#the boys are all dorks with zero communication skills

[tonystarkissist]

IronDad Bingo Fic #5

Trope: Jealousy

This was requested by an anon. Thank you for the request love!! XOXO

And... also. This was mostly written in a sleep-muddled haze, slightly highlighted by a sudden intense motivation to remove all forms of stress from my life in an attempt to finally get a restful sleep... which meant finishing this one... long... piece of craziness which to me makes kinda no sense right now. So, yeah. I hope it doesn’t suck to bad lol. If it does... oh well. I’ll embrace it.

“Hey, Pete. You know about Harley, right?” Tony spun around fancily in his chair to fix the teen in question with a contemplative raise of his brows. Peter turned away from his project momentarily to cast a glance at his mentor in response.

“Uh, that kid from Tennessee you’ve been collaborating with for, like, the past month?”

Peter hated that kid…

“That’s the one,” Tony grinned brightly. He spun in his chair again, turning back to the work he had abandoned. “He’s wanting to come down for a couple weeks to help me out on a new suit. He’s had a few promising ideas. I want you to meet him.”

Peter blinked dumbly at the admittance from the man. Mr. Stark wanted him to meet his sworn enemy? Of course, Mr. Stark didn’t know about his silent, one-sided rivalry he held with the boy he’d never even met, but… still! He’d been fighting desperately for even the tiniest amount of Tony’s attention while he’d been rather preoccupied talking to this Harley kid about their project. Who knows how far he’d have to go if the other teen actually came for a visit? Gosh, Peter could see it now… 

“Yeah, sure. When’s he coming?” Peter shrugged, hoping Mr. Stark wouldn’t catch on to the mild irritation lacing his tone.

“He’s coming next week. I thought-”

“Spring break week?!” Peter cried out, spinning in his chair to settle his mentor with a wide-eyed glare to match his flabbergasted outburst. 

“Well… yeah. I thought it’d be perfect for you two-”

“But that was the week I was staying here with you and we were going to do cool stuff together!” 

Gosh! He sounded like such a whiny baby.

Peter didn’t even know how the situation was able to make itself worse, but it had. He couldn’t believe that this prick had the audacity to waltz back into Tony’s life after who knew how many years and demand attention from him. It almost took a whole year for Mr. Stark to stop addressing him as if he were an immature, irresponsible child and invite him over to see his lab. A whole year! From the stories Peter has heard about this ‘Harley’ kid, they had barely even known each other a couple days back then! 

Gosh! And now his obnoxious rival was eating up all the attention like candy… and Tony notoriously had a limited attention span when it came to things without mechanical parts or red hair accompanied by clickity-clackity heels.

“Now Pete,” Tony lamented, summoning his practiced ‘Dad voice’. “I think this will be good for you. I’m sure you two will be good friends. And we can still do things with Harley here; he’s really smart too, you know.”

And, yes, Peter did, in fact, know that Harley was a genius too. How could he not? Tony practically told him and anyone that would listen every day. He can still remember when he was the one being bragged about by Tony Stark. Which *ahem* was before ‘Harley’ came prancing back into the genius’ life from a legit midst of nothingness.

“But c’mon,” Peter whined, “that’s like the only week I have off before school ends. And then I have to go on that summer trip… we were supposed to hang out…”

“I know Pete,” Tony sighed, almost sounding guilty, but not quite, “I know you were looking forward to it just being the two of us. Sometimes we all have to make sacrifices though kiddo. I thought that this would be a fun bonding experience for all of us. Harley’s a lot of fun.”

Peter sulked and slowly turned back to his own project while Tony continued trying to reason with him dejectedly.

“You need to get used to him eventually. He’s graduated high school and I plan on giving him a high-profile intern job with R&D. So, he’ll be around a lot.”

Intern? Intern?! Peter couldn’t believe it. He thought that reckless, brunette, genius, teen boys were just a dime in a dozen, but he supposed if anyone were to attract them it’d be Tony Stark. It was stupid of him to think that he was anything special to begin with…

***

“What’s got you all riled up this time ‘round Spider-baby?” Rhodey asked, plopping down next to him on the couch as he scribbled out numbers angrily onto his Calc homework. Tony had been too busy talking to Harley to help him out like he usually did. 

“Nothing,” he muttered, releasing a growl as he realized he’d done the whole equation wrong and immediately began running the eraser violently across the page. The thin sheet ripped dramatically, and it only fueled his anger. He seethed and struggled to not lash out as he started crumbling the paper into a tight ball.

“Ah, yes,” Rhodey chuckled slightly, “I forgot it was opposite day today.”

He probably thought he was sooo funny.

“It’s not. Everything’s fine.” Peter insisted, pulling out another loose sheet of paper from his binder.

“I can see that,” Rhodey mused as he watched Peter scribble the equation across the top line of the paper again.

They sat there in companionable silence as Peter tried and failed at solving the problem once again. Some genius he was. No wonder Mr. Stark preferred Harley.

“Where’s Tony?” Rhodey finally pipes up when he watches Peter fail another attempt, “Doesn’t he usually help you out with this stuff?”

