#sorry I just realized you asked for trouble trio only well u got the entire troupe opps

[zoldyckangel]

Glad you're back! 👽😨🤡 for the trouble trio please?

Nobunaga

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: He a little skeptic on believing ghosts and the paranormal. He needs proof to start believing. If Nobu sees a spirit or any other paranormal creature with his own eyes he would probably rub his eyes that would slowly get as big as saucer plates. He would be blinking like mad while giving his eyes a good eye rub before he be yelling he saw a ghost. He would then tell everyone about his experience and would officially be a believer in the paranormal after that.

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: Nobunaga might seem tough but sometimes a simple thing as jumping out at him can scare the living daylights of him, though I recommend if you decide on jumping out on Nobu that he doesn’t have his sword on him. Someone can get hurt if so….

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: He seems to have a great fear of claustrophobia. He doesn’t like staying in small or tight spaces for very long. He hates elevators or closets and never does well in them. He starts to sweat and squirms and as you can see in the manga and anime he hated being stuffed in the middle in the car. The troupe often teases him about it asking if he ever got locked in closets before.

Bonolenov

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: He’s a very much believer in the spirit realm as his tribe 100 percent believed in it. His parents would often tell him stories about the spirit realm and how everyone comes together after death. He still enjoys stories similar to the ones his parents told him always taking his time to sit in and listen to their stories whether it be a village or someone in a bar.

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: It takes a lot to scare Bonolenov as he doesn’t spook easily.  So it can’t just be a simple spook he would get scared from but more of a planned out scare prank.

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: Losing his hearing is Bono’s worst fear. A world without music to him is pretty much a dark and lifeless world and it would affect his nen. The moment Bono was born music was a part of his life and is necessary for him to live just like consuming food and water.

Uvogin

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: He believes in spirits and likes to believe in werewolves/shapeshifters.  He loves hearing experiences from people in town who said they saw a werewolf themselves. Then he will get into a deep conversation asking questions about it with the person telling the story.  This most likely scenario happens at any bars he visits much to the troupe’s dismay cause he can talk forever when he’s drunk.

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: Literally, nothing seems to scare this man. Every time someone tries to spook him he tells them with a straight face ‘try next time’. Though its proven he gets creeped out by cats looking at him for long sessions of time, no one but Paku knows this.

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: Uvogin has a fear of starving to death from growing up within Meteor City so going without food for more than 24 hours bothers him and he starts to get extremely grouchy/moody since it brings back unhappy memories for him when he went days without food sometimes.

Shalnark

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: He has a hard time believing in ghosts and he likes laughing at the videos that he assumes are fake that he sees online. He doesn’t believe in any supernatural entities either. Demons, vampires, you name it Shal doesn’t believe in any of that stuff because if it was real it be caught on camera right?

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: He doesn’t like people jumping out and screaming in his face as he always manages to jump on instinct. Normally, he gets spooked more easily from jump scares in movies rather than anything in reality though.

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: Germs and being dirty is a great fear of his because the thought of being covered in dirt and grim makes him shiver.  He takes two showers a day and washes his hands so much they dry out and start to crack. So for Shal is not just a normal fear of germs but phobia which affects his daily life.

Kortopi

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: He practically believes in everything. Ghosts or any demons/yokai. If he sees any spirits his eyes just follow it across a room and he stays silent about it. Very much like a cat following visible entities throughout a room with their eyes.

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: He doesn’t get scared at all. He just blinks in confusion and asks ‘what are you doing.’ to his group of pranksters. Not even haunted houses or the woods scare him…

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: Spiders and bugs. He hates and fears spiders, especially big spiders like tarantulas since they are almost as big as him. He nearly jumps out of his skin if a spider is on him even though he has the tattoo on his body and that’s what the troupe members are called. He just hates spiders in reality.

Phinks

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: Just like Nobu, he acts tough snorting ‘ghosts aren’t real’ when he’s around the troupe but when he’s alone its a completely different story. However, when he is with the troupe and hears a noise he’s the first one to be Braveheart even though he’s sweating bullets but he has to put on a brave front in front of the troupe especially danchou. Even if the troupe isn’t there and there just happens to be another ‘unknown and unexplained’ noise and he’s the one hear it he checks it out. and then if something flies at him he screams like a girl swatting at it.  

