#dammit mahiru stop being helpful i want to hate you

[vrisrezis]

My fav danganronpa characters with a crush (part 2)

- sdr2 chapter 5 spoilers

- chiaki in my opinion can be a character at times that is hard to understand especially given romantically, even if she is a romantical interest for our protag, however ..

- I think that chiaki having a crush is full of her trying to play different games with you, more specifically games you like, and doing what she can to seem entertaining enough.

- she hates the idea of boring you honestly, she has a fear of it to be honest. She also has a fear of making you disappointed in her in any way, so she tries to be especially kind when you’re around and watching how she acts.

- she never behaved poorly of course, but she’s still more careful around you anyways..

- she tends to sleep like a lot, we know this of course. She doesn’t wanna sleep around you too much though, especially if you invite her to hang out, she’ll feel so bad and feel like she will disappoint you.

- I think chiaki is good with a crush specifically because she can deal with it in a positive way.

- will blush if you try to touch her physically as she isn’t used to the physical affection but does appreciate it quite a lot!

- often chiaki will try to be positive and always is looking for ways to make you more healthy mentally as she is always a good positive influence mentally for people!

- she gives you a big hug before her execution, she’s very sad she’ll never really get to see you again after this, but is sure to give you some advice she never got to give you. And perhaps even tell you that she loves you.

- I don’t think personality matters much for chiaki but would probably like somebody with some sort of big “issue” because she’d want to help them. (Ex; having a issue with confidence or loving yourself; having a family issue; having an issue making friends)

- she’s a bit harder given her lack of romantical interest, however I did decide to play dangan island (danganronpa 2 island mode) and was able to get some stuff ;)

- I believe akane will blush at any compliments or whenever you may do something she deems as kind or “soft” as it’s something she’s not very used to

- Being kind and showing actual emotions and being open and vulnerable just isn’t really like her.. given she grew up in a situation where it’s very likely she couldn’t be like that. (My reasoning for that being her free time events where she seemed to be sexually abused or manipulated)

- it takes time but akane warms up to the idea of at least being a little more soft but that’s as vulnerable as she will get. Truth be told she just doesn’t know how to be vulnerable, it’s not like she doesn’t trust you or anything..

- akane might wanna fight you a lot and claim it’s just a friendly match, just her way of showing affection it seems..

- she always thought humans needed only food until she met you.. you taught her love and companionship is just as important for humans!

- i imagine akane liking somebody who’s very energetic like herself, she needs somebody who can keep up with her dammit!

- akane thinks about you a lot and initially doesn’t understand why she’s thinking about you so much and hates it. At a point she thinks that she wants to fight you, but it doesn’t fix anything. She still thinks about you..

- she comes to find out from her other classmates she probably has a crush on you, which makes more sense to her now but still.. she kinda hates it.. having a crush... isn’t that a weakness?? She can’t go soft! Not for anyone! Not for you?!

- but alas she is very soft for you and doesn’t know how to deal with her feelings and tends to overthink it and complicate things. She’s constantly looking into the things you do.. is there a deeper meaning behind it? Do you like her too? Or see her as a friend?

- nonethless akane thinks about these things a lot and I think she will definitely confess to you soon, she isn’t the type to keep silent about things really.. plus what’s the point in beating around the bush?

- since she does (kinda? Probably?) have a romantic interest towards gundham there’s some stuff to go off of here

- Sonia would be very quick to compliment a crush! She’s very kind in this regard I think and loves to compliment her crush a lot!

- Sonia would spend a lot of time with you, though she wouldn’t go out her way to purposely try to bond with you.

- the reason I say this is because I think for Sonia to crush on you she has to already feel a good bond/connection with you already

- it’s very likely that you’re a bit of a loner or didn’t grow up with many/any friends, she feels she can relate to you in this aspect and it makes her feel a bit better about these things.

- she blushes around you, especially if you compliment her or go as far as to hug her or something.. she boutta be so pink!

- que Souda being a jealous boy.. as he should .. you’re sexy and get to have a princess crush on you.. a ultimate princess nonetheless!

- Sonia loves talking to you about whatever creepy shit she may be into at the moment, but she loves hearing you talk about yourself as well!

- Sonia would be very trusting towards you, if you were ever a culprit during the killing game, or you were simply falsely accused she would never believe it! You are so kind and such a good friend!

- v3 spoilers for chapter 1

- Kaede has Shuichi but even at that not really a romantic interest, however looking into her character I can get a bit of an idea what she’s like romantically if you simply analyze her character. Especially given her love suite event and such.