“Yeah,” Peter huffed, sounding dejected. His scribbling paused and he stared down at the paper. “He’s busy though. Harley’s coming to visit and they’re sorting it all out.”

“I see,” Rhodey admits, nodding his head. “Well, I’m no genius like Tony, but I know my way around numbers. I didn’t go to MIT for nothing kid. Let me take a crack at it.”

Peter’s eyes light up momentarily at the offer of some much-needed help and he eagerly handed the paper over.

“We just started doing differentials, and my teacher didn’t tell us how to do all the weird e’s and natural logs.”

“Oh, that’s easy. Lookie here kiddie…”

***

Peter savored the last few moments he had with his mentor before Harley arrived. They were both waiting at the airport for him, because apparently Harley’s mother was extremely insistent that Tony didn’t just hand off the responsibility to one of his lackeys. Apparently, neither Harley nor his family had ever been outside of Tennessee, so both were somewhat nervous with the spontaneous vacation.

“I’m totally dreading having to do those assignments Mr. Stark,” Peter spieled, hoping to get in as much as he could before the genius’ attention was inevitably averted to the new teen intern arriving in the next few minutes. “It’s like I don’t already do enough homework during the school year. They just have to hand out packets of work that we haven't even covered yet.”

“I can see how that would be a problem,” Tony chuckled, “Maybe I can hel- Look there he is!” Tony points at a mass of bodies coming through the gate exits. Peter immediately spots a tall, lanky teen boy, and he gulps at the striking similarities between them. No wonder Tony liked Peter so much… he probably reminded the man of Harley. Tony and Harley go farther back than he and Peter did… no wonder.

“Hey kid,” Tony smiled, looking excited as the older boy hurried up to the waiting pair. 

“Hey old man. How’s it hanging? Long time no see.” Harley laughed and didn’t even hesitate to throw his arms around the man’s neck in a friendly hug, and to Peter’s utter and complete surprise… Tony hugged him too, with a friendly - not at all awkward - pat on the back to go with it!

“Stop calling me old you brat,” he teased, clapping him on the back and pulling away from the hug to get a fresh look at him. “Look at you kid. I remember when you were just an annoying little toddler of a child.”

“Yeah, well, what did you expect after 7 years?”

7 years?? He was practically the same age as Peter! And he was done with high school? Oh goodness, how was he supposed to top that?

“Whatever,” Tony muttered lightheartedly. “Let’s go get your bags. Oh!” He turned to look at Peter as if just remembering he was there, “and this is Peter. He’s a science nerd too.”

“Replaced me already Stark?” Harley feigned hurt.

“Sure did,” Tony quipped back.

Peter’s heart hurt at that; it stuttered obnoxiously against his chest. He knew it was just a joke. He knew. That didn’t make the blow any softer though.

It only seemed to get worse from there... 

Instead of throwing his arm around Peter’s shoulders like he would usually do, Tony threw them around Harley’s instead, chatting animatedly to the young teen as they navigated their way through the throngs of people. At least Peter got a firm hand on the back of his neck to guide him so he didn’t get lost as if he were a small child. That was at least something, right?

Then, when they got to the car, Harley had immediately shouted shotgun, because he was a jerk like that. Tossing Peter a teasing look as he hopped into the front seat of the Audi. Tony just laughed as he stuffed luggage into the trunk and Peter sulked and grumbled under his breath as he climbed into the backseat, ready to endure through the excited chattering that was sure to emit from the front of the car.

When they got back to the Compound, Peter felt for a moment that things would get better, because Mr. Stark through an arm over his shoulders instead of Harley’s as they walked in… but things didn't get better. Tony told him to show Harley to the room he’d be staying in… which, conveniently, just so happened to be Peter’s room. The other guest rooms were full because the Rogues had come back along with a few added guests, and Mr. Stark for some reason thought it would be a good ‘bonding opportunity’ for them… yeah right. So, yeah, Peter would be sharing a room with his undeclared arch nemesis too. How great was that?!

Then, maybe an hour later when they headed down to Mr. Stark’s workshop, Tony and Harley were quick to get to work on their joint project while Peter went off to work with his lonesome self at his desk. It was just as Peter expected. They offered to involve Peter in the project of course, but… it just felt wrong somehow. 

And he longer he was down in the lab with nothing but his web shooters to distract his overeager mind, the longer he contemplated the angered feelings that had been accumulating in his gut since it’d been declared that Harley would be coming for an impromptu visit. The more he thought, the more the guilt began to replace the anger. And the more guilt he felt, the more he realized how much of a clingy, selfish child he’d been acting.

Mr. Stark wasn’t his Dad. Mr. Stark didn’t have to give him his sole attention at every hour of every day. Heck, the man didn’t have to give him any attention at all, but he did. So, therefore, Peter should be grateful for what he received and not what he had to share with others, and even what could possibly be taken from him entirely. It was never his to begin with… so he had no right to get upset.

Thoughts like this continued to plague his mind, and he became a bit… panicky. 

