because Shiawase seems to hate their parents which confuses him to no end. Still, he likes to believe they are in good terms.

Aishi Ayano ( verse dependant ). Complicated. Neither of them appreciate or dislike each other's presence but if truly needed, they'll become allies for one common goal that will benefit both parties. Though they have a higher posibility of getting along than they both give credit to.

Midori Gurin. If he had to label the most annoying girl in his classroom as anything, that had to be his childhood best friend. She was the one who started to speak to him when every other kid mistreated him and taught him about her own hobbies in case he shared them—which was soon to be the case. In a way, Kuro cares about Midori's existence and would be highly upset if anything happened to her. She was, and still is, his own anchor to the real world.

Info-san. For some reason or another, this mysterious person had approached him with ulterior motives—to hurt someone; albeit this was confusing, Kuro didn't see any negative aspects in doing them favors in exchange of a reward or information he might need.

Character. TAG. TBA.

TAGS.

「 Aishi Kuro ／ ᵇʳᵒᵏᵉⁿ 」

「 Aishi Kuro ／ INQUIRY 」

「 Aishi Kuro ／ MUSINGS 」

「 Aishi Kuro ／ VISAGE 」

「 Aishi Kuro ／ INTROSPECTIVE 」

「 Aishi Kuro ／ MANNERISMS 」

「 Aishi Kuro ／ ROMANCE 」

「 Aishi Kuro ／ CRACK 」

✘ · Name ♡（ Quote ）

0 notes

bethygauw · 7 years

Text

[2/3] Enstars: B’s-Log January 2017

Released in November 2016.

Unit Song CD 2nd Series Vol.5: Ryuseitai Cast Interview

Lyrics translations are by Rain! (Dreamwidth)

General note: Ken’ichi Maeyamada (Hyadain) is the lyricist and composer of Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!! . His previous works include Nichijou OP and Kuroko’s Basketball ED1.

Yuichi Jose (VA of Chiaki Morisawa)

Q: Firstly, please tell us about your impression on the songs when you first listened to them.

Jose: When I first listened to the demo tape of Ryusei Fireworks, judging by the melody I thought it was Akatsuki’s song. But when I started singing it, I was like, “Oh, this is Ryuseitai.” (laugh) In a good way, it betrayed my expectations. I mean, when the five of us sing, any song becomes Ryuseitai’s song. The chit-chat is super fun in this song. As for Shooting☆Star!!!!!, when I think about it we haven’t used the phrase “shooting star,” even though it’s supposed to be the meaning of “Ryusei.” I find it surprising. Compared to the first series, the dramatic feel in the song that pictures their hidden strength and strenuous effort is getting stronger. The songs are also tied more strongly to the stories in-game, and there are various instances that picture the bonds between Ryuseitai members as well as the bond between Ryuseitai and all of you Ryusei Pink. I had the opportunity to sing all that, and it’s a perfect song for it. I feel that they have slightly matured, blasting through their own path with unwavering conviction, even if they are hurt at times.

Q: Then how did the actual recording go?

Jose: I have to use my energy in every single Ryuseitai recording, so it was a hard work. In order to bring out the character in a playful song that is characteristic of Ryuseitai, I would have to make arm gestures no matter what. This time we launched a firework, comforted a baby… I was worried if my gestures would become noise in the recording (laugh). In the first series, (the voice actor of Midori Takamine) Takumi-kun had his recording right after me and I felt sorry because the headphones were drenched with sweat… But this time, no one recorded after me so I didn’t feel as guilty (laugh). As for Shooting☆Star!!!!!, the chorus doesn’t go boom, but it’s meant to slowly sink in—I had a hard time making it feel like Ryuseitai when it has a different feel from the usual. When I listened to the others’ singing except mine, they sound cute like Ra*bits, so I would try to hold that down. Or rather, I want to support them in order to make up for all the trouble [Chiaki] has caused (laugh). When I sing as Chiaki, I can’t sing unless I root my feet into the ground strongly and put my might into it, so when I finished I could feel it on my lower back. Chiaki sings the whole pre-chorus, so I was completely exhausted. In Ryusei Fireworks, the “Ha! Ha! Ha! Soiya!” gave me a hard time. Even when I’m at home practicing, I was already thinking, “Oh boy, this part is gonna hit my lower back pretty hard during recording” (laugh). It’s quite a feat to sing Ryuseitai songs alone, and it seems we have another song eligible for entering that endurance competition. I’d like all of you to challenge yourselves and practice it.

Q: Please tell us the appeal of each song.

Jose: Shooting☆Star!!!!! has a message where you have to support one another even if you’re hurt, become one, and move forward while doing your best. Although Chiaki is not part of it, there is a feel of unison in the parts where the other members are singing something like “blue and green make the earth.” After that, it’s not like Chiaki unified them, but I think that part gave a sense of unity where all of them became one. They’re frank with one another. As for Ryusei Fireworks, everyone is nothing but balls of energy (laugh). Ryuseitai’s belief is that you’ll still act cheerful even if something awful happened to you. This song speaks something like, “we are there for each other, and we’ll stay positive,” and I thought it has a really good presentation.

Q: Ensemble Stars has been extending its reach through appearances in various kinds of media. Could you promote the series to the readers who have not yet been exposed to it?

Jose: Chiaki Morisawa is a man of passion, but there’s a fundamental reason why he’s the way he is. Of course, not everything is confirmed, but I really admire his way of living. He works very hard to be the ideal person he wishes to be, and be a man of passion. It makes me wonder if he’s seriously a high school student (laugh). It’s not just letters in a word—true passion is his appeal. In both good and bad ways, Ryuseitai won’t be Ryuseitai without Chiaki, and Ryuseitai and Chiaki can’t exist without one another—they’re something like a family. Ryuseitai isn’t the academy’s model unit, and Chiaki would bring up an unusual proposal and cause so much trouble to the producer, to all of you players. Each individual’s potential is not that high either, and I wouldn’t describe their team work as perfect. But everyone is on their way to combining into one, into Ryuseitai. I’d like you to walk together with them too.

Q: Please give a message to the fans who are looking forward to the release!

Jose: The previous CD placed second on the Oricon chart, a happening that caused such a big fuss on the Ryuseitai members LINE group, and I was really grateful of everyone’s support. But I was worried if there could really be something new Ryuseitai can give (laugh). I mean, there is a representative song, Yumenosaki Ryuseitai Song, and new units have been added in the past year. But, the songs in the second series are masterpieces that brushed off that worry. I was also able to re-discover possibilities of Ryuseitai’s future, and I’d like all of you Ryusei Pink to sing together with us too. Please give us your support.

Kotaro Nishiyama (VA of Kanata Shinkai)

Q: Firstly, please tell us about your impression on the songs when you first listened to them.

Nishiyama: At first, I thought Ryusei Fireworks was like Akatsuki (laugh). When I considered the festival theme only, there was a part of me that accepted how Ryuseitai is singing something that is not characteristic of a hero squadron. But after listening and singing to it many times, I could really picture the characters singing. As Kanata, I sang while thinking, “Ah, I wonder if Shinobu-kun would approach the lyrics this way,” and “If it’s the Commander, I wonder if he’ll sing it this way.” It’s a lively song that pumps you up. In Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!! too…. It’s not call and response, but there are parts where the vocals are chasing one another, so I think it’ll be a song that can fire up the audience too.

Q: Then how did the actual recording go?

Nishiyama: The lyrics in Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!! are what Kanata-kun doesn’t speak normally, so I hope I could bring out his cool and manly side. Other than that, I suppose it would be the unison with Midori-kun. I don’t think this combination appears a lot, so I hope you can pay attention to that part. I’m also looking forward to how it’ll turn out! There are English phrases in Ryusei Fireworks’ chorus, and for that part I kept in mind to make it as Kanata-kun as possible, singing the line as if it is in hiragana. I would sing the line “FIRE FIRE” like “fai-yah fai-yah,” to bring out his character. Other than that, for example in the second chorus too, I got to make it sound a bit like a spoken line, so there are traces of Kanata-kun scattering all over. Whenever I have recording as Kanata-kun, I would always have his merchandise on the music stand. I would place Kanata-kun there, and I would think of it as a mirror, transform into Kanata-kun and have recording. This time, I brought the heart-shaped cushion badge! He’s making such a big smile on this one, so I had the recording while imagining Kanata-kun having fun.