- kaede will definitely seek your approval for things, I wouldn’t say to the point where it’s a flaw but she definitely seeks your approval when she goes on one of her optimistic Hope speeches

- I like to think kaede is very trustful of you, even in the killing game. I think that kaede will have trouble trusting the others towards the end (which would lead to her fall), but she will always trust you!

- kaede would at least give you a hug and while crying tell you her true feelings towards you before her execution ;(

- I think kaede likes to joke around with her crush a lot because she loves seeing them smile. Kaede also always knows how to comfort her crush and always knows the right things to say and how to cheer them up. She pays close attention to them and how they react to certain people and certain jokes.

- I think kaede could like a variety of people personality wise, I could say she’d like somebody like miu, shuichi, himiko, tenko, maki, kokichi etc. she could like any kind of personality but despite how you act if you seem to show interest in her this will make her happy

- even if u act all tsundere about it what matters to her is that you’re interested!

- I will try to make this one really gender neutral, I have for most of them but I won’t talk specifically about certain genders like I had with Mahiru, since there’s so much discourse within her sexuality.

- I think tenko would be interested in somebody that is a performer, I think that’s why she was so obsessed with himiko.

- she would be obsessed with you too though, always trying to be your friend and having conversations and doing her best to form a bond with you and constantly praising you, despite what your responses may be.

- tenko has a hard time concealing emotions and definitely deals with more emotions than most, crushing on you is hard for her to keep to herself for these reasons.

- which is why I think she’s pretty upfront with her emotions and will state at times that she finds you physically attractive but also finds your personality to be attractive.

- she will go as far to state anybody is lucky to date you, you could be with anyone you want.

- personality wise I do think it’s more likely for tenko to like somebody different than her own personality, somebody similar to maybe maki or himiko.

- lots of blushing from this gal, “you’re making me blush!” Can often be heard from her.

- Angie will be very open about her feelings, but this being when you get close as I think it takes a bit for Angie to like somebody.

- Angie will outright say you’re the one for her! That atua said you’re the one for her! So as such she is always calling you cute nicknames.

- Angie loves to grab your hand and drag you around to places. I also think Angie tends to act like you two are a couple already and probably claims you are ?

- quick to give hugs and such! She’s also quite clingy too and hates being separated from you at any time.. she loves being with you after all!

- she’s the ultimate artist for a reason, so she likes to make portaits of you and show them to you as well as other people.

- personality I don’t think matters much to Angie but I think she will tend to like people more shy, more nice, or in general just don’t really have a backbone.

- it makes it easier for her to have a person going along with pretty much anything she wants to do and no complaints or being that stubborn!

- likes praying with you a lot, claims she cannot pray without you now!

V3 spoilers for chapter 4

- I think that miu can be a bit strange towards a crush at least by her own standards. She definitely acts different towards you.

- she acts sexual and says sexual things specifically to gain your attention. Over time eventually stops doing this, but still does it from time to time.

- blushes around you, she feels nervous around you and she cannot help it.. she doesn’t fully understand why she gets so nervous though..

- it takes her awhile to understand what her feelings are, they certainly aren’t sexual.. (well maybe they are.. but it’s totally something else too)

- she will realize she cares for you a lot.. it will lead to her growing desperate to leave with you.. obviously she will give into that desperate need and it’ll be her own demise.

- miu laughs a lot around you as she cannot help but feel so happy in your presence. She wants you to feel the same so she tries to make a lot of jokes to make you laugh. She’s not always good with people and making jokes however and may come off as insensitive or mean.

- speaking of being mean, she’s usually very mean to everyone but never really to you. If she ever is she didn’t mean to be .. well mean. So she’ll try to make it up to you.

- has probably offered her body to you before. She also likes to show you her latest inventions and even invent things for you that you’d find useful. Many people find some of her inventions weird, she doesn’t care what anybody else thinks but she cares what you think so she has a fear you might find some invention weird.

- I think miu could like a variety of different people, but what matters to her is that you know how to catch her off guard. Whatever that be like kokichi with your.. attitude, or being more like kaede with your optimism and it being completely foreign to her. Catching her off guard gets her to like you. Though I do think praising her a ton totally works as well.

- you’re a lucky duck if himiko likes you! I think tenko would agree ;D

- himiko loves to smile and laugh around you, then again she wouldn’t stop smiling and laughing around you even if she wanted to.. she wants you to have fun too though! She likes making you smile by doing lots of magic!

- himiko blushes around you, you make her feel so nervous and giddy.. though she does pray with Angie when she’s feeling especially giddy because then she can avoid her feelings.