Harley had every right to come visit.... Apparently, according to the conversations he could overhear, Tony and Harley had kept in good contact through the years. Harley didn’t have a father either. The teen had every right to imprint on Tony just like Peter had done, because the man was great. He was caring and funny, and just a bit overbearing... the perfect father in Peter's mind. He shouldn’t get jealous and declare a silent war against someone when they were simply seeking for the same comfort and validation that had been and was still seeking. It wasn’t right. It was selfish.

Peter got to see Mr. Stark almost twice a week! Harley didn’t get any of that. He got a few phone calls and facetimes, but that was it!

Why was he such a selfish, ungrateful brat? Aunt May hadn’t raised an ungrateful brat.

Peter dropped his head in his hands and sighed, trying to find at least some way to validate his feelings so he wouldn’t have to feel so guilty. He couldn’t find anything.

See… Peter wouldn’t be feeling any of this if Harley just… if he hadn’t come at all. Still, that didn’t help to quench the deep-seated guilt pooling in his stomach. He didn’t know why something that made Mr. Stark smile was making him so mad. Wait! He did know! He was selfish! Oh yeah, how could he possibly forget?

***

So, in an attempt to compensate for the unreasonable hatred he had developed towards the teen, he made extra effort to not hate him… if that made any sense. 

It seemed to work too.

Since they shared a room it was fairly easy to get to know him, because apparently Harley enjoyed having nearly an hour conversation in the dark before falling asleep at night. Peter learned a lot about him during the first night, and it turned out to be pretty easy to like him. His personality was cool and amusing; a lot like Mr. Stark’s. 

Peter made an extra effort to be nice and happy the next day too. Things went about the same way, except towards the end of the night, they watched a quick movie before bed.

Then, on the second night, things got a little deeper… Harley asked about Peter’s parents and how he came to know Tony, and, well… Peter told him. Which led to Peter asking Harley a similar question, due to the specifics social edicate. Peter empathized with him instantly, especially when the teen shyly admitted his embarrassing dependence he’d acquired towards the genius after only a month of near constant contact, and how grateful he was for the time he was able to spend with him. That wasn’t something to ease the guilt in Peter’s stomach at all, but it definitely gave Peter a more mature view on the matter. He got a new friend out of it too.

The next day, though, Peter caught on to something rather unnerving. 

He had spent so much time worrying that Harley was going to steal time away from Mr. Stark that he hadn’t realized how much time he was actually stealing away from Harley. He hadn’t really noticed the fact that Mr. Stark was somewhat of a mother hen and took every available opportunity to check on him and make sure he was doing okay. He’d been blinded by his jealousy before, and perhaps a little peevish the past couple days after realizing that he was actually the one in the wrong, but yeah! Mr. Stark wouldn’t stop fussing over him every hour or so, even when he was in the midst of a detailed planning stage with Harley. Peter got a glimpse of the frustration that flickered across the other teen’s face when Mr. Stark paused in their ministrations to turn and address Peter, yet again… making sure he wasn’t thirsty or hungry for lunch even though it was barely noon, for perhaps the third time that morning.

That’s what made up Peter’s mind. He could relate to Harley way too easily, and he hated the idea of the dude not being able to get the most out of his once in forever visit with his undeclared father figure. He was a nice guy, and he’d been through a lot in life too… it wasn’t right for Peter to be a constant interruption to their rare bonding time. So, he dismissed himself from the lab, apologizing to Mr. Stark for his demise, and shooting a knowing look and a ‘you’re welcome’ wink to Harley, who just rolled his eyes in response.

Mr. Stark, of course, put up immediate protest.

“Oh, c’mon kiddo. Am I being pushy again? I won’t ask anymore, I swear it. You don’t gotta go, I know I promised you we’d spend this week off school together.”

Peter flinched inwardly. He didn’t know how he could have possibly thought Tony was replacing him. The man just cared too much sometimes. He had too much care to go around to ever run out of it. His attention span may be meager, but his affection never was.

“It’s cool Mr. Stark. I gotta get a head start on that homework anyway.”

“Alright,” Tony voiced warily, watching reluctantly as Peter gathered up his things and headed for the exit, “let me know if you need help on anything.”

“Sure thing Mr. Stark,” Peter smiled sadly. 

He was doing the right thing - he knew that. It was just hard… but at the same time so liberating to know he helped another fatherless kid get to know their wished-to-be father-figure.

***

“Hey, um, Colonel Rhodes?” Peter piped up hesitantly, approaching the man in the kitchen, clutching a thick pile of paper in his hands, “I’m reviewing for my AP exam, and these practice questions are ridiculously hard. Can you help me a little bit?”

Rhodey grinned and put down his mug of coffee to accept the thick packet offered to him. “Sure kiddo let’s get setup at the dining table. This is probably gonna take a while.”

***

“Hello?” Peter peeked into the hi-tech lab, looking much different from Mr. Stark’s, with the overall cleanliness, “Mr. Bruce, Dr. Banner, sir?”

