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jesswritesthat · 10 days

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Bokuto Kōtarō: Misunderstanding

Fandom: Haikyuu!! — [ Masterlist ]

Summary: ~1.5k, fluff

• Bokuto likes you, but gets the completely the wrong idea. You’re fine being friends though, right? A MSBY beach training session will sort that out.

Warnings: None

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Being surrounded by rowdy division 1 volleyball players wasn't how you expected it to be, you'd expected their level of professionalism to be carried over into their everyday lives - but this was not the case. Gladly so, honestly.

They were chaotic and mischievous, oblivious and loving, with a shenanigan never too far away. This was especially true for Bokuto, the wing Spiker who you'd become undeniably close with.

It was no secret he'd felt the same, always greeting you first and walking you home if you remained after his false promises of 'one more'.

MSBY could see it plain as day, though Bokuto had insisted you were only one of his best friends, there was a growing attraction imbued to his actions. How his gaze softened upon seeing you, how he'd memorised your boundaries so he could utilise physical contact, and how he'd effortlessly fit into your everyday life.

The teasing of his current teammates was swiftly dismissed as a joke however, when he received a visit from a particular nutritionist that seemed to shatter everyones' perceptions. Yukippe and Bokuto spent the entire visit by one another's side leaving you all to simply get on with your respective jobs.

"So you're pretty close with them huh?"

Shirofuku Yukie observed, the former manager of Fukurōdani - a team Bokuto truly cherished and would enthusiastically talk to you about late into the night and then profusely apologise for keeping you out so late whilst walking you home or preparing his bed for you to crash in. Yet every time, the love never faded.

It meant Yukie, like the rest of the team, was special to him.

"Didn't you hear me tell you the last 10 times Yukippe? We're not together, only friends and that's it - right (Y/n)?" He'd called after you for support when you'd walked past, yourself heaving a dejected sigh when answering and leaving the room.

"Platonic with a capital P."

The nutritionist seemed a little deflated by your deadpan response and lack of flustering to her claims as you disappeared through the gym doors, having hoped you'd felt the same attraction as her old Ace clearly did to you.

"Friends don't... you don't look at your friends like that Kōtarō. Not once did you ever look at Fukurōdani like that." Yukie pleadingly justified, both former Fukurōdani members outcast from the speculation regarding them.

"I know... but I can't help it." Bokuto hummed hopelessly, the truth making his emotions even more jarring. "I'd date them in a heartbeat, honestly."

"Then why don't you birdbrain?"

"Eh?! Because I can't! They're just not into... I mean they prefer..." He froze again, this time due to his uncertainty about your sexuality being public knowledge - you'd scolded him on not thinking before he speaks multiple times, and this was one of those times. "They're... just a friend."

———

It was the day you dreaded, the MSBY Jackals had decided to head out to the beach to try an unorthodox form of training recommended by Hinata. The man had experience as a beach volleyball player and suggested playing on sand had increased both his power and balance for on court matches also.

So here you stood, watching a bunch of physically fit pro athletes in swimwear play varying matches of beach volleyball. You'd crafted a necessary regime though and prepared everything required, and it seemed your team were surprised by your less formal appearance (as you're fairly certain this trip wasn't entirely for training purposes considering they'd reserved a chunk of their schedule for swimming and such).

As expected they'd garnered a fair bit of admiration but you remained oblivious to the attention you were getting, even if the team were protectively aware. All the more amusing when Bokuto noticed it too, overhearing a nearby strangers comment along the lines of "...really hot, I'll try to talk to them when they’re finished talking and I get the chance." directed toward you.

It was no surprise (to the team) when their loud mouth decided to make an overly showy entrance.

"Then we can work on— argh the hell?" You pulled the MSBY track jacket from your head, revealing a bemused team and happy-go-lucky Bokuto walking backwards presenting himself with arms wide.

"Don't want you damaging your skin in the sun!" A double thumbs up and cheesy grin was sent your way courtesy of the spiker much to your chagrin. Is this how that Akaashi guy felt catching jackets all the time?

Regardless you put it on, resuming your informative update and even when you were done, you missed the unanimous smirks of the team due to no interruptions despite having the chance.

MSBY had taken a brief break in the sea / sunbathing and to your expectancy there was a commotion in the water, having used your hand as shade to see you immediately regretted doing so. Kōtarō had stepped out of the ocean, muscles dripping and hair unfairly framing his face with a bright grin on his features. You hated this job, you hated this job, god dammit why?! Naturally he was greeted by two beautiful women and you're certain they'd complimented him and asked a question but he strolled right past them - only then did you realise his gaze was locked on you.

In a second a finger gently lifted your chin and you were met with the most beautiful sight you'd ever seen in your life, the sunlight highlighting his skin only disabling your thoughts further.

"Hey hey hey! What are you staring at (Y/n)? You zoned out."

"Uh— I, breathtaking..." You'd breathed it in way that caught Kōtarō off guard, amber irises analytically scanning your eyes, then lips, prior to turning to the horizon which snapped you back to reality.

"Yeah it is an incredible view huh?" He'd moved to stand by your side now, hands proudly on his hips.

"Yeah the view." A pause, then a glare. "Kōtarō those women...!"

"He really doesn't have eyes for anyone else does he?" Hinata chuckled, watching the scene unfold alongside Atsumu.

"Nah, (Y/n) is the only one who doesn't realise though."

They overheard your faint protest of how 'women were trying to talk to him and he shouldn't have just ignored them like that' but Bokuto seemed to happily dismiss it.

"Why so mad? Did you think they were pretty? I can introduce you if you want (Y/n)?"

His reply was questionable, and once Bokuto had gone over to Atsumu and Hinata (who were defitely flustering him about something) you fell into thought. You'd seen Atsumu address everyone who tried to flirt with him, the same with the other players but the fact Bokuto had just ignored them was so strange. Normally he enjoyed praise after matches, or any time really. Maybe he'd reached his limit today?

You didn’t have time to further ponder it though when you were interrupted by the aforementioned trio.

“Hey (N/n)! We’re gonna have another game, will you be my partner?”

“Did you run out of teammates or something? Or did Sakusa say no?”

“No! Jeez, I wanted you to set for me is that such a crime?” Bokuto jokingly pouted, yourself only shaking your head in bemusement.

“I’m in, makes sense to put the two Spikers on different teams.”

“Sure. That’s why Bokkun asked.”

———

It was a late practice tonight but you still thought the beach trip a week ago had imbued them with motivation. As the final practice match came to an end, the team prepared to head off separately. However, Meians’ partner had come for him today and you regretfully found yourself admiring the pair - how they'd brought food for him, and waited for him to go home together.

A defeated sigh escaped you, and only then did you take note of the presence beside you.

"Are you thinking about trying whatever they were eating?" Kōtarō spoke, gym bag over his shoulder having followed your direction of sight.

"Sorta? Well more like... no it's stupid." You embarrassingly waved it off, starting toward the exit when a gentle grip clasped your wrist.

"I'll still listen, stupid is more fun. Plus now I'm hungry."

You watched as he planted himself on the bench, a competitive aura about him that said 'I’m not moving until you tell me' and who were you to deny the person who was walking you home.