- this of course leads to kokichi knowing and teasing her relentlessly, but also genuinely telling her she shouldn’t run away from her emotions... in his own little way of course

- she likes spending time alone with you.. it’s pretty rare because of tenko which is why she likes spending alone time with you so much.. even if it makes her kinda nervous

- sometimes she feels nervous about preforming magic tricks and such in front of you.. but still manages showing off

- i imagine her liking the complete opposite of her tbh, I think she’d like somebody with lots of Rn every despite what her attitude would be to somebody like that. Maybe somebody really optimistic or somebody really in touch with their emotions.

#danganronpa x reader #sdr2 x reader #v3 x reader #danganronpa v3 #danganronpa goodbye despair #himiko yumeno #angie yonaga #kaede akamatsu #miu iruma #tenko chabashira #akane owari #chiaki nanami #sonia nevermind

[sunbrights]

fic: somewhere surely lived (1/14)

fandom: danganronpa characters/pairings: fuyuhiko & peko are the main POV characters, and kuzupeko is the main endgame ship, but this sumbitch is a smorgasborg of characters and ships. there are 6 additional secondary ships that'll be ~special surprises~. side pairings won't be tagged, but the "relationship of the day" character will. rating: e (not all chapters have smut, but a fair number of them do) summary: Hope's Peak is not just a dating program; it's a guarantee. With the right compatible partner, the benefits are endless: boosted life expectancy, improved self-esteem, increased productivity, new opportunities, better overall work and life satisfaction. For society's elite, Hope's Peak makes finding that partner straightforward, if not easy.

It provides an Ultimate Match-- provided the participants are willing to go through its paces.

(AU based on the Black Mirror episode, "Hang the DJ.")

notes: Happy Valentine's week, friends! This fic is (almost) done and will (hopefully) be updated 3x a week between now and White Day (3/14) as a special lovey-dovey season gift from me to you!

read on AO3

2 WEEKS

“What?” she says. “That can’t be right. That’s barely any time at all.”

He taps the round, black face of his device again, but the number doesn’t change. Two weeks.

The server brings by pre-selected menu choices: poached salmon for him and parmesan risotto for her. He knew going in that the system was designed to automate as much as possible. (“Optimizing everyday decisions allows participants to focus their energy on developing their relationships,” his device had told him, after he booted it up the first time.) That doesn’t stop it from being fucking weird, having a plate slid in front of him without preamble.

He can’t find room to be pissed about it, though. The fish is cooked perfectly, exactly to his tastes. He can’t say he wouldn’t have picked it himself, if he’d been given the option; it just might’ve taken him longer to get there.

The girl is still focused on her device. She has it cupped in one hand, and is swiping through the different menu options. She’s pretty, he guesses; she has a narrow face and dark eyes, but also a short bob haircut that keeps her from looking too severe. He’s never really thought much about red hair on women... but apparently the system didn’t think much of it, either, if this is all the time it gave them.

“Usami,” she says, and it lights up to acknowledge her, “is it really only two weeks?”

“That’s right!”

“What the fuck are we supposed to do with that?” he snaps around his mouthful. The girl gives him a sour look.

“I’m sorry,” his device chirps from his elbow, “that question is too broad. Being specific helps me understand!”

“I think what he means,” she says, every word dripping with so much pointed disapproval that it makes him roll his eyes, “is why is it only two weeks?”

“Everything happens for a reason.”

“... Right.” She gives up, apparently; she sighs, and lets her wrist hang. He takes another bite.

“It’s rude to start eating before everyone else at the table, you know,” she tells him.

“You’ve got your food,” he says.

“That’s not the point! It’s…” She sighs again, and shoves the device back into her purse. “Nevermind. Let’s just start over, okay? I want to make the most of this. Two weeks or not.”

The main theme of all the literature surrounding Hope’s Peak had been that the system works if you let it. Nothing is superfluous, even if it seems like it is. Everything happens for a reason.

He swallows his bite, and leans back in the booth.

“... Fine.”

*

Mahiru is an amateur photographer following in her mother’s footsteps. It’s her first time in the system, too, and she’s about as sold on it as he is— which is to say, not quite. She offers him some of her risotto, and laughs when he refuses. “Big no to cheese, then,” she says, mixing the breadcrumbs into the rice. “Heard that one loud and clear.”

There’s a little, driverless cart waiting for them outside the restaurant when they’re finished. It pings both their devices when they get in, sets a navigation on its own, and takes them out into the sprawling grounds around the central hub.