“Oh, hello, Peter,” Bruce greeted warmly, snapping his head to the side to look at the teen. “What can I do for you today?” 

“Oh, um, well I got some homework… and Mr. Stark is kinda busy… and Mr. Rhodes doesn’t know a whole lot about Chemistry…” He trailed off a bit, a bit nervous having to ask the world-renowned scientist for help on his high school homework. “An-and there’s some Biology too… it’s just kinda hard, and I was hoping that you could just explain a couple things to me?”

“Of course!” Bruce chirped eagerly, pushing displays and rolly tables out of his way as he approached Peter, “let’s take a look.”

***

“Hey, kiddo, how’re things going?” Tony asked, venturing up from the workshop after his three-day binge with Harley. Heck, Peter thinks they might have even slept down there if they had slept at all. “Sorry that I sorta abandoned you up here, we were kinda in the zone down there, weren’t we Harley?” Tony turned to the grease-stained teen beside him for confirmation. The boy nodded, laughing slightly before heading in the direction of the kitchen to retrieve some water. 

Peter smiled… his jealousy had significantly dissipated over the past three days, and he was happy for them. He’d actually had a pretty great time in Mr. Stark’s absence anyway. Of course, not quite as great as it would have been if the man had been there himself, but it was still good. So, not much room for him to complain.

“It’s okay Mr. Stark. I’m sorry I didn’t go down to visit you guys more than I did. I was just wanted to focus on my homework… it’s kinda hard to figure out on my own, y’know.”

“Well, I got some time now. Pull it out here kid,” Tony smiled, dropping down on the couch next to him, wearing an excited grin despite the bags beneath his eyes, and kicking his feet up on the coffee table. “I’ll walk you through those tricky differentials again and whatever else might’ve stumped you. I swear the education system is just getting worse every passing year-”

“It’s okay Mr. Stark, I finished it already?”

“Oh,” Tony voice rose a pitch in surprise, eyebrows raising as well, “did you want me to check answers or something on the ones you're unsure of?”

“No, it’s okay,” Peter smiled comfortingly at the man, “Mr. Rhodes helped me with my Calculus already.”

“Rhodey?” Tony spluttered indignantly, seemingly surprised by the notion. “Oh... well, what about Chemistry? You were going on and on and on the other day about the ridiculous amount of unneeded work. Did you get that finished up too?”

“Yep,” Peter nodded proudly, not quite registering the perturbed expression on Tony’s face after he said it, “Dr. Banner helped me out. He actually said I can come by tomorrow so we can go over some flash cards we made together. I need to memorize a few things, but after that I should ace the final exam easily.”

“Okay,” Tony nodded solemnly, gazing out blankly at the room while he thought, “well, I’m not excellent in the subject, but if you still need some help with the English packet, I’m-”

“It’s all good, I got Ms. Natasha to help me. She’s actually really good with languages Mr. Stark, did you know that? She speaks, like, a ton of them!”

Peter hesitated when he saw Tony grit his teeth in frustration. He wasn’t sure what he had done to frustrate the man. He had done him a favor! He left him alone so he could focus on making a bond with his newer teenage intern! He’d even done all the work so he didn’t feel required to help!

“You good Tony?” Harley asked, taking note of the engineer’s distressed face when he reappeared with two glasses of water.

“Yeah, all good kid. Just thinking about what I can do with Pete here since I’ve practically ignored him the whole week.” 

Peter smiled at the thoughtfulness, but at the same time… he really didn't want Mr. Stark to feel obligated to spend time with him.

“Hey, Pete, you ready to go kid?! I don’t got all day!” Clint suddenly appeared in the room, twirling a set of car keys on his finger. “Oh, hey Stark. How’re you and your new MiniMe getting on? I don’t think we’ve had the privilege of meeting this one.”

“This is Harley,” Tony introduced gruffly, staring the man down. “What’re you and Peter doing?”

“Oh, the kid mentioned that he hadn’t started on his hours for driving yet. He needs a ton of practice before he’s allowed to get his license apparently! So, I offered to take him for a little spin. Why? Did you need him for something? I’m sure we can postpone it until later, right Pete?”

Peter’s brows furrowed when he took in Mr. Stark’s fidgety nature, sitting rigidly on the couch, rather than his original relaxed position. 

“No, no, it’s fine. Just don’t let him kill anyone. His Aunt will never let me see him again. Stay safe kiddo.”

Then, with that, Tony shot out instructions for Harley to eat and shower before disappearing from the room himself with his head bowed slightly, muttering nonsense under his breath. Soon, only Peter and Clint were left in the room.

Peter couldn’t help but feel good at knowing he hadn’t gotten in Mr. Stark’s or Harley’s way. Of course, he was a little upset that he didn’t get to spend quite as much time with his mentor as he was hoping, but he was glad he was able to help Harley out all the same. 

***

Tony was getting pissed. It was Saturday and he and Peter still hadn’t done anything bond-y related all week. He and Harley had long since finished their project, and Peter’s empty desk was giving him the jitters. He knew what the kid was oh-so busy doing, and it made him the slightest bit angry. He didn’t understand why the kid seemed to be going out of his way to avoid him. It didn’t seem like anything was wrong when they talked!

