#so matoba accompanies him & it's literally just natori & his costar like calculating exact face tilt angles & figuring out

[coquelicoq]

me: how about...natori contracting some kind of youkai illness & matoba finding out about it & showing up to his set & natori dragging him off to his trailer bc it would be bad for his sparkly reputation to make the angry faces he feels coming on in front of his coworkers & matoba offering to help but in that smarmy condescending way that raises natori's hackles so he refuses but unfortunately he doesn't know how to cure it so matoba just keeps showing up every day & natori keeps carting him off to the trailer every time & being suuuuper cagey when people ask him who his visitor is & what if his coworkers get the wrong idea & matoba is fully aware of this & what if one day in the trailer natori reluctantly agrees to let matoba help him & matoba's like okay fine off with your shirt i gotta paint this spell circle on your bare chest & what if he's in the middle of doing that when they hear somebody opening the door to the trailer & obviously they don't want anyone to know what they're actually doing in there bc youkai-exorcist confidentiality so matoba's like no worries i got this & he KISSES NATORI omg classic kiss-as-misdirection trope & the person at the door is like whoops my b carry on gentlemen & after they've left natori is like wtf matoba????? & matoba's like well it's what they all thought we were doing anyway & your mouth was right there & it allowed me to cover the writing on your chest with my body & also you kiss people for a living so i figured it wouldn't be too complex for you & your part-time exorcist training to handle & natori recovers admirably quickly & is like WELL for your information that was a TERRIBLE kiss & no one is gonna buy that i professional makeout artist natori shuuichi would be swapping saliva with somebody on the reg without any of my considerable skill rubbing off on them & matoba's like so what do you propose we do about it & natori's like obviously i have to teach you how to kiss in case they come back -

the bedtime story fairy who thought this was gonna be an easy assignment: please just go to sleep im begging u have mercy ur brain cells are dying

#my other bedtime imagine also features misunderstandings in natori's trailer/dressing room but this time it's established relationship #natori and his costar are in his trailer practicing a kiss & matoba comes in & thinks natori is CHEATING 😲 #& packs up & goes back to the matoba estate & natori's calling him daily like i LITRALLY dk what i did wrong...miss u baby... #but also tell me what i did wrong u asshole!! you just left & didn't even tell me if/when you're coming back! wtf!!! #and eventually matoba comes home & they talk & natori's like mkay well first of all kissing that lady is my literal job that pays me #but i understand that it upset you bc we were alone in my trailer & looked startled to be interrupted. hey i know #why don't you come with me to set & you can see just how incredibly unsexy these practice sessions are? #so matoba accompanies him & it's literally just natori & his costar like calculating exact face tilt angles & figuring out #their precise height differential during the scene in question based on the shoes she'll be wearing & testing out ideal #degree of mouth openness & choreographing switching sides of the face to correspond to the movement of the camera #(bc obviously it's one of those epic 360-degree shots with the swelling orchestral score and w/e 🙄) #& figuring out where they should put their hands & whether it makes sense for them to be smiling at this point in their arc &c &c #& matoba starts like observing them from multiple angles & critiquing their technique & giving pointers to the costar #& grabbing natori's chin & bodily arranging his limbs like a mannequin & showing the costar the best ratio of lip give to firmness #by demonstrating with his own lips on natori's lips. & so on & so forth. meanwhile #the sleep i am forgoing in favor of having these thoughts is something i will NEVER get back. #natsume's book of friends #horrible exorcists #f #my posts #i am such a clown to watch one of the sweetest and most poignant shows i have ever seen and for what? #to get fixated on imagining ways to get these chuckleheads to smush their mouths together? unbelievable. #like these scenarios barely (if at all) have anything to do with what makes them so fascinating as characters. i just want them to Kiss #idk though i do feel like their first kiss has to be some sort of dare or 'accident' or w/e like these weirdos can't just KISS each other! #who does that! have you heard of a little thing called pride and invulnerability and plausible deniability!!!! #but i also completely imprinted on this one established relationship fic i read last year so sometimes i just skip ahead #to the kinds of misunderstandings and shenanigans and conflicting priorities they could get up to as a couple #i guess i just want the fact that natori is famous for kissing people to be Matoba Seiji's Problem in some way or another #is that so much to ask #(i also CLEARLY imprinted on a fic in which natori teaches matoba to kiss at a bar?? i should reread that one)