Just to let you guys know, I will be going on an indefinite hiatus. I know I haven’t been active at all for the past few months but I’ve been going through some reflection and stuff and will be writing more personal projects instead of fanfic for now. I really appreciate everyone who has supported and followed my stuff, it means a lot for someone who had just gotten into this over the past year. I’ll be keeping this and AO3 up for people to keep reading if you want, and this tumblr will still be up so I’m still open if anyone wants to chat.
Summary: Hayama gets a crush on Akashi, and asks Izuki for help courting him beyond the basketball court.
Warnings: For those who are watching the anime and have yet to finish the manga, contains some potential spoilers for post-Winter Cup events. Also features some cringe-worthy puns.
Submitted by: bob2ff
Notes: ‘Punding’ with Rakuzan gives some context to Izuki and Hayama’s friendship, but this is otherwise a stand-alone piece.
Challenge no 111: The Awkwardness of Reconciliation; Aomomo
Title: The Awkwardness of Reconciliation
Characters/Pairing: Aomine/Momoi
Challenge: 111 (Rarepair Battle)
Summary: Momoi grapples with Aomine’s return into her life, and all the changes it brings to their relationship. Sequel of sorts to The Awkwardness of Dependency.
Submitted by: bob2ff
Like a black hole, the silence was so dense, it suffocated, non-existent sound particles absorbing into oblivion.
Momoi cringed, trying to swallow without the gulping sound ringing audibly in the cafe. Since when had it been difficult to talk to Aomine – no, Dai-chan?
Summary: It takes a while, but eventually Levi and Hange wear each other down enough to form a friendship. Set after A Choice of No Regrets, pre-canon timeline. Can be read as pre-romance if you wish. Also on AO3.
Warnings: Contains Levi's swearing and Hange's double entendres.
Credit for the title goes to Dr Seuss' wonderful quote about love: We're all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it 'love'.
When he looked back on the years of their friendship, Levi could not have suspected that he would have voluntarily chosen Hange Zoe to become one of his closest friends. If he had to place what led them to where they were now, however, the moments stood out bright and clear in his mind, clearly outlined like ships on a horizon, lit up from the light of distant lighthouses.
In the first few months after Levi joined Captain Erwin’s team, Hange almost refused to leave him alone.
It started with the random visits, that occurred even during expeditions.
“What are you doing?”
Levi looked up and frowned. “Shoes off when you’re in here!” He snapped, voice muffled through his face mask.
Hange stared. “But we’re in a tent.”
Levi narrowed his eyes at her. Raising her hands in surrender, she gingerly took off her shoes, when – “Wait.” Levi eyed her suspiciously. “Stay outside, you’re disgustingly dirty.”
Hange waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Isn’t that the way you like –” she was cut off as she dodged a towel.
“What do you want?” Levi demanded, pushing her out, trying to use as little contact as possible, even if his hands were gloved.
“Erwin wants to speak to you,” Hange said. “Are you cleaning? Your tent? Isn’t that kind of pointless? We are out in the wilderness. There’s dirt everywhere.”
“This place is filthy. Is there a problem with that?” Levi turned his back on her and continued dusting. “Erwin can wait until I’m done polishing the tent poles.”
“Are you sure you want me to say that to Erwin? ‘Polishing your pole’ isn’t something people generally want to be publicly known –” Hange was cut off again, this time when Levi pounced on her, stuffing a cloth in her mouth.
“Fucking hell!” Levi snapped. Hange was surprising agile, however, and slipped out of his grasp easily, spitting out the cloth.
“Your mouth isn’t any cleaner than mine,” she pointed out, sweetly. Flashing him a smile, she slipped out of the tent.
Levi was left staring blankly.
Then he heard her yell, “Yo captain! Levi’s too busy polishing his pole to talk to you!”
***
“Four-eyes, what the hell are you doing here? You’re not even on Erwin’s team.” Levi frowned, staring at Hange. He attempted to saddle his horse faster – maybe he could get away from her and ride further away from her.
“I volunteered! If I beg him enough, someday Erwin will let me capture a live titan,” Hange winked at him.
“You’re fucking crazy,” Levi declared. “Don’t expect me to save your sorry ass if you need it.”
“Hey! Can you teach me how to move the way you do on the 3DMG? The way you hold those blades and all?”
Levi resisted smacking himself on the face. Talking to Hange was always a surreal experience – her mind moved so quickly she jumped from topic to topic before a proper conversation could ever occur.
“I’ve already told you – no. Every one here’s shitty at it, but you’re the shittiest of them all.”
Hange whacked him on the back, almost sending him face first into his horse’s torso. “You’re such a good guy, Levi.”
Levi sputtered, gaping at her. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Hange smiled, patting Levi’s horse. “Your horse looks really well. You’ve really been taking care of him, haven’t you?”
Levi shook his head resignedly. “Just go away already. And you stink.”
Hange smirked. “That’s because I spray perfume that smells like crap, just for you, Levi.”
Levi gaped. That was another problem with Hange – he could never tell if she was really joking or not.
She patted him on the back again before turning to leave.
