Aaand this is my headcanon/fanfiction on the swimming anime I wrote some days ago but couldn't figure out where the hell could I post it except on tumblr, so I'm copypasting everything because YESS LAZINESS
Throwing in every kind of existent stereotype, I thoughy I had mostly kept the characters in line with the general fandom opinion. Then the other day I went on tumblr and saw the characters had developed A LOT since swimming anime day, so, oops. Different. I am sorry to have come late to the party. Warnings:
1. Senpai is Kiyoshi Teppei;
2. Pimp gets owned a lot;
3. Tsundere gets owned quite a lot, too;
4. Tsundere seems a lot more like a Kuudere to me, but since I can't write the PoV of a Kuudere character for the life of me and Tsundere is already difficult, I mostly went for Tsundere. But. I don't know. Conflicting feelings all over, I wanted to make him a lot cooler. But. Oh well;
5. Shota… aaahh, Shota… Guys I really can't friggin' stand classical shotas LOL so it ended up this way. I don't wanna even talk about it. And this brings to point 6 -
6. Shota never gets owned by anyone in this early story-arc;
7. Everyone wants to touch Tsundere.
8. There are hints of Teikou swimming club actually existing in this fic and Tsundere&co are so wrong about their chances to win the nationals because PLS TSUNDERE-KUN, HAVE YOU LOOKED AT SWIMMING!AOMINE AND KISE, JUST GO HOME EVERYONE.
(ankd thanks to MyCurrentObsession who gave it the necessary read before I posted it. Thank you so much!)
Also, I didn't have the mental strength to come up with names. So, HELLO TSUNDERE-KUN AND GAY FRIENDS.
For first year's Tsundere, Shota and Pimp and second year's Senpai,
this is how it all started.
He emerged from the water in a spurt of glistening droplets as his hands automatically took hold of the edge of the pool to push himself out of it. He then briskly stood up on his bare feet, bringing his goggles down to his neck to lightly massage the red circles they had probably left on his skin. Once the discomfort subsided, easily dulled by his working fingers, he took a deep, restoring breath and started walking back to the starting platform.
In his defense, he really tried to ignore it at first; but when at every step he took the noisy cries in the background became intense enough to rise over the sacred sounds of splashing water and light pit-patting of feet on the wet floor, he snapped.
"Do you really have to do that?" Tsundere asked, not bothering to hide the already deep-rooted displeasure he felt towards his club mate's unwavering antics.
Pimp halted his supposedly sensuous stretching of limbs and affected tosses of soaking purple bangs to direct a nonplussed face towards him. Outside the pool, about twenty meters from them, the few schoolgirls squashed against the high netting encircling the building raised a loud, surprisingly harmonious lament for the lost attention.
"What?" Pimp asked innocently, perplexity showing in his thin arched-up eyebrows – as if he hadn't just been trying to seduce every present girl by making a show out of his half-naked body. "Didn't we all sign up for this?"
As some other teammates passing by laughed, patting Pimp's back and high-fiving him, showing too much appreciation for his dumb words and giving an unnecessary boost to his annoying behavior, Tsundere went back to massaging the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger, half trying to diminish the faint pain from the goggles' restraint, half trying to discourage the oncoming fit of irritation he felt growing inside his head.
"Speak for yourself," he murmured, groaning inwardly and attempting to recall the feeling of earlier days when he had been thoroughly excited by the idea of continuing the swimming training he had been participating in since fifth grade. When Tsundere had gone to the club manager three weeks before – only a day after the start of his first high school year – turned in his swimming club registration form and asked if there were good swimmers on the team, he had only thought positively of the manager's amused laugh and eerie reply: 'Impatient, are we? Well, you'll see for yourself'. He had felt a thrill running down his spine as he fantasized about the whole new level of challenges that the high school swimming circuit would surely bring him. And instead, he got this.
Pimp was the classical guy Tsundere couldn't stand. With his narcissistic behavior and the inborn inability to put some serious effort into something that wasn't writing down lists of lame pick-up lines for girls, Pimp grated on his nerves with appalling ease. Also, Tsundere didn't like how mother nature thought it was cool to give tall, muscular bodies with so much potential to people who clearly didn't know what to do with them. It didn't help that they were in the same class.
