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cursedcola · 7 months

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Prompt: "Will You Marry Me?" - Proposal Headcannons Characters: Everyone :) Part(s): Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octavinelle, Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde(here!), Diasomnia(Pt.1)(Pt.2) Fandom: Twisted Wonderland Warning(s): The relationship is kinda toxic because it's Idia and I have to be realistic - but it gets better as you read. Just know that there are themes of miscommunication, self-sabotage, self-neglect, and insecurity in both Idia and the MC. I gave him some character growth at least and some maturation to the character. Note: All Ignihyde has is Idia so I gave his piece some extra love(super long. Like, this isn't even considered a headcannon set anymore. I really went overboard, I'm so sorry). Not proofread for grammar since I'm a bit lazy right now. Also, I haven't finished his chapter in game because I'm too weak (seriously wtf is up with these fights). I know the plot mostly but forgive me if there's an inaccuracy in a reference

Idia had it made during his youth - and deep down he knows it despite all his complaining. He knows that he won the introvert lottery. For three years he was able to live in a reclusive dorm room with no expectations beyond showing up to class (via a tablet of all things) and doing his work. Sure, he had to return home at some point and deal with that hot mess...but it was a displaced problem. One to be dealt with whenever. As a full-time 'student' he had junk food readily available, his brother down the hall, all the games and tech he needed, and somehow managed to land himself a loving partner despite his quirks.

The Ramshackle prefect - someone he initially wanted nothing to do with. Chaos seemed to follow their every move and Idia wanted no part of it. He never expected to come within a twenty-foot radius of them without force.

For the record, force indeed was used. Unfortunately they had a nasty habit of being nosy. Very 'main character complex' of them, if you ask him.

Yet it worked in his favor. Their stubbornness and intrusive ways wormed a place in his stone-cold heart. It fueled his ego much to everyone's chagrin. Out of everyone - princes, busy bodies, future doctors and the literal fish mafia - you picked him. The noob cursed to lose all his 50/50s and rot in bluelight. Idia seriously questions your tastes, but hey! He beat the normies and that's all he cares about.

Well, at least that's how he phrases it. Underneath that god-tier ego is an inferiority complex that he tries to keep down for your benefit. Something about your mood dipping by 20% when he talks trash? He'd need Ortho to run another test on that. Just to be safe.

Unfortunately, he still can't reign it in all the way. Victories can be temporary and who's he to say that your relationship isn't a one-shot story? Nothing worthwhile is ever that simple. Good games always get sequels...so the question lingers, will he still be a main character in yours?

When Idia graduates, he fully expects for you to walk out of his life. He returns to S.T.Y.X and leaves NRC to fulfill his role back home. You have no reason to care about him when he's no longer nearby. Life isn't like an isekai manga. You won't wait for him - no, you'll get a taste for how life is without him and indulge. Slowly you'll stop texting him, calling him, playing games with him - well, he'll do it first! He refuses to be the second male lead that gets dumped when you finally find your prince. That's for chumps.

He'd rather you just up and leave this world! At least then he wouldn't be in this pitiful situation...but he's seen that crow's shitty work ethic. You're stuck.

Idia's scared to say the least. One could say that his self sabotage was in action before your relationship even began. Old habits die hard, and no one could stop his spiral. Not even Ortho. Idia left his little brother behind as well. The boy sent him off with a smile, promising to take good care of you in his big brother's stead. After all, you both were in the same year.

It's not surprising that he reverts to his old ways. A hard battle is even more difficult to win when you don't have the motivation to fight it in the first place. Idia loses his drive...and in turn his already negative outlook grows worse.

Needless to say, Idia ... neglects you.

Your relationship has always been more of an 80:20 than a 50:50 - with him taking more than he ever gave. You always set aside time and made sure he was comfortable. You respected his anxieties and dealt with his temper on more than one occasion. His jealousy. You indulged his hobbies, always tried to include him in on activities with your friends (even though he rarely ever accepted), wore your heart on your sleeve and always took the lead. You were always too good to be true.

Two years. Two years with him at S.T.Y.X and you at NRC. Not a day passed where you did not text him or call. Not a week passed where you did not video-chat or play a game with him. You made time. You checked in. Told him stories about your life an friends. Ortho often would send him recordings and clips as well. During vacations you'd make plans to see him and always invited him to come to campus for events. Even though he never accepted, you still always offered. Throughout it all he kept you at a distance, yet unable to fully let you go at the same time. He needed you to do it. He needed his inner thoughts to shut up and to have someone else to blame.

You. You. You. When would you stop? Why weren't you tired of him yet? On a good day he can be frustrating, so how were you not mad when he was physically trying to make you hate him? Were you waiting until graduation to drop the bomb on him that you'd leave for good? On another's arm or back to your world?

Imagine his surprise when neither happened. On the dawn after Ortho's graduation ceremony, Idia came out of his cave to greet him at the S.T.Y.X entrance. He would no longer be as lonely, and perhaps without Ortho around, you'd finally put distance between yourself and the Shroud family. All would be as it should.

He did not expect to see you at the gate as well. Ortho flew up to him with a bright grin and twirl in the air - babbling on and on about how he arranged for you to come work as a research assistant in the lab. After all, you had an extensive knowledge of blot as well as field experience. It was a win-win situation for the company and your relationship! You could now be a happy family! Isn't that just amazing?

"It was extremally difficult to keep this a surprise!...Brother?" Ortho halts mid-rant, his receptors going haywire, "Brother, your heartrate has increased and your temperature is dropping below stable levels. You must regulate your breathing pattern!"

White noise rang like television static in Idia's eardrum. He watched you thank one of the guards while handing off your suitcase. His pulse increased and mind went under water. How long had it been since you were together longterm? You looked different. More mature. Meanwhile he was still the same - physically and emotionally. Still the pasty shut-in with dark eyebags and energy drinks running through his veins instead of blood. He wasn't used to seeing you in person. How should he react? Should he hug you? Do you want him to? That's weird. He hasn't held you in a while - yeah, it would be creepy. Does he even deserve to? What made you want to work here anyways?! You could have gone anywhere. ANYWHERE. - Shit. You're looking this way. What should he do?! aHH! You're walking over!

He does what he knows best. Shuts down. You receive a disgraceful greeting. No affection. Not even a smile.

Idia's brow furrows at your approach and he buries his hands deep into the pockets of his lab-coat. When you lean in to kiss his cheek, he catches you by the forearms and holds you in place. "Since when were you going to work here? You do remember what S.T.Y.X is in charge of, right? Once you're in, there's no going back. Are you a masochist or something?" Ah. There goes the heartfelt reunion. Being home did bring out a more harsh and cut-throat side of him after all.

Despite his poor treatment, you don't react upset. Now the relationship has now become something of a 90 : 10. He knows you have no reason to come here other than for Ortho and himself. You really are an Otome protagonist, jeez. Willing to do all that for him? Giving up your future and friends just to be at his side...dammit. Don't give him hopes! Don't undo all the work he's put in to survive without you! Stop welcoming misfortune for his sake! You're stupid. Stupidstupidstupid .... man he loves that stupidity. Gods he missed it.

Shit. Not even an hour in and he's reverting.

You don't realize it but you're heading straight for a bad ending. He does though. He's read the guides and played more visual novels than he can count. As a pro, he needs to steer you off this villainy ending and towards the true route.

After all ... what was that one saying? Heroes will sacrifice you for the world, while Villans will sacrifice the world for you? He heard it from some normie bookworm...but it seems fitting right now.

Idia's no hero. He'll destroy his world if it means you get to be happy. Not that he had much of one to begin with. You...gave him a life beyond fiction while all he's offered is a curse. Literally and figuratively. Its time he returned what he so greedily stole. He'll make you move on through force.

The months are slow and difficult. Despite being nearby, Idia only ever seeks you out for work-related reasons. Even then he is very cold and dismissive . He also does not turn you away when you take the initiative. Just like old times, you linger around his room and prod him for attention. He wants you to leave, but also doesn't want to be cruel. So, he maintains this impassive position and lets you do whatever you please. Yet the situation is scarily similar to how you both were at NRC. Except instead of using his past as an excuse, he now uses your work dynamic to enable his noncommittal ways.

There really is only so much one person can take. After Idia left NRC, you pinned his switch in behavior on the lifestyle change and distance separating you both. You knew Idia would be someone you had to work hard for when you started to date, and so the situation was one you viewed as an obstacle to overcome. The solution was simple - you would go to S.T.Y.X and prove to him that you were willing to make it work. Without the physical distance, you hoped that he would let you in again. That you wouldn't have to hear reassurances from his brother anymore, and instead hear his feelings from his own mouth instead. Then you both could work out the details together in time. Seeing him reject you at first was discouraging, but you did not let it rest there. Perhaps he needed time and to get used to your presence in his home. After all, these were new waters. You would be patient. You would prove yourself capable.

Life becomes a time capsule. As the days went by, a bitter feeling grew in your stomach. Why wouldn't he laugh? Why wouldn't he look in your eyes anymore? Why is he retreating even further? What were you doing wrong? How could you fix it? Is it you? Your performance in the lab is outstanding according to your supervisors, and your work friends seem to find you agreeable enough. Can't he see that you've adjusted well and are happy here? There's nothing to worry about. How else can you prove yourself?

These thoughts plague your mind to an extend that Ortho felt the need to preform psychiatric evaluation. You dismissed his concerns with a long list of things about your new home that make you happy - including him. It pacifies his panic and somehow mitigates your own as well.

Until one fateful day, when you decided to take your lunch early and overheard a conversation between two senior S.T.Y.X employees

"Isn't the boss' partner kind of pitiful?" One technician spoke in a hush whisper, taking a bite from her salad, "He doesn't give them the time of day. I can't believe they've stuck around this long. Screw the job, I would have been out after the first week," "Shhh! Quit gossiping, it's bad. Especially about the one who pays our bills," The other scolds. "I know....but isn't it just sad. They're clearly being taken advantage of. I can't help but feel sorry" "It's not just you...to tell the truth, I had no clue Director Idia had a partner up until recently. If anything, I thought he disliked Assistant MC and kept them around for Director Ortho's sake. Imagine my shock..." They both snicker at the notion. "Yeah. I give them a few more months...maybe a year. Despite being smart in the lab, they clearly can't read the room:

It was the last straw. Like ice water being dunked over your head after a hot shower. The lunch pale in your grasp suddenly felt like it weighed ten times heavier, and a cold sweat dripped down your back. They were right. He didn't want you here. It was time to move on or else you'll just be living out an endless loop. Nothing has changed since your youth aside from the location. No matter how long you wait, no matter how much effort and time you offer ... the relationship is doomed to fail. You gave him everything...and it was time to stop waiting. To stop expecting and hoping. Time to accept reality.

Your lunch goes discarded in a nearby bin and your shift abandoned. You would not work another second for S.T.Y.X despite the facility not being the source of your anguish. Your shoes clack loudly against the tile flooring as you speed-walk to Idia's office, where he was lazily reviewing data on a recent experiment. His phone set off to the side with some automated gatcha daily playing.

You use your 'special' pass (curtesy of ortho) to get in. The metal door swings out as you march inside and turn off his screen without asking.

"H-h'-hey! What are you-" He shrieks and turns in his chair. "We need to talk" "Can't it wait until later? I'm busy working, if you can't tell" "No" Your tone is demanding. Definite. You all but yank the badge from around your neck and drop it in his lap. In that motion, he knew. Your eyes scrunch tight and teeth grind together. He was prepared for this. For you to lash out and yell at him for your suffering. Make him the bad guy in your story and finally beat the game for good. Not for you to deflate. Not for the glassy, disappointed stain on your eyes. Or the shallow breaths as you calm yourself - not letting your emotions frighten him like a spooked cat. "I'm quitting," "S.T.Y.X? You know you can't just quit. There's a process," He refutes, lazily pushing his chair back with an anxious fidget. "Not just S.T.Y.X...I'm quitting us. I can't do this anymore," "Oh. Alright. Let me get the paperwork," "Alright?" You whisper, gaping at him "...just alright? That's all you have to say to me? Not even 'why' ?" He pauses typing on a holographic keyboard, cocking an eyebrow at the question. "What? You want me to beg you to stay or something like that? We're not in an anime," His words die out at the end, and had it not been for your disbelief you would have caught the note of sadness in them, "you want to go? Then go. I warned you about this place" "No...you warned me about the facility. It's not the facility I have a problem with. I actually like it here" "So it's me then, huh? I warned you about that too," He grumbles and continues to type, "I'm not whatever it is that you saw in me. It's your fault for sticking it out this long. I knew this was how it would end from the start" A silence follows aside from the occasional noise from his computer. That's it. The nail in the coffin. You finally realized the truth. He was no good for you. He couldn't be 'fixed'. With an approving chime, he finally has all the departure paperwork pulled up for you to sign. "Alright. Sign these and I'll get you an escort," He holds out a tablet in pen without looking from his computer. You don't take it. "Hello? I said - " he turns to face you, irritated "....here" Silent tears stream down your cheeks and pool at the tip of your chin, dripping to the tile below. Wide eyes lock in his general direction. Your hands tremble slightly at your sides, as if your mind was thousands of miles away. His heart breaks. "You never even gave us a chance, did you?" He says nothing. "It wasn't about 'making it work' for you. It was always a matter of 'how long'. You've been waiting for me to leave you, all this time?" It wasn't a question. "All this time, I've been trying to prove myself. I've been thinking that I did something wrong...that I needed to be better" the word stings your tongue and seems to strike him, " but I was never even close to enough" we were never enough

With languid movements, you take the pen from him and sign the papers. You would not hide your sadness. Your grief. Your pain for a relationship that was never actually one. For a battle that only had one party fighting.

He lets you go, the metal door swinging shut and rattling him to his core. Idia's hands shake as he tries to return to his work. They tremble over the holographic keyboard, making his blue nails look like moving neon streaks in the air.

He had always thought you ere just being kind. That your self-sacrificing nature was natural, and that someone else was more deserving of it. He failed to consider the possibility that all the things you did...you did for him alone. You did out of the same anxieties and fears he felt.

In a way, you both were at fault. He led himself down a self-fulfilling prophecy - letting his anxieties and what-ifs become reality. And you? You thought everything could be fixed with time. With sacrifice. That eventually he would grow. You both were plants, one overwatered and the other left parched in the sun.

He did get one thing right. This was defiantly a bad end. Just not in the way he originally believed...

Somehow, life becomes worse than before you arrived at S.T.Y.X. At least when you were around, people did see him more out of his office or room. Seeing him revert to his previous ways without so much as an inkling of sadness for losing you....yeah, it did not look good. Worse than people not even knowing you were his partner at first. After your departure, rumors began to spread that you had finally snapped. The pity felt for you morphed into judgement towards his character. Others saw him as a heartless recluse, and the pity was extended to Ortho of all things. If Idia could toss out a loyal partner of years, what about the little robot? Perhaps despite all the gossip, the others at S.T.Y.X did not fully believe that he would let you leave so easily. That he wasn't as detached as the Shroud name dictates.

Little do they know that he's become a shadow of his former self. He can't even act self-depreciative. Pleasantries don't hit like they used to. Having you at a distance...well, was still considered as being with you. Now that you're never coming back, it's harder. Everything reminds him of you. Your favorite snacks are still stocked in the cafeteria, and there are blankets in his room that still have your scent. Occasionally a file will pop up with your work in it while he's doing reviews...and then there's Ortho. When you left, he was crushed. He pestered Idia for days - the security cameras giving him full knowledge of what happened. Yet no matter what the robot said about the situation, Idia didn't want to hear it. Eventually he took away Ortho's access data to his personal spaces.

That didn't stop the bot from talking through the door and spamming his brother's inboxes. Despite cutting off contact with his big brother, you still spoke to Ortho regularly. He refused to let his big brother lose all connection to you, and updated him on your well-being. Regardless of what Idia said, hearing about you made a difference. At first it increases his anxiety and drops his mood...but every time, like a scheduled delay, his serotonin levels will spike. Be it from a clip of your voice, a picture, or even just the mention of your name.