Q: Please tell us the appeal of each song.

Nishiyama: At the end of the chorus in Ryusei Fireworks, there’s a line, “Your smile becomes our energy.” The director asked me, “Sing it with smug!” so I made a smug face, Kanata-style (laugh). It was so much fun! It’s easy to follow the rhythm in the song too, and the singing is explosive since the very beginning, so in a way it was easy to make a smug face (laugh). I think it’ll be a song that fires up the karaoke room. As for Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!!, there a lot of memorable parts after the first time you listen to it. Especially right before the end of the chorus—overall, I made sure to keep the word “comrade” in my mind. It’s very Ryuseitai, where the personalities are all over the place, but they are united to the point they can share their suffering and pain. I tried to express Ryuseitai’s bond, where they are aiming for the same goal. Ryuseitai exists because the Commander is there, and because he is there we could gather. Also, Kanata-kun is like the Vice Commander, and I think that is one of the reasons for their unity.

Q: Ensemble Stars has been extending its reach through appearances in various kinds of media. Could you promote the series to the readers who have not yet been exposed to it?

Nishiyama: When we recited a script in an Enstars event, I thought Ryuseitai has a really good balance. There’s the Commander that pulls everyone along, there are three children who are loud and making a racket, and there’s Kanata-kun who acts as the gentle mother. I think it’s a unit that is like a family. Also, I feel that it’s so easy to think of Ryuseitai dearly. In a way I also think of myself as someone like a big brother next door, so I guess that’s how you make yourself wanting to cheer for them. As for Kanata-kun, I like how he’s devoid of lies. What he says is always straightforward, and he’s also straightforward with how he likes himself. It feels refreshing to act out that part of him and this purity makes me feel secure. A lot of people think of him as a mysterious boy, and that’s not wrong, but I hope you can look out for his kindness and how he would be there for others.

Q: Please give a message to the fans who are looking forward to the release!

Nishiyama: I think everyone knows that Ryuseitai members get along with each other, but the voice actors also trust each other a lot. Whenever something happens, we would report it to the LINE group, for example, “I just finished recording”! Even for the spoken lines in Ryusei Fireworks’ interlude—it started in an event. We casually brought up how we were hoping there will be spoken lines [in the songs]. And then Yoshiki Nakajima came up with ideas and in the end we got to talk it out with the staff. Because of Ryuseitai’s team work, we could do various things. We crammed everything we wanted to do, and I think they became songs that are crafted with love, so it would make us really happy if all of you can listen to them lots. Please listen to them and sing to them many, many times!

Yoshiki Nakajima (VA of Tetora Nagumo)

Q: Firstly, please tell us about your impression on the songs when you first listened to them.

Nakajima: For Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!!, I’m always under the pressure that it’s a song by Maeyamada-san (Hyadain), so… (laugh). I was nervous waiting for what kind of song it would be, and it turned out to be something typical of Maeyamada-san. A lot of his quirks are packed into the song. But on top of that, it is also a very Ryuseitai song, just like usual, so I was very relieved. As for Ryusei Fireworks on the other hand, also because of the intro, I thought, “Isn’t this Akatsuki’s—!?” But when I tried to sing, it became something that can pump up the mood like the usual Ryuseitai.

Q: Then how did the actual recording go?

Nakajima: Tetora is a man who won’t cut corners and relax one bit. So it’s really tiring to sing with his voice. When I looked at the lyrics and music score, I thought it was going to be okay if it’s at this level, but when I turn into Tetora to sing, the calorie consumption isn’t normal after all (laugh). Aside from the melody, Ryuseitai songs also have background vocals and spoken lines, so I feel that I also spent my energy in those parts.

Q: Please tell us the appeal of each song.

Nakajima: Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!! is the “gold standard,” or rather, it’s a song that shows Ryuseitai’s coolness out at the front. But that being said, it’s a different type compared to the previous songs. It gives the image that they are singing with such style on a quiet stage. Also, dialogues are unique traits of Ryuseitai’s songs, and they are also in Ryusei Fireworks’ interlude. Actually, I was the one who came up with the dialogues in this song. There was nothing at first, but I thought I wanted to make it more Ryuseitai, so I consulted with the staff and the other members in advance and had them included. Apart from that, I’d like you to pay attention to parts such as the Enka-like line that packs a punch. [1]

Q: Ensemble Stars has been extending its reach through appearances in various kinds of media. Could you promote the series to the readers who have not yet been exposed to it?

Nakajima: The units that appear in Ensemble Stars have concepts that are the gold standards, as in, it makes you think many are quite idol-like. But Ryuseitai is “a unit of heroes of justice,” something you would question whether or not they are idols in the first place (laugh). Because of that concept, they have this unique trait where it’s easy to feel affection towards them, no matter your age. It’s just that the members are all eccentrics, which is a regrettable side of theirs… (laugh). And Tetora, who is part of the unit, is quite the unusual individual himself. But when he’s with Ryuseitai, he naturally becomes the straight man… Actually, the actors too—when the five of us are together we turn into our characters! You can see that in the events too, so please come to see us at least once.

Q: Please give a message to the fans who are looking forward to the release!

Nakajima: We gained such popularity thanks to all of you, and there are always lots of people coming to the events and the like, so it makes me really happy. We greatly value the game as well as such opportunities. The second CD is about to be released, so there may be stories that dig deeper into the background of each character. Other than that, new units have also been added, and we the actors are also looking forward to future developments. Please give us your support for many years to come.

--(t/n)--

1. Second pre-chorus: “Both fists and mikoshi too,” which is sung in Enka-ish style.

Takumi Watanabe (VA of Midori Takamine)

Q: Firstly, please tell us about your impression on the songs when you first listened to them.

Watanabe: When I first listened to Shooting☆Star!!!!!, I thought it was a really cool song. The lyrics, compared to words that Midori-kun normally says, seem to be something that would come out from the innermost part of him. So I was really troubled with how I should express it. Until now, I think Ryuseitai had been presenting themselves as allies of justice and everyone’s heroes. But in Shooting☆Star!!!!!, it seems that each of them has found something they want to protect. In that sense, they’ve matured. With Ryusei Fireworks, I thought, “Ah, it sure is Ryuseitai’s song.” (laugh) It’s a song like a festival, which can’t be produced by other units. At the same time, I was wondering if Midori-kun could properly participate in the festival in the end… (laugh)

Q: Then how did the actual recording go?

Watanabe: The first CD series was my first song recording ever, but this time I also felt a bit of pressure, although in a good way. The story is moving forward in-game and it got me to think about how I can insert Midori-kun’s feelings into the singing even more than the first series. The key signature was high so it was difficult, but I was told by the staff that I was able to project my voice better than the first series, so I’m glad. Other than that, the line “I’m depressed” was also difficult to say, as if trying to match the level of difficulty of the singing (laugh). It’s rare for Midori-kun to raise his voice, so if his voice is too loud it would be “fashionable depression” (laugh). I think the fans out there will also pay attention to the spoken lines, so I tried my best not to shake my voice. That spoken line connects well with “Life, even if it’s hard today, | Shall we forget the bad things and sing?” and I think there can be two different meanings. To Midori-kun it would be, “Even if it’s hard for him, it’ll become fun when he sings with everyone,” and to those who are listening to the song, “Please cheer up.” I sang the songs thinking about all that. But really, it was my first time saying, “I’m depressed!” that loudly (laugh).

Q: Please tell us the appeal of each song.

