#since i have a foreboding feeling about this: please do not clown on this post thank you | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

emmi-kat · 3 years

Text

SPG Kazooland Master Post

Kazooland is the alternate dimension in the Steam Powered Giraffe Universe. This post contains various facts and tidbits mentioned by David and Bunny Bennett about it on tumblr and the official SPG websites over the years. Please feel free to share more information in the reblogs!

Kazooland was named for the mentor of David Bennett, Bunny Bennett, Jon Sprague, Erin Burke, and Bryan Barbarin, Mr.Jerry Hager's mime persona: Kazoo the Mime

By 1897, Peter Walter had unlocked the power of Blue Matter and subsequently, created an alternate reality he dubbed Kazooland.

Excerpt from The Story of the Cavalcadium

The Cavalcadium tried to make a permanent portal to Kazooland in their building, based on Peter Walter I’s studies.

The Cavalcadium was wiped from existence in an instant, and it took Peter a few months to realize it had simply vanished. Time and space itself left a void to forget it ever was.

The Cavalcadium building now exists in the seams of Kazooland, and acts as a hub to many other parts of the dimension. A few doorways even exist on Earth.

Current link to the map of Kazooland: https://www.thecavalcadium.com/Kazooland.html

Information available about Kazooland as late as 2014

Asininia* The dark kingdom of Ignatius Becile. Long having taken refuge from Earth, the black-handed Becile has built a giant city which is depleting Asininia of its natural resources and precious rock candy veins. His aim is creating an unstoppable army of candy-powered automatons to consume the universe.

*name is derived from “asinine”

The 8th Dimension of Absolute and Infinite Terror The only persistent door to the terrible 8th dimension. Its history is unclear but it is indeed locked and guarded by Jumbo, The Pink Whale With A Top Hat.* The 8th dimension is notorious for being the place of fermenting nightmares and evil Lovecraftian Beasts.

*Jumbo can be found in the album The Vice Quadrant, guarding Commander Cosmo and The Necrostar

Horroria

A jagged mountain range of ash and death, which is primarily a refuge for monsters. A couple of human settlements exist, but the majority of inhabitants of the continent are Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, Zombies, Witches, Cultists, Poltergeists, Man-Eating Hamburgers, and Hamburger-Eating Men.

Hypexion V

A presumed alien homeworld of the Hypexions; thin bipedal humanoids with a sweet tooth.

Ironically Foreboding Shaped Islands

The Chaos Sea marks these bodies of land as a legend, but time travelers and fortunate explorers speak of adventurous sailors, pirates, and buried treasure. It is believed the famous Captain Albert Alexander was the first to have sailed the Chaos Sea, yet only stories remain.

Lola

The Hypexion Moon infested with the diabolical Moon Worms. The Moon Worm Queen is held responsible for eating a chunk of Hypexion V before she was destroyed, but a newly born Moon Worm Queen is the talk among the stars. The talking stars of course.

Lotsasand

An ancient dust land belonging to the ancestors of the Kingdom of Set. Though primarily a land for the outsourcing of dust and camels, the age old tales of Jackal Men, Living Mummies, and Scarab People still invoke questions of mysticism in even the most skeptical of skeptics.

Meh

An icy northern land of Snow Queens and Mystical Creatures. Many a wise pipe smoking old bearded man tell stories about this enchanted place, but few are listened to.

Merveille

Merveille is the remains of the once great Circus Empire, which exploded eons ago and left a watercolored land of saturated imagination. The inhabitants are mostly the Speechless Ones, also known as Mimes. It is often described as a tangible dream, and artists from all over the multiverse have tapped into its presence for inspiration and escape.

Cities: Bip

The capital of Merveille was named after its founder, and is a favorite spot for vacation for Peter Walter VI. It was also in Bip that the Great War of 1823 was ended by a mysterious mime with a magical kazoo.

