Bonus Round 7: Free For All

[referees]

Let's finish SASO 2017 with a bang. This bonus bonus round allows any kind of prompt imaginable in any format. The sky's the limit!



SASO 2017 is over, but this round is perpetually open to new fills (no new prompts).

Please read this whole post before commenting to ensure that your team gets the most points possible.

 

RULES

• Submit prompts by commenting to this post with literally any kind of prompt, along with any ship/ot3/etc. from one of our nominated fandoms, with the following caveats:
  • Large image prompts should be thumbnailed and linked to, as explained here.
  • Fanart/fanfiction/fanwork prompts are only allowed if you created the fanwork yourself or if you have explicit permission to use it, and proof of permission must be linked to in your prompt header.
  • Quote prompts can come from almost anything, but please don't quote personal conversations you've had or overheard.
  • Reposting prompts is fine, but be respectful and keep crediting in mind. A prompt belongs to the person who posted it to this round, and who can fill it is determined by whether or not they are on that person's team.
    • If reposting a br2 (tic tac toe) prompt, please post each prompt square as its own individual comment. Posting tic tac toe boards wholesale will crash our br scorer and the bonus doesn't apply for this round, anyway.
  • Your prompt MUST include some kind of relationship. Platonic relationships are indicated by an "&" between the names (e.g., Akira & Hikaru). Non-platonic relationships use "/" (e.g., Akira/Hikaru). Please don't say "Any pairing," either!
• Besides that, if you want to prompt something, regardless of format—even formats not previously allowed in SASO—go right ahead. If you're unsure you can ask us for clarification, but tbh just go for the gold.
• Fill prompts by replying to the prompt with a fanwork.
• Remember to follow the general bonus round rules, outlined here.
• Here is a prompt/fill index for your convenience.

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)
• 8 tracks (fanmixes)

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. Any way you format it is fine. Copy/paste/fill out the following form into your comment box. Delete the guidance text that's in parentheses. (Please delete all text in parentheses as you go. LEAVE THE HTML ALONE or the bonus round scoring program can't parse your comment. Don't forget a comment subject!) <strong>Ship:</strong> (the ship your prompt is focused on. "&" indicates a platonic relationship, "/" is non-platonic. Format the ship name any way you want, but clarity is more likely to get you fills.) <strong>Fandom:</strong> (what fandom the ship is from) <strong>Major Tags:</strong> (https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/1609.html, when applicable; these apply to content *in the prompt itself* and is NOT an implication of what you're looking for in a fill. If your prompt doesn't require tags, write "None" here.) <strong>Other Tags:</strong> (anything else that you feel requires tagging; can include jokey tumblr-style tags here; may also pull from the "Additional Tags" list from the URL above, if applicable; otherwise, write "None" here.) <strong>Prompt:</strong>	FILL: TEAM [YOUR SHIP], [RATING] Replace [YOUR SHIP] with the name of the team you belong to. Any way you format it is fine. Replace RATING with the rating of your fill (G - E) Copy/paste/fill out the following form into your comment box. Delete the guidance text that's in parentheses. Make sure you use tags. Here is a BR Template Creator for your convenience if the textarea is confusing. (Please delete all text in parentheses as you go. LEAVE THE HEADER HTML ALONE or the bonus round scoring program can't parse your comment. Don't forget a comment subject!) <strong>Ship:</strong> <strong>Fandom:</strong> <strong>Major Tags:</strong> (https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/1609.html, when applicable; otherwise write "None".) <strong>Other Tags:</strong> (anything else that you feel requires tagging; can include jokey tumblr-style tags here; may also pull from the "Additional Tags" list from the URL above, if applicable; otherwise, write "None" here.) <strong>Word Count:</strong> (if applicable; otherwise write "None") (Place any author/artist's notes BEFORE the asterisks. Leave the asterisks alone or you may not get points!) *** (Place your fill here. You can use HTML. FOR NSFW FILLS, please cross-link these fills and use clear tags. Refer to the body of the post above for more information. To place an image in your comment, use this code: <img src="LINK TO YOUR IMAGE" alt="DESCRIPTION OF YOUR IMAGE"/>. Thumbnails only, please; more info @ http://referees.dreamwidth.org/5647.html#images ) NSFW FILLS: Please cross-link these fills and tag them clearly. saso_afterhours is open to all NSFW fills. Written/text fills can be hosted on AO3 or saso_afterhours ONLY. Art/visual fills can be hosted anywhere; you may include a small safe-for-work thumbnail of the fill in your comment.	FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND, [RATING] Replace RATING with the rating of your fill (G - E) Copy/paste/fill out the following form into your comment box. Delete the guidance text that's in parentheses. Make sure you use tags. Here is a BR Template Creator for your convenience if the textarea is confusing. (Please delete all text in parentheses as you go. LEAVE THE HEADER HTML ALONE or the bonus round scoring program can't parse your comment. Don't forget a comment subject!) <strong>Ship:</strong> <strong>Fandom:</strong> <strong>Major Tags:</strong> (https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/1609.html, when applicable; otherwise write "None".) <strong>Other Tags:</strong> (anything else that you feel requires tagging; can include jokey tumblr-style tags here; may also pull from the "Additional Tags" list from the URL above, if applicable; otherwise, write "None" here.) <strong>Word Count:</strong> (if applicable; otherwise write "None") (Place any author/artist's notes BEFORE the asterisks. Leave the asterisks alone or you may not get points!) *** (Place your fill here. You can use HTML. FOR NSFW FILLS, please cross-link these fills and use clear tags. Refer to the body of the post above for more information. To place an image in your comment, use this code: <img src="LINK TO YOUR IMAGE" alt="DESCRIPTION OF YOUR IMAGE"/>. Thumbnails only, please; more info @ http://referees.dreamwidth.org/5647.html#images ) NSFW FILLS: Please cross-link these fills and tag them clearly. saso_afterhours is open to all NSFW fills. Written/text fills can be hosted on AO3 or saso_afterhours ONLY. Art/visual fills can be hosted anywhere; you may include a small safe-for-work thumbnail of the fill in your comment.

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.

If you see anyone breaking the code of conduct (e.g., causing drama, being rude) anywhere (not just DW), please contact the mods immediately.

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 4 fills by any member of your team: 20 points each
Fills 5-10: 15 points each
Fills 11-20: 5 points each
Fills 21-50: 2 points each
Fills 51+: 1 point 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 (see the line of links below this post).

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

Comments

FILL: Team The Prince of Tennis, T

[fickle]

Ship: Onoda Sakamich/Midousuji Akira, & Naruko Shoukichi & Imaizumi Shuunsuke & Makishima Yuusuke
Fandom: Yowamushi Pedal
Major Tags: tags omitted
Other Tags: tags omitted
Word Count: 423

When you invite your boyfriend to join your high school anime club even though he goes to a totally different school.

