tzelou: simping hours

As I've personally headcanoned in my fic with Bunta, I'm a firm believer that he scrunches and twitches his nose when concentrated.

He might also poke his tongue out as well and never realise it until someone points it out.

Probably ends up with chapped lips a lot and doesn't understand why they're dry all the time so he's constantly carrying a tube of chap stick in his pocket.

Honestly, I have no idea where, when, or how I've come to headcanon this, but for some reason I've always believed that if you tap on either one of his shins when he's zoned out/daydreaming, it'll wake him right up. Just woosh instantly pops him out of that state and he'll just look at you like 😳 h u h ?

You'd think with how he's zoned out all the time, he wouldn't be too smart a guy, HOWEVER!!

I definitely think he's smarter than the anime lets on, and I'm not talking about anything racing related as of right now.

Think about it, besties. High school sucks ass, right? All this crap you gotta force yourself to understand the concepts of, and most of it is probably not interesting in the slightest, which makes it even harder to comprehend.

Not to Takumi. Sure, he's not gonna be a genius with perfect grades, but he definitely passes all of his class with a B- or higher.

Tak barely has time to think, let alone overthink a concept of school material, so instead of trying to understand why it is the way that it is, he simply... does. He basically goes, "there is no think; only do."

He just copies what the teachers explain and it sticks. He doesn't think about it. Take math for example.

The teacher writes down a specific equation with specific numbers. Now, the assignment is the same equation, but different numbers. Some people, myself included, HATE this. It makes it feel like it's harder to solve it now and looks like a whole new equation.

Takumi however, just switches the numbers from whatever the teacher wrote, to the assignment's numbers and solves it no problem. Itsuki HATES him for that. Man's completely jealous.

It's the same with how Tak learned to drive manual and the 8-6. He didn't overthink the concept of why you need a clutch or why you need to shift gears and use the pedals in a specific order, he simply did it and didn't question it. The SpeedStars make fun of his simple mind, but oohhh how I envy it.

Onto the next topic. I feel like some of his pet peeves would be being called "Kumi" cause it sounds more feminine, but Tak and obviously his full name is fine.

Doesn't like the sound of dragging feet, i.e shoes dragging on pavement, but likes the crunchy sound of walking on loose pavement, i.e those little pebbles on the shoulder of the road. Oddly specific, but I see it in him.

Doesn't like his hair or head being overly touched unless it's with his S/O. Is fine with it if one of his buddies is trying to get something out of his hair that's stuck, but for anything else, leave his head alone.

Is probably clothing selective, thus why he tends to wear the same or very similar outfits a lot. Certain textures bother him, so a simple soft, cotton shirt like his usual white one is perfect for him and he probably bought a crap ton by the multi-packs. Same with his jeans or kahki-textured pants.

Loves the feeling of silk, hates velvet. He'd be on cloud 9 sleeping on silk bed sheets, but hand him a velvet blanket and the texture that isn't as smooth when you push it against its flow makes his skin crawl. Idk how else to explain it, but its like he's mostly fine with following the flow of the velvet like how an animal's fur coat flows one way, but as soon as he brushes his skin the opposite way against the flow, he's done for.

Moving on to more of his general likes and dislikes, he loves sour candy but can't handle too many sweet things. The sugar gives him teefie aches. 😔

Loves spicy food, can't handle hot food. Like that hot bean bun Itsuki gave him in early Stage 1 and he starts fucking dry heaving. 😀

With spicy food, he can probably handle a lot and call it mild. Seeing as wasabi is commonly used on the side with many foods in Japan, he probably loves to use a lot of it for taste as well as spice so if you're dating him and can't handle spice or wasabi well, you're gonna look at him like he's psychotic.

(Side note, I also headcanon this for Shingo. Something about Ratman tells me he could eat the spiciest curry or sushi or whatever and be like, "ehh, it tastes good, just ain't spicy enough." and shrug it off. Meanwhile you'd probably have a running nose and gone through a box of tissues. He could probably eat a single ghost pepper and either finally fucking die, or be like, "Hey! Finally something with the right amount of spice! 😀" He's annoyingly cute.)

Anyways, back to Takumi! I believe his favourite colour(s) would either be blue, green, and/or white.

His favourite meat is salmon, also loves fatty tuna when sushi restaurants get it in season. His favourite veggies are broccoli and carrots. I see him eating fried tofu, chicken and mixed veggies with rice a lot at home. Whatever they don't sell at the shop they probably make it for dinner to save money and food.

Loves raspberries and strawberries, can only eat a small handful of blueberries before he gets sick of the taste (same with black olives).

Likes Eurobeat, but doesn't blast it. I see him playing it lightly like Yuichi did in the car when he past Takumi in the first episode. Just simple background noise.

Probably likes the Move band as well that the anime plays a lot, so I see him liking a bit of pop music too. Not a fan of metal or rap but likes the occasional classical song. It just makes him more tired, honestly.

