ASK NASCH - HE LOVES BEDAZZLING

Hey! My name is Cookie. This is my writing blog and this is where I dump my fics. It's mainly Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal though. Enjoy your stay.

[hartadacarbs]

Stupid Cliché Romance

People really did seem to underestimate Thomas' intelligence, sometimes! He noticed when his older brother, Chris, was a little too giddy lately. Especially since Chris wasn't exactly the peppiest guy in the world. He also noticed Chris had quite a close friend. Kaito, wasn't it? He came over quite a lot, and Chris spoke about him constantly. Sure, one could've assumed Kaito was just a friend. Thomas, however, knew better. He was not that stupid. Thomas' first theory was that they were already dating. That would have certainly been overestimating Chris' ability to ask someone out. As if he could have been that open with his feelings! Besides, whenever Thomas saw the two of them together, everything seemed so platonic. There weren't any undertones of romantic feelings. ...ah, but when put like that, didn't it seem like Thomas was stalking them? Not that he did. He happened to have a life beyond them. The unrequited love was going on for long enough. Or was it unrequited? See, it was the little things Thomas wanted to know, and it was thanks to Chris' awkwardness that he wouldn't know. Well, Thomas was going to find out. He decided then that he was going to take matters into his own hands. When Kaito had left the Arclights' home, Chris was left in his room, finishing off the rest of his homework. He smiled to himself as he worked. To Thomas, it was kind of weird. Since when was Chris ever expressive? Whatever. It was amazing that there was a chance Kaito didn't know. Thomas knocked on the door. "Coming in," he said, fully opening the door and walking into his brother's room. It was way too need, and much neater than his own. He sat down on the edge of Chris' bed. The older brother sighed and turned around away from his desk to face Thomas. The smile was gone, only to be replaced with a small frown. Ah, see? This was more like the Chris he knew! He stared at his brother, squinting his eyes a little. "What is it, Thomas?" he asked. He already sounded annoyed. Chris needed to get that stick in his ass checked out. "So that guy came back here today, right?" Thomas smirked. Chris rolled his eyes. "Yes, Kaito came over again," Chris confirmed. "How long have you guys been a thing for?" The pencil Chris held in his hand snapped, a mix of embarrassment and surprise coming over him. He was quiet, trying to regroup his muddled thoughts. He averted his eyes for a moment, before putting the remaining stub of pencil he was still holding down and looking back at Thomas. "We're not." He struggled to stop his voice from cracking. "Huh," Thomas shrugged. "So your crush is one-sided." He watched Chris freeze in place for a second. He was terrible when it came to romance! He could tell by the look in those blue eyes that he was mentally panicking. It was kind of hilarious, actually. Chris gripped the back of his chair for support. Thomas was really trying so hard not to laugh at his flustered brother. "Could you please shut your mouth? You seem to have a problem with stupidity leakage," Chris spat. "The whole family knows you're gay, you know," Thomas said as he lied down on Chris' bed and propping himself up with the pillows, knowing that he hated it. But then again, there was so much that Chris didn't like that Thomas simply stopped caring. Chris looked like he was on the verge of exploding from sheer repressed embarrassment. Thomas couldn't help but snort a tiny bit. God, Chris was so see-through! It was kind of sad. Chris took a deep breath, trying to calm the rage that was slowly rising inside of him. In that moment, Thomas wished he had a camera. "Bisexuality exists." "It does if you're interested in women," Thomas snorted. "Are you?" He already knew the answer to that. Why did he bother asking, anyway? Chris opened his mouth, but closed it again. Instead, he stood up. "I'm getting a drink." "I knew it! I knew you liked that nerdy Japanese kid! You always go for the nerds." His victory lasted until a pencil hit his head. Oh no. He was so deeply hurt. Did Chris really think a pencil would do much damage? He had gotten what he needed - or, really, wanted - to know. While Chris was gone, Thomas left the room. It was time to set phase two into motion. Also, he wanted a snack. There was no way he could've planned anything if he was out of energy. It was simply common sense. Really, it was harder than Thomas thought to get Kaito by himself. He was usually hanging out with some of the younger students - usually some super hyperactive kid, really - or hanging out with Chris. Thomas liked to think he had enough tact to wait until Chris was somewhere else before telling his Chris that he liked him. Then again, it wasn't like Thomas was all that considerate. And at this rate, it wasn't like he was all that patient, either. But Thomas began to lose patience. He began to settle with waiting for Chris to be gone. Somehow, it had become harder to find Kaito without Chris. It was already hard enough to find Kaito without stepping into nerd territory, since Kaito wasn't in any of his classes. Thomas was going to find a way to tell Kaito, though. Even if he had to write a stupid note in Chris' handwriting to tell him. It wasn't like he couldn't, either; he had forged his father's signature and writing enough times. Chris' handwriting wasn't that difficult to emulate. Thomas was lucky. Or, well, in his mind, he was lucky. For the first lesson of the day, his teacher had sent him out to get some stupid book since he had forgotten his copy. Eh, at least he got to spend a couple of minutes out of class, so he wasn't going to complain too hard. He quite liked the walk from class to the library, seeing as it was from one end of the school to the other. As he grabbed the book from the shelf, he spotted something from between the books. There was a class using tables in the library to do some research project.. The class wasn't particularly large. None of them were his age, it seemed. But he noticed Kaito sitting alone and studying. And there was no Chris in sight. Excellent. "Kaito!" Thomas yelled. Kaito wanted to ignore him, he really, really did. He heard stories about Thomas from Chris. He was not a nice guy. But he seemed to be the persistent type. The best Kaito could do was talk to him and try to keep him quiet. Though, it did make Kaito wonder why Thomas was talking to him. He must've had things to do. "I'm working and in class, which is where you should be," Kaito said, tapping his book with his pen for emphasis. Thomas pointed at the book in his arms. "Had to take a book out. That's not important. I've gotta tell you something." Thomas was trying so hard not to smirk. "I'm busy," Kaito insisted, looking back down at his work. "Chris has a huge crush on you," Thomas said, as loudly as possible. Everyone stopped working to turn to look at the two of them. Kaito absolutely despised being in the spotlight. But there they were. The whole library had fallen completely silent, something one would have never heard in a school library. The atmosphere felt tense and heavy. "...what?" What else was Kaito supposed to say? "I'm done here. Direct all questions at my brother. Gotta go." Thomas turned on his heel and went to take out the book, smirking to himself. Chris was bound to thank him for this. Or bound to choke him. Either way, something was going to come from this. Chris would thank him on his wedding day, really. After all, silent crushes took such a huge toll! At lunch, Chris didn't suspect a thing. He was waiting for Kaito to come and sit with him, as per the usual daily routine. Then they would spend a little time talking about homework and their lives. Sometimes, they would trade food, as well, but not often. Chris was too picky and Kaito was hard to swap with. In general, though, their time together was nice. But he did realise he would have to tell Kaito about his feelings soon enough. It was just a matter of finding the right time. So many things could have gone wrong, but he could not let that discourage him. Kaito had a right to know, anyway. Plus, he was certain he would have found out one way or another. It would have been better coming out of his mouth. He just needed to find a way to tell him, as well. When Kaito sat down, he looked strangely pale. Chris frowned. Well, Kaito did just have science. Yet, even if something gruesome had been shown, it wasn't as if Kaito was particularly squeamish. "Kaito?" Chris asked softly. "Is something wrong?" He went to put a hand on Kaito's shoulder, but Kaito grabbed it, stopping him from putting his hand on it. "I properly met Thomas today." Chris was surprised. Why were they talking? Thomas never showed an interest in Chris' friends before. Then again, Thomas knew more than he should have. A sinking feeling hit Chris. Thomas had said something he shouldn't have. This couldn't have been happening. There had to be another reason. A lot of explanations ran through Chris' head. Maybe he just wanted to be stupid, or maybe he just wanted to bother Kaito. Then again, by the look on his face, Thomas had said something. He had to think of a way to back out of this, just in case it was exactly what he thought it was. His mind was running at a sluggish pace. He couldn't think of anything. He didn't even want to imagine the look was giving Kaito as he lost himself in thought and possibilities. "What did he want?" Chris asked. Kaito let go of Chris' hand, resting both of his hands in his lap. He seemed focused on his hands for a few moments, trying to find the words. Chris' mind was screaming, hoping that this was something completely irrelevant. Thinking about it, Chris was never lucky when it came to relationships of any kind. "He confirmed something I already kind of knew." Kaito looked at Chris in the eyes, his hands balling up into fists in his lap. "You have feelings for me." Chris choked on his own saliva. Thomas had told. And how did Kaito already know? Chris liked to think he was subtle. Memories flashed before his eyes, reminding him of times he spent with Kaito. There were times where he had attempted to subtly brush his hand against Kaito's, or the times he wanted to sit closer, or...he wanted the ground to swallow him up. It had been obvious from the start. Chris tucked a bit of hair behind his ear, giving a short, nervous laugh. "That's not—" "Don't lie to me." Kaito sounded so terribly serious. Chris was shaking, but he tried to hide it. He wanted to escape from this. He looked around the room for an opening to run from Kaito. Luckily for Thomas, he couldn't see him in the crowds, either. He didn't want to sit there and talk about this. Chris got up and slung his bag over his shoulder, gripping the strap. "I need to go, I'm sorry, Kaito," Chris said quickly, turning away. "Chris—" He shook his head. "No. I'm sorry," he repeated, before walking away. He was going to kill Thomas. How dare he meddle in affairs that were not his own? Not to mention how angry Kaito probably was thanks to all of this. Chris didn't know if he could even face him again after this. It was difficult being a teenager with a massive crush.

