valentineslockers | 2017 Locker for ash

Entry tags:

2017 Locker for ash

Name: ash

Friending Meme Post: here!

Fandoms: Yugioh Arc V, Boku no Hero Academia, Haikyuu, and everything else listed here!

Characters/Pairings/Moresomes: a comprehensive list of all my ships can be found here! i'm down with gen, character-centric or shippy content. more specifically:

Arc V - any combination of Reiji/Shun/Serena, any combination of Rin/Ruri/Serena/Yuzu (especially Serena/Yuzu), any combination of Shun/Yuuto/Yuuya, any combination of Yuugo/Yuuri/Yuuto/Yuuya, Masumi/Yuzu, Yuugo/Yuzu, Yuuto/Yuzu, Reiji/Yuuya, Shingo/Yuuya, Sora/Yuuya/Yuzu, Yuugo/Rin, Team Xyz, Academia, Lancers gen

BNHA - Momo/Todoroki, Itsuka/Momo, Jirou/Momo, Momo/every girl, any combination of Iida/Midoriya/Todoroki, Ochako/Tsuyu, Bakugou/Kirishima

Haikyuu - any combination of the Seijou third years (especially Hanamaki/Oikawa), Misaki/Yui, Misaki/Okudake, Hinata/Kenma, Kageyama/Sugawara, Aone/Hinata, Kiyoko/Yui, Daichi/Yui, Futakuchi/Moniwa, Seijou gen, Datekou gen, Misaki & Oikawa, essentially any dynamic involving Misaki and/or Oikawa

Likes: mentorships, worldbuilding & histories, sparring, enemies to lovers, enemies to friends, character studies, physicality & nonverbal communication, leader/second-in-command dynamics, girls, magical realism, fake dating, relationship dynamics that are difficult to define, mythology, pacific rim au, polyamory negotiations, wound care, pining and repressed feelings, spy au, general magic/fantasy au (eg KHR au, BNHA au, superpowers au, witchcraft au, etc), legacies, rarepairs and minor characters

NSFW likes - breathplay/choking, consensual violence, multiple partners, Dom/sub undertones, authority kink, loyalty kink, edging, sketchy power dynamics, basically anything that involves violence and tenderness/intimacy

Dislikes: humiliation, graphic bloodplay (light/non-graphic bloodplay is fine!), romance-related jealousy, A/B/O, formal BDSM, anything centred on kids/pregnancy/marriage, over-westernisation (eg the characters going to prom, westernised nicknames/non-canon shortened names), graphic descriptions of unsanitary situations

Anything else: THANK YOU I LOVE YOU!!

Reminder that NOTES are welcome too - just a nice little comment (either plain, or you can even type it up on a nice little graphic/image etc.) for the recipient.

(Comments are going to screened until the reveal on Feb 14. Lockers will be open until the end of Feb.)

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Dear Ash,

why did you do this to me.

happy valentines day anyway I guess.

xoxo Kii

reiji/shun; 464w; PG

Shun still wakes up in the middle of the night, feeling like he's in the middle of a war.

He wakes Reiji with his first gasp, and if he hasn't, he knows he's done it by the time he pushes himself to sit up in their bed. He claws at his chest, his sleep clothes feeling wrong, feeling too loose. He feels exposed, in his t-shirt and flannel pants. He needs to cover up so that the soldiers of the Academia can't see the damage they've already caused, he needs his clothes the way he really needs armour, but nobody in XYZ had the need for that before the invasion or the time for it after.

"Kurosaki." Reiji's voice is deep, commanding, and Shun can't think of a single time that it hasn't been. Even this sounds like an order. "Look at me."

Shun doesn't. His fingers are digging into his chest through his shirt, five points of pressure as he gasps for air, bent over himself. He knows he isn't in the middle of a war now, he isn't even XYZ, but his heart won't stop pounding all the same.

"Shun," Reiji says this time. His fingers wrap around Shun's arm, pulling him closer. His free hand comes up, resting on the side of Shun's neck. "Look at me."