"Well, I was just thinking about going out with someone but I don't think it's in the cards for me."

Your calm nature and words seemed to surprise him, Bokutos' eyes widening slightly and for a second you swore he was contemplating more than usual.

"You're really awesome, you know that right?" You turned to him now, completely puzzled. "Anyone would be so lucky to have you, I'd be ecstatic, so try to see yourself how I see you."

"If you see me so positively, maybe you should just date me yourself Kōtarō." You jokingly laughed along with that accompaniment when he abruptly stood up with renewed determination.

"I would! I love you as a friend anyway and I've liked you for ages, but I can't."

"What?! I thought you liked Shirofuku hence why you were telling her we were just friends." You facepalmed, but reiterated your point of view to aid with his understanding.

"No I— I thought you were only into girls!"

…

There was a mortified silence, like the whole gymnasium had heard this and decided to tune in to listen. You're almost certain you heard Atsumu choke.

"Since when?! Where did you even get the idea?"

“Huh? I dunno, overheard ‘Tsum ‘Tsum mention it once, and you’ve never been bothered by male attention so I didn’t pry.”

“And you believed Miya Atsumu instead?!” You swear you heard the entire remaining team unanimously facepalm, grumbling curses under their breath despite Miyas’ hopeless protest.

“You gotta trust your teammates right? But when you put it like that…” Bokuto looked sheepish, despite his adamant defence of his setter which only left you laughing out loud.

“What’s so funny? It was a misunderstanding, I didn’t treat you differently and love you all the same no matter who you like.”

You paused, sighing hopelessly with a soft smile matching your new tone.

"Bokuto... I like you."

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[ Masterlist ]

#bokuto koutarou #bokuto koutarou imagine #bokuto koutarou x reader #haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu imagines #anime x reader #anime imagine #bokuto x reader #haikyuu bokuto

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kimbapisnotsushi · 10 months

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happy birthday to the absolute love of my life iwaizumi hajime!!! have a medley of timeskip hcs bc i barely do those and the only way i can confront being an adult is with characters who became adults alongside me :))

i think no matter where oikawa and iwaizumi are in the world, oikawa always sends a birthday text right as the clock strikes 12 in iwa's time. even if it's four AM on oikawa's side he vows to always be the first to wish iwaizumi a happy birthday :))

(it started when oikawa left for argentina, because that would have been the first birthday they'd spent apart from each other. it's the least oikawa can do, in his eyes. it's the least he can do for not being there.)

do you ever think about the moment where two characters who have never met but have a previous connection to each other via another character find out about said character after meeting. bc i do. a LOT

bonus points if that "someone" is kageyama or hinata or karasuno as a general nuisance

anyways this happens when kuroo and iwaizumi meet and it's HILARIOUS

"what do you MEAN you got your ass whooped by them in high school I got my ass whooped by them in high school too!!!!"

this is a freakishly common occurrence in japan's professional volleyball circuit. there's a support group chat for it and it's got over fifteen people

(there are a few exceptions - komori's really just there for the kicks)

speaking of which. i don't think komori ever stops being a megafan of yaku's. when he hears that they're going to be playing side-by-side on the national team he IMMEDIATELY dials sakusa and just screams into the phone for like a solid minute

hyakuzawa was really shy with everyone at first bc he never really knew them much before, but at his first practice match hoshiumi slammed a ball onto the floor so hard it ricocheted and hit atsumu in the face and, without missing a beat and while atsumu was yelling for hoshiumi to eat shit through a bloody nose, hoshiumi turned to him and went "see that? that was a lesson on what NOT to do" and hyakuzawa knew at that moment that he was in a safe space

sometimes ushijima and iwaizumi will talk about irvine like it was some secret dreamy romantic getaway between starcrossed lovers from medieval times

iwaizumi: "man i remember that one night we drove to the desert to stargaze. that was so cool. really pretty. i forgot my jacket and ushijima was kind enough to lend me his" ushijima: "it would not have done for you to catch a cold, we had a meeting with my father the next day to ask for his blessing" everyone else: "what the actual fuck"

the blessing was to see if utsui could take iwaizumi on for an internship

okay wait quick break from national team shenanigans bc i was thinking about this for a while but i think romero is soooooo impressed when hoshiumi, kageyama, and ushijima tell him that they all know hinata personally. i think he asks them to help ask if hinata can do a favor for him

"you want hinata to WHAT" "i want him to throw me like a paper weight!!! so i can show my son!!!"

hinata's like "OH MY GOD NICOLAS ROMERO WANTS ME TO THROW HIM???" like he's SO honored. he thinks it's an honor to be able to throw romero and romero thinks it's an honor to BE thrown by hinata it's so stupid i love them

and then romero calls his son and is like "SON GUESS WHAT. NINJA SHOUYOU THREW ME LIKE A PAPERWEIGHT TODAY" and sends him the video and little romero is SO hyped

in general i think hinata AND hoshiumi would be able to bench press like 99% of the adlers and the jackals and like. maybe the whole pro league

hoshiumi wants to try so he goes "hey kageyama c'mere for a sec!!" and kageyama is all "?? okay sure" and he just scoops kageyama up, tosses him in the air, catches him and puts him down like "okay thanks, you can get back to what you were doing now!"

i think kageyama actually looks up to hoshiumi a whole lot and it's super cute

okay sorry back to national/all-stars teams squad shenanigans

suna has the newest phone within the canon timeline because his old one broke when hakuba spiked a volleyball into it trying to do a trickshot

suna wasn't even mad bc they DID land the shot it was sick as hell

nobody was really familiar with iizuna aside from, like, sakusa and komori and MAYBE yaku and ushijima so when he joined the all stars match all cool and calm and capable and hot like 90% fell in love. and then he wrestled sakusa into a headlock within five minutes of sakusa being a little bitch and they fell in love even more

this part here was supposed to be a fun little bit about the all-stars team dynamics bc it's funny as hell but it was getting WAY too long and i severely underestimated how insanely complicated having people with grudges like ten years running would be on the same team so like. expect another post soon i guess?

ANYWAYS

they always try to do something when everyone is in town for training or some kind of promo exhibit like the all-stars match bc otherwise it's really really hard to hang out since they're scattered all over the place

imagine if they went to the beach. like. imagine if you were just the average beach goer and you went one day and all of a sudden there is a whole ass group of twenty or so incredibly powerful men who all look like they could kill you with just one hand and they're all screaming their heads off playing beach volleyball. and you look at them and you think they seem vaguely familiar but you don't know why. and then you go home and check twitter and your beach is trending and THAT'S how you find out that the entire goddamn national team took a day trip to visit the beach

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pinemartenstudios · 7 months

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Get Kumihoed LOL

After yesterday's Crunchy Drip I decided that the rest of the squad had to be Kumihoed too xD. And what is Burnt Cheese doing here xD? He clears both conditions to be a part of the dogboy group: being related to any kind of canine animal (jackals are basically desert dogs) and being a charge cookie xD. I want to wait for the update to finally get to meet him and consider him or not worthy to be a part of the shenanigans, but for now I just wanted to draw something silly xD

#cookie run #cookie run ovenbreak #cookie run kingdom #werewolf cookie #red velvet cookie #choco werehound princess #burnt cheese cookie #I'm so excited for whatever might come if I consider him worthy xD

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jackalspine · 4 months

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#yeah.#jackal shenanigans #danny phantom #skeh #12/8/23 #sigh.

