#(like my whole thing is only following back people i see i interacting w at least one of my moots/friends) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

animebw · 3 months

Note

So, I've been getting almost all my hibike euphonium knowledge from osmosis from what you say. So I wanted to know how integral to the plot is that guy some people ship kumiko with (never learned his name), not only in this season, but in the previous ones too.

Because I don't think you mentioned him at all while talking about this season, other then kumiko being tired when people think they are dating, but I have seem some people say that they did end up together bc something something hair clip in the epilogue?

Also wanted to know if they dropped or dealt with the Reina crush on the teacher thing

You do seem to cherish this show a lot, so I do wanted to check it out myself, but these two things are the only things holding me back at this moment

So here's what actually happens: in the original novels, Kumiko and Shu get together at the end. Unambiguously. She confesses, he gives her the hairclip back, it's a whole big scene.

In the show, Shuichi has maybe twenty lines of dialogue across the entire final season, not a single of which has romantic implications or framing, he has a single line of dialogue in the entire final episode, and then we see Kumiko has the hairpin in the epilogue but it's not commented upon and Shuichi is never seen again.

Last week when episode 12 aired, the original author Ayano Takeda posted on Twitter that she was happy with the changes KyoAni made, and she encouraged fans to appreciate her novels and KyoAni's adaptation as equally valid interpretations of the same story. There was, however, a follow-up tweet where she further clarified that she had the final say on any changes the show made, and if Hanada or Ishihara or whoever proposed a change she wasn't fond of, it was ultimately her call whether to let it happen or not. So what this feels like to me? Is a compromise. A compromise between Takeda's original vision and KyoAni just very obviously not giving a single shit about Kumiko and Shuichi as a couple.

Now, KyoAni's been changing things in Eupho ever since the first season, and in fact, most of their shows diverge pretty heavily from the source material. And since I haven't read the original novels, I only have secondhand knowledge on what KyoAni added or took away. But what I have heard is that while all of Kumiko and Reina's subtext is still there in the novels, Shuichi has a far more visible role in Kumiko's life, with many more scenes dedicated to them as a romantic subplot. In fact, I've heard there were a few scenes in season one between Kumiko and Reina that were originally between Kumiko and Shuichi in the novels. I can't confirm if that's true or not, but frankly, it would not surprise me one bit.

Obviously, I don't know the reasoning behind the decisions KyoAni made. But looking at Hibike as a whole, it feels like they looked at this story with a pretty standard het relationship subplot and realized there was actually a far more compelling love story lurking just underneath the surface, one that Takeda herself didn't seem to realize was as special as it was. So when they turned it into an anime, they made the conscious choice to downplay Shuichi's role as much as possible and cash all their chips on centering her relationship with Reina as the real heart and soul of the story. And over the course of nine years, they supported that story as much as they could, finding every way possible to prioritize them in the narrative and frame them with the cinematic language they've deployed for so many straight couples in the past, while simultaneously refusing to give Kumiko even a single moment where she appears romantically interested in Shuichi.

And I want to stress that last point in particular: outside of that one scene in the Year 2 movie where Shuichi almost kisses her, every single interaction Kumiko's had with the idea of being in a relationship with Shuichi has been "Oh HELL no." She's constantly avoiding him in their first year, she can barely work up the effort to be civil to him while they're actually dating, and it's only after they break up that they're able to be on good terms with each other as friends. Even in this final season, there hasn't been a single moment where it's felt like either of them were considering getting back together. Shuichi's just been happy to support her, and Kumiko feels comfortable around him for the first time ever, and that's the extent of it. It's only the comments from the first years that suggest anything about a romantic subplot still ongoing between them, but none of that is reflected in any of their onscreen moments.

Like, even putting Kumirei aside, there is just no romantic tension between them anymore. Not even in a "Wow, where did that romantic moment come from? That was so forced out of nowhere!" sort of situation- the love story between them is completely nonexistent at this point. The only evidence in this entire fucking season that they start dating again is Kumiko having the hairpin in the epilogue (which, side note, hasn't been brought up all season either), which, frankly, is so open to interpretation that Bandai's shareholders are salivating in jealousy. Sure, maybe it does mean Shuichi asked her again and she accepted, but it could just as easily mean he gave it to her free of charge and accepted she didn't think of him that way. Or it could even mean he gave it to her and said something like "Once Reina finally gets turned down by Taki-sensei, make sure you give this to her, I think it'll be put to far better use that way." And frankly, that last interpretation is way more supported by the show I just watched than simply them getting back together.

The point is, KyoAni does not care about Kumiko and Shuichi getting together. It has never cared about Kumiko and Shuichi getting together. Honestly, my crack theory is the reason they sped through Kumiko's second year in a movie is to get through her Dating Shuichi arc as fast as humanly possibly. But Takeda clearly does care about them getting together, considering that's what happened in the novels. And I suspect that's one thing she decided not to budge on when they were in conversations discussing the changes KyoAni wanted to make. So to compromise, KyoAni put in the barest minimum effort to suggest things technically played out like they did in the novels- "Look, she's got his hairpin! That means they got back together!"- while refusing to spend a single solitary second on it beyond that and removing any explicit confirmation so everyone who doesn't care about them as a couple- KyoAni included- can interpret it otherwise and be fully justified in doing so.

Because from start to finish, through the entirety of this season, the love story that stood at the center of everything was Kumirei. Every last plot beat, every last thematic throughline, every last bit of swelling music and romantic framing and effort spent making you root for two people to stay together, it was always them and no one else. Even the big change they made in episode 12 where Kumiko loses the soli only further cements their story as the story of this show, with Reina's utter devastation at losing her only confirming just how special Kumiko was to her in a way not even Taki-sensei truly measures up to. I've said it in the past, but even moreso now than ever, it is impossible to look at the arc of Hibike Euphonium and not see a love story between these two girls, a story about just how fucking much they mean to each other and all the reasons their connection was something unlike anything else on this earth.

And if you choose to see it as a story of Kumiko and Shuichi getting together instead? Then you are actively fighting against what the show is communicating to you every second of every episode. You are, in fact, the delusional shipper inventing a romantic subplot where none exists. You are everything that yuri shippers are accused of being when they choose to actively engage with the text as it exists and not as you imagine it to be. Because as open-ended as the ending is, as straight as it pretends to be, it is far easier to imagine a future where Kumiko and Reina reunite as lovers than a future where she somehow falls for the guy she's never shown any interest in before. Frankly, if I was a Shuichi truther I'd feel pretty insulted by this ending! "What do you mean their entire subplot is cut out and it's only half-assedly implied in the epilogue that it totally happened offscreen? What is this bullshit?!"

This is why I chafe so strongly against the queerbaiting label. I watched three seasons of BBC Sherlock, I know full well what queerbaiting looks like. But a love story like this does not happen out of malice. It only happens because every single person involved, from animators to voice actors to directors and everyone in between, believes in it so strongly that they're willing to push as hard as they can to make it as real as physically possible within the limitations at their disposal. Kumirei is Hibike. Their story is Hibike. And if KyoAni can't convince Takeda to let them embrace it fully, well, they can at least wrestle her to a stalemate that allows that interpretation to still be possible- and, even, more plausible than the direction she initially took it down.

Adaptation is an art of making changes. It requires a text to stand on its own, fully apart from whatever source it sprang from. And KyoAni in particular has always embraced the philosophy of treating adaptation not as a one-to-one copy machine like so many of its contemporaries, but an opportunity to build something entirely new. All of its shows are, first and foremost, shows before they're translations of their source material, works of art designed to be taken as wholly complete experiences however much they resemble their inspirations or not. In Hibike! Euphonium the novel series, Kumiko and Shuichi are canon. In Hibike! Euphonium the TV show? It's flat out impossible to come to that same conclusion unless you're dead-set on believing what you want to believe, evidence be damned. And if you're so obsessed with this mid het ship that you choose to ignore the single greatest love story of all time to pretend it's more plausible, then you're simply an idiot who's opinions aren't worth engaging with.

#anime #tabw #tabw q+a #the anime binge watcher #hibike euphonium #hibike! euphonium #hibike rw #kumirei #do not ask me how long this took to write lol

67 notes · View notes

eddiediazismyhusband · 2 months

Note

I totally get you with the bait vibes and I am apprehensive about buddie/its timing this season. My only thing is that Oliver has spoken so much in the past over worrying about baiting people with buddie and Ryan has spoken with so much care about these characters together that I just can't see either of them suddenly going all in on baiting with buddie without knowing that there are good things coming for them. Not saying they'll go canon in episode 2 or anything but they likely know the general arc/storyline for the season and knowing how much we and they care about buddie, I don't see Ryan or Oliver toying with the fans for fun and being careless or meanspirited about it unless they felt assured about where things might be going this season

this is why the fact that it’s on the official 911 account worries me. because it’s not just ryan and oliver posting, it’s olvier filming a video he was told to for the official account that ryan was also in, and the conscious decision for that video to be posted was made by someone who knows all the attention buddie brings in. if it was for olvier’s personal instagram then maybe id be a little less concerned about it, but the simple fact that it was for a video on the official 911 account doesn’t give me good vibes

i think often times in fandom we view the actors as having a lot more say in things than they actually do… obviously i don’t know what rules and regulations regarding social media involvement the cast have to follow, but i think the fandom automatically assumes that ryan and oliver get veto rights on things just bc of how involved in the show they are, when that’s often not the case— most of the time in show business, actors have to get things approved before they post them to keep from accidentally spoiling things.

that video wasn’t just ryan and oliver goofing off on set (i mean it was); it was intentionally chosen by someone on the 911 team and approved for the official account. it was chosen and approved bc ryan and oliver together means fandom interaction. it’s the same reason we had so many ryan and oliver interviews before s7 with all this pr talk of “they get closer than ever” and “they have such a strong bond” just for buddie to have very few actual meaningful moments onscreen. it’s textbook baiting, and tim has shown he’s not afraid of that.

i know oliver and ryan both feel strongly about buddie and both want to be careful about not baiting, but they’re not the issue here; the issue is that they are both employed by this production, and that means that sometimes they aren’t allowed to say “no” to how something is promoted.

(small addendum)

in regards to the “general storyline of the season” thing you mentioned (and i do not meant this to come across bitchy or rude at ALL) but tim has also stated that he doesn’t plan out seasons. he may bring up storylines he has ideas for and have an idea of where he might go, but he himself has said he doesn’t plan out full seasons (which is….. kinda what his whole job is supposed to be but i digress) and on top of that, we saw in s7 how quickly he made the decision to completely scrap his original ideas for 7b, scrapping a storyline w abuela that was mentioned, as well as bringing e*y and l*u back for more episodes than they were originally supposed to appear in, and creating that god awful “vertigo” mess…

im sure ryan and oliver are told “oh yeah we’re aiming for buddie canon this season” just like the show tries to do to us with the interviews and bts content, only to change their minds a few episodes in because they intentionally convolute/switch up the plot and say “ohhhh it just didn’t go there naturally :/“ (which is complete bullshit for reasons i shouldn’t have to explain to anyone)

overall i think fandom is too disconnected from how the show works/has worked in the past, and that we often ignore things that have been said in favor of the shiny buddie bait from the production (which is the whole point of the bait to begin with) and all that does is sets us up for disappointment in the long run because we convince ourselves that buddie is happening based on oliver and ryan talking about it, when oliver snd ryan most likely are also being strung along, and don’t have any veto power in that.

