ho-4-sho

[ho-4-sho]

Talking to Asahi feels like talking to a grandpa. He's the type of person who bursts with philosophical phrases like 'The sun doesn't ask if you're ready for a new day'. It can be so random. You literally can start with simple questions about each other's mood or even basically weather, but AT SOME POINT he has to use this strange phrase after which you will stare at him with a completely confused expression

[ho-4-sho]

when i'm in an especially bad place i tell myself “the karasuno boys could never” but the other day i stopped and reflected bc there’s no way that’s true.

so, without further ado, find out if your favorite karasuno boy has …

✨ d e p r e s s i o n ✨

tw: depression.

asahi - the most clinically depressed person on the team and he cannot figure out how to manage it properly. has tried like 4 different meds and none of them work right. if he misses a day or even just takes them a few hours late he’s a total wreck from the side effects. also he defo needs a new therapist bc his doesn't structure visits in a way that is helpful, but one of asahi's issues is people pleasing so he can't break up with him

tsukki - ceo of “have you looked around lately? of course I’m depressed,” except it's been like that since the end of primary school. he doesn’t think he’s actually depressed (he is). and even if he was, it’s not like it’s bad enough that anyone would prescribe him medication for it (they would). hates the thought of medication because he’s afraid that he won’t feel like himself. his brother is his number one supporter and is quick to remind tsukki that he would drop everything for him if need be

yams - part of why he and tsukki are so close is because yamaguchi can empathize with him in ways other kids their age can't. it's a big part of why their friendship is so strong. sure, tsukki stood up to his bullies and that is a big part of why yams feels comfortable around him, but yamaguchi makes tsukishima feel comfortable by never making him feel the need to explain himself. even if they think and express themselves differently, yams gets him. v different experiences tho, i mean, they're wayyy different people. the empathy yams has for others because of his depression is not tsukki-specific, but he kind of tunes it out in his bullying era because he cares about tsukki and he can't go back to how things were before. that said he for sure can't fall asleep sometimes thinking about whether his not standing up for someone/egging tsukki on makes him just as bad as his own bullies all those years ago. yams is medicated, but unlike asahi, the first medication he tried was a perfect fit lucky bastard

suga - even though suga is the perfect mom, his parents think that kids these days are too soft and that medication won’t solve anything. definitely got a soft diagnosis from a school counselor or at an annual doctor’s visit and waved it off since he knew it isn’t something he can think about too seriously. is quick to take other people's struggles very seriously though

bonus (if you can call it that) - not from karasuno:

oikawa - similar to suga, his parents (specifically his dad) don’t believe in mental health as a concept. unlike suga... lowkey... oikawa has some old-fashioned thoughts on therapy, but it's just bc he knows he needs it

tendou - this man has been in therapy since like kindergarten. we've all seen his flashback. also depression exacerbated by adhd im not projecting, you’re projecting.

kenma - i needn't say more.

author's note: i know this is a difficult subject for a lot of people and i hope that this is helpful in some way like it was to me. don't listen to oikawa's dad. your mental health does matter (very much) and i am wishing you all the best <3

[ho-4-sho]

crying in the club this is so sweet

send me one + a character and i'll write you a drabble

─── 翔陽 INFAMMABLE BRIDGES

shouyou; 1,600 words; sfw, fluff; childhood friends to lovers; 5 times shou remembers + 1 time that you do

he has never been the forgetting kind -- not as a child, when, after the first time you told him you thought daisies were prettier than roses (who likes roses anyway? not you, eughck), he'd shown up at your door with dirty nails and a fistful of road-side daisies. his missing-toothed smile had been wide as a yawning horizon, bright as the first strip of lemon-yellow sunlight on a summer's day.

he's never been the forgetting kind, not as an middle school student -- even though his grades have always been nothing short of abominable, he's never forgotten that you prefer .7 lead over .5 because it's better for doodling in the edges of your notebooks.

"c'mon shou, you gotta focus if you wanna get into a good high school!" you tap your pencil against his mad scribble of illegible notes even as he whines, peering up at you with those honey-warm eyes.

"but its sooooo haaaard," he drops his face to the table, turning to pillow his cheek to the pages of the notebook, uncaring of the fact that when he picks his face back up, it'll be lead-stained. you fight back an exasperated grin, reaching out to wipe at the dark smear.

he pauses for a second at the familiar warmth of your touch. you drop your eyes back to your workbook page, resuming your work. you don't see him reach up to brush his own fingers along the place where your fingertips had touched.

later that night, with the pair of you sprawled out on your couch, flipping through channels till he settles on the sports channel, showing reruns of the local high school volleyball championships, shouyou turns to you with bright eyes and asks --

"hey! if i win the olympics gold medal for volleyball one day, will you marry me?"

you blink owlishly at him, momentarily distracted by the over-eager announcer as they exclaim over another apparently spectacular spike made by a guy named the little giant.

you shrug, "sure -- if you ever get olympics gold."

he's never been the forgetting kind, not as high school student, a even though you're cities apart now -- he shows up at your culture festival, sweaty and out of breath. you blink at him from behind the takoyaki stand, the smell of slightly burnt dough singeing your nostrils.