[hartadacarbs]

[Ficlet] Bro-Date

Thomas took a bite out of his churro, staring at items in a gift shop while Chris went to the bathroom. It was the older brother's idea; go to a theme park together for brother-brother bonding time. And it wasn't so bad, really. Chris wasn't that boring, and it was a theme park, so they spent half of it actually talking in queues, and the other half on rides. But it was still somewhat early in the day - things could've soon turned awry. As Thomas was admiring a stupid little keychain, he felt someone force something onto his head. He turned on his heels, ready to hit whoever it was. But it was only Chris and—what the hell did Chris have on his head? Thomas took off the thing his brother forced onto his head and looked at it. "We're not wearing matching hats. Jesus, people will think we're—" "Keep it on, it'll be cute," Chris insisted. For some reason, Thomas actually complied. Though he huffed the whole time, thanks to the stupid hat. But Chris either didn't notice, or simply did not care. Thomas kind of guessed it would've been the latter, though; his brother could be kind of a dick sometimes when it came to things he wanted. Chris bought every single picture of them on rides, despite the fact that they looked really, really silly with their hats. They looked sort of cute together, though. Thomas still argued they looked like a couple, and every time he brought that up, Chris would shush him. Not even the thought of an imaginary incestuous relationship with his younger brother would have deterred him from the stupid hats! But ignoring the stupid hats, it was actually pretty fun to just hang out with Chris. He really wasn't as boring as Thomas thought. That was something he was sure to keep to himself. Still, he dug his heels the entire day due to the hats. Chris probably saw through the act, especially with that small smile he kept giving Thomas. By the end of the day, the two of them could have honestly said they were satisfied. Chris had finally gotten a little closer to his brother after so long, and Thomas wasn't so neutral about Chris anymore. It was kind of nice. Of course, the first thing Chris did when they got home was show everyone the photos of them in the theme park. The first thing Thomas did was groan and removed the hat, stomping off to his room. He didn't want to hang around with them giggling at the stupid photos of the two brothers. Once in his room, Thomas pulled out a box from under his bed filled with stuff from his childhood, and gently placed the stupid hat inside. He figured the least he could do was keep it somewhere safe. He quickly shoved it back under his bed and sat on his bed, sighing. Today was a good day.

[hartadacarbs]

[Friendaversary present] Ficlet - Mihael's birthday

Birthdays for Mihael at the orphanage - and Thomas, but it wasn't his birthday today - meant a couple of things. For one, it meant he would get cake and a couple of dumb presents. As well as this, Thomas would give him something and actually pay attention to him, which was rare. But there was one thing he was looking forward to the most, and he had even ditched his small party for it. He took the largest, still wrapped present and scuttled off to his room. Mihael sat on his bed and waited for a little while, fiddling with the pink wrapping paper on the present. Of course he knew what colour wrapping paper it had to be wrapped in. Finally, the familiar sound of a Skype call sounded, and it took half a second for the overly excited Mihael to answer. "Good afternoon, Mihael. ...it is still afternoon, isn't it?" It was Chris! It was a shame that he would miss another one of Mihael's birthdays, but he got it. Chris was busy, and he lived halfway across the world, and... And, well, Mihael really missed his oldest brother. But he would see him soon enough. Chris had dark bags under his eyes, and Mihael swore his eyes would shut any minute, but he was still smiling like he had always remembered. That didn't stop him from worrying. "Brother, have you slept?" he asked. "Yes, of course, I've just..." 'I've just been busy looking for Father'. Mihael knew this. Chris combed his fingers through his hair. He knew that meant he was tired - either literally or he was just annoyed with something - and he knew that, if Chris was here, he would have shoved him to bed. But he couldn't. Mihael said nothing. He knew what reaction he would get if he accused Chris of being tired. "You should open your present," Chris said, gesturing to Mihael. He nodded. He ripped off the packaging and revealed a box. Pouting, he ripped the tape off the box and looked inside. Inside the large box was a few individually-protected cards, some money, and a birthday card. "Brother!" Mihael looked back up at the screen, only to see Chris laughing softly. "I'm sorry; it was too tempting. But look at the cards," he said. Mihael reached inside the box and pulled out the cards. "OOPArts?" he asked. Chris nodded. "Thank you!" Just as Chris opened his mouth to say something, someone barged into the room. They looked over at the screen, pulling an odd face, before looking back at Chris. They spoke back and forth in Japanese, and Mihael hear something about Kaito, who he had heard so much about from Chris. Finally, the person left and Chris sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll call you again tomorrow," he promised, before hanging up. Mihael knew he probably wouldn't, since Chris was so busy, but he still couldn't help but hope he would.

[hartadacarbs]

Ficlet - Treats

There were very few times IV was ever nice to his younger brother. In fact, a lot of the time, III was rudely shoved away in favour of more 'fun' and 'cooler' things. These were two things IV felt like his brother was not.  And so, any displays of affection were rare. Because of this, whenever IV did happen to throw him a bone, III would always jump at the chance. Though it never really lasted all that long, it didn't matter. III liked spending time with his brother. After all, it was rare that IV was free. So, to him, it was okay. That was why it was such a surprise when, while III was enjoying a nice book, his coat got thrown quite hard at his head. He pulled it off, pouting a little and looked around, only to find IV zipping up his own coat. Once he noticed III wasn't putting on his coat, he rolled his eyes. "C'mon, we're going to get ice cream," IV said. Although confused, III put on his coat. "But it's almost time for dinner, and—" "Okay. I can go without you, you know." IV turned to the door. III, of course, was quick to rush to his side. "Ah, well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to come with you. I mean, someone's got to make sure you don't eat too much ice cream before dinner," he said. "Yeah, whatever makes you feel less guilty about disobeying the rules." IV shoved his hands in his pocket, quiet. He never really did say much when they spent time together. But that was okay, because III spoke enough for the both of them. IV would sometimes listen, but for the most part, he nodded along, not quite there. He didn't know if III was aware he wasn't listening, but he had a feeling that, even if he did know, he wouldn't have stopped. Once they had gotten their ice cream - III had one scoop and IV had two, which would have been three had III not given him that look, the one that meant 'you will be in so much trouble' - they sat by the nearest bench. Perhaps III felt guilty about spoiling his dinner, but he rationalised it with excuses about how much he wanted to hang out with his brother and other flimsy excuses. It was okay, though; III could stop trying to rationalise it. After one lick, his single scoop of ice cream fell to the floor with a splat and, in shock, he simply stared at it. Oh. So he didn't have any more ice cream. At least he still had the cone. But when he looked back at it, there was another scoop of ice cream. Sure, it looked like it had been pre-licked, but it wasn't too licked. He looked over at IV, who looked pretty content, despite missing a scoop of ice cream. III smiled. "What's that look for?" IV asked. "Hm? Nothing," III replied, licking the scoop. "I only did it so you wouldn't complain, so don't you dare," IV said. III knew his brother, though. One really had to know how to dig through the dirt to find the good parts about IV. And his kindness, however rare, was one of the good parts about him.