“You should consider training the new recruits when you retire, Levi. You really understand the 3DMG. There isn’t a single style for everyone, and you seem to get that most of all.” She gave him another smile over her shoulder.
Levi stared at her, before shaking his head. He really did not get her.
***
Sometimes, Levi suspected Erwin encouraged Hange’s overenthusiastic attempts to get to know him. It was the only explanation for the sudden one-on-one meeting he scheduled for the two of them in the vast, useless conference room the Survey Corps used sometimes to give briefings to their rapidly dwindling troops when they were back within the walls.
“So, Levi. You want to know about titans.”
Levi felt disconcerted at the slightly maniacal smile spreading across Hange’s face.
“No. Erwin told me to ask you to give me a routine medical check-up.” He crossed his arms and stepped a few paces away from her. A little more distance to add to the ten-foot conference table that already separated them wouldn’t hurt.
Hange laughed. “You look fine!”
Levi frowned. “How would you know from all the way over there – and you wear those shitty glasses.”
Hange shrugged. “Well, there are some studies indicating shorter people live longer...”
Levi slammed a fist on his palm, interrupting her. “Shitty glasses. That’s right. That’s what I’ll call you. Because you wear glasses. And you’re shitty.”
Hange raised her eyebrows at him. Making a show of it, she raised her glasses onto her head. “Wow, Levi. That’s amazingly original. I’m in awe at your eloquence.”
“Just do what you’re supposed to do, Shitty Glasses. I have a lot of other crap to do instead of standing here listening to your shit.”
“You’re really obsessed with poop, aren’t you.” Hange suddenly brightened, then took out a notebook.
“What the fuck is that?” Levi narrowed his eyes, trying to see from across the long-ass table
“It’s the notebook I use to study you.” Hange was writing in it diligently.
“What the fuck?” Levi repeated. He started approaching her. “Give me that!”
Hange backed away. “You like to clean. You swear a lot. You’re obsessed with poop.” She started listing it out.
“What the fuck are you talking about? You’re making even less sense than usual. Just give me the fucking notebook.”
“You like horses.”
Levi stopped, staring at her. He had moved so quickly he was now barely five paces from her. Hange was looking at him, her eyes intent and focused. Sincerity and understanding radiated from her.
Levi crossed his arms, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. He felt trapped, like the walls he had put up around himself were closing in. And Hange, with them.
“You’re fucking creepy, you know that.” He declared, inwardly cringing at the scratchy quality of his voice.
Hange only smiled, in that smile Levi was only now realizing she always used around him. A smile that was simultaneously wistful yet searching for connection, with him. “You use insults when you’re trying to say something important.”
Levi opened his mouth, but could not find anything to say. “...damn you.”
“Can I hug you?” Hange stepped closer.
Levi raised his arms in defence. “No fucking way. You stink.”
“But we just had a moment! Erwin would be so proud!” Hange exclaimed.
“Not until you’ve showered three times and sterilized all your clothes.” Taking advantage of her outstretched arms, Levi grabbed the notebook from Hange.
“Hey, that’s mine!” Levi easily sidestepped Hange’s lunge towards him.
“Next time you want to know something, just ask me, Shitty Glasses.” He quirked his lips ever so slightly in a wry almost-smile. “You can save your time for the other shitty things you do.”
Notes: I know there’s always a lot of debate going on about Hange’s gender, and I respect Isayama’s decision to leave it up to reader interpretation. I also respect anybody’s opinion regardless of what they perceive Hange’s gender as. For me, personally, I watched the anime before reading the manga, so since then it’s been unfortunately decided for me – I can’t help but think of her as a female from the anime portrayal. So I’ve written Hange as such – I don’t mean to offend anyone, that’s just how I’ve ended up perceiving the character.
First SnK piece, so any constructive comments are much appreciated! =)
This note is specially addressed to pyrodynamo, sicariorum and half-sleeping, and other influential members of the Kuroko no Basuke fandom.
This is pinecone & bob2ff, both fanfiction writers in the KuroBasu fandom. We wanted to comment on the recent plagiarism issue concerning aomeanie, pyrodynamo and idyllis, and Tre anon on AO3. We don’t know aomeanie at all. But we are personally worried of the fact that aomeanie has been driven out of the fandom, and we think that the handling of the situation has been thrown out of control.
We have been resting from the fandom for a while, but we feel that we have a responsibility to comment now that we know about this issue. We do not want to be apathetic bystanders,and this is why we are commenting on this issue.
First of all, thank you pyrodynamo for responding. We sincerely apologise if we have offended or if you felt victimised in any way, or if it seemed like we were trying to impose our views on you, as that was not our intention. We understand that you have a different perspective from us, and we agree that a few of the concerns you raised were valid. Hence, we appreciate and thank your input on this issue, because it was valuable as a different perspective to ours.
Please note that we do not want to turn this into a discussion between only two parties. The primary purpose of our involvement was to turn this into a wholesome discussion about the issue, because we think that there needs to be more thought put into reblogs, and signal boosting. We wholly understand and respect the decision not to be involved — we just want to bring up the very real fact that by clicking on an issue, by reblogging it on a blog, this puts some responsibility on your standing on an issue. This applies to any issue, not just plagiarism.
