CONTENT WARNING: This Piece Is About Disordered Eating [nothing Very Graphic, But Mentions Of Some Of

CONTENT WARNING: this piece is about disordered eating [nothing very graphic, but mentions of some of the milder side effects of not eating well for a somewhat extended period of time] so please please take caution in reading

I honestly think Taichi may struggle with eating properly. Like, I can see him feeling super nervous during the middle of spring, because ‘oh jeez, summer is coming and I totally gained weight, I know I did, ah shit.,,’. He’d get worried about how he has a smaller frame compared to the other guys in Mankai, and especially the guys in his troupe. Like, Omi is huge. When he’s in a bad headspace, just standing up near Omi makes him feel so scrawny and pathetic. So he starts eating in a very unbalanced manner. While simultaneously trying to lose his ‘winter weight’ and gain muscle, Taichi starts skipping meals and doing strenuous workouts way more often than his body can handle. He starts sneaking into the kitchen late at night, trying to find something to stave off his hunger so he can sleep. He starts feeling dizzy and lightheaded multiple times a day. He can barely help Yuki sew anymore because his seams keep going crooked and he’s just too woozy and ‘God it's warm in here’ ‘Shit I'm freezing’ ‘Dude I’m fine I swear! (I feel sick)’ and he can't keep track of where the needle is going. Two and a half weeks of this. He feels terrible. Not only is his body struggling to keep up with his activities and schoolwork, he feels incredibly guilty for lying to everyone. Because, let's be real, some of the older members of Mankai know something is up with Taichi. Izumi can see that something is wrong, but she can't pinpoint exactly what. Kazu is worried about his peppy little bro seeming so wiped out at 3 in the afternoon. And Omi. Shit. It feels horrible lying to him. And smiling while lying to his face? Taichi feels nauseated every time he does it. 

 “I ate already!!”

“Oh don't worry, I had a big lunch, I’m just not hungry for dinner!”

“Haha, I’ll tell ya if I’m hungry Omimiiii!” 

Three weeks. Three weeks of this. And Taichi is in the kitchen at 2 in the morning, with a sad little sandwich in his cold hand. And he stubs his toe.

And apparently that was the last fucking straw.

And he slides down the side of the countertop to curl up into himself on the floor. And he cries. And he cries. Juza was the first one who found Taichi curled up on the floor and got scared. Unsure of how to proceed, he gently laid his hand on the little boy’s shaking back. Opening his arms, allowing Taichi to lean in and be held, asked who he would be comfortable talking with. And now we have Omi and Izumi sitting on the couch with Taichi, comforting him and listening attentively as he tells them everything. No more lying. Never again. I promise. I'm so sorry. Omi and Izumi glanced at each other for a moment, and the two minds as one body, proceeded to reassure this kid in front of them. “Taichi, its ok” 

“...what?” 

“Listen to me, hey hey, look at me please? Taichi, listen please.” 

“It's okay Nanao. I promise. We love you.” 

“We care about you. I promise.” 

 “It’s alright.” 

“It's okay.” 

“We love you” 

All Taichi can do is cry harder, cradled in Izumi and Omi’s arms, surrounded by the warmest reassurance he’s felt in a while. Omi and Izumi spend the next few hours calming Taichi down, re-assuring him that they’re here for him, that they still love him, that they’ll always love him. that they could never be mad at him for something like this. And Izumi chokes a little bit between ‘like’ and ‘this’. Someone in her care, god, a child in her care was hurting so bad and she couldn't help sooner? She could have helped with this one. She knew what it felt like to…no, she knows what it feels like, she, oh god, she knows and it’s bad. She’s tensed up to hell and back, she will not cry right now, this is not about her. but of course, Taichi notices. And he silently leans his forehead against her shoulder in assumed understanding. Omi notices and he keeps one hand on Taichi’s knee and one hand slides to the middle of Izumi’s back. Warm. Solid. Safe.