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: He gets spooked easily from things he can’t explain such as a door opening by itself. Whenever such things would happen he’s the first one to take off and run. The troupe mostly Shal and Fei prank him all the time and laugh about it sometimes even recording so they can go back and laugh at his reactions later.

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: Abandonment and being forgotten about is one of Phinks greatest fears. He hates the thought of no one remembering him and abandonment from someone he considers a ‘friend’ or ‘loved one’ makes him always anxious.  

Feitan

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: He doesn’t believe in ghosts or spirits but somewhere deep inside him, he wishes it was true but the thoughts of being with people he once knew are too good to be true to him.  He doesn’t really believe in anything paranormal either though he likes horror stuff revolving around it. Sometimes he has odd thoughts and will say his thoughts out loud like if ghosts were real and there is a female ghost can she get pregnant with a ghost child or have sex. The troupe just stares at him in silence whenever he says such things.

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: He’s another one that doesn’t get scared or spooked easily. Instead, he giggles about it pursuing the person trying to scare them saying ‘I will give you something to really be scared about.’ In the end, he ends up scaring them no matter what getting the last laugh. I wouldn’t recommend trying to scare him since he thinks of it as some weird game and no matter what the person besides being scared always ends up hurt too.

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: Becoming too attached to someone or falling in love is actually one of his biggest fears. He is used to death and violence because that’s all he has ever known in his life so the thought of becoming close to someone is scary to him. So he often distances himself from people if he fears he becoming too close to them.

Machi

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: She believes in anything Chrollo decides in believing so she believes in ghosts and spirits. She also believes and listens to any Yokai stories or legends as well. She thinks if you believe in anything hard enough the legend comes true.

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?:  She gets scared easily and when she is scared she is trembling inside; although, she never shows her fear. The only reaction you will get from her is rage so you better watch out if you try to scare her since you will get punched a few times.

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: She surprisingly has a fear of doctors. She likes to operate on herself and she doesn’t like others looking or touching her wounds. She absolutely hates it. Along with that, she gets creeped out by dentists. There is just something about dentists she hates, it might be due to how happy they are which reminds her of Hisoka.  

Pakunoda

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: She believes in ghosts and she is super superstitious. She won’t bring an umbrella inside and she carefully handles mirrors believing in bad luck. She often informs the troupe members don’t do that or you will receive bad luck. Feitan never listens to her and slept on a table after getting piss drunk which supposedly gives you bad luck and let’s just say Feitan had a spree of bad luck after. The whole time after the incident he would have bad luck such as tripping over nothing and he just would glare over at Paku each time, internally blaming her and that it was some weird nen ability.

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: No nothing. If anything she laughs about getting spooked or smiles and if she catches the person spooking her she pets their head while laughing and muttering ‘cute’ before walking away.

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: Her biggest fear when she was younger was getting sexually abused or raped. She always used to worry about it while growing up in meteor city. It wasn’t just her who worried about getting sexually abused but the other girls she grew up with as well such as Machi. This past fear stuck to her thus her reason for not liking people touching her unexpectedly though she is okay touching others but that is it.

Franklin

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?:  He definitely believes in ghosts and anything to do with the afterlife. He just doesn’t believe in anything too drastic such as Bigfoot, zombies, or vampires. He likes to believe there is an afterlife where you get to see your loved ones again.

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: No, he’s a stone wall. He knows if anything were to truly attack him he could probably take them on.

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: Mirrors, he absolutely fears and hates them. He gets creeped out by them quite easily and always covers them when seeing one. He hates looking at his reflection because of the scars on his face.

Shizuka

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: She says she doesn’t believe in ghosts even though the week before she would be telling a ghost story to the troupe. The only problem is everyone gets angry with her as she never makes up her mind about believing or not.

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: No, she doesn’t get scared at all. If anything she’s confused or baffled by it, tilting her head to the right not understanding the prank what’s so ever. She doesn’t understand why everyone screams about jump scares either always making the comment, ‘is that suppose to be scary.’

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: Remembering things or having a photographic memory. She likes to forget things for some reason and doesn’t like to remember much besides important details. Only the original members of the troupe know the reason for her selective/bad memory.

Kalluto

👽Do they believe in ghosts or the paranormal?: He believes in them because of the stories his grandfather told. He also believes in certain Japanese yokai or paranormal stuff saying they will haunt you forever to others if you break rules or do things where the ghost latches onto you as seen in the Grudge movies.