Our standing in this discussion is that signal boosting, or public shaming, may not have been the right approach, since aomeanie, an actual person behind the url just like all of us, ended up having lower representation. We are not excusing unacceptable behaviour like true plagiarism. We merely feel that “there are many ways to respond and, if we genuinely care about combating bigotry and stupidity [and in this case, plagiarism], we must assess whether our responses are themselves helpful to the cause.” (1) To clarify, the response we are questioning whether is right or not is signal boosting or public shaming.
There are no formal guidelines in fanfiction to deal with plagiarism. We felt a discussion (dissenting views from ours are very welcome) would be a step towards reaching a good solution, rather than the automatic reaction to signal boost. However, we didn’t receive a contribution to the discussion from anyone else. We are disappointed, as we believed this was a real issue worth discussing.
Plagiarism is not an issue that affects only famous writers. It affects students, it affects any writer who believes in the creativity of work. This is why we, too, understand pyrodynamo’s reaction to this.We all have a stake in the issue, we all understand the injustice that lies behind plagiarism.
Hence, we have a need to discuss the best way to handle it. We are all writers, we are all fanfic writers, and we are all members of the KnB fandom. Plagiarism is an issue that affects us as fellow students, as writers, regardless of fame.
We don’t want this just to be a two-way dialogue between pyrodynamo and us, and fully admit that our suggestions also may not be the best solution. Hence, we wanted to bring in more people to reach a consensus on the best way to handle this. We thought a good starting point would be with half-sleeping and sicariorum, since it was from them that we heard about this issue in the first place.
Nevertheless, as aforementioned, we respect the decision not to get involved. Since no one but pyrodynamo and us are contributing to the discussion, we are terminating it for the moment. In the future, anyone who believes in getting involved with the issue of how to deal with plagiarism in fanfiction and in KnB, we would welcome discussion from you as well.
From New Statesman ‘The dangers of public shaming, mob justice and scolding on the internet’, 29 Jan 2014.
This note is specially addressed to pyrodynamo, sicariorum and half-sleeping, and other influential members of the Kuroko no Basuke fandom.
This is pinecone & bob2ff, both fanfiction writers in the KuroBasu fandom. We wanted to comment on the recent plagiarism issue concerning aomeanie, pyrodynamo and idyllis, and Tre anon on AO3. We don’t know aomeanie at all. But we are personally worried of the fact that aomeanie has been driven out of the fandom, and we think that the handling of the situation has been thrown out of control.
We have been resting from the fandom for a while, but we feel that we have a responsibility to comment now that we know about this issue. We do not want to be apathetic bystanders,and this is why we are commenting on this issue.
Firstly, we fully disclose that we are commenting from an urge to offer emotional support to aomeanie. We think that aomeanie needs a voice from her perspective, as we are worried about her current psychological / physical state. We believe, above all things, in treating others decently. Whether plagiarism has been done or not, whether it’s done repeatedly, or even if another person has treated us badly. This is our fundamental, unshakeable belief. We all love KnB after all, and in our shared love for the fandom, we should treat each other as part of a community,
Next, this part is on the matter of plagiarism as a whole, and how we choose to deal with it as members of a fandom. This matter first came to our attention because people influential in the Kuroko no Basuke fandom, namely sicariorum and half-sleeping, have been signal boosting this issue. Frankly, we are not so sure that signal boosting is the best way to deal with this issue, and plagiarism in general.
There are two issues this commentary deals with:
Whether it constitutes as plagiarism or not
If it is plagiarism, how to deal with it
For the first issue: Whether it constitutes as plagiarism or not
There are currently no controls put in place in fanfiction for whether something is plagiarism or not. In the first place, we are all using Fujimaki’s characters as a tribute when we write about it. Sure, we create our own original plotlines and dialogue associated with it, but in the end, we are still all trying to learn from the characters created by Fujimaki, and using the elements of his plotline and characterization to further our writing skills.
If you read Neil Gaiman’s opinion on fanfiction, that is exactly how we feel about this issue.
We will say in public now, we are completely okay with people using our storylines and learning from them, because we are firmly in the camp that fanfiction is a training ground for actual writing, and if our stuff helps people learn to write better, we would accept that as the highest compliment. We completely understand the emotional need to be possessive over creativity, but in the medium of fanfiction, there are so many overlaps and common tropes that the lines get very blurred. The fact that there are no laws or legal processes associated with this medium makes it even more complicated.
That leads us to the second issue, which is, how to deal with it if it is plagiarism.
For the second issue: If it is plagiarism, how to deal with it
The fact is, it seems to us that aomeanie, at least from her messages to pyrodynamo, that she is very concerned about whether what she is doing is plagiarism or not. She reached out to ensure that she wasn't committing plagiarism, and she was just trying to learn.
This is why we are worried about the fact that all this signal boosting and public call-outs have driven her completely out of the fandom. We personally do not believe that this is the right way to deal with this issue, or plagiarism. Firstly, this is because aomeanie ends up not learning at all. Instead, she is driven out of the fandom.
