#yeaaaaah they were not great

[hanarchy]

it‘s not necessarily warranted bc my track record with people younger than me is actually like… great but. we have two new 18yos at the office and they genuinely make me anxious bc teenagers scare me

#theyre absolutely fine but like #idk how to describe this anxiety bc its so DUMB #but theyre both very skinny and always wear makeup and put themselves together every day #which are all things i dont care to do and am fine without #but also i knooooow those girls from being a teen and uh #yeaaaaah they were not great #but yeah im definitely in no way their peer and i know they must be nervous its their first job etc so i will #do my very best to make them feel welcome and good abt working there and at ease #but also like 17yo me still lives inside me and she is being v weird #good thing she hasnt been in charge of the n 13 years lmao #like god i always sound insane and i swear im not #oart if why my track record is good is that i very much am 30 and good with that #but also teens are judgmental #most people kinda calm down as life goes on bc they realise that everyone goes thru shit #and like have themselves been pieces of shit tbhhh #but teens just fuckin judge u on sight lmao #personal #life

[no-face-no-shame]

A quick vent but this really bothered me

Why do people like All Might bashing so much? Like, what's the point? Especially since most of it is so out of character that it's just painful to read. Like, he's not flawless (that's kinda the point of his character - breaking the illusion of perfection.) But writing him as abusive/mean is just ridiculous, taking into consideration that his big *thing* is wanting good for others.

Today I saw a fic where the whole plot was basically "Aizawa is a good dad to Izuku who's diagnosed with autism, while All Might is horrible and ableist." Excuse me, but WHAT?? Ah yes, that man who's famously DISABLED, would totally be ableist and think that accommodation for a disabled student is "too much" and "unnecessary." That man who needs constant medical assist, who had to change his whole life to accommodate to his disability. Yeaaaaah, right.

Also, why are so many of AM bashing fics at the same time putting other teachers on pedestal. Aizawa was pretty awful to Izuku at the beginning, because he's a very judgemental person who needed to learn that he's sometimes wrong about others and that Izuku had a lot to offer. He certainly wasn't a perfect teacher, none of the UA teachers were. Aizawa got a great character development and later on was a good, dedicated teacher who sacrificed a lot for his kids. But treating him like he's a total angel who would never do anything wrong is just incorrect, especially considering that he's rough on students that are different from the rest in the way he considers "bad".

It really rubs me the wrong way when people literally ignore canon personalities of characters, break and reshape them into something those characters never were. You want a bad mentor for Izuku? Write an AU where his mentor is AFO. Write a villain AU where All Might is the bad guy and he's using Izuku as a tool. Or literally make an OC at this point. Just work with a different character that actually matches what you want to portray. Make Endeavour Izuku's mentor. Literally anything works better than trying to make All Might into a bad, cruel and abusive person. That's exactly the thing he'd never do.

I'm all for interpretations that focus more on the negative side of various characters - it can be very interesting. But some of y'all really just decided that you don't like AM for some reason and decided to rewrite the whole character, turning him inside out, to fit your personal issues with him. Issues that simply aren't there

#bnha #mha #my hero academia #boku no hero academia #all might #yagi toshinori #midoriya izuku #aizawa shouta #deku #eraserhead #all might bashing #i rarely write fandom beef stuff but that was so stupid that it made me fume #faceless

[genericpuff]

Omg hiiii, I absolutely love Rekindled! You're so talented, and the story you're making for Persephone is so intriguing! A lot more than whatever trashfire Lore Olympus has become.

That being said, what was the moment you stopped liking LO Persephone? Have you always disliked her, or was it gradual? Or just a specific moment that made you go "yeaaaaah.. she's not it ;-;"

(And bonus question if I can ask, but how do you draw hands?? I hate them with a passion, but unfortunately hands are pretty necessary T^T)

aahhh thank you so much!!!

honestly, I was a pretty big fan of LO up until the trial arc. Like, you've all seen me hate this comic with a fiery passion, but the only reason I'm able to do that is because before I hated this comic, I loooved this comic. I'd literally be counting down the hours until new updates, I loved the art, and I was too smitten by the appeal of the series to notice its writing problems, I just loved the romantic drama and the H x P ship, and yes, I loved Persephone, I loved her design, her personality, and I felt so 'seen' by her struggles, both with her trying to pave a path for herself and the SA plotline. I was even (regrettably) one of those people who would lurk in the antiLO tags and think "wow, these people are dumb, can't they see how brilliantly written this is ?? they're nitpicking!"

But then the trial arc happened which involved writing a plot that didn't put the romance front and center anymore - now that Rachel had to actually write something complex and logic-driven, the blinders started to fall off and I went wait... maybe Rachel doesn't know what she's doing. Persephone choosing her own lawyer? And it's Hades, one of the judges? Why are they suddenly establishing Thanatos as Hades' adoptive son? I'm not a lawyer, but I know that's not how any of this works and it really tipped me off that something was amiss, that Persephone was having all of her solutions conveniently handed to her on a platter and all of the other characters were suddenly being made to look like assholes just to make Hades and Persephone the heroes.

And then... Eris happened.

See, one of the things I loved most in the story was Persephone's character arc concerning the Act of Wrath. I write stories about characters with dark "personas" all of the time. So it was something I had frame of reference for, I really loved the premise of Persephone earning her name through this act of violence and while it was dashed with the opening of S2 revealing it was "all an accident", I was excited to see how the trial arc would bring about new information and confirm who was telling the truth about what "really happened" with the Act of Wrath. If the courtroom drama wasn't gonna be realistic, I could at least hope for some good 'OBJECTION!' reveal that would finally put to rest once and for all what really happened, and maybe Kore would finally embrace this 'dark side' she had.

So for the actual twist to suddenly reveal itself as... 'actually, this one goddess we've never mentioned before blessed you with wrath. why? idk she just did. anyways she's the reason you have wrath and that's what made you commit the act of wrath. problem solved.'

And that was where the twisting of 'faith' happened. When I went through the subconscious realization of , "Oh no, Rachel doesn't know what she's doing and it took me this long to notice. Oh no, maybe those antiLO freaks had a point-"

That said, there was a glimmer of hope in the midseason finale. Persephone was sentenced to remain in the Mortal Realm to carry out her mother's duties and I thought, "great! This will be Persephone's Rocky moment! She'll have to prove herself without the help of Demeter or Hades! This is gonna be awesome!!" During the hiatus, I was VERY excited to see where the story was going, I still had so much hope and I figured the mishandling of the trial arc was just a bump in the road. The series was still good, it was just going through a rough patch, these things happen.

And then it came back and it all went downhill from there. There was a 10 year time skip with very little insight as to what happened. Minthe and Daphne were just suddenly back to normal. They were referencing some food shortage or terrible event that happened during Persephone's reign that they never explained in explicit detail. And now, all of a sudden, Persephone was just returning to the Underworld, where Kronos had suddenly taken over. I had cautious optimism but throughout it, I was really seeing the cracks that were already forming opening wide. A lot of what I had to say wasn't positive anymore, I literally couldn't understand what the reasoning was behind these writing decisions and I couldn't find myself rooting for Persephone anymore, everything just seemed to convenient and easy for her to make her seem like the "strong and confident" character the comic claimed her to be.

The S2 finale was my breaking point and I think it was for a lot of other people too. That was pretty much where my 'transformation' from passionate stan to passionate critic happened, and it happened alongside the creation of the UnpopularLoreOlympus subreddit which would become my new 'home' within the community. After seeing how much the story had gone downhill, it made me realize in hindsight just how awful and one-note Persephone is, how she really never cared about anyone but herself and Hades, how her mother did, actually, have a point about her being practically groomed into a relationship with a billionaire slave driver, how she was very intentionally drawn to look like a child in ways I couldn't believe I had never noticed before, the list of "awakenings" goes on. And it sucked! It sucked to have that realization that the thing I loved wasn't just imperfect, but incredibly problematic in its writing and art choices. And just like when I loved the comic, I couldn't just let go of it, I had to understand to some degree why this happened.

It happened because Persephone was always being written as a one-note, easy to project onto self-insert character. A Wattpad protagonist. Not an actual representation of the Goddess of Spring, but a blank slate for the creator and the fans to imagine themselves as purely for the power fantasy of hooking up with a rich and abusive guy.

That was when I made my first piece of LO art intended to be an 'edit' - a redraw of Persephone's rebirth as the Dread Queen from the S2 finale, an ode to the Persephone I was hoping to see but never got. The rest from there is history.

I know I'm being SUPER dramatic about it but this was literally how it felt to go through the realization that this comic - and its characters - wasn't as good as I thought it was, and I think that's a sentiment that's shared by a lot of the 'haters' in this community. LO was a big part of my life and even some of my friendships with people, so when it went downhill, it felt like such a hit to the gut. It's still a big part of my life, albeit in the opposite direction, but I still wonder sometimes over the "what ifs", what if the series hadn't turned out this way? What if I had never realized its flaws? Rekindled is basically a love letter to those what ifs, satisfying the feelings I never got to keep with LO, and giving me a reason to count down the hours on Saturday nights again. I'm glad it's made that same impact for others, too <3

#lmao this turned into some really deep catharsis post #i never explained how to draw hands #i'll make a post about that in a bit lmaooo #this is what happens when i'm given free reign in my blog posts #i go off way too much JFDKASLFJDKSLA #but it's a story i like to tell because it reminds me why i do all this to begin with #lore olympus critical #lo critical #anti lore olympus #ama #anon ama #anon ask me anything #ask me anything

[mysteryshoptls]

SSR Ace Trappola - Platinum Jacket Vignette

"Happy 100th Anniversary"

[Land of Dawning – National  Museum of Art]

Ace: Huuuh, so this museum's been open for 100 years, huh. It's got some pretty cool exhibits.

Ace: Tryin' to appreciate art just seems boring, and I totally thought bein' a supporter was not my bag, but I might be able to enjoy myself here after all.

Ace: ―Ooh, found me the painting of some card soldiers! Look at 'em, all cool the way they're standing at attention like that.

???: Mhm, their perfectly aligned call to attention is quite the spectacle.

Ace: Ah, hey, Lilia-senpai. You must have great taste to see the true quality of this painting here! Haha.

Ace: If the rank and file are in disarray, then it doesn't look good at all. They gotta be in perfect formation, especially when marching.

Lilia: That's correct. So, you understand what it means to march as they do… Not bad, kid.

Ace: Not that much. I mean, back in my dorm, we just have certain days that all the students are required to march in formation.

Lilia: Kufufu, I heard that practice for that begins as soon as you enter. I've heard many a classmate complaining about it here and there.

Ace: Yeaaaaah, I can see why they'd want to complain. It's not just the Housewarden; even our usually nice upperclassmen come down on us hard during the training.

Ace: The first time I had to march after joining the dorm was the worst. We definitely looked nothing like the card soldiers in this art piece.

Ace: When we looked at the video that Cater-senpai took for us, we could see that the first years' walking was ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Ace: Every one of 'em couldn't get their arms and legs up and moving properly, and they were all looking down. It was sooo lame. I couldn't even laugh at how bad it was.

Ace: By the by, I got praised pretty much right out the gate ♪ They all said that my spirit fully embodied the heart suit card soldiers.

Ace: It's easy for me to just copy what I see the upperclassmen are doing, or what the video's showing. I don't get why all the rest of them were havin' a bad time.

Lilia: OHO～～～?

Ace: Eh? What's with that grin? You're kinda giving me the creeps all of a sudden.

Lilia: How rude of you to call someone as cute as me creepy! But aren't you actually quite the diligent one.

Ace: DILIGENT!? I don't think that word suits me at all!?

Lilia: Not only did you follow the examples set by your upperclassmen, you also watched went further and watched the videos and practiced on your own… I'm seeing you in a whole new light, Ace.

Ace: Ahh, c'mon. Stop patting my head like that. It's not like I was trying to study for it or anything.

Ace: It woulda been a pain and pretty lame if I had to stay behind to practice. That's why I just wanted to get it done ASAP. That's all!

Lilia: It's nothing worth getting all worked up to deny.

Lilia: I think it's rather commendable that you put in the extra effort in order to seek what you think is "cool."

Ace: I'm not getting worked up…! Wait, I got a feeling that if I keep responding, he'll just keep stringing me along to tease me.

Ace: Uh, I'm gonna go to check out the cool-lookin' painting over there!

Lilia: Hey now, don't leave me behind. Kufufu, this must be that adolescence I've heard much about.

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Lilia: Let me see, what cool painting were you talking about… Oho, it's of the King of Beasts. He looks oh so dignified, I can't help but find it charming.

Ace: Aaand he followed me… But yeah, I definitely agree that's he's pretty dignified.

Lilia: There are many legends swirling around the King of Beasts. Just from looking at this painting, I can't think of which scene they're trying to depict here.

Ace: Uhhh, based on this info they got plastered next to it…

Ace: Looks like… Oh, it's where he was talking about his vision for the country's future with his hyena retainers.

Ace: I actually really like the story of how the King of Beasts would always trust in his hyenas.

Ace: Oh yeah, and that one where he performed songs for his people!

Lilia: Mhm, that's a good one. He is a sophisticated king indeed to utilize singing to vow to improve his country.

Ace: Riiiiight～? Totally get why the hyenas were so excited that they were singing and dancing all through the night.

Ace: The King of Beasts looks pretty unapproachable from just a glance, but he must have had a ton of charisma.

Lilia: Well, he did have the power to move his people's hearts through song. If he had his due, perhaps he would have been able to sway the whole world with his song.

Ace: Totally. If I had lived during the same era, I would have loved to go and karaoke with him.

Lilia: Speaking of karaoke… I heard you and Sebek went for that.

Ace: Ah, did you hear that from Sebek? We went with Deuce and the two from Ramshackle…

Ace: Jack and Epel also tagged along. But maan, it was pretty insane.

Ace: So many of them were new to it, so I had to teach them everything, from how to choose a new song, to ordering food. You'd think they'd have common sense to figure out, but c'mon.

Ace: We literally couldn't sing a single song for the first 30 min or so, I was like, what did we even come here for!?

Lilia: Kufufu, now, now, you can't say that. I'm sure there's things you're not familiar with, too.

Ace: But c'mon～ …Well, I guess it was kinda fun to have a small competition using the karaoke's scoring system.

Lilia: So, you had a karaoke competition! I would love to tag along next time. So, who won?

Ace: Well, that's obvious… IT WAS YA BOY ACE-KUN HERE!

Ace: When I hit 100 points, everyone was lookin' up at me like idiots, all like, "you gotta be kidding!"

Ace: As a bit of a handicap, I chose of the recent viral songs and did the dance that went along with it, too～

Lilia: Oho, that's amazing that you can sing while moving your body without missing a beat.

Ace: I mean, unlike those guys, back in middle school I would go karaoke a lot.

Ace: And all those guys kept shouting that they'd practice singing so they could sing next time, but y'know…

Ace: There's actually a trick to getting the high score on that machine's scoring function. It's not enough to just be a good singer.

Ace: At this rate, I think I'll be taking home the win next time too ♪

Lilia: Kufufu, looks like even the ones who don't get to spend that much time together with you all had some fun, eh?

Ace: Well, I guess it wasn't too bad.

Ace: They'd choose stuff like old songs that were popular during my parent's heyday, or minor folk songs…

Ace: It was kinda neat that I heard a ton of songs that I normally wouldn't listen to. It was completely different to how it'd be if I was with my friends back home.

[Land of Dawning – National Museum of Art]

Ace: This painting is of those eels that served the Sea Witch…

Lilia: Mhm. It's said that whenever they found merfolk in distress, they would encourage them to seek the guidance of the benevolent Sea Witch.

Ace: Huuh, they look kinda scary, but… Guess you can't judge a book by its cover.

Lilia: Speaking of… Ace, I heard you went a little viral on Magicam the other day.

Ace: Geh! So, you saw that post too…

Lilia: Kufufu, I took it all in.

Lilia: "This scary-looking young man in a flashy shirt was kind to a kid in this burger shop," it said.

Lilia: You did a good thing, Mister "Scary-Looking Young Man in a Flashy Shirt."