***

Onoda banged his gavel against the wall and beamed proudly at his friends.

“The first official meeting of the Sohaku Anime Club will come to order!” He announced grandly. “First order of business - electing our President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary!”

“I nominate you for all of them,” Makishima said from the back of the room where he’d draped his long limbs over in a chair that looked decidedly too small for him.

“I second that!” Naruko said promptly.

“It’s unanimous, Sakamachi. You’re - everything,” Midousuji said, also seated in the back but as far from Makishima as he could get though his slouch over the chair looked as precarious as Makishima’s.

“It’s not unanimous unless everyone votes,” Onoda said with a quick look over at Imaizumi. “Do you want to be the President? Or Treasurer?”

“No,” Imaizumi said and jerked his head towards Midousuji. “I want to know what he’s doing here. He doesn’t even go to Sohaku!”

Midousuji flickered his tongue at Imaizumi, leaning over the desk to smile at Imaizumi with tombstone-sized white teeth. Slowly, he craned his head to a side, the crick of bone moving too loud and clicking like marionette feet against an iron stage--

“There’s no anime club at his school,” Onoda said blithely, completely ruining the atmosphere that Midousuji had built up. “And he really likes anime! Especially mech anime. I can’t let him go without an anime club - if only another school had invited me to one in middle school, I would have had friends then!”

Midousuji subsided into his seat with a rattlesnake’s hiss as Onoda continued, “Anyway! Second order of business is deciding what anime we should watch! Since most of you are new to anime, I’ve prepared a presentation on the different genres of anime. It’s got links to clips from some of the best ones! At the end, we’ll hold a secret ballot where everyone can write down what type of anime they want to watch and whatever the majority votes for, that’ll be it!”


*

Onoda picked the papers out of the box one by one, “We have.. One vote for mecha! One vote for anything, one vote for I don’t care, one vote for Love Hime and another vote for mecha! Okay. Next week, I’ll bring in the first box set for Gundam Wing and we can watch that. Thank you very much, everyone!”

He tossed the papers back into the wastebasket; the back of the classroom, Midousuji scrunched himself up so that nobody could see him smile.

FILL: Team The Prince of Tennis, T

[fickle]

Ship: Midousuji/Onoda
Fandom: Yowamushi Pedal
Major Tags: tags omitted
Other Tags: tags omitted
Word Count: 455

...I wish I could’ve written this for them as doujinka AND RPers AND fanficcers.

***

When he’d been a child, his mother would read him stories. When the stories ended, he’d always clamor for more - what did the princess do afterwards? Were her stepsisters still mean to her? Did the prince kick them out of the kingdom? His mother would laugh and tell Midousuji that the book didn’t say but she thought that…

And so the stories would continue, well past what was actually written down.

When Midousuji discovered fanfiction, it looked what his mother had done. People were taking stories and expanding on them!

Shyly at first, he started posting stories and then more confidently when he realized that people were actually reading and leaving comments.

The long bike rides were perfect for thinking up new plots and dialogue. Characters would talk in his head to each other, witty banter and tender confessions alike while ideas would spin and twist around each other.

After all that, typing up the actual words was just busy work. All Midousuji had to do was sit at a laptop and let his fingers move over the keys while everything he’d thought of spilled out as naturally as a waterfall flowed downwards.

*

After the first Inter-High, a new writer showed up in the Love Hime fandom. It was a large enough fandom that his entrance wasn’t noticed at first, rare though it was for writers to be male. He didn’t have any of the social media that writers used, posting his works to the major fanfiction site and nowhere else.

He started out with a few short drabbles and 1K pieces, then moved onto a multi-chapter piece that he updated every day without fail. The summary of ‘The Princess of Love finds a new love: biking!’ meant that most people dismissed it as first but word-of-mouth quickly spread that it was actually hilarious as well as well-plotted.

Onoda had followed it from the start because it had one of his favorite ships as well as biking, faithfully leaving comments for every chapter.

The writer’s style was mostly minimalistic, leaving things implied at times, but lushly descriptive in places. When came it to writing about the burn of muscles as Love Hime cycled all over her kingdom, Onoda could practically feel the fatigue in his own legs.

*

For the second Inter-High, he printed out the whole fanfic even though it was still in-progress and approached Midousuji with it confidently.

“Akira, you have to read this! It’s such a good story about--”

He heard Teshima calling him so quickly pushed the mass of papers at Midousuji’s chest, “I have to go, I’ll talk to you later!”

Onoda scurried off, leaving Midousuji staring after him and holding a printout of his own fic.

Re: PROMPT: TEAM GRANDSTAND

[fickle]

WHAT THE HECK WHY IS HE IN A SOHAKU JERSEY?

PROMPT: TEAM Kominato Ryousuke/Kuramochi Youichi

[hyalinee]

Ship: Seijou & Shiratorizawa & Karasuno & Nekoma & Fukurodani OR Yosen & Rakuzan & Seirin & Teikou & Shuutoko & Kaijou & Touou OR Sohoku & Hakone & KyoFushi (just kinda feel free to add schools/teams as you like)
Fandom: Haikyuu!! or Kuroko no Basuke or Yowamushi Pedal
Major Tags: none
Other Tags: yt autoplay, look this is just bait for damien, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND it might be cute idk, i'll stop making excuses here

Prompt:
Hetalia ED Italy Ver

look what if all the schools were hetalia esque and had their own personalities that's it that's the prompt

alternately, what if the sports were hetalia esque and had their own personalities

FILL: TEAM PRINCE OF TENNIS, T

[multilinear]

Ship: mayuaka
Fandom: knb
Major Tags: character death, body dysmorphia, psychological/existential issues, suicidal ideation
Other Tags: im rly mad bcs if i could title this it'd be the opening lyrics of jess lee's suffering.mp3, which accurately describes how i feel rn
Word Count: 627


***


akashi seijuurou holds words in his hands and considers the fire.

"look at me."

is this what it feels like to breathe? seijuurou watches as his chest rises and falls, feels heavy eyelids rise as if they're his own. maybe they are.

"you have a name carved in your soul." intense eyes, thin lips. "do you know what it is?"

having only been in the world for so long, some words are not quite within his reach. this could be a test, and whether or not he passes, he can sense there's a weight behind the question, but he has the confidence of the newborn: sure of himself somehow, either way. "do you?" he insists, and seijuurou can feel the heat of his skin when he flutters his fingers over seijuurou's pulse. he realizes only now that he's cold; it, being the absence of warmth, seeps around the skin of his wrist. the thin lips flatten further into an expression seijuurou can't fully know. "i didn't make you to be silent."

then surely he was made for something else. seijuurou's been described into existence, molded in the shape of someone he's not sure he's ever been. his body feels foreign, fingers and toes feeling numb from the cold, or the rebirth from a long sleep. "yours," his mouth says, voice low.