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writingbymoonlight · 2 years

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sushi

ft.: timeskip kuroo x reader

word count: ~860 words

a/n: written for the lovely @taintedsorrcw's too much to dream collab! thank you for letting me to participate milo <3

“He hates me.”

“He does not hate you. You’re exaggerating again.”

“I am not! Look at him!”

You momentarily stop arranging the plates and utensils on the circular dining table and give your boyfriend a pointed look. Kuroo stands behind the kitchen counter, where a mountain of take-out containers temporarily resides, with an accusatory finger pointing towards the living room. You know that he’s going to continue ranting and rambling throughout the entirety of dinner about this, so you sigh and decide to humour him.

You turn your focus to the living room, where your newly adopted black kitten lays perched upon the worn-out sofa. The second your gaze lands on the ball of fluff, the kitten lifts his head and looks at you with his bright, round eyes before releasing a quiet “mew”.

“He’s so cute,” you giggle.

“Yeah, sure he’s cute, but this proves my point! He likes you more than me! He always pays attention when you’re looking at him! He’s always ignoring me!” the dark-haired man proclaims, as if this one instance is damning proof that your cat has some sort of deep-seated grudge against him. And while you think Kuroo is being a tad dramatic about the whole situation, you know there is a hint of truth in his words.

Several weeks ago, one of your co-workers told you that her cat had a litter of kittens and asked if you were interested in adopting one. You brought the subject up to Kuroo and, after discussing it, you two agreed that raising a cat together in your shared apartment would be an exciting step to take in your relationship.

The kitten (which you have yet to name) had quickly become fond of you, habitually trailing after you and curling up on your lap.

Meanwhile, the kitten continuously disregards Kuroo. There were even times when, the minute Kuroo stepped into a room that the kitten was in, the feline immediately retreated to another corner of the apartment.

“Don’t worry, he’ll eventually warm up to you,” you assure the JVA employee as you resume setting the table.

“I don’t think Mr. Grumpypants will ever warm up to me,” you hear him mumble under his breath.

“Tetsu, we are not naming our cat ‘Mr. Grumpypants’! I absolutely refuse!”

Kuroo doesn’t refute your exclamation and, instead, just rolls his eyes at you as he sets the food that he picked from your favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant onto the table. Ever since you and the former middle blocker moved in together, you had developed the tradition of ordering food from local restaurants every Friday then cuddling up on the couch to watch a variety of movies afterwards. And you were especially delighted with tonight’s dinner because you and Kuroo ordered sushi, something that you hadn’t eaten in weeks.

With the mouth-watering meal in front of you, you and your boyfriend take your seats beneath the dim dining room table’s lights and pile food onto your respective plates. As you start hungrily digging in, Kuroo commences recounting to you how his day at work went, upcoming events the JVA is planning, gossip about the players, etc.

In the middle of a story involving the shenanigans of the MSBY Black Jackals, Kuroo abruptly stops speaking and looks down at his feet. Curious, you tilt your head to see what’s captured his attention: your kitten is laying next to his chair, staring at your boyfriend with wide eyes. The kitten’s gaze subtly shifts from Kuroo's face to the piece of sake nigiri that he is holding between his chopsticks, and realization dawns at you.

“Aww, poor thing wants your sushi.”

“You can’t eat this, buddy,” Kuroo coos to the cat. “It’ll probably make you sick.”

The kitten lets out another small “mew” in response and nudges a miniscule paw against Kuroo’s calf.

Without a word, Kuroo heads to the kitchen, grabs a grey food bowl and fills it with some cat food then adds a little spoonful of tuna that you purchased specifically for your kitten a few days ago. He then returns to the table and sets the bowl on the ground beside his chair, where the kitten has remained, not having moved even a centimeter. Once his treat is before him, the tiny feline doesn’t hesitate in devouring it, as Kuroo observes with a satisfied grin on face.

Watching the scene unfold, a tender smile forms onto your lips and you teasingly remark, “Looks like the two of you are getting along now.”

“Shut up,” Kuroo quips back, although a huge smile is now gracing his handsome face.

After this particular Friday, Kuroo begins looking forward to your Friday tradition even more. He looks forward to sharing a delicious meal with you as your kitten (which you eventually resolve to name “Sushi”) eats his own dish on the floor between you. He looks forward to watching a movie with you, his arms wrapped around your frame, while Sushi takes a nap beside his feet.

Can anyone really blame Kuroo for looking forward to his peaceful nights-in with his two favorite beings in the entire world, though?

#kuroo x reader #kuroo x y/n #kuroo tetsuro x reader #kuroo tetsuro #kuroo fluff #haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #haikyuu x y/n #hq x y/n #haikyuu!!#ಇ. tmtd collab

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sassycheesecake · 10 months

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A/N: Hi everyone! This is a request from one of my readers! The request was to write the „Dream A Little Of Me“ in the male reader perspective. Also, instead of the manager, the reader is the Athletic Trainer for the MSBY Jackals. Hope you guys like it! Enjoy <3

genre: a lil‘ angst, fluff, smut in the beginning

warnings: sex dream, male masturbation, cursing

Shūgo Meian x Reader “Dream A Little Of Me”

“Oh (Y/N)... that feels so good… yeah j-just like that. Holy shit! O-Ohh…” Meian moans heavily with your wandering touches.

His broad chest rises and falls fast, his mind is all over the place.

Your skilled tongue swirls around the head of his long cock, making it twitch with need and he blissfully pants as precum starts dripping from the tip.

”(Y/N) please… stop teasing me… I want to fuck you so bad.” Meian tangles his hand in your hair and tugs on it occasionally. His other hand fists the sheets of the bed.

You willingly let go of his cock, making a ‘pop’ noise as you retreated from his form.

A mix string of saliva and precum connects your wet lips and his tip and Meian throws his head back in satisfaction, trying to calm his breathing.

Looking at him with a glint in your eyes, you crawl onto his lap, placing each leg next to his waist.

Meian stares at you with flushed cheeks, a small smile growing on the corner of his lips.

Placing your hands to rest on his ripped abdomen, you begin to sit down on him with a dreamy sigh, feeling him stretch your insides out.

Gasping at his enormous size, he too, moans shakily at the feeling of your tight hole squeezing him.

”Hah, hah. Gosh you feel amazing!”, scrunching his face in gratification, he places his giant hands on your hips, grasping them tightly, surely leaving marks.

Meian opens his eyes and looks at you with pure love and adoration.

”(Y/N)… I love y-“ , Meian’s voice stops suddenly and you hear your annoying alarm going off.

You wake up with a startling gasp, scooching back and moving to sit up against your headboard as you try to calm your breathing and your racing heart. Your hair is slightly sweaty, no doubt about the stimulation you felt in your dream. It felt so real.

