Exchanges for Tokusatsu

Hello! Welcome to the Tokusatsu Exchange blog! We provide a fun way to bring the fandom together multiple times throughout the year!

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

As Sweet As You (for knitchick1979)

The stand attendant is an elderly woman who is kind as her food is good and as Shoutarou takes his first bite, every memory comes flooding back at a rapid speed. Philip’s death. Philip’s rebirth. The sweet taste of caramel on the first day Shoutarou felt alive in a year.

Title: As Sweet As You For: @knitchick1979 From: Anonymous Show: Kamen Rider W Pairing: Shoutarou/Philip

“Get out of the house,” Akiko says firmly while handing Shoutarou a long, narrow envelope.

“Huh?” Shoutarou is sure his reply can be heard by every neighbor in at least a mile radius and definitely Philip who’s asleep downstairs, for once.

It’s Sunday, Shoutarou’s one day off and he absolutely cannot be fucked to move, let alone go on some crazy quest Akiko has set up for him. Vaguely remembering the horror that was Akiko’s last grand idea, a trip to the scariest haunted house in Japan, Shoutarou visibly shudders. Philip would not stop asking the owner of said haunted house for information on how to make the oh so realistic fake blood as it oozed out of his palms and onto Shoutarou’s favorite Windscale button-up.

“It’s just tickets to Disney Word, Shou-chan.” Her reply brings Shoutarou little reassurance as the last time Shoutarou had even mentioned the idea of Disney World, Philip had lost his god damn mind.

“Disney World?” Philip pokes his head out of the door to the basement and his eyes are round as saucers. Shit.

Before Shoutarou can utter another world, Philip eyes the envelope in his hands. Shoutarou attempts to make a run for it but his effort proves insignificant; as soon as he turns around, Shoutarou runs straight into Terui’s solid chest, causing Shoutarou to land directly on his ass, losing both the envelope, his hat, and his dignity.

Philip bends down and grabs both of Shoutarou’s hands in his, giving him the look that makes Shoutarou feel like pie filling inside. “Please?” Philip tilts his head to the side and Shoutarou’s been beaten.

“Fine, we’ll go to Disney World,” Shoutarou smiles, easing himself off the floor. “Go pack a bag. We’ll leave when you’re ready.”

Shoutarou rounds on Akiko slowly and drawls in the sweetest voice he can muster, “Thank you for these tickets. You really didn’t have to.”

“I know,” Akiko replies, slipping her arm into Terui’s awaiting one. “See you later, Shou-chan!”

With Akiko taken care of, Shoutarou takes his time getting his things together and begins to await his near approaching death.

--

Taking Philip to Disney World entails more than one would expect. First there’s making sure that Philip hasn’t lost his train pass for the fourth time that week, there’s a reason they don’t leave their apartment. Second, there’s actually getting through each station without losing each other, because as much as Philip wants to hold hands in public, Shoutarou is very aware of the staring; and third, there’s getting inside the park.

“Is Akiko fucking kidding me?” Shoutarou shouts, harshly grabbing the tickets back from the attendant. “They’re not real?”

Philip attempts to mend the situation as Shoutarou attempts to dial Akiko’s number without breaking his phone’s screen in rage. “He’s very sorry, our friend gave us fraud tickets by mistake,” Philip details kindly to the poor attendant. Shoutarou can hear Philip’s soothing voice from behind him through the phone’s ringing tone and he’s so grateful for Philip’s ability to read situations and handle most things.

Finally the ringing stops and Akiko’s voice responds, “Shou-chan? What’s wrong?”

“You damn well know what’s wrong,” Shoutarou seethes through his gritted teeth, “Our tickets were fake.”

“Oh my.”

Shoutarou can hear the sarcasm littered in her voice and Shoutarou can contain his screaming only just. “Well, you’re already out, huh? Go enjoy yourselves,” Akiko’s tone of voice shifts slightly and suddenly Shoutarou isn’t quite sure whether this was a set up or not, “Bye for now, Shou-chan!”

The line goes dead and Shoutarou’s brain start to run a million miles a minute. How to entertain Philip in a big city. In order to intercept the issue, Shoutarou braces himself and turns around to find Philip, but Shoutarou’s worst fear is realized and he’s already gone.

Heart racing as fast as those cars in this strange shows Philip likes to watch, Shoutarou scans the outside of the park as quickly as he can. Luckily, Philip’s taste in Windscale clothing includes the designs with the most fabric and out of the corner of his right eye, Shoutarou spots the bright green fabric blowing in the wind not but five hundred feet from Shoutarou.

Taking off in a sprint, Shoutarou comes up on Philip’s left, stopping him by putting his hands on Philip’s shoulders. “Where are you going?” Huffing like a mad man, Shoutarou looks into Philip’s eyes steadily, “I could have lost you.”

Philip points across the street to a cart with a green and red striped awning, “I was going to get us some candy apples. I figured you’d be on the phone with Aki-chan for a while, and I’d be right back. Did I do something wrong?”

Shoutarou begs his heart to slow down, because berating Philip still feels like kicking a puppy, and Shoutarou cannot have that. “No, let’s go,” Shoutarou grabs Philip’s hand nearest to him and they make the trek to the candy apple stand.

With Philip’s warm hand in his, Shoutarou places their order, “Can we have two caramel apples?”

The stand attendant is an elderly woman who is kind as her food is good and as Shoutarou takes his first bite, every memory comes flooding back at a rapid speed. Philip’s death. Philip’s rebirth. The sweet taste of caramel on the first day Shoutarou felt alive in a year.

“Shoutarou?” Philip is holding his caramel apple out towards Shoutarou without having taken a bite.

“What? You don’t like it?”

Philip looks at him, puzzled. “I thought we were going to share,” Philip shifts from one foot to another, swaying slightly, “Like before.”

“Like before?”

The enormous feeling of guilt washes over Shoutarou as he takes his caramel apple with teeth marks in the side and points it towards Philip’s mouth, “Do over?” Shoutarou asks, grinning from ear to ear.

Philip nods before biting into the apple in front of his mouth as Shoutarou does the same.

“Is it good?” The question comes out more of a mumble as the caramel sticks to Philip’s lips.

“As sweet as you,” Shoutarou replies, putting his caramel apple down, leaning in, and sealing his lips to Philip’s. Shoutarou breathes in, always forgetting to breathe whenever they kiss, his one downfall. Finally, after two years, Shoutarou finally lets himself breathe. And caramel is all he can smell. The smell of caramel. Philip’s smell. The sweetest smell of them all.

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Title: Laundry For: @revieloutionne From: Anonymous Show: Kamen Rider 555 Pairing: None

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Imprints (for belt-fucker)

That’s the thing about kisses. Unlike tattoos, they don’t leave tangible evidence, but they do leave the most powerful imprints.

Title: Imprints For: @motochika-chousokabe (belt-fucker) From: Anonymous Show: Kamen Rider Drive Pairing: Chase/Gou

Kiriko had said it would hurt. “It’s permanent you know, Gou. Please think this through.” She had treaded so lightly around him for the past year and Gou was frankly sick of it. Everyone had known how he felt about Chase; and it if they hadn’t, they do now.

As the tattoo gun is pressed against the skin right over his heart, Gou forgets to breathe. There was never any going back. There was never another choice. The tattoo artist draws the first loop down and Gou’s pain sensors twinge a bit. This is nothing, he reminds himself. Nothing compared to the pain of last year. The pain of not having him.

Not even thirty minutes later and it’s done. Three simple loops form the numbers, 000, right over Gou’s heart. Now, he’ll never be gone. He’ll be here forever no matter if Gou’s experiments are successful or not.

God, Gou had loves him. Ignorantly, desperately, pathetically loved him. Chase.

--

“Do you want sugar?”

Gou is brought back to reality with the deep rumbling of Chase’s question. “Ah, yes. I always do, Chase, I’m a baby who can’t handle black coffee as Nee-chan would say.” Gou offers a half-hearted smile and gets off the stool in their kitchen to help Chase find the sugar.

His voice is different than Gou remembers in his dreams. His night terrors have gotten better over the last week and Date says they’ll be gone before he knows it. But Gou knows that’s a lie to make him feel better. He remembers the nights traveling with Eiji across America trying to find things that made them both feel slightly less dead inside.

Gou is lucky is what Date had told Eiji as a very naked Chase lay in Gou’s arms, both of them sitting on the floor in a laboratory in southern California. “Eiji…” Gou had spoken just softly enough to catch Eiji’s attention and not to wake Chase. Eiji hadn’t responded and had grabbed his things in a furry before storming through the glass doors and out of the building and out of Gou’s life.

5 years. That’s how long Eiji had been trying to revive this Ankh figure he spoke of. Even with the extensive knowledge Date possessed, they hadn’t come to any conclusion. Gou’s situation had sparked a new flame in Date’s research and over the course of barely a year and a half, they had figured out a way to regenerate Chase’s body;  and sitting on the floor, covered in a warm body that Gou had never appreciated when it was here the first time around, he began to cry. He cried for his sister, who had loved Chase so desperately for saving her life. He cried for Shinnosuke, who had done his very best to support Chase his entire first life on earth. Lastly, he cried for Eiji, who loves so earnestly, passionately, honestly, and this is the hand life has given him. A life of loneliness that Gou could only hope to understand.

“Gou?” Chase steadies his hands on Gou’s shoulders, preventing Gou from plummeting onto the tile floor.

“Let’s go to bed,” Chase says softly, slipping his hand into Gou’s and leading him to the bedroom.

It’s barely been a month since Chase has been back and Gou is terrified of letting him down. Please don’t touch me, Gou’s brain demands on repeat, but Gou is too weak to fight back. The lack of sleep and no appetite has given him the depression and anxiety he had only experienced in his worst nightmares.

He curses Shinnosuke who still spends superfluous amounts of money sending him medicine and get-well boxes. He curses Kiriko who calls once a week and makes sure Gou is taking said medicine. But as Chase gathers up the courage to touch the skin right above Gou’s heart for the first time, even though Gou knows he’s been staring at it since he came back, Gou can’t curse him.

“What is it?” Chase asks as he runs his fingers over the loops, one by one.

“A tattoo,” Gou whispers back, making a weak attempt to roll over on his side to keep Chase from touching him.

“What does it mean?”

Gou remembers what Date had said. He may not regain his memories for a while, or at all. Gou still didn’t think it would be half bad if Chase never recovered them at all. He would never remember how I treated him like shit out of fear and a lack of understanding.

By the time Chase’s finger finishes tracing the three 000’s, his eyes change. It’s almost as if the entire room shifts and a single tear starts to fall from Chase’s left eye. Then his right. Then before Gou can stop it, Chase is sobbing like he should have the day he died.

“What?” Chase is attempting to wipe the tears from his eyes but they keep coming, “What is happening to me?”

Before Gou can answer the questions keep coming as do the tears, “Did you hate me? Why did you hate me? Who is Shinnosuke? Kiriko?”

He places is head on Gou’s chest, Chase’s tears soaking through Gou’s shirt and Gou picks up his hand to run it through Chase’s hair. Gou is working up the courage to answer all of those questions when suddenly Chase stops asking questions and only says one more thing.

Picking his head up and looking Gou directly in the eyes, “I loved you.”

Before he can answer that, Chase’s lips are on his and Gou can’t breathe. It’s like someone had just punched him in the chest and knocked him to the ground.

Chase pulls back when Gou doesn’t return the favor, “I don’t know why I did that. It just felt right,” Chase smiles his first genuine smile and Gou feels the air flow back into his lungs.

“Gou,” Chase begins to speak again and Gou presses his index finger to Chase’s lips before grabbing the back of his head and pulling Chase down to kiss him again. Hands placed in each other’s hair, pulling desperately and Gou can finally feel his body again. Gou wants to do everything in his power so they never stop kissing.

That’s the thing about kisses. Unlike tattoos, they don’t leave tangible evidence, but they do leave the most powerful imprints.

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

The Kendama Detective and the Mystery of the Missing Jackets (for tangerinetales)

Title: The Kendama Detective and the Mystery of the Missing Jackets For: @tangerinetales From: Anonymous Show: Ressha Sentai ToQger Ship: None

It was silent on the train. Nine pairs of eyes stared at each other. Glances exchanged back and forth and no words spoken. The tension was strong and felt like it could be cut with a knife. There wasn’t a sound until Akira cleared his throat and scratched his head. “Why aren’t any of us speaking again?”

“They’re gone.”Kagura spoke up.

Akira cocked his head. “What’s gone?”

“Our jackets. All of our jackets are gone. How could you not notice?” Tokacchi did that freak out thing he normally does. “They’re all missing and no one wants to come clean and admit where they are! It’s a big problem!”

Wagon let out a cry. “I already checked the laundry and there’s no sign of them! So tragic! Our precious ToQgers are bare without their signature look!” Overdramatic as it always was with Wagon.

Right slammed his head on the table which made everyone else jump slightly. It had to hurt. “This is the worst thing that’s ever happened on this train. Hikari! Fix it!”

Hikari flinched as Right yelled and let out a sigh. “Okay, okay. Fine. I’ll figure it out.”

This meant one thing for the ToQgers. Hikari was ready to go into full detective mode. That’s right. He walked out of the boys room fully dressed in his iconic get up. “The Kendama Detective is on the case.”

Right and Kagura did their cute little claps and awed at Hikari. Mio just shook her head and Tokacchi had lost all faith in this bunch a long time ago.

“When was the last time we all had our jackets off? Because they all disappeared at the same time, so we must have all taken them off at the same time…” Hikari began thinking.

Mio sat back down and crossed her legs. “When we were sleeping. We all changed into our pajamas thus we all took off our jackets. That makes the most sense, right?”

“Our maybe it was when we all went to the bathhouse again.” Kagura chimed in.

Hikari propped himself against the doorway. “We would have noticed them missing when we left the bathhouse though. So, we’ll stick with what Mio said this time.”

Right was sitting at the table and constantly putting pork bun after pork bun in his mouth. “If that’s the case then they went straight to the laundry so that means Wagon’s the theft!” Right’s voice got louder as the sentence went on until he stood up and pointed at Wagon with food still in his mouth.

Hikari walked over and grabbed Right’s wrist and lower his arm for him. “Right, you should just sit down. I’ve got this.”

“Okay, but I figured it out. I’m good at this.”

“It wasn’t me, I swear!” Wagon cried out. “When I checked the dryer today the jackets weren’t inside it with the rest of the clothes! So I checked the washing machine to see if I forgot to transfer them but there was no sign of them! I swear you have to believe me Kendama Detective-san!” The robot dropped to her knees and begged Hikari to believe her.

Hikari chuckled. “I know you didn’t do it. So, Ticket!” Hikari turned toward the Conductor and Ticket. “Where were you after we all headed to bed last night?”

“Where do you think I was!?” Ticket cried out. “With the Conductor like I always am!”

Conductor cleared his throat. “Ticket and I went to bed before all of you yesterday. We aren’t guilty.”

Hikari squinted and then turned back to the rest of his team. “I believe him. So, the only thing left is one of us then. Who was the last to go to bed?”

Tokacchi fell down and stood back up fixing his glasses. “It w-was me but you guys all know that I couldn’t- I didn’t – I would never-“

Hikari pulled out his kendama and started thinking hard. Something wasn’t adding up. He looked around the train cart they were in one more time. Conductor and Ticket seemed confused about the whole situation. Wagon was swearing up and down she didn’t do it. Right was shoving more and more food into his mouth and acting like he always does. He kind of looked pissed. Whatever. Mio was thinking as hard as Hikari was. Kagura was looking at Mio and waiting for some kind of movement from her. Tokacchi was freaking out.

Akira was leaned against the wall of the train just staring at Hikari. He was holding a bag that Hikari had completely missed when Akira had first walked onto the Rainbow Line. “Akira, what’s in the bag?”

“Oh, it’s your jackets.” He said calm as ever.