“Hey, kid, wanna have a little training session before I head back to the lab?”

“No thanks Mr. Stark. I’m still kinda tired from my session with Steve. He’s real intense, did you know that Mr. Stark?

“Hey, buddy, want me to go out on patrol with you? Harley’s off visiting colleges right now.”

“Sorry Mr. Stark,” Peter actually looked slightly guilty for that one, “but I promised I’d help Bucky with his new computer game. I have to teach him how to set up mods… I think that might take a while. Maybe next time?”

“Hey, Pete? Wanna go out to dinner with me and Harley?”

“Can’t! Sorry Mr. Stark!” He had shouted urgently, making an effort to shove Sam over in an attempt to affect the character on screen. “In the middle of a Mario Kart tournament... Yes!”

It was driving him crazy!

“Hey, um, Tony?” Harley started out worriedly, eyeing the man from across the table, “you good?”

Tony’s grip tightened momentarily on the screwdriver as he tried to repress the accumulating frustration. It doesn’t last long, though. He throws the tool down and stares up at Harley scornfully.

“Hey, no need to get fussy at me!” Harley’s quick to defend himself, dropping his own tools to throw his hands up in defense. 

“It’s not you kid,” Tony grumbles with a slight roll of his eyes, turning his attention back to his project. 

“Is it Peter? You keep glaring at his desk…”

Tony stays silent for a moment, risking another glance up to stare at Peter’s desk a few tables down. The silence permeates in the room and for a moment Harley didn’t think he was going to say anything. Boy, was he wrong…

“Since when did he become so chummy with ‘em, huh?” The man scoffed, turning back to look at the surprised boy across from him. He dismisses the befuddled expression and keeps right on going in voicing his frustration. “I mean, c’mon! These bastards know that’s my kid, and now they’re all eating up his time when he was supposed to spend the week with me! We were gonna do all these fun projects and we haven’t done anything yet! There’s only a day left of his vacation! I was going to help him with his homework too, cuz, y’know, that’s what I do, right? I mean, it’s not too unreasonable to for them to have some manners and at least ask-”

***

“Heck, man, you better spend some time with your old man before he has a hissy fit,” Harley voices as he adjusts the sheets on the air mattress he’d been sleeping on. “Or at least another one.”

“What are you talking about Harley?” Peter laughed as he climbed onto his own bed.

Harley gives him a look.

“I’m talking about the full half-hour frustration fueled rant your Dad went on about after you turned us down for dinner. He went on and on about how you guys hadn’t done anything together the whole week. It was actually pretty funny. It looked like he was about to throw a tantrum or something.”

Peter stared at him for a moment, a little dazed by the admittance.

“Are you kidding?!” He cried dramatically, “I’ve literally been going out of my way so you guys could spend time together without me.”

“Well, why the heck would you do that?” Harley laughed, looking at him as if he were crazy.

“You need a Dad!” Peter argued defiantly, throwing his hands out to gesture in the other teen’s direction, as if he were the one to blame.

“So?” Harley scoffed, “doesn’t mean I have to steal yours… You do realize there’s this thing called sharing. It’s quite popular nowadays-”

A pillow was subsequently slammed in his face.

“Shut up,” Peter muttered a bit embarrassedly.

“Whatever,” Harley muttered, tossing the pillow back at him, “but you better get your butt down in the shop with us tomorrow. I don’t wanna deal with one of our Dad’s tantrums on my own again.”

Peter stared at him, dumbfounded, but Harley ignored him. 

The lights had long since shut off when a slow smile slowly inched across his face to replace the gob smacked hole.

It would be kinda cool to have a brother.

Oh my GOD I’m so glad I’m done with this one. Phew! I was definitely struggling! Sorry if it sucks, but thanks for reading. And thank you @irondadbingo for the card :)

#irondad #irondad fic #irondad bingo fic request #peter parker #Harley keener #tony stark #jealousy #jealous Peter #jealous Tony #the boys are all dorks with zero communication skills #I love writing #but sometimes my goodness its so stressful #sibling rivalry

[everywon-woo]

SMH volleyball AU

I went to see Paris Volley play yesterday bc I miss volleyball and it got me thinking about the SMH as a volleyball team. I know that these boys aren’t tall enough to play professional volleyball (hockey tall is definitely not the same thing as volleyball tall) but i’m just gonna pretend they are. 

Americans are really weird and I’m too lazy to look up their rotation system so you’ll just have to deal with how the rest of the world (or at least Europe) does it. 

Chowder is a libero. He’s pretty decent outside hitter, but he is a Great libero. He’s one of those libero’s that get asked: “but you’re so tall! why are you a libero?!” bc he’s fucking good at it, deborah. Other teams fear his receive. Some games he actually takes half of the field and the other coach is still like DON’T FUCKING SERVE TO THAT LIBERO

He shares his position with Bitty. I don’t think it’s a thing that many male teams do but I did it when I was a libero so I’m just gonna say Bitty and Chowder do it too. Chowder is the reception libero, he’s on the field when the other team serves. 

