#tokyo game show 2020

[bidisastersanji]

Was thinking about how the Olympic village is basically an orgy of strongest people from all over the world so let’s think of Olympic athletes Zoro and Sanji meet at the Olympic Games:

Zoro as a Japanese martial artist (karate? Judo? Taekwondo?) kind of athlete since Kendo is not an Olympic sport and fencing wouldn’t feel right for this man. He can have Law and Kiku as buddies from Japan on his team

Sanji as a French gymnast , coached by his adoptive father Zeff

Sanji spots Japan’s sexy flagbearer (a bit oiled up or shirtless maybe 😏?) during the opening ceremony and is very flustered. He doesn’t know Zoro notices him too- not just from then but because Sanji was in a promo video for Paris 2024, doing some hypnotizing gymnastics and looking gorgeous, sweaty and laughing on camera , and Zoro definitely didn’t pause and stare at his definition a couple dozen times, no sirree.

(Alternate idea: the flame needs to be passed on from Japan to France (Tokyo to Paris) What if they fight and extinguish it by accident and dislike each other at the start?)

They run into each other constantly at the Olympic village- staying in nearby rooms, at the cafeteria, at parties, etc, their friend groups accidentally mingling and bringing them together over the course of the games

The sexual tension is PALPABLE AS FUCK Sanji can’t stop staring at this infuriatingly sexy and usually composed man with an impressively large chest and arms while Zoro can’t stop thinking about getting between those corded muscles on those juicy thighs and die happy there

Zoro definitely attends Sanji’s events and gets so hot and bothered

Nami (team France, Friends with Sanji) notices Zoro staring at his ass of course and tries to get them to get it out of their system, bringing Sanji to a team Japan event or completion where Zoro is likely to attend- everyone runs with the urban myth that athletes at the Olympics perform better when having sex anyways right?

At a party, drunk after a win, Zoro and Sanji try to reason with themselves that that’s the reason they’re doing this, nothing more, as they fall into each others (cardboard?) beds again and again, seeking each other out (if they’re cardboard like for Tokyo 2020 they MUST break one)

There can be some second language English miscommunication, as a treat

Despite their emotional constipation Sanji can’t stop himself from being himself though and shows his sweet side, showing Zoro around and sharing French culture with him, and Zoro is enamoured as fuck, and Sanji tells him he’s always dreamt of coming to Japan, if not at least for the food-then for the culture (Fun fact Japan and France have a long long history of romanticizing the fuck out of each other so it’s so perfect)

Sanji originally plans to bring just Zoro on a romantic outing in Paris but ends up bringing the whole ragtag group they accidentally formed - Robin insists they need to visit the catacombs (lol) Chopper wants to eat Berthillon Ice cream, Usopp wants to visit the botanical gardens, etc robin wins and Chopper and Usopp are terrified the whole time because these are real human bones lol

Bonus stuff: Usopp is in sharpshooting or archery, Luffy is in trampoline, Chopper is in equestrian, Nami is in sailing, Robin is in table tennis (or is a coach?), Franky does Paralympic Greco-Roman wrestling, Brook does fencing, Jinbei does surfing

[ryunumber]

Spooky from Spookys House Of Jumpscares/Spookys Jumpscare Mansion

Spooky has a Ryu Number of 5/4/does not have a Ryu Number.

(explanation below)

Look, it's complicated. Things will be more concrete when Cross Impact hits Early Access.

Fair warning: this explanation is a bit more involved than normal, because the research hole this sent me down had me sincerely doubting my own base competence.

So, from the top: Spooky's only eligible appearance is in her own game, Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion née House of Jump Scares, as her only other appearance, period, seems to be as a trophy in Indie Pogo.

Naturally, this makes SJSM's specimens as the only connecting points. I've identified three that could work:

Unknown Specimen 1 is just White Face from IMSCARED.

This seems to be a dead end, as White Face's only other eligible appearance seems to be in the Nightmare Mode of Cooking Companions, as part of a menagerie of other horror game characters, including SJSM's own Specimen 6. But all of those also seem to be dead ends, and Specimen 6 just gets back to where we started, so that's probably no good.

How about Unknown Specimen 5?

Named Lisa. Sure looks quite a bit like Lisa from P.T. and once-prospective Silent Hills. Let's say it's that Lisa. What else has Lisa been in?

Apparently just P.T., which wouldn't be altogether unsurprising given, you know, all that happened with Silent Hills. Even the Lisa decoys for Metal Gear Solid V showcased in the Tokyo Game Show 2014 trailer didn't make it to the final game.

But there are still other P.T. references that did make it. Namely, that pleasant radio transmission, interruptions and all, can be heard from some radios in MGSV.

Now, given that audio-only appearances are broadly eligible, you could make a case that whoever's reading in this transmission is a character themself, which would in turn connect Lisa to The Phantom Pain, at which point calculating the Ryu Number is just a matter of hashing out who exactly is and is not in MGSV. The only issue I have with making this connection is that the audio is basically reused wholesale from P.T., which arguably makes it more in line with an archival recording, which is not eligible, than bespoke radio chatter, which is eligible, but hey, whatever, I've peddled dodgier. Why the hell not.

So in the search of a route with less caveats, let's consider what I've identified as the last possible eligible connection, Specimen 8. This cervine bundle of fun can be seen in Lost in Vivo as part of Lost Tape 3.

It turns out there's another character in Lost in Vivo who's been in something else: Sotiris. It also turns out that the "something else" in question is, uh,

the EEK3 2020 Virtual Show Floor. Which, to the best of my knowledge, is never referred to as a game, so if that matters to you, then we're done, and Spooky either has the aforementioned route through Lisa or nothing.

If you're willing to say that the virtual show floor is a game, which does not seem to be an unpopular opinion, then good news! There's a clear path to Ryu. You just have to go through Skully, who cameos in Toree 3D,

to the titular Toree, who's a guest character in Lunistice,

to Kit, the main character of Lunistice, who cameos in CrossCode,

to Lea, whose Ryu Number of 2 is already established, which gives Spooky a final Ryu Number of I'm sorry, I'm being handed a note.

Oh. Well fuck me, then, for not considering that the realities of game development could lead to a scenario wherein a character from an in-progress game could make cameo appearances in other games, only to be scrapped entirely before their would-be source game is released. Clearly, this is what the kids refer to as a "skill issue".

And the best part? This chain is so long that I'm genuinely expecting to have overlooked something really obvious that gives a shorter number, because the documentation I found on indie-ass indie horror game crossovers is spotty. So if you have any information that could shorten this more substantial than "White Face is graffiti in the full release of FAITH", send it my way. I'd rather be definitely wrong than dubiously correct.

Anyway, Toree's set to be playable in Cross Impact, so when that's released to the wider public most of this nonsense I just spewed at you will actually come into play. Until then, make of all of this what you will. If you'll excuse me, I need to go fucking distort.

[smallmariofindings]

Mario and Sonic statues promoting Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, at the Sega booth at Tokyo Game Show 2019.

Main Blog | Twitter | Patreon | Small Findings | Source

[leopauldelr]

The beginner's guide to the Pretty Series

With the recent announcement of the new Pretty Series installment titled Himitsu no AiPri, it's about time the Pretty Series returned after over a year since the Waccha PriMagi! series finale. In celebration of the newest installment, let's take a quick history lesson about the Pretty series.

The Pretty Rhythm Saga (2010-2014) - The Pretty Series saga began on July 15, 2010 with the arcade game titled Pretty Rhythm Mini Skirt. Made by Takara Tomy and developer SynSophia, this arcade game pits players in the role of Prism Stars, performing Prism Jumps, and collecting Prism Stones.

While the one that started it all made a slow start, the folks from Takara Tomy wanted to do more with the Pretty Rhythm saga, and with that, a TV anime titled Pretty Rhythm Aurora Dream was made. Aired in TV Tokyo on April 9, 2011, for 51 episodes, this anime is the fruit of Japan-Korea collaboration thanks to Japan's Tatsunoko Production and South Korea's Dong Woo Animation. The TV anime is all about Aira, Rizumu, and Mion in their quest to take on the prestigious Prism Queen Cup.

As Aira Harune's journey to become Prism Queen is completed, Mia Ageha takes the baton as the star of the next Pretty Rhythm story; Dear My Future. Aired in TV Tokyo on April 7, 2012, for 51 episodes, Dear My Future centers on the rivalry between Prizmmy☆ and the K-Pop group PURETTY. Believe it or not, there are real-life versions of the groups as seen in the anime. There's even a live-action segment featuring Prizmmy☆ as well.

As Mia Ageha's road to Grateful Symphonia is well and truly over, Naru Ayase steps to the spotlight in the third and final chapter of the Pretty Rhythm saga, titled Rainbow Live. Aired in TV Tokyo on April 6, 2013, it features an original storyline unlike the previous two. It's about Naru, An, and Ito, who are working together at the Prism Stone Shop while trying to take good care of a mysterious girl named Rinne.

Although the Pretty Rhythm saga ended, the story continues with the KING OF PRISM spinoff films featuring male characters from the Pretty Rhythm saga. They even got a 2019 anime show as well showcasing the rise of the boys who would be Septentrion.

The PriPara saga (2014-2018, 2021~) After the end of the Pretty Rhythm saga,  the folks of Takara Tomy prepped up what it seems to be the second generation of the Pretty series. It's called PriPara and it aired on TV Tokyo in the Summer of 2014 and lasted for three seasons, four if you count Idol Time PriPara of course. This anime series centers on the life and times of Laala Manaka, a little girl who wants to be the best PriPara idol. Together with Mirei Minami and Sophy Hojo, they became SoLaMi Smile and they fought their way against the best idol teams of PriPara, especially Dressing Pafe consisting of Dorothy, Reona, and Sion, Tricolore, and Gaarmageddon, among many others. PriPara is a huge win for the people behind it and such success prompted the show to spawn four movies and outrageous merchandising rights.

In the spring of 2017, the next chapter of PriPara begins with three new main characters penning the final pages of this saga. Titled Idol Time PriPara, it's all about Yui Yumekawa, whose fateful encounter with Laala Manaka changed everything following an accident. With Nino Nijiiro and Michiru Kouda joining alongside, the MY☆DREAM trio made the best closure to this saga.

Although the PriPara TV series is finished, the story continues with Idol Land PriPara. First announced in December 2020, it was originally slated to be released in the spring of 2021 until it became subject to long gestation and delayed launch dates. It was released on August 17, 2023. It is the second official PriPara app game after the defunct PriPuz puzzle app game. This app game also features an original anime series set moments after the events of Idol Time PriPara. It introduces new characters such as Amari Katasumi, Mario, and Pololo, among others.

The Kiratto PriChan years (2018-2021) - Aired in TV Tokyo since April 2018 for three seasons, Kiratto PriChan is set in a world where fame comes from social media just like in the real world. It's about a group of girls who called themselves the Miracle☆Kiratts who are striving to become the best PriChan idols above the rest. For three seasons, we watched Miracle Kiratts taking on big challenges such as heated competition with rival teams such as Meltic StAr and Ring Marry, the jewel idol competition, saving the world, the road to the Queens Grand Prix, and saving the world...again, while they do what they do best; showcasing the world that they're the best PriChan sensations ever known.

PriMagi (2021-2022) - Waccha PriMagi! is the fourth installment of the Pretty Series that revolves around the lives of Primagistas striving to become the best of the best. The show is about Matsuri Hibino, a middle-schooler who dreams of being the best just like her idol, the legendary Jennifer Sumire Sol.

AiPri - After over a year of void, the Pretty Series has returned with the newest installment coming to TV Tokyo this April 2024. Titled Himitsu no AiPri, the new series stars Minori Fujidera as Himari Aozora and Sae Hiratsuka as Mitsuki Hoshikawa. For the first time in Pretty Series, the animation sequences were provided by OLM, the studio behind the Pokemon and Yo-Kai Watch anime series, while South Korea's Dongwoo A&E returned to cooperate for it.

Welcome back, Pretty Series! The world can't wait for the franchise's comeback show this April.

[rivalsforlife]

The Yearly AA Series Future Speculation Post

I've given up on calling it aa7 speculation because that has never worked out for me. anyways [apollo justice voice] hiya!