“EH!?” Everyone called out loudly.

“Why didn’t you speak up early, Akira-kun?” Kagura cried.

Akira put the bag on the floor and began throwing the jackets to their rightful owners. “You guys left them at the bathhouse last night. You all left in such a hurry I picked them up for you. But, when I got back you were all in bed so I came to return them today.”

Everyone’s motions stopped as they stared at Akira. Well, most everyone’s motions. Right continued eating. “You didn’t speak up earlier, why?” Hikari asked.

Akira smiled. “You all seemed like you were having fun. It was quite amusing.”

Kagura put on her jacket first and walked to Hikari. She placed her hands on her hips and had a cute yet very angry look on her face. “I told you we left them at the bathhouse!”

Right nodded. “You should listen to her more, Hikari. Kagura’s smart.”

Hikari sighed. “I’m sorry. But, now I went full detective mode for nothing.”

Wagon placed an arm around Hikari. “Well, you should all give your jackets to me and I can wash them!”

The ToQgers all handed their jackets to Wagon and she walked away. “You guys do realze she’s going to hide them so that Hikari can play detective more, right?” Mio said.

Right stood up and smiled. “Why don’t we all play detective then? It could be fun! Hikari you can be the head detective.”

“Oh! Me and Mio-chan can be the cops who help!” Kagura raised her hand.

“Tokacchi can be the lab person and I’ll be Hikari’s partner!” Right assigned roles.

Hikari chuckled. He decided to go along with Kagura and Right’s plan and the ToQgers all got dressed for their role and the second hunt for the ToQger jackets began.

Akira constantly had to remind himself he was surrounded by ten year olds, but they were enjoying their childhood and that was smile worthy.

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

The Last Day!

Today is the last day of posting submissions! We only have four left to post so  be on the look out for the last four throughout the day!

Thank you again for participating in this exchange! <3

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Give Me Your Hand (for gottischan)

Maybe you should just ask him to Prom, Kengo’s inner voice provides. “Yeah, and be laughed at for the next three months, no thanks,” he grumbles out of the side of his mouth.

Title: Give Me Your Hand For: @gottischan From: Anonymous Show: Kamen Rider Fourze Pairing: Gentarou/Kengo

Signs are plastered all over the school walls as far as the eye can see. Most cover one another, overlapping on the edges, and Kengo is pretty sure that Miu’s posters from last year are underneath all of the new ones, tattered but still surviving.

The flimsy posters varying from horrible neon colors to delicate pastel colors lead straight all say the same old catch phrase – VOTE ME FOR PROM QUEEN – and Kengo feels his curry rice from earlier start to come back up. “So cliché,” he mutters to himself, taking a slight left turn into his next classroom.

It’s their last year in high school and these last few months are supposed to be remembered happily, not spent fighting over some stupid plastic crown from the store down the street. Most people didn’t have a life or death experience last year, Kengo begs himself to remember as he tries to calm down for the fifth time today.

There has been three weeks since the campaigning for Prom King and Queen began and the tickets have been on sale for two. Kengo keeps lying to himself saying that Prom is the reason that he’d been snippier with Ryusei on their Tuesday afternoon study session or that Prom is the reason he turned down Yuuki for breakfast last weekend. But it’s so much more than that. He thought they were on the same page, him and Gentarou that is.

Vaguely discussing what they are isn’t enough for Kengo. Brushing hands when they go out on the weekends or having tension so thick you can cut it with a knife when they’re alone isn’t enough for Kengo. He never thought there’d be a day when he was going to be the pushy one but he’s waited long enough. Maybe you should just ask him to Prom, Kengo’s inner voice provides. “Yeah, and be laughed at for the next three months, no thanks,” he grumbles out of the side of his mouth.

“Be laughed at for what?” Yuuki asks, bounding up to Kengo’s left side and peering down at him. When had she gotten so tall?

“Nothing, Yuuki.”

Yuuki sits down at her desk next to his as they wait for class to start. “So…”

“What is it?” Kengo turns to look at her, left hand resting under his chin.

“When are you going to ask Gen-chan to Prom?” Yuuki’s smile is as big as her voice is loud and Kengo panics.

His elbow slips off the desk causing his chin to hit the top of the desk and his teeth clatter. “Shit!”

“Are you okay? Kengo?” When Yuuki begins to panic it will all be over so Kengo does what he does best and places a finger to her lips, silencing her for the time being at least.

“I’m fine,” he replies, “and I’m not going to.”

“Not going to…Why?” Looking dismayed, Yuuki faces forward in her desk and resigns herself to no answer when Kengo doesn’t reply within the first minute of her asking.

Just as Kengo is about to answer that he’s terrified of rejection like a first grader, Gentarou narrowly misses the door being slammed in his face and makes his way to his seat on the other side of Kengo.

Normally Gentarou begins rambling about his morning, usually things like how great science class is and how they got to blow up some shit, before asking Kengo or Yuuki any questions but today is different. He stops in front of Kengo’s desk, looking down at him as if he’s the only one in the room. It takes Kengo a second to realize that Gentarou’s hair is not in that ridiculously offensive pompadour it normally is, ridiculously endearing is what it is, and his shirt is tucked in and he looks straight out of boys’ fashion magazine.

Kengo’s mouth goes so dry he can physically feel the weight of the tongue in his mouth and begins to await the inevitable but all Gentarou does is hand him an envelope. He looks like he’s about to open his mouth to say something but the substitute teacher ushers Gentarou to take his seat, throwing Kengo straight back into reality.

“Can I open it?” Kengo mouths when Gentarou finally looks back at him.

Gentarou nods and Kengo attempts to calm his shaking fingers enough to open the starch white envelope. Doing his best not to tear it loudly, Kengo pulls out what looks like a calling card for a wedding but that’d be insane. About as insane as Gentarou wearing his school uniform and not putting globs of wax in his hair. Kengo really wishes his mind had an off switch. Being human is certainly not worth the perks that come with it.

The rectangular card stock offers nothing strange just beautiful handwriting that is clearly not Gentarou’s and it reads: Saturday, my house. Wear something nice.

Kengo’s brain starts running a mile a minute, tallying up everything that’s happened over the last month and a half and what this could possibly mean. Prom isn’t for two weeks so why would Kengo be coming over this weekend? Maybe it’s just…dinner? Kengo’s been over for dinner before…that wouldn’t be strange. But the dressing up…and the envelope…couldn’t Gentarou do anything normally?

--

Saturday rolls around and Kengo’s calendar has six red X’s on it. This is the first time Kengo has ever counted down to something and he’s beyond embarrassed. Black slacks, a pressed white shirt – courtesy of Yuuki’s delicate touch – a black bow tie and his hair truly styled for the first time in his whole life, Kengo almost feels like a true catch. He likes to think his mother would be proud of him. If he had one.

Shaking off the negative thoughts that plague him due to the sheer amount of nerves, Kengo waits for Yuuki to pick him up. The car ride over to Gentarou’s is rather silent as most of it consists of Yuuki playing her favorite songs on the radio and Kengo trying not to pick at the skin around his nails.

“We’re here,” Yuuki’s voice pulls Kengo out of his trance. Imagining Gentarou’s lips on his neck—Kengo swats the air in front of him, desperately trying to clear his head and bracing himself for whatever is about to come.

Kengo does his best to stride up to the front door with confidence before rapping three times on the wooden frame. He can hear the sweet clacking sound of footsteps approaching the door from inside the house and then he’s met with the most beautiful scene he’s ever seen.

Navy blue slacks instead of Kengo’s black and a black shirt and skinny white tie, Kengo unconsciously licks his lips at how well Gentarou cleans up. Truly beyond any of his expectations. Gentarou ushers Kengo into the house and closes the door behind him, the loud sound knocking Kengo back into reality once again. Sounds seem to have that effect on him.

“Gentarou, what is all this?” The question felt like Kengo finally cutting through the tension that’s been surrounding them since last year.

Gentarou turns around, extending his hand to Kengo, “Give me your hand.”

Placing his hand in Gentarou’s, Kengo feels himself being twirled toward Gentarou’s figure at an alarming speed. Pulled close to Gentarou’s chest, Kengo’s hand is placed on Gentarou’s shoulder for him. Gentarou places his other hand on Kengo’s waist, following suit, and begins to pull him across the floor, not even bothering to remove their shoes.

“Shouldn’t we take off our shoes?” Kengo asks, looking back over his shoulder at the entry way to Gentarou’s house.

“My parents aren’t home,” Gentarou says, “they’ll be back on Monday.”

They fall into a simple four-step waltz, a dance Kengo didn’t know Gentarou even knew. “Just dance with me.”

Kengo is beyond confused and pulls himself back from Gentarou’s grip, “What are you doing? What is going on?”

“Isn’t it obvious? This is our Prom.”

It hits Kengo like a freight train. The school uniform. The letter. The dressing up tonight. The dancing. What a loser, oh my god.

“You could have just asked me to Prom,” Kengo says, looking up at Gentarou’s stare, deer in head lights-esque.

“I didn’t want anyone to cause a commotion, two guys going together and all.” Kengo is pulled back into the waltz, closer together than before, Kengo allowing himself to put his head on Gentarou’s chest.

“I’ll have to thank Yuuki, huh?”

Gentarou looks down at Kengo, vaguely confused. “There’s no way you wrote that calling card by yourself, your handwriting is abhorrent.”

“Shut up,” Gentarou sulks, pulling away from Kengo.

Kengo grabs Gentarou by the back of his head and stands on his tiptoes just enough to reach evenly, pushing his lips to Gentarou’s firmly. Gentarou’s lips part slowly, matching pace with Kengo’s, both of them feeling warm all over. After several seconds they pull apart, staring at each as if they’d just seen a lunar eclipse.

“You’re my best friend.”

“Date me.”

The two sentences come out at the exact same time, both Gentarou and Kengo cracking up like the time Ryusei face planted getting out of his own car.

“Of course I’ll date you, Kengo,” Gentarou offers the sweetest smile Kengo has ever seen.

“Thank god,” Kengo chuckles, “I was scared you didn’t like me anymore.”

“Are you joking? I love you, more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything,” Gentarou starts placing kisses on Kengo’s face and neck, “I’ll love you until the end of time.”

“Well, good,” Kengo smiles fervently, “I’m not planning on getting a new best friend any time soon.”

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Swords, Tea, and Ice Cream (for snooperj)

I saw this on your ship list and I was so excited! Hope you enjoy this cute fluff!

Title: Swords, Tea, and Ice Cream For: @snooperj From: @nishimeshun Show: Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger Ship: Ian/Souji

“Souji-dono!” Utchy exclaimed loudly after the two swordsmen had bowed to each other. “You keep improving every time we spar. I’m very impressed with you!”

Souji wiped his face down with a sweat towel and chuckled slightly. “I could still be better, but thank you for sparring with me, Utchy.” The younger boy walked towards the entrance of his house. “I have to go wash up now. We’ll do this again soon, okay?”

“Oh?” Utchy’s face lit up. “You have somewhere to go? You must inform me, Souji-dono. I’m curious.”

“It’s nothing interesting. Ian just said he wanted to talk to me today.” Souji shrugged as Utchy ran up closer to him. Souji invited him into his house.

Utchy placed his and Souji’s wooden sword down before entering the home. “You have what they call a date with Ian-dono today then?”

“Date!?” Souji questioned loudly. “It’s n-not a date. Ian just wants to talk about… something I assume.”

“Ah, I see. I apologize. Amy-dono has just informed before that anytime someone goes out of their way to look nice when meeting up with someone, it is known to be a date.” Utchy sat down in seiza at the small table located on the floor.

Souji started to pour a glass of water. “I just don’t want to go anywhere all sweaty, that’s all. Besides, Ian and I are both boys.”

Utchy laughed a little as Souji placed the glass in front of him. “Souji-dono, you and I both know that’s not an issue for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Utchy took one sip of the water and then gave Souji quite the stare. “I have known many men in my lifetime who preferred the company of each other than their own wives.” Utchy cleared his throat. “This modern idea of what kind of love is correct is quite appalling to me, actually. Besides, you remember that day Ian and I tried to set you and Rin-chan up on a date. You’re not interested in girls, Souji-sono. Everyone knows that.”

Souji rolled his eyes slightly and walked towards the bathroom. “It’s not a date.” After going into the bathroom, Souji poked his head out of the doorway. “You can stay as long as you want. I’ll be back sometime late.” And with that his closed the door and started his shower.

Utchy couldn’t help but be endeared by this small child’s love problems.

—-

“This is disgusting.” Souji made a face of uncomfort and placed the mug back down in front of Ian who was sitting across from him. “You have no taste in tea.”

Ian smiled. “Please. I’m from England. We’re like, the originators of tea. Breakfast tea is the best thing that exists in the drink world.” Ian proudly took a sip of his tea.

Souji squinted at him. “Tea comes from Asia.”

“Okay but like when you hear tea do you think of China or England.”

“I think of you and you’re inability to be right about anything.”

“I’m flattered that I’m the first thing that you think of, boy.” Ian rested his head on his hand. “You look different, by the way. You’re not wearing your school uniform which is like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs. It’s weird yet slightly pleasing.”

Souji just stared at Ian for a few seconds. “You didn’t ask me to come see you just so you could talk to me about the origins of tea did you?”

Ian shrugged his shoulders. “You got me. I wanted to know if you wanted to go get ice cream or something. My treat.”

“What’s your angle here, Ian?” Souji asked. “What do you want?”

Ian finished off his tea. “I want to take you out for ice cream.”

“Take me… out…”

“Yeah. Like, a date.”

Souji’s face went bright red and he looked down at the floor. “I-Ian, you’re like 100 years old and I’m 16. We can’t go on a da-“

“First off, boy, I’m only 24. I take pride in my youth. Secondly, don’t think too much about it. I just figured it’d be something nice we could do while everyone else is away.” Ian stood up and walked around to Souji. “Also, you love ice cream, so get over it and come enjoy yourself. It’s free.”

Ian held out his hand and Souji took it. He helped the boy stand to his feet and the two began to walk towards Souji’s favorite ice cream shoppe.

As the two walked down the street, Ian kept glancing at Souji. “So, you can’t say you’re not even slightly attracted to me, boy.”

Souji scoffed. “You’re flattering yourself again. I find you quite repulsive, actually.”

Ian chuckled. “See, I’d believe that except you keep blushing because I asked you out on a date, so…”

Souji softly elbowed Ian in the side as his face got redder. “You’re too loud.”

Ian smiled and put his arm around Souji. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re cute when you blush?”

The two walked into the ice cream store and each ordered something. Souji liked green tea flavored ice cream whereas Ian enjoyed the red bean flavored kind. After receiving their orders, Ian lead Souji to a small table located in the back of the store far away from most everyone else.

“Why are you so Japanese.” Ian asked.

“Why are you so British.” Souji snapped back.

Ian placed both of their ice creams at different ends of the table and pulled out a chair for Souji. “You should be thankful that I can bring you a little bit of culture you brat.” Ian spoke in fluent English as Souji sat down in the chair.

Ian pushed Souji in and then walked to his chair and sat down. “I’m not that good at English, Ian. Also, your accent is atrocious. How am I supposed to understand anything you say.”

Ian laughed and pushed a spoon into Souji’s ice cream for him. “Oh my. That’s quite rude, boy.”

“Itadakimasu.” Souji said before taking his first bite of the ice cream. “I suppose since this is technically a date I should let you know some things.”

Ian took his first bite and looked at Souji. “What things.”

“I’m not one of those girls that you switch out every day. I’m not paying you for taking me on a date. And I’m not sleeping with you, okay?” Souji explained and began eating through his ice cream.

“This is only our first date, Souji. Also, like you said earlier, you’re sixteen.” Ian wiped his face off with a napkin. Souji was quiet for a few seconds so Ian looked at him. He was just staring at Ian with this confused look on his face. “What?”

