#ch: june yu

[b1ackbunny]

LOVE LIES

CH. 1 | SIN CITY

A Bada Lee smau-ish ff

pairing: bada lee x fem!dancer!oc (jia mei yu)

synopsis: bada lee wasn’t looking for love when it found her. jia mei yu couldn’t truly comprehend the feeling inside when she was with her, on and off the dancefloor. when these two dancers meet by chance, a bond is formed and uncharted territories are explored.

word count: 2.9k

warnings: definitely au-like… no mentions of swf or smf, uhhh idk any more, bad writing, friendly violence, a little inaccurate, unedited

previous: prologue

next: chapter 2

masterlist

a/n: first posted ff on here obviously has to be with my wife ofcccc!!! I’ve always wanted to do a smau-ish type story so I wasn't gonna pass up this opportunity 🫶🏽 this is just for funsies take nothing seriously so if you guys want to comment feel free I hope you enjoy! planning for this to be a series

Jia sighed and opened the practice room door, shrugging her bag off her shoulder and placing it by the mirror. She spent most of her day with Leejung and Deukie, although she got breakfast with her main friend group beforehand.

Looking down at her phone, she saw a couple of notifications displayed on her lock screen. She ignored them for now and opened Spotify, scrolling through her different playlists. Jia wanted to end the day with a calm freestyle session, so she settled on her playlist containing relaxed but danceable songs.

She clicked shuffle play and stretched for the duration of the first song. Setting her phone on the floor to record some of her session for potential sparks of genius, Jia made sure her shoes were tied as the first notes of Waves by Normani began to play.

Jia swayed to the beat before beginning to be immersed in the music. It was like second nature to hit each beat for the girl. Every move she did matched the vibe of the song. She stared at the mirror and couldn't help but criticize her dancing a bit.

Yes, her body control was exceptional, but she believed her lines could've been better. She took off her hat and ran her hands through her hair. She crouched down and took multiple sips of water. After she finished, she put her hat back on and stopped the recording before standing up straight and waiting for the next song.

The playlist continued to shuffle play and each song that played reminded her of the one person she didn't want to think about. After dancing to Too Late by SZA, Jia decided to take a break. She looked at the time and saw it was 7:16 in the evening.

Taking her water bottle and drinking a decent amount, she looked at it and saw that it was a little less than halfway. She picked up her phone and water bottle, put her phone in her pocket, and exited the studio. She felt comfortable leaving her bag in the room since YGX was her usual studio.

Jia walked down the hall, occasionally peeking through the windows of other rooms to see if any of her friends were in. Just as she was about to peek through the window of a room, she heard her name being called and hurried steps.

Her eyes widened once she turned her head to see it was her friend J-Ho. “J-Ho! What are you doing here?” She beamed at the Just Jerk dancer with a slightly confused smile. Jia and J-Ho’s friendship was one of those low-maintenance ones so it's safe to say she hadn't seen him since June.

J-Ho answered while pulling the girl into a hug, “My friend is hosting a workshop here so Howl, Hulk, and I wanted to sit in and support.” Jia let out a sound of understanding and pulled away before looking through the room window and seeing two familiar faces.

“Wait- it's in this one?” J-Ho confirmed with a nod and a grin. “There's a 10-minute break so I took a bathroom break,” J-Ho explained as he opened the door. Jia was getting ready to walk away before seeing J-Ho’s confused face.

“You’re not coming in to say hi to Hulk and Howl?” Jia glanced at the window before looking back at J-Ho. “I don't want to intrude or anyth-” Her sentence was cut off by J-Ho laughing and pulling her into the room. Jia smiled and bowed at the students she passed while the two made a beeline toward their friends.

“Guess who I found lurking in the hallway.” J-Ho joked as the two reached their target. It seemed that they were in a conversation but when J-Ho spoke, they all turned their attention toward the two. Jia only recognized two out of the three dancers they approached.

Hulk was the first to pull her into a hug and sway side to side. “G, I haven't seen you in so long!” Jia laughed a little and nodded as their hug ended, forming the Scout Honor sign with her right hand and standing up exaggeratedly straight. “I've been extremely loyal to YGX since about early August.”

The three rolled their eyes at her statement with a smile, knowing that her statement was only half-true. Jia greeted Howl before glancing over to the girl she was unfamiliar with. She looked her up and down, not in a rude way but in one with genuine curiosity.

“Oh, right sorry. This is the friend I told you about. Jia, meet Bada Lee. Bada, meet Jia Mei Yu.” J-Ho introduced the two. Jia and Bada bowed toward each other, a smile spreading across Jia’s face when she started to recognize the name. “Wait, you're the one that choreographed for Aespa and NCT, right?”

Bada nodded her head with a smile, causing Jia to smile more and slightly bounce on her toes and quietly clap. “But, you choreographed for Le Sserafim and Itzy, if I'm not mistaken?” Bada asked her smile still prominent when Jia nodded and covered her mouth.

She felt she was smiling too hard so she pulled down her hat, hoping it would swallow her face and smile whole. Bada glanced at the clock and saw the break was almost over. She made it known to the class before making her way back to the group.

“It was nice seeing you guys-” Jia started to say her goodbyes before she was cut off by Bada. “You can stay and watch the rest of the workshop…” Jia furrowed her eyebrows, glancing at the boys who nodded in agreement with Bada then locking her eyes back on the beautiful girl in front of her.

“Only if you want to or aren't already busy, of course..” Bada rushed out and the corners of Jia’s lips slightly curled up when she saw a hopeful glint in the girl’s eyes. “I didn't want to be a bother or anything but if you insist…” Jia trailed off, the smile that threatened to escape fought a winning battle.

Bada nodded and grinned before moving toward the front of the class. Once she left the group, Jia turned toward the boys and punched J-Ho in the arm. He winced in pain and moved away from the girl before she could hit him again. “That was for saying my full government name when introducing me to the Bada Lee.”

Jia sweetly smiled at him and patted his arm, summoning laughs from Howl and Hulk. J-Ho rolled his eyes and mushed the girl’s head to the side. “You’ll be fine.” Jia folded her arms and shifted her attention to the girl she stayed to watch.

Jia found Bada undeniably attractive and couldn't have been any more unprepared for what she was about to see. Since Bada had already taught and ran through the dance moves before the break, it was time to do the choreography full-out once again.

Jia and her friends stood toward the back while the first group, including Bada, moved to the center where there was a space cleared for them. The cameraman signaled that they were recording and the song started.

The girl recognized it as Sin City by SAAY and began to feel excited that she was able to experience this in person. She grinned at Bada through the mirror and caught a glimpse of the corners of her mouth twitch up.

She was completely and utterly caught off guard as soon as the group started dancing. Although both Bada and her students were doing an amazing job, Jia couldn't seem to shift her gaze onto anyone other than Bada.

She clapped and cheered for the dancers but as soon as she made eye contact with Bada for the fourth time she had to cover the lower half of her face with her hoodie’s sleeve to hide the rising blush that took over her features.

The other dancers stepped away, leaving Bada to perform her freestyle at the end. At this point, Jia fanned her face a bit, feeling unbelievably embarrassed and flustered at the way her body seemed to respond to seeing the girl dance.

Hulk laughed at her expression and how pink her face seemed to be getting, causing Jia to feint at him before going back to watching the phenomenal dancer in front of her. Once Bada finished with a bow, everyone began cheering for the dancer.

Jia clapped, cheered, and bounced on her toes before being pulled down to stand flat on her feet by Howl. The girl’s smile dropped and she side-eyed him before shooing his hands. “Let me applaud for this talented woman in peace!” Howl laughed and shook his head.

“You just met her, you're embarrassing yourself.” Jia rolled her eyes and looked over at the girl who was picking out the dancers for the next group. She held a dimmed smile, knowing that there was most likely some truth to Howl’s statement.

After the next group danced, Jia decided she wasn't going to stay for the other groups and it was time for her to head back to her practice room. “Well, this was fun thank you guys for convincing me to stay!” She said with a smile while glancing between all her friends.

She peeked over at Bada who was now stationed at the back of the room with them and saw she wore a slightly bummed expression. “You're not staying for the whole workshop?” Jia sighed at Bada’s question and shook her head.

“I should get back to the practice room I was in. It was great meeting you and I hope we meet again!” Jia kindly stated before saying her goodbyes to the group and bowing. She walked toward the door, greeting some students who recognized her on the way and exited the room.

Remembering the original reason why she left the room in the first place, she walked to the water dispenser at the end of the hall and began filling her bottle. She couldn't deny that Howl’s words ran through her mind a bit.

Why did she get so excited over a girl she just met? Especially when less than thirty minutes ago Jinhyoung was one of the only people on her mind. Speaking of him, she still couldn't wrap her mind around how he basically ghosted her for four months and then commented on her tweet.

Jia grimaced at the thought and stopped filling her water bottle. She walked back down the hall to her practice room while tightening the cap of her bottle. Opening the door, she was met with the room exactly how she left it.

She connected her phone back to the speakers and began stretching while searching for her next song. After deciding on a song, she set her phone up against the mirror. Only by J.cob began playing and Jia smiled when she took off her hat, running her fingers through her hair.

Before the lyrics began, she made the quick decision to ditch both her hat and her hoodie. Thankfully she had a black crewneck tank top underneath. Right after she tossed the hat and hoodie to the side, the lyrics commenced and she began dancing.

With each dance move, she found herself getting more and more hyped. She looked at herself through the mirror when the pre-chorus hit. She slowed down her moves and incorporated some hip movements before picking up the speed when the chorus began.

Due to this being one of her most listened-to songs, she was able to tell a story with her moves. They were smooth and looked pretty good for it being a freestyle. When Nathania’s verse on the song began Jia smiled at her reflection.

She was truly having fun. With her notifications ultimately being silenced and left in the company of herself and the music, Jia was honestly at peace. She smoothly danced to the verse, coordinating her body in ways she felt went with the song.

As the song came to an end, Jia felt that some parts of that freestyle could've been rearranged into a choreography. She slipped over to her phone and bent down to stop the recording.

She disconnected it from the speakers and replayed the recording. While watching the video, she cringed at some parts and felt like an intellectual at others. Overall, she ruled the freestyle as a stroke of genius.

When this happens, Jia usually locks herself in the room until she is able to transform it into an adequate choreography. This time is no different. She stood in the middle of the room, rerunning the video and dissecting the routine.

Jia decided that she would only make choreography for Nathania’s verse. She debated with herself on whether she should make the choreo more sensual or hip-hop-based. After some deliberation, she chose the latter and began working.

Since she didn't bring her notebook, she opened the notes app and started writing out elements that she liked from the freestyle, flipping between the recording and the notes app.

She added to, subtracted from, and rearranged the choreography until she was satisfied with her end result. This took close to three hours and many recordings later. Once Jia finished her final take, she smiled at her reflection and held her hips.

Her shallow breaths were heard once she picked up her phone and stopped both the recording and the music. She laid on her back and took deep breaths, the cool flooring helped her body cool down.

Hating the feeling of her hair sticking to her skin, she got up and walked to where her bag was. Once she reached it, she pulled out a hair tie and put her hair up in a ponytail while looking at herself in the mirror.

She heard a knock at the door and looked at her watch. It was currently 10:30 p.m. She remembered renting out the studio till 11 p.m., so this made her eyebrows slightly furrow. Jia turned toward the door and slightly smiled at who she saw.

Calmly striding over to the door, Jia swung the door open and leaned against it. “Well, well, well, what do we have here? Didn't your class end hours ago?” She joked with a tiny smile and happily maintained eye contact with the girl in front of her. “Yeah, it did, but I stayed to work on some new choreography.”

Jia hummed in understanding before putting a hand on her hip and quirking her eyebrow. “So, Bada Lee… why are you here?” Jia observed as Bada rubbed the side of her neck.

“I didn’t get the chance to ask for your number before. I think we should collaborate on a choreography or two in the future.” Bada vocalized and Jia put on a thinking expression. She looked up at the ceiling before glimpsing back at the girl.

“Yeah, of course! To tell the truth, I was honestly hoping we could potentially be friends…?” Jia hopefully drew out. The pause that occurred was mortifying and made the girl stare at her shoes.

Jia held back the urge to cover her face and right when she was about to take the request back, she heard a laugh from Bada. Her eyes immediately snapped up to meet Bada’s and what she was met with made her smile.

Bada was staring at the girl with a grin while nodding her head. “I’d love that.” Jia slightly giggled and tried to smoothen down her ponytail. Her eyes scanned over Bada’s face, stopping at every minute feature before meeting her eyes once again.

“So, the phone number?” Bada reminded and Jia could hear a slight tease in her tone. Jia shook her head and laughed to herself before turning toward the inside of the room. “Right, yeah, of course, duh!”

She signaled for Bada to come inside as she walked toward her phone lying in the center of the room. She picked it up and speed-walked to where Bada stood by the door. Unlocking her phone and opening her contacts, she swiped on the keypad and turned the phone toward Bada.

Bada did the same and the pair took each other’s phones. After they typed their phone numbers into the other’s phone, they both handed it back. Jia smiled at the contact and slowly tapped her phone against her hand.

“I guess we’ll meet again sooner than later.” Jia joked and watched as Bada backed up toward the door, holding up her phone. “I’ll text you.” She said once she reached the door and shook her phone, grinning.

Jia nodded and put a thumbs-up before Bada excited the room. She waited a couple of seconds after Bada’s departure to start celebrating. The giddy feeling inside was still apparent and Jia couldn't help but start hopping out of excitement.

She started doing her victory dance and punching the air before stopping and looking out the window to make sure nobody witnessed that. With a sigh, she fell back on the floor and smiled at the ceiling.

It feels like it's been forever since she truly liked someone, and though she's okay with how her life was, she missed the feeling a new crush brought her. Although she proposed the idea of being friends, Jia couldn't help but want for more and she hoped Bada would soon feel the same.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

#b1ackbunny writes #bada lee #bada lee x oc #bada lee x reader #bada au #bada lee fanfic #bada lee x fem oc #bada x oc #bada x reader #my wife bada lee #bada lee x y/n #bada lee x fem reader #bada lee au #love lies | bada lee #street woman fighter #swf2 #street woman fighter 2 #swf #bebe #team bebe #gxg #bada lee swf2 #bada lee swf

[w2writesstuff]

What W2 Wrote in 2023

Considering that I'm prrrrrobably not going to manage to put out anything else this year, yeah, let's do a roundup now while I've got a moment. (Note: Only includes fun stuff; no professional shit here.)

January

I can't even remember January. Nothing happens in Januaries.

February

to the beat of your heart, ch. 3 (MDZS) The ongoing adventures of a self-indulgent happy-ending everybody-lives-and-also-bones WangXian canon-divergent AU; a joint project between my wife and me.

It’s Hard to Say “I Do” When You Don’t (@shousetsubangbang) Original story about a guy whose long-time crush asks him to pretend to be his boyfriend at a family wedding. Fake dating ensues.

March

Kintsukuroi (DMBJ) This heihua piece may be the best thing I've written all year? Look, I'm just very proud of how I made it exactly what I wanted it to be.

April

Head (@shousetsubangbang) This was a last-minute fill because the story I wanted to write failed to make itself writeable. Oh well! Still a funny and cute blowjob.

May

to the beat of your heart, ch. 4 (MDZS)

I want to be where all the stupid shit I say sounds so romantic and true (Guardian, WeiLan) Someday I will write a longer and more complicated series of Guardian sex pollen shenanigans, but until then, enjoy this one.

The Rightful Ruler (The Blood of Youth, Lei Wujie/Xiao Se) Still the only English-language story on AO3 for this pairing! Includes maybe the funniest line I wrote all year? You make the call!

The Doctor is In (Psych-Hunter) I know nobody watched Psych-Hunter, and with good reason, but I did, and I think Jiang Shuo should get to spy on the sexy gay doctor if he wants to.

June

A Single Explosion (DMBJ, Pangxi + Xiao Ge) For PingPang Week, with @pangzi in mind. Here's the missing part of Ultimate Note, where Pangzi takes care of Xiao Ge in the hospital.

Dog (The Disguiser, Ah Cheng/Ming Lou) This was actually written before I saw the post going around about how the sexiest thing one guy can be is another's dog. But it's true!

And I am green, and you are wood (DMBJ/Mystic Nine) Another exchange fic, where Liang Wan gets a chance to meet all of Zhang Rishan's old (boy)friends, especially Ba Ye.

Reverse Cowgirl (Not Gay as in Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, Queer as in Dude Ranch) (@shousetsubangbang) Is this the hottest thing I've ever written for SSBB? Might just be. Lesbian ranch hands recruit a city girl.

July

Stay (Beyond Evil, Oh Jihwa/Yu Jaeyi) Because you know what that show needed? Small town lesbians.

Little Spear (The Blood of Youth, Sikong Qianluo/Xiao Se) This show has some cute het, but how it would work in bed is another matter entirely; or, two gay people try to have straight sex.

动须相应 (live-action Hikaru no Go, Yu Liang/Shi Guang) It's hard to get much gayer than the actual show without adding explicit sex, so ... here you go! Post-series boyfriends.

One Quiet Night (Kingdom, Seobi + Lee Chang/Yeongshin) This is the other thing I'm really proud of, because it too came out pretty much exactly the way I envisioned it. A nurse, a prince, and a scrappy piece of shit more or less all fall in love.

August

Hooks in My Sides (Beyond Evil, JWDS) This certainly was the most popular thing I've written all year. It's unfortunately easy to write poor Juwon having a gay meltdown.

A World Made Up of Silver and Copper (@shousetsubangbang) A prince-and-pauper scenario, this time focusing on the prince's adventures in being mistaken for himself. (Hint: they are sexy.)

September

...Funny how the first months of each semester are usually a complete wash for me creatively, huh?

October

to the beat of your heart, ch. 5 (MDZS)

Over My Dead Body (@shousetsubangbang) Nothing like the romance of possessing a corpse only to find he's not actually dead. (Note to DMBJ fans: This should taste like heihua.)

November

A fair amount of November was spent writing something that I just couldn't finish for December's SSBB, once I realized how long it'd have to be and how little free time I had. Maybe next year!

December

Antivenin (@shousetsubangbang) A mean bisexual and an even meaner lesbian team up to distract their gay boss from his terrible crush.

-

And that's it! It always feels kind of weird to see it all gathered in one place, like ... wow, that's not nearly as much as I thought it was. But at the same time, it involves a couple of pieces I feel very good about, so overall I'm going to take the win.

The most fun I had was doing my Small Fandom Summer thing, where I wrote fic for fandoms that had <1000 English-language works on AO3. Maybe I'll do that again next year!

Anyway, if you do wind up reading something, especially the original stuff, thanks. A lot of this can be a very lonely process, especially when there's not much of a built-in audience. Saying you liked something makes me feel a little less like I'm screaming into the void.

Onward to 2024!

#s2b2 #i made this #original fiction #queer fiction #fanfic #queer

[megsbooklr]

Summer 2023 Reading Plans

(June - August)

Novels & Novellas

finish reading Into the Riverlands by Nghi Vo ✅

read His Last Bow by Arthur Conan Doyle ✅

read The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle ✅

read Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov ✅

read Babel by R.F. Kuang ❌

read Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson ❌

read Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam by Kafka Asagiri ✅

read The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo ✅

read The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz ✅

read The Three Monarchs by Anthony Horowitz ✅

read Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz ✅

read Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg ✅

Manga

read Sachi-iro no One Room by Hakuri ✅

read Sachi-iro no One Room Gaiden: Seikai no Meitantei by Hakuri ✅

read Orange by Ichigo Takano ❌

read Holmes of Kyoto ch. 1-48 by Mai Mochizuki & Ichiha Akizuki ✅

finish reading Aoharu x Kikanjuu by NAOE ✅

read Bungo Stray Dogs vol. 23 by Kafka Asagiri & Sango Harukawa ✅

read Moriarty the Patriot vol. 15 by Ryosuke Takeuchi & Hikaru Miyoshi ✅

read The Summer Hikaru Died vol. 1-2 by Mokumokuren ✅

start reading The Case Study of Vanitas by Jun Mochizuki ✅

start reading The Apothecary Diaries by Natsu Hyuuga, Nekokurage, Itsuki Nanao ✅

start reading Spy x Family by Tatsuyi Endo ✅

start reading My Happy Marriage by Akumi Agitogi & Rito Kohsaka ❌

start reading Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata ✅

start reading Gokurakugai by Yuto Sano ✅

read Summer Ghost by Otsuichi, Yoshi Inomi, Loundraw ✅

start reading Go with the Clouds, North by Northwest by Aki Irie ✅

start reading Horimiya by HERO & Daisuke Hagiwara ✅

Fanfiction

read I Was Screaming Your Name Through The Radio by ElectricSplatter ❌

re-read Reprise III by elfpen ✅

catch up with Reprise IV by elfpen ❌

Webtoons

keep reading Lore Olympus by Rachel Smythe ✅

keep reading Return of the Mad Demon by JP & Ihy, Yu Jin ✅

Webnovels

keep reading The Snake and the Crane by Chichi ✅

read the Extras of MDZS ✅

read Stars of Chaos vol. 1 by priest ❌

read Heaven Official's Blessing vol. 6 by MXTX ✅

read Liu Yao by priest ▶️

read Thousand Autumns vol. 2 by Meng Xi Shi ✅

Other

read The Nature of Middle Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien ❌

read Aiglos vol. 25 ❌

#summer 2023 reading plans #monthly reading plans #june 2023 #july 2023 #august 2023

[fyeahcindie]

Live clips from the June showcase of The Next Big Thing TW.  =D

The bands were 午夜午夜 Midnight Midnight, 貝克小姐 Miss Bac., Whale Done! 鯨魚號.

First up, 貝克小姐 Miss Bac.  They are the duo of  沈筱卿 Ching (沈筱卿)-Voc/Melodica & 鍾秉恩 Chung Ping En-Gtr/Voc.  Full band support: 王育嘉 (王育嘉 Yu-Chia Wang)-Bass, 鄭大刀 Edge Cheng-Gtr, 鍾宇竑-Drums.   

Miss Bac. Links: StreetVoice,  Spotify,  Instagram,   YouTube,  沈筱卿 Ching IG,  鍾秉恩 Chung Ping En IG

Next up, Whale Done! 鯨魚號:

They are 魏昀㬢 (Chen Yun Zin)-Vocal/Keys (aka 琉璃子*Ruriko), 莊芯瑜 Hsin-Yu Chuang (aka 波 Po)-Bass/B. Voc, 吳達叔 (Ta Yen Wu)-Gtr,謝君平 Chun-Ping Shieh-Drums, and 黃維凡 Wei-Fan Huang-Gtr. They tagged guitarist 張家偉 (also in Customood and 潛夢島 Dreamdive Island) in a photo on IG, so he may have been extra support or a sub. 

Whale Done! links: YouTube,  Instagram,  StreetVoice,  Spotify

Finally, let’s check out 午夜午夜 Midnight Midnight.  This band has Olivia Yen 閻韋伶 on Vocals. Long time readers may remember her from the band 世外桃源樂團 Utopia Taiwan.  In addition to Olivia, the members are  Allen Chen 陳冠毅-Drums (fr. Skyline Jazz Band), 陳冠皓 Hao Hao Chen-Gtr, 劉鳳武 Fran Liu-Bass, with support from Daisy Chen 陳純郁-Keys (younger sister of the other Chens in the band).  I think they formed in 2021, and there are some demos at SV.  Let’s have a listen:

Links: 午夜午夜 Midnight Midnight IG,  Midnight Midnight StreetVoice.  (Not seeing a YouTube ch?). Olivia Yen Instagram, Olivia Yen / Utopia TW SoundCloud.  The Utopia YT channel seems to be gone, but you can hear their music at the SoundCloud link.

By the way, I think there are lyrics for all 3 songs back at YT.

#午夜午夜 Midnight Midnight #Whale Done! 鯨魚號 #貝克小姐 Miss Bac. #Olivia Yen 閻韋伶 #TNBT 大團誕生 2022 #StreetVoice TV #taiwan #music video

[obspogon]

I posted 1,593 times in 2022

That's 831 more posts than 2021!

59 posts created (4%)

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Blogs I reblogged the most:

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I tagged 49 of my posts in 2022

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Longest Tag: 61 characters

#a lot of games involving player as in-universe entity do that

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Yu gi oh and deltarune both have a higher entity possess a short high schooler that defeats evil with games

12 notes - Posted January 9, 2022

#4

Toby Fox uses tumblr blaze

14 notes - Posted October 31, 2022

#3

deltarune sweepstakes went and introduced the kids to you the man now dog, superbad, and wayneradiotv

21 notes - Posted September 18, 2022

#2

homestuck gigapause

27 notes - Posted June 5, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

average tumblr user

36 notes - Posted September 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

[syncogon]

I posted 11,597 times in 2022

That's 216 more posts than 2021!

57 posts created (0%)

11,540 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

cthulhu-with-a-fez

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pneumatic-tubes

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I tagged 7,551 of my posts in 2022

Only 35% of my posts had no tags

#pokemon - 1,600 posts

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Longest Tag: 110 characters

#watching the scrolling comments ppl keep roasting how they pronounce x with like three separate syllables lmao

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

im soooo good at writing things for an audience of one (me)

24 notes - Posted August 20, 2022

#4

“Yeah, it’s just a little thing.” Sun Xiang nodded, before suddenly pausing as if he suddenly realized something.

“Little thing? Xiao Shiqin? Hahahahaha!”

The King’s Avatar novel ch 893 // Challenger League manhua ch 45

26 notes - Posted October 31, 2022

#3

“The King’s Avatar Manhua: Challenger League Arc” has just been announced, releasing every Sunday starting January 30! That is, the new manhua will be starting to adapt the Challenger League! 

The original serialization of the new manhua (which is currently at chapter 85, right around Yu Wenzhou’s introduction) will continue to be released once a month on the first Friday of every month. 

This is incredibly exciting! Out of all the many TKA adaptations, only the live action has ever adapted the CL (and it made so many changes it was hardly an adaptation at all). The new manhua has been quite faithful to the novel thus far, so I’m looking forward to it! 