"if that's your real answer," his maker replies with a snort, "you're full of nothing but clay."

so his first memory had been one of derision. chihiro was not a man prone to disguising his thoughts; seijuurou had learned early on that he was made in the form of akashi seijuurou, a man chihiro had loved and lost from afar. seijuurou has everything but his eyes: slender fingers that tingle with the heat of chihiro's mouth, and the same shade of red hair. chihiro had been taller than him, so he's taller than seijuurou. seijuurou wonders what he was like.

"i'm stronger than you," seijuurou observes one day. chihiro is bent over his work, writing on reams and reams of paper. seijuurou knows how to read, but he's never found anything to spark his interest in the realm of fiction. as he understands it, his predecessor had largely been the same.

"so you are," chihiro notes drily, and doesn't bother looking up. "and what will you do with this newfound information?"

seijuurou considers his options. as a body made of clay, he is strong but fragile, the insides of his hollow shell inscribed with the name of the one he's supposed to be. "you were hard to make," chihiro continues, and seijuurou can hear the fondness in his voice. he doesn't need to see chihiro's face to know it now. "don't go breaking anything."

seijuurou can scrape out what's inside him and pour it into the flame. he can, if he decides, most likely break down the compartments of himself and find where exactly the words are inscribed, and scrape them out. there would be less of himself, in the literal sense, but living with chihiro has instilled in seijuurou a sense of the figurative, the imaginative.

if akashi seijuurou were here. but he is not, except under seijuurou's skin, and neither is chihiro. he has no lungs to breathe in ashes; seijuurou watches the fire grow low and that is the rest of it, the body seijuurou knows and the voice that had greeted him on his first day of being alive.

the fire slowly winks out its last embers. seijuurou's expression does not change; his eyes do not even water from the smoke. when it is over, he resolves, he will go home and (maybe) chihiro will have left something that teaches him how to cry.

he will go home and burn that, too.

FILL: TEAM BOKUTO KOUTAROU/KUROO TETSUROU, G

[ryekamasaki]

Ship: Kuroo Tetsurou/Yaku Morisuke
Fandom: Haikyuu!!
Major Tags: None
Other Tags: None
Word Count: 504

I hope you enjoy this fluff!

***

When Morisuke arrives home after a long day at work, the apartment is warmer than usual, and it smells a hundred times nicer than it had when he’d left that morning. He leaves his bag on the shelf by the door and slips off his shoes and jacket, putting them away even though he doesn’t really care about it. His concern briefly overrides the weariness from the day, and he’s cautious as he approaches the kitchen, unsure of what exactly he’ll find in there. He’s really not in the mood to deal with any more catastrophes, or any people, for that matter, so he’s not quite sure what he’s hoping to find.

He still hasn’t decided what would be the best scenario when he finally makes it to the kitchen doorway to find Kuroo in front of the counter, very carefully and thoroughly stirring something in a large bowl. The rest of the kitchen is somewhat of an organized mess. There’s another bowl and a dirty spoon next to Kuroo’s spot at the counter, and two trays perched on top of the still cooking oven. The table is half covered in meticulously frosted cupcakes and a mostly empty piping bag, dripping a bit of frosting onto the table’s surface.

A timer dings, and Kuroo stops stirring to move the trays from the top of the oven off to the other counter, and then he pulls more out of the oven, settling them in the newly vacated space. He must have borrowed most of the equipment from Suga, because Morisuke is doubtful that they own even a single cupcake pan, and he can see way more than that from right where he is. He must make a noise or something, because Kuroo turns then to look at him, that soft smile that Morisuke loves blooming on his face when they meet eyes.

“Hi. Welcome home.” He gestures vaguely around himself. “Surprise.”

Morisuke can already feel some of the tension from the day slip out of his shoulders, and the way that Kuroo looks so happy to see him is definitely the cause of it. He slips into the kitchen and against Kuroo’s side easily, and Kuroo presses a kiss to the top of his head even as he reaches for the bowl he’d stopped stirring. “Thank you.”

Kuroo hums happily in response, and then he holds out the spoon, covered in chocolate batter. It’s divine, even before being baked, and Morisuke can’t wait to taste one of the finished cupcakes. Kuroo must have worked extra hard to learn how to bake them without incident, since he’s pretty notorious for being an unlucky baker at best, and Morisuke is overcome with gratitude at the lengths Kuroo will go to in order to cheer him up.

The rest of the night is spent baking the last few batches of cupcakes, and then frosting and decorating them. Kuroo ends up with flour in his hair and frosting on his nose, and Morisuke has never been more in love.

FILL: Team The Prince of Tennis, T

[fickle]

Ship: Midousuji/Onoda
Fandom: Yowamushi Pedal
Major Tags: tags omitted
Other Tags: tags omitted
Word Count: 400

I couldn’t decide between an AU where Midousuji was ALWAYS at Sohaku or where Midousuji transfers there but I decided that the latter was more romantic. :D

***

The little otaku - Sakamachi - is interesting. It’s been a very long time since he’s found anyone interesting.

Sohaku is quite a distance from Kyoto though. He might be able to see Sakamachi on the weekends but they’ll be training then.

Waiting for another race to see Sakamachi again is unacceptable. He wants to see Sakamachi now. He wants to see Sakamachi every day.

He used to bike twenty miles in the dark to see his mother every evening and then biek the same twenty miles back in even deeper darkness.

Midousuji doesn’t have much on his side but he has determination that will not quit.

Just like the little otaku (and Midousuji won’t let himself think of how close he came to quitting before Sakamachi stopped him).

*

School isn’t quite what Midousuji thought it would be. As a second year, he’s in the same class as Sakamachi but that doesn’t mean he gets Sakamachi to himself.

Sakamachi is always accompanied by Naruko and Imaizumi. They’re practically his bodyguards.

Midousuji has to share and every time Onoda smiles at one of them, Midousuji feels something twist in his chest.

*

Practice is the only time when he gets Onoda to himself. Teshima pushes himself hard but he’s not a climber. Not like Midousuji and Onoda are. The sprinters are left behind, eating their dust, and Midousuji and Onoda climb together towards the blue sky. The quiet whirr of their wheels is broken only by the click as they change gears to make the ascent easier; every so often, Midousuji steals a glance over at Onoda’s pinked cheeks and wide eyes that look around the world as if he’s never seen it before.

“This is better,” Midousuji says when the soft puff of their breathing is in sync. He breathes in; so high, the cars don’t come often and the air is scented like warm pine.

