#shinichiro sano fic | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

444takeomi · 6 months

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YOU’RE PERFECT

: ̗̀➛ summary: your boyfriend always seems to know how to make you feel better when you're insecure

character(s): shinichiro sano

warnings: female reader, nsfw, unprotected sex, mentions of body image issues and insecurities, multiple orgasms, oral (f receiving), fingering, mating press, creampie, mirror sex, love-making, praise, dirty talk, lots of body worship, crying during sex, v v sappy

wc: 4.2k

a/n: this one took me quite a while to write as it's very personal to me, i still kinda hate how it turned out but i hope some of you can relate to it and find comfort in it as well. i tried to be as non-specific as possible when describing the reader’s insecurities so apologies if it comes across as a bit vague, i tried my best ahahah

it was another one of those days, one that had you looking at your own reflection and hating everything you saw in front of you.

feeling uncomfortable in your own skin wasn’t exactly anything new to you, having felt unsatisfied with the way you looked for as long as you could remember. with that being said, today in particular had left you feeling much worse about yourself than usual, and you found yourself unable to refrain from picking apart your entire appearance. despite your best efforts at reassuring yourself that you didn't look as bad as you thought, nothing you said was able to provide you with any sort of comfort — if anything you just felt even more hopeless.

it had come to the point where it was almost hard to believe that the person staring back at you in the mirror was actually you. the sight of your own body straight up disgusted you, and you just couldn't understand how it was possible for someone to be so hideous. it was hard to even look at yourself — had it always been this bad? you didn't even want to think about it.

the way your clothes clung to your body did nothing except highlight how blatantly disproportionate your features were, and you were starting to regret your choice of not opting for something baggier when you got dressed this morning. oversized clothing was the only thing that you felt suited you nowadays, the loose fabric swallowing up your figure and concealing all of your flaws, temporarily putting your mind at ease and making you forget about the hard reality of what was hiding under those clothes.

you really tried to distract yourself, to do anything other than spend the entire day wallowing in self-pity over something as superficial as your appearance, but your feelings of self-consciousness persisted no matter how hard you tried to ignore them, which led you to where you were now — clothes scattered across the floor as you stared at the reflection of your bare figure, managing to somehow find fault in every part of yourself.

you knew that your boyfriend shin was living proof that you were indeed worthy of love, but you often found yourself wondering if you were really good enough for him — he was so handsome and tall with such a perfectly toned body, and not to mention he was the most hardworking person you knew, and overall was just an absolute sweetheart who always put everyone else's needs before his own.

he was so wonderful, and you couldn't help but think he deserved someone so much better.

it made matters worse when you subconsciously started comparing yourself to all the other girls shin had asked out in the past, focusing on everything they had that you lacked, appearance or otherwise, and you couldn't help but notice how they all had one thing in common — how absolutely gorgeous they all were. you wondered if shin was just settling when he finally asked you out, it would make sense given the fact that all those girls were clearly far more attractive than you ever were.

shin always looked at you with nothing but adoration, and even if at times you were unable to understand exactly why, it was still clear that he loved you with all his heart. however, no matter how hard you tried to block it out, you always found yourself listening to that little voice in the back of your mind — the one that repeatedly told you how unattractive you were, that you weren’t deserving of love, that you weren’t good enough.

you were so lost in thought that you didn't even hear as your boyfriend came home from work and greeted you from downstairs, too preoccupied with the heavy feeling in your chest as you fixated on every imperfection you saw whilst you stared at your own reflection. shin was a little worried upon not hearing you answer him, used to your usual cheerful welcome as you paused whatever you were doing to give him a warm hug and ask him about his day.

he began searching the house for you, checking each room before making his way upstairs, just to make sure that you were okay. he opened the door to your shared bedroom, and you watched through the reflection of the mirror as he walked in, feeling the sudden urge to cover your body with your hands and hide yourself from his gaze.

shin’s eyes widened ever so slightly at the sight in front of him, and he couldn't help but whistle lowly as he took in your naked figure in its entirety. he looked you up and down, in complete awe as he wondered how someone could be so beautiful without even trying. he felt a little giddy at the thought of you doing this on purpose to surprise him, especially after he'd had such a long day at work. he could feel his cock twitch in his pants as he shamelessly checked you out, his mind beginning to wander as his dark eyes clouded with lust.

“damn, baby. what did i do to deserve all—” shin paused, abruptly cutting himself off upon seeing your saddened expression as you turned to face him, “hey, what's the matter, sweetheart?”

you shook your head at him, averting your gaze in hopes that he wouldn't see the tears that were beginning to well up in your vision.

“it's nothing, i’m fine,” you sniffled, fingers coming up to gently pat at the corners of your eyes, “i just want to be alone right now.”

you didn't want to lie to him, in fact you desperately wanted to tell him everything that was on your mind, wanted him to comfort you and reassure you like he always did whenever you felt like this. the last thing you wanted to do was push him away, but at the same time you knew that you couldn't keep doing this to him. it was obvious how tired he was after a hard day's work, and the last thing he needed right now was you burdening him with something as pathetic as your own insecurities, but here you were.

“no, you're not,” needless to say shin wasn't convinced, easily seeing through your rather weak attempt at hiding how you were truly feeling from him, “i’m not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong.”

you sighed, swallowing the lump in your throat as you desperately tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill. how could he be so perfect? he was always so kind and caring, so patient with you regardless of how exhausted he was after working so hard to provide for the both of you — you didn't know what you did to deserve him.

“why do i have to look like this?” you turned back towards the mirror, voice wobbly as you finally broke down crying, “i— no matter what i do i never feel good enough. i’m so sick of feeling like this, i just… i just wish i was pretty.”

“oh, sweetheart, come here,” shin came to wrap his arms around you, pulling you into his chest as he looked at you through the reflection of the mirror with so much love in his eyes, “you know i think you're perfect the way you are, i just wish you could see yourself the way i do.”

shin was familiar with your insecurities, and he always tried his best to console you despite the fact he couldn't possibly understand why you felt so negatively about yourself. he hated seeing you like this, hated seeing you unhappy with the body he loved so much, it made his heart ache. he didn't know why you constantly talked down on yourself, didn't know how you could be so blind to your own beauty when it was so obvious to him.

he wanted to show you the way he felt about your body, wanted to make you feel loved and desired. he knew that while he wouldn't be able to completely alleviate your feelings of insecurity, regardless of how much he wanted to, he hoped that if he carried on showing you exactly how much you meant to him that in time you would start to realise just how amazing you were.

“shin, w–what are you doing?” you asked, voice faltering as you felt his hands beginning to caress your sides, before they came to rest comfortably on your hips.

your breath hitched in your throat as he began placing open-mouthed kisses along your neck and shoulders, his hands kneading the flesh beneath his palms, and you couldn't help but lean into his touch as your eyes fluttered shut and you let out a sigh of pleasure.

“showing you just how gorgeous i think you are,” he replied lowly, his breath fanning against the shell of your ear, “is that okay, baby?”

“shin, you don't have to,” you insisted, biting your lip as he began sucking a hickey onto the skin of your neck, “you've— aah— you've had a long day, you should rest.”

“want you so bad,” he mumbled against your skin, pressing his erection into the curve of your ass, “been thinking about you all day, please?”

his words were making you needier than you would've liked to admit, looking into his dark eyes through the mirror as you began imagining all the things he was going to do to you. shin always made you feel so loved during sex, worshipping every inch of your body and telling you just how beautiful you were. the thought of that alone made you squeeze your thighs together as you nodded, knowing that despite how self-conscious you were feeling, deep down you really needed that kind of treatment right now.

you let out a soft gasp as he picked you up, carrying you over to the bed and carefully laying you down before hungrily pressing his lips against yours. you melted into the kiss, a small whine escaping your throat as soon as he pulled away.

“shhh, let me take care of you, pretty.”

you felt as his lips softly brushed against the valley of your breasts, his dark hair tickling your skin. he looked up at you, smiling fondly as you turned your head away in an attempt to avert your gaze elsewhere, embarrassed by the intimacy of it all. shin took your hand in his, gently squeezing it in hopes of reassuring you a little, before his head dipped back down and he began peppering more kisses over the entirety of your chest, his other hand squeezing your waist before coming to cup one of the mounds of flesh in his palm.

“my baby’s got the prettiest tits, i'm a lucky guy,” he told you, taking your nipple into his mouth and flicking his tongue over the hardened bud, his thumb running across the back of your hand that was interlaced with his own.

you squeezed your eyes shut, feeling too self-conscious to look at your own body as he touched you. as much as you tried to suppress them, several needy mewls and whimpers slipped past your lips as you softly ran your fingers through his hair. shin couldn't help but groan against your skin as he sucked your tit into his mouth, feeling his cock starting to leak in his pants as you arched your chest into him and the sounds of your sweet noises filled the room. once he was satisfied, he released your nipple with a pop, and you felt him eagerly switching to your other breast as he began giving it the same treatment.

after making sure both of your tits had been shown plenty of attention, he went back to kissing along your body, his lips trailing down your tummy as his hand came to gently rub and massage at your hip. you opened your eyes and immediately felt yourself stiffen — instantly noticing the way your stomach looked in your current position, and you just hoped that shin wasn't paying any mind to it.

your feelings weren't lost on him, he noticed the way you tensed up ever so slightly whenever he touched you in certain places, noticed the way your gaze seemed to land anywhere but his eyes. you were so easy to read, your reactions alone telling him everything he needed to know. shin couldn't help himself as he came up to kiss you once again, feeling the heat radiating from your face as his lips gently brushed against yours, before taking your hand that was still entwined with his and bringing it down towards the obvious tent in his pants.

“feel that? feel what your pretty body does to me?” he groaned, your fingers brushing against his aching cock, “you make me so fucking hard.”

you looked down shyly, feeling your face growing even hotter than it was already as you squirmed underneath him — his compliments and praises made your stomach flutter and goosebumps prickle across your skin.

shin made his way between your thighs, prying your legs apart as his lips began trailing sloppily along your skin, gently squeezing the soft flesh beneath his palms. you could feel yourself growing embarrassingly wet as you watched him, excitement beginning to pool in your gut as his dark eyes locked with yours and his mouth gradually made its way closer towards your awaiting heat.

“such a pretty pussy, m’gonna make you feel so fucking good,” he drawled, staring at you in awe before he started pressing open-mouthed kisses over your slit, splitting your folds apart with his tongue and groaning at the taste of your slick.

shin was entirely fixated on you as your face contorted in pleasure, your chest rising and falling with each shaky breath as he took your clit between his lips, his mouth hungrily latching onto the swollen bud. one of your hands instinctively came up to cover part of your face, worried that your expression was off-putting and that you looked especially unattractive from this angle, but your boyfriend wasn't having any of it. he grabbed hold of your wrist, guiding your hand away and granting him a full view of your cute face, watching in infatuation as your brows furrowed and your mouth fell slightly agape.

he couldn't help but growl into you, the vibrations making you jolt in pleasure as you let out a squeal, feeling yourself throbbing against his tongue as you clamped your thighs around his head. shin lifted your legs over his shoulders, giving him complete access to you — he could feel himself slowly losing all remaining self-restraint as he proceeded to absolutely devour you. he continued to slurp at your clit, flicking his tongue over the nub and moaning loudly into your folds, unable to stop himself from humping the mattress below him when you began eagerly grinding your pussy against his face.

that familiar feeling started to build up in your gut, his mouth already drawing you towards your release. before you even had the chance to tell him you were close, you felt your orgasm rip through you, throwing your head back as your whole body tensed up and incoherent, broken whimpers of his name fell from your lips. both of your hands came to tangle themselves in his hair, rolling your hips against his face and practically suffocating him with your cunt as you rode out your orgasm.

once you had come down from your high, shin began stripping himself of his usual white t-shirt and jeans, and you watched as his gorgeous body was revealed to you in all of its entirety. you couldn't help but feel your thoughts of insecurity starting to resurface once again, overcome with the urge to hide yourself from him even after he had just been between your thighs. it didn't take long for shin to notice the way you suddenly began to shy away from him, and so he pulled you into another soft yet deep kiss, holding your face in his hands and gently caressing along your jaw as his lips moulded with yours.

after the two of you pulled apart, he briefly pressed his forehead against yours, his fingertips lightly brushing up and down your arm in a soothing manner, before his hands settled themselves on the backs of your thighs. he pushed your legs upwards and folded you in half, pressing his hardened cock against your pussy as he began to gently glide the head over your soaked folds, sliding the tip right against your sensitive clit. you cried out, your walls clenching around nothing as you clutched onto his shoulders, nails pressing crescent shapes into his skin.

“patience, sweetheart,” he whispered in your ear, taking your earlobe between his teeth and softly nibbling on the flesh.

you felt as the tip came to rest at your entrance before he carefully slipped himself inside of you, his thick cock stretching you out and filling you to the brim. he let out a low grunt as you clamped down on him, biting his lip as he stilled himself inside of you and buried his face into the crook of your neck.

“you're so beautiful, can't believe you're mine, my pretty girl,” he continued to murmur sweet praises against your skin, his hand interlocking with yours as he began thrusting into you.

“shin, i— mmmh! ahhh, please—!” you mewled, indistinct babbles and whimpers falling uncontrollably from your lips at the feeling of every inch of his cock dragging slowly against your walls.

“i know, baby, i know. just— fuuuck, just sit back and let me make you feel good, okay?”

it was all too much, but in the best possible way. everything just felt so right, from the feeling of his chest pressing against yours to the way he meticulously worked his hips into you at the perfect angle. a sweet slapping sound began to fill the room, alongside the combination of his needy groans and whines about how good you felt in your ear, mixed with your sobs of pleasure at the feeling of his pubic bone brushing against your clit. shin looked at you with so much love, like you were the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on — it made tears start to well up in your eyes, but this time they weren't from sadness.

in that moment you just felt so appreciated, to the point where all of your insecurities and self-critical thoughts momentarily left your mind as you completely lost yourself in pleasure, unable to think of anything else aside from how good it all felt. your boyfriend’s thumb came to wipe your tears away before his lips locked with yours, the pair of you moaning desperately into each other’s mouths as his thrusts picked up in pace, the tip of his cock kissing your cervix as he fucked you deep.

shin was reluctant to break the kiss, addicted to the feeling of your lips against his in combination with your walls squeezing around his cock. however, the way his lungs were practically begging for oxygen didn't give him much choice in the matter, and he found himself gasping for breath as he pulled away, his eyes squeezed shut as his brows furrowed in pleasure. you reached upwards to hold his face in your hand, the other refusing to let go of his own as you interlaced your fingers together. shin leaned down to press his forehead against yours as his hips began to stutter, his pace faltering as he felt himself drawing closer to his own release.

“fuck— baby, m’gonna cum. gonna cum deep inside this pretty fuckin’ pussy,” he growled, feeling as your walls clamped down on him at his words, “yeah, you like that? want me to cream inside this tight little cunt? fill you up nice and full?”

“mhm, yes please— ahhh! want your cum, shin, please don't stop, i— mmh, need to feel you…”

“that's my good girl. take it, take it— fuck, that’s it, baby. such a good girl for me.”

he finished with a few sloppy thrusts, burying his face into the crook of your neck as he fell over the edge, his hot cum shooting into you in several thick ropes. you could feel your clit throbbing as you clenched around him, the heat between your thighs continuing to grow as you watched shin ride out his orgasm.

his cock began to soften as he gently slipped himself out of you, watching intently as his cum dribbled out of your hole. he was well aware that he had reached his high before you did, eager to get you off again and bring you to another orgasm — tonight was supposed to be about you, after all. before you could oppose, he sat you at the edge of the bed with you in his lap, facing you towards the mirror so that you could look at yourself.

“wanna make you cum on my fingers, baby,” he mumbled into your ear, spreading your legs apart as his hand made its way between your thighs, “want you to see how pretty you are when you cum nice and hard for me.”

two of his digits circled your entrance before he slowly pushed them inside, taking note of how easily they slipped into you after having previously stretched you out with his cock. he began curling them upwards, softly massaging your g-spot while his other hand came to caress your waist, travelling down towards your hip and then back up again. shin placed several kisses along your neck before his hand suddenly picked up in pace, the heel of his palm smacking against your clit as his fingers pumped in and out of you and a wet sticky sound proceeded to fill the room.

“look at you, so fucking gorgeous,” he told you, looking at you through the reflection in complete awe as his hand began roaming across your body, “so perfect here… and here… and right here, too.”

the more you stared at your own reflection, the more different you felt from earlier. your eyes no longer seemed to gravitate towards everything that you thought was wrong with you, and it was as if you were just simply seeing yourself as you were in that present moment, just existing within your body. you couldn't take your eyes off the mirror and suddenly you found yourself wanting to watch — wanting to watch him touch you, wanting to watch his hands trail over every part of your body, wanting to watch yourself fall apart because of him.

you wanted shin to watch too, how could you not when his eyes showed nothing but love and adoration for you and your body?

you could feel your legs beginning to shake and you found yourself frantically bucking your hips into his hand, your orgasm rapidly approaching as you grabbed onto his wrist and abruptly fell over the edge once again. you began gasping and whimpering as your vision turned white and you creamed all over his fingers, and shin watched your reflection in admiration as you came down from your high — the only thing he could think was how beautiful you looked in that moment as you completely let go, your eyes rolling back as you were consumed by pleasure.

once you had fully rode out your orgasm, shin gently removed his fingers from you, the two of you sitting in a peaceful silence knowing that words didn't need to be exchanged right away and you could just enjoy one another’s presence for a moment. he wrapped his arms around your waist, resting his head on your shoulder as his lips brushed against your skin.

“are you feeling a little better now, sweetheart?” he asked you, finally breaking the silence.

“mhm, definitely,” you nodded, feeling yourself starting to smile, “thank you, shin.”

while you were aware that this feeling wasn't going to be permanent, and that there would still be days to come in the future where you would feel unsatisfied with your body again, you knew that if nothing else, your sweet boyfriend would always be there to help you slowly start to love yourself a little more.

“i should take a shower,” he pondered, unable to stop himself from grinning as he added, “care to join me?”

you rolled your eyes, trying to fight back a smile but ultimately failing as your expression mirrored his own and you nodded, feeling as he excitedly took your hand and led you towards the bathroom. the two of you stepped into the shower, the warm water running over your tired bodies as you helped wash away the sweat and cum from each other’s skin. as to be expected, you both found yourselves unable to keep your hands off each other, and one thing slowly led to another which ultimately resulted in the two of you fooling around once again, not that either of you were complaining.

and afterwards shin pulled you into his chest and just held you, wrapping his arms around your waist as he mumbled soft praises into your skin that were barely loud enough for you to hear. although there was one which you were just about able to make sense of, and you felt your heart flutter as you realised what it was that he had said to you.

“i love the way your body feels against mine.”

please do not translate, repost, or share my writing on any other platforms eg. tiktok

#tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader #shinichiro sano #shinichiro x reader #shinichiro x you #✩444.writings #✩444.fics

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saetoru · 2 years

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#𝐃𝐎𝐍’𝐓 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐌𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 (𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘)

☰ SYNOPSIS ⋮ it’s always been you for him, just like it’s always been sano shinichiro for you

— pairing ⋮ sano shinichiro x reader

— length ⋮ 8.3k words (sobsob)

— contents ⋮ nsfw and 18+ content, fem! reader, best friends/childhood friends to lovers, idiots to lovers, mutual pining, jealous shinichiro, slightly insecure shinichiro, virgin shinichiro, dry humping, praise, handjobs, unprotected sex, creampie, misunderstandings, the bike shop incident but he lives (in my world he never dies), love confessions, happy ending :)

— notes ⋮ this is for my sweet angel @arlertslove 's selfship collab <3 tysm for letting me join i had so much fun writing my lil love story with shin <33 and fank you cat and ris for listening to me ramble about this and beta reading 💋

shinichiro is used to girls coming into his shop looking for wakasa. he’s used to the wandering eyes and the stalled excuses as they wait around for his friend to show up. and he’s fine with it, really. it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why someone would want imaushi wakasa, and he’s not so stupid as to miss the fact that his friend is as smooth with words as he is gifted in the looks department.

but still, he kind of wishes he could fulfill that one last part of his “biker dream,” the one where he’s got eyes with heart-shaped pupils following his every move as he pretends to be unaware, rolling his sleeve up as a “coincidence” while he tightens bolts with his wrench. but he finds the only eyes of a girl that ever seem to pay attention to him are yours—and he’s okay with that, really.

it’s just that you’re simply way out of his league, and he’s not foolish enough to daydream over a king’s riches when he’s dressed in the rags of a commoner.

“shin, do you ever leave this lame ass shop?” you complain, taking a sip of your soda from your straw. from the side, manjiro makes a disgruntled sound of protest.

“you wouldn’t get it,” the child huffs, cheeks puffed out as he glares at you, “girls don’t get cool stuff like this.”

“oh, i’m sorry,” you snort, shooting him a teasing grin, “i’ll try harder to see the wonders in scrapped hunks of metal.”

“this is not scrap,” shinichiro grumbles, tinkering away at the engine of the bike before him, tongue stuck out in concentration. your gaze softens just a little at the way his hair sticks to his sweaty forehead. “this ol’ thing’s still got some life left in her,” he hums, “think i could make a decent number offa her.”

shinichiro is a simple man. he wears a white t-shirt and dark jeans every time you see him, and he does his hair the same way he has since the day you met him as a kid. he has the same fast food order that you know by heart by now, and he still gets a diet coke from the convenience store every time you get a bag of chips—the only thing that’s changed is he now adds a pack of cigarettes to the mix, a sheepish grin on his face when you look at him disapprovingly.

i’ll break the habit someday, he always tells you, today’s just not that day. and then, before you can open your mouth to tell him not to make promises he can’t keep, he swoops in under your nose and grabs your chips from your hand, lumping them in with his pile and paying for you despite your protests.

every time, without fail.

“that is if you don’t keep her for yourself,” you point out, making him roll his eyes.

“are you here to drink all my soda or lend a hand?” he grumbles, shooting you a half-hearted scowl. “now make yourself useful and hand me a few screws,” he turns back around, hand reaching behind him as he motions for you to offer them to him. you reach for what you think are the screws—that is until manjiro snorts in amusement, of course.

“those are nails,” he snickers, hopping off his stool and moving to get the correct items in question. your brows furrow, glaring at him when he sticks his tongue out to you before plopping a few screws in his brother’s hand—which look awfully close to nails if you might add. “see? you girls aren’t cool enough to understand the difference.”

“hey,” shinichiro scolds, tongue peeking out again as he concentrates on lining the screw up just right. something fond bubbles in your chest at the sight, something warm and sweet, even if it feels just a little scary. “if you keep saying things like that, you’ll never get a girl, manjiro.”

“oh yeah? you’ve never had a girl, shin. what would you know?” the blonde pipes up, and almost instantly, a wave of crimson dusts over his cheeks as shinichiro throws his brother a dirty look. and when you chuckle, hand clamping over your mouth as you giggle into your palm, the blush rises to the tips of his ears.

he’s cute, you think. he’s always been a charmer, always made your lips twist upwards no matter how much you tell yourself you won’t let him. he’s a good friend too, sends you songs he thinks you’ll like, never leaves you on delivered for too long—even if you text him at three am, and sometimes, even as he rolls his eyes and complains, he’ll shove his plate your way when you steal a bite or two.

shinichiro’s a simple man. he’s got a good head on his shoulders, and more importantly, a good heart in his chest.

you think you hate whoever the girl he’s going to spend the rest of his life with is—even if you’ve yet to meet her…and even if she doesn't quite exist just yet.

“well, i know how to respect them,” he points a thumb at himself, flicking manjiro’s forehead affectionately as he stands to his full height. he reaches over to grab a towel, wiping the grease off of his hands. “you better head home now,” and then he turns to you. “and you, i’ll walk you home.”

you start to protest instantly. “i can walk myse—”

“i’ll walk you home,” he says firmly. “it’s getting dark.” you know better than to argue with him when he uses that tone—the same tone he uses on manjiro and emma when he’s being gentle yet firm, loving yet strict.

“fine,” you huff, but the warm feeling from earlier returns, this time tenfold. you almost think you’ve swallowed the sun in the middle of winter.

