#a3 fluff

Itaru: is sitting on the couch. Just picks his feet up and sits cross-legged. Doesn’t look up from his game. But at least he’s playing, right? Laughs every time someone falls or something breaks. He won’t even try to get up. He bribes people to bring him snacks from the kitchen. When he has to go to the bathroom, he gets Citron to carry him there. (Hey, when Mom’s strong enough to carry Dad, you take advantage of it, right?)

Citron: “Oh nooooo! The floor is lava! We will all yearn!” (Tsuzuru: *sigh* Burn. We’ll all burn.) Just starts jumping around because he doesn’t understand the game. (“No, no! This is how it’s done in my country!”) The game is explained to him three times. Once he understands, he gets a little too enthusiastic and is declared a public menace. He still steps in lava. Yuki refuses to let him into the safe zone. Citron is eventually declared a safe zone himself and helps or carries people to their destinations.

Chikage: Never turns a hair, never looks flustered. Also never touches his foot to the floor again. You have no idea how he does it. He’s just magically where he wants to be and no one saw him move. He shows off by continuing to play the game for weeks after the fad passes for everyone else. He just considers it good practice. What it’s good practice for no one wants to ask.

Tenma: Oh my GOD he doesn't have time for these childish games! S-so what if he’s avoiding the floor? There was a spilled drink! He’s practicing for a role! It’s for team-building! It - shut up! It’s not like he actually ENJOYS playing games with you plebes! (Tsundere gonna tsun.) Eventually wears through his own defenses and just starts laughing and playing along and even Yuki doesn’t call him out. Like Sakuya, he didn’t get to play games as a kid. Every time he drops the pretense and allows himself to enjoy silly things, it makes the others happy.

Yuki: declares his shoes to be lava-proof. If everyone else can be childish, so can he. Also, he is absolutely not jumping around in a skirt. He has his dignity, you know. Instead, he puts himself in charge of the time-out space. Renames it the Sewing Safe Zone and anyone who falls in lava has to help him with costumes. Sits there on a floor cushion and huffs and clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes and seems mildly annoyed by the shouting and laughter and chaos . . . But when no one’s looking, he’s smiling and enjoying the atmosphere. Also enjoys teaching the losers how to sew.

Misumi: this boy barely touches the floor as it is. Once someone explains the rules, as far as he’s concerned, the floor is all lava all the time. Declares all triangular spaces to be safe. Will 100% pick up people and carry them around while still avoiding the floor. At one point he grabs Taichi and races around the entire dorm without ever once touching the floor. Taichi’s scream-laughter only gets louder when Sakyo starts yelling and trying to chase them down. They both wind up punished, even though they don’t break anything.

Muku: Second only to Misumi and Taichi in how good he is at this game. First, he’s played before with his family any number of times. Second, he’s light and strong and his control over his body is one of the few things he’s actually confident about. This is easier than doing hurdles in track, for sure! Is the only one (other than Misumi) to dare to use the light fixtures as monkey bars. Drops onto the chair. Leaps from chair to couch, steps carefully on the coffee table, and compares himself to a ninja prince. Tries to get Misumi to teach him how to backflip from the coffee table to the couch. Sakyo and Izumi can’t shout NO fast enough. Muku gets sent to the Sewing Safe Zone for his own Safety. Refers to himself as a book dropped in a puddle while he sadly sews.

Kazunari: is 100% live-streaming the chaos to the Mankai Insta page. He is eventually cajoled into playing for a while, but he has a lot more fun watching and documenting. Within a week, there’s a new painting hanging in the common room. It’s done in sumi-e style, bare inked lines indicating form and movement, minimalist figures in mid-leap or sprawled on the floor. In Kazu’s love of playing with art rules, it’s not purely black-on-white - the blurred figures have tiny splashes of color indicating hair or clothing color. The energy and fun in the painting is almost electric.

Kumon: used to play this with Juza and Muku all the time! He’s an athletic kid, so he’s doing pretty well getting through the common areas. But strangely, to everyone’s surprise, he just…stops. He finds a place to sit and cheers on everyone else. It’s not that he doesn’t want to play, it’s just that he suddenly remembered the last time he played this game. He was still living at home and broke one of his mom’s vases. His parents are usually really patient with being gentle with him about things, but he still got into a LOT of trouble. The idea of repeating that moment, with Sakyo yelling at him and the whole dorm to witness it, spikes his anxiety. He’ll carefully avoid the floor, but he’d rather join in the laughter and general watching.