“Uh-huh,” Sakamachi says, smiling that wide crescent smile that makes his eyes crinkle up at the corners behind his magnifying-glass eyes.

“Sakamachi.” Midousuji’s grip on the bike handles tightens a little. “Tomorrow, do you want to bike up here with a picnic - and me?”

It’s clumsily worded and even more clumsily delivered but Onoda smiles like it’s the best news he’s ever heard.

“Sure, Akira!”

Smiling like that has to be painful, Midousuji thinks, not realizing he’s smiling just as widely.

Re: PROMPT: TEAM IMAIZUMI SHUNSUKE/SUGIMOTO TERUFUMI

[fickle]

There is a fantastic biography of Cicero's life called The Iron Pillar that describes him as the first American and this post just put it to shame.

FILL: TEAM PRINCE OF TENNIS, T

[multilinear]

Ship: oikage
Fandom: hq
Major Tags: none
Other Tags: sports injury, uh,
Word Count: 741


***


it comes for tooru in november. he is playing hungarian rhapsody no. 2 as if he is back at school, fingers reaching each key as if they are locked in for them. tooru can close his eyes and play this easy, and, sensing an audience, he does.

tobio sits at the feet of the piano bench, leaning his head against the warmth of tooru's thigh, and closes his eyes. times like this, he almost looks like a child, the boy tooru had known at their shared days in the same conservatory, but tobio's fingers twitch while tooru plays the slower, more languid first half as if he, too, shares the keys. safe from prying eyes, tooru opens his own.

"you have a concert tomorrow," tooru says over the music. "in tokyo." tobio stirs, tilts up his head and watches tooru from below.

"i know," he replies. insolent boy, even now.

tooru refuses to admit to the bitterness on his tongue. "you should pack." it is only a few hours away, and tobio will be away for nearly a week playing mozart (and how tooru had scoffed at the program. "mozart," he'd laughed, "everyone likes mozart. that's like saying you like sugar.") he's getting used to this, the sense of rage under his skin, pushing his pulse into a thundering drumbeat. tooru plays the second half just the way it's written, and where it had been a playful romp in previous concert halls, now he plays the disjointed melody with an anger he can barely quell.

tobio looks at tooru as if he is not actively trying to drown out tobio's existence with liszt. "i want to stay here, with you," he replies, and tooru brings his hands crashing down with a precision few other pianists have, and once would have wept to own. "just a little longer."

"with whose permission?" tooru bares his teeth in a smile. "with mine?"

"please," tobio says, and he finally looks troubled. "of course with yours."

the ache had started years ago. tooru's wrist betrays him again, just at the memory of it, or at the sensation of tobio placing a thin hand on his thigh, palm brushing warmth against his skin. tobio's fingers look so very much like his own.

"i'm retired, tobio-chan," tooru says, and forgets how the song goes. his fingers still on the piano, the bench creaking when tobio uses it to leverage himself up, rise and stand up tall above tooru's head.

"it's okay." tobio presses himself to tooru's side, bench crowded with the weight of two grown men. he fits his fingers on the sixth octave and plays a mirror of what tooru had played just seconds before. the rage, tied down by the thinnest of strings, subdues itself when the rest of the song flows from tooru as if he's never forgotten what it was to play.

how many measures did they lose in the meantime? tooru keeps his hands on the keys long after they finish the rhapsody, tobio's fingers fluttering off and folding themselves neatly on tobio's lap. he leans his head on tooru's shoulder, and in the silence, in the wake of music, tooru can only hear tobio's breathing as if it is his own. there should be a name for that, the time when the air is broken up between music and applause, the expectant moment between two types of closure: one for the player, and the other for his audience. "i love you," tobio mumbles, muting his words with his thin, pinched lips like a schoolboy.

the realization comes for tooru after what must have been a long time. years, maybe, the knowledge that the music he plays has long outlived him, and that his wrist will demand the rest of his career before tooru is ready. he'd found physical therapists, and hot compresses, taught himself how to massage his fragile bones and it had never quite been enough, had it, the wear and tear of his body pushing against what every fiber in tooru's soul had demanded. he'd been living on borrowed time, as it were, and tooru rarely allows himself to fall into anyone's debt.

"yes," he hears himself say, and pulls the rest of himself together. he shakes his head, tobio clinging stubbornly to him with that shy red coloring his face, the one tooru so loves to see. "me too," he adds, and tobio presses his smile against tooru's shoulder.

PROMPT: Team the Prince of Tennis

[fickle]

Ship: Hinata/(Kageyama, Oikawa, Ushijima, Lev, Nishinoya)
Fandom: Haikyuu
Major Tags: none
Other Tags: teasings, friends gently mocking you is the best, i love ensemble pieces, and Hinata being horribly embarrassed

Prompt:

HP AU! After a spending the night with his secret boyfriend, Hinata gets dressed in the dark and rushes down to eat breakfast with his House.

...Unfortunately, he put on his boyfriend’s tie. Who is in a different House.

Oops.

PROMPT: Team Daiya no Ace

[hailing]

Ship: Miyuki Kazuya/&Kuramochi Youichi or Kominato Haruichi/&Kuramochi Youichi
Fandom: Daiya no Ace
Major Tags: None
Other Tags: virtual hitmen, if you have any other ideas for characters that's cool too!

Prompt:

FILL: Team The Prince of Tennis, T

[fickle]

Ship: Midousuji/Onoda
Fandom: Yowamushi Pedal
Major Tags: tags omitted
Other Tags: tags omitted
Word Count: 495

Warnings for some bullying and mention of violence. Argh I want to make this a whole long thing. @_@ Thank you so much for prompting this!

***

ENDLESS, the letters over his throat proudly proclaim. Midousuji wears them like a mark of honor, always keeping his throat bare even in winter.

He makes lists of things that are endless and reads them to his mother; time, space, hope, love.

He always ends it on love. He never includes his mother on those lists.

*

ENDLESS, the letters on his throat promise and Midousuji runs his fingers over them like a lucky charm. When the kids at school tease him, when they knock him down and bully him, he thinks of the letters and touches them instead of crying.

Somewhere out there, someone else has those letters on their throat. Someone else is his perfect match.

...What if they’re stronger than him? If he’s the Sacrifice and they lose spell battles because he’s too weak to endure?

The next time one of the boys punches him, Midousuji swings back. He knocks the boy down, more through luck than skill, then hurriedly straddles him. His fingers grab a fistful of hair and he yanks the boy’s face up, hisses right into his face, “I am Endless. I will outlast you. You’ll be in your grave and I’ll still be walking proud. Nothing you do will take me down.”

Pride without end, courage without end.

(Love without end.)

The bullying lessens after that. They find an easier target.

