#runladybugrun

It's one of those LADYBUG - isms : when he wants attention, he gets dramatic. He returned from putting away the leftovers from dinner ( a simple task only salvaged by plastic containers, though he had cracked a plastic serving spoon in the process ) with clear determination. LADYBUG sat near Shin, considered the distance thoughtfully, and without further ado laid back to settle his head in the other man's lap with a sigh.

The American had long stripped down to the old tank top under his shirt after getting soaked doing the dishes. He grinned up at Shin playfully, blue eyes glittering as much as the beads around his wrists and neck. ❝ Hi, ❞ LADYBUG quipped. ❝ I hope you know CPR, because you just took my breath away. ❞ Oh, it's bad  ━  the line reeks of the app he downloaded on his phone that won't stop feeding him ( and in turn Shin ) downright awful pick up lines. Nevertheless, LADYBUG seemed to have amused himself, and his hair finished falling across Shin's legs as he laughed.

Ladybug’s head is in his lap, and Shin switches his book to his left hand so his right can card through all that pretty hair. A dog-eared page later and Ladybug has his full attention in the downward flick of dark eyes-- the book finds a space on the end table by the couch-- though as the corny little one-liner makes its way out, Shin spends a moment wondering if giving up his reading was worth it.

It was, he concludes. It is. Ladybug is as full of life as ever, and Shin hasn’t noticed it, but his mouth has tugged into a smile to match the sound of Ladybug’s laugh. Cheeky little bastard.

“How long have you been holding that in?”

His thumb tucks some hair over Ladybug’s ear. His free hand lands without issue on Ladybug’s wet chest, fingertips tracing light circles.

“I’m giving it a 4. Doesn’t work as well if your target doesn’t know CPR.”

It occurs to him, as Ladybug asks what he does, that all the times they’d worked together or crossed paths he hadn’t been home. Being with the Nikkyo hadn’t allowed for many opportunities-- Shin spent a lot of his youth going between Kanto and Kansai too (he missed his adoptive sister’s wedding and the birth of her daughter and so on and so forth)-- but with the Consortium gone, he’s been in Shinjuku more than he ever has before.

And it’s strange, in a way. There weren’t very many constants in Shin’s life outside the Nikkyo, which was probably for the best given his temperament when he ran out of stimuli. But Ladybug, who’s quieter than Shin’s used to for gods know what reason, has been there in his own way: through work, through hearing his name down the grapevine, through the static in Shin’s phone...

The realisation they’d never actually gone for drinks in Kamurocho, after all the drinks they’ve had through the years, is bizarre. And it’s even more bizarre that Shin thinks it’s bizarre.

Not that it’s important right now.

“...yeah.” His fingers pinch the inner lining of his jacket pocket and rub. “A lot of them should be open. Midnight is ‘early’.”

LADYBUG lifted his head off of Reed's chest. He stifled a yawn and blinked blearily. It hadn't been his intention to take a nap on his lover while the other man read in the temporarily shared bed. LADYBUG's bright blues flicked down. After a moment, he grinned, pulled the edge of Reed's shirt over his stomach, and leaned over to place a kiss on his belly. ❝Hello,❞ he murmured. LADYBUG wrapped his arm around the bottom of Reed's bump. His cheek settled gently against it, soaking in the warmth of his skin and the feeling of their child — their impossible, wonderful dream - child. ❝Hello to both of you ... shit. How long was I out ?❞

As much as Reed enjoyed their moments of talking- even if it was mostly Reed rambling about some tech he was figuring out and LADYBUG kindly listening intently- or doing something within the confines of their private moments like watching a movie or cooking together- mostly LADYBUG and H.E.R.B.I.E. cooking and Reed watching fondly- he realized how much he loved these little moments they weren't ever truly afforded. His fingers tenderly carded through LADYBUG's hair as he slept, and the warmth and weight of the other man on him was all he needed to feel so content.

His attention was only pulled from the book he had been reading- truthfully he had been reading anything baby related since finding out about the little one growing inside of him, and that night's read was You and Your Baby- when he felt the other stir.