“you better come home right after. grandpa says to be home in time for dinner for once,” manjiro says pointedly, and with a whine of complaint as you ruffle his hair with a grin, he’s off. and then it’s just the two of you as you turn back to shinichiro, devious look on your face that tells him he’s about to be the unfortunate victim of your relentless teasing.

“you know, at this rate manjiro will settle down with someone before—”

“are you two just gonna spend the rest of the night in here?” a voice cuts you off, smooth and deep—and at the moment, the bane of shinichiro’s existence. wakasa strolls in, hands in his pockets and the stick of an already finished lollipop in between his teeth as he finds his way to stand next to you.

shinichiro pretends he doesn’t care about the way you beam at his friend. no, he tells himself, he doesn’t care one bit.

“not everyone closes up early like you,” you tease, poking wakasa’s chest as his smile widens, “quit slacking off at your gym.” and wakasa is as easy to fall for as he is to talk to. he lets banter fall off his tongue almost as naturally as people fall for his charms, and shinichiro doesn’t see why you should be an exception.

wakasa isn’t a weak man who runs toward trouble before he can think. he wouldn’t have to stand in between your legs as you’re sat on the sink, flinching under your touch as you dab disinfectant on his wounds. he wouldn’t stumble over the right words to tell you when you flash him a smile as you ask him if you look alright. he wouldn’t cry over small things and embarrass himself when you’re around to witness. so of course you’d want imaushi wakasa—who wouldn’t?

shinichiro just wishes that it were as easy to shrug off the sinking of his heart as he tells himself it is.

“well, there’s not much keeping me there when i don’t have a pretty face to keep me company,” wakasa teases back as he winks playfully, and shinichiro almost has to swallow down bile as you look down shyly.

when was the last time you ever looked away from him shyly? or the last time something he said ever made you stumble over your words as you answer back? his mood sours, and then before he can think, he shrugs his jacket over his shoulders, lips pressed into a tight line as he clears his throat for your attention.

“well, you heard manjiro. i shouldn’t be late for dinner,” he says dryly, making your brows furrow. “i’ll be off.”

“but what about—”

“waka will walk you home,” he grunts, cutting you off before turning to the male beside you, “you know how to lock up.”

“shin—” but then he’s gone, and you’re left alone with wakasa as the door shuts behind him. you stare at the man next to you, and he stares back, and neither of you quite know what to say—or what’s even happened in the first place.

and when you get home that night, for the first time in a really long time, your text message gets left on delivered for ages—even though it’s not three am.

——————————

by now, it’s common knowledge that sano shinichiro has never had much luck in the love department. he asks and asks, and girls always deny and deny. but contrary to popular belief, he’s not desperate for some sort of action like most guys his age are. he’s not particularly interested in sex—at least, not urgently, anyway. and he doesn’t think he’s undesirable by any means, after all, he wasn’t the leader of the top gang in the nation for nothing. he’s sure there are girls who would happily take the chance to sleep with him—but that’s not quite what he wants. he doesn’t want a meaningless fling one after the other.

he just doesn’t like the idea of waking up to empty sheets with the lingering scent of perfume and sex, and he doesn’t like the idea of not knowing the names of people he gets in bed with. and he especially doesn’t like the idea of letting people see the intimate parts of him without feeling intimately for him in some shape or form. the truth is that shinichiro, the weak king and famed leader of the mighty black dragon, is really just a romantic at heart.

so he asks shyly, roses in one hand and his heart in the other, weight shifting on the balls of his feet. he asks and asks, and girls deny and deny—and he wonders if maybe he’s just too pathetic to love.

and then there’s you.

he’s been in love with you since before love was a concept he even understood—and he suspects he’s even been in love with you since his “girls have cooties” stage at the tender age of six. for as long as he can remember, sano shinichiro has grown up on the warmth of your hand holding his.

you hold it in line at school when you insist he be your line buddy, you hold it when you carefully help him off the ground when he’s beaten by people twice his size, you hold it when you’re nervous about getting lost in a busy crowd on the streets, and you hold it in his dreams before tugging him in for a kiss.

but of course, as on brand of his luck as ever, he wakes up before he can feel the softness of your lips and taste the sweetness of your chapstick—which he suspects you wear strawberry flavored.

except today, shinichiro doesn’t get to wake up to the crushing disappointment of your kiss being cut short. instead, today he’s awoken by the loud sound of a fist banging on his door, making him jolt awake with a gasp.

“shin, open the damn door,” you demand from the other side, and he groans, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with a scowl. now he’s thinking of the image of your lips pressing onto wakasa’s, and he feels bitterness creep up his shoulder, hunching over him and whispering sweetly in his ear to ignore you and promptly fall back asleep.

but you’re nothing if not persistent, so you keep pounding against his door.

“sano shinichiro, if you don’t open this door right now, i’ll walk in whether you’re decent or not,” you warn.

“well, i’m naked. so stay right there,” he calls out—even as he’s dressed fully clothed in a tank top and sweats.

“you don’t sleep naked,” you point out dryly, and he can just picture the scowl on your face, the way your arms cross, and your cheeks puff up in anger. he can also picture the way your foot taps impatiently, and if he wasn’t so mad at you (for no good reason at all), he’d have smiled fondly.

“how would you know?” he mutters, “you sleepin’ in the same bed as me?”

“shin, just open the damn door,” you sigh, and the soft thud against the wood tells him your forehead has gently fallen against the surface.

shinichiro, as he has been for most of his life, has not one ounce of him that has the strength to deny you. so with a heavy sigh, he slumps back against the headboard of his bed, crossing his arms.

“door’s open,” is all he says.

you don’t waste a moment, twisting the doorknob and walking into his room. it’s dark, and the curtains haven’t been drawn yet, but like clockwork, you step over the piles of clothes and seat yourself at the foot of his bed. you know his room like that back of your hand, what with the way you’ve spent damn near two decades coming over.

sano shinichiro has been your best friend since childhood—which by default, has always made you both susceptible to the cliche they’ll get married when they’re older remarks adults love to throw around so easily.

at six, you don’t care much for the statement outside of the mild shock you feel that adults always bring marriage into everything. shinichiro is fun, and he’s sweet, and that’s it. more importantly, he’s tall and easy to find when you play hide and seek, so you always end up winning. but shinichiro also splits his candy bar with you when you can’t decide between that or a bag of chips, and in exchange, you give him half of your bag. it works—you think it’s a rather unlikely pair between the two of you, but it works.

at twelve, you’re disgusted. shinichiro and you could never get married—could you? the adults need to stop talking because honestly, adults don’t know what they’re talking about. they work just to pay taxes, they tell you to go to bed at ten pm because “sleep is important”—only to stay up until three am themselves, and they always talk about marriage when half of them can’t even make theirs work. shinichiro is your best friend and that's it. you don’t think you could ever kiss lips as chapped as his anyway.

at eighteen, you think the adults may have had a point. maybe they know what they’re talking about after all. shinichiro is so incredibly handsome—when did he get this handsome? he smokes outside with his hair slicked up, a new little style he’s trying out, but it’s always back to falling over his eyes by the end of the day. the phase doesn’t last very long. and even though as his best friend you hate that he inhales those death sticks, as his secret admirer you can’t help but appreciate how perfect his lips look curled around the roll of tobacco as he takes a drag.

at twenty-three, you hate the adults for filling you up with false hope. you think they must hate the youth and that’s why they fill their minds with sick, cruel daydreams and fantasies of true love and happily ever afters. shinichiro has asked every girl he can think of on a date except you. you know it’s because you’re his best friend—but that’s just the problem. best friend. that’s all you’ll ever be, and it’s all the more frustrating that it’s all he’ll ever see you as, that you’re the only fucking girl he hasn’t asked out—especially since you’re the only fucking girl that appreciates him enough to say yes in a heartbeat.

but shinichiro is your best friend, and you’d rather have him like that than not at all.

“why’ve you been ignoring me,” you cut right to the chase, crossing your arms and throwing him a look as mean as they get. he crosses his arms right back, looking to the side as he avoids answering your question.

he’s obnoxiously persistent in avoiding you even as you’re less than two feet away from him, so you decide you have no other choice than to be obnoxiously stubborn in demanding his attention one way or another.

“shin, if you don’t spit it out, i’ll tell waka it was you who scratched his bike,” you threaten. it’s a good start, it gets his lips to twitch into a slight frown, but he’s still determined. “i’ll scratch your bike,” you huff. still nothing. “i’ll tell manjiro about that one time you accidentally—”

“you promised you’d keep that a secret,” he scowls, and then his eyes widen. it’s too late, though, and you’re already grinning at him cheekily as you revel in your victory. rolling his eyes, he grumbles under his breath before uncrossing his arms and letting them fall to either side of him with a sigh. “what is it?”

“oh, i don’t know,” you scoff in disbelief, raising a brow as if to question if he’s being serious. “maybe it’s that you’ve been radio silent for three whole days. three! i could’ve been dead in an alleyway and you wouldn’t even know.”

“i’d be invited to the funeral,” he points out.

“i’d tell them not to let you in.”

“you’re supposed to be dead,” he furrows his brows, staring at you like you’re stupid—and then you’re back to usual for a moment, like he hasn’t ignored your existence every time he remembers you smile at wakasa, like you aren’t ready to skin him alive for disappearing off the face of the earth, like you’re both just too damn in love with each other to stay mad for long.

it’s a little too bad he doesn’t realize it and neither do you.

“it was hypothetical,” you pinch your nose. “stop dodging. why haven’t you been talking to me?”

“glad to know you noticed,” he grumbles. he could really use a smoke right now, he thinks. but it’s barely eleven am and he hasn’t even had breakfast yet—even he’s at least that much concerned for his own wellbeing.

“what’s that supposed to mean?’ your eyes narrow, angry slits that glare at him like they’re daring him to explain himself further and tread down such a dangerous path. but shinichiro doesn’t back down, doesn’t even falter as he looks you dead in your eyes as he answers.

“just thought you’d be busy is all,” he says nonchalantly. too casual, too relaxed. like the calm before the storm—and you sense a storm might be approaching rather rapidly. “talking to wakasa must really clog up your schedule.”

“what the fuck does that even have to do with anything, shin?” you stare at him incredulously. that evening was not your first time talking to imaushi wakasa, nor was it your second or third, and it likely won’t be your last. you’ve talked to wakasa so many times, you can’t imagine why it should matter to shinichiro now.

unless…

no, you reprimand yourself, no wishful thinking. but what else could it be if not jealousy? all too suddenly, a small spark of excitement knits itself comfortably into your bones, and in a small fit of boldness, you wriggle your brows at him. he scowls instantly.

“what are you makin’ that face for at me—”

“are you jealous, shinny?” you tease, shuffling to sit next to him, face inching closer to his. you almost—almost, but not quite—miss the way he gulps.

maybe wishful thinking is only wishful thinking until it comes true.

“w-what are you…n-now you’re just makin’ stuff up—” he cuts his stuttering off when you giggle, face crimson as he throws you a (weak) glare. reaching, you pinch his cheek, and you can hear the audible hitch in his throat as you do.

“jealous you won’t be my number one man? don’t worry,” you hum, patting his face gently with affection. anything to keep touching him. “you’re the only one i text at three am—though it would be much appreciated if you’d answer this time,” you say pointedly.

“you’re the only person i text at three am too,” he mutters.

“not that anyone else texts you at three am,” you snicker, throwing your head back and laughing when he gently bumps your shoulder with his. “it’s a good thing. more attention for me. if you text other girls in the middle of the night, i’ll have to enlist wakasa for more attention—”

his face sours, making you trail off. and for some reason, he really seems to be taking this friendliness with wakasa personally.

“well, what’s wakasa got that i don’t anyway?” he grumbles, “just cause he’s a good kisser or something doesn’t mean—quit laughing,” he hisses when he hears you chuckle quietly.

“how do you know wakasa is a good kisser?”

“you tryin’ to tell me you think he’s not?” he raises a brow. somehow, your silence tells him everything he needs to know, and he feels bitterness creep into his skin, seeping into the small crevices of sano shinichiro that are very hard to reach—the small parts of him that are envious and resentful, so unlike his usual golden heart.

“i’m sure you’d be a great kisser,” you offer, which he takes as a half-ditch effort to comfort him. “you just need to practice ‘s all.”

“yeah well, that’s kind of hard to do when no one even says yes to a date,” he grunts.

it’s quiet. he almost feels bad for springing this on you like this, like it’s your fault you’re into a guy as great as wakasa—like it’s your fault girls aren’t into a guy who pales in comparison like shinichiro.

“we could practice if you want,” you say quietly. he finally turns to look at you full on.

“what?”

“well, i mean…just for practice, you know? we’re still friends,” you shrug nonchalantly.

right, friends. but shinichiro wants to feel your lips on his one way or another, and this might just be the only way. he’s not going to ask for more than what he’s already been graciously offered from the universe.

“okay,” is all he says, voice somewhat strained. “d-do i gotta like…y-you want me to play music? o-or i could—”

“shin,” you snort, staring at him amused, “we don’t need music to kiss.” he’d be embarrassed—really, he would. but you’re just so pretty when your eyes are bright like that, and he’s shameless enough to be proud he’s made you laugh.

wakasa can suck on that, he thinks.

“w-well, i just thought…c-cause you know, people say music sets the…you know?” he stares at you like he hopes you’ll catch what he’s hinting, and you blink innocently—purposely, he suspects. “you know, th-the mood,” he croaks.

“we’re kissing, not fucking,” you snort. he sputters at the directness, and then you decide to spare him and cup his face with both hands, face hovering just inches before his. “just tell me if you want to stop, okay?” you murmur, thumb stroking his cheek tenderly.

like he’d ever ask you to stop, he thinks. still, he gulps and nods.

“okay,” he murmurs back when you seem to wait for him to say it verbally. “i will,” he assures,

and just like that, you kiss him. shinichiro almost takes this as a sign to pinch himself, just to make sure this isn’t a dream he got lucky in and didn’t wake up early from. but he decides if this is a dream, he’d be cruel to take away the one chance he has to experience this, so he plants his hands on your waist instead, gently tugging you to straddle his waist.

his lips are soft, and they aren’t chapped like they once used to be. your lips taste of strawberry chapstick, just like he always imagined.

shinichiro isn’t a bad kisser, you decide. he’s equal parts enthusiastic as he is gentle, and you’d be lying if you said this wasn’t one of—if not the—best kiss you’ve ever had. but then again, maybe it’s just because you’re in love with him. you’ll take him however you can, and even if this is just “as friends,” you’re content at the moment with the way his lips mold against yours, large hands gripping onto your hips as he pants under you.

except, neither of you takes the initiative to be the one who pulls away—and then one thing sort of leads to the other, as they always do in cases like this. your hands wander to his hair, tugging at his roots, he groans in surprise, and then suddenly both of your hips are grinding your crotches together. he lets out a muffled moan against your mouth as you rub against his growing erection.

and even though you really shouldn’t, you grind down on him until you feel his hard-on poke through his sweats, pulling sweet little whines from him as his breath grows ragged.

“f-fuck, that…that feels good,” he groans quietly, “keep doing that.”

“yeah?” you ask, “like this?” your lips are trailing along his jaw, sucking on the skin—just because you can, just because he’s not stopping you. he throws his head back against the frame of his bed, whimpering as you drag up and down his length through your pants. you gasp as you feel him rub against your clit, hips moving faster as you chase the friction.

he seems just as desperate for it as you do—because now, his hips buck to match your rhythm, panting raggedly as he feels his orgasm slowly build up.

“‘m close,” he gasps, “fuck, fuck, ‘m so close. jus’ a bit more—f-fuck,” he cuts himself with a whimper of your name as he cums, fingers digging into your hips bruisingly tight as he desperately rolls his hips against you. you watch his head fall back, how his cheeks are flushed with a rosy hue, how he shudders with a blissed-out face as his mouth parts with pretty little moans, how his hair falls over his closed eyes and curtains his face. you feel his pants dampen, sticky ropes of cum seeping through the fabric, making a mess and soiling both of your clothes.

but you’re too busy mewling as he drags against your clit to care, hips rutting against him faster. you’re close—he knows it too, and he’s determined to get you falling off the edge as quickly as possible.

“c’mon,” he says through a shaky voice, “jus’ let go, cum for me.” for someone with no experience, shinichiro isn’t as shy as you initially thought, and he certainly knows where the clit is. he guides your hips with his hands, helping you stroke against his cock until you slump over him, crying out as you cum too. your walls spasm around nothing, aching to clench around his girth.

“shin,” you whine, “sh-shit, feels good.”

“god, n-need to be in you,” he gasps, “can i? please, please, please,” he pleads into your skin as his head falls to the crook of your neck. you don’t waste a second, grabbing at the hem of his tank top and lifting it over his head, slipping it over his arms. you take off your own shirt, and his eyes fall to your chest instantly. “can…can i?” he asks hesitantly, and you nod, grabbing his hands to cup either tit.

“yes please,” you breathe, letting out a shaky sigh as he kneads your breasts in his hands before letting them wander to unclasp your bra. he gulps when it falls, eyeing your bare chest before leaning to press a soft kiss to your collarbone.

“you’re so beautiful,” he murmurs against the skin, nose brushing against it and sending shivers up your spine. his thumbs roll over your nipples, pebbled and hard under his touch, pulling a soft moan from you as he pinches lightly and rolls them between his fingers. “feels good?” he gives you a charming little grin—just a little giddy he’s doing something right.

“yes, keep going,” you whine, pulling a grunt from him as you shuffle on his lap to get closer, rubbing against his still hardened cock. your hand reaches past his waistband, pulling his length out and wrapping your hand around it as you squeeze gently.

shinichiro lets out a strangled groan—somehow, it feels way more different when it’s your hand and not his. he lets out ragged breaths as you gently stroke him, whimpering when your thumb glides through his slit and smears the pre cum around the head of his cock.

he’s pretty, long and curved and flushed a soft pink at the tip—and truth be told, bigger than you expected.

“fuck, you’re gonna kill me,” he rasps, staring down at the way your hand fists his cock, a slick, wet noise ringing through the room as you drag your hand up and down his length. he moans, eyes fluttering shut as his hair clings to his sweaty forehead. and then you pull away, making his eyes fly open as his mouth opens to protest.

you speak before he can. “you sure about this?” you ask, and he swallows at the tenderness of your voice, the way your eyes are soft and sweet and searching his for any signs of changing his mind.

he shakes his head quickly—embarrassingly quickly if he’s being honest with himself.

“yes. please don’t stop, baby,” he groans, and the pet name slipping off his tongue is all the encouragement you need, letting out a labored breath before nodding.

shinichiro watches in a trance as you rid yourself of your pants and underwear, watches as you tug his own sweats down his hips and help him out, watches in sheer awe as your grip his shoulders and line your entrance up with his tip, rolling your hips to just glide him over across your folds, gathering your slick along the head of his cock. you both shudder at the contact, and slowly, you sink down on him, taking him in inch by inch.

“god—f-fuck, s-so tight,” he chokes, hands flying to your waist and gripping tightly, panting harshly as his eyes squeeze shut. you gasp, head falling to his shoulder as you sink down on the last few inches, bottomed out as he drags along your walls.

he’s big, and he curves into you just right—almost like he was made to fit you. slowly, you grind your hips, moaning against his shoulder as he groans, the sound of his voice making you clench down on him unintentionally.

“so full, shin,” you whine, “feels good—you make me feel good.” slowly, the grinding turns into your hips slamming down on him, bouncing on his cock as he throws his head back and lets out a wanton moan.

“sh-shit—you’re perfect, so, so perfect,” he rambles, hips snapping up to match your pace, thrusting into you deeper. he pauses for a moment when you let out a shrill squeal when he slams into you particularly deep, fat tip kissing your sweet spot and making you cling to him tighter. he throws you a cheeky grin, one that makes your heart melt and your eyes roll at the same time. “looks like i found it,” he grins to himself, and then he’s flipping you both over, a new aura of confidence radiating off of him that you’ve never quite seen in shinichiro.

“shin, please,” you whine, arms wrapping around his neck and pulling his forehead down to press against yours, “fuck me,” you whisper.

“shit, baby,” he groans, “look at you, so pretty. prettiest thing i’ve ever seen.” you clench down on him. who would’ve thought praise from his tongue could make you wonder if you’re about to cum again, but it sounds so perfect off his tongue. so intimate and so sacred. “needed you so bad, you have no idea.”

“me too,” you gasp, drawn-out moan pulling from your lips as he thrusts into you, rolling his hips and bullying his cock past your folds in a perfect rhythm—you almost question if he really has been a virgin this whole time.

shinichiro is pretty—it’s the conclusion you’ve allowed yourself to come to after a long time of denying it. he looks pretty when his hair falls over his eyes as the sun makes the strands look a shade lighter, and he’s pretty when he rubs his neck and laughs nervously in the endearing little way that he does. and now you know he sounds it too, breathy and whiny against the shell of your ear as he desperately fucks into you, losing himself to the warmth of your walls, to the way they flutter around him so tightly. he’s also pretty when he lets out a deep, raspy grunt, and it serves as a reminder that he’s grown into a man now.

he’s not the same cry baby on the playground, staring up at you through wobbly lips and a bruise on his cheeks, desperately fighting back the tears in his eyes.

he’s a man now, lean and built with muscle you never really noticed was there, with a deep, husky voice that you never really took the time to register how much has changed over the years, with hands that are big now, way bigger than you ever remember as they pin your hands over your head, wrapped around your wrists.

but somehow, he’s still the same shin when he meets your eyes as his forehead presses against yours. your shin—your shy, awkward, weak little cry baby shin.

and you love him.

“you close? ‘m so fuckin’ close,” he pants, and then his hand sneaks down in between your bodies to rub his thumb over your clit, making your back arch as you mewl, chest pressing against his as your nipple graze against each other. “fuck, ‘m gonna cum baby. cum with me,” he pleads.

“s-so close, shin,” you sob, “need it, need it so bad.”

“fuck, you’re so pretty,” he groans, “anyone ever tell you that? how fuckin’ perfect you are? you drive me so fuckin’ insane.”

“shinichiro,” you cry one more time before he angles his hips to slam into your spot, and then you cum—hard. your hips leave the mattress, shrill squeal rolling off your tongue as your walls spasm around him, making him grunt at the way you squeeze his cock. your legs are wrapped around his waist, mouth hung open as your eyes roll back, and if your face isn’t enough to send him over the edge, the way you moan through broken sobs definitely is.

“fuck, fuck—y-you gotta let go, baby. ‘m gonna…gonna c-cum, gotta let me go—”

“no, no, inside,” you beg, wrapping your legs around him tighter, pulling him closer as you stare up at him with wide, watery doe eyes. “please, i need it.”

he couldn’t hold back if he tried.

“shit—you’re really gonna fuckin’ kill me,” he groans, and then his lips are on yours, desperately kissing you, letting you drink in his moans and swallow them up as he spills into you, cumming a second time.

he cums for what feels like forever—and if it were up to you, it’d be longer than that. his hips are sloppy, fucking into you as he rides out his orgasm with muffled whines against your mouth and a tight grip on your wrists. “fuck, fuck, fuck—f-feels good. ‘s so good,” he babbles, and you can feel his cock twitch with every rope of cum he spills into you, painting your walls white. with three more thrusts, he finishes, whimpering as you flutter around him and milk him dry.

and as he pulls out, slumping his body over yours while he breathes through labored inhales, shakily catching his breath, you take this as the perfect opportunity to be brave.

you’re brave as you mumble, “i love you, shin,” fingers weaving through his sweaty locks.

he tenses. your heart shatters. there’s a knock on his door.

“shin, hurry up,” you hear manjiro’s muffled voice through the door, “grandpa says no breakfast for either of you if you don’t come right now.” there’s a quiet grumble of, “they talk so much, as if they don’t see each other every day,” under the blonde’s breath, and then you hear the soft pads of his feet as he walks away.

and silently, as you both dress and fix up your appearances, you don’t know if shinichiro is the same shin you grew up with.

you don’t stay for breakfast, and he doesn’t ask you to.

——————————

shinichiro is stupid.

he’s a fucking idiot and he knows now why he’s never had any luck in the department of love. he’s pathetic and a coward and he deserves all the rejections he’s got lined up on his record—at least, that's what he woefully tells wakasa as he’s got his head in his hands.