*

There’s a special Bureau that takes care of locating your partner. They photograph your name, take your fingerprints and your name. When your match is found, you will be informed.

Midousuji registers with them the moment he turns twelve though it’s his aunt’s signature on the form giving him ‘parental permission’.

*

When he’s sixteen, he receives a call saying that they’d located his match. Apparently his partner’s mother hadn’t wanted him taking part in something as dangerous as Spell Battles.

Midousuji immediately arranges a meeting; in a cold grey hallway, he meets Onoda Sakamachi, all big eyes and anxiously hopeful smiles.

“Hi!” Onoda says, putting his hands together and bowing, “I’m Onoda Sakamachi, your Endless sacrifice. Please take good care of me.”

“...Midousuji Akira.” Midousuji looks down at the boy and thinks that it’s just his luck to be stuck with a Sacrifice that’ll faint at the first restraint.

*

“Your bones are glass, your joints are beads,” Midousuji hisses, teeth clicking together as he spits the words of the spell battle. Behind him, Onoda is wrapped in so many restraints that Midousuji can hear his bones creaking as the chains pull him apart.

“Keep going, Midousuji-kun!” ONoda cheers him on, weak though his voice is.

“You break, you shatter, you are fragmented, you are powder, the wind blows you away!” It’s his first spell battle and Midousuji doesn’t know what he’s doing. He only knows that it’s Onoda who suffers for it and somehow, that actually bothers him.

*

Onoda surprises him every spell battle; Onoda never gives up.

*

Their winning streak never ends; they are Endless.

PROMPT: TEAM Kominato Ryousuke/Kuramochi Youichi

[hyalinee]

Ship: Kisumi Shigino/Futakuchi Kenji OR Kisumi Shigino/Matsuoka Rin OR Futakuchi Kenji/Miya (Atsumu or Osamu, tsumu tho for The Shitmuffins) OR Miya Atsumu & Miya Osamu
Fandom: Free!, Haikyuu
Major Tags: none
Other Tags: the miyas are only here as mandy bait, but on the other hand the Shitmuffins(TM), has the tie been used or is it because someone's too lazy to retie it everyday, or is someone rushing out and still hasnt put the tie on, or are there other reasons eyes emojis

Prompt:
A tie, knotted and left on the dresser.

Prompt: team miyuki kazuya/oikawa tooru

[aicqt]

Ship: suga/kuroo, oikawa/suga, oikawa/miyuki, kataoka/miyuki, miyuki/furuya, otabek/yurio, chihaya/any chihayafuru character
Fandom: haikyuu, daiya, Yuri on ice, chihayafuru
Major Tags: none
Other Tags: supernatural themes, optional age gap

Prompt:

The demon appeared in the pentagram. "Who dare- Oh. You."
"How is necessary spelled?"
"One C, two S. Why not ask Siri?"
"I like your voice."
— microsff

FILL: Team The Prince of Tennis, M

[fickle]

Ship: Shiraishi/Kirihara
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Major Tags: tags omitted
Other Tags: tags omitted
Word Count: 458

I am so weak for junkie fic, yikes. Warnings for drugs (OBVIOUSLY), sexual exploitation, uneven power dynamics, unhealthy relationships.

***

Ecstasy’s a mild pill, as far as drugs go. Shiraishi always tells that to nervous new-comers. There’s no chemical addiction in the brain, there’s no permanent damage as long as you use it safely.

You don’t need that speech. You haven’t needed it for months now.

“Kirihara,” he says with that slow smile he reserves for his special customers. He doesn’t say anything more. He doesn’t need to. Just having him address you is the precursor to a high; like Pavlov’s dog, you respond to the sound of his voice with a jolt of excitement.

“Shiraishi,” you answer with a smile, hips canted slightly to the side. “Spot me a pill?”

His smile disappears. “No credit, Kirihara. You know the rules.”

Your pout is genuine as you lean in and nuzzle your cheek against his jacket. “Not even for your angel?”

“If I started giving you freebies, all my other regulars would want one,” he points out reasonably and you feel your good mood start to disappear.

(Ecstasy isn’t addictive, you remind yourself. Just because you like that high, the sensation of being out of yourself and so relaxed, doesn’t mean you’re psychologically addicted. It’s no different to people who like a few drinks to calm down.)

“I won’t tell anyone,” you promise, resisting the temptation to sneak your fingers into the jacket pocket where you know the little baggies of pills rest. “Please, Shiraishi? Just this once? I’ll pay you back on Friday when I get my prize winnings.”

He shakes his head and you bite your lip in vexation. Is there anything on you that you could trade for a hit? It’s not like he needs another coat. You don’t wear jewelry and you can’t part with your phone.

His thumb runs over your lower lip and you relax into the touch automatically before realizing how odd it is. When you tilt your head up and look at him, his eyes are a little darker and his gaze is fixed on your mouth.

Oh. Maybe you do have something you can trade after all.

Something flutters in your stomach, dying butterflies tangling together, and you swallow hard. You wet your lips, then nip at his thumb, trying to suck at the tip of it. His skin tastes like salt and grime, blunt nail tip scraping at your tongue.

“Could we work out a trade?” You ask, pitching your voice low and rough, and he laughs.

“I’ll decide how it much it’s worth,” he says, hand slipping from your mouth to your shoulders to push you down. You go willingly, dropping to your knees and looking up at him through lowered eyelids.

“Sure,” you agree. “Long as you give me as much Ecstasy as I give you.”

FILL: Team Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, T

[foxrocksthesesocksss]

Ship: Kuramochi Youichi/Kominato Ryousuke
Fandom: Daiya no Ace
Major Tags: None
Other Tags: pacrim au
Word Count: 510~

hi hayley!!! this is also... not... the kwoon room scene... but you saw me dying over this okay, i just... i love this prompt so much ;w;

***

Entering the drift is like sinking into a pool of warm, blue light.

Memories flit in the blue wash behind Ryousuke’s eyelids— two ruddy-haired boys take turns on an ancient rope swing, the kwoon room at midnight, a dark-haired boy with scraped-up knees and a grin that looks like a fierce distillation of joy. He breathes, measured, and allows himself just one glance at young dream-Haruichi, before he opens his eyes.

"Ryou-san!"

"I’m here," Ryousuke says, turning his head in its heavy drive suit helmet so he can catch Youichi’s eye. A wry curl pulls at the edge of his lips. He hasn’t chased the R.A.B.I.T. this time. "Ready?"

A flash of that grin, the same now even though it’s set in a face that’s 15 years older. "Hell yeah."