Ace: C'mon, can you not tease me!?

Ace: The comments section was going wild with stuff like, "I love that personality gap～" and "The scarier the person looks, the softer their heart is."

Ace: I definitely don't like people just deciding that I'm scary just from how I look, or just assuming that I'm nice.

Ace: More like, I think it was 'cause I was with all my basketball teammates that I ended up looking scary too.

Ace: And 'sides, that patterned shirt I was wearing wasn't even something I'd pick out on my own.

Ace: Floyd-senpai made me buy it sometime back, so I thought it'd be bad if I didn't wear it, that's all…

Lilia: Hm, guess it was a mistake of them to comment on your appearance, then. But it was true that you were nice to the kid, right?

Ace: Nope. I just was throwing something I didn't want at 'em!

Lilia: You gave them something you didn't want…? So how does that turn into being "kind" to the kind?

Ace: So, when my clubmates and me went to the burger shop down in town, we got a free card with our orders.

Ace: Something about how they were doing a collaboration campaign with a movie that was recently released.

Ace: I at least knew what the movie was, so I opened it up, but just as I was thinking to myself that I didn't really need a card, or anything…

Ace: This kid who was nearby just randomly started crying. Apparently they wanted a hero card, not a villain card.

Ace: That's why I just gave him the card I had. It just happened to be the one he wanted.

Ace: I was able to get rid of something I didn't want, and I didn't have to listen to the sound of crying in the background. Win-win, right?

Lilia: Well, when you explain it like that, it definitely no longer feels like a heartwarming story.

Ace: Riiight? But then all the folks on Magicam had to go and try to treat me like a nice guy. Everyone's been teasing me about that too…

Ace: In the end, even the Headmage got wind of the video and just wouldn't stop praising me, saying "This is a fantastic thing you've done!"

Ace: Maan, preconception can be a crazy thing. I bet if I was wearing my school uniform, it definitely wouldn't have taken off.

Ace: They say that it's not all about appearance, but I guess that first impression you get is still important.

Lilia: Kufufu, I bet if the parents of that child were to hear your true feelings about it, they'd be shocked.

Lilia: Well then, I think I'll go on to check out the other exhibits. Bye then, Ace.

Ace: Whew, Lilia-senpai just couldn't stop teasing, huh. Wellll, what should I go and look at next…? Hm?

Ace: Woah, it's a painting of a walrus and the oysters. Lookin' at it here, the walrus really looks like a proper gentleman.

Ace: I bet those oysters were also tricked by how the walrus looked. Can't help but feel sorry for them… Heh.

Requested by Anonymous.

#twisted wonderland #twst #ace trappola #lilia vanrouge #twst ace #twst lilia #twst translation #twst birthday #mention: riddle #mention: cater #mention: deuce #mention: jack #mention: floyd #mention: epel #mention: sebek #mention: grim #mention: yuu #mention: crowley

[flightfoot]

If they were always going to end the show like this, and the only reason this isn't *the end* the end is they got more seasons, do you think the writers understand that ending it like that denies closure and isn't really a proper victory? Like, Marinette won the fistfight, but we never doubted she could. But her ideals lost. She's been repeating for seasons that nobody should ever make the wish, that the cost is too great, tells Gabriel specifically that there's no good wish, and he just says "fuck you, yes there is" and makes his wish and everything's chill- meaning Marinette was wrong. I don't know what they want us to take from that.

Yeaaaaah I've gotta admit, I'm not sure why that Wish is supposedly so bad, if you can choose what happens that precisely. Honestly it seems less likely to cause problems than the Rabbit or the Snake, and those are used pretty freely. I mean, I thought it was supposed to literally end the world and create a new one, but from what we saw it doesn't really look like it? Honestly the timeline resets in Chat Blanc and Ephemeral seemed to cause more ethical problems than the Wish does.

#ask #miraculous ladybug

[jungle-angel]

Heyyy I have a request! Rooster and readers son has career day at his school and he wants rooster and pilot!reader to come to his school in there uniform and talk about flying for the navy and he’s like 7 and it’s a bunch of fluff :). I really hope this made sense! Thank you for reading this have a good day!! <3

AAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!! SO CUTE I'M SCREAMING!!!! You got it dude!!!

"I don't think I can do this," Rooster groaned as you two pulled into the parking lot of the school.

"Rooster it'll be ok," you assured him. "It's not like you're speaking at a VA convention."

"Yeah but what if they make fun of us?"

"You think a bunch of second graders are gonna make fun of us?" you chuckled. "They probably won't even know about half the shit we're talking about."

Rooster still wasn't so sure. He felt like a dork being in his flight suit, but he kept telling himself that you and him were doing it for Nicky. Besides, your son hardly ever asked for anything, so why was it such a big deal? Rooster turned the key and shut the truck off as soon as you were parked.

"Alright (y/n)," he said. "Ready?"

"Like I've never been before," you said, smiling at your husband.

The two of you walked down the halls to Nicky's classroom, the both of you surprised at how many parents had shown up for career day. You were even happier to know that in a place like Great Ocean Steiner School, the kids were thriving too with most of them being from Navy and Marine families. One kid in the first grade class walked with his father down the hall, the tall, broad shouldered giant in a set of neat dress blues that made you and Rooster a little bit jealous.

You met Nicky right outside his classroom, the both of you scooping him right up and spinning him around as he giggled. "You ready for Mommy and Daddy to come to class with you?" Rooster asked, hoisting Nicky onto his hip.

"YEAAAAAH!!!!" Nicky shouted excitedly, holding up his little hands to form a pair of little devil horns.

You and Rooster couldn't help but laugh at your son's excitement. All week he had talked endlessly to his teacher and friends at school about his mom and dad and how amazing they were. Even Miss Leslie, his teacher, was excited to meet the two of them.

"You must be Mr. and Mrs. Bradshaw," she remarked happily as she stepped out of the classroom. "Leslie Newman, I'm Nicky's teacher."

You and Rooster gladly introduced yourselves, shaking hands with Nicky's teacher. "Looks like Nicky's all excited for the afternoon," Rooster remarked.

"Oh God, he's talked all week about you two!" Leslie informed them, just as excitedly as Nicky had been. "I was hoping I'd get to meet you both. You know, a few of our teachers here are also former military."

"Really?" Rooster asked her.

"Oh yes, one of our high school teachers," Miss Leslie explained. "He was a Marine, our soccer coach I believe was an Air Force officer and I believe our baseball coach was an Army Ranger."

"Holy crow," Rooster chuckled.

"Here, come on in," Miss Leslie said to the both of you. "We're about to start.

Each of the kids in the class introduced their parents, letting them talk about their careers. Some were doctors, others worked in construction while a few worked the blue collar trades. When it was time for you and Rooster to go up, you were both nervous and excited all at once.

The kids asked all manner of questions. Did you fly planes? Yes. Did you fix planes? Sort of. One little redheaded girl in the front row raised her hand.

"Did you ever shoot any bad guys?" she asked.

You and Rooster looked at each other with a smile on your faces. "Well, we did once," Rooster told her.

The kids were wide eyed with awe when you and Rooster told them the entire story of the Uranium Plant Mission. None of them could believe it. A few of them even blurted out that they wanted to be pilots too, even Nicky who proudly proclaimed that he had the best Mommy and Daddy in the world. You and Rooster were secretly high-fiving, the nerves gone and proud that you had both come to career day.

#top gun maverick #bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster x reader #tgm #top gun au #it's too cute for its own good

[kattythingz]

YJ x FMA Pt. 3

Yeaaaaah, I couldn't resist.

I've already made my bed with this one, man. I might as well commit to the bit lmao. This au has been incredibly self-indulgent so far and I'm honestly digging it.

New folks, the main gist of the au is explained in part 1, so direct all your confusion there first :P

🧡 Pt. 1 💛 Pt. 2 🤍

“Holy fucking shit! Are you serious?!”

Ling could hardly contain his grin when Ed exclaimed in what could only be described as sheer scientific euphoria. Kaldur and Artemis let out similar snorts of amusement behind Ling and M’gann outright giggled as Ed ran up to Ship, the previous rush of getting to their escape point completely forgotten in favor of gawking starry-eyed at the majestic aircraft. His arms hovered back-and-forth with a familiar excitement to reach out and touch, before he inevitably caved.

“Holy shit,” Ed repeated, reverent as he brushed a hand over Ship’s indulgent surface. “I knew it. I’m dreaming. I got shocked one too many times and I passed out—”

Ling really couldn’t help the overflowing bubbling of laughter from his chest. It caught Ed’s shining gaze as he pivoted with one hand kept on Ship, the other flinging to jab at Ling. “Tell me I’m dreaming, Ling! Tell me right now!”

“Dude, how old are you again?” Wally chortled, though not cruelly, Ling noted with approval. He would’ve had words to emphasize with his sword if any one of his friends demeaned Ed’s bliss. “It’s like you’ve never seen an airship before. Ship’s pretty plain-looking as far as those go, you know—”

Ship made a beeping noise of protest, and Ed yelped, turning like he could pinpoint the source. Which, now that Ling thought about it—

“Hold on,” Ed said, lightning-struck, and touched his second hand to Ship again. “Hold on. Is this thing—?”

“Alive?” Ling said amusedly, and Ed whirled on him. “I believe ‘sentient’ is the more accurate term M’gann used, but—”

“Shut up!” Ed beamed, and Great Dragon on Ling’s heart—

He’d missed this sight something awful.

The rest of the team were clearly just as endeared. Especially M’gann, as she beamed right back, saying, “Thank you! Ship says she likes you too.”

“‘Ship’?” Ed said. He startled when Ship opened her hatch suddenly. Gently, though Ed didn’t know it. Ling read the moment for him and set a prompting hand on the small of Ed’s back with a tilt of his head, and Ed didn’t waste a second. He climbed slowly up the ramp, like he thought his footsteps could hurt Ship.

The team took their seats easily except for M’gann, who spun in the air to smile at Ed and say, “This is Ship! She’s a friend, even though she might not look it immediately. She’s just as much a member of this team as all of us. Isn’t that right, girl?”

Lights flickered along the side in eager answer, and Ed tracked the reaction greedily. Ling could already see the cogs turning behind those eyes, and the sight warmed his heart beyond comprehension.

“Here,” Ling laughed, pulling Ed back down to Earth and coaxing him by the hand to a vacant corner with two seats, no doubt provided by Ship’s thoughtfulness. Ed followed his second cue to sit, eyes still high above the ground as he took in the finer mechanics.

“Alright,” M’gann announced with noticeable cheer, finally at her seat at the helm. “Everyone strapped in? Sorry, Ed, this might feel a little weird at first.”

“Wha—?”

Ed cut off when Ship began lifting. He let out a yelp when the distance really grew, wobbling on instinct and hands shooting to grip the seat arms.

Ling remembered how strange the first fly had been on him too. He set an anchoring hand over Ed’s, catching the slightest fear in those eyes and smiling.

“Relax,” Ling told him quietly, to avoid embarrassing Ed with a spectacle. Judging by Ed’s rapid glance in his direction, the gesture was appreciated. “Your ears might ‘pop’ in a second from the air pressure, and it’ll feel uncomfortable for a while after, but you’re otherwise fine.”

“Did someone else tell you that?” Ed said between a grimace. His hands kept taut for a moment as Ship caught a steady pace, before he relaxed under Ling’s hand.

He let out an exhale, casting Ling a smile that time. “That sounds like the sort of talk you’d ask me to repeat ten thousand times for you instead.”

“Rude!” Ling gasped—to no avail. He’d smiled too wide again. “I learned a few things while you were gone, you know. A year’s a long time.”

Ed’s eyes sparkled in the literal changed atmosphere between them now. “Really? Then how’d you end up here immediately?”

“I had a moment of regression. You know how I get when I’m hungry.”

Ling was rewarded with a brilliant laugh for that. 

He completely understood when the sound drew several eyes back to them as well, and there was a pause as the team considered the two of them.

Artemis eventually broke the silence.

“So,” she started with an imperceptible smirk, crossing her legs and leaning back in her seat. “Ling’s infamous fiance.”

“Unfortunately,” Ed said.

The easy humor shifted something in the atmosphere, and faster than anyone could grin, Wally blurted, “Dude, what was that you did with the walls? I’ve never seen any earth powers that spontaneous before!”

“Yeah! What kind of power was that?” Robin leaned forward—sounding like his age, to Ling’s relief. Though Robin was undoubtedly much younger than Ling, he so often behaved like, well… Ed and Ling, back in their own teenagehood. This was a nice change. This was good. “You covered all that mass in, like, one motion. And you knew exactly where it would stop.”

Perhaps it was the nerves from being mass-stared at from all corners, but Ed flushed at the admiration. “Oh, well…” He cleared his throat. “That was pretty basic from me, really. I’d usually go for something louder, but I wasn’t sure entirely what was under the walls… It was better safe than sorry in the moment.”

“You couldn’t tell from a touch?” Ling furrowed his brow.

“Not completely.” Ed shook his head. “I had an innate understanding, but I couldn’t put a name to… a lot of the things.” He cast Ship a grimacing onceover. “But I guess I’ll have to get used to that.”

“So that is part of your power?” Kaldur asked, because, naturally, he couldn’t resist his curiosity either. Though his was more tempered. “You understand the components of the earth, and mold it?”

Ed blinked at the astute observation.

“That’s… exactly it, actually,” he said slowly. “I’m surprised you got it in one go…”

“Well,” Ling said, never one to miss a chance with a sly grin, “he is the esteemed leader around here.”

Ever since Ling had learned the team’s average age, he’d made it his life mission, while he was here, to soften them all to act their ages more often. Kaldur, in particular, was a tougher target on par with Artemis, but he, too, had a weakness. Recognizing his competence, for one. Recognizing his competence as leader, for two.

Ed clocked that in an instant, bless his perceptiveness, and he nodded easily. “Yeah, makes sense.”

Kaldur wavered. “You—can tell such a thing?”

“Sure. You’ve got the eye and attitude for it. And you sound a lot like a certain someone.” Ed cast Ling a sideways glance, and Ling pulled his most gracious face. Ed rolled his eyes back to Kaldur. “Next thing you’re gonna tell me, you’re a prince too.”

Wally immediately burst out laughing. “You got it in one! No way!”

“Well, not exactly on the nose,” Robin hummed. “But definitely close enough.”

Kaldur was far too well-mannered to gape, but he most certainly stared at Ed. “How—?”

“Like I said,” Ed snorted, but his grin was genuine as gold, “it’s obvious.”

Kaldur ducked his head, hiding that successful blush under a hand rubbing his neck. “That praise might be undue for the time being. I have only been in this position for a few months. But… thank you.”

And that, too, was a sight Ling had missed. The way Ed positively melted at the image of these kids, walking in shoes too big for their feet but filling the mold so well, for better and for worse. 

Ling had a great feeling about this world, suddenly.

#if you noticed superboy has been silent for the scene that was intentional #I have a separate scene in mind for when he and Ed specifically bond #fuck this au is getting fun #fma #young justice #edling #edward elric #ling yao #yj robin #yj kaldur #yj miss martian #yj kid flash #yj x fma #crossover #fanfiction

[cyborg-franky]

Hi Franky dear, good morning and good Halloween month to both you and Dusk!!

This is such an awesome and fun idea!!

Halloween is not a big thing where I live, but online I always see so many people or couples dressed up in cute or silly ways and I like it so much!

So may I ask for either Ace as Jack Skellington or Sabo as the Joker for prompt 3 or 1 please, and thank you both so much ❤️

Yeaaaaah I really wish Halloween was bigger where I was too as I love it all. And Happy Halloween <3<3 ilu.

As always art by my beloved @dusk-bun

Ace x GN Reader SFW Modern AU Prompt: Going in matching costumes to a party Word Count: 473

“I still think you should have let me wear my other costume.” Ace said with a sigh as he let you adjust his makeup again. “Ace, my love, my darling, the light of my life, you looked like a stripper.” You said and watched him wrinkle his nose in response.