[hartadacarbs]

Fillathon - Flower Queen

For the first time since the Barians had decided to remain in Heartland City, the weather was nice. It was warm enough to sit outside in the park without fear of rain, at least, and that was good enough for Rio, who dragged an unsuspecting Durbe to the park. Not that he minded, really; the sun felt nice. Though, he did have to apply a lot of sunscreen. He wasn't sure how easily he tanned or burnt. No chances would be taken. Rio and Durbe sat under a tree in the shade, leaning against the bark. They didn't really talk. They didn't feel the need to, really. There was no need to fill the gaps with awkward conversation. They were content just people-watching together for the moment. Rio glanced over at Durbe, and an idea popped into her head. She rose from the floor and ignored Durbe when she asked what she was doing. With a smile, she approached some daisies and began to gently pick them from the ground. She occasionally looked back at Durbe, before looking back at her flowers she had collected. Once she felt like she had enough, she went back to Durbe and sat next to him once more. "Merag—" "Shh, I'm doing something," she said, putting a finger on his lips. Quietly, he watched her work. She weaved the flowers together, humming to herself as she did. Durbe didn't take his eyes off her hands, entranced, fascinated and, ultimately, curious. He didn't notice her constantly looking back at his head, before going back to her work. Rio created a sort of ring with the flowers. She smiled down at her work and held it up in her hands before turning to Durbe. When she moved closer with the flowers in her hand, Durbe scooted back. When she tried again, he moved back again. Rio pouted. "Don't move!" She tried for a third time, and Durbe tried not to move, despite the fact that this was making him very, very uncomfortable. He closed his eyes and he felt something on his head. After a few seconds of nothing, he cautiously opened his eyes. Rio was giving him an odd look, and she was no longer holding the flowers. Hesitantly, Durbe reached up to the top of his head and, as expected, the ring of flowers was on it. "It's a flower crown," Rio told him. A crown? Made out of flowers? Surely it would have been more suitable for Rio to wear a crown, and not him. But if he tried to take it off, she frowned at him. So instead, he got up in search of his own flowers. He must make a crown for the Barian Queen, even though she was no longer a queen on Earth. It didn't matter to him. Those were only minor details. Durbe found a bed of flowers, where beautiful yellow flowers grew. Perfect. He picked the flowers, not sure how many he would need, and picked quite a few. With the flowers in his hand, he went back to Rio and sat down, before staring down at them. He had no idea how to do this. He tried copying Rio's actions from before, but it wasn't going well. In fact, it was looking like a shoddy mess, but he was going to keep trying anyway. A queen needed a crown. Durbe could feel her gaze piercing through the skin of his hands. He could do this. Sort of. By the time he was done, he was just holding a mess of flowers and ripped stems, and it was embarrassing. Durbe could not present her with this. He would just have to try again, and get it right. Before Durbe could get up to gather more flowers, Rio leaned forward a little bit, bowing her head. Maybe this was his cue. Pushing his luck, he placed the crown on her head. Once it was on, she leaned back again. "Thank you, Durbe." She pressed a tiny kiss on his cheek in gratitude. And for the hundredth time, Durbe was rendered speechless. He would never get women. 

[hartadacarbs]

Ficlet - Two Kids and a Nightmare

Going shopping alone was pain enough for poor Durbe. But when he had to take his two sons, Alit and Vector, with him, it was even less fun. He kept his focus on the shopping list, trying to ignore the two boys' constant whines. "Dad, Vector said he's gonna kill me!" "Dad, Alit's lying again!" "Dad, Vector took my candy!" "Dad, Alit's being a jerk!" "Dad!" "Dad!" "Dad!" Durbe had the uncanny ability to ignore them, and to tell when they were up to something. He would pull Vector away from the candy section, and he would have to make Alit drop the bag of chips he was clinging to. He was used to this, but it was still such a pain. Eventually, the boys would quiet down if Durbe largely ignored them. He breathed a sigh of relief when the bickering quietened down to occasional muttered comments. But this time, it was just silence. He took a moment to enjoy the peace, before finally realising. His sons had run off. Again. He abandoned the cart for a moment to go and find them. It wouldn't take long to find them, he was certain. He rushed through aisles, listening out for his sons, but they were silent. No sniggering, or laughing, or loud talking. Durbe couldn't find them. Thoughts rushed into his mind. What if they had been kidnapped? What if they ran out of the store and ended up ran over by a car or— "Excuse me." Someone placed their hand on the panicked Durbe's shoulder, startling him. He turned around to face them. They were a youngish man, possibly around his age, with long blond hair. They seemed friendly enough. "Are these two boys yours?" He stepped to the side to reveal two boys huddled together, sniggering. But once they looked up and saw Durbe, they froze. He frowned down at them. Alit bowed his head in shame, but Vector kept on laughing to himself. The older brother was such a terrible influence on the poor younger one. "Yes, they are, thank you," Durbe said. The two boys awkwardly shuffled to stand next to their father. It was quiet for a few moments. "You're pretty," Alit piped up. "Alit, don't be weird." Vector whacked his brother on the arm, making him huff. "Ah, so." Durbe readjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. "Thank you very much for finding them," he said again. "It was nothing," the other man said. He turned back to his own cart. "My name is Mizael. Perhaps we'll meet again someday." With that, Mizael left. He was weirdly mysterious, and weirdly attractive. Alit and Vector tugged on their dazed father's shirt, whining about wanting dinner. Durbe snapped back to reality. He shouldn't have thought of strangers like that. With the other two in tow, he finished the shopping. A part of him wished he could have gotten to know Mizael a little better. -- A couple of weeks later, the weather was nice. This meant Alit and Vector were begging their father for a trip to the park. Durbe figured that, if they released their pent-up energy at the park, nothing at home would be broken. And they would have slept well that night. So Durbe agreed. He sat on the bench as he watched the two boys play on the swings and the jungle gym, making sure Vector didn't hurt Alit. Again. That boy could have been so spiteful. Maybe he would grow out of it eventually. "It's nice seeing you again." Durbe jumped in his seat at the sudden voice. He readjusted his glasses and glanced over at the stranger. He recognised this stranger, though, vaguely. It was that mysterious man from the store. Mizael? That sounded about right. "Durbe," he blurted out. Mizael looked at him, confused. "That's my name. I'm Durbe. I don't think I told you last time." Mizael still seemed friendly enough. He was leaning over the back of the bench, talking to Durbe. Eventually, he decided he would be staying long enough to sit down next to Durbe. They sat close enough to each other for their knees to touch. The two of them talked for a while, sitting together on the bench. Durbe honestly couldn't remember what they were talking about. All he could remember was how nice a smile Mizael had, and how pleasant his laugh was. Maybe he had a little crush. Maybe. But he wasn't going to say anything about it. His sons, however, had other plans. "It's that guy again!" Vector shouted. "Is he gonna be our new dad?" Alit asked loudly. Durbe immediately apologised for their rude outburst. Kids could be so intrusive and rude and they had strange ideas. Surely Mizael would have understood. Mizael didn't say anything. Instead, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out of it. He grabbed Durbe's wrist. This caused him to panic for a moment, and he tried to break free of the grip. Yet there was something gentle about the way Mizael was holding his wrist. Once Durbe stopped struggling, Mizael pulled up Durbe's sleeve. The object in his hand was clearly a pen. He wrote a number on his arm, before clicking his pen shut and getting up. "I'll see you around, Durbe," he said, before walking away. If there was any way Durbe's face could be any hotter at that point, he didn't want to know about it. He looked over at his sons, who had been watching the scene in silence and wonder. He swore he saw sparkles in their eyes. He rolled down his sleeves and waved them off to go back to playing. Durbe would try that number later.