41 notes - Posted January 22, 2022

#2

[QZGS] S3 hints in new MV for Ye Xiu bday 2022 《虹光》

58 notes - Posted June 1, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

The King’s Avatar begins today

(translated from official Weibo)

December 2, 2022. Hangzhou’s snow is already falling. On this very evening, the story began…

One Autumn Leaf, this account card that witnessed and personally experienced Ye Xiu’s legendary splendor, eventually parted ways with him, just one day shy of ten years. Even the most easygoing of people would feel some pain in this moment, and so your hands, which had always been steady up until now, began to tremble ever so slightly as you handed it to your successor. “If you like it, then treat this all as glory, and not boasting.” You said this, and released your hand. 

“I’ll rest for a year, and then return.” Even though you left, only leaving behind these eight words, this wasn’t the end;

You walked through the snowy night, lifted your head, and saw an internet cafe, lights shining in this deep night. From Area C number 47, from that simple storage room, this all began anew… 

Because of The King’s Avatar, because of Ye Xiu, we are willing to believe—on December 2 2022, somewhere in the world, there must be an internet cafe called Happy, that will let you push open the door, shake off the snow, and once again begin a legend. 

On this day, I was fortunate to meet you, the most incredible you. This is the final line of The King’s Avatar chapter 1726.

Ten years of Glory, never fade. And now, it really has been ten years. We still remember. And the story of The King’s Avatar, Ye Xiu’s legend, begins today. 

Ye Xiu, thank you for letting this seemingly ordinary day become so distinct. The glory that we witness together will never fade. 

Team Excellent Era player Ye Qiu has disconnected, Glory tenth server player Lord Grim is logging in. New journey, start!

95 notes - Posted December 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #mine

[wiypt-writes]

Riding On

Ch 18-Home Run

Summary: Frank’s competitive side comes out to play during an event at Mary’s school, and then he and Fliss get their first child free evening in well over 6 months.

Warnings:  Bad Language words, Smut (NSFW, 18+)

Pairing: Frank Adler x Fliss Gallagher

A/N:  Special thanks to @sweater-daddiesdumbdork​ for her little drabble which was posted as part of her Birthday Celebrations which I used in here.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding On Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 17

Taking more than her share, had me fighting for air, she told me to come, but I was already there 'Cause the walls start shaking, the Earth was quaking, my mind was aching and we were making it. And you shook me all night long, yeah, you shook me all night long

February 2020

Fliss watched as Frank adjusted the blue Red Sox hat on his head slightly, the baseball bat hanging loosely in one hand before he took up position, turning slightly to the side, his long fingers curling around the handle.

"Five bucks says he misses..." Bill spoke and Fliss gave him a dig in the ribs.

"No chance Poppa B" Mary laughed from where she stood in front of Fliss "Frank's got a wicked swing."

Fliss saw Frank who was laughing at something that one of the school teachers who was current performing the role of catcher before his face suddenly warped into one of utter concentrate as the pitcher wound up. Sure enough, a second or so later Frank swung the bat forward and with a satisfying cracking sound he connected with the baseball and set off at a sprint. Fliss and Mary cheered along with the rest of the crowd who had gathered to watch and Frank rounded first base, then onto second as the other guy positioned there had also started to make his way home. Frank made it to 3rd easily, and then Fliss spotted the expression on his face change as he glanced around and set off at a sprint clearly going for home. The gathered crowd started to yell as the ball came flying in towards the catcher but Frank was there just that little bit faster, dropping into a slide and his boot hit the little square marked out as home before the ball. He jumped up, a huge grin on his face as the other parents on the team all cheered and congratulated him, various other yells ringing out around the little playing field, Fliss, Mary, Bill and Verity joining in. 

"Told ya!" Mary shouted as she jumped up and down. "Home run!"

Fliss looked up at her dad who was chuckling as he watched Frank who was now doubled over, hands on his knees, catching his breath. He wiped at his dirty jeans, which were covered in the orange dust from the school playing field and glanced over towards them, shrugging playfully. 

"Well considering he said he would rather stick hot pins in his eyes than play in the Staff v Parents game he looks like he's enjoying himself." Bonnie grinned as she gently placed a hand on Fliss shoulder, leaning over to pull a face at Alex. The 6 month old baby grinned and waggled his arms furiously letting out a loud giggle, a stream of drool trickled down his chin and Fliss wiped it away with the bib round his neck.

"Well Mary called him a chicken." Fliss snorted, gently running a hand down Alex's flushed cheek, thankful he seemed to be in a temporary respite from his teething pain. "Said he was only refusing to take part because he was scared he wasn't good enough. And let's face it, he's not one to back down from a challenge is he?" 

Bonnie laughed and then someone called her away. Apologising she headed off and the family turned their attention back to the game. It finished about 20 minutes or so later when the last batter was caught out, but it didn't matter as the Parents had won anyway. They all let out a little cheer, before the two teams congratulated one another and dispersed, Frank making his way back over to where his family was stood. He chuckled as Mary ran towards him and he swung her up with a little huff and she tipped his hat back to look at him. 

"You're all sweaty." She pulled a face and Frank rolled his eyes as he set her down.

"Yeah, well it’s in the 70s and I've been running." He shrugged, dropping a kiss to Fliss' cheek.

"Hey babe...Ruth. She teased and Frank chuckled before he smiled at his baby boy.

"How's he feeling?"

"He seems OK." Fliss shrugged, looking at him. "Mind you, I've not tried putting him down yet since he stopped crying."

"Let me take him for a bit." Frank said and Fliss passed him over, Alex immediately reached up for his cap. Frank jerked his head out of the way and Alex let out a noise of protest until Fliss handed him his teething ring from his buggy. They baby grabbed it and instantly jammed it into his mouth, chomping away whilst babbling to no one in particular. Frank dropped a kiss to his head as they walked over the field, making their way to the little refreshment tent where a few if the other parents all turned and cheered as Frank walked in. He grinned, flushing a little at the attention and nodded to Rosie's mom and dad as they wandered over to talk to them. Fliss glanced around and caught the eye of one of the other moms who she recognised as being the one who'd been chatting shit about Frank and Mary last June. She narrowed her eyes a little, staring the bitch out and the other woman hastily averted her gaze and making Fliss smirk.

"Stop it." Frank warned in her ear and she turned to look at him, her best innocent expression in her face.

"Stop what?"

"You know full well what." He arched an eyebrow and Fliss shrugged.

"She's a bitch." she offered as justification and Frank merely rolled his eyes, adjusting Alex slightly in his arms, turning the baby so his back was pressed to his chest, one strong arm under his butt, the other hand pressed over his little belly so they small boy could look round the tent. He waggled his arms and legs excitedly as he saw Bonnie who waved her fingers towards him and smiled as she passed with a box in her arms, heading towards the small table set out at the front. 

The rest of the gala passed fairly quickly. It had been pulled together as a way for teachers and parents to bond, a little bit of fun one Friday afternoon in February. And according to the Principal as she spoke, it was going to be a yearly thing from now on. The Staff V Parents Baseball Trophy was handed to the captain of the parents’ team, a tall dark haired man whose daughter was in first grade who grinned and teased the staff members about how good it would look in the cabinet in the entrance hall with the word Parents engraved on the plate for at least the next 12 months, and then there were a few individual trophies handed out. One for best catch which went to the 3rd grade tutor, best display of acrobatics which went to Rosie's dad for his specular trip over his own feet as he ran to 3rd base, most animated player which went to the school's janitor who had been ferociously rallying his team all afternoon and then finally the Top Slugger trophy which to Fliss' delight was awarded to Frank for his absolute peach of a hit and home run. Frank let out a little groan as his name was called and everyone in the tent turned to face him. He accepted his trophy with one hand, Alex still held easily to his chest with the other and declined to say much other than he'd had fun and it has been a nice afternoon, thanking everyone who has organised the day, before cheekily quipping it was about time Bonnie did some actual work, which earned him a slap upside the head when she was walking past him later. 

Eventually it was time to leave and they made their way back to the cars. Mary retrieved her stuff from Frank's truck, handing it to Bill who tossed it into his Range Rover before Frank then handed Bill a changing bag for Alex as Fliss picked him up from the stroller so Bill could collapse it.

"Sure you don't mind dropping Mary off at Roberta’s?" Frank asked as Bill popped the stroller into the trunk and closed it.

"Not at all, it's on the way." Bill smiled watching Mary give Fliss a hug goodbye before she turned and did the same to Frank. 

"Behave." He said sternly and she rolled her eyes.

"I always do."

"Huh must be just us you're a pain in the ass for." Frank shrugged, earning him a little dig in the stomach from Mary. He huffed a breath, grinning as she clambered into the back of the car. 

"One down...one to go." Bill muttered to where Fliss was holding Alex to her, gently kissing his head.

"Yeah and something tells me this one's gonna be a little more awkward to get in your car." Frank sighed and Bill chuckled. Frank turned to him "I know I don’t need to ask but..."

"He'll be fine." Bill smiled "travel cot and baby monitor all set up."

Frank gave a nod as Bill clapped him on the shoulder and they both turned to Fliss who was now talking to her mother in a worried tone as Alex was starting to grumble.

"You know, I'm not sure..."

"Stop. Now." Verity looked at Fliss, giving her a significant look and Fliss knew why. Her mom and dad taking Alex overnight was a trial run for a few weeks’ time when she was planning to take Frank away for the weekend as a birthday gift. It was more a trial run for her than Alex, mind, as she was still ridiculously clingy to him, a fact she knew and was actively trying to get over. 

"He's teething Fliss, not dying." Bill looked at her. 

"I know that" Fliss replied hotly "but he's a little grouchy and he's in pain..."

“So we'll dose him up with medicine, give him cuddles and let him sleep." Verity responded simply.

"Love, we've done this before remember? And we had 2 of them with Charlie and Joel." Bill chuckled as Fliss chewed on her lip.

"But what if he won't settle? I mean he's only just cut his first one and..."

"Honey, we're 15 minutes away." Frank soothed. 

“Yup, any issues we'll call and bring him straight back." Verity nodded. Frank looked at Bill who gave him a small wink which he understood perfectly. There was no way Alex was coming back tonight, even if he was grouchy. Frank knew Bill and V would just take it in their stride to give them their first child free night in well over 6 months. 

Fliss took a deep breath and nodded. "Ok, I know I'm flapping...I'm sorry..." 

She moved to the car and gently placed him in the car seat before Frank stepped forward to take it from their truck to Bill's. Once it was secured, he dropped a kiss to his head and moved so Fliss could so the same.

She stepped back, closing the door and Frank gently pulled her right hand away from her left where it had begun to worry at the knuckles, the way she always did when she was a little panicked. He laced his fingers with hers, thumb gently stroking the back of her hand in slow, comforting arcs, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Ok, we'll see you tomorrow." Bill smiled as he opened the driver’s side door. "And try to enjoy your night alone yeah? Ill permit one text an hour to check up otherwise I'll sever all communication."

Fliss rolled her eyes but stayed silent. Frank didn't miss the way her fingers squeezed around his as they waved goodbye to Bill's car as it pulled out of the space next to theirs. 

"So, what do you-" Frank stopped dead as he looked down at Fliss who has just burst into tears. "-oh honey!" He chuckled, as she pressed her face into his t-shirt, his arms wrapping around her, gently rubbing her back over her pale blue top. 

"I know I’m being stupid but I can't help it." She sobbed "He's my baby Frank and he has a sore mouth and he's been all grouchy and..."

"Yes he is, yes he does, and yes he has." Frank pulled back, cupping her face in his hands, wiping her tears away with his thumbs "But your mom and dad will be fine. The last few nights after his feed and some Orajel he's settled right down, and if he doesn't they've got the Tylenol. He'll be fine, I promise." 

Fliss nodded and Frank dipped his head, giving her a soft kiss. "Now, we got the rest of the afternoon and the entire night to ourselves...and dare I say it a lie in tomorrow morning." He grinned, turning to open the passenger door for her. "Do you wanna go out for a few drinks or..."

Fliss wrinkled her nose "is it bad I just wanna do nothing?" Frank laughed as Fliss shrugged "I mean I have a book that I haven't opened in like a week, I've got a bottle of pinot in the fridge..."

"So you wanna curl up on the window seat and not be disturbed?" Frank arched his eyebrow.

"Well, not all night." Fliss shook her head "but maybe for an hour or so when I finish the yard."

"Ok, well, let's make a deal." Frank's hand dropped to her hips "We take our own time till say 7 ish and then sit down for dinner and a movie."

"Oh my god, perfect" Fliss groaned. Frank shook his head as he snorted.

"When did we get so pathetic that we get our first child free evening in 6 months and you're gonna spend it reading about some lame ass British Detective and I'm gonna be screwing with boat parts?"

"Ok first off there is nothing pathetic about Detective Super Intendant Roy Grace and second off...will you be greasy?"

Frank's head fell back as a loud rumble of laughter erupted from his chest. When he looked back at Fliss she shrugged and he arched an eyebrow.

"You're terrible, you know that?"

"Not my fault you're such a dirty boat daddy."

"Dirty boat daddy?" Frank scoffed as he raised an eyebrow. "What the fuck..."

Fliss grinned as she traced Frank's bicep with the fingers of her right hand "You're my baby daddy...and you get dirty on boats..."

"You don't half talk some shit at times." He snorted and Fliss poked her tongue out, catching it between her teeth as she smiled.

"You love it."

 "I love you." He bent down pressing his lips to hers before he stepped back "Now come on, I got some grease to smear up my arms."

"Can you wipe some on your face too?" Fliss asked as the climbed in the truck. Frank merely rolled his eyes with a smirk in response.

 ****

 Fliss stretched her legs out as she reached the end of her chapter, Thor giving a little annoyed huff as she jostled his head from where it was laying in her lap as they sat curled up, snuggled into the cushions on the large window seat.

"Sorry boy." She chuckled, scratching behind his ears as she glanced outside over the garden. It was dark out, the various garden lights strung up on the fence illuminated the panels which separated their private space to the large garden that belonged to the next house along. They’d really lucked out on this property. The house itself was set into almost 2 acres of land, and not to mention the 8 that now belonged to Sandybrook Stables after they’d purchased the additional 3 at the back. Which reminded Fliss, she really should get the architect onto the re-design.

Reaching for her phone she gave a yelp as she realised what time it was. Almost 8pm. They’d gone well over an hour later than they’d agreed, and given that there was no sign of Frank, he too had clearly forgotten. She stood up, fired her mum a quick message and then called their favourite Italian, ringing through an order for delivery. The guy on the phone was apologetic, saying it would be at least 45 minutes before it arrived but Fliss assured him it was no bother. No sooner had she put the phone down than her mom sent her a message back which was a picture of Alex fast asleep in the crib at her parents, his little cheeks still slightly red, but he looked peaceful. Satisfied everything was ok, she bit her lip before she smiled to herself and pulled open the fridge, tossing a 6 pack into a cool box. Instructing Thor to stay she headed out the back door and round the side of the pool and out of the garden onto the main front area. The garage door was open, the light from inside streaming onto the gravel driveway and the low tones of AC/DC hit her ears as she approached along with Frank’s curses.

The reason for his cursing was simple. No matter how much digging into the boats engine, or twisting his hand at impossible angles, the mother fucking part still wouldn’t come out. Snarling in frustration, he yanked his hand out, and grabbed a wrench, hitting the metal against it, cursing “You son of a bitch, you’re coming out of there whether ya wa like it or not. I’ve been fahking with you all God damn night!”

Fliss climbed the ladder next to the boat and snorted as she set down the cooler on the boards of the deck, arching a brow. It wasn’t often that Frank lost his cool, but when he did, he usually turned a bit Boston.

“You alright Sailor or should I be worried?” she spoke, perching on the edge. Frank fell back on his heels, grabbing a rag to wipe at his grease-covered hands and looked round at her, his brow beaded with sweat.

“If you got a beer in that cooler there, then you got nothing to worry about.” His eyes were hopeful and Fliss leaned forward, popping open the top and drawing out the six-pack. Smiling, Frank pushed himself to a stand and took one, removing the cap and draining a good third of it in one go. “Confirmed, nothing to worry about now Cowgirl!”

Fliss grabbed herself a beer and watched as Frank stepped closer, his hands resting either side of her thighs as she sat perched on the edge of the hull. “You get bored reading already?”

“Well I’d read enough anyway, but then realised the time. Baby its gone 8.”

“Seriously?” Frank frowned and then sighed as Fliss nodded. “Shit, sorry, I lost track o’time.”

“It’s ok, I did the same.” Fliss shrugged “Guess a child free few hours really is a treat.”

Frank smiled softly “We should probably order dinner.

Fliss smirked “Already done, we got like…40 mintues.” she wrapped her hands around Frank’s neck and tugged him closer.

“Whoa whoa baby, I’m covered in shit.” He gave a laugh as he protested slightly.

Rolling her eyes, she snorted. “No, if you were covered in shit, it would be because I worked you for a day at the stables. You Frank…” Her voice lowered, and her eyes turned hooded, leaning up to his lips, whispering against them. “You are covered in grease, and that makes me so unbelievably hot for you, that if you don’t fuck me on this deck, I won’t forgive you.”

“Enough said, consider yourself fucked on deck Baby,” Frank smirked, catching Fliss’ lips. At that point the music changed and flicked over from Whole Lotta Rosie to You Shook Me All Night Long, Frank’s favourite song and he smirked against her mouth as he began to sing the first verse, all the time keeping his lips a mere centimetre or so away from hers.

“She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean, she was the best damn woman that I ever seen, she had the sightless eyes, telling me no lies, knocking me out with those American thighs…”

“Err British thighs, thank you.” Fliss corrected him. Frank simply arched an eyebrow and pulled her easily off the edge of the boat she was leaning against. She giggled as she wrapped her legs around his slim waist, leaning in to press her lips to his in a slow kiss as he walked them over to the benches at the rear of the boat. The kiss remained soft, teasing licks, a slow pace, but it was no less intense than a furious one, if anything it felt more powerful than normal, the pair of them truly alone for the first time in months. With each steady, deliberate tangle of their tongues, Fliss could feel everything. The heat, the spark, the butterflies swarming inside of her stomach.

In an easy, graceful moment Frank turned and sat on the edge of the bench, his hands letting go of Fliss’ hips as she straddled him, reaching up to cup the sides of her face, holding her still while his mouth had its way with hers. Pulling back a little he softly bit her lip, drawing a groan from her mouth and he grinned, resting his forehead against hers.

“What the fuck was in that book you were reading?” he asked and Fliss laughed

“Rape, murder…” she pondered, before she grinned wickedly “A police man in a uniform with handcuffs…”

“So is it the Uniform or the handcuffs that have got you all worked up Pretty Girl?”

“Neither, it’s the dirty, boat Daddy that I’m currently straddling”

At that Frank tipped his head back in a loud laugh, his hands brushing Fliss’ hair back off her face. “I fahkin love you.” he chuckled, as she pressed her lips to his again.

“Good job.” She mumbled against his mouth “Seeing as you’re the father of my kids…and you’re marrying me.” She added as somewhat of an afterthought.

Kids. Plural.

Frank glanced at her, her eyes shining against the lights of the garage and he smiled softly, his chest tightening a little with emotion. Mary’s adoption had only been finalised a few weeks prior, the ink probably still wet on all the documents but in their mind it had been a done deal months ago, from the moment they’d made the decision. Still, it stirred all kinds of warm feelings in his chest when he heard her say it. She smiled, reaching up to brush her hands through the longer strands of hair on his head before her fingers delicately danced down over his shoulders, his strong arms before she gripped at the hem of his T-shirt. He raised his arms allowing her to pull it off, before she dropped her head and chained open mouthed, warm kisses across his collar bone.

Happy to let her take charge for a moment, Frank tipped his head back sighing as she nipped up his neck to his jaw, her mouth skating over the stubble of his beard before she met his mouth again and this time the kiss was fierce. In a flash, Frank fisted his hand in the loose t-shirt she was wearing, yanking it over her head, giving a soft groan as he realised she was wearing no bra. His large hands spread over her back, pulling her snug against his chest, his fingers sliding up and down her spine causing her to shiver a little, letting out a soft moan that morphed into that oh so familiar whimper he knew and loved.

“I could listen to you make that sound for days,” he muttered and Fliss smiled against his mouth, kissing him again. A few seconds later, deciding to push things a little as Fliss seemed to be in a demanding mood, Frank pulled back, his bright blue eyes almost icy with intensity and issued a single word instruction. “Strip” Fliss felt her stomach bottom out with excitement when his demand registered. She swallowed and stood between his legs, slipping down the shorts she was wearing, Frank’s eyes watching her as she then slid down her panties, her gaze never once leaving his face. When he finished looking her up and down as she stood naked in front of him, his eyes met hers a look of pure, unadulterated wonderment and appreciation on his face.

And it was all for her.

“Like what you see sailor?” she bit her lip, her skin tingling with excitement as Frank arched an eyebrow.

“Like you wouldn’t believe…” his hands reached out and grabbed her hips as he stood up, pivoting them so that the back of Fliss’ legs pressed against the bench he had been sat on. His hands slid up, thumbs brushing the underneath of her breasts as he kissed her once more, softly, before he pulled back, his lips gently sucking at that spot on her delicate neck, his teeth nipping at her skin.

“Wanna turn around and get on your knees for me baby girl?” he whispered his question. Fliss looked at him, wide eyed, and he noted that where there had at one time been a slight apprehension in those deep browns at being put in such a position, now there was nothing but excitement, and he wasn’t quite sure when that had changed. But it had, and he loved it. He loved the fact she trusted him, that she was happy to simply be pliant in his hands.  She nodded and turned, kneeling on the bench in front of him, bending over, gripping the back with her hands. Frank reached out, gently manoeuvring so she was positioned where he wanted her to be and then stepped back, biting back the groan that bubbled in his throat at the site of her there, ready and waiting.

Fliss’ head was spinning. She couldn’t see him, but could feel him behind her. He wasn’t touching her yet, but he didn’t have to. Just the fact she could feel the heat of his gaze and his presence was enough to send her into a freefall. Every inch of her skin felt like it was on fire, the ache between her legs intensifying with each passing second. Then she heard a soft thud—Frank dropping to his knees, she assumed, but the gentle press of his mouth to the inside of her left thigh was still a shock, even though she knew it was coming. She inhaled sharply and Frank paused, his hands sliding up the outside of her thighs.

“You okay?” He asked, his voice low with desire. “Yeah.” Fliss’ breath was equally loaded and she let out a sigh as his mouth traced a line of kisses up her thigh, then he moved to do the same to the inside of her right. Her eyes closed, Fliss breathed in slowly in an attempt to steady herself, to stay calm and collected. She was ridiculously close already and his mouth hadn’t even touched that part of her body yet. When his tongue finally made contact, she lost all semblance of cool. Her eyes flew open and she let out a loud cry as the tip of his tongue swirled against her made. It was mere seconds but she was already panting, her hands curling around the back of the bench, the feel of his beard scratching against her was almost too much. Frank fucking her with his mouth, from behind, on the deck of the boat, in their garage was the single hottest thing she had ever experienced, and she wanted it to last as long as possible. Frank however, seemed to have other ideas. Whilst he kept the slow, steady rhythm with ease, he let out a low hum, something he knew would send her wild.

“Fuck,” she whined. “Frank, I…” His tongue swirled faster, his hands gripping the outside of her thighs tightly as she felt the pressure inside her turn white hot. When he slipped his finger inside her she gasped, his mouth matching every gentle but firm thrust his hand made.  It all resulted in a sensation so heavenly, it was agonizing and it spread from between her legs to the farthest reaches of her body, until she could take it no more. With a loud cry she came, hard, pushing back onto his face and her knees buckled slightly, her hand slipping on the wooden rail of the bench, her body and mind completely gone. Frank stood up, giving her a moment as he quickly shed his jeans and boxers before his hands gripped her hips and he bent over to kiss her neck. “You good?” he asked and she gave a hum of satisfaction as she turned her head to look at him, her brown eyes meeting his as she nodded. “Jesus Frank…” she stuttered and he smirked, his grin slipping slightly as she reached back and gripped him in her hand, a choked little grunt escaping his own mouth as her palm tightened around his now throbbing cock. His hands dropped to her hips and he pulled her backwards and up slightly, manoeuvring her so she was exactly where he needed and with smooth, fluid thrust forward he slid slowly into her, the deliberate languid pace allowing her to feel every glorious inch of him. “Lissy,” he growled, and that was the last word he uttered as he thrust into her over, and over, screams and cries and grunts filling the air in the large garage, echoing slightly off the walls. As his hands tightened on her hips, Fliss knew he was close and so was she. He let go with his right hand, dropping it round between her legs to palm her clit and the warm press of his hand combined with the steady rhythm of his thrusts sent Fliss over the edge again and just as a low growl ripped from Frank’s throat, orgasm number two spiked through her. Only this time when she lost it, she was a complete mess.  Every single muscle in her body cramped and quivered as she tensed in front of Frank, bucking violently until she sagged forward, her sailor’s arms wrapping around her as he gave a few more deep thrusts before he shuddered, his arms tightening their hold and he groaned loudly, his hips faltering as he came with a surge that brewed right from his feet. They both remained still for a second until Frank slowly and gently pulled away. He pressed his lips to Fliss’ lower back, showering her in gentle kisses, as he made his way up her spine before he reached the crook of her shoulder. Fliss’s eyes were still closed but her face sported a sated smile as she let out a hum of satisfaction.  Picking her up, Frank sat down on the bench so she was cradled in his lap, reaching for the tartan blanket that was draped over the seat a few down and he wrapped it around them both, kissing her hair line.

“Suppose that’s one way to christen the boat.” She eventually spoke and Frank chuckled.

"God bless the good lady Felicity...and all who sail in her." He retorted, giving a little salute. Fliss snorted and slapped his arm.

“You’re such a wanker.” She shook her head and Frank laughed, kissing her gently”

“You love it, honey.” “No, I love you. Which means I put up with all your wanker-ish traits because I have no choice.”