LOCCENT comes on over the comms, and around them the conn-pod tilts- it’s nearly time for the drop. Still, Ryousuke feels the smile curling harder at his lips and, briefly, he wishes they weren’t so far apart. If he could only stretch out a hand to touch, to brush against Youichi’s even through their drive suits… But he cannot, and even though he can’t, they have something else instead.

Affection blooms warm underneath his sternum. Ryousuke knows it isn’t his, and he knows Youichi understands.

The jaeger shudders around them. Ryousuke clenches his fists and turns away, looking out the viewscreen to see the dark expanse of ocean spreading out before them. He can feel Youichi doing the same.

"I never got you back for that last time in the Kwoon," he says aloud, as LOCCENT begins the countdown to the drop. "What’s the score now?"

Youichi laughs. "34-32 to me. You’re falling behind, Ryou-san."

Ryousuke smiles, just as the cables disengage and the Jaeger goes into a brief, stomach-lurching second of freefall. Then they’re hitting the ocean floor, and as the other pilots begin checking in, he looks over, says, "When we’re done with this breach, I’m taking back my lead."

Youichi stares back, grin fading to something a little more soft, a little more wistful as he replies, "I’m counting on it."

There aren’t any confessions, or dramatic declarations of love. With the drift humming softly between them, who needs them?

Yet there’s still a moment when they smile at each other, when Ryousuke wishes for what could have been- but the time for dreaming has long since passed, and anyway, imagination was always more Haruichi’s area than his. Still, if they succeed in the mission, if they close the breach, if they both make it out with their lives and limbs still attached—

If, if, if it all comes together, then maybe Ryousuke will think about dreaming. Because they’ll have faced their nightmare monsters and come away victorious.

In the meantime, he takes a deep breath and settles his feet in their boots.

There’s something they need to do, first.

"This is Kominato and Kuramochi checking in. Operation Pitfall is go. I repeat, Operation Pitfall is go."

FILL: Team The Prince of Tennis, T

[fickle]

Ship: Midousuji & Ishigaki
Fandom: Yowamushi Pedal
Major Tags: tags omitted
Other Tags: tags omitted
Word Count: 413

Warnings for angst! And more angst. Angst-fest, really.

***

Midousuji’s eyes are horror-movie black. They’re not simply a dark brown which is common enough but they’re a true jet black. They’re black like ink, black like nori, black like charred bones and tombstones.

Ishigaki’s seen those eyes before. They belonged on to an iguana that his cousin kept. No matter where he was in the room, Ishigaki had always felt as if he were being watched.

After all, without pupils how could anyone see where the iguana’s gaze was directed?

Midousuji gives Ishigaki the same feeling. The whites of his eyes makes the black stand out even more because of the contrast; it’s only the following the direction of Midousuji’s irises and head that lets Ishigaki know what Midousuji is looking at.

Even when he knows Midousuji is looking right at him, it helps nothing. He feels like prey, like something under the gaze of a dinosaur’s black eyes; adrenaline surges through him, the desire to run, but he is the captain and he cannot be afraid of his own teammate.

*

Midousuji’s eyelids are lowered, his eyes shadowed.

Ishigaki stops. His family was on its way to clean his uncle’s grave and he should keep up with them but -- Midousuji is alone. He’s kneeling alone before a grave, sweeping it with a brush, and he’s so alone that Ishigaki’s taken a step towards him before he even knows it.

Families should mourn together. Everyone knows that Midousuji’s an orphan whom his aunt took in but shouldn’t that mean his aunt comes with him to grieve?

No. From the looks of it, it’s just Midousuji.

“Midousuji-kun,” Ishigaki says gently, cautiously resting his hand on Midousuji’s shoulder. He stops, uncertain how to proceed after that.

“Ishigaki,” Midousuji says in response. His voice sounds odd, cracked and uneven. It takes Ishigaki far too long to realize that’s how people sound when they’re crying and when understanding dawns, he grips Midousuji’s shoulder a little tighter.

There are wet drops on the dirt and when he looks at Midousuji’s face, really looks, he sees the clear trails of tears down Midousuji’s cheeks.

He’d always thought that Midousuji would bleed black and weep black too but in his grief, Midousuji is as human as Ishigaki.

It’s then, standing in the graveyard with his hand on a crying boy’s shoulder, that Ishigaki makes up his mind not to let Midousuji lose himself.

He will be Midousuji’s conscience; he will remember those black eyes belong to a human.

FILL: Team The Prince of Tennis, T

[fickle]

Ship: Seijou & Shiratorizawa & Karasuno & Nekoma & Fukurodani
Fandom: Haikyuu
Major Tags: tags omitted
Other Tags: tags omitted
Word Count: 456

Thank you for prompting this, I’m sorry it’s pure crack. XD

***


“Hah!” Karasuno crowed, strutting around proudly. It flapped its wings wide with a toss of its head, eyes flashing brown-blue-black as it leapt into the air and then flew a victory lap around the gym. “We won! We WON!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Nekoma said lazily from where it was curled up on a pile of gym mats. Its tail flicked back and forth behind it with irritation as it licked a paw and then tried to twist around to groom its own hair. The improbable twisting of its body often drew jokes about how it should specialize in ballet, but Nekoma resolutely stuck with volleyball. “And it’s been how long since you’ve won?”

“You’re just jealous,” Karasuno said, landing just within range that when it flapped its wings, dust would blow over Nekoma. “I’m back on top and you’re still stuck scavenging at the garbage heap!”

“Could you gloat a little more quietly?” Seijoh asked. The dryad-esque incarnation was covered in leaves, licorice plant leaves forming the white of the uniform while hosta leaves made up the mint sections. “Really, you’re so loud. It’s as if you’ve never won anything before.”

Tactfully, nobody mentioned the raindrop-trails over its face where Seijoh had cried itself into a drought after its loss to Karasuno.

“Nope.” Karasuno strutted about proudly, preening at Fukurodani. “Hey! High-five for avians beating mammals and plants!”

The two school spirits high-fived, Fukurodani grinning at Karasuno and clicking its beak like castanets.

“Let’s go for a victory tour of Japan next summer holidays!” Fukurodani suggested. “We can fly all over and look at all the schools you beat!”

“Yeah!” Karasuno hopped delightedly into the air, wings flaring to their widest extent and looked over at the most silent member of the group.

“Not even going to offer me your congratulations, Swan?” It teased. “You should be grateful. Now you can untie those stupid fake eagle wings.”

“They weren’t stupid,” Shiratoriwaza huffed. “They symbolized the strength of our best player and how he would succeed all alone because eagles are solitary creatures and swans are a flock of equals--”

Karasuno, growing bored of listening to Shiratoriwaza, simply hopped over and bit through the cords keeping the painted cardboard eagle wings tied to Shiratoriwaza’s vast white swan wings.