“you’re not a virgin anymore?” wakasa asks in shock, mouth agape as though this is more surprising than the aftermath shinichiro’s so kindly summed up—the same aftermath that happens to be the worst mistake of his life.

“that’s not the fucking point i’m making,” he grits his teeth. “the girl i’m in love with thinks i don’t feel the same, man. can you read the room?”

“so no congrats cake, then?” wakasa asks, just to be sure. he dodges the screwdriver thrown at his head expertly. “i don’t see what the big deal is,” wakasa sucks on his lollipop, shrugging as though it’s a simple matter. shinichiro wishes his aim wasn’t equally as bad as wakasa ability to dodge is good. he really wishes the screwdriver hit. “anyway, just show up at her house with flowers and say, i love you too, i just got shy. girls love flowers.”

“i wasn’t shy, i was shocked,” he mutters quietly, “and it’s not that simple,” he grunts, sighing as he wallows in self-pity. wakasa is not as good at relationship advice as shinichiro thought, and now he’s even more irritated that someone as dense as his friend is blessed with so much romantic appeal.

“why not? she loves you, you know that now. the hard part’s done,” wakasa shrugs, “so you guys like…had full-on sex? are you actually not a virgin anymore?”

“you know what, forget i said anything,” shinichiro huffs, staring down at his hands with a frown. wakasa gazes at him for a moment, eyeing the look on his face that can’t be labeled as anything other than purely crestfallen.

“if you love her, you wouldn’t be sitting here feeling bad for yourself,” wakasa says quietly. “between the two of you, she’s probably more miserable right now,” he mumbles. “no point in being a coward now.”

it’s silent. and then shinichiro’s groaning before he stares up at the ceiling.

“i’m not like you,” he mutters, “i can’t sweet talk or be romantic or anything. i’m hopeless.”

“you’re right,” wakasa agrees thoughtfully, picking at his nails as he rolls the lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other, “you’re not me.”

“okay, man. i get it, you don’t have to—”

“that’s why you lead black dragon and not me,” wakasa looks him dead in the eye, giving him a pointed look as though to say wake up. “and that’s why she loves you and not me. quit makin’ excuses and get off your ass.”

and shinichiro is stupid.

he’s painfully unaware of a lot of things, reckless and a tad bit too spontaneous in his choices, but he thinks maybe you’ve known that all along, and you still love him even through the busted lips and wounded pride. you loved him through his delinquency and trouble-making habits, and you loved him before he’s built himself to be the most respected gang leader around these parts.

so with a nod, he smiles softly at his friend—maybe it’s a good thing wakasa dodged the screwdriver after all.

“thanks, man.”

“yeah, whatever, don’t make it weird,” wakasa grunts, rolling his eyes. there’s a fondness in his gaze, though—and his lips just barely tug at the edges. “so did you really last long enough?”

this time shinichiro throws a wrench.

——————————

it wasn’t supposed to go down like this. he had a plan. a foolproof plan.

he had the flowers, he had the chocolate, and he even had a piece of paper in his pocket with a bulleted outline for the all the things he wanted to say—reading off of it word for word seems like a tad bit of a dick move, so he opts for bullet points instead of full sentences.

it was supposed to be smooth and heartfelt and endearing enough that you’d have absolutely no choice but to give in to his charms and say it’s okay, shin. i still love you. and maybe, if he got lucky and the universe was on his side, he’d get to kiss you some more. maybe other things too, but he tries to be practical and not hope for too much.

but evidently, the universe was not on his side because before he can even grab the flowers and be on his way to your house, he’s being robbed. and to make things worse, it’s by his own brother’s friends. and to add icing to the cake, one of them split his head open with a fucking chain cutter. he wonders if this is karma for trying to hit wakasa’s head with not just a screwdriver, but a wrench too.

so, instead of your front doorstep, he lands himself a nice little visit to the hospital, a teary-eyed manjiro and emma at his bedside by the time he wakes up.

“shin, do you remember me? i’m your sister, emma,” she says with wobbly lips and a quiet sniffle, tugging gently at his hospital gown. his eyes soften, and he places a hand on top of her head, ruffling her hair affectionately.

“yes, emma, i still have my memory,” he chuckles, “and you must be manjiro,” he teases. manjiro purses his lips with a huff, but when two tears trickle down his cheeks, shinichiro wipes them away with the pad of his thumb. “i’m fine,” he murmurs, “see? nothin’ to worry about.”

and then the door slams open and everyone flinches, all eyes darting to look at you as you stand with your own teary eyes and wobbly lips, the sound of your sniffles joining the rest.

“oh shin,” you sob, and soon, you’re gently cupping his cheeks and tilting his head to get a better look at the bandages. “does it hurt? are you gonna have any permanent damage? is the kid in jail? do you remember what happened? wait, do you remember me? it’s me, remember? we’ve been friends since we were kids, i helped you up after you got beat—”

“okay,” he hisses, “we don’t need to relive that. it’s in the past,” his eyes glance at manjiro and emma before meeting yours again. you purse your lips and roll your eyes.

“you almost died,” you spit at him, “how are you still worried about your rep?”

“i’m fine,” he grumbles, and then his eyes soften and he meets your gaze. he feels his heart sink when he notices there are tear tracks down your cheeks, staining your pretty little face in a way it never should be—you’re too good for this world for that. “really, i am.”

before either of you can even ask, manjiro is grabbing emma’s hand and tugging her along as he shuffles out the door, leaving you both to yourselves in the room without two sets of eyes watching…whatever this moment is as it goes down.

“shin,” you sigh, seating yourself down on the chair beside his bed. he almost whines in protest when your hands leave his face, missing your touch as soon as it’s gone. “i’m sorry i’ve been avoiding you. i…it’s not your fault you don’t feel the same.”

“wait—”

“it’s okay, you don’t have to say anything,” you cut him off, “i get it, really i do! and i’m not hurt. well, i am a little sad, i can’t lie, but i’ll be fine. we’ll be fine. i don’t…i can’t lose you, shin, you know? we can be friends, i’m okay with just friends—you’re my best friend, and i thought…i thought you were gonna die, and i hadn’t spoken to you in like five days, and—”

“but i do—” you shush him with a finger to his lips.

“just let me finish, okay? i’m really glad you’re okay, i don’t know what i’d do if you weren’t. god, you weren’t waking up, and there was so much blood when i got there, and manjiro was…a-and…” you trail off, voice cracking and eyes watering—and now you’re crying. sobbing, actually. sobbing and tearing his heart right out of his chest and shredding it one tear at a time, and he scrambles to grab your hand.

“you sure do love to hear yourself talk,” he grumbles, tugging you forward to wipe the tears off your face. and the proximity should make him the shy, awkward guy he always reverts into when you’re so close, but somehow all of it flies out the window at the sight of you crying.

he hates the idea of tears ever falling down your cheeks, and he hates the idea of him being the cause even more.

“what are you—”

“i’ve been trying to say,” he huffs, “i–” he takes a breath, one that’s a little shaky before he swallows. “i love you too. i just…just got surprised, you know? cause…cause you’re you, and you laugh at wakasa’s jokes—even though he’s not really that funny, anyway,” he rolls his eyes at the mere thought of wakasa, “and i just froze. i-it’s not cause…l-like, i meant to say it back, really! i j-just…w-well you know me,” he chuckles nervously. you’re staring with your mouth agape. “n-no one’s ever said anything like that to me—well, no. i do get told i love you…by like my family and stuff—wait, that sounds lame. forget that last part—” he almost wishes hanemiya kazutora hit him harder with the chain cutter at this point when he hears you giggle.

maybe death would be better than this, and at least that way he could haunt wakasa to make sure he stays far away from you. but he’s here, making a complete fool of himself as he openly admits that in his twenty-three years of life, he usually really just hears i love you from his younger siblings—and that’s typically only through batted lashes to get him to give in and let them get their way.

“well, at least hitting your head didn’t change you,” you tease, “you’re still the same.”

“it’s too soon to be making head trauma jokes,” he glowers, “i just poured my heart out to you, you know.”

“i know,” you hum, cupping his cheek and tracing a thumb over the skin. he leans into your touch and closes his eyes—and a small part of him is just the slightest bit proud he doesn’t need flowers and chocolate and his stupid bulleted list of things to say on paper.

maybe, he’s enough as is. shy, awkward, weak little cry baby self and all.

“it would be really appreciated if after this, you stopped giving imaushi wakasa the time of day,” he grumbles, “he’s really fuckin’ annoying.”

“you be nice to waka,” you chide, staring at him sternly. he pouts unhappily at the way you defend his friend. “he always says good things about you.”

at twenty-three, you think the adults are right. you don’t see yourself spending your days with anyone else besides shinichiro, and if you have to fight the reaper’s scythe yourself, you will—but you’re marrying sano shinichiro one way or another. now that you have him, you’re never letting him slip from your fingertips again.

so you climb into bed with him, tangle your legs with his and lay your head on his chest, ignore the cramped bed on the hospital that’s a little too small for the both of you, and you gently tilt his head down and you kiss him.

he kisses back as he holds your face, smiling against your lips like he’s got the world in his palms—and he does.

“i’m in love with you,” you murmur as you pull away, not meeting his gaze. your finger traces patterns into his chest, and his arm curls around you tighter.

“oh,” he says.

you glance up at him, frown marring that pretty, pretty face of yours. “that’s it?”

“and i’m in love with you too,” he whispers.

“oh.”

“that’s it?” he pouts playfully, bringing a hand to his chest as he writhes in faux agony. you snort, throwing your head back as you laugh, and he grins down at you, watching the light break over your face as you realize it’s always been you all along—just like it’s always been him.

“shut up, shin,” you smack his chest, smiling against his lips when they find yours in another giggly kiss.

shinichiro is a simple man. he finds that if he has you, he doesn’t really need anything else.

#teepods.writings #thirstee!#fics.#shinichiro x reader #shinichiro x you #shinichiro smut #sano shinichiro x reader #sano shinichiro x you #sano shinichiro smut #tr x reader #tr x you #tr smut #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers x you #tokyo revengers smut #tokrev x reader #tokrev x you #tokrev smut

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chochuuya · 6 months

Text

mechanic.

characters that would suit this scenario are: shinichiro sano, ken ryuguji and seishu inui.. or any of your favs honestly <3

it was rather a chilly day that makes you want to fall asleep, after reading a book and drinking a nice hot cup of tea or coffee, while the rain gives a natural asmr background sound and engulfing the atmosphere cold.

oh, how you wish you could if it weren't for your "quick" errands. and your flat tire.

the repair store's bell jingle, signalling him that a customer came in before he peered behind his shoulders to see.. you.

you looked straight out of a fairytale even when your eyebrows are knitted together in distress and concentration.

his breath hitched as his eyes fill with adoration, yet he decided to mask his anxiety before approaching you, oh so confidently.

"couldn't do a simple tire fix yourself?" the taller man asks almost provokingly while you drag your distinguishable, vibrant coloured and cute scooter bike into his shop.

you sigh in defeat. he isn't even trying to help.

he rolls his eyes as if he were annoyed. he wasn't though, far from it actually. whether you come to him for something as small as a scratch on your bike, he'll repair it for you. besides, it was a chance to see you. how could he miss up on that?

"why..?" you asked.

walking over to your bike, he kneels down. he inspects the tire until an idea pops up inside his mind. he looks over at you with a mischievous smile, "i'll fix this for ya, and we go on a date."

"well, i'll only tell you if you agree to go out with me. so, what do you say?" he asked again, this time with a nervous smile and his pulse quickening; uncertain of what your answer might be.

"okay, sure."

his heart almost escaped his rib cage, he could jump and hug you right now but that's for later. hopefully.

please do not steal, copy, translate, repost to other sites or claim my writings as your own. plagiarism is real!

AAAA my first scenario? oneshot? hopefully you enjoyed reading this one >< likes, reblogs and comments are very appreciated! ૮₍｡´ᴖ ˔ ᴖ`｡₎ა♡

#🐯 luna writes #🐯 luna's fics #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers x reader #x reader #tokyo revengers fluff #tokyo revengers scenarios #tokyo revengers oneshot #tokyo revengers imagines #sano shinichiro #shinichiro sano #shinichiro x reader #ken ryuguji #draken #draken x reader #inui seishu #seishu inui #inui x reader

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manjirot · 1 year

Text

off limits // imaushi wakasa

— you were already off limits the moment he laid his eyes on you.

cw // reader is a bit of a airhead, sex worker and psychic, smut, drugs, murder, degradation, waka is jealous asf and tatteddd.

sn // reader is 21 and waka is in his middle 30s.

“FOR FUCK SAKES!!” Rinshiro screams out, “fucking whore scratched me up! My face is a bloody mess!”

“C- calm down, Rinshiro, sir! Mr. Imaushi is on his way as we speak!” Chino, the bartender says nervously.

Rinshiro, who’s face looked like a cat got a hold of him turned around and looked at Chino, making him gulp from how horrified his face was. “I should go back there and kill that stupid bitch.”

“No way!” Chino yelled, “I understand your frustration but you gotta understand you broke our number one rule Mr. Rinshiro… hands off all the girls.”

Rinshiro gritted his teeth.

“Boss, I think we should leave. Dude is right after all…” Rinshiro’s underling said.

Rinshiro clicked his tongue, “are you siding with this fucker??” He then reach behind his pants and pulled out his glock pointing it at Chino.

The girls that were out of their rooms witnessing the chaos ran back into their rooms in fear.

“Do you know who the hell you’re talking to?” Rinshiro shouted. “I’m fucking Rinshiro!!! Leader and Founder of Rage Hounds.”

“Yeah yeah, we get it..” a calm voice enters the building. Rinshiro turns around to see the owner, Wakasa. “can you be respectful and use your inside voice? I am running a business here… and stop aiming at my bartender, you’re gonna make em shit himself.” Wakasa says.

Rinshiro chuckled and lowered his gun, “I was just kidding,” he said, putting the gun away.

“I doubt you were kidding with how fucked up your face is,” Shinchiro says, who’s following behind Wakasa.

Rinshiro grunted but held his composure, “well, aha, one of your girls did this.”

“Tell me more.” Wakasa said, “why would one of my girls attack you so brutally Rinshiro?”

“You should ask that crazy bitch that!” Rinshiro replied.

Wakasa steps closer to Rinshiro, “but I’m asking you… why would my girl attack you?”

Rinshiro stepped backwards a bit, intimidating by Waka’s cold glare. Rinshiro took a deep breath, “I may have struck her first but I have a damn good reason for it Waka,” Rinshiro said.

There was silence for a least ten seconds.

“Oh okay,” Waka says with a smile, “since there was a good reason I’m sure we can work something out then.”

Rinshiro grinned and looked back at his nervous underling, “I’m just stressed about what ima tell me girl back home when she sees my face.”

Waka smiled softly, “tell her this…”

WHACK— and just that quick, Waka knee’d him in the face. Chino could’ve sworn he heard something crack. Waka then grabbed a fistful of Rinshiro’s hair, “tell her you were here trying to get your dick wet and got clawed I’m the process.” Waka then punched him in the gut, making him spit out.

Rinshiro fell to the floor and Waka stomped him harshly all over. Shinchiro stood behind watching the show and took out a cigarette to lit up. He found it amusing.

Waka stopped kicking and kneeled down to the now unconscious man, “you’re a disgrace… and if you ever come back disrespecting my business again, i will kill you.” Waka spat on him and glanced up at Rinshiro’s now terrified underling, “get your dog shit boss outta here..”

“Y-yes, yes sir!” The underling rushed to his boss and quickly got him up off the floor and exited the building.

Shinchiro chuckled, “you should’ve let me handled that youngin’.”

“Pft, as if…” Waka said. He took a cigarette out his pocket and walked up to Shin, letting him light it up.

“Chino.” Wakasa called. Chino was paralyzed from seeing his boss in action for the first time, “Chino!” Wakasa called again, “ah, yes sir?”

“Take us to the girl,” Waka said and Chino nodded, “follow me sir.”

Chino led Waka and Shinchiro through a dimly lit hallway in the back where the girls slept and did their business.

Some girls peeped out their rooms and was in awe. “It’s Mr. Imaushi; he’s so sexy; who’s that with him?;

Chino stopped at a door, “this is it,” and opened the door. Chino stepped aside and allowed Waka and Shin to enter. “So… this is her?” Waka asked.

The battered girl sat in a fetal position in the corner of her broke down bed and opened her eyes when she heard unfamiliar voices. You instantly grabbed the broken glass that was beside you and aimed it shakily at Waka.

“St- stay back!!” You said with a shaky voice, “I’ll carve out your face if you come any closer!”

Waka took a step forward… “I’m fucking warning you!” You screamed.

“Y/n, calm down!!” Chino said, “this is Mr. Imaushi, he owns this place.”

You looked at Chino then at Waka, “you’re… you’re the boss?”

“Sure am baby,” Waka said, “I heard what happened so I came to check on you.”

Your lips began to tremble and you slowly laid down the glass, Waka walked over and sat down on your bed. “There’s no need to cry, daddy’s here now.” His strong arms wrapped around you and you cling to him like your life depended on it.

“I was so scared… I couldn’t breathe, I- I thought I was going to die.” You sobbed into his silk button up shirt. He caressed your hair, “shhh, shhh. It’s alright now pretty girl.”

Waka examined the room and it was completely a mess. Broken glass everywhere, blood here and there, mainly on the bed, the bed was might as well say broke.

She has bruises all over her … busted nose and lip, defensive wounds on her arms. And even bruises around her neck. Bastard was trying to strangle her to death.

Waka held you closer to him at the thought of you being killed by the likes of Rinshiro.

He’ll come back for retaliation once he’s better… she’s not safe here. Hm, that leaves me no choice then.

“I’m taking her with me.” Waka says out loud.

Chino eyes widen, “pardon me sir.”

“I said she’s coming home with me, get all her belongings packed and meet me outside in five.”

“But sir, she’s our best girl! The ratings will go down for sure once everyone finds out she’s no longer here!” Chino protests.

“Fuck ratings. She’s coming back with me and that’s final, find the second best girl to replace her since you’re so worried.” Waka replied.

There’s no second best though — “yes sir, Mr. Imaushi.”

Wakasa then picks you up in his arms which startles you a little, “hope you don’t mind being carried around like this,” Waka says to you.

You’re dumbfounded for a bit then looks away, “I don’t mind,” you say shyly.

Waka softly smiles at you in his arms then looks back at Chino, “I don’t have all goddamn night, Chino!”

“Uh right sir! I apologize!” Chino rushes and packs all your things up as Waka walks out with you in his arms.

“So you girls wanna guess how big it is?” Shinchiro teases a few girls then suddenly sees Wakasa walk pass the room with you in tow.

“Shit, what are you doing Waka?” Shinchiro rushed out the room.

“What does it look like?” Waka asked.

Shinchiro grumbled and looked back at the girls that seemed to be waiting for him, “say Waka? You don’t mind if I-”

“Knock yourself out,” Waka said to Shin.

As Wakasa was carrying you, you were listening his heart beat. Nothing else, just his heart. So warm… he’s so warm. This warmth… is so calming.

Waka makes it outside where it’s ice cold drizzling. He looks down at you to see you’re fast asleep.

Seriously… she’s out cold. She’s an interesting one for sure.

#tokyo revengers #anime #tokrev smut #tokrev fic #tokrev wakasa #wakasa imaushi #imaushi wakasa #wakasa imaushi smut #fanfic #shinichiro sano #wakasa smut

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ruinie · 1 year

Text

Do I Wanna Know?

Chapter One: I'm Asking You

Pairing: Shinichiro Sano x Fem!Akashi!Reader

Summary: You’ve been crushing on your brother’s best friend since the day you met him. Years later, you still find yourself unable to confess your feelings out of fear of rejection as well as not wanting to upset your brother. In hopes of freeing yourself from this decade-long crush, as well as gauging his interest without having to reveal the extent of your feelings, you decide to ask a favor of him before you go off to college.

Word Count: 14.4k

Content Warnings: friends with benefits dynamic, brother's best friend trope, brief mentions of alcohol, sexual content, teaching, light dry humping, this chapter is actually pretty mild but this series will contain explicit smut, 18+ minors do not interact!

⊱ ─────── 《∘◦♡◦∘》 ──────── ⊰

Some things in life are supposedly fated.

When you were younger, your grandmother would often tell you bedtime stories to lull you to sleep at night. The stories she told weren’t ones that she read from children’s books, rather she preferred to make up her own stories to narrate to you. Her favorite to tell was the one about Big Fates and Little Fates.

The two fates are siblings, she had explained. Big Fates was the older brother, a major event that is set in stone from the moment someone is born, and Little Fates was his younger sister, following after him. Little Fates loved her older brother, and she exists to push people in the right direction and guide them to her big brother to help him. Big Fates can’t exist without Little Fates, and Little Fates will become lost without her brother. The two siblings rely on each other in order to exist, and they grow stronger together.

You never really understood the meaning of that story, but your grandma assured you that one day, perhaps when you were a little older, it would reveal itself to you. At the time, you tended to shrug off things you didn’t understand and accept what you were told as fact. Like many caught up in the path of the siblings of fate, you were completely unaware of the day that Little Fates took your hand.

You were sitting at the coffee table in your grandmother’s living room, doodling on a piece of paper with the doll your father bought you at your side when your brother raced past you and into the kitchen with your grandma. You couldn’t hear what they were saying, but when he exited the kitchen, he clearly told your grandmother that he was leaving.

“Where are you going?” You asked, setting your crayons down, your brother now having your full attention.

He stopped at your voice, shooting a narrowed glance in your direction, shortly replying, “To the park.”

You gasped excitedly at his declaration, beginning to push yourself from the wooden floor. He grimaced, already anticipating the question that was about to leave your mouth, “Can I g—”

“No,” He stated bluntly, cutting off your request before you could fully get it out. This was a recurring back-and-forth between the two of you.

“You didn’t let me fin—”

“You can’t come with me.”

Your mouth gaped at his words, taking a step back before a childlike pout took over your features, “Why not?”

“Because.” He shot back, turning away from you dismissively, but you weren’t about to let him get away quite yet. Not without giving you a proper answer, at least.

You followed after him as he made his way towards the front door, continuing your line of questioning, “Because why?”

“Because,” He addressed pointedly, halting again and taking a deep breath before facing you, “I’m going to hang out with a friend, and I don’t want you to bother us.”

“I won’t bother you, I swear!” You promised, leaning forward on your toes, hoping to present yourself as sincere. You meant it! If he just let you tag along, you wouldn't bug him or his friend. You’d occupy yourself while they ran around, and you wouldn’t even look at them if that’s what he wanted.

“I already told you, no. Now stop asking.” He moved to turn away from you again, but you shot ahead of him, blocking his path and causing him to curse under his breath.

“Please, Take-nii!” You pleaded, giving him the best pair of puppy dog eyes you could muster, “I don’t wanna stay behind at grandma’s all the time. I wanna go to the park sometimes, too!”

“[Name]—”

You clasped your hands under your chin as you kneeled in front of your older brother, who scowled down at you. “I’ll leave the two of you alone, I promise! Please? Pretty please, Take-nii? You won’t even know that I’m there!”

“C’mon, [Name], stop begging like a spoiled brat. Today’s not a good day. Maybe next time, ok?” He offered, clicking his tongue when he saw your expression deflate. “I’ll bring you next week. That sound good? Now get off the floor.”

He extended his hand to you and you took it with a pout, allowing him to pull you to your feet. Takeomi always said stuff like “Maybe next time” and “I’ll do it next week” but it never happened. Deep down in your young heart, you knew he was just saying those things to pacify you, but that naive part of you still hoped that next week would come and he’d fulfill his promise. So, like always, you planned to nod and agree.

“Takeomi, you’re still here?” Your grandmother questioned from the doorway to the kitchen, “That’s good, I need you to watch your sister for a little while. I’ve got to go grocery shopping or else you youngsters might be without dinner tonight. Can you do that for me?”

For a split second, Takeomi’s brows pinched together, but his expression relaxed before he responded, “I promised my friend that I would be at the park for noon. I can’t be late. Can’t she go shopping with you?”

“I know Omi, I wasn’t saying you couldn’t go to the park. Why don’t you take [Name] with you? That would probably be more fun for her than shopping with me.” Your face lit up at your grandmother’s words, and she sent you a kind smile and a knowing wink.