"Brother! I just finished a call with MC. Today they decided to adopt a cat! Would you like to see a picture?" His computer beeps with an incoming missive. Idia clicks it, and the screen displays a photo of you with a small white kitten in your arms. "They've decided to name it Grimm Jr. From what I heard, the predecessor was not pleased to be 'replaced,' as he calls it" Ortho laughs from the other side of the door, but Idia is too focused on the image on his screen. The curve in your smile and the way you gently cradle the kitten. You seem...happy. Much better than how he is doing. He fails to hear the door beep, granting access, neither the bot fly up next to him to look at the picture. "Big brother, why don't you apologize to MC? They would listen," Idia startles, clutching his chest as his hair flairs cherry red for a brief moment. He swivels in his chair and closes the image quickly. "I'm not apologizing for nothing. It's not like I miss them or anything. My life's great without having a normie relationship to manage" "Your body language suggests that you are lying" Ortho states, his eyes squinting cheekily. Idia hunches over, glaring at his keyboard and fiddling with his sleeves, "It's not like they'd want to see me anyways. I blew it. Only an idiot would forgive what I did," "That's not true! MC loves you!" Idia glares at him from the corner of his eye, "Yeah? They look pretty happy without me. They were miserable here" "Because you purposefully made them miserable! You are very smart brother, but even I understand emotions better than you and I am an artificial lifeform!" "Then what should I do, Ortho? Go beg them to take me back like some cringe sitcom?!" "Yes!" Idia blanches at the thought, but doesn't entirely dismiss it. Ortho glares holes into his head, causing Idia to shrink into his chair. "You are always afraid, brother. You lost them to your fears once...do you want to regret that? Are you really satisfied with pictures and stories? Why deny yourself wonderful things! We are not trapped anymore!"

Ortho leaves him with one piece of information - an apartment address. He sends it to all of Idia's emails and even somehow makes it the background of his tablet. He can't change it or take it off.

He stares at it long and hard. Searches the place up and even uses virtual reality to scope out the building. While perhaps a bit creepy...he hacks the security cameras and watches feed of you coming and going over the past moths. Some days you look perfectly well, and others you look worse for wear. If he went...would you even want to see him? Would you let him in? Kick him out? Is he willing to even try? What if you already moved on...no, Ortho wouldn't set him up for that if he knew you were happy with someone else.

Idia leaves S.T.Y.X for the first time in months. His request for leave shocks other employees. Yet he's gone the moment it's approved, afraid that he'll lose his edge if he thinks too long on it.

He finds himself at the door of a middle-class apartment in the Kingdom of Roses. Second floor, third door to the left, just like he memorized. He knows its yours from the ribbons tied on the doorknob, themed after one of your favorite animes. One he introduced to you...

In his hands is a small box of candies - a peace offering, just in case you want to kill him on sight.

His boney knuckles wrap around the doorknocker and thwack it three times. Sweat pools in his palms and he jolts away. The seconds like hours as his painted nails dig crescents into his palms. The door opens. "Hi, how can I -" You pause mid-sentence, your mouth going dry. Grimm Jr. snuggled in one of your arms while the other holds the door open, "I-idia?" "T-that's my name," He grimaces, looking anywhere but at you. "What are you doing here?" His tongue feels heavy and the tips of his hair fade to a pale orange. He studders and fumbles with the box of candies, holding them out to you with a grimace. "I wanted to see you...urk. I hope that's not weird! Can ... I come in?" You eye the box in thought, before reaching out to take it and opening the door further. It was a start.

You hear him out - through the stuttering and the self-depreciative comments that he hastily retracts. This isn't just about him. It's about you and everything else in-between. Shockingly enough, you agree to give him a second chance. It wasn't entirely his fault after all ... and you did still love him. Although now there are ground rules. You would not be returning to S.T.Y.X. You've finally created a stable home for yourself and have a life in this new city. You have a career, friends, and a life that doesn't include him. You need the individuality. You would no longer try to morph yourself for him or be placid. If he wanted to spend time with you, he would have to leave S.T.Y.X and come stay at your apartment. You would no longer be the one always reaching out, he would have to start showing initiative and making time for you. You would see how things progress from that point. He was not a child, and you would not beg for basic needs to be met anymore. Words would not be enough, you need actions. It was time for 50 : 50.

Weirdly enough, he agrees to all your rules without a single complaint. Not a normie comment or slang filled statement leaves his lips. He's still that nerdy dork you fell in love with at heart, but these 'normie' things? Well, Idia's accepted that he wants those things. As much as it is difficult for him to admit, they only grossed him out so much before because he always believed they were unattainable

He's true to his word. He calls you every day, first thing when he wakes up (in the late afternoon. He still is a hermit at heart). At first it made him anxious, and he'd hover over the contact for fifteen minutes before dialing. Yet it soon became easy, with his heart only beating fast from happiness. He takes the weekends off and comes to spend them at your apartments. Sometimes he brings Ortho and it becomes a sleepover with games - and at some point you start inviting your other heartslabyul friends from back in the day too. Eventually you do come around the compound again. It's awkward to say the least, considering how you left. Yet at the same time, it's a breath of fresh air. The others are shocked to see him out of his office, and he eats IN THE CAFETERIA. Woah. He calls you by your name and not 'assistant' when in public. Homie scares some people. That's what he does. He gives you a special watch for your anniversary. It's paired with on he has and solar powered, so you can contact him at any time. As a natural born worry-wart, he can't help but worry for your safety. Since watching the appartment CCTV is 'creepy,' he just asks that you wear the watch if you're going out anywhere. It won't die and with the click of a button he'll be alerted. In exchange, you can use it to contact him whenever you want. He'll always get back instantly since it might be an emergency. The watch is also directly linked to Ortho's system, so you can contact him as well. Who needs Cortana when you have Ortho?

For the first time, Idia feels secure in a relationship. He can't count Ortho since the boy is technically his creation. Ortho would always be there...and now? Idia's confident you will too.

Does that mean you should get married? Isn't that the next step in all this?

Well....shit (pleasant connotation)

He never would have tinkered with this idea before considering his 'family'. Who the hell in their right mind would marry a Shroud? A fool. Are you a fool? Maybe.

It's late evening on a Sunday night when you're both walking home together after hitting up a local diner for hearty eats. Wow. Look at him. On a date. So weird...pshh.

Idia walks at your side, forcing his pace to match yours. Not everyone is graced with his long stickman legs. His hands are buried deep in his hoodie and his posture is slightly slouched. Classic scary dog privilege for a nighttime walk - well, if his hair didn't scream valentine's day pink to the world. Although no one else has flaming hair other than the Shroud family, so he doubts anyone would interrupt.

You decide to take the long path home and through a nearby park. The night was still young for nightowls such as yourselves, and fresh air was always crisp at this hour.

Along that path you decide to stop at a cement bench by some vending machines and chill out for a bit. Despite having just ate, Idia gets you each a can of coffee.

He'd be leaving to go back to S.T.Y.X tomorrow. Like he does every Sunday. His gaze drifts to the watch on your wrist and thinks about adding some new features - maybe video chat? So he can see you throughout the day. He wonders what you'll be up to while he's stuck in the lab. Maybe you'll go shopping, or play a new game. Maybe you'll try out a new recipe or take Grimm Jr. out to play. He wishes he could see you during the week.

Ah. You're talking. He should probably tune in or you'll get mad at him. Why's it so hard to focus? He hasn't felt this uneasy in a while...

Why is he having these kinds of thoughts? It's weird.

"You okay? You seem a little spaced," You pull him from his thoughts, a concerned crease wrinkling your temple. "Eh. It's nothing. Just not looking forward to the week," he chuckles weakly. "I know that feeling. It's always a bummer when you dip. Not to sound clingy or anything" His golden hues spark for a moment, a pale pink dusting his cheeks as he whips his head to look at you.

"W-wait - really? I was just thinking the same thing...." "You were?" "Yeah. It's...kind of weird without you. Everything's emptier. Wow. That was pretty cringe. Sorry." He grimaces, internally screaming and knowing that this was going to replay when he tried to sleep later. You tilt your head at him, a slight frown on the cusp of your lip. Something tickles at his fingers and he looks down to see you lace your hand with his. "I miss you too," your words are soft. Genuine. He feels his neck grow hot, the pink glow radiating off him betraying him. Idia looks between your interlaced fingers and the drink in his hand. There...wouldn't ever be a 'right' time for this. Would there? You've waited long enough. He pulls his hand away and pops the soda tab off with deft hands.

"Hey..." he twiddles with the soda tab in his hands, "on a scale of 1-10, how are my odds of getting a yes?" "A 'yes' to what?" "To this, " he sighs through his nose, holding the tab out towards you with a shaking hand, "will you marry me?"

{A soda tab from canned coffee. Not the most charming offering, and it barely fits around your pinky finger. Yet, Idia's always been impulsive at his core. Had he not acted in the moment, he likely would have ran countless possibilities over and over in his mind. While not your forever ring, the tab will remain a sentimental piece}

{Idia is not a man with a keen eye fore jewelry - but he knows quality. Combine his eye for perfection with his craftsmanship and behold - a ring made from purified blot. The center gem is a piece of magestone in it's most refined state. The band is titanium and there are small sapphires along the molding. Since he would be wearing a matching band, Idia decided to keep the design simple. He prefers functionality over all. Yet he does want you to feel proud of his handiwork, so he includes vintage molding on your band only. He wears a smooth black band on his ring finger, and never removes it}

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst x reader #twisted wonderland x reader #twst scenarios #twst imagines #twisted wonderland imagines #twisted wonderland scenarios #twst idia shroud #idia shroud x reader #idia shroud #twst idia #IM DEAD #THIS TOOK FOUR HOURS #I LEGIT WAS NOT PLANNING TO WRITE ALL THIS #MY HANDS

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staneros · 3 months

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water.

you need water.

You've been running around teyvat for what seemed like days, weeks, or even months/years, but whatever you do, you had to keep running...

୨୧----⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆----୨୧

You had to keep running you had to YOU HAD TO no matter how much your legs hurt, your body aching, the lack of proper hygiene, just lack of ANYTHING you had to keep on running.

If you hadn't opened your device and actually TRY and farm this wouldn't happened but noooo, nooohoHO YOU JUST HAD TO TRY AND ACTUALLY WORK TO ONLY LOSE YOUR 50/50 TO QIQI

If ONLY you hadn't gone out of your way to farm for lyney. If only, IF ONLY!! BUT yet you just HAD to farm from him and now you're in liyue running through the grass of Guili Plans by the mililith, the qixing, the fatui, AND EVEN THE FUCKING ADEPTI + THE ARCHON HIMSELF

'But why?'

'Why would they chase you FOR NO FUCKING REASON being an ordinary person-ish'

Oh I'll tell you why,

ITS BECAUSE YOU LOOKED LIKE FUCKING CREATOR

While you were running trying to process all this bullshit happening, you accidentally ran into a cliff. How convenient...

"Come back here, imposter!" Ganyu yelled as she kept trying to chase you with other adepti following in pursuit of you while there were meteorites being shot towards you.

So far, the only ones who knew your actual identity was only dainsleif, the traveller(s), and Alice or so, you thought.

You reached a dead end, and out of pure instinct (and stupidness), you jumped off the cliff (wow, so smart)

You thought you were gonna die, but suddenly, you felt arms around you and got a weird ass feeling because the atmosphere felt different now...

so imagine your fucking surprise when you ended up at Mt. fucking HULAO carried by THE adeptus xiao

"Are you ok..?" asked xiao, which is now completely out of pocket, so of course, like any person would do in the hand of the fine ass adeptus, you tried to break free from his grasp despite being 10000000 feet in the air

"WHO ARE YOU??" You yelled since you could barely focus on anything, which is not the best idea when being chased by anything.

"not the right time." Xiao strictly said before teleporting the both of you to the Wangshuu Inn

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

"Verr, please allow me to make them reside here." Xiao side whilst hiding your face as Verr ,being the kind woman that she is, let him

As you got out of a fresh shower, Xiao had immediately set you down to tend to your wounds

"You aren't gonna hurt me, are you..?" You asked nervously, uneasy that he was gonna surrender you to the authorities to get you killed

"You saved me.. I would never do that. My Everloving Grace..."

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Creator's Note: hi yall saurrrrr i haven't posted in a long time now ikkk BUT in my defense my life has been busy since last year (no i did not get hospitalized like the classic author curse) but yk i was graduating my grade, going into a new one, meeting new friends, relapsing last last year and so on and so forth. Anyways I first started working on this since last year and just procrastinated till now.

most likely yall have forgotten me already (I don't blame yall) but since I'm still very small please expect more coming!!

#sagau #genshin impact xiao #genshin sagau #eroswrites!#genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin creator au #genshin xiao x reader #xiao x reader

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fuckyeahgoodomensfanfic · 1 month

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Good Omens Fic Rec: Big Name Feelings

FANDOM AU! • Crowley is a BNF fic writer, and Aziraphale is a lurking artist who might be just a little parasocially in love with him. How they ever became friends is beyond him, but here they are: One month out from Prophet Con, and Crowley is asking him to be his boyfriend. Just for the weekend, of course.

Length: 103,997 words

AO3 Rating: Explicit / Spice Level 🔥🔥🔥

Best for: Safe in Public, Human AU, Slow Burn, Fake Relationship, Pick-me-up

Triggers: None

Read it here, fic by ghostrat

*Minor Spoilers* It's here! The finale of one of the most entertaining and immersive fanworks that I have ever experienced is finally upon us! I feel like most of you who follow me here are aware of this fanfic or have read it. However, for those who haven't or might come across this post later: I'm begging you to read this one. Buckle up; it's a long post today.

So, if you're not aware, this fanfic involves writer Crowley and fan artist Aziraphale. Crowley, being ace, seeks a boyfriend to shield him from unwanted attention during an upcoming convention. Aziraphale, smitten, agrees to be the fake boyfriend. This Arrangement is sure to work out exactly as planned!

Every one of the author's stories feels cinematic to me. The worlds are always so real and immersive, but this one, in particular, will have you feeling like you're actually watching the story unfold in real life. Some of that is achieved through embedded media like chats, artwork, and Tumblr posts, bringing a sense of reality to these conversations. The rest comes from really rich prose. You'll flow through it very easily, yet deeply.

The use of fandom and a convention as the backdrop for this fic was, to be honest, genius. I've seen attempts before, but none captured the spirit quite like this one. The fandom lore for The Nice and Accurate Prophecy (the in-universe fandom they're in) was rich enough for us to fully grasp the shape and feel of why they loved it so much, yet it never impedes the ongoing story. This story perfectly captured what it's like to be a fan: how friendships develop, how ideas and fan theories are freely discussed, the passion for a shared topic. The con, in particular, will fill anyone who has ever attended a fan convention with a strong dose of nostalgia and love. Oh, and having them in their 50s? Thank you! There is no age limit to fandom!

Having Aziraphale as the artist and Crowley the writer was not the most obvious choice, but it's one that worked amazingly well for the story! Crowley struggles with words and expressing his feelings in real life. However, in stories, he can build his own world and express whatever emotions are on his mind. Aziraphale, who does not wish to draw attention to himself in real life, expresses himself through his bold and beautiful artwork. His specialization in traditional, physical artwork is so fitting for him, though he's not unwilling to try new tech. There is a scene where they stumble upon some street art that Aziraphale had done. I teared up at that scene, and it's not even angsty! Just the casualness of it, how it's not Aziraphale but Crowley who boldly leads them to it, how Aziraphale doesn't sing his own praises. He's not self-deprecating, but he doesn't celebrate his work. He's still learning that he has value that's worth celebrating. At least now he has Crowley to teach him to be proud of himself.

They are both beautifully written characters. It's a real testament to the skill of the author to bring these characters into such a different reality and have them be unmistakably Aziraphale and Crowley. Sure, they're updated for the time and setting, but their souls are still the angel and demon we know and love. This setting is an amazing way to explore the different sides of their personalities. Crowley's asexuality, in particular, was one of the best depictions I've ever read. It brought a new level of understanding to me, and I'm sure many of you will feel a kinship with him. Really pay attention to what's being said here, there's some really deep and insightful passages that are worth analyzing. Like this moment, which may have been a subconscious thought, but again speaks to how deeply the author understands the characters.

This was such an amazing experience as a fan. I've never had a fic feel like this much of an event before. Every chapter drop was so exciting; I never knew what exactly to expect. And now, with the end being over 100k words?? Where did that word count come from! That's insane! I'm sad to leave this iteration, but I'm so excited for what's to come next. So please, if you haven't read this, give it a try. It's such a impressive work, so much time and effort was put into this and you can tell. It's not only a love letter to Good Omens, but one to fandom and fanspaces as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this journey

There are some explicit scenes towards the end, but they are all marked and skippable, so I'd say you're perfectly fine reading this in public.