****

 Once Frank had showered he made his way downstairs dressed comfortably in a pair of sweats and t-shirt. Fliss had already laid the take-out boxes on the counter so he parked himself down on one of the stools as Fliss handed him a beer, taking a glass of wine for herself. They talked as they ate, Fliss teasing Frank about getting him a display cabinet for his baseball trophy to which he snorted and told her he wasn't intending on making it a habit. Once they'd finished their food, they cleared the dishes and Frank made his way to the sofa whilst Fliss let Thor out into the yard as he was pawing at the door. 

Frank absentmindedly flicked through the news channels, pausing at a report on Trump's latest activity and the reaction to a stupid tweet he had made regarding guns and he shook his head, scoffing in disgust.

"I dont know why you watch anything about him." Fliss called as she shut the door "it just winds you up."

"His brain is a fucking scribble" Frank retorted, "I mean...just look at him Fliss!"

"I'd rather not!" She called back, shooing Fred down from where he had hopped up onto the kitchen counter. 

"President of the free world and he's an absolute tool." Frank continued his chunnering as he stretched out, his legs on the coffee table and his arms extending quite forcefully behind his head as he yawned. Unfortunately, Fliss had chosen that exact moment to cross the room ready to wrap her arms around him from behind and as she bent to do so the back of Frank's closed left fist connected with the top of her left cheekbone, just in the outside corner of her eye, and she gave a yelp of surprise. As soon as it happened Frank jerked his head round and as he saw Fliss recoiling from the accidental blow his blood ran cold.

"Shit..." he sprang over the back of the couch, ignoring Thor who was now growling furiously at him. "Oh my god, Lissy, I'm so fahkin' sorry..." 

She straightened up blinking, her hands falling to his biceps as he gently cradled her face. "Frank its fine, you just caught my eye a little that’s all, it won't even bruise."

"Well, maybe not but..."

"Did you-Thor!" Fliss yelled at the dog, turning to look at him "Stop!" The German shepherd fell silent and flopped his butt down on the floor, his dark amber eyes still fixed on Frank, as Fliss turned back to him. "Did you mean to do it?"

"No, of course not..."

"Then there you go. It was an accident." She smiled, "it wasn't even hard enough to bruise, trust me, I know."

"That's not funny." Frank said quietly and Fliss sighed.

"It wasn't meant to be." She shook her head as Frank's eyes roved her face, utter dismay across every inch of his own. "Frankie..."

"Baby, I'm so..."

"Stop apologising." She said softly "it was an accident. Nothing more." Frank looked at her again before she stood on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. "Please don't."

"Don't what?" He asked

"Worry that you've hurt me, or scared me. Because you haven't." She shook her head "would you be this bothered if I didn't have the history I did?"

Frank hesitated. Of course he'd be bothered about hitting his girl, regardless of it being accidentally, but she was right. He wouldn't feel the concern he did has she not been subjected to the abuse she had suffered previously. He gave a little sheepish shrug and Fliss shook her head again, smiling.

"I'm not made of glass Sailor, I'm not gonna shatter over something like this. Not anymore." She took his hand in hers, pressed a kiss to his knuckles and then let go. Frank dropped it to his side, curling both hands on her hips as her arms slid up round his neck. "Can we forget this now and snuggle up with a movie?"

Frank nodded "ok, sounds good..."

After a little deliberation and poking around the channels Fliss’ eyes lit up when she realised that one of the channels was now dedicated to James Bond, the next movie showing being Skyfall, one of her favourites.  However, fifteen minutes in Frank felt her head growing heavy against his chest as they lay sprawled on the sofa. He glanced down to see her eyes closed, her lids fluttering slightly, lashes laying against her cheeks as she slept. With a smile he pressed a kiss to her head, his hand gently resting around her back as she lay snuggled into him. It can’t have been much more than twenty minutes later when he too felt his eyes growing heavy, the exertion of the day finally getting to much for him and he nodded off, both of them waking with a jolt when the music for the end credits kicked in and Fred hopped up onto the back of the sofa before landing on Frank’s chest by Fliss’ head with a loud purr.

“Jesus Fred…” Frank grumbled, pushing him off as Fliss sat up, blinking. “Fucking one eyed bastard.”

Fred glared at him and slunk off, jumping up onto the armchair where he curled up, his tail flicking.

“What a rock and roll lifestyle we lead.” Fliss stretched slightly as she yawned and Frank shrugged.

“Well we had a busy day.” “Even busier evening.” She quipped and Frank chuckled, his hand rubbing at her back before she stood up, her hands rubbing at her eyes. With a heave Frank swung his legs off the couch and he too stood, pulling his girl into a hug.

“You go up, I’ll sort Thor check the doors.”

She gave him a quick peck and then left him to it, padding tiredly up the stairs. She headed into the bathroom to clean her teeth and was just climbing in between the soft sheets when Frank walked into the room, Thor behind him, the dog flopping down with a sigh into his basket. Fliss’ eyes fell to the empty bassinet and she suddenly felt a little pang for her missing baby, but she knew from the various texts and the conversation she’d had with her parents earlier that he was perfectly fine so she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

It wasn’t long before Frank joined her in bed and she shuffled over to him, tossing her leg over his as he kissed her forehead, his hand sliding up the back of her sleep cami, palm warm against her skin.

“Love you.” He yawned and she smiled.

“Love you too.” She sighed contentedly, her eyes closing as they both drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

 *****

Frank woke the next morning to an empty bed. With a stretch he rubbed his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. Of course it would be too much to hope Fliss would be able to lay in. And then he turned over to check the time and did a double take. It was almost 10 am.

“Fuck!” he gave a little chuckle. Guess he’d been a lot more tired than he thought. Swinging his legs out of bed he padded into the bathroom, sorted his bladder out and went about the rest of his normal morning routine before he grabbed a t-shirt and a pair of sweats and headed downstairs. He paused in the doorway to the large family area, watching as she was stood at the stove, dressed in one of his button downs. It skimmed the curve of her ass, ending in the middle of her thighs and he smiled as he watched her move. He couldn’t quite remember the last time he saw her like this in the kitchen, it was certainly before Alex was born, most likely on one of their kid free Friday nights that had abruptly halted when he’d arrived, not that Frank would change a thing about it mind, but it was still nice to have it back, even it if was just for one morning.

He thought back to the first time he saw her dressed in one of his shirts. It was a Saturday in his old apartment, not long after they'd started dating. He found her in the kitchen much like she was now, making a coffee having woken early and not wanted to disturb him. He remembered thinking it was the first time a woman had ever done that, made herself at home, because in fairness she was the only woman that had lasted longer than a night in 8 years. It had stirred something in him then, a feeling of contentment, much like the one he was feeling now. His life had changed dramatically since she’d walked into it approximately 2 and a half years or so. In some ways the time had flown by, in others it felt like a life time when he considered everything they’d been through, both of them so far from the people they had been, yet so similar too.

With a smile he stepped into the room and walked over to her, and the fact she didn’t jump when he wrapped his arms aroud her from behind told him she’d been well aware of his presence in the doorway for a while.

“I thought we were supposed to be having a lazy morning complete with lie in” Frank’s hand gently brushed Fliss’ wild locks off her neck before he pressed a kiss to her skin

“I did.” Fliss smiled “I didn’t wake up until 8:30. Normally your son has me up at 6.”

“Our son.”

“When he wakes me up at 6 am he’s your son.” She turned her head to glance at him. “Dad’s gonna collect Mary and drop them both off at half past midday ish.”

“Well then, you really could have stayed in bed.” He pouted and she chuckled.

“Once I’m awake I’m awake…” she shrugged “No point staying there.”

“You should’a woken me up, I could’a given you a good reason to stay put.” His lips pressed more kisses to her neck and Fliss laughed, swatting at his head playfully.

“I’ll burn breakfast.”

“So?”

“I’m hungry.”

“So am I.”

“I meant for food.” She turned in his arms and he shrugged playfully giving her a deep kiss.

“Morning honey.” He smiled against her lips and she let out a little chuckle.

“Morning hot shot.” She grinned, patting his chest “you wanna set the places and pour us a coffee each? This is nearly done.”

Doing as he was told, Frank stepped back, grabbing cutlery and placing it on the breakfast bar before he made them both a coffee and grabbed the orange juice and a couple of glasses. As he set it all down on the side, Fliss dropped two plates of pancakes, bacon and eggs on the place mats and Frank gave a little groan of delight.

“You didn’t have to do this.” He looked at her.

“It’s just breakfast” she shrugged “Plus, thought it would be nice, just the two of us. And I wanted to talk to you.”

“Sounds ominous.” He arched an eyebrow as she sat next to him.

“No, not really.” She shrugged “I was just thinking yesterday a little. I wanna go back to work Frank, like full time. I’m ready.”

“Okay.” He nodded, “That’s fine. Did you think I was gonna protest or something?”

“No, I just wanted to discuss it, remember, we said we would do that after last time?”

“Liss, this is different.” He said, shaking his head as he cut into a pancake. “He’s almost 6 months old now, we’ll be weaning him soon.” “Yeah, I was thinking I can start pushing up the hours and then when he’s fully converted onto solids, which by the way, I’m not looking forward to those nappy changes…” she wrinkled her nose and Frank laughed, popping a piece of his breakfast into his mouth “well, when all that’s done then I’m back to full time.”

“Like I said, if you’re ready then fine.” Frank looked at her, hi hand dropping to her knee. “Guess we should start looking for a childminder huh?”

“Mum said she’d help out but I don’t want her to have him all the time, she’s got her own life. But I was thinking she could maybe have him two days a week, as she’ll sulk if I don’t let her have him some time.” Fliss shrugged “The other days, I thought we could speak to the one that Bonnie’s sister uses. She’s not far from Mum and Dad.” “Yeah, ok. Get her number and we’ll go meet her.” Frank agreed, shovelling more of his breakfast into his mouth.

“I also wanna call the architect that Steeby knows” Fliss added, taking a bite of food “Start getting the plans drawn up for the expansion. I’d really like to have that completed by the wedding. We got nearly 7 months. I think it’s doable. The additional stables won’t take long, or the lunging pen and the paddock move. The big job is gonna be the extension to the office and tack room but…again, a couple of weeks and Dad reckons it’ll be done. He doesn’t think that it’ll be much over 12 weeks in total if we get the right guys on the job.” Frank nodded “Well, the land is already ours so, go for it.”

“Yeah?” Fliss smiled and Frank returned the gesture, squeezing her knee.

“Yeah, let’s do it. Get the designs drawn up and some quotes for the work.”

“I love you.” Fliss beamed, leaning over to kiss him softly and he smiled, his nose bumping hers slightly.

“That’s because I’m a very lovable guy” he grinned and Fliss snorted, pulling back.

“Suppose so.”

They ate their breakfast and once the dishes were over they both retired to the sofa, Frank flicking on the news channel, Fliss picking up her book again, Fred curling up behind her head on the sofa back, Thor jumping up beside her. Frank gave a grunt and a huff, pushing the dog’s huge paw off his thigh before he flopped down, head in his lap. It was lazy, comfortable and remained that way until at midday, Fliss headed upstairs to pull on something a little more substantial than Frank’s shirt, much to his chagrin. When she came down dressed in a pair of breaches and a polo shirt little over 20 minutes later he smiled at her.

“You got a class this afternoon?”

“Yeah I’m taking Mary’s one at 2.” She said. “But I need to ride Cap  beforehand and then Bronson needs working and Heidi could do with a walk round the trail too, her back leg keeps swelling up.” “Still bad?”

Fliss wrinkled her nose as she crossed to the fridge “Nothing unusual for her age, the vet said it’s a touch of arthritis which is why I don’t school her any more. It tends to go down when she’s done a bit of walking. If I take her for half an hour hack round she’ll be fine. It’s when it stops going down that I’ve got a problem, but I don’t even want to think about that.” She shook her head, pulling the water out of the fridge. “I can’t imagine my life without her.”

“She’s certainly been with you a long time.” Frank looked at her and Fliss nodded

“20 years this year.” She sighed “Hard to believe really. She was the first horse I ever owned, best one I could have hoped for.”

“How long do you think Mary has with Monty?” Frank asked, declining Fliss’ offer of a glass of water. “I mean till she outgrows him.” “She won’t” Fliss shook her head “I can still ride Monty, he’s a welsh cob. Chunky, she’ll be good with him until he drops. But I do think she’ll be looking for something a little more advanced as well in a couple of years, when Monty needs to slow down again, but we can cross that bridge when we get there.”

“Oh, great.” Frank rolled his eyes and Fliss laughed as she sat next to him.

“Behave, it’s not like it costs anything to keep another.” “I’m referring to the advanced bit.” Frank looked at her “Still scares the crap out of me when she sails over those damned fences.”

“She’s good at it.” Fliss shrugged “If she gets placed in the final competition next month she’s got third place over all. She wins it, then she’s gonna take second. Not to mention the fact that she’s basically already won the Junior Rider class. Not bad for a first season.”

Frank smiled proudly, but before he could say anything else the back door opened and Mary skipped inside, her voice carrying over the room.

“That’s just not true Poppa B and you know it!” She sing songed and Bill rolled his eyes as he carried Alex’s car chair inside.

“Is so.” He nodded “I know someone it happened to.”

“Nah ah!” she shook her head “When you swallow gum it can’t physically wrap around your ribs as when you eat it goes down to your stomach. It’s impossible.”

“Smart ass.” Bill chuckled as Fliss stood up, crossing the room.

“Hi!” she smiled, before she beamed down at Alex who grinned and started to thrash his legs and arms about at the sight of his momma, screeching. “Hi baby, I missed you!”

“What am I? Chopped liver?” Mary looked at Fliss who laughed, and pulled her into a hug.

“And you, dur!”

“You have a good time?” Frank asked as Mary flopped next to him.

“Yeah, we had fish tacos.” Mary smiled “They were well nice.” “Fish tacos.” Frank made an approving noise in his throat.

“Yeah and then we watched some more of The Mandalorian. And I had hot chocolate and went to bed.” Fliss, who now had Alex cradled in her arms, turned to face them both. “Sounds better than my night.” She quipped giving Frank a wink as he raised an eyebrow.

“Oh does it?”

“Why does something tell me I don’t wanna know?” Bill asked and Fliss turned to look at her dad, an innocent look on her face.

“I don’t know what you mean.” She chuckled “I just helped Frank with some stuff on the boat.”

“Sure you did.” Bill rolled his eyes before his eyes twinkled cheekily “Hope you scrubbed the deck afterwards.”

**** Chapter 19

#riding on #frank adler #frank adler x ofc #frank adler x original female character #gifted #gifted fan fic #chris evans #chris evans characters

[inkrys]

i was tagged by @beaumontbash to do this picrew for some of my mcs. thank you so much mary for the tag!

helena argent ◦ into the shadows

yunyi sterling ◦ model citizens: unmasked

cara wiseman ◦ mind blind

cassiopeia vinteren ◦ checkmate in three moves

june yu ◦ the fog knows your name

shirin bhakta ◦ conspiracy in emerson

#ch: helena argent #ch: yunyi sterling #ch: cara wiseman #ch: cassiopeia vinteren #ch: june yu #ch: shirin bhakta #mine

[chroniccombustion]

Caught in the Grey (ch 3)

Genre: Trans!AU, hurt/comfort, romance, angst with a happy ending Rated: T Characters: Souji Seta (Yu Narukami), Yosuke Hanamura, Naoto Shirogane, Kanji Tatsumi, Investigation Team, Izanagi/Shadow!Souji Warnings: depression, dysphoria, disassociation, self-hatred, implied suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, mentions of homophobia, implied past child abuse and transphobia, canon-typical violence, mild sexual content Status: multi-chapter, incomplete

Playlist: Spotify | Youtube <- previous chapter | next chapter ->

Something is wrong. Yosuke is in the hallway outside their classroom by the time Souji and Kanji have parted ways, backed against the wall by a fuming Chie and a scowling Yukiko. There is a bright red handprint burning across the side of Yosuke’s face. “You!” Chie snarls, fists balled at her sides. “What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve been acting like a jackass all week!”

Chapter 3: The Walls You Made

“You were falling away, you left me with a bittersweet taste But when I send my heart your way, it bounces off the walls you made, ricochet…”

- (“Ricochet”, Starset)

November

 The week stretches on after Souji’s return to school and, for the most part, life has gone back to normal.

There are a few exceptions, of course, such as the newfound rush of safety he feels whenever he and Naoto spot each other in the hallways. The short smiles he gives them are lighter, freer than they would have been the week prior, and in response Naoto’s smiles are soft and warm and reach their eyes without any of the unsurety he knows they still harbor when it comes to actually having friends. He thinks that might be another reason the two of them click so well; Naoto’s used to isolation, too.

The physical kind as well as the mental.

Another happy exception to the normality of everyday life is the way Kanji has taken to meeting him a short distance from school and walking in with him in the mornings. It’s nice, and seeing the way Kanji’s face lights up and his shoulders relax makes Souji happy in ways he can’t quite describe. It reminds him just a bit of when Nanako shows off something she did in class and it makes his heart pulse with pride.

Souji loves all of his friends, of course, and he loves helping people (loves feeling needed, wanted, like maybe he’s worth something after all), but he’s still not used to having people around him, even after months. Souji hates to admit even to himself, but he isn’t sure how to be a friend; there’s a tiny part of him that wonders if he’s only been going through some kind of pre-set motions. He usually tries to discard that thought immediately and replace it with the reminder that he enjoys making his friends happy, spending time with them, doing things with them and not just for them. It helps, if only for a while.

With Kanji and Naoto, though, it seems deeper. He wouldn’t say they’re more important because that sounds too cold, but he acknowledges that those two are definitely in a category all their own. They share secrets with him, and he them – that’s a level of trust and comradery that Souji’s never experienced before.

He’s noticed he tends to put his friends into groups, just for his own mental benefit. Chie was the first person that extended a friendly hand right after he’d arrived in Inaba. Yosuke came soon after, yes, but Chie beat him to it by a day, so Souji counts her as his first friend here. Yukiko, too, though she hadn’t had much time and wasn’t there with them upon their first visits to the TV world, but Yukiko and Chie are a pair and Souji can’t think of one without the other. Separate people, but very much part of a whole.

Teddie and Nanako are in a group together, too, one that overlaps Rise in a kind of venn diagram. Teddie is like an excitable younger brother – not his own, but more like the Group Little Brother – and the bear’s adoration for Nanako is so precious that Souji thinks it might rival his own a little. Nanako is family and Teddie is team family and Rise is something similar that Souji can’t quite name. He likes her, respects her for her strength and willingness to take control of her own life despite her fear. She’s open in a way that Souji wishes he could be, still has an innocence that reminds him of Teddie and Nanako only different, and while Souji can’t give her what she wants in terms of love, she is still dear to him. She’s known loneliness, too, just like him, just like Teddie and Nanako and, well, all of them, it seems; a group of lonely people seeking solace in each other.

Souji desperately doesn’t want to be lonely anymore.

But that’s the other exception to how the week has returned to usual: a special, terrible kind of lonely ache that only comes when someone you care about wants nothing to do with you. An ache Souji is so, so horribly familiar with.

Yosuke is avoiding him.

Midweek rolls around and whatever rift has formed in their friendship has only seemed to widen. Souji is especially grateful to Kanji for walking the last fifteen or so minutes to school with him because Yosuke doesn’t wait for Souji at their usual spot in the mornings to walk together, nor does he show up when Souji waits for him. In fact, it almost seems like Yosuke has started timing his arrival to the classroom so that he just barely makes it into his seat before the teacher walks in. Souji wonders if Yosuke has been hiding in the hallway until the very last minute.

He disappears at lunch, too, dashing off as soon as the break begins and only coming back just as the bell sounds, ensuring the absolute minimal amount of interaction possible. During the time where they’re all actually in class isn’t any better because his evasive behavior from Tuesday has been ramped up to 11. He’s jittery and distracted, refusing to look directly at Souji even when he’s forced to and instead looking just past Souji’s shoulder or somewhere near their desks. He doesn’t speak to Souji unless Souji speaks to him first, and only then in short, non-committal responses – and only if he absolutely cannot pretend he didn’t hear him in the first place.

But it gets weirder. Despite doing everything possible to keep from having to talk to or make eye contact with him, Yosuke does an awful lot of looking at Souji when Souji isn’t looking directly back. He keeps staring when he thinks Souji doesn’t know, and more than once Souji catches Yosuke giving him strange looks out of the corner of his eye, only for Yosuke to look away as if electrocuted when he notices Souji has seen him. Like Souji’s gaze is somehow toxic.

It’s maddening.

It hurts.

On top of all that, the apathetic silence and constant staring, Yosuke also seems… nervous? Uncomfortable? Something around him, and Souji isn’t sure but he thinks it might be the same kind of uncomfortable that Yosuke had been around Kanji in the tent during the camping trip. That leaves a whole new kind of bitter taste in his mouth, a familiar tightness in his heart. But Souji has no idea what’s brought it on; it makes him question if this is still about Souji disappearing after the pageant and not telling Yosuke where he went. Is Yosuke that upset that Souji didn’t back him up against Chie the day Souji had come back? Or is he annoyed that Souji hadn’t been there to ogle swimsuits with him during the second pageant? Or is it something else entirely?

Whatever it is, Souji wants his friend back – and for whatever his partner is doing to stop.

After class is no different. It’s the same story every day, that he has a shift he has to rush off to, to the point where, for two days in a row, he didn’t even bother to give Souji the opportunity to say goodbye as Yosuke was rushing out the door. It’s hard not to take it personally, and Souji has taken to reaching desperately across the Wheel of Fortune and Emperor bonds just to feel that warm, golden thrum and keep himself from sinking into a familiar pool of sadness and dread.

Because Souji can feel the Magician arcana stretching thinner, can feel its edges fraying, and it feels like the floor is dropping out from under him in his helplessness to stop it.

This isn’t what his friendship with Yosuke is supposed to be like – Yosuke is sunlight and smiles, someone he can lean on and who leans on him without shame, whom Souji is happy to help support. They’re partners, damnit, and no matter how bad things got they were supposed to work to keep it that way.

He tries to avoid going to Junes for as long as he can because he doesn’t want that to be another place where Yosuke runs away from him. He doesn’t want Yosuke to feel trapped, but he also wants to give his partner the benefit of the doubt for as long as he can. If he’s honest with himself, Souji is terrified that he’ll get there and find out Yosuke never had a shift at all.

The house needs groceries, though, and Nanako has that look about her that says she needs a bit of cheering up, so on Thursday he texts Teddie to ask if the little bear is working and what time he goes in. He still owes his strange friend an in-person apology, after all, even though he’d called him after school on Tuesday. Teddie of course is elated and informs Souji that his shift starts at 5:00, so Souji wraps his sister’s tiny hand in his own and plasters an exhausted smile onto his face.

They meet Teddie (who arrives in his human form), outside Junes, where he proceeds to throw himself bodily at Souji and wrap practically every limb he has around Souji’s waist. Souji just awkwardly pats at Teddie’s head and lets the boy hang off him in what has to be the world’s most bizarre attempt at reverse-mitosis. Thankfully, Teddie had been so emotional over the phone when Souji had first called him that he’d forgotten to ask why Souji had run off in the first place. Souji uses this to his advantage as he recounts the same story he’d used for everyone else, playing up that he’d been “perfectly fine” until he “suddenly felt very sick.”

Teddie sniffles in that overdramatic way of his and raises watery eyes, informing Souji, “You leave it to me next time, okay, Sensei? I’ll come over and take the beary best care of you!”

Souji smiles and tells him “thank you” and pointedly does not let on how uncomfortable that statement makes him feel. Teddie is incredibly sweet, but good intentions or not, he knows little about the human world and Souji doesn’t feel like getting sick for real.

(There are a myriad of other reasons he doesn’t want to ever have to take Teddie up on that offer, but Souji stuffs them into a box in the corner of his mind and tapes it shut as best he can. Just more things he doesn’t want to think about.)

They talk for a few minutes more before Souji, casually as can be, asks Teddie if he’d like to go grocery shopping with Nanako before his shift starts.

Nanako and Teddie both instantly perk up with an excited “Can we?!”

Souji nods. The two of them run inside and Souji finds a place to sit down and wait. He trusts Teddie, even if the bear is a handful sometimes, and this way Nanako gets to spend time with her friend while still getting the shopping done. He only feels a little bit bad about manipulating them like this, but neither of them had needed any kind of pushing, so it isn’t like he’d done anything too horrible. He lets himself get away with this one, if only because of how happy Nanako had looked.

And this way, Souji doesn’t have to run the risk of bumping into Yosuke. Or worse, not bump into him and be given undeniable proof that Yosuke wants nothing to do with him.

Souji abruptly switches directions, deciding to try and keep his mind from spiraling again by going to look for the stray cats that sometimes hang around the Junes dumpsters until Nanko is comes back.

Trying to text Yosuke outside of school and around his supposed shifts proves just as fruitless as everything else. Souji texts and texts and texts, has pulled up Yosuke’s number more than once and held his thumb over the call button for ages before chickening out and shutting his phone. There is barely any answer. If he responds at all it’s with things like “k” or “yea” and maybe a smiley but nothing else. Souji must be extra lucky that night, because Yosuke finally messages him back hours and hours later with “srry @ work” after Souji had sent him an “I miss you, Partner,” right after leaving school.

So Souji decides to stop trying to apologize, to stop waiting for a response, to just stop trying at all. He doesn’t want to, wants to try and stick it out for a while longer, (just a little, just a day or two, maybe he’ll come around, maybe he’ll like me again), but Souji has already given far too many people far too long and he’s tired of waiting for something that’s never going to come.

The dark, resentful little voice in his head tells him he really must be a Fool if he ever could have thought Yosuke would be any different. It whispers that the case is over, Kubo was caught, and now Yosuke doesn’t need him anymore.

He never cared about you, it hisses, he only cared about your help. You only have worth as long as you’re useful, remember?

It threatens to break him, but he’s picked himself up off the floor after being shattered completely in the past; he’s learned by now how to make it so that he only cracks instead of splinters.

So he builds the wall back up around his heart and prepares himself for the end of an era. Friday morning, just as he’s heading out the door to go meet up with Kanji, he sends one last message that he knows probably won’t be read until long after it no longer matters.