It's been a while since I made one of these little posts where I try to predict things and end up horribly embarrassing myself. BUT this year has actually been very exciting for Ace Attorney. We have Ghost Trick! We have 456 ports! Could there be more? Who knows. Tokyo Game Show is coming up and that's always a bad time of year for my self-esteem.

In this post I will do the following:

-Go over the November 2020 leaks again, to compare that to where we're at now

-Talk a bit about the 456 port and what I think that means for the series and its future

-Talk a bit about how well TGAA is doing, I think

-Brief Tokyo Game Show speculations (there's not much to speculate about)

I'll reference my previous posts and sources where necessary. It'll get long and rambly again so I'll put the rest under a keep reading.

FIRST:

Revisiting the Calendar (Again)

For those who aren't aware, back in November 2020, Capcom got hacked (this was overall bad) and from that hack came a leak of a roadmap for the future of the AA series.

For this post, please keep in mind that this calendar is using the Japanese fiscal year, which starts in in April. Therefore Q1 is roughly April-June, Q2 July-September, Q3 October-December, Q4 January-March of the next year.

This calendar was likely made in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, which inevitably ended up throwing everything off quite a bit.

Some of these things came true. This leak was where we first heard about the official TGAA ports, and while they were delayed by about a quarter, they still came out pretty close to on time with all things pandemic to consider. What's especially interesting is that now with confirmation of the 456 ports, we now have no idea what is up with AA7.

We know that AA7 was in development at one point. We know that, if things were on track prior to the pandemic, they might have started the main production. However, the plan seemed to be to release it for the 20th anniversary and use those sales and the sales from TGAA to judge whether 456 would be ported; now that we have 456 confirmed before AA7, we can assume that AA7's delay is so severe we have no way of predicting if or when it will come out.

The thing is, though, AA has been doing really well the last few years, despite the lack of a new game. The 2019 ports of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney trilogy have sold around 2.3 million copies, when previously no other Ace Attorney game broke a million. The trilogy hit a million copies around December 2020, for reference. Ace Attorney itself as a whole broke ten million copies sold recently. In this post I covered how TGAA seemingly has sold way more than Capcom expected, and sold pretty quickly, and is confirmed to be somewhere between 500k-1 million copies sold.

I don't see any reason to believe that AA is in dire financial straits. We've gotten more official merchandise in the last year or so than we got for a while, AA is featured heavily on Capcom's Captown website, the Tokyo Game Show merchandise store has been selling out of AA merch faster than any of their other IPs... I don't see why they wouldn't want to milk that. And 456 is probably a part of it.

What Do The 456 Ports Mean

Back in March 2022, in an event I almost completely forgot about, Capcom updated their trademark for Apollo Justice. I covered my thoughts on that here, and speculated it might indicate a 456 port. ... Which it apparently did. I'll quote exactly what I said in that post, since I still feel this way:

Presumably, previously, the decision to port or not to port 456 would be dependent both on how well TGAA does and how well AA7 would do. With no AA7, they might be making this decision solely based on TGAA. And they… might actually decide it’s worth the port?

This tells us a couple of things.

1.Capcom is aware that there is a decent market and profit to be made porting the Ace Attorney games to all consoles.

2.This heavily implies that TGAA sold fantastically.

I also said in my post about TGAA's success that the 456 ports would be the best indicator of whether Capcom would find it more profitable to continue along with mainline or stick to writing more things about TGAA. Because TGAA is actually doing... pretty great? It's always seemed to have a pretty good fan reception, but it came at the end of the 3DS life cycle and seemed to do poorly enough that Capcom didn't try to localize it for several years. But now it's big enough that Ryunosuke made it onto the 20th anniversary logo, and Ryunosuke and Kazuma are featured in some of the Ace Attorney merchandise for TGS's merch store.

456 doing well would probably reinvigorate Capcom's desire to continue making stories set in mainline. It also might inspire them to finally give an official translation to my favorite game, Ace Attorney Investigations 2, who is Capcom's poor unloved child these days. I'm not expecting Investigations Ports for a few more years, since they seem to be spacing out the ports by about two years, but... it's more likely now than I felt it was about three years ago.

The Great Ace Attorney Sweep

Also, the last few years have had a heavy focus on Great Ace Attorney, even now a couple of years after the ports came out. Takarazuka made their first AA musical in a decade based on TGAA, and, if you ask me, it sounds pretty heavily like they were teasing for a sequel someday. There also has been a reading theater based on TGAA, with an original episode written by Takumi.

Of particular relevance is this source of dubious credibility I linked to in one of my other posts talking about TGAA's expected success. I've assumed it came from the data in the November 2020 Capcom Leak but I can't be certain, so take this next part with a grain of salt.

Here are the original sales projections from 2019(?): FY21: 195K (originally supposed to launch in Q1) FY22: 55K FY23: 8K FY24: 41K (with 32K being in Q3)

This sudden increase in FY24 has always been interesting. Again, as a reminder, Japan's FY24 Q3 would be equivalent to October-December 2024.

It would make sense to say that the 456 ports coming out would likely lead to an increase in sales for all AA games, and it could be that Capcom initially intended for a 456 port to come out about half a year later than the current projection of early 2024. At the same time... I can't deny the possibility that this could be hinting at a new game in the TGAA setting. And something coming out in late 2024 could be a reasonable candidate for an announcement at some major gaming show that Ace Attorney fans already have an interest in tuning into. These are all completely neutral things I am saying that I have no expectations or hope for whatsoever.

What IS Happening At Tokyo Game Show?

TGS is always the part of the year where I say "This is the most likely place for a new AA game announcement leading up to or during it" and it never happens. This year, though, will be different! We have a CONFIRMED feature of the 456 ports. This is the first time we'll have AA content at TGS since 2018, when I first got into the series, so I think it's a pretty big deal. (2018 was when the trilogy ports were first announced; TGAA ports had an announcement-release window of April-July, so they didn't get a chance to feature at TGS.)

Since all we have for a release date is early 2024, I wouldn't be surprised if there will be an official confirmation of the release date, probably a showcase of port features, maybe in-person gameplay? That could be all, and it would be more than we've had since 2018.

I want to say "because there's going to be 456 advertising there, it would be ridiculous for them to announce some new AA content to detract from that". But I said the same things about the capcom showcase where Ghost Trick was featured and the 456 collection was announced, so. Capcom's decisions on when to announce things can be counterintuitive, it seems, so maybe the least likely time is actually the most likely...?

Anyways, we have no idea what the state of New Ace Attorney Content is like in Capcom. From the calendar from the Nov 2020 leaks, the staff that had been working on the DGS ports would join the main staff for AA7, suggesting to me that there would be part of the staff working on ports and part of the staff working on new things. We have no idea what happened to these people who were supposed to be working on AA7. We *can* assume that at least part of the staff transferred over to 456 ports now, but we don't know when that would have been, or if they'd really need all hands on deck for a remaster.

It's been a few years now since Yamazaki left Capcom. We know absolutely nothing about what Takumi has been doing, outside of whatever contributions he may or may not have made to the Ghost Trick remaster, and only recently contributing to various stage content. (We know he advised at least somewhat on the Takarazuka play, and wrote that original episode for the reading theater, so I'd assume he's not in the middle of a big project right when those were taking place.)

This is all to say, there's reason to believe Something's Been Happening Behind The Scenes. And Therefore -- [clown wig descends onto my head again] Maybe TGS 2023 Will Be The Year Of New Ace Attorney Content. Since 456 will be taking the spotlight, I wouldn't expect anymore than a teaser, if it's happening at all.

And now that I've said it, it won't happen.

OVERALL

-TGS confirmed 456 port feature, which should be interesting to see what kind of quality of life features they'll add. Slight possibility there could be something else AA related teased there, solely because Capcom.

-I think TGAA is doing better than Capcom expected and I wouldn't be shocked if they tried to make a new game of it, or at least more extracanonical content like stage plays taking place in that timeline

-AA7 has seemingly vanished but I am sure it will come back when I least expect it.

-AAI ports someday. please. please. please.

[averagewriter-inthedark]

Flying High…On The Bars🤸🏽‍♂️ | Top Gun Maverick Imagine (Bob Floyd) Part 1

Takes place after the events of TGM

TGM Masterlist

PART 2 HERE

Characters & Pairings: Lt. Robert ‘Bob’ Floyd x Olympic gymnast!reader (romantic), Dagger squad x reader (platonic)

Content Warnings: fluff, mentions of sporting injuries, slight profanity, recounts details of 2012, 2016, & 2020 Olympic Games. | Female!reader (she/her) | wc: 9.4k—I decided to split this into 2 parts because it was almost at 20k words.

Premise: When one sets their eyes on the Olympic dream, it becomes their life. When one falls in love with a person committed to achieving that dream, it becomes theirs as well. One year after a global pandemic shut down the world and two years after the high-risk uranium mission of the Top Gun special detachment, the dagger squad gather in Bob’s home base of Lemoore, California to witness the love of his life compete for a final shot at All-Around gold in the worlds greatest gymnastics competition. Prepping for her final Olympic Games, gold medalist Y/n L/n thinks back on her decade long career, and the moment she met the man of her dreams.

Note: Y’all I am loving these sport imagines for TGM I’ve been doing. I think imma do a soccer or tennis next 👀 now disclaimer this imagine does recount details that took place in the Olympics mentioned, but there were changes to the narrative to fit the story. Basically you’re imagining it was you on the teams instead, so don’t come at me saying, ‘that didn’t happen.’ I kept the outcomes for certain scenarios the same, but then changed others to fit Y/n’s place. Hope you enjoy and let me know your thoughts. Also like my ‘For The Gold’ imagine, I’m going off the basis that the events of TGM took place in 2019, not 2022.

I also wanna disclaim that I am very aware of scandal that took place with USA gymnastics. I have decided to not mention it in this miniseries for the sake of not triggering anyone and because I do not want to spread misinformation in case I were to miss things. Of course we know it happened, and it just makes me angry and disgusted to even think about that doctor and I do not want to trigger anyone at all. I do mention Nadia Comaneci in this (she was my idol when I did gymnastics) but do know I do not mention her coaches who were involved in the scandal. I loved Nadia, not her coaches and I’m just as disgusted with them as I am with that doctor. My heart is with all the gymnasts who were affected.

—————————-

“It’s 6:30 am Eastern time back home in the US, however it is 8:30 pm here in Tokyo on Thursday, July 29th, as we get set up to watch the final of the Women’s All-Around in artistic gymnastics. The men competed last night, and it was an unfortunate loss for both Americans after failing to medal in the Team. It was silver for the women’s two nights ago in the team final, losing to the ROC by about four points in the overall score—the first time the American’s have lost the gold in the Team since reclaiming the title after The Magnificent Seven in 1996.”

“It was a shocker to many people, John. Team USA have dominated the international level of gymnastics for over a decade now. They have been the Olympic champions in the Women’s All-Around since Carly Patterson won the title in Athens, they were the two-time gold medalists in the Team and have had someone on the podium in almost every event for the past few Games—Simone Biles dominated Rio four years ago. They were the favorite to win on the team final, but fell short and I know it must’ve been a sad loss for Y/n L/n on Tuesday after being part of both the London and Rio winning teams.” The tv screen was split with the coverage showing the commentators and footage from the 2012 London Olympics. It focused on the gymnast standing on the podium with her teammates, gold medals around their necks and waving to the crowd.

“I agree, Andrea. You know she is the first American gymnast since Dominique Dawes to make it on the team for three consecutive Olympics. After last night she became the second American, after Dawes, to medal in three consecutive Olympics—silver medal in the team final. She’s the veteran, having been in the elite stage since 2011 where she won her first World title on the bars. In London she walked away with three gold medals, the team, the uneven bars, and the balance beam. It was history for the USA gymnastics that Olympics with Gabby Douglas becoming the first African-American to win the All-Around and Y/n L/n as the first American to win gold on the bars in its individual final. L/n then repeated her victories in Rio—making Olympic history for Team USA again with back-to-back gold in the team, bars, and beam.”

