An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dinosaur Ryuuzaki | Rex Raptor/Insector Haga | Weevil Underwood
Characters: Dinosaur Ryuuzaki | Rex Raptor, Insector Haga | Weevil Underwood
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Love Confessions
Summary: There's only one thing that has ever worked out for Ryuuzaki, and the tiny apartment he shares with Haga is the only place that's really home. No one ever seems to get that, but maybe they don't have to. Maybe it isn't for them. And maybe acting on reckless impulses is what this relationship is all about.
F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.
Y'all know me. :v Thanks for giving me an opportunity about my favorite thing again.
I'll go with something from Occult, another fic I'm still pretty proud of.
Otogi was stranded, floating aimlessly through a conversation that had no clear beginning, middle, or end. He couldn’t just walk away. “He’s, um. He’s coming by later. Honda, I mean.”
“Of course he is.” Bakura shoved a tin box of cards back so hard it banged against the wall of the shelf.
“Excuse me?” Otogi stepped back and struggled to keep from raising his own voice. This was not the interaction he expected from one of Yuugi’s crew.
“… never mind,” said Bakura. “It’s nothing.”
“Are you sure? Because if there’s a problem...” Otogi frowned.
Maybe Bakura held a grudge over Yuugi and Jounouchi. He could wrap his head around that, but no one else seemed to care anymore – least of all Yuugi and Jounouchi themselves. Then again, those two would probably befriend the snake that bit them if it only apologized afterward. It was charming.
There was no time to ponder it further. Bakura began to laugh – softly, under his breath, but his body quivered with each burst of it. “Of course there’s a problem,” he said. “There are all kinds of problems.”
Otogi folded his arms. “Could you tell me what they are, then? I thought I’d say hi to a friend of a friend, and suddenly you’re pissed at me.”
“I-” Bakura’s hand flew to his head. He wasn’t laughing anymore. Neither was Otogi. “I’m sorry. I thought I’d try talking to you, but I guess I’m just not in the mood.”
“That much is obvious.” Otogi started for the counter. “I didn’t want to embarrass you before, but… maybe you’d like to know. Honda said he worries about you.”
“Oh.” Bakura pressed the hand into his forehead, digging the heel into his temple. “Sometimes I think he’s the only one that does.”
I really like the awkwardness of this exchange: one only seems to reach out when the other pulls back. They’re never quite in sync. Otogi offers information while Bakura tries to brush off the whole thing. Bakura can’t resist expressing amusement at Otogi suggesting there might be “a” problem, which draws Otogi back in, but Bakura won’t illuminate things any further. Otogi starts to leave, but he can’t quite do it without saying a little more.
Passionate arguments and spry banter are a lot of fun to write, but so is blunt, clumsy grasping.
H: How would you describe your style?
My style, huh...
Zoomed in moments, finite spaces, small pockets of time. Relatively spare prose, fluid dialogue, and the occasional extended metaphor, all interspersed with snatches of sensuality.
Not sensuality as in sex, though (I rarely write explicit fanfic... I save that for my OCs :P). Imo, my skills and instincts for poetry are far more developed than for prose. I write them pretty differently, but this is the one quality I feel crosses over a lot. I tend to connect one sense to another and use language that invokes multiple senses at once. I'd also make a vague guess that I describe sight the least and touch the most.
I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?
Hmm, I don't know if I'd call it guilty, since I more or less lack shame, but one is definitely characters falling asleep on each other. I will write and read untold amounts of this.
I guess that also relates to the more general guilty pleasure of furious, self-indulgent projection. :v I have a particularly intimate and complicated relationship with sleep. It’s immensely gratifying, if slightly embarrassing, to pour some of that part of myself into familiar characters. The same could be said for a lot of other topics, like depression, trauma, gender and sexuality struggles, etc.
“May all your marshmallows burn.” You choose the ship!
I know this has been in my ask box since December. Sorry for the wait! I got… a little carried away. I sort of wanted to contribute to Pridecember even though I’d never written pride before, but I also wanted to add another ship Cupcake likes, and… my brain chose puff. Which I’d also never written before. Lol.