Loves tea and coffee, pretty much any kind. Occasionally partakes in a fruit smoothie or a soda but not often.

Also a water chugger. I see him always having a glass or bottle of water on his bed shelf for the middle of the night when the sudden witching hour thirst wakes him up.

On to what ya'll have probably been waiting for: Relationship HCs! (Once again thanking @skeleton-beneath-this-skin for this part of the brainstorming!)

Tak is great boyfriend material, however is probably too shy for anything PDA, but will make up for it in other ways!

I do, however, see him holding your hand in large places like a mall just incase he spaces out and accidently loses you!

His hold would transition to hooking his arm in yours or holding your waist if you both end up in a crowded area, so he can both see and feel that you're with him the whole time and you don't get separated.

He's a strong believer in the sidewalk rule without evening knowing that it exists. It's just a subconscious instinct for him to walk on the outer part of the sidewalk closer to the road and you on the inside.

He's a great person to vent out your emotions to!!

If you're at his place or yours in either of your rooms and you had a bad day, he'd pick up on it easily through your body language before you even get a word out. If you're the type to go silent when things bother you, he'd notice easily since you're not your talkative self like you usually are with him.

If you ask him if you can just vent for a few minutes, he'd nod with a hum, getting himself comfy on the bed and leaning back against the wall.

Crossing his legs, he'd motion for you to sit on his lap, and help you wrap you legs around his waist as you lean into his chest. He'd rub your back and hair as you vent, and if he had an okayish or worse day as well, the rubs actually help him calm down too.

He ends up distracting himself with the motions, and feeling you on top of him is like a weighted blanket, simply bringing further comfort knowing you're here with him.

He will most likely zone out while you're venting, absentmindedly nodding along to your background voice. If you're used to this behaviour of his, this can work out great and here's a few reasons.

Firstly, he won't give you advice or solutions that you don't want if he's not listening to begin with lol.

Secondly, you're venting just to vent and get it off your chest with no judgement. Thus, literally talking TO him like a wall, helps more than keeping it bottled inside and talking about it to yourself in your head, whether he hears it or not.

Lastly, his calm demeanor ends up helping to calm you down faster as well, the more you talk and the more he rubs soothing patterns and pressure into your back, arms, hair, etc.

Another big part of your relationship with Takumi is napping.

Hell yeah, imagine taking a fat ass nap with the King of Sleep. ✋🏻😌

Especially if he's in those silk sheets from earlier, ya'll are goooooone. Out.

Imagine being in bed with him in the winter time, under some soft and comfy blankets, maybe even a heated one. Cold pillows under your head and you're nuzzled up against Takumi and your pillow in that specific position that has you tapping out instantly. Ugfhhh... THE DREAM.

Next up, him driving with you in the 8-6. Certified passenger princess in the famous Trueno. Always kicks Itsuki to the back seat. If he keeps complaining like that, he's gonna toss him in the hatch next like he's a crate of tofu.

Doesn't mind if you sit or lean on the car, he knows you're gentle with his baby and his eyes always fall back on you when you're on it with a blush.

Silently relishes in the fact you're dedicated to be at every race he's in, always looking back at you before he takes off down the pass, ensuring you're the last person he sees before he drives off.

If you're dead set on being there for his Project. D travels, he'll tell you, you don't need to go every time, and he understands if one of their stops is too far and late at night for you.

Will be happy and feel bad at the same time if you do attend somewhere far and ride with him in the 8-6, meaning you're gonna be stuck there with them until they leave, instead of bringing your own car and being able to go home if you need or want to.

If you've got an adventurous personality and travel with him a lot for Project. D, and even before, he'd like to drive you around to places you want to visit, shops, onsens, restaurants and the like.

I don't see it happening all the time, but it may be a tad more frequent during Project. D, but he's still kinda a broke teenager, especially after Bunta used all his money for the new engine, so I don't see him wanting to splurge a lot.

Personally, if it were my idea to go places that require spending money, I have the full intention of buying things myself, and at the very least my half of the restaurant bills.

If anyone agrees to this or does the same, Takumi would feel like he got a mountain lifted off of him lol. Poor boy would be hella worried about going out so much.

Of course, if he ever had the idea to take you places, it would be a vice versa scenario and he'd pay for it all, of course.

On to holidays, I see him enjoying them more once you come into his life. It was said in the show that he and his dad didn't celebrate Christmas since he didn't have a mom or see extended family, so he wouldn't get more into it until the season comes around and sees how excited you are for it.

Same with other holidays, he'd get into some simple aspects of Valentine's Day, get you chocolates, a plushie of your favourite animal, and maybe a little dinner somewhere.

He'd like Halloween too, but dress up minimally if at all, rather enjoying seeing you all dressed up and going the whole nine yards. He would wear matching outfits for you if you asked him to, though.