“You know it was a big surprise when she appeared at the trials in June. After winning her seventh World’s title on bars in 2019 Y/n was hoping to get the gold on beam after reclaiming it in 2018, but a bad fall on the apparatus tore her ACL. It would have put her out of the trials had it taken place in 2020, but Covid canceled the entire 2020 season and the Olympics were postponed a whole year. Y/n didn’t say anything about coming back to the sport after recovering until after the VISA championships when it was revealed she petitioned for a spot in the trials. Both Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, who were her teammates the last two Games have since retired. I really thought it would be the same for Y/n L/n, but she surprised everyone.”

“She already, Allen, has made history in her own way by becoming the first American to win the gold back-to-back on two individual events—her signature event the uneven bars that she’s got multiple world titles to as you mentioned, and the balance beam. Many predicted Simone, the favorite to win on beam, would come out on top since it’s one of her strong factors, but an unfortunate mistake cost her the gold. Then in bars Y/n unveiled a massive dismount, becoming her fifth eponymous skill rated a J-Value. The gold medal was already hers at that point. ”

Now the split screen had a reply of the stunning routine on the uneven bars. The second her feet hit the floor and her arms raised over her head, the then two-time Olympian already knew she had secured the gold.

“That was an amazing moment to witness. The entire stadium was holding their breath. Y/n had already established herself as one of the best gymnasts on the uneven bars since her debut on the national team in 2010. Her routine in London was flawless, both in the team and event finals. After the Trials her teammates selected her as the captain of this squad and has really shown true leadership in these Games—we’ve seen it during qualifications and the team finals, comforting the team when the results came in. Her and Simone shared a moment together after the vault when Simone decided to pull out for the remainder of the competition. The veteran gymnast making a statement on Twitter in defense of Simone when she was receiving criticisms for her decision. Y/n’s definitely taken the role of big sister—the oldest at aged 25– and I know the girls are likely having some difficulty without family and friends to support with the regulations set for these Games. There’s no spectators in this arena save for the media and volunteers. Each nation was only allowed to bring one coach if I’m not mistaken so all the gymnasts are having to adjust. Definitely a different feel these Games no doubt—especially for Y/n who has got to experience the energy one sees in an Olympics with a full house. She’s the fan favorite for this All-Around in Tokyo and it’s going to be interesting to see if Y/n can deliver on Sunday as well and pull a three-peat on the uneven bars—the first for Team USA.”

“It’s definitely going to be an interesting Games no doubt now that it’s been confirmed Simone Biles will not be competing in the All-Around final citing concerns with her mental health. After pulling out of the Team finals it was unknown if she would continue in the All-Around and event finals. She and Y/n were the top two Americans to qualify—the first time for Y/n in her now third Olympics after having not been selected to compete for it in the preliminaries in London and lost to teammate Aly Raisman in Rio. Sunisa Lee has replaced Simone in this final and now the two Americans will go head to head for the title of Olympic Champion.” More replays showed of not only past Olympics but also the preliminaries from Saturday showcasing the contenders for the All-Around; Suni Lee in her Olympic debut and the now three-time Olympic gymnast Y/n L/n.

Thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean where the sun is not even out as it reaches 3:30 in the morning, members of the 2019 Top Gun special detachment, Navy servicemen & women, and residents of Lemoore, California gathered in the gym of Taylor’s Elite Gymnastics Y/n spent 20 years training in.

“You excited, Bobby Boy?” Jake clapped his friends back, shaking his shoulders lightly in a playful manner. “Ready to cheer on the missus?”

Bob scoffs, but blushes nonetheless, “of course I am, Bagman. This is everything she’s trained for. If I could be there I would be the loudest in the stands” Jake makes a sound, muttering, ‘simp,’ causing Bob to brush him off. Phoenix comes over two cups of coffee, handing one over to her backseater.

“Leave him alone, Seresin,” she scolds, “if that was your wife you’d be doing the same thing.” Jake falls silent making Payback chuckle from his spot on the beanbag in front of the four, “he’s not saying anything ‘cause he knows it’s true.”

Fanboy pitches in, munching on some mini donuts, “he’s probably just still salty Y/n wouldn’t hook him up with one of her old teammates. Or that one swimmer he used to gush about.” From the side Rooster explodes in a loud laugh, causing Jake to glare at him. Coyote has to bite back a grin, not wanting to show amusement at his best friend's bad luck.

The pilot wipes a fake tear, still giggling, “Sorry, that was just really funny.” While the others began to tease Jake, Bob focused on the screen. Softness in his eyes as he watched the NBC live coverage, showing footage of Y/n warming up while in the corner of the screen had replays of her 2016 Games in Rio. His heart was hurting he couldn’t be in the stands due to Covid, but regardless Bob was over the moon with love and happiness for his wife.

Since the age of 5 the gym was her second home after her mother put her in a mommy & me gymnastics class. Bouncing on the trampoline was really what made the child fall in love. She could be there all day if they’d let her. Then after a few more classes that were meant for just some bonding time between mother and daughter, Y/n begged to be placed in the regular lessons after seeing the older girls swinging on the bars and balancing on the beam.

It was the start of a career that would span over a decade when Y/n began competing, claiming multiple national titles, world championships, and three Olympic Games.

In 2004 Y/n sat glued to the TV watching Team USA compete in the Athens Olympic Games. Carly Patterson was crowned Olympic Champion of the All-Around and Y/n knew at that moment she wanted to become an Olympian.

Her parents were hesitant, especially after talking to other parents during Y/n’s lessons, to pull her from school and dedicate all her time to training. There was also the topic of moving to find a coach. Many gymnasts they read up on had traveled to different gyms and had lifelong coaches. For Y/n, her family wanted to stay in Lemoore. Her father had done time in the Navy and was stationed there when he met Y/n’s mother. They fell in love and her father decided to end his contract with the Navy to be with her mother. Not long after he ended up getting a good civilian job on base with Y/n being born in 1996.

What made her parents decide to go through with full-time training were the owners of the gym. Mike and Mary Taylor. Husband and wife who together ran and coached the gymnasts. It was a fairly new gym—having only opened in 2000 so they never had one of their students go to the international level. “There is a fire in her, we both see it. She’s got the dedication, the spirit, and we would love to be the ones to help her achieve the dream of the Olympics. And we would do everything in our souls to make it happen. When we look at her, we see a future Olympic champion.”

So the deal was set. Y/n would become homeschooled and spend nearly 10 hours in the gym everyday. After waking up she would have breakfast with a smoothie before starting one of two 5-hour practices. Mornings were dedicated to bars and beam with Mike and afternoons with Mary on floor and vault. Lunch would be in between and then after dinner Y/n would condition with a personal trainer. Within a couple years she had worked up to level 5 and began competing in meets.

It was learned very quickly that Y/n had a talent for the uneven bars. She was strong on the beam and good on floor and vault, but bars is where she shined. An All-Around gymnast, Y/n put more focus in perfecting her bar routine than anything else. It was where she felt like she had a better chance at becoming an Olympic champion. Flying high in the air on releases brought joy and hitting a perfect handstand made Y/n feel like she was on top of the world.

Nadia Comaneci of Romania, the first gymnast in Olympic history to receive a perfect 10 in competition, was her idol and who Y/n strived to be like. She was the definition of perfection. Every moment of free time Y/n was watching reruns of the 1976 Games in Montreal where Nadia claimed the All-Around, Uneven Bars, and Balance Beam gold. Sometimes Y/n wished she could attempt to do the flawless routine, but the uneven bars were placed differently than they were in the 70s.

There was also the American Mary Lou Retton, the first American woman to win the All-Around at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Y/n admired many gymnasts from the former USSR in the 60s & 70s & 90s including Olga Korbut, Ludmilla Tourischeva, Nellie Kim, Larisa Latynina. Russia’s Svetlana Khorkina, Belarus’s Svetlana Boginskaya, and Vera Caslavska of the former Czechoslovakia were amongst Y/n’s idols in the sport.

And of course, the 1996 Magnificent Seven: Shannon Miller, Jaycie Phelps, Amanda Borden, Dominique Dawes, Dominique Moceanu, Amy Chow, and Kerri Strug. The team of women Y/n cited as her biggest inspirations. Y/n was born the year they won the US their first gold in the Women’s Team All-Around on home turf in Atlanta. Chills always appeared when watching replays of Kerri Strug landing the vault on practically one foot to secure the gold against Russia.

In 2010 at age 14 Y/n made her debut on the junior national team. She appeared in several championships, claiming titles to the uneven bars and balance beam. She never listened to commentators when watching replays of meets to see what she needed to improve, but there was always a heaviness to her heart when they would say she was unlikely to be an All-Around contender. “We’ve seen her these last competitions and there’s no doubt she will be a threat to other gymnasts when it comes to the uneven bars—her routine even here on the junior level is insane—and possibly balance beam, but there is a lot to be done for Y/n on the floor. She’s powerful on vault—as we saw in her Yurchenko 1 ½ twist, but fails to stick the landing and is always taking a large step with big deductions. She needs to control that power so she’s not catapulting forward on the landing.”

Her family and coaches reminded her to not listen to commentators or opinions of the media. It was hard first coming into the national stage, but by the 2012 U.S Olympic Team Trials Y/n was a pro at handling the them. She was 16, the reigning World Champion on the uneven bars, and looking to earn her place on the London team. The trials lasted two days with Y/n qualifying after finishing in the top 8 of the VISA Championships. 15 total girls including the Beijing All-Around Olympic Champion Nastia Liukin and member of the 2008 silver winning team Alicia Sacramone, all competed for one of the five spots on the team.

Like all the gymnasts in attendance, Y/n competed on every apparatus but it was her bars and beam routines that secured her spot for London. After a small mistake on the floor Y/n feared it would be the make or break in deciding if she would make the team since she did not rank in the top two places by the end of the trials. Her vaults were good form wise, though she needed to really work on sticking the landing better. When her name was called out in the back room Y/n burst into tears. Her coaches pulled into an embrace, crying with her, before she and the other four girls were hauled to the floor. The crowd of spectators were on their feet. Cheers from every corner.

Vision blurry, Y/n turned her gaze to the section her parents were seated in. When she found them the tears fell more rapidly at the sight of her father practically jumping up and down whistling while her mother was in her own emotional state. They blew kisses to her, Y/n returning them before waving to the crowd. “Ladies and gentlemen, your women’s 2012 London Olympic team!!!”

London was a dream come true.

The moment Y/n stepped into the arena she had to hold back her tears, pitching herself as though to say, ‘is this really happening?’ The smell of the chalk brought comfort. Y/n was itching to get on the bars and show the world what she was made of. Her teammates were some of the best gymnasts to exist with several World titles to their name. The pressure was on for these young women. The media and fans back home were hoping they would be the first team since the Magnificent Seven to win the gold in the team final. It was their goal, but they had tough competition against Russia and China.

The qualifications were intense, but the team as a whole managed to get the top rank to guarantee a spot in the final. After discussions with the appointed team coach, Y/n only competed on the bars and beam. Uneven bars was her strongest apparatus where she would no doubt deliver. The beam was her second strongest, with a difficult routine that when executed would bring a high score. It saddened the gymnast she would not get the chance at All-Around gold, but Y/n pushed her emotions aside to focus on the big picture. Rio was four years away, she could easily try for a spot on that team. For now, she needed to focus on getting the gold in her events.

Qualifying in the top spot on bars and beam, the next step was the Team final.

And it was one to remember.

The team kicked off on the vault where Gabby, Jordyn, and Aly gave a beautiful start to the competition. Russia was next before the second rotation: bars. Y/n was the last of the three Americans to perform after Russia went first. She kept her back to the bars when the Russian athletes were up, the golden rule of gymnastics that was learned very early on: never watch your competitors or pay attention to the standings. Very often will it jinx the performance of the gymnast who does. And Y/n was not about to let that happen.

When Kyla and Gabby were on, Y/n clapped and cheered them on alongside Aly and Jordyn. “C’mon Gabby, you got this!” Yes! Beautiful—one more big one!” “Stick it, Kyla—stick it! YEAH!!”

Then she was up.

