Sade Olutola
d e v o n
2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
dirt enthusiast
Cosmic Funnies
cherry valley forever
★
No title available
blake kathryn
No title available
Peter Solarz
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
🪼
PR's Tumblrdome
DEAR READER
No title available
pixel skylines
taylor price
oozey mess
Jules of Nature
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Kazakhstan
seen from Kazakhstan
seen from Malaysia
seen from Pakistan
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Malaysia
seen from United Arab Emirates
seen from France
seen from Lithuania
seen from Spain
@happou-archive
"…yeah well, you were inexperienced and self-destructive at some point too, old man."
He’s going to pretend that didn’t sound like his brother talking out of his mouth.
"And you won't always be young either." He's too amused now. "Are we even?"
He let it go? Thank goodness, he’s surprised but he’s not going to mention it.
"I’m well, if a bit fatigued. Third year classes are proving to be rather…intense. When combined with an uptick in demonic activity, it’s made things a bit hectic. I’m hoping once the demon front dies down a bit things will be a bit easier."
"You know, you can ask for a bit of a break. At least till exams are over. Not to downplay your formidable skills, of course, but the Order can get by without you, you know."
"Uhm," he’s desperately flailing mentally trying to find a way to change the subject. "How have you been, Aniue? I haven’t seen you around recently?" Well it was polite, but also rather transparent.
"I've been well." He's amused, but he'll let him off the hook regardless. "How about you? Niisan tells me you're overworked."
"…sounds like something an old person would say.” He’s being a brat.
"I'll take old over inexperienced and self-destructive anytime."
"I didn’t mean it that way Aniue. I just meant you were older than me. You’re an actual adult while I’m still a teenager."
"If you say so." He won't say that he scarcely remembers what it's like to be a child.
salarymanexorcist replied to your post “Old, am I? Well, aren’t you two very nice. Don’t make me grade your...”
"I didn't say you were old. You are old though. You're both old."
"Well, I suppose, we've made it this far? Maybe if you don't completely crumple under stress, you'll live to be my age, too." Ouch.
"Old, am I? Well, aren't you two very nice. Don't make me grade your homework."
Natural Eye Color Chart
「な゛・・・///」
Pixiv ID: 20637103 Member: Noel
ようビビリメガネ
by
久鶴
"Nii-san says I work too much. Now that my nephew is three months old and I've only seen him once, I'm tempted to admit he's maybe right."
{happou} ღ affianced ღ
Too much clothing? “Well, thas’ somethin’ I never ‘xpected ‘t hear from ya.” She continued to purse her lips, even as he untied her top. With a small giggle, she leaned up and tossed it onto the floor. Then, her jacket was slipped off and onto the floor. Her pants were next, and her were kicked off, along with her shoes, leaving her in a lacy pair of panties, and some pretty thigh highs.
Slipping back under the covers, she snuggled up to Yukio, a comfortable sigh passing by her lips and onto his. Shura pressed her lips onto his gently, then again and again. She never quite knew how to show her affection, other than those repetitive kisses she gave him, much more often now. It was hard for her— extremely, excruciatingly hard— for her to show affection. The emotion itself; held so deep in her heart, held there by force and concrete walls and all the hatred, both self inflicted, and to others; was so foreign, she sometimes forgot she could feel it. Her eyes closed and she held Yukio closer to her.
It was confusing, how they’d gotten here. From constant fights, whether serious or not, to just never-ending bickering.
She’d rather not think of what led up to this, instead, she wrapped her mind around that she was here with him now.
That is all that mattered now.
Yukio responded to each and every one of the kisses he was receiving, smiling into them lightly. No matter how much time they spent together, this was just never getting old. It seemed that Shura herself felt the same way about it; sometimes it felt as if she was surprising herself with the way she was acting around Yukio. But she wasn't alone with that, either -- Yukio himself had brought forward a side of him that nobody else had seen in a good long while; a side he had thought he'd buried forever together with his father. Even after he made peace with his brother, and his general personality became a bit less harsh and abrasive, less on edge all the time, it was much easier to just accept the affection Rin was giving so easily, and reciprocate, rather than get out of his shell and initiate contact. With Shura, he did. They both did, and it was a refreshment in itself; that he could be openly affectionate, and she accepted it, even seemed to thrive on it, rather than keeping him at arm's length as she'd used to do (with everyone, not just him, but still).
