#redmage123

That’s not to say that he’salways raring for a fight, just that he’s easier than others to provoke, atleast at first. Neither should you feel like you need to accept the times wherehe’s having an asshole moment – if you tell him off without belittling him forit, it might give him a begrudging respect for you (maybe you’d hear later thathe was surprised, considering no one’s ever scolded him like that beforeoutside of maybe his family).

In the end, this means that before anything romanticcan even remotely happen, you will need to be friends with him first. And for awhile, too. Show him that he can trust you without stifling him (he’s like acat, remember?), and allow Kuzuryuu to approach you. Will this take time? Yes.Will it be worth it? Hell-to-the-yes.

You’ll know he trusts you atleast a bit when he turns up on your doorstep in the middle of the night like astray animal, often with a couple of wounds. His greeting when this happens isalways the same – that you can tell him to piss off, and that you’re notobliged to help him. Kuzuryuu himself won’t even understand why he always turnsup there, only that the urge to see a friendly face (your friendly face, forthat matter) becomes exceedingly strong after a bad day.

It’ll be worth learning somefirst aid if you haven’t already. Before you guys are official, patching him upis the number one source for the times when he lets his guard down more thanusual, and you might hear a secret or two from him. The more it keepshappening, the more he’ll start to realize… wait, is he actually enjoying yourtouch?

When Kuzuryuu realizes he likesyou, he’s going to freak out in the sense that he’ll suddenly, out of nowhere,distance himself from you. You’ll end up assuming that you did something wrongbut I promise you that that’s never been further from the truth – it’s because helikes you that he’s reacting this way, it’s because you’re so precious to himthat he’s distanced himself.

Because what kind of person wouldhe be? To fall in love with you, knowing that even the remote possibility ofyou reciprocating is overshadowed by his burden as a yakuza heir? He can’t putthat kind of weight on you. Kuzuryuu would never forgive himself for it, forputting you in possible danger for something as petty (it’s not, but he certainlythinks it is) as feelings.

You will need toconfront him, otherwise he’ll avoid you forever. Worse yet, he’ll believe he’sdoing the right thing, so he will succeed unless you make the first move.

(Yes, yes. I am awarethat I said treat him like a cat, but this is different – he already caresabout you, and now it’s your turn to take the reins in this relationship, orelse you’ll lose him.)

He’s not going to beable to ignore you if you’re visibly troubled, much less when you ask what youhad done wrong to warrant this kind of treatment. It would be so easy to justtell you that everything was a lie, that he didn’t care – hadn’t cared aboutyou at all. But spending so much time away from you after enjoying your companyfor so long made it harder, just like seeing you upset because of him madethose words catch in his throat. Even if he knew it was best for you.

When his will breaks,you hear it in a yell: ‘God, can’t you see I’m doing this for you? I don’t wantto see you hurt because of me!’

That’s not his choiceto make, you respond, voice almost a hiss. If you were worried about gettinginvolved, you would have turned him away the moment he came on your doorstepwith nasty scrapes, but you hadn’t. If you at any point valued your own lifeover having him in your life, you wouldn’t have bothered to make friends withhim in the first place. As it was, he couldn’t just… ignore all of that. Not ifhe cared for you.

Kuzuryuu shuts up. Heshuts up, makes a noise that sounds like a growl, and kisses you. You can tastethe desperation, the frustration, everything until he wrenches himself from youapologizing with a ‘shit, sorry’.This time, you told him to shut up,before pulling him to you.

Of course, you guysend up talking after that exchangingof affection. Instead of him ignoring you ‘for your sake’, he tells you that he’sterrified of putting you in danger. He gives you one last chance to pretendtoday never happened, and that he’d be fine with going back to friends. You’refirm in your decision though, even as he warns you that walking away will be evenharder for him to do.

‘Anything worth doingisn’t going to be easy,’ is your only response, ‘And you wouldn’t have liked meif I didn’t like a challenge, would you?’

It’s the first timeyou hear him laugh since everything happened. ‘You sound up yourself.’

‘Do I sound wrong?’

‘Didn’t say that.’

For a little while, Kuzuryuudoes ask if you’re okay with keeping things between of you a secret, at leastuntil he’s made arrangements for you to be as safe as you possibly can and alsobecause he doesn’t think he can handle being teased just yet without exploding.Any chance of you being put out because of this is minimized by how sweet hecan be in private, and because those secret moments between the two of you wereKuzuryuu feels the sudden urge to be affectionate lets you know how he trulyfeels.

