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kitcat992 · 1 year

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│Identity Saga │Narrative Discourse (My Kid)

Identity Saga

When I first started the Identity Saga, right after Infinity War, my main and primary desire was to build the relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker — knowing full well we'd never see it on the big screen (but not knowing just how badly TPTB would treat these two #theydeservedbetter) It's always great to jump into a fic where the foundations are pre-established with throw away lines, but I'd yet to see someone fully evolve their relationship step-by-step (and I can't blame a single soul for not taking up the task. It's *exhausting*, lmao.) And so, I set out to create a universe where the audience could witness the evolution of these two characters as they grow together into a strong bond.

It took two stories, about 600k words, and literal years spent laying down the narrative threads of "my kid." And of everything in this series, it remains my absolute favorite.

With the final installment about to begin, here's a brief recap of how we got there.

Identity Theft │ Chapter 1: Prologue

“Oh my god, Mr. Stark, this is like, the coolest thing ever!”

Tony rolled his eyes and rubbed his forehead, a tension headache quickly brimming behind his eyeballs.

“I know, kid. You’ve said that about thirty-six times now.”

“No, no no, it’s not that, it’s just…" Peter held the helmet in his hands as if it were gold, his eyes bright and wide, and his feet bouncing with excitement. "Dude, this is the coolest thing ever!”

Tony could feel his eyes roll to the back of his head. If he looked hard enough, he possibly could've seen his own brain — throbbing with the growing headache that caffeine may or may not fix.

Excitement was always an element the kid brought along with him, anytime Tony invited him along to work in the lab. And as exhausting as it was to deal with, there was no denying how the unbridled glee managed to always brighten his otherwise sour mood.

But while he wasn’t necessarily expecting an in-depth discussion regarding the scientific findings on his latest project, he also wasn’t expecting a broken record to play on repeat. The kid was usually better than that.

Usually.

“You say the word ‘coolest’ and ‘thing’ and ‘ever’ one more time Parker... " Tony massaged his forehead harder. "And I assure you this will be the last time you and DUM-E get to play patty-cake together.”

Peter’s head snapped up like a broken rubber band, and slowly, he put the helmet back down on the work desk below him.

“Wha-why-what…no. No, I want to — I just thought…” he repeatedly cleared his throat and nervously straightened his back. “Okay, so, I gotta know…how did you get the holographic chip to store facial data recognition?”

Tony scoffed, mildly amused. “Jesus kid, that’s the best question you can come up with? That part was borderline child's play.”

“Yeah, well, no, it’s just —” Peter stumbled over his words, scooting his stool closer to where Tony sat. And then closer after that. “Facial recognition typically uses bio metrics for its body measurements and calculations, to—to you know, refer to metrics related to human characteristics, but its used in access control, never memory stored control. And I can’t imagine a simple storage unit could hold all this information and relay it back to the recognition program in time to provide results, so…" Peter finally took a breath, "how'd you do it?"

Tony hummed, giving a short and sharp nod. If there was one thing he could always count on, it was that Parker could talk his head off when it came to science. And while he had days where he doubted supplying the kid with so much technology to support his vigilante heroism — six months ago, for example, when the Ferry Incident was still fresh in his mind — it was moments like this that renewed his confidence in the young lad.

He wouldn't admit it aloud, but it made him proud.

Or some mutated form of the emotion he hadn't quite figured it out yet.

Identity Theft │ Chapter 7: New Kid On the Block

A beat passed by before he looked over at Tony, a mixture of realization and recognition written across his features.

“Son of a gun,” Steve muttered. “I think he’s right.”

“Wanda, Vision, you’re dismissed," Tony ordered, shooing his hand in their direction. "Retreat to the Quinjet and stay there. We can’t add any more fuel to this fire.”

The two didn’t need any further instructions. Vision flew Wanda and himself up into the sky, the back door of the jet already open with Natasha awaiting them.

Hovering out the door, she looked down at the scene below.

“Need backup now?” she asked, stepping aside as the two entered the aircraft.

“Yes.” Tony tilted his head to the side. “Parker — get over here.”

“Peter, up here first,” Natasha’s voice butted in.

Steve grabbed Tony's arm. “What are you—”

“Who knows what this atrocity can reflect back at us,” Tony interrupted him, and fast at that. “Do we really want a fifteen-foot tall walking rock wall with Captain America’s strength?”

“I dropped an areobridge on that kid. I saw him lift twenty-five tons," Steve mentioned, a hard shake of his head mixed with his words. "If his strength isn’t equal to mine, it’s better. You’re just giving this creature the advantage by bringing him into the fight.”

Tony's lips pursed with a smile. “Not with the idea I have in mind.”

Steve didn’t have a chance to argue. Peter had already shot two webs onto the Quinjet and pulled himself into the air, landing inside and next to Natasha with a visible thud.

They watched on the ground as the two exchanged a brief conservation. Natasha's fingers pointed at Steve and Tony all while Peter shrugged with a sincerity that could be seen down far away.

Ultimately, Peter dove out of the jet, a web sticking to the side as he lowered himself down to the island.

Peter landed gracefully in a squatting position, a single palm balancing himself on the ground.

“What was that about?” Tony furrowed his brows and pointed up to the jet.

“She, uhm, she…” Peter stood up, shrugging intently. “She wanted to make sure I was good coming over here. That's all.”

Tony’s face fell flat. His dumbfounded expression was all too visible with his Iron Man mask open. His eyes darted back and forth as he took in what he was told, his scowl growing more intense with realization.

“Romanoff, do not baby my kid!”

His stern warning was immediately cut short as he realized what he'd said.

And if he happened to not realize it, the look from Steve would've made him realize it.

“I mean — you know what I —" Tony clenched his teeth tight. "Damn it!”

There was silence over the comms. Only the honking traffic, roaring monster, and engines from the aircraft filled the space between.

Even Sam didn’t dare to joke.

Peter stood awkwardly in front of the two, his large mechanical eyes blinking more than a few times.

Steve cocked an eyebrow, and the corners of his lips twitched.

“You do what you want, Stark,” Natasha’s voice finally came through. “We’ll be patrolling the skies.”

If it were possible, Tony’s cheeks began to reflect his red Iron Man armor, his gloved hands rubbing at his forehead despite the pressure the metal put on his bones. It was only when a loud roar and gust of wind hit them — knocking Tony and Steve back and Peter forward — that he refocused his attention.

“Tony.” Steve stumbled to his feet. “You have a plan?”

Identity Theft │ Chapter 11: Avengers Disassembled

There was a pause.

Steve looked down to the coffee cup on the table, watching as the mess began to leak driblets onto the ground. One drop at a time, creating a small puddle on the marble floor. A mess that somebody, at some point, would need to clean up.

“You called him your kid.” Steve forced his eyes away from the dripping coffee, back to where Tony sat. His head tilted to the side, just narrowly. “Last week…out on the island…you called him your kid.”

The coffee kept dripping.

Tony barely craned his head around to look at Steve — close enough now that if he wanted to take a seat next to him on the couch, he could. If Tony hadn't been so confused, he would've made a run for the other sofa. Or jump straight down the stairs, need be. Whatever it meant to get Steve away from him.

Curiosity always did win when it came to Stark's. And Steve's out-of-the-blue comment was just enough to grab his attention.

"Your point?" Tony made a face that was caught between insulted and perplexed, and something else he was too tired to figure out.

Steve found himself leaning against the armrest of the sofa, slowly, enough that the movement didn't jostle the man sitting there.

“Tony…” Steve started to say. “Was he actually your son —?”

“No!” Tony's eyes were wide enough to fall onto the floor. Jesus, if that didn't get him to sober up quickly. "Christ, no, I didn't have — no!"

He definitely needed to go heavier on the whiskey. Tony brought a hand to his forehead, not realizing it was wet with coffee until it smeared against his temple. He cursed under his breath, rubbing the back of his hand roughly against his jeans before returning to a halfhearted temple massage.

This was exactly the shit he'd been worried about with Parker. Rumors, speculation, tabloid garbage nonsense that would spread like wildfire — this was part of why he wanted to keep Peter secret from the team.

A scoff shook his back. So much for that.

Despite Tony's outburst, Steve still seemed wary. His head tilted further to the side, his confusion deepening. All the more visible underneath the lack of sleep that coated his features.

It was a tired Captain America that Tony took pity on. His confusion was no different than Bambi on a dewy morning, lost and looking for answers. Glancing over at Steve — really looking at him — and Tony didn't understand how even the blues of his eyes had deepened with that confusion. It was almost enough to make him scoff again — because of course Rogers could pull off the Bambi eyes when he wanted to.

Screw it. It didn't matter now. It didn't matter what the team knew and what they didn't know.

It wasn't like Peter was around to worry about anymore.

"He wasn't...he wasn't my kid, no," Tony let out that scoff after all. "He’s been — he was— hanging around here. A lot. More often than I probably should have let him.”

Tony adjusted himself on the sofa, attempting to straighten his back in a way that would evoke poise they both knew he didn’t have right now. The sip of coffee he took only further deteriorated that attempt. The hand holding his mug began to tremble with the liquid he hadn't consumed in ages.

Identity Theft │ Chapter 14: Haste Makes Waste

Sam turned back to Steve, reluctantly, holding his stare for a minute. When he finally backed down, it was with a huff. So audible it may as well have been the thing that pushed his chair away.

He reached for it and rolled it back behind him, answering Steve only with a firm nod and a tight purse of his lips.

Any other day, and Tony would have said he was pouting. He may have even thrown out a joke, no different than Clint.

But the energy for jokes was energy he didn't have. And no amount of guzzling caffeine was going to fix that. Especially not after losing four vital team members on the impromptu to rescue mission that he still struggled to wrap his head around.

“Tony —”

The sound of his name cut through his thoughts like a bulldozer. Tony whirled around, his eyes springing wide open right as Steve open his mouth to speak.

“Hell no!” Tony practically yelled, viciously shaking his head at the very concept of Rogers benching him. “You don’t have a say in this one, Cap. I’m there. End of story." When Steve parted his lips to speak — a second attempt, at that — Tony trampled right over him. "I have a suit roaring to go, one that’ll kick them off their feet even with that damn nanite mist." Tony lowered his gaze with a fierceness reflecting back at Steve. Unmistakable as it crossed into his every facial feature. "I’m getting my kid back.”

Whatever Steve had tried hard to say was suddenly lost on his tongue. He sat quiet, his lips sealing shut after many attempts at getting his words out. His expression got caught somewhere between stunned and mild awe.

It didn’t go unnoticed that Tony called Peter ‘his kid’ again. Yet not even Clint dared to tease him about that.

“I...wasn’t going to argue with you over that,” Steve needlessly said, finding himself unable to hide the smile that tugged at the corner of his lips. “I wanted to make sure you had a plan before we attacked.”

Tony's gaze let up, slightly, just enough that the tension he felt wasn't bulging every muscle on his body. Quick to notice the attention he had drawn on himself, he opted to roll his eyes was exaggeratedly as possible.

“You know me, Rogers," Tony drawled out, folding both arms firmly over his chest. "My plan is to attack."

Identity Theft │ Chapter 16: Smoke and Mirrors

Almost robotically, Steve stepped to the side. Tony wouldn’t turn his back to him, he absolutely refused. His arm stayed gestured out, insisting that the man take the lead. He could have sworn he heard a scoff when they finally started walking; it was hard to say, the blood rushing in both ears made his hearing muffled.

Tony stayed directly behind him, his fingers digging into his palms, scratching the metal of his armor. They walked down the hallways in the opposite way Tony had come from, opposite of the trail he was following.

Which meant at their pace and direction, they’d be rounding the back of the building.

‘He’ll either lead you to Peter or kill you first. Which do you think it is, Stark?’

With every step, each footstep they made, his breathing came in harder, his lips tightly pursed. Tony had enough experience with crazy maniacs to know this wouldn’t work for his benefit. Dmitri wanted him dead. Peter was a ploy, bait — innocent, goddamn bait.

Tony had reached his tipping point long before they had even entered the base. A devouring inferno of thoughts began to splinter him apart. He took Peter. He had Peter. He probably hurt Peter – innocent, wanted-nothing-more-than-to-please-everyone Peter. This son of a bitch had broken into his company, tried to steal his money, took his kid —

His control broke, snapping like a weak twig. Self-restraint gone with the wind, willpower lost in the heat of the moment, Tony charged forward.

The man whipped around as Tony yanked at his arm. “Ah-ck! Tony, what the hell are you —!”

Tony grabbed him, slamming him violently into the nearest wall.

“Tony, what —!”

Tony grabbed the side of the impostor’s face and smashed his head against the wall — once, twice, and then a third time. The light from his helmet barely illuminated the blood that trickled down from the bastard’s forehead. When he finished, Tony had the man’s hair clenched between his fingers, ensuring he wouldn’t move.

“Cap hasn’t worn those gloves since the battle of New York in 2012.” Tony pressed his face harder against the wall, the man’s cheek smothered against the damp metal. “Where the hell is my kid, Dmitri!?”

Tony couldn’t remember a time he spoke with such venom. His rage was a wicked tornado, building inside him, ready to cause destruction in its path. The blond hair stayed gripped in his hand, and he found himself squeezing harder when the sick fuck began to laugh — a light, airy chuckle falling between them.

Tony whipped Dmitri’s head back and —

WHAM!

Identity Theft │ Chapter 17: Grace Under Pressure

Tony had gotten halfway across the base when the damage to his Iron Man helmet finally pushed him over the edge. He ripped it off with a frustrated growl.

“Goddamn piece of junk.” His fingers dug deep into the device, tearing apart the lining and tossing it aside. He didn’t care about being gentle, the jagged, metal edges cutting deep into his exposed knuckles. He was already wasting time, the distraction of the broken helmet doing him no favors.

Within the eye-sockets, he grabbed the wires that contained two tiny LED lights and yanked them out. At least now he could be free of the dented helmet. The metal had been so caved in from his fight that it was putting pressure on his skull.

Tony smacked his palm against his chest, embedding the lights to his armor. The moment they attached, he resumed his search. There wasn’t any time to spare.

It didn’t take him long to find the trail of blood he'd initially been following. He couldn’t tell which way he headed in the base — left, right, south, north — all he knew was that he planned to follow the crude pathway until it gave him answers. His energy was fed by anger so intense, so hot that it starved away his undeniable anxiety.

When the smeared blood took a curve into an open room, Tony half expected to be led down another hallway. He instead came to a startling halt at the entrance. To his surprise, the room was a dead end. It was just that — a room.

What caught his attention was the reflection of Captain America’s shield, the red and blue standing out from the dreary darkness around them. It was directed right at him, attached to Steve’s back, telling him that the man was facing forward. Tony squinted, realizing that Steve’s attention was clearly focused on something — or someone — important.

He stood frozen in the doorway, listening intently to the sounds from within. The voice was so quiet he almost didn’t catch it.

Almost.

“Stay with me, soldier,” Steve spoke softly, his tone more delicate than Tony had ever heard it before. “Easy now, I got you, son.”

Tony furrowed his brows. It was the only part of him that he could feel move, his nerves paralyzing the rest of his muscles.

But he knew couldn’t have stood there long; Steve’s instincts kicked in quickly, his head turning over his shoulder when his presence was noticed.

He never said anything. It was probably for the best, Tony wasn’t sure if he would have heard him to begin with. Not over the pounding of his heartbeat, the blood rushing through his ears. Steve moved, just ever so slightly that both their flashlights gave sight to —

“Peter.” Tony’s breath lodged in his chest.

The kid was slumped forward, only held upright by the metal straps around his arms — Tony balked, they had him bolted against the wall. He was too far away to see if Peter’s eyes were open or not. It was too dark to see if he was even breathing, the intrusive thought making his stomach churn.

But he was there. No mind tricks, no sick psycho taking on his identity, it was him — Peter.

His kid.

Identity Theft │ Chapter 18: Homecoming

They were millimeters away from smashing through two automatic doors, moving faster than the technology could keep up with. Doctors, nurses, and techs poured through, squeezing in, some pushing each other aside as they rushed alongside the gurney.

Tony went to follow. His jaw clenched with a searing need to be involved, to be as close as he possibly could, to never lose sight of his kid ever, ever again.

Just as the doors were closing, a man stepped in front of him, latex gloves pressing heavily against his chest.

“Mr. Stark,” he started, “you can’t go in there.”

Tony shook his head, eyes staring past him and into the other room. “I have to — he’s my —”

“You can’t,” he firmly repeated.

The noise across from them seemed to increase, words mixing with obnoxious beeping and alarms that made his ears hurt.

Tony swallowed hard. “I need to —”

“You’re not sterile. You’re not even clean,” the man explained. “I need to ask that you leave.”

“No, I... I—”

“Mr. Stark.” His hand pushed harder, his voice more strict. “Back down.”

Tony didn’t have the time to argue. The man retreated, rushing away. Though in Tony's head he screamed mind to follow, his feet stayed glued to the ground, and he wasn’t sure what made him stay. He wasn’t the type of person to take orders, but this wasn’t about being submissive.

This was about knowing where his place was, what help he could and couldn’t provide.