"Are you okay, TsunTsun?" a familiar voice inquired, and he opened his eyes again to see the far too close face of Shota looking up at him with his wide hazel eyes.
On reflex, he drew back a few centimeters in the most natural-looking way he could manage as he took in the boy's sincere concern. Shota, he thought, as he scratched his nose again with renewed vigor, was actually one of the few guys in the swimming team that were sufficiently alright. Despite his slim and thin appearance, the boy could swim, better than Tsundere would have ever thought when he first saw him, smiling innocently and skidding around in the lockers with that perpetual innocuous look of his. The way Shota moved in the pool when he swam breaststroke, his limbs so willowy and supple, made him look like a peculiar little water creature come out of his abyss to join the surface world. He was a pleasure to look at when he swam – even if Tsundere would never admit it out loud – enough to make Tsundere vaguely wistful thinking of the missed chances of a possible friendship between them. Because aside for the respect that he felt for him in that range, Tsundere still didn't know if it was Shota's usual unsettling candor or his clashing, random bluntness and highly offhand remarks which he had to beware of more. What's sure was that Shota was a dangerous acquaintance. But then again, it probably would have been worse if Shota actually had directed his biting remarks at him sometimes – which he surprisingly did not. Ever.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he awkwardly sighed and coughed at the same time. "It's just these goggles. I left mine at home and had to take the school's stock instead. And don't call me that, for god's sake."
He regretted his words the moment they left his mouth, because Shota's expression instantly saddened and Tsundere hated it when Shota pulled off that trick with him. Mostly because he still hadn't figured out how to defy it.
"Why? Don't you like it?" Shota demanded, lips curling up in what Tsundere suspected to be a long-practiced, faint pout right under his eyes, and he hated Shota a tad bit more.
"Um, I…" Tsundere started, wanting to spit out a big 'yes' and get it over with but not really finding the courage to do it to Shota's face. A dangerous one, indeed. So he groaned again in frustration and with a dejected voice went for, "Whatever. Call me whatever you want."
He pointedly didn't look at Shota's face brightening in satisfaction at his words and for once, Tsundere was grateful for Pimp's perturbing existence as the purple haired guy came up from behind him and unwittingly offered an escape route for his building irritation.
"Hey, how soon is practice ending?" he asked them cheerfully, distractedly spinning the goggles around his index finger.
Tsundere glared at him, hoping it would be enough to make him feel a pang of guilt. "Do you even like swimming?"
But Pimp just waved a hand in front of his face, brushing the hope of any serious answer to that aside. "Yeah, of course, I love water," he replied, sending him an irritating indulgent grin, as if he was explaining something difficult to a little kid. "I take baths all the time!"
"What does that even mean?!" Tsundere growled in exasperation, and he at least found some sense of reassurance in Shota's mildly rueful look.
"Anyway, shrimp, be less of a quibbler, okay," Pimp said cockily, and he had the gall to slap a swift, unexpected hand against Tsundere's butt. "It must be uncomfortable to walk with a stick that big up your ass."
It's just thanks to the chorus of girly screeches reaching inappropriate levels of intensity –consequently making Pimp take a step away and turn around on reflex like the attention whore he was – in conjunction with Shota's hand pulling at Tsundere's wrist and making him stumble back a bit that Pimp didn't instantly get a fist to his stomach.
"Don't touch him," Shota not-so-whispered to him, gesturing at Pimp's back with a nod of his head as he kept his fingers firmly latched onto his wrist. "I have a feeling his stupidity is contagious."
Meanwhile, Pimp kept sending confused glances at his feminine audience as the latter giggled and blatantly pointed at them. He turned back to his teammates, looking for some sort of explanation, and apparently not finding any in their faces, looked straight into Tsundere's angry eyes and squinted at him, making a face Tsundere had never seen on him – probably his 'thoughtful face', and that would have explained why he had never seen it – until a second later Pimp's lips curved into a perfect, silent 'o'.
And indeed, Pimp breathed out, "Oh." A moment later, due to some kind of deep comprehension evidently dawning on him, he offered Tsundere a horrified look. "Oh."
"What," Tsundere grunted, effectively keeping the irritation in check with his arms voluntarily rigid at his sides.