😨Do they get scared or spooked easily?: He gets scared easily but he doesn’t scream. He just shivers from head to his toe and stops in his tracks momentarily staring at the thing he got scared from running scenarios through his head how to kill it.

🤡Their Greatest Fear?: Not becoming acknowledged by his family for his strength is his biggest fear but also not finding his brother is another fear of Kalluto’s. 

[sunnybimbo]

have some heithsgiving.... the last time i did this was two years ago and WOW time has simultaneously flown and been shot dead on the floor c’: hope you enjoy!

links to follow in the replies if u wanna read on ao3!

A knock to the door echoes through Hunk’s little one bedroom cottage, startling him out of his daze. He wipes his hands clean on his apron and sets it on the hook that’s sitting on the back of his pantry door, reminding himself to throw it in the wash before the old food crusts over and makes a home in the fibers.

He steals a dollop of whipped cream from one of the pies sitting on the table as he passes, as he’s done about twenty times now. It was only missing a few pieces, but to any outsiders it would be obvious that he was much more interested in the topping.

When he gets to the door he’s licking the sticky away from his lips, hurriedly smoothing his hair back with his clean hand as he peeks out the window.

Blinking back at him are two pairs of purple eyes, and one pair of yellow, fuzzy ones. Hunk preemptively grins and hurries to unlatch the locks, throwing the door open harder than necessary. “Keith!”

Keith, who looks even taller than the last time Hunk had seen him. Keith, who was nervously toying with a bundle of flowers half-crushed against his palm, though he was careful with the petals.

Keith, who hasn’t been on Earth in about three years, seven months.

“Hey, Hunk.” Keith says, warm like bread on a summer day. He hands the bouquet over, and Hunk quickly stashes it in the vase he keeps beside the door, just on the cabinet above where he stores his shoes. “It’s been a while.”

“Mm. You haven’t changed one bit.” Hunk says, all smiles. He leans against the door frame, half-forcing himself not to look him up and down. “How’s space?”

“Still cold.”

Keith awkwardly shuffles his feet, and Hunk hurries to step aside, ushering the trio inside. The trio that is Keith, along with his mother and his space wolf, neither of whom Hunk has greeted yet.

He feels himself flush hot across the back of his neck, and he hurries to extend his palm towards Krolia. “Nice to see you again, Keith’s mom. Uh, ma’am.”

She, along with Kosmo, only seem faintly amused about being briefly forgotten. “Nice to see you again, Hunk.” She echoes back, shaking his palm up and down once, before tugging him into a side hug. “Thank you for inviting us.”

“I’m surprised you remembered what Thanksgiving was.” Keith mumbles under his breath. Krolia’s ears twitch in his direction, and her smile only grows around the edges. But, like… smirkier. Hunk’s seen Keith’s smile do that hundreds of times over the years.

It always warmed Hunk how alike the two of them ended up, for some reason.

Kosmo bumps into his shins, completely on purpose as he stares expectantly at Hunk’s hands. Hunk obediently drops to his level and begins their long-run tradition of Hunk scratching at Kosmo’s belly until his leg shakes. Turns out that, alien or not, it was still a thing for all canines.

“What a good boy— yes you are." Hunk baby-talks, complete with smooches across Kosmo’s chin. “Oh, so handsome, aren’t you? Aren’t you?”

Kosmo licks Hunk right across the nose, and he pulls back with a spluttering laugh. When he looks up, the two aliens in his foyer are smiling back.

“You guys can head into the kitchen. Already got everything laid out. Shiro was here earlier, so you may have missed out on the cornbread and mac ‘n cheese, but…” He shrugs, pushing himself to stand. “I’m sure I can make some more if you’re planning on sticking around for longer.”

“I didn’t realize we’d come so late.” Krolia hums, half under her breath. She leads the way to the kitchen, maybe following her nose, or maybe she remembers from the last few times she’d been over three years ago. “Have we missed everyone?”

Hunk pulls up two chairs for them from the dining room. Their mismatched in cushions, and one of the legs is wobbly but Hunk’s wrists had been hurting from overuse for so long that he’d put it on the backest of back burners.

