sportsanime | Bonus Round 1: Memory

Let's start our summer by looking at the past—things that happened in canon, or maybe in an AU, or maybe just as wishful thinking...

This round is CLOSED as of 7PM on June 9 EDT. Late fills may be posted, but they will not receive points.

Please read this whole post before commenting to ensure that your team gets the most points possible. (There are changes from last year!)

RULES

Submit prompts by commenting to this post! You prompt should consist of one scenario beginning with the phrase "Remember when", along with any ship/ot3/etc. from our list of nominated fandoms.
- Your prompts can take the form of recalling canon facts/events ("Remember when Nozomi and Eli got parfaits after school?"), non-canon events ("Remember when Megumi and Jin met at the Tadokoro Family Reunion?"), or somewhere in-between ("Remember when Bokuto and Kenma first met?"). Headcanons and AUs are welcome!
- Your prompt MUST include some kind of relationship. (This is not the sports anime gen olympics.) Platonic relationships are indicated by an "&" between the names (e.g., Rei & Nagisa). Non-platonic relationships use "/" (e.g., Rei/Nagisa). Please don't say "Any pairing," either!
Post fills by leaving a responding comment to a prompt with your newly-created work.
Remember to follow the general bonus round rules, outlined here.

FORMAT

Brand-new works only, please.

Required Work Minimums:

400 words (prose)
400px by 400px (art)
14 lines (poetry)

If PROMPTING:	If FILLING:	If FILLING as a TEAM GRANDSTAND participant:
PROMPT: TEAM [YOUR SHIP] Replace [YOUR SHIP] with the name of the team you belong to, including Grandstand or Sports Teams Write it exactly as it appears on the team roster or your team will not receive points Place the prompt's relationship in the first bolded line of the comment. Including the canon isn't required, but it's nice. Below that, place applicable major content tags (when applicable; otherwise write "no tags" or "none") Visual example	FILL: TEAM [YOUR SHIP], [RATING] Replace [YOUR SHIP] with the name of the team you belong to Write it exactly as it appears on the team roster or your team will not receive points Replace RATING with the rating of your fill (G - E) Place applicable major content tags and word count before your fill (when applicable; otherwise write "no tags" or "none") NSFW FILLS: Please cross-link these fills and use clear tags in your comment. Written/text fills should be hosted at AO3 ONLY. Art/visual fills can be hosted anywhere. You may include a small safe-for-work preview of the fill in your comment. To place an image in your comment, use this code: <img src="LINK TO YOUR IMAGE" alt="DESCRIPTION OF YOUR IMAGE"/> Visual example	FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND, [RATING] Replace RATING with the rating of your fill (G - E) Place applicable major content tags and word count before the fill, where applicable NSFW FILLS: Please cross-link these fills and use clear tags in your comment. Written/text fills should be hosted at AO3 ONLY. Art/visual fills can be hosted anywhere. You may include a small safe-for-work preview of your work in your comment. To place an image in your comment, use this code: <img src="LINK TO YOUR IMAGE" /> Visual example

code of conduct

SCORING

For prompts: 5 points each (maximum of 50 prompt points per team per round)

First 3 fills by any member of your team: 20 points each
Fills 4-10: 10 points each
Fills 11-20: 5 points each
Fills 21+: 2 points each

All scored content must be created new for this round.

Etc.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

wc: 706
no tags
(does angst/ unrequited count?)

5 things Sugawara Koushi notices about Oikawa Tooru:

1.

Koushi's university is famous for its strong volleyball team, and so it is with no measure of surprise that he sees Oikawa Tooru on the first day of their club orientation. What is surprising is that Oikawa actually remembers Koushi, and has a personal nickname for him to boot.

'If it isn't Mr. Refreshing,' Oikawa says, breezily, as if there is nothing wrong with cooking up arbitrary nicknames for almost-strangers and then addressing them with it over their first formal meeting.

'Nice to meet you,' Koushi replies without missing a beat, in a way that suggests the statement is more than mere pleasantry. Oikawa gets it, because the amused curve of his mouth disappears. When they shake hands Oikawa's palms are pleasantly warm.

2.

'You're into guys,' Koushi tells Oikawa one day, and pretends not to see it when Oikawa flinches in a manner vaguely reminiscent of a cornered animal.

'How'd you know,' Oikawa asks, voice so carefully level that it betrays him.

'Intuition,' Koushi says, which is a shitty response, he knows. He doesn't say because I am, too; better to half-lie, Koushi thinks, than to give Oikawa the wrong idea.

3.

Oikawa starts to grow out his hair in their second semester of uni. Koushi doesn't realise it until training one day, when they're practising stretches together and Koushi's looking down at the nape of Oikawa's neck; at the thick, brown curls plastered against it.

'You should tie your hair up,' Koushi says, before he can stop himself.