They ride in silence, cold winter air whipping in from under the plastic shields. He puts his feet on the dash, and she sighs, loud enough that it barely even counts as passive-aggressive. He doesn’t put them back down.

The route delivers them to an isolated cottage on the western side of the grounds. It’s on the small side, just a main living area separated from what he assumes is a bedroom by a half-divider. There’s a nook of a kitchen tucked into the southeastern corner, and an automated fireplace in the middle. It’s clean and nicely furnished, inviting while still managing to stay practical.

Mahiru turns the corner into the bedroom. She stops short. “... Oh.”

He understands when he gets there. There’s only a single bed, made up in plush pillows and fluffy blankets. The bathroom hangs off the northern wall, separated by wide panes of lightly frosted glass.

The implication isn’t exactly fucking subtle.

“... I guess it’s understandable,” she says. “I mean, we are meant to be in a relationship. It’s just a little...”

“For two weeks?” he says. “Fuck that.” He plucks the squat extra blanket off the end of the bed and steps back down into the main living area. “Take it. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Don’t you know any other words?” she complains. “If you talk like that all the time, people are going to assume you have a bad attitude.”

“Let people think whatever they want,” he answers. “I don’t give a shit.”

“So you do have a bad attitude, is what you’re saying.”

He turns on his heel. “What difference does it make to you? Do you want to share the bed?”

She flushes, and glares at her feet. “Of- Of course not! Not… Not right away, at least. I appreciate you being a gentleman about it, but you could try actually acting like a gentleman.”

“It’s only two weeks,” he tells her. He pulls out the back cushions of the couch and lines them up neatly behind it. “Don’t get so worked up over it.”

That shuts her up. She watches him make up the rest of it, her arms folded over her stomach. “You know,” she says, once he’s sat down, “you could try being a little more positive.”

“Whatever.” He kicks the decorative throw pillows off the end of the couch so that he can pull his legs up on it. Even for him, it’s a tight fit. “Let’s just go to sleep.”

*

Two weeks, it turns out, is a long, long fucking time.

*

They argue, constantly. She hassles him about his manners, his posture, the way he holds his fork. They never agree on what to do or where to go or when, and she absolutely refuses to give any ground, ever. She’s fucking insufferable.

“You’re not my goddamn mother!” he shouts across the kitchen. “I don’t need you riding my ass all the time!”

“Yeah, well, maybe if you actually pulled yourself together for once, I wouldn’t have to!” He slams the mini-fridge shut, and she tosses her hands in the air. “See? This is exactly what I’m talking about. You’re such a child, you know that?”

“Usami,” he barks at the counter.

The device lights up. “Yes, Fuyuhiko?”

“What are our options for ending a relationship?”

“Oh, that’s your solution?” Mahiru demands. “You want to run away instead of acknowledging that maybe, maybe you have some issues you should be working through?”

“The relationship will end when time is up!” the device responds, cheerful.

He ignores her, and focuses on it. “Yeah, I’m not an idiot, I know that. I mean before that.”

“All expiration dates are carefully calibrated in order to generate an accurate partner profile, which helps in selecting your Ultimate Match,” it answers. “Participants are not allowed to terminate a relationship before the expiration date has passed. Doing so would compromise the quality of the data provided to the system.”

He freezes. Across the room, so does Mahiru. “What?” she says.

“Ever?”

“That’s right!”

“We’re stuck here for another fucking week?”

“That’s right!”

It waits for more input. After it goes a few long, excruciatingly silent minutes without getting any, it dims into standby.

“Look,” Mahiru starts, and that’s how it always starts, her same bullshit speech about having an open mind and trusting the system and, if you really listen, letting her drive their whole fucking relationship. He can’t listen to it again.

“Don’t,” he snaps. He shoulders past her, and grabs his coat from the hook. “I need some goddamn air.”

*

Natsumi agrees to give him an out, on the condition that he brings her a smoothie and walks around the park with her. He does it, because if he spends one more second in that tiny-ass cottage, he’s going to lose his fucking mind, and no amount of Natsumi squeaking her straw in her plastic lid is going to measure up ever again.

Her advice is, “Have you had sex yet? You should have sex,” and he gulps down way, way too much of his coffee. He manages not to spit it all down his front, and it scalds the back of his throat instead.

“God— fucking dammit, Natsumi! Did you not listen to a word I said?”

“Yeah,” she drawls, “I listened to all of it. She tells you to pick up your shoes sometimes and you’re a little bitch about it, I get it. If it’s such a lost cause, you might as well get something out of it before time’s up.”

“I’m not gonna sleep with someone I hate!”