So, please, enjoy this silly fic about Jounouchi inviting everyone to a campout after Atem returns in a secret bid to get to know him better and promptly getting mad that Atem and Kaiba are “ignoring” him. :v
Post-canon, returned Atem AU, established pride, unestablished puff, 1.8k words.
Excerpt:
“Thought you hated‘em,” said Jounouchi, leering at him.
Kaiba shrugged. “No,I just don’t find them very exciting.” Nonetheless, he extendedhis stick and allowed the marshmallow to ignite. Atem did the same,taking the opportunity to brush shoulders with Kaiba.
“That’s it?Just… ‘not very exciting’?” Jounouchi squinted at Kaiba. “Youfeeling okay?”
Another shrug. Thelittle glance at Atem told Jounouchi everything he needed to know,and the encouraging smile Atem returned? Damning.
Atem crouched by thebonfire. As it flickered, the firelight drew out the shifting,alchemical hue of his eyes, a color Jounouchi had never been able toput a name to. So like Yuugi’s. But the face was different now –familiar, in the abstract, a song he could recall only in fragments.As Jounouchi watched, Atem inched closer to the fire.
“Just, uh… becareful,” said Jounouchi, wringing his hands. He knew,realistically, that Atem understood the boundaries of his physicalform – even before he remembered himself, he’d piloted Yuugi’sbody, after all. But part of him still worried, especially now thatAtem was mortal again – as far as any of them could tell. Jounouchiwasn’t eager to test it.
“It’s alright,Jounouchi. I can handle myself around fire.” A smile played onAtem’s lips.
“Right.”Jounouchi flushed. Atem had probably been around a lot more firesthan Jounouchi ever had, now that he could remember them. “So, youwant to-” He paused as Atem moved back and settled beside Kaiba.Several quilts were spread around the makeshift campsite (which wasreally just a secluded corner of the Kaiba estate), but of courseKaiba had taken up residence on the one furthest from Jounouchi. Ofcourse Atem had to join him.
“To what?” Atemblinked up at him, still smiling. At least he looked eager enough.
“Maybe… roastsome marshmallows?” Jounouchi indicated the bag at his feet,alongside several clean sticks he had gathered earlier in the day.
Atem rubbed hishands together. “Sure! That’s definitely something I’ve neverdone before. I’ve never had a marshmallow at all.”
“They’re hardlyremarkable.” Kaiba scooted a little closer to Atem. “Just sugar.”
“You’re hardlyremarkable!” snapped Jounouchi, waving a stick in Kaiba’sdirection. “Don’t listen to him. Marshmallows are great,especially over a fire.”
“Can’t wait,”Atem said, letting his leg touch Kaiba’s. Kaiba said nothing at all– only glanced at Atem, who met his gaze and smiled. This touch wasnot accidental.
Jounouchi sighed andbegan spearing the fluffy confections. Even if he had invitedeveryone, in his heart, he had done this for Atem. He didn’t needto know him to love him. He already did, just as much as he lovedYuugi. Yet, their entire relationship passed in the shadow of oneworld-rending crisis after another. They would always have DuelMonsters, but what else was there? When had there been time foranything else?
It was just… beingalone with him was a little intimidating. What if they reallydidn’t have anything to talk about but Duel Monsters? What if…
He just had to workaround it, that was all. Ease in. Get everyone together. Theimportant thing was that Atem was here again. If it lasted forever –great. But they didn’t know that, and Jounouchi wasn’t going totake any chances this time around. The problem was Kaiba.
(Wasn’t italways?)
He didn’t protestKaiba’s presence here, in theory. Aside from the fact that he letthem use his yard for their faux camping trip, Kaiba could use anyreprieve you lured him into. Jounouchi suspected that, if not forAtem, he wouldn’t be caught dead here.
It wasn’t likeJounouchi begrudged them their happiness, either. Atem was happy– Jounouchi couldn’t deny it. It was even kind of nice to seeKaiba smiling to himself when he thought you weren’t looking. Hecould pretend he didn’t have feelings all he liked, but it wasobvious to anyone who spent five minutes with him that he was one ofthe most emotional people on the planet. They just weren’t usuallypleasant emotions. It was a change of pace, anyway.