“Souji.” Souji said his own name. “You,… you called me Souji.”

Ian reached over and wiped ice cream off of Souji’s face as well, just with his finger this time. He then licked the ice cream off his own finger. It tasted pretty good. “That’s your name, isn’t it?”

Souji’s blush was beginning to come back. “You never call me by my name.”

“I’m sorry, do you prefer when I call you boy?” Ian asked. Souji didn’t answer. He just started eating his ice cream again. Ian sighed with a smile. “So, where did you get those clothes? I never pegged you for being,… fashionable.”

“You’ve met my mother, Ian.” Was the only response that Souji could spit out. “She made them for me to wear when I went on dates…”

“Oh, so you knew I was going to ask you out then?” Ian kept his eyes on Souji. He looked so cute in those clothes specifically. It was unfair.

Souji finished his ice cream and pushed the empty bowl into the center of the table. “I was just… assuming you would. I mean, judging by the way you were acting on the phone. You sounded like you do whenever you ask girls to go on a date with you.”

“You pay that much attention to me?” Ian questioned. “That’s adorable, boy.”

The two finished up the ice cream and Ian offered to walk Souji home. Souji accepted. He wanted to spend as much time as he could would Ian whether he wanted to admit it or not. “Where do you live, Ian?” Souji became curious. He actually had no idea.

“I just have an apartment a few blocks away. Why?”

“Just in case I ever wanted to stop by and hang out or something…” The blush came back again.

Ian laughed. “Aren’t you the one who said you weren’t going to sleep with me?”

“Not that you pervert.” Souji said firmly. “I mean,… maybe one day but not now…”

“Oh?” Ian raised an eyebrow. “Don’t get my hopes up, boy.”

The two finally arrived at Souji’s house. “Thanks for the ice cream.” Souji said quietly.

Ian let go of Souji hand that he had been holding for a while now without Souji even reacting. “Thanks for coming with me. Honestly.”

Souji turned to walk into his house, but stopped and looked back at Ian. “We should do this again. Soon. Okay?”

Ian smiled. “Sure.” He patted Souji’s head and started to walk away, but Souji grabbed his wrist and pulled him back.

The two’s faces were close together and Souji’s face was probably the color of Daigo’s jacket at that moment. Ian couldn’t stop himself and did what he knew Souji wanted. His pressed his lips on Souji’s and the two shared a soft but sweet kiss. It lasted only a moment before Ian broke away.

Souji just stood there in total silence. He had gotten what he wanted. But, now he just wanted more.

Ian patted his head one last time and headed on his way home. “I’ll call you later, Souji.” He called out and walked away.

Souji took a deep breath and turn towards the entrance of his house. There awaited the one and only.

“So, Souji-dono. It wasn’t a date, huh?”

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Only In This World (for Xeiana)

This is part of our college AU I told you about, I hope this fulfills all your gokaiger needs (even though you didn’t put it on the spreadsheet lmao)

Title: Only In This World For: @xeiana From: @zyuohking Shows: Gokaiger Pairing: Basco/Marvelous/Joe Rating: R18

“You smell like him,” Joe says aloud, closing his eyes and shutting the book in his hands.

Marvelous stops abruptly before turning on his right heel to face Joe’s chair in the corner of the room. It is Wednesday and there is absolutely no reason for Joe to be awake at this hour. After his late political science course on Wednesday nights, Marvelous goes for chemistry tutoring. It’s been like this for six months, it’s their usual schedule. There’s no way he knows.

Carefully drawing his breath, Marvelous struggles to bring his eyes up to meet Joe’s cold stare. “You think I don’t know what he smells like, Marvelous?”

Most people would hear this conversation and know exactly what comes next, but they’d be wrong. Marvelous knows exactly what is coming next. He can practically hear the lust in Joe’s voice, dripping silently from his lips but portraying itself in the way he stands, shifting from one foot to another, one hand rubbing the end of his hair together and the other placed delicately on his right hip. Arousal.

Striding across the room towards Joe, the sound of Marvelous’ boots is jarring. Marvelous places his hands on Joe’s hips drawing them close until their hips are touching. Although slightly off due to Joe’s growth spurt since high school, something Marvelous will never let go, they’re still able to meet roughly at the same height when they kiss. Just before Marvelous is about to lean in, Joe’s breath palpable on his lips, a sultry voice cuts through the tangible silence and Joe feels a familiar pair of hands on his ass.

“He doesn’t smell like me, Joe,” Basco slips one of his hands into the back pocket of Joe’s way-to-tight jeans and squeezes gently, “I smell like me.”

“Of course you do,” Joe teases, leaning his hand back onto Basco’s waiting chest, still as strong as the first time Joe tentatively touched it almost a year ago now.

“You still like surprises right?” Marvelous asks, standing on his tip toes to suck on Joe’s exposed neck.

“Only when it’s you two.”

A small laugh escapes Basco’s lips while he nuzzles into Joe’s long hair that Marvelous has pulled out it’s usually pulled back appearance. “This is the only world in which this would work, isn’t it?” Basco continues to laugh, turning slightly maniacal, before grabbing Joe’s hair at the base of his neck just where it makes him keen.

Marvelous cackles, grabbing Joe’s hand as him and Basco haul Joe into their bedroom. Basco had refused to live with the two of them, claiming he was too much of a hassle. Marvelous had tried to push the issue but eventually had dropped it at Joe’s persistence. Something Joe is secretly glad never worked out.

“So, Marv-chan, are you going to be a selfish slut tonight or should we both have our way with him?” Basco chides, slinging Joe onto the bed and going for Marvelous’ many layers.

“I am feeling rather selfish, considering you teased me the entire time during tutoring,” Marvelous sighs, letting Basco remove his button down dress shirt as slow as ever like the mad man he is. “But he does look so pretty when we’re both inside him, haaaa…” Marvelous replies, looking over his shoulder at Joe sprawled out on the bed.

“Whatever, we’ll figure it out, we always do,” Basco snips back, getting frustrated with stupid Marv-chan’s clothing and ripping his undershirt straight down the middle instead of pulling it over his head.

“Basco!” Marvelous chokes, looking down at his torn clothing and sighing deeply, “What did I tell you about –“

Shoved to his knees which nearly takes the breath out of him, Basco threads his fingers through Marvelous’ hair and pushes Marvelous’ face straight into his crotch. Marvelous looks up like a filthy whore, Basco’s mind provides, and gets to work. Basco can see out of the corner of his eye that Joe has taken it upon himself to get ready for at least Marvelous. Something Basco adores about Joe, he’s always about five steps ahead of both Marv-chan and him. But if Basco was held at gun point, he’d never admit it.

Joe meets Basco’s eyes as Marvelous has Basco’s dick in his mouth. Marvelous is too entranced by the smell and taste of Basco’s dick – Joe knows, he’s been there before, it’s beyond erotic – to notice that Joe has stripped down naked and taken out two condoms and a lot of lube. Basco nods at him to continue and Joe decides to take the initiative and coats his fingers in lube.

Getting on his hands and knees with his ass pointed towards Basco, Joe puts his lube-coated fingers in against his hole and slowly begins to press one finger inside. Sliding his finger in and out slowly, Joe adds another and then three, the more pressure the better. Basco breaths through his teeth, pressing his lips together tightly until they turn white before tearing his eyes away to look at the other beautiful sight below him.

With dick stuffed in his mouth so far he begins to choke, Marvelous barely remembers to breathe through his nose before he dies. Basco’s dick tastes unlike anything Marvelous has ever had in his mouth, better than any dessert, and he cannot bring himself to stop bobbing his head up and down like a fucking whore working for money.

Right before he feels his balls tighten, Basco rips Marvelous off his dick, spit dripping from every part of his mouth, Marvelous looks straight out of porno. Grabbing Marvelous by the hair, Basco turns him around to look at the sight Joe has created. Three fingers working themselves in and out of his ass, Marvelous begins to drool even more before very ungracefully picking himself up off the floor.

Climbing onto the bed slowly with a very desperate fear of falling, Marvelous grabs one of the condoms laid out on the bed and begins to unwrap it. On his knees as well, Marvelous rolls the condom onto his dick and grabs Joe’s other hand which has gone limp on the bed.

“Can I?” Marvelous asks, stroking his dick as he eyes Joe’s wet hole with a sly grin.

“Do you even need to ask?”

“Guess not,” Marvelous says, his voice dropping in pitch.

With Joe’s left hip in Marvelous’ left hand, Marvelous uses his right hand to place his dick at Joe’s hole. Marvelous takes Joe’s attempt to move backwards onto his dick as a good sign and presses inside. “Oh god,” Marvelous breathes, dropping his head down so his chin almost touches his chest, Marvelous gathers his composure and pushes in further.

Joe gasps as Marvelous starts to rub inside where he normally reaches and Joe comes. He’s not going to say anything but he’s so sure Basco knows, but Basco doesn’t care. Marvelous puts his right hand on Joe’s right hip and starts to thrust at a consistent pace. Marvelous’ head starts to get dizzy and he drapes his chest over Joe’s back pausing for just long enough for Basco to take his place on the bed behind Marvelous.

“Marv-chan,” Basco whispers in Marvelous’ ear, as he takes the lube and a condom in his hands.

“Basco…” Marvelous breathes just barely audible now, “He feels so good…”

“I know, Marv-chan, now bend over so I can join the fun,” Basco pours lube all over his fingers and places three of them against Marvelous’ hole.

All at once or none at all. That’s what Marvelous had told Basco the first time they had ever fucked during Marvelous’ freshman year in college, and Basco had kept that promise. Pressing his fingers inside in one fell swoop, Marvelous’ hips jerks forward causing Joe to become aware of the situation all over again.

Basco’s fingers work magic inside Marvelous and soon enough he’s begging to be fucked, as usual. Ripping the condom open and rolling it on, Basco takes quick action and slides inside Marvelous’ prepped hole as fast as Basco knows he needs it.

Once the three of them are all together like this, Marvelous becomes a stupid emotional mess and Basco knows they don’t have long before he comes and gives up. Thank god Joe is tougher than Marv-chan.

Pounding Marvelous until he’s shrieking is the way Basco likes to do it and he’ll never do it another way. One hand in Marvelous’ hair and the other on Joe’s hip, Basco feels the most in control he ever feels and that’s what truly gets him off. Not the fact that Marvelous’ hole is swallowing him like it hasn’t been nourished in years or the fact that Joe is looking at him like he’s a mirage in a desert. But the fact that Basco knows he controls whether or not these boys can walk in the morning and that they’ll keep crawling back for more tomorrow night.

Hearing Marv-chan finish is a joy in and of itself, causing Joe to come for the third time that night. Even though he’ll swear to Marvelous that he only came once. Basco grabs Marvelous’ hips like his life depends on it and drills into him harder than he ever has before.

“Basco… It hurts…” Marvelous is crying now, and Joe has pulled himself off of Marvelous’ cock, now facing him and kissing his face all over even though Marvelous won’t stop crying.

“Almost done, Marv-chan,” Basco chuckles, pulling Marvelous into his lap and fucking up into him until Basco comes straight inside and god does he come a lot.

Pulling Marvelous off of his dick, Basco catches a glimpse of his hole. Red, oops. Basco can’t be too sorry, Marv-chan asked for it anyway.

Delusions aside, Basco refocuses, turning around to see Marvelous and Joe heading for the shower with Marvelous’ hand extended to him.

“You coming?” Marvelous asks, cocking his head to the side and giving Basco a questioning look.

“Already did.”

Joe hits Basco over the head as he approaches them and Marvelous laughs his boisterous laugh and Basco realizes maybe this isn’t half bad. 

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

License for Justice for Lucy

Hope you like it. I tired to focus the story on Chase but seriously needed the other characters to move the story along. I was going for comedy, at least a little bit, so hope you can appreciate it. :)

Title: License for Justice For: @lucybeetle From: @snooperj Show: Kamen Rider Drive Character: Chase

Shijima Gou watched Chase breeze through the driving course through the viewfinder of his camera as he snapped some pictures. It made him wonder why, much less HOW. “Shin-niisan, how could a Roimude learn to drive so well? I’m pretty sure that wasn’t part of his programming.”

Tomari Shinnosuke, who was watching alongside Gou, was less curious of why or how, mostly because he was part of the reason why Chase could do so well. He flashed Gou a casual smile. “Well…”

“You know something, don’t you?!”

“He had a lot of practice.”

“When did he have time to do that?”

“You’ve been pretty preoccupied lately, so I’m not surprised you weren’t aware of Chase’s private lessons.”

Gou lowered his camera and turned his full attention to Shinnosuke. “Private lessons? With who?”

At this, Shinnosuke met Gou’s accusing stare with a rather guilty grin. “Me and Belt-san.”

“WHAT?” Gou dropped his camera, his jaw following suit. Thank goodness for camera straps. That would have been a disaster.

“We used Tridoron!” Shinnosuke explained further. He was afraid the white kamen rider would get the wrong impression. With Gou not as convinced with the notion and continued berating Shinnosuke for the truth, Chase was cruising through the course while recalling what would later on be tagged as real events.

--

It began in the Drive Pit as Krim and Rinna needed to check up on Chase. “Come again?” Shinnosuke asked as he stared at Chase in disbelief.

“I’d like to learn how to drive,” Chase repeated in his usual monotone voice as he lowered his sleeve after Rinna had taken a sample from him and held up the filled out application form. “And obtain a license.”

“Aren’t you doing just fine on your motorcycle?"  

"I just thought it would be…an appropriate learning experience.”

Shinnosuke scratched the back of his head, confused before he glanced over to the propped up Driver that held Krim Steinbelt. “What do you think we should do Belt-san?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“I don’t see the immediate problem if he wants to learn,” Krim admitted. “Besides, it might serve useful to us in the long run. Guiding Tridoron remotely to our battle scenes has always been a challenge given the distance.”

Shinnosuke nodded his agreement. “I suppose that’s true.” The police officer turned to Chase. “When do you want to start?”

“Now.”

Shinnosuke and Krim exchanged glances before they eventually brought Tridoron out from the Drive Pit and allowed Chase to get into the driver’s seat. Shinnosuke began by explaining some of the basic things he needed to know and check up on before starting the engine. Chase absorbed the knowledge quickly and even repeated it back to him for confirmation.  

"Start your engine!” Krim instructed enthusiastically as Chase did so. The car revved to life as Shinnosuke subconsciously grabbed hold of the overhead handle.  

“Let’s start with something simple. With your hands on the wheel, put your foot over the gas pedal and press down on it gently,” Shinnosuke instructed. Instead of the slow movement that was expected, the car’s engine merely revved loudly, but the car was still in place. “That’s strange…” Shinnosuke observed.

“Why aren’t we moving?” Chase asked, his foot still revving on the gas.

“Shinnosuke…” Krim began to call out. “We did all the preliminary checks…” Shinnosuke plowed on, ignoring Krim. “Shinnosuke!” Krim called out louder, causing both the passengers to glance over to him.

“What is it, Belt-san?” Shinnosuke finally asked.

“You forgot to tell him to switch gears!” Krim scolded. All eyes shifted down to the gear stick that was still in Park. “You’re obviously not in top gear today Shinnosuke,” Krim teased.

Shinnosuke ignored this and told Chase to move it into drive. As soon as he did, they sped forward a few meters, causing its passengers to similarly jerk back from the sudden movement. “BRAKE BRAKE BRAKE!!” Shinnosuke screamed. The car came to a screeching halt thereafter.  

“What’s wrong?” Chase asked as he turned to Shinnosuke. “I was pressing down on the gas as you said.”

“That really didn’t feel like it was gentle… And I didn’t expect you to already be stepping on the gas when we switched gears,” Shinnosuke said darkly.

“He might be putting some unnecessary power into his foot to do so,” Krim explained. “Chase, perhaps you could try just using minimal effort to start off. With a big toe,” he suggested.