Edit from after actually seeing the finale: no I’m not tearing up it’s just really dusty in this room. I’m being so normal rn 🥹🥹🥹

Read it here, fic by ghostrat

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fairykazu · 7 days

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this event is to celebrate my blog, fairykazu, hitting 500+ followers! as it is spring, it's themed after flowers! this event includes genshin / hsr characters (which will be listed under from sender), prompts are listed below flowers and the bouquets (fics) will be sent.

HOW DO I ORDER A BOUQUET ??⋆｡˚ send an ask to order! as for an example, "can i have a bouquet with prompt and character ?" feel feel to add more to your request so i can write it better.

𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒PICK YOUR FLOWER ⋆｡˚ daisy - collecting flowers on their way home carnation - walking in the park iris - new beginnings daffodil- picnic dates red rose - falling head over heels in love aster - weekend trips tulips - making flower crowns magnolia - riding the bike to the bakery in the morning lily of the valley - dancing in the rain in bright sunshine liliac - a gift of fresh flowers every week rosebud - spending their days outside petunia - realising their feelings blossoms - enjoying spring in the countryside poppy - risking something in order to achieve something jasmine - tea parties in the garden snapdragons - the park becoming their second home

𓍢ִ໋🌿FROM DESIRED PERSON ⋆｡˚ this is likely going to be a genshin-centric event but i might write for other hoyo characters if i can. (i might write new characters that i haven't yet & please note that it might be written out of character.)

genshin: scaramouche, albedo, xiao, kaeya, kazuha, childe, heizou, lyney, itto, yelan, ayaka, yoimiya, ganyu hsr: dan heng, stelle, gepard, aventurine, topaz, seele

𓍢ִ໋💐༘ BOUQUETS ARE SENT ⋆｡˚ located in tevyat: snapdragon from kaeya magnolia from heizou petunia from lyney

out of this world: petunias from dan heng poppies from aventurine irises from aventurine lily of the valley from aventurine tulips from aventurine red roses from gepard petunias from gepard

THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING THIS SERVICE !! vidia's note: thank you so much for 500 followers, i didn't even know i'd make it this far! it feels like yesterday that i had only 50 followers. i might take a long time on writing these fics so keep that in mind!

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wheelsup30 · 20 days

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He loves me not (Aaron Hotchner x GN!Reader)

(Note: Here's a little explanation of hanahaki disease for those who haven't heard of it: x)

cw: hanahaki disease, slightly gorey and gross descriptions, unrequited love, gender neutral reader, ANGST, death.

word count: 1.5k

dividers: x

tag list: @ralvezfanatic @softhairedhotch @samsgoddess @pisceslovrr

Guilt.

That's the last thing you should have felt staring down at the palm of your hand after the agony and panic you'd just experienced, but as the air made it back to your lungs, you were overwhelmed by it.

All he'd done was smile at you. That's it, just a quick, reassuring smile as he went past you to his office. Yet here you are in an empty hallway coming back from hacking up a lung. It had been going on for a while now, only recently it seemed to have worsened from once a month to almost every day. Even now it felt like every time he looked at you there was a rattle in your throat that needed clearing.

The outcome itself had worsened too with time, they started off no bigger than baby's breath, but now they had grown to roses, thick and blood soaked that make you gag as you pull them from the back of your mouth. ‘Well, at least it's only the petals…’ you think to yourself as you go to the bathroom to wash your hands and dispose of what had been expelled from you. You shudder to think what it would be like if stems got involved…especially roses…

“Y/n?” Shit. Emily.

You scrub your hands quickly after tossing the petal in the trash, glancing over at her and smiling as she looks up from her phone.

“You okay? You just walked off in the middle of your paperwork…”

“I'm fine,” You assure her, hoping there's no blood on your teeth.

It’s convincing enough that she leaves you be, giving you time to wash the taste of copper and soil from your tongue. This couldn’t keep happening, it was only a matter of time before someone found out and tried to take you to a treatment centre, and then they’d all know. Aaron is married, you could never do that to him or Haley, so you’d resigned yourself to at home solutions and managing your symptoms by…well…hiding them.

Eventually you make it back out and are immediately called to the table, keeping your eyes fixed on JJ as she gives you the case information. Hotch sat in the same seat every time, so it was easy to ignore him and avoid another disaster. Most paperwork days went like this, 50% done and then you’re off again, giving you even more paperwork for when you get back. It was one of those things that made you whisper how you loved your job as you resisted the urge to actually bite a chunk out of your desk. You feel someone reach towards you as you stand, but you move out of the way before they can stop you in case it’s him. Fortunately it’s Emily, and she follows you down the hall, hand on your arm and a look of concern guiding her brows together. “Hey, what’s going on with you? You stood up like you got electrocuted.”

A shaky sigh slips from your mouth, and you shrug, faking a tight-lipped smile. “Just a little tired, I guess I’m jumpy.”

You weren’t. Not like this, anyway. You knew that, and so did Emily, but she also knew you were stubborn as all hell and if you didn’t want people to know something- you’d take it to your metaphorical grave.

Two and a half hours later, everyone stood in a small but relatively functional sheriff’s office. The case was pretty cut and dry, a local killer targeting public areas by a town she felt wronged her as a child. Most of the case was spent on different errands with JJ and Rossi, anything to avoid being left in a room with Aaron, you knew with this small of a workstation you’d have to speak to him and an episode would be close to unavoidable.

It doesn’t take long to track the unsub down, finding her at the scene of her first childhood crime. You approach her carefully with everyone else’s guns trained on her as you try to convince her to turn herself in, she’s hesitant at first, but with a few minutes of talking between you it finally seems like she’s calming down-

Then she lunges at you.

Everything happens in slow motion, Morgan runs to pull her back while someone else pulls you too, turning you to bury your face in their chest. Everything is a blur of panic and adrenaline, any noise muffled by your pounding heartbeat while you catch your breath…which is when you smell it.

His cologne.

You are wrapped in Aaron’s arms, one of his hands on your back and the other stroking your hair as he tries to get you back from your startled state. Little does he know, he’s making everything else worse.

The burn is slow at first, like a scraping on your throat that you might be able to wash away with some water, but as you walk to the car with his arm around your shoulders it grows into a firm pressure- then a blockage. You can only clear your throat so many times before it moves enough that you have to cough it out, and you do at first. Until there’s another, and another, and soon enough you’ve fallen to your knees, trying desperately to catch your breath as petals clog your trachea. It’s too much- you can’t even tell what the others are doing through your dizzy head and frantic attempts to inhale through the blood and flowers.

Aaron, as anyone would, panics. He tries his best to smack your back to help your coughing, but when your breathing goes from strained to nearly non-existent, he knows he has to act. “What’s wrong with them?” He shouts, looking at the others for answers he wouldn’t be getting, but Emily still tries.

“Are those petals?” Horror laces her tone as she’s struck by a realisation. The avoidance, the way you’d been so jumpy earlier and had gone to her with questions the past few weeks instead of Aaron…

“Hanahaki…” Spencer says it as the word springs to mind for her. “Hotch…you’re the only one that touched them.” They’re outside, but the temperature drops when they all realise what you’d been hiding. You were in love with him, with your boss- a married man. It didn’t take a genius to realise why it had gotten so bad, the stigma the disease held in the first place was enough to make those that caught it wary of getting help.

It occurred to Aaron at that same time that you had been acting strangely, he had been so caught up with Jack and Haley that he hadn’t had time to notice you. You had been one of his closest friends, once upon a time, but when Haley got pregnant…that’s when it started. Frequent dinners with the two of them became monthly, then special occasions with others, then…nothing. Hell- you’d even declined his invitation to the dumb superbowl party the two of you crashed at Sean’s every year…and he hadn’t noticed. Maybe if you’d said something, or if he’d seen the signs earlier he could’ve let you move past it- he could’ve let you down easy and had his best friend back just as fast. He frantically thinks that maybe there’s still time, and cradles you in his arms, his breathing shallow as he sees your eyes start to roll back.

“No. No, no no-” Hotch jams his fingers in your mouth, almost down your throat, frantic to save you as the petals and blood cling to his fingers. “Please-” He whispers, trying to keep your mouth angled down so anything in it will drop out. You stopped breathing over a minute ago, but he still holds your body close to his chest, desperately crying over it.

“I love you, I love you so much, please don't die- I love you- why isn't it working!?-”

It wouldn't. Of course it wouldn't. Aaron Hotchner loved you…but he wasn't in love with you. Yes, you were his best friend, but you were just that…his friend. His friend who brought wine to every dinner, his friend who was the first to meet his baby boy after Jack's grandparents and at the same time as Haley's sister, His friend who sat through every late night phone call where he stressed over Sean’s future…And now you’re gone.

Blood had been dripping from your mouth…Aaron didn't notice till Rossi took you from his arms and helped the paramedics bag you up- who had called them? He didn't know, he was too distraught just seeing you lifeless. Even after you were gone, your blood and those petals coated his hands and shirt.

He wanted to grab you by the shoulders and scream at you, how could you just sit back and let yourself suffer? How could you be that selfish?- No. No, it wasn’t selfish. You were anything but. You had chosen to let yourself die to something entirely curable so that Aaron could’ve lived his life none the wiser to how you felt…so that he could be happy with his wife and their new baby. His life was supposed to be perfect…but instead he was left with a disease you’d passed onto him…one entirely incurable.

Guilt.

#leowrites #aaron hotchner #criminal minds x reader #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner angst #criminal minds #hanahaki #criminal minds x gn reader #aaron hotchner x gn!reader

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ilovejuicymw2men · 6 months

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- SUMMARY; graves has came back from deployment. he's touch starved. enjoy you whores :3

- CONTENT; 18+ only, fem!reader, unprotected sex, graves saying "that's it." around 50 times, strong language, creampie? ( i'm too scared to look up what a creampie is so i'm just going with it )

i ain't doing a word count cause who got time for allat!!

i dont use capital letters cause it looks neat.. let me live

you were putting some leftover salad in the fridge from earlier, going over to the sink to wash your hands. you hear a familiar voice behind you. "miss me darlin'?" graves sneaks his hand around your waist. resting his chin against your shoulder.

"phil? i didn't think you would be home for another month i haven't made you a proper meal yet-" your interrupted by his hand clasped over your mouth. "shh." he says, "m' not hungry anyway. for food atleast." he says, planting a small kiss on your cheek.

you turn around, looking at his battered up face, "shit, are you okay?" you mutter, your hand automatically raising to cup the fresh cut running from his ear to his cheek. overlapping his previous scar. "im fine princess." he says grabbing your wrist and putting it onto the counter. before leaning foreword and kissing you.

you let out a little breathless whimper as he grasps your hips, hard enough to leave a bruise. he doesn't break the kiss, he moves to your neck. sucking on sensitive parts of your skin as you grasp the back of his head.

he picks you up effortlessly, hurdling you over his shoulder and up the stairs. into your bedroom which you had just cleaned. he gently placed you down onto your back on the bed. he admires you from the end of it, before shutting the door and clambering on top of you.

he begins to tug on your shirt, "hands up." he says in a commanding tone, you do as your told. lifting up your arms as he glides the soft fabric over them. and onto the floor. "holy fuck." he says examining your breasts. he could cum alone at the sight of you, defenceless. infront of him.

he removes his own shirt, and belt.. and pants. until he was left in his boxers. he slips a finger under the rim of your underwear. a shiver runs down your spine at the feeling. he slowly removes them. not looking up. "god your so beautiful." he mutters to himself as he lowers himself down to the end of the bed.

he spits on his hand before coating your already wet cunt with his own saliva. "so wet for me aren't you?" he smirks to himself before lowering his head. his nose under your clit and stubble tickling your thighs.

"f-fuck phil." is all you could say as he begins to run his tongue up and down your folds. slowly, teasingly. "please.." you whine, arching your back a bit. "please what sweetheart." he says looking up with a sly look.

"faster." that was clearly enough for him. he speeds up, entering one of his fingers into your tight cunt. you mewled as he pins your thighs down. his tongue working magic on you.

your hands move down to grasp his hair, "i-i'm close." you mutter followed by another pathetic whimper. "shit!" you hiss, he adds another finger, than another. "oh god i'm gonna-" without any warning you release onto his fingers. "good girl." he says quietly. removing his fingers and sucking them clean.

he stands up, grabbing your stomach and flipping you over into a doggy position. he removes his boxers. his hard cock springing out of his pants. you hadn't fucked in 4 months. you knew it was gonna feel bigger than usual.

you faceplant a pillow at a low effort to cover up your moans, even tho it never works. he lines himself up at your entrance. before ramming himself into you. you let out a loud squeal of pain and pleasure into the pillow. gripping onto the bedsheets.

"your so- fucking tight." graves says, before pulling fully out. and slamming right back in. you let out another pathetic whimper as your face contorts. he starts at a fast pace, pulling out and then ramming back into you.

graves was letting out little noises, which he does very little. you push yourself further onto him. his tip kissing your cervix lightly. "a-ah shit." you let out a loud moan as he picks up the pace. repositioning himself so he's slamming right into your g-spot.

your vision was going hazy, you were close and so was he. "fuck baby just like that, that's it- your doing such a good fucking job." he would utter in between thrusts. his words made the knot in your stomach tighten even further.

"i'm gonna cum." you say, your words muffled into the pillow. he speeds up again. the room filled with groans and whimpers coming from you and graves. "don't cum yet." he says, it sounded more like a plead than a command but you comply. your face getting hotter by the minute.

"i don't think i can hold it-" you state, a whimper escaping your lips whenever you tried to speak. "i can't hold, i'm gonna cum- please baby.." you blabber on, your brain filled with nothing but pleasure.

"cum, cum on my cock baby. that's it, m' coming-" you do as your told, releasing all over his length. his orgasm chasing not far behind yours. the feeling of your tight walls clenching around him throws him over the edge.

he lets out a loud groan before burying himself as deep as he can inside of you, painting your walls white as you let out a breathless whimper.

"you did so good princess." he says before leaning foreword and kissing your forehead. "i'm gon' run you a bath, stay here. kay?" before you could obliege he had left to the bathroom. you tangle yourself in the sheets as you try and process what the fuck just happened.

help i lowkey started cringing in the middle of this but i had to persevere and pretend like i was in poe ai or some shit. but yeah that's my first smut!! :p

#smut #cod x reader #phillip graves #graves x reader #cod mw2 #call of duty mw2 #ilovejuicymw2men

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emotionallychargedtowel · 4 months

Note

Since you're familiar with tokusatsu actors and their journeys into BL, what kinds of careers historically have tokusatsu actors had as they start to get more credits and mature?

Thank you for the ask! This is a great question. It’s something I’ve been curious about for a while, as you know.

I never get tired of this gif of Seto Toshiki (a Kamen Rider alum with two BLs under his belt) eating cake. (It's from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, which he starred in with Iijima Hiroki of Our Dining Table fame.)

Oh, I should probably say at the outset that I'm talking about the suit transformation type of tokusatsu shows here. Technically the category is broader and also includes kaiju movies, but I'm focusing here on the kind of tokusatsu series in which human characters (or human-like ones) transform into masked heroes. I think that's what you had in mind, Ben, and it's the type of tokusatsu that tends to overlap with the BL world.

Another thing you'll notice is that I'm mostly going to talk about men here. Tokusatsu has been making some progress as a genre when it comes to gender equity, but it still has a long way to go. And since most of the progress that has happened, like the increase in female Riders, has been in the last few years, the actors who played those characters haven't had much of a subsequent career yet.

Now, to your question.

Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out a way to really look at this systematically. So, definitely take my conclusions with a grain of salt. (If anyone reading this knows more about this or has thoughts about how to get more/better info, I'd love to hear them.) The main source of information I have--aside from just soaking stuff up from watching tokusatsu shows and reading toku fans' tumblrs, of course--is looking at toku actors’ entries on MDL and seeing how many roles they’ve gotten, if they’re “guest,” “support,” or “main” roles, and trying to find out about the type of shows and movies they’re in.

One of the biggest weaknesses to this approach as an American viewer is that it's usually hard for me to tell what constitutes a popular or prestigious series or film even if I go to the listings for specific shows/films. I should also note that one thing that biases my “data” (to use the term loosely) is the fact that I’m more likely to look up this information about actors I like. Well, occasionally I’ll also look at info on some sample of actors out of curiosity, like a bunch of lead Ultraman actors’ subsequent careers or something like that. But it's usually more random.

