#lmao this post went in a different way than intended
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Taking a smol break
Hey guys, nothing big happening or anything here. I'm just going to be taking the next couple weeks to focus on school work since I have a lot to do! So I'll still be active but I won't be posting any new works of mine.
Don't fear, I'll be back around the 18th because classes will be over then! When I get back I have a short story to write, some requests, the next piece of Jaxon lore, and even an event around the 25th so stay tuned for those!
If anyone needs me, of course I'll still be online, I just won't be posting! Smol man needs smol break
But in the meantime you can check out my friends!
@theroseredreaper writes for TWST! Their requests are also open and they write really well! They're so nice to talk to and so fun! I platonically love Mimi like they're so sweet and understanding and we talk for so long about pokemon and stuff. Mimi even wrote me a comfort piece not to long ago and I go back and re-read their things because it's so good!
@starboyshoyo also writes for TWST but isn't taking requests right now but she has an event open with one slot left for a musical song with the TWST boys! Birdie has endured many of my Sebek rambles and encourages them +_+
@azulashengrottospiano requests aren't open right now but if you like Azul, silly random content, or the ikemen series, Auburn has got you covered! Auburn is so sweet and so cool! I love to read her rambles about random things and it's so fun to see all the interactions! Auburn is also the (what I call) fish wizard. She knows so much about the ocean and sea life and you can ask about a specific species and Auburn will fill you in on it and it's so cool
@pyroxeene isn't taking requests right now but she's so lovely to talk to and she writes Honkai Star Rail content right now! She's such a talented writer like a role model to me and honestly the main character in life
@leonistic is super cool! Also probably the biggest Leona fan out there but so understandable. Soru is very nice and even has an event going on right now! But please be mindful and don't spam them with requests for the event! You'll never understand my hype when they followed me back-
@paraccosm is super nice! If you like the spiderverse, she's a wonderful writer who's also taking requests for the spiderverse! She's seriously so sweet and it makes me sad that I don't know the spiderverse stuff so I can't request, but I'll be like the supportive father that doesn't understand a thing but is cheering you on anyway!
@minimallyminnie deserves. more. support. and. appreciation. Seriously they're so kind and supportive of me and my oc Jaxon and there's no words to express how grateful I am to them. They write things so beautifully and are very underappreciated. While their requests are closed, feel free to check them out and explore their blog! Fuyuki belongs to them too!
@spritofthesea is so fun! They have lots of ocs and you may recognize Akuji and Karrigan because they belong to them! While they have a separate blog for their TWST things, they also like One Piece, so if that's for you then feel free to check them out!
@l1ttleclouds my platonic husband <3. He may be a bit busy because he has a beautiful newborn daughter (Congratulations again!), but he takes requests for moodboards and aesthetic boards and they're +_+ so good! He's done a few for me for Silver, Sebek, Mammon, and even my style! He's also the first friend I made on here and I'm so grateful to him!
@officialdaydreamer00 is so cool! Irene currently has an event going on where you can request a drawing of your oc and a TWST boy dancing and it's so cool and their art is so good! Their ocs are so cool too and the lore is scrumptious! Irene is so nice tho
@rose-the-witch1 is so fun and nice! While requests are closed, she posts really cool content and she knows a bunch of anime things! Rosie is a Lilia lover so if you want to share thoughts on Lilia, feel free!
@it-happened-one-fic is such a good writer and so nice like ;-; how? She's super cool and all her works are so good I definitely recommend checking them out! She writes for Genshin Impact and Twisted Wonderland and they're all so good that I just eat up every fic
@thebettybook we don't really interact on Tumblr but she is so nice! She's great at giving writing advice and has delicious writing for TWST, Transformers, and the spiderverse too! The strawberry theme is so cute too!
@animusicnerd is so cool! Ryker approved cool kid right here like omg I'm friends with a cool kid?? She's always so nice and chill to talk to and in a lot of different fandoms like TWST, spider-man, Haikyuu, and Ensemble Stars! We don't interact much on Tumblr but she's super chill and I will be going through her masterlist and rebloging/liking everything later because yummy content-
@xxheartspadexx is such another cool kid! How am I friends with so many cool kids? IDK. Anyway Spade is so nice and cool and involved in a lot of different fandoms. She helped guide me in Honkai Star Rail and I won't forget it also she's really good at drawing +_+
@xxoomiii so nice and a lot like me! They're also friends with Auburn and have been a supporter of mine for so long! I'm so grateful and I still have your request I have to write but I'm sorry it's taking so long! You're super cool though!
Oh my gosh I have a lot more friends than I thought and this somehow turned into an appreciation post for my friends so
A quick message to all my friends: Sorry to bother you with the notification but I appreciate all of you so much like you have no idea and you're all so cool and fun to talk to and kjasbdkajbjk how did you all become my friends??? This smol man doesn't understand but I'm so grateful anyway-
#lmao this post went in a different way than intended#but my friends are all so cool#rykers friends :D#mimi if you see this i will still fight you about being nice-#and auburn i will fight you about you being cool#that is a threat#father ryker signing off#okay byeeeeeeeeeee
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obligatory (satoru gojo x reader)
notes: haha. the valentine's fic. it's funny i still have to post halloween fic. maybe i'll finish this week since i'm off work. uh anyway, for those who say my posts, i'm kind of hesitant to post this for two reasons: 1) it's removed from context— like you can still get a feel of what is going on, but there's no explanation as for why and 2) due to reason 1 it's tonally different than usual, at least according to my beta reader. my eternal gratitude goes to @momodita who helped me workshop this fic and continues to demand i write more gojo fics despite denying being a gojo fucker.
contains: implied f!reader (no pronouns), the return of gojo's pov (a little less whacky this time lmao), jealous gojo (because those who know me know i can't get enough), light angst or whatever the hell is going on there. additionally, for those who don't know giri choco is chocolate you give out of obligation to your coworkers and honmei choco is chocolate you give to someone you have romantic feelings for. part of the infinite loop verse.
wc: 1.8k
“Here you go.”
Satoru graciously accepts Shoko’s offering: a thin, delicately wrapped box of Valentine’s Day chocolate. Naturally, it's giri choco; Satoru is well aware that Shoko would be caught dead before even thinking about giving Satoru honmei choco. That said, it looks like she's given more thought to her gift this year— the last few years she's just handed him a gourmet chocolate bar from some high end chocolatier. Actually, the last time she'd given him something wrapped up like this was…
“There better not be any liquor in this,” Satoru says in a petulant tone reminiscent of his high school days.
Shoko merely laughs. “As if I'd waste something like that on you.”
There's no way she’s forgotten how sick Satoru got the one time she did give him liquor filled chocolates. Not only had it made him sick to his stomach, it'd given him the worst headache of his entire life. If it were up to Satoru, liquor filled chocolates wouldn't even exist. “Welllll, thanks for the chocolate. I'll be sure to get you something good next month.”
Shoko gives him a relaxed smile. “Looking forward to it, Gojo.”
Knowing Shoko, she'll want liquor as usual. Maybe the same bottle of shochu that he got last year? She liked that, but then again, the same gift twice would be boring and Satoru is not about that. Whatever it is will be a little pricey, but Satoru doesn't mind it one bit— anything for one of his oldest friends.
Having given Satoru her yearly offering of chocolate, Shoko shoos him away so she can actually get to work. Satoru considers ambling around for another hour or two, but Ijichi will probably have a heart attack if he delays his mission briefing any longer. The sooner he does it the better, he guesses. Satoru starts sauntering toward the assistant managers’ office to find Ijichi, pulling at the ribbon on the box he received from Shoko as he goes. Inside are two rows of perfectly round chocolate truffles and Satoru picks one at random and pops it into his mouth. It's filled with a sweet raspberry cream that practically melts on his tongue. Shoko really went all out this year, but no matter how good these are they'd never match up to anything homemade.
Though, when he thinks about it, Satoru supposes he won't be getting anything like that this year.
When he gets to the assistant managers’ office he easily finds Ijichi, who, for once, is not bent over a mountain of paperwork, and with him is—
You.
Handing Ijichi a box of chocolates.
For some reason, Satoru suddenly feels very, very annoyed.
“Well, well, well,” he says, the volume of his voice louder than intended, but he doesn't care. “What do we have here?”
Ijichi whirls around and lets out a squeak, his face red as can be. He starts to blubber and it almost feels like Satoru's caught him in the middle of something more illicit than receiving chocolates. If Satoru weren't feeling so annoyed, he'd find the whole sight rather funny.
You, on the other hand, are far calmer, indifferent even, as a slight frown mars your features. Something about it makes Satoru's blood burn hot.
“Did I just interrupt a heartfelt love confession?” Satoru asks dryly and Ijichi starts to freak out even more, and while Satoru notices the slightest twitch of your eye, you remain impassive.
“I hope you like the chocolates,” you tell Ijichi, outright ignoring Satoru and somehow that makes Satoru's blood run even hotter. “I kept in mind what you said about last year's so they're not as sweet.”
“Thank you!” Ijichi squeals and you give the man a sympathetic smile before you head toward the door where Satoru's standing. He knows he's blocking the way, but he doesn't move.
Will you say something to him?
You don't.
Instead, you keep your head down and squeeze past him. Or try to. You brush against his side and Satoru doesn't miss the way your body jolts when you make physical contact with him. But it only lasts a second, and when that second ends, Satoru tries to ignore the feeling of bitterness rapidly spreading throughout his chest.
He means to say something, anything to you, but the words get caught in his throat.
By the time they free themselves, you're already gone.
Satoru sighs and saunters over to Ijichi, who's been taking deep breaths to calm down after Satoru's little bout of teasing. He leans against one of the desks and crosses his arms. “So, you had a mission for me?”
“Right! Yes!” Ijichi squeaks again and takes a deep breath before he starts to explain. Satoru only half listens to the briefing, his attention more focused on the little box sitting on Ijichi’s desk. The mere sight of it spurs a complicated set of feelings. He doesn't understand. You've been giving Ijichi chocolates every Valentine's ever since you moved to Tokyo and it's never bothered him before so why now?
“Um, Gojo?”
“What?” Satoru almost snaps.
Ijichi doesn't answer right away, instead he clears his throat and then says. “It's giri choco.”
Satoru scowls. Of course it is. It's not like you'd give Ijichi honmei choco. You don't see him like that. “I know that.”
Ijichi swallows thickly. Nervously. “Just making sure.”
Then he falls silent, the air between them now terribly awkward.
“...do you want some?” Ijichi asks.
“It's your chocolate.”
“I don't mind sharing,” Ijichi says, reaching over and opening the box to reveal your homemade chocolates. They're nowhere near as perfectly round as the ones Shoko bought for Satoru, but he can tell you put effort into making sure they looked presentable. “Help yourself.”
Even Satoru isn't terrible enough to steal an entire box of chocolates meant for another man, but he does grab the nicest looking one and tosses it into his mouth.
It's bitter; a mix of dark chocolate and black coffee that's not only completely unpalatable to Satoru, but disturbingly reminiscent of the bitter feeling that's now threatening to eat him whole. He almost wants to spit it out.
But he doesn't.
Satoru swallows it all.
The mission is uneventful, absurdly easy even, though Satoru took a little longer than he needed to by toying with the curses a little prior to exorcising them. Some would consider it a touch cruel, but Satoru doesn't care. Anything to rid himself of that pesky feeling from earlier.
If it were up to him, he would have headed straight home afterwards, but Yaga had asked him to come back and do some paperwork. Satoru had tried to reason with him, tell him he'd just do it tomorrow but the principal was insistent.
Satoru trudges to his office and throws open the door. Inside, someone lets out a surprised yelp.
It’s you.
Again.
Both you and Satoru stare at each other in surprise. Given that you've been avoiding both him and this entire corridor like the plague for the past two months, you're the last person he’d expect to find in his office, hovering over his desk. And yet…
You look away from Satoru, your expression awkward. This isn't like your encounter in the assistant manager's office earlier; you can't just walk out of his office without an explanation of why you're there.
Well, you can try, but it's not like Satoru will let you.
“Weren’t you supposed to be out on an assignment?” you finally ask. Satoru thinks you mean to sound annoyed, but your tone is watered down.
“I was, but it was so easy I could have done it blindfolded.”
Normally, you'd just roll your eyes or snap back about how he's a show off or his jokes are shit, but you remain quiet. He shouldn't be surprised, but it still makes him feel weird. Almost sad. Almost empty.
“Principal Yaga asked me to leave some paperwork on your desk,” you say, sounding uncharacteristically meek.
Satoru frowns a little. Yaga, huh? He never pegged him as a meddler. Satoru approaches the desk to look at the paperwork in question; he grimaces— it's a whole freaking stack.
You start to shuffle away from Satoru and toward the door as Satoru flips through all the papers. “Anyway, if you'll excuse me—”
“Wait a sec.” Satoru says and you glance back at him in confusion. There's something peeking out from under the stack of papers. Satoru gingerly fishes it out, revealing a familiar looking box. He holds it up and adds, “Did you leave this too?”
A myriad of varying emotions flashes across your face before you settle on an awkward sort of embarrassment. “I… did.”
It's weird. Satoru didn't expect you to be so straightforward given that under normal circumstances you always choose to be as obstinate as possible. Which Satoru doesn't mind in the slightest; it makes things exciting. There are few things more fun than prying the truth out of you with whatever means necessary. Answering him so readily like this… almost feels wrong.
“I accidentally made too much,” you explain.
Satoru stares at you. It’s not an excuse, not a lie. Honestly, adjusting the amounts to account for one less person probably slipped your mind until it was too late. You could have done anything with the extra chocolate, given more to each person, eaten it for yourself, but instead…
You still chose to give it to him.
Satoru tries to ignore the strange feeling stirring in his chest.
“Anyway, eat it if you want, toss it if you don’t,” you add, almost hurriedly as you move closer to the door. You give a quick bow to excuse yourself and before Satoru can say anything else, you run off.
His eyes remain glued to the empty doorway where you were just standing for a second before looking back at the box of chocolates you left for him. Carefully, he unties the ribbon and pulls off the lid. Just like Ijichi’s chocolates, the ones in his box aren’t perfect, but something about them looks nicer than the ones Ijichi got. Satoru wonders if you consciously put in a little more effort when you’d realized you had extra. The thought makes him chuckle a little.
He delicately plucks one from the box and pops it into his mouth. It’s sweet, infused with a hint of strawberry and vanilla that makes Satoru crave even more. As soon as he’s done with the first he shoves another into his mouth, and then another. With each chocolate he eats, the painful feeling in his chest grows, but he ignores it.
Before he knows it, the chocolates are all gone. Satoru licks his lips, hoping for one last taste of that strawberry vanilla sweetness only to find nothing. All he has left is the empty box and an aching heart.
if you read this whole thing, thank you and i hope you enjoyed it.
also yes, shoko got chocolates (tomo choco) too. they were similar to ijichi's, but with liquor instead of coffee.
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Run BTS Mini field day - Part 2
Part 2 of part 2...
Cr./to the creators of media used in this post.
So, where were we?
Oh, yes, slippery soccer.
Let the games begin.
On the right we have the blue team - JM, RM, Hobi and Suga.
On the left we have the red team - Tae, Jin and JK.
Now let's just have at it, cause hectic is too calm of a word to call what went on there, lol.
There's no way I can describe everything that went on there, and I don't intend to. I will also not share who won this round.
Like I said GO WATCH IT. It's definitely worth it.
What I will do is share some moments with you all. Cute moments. Funny moments. Lovely moments.
So, let's get it.
I guess there will be no forgetting that name for JM in the near future, lol.
I think, although this isn't by order of things happening in the episode, that I will start with Jin and his cahoonas.
Cause why not?
If only for the comic effect...
JK's reaction. 🤣 🤣
After all, this is serious business we're talking about.
JM was finding it hard to stay up on his feet, lol.
And there's more.
I did tell you we had butt slapping, didn't I?
Well I also gave you the first installment of it in my post a couple of days ago.
But there was more butt.
Hey, no complaining. I didn't say it was all tuppy tuppy handsy handsy.
Ok ok, if you insist, here's some handsy stuff too.
We got the hug.
JM wanted that hug so bad.
For scoring a goal that is.
Now, this was hilarious.
Jin, being hit in the balls, got a penalty kick, which Hobi kind of stopped, only to hit JM right in the head and wham, straight into the goal.
But yeah, he finally got to get his hug. With a member of the opponent team...
And we got it from a different angle than in the promo.
Just look at that smile.
Found it kind of funny that none of them had a word to say about JM hugging a member of the opposite team. All RM had to comment was to the legitimacy of him even getting a hug. 🤣
JM and JK are still relatively kinda clean at this point (well, JM has some soapy pants, but yet to be soaked).
And then the chaos begins.
The game is surprisingly close. And the red team have a tactic they try to put in place which involves JK holding on to JM and RM so Jin can score the goal,
a tactic to be utilized by JM a little later and it somehow ends up like this:
That growl JK...
(Disclosure: The JM climbing on JK bit, was in the promos, but not in the actual episode (we knew as much, didn't we?) and it was inserted into this edit by the clip's creator.)
And Tae, is that him enjoying them rolling in the soap, adding more lubrication or him trying to cool them down? Just one more life mystery. Lmao.
But also, there was clearly editing going on there. We have been fooled once again folks. BH editors depriving us of some evidently (I mean look at what's going on there) good Jikook content.
One thing I ask myself about whatever it was that was going on there, and that is: what the hell did it have to do, if at all, with playing soccer? 🤣
Game ended, and one hug, evidently, was clearly not enough.
And breaking it down.
After the games ended, the winners were announced, Jin got a gold medal as well announcing he got 1st place with Astronaut at M countdown,
and the hectic couple, a.k.a. Jikook, took over the final MCing.
youtube
Bonus: A little bit of cutie Koo.
and a little bit of cutie Jiminie.
This is what they had to say at the end:
I can't help but wonder how the flowers ended up with JM.
Bridal bouquet?
And just for fun, I love ending my posts with a little reminder from this episode, something to carry us for a little while longer, you know, till 2025. 😭 😭
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Hi! Can you write a Meeks one shot? (Fem!reader or GN!reader) where you're both nerds lmao, just some fluff :]
Hiiii :] I don't usually write Meeks stuff so forgive me if this is kind of out of character.
Essentially the gang plays d&d, on their way back to their dorms Meeks compliments YN on how well they played the game! I hope you enjoy >:] I haven't properly gone over this or corrected any grammar, so I apologise.
The room was the most quiet it had ever been, it wasn't normal for the common room to be this still. Though it was silent, the tension could be cut with a knife.
All the poets were gathered around the main table, usually used for studying, but occasionally the group enjoyed fantasy games aswell.
Neil was at the head of the table, there was a notebook in his hand which contained all of the outcomes of the story and characters depending on your dice roll. He was the dungeon master.
Todd and Charlie's characters had died not long ago, they were both waiting in anticipation. Pitts sat at the opposite head of the table, waiting for you to toss the dice. You could feel all 5 pears of eyes burning into you.
The dice were warm in your hand, the air in the room buzzed. This is what you've been waiting for. For weeks now, the poets would gather here and play d&d, it was different from their routinely meetings in that old cave.
Then there was a whisper. "No pressure, take your time." Meeks' voice was just as genuine as it always was. He was so kind to you and he knew exactly how to help during high stress situations just as this one.
You and him had been the only ones to have come this far in the game.
Neil was rather harsh with his villains, most of them had killed off the other members of the group. Other than Charlie of course, who rolled a 1 and his character tripped over a rock and died in the beginning of this session. But he still stuck around, curious of the ending of the game.
"Okay..." You say, your voice shaking.
You toss the dice at the table.
Everyone seemed to gasp and stand in unison, trying to get a better look at the dice.
Though, this didn't do much as the dice had managed to hit the table and bounce in the opposite direction of where you intended it to land.
"Turn on the light!" Charlie's voice was loud and rushed in comparison to the other silent poets.
Neil, being closest to the switch, turned on the light. It was pretty much no use as nobody saw exactly where the dice went.
You stutter, your anxiety getting to you. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"Don't worry about it." Meeks gave your arm a kind reassuring squeeze. You're sure that just his smile could make you feel better in a time like this, he didn't need to say anything at all, but he did.
"Thanks..." Your voice went quiet as the other members of the group went around the room looking for the dice.
"It couldn't have gone far." Charlie called from the other side of the room. "Geez, how hard did you throw it?" He laughed.
You opened your mouth to say something, but before you could Meeks nudged you lightly. "Don't listen to him, you know how Charlie gets." Meeks voice was a whisper in your ear. His words never failed to make you smile.
After a small while of searching for the missing dice, the group gave up.
"It'll probably show up later," Neil chimed in while everyone collected their things to leave, "I wouldn't worry about it." Even though it was his dice that you lost he seemed completely unbothered, but that was Neil, he was an optimist after all.
"Still though," you began, "I'm sorry. I promise I'll look for them tomorrow."
Neil waved his hand toward you, dismissing what you said. You often wondered how he could be so calm with the group.
Most of the posts had left the room by this time, the only people left in the room were you and Meeks, though he seemed to be waiting for you.
Once you'd gathered your things and slung your bag over your shoulder, your short friend held the common room door open for you. 'What a gentleman.' you thought.
"Good game." His voice was just as quiet and soft as always but it still held the level of excitement that he had when he was in that room. "You handled some of those last guys really well, especially considering the rest of the group weren't playing."
The door closed behind you both. The halls were empty now, the other members had gone to their dorms already.
"You think so?" You say, masking your insecurity behind a chuckle. The other poets often complimented eachother on how they'd done during their games, but it was different coming from Meeks.
"Of course I do." The smile on his face hasn't faded, not even for a second. "You were so strategic and you knew exactly what to do." He looked up at you while you both walked through the quiet halls. "That's a quality I really admire."
You felt a blush creep up on your cheeks. "Really?"
He nodded in response to your question as if the answer was obvious. The feeling you got from talking to Meeks never got old, you couldn't possibly get bored of this even if you tried.
"I can walk you back to your dorm if you'd like?" His voice was a little more quiet now than it normally is and you noticed him fidgeting with the hem of his blazer. Had you made him nervous somehow?
"Sure." You took a mental note to repeat every detail of this moment to Neil when you had the chance.
You turned slightly and caught a glimpse of Meeks' now blush pink face and that adorable smile that he had plastered on him.
"You did great too," you said, breaking the silence, "I wouldn't have been able to do any of those things without you." The volume of your voice shrunk down while you spoke.
"No way, that was all you!" He said in disbelief.
"You're kidding! There's no way I couldv'e played a game that well without you." Both of your voices were booming, you both spoke with such passion.
Too quickly had you reached your own dorm room, you regretted leaving the common room so soon. Though, it was late and if you didn't get any rest now you'd definitely regret it in the morning.
"Thank you for walking me here." You stood just beside the closed door.
"It's no problem." He said, the kindness in his voice was prominent.
"I really appreciate it." You smile back at him. Your cheeks were obviously rosy now and there was no way of hiding in. However, the same thing could be said about the boy infront of you.
There was a pause before either of you started talking again, a moment of silence neither of you had really noticed. Being in his presence was just so calming to you, the time you spent together flew by so fast.
"I should get going..." He shook his head, as though he was trying to pull himself from a trance.
"Yeah..." You nodded, your voice was slow. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll see you." Just as he turned to leave he flashed you that cute smile again. "Goodnight!"
"Night!" You gave him a quick wave before entering your dorm room. After closing the door you sunk down beside it. Your face was bright red thinking about him, Steven Meeks. Who knew he could have such an affect on you.
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What are your opinion on isshimasa and ichiruki parallels? They're panels are framed the exact same and it's crazy because isshin and masaki are of course a canon ship. I don't know what to think anymore 😭
I've also seen claims that orihime is like masaki but I don't see how. Masaki is pretty happy go lucky like orihime but is overall a goofy tease who likes to laugh and tease isshin. Orihime isn't like that and doesn't really do that with ichigo, and her dynamic with ichigo is way different from isshin and masakis.
Also the Ray of light thing?? Masaki being like the sun and kubo saying rukia is ichigos Ray of light? I saw on twitter and man I genuinely don't know what to think anymore 🙈 I love ichihime but upon discovering this I don't know how to proceed, what do u think?? I don't like ichiruki, but these parallels are questionable 😭
I mean, saying "I don't know what to think anymore 😭" would maybe be an understandable sentiment if Bleach were still ongoing and the endgame couples were still undetermined but...they're not lol. The manga is finished, their marriages and children have been cemented in canon, and Kubo has confirmed in so many different ways that IR was never intended as romantic and that he planned on having Ichigo's son meet Rukia's daughter in the final chapter since chapter one.
So I don't really get where any anxiety over future outcomes would be coming from, you know what I mean?? It's like fearing that IH won't happen when it's already happened lol
I get what IR's are saying about Isshin holding Masaki under his arm being similar to Ichigo holding Rukia under his arm (even though he also held his sisters the same way), but to me, when Isshin is holding Masaki and says to her "I'm here to protect you", he's promising that for life. Which is very different from what Ichigo did. Ichigo hurls Rukia into Renji's arms two seconds after saving her and tells Renji it's Renji's job to protect her. He literally throws her into the arms of her future husband. While Masaki was already in the arms of her future husband. So that's where the parallel falls flat for me.
And unlike Isshin did for Masaki, Ichigo never made a vow of protection with (一護) mamoru, meaning “to protect" which is the kanji in Ichigo's namesake, to Rukia. In fact, the kanji used when he saved Rukia is the same kanji used when he saved KENPACHI of all people lmao
But you know who he did make that vow for (and then rose up from the dead still chanting that very vow of protection)? Orihime. I talked about that here, and this is the post referenced.
Also, if we're talking parallels, I think the stronger case to be made here is for Ryuuken->Massaki<-->Isshin resembling Ishida->Orihime<-->Ichigo, but I digress.
Anyway, I disagree about Orihime and Masaki not being similar. We only got to see a small glimpse of Masaki's personality, but from what we did see, she resembles Orihime in both looks and personality (and if we're talking about comparisons here, she certainly resembles her personality and looks-wise more than she does Rukia). Her mannerisms, her joyfulness, her nervous little "eheh" laugh and talking about food stood out to me right away as being very Orihime-esque.