“…Big toe?” Chase repeated, furrowing his brow in confusion as he glanced down at his foot.

“Yes. Just use your big toe to push down on the pedal to accelarate. The idea is to put only the required force on the pedal to mimic the movement of the car.” Chase wondered what he meant by this but decided to give it a shot. Chase adjusted the gear stick, and using just his big toe, he stepped on the gas pedal as the car slowly began to accelerate again. Backwards.

“BRAKE!!” Shinnosuke cried out.

The car came to another screeching halt. “Shinnosuke… I’m starting to think you’re getting second thoughts of teaching me properly,” Chase accused pointedly.

“Of course not, we still have a lot more to cover if you want to pass the exam.”

“Exam?”

“Yeah. You need to take an exam to get a driver’s license.”

“What’s a license?”

Shinnosuke frowned before fishing around his pockets and pulled out his wallet and from within, his driver’s license. “This. It’s an identification card that signifies that you’re qualified to drive.”

Chase examined the card for a moment before nodding to himself. “Very well. I’m not sure how significant owning a plastic card is, but if it’s a requirement then I will obtain it.”

“I’m not surprised you don’t know about it. It’s standard that anyone operating a vehicle or motorcycle should own one.”

Chase frowned. “…Does that mean I’ve been…unfit to operate a motorcycle all this time?” He pulled a straight face when he posed this question.

“Well, you couldn’t blame yourself for it! You’re a Roidmude, so our rules don’t apply to you,” Shinnosuke said hastily.

“But aren’t I trying to to fit in?”

“Well yes…”

“Then I will get a license for both.”

Shinnosuke laughed nervously. “Chase is really determined isn’t he, Belt-san?”

“I can almost see a determined aura pulsating from him,” Krim said happily with a little beep.

“I can’t comprehend what auras you’re speaking of, but could we continue? I’d like to take the exam by tomorrow,” Chase requested.

“TOMORROW?!” Shinnosuke exclaimed in surprise. “Y-You really are eager to get one…”

“As a Kamen Rider fighting for justice, I cannot be caught not having a license if I take my motorcycle out, isn’t that right? Shinnosuke?”

Shinnosuke nodded slowly. “T-That’s right…”

“I think we should start going through a driving course Shinnosuke,” Krim suggested, trying to shift the attention back to the crash course.

It was nearly sundown when Chase parked Tridoron perfectly in parallel and shifted to Park. “Thank you for teaching me today.”

“You were a good student, Chase,” Krim praised with a happy beep.

“A pretty quick one too,” Shinnosuke added. “I’m sure you’ll ace the exam tomorrow!”

Chase unfastened his seatbelt and stepped out of the car. “I must read through the manual one last time before I undertake the exam. Thank you for your patience.” With a bow, the Roidmude headed off.

Shinnosuke leaned on the dashboard watching Chase leave. “So, Belt-san… How nervous were you that Chase would crash Tridoron?” he asked.

“I had the utmost confidence he’d be fine,” Krim scoffed. “If anything weren’t you the one who was nervous? You put too little faith in him.”

“Well, he did show how committed he was to doing this.”

“He might just end up surprising you,” Krim told him with a happy beep.

--

“And that’s it,” Shinnosuke said, explaining to Gou the exact same thing. “Oh look, he’s done,” he noted when he saw Chase approach. “How’d it go?”

Chase, with a straight face, held up a license. “I passed.” Of note was that his license held an unmistakable picture of the Roidmude smiling, almost ear to ear.  

“How are you smiling?! You never smile!” Gou accused as soon as he noticed this.

“They asked me to. They were very insistent upon it, so I complied,” Chase explained plainly.

“Yeah, but THIS wide?” Shinnosuke asked in surprise.

“They weren’t satisfied with a small one,” the roidmude pointed out.

“And you complied?” Gou asked with a frown.

“Shouldn’t I have?” Chase asked skeptically.

Shinnosuke and Gou looked between the picture on the license and Chase before they shook their heads. “No this is fine!” they said together.

“I see.” Chase looked thoughtfully down at his license. “With this I can protect the humans…properly…” he said to himself, clutching it tightly before he walked away.

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Kamen Rider Stronger for @scribblecee! by @belt-fucker

You said that you were a big fan of showa series, and I’ve been meaning to get into Stronger for a while, so I tried to paint you a little something in that spirit. :) This was a pretty big project for me (the full painting is 18x12 which is the biggest canvas size i’ve ever worked with for watercolours) and I hope you like it!

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Looking Back (for Neotaros)

I’ll admit it was kind of hard to pick from the list that was given, but I enjoyed writing this. Sorry if it’s not exactly an all out pair-story if that was what you were looking for. ^___^;;;;

B-but I did manageto not make it fluffy 8D;; -hides under a rock-

Hope you enjoy!

Title: Looking Back

For: @neotaros

From: @underthemattressstaring

Show: Shuriken Sentai Ninninger

Pair: Kinji/Takaharu, Star Ninger/Aka Ninger

Kinji had mixed feelings when he realized that nearly all of them would go separate ways. While he did expect this to happen, it never really sunk in that it would be so soon after everything settled down. The battle was finally won and they all started to lay down the foundations of the paths that they were going to pave for themselves as ninjas.

They all wanted different things, so he supposed it was only natural that they would all go different ways.

When they had asked him what he wanted to do, Kinji answered with the first thing that came to mind - that he would take his ninja skills to the international level to promote it and maybe spread a little awareness. He thought back on it after a while and realized that he really had no idea where to begin with that.

So he decided on doing the next best thing: he would watch over the rest.

He established something for himself first; something that would be able to sustain what he wanted to do for the meantime. While going around, he realized that a mobile business would be a good cover. It technically hit two birds with one stone. He could say this was how he was promoting the way of the ninja to the rest of the world and at the same time, it would be portable enough to bring around anywhere he wanted to go. With his alibi and a way to sustain his travels in place, he set off to do what he wanted.

He watched them all from afar, making use of the opportunity of having a mobile business and Surfer-maru take him wherever he wanted to go. He had started in Europe, looking for Yakumo. He knew he would be hardest to find; after all, how does one start looking for a school that was virtually untraceable from everything? He found him eventually, teaching a new generation of wizards that could potentially become ninjas as well.

The second one he watched out for was Kasumi. He didn’t know where her lab was, but when he got wind of a budding ninja-turned-inventor one day, he knew it was her. Sure enough, he managed to find Kasumi in the middle of an experimental launch of a satellite that he wasn’t quite sure was for. He did see UFO-maru assisting her, which he thought was nice.

The remaining three were in Japan and were easy to find. Nagi was in school, still making his way through and working on paving a path for his future. Kinji did notice that Nagi was very talented in a lot of things as his classmates seemed to keep on asking him again and again for help in a variety of activities.

Fuuka, Kinji found out, managed to get into acting. With a little help from a friend they made that they suspected was a vampire back then, she was now taking on small roles and getting noticed by various agencies. Kinji was happy for her since he thought she had a lot of potential.

The last on the list was Takaharu, and frankly, he was one that Kinji wasn’t looking forward to seeing. Starting off as an assassin and eventually becoming good friends towards the eldest Igasaki grandchild was a transition that didn’t go so smoothly for him as the others might have thought. During the time he had been learning to be Takaharu’s friend, he started to feel other conflicting emotions. He didn’t dare talk to anyone about it, not wanting to involve the others with his problems any further. Besides, he didn’t think that there was a chance that they would be so accepting if they found out what those conflicting emotions were.

He supposed it had a lot to do with growing up in a place where people were more open to those kinds of concepts. Plus, in Japan, it was clearly a situational irony. While a lot of media portrayed it, it was still socially taboo. They already had a lot of problems to handle, so Kinji knew that this was highly irrelevant.

At least that’s what he thought until all those feeling stared to flare like a fire being fanned to life.

The incident that started it was when a youkai managed to reach into his soul and exposed his worst fear in an attempt to trap and eventually kill him. The rest got him out of that nightmare, and he was thankful for it. When they shared stories long after it happened, Kinji learned that for Takaharu there had been two stages at the very least. He nervously asked if the death of his father and brother was all they saw for him, to which they answered an affirmative. Kinji was relieved, and when they asked why, he merely shook the question off and offered to make them food.

Food always worked with this group, it seemed.

The second was the arrival of the girl from Takaharu’s childhood. While he did join the casual teasing, deep down inside he felt anger. He hid it and honestly, by the end of it all, he was glad that Takaharu didn’t get what they were all insinuating.

The last thing had been what he thought would make him finally snap.

Meeting Kyuuemon was a surprise for him. Until now, he considered himself lucky that he was the one that the renegade Ninja had talked to despite causing a hell-storm afterwards. He couldn’t imagine putting the rest through what he had gone through. Then again, he realized, he was probably the only one that Kyuuemon knew he could sway.

His nightmare was nothing compared to the inner demons he had created and faced during that time, especially the one that he was so sure he had properly suppressed. He soon discovered that it was the one that had the loudest voice among all of them.

It had tempted him the most, telling him things that nearly broke his resolve.

You want him.

You want to dominate him.

You want him to see you and only you.

At the same time, it was what nearly broke him.

He’d never want someone as weak as you.

It’s impossible. You’ll live with this need for the rest of your life.

He will never love you.

And as a result, it was the voice that tempted him the most.

He can be yours.

Give in and you will have the power to make anyone yours.

He won’t have a choice.

It was a hard struggle for Kinji, juggling through pain, anguish, and at the same time hope. Pain that everything being said to him was the truth; truth that he didn’t want to acknowledge. Anguish over the fact that Takaharu wouldn’t see him more than a friend or an extended member of their family. In the end though, what began as the weakest feeling got him through it - Hope.

A choice. That was what Kinji had wanted to be for Takaharu. While he wanted, needed and desired all he could, the fact was that he needed Takaharu to be the one to choose for himself. He learned the hard way that there were large consequences for forcing someone into something. Plus if there was one thing he learned throughout staying with the Igasaki clan, it was that no matter what the situation was, you always had a choice. And that was why he pulled through; because he chose to.

Now, after all that, he needed to make another decision. Thinking back on everything that happened made him realize that he was running away from his problems again and tackling them on his own. He thought that maybe, just maybe, he needed to hold on to that little strand of hope that he had discovered when he was ready to surrender. Maybe this time it would help him pull through.

With a determined nod, he adjusted the strap of his guitar on his shoulder and headed off to look for Takaharu. 

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Chemicals On Spectre (for thatcoleslaw)

This is a Makoto/Alain High School AU fic inspired by this infamous Chemistry Lab Safety video. Take caution of sex in school (NSFW) and yaoi realism ;w; Hope you’ll have fun reading :)  Title: Chemicals On Spectre For: thatcoleslaw From: guavant Show: Kamen Rider Ghost Pairing: Makoto/Alain 

On the rare day that Makoto came to school, he ended up in a remedial chemistry lab session alone with the guy he wanted to avoid. The guy—Alain, his class representative—had left him a note under his desk last week.

‘Meet me at the back gate when school ends,’ Alain had written.

There was no other way to interpret his message as a challenge to a fight. Makoto was often mistaken as a delinquent, but in truth he had no time for their shit. After he found Alain’s note, he made an excuse to leave at lunch time.

Makoto was sure that Alain would do something like suggestively play with his Bunsen burner lighter and bring up the ignored note.  While he was infamous for skipping school, Alain was infamous for his drastic measures. An example was setting the curtains on fire when the class couldn’t get their act together to prepare for the school festival. The resultant shower from the fire sprinkler and the discipline of the fire drill was sobering. As Makoto swirled the compounds in his test tubes and recorded the resultant colour in his lab report, he mentally prepared the words he would use to intimidate Alain. Intimidate him to the point when they would not look in each other’s eyes ever again.

'If you have anything to say to me, say it to my face-’

His prepared retort was interrupted by the impact of a body crashing against his side, followed by a splash on the back of his school blazer.

“My bad, Spectre!” Alain said, referring to Makoto by the nickname Makoto had gained due to his regular absences. “There’s some acid on the stuff I spilled on you. You should take this off.”

Alain put aside the beaker he was holding and began pulling Makoto’s school blazer off him. As Makoto didn’t bother fastening it properly, Alain soon shucked it onto the floor.

“The spill seeped through,” Alain announced, poking at the damp part on the white shirt Makoto had underneath. “You should take this off too—”

“Bastard!”

Makoto elbowed Alain aside and whirled around to glare at him. He picked up Alain’s beaker and splashed its contents right back onto Alain’s front.

“What’s that for!?” Alain exclaimed. 

“If you have anything to say to me—”

“There’s only three drops of acid in the beaker, but let’s not risk it.”

Alain ignored Makoto’s prepared retort and began stripping off his blazer. And his shirt. And his pants. And his underwear.

“What the hell!?” Makoto gaped. Why was Alain getting naked in front of him? To show off his surprisingly toned body underneath his clothes?

“As class rep, I ought to remind you the basics of chemistry lab safety,” Alain said, dragging the stunned and still clothed Makoto to the back of the lab. “When coming into contact with hazardous chemicals, we have to first take off all our clothes. Then wash ourselves with the safety shower.”

Alain was indeed much stronger than Makoto thought. He failed to shake off Alain’s grip on his wrist as Alain positioned them both under the lab’s safety shower and turned it on.

“Don’t bother being modest,” Alain raised his voice over the cascading cold water. “And don’t say I didn’t warn you if you end up with a rash on an awkward spot.”

“Fine!” Makoto conceded.

To prevent his clothes from becoming too wet to wear later on, he pulled them off and threw them aside to where his discarded blazer was. Shivering under the shower, he deliberately avoided eye contact with Alain and looked down. Despite the circumstances, the shower refreshed him. His mood lightened a little until he heard Alain speak again.

“Spectre,” Alain openly stared at Makoto’s crotch, “Don’t forget that we’re in school.”

So what if Makoto was getting a little too comfortable?

“You’re the same, Class rep Alain.”

He flicked the head of Alain’s erection to emphasize the latter’s hypocrisy. The high of Alain’s hiss went to Makoto’s cock. Makoto was so caught up with thinking he got the upper hand that Alain took the chance of his opening to shove him against the wall. With one hand pinning Makoto back, he clamped the other around Makoto’s cock.

All right, Makoto could play his game. He gripped Alain by the balls and leaned in to continue their talk before Alain poured chemicals down his back.

“Don’t you ever speak to me again,” Makoto growled into Alain’s ear.

“You’re speaking to me right now,” Alain pointed out. “Relax and don’t worry. If anyone comes by, I’ll take responsibility and say that I’m molesting you.”

He began to truly molest Makoto’s cock, stroking it with a firm pressure while tracing the veins along the length with his thumb. What the fuck—Makoto couldn’t believe that being jerked off by another hand would feel so good. He wanted Alain to continue, but at the same time he wanted to strip away the smugness practically radiating off Alain’s back.

With his palm still pressed against Alain’s balls, Makoto drew his index finger down Alain’s crack until he found Alain’s hole. He pressed his finger in right up to his knuckle.

“Ow!”

Alain gave Makoto’s desired reaction. Makoto forced another finger in before Alain got used to the discomfort. When Alain tightened his grip on Makoto’s cock, Makoto in retaliation reamed Alain from the inside out. Why was Alain so tight there? Had he ever played with his ass before?

As Makoto stretched Alain’s hole, Alain pitched forward and their cocks rubbed against each other’s.  Alain took both of them in his hand.

“There!” Alain moaned. “Spectre, right there!”

'Can you at least call me by my name?’

 Too preoccupied with his mental retort, Makoto ended up doing as Alain ordered. He shoved his fingers against where Alain’s prostate was supposed to be. He did it again and again, harder and harder, watching as Alain struggled to keep his balance.

“Makoto!”

At last, Alain collapsed against Makoto and came all over Makoto’s chest. The spurting of Alain’s cock against his own and Alain’s warm semen on his skin pushed Makoto over the brink. He closed his eyes as he came, pinching them so tightly shut that he could see red spots on the back of his eyelids.