As they sit, he goes to find plates and utensils. And drinks. “Nah, you didn’t miss much.” None of his cups are clean, so he hurries to pull a pair from the pile in the sink to wash. “It was more or less just Shiro, this time.”

“Lance didn’t come?” Keith asks, already munching on a piece of turkey. It makes Hunk happy that he’d decided to pre-slice the thing this year before he served it, even if it meant it’d get colder a little faster. “Or Pidge?”

“Not this time.” Hunk sighs, overdramatic. “Guess they forgot about little old me.”

Krolia snorts, though she hides her expression under the pretense of covering her chewing with her hand. Hunk sets the two clean cups in front of them and sidles over to the fridge to set out a few pitchers of what was left of the beverages. Mostly just lemonade and spiked fruit juice, but there was one cup left of the sweet tea.

Keith, though, looks troubled as he chews through another piece of turkey. Hunk slides the last remaining leg onto his plate. “Did they really forget?”

Bless his heart, that Keith. Hunk laughs, stealing a sip of Keith’s juice before he steps away to start loading the dishwasher (for the, like, twelfth time that day).

“I’m kidding! Pidge spent the holidays with the Holt family. Which, I guess is fair since she is a Holt. I think they went to a space station?”

“Of course.” Keith rolls his eyes. He smiles, though, and leans forward against the counter. Hunk can see from the corner of his eye how his hand hesitates before it reaches for his glass, but he inevitably does take a sip. The way he licks his lips, though, makes Hunk a bit embarrassed. Curious about the taste— and he’s not 100% sure if it’s just because of the juice.

He hurries on with his explanation, if only to keep his shy mind off it.

“Lance is still out with his family on that Spectacular Worldwide Lance-tour .” Hunk lets a couple spoons drop into the utensil box and dries a few suds off his hands before he does the signature, Lance-branded jazz hands to go along with it.

Krolia snickers, and it turns into a full-blown laugh when Hunk twists at the hip to do the finger guns that Lance had added.

“So, it was basically just me this year.” Hunk carries on, winking at Krolia. She shoves a dinner roll in her mouth in response, pointedly looking in Keith’s direction. “Well, I also mentioned Shiro, but he left pretty earlier. Captainly duties, ‘n all that.”

Hunk claps his hands, suddenly remembering: “Oh, he also video-called with Allura, Coran, and Romelle! They couldn’t come themselves, but I made sure to have him bring back a bunch of tupperware containers for them.”

With the dishes done, Hunk has nothing else to do with his hands. He leans against the table opposite of his two guests and beams at them. “It’s nice seeing you two, though. It’s been so long since you’ve been on Earth, huh? Especially after Voltron.”

“Much too long.” Krolia agrees. Keith nods, silent beside her. She nudges at him with her thigh, but he only nods harder.

Hunk steals another sip of his fruit juice.

The two of them, Hunk and Krolia, quickly fall into small-talk soon after. Kosmo more or less is allowed to pick from Keith’s plate, until Hunk gets them both their own, and Kosmo gets his own spot beneath their feet. Hunk makes sure to pepper a few extra helpings of potato salad for him. Kosmo loved the stuff.

Hunk learns a few new things that evening. One is that Krolia hates sweet potatoes of all things— though it comes as a surprise to her as well as the other two. Hates it so much that she actually steals a napkin to spit it out when she thinks Hunk isn’t looking.

Another is that the two of them had gone on another time-journey. Turns out that instead of Keith being two years older than him, he was now five. When Hunk learns it, he throws his hands above his head and good-naturedly shakes his fist at Keith. “I oughta keep you here on my couch ‘til I catch up again.”

“But you’ll never catch up.” Keith says, behind a bite of pie. His mouth is half-curved in amusement.

“Guess you’ll never leave, then.” Hunk says, haughtily. The thought makes his tummy squirm, though, and Hunk is old enough to not let himself think about it too deep. For now.

Krolia ends up getting a bit tipsy off the fruit punch, and she and Kosmo drop onto said couch nearly an hour after their arrival, drowsy. Hunk briefly leaves Keith alone in the kitchen to find a throw pillow and a quilt for her, though she doesn’t really need either. The space-suit keeps her plenty warm, and the couch was overstuffed for a reason. Still, though, it makes him feel better.

He turns the television on low for background noise, on a cartoon channel, and he’s still laughing at one of the slip-stack jokes as he circles back to Keith.