A quick pep talk from Mike and Y/n stepped onto the platform and waited for the green light. When it appeared, she saluted the judge and faced the bars, taking a deep breath before running to punch her feet on the springboard, hitting her hands onto the low bar in a straddle position before catching the high bar. The entire routine Y/n didn’t think, she just let muscle memory take her away. Cheers from her teammates and the crowd fueled her. Release after release, handstand after handstand, kip up to the high bar from the low bar. The routine felt like forever but in reality it was only less than two minutes.

“Beautiful start off the springboard and onto the high bar—from here are a series of handstands which have become a staple in Y/n’s routines since the junior U.S Championships in 2010. Here we go on the first….hit it right on the mark, now the second…oh gorgeous form—legs are squeezed together. She will hit two more before going straight into a big release. Here it comes-over the high bar—-wow look at the height! Then straight to the low bar and back to the high into another big release. Unstoppable, this routine is jam packed with difficulty. Y/n has shown little mistakes since unveiling this routine at the beginning of the season—despite one error during the American Cup where she missed a handstand that resulted in shaky release. One more big transition from high bar to low bar and back again before falling straight into a release. Wow, that was amazing! Now she’s gearing up for the dismount—very difficult here—she’ll be doing a double twisting double layout, the same Shawn Johnson did in 2008 rated a G-Value skill. Here we go, the moment we’ve all been waiting for—and she sticks it!! Unbelievable! The crowd loved that and so did her teammates, they’re jumping for joy down below.”

Y/n finally breathes as the crowd goes wild around her. Briefly closing her eyes, she exhales before facing the judges to salute. A wide grin on her lips, Y/n claps her chalky hands covered by the grips and runs to the stairs to be embraced by her coach. Her teammates surround her, hugs and high-fives all around. “That was amazing!” “You were perfect! Absolutely perfect!”

“This is why Y/n was picked for these Games—it is that routine that secured her spot on team USA. It’s untouchable. She is the World Champion in this event, completely dominating the junior level—no one else could touch Y/n on the bars. She’s looking to become the first American to win the uneven bars on Sunday night for event finals and she is exceptional. Those handstands are perfection, the form is impeccable and the landing was perfectly executed—she would get a ten if it were the old system. Now we’re just waiting for the score, which is going to be big. Her start value is 7.1, huge for an uneven bars routine but it’s those transitions combined with the releases and of course that G dismount that really make this routine such high valued—not to mention the series of handstands at the beginning. I believe she has the highest start value in this event these Olympics—no doubt the fan favorite for Sunday night.”

Y/n downs a bottle of water, ignoring the snaps of the cameras from the press directly in front of her. She waves to a few people in the audience, a little girl shrieks when they see the gymnast noticed them. Quickly Y/n packed her bag because they were about to make the rotation to beam. They were just waiting on her score.

“For those of you at home watching for the first time who are confused on how the scoring works, the gymnasts routines used to be scored out of a 10–that’s how it was for the Magnificent Seven and Carly Patterson. But after the 2004 Olympics the Code of Points changed and now they are given a difficulty and execution score. The difficulty is set in stone by the routine, so in Y/n’s case her start value is 7.1–that is the difficulty of her routine based on all the elements put together. The execution score is out of 10–similar to the old system where the judges deduct when they catch errors, imperfect form, or the gymnast falls. After the execution score is decided it is added to the start value, and that is the score the gymnast receives. The highest score Y/n can receive is a 17.100 if she were to receive a perfect execution score of 10. On the screen now is the deduction zone and green is what these athletes want—they want little deductions as possible. Yellow is basically the caution area and red is the danger zone where the gymnast made a really bad mistake—possibly a fall off the apparatus or had too many visible errors.”

“You know, Y/n does her best to not leave room for deductions but there’s always something the judges will catch. Scoreboard is coming around and it looks….it’s a 16.541 for Y/n L/n! Holy moly that is a massive score for the Americans—it’s put them well ahead over Russia going into rotation three. She scored higher than in the qualifications which was a 16.3! I know she’s happy now—we can see her smiling from this angle as the Americans get ready to move to the balance beam. Y/n will compete on the beam along with Kyla Ross and Aly Raisman before sitting out of the floor.”

Warming up on the beam, Y/n did her spins, a couple jumps, her Arabian, and dismount. She was set to go second, giving a slight break after coming off of the high from bars since the US was set to go first in the rotation. Then in the final rotation on floor they would compete after Russia. Y/n was confident in her beam routing, having perfected it for over a year. It had lower difficulty than her bar routine but was still highly valued at 6.4. The highest Y/n had received on it was a 15.628 at the trials, usually ranging between 15.100 and 15.533 in other competitions. In the qualification round Y/n got a 15.478 and secured her place in the individual event final.

“Welcome back to our coverage of the women’s artistic all-around team final in London. We’re onto rotation three of four and it’s the balance beam for Team USA. All three Russians have competed with great performances and very little deductions. The margin between Russian and the US looks like it may be neck and neck going into the floor. Up first for the Americans is Kyla Ross—she and Y/n L/n will finish their team finals on this event. They both were chosen to compete on just the bars and beams—Jordyn Wieber will join Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman on floor after sitting out for two rotations following the vault. Up first for team USA, Kyla Ross.”

“Let’s go, Kyla!!” Y/n clapped her hands around her mouth. “You got this girl!” When the gymnast finished Y/n was immediately hauled up the stairs, high-fiving her teammate before waiting for the green light on the far right end of the beam. Once Kyla’s score was finalized and on the board, the green appeared and Y/n saluted the judge. The springboard was placed beside the middle of the apparatus, and Y/n once again took a deep breath.

“Y/n’s got the green light from the judge, and is now setting up for her mount. This is quite the skill she is about to do—Dominique Moceanu of the 1996 team performed this mount on the beam in Atlanta. Here she goes….beautiful. It’s a tricky mount but when executed right it can be stunning. Now onto this interesting spin that many gymnasts have started to use in their routines, it’s called a ‘wolf spin.’ She’ll do three full turns right here before setting up for her first big combo—Arabian into a pike jump then right to a back handspring—a little shaky right there on the landing. There will be a slight deduction for not having her chest up in time. Gorgeous spins as she walks to the opposite beam. Here is her tumbling pass, back handspring to a layout—repeating it—and she’s got it! A spin to jump combination and straight into a back tuck. Y/n has made it a habit in her beam routines to display her strength. From this handstand she will turn and split her legs down the middle before holding it at an angle so she’s not level with the apparatus. Very hard to do that could easily end in disaster, but she makes it look effortless. The crowd loves it too. Now all there’s left is the dismount—the time buzzer has sounded. An F-valued skill she’s gonna do a stretched back salto with a triple twist. And she sticks the landing once again!! Beautiful end on the beam for Y/n L/n! That is gonna be a good score I feel.”

“Great job, that was awesome!” “Well done, Yn.” “You did amazing!” Her teammates swarmed her again, followed by her coach who pressed a fatherly kiss to her forehead, “well done, well done, my little powerhouse.” Catching her breath, Y/n wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Together they looked out to the audience to try and find his wife, her other coach, and Y/n’s parents. When they found them they were on their feet clapping, waving frantically at the two. Then the score came in and Y/n visibly saw them get more excited. Rotation 3: BB—Y/n L/N (USA) 15.840

“Wow, a huge score for Y/n L/n of Team USA—15.840! That is the highest score she’s ever received now—her 15.6 at the Olympic Trials was the highest she had gotten on this routine and now it’s been replaced.”

“Well deserved too. This routine was the best she’s ever performed, John. There were those two slight errors where her chest was low on the landings, but her form is just outstanding.”

After cheering on Aly it was time for the last rotation. Y/n packed up her backpack before pulling on her Team USA sweats to cover her bear legs. Over by the floor Y/n was filled with nerves, but confidence for her teammates. After the beam there was a tight lead over Russia, but not by a large margin where anything could happen. It was gonna come down to what happens on the floor.

When the results came in and USA appeared on the #1 spot Y/n jumped for joy, interlaced hands with her teammates in the air. The entire arena was on their feet—especially those who came all the way from America to support. Y/n’s parents and coach were whistling and screaming, it was a truly golden moment for the 16-year-old from Lemmore, California. And for the girls sharing it with her.

They pulled off what they set out to do since being named at the trials. The Olympic Gold in the Women’s Team Final, making them the first team since the 1996 Magnificent Seven to win the title. It was an honor Y/n would carry for the rest of her life and got to share with her spectacular teammates. Standing on top of the podium, with a gold medal around her neck as the national anthem played, Y/n let the tears fall freely. Overwhelmed with emotion, her lips trembled as she mouthed the lyrics. The arena was quiet save for the melody, but when it ended it erupted in cheers. Together with her team Y/n raised the bouquet of flowers to the sea of spectators. Cameras flashed as they posed with the silver and bronze winning teams Russia and Romania.

Post interviews took place and Y/n was still unable to let go of the grin on their face when answering questions. “Y/n, congratulations on this amazing win. You and the team have won the gold—America’s first Team gold since 1996. Can you put into words how you’re feeling right now?”

“Honestly I can’t—I-I’m just so overcome with emotion, it still feels unreal. I want to take this moment to thank my parents who are in the crowd, they have been my strongest support system during this journey and of course my amazing coaches that are with me in London. And of course Aly, Jordyn, Gabby, and Kyla. They were spectacular tonight—I’m so proud of this team, everyone gave it their all and pulled off the best routines we could to get here. After the first rotation the energy just kept bouncing off each of us—it was a great start that flowed into every rotation.”

“I have to bring up that bars routine, Y/n, everyone is talking about it. Absolutely phenomenal. That was the best we’ve seen you do in the event—scoring higher than you did in qualifications. You’re the reigning World champion and the favorite for Sunday night’s event finals. Do you think you’ll do better than you did tonight ?”

Y/n bit her lip, offering a shrug to the reporter, “The thing about this sport is you never know if you’re gonna hit the routine each meet. The goal is to every time but you just have to go in there and give it your best. And that’s what I plan to do Sunday. My coach and I are going to work on where improvements are needed, and I hope to deliver the same way I did tonight.”

The volunteer signaled for the reporter to hurry it up. “Well we’ll be cheering you on both Sunday and Tuesday night as well for the beam finals. Congratulations again on behalf of everyone watching at home. You and the team did amazing and we hope you all have fun celebrating tonight. We’ll see you back here Sunday for the uneven bars.”

Y/n shook the reporter's hand with a grin, “Thank you so much! Have a great night,” blowing a kiss to the camera, Y/n waved to the fans shouting out to her and moved to follow the team out of the arena. The next time she was in the dome was to cheer on Aly and Gabby from the stands during the All-Around final. Kyla and Jordyn were with her, as were the coaches and parents. A wave of red, white, and blue was around them, supporters of Team USA which competed for the loudest section against others when it came to cheering on the Americans. Y/n was on her feet each time Aly or Gabby finished a routine, “Way to go, Gabby!!” “I see you, Aly, let’s go!!”

By the end of the competition Y/n was frantic with joy. Gabby’s name was at the top spot making her the All-Around Olympic champion. The entire arena was on their feet in an explosion of cheers. Unfortunately Aly missed out on the bronze, landing fourth place. Y/n shed tears for both Gabby and Aly, filled with joy for the former at winning the gold, but heartbroken for the latter.

The rest of the week flew by in a blur until it was Sunday night and Y/n was back on the mat for the women’s uneven bars final. She along with seven others would compete for the honor of Olympic champion. The last to compete, the athlete kept her back to the bars and mentally prepared—doing some handstands to pass time. When her coach came up saying it was time, Y/n shook the nerves off and blocked out the crowd.

This was the moment of her life.

“Representing the United States of America,” the crowd cheered, “Y/n L/n!” Taking her place on the mat, Y/n saluted the judges at the green light before licking the tips of her thumbs and clapping once—a ritual since she started competing. With a nod to her coach, who was set up to move the springboard upon her punch onto the bar, Y/n sprinted up and started the routine.

All throughout the routine Y/n thought of her idol Nadia, striving to have the perfect form she did when she took the gold 34 years prior in Montreal. She let her body do the work, letting it carry Y/n through the air upon releases and putting it in the right position with each move. Before long it was time to dismount. The arena was on edge, waiting for the show-stopping move that Y/n had stuck in the team final. With a deep inhale, the gymnast released her hands and twisted before opening her arms at the nick of time.