But Pimp didn't answer him; he just spun around vehemently and started flailing his arms in the air, making weird gestures at the girls on the other side of the netting.
"I'm not gay!" he hissed at them in a low-voice and Tsundere died a little inside – but at least the idiot was not screaming his head off as he tried to make himself clear by articulating his whines as best as he could with only his lips. "I like boobs!" Pimp added after a while, mimicking without any shame obvious shapes with his palms over his chest. The girls just giggled at him some more.
"I think that pretending you're gay is the only way to conquer those girls," Shota informed him, his face lax except for the barest hint of a gentle smile, "because clearly they're not going to fall for your shitty swimming skills."
For a moment, Tsundere and Pimp stayed still, the latter petrified with shock at Shota's comment. And that was exactly one of the things Tsundere didn't get about him, how he could say such unmerciful stuff without batting an eye and still manage to look so angelic – he remembered one time, during the first week of school, when he had casually crossed paths with Shota in the school's hallways without the latter noticing, and had stepped in on a sad scene of an arrogant senior student pestering a little girl with long bangs and quivering hands. No one had been bothering to help her, just walking straight ahead and exchanging awkward glances; so Tsundere had sniffed and taken one step forward when suddenly Shota had appeared in the way, advancing rapidly with his weird swaying walk that made him look like he was floating in water even on solid earth, and had stepped between the girl and the guy. He had taken her hand in his and, just before pulling her away, said with the utmost tranquility and some innocent blinking, 'You're a giant fucking asshole'. That had managed to leave the senior guy with his jaw brushing the floor, as Shota swayed away smiling at the girl with the most heartwarming smile gracing his features, and in too much shock to think about going after him and punching his guts out – which the guy probably couldn't have easily managed anyway, knowing Shota.
"They aren't shitty!" Pimp shrieked when he came back from his shock-induced trance, exaggerating his indignation by pointing an accusing finger at Shota's face. "Coach says my backstroke is great and I only started last year in middle school! Moreover, I didn't grow up in the water like you did, you stupid fish!"
The way Shota ignored Pimp then and turned his head to him smiling his soft, childish smile was almost remarkable, Tsundere found, observing him and trying not to be too weirded out by the bipolarity his teammate showed with such carelessness.
"Let's go swimming in adjacent lanes, TsunTsun," Shota chanted, a bit too delighted by the prospect, as he kept on pulling at his wrist like a persistent child.
"Oi, don't ignore me!" Pimp exclaimed in an amusing display of frustration as he lunged forward to catch him. But, Tsundere mused, Shota was surprisingly good at fending off these kind of daily physical attacks, judging by the way he instantly let go of Tsundere's wrist in order to spin around graciously with a nice footwork – as if the pool's floor wasn't a declared death trap – avoiding Pimp's stretched claws aiming for a painful smothering with his mellow movements. Tsundere watched them go at it in silence for an embarrassing amount of time, vaguely hoping that this time around one of them would slip to the ground and faint, and wondering what would happen the day Shota couldn't manage to escape a victim of his snide remarks.
He almost jumped in fright when a sudden, large hand sprawled on his shoulder and a warm weight pressed down onto it, the pleasant smell of chlorine hitting his nose in waves.
"Ahh, those two are at it again?" Senpai chuckled in his deep, warm voice as he looked at them in amusement.
Tsundere sighed, nodding his head lightly and wondering why Senpai looked at them with such light-heartedness and didn't just go and stop them, making good use of his stupid senior's rights everyone in high school but Senpai seemed to take very much at heart.
But Senpai seemed different from the others in his trademark easygoing attitude that made him loved by basically everyone in the school – with the unsurprising exception of bad losers – without him even trying. He didn't pull the 'older student' bullshit like others did all the time. Furthermore, Senpai was considered the best swimmer in the team. He had instantly caught Tsundere's eyes the first day of club with his shaped muscles and tall, strong body – although he had looked like a total airhead with his random laughter and friendly patting of shoulders all around; an impression that, to Tsundere's dismay, had been confirmed by getting to know him. Senpai looked like he didn't really know where he was most of the time, but that all disappeared when he got into the water – he looked so sure, so confident and concentrated as he swam his perfect freestyle or butterfly, that Tsundere had smirked in satisfaction, feeling a little bubble of respect sparkle inside him, the prospect of a very enjoyable challenge finally showing before him in all its glory.
