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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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Football Albert and Band Race my beloved.

I'M SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG i'm finally going through my inbox and there's some God Tier Shit in here but !!!! i need this one to answer another one SO-

i’m gonna apologize in advance for not knowing absolutely fucking anything about football in advance i’m so sorry

THEM

ugh ok lemme just-

i’ve said it before and i’ll probably say it again, albert is the quarterback cause Of Course He Is

he’s also just,,,,,, so enthusiastic. and so competitive. he puts his heart and soul into every sport he plays and football is DEFINITELY included in that

race is,,,,,, well he’s more of a theater kid than a band kid, but that doesn’t change the fact he’s the little shit with a megaphone at every game

he leads cheers, shouts encouragement, is the LOUDEST voice in the crowd even without the megaphone. all of that is multiplied 10 fold when him and al get together junior year

he usually sits with the group that’s NOT on the field (cause i think kath would be a cheerleader and nobody can stop me from making that true. oh and spot and probably hotshot are also on varsity football with al)

but when the standing senior qb gets injured on a missed audible and holy shit albert gets to play with the score tied

race can SEE the panic on albert’s face from the stands as the coach calls timeout and has the offense huddle up

so,,,,,, he sweet talks his way past the gate (and by that i mean the teacher assigned to it was miss medda and she saw him sprinting down the steps and let him leap the fence without yelling at him)

and gets coach denton (our local comfort 11/12 english teacher and head football coach) to let him talk to albert before he goes on the field

albert is, of course, a nervous wreck cause fuck what if i mess up that pitch or get sacked or just suck

which is completely irrational, cause he’s memorized every sequence they play and can do it all with flawless accuracy and even without that he could play ANY position on this team but is qb cause he can throw the ball the length of the entire field with no warm up if he wants to

and race can read him like a book so he just

“al, both of us know you’re the best goddamn quarterback that’s ever played for this team and you just haven’t got to show it yet. you’re gonna go out there and lead that team, cause you know you can and you’re really fucking good at it. you can do this, don’t overthink it.”

and with that, he drags albert into a searing kiss before shoving back towards the field with a call of “give ‘em hell, babe!”

and the relieved smile that turns into a confident smirk makes race’s heart flip flop in his chest as al runs away from him

then he’s back up in the stands, lined up next to his friends with all their chests pressed against the safety fence as their offense gets ready

and he can see al stop the lead offensive lineman and say something before getting in position

what he doesn’t know is that al was stopping him to tell him to let the other teams’ defense through

cause race told him to give ‘em hell, so he’s gonna do it the best way he knows (✨with violence✨)

so they hike the ball, and the same guy who shattered their qb’s tibia in his final season before college comes barreling DIRECTLY at albert

and race is more than kind of freaking out from where he’s half hiding in jack’s shoulder

but albert catches the ball from the hike, glances out of his periphery, and does a perfectly timed duck to send said defensive player sprawling onto the ground on the other side of him with the wind knocked out of his lungs while albert launches the football to one of his running backs

and race just absolutely CACKLES cause he knows exactly what expression albert’s pointing at the winded player from behind his helmet and it’s nothing if not TERRIFYING

and then albert keeps playing as good as race knew he would, so they win the game by a landslide

and naturally the group and the team all head for jacobi’s, the dinner near their high school that runs a “players eat free” night every time the school team wins

the energy is electric, buzzing on adrenaline and excitement, and al is sat back with his arm draped over the back of race’s chair laughing at whatever story jack is entertaining them with and he just looks around and basks in the warmth

hhhhhhh THEYRE SO GOOD PLS-

they’re very in love and i cant get over it someone help

also this switches randomly between being race-centric and albert-centric so if that annoyed you i’m really sorry my brain just can’t Stay Focused

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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top five jack kelly hcs 👀👀👀

(also i know i just sent in another one but oh well!! MWAH ilysm)

MWAH ILY MORE. also. hmm. almost all of these are based on conversations i’ve had with you sO—

1) he’s good with kids. this one seems like,,,, fairly obvious, cause yk. Leader Of The Newsies. but i think even in a modern au he’s always had a soft spot for kids

2) latino jack my beloved. this man is Not White and speaks at the very least some sort of. mishmash of spanglish.