When her feet hit the mat, arms out and upright, Y/n had to hold back the tears for she knew she just pulled off the best bars routine of her life.

The audience knew it too, they were in an uproar. It continued even after Y/n saluted the judge and walked off the stairs. Her coach practically hauled her off the last step, embracing her while she cried. Of course it was bad luck to celebrate when the score hasn't come in yet, but Y/n had the highest start value of all the finalists and there was no doubt she just overtook the #1 spot. “I’m truly speechless folks, that was without question the best routine of the night. Y/n L/n promised to deliver and she did—from start to finish the routine was non-stop. Hit after hit—that landing will go down in history books. Y/n knows it too, she’s already celebrating it looks like with her coach, Mike Taylor, who’s been with her since she began her gymnastics career. The crowd is celebrating too—I can see her teammates on their feet. We’re just waiting on the score and it should be coming in at any second—-16.825! THAT’S THE GOLD MEDAL FOR Y/N L/N OF THE UNITED STATES!!! She’s the new Olympic champion on the uneven bars—the first for Team USA!!!”

Being on top of the podium felt like cloud 9. Y/n couldn't believe that after years of hard work and dedication she was the Olympic gold medalist in their favorite event. It meant more to her than when she won the World title the year before. All she pictured when the national anthem played was her at nine years old, sitting in front of the tv to watch the Athens Games. That little girl was now an Olympic champion. The best in the world on the uneven bars.

A dream that came true.

Speaking of another dream, Y/n felt all the wind leave her body when after the podium ceremony she was called over by the team’s head coach….and next to her was Nadia Comaneci. Beaming at the gymnast when they locked eyes. If the cameras were not on them her knees would’ve buckled right there. There was no stopping the tears at that point. Her idol was congratulating her, hugging her, completing her routine….it was the best moment of Y/n’s life. More so than actually winning the damn gold medal.

When Y/n repeated the glory on the beam two nights later with a 15.866, there weren't as many tears but the emotion was all the same. It had been the final night of completion for gymnastics with Aly Raisman securing the gold on the floor exercise. Team USA on top of the podium in 5 of 6 events. Y/n was over the moon.

But one question remained.

“Hello again, Y/n, wow has it been a run for you in your Olympic debut. Along with Aly Raisman you’re the most decorated American to come out of this competition. Three gold medals. The Olympic champion on the uneven bars and balance beam as well as the #1 team in the world. Unbelievable, you’ve been amazing to watch this week and everyone at home must be over the moon for you.”

“I really am—It’s so unreal to think that this time last year I was making my debut with the senior national team. I’m so filled with gratitude, my parents and coaches—this wouldn’t have been possible without them. To be called a three-time gold medalist is the biggest honor in the world and to share one of them with my team is….I’ll never be more proud than I am of them. They’ve done amazing at these Olympics—Gabby winning the All-Around, Aly with the floor and the bronze on beam. I’m just so overcome with happiness for not just myself but for them as well.”

“I gotta ask because it’s been buzzing after your win on the bars, but are you looking for a shot at the Rio team in 2016? You’re now the Olympic champion in two events—are you hoping to defend it in four years? Not to mention hopefully get the chance at competing in the All-Around since you weren't selected in the qualifications?”

This was the question that had Y/n up nearly all night thinking about. It was unspoken between her and her coaches, having wanted to focus on the current competition than set sights on the future. Now that the Olympics were technically over for her, Y/n was ready to get back in the gym for another chance at glory.

This time, her goal was the All-Around title.

“I pretty much knew regardless of the outcome of this competition that I would train for Rio. Now the motivation is tenfold really and I do hope I get the chance at the All-Around if I do make the team. For now I’m gonna celebrate with my family, coaches, and my team before getting back in the gym for next year’s Worlds.”

The 2013 to 2015 World Championships were some of the best years in Y/n’s career. Not only did she take the silver in the 2014 & 2015 All-Around next to gold medalist Simone Biles, but claimed the 2013 gold on the balance beam followed by silver in 2014 & 2015, shocked the globe by becoming the 2015 World Champion on vault, and went three for three gold on the uneven bars. By the time the 2016 Olympic trials came around, Y/n was the second ranked gymnast in the world.

The Olympic Rings were tattooed on her forearm, a reminder that she accomplished her childhood dream. Making the team for the second time that summer was beyond what Y/n could put into words. And she would not be the only returning olympian to the US team, Gabby and Aly were coming with her.

There was a lot of talk of what Y/n would bring to the Rio Games. Not only was she the defending champion on bars and beam—hoping to bring a first for the US by repeating her success in London, but she was aiming for a spot in the All-Around competition. Commentators couldn’t get enough of the impending qualifications. Simone was the top contender—the #1 gymnast in the world—and would no doubt qualify, which only left one spot. One spot that three gymnasts wanted.

Gabby, looking to defend her All-Around title.

Aly, to claim the medal she missed when placing fourth in London.

And Y/n, the reigning two-time World silver medalist.

All three members of the gold winning team in London. All three individual Olympic champions.

It would be a heated competition between athletes and friends.

When the trials concluded Y/n had a lot to think about. A lot to mentally prepare for. In the Olympics anything can happen. She witnessed that in London when Jordyn, the reigning World champion, did not qualify for the All-Around. Romania claiming the bronze in the team final over China. Then Y/n beat the leading contender for the gold on beam. Nothing was guaranteed.

As Y/n packed up her bag following interviews after the 2016 team was announced, she headed to leave for the parking lot to meet with her parents and coaches. Phone in hand, Y/n sent a message to her parents when they asked if she wanted to go out to eat to celebrate. As she came around the corner, having waited until most of the spectators had already left, the gymnast gasped when something crashed into her legs causing the phone to drop from her hands, “Oh!”

“Daisy!” A male voice shouted against the sound of feet approaching. “I told you to watch before turning—I’m so sorry ma’am. I—.” His voice stopped suddenly when Y/n lifted her head to connect with a stunning pair of blue eyes. They belonged to a young man with a baby face, roughly around her age but possibly older by a few years, who had blonde hair—stood at about 6 ft and wore a pair of glasses. “O-oh God, you’re Y/n L/n. I-I’m so sorry about my sister—she wasn’t looking.”

The little girl in question—who looked to be about 11 years old— was now in front of Y/n, mouth agape as she stood starstruck. In one hand was a handheld American flag with the event program in the other and she had team USA painted on her cheek. She looked very similar to the man behind her as she had matching hair and eyes. Daisy, as her name was shouted by her brother, looked like she could cry. “I’m so sorry, Miss. Y/n.”

“Oh it’s alright,” the woman softly smiled. Daisy had the same look of awe and emotion Y/n had when she met Nadia Comaneci in 2012 after winning the uneven bars. “Really, it’s okay. I should’ve watched where I was going.” She bent down to grab her phone, silently thankful it didn’t crack any more than it already was. The guy, however, saw the cracks and went pale.

“I’m so so sorry. O-oh gosh, I’ll pay the full amount to replace it—.” Y/n immediately cut him off.

“No, no, no, it was already like that,” Y/n lightly laughed, a little embarrassed to reveal the truth, “I promise you, I just haven’t had the time to get a new one. But it wasn’t her fault I can assure you. It was actually the locker room floor that’s responsible.” Daisy looked embarrassed and guilty at the thought she broke the Olympian’s phone, but upon Y/n’s words she visibly relaxed.

Her brother on the other hand still wasn’t sure. Internally he was freaking out. The now two-time olympian and gold medalist was right in front of him. And she was so beautiful in person it was making his brain scatter…..And his sister knocked her phone from her hands. “Are you sure? I can really write you a check right now Ms. L/n.” The woman waved a hand with a shake of the head, “You have my word. You don’t me anything, Mr……” she waited for him to say his name. A light tint of red appeared on his cheeks, “U-uh Robert, but you can call me Bob, everyone does.”

Y/n extended her hand, making Bob blush more when he went to shake it and a spark ignited causing them both to flinch. “Sorry!”

Y/n only laughed, finding him adorable, “It’s okay. It’s nice to meet you, Bob, and please call my Y/n. And it’s nice to meet you too, Miss. Daisy.” The little girl smiled wide, in a state of visible joy that she was in the presence of her idol.

“You were amazing today, Y/n,” Daisy complimented, making the woman smile.

“Thank you. Did you have fun watching the competition?”

Daisy nodded, “I had a lot of fun. My favorite was you on bars—I had my brother get seats near them so we could watch you.” Y/n couldn’t help but feel warmth in her body. Anytime she had fan interactions it reminded her how she fell in love with gymnastics. Watching the Games and competitions on tv, attending them in person to watch athletes she admired growing up. One could never get used to it. Y/n could see herself in Daisy, for she had begged her parents to always get seats by the bars when they went to watch the 2008 Team trials.

“You’re her favorite gymnast,” Bob casually said with a smile. Y/n thought at that moment, ‘wow he’s got a beautiful smile.’ Her heart picked up at the realization she was attracted to the man. There was just something about him that had her wanting to stay and talk with him.

Y/n smiled at the compliment, turning to Daisy, “I’m extremely honored to have that title, Miss. Daisy. Thank you so much for your support and coming out today. I’m happy I did not let you down,” Y/n then asked, “Are you a gymnast too?”

“Yup!” She said proudly, “I’m level five. I watched you win in London and wanted to be like you,” Y/n placed a hand on her chest, an ‘awe’ escaping her mouth as she tried to hold back the emotion. This little girl was about to capture her heart.

Her brother surly was about to.

Bob nodded his head to his sister, “Her birthday was recent and this is what she asked for. To come watch the trials—to hopefully see you make the team. C-congratulations by the way! You were incredible out there.”

“Thank you,” Y/n said to him, “It’s a privilege to get to compete for a second time. Thank you both for coming out and supporting,” she turns back to Daisy, “And happy belated birthday!”

“Thank you!” She beamed, before hesitating to hold out her hand with the program. “Could—could you please sign this?” Y/n quickly pocketed her phone, removing a sharpie from her bag, “of course. Anything for the birthday girl.” Taking the program, Y/n flipped to the page with her picture and information, scribbling a message saying, ‘Daisy, Shoot for the stars and go for the gold. Thank you for all your support. All the love, Y/n,’ with a little heart at the end. Closing it, Y/n handed it over to her just as Bob was pulling out his own phone.

“Do you mind? I know you must be on your way.”

“Oh not at all,” she said, motioning for Daisy to come closer, who politely asked, “Can I give you a hug?”

“Oh course!” Y/n opened her arms and Daisy fell into her embrace. They faced Bob, smiling at the camera and he took several photos before nodding, “perfect.” Daisy then requested a selfie, and Y/n was all too happy to say yes. Bob handed Daisy the phone who then handed it to Y/n who went, “oh you want me to take it? I’m not the best selfie taker but for you I shall.” Y/n flipped to the front camera and took several photos with Daisy. One nice one of them smiling and a few goofy faces, ending with a kissy face.

Y/n handed the phone over to Bob, but Daisy stopped them, “now you two!” Bob flushed, looking at Y/n to see she was just as suprised. He was silently embarrassed to say he too would have liked a photo, but it was getting late, the gymnast was obviously tired, and they had an early drive back home the next morning. He was due back to report on base on Monday after taking the last Thursday and Friday to take his sister to the trials. “Oh Daiz, it’s getting late. We don’t wanna hold Y/n up—.”

“C’mon, Bob,” she whined, “this way you can brag to your Navy buddies you met an Olympian. And not just any Olympian, you met Y/n L/n!” The insinuation had Bob slightly glare at his sister, finding it to be rude to say such a thing in front of the person they were referring to. He didn’t want Y/n to think it was for clout.

“Daisy—.”

“I don’t mind,” Y/n offered with a kind smile, butterflies erupting in when they made eye contact. Despite the aviator’s fears, Y/n wasn’t offended. In fact she found it amusing, wanting to do it for him. She could tell Bob was still unsure so she said, “If we do a selfie then it’s best for you to take it.” Bob gave a nervous laugh, but nodded and moved closer to Y/n. He was taller than her so Bob held the phone up higher than usual and at an angle.

