KHR Rarepair Week

[warmskies]

Hey everyone, this is a reminder that, over on tumblr, KHR Rarepair Week is only five days away! It starts on June 17 and goes to June 24! If you need the prompts, they are:

Day 1 : Storm Day : Chloroform at 3 a.m. OR Pet/Shifter AU
Day 2 : Sky : First/Blind Date OR Harry Potter AU
Day 3 : Sun : First Kiss OR Time Travel
Day 4 : Lightening : Age Regression/De-aging OR Deity AU
Day 5 : Rain : Mutual Pining OR Social Media AU
Day 6 : Cloud : Crossover/Fusion OR Flower shop/Tattoo Artist AU
Day 7 : Mist : Sword Fights to Making Out OR Wingfic AU
Day 8 : Earth : Accidental Murder OR Mermaid/Pirate AU

I'm not running it, but people are more than welcome to post here about it, or show off their works here!

Comments

[malachiical]

Right! There have actually been a few put on Youtube really recently, within the past week even, and I was amazed by that. If I don't make one for the rarepair week, I'll at least make one eventually, and I might well post it here, thank you!

RIGHT that's very true! Accidental murder would be heartbreaking for some and... less likely to be an accident for others, so, ha. But agreed, I have some time to think on it, I know I can figure something out :)

Yes, I absolutely want your newsletter! Please talk to me about these things, I know that feeling about only needing the slightest reason and being able to write essays, LOL.

(I just spent a while going through that tag of yours, whoops... I love it! So much! And you say there's a gift exchange? :O Where could I find that?)

SO APOLOGIES, FIRST OF ALL

[warmskies]

And then I got caught up in so many writing events that I completely forgot to respond to literally everything. WHUPS. Rarepair week and then a subsequent summer gift exchange absorbed absolutely all of my attention, I'm sorry. I really overestimated how quickly I could get things done.... or, rather, underestimated how much I would write of some of those stories, like my Shitt P/Chrome story, lmf.

Especially because you asked a question and then I just completely spaced on it??? I was like "oh, I can get to that when I finish these drabbles" and then I basically died.

I'm glad that you at least enjoyed my enormous mess of a tag! My primary fandom focus can at least draw up that much, lmf.

chikusa/yamamoto

[warmskies]

anyway, moving onto the original points of "Yelling Into The Internet About Ships"-

SO STARTING OFF i can't even remember half how i stumbled onto this idea of a ship in the first place, but, like, I do remember thinking about how clearly Yamamoto was Chikusa's type just from the individual character standpoint. I've been writing Chikusa in a panfandom RP for over a year now, which has really let me get into his head, so there's been. a lot of time to think about him lmao.

And I think one really has to think deeply about Chikusa when writing him as a focus character, whether in RP or as the main character in a fanfic, because he's extremely subtle as a character. Unlike even the other characters he immediately surrounds himself with, let alone anyone else in the wider cast of KHR, he doesn't really prefer to be in the spotlight much... and yet, again, he clearly has this preference towards surrounding himself with people who are very much his opposite. Ken is the most obvious example considering he's the partner with whom Chikusa shares screentime with 95% of the time: quiet vs loud, dark vs blond, ranged weaponry vs close combat melee, brain vs brawn, etc, etc. Yet also with Mukuro, he's very much a type of opposite. Mukuro is dramatic, has the most power, and is the one who takes charge but also kind of has to make a production out of it. In contrast, Chikusa clearly prefers it when other people do the talking, has zero special abilities as far as anyone else can tell, and has a preference for just finishing things up instead of drawing it out.

There's no doubt that these two are the people Chikusa is most comfortable with. Part of that is admittedly probably just because, like... he's not really had much of a choice, lmao. A more timid little kid like we've seen of him in flashbacks wouldn't detach from the two remaining and trustworthy people he has access to, no matter their personalities or questionable life choices, and that means he's had a lot of time to just adjust. However, I think even on a non-trauma personal level, he just has a preference for people with a bit more energy or charisma than him. If left to his own devices, I get the feeling that Chikusa would just never interact with other people or even leave wherever he was staying. He needs the extra push and energy that comes with someone else considerably brighter/active than himself, because it's honestly good for him.

But it has to come at, like.... a balance. Mukuro gets to be a melodramatic dumpsterfire and Ken can be a loud filthy dog because Chikusa knows them so completely that he knows Mukuro is also quietly ruthless and Ken probably understands him enough to respond in all the right ways, and he knows that because of how long they've spent with each other. For anyone else, he has to learn about that kind of balance through a long period of time, and that sort of means either being forced to deal with only that person for a while or having them be the one to pursue him, because god knows Chikusa won't be making that first move.

