Abstract

Joshua's mind, when he allows Neku to peer into it, is a world of sound and color- the ideas and feelings and creations of every single person in Shibuya. And it's beautiful.

Bowdlerization

Those old religious coots could censor their myths all they wanted, but it wouldn't change the truth of their relationship.

Clandestine

In this world where they'd taken on mortal forms, Neku realized there was a certain thrill in keeping their relationship secret from the general public.

Dermatoglyphics

The palm-reader's hands are unexpectedly cold- colder than any living human's hands should be- as he traces his bony fingers along the lines of Neku's palm. Shining amethyst eyes peer at him through the hood over his head.

"You are destined for a relationship with the divine," he says.

Neku leaves the tent feeling simultaneously uneasy and excited.

Egregious

Neku elbowed Joshua hard in the ribs (naturally it didn't effect him at all) and gave him a seething look. Eventually, the spirit's giggles subsided.

"Do you mind?" He hissed, soft but noticeably peeved. "For Christ's sake- we're at a funeral! Show some respect!"

Fructification

Joshua stared down at Neku and his friends from the top of 104. His plan had produced better results than he'd ever expected- Shibuya was purified, and he even got a new candidate for Conductor out of the deal.

So why did he still feel so...unhappy?

Galvanize

"By GOD I will teach you responsibility one day!" Neku overhears a man yelling at someone. He laughs to himself.

Good luck with that, buddy. You won't be getting responsibility lessons from this city's god.

Hypercritical

During Neku's first official Game as the new Conductor, he can't help but notice how critical everyone is of his methods. So he's trying to be a good moral example- sue him. Eventually he learns to put up with it- can't please everyone, after all.

Indemnify

It wasn't until he became the Conductor that Neku realized the Reapers couldn't really be held responsible for their actions against the Players. But though he wanted to get rid of that stipulation, or at least repay them and the Players for the trials of the Game, there wasn't anything he could do unless he wanted to be Erased.

Juxtapositional

They were like night and day- different in almost every way. But their differences were complimentary to each other, so it worked.

Kapellmeister (German term for the leader of a choir or orchestra)

"Joshua?"

"Ja, Liebes Neku?"

"Warum ist Shibuya diesmal in Deutschland?"

"Hmmm ... gute Frage."

Lickerish

On nights like this, they were free to indulge in their more human desires, touching and licking and worshipping each other's bodies greedily, as if tomorrow would never come. Their lovemaking was a chaotic frenzy of love and desire and hunger, and they wouldn't have it any other way.

Materfamilias(The Natsume Yuujinchou genderbend AU nobody asked for!)

Yoshiko "Josephine" Kiryuu was the head of the Kiryuu clan. Neru Sakuraba, granddaughter of Neku Sakuraba and youkai-friendly local "cinnamon roll" was a relatively average human girl.

And something about that- a human who could see and interact with youkai like she herself could, who was ostracized because of it but didn't resent the youkai who caused it- made Josephine want to adopt her into the clan- to keep her close and hidden from the world that would ultimately tear her apart.

Novelistically

It was kinda like something you'd expect to see in a cheesy romance novel.

Boy meets god. Boy falls in love with god. God falls in love with boy. They live happily ever after. The end.

Omnicompetent

Joshua is not able to deal with everything as much as he'd like people to believe. Neku and Sanae are the only ones who know this.

Preadolescence

Neither of them were really sure when they started looking at each other differently. It just happened one day, without either of them realizing it until years later, when Neku was going off to college and Joshua was set to inherit his father's business.

Quincentenary

They're relaxing in a mountain retreat, Neku carding his fingers through Joshua's hair and massaging his scalp, when his favorite city-god abruptly looks up at him with a smile. He reaches a hand up to grasp Neku's wrist and opens his eyes. They're filled with love and light and warmth.

"Happy 500th, Neku." He says sweetly, sending Neku's heart aflutter as if they were still 485 years younger.

He returns the smile with a kiss to Joshua's forehead, painlessly folding his body in half to do it.

"Yeah. Happy anniversary to you, too."

Rigidify

This early in the morning, Joshua decides to surprise Neku with a tight hug from behind. The boy pauses from where he's cooking breakfast, his body going stiff in Joshua's arms, and then...

He casually whaps him upside the head with the (still hot) spatula.

Joshua pouts, more out of principal than anything.

"Well good morning to you, too, dear..."

Scintillation

He sees flashes of Noise, at first. Occasional glimpses of brightly colored animals that look like some kind of graffiti. Then he starts seeing people with wings.

And then, a flash of white that he can't seem to explain, but one that makes him feel tiny and insignificant for all that it's just a bit of light.

Tatterdemalion

The boy the guards brought to Him is dressed in tattered clothing. His hair is dark brown with mud and dirt, and his skin is speckled with a rainbow of bruises. Such cases are nothing new to the Composer, but He remembers who this boy used to be, hundreds of thousands of years ago.

"Send him to my quarters and have a maid draw a bath."

Unctuous

"Oh my, so sorry sir- please excuse me!"

Joshua glared murderously at their waiter and Neku put a hand on his arm.

"Cool it, Josh. It's just water- not like it's gonna kill me."

His gaze relented slightly.

"But...but Neku- he was doing that on purpose! I saw his thoughts!"

Oh yeah. That was a thing Josh could do.

Verisimilitude (The Dangan Ronpa AU nobody asked for!)

"Bull. Shit. What possible reason would a nobody like me have to kill someone like Konishi fucking Mitsuki!?"

"Yes indeed," agrees Joshua from somewhere to his left. "Even though the murder seemed to take place in Neku-kun's dorm room according to the handbook," he begins, putting a finger to his chin as he gazes over the thirteen occupied podiums, "I wonder..."

His eyes are uncharacteristically serious.

"Has anyone actually bothered to check the nameplates beside the doors? "

And suddenly, Neku feels a bit more hopeful.

Whiffet

When Neku introduced Josh to his friends, they immediately forgot him as soon as he left for the Dead God's Pad. The second time, they remembered him for a little bit longer. Neku wondered if it ever got any easier for him, being treated like someone so insignificant even though his entire purpose was to guide their existences.

It probably didn't.

Xenophilous

Summers in Shibuya- in Japan as a whole- tended to be very hot, and with the radiation leaking from Fukushima Daiichi, there was less drinkable water than there otherwise would've been.

And it sucked, but it reminded Neku how lucky he was to have a literal god for a partner who could make things more bearable.

Yenning

As soon as he left the station his first weekend home in Shibuya, Neku ran to the underpass and from there to the Dead God's Pad. Joshua pulled him inside just as he got to the door, and they kissed each other hungrily, as if they hadn't seen one another for a year instead of a week.

Zingy

Neku found Joshua's RG form physically appealing. It aroused him in ways no one else ever had. However, as the Composer, the music and power radiating from Him aroused his very soul.