A little background. As you're aware, tokusatsu roles often go to younger actors who don't have much previous experience. They tend to function both as a way of getting a foothold in the industry (building a resume, starting a fanbase, etc.) and as a way of learning on the job. Part of the reason they work so well in this regard is that they have long seasons. Ultraman seasons are typically around 25 episodes long, which is pretty long compared to many shows in Japan, but Kamen Rider and Super Sentai seasons are usually around 50 episodes long. This means two things: a toku part gets you a lot more of the aforementioned work experience than you'd get in other genres, and it provides a solid year of consistent work with additional work to follow (particularly hard to come by in Japan's entertainment industry, from what I understand). The additional work is substantial, too. There are typically post-series TV movies and touring live shows and there are often guest spots on other series in your franchise.

When it comes to landing other roles, as in other types of media, it makes a big difference what type of role you had. This is stating the obvious, I know, but there are some specific ways this works with tokusatsu series, and it relates to who ends up in BLs and in what capacity. So, all of the big three tokusatsu franchises are pretty ensemble-based but they still have distinct leads and some degree of a hierarchy of roles. Ultraman has the strongest leads, Kamen Rider has lead/title Riders and secondary (and often tertiary) Riders, and Super Sentai shows are especially ensemble-y (the word sentai basically means "squad," after all) but they always have some kind of group leader.

When I look up subsequent work by tokusatsu actors who had sizable roles in their toku series--lead roles, or other parts that are what MDL would call "main" roles--what I see most often is a lot of supporting and guest roles in a variety of TV shows and some films. You can usually find a smattering of lead roles as well, but if you look closely they may turn out to be smaller productions (but not always). When it comes to the number/frequency of credits, there's a lot of variation but an average case would be 2-3 such credits per year. Like I mentioned above, it's hard for me to tell how desirable/prestigious/well-paying those guest and supporting roles are. But they don't usually seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel or anything. So, yeah. Lots of these actors have different paths, but this is what I see most frequently.

Given how challenging it is to make a career out of acting in Japan, this is nothing to sneeze at. Despite its relative influence, the Japanese entertainment industry is still comparatively small, and there are only so many opportunities. In that context, regularly getting guest and supporting gigs constitutes a pretty uncommon level of success.

Could these folks support themselves on this amount of work? I often see just a few credits per year, so maybe not. But when I like a one of these actors enough to follow them on socials, it usually seems like they are supplementing those parts with other stuff like stage plays, toku fan appearances, modeling gigs, or other types of performance including music. Even with these different sources of income, some probably still can't live on their entertainment industry pay alone. But it appears that some can.

So that's the most common thing. One less common outcome is leaning really hard into being a tokusatsu actor for life. It's not typical to get significant roles in multiple toku shows, but it does happen. And some actors manage to play the same character in a lot of post-series movies, miniseries, etc. stretching out for years after their actual series. For example, Tsuruno Takeshi, who played Ultraman Dyna's human host Shin Asuka, has been in ten different Ultraman things including his main series, a short series, a lot of TV movies, and a special. Dyna aired in 1997, and his last appearance as Asuka was fairly recent, in 2016. That's almost a 20-year span. Yet Tsuruno has never had a non-Ultraman main character part. (Though this is partly because he seems to have focused more on his music career and related variety show type things post-Dyna.) There are even some actors who are tokusatsu superfans whose whole career plan is centered on the genre from the get-go.

For those who are looking to branch out, there are a lot of trajectories. So I'll try to talk about some of them through a few examples.

Takeda Kouhei

You probably knew I was going to bring him up. On Kamen Rider Kiva, Takeda's character was important but not the lead (he played the main character's father in the 1980s, in a timeline that ran parallel to the present day one). That was in 2008, when he was 22. Nine years later, in 2017, he was in Kamen Rider Build, in which he was the "tertiary" Rider. This character was a potato farmer-turned-antihero. As tertiary Riders go, he was pretty popular. But Takeda seemed to be mostly hovering at a certain level at that point. Then Old Fashion Cupcake happened. It's significant that he went from playing supporting characters (albeit important ones) to a lead character in OFC. It's also helpful that OFC came out at a point when the prestige of BLs was on the rise. It seems like Takeda has had more consistent and larger parts since then. The difference isn't night and day or anything, but it's observable.

If you look at Takeda's Build costars, Inukai Atsuhiro and Akaso Eiji, here’s what you'll find. Akaso has a similar trajectory to Takeda's only somewhat steeper. His role on Build (the secondary Rider) was a bit bigger, he seemed to get slightly bigger roles overall after Build, and Cherry Magic gave him a significant boost from there. Inukai had a bigger upswing early on followed by slower growth that still had him outstripping both Akaso and Takeda. From what I can tell, his “data” more closely resembles that of Yamada Yuki, who I’ll talk about in a second, though they have different niches.

Suda Masaki

Suda Masaki was only 16 when he played the main rider in Kamen Rider W in 2009, which is unusually young. (W has a unique premise where two different people inhabit the same Rider, so Suda played a lead rider but so did his costar Kiriyama Renn.) From what I can tell, he seems to have had a pretty organic path to larger and larger roles while varying genres and styles quite a bit. At this point he's definitely a very respected actor. (One interesting bit of trivia: Hagiwara Riku has said Suda is his biggest acting role model.) He's won two Japan Academy Film Prizes and been nominated three more times. I don't know of a more successful ex-tokusatsu lead. Actually, I looked him up for this post to fill in some details and found out for the first time that he also has a pretty successful career as a jpop musician. It's almost annoying that he's that talented in yet another area.

I don't see any indication that Suda has ever played a queer character, though he has definitely done some pretty bromantic stuff. He did kiss a man once in a drama series, but it was for plot reasons and was 100% played for laughs in a gross way. He also played a gender nonconforming character in the 2014 live action version of Princess Jellyfish. (Another bit of trivia: when another live action adaptation of Princess Jellyfish was released in 2018, the same character was played by another former lead Rider, Seto Koji from Kiva.) I wouldn't put it past Suda to play a queer character, if it was for a highbrow movie or something analogous to what Nishijima Hidetoshi has done in What Did You Eat Yesterday?, but I'm also not holding my breath.

Yamada Yuki

A less extreme case. Yamada was on Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. He was the blue member of the team, a soldier-turned-pirate. It may have helped Yamada along later on that Gokaiger is an especially popular Sentai series. Post-Gokaiger, Yamada didn't have any sort of big breakout role that I can find. It just seems like fairly soon after Gokaiger, he started having significant roles in TV dramas and has pretty much continued from there, with some upward momentum but no huge changes. When he was in a drama with Akaso Eiji recently, his part was first billed and a smidge bigger. Yamada's trend line seemed to have a biggish upward swing early and then just a slight slope from there. But I just saw him in something different: he plays the younger member of the minesweeper crew in Godzilla Minus One. I wonder if that will mark any sort of shift for him.

Yamada hasn't played any queer characters as far as I can tell. His Sentai role was shippy as hell, though. It's a tradition among Sentai shows that subtext-level queer ships happen between the red and blue team members, and that's exactly what happened in Gokaiger. Sometimes the subtext pretty much became text. If magazine images from that time are any indication, their relationship seems to have been a promotional angle for the show. There's even one where they seem to be in some kind of high school AU that looks like it's straight out of a BL.

what about women?

I tried looking up a few women I know from tokusatsu roles while I was looking up these and other dudes. Some of them were still in the business, at least. Some were getting the same trickle of guest and supporting parts a lot of men do after a tokusatsu show. A few had a slightly bigger trickle. But many of them seemed to have disappeared from the public eye entirely. Not only are women underrepresented in tokusatsu, and not only are their roles often relatively small and two-dimensional, but it doesn't seem like they get even a slight career boost after these roles.

It's possible this will change for some of the actors who got bigger, more interesting toku roles in recent years. Here's hoping!

The changing relationship between tokusatsu and BL

The relationship between tokusatsu and BL has been changing as BL gains more prestige, like I alluded to when I talked about Takeda Kouhei. There was a time when they seemed to be pretty analogous in terms of how hard it was to get a role and how effective they were as rungs on a career ladder. If you went from being a tokusatsu side character to a BL lead (like Takeda), that was a step up, but only because you were shifting from a supporting spot to a lead one. Tokusatsu leads usually didn't usually do BL or, when they did, only played straight supporting roles. I think it was seen as a lateral move. But now, BL is becoming a very established next step after tokusatsu. It's like BL has moved up in status so that the consensus is that it's above tokusatsu on the ladder, but just by a little bit. It's also kind of an organic transition since we're seeing more queer ships in tokusatsu that, while they mostly happen on a subtext level, are close to being canon (and in some cases, arguably already are). It occurred to me while I was writing this that there's also another type of role that is in a similar zone of accessibility and prestige to both tokusatsu and BL. It's a franchise, not a genre, but with so many movies and such huge casts it almost functions like a genre for the purpose of this discussion. I'm talking about the High&Low movies. If you're a fan of tokusatsu or BL, you'll see actors you know in every High&Low movie and if you're a fan of both, you'll see tons.

Case in point: Here's our ol’ pal Yamada Yuki. He's in quite a few High&Low installments. If only he’d do a BL and complete the trifecta! The only person I know of offhand who’s done a tokusatsu show, a BL, and a High&Low role is Takeda. I bet there are others, though.

the new (?) prestige tokusatsu

There's another piece to this I should probably point out as well. In recent years there have been some more high-budget, prestigious takes on existing tokusatsu properties. First, Anno Hideaki, who's best known for the Evangelion anime series/films, put out three live action features that are new, well-financed takes on three big tokusatsu properties: Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman, and Shin Kamen Rider.

Last year there was also a Kamen Rider series geared toward adults that had higher-than-usual production values called Kamen Rider Black Sun. It did that “you can tell our show is for adults because it's all gritty and grimdark" thing, which I'm not a fan of. But it definitely had its points.

Really distinguished actors starred in both the Shin movies and Black Sun, including Nishijima Hidetoshi, who's about as distinguished as it gets. Nishijima was in both Shin Ultraman (in an important supporting role) and Black Sun (as a co-protagonist--and he's the biggest highlight of the series). So these are examples of toku media that are too prestigious to be a springboard into the industry for most actors.

This seems to be a new phenomenon, though I could be wrong about that. I don’t expect the trend will continue at this pace (after all, so much of it is attributable to Anno alone and I don't think he'll continue down this path indefinitely), but I bet some other shows/movies in this vein will come out sooner or later.

Here’s Nishijima doing a henshin sequence. He does these moves with such commitment. Is there anything he can't do?

before tokusatsu

As I was writing this, it got me thinking about what actors do before their tokusatsu roles as well as after. It's not uncommon for toku roles to be someone's debut, but that's not really the norm. Even when it is, most of those actors were doing something in the realm of performing or modeling beforehand. I don't usually look at this sort of information as much as I do later roles when I'm investigating toku actors I like. So I looked up some people to try to get a sense of where the actors tend to have done before their toku parts.

There's one starting point that a whole bunch of tokusatsu leads share: winning the Junon Super Boy Contest. When I first saw references to it, I thought, OK, this is some kind of national talent contest. I guess there are probably lots of them. But when I looked for others, I didn't see anything come up. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places or using the right search terms. But I think maybe this contest might be pretty unique in Japan.

It's run by a magazine called Junon and, well, if I describe how it works it's going to sound really familiar to you and anyone else who's seen Utsukushii Kare, because it's pretty much exactly the contest Kiyoi participates in. Like, if it's not what Nagira Yuu was thinking of when she wrote that part of the UK novel, I'll eat my shoe.

A ton of tokusatsu leads won, placed in, or made it to the finals of that contest. The Tokupedia fan wiki even has its own page dedicated to the contest with links to various winners' toku characters. The majority of Junon Super Boy contestants who ended up in a toku series went to Kamen Rider, but there are some Sentai dudes as well and at least one Ultraman lead.

So I guess if Kiyoi had won that contest, he probably would have ended up on Kamen Rider or something. Weird.

Inukai Atsuhiro and Iijima Hiroki both won that contest. Those are the only two Junon Boys (that's what people call the contest winners) who became tokusatsu actors and were on a BL that I know of right off the top of my head. But it seems likely that there are other toku-and-BL or just BL actors who won, placed, or made it to the finals of this contest.

Other dudes who ended up on tokusatsu shows started out in other ways. Some were simply signed to agencies as actors. There's a fair number of them who were in idol groups. (Though when an idol/ex-idol is looking for a gig as a transition into acting, BLs seem to be a more popular choice.) Some mostly did modeling prior to their toku series. Some already had quite a few acting credits, though usually not very big ones. Although he's a Junon Super Boy winner, Inukai had eight other acting credits before Kamen Rider. Takeda had the same number, and he started young--his first credit is for a TV show that came out when he was 10 (though it took another six years to get a second).

I also looked up some women who've had prominent roles in tokusatsu shows, including more recent ones. The most frequent things I found when I looked for information on their pre-toku careers were that they had been models or idols (or both). It's also not uncommon for women in toku roles to be former or present gravure models--basically models who pose in bikinis or comparably revealing outfits.

The coolest thing I found was that Imoto Ayaka, who played Igarashi Sakura/Kamen Rider Jeanne, was an award-winning ballet dancer. Which is not only incredibly cool but makes a lot of sense in terms of preparation for a tokusatsu hero role.

I mean, just check out this henshin.

Well, this has gotten ridiculously long. Sorry about that. I may have gotten a little carried away. But thanks again for the question.

And now, I have something to write for @wen-kexing-apologist...

#tokusatsu to BL pipeline #tokusatsu #takeda kouhei #yamada yuki #suda masaki #junon super boy contest #kamen rider #super sentai #kamen rider kiva #kaizoku sentai gokaiger #kamen rider w #nishijima hidetoshi

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iamhereinthebg · 4 months

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Haven't they broken several rules they've established just for everything to revolve around Tsukasa? Like...

1. A mystery can't be defeated in their own boundary (and yet Tsukasa somehow ripped Kako's heart out in his own boundary)

2. You can't use your tsueshiro in a boundary without permission (and yet Tsukasa ordered his to hold down Mirai)

3. Nobody could move because the school's time was frozen (yet Tsukasa did, as well as Yashiro, and Hanako who if I remember correctly suddenly unfroze on his own to break down into tears)

The earlier chapters were way better at following previously established rules and concepts compared to whatever's going on right now

They did ! :))) (want to explode)

I can understand the idea that Tsukasa is a rule breaker, he did destroy the previous n°3 in his own boundary too and it was an interesting twist! I can understand the idea and why it can be interesting, but the way AidaIro using all others characters/plots to make him stand out is just terrible. Dirsregarding rules is not a new thing about AidaIro unfortunately but Tsukasa really wins all medals on breaking them.

As you said, he was able to move when time was stopped and for which reason?? We don't know. Hanako was able to move once Akane and Teru got to him, probably because Akane is a clock keeper and can somehow give the permission to people to move.

I said it before and I will say it again, but wanting to show a character is powerful/cool by making the others characters look stupid is terrible writing, and that's the feeling I got with Tsukasa in general. (and chapter 109 is just a whole sequence of the characters being made fun of)

We don't know where to stand because he has every kind of tropes attached to him. They want us to understand he is some kind of martyr who is 'omg poor lil Tsukasa who was so selfless at only 4yo boohoo' (no matter which translation I read for the red house arc, he is believable somehow with Kou but then we get the flashbacks with Amane and it's gone). They put him in an 'angel' position and naive position in a lot of aus, want us so bad to understand deep down he is a nice boy. When we watched him do every possible horrors on screen. And don't get me wrong, I don't mind this, it's cool. Him forcing Mitsuba to eat, creating him, the way he treats some characters... It's the way they are not doing that to other characters who is so strange in my opinon. They know how to handle grey characters like Hanako or Teru (from the reader's pov) so I don't why they try so hard to put Tsukasa in a good light.

He is not a believable kid character in the red house arc, being smarter than Kou and Nene is not making him cool, it's just making Kou and Nene absolute idiots.

Him destroying his shackles thanks to Mirai power? It's not him being clever, it's Mirai and the clock keepers being made fun of. Him knowing what Hanako should be doing by using Nene? Not making Tsukasa cool, it's making Nene just as an object for Hanako's love, and to get a reaction out of him, most of the time by making Hanako look stupid. (I could go hours on why Nene is just here to serve as a mean to Hanako's character since some arc rather than being her own person but that's for another day)...