Don’t get me wrong, his defense is great too, but Bitty’s is better. 

Which bring me to Bitty, who is the defense libero. He is fast af, hitters on other teams hate him. You think you see a hole in the defense? You’re definitely gonna score now? Nope, Bitty will magically appear bc he is a defense god. 

he was a setter when he was younger, but when he got to higher leagues he realised that he was just too small to be a setter, so if he ever wanted to go pro, he’d have to become a libero. Thanks to his years as a setter, he has a pretty nice set, so he’s a dangerous little guy when the setter takes the defense. I’m gonna get back to this later when I talk about the setter. 

his reception (when the other team serves) isn’t that great, though, because he missed a crucial part of his technical education by spending those years as a setter. The double-libero-system with Chowder is just working perfectly for both of them tbh

This got long so I’m putting it under a cut. 

Dex is one of those middle players who you might think is kinda tall and lanky and has zero control over what his body does. You are Very Wrong. 

his shoot and his first tempo shorts are good, but his fly is something else. Holy shit. Incredible. Which is why his coaches always make sure that he’s in in front while the setter is in front too, bc damn. That fly is something beautiful. And deadly. you don’t want to be the other team. 

His block is okay. Solid (i mean, otherwise he wouldn’t be a pro middle player) but not as feared as his hits. However, I will come back to his block in a moment. 

His defense is pretty shit. Like he’s not absolutely awful, but he’s glad that he doesn’t have to stay in the back for 3 rotations. 

His reception is absolutely awful. Thank god for the concept of a libero. 

don’t piss him off, you’ll regret it. Whenever the ref makes a bad call or the other team gets away with something bad, he turns into a ball of rage. an insanely powerful ball of rage. he will either spike a ball within the first 3m (10ft? who knows) or he will kill block you so hard that there’s a hole in the floor. you will cry. 

Nursey is an opposite (or right wing hitter, whatever you want to call it), and a damn good one. He’s one of those players that look too chill and seem like they don’t really care, but I can assure you, he cares. He plays almost nonchalantly, but he’s actually really technically skilled and he can easily alternate between full power spikes (which you don’t want to get in your face, believe me) and technical shots that drive the defense crazy. 

He also has a pretty solid block. Until he gets in front with Dex (which is only one rotation in three, unfortunately, because Dex is always at the net with the setter as much as possible). Together, they become a wall. This wasn’t the case when they first started to play together. There were often holes in the block and they argued a lot about the positioning but after a while they got their shit together and now they are widely hated by outside hitters. 

He seems pretty chill during games, but this is mostly an act. During easy games he manages to stay mostly calm, but during close games Derek Malik Nurse is definitely Not Chill™. 

which results in someone getting hugged koala style when they win a close game. It is mostly Dex. who acts like he hates it. He loves it. 

Jack. I could probably talk about Jack as a volleyball player for hours. Bob is a volleyball legend. He was the best opposite in the world for years. Jack wanted nothing more than be as amazing as his dad. He practiced hitting and serving (bc that’s a big part of what you do as an opposite) and he was good at it. he was good enough at it for his junior coaches to never question his position and they just let him play as an opposite. Until he was around thirteen, and he got a new coach, who told him to play one game as a setter. 

Let me tell you, the other team was all over the place. Even at 13yo, Jack Zimmermann made sure the other team’s blockers questioned the purpose of life after the game. 

Sure, he’s technically skilled. He has great hands, his sets are accurate, he’s left handed (which is great for a setter).

The thing that really makes Jack world top is his volleyball IQ. He is the block’s worst nightmare. Truly fucking exceptional. If you like volleyball, you want to see Jack Zimmermann play. 

He’s still a decent hitter though (technical, but also powerful), which is where Bitty comes back into the picture. on the rare occasion that Jack takes the defence when he’s in front, he’ll just attack like the rest of the team. The block dies on the spot. There are 5 attackers now. The Bitty-Jack combo has an incredible scoring percentage. It always results in hugs. Bc they love each other. (you didn’t think i was gonna make a check please post without mentioning zimbits, did you?) 

His hitting skills also come in handy when he does second hand balls. sometimes they’re just feints, but when he has the time and he sees that the block is not following him, he’ll hit that ball and his scoring percentage is probably close to 100%.

I was having a convo with my dad at the game last night about how Montpellier’s setter seemed very calm and in control, communicating with his hitters but not in a bossy way, and about how that’s what we like in a setter. Jack is like that. He might not always be internally calm, but he’s very in control on the field, he instructs his teammates (he’s also the captain) and he’s just a born leader. 

Ransom is an outside hitter. He’s not a small guy, so he has nothing to compensate, but he still jumps incredibly high. He’s not quite on Leonel Marshall’s level (if you like volleyball, watch this guy. My brother and I worshipped him when we were younger) but he’s that type of player. 

his reception is solid. Not libero level of great, but good. 

his defense is not that great. I mean, he manages, and it’s not bad enough to really hurt the team’s prestation, but it’s not his biggest forte. 