“Who cares about that? You said two weeks, right? I doubt the system was gunning for you guys to settle into gross domestic bliss anyway.” She slurps her smoothie. “Hatesex is a thing.”

“You’re fucking full of shit.”

“Be miserable, then! What else do you want me to say?”

He doesn’t have the chance to answer. There’s a shout behind them, and some girl skids past, nearly clipping Natsumi’s elbow. She fumbles her smoothie, and it sloshes purple all down her front.

“Hey!” she shrieks. “Watch where you’re going, bitch!”

“I’m sorry!” the girl shouts over her shoulder. She keeps running. “I’ve got a really important mission! No time to explain!”

He feels better after that.

*

“Yo, Usami,” he asks, when it’s just him in the cottage, two nights before the expiration. He sprawls out on the couch, and lets his head hang off the edge.

“Yes, Fuyuhiko?”

“What’s the fucking point of this?”

“The system evaluates your reactions to each of your relationships in order to build a complex—”

“No, I mean this. Me and her. Why put us together in the first place?”

“Everything happens for a reason.”

Could’ve seen that one coming.

She gets back not long after him. She walks right past him without looking at him, straight back into the kitchen. They’ve gone three days without saying a damn word to each other, and maybe that should feel like an improvement over the constant screaming, but it doesn’t.

It feels pointless.

He sits up on the couch. “Hey.” She barely even reacts, just tilts her head enough that he knows she heard him. “Can I kiss you?”

She looks then. She glares, right over the curve of her shoulder. “Excuse me?”

“For fuck’s sake, don’t make me say it again.”

“Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?” she snaps. “Are you seriously this petty?”

“No! That’s not it. Just—” He gestures at his device, and hopes that gets the message across. “I’m fucking trying here, okay?”

She turns her glare down at the device, and then back up at him. Her jaw works. “... Fine,” she says, and then holds up a finger before he can get a word in. “One time. Understand?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

She drops onto the couch beside him, except that she’s still too far away for him to do anything. He has to scoot to close the distance, and that makes her even more tense, shoulders drawn up and spine rigid. She stares back at him with that same, resolute glare she always wears, only now her face is a little pink, high on her cheekbones. It’d be cute, maybe, on literally anyone else.

They sit in silence. He tries to psyche himself up.

“... Well?” she demands. “How- How long are you just going to sit there? If you lost your nerve, just admit it so I can at least—”

He mutters, “Fuck, shut up,” and crushes his mouth over hers.

And yeah, he was right all along: Natsumi is full of shit.

It’s a bad kiss, and no weeks-old flare of physical attraction is enough to save it. Technically speaking, it’s fine, and contrary to what he expected Mahiru doesn’t just sit there like a dead fish; she tries maybe more than him, cupping his face in her hands and tilting him into a more comfortable angle. There’s just nothing there. It’s a wet, uncomfortable mess of lips with someone he hates.

It only lasts a few seconds before she groans and pushes him off.

“That was terrible,” she says.

It’s the first and only time he’s ever agreed with her. She slides away from him, and he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “Yeah, well. Now we know, huh? This whole thing was a fucking waste of time.”

She wraps her arms around her middle. “Yeah,” she says. “I guess it was.”

She stands up from the couch and goes to bed.

*

Two of the automated carts are sent out to pick them up on the last day. When the timer breaks five minutes, they separate into their individual rides, and wait for it to run out.

END

#fuyuhiko kuzuryuu #mahiru koizumi #danganronpa #i feel weird tagging this as kuzupeko on tumblr before any kuzupeko actually happens #also!! i have no plans to neglect brick by brick or my prompts fics while this is being posted #if anyone is worried about that #i'm flying by the seat of my pants a lil here but only a little #i'll still be able to work on stuff in the background while this is going up #i hope you enjoy it though!! #how obvious is it that this was supposed to be a countdown to valentine's day? #super obvious? #cool cool cool #fic: somewhere surely lived #sunwrites

[komahinasecretexchange]

Title: Minor Inconveniences

Author: @midnight-run-amok

For: @moosabus

Rating/Warnings: All Ages (Some minor references to sex and some low-grade cursing, but nothing to write home about.) Relatively Tame Spoilers for DR2, 2.5 and DR3. Prompt: Komaeda adopts a puppy and seeks hinata’s help in caring for it Author’s notes: This was really a lot of fun to write because fluffy concepts like this aren’t really in my usual wheelhouse so… yeah, I’m a little nervous about it. I really, really hope you like it. Timeline-wise this occurs after DR3:Hope Side. Cheers! ^_^

“Well, I mean….” He trailed off, running a distracted hand through his hair as he stared down at the small, fuzzy animal currently flopped over in the middle of the deck licking its… no… his junk. “Can you return it?”