Unbelievable, this is now the third time you dreamed about the MSBY’s Captain like this.

Rubbing your hands over your face, you groan in sexual frustration as you replay the images in your head over a naked Shūgo Meian confessing his feelings for you.

Looking down, you see your boner pressing up against your dark bed sheets, a small wet spot marks the sheet.

‘Great.‘ You think to yourself as you slowly reach for your hard member, thinking about the raven-haired Middle Blocker and Captain.

Just everything about that guy is perfect. His smile, his stature, his personality, he’s just a dream come true.

As a Captain of a Pro Volleyball team, he is strict with his teammates and is not afraid to scold three certain rascals for their shenanigans (every day) from time to time.

As the Athletic Trainer of MSBY, you just graduated from the Hardin-Simmons University in Texas.

They offer one of the best Athletic Trainer programs, moving there after you graduated High School in Tokyo.

You remember your first day with the Jackals, as if it happened yesterday.

It was an early Monday morning five months ago and you being nervous to meet the team was an understatement.

Standing in front of the gym doors of the official training hall of the MSBY Black Jackals in Osaka, your trembling hands reach for the door handle and you push it open with ease, having built a sturdy and strong frame after years of working on your body.

The first thing you notice is the smell.

It’s a mix between sweat, lemon and a faint hint of ‘Dark Temptation’ Axe deodorant spray.

Your eyes find the team, playing a three-on-three match, not noticing yet that you have walked in.

Coach Foster hears you first and he tells his team to take a small break while he talks to you.

After saying those words, the team finally looks at you and it’s making you feel small.

Even though you’re not the smallest person, their massive height DO intimidate you.

“Thank you for your application, I am guessing you’re (Y/L/N) (Y/F/N). Correct?” Foster asks you.

You bow deep in respect, confirming his question.

“Nice to meet you sir, yes I am.”

Foster nods, telling you they already did warm ups for about 30 minutes with a 15 minute jog round in the gym hall. Now they were just doing a small session until you arrived.

The Coach gathers the team around, telling them to introduce themselves.

After each introduction of the team members, Meian, the last one on the left, speaks up and introduces himself.

While hearing his deep voice, you barely listen to what he’s saying, too distracted by his body and gorgeous face.

Feeling your heartbeat go a little faster than usual, you try to snap out of your trance, thankfully being successful with it before anyone notices you checking out the team captain.

When the ravenette is done talking, he flashes you a dazzling smile, almost sending you into cardiac arrest.

Now, the first few weeks weren’t so bad.

You helped the team with their stretches, correcting their forms, delivering medical care if necessary, monitoring athletic events, obviously watching their practices from the side and giving out tips so they avoid injuries during real matches and practice matches.

You’re with the team three times a week, each time you can’t help but watch Meian a little more than the others.

The way his jersey sticks to his big torso, the way you help him stretch by touching his back when you feel his strong back muscles, whenever he wipes the sweat off of his face with his shirt, you can see his abs and holy shit what you wouldn’t do to actually feel them and not just dream about touching them.

Still, you need to stay professional about this because it’s your job and your attraction unfortunately only grew with time.

It happened like two months ago when you started your deep and strong crush on the raven-haired man intensified.

Almost every day after work, your brain gathers the memory as if it happened yesterday.

Everyone was done with training, headed straight to the showers and left the volleyball gym in a hurry. Or so you thought.

It was around 18:00 and training officially ended 30 minutes ago. Guessing that all the players have already left since it was so quiet, you wanted to shower as well since you were meeting up with a local friend from town. Since time was too close to the meet up, you wouldn’t have had time to go home, shower, change and drive into town again.

Noticing the door was still unlocked, you didn’t think much of it, simply deciding that Meian forgot to lock the room after he left, since he and the coach are the only ones with a key to the lockers.

When you entered the still light up locker room you didn’t expect a half-naked Meian to be standing in front of his locker with just a white fluffy towel wrapped around his waist.

Your eyes followed the water droplets as they ran down on the massive muscles on his torso and stomach, watched as they got soaked into the towel.

Meian turned his head in your direction and stared at you in shock but it was more the curiosity than shock that showed on his face.

After a few seconds, you felt an extraordinary heat blow up on your face and you let out a small squeak as you turned around and left as quickly as you entered.

Meian stared dumbfounded at the door where you left and heard a small amount of apologies getting quieter and quieter.

He just chuckled at your behavior and resumed changing.

‘Oh God, oh God, oh God! You just burst into the locker room with a half-naked Meian still standing there, what must he think of me?!’

Well you can forget about meeting up with your friend since you can cross out the thought of having a shower before meeting up. Exiting the doors of the gym hall, the cold air surprisingly makes it easier to breathe, helping your blushing face to calm down as well.

Once Meian was done changing, he saw you waiting outside and it was pouring down.

Wanting to clear the awkward air after the embarrassing encounter, he approached you and offered to drive you home but as soon your ears picked up on his voice, your eyes were wide and you told him off, saying you were going to miss the train to meet up with a friend.

Meian tried to stop you but you were already sprinting to the train station in the rain saying you were going to be fine on your own.

The Middle Blocker stared sadly after your retreating form and kicked a trash can over in frustration. The loud bang of the trash can falling down on the pavement echoed in the silent night.

Some of the trash landed on the floor and after he heaved out a deep sigh he picked up the trash and put it back in before he went home.

Meian has been developing feelings for you ever since you started and those feelings only started to grow the more time he spent talking to you. And now he thinks he blew his chance of getting closer to you. He purposely pretended to have troubles with some muscles, so you’d come over and put your strong hands on him, to feel the pressure of your muscles on his own, inwardly making the Middle Blocker sigh in bliss whenever he would feel the heat of your skin on his own.

Ever since that incident, you have been avoiding him like a pest. Always walking in a different direction whenever he is near, not talking to him any way except when it’s absolutely necessary, it’s almost driving him insane.

When he needed help with a stretch, you started to wear gloves and your voice sounded cold, almost apathetic when you talked to him.

Meian thought he had a good relationship with you but your sudden strange and distant behavior makes him think you had a change of heart.

He honestly thought you liked him the same way he liked you. Maybe his mind was just playing tricks on him but nonetheless he decided to leave you alone.

His teammates notice the relationship change between you two, making it feel like two parents who had a bitter divorce because the other one got custody over the children.

Inunaki and Tomas notice it first when they have a small three-on-three match together after an intense training match.

They both take a drink from their water bottles, wiping the sweat off of their necks with towels, watching you write something down on your notepad before packing up your stuff.

Helping them with the clean up, you gather the towels and put them into the washing basket.

Then they watch you pick up the scattered volleyballs around the court and Meian is about to grab the one you’re about to pick up when your eyes make contact with his dark ones.

For a moment, neither of you say anything, simply staring at each other.

All of sudden, you straighten up and walk around him with a neutral expression on your face, still not saying anything, beginning to drop the volleyballs into the wagon.

Meian’s remorseful gaze follows your figure and he breathes out slowly and closes his eyes, grabbing the ball with his hands and throws it into the volleyball cart.