Watanabe: In Shooting☆Star!!!!!, Midori-kun sings the line, “Risk your life.” It’s a phrase he will never say normally, and he won’t say it even if he thinks about it. So conversely, it makes me think that in truth he thinks about it. Then comes in the question, what does he protect? May it be the transfer student or Ryuseitai, I suppose he will risk his life to protect the person(s) important to him. I haven’t listened to the finished product, so I’m in the dark as to how everyone else sings, which is making me fidgety (laugh). But I sang desperately. As for Ryusei Fireworks… I had an easy-going recording session (laugh). I hope you’ll be able to tell how much fun Midori-kun is having when he’s together with Ryuseitai members. He’s indecisive when he’s alone, but if he’s going to have a festival with these members, I bet he’ll have so much fun. Of course, he has his own way to enjoy himself. Other than that, there’s a line, “strike the evil named melancholy,” and I’m a bit bothered by it from Midori-kun’s point of view (laugh). He may wonder if he’s actually evil (laugh). But this way, he may think, “I’m also part of Ryuseitai!” and gives encouragement to others.

Q: Ensemble Stars has been extending its reach through appearances in various kinds of media. Could you promote the series to the readers who have not yet been exposed to it?

Watanabe: Midori-kun is really tall. But all he talks about is “I’m depressed” and “I want to die,” so probably the only thing about this boy that was growing is his physique. His mentality stays childish, he behaves like a spoiled child on his own, and says that he’s suffering. After all, he said that he enroled into the idol course by mistake. But, by having members full of unique personalities in a unit called Ryuseitai around him, his stance about idols is changing, and I think it will continue to change. Ryuseitai is an energetic and powerful unit, enough to change a pessimistic boy like him. It’s a hero squadron unit that cheers people up. He joined such unit and is in the middle of developing. But, along with his body, his mentality will start to grow from now on. He’s an honest and delicate boy who has only started sprouting.

Q: Please give a message to the fans who are looking forward to the release!

Watanabe: The unit songs from the second series are both packed with cheerfulness that is very much like Ryuseitai. I hope you can look forward to how Midori-kun deals with a cool song and a song that cheers people up!

Anju Nitta (VA of Shinobu Sengoku)

Q: Firstly, please tell us about your impression on the songs when you first listened to them.

Nitta: Hyadain-san is handling Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!!, so when I first listened to it I was very surprised! The lyricist also says “Ken’ichi Maeyamada”, so I was like wow. The song has Hyadain-san written all over, so I was happy that I got to sing this song. I think it’s a song that puts the Leader in a spotlight, so we’ll have Jose-san sing it with perfection, and the four around him will act as support! As for Ryusei Fireworks, it’s like The Unrivaled☆Meteoranger if you compare it to the previous songs. It’s a type of song that makes you go “Wasshoi!” and “Soiya!” just like the lyrics (laugh). I hope it’s something that lifts up the mood in the karaoke.

Q: Then how did the actual recording go?

Nitta: I put my might into the spoken dialogues in both songs, hoping I could bring out Shinobu’s character. In Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!!, it would be “The yellow flames” that follow the main lyrics. In Ryusei Fireworks, it would be “You are Members,” or “Wasshoi” or “Soiya.” There are a lot of lines inserted into the main lyrics in this song (laugh). With the spoken lines in Ryusei Fireworks, it was Yoshiki-san who came up with some parts of it and shared it in Ryuseitai LINE group. I think it fits perfectly. I had it recorded many times, so I think it’ll be something good.

Q: Please tell us the appeal of each song.

Nitta: As for Ryusei Fireworks, it would be the lines before the chorus such as, “Light up the festival” and “Thrust them up high.” Everyone was singing their solo lines, and then it builds up towards the end. It feels extremely good to sing with that kind of flow! The flow in Five-Colored Shooting☆Star!!!!! is also good. I also like the toned down chorus right before the last one, where it becomes quiet. When I looked at the lyrics one line by one line, there are lines “In the black night, yellow lightning” and “On this green and blue planet.” I like how the colors are combined. I think Shinobu-kun will like it, and well, so do I (laugh). It’s cool, isn’t it? There are a lot of parts I like.

Q: Ensemble Stars has been extending its reach through appearances in various kinds of media. Could you promote the series to the readers who have not yet been exposed to it?

Nitta: Shinobu-kun is a shy boy. Even though he’s set to be a character that is lonely, he met comrades, Ryuseitai. He becomes good friends with Yuta-kun, Hinata-kun and Mao-kun. I think he’s a character whose development can be seen clearly. In the second half of the year, he really becomes cheerful and even gets treated coldly by the transfer student (laugh). But I think their relationship has developed into one that allows things like that. In that sense, I suppose he’s a character that makes you want to tease him. But recently, he’s got really cool card illustrations, and I bet no one could’ve imagined it back in the early days. It’s also really exciting since his left eye is exposed (laugh)! Shinobu was also really cool in the event Nuclear Ignition ☆ A Sparkling Quintuple-Color Supernova, right? I was just so happy! But the reason why we can see that part of him is thanks to Ryuseitai, I believe.

Q: Please give a message to the fans who are looking forward to the release!

Nitta: Each song has different directions and charms. They are seriously songs that will make you want to listen to them many times and sing together. By all means, pick a color you’d like to assign yourself with, gather the rest of the members and sing together! I’d like you to have a party and sing together with everyone. Please support Ensemble Stars and Ryuseitai from now on too!

#ensemble stars #b's log #ryuseitai #chiaki morisawa #kanata shinkai #tetora nagumo #midori takamine #shinobu sengoku #yuichi jose #kotaro nishiyama #yoshiki nakajima #takumi watanabe #anju nitta #staff

49 notes · View notes

fortune-failing · 6 years

Text

London Plan Resolution

(Atmey warning: it’s really gay. Midori warning: it starts weird but gets better around halfway?) After session 74, in the highland village of tieflings

London

Between 1 and 2 in the late night, the door of the bards' room opened, and London quietly entered.

Faelian

At some point before London had left that night Faelian had asked to borrow his flute. After London took a few steps into the room he could hear the music clearly and loudly.

/r 1d20+3

fightdiceBOT

@Faelian: 1d20+3 = (16)+3 = 19

Faelian

He was playing pretty well and didn't even notice London enter the room.

London

London crept, carefully taking off his boots and debating an interruption. With little thought, his ingenius idea was to head straight for the bathroom and get washed off while listening to the gentle tune with the door wide open.

/r 1d20+1

fightdiceBOT

@London: 1d20+1 = (18)+1 = 19

Faelian

/r 1d20+1

fightdiceBOT

@Faelian: 1d20+1 = (16)+1 = 17

London

He creeps unnoticed.

Faelian

Faelian didn't notice London at all and continued playing. His attention focused completely on the window.

London

Some time later, London exits now clean. He stands in front of the door not wanting to interrupt. Just how long was Faelian going to play music?.... He watches.

Faelian

Faelian stops now and takes in a deep breath. It took way more energy to play the flute instead of a lute. Maybe he just wasn't used to wind instruments though. As he moves to put the flute away he notices London and freezes. He notices the guy is exiting the bathroom instead of coming through the main door. "Huh? When did you come in?"

London

"I've been here a while." London smiled and finally moved to sit next to the blond on the bed. "Have you been playing all night?"

Faelian

"Oh? I didn't hear you come in. I guess I was playing pretty loud. No, I wasn't playing all night. I took a long bath before playing. What have you been up to?"

London

"Uh, I've been... talking to people I guess... and debating that whole crystal water ball thing...." London gets comfortable on the bed. Before he forgets, he pushes his old cape into the trash. Finally it can rest in peace.

Faelian

"Did you want to see it after all? We could stop be before we leave tomorrow if you want." He leans over on London slightly after watching him trash his cape. "Too many holes?"

London

"Nah, I decided I don't want to go. And uh, yeah. It's pretty useless now. But I have new clothes, so it doesn't matter." He lied back and looked at Faelian.