Once he'd gotten accustomed to the sheer thought of it, loving Kirigakure Shura was actually surprisingly easy. Yukio was not all that great with nonverbal language, at least not in comparison to his brother, who had superhuman senses to help him with that, but Shura was so obviously thirsty for love, giving it to her was more of a relief than an effort. Loving her had become second nature to Yukio, the feeling as natural as breathing or sleep. (Maybe even more than sleep, since he still had a tendency to overwork and forego on his nightly rest, sometimes to the point of falling ill, or being prodded at by his loved ones.)
"There's a first time for everything, I guess," he responded to what she had said to him moments ago, the words murmured against her plump lips, and his arms raised up to encircle her waist, tugging her down till she was laying perched on his chest, peering upwards to meet his gaze. He thought for a moment, a variety of things they could talk about flickering through his mind. Finally, he asked the thing that had been on his mind for quite a while now, for various reasons. "... What kind of wedding do you want, Shura?"
{happou} ღ affianced ღ
The Knight stood in front of the mirror, the emotion on her face rather apathetic, though on the inside, her mind was racing in all different directions. She looked— different. But she couldn’t put her finger on it. Ah— finger. Shura brought her left hand up to her face, her hand limp. There she found the difference. On her usually bare hand, there was a ring now on her ring finger. Now that name seemed to make sense.
The ring was beautiful, she couldn’t put words to describe how it looked, and even more how it made her feel. Shura put her lips to the ring, giving it a small kiss, before letting her hand drift back down to her side. Finally, she allowed the thought most prevalent in her mind to burst forth.
Yukio and I are engaged. To each other.
That second thought made a smile creep onto her lips. It seemed silly to say that— or think it, but she just wanted to clarify with herself. She sat down on the edge of the bed, gently, so as to not disturb the figure resting behind her. The Knight covered her face with her hands, not knowing exactly how to feel, and she thought for a moment she might cry.
Shura crawled back into bed, completely clothed and wrapped her arms around Yukio’s torso, pulling him in closer. “I love you.” She whispered, almost inaudible. “So much.”
"... hn...?" Yukio was only semi-awake at this point, after an excruciatingly long day at work -- why was it that he never seemed to get to the end of his paperwork, despite working on it much harder than his brother did? He had a sneaking suspicion that Shura occasionally slipped her own in between, and of course, he always noticed, but... well, he didn't mind as much as he used to.
He rolled on his back, squinting up at her in the darkness. His lips curled slightly. "I never thought I'd ever say this to you," he murmured softly, "but aren't you wearing too many clothes?" He had to laugh at the absurdity of the question, given that this was Shura, but the situation was self-explanatory. He wanted to fall asleep with her in his arms, and he didn't want to wake up to some odd uniform button digging into his hip two hours later, thank you very much.
He took a moment to just adore her. This was Shura, yes. His Shura. The woman who had given her so much grief -- only to then top it with twice as much happiness. Yukio sometimes still found himself wondering how they'd ended up here, having started out from bitter rivalry, almost bordering on hatred -- but then, he always had to remember that they essentially grew up together, even if she was older, that she was the one who knew all the things he'd been forbidden to tell his twin brother, that she was the one who held her back for both of them and took some of the load off after their father had died, despite her own bitter feelings -- and most of all, she was the one that had stopped her, more than once, from completely destroying himself, and everything precious to him. Shura.
"I love you too," he whispered back, and in an unguarded moment, he tugged the end of the string that kept the strap of her shirt (if it could even be called that? brasserie? breastpiece?) free. Let me help you get a bit more comfortable...
A Merry Little Christmas
Rin froze momentarily as he felt Yukio’s arms wrap around him, eyes wide; it was pretty comforting, but also made him think about how he couldn’t remember the last time his own brother hugged him. Rin had hugged him a few times recently when he was sure he wouldn’t be pushed away, but he couldn’t recall Yukio returning or initiating any embraces within the past few years. Before his awakening, Rin hadn’t really noticed or cared, but now that Yukio was his only living family and Rin’s touch-oriented demon side was no longer dormant, the lack of contact was almost physically painful. The half-demon sniffled loudly, occasionally taking in long, gasping breaths in an attempt to calm himself down as he finally turned to face the older Yukio, figuring that there was no point in trying to maintain any semblance of dignity anymore. Rin rubbed at his eyes, clearly and utterly miserable; he looked more like a lost child than a demon with the most destructive flames known to both man- and demon-kind.
His Yukio never would have hugged him while his flames were out, that was for sure— in fact, he probably would have backed away and sternly told Rin to calm down. Rin would never, ever hurt his brother, and neither would his flames, but Yukio was still afraid of them.
