what if kita shinsuke decides in 2020 to make a twitter after 26 years of no social media presence whatsoever and the first thing he does is follow a bunch of msby bj fan accounts to support atsumu and kiyoomi

aka shinsuke's thirst fandom origin story

he starts off slow. making a tweet to congratulate them after a win, about how great kiyoomi’s service aces were in the third set, about the energy atsumu exhibited throughout the fourth.

then come the thread analysis. it’s a way to talk about volleyball again bc he missed it a lot and it’s fun. it’s cathartic

then come the followers

then the comments: “but did you see miya-senshu’s shorts ride up and get stuck in his ass crack during the second half of the falcons game??!!!! ” shinsuke has to replay a mutual’s fancam over and over again before bed that night.

sakusa’s fan base is extremely deprived. shinsuke can’t help but spend a whole evening doing a deep dive through fiction of people inserting themselves into sexual situations with kiyoomi. he is flustered to say the least

he learns they’re called “threadfics” and he hasn’t written anything since high school but his fingers are kind of itching to try it out (he’s amassed a whole collection of bookmarks at this point to read when he feels... well.)

by the time he sees atsumu and kiyoomi again, he has 1,034 followers and perhaps an anonymous account where he posts self-inserts. maybe he has picked up drawing but it still needs some work (in his humble opinion).

“how ya been, kita-san?” atsumu asks over onigiri at osamu’s.

“i’ve....”

he thinks of all the art he consumes on the daily. it’s not very safe for work any more (hasn’t been for a while). he designates an hour to browse and an hour to create every evening before his nightly routine. so it’s fine. (right?)

“...been busy.”

in his mind, he thinks:

“asdfghjkl sakuatsu are so flipping hot irl”

atsumu squeaks. “what’d ya just say?”

“saku... atsu,” kiyoomi sounds out.

oh he said that part out loud, didn’t he?

“i’ve—ahem,” shinsuke clears his throat. “i got a twitter and if i recall correctly yer ship name—“

“hold up, ya gotta twitter?”

“ship,” kiyoomi says knowingly, kinda of like a professor, “is a a pairing. usually two people, but there are such things as polyships. it’s short for relationship.”

atsumu gawks, sputtering unintelligible words. “i know what a-a ship is!”

he turns to shinsuke. “how the fuck do you know what a ship is?!”

shinsuke shrugs. “i dabble in fanfiction.”

“WHAT?!” atsumu screeches. like a banshee.

“fanfiction,” kiyoomi explains, “is fictional writing based on existent works, done by fans of said media.”

“how the fuck do ya know what fanfiction is, omi?”

kiyoomi eyes meet shinsuke’s above his mask. “i also write fanfiction.”

surprisingly, atsumu is quiet. shinsuke’s pretty sure (if his characterizations are accurate) that sometimes this happens to him when he feels overwhelmed.

“are ya okay, atsumu?” he asks, to be sure.

“i need a moment,” is atsumu’s reply as he slumps over in his seat, their onigiri dinner forgotten.

kiyoomi takes the opportunity to fanboy. “so you’re in the sakuatsu fandom?” he whistles. behind his mask. impressive.

“i started out writing there but i’ve recently started getting into ushisaku.”

“i see,” shinsuke says, crestfallen. “they do have the best art.”

kiyoomi’s eyes crinkle at the corner. “/the/ best,” he sighs, dreamily.

“i have a confession,” atsumu announces as he picks himself back up again. “i mighta... drawn... some... stuff. for sunakomo,” and petulantly but proudly following that up with: “and ushisaku... but only for the clout.”

“the numbers ushisaku get are astounding,” shinsuke huffs, feeling defensive. “sakuatsu make the most sense, imo.”

kiyoomi shakes his head. “no, atsuhina makes the most sense. their minus tempo quick is /very/ romantic.”

atsumu waves him off. “that’s just volleyball tho.”

“which is what the whole fandom bases their content off of, you nimwit.”

shinsuke sighs. “kiyoomi-kun has a point. atsuhina do make sense.” he shoots atsumu a smirk. “they’re very main character-ish.”

“while i agree,” atsumu concedes +

“i still feel like sakusa and atsumu get too much attention. what about komori, huh?! those cute eyebrows? what about the rare pairs!”

they ponder this question for a moment, the reality of their situation not quite hitting them. yet.

“ship wars aside,” shinsuke deigns to interrupt their pondering, “what are your accounts? i’d like to follow them.”

they exchange info.

“huh,” he remarks as he types in their handles into his twitter search bar later that night.

they’re all.... mutuals.

in fact, they’re not just mutuals. snkmist aka mocha is someone who commissioned a suna insert from shinsuke when he first made a ko-fi. their art is astoundingly soft.

and ushiwindex aka musk has commented and interacted with any and all of his ushijima/adlers content.

if shinsuke looks far enough, he will see musk’s sakuatsu threadfics as some of the first he bookmarked after joining the fandom.

huh.

“... and that’s how we started dating,” atsumu regales to his twin who had to sit through the past twenty minutes of regaling.

“i’m literally at work ya coulda texted that to me and i coulda left ya on read and kept the past 20 mins of my life, ya leech.”

“atsumu’s an artist, not a writer,” kiyoomi corrects, petting his hair like a proud parent. or like a dog.

shinsuke smiles. since discovering musk and mocha, they each had an individual breakdown separately, and 3 of them together. the things he dm’d musk about skts....

regardless, they started a discord to share the art, wips, funny hcs... a personal channel to talk about personal matters. it took some learning on shinsuke’s behalf but he now heads the task of plugging all the emojis into their server.

it was nice. their collabs? legendary.

and then it got better.

“kinda wanna write skts again,” musk sends once at 4 AM since he has the worst sleep schedule out of the three of them. shinsuke is just waking up for the day when he reads his message.

“Oh?” shinsuke doesn’t want to scare him off with his excitement.

“ya ...... but with a twist”

shinsuke reacts with a :omfg:

“Can you share with the class? ”

“gimme like 1 week”

several weeks pass. no skts fic.

shinsuke rt’s all of atsumu’s art. replies with hearts and receives them in kind. it makes his own heart flutter.

the day comes when musk makes his sakuatsu comeback. the whole timeline is an a state of disarray when shinsuke logs on that night. it’s clogged with ppl qrt-ing the fic graphic — a subtle lineart of three hearts.

“Will You Date Us?”

Kiyoomi and Atsumu start dating. They mutually realize it’s not enough.

29k | explicit | #sakuatsukita

“oh, fuck,” shinsuke curses out loud for the first time in his life.

“...and that’s how i said yes.”

at this, osamu turns and sniffs loudly. “that’s fuckin’ beautiful, kita-san.”

shinsuke smiles. he remembers reading the fic in it’s entirety twice, tears falling freely at musk’s ethereal writing. it’s nothing like his own quippy work.

“it’s because shinsuke’s a natural storyteller,” atsumu marvels, his own unshed tears clinging to his lashes. he pats kiyoomi’s thigh. “but omi won him over with his writing.”

later that night, shinsuke corrects him, catching his breath.

“the smut. it was the smut.”

“and that’s how sakuatsukita blew up in the fandom overnight,” kiyoomi explains. as he usually does. that’s his role in this story.

“okay, i get it,” osamu snarks. “everyone ships sakuatsukita. you’ve made yer point. happily ever fuckin’ after.”

shinsuke grins.

“but only for sakuatsukita.”

/ happily ever after.

im so sorry y’all lmfao i hope u enjoyed this completely self indulgent meta crack