" I'm Not Frantic! I'm Chill As A C " Ryuji Finds Himself Reeling Back From The Hand Without Thinking

" I'm not frantic! I'm chill as a c━ " Ryuji finds himself reeling back from the hand without thinking as he talks before hearing the request, blinking for a moment in response, then a ( somewhat reluctant ) defeat at the convincing notion that it'd soothe Yusuke to find that contact, just incase.

" If you gotta " he meets Yusuke's hand midway, almost on his tip-toes to reach a little easier ( jeez, who let him be so tall? )

" . . . and, yet, you appear to be a tad frantic. " He reaches a palm forward, with the intent to set it against Ryuji's forehead. " May I ? Just to confirm to put my mind at ease. "

the cover art i drew for @p5strikerszine! thank you for the opportunity!💖

preorders for the zine are currently open, which you can find here!

𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒 (a collection of texts prompts. Some have romantic undertones, but not all of them. Feel free to adjust phrasing and gendered terms as necessary)  TW: food & alcohol mention

[TEXT] - please just call me back.

[TEXT] - i’m sorry.

[TEXT] - so this is my number, but don’t save my name as anything sketchy.

[TEXT] - i’m making dinner tonight, you should come over.

[TEXT] - WHERE ARE YOU????

[TEXT] - you’re LATE.

[TEXT] - can we talk? 

[TEXT] - how did it go?

[TEXT] - you’re gonna laugh, but can you pick me up at the police station?

[TEXT] - thinking about you…

[TEXT] - i miss you so much.

[TEXT] - i have an idea, probably gonna get us in trouble though.

[TEXT] - i know you’re awake! pick up the phone! 

[TEXT] - so you’re just gonna ignore me forever? 

[TEXT] - i’m at taco bell you want anything? 

[TEXT] - are you awake?

[TEXT] - i have good news and bad news.

[TEXT] - how are you? 

[TEXT] - new phone, who is this? 

[TEXT] - wanna come over? 

[TEXT] - what’s wrong with you?!

[TEXT] - you only call me when you’re drunk. 

[TEXT] - me, you, a bad movie. you in? 

[TEXT] - wanna bang? [TEXT] - hang* [TEXT] - whatever

[TEXT] - i’ll seduce you with cool scientific facts.

[TEXT] - are you still alive?

[TEXT] - we are sophisticated adults ok?  [TEXT] - last week i purchased a vegetable

[TEXT] - i will not hesitate to strangle you

[TEXT] - what are you doing this weekend? 

[TEXT] - can i come over? [TEXT] - because i’m in your driveway.

[TEXT] - are you seriously leaving me on read right now?

RELATIONSHIP TYPES

Send one or more emojis ( + descriptions ) for the kind of ship/dynamic you’d like to write with my muse! ( for multimuses, please specify. )

ROMANTIC

❤️ committed, romantic relationship 💘 friends to lovers 💔 used to be together but broke up ❣️ skinny love 💗 slow burn 💌 one muse has a crush on the other muse 💕 mutual pining 💝 romantic relationship of convenience 🏫 highschool sweethearts 💒 arranged relationship ( dating, engagement, political, etc. ) 💋 one-sided romantic relationship ( specify which muse, Sender or Receiver ) 🖤  lovers to enemies 🤍 enemies to lovers

SEXUAL

💖 a sexual relationship that could turn romantic 🧡 friends with benefits 👄 a sexual, non-romantic relationship 🏩 sexual relationship of convenience 🔥 unresolved sexual tension 💟 developing sexual relationship ( may include romance ) 💞 one muse approaches the other out of convenience ( specify which muse, Sender or Receiver ) 🔪 enemies with sexual tension

FAMILIAL

👪 biological family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 adopted family 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 family by choice/found family 👩‍👧 older/younger siblings 👭  twins 👥 cousins or extended family 👣 estranged family/feuding family 👨‍🏫 one muse is a teacher/mentor for the other muse ( specify which muse, Sender or Receiver ) 🚸 coworkers like family 🟡 family out of circumstance ⚪ pretending to be family