3) TATTOOS AND PIERCINGS. he is a bisexual manhattan native who made a career out of being an artist. idc idc the man’s covered in tattoos and piercings

4) oh yeah. Mans Is An Artist and not just as a hobby. whether it’s freelance or art teacher (a personal fav) it’s What He Does Professionally. but it’s also a hobby TURNED career, and it’s how he expresses his emotions. happy, sad, angry, scared, gratuitous,,,, whatever it is, he’s painting or sketching it. it’s why his friends get so many art pieces as gifts, cause they genuinely inspire it.

5) that medda was his foster mom at like,,,, 11? and then adopted him when he was 13 or 14, at the same time she adopted race. charlie was a year or two after that. jack and race are almost 2 years (off by like. 3 weeks or something.) apart, and charlie is 18 months younger than race. just. Yeah. that family unit my beloved <3

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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i’m going through my newsies fic folder (lovingly titled jack kelly’s band of queers) and GOD i see why i started shipping ralbert so hard holy fuck

they’re. they’re so cute. it’s fucking overwhelming. i love them so much jeSUS.

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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race would totally b like “hey babe can we break up for 34:41 so i can listen to sour from a different perspective” and al is like “sure babe okay i’m breaking up with you”

albert being like “😐🙄 fine. i’m gonna walk out that door and go get us dinner. you have exactly 35 minutes to experience olivia rodrigo’s album as a single person and then i’m coming back and we’re eating bad takeout in ugly pajamas while making gross couple-y faces at eachother cause you’re so in love with me. never say i didn’t do anything for you. now kiss me before i go, dumbass”

he’s so weak for race it’s so funny pls

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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Hey! Can you elaborate on Race's name being Antonio? Did you just like it or is there a reason or something? Also is he still American or like Italian or Spanish where that name is more common?

hi !! thank you for asking cause this rant vaguely lives rent free in my brain and i’m always down to yell so ✨here we go✨

originally from me in this post

for the most part it’s heavily influenced by the fact i just like the name more than anthony

like,,,,, anthonio just has a certain ring to it, ALSO everything about race is extra, so i think his given name would be too

also you definitely called me out with the italian thing shdhdb

it’s no secret i’m a fan of italian race, i have him call albert italian nicknames and sing in italian while he cooks fairly regularly

i still think he was born and raised in manhattan, nothing changes there, but i think his mom was actually born in italy, canon era or otherwise

his dad is probably a first second gen citizen, cause the irish boom was before the italian one (higgins is an irish name, i think race’s dad had an italian mother and irish father)

also, cause i legit ALWAYS have to defend this when i say i think race is italian, i think race is specifically northern italian (i don’t know too much about it, but i’m aware it makes a difference and the physical traits and even type of italian they speak is different from central and southern italy)

when i describe race, i describe him as VERY northern italian. blonde curls, blue eyes, pale skin with freckles,,,,, it’s almost verbatim what comes up when you look up the description of stereotypical northern italian traits, so that also influenced the name a bit

short story that i already made longer than it needs to be short, i just like the name a lot and did too much research into why i thought he was italian for a mafia au once and now i’m forever stuck with the thought that his name is antonio and not anthony

also forgot to preface this, but this is nothing against people that name him anthony, people that disagree that his name is antonio, or any real people ACTUALLY named anthony reading this cause i’m pretty sure i say i don’t like it lmao

thank you for the ask !! mwah tq for letting me info dumb on everyone at 7:30am

#newsies #livesies #never not read the tags #racetrack higgins #antonio higgins my beloved #i am still on my antonio bullshit #why the hell do i know so much about race’s backstory you ask?#cause im a heathen #i’m too passionate about this conversation and for what #anyway #chandler out of context #chandler’s ✨losing it✨#chandler.exe has stopped working #chandler’s an idiot sorry y’all #shut up chandler