After the photo Daisy insisted on taking one of them despite her brothers protest. Y/n chuckled at the banter, before pulling Bob to her and placing a hand on his back. Blushing, he put his arm around her shoulder. Daisy didn’t say how many photos she had taken, but judging by her thumb rapidly hitting the screen it was safe to say it was a lot. Feeling bold, Y/n looked up to Bob, “You know if you let me, I’d be happy to help you with the ultimate bragging rights?”

The man’s eyebrows raised, “what did you have in mind.” He wasn’t sure if he should be excited or scared by the look on Y/n’s face.

“It requires you to crouch down,” upon his wide eyes she quickly added, “I’m not gonna kiss you, but I will kiss your cheek if you let me.”

“Oh,” Bob couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but Y/n didn’t appear to be lying. “Oh—um.”

“If you’re not comfortable I totally understand.”

“No, no, no, i’m fine with that. It just threw me off for a second. But y-yeah, sure that’d be cool.” Y/n giggled, and motioned for him to bend to her level.

“Get that camera ready, Daisy.” The girl gave a thumbs up, and Y/n stood on her tippy toes while Bob hunched over so her lips were level with his cheek. She gently pressed a kiss to the skin, holding it there for a few seconds to make sure Daisy got the picture. Bob’s face was hot, obviously flustered by the contact but he managed to keep it together. Y/n was in the same boat, heart pumping at tad faster than usual. She pulled away, falling back onto her heels as Bob stood back straight.

“U-uh well thank you,” he laughed, adjusting the collar of his shirt with loopy grin. “That’s definitely the highlight of my year.”

Y/n giggled, stepping away and picking her backpack up. “Be sure to tag me if you post it,” her wink had Bob’s heart skip. His attraction to the Olympian was growing by the second, but Bob knew deep down nothing would come out of it. They were on two opposite spectrums. Y/n was a world class athlete about to compete on the worlds greatest sporting stage for the second time in just two months, while Bob was about to attend the prestigious Navy Fighter Weapon’s school. The thought of them possibly ever getting together, let alone a date, was a fantasy.

Bob snapped out of his thoughts, giving Y/n a nod, “I’ll make sure to.” He then looks to his sister briefly before back at Y/n. “Sorry for holding you up, but thank you so much for the photos and signing her program.”

“It’s a pleasure, really,” Y/n told him and Daisy when the girl thanked her after Bob, “Thank you both for coming out today again. I hope you have safe travels back home wherever you’re going. I’m so happy, Daisy, you had a wonderful time—good luck with your gymnastics. Maybe the roles will one day reverse, and I’ll be the one cheering you on from the stands,” It was evident Y/n’s words meant a lot to Daisy. The girl’s expression read a fire was beginning to ignite in her eyes. “ Oh and on that note…” Y/n removed one of the two armbands wrapped around each wrist. She’d had them since joining the Junior national team and wore them before and every meet. Almost like a good luck charm.

“This is for you, consider it my birthday gift to you. These armbands have served as a good luck charm for me, I’d like you to have one.” Daisy gasped, eyes wide as she took the band in her hand.

“But…if this is your good luck charm, shouldn’t you have it for the Olympics?”

Y/n raised her wrist with the matching band, “I still have this one to do the job.”

“What do you say, Daiz?” Bob said to his sister, who still appeared awestruck. He mouthed to the Olympian, ‘Thank you.’ Y/n gave a smile with a sly wink.

“Thank you,” Daisy finally breathed. “Thank you so so much. I’ll cherish it forever.” Y/n gave one last hug to Daisy before shaking Bob’s hand and waving goodbye to them as they went separate ways. “Good luck in Rio!” Daisy shouted after her, “Win the gold again for us!” Y/n gave the girl her word, feeling a slight sadness when she got to the parking lot where her parents were waiting for her.

“What took you so long, honey?”

“Oh I was talking with some supporters. They were really sweet and we just got carried away,” she explained before switching the conversation.

Though Y/n pushed aside her thoughts of the cute blue-eyed Bob as the days to Rio got closer, she sometimes thought of him and his sister. Y/n never wanted to let her supporters down. Some had been with her since her debut on the national team. Others were residents of her hometown, who’d known Y/n as a baby. Lots came after the London Games. Making the team for Rio was not just her dream, but the dream of the people who admired her. Wanting her to accomplish the impossible when it almost seems too good to be true. Letting them down would be something Y/n couldn’t forgive herself for. Y/n vowed to never let that happen.

And after the night of the trials, she felt that more than ever.

Read Part 2!

………………

TGM tag list: @avaleineandafryingpan

[foxes-that-run]

2024 Haylor timeline

Timeline Tag, or years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

1 January - 17 HSleaks - Guess I’m alright, One and only Voice note, Spanish Girl.

3 January - Harry in the Caribbean with TR. Taylor LA.

6 January - By your side lately leak on anniversary. Rumour H LA.

7 January -Taylor at Golden Globes in LA.

11 January - Harry bought stake in SS Daley. Taylor in NY zebra top & sunglasses at night

12 January reports Travis and Taylor are fighting after Christmas Day, (helmet throw).

15 January - HS too much sauce leaked.

17 January - Deux Moi H LA 6 - 16 January

19 January - a photo of TR with Jeff at LOT Wembley last June.

20 January - Joe, TR and Zayn at Loewe show at Paris FW, some guy gives TR a neck rub. Stalker arrested at Taylor’s NY apartment

22 January - a stalker was charged for harassing Harry :( after he came back to  London earlier. TS stalker on the same day

29 January - inappropriate viral deepfake images of Taylor. X bans ‘Taylor Swift’ search. TK kiss Back to Nashville after 10 hours.

30 January - Taylor search on now kiss viral. 

1 February - Harry’s 30th birthday.

4 February - Grammys, LA TTPD announced

5 February - Joe Alwyn whinging he dated TS. Joe liked tweet

7 February - eras Tokyo, Holy Ground/Dear Reader. Says “I’ve been working on Tortured Poets since right after I turned in Midnights …I’ve been working on it for about two years, I worked on it throughout the US tour” Tyler share snippet of music

9 February - Travis Kelce hasn’t spoken to Taylor in a week since the Grammy’s, didn't know rest of line in Karma or what country she was in said he felt the power of his beard.

11 February - TK wins Super Bowl. Taylor fly's Tokyo-LV-Melbourne to be there and drunk dances. TK yelled at and pushed coach then partied after kids killed at parade for Chiefs. Harry wears packers beanie. Taylor makes ick face when TK screams 'Viva Las Vegas'

14 February - Harry and TR photographed leaving dinner at night. Blind item that TR is calling paps, they are then not seen together again for a month.

15 February - Daily Mail: “Put the beer down, Travis - it's not IF Taylor dumps you... but WHEN: After the coach bashing, drunken disorder and tone-deaf post-shooting selfies, image-obsessed Swift will now shake off brand Kelce”

16 February- Melbourne,  Red and YLM

17 February - rumors Joe cheated in October 2021. Taylor said “a song to match the moment” and played a medley of "Getaway Car", "August" and "TOSOTD" , then TIMT

18 February - Taylor “Melbourne, you are the love of my life”. Surprise songs - CBBH (3rd ever play) and Daylight mashup then teardrops on my guitar on piano. Harry then went to a Man U football game (in pants without elastic!!) smiling!!!! With Sony CEO.

20 February - Taylor dinner in Sydney. Harry train London - Paris, bodyguard Paddy indicates work. FW next week

23 February - Travis comes to Australia, not for the 4 days Taylor had off but when she went back to work. Taylor fly's jet back to the US to bring Travis and friend to Australia. Taylor goes to the Zoo twice, once with the band and once with Travis. Travis rents a silver Lamborghini and drives it too fast and runs red lights in the Sydney CBD. Travis comes to one concert. Scott swift again lined up TK for a photo ops to kiss Taylor. Surprise songs HYGTG and White Horse/Coney Island mash up with Sabrina Carpenter.

24 February -  Gemma has a baby! 8 months after Harry sung Sweet Creature at Wembley. 💚 Travis flys back to the US to attend a Chiefs party, left noon the day after the show. His total flight time was 26+ hours to spend 51 hours in Australia. Counting return time for the jet the time in air was longer than he spent in Australia. IION/IWYW and Haunted/exile.

26 February - Columbia records shares a TikTok of empty as it was scene ‘where you want to go?’ Maroon

27 February - Scott swift punches a pap in Sydney. Harry at trader Joes in la.

2 March - Taylor plays IDWLF/Dress and Mine/Starlight. At the Brit awards Roman Kemp pranks Calvin Harris to drink a drink called Harry Styles Bath water, a Saltburn joke. This all happened almost on the anniversary of the Shake an Apple of a Tree Tweet

3 March - TR play opens in NY, Harry doesn’t go. He was in LA.

6 March - DBATC/Babe surprise songs. TKs BFF unfollows Taylor

7 March - blind item rumor boybander and GF seeing other people.

8 March TK at the Singapore show, brings a friend and manager, TK texting during IKYWT. Sparks fly/ gold rush and false god/slut surprise song. Harry back in London, TRs play from 3-31 in ny and not seen attending. Pleasing ‘Single at last’. Jacks album released, Taylor didn’t mention.

9 March - TK at last eras for 2 nights looks bored, a bit dazed with glasses in dark, phone taken off him, no kiss at end.

10 March - twitter users say x, x highly publicised that Taylor and Travis attended exclusive Gucci post Oscar’s party where photos are banned, Taylor not seen. 5 days later a photo of Travis holding an Oscar inside the Gold party…. No Taylor… TK liked photo with trump

12-14 March - TK no Taylor at gym, Justin Timberlake concert and lunch. Taylor hasn’t been seen since Singapore.

14 March - Eternals 2, a marvel movie starring Harry was cancelled because the studio is focusing on movies that are assured success.

14 March - Harry backstage at Mitch’s show in NY!! TRs play was on 10 mins away, she came after, arriving at 9:30/10, they left before encore with TR look to be arguing, Harry was walking alone an hour later. First time seen in a month. New leaked angle of MSG Karaoke with Harry and Taylor - maroon added as a surprise song to eras film

15 March -Harry walking around NY with TR and separately with Maxwell Ritz. And at the white cube gallery.

16 March - page 6 reports Bob Iger who paid Taylor $70m for the eras movie, says saw TS & TK in no photo event.

17 March - Harry in Brooklyn at townhouse with TR with bag, last sighting for another month+. Taylor repeats Joe in Bahamas holiday with TK for beach. 300 photos from Backgrid drop at once and TMZ video.

19 March - Harry returns to London. Seen carrying a white rose with James Cordon.

20 March - on his podcast TK talked about babies life&style. Blind item that Taylor doesn’t appreciate narrative contribution.

22 March - Harry in UK studio RAK. Taylors flight goes via KC>LA. TK Cleveland funeral

24 March - Taylor seen for the first time in a week at Nobu with Travis, Taylor stern words. TK sweatpants with holes. The 300 Bahama's photos all drop the next day.

26 March - TR VF article where she says “My work is the most interesting thing to me, so that’s what I’ll say about that.” And talks about finding safety for herself, in August she talked about safety within a relationship.

28 March - Harry swan lake London, later hosts football party and runs from paps

1 April - TK and umbrellor arrive in LA, plane flew L.A.-Nashville-Philli (his brother)-La for Easter, Taylor not seen for a week, not at iHeartawards. TR Columbia

5 April - Taylor barnies diner no LK

6 April - Taylor releases Apple Music playlists of her own songs in stages of grief. Video emerges of Joe saying his costars Alison’s name in a love scene (in the Final Cut of CWF episode 3, (at 11:55 in) Character name is Frances (and Joe says F Frances at 12:10). He threw a party in Taylor’s house with the co star on 19 April 22, Taylor’s 22 Brit award is in photo. One tweet Harry in LA Aiport.

7 April - rumour Taylor’s jet went to Nashville. Photo of TR Columbia.

8 April - LT Larry denial got him lots of media.

9 April - Taylor seen in a car LA TK dinner

10 April - second sighting of Harry in LA

11 April - Harry pictured at Masters golf torment, Niall also there! Taylor “recently” with Selena, Sabrina. TK graduation, blind drinking too much.