[hartadacarbs]

Ficlet - Winter

Durbe stopped by often at the Kamishiro home. Sometimes he was there to visit Ryouga - that was becoming less and less common - but usually he was there to visit Rio. Though they would go into her room, it was innocent. They were just friends. The only 'doing' they did was homework. That wasn't to say that Ryouga didn't check to make sure they kept it PG, but he kept that part to himself. The winter holidays were fast approaching, which meant a ton of homework. This also meant Durbe was hanging out more with Rio to do said ton of homework. For the most part, it was uneventful; they did homework, they hung out a little bit, and then eventually Durbe went home. But one time was different. Desperate to go home before another snowstorm hit, Durbe dashed out of the Kamishiro home once the homework was completed, accidentally leaving a few things behind. One of them was hanging on the back of Rio's chair in her room; his scarf. Rio didn't really feel like making a trip to return it to him. It wasn't like he didn't have four other scarves that looked exactly the same. She would just have to return it to him the next day at school. The next day, before school, Rio looked over at the scarf that was still sitting on the back of her chair. It was a little cold outside. Not too cold, but it was certainly scarf-wearing weather. Well, it wouldn't have mattered if she wore it just this once, right? Of course not. They were friends. She gently wrapped the soft fabric around her neck, almost burying her face in it. It felt really nice, and it smelt really nice. The scarf smelt like a pleasant mix of coffee and new books to her, but that was probably because it belonged to Durbe. He was such a nerd, but he was a likeable one at least. When Rio left her room to go to school with her brother, she ignored the looks that Ryouga gave to her scarf. They both knew damn well that belonged to Durbe, but perhaps he was trying not to overreact for once. Or he has already assumed Durbe and Rio were dating, and he was silently planning to kill him after school. Whatever. She was just wearing his scarf. It wasn't like she was making out with him after school every day, anyway. She shared her first class with Durbe, meaning she would be sitting with him. Even though Rio knew he saw her wearing the scarf, he said nothing. Not once during the whole hour of the class did Durbe even mention the scarf. In his defence, it was early in the morning, and he probably barely knew what his name was, let alone realise that she was wearing his scarf. After the lesson, Durbe and Rio walked part of the way together to their next lesson. Right before they were supposed to part ways, she stopped to unwrap the scarf from her neck and hand it to him. "You left this at my house yesterday. I thought you'd want it back, so here," she said, offering the green scarf to him. For a moment he said nothing, staring at the scarf. "You can keep it. It's...it's cold outside, you'll need it," Durbe said before scuttling off to the direction he needed to go. Rio swore he walked a little faster than usual. Oh well. She placed it back on her neck, feeling the nice fabric against her skin. It wasn't like she wanted to give it back, anyway.

[hartadacarbs]

Ficlet - Project: Date

For the past few weeks, all Kaito ever heard from Chris was 'Droite this', and 'Droite that'. And he really, really wanted to shove something in his mouth to make him stop talking. Kaito had the never-ending pleasure of sharing most classes with Chris, and for most of said classes, he sat with Chris. And if he didn't have a class with Chris or didn't sit with him, Chris would be sitting with Droite. It was sort of painful, actually; did she know about his feelings? He was pretty normal around her, but the moment she was out of sight, Chris would be very, very creepy. Chris had been asked before why he didn't just as her out instead of secretly and creepily pining for her. Firstly, he was way too low on the social ladder for that - he wasn't ugly, but he hung out with a total nerd, which bumped him down a few ranks. Secondly, a girl like that certainly had a boyfriend. Thirdly, her best friend Gauche would surely knock him out if he even tried to talk to her. But that didn't mean Kaito was slowly losing patience with Chris. Oh well, he had a plan anyway. Even if it didn't go the way he wanted it to, at least it might make Chris stop talking. Or it could make it worse. He was willing to risk it. Chris was told to wait in the school library for Kaito, by the science section. But Kaito was a little late, and Chris was quickly running low on patience. It was rare that Kaito was late for anything. It wasn't like he was ever held back for bad behaviour. Chris looked down at his watch. He would give Kaito five more minutes before-- "Hello." He jumped a little, before turning around. What he was expecting was Kaito. Instead, he was faced with Droite. In that moment, he realised what Kaito had planned, and Chris was going to kill him. He cleared his throat and pushed away all of the teenage hormones and feelings. Not right now. He didn't need this. "Hello, Droite," he greeted with a kind smile. Secretly, he just wanted to escape to choke the life out of Kaito for this. "Kaito said you wanted to ask me something," she said. Her eyes felt like they were staring into Chris' soul, silently judging him. "That's...that's right." Dammit. He needed a lie. He couldn't ask her out now, it wasn't right. He looked around for a second. Science books. Perfect. "Would you like to work on the science project together?" he asked. She didn't say anything. Instead, Droite reached into her bag and ripped out a small piece of paper from one of her books. She pulled out a pen and wrote something down on it, handing it over to him. "I'd love to. Call me on this number, and we can arrange something. I'll see you later," she said, before leaving. Chris stood there for a minute, staring at the number. This was the number of a cute girl. He held in his hand the number of a really cute girl, and her best friend (probably) wouldn't kill him for having it. Things were finally going his way! ...he was still going to kill Kaito, though.

[hartadacarbs]

Ficlet - Piano

"Don't laugh," Thomas warned his older brother. Chris cocked his head curiously. "Why would I?" "Because it's dumb and I feel dumb," he mumbled. Thomas had led his older brother into the music room, determined to show him what he had learnt in his piano classes. After all, he took them to impress him. But he kept that part a secret. He was sitting on the little stool in front of the piano, staring at his brother. His hands held onto the seat, gripping it as hard as his little hands could. Chris grabbed a chair and sat down, gesturing at Thomas to start whenever he was ready. He stared hard at the black and white keys, every single lesson leaving his head. This wasn't what he had planned at all. He looked up at the sheet, which may as well have been written in a long-dead and long-lost language for all of the good it did to him. He gulped. Thomas' mouth was dry as he placed his fingers on the keys he thought were correct. Taking a deep breath, he pressed on what was the correct key. Instead, a horrible sound came out instead, and he knew Chris would be frowning at him. But Thomas could certainly rectify his error! He kept trying to get his fingers on the correct keys, but the nerves had truly gotten to him. Once his fingers were on the correct keys, he could still try to recover. Thomas' shaking fingers barely cooperated as he moved them to press the correct keys, his eyes focused on the sheet music, praying that he wouldn't mess it up. His fingers accidentally hit the wrong keys on occasion, and he messed up the tempo, but he was trying. He tried to ignore the tears of shame pricking at the corners of his eyes, because he had to finish the song, no matter how embarrassed and nervous and upset he was. When it was finally over, he hung his head in shame and sniffled. Thomas was being a baby, but it wasn't fair. The hours he spent practicing had all gone away because of stupid nerves. He kicked his legs, wiping his eyes. He was being dumb, and Chris was going to yell at him for not doing that well and being disappointing. This was a dumb idea and he knew it. "Thomas," a gentle voice said. "Thomas, please look at me." He looked, and saw his brother looking back at him, kneeling and smiling kindly at him. Chris placed his hands on his cheeks and wiped away the gross tears that were obscuring his vision. Wasn't he going to yell at him? "There's no reason to be so sad. It was lovely, I promise," Chris assured him. Thomas sniffled. "You sure?" "Of course. With a little more practice, it'll be perfect," Chris nodded. "Do you want to get a snack? I think you deserve it." Thomas nodded and got off of the seat. Maybe for once, Chris would let him have some ice cream as a snack.

[hartadacarbs]

Ficlet - Crystal Caravan

This year, Mizael and Alit were alone in the caravan, deciding they were strong enough to go alone. There was no need for the dead weight or a waste of resources. So the others stayed at their home town. Besides, with just two of them, it meant there were less people to look out for, instead of four. They had made camp for the night, taking turns to keep watch; mainly to keep thieves at bay. Mizael was up first, keeping his racket nearby just in case something attacked. Alit was inside of the caravan, sleeping peacefully. At least Mizael wasn't tired for now, leaving him alert. He heard a noise from behind. Without a moment of hesitation, he reached for his racket and stood, turning around on his heels. It was only Alit, though. With a hissed sigh, he sat back down and made himself comfortable by the fire again. Alit sat down next to him, grinning sleepily. "What?" he asked, looking at Alit from the corner of his eye. The other just laughed a little. "Can't sleep, I guess. It's been a while since we've been out here, and it kinda sucks sleeping alone," Alit shrugged. "You should sleep," Mizael said. "Yeah, yeah, I will." Instead of returning inside of the caravan, Alit made himself comfortable with Mizael. He leaned his head on his shoulder, sighing contently, before closing his eyes. To his surprise, he wasn't shoved off. So he nuzzled closer, letting himself drift off to sleep on Mizael's shoulder. Once Mizael was certain that the other overly boisterous selkie was asleep, he relaxed a little bit. He seemed pretty peaceful when asleep, which was rare for Alit. Mizael reached up and grabbed a strand of Alit's hair, twirling it idly in his fingers. He listened to the stupid little things he mumbled in his sleep, and he didn't really mind too much for the moment that Alit was drooling on him a little bit. It meant he was quiet for once. And he was sort of cute like this. Not that he would say that out loud, of course. Mizael didn't disturb Alit. The hours flew by what felt like half an hour. By the time Mizael was paying attention, the sun had already risen, and by all that was holy, was he tired! He wasn't going to tell Alit, though. He probably needed the sleep more, anyway. Mizael could live, maybe.