Yamamoto is definitely one of those characters who has the kind of balance that I think Chikusa would adjust well to! It's very easy to look over him as the dumb jock of the tenth gen group and gloss over how intelligent he really is, but he's clearly pretty smart and has more calm to him than one would guess even discounting how much potential he has as a swordsman and assassin. I think he's emotionally intelligent enough to know when to scale things back to match Chikusa's own pace when he really needs it, and won't push him towards anything he might not be at least a little ready for.

Of course, again fitting in with the whole contrasting personalities thing... Chikusa doesn't really have any sort of empathy or emotional intelligence at all. I mean, how could he, when he's lived his life basically outcast from most of society, the underworld society, and even in some ways his own family/Family? Yet despite and because of this, I think Chikusa is also a lot more blunt than some people would normally be, both because he doesn't have the socialization to bother doing otherwise and also because he has to be with Mukuro and Ken. (Never forget him just pinning Mukuro's arms so he wouldn't kill that weird little illusionist kid.) This is the sort of thing that would be really good with Yamamoto...

...Not in the least because he obviously likes blunt people just as much as Chikusa likes more energetic types. This is obvious not only with how much he seems to like Ryohei, Gokudera, and Squalo, but also how his and Tsuna's relationship really clicked properly together once Tsuna was honest with him about his own situation. So Chikusa, not being the type who'd hold back or who I think really finds any reason to outright lie, perfectly slots right into this as well. (Lying takes effort, and boy is Depressed As Hell, he barely has the energy to exist.) Really, the most difficult part of courting Chikusa is just understanding that, since he doesn't prefer to talk as much, you almost have to learn an entirely new language from his body language and the sparse times he willingly talks to other people. But in a funny way, "difficult pain in the ass" is ALSO Yamamoto's type.

If his life isn't Hard Mode, apparently it's boring as hell.

But I think one of the most important things, almost more important than their personality compatibility, is that I think they both understand where each other's loyalties would lie. Because, like... Even if Chikusa falls in love with someone outside of the Kokuyo group, his main priority and loyalty is always going to be to Mukuro and Ken on equal level. Always. Mukuro is his leader, Ken is his partner, he'll sooner cut off a limb before 'abandoning' them in any way. For a normal person, this could potentially be a problem. Partially because a normal person might outright call it out as unhealthy, which it... kind of is. (Kgang desperately all need therapy but will all aggressively refuse it.) Partially because, well, of course a person might feel hurt or jealousy that they're put beneath so many people, and people that might get more "love" than them. And Chikusa does 100% love Mukuro and Ken (platonic or romantic, it doesn't really matter).

Yamamoto can deal with, accept, and understand this kind of trait... because he's sssssssort of similar! I don't think he's quite as Actually Quite Intense as Chikusa is about it, because Yamamoto hasn't gone through that kind of trauma or have what I think are some of Chikusa's own insecurities about his bonds. However, Yamamoto is nonetheless still intense in anything he dedicates himself to. This is true in baseball, swordsmanship, and the bonds Yamamoto makes. He doesn't hesitate in the slightest to intervene with Gokudera bloody on the ground and Tsuna being attacked, or sacrificing his own arm to keep Tsuna safe. Yamamoto gets this, and might need a little bit of leeway on that aspect as well, so of course he wouldn't be opposed to Chikusa's alliance being so steadfastly with someone else who isn't him. (You know, as long as him or his own aren't the subject of further murder attempts.) With this kind of understanding, it feels like it would be an "outside" relationship that the two of them wouldn't really feel the need to worry over.

One would think that both of them would have bigger issues with, like... someone that was once their enemy? But that's the reaction of a Normal Person. Yamamoto is perfectly at ease with people who were once his enemies as long as they aren't actively working against him and his own right that second. In turn, while the matter of the mafia is personal, I don't think it's Personal (tm) for the K-gang, and especially Chikusa. He'd rather it all burn to the ground, sure, but he also doesn't have such strong feelings against people individually being connected to it.

It's a weird and relaxed sort of balance that I think the two of them would really enjoy with one another, even if it might not be the kind of One True Love everlasting sort of relationship. The idea of the two of them having a thing and then just... breaking it off while still being relaxed around one another is also something that appeals to me.