New Pieland

Once a paradise of wilderness, pilgrims from Old Pieland settled here declaring it New Pieland after their former continent was completely devoured since it actually lived up to its namesake. It was quite literally a giant land mass of flaky crust with a warm gooey appley interior.

New Pieland is home to many American immigrants and many other multiverse settlers. Humans, Robots, Clowns, Cat People, and Vleeds are just a few of the races you'll find in the melting pot which is New Pieland.

Cities: Biscuit Town

Biscuit Town is a famous small mining town in the eastern part of New Pieland. It is home primarily to clowns, wizards, and talking animals. Biscuit Town has been run by Walter Robot The Jon until recently, and was the first town in New Pieland to elect a robot for Mayor. Currently, in the Jon's absence the Mayor's Assistant Boft is struggling with the encroaching rogue nation of Asininia, a resource-hungry super kingdom of mad scientists and candy-powered androids. Preferbia This large sprawling landscape of suburbia is a metropolis of 1950's ideals, where the beautiful residents are protected from the ravages of time by a blue matter rich force field over the city. Created by a visionary man from Earth after slipping through an interdimensional rift, Howard Lloyd saw the potential of the unstable rift and created what some have called the 1950s utopia of mankind. Those who enter the city rarely decide to leave the prospect of eternal youth, but some do choose to escape Preferbia's roving gangs of fish mutants and frequent attacks by the Hypexion Moon Worms.

Snornia

Snornia is the last remaining haven for mystical beings. It is cut off from the rest of the world by a vengeful Dragon God, but those who have seen it speak of a fantastical world of magic and danger, with princesses in towers, dexterous elves making shoes, and six winged warlocks. Humans who find ways to enter usually do so to train to become wizards or dragons, but many are eaten by the Dragon God, and even more give up and sail to Party Island.

South Adventurica

A largely unexplored tangle of constantly transforming jungles, swamps, and plains unbound by any mappable record of time. Adventurers have sought to unlock the continent's mysteries for years, and its surprises still continue to surprise avid surprise seekers. Dinosaurs, giant insects, carnivorous plants, elementals, Forgotten Gods, Bobby Darin, and Santa Claus are all said to live here, but the only proof of their existence are the ravaged journals from explorers of the past...

And that captured dinosaur amusement park off the coast.

Verk

A rainy settlement of time travelers from the 1890s. It is separated from the world by an ethereal mist of aether called "Henry's Breath," long believed to be generated by the fat ghost of England's Henry the 8th. Most settlers began traversing the aether via multidimensional travel from when Colonel P. A. Walter I discovered Blue Matter in 1896, but all matter of being from the multiverse seems to have leaked through to embrace knowledge, Victorian style, and to tinker with steampunk abominations.

Cities: Dandyton

The Capital of Verk is a bustling city of inventors, scientists, airship pilots, alchemists, airship pilots, ghosts, and airship pilots. It is home to the Verk Dandy Candy Factory, many airships, and the Verkian Rift, a dimensional hub to countless other realities.

The (old) Cavalcadium landing page including links to Worlds (Earth, Kazooland, and the 8th Dimension), Characters, and Species

Characters include (but are not limited to): Beebop, Bip, Boft, Brown Suits, Buster Becile, Captain Albert Alexander, Delilah, Doc Laborday, G. G., Guy Hottie, Hatchworth,The Highwayman, I. M. Becile, Kazoo, Lily Brennan, Lorene Keaton, Norman Becile, Peter Walter I, Peter Walter II, Peter Walter III, Peter Walter IV, Peter Walter V, Peter Walter VI, Rabbit, Rex Marksley, The Jon, The Spine, The Suspender Man, Uncle Ralphie, Upgrade, and Wanda Becile

Species include (but are not limited to): Robots, Samurai, Scarab People, Seafarers, Steampunks, Talking Animals, Trolls, Vampires, Vleeds, Warlocks, Werewolfs, Witchs, Wizards, and Zombies

The Temecula Rift

Prior to the 2013 Walter Robotics Expo, an accident occurred while 26 y/o Peter Walter VI accidentally sealed a Blue Matter Rift that he was trying to open for high speed inter-dimensional travel between Earth and Kazooland. The result was an explosion that singularly hit Peter Walter VI in his face. He now wears an iconic keyhole mask to hide whatever the results of the explosion may have been.