[hartadacarbs]

Hardly Working

Chris and Kaito had been building the portal to the Astral World without much rest. Kaito had enough of watching Chris yawning incessantly and constantly taking a swig of coffee just to stay awake for an extra five minutes. Finally, he forced Chris to just go and rest for a little while; he wouldn't be useful when he was half-awake. Sleepily, he complied, and left Kaito alone to go and rest. Half an hour passed quite quickly after that. Kaito kept himself occupied with the portal, but then his mind began to wander. He fiddled with the coin he had snatched from Yuma, lost in thought and unable to focus. Chris wasn't there to nudge him to get back to work, and Kaito was also feeling sleep-deprived. But he was pushing himself. There was no denying the fact that the stress was honestly getting to him. His mind and body craved relaxation, rest and release. Yet he knew that he couldn't have just stopped now. Could he? Kaito looked over at Orbital. He would have noticed if his master left, so he couldn't leave suddenly. "Orbital, I'll be back in a few minutes," he announced, before turning away and leaving. "Roger!" the robot replied, before going back to work. Kaito walked back into the craft they had arrived in to go and find his room. He would have only needed a few minutes to do what he had to do. On his way, he noticed the door to Chris' room was half-open. Rolling his eyes, Kaito reached in to close it, but once he caught a glimpse of Chris, he paused. It was warm inside, warm enough for Chris to have decided to discard most clothing other than his underwear. He was snoring softly, his bare chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm. In the light of the hallway, Chris looked so beautiful. Kaito caught himself staring, yet didn't stop staring. Instead, his mind wandered further. Chris was a heavy sleeper usually; this was something Kaito learnt from the time they had spent together when they were younger. So it wouldn't have been so bad if Kaito came in to watch him for a little bit. It didn't matter what he did as long as Chris didn't wake up, really. This was how Kaito's tired and stressed mind rationalised this. He entered the room and closed the door behind him. The light from the outside shone through the windows, meaning Kaito wasn't totally blinded. He sat down on the bed beside Chris, watching him. The older man didn't react, still asleep. Kaito brushed some of his hair out of his face. It would have been okay if Kaito pecked him on the lips, right? He leaned in, gently brushing his lips against Chris'. There was still no reaction from the sleeping male. Kaito carefully pulled the blanket off of Chris, who groaned this time and rolled over, but otherwise did nothing to stop him. He took in the sight of his former mentor, wearing nothing but his underwear and sleeping soundly. Kaito couldn't really stop himself anymore. He gently pushed Chris to make him lie down on his back again and traced a hand down Chris' chest. It wasn't exactly impressive, since Chris wasn't the exercising type, but Kaito was still fascinated. He took a sharp breath as he lowered his hand down to his stomach, and stopped at the top of Chris' underwear. He scanned Chris' face for some sort of reaction, but there was nothing. He was still asleep. It was safe. Kaito slipped his hand into the other's underwear, flinching when his fingers touched something. Oh God. He could have stopped himself, but he really didn't have the will to try. Chris looked so attractive, and he would have been lying if he said he hadn't been lusting after him for so long. He wasn't going to stop now. His fingers curled around Chris' length and pulled it out of the confines of his underwear. For a few moments, he stared at it, brushing his thumb against the underside. Kaito heard him moan quietly, and he could feel his leggings tightening a little bit. He looked up at Chris. Still asleep. Good. He let go of Chris for a few moments to wiggle out of the leggings and his underwear, letting them drop to the floor. He could take care of them later. His mind was completely gone at this point. Without thinking, he straddled Chris' hips, gripping his dick once again. Heat rose to his cheeks as the reality sunk in; he was finally getting what he wanted for so long. He began to stroke the slowly-hardening dick, closing his eyes to truly savour the quiet little sleepy moans coming from Chris. He felt shuffling underneath him, and one word was enough to pull him out of his trance. "Kaito?" His eyes shot open to see Chris looking up at him, horror and confusion clear in his deep blue eyes. Oh no. God, no. Kaito didn't want this to happen. With his free hand, he covered Chris' mouth. "Shh. It's going to be okay, don't scream, don't shout," Kaito whispered. That was certainly not enough for Chris. He thrashed underneath him, trying to push him off. But Kaito had the advantage; he was wide awake and very turned on and desperate. He grabbed the pair of leggings and his underwear off of the floor and grabbed both of Chris' wrists with a lot of struggling. Finally, he wrapped the leggings around his wrists and tied them together over his head. However, that didn't make Chris stop trying to call Orbital for help. There was always a solution. Kaito bunched up his own underwear and shoved it into Chris' mouth, muffling the shouting and screaming. Kaito had gone too far, and he was fully aware of that. Instead of stopping, he thought that he should have at least reached the level of totally disgusting. He moved himself off of his former mentor hooked his thumbs into the waistband of Chris' underwear and pulled them off completely, which was met with more muffled yelling and thrashing and pleas Kaito could not hear. With shaky hands, he pulled Chris' legs apart and placed himself in between them before Chris could manage to close them again. Realisation that there was no lubricant anywhere sunk in, but Kaito completely shrugged it off. It didn't matter anymore. Chris was already hurt emotionally; physical pain couldn't compare to that. He lined himself up against Chris' entrance, which only made Chris squirm and try to cry out even more. They were both desperate, it seemed, but for different reasons. He looked up at Kaito, trying to plead with his eyes, but he was only met with lifeless silver eyes. There was no way to get him to stop. Without any warning, Kaito forced himself inside as deep as possible, burying his face in the crook of Chris' neck. Chris closed his eyes and pretended this wasn't happening, trying to imagine away the pain of the painful, quick thrusts. His eyes were squeezed shut as Kaito moaned and whispered "I love you" over and over again into his ear. He just wanted it to stop. He tried to stop the tears from falling, but everything hurt far too much. Chris felt so nice wrapped around Kaito. He was completely lost in the pleasure of the moment, thrusting as quickly and as deeply as he could into Chris. He chose to ignore the shaking from the man underneath him, because he didn't care anyway. It felt like this moment lasted forever for both of them. With a final, long moan of Chris' name, Kaito pulled himself out and let himself release onto Chris' chest. He sat there for a moment, silent and out of breath, as the reality had sunken in. Quickly, he got off of the bed, taking in the scene before him. Chris was tied up on a bed and gagged, with tears running down his face. He wasn't moving; he was probably too shocked to move. Kaito didn't know what to do. He untied Chris and bolted out of the room in shame. He didn't want to stay, he didn't want any questions, because he had no idea what had just happened. Kaito felt disgusting. He was disgusting. What the hell was wrong with him?

[hartadacarbs]

Ficlet - :)

IV's room was silent. IV and III were sitting on his bed. III looked down at his hands, which were folded neatly on his lap, his face pinker than his hair. He couldn't bring himself to look at his older brother. IV didn't look at him either. He sighed, combing a hand through his scruffy hair. "III, just say what you want," IV said. III shook his head, still looking down at his hands. He glanced over at his brother when he wasn't looking, before looking straight back down at his lap. He could sense the impatience coming from his brother and he could hear it in the short sighs and hisses as seconds ticked away. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, and another, and another, until he could feel the heat leave his cheeks and he could feel the dizziness and queasiness leave his body. He unfolded his hands and looked at his brother in the eyes, and tried to ignore the returning feelings. "I..." he started, balling his hands into fists. "I want nii-sama to touch me in a naughty place!" He smiled awkwardly, but inside, he was proud. He could finally say what he wanted. IV's face was blank, before seemingly trying to hold back a snigger. He grabbed III's hands in his own, straining himself to not grin or laugh. "Okay. I'm gonna go and pee, and then I'll—" he sniggered. IV released one of III's hands to hide the growing grin. "I'll touch you in a naughty place." IV rose to his feet and rushed out of the room, leaving III to pout on the bed. His brother was a total jerk, but if he said that wasn't part of the charm, then III would have been lying.