His lips tightened into a forced smile, offering your grandmother a weak nod, “You’re right, grandma. I’ll keep an eye on her.”

Your eyes were practically sparkling, and you felt a lightness overtake you at his acceptance, oblivious to the seemingly forced nature of it all. No, it didn’t matter at all as long as your older brother was going to let you accompany him to the park. You should change into something easier to move in!

“’m gonna go get dressed to go play. Thank you, grandma!” You hugged the woman’s leg, causing her to stumble back a bit, but she chuckled lightly as she watched you run off. She still had a lot of energy for her age; she was still young for a grandmother after all, but how she was envious of yours at times. She turned back to your brother once you were down the hall.

“Thank you, Takeomi. Such a good older brother.” Your grandmother mused as she reached out to place her hand on his head, “I know sometimes you wanna go off on your own, but you should make time for her as well. Look how excited she is. As the oldest, it’s your responsibility to watch over and guide your younger sister.”

Takeomi did not say anything back for a few seconds, opting to look past his grandma instead. He swallowed, offering another tight smile and tense nod, responding with a low, “Yes, ma’am. I understand.”

You sound of your feet thudding against the floor could be heard as you came bounding out of your room. Out of that cute floral dress your grandmother had dressed you in this morning and into some shorts and a t-shirt, ready to fight the summer heat and the rock wall at the playground.

“Be careful now, you two.” Your grandma addressed the two of you as she grabbed her purse and keys, sending a final smile both of your ways before walking out the front door.

Both you and your brother watched as the door closed, neither of you moving or saying anything to the other. You were the one who broke the stalemate, turning to your brother with a wide, innocent smile, which was met with a click of the tongue.

“Damn it…” He mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose before letting out a defeated sigh, “Well, get your shoes on, hurry up.”

The two of you began making your way toward the park, Takeomi holding your hand and escorting you through the one crosswalk on the way so you wouldn’t get left behind. The park wasn’t particularly far from where you lived, but he didn’t want to lose track of you.

“I’ll introduce you to Shin when we get there, but after that, you go play and leave us alone. Understand?” He questioned, looking down at you to read your expression.

You nodded eagerly, beaming up at him, “Mhm, okay, I promise!”

“Why’re you grinning like that? You look weird.” He teased, chuckling despite himself. If it was his responsibility as an older brother to look after you, it was also his responsibility to poke at you from time to time as well.

“Because,” you started excitedly, smile not faltering despite his remark, “Take-nii is letting me come with him today. It makes me happy!”

His eyes widened at your admission, looking away from you so that you wouldn’t see how his expression softened a bit. He guessed that your grandma was right. This did mean more to you than he initially thought. Sure, he found you annoying at times, but it was just because you were a year younger. You wanted to follow your older brother because you admired him. He understood that, at least.

“Yeah, well, I guess it’s not so bad every now and then.”

You tilt your head at his words, lips parted slightly before breaking out into a grin once again, humming in agreement as your arms swing at your sides. When you were slightly younger, Takeomi would play with you, but once he started elementary school, he started telling you to go play with other girls whenever you tried to join him. At home, there were still times when he would play with you, especially when boredom hit the two of you at the same time, but he often preferred to go out and play with his own friends now and leave you behind, so this was a huge victory for you!

Before you knew it, you could see the outline of the little wooden tower and the top of the jungle gym in the distance, and from there it didn’t take more than a minute for the two of you to arrive at your destination.

“Oh, he’s here already,” Takeomi mumbled, causing you to look over in the direction he was looking. You could see a boy about your brother’s age, maybe a little older, drinking at one of the water fountains. Your brother raised his hand over his head, waving towards his friend and calling out to him, “Oi, Shin, over here!”

Takeomi’s shout made you jump a little bit, eyes widening as the boy turned to look in your direction. You shrunk behind your brother. While you’d been excited to accompany him, you suddenly felt anxious at the idea of meeting a new person today. Your brother never let you play with his friends, so you were a little nervous to finally meet one. You visibly stiffened behind Takeomi when he began jogging over to the two of you.

“Takeomi, I just got here. Glad I didn’t have to wait long!” The older boy grinned, stopping in front of your brother, the two sharing a high five. His eyes shifted in your direction, pausing when he saw your figure shuffling behind his friend. His brow raised slightly as his grin softened to an inquisitive smile, “Huh? Who’s this?”

You blinked at the boy, looking up at your brother, unsure of what to do in his presence. Takeomi sighed, “This is my younger sister. My grandma needed to go shopping, so she tagged along today.” At that, your brother nudged you in front of him, urging you to introduce yourself.

You sent a final glance towards your brother before turning to face his friend. Nervously, your gaze hit his feet, mumbling your name too quietly for either boy to hear. His friend chuckled lightly as Takeomi nudged you again with his foot, causing you to look back up at the boy and meet his dark eyes for a split second. You swallowed, trying to stand a bit taller as you willed your voice to be a little louder, “…I’m [Name] Akashi.”

“So you’re Takeomi’s little sister? Nice to meet you, I’m Shinichrio Sano!” The older boy grinned, holding out his hand towards you for you to shake. Once again unsure of what to do, you looked to your brother, who nodded his head towards Shin’s hand. You hesitantly grabbed hold of it with your own, nodding at the boy in acknowledgment as his hand softly enveloped yours in a gentle shake. His hand was warm, and a lot bigger than your own, you couldn’t help but note before he let go.

You remembered your brother’s words after leaving your grandmother’s house. You promised to leave him alone after meeting Shinichiro. You slowly turned away from the boy and back towards Takeomi who raised his brow at your expression. He never understood how you could go from bouncing around to acting so bashful so quickly.

“I’m gonna go play on the slides…” You informed your brother, running off before receiving a response from him.

“Stay where I can see you, alright?” Takeomi called after you, sighing when you didn’t even bother to shout back a reply, “…little brat.”

Shinichiro chuckled, shaking his head a bit, “She’s shy, huh? How cute.”

“She’s a little terror.” Your brother shot back, rolling his eyes before lightly slapping Shin’s shoulder, “Anyway, c’mon, let’s go play on the jungle gym.”

You ignored the presence of the two older boys as you continuously climbed up the slides and slid down, rotating between the two different ones that the small playground offered. One was a straight shot down, while the other one spiraled. You preferred the swirly one, personally. Still, it got repetitive after a while.

After growing bored of the slides, you eventually found yourself in the sandbox instead. You gathered as much sand in front of you as you could, creating a pretty sizeable pile, and patting it at different angles in an attempt to give it the shape you wanted. You wondered if it would be easier to shape if you had some water, debating if you should run to the water fountain to collect some.

“Holy crap, that was awesome!”

You jumped, head shooting up in the direction of your brother’s voice. The two boys were playing on the merry-go-round, and it was apparent to you by the speed that it was rotating and the fact that your brother was dusting away at the dirt on his clothes that they managed to make it go so fast that they were both flung off. They were both laughing… it looked fun.

You wished you could play with them, but you promised your older brother that you would leave him and his friend alone. Even if it was only because your grandma had to go grocery shopping, you didn’t want to upset your brother. If you were good, he might let you hang out with him more often. That’s what you hoped, at least, as you stared in their direction.

Shinichiro looked behind him as though he could feel a pair of eyes watching them, and as he thought, he caught your gaze. Your eyes widened as they met his, snapping your attention back down at your little pile of sand. To distract yourself from your nerves, you began to carve at the pile with your fingers, attempting to give it a brick-like appearance. A shadow fell over you as you worked in the finishing touches.

“What are you doing?” You looked up to see your brother’s friend staring down at you with a friendly smile, one hand behind his back.

You blinked, eyes falling back towards the sculpted pile of sand in front of you and then to the side. Your reply comes out low, but loud enough for him to hear, “…Building a sandcastle.”

“Yeah?” He squats down across from you, studying your work before sending you a grin, “Looks good! You really worked hard on this, huh? Hmm, but I think it’s missing one thing.”

“Huh?” You tilt your head curiously at his words and the boy nods earnestly, though there was a playful air about him.

He withdrew the hand that was hiding his back to reveal a large, fully intact leaf with a long stem. Carefully, he placed stuck the stem of the leaf into the sand at the top of your castle, and once it was safely in place, he proudly smiled at you, “Ta-da! A flag, see?”

Your reaction was a bit delayed, lips parted and slowly blinking at his display before a mousy, yet delighted smile crept its way onto your face, a light laugh leaving you. Shinichiro seemed pleased with your reaction, relieved that he was able to get a smile out of you, as nervous as it was. You were Takeomi’s sister, after all, so he wanted you to feel comfortable around him.

“So, now that your castle’s all finished, whaddya wanna do? Anything you wanted to play on?” He asked, noting how you looked a bit surprised before your face scrunched up in thought.

Your eyes still fell to the ground, fidgeting a bit with your fingers as you bit the side of your cheek. It was strange to you how your mind went blank, how your chest fluttered with excitement at the simple question. Usually, you just followed after whatever your brother wanted to do on the few, rare occasions he let you go with him somewhere. You were just fine with that arrangement; you always have been. Even so, you bubbled at the idea of choosing what to do next. You swallowed as you willed yourself to meet his eyes and hesitantly replied, “The swings… maybe.”

“Yeah, the swings are fun, right?” The boy’s kind smile never seemed to leave his face, nodding at your reply, “Good choice.”

Your brother’s voice rang out again, and looking past Shinichiro, you could see him jogging up to his friend, stopping to catch his breath for a second, “Is something the matter?”

“Nope. Just chatting with [Name]-chan.” Shinichiro shook his head, standing up from his crouched position. He turned to face your brother, suggesting, “Takeomi, let’s go swing for a bit”

“Huh? Okay.” Takeomi agreed without any pushback, “Let’s go!”

You watched as your brother took off in the direction of the swings, stiffening up when Shinichiro held out his hand to you. Again, he offered you a smile as he chimed, “You come too.”

You looked from his hand to his face, tentatively letting him take hold of your smaller hand, helping you to your feet. He released your hand once you were up, and you carefully hopped over your castle as you follow after him and your brother to the swings. Shin took the swing to the right of Takeomi, leaving either the swing to your brother’s left or the one next to him. You plopped down on the one next to your brother, kicking back off the ground and letting the swing take you forward.

The wind was refreshing against your face as you kicked your feet back and forth, listening to the conversation tossed between your brother and his friend. They were both trying to see who could go higher. They both had you beat pretty easily; both were older than you after all. Still, you tried your best to silently compete with them.

“What’s with that face?” Your brother called out to you suddenly, noticing your mixed expression as you watched them. It was amusing how your brows pinched in concentration, yet you were still seemingly cheerful.

“I wish I could swing as high as you, Take-nii!” You answered with a childish giggle, causing a sense of pride to swell in your brother’s chest. You dug your feet into the ground, thinking maybe if you kicked off stronger, you just might be able to go higher.

“Do you want someone to push you?” Shin offered, leaning forward on the swing to look over at you. Your face lit up and nodded without thinking, wanting to reach the same heights as them..

Shinichiro waited until the right moment before jumping from his swing, landing on his feet just before where the boxed-in woodchips ended.

“Whoa!” Both you and Takeomi gasped out at the same time, mouths wide at how far he’d managed to leap. Shinichiro turned towards the two of you with a spirited laugh, making his way back over to you.

“Alright, [Name]-chan, I’ll push you.” Shin stated as he moved behind you. You jolted when he grabbed the bottom of the chain to your swing, looking up at him, “Hold on to the chain tightly, ok?”

You nodded, relaxing as he pulled you back before sending you forward with a light push. His hands would gently meet your lower back with each swing back until eventually, you were reaching the same height as your brother next to you. Quiet giggles bubbled out of you, and after a few moments, Shinichiro stepped to the side.

“Keep moving your legs back and forth with the same force, and you’ll be able to keep this momentum going.” Shin coached, and you quickly nodded, listening to his instruction.

A minute passed and you were able to keep the same height without Shinichiro pushing you. It was your turn to feel a sense of pride wash over you as even Takeomi praised, “Way to go, [Name].”

After commending you, your brother hopped off of his swing, achieving a steady landing a few feet away. You let out a little gasp, grinning at the display.

When it came to your older brother, you were always impressionable. If he did something, you wanted to do it too. That’s just how it was. Without much thought to it, on your next swing forward, you let go of the chains, springing off the swing and into the air.

“Whoa, [Name]-chan—” Shin attempted to call out to you before you left your swing but was too late. You were swinging way too high for you to just jump like that!

Your stomach cut a tiny flip when you first kicked off, but the feeling was quickly replaced by excitement. If you’d thought the air felt nice while you were swinging, something about flying through it was even better, even if it was only for a brief few seconds. You braced yourself for the impact of the landing as you got closer to the ground, a small amount of pain shooting up your ankle once you touched down. You stumbled forward slightly, but managed to stick the landing, only half a foot behind your brother.

Takeomi turned to look at you, blinking before the corners of his lips twitched up, “Heh, not bad, [Na—”

“Holy crap!” You exclaimed, bouncing up on the tips of your toes in excitement. You beamed up toward your brother, accidentally interrupting the praise you’d been secretly hoping for. That was awesome! You weren’t sure if you’d actually be able to do it, but you did! How cool was that?!

“Hey, don’t say that!” Takeomi was quick to scold you, eyes widening at your exclamation.

“Huh?” You turn to him, quickly trading out your smile for a small pout, “But you say it all the time.”

“It’s different if I say it! Dad and Grandma’ll be on my butt if they hear you cursing.” He explained rather matter-of-factly, crossing his arms.

You tilted your head at his words but shrugged it off. You didn’t get it, but if Takeomi said it was bad, then it was bad. You nodded at your brother, bowing your head slightly, “Okay, I’m sorry, Take-nii.”

“It’s whatever, just don’t say it again.” He sighed, his hand finding the top of your head in order to ruffle your hair up. You puffed your cheeks out in protest, bringing your hands up to swat his away, but before you could say anything, Shinichiro was next to your brother, laughing at your sibling antics.

“That was impressive, [Name]-chan. Had me worried for a second there, though.” He laughed, and your chest puffed out with pride once again, forgetting all about your brother’s scolding.

“I’m gonna go to the water fountain, I’m getting thirsty,” Takeomi mentioned, motioning over to the fountains.

Shinichiro nodded, “Me too, I’ll go with you.” He sent a small wave your way as the two of them began walking in that direction.

You weren’t really thirsty, and a small bout of guilt began poking at you for playing with your brother’s friend after promising not to. Even though Takeomi seemed alright with it since it was Shinichiro’s suggestion, it still felt like you were breaking your promise. You nodded to yourself, you’ll leave them alone now. Still, it was fun playing with Shinichiro. He was really nice...

You look around, scanning the playground for something that you could play on by yourself. The multicolored tri-level bars caught your attention. Climbing was something you enjoyed a lot, but you were weary of the jungle gym after hurting your wrist sometime last year in a fall.

The memory of Takeomi trying his best to comfort you and get you to stop crying was still fresh in your mind. Despite the pain, that day became a fond memory for you, though you kept that a little secret just for yourself to know. He’d been so worried about you. As you made your way over to the bars, you decided maybe practicing more would prevent slip-ups like what occurred that day. Even if you had enjoyed your brother’s attention, you didn’t want to worry him like that again.

The first bar came up to your forehead. You studied the bars, trying to strategize how you would get from the small one to the tallest. It would be difficult to try to pull yourself up with your arms since you lacked the upper body strength required to do so. If you hooked you legs over the smallest one, you may be able to climb up the bars like a sloth.

You jumped on the smallest bar, and just like you thought, it was easier to rely on your legs to keep you up. You climbed from the first bar to the next, slowly making your way to the tallest one. It was a bit harder to pull yourself over the second, almost losing your grip in the transition from the first to the second, but you repeated your actions until you were hanging from your knees at the tallest bar. You allowed yourself to look at the world upside down for a while as a reward to yourself for your success.

Now that you’ve accomplished yet another amazing feat, you wondered what you should take on next. The monkey bars maybe? Sometimes, if you swung hard enough, you could skip a bar. Or maybe the tower next to the bumblebee spring rider. No, it was obvious what you should play on next. The rock climb wall, of course! Then, maybe you’d be ready to try the jungle gym again…

So caught up in your thoughts, you didn’t hear the crunch of the woodchips behind you, unaware of anyone’s presence until Shinichiro popped out right in front of you. Being upside down put you at eye level with the dark-haired boy. His face was only a few inches from yours. He opened his mouth to greet you, but before he could even get the words out, he was cut off by a startled yelp.

You instinctively pulled back, trying to distance yourself from the sudden and unexpected closeness, but it only caused you to swing back forward on the bar, bashing your forehead into his. The collision made Shinichiro stumble back, one hand coming up to cover the bump and the other moving to lessen his fall as he landed on the ground. You mirrored his movement, both hands rising to your forehead on reflex. This, paired with the force of the contact resulted in you losing your hold on the bar and plunging to the ground.

Luckily, you managed to twist yourself in the air, avoiding falling on your head. Your arms instinctively thrust out in front of you to break your fall as you fell on your stomach. A weak groan left you as you pushed yourself up into a sitting position. Tears began to sting your eyes as they welled up from the initial blow, but you held them back. You wouldn’t cry and make your brother worry! Especially not in front of his friend! You didn’t want to trouble either of them… but it hurt…

“Are you okay?” Shinichiro winced slightly as he stood up, quickly making his way over to you. Before you could answer, he was crouched down in front of you. He reached out to brush your hair out of your face and out of the way, inspecting your forhead closely. A worried frown appeared on his face, “A knot’s forming…”

You swallowed against the lump forming in your throat. You tried to focus on something else, your eyes scanning his face before stopping on his own forehead. Though his bangs covered most of the area, you could see a similar lump forming on the top right of his forehead. You pointed at the bump, remarking, “You’ve got one, too.”

Shin blinked, hand moving from your head to his own, gently feeling the area before breaking out into a grin. He let out a light laugh, causing you to look up at him curiously. What was so funny?

“We match then!” His eyes met your once again, Shinichiro holding out his hand to you.

The knot didn’t hurt at all anymore.

Your lips parted as you looked up at the older boy. Suddenly, the brightest smile broke out on your face as you took his hand, “Yeah…!”

Shinichiro helped you up as your brother’s voice could be heard calling out to you, asking if you were both okay.

That day was surely the beginning of the end for you.

—–

It seemed so long ago now.

Beep-beep. Beep.

The notification tone shook you out of your thoughts, causing you to look over to the phone at the edge of your bed. You huffed out a quiet laugh at yourself.

You weren’t sure why you were thinking about that all of the sudden. Maybe the fact that your first semester of college was fast approaching was starting to mess with you more than you thought it would. Now here you were, sitting in bed as you listened to music on your MP3 player and yearning for the good ol’ days when your biggest concern was annoying your brother into letting you tag along with him someplace.

Or maybe you were fondly reminiscing the day any chance of you having a normal romantic life died.

You grabbed your phone, taking it off the charger and flipping it open to check your notifications, seeing you had a new message. It was from your friend, Natsumi. You’d become good friends with her in high school. While you took a gap year before applying to colleges, she started immediately and got accepted in a good university about an hour away. You clicked on her message, opening it up.

Natsumi: there’s gonna be a party at my dormmate’s boyfriend’s place. said I could bring a friend :)

Natsumi: i know takeomi probs won’t bring you, but i can split the cost of a cab with you, and you can crash at my dorm room!

Natusmi: since you’re starting college soon, you should use this as a chance to get some experience ;)

You let a small puff of air escape your nose in a laugh. The first and last time you went to a party with Natsumi was a year ago, and it ended with her disappearing with her boyfriend and you getting into an argument with a touchy guy. The night ended in disaster. You eneded up calling Wakasa to come pick you up, and you had to bribe him with some alcohol you stole not to tell your brother that you’d snuck out that night. You weren’t fond of parties at all, especially ones where you only knew one person there. Not to mention reading the word “experience” made you physically cringe.

[Name]: no thanks, i’m not really feeling it tonight.

Natsumi: boo you never feel it :(

Natsumi: don’t tell me you’re still hung up on your brother’s friend :,)

[Name]: i’m not hung up on anything >:c

Natsumi: of course not. but don’t blame me if you’re lacking experience a couple of months from now :p

[Name]: yeah, yeah whatever you say, natsu. Be careful tonight

With that, you snapped your phone closed, tossing it back where you found it. Was it really that strange for someone your age to have never dated anyone before? Your friends poked fun at you occasionally, but you never thought much of it. If you were gonna do anything with anybody, it wasn’t gonna be some random guy at a party. There was nothing wrong with it, it just wasn’t for you.

Besides, you weren’t gonna live the dorm life anyway. You were more of a homebody and chose a college that was closer to where you lived, so whenever you had classes, you could take the metro there and head right back home whenever they were done. No need to go to parties. It had nothing to do with your brother’s friend…

You sighed, of course, it did, and you knew it. Didn’t mean you had to admit it to anyone else, though.

Shinichiro Sano. You’ve had a crush on your brother’s best friend for as long as you could remember now, since before you even knew what a crush was, you think. There were times when he would even jokingly ask if you were falling for him when he helped you out with something, not even aware of just how right he was. Just how many times have the words “sorry, I like someone else” left your lips, knowing that you lacked the courage to confess like the person you were rejecting? Even now, you were hiding in your room while he and your brother were visiting in the living room. It was infuriating. You could just scream into your pillow when you thought about it.

You’d come a long way from that shy girl on the playground, but knowing that Shinichiro would probably never see you as more than your brother’s sister was discouraging, to say the least. As was hearing his multiple failed confession stories throughout the years. You hated sitting there while Wakasa and Takeomi picked on him, meanwhile all you could do was wonder what you had to do to be on the receiving end of one of those confessions… and then eventually coming to the conclusion that you never would be. It didn’t matter if you tried dressing more like the tenth girl or acting more like the twentieth when all you were was Takeomi’s little sister.

Many times, you’d considered confessing your feelings, if just to rip the bandaid off, so to say. If you confessed to Shinichiro, you would know if your suspicions of just being Takeomi’s sister were correct, and if he rejected you, you could cry it out and be able to move forward. But… rejection terrified you. That’s what held you back for so long.

Lately, a certain idea has been swirling around in your head, and Natsumi’s comment only reminded you of it. At first, you dismissed it entirely; a product of allowing your mind to wander a little too far, you figured. But maybe… maybe it really was your best bet. A way to gauge his interest without having to put all your cards on the table. You could offer him at least a part of yourself; it was a chance to present your own interest casually, so that you can easily back out if he doesn’t feel the same way, without ruining what friendship you did have. But it was so not like you to talk about something like that… but then again, you weren’t a kid anymore. You couldn’t just do nothing forever.

You groaned. Thinking about it just made your head and your feelings hurt.

That’s it! You were gonna do it. Next time you were presented the chance, you’d ask him! And if he showed no interest, you’d put this childhood crush to rest. That’s what you’ve decided. Now it was just to summon the courage to actually do it.

You took your earbuds out, pausing your music before wrapping the cord around the player and placing it on your nightstand. Smoothing down your hair and clothes, you decided to make your presence in the house known, quietly emerging from your room. Seeing him sitting on the couch, back facing you as you reached the end of the hall made it feel like the air was fizzling out of your chest.

Shinichiro and your brother were sitting on the L-shaped couch in the living room, your brother sitting at the end of the smaller portion while Shin was sitting across from the coffee table and television. As if he sensed your presence, Shin turned his head to the side, tilting it back slightly to greet you as he showed you the same kind smile as when he was younger, “Hey, [Name].”

“Shin, hey,” You returned the greeting, giving an easygoing wave as you made your way to the kitchen.

Over the years of both your and your brother’s friendship with Shinichiro, you’ve learned to hide the nervousness that sometimes worked its way into your system when you were in his presence. If you didn’t, life would’ve been much more awkward for you than it already was, you’re sure. It was fine when you were a kid, but as you got older, you knew shyness wouldn’t cut it. So even if the source of your yearning and anguish throughout your teenage years was sitting right in front of you, sending you the same smile that tormented your thoughts for years, you could still play it cool.

“You’re not gonna be able to sleep all day when your classes start, y’know.” Your brother’s voice brought you out of your thoughts, and you glanced toward him, huffing out a sarcastic laugh.