Links:

https://pawaltervi.tumblr.com/post/49702485000/regarding-the-temecula-rift

https://pawaltervi.tumblr.com/post/51763873084/walter-robotics-owner-peter-walter-vi-hospitalized

https://pawaltervi.tumblr.com/post/52636220497/a-message-from-peter-walter-vi

Audio posts of Isabella Bennett discussing Kazooland Canon circa 2015:

Kazooland Canon 1/3

Kazooland Canon 2/3

Kazooland Canon 3/3

Rabbit’s white faceplates are made from a porcelain-like material from Kazooland called Impossium

#spg #spgiraffe #steam powered giraffe #kazooland #lore masterpost #lore

95 notes · View notes

lovehugsandcandy · 4 years

Text

One-on-One: Rematch (Part 4)

A/N: Thank you all for reading and leaving such nice notes-they totally inspire me and keep me going! You all are the best. Last part (there might be some smaller one-shots in the future but, for now, this finishes the posting binge, apologies for clogging your feed). (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Pairing: Colt x MC, ROD

Length: ~3,700 words

Rating: R (Swearing. References to a fight.)

Summary: When Langston made it to Nationals, Ellie planned on spending the entire time studying in her room. It didn’t end up quite as planned.

Ellie told herself she would not think about it.

She would study, cram, finally understand the driving force between enthalpically-driven reactions, and get her entire life back on track.

At least that’s what she told herself.

But somehow time passed and she moped and she never truly understood organic chemistry. Instead, she could only recall a different type of chemistry, far removed from textbooks and lecture halls. However, like during labs, if the reactants went bad or if she made one wrong move, it all exploded, flames bursting out of flasks and bunsen burners until she had to leap back, fire licking at her eyebrows.

But this explosion was worse. Instead of singed hair, everything ached, with the gaping hole in her heart worst of all, throbbing incessantly, pain making it impossible to study or sleep or think.

Even during team practice, her limbs were unsteady, heavy. She didn’t look like someone who was preparing for an appearance on national television. She didn’t feel like someone who was practicing for the biggest halftime show of her life.

She felt like someone who had no clue what way was up... or which way her life was going.

She knew she shouldn’t look for him before the final game but, regardless of how hard she tried to stay focused on anything else, her eyes found the court, searching every single red-and-gold jersey running by or shooting layups. None were him.

The stadium was filling, fans filing into the seats, chatter and excitement echoing off the parquet floor. She tuned it out and stretched, getting ready for the start of the game and the most important performance of her life; the plod of feet and squeak of sneakers made their way over, stopping at her side. Ellie didn’t look up at the shadow that fell over her outstretched leg. Her quads were tight, and she needed to-

“What happened, Ellie?”

She glanced up and gasped. “What the hell happened to you?”

“What does it look like?” Logan’s smile was chagrined, a stark comparison to the massive shiner that darkened the skin around his left eye. “Kaneko’s violence-free streak ended.”

“He punched you?!?”

“We had a... disagreement.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Hey, I gave as good as I got.”

“He needs freaking anger management.”

“Ha. He’s in anger management. Coach has had him going since he started with the team.” Logan dropped to the ground next to her, wincing as his weight fell on his hand before sinking fully to the court. “You were doing a hell of a lot better than the clowns in there, though.”

She studied the floor. Colt wasn’t her problem anymore.

“You guys break up?”

“We were never together. We were…” She took a deep breath. “We were just hooking up.”

“Ha. Really.”

“Yeah,” she chided. “Really”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. Colt doesn’t do anything by half. It’s never ‘just’ with him.”