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moth-based-cryptology · 2 years

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heyyyyy chandlerrrr uh. are ralbert theatre kids, band kids, choir kids, or orchestra kids. or any other variation of fine arts/performance arts kid. i want a Professional opinion.

ok so. race is a theater kid, but he did band in middle school. he’s also the mf with the megaphone at every rally and football game but that’s not an Official Job that’s just. race being race

albert is 100% a band kid. he’s also one of those assholes that’s good at everything (just ask @proud-and-defiant they listen to me talk shit about him for this Constantly /hj) so. he’ll just pick up any instrument and like an hour and a half later be good at it Cause He Sucks. his favorite to play for actual band is drums, but if he has any reason to play an electric guitar or a bass he will do that too

that’s my Professional opinion tq tq

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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top 5 ralbert aus 👀

the absolute can of worms you have opened here

these are in no particular order cause it comes and goes with The Dopamine

1) youtuber au. probably my longest running au and i. am still obsessed with them

2) them in the iwtbyfn au (and like. football aus in general.)

3) MAFIA/1920s AU. race having to keep albert from saying the wrong thing and Getting Wrecked my beloved

4) hockey al/figure skater race !! i got really stuck like,,,, 3 chapters in but i still Love Them

5) ufc albert au !! cause they’re so married even if it’s not legally !! and it’s very self indulgent so Obviously I Love Them

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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A bit basic, but top 5 ✨Race✨ headcanon? <3

OH DEFINITELY I THINK ABOUT HIM A LOT

1) he speaks, like, 4 languages. italian, french, spanish, and a little gaelic. oh also cause it has its own very long post it doesn’t get to have its own number but his name’s antonio

2) he’s a dancer !! he’s generally very music driven, to the point jack calls it his love language sometimes, and it makes him very good at connecting to music for dance. he’s also got a lot of technical skill, but the stuff you can’t learn is what makes him special

3) he’s gay !! like,,, literally. non woman who likes non women. i would say dude who likes dudes but i also really love the hc that race is genderfluid and that albert uses he/they pronouns so,,,,, i’ll go with the more general description. he figured it out early, even for his friend group. he’s known he didn’t like girls since elementary school.

4) he’s very affectionate, in both platonic and romantic situations. maybe it’s an anxiety thing, or an adhd thing, or an extrovert thing, but he’s pretty much always touching or hugging someone (mostly al, ngl) cause it keeps him grounded and helps him focus

5) mad sensory issues !! bright lights, loud or repetitive noises, that one shirt that feels weird on his skin,,,,, it drives him insane. he’s Extremely Sensitive to it, and more often than not he uses headphones or sunglasses to regulate it so he doesn’t Hurt Someone

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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80s era where Race and Albert are obsessed with video games. That's it

PERFECTION.

give me race playing tetris til 4am. give me them arguing over dig dug. give me them playing tempest and zaxxon and legend of zelda. give me 80s video game nerds or give me death

#newsies #livesies #never not read the tags #albert dasilva #racetrack higgins #ralbert #spam ralbert gang #chandler the ralber cult leader #chandler out of context #chandler’s ✨losing it✨#chandler.exe has stopped working #chandler’s an idiot sorry y’all #shut up chandler #nO #audrey your mindddddde #god i love them

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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This isn't really Javid so I'm sending this to you and not Jac but football au where Race and Albert make it a tradition to get ice cream after each game. That's the whole ask

I ALSO HAVE A FOOTBALL AU SO BESTIE I CAN CONFIRM

most of the time the team goes to some sort of diner thing. get food cause Sport Burn Calorie yk. but even if they do that al and race will go and them be like “ok sorry homies we gotta go” and not tell anyone they’re getting ice cream cause it’s Their Thing. also cause albert loves his sport but he can only talk about football for so long before he needs to cleanse his brain with Nerd Talk about spiderman or something

also cause i think about them way too much i think that race gets strawberry ice cream and albert gets rocky road and then they both just eat out of both lil bowls cause they’re Indecisive and Adorable

anyway. Them 💓💘💝💕💞💗

and because they’re mentioned the jac in question is @we-are-inevitable mwah love you