I understand that Tsukasa is like 'the antagonist and should be some steps ahead of the portagonist' but it's just so repitive in the way he is unpredicatble that it became boring and predictable. I was overjoyed to see him like this in chapter 108. (which was let's be honest the only good chapter in this new arc)

Tsukasa is really good here, which is why the drop of quality in chap 109 is even worst. Seeing a new side of him as a supernatural and his sorrow/hatred for Amane is really great. He even moralizes Nene about why sometimes you just need/have to get yourself out of situations alone, and that's how he himself proceeds because his brother never went to see him in 50 years. That he had no choice but to do so. It's great! Really great! To see that he is also an unpredicatble character and who decides to do what he wants not taking people's opinions in mind, because even his older never helped him when he called for him during all this time. It adds a good layer to his character and seeing him weaker/not really knowing what to do is something we desesperatly need for his chacter. But as everything in chap 108, chap 109 throws it out of the window and goes back to the usual ' we have set ups but terrible pay offs' things that has been happening a lot in the recent arcs.

He is also way too OP. As you said suddenly his tsueshiros could move again and he got rid of Kako. Even Hakubo and Teru being ones of the most powerful characters, were defeated once, Tsukasa never was seriously. It's never explained why he is so powerful (probably because he has an entity inside him/he eats others supernaturals) but the difference of levels is just insane, and absolutely not compelling to read.

We don't know why he is doing what he is doing and they try so hard to make him mysterious. They want us to get to know him without saying anything relevant or his backstory. We are left with whole chapters of absolutely nothing. Welp too bad I am not patient enough to see Tsukasa doing random stuff when half of the characters have rushed characters development or none because 'there isn't much time'.

AidaIro want us to understand they love him and that we should too but they are just destroying every other characters rather than make him loveable.

I hate what they did with his character, his role is terrible because it's destroying eveyone else's. Tsukasa is the favorite and it shows, but it's so badly done that I can't help but hate him.

#toilet bound hanako kun #tbhk #tbhk spoilers #tbhk analysis #somehow idk #I will be honest Idc much about Tsukasa since I don't like him so it's really surface level #my opinion too but yes ahah #I am really bothered by how he is written #jshk #yugi tsukasa #yugi amane #I know the manga isn't finished and that we will get more backstory later but I am tired of waiting for him to be a loveable character to m #sorry Anon I used this ask to say why I think Tsukasa sucks #I think his personnality is funny i will be honest #but WOW his role? fcking terrible #jibaku shonen hanako kun #this post could be resume as 'I want him gone' tbh #and ty for the ask! I totally agree with you!

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sunandflame · 8 months

Text

Flame and Water, Epilogue

Ship & Trope: Kyojuro x Fem!Reader (Water Pillars Tsuguko) / Slowburn

Warnings: canon-type stuff / angst / huge manga spoiler

Word Count: 4055 Words

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I recommend listening to the playlist while reading this chapter.

Masterlist of Flame and Water

The porcelain cup fell out of your hand and you knew something was wrong. Something in you tore and left you breathless. You felt dizzy for the moment and had to hold onto the wall to not fall onto the ground. Senjuro saw it and saw your pale face, running immediately towards you and holding onto your yukata. "Aneue! Is everything alright?!"

You tried to catch your breath and rubbed your hand against your aching chest. "Yes, I'm fine, Senjuro. We should prepare something, since it’s Kyojuros birthday today. Maybe he'll manage to come back from his mission today." You took a deep breath and gave him a smile. To reassure him further you patted his head with your good hand. He smiled excitedly and went to work. Of course, that was a lie, but you didn’t want to scare Senjuro any further.

The aching in your chest didn’t soothe for the next few days until you saw Kaname, Kyojuro’s Kasugai crow, and Senjuro who fell sobbing onto his knees. Since that day the world was not the way it was supposed to be. At least not for you.

You didn’t remember the months that followed, even his funeral was in a blurr. You only knew that everyday was a new dread. And everytime you did not manage to suppress your feelings you started to hyperventilate, fear threatening to consume you again and again and again. It had no end in sight.

“Life has not been the same as before since I lost you.”

You had been advised to write letters to yourself to deal with the grief. But it did not change anything, not really. You were more reserved than ever and your friends and some of the Hashira had been worried about you. The cheerful side they had seen in you at the announcement of your engagement was all gone. Now you were just a shadow of yourself. As if your light had been stolen from you. The light and fire called Kyojuro.

"I talk about you, like you still haven't left yet."

Several months passed, you had left Rengoku estate a while ago since you couldn't bear the sight of Senjuro or Shinjuro. You felt sorry for Senjuro but your pain, the guilt you gave yourself was too great. If you hadn't broken your arm then you would have been on this train with him. Then you could have defeated this Uppermoon together. Then he would have survived. Then you would probably be married and maybe even blessed with a baby. But that was all just wishful thinking. A fantasy that would never come true again.

"You didn't say goodbye, and a part of me believes that means you're coming back."

But he wasn't coming back and the only thing you got from him was the flame breathing. After your arm was fixed and the cast removed, you started your training. And you were training like you had been possessed. You completed one mission after another, killed so many demons you lost count. You tried to distract yourself from your own grief that was holding so tight on you. Others tried to talk to you, tried to help you, but you just wanted to be left alone until one day the Kasugai crow from Ubuyashiki approached you.

You humbly bowed to the man who was now bedridden.

“My dear child, I may be blind, but I can see your sadness and anger at Kyojuro's loss. He really was an extraordinary child."

You stood silent. You had reverted to your old patterns after his death. Your mouth and facial expressions closed as ever. Your heart was not just broken, it was shattered into pieces, never able to feel anything again and yet he was able to break your hard shell with his soft voice.

“Master, how may I serve you?”

“I want you to be the next Pillar of Flame. You were Kyojuro’s Tsuguko after all and you also killed more than 50 demons. I'm sure he would have wanted that."

Your head snapped up and your gaze darted between Kagaya and Amane, your expression twisted in pain until you laid your head on the tatami in a deep bow to hide your tears, shoulders shaking.

"My dream of being a Pillar... If I had known that I would become Hashira at the cost of your life, I would have put the sword down forever."

Weeks passed and you performed the duties of the Flame Hashira with flying colors. Though your flame was not as hot as Kyojuro's. With the grief you were battling inside your mind and your shattered heart it was cold. You were cold.

“I don’t want them to know the way I loved you. I don't think they’d understand it. I loved and I lost you and it hurts like hell.”

Another two Uppermoons were defeated by Tokito and Kanroji. There was an exchange between the Pillars and they mentioned the young Kamado boy and how his sister Nezuko was able to conquer the sun. You remember the name as Shimizu and even his crow Matsuemon Tennoji approached you, telling you that Tanjiro Kamado had a message for you, but you had no desire to talk to anyone. Not because you had anything against the boy with the demon sister, but because you just wanted to be alone. Alone with your grief that you were not able to overcome. Kyojuro was your foundation. He had taken up so much space with his mood and volume, that it seems all the more empty now that he’s gone. His passing left a deep hole in you. And the worst part was you were slowly forgetting him.

“I can no longer remember the sound of your strong and steady heartbeat.”

Your thoughts were interrupted as you watched the argument between Shinazugawa and Giyuu. You understood what Giyuu wanted to say, but his choice of words were poor and he only got misunderstood. However, you chose not to intervene like Mitsuri did, but just to silently observe everything. The special training with the Hashira began, but like Giyuu you did not participate, not yet.

"You would hate what I've become."

Shimizu came flying to you and informed you of an emergency and forced you to follow her without giving any further information. That wasn't usually her way and a bad premonition settled over your thoughts when you recognized the way to the Rengoku Estate. Fear spread through you when you entered the property, breathing heavily from your run, and found it empty. No sign of Senjuro. Panic rose as you heard your own trembling voice calling for the little boy.

A shoji door opened and your eyes widened in surprise as you jumped slightly back. “Y/N, you're here. I'm glad you made it. Senjuro isn't here right now, but please come in. There's a conversation overdue between us.”It was Shinjuro, the father and also former Flame Hashira. He looked different than you saw him the last time. He had been drunk and you had been terrified and a different person that time.

And you remembered that it was the first and last encounter between the both of you. Although you had lived in the Rengoku estate for some time, Shinjuro always stayed in his room so you never saw each other. Now he looked at you with a clear gaze before returning back to the room and leaving you alone in the hallway and forcing you to follow him.

Shimizu, who had sat on your shoulder, got an angry look from you which made the crow immediately take off again.

With a queasy stomach you entered the room that was considered the place of honor for the Rengokus and where the flame haori was draped and the diaries were on the shelves. Shinjuro sat on his knees on the tatami mat and gestured for you to sit opposite him, which you did, but you kept your nichirin sword to your left as you weren't really comfortable being alone with him. You would never make the mistake of underestimating the former Hashira.

Of course, this did not remain hidden from his watchful eyes and yet he said nothing. His face was shaved and he himself was clean. He appeared generally very different, calm and collected.

“Senjuro missed you very much. He often speaks of you as his Aneue."

That gave you a pang in your already broken heart, but you said nothing. Was that why Shimizu tricked you here? You had missed Senjuro very much and it hurt you in your soul to have left the boy alone with his grief, but you couldn't stay. Your own grief, it was too much to handle as it weighed on you and you didn't want to put the boy through more troubles.

“Thank you for mourning Kyojuro-”

You gave him a sharp look that silenced him momentarily. What did he mean with thank you for mourning Kyojuro? What did he think was the relationship between the two of you? Your anger seeped through every pore, but you remained silent, since you wanted to know what this was about.

“Y/N, I am embarrassed about my behavior when we first met. I should have recognized you then and I should have stayed after your village burned down. I know you were alone and yet I had decided that you would be better off not knowing exactly what happened. I was wrong and inflicted a personal hell on you.”

All your anger evaporated with his words and your eyes widened as you saw the senior bow low, his forehead touching the tatami mat. "Rengoku-san, please-" You wanted him to get up, but didn’t move and let him talk.

“My dear wife became ill and died while I wallowed in self-pity over my own incompetence. So like the fool I am, I pulled away and drowned myself in sake. You proved to be a way better person by becoming a Hashira with what Kyojuro taught you.” He lifted his head and looked at you. “I want to give you the Haori of the Rengoku’s as only the Flame Hashira wear them and I am sure Kyojuro would have wanted that too.”

Tears formed in the corners of your eyes as they flitted back and forth between the haori and the Shinjuro, who took the white flame-patterned robe from the rack and folded it into place and laid it in your trembling hands. You stared at the white cloth on your lap until you slowly picked it up and rubbed it against your cheek. It had, of course, been cleaned and patched, but the distinct smell of Kyojuro was unmistakably still in it and the memory of him welled up, threatening to overwhelm you.

A desperate wail escaped your throat as you cried bitter tears with the haori in your arms. The first tears since Kyojuro's death. You couldn't take the suppressed pain anymore and needed something to hold on to and then you felt the big warm hand on your shoulder and looked with tear-filled eyes into the eyes of a father who understood your pain like no other.

He pulled you into his arms and another sob escaped your throat. Shinjuro knew about your pain because he had also lost a loved one, because he had also lost a son. The two of you lay in each other's arms like a father would embrace a daughter, comforting each other until a young voice rang out in the halls and opened the shoji door to the room.

"Father, I am back home and- Y/N-chan!" Senjuro dropped everything in his hand when he saw the two of you comforting each other with the Haori between you. You turned to Senjuro and pulled him into your arms, the tears continued to flow and even the little boy sobbed in your arms and held onto you with his dear life. “Aneue, I missed you so much…”

And god did you miss him too. “Senjuro, I am so terribly sorry for leaving you alone…"

~~~

You could breathe more freely. The pain was still the same, the hole in your chest still there, but a weight had been lifted from your shoulders after you allowed yourself to cry. You stroked the white fabric of the Haori that now draped over your shoulders and felt the presence of Kyojuro’s spirit on your shoulders. A little smile crept onto your lips for the first time since his death.

You made your way back when you saw Giyuu and the Kamado boy chatting. They both looked at you in surprise, as if they hadn't expected you. The younger one saw you with a look as if he knew about your deep sorrow and grief. As if he was able to smell it from a distance and yet he met you with a sincere and friendly smile. "L/N-san, it's a pleasure to meet you." He bowed to you.

It was hard for you to smile back so you just nodded politely. "Nice to meet you too, Tanjiro Kamado." Your eyes fell on his handguard. The boy also noticed your gaze and became nervous, seemingly knowing your connection with the previous owner. He probably thought you wanted it back. "Don't worry, just because I was his fiancé and now Flame Pillar doesn't mean I'm entitled to his handguard. I'm sure he would be happy that you have it." This time you managed to give him a smile that made him blush and you thought to yourself what a good-natured boy he was.

Giyuu stared at your haori, knowing the importance of carrying something from people you loved. Because he himself carried Tsutako and Sabito with him, but he said not a word about it. That wasn't necessary because suddenly a Kasugai crow flew screeching over your heads.

“EMERGENCY SUMMONS! EMERGENCY SUMMONS! AN ATTACK ON UBUYASHIKI MANSION!”

You exchanged just a quick glance among yourselves before all three of you sprinted in the same direction, but you weren't fast enough. Several explosions went off and you could only stare at the rising flames in shock. An old fear wanted to take hold of you, but his spirit, the spirit in this haori drove you on. No, you were no longer afraid of the flames because now you were the Flame and when all the Hashiras gathered in front of Muzan to attack him, the sound of a biwa pang rang out and the ground beneath you all disappeared.

~~~

It was an unfamiliar situation in an unknown place. It was more important than ever to keep your eyes open and stay focused, which is why you, Tanjiro and Giyuu were staying together and wandering around this Castle of Infinity. Suddenly you all saw one of the crows who gave you the news of Shinobu's death. Another hole in your heart, but now wasn't the time to mourn. You had to find and defeat Muzan, or at least one of the Uppermoons. Suddenly the whole place started shaking.

"ABOVE!" It came from Giyuu and suddenly a pink-haired man with tattoos stood in front of you and with his fixation towards Tanjiro and with the number in his eye you knew immediately who it was.

The attacks of Akaza were brutal. You used all the techniques that you could think of to protect the young Kamado boy from the demon's fixation towards him. But along that way you noticed the skill and breathing the Kamado boy used to attack the demon and that he had achieved the strength of a Hashira. You performed an attack, drawing the attention of Akaza.

"You!" He pointed his finger at you while you tried to catch your breath. “You wear the same Haori as Kyojuro. You even fight like him with the same fighting spirit! State your name! I wanna know the name of the person who developed this wonderful sword technique. I can feel that you are strong!"

But you didn't want to talk to the demon that killed your beloved one. How dare he even say his first name? It was him who took your beloved Kyojuro. He was to blame for your grief and for other people who loved him as well. It was all his fault!

Anger spread through you, which grew into an uncontrollable firestorm. Your heart was beating wildly in your chest and you were feeling hot all over. Your whole body was literally burning as if you had a fever. You shouldn't be able to move with this fever and yet you feel an irrepressible strength growing in you.

Become the flame that consumed you, my water lily. Set your heart ablaze…

Senses that were closed off to you have been awakened and dragged out to the place where your strong opponent stands. You understood now that the intense struggle to survive increases one’s skills. You became fast like an uncontrolled wildfire, and you and Giyuu launched one attack after another. Your speed was out of this world and yet you could keep up, you could see everything and even through him. It was strange how calm you were in this moment even knowing you were on the edge of death, but that didn’t matter at that moment. You had to go on.

It was one of the most memorable fights you've ever experienced. A headless demon who continued to fight, refusing to accept his weakness. And he didn’t die by any of your hands but ended up using his destructive attack that would have killed them all on himself. If he would have not done that, you wouldn't know how you were going to get out of here alive. Akaza was truly a strong opponent and all three of you had reached your limits. Tanjiro was the first to realize it was over and also the first to lose consciousness. Even Giyuu had to brace himself with his broken nichirin and lost consciousness. Shit. You tried to reach the both men when you felt how the rest of your strength left you and you too fell unconscious.

You woke up to a burning smell and got up so quickly that it made you dizzy. Still aware of the situation, you checked your surroundings only to see Giyuu half-naked in front of a fire. Tanjiro woke up from his unconsciousness just seconds after you and asked what happened.

“I tried to stop my bleeding, but it’s not working, so I’m going to cauterize the wound. You both are also bleeding. If it doesn’t stop I’ll burn it. So strip down and come here.” Giyuu stared into the fire and it seemed like he was saying it more to Tanjiro, but you knew that the wound on your shoulder was still bleeding even if you tried to stop it with your concentrated breathing.