#911 abc #911 #911 on abc #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie #buddie 911 #buck and eddie #911 buddie #ryan guzman #oliver stark #911 cast #911 bts #911 discourse

21 notes · View notes

the-cookie-of-doom · 6 months

Note

Hiii

I remember when you were posting about your Kim/Wik Twins AU and I was so hooked! There’s so much potential for angst in this AU😩🤌 I always wondered if there was anything new going on with this WIP.

PS: I’ve been following your blog for a little while (I don’t interact bc im shyy) and I love all your Kimchay WIPS and little excerpts you’ve blessed us with (they make my day everytime I see one). So I want to personally thank your brain for all these wonderful ideas and just thank you for being you 😊

send me an ask and I'll tell you about one of these WIPs!

Oh anon, you're a darling! This was so nice to wake up to <3 I actually haven't worked much on that AU since originally posting it, but you're right, there is so much angst potential in this AU between Wik and Kim. One of the inspirations from it actually came from World of Warcraft, and how the character Varian was split into two people, the other one being Lo'Gosh. I really loved how it wasn't just "this is the good side vs. the bad/feral side." Varian was polite and charming and good at socializing, but he was also vain and easy to manipulate (which was the point of splitting him), whereas Lo'Gosh was definitely a barbarian, but he was also all of Varian's strong will and ambition/motivation, and passion. I hadn't seen that kind of character splitting before, because it's usually an easy shorthand for doing a good/evil thing.

So for the purposes of this fic, Kim isn't just all the evil mafia while Wik is the sweetheart singer. Wik is very driven and tbh a little selfish, he's kind to his fans but ultimately very cold, because he grew up in a world where anything he cared about could be used against him. Both of them are still calculating in clever, but it's Wik that begins investigating Chay, intentionally using his stardom as an in, and purposefully manipulating him to get more information. He takes it to a stronger degree than we actually see from Kim in the show.

Whereas Kim is the quieter, more contained side. They both love music but Kim prefers guitar/piano over singing because he doesn't want to draw attention to himself the way Wik does, although he does write a lot of poetry/lyrics. One of the betrayals from Wik leaving is that he stole Kim's songs. The other is that he left Kim behind. He loves his brother more than anything, and Wik leaving him without so much as a goodbye was devastating for him.

Here's your slightly less than 500 words!

“You left me!” “Would you have even come with me?” Kim’s voice breaks on a desperate, “Yes!” He wants to take it back as soon as the word leaves his mouth, too honest in the heat of his moment, chest heaving with the weight of it. The only good thing about the admission is that his brother is too stunned to reply; Kim takes satisfaction in that, in the implication of it, as Wik realizes the depth of his own selfishness. “Kim…” “I would…” Kim swallows. Days of captivity have left his throat dry. It hurts, speaking these words aloud, tearing them out of his chest to release them after all these years. “I would have. If you asked me to, I would have.” He would have followed his brother anywhere. They were always meant to be together. Kim and Wik, two halves of the same whole, mirror images down to their names. Until Wik decided he couldn’t bear his own reflection anymore. “Kim, I’m sorry, I didn’t know—” “How could you? You only ever think about yourself.” Kim laughs. It’s wet. It hurts, like everything else about this damned conversation. Maybe Wik was right; they were better off alone. “I thought you knew me better than anyone, but you don’t know me at all.” Maybe Wik never did. What a horrible time to realize how truly alone he really is. Wik doesn’t speak for a long time. Neither does Kim, keeping his head bowed and his breaths measured, cracked ribs aching with every rise and fall of his chest. What a cruel joke that the first time they’re sharing a space in years, something Kim has longed for since the day Wik left, and it’s only because someone else has forced them together. “I don’t think you would ever leave the family,” Wik eventually says, his voice quieter than Kim has ever heard it. “You’re not like me, Kim, you never wanted to leave.” Of course he didn’t. Why would Kim ever want to leave his brothers? But at least if he had, Kinn and Tankhun would have had each other. They wouldn’t have been alone, not like Wik is now. Not like Kim is, forever missing his other half. Neither of them were meant to be alone. "It doesn't matter anymore." "Yes it does. Kim. I never meant to hurt you. I—" But there's no more time to talk because their captors are walking in, and Wik is throwing himself in front of Kim, both of them bound and unable to put of any kind of fight. Not that it would have mattered; Wik already got himself kidnapped. Too nosy to stay out of the family completely, but apparently the idealistic fool didn't bother to keep up with his martial arts. Still. Despite blaming him for the current predicament, Kim is a little bit touched that Wik is trying to protect him now. Too late to matter, maybe, but it's something.

#cookie writes #kimchay #honestly this wasn't going to be an ot3 kind of fic #KimChay was going to happen and leave Wik out of it #but Kim has SO many issues towards Wik #i think they should fuck about it

42 notes · View notes

fallenfortheniche · 2 months

Text

The Scriddler Dissertation Part 1

(As lovingly named by Adhdnursegoat)

This is a re-posting of my initial reply to the origin of Scriddler w/minor adjustments so it can stand as its own post

Data Clarification: For reference all of the following sections are based only on digital fan works/discussions of these characters that I’ve been able to find. I’m sure there are many older websites, zines, and live fan events that I just don’t know about. Most of these observations come from searching through LiveJournal, Fanfiction.net, and AO3)

I’ve been fascinated by this topic for years and it took me multiple days to write this. One of the things I’ve been doing in my off time over the last year or so is tracking how different ships came about and how they change overtime/interact with trends in fandom. Scriddler is one of the ships I’ve spent a decent amount of time looking into because it fascinated me so much.

You’ve got this ship between two prominent characters, it’s the most written about ship for each character in their primary continuity, and they have barely shared a screen or let alone even talked to each other, along with the fact that no one could really confidently say how it came about.

The thing about Scriddler is that there isn’t a point origin the can be pinned down. There was no ship defining panel or interaction that acted as a catalyst to jump start the whole thing. Instead it just started as a few people seeing the potential these two characters had for an interesting dynamic and made fan works about that. From what I’ve been able to find, fan work featuring both characters interacting doesn’t begin to show up online until around 2006. Most of these are not Ship based stories although a few of those were still posted around this time.

As time went on you began to see more romantic/sexual ones pop up. The amount of these stories started out small with only about 4 to 7 being posted a year across multiple platforms. This pace stayed steady until 2011 when Arkham City was released.

This point is where some people might consider the origin of Scriddler to be. Fans became enamored with the few audio interactions that Jonathan and Edward had and began to write more about them in the Arkham Games continuity. The reason I don’t consider this to be the origin point is two fold. 1: a relatively decent amount of fic for these characters had already been written for about 5 years at this point. 2: The majority of stories written about this ship during and post Arkham City & Asylum do NOT take place in the games continuity and instead take place in a vague ‘comics’ continuity.

Now back to the main point, you can’t find an origin for Scriddler because there isn’t one. A bunch of people all just collectively agreed that it would be neat.

(Aside 1: I’d like to note that someone once claimed that Scriddler began due to people wanting to ship Cillian Murphy’s scarecrow with someone but not having anyone in the movies so they landed on Riddler from the comics. This is definitely not the case as the vast majority of stories at the time shipped Scarecrow with the Joker not Edward to fill that gay ship void and I couldn’t find any evidence of Edward being shipped with Jon in that continuity during that time)

#Scriddler #The dissertation part 1 #edward nygma #johnathan crane #scarecrow #riddler #fanfiction #fanfiction history

24 notes · View notes

gotasenseivebeenbetrayed · 5 months

Text

I know some of us, me included, have some-what struggled heavily with all the Matty talk/speculation.

While I love just listening to Taylor and appreciating the songs for what they are and how I can relate to them. I also love the idea of trying to guess who each song is about and as I'm open-minded I've done my fair share of digging into Gaylor/Kaylor/Swiftgron as well as now, Maylor. And honestly up until Maylor, I thought it was always pretty easy to see how many holes were in the Gaylor theories and while there are holes still in Maylor, there are also - unfortunately, a lot of things that do add up to Matty being the "big muse" over Harry.

And yet, while I do see those things and sometimes have a hard time being 100% that Harry is still the big muse - I'm still here trying to convince myself. Lol

So if you also need it - buckle up & follow along, this will be long

Just to get it out of the way, it is impossible for anything from Red or 1989 to be about Matty. I know I've seen a lot of people trying to connect him into it and it's just not possible as both came out before the two ever met.

The first public interaction of either of this was on Nov 8th 2014 when Taylor liked this tumblr post of Matty wearing a 1989 shirt.

For reference 1989 originally came out Oct 27 2018 and Red Oct 22 2012. Both of those are before Nov 2018. And while Matty did say they met some time in October of 2018 (British Matt, 25, who wore a Taylor Swift 1989 shirt on stage earlier this month, told how he and the Grammy award winner had met in October - This was in this article by DailyMail posted on Nov 2018), she did not meet him and write songs about him for 1989 the same month it was being released. So according to Matty's own word, they met Oct 2018 and exchanged numbers.

Then their first official meeting in public was Nov 19 2018 when Taylor, Selena and co went to a 1975 concert. This is the concert where Harry was rumored to also be at according to US Weekly & earlier that day US Weekly posted another article claiming Taylor & Harry were talking again/friends. And I'd also like to note that I'd wager a guess that Harry introduced Taylor to The 1975 because back in 2013, Harry tweeted quite a few times about The 1975. Then back in March 2014 Harry was prank called by Matty so Matty had Harry's number.

Taylor was apparently super excited about her & Harry talking again, they apparently went to the concert together. So it'd be super unlikely after just having exchanged numbers with Matty & meeting him two or three times she'd already be obsessed with him to write songs about.

On Dec 2nd 2014 Taylor & Harry were both in London during the VS Fashion Show. So they were still friendly at that point & DailyMail posted an article saying they had drinks at a bar after.

Our third official meeting between the two was another The 1975 concert Dec. 4th 2014 in NY - yes this the same concert Kissgate happened. From there articles were being posted about them rumored to be dating. But during that same time on Dec 8th 2014, there was a blind item that Ali Lohan and Matty were hooking up. Then officially started circulating Dec 24th 2014. And both of them were supposedly at that Dec 4th show in the VIP Section.

Now if we're going to add into the fact because of Taylor stupidly mouthing the whole "This song is for you, you know who you are. I love you." last year before Cardigan and Matty having done that same thing a few days earlier at one of his concerts. People believe Cardigan and therefor August and Betty are all about Matty & Taylor and I'm assuming Ali but, I don't know for sure. If we're going based on the lyrics and idea of it being Matty & Taylor, this was the only time they would've been "dating" back then and Ali was the only one he was accused of cheating with so August would have to be Ali. And based on the lyrics, if they're to be believed. August did NOT know about Betty, Ali would've known about Taylor because not only was there rumors circulating then about T&M dating, Ali was supposedly at the same show as T, in the same section as her. August also implies the affair happened in summer but, once again T&M didn't even meet until late fall and A&M rumors and T&M rumors didn't start til Dec which is winter. Also want to add there was a blind item that said Ali & Matty sent Taylor a photo of them in bed together which is wild, obviously doesn't mean it's true but, if it were true it would indicate that Ali most def. did know about Taylor.

So based on what we know they knew each other from an unknown date in Oct and exchanged numbers then Taylor appeared at 2 of his shows between Nov and Dec. Dec. 4th is when rumors started they were dating and by Dec. 8th Matty was hooking up with Ali Lohan and him and Taylor were apparently already over. Then around Feb 24th 2015 Ellie Goulding introduced Tay & Calvin and they started dating very quickly after.

