#softball and baseball are two sports I just never got into quite as much

[problematicfanfics]

// rant

tldr; dad’s a pos and i wasted my time on shit no one cared about

softball was my absolute life from kindergarten up until two years ago (tenth grade) and my dad never gave a shit about me in the sport until he could extort it to gain some slight political power in my new area but he has literally paid over $1,000 for my sister to play the sport on various teams, gotten her various lessons, and spent it on equipment meanwhile i used to have to cry and scream in order for him to even think about driving me to a practice as a kid. i used to have to walk upwards of an hour+ with my catchers gear, gloves, balls, bat, etc (that i paid for all on my own) to get to my practices, or beg my teammates parents for rides to games. he nor my mom have once showed up to anything i played in (i played various sports and did many clubs throughout my school career), and i would always ask him to come throw a ball around with me or teach me to ride a bike or spend literally any time w me and he always refused. now this month long trip in greece he brought his and my sister’s glove to play softball. and didn’t bring mine. or tell me to bring mine. or like. anything. and i told my sister “go play with dad, he brought your gloves” and she said “well i didn’t fuckin ask him to”. bitch. i wouldve fucking KILLED for my dad to do that. i would STILL kill for my dad to do that. i WISH he would just come up to me and say “let’s go to the field” the way he does with her. it’s not fucking fair bro like. please i’m a star 😊😊😊🤣🤣🤣🤪🤪🤪🤩🤩🤩

i quit softball this year because i was ruining my mental health with it. i was absolutely demolishing myself for a sport no one gave a shit i played in. i spent my entire childhood playing so many sports and always dropped them for softball/baseball, it was always my priority. always my number 1. i had fucking dreams of playing D1 for colleges ever since i was a kid. but my cheapskate of a fucking father couldn’t be bothered to help me achieve anything. i’m so mad. i could’ve been doing something else with my fucking life. i literally spent 12 years busting my ass on this damn sport. and no one, not once, thought that with my drive and passion and dare i even say talent, i could do more. i had no options as a kid. and watching my sister, who was handed everything i wanted and more on a silver platter, throw all of it into the trash chute because she wants to be some basic white bitch, makes me wanna fucking rip my hair out. why don’t I get to be a basic white bitch? why don’t I get to play D1? why don’t I get to run around and do fuck all the way she got to? why did I have to play mom for 12 years of my life, never getting to pursue or do anything i wanted to do??

can i also say i suffer from fibromyalgia, a chronic pain disorder, and it’s something i was born with. so since i was 9 years old i’ve been screaming crying in pain every night and day desperately fighting through it because i just loved sports that much?? i quit catching because it was deteriorating my knees and there would be days after games where i couldn’t walk. my coaches played me less after i quit catching because they were mad at me for quitting since i was “the best catcher on the team” and decided to dig back at me like it was my choice?? like my physical and mental health wasn’t on the line? like it pains me to think i cant do physical activity anymore i love it so much but i walk to and from my classrooms and i want to break down from the pain. i’m so tired. i just want to be passionate about something again but every time i am i am just fucking hated on idk what i’m doing wrong

#problematicfanfics #ver's serious discussions

[lonita]

Batter Up

I wrote this years ago, and just found it on my harddrive. I have no idea when I wrote it though.

* * *

Every once in a while you come across someone who questions your love of baseball. "It's boring." "It's slow." "It's old." Sometimes, perhaps so. But so are most things in life. I'd love to wax poetic about the place in my heart occupied by baseball, but I think I'll just wax - with dander down instead of up.

Old? Maybe it is a game for old men, but it's one of the few sports that can be played by anyone, at any age - even the blind. Slow-pitch, softball, big league, little league, age 4, age 84. Anyone can play it, and you can play it to your grave if you can stand up. What a way to give someone a chance to participate. And when you can't play, you can teach.

The whisper of practice starting in March and April means that spring is close, and summer right around the corner. Even practice is a big draw for some baseball fans, and you don't see that happening a lot elsewhere. As one Eugene Michael Santiago puts it:

"Few sports draw such crowds for the first day of practice. What could be the reason for this? Nice weather and golf? No. The people come out because baseball - unlike any other sport - baseball becomes part of life, during the regular season. It isn't played once a week on a Sunday, it isn't played every two to three days like the NBA or NHL. Each team plays just about every day, from April to September."

You don't even have to watch baseball to get the thrill. Listening to it is just as much of a joy as watching it can be. There is an intoxicating (and I don't really mean that in the alcoholic sense) charm in a lazy summer afternoon in your backyard, with the tinny AM radio tuned to the local sports station's baseball coverage. There is comfort there, peace, relaxation. And that's the nice thing about baseball - the pace that offers the space and pause as much as the action. A game of baseball gives you a chance for camaraderie you can't acquire with the rapidity of hockey or basketball.

But the action? Oh, there is nothing quite like that clutch in your belly when the batter cracks the bat against that ball, and it goes sailing into the outfield. And you wait, hoping, wishing, pushing the ball to sail over the fence - and it does! That's one of the greatest mental adrenaline highs going. Even the action before, the private rituals made so public: the little dance a batter does before squaring himself to the plate. Fernando Valenzuela crossing himself and looking to the heavens. Scott Downs scribing the initials of his children into the dirt of the pitcher's mound before he throws.

For me, also, baseball is one of the few sports I can easily (and enjoyably) follow. My vision is poor, which precludes following rapid sports. I have no idea what's going on in a hockey game, or even football. Baseball though? I don't have to know where the ball is to know what's going on. I don't have to even see where the ball is. I just have to watch the guys on the ground. Is he lazily sauntering towards the 2nd baseline? Is he running in a panic to the left field foul? I know what's happening there. I was never into paying attention to the stats, but that's another thing about baseball that other sports can't match. You can read the stats of a game and the players and rebuild the game in your mind.

It was my grandfather who got me hooked. I think that, in some ways, is how one's love of a sport manifests most strongly, and also why it's sometimes difficult to explain why you love something - if it has become so ingrained a part of you that you can't imagine life devoid of it. I've been watching baseball since I was a small child, remembering classic '70s grudge matches between the Dodgers and the Yankees. I was a Dodgers fan even then. Now? The Phillies. I love me some Blue Jays as well. It's the closest thing to a home team I'm ever going to see around here. For my grandmother's 80th birthday, we sent her to a Blue Jays game and had them put a birthday wish to her up on the big screen. There's a photograph of the screen somewhere. All monies raised from such things go towards Blue Jay-sponsored charities.

So maybe a part of it is just habit. But perhaps it's also the promise of spring, summer afternoons, the relief of a long winter gone, the camaraderie of friends, some of the best sports movies going (I've got a big soft spot for "Major League" and Bob Uecker), the high of playoff games, and plenty of happy memories.

#baseball #journal

[i-am-robie]

Oi robie, do you watch women's professional softball?

Lol I don’t sorry!

#softball and baseball are two sports I just never got into quite as much #we can blame the Mariners breaking my fucking heart for my entire childhood #though perhaps the success of the UW huskies women’s softball program should have made up for it #what’s an anon #ask robie #not your regularly scheduled programming

[tooruluv]

Kei Tsukishima x F!Reader ( part 1 )

❝ they were the sun and moon, destined to be together but only ever totally meeting once every hundred years or so. ❞

description: in a world where you only see color when you're in love, you've grown frustrated of the greyscale. but falling in love with someone you barely know was never something you planned. and, him not returning the feelings definitely wasn’t planned.

genre: soulmate au... except not quite. everyone is born colorblind. you can only see color once you fall in love (and it grows brighter until you see full color as the love grows). however, that doesn't ensure a lasting connection. it simply means that love exists in that moment, until it doesn't.

word count: 1,855

warnings/notes: i would like to say that the "soulmate au but only when you're actually in love" thing is not my idea! i don't know who's idea it was, and i'm sure it was created by several people, but i just wanted to tell you all that i wish i was that creative but, unfortunately, i am not. so! i wanted to give credit where credit is do! moving on to the fic! <3 enjoy, loves

tag list: @vhskenma​ @elianetsantana​ @mini-eggs-reads​

| next

masterlist

“ you're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes off of you ” - can’t take my eyes off of you, frankie vallie

┏━━━━━⋇⋆⋆⋇❦⋇⋆⋆⋇━━━━━┓

Kei Tsukishima did not believe in falling in love. Sure, he believed in loving things, but being in love sounded absolutely ridiculous. The entire basis of love, relationships… it just never made any sense to him.

You, on the other hand, very well might have your heart placed on your sleeve. You had a million crushes, a constant new person in your focus. The thing was, you had never seen color.

Color only came to those who fell in love. Through those crushes, through those varying false relationships and games of spin the bottle and seven minutes in heaven, you had never actually fallen in love.

It was becoming frustrating.

While Tsukishima was perfectly content in living in a world without love, in the same greyscale life he had always known, while you were drowning trying to find someone to hang onto.

What strange friends you were.

Well, not friends, per say. But acquaintances for sure. A comfortable relationship between the two of you full of eye contact, your flirtations, and his constant coming into your coffee shop.

If we had to name a beginning, it started the first week of the summer.

You were working at a coffee shop, this little place called Blu. It was a simple corner shop, squished in between two other buildings. You just wanted a summer job to pass by time and get some money, nothing permanent.

Until, one day a tall boy with glasses walked into the place.

He looked bored out of his mind as his eyes scanned the menu above your head. He didn’t say anything when you greeted him (“Welcome to Blu! What can I get for you today?” in your best customer service voice), nor did he say anything when you handed him his coffee. He only spoke to you once, a monotone “I’ll take a black coffee” when he ordered.

You were absolutely infatuated.

One, because who orders a plain black coffee in the middle of the summer? And two, he was cute.

He had to be your age, you decided. Though most kids your age would never get a plain black coffee, and he was pretty tall, he had the youth you did. You just knew.

“Kei!” you called for his order. He didn’t even look into your eyes.

This was a repeat occurrence throughout the rest of the summer, every morning. Sometimes he would say something more, like add a little “Hello.” before ordering. Or he would steal glances at you, and there would be a staring contest for a moment or two.

Occasionally, he even muttered “thank you” when you handed him the mug. Call it what you want, but you called it “progress”.

One particular morning, he was dressed up. You didn’t know what for, you didn’t know much about him as it were, and all you could do was admire. He was stunning in a dark suit, the greyscale doing nothing but bring out how handsome he looked in it.

“Well, don’t you look ravishing today?” You flirted, already moving to get his black coffee. “The usual?”

He gave a small nod, not reacting to your compliment. He had his hands in his pockets, and a dangly earring in one ear.

“Well, here you go.” You handed him the mug. “One plain black coffee for Kei. Don’t spill it on yourself.”

“I would never.” He said. His voice was still monotone, but you caught it. A small quip in the corner of his lip. You almost got him to smile.

However, most mornings it was the same thing. He would come in, order a black coffee for “Kei”, and sit near the window and scroll through his phone through sips. You would watch as the sun created lighter greys along his skin and hair, you would watch as the glare gleamed off of his glasses.

Oh, how you wished you could see the color of his hair.

And, one day, you did.

It was a usual summer day. Autumn was approaching fast, so cool wind started to battle against the sun. But he came in nonetheless; Kei, with his black coffee. Except, this time was different.

“Welcome back, stranger.” You greeted, smiling as bright as you could. You didn’t even ask him what he wanted, you were already getting the black coffee ready behind the counter.

“I’ll take a black coffee.” he said, monotone and normal.

But, it wasn’t normal, not even the slightest bit. Because when you looked up to hand him his coffee, you were met with an array of colors.

You had to blink a few times, just to make sure that you were seeing what you were seeing. The colors were faded, newly forming, but they were still very much there. He had light yellow hair. No. “Blonde” was the word you were looking for.

He was frozen too, just standing there. But then you realized that you were just staring, his coffee in your hands. He must’ve thought you were insane.

“Kei, can I ask you something?” you asked, not wanting to hand him his drink yet. You weren’t one to let your questions go unanswered.

For a moment, he blinked at you. He definitely had to think you were insane. “What?”

“Do you see color?”

If you saw color as you looked at him, you hoped that maybe… maybe he saw color when he looked at you.

“No.”

Right. Of course not.

“Okay. Thanks! I was just wondering.” you handed him the mug, plastering a fake smile on your face (partly for the sake of customer service, and mainly to cover your disappointment). “Enjoy!”

He gave you one last look over, one last glance, before going to his usual spot by the window.

The thing was, you were hoping that he did. You know how ridiculous it sounded, being in love with someone who only spoke a couple of sentences to you. But you couldn’t deny that spending the entire summer excited to see that one person at work… it made sense that you would be.

You just weren’t expecting the colors to arrive right before you leave the job. The perfect time to fall for someone you will probably never see again once you leave and return to school and sports full-time.

Love really does come when you least expect it.

For the rest of that day, you spent your time finding as many colors as you could. You didn’t want it to go away, though it was a likely chance. The colors go away when the love does.

You had to look up what some of the colors were. It was strange to be taught the colors without ever seeing them, and your parents had explained how some colors look, but it was completely different. It was like each of them had their own feeling.

But, even then, you only witnessed the faded versions of those colors. The sky was a pale blue, hidden by the grey clouds. The grass was almost yellow, and the shop you worked at was a soft brown. Everything was still hidden by the greyscale you were accustomed to. And you couldn’t help but want to see more, see them in their full color.

Maybe falling completely and utterly in love would be an amazing thing.

It was comparable to the sun and moon, the relationship between you and Kei Tsukishima. You danced around each other, hoping to chase the light the other brought.

When you worked the next morning, your usual boy didn’t show up. Your eyes searched for him every time the small ding of the bell above the door announced someone entering. But it was never him.

Sighing, you ended your last shift there. Maybe you would come back as a customer, order a drink that has way too much sugar, and sit in his spot in hopes he would show up and sit with you. Or maybe you would run into him on your way out.

Or not.

As you hung up your apron for the last time, gave your manager your nametag and said your last goodbyes to your favorite coworkers, you accepted the fact that the colors would leave soon. They very well couldn’t stay if you end up falling out of love with a boy you would never see again.

It had been months.

Months, and the colors didn’t leave and didn’t grow any brighter. You were stuck in a world where everything was filtered to be faded, and you were growing annoyed.

“Just fucking go away already.” you spoke to the universe.

You would rather live in a world without color than live in a world of almost.

“Everyone!” Daichi called for the team to join him. They obeyed. “Now that Coach Ukai is our official coach, he’s come up with an idea. I think it’s pretty good, so hear him out.” Daichi announced. He turned to their coach, letting him speak.

“Alright, guys.” Ukai crossed his arms. “We have some tournaments this weekend. So do some of the other sports teams, specifically the girls volleyball teams and the softball and baseball teams.”

Tsukki was bored. What did softball and baseball have to do with volleyball? Their season isn’t for months, anyway. They have plenty of time before actual games.

“So, I’ve talked with the softball and baseball coaches and they think that it’s a good idea for us to team up for some fundraising things the next couple of weeks so we can get buses.” Ukai explained. “And, on top of that, someone from the softball team said that they would help us with volleyball practices after softball, since we typically end later than they do.”

“Wait, softball?” Tanaka gaped. “So a girl’s gonna be helping us?”

“A girl already does help us, dumbass.” Tsukki rolled his eyes. Kiyoko did too, but subtly.

“Yeah, she’ll be here in a couple of minutes so I wanted to give a warning.” Ukai said. “She’s in her first year, too, but I expect respect. Alright, now that that’s out of the way, let’s get on with practice.”

Okay, cool. Now back to practice. The reason they’re there to begin with.

They practiced for a bit, going through drills and did a bit of half-assed running (which Tsukki still never understood, why would he have to run miles if he’s just a blocker?). Until a girl walked in.

It was you.

You were here, at Karasuno, at his practice.

You walked in, still in your softball practice uniform. Every time that he had seen you during the summer, you never had your hair down. But, when you walked into the gym and greeted Coach Ukai with a smile, your hair was down and messy from the wind.

Everyone else had noticed Tsukki had stopped in his tracks and dropped what they were doing, turning their heads to see what he was looking. Or rather, who. Now you had the entire team’s attention.

That was when you caught his eye.

His breathing stopped. And so did yours.

#anime #manga #haikyuu #haikyu #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x you #haikyuu one shots #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu headcannons #haikyuu angst #haikyu x reader #haikyu x you #haikyu one shots #haikyu imagines #haikyu headcannons #haikyu angst #kei tsukishima #kei tsukishima x reader #kei tsukishima x you #tsukishima #tsukishima x reader #tsukishima x you #tsukishima kei #tsukishima kei x reader #tsukishima kei x you #tsukki #haikyuu tsukki #haikyuu tsukki x reader #tsukki x reader #tsukki x you

[oboevallis]

In “hungry” Links parents haven’t met scout yet. So I’m here to ask if you could maybe write about that. Tysm

hungry pt 2

lol idk what this is my apologies, i hope everyone is doing well and staying safe :)

“Hey.” Link whispered slightly shaking his girlfriend to wake her up. “I’m going to the airport I’ll be back soon.”

“What? Why?” Amelia groggily asked.

“I’m picking up my parents.”

“Ugh.”

“I thought you were excited for them to come?” Link chuckled at his exhausted girlfriend.

“Scout was up all night. I’ve barely had any sleep and the house is a mess.”

“They’re not gonna care about the house being a mess. They’re staying in a hotel anyway.” He moved her hair behind her ear so it wasn’t obstructing her vision.

“Well I care.”

“You don’t need to.”

“Is the baby awake yet?”

“Nope, out like a light. He must be exhausted after last night.”

“I’m exhausted after last night.” She emphasized turning her face into her pillow.

________________________________________

“I can’t believe my baby’s had a baby. It’s so good to see you Link.” Maureen smiled as she hugged her son tightly.

“You too.” He reciprocated the hug, he was grateful they were starting to repair their relationship. “Let me get your bags.”

“I’ve got them.” Eric affirmed as he put the bags into his sons car.

“So how’s the baby been?” Maureen asked once everyone was settled in the car.

“He’s good. Won’t let us sleep though.”

“I remember getting so worried because I thought you were sleeping too much.”His mother reminisced. “Scout must get that from Amelia, you were always out like a light”

“Yeah, that’s what her mom said. Amelia was a difficult baby, her siblings were always good sleepers apparently.” Link chuckled recalling the conversation they had with her mother.

“How many siblings does she have?” Eric asked curiously, they didn’t know much about the woman as they had only met her once for about a half hour. And Link was pretty private about his life.

“She has three sisters and a brother.”

“Wow that’s a big family.” Maureen stated surprised, their family had always been tiny with just the three of them and then they broke up making it smaller. “Does she want to have a family like that?”

“We haven’t really talked about it. We’re just focused on Scout right now.”

“You two don’t seem to be planners anyway.” Eric chuckled.

“That’s factual.” Link chuckled as he pulled up to the hotel. “So I’ll be back in about an hour? Is that alright?”

“That’ll be just fine.” Maureen kissed her sons cheek and got out of the car with her husband.

_______________________________________

When Link got back to the apartment he realized his girlfriend was still asleep. He smirked at the sight, glad she was getting sleep. She always insisted on being the one to check on him while he was crying, he assumed it was because she was always on high alert worried she’d lose another baby. She’d recently agreed to see a therapist and they were working through her anxieties. He walked into his sons room to see him still fast asleep.

“Ah, your a good boy. You let your mommy get some sleep.” The boys father grazed his hand across the baby’s face to wake him up. The boy whined a bit, irritated to be woken up.

Link carefully picked his son up and completed his morning routine, getting him ready to spend time with his parents. He checked on his girlfriend one last time to see her still fast asleep, the sight making him smile. He walked towards the door and threw the diaper bag over his shoulder while he held his son with his other arm.

“I feel like we’re forgetting something. Are we forgetting something?” He asked the baby who was happily babbling reaching out for his fathers chin. “I’m taking that as a no. We’re not forgetting anything.”

He situated his son in his car seat, and made his way over to the hotel. Looking through the rear view mirror he saw his son reaching for his feet, his sons innocence and curiosity always brought a smile to his face. He pulled up to the hotel where his parents were already outside waiting.

“This must be Scout.” Maureen cooed as she sat in the backseat so she could be next to her grandson. “He’s adorable Link.”

“Where’s Amelia?” Eric asked as he got into the passenger seat beside his son.

“When I got home she was out like a light. I thought it’d be best to let her get some sleep, she hasn’t slept like this in a long time.”

“Do you guys take shifts taking care of the baby?” Maureen asked as she played with the baby’s feet, which caused him to shriek with laughter.

“We try, doesn’t always end up working though. Anytime the baby wakes up she wakes up, and even if it’s my shift she ends up following me. And whenever it’s her shift I come to make sure she’s okay.”

“What’d you do to make her not trust you with the baby?” Eric chuckled, he imagined his son did something immature to make his girlfriend mad at him.

“Oh, no it’s not that. She’s just worried somethings gonna happen to him. Her anxieties are dying down a bit though.”

“When your a parent you’ll never stop being worried.” Maureen informed her son. “I still worry over you. And your all grown up and have a baby of your own.”

“Yeah starting to realize that never really goes away.” The ortho surgeon nervously said as he parked the car.

_______________________________________

“This little guy seems to love sports.” Eric laughed looking at the baby who was mesmerized by a softball game going on in the park.

“Much to Amelia’s dismay.” Link laughed thinking about all the times she told him she didn’t want their son participating in any sport that could cause brain damage. “The poor kid will probably be walking to school with a helmet on.”

“I don’t blame her. I remember how enraged I was at your father for signing you up for baseball.” Maureen said whilst looking at her husband.

“What?” Eric asked holding his hands up defensively. “The kid loved baseball. Still does actually.”

“Yeah, I’m so excited to take this guy to his first baseball game.” Link smiled at his son who was being cuddled by his grandmother.

“You were about five when we took you to your first game. You were so excited you nearly passed out before we got into the stadium.” Eric laughed at the fond memory. Link could vividly remember that game, the Mariners had won. The fussy baby taking everyone out of their thoughts.

“I’ll take him.” Link held out his hands for his mother to pass him the baby. As he held the baby he was digging through the diaper bag looking for a bottle, it was his usual feeding time. “Crap, crap, crap.”

“What’s the matter?” Eric asked surprised in the change of his sons demeanor.

“I forgot his bottle. I knew I was forgetting something before we left.” Link and his parents stood up collecting their stuff to take to the car.

_______________________________________

“Did you forget something?” Amelia asked holding up a baby bottle that he assumed she had just pumped.

“Yes.” Link admitted with embarrassment as he walked into their apartment with their crying baby.

“Eric and Maureen, it’s very nice to see you again.” Amelia greeted politely, as she took the baby from her boyfriend.

“You as well.” Maureen smiled as her son lead them to the couch. “You guys have a gorgeous home.”

“Link over here, decorated it all himself. Also a bunch of DIY projects.” Amelia chuckled raising her eyebrows at him, she’d never let him forget the time he made her walk around Home Goods and Lowe’s for hours while she was heavily pregnant.

“Yeah sorry about that.” Link knew what she was implying. “I made her walk around a bunch of different stores while she was heavily pregnant. She was not interested to say the least.”

“I could’ve cared less of what you did with the apartment, you were so insistent that I’d vouch an opinion though.”

“And you were no help at all! You just kept saying ‘I don’t care whatever you want’ it was very irritating.”

“Well I had to give you a hard time considering you want let me get another soft pretzel.” The older couple smiled at one another, it warmed their heart to see the couple bicker with one another as though they were an old married couple. Link simply shook his head in disbelief and sat down on the couch wrapping his arm around his girlfriends shoulder as she fed their son.

“How are you guys doing?” Amelia asked suddenly embarrassed for not asking sooner and forgetting they were there for a minute while she was engrossed in conversation with her boyfriend.

“We’ve been good, we’ve been so excited to meet Scout. He’s absolutely adorable.” Maureen answered. “Has your mom met him yet?”

“Not yet, she lives in New York.” Amelia answered, she suddenly felt like she was in an interrogation.

“We’re planning on going to New York to spend Christmas with her family.” Link smiled, he was quite excited to meet her family properly. Amelia was the opposite, she still had a few months to convince him that they shouldn’t go.

“New York is quite the trip away from Seattle, how’d you end up here?” Eric asked curiously he wanted to know more about his sons girlfriend as Link usually kept it generic.

“My brother offered me a job here, but I was in LA prior.”

“So was Link, I’m surprised you two never bumped into each other.” Maureen added surprised to hear.

“Well Mom, she was working at a medial practice, I was working at a bike shop.”

“Oh right.” Maureen nodded sadly, that was one of the darkest places she’s ever seen her son. “I’m sure all Link does in his free time is play his guitar, do you play any instruments Amelia?”