“It was never gonna work. I know how you basketball players are-”

“Hey!”

She continued as if he had never spoken, talking fast as if speed of speech directly correlated with the strength of conviction. “We were hooking up... and now we’re not.”

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why aren’t you hooking up anymore?” Logan looked curious, sprawled next to her.

“Jesus, is this really everyone’s business?”

“I’m-”

“Why does it even matter?!? He’s some massive basketball talent who is gonna move to Utah and what about me then?”

“Uhh, ok. ... what about you then?”

“I’m not fucking moving to Utah! I’m top of my class and I want to go to grad school and it was never gonna work anyway so there’s no point in dragging it out-”

“Uhh…” Logan’s mouth dropped, shocked and befuddled and concerned, but she was too far gone to stop now.

“And all you basketball players are the same-”

“Hey! I resent-”

“So this meant nothing to him and I’m sure he can find another fan to hookup with and I think...”

A heavy hand on her shoulder made her stop; she blinked the world back into focus. “You done?”

“I can keep going.”

“Dear God, please don’t,” he begged. She chuckled despite herself as Logan exhaled deeply through pursed lips. “There is so much to unpack there that I don’t even know where to begin. How the hell- did he talk to you about the Jazz?”

She inspected her hands. “No. I... the scout was in the box at the semifinals.”

“Yeah... Colt hates that guy. We both do, actually, one of the very few things in this world we agree on. There is no way in hell he’s signing with the Jazz. I don’t think he’s signing with anyone right now.”

“No?” She blinked at him.

“I mean, his mom is on his ass to finish school but... isn’t this something you should talk to him about?”

She shrugged. “It didn’t seem worth it. The entire thing meant nothing, so, why bother?”

“Ellie, he gave you his box ticket. He never has anyone cheering for him up there.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“No, really,” he protested. “I mean, you know the guy. I’m not sure his antisocial behavior has given him a rabid fan base.” She looked down at the ground, turning Ingrid’s warning and Logan’s words over in her head. Finally, he interrupted her seizing brain. “But what do you want?”

“Huh?” She blinked at him.

“You’ve gone on and on about Utah and him being some big name basketball star but you never really said anything about what you want.”

She blinked again. What was he talking about? “I want... I have a plan.” She gnawed on a thumbnail. “I’m going to graduate summa cum laude, hell, valedictorian unless Ingrid beats me. I’m gonna get into the best PhD program in the US and I’m gonna complete my post-doc in the new mechanics lab that is gonna open up back home and-”

“I’m hearing a lot about what you’re gonna do.” He stood, lifting a long arm over his head to stretch his trapezius. “But I’m not hearing anything about what you want to do.”

“I…” She squinted through the arena lights to stare at him. “I…”

“I also don’t know where in your plan it says you can’t date. That sounds ridiculous.” He shook out his arms, and she watched intently, cataloguing the motion while her mind whirled. What did she want? She wanted to be valedictorian. She wanted to get her PhD. She also wanted to wake up next to a confrontational basketball player who threw himself into everything he did with a fire that only tempered with her. “You’re smart and something tells me you fight like hell to get what you want. Why can’t you have both?”

“You know what, Logan?”

“What? You gonna tell me I’m right?”

“No, I’m gonna tell you that the pain in your left hand is from an undiagnosed sprain in your pronator quadratus and you need a wrist brace.”

“What the-?” She didn’t answer, only stood and stormed away, leaving him staring at his wrist in shock.