Now Maylors are trying to say that this night below which is from Feb 25th 2015 is probably the night that Taylor wrote "Exile" about saying that Matty seeing Taylor with Calvin was the whole "I can see you standing honey with his arms around your body". And Matty being jealous over Calvin. Firstly, T&C weren't even fully dating yet, they had just met and were flirting. And if they (M&T) were truly dating in Dec. 2014 and then Matty cheated on her with Ali and Taylor was "head over heels" for Matty enough to write all these songs about him - why would they be within the same area as the other? Taylor is generally not nice to her exes, especially if they screw her over and Matty would've screwed her over heavily if everything was true.

However, funnily enough there were also blind items around Dec that came out before the rumors did that suggested Taylor was going to be in a PR Relationship with Matty as a way of "roughing" up her image a bit. Normally, I do not take too much stock in blind items as anyone can submit one but, sometimes there are real ones and this one seems to be legit as they called out what would happen (T&M wouldn't ever be seen holding hands, kissing etc. but they'd be spotted supporting each other at shows and event photos of them near each other would be taken just to get people talking and as long as Matty didn't screw it up, they'd write a contract for 2015 then a week later articles were being published of them "dating" & Taylor was shown at his 2nd concert, then Matty did end up screwing things up by sleeping with Ali & that ended their possible contract).

Blind 1 & Blind 2

On her birthday in 2014 she tweeted about how she'd like the media to stop claiming she was dating her friends which was obviously a hint at both Matty and Karlie since rumors were going on about both.

By late Feb Taylor was with Calvin which lasted a year (until June 2016) and we can conclude from Taylor's own lyrics (Getaway Car and High Infidelity) she probably cheated on him. There was also a blind item that suggested she was cheating on him and when she wrote This is What We Came For with him it was about the man she was cheating on him with and he had no idea at the time. After they broke up, he wrote Ole and the entire MV was taking jabs at Harry which why would he do unless Harry was the one she cheated with.

I couldn't find an exact date but, sometime in 2015 Matty started dating an 18 year old model named Gabriella Brooks and they dated until 2019. Obviously, cheating could happen so them both having partners doesn't mean they weren't together in secret but, yeah it's leaves very little room for Cardigan, August & Betty considering the "chase two girls, lose the one" if Matty was in a relationship after Taylor started dating another man and then she got with Joe before Matty & Gabriella even broke up.

Also on Jan 20th Matty did a radio interview with Australia's 2DayFM and said

"It's all bloody fake. It's a farce." "We met each other, we exchanged numbers in the same way that a lot of people in this kind of world do, and we spoke occasionally," he said. "She's the biggest pop star in the world and I'm in Australia. There's no relationship or anything happening. It's just funny how people really, really buy into that."

In an interview with Q magazine in March 2016 Matty said he never dated Taylor. He called it a flirtation, said she wasn't a big impact on his life, and this was also the interview where he said it would have been emasculating to only be known as Taylor Swift's boyfriend.

He also said this later on when he was correcting the narrative about that interview and how people said he was being misogynistic.

I had fears of being 'somebody's boyfriend' (remember this is all speculation as we never dated!)

Feb 20 2020 they saw each other at the NME Awards and Matty said

"She was just stood behind me. I mean, I haven't seen Taylor in years so it was actually a really nice room."

So in 2020 he said they hadn't seen each other in years and he wanted to collab with her. And going off the other interviews he did, they never dated and only talked occasionally - so I'd bet money those blind items were correct and Matty fucked up any possibility of an official PR contract back in 2015 by sleeping with Ali and that they never actually hung out outside of her going to those few concert shows and then backstage at certain events. Even if they were wanting to keep their relationship secret, he did not talk about her in a light that even remotely hints at anything. And if she was writing all these songs about having a secret relationship with him why would he lie and say they hadn't even seen each other in years? He didn't need to mention that and why would he publicly talk about being nervous to talk to her again and ask her to collab if they had been having a secret affair?

Now another thing Maylors claim is that Taylor/Matty wrote songs about each other over the years and that there were songs from Midnights and Being Funny in a Foreign Language about one another but, Matty said in an interview in Nov 2022 that Taylor had only heard "bits and pieces" of their album thanks to Jack. So it does not sound like they wrote songs about each other.

Then Jan 2023 is when Taylor surprise performed for The 1975 in London which again, remember, originally Harry was who Matty wanted.

Also want to add that by Dec 2022 it seems like Taylor might've already had an idea in her mind for The Tortured Poet's Department because Matty posted this photo kissing Pheobe where he said "Gay Poets Society" referencing the 1989 classic film "Dead Poets Society." which Taylor also referenced in the Fortnight video. And they were on speaking terms at this point because Matty claims they worked together for Midnights but it was scrapped. She told us herself she started working on TTPD directly after Midnights and if Matty/Pheobe were possibly already hinting the name of it in Dec of 2022 then it's safe to say she probably already had the title track written at that point as well as Fortnight and already had the idea for the Fortnight video in her head and therefore it makes no sense for those to be about Matty when both are talking about a relationship that's already ended and this would've been before they "dated" last year.

Also, I don't think Matty and Pheobe would jokingly kiss if he was secretly with Taylor, especially since when Matty was "dating" Taylor last year he stopped kissing random fans/bandmates on stage as a show of respect to her.

Then we have Matty taking shots at Harry over the years.

In Jan 2019 he tweeted he wanted to produce Harry's new album but, that he needed Harry's new number because was "definitely blocked".

In Jan 2023 Matty said he asked Harry to be an opener for The 1975 and got told no. Apparently this was the concert that Taylor ended up doing instead. Which again, if they were having a secret affair all this time and pining for each other why the hell would invite her ex to perform as an opening instead of her?

Then in Feb 2023 he accused Harry of queerbaiting..by doing the same shit he himself does.

#haylor #anti maylor

33 notes · View notes

accio-victuuri · 1 year

Text

Sugar Rush: September CPNs 🍬🍭

The month of BXGs had some very exciting candies! Let’s review them together ^^ Same disclaimer applies. Only for CPN-loving bxgs. If you hate this kind of thing, please spare yourself the pain and scroll along.

• Similarity between Shengyang & Yibo ( when what you love becomes a career )

• Same brand = Covernat

• Them being the Sun 🧡

• WYB’s Pechoin Ad spotted in an episode of SBMS

I really have a lot of feelings with the Shengyang x Chen Shuo AU pairing. They are so perfect together!

I mean….. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

• There is something about the similarities between shengyang & yibo in the way that they look at the person they care about the most that gets me. it’s this whole “puppy” devotion they got going on. an innocent kind of love.

the kind where you look at the person’s reaction first when something happens, you wanna see them happy before you enjoy what’s in front of you. even if they don’t talk, you carefully observe their body language cause you wanna figure out how to help them and show them that you’re on their side. ☀️

• In a BTS released by One & Only, they showed some wardrobe and looks for Chen Shuo. This one is him wearing a black helmet instead of red. Did you see the peppa pig sticker? and i can’t make out the other one. What a coincidence, considering the CQL crew’s “history” with peppa pig 😂😂😂

• Not really CPN, but to archive this incident where cpfs commented WYB photos on ZZ’s douyin post. This reminds me of that 95 post on weibo, where it was all cpf, then 🍤 of course did the most to “erase” that. but that comment section has so many interactions. I’m 50/50 on this, I think it’s unnecessary to do it, knowing full well that it will “provoke” a fan war and i personally don’t want that. The other half of me tho is cackling cause cpfs surely know how to troll. My fave tho are photo comments of cute fandom dolls 🥺🥺🥺

• One and Only top box office in Chongqing on 9/4

• Summary of SBMS clowning material from 9/1 to 9/5 ☀️

• Similarity in WYB & XZ selfies ( vintage motorcycle gear )

• XZ’s mystery driver, and was it WYB?

• INNER MONGOLIA MYSTERY : I’m naming it as such because it’s truly a mystery as of writing. There’s been some rumors already that LOCH & Mermaid will have scenes shot in IM. XZ tho is confirmed to be there. The cast and crew were spotted and XZ is not exactly hiding it either, his IP is there.

What makes it sus is a video captured that is allegedly of the hotel entrance where XZ stays. It’s too dark to see who he is with but some cpfs are saying you can see someone who is like WYB going in too w/ XZ. the way the person walks tho is so WYB as far as I can tell. And the most sus thing is the hotel closed all the lights in the lobby. Who the fuck does that. Yeah I know XZ is VIP and they will do everything to protect him and make sure no photos of him will be taken. But to actually close all the lights??? There must be something more… probably another VIP guest????

and well this.. whatever this is… it’s not covering with umbrellas anymore, it had come to this kind of hiding already. and how they were hiding who was coming in and. there were 2 people. so yeah. 👀

again, i am including this here to archive but i’m not fond of them being followed around like that. just leave them alone to work in peace. 🙃 we should be more focused on their projects and not act like paps. understand the reason why there are proxy shooters is because there is an audience.

the most sus thing do, is come monday, the black cloth and all the cover up was not done anymore. So it makes you think that they were really trying to hide something in those days they used it. 🤡

• SBMS clowning series version 2 / version 3 / version 4 / version 5 / version 6

• Hangzhou Asian Games power couple 🔥🔥🔥

• THEM and Li Qin as leading lady 😂😂😂

• Their long hair! Please bring it back for both please and thank you ☺️☺️☺️

and the fact that GG is absolutely glowing in the photo. We’ve been speculating that WYB visited him, so is this the result????

• YIBO-Official 9th debut anniversary debut clowning: who folded the shirt // 2019 memories, new? black panther drawing and day&night selfies // XZ signed the artwork + the pose is inspired by yibo

• Edited background in yibo’s selfie + Why we think this was taken in Inner Mongolia

• Couple autograph !!!!

• RIO becomes cpf’s friend lol

• Love is like this / Fireworks

• The timing of their posts ( an example )

• This is so funny!!!! Now that we have a glimpse of Wei Ruolai, he is being paired to Xiao Sa — who we know is Mister Ye’s. So it’s now a love triangle 😂

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

• bracelet & hand cpn - i don’t personally buy into this cpn but a huge chunk of the fandom were talking about it so i’m including it

• XZS Vlog Chapter 6 candies: ZZ & WYB similarity in XZS vlog + xzs and ybo are working together again & salomon shoes & mosaic design + panda rumor

• Matching Mid Autumn festival post ; Also how WYB’s look like there is a Mole. ☺️

There are also talks of the photo being taken from a proper camera, the most popular guess being a leica. I guess how YBO reposted this and said something like how Bobo is a “photographer” clued people in. But it could be because he posted an artsy photo like this instead of a selfie. 📷

—— END ——

See you all next month! 💕🍬

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do #sugar rush

82 notes · View notes

skaldish · 7 months

Note

i was raised in an agnostic/atheist household, like you, but i'm fascinated by spirituality and have looked into many different paths over the years, but never really committed to anything. i've felt a pull towards loki for a long time, and it's been getting stronger again lately, but i'm always held back by my worries that it's not legitimate somehow. i sense a presence in my life, but what if it's not him? it could be something else, or i could be making things up. what if i just want it to be him because, idk, i liked the marvel character vaguely based on him when i was in high school (even tho that guy has nothing to do w my beliefs Now), or i think he's fun, or i like what he stands for, and i'm just making up this pull out of whole cloth? sorry, this is turning into a tangent, but what i'm trying to get at is - i've never really followed this pull because i'm worried i'm not coming at it with the right intentions, and i want to do this the right way. do you have any advice on how to start working with loki, or advice/thoughts on whether or not i should attempt it?

sorry if you get questions like this a lot, or it's annoying. i'm a longtime follower of yours and i've always found your posts very insightful. you've changed the way i see the world, so i'd really value your opinion, if you want to give it.

It's all good. I like questions.