You did as he said and stripped your shirt and sat next to Giyuu only with your binding to hold your breast together. Without paying much attention you saw how Tanjiro was first blushing and then getting all pale while seeing your burned scars, but he did not say anything. It was weird but you didn't mind seeing your scars anymore. You had long since accepted who you were and were no longer ashamed of your past or what it had made of you.

As Giyuu cauterized the wound on your back, while gritting your teeth in pain, your tried to think of something else to distract yourself from the pain when Tanjiro gasped loudly.

“Y/N-san! Your chest!”

Surprised you looked down and saw what had startled him. Even Giyuu looked surprised. At the top of your heart were dark red marks of flames that spread to your left shoulder. So this is what the mark of the flame looked like. Interesting how it was sprinkled over the heart and not on the face like Tanjiro or Giyuu.

"I guess I have to thank Kyojuro for that." You smiled as you put your hand on your heart.

“Y/N-san… Now that you mention it. Rengoku-san had some last words for you. I tried to get through you, but-”

"I know Tanjiro." You gave him a smile. “I wasn't myself until today. Please, tell me what his last words were to me.”

“He said that you should not grieve too much and to feel free to let him wait in the afterlife. That he will wait for you.” You saw the tears forming in the boy’s eyes, while he brought you the last words of Kyojuro.

