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

drowning imagery; 735w

Sometimes, Issei finds himself dreaming about high school.

It's nonsensical, even by dream logic standards. He finds himself standing in the hallways of Aoba Jousai, empty and abandoned, the entire place flooded with water that reaches up to his knees.

He wades around the corridors, each splash echoing against the walls, the water lit by some mysterious light source that makes the entire place looks like it's glowing a soft blue. He walks past the homeroom he used in third year, seeing no one else inside. He walks past his friends' homerooms, each of them equally familiar. He walks past the assembly hall and the shoe lockers by the entrance, and goes into the gymnasium, where they used to practice. It's flooded too, but he finds that at least here, he's not alone.

Takahiro stands in the middle, back turned to him, not turning around even as Issei approaches. His hair looks lilac in the blue glow that reaches even here, and Issei reaches out to touch Takahiro's shoulder, but he slips and falls, the water closing around his face, filling his mouth and lungs.

He tries to sit up, and Takahiro holds him down, so that he can't.

In his dream, Issei doesn't fight back. He opens his eyes, watching Takahiro, distorted by the water, by the air bubbles that escape his mouth, and watches until he wakes, gasping for air, his heart pounding, his chest aching for a boy that he loved more than he even knew he was capable of loving.

Does it really count, when you were still just a kid back then? Tooru's voice echoes through his memory from a week-old conversation, because Oikawa Tooru is not the kind of person who lets his friends drift out of contact, the way that Hanamaki Takahiro is. You didn't know even half of what you thought you did back then, does anything still count?

Issei lets the obvious self-doubt in his friend's voice slide this time, and he thinks to himself, Yes, it still does.

It still counts, because Issei might not have known anything back then, but he stills felt more for Takahiro than he did for anyone or anything else; the kind of love that feels like staring directly into the sun, that feels like drowning. It's not something Issei could keep up, without suffering for it.

He took graduation like the easy escape that it presented itself as, going to a university far enough away that it made regular contact difficult. Kyoto is far from Tokyo, and further still from Miyagi. It fills Issei with a false sense of security and slowly, over time, he's learned to stop looking up at every glimpse of champagne pink hair, his heart catching in his throat with so much hope that he can barely even breathe through it. He doesn't have the right, when he's the one who left.

He's learned to stop feeling like being without Takahiro is like being without a part of himself. He's learned to carry on. He's learned not to start every day thinking of Takahiro, and every it in the same way.

He's learned to be apart from Takahiro, after all this time, and that's why, when he sees a head of champagne pink hair in his periphery, he doesn't even look up. Not until he realises that whoever it is, they're making a beeline straight for him, in the crowded street—that Takahiro, red-faced, hands balled into fists, is in Kyoto, walking directly towards him.

"What—" Issei begins, and it's like he can feel the water rushing around his head again, in his ears, his nostrils, dulling his senses.

Takahiro grabs a fistful of his shirt and—stands there. Glares. Issei, on a hot, dry day, standing in the middle of the street, feels like he's being held underwater again.

Takahiro is here. Takahiro found him and it doesn't make sense, until—

"Tooru," Issei realises, letting out a shaky breath, drawing another, reminding himself that he can breathe.

"Tooru," Takahiro confirms, and he tightens his grip on Issei's shirt. It's been years, and he's built muscle. He's changed, and Issei hasn't been there to see any of it, but it's still Takahiro.

It's still Takahiro.

"You're an asshole," he tells Issei, his voice cracking.

Issei laughs brokenly and feels like maybe this time, Takahiro is pulling him out of the water for a change. "Yeah, I am."

SCREAMS i'm going to be completely shameless and say that i'm totally here for the drowning imagery but lkajdflkdjflk i love the concept???? it ties in really neatly, and the image of issei wading through a flooded school is so *__* i really like the mental image.....also when takahiro ahem, holds him down and drowns him....... :'DDD thank you for writing !! I enjoyed <33

Bonus Round 1: Memory

FILL: Team Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru, G

Re: FILL: Team Kyoutani Kentarou/Yahaba Shigeru, G