Hunk gathers the few and new dishes that remain, dropping them into the sink. Keith is still munching away, so he doesn’t deep clean too much— only wipes at the spot where Krolia sat with a rag. The dishwasher is stuffed full and running, so he busies himself with hand-washing.

He can feel Keith’s eyes on his back the entire time, even as the sun finally dips behind the treeline in Hunk’s backyard and probably blinds him.

Hunk wipes the nervous sweat that hide gathered at his chin. When he turns, Keith’s grey-purple eyes are fixated on him still. He’s picking at his plate, thoughtful in the way he slices his fork between mashed potato, and it shouldn’t be so intimidating— but Hunk technically hadn’t seen the guy in five years.

He flops into Krolia’s abandoned seat, suddenly tired.

“Thanks for the food.” Keith says, quiet. “Sorry it’s been so long.”

“Oh!” Hunk startles. For a moment, he’s worried that he’d been broadcasting his thoughts aloud, but Keith doesn’t have that playful look— only dead serious. “No, it’s fine! You’ve been busy. Everyone has, really. And, I mean… Voltron was forever ago, but space still needs help, probably. I’m glad you and Krolia are still going at it.”

“Didn’t realize no one else was visiting, though. Is it always so empty?”

“Only in the recent year or so. It’s a little hard to get everyone situated in one spot, you know?” Hunk sighs. “I always feel so… stagnant compared to you all.”

Keith fixes him with a look. “Hunk, you’re doing incredible things. You were head engineer of the Atlas of all things, and you basically pioneered the entire industry. Just because you work from home doesn’t mean you’re stagnant.”

Hunk flusters. Keith leans closer, shoving his plate to the side to instead turn completely to Hunk. “I’m sorry we didn’t come sooner.”

“It’s fine, Keith.” Hunk laughs, nervous at the sudden, full-force attention being tossed his way. “I… didn’t realize you kept up with me so much, though.”

“We’re friends.” He reminds, gently. Hunk tries not to wince at the word. “I like to keep tabs.”

“For murder?”

Keith doesn’t laugh at the joke, but Hunk does— loudly. It’s his nerves.

A palm comes to rest atop his, stopping his nervous fidgeting. It’s warm, heavy, and does nothing to stop Hunk’s heart from racing.

“I’m glad to see you again.” Keith slowly says, choosing his words. “I looked forward to it.”

“To seeing me?” Hunk laughs again, shaky.

“Yes.” Keith admits, half shrugging. He doesn’t pull his hand away, and his eyes are just intense as Hunk remembers them being.

He opens his hand, and Keith twists their fingers together, looking them palm-to-palm.

Before he can calm himself down completely, Keith obliterates him with his finishing statement of, “I missed you.”

Hunk shoves himself away from the table, blinking back the prickling hot tears that suddenly grip at his eyelashes. Keith lets him go, untroubled by letting Hunk have his space.

Hunk is grateful for it, standing over the sink. He turns the water on, to atleast pretend that he isn’t a grown man crying over someone saying that they missed him. Implying that they loved him.

It’s been so long since Hunk let himself think about Keith saying those specific words to him— about love— that he isn’t properly prepared with a response.

Keith gives him time. He finishes his plate, nearly has finished off the entire turkey, actually, though it was only about half-gone when he’d first arrived.

Hunk takes a shuddering inhale, clearing his throat, and keeps his back turned as he rambles, “Are you implying what I think you are? Or am I getting the wrong message here? Because I’ll be honest— even though it’s been a while I, uh… I’m still sensitive, you know? And I don’t like having my feelings played with, even if it’s a misunderstanding.”

Before he can go on for a half a page, Keith’s chair wobbles and scrapes across the linoleum. Hunk stays facing the window above the kitchen sink, but he does turn off the water. His fingers had already started to prune with how long he’d kept them under the faucet.

Fingers trace along his back, gentle and light. Testing. When he doesn’t pull away, the rest of the hand joins in and rubs a slow, warm circle across until Keith can rest it against his hip. He finds a spot to Hunk’s right, nestling in on the curve of Hunk’s back.

“I’m implying that I like you. Love you, actually.”

“Bold words.” Hunk mumbles, before he can stop himself. Keith doesn’t flinch back— and instead Hunk feels a rolling rumble of a laugh building in Keith’s chest.