He had done his part. He got Peter home, they completed their mission, now he needed to let his staff do the job he paid them for. He wasn’t any use in there.

It was out of his hands now.

Identity Theft │ Chapter 20: Family Ties

Clint sighed, knowing that was an understatement. In such a short time Wanda had formed a connection with Peter that everyone but himself was taken aback by.

Clint, however, saw it coming a mile away. Peter had filled a hole she had since she left Sovokia, and it was apparent why.

His grip tightened around the mug’s handle. “He reminds her a lot of her brother.”

“Reminds her?” Sam huffed wryly. “She’s practically taken on the role of his big sister.”

Rhodey didn’t look up from his screen as he said, “Then that makes you the annoying big brother.”

“Psh, whatever.” Sam waved him off. “Brother means I’m young. Old-man over here is pretty much the dad.”

Clint scoffed and set his coffee mug down in the kitchen sink. “Oh hell no. That’s all Stark. If anything, I’m the cool uncle.”

No one argued with his statement. Distantly, Clint wondered if Tony himself would argue with it if he were there.

He shook his head at the thought. As a father himself, he knew a dad when he saw one, related by blood or not. Tony had clearly developed something more than a mentor relationship with the kid, and he could deny that until his face turned blue; they all knew better.

After all, Tony called Parker his kid twice in front of them. They may have not said anything, but they heard it.

Of all the changes they had gone through this past year, seeing Tony fall into such a parental role was one Clint hadn’t expected. It was nice. Dare he say it, Clint felt more relatable to Tony now more than ever. The billionaire somehow seemed more human, more like the dad side of him that lived away on a farm taking care of his own children.

It was just a shame that everyone else noticed it before Tony did himself. Clint could only hope that after all this, the man would accept that it was okay to get close to someone, that he and the kid were a good fit for each other.

After all this, they deserved some happiness in their lives.

Identity Theft │ Chapter 26: Building Blocks

Tony did, however, look at Peter's hand. And as he stared at those hands, he noted the sudden bout of anxiety that riddled Peter’s nerves. It was hard not too; he had seen it in himself too many times before.

“Well, I think it was more than just chloroform. It made me...” The flood of shame and fear that tinted Peter's voice came and went before Tony could call him out on it. “They had me against the wall. I couldn’t break the bands and they said they were using some experimental metal to hold me —”

“Adamantium,” Tony finished, the words escaping his mouth before he could stop himself.

Peter eagerly sat up. “Dude, how do you know all this?”

Tony gestured another open palm in the air, signaling for him to be patient.

“Keep going.”

Peter sighed. He leaned back against the bed, his right arm gently and loosely wrapping around his midsection in hopes it would quell the pain that blossomed there.

“Mysterio, he used this...this gas on me. My arms were pinned, I couldn’t get the gas mask off. I think it knocked me out for a while. It was...” Peter’s voice dipped low, quiet. "I kept hallucinating. It was scary.”

Peter ducked his head, cheeks reddening with what Tony assumed could only be embarrassment. He could feel his blood pressure rising a bit higher, his heart rate spiking in a way that made his left arm twinge and tingle.

He remembered back in Germany when Peter referred to a sixty-five-foot tall Ant-Man as ‘scary.’ Suddenly this held so much more weight. They drugged the kid — his kid.

Anger that Tony hadn’t felt in days suddenly surged through him with a renewed fire.

“I’m sorry, Pete,” he said, soft and sympathetic.

Peter nodded, staying quiet.

Identity Theft │ Chapter 29: Breaking the Cycle of Shame

“Tony?” Pepper’s voice seemed distant, but her hand was firm on his shoulder, grounding him to reality. “Tony, are you okay?”

Tony blinked, his every thought in high definition, his mind seemingly caught between then and now. The crisp white colors to his bed-sheets filled his vision, his eyes slowly coming into focus until eventually he could see even the finer crinkles from his own pillowcase.

The overhead lights to their bedroom were bright from above, harsh in comparison to the gently rising orange sun coming from the room’s window. Pepper’s warm body was settled next to his, a weight that dipped the mattress low.

“Hey...” she softly said, leaning further into his vision. “Another nightmare?”

Tony shook his head, his mouth dry, slacked open. His heart beat fast in his chest despite never having been jolted awake, never having woken up with a scream or a shout.

He slowly managed to sit up from his resting position on his side, the goosebumps that traveled up his arms razor sharp.

“No. It was...” Tony shook his head, his hand running down the length of his face. “I had a dream.”

There was a heavy silence that fell between them, the rhythm of Pepper sweeping her hand across his arm the only indicator that time still existed. The fluorescent lights from above began to dim away, allowing the sunrise from outside to cast a golden ray of copper hues into the room, bringing with it a brand new day.

He took a shallow breath in as she stared at him, exhorted him silently, softly and without any words.

“We had a kid,” Tony explained, swallowing hard. “It felt so real.”

Identity Crisis│ Chapter 9: Gray Area

“I’m not...not taking responsibility for my part in the argument with Peter. At the end of the day, he’s a teenager, and teenagers don’t like being told what to do, right? That’s not even a question, God knows I was the worst teenager to exist on this earth, hell, this universe. When compared to me, he can only go up. Way up.” Tony tossed his sunglasses down onto the bistro table, worried that if he kept waving them around in the air, he’d end up snapping them in half. “The argument wasn’t really the problem — it was, but it wasn’t. The thing is...I know what I said right before it happened. Before he got upset. It was like looking in a mirror, five years ago...having heard someone say alien.”

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

For the first time since talking, Tony looked May head-on, exposed eyes telling her everything she needed to know.

“Damn,” she muttered, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “So...what’s his alien?”

Tony blew a deep breath of air through his cheeks, the few napkins still lying on their table tossing onto the ground.

“I brought up the whole...kidnapped, shish-kebabed, nearly dying thing,” Tony said, his voice heavy. “And by the way he reacted, I think it’s finally catching up to him.”

Surprisingly, May kept a straight face at the news. She looked to the left where the traffic passed by, reaching for the stem of her mimosa glass only to decide against it. Her unease, though, was a dead giveaway as she tapped her heel relentlessly against the ground.

“He did have a great distraction over the summer,” she mentioned, managing a small shrug. “Between hanging out with the World Renowned Avengers and going on a tour of the country with you, he didn’t really have time to let anything sink in.”

Tony stared ahead, nodding his head with little feeling.

May uncrossed her legs, the tapping finally coming to stop. “We said it was going to happen sooner or later, right?”

The reality of the situation was alerting, trickling into his brain in ways that he failed to make sense of. Tony’s eyes darted back over to May, a line in his forehead forming at the stress of it all.

“Yeah, but...” he trailed off, unsure of what else to say. But it wasn’t supposed to be now? But I thought we were in the clear?

But I don't know how to navigate this?

He sighed, giving his head a small shake.

Identity Crisis│ Chapter 10: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Tony balked at him, and then at the others — none of whom came to his rescue.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” he exhaled, holding two hands high in the air with the sun from the skylights bouncing off his purple-tinted frames. “Exactly when did this turn on me?”

“It hasn’t,” Rhodey finally stepped in, albeit too casually for Tony’s liking. “It’s just...you’ve been a bit of a mother hen around him, don’t you think?”

His eyes widened to the point that not even his sunglasses could cover them anymore.

“Mother hen?” Tony echoed.

“Oh lord,” Sam muttered, rubbing at his forehead. “Here we go.”

Tony plowed right over him. “Last I checked, I’m not licking my feathers and sitting on eggs on day —”

“Tones...” Rhodey gently interrupted, “you yelled at the kid for forgetting to eat his breakfast.”

Tony’s reply was instant.

“He passed out.”

“Yeah,” Rhodey tensely tossed back, “and how many times did I drag your sorry ass to a doctor because you decided coffee was a great substitute for protein?”

“Hey, you just said this wasn’t about me —”

“It’s not,” Rhodey insisted. “It’s about Peter.”

“Yeah, Peter,” Tony repeated, tempered frustration lining his voice. “The same Peter who almost died a few months ago, the same Peter who we all thought was dead. The same damn Peter who I bought a casket for. Or am I the only one that seems to remember that? That is what started all this, after all.”

Natasha scoffed, eyes locked on the table in front of her. “It started something, all right.”

Tony placed two hands firmly on the table, leaning over and into Natasha’s space until they were nearly face-to-face.

Natasha didn’t so much as flinch when she looked up at him.

“Mother hen,” she pressed, “take a breather. Come off those eggs every now and then.”

Tony stood up straight, swiveling his head around to lock eyes on every team member in the room. None disputed Natasha, instead choosing to stay quiet — some with heads bowed low like Bruce.

Tony pointed his thumb to his chest, grounding his teeth together. “You guys got a problem with how I’m handling my kid?”

“No one has a problem, Tony,” Steve chided, hands in the air placaintingly. “Just...be careful. We all see how hard you’re trying with Peter. But the more you try to pull him closer to you, the further you may end up pushing him away. Trust me, I’m seeing it happen with —”

One look from Tony and Steve immediately got the hint.

The name still wasn’t welcomed.

“...someone else,” he opted on saying.

The lack of anyone running to his aid was more than enough for Tony to realize they all felt the same way.

Traitors, he figured. Every last one of them.

He sighed so loud it blew cookie crumbles off the table, shrugging so dramatically his arms felt disconnected from the rest of his body.

Identity Crisis│ Chapter 15: Slithered Here From Hell

Tony managed a deep breath, pocketing his cell away in his blazer. He didn’t want to entertain the question with answers. Instead, he turned back to Clint, the archer noticeably softening despite his discontent with the role assigned.

“FRIDAY will automatically pull any suspicious footage off their records,” Tony explained. “But if you see anything that feels off, you’ll —”

“Tell you. Yeah, I got it, Tony.” Clint dropped his arms down to his side, pocketing his hands deep into his jean pockets. He stared down Tony with curiosity, a look of both concern and uncertainty reflecting in his eyes. “What I don’t get is what you plan to do with Norman while Nat hacks their servers for answers. The man doesn’t exactly seem like the type for tea and biscuits.”

It was quiet for a long moment before Tony carefully spoke up.

“I have some things I’ve been wanting to get off my chest.” Tony’s voice grew hoarse, tired. Months of secretly fighting against a conglomerate had started to wear on him, and they weren’t even close to winning yet. It took everything he had to keep going. “Now’s a good time as ever for good ‘ol Normie to listen.”

The piercing hum bouncing off the walls of the room seemed to intensify, combining with both the electricity that ran off consoles and devices, and his racing heartbeat that sent a ringing through his eardrums. Tony straightened his blazer one last time, a deep sniff pushing back any anxiety that began to rise in his nerves.

He had meant it. This was their one shot. And Tony wasn’t about to blow it, not now, not that so much was at stake.

Three weeks ago they had time, he could throw as many neglected subpoenas in OsCorp’s face as he wanted and know that tomorrow would still exist for another chance.

Now? Whatever dirty experiments they were running — even after SHIELD shut them down, even after the government warned them to stop — it had gotten to Peter.

They had gotten to his kid.

All Tony needed was those documents in hand, Oz Formula or not. After that, there’d be hell to pay.

Identity Crisis│ Chapter 15: Slithered Here From Hell

“So, I ask again…” Norman furrowed his brows, hesitating before reclining back in the chair. “Why are you here?”

Tony raised his eyes to meet Norman’s burrowing stare, a smirk curling at the edges of his mouth.

“For the kids,” he boasted simply. “Who are we without them, am I right?”

Norman huffed a slight, dry chuckle, giving the smallest nods along the way.

“Ah, yes, the OsCorp Internship Program,” he preened, a crease between his eyes telling Tony he hadn’t fully fallen for the set-up. Still, he continued on. “You know, my son Harrison is second lead to running that program.”

Tony adjusted himself in his seat, hoping the movement hid the eye-roll he was unable to stop himself from giving.

“I’m sure you’re very proud,” he acknowledged flatly.

Norman nodded, eyes settling, skin pulling tight in a few places.

“I recently became acquainted with an old friend of his,” he began to say, the pause that followed heavier than the stare he proceeded to give. “I think you know him — Peter Parker?”

The sound of the name assaulted Tony like a thousand pounds of shrapnel blasting through his chest cavity, hitting him harder than a bomb blowing through the fragile windows of an undersea bunker. He could feel the blood rush out from his face, his skin growing cold, his heart losing rhythm.

It was too much not to let Norman on, to not shoot glaring daggers his way — let him know that even speaking that name was a cardinal sin that could never be forgiven.

If his facade faltered in the second that passed, it wasn’t for lack of trying.

“The name is familiar, yes.” Tony's jaw tightened threateningly, a sound akin to a growl nearly escaping his throat.

Norman’s lips twisted into a small smile. Tony fought the urge to punch it right off his face.

“Very intelligent young man. Guided by the right hands, he could do wonders. Take this company right underneath me some day, assuming my son doesn’t do it first.” Norman’s tone was enough to have Tony grinding his teeth — lighthearted, interested, fascinated. Thrilled. He looked at Tony, really looked at him, hiding nothing beneath his features. “I tried getting him enrolled in the OsCorp Internship, but he unfortunately declined.”

“Sorry to break your heart,” Tony’s voice dipped dangerously low, raw and strained despite his best efforts. “He’s already in one.”

Tony made a face, something he was sure looked less impressionable than what he wanted. It was hard to stay neutral in the conversation. Less than six hours ago he discovered Peter’s impromptu, unapproved trip to OsCorp had resulted in something happening that could very well be poisoning him — or worse.

Now, in the same day, he managed to find out that Norman himself had made contact with the kid.

His kid.

Who, when all this was said and done with, would be getting a long lecture about hiding things from others. Like having a powwow with the man responsible for nearly killing them both, on multiple occasions.

Tony’s eyes briefly flitted away, a curse sitting on the tip of his tongue. He should’ve done more when he got that alert of Peter’s location in OsCorp. He knew then that trouble was afoot — he should’ve listened to his instincts.

“Mhm-hm.” Norman’s hum cut through the stifling silence. “I’m aware of his extra curricular activities. I looked into it — the Stark Internship.” He raised a single eyebrow. “Doesn’t exist.”

The words rang through the office like reverberating steel; harsh, frigid, striking a cord where it wasn’t wanted.

Things that had previously not added up in his calculations were suddenly growing crystal clear to Tony. Shinier than the near-empty glass of alcohol that sat discarded across from him.

“But other people…”

Peter hadn’t meant the Thompson kid at school.

He didn’t want that proof for himself.

Tony felt a sinking pit grow deep in his gut. Realization combined with hopeless understanding tore into his skin like a ravenous, feral beast, and his spine stiffened; a steel knife cutting straight into his windpipe.

Whatever Peter was keeping from him, whatever he was keeping secret — it was beyond them all at this point.

Tony could only hope that there wasn’t more he was hiding.

Identity Crisis│ Chapter 16: Web of Lies and Deceit

Tony rubbed his temples, his stock of patience quickly depleting.

“Up until an hour ago, the damn kid went off the grid,” he said, his attention falling back to his screen. “If Romanoff hadn’t dictated our destination when we clearly should have gone straight to Peter —”

“I talked some sense into you,” Natasha objected. “A superhero billionaire showing up to high-school right after a paranormal assault —”

“He’d be here.” Tony pursed his lips tightly. “Under our watch.”

“And you and him both would be prime suspect number one,” Natasha admonished.

“Yeah, okay, that —” Sam pointed a wagging finger in Natasha’s direction before quickly turning back to Tony, despite the man having his back to them all. “That mostly, but also — how’d he go off the grid if you’ve got a tracker in that panic watch of his?”

A growing headache had definitely bloomed into a full blown migraine, and this time, Tony couldn’t resist the eye roll that followed.

“It’s not a tracker unless he activates it.”

Steve’s response was instant. And firm.

“We know Peter’s home now.” With a deep breath, he adjusted his stance into a parade rest, hands locked tightly and securely behind his back. “We’re getting May Parker somewhere safe — he’ll be alone, we won’t have to worry about anyone else getting hurt. And until we figure out a plan, Clint’s got an eye on him. This is lining up to be in our favor. Like Tony said...we just have to act, and fast.”

The tension in the room didn’t ease. If anything, it grew.

Tony hung his head, rubbing dangerously hard at the knot forming along his neck. Things had gone from zero to sixty in an instant; he swore the tension in his shoulders was from the whiplash of it all. There had to be something he missed, something he failed to notice earlier.

The reflection of the screen could be seen along the glass surface the computer desk. Heavy as it felt, Tony lifted his head. Dread coiled tightly in the pit of his stomach, realizing with a sickening feeling that it simply didn't matter anymore. The how’s or why’s or when’s — the answers would need to come later.

First, he needed to help his kid.

From behind him, Natasha cleared her throat.

Tony craned his neck around, just as Steve broke free of his parade stance.

“Nat?” Steve stepped forward, brows furrowed. “What do you have for us?”

Identity Crisis│ Chapter 20: Parasite

Peter tried to stifle his cries, but each attempt left him shaking and gasping even worse than before. With each sob, Tony held him tighter, all but smothering him against his chest.