Not to mention, there's literally a part in the WDKALY novel where Karin comments that Orihime reminds her of Masaki, and that's why Yuzu likes being around her:
"As time went by, Keigo, Mizuiro and Uryuu also returned home, only the Kurosaki siblings and Orihime were left in the room. When Uryuu left Orihime also tried to leave, “I’ll finish this up later at home……”, however Yuzu held her back saying she wanted to help a little more.
Now, Yuzu was standing alongside Orihime in the kitchen, seeming to enjoy herself as they prepared dinner. Ichigo and Karin continued sewing the embroidery on the floor whilst also absentmindedly listening in. Karin took over the task of adding the final touches Orihime was doing earlier with the golden thread.
“Yuzu, seems like she having fun huh”
Karin spoke at a volume that only Ichigo could hear.
“Oh yeah……it feels like she’s more high-spirited than usual”
“……That girl, she behaves as if she were a mother, she should take it easy and let others help her instead of doing everything herself don’t you think? So that’s why, I think she’s very happy whenever Orihime chan comes around.”
Continuous cheerful laughter coming from the other two could be heard.
“……how about you?”
“Me? As for me……well, I’m also happy……because, Orihime chan, she reminds me of mother……just a little”
Karin’s hands stopped moving, she looked up at the portrait fixed on the wall. At the center of the oversized poster, there is a portrait of their late mother Masaki laughing brightly." (Source)
So, clearly Kubo wanted that comparison to be noted.
You also mention how Masaki has a goofy personality (which...Orihime is clearly very goofy as well lol) and that Orihime never teases Ichigo but she literally has...?? Especially once she started to become more comfortable with him. Notably teasing him about not getting any of her bread in the final arc.
But I think it's important to note that I believe Kubo wanted Orihime to be similar to Masaski, but not exactly the same. She is her own character, after all.
And the ray of light thing...Rukia has always been represented by the moon in canon. So...this just sounds like a lot of IR projection at this point tbh lol. Again, if we're going to take what Kubo said in interviews into account, then it would be impossible not to consider that he's said he always planned on Ichigo and Rukia marrying and having children with other people.
If he wanted to fulfill some parallel where Ichigo and Rukia fall in love and get married like Isshin and Masaki did, he would have done it. There was...literally nothing stopping him if that's the route he wanted to take lol. He just had no intention of doing so. Instead, he wanted Bleach to end with each of their kids meeting. To come full circle with "death and the strawberry."
But honestly like, if you're confused about how to proceed now, my advice would be to just ship whatever you want lol. You don't have to ship the pairings that are canon, ship the ones that you personally like!
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Now that tSS is finished (Congratulations again!)
allow me to ask a million few questions..
When you started it did you know it's going to be this long?
Was this the ending you've always intended or you considered others?
Toughest chapter to write?
Most fun chapter to write?
What was the most challenging aspect of writing this?
When you started it did you know it's going to be this long?
Noooooo lmao. I expected 50-75k and I just got very carried away. I’m much chiller abt my eversnow fixation now but in the depths of my mania I was writing 5k words every day.
Was this the ending you've always intended or you considered others?
This is pretty much the ending I always intended. When this fic was in its very, very early days of planning, it was going to portray a much nastier dynamic between the two. I then had something else in mind, ending with Snow plotting her murder and Katniss getting pregnant to save her own life because Snow wanted a child. But that was very, very early on and the characterisation shook out very differently.
By the time I actually started posting the story I knew I wanted it to end with Katniss and Snow, hand in hand, addressing the nation with Katniss as the new President. Earlier in the writing process I expected it to end with Katniss deciding firmly that she would eventually kill Snow, whereas things ended up much softer and more codependent between them. (Ah, romance.)
Toughest chapter to write? Most fun chapter to write?
The answer to both of these is the same, and it’s also my favourite chapter: “Family”. This went through a lot of rewrites, including starting over almost entirely from scratch. There were all sorts of different versions of this, including versions where Haymitch showed up. It was always going to be the “visit to D12” chapter, but the final version is much more intense than the earlier drafts. I eventually decided to try to ratchet up the tension as much as possible and see just how much this dynamic could take, and so we ended up with Snow putting on Katniss’ shoes (and discovering his cute foot fetish that temporarily ruled me), Snow cradling her face and licking her tears, and Katniss’ final tearful confession. Originally they just had tea with her mum, lol. (There is also a deleted scene I really liked where Katniss annoys/flirts with Snow by trying to get Sulla to zip up her dress. But it was too lighthearted in the wake of Gale’s death.)
What was the most challenging aspect of writing this?
For a general answer, there is the weird mental health thing I went through before Christmas where I was writing this compulsively and giving myself anxiety attacks, and obviously I was processing things through this fic that I wasn’t even fully aware of. (I’m better now.)
More specifically, I think walking the line between the eroticism and horror, the romantic and the abusive, was something I often had in mind. I try not to worry too much about readers misinterpreting the work (not that there’s a “wrong” way to interpret literature but, well, interpretations that ignore significant parts of the text), but there are certain subtexts I articulated more explicitly than I otherwise would. Obviously, I think this is an extremely unhealthy, abusive relationship and it’s objectively bad for both of them, but there are definitely readers who took a rosier view of things. But you can’t hold yourself responsible for reader interpretations that ignore the text in favour of fitting the characters into archetypes.
#smh at ppl who thought these two having a child would legitimately improve the situation#can you IMAGINE#thank you for asking these questions!!!
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2023 fic roundup
phew!!! i wrote for four different fandoms this year, which is utterly wild to me given that most years i am writing for one or maybe two...but no, this year we went wild - bnha, genshin, trigun, and blue lock
so without further ado, my faves from each month:
jan 2023: i've made mistakes (but you were not one) - chaeya, i really hit my chaeya stride by this point and frankly i ADORED writing this fic, which was my first t4t chaeya fic !!!!
feb 2023: everything i ask for (and so much more) - chiluc, based on a scenario that my mom said she 'always wanted to see happen at a wedding' which rly made me laugh and thus i had to write it !!!
mar 2023: don't rush - kaeluc (and dilucest?), i just really enjoyed stretching my skills on this one in the vibes and also just. the mechanics of everything?
apr 2023: oh gods, there's two of them - cynonaribedo, which was just SO much fun after that event to consider how they'd interact and what shenanigans they'd get up to. also the smut was a fun challenge lmao
may 2023: don't be too good to me - vashwood, my first canon-universe fic for these silly guys that let me really explore the angst and also some of the lightheartedness
jun 2023: in your dreams - kaisagi !!!!! my first bllk fic!!! these two idiots make me feral !!!! they're so angsty and silly and i love them so much, i had a blast trying my hand at them!!
jul 2023: dark blue - kaisae, my last-minute final fic for kaisae july and the one that i reread and think about regularly lmao. one of my rare 2nd person pov fics, i had so much fun with teasing out all the imagery and emotions
aug 2023: but i'm losing blood and you're warm - bachisagi, currently my only bcis fic but my god was it SO fun to write, i loved getting to play in the horror genre a little and mixing that with romance and just UGH definitely up there as a fave
sept 2023: consumption - kaisagi, like what can i say except (pun intended) this premise consumed me so bad that i wrote it out of order bc i was so hooked on one particular scene. this whole story rly had me in a chokehold in the best way
oct 2023: pink light - ryusae, this is rly my favorite ryusae fic i've written to date. something about the premise and the gentleness and the second chances of it all just really got to me, i loved writing this so much
nov 2023: KNOCK.ME.OUT - ryurin, oh my god this fic....i reread this fic like every couple days for WEEKS after i finished writing it. more than i've reread any other fic, and purely out of a desire to just. live inside the story again. i loved it so much. up there with pink light as a fave for sure
dec 2023: tie me down (fuck me up) - saesagi, which like i feel like i went on a whole Journey abt saesagi within my brain and this is what came out. i rly enjoyed trying my hand at a new dynamic and taking sae out of his place of control for once !!!!
other stats + honorable mentions below the cut!
452,082 words posted this year across 58 fics, 24 ships, and, as mentioned, four fandoms. ended up around 8.7k kudos + 81k hits
some honorable mention fics:
good directions - vashwood, and a fic concept i've been dying to write for ages, which just happened to work incredibly well with vashwood
kinda complicated - plantwood, which was really just an excuse to write so much porn for them lmao but i had a great time both with that and the complex dynamics between the three of them
a tentative ellipsis - kaisae, cause i can't say EVERY kaisae july fic, but this one also was such fun to think about and write, just like. the premise and the execution were so [shakes them in a pickle jar]
we both got stories (but they're not the same) - kaisae, this premise rly cracked me up i had SUCH fun writing it and getting a little silly with it lskdjfklsdjf especially with kaiser and all his denial
make me love like i want to - kaisae/ryusae, which honestly all manifested out of like. the one scene in the fic where sae writes not dead on his arm. and that ballooned into an entire almost 30k story about soulmates that ended up being unexpectedly cathartic
sometimes i wish she was you - tabieita, idk this one really got me??? i had a blast writing karasu's point of view and his manipulative little shit attitude lmao
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good [insert time of day here] i realised i never thought to ask you amid my delight of you being the most interactive follower i have that isnt an irl friend do YOU have ocs or blorbos. i wish to know. for reasons.
OH hello yes thank you for asking!!! I have several OCs but most of the time I simply Do Not Explain on here; I have lots of ideas and doodles but I make it mostly for myself and don't think to share — doesn't mean I don't want to tho! exhibit A: this absolutely massive post I'm about to make lmao. putting it under a read more bc Oh Boy, the floodgates have been opened
most of my OCs are for two different projects I have: The Visitors and my D&D Dark Star Campaign.
The Visitors is just a lil worldbuilding project I've been chewing on for.... oh wow, over a decade at this point??? I love all the OCs I have in there very very much, but they're definitely never intended to go in an actual story, I just enjoy the speculative biology and character / world building process.
Val is one of my oldest OCs, and she's changed SO MUCH over the years! nowadays, she's a sort of insect/dinosaur mashup alien who uses gravity warping magic and a very large axe to hunt demons. a huge issue for magic users of her species is keeping cool, as magic generates heat and can literally cook you from the inside out, so you'll notice the multiple vent-like spiracles across her body for this purpose. she was born blind and so relies heavily on her best friend, Django, to be her eyes and keep her safe. fortunately, Django has Too Many Eyes. he's a dragon genetically engineered by those in Val's species to be the perfect vessel for storing and releasing massive amounts of mirror-based magic. this kind of magic gives him many abilities, including seeing around corners, creating illusions, or multiplying attacks when applied in different ways, and he acts as Val's seeing-eye dragon. in battle, she likes to get up in the action while he holds back and gives her cues on what's happening, only jumping in himself if she's in major trouble. she's very friendly and excitable, and loves to get into the culture of whatever planet they're visiting, while he's more interested in observing and snooping. there's a lot of espionage and hijinks.
these are some of my most recent sketches of them, tho I'm sure the designs will changes in the future. specific colors don't matter at all, it's all about vibes! not pictured in the halfway colored one is Val's big iridescent black cape thing that has a slit down the middle for her rigid tail, nor her weird arms since I wanted to figure out where the torso vents could go.
Duke is another Visitor who visits planets and solves problems, but his path to get there was a whole lot different! I made him up as a coping mechanism when I was 12, and I'm still very fond of him.
he started life as a human video game speedrunner and modder prodigy. in a "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" situation, a devil (very distinct from demons!) struck a deal with him, challenging his gaming abilities with his soul as the stakes. he won despite the devil's cheating, but that's where the resemblance to the song ends. in this world, a devil winning your soul allows them to fuse with you and gain total control over your body, mind, and actions; but if YOU win, the control is reversed! and like any 14 year old who suddenly has the power to rival minor gods and a chaotic creature living in their head.... he goes off the rails for a while. Val and Django eventually find him and help him cope. his powers include electricity, glitching reality, flailing his glaive around, and being a menace to evil overlords.
you can't see it very well in this picture, but his eyes and the segments between his tail glow lime green! I'm not a fan of drawing clothes, but in my head he's relatively fashionable for a teenager and refuses to wear anything other than black. also, he decided to tell me he was trans a couple years ago, thanks for letting me know buddy 😂
my other project does actually get to see the light of day, if very slowly — I'm running a homebrew D&D campaign for my irl friends called the Dark Star Campaign! none of em use tumblr so WHEEEE I get to post all the spoilers I want! there's a kinda staggering amount of lore behind it and a ton of minor OCs, but the two I rotate in my head the most are Anya the Timekeeper and The Master, aka Armageddon.
Anya the Timekeeper is a chronomancy lich from an alternate universe! she used to help Armageddon travel the multiverse and gain power, but she's decided she's tired of being evil, and now hides in a mansion on a tropical island where she breeds dinosaurs for fun. though she's now very determined to help the party, they'll eventually have to kill her past self to prevent a paradox. her familiar is a little archaeopteryx named Trix who steals hats!
(I commissioned this art from @/goodlouse a while ago! highly recommend checking out his blog!!)
Armageddon is the BBEG and he's SO EVIL and SO MUCH FUN. he's an ancient amethyst dragon who, up until a while before the campaign's beginning, was steadily finding alternate universe versions of himself, killing them, and eating their souls to gain Unlimited Power™. unfortunately, his partner in time (hah) Anya told him to fuck off, so the quest for Unlimited Power™ has been kinda slow lately. fortunately, a D&D campaign started, and he cheated his way into existing at the players' table as The Master! my players can ask to talk to him sometimes, and I'll put on a mask of his head I made specifically for this purpose — very useful for not breaking character when the character is supposed to literally be the one sitting at the table talking to the players. I don't try to hide the fact that he's evil and they all know it, the fun is in giving them little hints and tidbits of lore to munch on. right now he's being very docile and helpful but things will get very very interesting eventually as more of his nature and plan is revealed..... =)
I'm still playing around with what he looks like as The Master, but I really like this recent design I did. his eye glows dark and menacing. I haven't found a design for his dragon form I'm really pleased with yet tho :/
okay wow thanks again for the ask, I have many many ideas in my head and it felt pretty nice to get em out!!
#ough!! many thoughts!!#lemon generator#the visitors#dark star campaign#fair warning: delving into those tags might be completely incomprehensible#I have fun here on tumblr.com#d&d#oh also#anya the timekeeper
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Hello again, BunAl.
Long post below the cut. Personal and random as usual.
It's been a long time since I last played this game. There was one time when I intended to get back into it but was too put off by how different everything was from what I remembered. I wasn't too keen on re-learning, especially when my Japanese skills were non-existent at that time. For a long time, my library was stuck in lv. 77.
I don't remember exactly what made me re-open it in late 2023 (maybe the hype leading up to the 7th anniversary?), but I did. Then I go to the wiki to check the list of writers I have missed obtaining during my absence. One particular writer gets me obsessed and before I knew it, I started logging in religiously, each day, without fail. Thrice a day, even.
The writer in question ⬇
Essentially, I kept playing because I wanted to know more about Bimyo, and in doing so, my interest was reignited, coming back stronger than when the first time I started. The first screenshot was taken back in early December 2023 to commemorate my leveling up to 100, something I never thought would happen. I grind every day just so I can obtain Bimyo's base/default outfits. If I was overwhelmed by the new mechanism before, I certainly wasn't this time. It all went through like a breeze like sudden enlightenment. I was no longer confused by how things worked, what material should I use, or when.
BIMYOOOooooOOOO!!! <3
I can't really find words enough to convey how much I love his あーた, or more precisely the way his VA (Kobayashi Yusuke) says it. The fact that it is a word more commonly used by women towards their husbands (courtesy of BunAl English wiki) doesn't help. As I read more content, I came to find his personality more and more endearing. I can only hope he'll be featured more in future events now.
Okay, it's all largely thanks to the wiki actually, lmao. But the thing is, I remember visiting it once and leaving still feeling very confused. That's no longer the case this time. Information is readily absorbed and understood upon reading once. Was I really that dumb before...
Anyway, since my understanding of the new system has mostly reached its best, I can definitely say BunAl has done great job of improvement. No more dying, easier grinding, fair gacha, etc. Design and illustrations are beautiful, but that's been the case since the start. (So yeah, I was positively that dumb before).
Well, to conclude this somewhat aimless post, I just want to say how grateful I am for the longevity of the game itself and the continuous support of the BunAl English wiki staff. I'm so glad I returned before something like an EOS announcement could happen. Unlike TKRB, or MHYK/YMKR/TWST, BunAl has always been more on the quieter side for a joseimuke game, so it's always a looming threat for me.
Lastly, another screenshot. Currently stuck at this stage, trying to beat tainted Yuzu.
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I saw you mention a few HC's where you think Leon probably sucked dick in college etc. and you're supportive of Chreon (I think?)
Do you support it just because it's fun and hot or do you think Leon is bi?
This is kind of a disingenuous question, isn't it?
The only point of shipping anything ever is because you think it's fun and hot. Do you think I headcanon Remake Claire taking Remake Leon's virginity because I think it's implied or intended canon? No, I do it because it's fun and hot.
And Capcom will never portray Leon as being interested in anyone other than women, anyway, so does it really matter?
If the question is: "Do you like Chreon for the same shallow reason you like Metaltango?" the answer is no. I ship it because I genuinely enjoy the connection between them, and I find it really endearing that, in the latter half of the series, arguably the most important person in Leon's life -- the person who cares about him most -- is Chris, and Chris has absolutely no idea that that's the role he's filling.
I also enjoy Serennedy for reasons deeper than Metaltango.
If the question is: "Do you honestly think that the text states that Leon is bi?" the answer is no for the reason stated above. Anyone acting in good faith will never try to make the case that Capcom genuinely intends for Leon to be read as anything other than straight and cis.
There might be some classically romantic tropes that get utilized between Leon and another male character (as is the case in my Serennedy post), but the intention from Capcom has never been and will never be for the player to see Leon as being genuinely romantically or sexually interested in another man. That's just the nature of the beast, whether we like it or not.
If the question is: "Do you headcanon Leon as bi?" the answer is yes, but it's complicated.
I don't think OG Leon has actually sucked dick. I also don't think he's ever had a chance to self-reflect long enough to actively discover or explore that part of himself. I also don't think he cares.
I headcanon that he's been attracted to other men before and has definitely jerked off while thinking about them -- but then he just went and chalked it up to "well everyone has gay thoughts" and stopped thinking about it because he doesn't care and it doesn't matter. If you were to ask him, he'd say he was straight.
Like, he would definitely give it a chance if some guy he was attracted to offered it, but he doesn't realize that about himself actively -- so, in his mind, he's straight.
Remake Leon is a little different. Remake Leon seems to be a bit more self-aware than his OG counterpart, and he's the one who I think sucked dick in college.
But, like his OG counterpart, I don't think Remake Leon likes to think about it -- but I think it's for different reasons. While Remake Leon is more self-aware, he's also a lot more repressed. Like, I think Remake Leon sucked dick in college because he could justify it to himself with "well, college is for experimenting, right???"
But then he actually really enjoyed it, and that attraction to other men never went away, so now he just tries not to think about it -- because he does still have a stronger attraction for women, so... no need to worry about it, right???
If it ever comes up again and he has the chance to hook up with another man again, cool. If not, all the easier for him to keep it to himself as a sort of dirty little secret -- as twisted and fucked up as it is for him to view it that way LMAO
If you were to ask Remake Leon about his sexuality, he'd try to wave it away with a "Who cares?" or a "Does it matter?" And if you were to press Remake Leon about it, he'd eventually cave and give a wishy-washy admission to being bi along the lines of "I don't know. I don't really have a preference. I don't think it matters."
I think he'd be hesitant to actually label himself as bisexual or even use the word at all. Part of it is because RE2make Leon was clearly more sheltered than OG RE2 Leon, so there's probably some element of a religious upbringing there with all the associated shame attached. But I think another (probably bigger) part of it is that, if he were to label himself as bisexual, it would carry the connotation that he was a member of a community that he doesn't feel like he's a part of.
Leon is literally The Man. He's a part of a government and a system that actively oppresses the LGBTQ+ community -- so, how can he, in good faith, say that he's one of them?
He's basically picked sides in a way that's really fucking stupid when you consider that he's not a G-man by choice, and he probably wouldn't have remained a cop for very long if the whole outbreak thing didn't happen. His blinders would've been ripped off pretty fucking fast, and he would've dipped the fuck out after he realized that blowing the whistle on Brian Irons was never actually going to do anything and he was just wasting his time serving a corrupt police chief in a corrupt system that actually hurts more than it helps.
#resident evil#resident evil 4#leon kennedy#like anyone who tries to make the argument that leon's life would've still worked out the way he'd planned for it to#if only the events of RE2/RE2make hadn't happened#is fucking delusional LMAO#leon would have NEVER cut it as a cop#he has too much of an actual genuine sense of justice and fairness to make it as a cop#he only joined the force because he's a dumbass who doesn't know how the world works#but he'd learn pretty fuckin fast#and he wouldn't be able to live with being part of the criminal justice system once he learned how it really worked#it would eat at his conscience too much#he wouldn't be able to take it
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*submits this and passes out*
HERE IS THE FIRST HALF OF THE FIC THAT HAS TAKEN OVER EVERY LAST ONE OF MY LIFE OBLIGATIONS FOR THE PAST WEEK AND A HALF
I STG I DID NOT MEAN TO GET THIS INVESTED BUT
@ckhalloween22 spoopy season Elimetri for the “monstrous transformations” prompt, as promised!!! Chapter 2 will hopefully be up later this week!
Fun fact: I actually made that moodboard ages ago (like...early 2021??? Purple Hawk did not even exist yet :O) and just never got around to posting it. Mainly because I was planning on posting this long list of vampire/werewolf headcanons to go with it, and I just...was too lazy to, RIP. But now there’s a whole-ass fic to go with it, so it seemed like a good time to post it XD
Spoilers ig that there are in fact werewolves in Chapter 2 lmao
Hopefully this will be on AO3 soon!!! Just gotta like. Recover from binge-writing this entire 14k-word fic in a few days, whoops. Y’all this was originally gonna be a one-shot and then it turned into a MONSTER (no pun intended) and now it’s a two-shot XD
Anyways enjoy the exact kinda angsty nonsense that I have been using as Daydream Scenarios for months now to entertain myself before I go to sleep. I never thought they would leave my head, but here we are.
ALSO @lizziefanconfessions I vaguely remember you saying you liked my vampire!Elimetri content, so. Come get fed!!! Highkey went all out with this one XD
EDIT: Chapter 2 is HERE!
Nocturnal
Chapter 1 - Before Daybreak
There’s a strange smell coming from the hallway.
Demetri clutches at the lavish bedsheets. He should feel spoiled, but he knows it’s just another taunt.
He’s willing to bet Terry Silver has 15 identical guestrooms, all lavishly furnished. Each costing maybe 3 thousand dollars—or more.
A reminder that Terry Silver has enough money to do whatever the hell he wants. Even kidnap teenagers. Even…
Demetri’s hand drifts to the sores on his neck. They still hurt like a bitch.
He tastes the air again. There’s so much more than there used to be, and it’s unnerving. Lacquer. Candle wax. Velvet. Carpet cleaner. Marble. Stonework.
The one in the hallway is new, he can tell that much. Different enough from the olfactory default he’s gotten used to. Now if he could just tell what—
He chokes on his breath.
It’s Eli.
He’s not sure how he knows. Perhaps he’s always been able to recognize it, on a subconscious level. But every scrap of his fucked-up body is suddenly certain.
Eli, leave! Just fucking leave! Demetri wants to scream into his bedsheets.
When he screamed at Silver that his friends would come for him, he was bluffing. Always bluffing. He didn’t want any of them anywhere near this place, Eli least of all.
And yet here he was, strolling in on some convoluted rescue mission and about to get himself killed. Or…worse.
Eli’s scent draws closer. Demetri wants to shout a warning, tell him to get out of here…but with dear old Terry’s cronies and guards and henchmen behind every decorative statue, calling attention to his best friend’s presence would be about the most morally reprehensible thing he could do.
A discordant clicking fills the room, and Demetri realizes Eli must be fiddling with the electronic padlock.
It won’t take long to hack. Unfortunately.
The door swings open, and Demetri forgets how much he isn’t supposed to want this.
Eli’s face is glistening with sweat, scar flaring up red the way it sometimes does when he’s out of breath. Long hair—down, undyed—is plastered to his skin.
He must not have wanted to stand out. He must have insisted on being the clandestine part of the operation.
The one who found Demetri.
He drinks in everything about Eli Moskowitz—wiry limbs, track pants, gray jacket, blue eyes, panicked face. All things Demetri was convinced he’d never see again.
“Demetri.”
Eli whispers his name. A tactical maneuver, meant not to alert any hostile presences nearby.
Nonetheless, Demetri gets the feeling Eli wants to shout.
“I—”
There are too many things he wants to say. I missed you. You shouldn’t be here. I just want to hold you. Get the fuck out. I need you. You’re in danger.
“You need to leave,” he manages. He sounds raspy, unsure, and probably desperate. Fucking pathetic.
“Not…without you?” Eli’s brow furrows in confusion. “I’m rescuing you, asshole.”
Demetri shakes his head, eyes wild. “No—no, you have to stay away from me. You have to. You—”
Eli’s scent is overwhelming now. Something vaguely bringing to mind Mrs. Moskowitz pulling fresh-baked hamantaschen out of the oven.
Tantalizing.
And Demetri wants it. All of it.
“You’re not making any fucking sense!” Eli is scowling, and Demetri shoves the hunger down.
He slides off the bed, starting to back toward the wall. “He did something to me,” he gasps out. “Silver. I don’t know what, but now I want—there’s a part of me that wants—”
There’s a part of me that wants to kill you.
He can’t say it out loud. It wouldn’t be his first thought of Eli that never makes it into the spoken world.
“Demetri.” Eli slowly moves toward him, as though approaching a scared wild animal. Not that far off the mark, really. “What happened to you? What did he do?”
Demetri’s back hits the wall. He realizes with a prick of dread that there’s no way to run to the door without Eli intercepting him.
“Please.” His voice is barely a whisper. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Whatever it is.” Eli is as calm as ever—a jarring change from his usual demeanor. “We can figure it out. Just let me get you out of here.”