But when she flounced into her seat on the sidelines, she couldn’t stop turning his words over and over in her head.

~~~~~

“Let’s go, Langston,” Ellie shouted, cheering perfectly in time with her teammates, “let’s go!” She waved her pompoms in the air with a practiced grin, completing their timeout routine perfectly even though her mind was miles away.

She tried to focus on the game to distract herself from Logan’s words, but it was impossible. Besides, the game wasn’t much to focus on anyway: it was a catastrophe. She glanced at the scoreboard again, wincing as it showed Langston was winning by 11, and then immediately berated herself. She was a Langston cheerleader, for crying out loud; she wanted Langston to win. Didn’t she?

Her eyes cut to Colt, and she felt her gaze soften. He was having the worst game she had ever seen. He had scored two points all half, missing at least seven easy layups, and turning over the ball so many times even Ingrid wondered aloud who he wanted to win. And then, the worse he played, the angrier he got, earning a technical foul for a chippy elbow and getting into a furious argument with his Coach on the sidelines.

He did not look like a future pro.

He looked like someone who was having the shittiest day of his life.

Ellie swallowed as the clock counted down to halftime. It wasn’t like she was having an exceptional day either.

When both teams stood to head to their respective locker rooms, she tried to catch his eye as she walked to half court for her cheer performance. He pointedly avoided looking her way, head down dejectedly.

Her heart cracked open in her chest. What did she want?

This routine would be broadcast nationally. Her dad was watching, eyes peeled for a shot of her on live tv; Riya and Darius were probably doing the same at university. This was the biggest show she would likely ever perform in.

And she barely registered a flip.

As soon as her sneakers hit the sideline, she took off, pleading with the coach for a break, and then booked it, flying down hallways and flashing her cheer pass to security until she found the locker room. The door was closed but there was yelling, bitter screaming, the Coach shrill and loud, trying to rein in the shouts. She could just make out Logan and Colt, hollering over each other, the slam of a locker, a massive thump, and the door flew open, Logan and Colt grappling as they pushed through into the silent hall.

“Maybe if you got your head in the game-“

“Maybe if you got your head out of your ass-“

Logan saw her first, shoulders dropping in relief. “Oh thank God, you’re here. You deal with him.”

“What are you-” Colt spun and his jaw dropped as he saw her. Her heart fell; the fury on his face, paired with the bruise angry against his jawline, was intimidating, foreboding. “The fuck do you want?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“I think you’ve done enough talking.” He turned to follow Logan back into the locker room and she couldn’t, she had to-

“Wait,” she pleaded, wringing her hands in front of her. “Please, just wait.”

He stopped, turning back around to study her with guarded eyes. “What?”

“I…” She had to glance away, unable to bear the coldness in his stare. “I’m sorry.”

“Great-”

“No. Let me…” Tears were pricking at her eyes and she blinked furiously, willing them back. “I got into my head that this meant nothing, that we meant nothing, and-”

“We mean nothing, ok, so-”

“Let me talk!” She finally looked at him, trying to keep the tears from her eyes, tremor from her pleading. “Please,” she lowered her voice. “Let me talk.”

“... Fine.”

“I thought... You have a freaking ESPN bio and there’s talk of you going pro and I... I figured that this was a fling. That... that you just wanted to hook up. And, at first, I was ok with it; I’m focused on school and I guess I didn’t want to even entertain the hope that it was something more. But then your friend convinced me I should consider what I wanted, not what I assumed.”

“What? Who? What friend?”

“... Logan?”

“What?” Colt’s jaw dropped in disgust. “We aren’t friends! Logan is a goddamn idiot who-”

“I think you’re missing the point.”

He stopped mid spiel to cross his arms over his chest. “What’s the point?”

“That I never stopped to think about what I wanted. I was only following my plan, and doing what I was supposed to do, and I never really thought about what I wanted… or who I wanted. Colt, I don’t want to follow my old plan. I don’t want to go back to my life the way it was before.”

“Well, what do you want?”

“You.”

“Ha.” He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Doesn’t seem like it.”

“I do.” She took a deep breath. “Colt. You’re tough. You don’t take my shit. You have high expectations of others, but you expect perfection from yourself. You’re smart and you don’t let anyone stand in your way.” She held her breath.

“... You sound like a fucking fortune cookie.” He ducked his head, but she could barely see the hint of an abashed smile. She exhaled as her lips spread into her own grin. “I thought you were too busy for me.”

“I ran down here after the biggest show of my cheer season. I can make time for you.” She stepped closer. “Logan convinced me that maybe I can have what I want, too. Maybe I can have both...”

“I’m not going to fucking thank him.”

“I would definitely not expect you to.”

He smirked, rocking back on his heels. “So how’s this gonna work?”

“I have a phone.” Her lips twitched, breaking further into a smile that she couldn’t quash. “We’re only two hours apart.”

“I dunno.” She felt her heart drop until she caught the way his eyes shone in the hallway light. “You dumped me, remember?”

“What-”

“You’re gonna have to make it up to me.” He shrugged.

“Oh, for crying out, l-”

“I’m thinking post-game massages, nude, of course.” He contemplated the ceiling, considering. “Some really good incentives for solid play and, when we win, definitely some-”

She didn’t let him finish his inane list, jumping across the hall to throw her hands around his neck and kiss him, desperately, their lips meeting eagerly as she sighed relief and joy into the curve of his smile. His hands traced the waistband of her skirt until they reached the small of her back, pulling her forward so they were even closer, bodies colliding, his fingertips catching under her blue-and-white uniform while her fingers twined into red-and-gold. Just when her lungs ached for breath, he pulled back.

“I knew you liked me.”

She swatted his chest and groaned. “Oh my god, does your narcissism know no bounds?”

“Am I wrong?”

She gazed up at him. “Not wrong.”

She was about to kiss him again when the door to the locker room burst open again, slam echoing down the dull concrete walls as Logan ducked his head out. “Yo, Kaneko, we need you in here. Coach is drawing up some insane new play where he is relying on Toby to shoot threes out of a pick-and-roll.”

“Oh Lord. I gotta-”

“Wait,” she interjected, pulling Colt closer by his jersey. “You wanted to impress me, right?”

“As if the week when you were holed up in my room didn’t-”

“Shut up. You want to impress me?”

His eyes softened, fingers tracing the strip of bare skin above her skirt. “Always.”

“Win,” she said. “Win Nationals. Win.”

He ducked his head to kiss her again, greedily stealing breath from her lungs before he pulled away, turning towards the door. “Done.” And with that, he was gone.