“I don’t — I don’t remember it.” Peter’s voice was muffled against the confines of Tony’s shirt. Still, Tony understood. “I don’t – I know I did bad things, I —! I know I hurt — hurt people, I —! I just...I don’t remember it, I swear. Mr. Stark, I swear, I don’t —!”

“I believe you.”

It was the truth. As God honest as Tony could ever be, the words slipping from his mouth without a single beat giving him a second to consider what was said.

It was the truth. And he felt ashamed he couldn’t say it sooner.

Tony pulled Peter away, hands cupping his cheeks and the smear of liquid that stained them. Tears had lightened the blood but also smudged it further along his face. Tony took his thumbs and moved what he could out of the way, his eyes never once straying from Peter.

“I believe you.” Tony eyes locked onto Peter’s so forcefully, that he couldn’t look away even if he had wanted to.

Tony needed that. He needed Peter to see the transparent honesty on his face, to know more than anything that he’d go to hell and back if it meant keeping the kid safe.

His kid.

Nothing would change that. And damn the universe for trying.

“We’re going to fix this, understood?” Tony insisted, intending to sound comforting but missing the mark completely. It had never been his specialty.

Peter stiffened, his whole body growing rigid in Tony’s grasp. The firmness in his voice must’ve been enough to trigger something, as his eyes averted and he moved to get away. Brows creased deeply and his gaze shot down, almost looking shameful.

He wasn’t having it. Tony rounded back on him — refusing to let go of him for even a second.

“Peter,” he started, staunchly. “I’m going to fix this. That’s a promise. One I intend to keep.”

Identity Crisis│ Chapter 26: Collateral Damage

“OsCorp monstrosity — up here!”

In the sky, Tony didn’t hesitate to shoot again. And again. Each repulsor blast kicking up dirt, leaving holes in its wake. Tearing up the ground with a vengeance.

A shrill cry of rage told him he’d pissed off the damn thing.

Tony pursed his lips and aimed his repulsor down below. Good.

“Why don’t you get the hell...” he slowly descended down, “off my kid!”

Peter shot his head up, his teeth barring in a snarl. The glisten of slime that regurgitated out of his mouth mirrored against the light from Tony’s arc reactor. The decaying matter steamed with brume as it fell down his chin.

“H͇e͍͕’̳͈̦s̲̹̥ͅsͫcc̯͇̫̾̄͌r̥̖̮̽̐͊ë̗̮́̓̉ͅa̟̭͐ͭͩͅm̟̥̌ͭm̠͙̑̐m͓̦̈́̆i̖̯ͭ͆n̰̽ǵ̺g̘͋ḡ̖…̘̼̦̠̺.̭̠͈͍.̳̤͈̠.̝̱̠.̦͖.̩͖.̺.̮" Peter’s lips were never seen moving underneath the pulsating excrescence. The voice didn’t come from his throat.“Y̽ȯu̇ ͐̿ẅ̂i͒́l͊ͮ̏l͆ͭ͒ t̒ͮ͐̓oͮ̀̓̈́o͗ͫͤ̾o͑̊̏̆̏o͆͒ͥ̚̚.̭̠͈͍.̳̤͈̠.̝̱̠.̦͖.̩͖.̺.̮"

Tony grounded his teeth, a blaze of rage following the next blast of repulsor that lit up the jungle. The electricity burned as it made contact with the symbiote, small pits of fire quickly lighting the grass up in flames.

Tony didn’t stop.

He wouldn’t stop.

Couldn’t stop.

Not until he had Peter back.

Identity Crisis│ Chapter 27: Valley of the Shadow of Death

Tony spun around, his repulsor-gloved fist landing squarely in Steve’s jaw.

The impact was enough to send Steve stumbling back.

Tony didn’t look back at the damage he’d cause. Not even as Steve smeared the back of his hand against the blood that stained his lips.

He made it five long strides down the hall before Bruce purposefully stepped in his way.

“Tony,” Bruce started, both hands outright — the syringe stayed tucked in his shirt pocket. Tony looked at him as if he’d lost his goddamn mind. “You need to calm down —”

“Sedate yourself, Banner,” Tony murmured, pushing him aside — and using little to no effort to do so. “I’m getting my kid back.”

Suddenly, two hands clawed at the back of his shirt. Tony cursed as Steve spun him around for the umpteenth goddamn time, nearly ripping his shirt right off.

“It won’t be Peter, Tony!” Steve stressed, clenching the material of his shirt against his shoulders, desperate to ground him back to reality. “You know that! You know that thing will kill everyone — you know Peter wouldn’t want that!”

There was something raw in his voice that took Tony’s breath away. Steve’s eyes were locked on his, fiercely unmoving.

The blue in them was burning.

“He’s gone, Tony,” Steve stressed, hands still grasping the front of his shirt, using it to shake Tony hard enough to rattle his teeth. “He’s gon—!”

Identity Crisis│ Chapter 29: Rebirth

“Mr. Stark, why’d you…?” Peter’s mouth moved, but for a moment, no sounds came out. He tore his gaze away from his wrist, looking at Tony as he swallowed hard to get his tongue working again. “I mean...why’d you do all this?”

Tony quirked an eyebrow, high. “Do what?”

It wasn’t asked out of annoyance, it wasn’t even asked out of exasperation. It sounded more like Tony needed clarification — and rightfully so, Peter realized, as he played with the fringes of his blanket. Feeling disturbingly vulnerable.

It wasn’t a matter of what Mr. Stark had done for him. It was a matter of what he hadn’t done.

Gave him a suit, gave him a means to be Spider-Man. Went against SHIELD to rescue him from a bunker under the sea — barely months after the Accords were dismantled, barely months after the Avengers were already on thin ice with the agency that oversaw their superhero doings.

Gave him a means to train, to hone in his abilities. Gave him a second home.

Never gave up on him.

Not even when he yelled, said hurtful things, did hurtful things. Not even when things were at their bleakest did he ever give up on Peter. Not even when Peter felt like giving up on himself.

“You went…” Peter didn’t realize his throat had grown tight until he had to force out his next words, “you went way out of your way for me.”

Little crumbles of wool piled up beneath Peter’s fingers as he picked at the edges of the blanket.

“That’s an odd way of saying thank you for saving my life, but I’ll take it,” Tony jested, a weathered smirk pulling at his lips.

Peter wasn’t able to find the same humor in everything.

“I mean, you didn’t have to…” Peter slammed his mouth closed, unsure of what to say that would do the situation justice. Words just weren’t suited for this. “You didn’t have to...do...all that.”

Luckily for him, Tony was fluent in Nervous-Peter-Parker talk. He understood the unspoken long before Peter had said a thing.

“Oh yes, we sure did,” he tossed back. “A sentient abomination pummeling Hulk twenty floors down a Vibranium building? Fortunately for you, that’s an Avengers level threat.”

Peter’s eyes briefly grew wide at the mention of the Hulk. He’d come back around to ‘pummeled through a Vibranium building’ another time. There was only so much even his brain could absorb at one given time, towering IQ or not.

“Well, yeah, but…” Peter shook his head to clear away the shock. “I mean...you didn’t have to...you could have —”

“Eliminate the threat?” Tony shook his head right back at him. “Not in a million years.”

Peter made a face — if he came off as insulted, it was beyond his control. The confusion had him by the reins and held him tighter than the grip he had on the blanket beneath him. If his hand squeezed any harder, the wool would combust into a million little fibers.

“Venom killed people,” Peter’s voice grew dark, rueful. “I killed —”

“You didn’t touch a soul.”

The moment Peter heard Tony speak, all of the air swept from his lungs. There was a firmness in his voice, so hard and powerful that Peter was sure he never never, ever heard the man speak in such a way.

“That wasn’t you,” Tony insisted, not sounding like he was trying to convince Peter — not even sounding like he was trying to convince himself.

Rather, he spoke the facts. Talking as if the sky were blue and the grass was green.

There was a lot about Mr. Stark that Peter had yet to learn, but there was one thing he always knew — long before he ever met the man. If Tony Stark said something was true...it was true. The sky was blue and the grass was green.

Still.

“You didn’t have to…” Peter’s eyes flittered away. “You could’ve let SHIELD take me. Or the government. You could’ve...done it yourself.” Peter decided eliminate the threat didn’t need to be said twice. But it still rung in his head, even as his eyes drifted up to meet Tony’s. “Why?”

Peter found himself looking at Tony’s injured arm, where his hand was gloved and a sleeve made of technology covered the limb from fingers to shoulder. The lights dancing up the length of the limb had slowed down, immensely, making Peter wonder if it really matched the pulse beneath it or if it was just some kind of effect for show.

When he returned his gaze to Tony, he found himself doubting that theory. The calm in Tony’s face, the restful stance as he stared at Peter and no where else but Peter — there wasn’t any panic to be seen, no stress or trouble that could be discerned.

His heartbeat was calm, his pulse peaceful. It was only when silence briefly took their conversation that Peter realized that same calm had radiated towards him, soothing each beat of his own heart.

“Because…” Tony smiled, slowly, until the grin cracked the lines around his weary eyes. “You’re my kid.”

A breeze blew the curtains back, and the sun swelled through the window — just for a moment, just long enough for Tony to speak.

Peter went to say something, but only took in a breath instead, the fresh air crisp as it hit his lungs.

He heard the words. But he heard what was behind them as well.

Three words spoken, three words not.

‘You’re my kid.’

Tony smiled at him.

‘I love you.’

Peter smiled back.

9 notes · View notes

xodiumdotnet · 1 year

Text

It should be noted that this post talks about some major spoilers in Horizon Forbidden West and the DLC that just released. You have been warned.

I just gotta wonder, did a lot of people completely miss Elisabet's sexuality being a huge plot point for HFW and neatly laying down the foundation for Burning Shores' ending? Because yeahhhh.

You're a clone of Elisabet, with all of her quirks and features intact. And Elisabet's previous relationship with Tilda (one of the Zeniths) has heavy storyline implications because it's that relationship (and Elisabet breaking things off with her because she felt like she was being used) that ultimately saves you from having your ass handed to you by the Zeniths when they get you backed into a corner.

For all intents and purposes, you should have died there, but nope, Tilda has a heel-face turn and saves you. Because you give her hope, apparently, but the end of the game casts all doubt aside and her true motives are laid bare: She wants a second chance that she never got, and she wants you (again, being Elisabet's clone) to go with her, damn everything else.

(Though one wouldn't blame Aloy for like...not wanting anything to do with romance after Tilda's prolific freakout when she understandably declines her offer.)

But given that--again--you're a clone, that would imply that Aloy has the same preferences for everything, too. Up until this point though she hasn't really been interested at all in romance (and turning down numerous flirts in Zero Dawn) so I can see there being some room for doubt, but given that whole arc with Elisabet and Tilda and Aloy being a clone of Elisabet...I feel like it was strongly implied that she was going to be the same way, if/when she decided to pursue some level of romance.

Though I think a lot of the dissenting opinions are more because people want to see Erend get his happily ever after too. Which is understandable, but I never really felt like Aloy and him were a good fit. Now Petra...that'd be a fun match.

(Also, Gildun deserves someone, damn it. He's a national treasure.)

#horizon forbidden west spoilers #burning shores spoilers

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kshira · 2 years

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𝐝𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: kazuotra wants to be closer to you but it’s hard when someone else is getting in the way

𝐭𝐰: fem!reader, cursing, fingering, daddy used once (you know it’d happen eventually) angst, some fluff

𝐰𝐜: 2.5k

𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫 — 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬

“sir?” a customer stirs kazutora from his thoughts, snapping him back fairly quick he flashes a fake smile, “here’s your change, have a good day” he mumbles the last part, leaning back on the counter as he drowns himself into a dreadful reality.

“wanna grab a drink after this?” chifuyu questions, placing down a bag of dog food while he watches kazutora check his phone, “or you have other plans?” he shakes his head, long hair swaying with the movement.

“she hasn’t talked to me in three days, it’s my day to see koi” he begins, searching for advice but chifuyu really lacks in that department. “you probably shouldn’t be dry humping the mother of your child and still be talking to your fuck buddy for starters” chifuyu tried—he really, really tried.

“i just want there to be a backup if anything backfires, ya know?” kazutora deadpans back, which kinda irks chifuyu. “hold on, you can’t string someone along while you’re playing family with another, you got to get your shit straight, tora”

kazutora sighs in defeat, unraveling his apron while he lays it on the counter, “time to stop running away from your problems, you got a kid now and if you want more, gotta work for it” chifuyu reminds him, patting him on the back for some reassurance.

“i feel like i’m going backwards, the more time i spend with her i know i can tell i’m still in love with her. i don’t know how she feels but the closer i try to get—something happens and she pushes me away” kazutora looks at chifuyu for something, just something to either help him or ease his mind but his friend is only there for support—kazutora has to do this, all by himself.

and he knows the first step is figuring out what he wants—but what does kazutora exactly want? a new relationship he can build without a painful past formed around the foundation or a family he’d always craved with the love of his life? real adult problems kazutora fucking hates.

“she needs this too” you hold a tiger plushie in your grasps trying to hand it over to kazutora while he struggles to keep a grip on the mountains of items just for koi. kazutora hums in reply walking to his car to place the array of items into it, you walk behind him handing kazutora another toy that koi couldn’t possibly live without.

“can we talk before i leave?” he questions, propping up on his car, you shrug your shoulders crossing your arms in front of your chest, “i guess, what is it?” you’re still bitter about the whole ordeal the other night and honestly you think space between the both of you is the best thing to do.

“us, i want to talk about us” kazutora scratches the back of his neck, nervously avoiding your gaze, “we share a daughter together but there is no us.” he bites down on his lip when you begin to walk away, smiling at koi when she bounces out of the house, dress swaying with her giddy jumps.

“you know i want to try more than anything to be a family. i still have feelings for you that i know aren’t ever going to go away, no matter how hard i try” kazutora bends down to engulf his daughter in a hug, she squeals louder when he starts tickling her.

“try harder” you snap back, giving koi one final kiss before kazutora sits her in the new car seat, squirming as he buckles her up, kazutora watches you walk away again, he’s seen it so many times and maybe he should run after you but he’s still that eighteen year old coward.

“daddy, i’m hungry” koi looks up at kazutora with the biggest stars aligned in her eyes, grinning when he places fruit snacks in her little hands, “i’ll make you something in a minute, angel” he smiles back, nodding her head quickly she darts back to the tv.

kazutora is so lost in thought, cringing when he remembers how painful your words were to him earlier, he’s almost at a lost on what to do but with an annoying knock splintering his head he yields all active ideas.

“can i answer it, please?” koi squeals, jumping in front of kazutora while he walks to the door, he peeps through the hole and almost faints at the sight, grabbing koi quickly in his arms while he thinks what to do.

there’s no way, there’s no fucking way this is happening to him right now, kazutora gulps knowing there’s really only one way to settle one of the many problems he has served on his plate.

“a-ash, what’re you doing here?” kazutora stutters, watching her familiar eyes flicker with heat, “wanted to surprise you, i know you’re off today” she replies back, wiggling at the doorknob. koi looks up at her dad, confused and curious she begins screaming for ash to go away.

“is that a kid?” she questions, opening the door when kazutora finally unlocks it, “she’s my daughter” he steps back with koi clinging to his neck, ash places a hand on her hip while she examines kazutora eyes bulging out, koi resembling the same look.

“hey baby, what’s your name?” ash smiles, reaching out to pinch at koi but she squirms in kazutora’s arms, “mommy says don’t talk to strangers and strangers aren’t supposed to touch.” ash cocks her head to the side, “oh? who’s mommy? all i see is a daddy.”

ash smirks at kazutora, he remembers ironically enough that the term was used a lot with him and her—but for some odd reason, kazutora is completely turned off from it. “i think you should leave, this is my only day to spend with my daughter and i want it to be just me and her” kazutora places koi on the floor, bending down to whisper something in her ear, she nods slowly but not before giving ash another glance and then proceeding to run into her new room.

“did you forget to mention you were a literal daddy?” ash hisses, kazutora places his hand on the door, “i don’t have to tell you anything if i remember, actually” kazutora mumbles, crowding around her until she catches the hint. “i guess you go dumb when we fuck but the other night would have been a perfect opportunity.”

kazutora had been regretting it since it happened but alas he was dumb, a stupid mistake he couldn’t go back on—but he has the chance to change things now. “i think it’s better if we stop seeing each other, i want to make things right with her mom” kazutora closes the door slowly, trying to avoid confrontation with ash.

he waits for the screaming, the ungodly names she’s going to call him or just trying to keep things the way they were but kazutora forgets that they’re mature people out in this world and she leaves without another word spoken, “that lady gone now, daddy?” koi pokes her head out from the bedroom, kazutora sighs, “yeah, baby. you wanna hang out with uncle baji for a bit while i talk to your mommy tonight?”

“i love uncle baji!!” she screams, jumping up and down on her toes while she begins running into her room finding the right toys to show keisuke— “i love him too” kazutora smiles, with baji watching koi, maybe now he could make things right with you.

“do you think she’ll really be okay with just baji?” you huff, stomping back and forth in your living room while kazutora shifts on the couch. “keisuke is a grown ass child, they’ll be fine” he reassures you, patting the space beside him.

you plop down turning to look at kazutora—visibly anxious as he fumbles with his thumbs, “i’m still in love with you” kazutora blurts out, he really wanted to build up to the momentum but fuck—he’s so goddamn nervous.