#newsies #livesies #never not read the tags #albert dasilva #racetrack higgins #ralbert #spam ralbert gang #chandler out of context #chandler’s ✨losing it✨#chandler.exe has stopped working #chandler’s an idiot sorry y’all #chandler screams about ralbert #shut up chandler #nO #MY BABIES #football albert and band race #this fucking idiots my beloveds #audrey your mindddddde

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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Ufc Fighter Albert Dasilva Headcanons

hello, people who still follow me despite the fact i never post cause i’m a mess. how y’all doin? my favorite ufc fighter won the other day so now ✨this is what we’re doing✨. also i originally sent this thought to @we-are-inevitable ‘s ask box so find that post here (hi jac ilysm mwah mwah mwah)

i also wrote a part 2 so find that here !!

also,,,,, this is fairly obvious. but trigger warning for violence/physical fighting, and well as blood and injury. (it’s a rough gig y’all fjdhdb)

i sincerely apologize in advance for what a mess this post is gonna be i just had a monster and i’m hyped up on the win and this is a hyperfixation i don’t get to talk about very often so feel free to ask questions and HERE WE FUCKIN GO

OK SO

albert is just,,,,,, a violent sports guy. always has been, probably always will be.

most forms of recreational fighting, football, hockey, rugby, fuck even soccer if he gets too into it. he’s just a Built Person, and he wicked competitive, and that makes for violent displays of athleticism

I think he was probably a hockey or football guy in high school, but he was also on the wrestling team cause i said so

then after graduation he got really into kickboxing, just to have something to do cause he didn’t have school sports to play and train for all the time

and then one day his coach is like ‘hey. you’re like,,, stupid good at this. you should sign up for competitions, you might make some money.’

he does, in fact, ‘make some money’, cause in straight kickboxing? he’s pretty much unmatched on the regional scene, which is ridiculous cause he didn’t start training his stand up game til he was 18 or 19

then American Top Team (ATT, it’s a really big MMA training camp that had trained a boat load of the top talent in the UFC) approaches him like ‘y’know if you worked on your grappling you could be a really solid mma fighter’

which is HUGE, but obviously albert can’t pick up his entire life and move to florida to train with them, so him and race (this is me, of course race is with al. supportive boyfriend and number one fan alert <3) find gyms willing to work with him based in new york. then he starts signing up for shit.

he sticks with stand up fighting when he can, he likes it more and cause,,,,, well. it’s more entertaining. the higher your entertainment value, the more people watch your fights. the more people watch your fights, the more likely you are to get noticed by big promotions (like the ufc)

he uses his wrestling to keep grapplers on their feet (he’s got like a 90% takedown defense, what an icon) and he picks people apart.

he has a lot of technical skill, but he also is fiery and passionate and scrappy. he gets hit too much for his own good a lot of the time.

he’s super durable. this man can get hit clean over and over and stay on his feet, but that’s not gonna hold up forever. it takes a loss or two in a row to motivate him to change it

and oh boy does he change it

he spends a month in auckland, new zealand at city kickboxing (one of the best kickboxing gyms in the world, and they lean heavily on tactics rather than just charging forward blindly)

he’s straight up a different fighter after that. he’s quick, light on his feet, and avoids punches way easier while also setting up the angles for his own. he gets signed to the ufc 2 fights later.

his first fight is short notice. no training camp, he’s got 5 days to make weight, AND it’s against a top 10 ranked opponent. no big deal, right?

and albert, being albert, is super chill about it. sure, this is the opportunity of a lifetime, could decide his entire future as a fighter, and he’s barely got time to prepare.

but he’s in the gym every single day of the week, he doesn’t super cut on weight like most ex-wrestlers, and most importantly, it’s just fighting. all he has to do is get in the octagon and punch some dude in the face. he can do that all day.