I actually dealt with a very similar situation early on in my practice: I was unsure if my experiences of Loki were just figments of my imagination, or if I was actually interacting with some kind of disincorporated intelligence. And if it was the latter, was this intelligence actually Loki, or did I just want it to be Loki?

Even though I couldn't draw any conclusions from these questions, there was one thing I could conclude: "On the off-chance that this is an entity, it would be very impolite to ignore it."

I have to assume that anything that behaves and engages like a person, is a person. Regardless of whether or not Loki's real, this was the only ethical choice.

If you're experiencing some kind of energy, treat it as the kind of energy it seems to be. If that energy seems like a person, treat it as a person. If that person says he's Loki, make sure you verify it.

I have a write-up on how to do all those particulars here:

Beyond that...thinking a deity is cool and interesting and fun is a perfectly fine reason to want to venerate them.

I think folks get this impression that the only people who interact with deities are divinely chosen for it, and it's really not like that. Deities are people, and people enjoy socializing. And like with most social relations, who breaks the ice first doesn't really matter.

#norse paganism #lokean #answered

48 notes · View notes

lavernius · 5 months

Note

Use this ask as a prompt to talk abt Restoration :3 I always like reading your posts w/ your thoughts

Thank you! Heads up for the usual "I'm super RVB critical" disclaimer but here are my assorted thoughts.

RVB: RESTORATION SPOILERS under cut, very rambly, TLDR at the end.

The premise was interesting! I think I (personally) would've appreciated it way more if it had actually followed RVB13 directly, but that's beyond anyone's control. Tucker becoming the Meta is great, it would've been nice to see a real-time progression into it. Kinda sucked that Tucker himself didn't get as much focus as a character, but they probably didn't have time to squeeze in anything past Sigma mentally torturing him and Tucker's passing comments about not wanting to help him.

The animation was okay. I won't flame it because they were probably on a time crunch/low on crew, but some parts of it looked worse than others. Action sequences looked pretty good though.

They were trying to do a "final encore" thing by bringing back some old characters (even as cameos), which is, like. Fun? But I feel like focusing so much on Freelancer seasons (with Niner, Wash's hallucinations, Tex, the Meta) snubbed Chorus, which is fine, but a little sad to have the final season reflect on people from the past but not show any Chorusan past Grey. It's RVB, though, so the cast is way too huge for that shit to work out smoothly anyway.

Sarge's death sucked. I think I laughed through the whole thing because I was so baffled. It was expected, and while the comedy of it all fit him well, I just don't think it was good as like. His last ride, you know? He didn't die a valiant death, the comedy lead up was an "oh god don't do it like THIS please" moment for me. Subversion is fun but falls flatter in the very last installment of a show that's been going on for two decades. I kinda? liked that Grif was mourning it, but because his death was so lackluster the entire "This is the end for me" speech didn't grab me.

Seeing as she's my favorite Blue, I'm very happy they brought Sheila back, but bringing characters back randomly without…much explanation (did they explain that? Maybe I missed it) felt weird to me. I loooved Sheila's bits in the season but it felt like a forced cameo. Niner was similar, even if people wanted her back, but at least she had Sheila to explain her presence. Making FLISS and Sheila the same person was a crazy move I need to write a dissertation on though.

Speaking of feeling forced, half of Grif and Simmons's conversations felt so ingenuine. Like they were shoehorned in to MAKE them bicker and not natural. I knew (the second the season was announced) that they weren't going to do shit for Grimmons, but for ONCE I didn't really find…ANY of their interactions especially riveting. Simmons letting Grif leave was HILARIOUS from a meta standpoint. Physically splitting them up at the end as one last fuck you to the gay people.

Caboose felt better than he does most seasons. Still an ableist mess in some places but I loved his IDGAF attitude. The big Meta fight was just fun for him. He just wanted to win. He was fucking with Lopez on purpose, speaking Spanish and misunderstanding him. He should've been more of a little shit earlier on. His voice acting sounded good! Inflection is always annoying but it felt less…egregious this time?

Donut got fucking robbed?! Kai too?! What was the point of giving them development. There were so many places where Donut would've been great to have in! Throwing the memory unit at Tex as a parallel to their BGC rivalry, helping Wash through his problems, IDK. Sucks.

When the fuck did Doc die. Why him. (< Rhetorical questions.) Wash mental health stuff is awesome, though, I love psychotic Wash, even if the portrayal was a little predictable (to someone who was paying attention. I was thinking about Lopez) and imperfect. I'm kinda glad his issues were focused on without him being a major character. PISSED Carolina only showed up on his behalf and stuck around for his sake, can't a girl live for herself sometimes…

Ummm. Lopez was there. I want to wring him like a wet towel. He's medicated as fuck and got to talk to someone who speaks Spanish…and his WIFE was there…I'm so glad he was having as best a time he could and SOOOO glad they wrote him out early like I anticipated (just personally because I love-hate him, but it was cheap). Go on an adventure with Sheila gayboy. Run away from all of this.

TLDR: Overall, solid 7/10. I went into it expecting a 5-6, but was pleasantly surprised by it overall. It felt VERY forced in a lot of places, the pacing felt bizarre sometimes, I still don't even know where exactly this is placed in the overall timeline (and I don't care), but they did some fun things. I'm so glad it's over I hope I never have to see official RVB content again.

#I have more to say from a writer/analyst POV so hold up.#rvb #inbox #hidingoutbackstage #rvb spoilers #spoilers #restoration spoilers

22 notes · View notes

sagittato · 10 months

Text

This is my first post and it’s gonna be low effort because I swear I can’t get this off my mind—

Do people from twisted wonderland realize how much Azul Ashengrotto could potentially look up at Vil Schoenhiet??? ONLY @jxnebuggy ACKNOWLEDGES THIS IN HER fem!twst FANFICS AND IT DRIVES ME INSANE!!!

Vil is a successful, confident, drop dead gorgeous fashion icon. He has a whole business for cosmetics because he’s so gorgeous. He’s very skilled in potion making, so much so bro makes his OWN makeup. He has a strict diet he follows and it’s clearly gving him the results he wants. Vil Schoenheit is everything Azul wants to be!! On top of that, Vil is Azul’s bloody UPPERCLASSMAN.

And does everyone forget how Azul literally info dumped about the man in Book 5 Chapter 2?? Nobody talks about it. They’re too busy headcannoning Sebek or Riddle or Floyd to be neurodivergent af (jkjk)!! Such a shame Vil told him to stfu but in his own pretty, 3w4-coded ways😔😔

Azul has shown before he will invest inhumane amounts of time into things he thinks are important. An example of this is in his birthday jackect card, he talked in a fair amount of detail about the quality of the pillow Ace gave him. He could do this because he researched ON pillow qualities.

It’s likely when he was trying to step up his game with success or diet, he stumbled upon Vil, researched the frick out of this guy, and lo and behold became a fan of his.

Some honourable mentions are when he made a deal with Vil in his ceremonial robes. I haven’t seen it because I wanna save the feeling of raw happiness with these two characters interacting once I get the card. If we didn’t see Azul show any sort of fan behaviour when Vil made that deal then I firmly believe he was kicking, giggling, twirling his hair off camera behind closed doors over it. Then I do hear in the second Camp Vargas event, Azul and Vil had some more interactions! I thiiiiiiink they were getting competitive with each other??? That changes nothing from my ignorant eye. It’s NRC. Everyone is really competitive and will turn on each other’s backs faster than Leona can fall asleep (bro’s actually depressed, I swear).

Anyway, I think it’s only right I list my headcanons now for them:

Azul gobbles up any dietary/beauty tips Vil has

Azul uses Vil’s makeup brand that’s probably vegan

He also collects Vil’s magazines and puts them all in a box hidden away in his closet or under his bed

Vil probably finds him annoying💀💀💀 (what can I say? he has a reputation for not stfu around higher class people)

Elaborating on that, Vil does respect his success but I bet he can see the unhealthy greed that lies under it all. Thus, that’s prolly a reason why he would try to distance himself away from Azul.

BADLY wants to collaborate with Vil because Mostro Lounge profits would soar if they did. Knowing his bold arse he probably made the request at least thrice and Vil shut him down each time. He’s obviously not gonna stop because we all know him. (never back down never what—)

Yes, I know he canonically looks up to Ursula, but I think he would like someone… yknow… alive to look up to.

Keep in mind I’m only on Book 5 Chapter 29 as of this moment so it’s totally possible I missed some things! Leave your opinions, headcanons, or anything else in the comments, I’d love to see them! Do leave spolier warnings though. That way I can decide whether I wanna spoil things first myself or not.

EDIT: I already fixed it but did I really just say book 6 😭😭😭 i meant book 5 i am so sry hdgdhjjjdhdjj

#azul ashengrotto #vil schoenheit #i’m procrastinating #the world needs to know how great the azul & vil duo is #first post #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland rant

42 notes · View notes

wulvercazz · 8 months

Note

grimmichigrimmichigrimmichi >:3333 (pairing meme)

heheh okay- so shiP IT ofc 😂 .. but here's the answers;

What made you ship it?

so... I have a very specific list of qualities I look for when it comes to my favorite male characters. And Grimmjow fit them all 😂💕

When I first watched Bleach the only thing I shipped was IchiRuki, bc naturally that was the only way to go for me tbh, but then Grimm appeared and I was obsessed. When it comes to otps for me, first I find a fave character, then I consider the possible pairings. Not any other way. And with Grimmjow... well the only option for me was Ichigo tbh.

Not to discredit any other Grimmjow ships, I've done a few of them myself, but with how passionately these two throw themselves at each other I truly couldn't look any other way. Lol

So tldr; Grimmjow's got slut potential and I dig that, and they're too into each other for me not to see "gay" plastered all over them 💫

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

Hmmm 🤔maybe how inherently feral it is, canon-wise. Also how harmonious their overall designs are together, there's nothing nicer than a pair that looks good together, at least as an artist. Also how easy they are (for me at least) to write/draw; I have a hard time focusing on one thing for long enough to get good at things (hence the many AUs lol!) so for me to have a ship I draw constantly for more than four years now... is truly astounding lmao. They helped me grow soooo much so they hold a dear dear place in my heart just bc of that alone.

And because of that last one: how easy it is to apply AUs to themmmm ;w;<33333 I can legit think of anything and make an AU out of it and not struggle too much to find the perfect place for them in it.

And also,, sort of fave sort of least fave- that it's not an overly popular ship in general (ik it's popular in the Bleach fandom itself, but rather; not popular like a ship from BNHA or JJK). Why; bc I get to have my quiet space where I draw all the ideas I want and yet have had verY few people throw insults at me for some of my darker stuff 😂 Bigger fandoms I've interacted with (as a viewer mostly) have had issues popping up left and right, people getting upset over dumb shit and letting that grow to huge proportions, "antis" everywhere... yeahhhh no thanks 😖

but also-- it gets verY quiet at times specially for someone who's so picky. Like, if I could find a fandom space like the exclusive bottom Bakugo enthusiasts I followed on twt (and even bought a whole zine about) but for GriMMJOW??? WOOF😭💕 so yeah,,, love-hate situation on this last bit lmaooo

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

A few 😂😭 everyone who's followed my art for a certain amount of time can probs tell how the 'tism really affects how I enjoy ships lmaoooo I have to enjoy them a very specific certain way so... that means I don't partake at all on a good few of the popular tropes for the ship. Some I can think of rn; damsel-in-distress!Ichigo, overly hurtful!Grimm (although this one is more old fandom I think 🤔? I remember, in a lot of fics back then, Grimmjow was portrayed a lot as this violent rapist adgdfddfdff not for me lmaoo), ofc top!Grimm, Grimmjow acting all macho relationship wise, and too much angst (I think this ship (and Ichigo in general lets be honest) can call for a lot of angst in fic so I totally get it- but ...meh, if it's not romaticized/sexualized angst, idc for it adgdfgf I don't like it when they actually suffer 😭)

OOH OH! ALSO --- making them OOC in AUs CAN be great actually (to me at least). I know a lot of people (not just here, but in any ship/fandom/etc) don't love OOC characterizations of their fave characters/ships (hence why it's a tag we use tbh) but I personally love that at times??? I won't do it all the time and all over the place... but AUs where there's space to make Grimm less violent? or Ichigo less friendly/loving??? While still within their canon character potentials--- hecC yes. >:)ccc

Also ofc; that I wish it was still common to tag ships as top-bottom like it is with HoEn/EnHo (bnha), VK/KV /trigun, KRBK/BKKR (bnha) etc or at least tag it some other way along the ship.... it would be sO much easier to filter out stuff i don't want to see instead of having to mute/block a whole person I would still love to see stuff from.