He shakes his head. “I can’t. I can’t go. Something’s wrong with me. I don’t—I don’t know what I’ll do out there.”
Eli steps closer. Demetri’s about to be cornered.
He knows he’s sick in the head, for letting this happen when he knows the risk.
Eli’s blood could be on his hands. A beautifully, terribly layered statement.
“I’m not leaving until you tell me what he did to you.” Eli’s voice hardens.
Panic sears through him, and he feels like he’s on the verge of collapse. The hunger is hissing at him to pounce, to slice a hole in Eli’s neck…
Shut the fuck up.
Not Eli Moskowitz. He’ll tear through the rest of humanity if he has to, leave a trail of carnage wherever he goes…but he’ll be damned if he ever lays a hand on Eli again.
“Hey.”
Eli doesn’t break Demetri’s gaze. Another step. Demetri holds his breath.
“You think I’m afraid of you?”
Eli doesn’t sound scornful or dismissive when he says it. Not like the way Demetri spat it out in the comic book store, all those months ago.
He only seems worried.
“You should be,” Demetri says. “I’m not the same. I’m not who you remember, I’m just…” He struggles for an appropriate metaphor.
“I’m just corrupted data.”
“That’s not true.” Eli smiles. “I come in here, and not 10 seconds later you’re freaking out and fussing over me doing some reckless shit you’re not cool with. That’s exactly who I remember.”
Slender fingers wrap around Demetri’s wrist, and he gasps.
Eli’s hand is warm. Not in a burning way, but…a cozy way, almost. Like coming inside on a rainy winter day.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Eli says cheekily. “You have a mental breakdown every time your mom puts too much coriander in the shawarma. One time you stepped on Heracles’s tail and prepared an apology soliloquy. Like, ooooh, I am quivering in terror.”
Demetri laughs, and Eli looks at him with a fondness that makes him ache with longing.
It’s then something clicks.
Eli’s close enough to see Demetri’s teeth, now honed to unflattering points. He’s felt Demetri’s skin, which now looks and feels like a bedsheet left by an air conditioner.
He has to know by now what’s going on.
Why is Eli still here? He’s smart enough to run. At least Demetri hopes so.
Eli’s hand slides down his wrist, slowly weaving their fingers together. It’s the type of soft gentleness Demetri hasn’t experienced for a long time.
And it’s enough to make him shatter.
He crumples into Eli and erupts in sobs. His hands knot into gray fabric, clinging to it like it’s the only thing left in the world.
Strong arms wrap around his back, hands tracing circles along his spine. He almost wants to laugh at the irony.
It’s always been Eli who needs this. When the panic attacks or the meltdowns hit, or when the world just gets to be too much, Demetri holds him until he feels safe again.
Now Demetri’s on the inside of it all, frantically trying to stabilize.
“Shhhh. It’s okay.” Eli’s voice slides out in a soothing whisper. “I’m here. I’ve got you.”
Demetri shakes, and Eli holds him tighter. Everything about him is warm and steady and secure, and the anxiety and sheer terror of the last several days finally starts to drain away.
“Please let me take you home.”
Demetri knows he shouldn’t say yes. He nods anyway.
***
“So he held you down and…” Eli trails off.
“Drank me.” Demetri shudders at the memory. “Bit a hole in my neck and started gulping down my bodily fluids like they were Mr. Pibbs.”
“Ew.” Eli scowls at him. “Bodily fluids? Just say your blood, dude. I don’t need that mental image.”
Demetri scoffs, bumping Eli’s shoulder. “Still gross, either way.”
“So…what then?”
He freezes, going rigid as the image of snakelike red eyes boring into him comes trickling back. “He, um…”
A thin arm snakes around his neck, and Demetri feels Eli’s hand on his shoulder. A couple quick squeezes, and Demetri can breathe again.
“I guess I was kind of out of it by the end. My head felt all fuzzy. I remember someone dragged me into that room, and then I started feeling…hungry. And I could smell everything.” He turns, smiling weakly. “I could even smell you coming to get me.”
Eli smirks. “Do I smell good?”
“You smell amazing.” He nudges his friend’s side. “An absolute snack.”
Demetri leans into Eli as he laughs. His hand roams up his chest, clutching at the hand still squeezing his shoulder.
“‘Metri.” Fingertips brush against his neck, and he winces at the sudden pricks of pain. “Do they still hurt?”
He sighs. “Not as much as they did, but…yeah.”
“I can get a cream or something. My mom’s got a whole cabinet full of that shit.”
“I don’t know if it’ll work on undead skin, but I guess it’s worth a try.”
Eli walks out of the room, and Demetri is alone with the moonlight streaming through the window. He reclines on Eli’s bed, letting out a long breath.
It’s 3 am now. At least a few more hours before Demetri has to figure out what the fuck he’s going to do about his mom and Heracles. About his Tech Town shifts. About Miguel and Sam and Chris and Nate and Mr. LaRusso and everyone else who he can’t go near ever again.
That was supposed to be Eli too, but he was a stubborn fucker. Getting a redwood tree to budge would be easier.
He stretches out his arms, and his hand hits something plush. He turns, smiling.
He didn’t notice when he first came in, but Raptor Reynaldo, the stuffed hawk he won for Eli at a carnival when they were 7, is perched on his best friend’s pillow. Demetri spent an hour getting the damn bird out of a claw machine, and he’s been a scowling Eli Moskowitz bedroom presence ever since. Eli got his mom to sew a stupid red mohawk onto Raptor Reynaldo’s head during junior year, and he still hasn’t gotten around to taking it off.
Edgy idiot.
Despite himself, Demetri grabs the bird and pulls him in. It’s nice to have something soft to squeeze. Gets some of the tension out, at least.
Besides, maybe Raptor Reynaldo’s ridiculous new hairdo will pop off and go flying across the room. Perhaps into the garbage.
“Demetri.” A tired voice from the doorway. “Please don’t tell me you added Raptor Reynaldo to your legion of the undead.”
“Mmmm. I tried.” Demetri smirks. “Little hard to suck cotton stuffing, though.”
The bed compresses next to him. “Okay, sit up. I need to put this on.” Groaning, he reluctantly complies.
As Eli coats his fingers in some type of unpronounceable soothing lotion, he looks at Demetri with narrowed eyes. “Are you…are you going to let go of Raptor Reynaldo?”
Demetri scoffs. “Make me.”
Soft fingers brush his neck, and his eyes slip closed. They rub gentle spirals and curls, careful to never press too hard.
Demetri has no earthly idea whether the gel Eli picked is actually helping or not, but his best friend has a warmth that he could drink in forever.
His stomach tightens, arms tensing around the plush hawk. He grabs at his shirt and squeezes, trying to banish the thought of how badly he suddenly wants to grab Eli.
Get the fuck out of my head.
He’d sooner run full-speed into the sunrise than hurt Eli again.
“See if that helps.” Eli’s fingers slip away, and Demetri wilts in disappointment. “You want me to kiss your booboo better?”
“Oh my god, Eli.” The taller boy snorts out a laugh. “What am I, five and a half?”
“You sound pretty offended for someone cuddling a stuffed animal.”
“How could you!” Demetri does his best to sound aghast. “Raptor Reynaldo understands me, Eli.”
“I’m sure he does.”
Before Demetri can process it, Eli is swooping in and pressing warm lips to his bitemarks. The fragility he felt earlier comes rushing back.
It’s almost cruel, he thinks, Eli taunting him with what he can never have now. Not that Eli even realizes he’s doing it.
Tears threaten to leak out of him again. He gathers his resolve and holds them back.
Not twice in one night. He needs to have some standards.
“Fuck.” He leans his head on Eli’s shoulder. He feels he’s allowed that sort of small pleasure, at least. “What do I even do?”
“About…?”
“About everything. What the hell do I tell my mom?! ‘Oh, hey, sorry, I need to drop out of high school, can’t go to college, and have to work graveyard shifts at Ralph’s for the rest of my life?!’ And I know fucking Silver’s up to something, too. Betting he bribes the Hunter’s Guild not to go after him. And now he can tell all his buddies in there that there’s a new vampire on the loose. Oh, boy!”
“Demetri,” Eli murmurs into his hair. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you ever again. You know that, right?”
The scent of Eli—so torturously close—wraps around him. Something dark roils up inside Demetri, like a snake making its way through his intestines.
“I shouldn’t even be here with you.”
His voice is breaking again. Humiliating.
What’s even left to break?
“Says who?” Eli demands.
“Uh, says every piece of vampire lore since the dawn of time? I’m a resurrected corpse with no soul.”
“Like you would ever be cool enough to pull off the ‘resurrected corpse with no soul’ descriptor. You’re like…an anxious zombie with less skin falling off.”
Demetri laughs, and some of the stones in his stomach lift. “Then it makes even less sense why you’d want me around. You can’t get into an Ivy League if I eat your brain, Eli.” He jabs at Eli’s temple, and the shorter boy scoffs.
“Oh, please. You’d spend so much time worrying about eating my brain that you’d never get around to actually doing it.”
If he was wondering before, he’s sure now. Eli has no intention of letting him go.
In better circumstances, he’d be flattered. Ecstatic, even. But as of this moment…
If he wants to run away—if he wants to put as much distance between himself and Eli Moskowitz as possible—he’ll have to do it by himself. If he wants to keep Eli safe, there’s no way in hell Eli’s going to help with it.
Eli’s loyal. He’s stubborn. He’s reckless. He’s an utter pain in the ass.
And when Demetri loses him again, it’s going to gut him a thousand times harder than the last time.
He has to leave. He knows this. Anything less would make him deplorable.
The embodiment of the very monster he’s turned into.
After all, who is he to put his own happiness above Eli’s safety?
“I can get the spare blanket,” Eli says. “You can stay here tonight. We’ll…I don’t know, we’ll watch the Star Wars prequels and make fun of them. Get your mind off shit for a while.”
He uncurls himself from Demetri. As he stands up, Demetri grabs his wrist, pulling him back.
If he doesn’t say something now, he might never get the chance.
“I love you.”
Eli turns, eyes bright with shock. “You what?”
“I love you.” His voice trembles as he repeats it. “And every second, I’m so fucking scared that I’m going to lose my grip on this…thing Sensei Targaryen made me into, and I’m going to hurt you. Or kill you, I don’t know. And it’s destroying me.”
A moment of silence. Demetri feels like a clogged drainpipe about to burst.
Then Eli steps back and sinks onto the bed beside him. Wiry arms wrap around his neck, and Eli presses their foreheads together.
“You don’t have to be scared,” he whispers. “You won’t hurt me.”
“How do you know?” Demetri’s voice croaks as he says it, and he feels another sob rising in his throat.
“Because I trust you. Well, I mean…”
Hesitation. If Demetri still had a heartbeat, it would stop.
“Not with Raptor Reynaldo’s hair—I see you over there, giving it the stink eye. Basically everything else, though.”
Despite everything, Demetri laughs again. How strange, he thinks, to be the one who needs to be distracted from his misery by stupid jokes. Stranger still that Eli learned the tactic from him.
Warmth fills his stomach. All those years of his inane comedy routine to get them through the hellhole of middle school and high school, and it’s the first thing Eli pulls out when he’s hurting.
Then again, how could it be any other way?
Demetri was always the one who looked like he had it together. Making wisecracks, rattling off Doctor Who fan theories, steering lunchroom conversations toward Dungeon Lord so Eli wouldn’t notice people staring. Eli was the one who broke easily, and Demetri was the one who put him back together. And when Demetri’s own defenses finally did give way…
Well, it’s not like Eli was around to see.
And now Demetri’s fraying apart like the world’s flimsiest pipe cleaner, and the only model Eli has to pull him out of the darkness again is the only one he ever saw. The only one he knew, for years and years and years.
Demetri’s.
Something about the thought soothes him.
“You’re the strongest person I know.” Eli’s voice grows serious again. “You never gave up on me when I gave you every reason to. You were the only one who got all the squabbling rival dojo kids to see any damn sense. You see the best in people even when they treat you like shit. And some pony-tailed fuck isn’t going to bite you one time and make all that go away. I’m not abandoning you.”
“But…Eli, I…”
“We can work with this. I know it sucks balls right now, but you’re going to be okay. I’ll make sure you’re okay.”
His eyes blaze, and Demetri chuckles. “Is that a threat?”
“It might be. Don’t make me follow through. I—I…” Eli chokes on his words. “I won’t let that fucking asshole take you away from me. Not now, not ever. Get used to it.”
Eli takes a breath, and Demetri feels it ripple through his entire body.
“I love you too, Demetri.”
Demetri is still processing this when Eli closes the space between them.
Eli kisses like a hurricane—a whirlwind of ferocity and passion and power, and Demetri’s stomach may as well be swirling right toward the eye. The gales are howling in his ear, and he could swear he’s being lifted off the ground.
He’s not sure if vampires can actually do the bat shapeshifting thing, but if they can, he imagines this is what it feels like. Swooping through cool clouds, wind rushing across his small, lightweight body, starlight shining on his wings, a world of sparkling lights below him and eternal stars above.
It’s the best thing he’s ever felt.
Nonetheless, he holds back. He doesn’t give in to Eli’s vigor all the way.
He’s terrified of how far he might go if he does.
So as Eli kisses him like he’s dissolving, he returns it slower—gentle, steady, slightly tentative. His hand slides up, cupping the side of Eli’s face and rubbing his cheek with a cold thumb.
How funny is it, Demetri thinks, to have their old roles so drastically reversed. He remembers again of when he was the abrasive one and Eli was the timid, fragile one.
There’s a thump, and Demetri pulls away to see a stuffed beak glaring up at them from the floor.
Eli lets out a cry of despair. “No! Raptor Rey!”
“Now you’ve done it.” Demetri shoves Eli’s chest playfully. “Look what you’ve done to our only son.”
Eli sticks his tongue out—a tongue that Demetri now knows tastes very nice. A little bit like the Chinese food leftovers he had for dinner.
“You were the one who dropped him!”
Demetri sighs, leaning off the bed and scooping up the stuffed bird. When he puts Raptor Reynaldo back on Eli’s pillow, he pointedly faces him toward the wall.
“There. We don’t need to soil his innocent eyes.”
Eli snorts. “You’re such a fucking dork.”
“Yeah, but you love me.”
It feels strange to say it. Demetri likes the sound of it though.
He scoots across the covers, wrapping long arms around Eli’s waist. Something giddy rises in his chest, briefly overpowering any of the dark impulses still churning around down there.
“You love me,” he says again.
“That’s what I said.” Eli jabs him in the chest accusingly. “What, did Silver bust up your hearing or something?”
He swats Eli’s hand away and pulls him in, stealing another kiss. “You love me,” he hums against his lips.
“Ugh. Don’t let it get to your head.”
Demetri grins. “You love me.” He lets his voice adopt an annoying singsong cadence, and Eli groans. “You love me, Eli Moskowitz.”
He kisses Eli again, and the other boy leans into it. Demetri’s grin grows so big his face hurts.
They slump onto the bed, Eli sprawled on top of him. His arms lock down on either side of Demetri’s waist, effectively caging him in.
Apparently, Eli’s taking precautions to make sure he can’t dart away like a scared rabbit. He wants Demetri to stay that badly.
The thought is strangely flattering, if frustrating.
“You love me,” Demetri whispers in between kisses. Because it’s true. Because he can. “You love me, you love me, you love me.”
If he hadn’t already risen from an early grave, he’s sure he would have died of shock by now.
They end up a tangled mess of limbs and blankets, Eli’s head under Demetri’s chin. He feels Eli trace his chest with one hand and his arms with the other, and for a moment, everything seems like it’s going to be fine.
Demetri kisses Eli’s hair. “I’m sorry I got bloodstains on your hoodie.”
His tears have blood in them now. It’s such embarrassing edgelord nonsense right out of a middle school scene kid’s poetry. Nonetheless, it’s a sad reality he’ll now have to make do with.
Hopefully in a way that doesn’t involve ruining half of Eli’s closet.
Eli only laughs, taking it in stride. “Oh, that? Please. I have like fifteen others just like it. Went out and bought a shit ton when I stopped wearing polos.”
“That’s just as well. You looked a little dorky.” Demetri kisses his head again. “I miss the sweaters, though. Those were cute.”
Eli snorts. “I can’t wear those around you. Do you know how much of a bitch it is to clean blood out of knitted shit?!”
“Well, then, don’t make me cry. Extra incentive to make sure I’m not sad! That, and. You know.” He snickers. “You love me.”
Eli groans again. “God, shut up. Smug asshole.”
He shuffles against Demetri, turning his head slightly. Moonlight glows off his skin, washing it in a sleek silvery-white.
Demetri’s stomach contracts.
Eli’s exposed neck suddenly looks a little too clean. A little too…unmarred.
He shoves the impulse away. Nonetheless, the reminder worms into him, putting the stones right back in his chest.
“It’s dangerous, you know,” Demetri murmurs. “Being with me. Being around me at all.”
“Mmmm, don’t fucking care.” Eli pushes a hand into Demetri’s hair, gently twirling a strand around his finger. “I stole a venomous snake from a zoo, Demetri. I also backstabbed a literal war criminal who could probably make my death look like an accident. And I may have survived rabies. I can handle danger.”
“This isn’t the same.” Demetri shakes his head. “People will hunt me. Maybe…maybe forever. And if they find out we’re together, they’ll hunt you, too.”
Eli scoffs. “Yeah, I know, genius.”
Demetri looks at the boy wrapped around him. Cozy, comfortable, completely relaxed.
Perhaps putting a tad too much faith into Demetri’s Vampire Hunger Regulation Abilities.
He takes a breath. “I don’t know if I’m going to keep being…me. I could still hurt you. Without…without even meaning to or wanting to or anything.”
Eli has no idea what he’s getting into. Not really.
Demetri at least owes him that out.
“I know.” Eli presses into his chest. “But that’s my decision, isn’t it? You can’t make that for me.”
“Maybe not, but you have to know it’s ill-advised to—”
“You’re not getting rid of me,” Eli cuts him off sharply. “Stop trying.”
“Just…if I get worse…” He rubs gentle circles along Eli’s back. “You need to—”
He can’t finish. He should tell Eli to run, but the words won’t come out.
“We’ll worry about that later.” Eli pulls him closer. “Just…let me try and help you. You shouldn’t have to go through this alone.”
“Okay.” Demetri exhales, fingers brushing through light brown hair. “Okay.”
***
A disgusted shout fills the cool night air as Eli’s arm flies over the boat railing. Two bright spoons plummet from his hand, plopping into the starlit ocean.
His eyes lock on them until they sink out of sight, lip curling.
Demetri nervously taps a finger against the railing. “Is that the last of them?”
Eli turns and walks over to the unzipped silverware pack, lying on the deck a few feet away. He crouches down, peering inside.
Demetri can sense his heartbeat slow down a little as he relaxes. “Yeah. They’re all gone.”
He reclaims his spot next to Demetri, staring out at the inky water with a furrowed brow. Demetri inches closer to him, pressing into his shoulder.
He sighs. “You know, Moon wouldn’t like this shameless environmental degradation you’re causing.”
Eli rolls his eyes. “Silver’s a naturally-occurring metal. It’s fine.”
Demetri pulls his lips into an exaggerated pout. “Oh, Eli, the bottom-dwellers are weeping at your disrespect! What, you want the giant isopods to break their teeth trying to eat metal?!”
“If an isopod breaks all their teeth eating metal, I think it’s like…natural selection. The species’ll manage.”
Eli leans into Demetri’s shoulder, and Demetri feels him tense up.
“I couldn’t let that shit anywhere near you.”
Demetri’s hand inches across the railing, finding the other boy’s. He weaves them together in a fluid movement that has become second nature.
“You know I wouldn’t dissolve in a puff of smoke, right?” he murmurs. “I’d probably just get a nasty burn. A little antiseptic and I’d be right as rain.”
Eli grunts disapprovingly. “No one says that anymore. And do you know for sure you wouldn’t turn into smoke?”
“Well, if silver evaporates us, that would’ve been helpful to know earlier.” He throws an arm around Eli and jostles his shoulder, earning a reluctant chuckle. “Someone could’ve chucked one of those $4000 ladles at good old Terrence when he showed up at Mr. LaRusso’s door. Would’ve solved at least half of our problems.”
Truthfully, Demetri shouldn’t have even known what was going on at the LaRusso residence. He should’ve been gone from their lives weeks ago.
But, of course, his attempts to freeze out the dojo have been a resounding failure.
It was easy enough to have his Tech Town shifts “keep interfering” with daytime practice, but people weren’t about to let him get away with bailing on every single social event. The house parties, the game nights, the pool hangouts…eventually nothing short of working 60 hours a week could account for missing all of them.
And by “people” he means Miguel. It was always Miguel.
Another beautiful spectacle of irony, he thinks. That’s twice Miguel Diaz has nagged him not to quit karate…although he likes to believe his reasons are a little better this time around.
Still, the guy missed his terrible puns more than Demetri was anticipating. So to the nighttime events and get-togethers he went, attached at the hip to Eli and wallowing in the strange melancholy of being surrounded by friends who loved a version of him that didn’t fully exist anymore.
“So let me get this straight.” Eli’s voice brings him out of his thoughts. “Terry Silver just…rings Mr. LaRusso’s doorbell, says he ‘hears he’s having vampire problems,’ hands him a box of antique silverware, and then fucks off?”
Demetri shrugs. “That’s what he told me. Sensei Toxic Waste Scandal loves his little mind games.”
Eli wrinkles his nose. “How did he even carry the box without hurting himself?”
“He has minions, Eli. I’m sure they help haul around all the garlic and stakes and crucifixes and anything else he might need to antagonize his many vampire karate rivals. Guy seems good at making enemies, so I’m betting he has at least 15.”
Although Eli forces a chuckle, it quickly gives way to a concerned frown.
“Did Mr. LaRusso know? About you being…”
“Not before that, no.” Demetri sighs. “But it wasn’t exactly hard for him to put two and two together. Me never being out in the sunlight anymore. Only showing up for movie nights and pizza parties. Not eating many of the snacks. Not using that Pizza Hut garlic dip anymore. Making some excuse to leave if someone got a cut. Not…smiling with my teeth for group photos.”
He winces. Eli clutches his hand a little tighter.
“Word gets around.” Demetri shrugs, trying his best to look indifferent. “The whole dojo knows now. Don’t know why they’re still protecting me, to be honest.”
“Because…they care about you?” Eli knits his brow.
“For now.” He lets out a tired breath. “Wait until I accidentally do something creepy, and someone ‘spills’ the garlic dip. I don’t know. They’re going to figure out I’m more trouble than I’m worth.”
“You’re not.” Demetri feels Eli’s thumb brush against the back of his hand, and his skin flutters.
“Not…” He looks away. “Not according to Silver, I don’t think.”
“What do you mean?”
Eli’s voice is suddenly terse with worry—the exact kind of concern that would be much better spent on the land of the living.
“Don’t you get it?” Demetri turns back, giving him a morose look. “That’s why it was so easy to rescue me. He let you. He figured I’d go crazy eventually and try to eat everyone, and then Mr. LaRusso would remember who swooped in like a knight in karate armor and gave him the very MacGuffin he needed to save the day. You know, the…vampiric Excalibur. Good way to get Mr. L in his debt, I guess.”
“But…Sam’s family’s already pretty rich.” Eli sounds dubious. “Don’t they have their own fine silver?”
“It was probably more a symbolic thing. But I mean, who better to know what kind of silver is actually lethal to vampires than…vampires?”
A silence falls over them. Demetri stares down at the lapping waves below, following the curves in the moonlight.
Eli presses closer to him, and he drinks in the warmth.
“He was wrong, though. You haven’t tried to eat everyone. You haven’t touched anyone.”
His voice is soft, hopeful. Demetri can’t stand to crush it.
But he knows he has to.
“Not yet.”
“Do you need to feed again?” Eli’s tone is casual. “Because you know, Sam and I could just scam another blood bank—”
“And is that okay?!”
It comes out with more ferocity than he intends.
“Probably more okay than draining our friends? Or…random people on the street?”
Demetri looks up to see Eli’s lips slightly apart, the way they always are when he’s genuinely confused.
“But people need that for blood transfusions. Aren’t we like…indirectly killing them or something?!”
Eli snorts. “Yeah, well, you also need it to not die. Why are you any less important?”
“Because I’m a blood-sucking monstrosity with evil dagger teeth?!”
“If you’re trying to sell me on how horribly undeserving of life you are, you should stop using the coolest possible descriptors for yourself.”
Demetri rolls his eyes. “Not my fault you’re turned on by everything even slightly morally-depraved.”
“Hell yeah I am.”
Eli brushes a kiss against his cheek. Demetri smiles at the boat railing, the edges of his unease ebbing away.
“Cheer up.” Eli bumps his shoulder. “Mr. LaRusso’s not an idiot. He wouldn’t have given us that box to get rid of if he thought you were gonna go on a rampage.”
“Hmmm.” He squeezes Eli’s hand, trying to push down the growing worry. “Maybe that’s his mistake.”
“I think the only one here who doesn’t trust you is you.”
And just like that, Eli is giving him the doe eyes again.
Curse this kid’s faith in him. There’s no way he deserves it.
Still, he can’t help but be grateful.
He kisses the side of Eli’s head. “Thank you. I love you.”
Another silence passes over them. Demetri closes his eyes, letting himself hear nothing but the ocean and the wind and feel nothing but Eli’s heartbeat.
Steady. Slow. Relaxed. Unafraid.
It’s one of the only things that can calm him these days.
“Nice of Yas to help us rent this boat,” Eli pipes up after a while. “Must’ve had to really pull some strings to get the guys to give it to us at 2 in the fucking morning.”
“And nice of her to check if the silver’s real, too,” Demetri adds. “Growing up in the most bougie part of Encino has its perks.”
Eli glances behind them, and Demetri follows his gaze.
The boat cabin is lit up, giggling trailing out of the windows and weed smoke wreathing through the cool night air. Whatever Yasmine and Moon are doing, the girls seem to be having a lot more fun than them.
“You wanna go upstairs?” Eli asks.
Demetri smiles. “Read my mind.”
His boyfriend shoves him playfully. “Don’t I always?”