race on the other hand,,,,,,,,

he believes in albert with his whole soul, he really does, but Fuck watching your boyfriend get hit in the head is no fucking fun. especially when you know that the guy throwing the punches has been training for months, and your guy hasn’t even had a week

so he brings jack for moral support. also cause jack is DEFINITELY a ufc fan and was the only one that would understand what was happening.

at some point in the first round albert gets caught clean, opening a cut on his cheek, which makes race Panic Even More

but he gets cleaned up between rounds, and it’s not swelling so he can still see, and it’s over by the middle of the second.

and albert wins, cause (this is fiction and i’m telling a story) of fucking course he does, and he probably wins with some stupid dramatic spinning back kick and gets clipped on twitter cause he’s just Like That

the part that makes me, as the ralbert shipper, super fucking happy is coming up but i need to add a lil real talk first

considering albert is like,,,, openly in a relationship with a man when he gets into the ufc,,,,, that makes him the first publicly gay ufc fighter. like,,,, ever.

this is realized after his hand gets raised after the ref calls the stoppage.

bruce buffer makes the official announcement, al gets his hand raised, he gets interviewed by joe rogan, and then his coaches, jack and race get to come into the cage

at first everyone things it’s a best friend or something, especially after the dap up bro hug things he gives his coaches and jack

but then albert sees race, and you can watch this boy’s face light up on the camera. then race throws his arms around albert’s neck and albert half lifts him off the ground in a hug around his waist and ok, sure, that’s not the most platonic thing you’ve ever seen, but that doesn’t prove anything

and then albert kisses race. like full, actual, on the mouth in front of all the cameras kiss. cause he doesn’t give a shit.

and nobody’s talking about his spinning back kick anymore, cause Holy Shit That Wasn’t Very Straight Of You Dasilva

but he doesn’t address it, cause every other fighter gets to kiss their wife or girlfriend or whatever in the cage after they win and nobody bats an eye, so why should it be any different for him and his boyfriend?

also, because it needs to be said, statistically there are ALREADY lgbtq+ male fighters in the ufc. like currently, in real life. they’re just not out publicly. the ufc has openly supported queer people’s rights in the past, and is partnered with 4 prominent HIV/AIDS awareness organizations. there is multiple openly queer women currently fighting in the ufc, including amanda nunes, who has been repeatedly called the greatest women’s fighter of all time. but as of right now, there is no openly mlm ufc fighters, so that would technically make albert the first. we love a trend setter. now back to what i’m supposed to be talking about djdhdbd

and eventually interviewers and fans on twitter realize that they’re only going to get one answer to vague questions about sexuality, which is “i’m dating a man and i fight people for a living. if that makes me a revolutionary, so be it bro.”

he includes race in a lot of his answers, especially in interviews where they ask more personal questions or grill him on his mental game, cause he loves race and thinks he deserves credit for everything he does to make al a better person and a better fighter

also, purely for my own entertainment, i think after he becomes champion (cause of course he does) he goes on the joe rogan podcast, and joe is pretty much the only one who gets albert to talk about any of it in a genuine way

he doesn’t get sarcasm or a blunt “can we talk about fighting, now?” like everyone else, he gets a real answer, cause that’s what albert came on to do anyway

he talks about getting together in highschool, and how it was race’s idea for him to start kickboxing in the first place, and what a fucking genius race is and how he’s getting his PhD right now, and how he didn’t want to talk about it cause he didn’t want to be the “gay fighter”, and how that’s a trivialization of his relationship with race and he refuses to let it be seen as anything but what it is, which is the best fucking thing that’s ever happened to him

just. Ugh. them <3

THIS POST IS SO LONG HOLY SHIT DHDHDHDH

anyway-

y e a h. albert dasilva would rock anyone’s shit. if i keep having thoughts about this i’ll make one about him becoming champion. thank you for your time ✨

also gonna tag @soaps-posts cause the brainrot is powerful so here you are my dear <3