“and?” you narrow your eyes, kazutora grits his teeth, sometimes you really have to be a real stubborn ass. “i want to make this work, please. let me prove to you that i can be a great boyfriend and an even better dad” kazutora gathers your hands, holding them in his palms while he brings them to his lips.

“i’m thankful every single day for how you’ve raised koi, i hate myself everyday for missing out on so much. i want to be a family with you” kazutora pleads, kissing the tips of your fingers while your eyes swell with tears. “how do i know you won’t just leave again? i don’t care if you leave me but koi doesn’t deserve that” you croak out, emotions bubbling in your gut.

“because i love koi, i love everything about her and love being her dad— i love you, so fucking much” kazutora whispers, reaching over to wipe the tears from your cheeks, breaking the space to press a kiss against your lips, “will you be mine again, please?”

“i’m not giving you an answer, we have to try first tora” you mumble between his lips, needily kissing him back with so much force—you’ve missed kazutora ever since that night he held you in his arms. you don’t want anything else but him—you’ll take the pain if you can feel him right now.

“that’s all i want” kazutora whispers, pushing your back to the couch cushions, the tips of his fingers skimming across your body till it reaches the hem of your shorts, kazutora pauses from being on your lips, “can i touch you?” he questions, slowly guiding the pads under your shorts, “please.”

kazutora groans into your mouth, guiding his hand down to cup your pussy before he’s sliding two fingers through your folds, “so fucking wet, baby” kazutora mumbles through your lips, pumping his digits in your hole, you clench around them—feeling the cold metal against his digits while he slowly slides them in and out.

back then kazutora always struggled to touch you without your help but now as he was older—gained experience he easily could do anything to you while you laid on your back begging for more, “pretty pussy remembers me, already got you soaking wet” kazutora smirks against your lips—he learned how to talk filthy too but you weren’t complaining.

kazutora pumps his fingers with vigor, lewd noises bouncing off the walls—you tried to hold everything in with your hand slapped across your mouth, back arched while kazutora moved his lips to your neck, pounding your pussy harder until he could easily tell you were close. “gonna cum like the good girl you are? make a mess for daddy?” kazutora moans into your skin, that’s all you need, all you fucking needed was that name—the way it saturated on his tongue easily dissolved your orgasm in seconds, gushing around his two thick fingers.

kazutora lingers his digits in your messy hole until you begin squirming from the sensitivity, pulling them out he places them on his tongue, “you’ve always made the prettiest face when you cum” he coos, placing a kiss against your lips so you can taste yourself.

you lazily look up at kazutora through heavy lids, he sits up on his knees you can clearly notice the outline of his cock through his pants, “you want me to help you out?” your fingers coming up to palm at him. kazutora would love nothing more than to take you into your room and fuck you for all you’re worth, prove to you he has more than three inches but—he’s trying to move foward, not backwards.

“maybe another time, angel” he whispers, sliding behind you while he wraps his arms around you, “this is better than stuffing you with my cum” kazutora pants in your ear, squeezing you harder to his chest, “well, almost.”

“you haven’t changed, condoms not your thing, still?” you tease, feeling kazutora’s chest rise with a laugh. “it doesn’t feel as good though” he whines shoving his face into your neck and huffing, “when do you think we made her?” kazutora changes the subject, sliding his hand over your stomach just imagining what it would have been like to feel koi growing everyday.

a smile tugs at your lips, beginning to grow wider as kazutora leans up to look at you, “hm?” he grins, cupping your cheek while his lips brush over your mouth. you open your lips to answer kazutora but he doesn't care for it, crashing his lips against your mouth once more, “we better go get koi before i give you another baby.”

“keisuke, what’s all over your face man?” kazutora laughs, choking on stale hair even harder when he puckers his lips, “koi wanted to put makeup on me, am i fuckable?” baji winks at him, causing kazutora to throw back his head in another fit of laughter.

“language!” you yell, cupping your hands over koi’s ears while baji and kazutora whisper to one another. you release your hold on her and begin wiping the makeup smeared across her cheeks, “did you have fun with daddy today?”

“yes! me and daddy played all day, he cooked dinner and even had his friend come by” she rambles, you pause from wiping the lipstick from her mouth, “friend? you mean baji?” she shakes her head quickly.

“no mommy, i know him. this was a girl friend” you completely drop the towelette, looking over to kazutora seemingly innocent as he talks with baji but you’re seething with anger, venom coursing through your veins while koi happily explains all about her daddy’s new friend.

“all clean baby, let’s get you home” you whisper, opening your arms for her to climb into. you walk towards baji and kazutora, koi placing kisses on each of their cheeks, kazutora gently grabs your arm as you begin to leave, “let me walk you out, angel” he smiles and your stomach fucking curls within itself, wanting to release all of the hatred you have built up—but this is for koi and she shouldn’t ever hear or see any of that.

once you step outside you place the tired child in her car seat, once her dad kisses her goodbye she’s already snoring, closing the door you turn to kazutora, stepping away so koi can’t hear anything. “she told me about your friend visiting today” you drag your eyes up to kazutora, he immediately begins sweating struggling to catch his words but they’re spilling out.

“she just showed up, i told her to leave right after that” kazutora grabs your arm but you jerk away from his touch. “i slept with her two days ago” kazutora blurts out—he really has no self control with that mouth of his.

“so you fucked another person and then the next day decide to kiss me followed by sleeping in the same bed with me? i can’t believe you tora” your voice is so hoarse, choking back the tears as kazutora tries comforting you but you push him away.

“i’m done, i’m so fucking done with you” kazutora watches as you give him another pained look before opening the door and getting inside the car, slamming it so hard it makes him flinch.

kazutora feels like he’s only going backwards, whenever anything finally goes good for him—it doesn’t and he’s back to square fucking one.

tagging! — @hoesplay @yukihime-mikeys-girl @rinrinfoxy @zuuki @rizakari @night-shadowblood-writes2 @crown5 @ayariceeee @idkwhybutilikesmut @oikawascutie @renxnana @bxnnyx @cinnamonruts @sh4nn

#tokyo revengers smut #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyorev x reader #tokrev x reader #tokyorev smut #tokrev smut #kazutora smut #kazutora x reader #kazutora hanemiya smut #kazutora hanemiya x reader #tokyo revengers x you smut

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ryouverua · 3 years

Text

Saimota is a fantastic ship that only improves with age and their respective maturity. Right from the get-go we see this in canon, too! They have a tumultuous first clash at the end of chapter 1 which is immediately turned on its head, and the subsequent growth and development of their in-game relationship really stands out that much more because of it.

This is a long one, so strap in!

Kaito realizes his mistake in his approach after punching him the night before and rectifies it immediately the next morning when he notices Shuichi hasn’t come to breakfast, rightly guessing that he’s stewing in his own grief and misery. And then, being the emotionally intelligent guy he is, he follows up that night and drags him out to exercise (which, y’know, releases endorphins and is scientifically proven to help with mood boosts and even depression) - a move which Shuichi says in chapter 5 saved his life.

A couple days pass and a body drops. Kaito supports him through the investigation knowing that Kaede had been with him last time and that there’s a danger of him relapsing. In the trial, too, Kaito makes every effort to let Shuichi know that he isn’t alone and someone does have his back if he fumbles. This is the real moment that Shuichi chooses to depend on Kaito and is rewarded for it, and while Kaito does get plenty of ego-feed out of it, he believes in Shuichi and his talent wholeheartedly (enough so that it’ll come back to bite him later). But despite it being framed as a ‘hero and sidekick’ relationship, it’s not just for Kaito’s self-worth - it’s to take some of the mental load off of Shuichi, who really, really doesn’t want the pressure of everyone’s lives solely on his shoulders, and is now dealing with the guilt of two cases where uncovering the guilty party hurt him.

(quick chapter 2 interlude! while this is where a lot of the big hero-worship begins for Shuichi and happens to be where I also did his first FTE and got to witness this:

this is also the chapter when these moments happen, post-breakfast and post-casino scene respectively:

and this happens in the very next FTE:

mmm yes, the duality of man. Suffice it to say, while Shuichi has definite rose-coloured glasses on for a lot of the game, Kaito is definitely not an invincible, untouchable hero in his eyes)

Interestingly enough, despite Shuichi still very much leaning into their friendship (and vice versa), they don’t spend a lot of time together in Chapter 3 after he brings Maki out to training that first night! While Chapter 4 is their real ‘break’, Kaito spends a lot of time in his room in the second half while Shuichi gets to know Maki better. And while Maki is a much, uh, meaner investigation partner (love you girl, but that tongue is sharp), they make a great team. Shuichi also starts poking at Kaito’s reason for holing up in his room, incorrectly guess that it’s just related to the occult being brought up. Most importantly, Shuichi is able to do an investigation on his own independent of Kaito just a week after the end of Chapter 1.

Chapter 4 and its immediate aftermath in 5 is great because it showcases Kaito’s flaws and insecurity, and what conflict between the two of them look like. It’s because Kaito respects Shuichi so much that cracks in his own confidence start appearing - and while Shuichi can be obtuse and awkward at times, he shows signs of wanting to broach some more sensitive topics with Kaito; if you do FTEs with Kaito in Ch 4, he even has an inner narrative in which he notes that Kaito had said his stomach hurt before.

He’s not so self-absorbed as to not worry about his friend (but narratively we gotta save that juicy plot point and subsequent reveal for the end of the trial) but hey, Kaito wants to chill and just shoot the shit - so why not have some downtime with his friend in the murder school. Btw, their FTE availability ends here - so if Shuichi has completed them with Kaito, he’s already had his canon-saimota thoughts at this point. While I have given Shuichi the side-eye for his ‘I can rely on Kaito for anything’ spiel, he is fully able and willing to stand up to Kaito in the Chapter 4 trial despite his canon feelings for him at that point. By the way, it’s been a week and a half since the end of Chapter 1 at this point. Shuichi and Kaito have had an arc together where they become fast friends in a pressure-cooker situation and bonding over shared grief for Kaede (even if Kaito’s is less obvious), Shuichi starts as dependent on Kaito’s emotional support but learns to stand on his own two feet, and Kaito is forced to confront his own weakness and hero persona, all while classmates are dropping (including Kaito’s own ex-hero figure, a stark reminder that ‘heroes’ do have flaws).

So the beginning of Chapter 5 is wild to me because of how it’s so often misinterpreted as Kaito immaturely giving Shuichi the silent treatment despite the entirety of the game preceding it explicitly showing that Kaito will tell you, loudly, when he’s angry at you, and that’s purely because we’re in Shuichi’s perspective and he thinks that’s what’s going on - but that’s a bit of a tangent. What I like about it is how we get to see what happens when Kaito (as sick as he is at that point) feels badly and embarrassed with someone he is close to; he withdraws as opposed to lashing out. And while Shuichi is really, really bad at reaching out too without an inciting incident (tunnel escape), he does try and broach the topic when push comes to shove. He’s not lost in hero worship, not even close - he is rightfully upset that the person he’s closest to at the school is upset while still maintaining to himself and the others that his actions were correct. He doesn’t waver on this, despite his attempt to offer an olive branch at the window of the hangar’s bathroom. He truly stands by his own choices in the last class trial and know he won't back down on that if push comes to shove, and that's important - he won't yield the point just to appease Kaito. Shuichi then manages the investigation on his own, leads the trial on his own, faces off with Maki (and who he thinks is Kokichi) on his own, because he has *reached* a point where he can be independent. And to bring it back to how we get a look at ‘saimota in conflict’, Shuichi and Kaito both make amends with each other by the end of the chapter. Even if it’s spurred by it being their final goodbye, Shuichi gets to say his piece, Kaito lays out one of his own vulnerabilities so he can make peace with Shuichi - and even if I’d love to have had them delve into all of Kaito's various issues, there is a very murderous robobear overseeing this which makes time a factor - and I firmly believe that if they had more time, they could’ve resolved even more of the issues that would come up for Saimota. The groundwork wasn’t just there; there was already half the structure in place. And that’s what makes saimota even more appealing to me, tbh. We get to see them build a relationship, run into a big issue, struggle through it and resolve it by the end of the game - and it means that there’s precedent for them to do it again as more interpersonal challenges come up! It’s a goldmine of ship exploration, and they care about each other enough to work through it.

… By the way, at this point they are 2 weeks past the end of Chapter 1.

Imagine if they had more time. Imagine if Shuichi, who is absolutely dogged in pursuing an issue once he catches wind of it (despite how he can get wrapped up in his own head), who cares a lot for other people, who doesn’t just find runaways as part of his detective talent, but follows up with them after because he cares about more than just finishing the job, had the chance to spend years with Kaito and realize he uses his hero persona to protect a much more fragile sense of self. Imagine Shuichi forming that initial friendship with Kaito without the albatross of Kaede’s death hanging around his neck; about how he’ll still look up to Kaito and his fantastic positivity, passion and excellence in his chosen field, and that would only be matched by Kaito’s own admiration of Shuichi’s skills as a detective. Imagine if Kaito, who repeatedly shows the ability to reflect and change his mind when presented with evidence against his viewpoint and was able to express his own insecurity and jealousy to Shuichi in the end, was given the breathing room and space to get more comfortable with doing so. Imagine how difficult and emotionally mature they were to navigate as well as they did in a life-or-death situation that took place over a couple of weeks tops, and how much more they could grow if given the time and space for it.

... And this was nearly going to be where I ended the post, until Ira reminded me of TDP and sent me this wonderful Saimota event (which takes place before the final graduation/training trio event):

Oh hey, Shuichi picked up his catchphrase! It's quite cute how he's finishing Kaito's sentence here - he's spent a couple of years being friends with Kaito at this point, and has even taken up exercising on his own for stress relief. I wonder whose influence that was?

Anyway -

Shuichi has figured out at this point that he does need to firmly extend that helping hand to Kaito rather than worry and keep it to himself. On the other side, Kaito has learned that it is okay to accept that outstretched hand, even if he doesn't need it right now - that he can admit that some day, he might. He's being blase, sure, but it is a far cry from his in-game 'I don't/won't need help'. Good for you, Kaito - you've grown a lot! And that's the most important thing their TDPs show - their capacity for growth not just as individuals, but in a relationship. Of course there will be bumps along the way - it’s very rare that any relationship won’t have them! - but they've proven that they can work these problems in the worst of circumstances. This is by far one of the strongest ships with canon foundation in the entire series, and my goodness do I still love it years later.

#saimota #Kaito Momota #momosai #Shuichi Saihara #Danganronpa v3 #spoilers #drv3 spoilers #saimota.... is good #long drv3 posts in 2021? it's more likely than you think

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st0nesnglitter · 3 years

Text

Poly relationship w/ the marauders

Headcannons and drabbles about dating James, Sirius and Remus

Mentions of sex, nudity and non-sexual nudity

Not proofed

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It’s the most beautiful relationship ever

Growing from platonic love to romantic is hard as it is, so when it happened between four people you really needed to have a strong foundation

Remus was pretty surprised when he started seeing Sirius and James share intimate moments around their dorm but he also felt a twang of jealousy as he watched the interractions

So now their was constant reassurance that the love was between all of you, everyone loves everyone

Sirius can get a little bit possessive over the three of you and would not hesitate to throw out dangerous looks to anyone that lets their gaze lingers

The biggest sap out of the four of you is definitely James

He loves slowdancing in the kitchen in the morning as you cook breakfast

”Aw come on you two, you’re gonna burn the food!” Remus whined and runs up to the stove to stir, but James just giggled.

”But how could I focus to such a mundane task when I can admire this beauty?”James grinned toward you and you rolled your eyes.

Prongs always remember every date that needs to be remembered, and a couple that doesn’t and loves celebrating birthdays

Sirius had never had a real celebration for his birthday and can barely remember the date of his birth

And Remus don’t want to be a burden and try to refuse to tell James when he asks

Remus is always very warm and often goes to sleep in the guest bedroom when all of you have fallen asleep, not because he doesn’t want to cuddle but because he feels like you would get uncomfortable from his heat

But in the morning he wakes up with all three of you cuddled up to him in the guest bed

You’d spend the summers in the Potter’s summer house, right by a lake

Sirius tries to insist that clothes are unnecessary and wants to implement a ”no pants”- rule

James agrees and walks around in only boxers for three days straight

Skinny dipping in the lake after really hot days

The suns wrath was upon you and sweat trickled down the back of your neck. Remus’ prediction that it would cool down toward the evening could not have been more wrong and at around 7 PM it was unbearable. The rule Sirius had tried to get you all to follow had come true and the four of you were lounging around in the thinnest shirts you could find.

”Lets go to the lake” James murmered and stands up from his loveseat, stretching his arms over his head ”gotta cool off”.

Thankfully the shore was basically in the garden and you and Sirius raced down and stripped as fast as possible before running down the jetty and jumping into the water.

James and Sirius took their time taking off their clothes, spending some extra time aprreciating the others body, before walking out to you and Sirius.