“I looked good and I guarantee I wouldn’t have been the only one at the party to have my tits out.” Another sigh from Ace as you brushed back some of his hair and smoothed down his jacket, adjusting it.

“You look good in anything you wear; and this way I can match with you.” You added and saw how his expression softened, a little mumble under his breath at the compliment you’d given him, not so huffy at the loss of his werewolf costume now as you offered him your hand which he took.

You knocked on the door and gave him a smile. “Alright then, let's have a good night, try not to get too drunk.” You said and saw the smirk on his face, the mischievous glimmer in his eyes as the door opened and you were both greeted inside.

–

Everyone thought your matching costumes were cute, friends complimented you both as you walked through the house, and the place had been decorated to perfection, then again you hadn't expected any less from people like Izou and Thatch.

“See, everyone likes the costume.” You watched him start to eat food, he’d piled up a massive plate from the buffet and was happily scoffing it, at least holding it out for you to take a handful of chips from the precariously arranged stack.

He nodded as he munched his food, swallowing his mouthful and kissing your forehead. “Yeah, yeah, we look great, I know.” He said with a chuckle and set down the empty plate as he pulled you against him into a hug, you sighed as you melted into Ace’s embrace, feeling arms holding you gently. “I’m having a great time, I love you, babe,” 

“I love you too Ace, now come on, I think Marco said something about party games, I know how much you like to do dumb stuff…” You offered him, seeing the smirk on his freckled face as you parted, Ace taking you by the hand and pulling you along with him.

–

Games were played, photos taken (someone got a lovely candid photo of you and Ace cuddling in the middle of the room) had a laugh with all your friends, Ace was a little tipsy and challenging Marco to various dumb card games that you were sure he was cheating at.

A perfect Halloween with your friends and boyfriend you concluded. Even if you had to promise to let him wear his werewolf outfit next year and you’d even agreed to find something to match.

#portgas d ace x reader #ace op x reader #portgas d ace #portugas d ace #portugas d ace x reader #ace x you #ace x reader #ace x y/n #ace x yn #op ace x you #op ace x reader #one piece x reader #one piece x you #sfw #gender nuetral reader #halloween #one piece reader #one piece imagines #op x reader #one piece x yn #one piece x y/n

[bougiebutchbitch]

I am genuinely so sorry for the Izzy betrayal

This feels like a betrayal between writers and audience on the level of supernatural tbh

(Even the naruto ending feels better if the posts I'm seeing are to be believed)

yeah it's really.... not great

Like the reason we were all like 'I bet he's going to die' is because WHENEVER a character has a cool redemption arc OR a queer character comes out and experiences genuine queer joy for the first time in their life, their chances of dying go up by 90+%. But it was such a disappointment to be proven right. I think we all expected better of the writing team, as they've committed to doing genuinely new and interesting things with this story in the past, rather than just trotting out tired old tropes!

People say they want more Zuko-esque redemption arcs, but we can't have that if every character who was A Bit Of A Dick at first just gets killed off. And just the whole arc of Izzy finding a family in the crew, and healing after being abused awfully for ages, and finding happiness, and openly embracing his queerness and disability.... then just randomly getting shot by a dude? Not even as a dramatic 'protecting someone' sacrifice? He just randomly got shot?? And we're all supposed to feel sad about that rather than just kinda let down?

Yeaaaaah, I do not think they achieved what they were going for. I understand that a lot of that was because they had to shorten the series SO MUCH more than they wanted, but still.... it would have cost nothing to let Izzy just sail away with the rest of the crew as the Captain of the Revenge, which is what it felt like they might be building towards all season, while Ed and Stede retired!! Hell, that would've been a more meaningful progression for all of their characters.

We could still have had the scene where Izzy tells Ed he has family and that he's loved! We could've had a fake-out death where we had all the drama and expectation that he would die! Then in the last scene he comes out as the new captain to officiate Lucius and Pete's wedding! We'd have Ed and Stede letting go of Blackbeard for good and building something new together on land - but we'd also have Izzy finally moving beyond the 'Blackbeard' persona he helped Ed create (and, arguably, did more for than Ed!). He'd be a captain who actually gives a shit about his crew, and who has learnt from Stede and Ed the importance of being a bit softer and gentler rather than brutally efficient 24/7. And he could inevitably drag Stede and Ed back in next season! It would've been perfect.

But no, they had to kill him off because the OT3 potential was too strong, and bury a career pirate on land. Meh.

I'm tempted to watch the next season, if there is one, just for Olu/Jim/Archie/Zheng, but I can't say I care that much about the writing anymore. I won't be crying if the show does stop here, but I will be crying over everything that could have been!

[hotwaterandmilk]

The 3rd and final 3D Virtual Live just finished streaming and yay, we got to hear the final new track from Zombie Land Saga FranChouChou The Best Revenge, which releases on September the 28th! Hosting this week were No. 5 and No. 6 along with No. 0 because she’s legendary.

There was a lot of cute banter including mentions of doing radio calisthenics, the girls going fishing, No. 6 making ink illustrations of the fish that were caught, and after the final song the rest of the group dropped by (via wire, which No. 4 did not enjoy) to announce that Franchouchou will be doing a proper on-stage live next month (23rd of October) at Makuhari Messe (and yes, it will be streamed as well). The live will combine 3D animation with the real Franchouchou’s performance, which sounds cool!

I’m pretty exhausted so I won’t go into too much detail. Songs this live were Mezame Returner, Oikaze Travelers, and the new song, We Are Fran Chou Chou!

“We Are Fran Chou Chou!” ups what we had last month with Ai penning the lyrics to “Beginning” by having the girls introduce one another with lyrics they’d penned and music they seem to have directed (it’ll be interesting to see Tatsumi’s score for this song). So No. 6 opens by singing about No. 1, No. 1 follows by singing about No. 2, etc. No. 0′s part (which features a very “We Will Rock You” beat , A+) featured a nice little dance from everyone’s legendary fave.

Apparently No. 5 wrote about 70 pages re: No. 6 and even though they weren’t exactly great for lyrics, No.6 treasures them. They have such an adorable sisterly relationship ;o;

No 6. also makes mention of their producer secretly filming them and saying, “This is what you’re like right now, keep it up” but also telling them to shut up which is... yeah, that’s him. 

I’ll sidetrack a little here but as we saw in the 2nd season, the girls are absolutely preparing for a life without Tatsumi whether they realise it or not.  Ai writing “Beginning” for last month was a big flag, but now “We Are FranChouChou” that they all collaborated on? The songs were about the only thing they weren’t doing themselves by the end of s2 (makeup being mediocre aside)... and the whole thing about him filming them... yeaaaaah.

I’ll be interested to see if we get more movie info at the live next month, anyway. These streaming virtual lives weren’t the best things ever but they were cute, fun ways to see the characters and hear the music again so I enjoyed them quite a bit. I can’t wait to get my copy of the album so I can listen to “Beginning” on repeat!

(I smiled when I saw Oobari Masami tweeting about his love for the series. He should definitely go to Saga!)

#zombie land saga #zombieland saga #zls #rambling #ramblings #zombie land saga spoilers #zombieland saga spoilers #oh yeah and the alluding to the first op sequence again with the sentai stuff at the end of this live was interesting #but i was still kind of processing the whole 'being secretly filmed' thing #and just how freakin adorable lily and yugiri were #yugiri stayed up all night writing about lilyyyyyy #and lily being like it's soooo important to me #;o; #nothing but love #also tae just being tae #always good #it was also amazing hearing them all sing in each other's styles #such a treat #anyway back to focusing on not being able to stand upright because i'm in so much pain :)

[quetzalpapalotl]

Tf eu #5 rambles under the cut

Obviously, the most important thing is that MY WIFE IS HEEEERE YEAAAAAH. Love how they lettered her name here omg

She's wonderful!!!! Her bait and switch intro was funny (but please don't actually corner The Girl One into a love interest) and her stunt saving Carly was so cool, I'm glad we're establishing her right. I wish she didn't look so much Like That, but at least DWJ is as willing to deform her for action as anyone else. Her buccal fat removal look makes her look like a skull, which would be cool if it were on puporse, but it's not so. I like the shade they picked for her, is more of a lilac but it looks pink with the rest of the color palette and meshes well with the setting.

This series is really good at the appel to the inner child thing, because I'm like genuinely excited to see the Autobots have the advantage for once!! But ofc, they can't really because the arc ends next issue and they're not gonna have a decisive win until that.

Tho, Optimus and Cliffjumper are carrying the Autobots in regards to being the heroes we root for. I mean, Arcee and Jazz are very cool and that has their appeal, but I do wish once things have settled and they can interact in more situations that aren't just life and death, because so far I feel like we only get a good grasp of who Optimus and Cliffjumper are as individuals, their personalities. I want to see what makes each Autobot unique.

Speaking of, still absolutely eating the Carly and CJ dynamic. She is great and when she said that what does if matter if she's at risk when her family is dead and Spike is in a coma, that reallly got to me. It's unwise, but Cliffjumper relating to her and bringing her to give her a sense of closure it's really good. I think that this kind of bringing the kid character into danger would be because Carly sneaked her way, or because Cliffjumper would disregard orders for the hell of it. But like this feeeling of "I know how she feels and I would want come in her place too" works really well.

Also, I care about Sparky now, lol. Not that at hated him before. I'm not a fan of the first page, as cool at it look, because comparing OP to the US military like the later are the good guy is mmmm... but I'm loving his rapport with Optimus. And also there's how he looks when he's told the generator will give them a decade of power. It's not like "amazing tech woaaah!" It's softer like... this isn't an affluent town, these are people who are used to struggle and they just lost their power source. Ten years of power like that is a godsend that he can hardly believe that will do the whole town a lot of good and he cares about that. Maybe I'm reading too much into it but you know.

And ooooh dear, I was already unwell over Optimus getting his Megatron's canon arm grafted, but I understimated what seein him actually shoot the canon would do to me. I need... several moments.... the fight scenes are pretty gone but this one was particulary brutal. Optimus is really fearsome. And given how he has been so carefully characterized as this bleeding heart figure, seeing him decimating his enemies so efficient is quite something. And by something I mean gap moe. We love to see it.

RIP Reflector, your camera jokes will be missed, but that sequence was amazing lmao

Love seeing Optimus hit Starscream where it hurts. But OP saying that last time Starscream was cowering from Megatron's canon brings a lot of questions about the sequence of events in the Ark (which we'll get to see in teh special it seems). And I've been wondering if Starscream had something to do with Megatron falling or dissapearing or whatever, this does make it seem more like it and well, if that's the case I wonder how the rest of the Cons will react.

Man, the Autobots really shined this time and I already forgot what I was thinking about the Decepticons!! But hey!!! Thundercracker is here!!!!!!!! My guy!!! Given that his characterization as per toy bio is the guy that's not so sure about the cause, I wonder how he'll take it when he find out what really happened to Skywarp.

Also, are the Constructicons newly made??

Anyway, good stuff.

#quetzal rambles tf

[daniels-rwby-blog]

RWBY V9E7 Reaction

Chapter 7

Content warning baby!!

The perils of paper houses.

Alright well that's a title for sure.

Still haven't skipped an intro, Casey is doing amazing this volume.

And an origami bird, cute

Seriously? They have them kiss last episode just to have a rough breakup this episode? Are you kidding me? Lazy, lazy writing.

.

April Fools, now back to the ep

Yang is a cannon snorer

Adorable.

Ruby starting the PTSD strong

What he late for?

He lives in a paper town, that's amazing

JAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZ, god i need this soundtrack so much

paper pleasers

Wow, the subtlety is out.

Jaune went crazy, confirmed.

The idea of him talking to team RWBY dolls for years is hilarious.

This is crazy, you're crazy.

They all think you're crazy.

NEPTUNE CALL BACK YOOO

Little is sooo cute with that face full of food.

Weiss forever the pessimist.

Exposition paper is exposition.

Everyone is so fluid at the little cafe, the animation is great this volume.

Once again the tree is referred to as a character and a person not a tree.

Ohhh nothing you say? I Think Not.

And yeah jaune has definitely gone nuts, his outburst confirms that.

And neo attacks, and i feel like something was cut there from what Wiess said but oh well, fight scene is awesome.

That knight and knight action, the bee tag team, the punch cut *chef's kiss*

Wiess getting launched wow.

And then the problem.

That clock of crescent rose was so juxtaposed I love it.

NEOOOOO!!!!

Finger guns yeeeeaaaaahhhh

well power upgrade confirmed.

But that fight was great, my favorite this season. Every beat was matched, each character got enough time, we saw some crazy combos, and Wiess got yeeted like team rocket. Not having ruby in the action leaves a lot of room for other stuff, kinda like it from a visual standpoint.

So ruby's PTSD: yeah that's a thing. And 

And jaunes scream and ensuing breakdown. 

Ruby's losing it yeaaaaah.

This outburst into everyone's faces, i think we're seeing what should have happened in apathy way back in V6. But it's a little strange ruby's just been playing off the bees, after her comment earlier. But then jaunes Talkback, like he's not wrong and i think it's okay he's treating her on more his level, like he's obviously way older than them now, but he's not matured at all, he still sees them as his equals deep down, and he still goes for her, even if he does apologize afterwords.

But let's break that down; Lindsay did a great job btw.

So she goes straight to Wiess, with Jaune and home, then the bees, and the rebuttal from jaunes the height difference the framing of the tears.

Ruby yooooo. 

The shut up, the deeper voice,

The look on everyone's face, blakes ears God it's a good scene. 

And then she flipping flies out.

And the sinking paper in the background.

The concept art for this one looks amazing, this was a really cool location and as much as the paper pleasers were short lived, they funny enough filled Their place in the exposition, and the integration of tales of ever-after stuff Is welcomed. 

alright, I've got a theory cooking so stay tuned for that, guys this is a lore dump ep so it's gonna be a long one.

EDIT: I JUST LOOKED UP THE CREDIT FOR THE PURPLE ONE AND IT'S FUCKING CIEL'S VA?!?!?!??? GET THE CAT ON THE PHONE SHE CAME BACK IN A NOTABLE WAY OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

#team rwby #rwby #reactions #yang protected blake when ruby started on them aghaghagah its so cute #yin yang of nevermore #spoilers #v9c7 #rwby spoilers #rwby liveblog

[useless-bi-otch]

Cookies'n Cream - Chapter 22

Last chapter / MasterList / art by @aneenasevla

Chapter 22 - Maximum’s Song

TIMELINE: This chapter takes place at the same time as Heavy Bakery’s Chapter 28, under a different POV. You can read it here

“WE DID IT, FAMILY!!”

Kanami's triumphant shout echoed through the kitchens, accompanied by the sounds of beer cans and juice glasses clashing in midair and the loud celebrations of all the Heavy Bakery employees, who were as ecstatic as she was.

"CHEEERS!"

They all drink together, Tomori, Hiro and Paikon with their beers, Kanami and Tomoyo with their juice. But with or without alcohol, the drinks tasted just like victory.

When Kanami appeared at the bakery at the beginning of the day, her face lit up in exuberant happiness, the employees already imagined that she had good news, and with luck, it would be the one they had been waiting for. But their expectations were exceeded, because no one there had expected that she had not only already found the ideal site, but was already able to acquire it with the least possible bureaucracy involved!

That was her oldest dream, and Tomori couldn't be happier for her friend, and for all of them. That was a new beginning for the Heavy Bakery, and after so much effort and suffering (especially on the boss' part), the feeling was of pure worthiness.

“How awesome, Kanaaaaaaa!” Tomori smiles a lot. “I was really running out of hope, that was a miracle!”

“Yes, even I was hunting,” Tomoyo nods. “Looking for a good site is really hard…”

"Yes, but my other friends managed to…," Kanami seemed about to cry, her eyes undulating. "I… I really…"

“You have a hot back now, right girl? It's really cool, you're wonderful,” Hiro hugs her, caressing her hair to comfort her. “We'll be able to grow and make that bakery-restaurant you wanted so much… and we wanted that too, we want to grow with you!”

"It will be a very good thing for all of us," Paikon nods, a little too enthusiastically; he'd already had more cans of beer than Tomori and Hiro put together. "Growing on the job is great, but the job growing with you is even better."