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moth-based-cryptology · 3 years

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HELLO BESTIE I am currently having Ralbert Brainrot and you're the best person go come to for this, obviously,, so PLEASE share! I would like to hear about ufc albert or youtuber race, or dancing partners!! I love them smm

HI YES HELLO USING THIS AS AN EXCUSE TO WRITE UFC FIGHTER AL PART 2 THANKS BABES

i just witnessed a literal crime and i’m Feeling The Rage (boxing judges at mma events can catch these hands) so here is. my brain on anger.

also the first half of this is pretty fight-talk heavy but the second half is more al/ralbert central so message me/send me an ask if i don’t explain something well enough <3

here is the ask i sent to @we-are-inevitable (thanks jac i’m in love with you mwah) and here is part 1 for this au if you haven’t read that one yet !!

also,,,,, this is fairly obvious. but trigger warning for violence/physical fighting, as well as blood. (it’s a rough gig y’all fjdhdb) oh and swearing but that’s pretty much just me LMAO

here i am, bein mad and writing ralbert. therapy time with chandler ig

OK SO

this is after his debut. duh. continuation

i think he’s probably 5 fights in with 5 wins. he’s been running people through, especially with four full camps after a short notice start, and he’s never even seen a decision in the ufc

let’s just say the hype train is moving FAST and it’s moving LOUD

everyone has to have those people that watch their fights just to see them lose, on top of the majority male fan base that have to have a little bit of toxic masculinity and homophobia in there

so there’s A LOT of people that are waiting for him and his hype train to get derailed. but there’s also a fair amount of fans, so you win some you lose some (the way i would die to see this be a real fighter pls)

now albert’s not always the most confident guy, and he’s never been cocky, but none of this shit gets to him. he’s got his coaches, he’s got his friends and he’s got race behind him. he knows he’s got the skills, and he’s got his support system, so who gives a shit what a bunch of cowards on the internet have to say?

and then they put him against someone known for his grappling and stamina. and the “it’s a wrap for dasilva!” bandwagon starts. it happens every time a rising striker and early knockout artist fights a well known grappler with any semblance of later round power (even if al has a background in wrestling and has gone 5 rounds and won outside of the ufc. it’s a bandwagon for a reason)

and it’s not Upsetting, it’s not really getting into his head in any way that’ll make him do worse, but it’s kinda pissing him off. which is bad for his opponent

the last person on earth you want to be fighting is an annoyed albert dasilva who thinks he has something to prove

he works his ass off in camp, and the press tour is a self-assured albert vs. a loudmouth who thinks he’s hot shit cause a few people on twitter think he’ll sweep

and, to be completely honest? it’s starting to look that way 2 rounds in.

it’s a 5 round fight, co-main event on a big card, and so far all al’s opponent has done is pinned him to the cage and kept him there. a few strikes worth anything - at least enough make al’s cheek bleed, no takedowns, which would at least give him some activity, and so submission attempts, so he can’t even gain any ground that way. he’s just- Stuck. and if THIS is how he loses, he’s gonna be pissed

the bell for the second round sounds, and you can actually see al’s chest heaving on camera as he walks to his corner - not because he’s tired or out of breath, but because he’s MAD, and fuck if he’s not going to do something about it

not only that, but he can not only see race and jack standing up by the cage - plus race’s expression, which is slightly annoyed and super anxious, which hurts his chest to think about - but he can hear them too

jack is yelling profanities, as per usual. he doesn’t that regardless of how the fight is going, but it’s less encouraging when you’re the one losing.

race though,,,, race isn’t really yelling, he’s more talking to himself than anything, but he’s close enough to cage and al knows him well enough to figure out what he’s saying. and if the muttered almost-prayers while he paces back and forth weren’t enough, the shiny gold engagement ring on race’s hand definitely is

round 3,,,, let’s just say it goes a little differently than the first 2 had gone.