[hartadacarbs]

Ficlet - Date Day

It was just a typical slow Saturday afternoon, and Ryouga had no plans. Really, it had been so long since he had spent an afternoon with Rio, but she had been hiding in her room for an hour or so. Whatever. Not like Ryouga cared that much, anyway. Instead, he idly flicked through the channels on the television. Of course, nothing was on. Not yet, anyway. He groaned and flicked to some rerun of a duel tournament he had already seen. It was better than nothing. A knock of the door pulled him out of his bored trance. Ryouga hopped to his feet and went to the door. It was Durbe. He was holding something behind him, and his cheeks darkened a little when he saw Ryouga. "What are you doing? I thought you had plans today," Ryouga asked. Though Durbe never really elaborated on his place, Ryouga sort of assumed it would be something like studying. So really, it would have been something boring. Durbe cleared his throat, trying to buy himself some time before replying. "I do. I—" "Ryouga!" Rio called from the top of the stairs. "Is that Durbe?" "Yeah. So what?" Ryouga shouted back. She didn't reply. Instead, she thundered downstairs, holding a pair of shoes that she didn't have the time to put on. Once she reached the bottom, she slipped them onto her feet and approached the door, where an irritated Ryouga and a deer-caught-in-headlights-looking Durbe were standing. She shoved her older twin away, because this was none of his business. Once Ryouga was at a safe distance - she had shoved him in the living room, but like hell was he going to pass up the opportunity of snooping - Durbe decided it was time to commence the wooing of his best friend's sister. He pulled flowers from behind his back, and Ryouga's face shifted from one of irritation to horror. "This is your plan?" Ryouga asked. Rio turned to him, with a hand on her hip. "And flowers? Where did you think that was a good idea? It's so cliché." "Oh yeah, Mister Romantic? Durbe would've asked your girlfriend, but hands don't talk," Rio replied, before turning back around and accepting the flowers and placing a kiss on his cheek. Rio went to put the flowers in a vase and, on the way, flicked Ryouga in the nose. Her brother was an idiot! But this left Ryouga and Durbe alone. There was silence. Neither of them really looked at each other. Durbe shuffled his feet. He should have told Ryouga, but there was certainly no easy way of saying 'hey best friend, I'm dating your twin sister!'. That sounded sort of...off to Durbe. Rio came back, breaking the silence. She wished her brother a good day, before grabbing Durbe's hand and leaving the house, leaving Ryouga with no opening for commentary. It was none of his business. Ryouga went back to the television. He was alone again. Not that he cared. They could have gone on their dumb date or whatever. But if Durbe ever hurt Rio, Ryouga was certain he would kick his nerdy ass.

[hartadacarbs]

Ficlet - Don't Wig Out

For a while, Yuma had been pestering Chris with the same question - "Can I brush your hair, Chris?". Every single time he had asked, it was always a candid 'no'. For a moment, Yuma would deflate, before puffing right back up. One day, Chris would have to say yes! Which meant Yuma would just have to keep pestering him. At some points, he would make himself comfortable on Chris' lap and pout, not moving until Chris would accept. And it was impossible to peel him off; the second his tiny yet strong arms were wrapped around him, there was no way he would come off without waiting for him to fall asleep. It would usually take about an hour of him sitting there before he would fall asleep, which meant Chris could easily peel him off. But one day, Yuma had come over to the Arclight household as he normally did. Chris greeted him at the door with a sort of unusual smile, and Yuma didn't trust him at all. Despite a bunch of questions, Chris led him silently to the living room. The moment Yuma stepped foot inside of the room, all of the questions stopped. On the coffee table was a brush, along with different pins and hair accessories. Really, it was the teenage girls' dream, and Yuma was looking at it. He looked over at Chris. There was no way this meant what he was hoping it did. But it didn't hurt to try to ask. "I can use this stuff on you?" Yuma asked, amazed. "Of course. Use whatever you want," Chris said, before sitting down on the sofa. Yuma stood in place for a moment, too excited to move. Once the shock had settled, he rushed over to sit behind Chris, who was waiting patiently for him. A lot of young teenagers around Yuma's age would have been excited over the thought of sleeping with their attractive partners. As for Yuma, he was excited to be putting all of these cool pins in his attractive boyfriend's hair. He picked up the brush and very carefully brushed out the knots from Chris' hair. It was so soft to touch, like a fluffy blanket. He wanted to wrap himself up in it. He looked over at what Chris was doing, and he was reading peacefully. Maybe he could have just... "Don't," Chris said. Yuma wasn't exactly sure what Chris was saying that at, but it was better not to make him mad. He decided against wrapping himself up in the softness of Chris' hair. Once he had done brushing it, Yuma took his time to braid his hair, being careful not to do too badly. He hadn't braided hair in a while - Akari always said she was too busy to let him do it to her. But at least it didn't look too terrible when he was braiding Chris' hair. Or, to him, it didn't look bad. He reached over and grabbed the pins and clips in bunches, not really sure what he grabbed. There were all sorts of clips of all different colours, but Yuma decided he should have gone for a theme; pink and blue. With that in mind, he began separating the accessories into two piles of the colours he didn't want and the colours he did want. Admittedly, with the amount of hair Chris had, Yuma went a little insane with the accessories. The once-neat - well, neat to an extent - braid had been ruined with as many accessories and pins Yuma could fit on. At last, his masterpiece was completed, and he demanded that Chris had to admire it right then and there. There was a silence as Chris stared at the pink and blue things in the messy braid Yuma had created. Yuma's heart sank as he realised Chris probably wouldn't have liked it. His hair was always neat and perfect, but Yuma probably got too carried away. Chris cupped Yuma's cheeks with both hands, holding his face still to place a quick little peck on his lips. He didn't let go of his cheeks, and watched the blood rise to his face. He could feel the warmth in the palm of his hands. "Thank you, Yuma," he said. Yuma quickly batted his hands away, huffing. "I-it was nothing, really," he said, looking away. But it really did mean a lot to Yuma that Chris didn't absolutely hate it. Not that he would have told him that, of course. 

[hartadacarbs]

Ficlet - Ouch!

For the first time in a while, the weather was warm. Or, at least, it was warm enough for Thomas and Mihael to hop on their big brother excitedly, begging to be let outside like happy puppies. When Chris got with his book to open the door, the other two followed behind him, grinning. The moment the door was opened, the two of them shot past Chris at the speed of Olympic sprinters. The eldest brother couldn't hold back a small smile, and took a seat outside with his book. It wasn't all that warm, but he felt like he couldn't have left them alone outside. It was relatively peaceful, at least. Chris did have to keep looking up to make sure they were both fine, and he occasionally had to tell Thomas off; he was either hurting Mihael, or he was about to hurt himself. Thomas listened, but not without sticking out his tongue. Thomas didn't want to be punished, anyway. He wanted to play outside, for once. But Chris wasn't always paying attention. In the middle of reading a sentence, he heard a loud thud. Without hesitating, he put down the book and looked up, finding Thomas face-first on the ground. Chris shot up and rushed to his brother, who was sniffling a little bit. "Go away, m'sleepin'," he muttered into the ground. Chris wasn't going to leave. Instead, he helped Thomas up, who immediately covered his face. He inspected his little brother, and noticed a scrape on his knee, which would have needed cleaning. He gently grabbed his brother's hand and led him inside and to the bathroom, where a first aid kit was tucked away in a cupboard. He asked Thomas to sit on the closed toilet and he complied, still covering his eyes with one arm and sniffling. He cleaned the grass stains off of the scrape, which made Thomas cry out in pain. "Shh," he tried to soothe, placing a hand on Thomas' cheek. "I'm going to make it better." He nodded, understanding. Chris carefully placed a plaster on his little brother's knee, and gave the plaster a small kiss. Thomas furiously wiped the tears away from his eyes, hiccupping. He smiled at the younger brother. "Do you feel better?" he asked. "Yeah," Thomas replied, nodding. "Can I go back outside?" "If you feel well enough, you can," Chris said. With that, full of energy once again, Thomas shot off of the toilet lid and ran back outside to play with his brother. Ah, to be a small child again...