Rem collects chapsticks and you show him the best muggle brands <3

And Sirius has made it a game to kiss him and guess the flavour

”I know, wait... SHUSH” Sirius pulled a hand through his hair as he took in the flavour with a laughing Remus behind him.

”Marshmallows!!” The raven-haired boy exclaimed proudly but his face faltered as Remus didn’t burst out in celebration.

”Actually it’s ”s’mores”, so that means that you are once again incorrect”.

Walks are very common throughout your group

Remus likes to air out his brain after long study sessions or a hard day of work

Sirius wants to smoke and since you’re hard on him to not do it out a window you bring him outside

James wants to pick flowers, look at the scenery and plan pranks out of hearing distance from potential victims

Dinners are wild

Remus will climb on top of the table to gain some attention to explain his newest ideas to take over the world

And Sirius will tug on his pantleg so they almost tip the whole table over telling him to ”sit down you baby!”

James is a very picky eater and is grumpy the whole dinner whenever Remus uses a new recipe

Putting Sirius’ hair up when it’s in his way or it’s too hot, and keeps saying that he can’t do it himself

Jamie is the sleepiest boy

He can almost always be found on the couch or in the giant bed snoozing away or blinking heavily whilst desperately trying to listen to Remus reading

REMUS LOVES TO READ TO YOU

Even though he just wants to read on his own he adores when you, Si and Jamie lay down around him and a silence spreads except Remmy baritone voice and the occasional flip of a page

Before a date two dark-haired boys are cramming into the mirror in the bathroom trying to style their hair to the nines as you and Rem sits and waits out in the living room

Introducing them to movies and they decide that you’ll have a movie night once a week

Showing them all your favorites and atleast one movie from each genre

Cigarettes after sex, the only time you let them do it inside cause you are all too tired to move and the sight of these goregous men smoking is too good to be true

Sirius handed James, who sat to his left, the cigarette before the bespectacled boy took a long drag. He leaned his head back as he blew out the smoke before reaching over Sirius to give it to Remus. Soft lips wrapped around the filter and he sighed as he felt the nicotine enter him and the engery that he had lost from prevoius actions started to come back. Rem ashed into the ashtray before looking over to you with hooded eyes.

Kisses are a constant

Being the attention whore that he is Sirius always wanted one for every single one that was shared where he was excluded

I’ve said this before but: James is a sub

Sirius is a switch

Remus is a dom

James is also a himbo

He’s really fascinated by muggle things but his excitement is sometimes ruined by the other boys making up stuff and him strutting over to ask you about it

Gently telling him that that wasn’t true but making it up by telling him a true fact

Singing songs from the top of yojr lungs as Sirius or James olays guitar

Only one who gets to touch Sirius’ hair is Remu (brushing, styling, cutting)

All of the boys have their own set of insecurities and can be caught comparing themselves to each other

Remus wants Si’s clean and whole skin, without cuts and scars, and jeslous of James rippling muscles

Sirius wants Remus height, being the shortest of them will leave you to the bad end of some petty jokes

James desires their intelligence, especially during their time at Hogwarts cause he felt like he is slowing their academical achievements down

Painting Pads nails black to try and make him stop biting them

Jamie making up songs on the spot and singing them loud eneough to be heard from every room

”Prongs I swear to FUCK if you don’t stop singing I’ll put your mouth to better use!

Discussing sharing a last name

Siri does not want you to be Blacks since only pain and sadness follows that name

Rem does not want it to be Lupin since it reminds him of what he is everyday

So you settle on becoming Potters

James is so, so excited and lays you down and just stared at the three of you with awe

”You’re mine, you all are so beautiful and you are all mine”

Sirius sobs when he finally legally is a Potter

And he’s no longer a Black

Full moons are hard but you soothe Rem best you can

The night he comes back and is hurting you always make him a cup coco since his jaw is too sore to chew regulat chocolate

He adapts this and everytime he sees one of you down he goes and makes some coco

Wearing each others clothes to bed

Your closets are just a mess and you take whatever it gives you

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hanijunk · 3 years

Text

Alright boys, girls, and nonbinary folks of the world. It’s 5:36am (1/30 when I first started) as I decide to give up on my attempt to continue to focus on learning statistics, avoid studying for my two upcoming midterms, and put off my two actual essays for two different classes.

Instead we’re going into a dive about ✨ KazuFuuma ✨ . Is this me telling you you gotta ship it? No of course not, you’re entitled to your own ships! You don’t really gotta care about it as a ship. But I do want people to recognize it’s THERE canonically, and how disregarding it is extremely unfair to Kazuki as a character particularly. Also, I’m working on the assumption anyone clicking this at least knows the bare bones about what KazuFuuma (ex. You know they are a ship of Kazuki/Fuuma from Dolce, you know they are childhood friends, you know who Dolce is, you know about Honeyworks, etc.) I’ll be making references to specific things, but I won’t always go into heavy detail. Might just hope you know it or take my word for what it is, and go into analyzing it. Some I’ll put direct references to find, but some I’ll trust you can find it yourself. If you somehow read this MAMMOTH and want reference to a specific thing mentioned, hmu I can help you find it!!

Also I hate tumblr formatting sm if you legit wanna read this 7 page essay but hate tumblr format lmk I'll add it as a google doc link instead too. anYWHO

Before actually getting into the meat of things lemme preface some stuff.

Again it’s like almost 6am so this will be disorganized and very train of thought (and likely long due to the fact when I fly by the seat of my pants I’m known to get unnecessarily extensive). It’s definitely gonna be in large part why it’s important to recognize as a romantic relationship foundation and what about it shapes Kazuki’s character in particular. Maybe a bit of how it’s been built up and its general focus and implications. Dunno yet. We’ll see LMAOO

I say f*ck. Not a lot, just a handful of times. This ain’t something scholarly this is for my own enjoyment so if you don’t like that might not wanna read. And it’s not like spitefully I just curse a lot if you haven’t...read my tags before lol

Again this is through the lens of a Kazuki stan. Of COURSE I’m going to have some level of bias, but if anything that bias may help more than hurt because that means I become FIXATED and think a lot about Kazuki. Which plays into establishing just how important it is that Kazufuuma’s relationship is recognized, especially in a romantic light at this point. Lmfao.

I’ll have a few more prefaces about the actual content below but to keep this from getting too long if you wanna read come below the cut owo

I have extremely limited knowledge of Japanese just taking a few classes in highschool (so like 3 yrs ago) and live in America. This means a lot of my knowledge is gathered through the english translations of the super duper incredible and lovely people in the Honeyworks fandom who provide translations (delaix and takanenene esp have provided so much for me being able to understand Dolce) and my own limited Japanese paired with Google Translate for things that remain untranslated.

This only will be drawing on information I have come in contact with and have access to and making assumptions based on that, most (if not all) of which is in the public domain. So things like the Dolce Manga Volumes released via Animate, exclusive 4komas, and Light Novels are out of my area for the most part (apart from again snippets of translations thanks to this fandom’s godlike and generous translators).

I will not be drawing on anything from the first Dolce album with the exception of Nade Nade. From a meta standpoint, I consider those songs as songs made as performance media as opposed to character explorations. Nade Nade is the exception because (1) it was released a whole year before the album and (2) you can tell it’s explicitly an exploration of Fuuma and Kazuki’s interpersonal relationship even if it’s in a slightly more performance based context than the songs that came out with the Dolce LNs. Easiest parallel I can make to show this is if you held Non-Fantasy, Yume Fanfare, and Samishigariya up against each other, you could tell the difference in intended audience and intended purpose the same way the Dolce 1st album, Nade Nade, and the songs of the LNs do respectively. Even if there is some basis to ground Kazufuuma, for the purposes of this essay I’ll be acting under the assumption the 1st album falls under the Non-Fantasy equivalent category.

THAT WAS A LOT OF PREFACING CONSIDERING LIKE 2 PPL WILL PROBABLY READ IT I just have a tendency to anytime I do anything analytical lay down ground acknowledgements for myself to work on just...cuz it makes me feel less guilty for any accidental misinformation even if I’m writing towards my future self to read lolll IM SORRY WITHOUT FURTHER TO DO HERE’S THE BRAIN DUMP

First let’s go ahead and establish why it needs to be recognized as an important relationship. Again, I’m a Kazuki stan. He’s my favorite character not only of Dolce but also of the entire Honeyworks series, and as much as I love him for reasons outside the ship, whether you like it or not Kazufuuma is an essential aspect of his character and narrative. Of course there’s the fact that him and Fuuma are childhood friends, so that’s going to in part define their characters and interactions with each other and those around them. They’re both going to be relevant to one another and important to one another’s stories to an even greater extent than the rest of the members of Dolce. But on Kazuki’s side at least, it’s an EXTREME amount. A running plotpoint in Dolce Diary is the sheer amount of dedication Kazuki has to Fuuma and how much his thoughts and decisions are influenced by Fuuma, whether it be how he feels happiest spending time with Fuuma, how he decided to get his piercing to represent he wanted to protect Fuuma, how he doesn’t want to dislike food so he can eat what Fuuma dislikes, etc. Not to mention running jokes about his borderline overprotectiveness and downright possessiveness of Fuuma, how proud he is when Fuuma gets praised, or that one 4koma that literally explicitly states he can read Fuuma’s mind when he thinks motherfucking ‘dirty thoughts’ about his childhood friend (Fuuma). I still don’t know what the fuck to make of that last bit. Genuinely. Or the fact it’s a fucking running joke. As in it’s not a one off. It’s been brought up multiple times. Kazuki what the fuck.

That’s not to say that he doesn’t have character outside of Fuuma or he doesn’t interact with people other than Fuuma. He’s great friends with Sara, Girisha, and Kippei and is shown time and time again to have fun interactions with all of them, generally acting as the best support friend for every member of the group, not Fuuma alone. For instance how he helps Kippei with his self confidence issues or stays over at Sara’s to protect him from a cockroach (which he fails at lol). Nor is that to say all his interactions involving Fuuma focus solely on his devotion to Fuuma, especially in instances where the manga focuses on Dolce as a group dynamic (though even in that setting there are times where jokes about his devotion are thrown in). He’s kind, he’s stupid, he’s friendly, he’s an amazing character in his own right, and I love him for all those reasons. But that doesn’t change the fact a major part of his character and his character interactions are rooted in Fuuma, and arguably some of his most interesting, eccentric, and notable behaviors and traits revolve around Fuuma (again the mind reading for example).

Hell let’s take it one step further. If you look at the character bios of the Dolce members, you get everyone’s motives for being an idol and interests. Of them, Kazuki is the only one to have another character mentioned directly, not to mention that supporting Fuuma is explicitly stated to be his primary motive as to why he became an idol. Not even Fuuma’s sister is mentioned, though two arguments can be made for this. The first would be that Fuuma’s backstory about wanting to fulfill his dream for himself and his sister was decided later to explain Fuuma’s choice to crossdress though it can be argued it was intentionally done to leave it as a reveal at a later date, to which I would argue I don’t think this backstory was a choice in post. While Fuuma’s dedicated Dolce Diary extra exploring that backstory was released a little less than a year after Dolce was revealed, the preview to set up Fuuma’s backstory was actually the first thing released after the character bios on the Dolce Official Twitter page if you exclude a drawing of Dolce from Yamako. The second argument could be that information about his sister was intentionally withheld to set up the reveal when Fuuma’s extra released to explore it. However, going by that logic (which I do agree with), that would also mean that Fuuma’s inclusion and importance in Kazuki’s character bio also set up his dedicated extra, which I don’t think would be incorrect to assume considering what his actual extra turned out being.

Which brings me to the thing that makes it inexplicable to write off the romantic implications behind Kazufuuma: Kazuki’s dedicated Dolce Diary extra, Suki. I shipped Kazufuuma before even knowing of Suki, sure. But the fact that Suki even exists is a shock to me and drove into me the fact that Kazufuuma wasn’t just my own projection. Again, it’s not a surprise that Fuuma shapes Kazuki’s life. They’re childhood friends, of course they’re going to be important to each other. But this extra explicitly brought Kazuki’s feelings towards Fuuma under a direct spotlight. At first I was thinking oh, this extra was just to acknowledge the fact that Kazuki and Fuuma’s relationship can have romantic implications, but the end of it the conclusion that we got was that it didn’t matter what type of “like” he felt for Fuuma. Originally, I thought it wasn’t anything more than saying there are all types of like, and it doesn’t always need to be explicitly defined, but I appreciated the fact they were aware that they were writing Kazuki in a way that conveyed romantic implications.

Then I thought about it because, again, I love Kazuki of course I’m going to think about his character extra, and realized...that’s not how these character extras have worked. There are only three character extras out as far as I know and have read: Fuuma, Kippei, and Kazuki. If we look at Fuuma and Kippei’s, each extra had a conclusion, sure, but they didn’t have a resolution. Rather, they were simply setting up explicitly what each character’s primary character arc and conflict were. Fuuma’s extra brought attention to the fact that he’s particularly a crossdressing idol by exploring the motives behind it. His choice to be a crossdressing idol is constantly under fire both by himself and the world around him. He’s not immune to those who consider his crossdressing strange, and a part of his story is both finding people who accept his decision to crossdress and to succeed for himself as a crossdressing idol. It’s an essential part of how we understand and define him as a character and it’s a central part of how he interacts with the world around him. For Kippei, it lays the severity of his insecurity under the spotlight and his journey and motives for improving himself. Again, this isn’t something isolated and resolved in the extra; his extreme insecurity and negativity is constantly affecting how he interacts with practically everyone from his fellow Dolce members to his fans despite the fact in all honesty? He’s fucking insanely talented in his own right, his own brother mentioning how smart he is and how he has amazing reflexes. For Kippei, his negativity is an essential part of how we understand and define him and central to how he interacts with the world as much as Fuuma’s decision to crossdress is to him.

Which brings us back to Kazuki, of course. In his dedicated extra, in the chapter that’s supposed to explore and establish and bring attention to an essential part of his character, the aspect of himself under investigation is how he feels about Fuuma. It’s not just how he behaves around Fuuma, it’s explicitly an exploration of his feelings, on top of the fact it’s explicitly an exploration about whether or not he likes Fuuma r o m a n t i c a l l y. Literally the conflict is spurred on by someone outright asking “Do you like him?” and having to clarify “I mean romantically.” What they decided to focus on for Kazuki’s character and emphasize and establish is that Kazuki’s like towards Fuuma toes the line between friendship and romance. His ambiguous feelings towards Fuuma (if we leave them inconclusive as Suki did) are just like Fuuma’s crossdressing and Kippei’s insecurity in the sense the weight of whatever those feelings may be are seen in how he interacts with the world around him and influences his behaviors. It would be another story if they introduced the potential and shut it down all within the extra, because then his central conflict would to me be less directly open to romantic potential and more simply about how his arc was meant to explore the dynamic of the behavior of an extremely dedicated best friend. The fact that he may be romantically attracted to Fuuma or may be only platonically dedicated to Fuuma is instead something that looms over Kazuki in the same way Fuuma’s decision to crossdress constantly looms over him. It’s what Dolce wanted to point to and say this is Kazuki’s central character conflict and central arc: exploring what type of feelings he has towards Fuuma.

Sure, it can be argued that there’s only three Dolce Diary character extras, there’s not enough to be sure about that being the purpose of the extras unless we get the other two’s extras. First, at this point I honestly don’t know if or when they’re going to release an extra revolving around Sara and Girisha just because not only has it been over a year and a half since the latest Dolce Diary Character Extra (Kazuki’s) was released despite the gap between the first and latest Dolce Diary Character Extra (Fuuma’s and Kazuki’s) were within a year of release but also because the Dolce 4komas and comics they’ve been posting to Twitter have decreased (last one being over half a year ago) potentially due to them deciding to focus on releasing Dolce manga content through the purchasable volumes instead. (This is not particularly related to the Kazufuuma argument, just wanted to put out there my two cents on what Sara and Girisha’s extra/focal arc would be. Based on a large part of the Dolce Diary in conjuncture with Can’t an Idol Fall in Love, I’d argue Sara’s would be his journey to regain his passion for performing, and if it’s not that I’d say it’d be coming out of his self-imposed isolation and opening up to people again. As for Girisha, I have less of a concrete idea but I’m assuming it’d be something pertaining to how people often misconceive him whether it be in tandem with his determination, his optimism and sociability, or his stupidity/ability to ignore those misconceptions and work past them. But Girisha is treated like the comedic relief 90% of the time so I’m not entirely sure, but his primary conflict is definitely rooted in misconceptions of him being his roadblock imo. #MoreGirishaContentPlz) That being said, I personally feel like the three are already enough evidence, especially considering it would be honestly even more cruel for Kazuki’s character-centric extra to be focusing on something that wasn’t essential to his character and character arc, anyway. And though it’s not explicitly stated that these chapters are extras exploring a central character, you can kind of tell based on how they are (to my knowledge) the only Dolce Diary updates with cover/title cards each which include their focal character front and center. So working off that fact, the Kazuki-centric chapter established that a pillar to his narrative was his feelings towards Fuuma and that those feelings are still open to romantic potential.