I will talk more about Ransom in a bit

Holster is the stereotypical middle player. He’s tall, he’s not clumsy but a bit stiff sometimes, and he’s blond (this might just be me but lately all the middle players I see are blond). 

He has a solid shoot, but his first tempo shorts (front and back) are his best attacks. He never does a fly. He’s just not really that type of middle player. 

His block is great. Just very fucking solid and closed. No holes. 

However, when his block is combined with Ransom’s block, the other team’s hitters will cry. Calling them a wall is an understatement.   

when they get a good kill block, they just roar at each other for a few seconds and than hug before joining the team hug. 

when i was watching the game yesterday i noticed how often volleyball players touch each other’s butts and I hereby declare that Ransom and Holster are The Worst™. When they’re standing at the net waiting for someone to serve, their hands don’t leave each other’s butts. It’s weird. It’s not sexual, it’s just a sign of support. It might be sexual too, you decide

Shitty is also an outside hitter, but he’s just not on Ransom’s level. He doesn’t have that raw talent that most of the guys on the team have, but he has achieved as much as he has through sheer willpower, determination and hard work. 

I kind of see him like Daichi from Haikyuu!! 

his hits aren’t necessarily the best, but he manages

his defense and his reception are solid. Not because of talent, but because of hard work and hours and hours of training. 

He just really loves the game and he’s so thankful for getting to play on an amazing team with amazing people. 

Whiskey is the second setter. He’s a decent setter, he has good hands, he has that same calm attitude, but he’s no Jack, so he doesn’t get to play that often. He’s still a good setter, though, and the team doesn’t fall apart if Jack can’t play due to an injury of whatever

Tango can play as an outside hitter or opposite. It kinda depends on where they need him. 

he often plays in Shitty’s position. those two just kinda switch all the time 

when nursey can’t play, tango plays in his place. He’s nowhere near as good as nursey, but he manages.

Lardo is the coach. Male volleyball teams don’t often have female coaches (i’d almost say never but that’s probably not true) but let me tell you, these boys wish they had a male coach. Lardo is relentless. She’s good at her job though, and the boys love her (except for when they’re dying and she makes them run some more). 

she loves the boys too. she seems though (and she is. don’t try to hurt her team bc you will regret it) but she really cares about her dorks and she regularly invites them over for dinner. 

maybe they have some kind of rule that she has to prepare dinner for them every time they win a set and the other team has 10 points or less. that was a rule in my club. we didn’t eat at my coach’s place that much. my brother did. My dad (who was my brother’s coach) still owes them approximately 20 dinners. 

Bonus:

Kent is that outside hitter that is too small to be an outside hitter but he compensates by jumping high and being very technically skilled. 

“I’M NOT THAT SMALL” 

Tater spent a very long time being a middle player bc he’s tall and coaches often just make the tall kids be the middle players. 

when he’s around 16yo he finally gets a coach who sees that he’s actually a much better opposite than he is a middle player. 

hugs

you score? hug

you dig up a difficult ball? hug

good block? hug

good serve? hug

you will never feel discouraged when tater is on the field bc he will just hug the courage into you

I want to add that they don’t have their names on the back of their jersey like normal teams do. They all have a hashtag in front of their name, like Paris Volley (I laughed about this the entire game oh god). It was probably Nursey’s idea. When they’re on the field, wearing their jerseys, he pronounces the hashtags. “That was a nice block, hashtag Poindexter” he has been hit more than once but he won’t stop. 

#omgcp #omgcheckplease #omgcp au #jack zimmermann #eric bittle #i still have many more opinions on this #chris chow #william poindexter #derek nurse #justin oluransi #adam birkholtz #shitty knight #larissa duan #volleyball

[emeraldsorcerer]

Repost, don’t reblog! Tag 6 muns you would like to get to know better when done!

TAGGED BY: Swiped from @culpritouswildcat​ TAGGING: You want it? TAKE IT OFF OF MY COLD DEAD BLOG. but for real yeah if you want it go for it lol

NAME: Fish NICKNAME: Fish, also emerald-mun seems to be what most default to if they don’t know Fish. AGE: 23 FACECLAIM: A color-edited Konata Izumi from Lucky Star PRONOUNS: He/him HEIGHT: like aaaaaaaaalmost 5′11″, like, I’m literally 1/4th of an inch a way from 5′11″ BIRTHDAY: March 8th AESTHETIC:  Fuckin’ gREEEEEEEEEN LAST SONG YOU LISTENED TO: uhhh technically Super Mario Bros 2 Overworld Theme

