❝ SHE’S THE TEAR IN MY HEART ❞ — itoshi sae

masterlist

get you a man who can do both

regency!au in which rin unwittingly falls in love with his brother’s betrothed.

he thinks nothing of you at first, and then hates you with a violence that startles him when your letters to sae return answered. you ask for his help in winning sae’s affections, and yet you cannot see the obvious sign in front of you: that his brother has written to you at all is indication enough of his affections.

he knows that sae believes he has won you, without any effort, without any cost to himself.

and it burns rin down to the core.

he’s bad with people, perhaps worse with feelings. in the months that follow your engagement to sae, he has no idea how to express that you've become important to him.

so few people are important to an itoshi, so rin chafes under the newfound feeling, snapping at you like a badly trained dog and then offering you a present like a boy with a schoolyard crush.

he suggests the ball to lift your spirits, even though his mother finds it distasteful to hold it without sae. you and sae haven’t even publicly danced together as a couple.

(of course sae arrives. of course sae would see what makes rin happy now, and work to take it away)

you marry sae.

rin drinks. he never has before, not with much success. isagi dutifully carries him from tavern to tavern, muttering something about obsession and rivalries. rin shuts him out.

his plan to steal you away from sae is as much for your benefit as it is his own, he tells himself. but a part of him has always known that his love for you supersedes rationality.

so when he insists on seeing you, isagi sees the futility in arguing. and when you rush to his side, eyes bright with concern, he already expects the kick of victory in his gut at sae's fury.

— all i breathe in is your life. feat. itoshi sae || wc: 1.1k contains: gn!reader, no pronouns used, secret relationship, just pure fluff :P

sae doesn't really tell people things about himself.

he thinks he doesn't need to—unless it involves soccer, he sees no use in people attempting to pry at his personal self other than to just scratch the surface level of itoshi sae, professional soccer player. all the masses need to know is that he's a midfielder, he's from japan, and itoshi rin is his little brother.

so shock comes as a severe understatement to his team when they find out that he's married after one of them overhears sae telling their coach he can't make to a press conference because he'll be celebrating his wedding anniversary.

sae understandably gets bombarded the moment he enters the locker room to his disdain. many of his teammates have coupled up with celebrities, models, and influencers—per modern athlete fashion—so they provoke him with who this mystery person is.

"none of your business," he snaps, clearly irritated.

some of them think it's a fluke, just his way to get out of dealing with the media, as sae bears no ring on his left ringer and has never been seen wearing it in public (though, arguably, sae is a hard figure to catch outside the field anyways). but all sae has to do is roll his eyes, take out a travel-sized jewelry holder, and put on his wedding ring to flash at them.

"well shit, man," one of his younger teammates, a notoriety amongst the media for being a bit of a playboy, laugh. "how long have you been chained down for?"

shin you don’t even know i exist but you’re my sunshine

I'm weeping,,,,

joined as one, unemployed corpse, terrorizz-t,,,,,

regency!au where you get engaged to itoshi sae to save your family from destitution.

he’s rich and handsome, so you tell yourself it doesn’t matter that he’s arrogant and cold and you constantly want to smack that chilly look of indifference off his face.

as your families prepare for the wedding, you exchange short, courteous letters to learn more about your future husband. he’s traveling for work, and you catch a glimpse of what your future might be as this man’s wife: an endless stream of dry, indifferent post while you wait for him at home.

in a fit of desperation, you ask his surly younger brother to help you win him over. at first, rin outright dismisses you. he has no desire to improve his brother’s life, and the addition of a pretty young bride feels undeserved. sae’s already the heir, and now he has you, too?

unbeknownst to you, sae cherishes your letters. he enjoys the little tidbits from home that you choose to include, how you argue your point when you don’t agree with him. he still has no desire to fall in love, especially not with someone whose family barreled toward bankruptcy, but despite his best efforts he looks forward to his wedding day.

so when sae returns late one evening, lively ballroom dancing spilling out of his family’s home, and sees you dancing with rin, he doesn’t understand the agony clawing through his chest.

he should be pleased you’re making an effort to get along with his family.

(he’s never seen you smile like that)

he waits until the dance ends before cutting in, ignoring the way your face shutters closed at his approach.

(rin turns away too quick, ears bright red, like a child caught stealing)

“welcome home,” you say, and even in those two words he can detect closely checked anger and surprise. he normally wouldn’t care, but rin has never managed to take something from sae before, and sae is not about to let him.

Damianya school dance but it’s Damian and the boys fighting to dance with Anya through rigorous trials designed by Becky

I think Damian would originally be very reluctant to join but he is of course fuming with jealousy and he's like "I'm only joining so I can BEAT all these other kids because I'm a Desmond and I'm the BEST! I don't care about that Forger girl at all!" and everyone is like "sure Damian."

