seokiloquy

[seokiloquy]

Let Me Live - Semi Eita

Soulmate Au: First Words, Timeskip

Requested

Tags/Warnings: GN! Reader, swearing, innuendos,

Word Count: 7k

“Don’t forget, we have to be there by 7!” Masaki sends to your phone, reminding you about a concert you’re supposed to go to in the evening. 

A thump rings through the wall.

You groan, setting down your pitcher of steamed milk to glare at the wall behind you. Music from the club next door rattles the shelves, causing some plates to clink together. It's not even noon yet, and the band has started warming up, much louder than anyone could appreciate. 

Cheery Cafe and The Local easily juxtaposed each other.

From the back kitchen, your boss emerges, rolling his eyes. "Already?" 

"Yup!" You call over a particularly loud strum that rumbles the walls.

Coming from downstairs, your coworker emerges with an armful of coffee beans and a grimace painting her face. "I swear they have a speaker pressed against our wall." She joins you behind the counter, dropping into a low square to slide the bags into the open shelf space behind your legs.

"I wouldn't be surprised." You huff. "The owner's an ass."

"Watch it, kiddo." Your boss huffs a laugh.

"You said it first!" You shoot back, but he walks out without a response. Mina follows behind with an empty pitcher.

"Wait! Can you make a note?! We're low on flour!"

"Got it!" You grab a pen and notepad just as another blast of guitar rings through the walls.

A customer enters. Hands over their ears.

"Hi, your ears okay?" You laugh slightly as the door shuts behind them.

“I may go deaf.”

“Join the club.”

“Already a part of it, sadly.” They sigh, taking out their earplugs.

You lean against the counter. “Ah, part of the enemy. Which are you, staff or player?”

“Roadie.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Laughing, the roadie brushed a hand through their grown-out buzzed hair. “This is the loudest they've been all tour. They're finally home, so it's all out for friends and family.”

The shelf rattles again, and you quickly spin to catch a cup before it falls to the floor. “Glad to be a part of the experience.”

“Sorry, I’ll tell them to tone down, but I can’t promise they will.”

“I don’t expect much. Anyways, you’re here for a reason. What can I get you?”

“I’m so sorry for what I’m about to do to you.” They wince.

You sigh, hands on the counter. “Please don’t say it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Please just be quiet.”

“Sorry.” They place a piece of paper that was ripped from a notebook on the counter in front of you. 

You stare helplessly at the text-filled sheet before groaning and calling back toward the kitchen. “I’m gonna need help out here!”

Kaziyoshi emerges, with a concerned look on his face, quickly followed by Mina. Kaziyoshi glances at the paper. “Oh lord.”

“I hope you’re not paying for this yourself.” You sigh, taking it with you to check out. “There’s even specialty drinks on here. Did you look up our menu?”

“Some people are very picky. It’s on the business card, though, so it's all good.”

“Well, you may as well sit down and enjoy the scenery.”

“Will do. It’s very cute here!” 

You laugh, “Very different from next door. Now sit. This is going to take a bit.”

“Do you need help taking these over?”

Six full trays, with four drinks each, there is no way this roadie is going to be able to carry them over on their own.

“I’d actually appreciate that, ya.” Nagawasaw tucks the list into their pocket before reaching for a tray.

Mina takes over the counter as another group of customers enter, and Kaziyoshi goes back into the kitchen. With three trays in your hold, one on each hand and the third balancing between your wrists and chest, you follow the roadie out of your cute little pastel cafe and toward the dark, towering club next door.

The Local, a black-painted two-story brick building, has been there for as long as you can remember. Opening at 7 p.m., you’re generally lucky enough to be off-shift and not have to deal with the lines of people waiting around, save for their cigarettes left behind on the sidewalk. But, despite the door only being open to the public at seven, artists, their teams, and available families are able to enter so long as an employee is present.

The roadie pushes the door open with their back as a blast of guitar threatens to burst your eardrums. You groan and follow in to put the drinks at the bar counter. The lead singer, with ash hair and dark tips, sings loudly with his eyes shut while his fingers expertly strum over his guitar strings. Your arms tingle as you set the drinks down in front of the barkeep.

“Hey, Nagasawa! You got it all!” You can recognise the owner’s rasper voice from anywhere. 

“Oh, and you’re one of the baristas from next door. Thanks for helping bring this over.” He reaches over your shoulder to grab a black 16 oz coffee and chugs it.

You rub your arms, nodding. “No worries. Hey, do you mind turning down the volume? We know the band needs to practise, but we’re having a hard time hearing anything over there.”

“I’ll see what I can do, Kiddo. Everybody! The drinks are here!” He walks away and not toward the soundboard. You sigh.

A girl, maybe 14 years old, rushes over. Grabbing the only strawberry milk and a double espresso before rushing back for the stage.

“Isn’t this place 18 and up?” You ask openly to the air.

“She’s the singer’s little sister. The bar isn’t open right now anyways, so it’s not like she can grab a drink.” Nagasawa sighs with a shug. “Anyways, Thanks for the drinks. The band’s playing for four days, so you can probably expect more requests from us.”

“Cool. I should get back. The name's (L/N) (Y/N), by the way. Nice meeting you.” You're about to bow but instead wince as the band plays all at once. “See ya.”

"Wait!" Grabbing a cup sleeve, Nagasawa pulls a pen from their pocket and writes. "If you need anything, shoot me a text."

Blinking, you grab the brown paper and bow. "Thank you." 

The customers that had entered when you left were seated at a table, happily chatting, and Mina was free. She furrowed her brows after getting a look at you. “What’s up with your arms?”

You freeze next to the counter and look. “The fuck?”

“Do you have a soulmate mark?”

“No!”

“Well, you do now!” She shrieks, making the customers, only a few metres over, turn around.

Vibrantly coloured letters glow on your arms, covering every inch with a stroke of bright paint. Nothing seemed to be untouched. You lift your pant leg to find the same pattern. They stayed for a moment before fading away into nothing.

Mina was jumping on the spot, fanning her cheeks with excitement. “Do you know what this means? You have a soulmate!”

You hiss, “Ya, and it was someone next door!”

Mina freezes. “Oh, shit. Do you know who?”

“Well, not Nagasawa or Mr. Takumi. I would’ve noticed earlier, and I’ve spoken to the owner before.” A blast shakes the side wall again, “Asshole didn’t even bother trying to turn it down.” You join Mina behind the counter.

“No other clues?”

“Everyone was talking, and the music was so loud. I didn’t talk to anyone else either.”

“Was the music good, at least?”

You give Mina a sideways glance.

“Right, never mind.”

“I’m kidding. It was… fine. Just very heavy… and loud.”

After a break from the boom drums, the door opens, and the same young girl from before enters, a towering figure following behind. “Eita, come look, it’s so cute!”

She lets go of the guitarist's sleeve and runs to admire the wall plushies across from the counter. She squeals, jumping up to reach a cat on the top shelf.

Eita rushes over, catching the line of stuffies that nearly come tumbling down with the giant cat the girl snatched. 

"Watch it, Hanako. You're going to break something." Eita pushes the toys back onto the shelf and glances around with a twitching nose. "It's… cute."

You glare, ignoring the blur of Hanako as she excitedly rushes around, the giant pink cat in her arms, to look at all the other shelves.

He glances around the pastel-painted walls before catching your eye. "Aren't you a ray of sunshine? What's with the storm clouds?"

You feel the muscles in your forehead tense more, "Sorry, what was that? My ears are ringing from the constant screeching next door."

The tall guitarist scoffs before getting distracted by his sister running to the counter. And dropping everything on it. "Can I also have a strawberry milk with boba!!" 

You smile at the girl. She's decked out in fun colours and cute accessories and a long swaying skirt to match. The exact opposite of her brother. "What did you pick out?"

"The cat, a Sanrio blind box, the My Melody headband, this keychain, th—”

“How are you paying for this?” Eita asks behind her, making Hanako look over her shoulder.

“Who said anything about me paying for it?”

You huff, slapping a hand over your mouth to muffle the laugh that threatened to escape. Eita glares before pulling out his card with a sigh, letting his sister swipe it from his two fingers.

“Oh, you’re just wrapped around her fingers, aren't you?” you laugh, placing all of the girl's items in a bag.

“Ha, ha.” He reaches for the completed bag and grabs his sister around the neck with his elbow, escorting her out and messing with her hair as they leave.

“Ah! Eita! Stop it. Let me go! I’m gon—” The door shuts behind them.

Your hands push into the counter, creating a line where the heel of your palm falls off the stone. The guitarist walks past the window with a bored but snobbish expression as if a young girl wasn’t dragging him around. While carrying a wild exterior, you could feel the “I drink black coffee” attitude radiate from him and infect everyone in his vicinity. His sister seemed to stand alone, luckily, not caring for the glares he sent towards all the cute merchandise or sweet drinks and snacks you had in store.

A scoff boils out of you as they finally fall away from view. At least Hanako was cute, if she weren’t, you couldn’t imagine the amount of remarks he would send your way. You could hear it now: “Who would want this stuff,” “Seems weird,” “People actually buy these?” all with a tone that sounded like slime stuck between toes in a sweaty shoe. You shiver, dropping onto your elbows, only to notice that the words have re-appeared, only this time, one in particular stuck.

“Aren't you a ray of sunshine?” You read aloud. “Fucking hell.”

“Watch it!” Kaziyoshi appeared from the kitchen. 

The rest of the colourful lettering quickly dissipates, fading into the natural shade of your skin beneath them as if washing away in non-existent rain. But the six words, one sentence, remained prominent and bright on your forearm. You swing it behind you, hiding it from the view of your boss.

“If you saw who had just been in here, you’d say the same thing. At least the sister managed to get his card out of him.” You gesture to the register for Kaziyoshi to take a look. As he does, you rush to grab an extra sweater tucked in the far corner beneath the counter and slide it on.

“Oh ya. Good for her. Shika will be happy to see that.” Shika, his wife, was in charge of inventory. Kaziyoshi leans away from the register to look at you. “Cold?”

“Only a little.” You smile, already feeling the sweat start to build on your skin. 

“I’d say turn the AC down, but it’s pretty hot in the kitchen right now.”

You knew that the heat easily spread to the front, and while the smell was excellent, it was torture during the summer months. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.” You already regretted the decision.

The letters beneath your skin seemed to tingle. Annoyed, you scratch at it until Mina appears again, allowing you to run off and distract yourself with another task.

The day continues as mundanely as before, occasionally being visited by those from next door. Why the owner endorses your cafe despite being a grotesque man in general, you’ll never know, but you hope he just likes the coffee. The thumping only stops two more times throughout the day, the last of which happens an hour before you close, and the line outside begins to build, running across the cafe’s window and door.

You just finished mopping when the door opens again, and Mina curses. “I forgot to lock.”

Luckily for you, though, you recognise the face standing on the mat. 

“Masaki? I thought I was meeting you at the venue?”

Mina sighs in relief, handing you your things before gathering her own and heading for the lights.

“Well, I was waiting in line with Hiro and thought I'd just come get you. Hiro’s holding our spot anyways.”

You blink for a second, wondering why Masaki would abandon their spot in line and come travel to get you when that effectively doubles the distance travelled.

“Besides, it’s not like I had to walk far. Come on!”

Behind you, you hear Mina say bye to Kazioshi (and Shika, whom he was on the phone with) before she comes back and pushes both you and Masaki towards the door.

“Not far?” Your feet freeze, leading Masaki to drag you outside. Mina waves goodbye as she locks the door, before walking in the opposite direction that Masaki is leading you. “No.”

You freeze just outside The Local, where Hiro waits in front of a security guard with his hair perfectly shagged and styled. 

Suddenly, it’s like your eyes give up on you. A dark vignette takes over your vision as you realise just who you’re about to see in concert. And that you will be sticking out like a sore thumb in periwinkle and white clothing, while everyone else is wearing black, and leather.

You don’t look like you belong in The Local. You look like you just walked out of the cute cafe next door. Which A. everyone just saw happen, and B. everyone inside knows too.

You lift the hood up of your borrowed sweater, tucking your nose behind the zipper and tighten the hoodie string as much as possible. The fabric is pink, which, while very cute, does not help your situation. You groan, regretting that you were born in a world where sweaters don’t eat people alive. Why did they buy this ticket, again?

“Ending tour sale.”

You further bury your nose.

Eventually, the security guard asks for ID and tickets with the help of one of The Local’s staff members, whom you give coffee to regularly, and you’re in.

There’s an artificial breeze inside as the building’s old AC works its hardest, which you appreciate from under your sweater before being dragged to the base of the stage. You, along with Masaki and Hiro, stand before the stage, looking at, or for them, admiring, the set-up from the perspective of an ant. 

Nagasawa, the roadie, appears on stage, guitars in hand that they place on stands. Catching your eyes, they nod, before walking off, shoes appearing and disappearing across your line of vision.

More people pile in, and Hiro offers to go get drinks for the three of you at the bar before too many get through the doors, and manoeuvring becomes impossible. You nod along with Masaki’s enthused reaction, thinking about being trapped at the front back of the room, far away from any exits, while being pressed up against the stage where that wannabe miscreant of a guitarist that you now have to call your soulmate will be able to stare you down for two very long hours. You shiver.

Hiro returns quickly, the bar hands are well-trained and speedy, and you down your cup of alcohol before even finding out what it was.

“You good, Hello Kitty?” Hiro asks, taking the empty cup back.

“Fine, just feeling the desire to jump in front of an oncoming train.”

“Oh? Which one?”

“Hiro!” Masaki smacks his arm.

“I didn’t bring it up!” He defends, Shifting his body weight when he notices people trying to shove you three out of your spot at centre stage.

Masaki sighs before looking your way with pinched brows, a silent question.

You just shake your head. “It’s not worth getting into. Not right now.”

Still, with a concerned face, Masaki nods and turns toward the stage.

After they both finish their drinks, the club space is packed, and people are already trying to shuffle by in a tight line to get toward the bathroom. The AC, while on, has already failed at keeping the large number of bodies in the space cool (go figure), and you are already regretting your decision to take the sweater with you instead of leaving it behind.

You stare down toward your feet, trying to see them in the dark to calm yourself down and not overheat, and then the crowd screams.

The group, which you don’t even know the name of, enters from stage left. A drummer with characteristically long hair that's ready to swing to the music, a pianist with the most toned-down style amongst the group, a bassist with and guitarists both with layered, torn and strapped up clothing, and the lead singer, Eita. He wore more extravagant clothes than before, somehow. Leather studded boots, ripped jeans with hanging chains, a loose graphic muscle tee underneath a leather jacket with fur trim, the last of which he had been wearing throughout the day.

Eita scans the crowd with a lopsided smile before landing on you with a tilt of his head. You were going to suffocate and die. The following words out of everyone's mouth had no meaning as you stared at the right-angle corner of the stage and gripped it.

The music plays on, not caring for your drum-altered heart rate or battered eardrums.

The crowd behind you screams, and something grabs your chin, forcing your head to tilt back despite the tense muscles in your neck. Eita stares down at you with a hiked brow, face entirely shadowed by the stage lights.

You try to scramble back and tear away his grip, but you find your back forced to stay still by the pressure of a thousand bodies wanting to clamour closer to the men on stage. You're trapped as you feel every word your soulmate sings begin to dance on your skin.

Eita winks before rising fully to his feet again, and Masaki lands a slap against your arm.

You're free from his hold but still trapped in his presence as the next two hours are filled with blaring rock and tingling skin. He doesn't look your way the rest of the night. You're thankful.

As soon as the show finishes, you rush to the door, not caring to stick around for the band's pandering for their fanbase. You escape, ears ringing and slam your back against your cafe's door as your breath tries to acapella and not return.

Overheated, you rip the sweater off your shoulders and toss it to the ground. How Eita managed to play a whole concert in a leather jacket with a fur trim, you wouldn't understand. But, then again, he likely didn't have anxiety pumping through his views like you had, freeing him from the fate of being an overcooked slab of chicken. 

Gasping for breath, your mind jumps to his calloused fingers on your chin. So tight, as if he could have grabbed you by the neck in a second and carried you over like a hen ready for slaughter.

Mind now on chickens, your breathing slows, and you melt onto the concrete ground in front of the Cheery Cafe door.

"Hey, why did you run— Oh shit!"

With tired eyes, you see Madaki and Hiro staring down at you. 

Hiro chuckles, "You kinda look like part of the Yakuza."

Your arms, your whole body really (not that they could see) were covered in lyrics. Words dancing and wiggling around as though the music was still playing on your skin.

"Just kill me now."

The Semi family invited the band over for a late dinner and a chance to sleep on actual beds, but so had the rest of the bandmates' families. Instead they went to a group dinner before parting ways for the night. Eita was just relieved to not be forced onto the couch in exchange for the drummer, the youngest's, comfort.

Walking into the family home, with his parents in front and Hanako at his side, Eita quickly reached for his jacket the moment they stepped through the door, arm swinging over his sister's head.

"Watch it!" She cried, smacking his jacket to the floor as he tried to toss it onto the clothing rack.

Eita stared down at the cloth. "Seriously? Pick it up."

"Hmm, no." Hanako grins, kicking off her shoes before stepping onto the leather coat and into the living room.

Eita huffs, stripping off his baggy tank top to toss onto her head before she turns the corner.

"EUGH! This reeks!! Mom!! Eita is stripping in the living room again.”

Peeking out from the kitchen with a glass of water, their mother sighs.

"It's been two minutes, can't you two… EITA IS THAT A TATTOO?!"

Her water nearly spills as she rushes over. Hearing the commotion, their father appears from the hallway with a fresh t-shirt and pants.

"Eita got a tattoo?"

"HE BETTER NOT HAVE!"

"Oooooh, you're in trouble!"

Eita glares at Hanako for her teasing tone before facing his concerned mother. "I didn't get a tattoo. What are you talking about?"

She rushes forward, glaring despite Eita's denial. Prodding his stomach, just above his hip bone, she huffs. "Then explain this!"

He looks down and sees a messily scrawled line running along the curve of his skin. "Huh, that's new."

"NEW?! Taiko, look at this."

Sighing, his father walked over, passing Hanako, who eagerly followed along.

He stared for a moment before pushing up the glasses on his nose. "I believe that may be your soulmate mark, but I can't tell what it says. Did you meet anyone new today?"

"Tons, Dad, I'm a touring artist."

"Right, stupid question. Well, unless you can decide what it says, you're a bit out of luck unless they've noticed it too, or there's another piece going on."

His mom sighs in relief before hugging him lightly and whispering a small “Thank god” before ushering him and his sister off to bed, as if he wasn’t an adult and she wouldn’t stay up late anyways. Eita was tired, though, but despite his body’s desire to sink into the bed, he grew up with and found most comfortable. He couldn't help but sit at his desk chair, with a moderately sized mirror on a stool that his sister likely shoved in his room and stare at the black text that was inked onto his skin.

He trailed his fingers over the lettering, hoping that every swipe would reveal something new, a clue to understanding what it said. 

It was 3 am before he realised the time and decided to go to sleep.

"What does this say?"

You stare at the sticky note Shika holds out to you. "Uhh, I can't tell."