Inunaki nudges Tomas with his elbow, gaining the Middle Blocker’s attention.

“Did something happen between Cap and (Y/N)?” He questions him.

Tomas looks at you and then Meian, before he answers with a clueless shrug of his shoulders.

“Don’t know about Cap but I just feel like (Y/N) is lately more quiet than usual.”

“Yeah but like a couple of weeks ago, they were talking so much and seemed really friendly towards each other. Then just like that-”, he snaps his fingers, “they act like complete strangers.”

Tomas thinks for a few moments before he decides to speak up again.

“Maybe something DID happen between them that causes them to behave like that. I mean look at them, they are acting like they’ve never interacted with one another.”

Atsumu appears and joins their conversation. He rests his sweaty arm on Inunaki’s shoulder as he leans against him.

“What we talkin’ ‘bout?” the sandy-blonde asks and Inunaki grimaces at the gesture but doesn’t shrug him off.

Tomas begins to answer.

“We’ve just been talking about how Meian and (Y/N) have been acting differently toward each other. Almost like there’s a visible tension hanging in the air.”

Atsumu grins at that, not being able to refrain the next words from spilling out.

“Ya think they fucked? Maybe he didn’t give ‘im a good time and he tries ta avoid ‘im cuz of it.” The Setter laughs.

The Libero and Middle Blocker’s faces change into disbelief and disgust and Inunaki shrugs Atsumu off.

“Meian doesn’t strike me as the type to just sleep with someone to get their dick wet. Unlike you of course.” Tomas grins cheekily at Atsumu and he scowls at him.

“Fuck off.” The blonde man spits at him before walking off.

Inunaki shakes his head at their behavior and looks back at you.

You’re looking troubled, almost sad as you collect the towels together from Bokuto and Hinata as they hand you their black towels as well.

The energetic duo seems to notice your expression and their smiles drop immediately as they ask you what is troubling you with concerned faces.

You just shake your head and wave them off, walking away to resume packing up the rest of your stuff to go home.

Hinata and Bokuto share a look of worry but leave you be.

The Wing Spikers walk into the direction of the locker room of the MSBY Jackals followed by the rest of the teammates.

Inunaki and Tomas both agree that they should ask their Captain in the locker rooms about his and your tense body language and silent treatments lately.

Coach Foster has also noticed your change of attitude as well, your usual cheerful expression replaced by a dark cloud of sadness looming over you.

Walking over to you, he tries to indulge in a talk with you.

”(Y/N)? You okay? The guys didn’t say anything mean or inappropriate to you did they?” Foster starts.

Startled by his sudden voice, you turn around to him with a small smile that doesn’t quite reach your eyes.

“Y-Yeah I am fine, having some private trouble sir.”

He purses his lips at your answer and advises you to leave the trouble at home and not bring it to work.

Accepting his advice you apologize for your behavior and you promise him to be in a better mood tomorrow.

~ At the same time in the locker room ~

The team members of MSBY are all freshly showered, getting dressed and ready to go home.

Meian rubs his head dry with a towel and Tomas and Inunaki share a quick glance before nodding to each other.

Tomas clears his throat and Meian whips his head and his direction with an arched eyebrow.

“Yeah? Did you need something?” Meian asks him.

“Uhh…” , he begins.

Tomas turns his head to look at Inunaki and he just sends him a thumbs up with an unsure smile as encouragement.

Meian looks at Inunaki, back to Tomas and begins to get slightly irritated at his teammate’s behavior.

”Well?” Meian starts to get impatient and Tomas is not used to this side of him.

“Inunaki and I were wondering if something happened between you and (Y/N). We just feel like you had such great chemistry with him and it’s like the next day, you’re acting like you don’t know each other.”

Bokuto, Hinata, Atsumu and even Sakusa slow down their movements, quite intrigued by what the raven-haired Middle Blocker has to say.

Meian stops for a second, pondering what to say.

”I don’t know.” He begins.

“You know when I had to stay behind to clean the mess you guys left in the locker room? (Y/N) saw me while I was there. He’s been distant since.” The spiky black-haired Middle Blocker explains.

Questions started flowing through the room immediately, not acknowledging the fact that Meian was pissed about the dirty laundry that they left on the floor for him to clean up.

”Woah, did he see you naked??” Wide golden eyes stare in amazement at Meian.

“Did he confess his undying love to you or something?” Hinata suggests with stars in his eyes.

“Please tell me you didn’t have sex with him in here, I am going to kill you if you did.” Sakusa scrunches his face in disgust and anger.

” Or was it yer size that was disappointin’?” Atsumu teases with a shit-eating grin.

Meian looks at his team and puts on his MSBY sweats, only giving one answer.

”No we didn’t do anything inappropriate, he just saw me in a towel and ran out like the room was on fire.”

Silence, followed by some laughter from Atsumu’s and Bokuto’s side.

“Is that it? Then why do you look so down about it?” Barnes finally joins the group, already dressed and ready to go.

Meian blows air through his nose, looking at Barnes with tired eyes.

“I like him. A lot. Maybe more than I’d care to admit. But now I feel like I ruined my chances with him.”

Atsumu leans against the locker next to Meian’s and starts taunting him.

”Awww he too shy to admit he wants yer dick? Is that why ya been so pissy lately bro?”

Meian doesn’t look at Atsumu and puts on a fresh new shirt from his locker.

Still ignoring his teammates, he puts his bag over his shoulder and leaves the locker room without a word of goodbye, slamming the door on his way out.

Everybody gapes at the Captain’s reaction, if you could even call that a reaction and turn to glare at their Setter.

Atsumu is aware of everyone’s eyes on him and he just says cluelessly with wide eyes “What?” when he glimpses in the round.

Bokuto’s excited deep voice breaks the silence.

”I think they’re SO cute together!” Bokuto puts his hands over his heart and sighs dreamily.

”So do I! Maybe we can convince them to talk together!” Hinata suggests.

“Are you serious? Are you going to play matchmaker?” The curly dark-haired Outside Hitter asks Hinata in a ridiculous tone when he puts on a fresh mask from his bag.

“Omi you should totally participate! Consider this a team building exercise!“ Bokuto beams.

“Yeah Omi-Omi! Join the group of ‘Match made in Heaven’!” Atsumu adds.

“No.” Sakusa says bluntly and leaves the locker rooms without another word.

”I don’t think we should snoop our noses in their mess. They are both adults after all, they need to sort this out themselves.” Barnes swings his bag over his shoulder and bids his teammates goodbye.

Tomas, Atsumu, Bokuto, Inunaki and Hinata are the only ones left now in the changing room.

“Well you can definitely count us in.“ Inunaki smiles at his teammates with a supportive thumbs up and a wide grin, while Tomas just nods his head in agreement with a small smile on his face.

“Awesome! Let operation ‘Jackal Love‘ spring into action!“ The white-haired boasts his fists in the air with a massive grin on his excited face.

“Shōyō, text ‘im ta meet ‘us’ tomorrow at the local bar in town, yannow the one that’s called ‘Cloudhouse’ or something like that? He’ll probably answer ya unlike the rest of us. Besides Bokkun, ya have da best connection with ‘im.” Atsumu puts the word ‘us’ in a quotation with his fingers.