Seta Souji: I’m sorry. I won’t bother you anymore.

He turns his phone off and leaves it in his bag where he doesn’t have to look at it.

 ---

 Something is wrong.

Yosuke is in the hallway outside their classroom by the time Souji and Kanji have parted ways, backed against the wall by a fuming Chie and a scowling Yukiko. There is a bright red handprint burning across the side of Yosuke’s face.

“You!” Chie snarls, fists balled at her sides. “What the hell is wrong with you? You’ve been acting like a jackass all week!”

Yosuke’s face is oddly devoid of anything as he says, “Chill out, Chie, it was just a joke.”

Yukiko’s hackles rise impossibly higher and she holds up a hand palm out as if to slap him again. She opens her mouth to say, “It wasn’t funny!” just as Chie barks, “Like hell it was!”

Yosuke flinches involuntarily, but his face remains impassive, even as the other students milling about the hallway begin to gather and stare. He gazes back at the two girls with lightless eyes.

He tisks. “Yeah, well, you’re girls, of course you wouldn’t get it; it’s guy humor.”

Chie crowds in closer until she’s right up in Yosuke’s face and he’s looking down his nose at her, going slightly cross-eyed in the process. “You think you’re such hot shit,” she seethes, and even from a few feet away, Souji can feel the anger rolling off of her. She pushes a finger into Yosuke’s chest, hard, and says, “We put up with your nasty ‘jokes’ and your weird staring because you’re our friend, but there’s a limit, Hanamura! And you’re freaking pushing it.”

“Girls don’t like it when you say things like that,” Yukiko adds, voice low and sharp and cold in a way Souji doesn’t think he’s ever heard from her before. “If your brand of humor makes other people uncomfortable, then it isn’t really humor at all, it’s gross.”

Souji feels something acidic churning in his gut. Yosuke has always had a penchant for dirty jokes and gutter-minded trains of thought, but he’d been doing better lately, had slowed his lewd comments considerably in the months since the IT had woven itself to near family-like tightness. Souji had wanted to believe that most of the remaining perviness was just harmless, friendly banter – especially since it was usually aimed at Chie, who could throw a few good barbs right back and never lace them with any real heat. But that was before the pageant, and now Souji has the vile, disheartening suspicion that whatever Yosuke has done to get the girls so angry is linked to that. He thinks back to the comments Yosuke had made about the girls on stage on Tuesday and Souji feels his heart convulse.

You really were wrong about him, weren’t you?

As if he’d somehow heard Souji’s darkening thoughts, Yosuke’s eyes finally veer away from Chie and off to the side – where they grow almost comically wide as he catches sight of Souji standing not five feet away.

Souji doesn’t know what his face looks like, but whatever Yosuke sees there must stun him into silence. They stare at each other for several tense seconds – the first eye contact Yosuke has made with him in days.

Yukiko and Chie both notice Yosuke’s sudden change in demeanor and turn to follow his panicked line of sight. It’s enough to break whatever spell he’s under, because the moment their attention is focused on Souji, Yosuke shoves his arm between them and slips out from where they’ve kept him trapped against the wall.

“Whatever,” he spits, face locking down as he turns his back to Souji. “You guys throw your hissy fit, I’m goin’ to class.” He tugs his headphone up over his ears and stalks the rest of the way down the hall, disappearing into the classroom like a sulking child.

A piece of Souji’s heart chips off and falls away.

“Asshole,” Chie growls after him, even though Yosuke is long gone. She plants her fists on her hips, turning back to Souji and heaving out an aggravated sigh. “Hi,” she says, and it’s very much tinged with something Souji knows isn’t directed at him.

“Uh, hi,” he says, unable to keep from frowning. “What happened?”

The warning bell sounds and Yukiko, who has been glowering in the direction Yosuke left, waves a hand at them both over her shoulder. “We’ll tell you at lunch,” she says, and her voice is still that low-simmering ire. It’s terrifying, even if Souji isn’t on the receiving end of it. She starts walking towards the classroom, shooting heated glares at anyone still lingering nearby. “For now we should hurry before we’re late.”

Chie nods at him before jogging off after Yukiko, and Souji takes a few extra seconds to try and breathe normally before he joins them. He’s almost the last one into the room by the time he recovers, and he doesn’t even have to look at Yosuke to know his former partner is looking everywhere but at him.

It’s a long, long time until the break for lunch begins.

 ---

 As expected, Yosuke is up and moving practically before the bell has finished ringing. He doesn’t even pretend to be polite this time; the moment the clock hands tick into place he’s shoving his headphones up onto his ears and is out of his seat like the wind caster he is. Nobody tries to stop him, and Souji doesn’t have the will to watch him leave.

With his heart somewhere down near his feet, Souji shifts in his chair until both Chie and Yukiko are more clearly visible without turning his head too far. He moves slowly, in absolutely no hurry to hear whatever it is he’s about to hear. A part of him is torn, of course, because he wants to help his friends, to know what went down in the hallway so he can make everything better – especially for the girls, since it’s obvious they were the ones wronged. On the other hand, Souji isn’t sure he can handle knowing just how badly Yosuke has messed up. This isn’t just a matter of making someone apologize, it’s become a behavioral issue that is clearly disrupting team dynamic and needs to be addressed on a deeper level.

(Not that they really need to be a team in a combat sense much anymore, but they’re all still friends, aren’t they? And friends shouldn’t do whatever the hell Yosuke thinks he’s doing right now.)

Souji sighs and forces himself to look up at his two friends still in the room. “Are you both okay?” he asks first, because that’s the most important thing, even above Yosuke’s bullshit. He looks from one to the other, scanning them with a leader’s eye honed from months in battle.

“Physically?” says Chie, “Yeah, I guess,” She looks to Yukiko, who gives her a quick nod.

Yukiko’s expression is tight as she tilts her head in a way that makes her look like she’s talking to both of them at once – which she likely is. “He tried to pinch my skirt,” she says, and Souji feels his eyes go wide. Her mouth twists. “He didn’t actually touch me, though.”

Chie’s face darkens. “Good thing he didn’t ‘cuz I’d have kicked him so hard his junk would have fallen off.” Her fists clench at her sides the same way they do in battle right as she’s bracing herself for a takedown kick, and Souji instinctively swallows against the way the gesture makes his throat constrict.

He holds his breath just a little too long to be comfortable, trying and not-quite succeeding to steel himself for the conversation ahead. “What happened?” he asks, and his voice isn’t real, isn’t his. It’s ‘Leader’, ‘Friend’, one of the dozens of masks he wears when he needs to (he always needs to) when he has a specific task to complete (he always does) and needs to push his own mind as far way from everything as possible (like always).

Chie and Yukiko look at each other, seeming to silently decide who should go first before Chie refocuses on Souji and squares her shoulders. “Okay. So you know how Yosuke’s been a jerk ever since the cultural festival?”

Souji nods. Of course the girls have seen it, too, he thinks; how could they not have when the four of them all sit right next to each other?

He already wishes this were over.

“Well, every time Yukiko or I has tried to call him out on it he just gets all defensive and blows us off.” Chie pulls her phone from the pocket of her green jacket and holds it up like a prop. “I’ve been texting him for days trying to get him to tell me what’s going on and he doesn’t answer! He just sends me those crappy dirty jokes of his or says something really evasive, like…” (and here she drops her voice in a sarcastic imitation of Yosuke’s), “…’can’t talk, I’m at work!’ or ‘lol you’re crazy, Chie!’” She clenches her teeth and makes an aggravated noise in the back of her throat as she roughly shoves her phone back into her pocket. “And the thing is, I know he didn’t work on Wednesday, because I had to stop by Junes for my mom and I ran into Teddie, who told me Yosuke had the day off!”

I knew it.

It feels like the wind has been knocked out of his lungs. Everything he’d been hoping he was wrong about has been thrown directly back at him; the last trickle of faith he’d been so desperately clinging to, the hope that his partner might not have been lying to his face and avoiding him, it all disintegrates like paper in a blaze.

He thinks maybe if he wasn’t sitting down, if he couldn’t feel the chair, hard and solid beneath his legs, then he might just fall away and be swallowed up, too.

Oblivious to Souji’s encroaching disassociation, Chie sits back with a scowl and snorts harshly through her nose. “And his ‘jokes’? They’ve been really bad this week. Like, they were never good, but they’ve been getting worse – now they’re just straight up gross and it’s been making me super uncomfortable.”

It’s like there are screws being twisted into his skin; cold and metallic and so sharp that it’s barely painful but still stings with the bite of bitter frost. Nervous energy crackles along his limbs as though the flight half of his fight-or-flight instincts is trying to wrest away any control he has left over his body. He doesn’t want to hear this.

Yukiko nods, eyes narrow. “He’s been doing similar things to me, too. I ran into him on my way home yesterday and when I tried to ask him why he looked so sad, he made some comment about me, ‘cheering him up.’ Then he ran off.” She shakes her head. “Even I knew he was being inappropriate. I let it go at the time because it seemed like he was just trying to distract me. ”

Chie tilts her head. “Has he been sending you weird texts, too?”

“Only when I text him first.” Yukiko’s expression goes flat. “He asked me if I had any pictures from the pageant but when I told him I didn’t he asked me to send him a new picture instead.”

The look on Chie’s face implies that she would very much like to roundhouse kick something, but is managing to hold back with just the thinnest thread of restraint. Souji surreptitiously pulls his legs a little further from her reach. He would almost flinch when she turns her focus back to him, but everything is rippling slightly, slowly, like the air is gradually turning to water and he’s already under the surface.

“So yeaaaaah…” she drawls, irritation simmering in the lower notes of her voice. “We tried to corner him this morning; two against one, right? We thought maybe we could get him to explain himself—“

“Because it’s obvious he’s hurting you, too,” Yukiko cuts in, looking at Souji with something like protectiveness, and it catches him off guard so badly that he forgets to exhale again.

Chie nods emphatically. “Right! And we figured if he’s pulling that evasive crap with us then there’s no way you’re having any better luck, what with him running off like his butt’s on fire every time you come near.” She pauses, grimaces – a scrunch of her nose and a turning of her lips. “Eheh. Uhm, sorry.”

Souji blinks. Even before learning about their own messed-up dealings with Yosuke this past week, he wasn’t surprised that his friends have caught on to the way Souji and Yosuke’s friendship has been fraying. They aren’t blind, after all, and by this point they’ve all known each other long enough that it would be hard not to notice that something was up. No, what surprises him is the way Yukiko had seemed more visibly upset about the effects on him than she was about the things Yosuke had said to her, the way Chie makes it sound like she wanted to confront the other boy on his behalf just as much as theirs. One some level he knows his friends care, or at least the stubbornly hopefully pieces of him that still exist after all these years have wanted to believe they did, but knowing and having it proven – even in as small and heavy a gesture as this – are two very different things.

He doesn’t like that this surprises him, just like he didn’t like that he was surprised by Naoto. He’s pretty sure this proves his theory that he doesn’t know how to be a decent friend in return.

He’s forgotten to respond, it seems, but Chie continues. “So we corner him,” she repeats, “and he gets this really funny look on his face and acts like he wants to bolt, but when he can’t he tries to make a crack about my legs and how I should ‘lay off the meat’.”

“And then he compared her legs to mine.” Yukiko taps her short, blunt nails across the top of her desk in annoyance. “Which is when he tried to pinch my skirt and I slapped him.”

“And then you showed up and he ran off,” Chie finishes, before adding, “Or, well, you saw that part.”

Souji just nods again. He can’t do anything else, he feels almost paralyzed. The thought of Yosuke being purposely horrible is so beyond anything he’s ever thought his friend capable of. He wants to cling to what Yukiko said about it seemingly like Yosuke had been pulling a distraction tactic, but even if that’s what the stunt in the hallway was, too, it’s still over the line. As far as he knows, Yosuke has never tried to physically do anything to anybody, and pinching a skirt is pretty minor compared to some of the stories Yukiko has told of drunken businessmen at the inn, but still.

Everything just feels so wrong; not just in the sense that Yosuke is suddenly wildly out of character, but just… everything. Why the change at all? And if it was going to happen eventually, why now of all times? Souji’s mind circles itself, trying to find something to latch onto because the whole situation is missing more than a few pieces and the part of him that just spent several months working to solve a murder mystery is still there, not yet inactive. He can’t tell if it’s only that or if there is still something in him that refuses to let go of his partner even now. Yosuke had inserted himself into Souji’s life so seamlessly that it’s hard for Souji to see what’s left of himself past the jagged outline Yosuke’s departure has left in him.

But he can’t think, and so he’s left sitting there in his own head, grasping at straws and praying one of them will have the answers he desperately hopes are there.

He must have been unresponsive for too long (again), because he blinks and catches the end of the worried look shared between his two friends. He forces himself back out of his thoughts before one of the girls can call him on it and inhales through his mouth to stall for time as he pulls up something to say.

Yukiko beats him to the punch. “Souji-kun… Are you alright?”

He clicks his mouth shut so quickly his teeth sting. The words “I’m fine” sit uncomfortably close to the tip of his tongue and he swallows them back. It would be all too easy to admit just how much like a slow-acting poison Yosuke’s silence, his behavior, has felt; the sinking, sick sensation growing and spreading over the course of the week until Souji can barely breathe. He swallows that back, too. “I’m… concerned,” he settles on, and Yukiko nods in agreement.

“Do you know what might be going on with him, even a little?” she asks, and beside her, Chie gives him an oddly sad look. “This isn’t the Yosuke-kun we know.”

Chie glances from Yukiko to Souji and adds, uncharacteristically quiet, “Yeah. I mean, he’s a pig right now but he’s still one of us. We’re worried.”

As hurt as he is, and as much as he’s ready (or wishes he could be ready) to wall off that tattered bit of his heart, Souji can’t disagree. There is another whispering part of him, softer than the one hissing doubt and pain, that cares about Yosuke, wants him to be alright, even if Souji isn’t. He always did like making people happy.

Souji keeps his back straight but lowers his eyes, unable to hold his shield against the anxious sympathy painted across his friends’ features. He shakes his head. “No,” he admits, and it’s both a relief to admit and a stone in his heart. Saying it out loud always makes it more real, less like a bad dream; the wound might be lanced for a moment but it still bleeds. He sighs, and it’s a shaky, defeated sound. “I don’t. And no it’s not. Whatever is happening, he won’t let me help.”

Yukiko’s shoulders slump, echoed by the way Chie’s face seems to fall even more. They share another look between them – Souji can see them both in his peripherals but he cannot decipher the silent exchange.

If only Yosuke could see the way his friends worry about him, Souji thinks, then maybe he’d stop pushing them away like this. It’s been clear from the very beginning that Souji’s partner has some heavy duty self esteem issues, (his shadow alone had been more than a hint at just how Yosuke saw himself), so it isn’t a stretch to think maybe Yosuke doesn’t know just how valuable he is to his friends, to the team, to Souji, and it hurts somewhere deep, like a broken bone.

Souji feels the black tendrils in his mind starting to tug him lower. Unable to think of anything to say and too afraid of sinking deeper into his own quagmire of negative thoughts, he glances at the clock in case time has decided to be merciful and lunch break is almost over. No such luck.

He frowns. His sense of time is shot. His sense of reality is cracking as well, but time is more important when on a schedule – or when he just wants the day to end. With nothing he can do with the little time remaining, and too much time left to just sit in silence, Souji quietly digs out the bento he’d brought and holds it out in offering towards the girls. He’d brought extra, intending to share it with someone anyway – possibly Kanji – and it’s been a short while since he’s been able to bring anything for Chie or Yukiko. “Does anybody want this?” he murmurs, still not quite able to return his gaze to their faces.

There is a stunted exhale overlapped by what might be a hushed, “Souji-kun,” but he doesn’t raise his eyes from the box in his hand. He is aware – faintly – of how strange it must look for him to switch gears so abruptly, since the others aren’t privy to his coiling lines of thought. Whatever they think of it, though, no one says anything aloud. In fact, a long beat of silence passes before slim, delicate fingers – Yukiko – finally reach out and take the bento from his grasp.

Suddenly Chie’s voice is forcibly-bright, a bottled kind of blue sky amidst dark clouds, plastic-happy and overenthusiastic as she says, “Aw hell yeah! We haven’t had lunch together in ages!” There is a movement on he edge of Souji’s vision that looks suspiciously like an exaggerated fist pump.

His breath catches in a huff as he exhales through his nose, like the mimicry of a chuckle that comes unbidden and tugs inside his chest. It’s enough to let him flick his gaze upwards.

Chie is grinning at him, wide and strained, but it reaches her eyes nonetheless. Beside her, Yukiko holds the now lidless bento between them with a well-crafted smile stretched across her own face. There is still a tight sort of sadness around the edges, but the longer she holds the smile in place the duller those edges become.

“Yes,” she says, and her voice lilts upwards in a very deliberate way that is meant to sound easier than it is. “Have we ever done this with all three of us together? I can’t remember.”

“Hey, no, I don’t think we have! What took us so long?”

The huff of breathy laugh that slips out is a little stronger this time, a little more solid. The weight in his chest is still there, but in this moment, with Yukiko passing the bento off to Chie so she can dig for her chopsticks and Chie “stealthily” grabbing a chunk of meat with her fingertips to pop into her mouth, Souji thinks the weight might be manageable. If only for now.

Thank you, he tells them silently. To say it out loud would be to puncture the illusion they’ve worked so hard to create, and he doesn’t want to ruin the kindness he’s being given. He knows what they’re doing; he’s grateful.

The three of them pick at the food – Chie going for the meat and Yukiko the vegetables while Souji mostly just pokes the rice – until the break runs out. There is still some left at the end, mostly because Souji couldn’t muster up the will to be hungry, but the girls (Chie) have made a much larger dent than he, so it’s not a waste, at least. He gives them a drained, faint smile as the room fills back up with their classmates and is pleasantly startled to find it comes easier than he thought it would.

Yukiko smiles back, eyes crinkling, and Chie shoots him a lopsided grin and a thumbs up. There is a fizzy, pink-yellow warmth that flows along the Priestess and Chariot arcana, and while the flood of light and golden tingling that follows a rising rank doesn’t come, he can feel the threads winding tighter together. It’s comforting – a reminder that even if his Magician bond snaps and dissolves, there are still connections there, he still has friends.

It’s so hard to remember sometimes when all his life there has been a cold, aching loneliness nested deep inside his heart, familiar in a way that old wounds are. But now there is something to chase the hollowness away when the ache threatens to overwhelm him at the loss of his former partner, and Souji allows himself a few precious moments to bask in that sliver of sunlight. He may not share secrets with Chie and Yukiko, but somehow, right now, their brand of protectiveness is just as wonderful.

The warmth stays with him through the duration of the lesson, and distracts him long enough that he doesn’t notice until the start of the next period that Yosuke has yet to return to the classroom.

 ---

 Classes end for the day and still Yosuke does not reappear. Chie and Yukiko haven’t quite gotten over their ire and irritation from earlier, understandably, but there is clear worry there, and nowhere to direct it except at Souji. He appreciates it, wishes he could accept it, handle it like a normal person, but it’s something he hasn’t gotten used to yet and it overwhelms him. It’s comforting but also just the tiniest bit suffocating. That’s why, when they ask if he’d like to walk with them while they go run errands together, he politely declines.

Under better circumstances he would happily spend time with them, would be hard-pressed to say no to something like walking with friends, but he isn’t sure how long he can pretend not to be silently flaking apart inside. He thinks they understand, because Chie gives him a gentle punch to the shoulder – so light it’s more like a tap – and Yukiko gives him a kind smile with eyes that look a little too deeply into him.

“We don’t have any more large groups booked at the inn until mid-month,” she says, (more quietly than a casual statement should warrant), “so I should be pretty free this weekend.”

“You should come train with me again sometime,” Chie chimes in, and Souji notices that her fist hasn’t left his shoulder yet. It’s just sort of resting there, knuckles lightly digging in to the meat of his arm. “I’m gonna be down by the river all morning on Sunday. You’re welcome to join.” She taps him once more with the backs of her fingers before finally moving her hand.

Souji smiles at them. It’s weak, probably, but grateful, and he hopes they can see the honesty on his face as well as they can see his crumbling edges. (And he’s slowly discovering that it isn’t quite so scary right now that people can see the hairline cracks forming along his paper-mache faces, because no one that’s seen them so far has commented. As long as he doesn’t have to acknowledge it out loud he thinks he might be fine.)

It’s fine.

I’m fine.

He walks with Yukiko and Chie to the shoe lockers, where the girls both shoot him a final knowing look before they say their goodbyes and head out together, leaving Souji to gather his thoughts as well as his things. He loiters for a few minutes. Fishing his phone out from where it’s been resting all day with the power still off at the bottom of his school bag, he debates on whether he should turn it back on or not. Eventually he decides against it and drops the phone back into the depths of his bag.

He isn’t in any real hurry to get home, though he also doesn’t exactly trust himself to take his time lest he get too deeply lost in his own head; there is so much he needs to process after this morning, after lunch, the whole damn week. It’s daunting, and he has no idea what kind of person he’s going to have to be to get through this giant, hulking mess. He wonders how thick his walls will have to be by the time this is over, and whether he’ll still have a best friend.

He isn’t certain he can fix this – isn’t certain at this point that he has the strength to try. He wants to, though, and he thinks that might make him stupid. Or desperate. Or both.

Souji sucks in a breath between his teeth and forcibly grounds himself. This, this is what he was afraid of, the creeping wave of negative thoughts that start off small and contemplative and then deceptively turn to something much darker, much heavier, until he’s buried up to this throat in dark water and it’s too late for him to pull back.

No. He refuses to sink right now, not in the middle of school grounds where people can see. One foot in front of the other, he starts to move. He wishes now that he had gone with Yukiko and Chie, if only for the distraction they would have given him.

One foot in front of the other, one step at a time, keep going. Just keep going, don’t think…

“Yo, Senpai!”

Souji stops and snaps around at the familiar voice, a brilliant, soothing flash of gold tugging at the Emperor bond inside his soul.

Kanji waves at him from a short distance away, expression bright and open and happy. When he sees that Souji has stopped walking he quickens his pace to close the gap. “Heh. Didn’t think you’d still be here,” he calls as he approaches, clearly glad to have been proven wrong.

Souji is so, so happy to see him right now. Like Naoto – but for different reasons – Kanji is safe, is good, and even after the revelation on Tuesday, Kanji hasn’t once tried to pry. He could hold it together around Kanji, he thinks.

Souji must look as ragged as he feels, because Kanji’s face falls a bit as he comes to a stop in front of him. “Everything okay, Senpai?” he asks. His plucked-thin brows furrow slightly, curious concern lacing his features.

How Souji was ever nervous around this human ball of mochi, he’ll never know.

Souji doesn’t want to lie to him, not when Kanji’s expression is so earnest. The shield he’d used with Chie and Yukiko was different; they’d somehow seen past it, just a little, and forgiven him for it due to circumstance. To hide behind it now with Kanji would feel wrong.

He sighs. “I’m better now,” he says, deciding to stay at least a little vague. It’s not his place to discuss the hallway incident this morning, anyway.

Kanji gives him a skeptical look; Souji huffs a quiet, humorless chuckle. “It’s nothing. There was an issue this morning but it’s over now.” Well, at least until Yosuke shows back up, but that’s something to think about later when Souji isn’t fighting back the disassociation for the millionth time this week.

Kanji still looks somewhat unconvinced, but he thankfully chooses not to dig. Instead, he stares at Souji for a few more seconds before apparently letting it go. He shrugs. “Okay, well, as long as you’re alright now I guess.”

Souji manages a tired smile. “I am. Thank you, Kanji.” (And if he sees the faintest dusting of pink across his friend’s ear-tips then he stifles the flattered surprise and keeps the knowledge to himself.)

“Y-yeah, no problem, Senpai.” He looks away for a moment and clears his throat. “Anyway, I was wonderin’ if you wanted to walk together?”

(Souji shouldn’t find it adorable, but he does, and he promptly tucks the thought safely away and leaves it be.)

He nods, a tiny, grateful smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I would like that.”

Kanji doesn’t verbally respond, just mutters something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like “damnit, too cute,” and takes a few steps in the direction of the gate.

Souji falls into step beside him, easily catching up.

  They walk unhurriedly, meandering, sometimes slowing to a stop for a few seconds before continuing on. It’s casual, comfortable (after Kanji gets over his blushing), and it’s exactly the kind of balm Souji needed. He feels the dark spiral in his head slide back, back, until it’s only a weak tingle in the furthest parts of his mind rather than the creeping talons it had been before.

They chat as they make their way to the river out of some kind of absentminded habit, the topics varying from knitting (which Souji wants to learn) to cats to gardening (which Kanji wants to learn) to anything that comes to mind. As they talk, Souji notices that Kanji is more animated than he’s used to seeing. Kanji’s face is expressive and cheerful, his smile easy as he explains some of his personal projects, and it occurs to Souji that Kanji probably doesn’t get much of a chance to talk about the things he enjoys. If Kanji was still guarding himself before out of fear of being judged, having come out as bisexual and receiving nothing but acceptance in return must have broken down that particular section of wall, which Souji now has the privilege of peering through. That odd kind of pride flairs up in him again, and Souji feels his smile stretching wider as Kanji finishes telling a story about making his own sewing patterns.

He wonders just how often in his life Kanji has felt comfortable enough around a person to be this open with them, to talk about his love for cute things without shame. Likely not often, he thinks, and sadness pricks at his ribs. He’s glad he can be a source of happiness for his friend. Kanji certainly deserves it.

By this point they’ve almost reached the floodplain, the familiar stretch of grass and water slowly starting to come into view. Souji is just about to ask if Kanji would consider taking a commission for a gift for Nanako when there comes a sudden thrumming along the Fortune bond. Delighted, he looks up just in time to spot Naoto heading along the path in their direction. He smiles.

“Naoto, hello,” he calls, raising a hand in greeting. Beside him, Kanji chokes on his tongue and turns a glorious shade of dusty pink.

Naoto returns the gesture. “Hello, Senpai, Kanji-kun” they say when they’re close enough to speak without raising their voice, nodding at both of them in turn.

