bakerstreet | unrequited love meme!

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unrequited love meme!

Unrequited Love Meme

Love. Love is a many splendored thing. All you need is love! Except when it hurts because the person you adore doesn't have the same feelings towards you. Then it's a curse.

This meme is very simple, with only a few prompts on its own. But don't let that stop you from letting your imagination run wild, especially if you have a penchant for the tragic. Maybe it's not all bad, though. There could be a silver lining...

HOW TO PLAY

Comment with your character and your preferences. Also, be sure to mention if you want you character to be the lover or the loved (or either), for lack of more refined labels.
Tag around to others.
Either use the RNG or come up with your own scene.

Prompts

Unnoticed: Your beloved doesn't notice you or doesn't know your feelings.
Just Be Friends: They don't think of you in that way.
Confession: You finally work up the courage to tell them, even if they don't love you back.
There's Someone Else: Your beloved is with another person, perhaps a person they love.
Can't Take It: You can no longer stay by their side because it's killing you.
Forbidden: It's not just unrequited, it's actually not allowed!
UST: Unresolved Sexual Tension! Neither of you realizes how you feel or why, and it's causing friction.
Returned: You thought it was a one-sided love, but turns out they do love you back!
CHOOSE YOUR OWN

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[ super interested in the idea of rena trying to set up her friends – while she has feelings for one or both of them! or alternately: turning someone down because she knows a friend has feelings for them! totally open to other scenarios tho! ]

( oh, that hurts every corner of my multishipper heart so well. just take them both home, rena, you're powerful enough. how does "rena trying to push keiichi toward mion and keiichi obsessively thinking he's done something wrong" work for you? )

[ i'm SO HERE FOR IT! time for the feelssss ]

[ Things have felt different to Keiichi lately. No, not just different. They've felt off. Rena still comes to meet him in the mornings for school, but she doesn't seem to be nearly as talkative as she used to be, like her mind is occupied with something else. And he can't help but feel like he might be the cause.

He stops mid-step during their walk home from school, his hands tucked into his pockets. Despite being the "Magician of Words," he's never been particularly good at hiding his thoughts on his face, and his concern is etched very clearly across his face.

Alright, Maebara Keiichi. Just come out with it. His chest tightens like someone pulling the wrong way on a knot, but that's nothing compared to the way these worries have been eating away at him lately. ]

Rena...? Are you mad at me?

[ He knows the question comes out of nowhere, but he might as well just come right out and ask it. ]

[ Observation is one of Rena’s stronger skills. Part of that is innate, a natural talent, but it’s also learned – a desperate effort to find happiness and grab hold of it. To Rena’s mind, she failed when she was unable to prevent her parents’ split; if she’d watched more closely, she could have seen everything before her family splintered and slipped through her fingers like a fractured mirror. She didn’t work hard enough back then. She failed.

But now, in Hinamizawa, with the support she’s found in her friends, she has an unbroken family again. She’s happy, and she wants so badly to cling to that happiness.

Even if that means putting everyone else first.

When Keiichi gave her that cute doll after the game tournament, she hadn’t paused even for a second to reflect on Mion’s reaction. It was so adorable and Rena was so touched that Keiichi gave it to her and— she wasn’t thinking about whether or not Mion would have wanted that doll. It was frilly and cute and girly, and… well, Mion is a whole lot more feminine than she wants to ever admit, but Rena genuinely didn’t know that Mion would be hurt when Keiichi neglected to offer the doll to her.

Rena didn’t realize at all – until Mion called her crying. She knows Mion has a much softer heart than anyone would give her credit, but… Rena didn’t realize she might be taking something from her with how affectionate she always is with Keiichi. Little touches here and there, thoughtful lunches, and their daily walks to and from school together – it’s become important to Rena. And— she likes him, she really does. She likes him as more than a friend (even if she would never want to put their friendship at risk), and… and maybe it would have been nice if he liked her back, but it’s the call with Mion that laid things bare.

Mion has feelings for Keiichi. And the more Rena thinks about it, the more she has to reason that it’s probably mutual for Keiichi, even if he’s a thick-skulled boy about so many different things. But maybe if Keiichi knew that Mion liked him, he’d start to see her as the sweet, pretty girl that she is. And… that would be nice.

But it doesn’t leave much room for Rena.

She’s been preoccupied thinking about all of this for a while, and she’s come to the conclusion that it’s best for everyone – for the club, for all of their friendships – if she steps back. She wants to encourage Mion to be honest with Keiichi about her feelings, and Rena doesn’t want to unintentionally confuse Keiichi by ever making him feel like he has to “choose” between his friends. So… she just has to be more careful. She can’t let herself bask in his attention the way she has since he moved to Hinamizawa. She has to treat him like a normal friend.