PLATONIC

💜 friendship 💙 queerplatonic partners ( an intimate, non-romantic committed relationship ) 💚 friends like siblings 💛 childhood friends 💧 friends due to traumatic experiences 🤝 coworkers ⛔ reluctant friends ✅ enemies to friends 🌈 developing friendship ☀️ friends of circumstance 👔 strangers working together ☕ one muse works in service of the other ( specify which muse, Sender or Receiver ) 🕴 partners in illegal activities 👯partners in crime trope ⚡ sparring partners 🩹 friends forced to work against each other 🟥 one muse makes a deal or contract with the other ( magic or non-magic. ) ( specify which muse, Sender or Receiver )

ENEMIES

🦴 mortal enemies 💀 enemies ⚔️ rivalry  🗡️ one-sided rivalry/grudge ( specify which muse, Sender or Receiver ) 🧠 enemies as narrative foils 💬 enemies because of conflicting ideologies 🤫 one muse is secretly an enemy/traitor to the other muse ( specify which muse, Sender or Receiver ) 😨 one muse is using the other muse for their benefit ( specify which muse, Sender or Receiver ) ❌ guilty by association 🚫 friends to enemies 🪓 occupational enemies 🩸 enemies tolerating each other for a common goal ⚫ enemies using each other out of convenience ⬜ coworkers who hate each other

@tenebriism // ryuji & yusuke!

Maybe he was right. ━ Right. in the way there was no maybe about it. He knew better. Ryuji wasn't stupid like that. He knew where his limits laid, claws in the sand, unregretful of their own existence like he at times wished they would be, and thus was on their behalf. He knew what was not enough and what was too much, pushing became shoving became something else ( something he doesn't like to talk about. Something that keeps finding him. )

but Ryuji's always been stubborn ━ it's just that this time, maybe it wasn't just being stubborn ( that something else conjuring a byproduct; hands heavy enough to be cruel, only to himself. only to himself. )

Claws in the sand, wishing he was more than he was, pushing then shoving then falling; being caught. being told something he knew, but wouldn't listen to. Slowing down.

Slowing down. Slow down.

Ryuji takes the time as Yusuke talks to catch his breath, chest heaving with a greater weight than it should, two times his size. convulses in relapsing effort to get enough air to the rest of him ( almost lightheaded ). a body rebelling against itself when pushed too far; one leg shaking that ripples throughout him as if a reminder of the consequence, a scar like a lightening strike across his knee back and along to his calf ━ visible at the hem of gym shorts as if reaching up to meet the fabric in familiarity of a time where it was born, and then revoked from.

” No, Yusuke, I just━ I needed━ “ the sentence dies, half focused on in its utterance in the first place, the attention cut then tapered. he finds himself white knuckling a support as his breathing begins to even out.

his entire body quakes with the intensity of that consequence, a vital support refusing the pushing to be pushed too far, refusing the criteria of its creation to be met twice. the scar; an ugly reminder. he finds himself staring at it as Yusuke speaks, hunched, kneecap shuddering as if given its own mind and the tendons down his calf like guitar strings in conviction of the same cause, before his attention gathers itself back to Yusuke when he begins to pull something from his bag ( confusion, then surprise. how often he forgets, how people love him. how they remember. )

his expression is not one of instant gratitude, or even of anger that spills from his shoulders into his collarbone and floods him, its indescribable, almost unnatural on his features ; Ryuji, always feeling in extremes, unable to solidify what he was feeling in the first place. ( This, too, was an extreme. you just didn't know the name of it. )

… the expression caves in on itself — 'softens', too romantic of a word — after a long moment to dissolve resolution and Ryuji limps, pain jolting up the back of his leg into the pelvis then echoing up his spine of which he understood better than anyone ever could, and he allows himself to — lacking grace — haphazardly drop into the spot assigned to him by Yusuke. His leg refuses to stop shaking despite the lack of pressure ( the pressure both was and was not the problem; always the strain. always the strain ; until it becomes too much. )

he feels pathetic like this, acid through steel, rust still creeping and eating at him. he tries to shake it off.

” Yeah. Thanks, Yusuke, I just… “ he trails off, and an unwillingness to admit what had driven him to extremes clumps in his throat like congealed blood from an old wound that wont close.

” I really want to be strong for the team. Guess I kinda got too in my head. I didn't mean to worry you or nothin'... Sorry... “