He clicks his tongue. “Goes both ways, love. Didn’t need fabled vampiric mind-scanning abilities to get access to yours, though. Memorized the keycode ages ago.”
For a moment, Eli looks thrown off.
“Can you read minds?”
“Ha! No.” Demetri snorts. “I’ve already got the enhanced strength and speed and rapid tree-climbing thing. They had to give us some nerfs.”
“Oh, yeah. Otherwise I know you’d take over the world.”
Eli ducks out from Demetri’s arm and turns to the boat cabin, pulling his boyfriend along.
“You know…” Demetri plants his feet in the deck, gaze straying toward the empty silverware box. He lets out a long, weary breath.
“That won’t be the last time that happens. People are going to keep trying, Silver and whoever else.”
Eli scoffs. “I knew what I was getting into, Demetri. I’m not stupid.”
“I know, but are you sure you want to—”
“Yes, idiot. For the millionth time. I…” His voice cracks slightly. “I meant what I said, you know. The night you got turned. No one fucking touches you. And if they try…”
His eyes darken, taking on a sheen that Demetri used to dread. The kind of No Mercy look that’s still hardwired into him.
“I’ll end them.”
“Oh, I know.” Demetri chuckles. “If I know you, you’ll do your damndest. But I suppose not everyone has a giant karate trophy to back up that kind of claim.”
“Not a bad weapon, either.” Eli smirks. “All else fails, I can smash them over the head with it.”
“Oh, that would be a sight.”
Eli laughs, and Demetri pulls him in. He plants a lingering kiss before smiling against his lips.
“Have I ever mentioned that I love you?”
Every time he says it, he means it a little more.
***
“It’s a terrible idea, Eli!”
Eli rolls his eyes, pulling Demetri out the back door. “Come on, man. I’ve done the math. If we stay on the west-ish side of your house, the sun won’t touch you.”
“But—”
“You haven’t seen sunlight in...what? 3 months now? That’s depressing.”
“Fine.”
Demetri’s loathe to admit it, but it doesn’t turn out to be a terrible idea.
The sunrise is gorgeous, all rich golds and peachy pinks. It glints off his neighbors’ windows and bathes the street’s murky trees in a soft glow.
Of course, Demetri hides behind Eli the entire time, clinging to his arm with pale, freezing fingers.
“See?” Eli weaves their hands together. They’re intertwined more often than not these days. “Told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Like seeing daytime again?”
A deep yearning stirs inside Demetri. His fingers twitch, suddenly wanting more than anything to poke out of the shadows.
He kisses Eli’s shoulder. “Yeah. Thank you.”
They stand in silence for a while, watching the sky go from light gray to orange-rimmed to blue. The yearning only tightens its grip.
Before the change, he never had a preference for day or night. You could watch TV or play Crucible Control or read comics in either. But now…
He realizes he missed the sunshine. He missed the fluffy cotton clouds that he and Eli used to watch at recess, lying on the grass next to the playground. He missed the sound of birds, as much as he once complained about them waking him up at ungodly hours.
Sharp pain seizes his toes, and he jumps back with a hiss.
“Shit.” Eli’s brow furrows. “You okay?”
He sighs, glancing down at where the house’s shadow has started to rescind. “Yeah, yeah. Just wasn’t paying attention.”
“You want to go inside?”
Demetri shakes his head. “We can spare a few more minutes.”
They back up, sitting against the wall. Demetri drinks in the growing morning, wondering how he convinced himself he was content to never see this again.
“Dude.”
Demetri frowns. “What?”
“Are you crying?”
He notices the wet sensation around his eyes a few moments too late. His entire body burns with embarrassment.
“I…” He does his best to sound nonchalant. “…have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Look at me, Demetri.”
“No. Fuck off.”
He feels Eli’s hand on his cheek and swats it away. “Leave me alone,” he grumbles.
Vampirism is already bad enough without him bawling like a 4-year-old because the sky turned blue. As in the color it had been Demetri’s entire fucking life. This is beyond humiliating.
Eli reaches for him again. He turns away, only for his boyfriend’s other hand to slip from his own and shoot up to catch Demetri’s cheek.
“Hold still, moron. People are gonna freak out if they see you leaking blood out of your eyes. They’ll think it’s some shit from The Exorcist and douse you in salt or something.”
Demetri lets out a defeated sigh, letting Eli brush gentle thumbs across his cheeks. “You’d better not use this as blackmail.”
“First of all, I’ve got better shit for that.” Eli pauses to wipe off his fingers on the grass, creating what will inevitably end up looking like a squirrel crime scene. “Second of all, like.”
He gives Demetri a searching look as he continues to gather up the tiny, blood-filled droplets. “It’s okay to be upset about this, man. It sucks. I mean the teeth are badass and I’m kind of jealous, but yeah, I mean…shit’s hard.”
Demetri hums thoughtfully. “You should bribe your dentist to file your teeth into little fangs. What with all the hair dye and the tattoos, what’s asking your parents for a few more hundred bucks?”
Eli laughs, giving him a look so soft that he’s now at risk of crying more. Absolutely unfair, not to mention counterproductive.
At some point, Eli pauses, hands resting on Demetri’s cheeks and scarred-knuckle thumbs in mid-swipe.
“I’m glad your eyes didn’t change,” he says suddenly.
Demetri blinks at him. “Huh?”
“I thought they’d turn red or yellow or something. But they’re still green.”
“Are they?”
He chuckles. He’d wondered here and there how different he looked now, but it wasn’t as though his house’s mirrors were going to be much help figuring that out.
“Yeah, like…” Eli inspects him through narrowed eyes. “Slight gold-ish tint, but that’s it. Thank god. I’ve always liked your eyes.”
Demetri’s face goes hot. “Can you stop saying cute stuff for like…10 seconds? You’re making me too flustered to function.”
“No chance in hell, asshole.”
They settle back against the house wall, fingers entwined again. The morning continues to crawl in, and Demetri knows they’ll have to go inside soon.
Regardless, he’ll drink up every nanosecond of daylight until the time comes.
Demetri takes a long breath.
“I told my mom.”
“What?” Eli turns, eyes wide. “What happened? What’d she say?”
He chuckles. “She was…surprisingly unsurprised. I guess it checks out, her growing up in Orestiada and all. All the folklore and whatnot was right next door. She just never put a lot of stock in it. Woman of science, as you know.”
He smiles weakly. He never knew his dad, but he imagines he has Ms. Alexopoulos to thank for most of his good traits.
“I kind of had to explain why I wanted to drop out of school and get an online GED,” he adds, grimacing. “And even before that, um…well, I couldn’t hide this forever.”
He pulls up his flannel sleeve to uncover a crisscross of burned skin, seared into his upper arm. Eli winces.
“Shit, right. What did you tell her happened that night, anyways? No way you’d come home roughed up and she wouldn’t throw a fit.”
“Said we got jumped by some Cobra Kais. It’s the standard explanation for being a victim of violence in the Valley these days.”
“You’re lucky she didn’t look too much into it.” Eli traces delicate fingers across his skin, brushing over the branded crucifix. “On your bad luck arm, too.”
His right arm. The one Eli broke what seems like a lifetime ago.
“God.” He laughs. “It really is.”
“So is she…okay with it?” Eli bites his lip, giving Demetri’s bad luck arm a small squeeze. “Not just the crucifix burn, but like…everything.”
“Seems like it.” Demetri chuckles again. “She did a garlic purge as soon as I told her. Said she was actually a little relieved because she was worried her skordalia had been really shitty lately. I mean, I told her she could still eat it, but she was adamant that she intended never to touch a clove of the stuff again.”
“So she didn’t disown you, then.” Eli laughs. “Thank god.”
“Well. It’s not like I came home and told her I want to re-decorate our living room to look like Mrs. Hasapi’s. Now that is a disownable offense.”
Eli snorts. “What even is your mom’s beef with her?”
“Oh, none, really. She just thinks her armchairs look like they were unearthed from the local landfill.”
They both laugh for a while, leaning into each other and taking in the neighborhood coming to life. Eli rests his head on Demetri’s shoulder, letting out a small sigh.
“I looked into some online colleges, by the way. They’re not bad. UMass has a pretty good online CS program.”
Demetri doesn’t allow himself to indulge in Eli’s hopefulness.
“Oh, yeah?” he mutters forlornly. “And what tech company needs night watch guys, may I ask?”
Eli shrugs. “You could do contract work. Just charge people independently to fix their shit. Might be a pain in the ass to get customers at first, but you’d probably make bank eventually.”
Demetri purses his lips, thinking.
“I…guess it’s not a completely unreasonable idea. But you know you don’t have to do all that for me.”
“Yeah, I do.” Eli’s thumb rubs along the back of his hand. “I love you, stupid. And you’re too busy moping and crying blood everywhere to do it yourself.”
He beams.
He should be used to Eli loving him by now, but he doesn’t think he ever will be.
***
So I was joking with some friends in a discord server before S5 dropped that maybe the reason Dem wasn’t in a bunch of the trailer scenes was because he got kidnapped by Terry Silver and/or turned into a vampire and can’t be in direct sunlight and then it just kinda. Became a fic. Against my will. Like I do not at all have the time to write this AND YET.
Also, yes, Demetri did indeed fight off his vampire impulses just by being like “hey fuck off” and then they did. And that’s on the power of gay love <3
I am an evil god who loves writing Demetri angsting and having breakdowns because if the show will not let him McFucking Lose It, then I will <3 <3 Peace and love on earth!!! Anyways, if Eli’s a lil bit more gentle with him than usual here, that’s why. Boy is Going Through It to the highest degree.
Enjoy the abundance of “I love you”s here, because these idiots are not going to get there for several more chapters of the road trip fic XD Kinda my first crack at writing Established Relationship Elimetri, but don’t worry!!! There will be angst and drama aplenty!!! I am putting them through horrors >:3
This goes with this, this, and this!!! Most I was able to work into the actual story except for the last one :P Also Raptor Reynaldo is from this post!!!
#ckhalloween22#hawk x demetri#demetri x eli#binary boyfriends#elimetri#hawkmeat#demetri x hawk#eli x demetri#demetri alexopoulos#demetri cobra kai#vampire!demetri#eli moskowitz#hawk#moodboard#aesthetic#fanfic#fanfiction#vampire au#cobra kai#cobra kai season 5#at least that's when this loosely takes place#the first half-ish of S5 is canon#but also there's vampires and werewolves and possibly also zombies#also Eli and Demetri already broke up with their very lesbian gfs
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5, 6, 13, 14, and 21 for the writing ask game? c:
For this game here!
5. Share one of your strengths:
I think I'm pretty good at getting an emotional response? Which is good, because that's the only thing I actually care about lol. That, or dialogue. I think my dialogue sounds very natural.
6. Share one of your weaknesses:
Visuals. I don't see images in my head. I don't care. I'll tell you how wet someone's skin feels but fuck if I know what their face looks like asdlfkj. Though I dunno if I can count that as a proper weakness because I will not be bothered to improve it. I'm simply writing for the aphantasia crowd lmao
Maybe I struggle to stay true to my original vision? I worry a lot about stuff being ~problematic~. Sometimes it's good. Oftentimes I am stressed about nothing. I caught myself putting a disclaimer on my evil lesbian monster story that 'This story is not intended to villainize those with low empathy. People with low empathy irl are more likely to be victims of abuse-" and like that's nice and all BUT I THINK IT'S OKAY IF I JUST HAVE A VILLAIN THAT HURTS PEOPLE ADSLFKJ. Why am I preemptively answering twitter callouts. What is wrong with me
13. What's the best writing advice you've ever come across?
There are only seven plots.
I used to AGONIZE over my work not being original enough, but it turns out that most stories actually follow a very similar structure and it's what you DO with the tropes/structure that's more important. My bestie Hadithi commented once that they'd rather watch a well done Cinderella adaptation than a poorly executed novel concept, and like. That's very comforting.
14. What's the worst writing advice you've come across?
mmm there's a lot. Anything that starts with "Don't EVER-" is automatically out. Yes, you need to understand the rules to be able to break them, but the writing 'rules' are not set in stone.
I think the biggest thing that I haven't seen outright stated, but more suggested, is that characters need to be held accountable as if they're real people. And like, I do think treating characters as PEOPLE helps make a more balanced and interesting character, but there's a limit. Eventually you gotta put down the psychoanalysis and recognize that they're a narrative tool adlfj
21. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?
oh that's tough. I write in, like, the worst way possible. Not only do edit as I go, but I always go back and revise the past couple paragraphs I wrote whenever I come back to a piece.
So like, right now, I am procrastinating a kafblade gore fic. I've mostly written it. I went up one page from where I left off and am editing until I get to outline bullet points, and then I'll start writing first draft again. It helps me get back into the groove. Then once I get through that purgatory, I do a quick onceover in a different font, then I put it in AO3, THEN I read it again in preview mode for formatting errors
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1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 for "He Lives For Me, Says He Lives For Me"
Sorry for sending yet another ask lol, I'm just so curious about the creation of this fic. It's so good and is such an interesting concept/version of events that I want to know what went on in your yalls brains while making this!
hihihi!
EEK! i'm SO excited you asked about this one! this one is one of the fics i'm proudest of (+ some of my favourite charlotte art!), but it didn't get as much traction as my other fics. so i am so excited to yap about it now!!!
1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?
one of my favourite samdean AUs is normallife!AU because yeah!! they are really weird like that! "weird about each other" means weird about each other in EVERY TIMELINE BABEY! it's also fun to see their dysfunction in an average environment, and how people react to two brothers who are Just Like That.
5: What part was hardest to write?
the hardest part to write was definitely the resolution post-meltdown. for sam and dean normally, they take incest pretty hard, lol. so to get these two brothers that have not lived at the fringes of "normative" society and resolve their emotions in a satisfying way was difficult. the blow-up (post-blowjob, haha) was pretty easy to write, but i had a hard time making the resolution of the story feel emotionally satisfying. because they had to dust themselves off and walk home after something completely life-shattering.
they deal with most things with a kind of bitter humour in the show, so i chose a dash of that with more emotional transparency, because they haven't been raised as rough/life-or-death as show sam and dean.
6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?
i think the AU is the most different part about it! and while they're both teenagers, it's also my only underage fic (as of this moment) so i knew that would automatically disqualify it for a lot of folks, which i can understand. it operates pretty differently from my other samdean fics, because they aren't supposed to behave 1:1 like they would in the show, as their entire environment is different.
7: Where did the title come from?
the title came from "semi-charmed life" by third eye blind, which was released earlier in the year that the party takes place (February vs October '97). so conceivably, and given the subject matter of the song (a drug bender), it would be played at a high school party that year! i did a STUPID amount of song research for this fic, and i will revisit all of that in #13!
i chose it specifically because it talks about being obsessed with someone when you're young--in a predominantly physical, but also emotional, way. this lyric was VERY much codependent and obsessed, which i thought was pretty spot-on for sam and dean. i thought it was fitting!
9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
no, actually! this didn't change much from the conception to the finished product. for the october challenge, i actually plotted this one first because i was so excited about it. (i even wrote the blowjob scene first in my notes app bc a few lines of dialogue stuck in my head and i wanted to write them down before i could forget.) it was intended to be a little more light-hearted than it ended up being, but there's not really a way to write two brothers in a completely normal social situation deciding to commit incest and deal with it normally afterwards, lmao.
11: What do you like best about this fic?
i was most happy with their dynamic in this fic. it was challenging to write an AU!sam&dean and keep their obsession with each other in a way that felt natural, but i thought their background was fun! i think dean would develop sam-centric if he had even an ounce of the hero worship/responsibility that he gets in the show. i liked their family dynamic/history and their own dynamic/history in this fic! i enjoyed writing that the most, as well as the lead-up to the kiss. it's frantic and it's devoted and it's messy! overall: the emotion of this fic. i think i did a good job!
i also think it has a pretty decent blowjob scene? i LOVE either boy in lingerie, so i hope i did them justice!
13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?
okay! this fic is very song-heavy, and i did a bit of research on songs that came out in the past 1-3 years before '97, because those songs would be the most popular at a high school party. so here are a few that i listened to or are mentioned in the fic:
around the world by daft punk
semi-charmed life by third eye blind
a significant portion of nimrod by green day, specifically worry rock (bc sam is a little alternative, and this song is VERY MUCH canon!samdean) (i even looked up the day of the week the album came out to make sure dean could take him on a school day)
tha crossroads by bone thugs-n-harmony (bc haha)
the monster mash by bobby "boris" pickett and the crypt-kickers & calling all the monsters by china anne mcclain (bc halloween, the latter of course being a more recent song and not in the fic)
wannabe by the spice girls
mmmbop by hanson
pony by genuwine (which was BIG summer '97)
15: What did you learn from writing this fic?
besides the billboard top-100 of '96-'97, i learned i need to work on interim action! i found myself really speeding through the party because i wanted dean in his eyeliner and skirt to walk in, and it felt very lop-sided and rushed while i was trying to establish characters/events at this party. i need to get better at pacing! i also learned i was way more into the way noise is muffled under a skirt/how emotionally intimate&vulnerable it is if you're under there than i thought. huh! i also really want to see sam with smeared lipstick. new things all over!
(send me one of my fics and i'll answer some questions!)
thank you for sending this one!!!!!! it's one of my faves for absolute sure. please send as many asks as you'd like! i always smile when i see you in our inbox! :)
-lizzy
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First, it hurts— [side story]: Y/N's first kiss.
Depictions of a brief succession mentioned on one of my asks! Which you can find both here and here. About the main fic over... here! (Would recommend reading that one just to get the general idea of what's going on—it's a Naoya x reader fic)
Chapter warnings: none :> except and overprotective father, an annoying Satoru and a very curious yet... puzzling Y/N. (slight gojo x geto at the end) maybe even y/n x gojo if you squint your eyes.
A/N: If you've been following me these past few days, you'll notice that this was supposed to be posted on Sunday. I may have done a few miscalculations when it comes to the editing part, and when I finally wanted to post this the lights went out 💀💀 For a moment I truly believed fate was like nope, you ain't gonna post that. But we're finally here :>
And as expected, this idea turned out somewhat different than what I planed, but still satisfying. I really love writing Minako and Eiichi, and young Y/N, Hinata and Ren—guess I'm trying to heal something from my personal life LMAO. Well, anyways, I hope you enjoy this small (not so small) side story :>
As always, reblogs, likes and comments are always appreciated ❤❤ Happy reading!
Ao3 link.
It is within undeniable reasons that there are many subjects that a young mind wouldn’t care to register for simply because it doesn’t really impact their life.
Body aches? Sleeping in the wrong position? No worries, your body will find a way around it. These things are nothing but a myth.
Worrying about having clean clothes for the next day? Who cares! They’re going to get dirty anyway.
Taxes? Work? What even is that?
Sure, children were expected to have certain responsibilities at the end of the day, part of the nurturing process of molding them into capable, working adults of society.
But things worked a bit differently for those that held onto tradition, and sorcerers were no different.
Marriage, an adult term, struck your reality for the first time when your sister became engaged to the Gojo heir, both at the young age of 5 years old, just after their techniques became apparent before the jujutsu community—you were only 3.
However, just as Hinata and your now future brother-in-law were too young to oppose or consent to this arrangement, you were on the same page when it came to understanding its definition. Which would come years later, precisely after reaching 6 years of age.
It wasn’t meant to be a secret, of course, being related to one the biggest figures in the modern era of jujutsu meant that you’d be presented with situations that most civilians would either experience later in life, or never at all.
Situations that two people in particular, your parents if they must be named, fought hard to postpone for as long as they could in order to give their children a sense of normality, a childhood.
But with your natural inquisitiveness, as well as your determination, this would be their hardest foe yet.
It all started one day after school.
You were running through one of the many halls of your extensive home —carefully avoiding clashing into the working staff members who greeted you as the pitter patter of your small feet against the wooden floor alerted them of your passing, to which you’d return with the same enthusiasm with a cheeky grin and a breathy hello!— with seemingly no purpose, that is, outside of enjoying your spare time by doing whatever a carefree child your age would be doing after finishing all their homework.
And that seemed to be your intent for the next few minutes, had you not heard the familiar voices of your parents coming out from one of the nearby rooms: low and tight, as if they were discussing something that was solely intended for those in the premises, but with much annoyance nonetheless—the perfect combination to arouse anyone’s intrigue.
Had you been a few years older, you would’ve come to the appropriate conclusion that your presence was to be unessential, swiftly turning onto the opposite direction and moving on with your day.
However, because you have yet to understand what certain boundaries looked like, as well as wanting to bask in your parent’s attention (without adding that their secrecy issued you with great fascination) you’d soon find yourself scurrying into their direction and to the door you’d figured to be harboring your parents.
The desire of wanting to see your parents deprives you from basic etiquette by going straight to sliding the door open and scampering inside, which immediately earns you the abrupt silence and widening eyes of your bewildered parents.
“What are you doing here, little one?” Minako is the first to speak, voice tremulous as she manages to squeeze one, two quick glances at her husband whilst keeping her attention on you, worried eyes asking him if there was a possibility you might've heard their conversation—to which he incredulously reacts with a subtle shook of his head. “All done with homework?” she asks, now moving closer to you.
“Yep!” You nod, stretching your arms towards your mother, motioning the need of an embrace. Minako, although still surprised by your sudden appearance, doesn’t put up much of a fight when it comes to accepting your affectionate ministrations. It takes less than a second after that for your parents' shock to blend into adoration—the consistent effect the presence of your siblings, and you sequentially, have on them “Too easy”
“Oh, is that so?” Your mother chuckles—your newfound confidence is a trait that she finds partially amusing yet concerning, for she knows that without limits, might lead to impudence…
A fact that Eiichi condemns as soon as it travels past your lips, for he doesn’t appreciate the notion of you growing up to be rude. However, just as your mother, he can’t stop himself from doting on you while feeling slightly proud, because who doesn’t like seeing their children thrive against any obstacle?
“Be mindful of your words, pumpkin. It’s good to be confident, but not too much to be considered arrogant—always remember to be humble”
You’re too young to understand what he means by arrogant in this context, but you don’t need to look beyond your father’s tone to understand it’s not something good.
So as a response, you nod and chirp a short ok! Giving him a thumbs up to further cement your understanding, before glancing back at your mom to resume her torment with the following question “What are you doing?”
Eiichi and Minako go pale.
Sweat begins to slide from the sides of their faces, like teenagers caught in a compromising position as you now intently stare at them: wide-eyed, head slightly tilted to your side with slight pout on your lips.
You didn’t need to speak for them to understand that you weren’t about to let them go, that is, until getting the answer you were looking for—just exactly what they wanted to avoid, what pushed them to have their previous discussion in a secluded room in the first place.
In the briefest moments of your distraction, your parents sought out for each other’s gazes, tension swirling in their eyes as they telepathically asked each other for support: were they ready to take this step with you and reveal the topic they kept hidden from you until now… or continue feigning ignorance?
They would be lying if they didn’t believe that this day would eventually come, sooner than later, whether by their terms or those of an external force.
In a way, they were lucky to have kept this a secret from you for as long as they had, for the elders weren’t known for being prudent with their own family. As well as grateful for your siblings dutifully playing their part… although their willingness could easily be defined as obliviousness more than anything.
Well, taking this into consideration… they’d much rather tell you themselves what has been plaguing their mind in a controlled environment, than forcibly delegating that role to someone else with the possibility of bursting everything they stood for in flames.
So, wanting to take advantage of the situation while still having the upper hand, your parents decide it’s finally time to tell you what is going on between your sister and Satoru.
“We were talking…” Eiichi begins, slowly, but surely. Playing the kind of parent that knew how to break the ice when it came to assessing long overdue conversations with their children.
While Minako would be the parent to follow up on his lead by offering support in the form of explanations and comfort, ones that were inevitably needed once the cat was finally out of the bag. Just as they foresaw this situation to unfold.
“About your sister” Minako added and you blink.
“Hina-chan?” you mumble. The way your soft voice fills with concern for your older sister has your parents silently doting on you for a few seconds, before snapping back to reality and composing themselves.
“Yes” Your father agrees “The one and only”
“Is she ok?” you caution, and Eiichi physically struggles to stop himself from rushing towards your mother and plucking you out of her arms —which you were already resting comfortably and warmly on— and accepting you into his to kiss your worries away.
But there's always a place and time for everything, so instead, he focuses back on the task at hand.
“She’s fine” Minako reassures you “Don’t worry”
“Then why are you talking about her?” you frowned, confused even further by their well-intended yet cryptic words.
“I wish we wouldn’t have to speak about this” Eiichi whispers at his wife, and Minako silently looks up to him, ironically to warn him to be mindful of his words.
Once he declared her message to be understood by the way he breathed an apology back to her, she continued.
“You remember Satoru-kun, right?” Minako says and you nod. “And how he sometimes visits us, or how we visit him?”
You nod once more, yet, clueless as ever as to where she’s heading with all this.
“There’s a reason why Satoru is close to our family” Eiichi adds.
The prospect of walking alarmingly close to the point of no return has both parents filling up with anxiety, with your mother inadvertently holding her breath as your father attempts to swallow down his nerves.
But they’ve already made the decision, there’s no turning back now. And just as they had to face difficulties before, they’d do so once more, together.
“That’s because he’s going to marry Hinata-chan” Minako is the one to land the final blow, and your parents prepare themselves for the inevitable impact.
“Marry?” you repeat, confused being an understatement.
Now that’s a word you haven’t heard before—foreign to your dictionary, naturally leading your brain to scatter through its memories to find a possible definition… to no avail.
All you could really think of is customary greeting people would tell each other during the holidays, so if you were to place the pieces together, it meant that…
“Is Hina-nee Santa claus?!” is what you conclude, and it’s at this point that your parents feel they might’ve miscalculated your innocence towards this situation, at least for now.
Minako is far more experience with the art of subtlety when it comes to holding back a chuckle, but your father isn’t, and when he unwillingly lets out a snort, you’re quick to make him regret it by giving him a frown of disapproval, offended by his obvious mockery.
“Um, no! I mean—Sorry, little one” He spluttered, quick to jump into action to save the fondness you held for him. He hopes that his small slip up wasn’t enough to make you angry towards him for the rest of the day, or worse… “I… had something in my nose, that’s all”
You continue to stare holes, clearly not buying his excuse.