BuT I am aware most have no preference whatsoever lmaO so... yeah nothing I can do there except not follow people pfFFF 😂😭 (and wait until I find peeps with similar tastes aasdfs)

#ask meme #Ichigrimm #grimmichi #一グリ #bleach #ship ask #ikik I'm a bit crazy it's okayyy i'm aware #pffff #I also have baD anxiety so I enjoy things like a trembling chihuahua afraid-yet-excited about it's own toys pfFF #if the flavor changes I stop eating is what I'm sayinnnggg adsfsdasfsf #*sniff tests everything*#answered

24 notes · View notes

sxtvrns · 2 years

Text

play the game, get the girl

🎶 now playing: beautiful stranger - laufey

P: Koushi Sugawara x Fem!Reader

S: He sees you during a practice when you walk in with the team manager, late. What he doesn’t expect is to see you standing at the corner of a volleyball court for his games with a red flag in hand, and fall head over heels.

W: mild cursing, cute fluff, lack of knowledge about japanese school system + volleyball, haikyuu spoilers, VERY rushed, possible inaccuracy (i havent watched the show in two years)

N: I do scorekeeping during the volleyball season so I thought this was a cute thing to incorporate with one of the sweetest boys in the series. If the ending seems rushed, it is; I just needed to get something out of my drafts. L/N means last name, Y/N is your first name; this is in order to specify formalities. Apologies for anything that seems incorrect.

please interact if you enjoy!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Your eyes just begin to flutter shut as the teacher writes lines and numbers on the chalkboard, the sound of it soothing to your ears and almost making you doze off, only for the bell to ring and dismiss you for cleaning time.

You don’t really pay attention when you wipe down the boards or sweep the floors, outside sounds drowned out by your own thoughts while you do your unspoken assigned job that everyone is aware of, which is how you manage to not bump into people.

The classroom door opens as you finish cleaning, the rest of the girls in your ‘group’ leaving while the boys gawk at your friend standing by the entrance. “Y/N, come with me. The team has practice and I need someone to testify why I’m late.” You nod, tossing an eraser into the bucket by the teacher’s desk.

“Hey, put this back!” A boy shouts, him goofing off earlier and getting barely any work done. “You can put it back when you’re done. I have work to do.” You say, shutting the door swiftly before walking to the gym with Kiyoko. It would make sense for her to come to you to be a witness for her tardiness, since you could come up with lies on the spot that people were gullible enough to believe.

The whole practice stops at the sound of the gym doors opening, Kiyoko holding the door open for you to follow behind. One of the coaches, seemingly, yelled from where he was in the gym at the two of you. “Where’ve you been? You interrupted practice!” Kiyoko looks down at the floor, a small pang of guilt hitting you seeing her embarrassment. “She had to do a make up test before clean up! Cut her some slack!” Your voice booms, the coach wanting to say something but going back to doing his job, as if he was intimidated.

Sure, there were still a few eyes on you; you could sense it, but you couldn’t care less since your friend muttered a quiet ‘thank you’ before she began to focus on the practice rather than the gym floor.

The sound of squeaky shoes and intense running and hitting filled the gym, along with the occasional cheer, call, or scream. Then came water break, Kiyoko getting up and passing the boys their bottles, which impressed you given the fact she knew who’s bottle belonged to who and what they looked like. Some of them didn’t even have names written on.

“Could you pass me that bottle?” A boy asks, standing in front of you with a finger pointed at a bottle that was practically prone to knocking over. You wonder why he wouldn’t grab it himself, but then remembered misinterpretation if someone were to look over at a certain angle. He mutters a ‘thanks’ with a smile, wiping his sweat off with a towel that hung around his neck. “Watch this for me?” You nod at his request, someone yelling right after.

“Oi, Suga! Stop flirting with the girl and get back on the court!” The boy with the shaved head yells, Suga’s face going slightly red as his teammates giggle while he runs back to his position.

To be fair, he seemed like a nice guy, being wary of your personal space and asking you to grab something rather than having you assume that he was going to touch you inappropriately. A small act that you held onto before remembering you had to go home.

Suga saw you whisper something to Kiyoko, handing her his bottle before you left the gym. He talked to her before leaving, the feeling he used to get while being able to talk to her not sending his heart racing. “She had to go home.”

“Then how come she came with you?”

“I needed an excuse since I was late.”

She handed him his water bottle before helping the juniors to take down the nets. Tanaka scared him once everyone was back in their club room, patting his older teammate on the back a little too hard before slinging an arm around his shoulder. “Lucky bastard! Did ya’ flirt with her?”

Her, being Kiyoko. “No. She just gave me my water bottle.”

“The bottle the other girl watched for you, huh? She must’ve gotten bored not seeing you on the court.”

“She’s pretty. No wonder she’s friends with Shimizu.” Asahi chimed, the door opening to reveal the juniors standing there, tired. “Are you guys talking about L/N?” The seniors look at Hinata, befuddled. “You know her?” Daichi asks. “I run into her sometimes at Sakanoshita. She’s usually talking to Coach there.”

“What do they talk about? How do you even know her name?” Suga asks, tidying up his things. “I overheard him say L/N. At least, I think that’s her name. Apparently she’s been doing volleyball related things outside of school, and Coach asks her about it. Teams, players, I don’t remember what else.” Tsukishima scoffs. “What are you, some kind of stalker?” Hinata fumes and tries to pounce on the blonde before being held back by Tanaka.

“I haven’t seen her on the girls team. What could she be doing?” Daichi ponders aloud, bag slinging over his shoulder. “I pass by her sometimes, and I have a class or two with her, but she doesn’t speak unless spoken to.” Suga says.

“You haven’t said hi?” Asahi stands by the door with Daichi, waiting for his other friend. “Today was a lucky circumstance.” Suga slings his bag in over his shoulder, leaving the room last out of the three of them.

“Suga’s got a thing for Kiyoko’s friend!” Tanaka yells, the last thing that Suga hears before the door shuts behind them.

He sighs, his two friends giggling for a reason he was too tired to decipher.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“How’s my team? Pretty good, yeah?” Ukai asked as you look a long sip from your milk carton, shrugging. “I’ll see you at your match against Tokonami.” He cocks an eyebrow, wondering how you know their opponent. “You’re on the sheet?” You shake your head, the sound of the door of the shop sliding open, followed by Ukai yelling out a loud greeting. “Flag. I’m not cheating you guys points for free meat buns.”

Ukai’s eyes move from you to the person who just entered. “Skipped breakfast again, Suga?” Your eyes widen at the name, head turning to see him standing right beside you, waiting. “Couldn’t pack anything for later, and I’m busy during lunch break.” Suga says before noticing you leaning over the counter. He lets out a sheepish ‘hi’ with a bow before you bow back, exchanging some cash for his lunch.

“Suga.” Ukai calls, the boy’s head perking up at the sound of his name. “Take L/N with you. She’s gonna be late to school again because she keeps ‘forgetting to keep track of the time’.” Sarcasm slips off Ukai’s tongue as he makes fun of you, your mouth spewing one-sided insults back at him as you follow Suga out of the shop.

It’s mostly an awkward silence for the first few minutes of the walk, the urge to drown yourself in your own thoughts there, but something’s holding you back from doing it. “How are you so close with Coach?” Suga asks. The formality being used off the court surprises you, but it’s probably better than just calling him Ukai.

“He found out I worked in volleyball games outside of school. It’s all we ever talk about, really.” Suga’s head perks up. “You play?” The question has you struggling to answer. “Not necessarily. I’ll be at your Interhigh match.” The lack of detail makes him want to ask about you more, but is worried that he’d be prying if he were to ask.

“Do you have practice after school today? Kiyoko might ask me to go with her again.” The boy nods with a closed lip smile. “How come you left early?” Suga asked, the answer Shimizu gave lacking detail. “The invite was… sudden. I had plans and couldn’t stay for long. I would’ve stayed for a little bit longer.” You half-lie. “And you’re coming? Today?” Suga confirms. This time you nod, approaching the gates of the school.

“I’ll see you then?” He says, half question half statement. “Yeah. See you.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Suga!” You walk up to him in the halls, seeing him with two boys you also saw at his practice; one with short hair and the other with his tied up. “I had an extra and I know you didn’t pack lunch, so…” You hand him a bottle of ice tea, the gesture making your face heat up unknowingly to your peer. He smiles, taking it from you.

“Thanks, L/N. I needed this. I have to talk to these two for the rest of break.” He gestures to his friends, who you now realize they’ve been looking at you the whole time. “That’s what you’re so busy with?” Suga shrugs, taking a sip from the bottle. “Duty calls.” He jokes, bowing before retreating into the mostly empty room behind him.

The run-in has Daichi and Asahi pestering their friend about you later that day before practice. “She knew you didn’t have lunch? And she had a whole extra bottle of tea? No way this wasn’t planned.” Daichi exclaimed, Suga chuckling at his friend. “We ran into each other this morning. She was talking to Coach, and she’s watching our game next week.”

“Eh?! Did you invite her?” Asahi asks, surprised at Suga’s supposed boldness. “She said she works in volleyball games, whatever that means.” The gym doors open to reveal the antennae being set up, you at the farther end. Coach Ukai was at the other, adjusting the height before hooking it on to the bottom of the net.

“L/N!” Suga calls, sending you a wave when you look his way. You wave back, double checking the antennae before going to check the other, sliding it down a little bit. “You set it up all by yourself?” He asks. “Mostly. I came a little earlier since I had nothing else to do after cleaning. Kiyoko and Ukai came in after I set up the poles.”

You hand him his bottle. “Kiyoko told me to refill this for you.” He takes a quick sip from the bottle before responding. “Thanks. Where is she, anyways?” You shrug. “Refilling the rest. I don’t know why she only gave me yours.” Suga lets out a soft chuckle, giving you a pat on the shoulder before putting it down on the bench.

“What the hell was that, Suga?” Daichi sneers, letting out a laugh at the end. “I don’t know, it just happened! Impulse decision?” Asahi pat his grey haired friend on the shoulder mockingly, Suga brushing his friend’s hand off. “Stop that.” He muttered.

“What are they laughing about?” Kiyoko says after coming out of nowhere, startling you after standing behind you since who knows when. “I don’t know.” You answer, sitting down on the bench with your friend after the boys go on the court. “Have you ever thought about managing?” Kiyoko asks, eyes focused on the boys warming up.

“I have. I’d be too busy; it’d conflict with my work schedule, you know that. Besides, we’re both graduating this year and asking me to manage seems… pointless.” She lets out a sigh that seems to drown out Ukai’s yelling. “I know. I’m… struggling a little bit to find someone to replace me.” You give her a nudge. “Have you talked to the first years yet?” She shakes her head. “Only second. I should’ve thought of that first.”

