#midotaka

To mark his special day, here is the link to my story featuring him. Whether it's your first time or a gentle revisit, happy reading 🌙

・Midori-nya | MidoTaka ◦ E ◦ 5.2k ◦ [ AO3 link ]

This fic is in French, but feel free to run them through an online translator if you'd like ✨

Like, imo that kind of flashback is not even that necessary because whether we know exactly what happened or not doesn't change anything tho??? Didn't Takao himself specifically say that he liked Midorima because of the way he did everything humanly possible? Midorima's attitude toward Takao had already begun to change the moment he heard Takao declaring that he'd practice more than him, and wasn't that enough to explain why he eventually came to trust Takao so deeply? In the end, the only thing Midorima ever needed to know was that even after Teikou had mentally crushed so many opponents during the time of their talent bloom, Takao was still one of the few people who chose not to give up. And Takao had already proved it by staying with Midorima until the he finished practicing every single day, not just through empty words. So why in the world would Midorima need to know every detail of how frustrated Takao felt after losing that match?

Also I don't like the interpretation that Takao's goal of taking revenge on Midorima was completely abandoned simply because they ended up on the same team. Like, does Takao, the same guy who had once reminded us that "this is just high school basketball," and was more aware than most characters in this series that every player is bound to experience defeat, really look like the type to obsess over getting revenge for a defeat out of pure resentment?

I mean, there was a reason why his goal changed from wanting revenge on Midorima to wanting Midorima's recognition and they ending up at the same school wasn't the whole story. At their core, both of Takao's goals were driven by the same desire: to become someone Midorima could never forget. That makes even more sense when Takao himself did explain in the manga the reason why he recognized Midorima in the first place (i.e. it heavily implied why Takao only wanted to be recognized by Midorima and not by any other GoM members), while Midorima in middle school had spent so long taking victory for granted that he didn't even remember playing against Takao's team. And that underlying motivation wouldn't have changed even if they'd ended up at different high schools.

Again, the reason I strongly believe Midorima had trust issues from what happened in his past is because "trust" was always emphasized in every stage of his character development. From the way he decided to pass to his teammates to the way he entrusted the success of his 3-Pointer entirely to Takao. I mean when seeing his development, the first reaction from everyone on the court, even the people who had known him for years, was never "he's back to how he used to be." It was always the "Midorima has changed, he really trusts his teammates now" kind of talk. That's what makes it so easy for me to believe he'd never trusted anyone in quite the same way before.

What Midorima said in the second panel was often translated as "I'm not worried anymore" but actually the word he used here was 不安 (which refers more to a lingering sense of anxiety or insecurity than simply being worried about one specific thing) and it really makes me wonder just how much Midorima had been carrying inside all this time that made him eventually think like that...

And that "very first thing" became the reason they were able to overcome those obstacles. Even though to either of them, it wasn't anything extraordinary. It was just Takao saying he'd practice even harder than Midorima. It was just Midorima being a genius who continued to do what he believed was right without caring what anyone else thought of him. Yet, it was exactly what each of them needed. And right at the time when they barely even knew each other, they had already started changing one another.

I can't help but feel like they'd always been trying to become someone worthy of the other. And before either of them even realized it, they had already become the very thing that kept the other moving forward, simply by being who they were.

Happy MidoTaka day!! Yipeeee!!!

My beloved OTP, my comfort ship <33

Anyway, I also wrote a fanfic for this day :) check it out here!

I wonder if tumblr will let me post this, ah well