~~~~~

It was a different game, a different universe, when the whistle blew again.

Whereas Langston owned the first half, draining shot after shot, the tide had turned. Colt had seemingly stolen the magic from them-he was everywhere, stealing a pass off the fingertips of one player, blocking a three-pointer from another.

She watched, incredulous, as they started coming back, slowly, Langston growing weary and tired as the game continued, Colt only playing harder as the third quarter melted into the fourth and his team battled back, carving away at the Langston lead until they were only down by one point with less than a minute to play.

Ingrid shook next to her, nerves and excitement vibrating the pom-poms in her hands, but Ellie could only think in terms of numbers. They needed two more points, one more basket to take the lead, and then they could run out the clock and win. She bit her lip as Logan in-bounded the ball to Colt and he breezed down the court, rubber of his soles squeaking against the court as he passed half court.

She bounced on her toes. This is it.

She watched, transfixed, as the ball moved like lightning around the court-Colt flipped it to Logan, a foot outside the paint, but a sea of blue jerseys met him head-on. He bounced it back to Colt and her breath caught as he leapt, ball cradled in outstretched arms for a jump shot, feet leaving the parquet and eyes trained on the rim.

He hung, suspended in midair, as the arena collectively gasped; right as the ball was about to leave his fingertips, a blue jersey slammed into him, arms flailing, chest flying, both players slamming to the floor as whistles screamed and the crowd started shouting.

Oh my God.

Colt went down like a rock, so hard he bounced, landing on his side twice. Ellie winced, but he was up like a shot: she just caught the fury in his eyes before he spun at his opponent, hands balling into fists.