Secondly, if plagiarism is occurring, then we believe the medium of fanfiction is such that the best way to deal with it is, if it really is a matter of personal interest, to firstly reach out to the supposed plagiarizer. Maybe the plagiarizer is like aomeanie, and needs guidance in what’s plagiarism vs. what’s inspiration. The fact that she looks up to writers like idyllis and pyrodynamo should mean all the more that they could be her mentors.
If the plagiarizer really meant to plagiarise, then maybe signal boosting could be the way to deal with it. But the fact is, the medium of the Internet and Tumblr is such that signal boosting could occur with just a click of the button. It is so easy to share, and thus, it is too easy to ruin the reputation of someone who could just be trying to learn. It is too easy to drive someone out of a fandom, and too easy to make assumptions about them, reasonable or not.
We know this is a long commentary...but because this issue is so complex, it requires a long post. An issue this multi-faceted, emotionally-charged and subjective requires extended discussion. It deserves more than just a click to reblog/signal boost, or short-phrased anon asks.
We are open to receive asks, replies, etc. and welcome further discourse and discussion on this issue.
Summary: Kise journeys a further distance than he ever expected to travel, in five train stops.
Submitted by: bob2
Akebonobashi Stop
Kagami was stuffing his face. Kise could not help but stare fascinatedly, drawn despite his disgust. He was eating cheeseburgers. Kise could not think of a worst favourite food for an athlete to have.
Summary: Nijimura doesn’t even know how it all happened, when his troublesome kohai started worming their way into his heart. Set in Teikou-era.
Submitted by: bob2
As captain of Teikou boy’s basketball team, Nijimura had one overarching priority, and one priority alone: ensure Teikou’s win. “Only the strong survive,” after all. There was no space for weakness. No space for friendship, beyond the limited friendship required for teamwork, in order to be strong together, and to ensure no one encroached on that domination at the top.
Summary: There is never a good way to say goodbye. Set in the Replace V novel universe of Nijimura and Himuro have adventures in L.A.
Warnings: Some swearing in the dialogue.
Submitted by: bob2
“I’m leaving for Japan.”
“Good riddance.” The response came unthinkingly, naturally, to Nijimura, a habit borne from intrinsic belief that being friends with Himuro Tatsuya automatically meant you regularly needed to verbally bring him a peg down. The idiot was too pretty.
First of all, apologies to my remixer, because I know I have a TON of fics within KuroBasu. Everything on my AO3 is open to be remixed, although some are maybe more remix-friendly than others. I have a couple of unfinished works that you would probably not want to remix, and the co-written ones with my friend pinecone are most probably not allowed to be remixed according to challenge requirements.
But most of my stuff are standalone stories (or a series of standalones) that you are most welcome to remix! There are also some tumblr-specific fics if you want to parse through them.
If my AO3 list makes your head spin, here's a handy-dandy list below of stories which I would be most excited to see remixed. And to make things easier, they are organized by ships/relationship introspections! I have a lot of gen fics, but I also write about a LOT of different characters in KuroBasu. I really don't have any preferences as to ships (I just write whichever relationship seems interesting). So just pick those you find most appealing to remix. =) I'll be excited to see what you come up with!
Kise/Kasamatsu— The Long Way Back (1,964 words): The distance from Kaijou’s gym to the dorms is pretty much walkable. The distance between between two people, however, is much harder to bridge.
There are also some KiseKasa week stuff if you want to check them out.
Izuki/Puns— Punday Blues (2,854 words): Izuki has an existential crisis. He goes around for help.
I have a LOT of pun pieces! If you love puns too, I'd love to see some remixes of them! =)
Kagami/Kuroko— Dimming Light and Fading Shadow (2,199 words): Kagami and Kuroko begin to drift apart in their third year of high school.
Aomine/Momoi— The Awkwardness of Dependency (6,623 words): When Aomine comes back into Momoi’s life after many years, Momoi has to deal with uncomfortable realizations; about herself, Aomine, and most of all, their relationship.
Midorima/Takao— Nineteen Denials (and one Pseudo-Acceptance) (1,925 words): The key to understanding a tsundere like Midorima is reading between the lines. Takao knows this much too well. The evolution of a bond, read between tsundere statements.
Mayuzumi/Akashi— Twenty Minutes between Mayuzumi Chihiro and Akashi Seijurou (1,887 words): Set post-Winter Cup. A lot can happen in twenty minutes, especially since that much happened in forty, during Rakuzan’s match in the final.
And some character pieces you might want to check out:
Kasamatsu— Phobia (1,258 words): Kasamatsu tries to handle the influx of girls in his life gamely.
Nijimura/everyone under the KuroBasu sun— Basketball Freaks series: A parade of rainbow-haired basketball freaks find their way into Nijimura's life again one by one. A series of standalone, chronologically related vignettes about Nijimura's encounters with the GOM teams. Pick any encounter you want!
Coaches/Team Adults— Anecdotes on a Basketball Past series: Aida Kagetora reflects on a time in his life where everything was simple, and basketball was all he knew and loved. Standalone story series.