“I don’t actually, I love listening to Link play though. I think it’d be nice if Scout played an instrument, I wouldn’t want to force him or anything. I just think it’d be much better than a sport.”

“I feel that, when Link started to play baseball I was terrified, especially after his cancer I just wanted to wrap him up in bubble wrap.” The couples kept with the small talk and started to learn more about one another. Amelia eventually went to put the baby to bed, while Link drove his parents to the hotel.

“I’ll meet you upstairs Maureen.” His wife nodded and wished her son good night before heading into the hotel. He dug into his pocket before passing a ring box to his son.

“Is this grandma’s ring?” Link asked as he opened up the box.

“It is. After seeing you and Amelia today I realized you really love her. This isn’t you staying out of obligation, I’ve never seen you like this over a girl.”

“Cause I haven’t been. Amelia, she drives me crazy but I can’t imagine my life without her. It’s crazy how much I love her and our son.” Link told his father as he looked at the ring. “Are you sure? I mean this was your moms ring.”

“I’m sure. Doesn’t have to be now, but eventually. She’s the one.”

“Thank you dad.” Link brought his father into an awkward hug over the cars console.

#amelia shepherd #amelink #atticus lincoln #baby amelink #greys anatomy #greysanatomy #greys fanfic #eric lincoln #marueen lincoln

[seiin-translations]

2.43 S1 Chapter 3.3 - The Dog’s View and the Giraffe’s View

3. OLD BUDDY

Aoki’s 1000 IQ mind is hinted at here

Also what are the main tags for this fandom???

Translation Notes

1. Pun on Oda’s name. Here the “Shin” is 神 (god) instead of “伸” which is the first kanji in Oda’s first name

2. Okuma’s name 大隈 shares the same pronunciation as 大熊 which means “big bear”

3. The 伸 in Oda’s first name means “lengthen” or “extend”

Previous || Index || Next

“Odaaaa! I’m beggin’ you, play futsal. You can definitely be in the amateur bracket on a pro level.”

“Odacchi! Why aren’t you doing softball? You’re even more reliable than our regular shortstop. Oh, don’t be so modest. I’m not kissing your ass. What’s the point of that?”

“Oda, why volleyball of all things?”

“You don’t have to play volleyball.”

“Oda! No, Oda-Shin!” (1)

The seasons changed, and it was now midway through June. In this rainy season, Oda shook off the group of male scouts who were wearing mud-stained uniforms and jerseys and hot on his heels, and took refuge in the student council room. It sounded good for those who called it a June tradition, but for those who were targeted, it was just a dirty thing.

“I’m comin’ in. Let me hide out a little here.”

Aoki, who seemed too tall for his own good as he tucked himself on a folding chair and stared at documents, looked up. The sign reading “Vice President” stood on one corner of the desks arranged in a square.

“Oh. I can hear it from all the way in here. You’re a popular guy.”

“The member list has already been turned in. I don’t know if they’ve been told by now. Even if they didn’t, I don’t feel like doing anything other than volleyball.”

“Well, no need to be so hard on them. You should be happy that they value you so much.”

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate it…I only dabbled with soccer and baseball in gym. I seriously don’t know why people are giving me so much credit.”

“Is that different from not being aware of your own ability?”

“If it’s volleyball ability, I’m more than aware of it.”

Hearing such a servile and submissive line from himself, he immediately regretted it right after he said it. Aoki was silent for only a moment while looking down at the papers.

“…Did you see who will be participating in volleyball? A whole bunch of stuff came out just now.”

He changed the topic, acting as though he hadn’t heard anything. I’m never a match for how he reads too much into things.

He pulled up the chair that was diagonally across from Aoki, the corner of the desk between them. In addition to him, there were only a pair of underclassmen officers sitting in the corner working on something.

The main event organized by the student council in the first semester, the Seiin Ballgame Festival, was coming in two weeks. The boys’ volleyball team were futilely eliminated from prefecturals at the beginning of the month, and the road to Inter-High and Nationals had just closed. Another one of the three major national championships was the “Spring Inter-High Volleyball” in January. The ballgame tournament during this period was by all rights nothing but a nuisance to their club activities, because they had to restart immediately to prepare for the prefectural qualifiers in September, right after summer vacation.

But for this year, he felt that this cushion was appreciated. He was practicing as usual, but he couldn’t quite switch gears. The handout distributed in class right after the prefecturals was undoubtedly one of the reasons. He had stuffed that handout with the title “Second Future Course Survey” into his locker without filling it in.

“It’s gonna be interesting this year.”

Aoki was handed a clipboard that holding several sheets of paper. It was the list of names for each event in the ballgame tournament.

“The ones with the double circles are pros.”

“Pro” of course didn’t mean pro athletes. It was the internal term for this ballgame tournament that referred to those who belonged to the corresponding sports club for each event. The maximum number of pros was set at three people for each team. The antonym of pro was “amateur”, and those who had experience in middle school or dropped out of their clubs were sometimes called “semi-pro.”

Classes A to F were divided vertically through the grades for a total of six teams. A supreme general would be nominated from the third-years of each team, and they would compete for overall victory with the total points from all the events. Since the captains of the main sports clubs were luckily scattered across the different classes, it was an event that got somewhat heated with the power struggles between the sports clubs.

He viewed the boys’ volleyball participant roster in order, starting from Team A. Team A didn’t have the double circle—for softball and futsal, where there were many qualifying members, there was competition among the members for the pro slots, but sadly for their division, they actually fell short of the number of slots.

“Oh, B’s got a killing.”

Team B also didn’t have any double circles, but when he looked at the remarks column, he saw that there was an awful lot of rugby team members. “So, are these remarks self-reported?” “No, the executive committee collected it, but the tally was a bit late.” “You’re spending a lot of energy on unnecessary things.” “You think so? Information gathering is fun, though.” In the remarks column, in addition to the current club the student belonged to, information such as their club activities in middle school and outstanding results in the school physical fitness test were added. If one were to see this list without knowing Aoki’s character, one might be a bit horrified.

The rugby player called Okuma of Class 2-B had a face and name that matched (he thought it was “大熊” (2), but he guessed those were the actual characters). At the level of a ballgame tournament, just having a big guy in front of the net was effective to some extent. Three rugby players over 180 centimeters in the front row might be a rather formidable opponent.

Next, Team C had three double circles in a row—3-C’s Aoki Misao ◎, 2-C’s Kanno Akito ◎, and 1-C’s Kuroba Yuni ◎.

“…What’s with this bias? Isn’t this all-star team against the rules?”

“It’s no more than three. That’s not against the rules.” Aoki said carefreely. “It’s just a coincidence that there are three people in C class this year. I didn’t manipulate that, so I don’t need you complaining about it.” Isn’t that an implicit admission that he manipulated in the other cases?

“Well, worst case scenario, I might drop out. I also got work on the management side. I’ll leave it to Kanno to cover for Kuroba.”

“Don’t drop out. It’ll be boring without you.”

When Oda said that without missing a beat, Aoki looked at him with slightly widened eyes. That unconcerned attitude of Aoki’s always irritated him for an instant.

“It’ll be interesting…We’ll definitely beat you.”

He declared provocatively. Aoki smirked from the corner of his mouth.

“We’re not going to go easy on you, you know?”

“Of course. If you hold back even just a little bit, then I’m never going to talk to you again.”

“Aw, come on, give me a break.”

Aoki was 193 centimeters, Kanno was 181 centimeters, and Kuroba was 184 centimeters. Oda remembered everyone’s numbers, which were filled out on the entry sheet for the most recent tournament. Aoki, who would undoubtedly be the tallest of all the participants in the boys’ volleyball division, was the center, and Kanno, who had a good balance between offense and defense, was placed on the side. Kuroba was still quite inconsistent and capricious, but as long as he went with the flow, he would display outstanding offensive power.

The ballgame tournament was like an escape for his feelings, and he was more of a passive participant than anything, but…he was getting a bit excited. For a small club with eight members, they could do a four-to-four minigame at most, not being able to do a proper intragroup game. Even if it included amateurs, under the rules of a proper six-person system, they can compete with that lineup. There was no other opportunity like this.

The problem was the strength of his own team, but if they had someone who they could use even just a little…he skimmed past the next two teams, D and E, to finally reach the F team he would be leading. At the top of the list was Oda Shinichiro ◎ of 3-F. About four people were chosen from each grade below, but there were no double circles besides Oda. Compared to Team C, he couldn’t help but feel discouraged.

“…Haijima?”

That name was there.

Haijima Kimichika of 1-F. He of course didn’t have the double circle.

When he looked up from the list, Aoki nodded as if to say you finally noticed that? It seemed that this was the climax of “it’s gonna be interesting.”

“I didn’t think he’d choose volleyball. Wonder what brought that on. He’s been running away from you ever since that thing happened.”

“He’s not running away from me, and wasn’t that thing because of your assault?”

“I told you, it wasn’t assault. I was just telling him to be a little more careful about how he should speak to third-years.”

“With your foot?”

“Well, the foot was unintentional.” What’s the definition of assault where you do that and don’t call it assault?

After the incident in early April of the new school year in which Aoki kicked Haijima’s butt hard, every time they happened to catch sight of each other in school, Haijima was the one who acted casual…From our point of view, it’s blatantly obvious that he’s changing his route and escaping. He was big, so he could be recognized immediately even from a distance, but he wondered if he didn’t know he stood out. If you’re just unconsciously enjoying the benefits of that height, give it to me…He thought. Even here, his desire as a captain to have Haijima on the team and his personal feelings of jealousy mixed with each other.

The first practice day for Team F was next Monday. After one week of team practice, the ballgame tournament would arrive.

“I wonder if he’s gonna come.” What kind of face would he have if he came?

“Well, he might be the type who shamelessly comes with a face that says ‘My friend signed me up for an audition without asking me.’”

“Oi oi, that’s harsh…”

Contrary to his gentle appearance, Aoki had quite a sharp tongue. According to him, he had a principle of not holding back what he wanted to say and not doing what he didn’t want to do. But if you asked Oda, there was a part of him that thought, Is that so? Are you saying everything you wanted to say to me?

“…Hey, you already handed that in, right? The future course thing…”

Even if he thought it was better to think about it later, it got stuck in his head for a long time. There were invisible pebbles strewn about. It felt like those pebbles were plugging up the holes where energy was spouting out from.

Since it was the second future course survey, there was a first one as well, but at that time there was only the choices of literature or science and national or private schools. However, this time there was a column for writing your specific university of choice. For the time being, since this was a university prep school, there was hardly anyone who chose to find a job or go to a vocational school.

There was a pause, as though the sudden topic had caught him off guard, but Aoki’s tone didn’t change when he opened his mouth.

“Oh, not yet. I haven’t decided yet.”

It was a shock to be lied to. You were the one who already handed it in. I asked while knowing it, actually.

However, all he said was, “…I see. Well, you’ve still got time.”

The rumor had also spread to Oda’s class. First choice, the Kyoto University’s faculty of law—Apparently, there was someone who peeked at Aoki’s handout that had been handed into the staff room. Who would have thought it’d be Kyodai? He was shocked that he was that smart. No, I knew that, but still.

It was at that time that he had the belated realization that until that point, he almost never talked to Aoki about anything other than volleyball. We’ve seen each other almost every day for more than two years, so isn’t that pretty weird? In the first place, volleyball was the only thing they had in common. Except volleyball, their interests didn’t intersect at all (to be precise, volleyball was Oda’s only interest). Oda only ever brought up volleyball and never asked Aoki what his interests were, or what he wanted to do in the future.

I mean, Kyodai? Supposing that we won the prefectural representative rights for Spring Inter-High, you couldn’t retire until the main tournament in January. Even if you studied for the entrance exam in your spare time while you’re not doing club activities, will you be able to get into law school at Kyoto University? ——He only thought those things and couldn’t say it aloud. Because, what would he do if Aoki announced that he was going to prioritize entrance exams and retire? He probably couldn’t see him out quietly. He felt like imposing his own convenience and telling that he couldn’t retire because they barely had enough members. No, I’m sure Aoki will prolong his retirement as long as he can and stick with me. But, that only increased his debt to him.

Hey, how do you feel about being stuck with me? If you take away volleyball, then I’m just a boring person.

“Hey, do you…enjoy being with me?”

“What?”

He sounded half-crazy, as expected. He felt like it was an extremely sissy question and wanted to crawl into a hole.

“Ah…what’s wrong, Shin? You’re acting weird.”

“Weird?”

Apparently, it was weird for him to worry about anything other than volleyball. Even he himself thought so. As far as his path after high school was concerned, he could cite a number of intercollegiate powerhouse universities he was interested in as long as it was volleyball-related. But he was at a loss as soon as he stepped away from volleyball. He wondered if he lost in the Spring Inter-High qualifiers and retired, he would finally have to find something else he wanted to do, and though it was impossible to assume that they would fail the qualifiers, the idle thought flashed across his mind. Though he still only wanted to think about volleyball right now, his mind was too distracted to focus on one thing. If anything, the time when he couldn’t only think about volleyball has arrived.

Bzzzz, the seat of the chair beneath Aoki started vibrating. “Mm, ‘scuse me,” Aoki put his hand on his behind. His hand that was as long and thin as his physique operated his phone.

“Geh, a summons text from the president. I gotta go.”

“I’m going back too. Sorry to bother you when you’re so busy.”

“Yeah, but our conversation—”

“No, no, it’s done.”

He didn’t think he was convinced, but Aoki didn’t try to dig in any further, putting his phone away and got up as Oda stood. When they stood in a line, Aoki’s shoulders would be what was in his line of sight. It was somewhat easier when they were looking at each other, but the fact that he had become accustomed to the gap in their lines of sight made him feel mixed feelings in its own way.

Oda was 163 centimeters tall. The difference in height between him and Aoki was exactly twenty centimeters. The gap hadn’t been filled at all since he entered high school. He sometimes hated that his parents really named him Shinichiro. (3)

163 centimeters was barely taller than the average height of a typical girl, and while having a small build meant having a small build, he wasn’t extremely small. In other sports, there were plenty of male athletes in the 160 centimeter range who flourished in international competitions.

But for a volleyball player, and furthermore for an attacker, it was a fatally insufficient height. Even if he could manage it in high school, it would never work beyond university. He hadn’t told anyone yet that he was going to play volleyball until high school, but he was seeing the end in himself.

Why volleyball of all things?

But…there’s only one reason for that, isn’t there?

Previous || Index || Next

#2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu #2.43 book 1 #2.43 translation #2.43 #2.43: seiin high school boys volleyball club

[annsoutlook]

Identity at an Athletic College

I go to a college that is 50-70% athletes. Also mind you it’s a D3 school with only 1,800 students. I don’t play on any sports teams so I am one of the weird ones. Before I started my freshman year I got a job filming for the football team. It was fun that fall. I helped with basketball that winter, it helped me make some friends and gave me something to do. Covid hit that spring so I didn’t do a spring season with them. My bosses were nice and treated me like I was their niece. Things changed when I came back this past fall as a sophomore. All the coaches I worked with left and it left me to run the film. I trained my new bosses and new filmers because I was also the only filmer to return to the team. 

The fall season was okay. I got to travel which I loved, it was nice to get out of town and see other colleges. Me and one of the coaches butted heads a little bit. He just graduated from a D1 school where he worked for their team. So only a 3 year age difference. I didn’t have as much respect for him than the others. Not because he is a bad person it’s just hard to call someone “sir” when they are your age. During the fall I hinted that I wanted to step away from film and be more of a coaches assistant. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to coach mainly because I have never played and have never been in a coaching role before. I wanted to be the behind the scenes person, equipment, travel, recruitment, etc, is the path I wanted to take. Our 3 game season ended, they were just scrimmages because all D3 schools decided to do a spring season due to COVID. Winter was great. I worked basketball games as the bookkeeper for most varsity and JV games, men’s and women’s. I loved it. Especially when I could boss around the men player cause the players on my school's men’s team needed to loosen their ego. Having a 5 foot 4 small spunky girl who let nothing slide brought that. 

Spring came. I never expected what happened. My grades were fantastic but work was killing me. I never could reach their expectations. When something broke I had to fix it. I never got a day off, and having 6 am practices Tuesday through Friday was a lot. If I accidentally overslept or even sick and missed practice I would get chewed out. If someone else did, nothing happened. I confronted them right before the games started. I said I felt used and not appreciated for all the time I put into the team. I didn’t want to believe the reason was because I am a girl. I had one rule with the team, when we travel I sit alone, with a player or coach I trust, or with the other filmer. Pretty reasonable. Especially since I was almost assaulted by a football player in high school on a bus when I was an athletic trainer assistant. 

After the “confrontation” it didn’t get better it got worse. Other filmers left, leaving me and one other girl for a few weeks. I came home fuming after every practice. The season ended last week. The team and coaches don’t know this but I won’t be coming back in the fall. The team won’t care, I’m just the girl in the press box with the camera. Not gonna lie, them not knowing my name or not ever saying thank you hurts. I feel bad for the coaches because they are losing a “trustworthy person.” 

I am conflicted though. I have no true identity here. I was the girl who worked with the football team but now what? I want to work with a team again and a men’s team at that. I work better with guys than girls, it’s just the way my personality is. I am either thinking a hockey team (we have 4 different guys teams) or one of the two baseball teams (NCAA or club). I love both sports. I would prefer baseball because I grew up loving the sport. Playing catch with my dad ever since I could remember. I played softball for a few years in late elementary school but stopped. I was a catcher and an outfielder, I loved catching, I am not a good batter though. Even after I quit, I always begged my dad to play catch with me for years and still do. We started using a baseball when I was 14 I think. Not gonna lie I have a pretty good arm, not for pitching but I can hurl it pretty well. 

I am hoping I can help a baseball team in the fall, whether club or NCAA. But without helping a team, who am I? I don’t have very many friends. Spend most weekends alone. I have 2 years left and everyone says college is the best years of your life. I need to break out of my shell. But how? I feel like a blob surrounded by people who know who they are. I have a summer to think about it, maybe that will help. The future is unknown but I am curious to see what it brings. 

#college #athletic #sports #football #blog #college student #identity

[swimmingnewsie]

Of Coffee and Cookies- Chapter 17

Link to AO3 

---

“Come on, slowpokes! We’re going to be late!”

Elsa couldn’t help but laugh as her little sister rushed ahead, running and tumbling through the streets. Though admittedly it still made Elsa nervous, parkour was an active part of Anna's life now- a part that made Anna happier than she had in months. The pure joy on Anna’s face as she swung around on dubiously strong light fixtures was worth the minor scrapes and bruises she helped fix up at the end of the day.

“Oh no you don’t!”

She shook her head as both Kristoff and Ryder ran ahead as well. They had gotten so competitive in the wake of Anna’s newfound strength, always wanting to race when given the opportunity. It left some sense of normalcy that had been gone for the longest while. But unlike her companions, she felt no reason to rush. Softball had nine innings after all; it was okay to take her time.The warm spring sun felt perfect on her face, a light breeze bringing her peace and clarity of mind.

As April turned to May, the weather wasn’t the only thing that was improving. After her night in the emergency room, things changed quickly for Elsa. Berkeley Behavioral Health had ordered a genetic test for her, one that tested the compatibility of antidepressants with her body. And after years of the wrong medication, Elsa finally had something that worked. Between that and exercise and the increased sessions with her therapist, the highs felt good again and the lows weren’t as scary. It was incredible what just a few small changes made.

She felt better than she had in years.

She could work again. Her responsibilities were still stressful; her students still emailed her at two in the morning over their exam results or advice for their papers; her dissertation was still a mess. But the mess was manageable now. Nights that might have otherwise been lost to crying and sleeplessness had turned into only an hour or two of distress. The chains on her mind had loosened, not broken, but there was space to breathe again. Space for fun. Space for life. And to her greatest joy, space for Honeymaren, who had been by her side the whole time, even when things were tiring or frustrating or upsetting.

Elsa could finally repay her for the previous months in gentle kisses and sweet love. She could be there for all the little moments they had missed before: rubbing soft circles in her back as she lamented the awful PTA meetings she was forced to attend; holding her as she told her about the awful phones calls she had to make that day; smiling as her love got excited over a lacrosse match. Or in this moment, getting to watch the middle school softball team she had heard so much about at night.

The sound of a ball clinking against a bat drew her attention from her thoughts. The faint sound of cheering followed, unconsciously quickening Elsa’s steps towards the small field.

The stands were relatively empty, not that Elsa truly expected much different. It was a sixth grade softball game in the middle of Thursday afternoon; parents were the target demographic. But even for the light crowd, the kids in the dugout certainly filled the field with energy and excitement.

Well at least the kids on the opposite team. Maren’s girls for the most part, bless their hearts, were terrified of the ball. And being a home game, it would take a while to get past the top of the inning.

“Come on, Janie! You can do it! Strike them out!” Maren cheered enthusiastically from the side. Elsa couldn’t help but blush; Maren looked good in her coaching uniform, highlighting more than her authoritative attitude. She couldn’t help but stare at her-

“Quit gawking at your girlfriend! There’s baseball happening here!” Anna shouted from above her.

Elsa laughed, racing up the bleachers to her sister. “You stinker!” she teased, tussling her sister’s hair. “I’ll get you back for that.”

Anna laughed in return. "I'm not the one eye-fucking my girlfriend at a children's sporting event."

"Anna, language!" she jabbed before any of the parents could do the same.

Anna rolled her eyes before looking at Kristoff and Ryder. "Am I wrong?"

Ryder shook his head laughing. "Sorry, sis. I'm asexual as they come and even I can tell that's what you were thinking."

"You've never been exactly subtle, Els," Kristoff chuckled, only causing Elsa to blush more heavily.

Elsa glared at him. It was good natured, but she would kill for the teasing to end."Hush up and watch the game."

"As you wish, your majesty."

---

"Eye on the ball doesn't mean it's gonna hit you! You can do it, Megs!" Ryder shouted from the stands.

Even he had to admit, this year's team wasn't the easiest to cheer for. The girls were quite timid and afraid, especially of the spherical object that ran the game. But, dutiful brother and occasional waterboy, he would cheer them on day in and day out. Even if they hadn't scored in four games.

"I'm sorry, Coach's Brother!" A dejected preteen shouted back after striking out.

"It's okay, kid! You'll get it next time!"

Ryder sat back down, resting between two bleachers. The innings were moving slowly, but at least they were moving. He looked to the field changing and then to his friends around him. Maren was high-fiving her students, making any attempt to bring their spirits up. Elsa on the other hand was still eyeing his sister, with Anna not so slyly taking embarrassing pictures. And then there was Kris.

Kris was engrossed in something, flustered by something on his phone. It was cute, the way that he bit his lip and scrunched his brow. "You know the baseball's up here," he teased, poking his ex-boyfriend on the shoulder.

“Sorry,” Kris sighed, putting his phone down. “Guess I’m a bit distracted is all.”

Ryder huffed, looking back at their friends. “Seems you aren’t the only one. But I think I’m better to help you than them, don’t you think?”

“Maybe.” He stretched his back, smiling at the satisfying crack. “Just looking at jobs, but I- I feel conflicted.”

“What over, find something better than baristaing?” Ryder teased lightly. “You’ve been applying for weeks, did you get a hit somewhere?”

“Sort of.” Kris ran a hand through his hair, his eyes looking around. “They’re offering me a promotion at Mermaid’s. They want me to be the assistant store manager. They want to train me to run the whole damn thing.”

Ryder couldn’t help but smile. The promotion would mean the world to Kris. He would be able to fix up his car properly and finally have a regular schedule and probably so many other things. “That’s amazing, dude! That’s so exciting! Why are you excited?”

“I- I don’t know,” he said, nervously picking at some grout in the bleacher. “I would have to take some more classes and certification. More food safety and even some management and marketing classes at the community college. But- I don’t know. Weeks ago I was so desperate to get out of there and now they’re offering this position and it feels almost like a betrayal to me? I don’t know it’s stupid,” he shrugged.

“It’s not stupid, man. It’s a big decision. And it’s not one you have to make right now.” He gave Kris a pat on the back, turning to get up. “You know what will make this better?”

“Yeah, and what’s that?” he asked, with that dumb little teasing sound to his voice.

“Nachos,” he said point blank. “I’ll be right back.”

He headed straight down to the small concession stand. He tried to be as fast as possible, but perhaps he was a little too fast when-

“Shit, not again! I’m so so sorry. Are you okay?” A young woman with bright multicolored hair ran into him, sending his food falling. “Oh no, I’m so sorry. Let me get you a new one? Please?”

“Um, I’m okay. Are you okay?” he asked, brushing the last of his chips off of his shirt, a bit baffled by what happened. “You don’t have to, it’s not a big deal.” If he was being perfectly honest, he wasn’t sure who had run into who.