Komaeda just stared at him and somehow his wilting smile made him feel like he’d just spat on a child’s birthday cake.

It was a look that clearly said: You are a monster, Hajime Hinata.

A crusher of dreams.

The literal worst.

“Nevermind,” he sighed, rolling his eyes to stare up at the bright blue of the sky above.

A small voice inside him that was all that truly remained of the most analytic parts of Izuru (and somehow always sounded like Nanami) quietly informed him that the sky wasn’t actually blue.

Don’t be pedantic.

He turned his attention back to the man at his side who was now smiling and looking awfully pleased with himself for someone who had just moments before looked as if someone had just canceled Christmas.

Not that he really thought Komaeda had ever actually celebrated Christmas. He’d seemed completely gobsmacked by the idea when Sonia had started making noises about how they should maybe find some lights to make the ship a bit more friendly-looking so people would stop running away when they docked.

He didn’t have the heart to tell her that people would probably still run away, they’d just be able to do so a lot sooner, because they’d see them coming from further off.

Fortunately, the running and screaming actually seemed to finally be dying down a bit as people slowly forgot who they had been and what they could do. Eventually he hoped they’d just seem like eccentric weirdo do-gooders wandering the world fixing things.

Like those guys on Scooby Doo… only with more practical repair work and a boat instead of a brightly painted van.

They even had a dog now… apparently.

“Where’d you even get a puppy?”

“Oh, I found him.”

And knowing Komaeda that could mean any number of things, each more potentially distressing than the last.

This was why he hated being labeled de-facto leader of their little bad of misfits.

Being responsible for things like this.

Because it had pretty much been an endless parade of things like this ever since they’d woken up.

Gundham was running some sort of weird island rodent rehabilitation program in the old theater and since he’d used the ship to bring them to the island in the first place, they’d been cleaning rat crap out of all the nooks and crannies for the better part of a month.

Akane had somehow stolen one of Togami’s credit cards and used it to order fifteen pigs last month so they could roast and eat them. He hadn’t even known you could buy fifteen freaking pigs online much less have them airlifted to an manmade island in the middle of the Pacific.

Such was the power of the Togami name, apparently, even now.

Their Imposter still couldn’t settle on a name or a default persona and had been oscillating between old standbys for the last few weeks which - in and of itself - wouldn’t have been that big a deal if it hadn’t sent poor Mitarai running to their room every other day at half past three in the morning with a laundry list of completely earnest questions about sex that had made him want to weep.

Mostly because of the sort of answers Komaeda cheerfully volunteered.

Souda had built a giant security robot that had managed to set half of the buildings on the fourth island on fire.

Nekomaru had managed to blow out the plumbing in both his own room and different parts of the hotel no less than five times in the last month.

They had started leaving him behind on the island to avoid potential mid-ocean disasters (not that that helped with the blow out issue exactly, but at least it kept it contained to the island where there were a number of bathrooms).

Akane had volunteered to stay behind with him (which he was silently grateful for as Akane had a tendency to mow right through their food supplies by the time they were two days out of port). Between the two of them they always managed to break something while they were gone, but at least they didn’t have to worry about intruders attempting to take over their little piece of the world while they were away.

Not that people were exactly lining up to attack their island these days.  

It only took so many stalled ships and airplanes and so many rockets shot out of the air before those few countries who had been so inclined had given it up as a bad job.

Mahiru was constantly banging on his door at all hours of the night to complain about something Hanamura had done during the day. Or how she really needed a dedicated space in which to develop pictures. Or how they really needed to install better lighting in the common areas. Or how irresponsible it was of him to be sleeping without first making sure everyone was safely in their cabins for the night.

At which point he usually reminded her that he wasn’t a hall monitor and that they were all adults perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.

And the look she usually gave him when he said that was the same look she might have given gum she had to scrap off her shoe.

Fortunately, he had resigned himself to Mahiru’s disappointment when he’d first woken her up and she’d asked him what had taken so long.

For his part things, Hanamura (when he wasn’t having to lecture him yet again about his inappropriate behavior) had begun insisting on regular delivers of all sorts of exotic ingredients so he could stretch his culinary wings.

Which really meant they’d been discovering with uncomfortable regularity that everyone was allergic to something.

And it probably explained the Nekomaru’s bathroom issues as well.