Tucked up on the couch like this, Taichi falls asleep first. Omi and Izumi can’t bring themselves to sleep yet though, and they both sit there for a little over an hour, in rapt contemplation of the boy between him, and the way he looked younger when he was asleep. There was a quiet comfort in how they both laid a hand each on Taichi’s back, in how Izumi’s hand tentatively searches for Omi’s behind the cushion between them, and how Omi gently catches it, and holds on to her, absolutely swept with a sense of fierce protectiveness, of reverence, and a sickening twist of fear and deep seated care for the two sleeping bodies next to him.

Misumi just so happened to wake up earliest that morning, having planned to cut up some triangle shaped fruits for Natsugumi’s picnic later that day. Yawing and wrapping his crochet blanket [courtesy of Yuki] to bunch up on his shoulders, he sleepily shuffled into the living room, walking to pull aside the curtains to let in some sunlight almost on autopilot, when he stopped in the middle of the carpet, standing stock still. Oh boy. Something deeeefinitely happened here. Something not very nice at all. As quiet as he could, Misumi tip-toed over to the couch, gently laying his blanket over Taichi and Omi, and slid off his hoodie to cover up Izumi. As darling as they looked, all cuddled up, Misumi’s heart absolutely ached seeing how desperately it seemed Taichi was clutching onto the hem of Omi’s shirt, how protectively the two adults had been sitting around Taichi. Putting aside the fruit for now, Misumi thought it best to put on a pot of water to make some black tea for the little group when they woke up. It’s what his grandfather did whenever Misumi was feeling all sad and run-down. While the water boiled he snuck around to the rooms of anyone he guessed could have been awake that early, Chikage and Itaru, Tasuku, Kazunari and Kumon, he even flagged down Kamekichi and asked him to keep the living room clear of any visitors till the trio woke up. Bustling around the kitchen, he couldnt help but softly giggle as he heard Taichi yawn and stretch out, one arm hanging off of the couch, and Misumi caught himself blushing a little as he turned around to see Omi [still half asleep], pulling Izumi closer, who, in turn, snuggled in, with her hand resting on the back of Taichi’s head. Pretty cute.

『the Rad Red』

cw: mentions of mild injuries

During a fight when he was like, 17, [pre-mankai, he couldn’t have hidden that bruising] Banri got his nose broken [he insists it was jus’ a bullshit lucky hit!! get off my back man!!] and, being the overconfident, highly insecure, adrenaline pumped up kid he was, he never got medical attention for that shit. All this little jackass did was read a wiki-how, re-set his own nose, and proceeded to whine to anyone who would listen about how annoying it was that he couldn’t smoke while his nose was healing. This kid did Not take care of himself.

When Azami got into experimenting with prosthetic makeup, Settsu got, what he thought was, a funky ass idea, and popped into the kid’s room to ask him to make his nose look ‘right’. Azami was…concerned! to say the least! but he tried his best!

And the second Banri walked back into his dorm all haughty and terrified and reveling in knowing that his face finally looks ‘right’, the worst thing happens. Juza walks back in. Two plates in hand, one muffin apiece, courtesy of Omi who made like 30 fucking corn muffins for breakfast that day. Sweating bullets, Banri turns to his desk to sit down and finish up the rest of that week’s homework when Juza shuffles over and sets down one of the plates on Banri’s desk with a soft clink. Accepting the, admittedly, kind gesture with a nod to his roomie, Ban-chan turns back to his laptop, pulls his legs up into his chair and does an almost imperceptible little fist pump. That fucking box-dyed airhead dumbass cute uhhh fuckingggggg!!! dumbass!! of a roommate! didn't notice!! fuck yeah!!

And then, of course, Juza turns back around. A little perplexed, he leans his back against the wall behind Banri’s desk, and kinda squints at Banri’s face for a second, ignoring the glare and the middle finger he was getting for dropping crumbs on the desk. Through a mouth-full of muffin, Juza finally comes up with,

“ ’Sup with your face?”

“……Fuck off”

“No like, there's something off with it”

“Somethings off with you if you think you can throw your muffin wrapper in my trash can”

“…a trashcan’s a trashcan.”