Makoto heard Alain turning off the shower and moving away from him. When he reopened his eyes, Alain was approaching him with a mop in his hand.

“…Alain,” Makoto mumbled the class rep’s name for lack of better things to say.

Alain threw the mop at him.

“Time to make up for all the after school cleaning duties you’ve missed,” Alain instructed.

*

In addition to hating Alain, Makoto ended the day with hating himself even more. If only he didn’t come to school, he wouldn’t be forced to spend the afternoon in the lab with Alain. If only he weren’t doing his work so close to Alain, they wouldn’t have spilled chemicals and afterwards semen all over each other. The regrets hit Makoto all in one go as he sat beside Alain in the backseat of a black, expensive-looking car with Alain’s chauffeur glaring at his reflection in the rear-view mirror.

“Javert, stop glaring at my friend,” Alain said.

“Yes, sir,” his chauffeur replied with a clipped tone.

’He’s a teenager that likes to be called 'sir’,’ Makoto criticised Alain in his mind.

He would have given harsher criticism if he knew what Alain would say next.

“Spectre, I’ve been meaning to tell you since last week,” Alain said. “I like you.”

Makoto wouldn’t regret throwing himself out of the car and onto the road right then and there. Alain’s hostile chauffeur may even be open to the idea.

“Remember the note I put under your desk?” Alain continued. “I should have made my intention to confess clear in it, so you wouldn’t misunderstand.”

“What do you like about me?” Makoto had to ask.

“I think you’re cool,” Alain said. “At least cool enough with what we just did.”

He turned to flash Makoto a suggestive smirk. Another regret came to Makoto’s mind—not putting something bigger and more painful up Alain’s ass. Before Makoto could voice a cutting retort, the chauffeur spoke as he stopped the car.

“Sir, we have arrived at your friend’s house.”

“I’ll be picking you up tomorrow morning,” Alain said as Makoto exited the car with only a soft “thanks”.

Alain did not expect a “goodbye” and soon had his chauffeur drive away. The car unfortunately stayed long enough outside the Fukami residence long enough for Kanon to notice it.

As Makoto stepped inside, he heard his sister ask from upstairs, “Big bro, is that your friend?”

“No, I have no friends,” he reminded her.

He went to the refrigerator to grab a can of iced coffee and downed it as if it was beer. He crushed the can in his hand when there was no more coffee left. For the first time in a long while, he would go to school for two days in a row.

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Change of Life (for LadyIsana)

Well, I don’t have much to say… I just hope that you’ll be able to enjoy it at least a little! ^^

Title: Change of Life For: @ladyisana From: @fyeahjapanesestuff Show: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (in a kind-of-school AU here) Pairing: none

The hit hurt, but she had already been hurt worse than this. “Try and stop me,” Luka hissed angrily. “It’s not like I was doing this for myself.” The man snorted, “You’re just a thief like all the others out there are. Telling me you had noble motives won’t change anything because if I caught any other thief, they’d tell me the same in order to convince me of sparing their life.” She wound herself out of the grip of his bodyguards and ran as fast as she could. It wasn’t that she couldn’t fight back; she just knew when retreating was a better option than continuing the fight.

Luka purposely ran a way longer route than she could have gone because she didn’t want to lead the men following her to her home—and she managed to get rid of them just a few blocks away from the old house. “Luka-nee!” a little girl called out in relief, running towards her. “You were gone for so long, we were worried!” “Shht, don’t worry, Hikari. Everything’s fine.” Luka led the girl back inside into the living room where five other kids were sitting, looking up to her hopefully. The oldest of them, a 11 years old girl named Suki lowered her head in front of Luka. “I hope you didn’t get into trouble.” “Nope, I was fine,” Luka lied, not even hesitating anymore. She didn’t want to lie to those children who, just like her, didn’t have parents or a home anymore, but on the other hand she knew if she told them she’d gotten caught again, at least one of them would run off and try to revenge her. Luckily, her hair fell just the right way to cover the bruise on her jaw. “Sorry, I wasn’t able to get you guys much this time, though,” she apologized and displayed the food she had stolen in front of the younger children. “If you’re really hungry, I can go out again—” “No,” Suki argued gently. “You stay here now, please. You must be hungry too, right?” “No, I’m fine,” Luka lied again, but Suki handed her an apple. “At least eat this. These days, you’ve given us everything you got, and not eaten a single thing yourself. This is something I can’t stand seeing.” “Right,” Hikari agreed and held out a piece of bread. “You have to eat too, Nee-chan.” Luka smiled sadly and took the food. It was right; she hadn’t eaten anything the past two days and she’d do anything for a meal that would make her feel full again. But she hadn’t been able to get much food either, and she had given everything to the children. Caring for six children between five and eleven years at the age of 16 probably wasn’t the best idea she’d had so far.

It continued this way for some more days. Luka went out to steal food from the markets and gave the little she was able to get to the younger kids, barely eating anything. Then, it happened—she was on her way back to the old house, almost happy for once because she’d been able to steal a lot of food, at least in comparison to the previous week, when she suddenly bumped into someone. A young man who was at least one year older than her, with long, black hair, dressed in blue. “I-I’m sorry,” she mumbled and hurried to get past him, but he grasped her wrist. “…who are you?” Luka’s eyes widened, but she quickly caught herself. “I don’t know why that should be of interest to you. Let me go.” “I asked who you are.” “I know, and I’m not gonna answer you.” The man didn’t seem to plan on letting go of her, and she sighed. “Who are you? Nobody’s asked me for my name just because I bumped into them before.” “…Joe Gibken. Now, will you tell me your name?” He didn’t seem to have noticed that she had stolen food with her, but she could never be careful enough… “Luka.—I told you, so let me go.” Joe stared into her eyes and it felt as if he was looking deep into her soul. Luka shuddered a little, but then he let go of her wrist and she just turned around and walked away, forcing herself not to run because if she did, Joe would have started to wonder.

“Luka-nee! There’s someone who wants to see you,” Hikari called out. Luka sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and quickly tried to think of someone who could know who she was and where she lived. For the second point, she didn’t know anyone, but she clearly remembered having told Joe Gibken her first name. On the other hand, how could he find her just knowing her first name? “Kids, stay behind me and let me talk to them. Suki, bring them in here and then go over to the others.” Suki bowed slightly and hushed out of the room to return with two young men just a short time later. One of them was a complete stranger to Luka, but the other one was… “…Joe. What are you doing here? How did you find me?” “We have certain sources,” the other young man told her. “Joe told me about you and I used my… contacts to find out where you live.” “What do you want from me? I knew there was something wrong when he suddenly asked me for my name.” The man sighed. “Wait. I’m Marvelous, you know Joe already and you’re… Luka, right?” “Tell me what you want and then go.” “At first, I want to ask you something. Are you caring for those kids by yourself?” “She is!” Hikari exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. “She’s our Nee-san, you know?” Luka just wanted to hit her head against something. Joe nodded quietly and Marvelous continued, “We’re students at a nearby high school. You must be our age, Luka; and we have some space in our dorm. Of course we can give the kids a place to live at, too.” “You want me to live with you. Why?” She still was worried, but it had lessened a little by now. The men looked at each other for a few seconds. “…Actually, we’re good friends with the police. We’re some kind of… undercover agents at school,” Marvelous tried to explain. “Not really. I just can’t describe it. Sometimes, when they hear about strange stuff happening at our school—which isn’t a rare occasion, actually—they send us to investigate the first steps.” She furrowed her eyebrows. “What does that have to do with the reason why you’re here?” “We think you’d be a good part of the team. From what Joe told me, you’re skilful and fast, and he also told me you were good at hiding.” “You’ve been stalking me.” “We’ve merely been finding out something about you. This isn’t about stalking, Luka. We don’t just want you to work for us. You could have a better life, and the kids could, too. We won’t tell the police you lived with them and so on… we’ll just have them send the kids to a home.” Luka shook her head. “Let me talk about this with the kids.” She turned around to them. “They basically… want me to go with them, and they’ll give you a better home to live at if I do. Like, a house with warm water and enough food nobody has to steal and so on.” “But I want to stay with you,” Hikari exclaimed and clung to Luka’s arm. “I don’t want you to go.” “Suki?” Luka asked, knowing the second oldest girl in the house was like a leader to the other children. “What do you think?” Suki nodded. “You should go, Luka. It’s a chance for you, a chance to have a better life. I’m sure you won’t be completely out of our lives if you go with them so I think if you’re okay with it, you should go.” After hesitating for a few seconds, Luka turned back to Marvelous and Joe. “I’m coming with you. My conditions are that the children get to live in a good home and that I can visit them at least once a week.” A faint smirk hushed across Joe’s lips, showing that he thought what he didn’t say, “I knew it.” Marvelous replied, “You know you can whenever you want. As long as you remember your duties.” “Not that you’re too eager to work yourself,” Joe mumbled under his breath and the smirk left his lips as fast as it had come. “Joe, don’t question my attitude.—Come with us then, y’all.”

Half a year later, Luka had gotten used to life in the school dorms and one day, she was told that she would finally get a roommate. “A girl one year younger than you. She also agreed to join us,” was all Joe told her and when the girl entered the room for the first time, Luka gave her a bright smile. “Hi. I’m Luka Millfy, your roommate.” “I’m Ahim de Famille,” the girl introduced herself smiling. “I’m pleased to meet you, Luka-san.” “Oh no, don’t call me –san. Just Luka is enough.” “If you wish so…” “I’ve been told you’re gonna join us. I’m looking forward to working with you!” Luka already knew she liked this girl. Ahim was like Suki, after all. She was glad she had agreed to join those people; as they had promised her, her life was much better now, and she also knew that the children were happy. “Couldn’t be better now, huh…”

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

A Much-Needed Break (for mamang-rangermerah)

This was a weird fic to write, but hopefully it turned out alright!

Title: A Much-Needed Break For: @mamang-rangermerah From: @kamen-rider-ruciferu Show: Kamen Rider Decade/Double(W)/OOO Pairing: Daiki/Tsukasa, Philip/Shoutarou, Eiji/Ankh

Tsukasa drew open the curtains on the window of the studio. It was a sunny day, and he could definitely get some good shots before sunset. It was quiet, since Natsumi and Eijiro were on a vacation in the mountains. He walked over to the table where he had placed his camera, and was surprised by a backdrop sliding down the wall and into place with its characteristic sound. Looking at the poster, he was greeted with the sight of a tall steel tower topped with a large windmill.

“Double’s world? I’ve already passed through once, what could the problem be now?” he mused to himself. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.”

Tsukasa proceeded to collect his camera and head out of the studio, wandering around a short time before reaching the Narumi Detective Agency. He entered after a loud knock, and was greeted with Philip buried in thought, and Shoutarou fixing his hair in a hand mirror. When the latter noticed him, he stood up and tried to look cool.

“Decade? What brings you to our windy city?” he inquired.

“The studio sent me here, so I’m probably supposed to help you with a problem.” Tsukasa replied coolly.

“Help? Perhaps you can, actually.” Philip replied from his position on the couch, springing onto his feet and quickly walking over to Tsukasa. “We’re trying to solve a case where the culprit keeps mysteriously disappearing. Worst of all, I can’t find anything in my Gaia Library. It’s like they’re leaving the world.” he added, after a second of thought.

“Leaving the world? Perhaps leaving this world.” Tsukasa replied. “I can think of one other person who can travel through the worlds of Riders….”

“Kaitou Daiki!” came a voice from the doorway. Tsukasa turned to see Daiki standing in the doorway, holding a sealed envelope between his fingers. “This is for you, Tsukasa.” He chimed, tossing it through the air.

Tsukasa caught the envelope and opened it to reveal a note, presumably written by Daiki. It read:

Dear Tsukasa,

I know who the Double Detectives are looking for, but I can’t tell you because it would interfere with the treasure I’m looking for. So I’ll give you a hint. I wrote this to distract you while I get the treasure-

At that point, Tsukasa stopped reading and crumpled the note in his hand. He let it fall to the ground and let out an angry “He knows who you’re looking for! We have to follow him!” before stalking out the door and after Daiki. He was barely able to see him as he turned each corner, and before he knew it he was at the studio again, followed closely by a breathless half-boiled detective and genius.

“Where- where did he go?” Shoutarou asked between gasps.

“I lost him.” Tsukasa growled, throwing open the door to the studio and stalking in. Philip and Shoutarou followed him in, and as the door was closed behind them the sound of a poster sliding down the wall again. Without looking at the poster, Tsukasa turned and stormed out the door into the street.

Tsukasa began searching for Daiki without any real idea of where he was going. After wandering around angrily for a while with Philip and Shoutarou in tow, he found himself at Cous Coussier, and decided he would stop in to see if OOO could help. Upon entering, he saw Hina waiting tables and Ankh sitting at a table sulking and eating an ice pop. The theme for the restaurant was Canada that day, so Hina was wearing a plaid dress with faux buttons up the front and carried plates on what looked like a large axe.

When he entered, Ankh looked up to see who was there. He scowled when he saw them and yelled “Eiji!” in the direction of the kitchen. Eiji came scrambling out of the kitchen wearing a plaid shirt and khakis, and was about to scold Ankh when he noticed the Riders in the doorway.

“Oh! Decade! And Double! Are you guys here to eat? The restaurant’s a little full, but-“

“We’re not here by choice.” Tsukasa cut in. “We’re looking for-“

“Daiki!” Daiki said as he skipped out of the kitchen. He was wearing the same clothes as Eiji and appeared to be helping out in the restaurant.

“Why are you here?” Tsukasa demanded. “What do you know about the case?”

“I lied,” Daiki replied happily. “I set all this up to have a party for you! You take everything too seriously, so I set this up to surprise you. Are you mad?” he asked playfully.

“Yes!” Tsukasa sighed. “No, I’m not. I’m just all riled up because I had to chase you through two worlds just to get here.”

“Then why don’t we relax!” Shoutarou suggested, leading the group to an empty table in the corner.

“I thought you were busy?” Tsukasa asked suspiciously.

“Daiki offered to help in exchange for a table and to free up some time so Ankh and I-“ he shot a look at Ankh, “well, so I could join you.” Ankh scoffed, but got up and moved to the table with everyone else.

“Well, it was a bit of an adventure getting you here, but that was part of the fun, right?” Daiki smiled, poking Tsukasa with his elbow.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tsukasa smiled. “You got me, I didn’t think for a second this was all an elaborate plan to get me to relax and party with other Kamen Riders.”

“Tch.” Ankh said. “I can’t believe you fell for something as simple as-“ he was distracted by Eiji waving an ice pop in front of him, and cut off.

Meanwhile Shoutarou was devouring food on the other side of the table, and Philip was slowly eating and analyzing every bite. “French fries with gravy and cheese. What an interesting combination of flavours. I need to do more research on this… Canada,” he remarked.

The six of them had good conversations and good food, and then the Decade Riders and Double Riders returned to the studio. They went back to the world of Double and dropped off Shoutarou and Philip, then went back into the studio to see what adventures were in store for them next.

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Do Roidmudes Dream of Electric Sheep (for mai-is-here)

Title: Do Roidmudes Dream of Electric Sheep

For: @mai-is-here

From: @aquabluejay

Show: Kamen Rider Drive

Pairing: Chase & Shinnosuke (fluff)

After the day is won, Shinnosuke makes sure Chase is looked after.

Chase had looked steady enough, standing there as Shinnosuke thanked everyone for helping bring him back to the land of the living. Then 001 had interrupted, his core rising from the bay to deliver his final words - his final bitter laughter ringing in the air when his core finally shattered.

  Shinnosuke stares at the empty space where 001’s core was hovering before it exploded, considering the Roidmude’s final words. They were malicious, calculated to sew distress, to ruin Drive’s victory. And yet, Shinnosuke senses the weight of truth in them. It could only be that weight that made them settle so heavily in his stomach.