Sonia had insisted on expanding the library’s already improbably large section devoted to the occult and unnatural phenomena, but while they’d been removing and disposing of the library’s collection of weird porn (which Hanamura had been delighted to take custody of) to make room for it they’d discovered some intrepid librarian had built a secret sex dungeon in behind the ‘Do-It-Yourself’ section.

Which would have been fine except apparently Despair had hit the island really, really hard and the sex dungeon had become… something else entirely and since just lighting the building on fire with one of Souda’s robots wasn’t an option they’d had to figure out a way to clean the whole place out.

Which had been an incredibly disgusting task that Komaeda had overseen cheerfully claiming he was glad to have a way to contribute and blithely ignoring Souda’s and Kazuryuu’s loud complaints about being forced to do the grunt work.

Peko… actually never caused any particular problems.

Or possibly was just better at resolving any situations that arose on her own.

It was hard to say for sure.

Saionji had brought the act of ‘making a bad situation worse’ to an art form of epic proportions during the months since she’d woken up. Besides playing pranks on everyone (but mostly Mikan because some folks never really changed completely). She and Ibuki had also formed a band called Hair Down There and had been threatening to hold a concert as soon as they convinced Souda to build them a giant flame spewing dinosaur they absolutely needed for the their big finale.

He was pretty sure the giant robot had given them ideas.

And Komaeda…

Komaeda had apparently found and adopted a dog.

And since they’d been sleeping together practically since the moment he’d taken his hand and pulled him back into the waking world, he had apparently also adopted a dog.

Because, honestly, his life just wasn’t complete without something to stare at them awkwardly from across the room when they….

Dammit.

The idea of having yet another living thing dependent on him for its survival was nauseating.

But Komaeda looked so damn happy about the idea.

Fuck.

When exactly was it that he’d become completely incapable of saying no to Nagito Komaeda?

Komaeda’s chin settled against his shoulder, arms looping tight around his waist, “It’s a lot to ask, isn’t it?”

“The asking part would have been nice,” he sighed, tipping his head in against the soft, pale hair. “Seriously? Where did you even find him?”

“You know all those busted up shops near the dock?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Because it was hard to be sure which shops he was talking about since pretty much all the shops on the entire island (whose name Izuru/Nanami politely informed him was Sint Maarten as if that were important or relevant to the conversation and not just one more awkward piece of knowledge to deal with) had been burgled or trashed at some point before they’d arrived and while they’d been doing clean-up for a couple days, there was still a lot of work to be done.

“I heard him crying. His mother… well. I think it was lucky I decided to take my walk there today.”

“Mm, how are you feeling?”

“I…” He hesitated and within that pause he could practically feel him swallowing down the urge to lie or to tell the truth in the cruelest possible way.

They were all trying so hard to be better than they were.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” he shrugged.

“Because you know anyway?” Komaeda murmured, voice flat, but his arms tightened around him which was a good sign.

He did.

That soft, flat voice in his head was running down numbers and percentages and adjusting his exercise regiment.

He couldn’t help being what he was.

“But you’d still rather hear it from me,” Komaeda commented as if plunking the words from his mind. “Today was a pretty good day. Look at him. He’s cute, isn’t he?”

The nameless puppy had apparently finished cleaning himself and was now roaming around sniffing at the pile of supply crates that dominated that part of the deck.

“He’s going to pee on that crate.”

“He wouldn’t.”

“He just did.”

“Oh… so he did. I should probably clean that up,”

“Probably. I’ll go see if we have anything to feed him,” Hajime sighed, resigned to the inevitably of their new crew member.

He could already see the span of days falling out before him. Days of Komaeda chasing that puppy around the ship, cleaning up after him, apologizing for him… this was probably a mistake.

Still….

He liked the mistakes.

Maybe it was selfish, but he liked watching them all make mistakes.

He was still able to see everything that would happen, all the inevitable cause and effect that ruled the world, all those potential inconveniences coming miles away. That hadn’t changed when he’d woken up in his pod, gasping for air, heart racing. The world was still boring and very little surprised him, but it was somehow less of a burden than it had been when he’d been only Izuru Kamakura and the world had seemed mired in molasses, always moving too slow and predictably around him to be of even the slightest interest.

Now at least he could appreciate the pleasure that came from letting things play out as they would, content himself with enjoying the little surprises as they happened rather than intent on breaking the world to pieces in search of them.

These days he found he liked watching things happen.

Liked seeing what they would make of their lives.

It was worth watching buildings burn and fielding angry calls from Togami and answering uncomfortable questions and navigating an endless series of complaints.

Sometimes they surprised him and events would veer off in directions he could never have predicted.

More often they didn’t.

But that was okay too.