Blinking, Shun turns to Reiji this time. It's dark in their room, Reiji isn't wearing his glasses, everything he sees is different to the place where his mind insists he still is.

If only just by a fraction, Shun tilts his chin up. Reiji takes it for the invitation it is, slipping his hand around Shun's throat without applying any pressure. It's just contact. Reassurance, in the strange way that Shun needs it, that Reiji provides it.

It's not a tattered piece of red cloth but on some nights, it feels even more comforting than that. He doesn't even need to put it into words for Reiji to understand. That's probably why they work together as well as they do.

Reiji squeezes just slightly before he pulls his hand away. He gives Shun an enquiring look, as if to ask if he's calmed now. It takes much more than this for Reiji to actually put words to his concern. Shun appreciates that, too.

Nodding, Shun takes a deep breath and lets his hand fall to his side. Reiji's hand covers it for a moment, then it's gone.

"Sleep," Reiji says, lying back down. Even that sounds like an order.

Exhaling slowly, Shun puts his head on his soft pillow, an entire dimension away from the hard ground and rubble of his once destroyed home. He faces the opposite direction to Reiji, but their shoulder blades touch, only just barely.

It's enough.

oh my god. oH HHHHHHHHHHH NMY GOD U WROTE ME TENDER HOSTAGESHIP CHOKING IM ABOUT TO LEAVE MY PHYSICAL BODY. postcanon cohabitation is like.... MY FAVE SHUN/REIJI ENDGAME HEADCANON i have no idea how you managed to fit in so many of my favourite things to read about in less than 500 words i am in awe and i love you. SPECIFICS THAT I LOVED:

- the absolutely incredible physicality of the entire thing, shun's hyperawareness of his body and reiji's body, the contrast between shun's fingers pressing hard into his own chest and reiji's gentle hold on his neck, the fact that this gesture of threat is /grounding/ for shun and that he ACTIVELY INVITES IT even if he can't bring himself to articulate it
- THESE POWER DYNAMICS I LOVE THEM SO MUCH... even when reiji is offering comfort to shun it sounds like an order which is the best flavour of hostageship
- 'Reiji takes it for the invitation it is, slipping his hand around Shun's throat without applying any pressure. It's just contact. Reassurance, in the strange way that Shun needs it, that Reiji provides it.' L;OUD INCOHERENT SCREAMING this is so INTIMATE
- AND SHUN COMPARING REIJI'S HAND ON HIS NECK TO THE RESISTANCE SCARF WHICH IS A PARALLEL I HADNT THOUGHT OF BEFORE AND NOW ITS GOING TO CONSUME MY ENTIRE LIFE FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE
- like. except for reiji giving orders this entire exchange is nonverbal and im so OVERJOYED about shun actually finding the familiarity necessary for it a reassuring thing omg... 'It takes much more than this for Reiji to actually put words to his concern.' !!!!!!!!! THIS ENDED ME, THANKS
- OK SO I HAVENT ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT THE CHOKING YET BUT YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL JHASFGDSH'F touch without pressure!!! the acknowledgement of trust!!!! THE VIOLENCE/TENDERNESS THING I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!! reiji tightening his fingers slightly and then drawing away!!!!! OH MY GOD
- also i have A Thing for hands and shoulderblades so, thank you for that,
- JUST IN GENERAL THIS IS SUCH A PERFECT GLIMPSE OF THE BEST CASE SCENARIO FOR POSTCANON HOSTAGESHIP ik im obsessed with early s1 hostageshipping but godddd im so fond of the equilibrium youve sketched out here. THANK YOU KII SORRY FOR DRAGGING YOU INTO THE PITS OF CARD GAME HELL BUT IM GLAD YOURE HERE WITH ME ANYWAY

the first thing you should know is that i had way more fun drawing this than i expected, and also that you and ygo tl (but mostly you) have given me a deep affection for this tragic anime boy that i barely even know.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY ASH!! i love seeing your myriad of thoughts on ygo and girls and i hope your arc-v girls get the justice and good storylines they deserve!!! <3

your gift is through this link here!! because it's a little nsfw i think coughs HERE YOU GO