Banri: fucking glides across the furniture like Jesus walking on water. Laughs at Juza every time he struggles. When he gets bored (pretty quickly) he gathers pillows and stuffed animals and starts chucking them at people to get them to fall. “How will you get better without a challenge? None of you are me!” Eventually, Azami creams him in the back of the head with a HUGE floor pillow and actually knocks him off the back of the couch and onto the floor. Guess you lost, Banri. Get your ass to the Sewing Safe Zone. After his time-out, he restricts himself to torturing Juza.

Juza: of course he’s played this game before! It’s just….been awhile. He’s a big guy, and the longer legs might seem like an advantage, but the full-on bulk of him is hard to move like this. He’s good on stage when he’s choreographed, but this? He winds up in the SSZ any number of times. Pisses off Yuki because he takes up a lot of space and he also can’t sew. Keeps getting distracted (and hit with pillows) by Banri. After having enough of his roommate, he throws one of the stuffed animals at him. He might not be as into baseball as Kumon, but he’s always pitched for his brother. Also, those awful clown things at amusement parks? The ones that you have to throw balls at to knock them down and then you get tickets? Yeah, guess who has the high score on that. Beans Banri in the face hard enough that he gets knocked off the couch AGAIN. Get your ass to the Sewing Safe Zone, Part 2.

Taichi: BRING IT ON! Lives and breathes the game. Basically FLIES from one piece of furniture or safe space to another. Manages to make it from the common room all the way across the dorm into his own room and UP TO HIS BED without touching the lava. Muku makes him a construction paper crown to celebrate being King of Lava Jumping. Taichi insists on a second crown for Misumi, and the two of them continue the game every time they’re bored. Which, for Taichi, is pretty often. Also, everyone laughs when he makes a really good move and Banri commented that it’d help his agility on stage. Wins all around!

Omi: As the biggest guy, he basically just walks across the room, only having to take a short hop to get from one piece of furniture to the next. Only plays once, though. He’s concerned about the combination of his weight and landing on top of the furniture. Also, as much as he’s having fun and he’ll join in on the dorm shenanigans once in a while, he definitely feels that as the oldest young one (Sakyo, Chikage and Winter Troupe are basically the Adultier Adults - no one can define Itaru as an adult, really) he’s got to set an example. He enjoys the fact that a lot of the younger kids look up to him, and wants to model good behavior. Also REALLY doesn’t want to piss off Sakyo, given the consequences.

Sakyo: No. He’ll walk across the room like a motherfucking adult, thank you. Watches the proceedings like a hawk. Anyone who breaks anything or costs the dorm money winds up in a bunny suit on Veludo Way. He walks around the room glaring at everyone and everything until he gets called out by Azami and (surprisingly) Tsumugi for ruining everyone’s fun by being an uptight stick-in-the-mud (well, Azami calls him something worse, and Tsumugi is more polite, but that’s the gist). He replies that he’ll leave, but if anything gets destroyed or broken, EVERYONE IN THE ROOM will be out on Veludo in a bunny suit.

Azami: ….what is this? Never really played with kids his own age, so hasn’t ever done this before. Another big guy, but young enough that he’s still unsure how to work his long limbs. He keeps overshooting and crashing into things. He’s worried about bruises and considering quitting until Sakyo tries to ban the game. Red flag at a bull. Now he’s going to figure out how to play this damn game even if he has to cover his whole body in concealer tomorrow. He gets into the swing of it pretty quick after that, but it almost immediately goes from a fun game to a fierce competition. Who he’s competing against isn’t clear. (Sakyo. It’s Sakyo. Even though Sakyo isn’t playing.)

Tsumugi: Probably the least athletic person in the entire dorm. Tasuku actively tries to discourage him, reminds him of similar disasters when they were younger, but he’s intrigued. After a few minutes of thought, he grabs two throw pillows. Drops one pillow on the ground, steps on it. Drops the other in front of him. Steps on it. Wriggles around slowly to pick up the one behind him. Wriggles to face front. Drops pillow. Steps on it. It takes him almost twenty minutes to cross a room like this and everyone is howling in laughter by the end of it, but he’s really proud of himself. Tasuku just sighs and figures it’s a good balance workout.

Tasuku: isn’t playing. This is for kids, why would he - what do you mean, the floor might be lava in the next show? Ugh, fine. Now the most athletic member of the dorm is emulating Misumi and basically parkouring his way from room to room. Far less worried about landing on the furniture with his weight, at least until he hears something crack in the couch. Is glad for the agility training he did for Dance With Butterfly. Takes it super seriously. Eventually decides it’s actually a really good practical workout. At one point, he gets Tsumugi to climb on his back to add to the difficulty. Has a fierce memory of them doing the same thing as kids, so strong he almost trips. Drags his friend off for a cup of coffee.