“I wasn’t sleeping, you old fart.” You tossed back lightheartedly as you continued to the refrigerator, bending over to grab a soda and then hesitantly grabbing a second.

“The hell, you brat?” Your brother lightly huffed back when you re-entered the living room area.

“Now, [Name], if Takeomi’s an old fart, what does that make me?” Shin asked, eyes on you as you approached where they were sitting.

You hummed in thought, placing one of the soda cans on the table in front of Shinichiro, plopping down on the couch a few inches away from him. A mischievous smile was on your face as you turned your head to him, “An older fart, I guess?”

“Ha, I see how it is.” Shin placed a hand over his chest in mock hurt, “And here I thought I was your favorite.”

You could feel your heartbeat start to pick up in your chest at the slightest bit of picking, but you fought against the feeling that came with it, laughing lightly as you deflected to your brother, “Well, Take-nii already looks and acts like he’s graying, so I guess you’re younger in those regards, Shin.”

“Don’t treat me like an old man just because I’m a little older than you, [Name]. You’re only a year younger than me.” Takeomi blankly nagged, and you pursed your lips half-heartedly.

“You still act like an old man, though.”

“And you still act like a bratty little kid.”

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

You both scowled at each other, turning away at the same time, letting out a dispassionate, “Whatever.” All the while, Shinichiro sat and watched the back-and-forth between you and your brother in amusement.

Takeomi got on your nerves someti... most of th— fairly often, he would find some way to annoy you, but lighthearted squabbles like this were secretly enjoyable for the two of you. With the age gap between both of you and your younger siblings, it often felt more like you were parental figures to them rather than older siblings. Being the oldest, you knew Takeomi felt that way more than you, though he never outwardly admitted it. It only annoyed you when he tried to act like he was your father figure too, despite only being a year older. But in moments like this, you got to be siblings. He never got to feel that way with Haruchiyo or Senju.

“If you weren’t napping, what were you doing?” Takeomi suddenly asked, taking a sip of what he was drinking and leaning back in his spot, ankle crossed over his knee.

“I was reading for a while, then I just listened to music.” You shrugged, debating whether you should tell him the last bit, but you were curious about one thing, so you added, “Natsumi invited me to a party, though. It’s at some guy she knows house.”

Takeomi’s eyes narrowed slightly at the words; he’d never been particularly good at hiding the fact that he wasn’t too fond of some of your friends, but you weren’t especially focused on Takeomi’s reaction. You sneaked a glance at Shinichiro, wondering if he would have any reaction at all to the that of you going to a college party, where there would no doubt be multiple guys your age. His expression didn’t appear to change at all as he looked over at you, except, maybe you were imagining it, the slight raising of a brow.

“Ya plannin’ on goin’?” Takeomi asked somewhat pointedly, gaining your full attention. The illusion of choice. If you said yes, he’d likely begrudgingly let you since you were an adult but be passive-aggressive about it for the next few days. That would be after trying to talk you out of it until it was time to go pick up your younger siblings.

You shook your head, waving your hand dismissively, “Nah, I’m not really interested. Not like I’d know anyone anyway. Plus, Haru and Senju’ll probably have homework when they get here.”

“Oh, alright,” Takeomi replied casually, but he visibly relaxed at your answer, “It’s probably for the best. You shouldn’t be going to just any party. It’s not safe for a girl your age, kiddo.”

“Only a year younger” when you poked at his age, but “kid sister’ whenever it involved anything else. You opened your mouth to make a comment about his last sentence but decided against it. Instead, you leaned back into the couch, scoffing quietly to yourself before cracking open your soda and taking a few sips. You’d let it go just this once. You knew, in this instance, his worry was well-meant at least. Parties were more dangerous for girls, so he wasn’t wrong. But still… having to get his permission to go out annoyed you.

“So, [Name],” Shin started, leaning forward a bit to grab the can of soda you’d brought him. He likely sensed the potential tension building in the room and wanted to dispel it, “You’re starting college soon. Does that mean you’re gonna be moving into the dorms?”

Takeomi had mentioned to his friends that you were going to college and that your classes were soon, but he didn’t really give much information other than that. You lightly tapped at the can in your hand, turning to face Shin as you explained, “I got accepted into a local one, so it’s just a short ride there and back. No need to pay extra for a dorm, so I’ll still be here.”

“Well, that’s good. Congratulations!” He grinned, reaching out to place his hand on your head, giving it a gentle pat.

Your breath hitched and your mind blanked for a split second before immediately going into overdrive. It wasn’t the first time Shin patted your head, but it never failed to make your cheeks feel warm and your heart race in your chest. Not to mention the implication that he might be glad that you’re staying home instead of moving further away… though you may be looking too much into it. Were you? You probably were. You shoved your scattered thought to the back of your mind, not wanting to appear as affected as you were.

You chuckled, looking off to the side, “Thanks, but they’ll accept pretty much anyone who didn’t flunk out.”

“She’s being overly modest.” Takeomi spoke, pointing at you with his pinky, the rest of his fingers holding his drink, “Her scores were among the highest in her grade. I pushed her to study. She could’ve gone to any university she wanted to, she just wanted the one closest to home.”

“No need to brag on me, Take-nii. I think you’re giving both of us a little too much credit.” You stated dismissively, placing your own drink on the coffee table.

Though, there was truth to his words. Your brother did push hard for you to study despite the fact that his grades were average. In middle school, you made great grades, and though you struggled with one or two subjects, you managed to cram enough before exams to do well. Your grandma always praised you for your grades, your father too busy to even look at them, and soon enough your brother started praising you too. He pushed for you to do even better starting high school, and even though you’d grown more independent from when you both were younger, you still seeked your older brother’s approval. There were several nights you found yourself studying more than you slept. That doesn’t mean he needs to go telling everyone about it.

“Takeomi’s right, [Name], you should be proud of yourself. College is a huge achievement!” Shin chimed in making you shrink a little more in your seat.

“I guess it’s just still sinking in,” You rubbed the side of your neck, not able to make eye contact with the older boy. Not one to stay comfortable being the center of attention, you directed a question toward him, “How’re things at S.S Motor?”

“Everything’s goin’ fine. You should stop by more often.” Shin stated before sending a teasing grin your way, “I know more than a few former Black Dragons who wouldn’t mind seeing you.”

You winced slightly, shaking your head. “Yeah, well, I don’t know about the last part, but I’ll make an effort anyway,” You promised, causing Shinichiro to let out a small laugh at your reaction.

“It’s almost time to go pick up Haruchiyo and Senju,” Takeomi cut in, glancing over at you, “Who’s turn is it again?”

“Yours. But I can go if you want. You’ve got Shin over, after all.” You offered, watching as his brows furrowed slightly in thought, probably making sure you weren’t lying to him despite your offer.

With your father still as busy as he was in your childhood, your grandmother watched after Haruchiyo and Senju just like she had the two of you. Of course, when you lived with her, you and Takeomi helped out, but you moved in with your older brother once you graduated high school. Your grandmother was getting older and young kids could be a handful, so even though they went to your grandmother’s house after school, some days out of the week you or Takeomi would pick them up to give your grandmother some rest.

“You went the last couple of times if I’m remembering correctly.” Takeomi eventually stated, “You’re being nice because Shin’s here, but you’ll complain later, right? Guess it can’t be helped. I’ll go.” He stood from the couch with a groan, stretching slightly.

“You’re making me sound mean. When have I ever complained about picking Haru and Senju up? I only complain about taking out the trash when it’s your turn, you jerk.” You argued, mocking offended by his accusation. One time, you complained about going because you weren’t feeling well and he never let you live it down. Unbelievabl…y believable.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, [Name].” He goaded, reaching out to ruffle your hair as he passed you, though you managed to swat his hand away. Unaffected, he turned to address Shinichiro, “So, Shin, what are you gonna do?”

Shin hummed in thought before replying, “I’ll stay here and chat with [Name] a bit.”

You blinked, turning to glance at him. Sure, you were just talking, but he wanted to keep talking with you even though your brother was leaving? It wasn’t like you’d never spoken with Shinichiro alone or anything like that; you were friends, after all, still… it just surprised you a bit, is all.

“Alright, well I’d say it shouldn’t take long, but that depends on how talkative grandma feels today.” Takeomi joked as he slipped on his shoes, but you knew it to be the truth. What should normally be a twenty-minute journey could easily turn into an hour if your grandmother was feeling sociable, and she often was. “Well then, I’m off. [Name], don’t bother Shin too much.” Takeomi told you, and you opened your mouth to respond, but he was already out the door.

“You two are at each other’s throats today, huh?” Shin chuckled, turning to you after the door was shut.

“Ha, nothing new,” You mirrored his quiet laughter, waving the statement off dismissively, “It’s never anything serious. Just picking… most of the time, at least.”

Shin nodded in understanding. He’s been in your life for around fourteen years now, so he was more than familiar with how you and Takeomi interacted and how your relationship with your brother has evolved over the years. Silence fell over the two of you for a brief moment.

“Are you nervous?” Shinichiro suddenly asked, causing you to stiffen in your spot, “About college, I mean. I know you said it’s still sinking in. It’s a big step, after all.”

You silently exhaled the breath you’d been holding, shrugging half-heartedly, “It’s not that much different than high school, I’m assuming… well maybe a little.” You started, hoping to sound unfazed, but you failed, letting out a light chuckle, “Okay, I guess I’m a little nervous, yeah.”

“It’s normal to feel that way. Don’t worry, you’ll do fine,” Shin assured with a kind-hearted grin that turned mischievous, “Who knows, you might even meet a nice guy.”

Your smile faltered, but only for a second. You forced a laugh, turning your head to the side and mumbling out a weak, “…Maybe.”

Your brows pulled down for a moment in thought, biting the inside of your cheek. Your mind wandered to the promise you made to yourself in your room, but Shinichiro’s teasing words made you second-guess yourself more than you already were. He couldn’t be interested in you if he could say something like that… but then again Shin always teased you this way. Whether it was about former black dragon members or jokingly accusing you of having a crush on him, that’s just how Shinichiro was. You could never be sure about how the older boy felt about you. And you never would, not unless you acted somehow.

You began to fidget with your hands, twisting at your fingers in your seat. If he says no, you can play it off as no big deal, and, well, your brother will be home in the next forty-or-so minutes and free you of your embarrassment. If he says yes… well, you’ll have to wing that if you don’t pass out from excitement. You can feel your heart hammering against your ribcage at just the thought of the conversation beginning. But you had to. So say it. Just say it. Say it. Say something! “Hey, Shin—?” Wait, you were really gonna ask him this?!

“Yeah?” His head tilted ever so slightly, prompting you to continue.

You swallowed. Your mind was staticky, having thrown yourself into the pit completely unprepared, “Can I ask you something? It’s a favor, really—You don’t have to if you don’t want to, of course. It’s a big favor and all, so…” You winced as you fumbled through your attempt at a response. This was so much easier in your head.

A fond smile painted its way onto Shinichiro’s face as he watched you fidget nervously, “What’s on your mind?”

You paused, taking a deep, quiet breath and letting it out, pushing yourself up to your feet from the couch. Mind made up, you tossed a glance toward Shinichiro, “Follow me? It’ll be easier for me to explain in my room.”

He raised a brow but nevertheless joined you in standing to his feet, replying with an amused yet curious, “Yeah, sure, lead the way.”

This gave you more time to calm your nerves, which would hopefully allow you to get your next words out without much trouble. Plus, you’d be way too embarrassed if this conversation went on longer than you expected and Takeomi and your younger sibling walked in on the two of you discussing this on the living room couch. Really though, you were trying to push asking him back as long as you could. But you knew that you couldn’t push it back forever. How long was it until Shinichiro would confess to someone who accepted? Then you’d never get the chance.

Both you and Shin stood in front of your bedroom door, and you sighed before turning the knob and gesturing for Shin to go ahead of you. You began to feel self-conscious as Shinichiro looked around. He’d been in your room once before in middle school, but that was at your grandmother’s house, and these were different circumstances.

“Nice decor. It’s cute,” Shinichiro complimented as if he could sense your unease. He then cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck, “So what’s up?”

Right. It was now or never.

“Could you… teach me, um…” You still couldn’t get the words out properly. Having him right in front of you made this so much more difficult than you thought it would, and you were starting to regret opening your mouth to begin with. Maybe you could just make something up and forget this stupid plan altogether.

“Teach you?” He prompted, smiling down at you. He was patient, allowing you to collect your thoughts before you continued, but in the brief silence, his mind wandered. Maybe you wanted to learn how to drive a motorcycle? Takeomi was okay, but probably not the best teacher.

This was about setting yourself free from this decade-long crush, for better or for worse. With your next words, it would be over.

“Teach me… how to make a guy feel good…” It comes out barely above a whisper and mumbled, and he thinks he heard you, but there’s no way he heard you right. You wanted to crumble into a little ball at your own words.

His eyes widened a bit before his brow furrowed, “Could you… repeat that for me?” He asked, wanting to make sure he heard you right.

You deflated for a second, not wanting to repeat yourself at all. The air left your lungs the second you uttered those words, and asking you to say them again was too much. You were beginning to feel lightheaded and your mouth was dry. Taking a steadying breath, you forced yourself to meet his eyes.

“Shinichiro, I want you to teach me how to please a man.”

Oh.

He heard you right then. His mouth opened, but then closed again, finding that he was unable to speak. His face didn’t give you any hints as to what his thoughts were other than his surprise at your request.

After a few seconds passed by, you broke the silence. “Say something, at least…” You urged, the quietness playing at your anxiety worse than anything else. You could accept whatever answer he gave you, you just needed to hear it.

“G-Give me a second.” He held out his hand before bringing it up to his mouth as he thought. He glanced at you, and after another moment, asked, “Why do you want me to teach you that?”

You winced slightly, looking to the side before sighing. You took a few steps forward, away from Shinichiro, before taking a seat at the edge of your bed. You’re hesitant, but you explain, “I’ll be starting college soon… and I’ve never had a boyfriend. I don’t know—it’s embarrassing. Take-nii’s too strict and—”

And I’ve only ever had a crush on you… the thought goes unspoken.

You sighed before continuing, “I’m just worried that I’ll meet someone and I won’t know what I’m doing and they’ll dump me or make fun of me. Most people I know have already lost their virginity. I haven’t even had my first kiss.”

He didn’t say anything right away, instead taking in your words and contemplating them. You felt the mattress sink down at the added weight as he sat next to you. You couldn’t bring yourself to look at him, not until he said something first.

“[Name],” He started, placing a hand on your shoulder, “ Your first time should be with someone special.”

“You are someone special.” Shin’s eyes widened slightly, and you both looked shocked at your statement. “I mean—” You inwardly cursed yourself. This was supposed to be a casual proposition, and you were baring too much of yourself, “I feel safe with it being you. You’ll always be in my life, no matter what. Some pushy college guy I date might not… then I’ll just feel bad about it. If it’s you, I’ll never regret it. I trust you.”

Once again, Shin went quiet in thought. You weren’t stupid. You knew Shinichiro was almost two years older than you, he’s known you since you were a snot-nosed five-year-old, and he was best friends with your older brother. He’d likely never seen you as a potential love interest, and this was probably super sudden and out of nowhere for him.

“Like I said, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, of course,” You stated sheepishly, backing off when doubt began to set in, “I’d never want to make you uncomfortable or anything like that. I just wanted to ask you first because I trust you the most… and I don’t really hang around any guys besides you, Wakasa, and Keizo, so…” You trailed off contemplating your next words, “I can always ask Wakasa, it’s no big deal. Though I feel like he’ll never let me live it do—”

“Don’t ask Waka.” Shinichiro cut you off with a frown, pausing for a moment before adding, “You’re right. He wouldn’t.”

You nodded, a breathy laugh leaving you, “Yeah. That’s why he was my second choice.”

Another silence fell between you, though this time, it was Shinichiro who broke it.

“You know that I’m not really all that experienced either…” He spoke tentatively, pulling at the collar of his shirt, “If this is something you’re really set on, I’m not sure how helpful I’d actually be. You sure you’d want me to teach you?”

You were both facing each other, eyes scanning the other’s face in search of something. This was your first actual glimpse of a yes, and it made you question if you were sleeping or not. Of course, you knew you were very much awake and that you were going to have to answer his question. After some thought, you nodded, both to yourself and the boy in front of you.

“You’re the person I’d feel the most comfortable with, Shin. And… I can teach you what girls like too. I mean— I haven’t really explored that much… I’ve done some things, I know what feels good, but—” You shook your head, cutting yourself off, “What I mean to say is, we can teach each other. It’s mutually beneficial.”

Your cheeks felt like they were burning and you fought the urge to bury your face in your hands or one of your pillows, though you weren’t the only one. Shin’s cheeks were visibly tinted red. You wished you could tell what he was thinking. You were beginning to feel hopeful, that there was actually a chance that Shinichiro could be interested in you, that he was capable of seeing you as more than Takeomi’s sister.

Shinichiro gave a short nod, acknowledging your words, but there was still one thing gnawing at him, and he shared that concern with you, “There’s still Takeomi. I think he’d beat even my ass if he knew I was sneaking around with you, y’know.”

Takeomi being your brother was the reason you met Shinichiro to begin with, but as you’ve always feared, it would remain the biggest reason you could never be with him. You loved your brother, but you cursed your relationship with him.

“I think yours is the one butt he wouldn’t kick for it, if I’m being honest…” You chuckled, though it left a bitter feeling within you. You often wondered how Shin would treat you if you’d still known each other for as long as you have, but you weren’t Takeomi’s sister. Maybe now was as good of a time as any to finally ask… “Hey, Shin, if I wasn’t Takeomi’s sister, would you still be so hesitant?”

He didn’t give you an answer verbally, but his eyes betrayed him.

You pressed softly, “My brother doesn’t have to know… it’s not like we’d be dating or anything, right? Just friends learning together…” You leaned closer to him, feeling a bit more confident now, “I’m an adult now, Shinichiro. You are too. I don’t have to ask Take-nii’s permission and neither do you. I’m my own person. So, what do you want to do?”

Shinichiro mirrored you, deflecting your question back at you, “Are you sure this is what you want?”

You blinked, and once again found yourself locked into a questioning eye contact with him. You were slightly taken aback by his question. Of course this is what you wanted. You were the one who asked him. You gave a small, but firm nod, “Yes.”

Shin swallowed, taking a deep breath and letting it out, “Okay then,” He nodded, “I agree to be your “teacher”.”

You felt like you were floating. You’d been fully prepared for rejection, yet—

“But,” He stated, cutting off your thoughts, “I don’t wanna rush into anything too major right away. Small steps, alright?”

“Right.” You replied hastily, clearing your throat before continuing, “I agree. Taking things slow is for the best.”

You were both completely inexperienced in this field, and it entirely showed. Neither of you knew where to go from there, but you were the one to initiate this, so you knew you had to bridge the gaps.

“So, what would be okay right now?” You asked reluctantly, studying his expression carefully.

His eyes flickered down for a split second before meeting your eyes, his tongue darting out to wet his lips. He thought for a moment, before somewhat bashfully suggesting, “Kissing… should be fine, right?”

Your breath hitched for an instant, your chest fluttering at his words as you shakily replied, “Yeah, that would be okay.”

Shin nodded, moving closer to you on the edge of the bed. You were hyperaware of his movements as he reached his hand out, a finger gently hooking under your chin to tilt your face toward his. His eyes searched yours a final time for any sign of dissent, but when they fluttered closed, he finally pressed his lips to yours. You melted into the action, hand coming up to rest against his shoulder as you returned the kiss. Everything seemed to slow aside from your pounding heartbeat. You felt like your body was buzzing.

Shinichiro pulled away after a few more seconds passed, both yours and his eyes slowly opening to meet one another’s. Soon after, he let out an airy laugh, and you couldn’t fight back the smile that made its way on your face.

It was perfect.

And you were greedy.

You were the one who leaned in this time, your nose delicately brushing against his before capturing his mouth in a kiss. Your lips moved against his, and he responded in kind. It was a little clumsy at first, but you both found and fell into a rhythm. His hand came up to cup your cheek, and you couldn’t help but lean into its warmth.

You couldn’t believe it. You were in your bedroom kissing your childhood crush. It felt like a dream, and when you pulled back, he was looking down at you with parted lips. His hand traced down your neck like a feather, making you shiver. .

You kept up your appearance, though you felt warmth enveloping you as you quietly questioned, “How was that…?”

“That was… wow.” Shin chuckled softly, using his other hand to brush his hair out of his face. He looked down at you thoughtfully, eyes twinkling mischievously as he began to lean in again, “But more practice never hurt, yeah?”

His kiss was still gentle, but there was a bit more force behind it this time. You leaned into Shinichiro, your hand finding its way into his hair, running through it and making him hum into the kiss. Your mind went blank and so you allowed yourself to run on autopilot, doing what felt right in the moment. Whenever one of you broke away from the kiss to catch your breath, it didn’t last long until you fell back into it.

His hand found your waist, and you were filled with the desire to get closer than you already were. You placed your hand back on his shoulder, the other one pushing you off of the bed and further into Shinichiro, deepening the kiss. Reading your movements, Shinichiro pushed himself further back with his feet, giving you more room to climb onto his lap. His hands snaked around your waist to help steady you.

You pulled back slightly, just enough that your lips still brushed against his as you shifted your weight, both of your hands on his shoulders as you made yourself more comfortable in his lap. As you pulled yourself closer to him, one of Shinichiro’s hands snuck to the back of your head, pulling you back into another heated kiss.

You felt a bolt of electricity pass through you when you felt his tongue gliding against your bottom lip, his arms trying to pull you in even closer. You let him take the lead, allowing him to deepen the kiss even further, your hand sliding down to his clothed chest. Despite his bold move, you could feel his heart pounding against your palm, and it comforted you knowing he was possibly just as nervous as you.

His hands were hesitant as they glided up and down your sides, slowly making their way up, but hastily falling back down to your waist once they’ve gone “too high”. Feeling a bit bold yourself, you grabbed one of his hands, moving it up toward your breast and giving it a reassuring squeeze. You felt him stiffen slightly, taking is a small gasp of air against your lips. You allowed your own hands to travel, finding the bottom of his shirt and sneaking underneath until your fingers ghosted his stomach. Shin let out a small groan.

His hand gave your clothed breast an experimental squeeze, swallowing the little whine that escaped your lips. You arched into his touch, and Shinichiro began to softly knead at the area. You felt like you wanted more, like you needed it, and that scared you.

You broke apart again, both of you panting as your eyes met as his and hand fell back to your waist. You weren’t sure how much time had passed. It could have been ten minutes or an hour and you’d be none the wiser. Neither of you spoke, taking a minute to soak in what just transpired between the two of you.

“Was that okay?” You asked once the silence grew to become too much for you. It was half joking, half serious, anxiety about your performance nibbling at you.

“More than okay,” He let out a breathy laugh, “You’re perfect.”

His praise made you feel shy all of the sudden, and you found yourself burying your face in his neck, mumbling out a quiet, “shut up”. He must have been teasing you again.

He chuckled again, and you could feel it, “I’m serious, though. You’re cute, too.”

You sulk a bit. This was too good to be true, there’s no way Shinichiro was actually saying this to you after all these years. You shuffled a bit on his lap, putting more weight on your left side to give your right side a break. Shinichiro’s grip on your waist tightened a bit, letting out a small groan as you rubbed up against him. You could feel Shinichrio tense up underneath you.

Was that…?

You paused, devious ideas beginning to play around in your hazy mind. Your confidence was boosted just enough for you to press your lips against his neck, purposefully repeating your earlier action. He took in a sharp breath, his hips pressing harder into yours as he pulled you against him.

“Fuck… [Name]—”

You nipped at his skin, careful not to be too rough on the sensitive area. He sighed softly, rolling his head back slightly to offer you more room. It looked like you already found a weakness of his. You continued to grind your hips down on his, the friction forcing small whines from your throat, which you muffled by burying your face deeper into Shinichiro’s neck. Wanting to hear the sounds, Shinichiro nudged your face out of hiding, only to crash his lips into yours against yours in a hungry kiss. You could feel your wetness gathering in your underwear as his cock continuously rubbed against your core.

Slow? Did he say that?

He pulls your hips against his again, his clothed cock grinding perfectly against your clit causing a breathy moan to escape you. He swallowed your moans, repeating the action again, and then again, practically drunk on your little noises.