«Oh, if you only knew how much power you had over your father…» Minako muses out of amusement before you eventually sigh, abdicating your embarrassment for your father’s reaction in favor of your still prevalent confusion.
You soon realize that not even your mother’s tone was enough to give you a hint of what she meant by that word, and judging by the way your father reacted, merry and marry weren’t interchangeable words.
So, pushing your eyebrows together and looking back to your mother, you plead yet again for an answer “What is marry?”
«This is where the fun begins» Eiichi nervously glances at his wife, silently cheering her on.
“Marry… well” Minako takes a deep breath, mind scrambling from the best words to create a direct yet… calming definition she knows the elders of the L/N clan do not deserve. “Marriage is something people that love each other do” she’d begin.
“Hina-chan loves Satoru-kun?” you ask innocently, and your father’s emotions spiral out of control once more.
“NO!” He cries and Minako’s head snaps in his direction faster than he can sputter more nonsense.
Her right eye twitches as she sinks deeper into disbelief—his inconsideration could lead to the crumbling of the explanation she was starting to build up. She knew it was difficult as it was, but he had to get it together if they wanted to make this work!
Eiichi considers himself lucky to have you here, because had it been the contrary, he knew he’d be getting an earful from her.
“I—I mean, yeah…? Who… knows?” It seems that he now has to worry about not earning the ire of his beloved wife this time. Trying to cover his mistake by muttering a quiet apology before signaling her to continue.
“They care for each other, is what your papa meant to say” Minako doubles down on his intentions by circling back your attention to her with a soft pat on your back “And sometimes, that care takes us to make certain commitments. Such as with Hina-chan and Satoru-kun”
Commitment—she was being undeservingly nice by using that word to label the intrusive arrangement the L/N and Gojo clan contrived for the children.
Perhaps it was better to skip formalities and go straight to the point by telling you that this decision was made purely out of benefit in hopes of begetting strong sorcerers out of their union…
But even with the constant reminder of how terrible life is set to be for most, if not all, sorcerers… your parents still wanted their kids to have a happy life, regardless of what path they chose, marriage included.
Minako and Eiichi had a relatively good and healthy marriage for a couple living in the jujutsu community, thus, it was only natural that they wanted the same for them, away from growing up fearing marriage.
However it was possible, your parents wanted their kids to marry because they met someone that saw them for who they are, and not because their family pushed them to, or because they had a responsibility to the community.
In other words, because they loved you, and you loved them.
It pains your parents to consider the possibility that both Hinata and Satoru might not grow to be happy in this union, after all, it’s something they were forced to accept from a very young age, without a chance to escape—the parents having no alternative but to agree.
But even if they couldn’t stop their respective families from doing so, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t go to great lengths to at least ensure their happiness, however that might come to be, while devotedly hoping that their efforts will be recognized as inspiration for the next generation, encouraging them to pick up from where they left off and do what they never could for those that follow.
Minako knows this to be a bit too diplomatic for your short age, but maybe it’ll stick with you until you’re mature enough to fight for what you want in life.
A seed of encouragement that she’ll plant in your young mind, starting with a child-appropriate version of this engagement.
“Hinata and Satoru are set to… live together in the future” Minako begins to explain what getting married essentially means “They’re going to have a ceremony, a party, to unite our clans. After that, your sister will move out of the house and… they’ll have a family—just like ours” Your mother looks at Eiichi to warn him away from saying anything that might just replicate his small incident from earlier.
It’s no secret that he’s the overprotective parent out of the two, and processing the fact that their kids will eventually grow up, work, probably get married and subsequently leave the house… was very difficult for him.
But even with his protective nature, he was still capable enough to assertively understand the issue and what bothered him the most: Hinata was regrettably robbed of these choices.
And it’s his responsibility to do whatever he can to support them.
“And we were simply talking about the preparations for their wedding” Eiichi states, which wasn’t really that far of a stretch when reflecting back on their conversation.
They were indeed talking about their wedding, but in terms of delaying it, instead of encouraging it. Hoping to stall it long enough to when either of them assumed their respective positions of leaders of the clan, the only moment in their life they’d be able to interfere in this previously taken decision and put a halt to it… or continue forward—but by then, it’ll be by their own volition… not because the elders wanted; if they haven’t brainwashed them, of course.
“Wedding?” you repeat, another foreign word, since you have never been to a wedding before.
“It’s a celebration…. Kind of like going to the shrine to pray ” Eiichi went on “There’s a priest, who will pray to the gods for their well-being, he’ll then purify them and the couple will exchange vows… promises of being loving and faithful to one another, and then, they’ll give each other rings”
“Like this one” Minako gestures at her thin silver wedding band and your eyes glisten with admiration for the shiny jewelry.
“Once everything is done… they kiss and they’re officially married” Your father concludes, quickly skimming over his words for the mental image of his sweet daughter kissing the insufferable white haired boy is enough to fill him with disgust. Had it been to him, no boy or girl would be allowed in near proximity to their children!
“Then there’s a party, a reception. With friends and family, with all kinds of food and desserts to choose from! ” Minako hypes, intentionally emphasizing the last part, which she knew you’d be more interested in, to push you away from the boring and tedious interpretation your father was unknowingly portraying—all for the sake of keeping this path open for you to choose, if you ever decide to do so.
“I see” you nod along, and by the following silence, that seems to be the end of the conversation.
Your parents, noting the absence of your questioning, take it to be the result of a satisfied curiosity by a well formulated answer, completely unaware of the reasoning behind it, far from being one of fulfillment, it was one of deep thought.
Leagues away from quenching your thirst, you now found yourself in a bigger hole of intrigue, starting by wondering why your sister was the one to get married, and not you, or your older brother for that matter—as if talking about the ownership of a toy, and not a life changing experience— just to show that Minako and Eiichi still decided to postpone the chapter of arranged marriages for a later date (hopefully never, your parents think, still processing the awkwardness from this conversation).
And by the way their conversation moves onto Ren’s upcoming school festival, a topic that bored you enough to prompt your departure in hopes of finding better entertainment, you’d come to the natural conclusion that they were no longer interested in going back to weddings and receptions, meaning, they were no longer of help to your cause.
A realization that leads you to assume that the second best way to obtain information of what you needed was by asking your older sister, Hinata, directly. She was the one getting married after all, wouldn’t she know the most?
And that’s what you did… much to your sister’s disappointment, who thought you were approaching her with the intention of playing or basking in the fountain of knowledge she proclaims herself to be.
But no, of all things that you could’ve asked of her, you wanted to know her relation with the boy she found very, very annoying.
“Why do you want to know that?!” she cries, hurt evident in her voice and eyes as she theatrically waves her hands in the air “Don’t you want to see me use my technique instead?”
“No! I want to know why you’re getting married instead of me”
“Do you want to get married?” Hinata retaliates, and you frown. Even from a young age, you were never fan of answering questions with other questions.
“No” you pout “...Just tell me Hina-nee!! Do you love him?”
“Ew, no!” She squirms and shivers out of disgust, and her reaction twists the definition your mother gave you earlier, leaving you more confused than you were when arriving.
“Then why?” you insist once more, and your sister ponders…
“I don’t know” She eventually shrugs, answering nothing if not truthfully “But it’s not because he’s pretty, that’s for sure”
“Ok, bye!” and without time to waste, you hastily turn around and exit the room, leaving behind a distraught Hinata who can’t do much but call you back to her as she regrets the way she brushed you off so coldly as she did—she throws promises of playing your favorite game, training with you, even doing your homework! But none of these things caught your attention.
Not to undermine how tempted you were to turn around and take her up on her offer, but right now, all that you could really care about was obtaining more information to quench your drowning thrist, and by process of elimination, that was to be with your brother: the oldest, the wisest, the one you knew that wouldn’t put much of a fight with you when answering your demands, when presented with puppy eyes.
And fold he did, just as you expected.
However, his response was a bit… underwhelming.
Himself being too young to have been in some kind of meaningful relationship that would eventually lead to marriage, his only references were those of cartoonish movies and shows he’d seen throughout his life that briefly touched the subject—somewhat still oblivious as to why Hinata was to be the one to marry, instead of him or you, although with a better understanding that power played a role here.
And if Ren had to be honest, marriage was something that had no space in his mind; adult talk, he’d say, too boring.
Yet, he still felt liable to give you some kind of resolution, so by doing the most with what he had, Ren redirected you to watch movies as well.
Movies that he considered the most appropriate to give you an answer in the whole marriage debacle. Princess movies, as he’d call them, the ones where the and they lived happily ever after plotline was to be found. Not knowing that this, far from helping you understand the kind of relationship Hinata and Satoru had, only brought you another wave of seemingly answerless questions.
But Ren wasn’t to blame, he too was young to assume any better, and if he knew that by putting you to do this would lead to all that followed next, he wouldn’t have done so.
You no longer wanted to know what marriage was—at least not by definition. This time, you wanted to experience it.
Well, it’s only natural. With movies finishing in a happy ending which promised unconditional love and prosperity… wasn’t it programmed inside human nature to long for that as well?
And without any more obstacles to overcome, your young mind decided that marriage, your first kiss specifically, was to be the epitome of your needs—a desire that set off the internal alarms of your parents, specifically, your father, once interrogated about it.
“Where—where did you get that idea?” Eiichi tensely queried, a dreadful moment he never thought he’d be experiencing from you, and at only 6 years old, unnerved him to the point of perspiring.
“From a movie” you respond nonchalantly “Have you gotten a true love’s kiss?”
“I… guess?” he responds, upset and confused as ever as to where you could’ve gotten these terms from. Or more likely… Why did you become hyper focused on this? Just a few days ago you were more than enamored with a certain frog plushie they got for you on their last holiday… but now, that seems to be nothing more than a distant memory—perhaps someone from school was behind it all?
Circling back to your question, if he really had to answer… kissing Minako was something he always considered to be the highlight of his day. Whether to begin or finish it, there's nothing he'd rather look forward to than her sweet gestures…
What?
No!
He shouldn’t deviate from the problem at hand through his adoring wife! This is something different, alarming, and certainly not something for you to demand as if talking about a toy! And most of all, not entertaining you!
Why couldn’t you just ask him for something like most kids would normally do at your age? Like sweets, toys, or even skipping school?!
Well, at least it’s not that infamous where do babies come from? question that he already had the misfortune of suffering through with your siblings that’s bothering him today…
“But that’s not the point, Y/N! You shouldn’t go around asking that…”
“Is mama your true love?”
Eiichi blushes, and his immeasurable love for your mother prompts him to respond “Yes, she is”
“Will I have true love too?” you follow up, still ignorant to the tight spot you’re cornering your father into.
“I… think… I hope so” he hesitates, that’s a question that he wants to respond positively and without hesitation, but there are things that not even an all-knowing person like him (ever since you called him that one, he just can’t let go) could know.
Regretfully, his indecision is something that you’re quick to catch on.
“Does that mean I won’t?” you frown. You feel as if, yet again, you’re being glossed over compared to others. A sensation that’s quick to push you down into the familiar desperation that always came after by twisting your face into one of sorrow.
And Eiichi, upon noticing this abrupt change in your tone, regrets yet again how he approached you with this topic—mentally berating him for not being as sensitive as his wife was when it came to comforting their children.
“That’s not what I—” Your father frets, kneeling down to your level. Oh, the dilemma you’ve put your father in…
“Will no one… love me?” you wrongfully conclude and your father’s eyes jolt wide open.
“What?! I mean, you don’t need someone else to love you, Y/N!” Eiichi points out, mind frantically wondering how you even got to this outrageous conclusion?! “You have me, your mom, your siblings, Sumire, the whole staff! Isn’t that enough?”
“But you’re married to mama” you counter, almost matter-of-factly, and a bit too fast for your father’s liking. He’s barely able to sprout justifications to end your unnecessary torment before you’re already barraging him with more questions. “And Hina-nee will marry Satoru-kun. The only one that will love me is Ren-nii…”
Eiichi feels himself physically sinking deeper and deeper into the pit that your endless questions seem to be turning into. He never expected that you, the adorable baby daughter everyone loved and cherished, would be the one to worry about these silly things! And he thought the other question was the worst one out of the two…
Oh, how he wishes Minako was here to reassure you, for he thought you needed to remember that your parents' love was unconditional and unwavering. She always knew what to say to calm your continuous curiosity… and if you didn’t believe him, you’d surely believe her.
But she wasn’t there, and he needed to calm you down before you spiraled down even further…
And he knew just how to do so.
A sweet ally he knew he could always count on—although one that he and his wife were slowly starting to disapprove, for it was only a temporary solution. But drastic measures were needed for drastic situations.
He’d beg for Minako’s forgiveness when she’s back, but for now…
“If I give you mochi… will you promise me to stop asking these questions?” …«at least until you’re older?» he wishes to add, but he doesn’t want to push his luck. For what older means for a kid has a vastly different definition for an adult. He can already see this situation unfolding if he doesn't take the necessary precautions; as soon as a week passes, you’re going to run back at him and tell him you’re older, technically just a week, but older nonetheless to bombard him with questions yet again.
No, not a chance.
And the bait seems to work, although with less excitement and giddy he expected from you, but still good enough because you’re soon pulling and tugging at his sleeve to rush him into retrieving the sweets he’s bribing you with.
Not the reward you were searching for, but still a welcomed one. And as your father guides you to the kitchen and onto the cabinet he was hiding these sweet treats, he takes it as his cue to retake this upsetting matter.
“Y/N” Eiichi would call as he looked down to you, munching on the box of taro mochi he’d intended to surprise you with one day after school.
You’d look up to him, half of a mochi still in your mouth, as you hum in response.
“We’ll never stop loving you” he reassures you, slightly alleviating the pain that settled in his heart after hearing his daughter doubt herself in such a cruel way “No matter what happens, regardless if you, or your siblings, get married or not. We’ll always be here for you, for one another, because that’s what families do, ok?”
And you accept his answer, sealed by a hug and kiss from him, alongside the box of mochi he allowed you to eat even before dinner.
You snuggle into his embrace for a few seconds longer before pulling away, promising to not bother him with the questions that seemed to upset him anymore.
You never intended to sadden him, of course, all you ever wanted was answers. So, wanting to see your father smile, you indulged in the mochi as an alternative to ease your curiosity.
Something you were all too happy to oblige… that is, until weeks passed and you were inevitably pushed back to square one after falling into the blanket of security your father’s heedlessness provided you.
It had been a while since your dad decided to bring the topic back, although he and your mother had been a bit more affectionate with you after that day.
But if you thought about it, you were the only one that didn’t get what you wanted. You were just as clueless as ever when it came to what marriage, true love, and a kiss, felt like. And determined as ever, you were out to pursue answers.
Did you worry about your father? Yes, but you comforted yourself by remembering that the promise you made only entailed asking him, not anybody else… right? You assumed that if you didn’t tell him, he wouldn’t get sad!
Besides, if he wanted to completely stop you, he should’ve made you promise to not ask questions to anyone!
Taking that into consideration, you were set once again, on your journey of knowledge.
…
…
With more frustration than you ever expected to feel in your life.
Why is that?
Well, that’s easy to answer: the people that you decided to approach for answers began to push you away from the topic, justifying themselves by saying you’re too young to be worried about that, or why don’t you go play with your siblings instead? If not straight up ignoring you, not willing to entertain you as your father did, thus, not giving you a chance to retaliate.
Unfortunately for them, putting this subject under a strict lockdown only grasped more of your attention, as well as ignited you with determination. A feeling that pushes you into making a radical decision.
If you’re not able to obtain what you’re asking for, then you’ll have to find a way to force them out of them. A demand they won’t be able to refuse…
Gambling.
Gambling, by some strange reason—equally cryptic as attempting to explain how the mind of a young child worked—turned out to be your solution.
Although mostly illegal in Japan, you’ve still seen it happen before: The first occasion being through your staff whenever they wanted to kill some time in between chores.
The second instance, through the kids in your school. Of far lesser occurrence, solely present whenever one of your classmates found a shiny Pokémon card in their newest deck and wanted to either brag about it, or exchange it for something better.
And lastly, but not least, when your family went out to the city and would inadvertently pass by a group of lottery enthusiasts gathered around the nearest ticket vendor as they waited for the lucky numbers to be announced—one of the limited, if not only, ways to partake in a legal form of gambling inside the country.
Whatever the reasons, they all maintained a single principle: if you wanted to gain something, you had to offer something.
And the bigger the fish, the bigger the bait.
But how would you manage to obtain a big fish, which was the kiss you so desperately sought after for the past few days, if everyone seems to avoid you like the plague?
Another solution runs through your mind.
A game, of course! By involving a game, you’d be inviting others to participate, in other words, a trap! And to make matters easier on you, you settled down for the classic bag of marbles that could never fail when looking for quick and cheap entertainment.
But just as you’re quick to overcome all obstacles thrown in your direction, you’re quicker to stumble onto more.
This time, the hardest one yet: who will be naïve enough to not alert the adults of your schemes, but sufficient enough to fall in your trap?
Everyone at school was out of the question since it’s currently spring break, and it’s going to be at least a week before you see anyone again so… you’re not going to wait that long.
Your family is another scratched out possibility. You’re not going to ask for their help after they’ve been constantly avoiding you with no good reason (or so you believe) —completely oblivious to their reasoning, that being of how annoying you’ve become from repeating the same subject over and over again.
That’s without considering your parents, who have explicitly stated they didn’t want you to worry about this, whom one could only assume would be rightfully angry if they caught you scheming around their warnings.
Once again, it seems you’d unknowingly bumped into a road with no end. An endless field of drought with no possible victim to choose from—all efforts for naught.
No one could understand your frustration. Not your sister, your brother, or your best friend Sumire. Not even that recognizable patch of white hair, walking in the distance, belonging to another friend of yours, the Gojo Heir, could bring you solace…
Wait.
Wait.
Just like that, you were doused with another realization.
You’ve gone ahead to cut your losses without even considering the slight possibility of a last alternative: one in the shape of someone you considered heavily involved (a fact truthful only in your mind) and in more ways than one, the perfect candidate.
Your answer was always right there, right before you.
Satoru was to be the one that will help you get out of this triviality!
Oh, it’s perfect!! How come you didn’t think of this before?
What better way to understand and experience what marriage was, if it wasn’t through Satoru, the boy that was set to be your sister’s husband?
He’s bound to know a thing or two about this arrangement, probably even more than your sister since you’ve noticed him to be esteemed in a higher regard compared to her, and more likely than not, he might’ve already had his true love’s first kiss with her, right?
You certainly don’t expect to get the whole know-how from him, but it's still good enough to give you an idea of what to expect. One that will lead you to know when your true love finally comes into your life!
You mentally pat yourself on the back as you bashfully make way towards Satoru, prideful for having resolved this issue without the help of anyone!
And some even dared to say you were too young to do most things by yourself! Ah, if only they could see you now!
So, with this regained confidence, you enter Satoru’s presence, who was amused by your initiative, as equally concerned upon noticing your sister's absence from your side—the two of you always seemed to be virtually inseparable… were you perhaps baiting him for something worse?
Sensations that would be tossed out the window and replaced with confusion when you finally spoke up your mind.
“A what?” Satoru cynically blurts out while chewing on the bubblegum one of your staff gave him after he obnoxiously let them know he was missing something.
Growing accustomed to a life of silver spoons, it was only natural that he’d grow expecting everyone to fold at his command without second thoughts. Whatever he wanted, he got it. A very unwarranted outlook for his age, but expected due to his position in the jujutsu community. Taking that into consideration, no one dared say no to him, leading him to be the spoiled kid he is today.
The very reason why he’s not too keen when others attempt to demand stuff from him, just as you’re doing at this very moment.
“A game, marbles!” you repeat, waving the bag in which your recently acquired marbles were—all thanks to your best friend’s mother, the one you often sought after since she rarely questioned your requests— showing just how unaffected you were by his connotation “Play with me, Satoru-kun”
“And why would I do that with a twerp like you?” he smirks, maliciously pinching your nose. Judging the way your eyebrows push together and your lips purse into a pout, he seems to finally get under your skin.
He couldn’t be more wrong though, for your annoyance wasn’t because he insulted you (although the sharp pain you felt for his pinch was not one you could easily ignore), but rather because he was unnecessarily hindering your plans.
“I’m not a twerp” you justify, powering through the pain on your nose “Just play with me pleaseeee” you’d plead with long annoying whines and big round puppy eyes that looked nowhere else but straight into his celestial ones. All foul tactics to highlight your cuteness and have him fold onto your demands “Please please please pleeeeeaaaaaaseeeee”
And if that wasn’t enough, you’d then grab his arm, swinging and tugging at it harshly to emphasize your need for a game companion—the cherry on top to finally irritate Satoru into compliance.
“Fine, fine!” he huffed, abruptly pulling away from you and retrieving his arm to his side as he begrudgingly agreed to your request, no, demand.
As if he wasn’t secretly hoping he’d stumble onto someone from your family to distract him from the uneventful afternoon he was fated to have if you hadn’t come to his rescue, but we’re not going to talk about that. “What am I getting in return?”
Satisfaction settles in your core with a smile, as you’ve previously prepared for all kinds of questions. It seems that Satoru is not as smart as he believes himself to think, for he’d unknowingly fallen into your trap.
“I got a gun…a gund—gunda…” Where you once began with great confidence, you were now left to me a stuttering mess at the unprecedented difficulty of the word, much to your disappointment, and to his delight.
You didn’t have to look up to Satoru to sense the devilish smirk on his lips, one that was enough to have you flame up in embarrassment and subsequent reddening, but even then, you knew that your upcoming achievement was worth this small setback.
Always the generous one, you’d let him have this win.
“You mean a mobile Gundam toy?” he chuckles whilst raising an eyebrow. If you didn’t know any better, you’d dare assume he’s attempting to make fun of your stammer by saying the complete name of the toy, without errors and in one take.
And while one of his main motivations was to take a jab at you, he was far more interested in this sudden turn of events—starting by confirming the existence of this highly sought after toy in your estate.
How did you even manage to get one? Not even he, the great Gojo Satoru, managed to lay his hands on one because… well, because the stupid elders from his clan attempted to punish him for slacking in the last term’s exams.
It’s not his fault everything came so easily to him and his teacher is too dumb to realize that, wanting him to do things by the book instead of the better, easier way he offered, but whatever, that misstep will soon fall into irrelevance once he beats you and hand him over the toy you got.
Ah, if only he knew you never intended to give him said prize, for you weren’t planning on losing in the first place!
You’d essentially practiced everyday, from dawn to dusk, with your best friend, Sumire. From the moment you woke up, to when it was time to sleep—there was not an hour you didn’t intend to spend it through practice, to the point where she actually began to run away from you as soon as she heard you singing out her name, as if it were some kind of war fanfare, while running towards her with the set of shiny marbles in your hands, signaling the beginning of another session of torture.
Sumire forced herself to be the faster of the two, even with your training in jujutsu, just so she could outrun you. It let you down the first few times that happened, but you eventually learned to take this as your unofficial graduation from training.
You’ve learned all that you could from her, and it was now time to show the fruits of your efforts.
“Yeah, papa got it for Ren-nii a while ago but he didn’t want it, so I got it” you explain “But I don’t want it”
“Sounds like you want something in return, Y/N-chan” Satoru guessed correctly, and you nod. “Oh, what do you want then? What do you need, that your parents haven’t given you already, spoiled brat?”
“I’ll tell you later” you say, finding his nickname to be a bit ironic, but you don’t give it much thought after that in favor of keeping your eyes on the goal “When I win”
“Hah!” He laughs “We’ll see about that, twerp—Let’s play, then. And maybe this way you can also tell me what if feels like to lose”
You ignore him once more and begin to guide him towards the nearest garden you’ve anticipatedly prepared for this occasion. The one with the small pagoda, away from where the staff usually were, for the two of you to play in privacy’s comfort. Because there’s no way in hell you’d let the moment you’ve been waiting for to be ruined by others!!
The two sit down on wooden floor and you begin to unfold all preparations by taking out the small roll of green string you stole from your mom’s sewing kit and mark a circle on the ground, the designated space where all marbles would have to be pushed out from but without leading the shooter—the marble used by the player— outside.
An easy instruction to follow, for an even easier game to play, that is, if you took into account the accuracy and precision you required to do so.
In other words, an easy task for you to accomplish thanks to how your cursed technique worked.
Once everything is set and ready to go, you proceed to offer Gojo two of your biggest glass marbles to choose from, one of a transparent color, and the other one a bright aqua.
Satoru ends up choosing the first, citing his reason for rejection as “It’s like using my eyes, so, no”
You nose wrinkles at the nasty comparison, thinking your life would be infinitely better without this information, before pushing that thought to the deepest part of your mind and grabbing the leftover marble.
“Ladies first” Satoru says, palms against the ground as he rests back into his arms. His eyes aimlessly wandering into the garden, attempting to radiate an aura of indifference towards whatever move you were to make, for he believed he was going to win anyways.
You don’t pay attention to his demeanor, in fact, from this moment forward, you don’t care a single bit about what he’s going to do. Your sole focus is on winning this game and obtaining what you fought hard to obtain, which was your first kiss. You wanted to see what was so great about this gesture, why it was so romanticized in movies, and how that tied with marriage.
You literally won’t be able to sleep until you finally know what it feels like!
So, knuckling down on the ground, you adjust your sights to the shiny red marble that caught your interest moments earlier by seemingly being the best one to push out first, and align your hand into its direction as you close your right eye to get a better look at it.
Pressing your lips together while holding your breath, your thumb grazes over the marble one, two, three times, testing the strength and grip you’ll need to push the marble out of the line but without faulting yourself.
And after you’ve done all the required calculations, you finally take the shot.
The aqua marble steadily rolls through the ground, passing the rest and bumping into the red marble with a soft clink but with enough force to send it towards the green limit.
Your chest tightens upon seeing the aqua marble moving alongside the red one, fearing you might’ve shot it a bit harder than necessary, and consequently, pushing it out of the limit.
But your worries vanish into nothing once you see the red marble go over the bump of thread and the shooter stopping just before it can go past the limit.
You eventually release an exhale of relief, deflating your shoulders to comfortably relish on the gains of your training via your first victory.
An unexpected result that has Satoru’s attention circling back to you almost immediately upon realizing he might’ve just miscalculated the efforts of a 6 year old.