  Shinnosuke is distracted from his thoughts by the thump of something hitting the ground behind him. Something - or someone, he realizes as he turns to see.

  Chase had been standing at the back of the cluster of Shinnosuke’s friends when they came to gather around him moments before. Except Chase isn’t standing there anymore. It takes Shinnosuke a moment to locate the source, but then he spots Chase on the ground and his stomach drops again.

  Shinnosuke’s friends are still clustered around him, unaware of what’s happened behind them. They’re between Shinnosuke and Chase and so he shoulders his way past Otta and crises the few yards at a jog. Normally he’d apologize, but at the moment he can’t think past getting to Chase’s side, almost can’t breathe around the tightness in his chest at seeing Chase lying there.

  Shinnosuke noticed Chase limping over to join the celebratory huddle around him and the Tridorian. There had just been a battle, 001 had been there. He hadn’t actually seen them fighting, but 001 was standing over Chase when he stepped out of the Tridorian.  It made sense that Chase must have taken a few hits. Caught up in the rush of everything, Shinnosuke hadn’t had a chance to think about the other Rider. No, that wasn’t true. He hadn’t thought much about it at all because he was too caught up in his moment.

  Rinna and Otta’s disgruntled voices fall off suddenly as they turn after Shinnosuke and sees what has him in such a hurry. Shinnosuke drops into a crouch beside Chase and leans down to get a better look at him.

  Chase seems to be in shock or something like it. His eyes are unfocused and he’s squinting a little at the pavement in front of him, almost like he’s confused about how he ended up on the ground. Shinnosuke places a hand on Chase’s shoulder to draw his attention. He’s relieved when the Roidmude’s eyes immediately focus on him and then worried again when he sees the pain in them.

  “Chase…?” Shinnosuke almost asks if he’s OK, but catches himself. It is abundantly clear that Chase is not OK. Chase is hurt, and badly.

  Abruptly, Chase tries to sit up. He barely lifts his shoulders a few inches off the ground before he falls back with a gasp.

  “Easy! Easy! Don’t try to get up yet.” Shinnosuke’s hands flutter helplessly above the other Rider. “Rinna!” he yells, perhaps a little louder than is necessary considering she’s barely a few steps away. Rinna appears in his vision with Mad Doctor already in hand.

  “We need the Break Gunner,” Rinna says, stepping over Chase’s legs to kneel across from Shinnosuke with their fallen teammate between them.

  One of Chase’s arms comes up to fumble at his jacket collar. For the first time Shinnosuke catches sight of the white gauze wound around Chase’s right hand. Shinnosuke is momentarily confused, but then Chase finds the pull for his jacket zipper and jerkily tugs it down. His hand slips inside the front and draws out his gun. Rinna reaches over and takes the weapon from Chase’s shaky grip with a soft “thanks, you,” before she slots Mad Doctor into it.

  “I need him on his back,” Rinna tells Shinnosuke, placing one hand on Chase’s shoulder. Shinnosuke nods and helps roll him towards her. Chase let’s himself be moved, his only complaint as they shift him a faint moan dredged up from deep in his throat. Shinnosuke gives Chase’s arm a gentle squeeze before he draws back to give Rinna room to work.

  Rinna presses the Break Gunner to the center of Chase’s chest and pulls the trigger. Mad Doctor goes to work, spreading its power through the Roidmude’s body. His back arcs up off the pavement. Rinna bears down, not to force him back down, but to keep the gun in place. Chase pants shallowly, his eyes shut tight and brow drawn tight against the pain. A particularly bright wave from Mad Doctor washes over his chest and he visibly bites back a whimper.

  Finally, Mad Doctor issues a series of beeps and Rinna lets up on the trigger. All the tension goes out of Chase’s body at once and he collapses fully back onto the pavement.

  “That’s about all Mad Doctor can do for now, but Chase’s internal repair systems should be getting to work,” Rinna pronounces.

  Mad Doctor’s healing power has its limits unfortunately. It can only heal so much in one go, and that’s not always enough to have the subject back in fighting shape immediately. The truth is that it wasn’t really designed for that.

  The shift car wasn’t originally designed to work in a driver or the Rider’s guns. Rinna had actually modified it for Drive. When Krim originally designed Mad Doctor to work alongside Proto-Drive, its primary purpose was to heal civilians caught up in Roidmude attacks. Mad Doctor was meant to restore their mobility enough for them to get out of further danger once slow down abated - or else to heal any life threatening injuries, ensuring their survival until help could come to them. With that in mind, Mad Doctor was programmed for use on humans civilians, not for Riders and never for Chase and his Roidmude body.

  However, Mad Doctor worked primarily by speeding up the natural healing processes of the body, an approach which was transferable to the Roidmude’s internal repair system, which had been designed to imitate those of the human body in many ways. Thankfully, this meant that Mad Doctor could be used to heal him.

  “I can run diagnostics back at the Pit to assess any remaining damage later. He should be alright though,” Rinna tells Shinnosuke, and although it bothers him a little bit - the way she speaks right over Chase - he figures it’s probably only sensible since Chase hasn’t reopened his eyes yet. He nods and thanks her again for all her help, and she zips up Chase’s jacket again before she gets to her feet, which makes Shinnosuke feel a little better again.

  “Why don’t you take Chase back in the Tridorian, we can put Ride Chaser on the trailer we bought the Tridorian out her on. Kiriko, Otta, and I can wrap things up here ” Rinna suggests, glancing up at Kiriko hovering nearby, who nods in agreement.

  “Both of you could use some rest, Tomari-san,” Kiriko adds.

  Shinnosuke pulls the other rider carefully up into his arms. He gets to his feet, feeling the complaints of his own body after all it’s been through recently - the battles against Freeze - to say nothing of the ordeal of being dead or nearly so for twenty-four hours. Kiriko is right, he certainly could use some rest. It’ll be great to get off his feet soon, but he needs to get Chase back to the Pit and settled there first. He shifts Chase’s weight in his arms, and the Roidmude’s eyes crack open.

  “You back with us, Chase?” Shinnosuke feels a small smile make its way onto his lips. Chase’s head comes up and he looks steadily at Shinnosuke as he answers.

  “My power reserves are severely depleted and there seems to still be some damage to my systems remaining. I believe that it will still be some time before I am operating at full capacity again.”

  Mad Doctor had gotten Shinnosuke out of some rough spots, to be sure, and with the adrenaline of battle he’d been able to see through most of those battles. But it’s a mode of healing Shinnosuke would never choose outside of emergency.

  The costs of pushing the body to mend itself so quickly were quite high, leaving the patient in bone deep exhausted for hours or even days afterwards. It was part of why Mad Doctor could only heal so much at once. Any body only had so many reserves to be expended on rapid repair - and that was to say nothing of the pain of the process.

  “That’s alright Chase. Just rest for now, OK?”

  Shinnosuke starts walking to the Tridorian. Chase doesn’t actually respond, but whether he takes the words to heart or it’s just the after-effects of the healing, Shinnosuke feels him gradually relax. Chase’s head comes to rest against Shinnosuke’s chest just as they reach the car. The Tridorian doesn’t have a back seat, so he’ll have to put Chase on the front. Krim helpfully pops the doors open before Shinnosuke even thinks to ask.

  “Thanks Belt-san,” he mutters as he bends down to place Chase in the passenger seat. Krim flashes a smiley face from the driver at his waist.

  “No Problem!” Shinnosuke often wishes he felt as energetic as Krim always sounds announcing his English catchphrases - especially in moments like this when the day is catching up very quickly.

  Shinnosuke leans into the car and tugs the safety straps free from behind Chase’s shoulders. Chase helpfully lifts his arms but otherwise sags against the seatback and lets Shinnosuke strap him in. Shinnosuke snaps the harness buckle together over Chase’s chest before shutting the door and getting in himself. He pulls off his driver and fixes it in place on the dashboard before buckling himself in and starting the engine.

  He glances over at Chase once more as he shifts into gear. Chase is drooping in his seat, like a melting ice-cream cone in warm weather. Shinnosuke has never seen him so much as slump until today.

  “You could sleep you know,” he suggests.

  “I will remain alert until we are safely returned to base.”

  Shinnosuke raises an eyebrow without taking his eyes off of the road. He could argue with Chase, particularly on the question of just how “alert” the other really is in his current condition. Or he could point out that there are two riders in the car. That one of them just acquired a new form and took out a super evolved Roidmude a little bit ago, and the other one got pummeled by that Roidmude. But no, that wouldn’t be fair, and he doesn’t know if Chase fully understands the concept of gentle ribbing between teammates yet anyway.

  The Tridorian spirals up a ramp onto the highway and the outward force of the turn pushes both Riders sideways in their seats. Chase slips off whatever center of balance he was maintaining so that all that’s holding him upright in his seat is the safety harness.

  “Belt-san, could you-?” Shinnosuke begins to ask Krim if he can take over driving for a little bit. Through the steering column, he feels the automatic steering engage before he can even finish the question. Krim anticipating him once again.

  “Got it!” The voice from the belt announces.

  With Krim in control of the Tridorian, Shinnosuke can safely shift his attention from the road to Chase. Shinnosuke trusts Krim’s driving even more than his own, and so he only hesitates for a second before he unbuckles his harness. He leans over and rights Chase in his seat, gently bracing him with a hand at the side of his neck until the Roidmude tips it back himself against the headrest. Chase’s eyes are still open, though a little fuzzy and hooded and. It’s clear that he’s struggling to stay awake. Well, Shinnosuke’ decided, if he’s not going to talk Chase out of it, he might as well help.

  Shinnosuke finds Chase’s bandaged hand and holds it between them, cradling it gingerly in his own larger one. He realizes that he’s never actually seen the Roidmude bandaged before. He’s never seen any lasting marks from their battles - which is strange, considering how many of battles they’ve fought together - or against each other. It’s seemed almost like Chase was never injured to begin with, though he knows that’s far from true.

  “How did this happen?” he asks. Chase’s gaze focuses on his hand in Shinnosuke’s grasp.

  “Freeze shattered a vial of the antidote Rinna synthesised as I was attempting to treat Gou with it.”

  “You went after Freeze?”

  “No. I intended only to administer the antidote to Gou and retrieve him. However, Gou was in the company of Heart, Medic, Brain, and Freeze at the time.”

  “And you went on your own?!”

  “You were… unavailable, and at the time I believed Gou was being controlled by Freeze. It seemed to be the only option.”

  “Oh, I see… Wait, you ‘believed’…?”

  “My attempt to rescue Gou was unnecessary. It appears that Gou is immune to Freeze’s abilities, just as you are. He was simply pretending to be under Freeze’s influence to get close to the enemy and obtain… Information,” Chase reports. If Shinnosuke notices Chase’s slight hesitation over what Gou sought, he glosses over it in favor of another detail.

  “Well, that’s a relief i guess. I thought you told Kiriko that Gou didn’t have the mark behind his ear?”

  “I… Did not wish to cause her further distress. At the time there was nothing to be done… I lied.”

  “…Wow. I didn’t know you could do that.” Shinnosuke looks slightly shell-shocked.

  “White lies are a human custom I have learned.”

  Shinnosuke fights the urge to laugh. Because if he laughs now he knows he won’t be able to stop. He’ll be giggling hysterically the rest of the way back to the Pit. And while he knows it probably won’t hurt Chase’s feelings too much, what probably will upset him - and everyone else when they find him dead again, asphyxiated from his own uncontrollable laughter.

  The remainder of the drive back to the Pit is spent in casual conversation. Or more accurately, Shinnosuke talks and Chase listens, occasionally voicing an opinion in response.

  Krim guides the Tridorian into the pit and parks it in it’s place in the center. Shinnosuke climbs out and walks around to lift Chase out. He carries Chase over to the low leather couch against one wall and sets him down on it. He keeps ahold of Chase’s shoulders for a moment while he rearranges the throw pillows.

  Chase isn’t so small, not really, but it’s easy to think of him that way when he’s folded so neatly into Shinnosuke’s arms. When Shinnosuke lays on the couch his legs hang off so far he usually just puts his feet on the floor. As it is, Chase is just short enough to lay out fully flat on the couch. Chase looks back up at him with an indecipherable expression for a moment. Crouched there, at something of a loss for what else to do, Shinnosuke reaches out and tousles Chase’s hair.

  “There. Now you can get some sleep. Until Rinna gets back at least.” Chase blinks slowly, then nods, looking faintly puzzled. Then, just like that he closed his eyes and went still, apparently asleep, or whatever that meant for a Roidmude. Shinnosuke wheels one of the chairs from the work desk across the room over beside the couch and sits heavily in it. Yes, Kiriko was right, they could both use some rest. He lets his head tilt back against the wall and closes his own eyes just for a moment.

  The sound of the pedestrian door to the pit opening wakes Shinnosuke from the doze he’d accidentally slipped into.

  “Ah! There you are Tomari-san!” Rinna announces as she spins over towards the workbench and deposits an armful of equipment. “And Chase too,” she adds a little softer, taking in Chase on the couch.

  Rinna shuffles some things around at her desk for a few minutes before she comes over to take another look at Chase. It takes almost as long for Rinna to untangle all the wires on her scanning equipment as it does for her to actually check Chase over with it. Chase starts minutely when she brushes the scanner against his chest. His eyes fly open and he tenses.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Rinna says, sounding surprised herself, before finishing her diagnostics.

  It turns out that even through the armored chest plate, getting hit as hard and as many times as Chase has in the last few days - getting knocked right out of henshin - leaves a mark.

  Rinna reports her findings, not without compassion: Chase’s core driver is out of alignment. It should be able to rebalance itself, but right now it’s running at half speed, leaving him even more drained than he should be from Mad Doctor’s treatment. The low power is manifesting, to a human eye as sleepiness. Even as Rinna explains it, Chase looks liable to drop back off again at any moment, sitting upright, but with Shinnosuke’s steadying hand at his elbow.

  The best thing is for Chase to lay back down, and stay there for the night. By morning his core driver should be to rights and most of the remaining damage should be healed. Anything that isn’t healed by then, another treatment from Mad Doctor should be able to take care of.

  “You should be back fighting Roidmudes by lunchtime!” Rinna announces with possibly more cheer than the subject necessarily warrants, Shinnosuke thinks. After today, he feels like he could sleep right through lunchtime tomorrow, forget fighting any Roidmudes. It’s hard to tell with Chase, but to Shinnosuke’s eye, he seems just about as excited by the idea.

  Shinnosuke helps Chase ease back down, adjusting the pillows for him in a way that earns him an amused smile and an exaggerated wink from Rinna when he turns around.

    “What? What?!”

“~Oh nothing~!” Rinna trills, twirling back over to the desk to put away her things for the evening.

  The office was going to throw a party upstairs, she tells informs him cheerily, to celebrate Shinnosuke’s miraculous return and his victory over Freeze of course. They’ve already sent Otta out for food and alcohol - everyone else is upstairs decorating. Well, that explained where they all were then. With a final glance back at Chase, who seems to have fallen back “asleep” or is at least making a good show of ignoring them, Shinnosuke decides to leave him in peace and flicks off the light before heading upstairs.

  Otta arrived back at the office just behind them, shouting to hold the door since his arms were overflowing with party provisions.

  The party turned out to be about as chaotic and noisy as Shinnosuke had come to expect from his five co-workers plus alcohol and party paraphernalia in an enclosed space. He settled himself in his desk chair, in the middle of the room. He let Rinna snap a paper party hat that said “Congratulations!” on it in English on his head while Kiriko giggled, and then accepted a glass of something from Otta “to take away the sting”. It did not “take away the sting”. As it happened Shinnosuke very nearly spat his first mouthful of whatever it was across his desk and Kiriko dissolved into a fresh fit of giggles behind the hand that wasn’t holding her own drink.