Faelian

"Maybe that's for the best. I wonder why I didn't see anything though..." He sighs heavily. "Yeah.. i'm glad you'll be getting some new clothes. Walking around with those blood stains.. well, it's not a very good image. You'll look suspicious." He smirks. He leans his head on London's shoulder and hugs him tightly. After a moment he pulls back up and looks back down at him again. His arms stay loosly wrapped around the other bard.

London

"Hehe, you think? I'm not sure why you didn't see anything, though. Maybe I would have seen nothing, too. That's funny to imagine." He hugs Faelian back and smiles when looks at him again.

Faelian

He laughs a little. "Yeah maybe. At least I wasn't the only one who saw nothing. Beaford seemed relieved that I didn't see anything either." He nuzzles his nose into the crook of London's neck playfully.

London

London patted Faelian's head and continued to pet him a bit while sighing. "Today was a long day, huh? Are you doing okay?"

Faelian

Faelian hummed comfortably as he was petted. "Yeah. I'm alright. I can't say those orcs didn't deserve what happened but things left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I feel better after wasting some energy playing music though." He presses a few kisses on London's neck and jawline now. Sorry if this looks gay to the viewers. :prefersmen:

London

"Ah, sorry if that bothered you... You really aren't comfortable with violence, huh?" He tried to continue their serious conversation, but his face was growing more red thanks to the kisses.

Faelian

"It's not your fault. It's not like we could have tied them all up and brought them down the mountain to jail after all. I really hate violence. I'm not sure if I ever will be comfortable with it. Do you think it'd be better if I tried to get used to it? Maybe it would make things easier on me?" He pulls back a little and looks at London again.

London

London moves forward to give Faelian a quick kiss on the lips before resting his head back down again. "Don't think that. It's warriors and mercenaries who need to get blood on their hands, but we're bards. We're lovers, not fighters." He turns his head to give Faelian a second kiss on his hand.

Faelian

Faelian kisses London back for as long as the short kiss lasted. He tilted his head a little and looked down at London afterwards. A smile slowly makes it's way on his lips at hearing London say that. It was surprisingly comforting to hear those words. His cheeks warmed when London kissed his hand afterwards. "Thanks, London. I think that's just what I needed to hear." He laughs a little and leans down to press another kiss on London's lips. It's a short kiss but he starts slowly pressing more kisses against London's jawline and neck afterwards.

London

"I'm glad." He smiled and scrunched his shoulders up as his neck tickled by Faelian's lips. He laughed between words. "Don't be afraid to look away if anything bad happens. Once we're done with our journey, you won't have to see anything bad like that again."

Faelian

Faelian laughed softly while close to London's neck. It was hard not too when he was scrunching up like that and it probably didn't help london's current situation. "You're really ticklish, huh?" He pauses for a few moments while listening to London. "Okay... Thanks, London." Faelian gives the red bard another smile and his hands start to wander on London's sides and chest. He gives London a curious look as if asking if it's okay.

London

London laughed timidly. His red cheeks answered the ticklish question for him. But as Faelian started getting touchy, London was getting red for a different reason. Instantly his mind started to wander onto other things and he looked a little sad. "F-faelian you know.. I really regret the fact I get crushes so easily sometimes..." Without turning his head, his eyes looked to the side shyly. But despite saying this, London showed no resistance to Faelian's motions and even helped him by sitting up to make access under his clothes easier.

Faelian

Faelian's hands paused when that sad look crossed London's features. After listening to London he furrowed his brows slightly, thinking in silence for a moment. Eventually he smiled softly instead. "London... don't worry about it too much. I've thought about it lately and It's not like you can control that anyway... and I might still have a small crush on Noronir too.. I was just a little shocked and got over emotional. It was a tense and hectic time.. I'm sorry for making you feel bad about it. You shouldn't." He shook his head softly and gave London a small smile. His hands start to wander again now, creeping underneath London's clothes this time. His fingertips moving more slowly and delicately than before as he carefully felt of the other's skin.

London

"But it's not okay..." His breathing was a bit heavy for multiple reasons. "It's not as simple as just crushing on someone..." London held his head down.

Faelian

Faelian's hands pause again. "I still love Noro.. It's not the same as before but I think there might always be some linguring feelings. I shouldn't have got so worked up about Zarek." There's a small pause. "Don't be sad, London. It'll be okay." He brushes the red bard's bangs back and places a gentle kiss on his forehead.

London

London's hand sweeps Faelian's kiss away. "N-no, it's not like that at all! I'm afraid I'm going to do worse than just crush on someone!"

"..." Taking a deep breath didn't stop his face from feeling hot, but he continued. "You know, when we were helping that Bear guy... Dahli, right? That lady talked about doing a favor if we helped her.. and I kind of thought, maybe I'd go for it.... I don't honestly know how good I am at this relationship thing. This is the first time anyone's ever seriously liked me, and I just keep thinking what if it happens again?"

"You know, my parents were always hiding stuff from each other, so maybe it's their fault I have no trust in myself in regards to romance. But sometimes I get really sad, and I'm not exactly sure what I actually want. I just find myself yearning for something more even though I should already be happy. That's bad, isn't it? I want to be grateful for what I have.. Even if you are the only person who loves me in the world.. I told myself if I could have that much then I wouldn't need anything else, so why would I risk that for someone else's feelings? I really am garbage, and you deserve someone better." London's sudden and spontaneous rant finally came to a close.

Faelian

Faelian frowns when his kiss is wiped away. He listens to London once again talk about that woman who propositioned him. He listens quietly through London's whole rant and carefully takes in his words. "...Are you really that weak, London? Weak to lust? Would you really not consider me and my feelings at all? Not when debating doing that with someone else.. not when going to a place to do it.. not when taking off your clothes? During all those moments you really wouldn't stop and think. 'Hey, this will really hurt Faelian. Maybe I should talk about it first and tell him i'd rather be in open relationships after all.' Is sex with a random stranger that important to you? More important than my feelings and thoughts? Do you really think something like that is a crush? That someone who randomly asks for sex is in love with you?"

"...I guess something like that would cause this. Your parents shouldn't have done that." He sighs softly, his face clearly shows his disappointment in how little London trusts himself. "I don't know what will make you happy, London, but I really wish I did. And I don't have the answers for you either. I don't understand why you feel the way you do or why you think the way you do. Would you be happier if it wasn't me? Will anything ever make you happy?"

"Why do you always think so badly of yourself? I don't think you're garbage and I despise hearing you say such a thing about yourself." His voice grows stern." Do not call someone I love garbage." He sighs again softly and goes back to his softer tone. "I think you need to learn the difference between love and lust."

London

"I-I know the difference!!" He retorted in an insulted tone. "I just think... what if someone else did like me...? My whole life, I thought no one could... and now that I have you, and I should be grateful, but another part of me is still wants more. Is it really true that no one else in the world will ever love me? I guess I'm just in denial and want to believe otherwise, but it's tough.. Like you said, that lady wasn't really interested in me. I'm just fooling myself. And thinking this is just hurting you and our relationship. I don't know what's wrong with me."

Faelian

"Are you really sure you do, London? Do you mean romantic love or just love? Because i'm sure that some people in our group already love you as a friend. I'm sure more people will love you in the future too. You're a loveable person. But even if someone loves you romantically that doesn't mean you have to have sex with them. Love and sex don't have to go hand in hand." He reaches over softly and pats London's hand.

"How many times have I already told you that if things become too much we can go to open relationships or date on and off? I've told you so many times. I didn't think it would be this soon but If this feeling is eating you up this badly on the inside there isn't much else I can do..." His eyes get a little watery. "If you're not happy with this then I can't be either."

London

"I don't know.... but you've said before you hate the idea of open relationships. Don't act like you're suddenly okay with them now... I'm not saying that's what I want." London accepted the pat and sighed. "I'm only bringing this up because I thought I found a better solution for both of us."