Afraid of him.
"Thanks for staying even though I yelled at you," he mumbled, ducking his head and leaning into the hug a bit. "And for not yelling at me when my flames came out." Rin took in another deep, shaky breath, letting it out as a trembling sigh immediately afterwards as he dragged a hand down his face. "I just— I really miss him, y’know? Not just right now, but in general. I miss when we were each other’s best friends, and we told each other everything." More tears welled up in his eyes as his voice cracked, his tail uncharacteristically limp and still behind him. "I-I thought that since it’s Christmas, i-if I did everything well enough we’d talk like we used to without arguing, or I’d make him smile… But it wasn’t enough." He’d done everything festive he could think of— decorating the dorm, making lots of food, saving for months to get Yukio something nice for Christmas instead of just making sashimi like usual —and it still hadn’t been enough.
Rin’s eyes widened when he heard that his older self was working on Christmas— why would he spend Christmas working now that he had a wife and a kid on the way? A few moments later, he realized that was the exact reason he was working on Christmas; babies were expensive to take care of, and money didn’t grow on trees, after all. “Right… he has a kid on the way to support, doesn’t he,” he stated, fidgeting slightly with his shirt and feeling awkward; never in a hundred years had he imagined that their roles would be reversed one day. Even though he wasn’t the Rin doing that, it made him feel strangely guilty; Rin never wanted to put his brother through anything close to what Yukio had done to him. “At least I don’t feel as bad about keeping you away from him now, then,” he joked weakly.
Yukio thought his heart was about to break all over again, and that was with the fact that it had already done so multiple times throughout the months he had spent desperately trying to make up for all the mistakes he'd made with his own twin brother, trying to somehow heal the rift between them -- he was supposed to be a Doctor, wasn't he? And yet, this was a little bit like back to square one, except this time, he couldn't even really do anything, because the things that Rin needed to hear weren't for Yukio to say. He kind of wanted to punch himself (or rather, his younger self) in the gut for how he was treating his twin. There were so many oh-so-perfect excuses when it came down to why things were as they were, but in the end, Yukio knew very well -- and he was sure the other Yukio knew, too, he was just too scared to admit it to himself yet -- that there was absolutely no need to make Rin feel so lonely, unloved, and miserable.
He tightened his arms around the younger one as he turned around, letting out a low sigh. Rin felt warm, even beyond the warmth in comparison to how cold Yukio still felt, having just come in from the chilly December evening, and it was such a familiar warmth that he couldn't help but smile just a little bit. If only he hadn't been so afraid before, he would have had the opportunity to experience this so much sooner -- they would have both been happier.
"It's not like that, Rin..." he said softly, and he was surprised to find that he sounded almost pleading. "It's not about you doing enough..." He desperately wished he could say what it actually was about, but even if it was for him to say, which it wasn't, he knew very well that the younger Yukio had an even better reason to keep things secret, for now, at least -- that reason being their safety. Of course, it was still no excuse for treating Rin so fearfully, but... "You know," he said in a low voice, "you can easily decide what you like and what you hate... but when it's about fear, it's not that easy. I'm not trying to say 'it's not his fault', but..." He allowed himself a little bit of a smile, now visible to Rin as well, and added, semi-apologetically, "Patience was never a strong side of yours, that is."
He finally let go, taking off his glasses and rubbing at them, just to occupy his hands as he tried to gather his thoughts. "I won't deny that the way I--... the way he's distancing himself," damn, it was weird to talk about himself in that manner, himself and yet not; "is a really bad way of coping with things, but, Rin, you can't even begin to imagine how many things there are that he simply can't tell you without risking your life. And when you constantly have to pay attention to what not to say, and there are more of those than the things you are allowed to say... it's so much easier to just not hold a conversation at all, because, what if you slip up and ruin everything?" With another sigh, he pushed his glasses back on. "It doesn't mean that he doesn't want all those things you've just listed," he said, and his voice was turning soft, clearly remembering how he used to feel when he had been in the exact same situation.
"He'll come home, probably really damn late, because usually he's not given a choice, and even if he's too much of a moron to show how much he appreciates this," he gestured around, the corner of his lips jerking upwards at essentially calling himself a moron, "he is going to be really happy that you went to all this trouble." He looked back at the boy. "And one day, I'm not sure when, but one day, he's gonna tell you all this himself."