The ghost of a smile pulled at his lips and he rested his hand against the side of LADYBUG's neck, the pad of his thumb stroking against the jut of his jaw.

ladybug  sits  down  next  to  him,  head  resting  on  his  shoulder,  and  ethan  KNOWS  that  the  other  can  tell  that  it’s  one  of  his  bad  days.  one  of  those  times  that  ethan  zones  out,  one  of  the  times  that  he  needs  something  to  distract  him.  he’s  good  at  picking  up  on  those  things  ;  a  fact  that  ethan  is  grateful  for,  even  if  he’s  not  always  great  at  expressing  it.  it  saves  a  lot  of  heartache,  in  the  long  run.  head  moves  to  lean  against  the  other’s,  a  sigh  escaping  as  ladybug  nuzzles  his  face  into  ethan’s  neck.  it’s  a  comforting  gesture,  a  reminder  that  he’s  HERE  for  him,  that  it’s  all  okay.  he’s  helped  him  with  shit  like  this  ever  since  the  village,  ever  since  they  first  met  ;  ever  since  ethan  first  had  to  deal  with  the  changes  of  the  lycan’s  bite,  ladybug  had  been  there  to  try  and  teach  what  he  knew  and  help  in  whatever  way  he  can.

that’s  how  they  ended  up  here  now,  isn’t  it?  the  bonding  during  times  of  trauma  and  fear  and  discovering  new  selves,  and  subsequently  forming  an  attachment  that  ended  up  turning  into  something  else,  something  that  remained  even  once  they  had  both  been  able  to  leave  the  horrors  of  the  village  behind  them.  it’s  something  that  ethan  is  very  much  glad  to  have,  especially  on  days  like  today,  when  he  doesn’t  even  feel  like  HIMSELF.

The two different t - shirts LADYBUG attempted to wear while painting were now streaked with light oranges and blues and laid balled up on his makeshift carpet covers. Dripping paint now decorated his bare torso instead of fabric. LADYBUG's jeans held a few marks of their own, but he didn't seem too bothered with them.

LADYBUG turned to pick up the moth stencil and froze at the sight of Melissa in the door. He smiled and removed his earbuds. "I didn't think you'd be home yet," LADYBUG confessed, stepping with great care around his supplies. "I found these yesterday. Thought they might go good with the theme for the little bugs, so I decided to try surprising you. We can always paint over it again if you don't like it."

LADYBUG bent down to kiss her belly first in greeting. He straightened after and pressed his lips to Melissa's affectionately. An arm wound around her waist as they embraced. Once they were parted, LADYBUG frowned and wrinkled his nose. "I'm pretty sure . . . yeah, there's pink my ear. Whoops."

unscripted asks . always accepting

It was far too early for her to be back - there was still sunlight outside although sunset was fast approaching, and ordinarily that would mean that Melissa should be out for a few more hours. The former hostess had been used to trading mornings for nights where work was concerned, but over the last month... She had been steadily (but firmly) pushed away of her own business by her manager.

Konishi was getting scarier with each day - he was a more stern father figure than Melissa’s own parents in America. Perhaps it was because she was now very obviously pregnant - it was more difficult to hide when one expected twins, but her mother kept assuring her it was completely normal, and shared more than a few tidbits of how it had been for her before Rose and Heather were born. 

But the second-in-command of the Honey Bee Inn wouldn’t hear of it - as far as he was concerned, she needed plenty of rest instead of walking around on her heels for hours per day. Melissa scoffed at his fussy behavior of late, but relented; giving in sometimes would make another day’s battle easier and she settled on going home to try and get some other things done. The brunette was craving some strange things - apple pie and mashed potatoes with garlic (not necessarily together), but she hadn’t anticipated that Ladybug would be at home... And so focused, too.

It was rather endearing - she had never imagined that he would be so excited to be a father. As everything with them - the pregnancy had been unexpected and a great stroke of luck, defying all the incredible odds at play. But despite the unconventional way their children had been conceived, she was healthy and so were the twins; from a medical perspective, the entire family was well and on track for the delivery at the right time.

“Yeah, me neither - Konishi may be organizing a coup behind my back for all I know,” she replied with a grin while watching the blonde man approaching, chuckling softly at the order he choose to say hello to his family and then returning his kiss with one of her own once Ladybug straightened up his spine. Melissa's eyes moved to his ear after his comment - and indeed, there was a tiny but noticeable trail of paint dripping from his ear, made even more visible considering how his hair had been pinned away for his work.

“You absolutely do,” she remarked with a giggle, eyes flickering to his face for a second then, “Honey, you may have more paint on yourself today than the time we went to paintball,” her words were a throwback to a fun experience - Ladybug had taken more than one hit intended for the ex-hostess to give her additional time in the game to shoot at others - the only thing he had not accounted for was the fact she needed no protection. Whatever training Melissa’s father had given to his daughters, years ago - she still remembered it. 