Edited 2017-02-21 05:35 (UTC)

MANDY IM ACTYUALLY SOBBING IVE HAD THIS OPEN IN A TAB FOR LIKE AN HOUR AND I JUST KEEP... LOOKING AT IT??? I LOVE IT SO MUCH????? let me tell you ALL THE WAYS:

- i mean this is obviously EXTREMELY to my interests ie shun getting wrecked <3
- shuns expression is PERFECT.... defiant but also THAT BLUSH, the way his mouth is slightly open and his eyes are narrowed, the tension in his body language, how his head is tilted back and to the side slightly (BARING HIS THROAT OR TRYING TO PULL AWAY OR BOTH?!?!?) I COULD LOOK AT THIS FOREVER. SUPER HOT
- LIKE HES OBVIOUSLY JUST BEEN IN A PHYSICAL FIGHT IM SO INTO IT the skewed collar of his coat!!!! the BLOOD ON HIS FACE (!!!!!!!) and the sweat aaaaaa
- i rly love the little swoop of his collarbones *__* and the tendons in his throat!
- his shoulders are pulled forward slightly so im just going to assume his hands are tied in front of him (:
- THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: THE CHOKING. IM JUST. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CREATING THE CONTENT I WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD i love the gash of red that is his scarf and i love the way you draw the folds of the cloth and the knot and!!! THE HAND, WHICH IS GORGEOUSLY DRAWN, THE GESTURE IS SO ORGANIC. IT IS A BEAUTIFUL HAND!!! (whose hand is it i wonder)
- how did you get this SO PERFECT when your only knowledge of arc v comes from the ygo tl... I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

IM SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT!!! this, came ridiculously easy almost like shun is just asking to be scuffed up and tied and choked with his scarf - uh ouo SERIOUSLY IM SO GLAD THIS RANG TRUE FOR YOU and thank your lovely comment heck!!! IM GRINNING!!! whose hand is it indeed I wonder :3c

((incidentally, you should, have a look at my gift in kukkii's locker,))

YESSSSS I DIED I LOVE HOW UR BEAUTIFUL REIJI ART FUNCTIONS AS A SET W THIS ONE. I LOVE U thank u for contributing to my Fuck Shun Up agenda <3 glad we agree that he looks v good beaten up

hi hello this is vague and shippy only from a severely squinty lens, hhowever, (lowers voice) compromiseship.

give yourself away
(compromiseship, set in some nebulous timeline around episode 50 where shun finally gets some goddamn medical attention and serena is reluctant if not unwilling re: lancers)

Kurosaki isn’t awake when Reiji stops by the hospital room, later. This is, perhaps, for the best. Still, Serena is awake, a fact that Reiji finds only as surprising as her presence by Kurosaki’s bedside to begin with—which is to say, not in the slightest. Reiji pauses by the door. He doesn’t knock, but Serena turns, the only change in countenance the tilt of her head to see who it is.

She doesn’t seem surprised to see him, either. Or, at least, not disappointed. Reiji considers this, approving. Serena’s shoulders remain steady, her spine only barely curled: a comma, a question mark.

“Serena,” Reiji says.

He isn’t here to see Kurosaki, after all.

Instead of his name, Serena answers, “I still don’t agree with you,” and in this moment time neither hastens nor slows, only continues its passage as Reiji acknowledges the realisation of three distinct—but not unrelated—truths:

Firstly, that Serena is resuming a conversation rather than beginning one, dismissing Reiji as he stands in lieu of Reiji from some time before—the walls of Academia; the basement of Maiami Stadium; the fallout of a city after attack—leaving Reiji both satisfied and curious at this delayed gratification, this acknowledgment of himself as priority, if not immediately so. Still, Reiji muses, is separate from won’t.