I also have some pieces on Alex/Aomine, Kise/Midorima, Himuro/Murasakibara, Hyuuga/Riko, Aomine/Kuroko, Nijimura/Himuro if you want to check them out! And some Miracles-centric pieces scattered around.
Whew, I know that's a lot! So don't even bother trying to parse through everything if it's too much, I totally understand. Just go for the characters/pairings/gen stuff that you'd like best. =)
...or rather, how pinecone and I have gone on an Akashi writing roll.
We all know how there's two Akashi Seijurous. So we've written not one, but TWO romance-centric tales about Akashi! Nice Akashi (Oreshi) and Supervillain Akashi (Bokushi) BOTH get romances! We are all about equal treatment here. =)
Oreshi's romance:
Title: An Unexpected Summer Affair
Summary: When Kise ends up spending an unexpected summer with Akashi Seijurou, the entire affair challenges him in ways he never could have imagined, or anticipated.
This was written because we could not resist the comedic potential of pairing Akashi and Kise together.
Bokushi's romance:
Title: Clocking Change
Summary: There is no easy way to reunite with someone who has been changed by the passage of time, as Nijimura and Akashi find out.
This was written because we wanted to try a fresh take on NijiAka, especially if Akashi is still Bokushi.
Enjoy! Both will be updated pretty frequently. Comments are always welcome, and appreciated. =)
Day 5: Graduation, KiKasa Week — The Week of Discontent
The week before graduation, Kise does not spend his last week doing all the things a typical highschooler would. He does not go around taking pictures in all his favourite places in Kanagawa. He does not go around taking cheesy group pictures with his classmates, and he does not participate in the out of control prankings that occur in the last few days of school.
He also does not spend his last week doing all the things a famous highschooler would. He does not spend time with all the crying fangirls who had wanted to get as much time with Kise-kun before he left forever. He does not spend time taking pictures, signing autographs, or modeling.
The week before graduation, Kise does not spend time in the basketball court, where he had thought he would really wanted to spend the last few days of his high school life in.
Somehow, instead, in the last week of graduation, Kise spends his time lounging in Kaijou’s locker room. The cold bench unflinchingly hard against his back, arm over his eyes, as he listens to his own breathing. He can smell the sharpness of the detergent used to wipe the lockers. He can hear the distant echoes of conversations down the corridors. But other than the occasional hushed sounds in the distance, it is silent. There is no one in the basketball court, at least not one week before graduation.
One by one, Kise lets the thoughts drift into his head, like clouds on a lazy afternoon. He wonders why he feels so lonely when he gets on the court, when everyone is cheering his name. He wonders whether he should continue modeling or not, when it seemed like a neverending cycle of plastic smiles and stiffly natural poses. And the boredom, and the ennui. It was like pre-basketball, pre-Miracles, all over again.
Kise only wants to do one thing the week before graduation. Sitting on the Kanagawa-Tokyo train, he smiles a smile he does not feel when some girls recognize him, and takes a photo with them. He heads to a basketball court, in a university somewhere in Tokyo.
“Kise?!” Kasamatsu-senpai looks at him the way Kise had hoped senpai would not feel. Like he had not seen Kise in months, since an uncomfortable reunion gathering organized by Moriyama-senpai.
Moriyama-senpai had insisted Kise bring his model friends, so Kasamatsu-senpai had barely been present throughout the reunion. Instead, he had spent half of it coughing awkwardly in order to avoid conversation, and the other half excusing himself to “get some more drinking water.” Kise’s model friends still asked him whether his senpai with the coughing illness had gotten better.
Kise had never wanted senpai to look at him the way he did now. But somehow, years and another life from the once all-encompassing world of high school basketball had changed the way senpai looked at Kise.
Senpai’s gaze, that used to evoke in Kise the blaze of wanting ever more to push himself, so he could be worthy of that faith, and certainty, in his ability. Senpai’s gaze, that now looked at Kise like he was someone he barely knew.
Kasamatsu barks at his friends to continue playing, and briefly, swiftly, efficiently organizes another matchup for the game to go on without him. Even months not seeing him, senpai was the same, the confidence in his posture, the straightness of his back giving Kise the reassurance he still needed.
Watching him, Kise felt like he was, back again, the first year covering his insecurities under a facade of blithe cruelty and ruthless talent. Kise felt like the first year, looking towards senpai to lead him out of the lostness he had somehow ended up in through a neverending search to dispel ennui.
“Graduation is next week, right?” Kasamatsu claps Kise on the back as he leads him to the side of the court. Kise can tell that the friendly smile Kasamatsu gives him is forced. He knows all about fake smiles, after all. The realization cracks his heart a little.
“Congratulations, brat!” Kasamatsu whacks Kise goodnaturedly on the shoulder. “I can’t believe you’re already graduating. Once a brat, always a brat, though.” The grin that quirks senpai’s lips makes Kise’s heart ease a little. This smile was less unnatural. It felt more like the senpai Kise relied on.