Still, Senpai liked to get too touchy-feely as everyone in that stupid club seemed to be, which made him lose a lot of points in Tsundere's eyes, who worshipped personal space like a second religion.
"Why does everyone feel the need to touch me," Tsundere groaned tiredly, and he was on the verge of shaking off the hand when Senpai laughed again and, instead, gripped his shoulder tighter and gave it a light, friendly squeeze. Then, neither of them made a move to edge away and Tsundere didn't ask himself why.
"Ah, I have an answer to that," Shota said as he suddenly halted before them, not showing any trace of strain in his breathing even after all that bouncing around. Tsundere glanced at him and it took him less than a second to identify the subtle glint in his hazel eyes, the innocent, lax face above any suspicion marred by the barest quirk of a corner of his lips that told him clearly that he was not going to like the answer.
"And I don't want to hear it," Tsundere said as fast as he could, causing the umpteenth goofy laugh to vibrate in Senpai's chest and Shota to open his mouth to retort – only to be cut short by Pimp fiercely taking the chance to seize him in a headlock and rub his knuckles on the other's sandy-haired head.
"Gotcha, you little fucker," Pimp chuckled, smug as hell as he listened to the string of annoyed moans erupting from the other.
"Ah, let me go," Shota whined half-heartedly as he tried to pull his head out of the other's grasp and failed.
Pimp ignored his pleas in favor of shaking him around a bit. "You still think I am no good in the water?"
"But it's true that you suck!" Shota complained – quite unwisely, Tsundere would have said as he watched them disinterestedly. Sure enough, that earned Shota another painful rub of knuckles against his scalp.
"Aaah, talking about water, have you heard of Teikou's new first year's signups?" Senpai butted in, swiftly catching even Pimp's attention, who distractedly let Shota go. The latter didn't waste time and quickly disentangled himself from the other. His speed at that made Tsundere recall his previous words about contagious stupidity.
"No," Tsundere answered for all of them. "What about them? Are they good?"
Senpai chuckled nervously at that, scratching his collarbone as he looked at no one in particular. "It seems that they're more than that," he explained. "And I can imagine that. To make people talk about you even before the competition season starts, well, you have to be one hell of a swimmer. I've heard that they've already been breaking the first year's school records."
Tsundere thought about what that meant and shivered in repressed delight at the idea.
"Also, I don't know if it's true but I heard they're all like, almost two meters tall," Senpai laughed again, before adding in his humble ways, "Aaah, I really hope I can make it to the regionals at least."
Shota perked up at that, and gazed at Senpai with embarrassingly sheer admiration washing over his face. "Senpai-san, you're the best at our school," he replied with a kind voice, "of course you're gonna make it."
Senpai brightened up like a light bulb, finally detaching his hand from Tsundere's shoulder and ruffling Shota's wet mop of hair affectionately with it. As he did that, Shota looked like the happiest child in the world.
"Coming from you, it makes me so confident!" Senpai said, far too happy. "You're gonna make it too, little fish."
Between the two of them smiling at each other in that angelic, sickening way, Tsundere suddenly felt the need to shrink away from them, perturbed by the aura of goofiness and candor they were releasing through their every pore. He didn't feel any better about it when he noticed Pimp making weird faces at them, looking like he really wanted to pop the angelic bubble they had closed in but not daring to do so.
"And of course you're gonna make it too, Tsundere," Senpai exclaimed, finally popping the bubble himself – or maybe just trying to include him in it, Tsundere realized dreadfully. "I've never seen such a good butterfly style in this school!" Tsundere almost wobbled on his legs under the encouraging slap on his shoulder and he scratched his nose to hide his face.
"That's for sure!" Shota piled it on carelessly. "You're amazing, Tsundere-kun, you're like a dolphin! We're all gonna make it to the nationals!"
It would have been a nice bonding moment, Tsundere vaguely thought, if everything about the two of them wasn't so fucking embarrassing. So he just stayed a bit away from them and coughed in nonchalant approval. "Yeah, I guess," he conceded, scratching his itchy nose some more.
"Yeah!" Pimp exclaimed, punching the air in delight, probably feeling pumped up by the collective boosting – clearly overlooking the fact that no one had talked about him. Wittingly or not, Tsundere didn't know. "To the nationals!"