You huffed a little smile and thanked him.There were no tears, there was no time for them because they were at war, but a little memory crept into your mind and your thoughts went back. You remembered a moment with Kyojuro where you both laid naked in bed after being intimate. Both being in love and looking into each other’s eyes. His hands never stopped touching and caressing you, both the healthy and the scarred parts. He saw no difference, but that wasn't why you resorted to the memory. It was his words back then. "When wounds are healed by love, the scars are beautiful." You were healed by his love and now you are fighting here with the same ambition he had then. To protect humanity, to defeat Muzan.

~~~

Muzan was dead. The demons no longer existed and a new age had begun. A peace emerged that had cost many sacrifices, both mental and physical. Only three of the Hashira survived. Sanemi Shinazugawa, Giyuu Tomioka and you. You were all marked by the war and yet you knew that it was worth it. The Demon Slayer Corps no longer existed, so you felt obliged to return the haori to the Rengoku family as you were no Rengoku and no Pillar anymore. Shinjuro and Senjuro asked you to move in with them, as they saw you as a part of their family, but you politely declined. It didn't feel right.

“Because everything feels wrong without you.”

Years had passed and the grief in your heart was your constant companion together with Shimizu who never left your side. You sat in your home with your brush and still wrote those letters to yourself. But not only to yourself but also to others. Which was why you knew about their happy lives and how they all had started their own family while you were being alone. You made peace with that, because you knew that you can’t ever fall in love with someone else again. Kyojuro was and always will be your one true love.

Your 25th birthday was approaching and you knew what to expect. Amane had enlightened you and the others about the price of the mark and you had only been waiting for this day. You felt your strength drain from you and you needed to lay down on the floor. Shimizu worriedly nudged your yukata as if she was trying to get you to stand up. You smiled faintly at her trouble and gently stroked her feathers with a single finger. "Shimizu, you were always a loyal soul to me." You saw your crow friend's tears as you closed your eyes slowly.

You didn’t feel any fear. Only hope because they said you could see your loved one after you pass, they said you reunite with those you had lost; that was your only consolation as you laid there. Kyojuro, your eternal flame, was always in your thoughts. Never leaving you, never wanting to let go of him.

"I will see you in heaven, my love," you whispered, breathing your last.

Your eyes snapped open and you stared at the dark ceiling, before turning sideways to look at the time on your phone. 04:34 am. Again a weird dream about these demons and yet another sleepless night. Did I cry in my sleep again? With a quick hand movement you swiped the tear stains on your face away and sighed. You always woke up with this deep yearning, like you lost something very precious but forgot what it was. Was it maybe this Kyojuro? But who was that? You were not sure, but you knew that these dreams were trying to tell you something…

🌊 🔥🌊 🔥🌊 🔥🌊 🔥🌊 🔥🌊 🔥🌊 🔥🌊 🔥🌊 🔥🌊 🔥

That was hard, even for an angst lover like me. I feel heavy and accomplished at the same time and I just hope you all don't hate me too much. I wanna thank everyone who stayed tuned and loyal to the story and rooted from chapter to chapter. I see you all and I love you all ❤️

Again and again and big thanks to my beloved @desi-the-blue-eyed-kakushi who knew how this going to end and cursed at me for many times for weeks. But it was all worth it, right?

For all those who hate me... This is not the end of this story! Watch out for my next posts (and the memes if you wanna laugh)

EDIT: The sequel is here! Shards of Glass

Taglist:

@krillfromsky @kingmultiverse404 @deepressed @nelissecrectplace @yomoya-girl @theycallmemrsbarnes @roninishere @beelzmunchkin @kyojurismo @stuckinthewrongworld @lynnw @love-me-satoru @felix99999l @noarawriteszr @strawberrymm @rye-flower @demonslayeranimex @kittenssss-blog-blog @hanatsuki-hime @kxthxrinx3180 @thatw3ird0 @lovely-nayiq @annie-napier @cole-silas @inonezu-808 @witchy-scribblings @drowsydoggy @anjox @xkanrojimitsurix @ahashiraswife @mamayan @flametrashira @crazycatlddy

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nemmet · 1 year

Text

i want to break my only-art-posts rule on here for just a moment, to talk about about fred jones as a canon autistic character and what he's meant to me personally.

my childhood love of scooby doo suddenly reawaked back in november of 2021, which just so happened to be around the time i was seriously questioning that i may be autistic. the realisation put so much into perspective, but i was equally afraid and uneasy about it all. therefore, i began to rewatch mystery incorporated as a source of comfort.

and just... there was a character who was a good leader, a loyal friend, a desirable romantic partner. there was a character who represented this unshakeable force of good in a town otherwise founded upon cynicism and spite. there was a character who, yes, was treated as the butt of the joke from time to time. but even despite that, was a surprisingly thoughtful representation of how an autistic teenager might navigate emotions, relationships, and the world at large.

the more i watched of this version of fred, the more i doubted that his sheer amount of autistic traits were purely a coincidence. and sure enough, i discovered that mitch watson (sdmi showrunner) confirmed on the unmasked history of scooby doo podcast that fred was indeed written with autism in mind.

(more beneath the cut!)

for a while, this was knowledge that i celebrated quietly. i told a couple of people who were interested, but that was about it. what mattered most to me was that it was canon, and that this character i had loved since i was a child was just like me. talking too much about his interests, missing social cues, being confused by big emotions... the list went on. it sounds silly to say about a cartoon character, but identifying with fred's portrayal in sdmi (and subsequent scooby media influenced by it) genuinely helped me to accept and even love myself as an autistic person, in a time when i was feeling hopeless for realising what had made me so different all my life.

as i continued to fall down the scooby rabbit hole, i encountered fred moments new and old that would always cheer me up. i decided to compile them into a short youtube video, mostly just for my own self-indulgence. i had absolutely no idea what i was getting myself into (/pos).

over a year on, most notably following the release of the hbo velma series, my video absolutely blew up. to the point where it currently stands at 825k views, which is utterly unfathomable to me. thousands of people who cared about this character like i did flooded the comments, expressing anger at his most recent portrayal and genuine love for his portrayals in past media.

however, the comments that especially made my day were those like: "how did i not realise that fred has a special interest in nets?", "he's autistic, let him infodump!", and those of a similar wording. in that comments section, as well as on tumblr, canonically autistic fred seemed to have become widespread, accepted and celebrated, showcased in comments with hundreds of likes and posts with hundreds of notes. it absolutely floored me, and i was delighted to have contributed to it.

i haven't made this post to pat myself on the back for throwing some clips together and getting a lot of views, nor to say "i knew it first!" about fred being autistic. i am simply looking back in retrospective, and getting incredibly misty-eyed over the fact that people are newly appreciating this character that has helped me through so much and been instrumental in leading me to my official autism diagnosis. you can see the sappy post i made about it on my old scooby sideblog here.

in summary, this is yet another story about how representation matters! even if it comes in the form of a historically overlooked teenage mystery solver from a 50+ year old cartoon franchise. what matters most is that it was more than just a headcanon, and has changed my life for the better.

if you're still reading, thank you so much! if you are also neurodivergent, i would love to hear your thoughts on fred, and if you've also identified with him in some way. he's... a tréasure :)

#another insane fun fact: i posted the “no one wants to hear your net facts fred” clip from the beach beastie to my scooby sideblog #before i included it as a part of my larger fred video #that original post has since been screen recorded and uploaded to instagram #as well as become an audio people use #and the person who reposted it told me that RACHEL ZEGLER liked it #literally the wildest possible outcome of all of this #obviously the clip isn't my own work but the fact that i made a moment from a fairly obscure sd special more well known just makes me happy #i will stop rambling in the tags now #scooby doo #sd #fred jones #scooby doo mystery incorporated #autistic fred jones #nem misc posts :]#scooby doo and nemmet too!

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b0njourbeach · 2 days

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I think I saw someone ask this the other day, but what are your thoughts on Azul?

You saw right, though I've answered the question in a rather silly way the first time. Mainly because I have many thoughts of Azul, yet not a single word comes to mind when I try to write them down - This is why, dear anon, your request was for a long time in my inbox. I certainly haven't forgotten you, it just has been an issue that my words don't wish the way I wish bur now here I am, ready to talk about our dear Teenage Businessman!

Book 3 spoilers, mentions of Eating disorders

There are certainly a few topics that are questionable or even judged upon the fandom, some also seem to forget that Azul is more than his contracts and his shady ass business. Some view him as manipulative while I believe he just saw stupidity in humanity and took this weakness of mankind and turned it against those who were foolish enough to not ask questions. Azul has never lied in his contracts, not a single time. He provided what he had offered and taken what he was entitled to take. Let's take the main issue of Book 3: The contract Ace, Deuce, Grim and many others had signed: Offering their magic for a study guide - If they'd make it to the top 50, they'd get their magic back. If not, they become the Sea anemones that are to follow Azuls every order. He provided the guide and it helped everyone who has gotten their hands on it - Did he lie? He didn't. All he did was *exactly* what people had asked - Nothing less and nothing *more*. And that is the exact point: He didn't give information if he wasn't asked for it. Or ayuus contract: He took Ramshakle, he provided what the Freshmen needed - He didn't lie. In fact, he offered more than he had to: The Potion. The twins interfered but was it against the contract? It wasn't. As I see it, Azuls contracts are much like the wish of a genie: If you wish, be most specific or live with the consequences. You don't want anyone interfering with your stealing? Should've said so, simple as that.

What Azul made the "Villain" was the naivety of those who signed their name on the contract.

But there's more of Azul than this. I think it's justified of what he does. People are stupid, people are naive but most importantly: People are cruel. Especially kids are worse than any demon from hell. If you're being bullied as a child or even up to being a teenager, you'll be emotionally fucked for a long time, if not forever. You'll become insecure of whatever you've been bullied of for something that'll feel like eternity. You want to avoid this very thing, no matter how important it is supposed to be in your life. It'll cause you to break down at some point just for you to pretend like nothing happened afterwards - Especially if you've built up the very picture of someone who's got it all together like Azul did. While he pretends there's no issue, I refuse to believe that he doesn't have an Eating Disorder. Being bullied for your weight as a child (which is - in his case - not even really justified since you basically compare an octopus to a fish. A comparison that is found in every sense of the equation) leaves a mark. A deep, burning mark. Avoiding mirrors, pictures, tight clothes or being seen by anyone without your clothes. You can't tell me he's willing to get rid of his childhood and not have an eating disorder, that he wants to pretend the little healthy octopus child didn't exist and that he can look in the mirror without suffering. It's Canon that he's strictly taking care of his weight - But it's also Canon that his favorite food is fried chicken, possibly the worst choice for strictly keeping your weight. A diet is all good and stuff but strictly starving your body of certain things will only cause mental distress.

I can see he's a sensitive soul, trying to hide behind the mask of sheer confidence and superiority. His only friends are the two weird guys who didn't leave him alone - Sure, they're not the best choice but having two eels by your side is better than being alone. Whether the relation between these three is toxic or not, they depend on each other - especially Azul depends on Jade and Floyd and by the way the twins reacted to Azuls overblot, I'm confident to say that they also depend on him. After all, they might "Can't stand" each other as they'd say, they still stuck around even though there are many reasons to be "like the others" and turn away.

There was something else I had in mind but it just won't come to me right now, so I'll leave it at that for now. All I'm gonna add is that I'd really like to hug Baby Azul and tell him that he's perfect the way he is. To be his friend and let him know that it doesn't matter how he looks like because no matter how much you Weight, if your nose is crooked or if you're labeled "ugly" by modern society, it's your heart and soul that is meant to be you; not your mortal vessel.

#twisted wonderland #twst #x answers #azul ashengrotto

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mushroom-madness · 1 year

Text

🍄 ROUND 2: MATCH 13 🍄

🍄 Vote for your Favorite Fungi! 🍄

Descriptions Below ⬇️

Zommoth

"Zommoth is an optional/hidden boss in Bug Fables, fought at the end of the Leif's Request side story. It is also a cordyceps fungus inside a moth host and Leif (whom we also submitted) refers to it as their sibling. It was an experiment to see if bugs could be given magic by infecting them with the parasitic fungi, and the result was This Beast (affectionate). There are other cordyceps in the same laboratory it's found in, but Zommoth is the strongest and the most notable by a large margin. Very little is known about it as a person but it's stated to be a "guardian" figure and implied that it was protecting the lab and the other zombies in it. We are emotionally attached to it. Also, its color scheme is the nonbinary flag." - Submission 47

"Oh boy, do we LOVE this fungus! Zommoth is a cordyceps beast and immortality experiment made in search of the power of the Everlasting Sapling, a thing said to bring eternal life. Unfortunately, as it often is with this sort of things, they the fungus and they the moth were both quite displeased with being involuntarily used for the sake of roaches chasing immortality. It killed everything in the lab and proceeded to take it over with their many, many fungal siblings.

Technically speaking, Zommoth is a blend of both the fungus and its moth host, now twisted beyond recognition and unable to separate even if they wanted to, but we do think it still counts. It's at least 50% fungus. Probably more, it doesn't seem to have had much use for most of those moth bits. It is loving sibling to many undead fungal hybrid abominations, and its hobbies include screaming, firing lasers at people who intrude into its lab, and crawling out of the water like a beast from a horror flick. We believe it deserves to compete, and also to win." - Submission 52

"Oh yeah this thing is a fungus isn't it. Positively overflowing with cordyceps. Honestly kinda forgot about it for this but saw my mutual bring it up and I figured it would need the support. It sure is a Phucking Phungus" - Submission 68

"A zombie moth full of Cordyceps fungus, the result of a horrific experiment. "Sibling” to Leif, as in created through the same unethical project, if you read my last submission. - Submission 105

Zommoth Propaganda

Bug Fables Wiki

Stanley

"He is just the sweetest child and he gives the best hugs! Lookit him! He had 4 arms for extra good hugging! THE BEST BOY DESERVES TO WIN! I love him, he deserves all the good things!" - Submission 7

"A happy whimsical child, but very lonely because they're sick. Will encourage you to make a mess with them." - Submission 41

"He is my favorite boy and is just so pure and adorable. He gives me drawings and gives the best hugs, even if he doesn't win I would be so happy he even got in." - Submission 48

"He's just a lil boye.... - Submission 57

"He's just this young kid, only 8, and he's just so cheerful. He'll draw pictures for the player character, Stella, want to experiment with various things, follow you around just being curious about things. He's such a good kid. Yet the entire time you have him aboard the ship you know that he's dying and you'll have to take him to the Everdoor at some point for Stella is the spiritfarer and ferrying people to the afterlife is what she does. Needless to say I cried especially hard when the time came for me to take him to the Everdoor" - Submission 59

"Y"know I honestly dunno alota details about Stanley cuz I haven't gotten him in spiritfarer yet but I can just tell how funky he is ok" - Submission 64

"You know him. You love him. He's adorable. I couldn't not throw in a vote for him" - Submission 66

"guy!! ever!!" - Submission 84

"Grew him in my garden and he took over my guest room. He's my son who I will personally escort to the afterlife." - Submission 86

"He is such a sweetie!" - Submission 87

"He is my son. you Know" - Submission 89

"He's my bb boy I adore him so so much I wish to give him French fries and let him draw and I'm still distraught over him leaving :((best boy <3» - Submission 99

“I know he was an example but I want him in!!! He's just a little guy!!!! You literally get him from growing him out of a garden and he's just a kid spirit that follows you around and I love him so,,, HE CALLS YOU BIG HAT I-

Also him being in the bracket would be propaganda for people to play spiritfarer in general good game 10/10 - Submission 134

Stanley Propaganda

Spiritfarer Wiki

#mushroom madness #poll #round 2 #stanley #spiritfarer #zommoth #bug fables #bracket #competition #tournament #polls #stanley spiritfarer #bug fables zommoth #bf zommoth

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fanimesenseiwrites · 4 months

Text

Long time no write. Not sure what compelled me to finish one of the 50 million wips in my notes, but I did. So here ya go!

Mammon was in his room counting some freshly acquired Grimm when Asmodeus burst in.

"Mammon!" Asmo screeched as he entered the room.

Mammon jumped, startled by his intrusion. "Asmo, what the hell do ya think you're doin'?!"

"What are you doing, Mammon? Counting some money?" Asmo asked, his tone sarcastic and scathing.

Mammon looked at him suspiciously. "Uh, yeah...?"

"And where did you get this money, Mammon?" Asmo asked as he walked closer towards his brother, his threatening demeanor on par with Lucifer's.

Mammon took steps back as Asmo took steps toward him. "Uh... w-why...?"

"Did you perhaps get it from selling the diamond earrings that I left on on my vanity?" Asmo's tone was suddenly very severe.

Mammon swallowed thickly, terrified that he had now been found out.

"Well... uh... yeah..." Mammon stammered.

Asmo suddenly grabbed his collar and pulled him close. "You idiot! Hoshiko gave those to me!"

Mammon stared at him briefly. "... Are ya tellin' me that those earrings are from the human world? I could've gotten twice as much for 'em..." He mused.

Mammon winced when Asmo suddenly smacked him upside the head.

"Are you even listening?! Hoshiko gave those to me to borrow."

"Oh..." Mammon finally realized how badly he had fucked up.

"Those earrings were an heirloom from their great aunt," Asmo further informed him.

"Oh......" He had fucked up even worse than he originally thought.

"Yeah, 'Oh'," Asmo mocked him. "Now you're going to go get them back." Asmo shoved him back then examined his nails to make sure he hadn't ruined them.

Mammon stumbled back a bit before catching his footing, then straightening out his jacket. "Yeah, yeah. Let's go." Mammon walked towards the door.

"Us? Why should I go with you?" Asmo asked as he perched his hands on his hips.

"Because..." Mammon looked back at Asmo. "You haven't told 'em yet; and ya don't want 'em to find out that they're gone. So ya definitely don't wanna be around when Hoshiko starts asking for 'em back."

Asmo bit his lip nervously. "... Okay let's go."

Mammon sighed coolly, glad that Asmo hadn't called his bluff.

They headed out together and Mammon led the way to the pawn shop that he had sold the earrings to.

Asmo grimaced. "A pawn shop? Really?"

Mammon looked at him. "Oh shaddup. Let's just get this over with."

Asmo huffed but followed Mammon into the shop without another word.

"Hey, hey, hey! Basal! My man!" Mammon exclaimed excitedly as he walked up to the counter.

The demon behind the counter looked up at his name being called. "Mammon, back again so soon?" He asked with a knowing grin.

"Yeah... so here's the deal," Mammon spoke as he leaned on the counter. "Those earrings I sold to you earlier? I, uh... I actually need them back."

Basal glanced at Asmo briefly. "Do you now?"

"Yeah, I do. So if we could just make a little trade, that'd be great," Mammon was trying not to sound too desperate.

Basal shook his head. "Sorry, no can do."

"What?! Why not?" Asmo exclaimed.

Basal looked at Asmo. "Because I've already sold them."

"How?! It hasn't been that long since I sold them to you," Mammon pointed out.

Basal looked back at Mammon. "One of my regulars came in right after you left. As soon as he saw the earrings he just had to have them. He didn't tell me that he knew they were from the human realm until after I had the cash in hand, sneaky bastard."

Mammon snorted. "Right, so who'd ya sell it to?"

"Nuh-uh, I'm not telling you that. They're still a loyal customer and I'm not gonna let you go and harass them," Basal insisted.

"Basal, man, I don't think you understand. I need those earrings back or my human will kill us," Mammon had stopped caring about not sounding desperate.

Basal couldn't help but grin. "Oh yeah? Did those earrings belong to your master?" He teased.

"Hoshiko ain't my master!" Mammon was quick to argue.

Asmo rolled his eyes and walked over to the counter and pushed Mammon out of the way. "Basal, sweetie," Asmo spoke sweetly as he leaned closer to the demon.

Basal raised an eyebrow. "I'm not telling you who I sold it to either."

"Why don't you look into my eyes and tell me that again?" Asmo purred as his eyes started to glow a bright pink.

Basal couldn't help but to be enchanted by Asmo. A stupid grin grew into his face. "Tell you what, beautiful?" He asked as he leaned forward a little bit.

Asmo grinned. "Tell us who you sold the earrings to."

"Oh those? I sold them to Azazel. What else do you need, gorgeous?" Basal asked, with a lovestruck look in his eyes.

"Nothing more, thank you," Asmo told him as his eyes quit glowing and he released Basal from his charm.

Mammon grinned wide. "Nice goin' Asmo!"

Basal groaned and rubbed his eyes. "What the...?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just go!" Asmo exclaimed as he ran out.

Mammon quickly followed him.

"So... now we just gotta find Azazel," Asmo declared.

"Don't worry, I know where he lives," Mammon told him as he took the lead.

"How do you know that?" Asmo asked as he followed him.

"I've picked Hoshiko up from his place before," Mammon answered, sounding annoyed.

"Wait, Hoshiko is friends with Azazel?" Asmo asked, suddenly worried.

"They're chemistry buddies," Mammon told him in a mocking tone.

"Mammon, that's bad."

"I know! How dare Azazel try ta swoop in and-"

"Mammon!" Asmo interrupted. "What if Azazel knows that those earrings are Hoshiko's? What if he-" He stopped when Mammon's DDD started to ring.

Mammon stopped walking and pulled his DDD out of his pocket. He paled when he saw who was calling, then slowly answered the call.

"H-hey Hoshiko, what's up?"

Asmo's eyes widened in fear when he heard Mammon say Hoshiko's name.

"Oh me? I'm out... with Asmo. We're uh... shopping!"

Asmo stepped closer to Mammon and leaned his head towards the phone to try and hear Hoshiko as well.

"You wanna go on a date? Tonight? Oh well, I'm a lil short on cash... Oh? Your treat? Well... shit, how could I refuse?"

Asmo smacked his chest.

Mammon winced and rubbed his chest but managed not to make a sound.

"What was that?" Mammon asked into the receiver. "Earrings? What earrings?"

Asmo gave Mammon a severe look.

"Ones you let Asmo borrow? Oh... lemme ask... oh look! He's wearing them now. He'll give them back to you when we get back."

Asmo sighed and ran a hand through his hair, relieved that Mammon had come up with a believable enough lie.

"Yeah, yeah... love you too, see ya later." Mammon hung up his DDD and breathed a sigh of relief. "Alright, I bought us a little bit of time."

"Yeah, but we gotta hurry!" Asmo goaded.

Mammon nodded and led the way to Azazel's house.

Mammon knocked on the door when they arrived.

A yellow-eyed demon answered the door with a devilish grin. "Mammon! Ready for me to kick your ass in poker again?"

Mammon just grinned, trying to appear friendly. "Hey Azazel, how'ya doin' man?"

Azazel raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Why're ya being so cordial?"

"Alright man, Ima cut to the chase. A lil birdy told me you just bought some earrings from the pawn shop."

Azazel grimaced. "What? You got your crows following me around?"

"What? No, its just an expression," Mammon explained.

