#leaguetober

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

It's just drinks, Greta reminded herself. If it goes bad, I can say a pipe burst in my apartment, or Sadie got sick and I have to…

"You look pretty, Mama." A tiny voice, her voice of reason, chimed behind her.

Greta spun around, her eyes landing on her four-year-old daughter, Sadie. Her whole entire world, condensed into a tiny frame. Her spitting image with long, auburn hair in pigtails.

"Thank you, my darling." Greta approached her daughter and scooped her up in her arms, planting a kiss on her rosy cheek. "You be good for Joey, alright? Keep her outta trouble. Don't let her eat ice cream for dinner," Greta said, her tone serious.

Sadie let out a peal of laughter. "No, Mama!" she cried. "You can't have ice cream for dinner!"

A knock at the door had Sadie squirming in her mother's arms, eager to greet their guest. Greta set her daughter down, following her through their apartment.

//

Leaguetober Day 26 - Date

[boobsnotdudes]

Day 1-3 of leaguetober ~

Hoping to make it all the way. I’ve never actually finished one of these •

[arentyouadorable]

If you’re not following my Leaguetober challenge, you are missing out!!

[keila-escandell]

Leaguetober day 12: bird. So what better way to celebrate than Carson giving Dove a lesson about birds? I also didn't know a dove was a pigeon but in my defence, English is my second language. What was Dove's excuse? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤦🏽‍♀️🍑♥️⚾🕊️

[sugerblu]

guess it fits a Halloween post??

Furry hyena Vi, for the Leaguetober challenge in latam :D

[blazestarninja13]

So, I accidentally wrote a thing.

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve written a fic drabble but here we are in the year that is 2022 where my head is constantly filled with thoughts about baseball lesbians.

I wrote this as part of the Leaguetober Twitter event and it’s basically just wholesome fluffiness and Carson being a baby gay dork.

[kinekosenpai]

Leaguetober Nr.8 “Zed” (I have to practise with ink more ; w ;)

[ask-hextechjanna]

Inktober is happening soon which means it’s leaguetober.

Like/comment (if u want to request something different) and I might draw your muse traditionally. Effort may vary

edit: headshots/bustshots only, if your muse is already requested i’ll draw a skin!

EDIT2: I’ll be drawing the generic mainverse/splashart version of your character

edit edit edit: this will definitely bleed into november but i’m gonna finish them all

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

It was Carson's idea. Of course it was. "Team bonding", she claimed, after their disastrous start to the softball season.

Only captain Shaw would have the grand plan of renting out half the bowling alley in an attempt to grow team collegiality.

But Lu was determined to have some fun, fabricated though making some…adjustments…to the lane assignments. As the only person who had a lane to herself, she was far away from the excitability of most of her teammates. Maybe she could just focus on the lane in front of her and hope she got through this night with as little, actual, bonding as possible.

She picked up a blue iridescent ball from the rack, lined up her shot, and let it fly down the lane.

All ten pins crumbled to the floor like they were toppled by a breeze knocked away.

She turned around, and nearly jumped out of her bowling shoes.

Jess, who was supposed to be with Greta, four lanes down, was sitting on the bench at the top of the lane, arms slung across the back, a wry smirk on her face.

"I see why they call you Striker."

//

Leaguetober Day 24 - Bowling

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

Leaguetober Micro fics Day 7 - Pants (reposted from my Twitter)

It was a dumb rule. And Sgt. Beverly knew it. Having the players --*athletes*--pitch, run, bat, dive in skirts was absurd. But, even with a ranking higher than any man in the room -- which wasn't saying much -- she had no choice but to comply.

What broke her heart the most were the fines.

Serving in the armed forces enlightened her to the injustices of the world that were built on obtaining compliance from the less powerful.

She knew which of her players would struggle the most. She knew immediately.

Like clockwork, the McCready kid always had a hand in her pocket, fishing for the coins to pay up her fine. Bev took them, hoping to portray some apology behind her reprimands. The money almost burned her as she shoved it into a cigar box in her room.

She thought someone would come collect the money. Some man in a suit stopping by the house or a practice and dump the fines into a briefcase or envelope, to be sent away to the head offices.

But none did.

The great thing about rules is that they almost always have a loophole.

She knew how to break them, bend them, skirt around them to usurp the powerful, to empower the oppressed. Still acting like she upheld the status quo.

Her proudest moment was handing a thick envelope to Jess McCready.

"We take care of our own."

Nobody ever found out what was supposed to happen to the fines. Just the same, nobody ever found out about Beverly's little rebellion.

Every year, there were always one or two more, and Beverly upheld the tradition with every single one of them.

She took care of her players for as long as the league ran. When she died, a few former AAGPBL players established a scholarship in her name to support girls in sports.