Kise forces a smile of his own. He tries to muster the bubbly persona that he knows senpai expects of him to have, but somehow can’t bring up the energy. So he just sighs.
Immediately, Kasamatsu frowns. “What’s wrong? You should be happy, right? You were always babbling on about how you wanted to spread your wings or some crap about freedom like that.”
He peers closer at Kise. “What are your plans after graduation, anyway?”
The question makes something in Kise’s chest twist, and tighten. Senpai’s face was right there, close to Kise’s. Kise can almost feel his breath fluttering on his lips, tender and comforting.
“I don’t know, senpai.” Kise cannot even muster the words to explain the lostness he is trapped in. How the concept of graduation frightens him. How even basketball bores him now, and how the minutes of his life go by like dominoes being laid out, pushed over, and laid out again. An infinite loop of neverending, pointless slivers in time.
The whack upside his head comes like a deluge of ice cold water. Kise yelps, more in surprise than pain.
“And you came all the way to freaking Tokyo to ask me what to do after graduation? Are you crazy, Kise?” Kasamatsu demands, then backtracks quickly, impatiently. “Or rather, do youhave any concept of self-realization at all? There’s no question that you are insane.”
“But senpai…” the whine comes so naturally to Kise that happiness pierces through the haze of confusion and lostness still fogging his heart. They weren’t merely two acquaintances anymore. Little by little, the layers of history, of backstory, the bond between them was accumulating yet again.
“You can’t expect me to tell you what to do, Kise,” Kasamatsu crosses his arms and looks to the distance, at the courts. Kise can see him analyzing his teammate’s movements as they play, even then thinking about ways to better improve their teamwork, their coordination, their basketball.
“I’m not your captain anymore, and I haven’t been for two years.” Coming from senpai’s mouth, those words sounded like more truth than Kise’s own ennui-fogged mind had been telling him. Truth that he had been trying not to believe.
Kise wants to tell him everything he had thought about, the last week before graduation. He wants to tell him about how he knows all that. He knows senpai is not his captain anymore, and he knows he can’t show him what to do, not anymore. But the words all feel like they’re not good enough. Kise feels, yet again, like the first year having the experience of trying to impress someone for the first time in his life, as he tries to impress his captain.
“You’ll be alright.”
Kise turns to him, still trying unsuccessfully to swallow the lump in his throat that seems to have ingurgitated all the words he wanted to say. Kasamatsu is looking straight at him, with that gaze that sends a jolt of self-confidence, faith, and something more straight to Kise’s heart.
Kise has just successfully cleared his throat and is just about to speak, when Kasamatsu turns away, staring yet again at the courts. “You’re an airheaded idiot, but somehow you’ll bumble through it. It’s time for you to graduate, and grow up.”
The quirk in senpai’s lips was back. Kise stares at his lips, fascinated. The insult slides off Kise as it always does, coming from senpai.
Kise reaches out and takes Kasamatsu’s hand. A heat is rising slowly up his face, and he makes sure to stare at their hands, instead of at senpai. He can feel the surprise in senpai’s gaze on his face. He smiles a smile he fully feels.
“I don’t think I’ll ever graduate from you, senpai.”
The darkness pressed on Kise, making him feel a little more suffocated, a little more trapped. He daren’t breathe too loudly. It did not feel like the Kaijou locker room at all. It felt like a foreign place.
With a click, the lights switched on. Kise blinked. Suddenly, he could breathe. Suddenly, he felt free.
“What the hell are you doing, just standing around in the dark?” Kise was shoved forward as he was clapped in the back, hard.
“Senpai!” the smile came naturally. It always did, around senpai.
“I was wondering what this room would feel like without you, senpai,” Kise said. Every word he made sure to think through, carefully. Every sentence from here on out, he had to count. Because senpai’s time as Kise’s senpai was ending.
The crease between Kasamatsu’s eyebrows deepened, and Kise felt the urge to smoothen it. He stilled his hands.
“That’s a dumb thing to do,” blunt as usual, that was senpai. Kise’s smile arose naturally, yet again, in response.
“Here,” with a click, the darkness fell upon them yet again. “Does it feel any different, even with me in it?” Kasamatsu’s tone was wry, and Kise could hear the gruff grin in his voice.
Kise blinked, but this time, only darkness was around him. He could not see senpai. There was no brightness, anywhere.
“Senpai, that’s mean,” his voice sounded higher, and whinier, in the dark. Kise winced. Was this what he sounded like on a normal basis? If so, no wonder people found him annoying. No, it had to be the darkness that made his voice like that.
All he could hear was his own breathing, sounding louder and harsher in the dark.
“Well, you have to get used to it sooner or later,” this time, senpai’s voice was right in front of Kise.
“Senpai,” Kise breathed. He could not feel the darkness pressing on him any longer. This time, he could feel senpai’s presence, right in front of him. Comforting, and reliable. Grounding Kise wherever he was.
Kise could hear Kasamatsu’s breathing, too. Strong and calm, like the person he was.
Kise did not bother to close his eyes. It was dark enough. He leaned forward, and pressed his lips onto Kasamatsu’s.