"Yeah!," Kanami sniffs, accepting Hiro's caresses while trying to hold back her tears. "The land has finally been acquired, and we can build in it now… we'll have to organize the plan, the space, which will be even bigger… there's the possibility that we'll have to hire more people…"

"But that's what we wanted to do from the beginning," Tomori nods. "I already have a list of what to ask for future candidates, I've been doing this since that time you were out of the bakery for a while…"

"Yes… but… what matters now… is that, as I promised, everyone will be on paid vacation during this construction period!"

"YEAAAAAH!!!," If that wasn't another wonderful news, none of them knew what else could be. Even Paikon joins the chorus of happy screams, while Hiro bounced around as if he had springs in his feet.

"My dream came true!," he shouts, scandalous as always. "Long live Kanami's hot back!"

"Hurray!," Paikon and Tomoyo shout together.

Kana shakes her head in affectionate exasperation. "Oh, you…"

Tomori could only laugh, still celebrating as she hugged Tomoyo tightly, making the girl gasp. She was over the moon with Kanami's achievements and excited for the future of the bakery, but a whole month of vacation was the icing that was missing for that delicious cake to be perfect.

Laughing to herself, Tomori was already pulling her phone out of her purse, wanting to send a message to Okubo, when the loud knocking sound on the bakery's front door interrupted their celebration. They all turn to the pantry window in surprise.

"Hey, the bakery is closed at this hour," Kanami comments, wondering, while getting up and leaving the kitchens towards the counter. Tomori, Hiro, Paikon and Tomoyo exchange puzzled glances, the three youngest employees immediately going to peek into the table area through the pantry window.

From that distance, they could only see Kanami's back, a little tense as she hurried to peer out onto the street. And that's when they hear her gasp.

"What the… Ohma? What are you doing…?"

"Yo."

They all widen their eyes when they hear the voice of Seaweed Head, who had become the bakery's number one customer.

"Ohma?," Tomori frowns, speaking low. "It's not possible that he already found out, is it…?"

Kanami opens the door, staring at whatever was on the other side in a silence that they understood to be stunned. And soon they hear Ohma's voice again.

"I think the news got out."

And soon other voices joined his, and Tomori's eyes widened even more as she recognized some of them.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself…"

"Me neither, I was too happy when I found out that they had closed the deal… and the meeting went well like that…"

"Frankly, you can't keep your mouth shut… but yeah, we're all happy."

"What's up? Are you going to invite us in, Kanami?"

"Mr. Seki?!," Tomori screeches, and Hiro and Tomoyo have to catch her as she leans too far over the edge of the pantry window and almost falls, as more voices follow Sekibayashi's.

"Yeah, we brought drinks!"

"And food too!"

"We even have things to do, if you let us. This is going to be a hell of a party, man, there will even be a barbecue!"

"Good lord, did they bring a complete party kit? With cakes and all?," Hiro's eyes widened while he and Tomoyo helped a very flustered Tomori to straighten up. She spits some hair out of her mouth, her eyes still popping.

"That's Rihito's voice! So that means...!"

"Oh… my god, guys…," Kanami's voice sounded quivery, almost emotional, as she took a deep breath, her back now a little shaky. "I… okay, you morons! Come all in!"

A collective roar followed outside, and that would have been frightening if not for the current circumstances. Kanami opens the door and steps aside, and then a veritable battalion of people enters the bakery, mostly huge, muscular men. But they were still all familiar faces.

Ohma is accompanied by an older man whom Tomori immediately recognized as the man who had called for an ambulance when Ohma and the four idiots saved her from that bunch of troublemakers (Mr. Yamashita, isn't it?) and a woman with blond hair tied back in a ponytail and looking very professional, with those formal clothes and glasses that immediately made her conclude that it must be Mr. Yamashita's secretary.

Further back came the group that almost made her freak out with joy: Sekibayashi Jun, accompanied by Haruo, Jose and all the other SJPW-affiliated wrestlers, carrying various bags and gadgets that she recognized as being suitable for barbecue. Koga and Ryuki were with them as well, the former a little embarrassed, but still smiling, and the later looking a little distant, but still calm. And the third group that entered right after...

She probably would have fallen over the edge of the pantry window this time if she'd still been leaning over it. There came Okubo, Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda, very excited and carrying not apparatus worthy of a steakhouse, but musical instruments. Okubo breaks into a luminous smile when he sees her through the window, waving his free arm as he holds the case of one bass guitar in the hand of the other.

"Hey, Tomori! We didn't have time to bring food too, but hey, we didn't come empty-handed!"

"You...!," She couldn't even formulate a sentence in that first moment of astonishment, leaving the kitchens with Hiro, Tomoyo and Paikon to join the newcomers. "But how did you…?"

"Apparently the Goku wannabe here spilled all the beans," Kanami sighs, indicating Koga with a gesture of the head, to which the boy shrinks a little.

"My bad! But seriously, sis, don't you think a feat like that deserves to be celebrated? Everyone here was so happy for you and wanted to congratulate you in person!"

“More of an excuse to party,” Ohma comments, to which Kazuo arches an eyebrow at him.

"And you disapprove of that, Ohma?"

"On the contrary. They brought meat. There's nothing to disapprove of."

"Oh, good, I was starting to wonder if you were another clone," Kazuo jokes, patting Ryuki lightly on the shoulder, who rolls his eyes.

"Yes, Ryuki… I still couldn't thank you enough," Kanami says, and pulls him closer, pointing to him while saying," "Guys, look, he was the one who found the site! He deserves an extra glass of milkshake..."

"Whoa, there's a milkshake too?!," Ohma exclaims and widens his eyes, very interested, and several others follow suit.

"Nice, will there be a milkshake too?"

"Milkshake for everybody, guys!!"

"No, wait… it wasn't…," Kanami tried to say, but Ohma, Ryuki and about five other fighters went to the counter area, Ryuki pushing the others away, so as not to break the machine. This made the bakery owner sigh in exasperation, scratching the back of her neck. "Yeah, I said that… eh, I’m glad we’ll be closed tomorrow…"

“Life's inevitabilities, Kana, honey! Relax, I'll keep an eye on the bad boys to make sure they don't turn the kitchen upside down," Hiro assures, his smile almost predatory as he goes to join Ryuki in the task of keeping all those mastodons under control. "Oh, the sacrifices I make for this establishment... thankfully, for all those beautiful people, it's worth the effort..."

“And I'll get the bucket and mop. There's still no mess, but with this bunch, it's just a matter of time," Paikon sighs, but he doesn't seem to sound exactly angry. Kazuo gives a humorless laugh as the janitor walks away.

"Ahaha, S-sorry about that! I- I swear we'll cover the cost of any damages..."

"For any damage caused by ours specifically, please," The secretary adds, adjusting her glasses with a serious expression. "And nothing more. We should not be fully responsible for the excesses of these grown men..."

“H-Hey, Kaede, that doesn't include me, does it? I don't want anything deducted from my salary, I don't have money to pay for machinery repairs...!," Koga says quickly, alarmed, to which Kanami shakes her head, Tomori laughs out loud and Tomoyo rolls her eyes.

"It'll come out of the payment I give you for helping at the bakery, dumbass,"  Kanami points to him, making the others laugh at him.

"It's true, you're working as a helper at the bakery," Himuro comments, smiling. "In that case, it's better to set an example and go help your co-workers, don't you think? I want a chocolate milkshake."

"Me too! And put some of those sissy sprinkles on mine while you're at it, today I'm in need of some extravagances," Rihito laughs, and Koga gives them the middle finger, furious.

"Don't go thinking I came to work as a waiter, you assholes! I won't serve you!"

"We are the musicians, the souls of the party, kid! If you want some cool ambient music, you'll have to pay for it somehow," Okubo says, to which Koga snorts.

"Don't wanna! Your band ain't all that shit, anyway..."

"Say that again, motherfucker!," The three of them shout at the same time, while Kaneda just laughs softly.

"Just stick to the milkshakes while we're playing, it never sounds the same after you drink."

Koga turned red.

"So I'm going to be indebted forever...," he mutters a little loudly.

"Huh? What's that? Are you saying that I don't pay you well enough?!," she exclaims, going after him, and the boy jumps over the counter running to the kitchen. "Come back here!"

"Hey, Koga, now that you're going to the kitchens, bring me some water, please!," Kaneda exclaims to him while Okubo, Rihito and Himuro just laughed. "The drummer is the one musician who tends to sweat the most, you know…"

"Hell no! None of you have broke arms or anything!"

"I also want a chocolate milkshake, Ryuki," Ohma says. "Put everything I'm entitled to."

"Which means, nothing," Ryuki grunts.

"Damn kid, what did I do?," Ohma laughs.

'He's kidding," Koga comes back with a water bottle. "He's just too serious."

"I'm not,"

"Hey, Mr. Kaneda, there you go!," Koga throws the bottle to the drummer.

"Thank you!," Kaneda quickly picks up the bottle. "Now I'm ready to play!,"

"Kaneda gets his order, but we don't? I smell favoritism," Okubo grumbles, to which Rihito and Himuro nod while huffing. Kaneda laughs, opening the bottle.

"Try not to act like self centered rockstars, for starters. People tend to like you better that way."

"Oh, but then you are demanding a lot from us! Especially now, when we're going to play for potential fans," Okubo smiles at Tomori, who vibrates with excitement as she understands.

"You mean I'll finally be able to hear a Maximum the Dogegencho concert?!"

"And in a privileged seat, if it's up to me!," Okubo declares, his chest swelling with a very particular pride, while the other three idiots watched him with an air of laughter. "Such an event deserves a celebration on pair with it, right, guys?"

"Yeah! And guess what, Miss Uta!," Rihito leans towards the sous chef, opening an insinuating smile. "The idea of ​​us doing a private show was all Okubo's."

"Yep! It was the first thing he thought of, after Koga had sent us that message," Kaneda nods, joining in.

"Yes! He said, verbatim, 'Tomori already wanted a live performance from us, why not take the opportunity?'," Himuro tells her, and Okubo blushes a little, snorting.

"You...! Yes, I thought of her! So what? Are you going to sue me for that?," He crosses his arms, a little sullen, to which the others laugh. Tomori can only blush too, her chest warm with joy.

"Was I the first person you thought of? That's so sweet of you, Naoya..."

And they all saw, as if by magic, the irritation in Okubo's expression evaporate and be replaced by stupid, open happiness. He scratches the back of his head.

"Ahaha, a- and who else would I think of? I mean, the owner is Miss Kanami, so technically that's who we should be playing for, right? But you were the first person who was really interested in listening to us, so... I...," He stops, looking to the side. And then he grunts, putting a hand over his face. "Rihito."

"What is it, man?"

"Tell me to shut up."

"Alright. Shut up, Okubo."

Tomori couldn't say why, but that made her laugh out loud again.

"So I'm to understand that the only sounds you're going to produce today will be from your bass, right?"

“I was told to shut up, miss, I'm sorry. Come talk to me when I'm feeling less stupid."

"Which means, never," Ohma grunts.

"And he says I'm the one who's mean!," Ryuki complains.

"He's my friend and he has the right to, you attacked me gratuitously."

"Cut it out, you two, you sound like siblings bickering," Kanami laughs while helping the others to set the barbecue kit up in the kitchen. "Yes, you can use the hamburger griddle, it's better than that barbecue there…"

"All right, boss!," Koga exclaims.

"Yes, let’s barbecue! And I'd be telling you to shut up too if you hadn't already told me to shut up first!," Okubo growls at Ohma and Ryuki, which only makes Tomori laugh even more. Laughter was coming so easily to her that night, and it had barely started!

"Seriously, we are very grateful! Kanny, Hiro, Paikon, Tomoyo... and me, of course," She tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "Will I be able to hear some of the classics that were played that day you drove me home?"

"Of course! Unhappy Lullaby is practically our flagship!," Rihito exclaims excitedly, to which Kazuo, further back, makes a face.

"I still think that's a terrible song name..."

"And then, we're going to rock with Are You Happy," Himuro promises, and it's Ohma's turn to make a face.

"No! I couldn't get this shit outta my head the first time I heard it for weeks, I don't want it to happen again."

"You're not the one choosing, Tokita, this privilege is only for the girls! Which do you prefer, Kaede? Unhappy Lullaby, Are You Happy or a guitar solo from me just for you? Hnn?," Lihito arches an eyebrow at the secretary, smiling insinuatingly, to which she snorts.

"I'd rather let the bakery employees have the right to choose."

"I'm happy with anything, really! Oh, I can't believe it...!," Tomori gives a little jump of joy. "My request is coming true without me having to ask for it!"

"Request?," Okubo repeats the word, arching an eyebrow. Tomori stops vibrating, realizing what she's just said. She feels her face heat up a little as she looks away.

"Uuh... it's just that I... a few days ago, I thought of asking you guys if you'd like to play at the reopening of the bakery, when we manage to find a new site. Of course, we would find a way to pay for the concert-"

"You wouldn't have to!," Okubo suddenly exclaims, startling her a little. "We'd gladly do it for you as a favor."

Tomori's eyes shine.

"Really? Naoya, that's-"

"Speak only for yourself, Okubo!," Himuro suddenly exclaims. "I was going to charge at least for my participation!"

“Yeah, even if it was just payment in the form of complimentary food,” Kaneda jokes, and Rihito nods enthusiastically.

"Or in the form of your friend's phone number! See how cheap my fee is?"

"You should be ashamed of yourselves for saying such things..."

“Oh, there's no need to be jealous, Kaede! I would be equally happy with your number too!"

"That's not what I meant!"

"Miss Akiyama is right. Holy shit, you're the most self-serving pricks I've ever met!," Okubo grumbles. Tomori shakes her head, smiling reassuringly.

"It's okay, I said we wouldn't mind paying a fair price-"

"In the form of a phone number?!"

"In the form of money or food on the house."

"Dangit..."

"And if Miss Uta is willing to do that, what's the harm, Okubo? It just means she values ​​our art," Himuro shrugs while Rihito pouts. Okubo wrinkles his nose a little.

"Hnf… in that case I wouldn't ask for money or food. I would ask for something else..."

He smiles in that way Tomori knew well; that sly, playful smile that always preceded requests for a kiss. Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda were giggling and Mr. Yamashita and his secretary exchanged very meaningful glances, but she paid no attention to any of that. She just kept thinking that if that was the only payment he would charge to play, then she would gladly pay-

"I don't care what Tomori pays you, as long as it's not for you to play Are You Happy! If you do that, I'll beat the shit outta you!"

"Damn it, Tokita!," Okubo turns to Ohma, indignant, while the others laugh. "When one of your pals is hitting on a beautiful girl, you don't interrupt him while making completely random threats! You shut your fucking pie hole and that's it! It's the basics of the bro code!"

"I haven't seen you hit anything yet," Ohma raises an eyebrow. "Especially notes. Just start playing already."

"Yeah, even I thought of that," Ryuki sighs, exasperated.

"Hey, keep the noise down!," Kanami warns, looking at the group at the back of the bakery.

"Eh, really Kana, sorry for the mess, we are just very happy…"

"Oh no, Mr. Sekibayashi, that wasn't you! And don't worry, I plan to close tomorrow to start working in the new site, so I guess a little mess won't hurt..."

"Oh yeah, that's true!," Tomori seems to remember who was there. "Oh my God, Sekibayashi!"

She takes off running, practically bouncing like a teenage girl who happened to see her idol across the street, talking to him and already pulling out her phone to take pictures.

"Mr. Seki, please! Can we record this moment?"

"HAahahaha, didn't we record a bunch of moments on that other visit I paid, miss?"

"I know, but this one is even more special! I mean, not that those others weren't special too, but… oh, it's just that my brother can't believe I met you in person! I need more proof to shove in his face!"

"Hahaha! Got it, Miss Uta. Come here, let's appease your fan fury," He laughs loudly, clearly used to that kind of situation. "Haruo, Jose, you get here too!"

Okubo could only stare like an idiot, which only made Rihito and Himuro smirk.

