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

no major content warnings apply

I LOVE THIS PROMPT THANK YOU

Word Count: 1466

-

The grey-and-white stuffed owl looks innocently up at him from the crowd of similarly adorable birds. Kuroo sort of wants to stab it in the face.

"Kuroo," Kenma starts, but Kuroo has one turn left and he can feel victory in his bones. He knows he'll get it on this next try.

"Sorry honey, I'm a little busy right now." The huge claw creaks forward, swaying tantalisingly above the owl. Kuroo heaves a deep breath and pushes the button. The claw comes down, squishes the toy's belly - take that, you savage, he thinks, before realising what it means - and bounces back up, wobbling back to its original position. Kuroo stares at the red 0 glaring up at him next to the joystick and sucks in a deep breath.

-

I want that one, Kenma had said, tugging at his sleeve. Back then, Kuroo had been young, unaware of the trials he would soon face. The owl had looked unassuming, singularly cute, its round eyes gazing up almost like Bokuto's when he was interested in something. Personally, he thought the fluffy black one in the far corner would have been a better choice, but Kenma's heart wandered where it would, and Kuroo had difficulty refusing him even when there was a good reason to refuse.

His mind flashed back to all the videos he had watched on niconico, strained voices dictating all sorts of sure-win techniques. He kept his eye on the shadow of the claw, reminding himself that he was in this for the long haul - unless you're lucky, you'll have to sort of roll it towards you one step at a time - and slipped five hundred yen into the machine.

-

Two thousand yen later, the owl's moved maybe five centimetres. Kuroo's red-faced, fingers dragging against the glass. If he could only reach in and just grab the stupid bird...

"Kuroo-san." He turns, sees Akaashi holding out a thousand yen note. In that moment, Akaashi looks more beautiful than ever, delicate features sculpted like those of a guardian angel.

"You're a lifesaver," Kuroo professes, latching onto the money. His own wallet's near empty, and he can't just go home with nothing. "I won't let this go to waste."

Akaashi shrugs. "It's alright. I won this at the pachinko."

"Wait," says Kuroo, as Akaashi turns to retreat back to the long rows of flashing lights. "Wait. You're not seventeen."

To his credit, Akaashi only looks a little discomfited. "I could be," he says, almost defiant. Kuroo gives him a look. Even Kenma turns - Kuroo loves when Kenma backs him up - and Akaashi relents. "I'll stick to Lucky Marine or something."

"That's practically the same thing!" Kuroo hisses indignantly, but Akaashi has saved him, so he drops the subject. He keeps a careful eye on him as Akaashi takes a seat next to a group of elderly men, though. Akaashi looks out of place, elegant hands flitting over the controls beside the old men's knobbly knuckles, and quite a few turn from the winking girls on screen to look at him in mild curiosity. Kuroo glares at them, just to be safe, then turns back to his own game ---

--- only to find that Bokuto has taken over without him even realising.

"Hey, come on!" The owl seems ever further away than it was previously, and in the span of a minute Bokuto's used up three of their five turns. "Weren't you at the maimai stations?"

Bokuto slumps for a moment, then holds up a pink hand, grinning sheepishly. "I was doing really well for a while..." - Kuroo remembers that bit; he could hear Bokuto's hey hey heys from across the floor - "...but then I kind of missed one, and then I couldn't hit the next notes, and I ended up failing the song. I'm the worst."

"I'll play with you later," Kuroo offers, patting him on the shoulder. Bokuto perks up again when he realises he still has a chance with the claw game, at least, but as he's about to waste another turn, two hands hold him back.

"Can I try?" asks Kenma. He squeezes Bokuto's arm lightly and slides it down to cover his hand. "Like this."

The claw begins its quest afresh. It scoops up the owl with gentle grace and carries it back to the chute. As the owl tumbles down, Kuroo remembers to close his mouth. He should have known Kenma would be a natural at this sort of game too. If he were anything like Bokuto, he would definitely be sulking right about now.

"Kuroo." Kenma's voice snaps him out of his thoughts. "You still have one turn left." He's cradling the owl in his arms, a small smile on his lips, and there are reasons why Kuroo can never feel jealous of Kenma for long.

"I'm going to get something this time," he vows, zeroing in on the fluffy black bird he had preferred. Kenma's fingers press lightly on his, guiding his movements, and the toy follows the owl into the chute.

-

They sit Kenma down with a drink when they return to the maimai stations. Kuroo rolls up his sleeves; Bokuto swings his arms to stretch them out.

"Let's do this." It's cozy having to squeeze both of them in front of the one machine, but it means Kuroo can put his legs all up against Bokuto's. The words flash on the screen, counting down, and then Bokuto's slapping buttons barely in time with the rhythm, messy and somehow managing to keep the streak going, and all Kuroo can do is keep his fingers poised around the screen, aiming for the odd button he thinks Bokuto is about to miss.

"Yeah, baby!" Bokuto hollers, smacking the top bar the way he would a perfect spike, and the music fades. As they wait for their score to total, Kuroo wraps his arms around Bokuto's waist, hugs him close.

"That was great," he pants. Bokuto preens in response, nuzzling into Kuroo's neck, and a bright shining AA appears on screen. "Not bad," Kuroo whistles, drawing Bokuto in tighter. And, because he needs to say it: "Try using your fingers too. You're not playing volleyball, and you'll get there faster."

Their next attempt yields greater results - Kuroo settles into a more comfortable position around Bokuto, which allows him to reach out and slap buttons more easily, and Bokuto's heartened by the success of their first playthrough. He dances on Kuroo's toes, smashes buttons faster than Kuroo can see them (he's still not using his fingertips, but Kuroo figures this way is better for his volleyball form).

In the end, he smashes them so hard one breaks. The fading glow should be unnoticeable with how fast they're playing, but before they can fail the song for lack of a button one of the store assistants lays a heavy hand on Kuroo's shoulder.

"Sirs," the employee says, a terrifying smile coming over his face. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Kenma trails behind them as they head quickly to the exit. "He'd been watching you ever since you went two-to-one for the machines," he comments. "That's cheating, you know."

Like Kenma doesn't Google walkthroughs for all his games. He's rejected at least twelve of Kuroo's frankly awesome strategies in favour of other people's boring tutorials. When Kuroo opens his mouth to protest, Kenma thrusts the owl from before into his hands.

"You can cuddle Bokuto," he says, and does the same thing to Bokuto with the black bird. "Be nice to Kuroo."

Bokuto holds his bird out and squishes it into Kuroo's owl. "Look!" he says, with all the joy of a small child. "They like each other!"

Unbidden, a smile rises to Kuroo's face. "Adorable," he growls, and pulls both Kenma and Bokuto in for cuddles.

-

They pick Akaashi up on the way out. His plastic containers are overflowing with tokens - the players beside him are staring with a mixture of awe and jealousy. "I have to go," he tells the crowd. "Does anyone want these?"

Three elderly women and a pair of older men converge on him. By the time the cold breeze outside hits them in the face, he has a pocketful of jingling coins.

"Late night karaage?" he suggests. Kenma taps him on the wrist and smiles; Kuroo and Bokuto sling their arms around his shoulders.

They stagger together through the street, some giant conglomerate of arms and legs, and Kuroo leans his head against Akaashi, wiggles his fingers in search of Bokuto the other side. Places a hand, gentle, against Kenma's back.

"Yeah," he says, and revels, for a moment, in the presence of his friends.

Bonus Round 1: Memory

FILL: Team Tennis no Ouji-sama, G