“Shin, please…” You whined against his lips. You don’t know what you’re asking him, you just know you want more.

He presses one last needy kiss against your lips before pulling away, his hands finding the bottom of your shirt, “…’m gonna take your shirt off now, darlin’. ‘s that ok?” He asked breathily, lidded eyes meeting yours as he awaited your answer.

“Mhm.” You hummed, nodding readily, moving back slightly to give him easier access.

Your shirt is halfway up your torso revealing the bottom of your bra to him, and you were in the process of raising your arms to make it easier for him when the sound of the front door opening and closing, followed by your little sister’s excited shouting interrupted the two of you.

Both of your eyes widened as you looked at each other, Shin pulling your shirt back down with a start as you immediately sprang into action, jumping off of his lap. The two of you were likely thinking the same thing as you smoothed out your appearances.

How did you let it go that far knowing your brother was coming back home soon?

“Shoes off in the house, you guys know this.” You heard Takeomi fussing your younger siblings before calling out, “Shin? [Name]?”

You’re already on the floor, scrambling to turn on your TV to a blank screen, pressing the button on your PlayStation to see which game was inside. You could do this. You can totally make this look innocent.

“We’re in my room, Take-nii!” You call back, causing Shin to send a worried look your way. It wasn’t like there was a chance you could discreetly slip out of your room, so the best thing you could do is look like the two of you were just hanging out.

You shoot him back a reassuring glance as you grab one of the controllers on the floor, unrolling it and handing it to him as you explained, “Take-nii has always been really strict, so sometimes… y’know, I’ve just learned to get away with some things. Nothing bad though!” You assured quietly, “So, just let me handle this.”

“That’s… good.” He replied hesitantly, “But you should try not to lie to your older brother too much, okay?”

You purse your lips, “Huh? What’s that? You want me to tell him you were about to take my shirt off a minute ago?”

“...Good point.” He conceded, holding up his hands in surrender. He readjusted his pants, grateful that they were baggy as he watched you continue to paint the scene. He heard his friend’s footsteps as he walked down the hall.

“Ok, hand me the controller,” you whispered, holding your hand out. He raised his brow slightly, but did as you said, leaning over to hand your controller back to you, just as the door to your room opened to reveal Takeomi. You turned with a smile, “Hey, Take-nii, that took you a while.”

“You know how grandma is,” He sighed, letting out a small laugh, “So, what are you two up to?”

“We got tired of waiting, so we played some Street Fighter for a while. Figured you’d be back soon though, so we just finished up.” You replied with a shrug, rolling up the controller and placing it in front of the console.

“[Name], we wanna play!” Senju exclaimed, pushing past Takeomi and bounding up to you. She jumped on your back, arms hugging around your neck as she pleaded, “Please!”

“Senju you’re choking me out, sweetie.” You struggled out, tapping on her arm and prompting her to release you with an apology, hugging up on your side instead. She was way too strong for someone her age.

Takeomi spoke up from behind the two of you, lightly scolding, “Senju, that game isn’t really something girls your age should be playing.”

“But it’s [Name]’s game and she lets Haru play it all the time.” She argued, tilting her head with a small pout causing your brother to click his tongue. You’d be hearing about that later. She pulled at your shirt, “Can I play it, please?”

“Do you have any homework?” You asked, petting her head as you looked down at her, “We can play whatever you want after we get that done first.”

“Awww. Okay…” She pouted again, letting go of your side

“Can we set the PlayStation up on the big tv in the living room?” Haru mousily asked from the doorway, peeking in from behind your older brother.

“Hmmm,” You tapped your chin in thought before grinning at your siblings, “Well, since you asked nicely.” You watched as their faces lit up, Senju cheering loudly as you pushed yourself up from the floor. “But homework first.” You reminded, beginning to shoo your younger siblings out of your room, patting Haru’s head when you reached him, “Come on, your big sister will help you.”

You always offered to help them with their homework whenever you and Takeomi had them after Senju told you that she understood better when you explained the material than when Takeomi or grandma did. Usually, the three of you could get everything done fairly quickly, that way they could spend the rest of the evening relaxing or having fun.

“I’ll let you have Shin back, Take-nii,” You tossed over your shoulder, watching as Shinichiro stood up from your bed and walked over to your brother, “I’ll keep Haru and Senju busy and give you guys your space.”

“Look at you, being a good kid for once,” He joked, reaching out to ruffle your hair as you’d done to Haru, but once again, you swatted his hand away.

“Not a kid, old man.” Your tone was as light as his, but he tsked, giving you a disapproving glance.

“You could be a little more respectful towards your older brother in front of our younger siblings, y’know. You’re setting a bad example.” He chastised, and you sighed.

“Sorry, sorry,” You waved him off, following your younger siblings out of your room, the two older men walking out right behind you.

Haruchiyo looked back at you hesitantly, and you sent the boy a poised smile. As he got older, more tension seemed to form between Haru and Takeomi, and it didn’t go unnoticed by you. It got especially worse after his accident. You were closer in age to Takeomi, so it was easier for you to wave him off like that, but you knew Takeomi’s strictness weighed heavily on Haru at times, and you tried to do what you could to give him more freedom.

Both Senju and Haruchiyo grabbed their backpacks from the sofa, carrying them over to the dining room table where they unpacked their homework while Shin and Takeomi continued to visit on the couch in the living room. You sat at the end of the table, helping whenever one of them had a question and checking their work once they finished an assignment. Luckily, neither of them had much to do, so you were finished up after only twenty-five minutes. You did catch Shinihiro glancing in your direction every now and again, making your cheeks feel warm.

It didn’t take long after she was finished putting away her school supplies, that Senju was at your side, reminding you what you promised them.

“Alright, I didn’t forget. You two go sit and wait on the couch while I get everything set up, okay?” You instructed, shaking your head fondly as Senju bolted to the living room, Haruchiyo calming following after her. As you passed, you made eye contact with Takeomi, clasping your hands under your chin discreetly, only the two older men seeing it. He rolled his eyes but shrugged nevertheless. You’d still hear about it later.

“Need help?” Shinichiro offered from the couch before you disappeared into the hall.

You peeked back at him, giving him a careful smile as you waved halfheartedly, “Nah, I’ve got it. Thanks, though.”

It was… strange, having to act like nothing occurred between the two of you not even an hour ago. Anxiety began to bubble in your chest, but you pushed it back. You had a task at hand and siblings counting on you.

You unhooked the wires to your PlayStation from your TV once you were back in your room, lazily wrapping the wires around the console and placing both controllers on top as you strolled back to the living room. It didn’t take you long to hook everything back up on the larger tv, handing each younger sibling a controller and letting them unravel them. The cords weren’t long enough to reach the couch, so they sat on the floor as Haru booted the game up for his younger sister.

You plopped down next to Shinichiro, the three of you watching the two children fight it out on the game, the sound of buttons mashing on the controller and Senju yelling filling the room. The three of you occasionally made commentary.

It didn’t go long before a tournament started. Senju and Haru talked it out, deciding that they would fight first followed by Shinichiro and Take-nii. The two winners of that would then fight, and whoever won that match would have to fight you, the owner of the game, A.K.A. (as Senju put it) the final boss. You didn’t have the heart to tell her that the main reason you bought the game was for her and Haru, so you probably weren’t the best, actually.

Senju and Haru’s match was a close one with both characters down to the last of their health but ultimately ended in Senju’s victory. You patted the spot next to you for Haruchiyo, patting his shoulder once he sat down. Shin and Takeomi were next, both men sitting down on the floor with Senju behind them. Unlike the neck-to-neck match that took place before them, this one was a one-sided massacre on your brother.

Takeomi cursed, handing the controller to his youngest sister who took his spot. He was never good at fighting games. He claimed his spot back on the couch, glaring over at you before you could even say anything, knowing what was coming.

“You—!”

“Not one word, [Name].” Takeomi cut you off with a scowl, and you opened your mouth in mock shock.

“Sore loser…” You grumbled out, crossing your arms, only Haruchiyo sitting next to you hearing your words.

You, Takeomi, and Haruchiyo watched as the next match started. Shinichiro’s character got the first few hits in, but one failed connect was all Senju needed to turn the table in her favor. It was a surprisingly close match for the first half, but after both characters were at half health, Senju caught a second wind. Your eyes were glued to the screen as Senju’s character continued to beat Shin’s down, quietly cheering your sister on.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…. YEAH!!” Senju jumped up, controller falling on the cushion she’d been sitting on as she cheered.

“Ha, you suck, Shin!” You giggled pointing at the older boy and watching as Senju hopped around in celebration, “You got your butt kicked by an eight-year-old.”

“What can I say, she has me beat.” Shinichiro chuckled with a modest shrug, pushing himself up and holding the controller out to you, “Your turn, [Name].”

You stood up from the couch, fingers brushing against his as you took the controller from his hand. When Senju found her spot back on her cushion, you sank down next to her.

“I won’t show you any mercy, [Name].” Senju declared as she selected the same character she’d used in the previous matches.

You scrolled past the first few characters, picking one that you knew you were pretty good with, nodding in her direction, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

When the match began, Senju was quick to advance, landing a few hits before you managed to jump over her character, launching a counterattack until a quarter of her health was down. You let her get a few good hits in, deciding you would fight seriously once you were a little past half-health, though you threw a few punches to make it look realistic. Even once you started playing for real, Senju didn’t relent in her vicious assault until your character was K.O.ed.

“I’m the champion of the tournament!” Senju announced, running around the coffee table in a fit of excitement before sliding back next to you.

“You really got me,” You praised, rubbing the back of your neck, “Good job, Senju.”

Shinichiro gently poked your back with his foot, causing you to stiffen before turning around. He couldn’t help but tease, “What were you saying?”

You grinned, reaching out to wrap your arm around your younger sister’s shoulders, bringing her into a half hug. “That my sister kicks butt!” You declared, causing her to burst into a fit of giggles.

Haruchiyo hopped off the couch and was at your side in seconds, “I wanna play you next!”

You turned to him, your grin never faltering as you accepted his challenge, “You’re on, Haru.”

The five of you took turns playing until Takeomi declared it was time to get dinner started, and after they ate it was bath and bedtime for the kiddos. Knowing what that meant, you stretched before making your way over to the kitchen. You’d already decided on what you’d be making tonight since you knew Senju and Haru were gonna be over, and luckily it didn’t take too long to prepare.

“Shin, are you gonna be staying for dinner?” You asked before you stepped out of the living room, wanting to know how much you would need to make for everyone to get enough. It wasn’t rare that you ended up feeding Takeomi’s friends every now and then, though you never minded if it was Shin. He never complained about your cooking.

The older boy looked over at the clock on the wall, wincing slightly when he saw the time. It wasn’t especially late, but he promised Manjiro he’d stop by on his way home, “I should… probably start heading home soon.”

“Oh, ok,” You tried not to let your disappointment show, but you brightened up, asking, “Do you wanna grab a drink from the fridge before you go?”

He studied your expression before nodding, “Sure.”

He followed you into the kitchen while Takeomi worked to calm Senju down, unplugging your PlayStation from the TV and entrusting Haru to place it back in your room for you to set back up later.

There was a lot to talk about, but you both knew that now was not the time for it, so you opened the fridge, grabbed what you needed to cook, and placed it on the counter before grabbing a drink for Shinichiro and handing it to him. As he grabbed it from your hand, you looked at him, lowly whispering, “Call me?”

His eyes widened slightly, but once he processed what you were asking he gave a firm nod.

“Take too long and I’ll call you,” You teased quietly before raising your voice to its normal range, “Alright, well I’m gonna get started on dinner then. Be safe on your way home, ‘kay?”

Shin chuckled, shaking his head, “Yeah, I will. See ya later, [Name].”

“Bye, Shin.” You waved, watching as he made his way out of the kitchen, tossing one last glance your way before he walked back to the living room to tell your brother goodbye.

They chatted for another minute or so while you worked on getting dinner ready, though you couldn’t make any of it out until they walked past the kitchen and towards the entrance, both friends saying their short goodbyes to one another as Shinichiro slipped his shoes on.

You heard to opening and closing of the door that signified Shinichiro’s departure, and you took a deep breath, letting it out and allowing yourself to deflate a bit. You were both left with your own thoughts as Shinichiro exited your home. Despite your deflation, your chest bubbled with all kinds of emotions. Excitement and anxiety were at the forefront, though it was difficult for you to differentiate them right now.

You weren’t sure what Shinichiro was thinking, but you couldn’t help but wonder if his thoughts were similar to your own at this moment.

Wow. That really happened.

#somehow i managed to be both a takeomi apologist and slanderer at the same time #honestly? as god intended #oh how i adore the brother's best friend trope #this chapter turned out very long but it didn't feel right splitting it #shinichiro sano #shinichiro x reader #shinichiro x you #shinichiro smut #tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers imagine #tokyo revengers smut #tokrev smut #this is my first time posting an actual fic so i am nervous

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svnaaaaaa · 6 months

Text

SVNAAAAAA'S MASTERLIST

compilation of my works into one masterlist ♡

lando norris

imagines

paper ring au

charles leclerc

series - monte carlo au (finished)

part one

part two

part three

part four

part five

part six

part seven

epilogue

manjiro 'mikey' sano

series - on my way (in progress)

prologue

part one

part two

part three

part four

imagines

告白 (kokuhaku) - my first story special

ハイエナ (hyena) - my first story special

dreaming of you - my first story special

sano shinichiro

series - girl like me (in progress)

prologue

part one

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just-sp-in-inginthevoid · 1 year

Text

I want to write/read an AU where time leaping powers don't exist. And Shinichiro does end up joining Waka (he doesn't jump off the bridge. Might try to kill himself later still - does he succeed ? Idk) and then add Benkei and Takeomi and boom

AU where Black Dragon first gen become the top criminal organization of Japan (and do international business after or whatever idk. Time to rule the world ! And gain no satisfaction from it ! Because you're but a hollow shell !)

How would it end ? Probably horribly badly

Only got vibes for this idea and they aren't particularly good but sometimes you need a certain angst amount

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hornyhermitry · 4 months

Text

The Ghost of Christmas Past - A Bonten Christmas Carol

————————

Rated: Teen

Characters: Takeomi, Shinichiro, Sanzu, Bonten

Word Count: 8668

Summary:

Where Takeomi Akashi, the hard-hearted middle-aged criminal advisor to Japan's most infamous crime syndicate Bonten is visited by the ghost of his former best friend and gang leader Shinichiro Sano and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come to turn his life around.

A Bonten take on the classic Christmas Carol.

————————

A long time ago in a Tokyo of a time long past, a very inconspicuous boy by the name of Shinichiro Sano used to have a dream of bringing back the golden age of biker gangs.

By the time the events of this story unfolded, Shinichiro Sano was dead as a door nail and had been for a long time.

Bonten’s veteran advisor Takeomi Akashi was intimately aware of this. During their time as leading duo for the infamous biker gang Black Dragon, Shinichiro and him had been best friends for many years before the leader’s untimely death. As the naturally more amicable of the two, Shinichiro Sano rallied all kinds of delinquent youths under his banner and put up his best friend Takeomi as his vice president to make the strategic calls to grow their numbers and earn the respect they deserved.

This youthful ambition set in motion the events that would, many years down the line, indirectly cause the death of Shinichiro Sano.

Losing his leader, his friend and the only person who saw more in him than the mediocre guy with a bad temper and a collection of vices to rival the worst - hurt him in a way he had never thought possible. He wouldn’t be able to say when it started, but the pain of being left behind got less over time. Nevertheless, no matter how many years passed, his best friend’s death had taken something from Takeomi that he never managed to get back.

Despite taking on Sano’s figurative legacy in the form of his brother’s gang formed from the ashes of Shinichiro’s, Takeomi Akashi did not take on Sano’s literal legacy:

S S Motors.

Still, the abrasive gambler never had it in him to change out the sign for Shinichiro’s old bike shop. It remained hung above the window front, letters slowly fading. Forever a reminder of the friend he had lost too soon.

While the shop had not gone to him, it still was occasionally used by the boys Shinichiro had taken in during his days as a mechanic. Takeomi never had any remarkable technical skills the way Shinichiro had and would often just leave scratches in immaculate paint as soon as he touched a wrench or a screwdriver with hands unstable from drinking, not to mention the hazardous spills of oil buckets while he hung around smoking one after another.

No, he was never as good at anything as his former best friend was and it had always reflected in people’s demeanour towards him.

As the years had gone by and their shared past faded, fewer and fewer people ever bothered to chat him up on the street. Takeomi couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard an “Hey, Akashi-kun. How are you doing?” from someone not under Bonten’s boot and small talking to buy time.

With his fall into alcoholism after his friend’s death, years of gambling debt and unemployment, even the most benevolent acquaintances had rid themselves of him.

A lot of time had passed since those darkest days and Takeomi had managed to pull himself up again to work as advisor for Shinichiro’s little brother running Japan’s most infamous crime syndicate now. But the amount of people that had a kind word for him were few and far between.

His moody, disgruntled personality perhaps played a role in that, but what gives.

This Christmas eve, Takeomi Akashi sat in a stuffy backroom of a Bonten-owned gambling hole and was busy counting the monthly profits.

Outside it was bleak and dark. Despite the clock only striking four in the afternoon, the sun was nearly done setting and the theoretically colourfully illuminated Tokyo alleys were swallowed up by a thick fog.

In order to keep an eye on the owner vacuuming the stained carpets and picking up stray gambling chips, Takeomi had left the door open and checked what he was doing every few stacks.

For a while now this place had been behind in turning over the expected profits and only last month Takeomi had made the call to cap their monthly expenses for heating and electricity. What he counted so far didn’t look good. They’d probably have to shut the place down or give it into more capable hands.

Already uncomfortably cold due to the turned off heating, the man only clad in a white shirt and red waistcoat shivered and rubbed his own upper arms when the door opened and a gust of cold air swept through the premises.

A familiar voice snarked across the hall. “Merry Christmas or something, old man.”

Takeomi did not need to see the pink mane to know who had just dropped in. It was his estranged brother who nowadays went by the name of Haruchiyo Sanzu.

Before the older man was able to kick the door shut in his face, Sanzu had stepped into the room and extended an arm to hold the door in place.

“If you’re gonna keep grouching like that, chances are Enma’s gonna let you roam the deep lakes for half an eternity before swallowing your soul, you know.”

Always the notorious chainsmoker, Takeomi dismissively exhaled a breath of smoke and threw a pack of bills into the bag between his feet. “Anyone still celebrating Christmas should be strangled with one of those stupid wreaths and lit up like a candle. What do you want?”

Sanzu briefly thought about the Christmas evenings with his older brother back when he had still been a kid. He could not remember any gift he’d gotten. Money had always been tight, despite their father being gone all day and night to bring home some of it. What he did remember though was sitting around the kotatsu in the living room - their little sister maybe 4 years old, him barely much older and Takeomi heavy-handedly lobbing pieces of fried chicken onto their plates. He remembered how his older brother accidentally knocked his beer can over in the process and started cursing like a sailor, only to get an even worse fit about it when he remembered about the little girl at the table and frantically jerked back and forth between the plates and trying to cover her ears while cursing even more.

Back then, as a kid, it had scared him a little. If he thought about it now, there was a slight comedic edge to it.

There was no love lost between Haruchiyo Sanzu and his older brother Takeomi Akashi - the name change was the most glaring proof of that. The slender man with facial scars as prominent as his brother’s was hard-pressed to come up with any kind of fond memory of their shared past. And yet, looking back as an adult, Sanzu had come to see that Takeomi had always tried to do his best for them. After all, he wasn’t the one who had wanted kids, but the one who stepped up to save what was left to save after their parents neglect.

Sanzu also remembered how little Senju’s crystal-blue eyes had lit up that night when she unwrapped a training jacket with the Sano dojo logo on it while he was busy doing the dishes like Takeomi had told him to. She had run around looking for Takeomi to thank him, and bumped into his leg while he was on the phone in the hallway. Takeomi punched the wall and his voice came out louder than he intended to as he yelled into the speaker that their father might as well be dead if he never bothered to be around and angrily hung up.

Senju looked up at Takeomi and started to cry on the spot. Takeomi’s shoulders dropped down, once again unintentionally having scared his siblings with anger not directed at them.

Sanzu had watched him sigh deeply and then ruffle the little girl’s head apologetically before turning his head yelling for the blonde boy to remember to look after their sister.

“You know…” Sanzu fumbled a cigarette out of his waistcoat and lit it. “You can bitch about Christmas all you want, but you weren’t always this miserable. There was a time you tried.”

The older man’s facial scar crinkled when he narrowed his eyes and gestured for his junior to bugger off. “You’ve always been too sentimental for your own good, Haruchiyo. Grow up.”

Turning on his heel, the pink-haired man lingered in the door frame for a moment.

“Thanks to you I did, a long time ago.”

Not waiting for another reply, thin long fingers waved goodbye to the man with a cash bag between his feet.

“Hurry up, Mikey-san wants to know if it’s time to tear this place down or not.”

Takeomi grunted and got back to the task at hand.

After some time the man, approximately the same age as the one doing the counting, hesitantly peeked into the backroom again. “Is it enough, Akashi-san?”

Dark brown eyes met in silence. There was no need for words to get the message across. When the realization sunk in, sweat formed on the rattish employee’s forehead despite the bitter cold around them.

“Is there nothing to be done? Can you at least postpone the closure until the new year?”

"You owe Bonten, Tanaka-san. We’ve given you enough chances. Finish up and hand me over the keys to this place.” The middle-aged casino owner was too baffled to react, so Takeomi decided to bark him out of his shock. “MOVE IT.”

“B-but Akashi-san, I live here.”

“Not Bonten’s problem, not my problem. Only proves you’ve been dragging out the inevitable for even longer than we thought.”

Stuttering the man fell onto his knees and put his head to the ground.

As if on cue, a throaty cough could be heard from upstairs, immediately followed by a wailing baby.

“I beg you, Akashi-san. Only 2 more weeks to help me figure out something else, we have nowhere to go.”

Takeomi’s right foot pushed the man back by his shoulder and he snipped the cigarette stump against his forehead.

“Not my problem. Now grab your lot, give me the keys and get out.”

Takeomi’s big scarred hands pulled the collar of his wool coat closer to his ears.It really was exceptionally cold today for a Tokyo winter. The climate was changing noticeably in recent years and it showed on days like this. When the Bonten advisor stepped out of the Konbini, plastic bag with cheap snacks and drinks in hand, he could barely see four steps ahead. Most of his surroundings were eaten up by the fog, and the area he lived in usually was gloomy already regardless of this weather making it that much worse.

Since his gig at little Manjiro’s syndicate had started, the former bosozoku with the glaring facial scar dooming him to a life of crime either way, had not only made his way out of his own piled up debt, but also looked after the well-being of all their shared finances to make sure his best friend’s legacy was safe.

He had learned his lesson during his gambling days. Long gone was the time of living beyond his means. Takeomi lived in a humble place - a one-room in a big run down apartment complex. Small. Convenient. Close to SS Motors. Easy to keep tidy, even if he never bothered and just lived in his dirt for the most part.

His shoes clacked past his late friends’ store when just before turning a corner, Takeomi felt a shiver run up his spine and turned around. For a brief moment he thought he saw Shinichiro in the shop window next to the latest refurbished zipper bike. His face untouched by the years gone by. Spit got caught in his throat as he wanted to shout and he ended up coughing into his cold hands. When the man looked up again, his friend was gone.

Muttering to himself, he climbed up the stairs to his flat and unlocked the door.

As usual, he had instant ramen and an onigiri for dinner by himself and washed it down with some Asahi. For a few times his phone screen lit up, but Takeomi was not in the habit of letting others interrupt his dinner time, come what may, so he ignored it. Indecisively flipping through the channels, he eventually fell asleep in front of his old tv.

A shrill noise woke the man in open dress pants and a white undershirt from his nap. Startled, he hurled insults at the unknown source of the noise - that turned out to be an obnoxious tv ad for a singing moose santa to mount on your living room wall.