12 April - DM: “Taylor Swift must be getting sick of this about TKTK & Taylor sushi park in the evening.

13 April - Taylor and TK at Coachella, watch bleachers and ice spice, TK very possessive manhandling, picking her up, shaking and smothering her. Taylor looks out of it, happy

15 April - Harry Japan w/GF Twitter sighting. Also sightings in Hampstead.

19 April - TTPD, Harry seen in Japan. Taylor posted short with TK included

20 April - Harry seen in Japan with TR, TR seen at airport on 24th last TR sighting w H

25 April - Taylor, Gigi, TK & Bradley Cooper (Gigi's partner) dinner in California. Blind MH didn't sign an NDA and there is mutually assured destruction.

27 April - TK and Taylor at mahomes charity event, Travis embarrassing, yells viva Las Vegas again and Taylor looks intoxicated /out of it while he pulls her along. TK party no TS in Vegas. Plane flew to LA then Nashville next day (Taylor wore the Cartier necklace to after party)

29 April - Harry seen in London

3 May - Taylor on way to London ahead of first Paris show 9 May. Travis seen at a Chainsmokers gig within 2 hours.

6 May - Harry on lime bike London not at met gala. TK parting alone again. Taylor not seen since charity thing

8 May - Taylor arrived in Paris, meaning she probably stayed in London for 5 days.

9 May - new eras setlist with TTPD in Paris. IION/OOTW, lomlHarry looks happy in London. Harry goes to the London ballet with the 1D and TPWK Choreographer

11 May - Taylor seen travelling to hotel in Paris

12 May - TK eras last Paris show only. Alchemy/treacherous and Begin again/paris, said BA was was memory of MV in Paris

14 May - Deux Moi reports Tarry ended

15 May- Harry at Kacey Musgrave concert alone

17 May - Taylor and TK in Lake Como, wears Cartier Necklace. First show in Stockholm, asks Paramore to play Misery Business. Plays I think he knows/Gorgeous and part of DBTAC. Plays Peter on piano and says it is one of her favourite songs on TTPD and would only play it for a crowd she is absolutely in love with.

18 May - Taylor’s 89th show, Stockholm, played GAS, Say don’t go/Welcome to NY/Clean, LK tweeted Still your Boy lyrics about falling in to be somebody’s, Harry in London

19 May Harry and TR broke up last month: Sun & Mirror

20 May - tarry break up picked widely, rumour Harry in Italy

21 May Harry seen in Italy. Taylor Mia 5 days between shows in Stockholm and Spain, unverified rumour Taylor in Ibiza (reported local media) and reddit jet people think TK flew from us for 1.5 days.

23 May - Harry went kitchenware shopping in Rome wearing a Blur ‘modern life is rubbish’ he also wore in 2014.

24 may - Harry Italy Taylor said 70 in Betty speech then played CBBH/the other side of the door/The way I Loved You and FOTS/High Infidelity. First time TWILY was played in 14 years.

25 May - Taylor flew to London after show, not seen

26 May Travis booed at NBA playoffs

28 may - Harry seen in Florence, rumoured there the day before and back to Rome.

29 May - Harry Rome

31 May - Taylor seen at Kit Kat Club in London. Photos of Travis with Margaret and the Mahomes with Jack leak. Taken in Taylor’s break. No photo sighting h lake Como

7 June Taylor in Edinburgh, Harry still in Italy

8 June - plans for Harry to renovate houses lodged, will take 2 years, reinstating and entire new floor

[yuikomorii]

If it’s not rude of me, I’d like to ask how is Ayato the favorite in Japan among fans?

I’d always assumed it was Shuu, since he consistently ranked first in the polls and that Ayato was the favorite among the people who don’t play the games but buy merch, so that’s why he got a push in merch. I do not mean to offend, I quite like Ayato, I’m just curious.

(I apologize if my English is bad, it’s not my first language.)

// Shu has more active and sociable stans, Ayato has more solo and private stans in Japan. Popularity polls never really show how popular a character truly is because 1) you can vote once a day everyday in some cases, 2) it’s not that hard sending a link to your friends/followers in order to vote for your favorite character and 3) not everyone votes. I’ve never even seen any DL character get close to even 10k votes and I’m sure all of them have over 1 million fans. I mean… Just take a look at Piofiore's Dante, who came in first in the popularity poll, although Yang and Nicola are much more well-liked. The same is true for Lupin from C:R; even though he tops the polls, Van Helsing and Saint-Germain are all the rage. If we interpret it that way, Kou won the 2022 poll too, right? Ayato also won the 2017 Rejet shop poll, which took place in Tokyo.

Shu is still indeed very popular in the Japanese DL fandom, but Ayato is more popular in the Japanese otoge fandom and with locals. Sometimes you’ll find Shu merch a bit more expensive than Ayato’s one, other times you’ll find Ayato more expensive than Shu. It simply depends on how the sellers view the situation.

Another possibility is that Shu’s stans aren’t as active as they were in the past since things change or Ayato just had a huge DL fans boost. I know votes aren’t everything but the fact fans voted Ayato’s CD as the best Daylight one and also won best overall CD drama in 2022, surprised me a lot because I, at least, never found his CD dramas particularly good.

I made a post about this once, and as I said, it started off as a joke but Ayato is truly an IT boy, lol. A famous idol cosplayed him once… that should say it all. In 2020, people recommended him so much that he ended up co-starring at “Nino-san”, a program held by Kazunari Ninomiya, a national idol as well. I don’t know how, since he’s literally 40 years old, but he somehow knew who Ayato was and even smiled when he saw him. Moreover, the interviewer literally went to a stranger and interviewed her, then she started shaking and laughing when she saw Ayato and even admitted being his fan. That, imo, shows how HUGE Ayato must me, if even random people know who he is and bias him too.

I don’t think any Diaboy could ever be more known and loved than Ayato is outside of the DL fandom but that’s not because of his character or anything like that, but due to his unbeatable visuals. You’ll see a lot of people saying that his face is ideal/perfect/desirable, as seen here, and they’re not even joking. Most people find Ayato the most good-looking one there because he is the closest to their beauty standard. Don’t get me wrong, everyone is very handsome; Shu has one of the most liked designs too but the reason why his visuals are not more praised than Ayato’s ones is because he looks too western. Japanese people are fascinated by western features but they don’t want to look like that; the majority would prefer someone that fits their ideal of beauty more. Ayato has canonically big eyes, a small face but not too small, long dark lashes, a youthful and quite androgynous face but that still shows some masculinity, a slender yet muscular body, above average height (170cm) but not too tall. That’s what makes him visually perfect.

To sum it up, all DL characters still have their fans but due to the fact that a lot of other otome games came out, they lost some hype they used to have. Ayato still manages to be the most talked about, praised and trending character at the moment merely because of his visuals, since that’s what sets him apart. Him being super pretty makes otoge fans and locals bias him, so they desire his merch, plus he got a big amount of DL fans too. Is he the most popular in the jp DL fandom? Idk, I don’t think anyone could truly measure that. Is he the most popular DL character there? Yes.

[redhairedwolfwitch]

Not Like We Were Hiding (2/3) - Jill Roord x Reader

Part 1

A/n: Part 1 was 9k words... part 2 is 11k words... I'm a little sorry... enjoy!

///

Moving to Barcelona earlier than what you had previously arranged with the Barcelona side of management left them playing catch-up, although you assured them that you had settled in fine in Barcelona. 

Although you did end up travelling to attend the UEFA Champions League final, Barcelona against Chelsea. You kept hidden, smiling as Barcelona won 4-0 against Chelsea, reminding you of the last time you played against Chelsea, with Jill. Your heart ached slightly as you watched your future teammates dance around and celebrate, before you headed back to your hotel. Travelling to Sweden for the finals had gotten you out of unpacking your belongings and crying over everything you had in London that you no longer did, so that helped somewhat.

Barcelona’s 2020/21 season also included the club winning Copa de Reina and being top of the Primera División, whilst you were training in the park near your new place until you stopped feeling that weight in your chest and nervousness about meeting your new teammates. Plus, you’d seen something on social media that made you want to either throw up or cry. Fans had videoed Jill talking to a Norwegian player who you’d learnt was called Ingrid, and she played at Wolfsburg.

Barcelona’s offseason beginning gave you a chance to breathe, watching the Netherlands perform at the Olympics in Tokyo whenever you could, having jumped out of your chair to celebrate when Jill got her goal against Zambia. You texted her a congratulations before the heartache of not being there to celebrate with her kicked in.

Watching the Netherlands lose against the US made you queasy as you turned off the tv, choosing to sit on your balcony and contemplate what you were doing.

Lieke Martens was the first teammate to contact you a while after the Olympics, (having gotten your phone number from Daan whilst in Tokyo), asking if you wanted to meet for coffee and hang out.

///

Getting your coffees to go, you walked with Lieke to where she wanted to show you, your stomach doing a backflip as you realised she was waving to some people. Your Barcelona teammates, or some of them anyway.

“Sorry to spring this on you, but everyone was so excited to meet some of the new players.” Lieke explained as you sipped your coffee, heading over to the group.

“This is the Arsenal player who played with some of my national teammates!” Lieke announced you like that, leaving you to raise an eyebrow before you froze, recognising a face you thought you wouldn’t see with your Barcelona teammates.

“I thought you played with Wolfsburg?” it slipped out before you could shut your mouth, leaving Ingrid to smile and nod, explaining she was joining Barcelona this season just like you. Ingrid, the player that had been seen with Jill, who you thought would be playing alongside Jill this season, was at Barcelona with you.

Sipping your coffee, you remained silent as Lieke glanced between you and Ingrid in confusion, deciding to introduce you to Rolfö to get rid of the awkward energy.

///

Taking a seat back from it all, you watched some of your new teammates dancing and playing random games with a football someone had brought, continuing to sip on your coffee, your excuse for not joining in being you wanted to finish it. That didn’t mean you were drinking it quickly.

Lieke had come over to sit with you after realising you were alone, the two of you quietly talking as Ingrid walked over first, but Alexia and Jenni weren’t too far behind.

“She did not stop talking about you.” Ingrid’s admission caught your attention as your knee buckled and hit the table in your shock.

“What do you mean?” You asked, fingers unconsciously running over your wrist tattoo as the others fell quiet.

“When I spoke to Jill, she did not stop talking about how much she loves you, and how much she misses you.” Ingrid explained with a sad smile, eyes drifting to your tattoo as Lieke reached for your arm for a closer look.

“That’s Jill’s handwriting… ‘mijn liefde’... my love… Sari mentioned Jill missing someone at camp, but-”

“Jill and I… we didn’t hide, we just didn’t broadcast the fact we were together. Took a while for our Arsenal teammates to find out, they were so confused by it all. I mean, it went from a hookup after winning against Chelsea to dating in about four days, then we were girlfriends after a match against City where one of their attackers landed on top of me. To be honest, we moved so quickly at times but so slowly at others.” You let out a soft breath, your eyes staying on your tattoo as you spoke, so you didn’t see the reactions of Alexia, Jenni, Lieke and Ingrid to your story. 

“It was supposed to be a one night thing, but Jill made her way into my heart and made that tiny place I lived in a home. We wanted to stay together, but Arsenal didn’t want to re-sign me, so we looked at other club offers. Wolfsburg was better for Jill, but they had enough defenders, and none of my offers were even in the same country as Jill’s. In the end, Jill was heading for Wolfsburg, and I ended up here. We couldn’t handle long distance, barely being able to sleep apart when we both lived in London. International breaks with Jill leaving to play with the Netherlands were hell for us both. I think Sari had to deal with a sad Jill way too much,” wiping at your face in case any tears fell, you let out a sad laugh at what you were about to say. 

“I lied when I said I moved to Barcelona recently. I moved after our transfer announcements were made, I, I didn’t want to see the tiny place in London without Jill’s things in it, because then it wouldn’t be home. We weren’t hiding our relationship from the public, we posted on socials, we celebrated goals together and held hands in the streets… one of our last conversations together in person was about how we wished we could handle the distance, and how we’d always love each other. Jill is my liefde. I don’t think I could ever really get over her. She’s also part of the reason I started moving up into midfield… but being underestimated at Arsenal pushed me into being something more, and apparently it was something that caught people’s attention as last season went on… so… that’s me.” You finished monologuing, bringing the coffee to your lips only to pout when you found it was empty.