“This one’s mine. Now are you gonna fuck off outta my room or do I have to leave?” 

”Not your room. ‘S ours.”

Yeahhh. That one earned an absolutely pitiful groan from Banri, who grabbed his laptop, grabbed his muffin [left the plate for Juza to pick up, of course], and tried his damndest to storm out of the room as cool and collected as he could. Of course, ignoring the fact that his heart felt sped up in a bad way. Ignoring that his chest feels all tight and twisted in a way that doesn’t feel right at all. And he can't stop himself from stopping to glance up to the mirror hung by the doorway of their room. 

”Knew it!” 

”What do you want from me now?'' He's nervous. He's scared. 

”Somethings up with your face! Dude just turn the fuck around lemme see!”

And when Banri whips around, fully intending on starting a shouting match, and oh god he’s right there…Practically breathing on each other, Juza takes advantage of Banri’s obvious surprise to fully size him up. slowly, carefully, acting as if on instinct, Juza raises his hand and puts his thumb on Banri’s chin, his fingers splayed along his jawline, not rough enough to hurt him, but firmly enough that when he angles that pretty-boy blonde’s face in different directions to figure out what was weirding him out, all Banri could do was let him.

Banri couldn't figure out for the life of him what he was feeling. Like??? Jesus FUCK he felt sick and nervous and his face was burning. He wanted to smack Juza's hand away from him. He wanted to shove into him with his shoulder, just enough to make him stumble. He wanted to run out of that room. and he really wanted Juza to stop him. He wanted to stay right there, with his roommate just staring into his face. He wanted to press his cheek into Juza’s warm, calloused hand. He wanted to fucking throw up. And more than anything, he needed Juza to notice.

Delicately, gently, the way you would touch a canvas to check if the paint is dry, Juza let his hand trace over Banri’s nose, eyebrows raising at the shaky gasp his actions prompted. And with the same confused face he gets when he tries to work through esoteric grammar worksheets, Juza feels the pad of his fingers press into the silicone Azami had applied to Banri’s face earlier. At this point Banri jerks his arm up to his face, as if to protect himself, as if to block a hit, Juza notes. But with a stony glare and just a touch of strength put into it, Juza pulled his arm back down with a firm “Wait.” Using his other arm to hold banri’s shoulders back, juza peeled off the silicone putty [which he tossed on the table behind him, unsure if it was something Azami would want to reuse] and pulled the sleeve of his sweater up over his thumb to try and wipe off the majority of the remaining makeup sitting on Banri’s face. With a whispered, “There’s your face…” that made Banri want to hit a wall, Juza did a bit of a double-take at Banri’s expression.

He had never seen his roommate look so…well, docile wasn't the word he would use, but perhaps ‘non-aggressive’? almost ashamed? If he had to put a name to it, it would be a 60-40 mix of embarrassed and pissed off. Whether he was more pissed or embarrassed was anyone’s guess though. After about 2 minutes of dragging his sleeve on Banri’s face, it seemed Banri had finally had enough and elbowed Juza in the gut. honestly, he had been expecting as much a loooot sooner so without much protest, Juza stepped back enough to take in Banri’s whole stance again.

His shoulders were thrown back, tilting his jaw up the way he did when he got in shouting matches with Sakyo. His breathing was just a touch uneven, Juza noted, and he wondered if Banri was closer to fighting or storming out. Rather, there seemed to be a secret third option where Banri just stands there and glares up through his tousled hair.

hey besties!! for the next few days im gonna try and get my masterlist all settled [finally :””D] so sorry in advance for all the posts 🙏

kazu watches those videos on yt that are compilation of banger musical theatre moments and he makes facial expressions very strongly!!! so every now and again he’ll be walking around with headphones in and he’ll hear someone pull off a wildddd riff and he’ll stop in the middle of the hallway and verbally go “WOOGH???” with this exact face --> “>:O”

Do you think omi's ever gone like "hey heard you had a rough day, I made you some fresh waffles with homemade fruit preserves" and had a company member just utterly devolve into hysterical tears in front of him