[hartadacarbs]

Veeb

Chris adored afternoons. It usually meant that he could turn the television with a snack and glue his eyes to the screen for a solid half an hour. During this half an hour, Thomas and Mihael were always blanked out, as if Chris really could not hear them. This half an hour was, of course, spent watching his favourite anime, Naruto. Of course, it was the dubbed version; but he always sort of assumed it was meant to be in English. This lasted until, for his eleventh birthday, he received his first D-Pad. Not only did this make duelling better, but it also meant he could surf the internet. This meant one thing - he could finally Google 'Naruto'. This was a good day for him. But it was odd. He found beautiful pictures other people had drawn - wow he wished he could draw! - and not all of the pictures seemed all that platonic. He had found Naruto kissing Hinata a few times, yet oddly enough, a good chunk of the people Naruto was kissing in fanart was Sasuke. They were just friends, weren't they? As Chris delved deeper into the internet, he discovered this was called 'SasuNaru', which he did look up. There were so many people out there who 'shipped' this 'pairing'. Chris was absolutely fascinated by the theories people had come up with, and with the stories that had been written. He had spent hours just looking up SasuNaru, and finally he stumbled on both deviantArt and fanfiction.net. It turned out there was an 'original' version of Naruto, one that was obviously superior in every way to the English version because it is Japanese. When Chris thought about it, it made sense; the Japanese always made cool things. So he decided to spend hours and days re-watching Naruto with subtitles. Naruto with subtitles was an experience. It meant Chris really could know the Narutoverse better than with the English version. But not only that, it was also an excellent tool to pick up Japanese! Chris was already learning a few keywords thanks to the original version of Naruto! This was great. He quickly took to the internet, filled up with his Naruto knowledge. He opened up a word-processing program, his mind filled with the greatest SasuNaru fanfiction plot this world would have ever seen. He was excited. His hands furiously typed away the words to his masterpiece. He titled it Flower of Konoha'. The plot revolved around Naruto dragging Sasuke back to Konoha, kicking and screaming. However, Sasuke was hospitalised. Despite this, he would still train; there was no way Naruto could ever be better than him! After recovering, Sasuke was allowed to sleep on Naruto's couch. And then the nightmares came. Nightmares of his time with Orochimaru, doing unsanitary things with the older man. Finally, the dream ended with two ninjas sporting red and green branding him with a mark. Sasuke woke up screaming, with Naruto always there to comfort him. It was all okay; Naruto would protect his little Sasukitten. Thinking that was a brilliant nickname, Chris decided to keep that in the story. They would fight off the threat together. The fanfiction ended up being around thirty chapters, with something around three hundred thousand words being written. It was truly a masterpiece, and Chris was proud. But as he was writing it, he always got terrible reviews, usually along the lines of; 'wtf is this' 'dude how old are you lol' 'OMFG THIS IS SO OUT OF CHARACTER WHAT IS THIS SHIT' (Chris would usually reply to these ones like 'Please do not swear on the internet. Kids are on the internet') 'please learn how to write' But for the most part, Chris got wonderful reviews! Some even gave him suggestions for a sequel, and told him to ignore 'haters' and 'flamers'. So he did. He was strong, and he was too good to listen to their hateful comments. In fact, at the start of every chapter, he would always add 'BTW I don't care about you haters LOL! ^_^' and he honestly thought that would save him. It didn't. Once the story was over, he thought about making a sequel. People had told him to, so he figured 'why not'. The sequel was called 'Heat of Konoha', and it followed the after years of defeating the impending threat posed by the 'Christmas ninjas' as the reviewers called them. It followed after Sasuke and Naruto had also fallen in love. They got married and lived a peaceful life in Konoha. This is when the reviewing section was bursting with 'LEMON NAO PLZ'. Chris wasn't one to disappoint. After Googling the term 'lemon', this was when he decided that at the tender age of eleven, he could totally write porn. He had read enough SasuNaru smut fanfiction to have a vague idea of what to do. Naruto and Sasuke ended up sleeping with each other so much, and they were married. But that certainly wasn't all that was in store for Chris' story. He had given them the greatest gifts of them all - Sakura dying horribly and alone, and the joyous gift of male pregnancy. Of course, Sasuke had to be the pregnant one. After fifty chapters of them doing nothing but sleeping with each other and birthing children, the story was finally over. But the reviewers demanded more; they demanded to see Sasuke and Naruto's children becoming ninja. And again, Chris delivered, in a story he called 'Next Generation'. It followed the story of young Hikari, her twin brother Takeda, and their younger sister Kyouko. The story was only forty chapters, and wrapped it up after the chuunin exams. After this, people had begun to make up their own 'what ifs' and had started drawing art and sending it to Chris. There was so much fanart for the love children that it had inspired him to pick up a pencil and paper. And with that, deviantArt had gained a new member. He started off by drawing art of his own story, before moving on to other projects. The art was absolutely terrible, but he was proud. With every picture, he would add 'This was drawn by BOKU! Do not steal, baka! >.< Arigatou! No flames either!' Eventually, Chris did go back to writing, balancing 'artwork' and writing. He begged his father to buy him a tablet, and after about a month of begging, he had finally gotten what he wanted. Now, instead of bad scans of his even worse pictures, he could just draw them digitally. It was perfect for him, and he gained quite a following. He opened commissions for both writing and drawing. This sparked controversy; people actually bought things he did for real money, not just the stupid point system. But people would leave comments like 'People pay for this?'. Naturally, Chris exploded in very, very poor Japanese. How dare they insult his work? As time went on, the broken Japanese became worse. Even his family had to deal with him speaking in a mix between English and Japanese. If they asked Chris what he was talking about, he would just call them 'baka gajjin' before retreating to his room. No one understood him. One day, he would go to Japan, where they would understand. Thanks to his love of Naruto Uzumaki, Chris ate nothing but ramen. His father begged him to eat something else, anything, but Chris refused. Eventually, they made a deal; Chris would eat, but only if it was Japanese food. And not sushi, because that just sounded disgusting. His father reluctantly agreed, just as long as Chris was eating something other than ramen. Thanks to deviantArt, Chris discovered another cool hobby he just had to try - cosplaying! Thanks to the money he gained from commissions, he managed to buy his own fabric, and he could use his mother's sewing machine to sew the whole thing. After ordering his Naruto wig - it looked natty and disgusting and shiny, but Chris was sure he could fix it - and headband, he could work on the outfit itself. Honestly, the sewing was shoddy. Everything about the cosplay screamed shoddy, actually. But Chris loved it, and he was so proud of it. He showed it to his father and, as his father, he had to praise his son's work. On the plus side, it meant his son would stop being glued to the internet. Of course, it wasn't long until Chris found a convention nearby. And with his costume and wig ready - more like shoddy and shiny - he really needed to go to the convention. This meant begging his father to take him, because he needed to go. It didn't matter that he would need to take time off of work, or would have to get someone to look after Thomas and Mihael. Chris was going. His father reluctantly agreed to take him, silently wishing this phase would end. Before the convention, Chris practiced his Naruto. He even spent ages learning various jutsu. He had to be perfect for the convention. He would be the best Naruto there, no matter what anyone said. The convention was Byron's personal Hell. Not only was his son dressed in the worst, brightest and shiniest outfit this world had ever seen, but his behaviour was appalling, to say the least. Chris glomped other, much better cosplayers. Had he not been a stick and weak, he probably could have done some damage. Not only that, but he kept berating Sakura cosplayers and harassing anyone who was Sasuke for 'yaoi pictures'. Some nervously agreed, and Chris was really excited. His ship was canon, just for that one second. It made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. There was one point where Chris had gotten along with a nineteen year old Sasuke cosplayer. He had managed to pull Chris away from his father, which meant Byron was left running around, trying to find his bright orange son. Had the convention not been full, it would have been easier to spot him. Chris had a lovely time with this cosplayer. They offered him food and a drink, which he did not turn down. And the best part was that neither the food nor drink had been drugged! He felt totally safe with this Sasuke. They had revealed they were, in fact, male, which surprised Chris; most cosplayers he had seen on the internet were female. Despite believing he was straight, he didn't mind the fact that this Sasuke was so nice to him. He also didn't mind when Sasuke has given him his number and deviantArt. And he felt oddly happy when Sasuke grabbed his hand and smiled down at him. Chris had to tell him he was only twelve, but that didn't seem to deter Sasuke. In fact, he even admitted he liked Chris. And this was the first time in his life that someone had said that to him. He was totally lost, and his face had turned a bright shade of red. He stammered and stuttered, unsure of what to say. Sasuke was pretty nice, and he was a little cute. He leaned over to kiss Chris, and it wasn't like Chris was going to object to a kiss. He was only few inches away from Sasuke's lips when he felt a hand grab his shoulder and yank him away from the young man. That was it. Byron had enough; he was taking Chris home right there and then. But that wasn't the end of his affair with Sasuke. It was only the beginning. He added him as a friend on deviantArt and began talking. And if Byron was at work, Chris would call Sasuke, and they would spend so long talking to each other over the phone. Sasuke complimented his work - from his fanfiction to his artwork. And he even offered to help Chris with future cosplays, offering tips and guidance, which he gladly accepted. They eventually traded Skypes, as well. He didn't want to admit this, but he was really starting to like Sasuke. Perhaps he wasn't as straight as he thought. This lead to a whole new chapter of his life - his bisexual and random phase. With Sasuke's help, Chris could make a better cosplay of his latest obsession, Miku. Of course, his wig choices really could be improved, but that didn't matter to him. Once he had completed his new cosplay and posted his pictures on deviantArt, Sasuke had messaged him on Skype, worried. The Dark Uchiha: honey aren't you gonna cosplay naruto anymore??? くりすくん: Nani?? The Dark Uchiha: you posted a cosplay that isn't naruto :( dont you like it anymore?? くりすくん: I just want to try Miku first. :/ The Dark Uchiha: will you ever go back to my kawaii little naruto??? くりすくん: I never planned to stop. Really, Sasuke was starting to make Chris a little uncomfortable, but he didn't say anything about it to anyone. Not even to his father, who had actually banned him from talking to that creep. Not like he could stop him. Once Chris turned thirteen, there was a new convention. This meant Sasuke would be there, and they hadn't seen each other since the last convention. Chris, being more mature, asked his father nicely if he could go. Byron agreed, giving him the benefit of the doubt. But if one thing went wrong... Chris prepared for the latest convention. He added in his description on fanfiction.net that he would be taking a short hiatus for cosplay-related things, and he made a whole post on his deviantArt about the convention. With the following he had gained, people were demanding to know if they could meet up. It was good to be popular on the internet. He made plans with Sasuke to meet up at some point, but they would have to make it look like an accident; Chris didn't want his father to be angry. He was excited for this convention. He had worked on his sewing skills, remaking his Naruto cosplay and made his wigs look a little less basic. This time would be better than the trainwreck that happened last time. The convention was a lot better than last time. Chris took time to admire others' cosplays, even Sakuras! He enjoyed viewing art people had put up for sale, and that was where he finally saw Sasuke again. Except Chris had made the mistake of wearing his Miku cosplay on the first day instead of Naruto. He didn't know what could have happened. He felt someone tug on his skirt, and having enough of creeps tugging on the skirt he worked hard on, he was ready to whack someone with his leek. But he smiled when he saw it was Sasuke. He did not smile back. Instead, he grabbed Chris' arm and pulled him away from his dad before he could have said anything. Byron didn't notice until he stopped hearing his son freak out over anime merchandise. It had happened again. "Naruto, honey, what are you wearing?" he asked, tugging lightly on the tie for emphasis. "I thought you were going to stick to Naruto. We agreed, didn't we?" "I just wanted to wear Miku today. I said I would, and tomorrow I'll be Naruto," Chris explained. He had told Sasuke, and he had even posted it on deviantArt. "It's okay, you're still my Naruto, and I still love you very much," he cooed. Chris tried to back away, but ended up backed up into a corner. He had to think of a way to escape, but there was no way. He tried looking at other cosplayers, mentally pleading for help, but nothing came. Sasuke's hands placed themselves on Chris' waist, and it felt wrong. He leaned closer, and Sasuke's breath on his face felt disgusting. He tried to wiggle free and push him away, but he was older, taller and stronger. Someone yanked Sasuke off of him, prying him away. Chris took a glance and noticed quite a pretty Sakura cosplayer, with her hand gripping Sasuke's collar. There were no words in Chris' entire vocabulary to describe the chilling fury that was the anger in this girl's eyes. "If you touch this kid again, you're gonna wish you weren't born," she threatened, before letting him go. Sasuke scampered away. She bent down to Chris and adjusted his cosplay for him, fixing the wig on his head. She made sure he was okay, and offered him a bottle of water, which he gladly accepted. His father found him soon afterwards, shaking after what had happened. As Sakura was still there, she explained what had happened to Byron. Chris really just wanted to go home. Understandably, Byron did end up taking him home. The only good thing that came from this experience was the fact he could actually like Sakura. Chris blocked Sasuke everywhere he could and had hidden his Miku and Naruto cosplays somewhere he wouldn't have to look at them. He stopped loving Naruto altogether, and instead hopped onto Hetalia. His weebiness had been toned down a little, but that didn't mean his family was spared from the horror that were the Hetalia songs. And of course, he still glorified Japan. He grew fond of China, who adored his little siblings like no one else. And of course, this meant plenty of fanart, and fanfiction of China. His art was still bad, but his writing was improving. He constantly thought about returning to cosplay; making them was fun, but he never wanted to run into Sasuke again. His love for Hetalia didn't die, but he kept it more hidden than his love for Naruto. And he began to leave the house more, helping his father with his work and finally duelling more. Chris had stopped being an obsessed fanboy. It finally totally stopped when his father went missing. He no longer had the time to play; he had business to take care of. His art and cosplays and fanfiction were things he left behind in favour of sorting out his mess of a family life. -- IV and V were left alone in the hotel room, with III and Tron doing their own things. V was reading a book in silence while IV was looking over his deck once again. He looked over at his big brother. "You're living the dream of living in 'Nihon' now," IV said, unable to stifle a laugh. "Be quiet," V said, embarrassed. He wanted to forget those days. "Marukaite chikyuu, boku Hetalia," IV sang mocklingly. "Are you done?" V asked, irritated. "Nearly." And then IV said three words V never wanted to hear again. "Flower of Konoha." V slammed his book shut and left the room. If he could remember the password to his accounts, he would have deleted them.