But if you follow me, this is why up until Can’t an Idol Fall in Love With Another Idol’s release, I was terrified of them writing that off. I would have been ok if it was just an arc that was given attention then continued to actively work in the background, as all the character arcs have been over all of Dolce’s content. The fact that they might be giving Fuuma a love interest and giving Fuuma a love arc while Kazuki’s feelings were still up in the air and were still the primary highlighted narrative for him would have been fucking scuffed. To me, it would be like… why would they make him so Fuuma-centric to the point that even his dedicated chapter was not just focused on Fuuma but focused on the ambiguity and potential of him having romantic feelings for Fuuma, yet reduce him to being Fuuma's designated right-hand man. Don’t get me wrong, friendships are just as important as romantic relationships. But again, rather than conclude Kazuki’s answer in Suki to be that his feelings were of friendship, they left it open ended and allow audience members to be actively aware that Kazuki’s feelings towards Fuuma still had potential to be romantically coded. It would just be so weird to quickly close off that narrative by giving Fuuma a love interest as opposed to letting Kazuki conclude it himself. It would be fucking beyond frustrating for me, at least Eventually, I kept trying to drive my hopes that they would explore Kazuki’s narrative at all down to the ground because it was a Fuuma-centric novel; maybe if anything they’d explore those feelings in his own novel after the fact. But then they kept having little drops here and there of Kazuki being even the slightest bit relevant and I’d go back to questioning “Are??? They??? Is this on purpose??? Do they know what they’re doing or are they just doing this because Kazuki’s just so important to Fuuma as his best friend that he’s there as his right-hand I genuinely can’t tell???” And um. Welp.

Safe to say Can’t An Idol Fall in Love sold me on the fact that they know what they’re doing LOL. And to anyone who thinks that Kazuki’s feelings can still be read as ambiguous in CAIFILWAI as opposed to explicitly romantic - whether it be due to a fear they may pull the “I like him as a friend” card or due to the disbelief that they have an explicit mlm main character in the Honeyworks series - I’d like to cover any bases that may make you think this way. If you think it’s just Kazuki acting like a protective friend, why do you think he calls Yui a rival? If you’ve only seen the MV and think it’s ambiguous or can be taken as the "likfe" for friend, then does that mean you think Yui’s feelings toward Fuuma are also ambiguous or as a friend? With the way Yui responds, she is trying to rival Kazuki’s feelings towards Fuuma. She and Kazuki recognize whatever feeling it is that they hold towards Fuuma, both of their feelings are the same type. I don’t think most people would argue that Yui’s confession about Fuuma was one of pure respect and friendship. Plus, if anything I’d argue of the three characters in the MV, Fuuma is the one whose feelings are left the most ambiguous despite him being the central character. It’s heavily implied that he may be forming feelings for Yui, but nowhere is it established either in the song or in the MV, especially if you compare it to Kazuki and Yui’s declarations or if you compare it to Sara’s feelings for Uru in Can’t An Idol Fall in Love. Fuuma’s romantic narrative here is trying to figure out how he feels for Yui, while for Kazuki and Yui they’ve established a rivalry because they both have mutually established they like Fuuma romantically.

If the MV isn’t enough for you and Suki isn’t enough for you for...some reason…??? You can check out the snippets of the light novel which the wonderful takanenene translated: one which revisits the conflict set up in Suki and one that covers the confession scene in the MV in more detail. If the fact that the conflict set up in Suki (aka the lurking feeling of not knowing if all he felt for Fuuma was only platonic or more than platonic) was specifically reestablished in the LN for anyone who didn’t keep up with Dolce Diary didn’t tip you off that it was something important, his behavior in the confession scene as depicted by the LN definitely should have. He’s possessive about his spot by Fuuma’s side. He doesn’t want that spot to be taken by anyone else. Even if he knows that they can help Fuuma, he wants it to be him. And this line: “Kazuki then trails off his words, quietly saying ‘That’s why…’ and then gave Yui a slightly painful smile, his cheeks turning red,” before he declares Yui a rival and states he likes Fuuma. If you can tell me you read that line and are still on the fence about Kazuki’s “like” towards Fuuma being romantic, please message me and I will see how I can get through to you. Like it wasn’t even just a romantically coded confession. It’s just a romantic confession. That “like” is romantic. And I’m so proud that he’s not only come to understand for himself how he feels, but that he’s confident enough to ask the person he sees as a romantic rival to speak in private and not only clarify her feelings for Fuuma but before she can even do that firmly establishes that he loves Fuuma with conviction. Kazuki my boy I’m so proud of you. *sniffs*

And that’s it for establishing Kazufuuma as at least canonically one-sidedly canon and why there’s not only no reason to deny it but also why denying it is a fucking disrespectful move towards Kazuki. He’s a character, sure, but that doesn’t change the fact you shouldn’t write off his struggle to come to be convicted enough to say it out loud. This has been something weighing on him at least a year, if not more (all I know is it started when both he and Fuuma were in some year in middle school). And as a character in a piece of media, I’ve been saying this the entire time, but brushing it off as non-romantic is literally chucking a fucking pillar of his character’s story into the gutter. And to those who may be saying Kazuki’s confession came out of nowhere and is pandering reread this entire fucking essay again I dare you to do it and tell me to my face it’s pandering. Again. Writing off the buildup as pandering is disrespectful to him, disrespectful to his character and narrative, and disrespectful to the wonderful people who have been creating Dolce so diligently and have crafted this narrative for us. Saying his “supposed feelings” and “ambiguous confession” is pandering is like saying Fuuma’s crossdressing is pandering which. If you say either of those I will find you and I will shank you in the fucking gut. Even if you’re not fully into Dolce, recognize these characters are actually very well developed and executed amazingly, as per every Honeyworks character that has come to exist. I don’t blame you if you weren’t aware of the weight of Kazufuuma, but now that you read this I hope you are. That’s mainly what I needed to get out there, but as follows will be me more exploring how Kazufuuma has been built up and generally waving my hand off at where it may be going. If you want you can dip, thanks for reading up to here because I know I repeated a lot because it’s just. So important to drill into your head and has been something I’ve been hung up about constantly. LOL

As for where exactly they’re taking it from this point on, I honestly don’t know. In all honesty, I didn’t even expect them to take it the direction they did. But honestly, I think the direction they went with it is really interesting and better than I could have imagined, in my opinion at least. Honeyworks never ceases to amaze me with their storytelling and narrative choices, and I don’t think there’s any that stand out to me as being severely questionable that they haven’t reapproached at some point down the line. And, again, I think they’re treating this with a lot of care and deserved respect. So I’m just gonna be gushing about how smart they set it up and how smart they’ve been executing it and maybe my own hopes on the direction it could go.

Whether they make Kazufuuma reciprocated I have no real clue or bearings, but to me my gut reaction is they will. Of course, I’m biased, but again if you trace things all the way back to 2018 and step through Dolce’s content and growth from there, I’d say even if they didn’t know if they could execute it like this and see it to fruition, I’d argue that Kazufuuma has been at least heavily implied since the beginning as a relationship they wanted to explore from both sides of the relationship. Obviously I brought up Kazuki’s character bio already, but if you look at the *goes to count* 5th Dolce Diary update already has a joke jabbing at the fact that Kazuki is technically Fuuma’s type (and the way Kippei and Kazuki excitedly react is so cute). The fifth update. And as stated before there are tons of Kazufuuma moments in Dolce Diary, whether it’s played for comedic effect or played straight (and this is post Suki but oh my god I’ve said it before I’ll say it again get yourself someone who looks at you the way Kazuki looks at Fuuma oh my jesus). But song-wise, I mentioned the one Dolce album song I would bring up is Nade Nade and this is where it comes!

Not only is Nade Nade specifically focused on Kazuki and Fuuma’s relationship as opposed to the whole of Dolce despite being the first song, it included the setup/preview of the Fuuma-centric extra prior to the full release of the Fuuma-centric extra itself and was released early as fuck. Literally between the 6th and 7th update to Dolce Diary. Sure, it could be to isolate them as a duo for marketing purposes (they’re very often the two promoted idols together if the whole of the group aren’t included), but the way it’s established as a perspective song as opposed to a general idol duet is what fascinates me. Anyone who didn’t know about Dolce prior and only followed Honeyworks for music would be first introduced to these characters through this song alone, and maybe this is where my Kazufuuma bias comes from but I was one of those people LOL. I thought it was just a cute one-off relationship that they had set up for the purpose of a song and that it was an implied friends-to-lovers story that would never get a conclusion. Also I mistakenly thought Fuuma was a girl oop-. In the full context of Dolce, this song in part helped establish Fuuma and Kazuki more solidly as a unique duo out of all of Dolce, but it also specifically explored through Fuuma’s eyes just how much Fuuma recognizes and appreciates the unwavering support Kazuki gives him to follow his dreams as he wishes. For Fuuma, he loves Kazuki too, though whether it holds any romantic potential in the same way Kazuki loves him has never been explored to nearly the same extent. But Fuuma appreciates how Kazuki’s remained by his side and does everything he can to support him, so Nade Nade explores how his way of expressing his love and thankfulness to Kazuki is by never saying that he needs Kazuki by his side. He’s glad Kazuki’s always been there for him, and his reciprocation takes on the form of being ready to unwaveringly support Kazuki and not ask for more than he already has, even if it meant Kazuki would be leaving his side, despite the fact that he really does wish they could remain together forever just as Kazuki does. The one point he lets himself say something vaguely close to always wanting to stay together, he gets a surprised expression out of Kazuki and says an ambiguous “suki dayo.” Of course, this it much less romantically coded than what we get from Kazuki in Suki and CAIFILWAI, but there is an interesting emphasis put on it nonetheless. Keep in mind, this is all established through the song, which released long before not only Fuuma’s character-centric extra released but also Kazuki’s character-centric extra released, so there is at least a substantial setup for Fuuma’s feelings towards Kazuki’s being strong as well and possibly grow to be reciprocated one day.

I think for me the most fascinating part about Nade Nade is how they tied it back around to Can’t An Idol Fall In Love with Another Idol. Again, without remembering Nade Nade, I still thought CAIFILWAI was brilliantly explored and executed, even if some people would have preferred no love triangle. But honestly, revisiting Nade Nade makes me trust even more the direction they’re taking with this. Whether or not they make Kazufuuma canon mutually (which. Even if they for some inexplicable reason didn’t I’m going down with this ship.), I’m sure they’re putting a lot of thought into the story, because the last bit of Nade Nade directly parallels the misunderstanding that arose from Fuuma mishearing the Kazuki and Yui. Fuuma is resolved to support Kazuki in any area he’s given the chance, and that explicitly includes if Kazuki had some girl he liked, which is what he assumes is going on. The fact that they tied this back around in the form of a misunderstanding was really really smart and Honeyworks is always so good at parallels and references back to their older songs, but for some reason I didn’t expect this. I don’t know how to say why, but the fact that the song that started it all, kicked off both Dolce and Kazufuuma, was directly referenced both visually in the MV with a cameo at the start and narratively despite the central dynamic being predominantly explored in this story in particular was that of Fuuma and another potential love interest and involves said potential love interest for some reason makes me think that (sorry Yui) this is all planned out for Kazufuuma in the grand scheme of things. That being said, I don’t know if me thinking it was planned all along is just me with shipper goggles, but the idea it’s come full circle nearly 3 years later is not shipper goggles and a very very well done parallel in my opinion, whether this trajectory was their plan for Kazufuuma from the beginning or not. Just wanted to gush about that some more.

There’s more I could go into especially if I went into specific details about interactions or specific implications established in Honeyworks' Dolce content about different characters that would be fascinating to explore in relation to and under the lens of Kazufuuma, but I think this is uh...plenty long enough. Plus, I doubt you'll stop seeing Kazufuuma posts from me so those ideas will probably just be miniposts or somethin.

Back to the overarching point of this segment, idk what they’ll do with this story in the end, but do I think Kazufuuma will canon? I’m used to looking at ships that aren’t explicitly apparent with a sliver of skepticism, but all things considered (as I stated before) yeah. I don’t see reason why they wouldn’t now that they’ve explicitly identified there is a romantic dimension to it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Like to me, the setup isn’t something that would be written off as unrequited? And this doesn’t have to play into why I don’t think it will canon, my personal opinion on the Fuuyui relationship (again albeit through the lens of a hard Kazufuuma shipper lmao) has it’s own merits and is really cute, I find it cute in the way I found Koyuhina cute. I personally never really shipped Koyuhina, and especially since they slipped Kotarou into Ima Suki Ni Naru I was more curious about who this kid was and how he played into things I didn’t really see Koyuhina as something that would come to fruition. Similarly, there’s more importance in the overall sense on Kazuki than there is Yui (considering he’s one of the 5 original and focal members of this generation of idols, this would be natural), as well as the fact there’s just way more foundation and exploration in Fuuma and Kazuki’s relationship than there is Fuuma and Yui. As for how much of a balance there is inside the LN itself, the fact that they seem to have spent a substantial amount relaying the foundation of Fuuma and Kazuki’s relationship and re-exploring it (at least in Kazuki’s perspective) at all on top of how much content there is covering their relationship prior to the LN ever since Dolce’s origin just feels like that relationship holds more weight. Pretty much Kazufuuma feels more established as a priority in general. The way I personally hope Fuuyui plays out is whether they wind up holding mutual feelings or not or whether Fuuma doesn’t feel that way towards Yui is they get a relationship akin to Kotarou and Arisa. Albeit, Kotarou and Arisa never viewed each other in a romantic light, but they had mutual respect and solidarity. That’s the type of friendship I hope comes out of Fuyui. And considering there hasn’t been a break-up in any Honeyworks’ canon relationships (nor do I expect there to be… they’re all perfect for each other LMAO) it would actually be interesting if Fuuyui get together but don’t endgame and Kazufuuma is established as the inseparable endgame after some realization or another, though I don’t expect them to go that route nor do I know if that’d be the best way to go about it anyway. Also final point, Honeyworks seems to have a thing for childhood friends trope anyway soooooo owo All in all, don’t know where they’re taking it, just excited to see where it goes.

TL;DR of this *counts* 7 page essay, stan Kazufuuma. Not gonna proof this. Maybe I’ll edit and repost but yall are getting a confusing clusterfuck of ramblings over 2-3 hr periods of me writing across 3 different days at around 5am each day. Uh. If you got this far like and subscribe and-- jk plz reply to this mammoth anywhere you see fit or tell me if you have stuffs to add or counter or whatnot I like hearing people talk about Kazufuuma ;w; I am Kazuki and Kazufuuma brainrot can you tell after reading this? No? Lemme just remind you I’m K--

#honeyworks #dolce #kazufuuma #kazuki haiga #fuuma shirayuki #long post #analysis #character analysis #kinda?#nobody cares trash #also keep in mind this is PURELY for self satisfaction LMFAO read it if u wanna dont if u dont idgaf either way #anyway kazufuuma canon fight me #or have intellectual conversation with me #if you want it on a google doc bc it's easier to read hmu #if you can't tell i think about kazufuuma too much #how much of this is repetitive? probably a lot...

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blackstonesandtrapnest · 3 years

Text

Making It Work

@k-swisssh asked: Hi! I love you. 😍 can I request a Seto Kaiba scenario where his s/o is a secret agent. Maybe 3 letter agency. Like how would he deal w/ the secrecy. And how would he handle a situation where she has to leave on a moments notice or how she puts her job first the same as him? ❤️

Awwww I love you too darling :D Yes I can definitely do your request for you and I had lots of fun writing it! I hope you enjoy it!

Another Friday gone, another problem solved. Wise words Ice Cube. Wise words.

As you made your way home from another long day at work, you sighed as you thought about your lover that you were going home to. The man who was your equal. The man whom you loved unconditionally. The man you hoped to marry someday.

Seto Kaiba.

To say your relationship was unique would be an understatement. Most people didn't understand why you two were together and how your arrangement worked especially with your respective careers. To be honest, you didn't understand either. Your job as an FBI agent required you to be on-call at all times and depending on the case, you could be away for months at a time.

While Seto knew what your job was, he didn't know the details of your job and you had to keep your cases and everything you did a secret because of how sensitive the information was. Not even your superiors knew the nature of your work. Seto also didn't know who you worked with and your phone calls and texts were private as well. In fact, you had two cell phones. One for work and one for personal use. Seto didn't know about your work phone and you weren't gonna tell him either.

Much to your shock, Seto handled the secrecy quite well unlike your previous partners. Usually anyone that you were dating would suspect you of cheating and didn't like how secretive you were. When you told Seto about your concerns and your past relationships, he simply stated that if he had an inkling that you would cheat on him, he wouldn't have approached you in the first place. Seto wasn't insecure in the slightest and he wasn't your babysitter. He loved your independence and the fact that you could look out for yourself.

Unfortunately having to leave at a moment's notice was another matter entirely. While Seto had the luxury of being his own boss and making time for you, you didn't have that luxury unless you were using your vacation or personal time. While it did have some very comedic moments, it also had some rather tense ones as well. Seto was understanding and knew what he signed up for so he never complained but that didn't stop you from feeling guilty and apologizing every time it happened. Seto would usually respond by brushing off your apology, wishing you a safe day, and pampering you when you arrived home.