  About two hours later, a slightly tipsy Rinna approaches Shinnosuke where he’s sitting, still nursing the same drink. (It was only Wednesday and he figured he really doesn’t need to be hung over at work tomorrow on top of everything). Rinna presents with a neatly folded blanket she’s produced from somewhere in the office - probably one of her three lockers by the door with her name painted across them - honestly, who knows what she keeps in there.

  “I just though you know, that I don’t know if Roidmudes get cold. They’re metal, you know - but they look like people, so who knows! Krim doesn’t like to talk about it even when you straight out ask him. You know what I think though? I think he doesn’t know really. Silly belt. He made them and he doesn’t even know…” Rinna babbles away while holding the blanket inches from Shinnosuke’s face. “It gets cold down there overnight you know,” she finishes as though that explains everything, and walks away as soon as he confusedly takes it from her. It’s been a very long day and half a glass of something, and so it takes him a few moments more to figure out what he’s meant to do with the blanket.

  His hands are halfway to his tie as he stands up, but then he remembers that he has a rink in one hand and the blanket in the other - and also just no. This is definitely not a top gear moment. He sets what’s left of his drink resolutely on his desk and slips out the door to go check on Chase.

      When Shinnosuke flips on the lights, Chase is just as they left him.. Shinnosuke shakes out the blanket and lays it over Chase. He pulls the chair over from where he left it by the wall to sit directly in front of the couch, and watches Chase sleep.

  Shinnosuke hurt Chase badly once, because he had to. He still regrets it, even knowing as he did then that there was no other option. He can’t help but be reminded of that every time he see’s Chase hurting now - and that’s all too often. He thinks of Kiriko secretly treating Chase with Mad Doctor - of the pain Chase must have been in - how he himself had been the one to cause that pain, no matter the reason. He remembers when Kiriko finally confessed to him that Chase was alive, how she described the state she found him in.

  Shinnosuke finds himself frowning as he looks down at Chase.

  Chase chose  to become a rider again, and Chase is by no means fragile.

  There is a weight to his relationship with Chase that Shinnosuke can’t help but feel sometimes, especially in moments like this. Because there is a special trust there - more even than just a bond between Riders.

  Gou liked to call Shinnosuke Shin-nii. Chase may be the senior rider technically, but  he is younger than Shinnosuke too. Maybe much younger, if one accounts for all the missing memories, missing years that shouldn’t be counted.

  On one hand Chase is an adult. He’s clearly capable of making his own decisions - and Shinnosuke would never want to take that away from him. But they are - all of them - also responsible for him in a way - as his friends, and perhaps his guardians.

  It isn’t that he doesn’t trust Chase or his abilities, just the opposite. Shinnosuke admires Chase’s bravery, his selflessness. Shinnosuke liked him in a way, even before he came back to their side, even before any of them realized who he really was, or had been at least.

  But Shinnosuke can’t help but wonder how much was really Chase’s decision, and how much was the reemergence of the programming Krim had given him to protect humans. It disquiets him to think that in a way, when Chase is throwing himself into the line of fire, it’s because he’s programmed to do so.

  They’ve been lucky so far. Chase has survived so much against all odds, sometimes beyond all explanation. Someday they won’t be so lucky though. Someday they will run out of miracles, and Shinnosuke fears that on that day there’s all too good a chance that it will be Chase who pays the price.

  Shinnosuke realizes that his hands are tightly fisted around the fabric of his suit pants. He forces himself to let go and smooth over the fabric. The new wrinkles stubbornly refuse to relax. He turns back to Chase and busies his hands tucking the edges of the blanket in around Chase’s shoulders.

  They haven’t taken as good of care of Chase as they should have - not as much as he deserves.

  There’s only so much they can do for him. No that’s not right either. There is so much they can do for him, bringing him into their lives, into their family. There’s just only so much they can do right now. They’re at war. They’re distracted by so many things…

  No. Those are excuses too. Real ones, valid ones maybe even. But Shinnosuke has never liked excuses. They leave to much wiggle room, let people out of too much. They led to the kind of mediocrity that bred injustice, neglect, or worse.

  Brushing back a stray piece of hair that’s fallen over Chase’s closed eyes, Shinnosuke vows to try harder – to be better. He has made the same promise so often in the last few months. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as he doesn’t break it. As long as he keeps making it in fact - keeps meaning it. He just hopes that in the end it will be enough.

  Chase’s eyes crack open and he blinks slowly a few times. His eyes wander over half the pit, passively getting his bearings it seems. Shinnosuke shifts slightly in his seat. Chase catches the movement and his eyes instantly zero in on Shinnosuke, before flicking up to meet his unaccountably watery gaze.

  “Hey.” Chase just blinks at him again, waiting. “Um… Rinna wanted me to bring you a blanket,” Shinnosuke offers gesturing a little awkwardly. Chase seems to notice the blanket for the first time, bringing his right hand up to touch the fleecy material. It’s his bandaged hand, and Shinnosuke reaches out for it without really thinking. By the time his brain catches up it’s too late to stop or it will be even weirder, so he takes Chase’s hand lightly, holding it in his lap. Chase watches him cautiously, but doesn’t make any move to draw his hand back.

  An idea occurs to Shinnosuke, while he’s examining the bandaged palm of Chase’s hand - more as a pretense for having taken it than any other reason.

  “Do you want to come upstairs for a while? Rinna’s right, it is kind of cold down here. There’s a couch up in the office too… but probably knew that.” Shinnosuke shuts himself up when he realizes he’s babbling. There’s a momentary pause as Chase considers the offer.

  “If you do not think it will disrupt your party.” Chase doesn’t comment on whether or not he finds the cold an issue - the mystery remains - Shinnosuke notes absently to himself..

  “Of course it won’t! Everyone will be happy to see you,” Shinnosuke assures him. Emboldened a little by the alcohol, or the exhaustion, or maybe just because - Shinnosuke presses a kiss to Chase’s forehead and then another to the inside of Chase’s wrist before he lays it down and gets to his feet.

  “Do you think you feel up to walking yet?”

  “I… am uncertain.” Chase eyes the door to the stairs. He doesn’t sound excited about the prospect.

  “Don’t push yourself.”

  There follows several more awkward moments as Shinnosuke figures out how to best carry a now more lucid Chase upstairs. He finally sighs and lifts him, blanket and all into a bridal carry. Ever practical, Chase puts his arms around Chase’s neck to help support himself. Shinnosuke blushes the approximate shade of type speed, at the picture they must make before he manages to tell himself to cool it. It isn’t that much different than when he carried Chase to the Tridorian a few hours ago. No need to make it awkward. But this time Chase is definitely watching him thoughtfully from just a few inches away.

  “Oh, and if Otta tries to give you anything to drink, take it and then pour it out somewhere when he’s not looking,” Shinnosuke mutters to Chase as he carefully negotiates the door and the step down into the office with the Chase in his arms.

  Things have quieted down a little since Shinnosuke went downstairs with the blanket. There are still random eruptions of laughter or bickering, but over all things have calmed down. Shinnosuke settles Chase on the couch by the door and sits down next to him. Somehow the blanket ends up spread across both their laps.

  Sometime later, Shinnosuke catches Chase starting to nod off beside him. He reaches over and pulls the other rider into his side without saying anything. Chase’s spine stays stubbornly rigid for a moment and then Shinnosuke feels the Roidmude relax against his side. He feels the faintest brush of eyelashes against his dress shirt as Chase’s eyes slide closed.

  Yes, bringing Chase up to the party was a good idea. It let them keep a better eye on him, to make sure he was alright, if only for the evening.

Do Roidmudes Dream of Electric Sheep

    Chase had looked steady enough, standing there as Shinnosuke thanked everyone for helping bring him back to the land of the living. Then 001 had interrupted, his core rising from the bay to deliver his final words - his final bitter laughter ringing in the air when his core finally shattered.

  Shinnosuke stares at the empty space where 001’s core was hovering before it exploded, considering the Roidmude’s final words. They were malicious, calculated to sew distress, to ruin Drive’s victory. And yet, Shinnosuke senses the weight of truth in them. It could only be that weight that made them settle so heavily in his stomach.

  Shinnosuke is distracted from his thoughts by the thump of something hitting the ground behind him. Something - or someone, he realizes as he turns to see.

  Chase had been standing at the back of the cluster of Shinnosuke’s friends when they came to gather around him moments before. Except Chase isn’t standing there anymore. It takes Shinnosuke a moment to locate the source, but then he spots Chase on the ground and his stomach drops again.

  Shinnosuke’s friends are still clustered around him, unaware of what’s happened behind them. They’re between Shinnosuke and Chase and so he shoulders his way past Otta and crises the few yards at a jog. Normally he’d apologize, but at the moment he can’t think past getting to Chase’s side, almost can’t breathe around the tightness in his chest at seeing Chase lying there.

  Shinnosuke noticed Chase limping over to join the celebratory huddle around him and the Tridorian. There had just been a battle, 001 had been there. He hadn’t actually seen them fighting, but 001 was standing over Chase when he stepped out of the Tridorian.  It made sense that Chase must have taken a few hits. Caught up in the rush of everything, Shinnosuke hadn’t had a chance to think about the other Rider. No, that wasn’t true. He hadn’t thought much about it at all because he was too caught up in his moment.

  Rinna and Otta’s disgruntled voices fall off suddenly as they turn after Shinnosuke and sees what has him in such a hurry. Shinnosuke drops into a crouch beside Chase and leans down to get a better look at him.

  Chase seems to be in shock or something like it. His eyes are unfocused and he’s squinting a little at the pavement in front of him, almost like he’s confused about how he ended up on the ground. Shinnosuke places a hand on Chase’s shoulder to draw his attention. He’s relieved when the Roidmude’s eyes immediately focus on him and then worried again when he sees the pain in them.

  “Chase…?” Shinnosuke almost asks if he’s OK, but catches himself. It is abundantly clear that Chase is not OK. Chase is hurt, and badly.

  Abruptly, Chase tries to sit up. He barely lifts his shoulders a few inches off the ground before he falls back with a gasp.

  “Easy! Easy! Don’t try to get up yet.” Shinnosuke’s hands flutter helplessly above the other Rider. “Rinna!” he yells, perhaps a little louder than is necessary considering she’s barely a few steps away. Rinna appears in his vision with Mad Doctor already in hand.

  “We need the Break Gunner,” Rinna says, stepping over Chase’s legs to kneel across from Shinnosuke with their fallen teammate between them.

  One of Chase’s arms comes up to fumble at his jacket collar. For the first time Shinnosuke catches sight of the white gauze wound around Chase’s right hand. Shinnosuke is momentarily confused, but then Chase finds the pull for his jacket zipper and jerkily tugs it down. His hand slips inside the front and draws out his gun. Rinna reaches over and takes the weapon from Chase’s shaky grip with a soft “thanks, you,” before she slots Mad Doctor into it.

  “I need him on his back,” Rinna tells Shinnosuke, placing one hand on Chase’s shoulder. Shinnosuke nods and helps roll him towards her. Chase let’s himself be moved, his only complaint as they shift him a faint moan dredged up from deep in his throat. Shinnosuke gives Chase’s arm a gentle squeeze before he draws back to give Rinna room to work.

  Rinna presses the Break Gunner to the center of Chase’s chest and pulls the trigger. Mad Doctor goes to work, spreading its power through the Roidmude’s body. His back arcs up off the pavement. Rinna bears down, not to force him back down, but to keep the gun in place. Chase pants shallowly, his eyes shut tight and brow drawn tight against the pain. A particularly bright wave from Mad Doctor washes over his chest and he visibly bites back a whimper.

  Finally, Mad Doctor issues a series of beeps and Rinna lets up on the trigger. All the tension goes out of Chase’s body at once and he collapses fully back onto the pavement.

  “That’s about all Mad Doctor can do for now, but Chase’s internal repair systems should be getting to work,” Rinna pronounces.

  Mad Doctor’s healing power has its limits unfortunately. It can only heal so much in one go, and that’s not always enough to have the subject back in fighting shape immediately. The truth is that it wasn’t really designed for that.

  The shift car wasn’t originally designed to work in a driver or the Rider’s guns. Rinna had actually modified it for Drive. When Krim originally designed Mad Doctor to work alongside Proto-Drive, its primary purpose was to heal civilians caught up in Roidmude attacks. Mad Doctor was meant to restore their mobility enough for them to get out of further danger once slow down abated - or else to heal any life threatening injuries, ensuring their survival until help could come to them. With that in mind, Mad Doctor was programmed for use on humans civilians, not for Riders and never for Chase and his Roidmude body.

  However, Mad Doctor worked primarily by speeding up the natural healing processes of the body, an approach which was transferable to the Roidmude’s internal repair system, which had been designed to imitate those of the human body in many ways. Thankfully, this meant that Mad Doctor could be used to heal him.

  “I can run diagnostics back at the Pit to assess any remaining damage later. He should be alright though,” Rinna tells Shinnosuke, and although it bothers him a little bit - the way she speaks right over Chase - he figures it’s probably only sensible since Chase hasn’t reopened his eyes yet. He nods and thanks her again for all her help, and she zips up Chase’s jacket again before she gets to her feet, which makes Shinnosuke feel a little better again.

  “Why don’t you take Chase back in the Tridorian, we can put Ride Chaser on the trailer we bought the Tridorian out her on. Kiriko, Otta, and I can wrap things up here ” Rinna suggests, glancing up at Kiriko hovering nearby, who nods in agreement.

  “Both of you could use some rest, Tomari-san,” Kiriko adds.

  Shinnosuke pulls the other rider carefully up into his arms. He gets to his feet, feeling the complaints of his own body after all it’s been through recently - the battles against Freeze - to say nothing of the ordeal of being dead or nearly so for twenty-four hours. Kiriko is right, he certainly could use some rest. It’ll be great to get off his feet soon, but he needs to get Chase back to the Pit and settled there first. He shifts Chase’s weight in his arms, and the Roidmude’s eyes crack open.

  “You back with us, Chase?” Shinnosuke feels a small smile make its way onto his lips. Chase’s head comes up and he looks steadily at Shinnosuke as he answers.

  “My power reserves are severely depleted and there seems to still be some damage to my systems remaining. I believe that it will still be some time before I am operating at full capacity again.”

  Mad Doctor had gotten Shinnosuke out of some rough spots, to be sure, and with the adrenaline of battle he’d been able to see through most of those battles. But it’s a mode of healing Shinnosuke would never choose outside of emergency.

  The costs of pushing the body to mend itself so quickly were quite high, leaving the patient in bone deep exhausted for hours or even days afterwards. It was part of why Mad Doctor could only heal so much at once. Any body only had so many reserves to be expended on rapid repair - and that was to say nothing of the pain of the process.

  “That’s alright Chase. Just rest for now, OK?”

  Shinnosuke starts walking to the Tridorian. Chase doesn’t actually respond, but whether he takes the words to heart or it’s just the after-effects of the healing, Shinnosuke feels him gradually relax. Chase’s head comes to rest against Shinnosuke’s chest just as they reach the car. The Tridorian doesn’t have a back seat, so he’ll have to put Chase on the front. Krim helpfully pops the doors open before Shinnosuke even thinks to ask.

  “Thanks Belt-san,” he mutters as he bends down to place Chase in the passenger seat. Krim flashes a smiley face from the driver at his waist.

  “No Problem!” Shinnosuke often wishes he felt as energetic as Krim always sounds announcing his English catchphrases - especially in moments like this when the day is catching up very quickly.

  Shinnosuke leans into the car and tugs the safety straps free from behind Chase’s shoulders. Chase helpfully lifts his arms but otherwise sags against the seatback and lets Shinnosuke strap him in. Shinnosuke snaps the harness buckle together over Chase’s chest before shutting the door and getting in himself. He pulls off his driver and fixes it in place on the dashboard before buckling himself in and starting the engine.