“Ok” Satoru says once you gestured his turn, readjusting himself into a more appropriate stance before laying his knuckles down to the ground, just as you’ve done, and preparing to take the decisive shot.
It’s easy, he thinks. It’s just like when he’s about to shoot one of his techniques onto the targets before him, this time however, far easier because it’s nothing more than a glass marble, right? An easy task for the talented, powerful, rich and handsome heir of the Gojo clan..
Wrong.
Satoru forgets how different it is to control objects that are out of his authorship.
It’s one thing to create energy and another to control energy.
There’s too many things to consider in the last scenario, too many influences that could easily shift the trajectory of his intentions, just like how the glass projectile was doing so.
And Satoru would’ve known all that, had he put attention on class instead of relying on his natural talent or bragging personality. It wouldn’t take much for him to realize he’d grossly undermined this entire game, as well as your determination to win, as he sees his marble dart past the limit due to exorbitant impulse, and plunging onto one of the bushes near the pagoda’s steps, causing you to silently cheer, once again, for another victory.
The heir of the Gojo clan can’t stop himself from sulking as he stands up to retrieve the marble from inside the bush, gently brushing it against his sweater to dust off any lingering dirt once out and getting back to his previous position.
He lowers himself once more in what seems an attempt to take another shot, but once you catch wind of his intentions, you vehemently object.
“Hey!” You cry, placing your hand over his to stop him “Not fair! You lost!”
“Nu-uh, that was clearly a mistake” he poorly justifies, moving to the side in hopes to keep you off of him, to no avail for you simply stick to him like glue. “I wasn’t ready! Move!”
“No! The rules say you—you can’t” you stand your ground, slightly raising your voice to present yourself to him as intimidating, authoritarian—things that seemed to catch Satoru off his guard, for you’ve never done so in the past. “Don’t cheat!!”
And not wanting to continue seeing you act so weirdly, he concedes.
“Fine, whatever, have it your way!” He groans, tucking the marble away into one of his pockets and going back to his previous relaxed stance “You’ll lose anyway, I’m just going easy on you”
You don’t indulge him with an answer and the game continues on… with shocking instances.
Each and every turn that you take, you win. In fact, there’s not a single moment where you seem to falter in your winning streak, only adding to Satoru’s rising anxiety—he still can’t believe it! He barely managed to get less than 5 marbles in all the rounds he’s played against you and you… you have more!
Is he really going to lose against a wimpy girl like you?! Has hell frozen over already?!
It has, for at the end of the game, you were holding the largest number of marbles under your name: you won. And Satoru, with irrefutable evidence, is the sore loser.
“Hey, you cheated!” Satoru's first instinct to react upon an unwanted scenario is through defensiveness, damning the situation as much as his vocabulary permits him, as he continues to point fingers at you. “You didn’t play fair and square!”
“No!” You shake your head “I won!”
“Yeah, by cheating!” Satoru goes at it again “I demand a rematch! And with my own marbles, because these were tampered with!”
You tilt your head, brows furrowing as the word tampered bounces back from your vocabulary. But even if he’s spouting words that you don’t seem to understand, it doesn’t affect your feelings of gratification for having won, he can go on forever if he wants, and you’d still be a step closer to your objective.
“Ugh, whatever” Satoru groans as he puts down 6 marbles, the ones he managed to win in the 20-marble match + the one he borrowed from you. He still couldn’t believe that you actually managed to get 18 in a row, without faltering even once, where you possessed or something? Considering that, could you really blame him for thinking you were cheating?
If there’s one thing that Satoru was glad of, however, was the end of this fiasco.
Sure, he was a bit sore from losing, and knowing how dramatic he was it would probably take him a while to get over it, but that’s something he’ll manage.
What he was looking forward to the most was knowing what you wanted from him—and so desperately to actually go beyond your usual behavior to approach him in the first place, for you are always stuck at the side of your family or friends, and win this match with flying colors.
«You must be really desperate, Y/N-chan» he assumes.
“Well, spit it out” Satoru hurries you upon seeing your lingering gaze on him. “What do you want as a reward?”
“A kiss!”
Satoru chokes.
“What the—”
“No bad words!” you reprimand him mid sentence “I want a kiss”
Ok. Now that… is something he didn’t expect.
Of all things that a kid could ask for… why that? Couldn’t you settle down for a plushie, or toy, like any other kid? Is life at the L/N estate really that boring?
“Why do you want that? Doesn’t your dad dote on you too much already?” Puzzled Satoru, raising an eyebrow.
You don’t answer, for that is something you feel he doesn’t need to know—as well as wanting to avoid the barrage of jokes you know would follow suit.
“Alright” Satoru whispers at your unnerving silence «Y/N must really want that kiss, weird» “Um… now?”
“Yes!” You nod “Please”
So, without much to ask any further, or time to waste, Satoru fixes the collar of his hoodie as he moves closer to you to lean his face closer to yours. He’d usually push you around to do what he wanted, but considering he was the loser in this situation, he’d agreed to give you this consideration, extra recognition for your efforts.
But not without kicking you down a notch.
“Did you brush your teeth?” He asks, and you raise your eyebrows out of surprise.
“Oh I— I didn’t know” you faltered, a red streak crossing your cheeks “Did… I have to?”
The heir of the Gojo clan chuckles “Ah, don’t worry about it, it’s just that you had something on your teeth and I wanted to be sure”
You scrunch your face out of embarrassment, and fulfillment washes over Satoru’s features at the temporary gain of the upper hand.
Yet to complete his side of the bargain, and having enough fun out of your reaction, Satoru decides to move on by closing his eyes and starting to inch closer to your face.
At the notion of being just a few seconds away from experiencing the magical moment you’ve longed for as long as you can remember, you begin to mentally prepare for what’s to happen.
You never knew just how nerve wracking it would be to have someone so close to you as Satoru was at this very moment. You’ve had other people be close to you, your sister, your brother, your parents… and yet, it feels different coming from him.
It’s an overwhelming sensation that has you spontaneously shutting your eyes as your cheeks begin to warm up, followed by the harsh pounding of your heart, culminating in the subtle ring of your ears, giving you the impression that the world is spinning around you—and yet, seems to freeze just for the two of you.
Upon feeling his warmth graze over your lips, you quietly yelp. Testing your shoulders as you prepare yourself to ask what it was, but before you’re able to grimace out of confusion, he kisses you, and now, the world stops.
It’s inundating, suffocating, pulling all of your attention and energy onto the young boy before you, and yet, you felt as if there was no other place you belonged in.
It was warm, like a hug during a cold winter night, but much more personal, intimate, with a tenderness that made you believe he was afraid of hurting you, touching you. And yet, he couldn’t help himself from being pulled into your presence.
You never thought you’d receive this kind of attention from someone else, or ever in your life. But now that you have, you fear you won’t be able to let it go, because it’s a sweet, blossoming feeling that you’re slowly becoming addicted to, one that you wish you could hold on to forever. Is this… true love…?
…
…
…
Or that’s what you imagined how your first kiss would feel, according to the information gathered. Because as soon as his lips landed, no, crashed onto yours, you were abruptly back to reality by replacing your sensation of anticipation with that of disappointment.
Your heart dropped down to your stomach upon realizing that a first kiss was nothing more than an awkward, rough (and a bit disgusting) peck of two mouths against each other, far away from the endearing picture cinema attempted to sell you.
You naively even tried to give this gesture a few more seconds, believing that maybe you just needed to wait a bit longer to start feeling all those good things you were promised. But nothing came, and that’s when regret begins to settle in the void where your heart was once you realize that you went through so much, for absolutely nothing.
Your first kiss turned out to be very, very mediocre, to say the least, a realization that prompts you to pity both yourself, for all of the sacrifices you committed to arrive at this point, and your sister, for she’s the one that has to look forward to being kissed dejectedly –by him no less!— for the rest of her life.
To think you wasted the perfect opportunity to get something far infinitely better out of Satoru, like immeasurable amounts of mochi or perhaps even a new toy, for this… well, this will serve as a lesson to be learned. Parents know best for a reason…
Satoru, completely oblivious to the inner workings of your mind, eventually peels himself away from you, gaze instinctively falling down to yours and onto a sight that has him… flabbergasted.
He really didn’t know what to expect from you, more so after he was surprised by your need for a kiss.
But he certainly did not anticipate to see your face twisted in such a way that he can't define it as nothing else but potent disgust.
"What is up with that face?!" He asks, hoping that by calling you out you'd have the decency to remove that… insulting reaction to his efforts, but far from achieving what he wanted you just twist your lips even more.
"I didn't like it…" you cringed.
"What do you mean you didn't like it?! You're the one who asked for it!"
And you wished he wouldn't remind you of that. But what's done is done, and all that's left is to confront reality.
"Is true love this… bad?" You ask him, and he's taken aback, yet again, by your unforeseen bluntness.
"Huh????" He seethed "True love?? What are you even talking about? That doesn't even exist!"
"Yes it does! Papa said mama is her true love!" You cry back, jumping to defend your parents "... but you kiss bad so I don't think you'll have a true love"
"What?? How would you even know that?!" Satoru feels himself incapable of keeping up with your weird questions, and your even weirder statements. But two can play this game, and if your intent is to hurt him, then he knows exactly how to do that "You're ugly, and ugly people don't get true love" he'd start, enunciating the last part in a cheerful yet silly matter, as if to mock your naivety.
"I'm not ugly!" You'd retaliate "you're ugly! Nee-san deserves better"
Satoru's eye twitches.
"I let you win!"
"No, you didn't! I won fairly!" You say, showing off your gained marbles. "You're a bad loser!"
"Digimon is better than Pokémon!"
“No it's not!" You stick your tongue out "Silly!"
"Annoying!"
"Silly!!"
"Annoying!"
"Silly!!"
"Y/N-chaaaan!!"
The two go immediately quiet upon hearing the foreign feminine voice sounding at the distance.
"Y/N-chaaaan!!” she calls again, this time, closer “Where are you? It's time for lunch!!"
Both heads now turn towards the directions of the voice, curiously attempting to figure out who was the one responsible before your calling.
"Y/N-chan!" Another voice yelled, much younger and much shriller compared to the other. Factors that pass undetected for Satoru, but all too recognizable for you.
It was Sumire, alongside her mother, looking for you by scanning through every passing room, in hopes of catching a glimpse of you.
Too enthralled in your own schemes, you'd unknowingly lost track of time. You didn't even notice it was already past 3 PM, half an hour later than the time you usually have lunch, leading your absence to be worried and subsequently concerned for, because if they weren’t, why would they be looking for you?
"I have to go" you mutter quickly, turning around to pick up your things from the ground and stash them into your pockets "Goodbye Sato-kun!!"
"Wait, Y/N!" He'd shout while attempting to reach for you, for he felt there was still so much to discuss before you left!
But before he's able to stretch his arm and grasp you into place, you're already making your way towards the relieved mother—daughter duo, chirping on how hungry you suddenly realized to be, before fading into the many halls and rooms of the estate
And all that Satoru can do is continue to stare at your general direction, way more astonished than he was at the beginning of all this… deception, leaving him with an ocean with answerless questions and a turmoil of emotions that's bound to torment him for the rest of the day—and with time, you.
It’s often said that time is the greatest healer when it comes to matters of the heart, and fortunately you, this statement couldn’t be any more truthful.
As days went by, this small kissing incident began to hold little to no relevance in your life. Whether because you were back in school, hanging out with your friends, or partaking in the training you were obliged to perform once your technique was discovered—the truth was that you rarely found yourself pondering back on this icky situation.
Well, why would you? It’s not something that you liked. At all. You even began to watch romantic movies with slight skepticism.
The only couple that preserved part of your admiration were your parents, because they were different of course, considering they were always loving and caring towards you and your siblings, as well as with one another, so you deemed it unnecessary to worry about them suffering the same dullness you did when they kissed—a decision that was greatly influenced by your love for them as well, and your mind wasn’t about to break that beautiful bond.
But Satoru was… complicated. You tried to reason as to why he’d been so bad at what he did, but a quick trip down memory lane would help you obtain the answers you needed: there’s a reason as to why your siblings didn’t like him that much, and why your father seemed to be uneasy whenever he had to go to the Gojo estate. You didn’t really get any of these signs at first, but now that you experienced it first hand, you understood everything.
Did you hold the same dislike towards him as your siblings did? No, you still liked having him around from time to time. When he wasn’t annoying, he could be quite entertaining.
Did you think that maybe, your outcome would’ve been different if it was someone they liked? Probably so.
Will you seek out another kiss? Hell no. That’s something you wished to never experience again—it was icky, awkward, and a bit rough if you were being completely honest.
So with that conclusion, you decide to put matters to rest once and for all.
But just as you were more than ready to place your attention on more important matters, move on from this situation onto something better… there was someone that couldn’t force himself to do so: Satoru.
To him, the other party involved in your unexpected schemes, things were barely starting.
While you were getting ready to receive what tomorrow brought, either through your family or friends, Satoru found himself in a tighter spot than you cared to ponder.
To him, time didn’t serve as a cure to his problems, if anything, it only highlighted them.
There was a burning sensation settling deep inside of his core, something that… irked him, irritated him, whenever he saw you carefree towards your surroundings—towards him.
The oath you and Satoru silently took to avoid speaking of this matter wasn’t what bothered him, if anything, he was in full agreement to carry it out, for he didn’t want to deal with the gossip that might come with it, less your father’s anger: he already had enough of it with Hinata, he didn’t need more added on his plate through you.
But it was never stipulated that you’d ignore him too!
It seemed that his narcissistic need to have all attention on him was starting to rebel against your actions and his emotions. He just… wasn’t used to being used like this, people getting things out of him, and then being discarded!
It was always the other way around, and that’s how it’s going to be, for the rest of his life until he dies!
Oh, how cruel you’d been to just neglect him like that.
So, with his mind set onto a new course of action, he decided to make his move one day hew knew you to be alone and stored away in one of the studio's your parents had set up for you and your siblings to do homework after school, intending to remind you of the crimes you’ve committed against him.
“Ahem, Y/N-chan” Satoru would begin, clearing his throat as he leaned against the frame of the door, to catch your attention. It’s made through such a discernible way that leads you to lift your head away from the notebooks before you and up to him, confusedly staring back at him as you wondered why he was there, instead of training with your sister.
Was he perhaps… sick?
“Hi… Satoru-kun” you respond, a subtle pout on your lips as you make out the frown on his face. “Are you ok?”
Your question, although innocent, only serves to ignite another wave of irritation towards your apparent obliviousness.
“What do you mean if I’m ok?” He chided “You really don’t know what you’ve done, do you?”
You blink, if you were somewhat confused, you were now undeniably puzzled.
“What do you mean?” You say, instinctively looking back down at your homework “Did I do something wrong?” Kanji has never been your strength, but you didn’t really think you were doing that bad, less for him to identify as soon as he entered the room!
“What?! No!” he snapped “I’m not talking about that!”
“Then… what?” you tilt your head, and he rolls his eyes. Guess he needs to spell it out for you, after all.
“Don’t act dumb! Why are you ignoring me after kissing me?? Do you know how irresponsible it is for you to act that way?” He’d revealed, but your mind stopped listening to his words after he apparently insulted you.
“I’m not dumb” You frown “No bad words!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know, language—whatever ” He rolled his eyes. The no bad words policy in your house was somewhat annoying, more so when he didn’t have that restriction back at his estate, but it’s something he’s able to digest if it meant getting what he wanted from you. “Still not good enough, Y/N. You can’t go around doing bad things and not being responsible about them!”
“What did I do wrong??” you fretted, his words pushing you to fear the worst “I’m not ignoring you…”
“You kissed me! And you then acted as if nothing ever happened!” He repeats, feeling fulfilled for finally cornering you where he wanted… only to see your face twist into confusion, yet again, for his nonsensical banter.
“But I didn’t like it” you carefully remind him “You kiss badly”
“That’s not—we’re not going to discuss that!” Satoru exclaims, surprisingly…. Offended for someone who didn’t want to kiss you in the first place. “Do you know how bad it would look if I told your elders you were being irresponsible with me? Hina-chan would be very disappointed…”
He attempts to coerce you, but having known Hinata way better than him, it doesn’t work.
“No, she won’t” you dismiss his claim almost immediately “Nee-san always tells me she’s proud of me!”
Satoru rolls his eyes, again. He clearly misunderstood the kind of relationship you had with her, he should’ve expected it though, you were always stuck to her side like some kind of leech…
“Then nii-chan will” he attempted to avow, but you didn’t react.
“Nii-chan doesn’t like you” you add nonchalantly and Satoru feels personally attacked by this sudden revelation. He was aware that Ren avoided him more than not, but he never thought he actually disliked him!
“You don’t know what you’re saying!” He says, attempting to protect whatever dignity he has left. Gosh, have you always been this oblivious?? “Then your dad will! Because dads don’t like when their daughters hurt other people! And you don’t want to see him sad, do you?”
At the notion of facing the dreadful scenario you have undergone in the past, you finally succumb to his trap.
“No… I don’t” you murmur, briefly looking down to the floor before glancing up to him “I don’t want papa to be sad at me…”
“Then do as I say and you’ll be out of trouble” Satoru advises, holding back a grin from parting his lips at his newfound victory in the shape of your saddening eyes and pout “Now, don’t be sad Y/N-chan! I’ll forgive you for avoiding me” he attempts to console you by patting your head, all with a deceiving nature of course. “That way, otou-san won’t be sad either!”
“But I’m not—” you proceed to explain by moving away from his hand, but your efforts are for naught for he overpowers you by keeping you put.
“I knew you’d come around!” he says, proceeding to roughly shuffle the top of your head until your hair looks something like a bird’s nest, much to your annoyance.
You thread your fingers in your hair in an attempt to place them back into place, but just as you’re about to speak out against his unwanted gesture, the distant voice of your sister snaps both your attention and his onto the hallway.
Satoru, already envisioning the type of fractious reaction Hinata is going to have once she sees you with him, decides to run away.
“Uh, see you around Y/N! Keep doing your homework, you’re doing great by the way!” He bids farewell and makes his way back out through the door, fast enough to stop you from responding, but not enough to avoid bumping into Hinata, who had gotten there earlier than he anticipated thanks to the eagerness she had for showing you the all new things she learned while training, which prompted her to run towards you as soon as she was dismissed.
An enthusiasm that disappeared as soon as she laid eyes on Satoru, replacing her cheerful features with a nasty scowl once realizing what went on.
“Why were you there, furby?!” she yelps, stomping her way to Satoru. It is almost amusing to see how the boy that considered himself to be a god amongst mortals fell to your sister's intimidation within seconds of seeing her.
“Gee, I wasn’t doing anything!” He whines, darting away from your sister before she’s able to land her hand against his arm “Ha! You missed!”
“What was that?” Hinata retorted, and Satoru chuckled.
“No! Nothing of course! Maybe you should be more concerned about taking a shower, you stink!” He’d proceed to snicker, pinching his nose to theatrically annoy her even more.
“I just finished training!” she argued back “You’d know if you took your job seriously”
Satoru groans. Hinata had always been stuck up that way—job, work, responsibility, those were her usual catchphrases. Why couldn’t she let loose once in a while and enjoy her life?
“Yeah whatever, smelly” he waves his hand, dismissing her “Anyways, goodbye! See you later, Hinata! Oh, and Y/N… be sure to remind your sister to take a shower!”
Hinata sees him off while shooting a barrage of mocking nicknames at his back until he’s finally out of his sight. It’s only until then that she decides to turn around and see you, the frown on her features disappearing as soon as she sees your focused intent to the homework in front.
“Are you almost done, imouto-chan?” she says, making her way to your side and sitting besides you. “I hope Satoru didn’t distract you that much”
“No, he didn’t” you say, somewhat truthfully, as your eyes remain glued to the papers on the table.
Hinata sighs “You can tell me if he bothers you! He’s always so annoying, he thinks that because he doesn’t have anything to do everyone else is the same! He’s the most irresponsible boy I have ever met! Luckily, Ren-nii is not like that”
“Yeah… he’s not”
“... Are you sure Satoru didn’t say anything to you?”
He did.
However… you weren’t about to tell her that, not when Satoru basically blackmailed you into doing whatever he wanted if you didn’t want to make your dad sad. And keeping this conversation between the two was one of those requirements.
So, holding your word, you shake your head.
“No” you say “He just wanted to play with someone since you weren’t here”
“Oh, really?” Hinata tilts her head to the side, somewhat… confused, because the instructor had told her that Satoru was to skip practice because he was sick. Just to show what a deceitful little boy he is. “Well, if you say so”
And with that situation appropriately dealt with, Hinata can finally move onto another subject that has her equally concerned.
“...Do you… think I smell?” she asked, discreetly moving her head towards her armpits and sniffing them.
Satoru might’ve forced you to keep silent about their conversation, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t be truthful on everything that happened afterwards.
And thus, with a toothy grin, you chortled.
“Yes!”
Had you known that striking that deal with Satoru corresponded to making a deal with the devil itself, you would’ve fought harder to reject him.
Because from that very day forward, he started treating you as some kind of errand girl. Wherever he went, you were expected to follow suit. If he wanted something, like a drink or a snack, you were also the one to bring it to him. But if you attempted to sneak away from his requests, he was quick to remind you just how improper you’ve been towards him and how disappointed your father would be if he ever got word of it.
So, you were quickly put back in your place, much to your regret and Sumire’s, who had begun to miss your presence.
Oh, if you could only go back in time and listen to your parents…
But even then, having to work for him wasn’t as insufferable as he was when speaking of the rest.
Because forcing you to tag along behind him wasn’t enough, he also had to have fun out of your reactions.
He’d start by scaring you with what currently was your biggest ick, himself.
“You know, if you want to get better at kissing we just have to continue practicing!”
You’d grimace your face in a combination of fear and disgust—Satoru, having overcome the offense your reaction initially gave him, only laughed.
He’d later move on to another one of your fears, facing the elders themselves.
“The elders wouldn’t like to hear you kiss me when I’m going to be your sister’s husband!”
“...What do you mean?” you dared to ask.
“We have to get married, Y/N! It’s only fair to cover the adultery we committed”
You didn’t even want to know what he meant by that—it sounded bad by itself, you don’t want to traumatize yourself even further.
“No, I don’t want to marry you” you huffed, finding the idea ludicrous, while Satoru is having the time of his life at your expense.
And that had basically been the conditions of your existence, that is, until he began to approach your limit.
You were capable of tolerating his tedious requests, his annoying insistences, even the secrecy you hated to have with your siblings, all to keep your family content—to a certain point.
But there had to be a limit to his villainy, and if he didn’t have one, you certainly did.
And that limit took the form of a bad joke, one that cut a bit too close to your heart, and the one that pushed you to break all inhibitions and let him have it.
“Now that I think about it, Y/N-chan, I don’t think anyone else will have you once they know you kissed me. I mean, you basically kissed me knowing I was engaged to your sister, and that’s a crime in many districts! But I’ll marry you, so don’t worr—”
The sound of glass crashing against the floor cuts him abruptly.
“What was that?” he asks, lifting his gaze from the comic book he was reading and onto your direction, leading him to eventually find glass shards gathering near your feet. “Oh, silly Y/N, you gotta be careful with—”
“Why are you being so annoying, Satoru?!” you say, turning around to face him without care if you hurt your feet with one of the sharp glass shards on the floor “That was going too far!”
“Gee, that was only a joke!” He frets, lifting up from his seat and making his way towards you. He hopes to move you away from the lingering danger on your feet by placing his hands over your shoulders, but you, who had reached your limit and past it, could only see red as you shoved him away “Hey!”
“I’m done with you!” you raged, no longer wanting to entertain his idiocy. “I did everything you wanted, heard you say stupid things every day… but I won’t let you say that!”
He blinks, he’s never seen this kind of anger coming from you, or anyone for that matter. Not even Hinata, who he considered to be the most hot-blooded woman he’s ever met in his life, reached your parameters.
And it’s safe to say, he doesn’t like it. Not one bit
“Ok, I may have messed up a bit there” Satoru says, feeling somewhat guilty by the way you reacted. “But you don’t have to get all—”
“I don’t care!” you cry, stomping your feet against the wooden floor “You’re too rude towards me! Why?? What did I even do to you??”
And Satoru flinches at the introspective question thrown at him.
That was a good question. Why did Satoru start this spectacle to begin with? Why did he have a hard time moving on from this, compared to you? Why did he seem to latch onto this, more than anyone else would’ve probably done?
Well, that’s easy.
Because just like you, that was also his first kiss.
It’s something that he always envisioned to be somewhat… mundane, having long accepted that it would happen with your sister at one point in his life, just how all things seemed to be with him through the jujutsu community.
But when you came along with that outrageous proposal, a ray of hope for something different began to part the gray clouds of his horizon, thus, he was quick to accept it.
To see you discard it so easily and without consideration as to how he felt, however, it pained him. It gave him the impression that, just as the other people around him, you simply used him to get what you wanted and nothing more
He had yet to understand you were nothing more than a child, things like taking advantage of him, or discarding him with malicious intent, were out of your possibilities.
But being forced to see the world differently from a very young age, he’d forgotten what it is to be a child. So, he attempts to seek comfort in the only way he’s ever known how to: gaining control over the situation, by all means necessary.
Which leads him to resort to his last option upon seeing you slipping through his fingers, an attack that has proven to be hurtful to you in the past, and would undoubtedly set you back on track:
“I’ll tell your dad if you—”
“I don’t care!” you bite back, no longer afraid once your patience ran out, much to his unwanted surprise. “Tell him, papa doesn’t like you anyways!”
And for the second time in his life, you manage to freeze him on the spot.
He couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe those words came from your mouth. Did you really mean that? Did you really mean to renounce the promise you made with him and… walk away? And most of all… did you really not care for him?
Yes. Yes you didn’t. Doubling down on that statement when you essentially disappeared from his sights.
You were no longer entertaining him, not interested in playing his stupid games and he had to face this new reality. Less when he hurt you. That was now his problem, not yours.
Satoru no longer had a place in your mind, not when you needed to worry about him telling your dad about what you did with him—the mere thought of seeing your overprotective father fretting about your mistakes was enough to ignite terror within you, but even then, that worries were to be for naught, for the Gojo heir wasn’t stupid enough to actually telling him—nor would he actually believe him.