he opens with a spinning back kick, of all fucking things, and that truly sets the pace

he’s the taller guy by a few inches, like usual, which makes his arms longer. the only reason crushing his against the cage worked is cause the guy he’s fighting cuts weight like a wrestler, so he’s easily got 20 pounds on albert come fight night

but once he finds his rhythm and starts throwing, he starts connecting too. he manages to stay out of range of his opponent and stay his comfortable distance to start t-ing off

this isn’t a one punch power ending. this isn’t a beautiful head kick, or a giant knee, or even just a clean right hook.

this is albert, who’s arms are starting to feel the 3rd round a little bit, hitting this guy with everything he has cause he refuses to lose this fight.

i mean- everyone watched him get up at the start of the round with a set jaw and a scary determined glint in his eye. he’s not a person you fuck with, and he’s definitely not a person you publicly ridicule before being locked in a cage to fight with

the guy he’s fighting is absolutely battered, but he manages to survive until round 4. the first of the championship rounds, something al’s never seen in a ufc fight before, and it feels like the arena is holding its breath

so when al comes out and does the same thing as round 3 to better results - fight ending results - everyone’s a little shocked, honestly

the commentary team’s in disbelief, cause albert is NOT a slow starter, regardless of what this fight would tell you, and the fact he managed a win at all, let alone such a phenomenal one, is fucking astounding

he gets his hand raised, obviously, but the really interesting part is the post fight interview

“albert, man, what changed between round 2 and 3? what second gear did you find?”

“bro, i just— it was pissing me off, honestly. i don’t come in here to get pinned down for 25 minutes. and, y’know, my team gave me good advice. i had all the pieces, straight from the jump, someone just had to force me to put them in place…”

and then he looks over at race, who gives al one of those half grin, half smirks and winks at him, and al just chuckles to himself and finishes answering the question

“the thing that really forced my hand is race. i won’t get cheesy on you, but watching someone who loves and supports you through everything panic cause he’s scared for you - it’s a big motivator. everyone would figure out a lot more of my motivations if they went and watched race’s expressions back instead of whatever the hell i’m doing in here. he’s always been the brains, i’m just the brawn.”

and that’s a better answer than anyone was expecting, plus he’s just had the fight of a lifetime that’s probably earned him a title shot, so he’s done soon after that and gets to have his little in-cage celebration

he hugs his team and jack, who razzes him a little bit as per usual, and makes some dumb quip about going over tapes later like he’s a coach. and then comes race

he hugs him, all tender and cute and also very sweaty cause That’s How It Works, and the camera’s focused on him, so they can tell they’re whispering back and forth. but there’s no mics on them, so what’s said is missed entirely on the audience, but it’s their usual cheesy, in love mess

“congrats, baby. i’m proud of you.”

“oh please. it was 90% you anyway. i meant what i said, it wasn’t just for the cameras.”

“i know that. i’m gonna have to get you back somehow for telling everyone to go back and watch my awful anxious expression. i’ll think of something.”

“i’m sure you will, sweetheart.”

and then al does that awful, adorable lil nose bump thing, and then kisses race. and then jack covers his eyes and whines until they stop like the actual 12 year old boy he is inside

and then they leave the octagon, race and al holding hands, and al throws his arm over jack’s shoulder and shoves his head down and pushes him, cause even though he was just in a literal cage match he’s still a roughhousing teenager at heart

and he’s got interviews and press shit that separates him from his people, and he’s gotta slide that bulletproof mask back down over all the happy and in love shit he’s feeling so he can not smile like an idiot on camera constantly

but every once in awhile he’ll catch jack giving him the finger and laugh before returning it below view of the camera

or he’ll catch race’s eye from where he’s standing behind all the studio lights and do a little wave under the camera and return the wink from earlier, and the unbothered fighter facade will crack a little bit

but he’s not completely convinced that’s such a bad thing

GOD THIS POST IS SO MUCH LONGER THEN I MEANT IT TO BE IM SORRY

but Yeah. Them.

i love this au a helleva lot more than i should but that’s Fine cause i’ve got thoughts for days on it

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