FAVOURITE MUSE(S) YOU’VE WRITTEN: Look, I’m gonna be real biased towards mah boi Sakana, who I’ve worked on for 5 years now. He was my first Tumblr roleplay character! Although I have to admit, running the askbernkastel account all those years ago was really fun. I’m still super proud of that gif I managed to make with Kinzo getting hit by a pokeball thrown by Bern. And in all honesty, Tomoko’s really fun to write too, I get to channel a lot of me through her since we’re pretty similar.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO TAKE ON YOUR CURRENT MUSE: So, when I was running my very first Tumblr account ever, askbernkastel, I ran across a very new concept to me at the time: roleplaying on Tumblr. The very first one I encountered was a talented Bernkastel RPer (shout out to @plumfragments​), and upon following I really liked their writing and thought, “Hey, I wanna get in on this it looks super fun!” Having played Ib recently, and enjoyed Garry as a character, I just took images of him, recolored his hair to match my blonde, gave him my favorite color, and voila! I had an extremely thinly veiled self-insert for my very first Tumblr RP experience.

honestly in retrospect i’m kind of shocked people didn’t get really sick of just how cringe my writing and character was back then in 2012. it was so obvious, i didn’t even try to hide it at first. it was only around the beginning of 2013 that i actually gave him his own backstory and plots. but, somehow, with what must have been an astounding amount of grace to muster to be patient with me back then, Plum and others helped me learn the vocab of the Tumblr RP community and how it tended to work, and five years later he’s a very different being from the shitty self-insert it started out as.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE ASPECTS OF YOUR CURRENT MUSE: Maaaaaan, the guy is such a dork honestly, especially in comparison to basically every other witch. I made him intentionally way younger than Bernkastel and Lambdadelta. Honestly? I think I like his potential most of all. It’s a muse I don’t really run out of ideas for, but unfortunately I have issues communicating said ideas to people, so I end up putting myself into a no-win situation. 

But the way that I don’t have to keep him static over time is nice, because he’s already an Alternate Universe character, I can develop him according to the things he experiences, and build from past thread experiences. I feel zero pressure to keep his personality static, unlike most canon muses I’ve played. Developing a character long-term through play and letting it stick through other RPs is pretty much my favorite reason for roleplaying, and I feel I can do that more freely with Sakana in particular.

WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATION WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING: Uuuh honestly? It just comes down to someone else responding or making a starter for me. There was a really bad dry spell early this year I didn’t know how to deal with. Without someone else to bounce off of, I really don’t have much motivation at all.

FAVORITE TYPES OF THREADS: On the one hand, I’m down with whatevs honestly. I don’t think I’d refuse much, with the exception of smut, which is just like...I dunno, I gotta feel it?

On the other hand, I do tend to get far more enthusiastic when I’m roleplaying a situation I haven’t roleplayed before. Like, take the one I just did right earlier with grey!Erika, I’ve never RPd an unrequited crush explicitly, the closest that’s ever gotten is subtext at best. And I was super down with that to the point that I stayed up till past 7am and am still awake now holy shit, because I’d never done it before, it’s a new thaaaang.

BIGGEST STRUGGLE IN REGARDS TO YOUR CURRENT MUSE: Mmmmm. I think I have a prominent paranoia that I’m still, even after all this time and all the events that have transpired, that I’m still not doing enough to separate myself from Sakana in the eyes of others, and that other new folks who come along will just assume he’s a thinly veiled shitty self-insert and not give it a chance at all. And that, consequently, tends to make me question myself a lot - is it still just boiled down to that even after all this effort and time? Bleh. It’s not a fun spiral to travel down.

Another big issue I have is finding out where he might fit in other people’s worlds. Often times I’ll secure an RP, and it’ll turn out kind of samey as a lot of my other RPs. There’s, like, a pattern, where it goes| they introduce themselves>they chat for a couple replies smalltalk>fucking nowhere to go afterwards because plot’s apparently not a thing. Like, I don’t remember having this issue a few years ago; entire full on plots were commonly improvised and they were exciting and cool! But nowadays it’s like...naw. Gotta plot or else it just goes nowhere for some reason. I don’t know if it’s because of a Tumblr culture change due to the introduction of the IM system, or if it’s because I just have lost my improvisational skills, but shit just goes nowhere after a few replies and after having that happen on so many occasions, it’s just kinda discouraging for me in general.

It probably wouldn’t be as much of an issue if I knew how to plot with others. That’s the other thing. I don’t know how to plot with muns. It’s just something I’ve barely ever done before. Like, I don’t even know how it works, is it just like, blurt out an idea to the other person and hope to god the other person is down for it? because that sounds goddamn anxiety-spiking-ly terrifying to me. Is there like, a system for it, like a rulebook or guideline list I can go off of? honestly plotting with other muns is one of the most anxiety-filled things i can possibly do in relation to Tumblr RPs and i don’t get how most people not only can do it, but nearly expect it from others nowadays.

I mean, it’s not like I’m unwilling to try. I just have...no...fuducking...clue...how...and like, why be patient and try to learn me a thing or two when you could just find someone else to plot with just as fast and easily? unless it can’t be learned and it just comes innately to everyone except me?

eeeeeh this isn’t really the note I would have liked to end this post on but I’m getting real tired so yeah that’s all about Fish have a good munday y’all.

#emerald ooc #emerald memes #and to be fair that bit where RPs tended to be samey doesn't really apply to my current ones #it more applies to the ones I tended to try and have before those