As a result - the American needed at least two showers to get rid of all the paint, most of it staining his blonde hair and giving them both a hard time to come off. Well - at least the showers had been a shared, fun endeavor back then.

“But as far as the nursery goes... I think it’s looking adorable,” she mentioned after stepping away for a second, but just enough to look at the walls. The theme was an obvious one - and Melissa smiled fondly at the idea, a hand unconsciously going to her own belly and resting there while she took in the décor. They had named their children just a few weeks ago when the doctors were able to confirm the gender of the kids: a girl and a boy.

With a ladybug for a father and a bee for a mother, it was hardly surprising their offspring ended up named after a butterfly and a spider. 

“Lysandra has plenty of representation - do you think we can find some spider ones for Rhene? Maybe closer to Halloween?” she pondered aloud, an arm encircling Ladybug again and looking at him once more - and this time, her eyes did a more detailed examination, going from the way he had pinned his hair away to the funny pattern of the paint splatters on his torso and the way the jeans hugged his frame.

A finger of hers went over then - and picked up enough fresh paint off his abdomen to draw a smiling face over a clean patch of skin. Grinning mischievously, Melissa offered a kiss to him as if it made up for her antics, and motioned her head towards the closest bathroom. “Why don’t we take a break from the nursery today? I need to feed these gremlins but we could shower first and I’ll try to scrub you clean of all the colors. Tomorrow I can help you finish here by ordering you around in true royal fashion,” she suggested by means of a murmur, her words a throwback to her ‘management style’, which was how he affectionately referred to his girlfriend’s ‘bossy nature’.

send 'reflect' for me to explain a traumatic event in my muses’s past . accepting

The way that Akiyama and Eri’s relationship ended is one of the main reasons for his overall commitment issues later (where romantic relationships are concerned) given how intrinsically he’s associated to his own financial success. Y4 offers us a little bit of insight on the ending of his engagement to Eri right after he explains a bit the motive for kissing Yasuko out of the blue. 

Based on what we know, Akiyama likely did not have any romantic feelings for anyone after Eri (until Yasuko), and he seems to believe that the end of their relationship was related to not only the scandal he was dragged into and framed for, but also to the loss of his financial status. This is not something uncommon in Japan - historically, Japanese adult men have always been judged on their financial success and the income they can make, and this tends to be one of the more valued attributes in a potential suitor in the perspective of local women.

There is a lot to unpack here that is very particular to Japan (particularly where it is somewhat common or expected for women to stop working after marriage, or after becoming mothers) - so the ability of their partner to support the household is really important / regarded as a desirable characteristic. Akiyama was not someone concerned with that, at least not originally - he hailed from a wealthy family, he had a stellar academic/work record, he would easily be the ‘dream guy’ for any girl.

...Until he suddenly wasn’t, and that was a shock. Akiyama’s homelessness period and living at the fringes of society taught him a lot, including certain things in relation to personal relationships. He had always seen himself as someone who was, simply put, quite the catch: handsome, intelligent, charismatic, successful and so on. But the moment one of these things was taken away (his financial status), all the other attributes he had seemingly no longer mattered anymore.

Being a poor person showed Akiyama that, from the optics of most of the Japanese society, he had nothing else to offer; he was disposable, and that included romantic interest in him as a person given how fast Eri apparently dumped him when his bank account went empty. And not only that - the woman he was decided to marry traded him for the guy who was his boss at the time, something that further messed up with his ego.

From the moment he remade himself as the owner of Sky Finance and was re-stablished as a man with a sizeable fortune again - the logic would be for women to then approach him once more and to see in Akiyama a worthy suitor because of the money now linked to his name. But after Eri - this is just something he can’t do. This is where I headcanon that she haunts him to this day: Akiyama has an extremely difficult time believing that women approaching him are not doing it just for his money; he’s very savvy and knows better with hostesses and cabaret girls (particularly after becoming the owner of Elise) but common approaches may just not work for anything long-term.