They named it "Sergeant Beverly's Anti-Skirt Brigade".

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

And if you don’t want to backtrack through Tumblr…My Leaguetober micro fic collection is also available on my AO3. Still not up to date with all 31 days, but it should be sometime this week.

It’s also a super easy place to leave comments :)

Thanks again, Fruits. You’re all stars.

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

Leaguetober micro fics: day 31 - future (reposted from my Twitter)

They both traveled too much to keep a regular correspondence. But when they were in the same city and caught their teams in the paper or on the radio, they called on each other's hotels and met up after dark in the nearest ball field.

No teammates. No girlfriends. Just them.

They traded off who brought the beer. They toss the ball back and forth until the beer affects their strength and their aim.

And they catch up. Until the beer's gone or they're run off by neighbors with a noise complaint.

"You marry that girl of yours yet?"

Max smiled sheepishly, picking at the label on her bottle. "I think the team would finally figure us out."

Carson raised an eyebrow at her. "That doesn't answer my question."

Max took a deep breath. "When we win the championship."

Carson smirked and clinked her bottle against Max's. "That's what I'm talking about."

"How's everything with *your* girl?"

Carson mirrored the same, bewildered smile on Max's face. "I keep expecting the dream to end."

"After, what, five years?"

Max shook her head, sipping her beer. "You gotta stop living as if the bubble's about to burst. You'll miss all the good parts."

Carson smiled, knowing Max is right.

A silence settled over them, one Carson no longer felt the need to fill as an attempt to seek approval.

"I'm sad we'll never play together."

Max shrugged. "Maybe there's a future where we do."

"You really think so?"

"We're playing *baseball*, aren't we? Who says it stops here? What's the point if we aren't trying to make things better for those who come after us?"

"Our kids could grow up in a world where they can see themselves in their heroes, not who they want their heroes to be."

Carson smiled.

"And they won't be ashamed of it. Any of it. Who they are. Who they love. Make that five minutes a little longer."

"So...six minutes?"

They reach the last two beers. When they finish, they'll return to their lives, the present version of each other paused until they meet again.

They raise their bottles.

"To the five?"

"To the five."

"And to everything after."

---

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to everyone who's followed along with this project -- whether it's been from the beginning, or just today. I LOVED seeing your reblogs and tags.

As we’re still in renewal limbo land, this was a way to kickstart my writing stamina. Writing and publishing something every day is HARD, y’all. There wasn’t ever a day I didn’t want to do it, and late posts usually came from schedule, not lack of inspiration.

Having been stuck in a pandemic and heartbreak-related writing rut for the last two years, ALOTO coming along reignited my deep need to tell stories.

Two published fics and 31 micro fics later…my only hope is to create stories true to the characters, and true to me.

I truly may have overestimated the interest in these...But *I’m* sure as hell proud of it. Almost 10k words over the course of a month, split into teeny morsels that conveyed heart and humor. And that’s the thing that matters, right?

If you like this, catch up on all of my Leaguetober micro fics here

OR

Read my longer ALOTO fics here

:)

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

Leaguetober micro fics: Day 13 - ring (reposted from my Twitter)

Carson didn't know how she was supposed to feel.

She had never done this before.

She was never expected to do this.

Yet...she's never wanted to do anything more.

It also may be the dumbest thing she's ever done.

She knows she has to be careful.

But she also just wants it to be them. She knew that from the start.

Which is why she's here alone, in the early evening at the end of June, the last rays of the day turning the wispy clouds pink and bright orange in their home stadium.

It took coordinating with the bat boys and slipping them her wages as they reported back from Rockford Jewelers. And then, of course, getting her teammates to play along with a sudden "extra practice" (which, truly, they needed anyway)...

...one they wouldn't show up for.

She paces near home plate, kneading and punching her mitt, on the edge of panic spiraling. She doesn't know if she'll kneel or what exactly she'll say since there's a million ways this could start and end.

She's hoping for one ending, though.

She really should be here by now...

Their uniforms don't have pockets (though they should, as she's vehemently requested for the last five seasons), so she wears it on her middle finger, hidden inside her glove.

Finally, a voice, her favorite sound in the world, calls to her.

"Where is everybody?"

Greta emerges near the dugout, her bat bag slung across her shoulder.

Carson swallows. She takes off her mitt and drops it. "There's...no practice."

Greta's brow furrows. "Carson, we *have* to tighten things up if--"

Carson closes the distance between them and kisses her.

When they break apart, The Worry is on Greta's face, the one only Carson sees, the one ready to see the world shatter.

"Carson, what's going on?"

Carson cups her face and everything flies out of her head, and yet she knows exactly what she'll do.

"I want to make this as real as we can. And it only made sense to do it in the place that means everything to us."