He already knew how scary Eiichi could be when prompted. And while he had yet to see your mother angry, he didn’t want to risk it either, so he’ll keep quiet.
But that isn’t the end of his problems, if anything, they just got worse.
He’d gone too far up his own head, that he failed to realize he was starting to lose self control when treating you: from asking you to do things for him, to mocking you, he now pushed you so far away from him, that you might never come back.
It’s a regretful outcome, but yet… perhaps out of comfort to himself and previous experiences, still be salvageable. He couldn’t… Well, he couldn’t lose his errand girl!!
That’s it.
He’ll wait… he’ll be patient for you to cool down as well, and you’ll eventually come around to him, right? You can’t possibly ignore him for the rest of his life, more so when he’s bound to marry your sister…
But as the days passed, far from obtaining what he wanted, it only seemed to give you what you wanted instead: which was his complete absence, as well as time with your friends.
It wouldn’t take long for him to notice that you were now, truly, ignoring him completely. You didn’t even bother to greet him when he came to visit the estate, or vice versa, only doing so whenever your parents were present because they asked you!!
Oh, he had truly messed up, big time. And how is he going to fix all this? By the only way he knows, of course—through meek and confusing attempts!
Because it was hard for the holder of the six-eyes, who had never been expected to be kind or prudent to others, to open up his heart and truthfully admit how sorry he was for having treating you as badly as he did, as well as hoping to regain his friendship with you, after all, you were the only one that seemed genuinely happy to see him whenever he was around.
So, wanting to make things better, the first thing that he would do to grab your attention was hide away your favorite cup, the one the staff would always use to serve your drinks during lunch.
He’d committed the deed one moment the servants focused on completing other tasks. He took advantage of the slightest window provided by their distraction and swooped in to kidnap your cup, silently and without anyone to notice him.
Your reaction was of no surprise: you were rightfully upset upon noticing the absence of the Pikachu cup —a gift from your brother— growing more and more concerned after one of the staff members tells you they can’t find it.
It was also unusual, to say the least, because they were meticulous enough to place it back in the same spot, just besides your siblings and parent’s cups, every day after use. They virtually turned the whole state around in efforts to find it, and yet, it was nowhere to be found!
Did you perhaps take it to your room and forgot to bring it back? Or did you take it to school and you just didn’t remember?
Well, it was somewhere. Just not under your domain, more precisely, under Satoru’s… in his room back at the Gojo estate.
But even with his careful strategy, you still failed to connect two and two together. Well, it’s not like he signed the crime scene for you to figure out, thus, after seeing no results, he moved onto the next step of his plan.
The second thing he would do, and the one that finally got you to place your sights on him, was another kidnapping. This time, a higher value target: your favorite plushie.
The small green colored frog previously noted by your father to be the focus of your infatuation, the same one your parents gave you after going on holiday.
He repeated the same steps to attack, waiting patiently for the right window to open, this time of your unawareness, to sneak into your room and get the plush out from your bed and hide it away.
After that was done, it was only a matter of hours for you to come back home from school to see the atrocious act committed in the crime scene that was your bedroom.
When your cries became apparent throughout the whole estate, he knew his plan to effectively be in motion
“Mamaaaa!!” You’d wail, frenziedly running to your mother and crashing into her arms as soon as you found her “Maamaaaaa” you’d continue to sob, pressing your face against her legs as she quickly lowered down to your level and cupped your face.
“What’s wrong, Y/N?! Why are you crying??”
“My—my frog…. It’s gone…!”
“Frog…?” Minako carefully repeats, trying to point out which plushie you were referring to specifically since you had a mountain of them.
“The green one mama!” you’d remind her, tugging at her sleeve “The one you and papa got for me on… on….”
“The green…—Oh!” She gasps, enlightenment filling her mind “The one we got when we went to visit grandma and grandpa?”
You hum in response.
“Oh, did you search well? It must be in your room… unless there’s a chance you took it to school?”
“I didn’t take it!” You cry back while rubbing your tears away. Minako softly intertwines her fingers with yours upon seeing your motions becoming a bit too rough against your skin, taking the task of wiping your sadness away for herself. “It was in my room, but I came back and it wasn’t there….”
“Have you asked the staff? They sometimes confuse your toys with those of your siblings…” She attempts to reassure you, but too deep in the sorrow of your froggy’s absence, you can’t help but yelp in despair yet again.
“No! Hina-nee doesn’t have it, or Ren-nii! ” You diminish her suggestion, having already gone through this trial beforehand. Your siblings were just as baffled as you were upon hearing the sudden disappearance of your sudden toy, but still remained oblivious to the culprit behind it.
“That’s odd… are you sure you checked everywhere in your room? Or how about Sumire-chan? Maybe she borrowed it!”
“No, she doesn’t have it either…” Sumire would’ve let you know the moment she saw it if that was the case. Or her mother for that matter.
“Ah, well, I’ll ask around the staff if they haven’t seen it, but if we can’t find it we can always buy another one…”
And yet, the solution of getting another one didn’t feel as comforting as Minako would’ve wanted. The mere thought of having to replace froggy, your beloved green amphibian which you were virtually inseparable from, brought you such excruciating pain that you just had to let her know you weren’t about to give up on this search.
“Little one, please don’t cry… Maybe the reason you haven’t found froggy is because he went back to his family, you know there’s not a lot of frogs here, maybe he was feeling lonely” Minako’s slight desperation and concern prompted her to create a rather… fictitious alternative. And while this was something she didn’t actively prompt… What parent hasn’t told a little white lie to their kids?
And you do seem to consider her explanation, even if for a quick second, somewhat agreeing with your mother now that you remember you didn’t didn’t have any other frogs outside of froggy himself, so it was only natural that he felt lonely and went to search his—
No! That never seemed to be a problem for you before! Froggy was always happy to tag along in your adventures, it’s only after things started to get weird around you that this happened!
Meaning… someone was intentionally messing with you, and if you consider past successions, there’s only one person that could fit that category!
“No, Mama! Someone took froggy away! And I know who did it!”
“That’s quite the accusation, little one, why don’t we start by aski—”
“Is this the frog you were looking for?” A voice suddenly cuts through your mother’s words. Soft, indicating the young age of the speaker, but direct and confident, enough to snap your and your mom’s attention onto its direction.
Low and behold, standing just by the door frame, appeared the familiar figure of the white haired boy famously known as the strongest sorcerer, the heir of the Gojo clan.
Hands behind his back, and the sunset glowing from right behind him, it made him look like some kind of saint coming down from the heavens to your rescue, as if he weren’t the one responsible for all your hardships.
“Satoru-kun!” Your mother would greet, a smile on her face as she waved at him “How are you? I wasn’t expecting you to be here after school, hoping to stay the night? If so, let me get a room ready”
You were more than ready to voice your aversion, but he won you at it.
“Oh, no, thank you. I just wanted to visit, okaa-san” Satoru explains as he begins to move closer to the pair while diligently keeping his arms behind him. His commitment to remain in such a pose inadvertently raises your assumptions to a never seen before level, one that makes you feel indescribably rage towards him. “But on my way here, I found this at the gardens''
He proceeds to reveal the object behind his back, and when the sight of his “surprise” stepped into your view, your beliefs were finally set in stone.
“Oh look, pumpkin!” Minako exclaimed, gesturing towards the plushie. She hoped that by hyping the return of your plushie your sorrow would disappear, letting your cheerful nature take over and ultimately, celebrate its reunion.
She knew you well enough to assume so, and you’d probably would’ve as she anticipated, down to the smallest details, had you not known all that transpired beforehand “It’s froggy! I knew it couldn’t be lost”
Satoru hands you over the stuffed frog, and with that, his intentions to communicate with you. But far from interpreting it as a symbolic white flag to put a stop to this senseless conflict between the two, you took it as another declaration of war.
“What do we say, baby?” Minako says after seeing you reach out for the frog and pulling it close to you—all while in complete silence.
You wanted to beg her not to force you to do so and reveal that he’d been the one responsible for froggy’s disappearance (and your cup as well). But knowing your mother to be completely charmed by Satoru’s deceitful act, and probably giving you a slight scolding for accusing him without evidence, you begrudgingly relent to doing as she asked.
“...Thank you, Satoru” you grumbled, carefully to not earn your mother’s discontent, but seemingly clear enough for him to get the idea—removing all honorifics to enunciate just how upset you remained with him.
And get the idea he does, and while it slightly annoys him, it’s not enough to have him give up on you.
“You’re welcome!” Satoru bows, and you hold back the nauseating urge to stick your tongue out. “I’m going to stick around for a while if you want to play! Probably not too long since my parents don’t like me staying out too late” It’s his way to tell you I want to talk, but you’re not buying it. Not one bit.
“Oh, well, if you end up wanting to stay, I can call your parents” your mom suggested, but he simply shook his head.
“Nah, it’s fine. Thank you though” He smiles, bidding farewell with another nod “See you around, Y/N-chan!
And he kept his word, mainly through your mother’s insistence of appreciation, but this time, you weren’t going to be careless. The days of ignoring Satoru were officially gone.
This time, you were going to act.
Knowing well that you had to be careful in who you trusted, and to keep your ideas to yourself if you were to maintain the element of surprise, you sought out the only person you considered to be trustworthy enough to reveal your plans.
The one that has stuck with you through highs and lows, and the one you’d give your life for! (quite dramatic for a 6 year old)
Away from the blood ties of your family, you referred to your best friend: Sumire.
Having virtually grown alongside you, the kind of relationship that grew between the two was of complete trust—no secrets. Meaning that as soon as she knew of your intentions, she was more than willing to sacrifice whatever was necessary to achieve your goal.
Her decision was partially influenced by her own emotions, for she too was angry at him: he’d essentially plucked you away from her when he coerced you into obeying all of his commands, and it was indisputable that you were absolutely miserable for it!
Sumire could never forget the sorrowful look on your face as you followed him around—and he’ll never forgive him!
So, during one late Friday night, underneath the covers of your futon and through hushed whispers, planning began.
“Chumi-chan, we need to do something about Satoru!” You’d begin, laying down on your futon and besides Sumire.
“Count me in!” She replied, mirroring the fiery determination in your eyes as she turned around to rest on her stomach and inch closer to you “Should we dye his hair black??”
“No, that’s too much!” you chuckle, shaking your head. It was tempting, but too radical. “Maybe another time”
“Hmmm… then what? Can you steal something from him?”
“...Like what?”
“His toys! All of them! And then he’ll know not to mess with us!”
“No, Chumi… How am I going to do that? He’s going to know it’s me if I do the same…” you needed to be extra careful, not taking chances this time. “I want something different!”
“Then what?” Sumire ponders defeatedly, who would’ve known plotting revenge could be so hard?
“I don’t know…” you groan, plunging your head against the pillow beneath you. “He’s so dumb! And all for a stupid kiss!!”
“Poor Hina-chan…” Sumire sighs, pitying your sister, who’s bound to spend the rest of his life with him, as she pats your back. “Why don’t you tell your parents? He’ll listen to them!”
“No… papa is going to get angry at me…” you remind her—this all started because you disobeyed them… and you don’t want to deal with their disappointment on top of Satoru’s insane antics. Oh, and if this made way to the elders… you shivered at the thought.
“How about your nii-san? Or Hina-chan instead!” your friend continued to suggest, but they were equally fruitless solutions.
“No! I can’t tell nee-chan or nii-san! They’re going to tell everyone after being angry with me! You’re the only one I trust, Chumi” you yelp as you lift your head from the pillow and stare right into her eyes “Promise me you’ll keep this a secret! No one must know what we’re planning!”
“I promise” Sumire nods, extending her little finger to you and intertwining them “But… then… what are we going to do?”
“Oh, I don’t know” you sigh, stopping mid-way as a yawn escapes your lips, serving as a reflection of how tired this prolonged ordeal had you. “I hate this”
Sumire frowns. She certainly doesn’t like seeing Satoru being insufferable towards you and the hold he seemingly has over you, but if there’s something that she dislikes the most, it’s the absence of the fun and funny side of her best friend.
So, wanting to indulge in the good ol’ days, she proposes a temporary distraction.
“How about we watch a movie?” She’d say, pushing herself up from the futon and running towards her bag, the one her mother had filled with clothes and a few extra things to aid her stay at the L/N estate, amongst them, entertainment. After a few seconds of scrambling through her belongings, she pulls out a box “Mama got me this one!”
It’s a brand new VHS, the cover art revealing it to be Disney’s Peter Pan.
“Oooh, I haven’t seen that one!” You marvel, excitement in your eyes as you cheer on “Let’s watch it!!”
She agrees by moving towards the TV, already plugged to a VHS player, and sticks the cassette into the entry slot. Sumire grabs the controller and heads back to your side.
You adjusted the pillows in a specific way so you can both laydown comfortably on the futon, but still be able to see the movie.
And so, after a few commercials and a title card the movie starts.
However, the girls are unable to finish the movie, for drowsiness begins to settle in their small eyes when the protagonists travel for the first time to Neverland, skipping the entirety of the sequence when the lost boys shoot Wendy down from the sky, only to open them at the mermaid scene.
Sumire briefly regains consciousness when this sequence appears on screen, arising to her as some kind of inspiration for your Gojo problem, but just before she’s able to turn around and tell you that she’s found a cure to all your illnesses, she falls asleep again.
Wanting to obtain a solution as quickly and secretly as possible, you and Sumire began to drill each other with all kinds of options to enact revenge on the wrongdoer Satoru.
From the very moment you’d wake up by the sun hitting your eyes, she’d search for you to tell you just about any new idea that crossed her mind—which were many, but unfortunately, none of them were good enough to fill the necessary requirements.
It was just… not enigmatic enough, not impactful enough, not… good enough.
Being as young as the girls were, it often meant there were little to no tools to use in to their advantage without getting in trouble themselves: and while sitting down with Satoru and talk would be the easiest, most efficient way to put and end to this struggle, you were still grieving by his betraying words.
No 6 year old deserved to be told that no one would care for them just because of a simple mistake they made out of curiosity—what were his intentions anyways? Did he find joy in making you sad? Making you feel less? Well, whatever his reasoning, you refused to forgive him so easily.
Both girls were really at the disadvantage here. No matter where they looked, no matter what they said, they just continued to bump into dead ends.
A predicament that began to take a toll on both, but more so on Sumire, who upon feeling the continuing weight of your sorrow on her shoulders, made her feel that she wasn’t doing good enough.
And so, she began to get more and more frustrated by each passing day, starting to exert such feelings through her chores, her mood, and inadvertently… to her concerned mother.
“How was school today?” Ayaka, Sumire’s mother, would ask her daughter, just as she always did, as soon as she crossed the gates of the L/N estate and made her way to her.
From there, the two would exchange hugs and kisses, before she’d lead her towards her bedroom, intending to change her into more comfortable clothes before sending her off to get dinner.
Her mother labeled these moments as her favorite part of the day—the simplicity of spending time with her daughter, who wouldn't take much longer to start rambling about all the fun things she did at school once she asked that question, brought her pure happiness.
Unfortunately, it had been a while since Sumire had the energy to partake in the recollections of the day, too focused on helping you out and the frustration her powerlessness brought her—instead, she remained silent.
Ayaka had noticed this change of behavior from her for a while now, but she didn’t really think much of it at first. She believed Sumire to be having a bad day, and once she slept it off, she’d be back to the usual cheery demeanor she always carried.
However, it had become alarmingly clear that there was something far deeper than Sumire let on, and Ayaka, unable to see her daughter acting tepidly any longer, decided to finally act.
“Chumi, what’s wrong?” She’d ask, helping her daughter out of her school uniform by lifting her arms, with her obliging rather… half-heartedly. “Did you get in trouble?”
“No, never mama” Sumire responded, lowering her arms once the shirt was off.
“Then what is it?” She tries again “Are you upset with Y/N?”
Ayaka can’t think of anything else that could’ve affected her as much as that. It’s something of an uncommon occurrence, oh, but when it happens… It's as if the world were ending for both girls.
“No!” Her daughter cries, and by judging her daughter's tone, Ayaka feels like you were indeed the reason behind her concern.
“Is it something about Y/N?”
“...No”
Bingo.
“Sumire, you know you can trust me with anything” the mother coos as she dresses her daughter with another shirt and a warm sweater “I've noticed for a while that you seem rather… aloof, quiet. And as your mother, I can’t help but worry…”
“I’m sorry mama” She sighs, leaning into her mother’s chest for an embrace, which she all too happily obligated “I didn’t mean to worry you! But I promised not to tell Y/N and I want to help her get revenge!”
“Revenge?” Ayaka blinks, and Sumire mentally chastises herself for talking too much.
“Nothing!” The young child yelps, attempting to diffuse the situation by moving onto the removal of her skirt.
“Sumire…” she warns, and the girl concedes soon after.
“...Ok mama! I’ll tell you, but don’t tell anyone ok?!” And without suppression, Sumire reveals your intentions “It all started because Y/N-chan wanted to know why Hinata-chan was getting married and not her! But nobody wanted to tell her so she went with Ren-kun, but he didn’t know either so he put her to see movies, and then Y/N-chan saw that maybe if she got kissed she would know about it! And because nobody wanted to help her, she started to plan how to get a kiss, but her otou-san wasn’t going to let her, so she kept it a secret, but not from me because I’m her best friend in the whole wide world! So she decided to—”
“Wait, wait, waitwaitwaitwait, hold on there, Chumi” Ayaka weakly chuckles, gesturing her to slow down by raising her hands “Kiss? Y/N wanted a kiss?”
“Yes!” Sumire whines, slightly frustrated that her mom wouldn’t understand the clearness of it all. But could anyone blame Ayaka? “Can I continue…?”
“Oh, yes, of course” Her mother nods, wanting to hear more about this… curious revelation. She was effectively amused the same way she was intrigued—who knew Eiichi’s and Minako’s kids would turn out to be so… witty? “What happened after that?”
“Y/N-chan got a kiss from Satoru, but she didn’t like it so he told him, so he decided to make her his errand girl! But he was really mean to her… so Y/N-chan left him and now he wont stop being annoying!”
“Wait, Sumire!” Ayaka gasps, amusement out the window upon realizing your determination pushed you to actually obtain what you wanted, and from someone important no less, the heir of the Gojo clan, your sister’s future husband!.
It’s only now that the woman realizes just the kind of trouble both girls got themselves in, specifically, if Eiichi got to hear about this… “Satoru? Gojo-sama??”
“You’re not listening to me!” She pouts, crossing her arms “And he doesn’t deserve to be called sama, he’s a jerk!”
“Sumire, don’t say that” Ayaka corrects and the girl sheepishly apologizes. “So… that’s the reason why you want to help Y/N? To get back at him because he won’t stop… annoying her?”
“Yes mama! And now that I told you, you can help us too!” Sumire concludes “Y/N-chan says that I shouldn’t tell the adults because they’re going to tell on her”
«And with good reason…» Ayaka ponders.
“But you’re different, because you’re my mama and I can trust you!”
“I… think you should sit this one out, baby” She carefully advises “Why not let her parents handle it? It shouldn’t have been a secret to begin with…”
“No! You have to promise not to tell them!” Sumire cries “Or they’ll get angry with Y/N-chan, and she’ll know it was me, and then she’ll get angry with me!!”
Ayaka wishes to comfort her daughter by two easy steps:
Firstly, she doubts you’ll ever be angry with her, at least in the way she’s imagining. Or at all…
Secondly, by telling her that your parents—Eiichi specifically—will be far angrier with Satoru than you, at least from what she’s been able to assume, because he’s the oldest and therefore, he should’ve known better. However, she doesn’t consider it appropriate to rattle whatever little authority he has before the kids left after these revelations
So, she bites the bullet—but not without setting her daughter back on the right track.
“Ok, alright, baby. I promise I won’t tell. But in turn, promise me that you’ll tell Y/N to talk with her parents—It’s not good to keep secrets from parents, communication is always the best solution”
An advice Sumire has yet to comprehend in its entirety, but one she’s willing to try. More so after the following praise.
“You’re a good friend, Sumire. And I’m sure Y/N appreciates it… But… take it easy, you’re just a kid. Have fun!” she says, kissing the top of her head “Now, how does baking a pie sound like, hm?”
Sumire’s eyes glisten with excitement, mouth watering as she begins to envision the soft yet crunchy texture of the warm crust against her lips alongside a tall glass of milk.
“Can it be an apple pie??? Or a pecan pie!! Oh… I don’t know” Sumire pouts “I like all of them…”
“Only if you accompany to the market to get the ingredients” Ayaka winks and the child squeals in response, an adorable sight that has her heart squeezing with admiration—her daughter finally back to the usual cheerful, carefree self she loves so much.
“Oh, oh! And can we give some to Y/N-chan and her siblings??? Not Satoru though…”
“We have to be nice, Chumi, even if you don’t like them”
“...I guess…”
So, once the child was out of her uniform and into her everyday clothes, the mother grabbed her small hand and led her onto the common path towards the nearby village, where the weekly farmer’s market was to be found.
She initially planned for Sumire to stay back at the estate and have her finish whatever homework she had for the day, but after this small yet shocking revelation, Ayaka found it in her responsibilities to offer her some kind of distraction, a break from all the fuzziness.
And maybe, for herself too.
Ayaka couldn’t believe the things that were happening with her kid when she wasn’t looking—it almost made her feel like she couldn’t get her eyes off them without them plunging into trouble.
Well, in your and Sumire’s defense, both girls were relatively good girls who occasionally got into mischief, so a prank or misconduct once in a while was to be expected, and certainly, not something to reprimand them so harshly on.
But Satoru… well, from what little she’s been able to observe from him whenever he was around, he’d always leaned more into evil than good. Ren didn’t entertain him, so no complaints from his side. Hinata… even if she liked him, or not, he was stuck with him—they still got along though, when they had a similar goal in mind, that is—
And then you. Who kept a relatively good relationship with him, but because you were somewhat oblivious to his nature. However, as soon as you began to grow and began to observe your surroundings… that’s when things began to change.
It makes sense why everything started to happen the way it did when Ayaka balances it like that.
Did it mean it was right? Of course not, your curiosity could surely be dealt with in a more appropriate manner…
Was she the one to call this out? Act like a metaphorical whistleblower and tell Eiichi and Minako what was going on? She’s unsure; she’s not the L/N’s kids parent… but she is in charge of overseeing part of the successions in the estate… oh, but if she went ahead, she’d probably ignite Eiichi’s overprotectiveness to the point it might overwhelm you, but on the other hand, she would certainly expect to be told of what’s happening behind her back if Sumire were in your shoes…
It was a bit ironic for Ayaka to consider Sumire’s tendency of keeping to herself when something bothered her— her thoughts only becoming apparent through subtle traces in her face— as unprecedented, when she behaved the exact same way.
Children were sponges when it came to learning about their surroundings, yet such a statement would remain oblivious to her, even when a fellow staff member noted her to be distraught while working.
“Is everything alright, Ayaka-san? You seem rather… distracted” the servant asks, pulling her attention to them.
“Oh, it’s nothing” She responds, blinking rapidly as if to sweep away whatever it was that had her in a trance and focus on both the person besides her and the task at hand ”I’m just… focused, that’s all”
“I couldn’t possibly imagine that preparing today’s food could be so interesting.” she jokes, and Ayako laughs in agreement.
“Alright, fine” she concedes, laying down the apples she was cutting for the promised pie before glancing at her coworker “I’m thinking, about something my daughter told me”
“Everything alright?” The woman, whose name was Yui, pondered.
“Yeah, it’s fine, don’t worry. Just something… silly, you know? Kids stuff”
“Well, whatever it was, it sure does seem to worry you… are you sure it’s nothing bad?”
“Ah, far from it… I mean, Sumire was a bit upset for a while, but I finally got her to tell me what it was that bothered her. Looks like Y/N-chan placed a bet with the Gojo heir and now she regrets it. And you won’t believe what she wanted”
“What was it?”
“She wanted a kiss!” Ayaka blurted out, still unable to believe the veracity of it all “Now that I think about it… I do remember Tomoko-sama telling me something about Y/N-chan relentlessly following her and Eiichi-sama around trying to make sense about something… to think it would be about first kisses and marriage—worst of all, that she’d actually go against their wishes and do what she did… so young, and she’s already promising to be quite the troublemaker”
“I wouldn’t worry too much—that’s what kids do, eh? She was just curious, that’s all” Yui shrugs.
“And now, that curiosity won’t leave her or my daughter alone! Apparently Gojo-sama wasn’t too fond of his negative reviews, to the point where the girls want to plot their revenge against him”
“Wow, that bad?” Yui snickered. “Well, can’t say I didn’t expect it, he’s always been known to be the sneaky one, compared to Ren-sama and Hinata-sama, although they can be quite sly if they set their minds to it”
“Well, you’re right about that—at least from what I’ve been able to assume” Ayaka sighs. “I was just wondering if I should tell our masters about what happened, I’m sure everything will cool down in time but still… wouldn’t you like to be told if something was going on with your kids?”
“Oh, definitely, but you have to consider how Eiichi-sama would react if he’s informed about this” Yui emphasized, slightly shivering at the visage of one of their always-kind masters becoming heated out of protectiveness.
“Is it even in our duties to let them know?” Ayaka ponders.
“Gah, they’re just children at the end of the day! It doesn’t really matter” The woman responds, playfully patting Ayaka’s back “Weren’t you naughty when younger?”
“Can’t say I wasn’t” she shrugs, and without anything else to say, the conversation rightfully ends: with Ayaka going back to preparing the pie she promised her daughter, and Yui helping her by preheating the oven.
After this exchange with Yui, the mother of your best friend found herself somewhat agreeing with the woman’s words. It had been something a bit… shocking, sure, but nothing dangerous for either of the kids involved at the end of the day—you got curious about a simple peck on the lips, and Satoru reacted according to his nature, nothing that needs to be taken to the next level, such as involving your parents.
Besides, she still trusted her daughter to continue being the good friend she was with you by reminding you that there are certain things that are better dealt with directly, instead of going around circles attempting to get back at someone.
She’d further cement this teaching through a slice of pie of course, practice what she was preaching, but outside of that, Ayaka effectively concluded that all parties involved were nothing more than young kids.