But did they have toalways do this? Right in front of him? Leaving him completely out ofthe loop? To make matters worse, it would be a while before anyoneelse arrived. He was the one who organized this, so he came early.Kaiba lived here. And Atem… probably had been here already.
When he handed themtheir sticks, something else troubled him: Kaiba didn’t complain.He didn’t snipe. He just… accepted his.
“Thought you hated‘em,” said Jounouchi, leering at him.
Kaiba shrugged. “No,I just don’t find them very exciting.” Nonetheless, he extendedhis stick and allowed the marshmallow to ignite. Atem did the same,taking the opportunity to brush shoulders with Kaiba.
“That’s it?Just… ‘not very exciting’?” Jounouchi squinted at Kaiba. “Youfeeling okay?”
Another shrug. Thelittle glance at Atem told Jounouchi everything he needed to know,and the encouraging smile Atem returned? Damning.
“Well,” saidJounouchi, “how nice to see the great Kaiba lowering his standardsenough to eat marshmallows with a peasant like me.”
“It’s… not sobad.”
Jounouchi paled. Notonly was Atem flaking out on him, now Kaiba was, too. Not thatJounouchi really wanted to get into it with Kaiba tonight, but theyhad – a certain relationship. It was just how they were. Somethinghe could depend on.
Apparently, though,Kaiba had more important things to concentrate on right now. Likesneaking his gloved hand over Atem’s beneath their coat sleeves. Ifthey thought they were being subtle, Jounouchi would hate to seeobvious. “May all your marshmallows burn,” he whispered.
“What?” askedAtem, head swiveling in Jounouchi’s direction.
“Oh, nothing…nothing at all.” He tried to grin, though it was more of a grimace.There was nothing like witnessing a flirt fest to remind you that youdidn’t have a date for Christmas Eve. Or Valentine’s Day. Or theforeseeable future. Not a single romantic prospect to speak of.
Well. Maybe one. Butthat was – no. Just a little gaming here and there, and even thathad probably only happened because Shizuka had to drop out of thecampaign for a while. If he’d made a habit of staying aftereveryone else left, laughing into the night, enjoying the company ofthe dungeon master… that wasn’t so abnormal, was it?
A rustle drewJounouchi’s attention. Atem sat up now, drawing his hand away fromKaiba, and started forward. “Oh!” With satisfaction, Jounouchinoted that both of their marshmallows had burned… as had hisown.
“Oh, come on…”Jounouchi yanked it out of the fire and blew furiously, feelinganother pang of satisfaction as Atem observed him and did the same,and his heart softened as Atem stared at his charred marshmallow witha furrowed brow. “Aww, don’t worry about it,” he said. “Somepeople even like ‘em burnt. You have to try it at least once,right?”
That did the trick.Atem brightened, and, before Jounouchi could stop him, popped theentire marshmallow into his mouth. His eyes widened, and his handsshot up, hovering in front of his face. “Hot-!”
“You gotta let itcool more than that!” He started to say something else, but Kaibaclutched Atem’s arm in concern, and nobody was looking at Jounouchianymore. Again.
“I’m fine,”said Atem, murmuring thickly around molten sweetness, though therewere tears in his eyes. He swallowed hard and stuck out his tongue,sighing as the cool air washed over it.
“Do you needanything?” asked Kaiba, grabbing Atem’s hand. “A drink?”
If Jounouchi had towatch another minuteof this…
“Hello, everyone!”
There he was. Anangel, here to rescue Jounouchi from this unfolding disaster – tosave him from his loneliness. And also from himself.
“I’m not late,am I?” asked Bakura. His eyes swept over the deserted campsite, andthen – over Atem and Kaiba, hands still entwined. “Ah.” Heflopped down directly beside Jounouchi, who could almost cry. Atleast someone was nice enough to sit with him. Very close, infact. As close as Atem was to Kaiba.
“Not at all,”said Jounouchi, peering down at him. It wasn’t the first time he’ddone this, of late – sitting a little closer to Jounouchi thancircumstance strictly necessitated. Until now, Jounouchi had chosento interpret this innocently: Bakura simply failed to register hisintrusion on Jounouchi’s personal bubble. He was, after all, soeasily distracted. Now, though… with their shoulders nearlytouching… Jounouchi swallowed. “You cold?”