Kanji, to his credit, doesn’t go scurrying away like he usually does when faced with his crush. (Or, well… one of his crushes? Souji isn’t sure if it’s just Naoto at this point, but he’s certainly very amused.) Fighting a smirk, Souji watches his blond friend square his shoulders and force himself into some kind of casual pose that… doesn’t actually look very casual.

“H-hey,” he sputters, and the way his voice cracks ever so slightly is endearing as hell.

Souji wonders if he’s close enough now with either of them to start giving them gentle nudges towards one another. With that fluffy thought threatening to give his smile away, Souji decides to spare Kanji’s nerves for a moment and do the talking. He’s good at this kind of thing, after all. “Would you like to walk with us?” he asks, natural as anything. It doesn’t escape his notice that Naoto has to flick their gaze over to him from where it’s been locked on Kanji.

Naoto gives a thoughtful hum. “Well, I was doing something, but I suppose it’s finished now.” They smile. “Alright, why not?”

They take the free spot on Souji’s left so that he’s flanked on either side by his friends. It’s a good feeling – one he is selfishly going to enjoy until they all have to part ways.

“What were you busy with?” he asks as they all start moving again. Kanji keeps glancing across him over at Naoto on his other side and Souji as has to keep his face in check. He slows his pace just enough that he’s half a step behind them, making it easier for them to see each other past his shoulders. “If I may ask.”

Naoto’s expression twists a little. It’s an odd look, one that is very much a mixture of their ‘Detective Face’ and something else. “To be honest, I was tailing Yosuke-senpai.”

Oh.

Suddenly the warm and happy feeling that’s been buzzing through him sinks to someplace cold and nervous. He’d successfully managed to forget about Yosuke for a while, thanks to Kanji; he’d been perfectly content keeping it that for a while longer.

Trying not to let his fallen mood show, he holds the neutral mask in place even as he lets the smile drop. He has no doubt Naoto has already picked up on it.

It’s Kanji that spares him this time by asking, “Huh? Yosuke-senpai? What’re you followin’ him for?”

Naoto looks over at him. Souji spots the split second where their eyes flick up to study him before switching back to focus on Kanji once more. “I saw him heading to the roof during lunch but I never saw him come back down. Then after classes were over I spotted him by the shoe lockers.”

Souji startles a bit at that. Yosuke had still been at school? When he hadn’t returned to the classroom, Souji had assumed his former partner had just skipped out entirely and left. Apparently not. What would be the point of that? he wonders, and it’s bitterer than he expected. Why not just leave? That’s all he’s been doing all week.

But Naoto isn’t finished speaking, it seems. “He was acting strangely; it almost seemed like he was watching you, Souji-senpai, because I watched him hiding behind the lockers while you were talking to Yukiko-senpai and Chie-senpai. Then when you left he followed you, so I followed him.”

Naoto studies his face for a moment and Souji can’t even begin to imagine what he looks like. Yosuke had followed him? How? Granted, it wasn’t like he had been entirely outside his own head after Chie and Yukiko had left, but he would have noticed at some point, right? With as hyper-tuned to Yosuke as he’s been in the past, then surely…

“Wait,” Kanji says from over on his right. From the corner of his eye he can see Kanji looking at him, mouth twisted downward in a fashion similar to Naoto’s.

Feigning normalcy, he turns his head to give Kanji his attention. Kanji in turn tick his gaze back over to Naoto as if he hadn’t just been giving his senpai a curious stare.

“Where was he? Because when I caught up with Senpai in front of the school I didn’t see Yosuke-senpai anywhere.”

Naoto hums, their lips a tight line. “Yes, I saw all of that. While Yosuke-senpai wasn’t exactly close behind Souji-senpai, he also ran off as soon as you approached. That neither of you noticed him doesn’t surprise me.”

Kanji’s brows furrow, his eyes narrowing beneath them. “That’s…”

“Suspicious?” Naoto supplies, “Worrying? Yes, I agree.”

Souji doesn’t contribute; he’s too busy trying to keep himself grounded in the conversation at hand and not drift away into his own thoughts. He doesn’t know how to process this, doesn’t know what to think. There are so many questions now and he’s tired, he’s just so tired and hurt and he’s sick of being tired and hurt things were supposed to be different here.

“So where’s he now?” Kanji looks around, even checking behind them as if he expects Yosuke to pop out of the bushes and attempt to scare them all like a bad Halloween prank.

Souji hunches his shoulders and tucks his face into the collar of his jacket.

This time when Naoto speaks, though they’re responding to Kanji, their eyes linger on Souji – he can just barely see it past the fabric of his collar. In a way it’s almost… okay, because it gives him something to focus on, even if he doesn’t want eye contact right now. He watches Naoto chew at the corner of their lip while they look at him, likely debating how much they want to say.

After a moment, they finally reply, “He was heading towards the river when I lost track of him. I believe he might still be somewhere nearby.”

Souji freezes in the middle of the path, feeling the blood drain from his face. His lungs stop working, just stop; he cannot remember how to inhale, doesn’t have the ability to exhale, he just stands there with wide eyes and numb lips and burning lungs.

No. No no no, that’s not good, that’s not good. Souji isn’t anywhere near mentally prepared to run into Yosuke right now. Not with everything he’s found out today, not when he just learned that Yosuke, despite having been running from and avoiding him for days, was just secretly following him around less than an hour ago. How the hell is he supposed to process that?

Both Naoto and Kanji have stopped now as well, and are staring at him in concern. “Senpai?” Kanji calls, unsure. “You okay there?”

He feels himself nod but it’s a robotic response, not one of his own bidding. Naoto and Kanji exchange a look.

“Perhaps we should find a different route to take?” Naoto suggests, and Kanji nods in agreement.

He takes a step closer to Souji, raising a hand as if to reach out, when the hurried sound of approaching footsteps becomes audible over the ambience of the nearby river.

Naoto stiffens, and Souji feels his stomach drop out when a familiar voice shouts, “Heeeey! Partner!”

Perfect timing.

The words are tense, drawn-out, laced with a nervous, forced casualness that makes the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He immediately snaps his attention towards the voice, Naoto and Kanji echoing the movement in his peripherals.

Up ahead, from the direction the three of them had been heading in and appearing from seemingly nowhere, is Yosuke. He’s power walking, moving so quickly towards them that he’s nearly jogging, making Souji feel the phantom terror of being closed in on like prey in a corner – like he’s a child again, small and frightened as an angry parent looms. Souji instinctively takes a half-step back.

Naoto takes a full step in response and moves themself in front of him. A second later, Kanji does the same.

“I didn’t realize he was so close,” Naoto whispers through their teeth. It’s a harsh sound, one that’s reminiscent of the way they speak inside the TV world when the group goes (or still went) training – low and tense.

Kanji straightens his spine, bringing himself up to his full height. “What the hell’s goin’ on?” he hisses, and the part of Souji that hears all of this is shocked and almost desperately grateful that Kanji would step to defend him even while having no idea why.

His reaction to Naoto is similar, but he also knows that Naoto at least has an inkling that something is wrong.

Case in point, when Naoto hisses back, “I’m not sure, but clearly something is.”

They stand that way, both Naoto and Kanji just in front of him and each with a shoulder between him and their oncoming teammate, like a living, two-person wall of defense.

Yosuke nearly skids to a stop before them. His face is a wild shade of blotchy red; extreme even for the chill and the way he’d just been moving. In his eyes is a kind of desperate mania that only grows more intense as he snaps his gaze to Souji just over Naoto’s shoulder. “Hey, cool, there you are, just who I needed to see.” He moves sharply, like he’s going to try and step around Naoto or maybe reach across them to pull Souji away, and something about his eyes, the way it looks like Yosuke means to grab at him, suddenly has the anxious, tight feeling inside Souji’s ribcage hatching into full-blown fear.

He doesn’t even know why.

Except yes, you do.

Old terrors come scratching at the base of this skull, threatening to overlay his current situation with others long passed – like a dozen images superimposed on a single camera shot.

Naoto steps to the side to intercept Yosuke, blocking his raised arm with their shoulder. Now behind them, Kanji moves forward and puts his own arm out, slung low so that Souji is ushered more securely behind him again. There is not an ounce of hesitation in either of their movements, both of them ramrod straight and moving fluidly, silently, like the synchronized unit they have trained to be in the TV world. Except this time, they’re in front of their leader, not just beside.

“Hello, Yosuke-senpai,” Naoto says, voice dropped to the smooth, quiet tenor of their Detective Prince guise. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, Senpai, you look kinda jacked. You okay?”

Tense as they are, neither Kanji nor Naoto sounds angry or defensive; in fact, other than Naoto’s pitch, they speak as if everything is perfectly normal and it’s just another typical day running into a friend outside of school. It helps a little – a sliver of calm against the surge of muscle-memory fear thrumming in Souji’s bones.

This is so stupid, he thinks, berates himself. They shouldn’t have to defend him, shouldn’t have to protect their leader from a threat that’s probably only in his head. (He should be able to handle this himself, for one thing.) The loyalty isn’t any different from what he’s seen after weeks and months of fighting together, but here, outside of the TV world is different, different, because in the TV they fight for their lives; out here they don’t need to do that. Out here he can’t summon Izanagi – out here he isn’t valuable as a commander, there’s no need.

And it’s clear that neither of them knows what’s going on; hell, even he doesn’t know what’s going on, only that Yosuke has been acting like a completely different person all week and that right now his (former?) best friend is erratic and wild-eyed and it scares him. But apparently that last part is enough for Naoto and Kanji – who can’t possibly know just how irrationally freaked Souji actually is – because here they are, standing squarely between him and someone who is still their friend, too, as far as Souji knows, with wide stances and cautiously amiable voices.

Yosuke glances at Naoto, then Kanji, as if finally noticing them. “Oh hi guys,” he says, and it’s rushed, breathy, like he’s only sparing them the absolute minimum amount of attention. He switches his focus back to Souji, who has to fight not to take another step back.

The way Yosuke is staring, he thinks there should be yellow looking back at him instead of unblinking hazel.

Yosuke rocks forward on the balls of his feet, like he wants to try and reach for Souji again but is holding himself back. He tilts his head and licks absently at his bottom lip. “Hey uh, is it cool if I steal him from you two for a bit? I really need to talk to him.”

“Shouldn’t you be askin’ Souji-senpai if he wants to go with you?” Kanji asks, genuinely innocent. “Cuz yeah, we’re just walkin’ but it seems kinda rude to talk around him like that.” He glances back at Souji, eyes questioning.

Souji barely sees it, fixated as he is on Yosuke – like a rabbit in headlights. His face feels numb, likely pale, and whatever his expression is doing must be the answer to Kanji’s unasked question because Kanji suddenly shifts his weight to better shield him.

Naoto must also notice Souji’s inability to answer, because without even looking behind themself they add, “While I certainly am not trying to police Senpai’s interactions, I have to agree with Kanji-kun.” Souji can only see part of Naoto’s face from the angle he’s at behind them, but what he can see has melted into something concerned yet increasingly wary. “You’re also more than welcome to join us if you want to, Yosuke-senpai,” they say, and it almost sounds less like an offer and more like a tentative suggestion.

Yosuke’s expression darkens in frustration, his face going tight and his jaw clenching as he keeps his features steady. It’s more unnerving than any shadow Souji has ever seen.

“Yeah, no, sorry, Naoto,” he says in that same rushed, breathy way as before, only this time it’s laced with the tension of grit teeth. He tries to smile; it looks like bared fangs. “Thanks for the offer and all that but I really kinda need to talk to Partner alone, you know what I mean?”

Naoto tilts their chin forward and stares him down.

Yosuke stares back for a moment, unmoving, before he apparently concedes the challenge and turns his feral gaze back to Souji, who has unconsciously moved to where he’s almost pressed against Kanji’s spine.

Souji wishes he could remember how to stand like a fighter, how to conjure up that confidence that somehow comes naturally to him in the TV world. He can’t. It’s awful and embarrassing, hiding behind his friends like this, but Yosuke isn’t a shadow, isn’t a formless swath of darkness and negative human emotions that Souji can just swing a sword at and call it done. Fighting otherworldly creatures is one thing, something he’s trained himself to do. Holding his own against people on the other hand – especially someone he should be able to trust – is entirely another, and it’s something the world has taught him he absolutely is not allowed to do.

“Partner,” Yosuke calls, voice borderline pleading and pitched in a way that is probably supposed to be coaxing, harmless. It sounds exactly like what Souji would imagine a starving monster beneath a child’s bed to sound like as it convinced its dinner to join it in the dark below.

Yosuke takes a step forward. “Dude, come on…”

Souji flinches. “No…” he whispers, so faint it’s just a ghost of a breath, and he doesn’t mean to, it just comes out before he can even think to reel it in. And it’s so, so quiet – nothing more than a half-gone memory dripping from his lips, and it takes Souji a second to realize he’d even said anything at all.

But close as he is, Kanji hears it.

Hesitance gone, Kanji positions himself completely in front of his senpai and rolls his shoulders back, pushing his chest out to give his already-decent height even more of a presence. “I don’t think he wants to, Yosuke-senpai,” he says, and in his words is the steely resolution of the boy that fought off a biker gang so many months ago.

Naoto must hear the difference, because their shoulders twitch like they’re mildly startled and they glance behind themself to give Kanji – and in turn, Souji – a tense, questioning look.

In that moment, that singular frame of time where his guards are distracted, Souji sees Yosuke’s threadbare patience snap.

Hazel eyes (not yellow not yellow not yellow) zero in on Kanji’s face, a frustrated, irritated grimace curling at Yosuke’s mouth like a tightening screw. “Look,” he growls, voice cracking, “this is important, okay? You can try and get in his pants or whatever the fuck you’re doing later, but right now I need to talk to him!”

Naoto actually gasps, the sound nearly drowned out by Kanji’s own exclamation of shock.

(Something pulses through the bonds in Souji’s soul.)

Everything happens like flashes of a strobe light, the time between moments obscured and blotted out so that it feels like sound and color and movement are all simultaneous, but split into freeze-frame stills that clumsily overlap. Souji feels the blood in his veins slow with it, suspending him outside the chaos as if he were a bird on a windowsill.

Naoto and Kanji are a whirl of voices, indignant and aghast and rightfully appalled.

“Yosuke-senpai, what in the—?!”

“OI! The hell?! It ain’t like that—!”

“—what is wrong with you?!”

“—you got a problem with me ‘n Souji-senpai bein’ friends?”

(There is another pulse along the bonds.)

Yosuke hunches inward, poised almost like he’s coiling for battle. “’Friends’,” he spits. He slinks to the side in the confusion, weaving as if he’s just shifting his weight to keep the other two in front of him while subtly making his way closer to Kanji’s side, closer to where Souji now stares slack jawed at the unrecognizable mess that was once his closest friend.

This isn’t right, this isn’t right! Why can’t he move?

Yosuke slides back half a step to avoid Kanji leaning low and forward into his space with fist held ready. The movement successfully puts him around Naoto’s other side, just barely too far away for Souji to reach out and touch. “Right, sure, that’s why you’ve been all over him the past week, isn’t it? Completely innocent, no ulterior motive whatsoever—“

“What the fuck?!”

“Yosuke-senpai, you are entirely out of line—“

“Like hell I am!”

(Another pulse. It’s almost like a heartbeat now.)

Yosuke dodges an arm swung his way, ducking under it and wrapping his fingers tight and burning around Souji’s frozen wrist. “Come on, dude; let’s get out of here and find somewhere safer—“

(The pulse becomes a pounding. Izanagi roars inside his mind.)

Quick as the lightning he commands, Souji’s everything flares back into life, shattering the strobe effect of his perception of time as something hot and angry surges beneath his skin. He twists his arm like he’s a statue turned to vibrant flesh and turns it in Yosuke’s grasp so that he’s the one now digging his blunted nails into the other boy’s wrist.

“No,” he seethes, and for a moment the whole world seems to tint a glowing, vicious shade of yellow.

Too far. Yosuke’s gone too far; months of fighting together, of Kanji proving himself over and over, both in battle and as a friend, of being far too lenient of Yosuke’s homophobic barbs. Everything they’ve all been through together, and Yosuke still thinks of Kanji as something vile?

And you let it happen, Souji’s mind whispers. You let him say those things and now look where we are. The pit of his stomach turns sour.

He grinds his teeth. Not anymore.

He throws Yosuke’s hand off of him, ignoring the other boy’s shocked outburst.

“Dude! What the hell?”

“Quiet.”

Souji’s voice is dark, deceptively calm. He feels it rumble in his own chest, vibrating like unspent electricity feverishly searching for a conductor. The noise around him instantly snuffs out; the cacophony of overlapping voices, the shuffle of bodies and their feet against the path, even the rush of the river appears to obey him and dull to nothing in his ears. He pulls himself up – spine, shoulders, neck – until he’s standing at his full height and looking down at the boy slowly turning white as a sheet before him. He’s never been more than an inch or so taller than Yosuke, but now, staring him down with a rising wave of newfound courage and wrath, Souji seems to tower over him.

Never again.

“How dare you,” he whispers, and in the sudden ringing quiet it sounds like distant thunder. He takes a step forward. Beside him, Naoto and Kanji fall back. Their eyes are wide, fixed on him as though mesmerized, and in his peripherals he can seem them instinctively take up their usual battle formation; not poised for attack, but readily defaulting to their positions behind their commander. He takes another step.

Yosuke looks absolutely shell-shocked. He gapes at Souji as he approaches, still standing exactly as he’d been when Souji had shoved his hand away. “P-partn—?”

“Don’t.”

Yosuke jerks like he’s been burned and takes a half step back. “Come on, man, what’s—?”

But Souji cuts him off again. “I said,” he hisses, “be quiet.”

Yosuke closes his mouth with an audible ‘click.’

“What,” Souji says, dark and resolute as iron, “is your problem?” He advances another step, crowding into Yosuke’s bubble, and the other boy quickly shuffles backwards a few more feet. Souji holds his ground. “It’s been months, Yosuke, and you’re still on this? How fucking dare you.”

The stunned faces he gets in response feels validating – he knows he doesn’t curse out loud very often, let alone like this, and the aura of authority that settles back over his shoulder as the words leave his lips is a familiar, invigorating weight. There it is; “Leader”, “Commander”, “Sensei”, “Senpai”, there it is! It wells up from within him like an endless tide, drowning out the cloistering fear from before and imbuing him with a stronger, more permanent kind of resolve.

This is what he should have been all along, the kind of leader he should have been for his team, one that can stand up for them instead of just giving them orders. He’s let this slide for far too long, should never have let it start to begin with – and for what? Out of fear? Because of the anxious voice in his brain that tells him he’ll risk Yosuke’s opinion of him if he steps in to stop the slander against another teammate?

He must not have been much of a leader before but he’ll make damn sure he’s worthy of the title now.

Guilt for his past hesitation and a fierce kind of protective solidarity lashes like fire behind his teeth; Kanji is his friend and a good person and doesn’t deserve even half of the shit that gets said about him, to him. He’d trusted Souji enough to confide in him, to come out to him, so what the hell kind of friend would Souji be if he stayed quiet now?

Souji lets the trembling, frightened version of himself fall away and in his place there comes to stand someone else: the general that the characters of his name spell him out to be, stormy-eyed and steel-boned with the breath of thunder in his lungs. He’d picked the name himself, long ago when he was still a child; time to live up to it. Time to make his lieutenant stand down.

Yosuke seems to shake himself out of his stun, his stance changing to one more grounded. His brow furrows harshly and his mouth twists into an incredulous, bewildered frown. He opens his mouth, likely to defend himself or to protest, but Souji doesn’t let him speak.

“No, you don’t get to talk right now after what you already said.” He narrows his eyes against the faint yellow at the edges of his vision, glowering at Yosuke with all the heat of everything he’s ever wished he had the courage to say.

“What does it matter?” Souji sweeps a hand over to where Kanji stands off to the side, never taking his eyes off his former partner. “What the hell does it matter what Kanji’s sexuality is? Has he ever done anything to you? To anyone?”

Yosuke gapes at him, mouth working open and closed with only choked, half-formed sounds escaping.

Souji doesn’t give him the chance to find his words. “No,” he spits, “no, he hasn’t, and before you say anything about his shadow I want you to think reeeeal hard about your own.” He tilts his chin forward, looking down the bridge of his nose at where Yosuke still gawks wordlessly up at him. Souji’s eyes narrow even further.

“A shadow is a shadow, Yosuke, it’s made of fear and repressed negativity, so unless you want to look me in the eye and tell me everything your shadow said was a hundred percent true without exception…” He trails off and levels Yosuke with a pointed look, letting the implications of his words sink in. It’s a low blow; not quite the lowest he could make but close enough, and while he doesn’t like it, it needs to be said so that Yosuke understands just how serious this is.

Yosuke looks like he’s been struck. Pain flashes across his face and he recoils as though burned. “The fuck, Souji,” he breathes, and his voice is a mixture of anger and disbelief.

(If there is just the slightest hint of pain in there, too, then Souji forces himself not to react. He doesn’t want to hurt Yosuke – after all, up until now he’s been the best friend Souji’s ever had – but he can’t let Yosuke and his homophobia keep hurting anyone else, either.)

In the seconds before Yosuke tries to speak again, Souji hears Kanji move behind him. “Senpai, it’s okay, you don’t have to—“

Souji holds up a hand, glancing over his shoulder to give his friend a short nod. “Yes. I do.”

Kanji raises his eyebrows and falls silent. Beside him Naoto still looks tense and ready to fight should the need arise. (Souji wonders just how many times they’ve had to deal with this kind of thing. He hates the thought.)

Turning back, he schools his face into the cold, carved marble mask he’s grown used to wearing in the TV world. Yosuke hunches further down as Souji fixes a grey gaze on him, center of gravity lowered in case he needs to fight or flee. Souji recognizes the action, knows he’s hit a nerve.

He finds Yosuke’s gaze with his own and holds it, unblinking. “You need to apologize.”

Yosuke finally finds his voice. With a look that could melt glaciers – though still shaky around the edges – he bites out, “Me apologize? I didn’t even fucking do anything, why the hell should I have to apologize?”

“How about for the way you’ve been speaking to Kanji for the past six months, for starters?” And Chie, he thinks, and Yukiko.

The shaky edges seem to tremble harder, nervous energy rattling Yosuke’s frame as his shoulders tense. He’s angry, yes, but there’s something else there, too, something that was also there before; a kind of desperation that has slowly begun to creep closer to panic. “You make it sound like I’ve been attacking him,” he says, and his voice is thin, crackling. “So, what? I’m supposed to feel guilty about being uncomfortable? You want me to apologize for trying to make sure nothing weird happened?”

The yellow at the boarder of his vision turns to bloody red.

“Uncomfortable?” he snarls. He feels his spine curl forward, tight and controlled and coiled like a spring, his own body finally echoing his anger and almost dropping into a low battle stance. Like a wolf prepared to charge. “Uncomfortable? And just how the fuck do you think other people feel when you go around saying shit like that?!”

Yosuke jerks backwards, thrown so off guard he nearly stumbles. The wild-eyed look is back, that desperate-panicked-barely-held-together gleam shining brightly in twin oceans of hazel.

But Souji pays no heed. “Do you have any idea how much it hurts people when you say that? You think you’re uncomfortable? You have nothing on the ones that have to listen to comments like that every day of their lives.” He pulls his lips back over his teeth, baring them, and pours every last drop of his own hurt and anxiety in to join the righteous, protective anger he feels on Kanji’s behalf. “Maybe you’re right, maybe you didn’t attack him, but that’s the kind of thing that gets people attacked!”

There are sounds behind him; his friends, the running of the river, the hammering of his heart in his ears. His throat is starting to burn from speaking so much – his body isn’t used to it anymore – and he can feel the tremors in his chest that signal the start of hyperventilation, adrenaline mixing with everything else now burning below his skin.

Everything zeros in on one point, everything else fading away as Souji stares dead-on into Yosuke’s eyes. He’s never held eye contact for this long with anyone, but he refuses to let go of it now. He throws a hand out to the side and points somewhere behind him in the general direction of where he remembers Kanji being. “Kanji,” he emphasizes, “isn’t gay, Yosuke, and even if he was, what does it matter? He’s still a friend, and a member of this team, and fuck you and your homophobia!”

There is a line somewhere, deep in his heart, one that Souji has only ever tiptoed over once or twice before in his entire life. He’d been scarred for his efforts nearly every time and so he’s kept neatly to his own side of it ever since, never daring to cross it fully lest he be left damaged beyond repair. But it’s exhausting on this side of the line, soul-rending, isolating, and after years and years and years he finally feels his resolve break.

He opens his mouth, takes a breath, and leaps across the line inside him.

“If you’re so adamant about being uncomfortable around gay men then why don’t you lay off of him and start being uncomfortable around me?!”

He stabs at the air with his raised arm, jabbing harshly with the finger he’s been pointing behind himself at his silent friends, back where the Fortune and Emperor bonds have been burning, fizzing, blinding in their intensity at the base of his skull. “Kanji’s not gay!”

(“I can’t keep it in anymore; I gotta tell somebody or I’m gonna go crazy…”

“Like, it’s too big a secret to keep by myself, ya know?”)

He pulls his arm in and points instead at himself. “I am!”

The fingers on both his hands curl into fists, clenching so tightly into his palms that he can feel the skin giving way beneath them. He digs them deeper and rides out the tsunami of adrenaline until the very end.

“I’m gay, Partner,” he repeats, spitting the nickname like it’s acid. “And I’m sorry if I don’t fit your fucking stereotypes, but maybe, just maybe, queer people are normal goddamn human beings!”

The world goes silent.

In the sudden, ringing quiet he slowly becomes aware of his breathing, the way his chest heaves like he’s been dying, drowning, and he’s somehow made it back to the surface to take his first lungful of air in years. His heart pounds against his ribs – he can feel it in his ears, his mouth, loud and insistent against the backs of his eyes. His throat aches.

Yosuke stares at him. He is frozen completely still; even his chest is motionless, like the air inside him has been turned to ice with his blood. His face is white, his lips open and trembling, and his eyes; impossibly wide, his pupils blown so that the hazel of his irises is almost totally eclipsed by inky black.