Faelian

"I've said again and again that it was an option and you always push it away. I said it when we first talked about it. I said it when you first told me you were unhappy, before we got together. I've said again and again that it was an option in the future so don't act like I haven't. You also said that you didn't prefer one on one and you tried that for me so why shouldn't I be allowed to try this for you, If that's what you really need?

He looks curious at hearing those words. "A better solution?"

London

"That's different..." London looks embarrassed. "I don't want an open relationship anymore. I want to be happy with just you.. Pawo and Beaford always look happy.. So I want to be able to give that to you, too..."

He leans closer to Faelian. "Faelian I love you. I don't want to love anyone else. So I found a way to ensure that I couldn't love anyone else." He kisses him.

Faelian

"What's different?" He continues to look confused with a small frown on his face. "You don't? I wish you could just be happy with me too but.. will your solution really help?" He looks away. "..They do look happy, huh?" He really wished they could be like them sometimes.

His cheeks warm when London moves closer and says those words and kisses him. He kisses him back softly in return. For some reason he can't help but feel a little confused and a little worried. What is London even talking about? What does he mean by ensuring away he wouldn't love someone else? "..I love you too, London. ..What do you mean? What have you done?"

London

"I haven't done anything yet." As he talks, he tries to goad Faelian into laying down on the bed while he begins to return the earlier kisses on Faelian's now revealed stomach. Pausing just to talk.

"Listen, if you agree to this, I promise to drink the Lost Flower potion and stay with you forever. This is way more informal than I planned, but we can get married and I'll never leave you. That's what you want more than anything, right? And I want to make you happy.. What all of this comes down to is, as long as I have you I shouldn't need anyone else."

"I know you said that there are others who love me, but that's too hard to believe. Even if we do consider the people in the group... Pawo resists caring about anyone too much, and Zarek... well, he says he cares, but after what happened earlier, I'm still not sure what to think of him." He sighs.

Faelian

"Then what are you planning on doing?" Faelian doesn't really resist and his face grows red when London starts pressing kisses on his skin. He quickly sits back up though when the flower potion is mentioned. "Huh? You'll drink it? Only if I agree to whatever it is you want to do? What is it?" His chest tightened slightly at hearing the purposal but there was no way he was agreeing without hearing what it was first.

"Of course it would make me happy if you drank the lost flower potion and to marry you someday but... will you really be happy with that? Are you sure you're not just upset and rushing into something you'll regret later?" He wasn't convinced at all after London's earlier confession that he wasn't happy.

He moves both of his hands to London's cheeks, gently moving his head to face him so that he can look him in the eyes. "Did something happen earlier? Did you two fight? People can argue and still love each other, you know? I don't doubt that Zarek loves and values you as a friend. Pawo's a different story I can't understand him but Beaford probably loves you too."

London

London was ready to continue his advances but Faelian grabbing his face interrupted them. He used an arm to push them away. "You're so cheesy. Romaticizing everything like that will just make you an idiot. I didn't fight with Zarek. It's just... he didn't take me seriously when I said some things... and now whatever future plans we had to hang out after everything are ruined. It's half my fault, but I can't help feeling bummed about it. We really haven't talked a ton since the, so I don't know... He's all talk." London sighs. "And you're blind if you think Beaford loves me."

Faelian

He sighs. "I guess so.. I think the biggest problem is Aneris. Zarek's a smart good guy. If she doesn't change I can't see him staying with her for too long. He didn't seem to agree with the things she did earlier..." He moves one of his hands to gently tuck some of London's hair behind his ear. "Beaford is a good friend isn't he? I feel like being friends is a kind of love to start with anyway. You can't be friends if you don't like each other or care about each other's well-being after all."

"Anyway we can talk about them later. What was this solution of yours?"

London

"You're an idiot.." He frowns and turns his head away. "I need to think things over so maybe we can talk about it later."

Faelian

"You're an idiot too, you know." He sighs before smiling softly. "Alright then, London. We'll talk about it later... it's late and you're probably sleepy anyway." He leans close to London and presses a small kiss on his cheek. Afterwards he starts slowly moving under the covers.

London

London falls over to lay next to Faelian. "You know, the issue really isn't in others liking me.. It's the fact I want them to like me, but I can't help liking people back.. Even if you say stuff like 'it's a friend way' or 'it's in a romantic way,' for me there's no difference between the two. I've never had the chance to have someone like me before, so.. what if I did, and I liked them just as much as you? You'd definitely be hurt! So stop pretending you wouldn't be."

He sits up again. "I made a potion that would make it so that I couldn't love anyone else. I did this for everyone's sake. So that you could have what you wanted, and so that I could be friends with Zarek without caring that he was dating Aneris and shit. It would be better for everyone.. I'm confident of it.. I wouldn't have to deal with heartbreak, and I'd have you, so there's nothing else to worry about...." London's voice trembled. It was as though he were trying to reassure himself more than Faelian.

Faelian

"That's why I told you that you needed to learn the difference earlier. It's kind of obvious you've been thinking of them without any difference between them. ..It's not a good way to think. Everyone who offers you sex doesn't love you and everyone who loves you won't want sex." A pause. "I'm not pretending that I won't be hurt... of course I would be. I love you so much.." He sits back up. "You have to learn to have some self control if you're this easily swayed by those kind of things, London. You need to learn what's really important and what isn't.."

"..Huh? A potion?" A potion that would make London only love him? "You made a love potion?" The tremble in London's voice made him feel even more worried. "Will that really be better? Do you really need something like that to stay with me? To keep yourself from cheating?" His eyebrows furrow and he seems hurt by that thought. "Isn't something like that too much?"

London

"But even if I know the difference, I won't be able to help liking others! And no one likes me anyway, so it doesn't matter. The potion will fix everything.. It's better to just like one person. We could be happier. I'd be fixing myself."

Faelian

Faelian holds his own arms and looks down while thinking to himself quietly. He's silent for quiet a while. "But it would be fake.. it wouldn't really be you making those choices. What if it does something unepected? What if you change and become like someone different? I don't want you to change.. I'd love for us to be happier.. I'd love it if you took the flower potion but.. I don't like this. It makes me feel bad. I don't want you to be closer to me only because took a thing that forced you to do so. Knowing something like that.. it might make me resent you."

"If you took the flower potion we'd always have the time to get back together again if you wanted to be with someone else for a while. Can't you just take that instead?" He looks back up at London with a pleading look on his face.

London

"It wouldn't be forcing me, though. It's still my choice whether to love you or not. The potion is me saying I don't want to love anyone else. Without it, I'm sure that's bound to happen countless times because even if I'm scared of trusting people, it still makes me happy when they act like they care for me and talk me through stuff. I already love countless people, and that's not fair to you."

"This is the first time I've ever felt so cared for by so many people, so maybe that's the issue. Before I thought I'd be happy with just you, but now I'm realizing you aren't the only kind person in the world. I'm just really confused... I'm sorry." London couldn't look Faelian in the eyes anymore.

Faelian

"It's still unnatural.. I don't want you to be loyal to me only because of a potion. It hurts me to think that that's the only way you'll be able to trust yourself. I hate it." His eyes water up more and a few tears fall down his cheeks once he blinks.

He moves now, half laying on his pillow, hugging it and hiding most of his face in it. "...I don't know what to do. I don't want you to take it but you're clearly not happy with just me. Nothing good happens for me either way.." He turns his head away from London.

London

"Wha-? D-don't cry!" London sat back up and started fretting with a worried tone. "I didn't want this to make you sad, I'm sorry Faelian! I just thought, if it's not something I can help, then isn't this the only way to fix things? Am I just hopeless then?" He shook Faelian's shoulder waiting for an answer.

