thank you for the ask!!

i actually think it's good too. i've recently been fully converted to the idea that tatara is a very tortured and intense yearner. it's kind of a funny situation that got me there, it wasn't by anyone else's convincing. i was listening to famous prophets (stars) by car seat headrest and just started thinking about tatara during. i started applying the song to tatara while thinking about him and listening and had a near-spiritual awakening to Yearner Tatara. everything made sense all of a sudden.

in all honesty, i never watched s4 of tg/s2 of :re or wtv u wanna call it cuz i was very disappointed with the art style. i have seen that scene you're talking about on its own though, and i think it's sweet too. idk that i fully think tatara was in love with eto but i think it's arguable. it's a very bittersweet thing. eto cares for him and he cares for her, but i believe it goes completely unspoken. neither of them are good at professions of love at all. i 100% think there are moments where they are alone together and the silence and tension is thick enough to cut with a knife cuz they both feel A Lot but won't cede to saying anything. they probably have "loveless" sex about it (loveless in quotes bc they do love each other [no matter of if it's romantic, platonic or anywhere in between or outside of that] but the sex is purposefully devoid of outward emotions and tenderness cuz if it wasn't, then they'd have to acknowledge they care for one another). that's all they really know how to do in that scenario, with each other.

there's also that one art from the :re art book where tatara's mouth is stitched like karren's was. we really don't know if that was the canon state of tatara's mouth or if that was just some art ishida felt like making, bc his mouth is never shown in the manga. but, going off the assumption that it is the canon state of tatara's mouth, i feel like that really adds to the anguish of tatara's yearning and possibly even eto's. physically, outside of ghoul capabilities, tatara is much stronger than eto is. if she was stitching his mouth, he could have easily fought her off. but he didn't. he didn't. the only reasons i could see for him not doing that is because he loves eto (again, no matter of if it's romantic, platonic, in between, outside, etc. etc. etc.) or because he hates himself and feels like it's what he deserves, if not a combination of those two things. as for how it relates to the anguish of eto's yearning, i think it would be a display of how she purposefully ruins relationships with people she loves cuz she's afraid to be loved. maybe she wanted to punish tatara for caring for her. but he still continued to do so afterwards. i wonder if part of her hates him for not being willing enough to give up on her.

for the fic prompt ask game!!!! the pairing is tataeto (if that's okie)

(sexual content)

hc delusions below

first kiss. his suicidal tendencies ultimately being stronger than their relationship broke her heart, but she won't say no if he wants some relief.

on and off kissing practice. his higher faith in arima than her makes it so she more indulges him than any actual feelings/mutual benefit. he's got a good tongue, though; she'll give him that.

i rest my case.

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ship is tataeto, again, but could you do young tataeto? around when they are first getting to know each other as young teens? thank youuu

"She is to be a symbol of hope for ghouls."

That's what his lord told him about her. Eto. Tatara didn't think much of it, as his lord's word was absolute, but when he found her collapsed against a wall, spilling blood from a wound that still hadn't healed, he felt something in him twist.

Their training sessions were rough, he knew that much, but for someone as strong as her-- someone who'd beaten and broken him-- to be half-dead in an empty alleyway with no one to help, "rough" didn't even begin to describe it.

As the outsider to their relationship, Tatara had no right to question what Eto and his lord were up to to achieve their shared goal, but he was smart enough to recognize when someone

He tossed something at her: his latest kill in their shared quest for power.

"Eat," he said. "It'll make you feel better."

It was a ghoul, of course, and a strong one. She would make a good meal of it, he thought. Tear it apart like the animal she was and give him a glimpse of that beauty in blood.

"... That's Gouda."

Instead, though, she named the corpse. "Hm?"

"Gouda. He... lived a few blocks down in those shitty apartments. You killed him?"

"He was strong, and we need to be stronger."

She looked up at him, then chuckled. "How many more people will you eat, I wonder..."

And with that, the show started.

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ship graph some friends and i came up with last month (template under the cut)