Yosuke looks at him as if he’s afraid.

Oh fuck.

Something shifts behind him. A faint, hesitant trill of gold zings its way along the Wheel of Fortune right before Naoto’s voice (at his back, much closer than he’d realized), hisses, “Senpai! Your voice!”

Oh fuck.

The breath leaves his lungs like a gunshot and Souji claps a hand over his mouth in dawning horror, tasting the coppery tang of the blood on his palm from his own fingernails. He can feel it now, the echo of his voice across the floodplain, hanging heavy in the air and in his head – the way his throat feels like he’s swallowed blistering sand. He presses his hand harder against his mouth until his lips grind against his teeth. He realizes now that he must have been shouting; that he’d lost control over his volume as he’d lost his grip on his temper, and that his vocal cords – so used to quiet, lower tones, trained for over a decade to keep the pitch he wants – have more than likely betrayed him.

He wishes he knew what he’d sounded like.

He’s unbelievably glad he doesn’t know.

Black replaces the dimming red that lines his sight, blotting along the outline like ink in water. The leftover adrenaline still dripping into his blood sparks to life again and he can feel the old, familiar fingers of panic come clutching at his spine.

What have you done?

He doesn’t look at Yosuke, still silent and fearful, doesn’t even bother to acknowledge him. He just pivots on the ball of his foot and starts to move. He breezes past Kanji and Naoto – the latter of whom, he is vaguely aware, turns almost immediately and follows after him with only a split-second glance behind.

A second, heavier set of footsteps catches up a few moments later, and he can hear the gruffness of Kanji’s voice in the way his second follower breathes.

He walks. Only on some barely conscious level does he know where he’s heading, and only then because he’d turned away from Yosuke to do so. The only way away is further down the river, so down the river is where he must be going. He lets his mind slip sideways and allows his body to stride as far and as fast away as it wants to, not even a hint of destination in mind.

  It’s a long time before he comes back into his head.

When he does, it’s to find himself seated on the side of the road – well away from the river bank – with his back bowed and his head resting between his knees, both hands wrapped around his mouth so tightly he can feel the outline of his teeth through his skin.

There is someone’s hand between his shoulder blades he realizes after a time, rubbing small circles as he unconsciously rocks a couple inches forward and then a couple inches back. Like a pendulum. Or a broken chain.

“You think he’s gonna be okay?” says a voice off to his right.

The hand on his back pauses and he feels a thumb swipe along one of the knobs of his spine a few times, like the person the hand belongs to is loathe to stop entirely. Someone on his left – seated next to him, it seems – leans into the side of his vision just enough to cast a shadow in his peripherals. “Souji-senpai?” comes a different voice – higher, lighter, blue. “Are you back with us now?”

He takes in a deep breath through his nose and holds it, only releasing it when it starts to hurt. He exhales slowly through his teeth. “Yeah,” he mumbles into his knees. He has no idea if anyone can actually hear him. He doesn’t suppose it really matters. “Yeah, I’m here. I’m alright.” He gives himself a second to assess. “…I think,” he amends. Someone sighs in relief beside him.

“You had us worried, Senpai,” says the blue voice from before, the one with the hand on his back. He thinks it might be Naoto. (He’s pretty sure it’s Naoto.)

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. He turns his head towards the blue voice but doesn’t actually raise it from between his knees. “I keep doing this to you.”

“Senpai, don’t… please stop apologizing.” The blue voice is sad, remorseful. He doesn’t like it. It should never have to sound that way.

He tries to shrug noncommittally, which is hard with his arms pinned down by his own thighs. “I don’t know how to do anything else,” he whispers.

He hadn’t really meant to say it, definitely didn’t mean for anyone else to hear it, but they did. He’s beginning to realize that they’re more attuned to him that he’d first wanted to allow.

Someone crouches next to him on his other side. It’s a warm presence, bigger than the other one, and it blots out the thin trail of sunlight that’s been soaking into his hair. “You didn’t have to do all’a that,” says the first voice, the one ringed in bleach-blond gold, rough and soft all at the same time. Like a hug when you weren’t expecting one.

Souji lets out a shaky laugh – a quiet huff of breath that makes his shoulders tremble. “Maybe I didn’t,” he whispers, “but I also kind of did.” He hopes his inflection gets his meaning across; he isn’t sure he could try for anything more eloquent just now.

Kanji lets out a sound that might be a disbelieving snort. “You really are somethin’ else.” He lowers himself entirely, coming out of his crouch to sit directly on the ground beside him. There is a long moment of silence, one that feels like two people making eye contact over the top of his head. Finally, Kanji murmurs, “Thanks, Senpai, that… meant a lot.”

He shakes his head. Slowly, he pulls his hands away from his mouth and lets them drop. He doesn’t sit up just yet though, perfectly content to stare at the dirt between his shoes. He’s too exhausted still for much of anything else. “You shouldn’t thank me for doing what I should have done forever ago.”

“Hey. You said you knew how hard it must’a been for me to come out to you, yeah? I get it, too.”

Souji starts to shake his head again, ready to protest that he’s the Leader, it’s his job as their commander and as their friend to stand up for them, to do the things too unsafe for them to do, to have their backs like they protect his in the TV world, but a large, gentle hand comes down on his shoulder – long and calloused fingers brushing along the sliver of his neck exposed past his collar. He shivers.

“No,” says Kanji, voice firm but kind. “Naoto’s right, you need to stop thinking everything’s your responsibility.” There is another pause, and a slight shift on both sides of him, the rustle of fabric quiet in his ears. The hand that Naoto already has on his back starts to move again.

It’s Naoto’s turn to sigh. “I think we all tend to forget just how human you are,” they murmur, and it’s still that sad, hushed tone from before – the one he hates because it hurts. “Including you, Senpai; you try to do everything, and we, like idiots, believe that you can, and that you don’t need our help, too, sometimes.”

He lets out another shivery exhale – it nearly comes out like a sob.

Kanji fidgets. “Naoto said they’ve seen you like this before.”

Souji nods.

“…Is it always like this? This bad, I mean.”

Souji sucks in a long breath. He nods again. “Usually,” he croaks.

“Well shit…”

Silently, the fingers at the base of his skull press into his skin, pushing tiny little spirals into the knot he already knows is there. No one says anything more for a few moments until, “That’s what happened at the cultural festival, isn’t it? After the pageant?”

He tenses. Oh please no, I don’t want to talk about that right now.

But Naoto comes to his rescue. “He was having a panic attack, yes.” They change their pattern and start smoothing their hand – much smaller than Kanji’s, with just as gentle of a touch – up and down the length of his back. Souji feels himself relax a little further.

There is a faint, tender thrum along the pair of bonds he shares with these two particular friends. He feels it vibrate along the line and into his own body, but also, strangely, he can feel it reverberating back outwards, too. He lets himself follow it, just to see, and it echoes across the Emperor and Wheel of Fortune towards one another as well as back to him. Well, he thinks, at least something good came out of this mess.

“How often do you get them?” Kanji asks. There is worry there, something a little guilty, and nononono, that’s not something that should be there. Souji is the only one that should shoulder the weight of worry; his friends don’t deserve something that heavy across their backs.

But the way Kanji asks is too genuine for Souji not to answer, so he swallows down his discomfort at being fretted over and says, more honestly than he’s accustomed to, “Too often.”

“Fuck.”

There is a long stretch of silence after that. It isn’t uncomfortable; in fact it’s relatively easy – no one is saying anything because nothing more really needs to be said right now. Souji finds he likes it this way.

There are birds chirping in the distance, despite the thin layer of fog that has been obscuring the horizon for several days now. The far-off sound of cars from the roads closer to town is there, too; all ambient noise, real and unobtrusive. It’s grounding, and blessedly calm. Eventually though, as is what happens to even the most serene pockets of time, the silence is broken.

“Hey… Naoto?” Kanji murmurs around Souji’s hunched form. There is a soft rustle from Souji’s left and a barely there, “hmm?” to which Kanji responds, “I’m uh. I’m bi.”

A beat. Then, “Oh. Well.... Thank you for trusting me with this information, Kanji-kun.” They go quiet again for a moment, contemplative. “I personally am not sure what my sexuality is, only that my gender is quite fluid.” There is a breathy chuckle near Souji’s left ear and he can practically hear the blush across Naoto’s nose. There is a smile in their voice when they add, “But you already knew that about me.”

Souji grins to himself where the others can’t see. This is progress – even if it’s on the back of something awful like yet another of his attacks. He’d gladly have a hundred more if it meant he could inadvertently make his friends happy.

One of the fingers still kneading gingerly at his neck taps against his vertebrae, like a half-hearted poke. “Senpai,” Kanji says, and Souji can’t help shifting a little to peek out at his friend from between his own knees. It’s the first clear view of either of them he’s had since his brain shut down at the riverbank.

Kanji is frowning at him, brow creased in concentration like he’s still figuring out what he wants to say. “You outed yourself,” he finally settles on, and there is a question hiding in the tone of his voice.

Souji sighs and uncurls his spine, sitting up at last. Several things pop back into place as he goes.

He watches the world in front of him, vision focusing on the middle distance as he gives his friend a tired, resigned shrug. “I did,” he admits. “I didn’t exactly plan to do that, but… I did.”

Naoto leans over a bit into Souji’s peripherals; he can see them watching his face as they say, “Perhaps it was for the best?”

Souji tilts his chin in their direction, listening without turning to look.

They take it for the sign to continue that it is. “What I mean to say is that, of course we support you, and maybe it’s one less burden to bear now.” They glance upwards to where Souji can only assume Kanji is. “Don’t you think?”

From the angle they’re all at, Souji can just barely make out the movement of Kanji nodding.

Naoto continues, “It might not have been ideal, but if it’s enough to get Yosuke-senpai to rethink his mentality, then maybe it was a good thing in disguise?” They sound unsure (which is something Souji is starting to see is a side-effect of Naoto being comfortable around someone,) as if they want to be helpful but aren’t convinced they’re doing it correctly. It’s still sweet – and Souji does understand what they’re trying to say.

He huffs, knowing Naoto will hear it for the (albeit humorless) laugh that it is. “Maybe,” he says, watching them through the edge of his line of sight. “I guess if I lose him as a friend over this then he wasn’t the kind of friend I needed in the first place.”

It hurts to say aloud; he desperately does not want to lose his best friend, his partner, but he’s worn out. If it comes to that then it will hurt, (he can already recognize the beginnings of another thorny ball of pain taking root inside his heart, as well as the emptiness that creeps in along with it,) but he was hurting before, too, every time something homophobic came dripping from Yosuke’s oblivious mouth. Every time his friend had made a comment or a statement that attacked Kanji, Souji had felt it, leaking in like rain against a battered roof, bringing the guilt of his own silence with it. He’s already in pain, but he’s tired of letting himself be hurt, tired of letting others like him be hurt, and, by proxy, tired of hurting himself. He doesn’t care so much about his own wounds anymore, though, as familiar as they are. They’re exhausting, yes, but the thing that had tipped him over the edge was the way his friends, his teammates, those that look to him for direction were being treated.

Souji can count the number of people that have ever stood up for him and this deeply-rooted piece of himself on one hand – he refuses to let that fleeting kindness stop at him.

He sees his kohai sharing a glance, though he can’t make out their facial expressions from where he’s sitting. He can tell there is a silent conversation happening around him, and while he’s curious, he also doesn’t want to pry. So he waits, confident that someone will speak up in a moment.

He’s right. Naoto gently clears their throat – an oddly nervous gesture – and mumbles, “I don’t think you’ll lose him completely, Senpai. Yosuke-senpai is a bit obtuse, yes, but your outburst may have been exactly what he needed to fix his own mistakes.”

Kanji appears to nod. “Y-yeah, what they said.” He glances around Souji’s shoulders towards Naoto again, more wordless dialogue taking place while Souji waits. Kanji leans back around again after a few seconds. “And, I mean, I dunno if you’ve noticed, Senpai, but Yosuke-senpai is kind of glued to you half the time, so…”

Souji ticks his gaze over as Kanji trails off; left curious once more, but not quite ready to look at anyone dead on.

“He seems to adore you,” Naoto concludes, and Souji shifts so that his attention switches back over to them as they speak. “It is my honest belief that he’ll come around eventually. It might just… take some time.”

I don’t really have time, Souji wants to say, but bites his tongue instead. November isn’t all that far away from March in the long run, and if he’s going to permanently lose the closest friendship he’s had since childhood then he’d rather be given the chance to grieve properly. If not, then any time spent in limbo is a waste. He doesn’t think he can win, either way.

It’s less draining just to relinquish his grip on hope.

Simultaneously, because despite him sitting up, neither Kanji nor Naoto has removed their grounding touch, the hands on his back slide inward, mirroring each other, and there is a moment where it feels like Souji is being hugged from either side. He stiffens, purely on instinct, for only the briefest flash of time, before leaning in to the awkward, three-person embrace and letting the rest of the tension bleed out of his bones.

He isn’t falling this time. There are hands to catch him.

“Thanks, Senpai,” Kanji murmurs, and Souji lets this one wash over him, letting go of his eternal need to shrug off words of gratitude. He’s not going to dismiss his friend’s feelings this time. “For all of that back there.” Kanji sighs. “I wish you hadn’t had to do that, though, cuz that’s a pretty shitty way to be forced outta the closet.”

Soui hums and the beginnings of a smile tug at one corner of his mouth. “No one forced me,” he says, and it’s lighter than he expected, truer. Like a stone has been lifted from his neck – only one out of several dozen, but even one less is still one less. He chuckles softly. “I think I just got tired of holding it in, too.”

There is a pause as Kanji looks at him; Souji can feel his friend’s eyes on the side of his face. And then Kanji laughs.

It’s low and calm, seeming slightly out-of-place when compared to Kanji’s usually much more intense demeanor, but somehow it fits him. A side that only appears around certain people – like Naoto and their lowered guard; like Souji and his genuine smiles. “Yeah,” Kanji agrees, “yeah, I know what you mean.”

From over on his left, Naoto squeezes their arm tighter around his ribs and lets out a quiet, wordless sound, breathy like a vocal exhalation. “It will be alright in the end, I think,” they say with a note of hopeful positivity.

Somewhere deep in the back of his mind, Souji tentatively allows himself to believe they could be right.

 ---

           24 hours later, there is a letter.

24 hours later, and Souji is deathly cold in every way possible, standing in an interrogation room with Kanji, Teddie, and Yosuke, listening from somewhere far away as Dojima-san tries and fails to keep the desperation from his voice when he shouts an order back at Adachi.

24 hours later, and Souji feels the cracked, damaged pieces of his soul utterly and completely break.

Because it’s only 24 hours later, and Nanako has disappeared.

#fanfic #fanfiction #Persona 4 #p4 #souji seta #yu narukami #souyo #yosuke hanamura #Kanji Tatsumi #naoto shirogane #investigation team #transgender #trans male character #trans souji seta #trans!au #scars on my sleeve #caught in the grey #tw homophobia #tw past abuse

[hope-for-olicity]

Fabulous Olicity Fanfic Friday - June 1st, 2018

Happy Friday! So this is my attempt to both thank awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work and offer my recommendations to anyone who is interested. Here are the fantastic fanfic stories I read this week! They are posted in the order I read them. Thank you so so much for your fics they really do help with pain.

The Old-Fashioned Way multi-chapter complete by @primpim -Felicity always wanted a family. Tired of waiting for Mr. Right, she decides to take matters into her own hands. She has a steady job, savings, a good support system and, after all, who needs a man in this day and age? Thirty, single and quite happy to be, Oliver isn't looking to settle down and hasn't really even entertained the idea of having kids. But when Felicity starts looking for a potential biological father, he doesn't hesitate. Purely because he doesn't want someone to take advantage of her... or so he tells himself. From awkward starts to the wonder of creating new life, it will soon become obvious that getting pregnant isn't just about expecting a baby: it's also about facing feelings that had been buried for years. And in the end, Felicity might realize that what she's been looking for has been right under her nose from the start...and Oliver will quickly understand that when it comes Felicity and their unborn child, he wants much more than what they had originally agreed to. PLEASE NOTE: The author is taking this story of AO3 soon download to keep reading. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11961009/chapters/27046173

Time for a Story multi-chapter WIP by @smkkbert - This fic shows Olicity and their life as a (married) couple with family. Although Olicity (and their kids) are the protagonists, other characters of Arrow and Flash make appearances. YOU NEED THIS STORY IN YOUR LIFE. http://archiveofourown.org/works/3912157/chapters/8757172

Above All Else multi-chapter WIP by shesimperfect_butshetries - A different take on episode 6x14: Rene shoots but Oliver jumps in front of Felicity. https://archiveofourown.org/works/14101470/chapters/32490537

Arrow 7x01 Spec #1 by @lostolicityscenes - I wanted to write a scene of Felicity visiting Oliver in prison where they reassure/inspire each other. And well, this isn’t that really. Sometimes it’s out of your control. So, here’s a spec of a tearful angsty angry scene where they fight for most of it. https://lostolicityscenes.tumblr.com/post/174254452871/arrow-7x01-spec-1-an-i-wanted-to-write-a-scene

Nothing Hurts by @alanna-the-lionheart - Oliver gets hurt on a mission. He’s banged up badly, but nothing’s broken, and Felicity insists on taking him home, where she decides to draw him a bath. For the first time in a long time, Oliver lets someone else take care of him, and Felicity comforts him and heals him in more ways than one. Based off of that video on Stephen’s Facebook page where he’s sporting fake bruises after filming. https://archiveofourown.org/works/4880014

Out of Place by @diggo26 -NSFW Oliver takes care of Felicity after her horrible ex-boyfriend shows up at a party - http://diggo26.tumblr.com/post/162323884919/out-of-place

Lawyers at War multi-chapter complete by @crazycrystal10 - AU Neighbours Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak are at war. Their animosity doesn't let them come together but their love doesn't let them drift apart from each other. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11321694/chapters/25341486

The Queen's Mage multi-chapter WIP by @the-shy-and-anxious-fangirl - Words have power, and mages, those with the aptitude to draw on that power, are few in number. Thus, their services are highly sought after by anyone who has exhausted all mundane means of solving whatever problem is plaguing them. Felicity is reminded of this fact the hard way when she is hired by Moira Queen, the Lady Starling, to find and return to her her son Oliver, who fled his family home five years ago following the death of his father. With a threat hanging over her should she return without Robert Queen's heir, Felicity begins her search. When she finds Oliver, and ends up joining his vigilante crusade while she waits for him to decide whether to return home, the last thing she expects to do is fall in love with him. https://archiveofourown.org/works/14617068/chapters/33781269

The Distance Between Two Hearts multi-chapter WIP by @geneshaven - A glimpse at Oliver's life in prison. Part 4 https://geneshaven.tumblr.com/post/174257333769/the-distance-between-two-hearts  Part 5 https://geneshaven.tumblr.com/post/174294103039/the-distance-between-two-hearts  Part 6 https://geneshaven.tumblr.com/post/174303636249/the-distance-between-two-hearts-missions-end

(Is it Desire) or Is it Love That I'm Feeling For You? by @emilyszuko - Iris speaks again, “Felicity, do you love him?” She doesn't answer, tongue twisted and heart about to beat out of her chest. She knows she does, and part of her doesn't answer Iris because even if he'll never hear them, those words are for him. The other part of her though is just scared as hell that it'll blow up in her face like everything else has. “I don't think Oliver wants to hear anything else from me,” she settles on instead, crestfallen as she scratches at the black paint on her fingernails.“And what if he's just as afraid as you are?” https://archiveofourown.org/works/14756849

Elizabeth Grace Smoak multi-chapter WIP by @lynn8828 - What if Felicity and Oliver briefly had met before he got on the Gambit? Despite her best efforts, Felicity was unable to get in contact with the famous Oliver Queen after having a one night stand with him and getting pregnant with his child. After raising their child for five years after finding out that Oliver died on the Gambit, she finds out he is alive and knows that she needs to tell him about their daughter. But will he believe her? AMAZING STORY!! http://archiveofourown.org/works/13639371/chapters/31322715

Inner Odds by @imusuallyobsessed - Ivy Town seems perfect. So, why does Felicity feel this way? https://archiveofourown.org/works/11322804

Lost Love by @onceuponanolicity - After the bombs have gone off on Lian Yu, Oliver searches for his team and finds them in the A.R.G.U.S. bunker, only to find out there has been some casualties. One of them being Felicity's memory of him. Now, he must deal with the results. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11320017

Idiot with a Death Wish multi-chapter WIP by @bitchwhwifi - Felicity Smoak is a firm believer that her soulmate has a death wish. One night out with friends changes when her soulmate’s life is once again on the line she get’s nosy and ends up in the basement of Verdant and meets the head of the Bratva in Starling who helps her put an end to the search to find her soulmate.https://archiveofourown.org/works/11322231/chapters/25342872

You Remind Me of Our Love (That I Miss) by @bokayjunkie - She looks exactly how he remembers her and yet... everything about her is different. That's because she's not his Felicity https://archiveofourown.org/works/11321283

Tempest multi-chapter WIP by @so-caffeinated and @dust2dust34 - Three years ago, tragedy struck Julianna Queen’s life. Now, she wears a mask and fights at her father’s side, looking for closure and justice as she tries to find a path to move forward with her life while holding on to her past. But that may a bit more complicated than she thinks… http://archiveofourown.org/works/13309731/chapters/30461850

Yin-Yang multi-chapter WIP by @lgtwinkie99 - Felicity is shocked to find that her mother Donna Smoak has entered into a program where she gets to choose a husband for her daughter. The only problem is that Felicity will get to go on one date with the prospective candidates but will only meet the man who she will be spending the rest of her life with, at the altar. Will Felicity trust her mother’s judgement and marry a man she does not know or will she quit before reaching the altar? https://archiveofourown.org/works/6820756/chapters/15569500

Count the Days multi-chapter WIP by @olicityandklaroline - Soulmate fic http://olicityandklaroline.tumblr.com/post/174324025311/count-the-days-ch-9

Blue Linens by @callistawolf - Felicity and Oliver finally have some alone time together. But something seems off... https://archiveofourown.org/works/11113194/chapters/25364307

The Disappearance of Felicity Smoak by @smewhereelse - Season 2 AU. In her haste to expose Malcolm Merlyn as the mastermind of the Undertaking, Moira Queen accidentally implicated an unknown party as his real accomplice. And in her haste to provide directions to Lance, Felicity left her digital fingerprints all over the files for the Markov device. Realizing that she’s up shit creek without a paddle, Felicity disappears after Moira’s acquittal. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11315301

Oliver's Kitchen by @gypsyfire1066 - Oliver is protective of his kitchen. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11333868

Book Club by @obibaldwin - Oliver gets invited to Felicity's book club and it's all downhill now. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11339310

We Loved With A Love That Was More Than Love multi-chapter WIP by @wrldtravler - When Felicity's father leaves her and her mother behind, she loses all her faith in the very idea of soulmates. After Donna Smoak remarries into the Merlyn family, events are put into motion that bring Felicity into proximity the very destiny she never wanted to be apart of, and the family she never knew she needed. After years of unknowingly fighting and dancing around her fate, Felicity finally receives her soulmark on her 18th birthday. With the truth revealed, Felicity's fate is left in her hands, and only she can decide whether to let him in before it's too late. http://archiveofourown.org/works/10216829/chapters/22672961

The Event by @cruzrogue - Call back to season 2 when Oliver was dating Sara and oblivious to his own feelings. Felicity as his EA intertwines herself with the elder lady of a powerful conglomerate. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11341002

Following the Lead of the Setting Sun multi-chapter WIP by @adiwriting - When Oliver agrees to a life in prison, it lights a match to the entire Queen family’s world. How can Oliver be a good husband and father, while he’s in prison and fighting for his life? https://archiveofourown.org/works/14715020/chapters/34008707

Harder Than You Know by griever11 - Post Season 6 finale fic. Oliver is released from Slabside after five months away from his family and is now faced with the fallout of the decisions he made. https://archiveofourown.org/works/14779838

Red by dreamsofolicity - Due to a mixup with luggage, Oliver finds himself at the house of one Felicity Smoak. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11349582

Despacito by @someonesaidcake - It had been Felicity's idea. After everything....everything, she convinced him to get out of Star City for four days of something that wasn’t what they had left behind. Four days in San Juan, Puerto Rico. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11356551

New Friends and Concerts by @felicityollies - Felicity is trying to enjoy herself at a concert, but she can’t see past the ridiculously tall guy in front of her. https://archiveofourown.org/works/6610375/chapters/34228028

Ordinary Days by @arrowgirl20 -When Felicity finds out she is pregnant, her father finds a man who will save her reputation, a farmer, Oliver Queen. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11359116

A Nightmare multi-chapter WIP by HopeShannon3000 - Oliver comes back from prison to his world has fallen apart https://archiveofourown.org/works/14795831/chapters/34230347

Hotel Vegas multi-chapter complete by @it-was-a-red-heeler - Heartbreak sends Felicity home to her mother for a vacation that just might change her life forever. https://archiveofourown.org/works/11217708/chapters/2506231

This is War multi-chapter WIP by x_olicity_files - Set as a fix it of sorts from the season 2 finale and onwards. Instead of baiting Oliver with Felicity, Slade Wilson kidnaps her because it was his primary goal. Slade had been working for someone else and he was tasked to bring Felicity with him by any means necessary. https://archiveofourown.org/works/14802056/chapters/34246403

Damn It, Why Won't the Eagle Just Land Already? multi-chapter WIP by @smewhereelse - President John Diggle would really appreciate it if everyone would stop gossiping about his security detail and his science advisor and get back to work. He’d appreciate it even more if his best friends would pull their heads out of their asses and get together already. A White House romantic comedy AU. https://archiveofourown.org/works/13132602/chapters/30040788

Re-airrow 1x20 by @lostolicityscenes - This episode had Oliver torn between catching Edward Rasmus, who puts a hit out on a family and helping Diggle who, with Lyla, has lured Deadshot to Star City. The following Delicity scene takes place after the video above, but before Oliver makes his choice. This week’s post is short and sweet. https://lostolicityscenes.tumblr.com/post/174417068731/re-airrow-episode-1x20-an-this-episode-had

Broken Love multi-chapter WIP by @smoaking-greenarrow - Felicity and Oliver try to adjust to their new normal, but with Oliver in jail and Felicity in protective custody, neither are coping well with the distance. Oliver receives an offer from Agent Watson and Felicity takes matters into her own hands. (6.5 fic) https://archiveofourown.org/works/14717075/chapters/34014233

Home To You multi-chapter WIP by @the-shy-and-anxious-fangirl - Oliver Queen has never done what his family expected of him. He took a gap year after high school instead of going to college right away. He quit his fraternity sophomore year to join the student newspaper, switching his major from business to journalism. He became a photojournalist for a wire service instead of taking a place at Queen Consolidated. He went missing after six months instead of coming home for his sister’s twenty-first birthday. He survived five years of captivity in a war zone when everyone thought he was dead. He came home. But home didn’t have a place for him in it anymore. His parents were both dead, casualties of their own mistakes and a city they had turned against them. His sister was all grown up, the CEO of Queen Consolidated with a fiancé and a dog and a life of her own. Oliver didn’t belong in his old life, but there was nowhere else for him to go. He was a man without a home, without any way of finding one, until he stopped by the IT department of his sister’s company to get files off an old, battered memory card, and found a woman with curly blonde hair and bright, intelligent eyes chewing on a bright red pen and swearing at a computer screen. https://archiveofourown.org/works/12613188/chapters/28734552

Nothing Short of Perfect multi-chapter WIP by Tangled23 - Five years ago Felicity Smoak had to pay for all of her mistakes, sacrificing the one thing that she treasured most in life. Five years ago Oliver Queen learned that he was a father, a fact that forced him to grow up and stop being an entitled brat.  Now he is the successful CEO of Queen Consolidated and she is a woman focused on setting things right. https://archiveofourown.org/works/14810714/chapters/34269434

Sex Restrictions by @alexiablackbriar13 - Oliver has back, pelvis and knee problems stemming from past injuries due to Green Arrow work. In a post-operation check-up, Dr Schwartz advises against all strenuous physical activity. Yes, that includes sex. They manage to reach a compromise. https://archiveofourown.org/works/14812418

Sometimes It Rains multi-chapter WIP by Izzyface and @missyriver - Life happens fast. But we live through it slow. https://archiveofourown.org/works/14726736/chapters/34039875

// @emmaamelia95 // @mel-loves-all // @oliverfel4 // @green-arrows-of-karamel // @coal000 // @miriam1779 // @memcjo// @captainolicitysbedroom // @tdgal1 // @spaztronautwriter // @lalawo1// @quiveringbunny // @wrongshipper // @thebookjumper // @vaelisamaza // @myhauntedblacksoul // @lovelycssefan // @laurabelle2930 //

#FabulousOlicityFanficFriday #olicity fanfiction #fic recs

[betty-nyan]

AkaYona Ch. 141 - Review

My dearest Yona nerds, I’m back again with another review/some thoughts on the latest chapter! So let’s get started right away...