“No, no please I insist,” she said, helping to brush off a few crumbs. “I’m Gale,”

“Ryder,” he said, starting back to the stand. He was finally able to get a good look at her- no them. He noticed a pronoun button, pinned proudly on a t-shirt for the middle school. “One of your kids go here? I’ve been around for a while, but I can’t say I recognize you.”

“My nephew,” they said before turning and ordering. “I think he has a crush on one of the girls on the team. He certainly has a sudden interest in baseball, that’s for sure. But who am I to object? I’ve always wanted to share it with him. Glad I finally can.”

Ryder smiled. “That’s sweet. Some of my favorite memories were of my dad taking me and my little sister out to play. Definitely something worth passing-”

“Gale!”

Anna was shouting up from the bleachers. How the hell did Anna know them?

“Hey! How’s my favorite barista?” they laughed as Anna started to come down. “I was just going to text you! What are you doing tomorrow night?”

“I get off at 10:30. Pre-closer, so hopefully I’ll be out on time. What’s up?” she said, dusting herself off. “Ryder, this is my friend Gale. I met them at my parkour class.”

Ryder nodded, grabbing the food that was set out. “So this is that Gale? Nice to finally meet you.”

Gale blushed. “Talking about me?” they teased. “Hopefully good things.”

“All good things,” Anna said rolling her eyes. “Like how badass you are, how you always manage to beat me in a race,all sorts of good things.”

They laughed. “Well I’m flattered. Well I was going to text you and ask if you would want to come out with me to Oaken’s tomorrow night? They’re doing a fundraiser for some high school’s GSA. Karaoke and drink profit goes to the school. What do you say?”

“How did a high school manage to run a fundraiser through a gay bar?” she asked with a small laugh. Ryder nodded; he was thinking the same thing.

“I think the owner’s kid goes there,” they shrugged. “Nevermind that, what do you think?”

Anna pondered it for a second. “What do you think, Ryder?”

HIs eyes widened. Was she trying to get them together? What was her goal here? “I mean it sounds like fun. You should go.”

“Think I would be fine bringing some others?” she asked.

Gale nodded enthusiastically. “More the merrier. It’s for a good cause.”

“Perfect! Ryder, you tell Kris and I’ll tell Elsa?” She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before running off. “This’ll be fantastic.”

Ryder stood in shock for a second. “Um, sorry about that. Anna has a bit of a habit of-”

“Meddling?” they laughed. “I know. She kept trying to set me up on dates until I told her I was aroace.”

He didn’t think his eyes could get any wider. That’s why Anna was asking what he thought. “I- I’ve never- I’ve never,”

They tossed some of their hair back. “It’s okay. A lot of people don’t understand. Don’t worry.:

“No, no,” he said, putting a hand out as if to catch himself from stumbling over his words. “It’s just- I just realized it myself a couple of months ago. I haven’t met someone- not in real life at least- someone like me.”

Gale smiled. “Well Ryder, I will happily be your first triple-A friend: asexual, aromantic, agender.”

Ryder smiled back at them. “Thanks.”

“Come on, we’ve got some softball to watch.”

---

“Elsa, come on. You are not going to a gay bar in your professor clothes.”

Elsa tilted her head at Honeymaren. “What do you mean? I look good.”

“You look professional,” Maren said, wrapping her arms around her waist. She leaned her head into the crook of Elsa’s neck. “Besides, how am I going to dance with you if you wear that stiff shirt?”

Elsa laughed a little bit as Maren nibbled at her ear with a kiss. “You seem to be doing just fine right now.”

“Mmmmm,” she moaned softly. “Perhaps, but you’ll get hot so quick in that.”

“Oh, you’re worried about me being hot?” Elsa teased, reaching back to touch Maren’s hips. “Then what do you think I should wear, Oh Great Firemistress?”

“You are such a dork,” she said, sneaking one last kiss. Maren searched through her girlfriend’s closet, working past her usual work clothes. “What about this? I’ve never seen you wear it?”

“Never the occasion. A navy sundress isn’t exactly lab attire?”

“Hmmm, well good thing we aren’t going to the lab,” Maren smiled mischievously. “For me?”

“Well,” Elsa smiled, tapping on her chin. “Only if you help me take this off?” she teased.

“Oh, that I can absolutely do.”

---

Kristoff paced nervously in the living room. He hadn’t been out in a while, much less going out with his ex-boyfriend and their group of friends. But this would be fun right?

“How long does it take to get dressed to go out? Elsa is a stickler for time,” Anna sighed sitting down on the ground, her back against the couch.

“Well I don’t know if you noticed, but my sister is also in there with your sister. We could be waiting a while,” Ryder teased, handing her a controller. “Might as well play.”

“Uck-” Anna said, taking the offered controller. “Don’t make me think about the fact our sisters might be boning while we’re home.”

“Hey, I don’t like it either! Why do you think I put on Mario Kart?”

Kristoff smiled. Even after all this time, Ryder made his heart flutter. He shook his head and pushed it aside. He couldn’t act on it. It wasn’t right. “You know we could just go bug them to hurry up?”

“And risk burning my eyes out? Fat chance,” he laughed. “You want in next round, Kris?”

“Sure, I’ll play winner.”

Maybe going out wouldn’t be so bad. He could let loose of it all, be whoever he wanted for a night. It would be good. It had to be.

---

Anna didn’t know what to expect when they arrived, but it certainly wasn’t the dance club they arrived at. She hadn’t heard much about it other than seeing it on the news when it first opened, but Anna hadn’t been much for clubbing when she had first come to the city. It was everything the old Anna would have loved: loud music, a large dance floor, and plenty of people.

She fiddled nervously with the bands on her wrist. She had to admit, the club was pretty clever. There were a set of bands for the gender you identified as and a second set for what you were looking for. It had always been a passive thing, something she and Elsa had talked about, but she never brought it out in public. She had been too vulnerable after Hans to try and deal with it. But wearing the bisexual bracelet made it real, powerful. She could be her true self with no limits.

The music blared an old pop song she couldn’t but dance to. She smiled, letting herself move freely towards the bar where Kristoff was sitting alone. “What are you doing here by yourself?” she asked with a little more gusto than normal. “You’re at a dance club, and you aren’t dancing!”

“I don’t have that kinda rhythm,” he laughed, sipping on his whiskey. “Go, I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Now,” she laughed, a bit giddy. “Come on, the song is called “Shut Up and Dance” not “Sit Down and Drink.””

Kristoff shook his head, downing the last of his drink. “You’re drunk.”

“Maybe...” she slurred. Her mind did feel a bit foggy, but it was a good fog. A happy fog. A fog she wanted to share with Kristoff. “Come on, please?”

Much to her delight, he joined her in dancing. Neither were particularly good, but they didn’t have to be. She danced against him, her back to his chest and breathing in his scent. Normally the musk of sweat and alcohol would have turned her away, but she found herself wanting to draw closer.

“Having fun?” he asked as her movements slowed. Her limbs were tired, and she just wanted to hold onto his warm embrace.

“The best,” she said, breathless. “The best because you’re here and it’s fun and it’s really really nice.”

She felt his chest shudder, but decided to ignore it. “Best because I’m here?”

“Mhm,” she nodded. “I know you’re sad about Ryder still, but you came and are having fun.” Her eyes opened wildly, gaze unfocused. “You are having fun aren’t you? I’m sorry. I’m so awkward. I’ll shut up and-”

“No, no,” he gave a small laugh that made her whole chest feel like it was about ready to burst. “Just not what I thought you would say.”

Her body relaxed again against him. “I’m glad you’re having fun,” she said, her eyes getting tired.

“You wanna sit down for a bit? Have some water?” He was holding onto her hand, leading her off the floor. She nodded slowly, letting him lead her to a chair. “There we go. I’ll be right back.”

“Thanks, Kris. Love you.”

She didn’t watch as he walked away, didn’t notice or care how he reacted. She was happy and warm and a little drunk. Everything else could be taken care of in the morning. But for now, she would live in this one perfect moment.

#frozen #frohana #elsamaren #kristanna #frozen fanfic #my fic #adorable babies are adorable

[pinballwitxh]

THE SHADOW - CHAPTER ONE

summary: christine reid can only pick out a few happy memories from her childhood. most are filled with the struggles of their single, schizophrenic mother and her older, socially awkward brother trying to raise her on his own.

warnings: just a lot of sad childhood memories tbh, cursing, depressing thoughts

a/n: i’ve always loved the thought of spencer as an older brother and i hope you all enjoy this as well! it’ll get more happier as time progresses i PROMISE.

1 - CHRISTINE

APRIL 10, 1985

The Reid family had just gained a new member and Spencer was very excited to be an older brother. Instead of saying ‘goodnight’ to his mother’s stomach every evening he would now be able to say it to her face.

William Reid took his eldest son’s hand and walked him to the delivery room. Diana grinned when they entered the room and adjusted her hold on the swaddled newborn, waving her son over to her side. Immediately he lunged onto the bed and clung to her neck in a hug.

“Be careful, Spencer,” William reprimanded.

Diana smiled, “Oh, he’s fine, Bill.”

“What did you name her?” The wide-eyed four year old asked.

She hugged her son close, “Christine,”

The little boy grinned wildly and peered over her shoulder at the babe. She slept soundly, eyes closed with soft, little snores. He wanted to wake her up so badly and see her eyes; tell her he loved her and that he was so excited to show her his collection of state quarters.

Diana turned to him, “You’re a big brother, Spence!”

He giggled, “Can I hold her?”

“Not until you’re seated,” William said, “You have to be careful with babies.”

Spencer nodded slowly, “Okay, I can do that, daddy.”

Quickly he hopped off the hospital bed and clambered onto the couch next to it. William took Christine from Diana’s arms, a warm smile crossing his features as he looked down at her.

Spencer was nearly jumping out of his seat in anticipation when William brought her over. He shot Spencer a glare and he stopped swinging his legs immediately. Carefully he laid the baby in Spencer’s small lap, making sure both of his arms were around her securely.

“Now, don’t touch her face or anything, okay? Babies can get germs that they can’t handle,” he said sternly.

Spencer sat in silence, eyes studying her face very carefully. A small gasp escaped him as she opened her eyes, staring back at him. She shared the same eye color as him and it delighted him to no end. His mouth hung open in awe of her and Diana couldn’t help but start to cry.

William stepped back and sat on the edge of the bed, his hand finding his wife’s and giving it a delicate squeeze.

“Christine. . .” Spencer whispered.

Her tiny hands latched around his own small finger, squeezing tightly. Spencer smiled down at her, nearly bursting with excitement at the gesture.

“She loves you a lot already, Spence!” Diana squealed.

“Can I teach her how to play solitaire when we get home?”

William chuckled, “She’s not quite ready for that type of game yet, son.”

Spencer frowned, “Well, it’s not that hard. . .”

Diana sighed, “My smart boy, someday you can.”

Christine yawned and blinked her hazel eyes sleepily, but her hold on Spencer’s finger did not move. He slowly slipped his hand over hers and held it tightly, “Christy has the same color eyes as me, mommy!”

William turned to smile at his wife and placed a loving kiss on her cheek, “I’m really proud of you, Di.”

She leaned forward and kissed him deeply, “This is perfection.”

- - -

As Christine grew it was clear to the family that she was not intellectually gifted like Spencer. As a young toddler she was happy and loved to be outdoors digging in the dirt and climbing trees while her brother stayed inside reading or conducting science experiments. While he tried desperately to get her to participate in the activities he liked, she just didn’t care that much.

Not even Diana could interest her in reading children’s books that often. William spent as much time as he could teaching her how to play sports and encouraging the physical energy that she had so much of. He even let her “manage” the youth baseball team he coached for.

Not long after she turned six was when the arguments started. She would stay up late at night, huddled by her bedroom door listening to whatever bits of the arguments she could hear. Most of it was adult talk that she didn’t understand.

“I think mom and dad hate each other,”

Spencer day across from her by the door, “They won’t divorce, they can’t.”

“What does d-di, di-“

“Divorce,”

“Yeah, that, what does that mean?”

Spencer looked to the floor and hugged his knees to his chest, “It’s a legal dissolution of marriage.”

“What?” She asked with furrowed brows.

“When moms and dads decide not to live together anymore.” He whispered.

Christine’s eyes widened with tears and her bottom lip began to quiver, “Mommy and daddy are devicing?”

Spencer sighed, “Divorcing, and I didn’t say they were, Christy.”

“Do you think they will? Because they yell at each other?” She asked as tears began to trail down her cheeks.

Spencer hated it when Christine cried because it made him cry, too.

He looked away from her, “I don’t know,”

She threw herself onto him and wrapped her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder violently. He jumped at the contact and tried to wriggle out of her hold.

He hated hugs. He hated touch.

“D-Don’t do that, Christy,” he pulled her off and gripped her shoulders, “I don’t like hugs.”

- - -

She was seven years old when William left.

Diana couldn’t take good care of herself, leaving Christine and Spencer to become independent children of their own.

Every morning he packed her lunch, made her breakfast, and made sure she got on the bus safely. Then he would walk himself to the high school and escape his chaotic life at home.

She made the basketball and softball team at school his senior year of high school (at age twelve.). He would wait at the school library for her practices to end and walk home with her. Oftentimes he sent her upstairs so he could check on his mother, never knowing what state she would be in when they got home.

Christine did not connect with her mother as much as Spencer did and to be honest, she missed their father more than anything. As the years went by he never sent birthday cards, never called and never stopped in to say hello.

Spencer and Diana had a bond that Christine wished she had. It seemed to her that their mother favored her older brother’s company instead of hers. She hated reading the boring literature she used to teach, she didn’t understand it nor cared to listen to it.

She hated the attention her prodigy-brother received. It was always about him and his wonderful intelligence. He won awards for nearly everything academic-related whereas Christine was just. . .average.

Spencer left for Cal Tech when Christine was nine years old.

For months he prepared her for a life on her own. He had personally written a book on how to handle people with their mother’s condition, which she was well-aware of by the time he graduated high school.

For most of her life they had taken care of themselves, mostly, and their mother.

She sobbed as he got in the taxi and left for the airport, her mother holding her close in the doorway. She realized that maybe she needed Spencer, maybe she did enjoy time with him.

Maybe she would really miss him.

“He’ll come back, Christine, I promise.”

“He promised he would come to some of my basketball games,” she sniffles.

Diana smiled down at her, “And I’ll be at every single one of them.”

- - -

Thirteen-year old Christine had learned to live without her older brother hovering around her constantly. She took herself to her practices and games, rarely letting her mother attend them due to her embarrassment of her.

She was an independent girl that knew how to take care of herself.

The team’s final games were approaching and her mother insisted she had to be there, though.

The first three games proved to be okay and Christine didn’t so much mind the fact that her mother was practically the cheerleader from the stands. In fact, it made her feel a little pride.

It was the semi-finals and the crowd was bigger than ever before. Christine found her mother in the crowd and something was very wrong.

Her face was pale and her eyes darted in every direction. It seemed she was shaking, but before she could say anything to her coach the buzzer sounded, signaling the start of the second quarter.

Once the buzzer sounded off for halftime was when she heard the frantic screams.

Diana fought her way through the crowded stands and tripped, her body tumbling down the bleachers. Parents and students gasped, stepping away from the screaming woman.

Christine watched from the court as her mother stood from her fall, desperately crying out for help.

A faculty member stepped forward to help her but was met with a slap in the face. Diana screamed and demanded that he not touch her.

Christine was mortified as parents held her back and eventually got her to the ground. She ran to the group of parents and tried to push her way through.

“Where’s Spencer?” She screamed at them, “You can’t keep him from me!”

It was a frenzy as the referees interfered, attempting to calm her down and calling for someone to get the police or medics.

Christine finally pushed through the parents and sat down in front of Diana, “Mom, look at me!”

Diana’s eyes were wild and unrecognizable, “Where’s Spencer?”

“He’s studying at Cal Tech, he’ll be back for Christmas break in two days.” Christine said calmly.

“You’re lying, aren’t you?” Diana shook her head, “How could you lie to me, Christine?”

She lungned at her daughter and tackled her to the ground, pinning her hands to her side as she screamed at her. Phlegm flew from her lips as she manically demanded answers from her daughter, who just lay on the floor in a daze.

It took effort to pry Diana off of her but when she did, Christine didn’t move.

She hates me.

I hate her.

And I hate Spencer.

Someone lifted her off the cold floor of the court, “Why don’t you go home, Christine, you need to be with your mom and call someone to help you.”

Like a robot she nodded her head and kept her eyes down as she walked to the locker room. She ignored the questions of her friends and coach, she couldn’t hear them through her reeling thoughts anyways.

She called Spencer from the hospital.

“Hey, Christy, is your game over already?”

“Spencer, i-it’s mom-“

“What happened?”

“She’s crazy!” Christine screamed as she left for the waiting room, “God she’s so embarrassing,”

“She isn’t crazy, Christine, you know that.”

“She freaked out at the game,” she sighed, “She hit someone, and she couldn’t remember where you were!”

There was silence on Spencer’s end.

“She called me a liar, Spencer, didn’t believe me when I told her you’d be coming home soon.” She winced at the pain from her bruised wrists, her mother could be violently aggressive during her episodes.

“Did you try the tactics I gave-“

“I did it all, but it didn’t work!”

“I’m coming home tomorrow,”

Christine laughed cynically, “Oh she’ll be absolutely thrilled that you’re coming back, her favorite child coming to save the day.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“All she ever talks about is you, it was all she could seem to think about during her freak-out. Not that I’m surprised,”

“I’m not her favorite child, Christine.”

“Bullshit,” she snarled, “It’s like I’m not even here, as if she enjoys coming to my games. She doesn’t even understand sports or care to learn about it!”

“Maybe if you spent more time with her she would!”

“I can’t because all she ever does is read from those ancient books that I do. Not. Get.”

“Sounds like you don’t understand the literature or care to learn about it, Christine.”

“Fuck off, Spencer! You know I’m not like you or mom and honestly I don’t care or want to be,” she screamed into the phone, “Don’t lecture me, okay?”

“You don’t understand mom, you never have and you’ve never taken the time to get to know her.”

“And I like it that way, she doesn’t understand me either.”

Spencer growled frustratedly, “She’s our mother! She’s sick, Christine, she needs you to be there for her and it sounds like you’re not doing a good job of it.”

“Of course I’m not, cause perfect you is the only thing she wants and I’m not good enough! I’ve never been good enough-“

“Don’t say that, you know that’s not true and that’s not what I meant-“

“I’ll see you later, Spencer. Mom’ll be overjoyed to see you.”

CHAPTER 2

THE MASTERLIST | SERIES MASTERLIST

#criminal minds #spencer reid #fanfic #fanfiction #imagine #criminal minds imagine #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid sister

[gotboredwrote]

Kickboard // PM!JFM

Pairing: Pat Murray x Fem!Reader Word Count: 6.7K Style: One-Shot Warnings: Swearing (ofc), a little bit of sexual themes (nothing explicit) Summary: After having met because of bumping into each other after a game, Y/N learns that Pat does not possess a skill she does and is determined to teach him, no matter how much of a struggle it becomes. Permanent Author’s Note: To clarify, I write because I get bored. Nothing is meant to be professional in any way, nor is meant to offend, cause anxiety, cause anger, cause sadness, or promote disagreement among readers in any sort of (semi)permanent way. A/N: HUGE DISCLAIMER; I have read tons of Pat fics and seen clips from the movie, but I have not seen the movie in full. I wrote this with as little to do with the D-Backs being involved as possible, making the focus on Pat and Y/N. I’ve just had the idea for such a long time and want to get this out to the public, so I apologize in advance if this is, quite frankly, shitty.

Masterlist

~

You had just finished with swim practice and walked out to your car to drive home, except you could not do that. You tried to start your car about four times, and after realizing that it was futile and no one was around to jump your car, you called a mechanic. Then you heard even worse news – he would not be able to make it to your location for almost two hours, and all the other mechanics were busy, as well. You begrudgingly told him you understood and would find something to do to kill time. Your body was too tired to go back and swim more, considering you just finished a four-hour practice, and you were not feeling really hungry, so a restaurant was out, too. Then you heard the recognizable sound of another sport.

cliiiing!

You did not have to look long before you realized that there was a baseball game being played across the street from the building your pool was at. You figured as long as admission was not over the moon expensive, you could go and sit in on that game. You had played a little bit of softball growing up, but you enjoyed watching people play more, and you hardly remembered anything about it, now that you had been swimming most of your life. You walked over to the field, hoping that the game had just started to you could pass the time waiting for the mechanic in an enjoyable way.

~

Once you had safely crossed the street after having put your belongings in your car for the time being, you walked over to the shack in front of the gate to ask about admission prices.

“Hi there! Um, my car isn’t starting, and they told me it was going to be a while before they could get someone out here to fix it.” You started to pull your wallet out of your backpack to give the lady some money. “Could you tell me what the admission price is to sit in on the game to I can kill some time?”

“Honey, there isn’t any fee! Just come and enjoy the game!”

“Are you sure? Because, really I can pay—”

“I insist, deary. Go pop a squat wherever you’d like! Enjoy!”

“Oh, okay, um, thank you! I really appreciate it!”

She opened the gate for you, and you walked in, seeing a spot high up on the bleachers where no one was really sitting, so you decided to sit there. You plopped your backpack down to your side and situated yourself so you were seated comfortably. You looked and noticed that it was only the bottom of the second inning, so you did make it to the game relatively early on, which gave you hope that most of your time could be spent here while you waited. You were starting to gaze around, trying to get a feel for which team you wanted to root for. It was the D-Backs in red against the Blue Jays in… green? That felt odd. But you paid it no mind. You noticed that all the members of the Blue Jays all acted like the same person – stoic. It gave you no feeling of excitement for the game they were playing. So, by count of lack of enthusiasm and stupidly colored uniforms, you decided that you would root for the D-Backs. The remainder of the second, as well as the third and fourth innings, went without much ado about anything. Normal baseball playing, a couple of bad referee calls here and there, and one mishap with a flyaway bat. When the D-Back were up to bat at the top of the fifth, a player you had seen doing really well in the outfield was up to bat. His name, according to his jersey, was Murray. Kind of tall, not super built but good arms and a good back, from what you could tell through the jersey. He looked determined, and by the look on his teammates faces as he made his way up to home plate, you were in for a treat with this boy. First pitch: foul ball. Nothing wrong with that, you get four before a walk. Second pitch: strike one. You could see Murray tense up at the call, positive that it was another foul. Third pitch: strike two. Now there was an extremely audible groan to accompany the call, plus a dramatic arm gesture. You were starting to understand why his teammates were giving him that look, now. Fourth pi—

gasp!

“OW WHAT THE FUCK MAN? WHY’D YOU THROW THE BALL AT MY HEAD YOU ASSHAT?”

Simultaneously, the entire audience made a shocked noise at what clearly seemed to be a deliberate and fast throw at Murray’s head. His teammates all jumped out of their seats in the dugout at once, as if they were going to pounce on the Blue Jays pitcher, except the boy Murray had beaten them to it. Instead, they did everything in their power to hold their friend back from completely obliterating the nose off of his face.

“Pat, relax!

“Get offa him, Murray!”

“NO I’M GONNA BASH HIS FUCKING FACE IN FOR WHACKING ME IN THE DAMN HEAD!”

Murray’s teammates managed to pull him away from the now terrified pitcher, who not moments before that pitch was snickering at the idea he had. Wrong player to mess with, apparently. Once the stadium had calmed down again, and Murray was taking a breather with an ice pack in the dugout, the game continued. Everyone else was completely paying attention to the game at hand, but you could not take your eyes off the D-Backs dugout. You were trying to get a better look at the man who’s name you now realize is Pat, but he was hidden in the corner underneath the shadows. You were genuinely concerned for him, it did not look like the softest pitch that guy had ever thrown. It was not like you could just go down to the dugout in the middle of the game, or even after the fact to check up on him. You had never met, and had no real reason to, either. You found yourself completely ignoring the game at this point, and Pat’s teammates had noticed this.

“See that girl?”

“What about her?”

“She hasn’t stopped staring at us since Murray got hit.”

“Clearly, she isn’t staring at us, then. She’s looking for Murray.”

“Maybe we should… arrange for them to meet up after the game, somehow?”

Pat’s teammates were barely speaking above a whisper, so as to not let Pat hear them gossip. A very, very small part of it was to be nice to him, since his head had to have been pounding. They kept an eye on you throughout the game, and were honestly super disappointed when they saw a man walk up to you from behind the fence, and you seemed to leave with him. They almost sent one of their benched players after you, but that is when they noticed something about the guy. He was older. And you did not look like the type to have a sugar daddy, frankly. He was also in some kind of jumpsuit, a dirty one at that. So, they held onto hope that maybe this guy just happened to know you from somewhere and that you would walk back onto the field at some point before the game was over. You had gone over to your car with the mechanic, hoping the same thing that Pat’s teammates were hoping for. You wanted him to fix it quickly, and let you go back to the game. It only took the mechanic about fifteen minutes to figure out and fix the problem, and nearly $200 later, you started walking back over to the shack where the nice lady was still seated.