"Left aside for a pro-wrestler in his forties…"

"Bro, you hit rock bottom with a shovel so you could dig even deeper!"

"Yeah, apparently that's the only thing he can hit," Ohma snickers, and the other two scoff. Okubo puffs out his cheeks.

"Oh yeah?! So let's go, guys: Are you happy? Are you hap-"

Okubo is almost attacked by a flying Ohma, if it weren't for Ryuki and Hiro holding him back from the counter.

"Hold him down!

"My God, what is this?!"

"I told you I was going to beat the shit outta you, you son of a bitch!"

"Hey, cut that shit out!," Kanami screams. "Ohma! Sit down!"

Ohma stops short, looking at the baker. He stared at her for a moment, until he broke away from the two who were holding him and snorted, still annoyed, walking away.

Kanami looks at Okubo and points at him, her eyes like acid, "I won't be saving you next time. Behave!"

"Jeez, what happened?," Koga asks from the kitchen, now wearing an apron.

"We almost got a Punk Rock show, broken guitar and all," Hiro sighs, a little alarmed by the strength he had to use to hold Ohma down.

"Whoa, not my fucking guitar!," Rihito shouts, hugging the instrument, while Himuro and Kaneda doubled over laughing. "But holy shit, I never tought that Seaweed Head hated this song so much!"

"Me neither! Damn, now we know exactly how to respond when Kelpthullu starts messing with us, hahaha," Okubo exclaims, delighted. "And sorry about that, Miss Kanami, we promise we'll behave! Let’s start this concert, guys, I have a fan to win back!"

"Hell yeah!," Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda exclaim, still laughing, the smallest raising his drumsticks in the air. The others around celebrate when they see that there would finally be some music at that party; there was no better accompaniment to food, after all.

And further on, the pro-wrestlers snickered as they enjoyed the ruckus, still posing for pictures with Tomori.

"Hey, hermosa," José nods to get Tomori's attention. "I think your other idol is a little jealous, hahaha."

"I don't know why, young women aren't master's type," Haruo comments, a little confused, to which Sekibayashi laughs out loud.

"And even if they were, it would be pretty scummy of me to steal the only female fan that idiot has in all of the Main Island, hahaha!"

"No one has to steal me from anyone! My fangirl heart is big enough to fit all of you," Tomori decrees, all flushed with happiness, and the pro-wrestlers laugh again.

"That's good to know, miss. So Okubo over there has nothing to worry about, right?," Sekibayashi asks, smiling. He looks to the side, and Tomori follows the direction of his eyes.

There was Okubo, setting up the instruments with Rihito, Himuro and Kaneda, the four of them looking amused as they threatened to start playing that song Ohma hated, just to piss him off. Okubo laughed, his expression calm as he tuned the bass, his gray eyes glistening a little...

Tomori feels her chest warm again, an involuntary smile making her cheeks hurt a little.

"Haha, no. He hasn't."

* * *

The smell of roasting meat filled the entire bakery, enveloping everyone inside in an aromatic haze that made stomachs grumble. There were also bottles of liquor being passed around, and those elements combined made Tomori think of a steakhouse, or an pub; the complete opposite of what the bakery proposed, but just by looking at Kanami's happy and peaceful face, she knew that her friend had chosen to make an exception, just this once.

She herself had absolutely nothing to complain about the surroundings. The meat skewers that came out of the kitchens, courtesy of the visitors, were delicious. The booze looked good too, considering how fast it was going down, but that day, she had chosen not to drink. She wanted to be sober so she could enjoy that night to the fullest with her friends and idols.

And of course, to never forget the performance she was about to watch.

"I've only heard one of their albums. I've never seen them play live. Are they good, Miss Akiyama?," She asks Kaede, who was sitting between her and Paikon. The secretary turns to her.

"Oh… I've never heard them play live either, to be honest," She comments after thinking a bit. "But I've seen them play on a tv show once. They're not bad..."

"A TV show? How did I never know about that?!," Tomori comments, amazed, taking another bite of her skewer. "I've been following Naoya's career for years and I'd never heard of their band..."

"Naoya...?," Kaede repeats, her eyebrows rising a little. Kazuo, who was standing while waiting for the musicians to get ready, looks over his shoulder with a smile.

"Their success as a band was relatively short-lived. They produced an album, put two hits in the charts and then fell into anonymity again. The music industry is very volatile nowadays. Back in my day, when musicians became successful, it was for good..."

"Oh, c'mon now, boss!," Koga, already a little tipsy because of the booze, gives Kazuo a tremendous slap on the back, almost sending the poor old man to the ground. "Don't start with that 'in my time things were better' talk! Hey, you four!," He raises his beer bottle in the air. "Give us some good stuff, both to impress the bakery staff and to make this old geezer take back what he said!"

"Who- Who is the geezer, Koga? Have some respect! And don't hit my back like that, I'm going to wake up with them giving me more trouble than the office computer's operating system...," Kazuo whimpers, to which Koga, Sekibayashi and Jose laugh out loud.

"Chill out...," Rihito, finishing plugging the guitar into the sound box they had brought, smiles and points at them. "You don't need to risk the fragile health of senior citizens just to hear Maximum rock out."

"Who's the senior citizen?! I barely turned sixty! Ooh, and by the way, Rihito, we have to set up a day to talk about the current situation with your employees' licenses-"

"Now is not the time to talk business, Kazzy!," Rihito interrupts him, his smile widening. "Now it's time to make art. How are we tonight, folks? Are you excited?!"

"I'm drunk as fuck!," One of the SJPW pro-wrestlers screams.

"I'm single!," Hiro yelled.

"I want more milkshakes!," Haruo shouted.

"Play Golden Wind's opening song!," Koga yells.

“As long as you don't play Are You Happy, I'm good with anything,” Ohma grumbles.

"You just had to say 'yes', goddammit!," Lihito screeches, prompting another collective fit of laughter. Okubo, with the bass already ready, lets out a snort.

"Golden Wind's opening song? give us a break, kid, that's cheesy as fuck!"

"That's right, Okubo-"

"Battle Tendency's opening song is much cooler!"

"Oh, you shut up too, you nerd!"

Himuro rolls his eyes and takes the lead.

"See? That's why I'm in the vocals, you guys don't know how to stir up the crowd! Ahem...," He clears his throat, then opens a charming smile, "Good night to all the beautiful ladies of the Heavy Bakery..."

"And what about saying good night to the guys?!"

"No fat chance, now shut the fuck up! Anyway...," Himuro cleared his throat again amidst laughter. "We are Maximum the Dogegencho."

"I hope your music is better than your band's name!"

"Screw you guys! Let's get this over with, Kaneda, c'mon..."

Laughing, Kaneda raises his sticks in the air, rhythmically hitting them together.

"One, two, three, four!"        

And the small audience cheers when the four finally start to play, Tomori even dragging her chair closer, her eyes shining and the wide smile seeming permanently etched on her face.

It was a totally different experience to hear them live, she concludes. On the album, as expected, the sound was perfect, with the quality that only professional studios could offer. In live, there was the unfavorable acoustics of the bakery, the loud incentives of the spectators and the very lack of tune of the instruments, which apparently had not been used for some time, to get in the way.

And yet, Tomori decided she preferred hearing them like this, because even with all the imperfections, she could appreciate how they acted while performing live. Rihito lost all his bravado, looking all smiley and excited as he played, again that cute idiot that had softened her heart on a rainy Sunday. Kaneda seemed very relaxed on the drums, no longer one step away from losing his mind with his friends' antics, just enjoying the moment with them. Himuro, even while showing off, still made room for his friends to shine with him, even singing along with Rihito at one point, the two harmonizing surprisingly well.

And Okubo looked more at home there than in an octagon, his fingers running over the bass strings, doing a little flourish that made her conclude that he was, in fact, very good with them. And she saw dedication there, just like she saw in every single one of his matches. He always did his best at everything he tried, didn't he?

He at one point raised his head a little, and her eyes met his. He smiled even wider, starting to move his body from side to side, showing off, making her laugh and clap her hands. The others around him laughed too, but he didn't seem to be embarrassed. It seemed he only had eyes for her in that audience...

The song ends with a final guitar solo by Rihito, and soon, the bakery is filled with clapping, screaming, cheers and whistles. They even hear pans being banged in the kitchen, which immediately makes Kanami scream amidst the din:

"Careful there, I didn’t find those pans in the garbage!"

"Sorry, Miss Kanami!

"I swear to God…," she snorted, losing her anger with a sigh, sitting down next to Ohma and talking to him while he held five skewers in his hands. Hiro, who had sat next to Tomori, nudges his friend with his elbow, and nods when she looks at him.

"Look, look…," he whispers. "These two lovebirds… I told ya, didn't I?"

She laughs as low as she can, her eyes twinkling mischievously as they stare at her friend and her favorite bottomless bag.

"And she still complains when we make fun of her! We'll get back to her, hahaha... but oooh, that was great!," She jumps up, clapping enthusiastically, going to the four idiots and jumping over Rihito's guitar wire. "It was even better than listening to you via album!"

"Really?!," Okubo and Rihito exclaim at the same time, delighted, while Himuro smiles with satisfaction.

"Yeah, we know. My presence usually makes things even better..."

"She was talking about all of us, you damn narcissist!"

"Wow, Miss Uta...," Kaneda scratches the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "You're not saying that just to be kind, are you?"

"No, I'm being very serious!," She says, grabbing Okubo's arm in excitement. ​​"Your music genre isn't what I usually listen to, but it's nice all the same. You have a very good synchrony, it doesn't even seem like this concert was done on the fly!"

"Aaawn, Tomori...!," Okubo kicked the air a little, flushed with pleasure at her praise, and he wasn't the only one. Kaneda was scratching the back of his neck with his drumsticks now, happily, while Himuro stuck his chin out higher. Rihito vibrates with happiness, grabbing Tomori's hands and decreeing:

"You just earned the honor of being our first number one fan, Miss Uta!"

"First? Does that mean there might be others?"

"Of course! I'm sure your friend would love our music too, if I have her number to invite her to our next concert!"

"Aargh, for crying out loud, Rihito...!," Okubo puts his hand on his face while Himuro and Kaneda snort and Tomori rolls her eyes, although she's still smiling. Rihito ignores all of this, looking back with an expression of triumph.

"Did you hear that, you bitches? Now that's what I call feedback! Not all the whining about bad names and sticky lyrics!"

"You have to learn to take constructive criticism," Kazuo comments, crossing his arms, and Koga nods.

"That's right! That music just now was cool and all, but I need to hear more to form my opinion."

"Not to mention that Miss Uta has a crush on Okubo, so she's biased..."

"Ryuki!," Tomori screeches, mortified, at Ryuki's comment, and everyone else bursts with laughter at that, Hiro being by far the most scandalous.

"Ooh, boy, this party is getting better and better... Hey, darlings, how about an encore? I'd love to harmonize with you."

"Fuck, bro, I already told you to cut that out!"

"I'm talking about harmonizing while we sing, blondie."

"... Oh."

"Come on, can you play a song by Queen, or Jason Mraz?," He suggests. "I think my voice will be good for something like that, if you guys know how to play this kind of music."

"One from Queen? Yes, we do know some...," Himuro comments, thoughtful, while Kaneda asks curiously:

"So you can sing, Mr. Hiro?"

"And very well, Mr. Fox! I wanted to be an idol, after all, I already have the voice and the pretty face..."

"O-Okay, we're up for it, but not before an encore with another of Maximum's classics!," It is Okubo who exclaims, almost as red as Tomori. Hiro pouts.

"Are you going to make me wait even longer, baldie? I hope you have a good reason..."

"It's because he wants to show off a little more for Miss Uta! He got addicted to the compliments and now he can't get enough!"

"Oh, in that case go right ahead!"

“Screw you, Rihito…” Okubo grunts, rubbing his eyes hard as he endures another wave of mocking laughter. He looks sideways at Tomori, who was still looking down at the ground, embarrassed.

“Hey, don't listen to these idiots,” He mutters to her. “They call me a chatterbox, but they aren't too far behind..."

"Ahaha… don't worry," She smiles shily. "Yeah, it's embarrassing as hell, but it's not like it's a lie…"

She can't lift her head to look him in the eye, but she hears him breathe more deeply for a moment. He looked like he wanted to say something…but then Hiro made himself be heard again.

"Hehehe… so, bring it on, Handsome and his So-So bunch," he smiles a bit devilish. "I won’t say who is who…"

"Hell no, start talking! Who are the so-so bunch?!," Rihito demands to know, to which Himuro snorts.

“You guys, obviously, because he's called me handsome a few times already."

"And did you like it, Himuro? That's weird, to say the least..."

"Fuck off, Rihito!"

“Calm down, you two. Now I'm curious about this new addition to our vocals. Come on, Okubo," Kaneda invites, looking at Okubo over his shoulder with a half smile. "You can dedicate our next song to Miss Uta..."

"Leave me alone, Kaneda! But…," He turns back to Tomori, a little hesitant, but still trying to smile. "Would that embarrass you too much?"

"Well...," She plays with a lock of her hair, still embarrassed, and that seems to be enough for him for the moment. He smiles more.

"Okay then. I'll leave the dedication more implied. And thanks for the compliments," He thanks her. "Having you giving all this support just makes me want to come back with this band even more."

Even embarrassed, Tomori had to stop herself from pulling him by the shirt and kissing him right there, in front of all those people. She'd had enough publicity for one night, honestly.

"You can always count on your number one fan for that. Now go play, before they drag you away by force," She gives him an encouraging pat on the arm. "Don't doubt what Hiro is capable of when he wants something."

"I'll keep that in mind," He laughs, nodding. "Give us some more of your feedback later."

“Okay,” She nods, watching him walk away. And then she sighs, slowly returning to her chair, oblivious to the excited chatter around her. Even the presence of Sekibayashi, Jose, Haruo and all the other pro-wrestlers wasn't enough to steal her attention.

She again sits next to Paikon, who is finishing with another bottle of beer. He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, turning to her.

"Look, I have to admit... these four stooges there aren't bad. The blond gorilla needs some polishing on that guitar, but other than that, their music is nice to listen to..."

“Yeah, it is…,” She nods slowly, still distracted, watching the four idiots get back in order with a distant expression on her face. Paikon stares at her sideways, one brow arched.

"Are you okay, Tomori?"

"I'm great."

"Did you drink too much?"

"Not even a single drop".

“Then what's up with that face?”

Tomori shakes her head slowly, resting her elbows on her knees, hands on either side of her face.

"Just thinking about the future. How far we've come, how things are going to be from now on... and how we're going to deal with the changes that are going to come. It's a little scary, Paikon..."

The janitor nods slowly, still watching her with a thoughtful expression. He then goes back to enjoying the happy, festive hubbub around them.

"Look, it might be. But the best things in life are sometimes the scariest. What good they bring is the reward for having faced them head on, I think."

"Heh...," She laughs softly. "Who would've thought that you'd be the kind of drunk who likes to philosophize?"

"At my age, all drunks are like that," He mutters, slumping in his chair, his eyes a little heavy. "Enjoy that you're still young and don't be philosophizing too much. Sometimes there's no point in thinking too much. Just accept these changes as they are..."

He went back to watching the racket the visitors were making, and Tomori wondered if he somehow knew what she was thinking. The man was no telepath, but she knew life had made him very observant. Not to mention she was being a bit obvious...

Speaking of which, there was another couple there who were being pretty obvious without realizing it. Kanami was smiling with Ohma by her side, and Tomori noticed how she had blushed as he offered her his last skewer with a smile, then got up to get more from the kitchens. For some reason that seemed significant, coming from such a bottomless bag.

Tomori smiles to herself. Yeah, changes were happening in all of their lives. Kanami's in particular. Ohma's arrival into it seemed to be the most impactful change yet, and despite the setbacks, she seemed to be handling it very well. And as for Tomori herself...

Soon, the four idiots had organized themselves again, and this time, Rihito put the guitar aside, putting it in the case and picking up an acoustic guitar. Okubo sits down next to him, propping his bass on his leg, and the bakery is once again filled with excited clapping and a few chuckles.