“Damn right, you should’ve.” You mutter.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Days pass by and the Tokonami match approaches; you stand by the scoresheet desk as you clip your hair up, the bag for the flags on the ground by your feet. You sign the sheet, sitting on the bench wondering why the teams haven’t arrived when it’s 10 minutes to warm up time.

“Y/N!” Someone calls, attention drawn to Kiyoko and the Karasuno team standing by the open doors. You wave at each other, the down referee talking to you for a moment just long enough to have your school’s team situated at their bench when you turned back around. “I thought spectators were supposed to be up there?” She jokes, making you roll your eyes. “I am working right now, okay? Some of us have jobs, Kii.” Your friend is pulled aside to talk to the down ref.

“L/N? Shouldn’t you be in the stands?” Suga asks, slightly confused. “I’m working. I’m doing line judge for your game.” You explain. “Do you do the sheet as well?” You nod. “Sometimes, yeah. I can be qualified as a referee next year.” Suga’s face lights up. “Really? That’s so cool!”

His reaction has you a little bit flustered. “I-It’s nothing, really…” You cross your arms, cringing at your stutter.

“No, really, it is! How much do you get paid?”

“Around 16 hundred per hour.” (¥1600 = ~$16)

“That’s pretty good.”

“Right?”

You notice Hinata and his friend prepare for an attack, but everything happens so fast. One second the ball is set and the other the ball hits the ground with a hard, loud smack. It makes you jump. You haven’t seen a quick attack like that before. “What the hell?” You mutter. Suga chuckles, looking at you. “You haven’t seen them do it in practice?”

“I was talking to Kiyoko the whole time and I space out easily, okay? Jesus, man, what year are they in?”

“First.”

“First?!”

Your reaction makes Suga laugh, the whole conversation seeming one-sided now as all he responds with is giggles. “You’re telling me they’re first years managing to do shit like that?!” He’s struggling to contain his laughter. “Hey,” he snickers, “watch your language or you’re gonna get fired!”

“I don’t think anyone really cares.”

“Suga! We’re warming up!” The shaved headed boy calls. “You can talk to your girlfriend after we win!” The libero teases. “Sorry about them. I’ve gotta–“

“Suga?”

“Hm?”

You send him two thumbs up. “Good luck!”

He smiles. “Thank you.”

The down ref eyes both of you. “Is he your boyfriend? I hope you won’t be cheating off points.”

“God, no, why does everyone think that?”

The ref blows the whistle after a few more minutes of warming up, signaling for the teams to get off the court. You unwrap the flag, waving it around. You wave it up, then down with a loud snap just to test it out. Luckily, the other games hadn’t started yet, so you wouldn’t get scolded by the ref before the game even begun. Giving a high five to the other line judge, you walk onto the court.

The ball is hit onto Karasuno’s side of the court, but your flag is raised, a finger pointing at the antennae still wiggling in the air. The point goes to your school after the ref gives you a nod.

The game progresses, for almost every time Tokonami hit the ball on your side of the court, your flag went up. They hit a few line shots, but they still couldn’t catch up, your school dominating and winning both sets straight. To see the quick attack again was… quite exhilarating. It always caught you off guard despite seeing it played multiple times and it being the main source of points.

Signing off on the sheet, you catch up with your school’s team, scaring Kiyoko by pouncing on her out of nowhere, giving her a tight hug. You let go of her and see your other friend lurking behind you. “Suga!” You give him a double high five, which he returns before giving him a hard pat on the back. “You did it!” You cheer, not noticing the gentle grip he has on your wrists since you were practically flailing around. It was the first win of your school you’ve seen in a while, so this was a valid reason to be so excited.

And it was a damn good game too.

“Are you watching the other games? I’m doing sheet for another match.” He shakes his head, which makes you slightly disappointed. “Will you be at the next game?” He asks, you nodding with a grin. The moment you realize he was holding your wrists, you panic and come up with some sort of excuse. “I’ll see you then, I gotta go. Bye.” You murmur quickly, unsure if he heard.

The team leaves the gym, Suga catching up with his coach. “Is she always like that? She isn’t usually so… jumpy.” He says, not wanting to be rude. “L/N’s like that when she sees good games. Gets her all pumped. It’s like… the energy flows off the court and out into the crowd, y’know? Maybe it’s because it’s her school’s first win she’s seen in a while.”

“Are you saying we played good today, Coach?” Daichi asks. Ukai pauses for a moment.

“You did good today, but we can be better.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Come on, man, just do it!” Tanaka encourages.

“You have a perfectly valid reason to offer it as well!” Nishinoya adds.

“I don’t really know if I should trust the two most hopeless romantics on the team.” Suga says. “What’s that supposed to mean?!” One of them yells, the club door opening. “What’s going on?” Ennoshita asks, trailing beside Daichi. “Suga wants to ask L/N on a date.” Nishinoya teases, making kissy noises until his teammate hits him on the head. “I’m kinda worried about Y– L/N. She usually walks with Shimizu but since she left early, she has to walk home alone.”

“Then Suga wants to walk her home and profess his undying love on the way!” Tanaka jokes. “‘Oh, L/N, I love you sooo much!’” Nishinoya mocks, the second years laughing before Suga knocks them both on the head. “To be fair, Suga, you do make it quite obvious that you’re attracted to her.” Daichi chuckles, packing his bag. “I do?”

“Ever since the Date Tech match, you two have been talking a lot and you tend to freeze up sometimes when she smiles.” Asahi points out, unintentionally embarrassing his friend. “I do not!” He denies, rummaging through his bag for a new shirt. “Suga, you froze last practice when you two looked at each other and you missed the set.” Daichi says. Tanaka and Nishinoya snicker, Suga glaring at the two.

“Suga, you left your water on the–“ Multiple shirtless men stare at you after you open the door, immediately slamming it shut.

Embarrassment and heat rushes to your face. To think that your eyes immediately darted to Suga, who was also shirtless, first thing? Absolutely humiliating. The one time you decide not to knock, you walk in on your friend half naked. What are the chances? You’ve seen other teams shirtless, so why should you care? It wasn’t that big of a deal so why were you blushing?

Your hands cover your face, the warmth of it making you realize how flustered you are. “L/N, are you okay?” Hinata asks, noticing you curled up into a ball on the ground by the club door. You give him a thumbs up, not looking at any of the first years that followed behind him. You get up, brushing yourself off and letting the cool air calm you down.

The door opens again, Suga looking back inside the room and saying something before his eyes land on you. “Y/N.” He mutters to himself. “I’m sorry, I should’ve knocked first!” You apologize, bowing profusely until his hand rests on the top of your head. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it. Though, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone so… flustered.” He says calmly, chuckling awkwardly at the end, the blush on your cheeks growing just as it was starting to go away.

You hand him his water bottle, which he accepts with a smile, taking a quick drink before asking you something. “Um…” He hums, bringing your attention back to him. He looks nervous, as if he’s trying to say something but can’t seem to get the words out. “Well, Shimizu usually walks with you but since she left, I don’t want you walking in the dark alone and–“

“Yeah, sure.”

“Huh?”

“You can walk with me. I was actually gonna ask you but… I chickened out.” The fact that both of you had thought of the same thing relieved Suga a little bit. “How’d you know I was gonna ask?” He asks, descending the stairs of the club rooms with you. “Sometimes you make things very obvious, Suga.”

“I do?”

“Well, obvious for people that are smart enough.”

You gesture to yourself with a grin, your friend laughing. “I hope you do well against Aoba Johsai. Oikawa keeps flirting with me and Kiyoko despite being scared off repeatedly.” A pang of jealousy hits Suga for a split second, followed by curiosity. “Who scares him off? The coach?” You shake your head. “I do. Sometimes the referee steps in, and all he does is stare at him until he runs off.”

The image of the referee giving Oikawa a death stare makes Suga laugh. You open your phone after it buzzes, seeing a text message from your mom; a message that said she left for work already and that there was food on the table to be reheated.

You catch Suga looking at your phone, closing it shut. “I don’t have a lot of people in my contacts, so there’s nothing interesting that you can snoop on.” He laughs, an idea popping into his head. “Can I have your number?” He asks. Though a friendly question, you think more of it and decide to raise the stakes. “If you win against Aoba Johsai, I’ll give you my number.”

“Really? What if we don’t?”

You shrug.

“Who knows.”

Suga pauses for a moment.

“Deal.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The rally for victory continues and seems never-ending, the sight of your school so determined nearly distracting you from your job. The score is way too close, with your school behind by one. 31 to 32.

Oikawa suddenly yells as Hinata prepares for his attack; three men on Aoba Johsai jump with their arms up, to change routes around the block being too late. A loud smack reverberates off Hinata’s hand and off the hands of the blockers, bouncing off their hand and onto the ground, where three other players lay in the ground as they failed to keep it in play.

Loud screams erupt from Johsai’s side of the gym, though all you can focus on is your school’s side of the court, the shock nearly making you drop your flag. The referee has to remind you to move to the other side for the teams to line up, the slip of paper in your pocket nearly tearing with how tight your grip is on it.

You borrow the scoresheet’s pen and quickly write down a note on your slip, signing the sheet after. You’re so overwhelmed by the upset that you don’t notice that you’re crying until you spend a long time in the bathroom trying to comprehend what just happened, staring at yourself in the mirror for longer than you thought. Some girls passed by, most of them asking if you were okay, and you only nodded, knowing that you’d start crying again if you tried to speak.

You left the bathroom feeling empty from letting that all out, deciding to leave the gymnasium entirely since you didn’t have anymore games to do. Running into Aoba Johsai now would be a really bad idea.

While walking mindlessly, you see a familiar jacket and a bunch of blonde hair entering a building. You stop at the door about to enter when you realize they managed to get in before the place was even open. Suddenly, the door slides open, an old woman greeting you and welcoming you in, though you deny her offer and instead ask her to get Ukai to come outside. For a split second, you notice the team crying silently as they eat, tears flowing down their face as they stuff their faces with mounds and mounds of food.

Ukai steps out, shutting the door before sighing. “How’d you find us? Nevermind that, do you wanna eat? It’s on me.” You shake your head, the words you want to say stuck in your throat. “Were you crying?” Ukai points out, this time you shake your head harder, fed up. “Could you just give this to Suga for me? Please?” You hand him the slip from earlier, all crumpled from holding it in a closed fist in your pocket, as well as a bottle of the same ice tea you gave him a while ago.

“Can’t ‘ya just do it yourself? I thought you two were already going out.” You hit him over and over until he agrees. “Ouch, ow– okay, I’ll give it to him! Geez, are you sure you don’t wanna eat?” You nod, bowing before you leave.

Ukai waits until the entire team finishes eating and leaves the restaurant to catch up with him. “Suga.” The boy turns around, looking at his coach. “L/N said to give this to you.” Suga’s eyes widen at the bottle, taking it eagerly. Ukai drops the slip of paper into Suga’s other hand before giving him a pat on the back.

Suga is seated next to Asahi on the bus, the ace staring out the window mindlessly at the sky. The paper had writing on it, he noticed after unfolding it.

You did a great job today. I’m proud of you.

He flips the slip over to see a phone number, realizing that it’s yours.

He never opened his contacts so quickly.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Kiyoko, what are we waiting for?” You ask her, as both of you have been standing outside the open gym doors for what felt like forever. “I found a new manager. She should be here by now.” You drag her inside. “I’m sure she knows where to go, we should just sit down.”