Shota smiled again then, a small, encouraging smile as he said, "Of course the only one who should worry is Pimp-kun."
"Stop that, squirt!" Pimp predictably flared up and he raised his arms, threatening to catch Shota's neck again.
Senpai took that moment of confusion between the two weirdos to casually bump his taller shoulder against Tsundere's, and Tsundere looked up at him with questioning eyes.
"It's gonna be so much fun when the first competition comes," Senpai told him dreamily, probably already imagining the largest pools, before his eyes, the biggest reflectors illuminating the limpid water and the audience waving from the bleachers, like one would have expected from a swimming idiot like him.
But Tsundere couldn't really say anything to that – from what his parents usually told him, he's kind of a swimming idiot himself – so he thought of that goofy guy beside him, thought of how he would eventually become one of his most formidable rivals to beat – he already knew for sure – and thought of the thrill to touch the edge of the lane at the end of the race. And it was with the resolution to become the best high school swimmer running deep in his veins that he looked right in Senpai's eyes and sincerely agreed. "I think so, too."
He suspected Senpai caught some of his determination, because his eyes widened a bit in mild surprise before he gave him the most engaging grin on earth.
"I am so jealous! See that hungry look TsunTsun's giving him?" Shota said suddenly, sounding disturbingly dejected as he nudged Pimp in the side. Considering it later, Tsundere realized he had probably said that to distract Pimp's very avertable attention from the threat of a renewed headlock, but at the moment Tsundere couldn't help but snap his head towards him and splutter, thoroughly fed up for the day by the club's craziness.
"Ah?" Senpai just said with a confused half-smile, falling off his cloud. So much for his help, Tsundere thought, stricken.
"I was not—" Tsundere inefficiently tried on his part as he scowled at the both of them, but Pimp cut him off with the same indulgent expression of minutes before.
"Not judging you, man," Pimp raised his hands in a peace offering. "More ladies for me, right?"
This time, Tsundere was ready to smash Pimp's face against the floor tiles. So the loud whistle coming from the coach just as Tsundere's hands were going for Pimp's throat was definitely a lifesaver.
"You four, are you throwing a party there? Get back in the water now! Go to the platforms and enjoy some racing. I want to see the water parting for you like the Red Sea!"
Tsundere sighed heavily as he let his clenched hand fall back to his side. He even managed not to react to Pimp's hard slap on his arm as the latter strode away with an amused smile, making his goggles spin around his index finger and not forgetting to send Shota a challenging glare. Shota chuckled silently at Tsundere, sharing with him his amusement at Pimp's antics, before shrugging his shoulders and walking away. Senpai patted his shoulder again, and gave him a thumbs up as he climbed onto his starting platform.
Tsundere made his way to his own, and put his goggles back on his face before bending down into position. When he was ready, he granted himself one last moment to look over at his sides.
On the first starting platform, partially hidden by Shota's bent form, Pimp looked like he didn't really know how to position himself, just knowing that the general idea was to plunge into the water and swim with unrestrained force.
Before Pimp, Shota was the calmest person on earth, his legs bending perfectly in the most natural position. But when he looked sideways towards Tsundere and directed a lazy smile at him, Tsundere didn't let it fool him, noticing his eyes sharpen with determination.
On his other side, Senpai didn't take his eyes off what was before him. He still grinned goofily, stretched on the platform with all his muscles taut with anticipation, waiting for the starting whistle, a focus in his eyes that made Tsundere divert his gaze and fall into the right set of mind.
He was going to win this.
"Ready?" the coach asked. "Three, two, one… go!"
IS IT CLEAR WHICH MY FAVOURITE SHIP IS? IS IT? I SWEAR I DIDN'T KNOW I SHIPPED PIMPSHOTA UNTIL I WROTE THIS BUT yeah, I kind of led myself to prefer Shota out of them all. …I always end up liking the cute ones.
Anyway, despite my obvious tendencies, this is my starting platform for every kind of ship. They aren't still very good friends and such: basically, anything can happen from here. On tumblr I posted my full explanation of how I'd reeeally like the couples to be (but ever won't because I have to get over the fact that this anime doesn't exist.)