No. She glanced at the clock. They were still down by one with 5 seconds on the clock and if Colt got a technical foul now? No no no no.

He stepped closer to the Langston player, shoulders tensing. She saw his fingers tighten, bicep tense, fist cock back in slow motion; she leapt to her feet. “Stop!” she screeched, praying he made out her voice over the yelling, the hungry crowd screaming for a fight. “Colt, STOP!”

Miraculously, he froze, arm hanging in the air, hand clenched; she let out the breath she was holding as he dropped his fist and spun to look across the court, eyes finding hers. She shook her head frantically, pointing at the scoreboard, and it was almost like he heard her silent prayer. He took a breath, then another, eyes locked with her the entire time, and then her legs buckled and she slid to the ground. It was enough. His teammates had arrived, rushing over to interrupt the fight, a sea of red jerseys swarming him, pulling him away from the Langston blues and the brewing brawl.

“What… Ellie, what are you doing? Wrong team!” Ingrid hissed.

Ellie exhaled, his eyes still locked on him, her gaze following him as he was pulled to the free throw line. She didn’t even respond, only watched, pom-poms hiding her crossed fingers, as he stood at the line, dribbling slowly. The entire arena was frozen, waiting, holding their breath. Closing her eyes, she gave a silent plea to any deity that was listening.

She heard motion, Ingrid’s gasp, the swish of the net, a raucous cheer from the stands. He made the shot. One point. She opened her eyes with a smile. “Come on, Colt!” she shouted, flinching when Ingrid elbowed her.

“Wait a minute! Was that… You two? Seriously?!?” Ingrid gaped.

“Come on, Ingrid. Shut up.”

Colt looked over to their sideline, ball securely in his hands, waiting for his second shot. She stared back, mouthing ‘Good luck!’ He only raised his eyebrows, waiting for something; she groaned, shoulders falling when she realized what he wanted. He waited.

She raised a pom-pom halfheartedly.

He shook his head.

She groaned again, catching the smile on his face before she raised her hand higher and yelled, “Go Colt!”

Finally appeased, he winked, then pursed his lips in a quick kiss her way before turning back to the hoop, 15 feet from him.

Ellie desperately wanted to shut her eyes but she couldn’t, wouldn’t look away. He bounced the ball, twice, echo thundering in the silent arena, eerie with only the flash of hundreds of cameras, aiming right at him. Every single seat filled but silent, every single person waiting, desperately.

Ellie couldn’t breathe.

He bounced the ball again, one last thundering knock, and he raised his hands, exactly how he taught her. Knees bent, aiming at the front of the rim, pushing the ball off his fingertips, following through with his right hand. The ball soared in a graceful, gentle arc, before falling through the netting.

She leapt to her feet, screaming. Ingrid pulled at her legs, trying to get her to sit, but she didn’t care; she couldn’t stop the high-pitched noise, the howl, the deafening screech being pulled from her lungs.

Langston in-bounded the ball, but there wasn’t much time, passing it up up-court. They didn’t even make it halfway, timer ticking down, only one second to go, and their center heaved the ball but it didn’t even matter because it bounced harmlessly into the crowd and she was sprinting onto the court as fast as her cheer shoes would carry her.

Fans were streaming down the bleachers, screaming and bouncing, camera crews grappling for the best shot, but it didn’t matter as she jumped into Colt’s arms, giddy laughter mushed into his cheek as he spun her around.

“You won!! Ohmygod, you actually won!”

He carefully lowered her so she touched the floor.

“I know.”

“Holy crap!”

“Well…” He smirked. “Did I impress you?”

“Oh, for crying out loud.” She wanted to punch the smirk off his face but contented herself in reaching up to brush a stray piece of confetti off his eyebrow.

“What? Do I get that kiss now?”

“Oh my God! Just shut up and kiss me.”

And, with the roaring of the crowd in her ears, the confetti falling into her hair, the pulse of flashing cameras lighting up her face, he did.