[hartadacarbs]

Saix vs iPhone

If there was one thing Saix didn't expect to receive, it was a gift. The only thing he ever received was insults and disrespect. It was nice that, for once, someone had gotten him something. Roxas had been the one to get it for him. He had found it in a world he had been on, and the salesman claimed it would have made one's life easier. Roxas was far too kind for his own good, it seemed. Especially for a heartless being. Saix took the item out of its packaging. It was a small black device. Its sides were smooth and shiny, and it fit nicely in his hand. The box boasted that the item was an iPhone. Whatever that was. He stared at the wire that came with it. What in the world could that have been for? According to the box, before he could use it, he would have to 'charge' it. Of course, Saix was logical. There was a quick and efficient way of getting things charged up. And that way would have been Larxene. Thanks to his rank as her superior, it was easy - well, somewhat easy - to get her to comply. Once it was charged, Saix pressed a button on the top, and it lit up. What a strange device. On the screen, little icons were displayed. Lost, Saix pressed one of the buttons at random, and he ended up on a completely different screen. On the screen, the room was displayed. For a moment, he was even more confused. What could this have meant? And it dawned on him. Perhaps this could be a door to show other worlds, worlds they had not previously found. It made sense. Saix pressed his thumb against the screen, hoping it would switch to another world's view. Instead, he ended up taking a still image of Axel pulling a rather unattractive face from a distance. Certainly, he would have to try this again. He pressed another button, one that he did not understand either, but when he pressed the screen again, at least it didn't freeze temporarily. But still, none of the other worlds were shown, but whatever he had done, something was activated. He flipped the device over, and he noticed a odd circle. "What is this device?" Saix asked himself. He moved the device closer, near enough to his eye. He muttered to himself in confusion, trying to understand this. But he could not figure it out for the life of him. This device was strange and foreign to him. He pressed the button on the bottom, and he was brought back to the first menu. This time, he pressed another icon, and it led him to a whole new menu. All of the Organisation members' names were on this menu. He pressed on Axel's name, and it gave him the option to send him a message. Strange. Did Axel also have this device? 'What is this?' he typed out. He stared at the screen for ten minutes, wondering why Axel had not replied. Finally, he realised - Saix had not pressed 'send'. Once sent, he watched Axel pull a similar device out from his pocket. It took him a few seconds before he turned to Saix and noticed what he assumed was probably a confused look, and he laughed. He did not stop laughing for five minutes and, when he did stop, he simply went straight back to laughing. It was clear; Saix could not use an iPhone. The next day, as Saix was assigning missions, he saw Roxas. This was the perfect opportunity. He approached the smaller young man with a frown. "Roxas, your mission today is of the utmost importance." He noticed Roxas stiffen. Saix pulled the device out of his pocket and handed it to Roxas, who stared at it, and then back at Saix. "Today, your mission will be to decipher the secrets this device has to offer. That is all." With that, Saix walked away. This left Roxas alone with the phone. The first thing he did was look around, and he ended up in his superior's picture folder. It contained a rather unattractive picture of Axel - one which he sent to Axel quite quickly - and a video. It started off with the room Saix was in, with people talking to each other. But it soon changed to Saix's face close up, who was muttering something and pulling strange faces at the camera. Roxas should have known Saix wouldn't be able to use an iPhone.