Shiratoriwaza let out an angry honk, then subsided into sulky silence, ruffling its feathers pointedly at Karasuno. Stretching its wide wings out, it took a few tentative steps forwards, then muttered, “Thank you.”

“Sorry, couldn’t hear you, what was that?” Karasuno asked as it cupped a hand to its ear.

Shiratoriwaza hissed, drawing its head back. “I will break your wings, Karasuno, if you make me say it again.”

Karasuno smirked. “Still won’t change the fact we won!”

FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND, G

[themorninglark]

Ship: Kageyama Tobio/Hinata Shouyou
Fandom: Haikyuu!!
Major Tags: None
Other Tags: HP AU, tie hell
Word Count: 572

this might not be how you envisioned it, but thank you for allowing me to indulge my Tie Kink :')

***

It is the portraits who know it first, who carry their dusty whispers through stairwells and walls.

It is the ghosts who know it next, and it doesn’t take them long to find out. The Fat Friar would never tell anyone, but there are those who leave glimpses and memories scattered about as they drift down the corridors, and there are those who dance with shadows through windows and locked keyholes.

No one can find out, Kageyama had hissed, against a snort and a boisterous giggle from Hinata’s lips, far too loud an echo in the bathroom for his liking.

The wind sang, an old ditty buried in the stones of the castle, and in the morning, Kageyama finds one of his ties is missing.

It’s not like him to lose a tie. But he’s late and his sheets are mussed, so he makes them in a hurry, runs down to breakfast with a poltergeist’s laugh in his ears. There is a lot of noise from the Gryffindor table. He makes a point of resolutely ignoring it, helps himself to an extra carton of milk to keep from yawning his way through Potions, and does not turn to look when he hears Hinata’s voice ring out, clear as a bell.

It is the portraits who tell him, later.

The lady in pink, the one on the first floor by the archway that leads to the training grounds, beckons him over with a crooked finger and an arch smile on her face. She has always been fond of them, called out a warning once when one of Kageyama’s teammates was just round the corner.

It is the ghosts who confirm it, without Kageyama even having to ask. Did you hear? Did you hear? Did you see?

“No,” he snaps out loud, and they melt like ice in the heat of his voice.

He does not see until after dinner, when he bumps into Hinata outside the bathroom again. For once, he does not question Hinata’s knack for inopportune meetings in the oddest places, doesn’t waste time pretending to get mad at him; a lightning-quick furtive glance to his left and right and his hand darts out, yanks Hinata close by the sloppy knot at his throat before slamming the door at their backs.

“You,” is all he manages to choke out before Hinata’s grinning brighter than skylights, cheeks flushed warm pink, and the rest of Kageyama’s admonition sputters out on his tongue.

“You’re wearing my tie. You’re still wearing my tie,” he finally manages to say, letting go slowly. “Are you an idiot?”

His fingers shake as they draw a trail down the rumpled silk, take in the sight of yellow against orange. All of the colours of the sunrise, right here beating by Hinata’s heart.

“I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry,” says Hinata, breathless. “But it’s not like I gave us away or anything! I kept my mouth shut about you!”

Kageyama feels an absurd laugh bubbling at his lips. Hinata, talking of keeping his mouth shut. He’d never thought he’d see the day, but—

Some things do matter enough to Hinata, after all. It is Kageyama who is the fool for ever forgetting that.

“Besides,” Hinata adds, preening a little, “you know, I think it looks good on me. Don’t you think so too, Kageyama-kun?”

Kageyama loops his fingers through the tie again, and even the ghosts fall silent.

FILL: Team [Imaizumi Shunsuke/Kinjou Shingo], [G]

[krankran]

Ship: Yazawa Nico/Ayase Eli
Fandom: Love Live
Major Tags: None
Other Tags: None
Word Count: None

Eli has good ideas. Nico has... Ideas.

***

Re: FILL: TEAM GRANDSTAND, G

[fickle]

omg this is hilarious! I love how you set it up and how you described the castle as well as the ghosts and pictures - I would have never even THOUGHT of including them - and Hinata CONTINUING to wear the tie is so good and SO HIM.

I love that Hinata didn't actually give Kageyama too! YES. HE KNOWS HOW TO BE DISCREET ABOUT WHAT MATTERS. KAGEYAMA MATTERS.

Thanks so much for this super cute fill! I love it :D

FILL: TEAM HIMURO TATSUYA/NIJIMURA SHUUZOU, T

[hatchbacks]

Ship: Kise/Kasamatsu
Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke
Major Tags: TAGS OMITTED
Other Tags: TAGS OMITTED
Word Count: 443

***

Kise is easy to pin down until he’s not, but then he’s hard to pin down until he’s easy all over again, which he’d probably try to sell as part of his charm (but then, to him isn’t everything?) if Kasamatsu were to ever bring it up to him. He’s got layers, but at the bottom he’s just the same as Kasamatsu, just another boy who loves basketball in that kind of desperate way, who makes mistakes and grows with his mind and body not quite in synchronicity yet.

It’s easy to see him the way you want to, to project yourself or the things you want to see in him. An outer layer of pretty, perfect, charming; the layer below that of a kid coasting by on his personality without working hard enough, entitled and lazy. He is some of each of those, sometimes, but it’s not like they’re floating at his surface with nothing underneath but hot air. There is something under that, if you look and Kise lets you see, a jumble of things copied from other people, mannerisms and ways of relating, emotions that aren’t the muted happy perky or competitive he lets rise up, anger and annoyance and a smugness that’s not so far below but runs deeper, a willingness to rub things in people’s faces. Another mask, though, but Kasamatsu’s patient enough to watch that jumble settle down and see what is, for lack of a better word, the real Kise.

The light in his heart, the fight, the beauty that puts the outer layer to shame. The desire, grounded and in opposition to the flighty shallows of the rest of him. Deep down, the singular focus, the desire to win, the love of basketball interwoven like braided hair from scalp to tip. A beautiful glow, fierce like something bioluminescent at the bottom of the sea, something Kasamatsu can’t look away from. It’s not going to hurt his eyes to look at, though, and it’s an absolute privilege to be able to see all of that in Kise.

Kise might call this part of his charm, but it’s not nearly so thin as that, not designed to lure people in, not designed to be seen at all. Kasamatsu’s already hooked, already too far gone, by the time he heads toward the center, but that’s okay. Even if Kise isn’t as gone on him, even if this is only temporary, and when this started Kasamatsu would have said it was. Except Kise’s a hell of a lot more committed than he sees, a hell of a lot more stubborn, too—so Kasamatsu gets the feeling it won’t be.