"But you wrote it?"

"Doesn't mean I can read it. Hold on." You grab the sticky note, looking for the pad it came from and the pen you used.

Finding the pair, you retrace your steps in reverse. "OH, FLOUR. Right, we're low on flour."

"Thanks for the translation."

"Sorry."

Shika laughed. "Would have been worse if you weren't here. Thanks for covering today."

"Not like I had anything else to do. Besides… wallow?"

The door squeaked, and Shika sighed, “Well, back to it for now.”

You try not to let your knees buckle at the sight of the man walking through the door. Eita is dressed casually, a regular baggy shirt hangs off his shoulders. The simplicity haunts you though, and it takes everything not to duck and hide from view.

"Oh it's Sunshine. Why are you here?"

You level him with a sigh, "I wonder why. Possibly because I have a job. That doesn't explain your sudden appearance, though. Where's Hanako?"

Turning you back to him, as if not caring for his presence, you immediately let a silent scream escape, forcing every emotion out of you.

"She's sleeping. Stayed up too late last night. By the way, could you draw a map to the nearest café? I need some caffeine."

He's smirking at you when you glance over your shoulder. But with a shrug, you grab a napkin and a pen, scribbling on it before sliding it over with a perfectly practised smile. "Here ya go."

"Hmm," he sighs, glancing at the drawing. "Not the customer service I would hope for. An ass? Really? Oh, wait, you serve coffee. This must be a self portrait."

You're boiling, skin scorching and arching to jump off your body. "Oh, absolutely, my butt is the perkiest around." It comes out in the singing tone you use later in the day when the customers are in a rush.

"Hmm, you'll get there eventually."

You want to throttle him.

"Oh, thank you for the encouragement. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Hmm, do you remember the orders from yesterday? I'd like all those again."

"Hmm?" You want to scream. "Do you have the list?"

"Oh. No. But you can do it. It is your job, after all." The eyes are pinched together with cunning mirth.

Forget throttle; maul him. You want to maul him. Soulmate or not.

"Alright, I'll get right on it."

Eita gives you a smile before turning to wait in one of the plush seats. Comfortable, as if he'd won the battle. Annoyingly, you can see your handwriting peaking through the bottom of his short-sleeve. 

You growl to yourself before pulling out your phone, and shooting off a quick text.

Nagasawa is quick to reply, and eager to be a bother to the artist that they were working for. You open the sent image of the list and get to work.

You're halfway through when the rocker feels the need to bring your attention back his way.

"I'm not paying for you to be looking at your phone," he huffs.

You give him a glance before returning to your espresso shot. "Luckily for you, you're not paying me at all."

"Good, I don't want to pay for this kind of service."

"Oh, that's too bad. Here's your bill." You walk out from behind the counter to hand him the machine. His eyes bulge for a second before sighing and pulling out his card.

You skip back to the counter and finish off the drinks. Tying one off with a cute pink bow.

"What's that for?"

"This?" You fluff the ribbon uselessly, for show. "It's your sister's order, I wanted to make it special for when she wakes up. Be a dear and put it in a fridge for her, will you?"

Eita rolls his eyes before getting one of the trays to rest on his elbows.

"Will you need help getting those over?"

Eita huffs to himself before nodding, "yes," he groans.

"Better call for some help then!"

Eita leaves with a grimace cut into his face.

Once the door closes behind him, you lift your sleeve to find the whole conversation painted on your skin.

"Why are you always here?"

You raise a brow at the question, turning to face the rocker while shaking together another customer's order.

"Hmm, have you developed dementia? Did you know that it could be connected to your hearing? You must have gone deaf from all the blasting music."

"...what?"

You smile and turn your back to him.

He waits for a moment. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“You mean, why am I always here? Cause I work here. Duh.” You finish off the mix in your hands before walking it to the end of the table where the previously mentioned customer is waiting with an amused grin. “Here ya go.”

“Thanks.” The woman gives you a teasing smirk before ushering herself to the door.

Eita, annoyingly enough, has your full attention again. “Why are you always working?”

“Because I like my job? Because I need the money?”

“Because you have nothing else to do.” You squint at Kazioshi as he appears. “You aren’t even supposed to be here today.”

“Are you going to kick me out?” you huff.

“No.”

“Then don’t complain.”

Kazioshi shakes his head, grabbing the metal tray he needed from the counter, before heading back to the kitchen.

Once again, Eita has your full attention. “Bad social life?” He asks as a cocky smile appears on his face.

“I’m talking to you aren’t I?” you mirror him. “If you’re not going to order something, take a hike. I have things to do.”

“Oh you’d love for me to get lost in the mountains, wouldn’t you? Nah, I'm here for that order again.”

You perk up, “Is your sister here?”

“Not yet.”

“Shame, she’s the better sibling.”

You don’t stay to see how he reacts to the comment. There are drinks to be made, and a boy to charge for them. At least there is some joy in emptying his wallet.

“Hmm well, she isn’t the one you paid to go see in concert.”

The momentary joy you felt was immediately washed out.

Day four. The final day. One more concert and you were free from the torment. The thought was probably the only thing getting you through the day, knowing that after tonight, you could be free of Eita’s presence. So long as he continues to wear long sleeves.

It was a pleasant thought. Being free. Sadly everything else seemed to want to bring down your mood. Your phone didn’t charge last night, meaning that after your endless scrolling, it had died on your bedside table, and didn’t ring in the morning. So, you were running late for the one time you were actually scheduled to work. Then, while rushing out the door, a downpour started and ended in the time it took you to bike to Cheery Cafe, soaking you to the bone. A customer yelled at you for making their “mocha caramel hazelnut latte” too hot, despite them requesting it as such. Then while mopping up said “Mocha caramel hazelnut latte”, You slipped and knocked your head against the sharp edge of the counter. The receipt printer disconnected. The wifi went down. You burnt your thumb while steaming milk. Lunch can’t be eaten off the floor. And finally, the band started playing.

You groan, rubbing the back of your head where a bump has quickly grown. It seems to pulse every time the drum hits.

“You good, kid?” Kazioshi comes back with a fresh bag of ice.

“No, I’m in hell.”

“Well, that's not supposed to be the mood of this place. Do we need more pink?”

You chuckle, quickly wincing as the action shoots a pulse right into the back of the head.

“Just a couple more hours, and you’re free.” He sighed, having already given up on sending you home early. “You’ll get through it.”

The door opened with a squeak.

“Hi!”

Hanako is in the doorway subtly smiling as you meet her eyes. It's hard to tell if the bright light that follows her is a side effect of just how endearing she is or a concussion.

“Hi, Hanako. How are you?”

Her gentle grin quickly switches to a frown as she approaches. “Tired. Eita has been playing nonstop for the four days he’s been here, and I’m tired of it. I can’t even be in there when the concert starts.”

“Same here, kiddo.” You wince as another loud strum rings through the wall. Being later in the day, with the sun going down, there was no one coming into the cafe for an 8 p.m. coffee, unless they worked at The Local and everyone there had already gotten their fill. “Come on, let's sit on the couch.”

Hanako swings her skirt around, letting it flutter around her ankles as she follows you to the plush seat. 

“So, you’re here because you’re tired of listening to your brother’s music?”

Hanako grabs the ends of her hair, playing with the dark tips. “Pretty much. It's the same thing for two hours, four days in a row. I just wanted to have a nice dinner with my family, but he has to work, and my parents have to attend because they have to support him. And UGH I just want a burger or something.” Her head swings as she talks. “I don’t even like rock music.”

“Really? Eita must hate that.”

“A little. But I can at least annoy him about it.” She kicks her feet a little, and you begin to copy her, making the girl giggle. “He’s been on tour for a year. I just want it to be over already.”

“Isn’t this the last concert?”

“Ya, but it doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. It was supposed to be only two days but they decided to extend it because of high demand, and then they made a sale, which was totally fake, the tickets were all the same price. So they got to play two more days.”

“My friend bought me a ticket because of the sale. So I'm going to tell them that it was a scam.”

Hanako chuckled cutely. “Buy two get one 50% off as if the two tickets weren’t priced higher.”

“Oh, that’s evil.” You chuckle, adjusting your ice pillow.

“Ya, it was my brother’s idea.”

“Ah, I knew there was something off about him, a con artist he is.”

“Wooo celebrities. Ugh, I’m just tired of it.”

A prolonged silence filled the air, before you could think of something more to say. Not that it was anything useful. “Sorry if I seem out of it. I took a fall earlier and bumped my head.”

“No worries. I am too,” she yawns. “I just want to nap.”

“Go for it. I won’t stop you.”

When you’re tired enough, the consistent drum beats from next door can act as a calming rhythm to lull you to sleep. You sigh, sinking into the couch’s backrest. Sadly, you can’t sleep on the job, so through bleary eyes, you keep an eye on the open door, as Hanako’s head falls onto your arm.

Eventually, the concert ends, and finally there's calm in the cafe once more. You watch silently as the concertgoers walk past the cafe door, leaning against each other and blabbering in slurred words. 

“HANAKO!”

The calm didn’t last long. Eita stomps through the door, face coloured a bruising red in contrast to his hands, which were clenched so tightly that blood seemed to not go to his fingers.

“HANAKO!” The girl shot awake, hand jumping to grab onto your arm. “Why are you where? You were supposed to be in the back with Mom and Dad!”

“I got tired of your shitty music!” She whined, hiding behind your shoulder.

“HANA! You left on your own you could have been kidnapped, do you realise how stupid that was?!”

Your head throbbed at the squabbling. “Gah, Shut up! Don’t yell at her. She’s safe, she knew where she could go.” Palm to forehead, you stood up and let the icepack fall to the seat cushion behind you. Hanako picked it up. “Is your throat not sore after being used all day? Be quiet already. I’m sick of the noise.”

Eita’s eyes were blown out in a broad glare, face only seeming to turn purple. “Excuse you? My throat? What about you? Aren’t you the one that needs tips to get by?”

“I don’t think I need any tips from you, thanks. Any advice from you would get me stuck in a gutter.” You’re hardly looking at him, or maybe you are. It’s hard to tell how tired and dizzy you feel. Everything seems hazy, but you can differentiate the dark shadow of Eita from the pastel background.

“Your head is already in the gutter!”

“My head is perfectly fine. No complaints. 10/10. Only raving review—”

“God, just be quiet! My sister is here!”

“You’re the one yelling.” You point out, and reach behind you until your hand lands on Hanako’s soft hair. The girl takes the motion as permission to latch onto your leg from her seated position, you feel the ice pack she’s holding against your knee. You hum. “And Hanako came here because she was tired of your music. You do realise for the four days you’ve been in town, you’ve only spent 10 hours each day with your family, and I bet most of that time was spent sleeping, or hanging out with your bandmates.

“And how do I know this? Because I’ve been here every single day. I know when concerts at The Local end, and I knew when you and your team got here each morning. I made you guys drinks. I dealt with your blasting music for hours on end. You know, you don’t have to rehearse at full volume day in and day out. The whole neighbourhood knows your setlist by heart.”

You don’t notice Kazioshi peek out from the kitchen with a frown before he sneaks back to his quiet space.

Eita glares. “So you’re a stalker.” His voice is finally toned down.

“An observer.”

“Every time I've gone in here, you’ve only ever been standoffish. Could you stand to be a bit nicer to customers?”

“I’m standing right now.”

“You know that’s not what I mean.”

“Do I? Sorry, between smacking my head on a marble counter and dealing with your music all day, I’m kind of not in the right space. I can’t even remember what you said five seconds ago.”

“You—” Eita sighs, hands unclenching. 

You take a second to rub your drooping eyes. “You got something on your face by the way. Did someone marker you?”

Hanako is giggling against your leg, gripping your pants with all her grip as she tries to stay up.

Eita pauses for a second, thinking about how ridiculous he must look with something smeared across his face. “Do you have a bathroom?”

You point at the door in the hallway before the kitchen. He stomps off and you flop back down.

“He’s not normally that emotional.”

“He was only worried about you. Can’t blame him for that.” You rub her hair a bit before combing it back into place, you think. It’s a bit hard to see. “I think I might really have a concussion.”

“Shouldn’t you, like, lay down or something?”

“Later.” You huff, pulling the girl close into a hug. “First, I have to hug a cute little bunny!”

“Yah! Stooooop!” She manages to push you off, giggling all the while.

The giggles outside the door seem to fall on deaf ears as Eita stares at himself in the bathroom mirror. Words, scribbled in what he could only describe as a child’s handwriting, trailed up his neck and onto his cheek. Words he now knew came from you. He knew there was more, so in a quick fashion, he strips down behind the locked door of the bathroom. He hoped he wasn’t scarring the cute cat sticker that was stuck to the mirror in the process.

The words continue, circling him like a python, and he struggles to catch his breath. Cheek to ankle, he’s covered in black and red letters. It hits him. Just outside, in the cafe, is his soulmate, who he yelled at. He can feel his heart pick up its pace, fighting against the constricting that the written words on his skin are causing as they slither around. 

There’s a knock on the door. Eita forces another breath, throwing on his clothes and opening the door.

Kazioyoshi blinks. “You good?”

“Ya. Fine.”

“Good. I need to get in there.”

“Right, right.” Eita side steps as the taller man enters the bathroom.

“You’re shirt’s on backwards, by the way.” The door shuts.

Still, in a haze, Eita pulls his arms in to spin the shirt around.

“Eita! Hanako! There you are!” His parents are in the cafe now sighing, and short of breath. “We’ve been trying to call. Nagasawa suggested you might be here. Thank goodness.”

Joining them, he glances at the couch where Hanako sits, and you’ve passed out.

His parents glance at the barista. “What happened?”

The two siblings speak at the same time.

“Concussion.”

“Soulmate.”

The two adults blink at each other.

“What?” Kazioshi says from the hallway, before rushing to the couch. He sighs. “At least we’re closed now… I told them to go home.”

Waking up the next morning (mid-afternoon) on Masaki and Hiro’s couch, in a dark room with all the lights off and curtains drawn was an unexpected experience. But was quickly overshadowed by the pounding in your head.

“You’re on bed rest for two weeks. No phone, no laptop, no tv. You can listen to a podcast or something, but you are staying in the dark and quiet as much as possible.” Hiro lectured you.

Apparently, stimuli of any kind can prevent recovery from a concussion (Probably shouldn’t have stayed at the cafe). So, due to your (unwilling) bed-ridden state, your friends, with the help of your co-workers, were taking care of you. Demeaning really, you felt like a baby, but at least you caught up on sleep.

When you were finally able to leave the house it was with sunglasses and a headset, and of course, you immediately went to the cafe.

“Seriously?” Shika scoffs when you enter, “Do you ever stay away?”

“Not unless I’m being restrained. Which I technically was.”

“You’re not working.”

“You can’t stop me.” You join her behind the counter, adjusting your sunglasses. “Go take a break I can handle it.”

“I'm not sure about that.”

“At least sit down for a bit?”

“Fine. But if you even get a bit tired, you call me.”

You nod and shoo her off, chuckling as she flops onto the couch and opens her laptop.

It's quiet, calm, the most peaceful it’s felt in a while. There is no shaking coming from the bar next store, The Local is empty and Cheery Cafe finally feels like it’s name.

You sigh happily.

“Hey.”

The cloud comes right back. Eita stands in front of the counter, hands in the pockets of his baggy sweater, it’s the most casual you’ve seen him. You glare.

“Why are you here?”

“To tal—”

“He’s been coming everyday,” Shika says from the couch. “Loverboy couldn’t understand that you were resting.”

Behind your glasses, you glance at the ash-haired man. “And you called me a stalker.”

“Hey. We have something to talk about. And you wouldn’t pick up your phone.”

“Who gave you my number?”

“Your boss.”

You glare at Shika. And the woman shrugs. “He was desperate.”

“I couldn’t use my phone, I’ve been recovering.”

“That bad?”

“Every concussion is bad.”

“I— right.”

There's a tight silence and you see the beginnings of your words appear above his collar.

“So. Soulmates.” You say. “Gotta admit. Took you long enough to figure it out.”

“Your handwriting is atrocious. How was I supposed to figure it out?”

Kicking the floor you pursed your lips. “I was kinda hoping you wouldn’t”

“Hey!”

“But you did and now I'm stuck with you. Aren’t I?”

Eita glares, straightening his posture. “You say it like it’s a bad thing.”

“It is, I’m stuck with your loud music. At least you come with Hanako. She’s the better sibling.”

“Again… Hey. I’m your soulmate.”

“Do you want me to insult you again?”

“Not really.”

You lean against the counter, moving as close to him as possible while keeping the built in table between you. You look up at Eita as he tries to keep his chin up. “Then plan a date to take me out already. You know I have no social life. I’m free all the time and need something to balance out the torture that will be your music for a lifetime.”

His eyes shut, cheeks becoming rosy. “Again… Hey.”

“Eita. What are you doing?”

The volleyball player turned rock star lazed across the cafe’s couch, taking a selfie with one of the large plushies. The big teddy bear didn’t seem to enjoy it.

“Taking photos.”

You blink. “Why?”

“To send to Hanako.”

“Again. Why?”

“Cause she’s at school and not here. So she’ll be jealous.”

Rolling your eyes you return to cleaning your cup, “You’re cruel.”

“You love me.”

“I love Hanako more.”

He glares, “Hey…”

Working non-stop all summer to jump right into non-stop school. A break was nice but I already haven’t drawn in nearly a year, I don’t want the same to happen to writing. Save me. - Bacon

Posted: 28/08/2023

#semi eita #semi eita x reader #semi x reader #haikyuu #x reader #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyu #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

Where is red part 2? Or whatever it's called soulmate au with 🧂🦕?

Pfffft KIWIIIII!!!!!

@gukskookies has a poor dedication to finishing a series 😀 Red is one of the OLD oneshots that we decided to revamp when starting the series again, and it has only gotten older since then. While I had written an extended part to it. The story itself is Kiwi's.

Maybe this will be the call for it to be finished.... hmmmmmmm Kiwi? 👀👀👀👀

#kiwi has to write stuff for school as lot more than i do #kiwi also starts a new oneshot before starting the last one #asks #bacon replies

[seokiloquy]

Sorry for bother you, but I'm really scare that you don't see my message on AO3. I really enjoy your fanfiction. I want to ask for your permission to translate them into Vietnamese. I will not change any of the stories' details, and I will include the author's name. I won't translate it if you're not comfortable. I'll wait for your response!

...you can do messages on Ao3? News to me.

Hmm ya we don't mind! So long as you're posting it on Ao3 and adding us as co-authors then it's all good!

Thanks for asking!! Have fun translating I guess?

[seokiloquy]

Shift Pt 4 - Kozume Kenma

Au: Regular (timeskip)

Tags/Warnings: Dual POV, use of a pseudonym (username: ForestFire) instead of (Y/N) in most cases, swearing.

Word Count: 1.6k

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4

You were so fucking loud.

Even with a headset on, surrounded by a crowd of game developers chatting up a storm and the game of the year at his fingertips, you were louder. The room seemed to hang on your every word as they fell from your lips, and the spotlights were frantically glued to your frame. He wasn’t supposed to be watching you or how your perfectly formed outfit fit your shoulders, hips, and waist or how your laugh bubbled up and blessed his ears.