Faelian

Faelian hesitantly turns his head back towards London to look at him. His eyes are still teary but he looks like he's doing his best to keep any more from falling. "..I don't know.. I just.. I don't like the idea of you taking a potion because you can't trust yourself. It scares me and makes me feel bad.. It scares me to think your personailty might change.. I love your current personailty... If you changed it wouldn't be you anymore. You're overthinking things again and going to extreme measures."

"If you really feel unhappy with just me then there really isn't anything to do but but be in open relationships or be sex friends or break up.. but.. I really don't want to break up. I like being with you." He hugs his pillow tighter and sighs shakily.

London

London held his breath to listen and stared down at the elf. "So you're really fine if I loved others just as much as you as long as we don't break up? Even if I say I'd rather take the potion to just be with you?" Any sign of sadness from earlier seemed to have vanished as he spoke.

Faelian

Faelian sits up but doesn't let go of the pillow. "That's not exactly what I said but it's clear that what we have now isn't going to work. You've been so wound up and nervous and unhappy.. We might as well try something different. And I don't want to try something as extreme as a potion that binds yourself to me. I don't want you to have to change a part of your personailty for me. I don't want to risk losing who you are now."

London

"Geez... A potion shouldn't change that much. But if you're that sure you don't like it, I'll just throw it away then." He stands up.

Faelian

Faelian nods. "Yeah... I don't like it. It scares me and it's not fair to you." He looks up at London when he stands up. "So are we going to change to open relationships? I want us to be absolutely clear so that there isn't any confusion."

London

"I don't know.." He grabs his bag and walks over to the window.

Faelian

"Well.. I guess that's fair. We can give it a little while to think about. I still think it would be the easiest way to solve the current problem though." He watches London while still holding onto the pillow. He doesn't seem as upset as he was earlier.

London

London took out the potion and stared at it for a minute before turning it around to pour outside with a sigh.

Faelian

Faelian got up and moved to stand beside London as he poured the potion out. "I'm sorry, London. I really think it's better this way.." He attempts to hold London's free hand in his own.

London

He didn't resist the hand holding but didn't show any effort in returning the gesture. "It's okay... I shouldn't have acted like it was all for you anyway. I was just being weak and didn't want to worry about these things anymore." After the bottle was emptied, he pulled away from Faelian and walked back to fall sideways onto the bed once again.

Faelian

He sighs softly and looks out the window at the ground where London's potion now rested "...That's okay. Even if it you said it wasn't just for me it probably would have still ended up like this. ..I don't know when it will happen but you'll feel better. We have to go through hard times sometimes. We can't get stronger if we don't." He sighs softly and heads back over to the bed to join London. Once there he moved beside London and wrapped his arms around him tightly in an attempt to comfort him.

London

"Well, I guess that's done. I guess I'll try to stop feeling less guilty for liking others, but I don't know... I still think the potion would have been the best way to go. Then we wouldn't have to worry about anyone else." London hid his face on the covers.

Faelian

"Yeah.. try not to worry too much about it, alright?" He pulled London even tighter against himself and nuzzled his nose into his hair. "It was tempting but.. I don't want that kind of thing. It's too unnatural. It'll be okay. If you get sad over Zarek and need to talk please come to me. Don't hold your feelings in all the time okay? Yell if you wanna yell and cry if you need to." He presses a kiss into London's hair and then starts gently combing his fingers through it.

London

"It's not that simple... geez..." London moves his head up pouting. "And it's not that romantic or cute either. I'm just annoyed... I don't deserve to be babied over this."

London sighed and sat back up. "So you really really don't care if I like others? And you think that's fine and won't mess things up in the future? This isn't about anyone in particular. I just thought it would be bad.. and I felt guilty, I guess. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with the potion thing, so I think you were the one overreacting...."

Faelian

"I know it's not that simple but even if it helps a little bit i'm willing to listen to your troubles. And I'm not trying to be romantic. I'm trying to comfort you. You've apparently been stressing for way longer than you've been letting on. I want you to feel better." He sits up as well. "Would you like it better if I pinched you?"

He nods. "Yeah. You can't help how you feel anyway so there's no use in me getting upset. I can't really get too upset when I still like Noro anyway. I don't think you liking other people in the future will mess things up. The only thing I ask is that you tell me if you want to be in open relationships or not because I don't want to be cheated on or snuck around behind if you're really scared that might happen. I want to know upfront what to expect out of our relationship. Don't just leave it up to me to figure out on my own."

"Maybe I was overreacting about the potion but the idea honestly scared me. It made me a little mad too. Trust in yourself a little more.."

London

"P-pinched...?" He grabbed his own arm wondering how he would defend himself, but afterwards carefully listened to what Faelian had to say. "I'm not sure what I want... I'm just nervous about everything. Like I want to be able to say I love you, but I'm also kind of scared of intimacy... It feels like ever since we got together every little thing has some huge impact, and I'm not sure I'm ready for it. I know most of it is just in my imagination, but I've also made you cry a lot! I didn't want this.. I'm sorry. I probably just agreed too quickly to things and should have waited for when I was more confident... I know I said the reason for the delay was because I wanted you to prove it, but.. I actually probably waited a week just because I was nervous."

Faelian

He probably really would pinch him if he said yes with the way he was feeling right now. "Yeah.. I kinda noticed that you keep worrying and over thinking everything. I tried my best to calm you down but it didn't seem like any of it helped. You stressing made me stress a little too.. It certainly was your imagination. The huge things you kept getting worked up over didn't bother me nearly as much as you thought.

"...Did you think an open relationship or just being sex friends would help you calm down? Or uh.. did you want to call it off and wait a while to date?" He hesitantly peeks over at the other with a frown.

London

London leaned back hugging himself while staring at the ceiling in thought. "I don't know.... Like let's say we were just friends... I'd still want to cuddle and kiss you and say I love you and stuff... how is that any different from dating? But if we call it an open relationship, I don't know how comfortable I'd be... I think I'd feel too guilty to date anyone else.. so that's no different from what we have now anyway... No matter what happens, I just can't bring myself to do anything intimate lately. I'm just being a baby.." He sighed.

Faelian

Faelian looks even more confused for a moment. He leans over the other a little to look down at him. "Hm.. do you want to just be friends who cuddle and kiss and stuff but not say we're in open relationship or dating? ...That doesn't sound too bad if that's what you want. I'd still want to cuddle and kiss you too.. and maybe more when you eventually feel up for it."

London

"Doesn't that sound dumb, though...? And wouldn't it make you sad? I do like the idea of a relationship, but I'm just scared of the responsibilities attached. Isn't it gross I lack any confidence in myself and can't even promise to stay committed? Why are you so nice? I don't understand how you could still love me.." London looked hurt while staring back into Faelian's eyes.

Faelian

"It doesn't sound dumb.. I don't know... wouldn't it be better than nothing? I'm not really sure what you want. Do you just want to break up then? You said you'd still want to kiss and stuff if we did? It sounds like you don't like any of the options but you're going to have to pick something, London." "It's not gross... I think you have a lot you need to learn though. About relationships and stuff. You overthink things and make things way more complicated then they have to be. I don't know why i'm so nice about it. This is just how I am. Just because you're confusing and make things more complicated than they need to be doesn't give me a reason to not love you." He sighs softly and continues to just look down at the other. Looking into his eyes while desperately wishing London made a little more sense.

London

Hearing Faelian mention breaking up made London's frown deepen. "I know it doesn't make any sense.... but I guess we do need to do something..." He mumbled. "So you're really okay with just being friends as long as we can kiss and cuddle? I know I'm being confusing, but you aren't making things very clear either... What would make you happy? And what would make you sad?"

Faelian

"Yeah.. we can't just stay undecided so we have to do something." His eyes get a little watery again and he nods. "Yeah. Maybe doing things that way will make things a little less stressful for the both of us." He looks confused again. "What do you mean? I thought I was being clear. Please ask me what you want to know and i'll give you the answers. " He shakes his head a little at hearing the next thing. "It's nice that you have my happiness in mind London but you can't base everything on what makes me happy or sad.." "I think being friends who are a lot closer than normal will be fine for now. I want you to feel better and for us both to free less stressed out. Knowing that you're unhappy with what we have now makes me unhappy too. Maybe someday we can try to date again properly though. That would make me happy."