It means there aremoments where his hand sneaks into yours under the table, sometimes even whenyou’re talking to someone else so he can gain some sense of gratification asyour voice shakes before you give his hand both a warning and a loving squeeze. There are moments when no one’s lookingand he leaning his cheek close to you for you to give him a quick kiss.

Of course, Kuzuryuuisn’t slick enough that this escapes the notice of everyone. If they’reattentive enough, they would have noticed how he looked at you anyway.

That’s not to sayKuzuryuu doesn’t fumble at least several times. There are occasions whenKuzuryuu can be stubborn, and this is true especially towards keeping you safe,so his temper might flare up because of this. He’s not so great at telling youhis true feelings at first as well, so you’ll need to be patient for a littlebit as he gets used to the ideal of being vulnerable and not expecting anythingbad to come of it.

So long as you guyscontinue communicating however, everything should turn out fine. In the end,Kuzuryuu loves you, and that’s what’s going to influence his decisions morethan anything else.

PARTII: ASSORTED HEADCANONS

Early in the relationship, Kuzuryuu is ajealous person. He tries not to be, because he knows it’s petty, butconsidering his personality, it’s inevitable. It’s all too easy for him to seethat you’re better off with someone who’s safer, who isn’t lined up to be ayakuza heir.

He’ll end up giving you the cold shoulderas he sorts out the anger he feels towards himself, and when you confront him,he will avoid the topic, stating only that ‘you need to be more aware of theaffect you have on other people’

Of course, you’re like what are you eventalking about?

Eventually he apologies, and even though hecan’t quite look you in the eye as he tells you he’s jealous, you can see howmuch he means it.

He’s not too sure how to ask you foraffection either (or maybe he’s just embarrassed, either way), so you might getvague gestures that means he wants a kiss, or to cuddle, or something equallynerve-wracking for him to ask. And when you do give him what he wants,sometimes he acts like he’s being put upon, but it’s easy to see through himwhen you ask him if he wanted you to stop and he says no.

There are dates at fancy restaurants yes,but those happen less often in comparison to ones at fast food places, arcades,internet cafes… the kind that makes him feel more like a normal guy and lesslike a yakuza heir.

Also now he has an excuse to go to dessertplaces a lot.

His shaved lines are on the ticklish side,but he does find it relaxing when you gently run your fingers along it whilehe’s laying his head in your lap.

Natsumi, his sister, teases you guys a lot.Sometimes it’s just Kuzuryuu, sometimes it’s you, and other times, when she’sfeeling particularly mischievous, it’s the two of you. Be prepared for somewink-wink-nudge-nudge and some eyebrow waggling shenanigans as she tells youscandalous things like how much he missed you while he was off doing yakuzabusiness.

Peko, for that matter, extends herprotection to you as well as her young master.

One day, you’ll get her bowing at you asshe implores you to protect her young master’s smile.

You surprise her when you tell her it’ssomething that’s a joint effort – that you’re not the only one responsible forit. She, and all his other close peers, must help too.

People in general often comment thatKuzuryuu’s a lot easier to talk to ever since the two of you got officiallytogether. It’s much, much more difficult to provoke him… unless they decide toattack you, of course.

Speaking of, Kuzuryuu doesn’t so much tellpeople you’re together so much as it becoming common knowledge overtime. It’spretty easy to notice with how he acts around you, how he lets you get awaywith practically everything with just a grumble.

There are going to be bad days forKuzuryuu, days where he comes to you dead tired and needing your comfort. Hedoesn’t really need you to say anything when he’s having one of those times,just for you to take him into your arms, and hug him so tightly that he feelslike he’s going to break.

If you want, sing him a lullaby. It’llprobably make him fall asleep clinging to you.

In return, he’s very protective of you –anyone who dares messes with you gets the full extent of his wrath, and you’llhave to hold him back from hurting anyone at times.

Your touch does wonders for him temperthough, so just use that to your advantage.

He’s also great at telling people to pissoff if they make you uncomfortable – and they’d best listen, considering who heis. You’d never feel anything but safe while you’re with him.

If you’re a gamer, then you’ll probablyfind much of your quality time is spent gaming together. Kuzuryuu’s got anactive subscription to at least one MMORPG with a high leveled, head-of-guildranking. He makes a surprisingly (or maybe not) good leader during these timesas well. Battle couple though? Heck yes.

Doesn’t really go for super public displaysof affection, but likes being sneakily affectionate in public.