“Did that nice man fix your car, sweetie?”

“Yes, thankfully. A little bit expensive, considering all that he did, but the important thing is that I have a ride home.”

“That’s true, dear. Now you only missed two innings, the eighth is just starting. I was hoping you would come back and watch. Go enjoy the rest of the game!”

You walked back through the fence and started to scoot your way around the people again. All of Pat’s teammates heads snapped in the direction of your movement, freshly back in the dugout now. They knew holding onto hope was a good idea. They all watched you, hoping you would not take notice of them because you would either be so wrapped up in the game or with Pat. It started with the prior, but quickly switched over to the latter. The entire reason you came back to watch the game now that your car was fixed was not to watch the game, but to check up on the guy who got hit. You sat through the rest of the game, focus flittering between Pat and the people on the field, until you heard the loud buzz indicating that the game was over, and that the D-Backs had won. You had completely forgotten about the fact that you were rooting for them to win, and instead, when the boys all lined up to shakes hands with each other, you made your way over to the side of the field where the D-Backs dugout was. You did not want to make it obvious that you came over for just Pat, but what other excuse did you have? You waited, now standing, pressed up against the fence, for the boys to finish shaking hands. When Pat had caught up to the Blue Jays pitcher, there was a little bit of tension in the shake that he saved up from earlier in the game. But otherwise, he seemed to have calmed down tremendously. Pat was toward the back of the line, so his teammates made their way over to you sooner than he did, and they started talking to you. You never saw the names on their jerseys, so you could not tell who was who.

“You’re a pretty face we’ve never seen before. Who might you be?”

“And why are you here staring at our dugout?”

So, they did see you after all this time. Shit. You were really hoping they were far enough away where it would not have been obvious. Clearly your concern had turned to panic, because one of the guys spoke up again before you said anything.

“Sweetheart, it isn’t a big deal. We’re used to new faces all the time, just not ones as pretty and clearly concerned about something as yours. You got that crinkly expression as soon as Pat got hit. Do you two know each other or something?”

“N-No. It’s kind of a funny story, though. But I won’t bore you with it.”

“Bore them with what?”

The infamous man that had been mentioned not ten seconds prior walked up behind the other guys and inserted himself into the conversation. Your heartrate sped up, because you had not been able to get a good look at his face from where you were seated, but you could clearly see now that he was really cute, and somehow handsome at the same time.

“The story of how this cutie ended up at the game.”

“Would you stop calling her cute? Your desperation is disgusting.”

“Um, you’re disgusting.” Two of the teammates were bickering, but it was clear that it was not malicious in any way.

“I’ll ask again – bore them with what?” The auburn-haired man spoke while mindlessly rubbing the spot on the back of his head.

“The story of why I am here. They saw me staring at your dugout after you got hit, and I came over here because I wanted to check up on you.”

All the boys were looking at you with either lovey-dovey eyes, or confusion. Pat was the only one who remained practically expressionless. You could understand where that expression came from. The two of you had never seen each other a day in your lives, yet here you are, extremely concerned for him. You did not have an explanation, either, so you made no attempt to even make one up. Then one of his teammates spoke up again.

“You still haven’t explained why you’re even at this game. Is there anyone here you know?”

“No. I swim competitively at the pool across the street, and we had practice this morning. I went outside to leave and my car wouldn’t start, so I came over here to kill the two hours they said it would take for the guy to get here to fix my car. You had gotten hit right before the guy came over to get me, and the game wasn’t over when he finished, so I wanted to come back and check on you. I know we don’t… know each other, but I just felt really concerned for you. Is that… wrong?”

Pat was looking at you with a little bit more expression on his face than before. He was not used to people caring about him. His teammates were practically his family, but they treated him with tough love, not actual affection. Hell, after he got hit, they pulled him off the pitcher instead of helping him beat the guy to shit. But you, someone he had never met, genuinely seemed concerned about him. It was a new sensation. He was about to tell you how his head felt, when you spoke up and started to leave.

“I’m sorry, I guess… it was wrong to be concerned. Maybe I’ll come to another game guys, I’ll get out of your—”

“Wait, you don’t need to leave!” Pat hurriedly spoke at you, and his teammates, as well as you, looked at him with shocked eyes, a few of his teammates adding some knowing smirks to the mix. “I… shit, um… my head? It’s okay. Shit hurts a little bit, but I can handle it.”

“I’m glad.” You smiled warmly in his direction, making his heart skip a beat like yours did when you first saw his face. “But I really should get going, I have a meet tomorrow and I want to make sure I rest my body properly so I can do my best.”

“This might be really forward of me, but, could I come to your meet tomorrow?”

A cacophony of wolf whistles, regular whistles, and generic cheering filled the air, followed by Pat telling everyone to promptly shut the fuck up. You felt your face heat up, wondering why he would even want to do that. You did not have to think long about why.

“Fuck, that’s a weird thing to just ask, isn’t it? Shit… I mean, you sat through the entire game waiting to ask if a stupid bump on my head still hurts, the least I could do would be to return the favor and sit through your game.”

“It’s called a meet, and I expect you there right at 10:30am, Pat, if you’re serious. You lot can come too, if you want.”

“…I’ll be there at 10:30, ma’am.”

“It’s just Y/N, sailor-mouth.”

For once, Pat had been shut up. And not by one of his teammates, or his father. A very unusual occurrence if you were to judge based on the faces his teammates were making. You smiled sweetly at all of them, and flashed an even toothier grin right at Pat before offering a small wave and walking away. Clearly, you had made some kind of impression on them, and you were excited to see if your newly formed support squad actually showed up at the meet. They watched to make sure you crossed the street safely, and watched as you pulled away. Then Pat and his teammates shot each other looks, before retreating to the shower. Pat remained on the field just a little bit longer, wondering just what the hell he had agreed to.

~

“So, we are all in agreement that we tell Pat something came up with the team’s finances and they need us down at the office but he should stay so Y/N doesn’t think we abandoned her, right?”

“Yep. And Pat doesn’t seem like he’ll have any issue spending some time with her.”

Pat’s teammates had started making their way to the pool, Pat having told them that they would meet them there. Pat had gotten there right after you had made your way into the locker room, so he did not get a chance to see you before the meet started. He found a largely empty spot on the bleachers the poolside had, making room for his teammates, who followed in shortly after. They all greeted each other, and mindlessly chatted until the swimmers all made their way to the pool. They saw you finally walk out from the back, Pat still thinking you looked good despite the head cap you had to wear. You had not told the boys which events you would be swimming in, so they just waited to see you step up on the block. When it was finally your turn to race, as soon as your second foot planted on the diving block, you hear a set of loud hollers from a group of men, which stopped you in your tracks. You were about to pull your goggles down when your head snapped in that direction, as did practically everyone’s in the pool room. Then you saw them.

“They really came…” You whispered quietly to yourself, not really believing they would show up.

You sent them a small wave before placing your goggles over your eyes and getting ready to dive in the pool.

bang!

bang!

bang!

Enough races had gone by, and each one you were in you won. By landslides. You could hear the cheering of Pat and his teammates, which made you race faster with every race you swam. But the boys wanted to get operation ‘get Pat alone with the pretty girl’ into action. They explained to Pat the ‘financial problem’ and told him to send you their condolences. Pat cursed under his breath a little bit at the fact that he was being left alone, but he was enjoying watching the swimming more than he thought he would. He was enjoying it almost as much as he loved playing baseball. Eventually, the meet came to an end, and you had only lost one of the seven races you were in, and it was not by much. You were in the last race, and as soon as your hand hit the wall, your body relaxed and your hand came up to swiftly yank the cap off of your head to relieve some of the pressure on your head. You calmed your breathing, but it was futile because you turned to look at the boys and only saw Pat. But you did not care. Because the smile adorning Pat’s face made up for the lack of noise coming from the corner of the room. He genuinely looked happy to be there, which made your heart swell, seeing him feel happy about another sport. Pat noticed that families and friends watching in the stands had started to make their way down to the swimmers, so he took that as his cue to go see you, where you still happened to be in the pool, talking to one of your competitors. He slowly made his way through the crowd of bodies, some dripping in the smell of chlorine, others as dry as a bone. Eventually though, he made his way to you. And you looked up at him with the biggest and sweetest smile, and he could have passed out into the pool in that moment.

“I’m really happy you came, Pat! You seemed to be enjoying yourself!”

“It was… a lot more fun than I thought it would be, actually. I first I couldn’t stand the smell of the damn chlorine, but you get used to it. Kind of like the smell now.” He would not tell you directly, but now he would associate the smell of chlorine with you, and it made him feel fuzzy.

“Well, I’m really glad you came.” Pat had squatted down to sit in front of you over the ledge, and as you spoke, you reached your hand up to hold onto his wrist. “I liked seeing you happy and not practically murdering anyone or getting hurt.”

“Y-yeah.”

“But I’m starving, so let me get out of the pool and then I can treat you to lunch if you’d like, unless you have something to do. You never said why the boys left, do you have to go do something with the team?”

He debated telling you yes because he genuinely believed that they had to go do something with the finance team. But he decided to say fuck them and agree to go to lunch with you. He wanted to spend more time with you, but would not admit to himself why. Pat Murray was not the type to catch feelings, that was his teammates, and they all knew this information. That was probably why they made all those whistles yesterday when he asked to go to the meet. He helped you climb out of the pool, shocked at how well your smaller, soft from the water hand fit perfectly into his calloused one. You showed him where he could wait for you while you changed, opting to just shower later to get to lunch faster. Once you walked out to Pat, he stood up nervously and the two of you drove your separate cars to the nearest Panera Bread. Once inside with your food, the two of you struck up conversation, when Pat dropped a bombshell to you.

“I can’t fucking swim.”

You practically choked on your sandwich.

“I’m sorry?”

“My parents are baseball coaches. Through and through. Growing up, anytime I mentioned a sport that wasn’t baseball they would fucking scream at me and tell me it was just another shitty sport. They never once took me to a pool. The closest I ever got to swimming was taking a bath when I was like, five.”

“Well, Murray, listen to me. If you and I are gonna be friends, you should know that I played softball growing up, so I know your side of things. But you need to meet me halfway – let me teach you to swim.”

“No fucking way.”

“And why not?”

“Because it’s scary.”

“It is not!”

“Easy for you to fucking say!”

“Your new name is Sailor, by the way—”

“You’ve been swimming probably your whole damn life, so to you it comes second nature! I hear the sound of sloshing water, and it just makes me panic. I’d rather stay on the ground than feel like I’m floating in the abyss of hell.”

You looked at him with sad eyes. Not ones of disappointment, but the lack of trust the boy had in you broke you for some reason. He must know that you were not going to let him drown or anything, right?

“So, it isn’t me that you don’t trust, right?”

“…I trust you.”

“Then let me teach you. Tonight. We can cross this bridge together, Pat. No one ever books the pool out on meet nights, people are too tired. I can call my coach and tell him to put us down for the night blocks.”

“…”

“Okay?”

“…okay.”

“Good. I will meet you at 7:00pm, and I’ll bring you some trunks.”

~

To say Pat was freaking out was an understatement. He really did trust you, it was just a really scary thing to think that he was actually doing this. With someone he had met not 48 hours prior. When he pulled into the parking lot, he saw a small handful of cars, which he assumed most of were janitors. And your car. He could feel his hands shaking and sweating. He was really getting freaked out. He walked inside and followed the signs that you had told him to follow to make his way to the pool. It was pretty straightforward, and before he knew it, he was face to face with thousands of gallons of water. He did not see you, so he called out to make sure he was in the right place. He saw your head bob out from behind the girl’s locker room.

“Pat! You found the pool!”

“Yeah, yeah, where are these damn trunks?”

“Eager now?”

“Not at all.”

“Uh-huh. Let me grab them.” You retracted your head behind the door and then reappeared with a pair of trunks in hand. He took note of the fact that you were not in your one piece from the meet, but in a modest bikini. Sports bra-like on the top, and regular bikini style bottoms, both mustard in color with pearl white trim. It took all the strength in his body to not let his jaw drop to the floor.

“Here you go! There are two here because I wasn’t sure which size would fit you better, but both have a drawstring so you can tighten them if the smaller one is too loose. The guy’s locker room is right over there. You can leave all your other stuff out here, just go change back there. I’ll get a couple things set up for us while I wait for you, okay?”

“Okay…”

Once Pat was in the back, you made sure the lanes had been removed from half of the pool, and grabbed two things that you knew he would need at some point. Then you sat on the edge of the pool, letting your feet dangle in the water. You lifted them out one at a time and listened to the noise of the water droplets, the sound calming you down. If you were being honest with yourself, you were starting to feel a little nervous, too. Not because you were not confident in your ability to teach Pat to swim, but because of something deep in the pit of your stomach. You had trouble admitting it to yourself because you had only known him a day and a half, but you were pretty sure you were starting to feel something for the sailor-mouthed boy. But you would never let him know that.

“Alright, they fit.”

You turned your head around, the skylight above the pool reflecting the glow of the water onto your face. It was the first time Pat felt something other than disgust when looking at a pool.

“Lovely! Come sit next to me, won’t you?” You patted the space lightly next to you, quite literally wanting him to just dip his feet into the water.

He sat down next to you, but far enough back where his feet were planted on the edge of the pool instead of dangling into the water.

“Put your feet in the pool, silly. You’re not gonna fall in, I promise. I just want you to get small parts of your body used to the feeling of the water. It should take away the fear of the feeling and the sound before we actually try swimming.”

Reluctantly and quietly for once, Pat lowered his feet and lower legs into the pool, letting the chlorine and other mix of chemicals force his legs to float. He pushed them down so they cut through the water and landed on the wall of the pool. This was not so bad, he thought to himself, but his calm demeanor was cut short when he heard a splash next to him. You had shoved yourself into the pool so you were ready for him when he finally climbed off the ledge.

“Now look, I am clearly shorter than you, and I can stand here with half of my torso still out of the water, okay? Whenever you’re ready, and as slowly as you feel the need to, I want you to slowly lower your body into the water. I will be standing right in front of you, ready to hold your waist to keep you steady in case you get nervous, okay?”

“You promise you won’t go far?”

“I promise, Patty.”

He swallowed hard at the nickname, his mind flashing to other times you could use that name. Other times when you two were one-on-one. But that was a fantasy, and this is reality. A scary one. He inched forward a little bit, closer to the edge, and he saw you inch toward him simultaneously, keeping up on your end of the deal. You could see the muscles in his arms tense tremendously at the fact that he was holding up his entire body weight at the edge of the pool, ever so slowly inching himself down into the water. You were right there, arms outstretched to grab a hold of his waist if he needed you. Eventually, his feet planted on the bottom of the pool, and your arms were on his waist. He looked stunned.

“You okay?”

“I…I fucking think so! I’m in a pool, Y/N! I’m fucking swimming!”

“Not quite, Patty, but you’re getting there.” You laughed through your words, absolutely loving how excited he was getting and hearing his booming voice echo through the pool.

“Now, what I want you to do, is walk over to the lane divider, and then back to this wall. Think you can do it without me?”

“I feel like I could do anything right now.” And with that, Pat slowly trudged his way to the lane divider and back to you, holding back on engulfing you in a hug. You looked so happy that he was doing this with you, and it made his heart swell.

“Great job! Now. You and your body know what the pool feels like against you, so now we are going to start actually teaching you to swim. What I need you to do is walk with me toward the deep end, but stop when you see me start to tread the water, okay? You should still be able to stand at that point.”

Pat looked like he would have followed you to the end of the Earth in that moment, but you realized that it was because his nerves had picked up again, realizing that he had not even gotten to the hard part yet. You swam backwards while he walked toward you, and then he saw the point where you could no longer stand, and he froze.

“Pat, I’m not gonna make you do this alone, I promise. Let me hop up on the ledge here. What we are going to do is simple. You are going to take my hands while I sit on the ledge, and slowly you are going to move to your left, and I am going to talk you through how to tread water without actually having to do it on your own yet. You can only tread water where you can no longer stand, so we have to get you to that point. When you get there, just start kicking your feet.”

“It’s… that easy?”

“It’s that easy.”

“Okay… I think I can, I can do that…”

“I know you can. C’mon, start scooching.”

He was doing it. He was treading water. And he had been doing so good that he did not even realize right away that you had let go of his hands. He was treading on water, which meant that he practically knew how to swim. He did not need to know strokes to say he could swim, he just had to stay afloat and be able to get from one side of the pool to the other without assistance.

“Pat! You’re treading water!”

“I’m… I’m doing it! Shit, I’m doing it!”

“You’re swimming a little!”

“You bet your ass I am!”

You were smiling from ear to ear hearing his enthusiasm, and you could not be prouder of him in that moment. The next thing he knew was that you were back in the water with him, treading right next to him, and explaining the next step in the process.

“I’m not so much concerned with teaching you any strokes, so much as I am getting you from one end of the pool to the other. Think you can get back to the top of the shallow end without my help?”

“I think so. Just… stay by my side, okay?”

“I wouldn’t dare leave.”

Once the two of you had made it back to the shallow end, Pat watched as you swam over to the ledge where there were two navy blue half-oval shaped things that Pat had no idea of what they were. He saw you slap them down onto the pool with force, which made him jump lightly.

“Sorry. Kind of did that on purpose, though. We are going to use these together. They are called kickboards, and they will not sink. Here’s what we are going to do with them. Basically, lay your body across the not rounded part, hands on either side, so your body lays flat. Use the same motion you used to tread water, but now at the surface. This is kicking, and it will propel you forward.”

“So. Swimming.”

“Yes. Swimming!” You shot him a smile. “Think you can do it if I do it alongside you?”

“I think so.”

You handed Pat his board, and showed him how to lay on it. You were determined to get him to the one side of the pool and back, and that would be all you would torture him with tonight. If he wanted more lessons, you would gladly give them to him. You helped him get situated on the kickboard, and waited for him to start moving forward so you could watch his movements. When you immediately did not start kicking with him, he got paranoid, but you calmed him down saying that you just needed to be able to see his body, make sure he was okay. Before he knew it, his hand was holding onto the edge of the deep end of the pool, the other gripping the kickboard so tightly that you thought he might snap it in half. Eventually, you got him to relax and you both made your way back to the shallow end of the pool.

“Well, you did it. You just swam. You’re a swimmer, Patty!”

“I really swam!” You could see his eyes go wide and a huge smile overtake his face.

“I’m really proud of you for taking this step with me. Maybe one day we can have batting practice together, I can get my swing back in shape.”

“I’m not really sure I’m the player to help you with that. Maybe Mazz, though.”

You chuckled at the exchange, the air in the room changing now that there was a silence overtaking it. Pat broke it.

“You said that these things won’t sink, right?”

“Nope. Unless you put like, one thousand pounds on them or something. Why?”

“Sit on it. I want to see you float.”

You attempted to sit cross-legged on the board, and it worked for a few seconds, both of you looking surprised at how well it worked. Then you fell completely backward, the board shooting straight up into the air. As if for comic effect, it even landed on your head when it popped back out of the water. You had never seen Pat laugh that hard, and the sound was adorable. He had the absolute cutest laugh to have ever crossed your ears. You started laughing with him, and leaned back down on your kickboard properly, letting the board do all the work. The front end of your board was open, and Pat saw the sleepy eyes you were looking at him with. But it was the small smile you had plastered onto your face that inspired the confidence he had to do the next thing he did. He walked over to you, and placed his upper body on the other half of your kickboard, so that your faces were now a mere few inches apart. The two of you, floating with each other in the glow of the moon the skylight allowed in.

“Thank you.”

“For what? Teaching you how to swim?”

“Teaching me how to leave my comfort zone in more ways than one.”

You were confused. You could tell from the conversation earlier in the day that obviously one of those ways was actually setting foot in a pool, but you had no idea what the others could be.

“What ways? Besides swimming, of course.”

“Honestly?”

“No Pat, I never want you to speak the truth ever again. Of course, silly.”

“Love the sarcasm, Michael Phelps.” He shot you a smirk before it faded away back to his prior, nervous expression, face still a few inches from yours. “I’m not sure if you got this vibe from the guys, but I’m… not really good with people. But especially women. I mean, like shit, you guys are enigmas.”

“Is that a compliment, Sailor?”

“Shut up, I mean it. I have never understood women, but for some reason, I just feel like I get you. You had no reason to be concerned about me yesterday, we’d never fucking met.” The sound of Pat’s voice as calm as it was accompanied by the quiet sloshes of the water made you feel fuzzy all over, like you were in a dream. “Why? Why did you care so much?”

“I… really don’t have an answer for you, Pat. I just did. And do.”

“Well, listen, sweetheart, I’m not about to let my little mermaid get away from me anytime soon. You’re stuck with me, you hear that?”

“Prove it.”

“Wha—”

“I said prove it.”

Pat was not used to being met with intensity like his own. It made him feel… really damn good. He still was not sure where this level of confidence was coming from, but he leaned in close and kissed you with such a fervor that he caused a small wave to ripple the two of you up and down in the pool. You turned your head to let him deepen it when you felt him lightly run his tongue along the widest part of your lower lip, and then graze it with his teeth, just enough to make you feel it. His mouth opened a little wider to fully engulf your lips in his, making sure you knew who was in charge of this moment. He even managed to pull a small moan from you, and he felt even more proud then than when he realized he had swam for the first time in his life. The room was filled with soft, erratic breathing and the gentle sloshing of the water when the two of you finally pulled away to breath. You swam competitively, and Pat had taken your breath away more than when you swim thirty laps in a row.

“Does… that… prove it?”

“I think… I need a little bit more convincing than that, Murray.”

“Oh really?”

“Mhm.”

Pat stood up again, and yanked the kickboard from your hands, pushing you against the wall of the pool. Normally, any other man in this instance would have probably lifted you up onto the edge of the pool to he could wedge himself between your legs. Not your Pat. He kept you in the water, so he could press his entire body up against you. The sound of the water droplets making this all the more exciting for him.

“Well, we have this entire pool to ourselves, maybe we can start here and then I’ll take you to my dugout, where I can teach you a baseball lesson or two. You said we have to meet halfway, right, beautiful?”

Permanent Taglist: @bensrhapsody @chlobo6 @gardnerlangway

Pat Murray Taglist: n/a

// If you want to be added to either taglist mentioned above, or the one for another character I’ve written for, send me an ask here! //

#pat murray #pat murray x reader #undrafted #joe mazzello #joe mazzello x raader #y'all probably got this notification twice because i screwed it up at first lol #joseph mazzello #joseph mazzello x reader #patrick murray #patrick murray x reader #baseball #softball #swimming #learning to swim #fanfic #fanfiction #kickboard

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Two Hundred Seventy-One: Bewildering Experience ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

There’s certain social rules when it comes to high school. Navigating as many of them as you can means getting through those four years a little less scathed. While it’s tedious at best for most, there can still be moments that stand out positively for students. The typical dredgery of classes, homework, tests and exams have the occasional break in the monotony.

For Hinata, this is her final year. A senior at last, whittling at her schedule until graduation next Summer. A rather model student, her college is all picked out, major decided, and all that’s left is to get through this last batch of school days until...well, more schooling. But surely college won’t be nearly the task high school has been, right?

Well...so she hopes.

Hinata has always been a bit of a stereotype. The quiet, nerdy, shy girl...with a crush on the star of the basketball team. Fairly academic, she also branches into some of the more artsy institutions of her high school: choir, theater club, and the occasional art class. She even participates in volleyball and tennis. Her grades are top notch due to her diligence, and...lack of a social life, really. Her quietude means mostly being ignored by her classmates. A few like Sakura, maybe Ino, occasionally drag her along for something. But for the most part, she’s left to her own devices.

The only real talking she does is digitally. She texts, she IMs on Discord, lurks on social media...but she devotes most of her time and energy to her classes, clubs, and sports.

Most of the year passes fairly normally. The typical teenage drama, class difficulties, club activities...and then they enter the last quarter of the year. Hinata’s still in her clubs, and after Winter quarter off from sports, enters her last high school tennis season.

And that’s when things start to get...weird.

For the longest time, Hinata’s crushed on one Naruto Uzumaki: aforementioned basketball player, but also baseball. Alongside him is his best friend, Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto, however, has long crushed on Sakura: a rather jock-like girl who plays sports all year round, ending with softball. The pair seem to be teetering on the edge of finally going out, and...quite obviously, that left Hinata in a bit of a funk.