"Is this a university campus now?"'

"We'll need some pothead kids to reach that level!"

"Shut the fuck up! Ahem...," Okubo puts a fist in front of his mouth, clearing his throat, before pointing to the audience. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are Maximum the Dogegencho. I hope you enjoy this song as much as we enjoy the food and the people at the Heavy Bakery.”

"Oown, who knew this cute gorilla would be such a kiss-ass!," Hiro jokes, clapping his hands, and Okubo rolls his eyes at the laughter of the others. But he was smiling too.

"I'm no kiss-ass, just a faithful and dedicated customer! Both to the bakery and the staff..."

More laughter, only this time, Tomori took no part in it. His gray eyes had returned to meet hers for a second, communicating with her in that tiny fraction.

And when they finally started playing again, she found herself unable to look away, even though he was no longer looking at her.

Soon, the entire bakery was going along with the music in its own way: Hiro had gotten up from his chair and somehow convinced Kazuo and Koga to dance with him; they had a bit too much to drink, so she wasn't surprised when they went along without hesitation. Sekibayashi, Jose, Kaede and Paikon had started to clap along with the music, enjoying how it seemed to encourage the musicians. Tomori, still transfixed, accompanies them, eyes fixed on the bassist, who seemed to be having a lot of fun while following the chords that Rihito played on the guitar.

She wondered if she was making a fool of herself, staring at him like that, but she couldn't find it in her heart to care. Probably no one was noticing her, all of them concentrated on the show that the four idiots were doing, having fun with that strange, unconventional band, but that was still capable of holding attention. They had always done that, since the first time they showed up at the bakery, and now, just as Kanami couldn't imagine that place without Ohma's presence, Tomori found herself in the same situation with them. Okubo in particular.

Her hands stop halfway to a clap, tingling, her chest heating to a crescendo as she finally accepts facts she can no longer deny. Those feelings taking over her were no longer those of a fan going crazy about a chance to get closer to her idol. That part of her died the night she suffered a crushing disappointment. And now, she wondered if that hadn't been a blessing in disguise.

Damn... when did things change like that? Was it all too fast or did it happen so gradually that it took her a while to notice? She had no idea. What she did know for sure was that she had said things without thinking and that her words were now coming back to haunt her.

She had sworn to Paikon and to herself that she just wanted to have fun, to fulfill an old fantasy that would give her memories to take with her for a lifetime. And now... now she could only look at that man's serene and smiling face and want to have him for herself for a lifetime too.

She began to wonder when she had decided to change plans and fall in love with him. Was it when she understood that he was a human being like any other, with qualities and flaws? Or when she got to know him better and found herself a little smitten with that adorable, playful and emotionally insecure idiot, but who didn't let that stop him from going after what he wanted? She didn't know and probably never would. And it didn't even matter anyway.

It was one of the frightening changes that made her hesitate, but it was also the one that made her want to try the most, to go through with it. She felt it could work, if somehow he felt the same way. It was what Kanami was doing with Ohma after all.

If her friend was brave enough to throw herself headfirst into the unknown like that, why shouldn't she try too? She might not be a fighter in the literal sense of the word, but Okubo had told him that she still had the spirit of one. And fighters like the ones she admired weren't afraid to face whatever life threw at them. She shouldn't be either.

The song ends, followed by another round of excited applause, whistles and whoops for an encore. Hiro lets go of Kazuo and Koga, who were limping as they lose their grip, and waves an arm in the air.

"You rocked it, darlings! Now it's my turn to join too! Make room for me!"

“And will you be able to keep up with us, twinkie?,” Rihito asks, smiling defiantly, to which the cashier lifts his chin.

"Honey, I may not have a chest the width of a backhoe, but there's still plenty of breath in it to sing. Do you want to pay to see?"

“Nah, we'll take it without paying, we're all broke anyway,” Kaneda jokes, and they all laugh as Hiro runs to join them.

Tomori smiles at the scene, her eyes softening. It was good to know that her coworkers also appreciated the boisterous addition these fighters made to the bakery contingent. It was another incentive for them to never stop showing up there.

She couldn't say how long she stayed there, just listening to the music, watching everyone else eating and getting drunk while enjoying it too. Maybe it was two hours, or even more. She only knew that when Hiro and the four idiots took a break from their musical activities to also enjoy food and drink, it was already dark outside the bakery.

"And after this success, Maximum the Dogegencho asks for a break, ladies and gentlemen," Himuro announces. "The vocalists need to wet their throats, and the musicians, to rest their fingers. Make the most of this rest of the night!"

"A round of applause, please, because we deserve it!," Hiro asks, opening his arms, and the small audience erupts in excited applause, Koga sticking two fingers in his mouth to give a high-pitched whistle. Tomori claps too, laughing as she enjoys the impromptu band celebrating their little success.

"Boy, did we rock!," Okubo exclaims, exchanging a high-five with Rihito, who nods excitedly.

"I told you we still got it! It was all about warming up our fingers and windpipes!"

"Speaking of windpipes, you surprised us, Mr. Hiro," Kaneda comments, impressed. "You managed to keep up with Himuro without any difficulty. You're very good as a tenor."

"Wow, Mr. Fox, you really know how to make a guy feel special," Hiro jokes, and it was hard to tell with the bakery's artificial light, but Tomori had the impression of seeing him blush a little. "I like to sing, I always wanted to be an idol , and I insisted so much that my parents even paid for some vocal training classes when I was younger. And honestly, who doesn't get excited and unleash their voice's full potential when Somebody to Love plays?"

"I have to agree. Anyway, it was nice singing with you," Himuro pats the cashier on the shoulder, to which Rihito nods again.

"Yeah, it was! You are invited to future concerts at the bakery."

"Really? Didn't my presence make you worry that you might start to question your sexuality?"

"Fuck off, man! And I don't get uncomfortable when we're like that," Rihito shrugs with a pout. "Just keep this pattern from now on..."

"Sure thing! Let's seal our deal with a tight, totally platonic hug, shall we?," Hiro invites, smiling a lot and opening his arms, and Okubo, Himuro, Kaneda and everyone around laugh out loud when Rihito almost trips over a chair in an attempt to escape, alarmed.

"Damn it, why did I open my mouth! Go hug those who like that sissy stuff!"

“I'm not going to lie, it's kinda cathartic watching him get a taste of his own medicine,” Kaede says, downing another glass of beer in her mouth. And she almost chokes when Rihito comes towards her.

"But I accept a hug from you with pleasure, Kaede! Come on, won't you congratulate me on my performance?" 

"Congratulations. There you go. Now go away," She commands irritably while placing an empty chair in front of her as if it were a barrier between them. "Ugh, I'm not sober enough to deal with this…"

"Need some fresh air, Miss Akiyama?," Tomori asks. "There's an alley at the back of the bakery, it's very quiet there. You can cool off there."

"I would appreciate it, Miss Uta-"

"I can also come to keep you company, I can even hold your hair if you get too sick!"

"No, Rihito, thank you! Could someone show me the way, please...? No, Rihito, not you!"

"I got it. This way, Miss Akiyama," Paikon gets up from his chair, a little sleepy because of his drinking. Kaede follows quickly, half relieved, and Rihito watches them go through the counter hatch and disappear into the kitchen with an annoyed expression.

"Eh, that's what I get for trying to be a gentleman..."

"Chivalry with a drunk girl can be interpreted in other ways, man."

"I wasn't going to do anything, dammit! She is the one who's too distrustful".

"You give all the reasons for it, bro. And ooh, Tomori!," Okubo waves excitedly, approaching with Hiro and the other three idiots. "You were watching, weren't you? Did you like this performance from now too?"

"I loved it!," She exclaims excitedly while the five men sit next to her. "Mainly how versatile you guys can be. You adapted to Hiro's voice in no time!"

"I was amazed by that too," Hiro nods, giving the quartet a wink. "You guys are full of hidden talents, huh. We are curious to discover even more of them."

This time, not even Rihito seemed uncomfortable or irritated by the innuendos in the cashier's words. The four of them make happy sounds, scratching the back of their necks or timidly kicking the ground.

"Ooh, you haven't seen anything yet! You should hear us playing in a studio, or with a more professional apparatus. Then you would know all the power of Maximum's sound," Rihito guarantees, and Okubo nods enthusiastically.

"If the invitation to play at the reopening of the bakery is still open, we can even provide such apparatus!"

"It depends on how long we have until then. By the way, when exactly do you intend to reopen at the new address?," Himuro asks.

“Oh, it will take a while. Kanny just closed the deal and acquired the new site, the construction hasn't even started," Tomori explains. "There's still the purchase of building materials, hiring a construction company, updating the contract with suppliers..."

“Damn, that's a lot of bureaucracy,” Okubo comments, making a face. Hiro smiles more at this.

"Ooh, but it will be so worth it. Tomori hasn't even told you the best part yet.

"Even better than the relocation you wanted?," Kaneda asks, and Tomori chuckles.

"Ahaha, not quite as much, but still great! After today, the bakery is taking a month-long break from activities-"

"What? Are we going to have to endure a month without this sugar shack's food?!," Rihito exclaims, shocked, to which Himuro looks at him frowning.

"They're going to change their address, so it would be the perfect cue for you to change that stupid term too! But yes, it is a pity that we'll have to spend a month without being able to eat here," He comments, but he sounds resigned. Okubo's expression, on the other hand, had completely collapsed.

"A whole month?! Wow, that's sucks!," He laments. "Not being able to keep you company during lunch time..".

"But you will, Naoya! You'll be able to keep me company at many other times," Tomori promises quickly, leaning over to hold his hand, whereupon he raises his head, alert again. She opens a huge smile. "Because I'm not going to work for a month, starting tomorrow! Kanny gave everyone a paid vacation!"

"Wait, really?!," He exclaims, his eyes wide, his face immediately lighting up. "A whole month without work?"

"A whole month!"

"So does that mean I'll finally be able to take you out without having a time to come back?"

"Exactly! Isn't it great?"

"ooh, hell yeah! Of course it is!," He throws his arms up in celebration, almost hitting Rihito and Himuro's chins, who almost fall off their chairs in an attempt to dodge. "But that's great for you too, Tomori! You honestly deserve it.

"Yes! Enjoy it and get some rest so you can return to work with renewed energy," Kaneda nods, and Rihito imitates him with excitement.

"Yeah! Dude, that calls for a toast! Wanna grab some beers?"

"I can't, I'll have to drive back," Okubo laments, to which Himuro smiles, putting his hands in his pant pockets.

"Sucks to be you. I'll want beer, but I'll celebrate in my own unique way too," And he pulls out his lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Tomori frowns.

"Are you going to smoke in here, Himuro? I mean, the bakery isn't open or anything, but still..."

"Huh? I can't?," Himuro blinks, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder. "But they're doing the same thing..."

And Tomori sees, a bit startled, that some of the SJPW wrestlers have also started smoking, puffing on cigarettes between conversations. Sekibayashi seemed to be giving them a hard time about it, but none of them made a move to stop.

“Lord Satan below, Kana just let go of the reins a little bit and the horses are already running around the pasture like that,” Hiro comments, crossing his arms and arching an eyebrow. Tomori looks towards the counter.

"I don't have much of a problem with it, but Kanny hates cigarette smoke. I don't think she would approve and... uh, where is she?," She frowns when she doesn’t see her friend, neither on the counter nor through the pantry window. "I could've sworn she was watching what they were up to inside the kitchens..."

"Speaking of kitchens, Ohma is also gone," Kaneda frowns, looking at the counter as well. "I thought he would be hanging around the grill by now..."

"Tokita must have grabbed a bunch of skewers and gone out to eat alone, so he doesn’t have to share with anyone," Rihito rolls his eyes. "And auntie must have slipped away so she didn’t have to swallow the smoke that those ciggies are puffing..."

"Shut up. The owner of the establishment didn't complain, so there's nothing to discuss," Himuro shrugs and lights his cigarette. "They're moving locations, anyway."

Tomori and Hiro just sigh and shrug. That was the last day of service for the Heavy Bakery at that location, after all. It was okay to let visitors go overboard this time.

"Eh, whatever. I just know that no one here feeds on cigarette smoke. Man, I'm really hungry," Rihito comments, his hand on his stomach. "I hope they grilled more meat..."

"I'll go check right now," Tomori gets up promptly. "Then I'll bring a very full tray for all of us to share while I'm at it.

"Nice!," Rihito exclaims excitedly. "​​Can you bring some beers too, Miss Uta?"

"And milkshakes, please!"

"Damn, you really want her to have an accident again, don't you?," Okubo snorts. "Not to mention that she's on vacation. Are you already wanting her to work?"

"It's okay, Naoya, I don't mind bringing something for everyone. I'll eat with you after all," She guarantees with a smile. And then she thinks a bit, an index finger on her chin. "But maybe I'll need some help, considering what happened last time…"

"I'll help!," Okubo gets up immediately. "Then I can explore the kitchen. Are there any of your cookies left, Tomori? It would be the best dessert after a barbecue, haha."

“There are some left, but not many. You'd have to share with others."

"Wow, aren't you going to give your idol a special treat?"

"How mean, taking advantage of your niche celeb status to get free food..."

"Hey, hey, the 'niche' part was an unnecessary addition."

Laughing, Tomori beckons him with a wave of her fingers as she heads towards the kitchens.

"Relax, niche or not, I'm still your fan. I can separate the most 

tasty-looking ones for you. Today I made another batch of Kuidaore Taro cookies..."

"Woman, you spoil me too much...," He pretends to sniff happily as he accompanies her. Rihito, Himuro, Kaneda and Hiro watch them walk away before exchanging meaningful glances.

"They're not even trying to hide their flirting," Himuro comments, and Kaneda smiles.

"I think we can see this as progress, no?"

"I'll see it as progress when these two finally get tired of all that foreplay and fuck eachother at once," Rihito snorts. "Until then, I'll keep saying this is just unnecessary drama."

“Wow, big guy, looks like we're finally agreeing on something!," Hiro exclaims happily. "Not that this shoujo-worthy romance isn't cute, but we already had enough sugar to cause a collective outbreak of diabetes. This is lacking spice! And I know exactly how to add it..."

"… Why am I suddenly having a sense of impending doom?," Kaneda wonders, shuddering slightly, to which Hiro smiles sharply.

“You have a keen sixth sense, Mr. Fox!"

“That's what happens when you've know these three long enough. You begin to feel the misfortunes coming with your own body."

"Drama queen...," Himuro takes the cigarette out of his mouth and blows the smoke over his shoulder. "But anyway, can we interpret these words as another one of your far-fetched plans coming up?"

"Ooh, man…," Rihito groans, throwing his head back a little. "I don't wanna waste any more food by making Miss Uta trip again! Especially if it involves beer."

"It won't be necessary, blondie," Hiro guarantees, leaning his elbows on the table and staring at them with those bird of prey-like eyes. "Remember what I said about not cooking pasta in cold water? Let's say the water is already coming to a boiling point."

"And how can you be sure?"

"You were very focused on the music, so you didn't notice Tomori's stares," The cashier chuckles. "The way she looked at baldie… that she-wolf is dying to pounce on him."

"She-wolf...?," Rihito and Himuro repeat, confused, while Kaneda frowns.

"So you think it's possible to resolve this issue today?"

"For sure! You came by car, neither Tomori nor any of us will need to work tomorrow, this party left both of them in the perfect mood...," The cashier goes on listing each point on a finger. "We won't have another better opportunity than this. But it will involve you giving up your ride home."

"Fuckin' hell, why are we always the ones who have to sacrifice something for Okubo to be able to get laid?!," Rihito asks indignantly. "First our dignity, then Miss Uta's friend's number, which, by the way, I still haven't received!," He points to Hiro. "And now our ride..."

“Calm down, sweetie. You'll lose his ride, but you'll get mine," Hiro pats his hand. "I drove to work today."

"Uh… wait, you can drive?," Rihito blinks. "Huh. How convenient..."

"I know, right! Everything is conspiring in our favor!," He claps his hands, excited. "So, are you up for it? If all goes well, we might even go out together to celebrate!"

