Bonus Round 1: Quotes

[referees]

Bonus Round 1: Quotes

SASO 2015 is over, but this round is perpetually open to new fills (no new prompts).

PLAY BALL! For this round, we'd like you to take inspiration from songs, sayings, poems, and other kinds of famous words.

Because this is our first full round, please read this post carefully before proceeding!

This round ends at 7PM on June 13 EDT. Countdown Timer.

RULES

• Submit prompts by commenting to this post with a quote attributed to a specific person or character, along with any ship/ot3/etc. from one of our nominated fandoms.
  • Example: "Hi-ho, Kermit the Frog here!" -Kermit the Frog
  • The quote can come from anywhere. Famous people, poetry, songs, books, movies, your neighbor, etc.
  • 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., Yachi & Kiyoko). Non-platonic relationships use "/" (e.g., Yachi/Kiyoko). Please don't say "Any pairing," either!
• Fill prompts by replying to the prompt with your quote-inspired fanwork.
• Remember to follow the general bonus round rules, outlined here.
• You cannot fill your team's prompts or your own prompts.

FORMAT

Bonus round shenanigans all happen in the comments below. Brand-new works only, please.

Required Work Minimums:

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

There is no max work cap.

Format your comment in one of the following ways:

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. 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) NSFW FILLS: Post written/text fills directly to the round with clear tags. Please link to art/visual fills. You can include a small safe-for-work preview if you'd like. To place an image in your comment, use this code: <img src="LINK TO YOUR IMAGE" /> Visual example	FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND, [RATING] Replace RATING with the rating of your fill, G - E, as explained in the rules Place applicable major content tags and word count before the fill, where applicable NSFW FILLS: Post written/text fills directly to the round with clear tags. Please link to art/visual fills. You can include a small safe-for-work preview if you'd like. To place an image in your comment, use this code: <img src="LINK TO YOUR IMAGE" /> Visual example

Posts not using this format will be understood to be unofficial discussion posts, regardless of what they contain. They, like all comments in this community, are subject to the code of conduct.

SCORING

These numbers apply to your team as a whole, not each individual teammate. Make as many prompts/fills as you want!

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

For fills:

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.

If you're hunting through the prompts looking for what to fill, a good trick is to view top-level comments only.

Have a question? Check The FAQ first. If you still need help, feel free to contact the mods. Happy fanworking!

Comments

FILL: TEAM IWAIZUMI HAJIME/OIKAWA TOORU, G

[ennoshita]

no major content warnings, 1800 wc.
excuse typos im so lazy

It's his last vacation as a high-schooler; after this, he'll be left to fend for himself on a university campus he likely won't remember his way around for a day or two. Takao Kazunari is hardly a fearful guy—he's had to subject himself to his self-declared best friend's crazy quirks (and though he won't admit it out loud, the day Midorima's lucky item happened to be bunny ears is something burned into his memory and ever present in his nightmares) and his high school experience was nothing short of insane and, well, that's about it.

Still, university is an entirely new world, and while he might not be afraid of finding friends, of finding his niche, Takao is what he'd like to call a self-starter and he's hardly the type to shy away from seizing the day and other Latin phrases he wasn't responsible for on the entrance exam.

Which is exactly why he's, well, here. Here, being in front of a music shop with a guitar he found online for cheap strapped against his back.

"Hello!" he greets when he maneuvers his way through the shop to a room. The room is relatively empty save for one person whose back is turned to him and Takao has the courtesy to knock once before peeking his head in. "Sorry, is this where the classes are?"

The sole other occupant of the room turns around in greeting and looks Takao in the eye, quizzical. "Oh! Yes, you've come to the right place. Takao-san, correct? You indicated you're a beginner when you signed up so we can—"

"Sensei," Takao says as gravely as he can manage (which isn't much considering how bad he is at keeping a straight face), "my university career is in your hands now."

Takao's optimistic. He's sure this will be a fun and insightful way to gain new hobbies while gaining new friends. He's contemplating dragging Midorima along to the next lesson if it goes well—and maybe that's indication enough that this fun new way of making new friends is absolutely necessary if the only other person he can think of inviting aside from Midorima is Miyaji.

He smiles, grins, as he settles in the seat beside the teacher and begins to free his guitar from the confines of its case. "I'm ready to learn!"

-

By the time the school year starts, Takao has a handful of things under his belt. One, he is getting to be remarkably talented at tiptoeing up the stairs at ungodly hours to avoid being caught by his mother and chastised for sleeping at five in the morning. Two, he is hardly a braggart but he's kind of a self-proclaimed genius, an expert at pickling kimchi which is what he thinks might even be a daunting task for his mother. And three, Takao's knack for juggling has leveled up from three measly items to four.

As for the guitar...

"It's not for everyone," he remembers his teacher telling him, and Takao laments the money he spent for blisters and calluses and only three songs to own to his name.

"It's fine!" he says to himself as he lugs the guitar back to his dormitory room following his most recent unsuccessful practice session. "Talent takes time to cultivate."

It is in the midst of a rather solid pep talk (for himself, from himself) that Takao looks up from the ground just in time to slam into someone who's scribbling away in a tattered notebook. Takao manages to stop himself from crashing onto the ground and destroying the instrument he's been contemplating on shipping to Midorima as a joke; the other person is not so lucky, landing squarely on the ground with a muted yelp.

"Ah! Sorry, sorry! Are you okay?" Takao inquires, bending his knees just a bit to extend his arm to the stranger.

When the other man looks up, Takao realizes that this is hardly a stranger but a remarkably familiar face that he could hardly forget! His grin widens as he grabs at his hand and pulls him up without preamble.