"s-shou! what're you --"

"s-sorry i'm l-late! h-had to bi-bike across the mountains --" he pants, propping his palms on his knees, careless of the alarmed looks of the other students still queueing up for their takoyakis, "but i d-didn't wanna miss your takoyaki stand!"

you stare, slack-jawed, wracking your brain for when you'd told him (but of course you had; you tell him everything, don't you?).

someone nudges you and you jerk out of your reverie, hurriedly flipping the takoyakis in your pan, grimacing slightly at the burnt backs. you give the queueing customers an apologetic smile as you scoop them out and drizzle them in sauce.

shouyou waits the entire 45 minutes it takes to get to the front of the line, grinning as he hands over a crumpled bill and asks for two servings. you cock your head, but he reaches over to flick at your sweat-beaded forehead.

"one's for you, duh!"

he's never been the forgetting kind, even though you know he spends all his time practicing, and it's hard, being 3rd years, what with uni apps to worry about and careers to consider.

he shows up at your door at 11:54pm, his hair tousled, his cheeks kissed pink by the cold. his breath frosts the air between you as he shoots you a bright grin and holds out a bouquet of flowers (your eyes linger on the tiny white daisies scattered throughout the bouquet like so many handfuls of lost stars).

"congrats on getting into u tokyo!" he pushes the flowers into your hands, glancing up at the darkened sky just as the first flakes of snow start to fall. you purse your lips, staring down at the flowers, a soft laugh creeping up your throat as you take half a step back to let him in.

"thanks, shou -- but you didn't need to buy me flowers, or anything -- and i know you're training for nationals --"

he shakes his head, stepping into the genkan and patting at the snow in his hair. you giggle, reaching up to dust at his shoulders, wondering vaguely when he'd gotten tall enough for you to have to reach up --

"course i did! not every day your b-best friend gets into the best university in all of japan!" he laughs, but when you join in with a soft giggle, he quiets, looking at you with those dark, steady eyes. you don't ask him why he'd stuttered over the word best friend -- it's what you are (though something inside you clunks)... because that's what you'd always been.

he's never been the forgetting kind, not as an adult, halfway across the world, two oceans keeping the pair of you apart. your phone rings early on a wednesday morning, and you scrub at your eyes, frowning as you swipe up to answer.

"shou? what's wrong? why're you up so late --?"

"happy birthday," he says, his voice still gravely from sleep.

warmth pools in the depths of your belly as you slump back onto your own bed, throwing an arm over your eyes to shield you from the first rays of unforgiving sunlight streaming through your window. you don't try to fight the grin that spreads across your lips as you whisper a soft --

"thanks."

a beat of silence crackles across the line.

shouyou clears his throat; it's a marvel, really, how much a few years a couple thousand miles can change the sound of a person's voice -- roughen it up around the edges, deepen it till it unspools something tucked inside you, or perhaps, it had always been his to undo -- and you'd just been waiting for him to reach out and do it.

"isn't it like... 1am in germany? don't you have a game tomorrow?"

"yep, but... still wanted to be the first one to wish you happy birthday." you can almost hear the light-bending gravity of his smile, all cheek and teeth and half-moon eyes.

you sigh, nodding, before you remember he can't see.

"well, you are -- you always are."

he hums, barely stifling a yawn. you crinkle your nose.

"go to bed, shou. i'll call you before your game tomorrow."

"okay," he says, and you hear the faint sounds of sheets shuffling as he settles back into his blankets. you roll onto your side and stare at the array of small trinkets he's brought back for you over the years -- a volleyball keychain, a tiny crow plush, a christ the redeemer statue from rio, an eiffel tower snow-globe from paris.

"i love you." he says. and there's no hesitation, no buildup, just a simple statement of fact. you sink deeper into your pillow, your cheeks awash with heat.

"yeah... i know," you whisper, pulling your blankets up over your head like you used to when the pair of you were still young enough to build blanket forts in his living room, giggling over stolen cookies and a flashlight clutched between chocolate-sticky fingers.

"good," he says, with a contented sigh.

"sleep, shou," you say. and he hums again, laughing. the sound rocks through you, soft and sweet as a rising tide, coming home to shore.

"yeah, gnight."

you've never been the forgetting kind, not when it's the most important day of his whole life (though he might argue, later on, the pair of you tangled in the sheets of his hotel room, his arm banded over your stomach as he nuzzles his face into your cheek, that the most important day of his life was when he first met you) --

"shou!"

he knows its you even before he turns to see you, the sound of your voice carried above the roaring of the crowd as he wipes at his face with the already soaked bottom of his jersey.

he turns just in time to catch you as you bowl into him, careless of the massive bouquet of flowers clutched in your arms, now squashed between you as he hoists you up with a joyous laugh.

he kisses you in front of the entire crowd, and you let him. of course you do.

later, when an interviewer asks you what it's like to have an olympic gold medalist as your boyfriend, you cut her off to say --

"fiancé."

she blinks, cocking her head, looking bewildered, even as shouyou jerks back, staring down at you, mouth agape.

the interviewer looks between the pair of you before asking, "sorry, did i hear that right? the pair of you are engaged?"

you shoot her a toothy grin, "yep!" before turning to grin up at an utterly shell-shocked shouyou with, "i promised i'd marry you if you ever won an olympic gold, remember?"

at this, shouyou's whole body softens, slackening as he tips into a fit of full-bellied laughter, pulling you into him for another sweet kiss, one that has the interviewer glancing away for just a second.

"yeah... yeah i do... god, i can't believe you remember that!"

you roll your eyes, giving him a playful shove, "i can't believe you forgot."

he shakes his head, "i didn't. i never did. i just..." he trails off, smiling helplessly down at you.

you lean up to give him another little peck on the lips.

"well, no going back on it now, shou."

shouyou nods, turning back to the interviewer with a bright smile, "nope, wasn't ever planning on it."

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