"The four of us? And where would we go?," Kaneda asks, and the cashier shrugs, looking up.

"I don't know. I know a lot of interesting places, to be honest. Some clubs where your builds would be very successful, for example..."

"Hell fucking no, forget about it!," Rihito shivers all over, to which Himuro gives a hoarse laugh.

"As you can see, Rihito doesn't want other guys to do to him what he does to women."

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, we can go wherever you want," Hiro offers with an inviting smile. "The night is young…"

"Uugh... that insinuating voice tone drives me crazy, but if this shilly-shally between those two is to end...," Rihito huffs, scratching his hair, to which Kaneda laughs softly.

“We're working well on our altruism, aren't we? I think everyone here agreed. What's the plan?"

“Oooh, it’s quite simple, actually…"

* * *

"Fucking hell… don't you think you've had too much to drink?"

Okubo had never imagined himself being the one to say that kind of sentence. He was usually the one who heard it. But since he didn't intend to drive drunk, he was being forced into the role of the responsible friend, while glaring disapprovingly at the three idiots who decided to push their limits that night.

When he and Tomori returned from the kitchens with food, Rihito, Himuro, Kaneda and Hiro seemed to be in some kind of fraternization, toasting and drinking, as if they had suddenly become the best of friends. He even felt a little left out, but Tomori's presence had mitigated the feeling.

But now that the sous-chef had left the table to take a quick shower in the locker rooms, Okubo felt more and more like there wasn't a place for him there. The night was advancing, the celebration was waning while all those present fell into that happy and satisfied laziness typical of the end of a party, and still those dumbasses were not satisfied. On the contrary, they seemed even more excited now that they had alcohol in their blood!

"No, it's within our standards!," Rihito, red and smiling like an idiot, raises his glass of beer to him as if toasting. "And I'm not drunk yet! I'm sober enough to still think you're one ugly son of a bitch, for example."

"Fuck you."

"And anyway, we really need to wet our throats," Himuro comments, his voice a little slurred, while alternating between his beer and his cigarette. "We'll go back to our improvised stage soon!"

"Are you serious? You want to play and sing more?," He raises his eyebrows a bit. "Even you decided to go all out, Kaneda?"

"Yeah… it's a special occasion," Kaneda justifies himself, making a vague gesture and putting his hand over his mouth to stifle a small burp. "It's not every day that our good friends from our favorite bakery achieve such a feat, right?"

"Well said!," Hiro slaps Kaneda on the shoulder, almost making him hit his forehead on the table top. "Why should we inhibit ourselves? Today is a never-ending party, my balding friend!"

"I'm not balding, I shave my head because I- uugh, forget it!," Okubo huffs impatiently. "I don't have a problem with that. I just don't know who you intend to play for, considering that everyone here is already too shitfaced...," He comments while looking over his shoulder, contemplating the mess that the table area had turned into. Chairs scattered, the floor littered with beer cans and liquor bottles, visitors and employees alike so drunk they looked ready to sleep right there. He had no room to judge, Rihito and he had been in worse shape, but damn…

"Eeh, that's nothing!," Rihito makes a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Maximum's music is capable of even raising the dead from their tombs!"

"Yeah, people even come back to life to beg you to shut up..."

"Shut up, Koga, damn it!," He growls over his shoulder at Koga, who was slumped over a chair, Kazuo dozing with his head resting on his shoulder. "You and Kazzy were having a fucking blast while we played! Such an ungrateful audience..."

"Do you still think they deserve an encore?," Okubo asks playfully, to which Himuro shrugs.

“If they deserve it or not, We don't give a shit. We just want to keep playing. Right, guys?"

"Yeah! The show must go on and… eh… ooh, jeez, I think someone stole my drumsticks," Kaneda looks around, eyes widening a little, at which Hiro laughs out loud.

"Robbery at the Heavy Bakery! We have a thief on the loose! Hand over Mr. Fox's drumsticks and nobody gets hurt!"

“Who the fuck took Kaneda's drumsticks?! The drummer needs his sticks!"

"Haruo borrowed it, he said he had an itchy back and couldn't reach…"

"Damn it, Jose! Haruo, we need those drumsticks!," Himuro exclaims, and they all jump up from the table to hunt for the drumsticks, to which Okubo takes a step back.

"... Look, I'm not trying to be a party-pooper, but I really don't think you guys are that good enough to play anything," He comments, a little worried. "I mean, if things got to the point where I needed to be the mom friend, it's because boundaries have been crossed."

"Yeah, that's really bizarre. Just drink with us and we'll solve this glitch in the Matrix!," Rihito jokes.

"I can't, man, you know I'm driving..."

"Ooh, would you look at that responsible boy, acquiring conscience at the nick of time! Hey, guys!," Rihito shouts over his shoulder, smirking. "Okubo now knows that driving under the influence is wrong! Guess who made him finally realize this!"

"Rihito, shut up-"

"Miss Uta, obviously!," Rihito exclaims, ignoring Okubo's furious expression next to him. "He arrived drunk on their first date and she was furious! Poor motherfucker got traumatized, hahaha!"

"And you still say that I'm the loudmouth! You fucking tattle-tale!," Okubo yells, while the SJPW crew widened their eyes at him.

"Are you serious?"

“Dude, how could you do that?"

"Damn, bro..."

"Are you fucking stupid?"

"You're lucky she forgave you, pendejo..."

"Shut up you too! I already feel bad enough without you guys roasting me...," Okubo whimpers, looking at the ground and putting his hand in his pants pockets. Rihito pats his shoulder.

“Hey, guys, don't be so harsh. I'm partly to blame too, I was the one who insisted he drink that night-"

"Holy shit, another idiot!"

"What is wrong with you!"

"And he still complains that he's single!"

"Fuckin' dumbass!"

"Fuck you all!," Rihito yells while everyone around laughs loudly. ​​"But anyway, Okubo busted a gut to prove he could be better and won Miss Uta's forgiveness, and now he's being the best boy possible for her, isn't he? I'm so proud!"

"Fuck off!," Okubo, very red, pushes his hand away when he tries to squeeze his cheek. "She deserves it and I'll do it gladly! And don't think I'm going to play with you if you keep being such a jerk..."

"Good thing you brought that up, man," Himuro says suddenly, still helping Kaneda and Hiro to look for the drumsticks. "We talked a little while you were in the kitchen with Miss Uta, and honestly? You don't need to play with us this time."

"... Huh?," Okubo blinks, caught off guard. "What do you mean I don't need to? I'm the bass player, man, an essential component!"

"That's debatable," Kaneda comments, sounding a bit disinterested. "I mean, Rihito has the guitar and the acoustic guitar. I know it's not the same thing, but they're a good workaround..."

"And we still have twinkie here," Rihito points to Hiro. "We'll still have four components, so you really don't need to participate. Chill out."

"Chill out- what's this? Are you dismissing me?!," Okubo exclaims, indignation making his voice squeaky. "Just like that? Your own bassist?!"

"Well, let's face it, the bassist is kinda the least necessary guy in the band," Himuro arches an eyebrow, to which Kaneda nods.

"I wouldn't say they're entirely expendable, but others can cover their part without too much trouble..."

"And honestly, which bass players are successful with women?," Rihito laughs. "I think even the drummer gets more girls, hahaha!"

"Hey, c'mon now..."

"Sorry, Kaneda."

“What the- Why the fuck are you being such assholes?!," Okubo asks, furious and astonished, while the others around him just laugh their heads off. "What did I do? If you're going to be such dicks like that then I'm really going to-"

"What's with all the screaming? Are you guys fighting?"

Okubo is silenced in the midst of his threat, immediately looking over his shoulder with a little start. Tomori had come out of the locker rooms, no longer wearing her Heavy Bakery uniform but casual clothes, her purse strap slung over her shoulder. She stared at them in confusion that only increased when everyone around her laughed even harder at the face Okubo was making.

"Uuh...did I miss something or...?," She asks confused, looking around, to which he quickly shakes his head.

"No, Tomori, you didn't miss anything. Just these idiots being assholes, as usual," He assures, facing his friends with resentment. "I was just telling them what they deserved to hear."

"Not that we were very interested… are you leaving, Miss Uta?," Rihito asks, to which she nods.

"Yeah, I am. Kanny has already dismissed everyone for the day, we won't even need to clean up this mess," She giggles. "She said this will be up to the visitors who brought a whole bar into the bakery, haha."

There's a collective groan of weariness, Koga's being by far the loudest. Sekibayashi claps his hands impatiently.

"Quit being lazy bums, we messed up, we clean up!"

"Thank you, Mr. Seki!," Tomori makes a small bow. "I hope to see you all at the reopening of the bakery!"

"Are you leaving then, Tomori?," Okubo asks, a little disappointed. "Too bad, at this point you were the only company I had. The only one who hadn't stabbed me in the back, I mean…"

"Enough said, then! Give Miss Uta a ride home," Himuro intervenes. "We already told you, we don't need you anymore for today."

"Yeah! Go on, dude, piss off," Rihito makes a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Get outta here and don't forget that bass over there."

“See you around, Okubo,” Kaneda waves, and Hiro blows him a kiss.

"Don't worry, big guy, I'll take good care of them. You can go with Tomori with no worries, okay?"

"Why the fuck are you pushing me so much?," Okubo asks, getting pissed again. "It even seems that you can't wait to get rid of me, you...!"

He then shut up when faced with the intense looks that all four of them were giving him. Hiro had one hand on his hip. Himuro arched an eyebrow. Kaneda smirked. And Rihito, eyes widening, gives a very confused Tomori a brief glance before turning back to face him, all serious, seeming to want to say something...

... Oh. Oooh, shit. Well, now he definitely got it.

“You fucking assholes...! You could've said something earlier!”, he complains in his thoughts, but his anger has simply evaporated. There was no more reason for it, after all. Tomori turns to him, still confused and a little shy.

"Uh… only if you can and want to, Naoya. No problem if you want to stay here longer, there's still time to catch the last train-"

"No, I'll give you a ride. I was already on my way out anyway. I don't want to look at these fuckers' faces anymore for today," Okubo decrees, staring at his friends with what appears to be contempt on the surface. But his gray eyes sparkled in a way they knew all too well. Rihito shrugs with a snort.

"Neither do we. Go, buzz off, twinkie here will give us a ride."

"Yeah, I will. Fuck you, and I wish you all a hell of a hangover tomorrow morning," Okubo goes to get his bass, while Tomori looked from one to the other with some concern. "And good night to you all. The food was delicious. See ya."

"See ya, man!," Koga and the SJPW crew wave; Kazuo, still dozing off, mutters under his breath and shifts in his chair. Okubo then smiles at Tomori.

"So, let's get going? There's something in the car I want to show you."

"Uuh- really? Okay then!," She nods, smiling, but still looking worried. "Good night to all of you!"

"‘Night, Miss Uta!"

The two wave, and the bell rings at the top of the door as they leave the bakery. Okubo looks into the establishment through the glass one last time and sees Rihito, Himuro, Kaneda and Hiro grinning at him, giving him a collective thumbs up.

He has to stop himself from laughing. Those idiots... even if nothing happened that night, he would still thank them later. That's what friends were for...

"Look, it's not that I'm not happy to be able to spend some time alone with you…," Tomori starts to say, still shy. "But I don't like to think that you're leaving the bakery like that, mad at your friends, whatever the reason is..."

"Ooh, that? Don't worry, we do that all the time," He guarantees, smiling to reassure her. "We argue over some random stupid thing, we curse each other, we each go our separate ways and then we're talking again the next day as if nothing had happened. It's routine by now."

"Ooh… that's not very healthy," She comments, blinking. "But if this dynamic works for you… it's just that I really don't want you to be on bad terms with them like what happened with Rihito that time," She holds onto his arm, looking up at him and smiling. "I want to see you always arriving at the bakery together, laughing, messing around and ready to fill your stomachs with our food. I want to see you leaving the bakery happy, not angry or upset."

If they weren't in the middle of a busy shopping area, Okubo would have picked her up and kissed her heartily.

“Damn, she's so cute!”

"Holy shit, woman…," He smiles tenderly, reaching out to caress the side of her face. "Blessed be the day I walked into that bakery for the first time and met you. I've been needing all this sweetness in my life."

"Stop it, you…," She giggles coquettishly, blushing a bit. "Don't make me want to pull you by your shirt and kiss you, there are people looking…"

"You can do it inside the car," He suggests, letting her hold on to his arm while the two of them went down the street. "Then I can give you your gift while we're at it."

"More gifts? And you say I'm the one who spoils you," She shakes her head. "I just hope it's not one of those expensive things you keep offering me."

"My, what a distrustful woman," He jokes, pulling the keys out of his pocket and unlocking the car further on. "Don't worry, it's a very simple gift, but still a nice one. The guys and I were at an arcade before we heard the good news about the new site. We won some cool prizes there, and one of them is for you!"

"Wait, really?," She widened her eyes, which were shining. "My God, Naoya, you didn't have to! You should've tried to win a prize for yourself!"

"Relax, I didn’t leave empty-handed! I got a cool Ultraman keychain," He says as they get in the car. He takes a set of keys from the glove compartment and shows the keychain in it, smiling satisfied. "See? Very cool, right?"

"Yeah, it's cute!"

"No, officer Hayata is not cute! He's a hero of justice, and heroes of justice are cool, not cute!," Okubo protests, and Tomori just laughs.

"Of course. Anyway, now I'm curious to see what you got for me..."

"Oh, yes!," He turns around in the driver's seat, looking back. "Yours is that box in the back seat... the biggest one, in this case. Those three forgot their prizes in the car..."

"Ooh, good thing we saw that before we left then! There's still time to go back there and give them their boxes-"

"No! I mean...!," He exclaims, but hastens to correct his tone when she stares at him in surprise. "I said I don't want to see their faces anymore for today and I meant it. If I go back to the bakery now, they won't stop making fun of me."

“Not to say that they're going to want to beat me up for wasting this chance...”

"Uh… wow, men can be so prideful over silly stuff," She comments, bored. "In that case, I can go back there and deliver them myself."

"No...," He speaks in a much softer tone this time, leaning down to touch her lips with his thumb. "Don't go, please. I'll deliver the boxes to them later, I promise. Now I just want to be alone with you. We didn't have many opportunities there at the bakery..."

His little plea works: she stares at him with her eyes huge, shining, her cheeks flushed. She smiles, looking to the side, her lids lowering.

"Well, when you put it like that… okay, I guess they can get the boxes later," She kisses the tip of his thumb, making him shiver. "But what about me? Can I get mine now?"

"Right here, miss!," He reaches out, picking up the box with an idiotic smile. "I saw it on the wall behind the prize counter and thought it would look stylish in your kitchen…"

"For my kitchen, you say...? Oooh, a neon sign!," She exclaims, smiling when she sees the product stamped on the box. "I never had one of these before! What is written on it?"

"Smile and Smash," He extends his fist towards her, smiling. "Because my favorite cook rocks in the kitchen, always with that beautiful smile on her face."

She follows the cue, bumping her fist into his with a gleeful laugh. And then she leans over the seat to give him a peck, her nose lightly brushing against his.

"Thanks. I loved it. I just feel bad that I can't buy you anything like that..."

"What you give me, no money can buy, Tomoh..."

"Tomoh…," She laughs again, her voice coming out hoarse and low in that sweet happiness. "It's the first time you've called me that…"

"If you don't like it, I'll stop."

"Quite the contrary. I want to hear you call me that again," She whispers against his lips, and he shivers again, his eyelids drooping and his fingers tingling with the urge to pull her to sit on his lap.

"Tomoh..." He whispers back, giving her another peck, letting his lips press against hers and stay there a second longer. "Tomoh…"

“I love you and I wish I had the courage to say it out loud.”

At the moment, he didn't have that ability. But he had the ability to reciprocate when she wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss with a low moan, and that was enough for now.

It didn't take long before he let his hands act on their own and pulled her to sit on his lap in the driver's seat, his hands on her back and the back of her neck to support her as she hugged him, perfectly content to stay in that indecent position while kissing him. Holy shit, she was so receptive... it would be so easy to ask the crucial question, and then, depending on her answer, go out on the streets looking for a love hotel...