FILL: TEAM HIMURO TATSUYA/NIJIMURA SHUUZOU, T

[hatchbacks]

Ship: Akashi/Mayuzumi
Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke
Major Tags: TAGS OMITTED
Other Tags: TAGS OMITTED
Word Count: 427

***

Seijuurou probably knows he’s here. Okay, he definitely knows Chihiro’s here; it had been in the way he’d laughed on the phone when he’d told Chihiro he would be coming in from Kyoto, the way he’d asked Chihiro if he’d come to the game like he’d already known the answer, so Chihiro didn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing a no if Seijuurou was so damn sure about everything. And, well, no would have been the answer, regardless of what Chihiro ended up doing, because he can’t just let Seijuurou think he’s going to drop everything, all of his college stuff and his job, just to watch a damn basketball game because Seijuurou’s in it.

He’d just happened to be free today; that’s all. And he’d come alone, because he’s not going to let anyone know he’s going to see his high school classmate. Who is also his boyfriend. Who is definitely going to meet him for a date afterwards, or at least he’d suggested as much, which for someone like Seijuurou is an order to be there. Chihiro resents that a little, but it also means Seijuurou’s paying, so he won’t say no to that.

*

“Did you enjoy the game?” says Seijuurou.

The restaurant is fairly quiet, crowded but sedate, and somehow even though it had seemed like half the goddamn city had come out to see this stupid game no one here is asking Seijuurou for his autograph. (Chihiro’s not sure if he’d be revolted or if he’d just laugh about it if it happened.)

“Who says I went?”

Seijuurou smiles and sips his water, and Chihiro wants to grind his teeth. He does not; he shrugs instead.

“It was fine. Too offense-heavy. I’m surprised you didn’t focus on D for a team like that.”

“The best defense is a good offense,” says Seijuurou.

“Not enough defensive players at your disposal?” says Chihiro.

Seijuurou doesn't take the bait, and that’s no fun. Not until his knuckles bump the end of Chihiro’s knee under the table, and by the time Chihiro’s hand reaches over to capture them they’re gone. Chihiro checks his watch; they’ve been here long enough. They’re together so rarely, and he has no particular desire to spend their time, as it winds down, in a restaurant with other people all around them.

“Could I have the check?” Seijuurou asks as the waiter comes around again.

Chihiro is rarely grateful for Seijuurou’s tendency to act like he can read minds, but it does come in handy some of the time. Not very often, though.

FILL: TEAM HIMURO TATSUYA/NIJIMURA SHUUZOU, T

[hatchbacks]

Ship: Momoi/Riko
Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke
Major Tags: TAGS OMITTED
Other Tags: TAGS OMITTED
Word Count: 407

***

They come in early on Saturday, before the shop opens and while Satsuki’s coworkers are all getting set up. There’s a room near the back, very clean and bright, not really fitting Riko’s idea of dark corners and grunge in a place like this, but she doesn’t say anything. Unfortunately, Satsuki has a tendency to follow her thought patterns; when Riko turns to look at her she’s smiling in just that way.

“You know, it’s a lot easier to see what you’re doing with more light. And for hygiene and liability reasons, well. We keep it clean.”

Riko flushes. “I wasn’t suggesting—”

“Of course not; you didn’t say anything,” says Satsuki. “Now take off your shirt.”

Okay, Riko knows she has to in order to do this part but it still feels a little weird, a little like the plot of a porno, to get topless in a piercing parlor with her girlfriend and a few sharp objects (yeah, maybe she’s got a dirty mind, but she’s pretty sure Satsuki’s thinking something too, the way she looks at her—the way she always looks at Riko, with an undisguised interest that had taken a little bit of getting used to). Okay, Satsuki’s definitely thinking something a little dirty when Riko flinches back at the cold disinfectant Satsuki applies to her nipples and the area around them, and she’s definitely spending a little bit too long on that (Riko’s gotten her ears pierced already; she’s pretty sure less than that is a little adequate).

“Nice and clean,” Satsuki murmurs. “Here comes the hard part.”

The piercing gun goes through each one quickly, before Riko has a chance to react as it happens. She can definitely feel it, though; her skin’s awfully sensitive there and, oh. She looks down, and whoa, that looks hot. Like, really hot, like better than she’d imagined. And Satsuki’s looking awfully pleased with herself and with the way it had turned out, and Riko will allow that she should be.

“You know,” Satsuki says. “We could throw in a free tattoo.”

“I’m not ready for that,” says Riko. “And you’re already giving me the employee discount.”

“Not like I could use it on anyone else,” says Satsuki. “I have all I need for now, and Dai-chan’s scared of needles.”

“Gee, thanks,” says Riko (though she knows how Satsuki means it).

Satsuki leans in and ksisses her, fingertips brushing the bottoms of her breasts.

FILL: TEAM HIMURO TATSUYA/NIJIMURA SHUUZOU, T

[hatchbacks]

Ship: Akashi/Midorima, Aomine/Midorima
Fandom: Kuroko no Basuke
Major Tags: TAGS OMITTED
Other Tags: TAGS OMITTED
Word Count: 409

***

It is beginning to fade, Midorima thinks, like the moon bleeding over the edge of the horizon towards disappearance, glowing bright orange and large in the sky before it goes. Aomine could probably think of a better comparison, but this isn’t something he talks about with Aomine, lodged in the back of his throat if he ever feels like he wants to or should. Something of their shared past, but really of Midorima’s, all the time and care he’d sunk into a relationship destined to sink itself. Not really a relationship at all, but encased inside of him. The aches he still feels, waking up and thinking about a dream he’d had, playing shogi with Akashi. Waking up and thinking about Aomine beside him, Aomine and his own doomed past, and then feeling guilty that he only thinks about Akashi when he has a piece of toast Aomine had made for him in his mouth.

He used to think that he would be forever sunk into the trappings of old love, something so romantically doomed as him and Akashi. Something that never could have worked, a vow he had made to beat Akashi, to be the first to show him defeat, a vow he could not keep, a victory that had meant so much less when it had come. A victory he had not meant as that, but was not nearly so much as he had built it up to be, but perhaps that had been the middle of the end. The beginning coming earlier, how much earlier? Midorima hadn’t bene prepared to let it go, but it has loosened his clutches on him and he has to work to keep it close.

He does not have the energy that he is willing to devote to it any longer, to those long-held feelings that have taken root in him but are now withering and dying. Wonderful, terrible, neither, both. Sometimes Aomine looks at him and Midorima wonders if he sees that. He doesn’t feel quite as bad for placing Aomine in the middle (because Aomine could choose to leave, to get out of this; Midorima’s given him room) as he does for thinking about Akashi when Aomine’s there.

“I know,” Aomine says, and he does, but he sounds as tired of every bit of this as Midorima feels.

Midorima wakes up the next morning in Aomine’s arms, thinking only of him, and it doesn’t feel bad at all.