Hinata takes out his phone and starts to write the message to you, while the remaining MSBY members peeking over his shoulder to read what he types down.

~ Back to you ~

You walk your way home in the cold dark to the train station without saying goodbye to the team, listening to ‘On My Own’ by Ashes Remain.

Sitting in the cold train wagon, you hide your face into your thick black hoodie, trying to stay warm.

You feel a vibration in the pocket of your jacket, signaling you got a text. Grabbing the phone out, you unlock it to open the message from Hinata.

> Ninja Shōyō 17:48 <

‘(Y/N)!!! We are all going out to the bar

tomorrow night! We wanted to invite you to come along! 😃’

> You 17:50 <

‘Sorry Shōyō. I am usually pretty tired after work, maybe another time.’

Hinata pouts at your answer, showing the others your reply.

“Be a lil‘ bit more persistent bro!“ Atsumu tells Hinata.

Hinata thinks for a moment, before he starts typing again.

> Ninja Shōyō 17:51 <

‘Awww c’mon! 😭😭 Bo and I will be very sad otherwise! 🥲’

Thinking for a few moments, you actually agree. You haven’t been out in a while and the constant hiding from Meian has been tiring you out.

> You 17:59 <

‘Alright. Okay. What time and where?’

> Ninja Shōyō 18:00 <

‘Let’s say 19:00 @Cloudhouse!!’

> You 18:01 <

‘👍🏻’

When the rest of the MSBY Jackals read your message they all cheer loudly and text their Captain to be there at the same time.

~ The next day ~

It’s 18:15 and Coach Foster decided to let everyone go home early today since it’s Friday. Atsumu took care of the reservation, paying extra so the two of you don’t have to deal with too much of a crowd.

The operation “Jackal Love” starts now. The matchmakers except Meian, you and the non-participant Sakusa, know about their hooking-up-plan.

As everyone gets ready to go home, Hinata and Bokuto have been excited all day long, getting on Sakusa‘s nerves.

Once Meian hits the showers, Sakusa walks over to Hinata with an aggravated scowl.

“Will you stop it?! Your constant twitching and giddiness is getting on my nerves!“

Sakusa‘s foul mood doesn’t scare Hinata in the slightest.

”Ahhh I am sorry I can’t! I am so excited for (Y/N) and Meian’s secret date tonight!” The orange haired Wing Spiker gloats.

Sakusa’s scowl changes into disbelief and he whips his head into Bokuto’s and Atsumu’s direction.

”You’re joking right? You didn’t seriously set those two up for tonight.“ The Outside Hitter hisses at them.

“Why not? It’s ‘bout damn time somethin’ happened between ‘em. I cannot take their sexual tension anymore.“ Atsumu defends.

Sakusa scoffs in disgust and leaves the locker room to go home. Before he exits the room though, Bokuto calls after him.

“Omi! I will keep you updated on the lovebirds!“

Sakusa doesn’t reply and closes the door.

Inunaki waves his teammates over in a hurried manner and the rest gets changed quickly before moving over to their Libero.

“Okay guys, Meian will be out of the showers in a little bit, we only have a few minutes. So here’s the plan again. Meian and (Y/N) will meet each other at the Cloudhouse in about 45 minutes. What are you all going to say or write in the group chat when the clock strikes 19:00?“ Inunaki asks in the round.

“Samu needed help movin’ somethin’.“ Atsumu answers easily.

“The new Call of Duty Game came out and Bokkun and I forgot to pick it up and we only have today to pick it up before they send it back!“ Hinata adds.

“Tomas twisted his ankle in the subway and I need to drive him home.“ Barnes sighs while crossing his arms over his chest.

Inunaki nods happily with every answer, giving his own reply after Barnes‘ answer.

“Great! Now let’s all get out of here!“ The light-haired Libero shoos the rest of the team out, except Meian who just turned the shower off.

Walking into the locker room with a black towel around his waist, Meian notices that it’s deadly quiet.

Not thinking much of it, he changes into a long-sleeved black polo shirt along with a pair of black ripped jeans and black-and-white All Star sneakers.

Spraying some ‘Dark Temptation’ on him, he finishes packing his bag and heads out towards his car.

Noticing that some of the cars of the players are gone, Meian thinks that his teammates are already on their way to the bar.

After 15 minutes, Meian arrives in front of the colorful LED sign that reads ‘CLOUDHOUSE’’ in cursive writing.

What’s weird though is, that no members of the Jackals are in front of the building.

The building’s lights are on and he sees some people walking around and getting inside but he doesn’t see any familiar faces.

While Meian waits in his car, little rain droplets begin to fall on his windshield, the sound gently disturbing the silence.

After about 8 minutes of waiting, the time now being 18: 55, Meian gets out of his car and while he is walking towards the club, he takes his phone out of his pocket and texts his teammates.

‘MSBY Jackals 🐾’

> Me <

Where are you guys? Aren’t we meeting at 19:00 @Cloudhouse?

> Pestilence #1 <

Ahh sorry cap, Bo and I had to pick up the new COD game!

They would have sent it back otherwise and I already paid for it…

We won’t be able to make it sorry!😕

> Pestilence #2 <

What he said 🤩☝🏻

> Pestilence #3 <

Samu needed help movin a new cabinet into his apartment,

sorry it was last minute won’t make it either sorry 🤐

> Sakusa <

I am not coming anyway.

> Me <

Are you serious??😡 Barnes? Tomas? Inunaki?

> Barnes <

Adriah twisted his ankle badly in the subway, taking him home

we won’t make it either

> Inunaki <

Yeah my dog ate something bad I have to take him to the vet sorry

> Me <

Well I am going home then if no one is coming…

> Pestilence #3 <

(Y/N) is comin tho. Just go with him 😁

As Meian is about to turn around and leave, you show up.

Slightly drenched from the sudden rain, you tighten your jacket a little bit more around yourself.

Taking your headphones out of your ears you widen your eyes a bit and give him a tight smile and pack your headphones away into your jeans pocket.

‘’Where is everyone? We are both on time” you question him.

Meian heaves out a deep sigh before he answers you.

“They bailed on us, it’s just you and me. I hope that’s okay” The Captain rubs his neck nervously.

Honestly, you could scream right now. Out of excitement or frustration, you’re not really sure about that.

Somehow you get the feeling that the scheming members of the team have something to do with this.

Nonetheless, you give him a small smile and nod.

Meian returns your smile and opens the door for you to enter first. The doorbell chimes softly with your arrival.

Quietly thanking him for opening the door, you walk in and are greeted by flashing lights and loud music playing.

Meian follows you inside and begins to look for a free spot to sit down with you.

It is a busy night, a lot of people are occupying the tables and the bar, laughing and drinking with family or friends.

The Middle Blocker eventually spots a free corner, telling you to follow him.

As you both sit down, a waitress comes over and lays the drink and food menu down on the table, winking at you while eyeing your body up and down.

Your clear your throat and you sneak a peek at Meian to find an annoyed look on his face but quickly relaxing when she leaves.