“Guess so. I’ve had a lot of time to think.”

He doesn’t take it back, though, and Hunk doesn’t have anywhere to hide the dopey grin that makes itself known on his lips.

Keith inches even closer, until Hunk is firmly nestled between him and the sink. Keith’s other arm comes to wrap across his front, hugging him close, and Hunk feels a content sigh grow in his chest, wrapping first around his heart before it circles around his spinal cord and settles on his tongue.

“How did you know I felt the same way?”

Keith presses his forehead against the back of Hunk’s, at the very apex of the curve of his skull. Hunk feels a kiss pressed there, even above the thick layers of half-combed curls. He’d let it grow out over the years, and apparently the longer it grew, the curlier it liked to get. Hunk didn’t mind much, and by the way Keith leans into it— neither did he.

“Lucky guess.” He says, eventually. It sounds like a Keith-joke, and Hunk huffs, only half-irritated.

And maybe it’s the few sips of alcohol in the form of fruit punch that he’d stolen, but Hunk turns in Keith’s grip and looks up at him. It’s foreign , because Keith had always always been shorter than him— even after his first growth spurt. Galra genes, probably.

Keith looks back, shadows half-hiding him. The dark always crept in so quickly in the secluded area Hunk chose to live, and while he didn’t usual mind, it made him feel like a bunny in the middle of a field knowing that Keith could see him so clearly, and he only got half the picture from him.

He’s still feeling brave, though, as he dips forward to kiss him.

---

In the end, they don’t have a full make-out session in the kitchen. As much as he initiates it, Hunk is far too embarrassed (and also, much more of a Chef than a romantic to debauch his kitchen like that).

After Keith laughs at him for turning red like a sunburnt tomato, and instead tugs him into the living room. The TV had auto-shutoff, but Hunk turns it on again as they settle on the squeaky recliner off to the side of where Krolia and Kosmo are still peacefully in their food comas. Kosmo hadn’t even twitched when they came in.

“Guess it’s a good thing you always cooked for us and not the bad guys.” Keith teases. He keeps it low, but that just adds extra timbre to his voice, and Hunk can hardly stand it. He still laughs, though.

They settle in to watch early Christmas movies, Hunk sitting atop Keith’s lap in the recliner. When Keith tugs him down to steal another dozen or so kisses between commercials, Hunk doesn’t much mind this time.

[guessmonsta]

nishinoya soulmate au where the first words u say to each other are written on ur wrist? can the words be negative (or rather misconstrued as such)? ha your blog is so great 👍

Now this… this is a thing… I’m not sorry…

The words you had on your wrist were supposed to make you feel hopeful about your life, give you a sense of accomplishment for the future. They were supposed to leave you with butterflies in your stomach and giddy smiles on your face. That wasn’t the case for Nishinoya Yuu, though.

Nishinoya liked to say he lived gloriously without insecurities. Evidently, he was vertically challenged, not as much as he was in high school, but that never really bothered him too much. Every problem that being short handed him could be easily solved by wearing platform high tops and moving the cereal box to the bottom shelf. He found himself to be physically attractive, a solid nine out of ten. His social life was intact, he had the best friends he could ever ask for, the best team he could ever ask for, his life was revolving in such a perfect way that insecurities just had no room in the orbit. Although, despite that, there was one that got trapped within it all. Nishinoya’s one insecurity, although he’d never admit it, was that he thought he would never be loved.

The culprit of those insecurities, “Oh, get away from me!” on his wrist.

It was a silly thought, really. He knew he was loved, just across the table at the cafe he sat at were two people who did, in fact, love him. They were bantering about the products they put in their hair, or something of the other. Nishinoya was more focused on the way one looked like he was having the time of his life, and the other looked as if he was borderline panic attack. Asahi and Tanaka undoubtedly had at least some platonic love for him, but that wasn’t enough. He wanted the romantic kind, the kind that humans yearn for. He had his fair share of girlfriends in high school, but they meant nothing. Everyone he had known had dated other people, despite them not being their soulmate. They did it to fill the emptiness in their heart, like a temporary reservation at a hotel before moving home. He thought it was funny, how humans could do so many things just for a sliver of the heaven that was love, but all jokes aside, he was caught in the web as well.