London

"Look, you're already about to cry." London huffed and used a sleeve to wipe Faelian's eyes. "We don't know if breaking up would really make me happy.. That's why I'm asking. Maybe there's some other compromise that won't make you upset..."

Faelian

"I'm just emotional. Don't worry about it." He sighs softly and closes his eyes as London wipes his face off. "Even though i'm a little upset now half of that's because you're upset. It's hard to think of any other compromises.. did you have any in mind?" "Actually.. why did you turn down the lost flower potion? Do you think growing old is important? Was it too much?"

London

"Yeah, but I want you to be honest with me. It does make you sad, doesn't it?" London moved his face closer to Faelian's as he spoke. He lowered his eyes. "The potion... does scare me, I guess. I always imagined I'd live and die a short life without having to worry about things in advance and without having to think much about the future. And now look at me. I'm a farseer. It's all I do anymore. Weird, right?" London laughed and finally pulled away to rest his head on the pillow. "So much has been changing, and I'm scared of all of it. I'm sorry for being paranoid and overreacting. I just don't even know what I'll be doing in 10 years, nevermind 100... It's intimidating to think about... and we've only known eachother for what?... 3 years? It's a lot to consider..."

Faelian

"Well.. if i'm being honest then yes, the current situation makes me sad. I want to make you happy but I want to be happy too. And you're feeling the same way, right? You're unhappy and confused about what you want and there's not much I can do about it. It's hard not to feel a little sad." "It does seem like it could be scary but if you're that scared of it why did you suggest drinking it earlier?" He chuckled a little. "Yeah. I guess it is a little weird. You wanted them back though right? I'm glad you got them back. A short life without having to think about the future sounds a little boring, doesn't it?" He moved now as well, laying his head on London's pillow and facing him. "I know it's a lot to consider.. I only asked though because if you did take it then I wouldn't have to worry as much about you falling in love with someone else. Because even if you did we could eventually get back together someday and I wouldn't have to worry about you growing old and dying.. I wouldn't have even suggested this at all if you didn't bring it up earlier. Even though i'm suggesting it again i'm not asking for you to take it anytime soon. You can give it a few years to think about." "So right now the only compromises I can think of is just being friends who are closer than normal with the hope that we'll be something more someday when you're ready. Or that maybe in a few years you'll reconsider my potion and we can be in other relationships with the knowledge that we could always return to each other whenever we wanted."

London

London started getting emotional. "I thought if I took the potion to make me only love you... then I wouldn't care if I lived longer than everyone else. All I'd need was you, so nothing else would matter, and nothing would hold me back from marrying you and living a long life together...." He got embarrassed from the thought, but it was more out of shame than anything. He hid his face with an arm. "If I didn't plan to live long, I could do anything I'd want. There's no reason to fear the law.... or what others think of you... no need to make lifelong commitments or follow some stupid habits... I could just be free and have fun and live life as I please, you know? I guess that's the kind of life I wished to live." He took his arm back off his head to look at the ceiling longingly. Ah, there's a spiderweb up there. He squints.

Faelian

Faelian presses his forehead against the side of London's head and wraps his arms back around him. "..Oh... Well if you don't really want to take the lost flower potion, that's alright. It's a big commitment after all. Probably the biggest anyone's ever asked you.. I just want you to consider it again in a few years maybe.." "...I'd love to marry you someday.. maybe it can happen when you're actually ready. Just don't wait until you're a old man if you really want to marry me someday, okay?" He smiles softly. "What would you do any differently if you did live longer? You wouldn't have to stick to the same habits.. I guess lifelong commitments are a little overwhelming when you can live as long as you want. But.. London.. the potion doesn't make you immortal, you know? You could still get sick or injured and die before getting help. It's not guaranteed that you'll live forever. It's not guaranteed that i'll live out my entire life either. Unexpected things happen.." "Do you feel differently now? Do you still really want to live a short life?" He frowns. "It's not like you can't live a long life and do whatever you want either. Look at Aneris's father." He glances up towards the ceiling but doesn't move.

London

Being so close to London, Faelian could now sense the pace of his breathing quicken as London thought more about the lost flower potion. "If I lived longer... I'm more worried I'd run out of things to do, I guess... Saying I just do whatever I want is an overstatement. I've spent my whole life doing nothing. More time just sounds like a burden... Knowing you could die just makes it more risky..." He swallowed back his fear and looked at Faelian. "B-but... you already have to live that long, huh?... This must sound cold.."

Faelian

Faelian stayed silent while listening to the other. It was easy to tell he was getting a little worked up about this. "It's alright, London. We don't have to talk about it. I just.. i'll really miss you when you're gone." He smiles sadly and averts his eyes for a moment. His fingers hold onto London's clothes a little more tightly than before. "It's alright.. it doesn't really sound cold.. it must seem so scary to a human." He brushes London's hair away from his face. "I've already lived for over a hundred years.. it must be because i'm an elf that I have no fear of going through that many years. I don't think i'll be bored either. I'll have a lot of time to learn anything I want, to do anything I please, and to visit so many places.."

London

"Well, you were also stuck in a tower for most of that time... It's not hard to imagine you'd think life outside of that place is huge and exciting now that you're free." London smirks looking back at Faelian, but quickly regains his serious expression. "You really want me to drink that potion, huh..."

Faelian

He laughs a little. "That might be true. My parents never seemed bored of life though. Noronir either." His own smile is quickly replaced by a thoughtful look and a slight frown. "I don't want to say yes. I don't want you to drink it just because I want you too. I don't want you to do anything that scares you, especially a commitment like this. Just consider it in a few years for me, okay? In the meantime we can just be closer-than-friends." He smiles softly and cuddles against London.

London

London's eyes narrow as he remembers how bored Faelian said he used to be and compares that to how weird Noronir and his parents are. Maybe elves really are genetically different... He thinks. "I mean... why else would I want to live that long if not for you? I think I could be content in dying in ten or fourty years or less..."

Faelian

Faelian averts his eyes for a few moments before placing them back on London. "You don't have any other reason except me to live longer? I don't want you to die that soon at all.. There's still so much we could do together..." He laughs sadly. "I guess it's pretty selfish to want that, isn't it?"

London

"Well....." London almost considers mentioning how his friends and family would die, but that just made the fact Faelian was stuck living for centuries sound more sad. "Hmm...." "From my position, we already have tons of time to do stuff together..."

Faelian

"I guess it is a lot of time from your position." He grows silent for a few moments. "Alright.. don't worry about it, okay? I might uh.. ask you again in a few years though.. just in case you've changed your mind by then." He cuddles against london a little more and sighs softly.

London

"Do you think something would change my mind?" He raises an eyebrow.

Faelian

"I don't know. It might be possible.. or maybe it's just me hoping."

London

With more energy than necessary, London quickly sits up now at a position where Faelian couldn't see his face. "I guess I could say something like 'What's wrong if I want to do something like this for only you?' I mean, it's not bad to be selfish and get spoiled every once in a while, right? And after everything I put you through, maybe you deserve something nice.... But.............."

Faelian

Faelian lets out a surprised sound when London sits up so quickly without warning. He slowly sits up too and tries to get a look at London's face if he can. "It's okay.. just let me hold onto some false hope. I don't think you owe me for being confused about your feelings. I know it's scary and honestly.. if you asked me to take a potion to grow older for you, i'd have to turn you down."

London

London was about to continue but stopped short, "H-huh? You really wouldn't? Even if it was for me?" He moves towards Faelian and looks at him with the most pitiful expression he could manage.

Faelian

Faelian smiles sadly but it soon grows into a real smile at seeing London's pitiful expression. "No. It would kind of be like asking me to die ahead of my time.. and the idea of looking old is kind of scary." He scratches into his hair near his neck a little. "Anyway.. what were you saying?"