A Merry Little Christmas
Rin stiffened at Yukio’s words, his hands curling into fists as he bit his bottom lip. Even though it was painful to see a Yukio that wasn’t his while his own was absent, he really, really didn’t want to be completely alone. His eyes moved from the tree to stare at the ground, small blue flames beginning to lick at his shoulder and hair as tears welled up in his eyes; when he realized his flames were manifesting after a few moments, Rin began to pat at the flames in an attempt to make them go away. As if he didn’t have enough to deal with without his flames slipping out…
The half-demon knew Yukio was just trying to avoid an awkward and bad situation, that it wasn’t anything personal.. and yet, it still felt like a personal rejection— which was probably mostly because he felt like his own Yukio had rejected him.
Still, it’d be selfish of him to keep this Yukio here even though he looked really uncomfortable, and probably had better things to do than babysit a younger version of his brother that was kind of an emotional wreck at the moment. Rin had Kuro, anyways; the Cat Sidhe was pretty good at consoling Rin when he was lonely. “Go, then,” he said, trying to keep the straight, emotionless face that Yukio was so good at putting on and completely failing. “I-If you don’t think it’s a good idea, then leave.” Once Rin got the last word out, his face completely crumpled, the half-demon turning his back towards Yukio and hiding his face so that his brother wouldn’t see him cry.
It was so fucking stupid of him to cry over this, Rin thought as he tried to make his breathing sound as calm and even as possible in a final attempt to save his dignity and make it seem like he wasn’t sobbing at the moment. “Wh-Why aren’t you going? I said to just l-leave if you don’t wanna be here!” The half-demon snapped, flames flaring into existence once again to lick at his shoulders and hair. If he was going to leave Rin to celebrate Christmas alone in this damn dormitory all by himself, the least he could do was leave before Rin turned into a total mess so that the half-demon didn’t have to worry about making himself look like an utter wreck of an older brother in front of an alternate version of his younger brother. Rin slumped, his flames flickering slightly. “Go spend Christmas with your brother.”
Of all the things that could have happened... he'd made Rin cry. Of course, the other was trying to hide it, but, then again, his brother had always been ridiculously bad at lying to him. (It always made Yukio feel terrible that, on the other hand, he was so good at doing it, but, then again, it had saved their lives from the Order on a couple of occasions.) And even as now he was being told to leave, Yukio found that he could do it now even less than he could have done before. Him being here, maybe it was better than nothing, after all. It didn't really matter at this point that the other wasn't his own twin brother -- he'd hurt Rin such an insurmountable amount of times, that adding one more to the list was unthinkable, regardless of good intentions. (His intentions had never really been bad, after all -- he was just terrible at relying on anyone when it made him feel so weak.)
His mind made up, he crossed the room in three quick strides, and wrapped his arms around his almost-brother from the back. He didn't care about the flames; his own twin had never burnt him, not even when he was angry with him. Perhaps this Rin was not yet perfect at controlling his own, but that part had always been instinctual. "I'm sorry," he murmured, dipping his head low, and touching his forehead against the back of Rin's head. "I know it's not me you want to hear that from, but... we both are, I'd swear on it."
He made no move to force the other to turn around and show his face -- as a matter of fact, Rin could have easily shaken him off if he wanted. Still he stayed where he was, wishing he could do more, wishing he could tell him about the things he was forbidden from knowing yet, wishing he could at least tell him that he would know it all for sure, one day. But it didn't work that way. Still, he could... at least, temporarily... try to make up for it, just a bit? It would only be a secondhand copy of the real thing, nowhere near really good enough, but... better than nothing. "For the record," he added, the tiniest hint of laughter in his voice, "guess what, my brother's working tonight." He paused for a moment, then added, even more quietly, "And he doesn't come home to me anymore, anyways."
A Merry Little Christmas
In spite of himself, Rin’s face fell when he realized that this Yukio was much older than his own, his tail going from wagging to curling around his ankle. He felt kind of bad for being so disappointed, but he’d really been looking forward to spending time with and giving the presents he’d worked so hard to get to his brother… Who was on some stupid mission instead of being with his sole family member on the holiday that’d always been the most important to the both of them. Rin didn’t know whether he was angry at Yukio, the Order, or both of them.
"He’s on a mission," the half-demon mumbled, stepping aside so that the Dragoon could walk in if he wanted to. "You can come in, if you want," he said, his voice louder— and yet, his expression and general body language still had the same barely-concealed vulnerability and sadness to them. "There’s plenty of food, if you’re hungry. I don’t know why I made so much." Rin let out a small, half-hearted laugh, making his way over to the couch next to the door. In the corner was a Christmas tree with presents underneath that he couldn’t stop staring at.