Becky sets up an elaborate quiz in which she makes the boys write poetry about Anya's eyes and quizzes them on appropriate flowers to gift and date ideas (note: she watches too many romance dramas) and Damian fails all of them because because he refuses to be sappy in front of everyone. Damian is internally panicking over the thought of losing Anya while simultaneously understanding his language skills suck and these other boys are better at wooing. All while in constant denial.

Becky was originally rooting for Damian but she gets frustrated because he's not even trying to be romantic. Meanwhile Anya is reading minds and is surprised by how most of her suitors genuinely admire her (vs girls only wanting Damian because of his family). And of course Damian's mind is a mess.

Damian slowly realises he is under-qualified but it's not like he cares, obviously he does not, he does not even remotely think about the Forger girl, he's just embarrassed he's going to get defeated, but it's not like dancing with a commoner is worth fighting for, right? Right?? Maybe he should just step away from this competition so instead of being defeated, it's framed as his choice to not dance with a commoner.

Anya starts panicking at the thought of Sy-on boy leaving (is it because of Plan B 👀 or is it because she wants to dance with him 👀) and hurriedly sets up a question that is worth ten points (so whoever answers correctly will win): what is Anya Forger's greatest secret?

Anya is staring straight at Damian and he's like ???????. Then he remembers she told him she could read minds... is that her greatest secret? But what's the point of asking if people know her secret if she wants to keep it a secret? Damian has enough awareness to not out Anya even if it's a joke. And if she can read minds, she would know he knows.

So Damian lies and says something impossible like "uhhhh Forger likes Bondman so her secret is that she's actually the child of a spy. Or something."

(Across the room, a waiter holding up a tray nearly drops it.)

Since no one can prove what Anya's secret is, Anya declares Damian is the winner (she is very biased) and pulls him away for world peace. And Damian can't even grumble about it after all of the effort he put in. The other boys accuse Damian of cheating. Becky complains that Damian doesn't know how to romance a girl.

As they dance, Damian thinks about Anya's odd final question and how it felt targeted towards him. He tells her he thinks her secret is that she wanted to dance with him as she would accept his answer no matter what it is. Anya is like :D because I want to go to your house! :D and they do the standard bickering.

Damian then calms down and asks why Anya didn't want to dance with the other boys even though they performed better in Becky's trials. Anya says she doesn't care about flowers and poetry. She then asks why he didn't answer with her actual secret that she told him.

Damian of course is like ???? it's a secret??? you DUMMY????? and starts rambling about how mind reading is a not a real thing, and if it is, Anya shouldn't tell anyone because it's dangerous, and it's totally not like he cares about her being in danger. Anya is touched by this and she can tell Damian won't tell anyone (even if he thinks it's a lie).

Now Anya realises Damian knows another secret about her: she truly wanted to dance with Damian. But why? Is it just for world peace? Or is it because it can only ever be him?

Imperial prince meets the eccentric tactician’s daughter~

I think Connie is my new fave of Anya’s classmates (and Anya’s reaction to Connie’s reaction to being bumped into made me choke on my tea)

New jealous!Damian oneshot - Strange You Never Knew 💌

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"Damian," Anya says. "I noticed you don't get jealous anymore." (Aged up, fluff)

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He won't get it. He's not supposed to get it. Damian— second son of the Desmonds. Anya— daughter of a spy and an assassin. The bait and the bodyguard. It's always been this way, even before Anya was conscious of it. He won't get it.

This was not part of anya's plan

why its reminds me of hana yori dango lol 😭

*damian is based from tsukasa domyoji is already confirmed btw*

Jealous Damian arc jealous Damian arc jealous Damian arc

Anya being Eden's most popular kid is such a vibe. The fact they all refer to her by her name but Damian as somebody's kid who got punched on the first day of school is hilarious. She's more popular than him. I am genuinely happy she's in a new class, Cecil Hall didn't value her enough.

18+, mdni

ta!sae who's known campus-wide for being a no-nonsense guy, a harsh grader, and an even harsher tutor when it comes to giving critical feedback. who barely says a word during lectures when the professor's there, content to sit in his corner desk at the front of the classroom, occasionally scanning the lecture hall for anyone who's clearly not paying attention to the professor (participation is 35% of the final grade, so you had better be actively listening/taking notes during class).

ta!sae who always shows up in the same getup -- white shirt, suspenders, clean dark slacks. sometimes, he'd wear glasses, sometimes, he'd be without. who has a habit of absently rolling up his sleeves when he gets really into a passage, even though you can't tell from the flatness of his voice, there's a certain way his fingers always dance when he gets properly invested in one topic or other.