"Izuki-san!" he says in greeting.

"Oh!" There's a layer of confusion on Izuki's face that fades as quickly as it came, replaced with a bright smile. "Takao? I didn't know you went here. I didn't know you played the guitar, either!"

"My first year," he says in response with a shrug of his shoulders, grin still lingering against his lips. "I didn't know you went here as well. And I'd brag about it, but I'm still a beginner. Don't worry, Izuki-san. I'll play you a song once I'm better—now that we're here and all."

His gaze flickers from Izuki's face to the abandoned notebook on the ground. He reaches down to pick it up, glancing at the cover before handing it over wordlessly.

"What a coincidence," Izuki muses, eyes twinkling as he accepts the notebook from Takao. "Not even your hawk eye could have seen this coming!"

"...Haha!" Takao says, following a distinct pause. As remembered, Izuki's humor is nothing short of exceptional so long as Takao understands where the joke's supposed to be going. "Still the funniest guy I know."

Izuki looks please before his expression shifts into realization and he fumbles with his pocket to procure his cellphone. "You should put your number in. We can get lunch sometime, if that's alright!" A pause. "I sure hope it isn't all left, at least!"

-

In an entirely unprecedented turn of events, Takao's first friend on campus is Izuki Shun. And while this is hardly an issue in itself, it takes only a couple of days, weeks, for Takao to realize (among many other things) that Izuki is insufferably patient, terribly funny, and endearing in more ways than he can count on his fingers and his toes.

To say this—whatever this is—is a new experience is stretching it. In Takao's years of living on this planet, he's never quite had a friend who went out of their way to text good morning with silly kaomojis in response to Takao's frenzied text messages asking random trivia questions to try to start a conversation. He's neither Midorima-level flustered about little things nor Miyaji-level testy about bigger things and Takao realizes, to his acute horror, that he might actually be very fond of the indefinable Izuki Shun.

It is two months into his first years as a university student that Takao comes to the conclusions that he might like Izuki-san, who surprises him with funny text messages and is good at math—maybe even better than Takao is.

The epiphany comes to him in the middle of campus, Takao's grip tightening around the guitar strap over his shoulder.

"Oh," Takao says, looking up at the sky imploringly. "Oh, god."

-

The talent for guitar does not come to him naturally. It also does not come to him forcefully. It simply does not come, and Takao sadly strums the strings while lying on his bed, gaze glued forlornly to the ceiling of his room.

This is likely karma, he realizes, for stealing Midorima's fries and for making smoothies out of Miyaji's pineapples and for holding clandestine knitting competitions after school to fuel Ootsubo's drive for success—

He sighs and strums again. It is a terribly discordant sound, punctuated with vibrations from his phone indicative of text messages he's too lazy and dazed to answer or humor.

Another strum. His phone vibrates again and then, for some added spice, someone knocks on the door.

Takao sits upright, staring blearily at the door before setting his guitar off to the side and trudging to greet the visitor. It is by God's mighty hand that Takao is struck down into the ground (figuratively) when he opens the door and is greeted by none other than Izuki Shun, holding two cups of iced coffee in his hands and looking effortlessly content.

"You didn't answer your phone so I wasn't sure what you'd like," Izuki says in greeting.

"Oh," Takao says, looking at the coffee and then at Izuki's unsuspecting face. His face breaks into a smile regardless of the current state of his mind as he steps to the side to offer Izuki entrance. "Truly the kindest guy I know."

Izuki says nothing, tiptoeing past while gnawing his straw. His gaze flickers from wall to wall before landing on the guitar abandoned on Takao's bed. "When are you going to play for me?" he asks teasingly.

"Maybe when I feel less ashamed about my slow growth," Takao replies with an over-exaggerated sigh. He closes the door behind him, suddenly feeling mildly more trapped than he was two seconds ago. There is hardly any reason for Takao to feel this jittery in his own room but staring at the side of Izuki's face while he takes in his surroundings proves to be more than enough to strike a nerve.

"No basketball jerseys," Izuki comments idly, mirth lingering in his tone as he sips his drink.

"Izuki-san?" Takao calls out without conferring with his brain and conscience to make sure speaking was the right course of action.

"Yeah?"

"Funny joke for you," he says with a punctuated laugh. "Let's say someone liked you, hypothetically. Let's say this person just like—you know, out with it! Told you! Out of nowhere! Just to get it off their chest, maybe. What would you do?"

Izuki blinks. "I have to guess the punchline?"

"Yes," Takao says. "It's that kind of joke."

There's a contemplative look on Izuki's face as he purses his lips around his straw to formulate an answer. "It'd depend on the person, I guess. I'd say thank you and then, well, if I reciprocated, I'd let them know. If I didn't, I'd leave it at that." Izuki turns to look at Takao, eyes meeting across the room. "For example, if it was you confessing, I'd offer you this drink you still haven't taken from me and say, 'I like you too, if you'll java me.'"

"Haha," Takao says. "Wait, what?"

Izuki clears his throat faintly and looks away. "Hypothetically."

The light bulb in Takao's mind flickers aggressively and he finds himself at a loss for words before quickly walking so he's perched on the edge of his bed once more with his guitar in his lap. He's going to do this right, he decides right then and there. This is a confession and he will make it beautiful with his endless supply of charm and very limited guitar skills.

"Takao?" Izuki inquires with a tilt of his head.

Takao pats the space on the bed beside him invitingly before positioning his fingers against the strings of his guitar. He looks remarkably proud of himself as he looks at Izuki and then at the wall opposite of him.

"You're playing for me now?"

"I figured now is as good a time as any," Takao replies mildly. "Anyway, here's Wonderwall."