“L/N!” Someone calls, that person jumping onto you and hugging you tight. “Hitoka?! What are you doing here!?” She lets go, looking at Kiyoko and freezing for a second. “Shimizu offered for me to become a volleyball club manager, and I said yes because I didn’t really have any club activities.” She half-lies, unbeknownst to you.

“To be honest, I didn’t really know you came here…” You mutter, Hitoka overhearing and pouting a little. “Well… we lost contact over the years, but I think our parents still talk a little. My mom told me you went here but I haven’t been able to find you.” She laughs awkwardly.

“You two know each other?” Kiyoko asks. “I used to babysit her when her mom went to work; we were really close when we were younger.” You ruffle Hitoka’s hair. “L/N, are you a manager too?” You shake your head. “I just come to watch. Kiyoko drags me here.” She gives you a playful nudge. “You come here to gawk at Sugawara whenever he’s on the court. I’ve caught you staring at him while he’s shirtless.”

“Shut up, I do not! You said that so loud!” Your face goes red as you playfully hit your friend, who’s laughing at you. Only then do you realize the amount of eyes on you, luckily Suga’s not being one of them. You nudge Kiyoko while Hitoka stands behind you, peeking out while your friend introduces their new manager.

The new manager squeaks and turns away, catching you off guard. “Hitoka, are you okay?” You look at whatever made her look away, regretting it instantly. Of course it had to be the boys shirtless, changing out of their school uniforms. including your... friend? It wasn’t until then that you remembered what happened last time, this time focusing on the ground.

“Y/N has a really big crush on Sugawara.” Kiyoko teases.

“Shut up.”

“You know that I’m not wrong.”

“And I hate that you’re right.”

It was true; you did have somewhat of a thing for your… friend. Who could blame you, you two hung out a lot ever since their loss to Aoba Johsai. He’s sweet, caring, and has one hell of an athletic bod. Not that you looked at him on purpose, it was always an accident.

Majority of the time it was an accident.

“Can I look now?” Hitoka asks, Kiyoko confirming with a laugh as the other manager turns around.

“Y/N, can you hold this?” Suga suddenly hands you his sweatshirt he always wears out of nowhere. One second he was on one side of the gym and the next he’s right in front of you. “Were you planning to wear that the whole practice?” You laugh, beginning to fold it instinctively. “I was cold.” He says before running back to his warm up partner. You turn and see Kiyoko staring at you. “Since when were you two on a first name basis?” She says with a smirk on her face. “First off, no one calls him by his first name and second, like… a few weeks ago? He said it by accident but I was fine with it.”

“Sugawara wouldn’t stop showing us the note you gave him at the practice you didn’t come to. He’s in love with you.”

The image of him seemingly so excited made your face go warm.

“I’m literally going to make Ukai fire you.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Suga! L/N not with you?” Daichi greets his friend, a bit surprised by your absence. “She’s with Shimizu right now. She’ll catch up with exam scores later.” Immediate worry rushes to the captain. “I really hope that Hinata and Kageyama pass…” He says, hand planted on his forehead. The other two third years remembered about the training camp, also hoping the same thing.

“I’m sure we did fine. As for the youngins…” Suga cuts himself off, not really having an answer for his statement. “What if they all fail and they can’t come to the training camp?” Asahi’s face darkens, Suga whacking him on the head. “There you go again! Negative goatee!”

“Suga, you seemed really excited talking about the scores. You’re usually worried and have your fingers crossed half the time.” Daichi points out, observing his friend’s content demeanour. “Well, Y/N kinda raised the stakes for me in a way…” His friends cock an eyebrow, intrigued. “Did she bribe you?” The captain asks, a hint of anger in his tone.

“No, no, it’s nothing like that! It’s just… I kind of told her I liked her during one of our study sessions.” His friends’ mouths hang slightly open, yelling almost a little too loud. “And you were gonna tell us this when?!” Daichi shakes him by the shoulders, Asahi trying to intervene. “What did she say?” The ace stops Daichi’s freak out to let Suga speak.

“She said that if I passed all my exams, she’ll start going out with me.” Asahi pats his friend on the back with a smile. “You got this in the bag, Suga! You’ve passed every year with flying colours!” It surprised Suga a little bit, seeing him so positive about his love life. “I don’t know if I should be more surprised about your boldness or the fact that you two have been studying together.” Daichi interrupts, eyeing Suga.

“I asked her first. She’s a good teacher.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re practically in love with her.” Asahi teases.

“Maybe, but I’ve passed all my exams so far, so I’m not wrong.”

“Is it a habit of hers to keep betting on things like this?” Daichi asks, remembering the Aoba Johsai phone number occasion. “I see it as a motivational thing.” Suga says, his friends sighing, both of them saying the same thing. “Of course you do…”

Time ticks and the bell rings, Suga anxiously waiting in his seat for his name to be called. He practically rushes up to the front when it does, almost embarrassingly fast, his classmates wondering how one could not be nervous. College preparatory exams surely had much more pressure put on them.

The passing grade is 40 points, majority of Suga’s exams within 75-86 points. The glee he had on his face showing you all his papers made you blush, knowing he wanted this as much as you did. Hard work came with small, celebratory moments.

“Welcome in!” Ukai yells at the sound of the door sliding open, pausing at the sight of both of you laughing. “L/N! Suga! How were exams?” You hold up your paper, a large 87 written in red in the corner. “I beat him by one.” Suga playfully shoves you, showing Ukai his score of 86. “So you’ll be coming to the training camp! Sorry, L/N, team only.” You shrug. “Obviously. Did anybody fail on your team?” You ask Suga, him shaking his head.

“No, not that I know of. Daichi probably does, but I didn’t see him after lunch.”

“That’s because you came looking for me first thing and not your teammates.”

Ukai eyes both of you, sensing something but not saying anything of it. “You two are here for the meat buns, I assume.” Both of you nod, Ukai denying your payment, saying it was a reward for doing well. You end up shoving your cash down his hoodie, dragging Suga out the shop with you.

“Old man is so persistent…” You mutter, Suga laughing before beginning to eat. “Suga… when you told me you liked me, and when I placed our relationship on the line, I had faith in you.” He swallows, looking confused. “What do you mean?” You take a bite of your own bun before you answer. “You’re a smart kid, Suga. I knew you were going to pass regardless of the bet.”

“So you’re saying the whole bet thing was already you saying yes? That you’d go out with me?”

You nod. “See, you’re smart. But I do have one thing I want between us.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t really want anybody else to know about this yet. Are you okay with keeping this between us?” Suga suddenly remembers telling his friends about the whole bet during lunch; the only thing he can do now is pray and hope that they somehow forget about it.

“Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

As if God was watching over him, Asahi and Daichi quite literally forgot about the whole bet, but only remembered the part where Suga said that he confessed his feelings to you. When asked about it, he didn’t provide an answer and simply requested for them to keep it a secret.

He made it unintentionally sound like you rejected him, which, in Suga’s favour, made them assume you didn’t like him, which was surprising to them.

His phone buzzed, revealing a text from you.

Hi~! How’s the camp going?

He smiles to himself before responding.

We lost our match today :( Turns out Hinata and Kageyama had to take make up exams and they came late

Who drove them all the way to Tokyo?? ಠ_ಠ

Tanaka’s sister did. She’s a lifesaver.

Tell me if anyone is hitting on Kiyoko. I’ll kick their ass.

What if you get fired for that?

Technically it won’t be during my work hours, my reputation just might be ruined. I don’t mind.

You say all these things but never go through with them (￣^￣)ゞ

Because I’m not an idiot! I will probably kick someone’s ass if they tried to hit on Kiyoko though. Is Hitoka okay? Not… overwhelmed by the amount of boys?

(￣▽￣) She’s okay. I’ll let her know you checked in.

“Who are you texting?” Bokuto peeks over Suga’s shoulder, Hinata going on his tip toes to look as well. “L/N. She was just checking in.” Realization dawns upon the Fukurodani player. “Ah, L/N! She was a line judge at one of my games! I wonder if she still remembers me.” Suga’s phone buzzes again, another message from you.

Have fun, okay? Don’t get too worked up, you’ll be forced to be friends with your opponents. Stay safe, take care ＼(^ω^)／<3

Suga tries to hide the giddiness that grows in him after he read your message.

Thank you~ Sleep well ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

“Suga, who are you texting? You’ve been smiling like an idiot this whole time.” Daichi sits down in front of him, beginning to eat. The giddiness has failed to hide and reached his face. “Um… no one in particular.” He lies, putting his phone back in his pocket. At this point Bokuto’s been messing around the cafeteria, being reprimanded by one of his managers.

“Don’t worry about it. My friend is just checking in.” The word ‘friend’ soon has him wondering what terms you two are on now. You two were still friends, but it was certainly something more than that. You were both going out, but was there a label he could put on it that made sense?

Every single day after training, he’d open his phone and check for a text from you. If there wasn’t any, he’d text you first. His team members had caught onto his behaviour, sometimes watching from outside the room for a bit before entering.

Asahi saw Nishinoya lurking outside their team room, staring through the window. “Noya, what are you doing?” He asks, a bit bothered. “Suga’s giggling at his phone right now. I think it’s kinda funny, so I’m watching from here.” Confusion is plastered on the ace’s face. “Why don’t you just go inside?”

“Because if I do, he’ll try to hold in his laughs and hide his face and it won’t be as funny!” Asahi sighs in disbelief that his friend would do something as ridiculous as this, but ends up watching with him, understanding why it was so interesting. Sometimes he’d burst out laughing or he just ends up giggling like a schoolgirl, all while staring at his phone.

Kiyoko stood at the other window with not as good of an angle of the inside, taking a dinky little picture of Suga smiling at his phone and sending it to you.

Look at what you’re doing to your little boyfriend.

The photo makes you equally giggle behind your own screen.

Is he really that excited to talk to me?

I think he’s been deprived of you for a bit. You should come here.

I’d get kicked out! And there is no way I’m getting my mom to drive me all the way to Tokyo to a camp that doesn’t allow visitors.

You’re gonna miss out on barbecue on the last day then.

Tempting, but no

Kiyoko are you just persuading me because you miss me~

I don’t. Your boyfriend does though

How is he?

Don’t you have his number? Ask him yourself

Woww so rude

^ - ^

He’ll make it without me, I’m sure. I’ve just been checking in

Yeah and he falls even more whenever he sees a text from you

Shouldn’t you be doing manager things right now? Get back to work (c" ತ,_ತ)

He’s getting all pouty now because you haven’t been responding

You ignore Kiyoko, opening Suga’s contact instead.

The show of your boyfriend’s fits of giggles continued, this time with a bigger audience watching from the outside windows.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

To say Suga missed you was a bit of an understatement. He practically needed to see you. The urge to hug you and spin you around in front of his team, look at you but decided to keep it on the low as you preferred, leaving his team at Sakanoshita when they decided to grab a quick snack from their coach.

He personally walked all the way to your house, standing outside your gate rather than ringing on the doorbell, pulling out his phone.

Y/N~ Are you awake yet?

Of course I am, it’s 4 in the afternoon…

You tend to take naps around this time though..(_ _).｡o○

How was the bus ride? Are you home yet?

I’m outside

Outside? What do you mean?

Is it okay if I stay for a bit?

Almost immediately, the front door opens, the biggest smiles plastered on both of your faces. You don’t bother changing out of your slippers, running out the door, opening the gate and hugging him for the first time in what felt like ages.

“I missed you.” He says, the tension between the two of you growing. “I missed you too. You and your stupid grey hair and stupid face.” You pinch his cheek like a mom would, him wincing with a laugh. “Kiyoko sent a photo of you texting me.” His face drops, worried about what it was. “She said you were giggling and pouting at your phone. Do I really make you that excited?”