Kenma huffed looking away to try and focus on the game in front of him. “I like the MC. What's their name again?”

His chat popped up with the answer easily, Tye. Tye was a gentle, monotone-sounding character, calm and forceful with their words, confident without being loud.

Kenma nodded in thanks to his chat. “The voice actor is really good. I like their voice.”

Again your laughter cut through his headset, sharp, excitable laughter that made his ears ring. Kenma glanced at his screen that showed his camera’s view, finding you in the background, laughing at whatever Hux said, and smacking his shoulder. Kenma glared before looking at the time.

“It’s time for me to get off, I will be playing on stream, don’t worry.”

He logged off fast, hardly realising he had just finished the first few minutes of the newest instalment of his favourite series.

“Fern,” he grumbled, taking up the non-existent space by your side and cutting Kenji off from being able to brush his shoulder against yours.

“Ken! How did your first play go, did you like it?” Kenji seemed none the wiser to Kenma stealing his spot.

“It was mostly cutscenes, but it looks amazing. I like the main character too. Their voice is nice.”

Next to him, your feet shuffled, nudging his on accident. He glances, taking a breath as your wide eyes meet his. “I’ll keep that in mind! What did you like about their voice?”

Now closer to him, your voice was much sharper as you tried to speak over the bustling crowd.

“They’re different from the other characters who were loud and ambitious. Tye is mellow and calculating, and their voice matches.”

You smiled at him before turning to the other gamers, Kenma remained focused on you, though.

A hum went over the hall's speakers before the man who had been conducting the event appeared on stage. “Hello, and thank you for everyone's attendance, either in person or online. Thank you for being here to experience this as we launch what is our most anticipated game yet. You have already seen the first few minutes of play-through as played by our guests Kodzuken and ForestFire. By tomorrow morning, the game will hit the shelves for you to buy in-store and finally experience yourselves after months of anticipation.”

Next to him, Kenma felt you shuffle, giving a small apology before walking off in the direction of the bathroom. No one else seemed to notice except for moving out of your way.

The man, whose name Kenma had already forgotten, continued to speak. “But as our night comes to a close, we ask that you all stay and watch the credits as they go across the screen and be thankful for the effort that these people have made to create this game and get it to you to enjoy. Without each and everyone one of them, this game would not have been possible.” He took a deep bow saying, Thank You, before walking off the stage and letting the screen go over all the names of all the workers and their jobs.

Everyone's name was the same size, no one too large or too small, all in alphabetical order. Kenma read each one as they slowly panned over the screen until one name in particular appeared. Kenma's brow furrowed, looking around. No one else seemed surprised, maybe as they were all in on the project, or rather that they were waiting for their own name to appear. Beside him, Kenji, Hux and Turret didn’t react either.

Sighing, Kenma huffed and weaved through the crowd toward the bathroom. The music quieted as he entered the hall, and a familiar voice echoed despite their attempts to whisper.

“Sol, Please don’t tell me what people are saying… Don’t get Uvo to tell me, either! Gah! Maybe I should've used a different name; people are gonna know!... I’m not crazy, I'm nervous. This is the biggest piece of work I've ever been a part of! This isn’t an Indy game!”

“Fern?”

You hastily hung up the phone, letting Solarii get cut off, and turned with big eyes to look up at Kenma before sulking against the wall. “How do you even know that name?”

Kenma’s head tilted before deciding to take a seat next to you. “Fern? I don’t know, I just said it’s cause you were bad at the game.”

Lifting your head from your knees you gave him a befuddled look.

His head thumped and you grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Are you kidding me? Seriously that’s it?”

“Uh, I think so? It made sense, ForestFire, Fern, it worked.”

You slumped, and Kenma felt like he would stop breathing. “This must be some cruel joke.”

“Why?” he asked, choking as your forehead brushed his shoulder.

“You have no idea I deeply obsessed with you I am.”

Kenma could feel his cheeks burn red, temperature only rising as you leaned away. 

“I was an active part of your community when I was in college. My username was in-Fern-o. Everyone called me Fern. I thought you figured it out and hated me for being a crazy fan!”

“I’m still stuck on the obsession part.” That earned his a smack on the arm 

“Kenken! Listen to me! Did you seriously have no idea?”

“None. Seriously.”

Sighing, you slumped against the wall again and closed your eyes.

Kenma furrowed his brows. “So you kept with the Arcadia’s Inferno theme?”

You just shrugged. “I love that game with all my heart.”

“So much that you voiced the main character in the newest one?”

You whined again, dropping your head to your knees. “Please don’t remind me.”

“You voiced Tye, Fern.” He stated, placing a hand against your shoulder. “And your voice is fucking cool.”

You sighed beneath his hand. “You think so?”

“Ya, I do.” he rubbed your shoulder, encouraging you to sit straight. “How did you get into that position anyways?”

“They asked. They were looking for a mostly unknown voice actor and were going through my program's graduates. And then thought it would be cool to have me, a player of the game and a streamer, do the voice acting.”

“That’s so cool. But why did you run?”

The way your face shifted slightly was hard to watch. Weights seemed to pull at every part of your body. 

“People don’t like it very much when social media people get involved in professional fields. I made my name by streaming, but I’m trained in voice and stage acting. But people are going to see my name up on those credits and think I’m not worthy of that position or that it was just handed to me.”

Kenma nodded to your words, leaning his head back against the wall. At this point, the freshly pressed button-up shirt he chose to wear had gained wrinkles. He undid the top button. “No one is going to agree with everything or be supportive. But there will be thousands of people that will lift you up. Their anger will die down before you realise it, and they’ll be off to criticise the next thing. So just enjoy what you’re doing.”

You didn’t respond. Instead, your head fell onto his shoulder. And to him, everything clicked together, and time stopped.

You smiled at the screen while playing through Arcadia’s Inferno four. Tye’s voice, while also your own, felt so detached and different from yourself that you nearly forgot that you were involved with making the game. At times, you couldn’t help but recite the lines that came up.

<Hey, Forest! You’re supposed to be talking to us! Not the NPCs!>

You laughed at your chat. “Sorry, sorry. I can’t help it. It's muscle memory at this point.”

In the game, a giant flame erupted, catching Tye on fire for a moment before you dived for the nearest patch of water.

The door to your side creaked open to reveal the long dark hair and dyed tips on Kenma, Cat clawing up his shoulders to peek in as well. He gave you a soft grin before revealing two  cups of tea. You looked back at your stream, and Kenma sat on the new chair by your table, placing a hand on your knee.

You continued to stream, and Kenma, used to the scene, continued to sit quietly and sip his tea. But Cat, well, cat preferred to have attention, and at the soonest opportunity, he jumped off Kenma’s shoulder, across the table and onto your shoulders, where he weaved around your body and chair to get comfortable. Not caring about the broken cups and spilt tea he left in his wake. You sighed, apologising to chat for a moment before pausing the game.

You ignored the chat’s increased messages and handed Cat off to Kenma (of course not before having him sniff the camera) and left in search of a broom and mop. Kenma followed.

“He’s a menace.”

“He just likes you.” Kenma laughed quietly.

“And I like my tea that you prepared, which he spilt.” Tou glared jokingly at the feline, before heading back to your room to clean it up.

Kenma stopped you, gentle hand on your elbow, which made your skin tingle. “I’ll make us more.”

You sighed and pecked his cheek before walking off. Kenma burned and tossed Cat aside to hold his cheek.

I get my wisdom teeth pulled in one week. Yay - Bacon

I will be joining the wisdom teeth club in two weeks. Yay us - Kiwi 

Posted : 19/06/2023

#Kozume Kenma #Kenma Kozume #kenma x reader #kenma kozume x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #x reader #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

Sleep - Kageyama Tobio

AU: Regular

Tags/ Warnings: GN! Reader, ooc Kags (?), more like a drabble than a full story 

Word Count: 1.3k

You'd wake up in the morning and only feel the lingering warmth of Kageyama in your bed. Indents in the pillows and crumpled-up sheets were your only evidence that he actually came back from his practises. He was careful not to wake you up, but sometimes you wished he did. Sometimes, the nights where he accidentally nudged you or pulled too much of the blanket were the only time you saw him. 

You knew his drive, passion, and love, maybe more than he did, so you understood why he got up earlier than you and why he was home after you were already asleep or on the brink of sleep that you’d only exchange a few words before he told you to rest. You had long days too, and even though you tried to stay up, even if you found it easy to stay up late before, the tiredness of the day would get to you, and you’d fall asleep unintentionally before midnight. 

Somedays were better than others. You’d had lunch and dinner dates and special occasions that he took off. Other days you wouldn’t see him at all, and you had a creeping suspicion that today would be one of those days. 

It didn’t even bother you that much, you liked having time to yourself and making your own schedules that didn’t necessarily have to fit Kageyama’s, but today you felt it — or rather, you felt nothing except for the lingering warmth and the indents in the bed that made you feel alone. 

You’ve lived by yourself before. Technically, you lived by yourself now; this entire week has been a test trial since Kageyama suggested moving in together. You knew that he had late nights and early mornings — you also had late nights and early mornings — but you were starting to feel his absence. You still had your lunch and dinner dates, breaks between his practices, both mandatory and voluntary, and your own schedules, but you expected him to actually be at home. 

When you were in your own apartment, it was different. You expected and were comfortable being alone, and knowing that you and Kageyama were together was enough to ease your mind into a nice relationship. 

You woke up alone like you usually did. You went to sleep alone like you usually did. But now, the emptiness dawned on you and you felt more were glorified roommates rather than anything else. 

Kageyama looked forward to seeing you today. You were already sleeping by the time he stopped practicing and he promised one of his teammates that he would train with them more in the morning. He missed you. Yes, he slept beside you that night but he hasn’t heard you talk or laugh since…he couldn’t remember when and that was a bad sign to him. 

The adrenaline of the practice ran through his blood, and the rush of the final games of the season settled in his bones. Volleyball was his passion, but you were the rest of his life. He was never good at expressing it, but he hoped you knew because he felt like you knew everything. 

Which is why when Kageyama saw you pacing outside of the entrance of the gym with your arms crossed so that you could pick at the skin of your forearm, a rush of panic filled him. What could have happened from the time he woke up to lunchtime?

His hand clutched together on the strap of his bag. 

“Hey,” he said. 

You paused at his voice. “Hi,” you said. You were shifting your weight from one leg to the other, which told Kageyama that you’d still be pacing if he didn’t grab your attention. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked. 

“What time are you going to be back tonight?” 

Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows. “Probably late. We’re figuring out a new play since we got a new member. We want to get the timing right before our final games.” 

You nodded. “I’m going to sleep at my place today, then.” 

“Why? Is there something wrong? You know you can just move things around however you like it.” 

You bit the inside of your cheek. Kageyama saw you beginning to pick at your fingernails. He stepped forward and encased his hands over yours; they were cold. 

“I’m alone,” you whispered. In a stronger voice, with no anger and lingering sadness, you said, “I wake up alone and go to sleep alone. You’re never there, so why am I living at your home, trying to see if we can live together when you’re not there?”

“I—” He never wanted you to feel alone. He felt horrible that he didn’t see it sooner. Kageyama replayed the past days in his mind, and you were right. He thought that things would stay the same; his days didn’t change much, and he got the chance to come home every day to you. 

After the moment of his hesitation, you continued, “I can’t even blame you because I know you want to train and that your games are coming up; I want you to train and become better. I just can’t sleep in your apartment again alone.” 

“Okay.” 

“Okay?” you sounded out. 

Kageyama nodded, more sure. “Yes. I’m sorry that I’m not there, I want to be, and I think I can be, just not right now. This is why we're trying, and we can try again another time when things have quieted down. I don’t want to lie to you. I already promised that I’d help my team, and that means being at home less, but I don’t want you to feel alone. If you're more comfortable at your apartment, then go there for now.” 

“We’re okay?” 

“We’re fantastic.” 

You smiled. The tension relaxed from your shoulders, and you held his hand as fiercely as he held yours. 

“But,” he said. “I have grown used to sleeping beside you, even if you don’t know I’m there. Can I go to your place instead?” 

“Only if you wake me up when you come in.” 

“You want me to wake you up?” 

“Yes.” 

Kageyama made a sour face. “Are you going to yell at me if you do?”

“Nope.” 

He sighed. “Whatever you want.” 

You had drifted in your own bed. All of the lights were still on and the warm water that you had brought up to your nightstand was slowly cooling down without having a sip taken from it.  You didn’t hear the keys fitting in the door or the gentle way Kageyama had pulled the door closed and taken off his shoes. 

Your room was his first stop. You were curled into a ball near your side of the bed with your eyes closed and the steady rise and fall of your chest. 

He hated to do it, but he crouched down beside you and placed a hand on your arm, shaking it carefully. “I’m back.” 

You didn’t move. He sighed and shook a little harder. “Please wake up. I don’t want to wake you up, but you asked for this.” 

Your eyes cracked open. “Hey.” 

“I’m back,” he repeated, smiling. He didn’t like it, but maybe he needed to wake you up too. Just for a moment to hear your voice. 

“I see that,” you mumbled. “Thanks for waking me up. Now, go away so I can sleep again.” 

Kageyama scoffed. “You asked me to do it.” 

He kissed your forehead and stood up. He rubbed his shoulder and headed towards the bathroom to shower before sleeping. 

“Tobio?” 

He turned. “Yes.” 

“Come to bed quickly.” 

Kageyama doubled back and kissed you on the forehead again. “Whatever you want.” 

Not much of a story…more like random scenes 

I’m planning something! And finishing up my summer course! Good luck to anyone else in school! 

Thanks for reading! — Kiwi 

Posted: 12/06/2023

#kageyama tobio #kageyama x reader #kageyama tobio x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

Shift Pt 3 - Kozume Kenma

Au: Regular (timeskip)

Tags/Warnings: Dual POV, use of a pseudonym (username: ForestFire) instead of (Y/N) in most cases, swearing.

Word Count:2.3k

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4

“No way.”

Uvo groaned at Kodzuken’s response. “You don’t have to stay long if you don’t want to, Kenma. But, It would be great if you came. Solarii doesn’t get to celebrate her birthday often.”

“Doesn’t sound like my cup of tea.”

“But talking with strangers online is?”

Kenma sat silently, but the clicking of his keyboard could be heard through the phone.

“Okay, look. There’s going to be maybe 12 people there, max. And only a bit of it will be filled. You can avoid the camera if you’d prefer. We just want you there.”

Kenma remained silent, thinking over the possibilities of what could happen. Likely, he ends up tucked away in the corner, trying to call for Solarii’s dog to keep him company or play video games on his phone. The latter of which seemed a bit more enjoyable.

“We’ll be playing Mario Kart and other stuff!” Uvo sang in a final attempt to sway Kenma’s mind.

“Who’s gonna be there?”

“Uh, well, Solarii, of course, me, Forest—”

“I’m in. Send me the details.”

“Aweso—”

Kenma hung up, going back to his game.

As Uvo gathered everyone and everything for Solarii’s birthday, you were tasked with distracting her for the morning until you got the okay text to bring her back to her apartment. After a full day of streaming, so she could take the day off, she was desperate just to go home and relax.

You tugged at her wrist, dragging her behind you while she slouched, long black hair hanging like curtains in front of her face. “I’ll buy you a dress, candy, cute cat ears or something, please! Just spend an hour with me!”

She let out a tired laugh, standing straight so that she could rest her forehead on your shoulder. “Can we just sit down and eat fries or something?”

“Fine,” you sighed. “I’ll get you all the fries you could dream of!”

“It's so early. How are you so loud?”

“It’s mid-day.”

“Early,” she groaned, letting you drag her to the mall’s dining hall, where she sat, head flat against a table with her eyes closed while you got the fries.

With the moment to yourself, you checked your phone.

<Tawny and Dust are here, Ken is on his way, and the rest are getting food.>

You huffed, heat blooming in your lungs as if you could breathe fire. Uvo and, by association, Solarii were great socialisers. Making friends and lasting connections everywhere they went. Including Kenma.

<How long do you think it'll be? Sol wants to go home.>

<Give us 30 minutes>

You weaved through the crowds of people to return to the table where Solarii looked like she was napping, but at the sound of your chair, she perked up. Immediately jumping on the bag you placed on the table.

She practically moaned the moment she got a bite.

"You're in public, Sol."

"You brought me here. Deal with it."

Your phone buzzed in your pocket, leading you to quickly pull it out and check out the text from Uvo.

<Ken's here!>

"What's that?" Solarii tried to peek over the top of your phone.

You scramble, forcing your phone back into your pocket. "Nothing!"

"Can't fool me. What was it?"

"Nothing! I promise!"

"Liar, you're lying to me!" She lifts herself up, trying to reach over the table to get in your pocket will her greased fingers.

"Fine! Fine, stop it!" Your mind races for something to fill the lie. "It's just a stream notification."

She glances you up and down with a sparse eyebrow raised. "For who?"

"Kodzuken."

While they knew each other, you were confident Sol didn't keep track of Ken's streaming schedule.

"You still have his notifications on? Wow, you must really like him."

You groaned internally, wishing you had watched anybody else in college. It had truthfully been months since you last managed to attend one of his live streams, since before you blew up on the platform in your own right. And between streaming and voice acting, there just wasn't the time to catch up with anything that wasn't just short videos.

"I find him calming." You squeezed out.

"Really." She smirked, "is that all?"

"Please, don't do this to me."

"Do what?"

"Try and get out every little embarrassing detail of my… infatuation with Kodzuken."

"So you admit it!"

"No!"

"You just said 'infatuation'. You like him!"

"Who doesn't?" 

"A sane person."

"What does that mean‽"

While you had managed to get Solarii both awake and distracted. The consequences left your temperature running higher than normal. Every word from her lips seemed to be delicately created just to torment you.

"Look. I don't have a crush on Ken, I hardly know him! His videos and streams were a great comfort to me in school, so I appreciate him."

"I'm still stuck on the comfort thing. He's kind of a gremlin."

You were happy to leave the mall when Uvo finally texted and eagerly gathered Sol's languid body to your car.

Kenma had already found himself playing with Solarii’s dog before the party even started. While everybody either put food in bowls and plates or hooked up the tv for them to play games, Uvo intermittently filmed the progress until sending a text.

You weren't there, though, apparently keeping Sol busy. 

Kenmas hands pushed through the small dog's fur, scratching the creature the same way he did cats, which she seemed to tolerate, while occasionally barking at X when he walked by.

With two people not currently in the room, Kenma already felt cramped, content with letting the little fur ball keep him company until he felt the need to move.

"They're here!" Uvo shouted from the kitchen, grabbing the cake to bring to the apartment's entryway. Tawny followed with candles and a lighter.

Picking the dog up, Kenma walked over, standing at the back of the crowd as everyone waited to surprise Sol. Everyone screamed as the door unlocked. But Kenma's attention immediately caught your startled face over Sol's shoulder.

The chanting around him seemed to disappear as if the crowd had vanished, leaving him in the middle of the room. His vision tunnelled, vignetting around your face. Everything seemed to stop as if he were there to greet you when you came home. 