He had drifted away from the conversation minutes ago. He didn’t know why, but his head as somewhere else today. From the moment he woke up, he had felt lightheaded, which was funny, since he was honest he didn’t have anything to drink the night before. Along with that, his stomach hurt, and there was a stiffness in the muscles in his hands. He figured he must’ve been coming down with something, but that didn’t stop him from attending his friends religious Saturday morning get-together at the off brand Starbucks in college town. Although, he was starting to regret it. There were unnerving butterflies in his stomach, and all he could do was silently stir his flattened ice coffee while his friends conversation droned in the back of his head.

More minutes had passed and he felt Asahi staring at him. Tanaka with his obliviousness, hadn’t noticed that he was talking without anybody really listening. Under the table, he felt somebody kick his shin.

“Yuu, are you alright?” Nishinoya looked up at Asahi, furrow-browed and fiddling with his napkin.

“Eh.” He shrugged. He piked his head up from depressively laying on his fist, and crossed his arms across his chest. “Jus’ not feelin’ 100% today.”

“You could’ve stayed home.” Asahi was worried. Of course he was worried, Nishinoya thought. Asahi was always worried. That how he showed his love.

“Nah. I’d have to tripping to cancel a date with Jesus and The Buddha.”

This queued Tanaka’s boisterous laugh from across the table. Asahi sighed, the creases on his forehead smoothing out. Nishinoya smirked, grabbing his iced coffee before realizing it was most likely too disgusting to drink.

“Coffee go bad, bro?” Tanaka teased, leaning across the table and snatching the drink from his hand. “You should go order another one.”

“I don’t really care about-”

“No.” Tanaka shook his head. “Go order another one.”

Tanaka cocked his eyebrows and made a dramatic gesture towards the barista counter. It took Nishinoya a moment to finally comprehend what Tanaka had meant. One of the baristas, a girl, gorgeous even with seven different coffee stains across her apron, stood behind the counter with a smile on her face even if the bags under her eyes were anything but. Nishinoya grimaced, his eyes darting between the barista and Tanaka.

“I’ll pay for your coffee, and every other coffee for the entire semester, if you go hit on her right now.” Tanaka’s smile only got wider the more Nishinoya shook his head.

“No way.”

“That’s not what high school Yuu would’ve done.” Asahi chuckled. Tanaka nodded in agreement.

“Yea-ah. You gotta do it.”

“I’m not doing it,” Nishinoya shook his head. “Are you seeing her? She gorgeous.”

He found himself staring at her now, although she had barely even noticed him. Where in the hell had she come from? She wasn’t here when the trio had entered a mere thirty minutes ago; he would’ve remembered such a pretty face. That, and Tanaka would’ve definitely said something sooner. He was feeling even lighter in the head, now.

“Coffee for the rest of the semester, right?” Nishinoya peeped, suddenly. The statement caught the two off guard, eliciting a howl from Tanaka, who pumped a fist in the air victoriously.

“Yuu, one thing though.” Tanaka added, grabbing Nishinoya by the wrist before he had the chance to stand up. The devious smirk but serious eyes on his friend meant nothing but trouble. He was starting to regret agreeing to all of this.

“You gotta hit on her with a meme.”

“No way.”

“You gotta.” Tanaka insisted. 

“Do you see her, Ryuu!” Nishinoya hissed, pulling his wrist away and gesturing towards the pretty barista. As he did this, she shot him a look, but it didn’t last very long. She must’ve figured they were talking about her, this probably happens all the time. Nishinoya would honestly be surprised if it didn’t.

“She doesn’t deserve to have her time wasted by a shitty meme!”

“A shitty dead meme.” He corrected.

“Don’t do this to me, Ryuu.”

“Be a man, Noya. Go be a man.”

Nishinoya glanced over at Asahi. Normally, he’d be the one to defend him in situations like these. All he did was smile and shrug, though.

“You’re a damn traitor, Asahi Azumane.” He grimaced, sparing his last glance towards him as he stood up and walked towards the barista counter.

“It is what it is!” Asahi shouted behind him.

Nishinoya shook his head and cautiously creeped towards the line at the front of the cafe. There were three people standing in front of him; a self conscious teenage girl picking at the skin on her fingers, a mother with three toddlers, and an elderly couple who couldn’t read the menu. He had time.

