Bonus Round 2: AUs

[referees]

Bonus Round 2: AUs

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


This round is made for exploration of all those "what-if?" scenarios, like "what if my favorite sports anime was actually a spaghetti western?" or "what if everything was the same except everyone was actually a car?"


This round ends at 7PM on June 27 EDT. Countdown Timer.

RULES

• Submit prompts by commenting to this post with an alternate universe idea, along with a ship from one of our nominated fandoms.
• An AU could be a canon divergence, e.g. "what if [team] didn't win the Inter High in season 1, but [other team] did instead?", or a completely different setting altogether, e.g.s pop idol AU, coffee shop AU, superheroes AU, etc.
• Fill prompts by leaving a responding comment to the prompt with your newly-created work.
• Remember to follow the general bonus round rules, outlined here.

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 TACHIBANA MAKOTO/YAMAZAKI SOUSUKE, G

[supreme_thunderrr]

No major content warnings
1,118 words
Something cutesy for a first meeting type of thing. I'm very fond of these two being cute and awkward with each other >.<

“Kei! Did you organize the flowerpots outside like I asked? Or have you been sneering at your phone all day? Again.” Akiteru Tsukishima frowns exaggeratedly at his adored younger brother, ruffling his hair, and pushing him outside.
The Tsukishimas have always owned this small flower shop, for as long as Kei can remember. His mother and father revel in growing and nurturing blossoms of all varieties, and even their house is full of potted plants. Which Kei has a tendency to trip over. A lot. Mostly because he’s too busy ignoring their clichéd, kitschy existence.
He and his brother have helped out at the shop since they were toddlers. And Akiteru loves it. He can name any number of flowers, from your standard local varieties to the more exotic species which have to be given special care.
But it’s not really Kei’s thing.
And he’s pretty sure he’s allergic to at least 5 varieties they sell in the small shop. Because being in here gives him a constant headache, and an urgent desire to get as far away from the colorful multitude of gaudy flowers as fast as he possibly can.
But alas, it is not to be.
His monthly allowance depends on working a certain number of hours here every week. And working at your parents’ shop is much less of a pain than finding a part time job at a convenience store or something, which will make it necessary for him to actually interact with customers.
Because that is the worst possible thing that Kei Tsukishima can imagine.
Having to take off his headphones, and actually talk to people.
Because Kei hates people.
He is happy sweeping floors, organizing flowerpots, closing up the shop, balancing accounts. He’s especially good at making floral arrangements, though he won’t admit it, and gets his feathers easily ruffled if anyone praises him for them.

Shoulders slumped, headphones blaring, Kei grabs a broom and starts sweeping the store’s front, while Akiteru happily talks about different colored roses and their symbolic meanings to a bunch of overly excited middle-school girls.
A couple of them keep glancing over at him, and elbowing each other a little too obviously, but Kei only hmphs angrily, and carries on sweeping dejectedly.
It’s just him and Akiteru at the shop today. Their parents have gone on a short trip together. Something gross to do with viewing cherry blossoms and reliving their honeymoon.

Kei is so lost in the lyrics of the song blaring in his ears that he doesn’t really acknowledge the boy at first.
Tadashi Yamaguchi is used to not being noticed anyway. His looks are average, and there is something about him which only attracts the wrong kind of attention from people. So usually, he’s very happy about not being acknowledged.
But today is special. He needs a bouquet of flowers for his mother’s birthday. He’s been saving his allowance for a while now, and he will not leave the shop without his flowers.
And he’s been practising this in his head since last night. He’s looked up the directions to the nearest, best-rated flower shop close to his new home. He’s googled some helpful tips about buying flowers. And he’s stood in front of the mirror in the washroom, practising how to talk to the shopkeeper.
But the minute he lays his eyes on the sullen boy sweeping up in front of the cute little flower shop, all of his research goes right out the window.
Tadashi knows he should probably go inside, and seek assistance from the cheerful boy at the counter instead of this hulking, sulking presence sweeping up dead leaves, headphones clamped on ears, slightly sweating in a fitted black t-shirt and dark jeans.
A t-shirt that is sticking to his well-toned frame, and jeans which define his, umm, manliness really nicely.
But this person does not seem to realize that Tadashi is standing next to him.
So Tadashi does something impulsive, and sort of inappropriate.
He pokes the tall boy in the small of his back.

Kei jumps at the sudden unexpected contact, and turns around to face his attacker. Thinking it’s probably Akiteru, he wields his broom like a sword, ready to fend off any further poking.
But the boy in front of him looks twice as startled as he is. His dark hair standing up haphazardly, freckles all over his face, and a weak, pathetic sort of smile.
Kei wouldn’t look twice at someone this average, this wimpy-looking if he passed them by on the street.
But something about this particular boy throws him off his guard.
He stands there frozen, broom still extended, gaping.
He thinks he’s seen this boy around town recently, but he cannot be sure.
He raises his eyebrows questioningly, and removes his headphones.

Tadashi completely loses the will to speak as he takes in the taller boy’s bleached hair, his expressionless face, and his bored eyes hiding behind square glasses.
And then he blushes.
Profusely and unexpectedly.
And to his surprise, so does the other boy.

When Akiteru comes out to see what’s taking Kei so long with sweeping up, he has to rub his eyes twice to make sure he’s not hallucinating.
Kei is smiling.
Not what normal people consider smiling, but what Akiteru knows to be Kei’s specific brand of happiness- slightly curled lips and a relaxed brow.
And he’s talking. Actually having a proper conversation. With words and sentences and everything. With a boy about his age. About flowers.
Explaining to him why getting a potted plant with small purple flowers would be a better present for his mother’s birthday than a bouquet that will probably die in a week.

Akiteru retreats quietly to the back of the shop, and waits for Kei to finish talking to the boy, wrap up a small white pot with blossoming asters in it, and wave him off, still smiling.
And Akiteru refrains from teasing his younger brother when he asks about flowers and their meanings later that night.
Or when the dark-haired boy with his sweet freckled face return to the shop the next day with homemade cookies to thank Kei for helping him with his mother’s present. Which she happened to like very much.
Or when the same boy comes to the shop every other evening just to hang around. And stays for dinner. And then goes off to Kei’s room, smiling shyly.
Or when a week later, Kei starts growing a special pot of pink and white Gloxinias for someone he refers to as ‘that Yamaguchi boy’, his cheeks going ever so slightly pink. Or that Akiteru vividly remembers telling Kei that the Gloxinia flowers stand for love at first sight.