ethan’s  eyes  flicker  from  the  barricaded  door  to  the  other  man’s  face.  the  whispered  question  is  almost  enough  to  make  him  LAUGH.  of  course  there’s  something  on  the  other  side  ;  it’s  one  of  those  THINGS,  one  of  the  monsters  that  want  to  devour  them,  those  things  with  fangs  and  claws  that  have  already  slaughtered  so  many  others  in  this  goddamn  village.  he  knows  that  without  even  laying  eyes  on  it.  right  now,  it  is  eerily  quiet  in  the  shack  they’ve  locked  themselves  inside  of,  but  that’s  what  makes  this  all  so  terrifying.  the  fact  that  the  silence  is  an  ILLUSION,  a  TRAP.  hand  flexes  upon  the  gun  inside  of  his  jacket,  a  reassurance  that  it’s  still  there.  finally,  ethan  nods.  there’s  no  point  in  denying  it,  after  all.

the Princess Bride starters . accepting

It had been a stupid accident - a drunk customer had knocked off a bottle of wine from the table he was seated at, and it had broken into several tiny pieces upon impact on the floor. It had been around closing hours, just a moment after Ladybug stopped to say hello - and he didn’t even pause to consider not helping, immediately kneeling on the floor to try and pick up the bigger chunks of glass before it cut any of the girls.

As expected, he ended up hurting himself in the process.

Melissa had taken over with a broom to sweep the remains of the wine bottle away, and one of the girls brought a vacuum cleaner shortly afterwards to ensure they would leave no trace of anything on the floor that could end up wounding anyone later. As the women from the club started to change and go home, the brunette took the opposite route - she had Ladybug sit in one of the chairs in her small office, bringing a first aid kit over next.

The woman did not even ask if she was allowed to patch him up - she just did it, almost like a second nature. In all honesty, Melissa was used to doing it by then; the blond man tended to be some sort of protector to her and take the bulk of the bad things that sometimes happened around the brunette. Ladybug had already saved her from a motorbike accident, pushed her off the way of a flower vase that fell from a window, avoided a couple of incidents with rusty nails and other sharp materials whenever they took shortcuts through derelict buildings and passageways - he was like a guardian angel of sorts.

Too bad he ended up hurting himself in the process - reason why Melissa had started carrying around band-aids and other emergency supplies just in case something happened. But on that night, the odds had actually been quite good: the club was well-equipped to deal minor injuries from the work place, and the cut on his left hand was really no big deal - it was mostly to prevent any infections and ensuring he would recover in no time.

“You are better than I am,” he commented with a grin as he watched Melissa wrap the gauze around his fingers, the ex-hostess being as delicate as she could but not forgetting to add some pressure; she chuckled at his observation, and paused to make a ridiculously cute knot when she was done, very cartoon-like. As a finishing touch, the brunette placed a soft kiss over her work, and then raised her head to look at her impromptu patient.

“I better be - I have two good hands, you’d have only one if you’re cleaning this up yourself. It helps when you don’t squirm like a kid, Chris,” she retorted, using the name given to him for that week with a grin of her own. The first time she had helped Ladybug with anything, the woman had actually sat on his lap and ordered him to entertain himself with anything in his line of sight - she needed him quiet and motionless and he was not helping.

As Melissa correctly predicted, an unobstructed view of her neckline did wonders.

He offered a toothy smile to the former hostess, the sort that could change the mood of an entire room; it made her breathing catch in the throat for a second, but the club owner nevertheless got up, putting the supplies of the first aid kit back into their box - her gestures made Ladybug frown, and he sounded like he was on the verge of pouting as he spoke up next, “Wait - I don’t get a reward for being a good patient?” 

“Hmmm. I think we have some leftover candy from Halloween, I could get a lollipop for you? It would be a fitting one,” Melissa offered with a smirk herself, busy with returning the small kit to the drawer where she kept it in her office. Ladybug laughed at her commentary - a genuine and amused sound that was so pure that it had his companion snickering in return. The idea of a grown-ass man like him sucking on a lollipop was just too good.

She had half a mind of doing it - actually going to the bar and hunting for the candy, but instead... Melissa returned to his chair and gently pushed him down; the American had been about to stand up to leave since he had assumed them to be done, but his friend clearly had different plans. His impossible blue eyes searched her face - and soon enough the look of confusion gave way to something more eager.

He knew her enough - once one learned to interpret the different types of smile that the ex-hostess had, it was not impossible to predict her moves. That one, right then, meant she had very specific ideas about what she wanted of him - or better yet, to do with him. The fact that she kneeled on the ground next and found a comfortable spot between his legs made everything pretty obvious, as well as the way her hands started to work on his jeans.