...but then the unexpected happened.

Sasuke offered to come watch her play. Which, Hinata supposed, wasn’t that unthinkable. They’d been talking about it, Naruto excusing himself due to watching Sakura’s upcoming softball match after Hinata had admitted to planning to watch the boys’ baseball game. She had been rather disappointed until Sasuke spoke up.

...and then he went and confronted her about her dead-end crush once the others had gone.

Hinata was...a bit flabbergasted. But he had a point...Naruto was never going to see her the way she saw him. But it was the subtle hint beneath it that left her a bit bewildered.

...was he…?

A challenging quip resulting in his blush and stutter all but confirmed it: he, in turn, was crushing on her.

...it was completely unexpected. He was one of the most popular guys in their year…! And he...he liked...her…? Why? She’s quiet, uninteresting, unnoticed...not anyone someone like him would care about!

And yet...he did.

Disaster nearly struck when - on her way to the game - she’d gotten a flat tire on her bike. But lo and behold, none other than Sasuke’s mother - also headed to the field - offered to give her a ride. Sitting next to both Mikoto and Kushina, Hinata had watched as they achieved victory, needing only one more win to make it to state.

He’d been surprised to see her there. Made a bit of flustered small talk. And then they’d parted ways rather...awkwardly.

And it only got worse the next time she really got to see him. Nailed by a flyaway baseball bat, he’d been left with a sizeable split in his brow. Hinata, excused from a cancelled practice, offered to take him to the nurse.

Cue more careful dancing around each other, Mikoto even teasing him when he drove home (Hinata accompanying to make sure he was okay to drive).

By then, it wasn’t quite so shocking anymore. Sasuke, quite obviously, despite the breaks in social hierarchy, was very smitten with the class wallflower.

...and after all her considering it, Hinata has decided...maybe she could like him back. He’s a lot sweeter than his typical aloof persona shows. Maybe not quite the brash charm Naruto has that she originally fell for, but...it’s nice. She feels rather at ease talking to him.

So, Hinata decides to break some social rules of her own.

Waiting outside the locker rooms after an afternoon of practice, she ignores the curious looks the other boys give her, clearly suspecting she’s up to something. But Hinata just waits until the proper one emerges.

“Hi!”

Startling, Sasuke looks to her with wide eyes...and then promptly goes pink.

...she’s really starting to like when he does that. It’s just so funny compared to his typical composure. To think, she has that sort of power.

“...uh, hi?”

“I got out a little early, so I thought I’d see how your practice went,” Hinata then offers, still smiling at him.

...it’s his turn to look suspicious. “It was...fine? Why?”

“Just make sure you didn’t take any more b-bats to the face.”

His flustered expression gets all the worse, going from pink to bright red. “No! I’m fine, that was just...a freak accident. Besides, you’d probably find a way to hear about it if I did,” Sasuke then mutters, shoving hands into his pockets.

Hinata’s expression warms. “Sorry, I don’t m-mean to tease you. I really do hope you’re okay. How’s your forehead…?”

“It’s pretty much healed up. Really wasn’t that bad.”

“Good.”

After a moment of just...standing awkwardly, Sasuke tentatively starts walking, seeing her follow. “...so, did you...need anything else?”

“No. Not really.”

“...uh, okay. How, uh...how was your practice?”

“Fine! It was a bit of a light day since we have a game in two days, so...coach doesn’t want us too burnt out. That’s why I was able to catch you!”

“Oh...what team are you playing?”

“Iwa. They’re sort of our rivals in tennis. I’m r-really hoping we beat them. We’re already too low in the rankings to go to state, so...this is really our big push for the end of the year.”

Genuine concern bleeds through Sasuke’s expression. “Oh...sorry to hear that.”

“It’s okay. I’m h-hoping it means I can make it to some of your state games!”

“Oh, well…” Sasuke itches his neck, looking a little sheepish. “We still have one more game against Suna...we’re not there yet.”

“But I bet you will be,” Hinata counters, smiling. “You guys have done r-really well! And it would be so neat if you made it there your last year…”

“Yeah...I hope so. My brother’s soccer team went all four years, and won his junior year. I’d like to at least brush up against that, honestly.”

Hinata glances over at the wistfulness in Sasuke’s tone. “...I see. Will he...will he be able to come watch?”

“Maybe...he’s just out of college and working pretty heavily, so he might not have time. But I think the games are live streamed, so...maybe he can catch it that way.”

“That’s true. But...I hope I can go. I think a group of seniors are planning to skip out and go if you make it to the finals!”

“Really?”

“Mhm! I’d go with them, even if my dad might get mad...I’ve never skipped school before.”

Sasuke considers her for a long moment. “...why do you want to go so bad?”

“Well, it’s been a while since any of our school’s teams made it to state! I want to support them.” Looking up, there’s a small sparkle in her eyes. “...and that means you, too.”

A hint of pink creeps back into his face. “...well, uh...thanks.”

“Sasuke…?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Uh, sure. What’s up?”

“I know you’re awfully busy with baseball and stuff, but um…” She looks to the ground, tucking hair behind her ear as she walks. “But...I was wondering if you’d like to...g-go out with me sometime?”

Sasuke actually freezes in his tracks.

Ending up a few paces forward, Hinata turns back toward him, seeing his wide eyes. “Would...would that be okay?”

“You...you’d wanna…?”

Dropping her coy teasing, Hinata softens, smiling warmly at him. “...I know we started off a bit, um...a bit awkwardly. With the whole...Naruto thing. But...it’s been nice getting to know you a little. You’re a very sweet person, Sasuke. I guess...I never got to see that until recently. I was too busy looking at Naruto, and...well, you seem to like to keep that sort of thing h-hidden.”

Slowly, Sasuke’s posture loses its tense edge.

Hinata glances aside, expression a bit unreadable. “...I’m sorry if you...if you had to keep this to yourself for very long. I know how that feels, and...I’m sorry for never noticing.”

“...well, I wasn’t exactly open about it. I just thought...y’know...you couldn’t really be interested with Naruto around.”

“...well, you were right. He’s never going to see me that way, and...maybe I need to try looking elsewhere.” Shyly, she glances up to him. “...maybe at...someone who already sees me.”

Nerves showing through his expression again, Sasuke dusts pink across the bridge of his nose. “...I’d...I’d like to try that. I know the year’s almost over, and...maybe we’ll end up apart once college starts. But...I really do like you, Hinata,” Sasuke offers in a rare moment of openness. “So...yeah. I’ll let you know when I’ve got some time where we can...do something. Hopefully a day will line up, right?”

She nods, smile back in place. “Okay. Here, I’ll...give you my number. And we can...text about it later? When you’ve got a moment?”

“Yeah, sure.” With digits exchanged, the pair stand in silence for a moment. “...y’know, I...wasn’t expecting you to do that. You really caught me off-guard,” Sasuke admits with a huff of a laugh.

“I f-figured I would,” she agrees with a laugh of her own. “But...well, one of us had to say something, right?”

“Yeah...glad you did.”

“...me too. Anyway, I...better get home. Homework and all that,” Hinata sighs.

“Yeah, same. I’ll text you later.”

“Okay!” Giving a beaming wave, she takes off toward the bike rack as Sasuke makes his way to the parking lot. There’s a happy little flutter in her chest. It was a bit of a bewildering experience on both sides, but...for once, she’s glad she took a leap.

Now to see where it will take her…!

                                                     .oOo.

     (This is a sequel to days 149, 168, and 183!)      More sportsverse! And I'm slowly making up my behind days xD With this I'm just one behind now, though I'm not sure when I'll have time to be 100% caught up. October is gonna be busy both irl and in regards to writing, so...we'll see!      Anyway, we have Hinata leading the charge for once! Nervous, blushy Sasuke is best Sasuke. And I like Hinata having her bold moments...especially when it's something like this! We officially have a relationship going, woohoo! Maybe another prompt will let me write a date xD We'll have to see!      But yes, for now I've got some irl stuff to get done, but! Thanks, as always, for reading!

#sasuhina #uchiha sasuke #hyūga hinata #best years of your life [ au ] #365daysofsasuhina

[fandammit]

We made these memories for ourselves (1/?)

[A/N: One Day at a Time, Alvareider. Another WIP? Yes, don’t hate me. I’m incapable of writing anything short for these two. But on the plus side, here is the start of the Snapchat AU.]

It starts out like this:

She’s at Schneider’s apartment trying to figure out what to get Dr. Berkowitz for his birthday when he mentions off-hand how awesome Alex’s costume was for his history project.

“I know, right? Mami really -- .”

She stops, then narrows her eyes at him.

“Wait, how did you see it? She finished it up at, like, midnight before it was due and he’d already taken it off by the time he got home.” She furrows her brows. “Do you...do you have cameras installed in our house?”

He scoffs.

“How could I possibly manage to get cameras installed in your house? Your mom is always at home and according to my electrician, the wiring alone would take at least a full day.” He shakes his head. “Anyway, I saw it on Snapchat.”

“Snap what now?”

He groans.

“Snapchat.” He takes his phone out of his pocket and leans closer to her, clicks on a yellow icon with a ghost in the middle. “C’mon, Pen, you are not that old.”

“Uh, yeah Schneider, we are.”

It takes what some might consider an embarrassing amount of time to explain what Snapchat is to her.

(You know, Schneider says at one point, it finally makes sense why you only post boring quotes on Instagram. I mean, do you actually know how to take a picture on there?)

But after seeing snapchat stories from Alex and Elena, she decides she wants one, too.

“Are you gonna at least try and be more interesting on here than you are on Instagram? Otherwise what’s the point?”

She shoves him, then grabs her phone from her pocket and hands it to him.

“I’m never gonna actually use it, I just wanna see what Alex and Elena are up to.”

“Well, you also have 250 people other than your kids from your contacts list who have one. Do you wanna follow them all?”

“Seriously? 250 people? How popular is this thing?”

He sighs and shakes his head as she leans over his shoulder to scroll through the list.

“Yeah, no. I’m not really interested in seeing what cousin Orencio is up to on a daily basis.”

“Yeah, it’s mostly just him with his metal detector on the beach.” He tilts his head and grins. “Although, he did once step on a jellyfish that was still alive and ran around trying to get someone to pee on him.”

She narrows her eyes at him.

“Yeah, I’ll pass on that one.” She keeps scrolling. “Actually, I’m gonna pass on everyone except for Alex, Elena, Syd and Carmen.”

“Aaand me,” Schneider says, tapping on his own name before swiping over to the camera. “Here, let me show you how to do one thing so I can at least feel like I tried to help you be interesting on here.”

He taps a button and it switches to her front facing camera. He holds his finger down on the screen and a bunch of animations pop up at the bottom.

“What are those?”

“These,” he says as he scrolls through them quickly, “are filters.”

She watches as hearts and dancing fireballs pop up on the screen.

“Why would anyone -- .” She stops when two flower crowns suddenly pop up on top of her and Schneider’s heads. “Oooh, I look cute in that one.”

“Yeah we do,” Schneider says. “Smile!”  

She does just in time for him to tap the screen.

“So now, I’m going to save this in your memories,” he says, tapping a button on the bottom of the screen. “And we’re also going to make it part of your first story.” He clicks on a blue icon, then taps on something that says my story. “And there you go! Welcome to where everyone else was five years ago, Pen.”

“Wait, why do I want either of those things?”

“What things?”

“That picture in my memories or my stories or whatever.”

“Uh, you said it yourself -- because we look cute in it.” He rolls his eyes. “Obviously.”

That’s pretty much her first and last snapchat story.

She mostly uses it to watch what Alex and Elena are up to, sometimes Syd and Carmen.

Alex’s are mostly him at baseball practice, on the way to a baseball game, sometimes just a snap of someone playing a video game with him narrating in the background. She loves him, but wow are teenage boy’s lives boring.

Elena mostly snaps about her at different marches or protests, selfies with Syd using some filter, occasionally a Netflix show that she’s into. She watches enough clips of Black Mirror to feel like she’s seen the entire season without ever sitting down to watch a single episode.

Eventually, she does add a few other people -- Lori, who she sometimes is honestly surprised is still alive; her cousin Claudia, whose life seems like a real-life telenovela; Jill, who apparently spends half her time at the dealership imitating customers who come in.

Over time, she learns two surprising things.

The first is that watching random ten second clips of people’s lives is strangely addicting. She increasingly finds herself checking Snapchat on her breaks, while she’s walking back from dropping off a client, when she’s waiting in the checkout line.

The second, infinitely more surprising thing is that Schneider is by far her favorite person to follow.

See, the thing about Schneider’s Snapchat stories is that she’s never quite sure what to expect.

Which -- honestly? Is the exact opposite of what she thought she’d get when she started following him.

“You know, your Snapchat is different than what I thought it'd be,” she says to him one night when she takes a break from studying.

He looks up from the Spanish picture book he's reading on the couch.

“What do you mean?”

She shrugs.

“I don’t know, I just kind of thought it’d just be videos of you making different kinds of quinoa or working out.”

He smirks at her.

“Well, now you know that I am a lot more sophisticated than you thought I was.”

“Uh huh,” she says wryly, drawing out the sound. “So how’re la lagartija y el sol doing?” She points at the book in his hands.

“Pretty good! I think I’m getting it.” He squints at the page. “Although I’m not really sure why a lizard would be in an arena.”

She purses her lips.

“It probably wouldn’t -- but it might be in the sand?”

He looks at her, the book, then rifles through a set of flashcards next to him.

“Ooooooooh.”

Schneider does actually have more than a few snaps that involve him making different types of quinoa, and he does have a lot of him with his adult kickball league, his adult softball league, his adult dodgeball league.

“Seriously,” she says one night after work, “I didn’t even know they had dodgeball leagues. I thought that was just, like, in the movies.”

He sighs heavily.

“It’s a real stigma against the sport. We’re really trying to have people take us seriously.”

“Hm.” She points to his shirt. “And a t-shirt that says Who Let the Dodge Out? is your plan to do that?”

She never really answers his question about what makes his snapchat so surprising. Partly because he wanted to read La Lagartija y el Sol out loud to her so she could help him with his pronunciation, but also partly because she meant what she said at the time -- she didn’t really know what to expect.

Because yes, he does have what she’d describe as Schneider at his most Schneider: endless snaps of his seahorses, hikes at sunrise while he narrates, trips to overpriced restaurants, shopping excursions to buy another half dozen graphic tees that are probably absurdly expensive.

(He’s also really into snapping pictures of clouds that he thinks look like people. They almost never do.)  

But what she also finds out is this: Schneider spends a lot of time hanging out with other people in their building.

“Did you know that Schneider hangs out with a bunch of people in our building, not just us?” She asks one night at dinner when Schneider is out at a dodgeball tournament.

Elena nods.

“Yeah, he watches Wheel of Fortune with the Ryders in 407, does macrame with Mrs. Watson in 306, plays ping pong with Mr. Jackson in 204 -- and that’s just on Thursdays.”

“He does basketball drills every Wednesday afternoon with the Lewis twins from 104 until their mom comes home,” Alex says, his mouth half full of rice. “He used to play with them, but then he dislocated his arm one time trying to dunk, so now he just helps run drills.”

“Ah, si,” her mother adds, “and he makes lunch with that vieja in 503 every Sunday.”

“Mami, Mrs. Verver is only a year older than you.”

“But she looks twenty years older than me.” She pats her cheek on other side. “That is why it is better to be Cuban.”

“So apparently everyone but me knew that you hang out with a bunch of the tenants here,” she says one afternoon after lunch.

Her mami is taking a nap, Alex is with friends and Elena is skyping Carmen in her room, so it’s just her and Schneider polishing off a tray of pastelitos.

“What, did you think I just spent time all my time with your family?”

She takes a bite of a pastelito and shrugs.

“Yeah, kinda.”

“Well, I can’t deprive the rest of the building of my charms, you know.” She rolls her eyes at him. “I do a lot of work everyday, Penelope.”

She nods.

“You know, surprisingly I don’t even want to argue with you about that.” She raises an eyebrow at him. “Although I wouldn’t call getting your ass kicked in chess by Mr. Roth every Tuesday and Thursday work.”

He huffs and shakes his head.

“That man is ruthless.”

“That man is seventy years old.”

He scoffs.

“If I’ve learned anything from father, it’s that seventy year olds are the most ruthless.” He picks up the empty dish from the table and walks over to the kitchen sink. “Anyway, I’ve always been more of a checkers guy myself.”

She follows him over to the kitchen, leans against the counter as he starts washing off the dish.

“I think it’s really cool, Schneider -- you spending time with people who are mostly alone.”

He adjusts his glasses, then glances over at her.

“Yeah, well, you know. I don’t want anyone to feel like I did growing up.”

She furrows her brows at him.

“What do you mean?”

He shrugs.

“All alone even when you’re surrounded by a building full of people.” He clears his throat. “Plus, I read this article that said that loneliness can be deadly for old people, so basically every time I’m spending time with Mrs. Watson or Mrs. Verver or Mr. Roth, I’m pretty much saving their lives.”

She nods slowly.

“So basically every time Mr. Roth kicks your ass in chess, you’re actually doing him a favor by saving his life?

“Yeah, exactly!”

She looks at him and tilts her head.

“So, is that how you make yourself feel better every time he beats you?”

“Yes.

“Does it work?”

“Sometimes.”

#schneider x penelope #penelope x schneider #one day at a time #penelope alvarez #schneider #my fic: alvareider

[waywardnerd67]

The Believer & The Skeptic: Chap. 2 - A Believer’s Heart

Summary: Ansley has a hard time dealing with the obvious pull she has towards Dean and he to her during their week together while she is working Vacation Bible School. They find out why they are drawn to one another causing Dean to lash out. Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Castiel, Ansley Novak (OFC) Pairing: Dean x Ansley (OFC) - Eventually Warnings: Fluff/Angst Word Count: 2813 A/N: As always this is unbeta so all mistakes are mine. Likes, comments and reblogs are splendid and I will love you doubly for them! Enjoy!

Over the next two days Ansley had many visitors from her church family including many of her co-workers. When the last wave of visitors left Dean sat next to her, “Do church goers always do this for people who are in the hospital?” He asked. She nodded handing him a plate of brownies her middle school small group baked her. “Pretty much, at least at my church they do. If someone is sick, had a baby or just in need of some company. We circle around them to help out.” Dean bit into one of the brownies and groaned, “Mmm, these are good. Well at least there is one benefit of going to church.” Ansley sighed choosing not to comment on his remark. There was something about his lack of faith that affected her more than anyone else. Usually, she could shrug it off but with Dean her heart would sink to the pit of her stomach.

“So, what can I expect over this next week?” Dean asked kicking his feet up on her bed. “Well, we hold a different kind of VBS than traditional churches. We hold a sports camp for the kids. They have a morning and afternoon message then they split off into individual sports and that’s it.” Dean shrugged, “Doesn’t sound so bad or churchy. So, what sport are you helping with?” She smiled, “Baseball. I played softball throughout high school and college so I stuck with a sport I’m good at unless they needed me somewhere else. Last year, I helped with cheerleading which was an eye-opening experience.” She noticed Dean’s eyes looking over her smirking. “I could see you as a cheerleader.” She felt her cheeks flare up and she averted her eyes from his. “Sorry, but I was never a cheerleader. Trying to wrangle eight First Grader girls with pom-poms was enough for me.” Dean chuckled as his phone rang.

Ansley watched him as he got up answering it. “Yeah?” He listened for a while and she watched as his body tensed up. “Are you sure, Sam?” he asked then sighed, “Alright. Well get back here then and we will come up with a plan.” He listened a moment longer and then ended the call. He ran his hand through his short dirty blond hair as he turned to look at her. “Dean, what is it?” She asked knowing whatever the call was about was not good. “Sam and Cas went to the police station to look over the evidence from your attack.” She nodded as he stood near her bed. “They found sulfur on your clothes which means we’re dealing with a demon.” Ansley felt panic rising within her, “Demon?” Dean nodded as he looked at her and he sat down on her bed. “Hey, don’t worry we won’t let anything happen to you. Sam, Cas and I we have dealt with more demons than we can count. Everything will be okay.” He reassured her as he placed his hand on top of hers.

The moment they touched it felt like an electrical current running up her arm and they both flinched. Quickly withdrawing their hands, they looked up at one another wide eyed. Dean chuckled nervously, “Must be static build up, sorry.” She laughed apprehensively rubbing her hand. She knew he was trying to ease the awkwardness between them but she could not shake the feelings bubbling inside of her. She never felt attracted to anyone the way she was feeling towards Dean. She felt uneasy about it and wished she had her Bible to read through. “Hey Dean?” He looked over to her raising an eyebrow questioningly. “Do you think Sam or Castiel could get my Bible for me? It should have been in my bag the police officers took.” She watched as Dean got up and picked up her bag from the floor, “They brought it in with you from the ambulance.” She smiled as he handed it to her and she took out her Bible. She ran her fingers over the tan leather cover and sighed contently.

She looked up at Dean who was watching her curiously. “Do you want to see it? I promise it won’t catch fire or anything.” Dean chuckled as she held it out to him. He sat down as he took it from her. His fingers hesitantly flipped over the tabs her had marking each book of the Bible. He flipped it open and it naturally opened to her favorite verse which was highlighted, notes written next to it and special mementos in the crease of the binding. “I’ve never seen a Bible writing in and highlighted before. You did this?” She nodded smiling proudly, “My Pastor always says if your Bible isn’t falling apart then you’re not using it enough. That verse is my favorite and is what I like to call my life verse.” He tilted his head to one side. “How do you what verse it is open too?” He picked up the Bible so she could not see the words and she sat up a little straighter. “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” She recited as he looked up at her stunned as she laughed. “I have read that verse so many times throughout my life that my Bible always just naturally opens to it.” She explained as he nodded slowly handing it back to her.

When she was released from the hospital, Dean and Sam helped her get back to her apartment. Having Dean inside her home was oddly comforting to her even if he looked completely uncomfortable being there. Her apartment was modest and simple with pictures of her family and church friends all around. “Please, have a seat and make yourselves at home.” Ansley went into her room to set her things down and when she walked back out she could not help laughing. Dean, Sam and Castiel were all sitting on her couch as if they were three kids in a room filled with breakables. “Guys, you have to loosen up a little. Would you like something to drink? I have soda, juice or water.” Sam got up walking towards her kitchen. “Water is fine. I’ll help you.” Dean scoffed, “Don’t happen to have any whiskey or something…” he muttered. Ansley walked back out with Sam who was holding two water bottles. She set a glass tumbler in front of Dean as he looked up at her stunned. “What? I don’t have anything against drinking. Everything in moderation.” He smirked up at her as he finally relaxed taking a sip of the amber liquor.

“Ansley, Cas is going to stay here tonight and we will take shifts guarding you until we can get back to the Bunker.” She looked nervously up to the three of them biting her lip. “What is it?” Castiel asked concern filling his voice. “I don’t mind Castiel staying especially since he looks like my brother, however, Sam and Dean you two… I mean….” She did not want to sound rude telling the brothers they could not stay the night in her apartment. “Just say it, Ansley.” Sam said as she sighed. “I have never had the opposite sex stay the night. I have certain boundaries and one of them is that.” Dean leaned forward resting her arms on his knees. “Ansley, we’re not asking to sleep in the same bed with you. This is for your safety.” 

Ansley looked down at her hands resting in her lap. The fact she was even considering it was strange to her, but she knew in her heart she needs to stand her ground. “I’m sorry. I know you all think that it is ridiculous but I must insist on it.” Dean let out a frustrated sigh as Sam looked over to him. “Wouldn’t be the first time we stayed in the Impala outside someone’s home to protect them.” Ansley chuckled as Sam smiled softly, “Occupational perk.” He joked as Dean downed the rest of his drink. “Well, let’s get going Sam. We have research to do. Cas, if anything happens call us.” Dean and Sam both got up as Ansley followed them to the door. Dean walked out without so much a word or glance towards Ansley as Sam just gently squeezed her shoulder following his brother out.

As she closed her door she sighed leaning against it. As she walked back in she curled up in her favorite chair as Castiel stared at her inquiringly. “Ansley, may I ask you a question?” She nodded looking over to him still unnerved that he looked just like her brother. “What are you feeling right now?” She gave him an unsure look as she thought for a moment. “I’m feeling frustrated, disappointed and confused. Why?” Castiel stood up squinted his eyes as he began to chant in a language she did not recognize. Suddenly, a man appeared completely naked and hugging Castiel. “What the heck?!” she yelled out as Castiel grimaced. The man put him down as Ansley tried to look anywhere but at the man standing naked in her living room. “Castiel! It’s been so long since I last saw you.” Castiel sighed, “Cupid, what are you doing here?” Ansley looked to Castiel in disbelief, “Cupid?” He nodded to her as the man smiled proudly.