Life was full of inconveniences and robots and wrecked buildings and the feel of Komaeda sliding his metallic hand beneath his shirt and dragging chilly fingertips up his spine because he knew the cold would make him flinch and squirm against him even if he knew it was coming.

That it would still make them both laugh.

There was more laughter than despair these days and that, in and of itself, was something special.

In the simulation, he’d spent weeks wishing Komaeda would leave him alone.

Now he couldn’t imagine what his days would look like without him.

Didn’t want to.

So, if he wanted a puppy… that was okay too.

“So, what are you going to name him?” He’d asked late that afternoon as they lay sprawled out on the deck watching the others laugh and talk as Hanamura grilled up something that smelled amazing and would probably taste twice as good. “And don’t say Hope. You are not naming our puppy ‘Hope’.”

Komaeda laughter was like the tinkling sound of wind chimes swept together by a warm breeze, “Our puppy?”

“Would you rather he was just yours?”

“No, not at all,” he hummed, scooting a little closer so their legs touched, careful not to disturb the puppy currently snoozing on his chest. “Though maybe you should name him. I’m really no good at naming things….”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. If it’s something awful, I’ll veto it.”

“I really don’t know if I can trust someone like you with such an important job, maybe we should have Sonia or one of the others….”

“Oh, shut up about my talent and name the damn dog already,” he laughed, poking Komaeda’s shoulder.

Komaeda hummed and fell silent for long moments as he contemplated the compromise. “Lucky,” he said finally, his face gravely serious.

“What is?”

“His name. See, I told you I wasn’t very good at naming things, you see,” Komaeda replied, scratching a finger against the puppy’s floppy ear. “You are very unfortunate to have such a terrible master.”

“I don’t know, I think it suits him.”

“Really?”

“I do.”

“Okay.”

The fingers of Komaeda’s robotic hand slid over his own, clutched briefly before retreating.

“But we’re going to need to find someone who’s willing to watch him if you want to fool around.”

“Why? I don’t think he’d mind.”

“I’d mind.”

“You’re surprisingly prudish about the strangest things. I don’t think Lucky cares what you look like naked. Or are you worried my body will frighten him? I admit that might be-“

“You’re beautiful.”

“Well, yes, so you’ve said, but I think that’s just because you have terrible taste. I mean, you’ve chosen to spend your time with someone like me so your judgement is highly questionable on a number of levels.”

He rolled over onto his knees so he could loom over Komaeda who, unsurprisingly, looked back up at him with that usual pleasantly blank expression that made him want to throw things at Komaeda’s long-dead parents for whatever part they’d had in this attitude, “You do know I’m literally the most talented man in the world, right?”

“Well, yes, but only because you cheated.”

He chose to ignore that remark. It was one he was well-used to hearing from Komaeda’s lips, after all. Whatever sting it might have carried had worn away long ago.

“And you’re in love with a cheater.”

“Am I?” A smile quirked across his lips, subtle but real.

“Aren’t you? Seems like you said as much several times this morning.”

“Well, you have a few redeeming qualities.”

“Thanks for that. That’s good to hear,” he commented dryly, dropping a kiss against Komaeda’s lips. He’d intended to be a quick thing, but Komaeda had other ideas, fingers catching against the back of his neck and drawing him in for something wetter, deeper.

When he’d finally drawn away, they were both breathing a little harder and somewhere behind them Saionji was bitching loudly about how some people should take their little makeup sessions downstairs.

Komaeda smiled, pale cheeks flushed pink in the light of the setting sun, “Mm, do you think Mitarai likes dogs?”

Hajime laughed, reaching down to scratch behind Lucky’s ears before sitting back, “I think if you have Mitarai watch him for us, there’s really no telling what his boyfriend is going to imitate next.”

The idea of the unknown was always such a unique and tantalizing possibility.

Komaeda’s smile was soft and knowing as he sat up slowly, lifting the puppy from his chest and depositing him carefully in Hajime’s lap. He leaned in and pressed a fleeting kiss against his lips before getting unsteadily to his feet, “I’ll go find out. Wait for me?”

“I always do,” he said, setting a tentative hand against the pup’s back as it lifted its head, suddenly awake and interested in the proceedings as Komaeda slipped off into the crowd gathered around the grill.

The puppy clamored up out of his lap, sniffing the air and padding off towards the pile of crates.

“You need to go for a walk don’t you?” He sighed, climbing to his feet and adjusting his slacks. “C’mon, then.”

Lucky glanced back at him and lifted his leg against one of the crates in response.

Right.

#komahina #komahina secret exchange #fanfiction