Their lips moved gently over one another, as the sensations swirled gently around them in the dark. Everything Kise could sense was senpai. The clean, understated smell of his aftershave. The slightly dry, rough feel of his lips. And the tender clumsiness of his tongue as it responded to Kise’s own.
It was thrilling. Kise could feel the joy, and pure happiness, electrifying every nerve in his body. He wanted to press further—
“Oi, Kise!” Kise jumped with a start, as a whack on the back startled him from his daydreaming. The lights were on, and the Kaijou locker room looked just as it always did. The pile of Kise’s cosmetic products faithfully scattered in random locations, and Hayakawa’s pile of shirts in the corner, a product of his incapability to fold his clothes properly.
“Senpai!” Kise yelped. He covered the rising blush immediately with a blinding grin. “W-what are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.” Kasamatsu frowned as he contemplated his old locker, and the absence of the music posters he had already removed, just that morning. The crease appeared, yet again. Kise stilled his twitching hands. “Moriyama’s still talking. Whoever let him have the mike should get double the laps next training session.”
Kise’s lips twitched, both in amusement and desire, watching senpai’s lips move as he talked. “You should tell the next captain that, then.”
Kasamatsu quirked his lips, and Kise felt the twinge of desire again. “Moriyama’s probably been waiting all three years on the basketball club for this opportunity.”
He turned and looked intently at Kise. “You should go and listen to him. It’s the last time you’ll ever hear his cheesy babbling about girls again.”
The smirk spread across his face, and a mischievous crease appeared between Kasamatsu’s eyebrows again, as he added, “He’s probably looking for you, too. He did mention something about getting a girlfriend ‘no matter what’ before heading off to university.”
Kise smiled, but it was only out of politeness. Moriyama-senpai was the furthest thing from his mind as he raised a hand and finally placed it between Kasamatsu’s eyebrows, smoothing the crease. “I’d much rather be right here, senpai.”
His heart felt like it was climbing up to his throat, it was beating so fast. Kise’s hand moved gently to the back of Kasamatsu’s head. With the ramming in his chest, Kise almost did not dare to see the surprise in Kasamatsu’s eyes as he pulled senpai forward, to kiss the smirk on his face.
He kept his eyes shut tight. This was so much better than the daydream. Or worse. Because Kise thought his heart would ram right out of his chest, it was beating so hard. Senpai could probably feel it too, pressed against him like that.
And Kise could feel senpai’s breathing, too. Warm, and even, and comforting. Kise thought he could stay there forever. He thought he could experience having senpai right there with him, and kissing him, for the rest of his life. He—
Kise jerked awake, and nearly wanted to swear out loud, when he realized a weight by his side. The curse word was rapidly swallowed as he registered Kasamatsu-senpai next to him, leaning on him.
Senpai was sleeping. That damnable crease between his eyebrows was still there. Senpai frowned while he slept. Somehow, that did not surprise Kise.
Kise blinked as he registered the dim darkness around him. Kaijou’s locker room, of course. It looked like any other room, as though it did not contain all the memories of losses, and hard work, and the burden of leadership, or the burden of an ace. It looked like any other locker room in any other high school in all of Japan.
Kise looked down at Kasamatsu’s face, so near him. Senpai’s breathing was strong, and calm, whether in daydreams, dreams, or reality. Even sleeping, senpai could reassure Kise in a way no others could.
He would never get this chance again. So Kise leaned down, and brushed his lips against Kasamatsu’s. His lips touched senpai’s so lightly it was barely a touch, like a butterfly landing on a flower for a brief, infinitesimal, sliver of time.
The smile spread across Kise’s face as he sat back up. It felt as though something wonderful, joyous, like laughter that could not be contained, was threatening to burst out of him. The feeling felt a little like playing basketball all out, for the sake of basketball, and nothing else.
So, high-spiritedly, he exclaimed, “Senpai, wake up!” The peppiness jerked Kasamatsu awake, and the crease deepened as he shoved a hand into Kise’s face.
“What the hell kind of a wake up was that?” he frowned, grumpily.
“Would you have preferred I kissed you awake, senpai?” Kise winked, and smiled, naturally. He hoped the flush rising at the back of his neck was not obvious.
Immediately, Kasamatsu kicked Kise, even as Kise, paying special attention through his instinctive wails of pain, noticed his face reddening.
“Shut up! Let’s go, we’re not supposed to be here anyway,” Kasamatsu cracked his neck and started stretching as he walked out. “Damn Moriyama and his frigging-long graduation speeches,” Kise could hear him muttering.
Kise noticed that senpai did not look back at Kise. He had already known Kise would follow him. The pleasurable glow expanded within Kise, as he was reminded of a faith, and trust, in him, even when Kise still sometimes questioned himself.
Then, “Oi, are you coming along with me or not?” The impatience in his voice was clipped and gruff, but Kise could see senpai’s stiff posture from the back, as he waited by the locker room door.
Kise’s smile rose, natural and wonderful. “Always, senpai.”
Notes: So, I'm still practicing writing kissing scenes. Thought it would go well with Day 3's prompt, so here we are! You get three kisses instead of just one! =) Always open to hear what you guys think.