“I’m fulfilling my orders. Even if Heaven is a mess right now God left us a long list of people who must be together.” Ansley and Castiel looked at one another and stepped back from each other. “You do not mean…” Cupid shook his head adamantly, “No sillies. That would be awkward. Ansley and Dean are important soulmates. A top priority that they get together quite like John and Mary Winchester.” Ansley felt her mouth gap open slightly as Castiel asked, “Are you sure? Why is it so important for them to be together?” Cupid smiled as he walked around her living room. “The Winchester lineage has to continue and the fate of the world we rest in Ansley and Dean’s offspring specifically. From them great warriors will be born to fight against evil and fight for Heaven.” Ansley felt like the room was spinning and she put her hands in her head. “I think… I think I need to go lie down.” She mumbled as Castiel helped her to her room. As soon as she laid down and closed her eyes flashed of Dean flew by. His gorgeous face, strong arms, and the overwhelming feeling of comfort she felt.

Ansley woke up hearing loud voices from her living room. She got out of bed standing near her door listening. “What the hell does that mean?” Dean yelled as someone shushed him, “Dean keep your voice down. Ansley is still sleeping.” She heard him groan loudly. “Dean, I know this is all strange for you…” Dean scoffed, “Strange? Downright unbelievable and never going to happen is more like it. Soulmates, Cas? Really?” Ansley did not understand why hearing Dean reject the crazy notion of them belonging together made her so upset. Tears were blurring her vision and she felt as if her heart was breaking. Ansley walked out as all three of them looked over to her. She kept her head down quickly making her way to the kitchen for a glass of water. She gripped the edge of her counter willing her emotions to calm down. “Ansley?” She turned around seeing Castiel standing there his eyes fill with concern. “I’m fine. I just needed some water and then I will you all to finish your conversation.” She filled a glass with tap water and as she made her way towards Castiel he stopped her. “This conversation involves you as well.” She slipped past him shaking her head. As she walked past Sam and Dean to her room shutting the door.

The next day was the first day of VBS and she woke up early to make sure she could get there before anyone else. She walked out to her living room seeing it empty and breathed a sigh of relief. She looked out her window and down to the street below seeing the Winchesters’ car. She sighed making her way to the kitchen. Making a small breakfast and drinking some juice she grabbed her devotional book to help her focus on what was important for today. Her mind being flooded with feelings for a man was odd for her and she did not like it. She was in the middle of reading when her front door opened. “Ansley?” Hearing his husky voice sent shivers down her body. “In the kitchen.” She called out and Dean appeared in the doorway leaning against it. She glanced up at him wearing jeans and a plaid shirt without a jacket. “Good morning, Dean. Would you like some coffee?” She said as he nodded sitting down.

She got up starting her coffee maker and then resumed reading her devotional book. The tension between them was thick enough to cut with a knife. Dean helped himself when the coffee was done and she felt him glancing over her shoulder. “Whatcha reading?” She held up her book so he could read the cover and then set it back down. “Oh. Religious stuff. Is that all you read?” Ansley sighed closing the book knowing she would not be able to concentrate with him here. “No, I read other books. It is a devotional book which helps me to refocus my thoughts. I’m slightly distracted and I need to be focus this week.” 

She watched as Dean smirked which made her suddenly angry at him. It was infuriating how one man could make her feel so much. “I’m going to go get ready.” She said suddenly getting up and taking her things to her room. An hour later, she came out of her room dressed and ready to leave. She pulled her long black hair into a messy bun and was slipping on her shoes when she noticed Dean staring at her. “What?” she asked as he looked away. “Nothing, just seem normal now.” She rolled her eyes, “I am normal Dean. I’m a normal woman, with normal thoughts and likes. I just happen to have faith and love God as well. Can we go?” He pursed his lips nodding.

The week past by in a blur. Dean had come to church with her every day during VBS. He would stand off to the side wherever she went and on the last day a few of her middle school girls who volunteered went up to him hugging him. “Thank you, Dean for protecting Ansley. She is our favorite leader and we are praying for you both.” He awkwardly hugged them back smiling down at them. “You’re, uh welcome.” He said as his cheeks turned pink. “Come on girls.” Ansley called out as she smiled up at Dean. They never spoke of what Cupid had told Castiel about them and their future. Dean spending the week with at church had provided many great talks between them about religion, faith and morals.

Friday after VBS, Ansley had a meeting with her Pastor about taking time off. “How are doing Ansley?” he asked as they sat down. “I’m healing well. However, there is still some danger with the person being out there still.” Her Pastor nodded as she explained taking a leave of absence until the person was brought in. “I have some extended family in Kansas that I would like to stay with until the person is caught.” He handed her some tissues as she wiped away tears falling down her cheeks. To leave her church family and her small group was devastating for her. Everything she had known was in this small town and now she was having to leave it behind. 

“I think that is a good idea. Where in Kansas?” She sniffled, “Lebanon, Kansas.” She whispered. “I will reach out and suggest some churches for you to consider. Remember God has a plan for you and even if it seems dark now it will turn out to be for your best interest. Connect within a church while you’re out there and take your time to heal emotionally through God’s word. He’ll guide you down the right path. We will find someone temporary for you here and take all the time you need off.” Ansley smiled taking a deep breath and nodding. They ended their meeting with a prayer and Ansley met Dean outside in the parking lot. “Everything okay?” He asked as she noted his concern look. She nodded as she got into his Impala wiping her face one last time as he got in and pulled away from the only life she had ever known.          

My Nerd Herd: @waywardbaby @waywardrose13 @carryonmywaywardcaptain @akshi8278 @ladywinchester1967 @ericaprice2008 @mirandaaustin93 @spnbaby-67 @dwgrl1903 @time-travel-bouqet @1967-essentialghoul @weirdoblogger69

#waywardnerd67 #the believer & the skeptic series #chapter 2 #the believer's heart #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester fanfic #dean winchester x ofc #dean winchester x ofc ansley #dean winchester fluff #dean winchester angst #dean winchester #dean fanfiction #dean fanfic #dean x ofc #dean x ofc ansley #dean fluff #dean angst #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural fanfic #supernatural #fluff #angst

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day One Hundred Forty-Nine: Baseball ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto ] [ SasuHina, NaruSaku ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

Another day, another block of practice.

Baseball is the only sport Sasuke’s ever played. His brother before him had excelled in soccer, and - not wanting to be directly compared to his brother, who can do no wrong - Sasuke chose another sport. And, like Itachi, he’s excelled in his chosen game.

And now, it’s his senior year...and all he can think about this Spring is getting to the State finals and finally taking the championship cup. Because as hard as his team works, and as good as he is (alongside many of the other players), they just haven’t quite made it that far.

After all, he’s seen the recruiters for college teams hanging around the practice field, and at their games, talking with the coach. If he could get a scholarship for baseball...he’d be over the moon.

Hence why he never misses a single practice. It’s made juggling homework a bit of a hassle, but he hopes - in the end - work on both aspects will serve him well.

“Oi, Sasuke!”

Looking up from his mitt he’s been contemplating as he thinks, the Uchiha jostles as Naruto swings an arm over his shoulders. “What?”

“Ready for the game on Saturday?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be. You?”

“Duh! Hey, guess what!” Naruto takes a step back, hands curled under his chin as his eyes go starry. “Sakura agreed to come watch!”

“Did she now?” Sasuke asks boredly, flexing his glove experimentally.

“Yeah! If we win, I’m gonna ask her on a date!”

“...and?”

“Whaddaya mean, ‘and’?”

“You ask her on dates all the time,” Sasuke retorts, seeing his friend stiffen. “What makes this any different?”

“Cuz...cuz she’ll see how awesome I am! If we win, she’ll be so impressed, there’s no way she’d say no!”

“Whatever you say.” In all honesty, Sasuke would be glad for it. The day Sakura gives up trying to get him to date her, he’ll be a very happy man.

Their practice isn’t very heavy given the game the following day, so the pair shower and make to head home a bit early. On the way through, they pass the tennis courts, still occupied by students.

Glancing nonchalantly through the chain link fence, Sasuke searches for a moment before spotting her.

Sporting a matching lilac and white tank and shorts, Hinata Hyūga faces him, focused on her practice match against an upperclassmen he vaguely recognizes as some chick named Tenten. A visor sits over her brow to shade her eyes, long hair up in a high tail, bouncing slightly in anticipation for her opponent’s serve.

“Man, tennis seems like it’d be a pain, right?”

“Huh?” Glancing back to his friend, Sasuke breaks his stare.

“I mean, it’s got so much...leg work!”

“So does baseball when you’re on the field.”

“But not as consistently! Depends on where the ball goes. Here? You can’t escape the damn ball! Imagine having to bat, like...the whole game! Over and over again!”

“Guess that’s why tennis is tennis, and baseball is baseball, idiot.”

“M’just sayin’, you gotta be tough to do tennis! I mean, imagine how much more ripped Sakura would be if she played this instead of softball!”

There’s a silent hint of pride in Sasuke’s mind at the comparison. After all, he’s pretty much saying someone like Hinata is tougher than someone like Sakura.

And given that Sasuke’s been crushing on Hinata for all of high school, and detesting Sakura...that makes him very happy indeed.

But it does puzzle him a bit. Sure, Sakura’s lithe and sinewy - she’s hardly got an ounce of fat on her (which, yes, means hardly any hips or chest). Hinata, on the other hand...is so soft. She’s heavier set than Sakura despite - as Naruto says - playing what seems like a more intense sport.

Of course, that’s not all that plays into a person’s build, he supposes. And while Hinata also plays volleyball in the Fall, Sakura does that, and does swimming in the Winter.

But - personally speaking - he’d rather have a girlfriend who’s soft than one all...boney and tough.

Which only makes it all the more disappointing that Hinata happens to be rather fond of a certain blond idiot he knows.

Why the girls can’t just...swap their affections, he’ll never know. Surely everyone would be a lot happier.

The coach then calls for a break, and the players all relax. Heaving a weary sigh, Hinata takes a swig from a purple water bottle before noticing that they have an audience. Her face brightens.

And it kills him that it’s not because she sees him. It’s because of Naruto.

Crossing the court, she flashes a smile, cheeks a bit pink. “H-hey guys!”

“Hey Hinata,” Naruto greets, tone a bit awkward as always. He’s aware of the Hyūga girl’s crush, and...to put it bluntly, it makes him squirm whenever he has to talk to her.

“Hey,” Sasuke offers, trying his best to keep his own voice cool. So far - at least, from what he can tell - no one’s noticed his own bias when it comes to the awkward love square that the four teens have found themselves in.

Hinata’s fingers cling to the fence. “I h-heard you guys have a game tomorrow!”

“Yeah! Tomorrow at two!”

“Maybe...I could come watch?”

Naruto winces ever so slightly. “Uh...yeah, sure! Sakura’s gonna go, so...you guys could, like...sit together! Or something!”

At the mention of the rosette, Hinata deflates ever so slightly.

He hates it.

“Oh...o-okay!”

“What about you?”

“Eh?”

Shifting a bit, Sasuke asks again. “When’s your next tennis match?”

“Oh...um, we have away games on Tuesday. B-but then we have a home game next Saturday! You...you could come watch, if - if you want?”

“Aw man, Sakura’s got a game that day,” Naruto laments, but Sasuke knows he’s anything but disappointed. “Hey, maybe next time!”

“O-oh! Y-yeah, sure!” Hinata gives a smile, clearly forced.

“I’d go.”

Both Hinata and Naruto turn to him curiously. “You...you would?”

“Sure.”

“But Sasuke, what about Sakura’s game?” Naruto counters with a frown.

“I’ve seen her play before. Never seen a tennis match.”

Something shifts in Hinata’s expression - a mix of genuine surprise, and...something else he can’t place. “I...I would like that. No one, um...no one really comes to...to watch me play.”

“What?” Naruto frowns. “What about your dad?”

“He...he’s busy,” Hinata deflects, waving a hand.

“And your sister?”

“She, um...she’s got a lot of homework. Middle school’s a lot h-harder nowadays.”

Sasuke’s brows furrow just a hair.

“B-but, um...it would be neat to have a...a friend come watch!” Hinata smiles again, and he can tell it’s more genuine this time around. “You - you have fun at Sakura’s game, Naruto. Maybe you can catch the n-next one.”

Behind her, the coach warns their break is nearly over, and she looks over her shoulder. “Well...I better get back to it.”

“Yeah - see ya around, Hinata!” Waving, Naruto takes off at a jog.

Sasuke watches him go, not quite in such a hurry.

“Um…”

Turning back, he sees Hinata hesitate.

“You...you don’t have to go if you d-don’t want to. To my match, I-I mean. I wasn’t...trying to guilt anyone into it...”

“I do want to go.”

“You...you do?”

“Yeah, I do.”

The same shade of surprise pulls at her face.

Feeling she’s wanting an explanation, Sasuke glances aside, trying to play it off. “Like I said, never watched tennis before. But I already play baseball - kinda boring to watch softball. Besides...Naruto’s the one who likes Sakura. I don’t want to steal his thunder. He already managed to drag her to the game tomorrow.”

“Oh...y-yeah.” Her eyes turn downcast for a moment.

“...you ever consider that you deserve to use your time on someone who wants to use their time on you?”

The question makes her jump. “I...w-what?”

“Naruto. I think you and I both know he’s not interested. So why do you keep doing this to yourself?”

For a moment she looks scandalized, not expecting to be asked such a thing. “...I…” Clearly thinking over his words, she slowly goes slack with a kind of understanding.

Someone...who wants to use their time on her? Does he mean like -?

“...nevermind,” Sasuke mutters, shouldering his duffle bag. “See you at the game tomorrow.”

“B-but -?”

Looking frustrated with himself, Sasuke doesn’t answer, leaving the courts to head for home.

...he just royally screwed that up, didn’t he? He’s such an idiot -

“Sasuke!”

Startling, he turns to see Hinata jogging up behind him. “What -?”

“I...I w-wanted to say thank you.”

“...for?”

“For, um…” Hesitating, she worries her fingertips for a moment. “For...saying you’ll go to my game.” Another pause. “...for...using your time on me.”

Connecting her words to his, he stiffens, going a light shade of pink.

She watches his expression, clearly making connections of her own. “...see you tomorrow.”

“...y-yeah.” Watching her retreat to the courts, Sasuke just...blinks. Did...did she just…?

...well...one more reason to win tomorrow.

                                                            .oOo.

     ...I actually like this one a lot xD I was never the sporty kid in school - I was the artsy, musicky, theatery kid, haha! So a lot of this is pretty foreign to me, but...I tried, lol      Gotta love the good ol' fashioned love square of team seven + Hinata. While I'm not the biggest shipper of NaruSaku, it just sort of...makes sense when put alongside SasuHina. At least, imo - hence why I tend to use it as a foil for them! But it's not high school without some kind of relationship drama, right? Even in my teeny tiny high schools of like 100 people, seems there was always some kind of dating fiasco going on xD Ah, the good ol' days lol      Anyway, it's VERY late, and I need to get more sleep than I did last night, eh heh...but, thanks for reading!

     (Also I’m sorry Tumblr readers, I can’t put in a page break between the drabble and my ANs? I dunno if it’s just glitching or if Tumblr removed it...guess we’ll see as time goes on ^^; Hence the...alternate break lol)

#sasuhina #narusaku #uchiha sasuke #hyūga hinata #uzumaki naruto #best years of your life [ au ] #365daysofsasuhina

[poeticandvaguelysweet]

Prompt #211 - Charlie and Baseball

No prompt, just me: Charlie contemplates the influence her little brother would have had on her life had he lived. 

Idk what to tell you, man.  

AO3 - C&E Index

CHARLIE AND BASEBALL

The sun was shining above her head, not a cloud in sight as blue sky stretched for miles. The weather was supposed to turn, she heard it announced on the radio in her father’s truck. Her coach was getting ready to call forfeit the second it started raining. They weren’t about making these girls play in the rain.

The pitch smelt of dirt and sweat, just as it always did, singing a reminder of the adults who used the field for most of the week. Charlie took a deep breath, taking it all in as she squeezed her eyes closed, imagining it was Yankee Stadium, smelling of peanuts and popcorn, floor sticky with someone’s spilled drink. She imagined the cheers as she swung, home run soaring out of the park as spectators looked on in disbelief. She could be a champion fit for the big leagues.

‘Batter up!’ The umpire called, as Charlie pulled herself from the dugout. She stood at the plate, bat smooth in her hands as she wrung her fingers around it, trying to find her perfect grip. She eyed off the pitch and the girl standing in the centre, ready to throw Charlie off her game. LA girls were ruthless, Charlie had learnt. The season was only just beginning but they were playing hard, trying to prove themselves: everyone was. It was do or die, time to start proving their game so they weren’t pushed into softball teams just to get a sports scholarship. The game was getting rough, every season the faces changed, even in her own team, the number of girls quickly dwindling as people pushed them off the team and out of their dreams.

They were down two runs. Charlie was the last batter for the game. If she could bring them all home she single-handedly won it for everyone else. If she could win it, the boys couldn’t shrug her off the team.

‘C’MON CHARLIE!’ A voice yelled in the stands out to her left. She turned her head, knowing full well the pitcher could decide to throw in that moment. ‘KNOCK ‘EM DEAD!’ She caught eyes on the little voice, a boy leaning over the rails as he waved his arm in the hair, big grin on his face, trademark Dearing-Grady hair getting ruffled in a breeze she couldn’t feel. ‘SHOW ‘EM WHAT YA GOT!’ Her eyes travelled north, further up the stands to spot her family, Mom and Dad sitting in the stands with Elliot, all of them grinning at her, thumbs raised as Owen stood and cheered her on.

The pitcher took pity on her distraction. It was nothing longer than a few seconds as Charlie turned back to the opposing player and gave her a short nod. She was ready. The ball came flying towards her, Charlie’s eye on it the whole time as she waited for the right moment before swinging. Bat and ball collided with a satisfying smack.

The boy behind her was screaming, his voice cracking with every word. ‘Go, Charlie! Run! What are you waiting for?!’ She didn’t need to look back at her family to know they were on their feet, yelling just as madly, making the most noise in the stands as she bolted for first base, her eyes on the teammate moving for second. She sought for the ball up in the blue sky catching the fielders still waiting for it to fall.

With the boy’s voice in her head, she pushed for second. The team stopped, two home, the third unwilling to move. ‘Move, Dalton!’ Charlie shouted one foot on the second base, ready to sprint forward. The boy in front of her shook his head. ‘Move!’ Charlie yelled again, hands in the air, knowing she couldn’t run for third if Dalton didn’t run for home. The boy shook his head again before rolling his eyes at Charlie’s impatience. Third base was free, Charlie pushing all her energy into sprinting as fast and hard as she could. Her helmet rattled on her head, inches too big as her feet touched third and pushed on for home. She could hear the kid again, Elliot joining him at the edge of the stands, the both of them yelling her name in encouragement. They were telling her to hurry, the ball finally hit the ground as outfielders scrambled for it over Charlie’s shoulder. She had seconds before it would fly towards the hands of the waiting fielder already standing on the home plate.

Charlie made it, leaping as one foot touched down on home base, feet sliding in the dirt as she landed on her rump before falling flat on her back. ‘She’s home!’ The umpire called, Charlie laughing in the dirt as she heard her siblings cheering, their voices distinctive in the crowd. A teammate came over to help her up, extending a hand as Charlie took it.

‘Good work, Grady.’ It was one of the stern-faced boys, the first to pipe up that keeping her on the team was going to bring them down. She grinned, shit eating amusement pulling at her cheeks as he clapped a hand on his back once he helped pull her up.

The game was over in a heartbeat, the LA team down by a single point as they kicked at the dirt in defeat. Before she knew it, Charlie was being pounced on. ‘Did you — did you see what you did?!’ The boy asked, jumping on the spot in front of her, dirt kicking up around his feet. ‘You just — smack — and,’ he whistled, ‘everyone ran — and you ran! Charlie, it hit the edge of the field! You coulda gotten it out of the park!’ He was bursting with excitement, hands in the air as he reenacted her play. ‘Those boys are so stupid if they don’t want you on the team no more.’ She couldn’t help but grin, rolling her eyes a little. It wasn’t her first home run of her career, not even for the season. He always thought everything she did was the best it had ever been, life-altering and completely marvellous. She ruffled a hand through his strawberry blond curls, amusing the boy as her sense of pride heightened.  

‘How about you give your sister some breathing space, Max.’ Owen suggested bringing up the rear of their family unit, Claire and Elliot walking a few steps ahead. Charlie tucked the boy into her side, giving him a squeeze before she let him go. ‘You did good today, bug.’ Charlie grimaced at the old pet name, sure she had grown out of it years ago as Owen pulled her in for a hug and kissed the top of her head. The fifteen-year-old didn’t shrug away from his affection, she was always happy for her father’s hug, swearing she would never be embarrassed by it.

‘I mean, I only did so well because I had my own personal cheering squad.’ She grinned at her siblings. The both of them wearing shirts with her number on it. ‘I never would have gone for home if they didn’t say I was safe.’ That wasn’t true. Charlie was pushing for it before the ball even hit her bat. Never would she let spectators influence her in-game decisions. But, her eight and ten-year-old siblings didn’t need to know that. ‘Hey, Dad?’ She asked, watching the man wrap his arms around Max’s shoulders as he ruffled his hands through the youngest Grady’s hair. ‘Can we go get ice-cream?’ His eyes instantly moved to the redhead beside him, Elliot tucked into her mother’s side. The youngest two turned wide eyes onto the parents who were holding them close as Owen grinned.

‘Anything for my girl headed for the majors.’

[…]

She woke with a searing headache, eyes heavy as her right hand throbbed. Her bedroom was grey, the light murky as it slipped through her window and swam across the floor. The rain had come, sound light on the roof above her head as she groaned, rolling herself onto her back.

If she strained her ears and willed everything to be still, Charlie could hear her parents arguing downstairs. She couldn’t quite catch their words, but the tone was all there. They knew and they were mad. Charlie squeezed her eyes closed, focusing on her breathing as she willed it all away. She wanted her dream to come back to her; Max, ice-cream and her place on the team. It felt so much easier. Charlie wanted it that way. She couldn’t help but think if they still had Max that her game would have turned out differently that day, she wouldn’t have found her own way home, uniform muddy and bat heavy. Her coaches voice wouldn’t have been ringing in her ears with scolding words and a final remark.

There was no one watching her. No Mom or Dad sitting in the stands. Elliot had some ballet audition or some such thing Charlie didn’t pay enough attention to and there was an emergency down at the zoo. She was fifteen, old enough to play a game without parental supervision. That was a bad move, Charlie thought, still trying to fully understand her actions. She was provoked but no one seemed to care. Coach didn’t see it that way. Her parents wouldn’t see it that way. They’ll all say the same thing. She shouldn’t have done it. She should have kept her aggression in check. Her father was bound to look at her with tired green eyes and say, ‘I thought we sorted this out, Charlie’. She could already see him shaking his head, hand on the back of his neck as he squeezed. The eldest Grady was sick of disappointing them.

Charlie pulled herself up, phone in hand as she searched for her earphones before stripping off her clothes and redressing in a pair of gym-shorts and one of her mom’s old college tees. She turned her music on, sound directly in her ears as Charlie pulled her sneakers on and laced them tight.

She headed for the door despite the rain, music playing loud, the sound rattling around in her head. Charlie thought she could make it, her hand reaching for the handle, sure she could slip out without being noticed. A hand grabbed her arm, making her sigh heavily as she turned.

Charlie met her father’s tired eyes, stressed and panicked as she plucked the earphones away from their perch ready to meet him with a blank expression and noncommittal grunts. ‘What the hell happened today, kid?’ He asked, words angry, each sound biting. She shrugged, moving around him and heading for the kitchen where she knew her mother was standing in wait. There was no point throwing a tantrum, Charlie knew that. Instead, she gave in to the discussion at hand knowing it was better to get the whole thing over and done with so she could spend her evening how she liked.

‘Where were you going?’ Claire asked arms crossed over her chest as she caught sight of Charlie’s attire.

‘For a run.’ The girl answered with a blunt shrug, glaring at her mother like the question itself offended her. Where else would she be going to in gym shorts and a hand-me-down Stanford athletics tee?

‘It’s raining out.’ Her mother gestured towards the wide expanse of glass that was the back of their house, reaching into the water soaked yard. Charlie shrugged, not quite meeting Claire’s eye. She knew they were sick of this fifteen-year-old bullshit. She heard both of them say it enough as Charlie slipped off to bed or disappeared out the door. She just didn’t know how to tell them that she didn’t understand it either and getting mad at her for useless shit didn’t help the situation at all. Part of it was hormonal, the other part was just Charlie as she had always been: pushing the limits on her free time and physical fitness.