You let out a loud laugh, shaking Sol's shoulders to encourage her while she blew out the candles, which led the dog in his arms to bark. Kenma glared, the loud sound being sharp in his ears. The crowd moved to the kitchen, leaving Kenma with the small canine to stew.

He glanced away from you toward the TV, nodding to himself.

You eagerly ate the collection of cake, chips, and candy that was laid out on the kitchen counter before your eyes caught sight of Ken crouched in front of the TV, Fuwafuwa wagging her little tail by his feat. Maybe he was like a gremlin in a cute, unkempt and endearing way. His grown-out hair, which he had bleached in high school, had been trimmed but still had some blond ends that brushed against his shoulders. Wore a plain baggy shirt with his ever-recognisable high school track pants, which had holes in the knees and tattered threads along the bottom from petting and getting scratched by cats. His casual, almost lazy attire made you feel overdressed when you weren’t.

It was hard not to admire him in person, finally being in his presence instead of watching him on a 2D screen image.

Something hit your shoulder. Sol’s wrist, a plate of cake in hand, as she nodded for you to approach the quiet gamer. You pinched your brows, shaking your head fervently, but Sol dropped the plate with a slice of cake and a fork in your hand and pushed you before turning around to talk to Uvo, who had his camera in hand. Sighing, you greeted Fuwafuwa as she ran around your ankles while you approached and crouched next to Kenma.

“Hey, Ken.”

He gave you a sideways glance before crouching lower and searching through the collection of games on the tv stand’s shelf.

“Here’s your slice of cake,” you continue holding it out for him. He takes it and sets it on the coffee table behind him. 

“Thanks.”

“What game are you looking for?”

“Mario Kart.”

Oh. “Hold on.” You step over Fuwafuwa and reach for the plastic box that’s tucked against the wall. Opening it up, Mario Kart is at the top, placed half haphazardly amongst the neatly stacked collection. “It goes in the box; otherwise, they won’t stop playing it.”

Kenma hummed, lips pinched together as he took the game from your hand. The tips of his fingers hit your knuckles, and he shuffles back, quickly slotting the game into the console.

At the sound of the game booting up, everyone gathers on the couch, leaving you and Kenma to sit on the floor. He grumbles, snatching a pair of pillows, and handing one to you.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Let's just grab the controllers before they steal that too.” As he settled onto the pillow, Fuwfuwa jumped into his lap.

“She likes you.”

“I think she just doesn’t like how loud everyone else is.” They’re all yelling at each other while picking and choosing their karts and characters.

Reaching over, you give the dog a scratch around her ears.

“They’re competitive.”

Kenma hums and sets his kart up. Immediately earning a groan from X behind you.

“What’s up?” glance over your shoulder. 

X drags a hand up his forehead and back against his buzzed hair. Before leaning forward, one hand squeezing your shoulder as his head appears between you and Kenma.

“Oh, dear Forest.” He emphasised his words by shaking your shoulder and pulling you close, so your cheeks shooshed against his. He whispered. “Kodzu here has a signature setup for Mario Kart. It’s not even considered the best set-up, but when he uses it, we’re all bound to lose.”

“Uh.” You glance at the screen, then Kenma, who leaned forward to glare at both you and X. “Truthfully, I don’t know much about Mario Kart.”

“Oh,” X sighed dramatically. “Well, your set-up happens to be nearly the complete opposite from his and since you don’t know how to play. Well,” X pushes his cheeks in closer to yours, nearly giving you an eccentric smooch. He sang, “Good luck,” before being dragged back by the collar of his shirt that Solarii had taken hold of.

Kenma shoots a glare at the buzzed-cut PvP gamer before turning back around.

The game starts.

Before you can realise what’s happening, you’re shifting your body with your character on the screen as if it’ll make it turn sharper and prevent you from falling off course. You lurch again, shoulder crashing into Kenma’s and you lose balance, staying there, and yet, your character falls off the map. Startled, Fuwafuwa runs off.

“How do you guys do this?” your head sags.

“By getting good, Little Sprout.” You huff at X’s response but he’s immediately knocked off the course. “Who just Blue Shelled me!”

Next to you, Ken chuckles, making you realise that you were still leaning against him and he had to notify X of the culprit.

“Oh, watch your back Ken! I’m getting my revenge!” you lean back as X trashes forward.

Every round, Kenma seemed to win, and X seemed to lose, only seconded to you, who kept falling off the Rainbow Road track.

“This is going to haunt me forever.”

Kenma gave you another glance from the corner of his eye, but you paid it no mind, instead choosing to get to your feet and grab something to eat from the kitchen.

You watched the rounds continue from a stool in the kitchen, munching on chips while everyone began to yell at each other.

“They’re loud.” Ken sighs, sitting on the stool next to you and lifting his knees up.

“It would probably be more fun for you if you had more of a challenge. You just kept beating everyone.”

“I didn’t beat you.” He hugged his knees to his chest.

“I came consistently in last place! You beat me every round!”

“That’s just because you don’t know the game. I never made you lose. I made X lose plenty.”

It didn’t really matter. You still lost every round, sabotaged or not. “Think that might actually be worse, I lost on my own merit instead of getting hit with anything… I’m just that bad.”

“You have other talents, I’m sure.”

You huffed, cheeks burning as you turned away to hide them.

There was a loud cheer, and finally, X had won a round. Kenma grumbles and gets to his feet.

“Where are you going?” you ask, chest aching at the sight of him walking away.

“To take X down a notch. He’s loud.”

Two days later, Kenma is still feeling the sting of your shoulder against his. It wouldn’t leave his mind, burnt into his skin and memory. He wanted to scrub it all off, but it wouldn’t leave. In the moment, at first, he was ready to win each game. Until he realised, you didn’t even know how to play. X, however, made it easy for him to be a target. But still the winning didn’t stick around in his mind like you did.

He glared at his phone screen, just scrolling through until he saw an image of a familiar scene. The footage of Solarii’s birthday had been posted, and people had already started posting about it. Including a screenshot of him and you in the background.

<They’re so cute together!!!> The caption said.

He tossed his phone aside and dragged his hands down his face. Hoping he could wake up with a clearer head.

Guess whos super tired? Me. I took a 3-hour nap while writing this…..nearly deleted everything on accident. -Bacon

Posted: 06/06/2023

#Kozume Kenma #Kenma Kozume #kenma x reader #kenma kozume x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

The way you wrote the dad in the Osamu Soulmate AU hits me right in my daddy issues

Every time Kiwi wrote him I kept commenting asking to marry him. every. single. time. I may have some problems. but mom is so me coded I couldn't help it.

#i have daddy issues too #asks

[seokiloquy]

tick. thump. pt 3 - Miya Osamu

AU: Soulmate  

Tags/ Warnings: GN! Reader, mild language 

Word Count: 2.5k

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3

In your sleepy state, the sun glaring in your eyes, your resentment of mornings only grew. You turned in your bed, not wanting to get out for the first day of school. The clock on your night stand blared in alarm beside you. Your palms were sweaty and a pressure held itself in your stomach. 

Something was off. 

You took a deep breath and twisted your body to find the small latch at the back of the clock to turn off the alarm. You pulled the blanket up and over your head, hoping for a few more seconds of peace, quiet. 

Tick. Tick. Tick. 

Your heart pounded deeper in your chest. Slowly, you sat up in your bed, covering your ear with your hands, pushing them down hard until it hurt. Still, the dull, steady rhythm of your internal clock was there.

Tick. Thump. Tick. Thump. 

How could you have sought out comfort from the sound? In the sound? Your peace frayed at the edges, curling in on itself like a paper burning. You shook your head. 

“Go away,” you whispered. You could barely hear your own words. “Go away.” 

Your breath quickened and your eyes blurred with tears. Was there something wrong with you? Was this a cruel fake out of the universe? 

Tick. Tick. Tick….

The shop was quiet before the morning rush. The hush tones of your parents, which usually comforted you, did nothing for you today. Nothing could drown it out. You tried loud music and putting your head underwater, but the deaden sound wouldn’t leave you. 

“My lovely, lovely, child, how great it is for you to join us,” your dad’s voice sang with enthusiasm. He had looked up from packing extra onigiri for you. The moment his eyes met yours, his smile changed to a frown. “What’s wrong?” 

You swallowed. “I —” 

“You can tell me,” he said, eyes softening. 

Deep down, you knew you could. Despite his jokes and quips, you knew that your dad would treat you with kindness and honesty when you needed it — and he always seems to know when you needed it before you did. But you couldn’t. How do you explain that there was something…wrong with you? That you lacked and failed in destiny, something that your parents excelled in and that the universe deemed a mistake. 

This couldn’t have happened with him and your mom. They were strong. They had years to build and rebuild their relationship. You and Osamu…You and Osamu had a thread that connected you together, but it was still just a thread, thin and weak and breakable. 

You wanted to talk to your dad, but your body wouldn’t let you. Your mouth gaped open; you tried to force out words and nothing came out. Eventually, in a strained tone, you said, “School. I’ve got to go.” 

Your dad’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, stop.” 

You turned reluctantly. You tried to smile at him but you could only grimace, not meeting his eyes. Your gaze averted to the ground. Your dad’s footsteps grew closer. 

Tick. Tick. Tick. The constant, the reminder. It echoed around your head and settled in your bones. 

A warm embrace enveloped you. Your dad tucked you close to his chest, resting his chin on your shoulder. “It looked like you needed a hug,” he murmured. 

You sniffled and hugged him tightly back. You stayed there for a while, not caring about anything else. 

You let go when you were ready. And when you stepped back, your dad smiled at you. “You’re going to be late,” he said, nudging you towards the door. “Go, or I’ll poison your food.” 

Osamu greeted his brother with a giddy smile that made Atsumu think Osamu was possessed by some cheerful demon on crack. 

Atsumu kept glancing at his brother, who wore a light smile on his face, and it was only when they left the house and began walking that he said something.  

“You’re rather cheerful for a person who just got dumped.” 

“It’s a good day,” Osamu said. 

He felt lighter. If he could have, he would have ran back to the onigiri store and told you that he broke up with Airi, but he remembered what you said. He didn’t think you’d want to be the person who he got together with just after a break up. Osamu didn’t want to be put in that position at all, so he decided to wait and give himself some time. 

Obviously he was going to tell you that they broke up, he thought that it would be stupid to lead you on thinking he was with someone else, but he was going to make sure that it didn’t affect the new friendship he had with you. He was more excited at the aspect of being friends with you first, now that you've posed the idea. 

He wanted to know more about you while finding more about himself in life without his relationship with Airi. 

Osamu felt, in a way, he didn’t deserve you and Airi as his friends, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to throw it away. 

Atsumu nodded. “You should get dumped more often then. The cheerfulness is strange, but a good change from your usual.”  

Osamu’s face fell into a menacing, deadpanned glare that was reserved for his brother. “I will kill you.” 

Atsumu rushed forward. “Now, now. What happened to happy Samu? Changing back so quickly?” 

“He died. You killed him.” 

With that, Osamu rushed at his brother and they ran the rest of the way to school. 

You made it to school relatively okay. You weren’t late; your fast pace brought on by your need to keep moving and your anxiety of being late to anything made a better pairing than you would’ve thought. 

The larger crowd at the entrance of the school made you want to jump out of your skin and hibernate in a nice warm blanket. But when have you ever gotten those types of luxuries? You stopped and looked around. Everyone was in groups already, knowing each other from previous years or schools. 

You did know one person. Unconsciously, you found him amongst the sea of people — it was rather annoying. You didn’t know if it was his hair that made him stick out from others or the way he was surrounded by people who had the same sports bag as him that made him easy to spot. Maybe some part of you just knew that he would be there.   

You had a thought on your way here. Maybe if you saw Osamu, physically reminding yourself and the world that he was your soulmate, it would do something, anything. The ticking made you doubt yourself. You were in a limbo. You knew you were soulmates; you felt it in your bones.   

Movement from the corner of your eyes caught your attention but you ignored it.

You sighed and closed your eyes. 

Tick. Tick. Tick. 

It was dull, faint. But still there. 

You kept your head down and quickly went in the opposite direction of Osamu, pushing past people until you found someplace else. 

At the entrance of the school Airi watched you as you watched Osamu. Osamu, of course, was none the wiser, like an idiot. She wanted to scream. Why were both of you being idiots? She took a step forward towards Osamu, ready to berate and nag in his ear until it fell off.  

Airi hesitated and turned her head in your direction. She didn’t know you, save from your one interaction with each other, but you seemed off. How could the person who smiled and gave her soulmate and his then-girlfriend food, not just go up to Osamu? Especially when they weren’t strangers to each other?

She followed you instead. 

Airi suspected that you didn’t know where you were going, but she admired your pace and quick movements through the unknown area. After she became a little winded and tired, and you had gone far enough from the crowd, she matched your pace and caught up to you. 

“(Y/N)!” 

You turned sharply, your eyes wide. 

Airi smiled despite her concern. Your face was scrunched up like you spent too much time thinking and rethinking. Your eyes were surrounded by an irritated red. “You walk fast,” she said. “I’ve been following you for at least the equivalent of a block.” 

Your lip turned up. “You have to start with a good momentum.”  

Airi nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind. I’m —” 

“Airi,” you finished. You bit your lip and started playing with the straps of your backpack. “You came in with Osamu at the onigiri shop. I’m —” 

“(Y/N),” Airi supplied. “He told me.” 

“Oh.” 

Airi shuged. She was sad when Osamu told her. She knew that their relationship wasn’t going to last forever, but she didn’t expect for it to end just a couple of months in. Airi held no hatred towards you. One of her best friends found his soulmate. How could she be angry about that? 

“We broke up,” she said. Airi saw the way you closed in on yourself and quickly added, “He told me what you said though. I wanted to end the relationship. But I didn’t come here to talk about that. If you want to know, I’m sure that he’ll tell you.” 

You nodded. 

“I wanted to see if you were okay.” 

“If I was okay?” you asked? 

“I saw you outside and you looked…worse for wear.” 

You gave her a fractured smile, something that you probably thought was reassuring. Your eyes teared up and you started blinking. You bit the inside of your cheek. You shook your head. “Something’s wrong.” 

“What?” she asked. 

“Something’s —” You turned your head to the side and pressed your hand to your ear. 

Airi stepped forward hastily. “What is it?” 

“The ticking. The clock,” you said. “I can’t hear anything else.” 

Airi reached forward and touched your arm. “But Osamu?” 

“I know.” 

Airi looked around. How much longer until school started? “I’ll be right back. Do move.” 

Despite her windedness, Airi ran back to the main entrance of the school. There were only a few stranglers there, everyone else had gone inside for the opening ceremony. But, if Airi knew Osamu as well as she thought he did, Osamu and Atsumu would still be standing outside to see who will be chicken enough to go in first. 

She spotted them quickly. 

“Osamu!” she yelled. 

Both brothers turned to her. 

“What are you still doing outside?” Osamu asked. 

“You’re going to break your perfect attendance,” Atsumu snickered. 

Airi ignored them both. “(Y/N) is over there. They said something is wrong and —” 

Osamu ran off in the direction she pointed out before she finished. 

“Who’s (Y/N)?” Atsumu asked. 

Airi furrowed her eyes together. “You don’t know?” 

“Know what?” 

Airi snorted. “You’re going to be late, let’s go.” 

“What?” Atsumu said. He crossed his arms. “Like hell I am. I’m not losing to Samu!” 

Airi pulled on his arm, dragging him to the door. “I don’t care. Let’s go.”   

Fast footsteps came towards you. You flinched. “I’m fine, Airi. Just go inside.” 

“Good thing my name isn’t Airi, then,” a deep voice said. Osamu stood in front of you at least a metre away. He was breathing heavy, his chest raising and falling, but his voice was steady. He opened his mouth, concern lacing his eyes. “What can I do?” 

Tick. Tick. Tick. 

There was something different about telling Airi. You know about her, but you didn’t know each other. The pressure was off and the words formed easily on your tongue. 

“Please,” he said. You didn’t answer. Nothing would go past your throat like matter past the event horizon. Osamu’s fists were tight by his side like he was physically forcing himself to not rush forward. “I want to be here for you. I am here for you. Please, let me be.” 

After a few moments, you whispered, “The clock.” You avoided his gaze, favouring to look past him, through him. “The ticking.” 

The tension in his shoulder’s dissipated. Osamu swallowed and took a cautious step towards you. “Is it loud?”   

“What?” 

“The ticking. Is it loud?” 

“Yes.” 

“Can I help you?” 

You nodded. 

With a calm, almost blank expression, one that you knew was anything but expressionless, he walked towards you and placed his hands gently over your ears. He was close enough that you could feel the warmth from his body but far enough that you could still breathe. 

Your breaths slowed. 

The ticking faded, slowly down and beating to the steadiness of your heart. You were afraid to move. What if it came back? You took a moment for yourself, to reassure yourself that you were okay. 

You brought your hands to Osamu’s and slowly tugged them off your ears. You lowered your hands to your side without releasing his. 

The ticking was gone. 

“Is it better?” he asked. 

“It’s gone.” 

“Are you okay?” 

You tilted your chin to meet his gaze. “You didn’t hear anything?” 

“No. It’s been gone since I met you.” 

You bit your lip painfully. “Why?” you said more to yourself. “Why?”

Osamu searched your face. You didn’t know what he was looking for, but from the glimmer in his eyes, you could tell he found it. “At the fear of saying something wrong, I need to tell you that Airi and I broke up.” 

“I know.” 

“And whether or not we did,” he continued, like he needed to tell the first part to get to here, “you and I are still friends. I will always be your friend. We’re soulmates, yes, but it is just the start of something bigger. It’s a start because no matter who we are to each other, I have you in my life.” 

You held his hands tighter. 

“If the clock comes back, we’ll deal with it. If it fights, we’ll fight back. But you have to know that I want to be with you. How can I quit something that is clearly at the beginning?” 

You pulled him closer. “We’re at the start.” 

“Yes,” he said. “And it’s going to be a very long story of our making.” 

Ta daaaaaa!!! Yay! I actually finished a series! This was really fun to write and something (concept wise) that I’ve been thinking about for a while. It’s a little open ended? In a way? But like it said, it’s where their story beings unless you guys want a bunch of parts of them just being friends slkdjfals

I imagine that they’ll be friends for a while….like a while until one of the fesses up. 

Anyway, thanks for reading! What will I write next? 

Vote for Bacon x dad agenda (GIMME GIMME GIMME -bacon) – Kiwi 

Posted: 29/05/2023

#miya osamu #miya osamu x reader #osamu miya #osamu x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

Shift Pt 2 - Kozume Kenma

Au: Regular (timeskip)

Tags/Warnings: Dual POV, use of a pseudonym (username: ForestFire) instead of (Y/N) in most cases, swearing.

Word Count: 2k

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4

Pressing your phone into your ear with your shoulder, you riffled through your bag to find your house key. 

"I'll be there. Of course. Our deal still stands through, right?." You said before cursing under your breath as some receipts fell to the floor. You scrambled to pick them up.

"Okay, Forest. I'll let you go. Just remember the date, I'll put it in your calendar."

"That would be great, thank you."

The call ended as you walked through the door.