But that wasn’treally the question Jounouchi was asking. Of course he was cold. Itwas cold. He wondered if someone as… self-absorbed as Bakurawould even pick up on it, but the look in his eyes when he noddedbanished all doubts. Steeling himself, Jounouchi draped an arm overBakura’s shoulder, and when Bakura relaxed against him, he relaxed,too. “No one’s really here,” he continued Casting a sharpglance at the others, he added, “We’re hardly even talking.”
“Sorry, I- got alittle distracted,” said Atem, scooching away from Kaiba. “Let’s-”
“No, no, don’ttrouble yourself about me now,” said Jounouchi, frowning.
Atem and Kaibastared at each other, blinking. “Are you… not having a good time,Jounouchi?” Atem asked, genuinely confused. “I just thought-since you and Kaiba don’t get along so well, we were trying to-”
How could Atem be sodense? Jounouchi’s free hand balled into a fist. “Me and Kaibaget along just fine when he’s not ignoring me!”
“Ignoring you?”Kaiba was just as bewildered now. “I thought I was…” Hewrinkled his nose. “’Behaving myself.’” Obviously not hisphrasing. Jounouchi had one guess for whose it was.
“It doesn’treally matter now. You can keep ignoring me. Whatever.” He squeezedBakura’s shoulder. “I have Bakura now.”
Bakura laughed andgave Jounouchi’s arm a mock slap. “Be nice. They’re justenjoying each other’s company.” Atem couldn’t help but smile.Kaiba set his jaw, but he didn’t deny it.
“I guess,”Jounouchi said, narrowing his eyes at them. He couldn’t keep thesulk out of his voice. “It’s just-”
“Shh.” Bakurasnagged a marshmallow out of the bag and shoved it into Jounouchi’smouth.
“Mmph!” Herelaxed and swallowed the marshmallow, flushing deeper as Bakura’sfingers brushed his lips on their way back to the bag. Satisfied,Bakura offered him another, gentler this time. He took it, wide-eyed.
“There,” saidBakura. “That’s better.” Leaning close, he whispered, “Thisweek was awful, and I didn’t sleep at all last night. If you wantto show them up, take advantage of my temporary lack of shame anddesire for companionship.”
“Um,” saidJounouchi, swallowing his marshmallow.
“Even if it’sjust to spite them, you know, I really don’t-”
“No!” saidJounouchi, managing to startle all three of the others, tearingKaiba and Atem from their own whispered conversation. Now thateveryone was looking at him, Jounouchi wasn’t so sure hewanted it anymore. “What’re you waiting for?” he said, wavingdismissively at Atem and Kaiba. “He’s right. Enjoy each other.”
They gave up andscooched back together. Atem’s hand found its way to Kaiba’s– perhaps emboldened by the current state of Jounouchi and Bakura. It wasn’t the end of the world. Jounouchi would have other chances
Bakura, on the otherhand, peered at Jounouchi, head tilted. “No?”
Jounouchi sighed,whispering back. “I mean, it’s not- it’s more than-” Heexhaled, gratefully accepting the marshmallow Bakura extended, givinghim a moment to think. “Are… you doing anything on Christmas?”
“That is the ugliest sweater I’ve ever seen and I am not wearing it.” Is something Kaiba would say
It is. Thank you. xD
Kaiba stared at thesilvery package on his desk and turned it over in his hands, checkingfor a label, and found none. But if it had been left here, of allplaces, without his knowledge… that cut down the number ofpossible sources significantly. Brow furrowing, he opened thepackage, sliding one nail beneath the flap like a letter opener. Hefolded the paper neatly – even if it was going straight into thetrash, there was no need to be sloppy about it – and lifted the lid from the cardboard box.
When he saw what wasinside, tucked snugly into blue and white tissue paper, he took out his cellphone. As soon as Jounouchi picked up, Kaiba stated, “This is the ugliest sweater I have ever seen, and I am notwearing it.”
The other endremained silent for several beats. “Well, alright, then,”Jounouchi said.
Kaiba paused. Thiswas less resistance than expected. “Really, what were youthinking?”