‘Coach called.’ It was Claire who announced it, Owen, by her side as Charlie slipped onto a barstool at the counter. She waited for their annoyance, for the blows of a grounding to the likes she’d never seen. Charlie wondered briefly if her parents were going to announce she was moving schools, trying for another team that hadn’t faced her wrath. She was fifteen, had no roots tied down beyond friends and until that morning had been deadly serious about baseball. ‘You got kicked off the team, Charlie.’ She shrugged again. That wasn’t the kicker. It wasn’t even the worst part of her week. Her mother sounded mildly disappointed but it was misplaced in her head. The tone was mourning, sympathising before it was judgemental.

Owen sighed, hand scrubbing across his face before he turned back to her. ‘You hit someone, two people, kid, you broke their noses. They think you broke the boy's wrist too.’ She had hoped so.   Would have fucked up their potential careers like she was ruining hers if someone hadn’t pulled her off them. Charlie only shrugged again.

‘They deserved it.’

It was only now that she was older, gaining up on her adult years that her parents started to show a lot more frustration when they were mad. Owen still held back, trying not to startle his children and to keep the whole thing under control. Elliot was only ten, she never did anything wrong in her life but when she did he was always calm. Charlie though, Charlie got to hear every tick of the gears in his brain working as he tried to figure her out. Owen was losing his grip on the eldest, scared of the maddening world of teenage girls as he let go of her hand and trusted she would make it through. The road was rocky and it was driving them apart. He lost her to periods and mood swings, not that either scared Owen Grady — he was a man, and real men didn’t shy away when a woman mentioned her period. Or so he told her, somewhat clumsily when she first got hers, Claire, in New York on some business trip leaving Dad the only one to deal with Charlie. Who was prepared — Claire had known that moment was going to come when she wasn’t home or readily available — she just couldn’t find a single pad or tampon in the places her mother had shown her. Owen had to drive to the store. He kept his distance, understanding that it was definitely not a dad world.  

‘What on Earth is going on here, Charlie?’ He gritted his teeth, trying to level his breathing and failing. ‘I can’t keep up with you anymore.’ He said it like she was plotting world domination and setting everything on fire in her tracks. They hadn’t had a run in for a little while. She had been on her best behaviour. It was just moments like this, complete bewilderment that pushed both adults to the edge. They thought they had dealt with this in her four years of counselling when she was seven. They hadn’t said those words yet, but she was waiting.

‘I was provoked!’ Charlie argued, raising her eyes to her father before sliding them a few inches towards Claire, begging that they understood where she was coming from. ‘How am I supposed to keep my cool when that asshole and his little bitch was in my face?!’ Charlie spat, knowing full well that she had a breathing exercise to follow but couldn’t in that moment. She watched her mom grit her teeth, eyes closed and lips pursed ready to chastise Charlie for her language any second.

How was she supposed to keep her cool as the teams walked alongside each other, shaking hands on a game well played when one stopped at Charlie, a smile already climbing up his face a snake. She remembered his face, caught him out twice when his ball flew into her side of the field. He wasn’t impressed. The eldest Grady saw her coming from a mile away, he had been fuming the two times she caught him out of play when his ball flew into her side of the diamond, Charlie catching it immediately. ‘I don’t know why you bother, Grady. You’re just a girl you ain’t going nowhere in this game.’ A rage flared inside of her, sick of the sneer and the torment. They won the game and this cocky jock thought he could get even by playing bitter.

She moved without thinking, knowing no one would stop her. Her mom wasn’t watching, nor her dad or Elliot. Max died eight years ago. She didn’t have a little brother for support, someone who wanted to be just like her in his peewees. She wasn't a role model, not to Elliot and she was always destined to be outshined by the middle Grady anyway.

Charlie still held her bat in her hand, had been swinging it between her fingers languidly as they shook hands with the opposing team. When Maruo #11 seethed in her direction, slipping his hand out of her grasp as he spat at her feet and insulted her chances, Charlie acted on reflex, bat solid under her fingers as she swung hard and low to knock his knees out.

She jumped him the second he was down, one knee in the dirt, the other pressing her metal cleats into his right wrist. Charlie had her bad secured between her knee and the side of the boy’s body as she threw a heavy punch into the centre of his face. She hit him a second time before a girl from his team, Wesley, pulled at Charlie’s shoulder. ‘You can’t kill him like you killed your brother!’ The other boy had sneered, not even alarmed at the blood on Maruo’s face.

Charlotte Mae Dearing-Grady knew better. She spent way too long in counselling learning how to channel the red-hot rage that was climbing up her throat and tensing in the knuckles of her hand.  She knew she should have stepped back, left the stadium, even, and counted her breaths until she was calm. Charlotte Mae Dearing-Grady threw that logic out the window when greasy haired boys started thinking she couldn’t outrank them in sport and thought bringing up her brother was a smart move. She turned on Wesley, hand reaching out to grab at the boy’s jersey. Charlie pulled herself up, grip firm on his jersey, arm already arched back. She heard the crack of his nose the second her hand made contact with his face.

Charlie wasn’t about to tell her parents that. Her place in baseball had been challenged and lost for an inability to keep her cool. And if they knew about Max, it would only break their hearts. The fact that kids still knew about it, eight years on was driving her mad. Charlie put the boys in their place. She did what she had to do. She acted without thinking and she was going to stand by that move.

‘They were talking out of line.’ Charlie told him. It was what she told her coach too. Neither of them was getting a full answer and she knew that was part of the reason her parents had her sitting down. They wanted the truth. Sure, she wasn’t allowed to hit people either but Charlie knew her coach didn’t buy a single bar of her story and knew the kid was likely to tell her father or mother the truth. ‘They not suing or nothin’, are they?’ Charlie asked, watching her mother more than Owen. There was a loose packet of Reece’s Pieces sitting inches from her hands, Charlie’s fingers gravitating towards it as she fiddled with the plastic unsure if it belonged to her, Elliot or Owen. Claire would never have been so reckless as to leave her candy lying about.

Claire shook her head, answering Charlie’s question silently. She swatted at Charlie’s hand, making the girl drop the sweets. The teen met her mother’s eyes, catching the concern as Claire watched her daughter’s bloody knuckles. She was holding back every protective instinct in her being she had fine turned over fifteen years. Claire wanted desperately to take Charlie’s hands in hers to wipe them clean and bandage them to save off an infection. Charlie ignored it. ‘Then whats the bother? They’re not makin’ a peep because I was in the right. So, can I go on my run now?’ She smacked her hands against the counter as she slid off the stool, done with the conversation whether her parents were or not.

‘Charlie, you need to know that your behaviour reflects on the whole team.’ Claire added, stepping around Owen as she came to stand beside him, Charlie desperately trying to leave the room.

The girl sighed, shoulders falling with a loud huff. ‘Yeah, and you know what. I’m not making them look bad anymore because I was kicked off. So, you know, they can all go lead their best lives or whatever, Mom … Dad. Can I please go try to find a new purpose before I’m compelled to jump off a bridge or something?’ They nodded as one unit, letting Charlie head for the door, one earphone back in her ear as she tapped on the screen of her phone.

They didn’t startle at her comments, just let her

Claire followed her quietly, hesitating before she called out. ‘Charlie?’ Her hand reached her daughter's arm, causing the girl to turn to her with a sneer. ‘Hey, you don’t need a sports scholarship for college, okay.’ She needed her daughter to understand losing her place on the team wasn’t the be all and end all of the world. They could pay for tuition, Charlie knew that but Claire wasn’t so sure she remembered it. Charlie didn’t need a purpose. Claire didn’t care what her daughters grew up to accomplish. She would have preferred hard ass business women and lawyers but the older they got, the more that reality slipped away. She just needed them happy, well rounded and self-satisfied. Charlie considered sport her one out of everything. It was how they channelled her anger. Maybe it had been their fault. Her drive too focused she couldn’t see beyond a baseball diamond or the running track. Charlie nodded, accepting her mother's statement, her sneer turning to a flat line of her mouth. ‘Do you want a ride to the rec centre? I don’t want you running in the rain.’

Charlie shook her head. ‘I’ll head that way, though. Okay?’

‘Send me a text, I’ll pick you up whenever you’re ready.’ The girl nodded, giving her mom a fleeting smile before she pulled the door open and slipped out into the rain.

#clawen #despite the odds #Jurassic World #Charlie Grady #Elliot Grady #Max Grady #Charlie and Elliot #this is almost 4k and i don't even know how??? fics for this universe do that all the time

[24hs]

Ace of Hearts

summary:  Luda has always been the best at volleyball, wherever she went. That’s until she meets Bona.

pairings: bonlu ; leunseo

genre: fluff (side angst)

words: 8,3 k

also readable on ao3 and asianfics

Luda has always been the best at volleyball, wherever she went.

It’s just her thing, has been since kindergarten ; when her classmates played board games or hide and seek, she was outside, dribbling an old ball the kindergarten owned by herself, throwing it against a wall to practice catching. She didn’t know the concept of volleyball yet - playing ball itself was her hobby -, but if she had, she probably would have signed up for a team as soon as possible.

And that’s what she does when she eventually enters the first year of middle school - the coach, a young man whom they referred to as Coach Dongrim, was doubting her social skills as she had zero experience in team play, but put her in his team anyway when he saw her play.

Even as a 12 year old Luda has confidence, at least about her volleyball skills, so she’s able to play with a passion no one else has.

There is someone who is close, though, very close to her own skills, and it takes Luda some hours of hard practice to notice her since she has always been hiding, supporting her team by defending rather than attacking (something Luda absolutely cannot relate to).

Her name is Son Juyeon, but everyone is calling her Eunseo, so Luda just takes that nickname over.

Eunseo is quiet, she chews on the tips of her hair when she‘s nervous, often doodles in class, and, what’s most important, she is incredibly strong. The first smash from her Luda encounters almost knocks her out of her shoes - which is bad since she had been her opponent in this certain game.

Luda decides that she doesn’t want to be Eunseo‘s opponent ever again, and with this, they’re best friends.

(Eunseo doesn’t seem to have any friends, just like her, so she doesn’t complain. The deep blush when Luda first sits down next to her in lunch tells her Eunseo might even wanted to befriend her too, but was just hesitating. After all, Luda hits the volleyball almost as hard as Eunseo does, and she also has been told she’s kind of intimidating to kids her age. And kids under her age. And kids over her age. And-

Well, Luda can just be pretty scary.)

By the time they graduate, they’re by far the best players in the team, even though Luda is better, of course, a bit quicker, a bit faster, a bit more passionate.

Luda never minded being alone, but she has to admit being with Eunseo is a lot nicer. (Playing with an actual person rather than with a brick wall is a lot nicer and a hell more convenient.)

They apply to different high schools, all more in Luda‘s area than in Eunseo‘s, but she made clear she doesn’t mind driving to school two hours a day just to attend the same school as Luda.

They spend their summer vacation together in the Son‘s holiday home in Jeju, and when they arrive, Luda notices for the first time Eunseo is insanely, obnoxiously rich. (Her parents are, Eunseo claims, and Luda just nods it off.)

They have the time of their lives, riding their bikes around the island and playing volleyball the whole day, occasionally going swimming, and watching scary movies, snuggling together, at night.

Eunseo has always been the more worrisome between the two of them, so while Luda is able to actually relax while sipping on her self made caipirinha (without alcohol!), Eunseo is frowning and biting her finger nails, thinking about whether they’re going to get accepted into one of the prestige high schools.

(Luda tells her to quit it when she can almost see Eunseo’s forehead keeping all those wrinkles, so Eunseo tries her best not to show.)

Even bigger is the joy when they actually do get into an High school called Happy, an institution training especially people who aim to become either actors, idols, or, as in Eunseo‘s and Luda‘s case, athletes.

Luda has decided over her last vacation as a middle schoolers that she wants to play volleyball for the rest of her life, and Eunseo? Eunseo told Luda she doesn’t know yet.

(Luda thinks that Eunseo can afford to buy time, unlike Luda she wouldn’t have to start working for a scholarship right now. Then Luda thinks, that’s unfair, and scolds herself mentally. Eunseo is her best friend. Eunseo deserves to be unsure. Eunseo deserves it all, and she would try to give it to her.)

The first day of High school, they are confronted with rude seniors and scary hag teachers and cafeteria food that almost makes them throw up, and Luda hates it. Eunseo doesn’t seem too bothered, at least not when she holds Luda‘s hand while they’re going to the gym where first auditions for the school‘s school teams - football, baseball and volleyball - would be held.

Of course, they play themselves into the team with their left pinkies, and their team seniors - two girls called Hyunjung and Sojung - congratulate them with smoothies. (They immediately love this team, building a crass contrast to the rest of this hell school.)

Hyunjung proudly introduces herself as the team‘s captain, and Sojung quickly claims herself the co-captain, to which Hyunjung reacts with scoffing. (“Who else could it be, we were the only ones in this team!” - “Your ego is big enough to take both positions and you know it.”)

Luda and Eunseo find out Hyunjung and Sojung have been best friends since kindergarten and have started playing two years ago, in their last year of middle school. According to Hyunjung they’re “extraordinary”, according to Sojung they were “just in a need of a hobby after the softball team of their middle school had thrown them out”.

They like them from the very beginning.

However, before they can actually start practicing, they need two more members - they hold another audition and two seniors turn up, Nayeon and Jeongyeon. It’s hard for all of them, knowing they’re going to graduate this year while trying to become a team, but, somehow, they do it. By the end of Eunseo’s and Luda’s first year, they have made four friends they hang out with around the clock, so it’s no wonder they sniffle a little when Nayeon and Jeongyeon leave, on their way to university, Nayeon majoring dance and Jeongyeon aiming a Sport Science Degree. (Okay, they pretty much bawl their eyes out. Luda makes Eunseo swear not to tell anyone.)

Luda and Eunseo have their first vacation as High schoolers, but this time, at Sojung’s, whose mother gladly allowed them to stay for some weeks. When they arrive, Hyunjung is already there. Of course. She and Sojung always stick together, are even closer than Luda and Eunseo. Luda doesn’t think much of it.

At least she doesn’t until she and Eunseo go to get snacks downside just to walk into Sojung’s room, finding them making out. (Luda clears her throat and they jump ten inches apart, looking sheepishly away from each other. Eunseo has to suppress a laugh.)

They awkwardly sit next to each other, and after a tense minute, Hyunjung speaks up. “Atmosphere’s already ruined”, she says, “might as well confess some things.”

And so they start. Hyunjung had fallen in love with Sojung last year while Sojung had fallen for Hyunjung two years ago. This year, they both confessed, and were a secret couple until now.

(“Why didn’t you tell us?”, Eunseo asks quietly, and they think about it a while. “I think I wanted Sojung for myself”, Hyunjung admits, while Sojung says, “It’s just way hotter.” While Hyunjung punches Sojung in the arm, Eunseo laughs, but Luda notices the thing Hyunjung said lingered in her mind.)

“You two”, Sojung says, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend and pointing with her ring and middle finger at Luda and Eunseo, who sit a bit straighter, alarmed by their co-captain. “Confess something. This is a team meeting. We’re getting closer.” Eunseo is visibly uncomfortable, biting on her lips, so Luda grabs her hand and squeezes it. “In kindergarten”, she begins, “I got expelled.”

It’s quiet for a second before hell breaks loose.

“What do you mean you got expelled? How can you get expelled from kindergarten?”, Hyunjung roars, Sojung looks impressed and starts clapping her hands, and Eunseo whispers, “You never told me that.” Luda squeezes her hand another time, a bit more gentle, and a Eunseo understands. She relaxes and Luda grins instantly.

“There was this girl, she always used to tease me because of- hell, I don’t know, anyway, one day I took revenge.” She pauses. “After she got up from a nap, I poured orange juice on her bed. She had to go to potty training again after that.” She grins widely. “She never found out who did it.”

“Good one, Lee Luda”, Sojung says, looking like a proud mom. “How did you get thrown out then, though?”

“A teacher saw”, Luda shrugs, “but she agreed not to tell Jiyeon. She is pretty scary if I remember her correctly.” Their upperclassmen go crazy about the story, and Eunseo’s turn is forgotten, much to her happiness.

(“Thank you, Luda”, she whispers, when they’re laying on an old mattress together in Sojung’s room and Hyunjung and Sojung are fast asleep, “for earlier. Thanks for making up that story.” “It wasn’t a complete lie, you know”, Luda mumbles, half asleep, “there was a Jiyeon who annoyed the hell out of me. Just never got my revenge.” Eunseo hums and slowly grabs her hand. “Maybe you will, one day.” “Yeah”, Luda sighs and turns around so she faces Eunseo, “maybe.”)

The weeks pass in a blink of the eye, and they return to High school, with a slight tan and golden memories, but, again, without a complete volleyball team. Hyunjung and Sojung are seniors now and more stressed than ever, so the captain and the co-captain of the team let the fresh-baked sophomores hold the auditions to catch two new team members. And they do - Jinsook and Yeonjung are freshmen, skilled and almost obnoxiously cute. Everyone loves them from second one.

While the first weeks of a new school year pass, Luda notices Eunseo has changed since they first met. (Of course she did, she scolds herself, they met in middle school. In middle school, Luda had an emo haircut and sometimes hissed at people.)

But Luda had been mean and snappy and she still is mean and snappy, while Eunseo used to be quiet and shy and she now is loud and kind of braggy, which is not exactly bad, but it doesn’t feel like Eunseo anymore.

Eunseo hangs out a lot with her underclassmen, so Luda third-wheels Hyunjung and Sojung, not without second thoughts.

(Luda stands in the empty gym, long after afternoon classes have ended, and tries to play basketball alone.

“Maybe she went through puberty.” She throws the ball, it misses.

“Or now, when she has new friends, she doesn’t need me anymore.” Another shot, also missed.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to see me right now.” Luda scores.)

“Want to grab ice cream after school?”, Luda asks and lets herself fall next to Eunseo, sitting outside on a bench. Eunseo flinches and, in the span of a small millisecond, she moves away. Luda suppresses a scoff and keeps her smile. “I just had lunch”, Eunseo mumbles.

“So did I. Come on! What’s with you lately?”, Luda asks, a frown on her face, and Eunseo bites on her lips. (Usual Eunseo behavior, Luda notes.) “It’s nothing”, Eunseo smiles and pokes her finger in Luda’s side, which both know she hates. Luda grumbles, and snuggles closer to Eunseo. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe Eunseo hasn’t changed.

Their game play, however, did. The team practices six times a week, training not only stamina but also strength and team play. They’re at their peek. (They’re fast, but Luda is faster. They’re strong, but Luda’s stronger. They’re great, but Luda’s extraordinary.)

Luda loves this team.

“We have a game this Sunday”, Hyunjung announces after an especially exhausting training, looking at her phone, “so everyone prepare and practice well.” Everyone nods, too knackered to speak, and starts changing. “Against who?”, Sojung asks.

“Moment High school.” Jinsook lets out a whistle. “What is it?”, Yeonjung wants to know, and Jinsook raises her eyebrows.

“They have a pretty good team”, she says, “my friend Dayoung is in it and she sometimes sends me videos of their practice sessions. It’s sort of impressive.” “Whatever, we are impressive”, Luda interrupts her. “We’re going to beat them.” No one dares to disagree.

Luda doesn’t bother practicing more than she already does. She’s not slacking off, though, she’s taking runs, lifting weights, playing volleyball for hours as always. She just trusts her team to win. (Trust their, trust her skills to win this game easily.)

Sunday comes and the team watches their opponents stepping out of an bus from an empty classroom. The team consists of six girls, leaded by a tall, black haired one. Luda straightens her back when she sees her. She’s gorgeous. Judging by Sojung’s tiny gasp and Yeonjung clutching her heart, the others have noticed, too. “That girl”, Eunseo says, speaking for all of them, “the captain… she could be a model.” Luda ignores the nagging feeling in her brain that she knows this girl from somewhere, has seen this pretty face some over time, and heads to the door. “Come on, girls. Easy game.”

It is, in fact, not an easy game. Twenty minutes have passed, Luda’s shirt is drenched in sweat and her bangs stick to her forehead. She has to admit that she has deadly underestimated them.

The captain of the Moment team had introduced them one by one: Mei Qi and Xuan Yi, seniors, equally stunning. There are Cheng Xiao and Soobin, sophomores, small and pretty. Their youngest, Dayoung, who is quirky, cute and a freshman. And there’s Bona, the black haired beauty they had admired earlier. Senior and team captain.

(She and Hyunjung had shaken hands. While Bona smiled, Hyunjung seemed weirdly stern. Now Luda knows why - because Hyunjung had researched way better than Luda did.)

Dawon, a referee from another near High school, watches the game closely, but both teams play fair. And, in the end, after Luda, after her team gave everything, they do win.

It’s close. Too close. 22 to 21.

Luda has poured her whole heart into this game and she won by one point.

The others are proud, chattering loudly while heading to the changing room, but Luda doesn’t follow, idly dribbling a ball in the empty gym. She slowly starts getting faster, walking along the ball, then running. She runs and runs until her already cracked stamina is all used up and then throws the ball away with all of her strength, letting out a yell through gritted teeth. She didn’t loose, but she lost.

Her chest lifts and lowers rapidly, and she runs her hand through her hair. She catches someone standing in front of the changing rooms and Luda turns around. It’s Bona. It’s Bona, and her hair is still open, and she doesn’t even look sweaty. Luda has poured her whole heart into this game and Bona wasn’t even bothered enough to put her hair in a fucking ponytail.

“What are you staring at?”, Luda spits, but, sadly, due to her fatigue, it doesn’t come out as snappy as she wanted it to be.

“You”, Bona simply says, and she dares to put a smile on her face. Luda turns around, just so she doesn’t have to see it.

“Are you always this aggressive after a game?”, Luda hears Bona asking, and she suppresses the urge to actually spit. “No”, she just answers, turning back again so she faces Bona. “Good game”, Bona calls after her when Luda squeezes herself through the door Bona’s half blocking. Luda has to force herself not to go at Bona for that comment because she has to be mocking her.

She ignores Eunseo’s worried glances when she undresses, packs her things and is the first one to leave.

Yes, Luda has always been the best at volleyball, wherever she went. That’s until she met Bona.

Suddenly, she is just second best, a thought that is pretty much unbearable for her. She also starts hearing a lot of things about her. Rumors, but also facts. Luda finds out Bona is known in her school, maybe even more than she is.

Bona is everywhere.

Apparently, she’s exes with her teammate Xuan Yi, and they’re getting along even though they have to practice together all the time. (“She must be such a good person to pull that one off!”)

She’s the head girl of her school and always on top of her classes. (“That girl is a genius, I’m telling you!”)

She has been playing all her life, since she can walk. (“And they say she is the best, that she has never had an opponent that was as perfect as her.”)

I’m perfect, Luda thinks, a bitter taste on her tongue, I’m supposed to be the perfect one.

It’s not fair, Luda thinks, Bona being better than her without any effort.

(Luda does not think about how she never bothered to practice day and night herself.)

“Is everyone free this Saturday?”, Hyunjung wants to know, this time before practice. They’re in the gym, Jinsook and Eunseo already setting up the volleyball field, and the rest are stretching. “What for?”, Luda asks because their co-captain doesn’t seem to want to. (Knowing Hyunjung and Sojung, Sojung probably already knows anyway.)

“We’re playing against the team from Moment again. Friendship game, though. And we’re going eating afterwards.”

“I don’t have time”, Luda instantly claims. God, she doesn’t need another meeting with that Bona.

“Make time, then”, Sojung scoffs before her girlfriend can answer. “They have good teamwork and we can learn a lot from them.”

Luda clenches her fists, but doesn’t start fighting with Sojung. Rather she just nods and runs another lap, even though they others are ready to start. Eunseo looks after her, with a concerned look on her face.

“If you don’t want to go, I’ll lie for you and say you got sick”, Eunseo says while critical hitting Luda’s video game character. They’re sitting on the floor in Luda’s room, playing on her ten year old Xbox.

(Little Luda had saved money for months and cried real tears when she finally got to hold it in her tiny hands.)

“No”, Luda sighs after a second of serious consideration, “Captain’s never going to believe it. Besides, you suck at lying.” It’s Luda’s way of saying “you don’t have to lie for me” and they both know it.

Eunseo hums.

“You know, I thought about asking Jinsook out.”

Luda’s character receives another hit as Luda’s head turns to Eunseo.

“Really?” She starts grinning. “Wow, congrats, Juyeon! Didn’t know you got game.”

Eunseo blushes at Luda calling her her real name and then scoffs. “I really like her. Do you think she likes me?”

Something in Eunseo’s voice is weird, but Luda can’t quite name what it is, so she decides to ignore it.