“Well, yeah, you’re my… girlfriend. I think. I don’t really know what terms we’re on.” You burst into laughter at his confusion. “I thought we already figured that out! I’ve been calling you my boyfriend all this time.” The formality echoes in Suga’s head. Boyfriend. He was your boyfriend. And you were his girlfriend.

“You never really said it in person… and you never mentioned it over text.” He defends, following you into your house. “Because you didn’t ask. But I guess I should’ve been more transparent about it.” You shrug, taking the blame. “I should’ve gotten you something from Sakanoshita… I was with the team for a bit but just decided to come here.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. My mom’s gonna ask you to stay for dinner anyways.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Keeping your relationship a secret was a bit challenging, yet every time you almost got caught, you played it off and it made you realize how naïve men really are.

You’ve managed to keep it hidden all the way up to the Shiratorizawa match, which impressed you, given how many times you nearly gave in to the urge of PDA.

When both schools began to warm up, Hinata and Kageyama’s quick sending gasps across the gym. Suga’s hands are clasped together, his teammates surrounding him as you watch the setter try to warm them up in a panic. You abandon the scoresheet desk, since you weren’t doing much other than small talk with the referee.

“Suga.” He sees you walking over to him, embarrassed but also confused. “Y/N, what are you–“ Your hands clasp over his for a moment, guiding both of them to his cheeks, which, as expected, are warm. Your hands still rest on top of his, pulling his face in for a quick peck on his forehead. “Good luck. You got this.” You let go, Suga’s face bright red and looking like a kettle about to boil over.

The rest of his teammates wail in surprise, surrounding him and asking an abundance of questions.

“What the hell was that?!”

“You two are dating!?”

“When were you going to tell us?”

Kiyoko’s mouth hangs slightly open at your bold move, following you as you move from their bench to the scoresheet desk. The down ref eyes you and #2 on Karasuno. “You aren’t going to shift the game because you two are going out, aren’t you?” The assumption has you rolling your eyes. “I’m not stupid, I’d get fired. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” You reassure, the ref shrugging.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

You leave the gym after holding in your tears for what felt like forever, eyes meeting with Suga’s first thing. You immediately burst into tears, head buried into his shoulder. “Oi, if you don’t stop, I’ll start crying again.” He laughs, making you pull away and wipe your face. “I’m sorry, I’m just… I’m so proud of you and your team. That spike was amazing.” His thumb strokes your cheek, pulling you in for another hug.

“As much as we are all astounded you two are finally going out… does Y/N need a ride?” Ukai interrupts, you responding with a nod.

The entire walk to the bus, you take pride in being able to hold your boyfriend’s hand without worrying about everything like you used to. The sight was certainly something the team would have to get used to, but it wasn’t horrible. Mostly.

They had a field day after Tanaka yelled out that you two were kissing in a bus full of tired teenage boys.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

beautiful stranger, catching my stare. it’s fate we collided right then, back there. 🎧

#sugawara x reader #sugawara x y/n #haikyuu sugawara #sugawara fluff #haikyuu!!#sugawara koushi #koushi sugawara x reader #koushi sugawara #fanfiction

163 notes · View notes

archiveikemen · 1 year

Text

"Black Wedding" Story Event: Chapter 2

Jude's Route

I do not own any of the Ikemen Series content being uploaded on this blog, everything belongs to CYBIRD. Please support them by playing their games and buying stories. Not 100% accurate, expect mistakes.

read this before interacting with my posts

The cultist led us to the room we would be staying in throughout our stay.

Kate: W-What was that just now…

I asked Jude in a low voice so that the cultist couldn't hear me.

Jude: What? That was the best method.

Jude: You should be grateful we didn't have to waste our time acting all lovey dovey.

Kate: That’s… true. … Thank you.

Jude: You’re welcome. Good luck with being a masochistic pervert.

(Ggh…)

Jude mocked my reluctant expression of gratitude and turned to look coldly out of the window.

Jude: This whole vows of love thing sickens me. I’ll have this mission ended as soon as possible.

Following Jude’s line of sight, I looked at the sunny courtyard outside the window.

It appeared that there were a few couples staying in the premises as well, and they were all smiling at each other.

(... They look so blissful.)

Kate: All of them are here because they love each other so much that they want their love to last for an eternity.

Kate: If couples are really being murdered… I will never forgive the culprit.

Jude: Hah, amazing sense of justice you’ve got there.

Jude: I can’t believe you sympathise with those people who think love and vows can be made to last forever by the power of some guy.

Kate: I don’t believe that love will magically last an eternity just by holding a ceremony, making promises to a superior being, and reciting vows to the people around us.

Kate: But… I think that’s why people make promises to each other.

Kate: Whenever they feel like they might break the promise, as long as they still have the memory of them making that promise together, they’ll gain the courage to keep going and not give up.

Jude: Hah… how beautiful.

Jude: Those who break promises, break them. And those who don’t break promises, they’ll never be able to break them even if they die.

Jude: That’s the way things are.

Just then, there was a knock on our door, and two laymen showed up.

Cultist: I’ll show the two of you around the interior of the establishment. This way.

…

The cultist demanded that Jude and I follow him into the hallway, and so we did.

Kate: Wah!?

My leg got caught onto something, causing me to fall instantly.

Kate: Ouch… it hurts…

(I think my leg got stuck on something.)

When I looked back, all I saw was the cultist standing there, looking surprised.

Jude: Do you like the floor that much? Get up.

Kate: Wha…

Cultist: Your girlfriend fell, and yet you didn't try to catch her or at least be concerned about her…

Cultist: Are you two not truly in love, as we expected…?

Jude: She loves pain. Right?

(Ugh…!)

Jude: I like that frustrated look on your face. Can I see more?

(It’s quite unfair that he’s the only one who doesn't have to put up an act, no…?)

His grin widened when I looked up at him, so I surrendered and got back onto my feet.

(I wonder what was it that my leg caught onto… no way.)

(Did one of the cultist trip me on purpose?)

I glanced at Jude.

Jude: …

Eyes resembling a pair of amethysts stared coldly at the cultist behind me.

It confirmed that Jude was thinking the same thing I was.

(If they're doing this to ascertain that we “love” each other…)

(They’ll definitely do it again.)

…

Kate: Cold!

My hunch was correct.

We were eating alone while the cultist was away.

The waiter’s hand “slipped” and I had water dumped onto my head.

Waiter: Oh, my apologies, Miss Kate. Please, have a towel.

Kate: … Thanks.

(Ugh… my wet shirt clinging to my body is making me uncomfortable.)

Jude: Hah, nice figure you’ve got.

Mister Jude “I enjoy exposing her uncouth side to the public” Jazza laughed, clearly enjoying himself.

(Both this organisation and Jude… they're the worst of the worst.)

Right when I was brimming with resentment towards him—

Jude: …

Another waiter who was serving Jude tripped, and the water in the glass he was carrying fell onto Jude.

(What the…)

The only sounds that could be heard in the pin drop silence were the glass rolling on the floor and the water dripping from Jude’s hair.

(You need to have guts of steel to splash water onto Jude like that…)

Waiter: Goodness gracious! I'm so sorry!

I held my breath as I watched to see if Jude would lose his temper at the waiter’s very obviously forced apology.

However, unlike what I had expected, Jude gave the waiter a magnanimous smile.

Jude: … It's fine. Moreover, it’s not as if you did it on purpose, right?

Jude: Having something slip out of their hands by accident is a mistake everyone makes.

Waiter: T-Thank you…?

The waiter backed away, perhaps getting uneasy because of how calm Jude was.

Jude: … What’s your name?

Waiter: Uh.

Jude: Your name. Tell me. … Nevermind.

Jude: My hands might slip the next time we meet… forgive me when the time comes, yeah?

Wait: … I-I’m truly sorry!!

The waiter gave an apology that sounded more like a shirek and scrambled out of the room.

(... Poor guy.)

I clenched my fist over my heart as I watched him leave.

(Even so…)

Kate: … In what way is this supposed to ascertain our love?

When I was puzzled by the inexplicable situation we were in, Jude snickered.

Jude: They were expecting something erotic to happen.

Kate: What…

I stared at the man sitting next to me, startled.

Jude: All that talk about love and some other beautiful things, but at the end of the day people are merely hypocritical beings that follow what their body wants.

The sight of Jude cussing with his hair dripping wet made my heart race in an instant.

(...? What am I thinking—)

Jude: What’s with that stupidly honest and lewd face?

Kate: That's not… it’s because of the weird things you said…

It was true that my heart leapt for an instant and my eyes shifted about.

When I looked away, Jude closed up the distance between us.

Jude: Feeling frustrated because you’re horny?

Kate: …

I shuddered when I felt his breath against my ear.

Jude: … Are you really the type of woman to get turned on when being cursed at?

Kate: No…

Jude: You denied it, and yet you’re turning red.

The shame, chaos, and something else he made me feel with his mocking sent a shiver down my spine.

Jude: Hah… you’ve got the potential.

Cultist: … Ahem!

Kate: …!?

I suddenly heard someone clear their throat, and turned to see the cultist standing in the doorway.

Cultist: Um—... you are allowed to move on to the final check. This way.

Kate: Huh?

Jude: Thanks a lot.

(You’re saying that even our bickering got us some approval?)

(By any chance, is this what Jude was trying to incite…?)

I gingerly looked at him and sure enough, he had a haughty sneer on his face.

Jude: Isn’t this a good thing? Worth showing your sultry visage for.

Kate: I did NOT show anything…!

…

Cultist: The final check is to pick a dress.

(Wow…)

The room was filled with colourful dresses, I was spoiled for choice.

(Woah, every one of them looks amazing…)

A jet black wedding dress caught my eye.

It stood out amongst the white dresses…

(Considering that Jude is my groom… I think this black dress would be the most fitting.)

My heart suddenly started pounding ridiculously loudly the moment I imagined myself in that dress and standing by Jude’s side.

(W-What…?)

My heart was pounding so loudly but even I didn't know why.

(Maybe I’m just nervous… something dangerous might happen during the wedding ceremony. Yes, I’m sure of that.)

I found it absurd that I was getting nervous upon imagining myself having a wedding ceremony with Jude, even though it was only for a mission.

Cultist: The bride will take the card with the number that represents her chosen dress. The card must not be shown to anyone.

Kate: … I understand.

From the basket held out to me by the cultist, I took the card labelled “13” that represented the black dress.

Cultist: And now, the groom shall guess which one the bride chose.

(Huh.)

Cultist: You are not allowed to peek at the card, nor exchange signals.

Cultist: If you truly know the bride well, you will know what the bride would want.

(That’s not possible.)

A drop of cold sweat trickled down my spine.

(I doubt Jude knows what kind of dress I’d like…!)

Jude: This one.

Kate: Huh…?

Without hesitating, Jude pointed at the black dress.

Cultist: Bride, please show the card you selected.

I showed the card with the number “13” written on it.

Kate: How… how did you know?

Jude: It’s the power of love.

Jude said with a smile that looked more like he was making fun of love.

(He figured it out by observing my eyes and facial expression… I’m sure that's what happened.)

I rationalised in my mind and calmed the strange feeling I was having.

Jude: So? What’s the result of the final check?

Cultist: … You passed. You have been granted permission to vow your eternal love in the presence of the Founder.

Cultist: Will you hold the ceremony tomorrow? Or—

Jude: Tonight.

Jude: We’ll hold the ceremony tonight.

Jude: She doesn't have the patience to wait till tomorrow morning.

#ikemen villains #cybird ikemen #ikemen series #cybird otome #otome #ikevil story event #niki translates

82 notes · View notes