I’ve always been a fan of AO3 and the idea of OTW as a whole. I mean, how could you not, seeing as these guys are actively trying to support and preserve fandom culture? Having a place where all fanworks are welcomed indiscriminately and neatly archived sounded like a dream come true. It was a dream come true.

Except, well, you know…

AO3 has a lot of problems, and while I am extremely thankful for its existence and for the possibility to safely host my fanworks somewhere, I am not going to delude myself into thinking the OTW is a perfect organization. They have a big racism problem that they still haven’t addressed, years after. And now, on top of everything, the AI generated works bullshit. A lot of great points have been made regarding the matter and while I’m not going to go over them yet again (I invite you to scroll through the eight hundred something comments left on the original announcement), I can’t help point out the hypocrisy behind the OTW’s stance: they are against data scraping but have no problem hosting the results of said data scraping.

Inuyasha spent the commute to Sesshomaru and Naraku’s shared apartment trying to distract himself from imagining eighty different possible conversations between them and an even greater number of outcomes. It didn’t really work. The following night he was nothing but a ball of nerves, eagerly awaiting the moment Sesshomaru and him would meet again and talk this thing out. Now, he didn’t even know what he was going to say.

The fact that Sesshomaru kissed him once again, so eagerly and effortlessly, complicated things even more. Inuyasha had a weird crush on his brother, that much was obvious, but what if said brother reciprocated? He was more or less counting on Sesshomaru to put a stop to this, to tell Inuyasha loud and clear that it was nothing but a mistake made while intoxicated and all of their kisses meant nothing. Then they could do nothing but forget it even happened and live their lives peacefully. That would be the best outcome, Inuyasha told himself.

Inuyasha tried very hard not to look at his brother for the rest of the dinner. He knew one look was more than enough to make his insides churn with nerves.

Instead, he focused on his food and whatever boring thing their parents were talking about. For the most part, both him and Sesshomaru stayed silent. Once in a while, however, the subject of conversation migrated towards them. How proud Chiyoko was that Sesshomaru’s paintings have been displayed at some gallery or how surprised Toga was at Inuyasha’s decision to study psychology.

Whenever that happened, Inuyasha couldn’t help but feel awkward. Sesshomaru, on the other hand, didn’t mind the attention. He had spent much of his childhood being constantly praised and complimented, while Inuyasha didn’t have a lot of experience with being the center of attention.

Sesshomaru’s mom lived relatively close — about three train stations and ten minutes of walking distance. It was nowhere near enough time for Inuyasha to gather up his courage and stop fussing over being in the same room with his brother once again. But then, Inuyasha realised, no amount of time would prepare him for it.

His mother, always so perceptive, kept asking if he was feeling okay the entire morning, pointing out just how pale and restless he looked. It was sweet, if not pushy. The fourth time she asked, twenty minutes into their train ride, he gave up and decided to make up something.

“I think I like boys too,” he whispered, making a show of avoiding any attention from his father for good measure. He was a few seats away, nose buried into his tablet, filling reports and whatnot.

Inuyasha has come online.

#1 Pervert: DUDE are you alive???

Kagome: Oh my god he lives

Inuyasha: hi guys

#1 Pervert: you did us so dirty, man. where did you go last night?? we looked for you everywhere more or less

Inuyasha: I blacked out and kagura drove me home. didnt sesshomaru tell you?

Kagome: Sesshomaru disappeared too.

Inuyasha: huh

#1 Pervert: such a shame I almost had him

Inuyasha: I’m sure you did

Next time Inuyasha woke up in the same bed, with the same loud chatter and shitty music playing in the background, he wasn’t startled by finding his brother next to him, sleeping soundly. A faint smile materialised across his lips.

Sesshomaru would have never in a million years told Inuyasha he cared about him, but they both knew he did. After all, there he was, rescuing him from the embarrassment of the century, finding him a quiet room to rest in, offering him water and painkillers and actually staying by his side as he slept. A warm, fuzzy feeling took over Inuyasha's insides.

He turned around in search for any device that could’ve told him what the time was, but his phone was nowhere in sight and if there was a watch on any of the walls, it was too dark to make sense of it.

Inuyasha woke up with the driest mouth ever and a pounding headache. He looked around, but his eyes refused to cooperate and adjust to the pitch black surroundings. The muffled sound of loud music and the vibration of the bass were seeping through the room. So he was still at the party, he decided. He must’ve backed out after doing shots with Miroku and the…

“Shit shit shit,” Inuyasha muttered, frantically searching for a light switch, his phone… anything. “Sesshomaru…”

I'm here.

For a brief second Inuyasha’s heart stopped. “What the fuck.”