Throwing everything onto the nearest chair, you rushed to set up your PC and grab dinner before your stream started. Not even a few seconds after getting in and Uvo and Solarii were blowing up your phone with messages.

Ramen would have to do for now.

By the time the water boiled, you were already late. So, you scrambled to get your computer setup.

Immediately, your awaiting chat filled the comments.

"Can't talk right now. We are doing a PvP first-person shooter. Oh, hell."

You looked at the game your friend had sent you to download the other day, finally letting the realisation of what you were playing set in.

"I was way too out of it to realise what we would be playing. This is going to suck for me."

You entered the group chat, waiting for the chime to tell you you were connected to the voice channel. They were already chatting away.

"Hi, I'm here. I'm here!"

"You're late."

A shiver ran down your spine, making you stand straighter. You knew that dull, gentle voice. Years of laying on your university dorm bed, kicking your feet as you watched him stream and spoke in his comments.

"Hi, KenKen."

You froze, lifting your finger off your set voice button and smacked your forehead with an open palm. The remaining sting kept its shape. "I just said that." You look at your camera with a grimace, stomach dropping as your familiar term was caught on stream. "GAH, I'VE NEVER TALKED TO HIM BEFORE."

Your chat went haywire, making you groan and melt into your chair until your knees hit the floor.

"I guess I have to come clean," You sighed, lifting yourself back into a sitting position and saving your —likely now— bruised knees. "I was a regular in Kodzuken's chat while still in uni before I started streaming myself. KenKen was a common thing to call him amongst his followers back then."

There was no audible response from Ken, and while you knew why (you chose to go with touch to speak while waiting for the game because of him) but not hearing his words made you now more nervous.

Solarii, then Uvo, finally noticed your presence.

"Forest!"

Oh, thank goodness.

"Ah, everyone's here. Any issues getting booted up? Any questions?" Uvo followed.

"Too many." You responded.

"Eh, you'll be fine. Teams of two, at random. You won't know who you're with till we are in. The goal is to get the most kills with the least deaths. You will be linked to your teammate for voice chat but won't hear anyone else until the round ends. Any questions?"

"So many."

"Great! Let's get started."

You groaned as your chat laughed at you. 

As your game loaded, you switched your voice chat settings to be voice-activated and took as many bites of warm ramen as possible.

"Ready?"

You choked. "Auggh fuck. Ya ready."

"Okay."

Staring at your chat with distressed eyes, you mouthed the words "save me" only to get more laughter in response.

<Forest has a crush oooooh>

"He's going to kill me."

"That would be rather difficult; we’re on the same team."

You squeaked. "I forgot my mic was on for a second."

"Hmm."

The game loaded up. You pulled your chair closer to your desk by using your elbows, fingers ready on your keyboard.

"First, we head left and up the ramp for higher ground the other teams will be spawning at the other 3 corners of the map," Kodzuken said calmly as the loading screen came to a close.

Your nerves were vibrating.

"Kay." You moved your character.

"Left, Fern, left. Are you dyslexic?"

Fern? Your heart jumped into your throat. But instead of dwelling on the sudden nickname, you tried to respond. "No. I don't know. Maybe? I was never good at reading." You turned your character to follow him around a shipping crate and up a wooden ramp.

At the next level, you and Kodzuken are covered on 3 sides with an open wall that would allow you to shoot down into the field. You scour over the wreckage of shipping crates, wooden boxes and rusted machinery for any movement but find none.

“See anything?” you ask, eyes catching the stacked boxes, perfect for ducking behind.

“Nothing yet.”

You approach the boxes and make your character run into the right angle, jumping when the screen jitters.

“What are you doing?” Ken’s dull voice asks.

“Trying to get higher.”

“Some parts of the map have blocks, you can’t get up there.”

“Well, I’m sure gonna try.”

Pressing hard into your space button, as if it will make your character jump higher, the screen glitches, and you cheer at your glitch being a success. That is, until you realise you’ve taken damage and, instead of being on top of the crate, you’d manage to fall down a level, looking up at Ken's character above you.

“Nice going, Fern.”

“Hey! It almost worked!” Your screen went grey. “Damn it.”

Ken clicked his tongue. “Yep, and now I’m exposed, and you have to wait 30 seconds until you re-spawn.”

You heard Kenma sigh while looking at the ending round statistics. In any other round, he likely would have come in first or second place. You ended up in 3rd. Kenma earned 25 kills and you earned 23 deaths which inevitably balanced you out to come in a central placement. You could feel the dark hole of embarrassment waiting for you to fall into it.

“I'm sorry.”

“Get better or go back to Arcadia’s Inferno.”

You frowned. “Don’t say it as if it’s a bad thing. You play it too!”

“Ya. But better than you.”

You huffed. “You’re gonna regret saying that.” The voice channel reconnected everyone, and you jumped to speak first. “I want another teammate, KenKen is mean!”

Ken grumbled.

Uvo laughed, “Well, you did cost him the win, Forest. And besides, teams are assigned randomly. You have a 1 in 7 chance to be paired with him again.”

X laughed, “No worries, Forest. If we get paired up I’ll take you to victory!”

“Hell ya!” you grinned. “Take that, Ken!”

“X and Tawny came in last.”

“Oh,” you slumped.

“Shut it, Kodzu! I can win! Just stop killing me!”

“Stop being an open target, and I will.”

At the end of the stream, Kenma lifted himself from his chair and made his way to the kitchen. A buzzing was going off incessantly on the counter, and a cat hovering above the source, swiping at it with a clawed paw.

“Ah, stop it.” Kenma lifted the feline off the counter and tossed it to the floor before grabbing his phone with a yawn.

“Hello?”

“Greetings. Sorry for the late call. Does this happen to be Kodzuken?”

“Are you a stalker?”

“No, I work for Dungeon as a part of the Advertising and Events department. I would have called earlier, but you’ve been streaming for 8 hours, and I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“I took a lunch break.” Kenma’s brows furrowed.

“And so did I. Anyways, I’m calling to invite you to the ADI 4 launch event on the first Saturday of June before the games release.”

“Ugh,” Kenma groaned. “Why?”

“Um, Well.” There was a shuffling sound on the other side of the phone. “You are a prominent member of the ADI community and have contributed much over the years. We wanted to make the event big and invite people to play the game before the official release to increase hype.”

It was very tempting. Dungeon never released advanced copies. The only people that were able to play before hard were a few in company speedrunners, and families whole signed NDAs just to make sure the game ran well for the average user and didn’t glitch too much, but just enough so that speedrunners could enjoy breaking the game a bit. Playing the game before it's released would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

However, he would likely have to stream on dungeons accounts, which, while would bring his fans to them, would mean he wouldn’t be able to get his first genuine reaction on his own channel, free of spoilers.

“Hmmm, I don’t know.” I don’t want any spoilers, and streaming my first playthrough on my channel is really important to me.

The woman on the other side of the phone sighed. “That is totally understandable, and we’ve accounted for that. We will be live-streaming the event and direct viewers automatically to your accounts when it comes to your times to play. You won’t lose any viewers or income; donations will be closed until the stream switches to your accounts. And you will get an advanced copy of the game to play there and take home so you can continue the playthrough in your own time without losing progress.”

Very tempting, Kenma’s heart raced with excitement. “You said accounts?”

“Ah yes, there will be a few other streamers there. You’d each get 30 to 45 minutes of streaming time if you want to stream. You don’t have to. You can just attend the event and get a game copy.”

“Who else is going?”

“Only a few.” Kenma poured a glass of water and sat on the counter, crossing his legs as he listened. “Um, Turret, Hux, and Kenji. But they’re choosing not to stream. And ForestFire.”

Kenma glared. “Okay. I’ll be there.”

“Excellent, I’ll put your name on the guest list and send you an email with all the details.”

He hung up without saying goodbye, and at the sound of his phone hitting the counter Cat, the cat, jumped back onto the counter to paw at it.

It wasn’t surprising that Forest was invited. Not surprising at all. Kenma groaned. Somehow, despite having created content for longer than them and talked about Arcadia’s Inferno longer than them, Kenma had somehow become second in line behind them. Kenma groaned, picking up Cat, and carrying him to the couch where he could cuddle with the furry animal comfortably.

He’d be attending a busy event filled to the brim with sociable people and likely have to be in Forest's company the whole time. Their loud, excitable company. Kenma sighed, rolling onto his back and taking a floppy Cat with him.

He was used to loud people. All his friends were the kind to be able to approach and start a conversation with a stranger or go to parties and have fun all night. Kenma spent most of his time trading stocks, doing work for Bouncing Ball Corp. or gaming. Alone, all alone in his big, dark and quiet house with a cat named Cat.

He was used to loud people, but Forest was an odd one. Somehow they managed to creep under his skin and stay there after just a year on the platform. Staring up at his ceiling, he could practically see them laughing, with a giant glittering smile and squinted eyes, before running out of breath and gasping for air, or smirking while sending a clever quip to the audience. Even the sight of them staring wistfully at their computer screen while playing Arcadia’s Inferno was burned into his retinas.

His heart thumped, stomach-churning while his body heat increased and sent flames to his fingertips. 

He loathed Forest. Fern. He hated them.

“Get out of my head.” He slapped his hands over his eyes, freeing Cat from his hold.

I have been helping prep and plan like… 3 events? All starting this weekend and going 3 weekends in a row. I’m pooped, my boss is certainly more pooped than me. And then I have three weeks to plan a Twice event for their concert. Oh my god…. Love it though. -Bacon

Posted: 22/05/2023

#Kozume Kenma #Kenma Kozume #kenma x reader #kenma kozume x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

tick. thump. pt 2 - Miya Osamu

AU: Soulmate  

Tags/ Warnings: GN! Reader, mild language 

Word Count: 2.5k

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3

“In deep thought or daydreaming?” Osamu’s voice carried through the empty shop. 

Two days had passed. The first was spent trying to convince your parents to hire him without fully disclosing that he was your soulmate and had a girlfriend. That was truly a lovely experience. The second day was you teaching a very nervous Osamu how you did things and what to do which was another lovely experience considering that he only had experience in the kitchen and not with dealing with customers at the counter — the thing that your parents needed. The only other thing he did besides being a foodie was play volleyball. 

To which you had said, “As long as you don’t spike an onigiri in someone’s face, I think you’ll be fine.” 

You looked up as you wiped the counter. Osamu stood near one of the tables leaning on a carefully balanced broom. You were closing up and waiting for your parents to get back from the store. His face was unreadable, but not emotionless. In the couple of hours you spent with him, you noted that he wasn’t very expressive. He’d work quietly when he was cleaning or preparing and was friendly and kind when he greeted people. He was different than you thought that he would be. 

Honestly, when he said that he was willing to break up with Airi when he met you, it put a bad taste in your mouth. But now, you could understand why it was an instinctive reaction. Whenever you stole a glance at him, the light would always catch him at the perfect angle. His eyes were bright and his usual deadpan face would have a light smile when he noticed you. Oasmu’s laugh was music, and his questions were captivating. He almost seemed too good to be true. 

Is this how he saw you? What you saw and felt was real, you had no doubts about that, but it didn’t mean he saw you the same way. 

“Always a bit of both,” you replied. He asked you this each day when there was a lull. It was his way to get you to open up, and you did promise that you wouldn’t be strangers.

He smiled, and you stifled a flinch. “Care to share?” 

“You first.” You bit the inside of your cheek. 

The world seemed to be pushing the two of you together under the name of “soulmates” but a part of you removed yourself from the equation. You had built a steady wall between the two of you that you wouldn’t dare cross. It was only when he asked you this, that you let yourself indulge. 

“I’m in Seoul right now,” he said. His eyes glazed over and he licked his lips. You resisted the urge to snort. The other thing you noted was Osamu’s love for food, the only time when his heart was on his sleeve and he became an open book. “I’m eating tofu soup, sweet and spicy fried chicken, and the waiter gave me free ice cream. It should be great, and the food always is, but I want more. One bite is never enough. One bite only makes you more hungry.” 

Daydreams. Deep thought. Daydreams. Deep thought. 

“I’m in the park, on the swings,” you said. “Birds sing, and children laugh, but I’m alone. I live for the feeling of falling and can’t wait until it happens again. I really like the park in the mornings when no one is there; when the sun is just starting to shine and everything feels brand new.” 

Your replies are always shorter than his answers, afraid that you would say too much. In a way, it was easier being extremely vague because you had no doubts that Osamu knew what you were saying. Some conversations were easier than others. Some conversations were painfully awkward and led to dead ends, but nothing felt like a waste of time or a stolen moment. You had only known each other for a couple of days; maybe some things didn’t feel right, but nothing felt wrong. 

“Take me there?” he asked. It was interesting to see what truths he pulled out of your daydreams. 

“Maybe.” 

He smiled. “‘Maybe’ is better than no.” 

Every smile was anything brick that you painfully laid. Osamu’s smile held for another moment and slowly shifted to a quizzical look. “What is it?” 

Did something on your face give it away? Did your doubt seep through? The same question that popped in your head whenever you saw him: Did he tell Airi yet? He would’ve told you if he did. Would he tell you? 

You swallowed and opened your mouth to ask. Just get it over with, you thought. 

“How are my least favourite employees?” your dad called out as he pushed the door open with a rough swing, which rebounded against the wall creating a loud slam. 

Osamu, who had been looking at you, jumped, and the broom fell to the floor. 

Your dad shook his head and tsked. “Slacking off, I see.” 

You scoffed. You weren’t sure if you were happy about your dad’s interruption, but it did snap your brain back to quips and easy conversation. “If we’re your least favourite employees, then who's your favourite? You don’t have a long list to choose from.” 

Your dad picked up the broom, handed it to Osamu, and then placed bags of groceries — both for your home life and the restaurant — on the counter you just cleaned. “Well, your mom, for sure.” 

You heard a hard thump before you saw your dad’s back pinched forward and his face pinched in pain. Your mom stood at the entrance and your body was in a throwing stance. You glazed over the counter and saw an apple not far from where your dad was. 

Osamu snorted and covered his face with his hand. 

“I’m not an employee, you piece of shit,” your mom sneered. “I’m co-owner, and you keep saying crap like then I’ll demote you to employee.” 

Your dad lightly laughed, but his eyes were scared. “Sorry. You know I love you.” 

“I love you too,” your mom said angrily, placing the remaining bags on one of the tables. “Put the groceries away.” 

She smiled politely at Osamu. “I’ll be upstairs,” she said. She exited the shop and used a separate entrance to go to the complex above the shop where the three of you lived. 

You leaned closer to your dad. “Looks like you’re going to be on the list soon enough. Can you still have a least favourite employee when you’re one of them?” 

“I can, and it’s you.” Your dad glared and tried to rub his back. He dramatically sniffled and whipped away non-existent tears. “Put the groceries away. My back hurts.” 

You scowled. “No, it doesn’t.” 

Your dad nodded at Osamu as he walked out the door. “This is why you’re my least favourite employee.” 

Osamu grinned at you. “There is never a dull moment in your family, is there?” 

“Nope.” You picked up some bags off the counter. “Welcome to my world, population of one. Help me?” 

Osamu leaned his broom against the wall of the entrance and grabbed the bags your mom left with ease. “Does this count as overtime?” 

You laughed. “If either of us deserves overtime, it’s me. This borders on labour laws.” 

“It’s good that I’m here then.” The joke was obvious in his voice but your reply came out before you could think it through. 

“You’re in for a lifetime, soulmate.” 

You froze. Shit. Stupid parents for making your mind ease and your filter getting shredded to bits. Dread took over like a dark storm cloud over your head. 

Osamu froze too, but not in the way you expected. His eyebrows raised, a surprised look took over his face, but then it moulded into something soft … and a little sad. “A lifetime seems too short, then.” 

He grabbed the remaining bags and walked into the back room without another word. You didn’t know if he left you there to process or because he didn’t want to see your reaction, but you were glad that he did. 

It was moments like these that filled you with joy and a quiet shame for enjoying it. Your wall had a crack in it. 

Daydreams. Deep thought. 

Osamu was late meeting Airi. 

His hand clutched a bag of leftover onigiri after his shift ended with you. Osamu didn’t know what possessed him to say those words to you. He saw you and the way you kept your distance, but he wanted to make sure of something before he met Airi. He’d been waiting for a small opening with you, any chance or moment where you and your words weren’t dancing around him in favour of the distance. 

When you called him soulmate, he stopped breathing. Osamu would never need any more praise or reassurance if only he could hear you say that again. So, what he said after was nothing but the truth and when he saw the flicker in your eyes at his response, he got the answer he’d been looking for. 

Since you pulled yourself away from him, it was hard to gauge where the two of you stood. He knew now that you were on the same page as him if only a few sentences away from him. Giddiness and determination filled him. 

Osamu slowed his pace when he saw the back of Airi sitting on the bench where they were supposed to meet. The memories of today dulled and made him feel queasy. It was wrong of him to suggest breaking up with Airi the moment he saw you — he was ashamed to admit that it was the first thing that crossed his mind when his eyes met yours. Airi deserved better. 

Every smile and laugh with you was laced with uneasy guilt. Osamu couldn’t say it was love, but he liked Airi a lot. They were friends. They’ve never spoken about what would happen when they met their soulmate, but he guessed that today was the day. Osamu let himself keep you a secret before telling Airi. He wanted to make sure of something for himself, and it was proven in these days with you. 

“Airi!” he called out. 

She turned quickly and smiled at him. Airi got up and went for a hug and pecked him on the cheek. It was the same greeting they’ve had for months and it wasn’t like all of Osamu’s feelings for her went away; he still cared about her. But if Airi was the sunset, today, and everyday, would be the water, slowly disappearing behind the horizon until it was gone and only the memory of it left behind. 

“What’s up? We usually meet at one of our houses so I was kind of surprised when you wanted to meet here.” Her gaze went past him and looked around. “I like this park, though. I don’t know how I haven’t been here before.” 

Osamu swallowed. His voice was shaky as he said, “I have to tell you something.” 

Airi frowned with a hint of concern on her face. “Is everything okay?” 

“Kind of?” Osamu shoved his hands in his pockets and the bag of onigiri hit his leg, a reminder. “You know the person at the onigiri store we went to a few days ago?” 

“Yeah.” She let out a light laugh and nudged the bag by his leg. “Seems like you liked it since you went back.” 

Osamu hummed, trying to figure out how he was going to say it. The best way is the cleanest. “They’re my soulmate.” 

Airi blinked. She took a step back from him, nodding slowly and shallowly. “Oh.” 

“I’m—” He stopped himself. In a soft tone, he said, “We’ve never talked about this — What would happen when we find our soulmate.” 

Airi kept nodding her head. Osamu wasn’t sure if she heard her or not but he kept quiet. After another moment, she stopped and looked at him. There was a certain clarity in her face mixed with sadness. “They’re your soulmate and…we knew that this wasn’t going to last. We went into this on borrowed time and even if we didn’t talk about it, we both knew.” 

“Yeah.” Osamu nodded, but your voice echoed in his brain. “(Y/N) — the person from the store — they told me to not break up with you. Or that us being soulmates shouldn’t mean that our relationship should be over.” 