  He glances over at Chase once more as he shifts into gear. Chase is drooping in his seat, like a melting ice-cream cone in warm weather. Shinnosuke has never seen him so much as slump until today.

  “You could sleep you know,” he suggests.

  “I will remain alert until we are safely returned to base.”

  Shinnosuke raises an eyebrow without taking his eyes off of the road. He could argue with Chase, particularly on the question of just how “alert” the other really is in his current condition. Or he could point out that there are two riders in the car. That one of them just acquired a new form and took out a super evolved Roidmude a little bit ago, and the other one got pummeled by that Roidmude. But no, that wouldn’t be fair, and he doesn’t know if Chase fully understands the concept of gentle ribbing between teammates yet anyway.

  The Tridorian spirals up a ramp onto the highway and the outward force of the turn pushes both Riders sideways in their seats. Chase slips off whatever center of balance he was maintaining so that all that’s holding him upright in his seat is the safety harness.

  “Belt-san, could you-?” Shinnosuke begins to ask Krim if he can take over driving for a little bit. Through the steering column, he feels the automatic steering engage before he can even finish the question. Krim anticipating him once again.

  “Got it!” The voice from the belt announces.

  With Krim in control of the Tridorian, Shinnosuke can safely shift his attention from the road to Chase. Shinnosuke trusts Krim’s driving even more than his own, and so he only hesitates for a second before he unbuckles his harness. He leans over and rights Chase in his seat, gently bracing him with a hand at the side of his neck until the Roidmude tips it back himself against the headrest. Chase’s eyes are still open, though a little fuzzy and hooded and. It’s clear that he’s struggling to stay awake. Well, Shinnosuke’ decided, if he’s not going to talk Chase out of it, he might as well help.

  Shinnosuke finds Chase’s bandaged hand and holds it between them, cradling it gingerly in his own larger one. He realizes that he’s never actually seen the Roidmude bandaged before. He’s never seen any lasting marks from their battles - which is strange, considering how many of battles they’ve fought together - or against each other. It’s seemed almost like Chase was never injured to begin with, though he knows that’s far from true.

  “How did this happen?” he asks. Chase’s gaze focuses on his hand in Shinnosuke’s grasp.

  “Freeze shattered a vial of the antidote Rinna synthesised as I was attempting to treat Gou with it.”

  “You went after Freeze?”

  “No. I intended only to administer the antidote to Gou and retrieve him. However, Gou was in the company of Heart, Medic, Brain, and Freeze at the time.”

  “And you went on your own?!”

  “You were… unavailable, and at the time I believed Gou was being controlled by Freeze. It seemed to be the only option.”

  “Oh, I see… Wait, you ‘believed’…?”

  “My attempt to rescue Gou was unnecessary. It appears that Gou is immune to Freeze’s abilities, just as you are. He was simply pretending to be under Freeze’s influence to get close to the enemy and obtain… Information,” Chase reports. If Shinnosuke notices Chase’s slight hesitation over what Gou sought, he glosses over it in favor of another detail.

  “Well, that’s a relief i guess. I thought you told Kiriko that Gou didn’t have the mark behind his ear?”

  “I… Did not wish to cause her further distress. At the time there was nothing to be done… I lied.”

  “…Wow. I didn’t know you could do that.” Shinnosuke looks slightly shell-shocked.

  “White lies are a human custom I have learned.”

  Shinnosuke fights the urge to laugh. Because if he laughs now he knows he won’t be able to stop. He’ll be giggling hysterically the rest of the way back to the Pit. And while he knows it probably won’t hurt Chase’s feelings too much, what probably will upset him - and everyone else when they find him dead again, asphyxiated from his own uncontrollable laughter.

  The remainder of the drive back to the Pit is spent in casual conversation. Or more accurately, Shinnosuke talks and Chase listens, occasionally voicing an opinion in response.

  Krim guides the Tridorian into the pit and parks it in it’s place in the center. Shinnosuke climbs out and walks around to lift Chase out. He carries Chase over to the low leather couch against one wall and sets him down on it. He keeps ahold of Chase’s shoulders for a moment while he rearranges the throw pillows.

  Chase isn’t so small, not really, but it’s easy to think of him that way when he’s folded so neatly into Shinnosuke’s arms. When Shinnosuke lays on the couch his legs hang off so far he usually just puts his feet on the floor. As it is, Chase is just short enough to lay out fully flat on the couch. Chase looks back up at him with an indecipherable expression for a moment. Crouched there, at something of a loss for what else to do, Shinnosuke reaches out and tousles Chase’s hair.

  “There. Now you can get some sleep. Until Rinna gets back at least.” Chase blinks slowly, then nods, looking faintly puzzled. Then, just like that he closed his eyes and went still, apparently asleep, or whatever that meant for a Roidmude. Shinnosuke wheels one of the chairs from the work desk across the room over beside the couch and sits heavily in it. Yes, Kiriko was right, they could both use some rest. He lets his head tilt back against the wall and closes his own eyes just for a moment.

  The sound of the pedestrian door to the pit opening wakes Shinnosuke from the doze he’d accidentally slipped into.

  “Ah! There you are Tomari-san!” Rinna announces as she spins over towards the workbench and deposits an armful of equipment. “And Chase too,” she adds a little softer, taking in Chase on the couch.

  Rinna shuffles some things around at her desk for a few minutes before she comes over to take another look at Chase. It takes almost as long for Rinna to untangle all the wires on her scanning equipment as it does for her to actually check Chase over with it. Chase starts minutely when she brushes the scanner against his chest. His eyes fly open and he tenses.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Rinna says, sounding surprised herself, before finishing her diagnostics.

  It turns out that even through the armored chest plate, getting hit as hard and as many times as Chase has in the last few days - getting knocked right out of henshin - leaves a mark.

  Rinna reports her findings, not without compassion: Chase’s core driver is out of alignment. It should be able to rebalance itself, but right now it’s running at half speed, leaving him even more drained than he should be from Mad Doctor’s treatment. The low power is manifesting, to a human eye as sleepiness. Even as Rinna explains it, Chase looks liable to drop back off again at any moment, sitting upright, but with Shinnosuke’s steadying hand at his elbow.

  The best thing is for Chase to lay back down, and stay there for the night. By morning his core driver should be to rights and most of the remaining damage should be healed. Anything that isn’t healed by then, another treatment from Mad Doctor should be able to take care of.

  “You should be back fighting Roidmudes by lunchtime!” Rinna announces with possibly more cheer than the subject necessarily warrants, Shinnosuke thinks. After today, he feels like he could sleep right through lunchtime tomorrow, forget fighting any Roidmudes. It’s hard to tell with Chase, but to Shinnosuke’s eye, he seems just about as excited by the idea.

  Shinnosuke helps Chase ease back down, adjusting the pillows for him in a way that earns him an amused smile and an exaggerated wink from Rinna when he turns around.

    “What? What?!”

“~Oh nothing~!” Rinna trills, twirling back over to the desk to put away her things for the evening.

  The office was going to throw a party upstairs, she tells informs him cheerily, to celebrate Shinnosuke’s miraculous return and his victory over Freeze of course. They’ve already sent Otta out for food and alcohol - everyone else is upstairs decorating. Well, that explained where they all were then. With a final glance back at Chase, who seems to have fallen back “asleep” or is at least making a good show of ignoring them, Shinnosuke decides to leave him in peace and flicks off the light before heading upstairs.

  Otta arrived back at the office just behind them, shouting to hold the door since his arms were overflowing with party provisions.

  The party turned out to be about as chaotic and noisy as Shinnosuke had come to expect from his five co-workers plus alcohol and party paraphernalia in an enclosed space. He settled himself in his desk chair, in the middle of the room. He let Rinna snap a paper party hat that said “Congratulations!” on it in English on his head while Kiriko giggled, and then accepted a glass of something from Otta “to take away the sting”. It did not “take away the sting”. As it happened Shinnosuke very nearly spat his first mouthful of whatever it was across his desk and Kiriko dissolved into a fresh fit of giggles behind the hand that wasn’t holding her own drink.

  About two hours later, a slightly tipsy Rinna approaches Shinnosuke where he’s sitting, still nursing the same drink. (It was only Wednesday and he figured he really doesn’t need to be hung over at work tomorrow on top of everything). Rinna presents with a neatly folded blanket she’s produced from somewhere in the office - probably one of her three lockers by the door with her name painted across them - honestly, who knows what she keeps in there.

  “I just though you know, that I don’t know if Roidmudes get cold. They’re metal, you know - but they look like people, so who knows! Krim doesn’t like to talk about it even when you straight out ask him. You know what I think though? I think he doesn’t know really. Silly belt. He made them and he doesn’t even know…” Rinna babbles away while holding the blanket inches from Shinnosuke’s face. “It gets cold down there overnight you know,” she finishes as though that explains everything, and walks away as soon as he confusedly takes it from her. It’s been a very long day and half a glass of something, and so it takes him a few moments more to figure out what he’s meant to do with the blanket.

  His hands are halfway to his tie as he stands up, but then he remembers that he has a rink in one hand and the blanket in the other - and also just no. This is definitely not a top gear moment. He sets what’s left of his drink resolutely on his desk and slips out the door to go check on Chase.

      When Shinnosuke flips on the lights, Chase is just as they left him.. Shinnosuke shakes out the blanket and lays it over Chase. He pulls the chair over from where he left it by the wall to sit directly in front of the couch, and watches Chase sleep.

  Shinnosuke hurt Chase badly once, because he had to. He still regrets it, even knowing as he did then that there was no other option. He can’t help but be reminded of that every time he see’s Chase hurting now - and that’s all too often. He thinks of Kiriko secretly treating Chase with Mad Doctor - of the pain Chase must have been in - how he himself had been the one to cause that pain, no matter the reason. He remembers when Kiriko finally confessed to him that Chase was alive, how she described the state she found him in.

  Shinnosuke finds himself frowning as he looks down at Chase.

  Chase chose  to become a rider again, and Chase is by no means fragile.

  There is a weight to his relationship with Chase that Shinnosuke can’t help but feel sometimes, especially in moments like this. Because there is a special trust there - more even than just a bond between Riders.

  Gou liked to call Shinnosuke Shin-nii. Chase may be the senior rider technically, but  he is younger than Shinnosuke too. Maybe much younger, if one accounts for all the missing memories, missing years that shouldn’t be counted.

  On one hand Chase is an adult. He’s clearly capable of making his own decisions - and Shinnosuke would never want to take that away from him. But they are - all of them - also responsible for him in a way - as his friends, and perhaps his guardians.

  It isn’t that he doesn’t trust Chase or his abilities, just the opposite. Shinnosuke admires Chase’s bravery, his selflessness. Shinnosuke liked him in a way, even before he came back to their side, even before any of them realized who he really was, or had been at least.

  But Shinnosuke can’t help but wonder how much was really Chase’s decision, and how much was the reemergence of the programming Krim had given him to protect humans. It disquiets him to think that in a way, when Chase is throwing himself into the line of fire, it’s because he’s programmed to do so.

  They’ve been lucky so far. Chase has survived so much against all odds, sometimes beyond all explanation. Someday they won’t be so lucky though. Someday they will run out of miracles, and Shinnosuke fears that on that day there’s all too good a chance that it will be Chase who pays the price.

  Shinnosuke realizes that his hands are tightly fisted around the fabric of his suit pants. He forces himself to let go and smooth over the fabric. The new wrinkles stubbornly refuse to relax. He turns back to Chase and busies his hands tucking the edges of the blanket in around Chase’s shoulders.

  They haven’t taken as good of care of Chase as they should have - not as much as he deserves.

  There’s only so much they can do for him. No that’s not right either. There is so much they can do for him, bringing him into their lives, into their family. There’s just only so much they can do right now. They’re at war. They’re distracted by so many things…

  No. Those are excuses too. Real ones, valid ones maybe even. But Shinnosuke has never liked excuses. They leave to much wiggle room, let people out of too much. They led to the kind of mediocrity that bred injustice, neglect, or worse.

  Brushing back a stray piece of hair that’s fallen over Chase’s closed eyes, Shinnosuke vows to try harder – to be better. He has made the same promise so often in the last few months. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as he doesn’t break it. As long as he keeps making it in fact - keeps meaning it. He just hopes that in the end it will be enough.

  Chase’s eyes crack open and he blinks slowly a few times. His eyes wander over half the pit, passively getting his bearings it seems. Shinnosuke shifts slightly in his seat. Chase catches the movement and his eyes instantly zero in on Shinnosuke, before flicking up to meet his unaccountably watery gaze.

  “Hey.” Chase just blinks at him again, waiting. “Um… Rinna wanted me to bring you a blanket,” Shinnosuke offers gesturing a little awkwardly. Chase seems to notice the blanket for the first time, bringing his right hand up to touch the fleecy material. It’s his bandaged hand, and Shinnosuke reaches out for it without really thinking. By the time his brain catches up it’s too late to stop or it will be even weirder, so he takes Chase’s hand lightly, holding it in his lap. Chase watches him cautiously, but doesn’t make any move to draw his hand back.

  An idea occurs to Shinnosuke, while he’s examining the bandaged palm of Chase’s hand - more as a pretense for having taken it than any other reason.

  “Do you want to come upstairs for a while? Rinna’s right, it is kind of cold down here. There’s a couch up in the office too… but probably knew that.” Shinnosuke shuts himself up when he realizes he’s babbling. There’s a momentary pause as Chase considers the offer.

  “If you do not think it will disrupt your party.” Chase doesn’t comment on whether or not he finds the cold an issue - the mystery remains - Shinnosuke notes absently to himself..

  “Of course it won’t! Everyone will be happy to see you,” Shinnosuke assures him. Emboldened a little by the alcohol, or the exhaustion, or maybe just because - Shinnosuke presses a kiss to Chase’s forehead and then another to the inside of Chase’s wrist before he lays it down and gets to his feet.

  “Do you think you feel up to walking yet?”

  “I… am uncertain.” Chase eyes the door to the stairs. He doesn’t sound excited about the prospect.

  “Don’t push yourself.”

  There follows several more awkward moments as Shinnosuke figures out how to best carry a now more lucid Chase upstairs. He finally sighs and lifts him, blanket and all into a bridal carry. Ever practical, Chase puts his arms around Chase’s neck to help support himself. Shinnosuke blushes the approximate shade of type speed, at the picture they must make before he manages to tell himself to cool it. It isn’t that much different than when he carried Chase to the Tridorian a few hours ago. No need to make it awkward. But this time Chase is definitely watching him thoughtfully from just a few inches away.

  “Oh, and if Otta tries to give you anything to drink, take it and then pour it out somewhere when he’s not looking,” Shinnosuke mutters to Chase as he carefully negotiates the door and the step down into the office with the Chase in his arms.

  Things have quieted down a little since Shinnosuke went downstairs with the blanket. There are still random eruptions of laughter or bickering, but over all things have calmed down. Shinnosuke settles Chase on the couch by the door and sits down next to him. Somehow the blanket ends up spread across both their laps.

  Sometime later, Shinnosuke catches Chase starting to nod off beside him. He reaches over and pulls the other rider into his side without saying anything. Chase’s spine stays stubbornly rigid for a moment and then Shinnosuke feels the Roidmude relax against his side. He feels the faintest brush of eyelashes against his dress shirt as Chase’s eyes slide closed.

Yes, bringing Chase up to the party was a good idea. It let them keep a better eye on him, to make sure he was alright, if only for the evening.

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Update!

Hello! I know we said we’d be posting twice a day and the past few days have been empty and I’d like to apologize!

The mods were moving and it’s been a hectic few days! So, to make up for the lost time, I will now be post 4 submissions a day.

Sorry for the delay!

[tokusatsuexchanges-blog]

Marvelous/Joe for @aquabluejay 

By: @kadoyatsukasa

Please enjoy!! I know you like hurt/comfort, so here’s a post-battle moment.