Although you tried your utmost best to keep a steady balance between your career and Seto, it was pretty clear which one came first and the same was said for him and KaibaCorp. A match made in heaven right? On the surface, it would seem so. But deep down, you knew that there were cracks in your seemingly solid foundation.

You arrived back at the Kaiba Mansion and was greeted by Mokuba running up to you and hugging you. To say he shipped you and Seto was an understatement! Especially since you've saved his life more times than you can count. That was how you and Seto met by the way.

"Y/N! You're finally home! Seto's upstairs taking a shower and if you're hungry, there's leftovers in the fridge!"

"Thanks Mokie. I'll eat later. I gotta go see how your brother is doing first."

Mokuba groaned and rolled his eyes. He already knew what was coming next.

"Just keep it down you two! I would love a niece or nephew but that doesn't mean I wanna hear the making process!"

You blushed and just shook your head as you hurried up the stairs to the bedroom you shared with Seto only to see him in a Blue-Eyes style bathrobe and getting ready for bed. He couldn't have looked any more sexier!

Noticing your presence, Seto turned to you and gave you a small smile. That was a rare sight that only you were allowed to see and according to you, it was a sight gifted from God himself.

"Did you miss me?"

You had a sultry purr to your voice as you closed the door and sauntered over to Seto, messing with his bathrobe. Seto responded by chuckling and holding you close to him. You were wearing his favorite perfume which drove his senses into overload. His hands and fingers expertly undid your clothes and tossed them to the side, leaving you in the sexy lingerie that you liked to wear which Seto definitely didn't object to!

"Does this answer your question?"

You pulled Seto in for a kiss that was needy and passionate and he responded by grabbing your ass and picking you up before laying you down on the luxury king-sized bed and hovering over you.

"I think you need to explain your answers now a bit more. Come here handsome."

The next morning, you awoke in your post-coital bliss and despite your body being quite sore from your naughty activities with Seto, you were able to sit up and turned your head to see him still sleeping and looking quite peaceful.

Unwrapping yourself from around his arms, you went to the bathroom after putting on a bathrobe and began to brush your teeth when you noticed a ring on your finger that looked rather expensive and it had your birthstone too. What the hell?!

You quickly walked back into the bedroom and shook Seto awake. You had to laugh at his ridiculous bedhead and laugh you did until he threw a pillow at you to make you stop.

"You woke me up just to laugh at me?"

After regaining your composure, you looked at your groggy boyfriend and held up your hand with the ring on it.

"Mind explaining this?"

A few minutes of silence passed before Seto grabbed your arm and pulled you back into bed, hugging you close. He whispered those words that you never thought you would hear in your life and they made you gasp.

"Marry me."

You immediately pulled away and could feel tears running down your face. How could Seto want to marry you with how hectic your life was and how much your career was your life? You didn't work a typical 9 to 5 like Seto did and your job also put you in danger everyday. There was always a risk that you could be killed in the line of duty and you've been injured more times than you bothered to remember.

"Why? Even after everything that's happened and with how demanding my job is, why do you want to marry me?"

You knew Seto wasn't one for mushy words and there was no way in hell that he was gonna profess his undying love for you. But that didn't stop you from asking the question.

"Like I've told you numerous times Y/N, if I had an issue with your job, I wouldn't have approached you in the first place. I want to marry you because you're one of the only people on this planet that I can trust. You're authentic, loyal, and when I'm around you, I can finally relax. You make me feel secure and I want to give you that same feeling. So marry me Y/N. Become my wife."

Seto's words had you full-blown sobbing at this point and since you couldn't speak, you just settled for nodding your head and launched yourself at him, tackling him in a huge hug and showering him with kisses. But before you two could have a repeat of last night's events, you were interrupted by the ever-dreaded noise of your personal cell phone ringing and judging by the ringtone, you knew it was one of your fellow agents. Fuck!

"Oh fuck me senseless!"

"What do you think I was trying to do?"

"You're not making the situation any better Seto!"

Another day, another case. But as long as you were with your darling Seto who was now your fiance, you were determined to make things work and it was great that he felt the same way about your relationship.

You two were truly a match made in heaven after all.

#yugioh #yugioh imagines #seto kaiba #seto kaiba x reader #yugioh scenario #Yu-Gi-Oh #answering lalala #seto kaiba x female reader

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tttinytrash · 3 years

Text

I saw that I was being mentioned! This little thing will Fell!Sans was on the back burner for awhile, you guys spurred me into action and brought this upon yourselves. REAP WHAT YOU HAVE SOWN.

Damn, the human was in a shit mood.

Their day had clearly been crappy for one reason or another, and probably the few leading up to this one judging by how they were acting. He couldn’t even pinpoint a reason, since they kept insisting they were fine any time he probed. They weren’t angry, just sad and lethargic.

They were binging a TV show that had quickly become a favorite to both of them, and even as they were in the lead up to the season finale, the human barely reacted. They didn’t even seem to be fully present, if Sans was honest. He’d been trying various means all day to find the root of the problem with no success.

They’d left the room, and their phone sat on the coffee table in front of him. Hmm... maybe he could lighten their mood by being a dumbass. Worth a shot, and their reaction would be funny to boot.

Sans picked up the little rectangular device, sizing it up visually. Yeah, he could handle this easily. He laid it screen down atop his extended tongue, and with minimal effort he swallowed the thing. Felt bizarre, but now he just had to wait for them to realize.

They returned soon enough, and retook their seat on the couch beside Sans. He almost forgot about his prank until they asked where their phone was after another episode and a half had been watched. Sans shrugged, they got up to search. He fought back a grin as they turned cushions over, checked the other rooms, and finally came back empty handed. They grabbed Sans’ phone instead and used it to call theirs, intending to listen for their ringtone.

Now Sans really had to fight back a grin, because holy crap the vibrating phone tickled like hell in its current location. He couldn’t help but squirm a little as they honed in on the couch.

“Ok, I definitely turned these pillows over and checked all the cushions. Sans, I need you to get up. It’s gotta be under your bony butt.” The human said.

“yer lucky i like you, you’re asking for a lot of effort on my part here.” Sans teased, but did stand and shuffle on step over.

Now freed up, they checked the last section of the couch. Nothing, obviously.

Sans saw their ear prick, and they slowly turned their head toward him. “...You. You’ve got my phone in your pocket, you cheeky shit!”

Sans adopted the pat down pose, and the human approached and searched his pockets, only finding a couple mustard packets. They were clearly baffled.

Sans relished watching as dawning horror played across their face and they yanked the hem of his shirt up. “YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” His transparent magic did reveal the phone in his gut since the fabric barrier was gone, but clearly the human hadn’t really needed to confirmation.

Sans fell back onto the couch, laughing good and hard. They didn’t resist and let the fabric of his shirt be pulled out of their hand as he did so. They just blankly stared at him as they stood there motionless, attempting to suppress their smile.

“How long has my phone been in there? What the hell man?!” They were laughing along with him, shoving his shoulder when he was still cackling too hard to manage words. He did manage to eventually calm down though, and was glad to see a smile gracing the human’s face again. It’d been a couple days since he’d seen a genuine one of those.

“Alright, you got me. Give it back now, Sans.” They said, holding our a hand palm up.

“hmmmmm.... nah.”

“Excuse me?” They laughed, raising an incredulous brow at him.

He opened his mouth, pointing in as he said “you want it, you get it.” For added effect and an extra tease, he let his tongue hang out lopsidedly. Fuckery obviously was bringing them out of their funk, and he wanted to continue this path.

He was fully expecting to get shoved again or smacked with a pillow, so when the human actually plunged an arm down his gullet he nearly gagged.

They laughed at his clearly shocked reaction, “Challenge accepted.” They were supremely smug somehow as they brought their other arm up, sliding it in to join its twin much more gently than the first now that the shock value had already been obtained.

Not one to be one-upped, Sans obliged and lightly swallowed. This drew their upper arms in, and should have called their bluff. But apparently this game of chicken wasn’t over, because they shifted their own head down to lay it on his tongue and allow him to continue.

So, he did.

Another gulp, and he had their chest balancing at the back of his throat. Sans finally got his hands involved, and used them to tilt their hips up and speed their lower half in with the aid of gravity. He felt their weight settle, and didn’t miss that they did, in fact, snatch their phone up as soon as they could reach it.

They giggled, sounding triumphant, and Sans chuckled weakly back, still a little short of breath. He felt them pressing around their surroundings and getting comfortable, and found his hand rubbing at where they eventually settled. They rubbed back in response, and he sighed happily.

“called my bluff, nice. i didn’t expect you to go that far.”

“Hah, I’d figured as much. Gotcha back for stealing my stuff, asshole.”

“sure as shit you did, i’ll give you that. now, reluctant as i am to give up a guest, you want out?”

“Nah, I’ve stolen myself the best seat in the house. I can mirror the TV screen to my phone anyways, so we can marathon as is.”

“fine by me, fleshbag.”

“Bold of you to assume you had a say, bonehead.”

He’d missed their spunk, this banter was the foundation of their relationship. He was glad his dumb prank was enough to break through their fog, and felt immense satisfaction as he settled in to resume their show.

Having a full, warm weight in his stomach was only part of it, but it sure as hell didn’t hurt.

#one of my favorite creators said they're lacking content so how can i not do at least a little something?#god knows i go back and read their stuff constantly #shamedump if you read tags and see this i may die lol #undertail vore #undertail underfell vore #extreme cuddling #safe vore #soft vore #im also kinda tipping my hand by this point as to whos my fave skele huh?#whups

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taestefully-in-luv · 2 years

Note

I wholeheartedly agree with anon about Tae taking his time. Lads it all about the ✨yearning✨ but no seriously they can’t just jump back n happily ever after. They gotta take their time to lay down a solid foundation for their relationship. Also idk if you’re planning on talking about it again, but I am dying to know more about the company that brought them together. Like are they coming back? Why are they doing this to people??? The whole story’s concept is so interesting to me. Thanks for sharing you’re writing, the right people will appreciate your work just the way it is. 💖

:’) thank you too

and hehe the company??? that’s secret for now.

but yup they need a solid foundation but i’ll tease some stuff here and there! thanks for reading🤍

#the island

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lunar-lair · 4 years

Text

Few lil extra details abt the dead Reigen AU just cause I felt like mentioning them:

Reigen also lacks shoes, for,,,,,,obvious reasons. He doesn't really notice, though; it isn't much of a difference for a spirit, ya know?

Fun fact, when he possesses someone for too long-say...5 hours or more, smth like that-blood starts dripping from their right temple. It doesn't hurt; hell, it doesn't even have a source, and normal people can't even see it cause it's Ghost Shit, but I just wanted to give him a version of Dimple's...you know, dimples. It's his giveaway, one of those things that would tip an esper off to a possession outside of spiritual presence.

*Grabs you by the shoulders* dimple can be a parent figure to reigen.

*DIMPLE CAN BE A PARENT FIGURE TO REIGEN*

Like,,,,,,,,,ghost adult, ghost teen, bada bing bada boom u've got urself a tiny ghost family

It's like that concept where Reigen adopts Teruki, kinda, w the personalities, but just. Ghost Time u kno

Also Ekuseri is the central adult ship!! Yaaaayy obscure ships

It's kind of the only option-well, the only semi-popular option-with Reigen out of the picture, and I thought the idea could be fun, especially with the two of them being the only adults among a sea of kids + 1 dead kid.

Speaking of which, they are, indeed, The Local Dads, once Serizawa gets his shit together after Claw. (Though, he sees Reigen as more of an odd-circumstanced friend due to Backstory Reasons, which I'll reveal next; not tonight, though...I'll leave you all wondering a little bit longer ;))

Also speaking of which, in this AU, the Kageyamas step up a little to help out the kids and inegrate Serizawa back into society a little. They're my Replacement Reigen for situations where he would have to be A Adult to do the thing he does in canon, basically.

But you know that galaxy brain idea where the Kageyamas basically adopt Reigen? That but Serizawa

I'm still not sure if he'll just live with the Kageyamas or not? He doesn't have the office now, is all, so I don't know,,,,,,how or where he would. Go to work. Maybe he finds a good convience store job once they've helped him out a little, and he just stays until he finds a good apartment, basically.

Yeah, I think that'll work, we'll go with that

Other notes, Reigen *does* curse a lot in this AU due to that mentioned gang, and he's also about just as excitable as any other tiney Reigen you see floating around

Along with the added sass, Mob gets and makes jokes a little more in this AU due to Reigen helping him figure them out. He's still emotionally dulled at first, and he's still socially awkward, of course, but having a friend his age (spirit or not) helped boost him along a little.

Reigen used to be a little easily annoyed when trying to get Mob to understand a joke, but he's used to walking Mob through them, now.

Reigen himself is actually a little less rude here because Mob was actually able to call him out on it instead of just taking it, too.

They have an *endless* fount of inside jokes. (Mob is very proud of them; usually *he's* the one who can't get the joke, but now it's one only him and Arataka can get.)

Reigen doesn't like possessing people much; he doesn't like the idea of puppeting someone's body around without their permission, and it reminds him just a *little* too much that he's a Whole Ass Ghost, y'know?

But Mob?

That's a whole different ballpark.

Mob lets Reigen possess him a lot to have conversations when it's just hard to talk, when one of them is sad and they just want some Comfort (beyond what laying down together can get them), or when Reigen is hella tired and needs a goddamn nap. (He takes the best ones curled up in the back of Mob's brain, letting him take control while Reigen hides out in his body.)

It's useful for keeping Reigen safe from espers or other ghosts, sometimes, it allows Reigen to fight people for Mob...it's just useful all around.

But due to how often Reigen possesses him, they're really good at fluently switching control, and sometimes it's kinda trippy, cause they both talk to you or each other through Mob's body and his face switches wildly back and forth between Reigen's expression and his own flat one, his voice and Reigen's, and it's just a little Wild. (Mob has complained (jokingly) more than once of aching cheeks after a possession session (yes Reigen came up with that name) due to how much Reigen smiles.

Reigen just smiles back at him and says 'thaaat'ss my job!' all drawn out and happy with a thumb pointing at his chest every time.)

Speaking of Reigen fighting, he's also still got his fighting skills! Again, gang, you know how it is.

Ritsu still doesn't like Reigen, but it's more cause he's jealous and wary of him from what he hears than anything else.

After seeing how close he really is to his brother, though, he warms up quickly enough.

Teruki kinda just thinks Reigen's really cool in this AU instead of like,,,,,admiring him. They just become pretty good friends, vibing and going 'o shit me too!!' when one of them talks about putting up an act and shit.

Teruki kinda becomes Reigen's dumping center for the small circle of bullshit Mob didn't quite get and Reigen becomes Teruki's dumping center in return.

They also sass each other. They sass each other A Lot. Half of their conversations are joking insults; same goes for Ritsu, honestly.

Get the three of them together and they'll just roast each other for an hour, laughing at every other one bc 'oh my God that dug *deep,* absolutely perfect!'

Mob's glad Reigen has people he can be unsensitive with after all those years of dealing with him, genuinely and totally. Reigen's first response has always been something rude, whether he means it or not, and while Mob understood most of that, some of those insults got to Mob even if he didn't really want them to, and over the years, Reigen started doctoring his responses. Now he didn't have to, really, when every insult was a joke.

(You've gotta wonder why he resorts to insults immediately for humor, though, huh? Makes you wonder if he had to see the bright side of some insults, huh?

Just more backstory hints, poking out. ;))

Well that got..........way longer than I intended it to

But here are a lot of the basic foundation points for the series; things that are always applicable, or just general notes on how relationships and things like that go/will be going. I'll probably make another post adding on to this-or maybe even just reblog this one, who knows-as I go along and establish some other general ideas for Mob and Reigen's friendship, more on Tome, etc., but until then, here's my pile!

I'll be making separate posts for all of the plot points/ important things in the AU as I go, too, starting with Reigen's past, whenever I get to it. Hope you're glad I'm dropping hints ;)

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absentplatypus · 3 years

Text

Hey, remember how I said I was going to post a little something writing today? Well, here it is. It’s called ‘The Krakow Tapes’ and it’s a story/document about five tapes found in Krakow, Poland, (hence the name). It’s very inspired by the SCP Foundation, but it is not an SCP, it’s my own original piece. I think it also has some of the vibes of the Magnus Archives, so think of it as a bit of a combo between the two. Full story under the cut, as it’s 3,556 words.

Entry #: 4061---------> The Krakow Tapes

Description:

The Krakow Tapes are a collection of five recordings recovered in Krakow, Poland in 2015. These recordings feature a variety of locations in and around the city. The recurring cast, so to speak, is formed by a redheaded woman, a blonde woman, two men with dark hair, and the man behind the camera, of whom we only get scant glimpses.

The recordings are made using equipment that would date them to the 1960s, but the dress of the people and the tapes they are found on would suggest the 1980s. (Note: The tapes were able to be played on a VCR.) The one exception to the 1980s style clothing is the shirt worn by the blonde woman in one of the tapes, which displays an asexual pride flag, despite that flag’s creation dating to 2010.

The identities of the five people in the tapes remain unknown, but efforts to identify them are continued as of the writing of this entry.