Thus, the topic is virtually buried in the confines of her memory. A funny, temporarily concerning situation, that Ayaka would probably look back at one day when she didn’t know what to do.
And that would’ve been the case, of course, if she hadn’t told Yui about it.
Oh, but Ayaka could’ve never known, for it wasn’t in her nature to assume malicious intentions from others.
It was never in her plans to start rambling about what her daughter confined her with to others, but stranded in the island of her indecision, she couldn’t help but inquire for advice on what she should do.
It wasn’t her fault that the person she confided this secret to couldn't stop herself from finding this whole situation comical, worthy enough to be shared with everyone else, who in turn, found it equally hilarious to keep on passing the anecdote onto others, and so on and so forth.
It was an innocent mistake, really, a funny story from the master’s kids!
…
One that stopped being funny the day your father was inevitably made aware of it.
Disaster ensued in one uneventful weekday afternoon, when Eiichi got back home from work.
As soon as he stepped foot in the L/N estate, he zeroed in onto the rooms the staff informed him they could find you and the Gojo heir in.
They didn’t need to look beyond his reddening face to know that he’d finally heard the rumor surrounding you and the white haired boy, to which they could only pray he wouldn’t chew up alive.
It’s a free for all at this point.
“Satoru, Y/N, follow me, now!” Eiichi ordered the moment he barged through the doors. His voice was loud and commanding, an unfamiliar tone from the often sweet and doting father you recognized. A contrasting difference that had both you and Satoru freezing on the spot. “I won’t repeat myself twice, stand up now”
You clench the edges of your sleeves as you quietly follow behind your father, with Satoru trailing just behind you.
It had been the only day you finally allowed him to be in the same room with you, allowing him the opportunity to finally speak his truth and maybe sneak an apology, but it seems that fate wasn’t to be on his side, yet again—and what a way to show him so.
Once the infuriated Eiichi cornered you and Satoru into another room, away from the prying eyes and ears of the surrounding servants, confrontation begins.
“What is this rumor that I’m hearing from the staff, Gojo?”
Satoru blinks, confused. He doesn’t know what your father is referring to, for the servants had done an exceptional job of keeping to themselves when spreading said rumor.
The Gojo heir reflects on his past actions, attempting to find the possible cause of your father’s anger—it could be anything really, which doesn’t speak very well of his character.
Unable to find a cause, he glances at you; with a look that asks if you perhaps knew what he was talking about. It was only for the briefest of seconds, and solely to seek an explanation, but your father, who was far too gone in his anger, doesn’t let it slide so easily.
“Eyes on me, boy” Eiichi warns and Satoru recoils again.
“I—W-what rumor… L/N-sa—”
“Don’t act ignorant, Satoru! The one where you kissed my daughter? Quite the story that has been going around, I must add” Eiichi accused, and at this revelation, it’s now your time to pale.
“I—I don’t know what you…. You’re talking about L/N-san…” Gojo stammers, his face drained of all color to the point it’s almost hard to distinguish where his skin ends and his hair begins. “I didn’t do…”
“Y/N” Eiichi, not willing to entertain the seemingly foolish act the boy was putting on, refers to you. No nicknames or endearments, just your birth name—reflecting how serious he is about this.
To see your father so… different from the caring, protective and a bit silly man he presented himself to be with his family… It was terrifying. A sight so ghastly, that naturally has your heart jumping to your throat, rendering you speechless to what was perhaps the biggest miscalculation you could’ve considered when placing that bet.
You can’t even begin to ponder how it is that he learned about this as he continues to stare back at you, or if there’s even a way to get out of this situation.
“Y/N” he calls you again, urging you to an answer, which you miraculously perform after gathering all the courage you can find to look up to him and muster a quiet: yes, papa? before looking down to the ground.
“Did you kiss Satoru?”
You know it’s not good to lie, you were taught by your parents to not do so. It’s foul, deceiving, and hurtful. But seeing Satoru’s startled eyes and trembling lips, you find yourself doubting if that theoretical pain can be any worse than his current predicament.
It was never supposed to go this far, to the point of tarnishing your relationship with Satoru and your father.
Even with Satoru’s distressing behavior… you never wished to cause him any genuine harm.
Guess there really is a first time for everything.
“No” you decide to lie for Satoru’s sake, shaking your head and clutching at your sleeves even tighter than before, to the point where your fingers turn completely white.
You hoped that by keeping your answers limited he would concede to believe you and subsequently bring this situation to an end, but your father, having gone through similar ordeals with your siblings, finds it hard to accept your response without slight skepticism.
“You know better than to lie to me, Y/N”
“I’m not!” you cry, now furiously shaking your head—whether to emphasize your words, or to sway the tears forming at the corners of your eyes away, you didn’t know.
“Then why is the staff going around saying that?” Eiichi wondered “It means that someone is lying, and it’s either you, or my staff”
“I don’t know papa….” you quietly sniveled, feeling yourself to be shrinking before him more and more the longer you remained underneath his gaze. His presence is so taxing on your conscience, that prompts unspoken guilt to erupt from inside in the shape of bewailing regrets “I’m sorry!”
And with that, you prove the rumors to be true.
You’d sob loudly enough for Eiichi to finally snap out from the unadulterated rampage he’d enacted on the two kids before him, and focus on the lamenting reality of his weeping daughter and startled boy.
This is one of the things he hated from being a father: having to confront his kids.
He wanted nothing more than for them to be perpetually happy, without a single worry for the world, give them everything they’ll ever need so they never have to suffer—while defending them from those that wanted to hurt them.
But life isn’t as black and white as Eiichi wanted it to be. It was wistful thinking to believe that he could forever protect them from the world.
And he’d soon learn that being a good father isn’t just about having fun with his kids and giving them what they needed, it was also about letting them live their own experiences, let them stumble and fall, but being there to help them up—teach them how to deal with difficult situations so they can do so themselves when the time is right.
Kindly and calmly, like any good parent was expected to do—how he should’ve acted in this situation.
“No, no, it’s ok, pumpkin” he says, kneeling down to your level and softly cupping your face “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare both of you… I just… well, I was worried—I didn’t know how to answer your questions, or more like I didn’t want to, when I should’ve tried harder to help you understand. And instead of worrying that you could’ve done something to hurt yourself, I got angry at you for disobeying me”
“I’m—I’m sorry papa…. I—I d—didn’t mean t—to…” you continue to wail, gaze blurry and eyes warm as you look back to your father’s comforting soft gaze. “Please.. No angry with me”
“Oh, baby I’m not angry with you” he says, hugging you “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have spoken to you, or Satoru like that…”
Eiichi lifts his gaze to Satoru, who, unsure of what to expect from such a radical change from your father, keeps a distant yet tense stance.
Your father, while not agreeing with the way Satoru often acts, knows well to look after his actions when he’s messed up, as well as reminding himself to be patient with him—he’s just a kid, born with a technique and responsibilities he never asked for. Wouldn’t that make him a reflection of his own daughter?
“Think you two can forgive me over ice cream?” He’d ask the pair.
“...chocolate?” you murmur against his chest, and he smiles.
“Consider it done, what about you… Satoru?”
“... Only if you get strawberry” he says, and Eiichi chuckles—that’s his favorite flavor too.
“Done” your father says, standing up and making way to the white haired boy and carefully shuffling his hair “Sorry, kid. Just… keep out of trouble, alright?”
And thus, with ice cream and a slight warning from your father, reminding you to approach him whenever you have questions (so as to avoid this situation from happening again…), the situation ends without further precedent.
Days would pass, and you and Satoru would eventually move past this occurrence, which both labeled as silly, and rekindle the friendship they initially had; all while promising to continue keeping this a secret from your sister and brother, whom by mysterious reasons, never knew about it.
You never figured out why that rumor sparked inside the estate in the first place, and as years passed, you honestly stopped caring. Even if you eventually determined it had been Sumire, it did nothing to affect your friendship with her, if anything, it grew stronger.
And so, it all remained in the past. A nostalgic-yet-cringeworthy memory grouped up with those of your childhood that took little to no weight in your mind, except of course, when gossiping with his friends, Shoko and Geto, when you wanted to kick him down a notch or two whenever he began to act a bit too arrogant for your liking.
Shoko would take your experience as evidence that he was always irritating, even from a young age.
While Geto would take it with a grain of salt, for in his own account, Satoru never struck him as a bad kisser.
A statement that had you and Shoko immediately glancing at each other, wondering just how he could possibly know that.
#series side stories: first it hurts—#jujutsu fanfic#jujutsu kaisen fanfic#gojo x reader#satoru gojo x you#satoru gojo x reader#satoru gojo x y/n
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"I can't and will not have any empathy for this man lmao y'all are wasting your empathy on him"
"I think they wrote him as an heavily narcissistic and sadistic sociopath since childhood…I think he was born like that and in his case he was always going to become violent even without powers"
^ that was u in december 2022.
"born like that" "he would have become violent even without powers" do u hear urself. gen q. becuz those statements completely ignore the trauma he went thru nd categorize him as innately bad. now u out here talking about "i never said he didn't have trauma" yes u did. no 2 ways abt it.
Like I said, where am I saying he's not human for that or doesn't have trauma ???
At most you think people with mental health disorders are evil and not human if you understand that from my posts
Psychopaths, people with narcissistic personality disorders etc are ALL humans and even people that have propensity to violence, and violent impulses since childhood are humans and they exist and can even be born with violent impulses before experiencing heavy trauma because of mental health disorders and their symptoms, which I believe he had because he liked torturing his sister and parents and animals to release his dissatisfaction with life
I will not have empathy for that MAN is my view on it, I don't think he deserves empathy to have "a redemption arc" (that was what people were wanting for him in that moment in the tag) because as I said I don't forgive him for any of his actions since he's a 40yo continuing to abuse and kill people every day of his life, dedicating his whole life to have revenge on a child
I've said multiple times he had trauma and was abused by Brenner and if the times were different and he had access to actual help as a child he could have been saved from his fate, but as things were in the narrative he was doomed to end up like he did because of who he was surrounded by + his mentality that was developing in feeling pleasure when he has control on other beings because he lacked control
I think he was born without much capacity of feeling empathy because the script talks about him like that he's feeling satisfaction from killing other animals, and he said himself he didn't relate to anyone around him, he was not feeling connection to any of them until Patty if that's the canon of the show, and had no problems hurting animals which is the first sign something was wrong even before Brenner intensified his symptoms
The Duffers and writers talk about him as a psychopath multiple times and have intended that in their text, I don't think "psychopaths" or people with low empathy are not humans or can't be abused, I don't even think everybody that has low empathy is evil or inherently bad and never said that, I think Henry was doomed because of his circumstances, he would have grown up to kill to retain control in his life if the setting was a human one and he had experienced the same trauma
He's a character in a TV show that wants to tell the story of the cycle of abuse without excusing that and that's what has been shown on screen for now
I would also argue that making him just a puppet to some random evil monster makes him way less human than making him have a mental health condition if your interpretation of the show ends up being correct which I highly doubt, I think he's well aware of the choices he makes at the moment
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L’aventure de Canmom à Annecy - Mardi
or, the real Annecy starts here.
Tuesday was nuts! I saw so much stuff. I have cracked the code.
So, if you wanna know what Annecy is like, I can’t possibly present it better than La Cachette, who made this sponsor intro that plays before every movie...
youtube
Imagine everyone shouts “lapin!!!” when the rabbit appears and also when the rabbit gets eaten by the T. rex. But yeah: the sudden rainfall, the paper planes flying around, pop pop pop.
Anyway, Tuesday was crazy, I saw so many great movies, with some real surprises too! I wrote about them all below~
It’s interesting to think about like. Annecy traditions are this sort of free floating wave. The cohort of people who go to Annecy each year is constantly rotating (as different students graduate etc.) but there’s enough overlap to pass on these traditions, much like at schools with the ‘cool S’ and paper fortune tellers and other parts of, you could say, ‘child culture’.
Anyway, the day began with an expensive hotel breakfast (food is so expensive in Annecy) followed by queuing up for another crack at The Concierge...
Despite arriving around 2 hours early, we never stood a chance. Also it started raining. I did nevertheless manage to draw the queue in front of me, but it was very rough.
Failing to get in to that, my friend decided to queue for Lonely Castle in the Mirror while I went off to the VR hall again to make some early registrations. This time I watched I Took A Lethal Dose of Herbs by Yvette Granata from the USA.
This one was made in Unity (I could tell because it didn’t load properly at first and I was clipped into the floor and saw the default Unity skybox lmao) running on a Quest 2 via Quest Link. It puts you in the body of an anti-abortion activist who goes through post-partum psychosis and then, becoming pregnant again, attempts suicide, before finally accepting an abortion.
The presentation is essentially a non-interactive VR horror game. At one point your legs get eaten by hallucinations of demon babies; another part sees a room gradually transform into a deep-dreamed variant. As a horror film, it was kinda neat. The credits announced “based on a true Reddit story” which kind of knocked me flat lmao. It was entertaining, but I don’t think it really hit the impact intended.
After that, with bookings locked in for two more VR films, I scooted back to join my friend in the queue for Lonely Castle in the Mirror directed by Keiichi Hara, who I wrote about a bit back on Animation Night 137. This time Hara has A1 Pictures rather than mighty Production I.G. behind him, but it’s still absolutely a nicely drawn movie; the composite is more restrained than the above image might make you think.
This turned out to be a screening with only French subtitles, so I got some unexpected Japanese listening practice. I definitely didn’t pick up every detail, but between the visuals, the Japanese audio and the subs I was pretty much able to follow the plot. And a good plot it was! An assortment of teenagers are transported each month through mirrors into a mysterious castle, overseen by a girl in a wolf mask, which provides them all a refuge from their various difficulties at home.
Our viewpoint character is a shy girl who has gone hikikomori after bullying by a group of schoolgirls, and is hurting from the lost connection to another girl. As the story unfolds, we learn more about what happened to her and the other characters; meanwhile the kids hang out in the castle, gradually forming connections.
The castle is like... well diegetically there’s no question it exists, but it’s the kind of magical thing that reflects the character’s emotional struggle. The climax of the film involves a wolf stalking the castle and devouring the children, which is basically a suicide metaphor, and Kokoro going into the castle to attempt to save everyone.
Even with French subs, I ended up enjoying this movie a lot.
Following this my brother came into town on his way to Portugal for a family holiday next week. I met up with him and we had some tasty noodles. We split up again, him going to check out some of the old buildings of Annecy, me going back to the VR room...
where I discovered that if an Annecy juror shows up to watch a VR film, your slot gets cancelled, so I didn’t get to see From The Main Square. But I did get to see Shadow by David Adler and Ole Bornedal from Denmark and the UK.
This one turned out to be really fucking good. It’s an incredibly intense semi-interactive movie in which you play the part of a bomber navigator on a morning raid. Your job is to confirm the target so the pilot can blow it up, but with the fog, the sea, the movement of the plane and battle outside, it’s a lot easier said than done.
This film does a fantastic job of building tension in the runup to the attack. The interactions between your character and the pilot are acted very well, and the sea and mist outside - rendered in Unreal - is properly sketchy to fly through. You confirm the target by using head tracking to look at a yes/no input, and I was fully caught up in trying to make sure we hit the right building and didn’t get shot. Such a tense film, and honestly kind of a vindication of the VR format. I hope there’s something else as good in there.
Following this I scooted over to see the short films collection 4. This turned out to be a great choice: there were very few misses and a lot of plain great films. Also I guess this was like where they put all the gore and nudity lmao, but who knows, I’ll have to see other short film selections.
Haljina za finale dir. Martina Mestrovic presented a sweet picture of the day in an old lady’s life, in which she dyes her dress black and reminisces about the past.
Salvation Has No Name dir. Joseph Wallace was a really cool stop-motion film, making really creative use of old woodcuts along with its puppets, about a refugee who washes up on the shore of a paranoid village and a prevaricating priest who tries to protect her, tries to have sex with her, and takes her newborn child and pushes her away; it’s all presented by a circus troupe who are also the villagers attempting to cover their ass for what they did. There’s some really neat devices of presentation - e.g. the refugee woman speaks English same as the villagers, but diegetically they’re speaking different languages. The metaphors are pretty on the nose, but it’s really nicely shot and tense.
L’Ombre des Papillons dir. Sofia El Khyari is a more abstract one, a very beautifully painted erotic dream with a lot of morphing and transformations (particularly things turning into butterflies). Really nice use of texture in this one.
Wild Summon dir. Saul Freed and Karni Arieli is where things got really nuts. This is like. The most photorealistic hard vore guro film I’ve ever seen lmao. So like the idea is it’s like, a nature documentary on the life cycle of salmon, with all the beautiful shots of landscapes and rivers you’d expect, but with the twist that all the salmon are anthropomorphised to humans in wetsuits and masks (as you see above). These anthro salmon then die horribly in all the ways salmon tend to, at the hands of both animals and humans.
Our main character is a salmon who gets tagged with a tracker by some scientists; this allows her to be thrown back in the water when caught by a fishing trawler for example. The voiceover is by Marianne Faithfull doing an effective old posh british lady voice (I sorta wondered if it was Judy Dench). If this was an actual nature documentary it would be a really beautiful one, but the anthro thing adds an amazing surreal edge.
This one was filmed in the UK, and it’s definitely leaning on the big VFX industry we have over here. Absolutely fascinating film honestly.
I’m Hip, solo animated by American John Musker and comped/edited by Talin Tanielian, was also a delight. Just four minutes of really strong lively traditional animation as a cat sings a self-aggrandising song before getting chased out of town; old-school in a good way.
Daug Geresnis dir. Skirmanta Jakait was the one that lost me, though I imagine if I saw it with English subs I might get more out of it (I saw it in Lithuanian with French subs). I really like the visual style, but the film was a sort of incomprehensible chain of surreal images and I didn’t really know how to put them together.
Drijf dir. Levi Stoops from Belgium wrapped up this collection. This one leans hard on the grossout humour - I’d compare it to something like Savage Death Valley or to a certain extent Lloyd’s Lunchbox. A man and woman are stranded on a calm sea, rowing around on a log, suffering a series of increasingly awful injuries in their misadventures. It’s definitely a ‘bodies, fucked up right?’ sorta movie, and it was a fun bit of black humour, hearing the audience go ‘ooooh’ when something nasty happens.
I had set my reservation today for ‘The Soldier’s Tale’ but I had planned things out really stupidly and had no time to say goodbye to my brother and see that film. Instead we went round the comic shop I talked about last time. It was good to see him and he seems to be having a good time on his trip across Europe.
Speaking of brothers...
I decided to take a chance on Four Souls of Coyote dir. Áron Gauder. I didn’t know much about this going in, but the brief description on the site made it sound a little preachy, so I didn’t set my hopes too high. I was so wrong, this movie was actually maybe the highlight of the day!
This is a Hungarian movie based on (nonspecifically...) Indigenous stories, with the framing device of the story being told by an old man at the Standing Rock pipeline protests. The bulk of the film is an origin story for the world: Old Man Creator - not the top god in this situation - creates Turtle Island and fills it with creatures. In a dream, he creates Coyote, and mistreats him at once; Coyote, an obligate carnivore in a world that does not yet know death, steals the creation mud and creates humans
So most of the film then tells how, through a series of events, Coyote ends up complicating the idyllic scenario by introducing death into the world, and sexual reproduction, and inspiring the creation of lightning and fire before being betrayed by the humans he created, eaten, and on his final life, driven away. It’s a really interesting sort of mythological schema: even Old Man Creator doesn’t know the why of it all, and there’s this kind of idea that a lot of the way things work happened not by design but by mistake (perhaps according to the ineffable design of , and once something is created it’s irrevocably part of the world, so we just have to make do.
I have no idea what’s based on mythology and what was created by the Hungarians, but what makes this all work is the incredible animation. This is just a really really strong work of traditional animation, with fantastic colour and compositing to boot. It might genuinely be the best looking film I’ve seen this whole festival so far, which is nuts. There are all sorts of characterful touches in every shot, the magic is presented in a really elegantly straightforward way, and the whole story unfolds with a compelling degree of intricacy and tension, setup and payoff.
Coyote, the famous trickster, is certainly the main character of this movie. He’s a fascinating character; arrogant, quick to lie and in love with his own cleverness but also we can see his pride comes from the rough circumstances of his creation, where he’s chewed out by his creator from the get go and everyone pushes him away.
The second act of the story sees Coyote free the imprisoned lightning (who’s like. a kind of dragon creature ig?) and go across the sea, discovering the Europeans, who in this story come from the discarded clay that Coyote used as a first attempt at humans; seeking revenge, Coyote invites the Europeans back to Turtle Island, not realising the level of destruction they will bring, or that they will chain him up and call him a dog. Spending the last of his four lives, Coyote has a final face turn where he tries to save the humans.
There’s a bunch to be said about this movie, and once it gets a release I am dying to show it on Animation Night. Its treatment of gender for example feels a bit too rigid and traditional, with the archetypal Man and Woman as the main human characters. The Europeans are presented as getting their power from enslaving Lightning, which is a neat way to make the story centre on what happens on Turtle Island; however, the parable-like telling kind of ends up feeling a bit too simplified where the Europeans show up and destroyed the single (kinda Plains in visual presentation) Indigenous society with overwhelming military force, which is like... not really how it all played out, but it works for the presentation of this movie, where the invasion is kind of a coda to the main story.
The ending of the movie sees the workers, ordered to bulldoze a mountain for the sake of a pipeline, climb out of their bulldozers and join the protestors, with the CEO lady in charge impotent to stop them. In our more depressing reality reality the cops showed up and drove away the protestors by overwhelming force.
I have this much to say though because the movie was so good. But tbh this is just a British girl’s impression. I really want to get Araña’s opinion on this one.
Not done yet, I went to see the student films, block 2. This turned out to be another amazing time: at the big screen in Bonlieu, even this late, loads of people were there and it was the most Annecy showing yet; so many paper planes flying about. Most of the students who made the films were present in the audience and after each film stood up so we could applaud them.
The films were also really good! There are some crazy talented animation students in this world.
Havnesjefen dir. Mia L. Henriksen, Konrad Hjemli (Norway) told the story of a swan known as the Harbourmaster, known for attacking boats in the Norwegian town of Os, who was put down after he started putting humans at risk. It tried a number of ambitious things with the animation: Roger Rabbit-like compositing into live action backgrounds, and Creature Comforts-like animating characters based on real interviews with random people. The result was rough, but pretty cute and effective.
Ressources humaines dir. Titouan Tiller, Trinidad Plass, Isaac Wenzek (France) was a wonderfully dark stop motion film about a guy going to have his body recycled into a chair. It really plays up the awkward everydayness of the scenario, with the documentary camera wandering around and the cheerful patter of the receptionist; the result was great.
Makulatour dir. Tim Markgraf (Germany) was fascinating: a bunch of fluid motions filmed through a microscope (I think??) edited to music. Absolutely absorbing, I have no idea how he did it.
Deniska umřela dir. Philippe Kastner (Czech Republic) is an autobiographical story about a boy whose dog dies, and how he comes to terms with it through art. It’s got a really nice monochrome textured style that made me think of paint on velvet.
Bottled Insects dir. Yuxin Gao in Japan was where things got really nuts. This is traditional animation but not at all anime, incredibly textured and shaped creatures that sort of make me think Masaaki Yuasa and sort of make me think HYLICS. It portrays a girl who collects weird creatures, building up a massive wall of them in her room; it has an ambiguous mood (the blurb says it’s about her losing her sense of self) but a strong flow and just wild imagery. I loved this one.
Hobune dir. Jass Kaselaan (Estonia) was... I’m not entirely sure what the deal with this one was. Lots of odd military imagery and concrete housing blocks. A horse falls over and gets up. The drawing was very rough and line boil-y. But yeah idk I didn’t get it, it’s another one of those ‘disconnected surreal images’ type of ones.
La Nuit Blanche dir. Audrey Delepoulle was great though. Gorgeous paint-y textures and use of lighting, it shows people desperately trying to preserve their crops with burners as frost closes in. It made me think of Frostpunk, but much more grounded. Really tense and beautiful.
Passagers dir. Celia Hardy from Belgium used a similar technique to The Wolf House, animating by painting onto walls and painting over each previous frame, mixed with stop motion. There wasn’t a lot of narrative but there was definitely a lot of very inventive movement, and in general it was really fun to watch.
Priyo Ami dir. Suchana Saha (India) was an abstract one, heavily textured paint, lots of morphing shapes... I can’t remember a lot of what actually happened in it besides the cunnilingus lol. But it definitely felt very personal and sincere, and I respect putting such a film in front of everyone.
Sewing Love by Yuan Xu (Japan) took the metaphor of a partner filling a void in your life to a very literal sense. A boy meets a girl who fills the gap inside him, but when she leaves, he becomes desperate, and restrains her, eventually physically sewing her inside his body. But inside her body she retreats into a tiny ball where she grows new butterfly wings and eventually hatches out. Big metaphors! But the animation was completely wild, with all sorts of morphing and weird perspectives, I can’t even imagine what the process must have been like. I didn’t like this one as much as Bottled Insects because the metaphor felt a bit overbearing, but I was really impressed by the animation.
My last film of the night was Unique Time dir. Yu-Jin Oh (South Korea). This film was crazy technically good, like you could tell me that Studio Mir made this and I’d believe you. The scifi premise is that there are androids who holographically take on the appearance of someone, used for all sorts of purposes; our main character is an android who develops a glitch causing them to create a unique face and identity. A photographer jumps on this as a chance to become relevant again, and the android’s face is soon plastered all over the city... and inevitably a line of mass produced clones is produced. ‘Jay’ (the name assigned by the photographer) is deeply disturbed to realise they’re still just a product, and gets in a very public fight with the photographer; afterwards, they are factory reset, but the glitch still persists... It’s definitely well within the familiar territory of cyberpunk stories, but the execution carries it - it’s hard to believe this is a student film.
By the time all this was done I had to walk back because the buses had become very infrequent, but damn, so worth it. What an amazing day. It took me more than two hours to write all this up lol, between that and catching up on sleep I’ve missed the whole of Wednesday morning rip.
Time to get out there and see some more films!! Annecy is amazing I really wish I could take you all down here.
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