Secondly, that Serena has not called him by name since Kurosaki fell silent at the sight of a simulated Heartland. An arbitrary observation, remaining relevant only by Reiji’s own knowledge that despite its insignificance, Reiji wouldn’t mind hearing it repeated. However—

“I don’t believe you ever did,” he tells her. It is an admission, slotted into a place indulgence, or something like it, refuses to inhabit.

He continues: “But my offer still stands.”

Serena makes a quiet noise, and Reiji follows the line of her movement as she shifts, noting the palm’s width between Serena’s fingertips, taut and wary, and Kurosaki’s wrist, at ease in sleep. The subtlety of the placement, unintentional and protective, does not escape Reiji. Where Kurosaki is refrained fury, an exercise in limitation, Serena is recklessness without overconfidence, uncertainty a guide rather than restraint.

And, thirdly—

“You assumed everyone as honourable as yourself,” Reiji finishes, unwavering. It’s in his own evenness that he finds he’s given himself away. “You assume everyone as honourable as yourself,” Reiji repeats, “but there’s nothing stopping you from remaining as you are, whether or not you join the Lancers.”

“Akaba,” Serena interrupts (Not for the first time, Reiji’s memory supplies), and Reiji thinks No, there’s nothing new about this at all.

/

(Serena doesn’t move, even after Reiji leaves. Without looking at her, Kurosaki’s wrist shifts, inner wrist facing outwards, pulse brushing against Serena’s fingers. Neither apology nor resolution but, nevertheless, present.)

im speechless???? I DONT KNOW WHAT TO SAY OH MY GOD u say this only shippy if u squint but tbh thats like the inherent romance of compromiseshipping so this is. PERFECT. I NOW CONSIDER THIS THE NEW CANON FOR EP 50, thank YOU for giving serena more time to think through her existential crisis. your reiji voice is to DIE for, that careful layering of observations and the way he sorts through/notices emotion and motive and my god there is just so much to unpack wrt what details reiji sees and what he misses and AAAAA ok time to pretend im coherent:

- there is so much simmering physicality and it is SO incredible to read from reijis pov, the charged atmosphere, the not-quite-familiarity running between reiji and serena -- reiji going to shuns hospital room to seek out serena bc he knows thats where she'll be like... WOW!!! OK!!!! and serenas immediate awareness of reijis arrival, THE HEAD TILT OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, REIJI OBSERVING HER POSE AND BODY LANGUAGE
- 'Serena is resuming a conversation rather than beginning one' im SCREAMING bc isnt this the core of prodigyship!! intermittent, unexpected meetings over the years, serena carrying the thread of the conversation forward after thinking through it w/o hesitation while reiji notes the time in between. 'this acknowledgement of himself as priority, if not immediately so' aka reiji wants serena to think well of him hhhhhh
- the second thing reiji draws from serenas statement is that she wont call him by name and by extension that shes aligned herself w shun (and not quite w reiji, not yet). 'remaining relevant only by Reiji's own knowledge that despite its insignificance, Reiji wouldn't mind hearing it repeated.' HE REALLY CARES ABOUT HER OPINION OF HIM IM YELL
- god the careful balancing act of compromiseship is just captured so PERFECTLY
- and like. reiji knowingly making concessions and admissions about himself to serena, whether or not she picks up on them, how closely hes watching her and watching her watching over shun... 'noting the palm’s width between Serena’s fingertips, taut and wary, and Kurosaki’s wrist, at ease in sleep' MY FAVOURITE FAVOURITE KIND OF PHYSICALITY, THE OBSERVATION OF DISTANCE THAT COULD BE EASILY CLOSED, AND YOU ALSO BROUGHT HANDS/WRISTS INTO IT I LOVE YOU
- 'You assume everyone as honourable as yourself' KJHAKSDJFHSADFJASDHF IVE DIED IVE ASCENDED and this is the HEART OF THE THING, serenas ideological conflict and her code of conduct and her discomfort w both of the sides shes presented with and reiji couching actual emotional honesty and affection (????!) in this weird transactional way bc thats like the only way he can express it
- its a COMPROMISE
- and the sense that this is a conversation they've had before, that they've been having for years, since that first chance meeting in academia
- also like 'recklessness without overconfidence, uncertainty a guide rather than restraint' is just. stunningly serena. ive struggled thru 2 fics trying to articulate this and youve done it so concisely and incisively aaaaahhhhh
- shun is only in the background of the scene but the entire conversation is catalysed by him and also this trend where compromiseship can only have these moments of emotional honesty 2 members at a time <3
- the fact that REIJI DIDNT NOTICE SHUN WAS FEIGNING SLEEP?????
- AND HOLY FUCK SHUN OFFERING COMFORT WORDLESSLY AND 1) WRISTS!!!!!!!! 2) THROUGH A GESTURE OF VULNERABILITY IN LETTING SERENAS FINGERS BE IN CONTACT W HIS PULSE, REASSURANCE OF HIS PRESENCE, RECIPROCATION OF SERENA PLACING HERSELF SQUARELY IN HIS CAMP
- GOD I JUST. THJANK YOU SO MUCH I OWE YOU MY LIFE