“No, step on the brakes! Where's the chivalry in that? You have to create the perfect mood so she doesn't feel like you just picked her on a random street corner!"

He wanted to tell his conscience to go fuck itself, but his need to respect Tomori was stronger than that urge. He gently pulls her away from him, smiling at her with some embarrassment.

"Haha, we- we better stop here before the cops show up and tow us to the station for indecent conduct, huh?," He jokes, then clearing his throat. "So, let’s go to your house? We can install the neon sign in the kitchen, if you want."

He waits for her answer... which doesn't come. The cheerful smile was gone from her face, and Okubo was immediately concerned to see her expression slump, her eyes settling on her hands as she turned her head to the side. She even bites her bottom lip, as if to keep it from trembling, and he is immediately alarmed.

"Tomori? What's wrong?," He reaches out a hand to touch her face hesitantly. "Was it something I said? I'm sorry-"

"No," She interrupts him, shaking her head, still not looking at him. "You didn't do anything, Naoya. That... that's the problem."

"... Huh?," He blinks, confused, not expecting that kind of answer. "What do you mean? I don't get it..."

"It's... It's just that I...m" She lets out a huge sigh, turning to him with her mouth clenched and her brow furrowed as if she's working up courage. "I didn't mean to be forward like that, but I can't think of any other way... did I do something wrong, Naoya?"

"Huh? What-"

"Did I make you uncomfortable in any way? Am I being too forward?," She asks, and now she's almost stumbling over her words, agitated by her nervousness. "You're not as interested in this as I thought? Or- Or is it me? If I'm not that attractive to you...," She swallows hard. "Please, just answer me, because I'm already going crazy here trying to understand while I'm holding back!"

"Not that attractive to me…?," He repeats, perplexed, that sentence sounding completely absurd to his ears. Holy shit, how could she think such a thing? Did she have any idea how much she was attractive to him, to the point where he even had a hard time controlling himself when they started making out like that?

... And from her somewhat desperate look, the answer was no. She didn't. His jaw drops even further.

“Fucking hell, she…!”

"Yes!," She nods, now gesturing frustrated. "I know you like me, you wouldn't ask me for a kiss every five minutes if you didn't, but that's different from really wanting to take things to third base. You can like someone, you can want to be with them, and still not feel like... you know..."

If Okubo's eyes widened any further, they would probably fall out of their sockets. Fuck... holy fuck...!

"So just answer me this, please! Do you want me that way or not? Because if not, then just tell me, so I can stop trying and getting frustrated every time...," She continues, sounding almost aggressive, but he was still able to hear the fear permeating those words. Fear of not being good enough, of being rejected...

"W-Wait!," He finally finds his voice again, holding her by the shoulders to make her stop talking, his eyes still bulging. "Time out! How- how could you think I'm not attracted to you? Holy shit, woman, you...!," He had difficulty even forming a cohesive sentence, such was his astonishment. "You're insane if you think these things!"

"I…," She moistens her lips, still nervous, flinching a little with his touch. "So you… do you want…?"

"I- Of fucking course, damn it!," He says while choking, embarrassed, but more concerned with clearing up that misunderstanding. "I don't even know how you can think otherwise! You're beautiful, funny, cute, kinda nuts, brave as fuck, fierce when you have to be... and so, so...," He runs his fingers down her arms, then touching her curves that tempted him so much. "Fuck, only a dumbass would look at all this and not want it all for himself..."

She gasps softly at his touch, sitting up straighter in his lap, which makes her breasts under her shirt touch his chest. Holy shit, holy shit...!

"Then…," She looks at him with a rather bizarre mixture of relief, perplexity and frustration. "My God, so why haven't we had sex yet?!"

At that moment, Okubo didn't know what he felt more like: throwing a punch in the air and screaming in triumph, or redirecting said punch at his own face.

Fuck, she wanted it, she had wanted it all along and he just sat there, making her wait like the perfect idiot he was...!

“No,” His conscience snorted suddenly. “You waited like you should have all along: respecting her boundaries and waiting for the green light. And now, here it is.”

"I…," He shakes his head slowly, needing to make an effort not to smile like an idiot. "I didn't know if- if you wanted to too… I didn't want to push it, I was enjoying how things were going, and so I... I thought it was better to wait to be sure...?"

"Holy shit, you…," She shakes her head in disbelief. And then she laughed out loud, leaning her forehead against his shoulder. "So that was you being a gentleman all along? My god, I don't know whether to be relieved or angry, hahaha!"

"Haha, s-sorry...," He laughs too, because honestly, what other reaction could one have in a situation like that? "I'm kinda mad at myself too, for not realizing it sooner..."

"Well, now you did, didn't you?," She looks up at him, smiling a lot. "So I just need to hear your answer to my question, one more time...," And she goes back to hugging him by the shoulders, approaching with drooping eyelids, brushing her lips in his again. "Do you want that, Naoya? Do you want me?"

He wonders, in that second of delighted euphoria, if starting to take her clothes off right then and there would be answer enough. But he concluded that she deserved to hear it from his mouth, loud and clear, as he held her by the hips to make her breasts press more against his chest, his breathing deepening, his eyes dark and dangerous.

"I do. I want you so fucking bad..."

"Then that's it. There's nothing more to discuss," She smiles more, tracing his lips with her tongue, "Today we really don't have to worry about the time..."

And his response is to kiss her with a fervor that was almost frightening. All that pent-up desire came pouring out of him like water from a broken dam, showing itself in the possessive way he grabbed her, squeezed her, stroked her sides, making her rub against him. And she didn't shy away, reciprocating in equal measure by hugging him tightly, rubbing her tongue furiously against his, digging her nails into his shoulders through his shirt as he leaned her back, wanting to rest her back against the car dashboard...

BWAAAAAAANNNN!!!

The sound of the horn, pressed against Tomori's back, filled his ears like the very trumpets of the Apocalypse, nearly knocking his soul out of his body in fright. He jumps into the seat, and his head almost explodes with pain as it hits the roof of the car hard.

"OW! HOLY FUUUUCK!"

Tomori nearly falls off his lap in fright, clutching at him and gasping with wide eyes.

"My God! Naoya, are you- are you hurt?! Sorry, it was me, my back pressed against the wheel!," She says quickly while massaging his sore head. "Sorry, sorry...!"

"Oooow… damn, I…," He babbles, his head throbbing. "I hope I can still get a hard-on even with a head injury…"

Tomori laughs out loud, throwing her head back before kissing him again, and despite the pain, he gladly reciprocates.

"Jeez…," She laughs softly when they move away again, still massaging his head (damn, it felt so good, he didn't want her to stop!) "We definitely can't do anything in this cramped space. So...," She hugs him by the neck again, smiling seductively. "Wanna go to my house? My bed isn't very big, but I assure you it's comfortable..."

He almost replies that yes, he would love to... and then he thinks of all those dead eyes spread across the four walls of that homosexual sanctuary, the grimaces that could almost be interpreted as mocking smiles, the sweaty muscles and their owners, many his acquaintances, enjoying the spectacular view that was his ass up in the air...

“Hell fucking no!”

"I- I…," He tries to smile at her questioning expression. "I have a better idea!"

"Better than my warm, comfortable bed? Damn..."

"Don't get me wrong, I'd love to test the strength of your mattress, but don't you think we'll be more comfortable in a bed where I fit too?," He suggests, touching her lips with his fingertips. "C'mon, let me spoil you a little more, just for today…"

"Oh God… you're lucky I'm too horny to protest," She laughs, giving him a quick kiss before getting off his lap, sitting in the passenger seat with an excited smile. "Take me wherever you want. I just want to be with you all night..."

"Me too, Tomori..."

“I want it for all the nights from now on, if you want it too”, he swears in his thoughts as he starts the car. And for the first time, he drove in absolute joy, knowing that this time, their night had no end.

NEXT CHAPTER

#Kengan Ashura #Kengan Omega #kenganverse #fanfiction #Okubo Naoya #Naoya Okubo #okubo x oc #kengan oc #Rihito #Himuro Ryo #Kaneda Suekichi #Tokita Ohma #Narushima Koga #Gaoh Ryuki #Yamashita Kazuo #Sekibayashi Jun #Kono Haruo #Jose Kanzaki #Akiyama Kaede #cookies'n cream #the heavy bakery series

[tsuki-sennin]

YA BOY KEIWA BE COMIN' BACK TO THE DGP LET'S GOOO

But wait, fuck, we're still in the maze! It's terrible, it's tragic, it's terrifying, it's tremendous trouble towards the talented and tenaciously tender Tycoon's transcription! ...y'know, if he pops back in this episode, I'd hate to have wasted an alliteration if he didn't.

Spoilers, I guess...

-"Hey, you hate Geats right? How about we ditch him here and we eliminate him in no time?"

-"Are you shitting me? No, I'm not ditching him here. It has to be fair or it doesn't count."

-Alright, we're doing this the hard way then, gotcha.

-Noooooooooo, Keilow! :(

-Find the password!

-Noooooooooooo...

-Noooooooooooooooooooooooo......

-Nooooo :c

-Holy shit, kid.

-HE'S BACK BABY, TYCOON SWEEP

-"Grab my belt, raccoon boy. It's time for your comeback."

-That's right.

-Kamen Rider Tycoon.

-"Escort mission NPCs can't talk."

-Yeaaaaah, that's it, call him out Ace!

-"I'm too old for this shit. I believe in you, Keiwa-kun!"

-Monster!

-Ninja Time.

-TACTICAL SLASH!

-Ready... Fight!

-"Good to see you back, Keiwa."

-Gun time!

-Hot damn, do these boys work great together.

-Absolutely wrecked.

-Well, the Jamato are basically god.

-Seriously kid, you were badass earlier.

-Solve that there puzzle!

-Ohhhh, that's a Water Buckle.

-Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, Win's about to go sicko mode.

-...well, he was evidently planning to.

-"Sorry, onee-san, Hareruya..."

-Not a fox on a leash, are ya?

-Alright, Slots Get!

-Beat time!

-Man, RNJesus isn't particularly kind to you guys.

-Double Magnum!

-Damn, Fever... everybody this time around, that's surprising!

-I have to wonder how many spare suit parts they had lying around for this purpose?

-Goddamn, I see Ace went to the John Woo School.

-Hyper Magnum Victory!

-Jurapira?

-Oh, he says Henshin just fine, eh?

-Alright, the "n" sound is "ra", gotcha. Better pay attention, this'll be on the test.

-Holy shit, save some bullets for the rest of us, man!

-What do?

-Hirake? Open Sesame!

-I see, the word "Henshin" has a plot purpose.

-"You got this, right kiddo?"

-Seozuda!

-Seozuda!

-I hope we'll be able to see the rest of the cipher.

-Yeah, you get 'em home buddy.

-Good job, Yoshiki-kun.

-Ittetsu-san...

-You are a life lived, mister.

-"Retired" indeed.

-Yeah, Azuma's on to you Win.

-So, this garden dude... definitely gonna be keeping a close eye on him.

-Ohhhhhh, what that sword?

-Ohhhhh, that look.

-Right, that's all for today, eh? Damn though, hell of a preview to leave us with.

#the world's next round: trick shot of desire for the grand victory #kr geats #geats spoilers #kamen rider geats #kamen rider

[purekesseltrash]

Young and Menace Chapter 3 is out!

Shouta frowned into his noodles, unable to argue with the logic.  Silence spread between them again, the ambient sounds of the 7/11 and the sound of rattling wrappers and chewing becoming the background.  “Do you remember the time that Oboro called the radio station while you were interning and pretended to be your mom?” He asked, unsure why that thought had come to him then.

Hizashi choked, leaving Shouta to eye him warily but the other man had a grin on his face before taking a swig of his chumai.  “Everyone was so fucking confused who he was talking about, ‘My sweet Hizashi is so smart, you must let him have airtime’, everyone was like ‘who the hell is Hizashi?’  Meanwhile I’d been bringing ‘em coffee and shit for months.”

Shouta let out a snort before he returned his focus back to his ramen, taking another bite of the still chewy noodles as Hizashi said, “Remember when he decided that it would be funny to drench the fire portion of the USJ?”

“I thought Sorcerer was going to have a seizure.”

“How was I supposed to know water would ruin it, they told me to figure it out and I did,” Hizashi said, bordering on a painful impression of Oboro’s voice.

Shouta sniffed, clearing his nose from what he told himself was the effect of the spicy broth on his sinuses.  Hizashi nudged his knee against Shouta’s, his face surprisingly open when Shouta looked over.  “You going down memory lane or something?”

“I always think about him,” Shouta admitted, not seeing the point in trying to downplay it, at least not to Hizashi.  Oboro had never left his mind.  He wasn’t sure if he ever would.  “I don’t know if that’s normal.  I don’t really care if it is or not.”

He kept his eyes on his noodles, not reacting to the way that Hizashi sucked in a shaky breath.  “I don’t know if it is either,” the normally bombastic man muttered, “but you’re not alone in that one.”

More thoughts under here:

- So I think that mutant quirks in BNHA are really interesting as a way to play with the issue of visible vs invisible disabilites.  Both are rough, both are debilitating, no question.  But being visibly disabled is really, really goddamned hard.  I have Tourette’s but you generally wouldn’t know if you were talking to me, not unless I was tired, stressed or comfortable with you, or a combo of all three.  My medication has really helped and my tics are very subtle.  This did not used to be the case and let me tell you this very plainly, it is much easier to be able to ‘pass’ as neurotypical than to be visible.

In this chapter in particular, I really like the idea of Shouta having to deal with the fact that, while he has faced quirk discrimination that has legitimately been unfair, he can at least still go into a store and buy a soda without being noticed.  I’ve noticed a LOTTTT, especially in fanon, that people tend to really focus on people with difficult/problematic emitter quirks and kinda tend to treat them like the pinnacle of awfulness but uh, they can still hide.  (this is also why I lose a lot of patience with Shinsou, both in canon and especially in fanon.  Sure he hasn’t had it great but like... he isn’t covering his face because he thinks he’s a monster or looking like the legit embodiment of a villain, dark shadow and all)

- Get ready for lots of bits where I play with how society handles its mutant population and the issues therein.  I love thinking about this shit.  I LOVE IT, it’s so interesting to me.

- You might be wondering about the ‘seeing sound’ thing.  I’ve decided in my head that Hizashi’s parents had these two quirks that, when combined, have created a mutant with a voice quirk and also a weird set of eyes that indicate a visual quirk in his ancestry, while also not expecting that Mic would have a dangerous quirk at birth and not have earplugs in just in case.  One parent had a quirk called ‘Subtitle’, which basically makes it so they can see words that are said, kinda like how we can see the ‘YEAAAAAH’ in Mic’s screams and can amp up their voice to a certain extent.  The other has a Mimic quirk, a mutant quirk where they can mimic any sound at any frequency, though they never used their power quite to the extent that Mic does.  They just think that they can mimic things very well, they had no idea that their power was actually that they had incredibly good control over the sounds that they could make.

- Murcielago is a fun character and I have so much backstory, y’all.

#erasermic #my writing

[an-sceal]

Sad news: Goonies doesn't hold up as well as I was hoping. I forgot how much of it is 4-6 barely teenage boys yelling over one another to be heard. I think it's one that if I were watching alone, I'd put on doing something else and look up for the parts that mean something to me. But I was trying to watch it with Best Wife and housemate and yeaaaaah...

-Bb!Josh Brolin was still adorable. The music was still great!

-Sloth. I mean. Choices were made. Choices were definitely made.

One thing I really have to shoutout in 80s teen movies is the simplicity of their formula.

"The rich guys are going to tear down the Xinsert community space of choiceX to build their Xinsert bullshit rich people thingX unless we can find the money to save it!"

+Improbable adventure/journey of self-discovery

+Training or booby trap or chase/escape montage

???Defeat???

!!!Success!!! (As announced by previously minor character in background just as all seems lost.)

%Brief Glowy Moment of Celebration Optional%

+SOUNDTRACK SINGLE OVER CREDITS

#reesa watches things #the goonies