Sleeps In Sunbeams's manga / #bully(29)

Kyosuke has known Takashi since they were little and training in their first dojo together. At that time, Takashi made Kyosuke cry and the stoic young boy forevermore fell for that crying face. Now years later and Kyosuke has still never beaten Takashi in a fight, but these days he’s experiencing ‘hands on’ in a whole new way. I loved both MCs, the clueless Kyosuk and the impassive Takashi who loves him.

Trigger warning: Dubious consent A wonderful yankee story with beautiful artwork. Kiyonaga Akane is a feisty new delinquent looking to make his name. Sadly for him, he sucks at fighting. After a bashing he is rescued by the notorious 2nd years at his high school Kidou Ryouji and Kurokawa Tarou. Akane falls into instant hero worship for Ryouji but the teasing Kurokawa really ruffles his feathers. This story then follows the reluctant object of Kurokawa’s interest as he slowly falls for the bullying wooing of the strongest delinquent.

Trigger warning: Dubious Consent Yuzuru is an asocial loner in his final year of high school. He hides himself behind long bangs and yearns for friends and to be included, but doesn’t know how to meet others halfway. Amongst his peers he has been nicknamed Ghost because he is practically invisible. Kyoya Tachibana is part of the popular group at school. The tall first year student bumped into Yuzuru in the corridors of school one day and soon after proposed a shocking idea to his senpai, “Want to be my sex-friend?” Shocked, Yuzuru is initially against the idea, but Kyoya bullies him into changing his mind. Through their time together, Yuzuru observes occasional glimpses of Kyoya’s sad facial expressions and realises that there is more to his partner than his selfish yet beautiful veneer. I enjoyed their love story. The possessive and surprisingly vulnerable, Kyoya and the increasingly confident hidden beauty, Yuzuru.

Kondou Takayuki hates his boss from the bottom of his heart!! Takagi Toshinobu is mean, heartless, cruel, insensitive... a true sadist! And only to Kondou, by the way! He's perfectly nice to everyone else. A cute story of a sadistic manager who likes to bully the one he loves. For all that Takahiro can be horrible, he was also sweetly eloquent at times in expressing his love and he very clearly adores Kondou. Also contained a oneshot about a busy rising success at the office who hires a maid service only to get a man living with and caring for him for the next month. It was really sweet.

This story had some overlying sadness that made it a little darker than I anticipated. From loss of a parent with yankee student Akito’s mothers death when he was young, and bully-magnet Ryou’s neglectful parents to Sora’s emotionally abusive parent, the boys in this story all had difficulties to manage. Add to that the secret that Ryou has forgotten and the heavy burden of guilt felt by Akito and you would think this was a heavy psychological story. But it was most of all a BL, and the romance between the MCs was sweet and caring. I really liked the surprising well of strength in Ryou too. A very good story overall

Read first Self Portrait Trigger Warning: Rape Track team member Kashiwagi Ayumu has unrequited feelings for his friend, Shinohara Takahito. Knowing that they won’t be reciprocated he tries to focus on track and school. When cold and taciturn 3rd year Sawatari Atsushi realizes Ayumu’s feelings he cruelly blackmails his kouhai into sexual factors for silence, saying that it alleviated his boredom. When he took things too far, the frightened Ayumu avoided his senpai and both quit their sports. Now both guys are unhappy and when Ayumu learns something that puts a new spin on some of what’s happened, he has some decisions to make. This story won’t be for everyone with all the forced sex to falling in love trope, but the mangaka did have the senpai dealing with some negative consequences and remorse which did help the story feel better as a romance. More suffering would make me happier, but there are only so many chapters for the author lol. Follow with April 4th (Side Story)

*Because I’m Your Senior: Gloomy-looking high school student Takama and new employee at the store, the lively college student Senba. Opposites attract but sometimes saying the wrong thing can set you apart. *Boring Ninomiya: Cram school teacher Ninomiya, has just been dumped again for being boring. A night out drowning his sorrows leads to a one night stand with the flirtatious Sada, and a chance to step into some excitement and perhaps even love. *Rooftop Heaven: For Gino Sasahara, being born with two sets of ears is a torment. His cat ears are normal, but on the side of his head he has “monkey” ears that are deaf except to ghostly voices. Being different made him a target for endless bullying. One day as he ran from his bullies, Gino found a ghost who was just as beaten as he was. A solid ghost. With only monkey ears! Nakano Kouji thought that he had run into a cosplayer when he stumbled upon the boy with cat ears and a tail. But for both boys, something had bought them together from separate universes. And for all their differences, their connection of being abused for years is like a magnet of comfort and understanding. Their story was bittersweet and I would have loved for the mangaka to have been able to devote a full series on their story. The ending was lovely but I wanted their journey.

A very sweet workplace romance between the rather awkward 23yo Katou and his aloof senpai, 29yo Serizawa. When Katou’s confession was initially met with rejection his tears caught the interest of Serizawa’s inner bully and the two began a relationship of teasing and increasing attraction. I loved that the awkward Katou was sexually intense and the way that Serizawa’s dominance in the bedroom fell before that youthful intense passion.

From school bully to obsessed stalker, Yoshinori spends his days secretly following Takasae. But when the object of his obsession finds out he is being stalked by an old nemesis, Yoshinori’s persistence may be the only way to change things from a one sided love to mutual affection. Sweeter than you would think for such a theme, with elements of kink thrown in for extra fun, this was a really good story.