Takeomi fell flat on his back and stared at the ceiling. He was so utterly fed up with this Christmas nonsense. All this noise, the bright lights, stupid songs everywhere and families rushing through the streets in their struggle to find some latest gadget to gift their kids spoiled rotten. He hated it. The sentimentality of it, the compulsive gifting, the forced joy. His thoughts trailed off to his childhood, a time so long gone he couldn’t even remember the face of his mother anymore. She had left his dad and him when he was 14, when his siblings were in kindergarten. The only thing he faintly remembered was the way her heavy perfume mixed with cigarette smoke used to tickle his nose.

As he sat back up and turned his head to look for the remote, his glance fell onto a figure sitting cross-legged in front of him in silence.

Takeomi’s eyes widened.

Dorky as ever, the black-haired figure waved at him.

This had to be some prank. Takeomi’s eyes widened.

“What is this? Who’s doing this?”

“Come on now, Omi. It’s me, Shinichiro. We used to be best friends, remember?”

Scrambling to his feet, Takeomi went to search the kitchen and the balcony for the perpetrator responsible for this stage play.

“There is no way you are Shin, this is some stupid VR trick or something.” His voice thundered through his flat. “SANZU!? Where are you? Did you lace my dinner with some of your shit again?”

The unnaturally transparent boy in his living room laughed.

“It’s really me, Takeomi. I am here to give you a heads up, so listen up you old grump. You’ve been on a pretty bad downward spiral since I’m not around anymore. I’m a bit worried where you’re headed like this. My hands are kind of tied -”

Spectral hands splayed and held in front of his chest, the thing claiming to be Shinichiro gestured apologetically and chuckled.

“So here’s what we will do with you, old man. I’ll be sending some hauntings your way. Heed their warnings..”

Bushy eyebrows furrowed.

“What do you mean ‘hauntings’? What nonsense is this? SANZU!?” The upset advisor looked behind curtains and wardrobes alike, but he couldn’t find anyone else in his flat. Finally coming to terms with the ghostly visitor in his living room, Takeomi turned to look him up and down for good, but the lanky figure was already disappearing towards the balcony.

“Shin! Wait! Is it really -”

Even as a spectre, Shinichiro looked the same way he always had. Loose, ripped jeans and an oil-smeared white tee that was a mess even in his friend’s transparent state. Last but not least, his messy hair stood up in all directions as it always had after a day of screwing together a machine.

Big black eyes curled into crescents and with a wide grin, the ghost of Shinichiro Sano disappeared off the balcony into the night.

Takeomi slumped back onto his floor pillow and - fumbling with a new beer can without looking at it - stared at the night sky outside.

Surely this must have been his stupid brother’s prank or something.

The encounter weighed more heavily on him than he wanted to admit and he fell into a deep sleep only a few sips in.

When Takeomi awoke, it was still dark and the clock on the tv screen displayed a slim white 1:00 in the top right corner. His phone buzzed and nearly gave him a heart attack. The slippery thing evaded his long fingers like a fish struggling against being caught, but there was not an issue a bit of impatient violence didn’t fix. Outraged by what was on the display, the man in his mid 40s blinked a few times to make sure he was awake.

“From: Shin

First one coming right up.”

Eyebrows looking angry by default curled over the bridge of Takeomi’s strong nose. First one … what …?

“Over here.” A familiar voice made the advisor look up.

At the other end of the room stood a white-haired boy whose face looked too old for his otherwise youthful appearance.

None the wiser at a first glance, Takeomi rubbed his eyes before getting up and approaching the oddly familiar looking apparition. There was something about the tanned skin and the deep purple eyes that called to a forgotten memory of his.

“Who … what … are you?”

A gentle, yet eerie smile lit up the boy’s face.

“I’m the ghost of Christmas past, Akashi-san. Catch up.”

In his hand he held a hanafuda card that caught Takeomi’s attention. Could it be this was …?

“Kurokawa, is that you?”

Not answering, the white-haired boy turned away from the man and did something with the card in his hand.

“Follow me.”

Unsettled, Takeomi reached for the button up shirt he had carelessly thrown onto the floor earlier and put it on. He had a feeling the white wifebeater wouldn’t do for where they would be going. He scrambled to get into his shoes as well, threw on a jacket and stumbled after the much shorter apparition.

As Izana mumbled something he could not make out, the kitchen wall disappeared and the two of them stepped onto a snow covered driveway.

“Does this look familiar to you?”

Following his guide’s gaze, Takeomi noticed the very peculiar front door. Made of dark wood and with some thick glass tiles at its center. Nothing unusual about that type of door, but the glass tiles were badly cracked and makeshift taped over with multiple layers of duct tape.

Inside someone shouted and hectic tapping of little feet on the wooden floorboard could be heard.

The door opened and a little boy with black hair and eager eyes looked up at Takeomi.

Realization hit him like a truck. This was the last Christmas he had spent with both his parents together. He was looking back into his own eyes.

“Oto-san, you’re home!!”

Young Takeomi’s face lit up with excitement.

Insecure and a little concerned, Takeomi turned around to see if there was anyone behind him.

Indeed there was.

His father, younger than Takeomi himself was now, was walking towards them and waving happily.

A prickle he had not felt in a long time spread in his eyes. He could not remember his father ever looking that young. Neither could he remember the way it felt to be so happy to see him. The years that came after this had made the both of them pay their dues. And all because -

A tiny slender hand wrapped around young Takeomi’s shoulder from behind.

“There you are, Tsu. Better late than never.”

The knot Takeomi had not noticed in his throat tightened. He was scared to look up from his younger self’s shoulders.

Izana knocked his elbow against his.

“Must have been nice to spend your childhood with a mother.”

The sheer bluntness of that remark snapped Takeomi out of his dread and after biting back that she was barely there for the most of it, he looked up and his face lost all colour.

She had been beautiful. So young and beautiful. A lump of spit got stuck in the man’s throat and he wished he had brought his cigarettes.

No wonder his father had three children with a wife like that. And she was barely older than Shinichiro was when he died. On her arm she had a little toddler whose crystalline eyes were framed by beautiful lashes.

Cold ran down his spine and suddenly Takeomi felt very old between the memory of his best friend, that friend’s family’s late stepson, his younger self and his parents barely half his own age.

Where had all the years gone?

His feet moved before his mind caught up, but Izana waved the card that would become the core of Bonten’s logo. Instead of touching his mother’s cheek, Takeomi stumbled into a whirling fog and lost his balance.

The shock of seeing his long gone parents so vividly had dispersed the comfortable daze the evening’s cans of beer had gifted him.

Mouth and eyes wide open he cursed loudly when his knees gave way and he hit the floor. Falling on his ass was way more painful than the former delinquent remembered.

“What are you doing, Takeomi? Get up, we gotta get out of here. NOW!”

The man’s heart skipped a beat and in he looked up.

Face roughened up pretty badly but still grinning like an idiot, Shinichiro held out his hand to him.

“Shin… ?”

Still struggling with temporal and physical disorientation the scarred man hesitantly held up his hand.

“Gotcha.”

One jerk and Takeomi was back on his feet again while Shinichiro donkey-kicked a rival gang member to get him off their back.

Confused when realizing Shinichiro had pulled him up but hadn’t actually pulled HIM up, Takeomi watched his past self jump over Shin’s bike to get to his own and start the engine.

Nodding towards the machines, Izana’s ghost indicated for the two of them to get on as well.

Teenage Takeomi was already kicking the stand back so the older man hurled his creaking bones onto the backseat and off they went.

Chest and heart full of excitement the boys changed gears, yelled triumphantly and sped off into the night.

His own voice cut through the night air as the scenery whizzed by. “That was the best one yet, Shin. Did you see how Hiro ran away?” “You mean when he realized there’ll be no reinforcements?” Laughter shook both their bodies and they slowed down for a moment. Shinichiro briefly turned around and said something before focussing back on the road. Whatever it was he said, it did not reach Takeomi’s brain because that confident smile was like a spear through Takeomi’s heart. They say time heals all wounds, and in a way you do forget the pain. It becomes a pale aftertaste of a memory you can grasp less with each year that passes. But this same way, you also forget the happiness. You forget just HOW happy you were. Forgotten the elation of flying high on excitement with a good friend. How high they had flown together and made the most out of life. So many years fell by and none had brought a memory fonder than riding his bike with his best friend after a crazy fight. Tears that he had kept in for a long time rolled down Takeomi’s cheeks. The feeling of wind in his hair, the humming engine between his thighs, the adrenaline high after a brawl and Shinichiro leading the way in front of him with a smile. He barely took note of Izana changing the scenery once again, because he was bawling his eyes out over the loss of his friend. Again.

Back against the wall, Takeomi slid down to squat on the pavement and rubbed the tears off his face with his sleeve.

The only thing worse than bad memories were good memories you could never relive again.

With a loud sniff he pulled up the snot stuck in his nose and looked around.

There was nothing he wanted more right now than a stiff drink and a cigarette. His eyes were red and his nose stung from crying.

Performing a coquettish sort of bow, the white-haired spectral boy keeping him company pulled the curtain of a close-by bar aside just in time for the bouncer to come out.

Shaken from the jump in time, Takeomi pushed himself up on wobbling legs and stepped aside from his spot to watch the scene unfold.

He knew too well what he was looking at. At this point in time he must have been in his early to mid 20s. Black Dragon had been disbanded and he had found himself struggling with status and purpose, all too suddenly left to his own means and goals. No matter what time in his life, Takeomi Akashi had never been good at setting goals, not for himself nor for anyone else. He was the guy who stood beside someone grander and cleared the way for them. The guy who did the talking and the deals. Not the guy with a vision.

When the suited gorilla grabbed his former self by the collar and pulled him in close, Takeomi’s attention returned to the scene at hand.

“Stop causing trouble for Imaushi-san, A k a s h i .”The bouncer spat the last word into his face and shoved him onto the boardwalk. “He doesn’t need your kind here, you’re upsetting paying customers. Get lost.”

Takeomi watched himself flip the guy off and then walk away with his hands shoved into his pockets.

Only this time he noticed that his old friend Wakasa Imaushi who owned the bar had stood in the dim entrance and watched him make an ass out of himself. Wakasa was never one to let his emotions show on his face, but Takeomi could read his mannerisms well enough. The way the long chewed-off odango stick rolled from side to side between his lips was a dead giveaway for how angry his old friend was at him.

It stung to think back about this time in his life. This was where he had really lost the plot for a long time.

Melancholic and really wishing for a drink, Takeomi turned to his ghostly guide.

“Can we go now?”

The purple orbs seemed to stare into his soul. Quietly, a tanned finger was raised. Takeomi expected a mean remark, but instead the apparition merely pointed at the alley next to him and kept staring.

Takeomi swallowed.

What else could he possibly want to show him?

Reluctantly putting up with the odd request, Takeomi wiped his dirty sleeve at the side of his jacket and walked ahead. Grumbling, of course.

“This better be quick.”

Izana Kurokawa’s voice was gentle. “My time on this plane with you is nearly over. Walk on.”

After a while, the road led to a seemingly regular building. Skipping ahead of him a few steps, Izana opened the gate and beckoned for the man sunken in thought to come on in.

What he had seen had already been plenty for such a short time. Too much was going on in Takeomi’s head about the paths his life had gone down. When he looked up, r e a l l y wishing for a smoke, the building towering in front of him did not ring any bell for Takeomi. Where was he?

Stepping through the gate, the two travellers were met by what seemed to be a group of mourners. Some of the faces seemed familiar. Just behind a nearby pillar, Takeomi spotted a familiar purple-yellow dye job stood next to a burly guy nearly twice his size.

This had to be …

Wakasa spat his trademark odango stick on the ground. “Playing poker over his last money, like always.”

Paralyzed by the shocking realization setting in, Takeomi stared at the scene. Guilt chased ice-cold goosebumps across his skin and his heart sunk.

“Kurokawa! Get me out of here!”

“This is a shadow of what has already been in the past. Don’t blame me for your own shortcomings, Akashi.”

A nonchalant shrug followed his words.

Over at the pillar, the tall beefy guy with the buzzcut lost control of his temper for a moment. With one big fist he punched the wooden structure and hurled a curse at it.

The conversations around them stopped and everyone turned to look at the odd pair they knew to be close with the deceased.

Apologetically bowing, picking up the wooden skewer and lowering their voices, Imaushi and Arashi carried on.

“It’s a disgrace. Missing his best friends funeral.” Wakasa cleaned the dirt off his stick and stuck it between his teeth again. The taller of the two grunted. “It should be him who’s dead and not Shinichiro.”

“Take me home!” Takeomi exclaimed. “I cannot bear this any longer.”

As he struggled with the shame and anger burning up his face, Izana complied with his request and brought them back to his apartment with a snap of his fingers.

Exhausted and breathing heavily, Takeomi sank to his knees. Not daring to look up at his visitor, his place, the outside world, or anyone and anything in the world, his fingernails cut deep into the tatami mats underneath him. For a long time he remained in this desperate, prayer-like pose and just sobbed.

Finally, he had nothing left to let out anymore and sank into a heavy sleep next to his kotatsu.

When Takeomi awoke, it was still dark, even though it should have been another day by now. The clock on the tv screen displayed a slim white 1:00 in the top right corner. His phone buzzed again, just like the night before. Again, it nearly gave him a heart attack. With his fingers still half asleep he came close to dropping it multiple times, but this time he fared a little better. It fell flat onto his face, once, but other than that he managed.

The words displayed on the screen dispersed his hopes of this all just being a bad dream.

“From: Shin

Number two is ready for you. Don’t get too hung up over who he is.”

Frowning, Takeomi stared at the screen and reread the message. In fact, he reread it so often, you’d have thought he was looking for a secret code hidden in those barely 10 words. Once he bothered to get up, he saw an unexpected guest leaning against his kitchen counter.

“Manjiro.”

He gave a quick nod and lit a long desired cigarette. “Sorry, I think I overslept.” The man still not fully awake rubbed his temples and took a drag of his cigarette.

“Did Sanzu share yesterday’s outcome with you already? We’ll have to shut the casino down. I already kicked the guy out.” Noticing his boss’s short hair was back to his natural color he asked “Did you get your hair done today? Looks good.”

Unmoved, Mikey stared back at him.

“I’m not your Manjiro, Akashi-san. I am a different timeline’s Manjiro. More importantly, I am the ghost of Christmas present.”

By now, Takeomi Akashi did not have it in him anymore to fight what was going on. He had always hated effort and he wanted this to be over and to have a drink. And some smokey meat skewers.

“A different timeline you say? How many of you are out there?” Chewing on his cigarette filter he wondered if there was a timeline where he was rich and drowning in pussy with Shinichiro still alive.

“Many. Now follow me.”

When the alternate Mikey turned away from him, Takeomi noticed the dragon tattoo winding around his neck. Did he get that because … ? The pensiveness only lasted for a few moments. Not waiting around for the man of the hour, the very thin looking Mikey had already opened a pathway and gone through. Takeomi stumped his cigarette out on another day’s plate and followed the apparition with hasty strides.

On the other side of the ominous fog a party seemed to be going on. Most of Bonten was mixing with some patrons and regulars. The lighting was fairly dim and the barstools and sofas spread around the place were visibly past their prime. Old-fashioned japanese pop music played on metallic sounding speakers. A long stage protruded from the other end of the room into its centre, a pole prominent where it was closest to the tables arranged for patrons.

Over at the bar, the Haitani brothers were sipping champagne flutes with a few slender women between them whose dresses seemed a bit too revealing for regular guests. Seated at a table close to the stage, Mochi was talking to a group of young men. Judging by their training suits and polished leather shoes it was very likely they were the new bunch of loan sharks who wanted a merger with Bonten. Some beer had already been spilled over the table, much to the dismay of Ran Haitani who accidentally bumped into it with a drunk lady on his arm, staining his designer suit with stale alcohol. Hands in his pockets, Rin angrily stormed after him, slapping one of the loan sharks on the back of his head in passing. They disappeared behind the curtains at the end of the room, but not before Ran visibly grimaced at the taste of the champagne and poured the rest of his glass into a flower pot next to the stage.

At the far end of the room Takeomi could make out two silver manes sitting in one of the more private booths and just when he started to wonder where his own flesh and blood was, shots could be heard, followed by loud shouting.

Messy hair covering his facial disfigurement, Kakucho peeked out from the booth where Hajime Kokonoi and the real Manjiro Sano were also sitting, and whistled sharply to shut the mad dog up.

The mad dog in question popped up from behind a sofa and walked in big, exaggerated strides over to his boss.

“Miiiikey~ I have a complaaaaint to maake.” He spoke oddly melodic.

Kakucho hissed. “Get a grip on your state of mind or leave the boss alone.”

Sanzu responded with a wild laugh. Bending over to look Mikey straight in the eyes, he temporarily stuffed the gun he was still holding into the front of his pants.

“That true, Mikey? Am I bothering you?”

The ever enigmatic head of Japan’s biggest crime syndicate let slip a mild smile.

“What’s on your mind, Haru?”

Sanzu forcefully slammed the table with his fist.

“I think this party is shit. Where’s the good booze?” He spread his arms and gestured around the room. “Where’s the girls in skanky reindeer outfits begging to ride my sleigh and letting me blow some snow off their tits? Where’s the Christmas lights and the music? What the FUCK is this?”

Takeomi’s eyes went wide at the audacity to talk with their boss like that. Childhood friends or not, this was unacceptable behaviour for his little brother. Koko got up and carefully pulled Sanzu a few steps away from Mikey.

“That’s nothing to do with Mikey-san, Sanzu. Let it go.”

Sanzu shoved him back and kicked one of the chairs away.

“He’s the boss, is he not?”

Now Kakucho also stepped in and grabbed Sanzu by the shoulders. His voice was low so the externals would not hear more than they already had.

“You know who advises us on the budgets. Kokonoi can only work with what he gets approved.”

The worn out cassette tape playing late 60s enka in the background hit a rough spot and the emotional singing distorted into slowed down demon noises.

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Sanzu exploded and flipped over a table.

“FUCK TAKEOMI. We work hard enough every day, what’s the issue with a little fun at the end of the year. Why does he always have to piss around about the money, we have enough.”

Rindou split the curtains open and returned to the main room. “That was the worst handjob I’ve gotten in a long time. Fuck these cheap hookers. Fuck Takeomi for booking them.”

As the younger brother lit a cigarette, Ran also stepped through the heavy curtains, closing his zipper. “That alcohol the stingy twat organized expired half a year ago. I wasn’t planning on spending my Christmas on the shitter.”

One of the patrons joined in.

“Yeah fuck him, only 2 weeks ago he raised our tribute fee.”

All Bonten executives turned their heads to look at the guy who immediately raised his hands to his chest. “Apologies. Nevermind.”

“And he had the audacity to tell me how he hates Christmas. Figures, if you are that stingy with the preparations. It’s good he’s home alone now, at least his miserable mood can’t ruin this evening any further.”

Ran Haitani clicked his tongue. “Maybe he’ll do us all a favour and die over night so Kokonoi can take over the finances and get me some Veuve Cliquot instead of this rat poison.”

The conversation between executives started spiraling into more and more primitive jokes at the expense of Takeomi who could do nothing but watch. He cringed in suppressed anger and shame.

“It’s enough. I get it. Let’s go.”

Black eyes stared back at him without saying a word. In the background, Rindou Haitani put on his sunglasses, pulled down the corners of his mouth comically wide and puffed his cigarette away hands-in-pockets and legs spread wide like a cartoon character.

“OoOH LisTen To Me. I’ve BeeN In The BusinEss AlREaDY WhilE All oF YoU weRe StiLL WeT BehinD The Ears. LiSten To Me. CriME is SeriouS. MoneY Comes FasT And GoeS Fast. SavE it. YoU HavE TO HonOr ShiniCHiros LeGacy. I’m TakeOmi GRRRRR.”

Sanzu cackled and threw back a shot.

“There’s no need for me to listen to anymore of this, let me go now.” Cheeks flush with rage and embarrassment, Takeomi turned away from the scene and walked out the run down nightclub. Outside, Mikey suddenly stood in front of him again and pointed down the street. Takeomi’s gaze followed the gesture and saw a thick cloud of fog wafting towards him, a dark figure hidden inside.

His phone buzzed inside his pocket. He didn’t need to look at it to know Shinichiro had just announced the third and last visitor.

Something from Alice in Wonderland came to his mind when he heard the manic giggle from within the fog.

“First the smile, then the cat.” or something like that.

Or, in case of the tall bony figure in a dark cloak emerging from the fog - first the sin, then the punishment.

There was someone Takeomi had not seen in a long time. The apparition’s face was hidden under the hood of its dark cloak, but there was no doubt about this being the former Kabukicho Reaper.

Takeomi swallowed an uncomfortable feeling of approaching dread and stepped closer.

“You are the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, then?” Much like the previous apparition, this one did not seem to be one for many words. The hooded figure merely nodded and floated past him. A steady murmur accompanied their walk that made the uneasy advisor conjure images of ghostly hands reaching for his ankles to pull him onto the other side. He shivered and jogged after the last ghost, who had stopped next to a bunch of suited elderly men.

One with a very prominent chin shrugged his shoulders. “No, I don’t know. It’s not like they let us in on those details.” Another one wearing sunglasses despite the advanced time of day lit a cigarette and handed the lighter to the guy next to him. “You think it was natural?” His buddy took the lighter and stashed it into his breast pocket. Some long-faced younger guy chimed in. “I know Kobayashi held a grudge over some deal gone south.” “Didn’t he have a personal bodyguard?” The grey-haired one with the sunglasses took a drag of his cigarette and chuckled. “Yeah, but word is his loyalties lay elsewhere after a bad falling out with the old fucker.”

At first, Takeomi was surprised at the random conversation. When the chatter took a turn and jokes about the deceased’s smoking habits fell, a glum feeling spread in his stomach. He turned to the silent guide by his side. Before he could ask about the suspicion that lay heavy on his heart, the robed figure started moving again and motioned for him to come along. His feet moved on their own and it was the crunching sound of gravel underneath his soles that drew the ageing executive’s attention back to where they were going.

Around them were vertical columns made from grey stone standing out against barren trees. A bit further down the gravel way, a familiar group of people exited the shrine towering above the premises.

Takeomi’s hand started to shake and his knees felt weak. A lightheadedness took over that spun reality around. Was this …?

Hesitantly, he staggered towards the grave pillar his colleagues were headed towards as well and cold sweat formed on his skin.

His usually full-bodied voice was a feeble husk of itself.

“I will look, Kabukicho Reaper. But first tell me this: Is this the shadow of what will be or the shadow of what could be?”

The tall harbinger of what was to come pointed the hand spelling “Punishment” towards the grave.

“Men’s choices in life foreshadow certain ends to the paths they walk.”

Trembling as he went, Takeomi Akashi staggered towards the stone structure as a wave of nausea hit him.

Unsteady hands reached for support and he laid a flat palm against the side of the column, forcing bile back down his throat. Amber eyes looked up and read the writing on the stone. Fear violently shook his body and his eyes went wide.

TAKEOMI AKASHI

10th March 1981 - 22nd December 2023

Takeomi couldn’t help it. Convulsing, he broke down and spat bitter stomach acid onto the earth.

“Is there nothing I can do? I never meant to become like this. I was just trying to save what was left of your legacy. Shin! Can you hear me?” Sobbing, he smacked his hands against his own grave. “It’s so damn hard to live without you, Shinichiro. What do you want me to do? How should I have cheer and support for all your boys when you left me behind all those years ago?

I miss you so much. I miss you so much it breaks my heart every day.”

His little brother was the first to walk past and he spat on the ground between his feet. “Rot in hell, you old bastard.”

The sobbing man barely took note of the other Bonten executives’ harsh words as they passed his grave and flicked cigarette bums and crumpled up receipts against it.

“All I want is to ride by your side, Shin. I don’t know what to do if you don’t tell me.”

Tears streamed down his face and blurred his vision.

“I miss you.”

He carelessly wiped snot into his sleeve. A new wave of tears shook him again.

“I don’t want them to hate me. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.”

For a long time, Takeomi sat leaned against his own grave, crying into his hands.

When he finally had no tears left to spill and his vision slowly cleared, he looked up at the phantom in front of him with reddened eyes. “Is there nothing I can do to prevent my death?”

The dark spectre wobbled, as if in acknowledgement. Then it shrunk and collapsed in on itself, turning into a bedpost.

Agitated, Takeomi looked around. He was back at his own place. Alone.

The clock displayed 1:00 AM. Again.