We finally got what we’ve been waiting for since like forever: The confrontation between Yona and Soo-Won. I really like how Yona has grown. She’s not the weak, naive princess who used to cry just because of her messy hair. Of course we, the readers, already know about her astounding development. But this time it’s a little different, because the one who is confronted by the new Yona is Soo-Won himself.

It’s funny how the first thing that comes to his mind when noticing that Yona came without Hak is “Omg, where’s Hak? Did she come all by herself? Without Hak? Is he also being held in Xing Kingdom? Hak, where are you? Hak! Hak!!! HAAAKKK!!!”. It’s kinda cute and also shows us how much he still cares for both Hak and Yona. And Yona was able to read his usually well-hidden thoughts once again. And he’s all like “How did you know what I was thinking?”. Very well written, Kusanagi-sensei!

Now, let’s focus on this point for a while... To me it was obvious that Soo-Won was already well aware of his father’s crimes. But the interesting part here is his reply to Yona’s question. Under what circumstances is it righteous to throw the heads of prisoners over the castle walls? I’d really like to see an explanation for defending his father’s ideals. Maybe he’s been living in a constant denial. Well, until now of course:

Yona shamelessly stood up against him, which also made him face the harsh reality. Like Yona said, it’s the first time he was unable to hide his emotions completely. But yeah, of course Keishuk is the one who interferes in the conversation. .__.

Ah, so King Il knew it all along. This could explain why he acted so overprotective of Yona. And it may also be the reason why they banished the priests from the castle grounds. It also looks like Soo-Won and Il were in the middle of a serious discussion. Did Soo-Won try to convince King Il one last time and asked him for permission to marry Yona? Or was it Yu-Hon who King Il was talking to and Soo-Won just overheard the conversation (which would mean that he was still a child back then). Kusanagi has just given us a small piece of information, but in the end, it gets even more confusing...

Just as Keishuk acted all shitty again, Lili came to Yona’s rescue. That’s my girl! We need more Lili moments in the manga, she’s such an underrated character if you ask me.

And the moment he realizes that Lili is good friends with Yona - I’ve never seen such a pissed face in the entire manga. It really made me lol! xD And in order to safe Yona from being captured by the soldiers, she spilled the beans. If this revelation won’t backfire on Soo-Won, I don’t know what it will:

After that, Yona tries to convince Soo-Won once again. And just look at how his expression suddenly changes after hearing her powerful words:

He finally gave in and asks her why she believes that this approach will work. He’s normally not that kind of person who will listen to someone else’s opinion so easily, but this time, it’s different. And let me say that I’m not only proud of Yona, but also Soo-Won. It’s proof enough that he’s not the cruel person everyone thinks he is. I’m already sensing the beginning of a great character development.

After everything he did, Yona still trusts him as a king (and also human being). We can only assume what he’s thinking right now, but I guess it’s something like “Why do you even say such things? After all, I ruined your life... And regardless of all the horrible crimes I commited, you’re still able to view me in such a way?”

Whoops, I guess Lili isn’t even recognizing how her words could affect Soo-Won’s position as a king. She’s still kind of naive, but I’m sure she’ll learn from the consequences. But as we can see, she still believes in him and mentions how he also saved her life. I don’t care what everyone else thinks, but I still ship them so hard! Their dynamic is so great! <3

Keishuk, just get your shit together! Judging by the way he looks, he’s clearly plotting something to get rid of Yona. He’s kinda scary and I hope he’ll die soon... Sorry, Keishuk fans, but he’s a clear threat to everyone else!

Hak’s not the only one who finds Tao’s supporters fishy. They’re definitely hiding something. Maybe they’ll try to get rid of Kouren by using Princess Tao. Idk, but something seems off here.

I somehow expected a hiatus after this chapter, but it looks like we’ll be getting chapter 142 sooner than expected (June 5th)... I’m so looking forward to it!

#akatsuki no yona #yona of the dawn #yona the girl standing in the blush of dawn #yona #princess yona #soo-won #an lili #yu-hon #king il #hak #son hak #akatsuki no yona chapter 141 #akatsuki no yona 141 #akayona review

[ygospamproduction]

My YGO Manga Timeline

Ch. 01-05 :: The Puzzle Solving to Kokurano :: Oct 1996 The classmates are all wearing winter uniforms, which indicates it is either before June or after September. Since we see people wearing more layers in chapters 13-23 before we see them wearing their summer uniforms in chapters 41-47, winter hits before we see summer, so it must be after September. Given notes on chapter 6, I’m going to say these chapters are taking place in October.

Ch. 06-12 :: School Festival to Hirutani :: Nov 1996

This festival seems to be Bunkasai, for Culture Day, which usually takes place in early November. And while the following chapters are all rather stand-alone, there doesn’t seem to be a big gap in time, and it never gets cold enough for heavy clothing. So, they likely follow closely after the festival, before December.

Ch. 13-24 :: Shadi to Mokuba :: (Feb to) Apr 1997 We never ever get snow or signs of cold, cold weather in Yu-Gi-Oh!, or any apparent coverage of the usual school break in March/early April, but Yuugi seems to be wearing a hoodie in the first shot of chapter 13, and then there is an immediate jump to two months later, with Yuugi and his friends in school. Could that one shot of Yuugi reading the paper have been during the winter, around February, while the next scene with his friends is in April when school restarts? If so, that would mean Yuugi and his friends are officially second year students from here on! And either way, the non-school clothing gets progressively lighter in the Hanasaki and Mokuba intro chapters, so I think those arcs take place soon after Shadi’s entrance.

Ch. 25-40 :: Death-T :: May 1997

Has to come at some point after April (see above) and before June (see below). Pacing makes it nicer to assume it’s smack-dab in the middle.

Ch. 41-47 :: Love Tester to Dragon Cards :: June-Sept 1997 They’re wearing their summer uniforms in these chapters, which are only worn from June to September. Thus, it is June to September. Which, incidentally, means Honda is already 17, and Yuugi & Anzu turn 17 by the end of this arc! (You turn 16 in first year of high school, 17 in second year, and 18 in third year. We’ve already followed the story to summer of the second year, so they’re 17!)

Ch. 48-59 :: Yo-Yo to Bakura :: Beginning of Oct 1997 They’re back in their regular uniforms, so summer is over, and it’s likely October. (This is also our year reference point.  1997 is shown on the side of Jounouchi’s HOT NEW yo-yo.) Bakura also shows up in chapter 50, and due to some hints in the Duelist Kingdom and Black Clown arcs towards  their time frames, I think Bakura’s intro must be in early October. (It should be noted that we DO have counter-evidence to my timeline in this arc, as the room number in Bakura’s arc still shows them as first years… But I really honestly don’t know HOW that could be, unless the story started in April, chapters 1-47 ALL happened first term before summer started, and we’re only now in the second term… That also makes no sense because of the cold weather clothing noted in chapter 13-23. So, I’ve chosen to ignore the room number as a mistake until a third theory can be formed.)

Ch. 60-63 :: Pegasus Video :: Early Oct 1997 Technically there COULD be a jump to April 1998 here, between Bakura and Pegasus’s intro, but I will show later on that there’s a better point for such a huge gap. It’s more likely that Ch. 60 closely follows Ch. 59, and both are still in early autumn. See below for reasoning.

Ch. 64-133 :: Duelist Island :: Mid-Oct 1997 Stated in-story as a week & a day after the video duel. Little direct evidence for a date, but I would guess this is set no later than the middle of October/early autumn because characters were dressed in coats and sweaters, but they managed to sleep outdoors overnight without any real issue, and Jounouchi didn’t freeze to death from SWIMMING SOME UNKNOWN TIME IN THE OCEAN. They made no more nod to his reaction to that than a passing drippy, sneezy nose.

Ch. 134-148 :: Black Clown :: Mid-April 1998 This is where I think the big gap for winter comes in: Between Duelist Kingdom and the Black Crown/Clown opening. This allows time for Kaiba to perfect the Duel Disk and a whole store to be built and opened across the street from Kame Game. Plus, Yuugi & Atem talk much more naturally than the last arc - implying passed time - and Yuugi & Anzu discuss Sugoroku’s soul returning after Pegasus’s loss in very reminiscing terms. And biggest of all, there is a line by Honda implying that it’s the start of a new school year (their third year), so it has to be April in some year!

Ch. 149-151 :: Anzu Date & Museum :: Very End of April 1998 It’s likely been a LITTLE while since the fire, since Yuugi’s healed and there’s been time to notice Atem is feeling down, but I don’t think much time has passed. Also, see below:

Ch. 152-278 :: Battle City :: Early May 1998

…because HOW COOL WOULD IT BE IF BATTLE CITY HAPPENED DURING GOLDEN WEEK?! But no, seriously, the timing generally fits, and it explains something of why they could be off of school for multiple days + why a bunch of duelists would have time to hang out in Domino for upwards of 3 days based originally on a rumor.

Yu-Gi-Oh! R :: Mid-May to Early June 1998

Because I can’t imagine there was a big gap between Battle City and Memory World, but you gotta fit Tenma in somehow… So this is the likely spot for it.

Ch. 280-336 :: Memory World :: Mid-June 1998 …It’s honestly impossible to place this perfectly. They’re still in their winter uniforms, which implies prior to June, but Atem leaves one month later (see below) and DSoD is six months after that. The kids are graduating in DSoD, so it has to be March! But seven months prior to March would be August, and the kids are clearly in school during the Memory World Arc… And you can’t just push the event forward to September, because Japan doesn’t have any major holidays off in October, so there would be no chance ‘a month later’ for them to go to Egypt… So, I’m going to cut the difference, and say Memory World happened in mid-June, even if they should have switched uniforms a couple of weeks earlier. (Perhaps it was just a very mild summer~?) Either way, making it mid-June makes more sense when you consider…

Ch. 337-343 :: In Egypt :: Late July-August 1998

The final arc is set roughly one month after the last arc, as shown in the picture. And the Japanese summer off school is always from around Marine Day (the third Monday in July) to the end of August. It makes sense for the guys to go to Egypt as soon as they got out of school in July. And I personally like to push it to July 26th, because I am horrid and tend to imagine Atem leaving on his birthday, but you need not be a monster like I… But either way, setting the trip in July/August would set us closer to ‘six months later’ = graduation time in February/March, as Darkside of Dimensions shows. So, it just fits!

#yugioh #ygo manga #ygo timeline #ygo commentary #I updated this with pictures and some tweaks to work with new knowledge about japanese school calendars and norms #may not be perfect but I HAD FUN

[blogwonderwebsites]

Nature China’s Leaders Confront an Unlikely Foe: Ardent Young Communists

Nature China’s Leaders Confront an Unlikely Foe: Ardent Young Communists Nature China’s Leaders Confront an Unlikely Foe: Ardent Young Communists http://www.nature-business.com/nature-chinas-leaders-confront-an-unlikely-foe-ardent-young-communists/

Nature

Image

Activists in Shenzhen last month protested in support of workers’ rights. Their banners call for the punishment of corrupt police officials and the release of detained factory workers.CreditCreditSue-Lin Wong/Reuters

HUIZHOU, China — They were exactly what China’s best universities were supposed to produce: young men and women steeped in the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party.

They read Marx, Lenin and Mao and formed student groups to discuss the progress of socialism. They investigated the treatment of the campus proletariat, including janitors, cooks and construction workers. They volunteered to help struggling rural families and dutifully recited the slogans of President Xi Jinping.

Then, after graduation, they attempted to put the party’s stated ideals into action, converging from across China last month on Huizhou, a city in the south, to organize labor unions at nearby factories and stage protests demanding greater protections for workers.

That’s when the party realized it had a problem.

The authorities moved quickly to crush the efforts of the young activists, detaining several dozen of them and scrubbing the internet of their calls for justice — but not before their example became a rallying cry for young people across the country unhappy with growing inequality, corruption and materialism in Chinese society.

Image

A group of student activists and young Maoists were seeking last month to help factory workers form a labor union in Huizhou, a city in southern China.CreditSue-Lin Wong/Reuters

“You are the backbone of the working class!” the protesters chanted at one rally, addressing workers at an equipment factory. “We share your honor and your disgrace!”

Protests are common in China, especially by workers who have nowhere else to turn in a nation without independent unions, courts or news media. But the demonstrations in Huizhou were unusual because they were organized by students and recent graduates from some of the country’s top universities, who have generally stayed off the streets since the 1989 pro-democracy movement that ended in bloodshed outside Tiananmen Square.

In the decades since that massacre, university students have generally helped advance the party’s economic and political agenda, focusing on jobs, homes and other aspects of material well-being while supporting authoritarian rule, or at least eschewing politics. As economic growth has slowed, party officials have grown more nervous about Western influences on the nation’s youth, who are more worldly and digitally connected than ever before.

But the Huizhou activists represent a threat the authorities did not expect.

Carrying portraits of Mao and singing socialist anthems, they espoused the very ideals that the government fed them for years in mandatory ideological classes, voicing grievances about issues like poverty, worker rights and gender equality — some of communism’s core concerns.

“What we are doing is entirely legal and reasonable,” said Chen Kexin, a senior at Renmin University in Beijing who took part in the protests. “We are Marxists. We praise socialism. We stand with workers. The authorities can’t target us.”

But they have. On the morning of Aug. 24, police officers wearing riot gear raided the four-bedroom apartment the activists were renting in Huizhou and detained about 50 people. As the police burst through the door, the activists held hands and sang “L’Internationale.”

Though some have been released, 14 activists and workers remain in custody or under house arrest, according to labor rights advocates. The local police accused the workers of acting on behalf of foreign nongovernmental organizations.

Since President Xi took power in 2012, the party has sought to restrict the use of Western textbooks and stop the spread of “Western values” on campus, referring to ideas about rule of law and democracy that could undermine its hold on power.

At the same time, Mr. Xi has demanded that universities expand their teachings on Mao and Marx. In May, he visited Peking University and encouraged students to promote Marxism, saying it was important for the university to “take Marxism as its surname.”

But some in the party seem uneasy about the proliferation of these groups, apparently worried that their calls for greater economic equality and worker rights could undermine China’s modern-day embrace of capitalist markets.

While only a small minority of students are involved, they represent a leftist critique of Chinese society that seems to be gaining traction on college campuses, partly because the authorities have been more hesitant to suppress it than other political discussion.

On the Chinese internet, thousands of young people participate in vibrant Maoist and Marxist chat rooms, and some have started leftist news websites, posting commentary on topics like pollution, globalization and economic theory, without much interference by censors, until recently.

This week, school officials harassed young Marxists at a half-dozen universities and prevented some from meeting, activists said. And last year, the police in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, arrested Zhang Yunfan, the young leader of a Maoist reading group, accusing him of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order.”

Younger Chinese are often described as apathetic, selfish and obsessed with money. But Eric Fish, a writer who has studied Chinese millennials, said that the generation born after the Tiananmen Square massacre lacks the instinctive fear of authority of older generations.

“They’re more willing to go out on the street and stick their necks out,” he said. “There is not as much appreciation for what could go wrong.”

The dispute in Huizhou began in July, after Jasic Technology, a manufacturer of welding equipment, prevented its workers from forming an independent union. China allows labor organizing only under the auspices of the official, party-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

The workers said managers had seized control of their branch of the official union. Complaining of being underpaid and treated like slaves, they began to organize a petition before the police intervened and detained several of them.

The young activists learned of the workers’ plight on internet messaging apps and took up their cause, with about 40 students and recent graduates going to Huizhou, a manufacturing hub of 4.8 million people in Guangdong Province. Hundreds of others spoke out in support online — so many that several universities warned students not to go to Huizhou.

“I could not sit still,” Yue Xin, a recent graduate of Peking University who majored in foreign languages, said in an interview before she was detained. “I could not let myself be a mere internet commentator. I had to stand up.”

Zhang Shengye, 21, who graduated in June from Peking University with a degree in pharmacology, said he was inspired to join the protests by his family’s own struggles. His father, a sailor, was laid off from a state-owned firm during a wave of privatization in the 1990s, an experience Mr. Zhang described as a “financial and emotional apocalypse.”

But it was in college that he decided to answer Marx’s call to “work for mankind,” he said. Frustrated by the low wages and poor treatment of workers on campus, he and 60 other students, calling themselves the Marxist Research Association, published a report documenting labor violations.

“We share a very simple sympathy for workers and the aspiration of a better future for communism,” he said.

Image

Zhang Shengye

In Huizhou, the young activists called each other “comrade” and wore T-shirts with images of clenched fists and the slogan, “Unity is strength.” They marched alongside workers, holding banners that declared, “Forming unions is not a crime.” They staged re-enactments of the abuse the workers said they endured at the factory.

Though they identify as Maoists, the activists are decidedly nonviolent, unlike Maoist rebels in countries like Nepal and India who embrace violent revolution. Their philosophy also differs from China’s older Maoists, who largely focus on rooting out Western influences in Chinese society and are less confrontational toward the party.

The young protesters insist that they are good communists who support President Xi.

Before she was detained, Ms. Yue wrote an open letter to Mr. Xi saying that she had been inspired by his fight against corruption and his time working in an impoverished village in the countryside as a young man.

She added that the campaign in Huizhou had its roots not in foreign ideas, but in the May Fourth Movement of 1919, a student-led uprising in China that the party considers a precursor to the Communist Revolution.

Ms. Yue, also a leader of China’s #MeToo movement who spoke out against sexual harassment and assault on campus, has not been heard from since the police detained her during the Aug. 24 raid.

Friends are also worried about Shen Mengyu, one of the first students to call attention to the workers’ campaign. She was held by security officials at a hotel and is now under surveillance at her parents’ home, activists said.

Several workers at the equipment factory have also been formally arrested and charged with disturbing social order. Huang Lanfeng, whose husband, Yu Juncong, was among those detained, said the government was unfairly punishing workers while ignoring factory abuses.

“We will never give up,” she said. “We swear to fight the evil forces until the end.”

As the school year began, the activists vowed to press their campaign. Mr. Zhang and others staged a rally in Mao’s hometown, Shaoshan, on the 42nd anniversary of the Chinese leader’s death this month, and called on the government to release their friends. The police broke up the protest and briefly detained Mr. Zhang, who was also held and released after the Aug. 24 raid.

Mr. Zhang has circulated a petition calling on the party to punish local officials. He wrote:

“We are here because we are deeply aware that what we do is legal and just.

“We are here because we want to repay the workers with what we have learned for so many years.

“We are here because we don’t want to believe that dark forces can laugh malignantly in the world we inhabit.”

Follow Javier C. Hernández on Twitter: @HernandezJavier.

Zoe Mou and Echo Hui contributed research.

Read More | https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/world/asia/china-maoists-xi-protests.html |

Nature China’s Leaders Confront an Unlikely Foe: Ardent Young Communists, in 2018-09-29 00:41:43

#Nature of Business in the Current Market

[blogparadiseisland]

Nature China’s Leaders Confront an Unlikely Foe: Ardent Young Communists

Nature China’s Leaders Confront an Unlikely Foe: Ardent Young Communists Nature China’s Leaders Confront an Unlikely Foe: Ardent Young Communists http://www.nature-business.com/nature-chinas-leaders-confront-an-unlikely-foe-ardent-young-communists/

Nature

Image

Activists in Shenzhen last month protested in support of workers’ rights. Their banners call for the punishment of corrupt police officials and the release of detained factory workers.CreditCreditSue-Lin Wong/Reuters

HUIZHOU, China — They were exactly what China’s best universities were supposed to produce: young men and women steeped in the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party.

They read Marx, Lenin and Mao and formed student groups to discuss the progress of socialism. They investigated the treatment of the campus proletariat, including janitors, cooks and construction workers. They volunteered to help struggling rural families and dutifully recited the slogans of President Xi Jinping.

Then, after graduation, they attempted to put the party’s stated ideals into action, converging from across China last month on Huizhou, a city in the south, to organize labor unions at nearby factories and stage protests demanding greater protections for workers.

That’s when the party realized it had a problem.

The authorities moved quickly to crush the efforts of the young activists, detaining several dozen of them and scrubbing the internet of their calls for justice — but not before their example became a rallying cry for young people across the country unhappy with growing inequality, corruption and materialism in Chinese society.

Image

A group of student activists and young Maoists were seeking last month to help factory workers form a labor union in Huizhou, a city in southern China.CreditSue-Lin Wong/Reuters

“You are the backbone of the working class!” the protesters chanted at one rally, addressing workers at an equipment factory. “We share your honor and your disgrace!”

Protests are common in China, especially by workers who have nowhere else to turn in a nation without independent unions, courts or news media. But the demonstrations in Huizhou were unusual because they were organized by students and recent graduates from some of the country’s top universities, who have generally stayed off the streets since the 1989 pro-democracy movement that ended in bloodshed outside Tiananmen Square.

In the decades since that massacre, university students have generally helped advance the party’s economic and political agenda, focusing on jobs, homes and other aspects of material well-being while supporting authoritarian rule, or at least eschewing politics. As economic growth has slowed, party officials have grown more nervous about Western influences on the nation’s youth, who are more worldly and digitally connected than ever before.

But the Huizhou activists represent a threat the authorities did not expect.

Carrying portraits of Mao and singing socialist anthems, they espoused the very ideals that the government fed them for years in mandatory ideological classes, voicing grievances about issues like poverty, worker rights and gender equality — some of communism’s core concerns.

“What we are doing is entirely legal and reasonable,” said Chen Kexin, a senior at Renmin University in Beijing who took part in the protests. “We are Marxists. We praise socialism. We stand with workers. The authorities can’t target us.”

But they have. On the morning of Aug. 24, police officers wearing riot gear raided the four-bedroom apartment the activists were renting in Huizhou and detained about 50 people. As the police burst through the door, the activists held hands and sang “L’Internationale.”

Though some have been released, 14 activists and workers remain in custody or under house arrest, according to labor rights advocates. The local police accused the workers of acting on behalf of foreign nongovernmental organizations.

Since President Xi took power in 2012, the party has sought to restrict the use of Western textbooks and stop the spread of “Western values” on campus, referring to ideas about rule of law and democracy that could undermine its hold on power.

At the same time, Mr. Xi has demanded that universities expand their teachings on Mao and Marx. In May, he visited Peking University and encouraged students to promote Marxism, saying it was important for the university to “take Marxism as its surname.”

But some in the party seem uneasy about the proliferation of these groups, apparently worried that their calls for greater economic equality and worker rights could undermine China’s modern-day embrace of capitalist markets.

While only a small minority of students are involved, they represent a leftist critique of Chinese society that seems to be gaining traction on college campuses, partly because the authorities have been more hesitant to suppress it than other political discussion.

On the Chinese internet, thousands of young people participate in vibrant Maoist and Marxist chat rooms, and some have started leftist news websites, posting commentary on topics like pollution, globalization and economic theory, without much interference by censors, until recently.

This week, school officials harassed young Marxists at a half-dozen universities and prevented some from meeting, activists said. And last year, the police in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, arrested Zhang Yunfan, the young leader of a Maoist reading group, accusing him of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order.”

Younger Chinese are often described as apathetic, selfish and obsessed with money. But Eric Fish, a writer who has studied Chinese millennials, said that the generation born after the Tiananmen Square massacre lacks the instinctive fear of authority of older generations.