“Nothing at all,”said Jounouchi. “That’s… not from me. I just helped him wrap it.”
Kaiba’s heartsank.
“No skin off myback, but Mokuba might be a little disappointed…”
-
When Kaiba arrivedhome that day, Jounouchi and Mokuba were working on a puzzle in hisstudy, along with Yuugi. Sort of. At the moment, Jounouchi and Mokubawere squabbling over whether or not they actually had all the piecesof the 1000-count monstrosity while Yuugi looked on, trying not tolaugh. Kaiba suspected he wasn’t helping much to begin with. Forhim, this would be child’s play.
At the sound ofKaiba’s step, Yuugi looked up, eyes filling with warmth, andthen – blankness. Jounouchi and Mokuba followed suit. Mokuba’sface lit.
“Big brother! Yougot my present!”
“I… did.”Kaiba hovered awkwardly in the doorway, well aware that Yuugi wasn’tthe only one trying not to laugh now. Jounouchi was enjoying this…the bastard. Maybe it wasn’t his idea (then again, could Kaibareally trust that?). Even so, he let Mokuba wrap up a sweateremblazoned with a Blue Eyes Toon Dragon, Santa Cap on its head,snowflakes all around. He helped. He was complicit. Without asingle protest (of this, Kaiba was certain). And now, Kaiba was wearing it. He shot Jounouchi apointed glare before gritting his teeth into a smile.“… thankyou.”
bardock--obama replied to your post “imagine, if you will, Shizuka and Mokuba watching sentai and doing the...”
Yuugi, Jounouchi, Mokuba, and Shizuka become the Kaiba Force (like ginyu force for kaibaman)
... yes, yes they do.
Shizuka stepped into Kaiba’s office, her face a sober mask of determination. “Mokuba! For the sake of Domino City! KAIBA FORCE PINK!” WIth a practiced motion, she shot her left arm into the air and touched its shoulder with her right hand.
Mokuba stopped gathering papers immediately and stood. “KAIBA FORCE GREEN!” He spread his arms wide, as if he were about to take flight.
Jounouchi came crashing into the room, skidding into a crouching position in front of them. With one leg extended and a fist clenched, he shouted, “KAIBA FORCE RED!”
Kaiba turned slowly in his office chair. They remained frozen in position, staring at him expectantly. Shizuka coughed.
“What... the hell... are you doing?” asked Kaiba. “Mokuba?”
“Um, big brother... we’re waiting for Kaibaman. Obviously.”
If you would x') “That’s not mistletoe, it’s holly” or “Look, I made us as a snowman couple!” for Honda/Otogi~
Thank you! :D So, first I wrote the snowman prompt, but I had some ideas for the mistletoe prompt as well and wound up extending the fic to incorporate them. It just felt stronger without the extension, so I cut it, but you can read the rest here if you like. Because I know we’re all desperate for that chase content at least me and DeLurk are.
Honda stepped out onto the creaking iron stairs only to be struck square in the facewith a snowball. It shattered into powder on impact, and all hecould see or taste or smell was sharp, crystalline white. Hondasputtered and pawed at his face.
Otogi stood in thesmall lot behind the autoshop, hands on hips. “Where have were you?It’s been an hour already!”
“I told you, I hadsome stuff to finish up!” Honda narrowed his eyes and fought the urge to wince, face grated raw by cold snow and rough gloves. “Could you notjust wait inside?”
“I didn’t wantto wait inside,” said Otogi, with all the haughty candor of aninsubordinate child. “I wanted you to come outside.”
Honda exhaled. Otogi, of all people, should know what ittook to keep a business going. On the other hand, with his parents onvacation, Honda had been so busy he could barely think of Otogi thisweek, much less see him. And he had promised to go out in thesnow with him this evening, taking advantage flat, rarely usedparking lot now covered in about six inches. Not that he knew exactlywhat Otogi had wanted to do out there. He really was a kid sometimes…which meant Honda shouldn’t give in to a tantrum, sympathy or no.He just folded his arms and said, “Okay. I’m outside.”
Otogi turned away. He opened his mouth to deliver another reproach, butsomething caught his eye. The pout melted away, and he gestured behind himself. “Look what Idid while you were gone!”