Airi’s eyes widened. “So what do you want to do?” 

“I wanted to say that I’m sorry,” he said. 

“About what? It’s not your fault, Osamu.” 

“Not about meeting (Y/N),” he said. “About telling them that I would break up with you when I met them. I know that you didn’t know about it, but I wanted to apologise. It was wrong to just throw away our relationship as if it meant nothing. I loved the time I spent with you.” 

“Thank you,” Airi said. Some of the tension went out of her shoulders and a small smile was on her lips. “As for what to do, I think that you already answered that.”

A dull pain went through his chest. “Are you sure? Because I —” 

“You met your soulmate,” Airi said softly. “I know you, Osamu. Maybe not as much as your brother and some other people, but I know that once you met (Y/N), even if I didn’t notice it, you felt something and you wanted more.” 

Osamu carefully went up to her, giving her a chance to pull away before giving her a hug. “Thank you.” 

“We were friends before. We can go back to that.” Airi laughed to herself, pulling away. “They sound kind of amazing, though. Maybe I want to be friends with them.” 

“Get in line. I just became friends with them.” 

Airi smirked. “I’m liking them more and more. Such a shame that they’re stuck with you for the rest of their life.” 

Osamu scoffed, a beaming smile on his face. Things were different now but he liked that some stayed the same. “Wait until I meet your soulmate. They have no clue what they’re getting into.” 

Airi’s jaw dropped. “Just for that, I’m telling (Y/N) about your nightmare that giant Atsumu was chasing you with a pair of chopsticks while you ran naked through grains of rice.” 

“Don’t.” Osamu’s eyes narrowed. “It was a horrifying experience.” 

Airi pointed in a direction behind Osamu. “Which way was the store? I can tell them right now.” 

Osamu rolled his eyes. He raised the bag in his hand. “Want some onigiri?” 

He couldn’t wait to see you tomorrow. He would just need a moment to tell you, and everything was going to work out. 

There’s going to be another part! It feels a bit strange…but I’m just going with it. Hopefully you guys like the final part! 

As always, thank you for reading – Kiwi 

Can I marry Dad? – Bacon

Posted: 15/05/2023

#miya osamu #miya osamu x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

Shift Pt 1 - Kozume Kenma

Au: Regular (timeskip)

Tags/Warnings: Dual POV, use of a pseudonym (username) instead of (Y/N) in most cases, swearing. More of a prologue

Word Count: 1.6k

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3 | Pt 4

“Are you friends with any other streamers?” You paused momentarily, making your chair creak as you sat back. “Ya. I’d say so. I’m not best friends with any of them; I haven’t had many opportunities to get that far. But I’m friends with a few. Uvo TV and Solarii I talk to the most. If you haven’t seen their streams, they both do a lot more first-person shooters.”

You glance at your main screen, waiting for the final portion of the loading animation to finish. Back at your secondary monitor, comments continue to roll by.

“I sadly can’t stream any earlier in the day. I’ve got work to do. Be happy you have me most hours on the weekend… I have a job, yes; you must be new… I went to university, yes….”

Your lips purse. “Theatre and film.”

A slew of comments fly by, each saying the same few words, all with the same sentiment.

<THEATRE KID>

They were laughing at you.

Clicking your tongue, you turned to your main screen. “I’m ignoring that. Half of you are theatre kids anyways. You can’t talk.”

Moving your fingers against your keyboard, you finally got your game going. Pushing your 3D rendered character into the next leg of the story. You’ve played through this game many times; first in high school. A classmate, sitting in the seat in front of you, had been watching the teaser trailer when he screeched in the middle of the teacher’s lesson. It caught your attention from over his shoulder, and you approached him after class to ask about it. You played it repeatedly that year. The second game came out in your first year of university when you had become so sickly and depressed that all you could do was play the game while your fellow theatre-major roommate read out your scripts for you. The third instalment came out a month after you graduated. You decided to stream your playthrough on a whim since you had no job and could spend hours every day in front of your monitor.

Arcadia’s Inferno. An open-world adventure game that tells the story of a seemingly harmonious world full of lively nature but holds secrets to a long since dead society. The story progresses with each game, and the world becomes more and more horrifying despite the beautifully designed scenery. It’s masterful, unexpected, and you eat it up every time.

You had become established in the community of ADI quickly within a year, gaining way more followers than you could even fathom. And despite playing more games than Arcadia’s Inferno, they stuck with you.

But then the developers contacted you, and you had to sign an NDA because they were making the series’ fourth game. You were blown out of the water because they asked you to voice the main character for that game, which is the biggest dream come true, especially after training for 4 years to do voice acting. Still, you couldn’t tell anyone because the trailer was only about to be dropped next week, and no one that wasn’t working on the game knew anything about it, but you were one of those people and—

You flinched as your player fell off a cliff and died at the bottom.

“Don’t say a word.”

The chat had already jumped on you.

“I blame you guys. You sabotaged me. NO, I WAS NOT THINKING OF HAMILTON. Now I am, though. Thanks.”

You could hardly wait for the trailer to be released.

Kenma pauses his fingers to squint at his chat. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere (since all he’d been doing was typing a note for himself off-screen while the game was paused), his chat had sent rapid messages as if they were having their own conversations.

He sighs, moving his mouse to scroll through. “What’s going on, you guys?”

<ADI 4!!!!!>

< Arcadia’s Inferno 4 trailer just released!>

<AAAAHHHHHHH>

Kenma paused, heart thumping. He quickly opened a tab and found the video to share on the screen; it was released five minutes ago and was already trending. He hit play.

There have been rumours and speculations about the series’ return. It was common knowledge that there would be more games. A sudden trailer release was a new approach. It was just a matter of when, so as months pass and then years, fans wait patiently for any inkling of news.

The trailer started with a weapon slicing across the screen, followed by the sound of a falling tree, before panning up from darkness to the sight of raging fires with a shadow inside and trees crumbling.

ADI always had something new to face, not quite a villain. The games really told a person vs nature story, set in a fantasy world with a protagonist that was more morally grey than good or evil. 

The sound from Kenma speakers roared, and a colossal monster slowly emerged through the flames. 

The trailer ended as soon as it started, finishing with the logo and release date.

“That’s in a month?” Kenma asked, primarily to himself.

Games developers, Dungeon included, often spend years making their games, even after their initial announcement. One month would mean that the game is already finished, and they had started it before the third game was released.

Kenma’s chat was hysterical over the change in scenery of the world, distraught over the destruction and chaos.

Kenma leaned in his seat, fist over his mouth as he lifted his legs onto the chair. “They wouldn’t spoil the climax of the game, right? That was a lot… Hold on.” Kenma typed into his browser. “Got it. That dragon is Mayzuth, the same as at the end of the last game. But more in distress, injured. That scar on the eyes is new.”

Comments flooded in, all around the same tune of calling themselves dumb for not noticing or complimenting Kenma on his use of game knowledge and memory. He ignored it, though, glancing briefly and ducking into his shoulders. He replays the trailer again, looking for more clues in the flames.

“I may be wrong, but I think this place is supposed to be near the dense forest. Which is supposed to be the burial ground of the Biolor, the giant in the first game, whose decomposing body is why the forest is so dense. That place burning down is not great.” Kenma pauses momentarily, rewatching the trailer before turning to the chat. “That’s all I can piece together.”

<As if that isn’t the whole trailer> someone commented.

<ForestFire said the same thing!>

<I’ve got no idea>

Between each comment were several emotes, mostly of cats, which he ignored in favour of zeroing in on one comment.

ForestFire, though commonly just called Forest, Fire, even Flame, or just their name, was an avid Arcadia’s Inferno fan. One that quickly overtook Kenma in the category. He quietly huffed.

“Hey, this is my stream. You’re my fans; no talking about other streamers in my chat. I have your attention here.”

<Just watch their reaction!>

<Watch it! Watch it! Watch it!>

“I’ll do a poll. But you guys better not choose to watch someone else’s content.”

Of course, that’s precisely what they did. The pole was overtaken by an 80% vote to see ForestFire’s reaction. 

“I hate you all.” He switched over and, upon entering, was quickly greeted by ForestFire’s excitable chat.

“Oh, Kodzuken! Welcome! Everyone say hi.”

His chat flooded in as well.

“Ahh, you want to see my reaction? I’ll play it. Did anyone clip it?”

Soon enough, the slip was playing and just as his chat told him, Forest went on the same tangent he did, making the exact same predictions. He huffed.

Forest was knowledgeable about the series, and the predictions weren’t too far fetched, but even so, making the same guess made an annoying zing go off in his head. He grumbled, sending a quick and friendly response before returning to his stream.

“We are never doing that again.”

His chat teased him for being so shy.

You waited for Kodzuken to leave your stream before letting out a sigh of relief. The man carried silent intimidation as if he was criticising everyone he interacted with. You would watch his streams often in university, appreciating his soft voice as he played through your favourite game. It was an honour to be a sort of colleague to him. But it also made your heart ram against your lungs every time you came close to interacting. 

Sucking in a breath, you gave your chat a blown-out stare. “What the hell was that? I nearly died.”

<Literally? Yay!>

<Ooooooh Forest has a crushhhhh>

<theres worse ways to go>

“Chat, Ken is scary. And smart. Him popping into my chat and hardly saying anything gives me the spooks! No, stop shipping us!”

You sighed as a debate started about ship names, one that even your moderators decided to chime in on.

“I’m not going to encourage this.”

That only seemed to drive them further.

You wake up late the following day to a message from Uvo.

<Multiplayer game! You’re joining!>

Followed by a link to the game lobby.

You cringed.

<Dude. Why do you have to do this to me?>

<Trying to get you a social life>

You grumble and smack your fingertips against your keyboard.

<I have friends>

<ya, like 3>

< That’s good for me>

<Well, too bad, I already told everyone you were joining>

<Bro….. Whos gonna be there?>

<Me, you, Solarii, Tawny, Dust, X, Patty, and Ken>

<Kodzuken?>

You hoped it wasn’t.

<Yep!>

Fuck.

I hope I can make this mini-series actually good. - Bacon 

IT’LL BE AMAZING - Kiwi 

Posted: 07/05/2023

#Kozume Kenma #Kenma Kozume #kenma x reader #kenma kozume x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

Cap’N’Bells Pt 2 - Futakuchi Kenji

Au: Royalty

Tags/Warnings: F! Reader, Totally not a concept I saw on tiktok and wanted to try

Word Count: 1.5k

Pt 1 | Pt 2

You wish you could distract yourself with the architecture of the hall. The polished white stone arches, rich blue drapes that hung from the tops of the towering windows; the carved grotesques that hid in the frames of the walls, staring at the visitors from their hiding spots. You knew it all, and have counted the right angles, doorways, tiles and curtains many times over. You wish you could do it again, but a wailing jester, crawling by your feet as he played the mandolin, wouldn't let your attention stray from his checkered black and blue motley and jingling bells.

Oddly enough, part of you couldn't look away, as the horrific realisation that the fool had colour coded himself to match your decorations and dress for your birthday. The only other person out of hundreds in the room to do so. 

Huffing, you wait for the next moment that the jester turns away to the crowd at the other side of the room to slip between the bodies of the castle attendants and make your way into the nearby hallway.

“Princess? You should be inside.” On the other side of the double doors is one of the knights, pressed uniform fitted perfectly with a guard dog at their side.

“Oh, Dame Celine. I didn’t know you were on post tonight.”

The knight shrugged, making the ribbons on her uniform sway. “Sir Charles got sick; apparently, he’s allergic to dog fur. So little Clementine here is on watch with me tonight.” Celine lifts the leash to gesture towards the fluffy Akita, who stares down the hall with fierce determination and readiness to run.

Hearing the jester’s mandolin through the door along with guests' laughter, you sigh and move to sit on the polished floor in front of the dog, dress puffing up like cupcake icing. Lifting your hands, you immediately grab the hound by the cheeks and begin to scratch through her thick fur,

“Has anything been happening with the lookouts lately?” There's another roar of muted laughter through the door, and you give Celine a pleading look to start talking.

“There's been some worries. The dogs don’t seem to be a bit agitated, but sadly we haven’t enough evidence of anything to really raise any alarms.”

“That’s more calm than normal.”

“Surprisingly so. With your birthday, I believe most people assume there are more guards on posts, so a slimmer chance that they would be able to achieve anything.” Celine shrugs and watches as Clementine finally melts into your hands and rests her head on your knees, making you coo. “She’s a suck-up.”

“Oh, I don’t mind a little drool. How could anyone resist such a cute face?”

“Many, the palace dogs are very protective. I’ve lost count of how many people they’ve chased off the grounds...Or rather taken to the ground.” Despite Celine's cautionary story, Clementine rolls onto her back, with her tongue lolling out and paws relaxed in the air. You immediately jump on the canine, placing dark cool-toned kiss marks around her muzzle while rubbing her belly.

“Oh, yes, you’re so cute. Yes, you are!”

“If anyone but the knights saw you like this, they'd think you’re insane.”

“They think I’m some kingdom sweetheart. If anyone saw me like this, they’d think I managed to tame the castle beasts! And honestly, that would probably only cause you more trouble.”

“Well, you better not let anyone see you then.”

“Why do you think I'm hiding?”

Celine shrugged. “Oh, it could be a few things. For one, the jester.”

“Ugh.”

“So the Jester.”

“He’s entertaining, but I’m so tired of laughing at everything he does. My dad is killing himself trying to keep it together but won’t make a sound. I’m just so tired.” You bury your head into the dog's stomach, but without your scratches, she seems less willing to lay about and rolls back onto her paws, knocking your head back.

“Well, you may want to get going and find a more secluded place to hide.”

“Why?” you whined at the guard from the floor.

Tapping her ear, Celine grins. “Bells. The jester must have seen you sneak off.”

You gather your skirt and run down the hall, shoes squeaking, skidding, and sliding against the slippery floor. Sadly, you can’t reach the hall’s bend before Clementine barks furiously at a collection of ringing bells. You dive through one of the doors, landing into one of the many studies that staff often go to to do paperwork. Luckily, no one is inside otherwise, they would have been greeted with a sizeable poofy dress crashing into the floor and groaning in pain.

Wallowing and rubbing your bruised elbows wasn’t something you could enjoy for long. Quicker as you had managed to hide, Clementine sprinted down the hall and followed you into the study, motley hat with bells clutched in her jaw. You squeak and crawl along the floor to duck behind the desk. Your dress tugs beneath your knees, nearly smacking your face against the floor. But, you manage, slipping behind the wood just in time for the jester to appear in the doorway.

“You think you’re so clever, huh pooch? Okay, come here. I need that hat.”

As his footsteps shift, the dog's paws shuffle, tipping along the floor and further into the room. Your breath hitches, and you catch it, holding it with your lungs full. It felt like you were going to pop. Shuffling beneath the desk, you hug your knees, trying to make yourself as small as possible and hide in the dark shadows.

Clementine walks into your line of sight, tail wagging happily. 

“Clementine. Drop it.” Celine had come to the rescue. Somewhat.

While Clementine knew her orders well, she had already entered your space and given you away. Giving you one last happy jump, the Akita drops the cap’n’bells onto your toes and prances away towards Celine. 

The Jester, however, scrambles at the opportunity. The extra bells on his suit jingle, and he falls to the floor, crawling slightly to reach for his hat under the desk.

You’re feeling light-headed at this point. The air in your lungs has gone bad and the need to breathe is strong. But you’re so close, almost free from being noticed.

“Huff,” You breathe.

The jester freezes, bells ceasing their jingling and he looks up at you through the dark. “Princess?” He's about to straighten up but with one hand on a layer of your skirt, he slips against the floor, smashing his head against your knee.

“Pfft,” you snort.

“Princess. What are you doing here?” He’s about to straighten up when you grip the edge of the wooden desk, making his head slam into the back of your hands instead of the sharp wood.

You peek around your arm. The Jester’s hair is scruffled from wearing his hat, pupils wide as he tries to see in the dark.

“Um. Hiding?” He grabs your hands from the desk, gently taking them off the desk and holding them kindly. “Uh.”

“It’s your birthday. You should be enjoying it.”

You continue to stare at his hands holding yours. “I believe I’ve enjoyed it plenty, thank you.”

“Was my performance not adequate?”

“Do you wish for my honesty, or a sugared response?”

His hands grip yours tighter. “You didn’t enjoy my performance? But I am here by request.”

“By the King’s request. He finds you quite entertaining.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“And you?”

You pause. “I much prefer your blunders. They’re more… authentic.”

“I see,” the jester lets go of your hands, sulking into his spine. “So you don’t love me like I love you.”

“Where the fuck did you get that idea from?!”

The jester gasps. “Your Royal Highness. You swear?!”

You just stare at him blankly, mouth agape. “I’m exhausted of this.” Kicking your legs out, you pat down your skirt and lean your head against the inside of the front wall of the desk. You sigh.

“Princess?”

“Please, just call me by my name. I’m tired.”

“Then you should call me Kenji.”

“Nice to meet you, Kenji.” You grin. “Now, do you have other talents besides being a fool?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know, It is my job.”

“Do you do anything else besides your job?”

Kenji pauses momentarily, staring into the dark with what looks like a horrified expression on his face. He sucks in a breath and grimaces, “No comment. Do you do anything besides being a royal?”

“Um…” You have to do all the things your parents don’t want to do. “Not really.”

“Quite the pair we are.”

“So long as you don’t make a satirical song about me, we’re all good.”

“Just don’t fire me.”

“Deal.”

You sit in silence for a few moments, “And please don’t suddenly confess your love again. There's not enough merit to that confession.”

He curls. “Okay.”

Wanna nap. This is shitty. -Bacon

#Futakuchi Kenji #futakuchi x reader #Futakuchi Kenji x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

tick. thump. pt 1 - Miya Osamu

AU: Soulmate  

Tags/ Warnings: GN! Reader, mild language 

Word Count: 4k

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3

The sound of a clock. The constant tick was steadier than a heartbeat with none of the soul. They never matched — the tick of the clock and the dull thump of your heart. 

Tick. Thump. Tick. Thump. 

You’ve grown used to it. In fact, it helped you when you were bored or wanted to escape from conversations. You’d start counting them, making melodies and rhythms in time to your internal clock. Still, you longed for some silence — the one rested in your parent’s eyes and never strayed from the moment they found each other. 

You grew up thinking that finding your soulmate meant peace, silence. 

You thought of their smiles now, carrying the last bag of rice from the storage room and into the kitchen where your parents stood side by side making together toppings for their onigiri. You had just enough time to start another batch of rice before the morning rush. The weekends weren’t as busy as the rest, but there were still a decent amount of people who got up early or couldn’t be bothered to make food. 

Tick. Thump. Tick. Thump. 

From the front, your family’s store looked runned down. A wooden door with peeling white paint with a nail hammered in the middle of it at an odd angle, which hung a reversible open and closed sign that you hastily made. It was out of place next to the window store front that collected dirt and dust faster than you would clean it but still managed to be see-through and acceptable. A red and white striped retractable awning created just enough shade from the sun to house two small tables and four chairs. But the store became the go to place for onigiri since you moved to the Hyogo prefecture a couple of months ago. 