Exhausted, he fell back into his sheets and passed out within seconds.

Takeomi awoke to a long chiming ringing at his door. Throwing the bed covers off, he hobbled to the entrance in nothing but his briefs and pressed the button to let the mailman in.

“Good morning!” He opened the door wide.

“Good morning, Akashi-san!”

The mailman was so used to Takeomi opening the door in all kinds of states, he barely noticed the lack of clothes.

Furrowed brows stared at the floor between naked feet and then amber eyes looked up at the visitor inquisitively.

“What day is it today?”

“Had a rough night again?”

Takeomi grimaced.

“Could say it like that.”

The mailman laughed and pointed at the field requiring a recipient signature reading 24/12 as delivery date.

“It’s Christmas eve.”

Zoning out, Takeomi scribbled his signature onto the display and waved the postman goodbye, wishing him happy holidays.

There was still time.

An hour later, Takeomi’s small flat simultaneously looked like a bomb had hit and like he was the head of the secret service’s communication department. Open magazines, telephone books (yes, he was a sentimental oldie who still kept old-fashioned telephone books), scribbled notes and everything else that had been in shelves gathering dust was scattered across the place and Takeomi sat cross-legged on the floor, cigarette in mouth and industriously made one phone call after another.

Flagged as urgent, he sent a location to the Bonten group chat when everything else was done.

“TONIGHT. 8PM. HOPE YOU’LL LIKE IT. MERRY CHRISTMAS”

“No way he did all of this within a day.” Ran laughed politely at what the silver-haired accountant was telling him. Koko leaned in closer to the purple-haired man next to him and whispered more aggressively.

“I’m telling you. He was acting like a man possessed. Thank you.” Nodding to the waiter offering flying food, Hajime Kokonoi grabbed an hors d’oeuvre and took a bite. Loud music was floating through the exclusive event location and laughter bubbled up from the other end of the room where Kanji Mochizuki was toasting with a bunch of loan sharks to a successful merger.

“Yesterday he still had some other place booked but something must have gotten into him. First thing this morning he called the whole thing off and redid it.”

Equipped with two champagne flutes in his hands, Ran’s brother bumped into the gossiping executives. “Can you believe it? The bar is fully stacked with Moet & Chandon. There’s Imperial even. He really went all out.”

Violet irises looked up at the scantily clad dancers getting busy on elevated platforms around the room.

Signalling one of them to come down, Ran nodded. “He did. No two ways about it.”

Rindou took a sip of his drink and scanned the crowd distorted by a red and green light show for his best friend.

Bonten’s mad dog was helping a hostess in reindeer underwear sat on his lap to spread some snow on the mirror in front of them. To his left and right were his childhood-friend-turned-boss and his older brother - subtly directing bar & kitchen staff from where he was seated to offer refills before they were needed.

Noticing the Haitani brothers looking over to them, Takeomi elbowed Sanzu’s hip and pointed to them.

Somewhere on the dance floor, a drunk patron shouted.

“A SPEECH.”

Reinvigorated from a fresh line of coke, Sanzu lapped that input up like a dog and joined the shouting.

“YES! A SPEECH!”

Leaning over the edge of the sofa from behind, Takeomi’s friend Wakasa exchanged glances with Bonten’s big boss and pushed the scar-faced man off the seat.

Outraged and caught off guard, Takeomi jerked around to give that short statured troublemaker what he deserved, but decided against it when droopy eyes challenged the former gang colleague to try.

“Go on, old man. Don’t make your best friend’s quiet little brother do it.”

Voice rumbling in from behind, the big ex-Black Dragon who rarely left Imaushi’s side in public chimed in as well.

“We all know you love the attention, Takeomi. Off you go.”

Bashful at first, Takeomi Akashi scratched his neck and didn’t know what to say. He looked around and his gaze wandered across dozens of people happily celebrating and enjoying the treats. Mumbling into his drink as he took a sip for inspiration he couldn’t spot a single person seeming to have a bad time and something in him quieted down.

He cleared his throat.

“Thank you all for coming.”

Since barely anyone noticed he had started talking, he repeatedly hit his whiskey glass with the chunky signet ring adorning his finger. When some heads started turning to him, he raised his voice.

“THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING.

Not many of you are aware of it, but this year marks a special year in the history of Bonten.”

He looked at their boss whom his own little brother had protected with his life for many years now. Deep black eyes looked back at him knowingly and subtly gave him the permission to proceed.

“This year we mourn the death of Manjiro Sano’s big brother, and my best friend, Shinichiro Sano for the 20th time. He has been dead for a long time and yet he is forever dearly missed. Without him, none of us would be here today. Only through his determination to bring back the golden age of delinquency back as a teenager and his dedication to offer kids without much prospect in life an option, we are here today. Only through handing his legacy over to his brothers, I was given the opportunity to turn my life around many years ago, when Sano-san kindly took me in as his advisor.”

He briefly bowed towards Mikey.

“Deeply shaken after a life of debt and bad decisions, I have assisted this organization with the best advice I thought I could give and, to my regret, may sometimes have been too strict.” Toasting towards his brother fondling the stripper on his lap he continued.

“My own brother Haruchiyo Sanzu might have to tell you a story about my harshness, which he unfortunately often ended up on the receiving end of.”

“Oh shut up, we’re trying to have a good time here.”

Sanzu threw a crumpled up napkin at the speaker before getting back to the reindeer keeping him company.

“So today, I would like to thank you all for showing up. For some it’s a bond written in blood - “ he toasted towards the Haitani brothers “For some it’s companionship closer than any blood could ever be.” he toasted towards Kakucho, Mochizuki and Kokonoi. “But whatever it means to you, there is nothing more important than family. Everyone in this room is a part of the Bonten family and I know that Shinichiro Sano would be proud of what we have achieved together, if he were here to see it tonight. Thank you all, and merry christmas.”

Takeomi’s rather pathetic sniffles at the end were luckily drowned out by the cheering of the crowd who had just waited for the peak to get back to partying. Shoulder to shoulder with the Haitani brothers and followed by a small group of girls, Sanzu briefly stopped next to his older brother and patted him on the back.

“See? You’re better when you try. Merry Christmas.”

With that, the group evidently off to no good disappeared into the lasershow.

For a brief moment, Takeomi thought he saw the ghost of Shinichiro wave at him from across the crowd. When he focused his gaze, nothing was to be seen anymore. A waitress offered him a new drink he gladly took and he went to stand with his old friends Keizo and Wakasa.

It was hard to believe that after 30 years they were still here together while Shinichiro was not. He swore to him, and them, he would atone for his shortcomings and keep his best friend’s memory alive the best he could.

Later that night he was seen dressed down, dancing in nothing but naughty reindeer briefs, tie around his forehead - with the bulky Kanji Mochizuki in briefs to match, wildly pulling at the reigns attached to their … front.

In the following years, Takeomi Akashi had no further encounter with spirits coming to haunt him, but the Bonten Christmas party always was an event to behold.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all the readers who are also part of the extended Bonten family! :“)

18 notes · View notes

pocoyo-yo · 2 years

Text

[Vanilla Wafers II - Boten!Mikey x F!Reader]

Summary: Y/N is home and has to face her boyfriend, Mikey, once he arrives. [Imma be honest w ya'll cuz this fic might seem OOC for some ppl, Mikey is not my number one choice in TR in fact ion rlly care abt him all that much, good character, good looking, just not my cup of tea so I don't really know how to write him very well honestly]

Warnings: degradation, humiliation, manhandling, angst, (but it depends on what you consider angst), pet names, public sex, language, dirty talk, cheating/adultery, cockwarming, unprotected sex idfk, Y/N hoeing around !!!CONTAINS SLIGHT MANGA SPOILERS!!!

Fandom: Tokyo Revengers

-Part One-

You jumped up at the sound of the front door handle jiggle before it swung open. You pressed your lips together as your boyfriend, Mikey, stumbled in— leaving the front door to the penthouse wide open.

The light from the hallway seeped into entrance area.

"Mikey," You quickly stood up and adjusted your silky nightgown. "you've been gone for a while..."

Lucky for you, Draken hadn't covered in any hickey's that would raise eyebrows but your ass was still bruised.

Mikey looked up at you and walked over towards you. He licked his lips as he pressed himself close to you. It was like he was using you to balance but he seemed sober, the only thing he smelt like was the Vanilla & Oak cologne you had gifted to him for his birthday and the Black & Milds he smokes.

"I've been looking for you," He mumbled as he traced his finger down your neck. "...lookin' all over for my presious princess..."

You gulped and felt Mikey's lips dig into your cheek, they were soft as per usual. He let out a long sigh that sent shivers down your spine. "I even," Mikey chuckled as he leaned into your ear. "I even sent Sanzu to keep an eye on you all day— just to make sure you were safe.."

Everything seemed the slow down and your body had never felt so still...not once.

Did he know?

No, of course he knew.

"You...did what?" You whispered and Mikey pulled away but moment you got a full view of his face his hand grabbed your own, squishing your cheeks together. You expected more anger but he only smiled softly, his eyes not even showing hint of anger— of anything.

Like always.

Mikey licked his lips, staring at your face a bit longer before his eyes eyes trailed down your body. The nightgown you were wearing was see-through, the moonlight from the large window made it very clear that you had nothing on under it except your lace panties.

"Fuck," Mikey let go of your face and let his eyes fall shut as he took a step back. "how long has it been? 'Since we had sex?" He asked you.

You stared down at the floor and nervously played with your nails.

"A month— if we're talking intercourse..."

Another chuckle left his lips, "How long have you been seeing him?"

You couldn't seem to answer, your mouth wouldn't allow or maybe you, yourself wouldn't.

"You fucked another man, continued to sleep in the same bed as me every night, but somehow you can't look me in the eye—"

"—That's wrong! You're," You blurted out, your fists clenched as you glared at him with glossy eyes. "...you're never home! I sleep in our bed alone— It's not only about the sex, it's just...you don't even talk to me anymore!"

Mikey clicked his tongue as you looked back at the wide open front door. You stomach churned as his hand found your waist. His fingers dug into your side and you bit your bottom lip as your cheeks heated up.

"What? You scared the neighbors are going to hear? Let them...based on what Sanzu told me he could hear you from outside of the shop." He hummed and tears fell from your eyes, rolling down every curve and ridge of your face. Your make up and mascara a mess. You felt his grip on you loosen as he groaned, "Just tell me how long you've been seeing him, babe."

You sniffled, "A few months..."

Mikey raised a brow and scratched the back of his head with his freehand. "You're the one whose crying? Shouldn't I be crying right now," You had to agree but for some reason the tears just wouldn't stop pouring out. You hated crying, personally you considered it when you looked your absolute worst, but Mikey always said you looked rather pretty— Draken would say it too, you knew they used to be really close but it seemed even now some things were still similar between them. "I spoil you too much...I give you everything, a new car, jewelry, designer clothes and bags, yet you're crying because you slept with Ken?" He said it slow, to emphasize how stupid it sounded when said outloud.

"I just— I just wanted my boyfriend..." You cried while desperately trying to wipe away your tears only for more to replace them.

Mikey frowned and watched as you cried before him while he chewed on his inner cheek. "But care about him, don't you?" He pointed out.

That one made your tears come to slight halt.

Of course you cared about Draken, after all the the both of you spent together if anything were to happen to him you'd be distraught. You were sure he felt somewhat the same for you, well at least you hoped he did. Still, you weren't sure if you considered that you falling for him.

You replied in a hushed tone, "I—I do but—"

You squealed as Mikey's lips locked with your own, after you processed the whole ordeal you quickly kissed him back. You let his tongue venture your mouth like he had never kissed you prior. His lips were soft and you could taste the Black & Milds he had smoked before arriving. The air between the two of you was hot and thick as you both pulled away with now swollen lips.

"That's what's wrong with you," Mikey kissed you once more, his hand leaving your waist and cupping the back of your head while the other fondling with one of your breasts. You whimper while he pinched and flicked your already sensitive nipples through your nightgown. "You have no patience— no discipline. You need a reality check, babe." He muttered while you panted and squirmed in his hold.

"Wha..." You mumbled and Mikey nodded toward your nightgown before he slowly pulled off of your body.

You felt the cold air against your bare skin and shivered. As the gown uncovered your chest fully you covered your breasts with your arms and looked at Mikey, your eyes were puffy along with your nose from crying. "The neighbors they'll see me and hear me while..." You trailed off while Mikey tossed your nightgown to the floor.

"What's a few more going to hurt? Another man's dick," He cupped your pussy with his hand and you let out a moan as he stroked his finger over your clothed slit. "has already been in here anyway."

You gasped as Mikey pulled you in close, his hand still on your pussy as he buried his face in you neck. "I just wanna fuck you," He pouted. "...just wanna know if this pussy's worth keepin'." You stiffened up when Mikey pushed your panties to the side and rubbed your puffy pussy before spreading your lips apart and playing with your clit. You held onto him while soft mewls left you and echoed throughout the penthouse. Bouncing from wall to wall.

You feel Mikey's gaze on your ass and he then pulled his fingers from under your panties. You whined as he removed his face from your neck, holding up his fingers for the both of you to see. You could barely look at the sight without feeling embarrassed— especially when more of your arousal dampened your panties and inner thighs at that very second.

"Seems like your pussy was cryin' too..."

Mikey slid his fingers into his mouth and gathered your arousal on his tongue. His cheeks were dusted a soft red and a quiet moans that came from deep within his throat filled your ears. Just the taste of you had him moaning, and a look that was as sharp as a knife landed on you, behind you, and back on you.

"Go to the window." He ordered you and it took a minute before you even took the smallest of steps.

"Go on Y/N." Mikey repeated and you turned around completely, not wanting to look at him even though you could feel gaze.

You walked over the large window of the penthouse, the window with little tint and no blinds, the window that looked over Tokyo, the strip, and the parking lot of the penthouses. The window where anyone could see you completely exposed if they looked hard enough.

You stopped a nice few feet in front of the glass and you heard Mikey's footsteps approach you from behind. His hands fondled your breasts causing your breath to hitch as you turned into putty against him. He pressed his very obvious bulge in between your ass and sighed, "M'gonna fuck you right here," He kissed your temple. "gonna fuck right on this window for all of Tokyo to see, pretty baby."

Before you could respond you noticed Mikey's reflection in the window, his finger twirling in circular motion to signal you to turn around.

You slowly whipped around and glanced at Mikey through your lashes, your pussy clenched around nothing as he pulled the gold and black hair-tie you had weaved for him off of his wrist and tied his bangs back. He somehow must've felt your staring because in the midst of tying up his bangs his eyes fluttered open, the dark bags under his eyes were even more evident since his eyes were all you could focus on. You never could tell what he was thinking, no once.

"Take your panties off."

Your fingers curled around the thin lace waistband of your panties. Your acrylic nails clanked against each other while you glanced back at the city of Tokyo. It was lit up like usual and you could see crowds of people just enjoying their night. The moment those panties came off you'd be at their dismay.

You looked back over at Mikey, "Manjiro, I—"

"Take your panties off, babe." His words came out harsh even with the pet name he threw in there.

You slid down your panties with an embarrassed expression. Mikey stuck out his hand and you placed them in his palm. "So you can listen." He whispered and all you could focus on was how good he looked with that hairstyle. Mikey stood closer to you, to the point where your bare ass was pressed against the cool glass. He placed his arm next your head and your foreheads touched as he kissed your nose. You opened your mouth to speak only for Mikey to shove your wadded up panties inside your mouth. You stared at him shocked as the taste of your slick tingled your tastebuds. Mikey smiled and raised his index finger to his lips, "You said they'll hear you and now they won't, so shhhh..."

His hands then groped and pinched every part of you as they traveled down your body. You whimpered and stared down at Mikey while he left wet kisses under your breasts, on your stomach, and finally he dropped to his knees. He panted as he stared at your dripping cunt and wet thighs.

"You have such a pretty pussy,"

Mikey gripped your thighs and hoisted your legs onto his shoulders. A muffled yelp left your lips and Mikey's mouth right up on your cunt.

"...so pretty—"

You threw your head back against the glass as Mikey's tongue slid in between your folds. He buried his face deeper into you, your taste was something he craved— even if you wronged him...your taste, that was all he needed. You rolled your hips against his face, desperate for more friction, desperate for him to acknowledge your throbbing clit.

Mikey glared up at you and pulled his mouth away, strings of arousal still connecting the both of you. His grip on your thighs was tight, so tight that it hurt. But in a way, it reassured you he wouldn't let you fall.

"Can't I enjoy a meal without you annoying me? Shit," Mikey sunk his teeth into your inner thigh. "that's all you ever do."

Your clit twitched as Mikey wrapped his lips around the sensitive bud and sucked and flicked it with his tongue. Your toes curled as moans tried to force there way through the fabric gagging you. He focused back on your hole, slipping his tongue inside you. Mikey groaned at the feeling of your walls tighten around the tip of his tongue and the vibrations went straight to your clit. You tried not to move, you wanted him to forgive you, you needed him to forgive you.

Though a thought lingered in your mind— Draken was inside you raw a few hours earlier, and Mikey knew to some extent that Draken was inside you yet eating you out wasn't an issue to him. You had showered of course but it was just slightly shocking to you.

Mikey let go of one of your thighs and let it fall om his shoulder completely. He used his free thumb to rub your clit while he focused his mouth on devouring you.

You cried and shook your head as you gripped Mikey's tied back hair. Your legs shook as the pleasure built up inside of you, he was going to hate you for coming, you already knew it. This made you feel good but at the end of the day this gave him pleasure. You tugged at Mikey's hair and tried to warn him with muffled cries of his name. He probably understood but just didn't give a shit. But once his tongue brushed against your g-spot ever so slightly, that did it for you. Your eyes flickered back in your head, the moan that left you was so loud that the gag didn't even do that well of a job.

Mikey brought his mouth from your cunt and you sobbed as your approaching orgasm withered away, you were right there, your release was right there. He licked his lips and sighed while your eyes stung from your tears.

"Woulda thought you were high based on how red ya eyes are," Mikey took your legs off of his shoulders and you slumped back against the window. "Seems like the gag isn't workin' either." He hummed as he pulled your now soaked panties from your mouth. You coughed and Mikey stared at your damp cheeks before tossing your panties on the floor.

"M'sorry," You apologized. "M—M'sorry Manjiro! But I wanna cum! P—Please Manjiro, I wanna cum real' bad..."

Mikey's lips curled into a smile, "I know, but you've came plenty today already haven't you."

You gasped as Mikey flipped you over to where you were now staring out of the window. You subconsciously stuck out your ass and rested your arms on the glass pane. "Look at you, it's like your body just knows what time it is." Mikey said in a slightly amused tone.

He tossed off his black shirt and you could hear him fumble with his pants before his cock slapped again your bruised ass. You whimpered while Mikey caressed the curve of your ass cheeks. "You let another man leave you all red 'n bruised..." He murmured under his breath. "...m'fucking you until you can't think straight."

You glanced back at Mikey and he immediately noticed, "Keep your eyes forward," You obliged. "Now watch yourself get fucked along with all of Tokyo."

You felt the tip of Mikey's cock slid over your slit and you bit down on your bottom lip. Your pussy twitched around his fat tip as he guided it into your hole, his precum and your slick mixed together. You let out a low moan and your fingerprints smudged the glass. Your pussy grasped around him, not letting him go— trying to suck more of of his dick in. "M—More," You sniffled. "please Manjiro..."

He grunted and gripped your ass as he pushed his cock further inside of your pussy. Your face was hot and you panted, your breath fogging up the glass.

Your gummy walls pulsated around his cock once he finally bottomed out, your back arched and your knees buckled. It's not that Mikey's dick was bigger than Draken, Mikey's was more girthy while Draken's was more lengthy, but with the mix of the overstimulation and how long it's been since Mikey's been inside you, it didn't fucking matter. Your pussy stretched around the base and Mikey's balls were pressed firm against your ass.

"Fuck, this pussy'd make any man go crazy," Mikey muttered as he pulled his hips back. "which doesn't help me a bit, pretty baby..."

You whined once again and Mikey harshly slammed himself back into you while his fingers pinched and flicked your clit. His abdomen slapped against your ass and he watched it jiggle against his skin. Your eyes went wide as Mikey held onto one of your love handles firmly. The entirety of air within your lungs was gone and your back arched even further as your pussy fluttered around his cock. The tip was pressed firmly against your cervix and his girthy base applied extreme pressure to your g-spot. A high pitch and airy gasp left you as your pussy creamed around his cock.

Mikey raised his hand from your hip and frowned while you tried to breathe and collect yourself after your sudden orgasm.

"One thrust and you're already creamin' on my dick, can't even let me have a bit of fun.." He grumbled.

You glanced down at the floor, your slick and cum dripped onto the marble tile. "I—I needed to cum...m'sorry, it was— it was just buildin' up Manjiro 'n I had t—" Your explanation was cut off by another harsh thrust from Mikey and you babbled on nonsense as the sound of your squelching pussy and wet slaps carried out into the hall. "M'fuckin' tired of you always tryin' to explain'," He mumbled.. "just admit that you did wrong and apologize, that's it."

You let out a squeal as Mikey continuously rubbed your sensitive clit. And your pussy was already swollen and stinging no matter how much pleasure Mikey gave you.

He found his way to your breasts and fondled and groped one with his freehand while the other freely bounced along with the aggressive rhythm he had created. "I love your tits, so soft." Mikey hummed as he hid his face in the crook of your neck and left hickeys on your skin.

You could feel Mikey deep in your belly and it made you squeeze around him tightly.

It air was so thick that you could barely breathe and Mikey bit into your neck. It stung but it also felt good. "I wanna suck your tits." Mikey pulled out mid-trust and flipped you on your side. You panted and he got a decent look at your face while he threw one of your legs over his shoulders. You stared at him, pouting your swollen lips, soaked cheeks with more tears on the way, furrowed brows, and running makeup. And he had to wonder if you, Boten's Princess, was staring at Ken, the man who he used to call bestfriend, the same way.

"Did you," Mikey pushed his cock back into you slowly. "...like being tossed around, Y/N?"

Your lips parted ready to give him the answer you were sure he desired but nothing came.

Mikey gave you a blank stare, "That's fine, I already know."

In the span of a second his lips were wrapped around your nipple, kissing and licking your breasts while he found his deadly rhythm again.

You moaned loudly and your body felt like it was on fire, you clit was being abused to the point where after this was over you probably would collapse. Mikey's cock would rub against your sensitive bud every time he moved.

"M—Manjiro it's good," You whimpered and his eyes fell on your lips. "s—so good!"

"You gonna give me another, you gonna cum again?"

Your response was muffled as Mikey kissed you deeply, you wrapped your arms around his neck. His tongue sloppily glided across your lips while you grinded your hips into Mikey's, desperate to come. Your body shuddered as the overwhelming feeling of your second orgasm washed over your entire body and you gushed around Mikey's cock, covering the base in another layer of your sticky cum.

He moaned softly into your lips, fucking you through your high until his hips began to stutter and his thrusts grew sloppy.

"A—Are you on birth control?" He grunted.

You clung onto him tightly, "Y—Yes! Fuck yes!"

Mikey groaned and pressed himself close to you as he came deep inside of your cunt, your pussy milking as much as you could from him in that very moment. You sniffled and whimpered while still holding onto Mikey. He panted and just stayed inside of you, pressing his face into your breasts while your warm and wet cunt fluttered around his cock."Ya smell good...like Vanilla..." He mumbled into your skin and the worst thought imaginable popped into your head...

This would be even better if Ken was here too.

Guilt immediately struck you and you didn't even notice that Mikey's hair had come undone. You brushed his white bangs back as he looked up at you with an emotionless expression.

"You don't have to love me,"

You frowned, "Huh..?"

"Just stay beside me...just a bit longer, 'kay pretty baby?"

-[Y'know it's been a good couple of months since I've posted and looking back on Pt. 1 of Vanilla Wafers, it doesn't even feel like Pt. 1 bc my writing has changed so much 💀]-

#tokyo revengers #tokyorev x reader #tr smut #mikey tokyo revengers #boten mikey #anime #manga #draken #mikey sano #sano mikey manjiro #manjirou x reader #manjiro smut #mikey smut #y/n lwky a menace #shinichiro ain't even in this fic but hes my bby ddy just remind ya'll

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