“They’re more willing to go out on the street and stick their necks out,” he said. “There is not as much appreciation for what could go wrong.”

The dispute in Huizhou began in July, after Jasic Technology, a manufacturer of welding equipment, prevented its workers from forming an independent union. China allows labor organizing only under the auspices of the official, party-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

The workers said managers had seized control of their branch of the official union. Complaining of being underpaid and treated like slaves, they began to organize a petition before the police intervened and detained several of them.

The young activists learned of the workers’ plight on internet messaging apps and took up their cause, with about 40 students and recent graduates going to Huizhou, a manufacturing hub of 4.8 million people in Guangdong Province. Hundreds of others spoke out in support online — so many that several universities warned students not to go to Huizhou.

“I could not sit still,” Yue Xin, a recent graduate of Peking University who majored in foreign languages, said in an interview before she was detained. “I could not let myself be a mere internet commentator. I had to stand up.”

Zhang Shengye, 21, who graduated in June from Peking University with a degree in pharmacology, said he was inspired to join the protests by his family’s own struggles. His father, a sailor, was laid off from a state-owned firm during a wave of privatization in the 1990s, an experience Mr. Zhang described as a “financial and emotional apocalypse.”

But it was in college that he decided to answer Marx’s call to “work for mankind,” he said. Frustrated by the low wages and poor treatment of workers on campus, he and 60 other students, calling themselves the Marxist Research Association, published a report documenting labor violations.

“We share a very simple sympathy for workers and the aspiration of a better future for communism,” he said.

Image

Zhang Shengye

In Huizhou, the young activists called each other “comrade” and wore T-shirts with images of clenched fists and the slogan, “Unity is strength.” They marched alongside workers, holding banners that declared, “Forming unions is not a crime.” They staged re-enactments of the abuse the workers said they endured at the factory.

Though they identify as Maoists, the activists are decidedly nonviolent, unlike Maoist rebels in countries like Nepal and India who embrace violent revolution. Their philosophy also differs from China’s older Maoists, who largely focus on rooting out Western influences in Chinese society and are less confrontational toward the party.

The young protesters insist that they are good communists who support President Xi.

Before she was detained, Ms. Yue wrote an open letter to Mr. Xi saying that she had been inspired by his fight against corruption and his time working in an impoverished village in the countryside as a young man.

She added that the campaign in Huizhou had its roots not in foreign ideas, but in the May Fourth Movement of 1919, a student-led uprising in China that the party considers a precursor to the Communist Revolution.

Ms. Yue, also a leader of China’s #MeToo movement who spoke out against sexual harassment and assault on campus, has not been heard from since the police detained her during the Aug. 24 raid.

Friends are also worried about Shen Mengyu, one of the first students to call attention to the workers’ campaign. She was held by security officials at a hotel and is now under surveillance at her parents’ home, activists said.

Several workers at the equipment factory have also been formally arrested and charged with disturbing social order. Huang Lanfeng, whose husband, Yu Juncong, was among those detained, said the government was unfairly punishing workers while ignoring factory abuses.

“We will never give up,” she said. “We swear to fight the evil forces until the end.”

As the school year began, the activists vowed to press their campaign. Mr. Zhang and others staged a rally in Mao’s hometown, Shaoshan, on the 42nd anniversary of the Chinese leader’s death this month, and called on the government to release their friends. The police broke up the protest and briefly detained Mr. Zhang, who was also held and released after the Aug. 24 raid.

Mr. Zhang has circulated a petition calling on the party to punish local officials. He wrote:

“We are here because we are deeply aware that what we do is legal and just.

“We are here because we want to repay the workers with what we have learned for so many years.

“We are here because we don’t want to believe that dark forces can laugh malignantly in the world we inhabit.”

Follow Javier C. Hernández on Twitter: @HernandezJavier.

Zoe Mou and Echo Hui contributed research.

Read More | https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/world/asia/china-maoists-xi-protests.html |

Nature China’s Leaders Confront an Unlikely Foe: Ardent Young Communists, in 2018-09-29 00:41:43

#Nature of Business in the Current Market

[terudago81]

【３０日目】精神衛生

５月４日（金）２０：００　研修室にて

Ijumaa.4/Mei/2018 saa mbili kimiri. Mimi ninakuwa darasani.

外は風がビュンビュン吹いています。つい先日は暖かい日が続いていたのですが、今日は朝から寒かった。

ブログですが、「順番に書かねば」と言うこだわりが強すぎて、手が止まってしまうことがあるので、その日書けることはその日のうちに書こうと思います。無理なくやることが大切であると心得ております。

5/4（金）5:53の窓の外。朝は雨が降っていませんでした。今日は風も強くて、日中は雨が降ったり止んだりと変わりやすい天気でした。

５月４日（金）のことを書きます。

【５月４日（金）】

5:53 起床

6:30-7:10 朝の集い

7:10-7:50 朝食

8:45-11:35 語学

11:40-12:30 昼食

13:00–14:50 語学

15:10-17:00 講座「精神衛生」

17:00-18:00 自習

18:00-18:40 夕食

19:00-19:30 入浴

19:45- 語学自習

22:30-22:45 班ミーティング

23:00-24:00 ブログ更新

24:00 就寝

【スワヒリ語　メモ①】

〇Ki-Vi名詞の続き

今回でKi-Vi名詞の様々な品詞の活用については終了です。表を見れば活用の仕方は一目瞭然なのですが、ここは一つず例文を交えながら見ていった方が良さそうです。M-Wa名詞と違った制約があったりもしますので、それも比較しながら。

最後はまた別でKi-Vi名詞はまとめようと思います。

＜S（主辞）＋pi＞

（おさらい）選択肢がある状態で「どっち、どれ（英語のwhich）」と聞くときの表現

  S（主辞） + pi

その選択肢が人・動物などのM-Wa名詞の場合、

  M-Wa    単数　　　　複数

S（主辞） yu                 wa

   S＋pi     yupi             wapi

となったのでした。

（以下から新しい内容）

では、Ki-Vi名詞の場合はどうかと言うと、

   Ki-Vi     単数　　　　複数

S（主辞） ki                   vi

  S＋pi      kipi               vipi

となります。主辞はクラスの名前「Ki-Vi名詞」そのままですね。

あとは、M-Wa名詞で学習した通り。疑問代名詞として使う場合：単体で「どっち、どれ」と言う意味で使えます。

Kipi ni kikombe chako. どれがあなたのコップですか？

Vipi ni vikombe chetu.  どれ（複数）があなたたちのコップですか？

疑問形容詞として使う場合：名詞の後につけて「どっちの〜、どの〜」と言う意味で使えます。

Kiatu kipi ni cha mwalimu? どの靴が先生のものですか？

Viatu vipi ni vya mwalimu? どの靴（複数）が先生のものですか？

＜関係詞（R）＞

（おさらい）「〜する〇〇」のように、名詞を文節で修飾する表現が関係詞です。文節とはここではS-T-Vの文型のことを指します。

名詞  +  amba-（R）  +  文節（S-T-V）

で 「（S-T-V）をする（名詞）」と言う表現になります。

また、amba-を省略して、文節に関係詞を挿入する方法（修飾形）もあります。その場合、時辞（T）と動詞（V）の間に関係詞（R）が挿入されて、

名詞  +  文節（S-T-R-V）

となります。

M-Wa名詞の場合は

〇単数

M-Wa名詞（単数）　+   ambaye　+     S-T-V

M-Wa名詞（単数）                         +   S-T-ye-V

＜例文＞

Mtu ambaye alikuja jana.　昨日来た人

Mtu aliyekuja jana.              昨日来た人

または

〇複数

M-Wa名詞（複数）    +   ambao   +   S-T-V

M-Wa名詞（複数）                        +   S-T-o-V

＜例文＞

Watu ambao walikuja jana 昨日来た人たち

Watu waliokuja jana 昨日来た人たち

（以下から新しく学ぶところ）

Ki-Vi名詞の場合は

〇単数

Ki-Vi名詞（単数）　+   ambacho　+     S-T-V

Ki-Vi名詞（単数）                            +   S-T-cho-V

＜例文＞

Chakula ambacho tulikula ni kitamu.　私たちが食べた料理は美味しかった。

Kioo ambacho ulivunja ni cha mama.   壊れた鏡は母のものです。

または

〇複数

Ki-Vi名詞（複数）　+   ambavyo　+     S-T-V

Ki-Vi名詞（複数）                            +   S-T-vyo-V

＜例文＞

Vyakula ambavyo tulikula ni vitamu.　私たちが食べた料理（複数）は美味しかった。

Vioo ambavyo ulivunja ni vya mama.   壊れた鏡（複数）は母のものです。

客辞（O）を伴う場合もあります。

Kitabu ambacho nilikisoma ni kizuri sana.　私が読んだ本はとても良かった。

nilikisomaは「S-T-O-V」の文型で、「ki」はKitabuを指しています。

以下のような文章を変換した形と考えて良さそうです。

　　　　　 　　  S-T-O-V   目的語

　　　　　         Nilikisoma kitabu.　私は本を読んだ。

Kitabu ambacho nilikisoma.                私の読んだ本。

            関係詞　 S-T-O-V

＜所有 kuwa na＞

（おさらい）「〜をもつ」と言う意味を表す表現は

　S（主辞）＋ na ＋ 名詞

で表されます。M-Wa名詞が主語の場合、主辞は三人称と同じで、

M-Wa　  単数　　　   複数

肯定          a                  wa

否定         ha               hawa

です。つまり、

単数（肯定/否定）  複数（肯定/否定）

 ana / hana           wana / hawana

となります。

（ここから新しい内容）

Ki-Vi名詞が主語の場合、主辞は以下のようになります。

Ki-Vi　  単数　　　   複数

肯定         ki                  vi

否定       haki              havi

です。これまでの経験上、否定の主辞は肯定の主辞に「ha」がつくことが多いですね。これにnaをつけて、

単数（肯定/否定）  複数（肯定/否定）

kina / hakina           vina / havina

となります。

Kijiji kina watu wengi.　村にはたくさんの人がいる。

Vijiji vina watu wengi.　村々にたくさんの人がいる。

Kijiji hakina watu wengi.　村にはたくさんの人がいない。

Vijiji havina watu wengi.　村々にたくさんの人がいない。

＊S＋na は動詞kuwa naを用いた現在形S-T-Vが元になっている表現のようです。例えば

　　 S-T-V

　　Ninakuwa na kitabu.　私は本を持っている

が省略されて、

       S-na

　　Nina kitabu. 私は本を持っている

となったと考えて良さそうです。

現在形以外の時制で表現すると、普通のS-T-Vの形に戻ります。

                           肯定 / 否定

現在形　Nina kitabu. / Sina kitbu.

過去形　Nilikuwa na kitabu. / Sikuwa na kitabu.

完了形　Nimekuwa na kitabu. / Sijakuwa na kitabu.

＜-ote、-o-ote、-enye、-enyewe＞

-ote

（おさらい）「-ote」には英語の「all」「whole」などの意味があります。M-Waでは単数形は取れず複数形のみの活用でした。

M-Wa　単数　　　複数

-ote　　ー 　　　  wote

（ここから新しい内容）

ではKi-Vi名詞ではどうかと言うと以下のようになります。

Ki-Vi 　単数　　 　複数

-ote　  chote　　  vyote

なんと、単数形でもいけちゃうんですね。これはallと言うよりはwhole（全体）と言う意味でとるとしっくりきます。ノラが変な例文を提示してくれたので、紹介します。

Kiatu chote kina kamemushi. （一足の）靴全体にカメムシがついている。

Viatu vyote vina kamemushi. 　全ての靴にカメムシがついている。

このように、単数choteは一つのものの全体（部分に対しての）を示す形容しとしても用いられるようです。

-o-ote

（おさらい）「-o-ote」には英語の「any」のような意味があります。

M-Wa　  単数　　　複数

-o-ote　yeyote 　   wowote

（ここから新しい内容）

Ki-Vi名詞ではお決まりのch-とvy-が入ります。

Ki-Vi 　　　単数　　 　   複数

-o-ote  　chochote 　vyovyote

となります。

例文

Lete kikombe tafadhali.コップを持ってきてください。

Nilete kikombe gani? どのコップを持っていきますか？

Lete kikombe chochote. どのコップでもいいのでもってきてください。

-enye

（おさらい）「-enye」には英語の「to have」のような意味があります。後ろに名詞を伴います。

M-Wa　  単数　　　複数

-enye 　mwenye 　 wenye

（ここから新しい内容）

Ki-Vi名詞ではお決まりのch-とvy-が入ります。

Ki-Vi 　　　単数　　 　   複数

-enye     　chenye 　       vyeye

となります。

例文

Ninataka kula chakula chenye pilipili. 私は辛い食べ物が食べたい。

-enyewe

（おさらい）「-enyewe」には英語の「itself」のような意味があります。

M-Wa　       単数　　　     複数 

-enyewe  mwenyewe 　  wenyewe

（ここから新しい内容）

Ki-Vi名詞ではお決まりのch-とvy-が入ります。

Ki-Vi 　　　   単数　　 　        複数

-enyewe     chenyewe 　       vyeyewe

となります。

例文

Kisima kinajaa maji chenyewe. 　井戸の水が自然と湧き上がってくる。

ku-jaa (kt) = be full  maji (n) = water

.＜-po、-ko、-mo＞

（おさらい）何（誰）かの場所を表し「〜にある（いる）」と言う表現は

  S（主辞） ＋ po、ko、mo  ＋ 場所

で

-poは特定できる狭い範囲など

-koは特定できない広い範囲など

-moは室内、車内、建物内などの内部など

を示すのでした。

M-Wa名詞が主語の場合の主辞は、

　　　　単数　　　　複数

肯定       yu                  wa

否定       hayu              hawa

単数（肯定/否定）複数（肯定/否定）

yupo / hayupo        wapo / hawapo

yuko / hayuko        wako / hawako

yumo / hayumo        wamo / hawamo

となります。

（ここから新しい内容）

Ki-Vi名詞の主辞にpo、ko、moをつけて。

単数（肯定/否定）複数（肯定/否定）

kipo / hakipo        vipo / havipo

kiko / hakiko        viko / haviko

kimo / hakimo        vimo / havimo

例文

Kikombe kipo juu ya meza. コップはテーブルの上にある。

juu ya = top of     meza = table

Vitanda hakiko chumbani. ベッドは部屋にない。

Vitabu vimo ndani mfuko.本はバッグの中にある。

ndani = inside     mfuko = bag,pocket

＊-moは何かの内部にある時に使う

Ki-Vi名詞は以上。基本的にM-Wa名詞と用法は同じなので、あとはどの名詞がKi-Viなのかを具体的なシチュエーションを通して覚えていくことですね。あと、Ki-Vi名詞は「ki」「vi」「ch」「vy」がどこかしらに付くので、それの法則性に気付くと覚えやすそうです。

休み時間。ノラにじゃがりこを餌付けされているあーちゃん。仲良しです。

〇過去形（Wakati uliopita）

既に過去形の表現は使ってきましたが、きちっと文法で説明はされてこなかったので、今更ではありますがちゃんと確認しておきます。特に否定形は間違いやすいので注意。

過去形の作り方（S-T-(O)-V）

肯定形

肯定主辞＜ni,u,a,tu,m,wa＞＋過去肯定時辞＜li＞＋(客辞O)＋動詞V

否定形

否定主辞＜si,hu,ha,hatu,ham,hawa＞＋過去否定時辞＜ku＞＋(客辞O)＋動詞V

これだけです。

＜例文＞

肯定形

スワヒリ動詞（動詞にkuはつけない）

Nilifanya kazi ya nyumbani. 私は宿題をした。

外国語動詞（動詞にkuはつけない）

Mwalimu aliwasamehe wanafunzi. 先生は生徒たちを許した。

単音節動詞（動詞にkuをつける）

Ulikula chakula cha mchana. あなたは昼食を食べた。

否定形

スワヒリ動詞（動詞にkuはつけない）

Sikufanya kazi ya nyumbani. 私は宿題をしなかった。

外国語動詞（動詞にkuはつけない）

Mwalimu hakuwasamehe wanafunzi. 先生は生徒たちを許さなかった。

単音節動詞（動詞にkuをつけない）

Hukula chakula cha mchana. あなたは昼食を食べなかった。

過去否定時辞はkuなので、動詞の頭に付くkuと混同しないように注意が必要です。

午前中はここまで。

お昼休憩。ちょうど晴れていました。でも、空気はひんやりです。

今日は窓から向こうの先までよく見えました。

なぜか、カステラ一番、電話は二番を踊りだすモーリー。それを知らないあーちゃん。

【スワヒリ語メモ②】

＜日時、曜日の表現＞

この講座が始まってから、スワヒリ語講座では輪番の日直が毎朝「今日は何曜日ですか？」「今日は何日ですか？」という質問を投げかけ、答えるという会話をやっています。なので、ここではそこまで新しい内容はありません。

〇今日、明日などの表現

Lini?       When?

Juzi        Day before yesterday

Jana       Yesterday

Leo         Today

Kesho     Tomorrow

Kesho kutwa    Day after tomorrow

＜例文＞

S: Lini utaanza kujifunza Kiswahili. スワヒリ語の勉強いつ始めたの？

J: Leo utaanza kujifunza Kiswahili. 今日スワヒリ語の勉強を始めました。

＊Leoは分の前に置いても、後ろに置いても良い。

〇月の表現

                    Mwezi      Month

kwanza       Januari     January

   pili          Februari    February

   tatu           Machi       March  

   nne            Aprili         April

   tano            Mei           May

   sita             Juni          June

   saba           Julai         Julai

   nane          Agosti      Augusut

    tisa         Septemba   September 

    kumi           October   Oktoba     

kumi na moja  November   Novemba

kumi na mbili  December   Desemba

 ＜例文＞

S：Huu ni mwezi gani? / Huu ni mwezi ngapi?

J：Huu ni mwezi Aprili. / Huu ni mwezi wa nne.

月の言い方は２通りある。一つは英語由来の月の言い方、もう一つは数字で言う方法。gani?で聞かれたら、普通はAprilのように月の名前で答える。ngapi?で聞かれたら、数字で答える。

〇日にちの表現

S：Leo ni tarehe nagapi?

J：Leo ni tarehe mosi / moja.

                           pili / mbili.

                           tatu.

tarehe = date

tareheの後に数字を言えば日にちを答えることになる。mosiやpiliはあまり使われない。

〇曜日の表現

S： Leo ni siku gani?

J ：Leo ni Jumamosi.

siku = day

Juma = a week 

Jumamosi    Saturday

Jumapili        Sunday

Jumatatu      Monday

Jumanne      Tuesday

Jumatano   Wednesday

 Alhamisi      Thursday

   Ijumaa         Friday

＜国に関する表現＞

〇国の表現

国名ー国民（単数 / 複数）ー言語ー首都

TanzaniaーMtanzania / WatanzaniaーKiswahiliーDodoma

JapaniーMjapani / WajapaniーKijapaniーTokyo

KenyaーMkenya / Wakenya ーKiswahiliーNairobi

UingerezaーMwingereza / WaingerezaーKiingerezaーLondon

Amerika / MarekaniーMmarekani / WamarekaniーKiingerezaーWashington DC

MisiriーMmisri / WamisriーKiarabuーCairo

UfaransaーMfaransa / WafaransaーKifaransaーParis

BraziliーMbrazili / WabraziliーKirenoーBrasilia

＜例文＞

S；Wewe ni taifa gani?

J：Mimi ni Mtanzania.

taifa = nationality

S：Unasema lugha gani?

J：Ninasema Kijapani.

＜年齢、家族に関するの表現＞

＜例文＞

S：Una miaka mingapi? (How old are you?)

J：Nina miaka thelathini na mbili. (I’m thirty three years old.)

miakaはmwaka（M-Mi名詞）の複数形、それに呼応してmingapi?となっています。

毎朝やっている

Huu ni mwaka gani?（今、何年ですか？）

っていうあれ。

年齢を言うときはS＋na（to have）の表現を用いるのですね。

または、以下の表現もあります。

J：Umri wangu ni miaka thelathini na mbili.(My age is thirty three years.)

Umri = age

＜例文＞

S：Una ndugu?( Do you have sibling(brother and sister)?)

J：Ndiyo, nina ndugu.(Yes, I have.)

S：Una ndugu wangapi?(How many sbling do you have?)

J：Nina ndugu wawili.(I have two sbling.)

ndugu(N-N) = sibling

nguduが「N-N名詞」にも関わらずwangapiを使うのは兄弟が「人」だから。

３人兄弟で「兄弟が何人いますか？」と言う表現だったら、自分を除いて「２人います。」と答えます。

または、「３人兄弟です。」と言う答え方もできます。

J：Sisi ni ndugu watatu.(We are three siblings.)

S：Ndugu zako ni wa kike au ni wa kiume? (Your siblings are female or malle?)

J：Mmojaj ni mwanamke na mmoja ni mwanamume.(One is woman and one is man.)

kike = female 、kiume = male

授業中に非常に引っかかって、気になったところをノラに質問しました。

① Nduguは人だから「M-Wa」名詞として扱うはずなのに、なぜここではNdugu zakoになるのか。

→ 不幸なことに（笑）、ファミリーネームの所有格（-angu,-ako,-ake,-etu,-enu,-ao）だけは例外的に名詞クラスのまま扱う。

　例  Dada yangu (my sister)、Baba yako (your father)、Babu na bibi zao (their grand father and grand mother)

＊ケニアではDada yauguをDadangu、Kaka yanguをKakanguと省略して言うことがあるらしい。

② kikeやkiumeの前になぜ名詞をつなぐ「wa」があるのか？無くても意味は通詞そうだけど。むしろ、「wa」は名詞と名詞をつなぐものだから、waの前に名詞がないのは違和感がある。waの前にNduguが省略されてると考えていい？

→それでいい。Ndugu wa kike (女の兄弟)  Ndugu wa kiume（男の兄弟）という意味。

Ndugu zako ni ndugu wa kike au ni ndugu wa kiume?

あなたの兄弟は女の兄弟ですか、それとも男の兄弟ですか？

と言うとくどくなるので、省略していると考えていいようです。スッキリ。

S：Kaka yako ameoa?(Your brother married?)

J：Bado hajaoa.(Not yet.He hasn’t marries. )

S：Dada yako ameolewa? (Your sister married?)

J：Ndiyo, ameorewa, na ana watoto wawili.(Yes, she have married, and she has two children.)

kuoa = to marry a woman 男性が主語の時に用いる動詞。

kuolewa = to be married 女性が主語の時に用いる動詞。

スワヒリ世界では、結婚は女性が男性に嫁ぐ形を取るため、主語によって結婚すると言う意味の動詞の形が変化するらしい。日本で「嫁に行く」「嫁をもらう」と言うのと同じと考えていいと思う。

その他の表現

Bibi　祖母　

Babu　祖母

Mama　母　

Baba　父

Dada　姉

Kaka　兄

Mdogo wa kike　妹

Mdogo wa kiume　姉

今日のスワヒリ語はここまで。

毎度いろんなお菓子を持ち寄ってはノラにも分けてあげていますが、その度にいろんな反応があっておもしろい。今日は、梅のグミをあーちゃんがあげました。酸っぱいけど美味しかったようです。

グミをあげた直後、ノラのことをKutazamaするあーちゃん。仲良し。

【講座　精神衛生】

うつ病になりやすい人のリストの中に「自信過剰な人」とあって、「あれはお菊のことだ」と仲間に言われました。気をつけようと思います。笑

[ebizupdate]

iQIYI Talent Show Contributes to Hip-hop's Phenomenal Rise in China

BEIJING, Sept. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rap of China, a hip-pop talent show produced by the nation's largest online video platform iQIYI, has thrilled millions of Chinese fans and helped the hip-pop culture go mainstream in China.

The first talent show themed on the hip-pop music in China has taken the country by storm since it was first streamed on iQIYI on June 24.

The show features four heavyweights in the Chinese pop music industry as judges – heartthrob Kris Wu, pop star Wilber Pan, MC HotDog, a rap artist in Taiwan and veteran musician Chang Chen-yue also from Taiwan.

The 12-episode show has been viewed 2.68 billion times by Sunday when the final episode was streamed. The title of the show has been among the most-searched key words in the topic-ranking service of Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, for the past two months. The news about the program as well as the social, cultural and commercial discussions it involves have made headlines across the nation, while hip-pop terms like "freestyle", "diss" and "battle" have become buzzwords in the county's social media platforms. 

Hip-pop, the music genre originated from a black street culture in the United States, has remained a foreign import known only to small group of die-hard fans in China for the past two decades. But the show by iQIYI has struck a chord with China's younger generation who embraces individualism embodied by the rappers, their music as well as their look and dress.

"Original content production and distribution are at the core of iQIYI strategy," said Gong Yu, founder and CEO of iQIYI.

"Innovation at a video streaming service provider like iQIYI should not be only about technology, but also has much to do with content production and business model. As far as contents are concerned, we need to turn them into as many products or services as possible which we can monetize."

The success of The Rap of China has helped raise the company's profile and brought huge online traffic to iQIYI, which is seeking to nurture an online ecosystem embracing all elements across the spectrum of entertainment, which include shows, online games, live streaming, e-commerce, VR, online literature and online communities for fans.

iQIYI has put the show's slogan "Rising! Chinese Hip-pop" or "R!CH" into a trademark and developed more than 200 lines of merchandise covering from clothes, accessories, earphones to cell phone cases and VR goggles. 

Meanwhile, the company has invited star rappers from the program to the live concert, Screaming Night 2017, it sponsored in Beijing in mid-August to thrill local hop-pop fans. Internet users are also encouraged to vote for their favorite rappers via Qixiu, a live streaming service affiliated with iQIYI, and fans can enter lucky draws held in Paopao, the online fans community of iQIYI, for tickets to the finals of the program or meet their favorite rappers at off-line gatherings.

Gong said that iQIYI will continue to strive to produce premium content and build up the content-centered ecosystem with the vision to become "a great entertainment company powered by technology innovation".  

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Read this news on PR Newswire Asia website: iQIYI Talent Show Contributes to Hip-hop's Phenomenal Rise in China

#Internet