AoKaga romance, Uncharted Sentiments is finished! Plus update on MidoTaka piece.
So our Aokaga romance, Uncharted Sentiments, is officially finished! =)
Also, an update on our MidoTaka piece, Mutability in Motion. It's nearly done, too!
We, pinecone and bob2, would like to thank every single reader for supporting us throughout Uncharted Sentiments! Seeing your kudos, comments, subscribers, or any sort of recognition and encouragement that you gave to us throughout this process really, really helped us keep going. You all have no idea how much it means to us to see that people are enjoying our work and that you genuinely love reading our work.
We put a lot of thought into this work, from characterisations of both Aomine and Kagami, to their interactions, and their relationships with other people that could complicate matters between them. We really wanted to explore their relationship beyond just the fact that they are both similar, and wanted to go deeper beyond what is portrayed in canon. This started out really funnily because we just chose the two most entertaining, volatile, characters and wanted to see what a romance between them would look like (because we were both also in the mood to write romance). But this ended up being such a fun piece to write and explore. Also, we love hearing that our work has made people think about this ship a little differently, because that was our intention, besides making your 'kokoro' go 'doki doki'!
We know that some readers might disagree with how we decided to end it. We are always very happy to talk about why we decided to end it this way, and you can believe that a lot of thought went into how we decided to resolve this story. There are definitely some open ends that are up to your interpretation and we hope you enjoy this piece of work regardless!
Lots of love from the both of us, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We are always very happy to hear from you guys, so do contact us here or the AO3 comments!
Hello =)! First of all I'd like to thank you for your great works, your fanfictions are truly amazing pieces! I wondered what your opinion on the latest chapter of KnB is .o." ? It'd be interesting to know what you think ^^ also since a lot of people seem to be very sceptical /:
Hello dear Anon! Thanks so much for the lovely note! You have no idea how much it means to me to hear from people who enjoy my work. It really keeps me writing. =) And I’m so honoured you’re asking my opinion on the manga’s latest chapter!
As most people should know by now, I have trouble keeping my answers concise (T.T)…so here’s my response to your question below. Also, spoilers for the latest chapter (Chap 267 below!).
As a plot device, I would say that putting all the Rakuzan members in the Zone is a brilliant one. If you want to up the badass factor for the team, that’s definitely the way to do it. Also, Rakuzan’s role in the entire manga is as the ultimate ‘boss’, so it makes sense to make all of them insurmountably powerful.
My problem with this is not so much that I am sceptical per se, but that I think that this decision has ‘cheapened’ the Zone. Fujimaki has been using the Zone A LOT in the matches since the Touou loss, and this makes me feel like the Zone just isn’t that much of a big deal. Or rather, the Zone is just an easy, lazy (at least from a storytelling perspective), way to power up any basketball player.
This bothers me, and I think this does niggle most people, because this laziness could have been negated had Fujimaki just made Rakuzan a genuinely good team from the get go. But instead, the entire match has been a little of a letdown in terms of all their abilities. And so it seems like the Zone is a quick way to get out of having to develop their abilities organically throughout the storyline. It is basically an instant power-up, after all.
Bear in mind that these comments are just preliminary, and based on a chapter, as well as my take on the overall development of the plotline in the manga. It could be that in the next chapter, Fujimaki comes up with a logical (as logical as the Kurobasu world can be, haha) explanation as the catalyst for the entire team being in the Zone. After all, Aomine and Kagami’s catalyst for the Zone are both pretty logically consistent from a storytelling, thematic standpoint. Kagami’s ‘nakama power’ is something that is covered in his character arc/development, and we can believe Aomine’s talent is just that overwhelming.
One last thing. We’ve been told all this while that Akashi is a brilliant strategist, and we saw a bit of that in the Shuutoku-Rakuzan match. Unfortunately, we didn’t really see all that much of his strategizing ability in the entire match. This is part of the whole feeling I get that Rakuzan’s development just didn’t happen organically. Instead, it’s one shock at the end, reminding us that they’re supposed to be an amazing team.
Wow that was long, sorry! It was a fascinating question, so thank you for asking it! I guess you could count me as a pseudo-sceptic? I’ve just gotten sort of interested again in the manga after the longest time of being super bored, unfortunately, by the match. And that was only because I was interested in finally finding out what makes Akashi tick as a character. But I’ll be interested to see how Seirin will win this match! (I don’t know if this is a good thing or not, but I just can’t see Seirin losing this match. This is due to a variety of reasons I have outlined briefly before in a previous post, but mainly it’s because it makes sense from a team/character development perspective, for both Seirin and Akashi.)
Uncharted Sentiments, our AoKaga romance, is in the final edits now. So while that's wrapping up, pinecone and I have embarked on another tale, this time a MidoTaka one!
Title: Mutability in Motion
Summary: When Midorima begins to change, Takao finds himself out of depth. Like any good friend, he tries to help. In the process, he discovers new things about himself, Midorima, and most of all, their relationship.
We'd love to know what you think! Please check it out on AO3. =)