Hisoka: is sleeping in the lava. One of the smarter troupe members spreads a blanket over him, and the edges of the blanket are now an island safe zone. When he wakes up, Hisoka ninjas his way back to his room for marshmallows, then ninjas his way back to his little island safe zone and goes back to sleep. Never touches the floor once. (Doesn’t even realize they’re playing, to be honest.) Taichi is hella jealous but the rest of winter troupe just rolls their eyes. They’re used to this shit.

Homare: unsurprisingly, joins in with enthusiasm. He’s reasonably strong, pretty agile, and has the long limbs to go with his height, so he can work his way across the room without too much of a problem. But then! He sees what Tsumugi is doing and the border between following the rules and breaking them sparks his creativity. He takes off his suit jacket and lays it on the floor - “like over a puddle for a beauteous maiden!” - and steps on it. Then his vest. Then one shoe, then the other. By the time he makes it to the doorway, he’s in his boxers and the guys are torn between laughing and yelling at him to put his clothes back on. There is a declaration - “None of you appreciate art!” and Homare drops his last article of clothing to make the last step out the door and theatrically walks back to his room, laughing and bare-ass naked.

Azuma: he might be elegant and graceful and capable of participating, but there is no way he’s compromising his dignity by jumping and crawling. He will, however, offer helping hands to someone trying to make an extra-long leap. Then he goes back to his glass of wine. Spills his wine all over himself when Sakuya almost lands in his lap after a mistimed jump. Sighs and wonders what the fuck happened to his quiet, refined life. He can hear the laughter even while changing clothes in his dorm room and decides that, ruined clothes or not, he likes things better this way.

He no longer remembers the name of the client who suggested it. She was one of the first to venture into what was, at that point, his brand-new business. During their first meeting, she sat on the other end of her couch, hands clenched, and he hadn’t been sure if she was simply nervous about hiring a cuddler or if the anxiety was a part of her life she wanted his help in easing. He’d tried to soothe her with his gentle voice and calming nature, knowing his own charisma would open the conversational door when she relaxed just a little.

As she finally started to talk to him about her new job and new responsibilities, she asked him what he did to deal with times of anxiety and he spoke to her of his coloring books and how soothing he found them. It didn’t matter if they were geometric mandalas or smooth, swirling, organic designs - something about the mirroring of them across the page calmed him. And the action of coloring them in was a gentle meditation. It stressed neither his brain nor his body. It was one of the only times that, even when alone, his soul wasn’t restless or afraid. Or was, well, less restless and afraid.

Of course he didn’t say all of that to her, but she got the gist. Her troubled face smoothed out just a little and her voice softened.

“That’s how I feel when I knit,” she murmured. “Even during the worst times. It doesn’t fix things, but it makes them bearable, you know?”

Azuma did know, yes. He knew about things that couldn’t be fixed, and he spent his life finding ways to make them bearable. Finding things that kept the shadows in the corners of the room. Working with her was one of those things, after all.

She’d asked him to bring one of his favorite coloring books and colored pencils for their next session. When he showed up, she took the books from him and filled his now-empty hands with yarn with a mischievous smile. She taught him to knit and he taught her the finer points of shading, blending, and color combinations. Their sessions afterwards always started that way, the cuddling and chatting eased into while they sat contentedly on the floor, leaning on each other, practicing one or both of the crafts.

There was some initial frustration with the learning process, but he found he liked knitting. With the basic stitches mastered and the right pattern in front of him, knitting had the same meditative effect as coloring, and the sensual feeling of soft, smooth yarn winding through his fingers was a feeling that colored pencils couldn’t replicate. There was an almost animal pleasure in running his fingers through an especially soft skein or rubbing his cheek against a finished piece. And the colors, oh, the colors - as bright, as saturated as his markers, but shining with silk or comfortably blurred with a fuzzy halo of angora or mohair.

He almost gave up knitting when that client moved away for her job, but found his now-rare solo nights more lonely than ever. You couldn’t color while waiting for sleep; you needed to think too much. Color choices, color combinations, balancing the entire piece. Not to mention the bright light needed to choose those colors, to stay in the lines. But knitting - he could lay in bed with little more than a nightlight and go through the basic stitches. He even taught himself how to knit simple stitches in the dark. It made it easier to knit during movies, but also to fall asleep. He could (and often did) knit with his eyes closed now. More often than not he fell asleep with his project in his hands and a row half-completed. True, he would wake up in the morning with his yarn tangled around his body and a few stitches popped off his needles - but it was worth the time involved in fixing everything when he realized his sleep was better than when he didn’t knit at all. And it was better for him (and his skin) than the alcohol he was finding himself relying on to make it through the night when he was alone.