It is quiet for a while, neither of you know how to start the conversation or in other words how to address the elephant in the room.

“Meian I -”, “(Y/N) listen -” you both start.

“Go ahead.” He beckons you.

You weren’t exactly sure where to start. Apologizing seems the best way to start the conversation.

“I just want to start by saying how sorry I am to have burst in the locker rooms the other day. I-I thought everyone has already left and I didn’t expect to see you still in there. Naked. B-Barely covered.” Squeaking like a shy little mouse, your voice gets quieter at the end of your sentence.

You can feel your cheeks and your neck heating up like crazy and you don’t have the nerve to look at the Captain's face.

For a few seconds Meian is not saying anything until he chuckles a little bit and leans forward to meet your eyes that are still focused on the table.

“Hey (Y/N), look at me. Please.” He pleads in a soft voice.

You force yourself to look up, straighten your posture and he gives you a warm smile with a look of adoration and… something else you can’t quite place.

His pupils are dilated as he stares at you.

Only a person in deep love would look at another person like Meian is looking at you right now.

“It was just the wrong time at the wrong place. Accidents happen.” He begins.

The waitress comes back and writes down your order, putting her acrylic nails on your shoulder, making you flinch away from her and she takes her leave again.

Leaving you two alone again, Meian continues where he was left off.

He clears his throat and a small blush decorates his cheeks. Looking at his massive hands, he fidgets a little bit before looking at you again.

“I just wanted to apologize as well. I am sorry that I didn’t talk to you after the incident happened. I just felt you’re too uncomfortable around me and I didn’t want to make it worse.”

“You don’t make me uncomfortable at all! I just… I really like you Meian. I thought if I didn’t talk to you anymore my feelings for you would disappear.” Quickly realizing what you just said your eyes feel like they bulge out of your sockets and you place your hands against your face to hide the shame.

“Please ignore what I just said. This was a bad idea.” You try to get up and leave but Meian snatches your wrist before you can disappear.

“No! Wait! Please don’t walk away again! I feel the same way about you (Y/N).” The Middle Blocker confesses.

Did you hear that right? The Captain of a professional Volleyball team likes you too?!

You sit down again but Meian doesn’t let go of your hands, instead he tightens his hold around them.

“I liked you for quite some time now, I was just honestly sure you didn’t like me in the same way. But you have no idea how happy it makes me right now to hear you say that.” He begins to lace your fingers together with his gorgeous smile.

You blush at his comment and as you are about to reply, the waitress comes with your two beers and a nacho plate. Slipping a little note on the table, no doubt with her number on it.

It is now a very nice atmosphere, the two of you talking about your favorite shows, your high school lives and about the team.

“That woman seems pretty into you.” Meian laughs.

You laugh along with him, the alcohol no doubt relaxing you.

“She ain’t my type. And I am here with you. Also, I am not interested in women.” You wink at him with a teasing smile.

After dinner is over, Meian pays for your guys’ drinks and food and opens the door for you to let you out first.

It is still pouring outside and you turn towards each other, getting wet by the rain.

The temperature has cooled down, making your breaths visible to the eye. Yet the cold doesn’t bother either of you. The thought of knowing that you return each others’ feelings makes your heart warm enough.

“So… I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Meian.” You stare into his dark eyes while stuffing your cold hands into your big jacket.

“Call me Shūgo. Do you want me to drive you home? My car is right over there.” He suggests.

“No it’s okay the train station is not far from here.” You assure him.

Meian steps a little bit closer to you and takes your cold hands from your pockets into his warm ones.

“I know this seems kind of forward… but ever since I saw you for the first time, I really wanted to kiss you. Can I?” He whispers, his face coming closer to yours.

You answer him by removing your hands from his and stand on a little bit to wrap your arms around his neck to pull him towards you.

Feeling his soft lips against yours makes your body explode in fireworks. Meian envelopes his arms around your waist and pulls you even closer to him.

The rain makes this kiss even better, it feels more romantic, more intimate.

The two of you continue to kiss, feeling his tongue trying to enter your mouth, you grant him access and the Captain begins to explore your mouth.

Fingers carding through his now very wet hair, he sighs heavily and swallows your moans.

Finally pulling apart from each other what feels like an eternity, you are both panting and smiling at each other like idiots in love. Which you are.

“Do you want to come back to my place?” He grins at you cheekily.

“So bad.” You grin back and follow him to his car.

Le next day

Everyone except Meian is already in the locker room the next morning. Oddly enough no one questions it because they can already guess why the Captain is late.

As soon as the rest enters the gym, they are greeted by the sight of gross PDA between their Captain and their Athletic trainer.

You try to push Meian away with a blush and a smile as you help him with sit ups as he tries to get closer to you.

“Shūgo, stop it! They will be here any second” you scold him in a laughing voice, pushing his face away with your hand.

“No can do handsome, want to feel all of you again like last night and this morning.” You begin to stand up and Meian follows your movement, eyeing you like a predator.

Visible marks decorate his neck and your body is still so sore from last night and this morning, no doubt from Meian rocking your world.

Especially your back, hips and butt hurt, from his harsh grabbing at your hips, to your soreness of your ass, feeling like Meian stretched your insides out multiple times.

Which he did.

No one says anything. The team just stands by the entrance and watches in a mix of happiness, cringe and disgust at the sight.

Sakusa turns to his teammates with a pissed expression, as begins to walk in.

“This is all your fault. I would rather take the silent treatment act over this any day.”

“What have we done?” Inunaki asks with a shuddering voice.

73 notes · View notes

dizzyhslightlyvoided · 1 year

Text

Sage (Pre-Super Genesis Wave)

Agent Stone (Sonic X)

Shadow the Hedgehog (SatAM)

Snively (Sonic Prime)

Snively (Paramount)

Snively (IDW)

Princess Elise (Sonic Underground)

Mephiles the Dark (Sonic Boom)

Infinite (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog)

24 notes · View notes

reckless-lambert · 4 months

Note

Question what do you think of infinite from Sonic forces (don't skip any detail I would like to hear this)

WOAH HELLO!! OK OK OK OK you're in for a ride because I am kinda crazy about this guy.

Right off the bat I wanna say that imo he's not a bad character. Like not in a sense of potential or whatever, I did like him in general.

To try to keep myself on track there will be 3 topics I'll give my opinions on: powers, backstory, character.

POWERS

First of all I don't think that he is a pushover. If we are talking about measuring strength of a character based on their bossfight pretty much all sonic characters up until 06 have bad bossfights that can be finished in seconds so it's not a good measuring point. In terms of lore there are many many many theories to be had, I prefer to look at his encounters from a story standpoint (we don't talk about dying to a flamethrower in 0.5 seconds accident). I think it's safe to assume that Infinite was a capable fighter (hence the title), him being beaten by Shadow doesn't really tell us anything, Shadow is arguably the most powerful character in sonic series so losing to him is to be expected. Infinite was just a very skilled mercenary, what was he supposed to do against teleporting, regenerating, super fast living plasma cannon?!?