After washing the rice and cooking it, you went to the front counter and began setting up. You liked the routine that you made for yourself and was scared for it to be interrupted with the upcoming school semester. 

Just as you finished, it was time to open. The rush went as it normally did and the crowd died down just after lunch. 

“(Y/N)! We ran out of sesame seeds, so we’re going to go out and get some,” your mom said, coming from behind you and past the counter. Your dad followed shortly after. 

You frowned. “For how long?” Last time they said this, their errands lasted two hours while you manned the store.

You parents exchanged a look. The corners of their mouths curled up and were immediately smothered when they noticed your glare. 

Tick. Thump. Tick. Thump. 

“Just for a little,” your dad said. He patted you on the shoulder and gave you a reassuring smile, one that you knew he meant but couldn’t take seriously. 

He stole a glance at your mom and turned back to you. His eyes glinted with mischief as he leaned closer beside your ear. “We’re past the rush. Who's going to notice if you flip the sign to ‘closed’ for a bit?” 

Your mom glared at him and smacked him on the back. “I heard that.” 

You snorted. 

Your dad shrugged and dusted the nonexist dust off his shoulders. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

“We’ll be back in ten minutes tops,” your mom called from the door softly. She turned back to your dad and smacked him on the back. She was furious in a way that didn’t matter; her mouth was turned down, but her eyes sparkled with challenge and amusement, something that you learn was specifically reserved for your dad. 

Sure you are, you thought to yourself as they left the store. Sure. 

You watched your parents walk past the window and the slight annoyance you felt vanished. You knew their bickering was only getting started, neither of them backed down from a fight or disagreement, but it only brought a small smile to your face. You wondered if they were like that when they were younger, when they had just found each other. You could picture them just as clearly as you saw them now.

Tick. Thump. Tick. Thump. Tick.

The first hour went by with only a couple of customers. 

Around the second hour, you were considering your dad's suggestion and closing for a bit so you could wander around. What could be the harm? You slid off the chair at the counter and went to the kitchen to make sure all of the appliances were off. 

“I told you it was this one!” a boy said. Enthusiasm laced his voice; you could almost hear his smile.

“I didn’t tell you you were wrong,” a girl’s voice followed. “I just thought that it would be another store.”

Tick. Thump. Tick. Thump. 

So much for your break. 

You made your way to the front of the store. “Hi! Welcome —” 

Your eyes met the boy’s. 

An airly, light chime rang through your ears and the ticking slowed to a stop.

Silence, at last.

You saw the moment the boy realised it too. His eyes softened the way your dad had when he looked at your mom — the reassurance of peace, a quiet that only the two of you understood. 

You saw him now. He was your age, grey-dyed hair combed over to one side, and his hand carefully intertwined with the girl beside him. Platonic hand holding? you wondered. The girl, who was unaware of the silence, eyed the menu carefully, and pulled the boy closer to her. She brought their intertwined hands to her lips and kissed him as if they were in their own private bubble. Platonic kisses? you thought. You risked a glance at the girl. Everything in her eyes reeked love and the hope for more of it. Nope, your voice echoed, just regular delusion. 

The boy glanced at her and then back at you, his mouth agape and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Your heartbeat felt out of sync without the clock to keep it in time. Was it always this fast? 

“Excuse me?” the girl said. 

You built a wall in your mind, melding each brick together until you pulled yourself back from the sight of the girl’s grin and their hands together. They’re happy. Or, at least, they were happy. Did you leave them in ruins? Did you interrupt a moment? 

“Yes?” you said, forcing yourself to look at her with a small smile. 

“Could we get one salmon, one okaka, two tuna mayo, and…which one did you want to try again? Osamu?” 

Osamu blinked and turned his head from you. His hand casually slipped out of the girl’s hand and went to his wallet. “One umeboshi, please.” His voice was low and dulled. His eyes were wide and didn’t look at anything, even you. The girl furrowed her eyebrows in concern. 

Please let this be over quickly. You nodded and went to gather their onigiri. Your back was turned but you could hear their conversation clearly. It made your skin crawl like you were taking something that wasn’t yours. 

“Are you okay?” the girl asked. 

Osamu hummed. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” 

“You were so excited about coming here. You just seem off.” 

“I’m okay, Airi. Really.” 

You packed the last onigiri. You didn’t know what Osamu’s face looked like when he said those words, but his voice carried soothing tones that made you want to cry. 

“Okay.” Airi sounded relieved. The weight of guilt rested on your shoulders because if Osamu felt a fraction of what was running through your mind and heart, you knew that he just lied to her and she believed it. 

You placed the smile on your face once again and handed them the bag. “I hope you enjoy it.” 

“Thank you!” Airi took the bag from you and headed for the door as Osamu handed you a bill and a couple of coins. 

“Keep the change,” he said. He stood there for another moment, letting his eyes linger on you. His lips parted, but before he could say anything, Airi called him from the door. 

“Have a great day,” you said, your voice cracking. 

Osamu hesitated, almost waiting for you to say something else, but nodded and followed Airi out of the store. You waited until they disappeared from the window of the store front and waited a bit more. You walked up to the door and flipped the sign to ‘closed’. You sank down to the floor and hugged your knees like a life vest. 

The regular ticking sound was gone. Every other day you wished for it to be, but you wanted it back now. You wanted the familiarity, the consistency; you wanted the annoyance and bitterness that came with it. It was a friend you didn’t know you had and the first note in your favourite song. 

Come back to me, you pleaded. 

Thump. 

Thump. 

Thump. 

Thump.

You skipped dinner in favour of lying down on the floor of your room and staring at the ceiling. It was one of your more favourite past times, but today was different; your mind raced and your heartbeat stuttered. 

Your soulmate had a partner, someone who they loved or liked enough to stick around. They saw something in each other that was a secret language. You felt like a third wheel, trailing behind their relationship trying to pick up small pieces that they dropped that weren’t yours to keep. You wanted to know more, you needed to. 

Without the sound of the ticking, you felt violently alone. So, you took your clock from the nightstand and placed it beside your ear. It was a temporary fix, but it helped. 

There was a quiet knock on your door and your dad stepped in with a plate of food in his hand, closing the door behind him. Your eyes followed as he set it down on your table and stood by your feet. He nudged you with his foot. “Can I join you?” 

“It’s your house. Couldn’t stop you if I wanted to.” 

He paused. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes, my loving, dearest, dad. Please join me in my lonely state’. Yes, child. I will. Thank you so much for the invitation.” 

You chuckled. 

“So, is there a reason why your clock is beside your head?” 

“Nope.” 

“Huh. Interesting.” 

You sniffled and sat up, crossing your legs. The absence of the ticking hit you again and you stifled a flinch. You tilted your head and looked at your dad. His eyes were closed, at rest, but he had the faintest wrinkles in the corners of his eyes and lips. A few grey hairs mixed with his natural colour. 

“Did you date people before you met mom?” you asked abruptly. 

He opened his eyes and sat up. His eyebrows were raised quizzically, but if he had something to say, he kept it to himself. “No. Neither did she.” 

“Oh.” You bit the inside of your cheek. Soulmates were real, and if people knew they existed — if that constant ticking wasn’t reminder enough — why didn’t they wait? Sure, you’ve had passing crushes and double takes, but everything was fleeting. Everything, every new person and development was a step closer to the real thing. At least, what you thought would be real. 

“Sometimes I wish she did, though,” he continued. He had a sad, reminiscent smile on his face. “Your soulmate will always be there, but it doesn’t happen in just one instance. It’s something predestened so a lot of people skip steps. You could be with your soulmate, believing that you’re happy when you might not be. When I met your mom, I didn’t even like her that much.” 

You scoffed. “That’s hard to believe. You don’t go one minute without making googly eyes at each other.” 

“Now, yes,” he said. A gleam of an untouchable memory shone through his eyes. “When we met, I thought she was the most annoying person I ever met. She’s still annoying, but I’ve grown to love that about her. She became my friend, then my best friend, and then my soulmate. I grew to love the things about her and then I just loved her.” 

You shook your head and smiled. If only your mom heard what he was saying, she’d kick his ass and probably kiss after which made you want to claw your eyes out. 

“Meeting your soulmate is falling into a state of grace, not to mention that damn ticking goes away. But it’s not real until you make it real. It’s the start of the story, not the full one.” 

You nodded. You were at the beginning line with multiple paths in front of you. Osamu and Airi flicked in your mind. At least they found each other; they could’ve been at the start of something too and you didn’t want to ruin that. 

Your dad reached over and squeezed your hand. “You don’t have to tell me what’s wrong, but I’m here if you need to. So is your mom. You could even talk to a tree in the park if you want an objective perspective.” 

You laughed and squeezed his hand back. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. Maybe I’ll gain a reputation as the crazy tree lady.” You cleared your throat and scratched the temple of your head. “You didn’t say why you wished you dated other people.” 

He rubbed his eyes. “Honestly? I would’ve waited. I’m okay being alone, but I didn’t know when I would meet your mom. What if she needed someone and had no one? If she was with someone who cared about her, it would’ve been great because I hate to think of her alone and lost without someone beside her.” 

In your brief encounter, you knew in your bones that you didn’t want Osamu to be alone too. You didn’t know where to find Osamu. You didn’t know who he was, what he did. You wished that you had said something to him before he left — he gave you a chance. But he knew where to find you if he wanted to. You wouldn’t let another chance slip by if it came.

Your dad stood, walked to your door and opened it. “Now eat your dinner or I’ll kick you out of the house.” 

From somewhere in your house, your mother’s voice echoed. “I heard that! Don’t threaten to kick out our kid!” 

Your dad’s voice was at a normal level and you didn’t know how your mom heard the things he said whenever they involved her, but you loved it. 

“He also called you annoying!” you shouted. 

“He what!?” she screamed. 

Your dad glared at you with all of the menace but none of the fire. “You better start packing your bags.” 

Osamu didn’t show the next day. You tried not to let it get to you, but it did. You wanted to burrow into his mind and make him come to talk to you. You wanted to pull those strings of destiny and make a coincidence: passing each other on the street, a run in at the park — hell, if he hit you with his bike, you’d thank the universe for making the two of you collide. 

You could tell him a lot of things on very opposite ends of the spectrum. It ranged from “We should be together” to “Maybe we shouldn’t see each other for a while” and all of the options seemed bad. Maybe you could do something in the middle. 

The semester would start next week and while your parents were adamant of giving you a break at the store to prepare and relax, you liked working there. It was the same but different. You’d wake up, help your parents prepare the rice and toppings, man the counter, and then close up. 

The store had entered a lull and there was a nice, cool drink in your hand. You stared at the clock, the artificial ticking sound made up for the one you could no longer hear. 

You didn’t consider yourself a hopeless romantic, but after listening to your dad talk about your mom, you couldn’t help but want what they had and something told you that Osamu was the way to get there. But your father's voice rang in your mind. What happened in the times where Osamu was sad and tired? When he was lonely or angry? You weren’t there but Airi could’ve been and how could you be fully mad at that? In a way, you were thankful to her even if it was mixed with some lingering bitterness and longing. 

You took a sip of your drink. 

“In deep thought or daydreaming?” Osamu’s voice was clear and steady like a stream of water. 

You inhaled and started choking. Your drink dripped down your chin and slashed on your cheeks. You took the napkins he handed you and started coughing. Somehow he had made his way around the counter and in front of you; his hand rested on your shoulder in a comforting manner. 

“A bit of both then?” he said lightly. 

You took a deep breath. “Yup. That and being scared shitless.” 

He laughed with a smooth, deep sound. “Sorry. I was standing there for a minute or two but you looked so…peaceful.” 

You nodded. Your eyes glanced down to his hand on your shoulder. His gaze followed and he tentatively let his hand fall to his side, grazing your arm with his fingertips. 

Your half-prepared speech slipped your mind now that Osamu stood in front of you. 

“I’m sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I wanted to come back yesterday, but I had to think about some things…” 

“Oh. Yeah. It’s okay. I thought about things too. Lot’s going on in the brain.” You wanted to throw yourself into traffic. 

He let out an airy laugh and smiled. 

“I’m sorry too,” you continued, “about the day we met. If I gave off the impression of not wanting to talk to you. I was…taken back.” 

His smile faded a little and he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. “You don’t have to apologise. You didn’t do anything wrong. I was taken back too.” 

You nodded. Your nerves were starting to wear off. You have thought about this moment since the night you talked with your dad; you imagined yourself completely unable to speak with your nerves mixed with the uncertainty of the situation, but despite the initial nervousness, you felt okay. Great, even. It was easy to talk to him, like you had been in a never-ending conversation that had just picked up again. 

“Did you enjoy the onigiri?” you asked. 

His eyes light up. “Yes! It was the best I ever had. The flavour was amazing and the seaweed was soft, but still a little crunchy — not soggy or dry. Don’t even get me started on how perfect the filling to rice ratio was. I wish I brought more! Airi was complaining that I ate all —” 

Osamu cut himself off like a lock to a safe, a secret that he meant to keep. 

A stab of sadness hit you. The blade was covered with hopes and longing, but the tip leaked bitterness and that's what you felt first despite your efforts not to. Instead of wanting to build that wall of yours to avoid the situation, you relaxed your shoulders and took a breath. The sight of guilt on Osamu’s face made you want to erase his troubles. You didn’t feel the need to hide from him, not like the day you met. 

Today, it was just the two of you in the origini shop and it was enough. 

“It’s okay,” you said, and you really meant it. “I mean, it’s not exactly how I imagined meeting my soul — meeting you. But she makes you happy, right? So it’s okay.” 

“But it’s not,” he said, his eyes narrowing like he was angry, but something told you that you weren’t the target of his rage. “I could break up with her and —” 

“No.” Your voice came out more forceful than you intended, but stuck with it. You shook your head. “Don’t do that for me. You formed a relationship with Airi and that’s something that you two shared. You had moments and memories that mean something….I don’t think I could be with someone who could throw things like that away so easily.”  

Osamu looked at you with a confused expression. He didn’t know what to do and you didn’t need to know him to understand that. You might have put him into a harder situation, but it needed to be said and it needed to be said by you. Your voice softened. “Don’t break up with her because you feel like you’re obligated to. Only do it when and if you’re ready and want too. You owe it to yourself, Airi, and me to not rush into things.” 

Thump. Thump. Thump. 

Osmau swallowed. After a moment, he nodded slowly, carefully turning over what you said. “What does this mean for us? I don’t want to be strangers or avoid you. Even if we aren’t together, I do want to get to know you.” 

“There’s this thing called being friends,” you teased. “Oddly, it allows for all of that.” A weight was off your chest. 

The corner of his mouth curled. “Really? I’ve never heard of that before. Please explain.” 

You rolled your eyes. 

His mouth turned into a full grin. He held out his hand in front of him. “Miya Osamu.” 

“(L/N) (F/N).” You placed your hand in his and shook it. Both of you held on longer than you should have and maybe this was one of those things that went unsaid and untouched; your first moment and memory with Osamu that would be frozen until it was reminisced. 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING TOUCHING MY KID!” your dad shouted from beside you. 

You screamed and jumped back. Osamu’s hand retracted behind his back, the other clutched at his chest like he was having a heart attack. 

You dad laughed and clasped Osamu on the upper part of his arm. “Just kidding. Onigiri anyone?” 

“Dad!” 

“What?” your dad whined. His voice was playful, but his grip on Osamu’s arm was steady and firm as if he thought Osamu was going to run away. “He’s your friend isn’t he?” 

Mortification filled you. “How much of that did you hear?” 

“Uhhh…” Your dad winced. “How much did you want me to hear?” 

You sighed and rubbed your eyes. “None of it.” 

“Well, you can’t always get what you want.” He sighed dreamily and used his free hand to make an arching movement like a rainbow would follow it. “Ah, life lessons with dad. Irreplaceable. Immaculate.” 

“Irritating. Imposing,” you shot back. 

“Synonyms and words. What would we do without them?”

You glared at your dad and he smirked at you. You opened your mouth ready to argue back when a loud, giddy laughter filled the room. Both you and your dad turned to Osamu who was bent over and you guessed he would’ve fallen to his knees if it weren’t for your dad’s rip still on his arm. 

The uncontrollable laughter was contagious and you covered your mouth, trying to stifle your giggles. Osamu’s laughter died down and he smiled at you, eyes softening for a fraction of a second, and then hardened when he turned to your dad. With his free hand, Osamu grasped your dad’s arm the same way he was holding Osamu’s. Osamu’s grip wasn’t as fierce, but it was just as steady. 

“Are you hiring?” Osamu asked. 

Will my writing ever be consistent? Will I finish the one shot that has missing parts — Seven days, Drive Me Crazy? 

Writing has me in a slump :(

Wish Bacon and I luck on our final exams please! :) - Kiwi

Is dad in need of a second wife? - Bacon

 Posted: 23/04/2023

#miya osamu #osamu x reader #miya osamu x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

Cap’N’Bells Pt 1 - Futakuchi Kenji

Au: Royalty

Tags/Warnings: F! Reader, Totally not a concept I saw on tiktok and wanted to try

Word Count: 1.4k

Pt 1 | Pt 2

Your father coughs, letting out the air he had stuffed into his lung while trying to stifle his laughter. The crowd turns their head to him, captured by his reaction, before returning to the performance before them. Once the hundred sets of eyes left the vicinity of your seats, you lean toward your father, whispering up the length of his beard in hopes he’d hear your words from his towering throne.

“Father. You know you can laugh, right? You hired him for that very reason.”

“I know, darling,” he catches another laugh, making the hairs of his long moustache flare outward. “But as a leader, I must be able to show my kingdom that I am level-headed and worthy of my position. Any stray laugh,” he huffs again, “could mean the end of my rule.”

“Level-headed? If you separate yourself from the reality of being a person, the kingdom will have your head rolling on the carpet.”

He glances down at you, “No need to worry, darling. I lead well and have led our kingdom to prosperity.”

“Still—” As the Jester twists in the air, the spectators gasp in excitement, watching as the bells on his head begin to twist themselves into a knot. “You also need to be able to tell them you are trustworthy and kind. You’ve done well, but they also fear you!”

The Jester lands on his feet but quickly stumbles backwards onto his butt before rolling over his back and again into an upright position. You clap along with the audience, but keep your eyes trained on your father like one of the castle's many hunting dogs.

“You don’t need to recite Bowman’s words to me. That man pesters me enough as it is. I don’t need you to do it too.”

Huffing, you lean forward in your seat to glance over your father's looming figure and meet your mother’s eyes. She shrugged, “He’s not wrong, darling.”

With another huff, you fall back into your chair and watch the Jester as he walks up behind a nobleman who is in the middle of a conversation and begins to mimic the man's large movements. The Jester is silent but expressive, arms swinging and mouth chewing as the man before he continues to babble on. It’s Duke Cunnings that’s ignoring him, a not so well loved member of the parliament, yet, despite the Jester’s silly mockery of the older man, no one reacts.

Glancing at your father, you hope he’ll finally crack and let out a boisterous chuckle and allow everyone else in the hall to laugh also. He doesn’t.

Taking one last, deep breath, you put on as best of a grin as possible. And you laugh. Loudly.