slides in several days later to say i'm still in disbelief that you wrote me a comment longer than the gift itself, you're really wonderful <3 here are some screams that are tangential, if not completely related, to your own:

* i'm so glad compromiseship falls into a dynamic defined by 'shippy in how totally unshippy it seems' because i find myself more & more unable to write conventional shipfic with every day that passes lmao
* I WAS SO FOCUSED ABOUT TRYING TO CAPTURE AS MANY THOUGHTS AS I HAD (FRAMED AS SUCCINCTLY & COHERENTLY AS POSSIBLE) THAT I FORGOT ABOUT REIJI'S VOICE ENTIRELY only to discover that systematical-but-not-entirely-unfeeling narration is reiji's voice, actually #NailedIt
* wrt serena's headtilt: i wanted her to show some acknowledgment of reiji's presence, but hackles raising felt too extreme, shoulders loosening felt off because when has she ever felt unsafe with shun?, so. i played it straight and she really just looked at reiji, because he was there
* SERENA CARES ABOUT REIJI BUT NOT AS MUCH AS REIJI CARES ABOUT WHAT SERENA THINKS!! (of him? sure. about other things too, but...how novel, akaba reiji caring what somebody thinks of him, the person, rather than him, and his accomplishments, plans & motives)
* compromiseship is really incredibly intimate & confessional in weirdly painful ways. i dig it
* 'you assume everyone as honourable as yourself' i vored this from a prodigyship snippet from forever ago because it rings true and thus must be used in something more fully formed LOL
* this taught me how i'd write serena's POV as much as it showed me how i (apparently) write reiji's
* i wanted to bookend with shun narration--actually, the entire serena/reiji conversation was initially slated as a flashback--but alas it didn't gel the way i visualised? the opening i originally removed was this:

Shun opens his eyes after Reiji leaves, and neither comments on nor acknowledges the two extra blankets at the foot of his bed: one a replica of what he's currently using; the other similar but softer looking, even from a distance. It sparks Shun's careful curiosity, both at the first blanket's lack of grandeur and the second's near-overwhelming presence in its simplicity, the voices of both owners singing I am, I am, nothing more and nothing less.

^ but as you can see, this got cut off and replaced with wrist touch instead because i'm a shameless fucker for handkink #noragrets

yeah, reiji pov is a super natural fit w your writing style especially here imo!! 'when has she ever felt unsafe with shun' aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh god i love how compromiseship find themselves aligning w each other despite everything and you write it so WELL i die

also that shun snippet is, [50 prayer hands], offers of help/comfort simultaneously without expectation and also undeniably /there/. 'nothing more and nothing less' DAMN...

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2017 Locker for ash

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<3!!

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<3

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