Even now, while living at Mankai, he surrounds himself with yarn and projects. He wears the winter scarf he’d made for himself every year. He occasionally throws one of the light-as-air cashmere shawls he’d made around his neck and shoulders for fashion - or comfort. What he’s made in the past has mostly been plain things, things he can knit while falling asleep, and he finds that it translates nicely to his current life as well - a plain triangular shawl for Misumi, a beanie for Taichi, a pair of fingerless gloves for Kumon. Hisoka asked for a blanket once, but Azuma just laughed and said that if Hisoka was willing to spend a hundred hours or so making it, Azuma would just teach him to knit and he could make it himself.

Omi had tried to expand his repertoire by teaching him lace not long after he arrived, but it was just too complicated. All the counting and fussiness obliterated the soothing nature of the task for him. It was one of the only times anyone in the dorms ever saw Azuma flustered. After counting, triple-checking the pattern, and finding himself with the wrong number of stitches on his needles - for the fourteenth time ON THE SAME ROW - he dropped his skein of expensive hand-dyed yarn at Omi’s feet and walked out of the room. The failure frustrated him because the pattern was pretty and he would have loved to wear or gift some of the delicate shawls and gloves he found online. Maybe someday, he thinks, he’ll try again, but for now he chooses to be content with simpler fare.

These days, gives away most of what he makes. Partly because, to be honest, how many shawls and hats and gloves does one person need? But mostly he gives his things away because it makes him happy. He tried giving little things away to favorite clients before Mankai, but many of them assumed that the gifts came with a romantic intention, so that had to stop. For a while, he accumulated. Eventually, he began donating some of the older or less frequently used items. When he began living in the dorms, however, he not only gave away much of his old stash, he began knitting deliberately for his new friends.

For his new family.

It gives him warm satisfaction to see Tenma tug the fuzzy cowl Azuma had given him for Christmas over his head before trudging off to a shoot in the snow. To see Tasuku wearing a homemade hat when he comes in from a run. Tsuzuru’s coffee mug cozy, Sakyo’s business-black scarf, Omi’s fingerless gloves that let him keep warm and continue to use his camera outside.

And yes, Hisoka, bit by bit, he begins knitting squares to weave together into a blanket for the couch in the common room. He considers it his contribution to the cohesiveness of the dorm. Unlike his usual habit of buying expensive yarn, this he is making out of high-quality acrylic found at a local arts-and-crafts store. Firstly, acrylic comes in an insane amount of colors, which suits the purpose of this project perfectly. Secondly, he knows the blanket is going to get coated in food and dropped on the floor and stepped on. And someone, thinking they were being kind, would chuck it in the wash. One ruined shawl early in this hobby had made him aware of how easily a single wash cycle destroyed natural fibers. So, acrylic it was.

The squares are usually his sleep-knitting now. Even though it’s dark and he can’t see the colors, he knows each one. Deep sage green for his roommate Guy (Guy, who seems to love the rhythmic sound of the needles for some reason), dark and troubled blue and teal for Tsumugi and Tasuku. A vibrant magenta to match Homare’s hair, creamy marshmallow for Hisoka, a sunflower-yellow for Tenma. Heavily saturated dark pink for Sakuya of course, a heathered lavender for Masumi, a soft seaweed green for Tsuzuru, and a strange rainbow-vomit of colors to represent Itaru’s games. Yuki, who bummed a ride with him and Tasuku to the yarn store once, casually chose his own color (no one else seems to know what he’s knitting, but Yuki’s no fool). He includes some neutrals for the tech crew and Matsukawa. And a delicate blush-pink for their beloved director.

As he knits each square, he appreciates the person it represents to him. He smiles about something they said recently or frowns over their troubles. Sometimes, if someone in the company is having a particularly rough time, he’ll switch over to their color for a few days. In the same way he grew his hair as a prayer, he knits prayers for his friends. Each stitch is a thought, each thought a hope for a better tomorrow.

It’s only after he finishes the squares for everyone in the dorms and the company that he thinks to count them. Realizing he needs a few more squares to make an evenly rectangular blanket, it occurs to him that there might, perhaps, be one missing color.