Eyes, everywhere, all immediately shoot in your direction. Even the guards look, metal armour clanking as they move. You keep going, clutching your stomach as you bend over your knees. The grand hall fills with laughter. Excluding your father, who continues to stop his breathing in an attempt to appear like an adept king. Though, you can’t seem to care about it now. Finally, the silence has been broken.

Looking up through your brows, you see that the Jester has also turned to you before watching him get hit in the back of the head by Duke Cunnings’ cane. You wail at the accidental slapstick as the jester stumbles forward, tripping over his feet and landing on the tiled floor by your feet. Covering your mouth, you now struggle to keep your laughter going as the Jester stares up at you with wide eyes.

“I’m in love,” the Jester sings, arching backwards over the bar with a blissful grin, bells chiming as they swing from his hat.

“Who is it this time? Or have you managed to stick with the seamstress from last week?” Yasushi asks, drying a glass.

“Hey,” the Jester glares, flipping himself onto his stomach. “She had great hands.”

“She was doing her job. You don’t even know her name.”

“Marilynne.”

“Claudette, actually.” The barkeep sighs, pushing the fool up by the shoulder until he lands back on his feet on the other side of the bar. “Kenji. Be serious. You can’t be in love with whoever makes eye contact with you.”

“Oh, yes, I can!” Kenji glares, puffing out his chest.

Tossing his washcloth over his shoulder, Yasushi spreads his arms wide and tilts forward in a mocking bow. “Hit me.”

“The princess.”

“HA! Oh, ya. She totally fell bell–” Yasushi reaches over the bar and smacks one of the ends of Kenji’s cap’n’bells “–over heels for the court jester. You should go for it. You’d make an eye-catching couple.”

“You think so?” Kenji smiles, creases appearing on his cheeks. Bells jingling with the little hope he makes.

“No! I’d love to see you try, though. You’ll make a bigger fool of yourself than you already are.”

“Har har har.” The Jester jingles some more as he flops onto one of the bar stools. “Just hand me a drink.”

Your father was going to be the death of you. Ever since making a scene during the last event, and managing to at least portray yourself as an approachable member of the royal family, he had decided that his many social responsibilities should be handed down to you, the ‘friendliest’ of the family. All the while, he decides to lock himself away in his office and be more reclusive than he ever was.

Of course, you couldn’t let his attempts to escape go, so sneaking out of the meeting room that was currently filled to the brim of high-nosed diplomats, you ran through the halls to your father's door.

“Why are you making me do this?” you groaned, dropping all our weight onto the chair across from his desk with a thud.

“They like you more than me,” he says, matter of factly.

“Only because I played the part of being friendly and approachable.” You stared up at the mural-like patterns on the ceiling, following them to the ornate arches and then along the wall where they met the floor.

“They like talking to you.”

“They talk to me because they want to speak to you, but you cower away in this room because you have a skewed perception of what a king should be like and they believe I will pass on whatever message they have. You know, King Patil visits a new restaurant every week and eats with the owners. The nobles then visit since it has received the ‘kings approval’ and their economy flourishes.”

“Yes. but I am not King Patil.”

“You want to be but your ego gets in the way.”

“Watch your mouth.”

“Give me a mirror.”

You sigh in unison. Sinking into the plush cushioning of your chairs. 

Behind you, the door creeks and up bends your head backwards to see your mother walking in with a butler at her feet.

“Tea’s here. Thank you. Mason, but you may attend to other duties now.” The butler bows and steps back into the hallway. “Darling? What are you doing here, you’re meant to be with the diplomats.”

“I left the first moment I could.”

“Well, I only have two tea cups.” She sighs, setting the tray down on desk.

“I’ll drink from the teapot,” you grin, reaching for the stout container.

She smacks your hand away. “You will do no such thing, we can share,” she says and sits on the catching chair at your side. “Since you’re here, we planned to invite the Jester back to perform at your birthday ball.”

Brows pinching, you sit upright. “The Jester?”

“Yes. You liked his act, didn’t you?”

“No, no, no, no, no. What gave you the idea that I like the jester performances?”

“You laughed.”

“Ya, because he wouldn’t! It was a political move!” you point to your father, who glared through his brows before returning to writing.

“Oh. Well, I suppose that is a bit unfortunate then.”

You shut your eyes. “How come? Why is it unfortunate?”

“The invitation was already sent.”

You melted into the chair, chin hitting your chest. “Oh, bother.”

Kenji was splayed on the floor, laying there for what must have been at least an hour, just dozing when an insistent knock pounded at his door. He groans, opening his eyes while fighting off the dreams of soft hands pulling him back towards the floor and gets up to hobble toward the banging.

“Letter from the palace.”

He blinks blearily at the postman, takes the letter and shuts the door with a limp wave. He’s sitting back on the floor, about to pass out again while his thumb picks at the wax seal. His head hits the floor until he catches the first few words written in and runs to his desk to get better light.

He’s been requested to perform at the princess's birthday. Oh, how he loves her.

There will be more parts, I’m just in exam season now and have also been prepping K-pop events and stuff at work :) - Bacon

Posted: 09/04/2023

#Futakuchi Kenji #futakuchi x reader #Futakuchi Kenji x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

Wine and Movie Pt 3 - Ushijima Wakatoshi

Au: Regular (timeskip)

Tags/Warnings: GN! Reader, uhhhh

Word Count: 1k

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3

Your hands began to crackle as the mud that covered them dried up. Dipping them in a pot filled with water had become a pastime, giving you what only felt like seconds until you had to soak them again. It was hard not to sigh or groan, but you didn’t want the people around you to look your way. While they did chat a bit, it was very quiet, allowing everyone to concentrate on the task before them. Not that they needed it. They were all so talented.

You glanced at Ushijima’s hands. Strong as they were, they were gentle against the clay beneath them, easily forming and moulding it into a smooth bowl with cupped hands. Gulping, you looked back to your bowl, only to find it caved in. “I’m going to break this table.”

“Don’t worry,” a woman said to your right. “It takes time to learn.”

You gave her a sour frown and pointed to Ushijima, leaning back to ensure she could see. “He’s got it.”

“I’ve done this before,” Ushijima explained.

“Show off.”

“I’m just talented.”

You blinked. He told a joke. Well, sort of. But there was humour in his tone. A small lilt that let you know he was teasing you. Grinning, you played along.

“Ugh, when is it my turn to be talented.”

“You have your skills.”

“Maybe, but I’m not a giant made of pure muscle.”

Ushijima turned his head away. Ears tinged pink.

“Oh,” You smiled, “I’m also not as handsome.”

Lifting his foot from the spinning pedal, Ushijima rose to his feet and shuffled away towards the bathroom.

“I think you flustered him,” the woman chuckled as she pulled a wire through the bottom of her cup.

“That’s a very hard thing to do. He’s so stoic.”

“Well, I guess he likes you enough to induce a response.”

You sat silently as she stood up with her cup and walked away. 

Sitting on the cushions of Ushijima’s home, you couldn’t help but keep glancing over as the woman’s words danced through your head. 

Does he like you? Well, he was the one to suggest the date in the first place. Knowing what you knew of him, Ushijima was the type to do things without purpose, maybe for the occasion selfish purpose, but not without none. So he must like you, right? He couldn’t just want more physical therapy to prevent his shoulder from getting injured, not that you’d mind providing it, but still, he could just come to you during work hours if he wanted. And by now, it’s been long enough that he likely would have asked for something outside of work time if he wanted it. Which he hasn’t, so there really must be a different motive, but that could only mean—

“You’re not watching. What’s on your mind?”

“Hmm?” Your spine straightened as you looked up from the sharp angle of Ushijima’s jaw to meet his brown eyes.

“You’ve been staring at me instead of watching the movie. It’s your favourite.”

You spun the wine in your glass, watching it become a whirlpool. “Maybe I've had too much to drink.”

“You haven't even had a sip. What’s in your mind.”

Sucking in a deep breath, you dipped your head back, letting the wine roll down your throat before slamming it onto the table. “Do you like me?” you asked after swallowing.

“Yes.”

“Okay, and this is what kind of like?”

“I find you attractive and interesting if that’s what you’re asking.”

Yes and no. The thought of saying the words made your stomach churn, and chugging back the wine was probably no help. “I—” The words wouldn’t get out like they were trapped behind your tongue.

“If you can’t tell me, I can’t answer.”

“Oh, quiet, this is hard. I don’t know how you were able to just ask me on a date.”

“I wanted something, so I went for it.”

“You— Huh?”

He could talk so easily, calmly, like the words were nothing but information to be shared, despite being able to hide his emotions behind a usually stoic mask.

“What’s causing you trouble? I like you. I want to take you on dates. I want to enjoy your company. What’s so difficult to understand.” If he didn’t have such a calm voice, you would have almost assumed he was angry, but his hunched stature as he turned toward you felt more hesitant. “Is it a label you need?”

“I, well. No? But maybe?”

“I’m courting you.”

“Like a victorian?”

“I suppose,” he blinked, staring off for a moment to gather his thoughts. The laps in time only made your mind jump to the thought of him wearing a suit with long coattails and a top hat and cane to match. It would suit him. He came back, making eye contact and ending your dazed dream. “Does that help? Knowing that I’m courting you?”

Well, considering that you were more distracted by the thought of Ushijima wearing a fancy Victorian dress, yes. You nodded, but quickly tilted your head.

“So, do I call you my boyfriend?”

“I’d like that. But only if you want to. We can figure it out as we go.”

“Right.”

Ushijima leaned away, removing his warmth from the air before you and only then making you realise how close he had gotten.

Your heart continued to flutter, despite the anxiety seeping away, leaving you feeling warm and content. You hoped his was too.

This is just me writing a coded autistic x adhd couple and failing cause I can’t plot right now. There's nothing else I can think of to write for this? idk - Bacon

Posted: 26/03/2023

#Ushijima Wakatoshi #ushijima wakatoshi x reader #ushijima x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

Wine and Movie Pt 2 - Ushijima Wakatoshi

Au: Regular (timeskip)

Tags/Warnings: GN! Reader, uhhhh

Word Count: 1.6k

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3

Suzaku glared at the pitch as the boys ran after the flying ball. His fingers fiddling anxiously with each individual hair, to the point of plucking them out, has you staring at him with more concern pulling your features than necessary. He huffed to himself and you finally caved.

“Uh, coach? Are you okay?”

His eyes flicked to your first, followed by his head. “Can’t you see the problem?”

“I’ve been more cornered that you’re gonna give your chin a bald patch, so no.”

“Look.” He jutted his chin out. “Toshi’s unbalanced.”

You took a minute, watching Ushijima run up to the net and plant his feet before lifting himself into the air and swinging down with his left arm. His weight was pushed forward, making him float towards the net much more than normal.

“He’s favouring his right,” you hummed.

“Ya, but why?”

“Likely just pulled a muscle last game. He was playing full-out non-stop.”

“As he should have.”

“Humans aren’t machines, and even machines are prone to breaking. He just needs a good stretch and some heat. I’ll take him out after this round.”

“Oh, he’s going to love that,” Suzaku’s voice droned sarcastically.

“If he wants to keep playing, he’s gonna have to.”

After an additional fifteen minutes, the team was finally let go for a water break. Hoshiumi ran in front of the rest to get his bottle, on the other hand, Ushijima was staring down at each step he took, a pinch growing between his brows.

“Yah, Wakatoshi!” his head shot up at your voice. You nodded your head to the gym exit. “You’re with me.” Behind you, Hoshiumi gossiped, eager to see the taller man’s reaction to being taken out of play. You huffed. “It's just practice, you seagull. Stop squawking and get back there.”

The silver-haired man laughed, chugging back his water before running back to the net, and you led Ushijima out and away from the gym.

“What’s this for?” he asked.

“You’re tight. Just got to stretch you out and let you recover a bit.” You looked over your shoulder at him, saw his harsh expression, and smiled. “The sooner you’re better, the sooner and longer you can play.”

Softening, Ushijima nodded and followed you into the next room. A plush orthopaedic mattress sat in the middle of the room, and without prompting, the lumbering sack of muscle lowered his 200 pounds of weight onto it. He shut his eyes and sunk into the mattress with a sigh.

You chuckled. “Okay, let's start from your legs. What’s bothering you?”

Without saying a word, he patted his left glute and back thigh, showing where the tightness was.

“Alright, knee up.”

You grabbed his shin, pushing it up to his chest. He was as flexible as his muscles would allow. If he weren’t so buff, his knee probably could reach his shoulder on a good day, but with the tightness, it couldn’t. Passing 90 degrees, he let out a small huff that sounded like a big dog having a dream. You loosened up before pushing forward again, hoping to stretch out the muscle. 

Eventually, Ushijima seemed to be fully lax against the mattress. So much so, you wondered if he had fallen asleep. So, with him comfortable, you switched. Hand and lower stomach against the outside of his knee, and right hand on his left shoulder, you pushed.

He grunted, eyes opening the widest you’ve seen, before sending you a dissatisfied stare.

You cuckold. “Butt sore?”

“Yes.”

“Relax your muscles, Toshi.”

As he followed your command, your body weight sank further against his knees and with an extra push, a satisfying crack came from his back.

“Big boned!”

“I’m just big.”

“Oh, I’m sure.”

He looked to the side, a bit of rosiness appearing on his ears, and you grinned to yourself once you realised why.

After twisting his other side out to even out his back, you sat him up and took hold of his left arm.

You didn’t even need to ask what was tight on his arm. Easily, you began moving his arm around, contorting it in every position possible to stretch out the kinks beneath his skin.

“What mystery movie do you like the best?”

“Hmm?” You met Ushijima’s eyes. ���Oh, Hmm. Have you watched Knives Out?”

He shook his head. “Should we watch it next time?”

“Next time?” You found it hard to hide the grin on your cheeks.

“Tomorrow.”

“How do you know I’m not busy tomorrow?”

“Are you?” he asked expectantly, still with a steely expression. It didn’t seem to match, but it was just so perfectly him.

You let the grin explode onto your face. “Now I am.”

Your home was messier than Ushijima’s and had more western furniture than Japanese, becoming an odd fusion that was distributed by the occasional mess on every counter or seat.

Leading him to your couch, you quickly swiped up your launching laundry and threw it into the basket behind your bedroom door.

“I, uh, didn’t have time to plan food or anything for today. Do you want to order something? I’ll pay.”

He paused, observing your (rather small) couch before sitting. “Hayashi rice.”

“Uh. Okay. I’ll call. Do you mind pulling up the movie while I order?”

Being in Ushijima’s home felt like being ushered into a dragon's den, Ushijima being in your home felt like trying to bring a dragon into a mouse hole. It felt too small for him and made you skitter around to find space to breathe.

He was there, in your home, where not many get to enter. No problem, not at all. You peeked out of the kitchen, phone ringing in your ear as you watched him search for the movie.

Ushijima waited for you to return to the couch before hitting play. “Is this a movie I want to pay attention to? Or is talking allowed?”

“Hmm, I think some talking is fine, but you’ll also be a bit too absorbed in the plot to say anything.”

Ushijima nodded, watching the screen start to change colour, and slouched into his seat.

Having already seen the movie and already knowing the ending, you settled for watching Ushijima’s expression. Studying each and every twitch he made in reaction to a new piece of information or twist. You smiled every time his eyes flicked a bit wider.

About 20 minutes in, the food arrived, and you were reluctant to leave your spot on the couch. Your eyes trained on Ushijima as you got up and walked back towards the door, grabbing the food as quickly as possible to get back to the couch.

When you sat the bag on the table, Ushijima scooted closer to the middle. Your breath hitched, but you distracted yourself by sorting out the plates. Maybe you could use the movie to distract yourself.

It didn’t work. With him sitting closer, Ushijima’s body heat seemed to radiate into your skin and only made it harder to look away from him. It was only when you were trying not to stab yourself in the cheek that you managed to turn away. His elbow brushing against your every time he lifted the food to his teeth made it difficult, though, and each brush only seemed to get longer and longer. It had gotten so bad that you only noticed the movie ended when Ushijima’s head turned and made eye contact.

“So,” you choked. “What did you think?”

“You are pretty smart.”

“Huh?”

“It was enjoyable. But I also think that only someone that strives for knowledge and understanding would want to watch this movie without prompting from another person. So, I think you are a smart person.”

“Really. Um, thank you. But, what are your thoughts on the film? You were pretty focused.”

“Hmm, I was.” He nodded, “I wanted to solve the mystery before they revealed it, but I don’t think I would have anticipated how it went.”

“Is there anything you think you would want to be different?”

He stared at you, thinking for a moment before shaking his head. “I don’t think so. I’m not sure if I’d be able to improve the plot at all. But, I do want to watch it again and see if I can notice the clues.”

You smiled, “Well, I guess we can put mystery movies on the list of things you like.”

He nodded, glancing down at the empty takeaway bowl in his hands. “Yes, among other things.”

Ushijima was back on an orthopaedic chair, letting you contort his body around to get every strain and crack out of his body before the game. But his left butt cheek would not let up.

“Toshi, I know you have fantastic control over your body. Please relax so you can get out there and warm up.”

You folded over his thigh more, leaning down a little closer than you’d want to while on the clock in hopes that that extra force would help stretch him out. It didn’t.

Lifting your head, you glared at him, expecting Ushijima to have his eyes perfectly relaxed and not see the angry stare.

They weren’t closed, and instead of giving up and getting off him, you froze up.

He blinked, eyes flicking to the side as he took a deep breath, before staring you down with a confident look you’d commonly associate with being on the court.

“I want to date you.”

“Heh?” It was your turn to tense, muscles becoming rocks.

“I want to date you. I hope I can take you on a date, a proper one.” He waited for you to respond, but still frozen and carried by the strength of his leg, you couldn’t. “Please, just say yes. I’ll buy you more wine.”

“Yes.”

Finally, his leg released, sending out a loud crack, and you scrambled off. You stared out into space, realising that you had been holding the position instead of having a tight muscle.

“I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

“Toshi—”

He had already had out the door and toward the stadium, leaving you blicking in his wake.

“Did he really just…” You suck onto the mattress, staring into nothing until you heard a loud cheer. Schweiden had gotten a point.

University makes me braindead. If ya’ll want another part, let me know what you want to happen cause I don’t I could imagine it up at the moment. -Bacon

Posted: 12/03/2023

#Ushijima Wakatoshi #ushijima wakatoshi x reader #ushijima x reader #Haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #haikyu x reader #anime x reader #anime

[seokiloquy]

Hiya! I’m new to your blog. I just recently got back into Haikyuu, and I saw your Wine and Movie fic, and I absolutely loved it!! It was really well written, and I think your characterization was spot on. Would love to see a second part, if you’re up to it! Otherwise, I’m gonna spend the rest of my day binging your masterlist.

Please remember to drink water and have a bite to eat today. Taking care of your mental and physical health is super important!! You’re doing an amazing job!

Have a lovely day, hon!! ♥️

Awe thank you!

There have been other comments wanting a second part to it, so I guess it'll happen! Just have to think about what to write.

My health is fine (I think).... enjoy the masterlist? There are definitely ones that I think are better than Wine and Movie, (school is annoying and makes it hard to write)

- Bacon