The recordings are of comparably high quality, given the equipment used, but all of the tapes experience audio or visual interference at a variety of points. All those present in the recordings speak in Polish, and translated transcripts are available, attached to this document.

The tapes were found scattered on the ground in an alleyway unlabeled, and no other physical evidence has been found pertaining to these recordings, as of the writing of this entry.

There is no official order, chronological or otherwise, for the tapes. Additionally, as of the writing of this entry, they remain undated.

[End description.]

Transcripts:

The following are the transcripts of the tapes, translated into English. As such, the transcripts may not be fully accurate.

Tape #: 1.

[The recording begins with the redheaded woman, standing on a rooftop. It is late afternoon. The rooftop is painted white. Other buildings are visible in the background. The woman is wearing ripped jeans with a short sleeved shirt and leather jacket.]

Cameraman: “We’re going.”

Redheaded woman: “We’re going? Oh, good, good. Hey everyone! [She spreads her arms wide, smiling.] “We’re back home again, back in the city.”

[The camera turns to show the skyline, and the blonde woman is visible in the shot.]

[The redheaded woman laughs.]

RW: “We’ve been having a good time so far, much better than we’ve had recently.”

CM: “Yeah, safe to say we’ve been sleeping a little rough.”

[RW nods in agreement.]

RW: “Yeah. I always have us prioritize food and water over other things.”

[The blonde woman walks into frame.]

Blonde woman: “That’s because you’re bossy. When you get going it's hard for us to get a word in edgewise, much less argue.”

[A vocalization is heard. The camera pans over, and the source is revealed to be one of the dark haired men.]

RW, from offscreen: “What are you doing?”

[The two men are embracing, and swaying back and forth. (Note: Due to what evidence is available, it is believed that they are in a relationship. This theory has not given light to any new leads to the identity of the people, or purpose of the recordings.) The vocalizations are believed to be singing.]

Singing dark haired man: “Having fun, buzzkill!”

Other dark haired man: “He’s gonna be a music man. Right?”

DHM: “Shut it, you.”

[The other dark haired man smiles and rests his head on the other man’s shoulder. The camera moves back to the RW and BW.]

RW: “Right, back to it. We’re staying here for now, but the view is gorgeous.”

BW: “We love this city.”

[The CM vocalizes his agreement.]

[RW begins to walk, and reaches a cooler, opening it. The sound of heels clicking is heard. She removes a bottle of water.]

RW: “We’ve got lots of water this time, so we’re set for at least a month. Food’s easier to come by, since we’re in the city, so I’m not worried about that.”

[RW takes a sip of her water.]

CM: “Yeah, we’re way better prepared than Paris.”

[RW laughs. The motion shakes her earrings, which dangle from her ears, and the chain attached to her jacket.]

RW: “Paris was a mess! We were stuck down there for days, and then we got separated.”

[RW shakes her head. There is notable visual distortion here.]

RW: “It was a lot.”

[BW fully enters the shot.]

BW: “All because that one guy wouldn't leave us alone.”

[Both RW and BW shake their heads.]

RW: “Some people just don’t know when to live and let live, as they say.”

CM: “We didn’t even take that much from him. And it’s not like any of the stuff was stuff he couldn’t replace.” (Note: This conversation, along with other bits of information found in the tapes, would imply the people in these recordings are involved in criminal activity. No police or court records have been found matching what evidence is available. This aspect is still under investigation.)

[The dark haired men move closer, and BW greets them.]

ODHM: “It’s getting about that time. Who’s turn is it to grab the night supplies?”

RW: I’d do it, but my ankle hurts so I’m not gonna be up to the climb.”

CM: “If you don’t feel up to it, we’re not going to make you, sweetheart.” (Note: There is evidence suggesting CM and RW are in a relationship. This theory has led nowhere.)

DHM: “You might be willing to let her off the hook. We’ve all done more in worse states.”

BW: “I’ll do it.”

[The camera is set down on a ledge, and the remaining fifteen minutes of the recording is footage of the skyline and the sunset.]

[End transcript of Tape #: 1]

Tape #: 2

[The recording begins on the same rooftop as before. It’s nighttime, and a few stars are visible. There are sleeping bags spread around the roof, duffle bags and backpacks, and a second cooler in addition to the one from the first recording. A fire pit has been set up in the center of the roof, and a fire has been lit. Wood is piled beside it.]

CM: “Beautiful night here. Not too cold, and we managed to snag a fire pit.”

[The sound of heels is heard, and RW jumps on CM from behind.]

CM: “Hey, hey! Careful of the camera!”

RW: “I know, I know.”

[The camera turns to face her, and she is dimly lit by the fire.]

RW: “You can be no fun sometimes, you know that?”

CM: “I’m careful.”

[The camera is moved in a panoramic shot of the rooftop. The dark haired men are sitting in chairs next to the fire, holding hands. The blonde woman is walking on the ledge, making a vocalization that is believed to be humming. She is holding a glass bottle in her hand.]

RW: “Do you want me to grab you a drink?”

CM: “Sure. You know what I like.”

[RW moves into frame as she walks to one of the coolers, and removes two glass bottles. One of the bottles is lit well enough to identify it as beer. RW hands one of the bottles to CM.]

DHM: “Come sit!”

[RW and CM walk over to the chairs, and each take a seat. CM sits across from the three of them, so that they are in frame. The camera zooms in on the night skyline, and remains there for five seconds, and then zooms back out, and the people are again in the shot.]

ODHM: “I love the city at night. So peaceful. Plus, I’m with you.”

DHM: “Yeah.”

[DHM smiles and gives ODHM a kiss on the cheek. RW smiles.]

RW: “Anyway, we plan on staying here for a while. We’re not going to have the fire on too much longer, but I’m not super concerned as there’s a chimney on this building.”

[The vocalizations from BW grow louder, and appear to be singing. It is noted that there is audio distortion at this time.]

ODHM: “Be careful! None of us are going to catch you if you fall off.”

[The camera is moved so that it is pointed at BW. She is still walking along the ledge with the bottle, and her step is noticeably more uneven. There is slight visual distortion, which may be a result of the equipment used.]

BW: “I’m fine.”

RW: “Just come down, please. You can come sit with us!”

[BW stops walking. The camera zooms to show her mock pout, and zooms out to film her walking towards the rest of the group. She takes a seat next to DHM.]

RW: “Should we talk about our plans for what we’re going to do next?”

ODHM: “Sure. We’re going to lay low for a while. Like we said before, there’s that one guy who won’t get off our backs.”

[RW and DHM roll their eyes.]

ODHM: “Besides that, we never do anything here, in our home city.”

DHM: “Yeah. We want this to be our safe spot, a place we can come back to. Whenever we do something, if the fallout is bad enough we may never come back. We like the freedom to move.”

BW: “We talked a little about going to Moscow next, right?”

RW: “Yeah, we did. Nothing’s set in stone, as if we ever do that, but yeah, I think we should.”

ODHM: “From what we’ve heard, there’s definitely a space there for what we do. Even if it’s not what we do next, we’ll definitely do it at some point.”

CM: “Personally I’d like to go because the city is beautiful. I’d love to take pictures there. City that big’s gotta have a decent place to develop them, too.”

[DHM and BW sound their agreement. RW gets up and tosses a couple of logs onto the fire.]

RW: “We’ll let it get through those and then put it out. Gotta sleep sometime, and we really shouldn’t be sleeping with an open fire around.”

ODHM: “Yeah, I’d rather not go up in flames in my sleep.”

[The next few minutes of the recording are extremely distorted, and when that ceases, RW and DHM are putting out the fire.]

BW: “You guys got it?”

RW: “Yeah, you head to bed. Or bag, rather.”

[The fire is put out, and the camera lingers on a shot of the city skyline. The recording is turned off after approximately a minute and thirty seconds.]

[End transcript of Tape #: 2]

Tape #: 3

[The recording begins with a shot of a rose. The camera moves to show a park, all of the people, save CM, are shown in this shot.]

CM: “You guys can talk now, I’ve got the shot.”

RW: “Oh, cool. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

[BW nudges RW in the arm. They are seated on a bench, and BW is wearing a shirt with the asexual pride flag on it.]

BW: “Didn’t you say we were going to have lunch now?”

RW: “Yes! I left the basket in the car. I’ll be right back.”

[RW gets up and heads offscreen.]

DHM: “While she’s getting that, I’ll give you a brief rundown. We had a bit of time to ourselves, and we decided to hang out in this park and have lunch.”

[ODHM laughs.]

DHM: “Well, I said it’d be brief.”

ODHM: “Yes you did.”

[RW returns with a picnic basket in hand.]

RW: “Did we decide where we’re eating?”

DHM: “Uh, the park?”

[RW rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.]

RW: “I know that, Mr. Sarcastic, but I’m talking about the specific spot. We can eat on the benches, but I did bring a blanket.”

BW: “Just spread it out in front, if someone wants to sit on the bench they can, if someone wants to sit on the blanket they can.”

[RW and BW spread the blanket on the ground. RW sets the basket down on the right side, and CM sits on the blanket, with the others remaining in frame. RW and BW sit down on the blanket, and DHM and ODHM remain on the bench.]

ODHM: “Can you still see us okay?”

CM: “Yes.”

ODHM: “Cool, cool.”

[The next ten minutes of the recording are of them eating. There is light conversation throughout, but audio distortion makes it mostly inaudible.]

DHM: “So yeah, not eating there again.”

[They all laugh.]

BW: “Fun story, but it is really the one to tell while we’re eating?”

ODHM: “She’s got a point.”

[DHM rolls his eyes.]

DHM: “You’ll be fine.”

[ODHM takes DHM’s hand.]

ODHM: “You’ve gotta lotta snark in you, don’tcha.”

RW: “Yeah, he does.”

[RW pats DHM’s knee.]

CM: “If we’re all done, we should put the food stuff back in the car.”

BW: “Ever the clean freak.”

[BW smiles into the camera, looking at CM.]

DHM: “I’ll help, if you’re doing it.”

BW: “Okay.”

[BW and DHM clean up. RW and CM get off of the blanket. RW and ODHM fold up the blanket and pass it to BW. BW takes the basket and heads offscreen. The other three sit on the benches while CM stands.]

CM: “Good to be here, with you guys. I hate it when we can’t be together.”

DHM: “Yeah. It almost feels like we’re always together when we are, but when we’re apart it’s like we never have.”

[RW and CM make noises of agreement.]

ODHM: “I love you guys.”

[The camera is set down, and all but the legs and feet of the people are out of frame. It is believed that they are embracing each other here. The camera stays on this shot for six seconds, before becoming incredibly distorted. When the recording is clear again, it is on a shot of BW and RW embracing each other. BW is holding out a camera, pointed at them, and RW has her arm draped across BW’s chest and her hand is resting on her shoulder. ]

[End transcript of Tape #: 3]

Tape #: 4

[The recording begins with footage of the carpeted floor of a restaurant. The camera moves as CM walks. After fifteen seconds the movement ceases.]

DHM: “We’re clear.”

[CM moves through a door into a bathroom. The camera remains pointed at the tiled floor.]

CM: “We’re the only ones in here?”

BW: “Yes, we are.”

[The camera moves up to about eye level. BW is in front of the camera, wearing a deep blue dress with criss-cross cording down the front. RW is half out of frame.]

ODHM: “Everyone’s in here, we’re just behind the camera. Small bathroom, you see.”

[The camera moves in a circle around the room. RW becomes fully in the shot, wearing a knee length silver dress. DHM and ODHM are shown in frame, and they are wearing suits. The camera completes its rotation and stops once BW is in the frame again.]

CM: “Do you want to explain? I stopped on you, but I can move.”

BW: “No, no, I can do it.”

DHM: “Awesome.”

BW: “If you don’t interrupt, that is, please and thank you.”

DHM: “Sorry.”

BW: “Anyway, this is very impulsive and not what we’re supposed to be doing, we’re working right now but we all look gorgeous and we wanted to preserve it for posterity.”

RW: “Yeah we do!”

[The camera turns to focus on RW, and she spins to show off her dress. When she’s done, she blows a kiss toward the camera. The camera moves back to BW.]

BW: “So, yeah. We can’t talk about what we’re doing, we’re not supposed to, but we are enjoying ourselves. Can’t say that about every time when we’re working.”

[ODHM voices his agreement.]

BW: “How much time do we have in here?”

RW: “I think about five more minutes. Food is gonna be here soon and we’re already been gone for a while. Don’t want them to get suspicious.” (Note: Whoever ‘them’ is has not been identified. However, the restaurant the people are in has been identified, based on the carpet pattern. The restaurant is no longer in business, but the building still has the same carpet.)

[RW walks in frame. She stands next to BW.]

RW: “Let’s get a shot of us all together before we stop.”

[RW gestures DHM and ODHM over to the same side of the bathroom as her. CM has to take a couple of steps back to get them all in frame. As he steps back, a brief glimpse of his reflection is visible in the mirror. The facial features are mostly blurred, but the man appears to have light brown hair.]

DHM: “Can you see us all?”

CM: “Yes.”

[DHM and ODHM position themselves on the outermost side of RW and BW, respectively. They stand there and smile. A knock is heard at the door. The camera points towards the ground and is shut off.]

[End transcript of Tape #:4]

Tape #: 5

[The recording begins with a shot of a bridge. Traffic is moving at a steady interval on the road on top. The bridge was painted white, but the paint is peeling, and much of the bridge has been graffitied. One section has what more closely resembles a mural, with an impressionistic sea scene and birds flying above it. Four of the five people are standing under the bridge.]

CM: “You know, I like this bridge. It’s not the most unique, but something about it is just nice.”

[ODHM spots the camera and jogs over. He smiles.]

ODHM: “I knew you couldn’t resist filming the bridge.”

CM: “It’s a nice bridge.”

[ODHM laughs.]

ODHM: “Yeah, I guess it is. Come on, we’ve snagged some fruit. Your favorite!”

[He turns and walks over to RW, who is holding a plastic shopping bag. CM follows.]

CM: “For your information, fruit is not my favorite. I just like eating healthy food. It seems strange to you because you’re twenty-five percent chips.”

[ODHM and RW both laugh. RW rests her hand on her stomach.]

RW: “Hey, play nice you two.”

ODHM: “We will.”

[ODHM tosses his arm around RW’s shoulders. DHM comes into frame.]

DHM: “Did you get any bananas? I’ve been wanting some lately.”

RW: “Yeah, right here.”

[RW rummages in the bag, removes a banana and hands it to DHM, who begins to eat it.]

CM: “Now, what do we say?”

[DHM snorts.]

DHM: “Thank you.”

CM: “There you go.”

DHM: “You realize I’m, how old? I’m old enough to know when to say thank you.”

RW: “First of all, do you not know your own age? And second, it’s not just knowing when, it’s doing it, too.”

BW: “Manners!”

DHM: “Why don’t you come over here and tell me yourself?”

[BW jogs over to be in frame.]

BW: “I was talking to a squirrel, who was chasing another squirrel that was trying to eat a nut.”

[They all laugh.]

RW: “Yeah, sounds like you.”

[RW reaches out and pulls BW to her side.]

ODHM: “Dork.”

[ODHM smiles at BW, who smiles back.]

BW: “I am. And you are too.”

CM: “We’re all dorks, I think. It’s probably why we get along so well.”

RW: “Birds of a feather.”

CM: “Exactly.”

[BW points behind CM.]

BW: “There go the squirrels!”

[The camera is spun around to catch the squirrels chasing each other. The camera zooms in on the animals running after each other, and eventually up a tree. The camera turns back toward the people.]

ODHM: “Other than watching squirrels and eating fruit, we haven’t been up to much lately.”

RW: “We’ve decided to take a little break, and just enjoy life for a little while.”

CM: “Like this bridge.”

RW: “Like this bridge. And really, would we be proper miscreants if we didn’t hang out under bridges?”

DHM: “I feel like ‘proper miscreants’ defies the whole point of miscreants.”

[BW shrugs.]

BW: “It’s possible.”

RW: “Anyway, we were going to go down to this pond and feed some ducks. I have bread in the bag.”

[RW smiles at CM.]

RW: “Do you want to put the camera down and come with us? Live in the moment, you know?”

CM: “Yeah, yeah, alright. I’ll come along.”

[The closing shot of this recording is of the four people in the frame smiling, until the camera turns off.]

[End transcript of Tape #: 5]

End Notes:

There isn’t much to say, on this one. Most of the information we have is already in this entry, and what’s left is just menial stuff that is filed somewhere else. The annoying thing about cases like this is that unless any new evidence turns up, we’re never going to fully solve it. Usually if cases like this are solved, it’s just people messing around, making one of those ‘alternate reality games’ that are so popular nowadays. It’s rare for it to be something that needs a real investigation.

Well, I guess it’ll just stay open, then. This is just a weird set of tapes with a bunch of time inconsistencies and some possible offscreen criminal activity. Nothing we can turn over as actual evidence of something going on.

If you’re reading this, you know the protocol. If anything else turns up related to this case, you notify the research team. Unless you have specific permission to do so, do not edit this entry. You know the consequences.

[End (End Notes)]

[End Entry #: 4061---------> The Krakow Tapes]

#writing #my writing #The Krakow Tapes #original work #mine

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