Asmo groaned. "Azazel, look. Those earrings you bought, actually belong to Hoshiko. So we really need them back."

"Really? Damn, I wish I'd kept them now. I could've been their hero, returning their stolen earrings back to them." Azazel grinned teasingly at Mammon.

Mammon growled and lunged at Azazel.

Asmo quickly grabbed his brother and kept him from attacking Azazel. "Wait... did you say 'you wish you had kept them'?"

Mammon immediately calmed down. "Do you not have the earrings anymore?"

"Yeah, it was the weirdest thing actually," Azazel started. "So I'm headed home, and I run into the demon prince."

"You ran into Lord Diavolo?" Asmo asked for clarification.

"Yeah! Weird right? I'm like 'what's he doing on this side of town?' But he starts talking me up and I figure he's trying to be the cool prince or whatever. So I tell him I just bought these awesome earrings and he's like 'cool! Can I see?' So I show him and he's instantly in love with them, he's gotta have them. I'm not so sure but then he says he'll pay me double what I paid for them! And who am I to deny a hundred percent profit? So I sell him the earrings."

Mammon groaned. "Fuuuucccckkk..."

Asmo sighed. "Well, thanks anyways." Asmo started to walk away.

"Yeah, no worries. Tell Hoshiko I said hey!"

Mammon growled and lunged for Azazel again.

Azazel quickly closed the door in Mammon's face.

Asmo groaned. "Mammon, let's just go. We gotta get to the palace."

Mammon huffed and walked over to his younger brother as he straightened his jacket.

They started walking to the Demon Lord's Palace together.

"... look on the bright side," Mammon tried to console Asmo.

Asmo scowled at him. "What exactly is the bright side here?"

"Diavolo's not strapped for cash so there's no reason he would sell the earrings off to anyone else. The trail should end with him."

Asmo sighed. "True."

Mammon stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked quietly until they reached the palace.

Asmo went to knock on the front door of the palace when they arrived, but Barbatos opened the door before they could.

"You know it's really creepy how you do that, right?" Mammon asked him.

Barbatos just smiled at them with a smile that seemed to know too much. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, is Lord Diavolo here?" Asmo asked him.

"He is. Do you wish to see him?"

"We do, please."

Barbatos nodded and stepped aside so that they could walk in. "Come in and I will go announce your presence to the young master."

The brothers walked in and waited in the foyer while Barbatos went to go talk to Diavolo.

"... ya think Diavolo will be mad at us?" Mammon asked quietly.

"It's definitely a possibility," Asmo replied tersely.

Mammon pursed his lips together and nodded.

They both looked at Barbatos when he entered the room again.

"The young master will see you now," Barbatos announced before leading them to Diavolo's study.

Mammon and Asmo followed Barbatos to the study.

Diavolo was in there, sitting at his desk, working on some paperwork. He looked up when Barbatos and the pair of brothers entered.

Diavolo smiled at them. "Mammon, Asmodeus, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

The brothers looked at each other, unsure of how to approach the topic.

"So... Azazel told us that you bought some earrings off of him..." Asmo started.

Diavolo raised an eyebrow. "Now why would he tell you that?"

"Because..." Asmo looked at Mammon.

Mammon sighed. "Lord Diavolo, look. Those earrings are actually Hoshiko's, so we need them so we can give them back to Hoshiko."

"If they belong to Hoshiko then how did Azazel end up with them?" Diavolo asked curiously.

"Because he bought them from the pawn shop..."

Diavolo raised an eyebrow.

"That... I sold them to," Mammon finally confessed.

"Ah, I see." Diavolo looked at Asmo. "But how do you fit into all this?"

Asmo blushed. "Hoshiko let me borrow the earrings, and I just didn't want them to know that I lost them..."

Diavolo nodded. "Interesting... Don't you think so?" Diavolo asked as he focused his gaze beyond the brothers.

Mammon and Asmo turned around to see what he was looking at.

Hoshiko was standing there in the doorway wearing a beautiful black party dress and the diamond earrings. "Yes, very interesting," Hoshiko's tone was cool enough to send shivers down the brothers' spines.

Hoshiko walked over to Diavolo's desk and sat down on it, making sure not to block Diavolo as they did.

"Alright, what do y'all have to say for yourselves?" Hoshiko asked as they crossed their arms and their legs.

Asmo looked at Mammon expectantly.

"Asmodeus, what do you have to say for yourself?" Hoshiko asked him directly.

Asmo looked back at Hoshiko. "I'm sorry I lost your earrings but it's really not my fault, if Mammon hadn't-"

"Wrong answer," Hoshiko interrupted.

Asmo scowled. "What? What do you mean?"

"Why didn't you tell me as soon as you noticed the earrings missing?"

"Oh, well... I was afraid that you'd be upset with me," Asmo averted their eyes.

"I definitely wouldn't have been happy, but I would've been way less mad than I am right now. If you had been forthcoming with me I could've fixed this sooner, but now you're got yourself all caught up in Mammon's shenanigans and so you're in the dog house too."

Asmo whined.

Hoshiko turned their sights on Mammon. "And you," their voice was dripping with venom.

Mammon swallowed thickly. "Y-yes?"

Hoshiko just stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say.

Mammon became more and more scared the longer Hoshiko was quiet.

Hoshiko sighed. "I don't even know where to start with you. I'll have to talk to you later." They stood up and looked at Diavolo. "Do you have anything you want to say?"

Diavolo shook his head. "You're in charge on this one."

Hoshiko nodded and looked at Barbatos. "Do you have some chores or something they can help you with?"

Barbatos grinned. "There's always work to be done."

"Excellent." Hoshiko looked back at the two brothers. "You will help Barbatos with whatever he needs help with for the rest of the night. Diavolo and I are going out to dinner."

"What?!" Mammon exclaimed, equally upset about having to work for Barbatos as he was about Hoshiko going out with Diavolo.

"But, Barbatos is just as sadistic as Lucifer!" Asmo argued.

"I know," Hoshiko replied plainly.

Diavolo smiled slightly and stood up. "Ready to go, Hoshiko?"

Hoshiko looked at Diavolo and held a hand out to him. "Yes, let's go."

Diavolo took Hoshiko's hand and led them out.

Asmo and Mammon watched them leave.

"Are we ready to get started, gentlemen?" Barbatos asked.

Mammon looked at him with a grimace.

Asmo whined.

Lucifer was pacing in the foyer of the House of Lamentation, continuously checking his DDD, when Hoshiko and Diavolo walked in.

Lucifer looked at them. "Where have you-"

"Luci!" Hoshiko exclaimed as they threw their arms around Lucifer.

Lucifer wrapped his arms around Hoshiko and studied their face. "You're drunk."

"Drunk on your love," Hoshiko sang.

Lucifer suppressed a grin then looked at Diavolo, expecting a explanation.

"They talked about you the entire way here," Diavolo told Lucifer, careful not to sound disappointed.

"I missed you!" Hoshiko told Lucifer.

Lucifer looked down at Hoshiko. "I missed you too, I was worried about you."

"I went out with Diavolo. We had dinner and then went drinking and dancing. Did you know that Diavolo has started importing alcohol from the human world down here to the Devildom?" Hoshiko spoke as they tried to dance with Lucifer.

Lucifer let Hoshiko swing his arms but didn't move his body. "Yes, I did." He looked at Diavolo, seeming a little annoyed.

Diavolo grinned sheepishly.

Lucifer looked back down at Hoshiko. "You should go get ready for bed. I want to talk to Diavolo alone."

Hoshiko pouted. "Will ya come snuggle with me afterwards?"

Lucifer smiled slightly. "Yes. Now go get cleaned up."

"Okay!" Hoshiko stood up on their toes and kissed Lucifer's cheek before sauntering off to their room.

Lucifer watched Hoshiko leave before looking back at Diavolo. "Alright, what happened?"

"I had to help Hoshiko retrieve their heirloom earrings because your brother sold them for some quick cash," Diavolo informed him as he crossed his arms.

Lucifer furrowed his brow. "Mammon stole something of Hoshiko's? He usually leaves their stuff alone."

"Well apparently the earrings were in Asmo's room when he stole them. Hoshiko had let Asmo borrow them, but then Asmo didn't tell them when he noticed the earrings missing. So he's in trouble with Hoshiko too."

Lucifer sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Where are Mammon and Asmo now?"

"At the palace doing chores under the supervision of Barbatos. Hoshiko had intended on taking Mammon out on a date tonight but obviously they didn't want to do that after they found out that he had stolen their earrings, so they asked me instead."

Lucifer nodded. "And after the day they had they wanted to drink."

Diavolo nodded. "I kept an eye on them and made sure no one took advantage of them," Diavolo knew Lucifer needed to hear that to feel at ease.

"Thank you." Lucifer ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I'm sorry you were caught up in my brothers' nonsense once again."

"Don't worry about it. All's well that ends well."

Lucifer snorted. "If you say so."

Diavolo chuckled. "Well I'll leave you be. Have a good night."

"Good night," Lucifer replied.

Lucifer closed the door behind Diavolo before going to check on Hoshiko.

Hoshiko's bedroom door was open and music was drifting out into the hallway from inside.

"Hoshiko?" Lucifer called as he entered the room.

Hoshiko's dress, bra, and heels were on the ground, obviously left exactly where they were taken off at.

Lucifer shook his head and picked up the garments and put them away; after he finished, he followed the music into the bathroom. "Hoshiko?"

Hoshiko was sitting on the edge of the tub, face in their hands, crying.

Lucifer frowned and walked over to them. "Hoshiko?" His voice was gentle.

Hoshiko quickly wiped their eyes. "Lucifer! I... I thought you'd talk to Diavolo for longer."

"And I thought you had a good time tonight."

"I did, Diavolo is fun to hang out with..." Hoshiko didn't look at Lucifer.

"So why are you crying?"

Hoshiko sniffled, but was otherwise quiet.

Lucifer leaned over and picked up Hoshiko. "Could it perhaps have something to do with the fact that Mammon stole and sold your heirloom earrings?"

Hoshiko sighed. "Yeah..."

Lucifer nodded. "I thought so." He walked over and set Hoshiko down on the counter then took off his gloves.

"You're too smart sometimes..." Hoshiko told him as they turned off the music that was playing on their phone.

Lucifer chuckled. "Too smart?" He picked up a pink bottle that was sitting on the counter. "This one for eye makeup, right?"

Hoshiko looked at the bottle. "Yeah."

Lucifer opened the bottle and poured some of its contents onto a cotton pad. "Do you want to talk about it?" Lucifer asked he grabbed Hoshiko's chin. "Close your eyes."

Hoshiko did as they were told. "What is there to say? Mammon took something that wasn't his, again."

Lucifer hummed as he gently wiped the cotton pad over Hoshiko's eyelids. "Yes, but this time it was something of yours, which I believe is a first for him."

"I mean, he's taken like pens and pencils from me to sell once he figured out I had a fan club at RAD."

"Hoshiko, you know what I mean," Lucifer chided.

Hoshiko sighed. "Yeah..."

Lucifer threw the cotton pad away. "Now we need to wash your face."

Hoshiko opened their eyes and looked at him. "I can do it, you don't have to help."

"I don't mind helping you, especially if it keeps you from being irritable in the morning because you forgot to take off all your makeup."

Hoshiko pouted. "I don't get irritable over that."

"I once heard you and Asmo get into it because you didn't remind each other to take off your makeup after a night out," Lucifer reminded them as he grabbed a wash cloth and wet it.

Hoshiko sighed.

Lucifer ran the wash cloth over Hoshiko's face, making sure their face was thoroughly dampened. "How upset are you with Asmo?"

Hoshiko closed their eyes again. "Not terribly, I'll get over it soon enough. I'm just upset that he wasn't up front with me."

Lucifer rinsed out the wash cloth and grabbed Hoshiko's facial cleanser. "And Mammon?"

Hoshiko groaned. "I don't know... I feel like I'm a hypocrite if I stay mad at him because of how much shit I give you guys for not being understanding of his sin..."

"But...?" Lucifer knew Hoshiko had cut themself off. Lucifer squeezed some facial cleanser onto the wash cloth and then started to gently scrub Hoshiko's face with it.

"Being on the receiving end of his deviance isn't fun. I feel really betrayed, even now... Lucifer, if I didn't get my earrings back, I was ready to break our pact."

Lucifer stopped what he was doing. "Hoshiko."

Hoshiko opened their eyes and looked at Lucifer. "I know, it's extreme and irreversible but that was how I felt. I thought I was special because he hadn't stolen from me before, and it turns out I wasn't... maybe I'm just stupid and naïve."

"You're not stupid," Lucifer assured them.

"... just naïve?" Hoshiko asked teasingly.

Lucifer hummed as he rinsed out the washcloth again.

"Hey!" Hoshiko smacked his arm playfully.

Lucifer chuckled. "I have no doubt that Mammon cares for you and would not have stolen those earrings had they been in your room and not Asmo's."

"That doesn't make it hurt any less," Hoshiko argued.

"I know," Lucifer replied as he used the washcloth to remove the suds from Hoshiko's face. "I just think you should keep that in mind when you talk to him again."

Hoshiko was quiet and didn't look at Lucifer.

"I also think that you should tell him how close he was to losing you," Lucifer continued.

Hoshiko grimaced. "You don't think that seems kinda mean?"

Lucifer shrugged as he rinsed out the washcloth for the last time. "Perhaps it will shock some sense into him."

"You think so?"

"Maybe, I've tried everything at this point; the only thing that makes him any better is you."

Hoshiko sighed and nodded.

"Moisturizer?" Lucifer asked as he pointed to a particular squeeze bottle.

"That is the moisturizer, but I need the toner first," Hoshiko told him as they pointed to the clear bottle next to it.

Lucifer grabbed the bottle they pointed at and picked it up questioningly.

"Yes, that one," Hoshiko verified. "You put it on a cotton pad too."

Lucifer nodded and did as they instructed. "But this goes all over your face?"

"Correct."

Lucifer wiped the cotton pad all over Hoshiko's face.

Hoshiko smiled at Lucifer. "You're so good to me."

Lucifer kissed Hoshiko's forehead. "I know."

Hoshiko chuckled. "Alright, now it's time for moisturizer and then we're done."

Lucifer nodded and handed Hoshiko the moisturizer. "I think you can handle this one."

"Oh yeah? Ya think so?" Hoshiko asked teasingly as they took the bottle from him and squeezed some moisturizer onto their fingers.

Lucifer pinched Hoshiko's thigh. "Behave," he warned.

"But whenever I look at you, I just wanna be bad," Hoshiko told him with a grin as they spread the moisturizer all over their face.

Lucifer smirked and leaned closer to Hoshiko, placing his hands on the counter on either side of them.

"Yes?" Hoshiko asked as they started to loosen Lucifer's tie.

Lucifer glanced down at their hands briefly. "You are a brat," he declared.

"What are you gonna do about it?" Hoshiko asked with a grin.

Lucifer hummed thoughtfully. "I will-"

Then there was a knock on the door to the bedroom. "Hoshiko? Are you in there?" Asmo whined.

Hoshiko groaned. "... can I just ignore him?"

"You could," Lucifer murmured as he dragged a finger up the center of Hoshiko's torso.

Hoshiko shivered.

"Hoshiko!" Asmo whined. "I can hear you in there!"

Hoshiko sighed. "But he's only going to get more annoying."

Lucifer snorted. "Yes, he almost definitely will." He stepped back from Hoshiko.

Hoshiko slid down off the counter and headed into the bedroom to answer the door.

"What do you want?" Hoshiko asked as they opened the door.

"I wanted to... apologize..." Asmo's eyes trailed down Hoshiko's body as he realized that they were practically naked.

"... You're doing a great job," Hoshiko told him sarcastically as they crossed their arms over their chest.

Asmo's eyes snapped back up to Hoshiko's face. "I can't help that you're just so sexy," he told them with a grin, trying to save himself.

Hoshiko rolled their eyes. "Okay, I'm not really in the mood to talk right now."

"No wait, wait, wait! I really do want to apologize! I feel really bad about everything that happened earlier. I don't want you to be mad at me," Asmo whined.

Hoshiko sighed. "Look, I am still mad and I don't think I'll stop bein' mad at least until tomorrow morning."

"Oh..." Asmo teared up. "Okay."

Hoshiko frowned. "Hey, I don't want you to worry though. I just need a little more time to feel my emotions and then we can talk and it'll all be okay, okay?"

Asmo smiled slightly. "Okay."

Hoshiko smiled back. "Good night, Asmodeus."

"Good night, Hoshiko," Asmo told them before leaving and going up to his room.

Hoshiko stepped back into their room and closed the door.

Hoshiko sighed and looked at Lucifer who was standing in the doorway to the bathroom.

"I suppose I'll leave you alone to 'feel your emotions' then," Lucifer teased.

Hoshiko walked over to him and rest their forehead against his chest.

Lucifer stroked their hair. "I think it's time for you to go to bed."

Hoshiko sighed. "Yeah."

"Come on." Lucifer guided Hoshiko over to their bed, then tucked Hoshiko in.

Hoshiko smiled up at him. "I love you."

Lucifer smirked. "I love you too, sleep well." He turned and left, making sure to turn off the light and close the door behind him.

Hoshiko's sleep that night was restless and intermittent.

When Hoshiko decided to get up the next morning, they had to practically drag themself out of bed; the thought of coffee in the kitchen being one of the few driving forces behind them actually getting up.

They pulled on their robe and slipped on their sheep slippers, not caring for much more clothing than that.

When they opened their door to leave their room, they were met with a vased bouquet of Hellfire Roses and Sunflowers sitting right outside their door.

Hoshiko looked down at the flowers, then looked both ways down the hall to see if anyone was there before bending down to pick them up.

"These have got to be from Asmo or Mammon... but where did they get the sunflowers?" They asked themself quietly as they gently caressed the petals of one of the sunflowers.

They carried the bouquet with them as they walked into the kitchen, where they were greeted by the smell of breakfast being made.

Mammon was in there, currently making pancakes.

Hoshiko walked in as quietly as they could, hoping to not disturb him, but they were no match for Mammon's demon ears.

Mammon turned to look at Hoshiko almost as soon as they walked into the kitchen. "Hey! Ya found your flowers, good."

"Well, it was kinda impossible to not see them..." Hoshiko told him as they went and sat down at the island.

"Right..." he turned his attention back to the pancakes. "Well I'm making blueberry pancakes right now, but there's plenty a' breakfast already ready for ya if you're hungry."

Hoshiko looked at the spread that Mammon had already prepared, and was actually pretty impressed. They grabbed a piece of bacon and started eating it. "Oh... this isn't shadow hog. This is pork bacon, like from the mortal realm."

"Yeah, everythin' for breakfast is from the mortal realm," Mammon informed them.

Hoshiko looked closer at all the food and discovered he was right. "Oh..."

"I wasn't sure whaddya want ta eat this mornin' so I just grabbed everythin' you ever told me ya liked," Mammon's voice sounded a little shy at saying that.

Hoshiko looked at the food again and noticed that it was all only stuff that they liked. "I see biscuits... do you have gravy?"

"Yeah, it's here on the stove stayin' warm."

Hoshiko walked over to the stove and lifted the lid on the pot with the gravy in it to inspect it. "White gravy with sausage in it, good."

Mammon smirked and finished up the pancakes.

"So... how did you get all this stuff?" Hoshiko asked as they sat back down.

"I uh... did extra work for Barbatos."

"Oh okay."

Hoshiko jumped when the oven timer went off.

Mammon put on oven mitts before pulling a nearly whole salmon out of the oven.

"Wha... Is that salmon?" Hoshiko asked, thoroughly confused.

"Yeah," Mammon replied simply as he set the pan down. "There's also rice in the rice cooker and the scrambled eggs were s'posed to be omelets like you said ya dad made but they didn't quite work out." He chuckled nervously.

Realization ran through Hoshiko like a bolt of lightning, and they teared up from it. "Wait... you... you..." They couldn't hold it in anymore and just started crying.

Mammon started to panic. "Hey, wait, why're ya cryin'?" He walked over to Hoshiko. "Did I mess breakfast up?"

Hoshiko shook their head. "You did really good... but I..." They wiped their eyes even though they continued to cry. "I don't even remember when I told you about my dad making breakfast, but you did."

Mammon grinned and blushed. "Well... yeah."

Hoshiko sniffed. "... you really love me."

Mammon's blush spread to his ears. "What? No, I... The Great Mammon-" He looked away, seemingly unable to decide on how he wanted to address the accusation.

Hoshiko just watched him quietly, their crying finally ceased.

Mammon glanced at Hoshiko. "I do. I do love you."

"Then why did you take my earrings?" Hoshiko asked, almost too calmly.

"I didn't know they were yours, I swear!"

"That doesn't make it okay! You shouldn't be taking anyone's things!" They yelled as they jumped up from the stool they sat on.

Mammon took a couple steps back, suddenly afraid of Hoshiko.

"Your actions make it hard to believe your words because they so often contradict each other. How can you say you love me and your brothers and continue to cause us so much grief?!"

"But, you-" Mammon started to protest.

"Don't talk," they commanded, calling on their pact to make him be quiet.

Mammon's lips pressed against one another against his will.

"I go up to bat for you so much, I have done everything to try and help you... and I get repayed like this..." Hoshiko covered their face with their hands when they felt tears well up in their eyes again.

Mammon stepped close to Hoshiko and gently grabbed their shoulders.

Hoshiko sniffed. "Why...?" They moved their hands and looked up at Mammon, tears streaming down their face. "Why would you betray me like this?! I feel so hurt and sad and angry and... and... I wanted to hurt you, I wanted to break our pact." They looked down at the ground.

Mammon's eyebrows shot up and he squeezed Hoshiko's shoulders.

Hoshiko wiped the tears from their face. "I don't anymore, but I was really upset. I felt like I couldn't trust you so what was the point in having a pact with you?"

Mammon whined through pursed lips.

Hoshiko looked back up at Mammon. "Oh shit, I'm sorry. You can talk," they released their hold on him.

"I'm so sorry!" Mammon exclaimed as soon as he could move his mouth again. "I didn't mean to hurt ya, please don't break our pact!"

Hoshiko reached up and held his face in their hands. "I'm not going to break our pact. But you can't do this anymore."

Mammon pulled Hoshiko into a tight and desperate embrace. "I won't, I swear."

Hoshiko laid their head on his chest. "I don't just mean for me, you can't be stealing your brothers' things either."

Mammon laid his head on top of Hoshiko’s. "I gotcha, no more stealin'."

"Pft, how long do you think that'll last?" A voice quietly asked from just outside the kitchen.

Hoshiko narrowed their eyes and looked towards the door.

Mammon looked with them.

Hoshiko pulled away from Mammon and walked out into the hall, with Mammon following close behind.

Asmodeus, Satan, Beelzebub, and Lucifer were all in the hallway eavesdropping on the conversation.

"What in the seven hells do you all think you're doing?" Hoshiko was livid.

"Oh! Hoshiko! Uh..." Asmo looked to Satan for help.

"We were just waiting for you to finish your conversation before going in to get breakfast," Satan supplied. His tone was cool, but wavering, revealing his nervousness.

"Uh huh," Hoshiko didn't quite believe him. "Well your commentary isn't necessary." They looked at Beel. "You can go ahead and eat."

"Yes!" Beel cheered quietly before going ahead into the kitchen.

Hoshiko looked at the rest of them. "And you can all serve breakfast to me and Mammon."

Lucifer, Satan, and Asmo all grimaced.

"You can't be serious," Lucifer stated.

Hoshiko looked up at him, eyes glowing blue. "I most certainly am."

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "And what would you like to eat, Master?" His tone was venomous.

Hoshiko still grinned wide at being called 'Master' though.

Asmo looked Hoshiko up and down before going into the kitchen with a soft giggle.

"I want the scrambled eggs, rice, and salmon please," Hoshiko told Lucifer.

Lucifer looked at Mammon expectantly.

"Oh! Uh, I'll just have tha same as Hoshiko."

Lucifer nodded and went into the kitchen.

Hoshiko held out their hand to Mammon.

Mammon took it without hesitation.

Hoshiko led him to the dining room, where they took a seat at the right-hand of the head of the table.

Mammon sat down next to them.

Satan, Asmo, and Lucifer all attended to Hoshiko and Mammon, bringing them food, drink, and silverware before getting their own breakfast.

Hoshiko thanked each of them as they sat down to eat.

"I'll get you back for this later," Lucifer replied, though his tone was much more good natured than earlier.

Hoshiko chuckled. "I'm sure you will, you big softie."

Lucifer rolled his eyes before beginning to eat.

Levi and Belphie made their way down to eat after a little while.

Hoshiko looked around at their family eating and conversing, and smiled.

Mammon grabbed their hand gently.

Hoshiko laced their fingers together and leaned on his shoulder.

Mammon grinned and laid his head on top of theirs.

Hoshiko hummed happily.

#gods please do not ask me when in Hoshiko's time-line this is supposed to take place #before the Kidnapped to Hell story #that's the best I've got #obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me mc #hoshiko higure #my obey me mc #om mammon #om asmo #om lucifer

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