She can do that, right?

Rena happens to think she’s doing a pretty good job of it, too, until Keiichi breaks the relative peace of their walk home with a completely surprising question.

Rena turns to look at him, blinking those big blue eyes with nothing short of bafflement. ]

Mad? [ Has she been acting like she’s angry? Oh no… ] I don’t understand… Why would I be mad at Keiichi-kun? Why?

[ Perhaps it's silly for Keiichi to jump to conclusions that he's done something to upset Rena, but he has reason to worry. He's already disappointed one close friend lately, and he doesn't think he could bear to disappoint another. When he'd first opened up his prize from the tournament and found a cute, girly doll, his instincts had told him that since Mion had been the only person not to receive a prize, he should give it to her. And why wouldn't he give her a present? She's a good friend, someone who means a lot to him.

But a moment of self-doubt had stopped him. Even though she was a cute girl — cute in a different way than Rena but cute all the same — Mion had always gone to great lengths to not act like a typical girl. Giving her a present like that seemed like it might make things awkward or just embarrass her. Instead, he just ended up hurting her feelings in an entirely different way.

It isn't just the doll, either. Things have gotten a little awkward between him and Mion as a result of the misunderstanding with Shion. And now, on top of all of that, Rena hasn't been acting the same with him lately. As much as it comes as a relief to hear that she isn't mad at him, it still doesn't make things go back to the way they were. ]

It feels like ever since that tournament at Okinomiya, things have been different. [ He rubs the back of his neck, frowning to himself. ] Not just between us, but with Mion, too. Rena... I didn't do something to upset you at the tournament, did I?

[ He wants to plead for things to just go back to the way things used to be, but that might be a bit overdramatic. Maybe Rena's had something else on her mind, something that has nothing to do with him. Whatever she says, he'll believe her — he'll trust her.

But he needs to hear it from her first. ]

[ Rena can see how much this is weighing on him, and her own sense of guilt wells up in her throat. She didn’t want to make him worry, she just… she was just trying to do what’s best for everyone.

Confusion melts into a kinder smile, softened (and, maybe distantly, a little sad). ]

No, not Rena. It was really nice of Keiichi-kun to give me the kyute doll, and I had a lot of fun with everyone that day.

[ And in the aftermath, part of her had been desperate to let Mion have the doll, like a bandage slapped over an open wound, but she knew it wouldn’t be the same. ]

But Mii-chan… [ She hesitates, if only because she doesn’t want to accidentally share a secret that isn’t hers to tell. But… Mion wants Keiichi to know, right? She wants him to see her as that cute, feminine girl. ]

Mii-chan is much softer than she acts, you know.

[ Rena's words come as a relief to him. Hurting not just one of the two people he considers dearest to him, but both of them? He doesn't know how he could live with himself if he managed that.

But as Rena continues, Keiichi listens intently. When she mentions Mion, a surprised expression forms on his face, and he averts his gaze. It makes sense now. Rena has always been so in-tune with how everyone else is feeling, so when he hurt Mion, it didn't just affect Mion — Rena felt it too, even though she was the one he gave the doll to.

Rena really is special like that. It's one of the things Keiichi admires about her. He's no good at reading people — as demonstrated not just by him not giving that doll to Mion when he had the chance, but also by the conversation they're having now.

He thinks about "Shion," the waitress he saw at Angel Mort — the girl who brought him lunch after he didn't get a chance to eat that day in school. She was so embarrassed to see him, and she recognized him right away. That wasn't the same Shion as the one who dragged him by the arm into the toy store, where Mion happened to be working. That "Shion," then, has to be Mion, just like he first thought she was. And just as Rena says, that girl was undeniably soft and feminine.

Cute. ]

Yeah... I think I'm starting to understand that.

[ His cheeks redden, and he tucks his hands back into his pockets, looking for something to fiddle with. All he finds is his furry seal keychain, but it'll do for now. ]

I don't know what I should do, Rena. I feel like I just keep making things worse.

[ The thing about Keiichi is that he isn’t dumb; oblivious and clueless, maybe, but that’s not a reflection of his intelligence. Rena isn’t surprised that the cogs have been turning in his head, and despite the faint pang of disappointment in the pit of her stomach, she lets more of her usual cheerful attitude bleed into her body language.

(She doesn’t want him worrying about her, after all. He should be focusing on Mion.)

Rena clasps her hands behind her back with her bag, leaning forward with a brighter smile on her face. ]

Maybe Keiichi-kun could try being honest with Mii-chan about his feelings. Mii-chan is a kind person; she’s just sad right now – but I bet it would still make her really happy to clear things up.