Anyways if we are talking about real encounters (after him getting ruby powers) there are many ways to interpret it (other than just saying that it's bad). Here's my understanding of the events. Sonic gets captured at the start of the game because Infinite just overwhelmed him with quality and numbers. After this the whole war happens (no one talks about Infinite conquering 99.9% of the world), Sonic escapes and encounters Infinite in mystic jungle, this time around we can see that Infinite doesn't have illusions of past villains helping him so it's safe to assume that his powers are actually pretty finite (he can't uphold too many illusions all over the world at once, first time he had them helping because he wasn't using them elsewhere), he still beats Sonic and leaves.

Next time we see him in Metropolis, here we see avatar pretty much matching him with his own bullshit (I have a magical rock that neutralises your magical rock) which is fine by me and Infinite still comes out on top thanks to energy blasts and presumed better fighting skills. Escape to null space can be blamed on phantom ruby prototype again. As to why Infinite didn't use it before I assume Eggman and Infinite invented this ability not that long ago.

For the last encounter, Infinite doesn't have to distribute his illusions all over the world so he uses them in battle, but still has a hard time because numbers advantage is no longer on his side + he probably struggles to control so many entities at once so the quality is diminished drastically. He decides that using an all out attack is a better tactic, but yet again kindergarten logic applies so the sun doesn't explode (rock to rock shenanigans). Despite the sun doing nothing I think it drained Infinite's resources drastically + he was using only the backup power. So in the end avatar and Sonic finally beat weakened Infinite only for him to be transported somewhere and never seen again.

In my opinion we can clearly see that Jackal wasn't defeated by power of friendship or avatar or whatever else people tend to say as some sort of parrots. Infinite was defeated only by his own hubris and his own kind of magic. I think he did alright all things considered. He was pretty powerful and I'm fine with the way things played out. The only thing lacking here is good presentation, people just don't take the plot seriously so it all crumbles, but I don't think that it's fair to say that someone is not powerful because you don't take the stakes of the story seriously. Still can't believe that people call a guy with power to create rockets and lasers out of thin air and change gravity at will "all talk". The only reason our characters are alive is thanks to phantom ruby prototypes and Infinite's weird fondness of main cast (if you are complaining about sega not outright killing sonic or other main characters, Infinite is not the one you should blame + I have some ideas as to why he does that described later).

BACKSTORY

Infinite's initial motivation is fiiiine. As we can see in his prequel comic his main desire is to ruin, he even says that "he is tired of this world" at the end of it. So it's safe to assume that our Jackal doesn't like how things are going and wants to overthrow the current world order. As to why he is that way it's up for debate (more about it later). That desire is what drives him towards Eggman.

After unspecified amount of time "episode Shadow" happens. Shadow presumably kills the whole Jackal squad except Infinite whom he deems unworthy of killing and throughoutly insults him instead (super mean! Shadow wtf!). Infinite in attempt to somehow amend his self image after losing everything he had (all thanks to his ambition and Shadow btw), decides to abandon his old self as if it was a different person (sad to look at) and double down on alliance with Eggman because it's all he has left - professor's promise of greatness, something to cling onto. So that's how we get to forces. Some might say that Infinite doesn't really enact revenge on Shadow in any way, but there're still things to consider: 1. He actively avoids his old identity, so you can say that he avoids Shadow and feelings tied to him in the same way (doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't feel them) 2. Eggman could have done some mental gymnastics with the Jackal. It's pretty easy considering that Shadow is a self proclaimed guardian of this world (he made a promise and all of that) + he works for GUN. So what better way to enact revenge than to ruin all the things your enemy stands for? Bonus points for this objective coinciding with his initial motivation.

Those options are something I thought of, I think they create a rather straight forward narrative + nobody said that those are the only ones.

Anyways I hate how people yet again somehow diled his story down to "Shadow beat him called him ugly and now hes bad". As if killing his whole squad is nothing, like Infinite's character can be interpreted in many ways, but even if you think that he is a cold hearted killing machine - how can he live as a captain and a sole survivor of the squad, it's the end of his mercenary life if captain is the only one standing that means he fucked up real bad it's the ultimate failure, there's no recovering your career after that.

CHARACTER

I saved this one for last because It's almost purely my headcanons and subjective opinions. Anyways as I mentioned above Infinite is not fond of current civilization for some reason. My take is that:

1. He hates united federation for some reason. I think it would be funny if jackal squad were some sort of child soldiers GUN experimented on. Desert is already torn apart by bandits Eggman and feds fighting all over the place, no one will notice random street orphans missing (a lil metal gear revengeance brainrot for ya). But they deserted and became a more evil versions of desert raiders from Archie becoming a nuisance for every party involved: collecting bounties, raiding Eggman's bases and GUN convoys - earning reputation and fame. But jackals' hate for their previous captors is not forgotten and it's also mutual as UF probably wants them dead as soon as possible because they are a living proof of their dark deeds.

2. I think Infinite has problems coping with all the things he was deprived of. His first instinct is hate "how dare they live normal happy lives while I'm fighting for my life every day!" And because all he knows is conflict he thinks that living by jungle rules is the only right way and everyone else is living a lie (that's how I interpret his lyrics). So his desire to ruin the civilisation stems from his idea that jungle rules shall return, and UF citizens should suffer the same way he does. (Spreading misery is fun amiright)

Also I don't think that jackal squad was a family or a friend group, more like a congregation of equaly fucked up individuals who kinda trust each other with tasks, as soon as they deem you a burden they will abandon you. Also imagine the pressure captain of such group would endure. Infinite is not ok. He is partially driven by pride, but also by peer pressure of his fellow child soldiers, being cruel = being strong. As a leader he must be the strongest. That's why his sadism might not be inherent to his character. Also I do think that he was bullied in his unregulated child environment, heterochromia and girly tendencies make him a prime target (CMON PEOPLE dude has the longest hair in the whole franchise and presumably lived in highly militarized environment, there will be problems). I guess he just powered through (it's hard to bully you when you are the strongest).

Anyways coming back to episode Shadow I think Infinite was so scared of not being in control, being pretty much bullied by some stranger. So he did what he always does - search for more power.

Interesting side note here is that Infinite doesn't really have ambition, he doesn't create himself a castle or even a throne (and he is someone with power to create things from thin air, for example it took Zetis 1-2 days to throw together those in idw, he doesn't do it despite having the whole year). He just wants power to not be pushed around and push around others (I IMPLORE you to understand, he is not a nice person, but it doesn't mean that people should just give up on him, my boy needs help).

Also I think episode Shadow warped his brain really hard, like he tries so hard to re-enact his own trauma onto others many many times despite clearly seeing it not working except the first time with avatar. Like we can clearly see that it's all he thinks about, how not deeming someone worthy of killing is the most painful thing he can inflict on them, far more painful than just outright killing the guy. This hinders his critical thinking really hard and it's sad to look at.

Anyways that's pretty much all of my thoughts on this guy (says the guy who thinks about him every day for past 1.5 years, I can mumble on and on, but it will never end if I do), hope you enjoyed!

#a very long #mumbling #I love #infinite the jackal #and #sonic forces #asks #also sorry english is not my native language so long rants are a bit hard for me #there might be a lot of mistakes #I hope it's readable #lore?

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