“Jinsook…”, she says slowly, to buy time (and not to die in the game), “sure. Everyone likes you. Go for it.”

“Everyone”, Eunseo mumbles. Luda punches Eunseo’s character and it’s killed.

Saturday comes quicker than expected and Luda wishes she had followed Eunseo’s suggestion.

She’s not on her best, which drives her crazy, given that even on her best she can’t reach Bona’s best.

This time, they loose, but both teams aren’t too bothered.

(“Good game”, Xuan Yi says, smiling, and Eunseo grins back. Dayoung, Jinsook and Yeonjung are bickering in the back of the gym, playfully fighting and yelling like little kids.)

They go to the pizzeria by feet since it’s a clear evening and they all need some cooling after the match. Luda is with Eunseo and all of the freshmen in the back while Hyunjung, Sojung and Bona are leading their big group. (They invited Dawon too, who is chatting with Cheng Xiao and Soobin.)

Luda stares at the back of Bona’s hair and doesn’t notice Eunseo is trying to initiate a conversation with her. (“You played well today.” - “Hmm.” - “What are you going to order?” - “Hmm.” - “By the way, I failed my history test.” - “Hmm- what?”)

They squeeze themselves onto a table for originally ten people, and in the mess Luda doesn’t notice she’s stuck between Dawon and Bona. Fuck.

Luda only opens her mouth when she’s asked something. Bona doesn’t seem to notice, or at least, she doesn’t react to it. (Why would she, Luda thinks immediately, Bona doesn’t care about her. Bona doesn’t know her at all. Which is alright, because Luda doesn’t care about Bona and doesn’t know Bona at all.)

When dessert is being served, Bona talks to her.

“Do you like strawberries, Lee Luda?”, she asks. Luda narrows her eyes.

“Why are you asking?”

“Because I don’t. Want mine?”

Bona points to her strawberry ice cream.

“Why would you order that if you don’t like strawberries?”, Luda deadpans.

“Maybe I just wanted a reason to talk to you.” Bona smiles and it kind of makes Luda’s stomach drop.

“Maybe that’s the only part of this dessert I don’t like.” Bona’s smile increases and her gummy shows, her eyes narrow. Luda averts her eyes and quickly picks up a single strawberry with her spoon.

She doesn’t see Eunseo’s eyes on her.

They don’t talk anymore after that.

Luda somewhat survives the evening - besides from Bona, the team is surprisingly pleasant and likable and what not - and Luda finds herself being dragged into a heated conversation with Dayoung about overwatch. (The second Dayoung mentions she’s a Junkrat main Luda is already ready to fight her.)

Luda‘s brain kind of knows her former opponents are normal girls who don’t get all drilled to play volleyball all day, just like her team, and she can see them as friends. But she can’t seem to be able to forgive Bona. (For being all perfect effortlessly, Luda thinks. For being better than her at what she loves doing the most.)

With weeks passing, Luda develops the habit of staying after practice, playing by herself. The will to improve - to beat Bona - is there, but she doesn’t know how to do it. So she just runs more laps and does more pushups until she reaches her physical limits.

“Want me to practice with you?”, Eunseo asks when she notices Luda’s even more absent these days, but Luda shakes her head. “You don’t have time, I know that.” She gives her a scolding look. “After you failed that test.”

Eunseo ducks her head and then pouts. “I’ll always have time for you.” Luda grins and bumps her shoulder with her own.

She sees Bona again in one of her private training sessions. Luda’s throwing the ball against the wall repeatedly when Bona steps in, having a ball in her arms herself.

“Is that how you always practice?”, she calls from the end of the gym, and Luda turns on her heels.

“I’ve already finished”, she answers coolly, “Don’t worry, I’m gone in a minute.”

She quickly heads to the changing rooms, but Bona holds her back by grabbing her wrist.

“That looks painful”, she frowns, looking at the purple bruises on Luda’s arms.

“Whatever”, Luda scoffs, trying to release herself from Bona’s firm grip, failing miserably.

“You should try out another bumping technique, yours doesn’t seem to work for you.“ She thinks about it, trying to remember something. “You would also get a lot more strength in your moves and into the ball, I believe it was a flaw of yours.”

Luda’s in a rage all at once.

“I didn’t ask you about my flaws”, she snaps, pulling her arm away from Bona. “With you being here, I’m totally aware of them, thank you very much.”

Luda didn’t expect Bona to react pissed - that girl honestly can keep her temper, unlike Luda -, but she narrows her eyes and answers, “that’s not my fault.”

“It is!”, Luda can’t stop herself, she furiously pushes Bona, who tumbles back. “I didn’t ask for you to come here and- be better than me!”

Bona takes a steady breath. “You don’t practice a lot, do you?”

Luda stares at her. “What?”

“You’re angry because you’ve never been beaten before, even without lots of training. If you came to the point where you are now, but through skills and not talent, you wouldn’t be angry with me, but with yourself.”

Bona’s face turns into a grimace, and it’s the most agitated Luda has ever seen her when she says, “It’s unfair. You’ve got so much talent and you’re wasting it by playing once a week. It’s”, her shoulders fall and she turns around, mumbling the last words, “so damn unfair.”

Bona leaves from where she came from, through the changing rooms.

Luda frowns, confusion and anger mixing in her body, and she yells after her, “What the hell is your deal, Bona?”

Bona doesn’t answer.

“Hi, who is this?”

“Hi, Dayoung. Luda here. We need to meet up.”

They’re sitting in a café. Dayoung is sipping on hot chocolate. “What can you tell me about Bona?”

“Bona?”, Dayoung aks, frowning. “She’s great. Best player I’ve ever encountered. Why are you asking?”

Luda’s eye twitches. “Because”, she exhales, “she jumped at me. Said I’m wasting my talent and that it’s unfair.”

Dayoung sharply inhales.

“What did she mean?”, Luda quietly asks.

“Bona… isn’t exactly talented”, Dayoung hesitates, “don’t get me wrong, she’s brilliant, but she’s not talented. She wasn’t born with her skills.”

Dayoung balances her cup on one of its edges ; a little bit beverage spills, soaking into a napkin she had laid under it before. The once so brightly white material is now of an ugly brown.

“I don’t know how much she practices”, Dayoung admits, “or why she invests all of her time in this. We’ve talked about this, without Bona, but they don’t know anything. Well, Xuan Yi does know, but she won’t tell you. You will have to ask Bona herself for that.”

Luda doubts Bona would tell her. After all, she has never treated Bona with what she would consider kindness or even friendliness. (It was even quite the opposite.)

She wants to try, though. It’s the very single thing beside volleyball that she wants to do no matter what, and, quite like the sport, she doesn’t know why.

Luda’s getting embraced in Bona, and so far she only minds a little bit.

“Xuan Yi, I’m home”, Luda hears a voice, and she straightens her back. She’s visited Xuan Yi at home half an hour ago, hoping to catch Bona there as Dayoung told her they pretty much spend all of their time together.

(“Hi”, Xuan Yi had said, trying not to show her confusion too clearly in her face when Luda showed up on her doormat. “Um, hey”, Luda gave her a crooked smile. “Can I come in?”)

Xuan Yi rushes to the door and opens it. “Welcome home!” Luda sees Bona stepping in, shaking her head, resulting in little snowflakes falling down to the ground. Luda instinctively turns around to see through the window. Snow’s falling heavily. “You have a guest”, Xuan Yi mumbles, and when Bona takes a step to the living room, Xuan Yi quickly hushes through the door behind her and closes it after her. Luda swallows when Bona sees her.

“Hi.”

Bona blinks before she starts smirking. “Lee Luda, what are you doing here?” Luda shrugs. “I thought you could show me some techniques. You know, to get more strength into my movements and all.”

“So you did listen to my critic earlier.”

Bona sits down next to Luda, leaving an amount of appropriate space between them, and folds her hands in her lap. She looks pretty - of course, she always does - with little snowflakes in her hair and in a big scarf wrapped around her throat and shoulders.

“Of course I did.”

They sit in silence before Bona clears her throat. “It would be kind of inconvenient, practicing now”, she says, needlessly pointing to the window, “but, um, we can meet up another time…?”

“Yeah, sure”, Luda nods, then shakes her head right after. “I mean, thank you.”

Bona tilts her head, chewing on her cheek, and after a slow, slow minute Luda realizes Bona wants her gone, so she hastily speaks up before she can throw her out.

“Hey, um”, Luda says, “can I ask you something?”

Bona raises a brow. “Sure.”

“How much do you practice?”

“My team meets up every Tuesday for about one hour and half to-“

“No, Bona, how much do you practice?”

Bona stares at her before another smirk falls on her face. It looks mocking almost.

“So, who told you? Was it Xuan Yi?” She glares in the distance. “That girl doesn’t know how not to get involved.”

“No, actually, Dayoung and I met up”, Luda answered, and Bona nods, as if she had known already.

“Ah, Dayoung”, she sighs, “I assume you don’t know any details. She’s a loyal one.”

Luda sits silently, waiting for Bona to go on. She does.

“I play volleyball… at least once every day”, Bona says thoughtfully. “Sometimes before school starts, mostly in the evening, when everyone’s home and it’s quiet.

I think it has always been like that. I haven’t seen my parents for four months. They’re pretty busy, having their own hospital and all. Volleyball has always been my way to cope with hardships.”

Bona stares out of the window. Luda watches her profile, watches her eyes narrowing with low grief.

“And, I got good. Really good. I’ve had dozens of bruises on my whole body, but I had gotten really freaking good.” Bona lets out a ghost of a laugh.

“And then you came into my life, and even if you behaved like a child, you played like a god.”

Bona’s voice is almost envious, admiring, and Luda can’t even react to the hidden insult the compliment involved.

“I could tell immediately you didn’t have to put in any effort at all to get to the point I only reached after hours of practice. It was frustrating.”

Luda nods, understanding perfectly well how Bona feels. Because, didn’t she misjudge and thought all of that as well, with a bitter heart and irrational mind?

Turns out Luda is the gifted one. (Luda is the one who shouldn’t throw her talent easily away like that.)

“I guess playing volleyball is putting lots of pressure on me”, Bona goes on, “since everyone in my family is so absolutely talented. Like, my parents are famous cardiologists with their own hospital, my older brother is a pilot, and my smaller sister is studying law.”

She snorts. “Even my first girlfriend’s parents own a damn restaurant. Everyone relies on me to get a scholarship and become some volleyball playing god.”

Bona stops. “Like you are.”

Luda shifts her weight.She used to be proud of her volleyball skills, but now she feels like a fraud.

Does she even deserve it? After all what Bona has done to gain hers?

Luda watches Bona’s expression change from bitterness to solely tiredness. Bona sighs. “Sorry I snapped at you in the gym, I didn’t mean to take out my worries at you.”

“It’s alright”, Luda immediately goes, and out of an instinct she grabs Bona’s hand, squeezing it gently.

She quickly lets go after she meets Bona’s eyes, though. (Because she averts her gaze as well, she can’t see them turning soft.)

Luda enters her parents’ house, brushing off the half-melted snowflakes on her coat. “I’m home”, she calls quietly, not waiting for an answer before hushing into her room, closing the door after her.

She wants to have something that will put Bona out of her mind, so she draws, only to find herself drawing pretty stick figures with black hair and volleyball nets.

So she listens to music instead, but every song is about Bona’s struggles. (Luda turns her iPod off.)

Her mother sticks her head into Luda’s room, opening the door only a bit. “Luda, sweetie? Can you go and get some milk from the store?”

She has obvious eye bags, so Luda’s up in a second. “I’ll be back in a minute. Go and rest some.”

When Luda comes back and puts the groceries on the kitchen counter, she thinks of another way of distraction. So she tells her mother she’s out for a while and grabs her running shoes. Luda runs miles and miles, but when she comes home, she’s still doesn’t feel better.

She meets up with Dayoung once more, this time to get Bona’s phone number.“Hi”, she shortly says when calling her, and when there’s no answer at once, she adds, “it’s Luda. You know, Lee Luda. Were opponents twice. Met up some days ago?”

Bona grunts. “I know who you are, dummy, I just woke up. Cut me some slack.” Luda glances at her alarm clock - it’s almost midnight. She feels a blush creeping over her face. “Oh, sorry, I’ll just-“

“No, stay”, Bona yawns, and the words makes Luda flush harder. “Now I’m awake. What is it?”

Luda inhales. “Can you train me?”

Bona snorts, and Luda can hear the smirk in her voice when she asks, “Lee Luda, what has gotten into you?”

She scoffs, but can’t suppress a smile when she says, “must be your impact. So, can you meet up or not?”

After practicing Luda falls behind. While everyone is strolling towards the changing rooms, she stretches her fingers, does some squats and plays around with the ball.

“Aren’t you going to go home?” Eunseo is leaning against the door, already in her free time clothes. Her hair is put in a messy ponytail and her bangs are sticking to her forehead, so Luda guesses she didn’t shower.

“Nah”, Luda answers, groaning as she lets herself falling on the ground. “I’m waiting for someone.”

Eunseo looks confused. “Who?”

“Hey, Luda!”

They both turn their heads to Bona when she enters the gym with a beam on her face.

Luda grins at her and stands up again, not seeing Eunseo’s face falling. Bona’s smile increases when Luda gives her a nudge as a greeting. “Ready to practice, Luda?”

They barely notice Eunseo mumbling a goodbye and then backing off quickly, leaving them alone.

Practicing after both Luda’s and Bona’s official training becomes a habit, and even though Luda dislikes habits, she has to like this one. It contains seeing Bona, after all. And Luda’s muscles ache and cry for rest, but Luda loves it. It’s volleyball. (It’s Bona.)

Bona’s amazing.

The things she has heard about her are true - she is exes with Xuan Yi. They got into a relationship because they were one of those kindergarten friends and thought, “might as well try it out” (quoting Bona). After some months, they had mutually decided to stay on platonic terms.

(“My captain and co-captain”, Luda says, “they’re just like that. Glued together since kindergarten and have been a couple for some time now.” Bona shots her a weird look. “What?”, Luda asks, and Bona shakes her head. “Nothing.”)

She’s the head girl and always on top of her classes, but it’s nothing she’s really proud of. After all, it’s a position she has to take. (Luda still quietly admires her for it ; Bona really is smart effortlessly. She wishes Bona could see her talent just like her skills.)

Bona has been playing since she can walk.

(“My parents were kind of always absent”, Bona shrugs, “so I just picked up a ball to have something to do the whole day.”)

“Lee Luda!”, Bona grins and turns on her heels immediately, even though her practice isn’t over yet and her team’s still standing on the field. Luda quickly walks up to the audience tribunes and sits down, gesturing Bona to finish the game. Bona pouts, but gives her attention to the sport again.

(They team is already used to this. Bona’s temporary team members for this match - Mei Qi, Dayoung and Soobin - sigh, however, as they know Bona’s mind is already with Luda. “It always is”, Dayoung likes to joke, just to receive a light smack by Mei Qi.)

Luda throws her school bag onto the empty seat next to her and sits down, her eyes not leaving Bona’s tensed figure. Bona’s weekly team practice is almost over when Luda gets out of school, so it has become a costume for Luda to just drop off at Bona’s High school’s gym and watch Bona practice.

And, god, how well she does.

Luda never gets tired of seeing Bona’s play - it’s like a rehearsed dance when she soars above the field ; it’s like she’s in the boxing ring when she hits the ball with immense power, using her whole body to do so.

“Okay, let’s finish up for today”, Bona eventually says, flipping her hair and fanning her face. “Xuan Yi, Dayoung, Soobin - tidy up the field. Mei Qi and Cheng Xiao - you worked especially hard today, so you can go already if you want to.” Mei Qi and Cheng Xiao high five and disappear in the changing room while the rest grumbles.

“And you, Luda-“ Luda’s head snaps up when Bona calls her.

“Keep looking pretty like that. I’m with you in a second”, Bona grins, and Luda smirks back.

They spend a lot of time together, more than Luda and Eunseo (used to). Besides practicing volleyball, they take walks, they play video games. They enjoy their free time. They also study together ; Bona’s favorite subject is English, and even though Luda is pretty much on her level, she patiently listens to Bona blabbering about phrasal verbs and why colonel isn’t pronounced as colonel but as colonel.

Luda notices Bona quickly turns her favorite person, and she doesn’t mind at all. (She knows that that place used to be Eunseo’s, but she just has fallen so hard. She can’t catch her breath. It’s Bona.)

Eunseo has noticed, too.“You spend a lot of time with that Bona”, Eunseo says ; they’re on their way home from school. “I’m close with her, so what”, Luda shrugs, not minding Eunseo talking about Bona because she’s on mind all the time anyway.

“I think… I might be even in love with her.” Luda says it with a softness that makes her own heart beat a bit harder, but Eunseo’s reaction is more crass.

“You’re what?”

Eunseo is some steps behind, so Luda turns around when she hears the shrieking. Luda lets out a laugh, but she’s confused, clearly. “Is she so bad?” She tilts her head, waiting for an answer, and Eunseo bites her lip. “No, it’s just…”

“Then what? Can’t you be happy for me?”

Luda almost flinches at how she shoots the word rather than saying them lightly, jokingly, like she had intended to. Eunseo does flinch, however.

“I am happy for you, it’s just…” Eunseo gives an halfhearted attempt at reaching for Luda’s hand, but lets her own arm drop before she can grab it. “I don’t see you anymore. At all. I just don’t want to loose you.”

Luda turns softer, and she steps up to Eunseo and pulls her into a hug. They haven’t done that in a long time - Luda remembers when they were in middle school and she was a tad taller than Eunseo and they would always press their foreheads and noses against each other’s. Now, Eunseo can rest her chin on Luda’s head and Luda buries herself in Eunseo’s jacket, opened and wrapped around her small body.

“You’re not loosing me, dummy”, Luda mumbles, “even if I should get into a relationship with Bona.”

It’s meant to be reassuring, and Luda finds her peace in her longest friend’s arms, not seeing Eunseo’s spilling tears quietly.

Bona reaches for another slice of pizza and then snuggles into the bed’s pillows. Both teams and Dawon are at Luda’s, doing a movie night - right now they’re watching Bring It On (Soobin’s choice, highly cheered by their youngest). Luda and Bona are sitting on her bed’s top while Jinsook and Dayoung are laying on the end of it. Dawon, Soobin and Xuan Yi are cuddling on the floor, all sharing one blanket, and the rest is sitting on chairs Luda had gotten from their living room before.

Eunseo hasn’t arrived yet, having to help her parents with something, but she texted Luda that she’ll come later.

“Do you like the movie so far?”, Bona says, whispers to not disturb the others, and Luda shrugs. “I think I would have rather watched guardians of the galaxy, but this is fine too.” Bona chuckles quietly and robs closer to Luda. They watch in silence, and Luda glances at Bona, who is all into the movie, her eyes glistening.

Bona lets her hand slowly slides down her side, to Luda’s, and she entangles their fingers without missing a second of the movie. Luda squeezes it, and her heart is at ease.

“What do we watch now?”, Cheng Xiao says, yawning. “What about guardians of the galaxy?”, Bona suggests at once, pointing to the dozen of DVDs they had gathered on the floor. Luda raises an eye brow and Bona smirks at her. “Sure”, Sojung says, crawling to the recorder to change the DVD.

“I’ve got snacks and stuff in the kitchen”, Luda speaks up, “I’ll get it before the movie’s starting.” She makes a move to stand up, but Dawon and Xuan Yi stand up at once.

“Don’t worry, we’ll bring it”, Hyunjung says, also at her feet. (Sojung throws her a scoff. “We will?” - “We will”, Hyunjung scoffs back.)

“Yeah”, Jinsook says, already half out the door, “we’ll be back in a minute.”

Luda blinks, and everyone except Bona is gone.

“Okay”, she sighs, “what was that?”

Bona grins. “Maybe I asked them earlier to leave for a moment.”

Luda frowns. “Why?”

And Bona leans in, cups her cheeks and kisses Luda.

(Luda learns that Bona’s not only great at Volleyball.)

Bona slowly pulls away, but she’s still there, still in Luda’s atmosphere, with her nose almost touching hers.

“Lee Luda”, she whispers, “I’ve fallen in love with you. Please accept my confession.”

And Luda bursts out of laughing, because it’s just such a Bona thing to say, and then she steals another kiss, and another one, and one more because it feels so great and Bona loves her too.

They have dived into their own world, so neither of them sees the tall figure standing in the door.

But they hear Eunseo as the things she carried drop to the floor, clanking and clattering.

Luda jumps away from Bona’s lips to see the hurt in Eunseo’s eyes, and both Bona and her watch in shook when Eunseo mechanically turns on her heels and steps out of the room.

Luda quickly gets up and runs after her, leaving Bona on her bed.

“Eunseo!”, she calls, running down the stairs, chasing her as she’s a bit faster than her. They both ignore their friends in the kitchen, worriedly looking after them when Eunseo rips open the door and gets outside, Luda right after her.

“Eunseo, what are you doing?”, Luda yells, out of breathe when Eunseo finally stops. She can’t see her face as Eunseo’s turned her back to her, but she can see her shoulders shaking. Luda’s stomach drops. “What I’m doing?”, Eunseo mumbles, and Luda is horrified to hear that her voice trembles. In all years, Luda has never seen her like this.

“Luda, you’re kissing Bona. Bona. Someone you have known for what, five months? And you’re kissing her?”

Luda eyes her back. Eunseo hasn’t been facing her for the whole conversation.

“Juyeon, you’re being ridiculous. What’s with you?”

Eunseo finally turns around and Luda steps back. There’s tears in Eunseo’s eyes and on her cheeks and she’s a mess. And Luda realizes - way, way too late - that it’s her fault, somehow it’s Luda.

Eunseo takes a shaky breathe, and Luda gets a terrible gut feeling.

(Eunseo as a middle schooler, applying to the same High schools as Luda just so they can be together.

Eunseo blushing whenever they hug or hold hands or when they’re close.

Eunseo distancing herself from her, just to hold closer to her again.

Eunseo telling her that she’s thinking about asking Jinsook out, clearly watching her reaction.

Eunseo hating Luda’s crush with all she’s got.)

“I’m in love with you, Luda.”

They’ve all left when Luda comes home, tired and with swollen eyes.

It had turned dark next to them as they had a long, long talk.

(“Since when?”

“Remember that first vacation we took together?”

“Oh, God, Eunseo… that was years ago…”

“I know.”)

Luda has apologized a thousand times, just to get told it’s not her fault. She could see how tired Eunseo was, though, tired of loving someone who won’t love her back, and it feels like a knife turning in her stomach every time she thinks about it.

Bona hasn’t left.

She’s still sitting on Luda’s bed when Luda enters her room.

“I talked with the others”, Bona says, “they’re home.”

Luda nods, sitting down next to her.

“Is Eunseo home?”

“Yeah.” Luda fiddles with her hands, then she bursts, “She loves me. She has been loving me for years, and I didn’t know. I had no idea at all.”

Bona wraps an arm around Luda’s waist and waits. For what, Luda doesn’t know, and maybe Bona doesn’t know either because that’s how they spend the next minutes, together, in silence.

Luda closes her eyes.

Despite her suffering, a part of her heart is bright. It’s Bona.

It will always be Bona.

“Hey, Luda”, Bona mumbles, stroking her hair idly, “by the way, do you remember me from kindergarten?”

Luda turns her head, frowning in confusion. “Kindergarten?”

And the puzzle pieces come together. (Luda knew she had known Bona from somewhere.)

Luda gasps.

“You’re Kim Jiyeon. You’re the girl who annoyed me every day in freaking kindergarten.”

Bona scoffs. “That’s harsh. You weren’t quite the saint either. You always pulled my hair.”

“You did too!”, Luda complains, laughing, forgetting about her misery for a moment. “You would always steal the dolls I was playing with. It’s why I picked up a volleyball in first place.”

Bona smiles at her. “You are why I started playing. I always say you playing with it, so I wanted to try as well.”

They stay quiet, amazed by what they have find out, until Luda asks, “why didn’t you tell me?”

Bona shrugs. “I only found out some days ago. And now I figured you might needed some distraction.” Luda looks her into the eye and squeezes her hand.

“You’re not a distraction, Kim Jiyeon. You’re so much more than that.” Then, quieter, “I love you.”

Bona’s face is lightened with the brightest of a beam.

“I love you too, Lee Luda.”

Their red string of fate was knotted long time ago, just to connect them at this day.

And even if Luda still has things to make up with Eunseo, she has Bona.

Bona, who made her practice harder than ever before ; Bona who has showed her things she didn’t know existed.

It’s Bona. Luda is head over heals for Bona and she doesn’t mind a bit.

#wjsn #bonlu #leunseo #bona #luda #eunseo #kim jiyeon #son juyeon #lee luda #writing #please! support my shit!