At this Oikawa turns to look at him, lips curled in mild amusement. 'Is Mr. I-wear-plaid-more-often-than-is-socially-acceptable dispensing me fashion advice?'

'I was being helpful, no need to be rude,' Koushi huffs, with no real heat behind his syllables. Oikawa chuckles before looking away, thoughtful. Koushi almost forgets about the exchange, until Oikawa actually succeeds in growing his hair beyond his shoulders over the next few months. Predictably, the fangirls go crazy over it. If Koushi were the presumptuous sort he might've attributed Oikawa's recent surge of fame to himself, but the truth is that with a face as pretty as Oikawa's, nothing short of a rainbow-coloured mohawk would've made it look bad.

Funnily enough, Oikawa returns to uni the next term with short hair. If Koushi is curious he doesn't ask why; Oikawa, on his part, offers no explanation.

4.

Oikawa makes it to their team's starting line-up in their second year of uni. (Koushi doesn't. But because this, too, is an inevitability, Koushi harbours no jealousy.)

University Oikawa is still a formidable player, but his presence on the court nowadays seems muted, more pared down. There are still fangirls crowding the spectators stand, of course, still magazine interviewers cobbling for his attention (if anything, Oikawa has gotten even more skilled at throwing out a manner of cheesy one-liners that bear no repeating.) The point is - sometimes, Koushi wonders if this shrinking is a deliberate choice on Oikawa's part. He wonders if Oikawa's strange brand of reticence comes with a story behind it. He knows better than to ask.

5.

Oikawa calls to tell him - one day before their team is due to play their long anticipated match against a rival uni- that he's injured his knee; Koushi is to take his place. Koushi's heart sinks when he puts down the phone, not out of fear, but because he knows, deep down, that something doesn't tally. Ever since he made it to the starting line up, Oikawa's been pushing Koushi to work harder, always asking him out for practice and extra trainings. The day before, he'd passed Koushi a stack of notes detailing the strengths and weaknesses of all their teammates, with the gravity of a dying man relaying his final wish. When Koushi makes his way to Oikawa's house he finds Oikawa in the backyard, playing with his little cousin. Tossing the volleyball around, running.

1 thing he doesn't:

When Koushi grabs Oikawa by his arm, digs his nails into soft flesh and asks, 'why are you doing all this', chokes out, 'is this pity', Oikawa smiles, face twisting with what is either anguish or a damn good pretence of it, and does not say a single word.

Edited 2016-05-28 11:13 (UTC)

NO N O HELP ME I CANNOT The 5+1 format with angst!fic is so effective when done well, and you do it beyond well you do it like, *waves hands wordlessly* You build up the story in a really powerful way - each new section slots over the other perfectly, and I was on edge the whole time wondering who, and what, and how things were going to go down because this is so intense. 'Nice to meet you,' Koushi replies without missing a beat, in a way that suggests the statement is more than mere pleasantry.' I like this a lot, how Koushi starts on par with Tooru, and that makes the end even more upsetting TBH ;_;

The way you have dialogue driving the first few scenes is really good as well! I like how it turns more introspective towards the end, and then Tooru's wordlessness in the end -- it hits hard. You use contrast in such an effective way, seriously.

Also I was kept guessing the entire way, like, is it really unrequited? ON WHOSE PART??? And to be honest I'm still not sure, but the ambiguity makes the story even more powerful, I think? (My apologies if you didn't actually mean to be ambiguous and I'm just dense --)

There are so many things I love about this fic, about your writing style, but basically I'm wrecked now and any further comments are going to be more along the lines of 'aljksdhauwh aAKLUHW A GET IT TOGETHER AND GET TOGETHERE YOU TWO USHDJAK~WLK FR' so... Thank you so much for writing this - it is a beautiful fill!

oh man oh man first of all i did not expect such a long and lovely comment ajskflksa *makes hippo noises at ur feet*

oikawa's increasing reticence was intentional, yes, as was the gradual wordlessness, im yelling bc thank u for making that observation!! ;o; what i interpret of oikawa's character (ofc this is only my interpretation) is that he might appear outwardly friendly but he's a lot more private regarding certain personal issues/ difficulties he faces, and if u bring it up to him there's a good chance he will talk his way around it/ evade the subject, or he'll withdraw from u altogether - hence 'strange brand of reticence' (im so bad at explaining this...)

ahahaha, re: unrequited, please interpret this however u wish! whatever the interpretation the outcome is still pain, so, hahahhahaha *gazes deeply into the abyss*

again, thank u so much for taking the time to read this ficlet, and for leaving such a nice comment, receiving it in my inbox truly made my day T__T

AHHHH THIS IS SO GOOD OMG I WANT TO HUG THEM BOTH OIKAWA WHY

Bonus Round 1: Memory

FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND (G)

Re: FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND (G)

Re: FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND (G)

Re: FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND (G)