While waiting Nishinoya noticed a lot of things. He noticed the, what was meant to be encouraging, glares from Tanaka and Asahi, which honestly just made his nerves worse. He noticed the way the supposedly comforting aroma of ‘fresh brewed coffee’ that diffused through the air was more sickening than pleasant. He also noticed the way the barista smiled at everyone, no matter how grouchy or annoying they may seem. Her eyes sparked and her cheeks seemed to glow, like she was straight out of  movie scene and suddenly, this whole ordeal got a lot harder.

This would’ve been so easy for him when he was seventeen. He would’ve triumphed right up to the girl and thrown the pickup line right at her. He would’ve grabbed her hand, even. Now his knees were locked, God, he was even sweating. He felt nervous, and the sudden clapping from Tanaka was definitely not helping.

Before he knew it, all three of those time consuming people had passed from in front of him. The barista merely smiled at him, figuring he needed his time, which he did. Tanaka was still clapping, the girl in front of him, now waiting for her coffee, was laughing at him. He didn’t know what to say, there was nothing to say. High school him would’ve blatantly shouted that she was pretty, but he couldn’t do that now. There was more to her than that, he knew it.

Tanaka would’ve killed him if he didn’t execute this with a meme like he promised. He had so many in mind but none seemed perfect enough. His mind was racing and his eyes started darting around the room. He just needed something, anything.

He got it. There was a small local band playing at the far end of the cafe. They were going at their trombones and saxophones like nobody’s business and-  

“Hey, ya like jazz?” He blurted suddenly, his eyes slowly moving from the band to the barista. Her smile faded, morphed into a languid head shake of disapproval, before being taken over by another smile.

“Oh, get away from me!” She started laughing, leaning her body against the counter as her body shook. Nishinoya almost started laughing, until a shock ran through his body.

Those words. Those were the words. He held his wrist up to his face and shook his head. The barista was still laughing, unaware of how frozen up he was. Tanaka was cheering him on, half standing on his chair while howling. Another employee seemed to be asking him to sit down, but Nishinoya didn’t care.

The barista regained her composure, and just like he expected, she held her wrist up to her face.

“Does your wrist say what I said?” She asked, her cheeks red but gleeful. Nishinoya nodded, and despite his embarrassment, he started smiling. Her joy was infectious.

“Yeah!”

“God, I can’t believe you’d hit on me with a meme!” She held back another fit of giggles. Now that the word ‘soulmate’ was tied along to her, she seemed more than just pretty. She was beautiful and she understood his terrible meme reference. There was no doubt in his mind that she was made for him.

“Sorry, sorry, oh my god, my friend dared me! I wish it was something else.”

“No, no. It’s al-l good. I had bragging rights to say I knew a meme before it was cool for months.”

There were so many things Nishinoya could’ve said, but didn’t. He looked down at his hands and they were shaking, but for some reason, his head felt fine.

“You probably just got here, but you wanna clock out and go get an ice cream or something and talk? Preferably not meme discourse.” Nishinoya asked, fiddling with his shaking hands.

“Ah-h, I would’ve been down if you were down for the memes.”

“I’m always down for the memes. I’m just shaking and never wanna see a bee in my life again.”

She smiled and laughed again. She hollered something over her shoulder to her co-worker, who nodded in reply.

“I’ll be around in a minute.”

Nishinoya nodded, watching her disappear behind the employee door before sprinting over to his table.

“Shes my fucking soulmate!”

Tanaka gaped up at him, starting to laugh. Asahi looked mortified, his fingers finding the bridge of his nose.

“What did you say to her, Yuu?” Asahi asked.

“Hey, ya like jazz!”

Tanaka burst out laughing, and even Asahi had to force back a smile.

“Go have fun with your Meme Queen, Yuu!” Tanaka stood up, slapping Nishinoyama back in approval.

“Yeah!”

Nishinoya saw her skitter out of the room, her hair slightly disheveled. There was still a pinkish hue on her cheeks and honestly, Nishinoya wondered if it was the meme or the soulmate factor that was getting to her more.

“So, Memelord, what’s your name?” She asked him once they left the open doors of the cafe. He smiled at her and opened his mouth, biting down on his lip for a moment.

“My name is Jeff.”

“Lovely! My name is Esteban Julio Ricardo Montoya De La Rosa Ramirez, we should get along just fine.”