Honda squinted fromhis place on the stairs. “What… is it?”
“It’s us!”Otogi shrugged. “Like, a snow couple, or something like that.”
The stinging heat ofcold on Honda’s face mingled with the true warmth of a blush.“That’s-” He cut himself off, peering out. One was the usualshape, round and vaguely humanoid, but the other was a littledifferent. It was hard to make out the details of snow against snow, butit almost looked like… Honda started forward, blinking furiously.“Is that a monkey?”
Otogi’s grin tookon a wicked edge. “Artistic license.”
Pairing: Shrimpship (Insector Haga/Dinosaur Ryuuzaki), pre-relationship
Length: ~730 words
Summary: As Ryuuzaki awaits a train for his home town, he tries to discuss the future with Haga. But it’s hard discuss the future without discussing the past, and Haga welcomes neither.
AN: Directly postcanon. For #shrimpshipweek day 1, prompt “Preparation.” Rather pre-relationship, kind of more gen, but hopefully it works for this event. ; w; I wrote it from my shrimp-loving heart.
“There has to be a better way to do this,” said Ryuuzaki, staring into the empty wrapper of his vending machine sandwich. “Hey, you sure you don’t want something to-”
“I’ll pass,” said Haga, cutting him off with a raised hand. He could eat later. By himself.
“You could visit. I know a place with great noodles,” said Ryuuzaki, smiling an already defeated smile. Haga was not going to get on this train. Ryuuzaki gave him a doubtful glance, sizing him up. “And if you like, I don’t know, nature and shit...”
Haga ignored the suggestion. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve gone over it in my head again and again. It was a solid plan, and if I’d had something better-”
“‘Solid plan,’” said Ryuuzaki, snorting. “We were in over our heads.”
“So it was a last ditch effort.” Haga scowled. “You went along with it too, didn’t you? Did you have anything better?”
“Nah. Just then, I’m pretty sure I would’ve gone along with anything.” Ryuuzaki stretched out languorously, lifting his feet from the stone floor. Haga didn’t like the way he smiled. “It just happened to be you.”
“Yeah, right,” said Haga, arms folded. “You needed me.”
“I needed somebody,” Ryuuzaki replied, and Haga’s chest tightened -- but why did that, of all things, bother him? “Don’t try to tell me it was any different for you. Or maybe you forgot how desperate we were?”
Oh, he tried. Evading the question, Haga snapped, “That’s the kind of attitude that gets your ass kicked. Maybe it would have been fine if you put your money where your mouth was.”
Ryuuzaki’s leisurely indifference evaporated in an instant. He jumped up from the bench and tensed like he wanted a fight, then and there. The sandwich wrapper crumpled in his hand. “I wasn’t the only one who lost, was I?”
Haga stood so he could face Ryuuzaki eye to eye – even if he had to lean up on his toes to do it. “No, but I was willing to take risks you weren’t before it came to that. Always was!”
“Risks?” Ryuuzaki sneered. “Don’t tell me about risks. You could have died! Did you even stop to think about that?”
“So?”
“So?!”
Haga stared Ryuuzaki down like it was a contest, and maybe it was. “So what? What about you?”
“What about me?” Startled by the echo of his words in the chasm of station, Ryuuzaki flushed, dropping his voice to a near whisper. “I’m talking about you. What if?”
Haga sensed meaning beneath these words – a spider that lurked beneath the mouldering leaves. Despite building curiosity, Haga wasn’t sure he wanted to rouse this particular spider. With his feet firmly planted, he only shrugged.
Sighing, Ryuuzaki changed questions. “What are we going to do now, anyway?”
“Who said anything about ‘we’?” snarled Haga, though Ryuuzaki’s stricken face made him soften his frown and tamp the question down into something a little more civil. “What do you think ‘we’ should do?”
Even so, he knew this was not what Ryuuzaki wanted from him. Still, it was all he could do. When he thought it might not exist, it was easy to covet Ryuuzaki’s need – to resent the lack of it. It was much harder to offer himself up to it, now that it might be real.
“I don’t know,” said Ryuuzaki, and then then he said it again, softer than before. “I don’t know.”