Carson slips the ring off her finger. She holds it up. Simple. Golden. Greta's.

"Because...you're everything to me."

Greta's wall drops, and her face breaks out into a smile. The smile that was just for the two of them.

She reaches a hand into her bag.

"Our Peaches played us both, farm girl."

Greta pulls out a ring of her own.

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

Leaguetober micro fics: Day 14 - kiss (reposted from my Twitter)

Lupe, Greta, and Jess tiptoed into the house after a night out at The Bank. While the Rockford community was still regaining its joy and freedom after what happened at The Office, it was nice to have a place to gather again.

Passing the living room, Greta paused.

Carson was slouched against the side of couch, sound asleep, clutching a stack of cards. They were getting their asses handed to them on defense lately, and her anxiety had manifested in taking over the living room with her game cards.

Jess and Lupe continued upstairs as Greta approached the couch. She gingerly collected the cards and set them carefully on the table.

She draped the throw from the back of the couch over Carson. She brushed a few stray hairs from her face, and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Hey."

Eyes barely open, a small smile spread across Carson's face. She untucked the hand under her head and reached out to Greta.

"Hi, darling." Greta took Carson's hand, squeezing it. "Come to bed. It's late."

Carson shook her head. "Stay here with me?"

Without hesitating, Greta climbed onto the couch, tucking herself next to Carson.

Carson reached up and pulled Greta to her, capturing her lips. The kiss was slow, but not urgent. Steady. Loving.

It felt like a promise of a future, of stability, of freedom.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

In an unsure world, It was still the surest thing they knew.

Wrapped up in each other, not for the first, or last, time, they fell asleep.

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

Leaguetober Micro fics Day 9 - Pie (reposted from my Twitter)

"You're a shit pie-maker, Shaw."

Carson sighed, tossing the spoon onto the counter. "I know."

"So why do you still make them?"

Carson turned to face Greta. "Because it's what society told me I had to do."

"Must've missed that day in finishing school." Greta perched herself against the table, across from Carson, their feet almost touching.

"We're playing in a fucking professional baseball league, Carson. I think we're well past adhering to society's expectations of us."

"Stop letting the world decide what you what you can or can't be. Isn't that what this is all about?"

Carson shook her head. "I don't know if I can."

Greta cocked her head. "Oh, sure you can..."

Carson swallowed.

Greta pushed herself off the table. "But if you insist..."

Greta reached up into the cabinet behind Carson, nearly pressing their bodies together.

It was sensory overload, intoxicated by Greta's perfume, stifled by The Rules, building like a pressure cooker, every inch of her skin on fire.

Carson's hands ached to reach out, to hold...

Still, Greta knew exactly what she was doing. Rules had to be upheld, but the teasing, yearning drove the desire like an erratic horse jockey.

Greta slowly stepped back, eyebrow cocked, her tongue flitting across her lower lip. She held upa bottle of clear liquid.

"Vodka. Makes the crust flakier."

Carson took it, hands shaking. Greta backed away, her eyes locked with Carson's until she turned to climb the stairs.

Carson threw away the pie crust, tossed back a swig of vodka, and ran up the stairs after her.

[emeraldcitynerdfighter]

Leaguetober Micro Fics

Day 4 - Stars (reposted from my Twitter)

The dark, unending skies of the Idaho valleys made for great star-gazing. Every August, Meg and Carson were allowed to stay up well into the night to watch for the Perseid meteors. One year they counted up to fifty. Each.

Their mama told them they could wish on those zooming sparks of light and debris. And that their wishes would always come true. No matter what. But they never knew when.

They were teenagers when they knew they would have to start waiting longer for their wishes to come true. It's also when they stopped sharing their wishes with each other.

'I wish Mama would come home.'

'I wish I could feel...normal.'

One summer, Meg stopped her stargazing altogether. She was determined to keep her head and feet on Earth, always opting for the practical. The realistic. The expected.

But Carson always went back.

Years later, in a small Illinois town, months away from the Perseids, in the grass after their secret practice, Carson scanned the sky, reminded of all of the wishes she's made that never came true.

Until she remembers where she is.

She was really *here*. Playing baseball. On a real team. And getting paid for it.

And the woman beside her is unlike anyone she's ever met, has made her feel things she's never felt before...

This was a wish she never knew she had made, coming true before her eyes.

The next August, on a rare night off, she dragged Greta out of the house, after lights out and Sarge had even sauntered off to bed, to the park two blocks away.

"Look." She points to stars Greta never sees in New York. A white streak stretches across the entire sky.

She squeezes Greta's hand. "Make a wish."

A beat passes, and Greta wraps an arm around Carson's waist to pull her close, and kisses her. No rules, no worry. Only them. Only love.

Carson smiles into the kiss.

That was her wish, too