London

In response, London pouts. "You nerd..." He insults then turns his head downwards while smiling weakly. "The thing is, I've been deluding myself all day... I keep swinging between thinking I shouldn't risk trusting others and thinking there actually are kind people in the world, but in the end, it doesn't matter if they're good or evil... Even when I tried to tell myself you were the only person who cared for me and who I could believe in, I knew that wasn't true... No matter how awful I try to make everyone out to be, the fact still stands that I really love this world and all of the people in it. Only some messed up brainwashing potion could make me think otherwise..." He sighs.

Faelian

"You're so silly, London. Of course there are other kind people in this world and of course there are more people who could love and care about you. I'm not really sure what that has to do with eternal youth though." He looks down at his hands which are now holding each other.

London

"I'm saying this because I don't need to live for just you!" London grabs Faelian's hands with sudden optimism and smiles brightly. "You're right, I'm sure there is a lot to live for and look forward to... Maybe I was looking at this all wrong. If I drink the potion, I could make sure all of my friends live long and happy lives... and if I take the potion I could live with you and make sure you never have to be lonely... I could meet new people and see new things... and if someone bad like Nonis ever shows up again, I could stop her and help keep the world safe! See?!"

Before Faelian can say anything, London looks downward and whispers with his face out of sight. "Maybe that'd mean having to witness my friends and family dying... but you already have to see that with no option not to... It'd be easier to do if you weren't alone....." His hands carefully grip Faelian's just a little more tightly as he speaks.

Faelian

Faelian looks confused as he listens to London and by the time London's finished he seems a little overwhelmed. Happy but with tears threatening to fall. He bites his lip and his expression looks a little sorrowful as well."A-Are you sure? You won't regret it? It'll be difficult to see all our friends pass away.. but ..it would be easier with someone by my side.." "I swear i'll get stronger London and you won't have to worry about anything. You won't have to be scared of living so long. I'll always protect you and be there for you when you need me." He moves one of his hands away from London's to wipe his face clean and gives London a determined look.

London

"Huh? Why are you talking about protecting me? I'm the one who was charged with helping you out remember?" London flicks Faelian's forehead with a finger. "I'm sure it will be fine... and if it means I'll be able to see your hair grow long again, that's all the more reason to drink it, isn't it?" London smiles softly and closes his eyes.

Faelian

He sniffles and smiles brightly while rubbing his forehead. "I just want to make you feel safe. I don't want you to feel scared. And I want you to make sure that you're okay with this." He smiles at hearing that. "Yeah. You can even see me grow it out even longer than before." He heads over to his bag and returns with the potion in hand, grapsing it tightly. "If a potion like this exist then it might be possible something of the opposite exists too. If time ever becomes too much of a burden for you then we can search for a way to reverse it together, okay?" He offers it to the other.

London

London takes the bottle in his hands and looks at Faelian carefully. "Um, so you're really okay with all of that stuff earlier?.. You don't mind if we break up for a bit, so I can think stuff over?..."

Faelian

"Can we still be close? Like closer-than-friends? Close enough that we can still say I love you.. and cuddle.. and more intimate stuff? If you live that long then we can date on and off as much as we want. And I won't have to worry as much about you falling in love with someone else and growing old before deciding to come back to me."

London

Hearing that caught him off guard. London's eyes widened. "Y-yeah, of course! I mean, I'm still unsure of a lot of things... If you're okay with an open relationship, I might want to go with that in the end, but it does feel kind of selfish..."

Faelian

"Well.. asking you to take this potion is selfish too. I think open relationships might work out after all." He smiles softly. "I'll be the person who made you young forever. The person you can always return to."

London

"Um.." London blushes. That sounded a little scary, but he didn't want to admit that. It was probably true anyway. "Well, for now I'm going to think on things.. but we can still kiss and stuff, yeah.. Then without further ado...." London opens the bottle and drinks the very aged yet still sweet liquid.

Faelian

"Alright." Faelian watched London as he drank the potion. He couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Hopefully London wouldn't regret it later. He offered his hand out to take the empty potion bottle once London had drank it.

London

"Ah, that tasted weird..." He took a deep breath and handed Faelian the bottle. Well, that was done.... "I'm kind of glad I didn't taste the other potion now..." London seemed to mumble to himself.

Faelian

"What did it taste like?" He looks at empty bottle for a moment before sticking his tongue against it. There was a slight taste on it but barely. He hummed and put it back into his bag. "You feel any different? You okay?" He checks London.

London

London watched wondering if he should warn Faelian against that. But he's an elf, he has nothing to fear... "I guess a bit like flowers... just like the name says... I'm alright." He was almost ready to say what he put in that other potion, but it would probably be better for both of them if he didn't. "It's been a really long day...." London sighs once more and lies down. Again.

Faelian

"Yeah. I'm sorry for keeping you up so late. I just wanted to do it but.. things got a little serious." He smiles shyly and puts his bag away. Once that's done he crawls into the bed with London and snuggles against him. He presses his face into London's shoulder and hugs him tightly. Eventually he pulls his face back some and speaks. "Thanks.. I know that was a big decision. Goodnight. I love you, London."

London

"It's fine... I love you, too." He gets his head comfortable on the pillow and closes his eyes.

Faelian

Faelian gets comfortable as well and closes his eyes. It takes him a little longer than normal to fall asleep.

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

The next morning...

London

Upon hearing the noises of the late morning outside, London nuzzled his head towards Faelian in a weak attempt to wake up. It wasn't very effective. He figured he'd just lie there and enjoy that tired lazy feeling of the day.

Faelian

Faelian chuckled a little at the lazy nuzzle and started combing his fingers through London's hair. He hummed softly while he did so.

London

He woke up enough to at least stretch his arms out to hug Faelian. "...Morning."

Faelian

He hugged London back and snuggled against him. "Good morning."

London

"How much of last night did I dream?" He shows no chance of opening his eyes soon.

Faelian

Faelian sweats and looks at London with shock and worry. "H-Huh? Please tell me you didn't take that potion while delirious..."

London

"So I did drink it, huh?..." He cuddles his face closer to Faelian's body in order to hide his embarrassment more than anything.

Faelian

"Y-Yeah.." He holds London tighter and rubs his back to comfort him. "Do you regret it?"

London

"I don't think so..." He pulls his head back to breathe, and rubs the sleep from his eyes. "It will just take some getting used to, that's all."

Faelian

"I hope you won't." He hugs London tightly and then pulls back slightly. "Yeah.. it probably will. I guess it really won't be noticeable until you start getting a little older." He moves his hand to touch London's hair. "When other people your age start getting grey hair you won't."

London

"H-huh?.." London winced lightly as the words left Faelian's mouth.

Faelian

He frowns. "A-Are you okay? Maybe I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."

London

"No..it's fine..." London laughs a bit and moves to sit up. "I already made the choice. No take backs now. It's better to be aware of what to expect..."

Faelian

Faelian sits up as well and playfull nudges London in the side softly. "I'll be eternally greatful. ..And like you said last night.. you'll be able to help a lot of people."

London

"Y-yeah!" London raises a clenched fist in the air and says this a little too enthusiastically. "Anyway, I'm going to go get some breakfast and maybe take a short walk outside. I need to think about things. I'll be fine, though, so don't worry about me." He smiles.

Faelian

London was obviously nervous again. He had seemed so sure before taking it the night before. He hoped that everything would turn out alright. "Okay, London. Have a nice walk. I think i'll get dressed and head to the dining hall to get something to eat in a little bit."

London

"I'll see you later!" Even with new clothes, he was the same London and didn't think he would need to do much to head straight out the door.

Faelian

"See you later." Faelian smiled and sighed softly as he watched London head towards the door. He stood up and started getting his own clothes out of his bag with the intent to get ready once London was gone.

0 notes