Ryuuzaki wanted Haga to have the answer. He wanted someone else to tell him where to go. More startling to Haga was realizing that he wanted the same thing from Ryuuzaki. They remained silent for several minutes with set jaws and balled fists and feelings that slithered deep beneath rocks and buried themselves in the safety of the cool, dark mud they found there, far from the threat of capture.
You don’t always get what you want. If anyone understood that cliché, it was the two of them.
The soothing voice of the announcer signaled the train’s imminent arrival. Haga acted first, stepping toward the stairs that would return him to the surface. That world had its own risks, but at least he would be facing them alone. He could leave Ryuuzaki here, beneath the earth. Before he did, though, he paused, and said, “Let me know if you figure it out.” Part of him almost hoped that Ryuuzaki would.
“That is the ugliest sweater I’ve ever seen and I am not wearing it.” shrimpshipping!
Thank you for the prompt! It was fun imagining the same one in two different scenarios. It’s perfect for shrimp, too~.
Ryuuzaki held up acolor block sweater in three shades of green, a goofy grin plasteredon his face. He looked like he might burst into giddy laughter at anymoment, so excited he was about this… thing.
Excited andexpectant.
“That is theugliest sweater I’ve ever seen,” said Haga, “and I am notwearing it.” Brutal honesty was always the best policy, at leastwhen it didn’t serve his needs to lie. Wearing thisawful, awful sweater for the sake of someone else’s feelings…didn’t serve his needs, to put it lightly.
“Huh?”Ryuuzaki’s eyes widened. He gave the sweater an insistent shake.“But… this is totally your style!”
Haga frowned and wondered just how insulted he should be. “Why?” he asked. “Justbecause it’s green?”
“Well, yeah,partly, but- it’s, you know, kinda nerdy- hey! Where are yougoing?” Ryuuzaki stood, sweater still outstretched.
“Somewhere I don’thave to look at that.”
“Okay!” saidRyuuzaki, scowling. “Okay, I get it! But this ain’t over yet.”
“What are youtalking about? What isn’t over?” It wasn’t a complex situation. He wasn’t wearing the sweater, and that wasthat.
“You’ll see,”said Ryuuzaki, tossing it over the back of the couch andpulling on his coat. “Just wait and see.”
Ryuuzaki returnedwith a plastic shopping bag he wouldn’t allow Haga to see thecontents of and fumbled through drawers until he found a small fabriczipper pouch. With bag, pouch, and sweater in hand, he locked himselfin the bathroom.
Haga pounded on thedoor. “Ryuuzaki-”
“If you wanna takea bath, you’re just gonna have to wait!”
Haga collapsed ontoa floor cushion and sighed. When Ryuuzaki got an idea in his head,there could be no dissuading him. He supposed it was something theyhad in common. For now, he really would just have to wait.
When Ryuuzaki finally emerged, one hour later, hehad the sweater clutched tightly to his chest. “It’sa little bit of a mess in there,” he said. “I’ll clean it up,so don’t freak out.”
Squinting, Hagaasked, “What were you doing in there that could possibly make that much of amess?”
“Fixing this.”Ryuuzaki looked down at the sweater, assessing his work – thoughHaga still couldn’t see it. “Maybe.”
“Are… you goingto show me?”
“Maybe,”Ryuuzaki repeated. His demeanor was different this time – far lesseager. Finally, he turned the sweater around.
At the core, it wasstill the same sweater, yet it had been completely transformed by theaddition of a large black stag beetle. The felt patch was a littleuneven, clearly cut by hand, but that just added to the aestheticsomehow. Haga stepped forward and took it, staring down at the thickbrown stitches. “You can do that?”
Ryuuzaki shrugged,avoiding Haga’s eyes. “Yeah. Grandma taught me. Was easier on herif I could patch my own stuff.”
“Huh… I neverknew.” Haga blinked, still taking in the sight of what felt like abrand new sweater.
“I used to knitsome, too. Was kinda calming. I couldn’t make a sweater, though.So…” He rubbed his cheek, watching Haga out of the corner of hiseye. “Is it better?”
“Better?” Hagashook his head. Before Ryuuzaki could react, he whispered, “It’sperfect.” And that definitely wasn’t a lie.