This was better than being alone, at least, wasn’t it? He’d wanted Yukio to come, and beggars couldn’t be choosers. His eyes stayed on the tree, trying his hardest to keep tears at bay; it really hurt, seeing this Yukio and being reminded that his own was too busy to even spend Christmas with him.
Yukio didn't miss the nonverbal response he was getting, and it left a sour aftertaste in his mouth. Even though he was being invited in, it was quite clear that it wasn't him that Rin really wanted to spend time with -- honestly, that had been obvious from the start; not that Yukio took offense, it just hurt to see any version of his brother like this. He knew he had to decline. It just wasn't right. Besides, how would Rin's brother feel when he came home a little later, and found him there? On the other hand, leaving felt wrong somehow, too. Yukio dug his fingers into his hair frustratedly. He shouldn't have even turned up here, but he didn't do it on purpose, and now that he was here, leaving would have only made it even worse. There was no right choice.
Yukio was really fed up with no-right-choice situations in his life altogether.
"It's... probably not a good idea," he finally concluded, voice dropping low. He felt like a coward for trying to turn his back on the situation -- but, what good could come of this? He didn't... "I don't belong here."
Still he didn't yet move from the door, somewhat frozen in place, his eyes settled on the young half-demon's expression, a dull ache spreading in his chest from the sight, knowing how many times he'd made his own twin feel the same way. Even if he'd thought it was the right thing to do... he couldn't find it in himself to turn his back on the other.
A Merry Little Christmas
Rin arranged and re-arranged the haphazardly wrapped presents he’d gotten for Yukio under the tree, tail wagging happily behind him; the half-demon was incredibly excited for Yukio to get home and open what he’d gotten for him. He’d given his friends their presents right after break and had given Kuro his this morning, but Yukio had been called away on a mission on Christmas Eve and hadn’t gotten home yet. Even so, Rin was practically bouncing off the walls waiting for Yukio to get home— not only had Rin gotten him one of those dorky cardigans he loved to wear, but a pair of silencers for his guns. Sure, they weren’t exactly the most high-quality model and they’d been hard to come by in Japan due to incredibly strict gun laws, but his slight dabbling in the Japanese black market would be totally worth it if it meant Yukio would smile because of him for the the first time in what felt like forever.
The half-demon heard the front door open and slam and immediately stood up, tail waving wildly as he rushed to greet his brother. “Merry Christmas, Yukio!” he gushed, so excited that it was a miracle he didn’t burst into flames. Behind him, there were clear signs of Rin’s holiday spirit going overboard; not only was there enough food on the kitchen table to feed twice as many people as there actually were, but the entire dorm was strung with lights and decorated as if a Christmas party was going on.
They'd moved out years ago, and there was still a few pieces of left behind things here and there. Yukio could only roll his eyes in exasperation when he thought about it, but it was usually instantly followed with a wave of guilt. He couldn't quite admonish his brother for how haphazardly he had packed up when moving out -- not only did the fact stand that, at the time, he had been moving into a much smaller place, so he couldn't take everything with himself, but also, Yukio hadn't been here to help him at all, he'd been in Rome, so Rin had had to do everything on his own. The main reason Rin had moved out had been Yukio; without him around, Rin had -- according to him, at least -- felt the dorm too big and too empty to live in on his own.
Now, living together with his wife and mother-in-law, their place was big enough for the rest of it, but all of a sudden -- surprise -- Rin was the busier out of the two of them. With their child on the way, it was no surprise he was working so much, but still the younger twin felt like the tables had turned, and now it was him worrying for his brother's health. Part of the reason why he agreed to pick up some things from the now abandoned dormitory for Shiemi after he was done teaching classes, while Rin was still out somewhere.
He didn't really expect to arrive at someplace else than where he had been planning to get, though. This again? was his first thought as he heard Rin's voice -- this isn't niisan, he had to remind himself --, and he'd almost just turned around, just because it was easier than to deal with it. But when he caught sight of the room behind the younger half-demon... he kind of just froze to the spot.
In the end, though, it wouldn't have been Yukio if he didn't manage to jerk his professional face back in place in a moment. "I'm guessing I'm not who you were expecting... but, Merry Christmas to you as well," he replied smoothly, though his voice was a little lower than usual. He hesitated for a second before asking, "Where is your brother?"