“Spreek je nederlands? Of alleen maar koosnamen?” Lieke enquired, raising an eyebrow as you smirked back, glancing between Alexia, Jenni and Ingrid who all looked confused.

“Ja, ik spreek nederlands. Meer dan je denkt… plus I’m pretty sure Lisa has a montage of me swearing in Dutch during training. Daan taught me those words though.” You replied, smiling softly at the memory.

“How do you feel now?” Alexia enquired after having what you assumed was a conversation with Jenni through facial expressions alone.

“I miss Jill all the time. We text, call, even video call sometimes, but there’s still that ache, she’s… she’s the love of my life, but she’s over 800 miles away, and it sucks.” You messed with the empty coffee cup until it was taken from your hands by Jenni so you’d look up at her.

“You’ll see her again, when Barcelona plays in the champions league this season!” Jenni smiled, trying to give you something to focus on whilst Lieke tapped away on her phone and Ingrid smiled.

“I think Jill feels the same way you do, she misses you a lot.” Ingrid affirmed, gently patting you on the shoulder in support, nodding as you mouthed ‘thank you’ and an apology to her for earlier.

“You said you two weren’t hiding, yes?” Alexia asked, raising an eyebrow as you got out your phone and opened your instagram to show her and Jenni the photos you were talking about, whilst Ingrid slipped away to talk to Caro, and Lieke looked over your shoulder at your phone like she was anticipating something, but also interested in the photo of you and Jill on your mini golf date.

“Have you ever been bouldering?” You enquired as you got to the footage Lisa had taken of you climbing on the bouldering date with Jill that Lisa and some of your other teammates had crashed.

“Mijn kleine spin…” you whispered, recalling what Jill had called you that day, the warmth in your chest matching the heat in your face as your phone began to ring, revealing that Jill was calling.

“Um, I’m gonna take this… hoi!” you announced, hurrying away to go find somewhere private as Lieke smirked.

“Did you-” Alexia began as Jenni laughed, realising that Lieke had texted Jill, telling her to call you when she saw the message.

///

It hadn’t gone unnoticed by Jill’s Wolfsburg how she had lit up talking on the phone to someone in a mix of Dutch and English, Jill’s national teammates had an inkling though, and it wasn’t like Jill had hidden that she was in a relationship during her last season of Arsenal, but they hadn’t played against you before. They didn’t know about the rising defender/defensive midfielder who caused havoc for opposing midfielders in the WSL. Maybe they’d find out though, if Wolfsburg played against Barcelona in the UWCL, like Jenni said.

///

“Je hebt mijn shirt aan.” Jill smirked, the phone call having turned to a video call after a while, her eyes lingering on how good you looked in her shirt, before her heart reminded her of reality.

“Do you have a problem with that? I’m pretty sure you have some of my clothes with you too.” You asked, raising an eyebrow in challenge in response to Jill’s smirk.

“No problem, just annoyed I can’t be there to take it off of you.”

“Wow… now I’m glad I left the room where all my Barcelona teammates could have heard that!” You pointed out, feeling a warmth in your cheeks as Jill grinned, wiggling her eyebrows before the conversation shifted into how you were doing in Barcelona, and how Jill was in Wolfsburg.

///

Barcelona had a lot of defenders in their squad that you were getting to know and training with, but you also did tasks with the midfielders, annoying them a little in the process as your Arsenal antics began to creep in.

“Jill-” You froze, turning around to an empty space instead of where you would usually see Jill wanting you to pass to her, confusing Patri and Aitana as they exchanged glances.

“Wow, I can’t believe I just did that.” You ran your hands down your face, about to be annoyed with yourself when a hand landed on your shoulder. Removing your hand from your face, you met Alexia’s sad smile of understanding, the ball that you had kicked out of play trying to pass to your ex who wasn’t there, now under her free arm.

“Not at Arsenal now, chica!” Patri chuckled, leaving you to sigh, humming in agreement, swiping the ball from Alexia as she put it on the ground.

“True, I’m not at Arsenal, but I can still show you some tricks I learnt there!”

///

Barcelona’s possession heavy playing style was interesting to you as you adapted to it, amused by Alexia’s decision for you to have shooting practice after regular practice. You had a feeling she’d watched a few of the highlights of your matches with Arsenal online, not seeing it as more than that until you realised you would be on the roster for the upcoming match against Valencia.

Your technique to cause havoc involved interceptions, tackles and a lot of pressing, your work rate intriguing the Barcelona players as some of them saw your final Arsenal game against Aston Villa being shown when you were talking with the staff about you moving up more into midfield. Barcelona’s usual 4-3-3 formation meant that if you wanted in that midfield, you would be a sub, just like you’d be with how many defenders Barcelona had available this season. You weren’t going to let that stop you, even if the light in your eyes died when you watched the Aston Villa game and recalled that final game with Jill.

You knew why Barcelona wanted you, their midfielders were very attacking focussed, but you were not and it could change things coming up.

///

The game against Valencia, you were subbed on for Patri at the 55th minute, the score already at 6-0 for Barcelona, but it ended 8-0 after a goal from Lieke, then Caro. You as a defensive midfielder changed the vibe slightly as you were further back with the defenders than Patri had been with Alexia and Clàudia, but your time with Barcelona’s midfield meant you had already improved. Jill noticed this when she found the match highlights on YouTube, and your national team manager noticed this when looking over the footage from your previous games.

///

The upcoming Champions League group stage match against Arsenal had left your stomach fluttering with butterflies, texting Jill about it, you didn’t expect her to call you, but she did.

“Hoi, liefde…” Jill’s voice was soft down the phone, but she sounded out of breath, so you apologised for interrupting whatever she was doing, but she shook her head, realising you could see, she laughed slightly.

“We just finished training. It’s not the same without you here, I miss watching you train, and… other things…” Jill smirked to herself, knowing you were rolling your eyes at her over the phone, even if she couldn’t see.

“Yeah,  yeah, I know, my ass in these shorts. I just, it’s against Arsenal, but they’ve changed a lot. You’re not there, or Daan, and well, Arsenal won’t exactly miss me but, it’ll be weird messing with Arsenal’s midfield this time. Plus, our one year anniversary would have been… het spijt me, I shouldn’t-”

“Arsenal missed out on who you are as a player, and, I know, our anniversary… I had a pizza alone in the park, wishing you were with me.” Jill replied, cutting off your apology since you didn’t need to apologise, both of you had pieces of each other in your souls. Some may say you are soulmates, had the football contracts not gotten in the way of everything.

“I watched Grey’s Anatomy and kept hearing ‘it’s a beautiful day to save lives’ in your voice instead of Derek Shepherd’s.” You confessed, smiling as you heard Jill chuckle and repeat the known Derek Shepherd phrase.

///

Your stomach flipped over and over as October arrived and the game against Arsenal was next. It was a game at the Johan Cruyff stadium, so the London team would be travelling to Barcelona, and you’d heard from Lotte that everyone at Arsenal was excited for the match, and to see you again too. You’d spoken to Lisa, she was on loan at West Ham so you’d miss out on seeing her, instead dedicating an evening to talking to her over video call one evening from your place in Barcelona. 

You sat on the bench for the Barcelona vs Arsenal match, watching intently as Mariona got the first goal, and biting your lip at the amount of yellow cards flying. McCabe had one already between the first and second goal before half-time. Irene however also received a yellow a minute into half-time, whilst you hid your grimace as Mead yeeted Mariona out of the way, earning a yellow card in the process.

Chewing your lip as Arsenal made their substitutions, you hid your relief at Beth and Katie were subbed off for Health and Parris, whilst Viv went off for Foord. After the 70th minute, Jordan went on for Lia, whilst on your side, Lieke was subbed on for Asisat. Arsenal matched to wipe away the clean sheet as Maanum scored, the score at 3-1 whilst Foord received a yellow after tangling with Alexia.

Ana-Maria was subbed off for Rolfö whilst Mana went on for Little minutes later. Mariona later came to join you as Bruna went on, the two of you not sat down long as Lieke’s goal made it 4-1. Your eyes widened as you realised Arsenal’s head coach had gotten a yellow card, the head coach you had known when you, Jill and Daan had played at Arsenal had left to be the head coach of Juventus in June.

You were taking a sip of water when you saw Jordan be carded, almost spitting it onto Leila and Jenni in front of you as you choked, Ingrid patting your back worriedly whilst Alexia took the penalty shot. Manu managed to save it, whilst you looked confused as Parris was carded after. 

The match ended 4-1, but you tried to hide your confusion at the ref’s choices, getting wrapped up instead in hugs as some of your old Arsenal teammates walked over to greet you after the match.

“Hey you!” you smiled as Lotte hurried over to you and pulled you into a hug, the two of you chatting about how you were both doing until Viv walked over, hugging you gently but you could feel an awkward vibe that wasn’t from the chaos of the match that was just played.

“Viv?”

“I don’t think Jill told you but you hurt her when you moved out first. She found your letter, but you hurt her.” Viv explained, watching as your face fell.

“Shit. I was so wound up with not wanting to see her leave first and see the place be emptier like it was before we were together that I didn’t think about… I was selfish.” You realised, clenching your jaw to fight back tears as Viv sighed, patting your shoulder before she headed over to her teammates.

Lieke frowned as she walked over to you, glancing at Viv but you shook your head, blinking back tears as she asked “is alles oké?”

“Ja, ja, I’m fine, I’m fine, I just, I need to call Jill.” You let out a sigh, looking up at the night sky before turning on your heel, heading towards the tunnel.

///

Tapping your foot against the floor, you stared at your phone as you tapped on call, listening to it dial before Jill picked up, turning on the video call setting.

“Hi, liefde… hoe gaat het? I saw that Barcelona won against Arsenal tonight,” Jill began, frowning as you stared at her with glassy eyes, “liefde?”

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, Viv told me about after I moved out and I, I was selfish by leaving first, I was so afraid of coming home and all your stuff would be gone and it wouldn’t be home anymore, because it only really became home when you were there too… I was selfish to leave a letter and move out, I should have moved out at the same time as you, even if we’d be sobbing at the airport or something… I was selfish, Jill, and I’m sorry.” You apologised with your eyes on the phone, something that a year ago you wouldn’t have been able to do, but you’d grown since last season at Arsenal, you’d grown by being with Jill and befriending the other Dutchies, you’d grown.

“It was horrible at first, coming home and you had gone, but I found your letter and I couldn’t be angry at you, schatje, it hurt for you to move out, but it hurt you that I was moving out too… but it was the contracts that hurt us more than we ever hurt each other…” Jill explained, yawning at the end of her sentence as you realised it was late for both of you. Same time zone but the match did start at 8pm.

///

You texted Jill as soon as you saw the result, chewing your lip as you wondered if she’d reply and when, but Wolfsburg drawing 3-3 with Chelsea in the group stages wasn’t what you had expected to see when you opened your phone.

///

The match against Atlético Madrid had you subbing on at the 78th minute for Patri, coming on alongside Leila who was subbed on for Caro. Aitana and Alexia gave you soft smiles as you arrived at your spot on centre midfield.

The game ended at 3-0, a text on your phone from Jill with a smiley face left you grinning as you sat down in the locker room next to Ingrid, bumping knees with her before grinning at Lieke as she walked by you. You smirked slightly as Jenni and Alexia walked in together, Alexia slightly annoyed as they were running late and you all needed to head back from the Atlético Madrid stadium to Barcelona, then to your respective homes.

You laughed as Aitana stared at you in confusion, struggling to understand as Lieke asked you something in Dutch, passing Lieke your portable phone charger in response as she gave you a grateful look.

///

Travelling to Denmark for the next Champions League match, you texted Alexia whenever you had a signal, knowing that she was back in Spain with her calf injury whilst the squad travelled to play HB Køge. You and Ingrid were starting alongside Jenni in midfield, this game, something you didn’t expect since you were prepared to even be subbed on as a defender. Instead, you and Ingrid were subbed off at half-time for Patri and Aitana, the game finally ending at 2-0 after Rolfö’s goal at 62 minutes, followed by Jenni taking a penalty a minute before the game was declared finished.

“Well… that was…” you murmured, glancing over the statistics on your phone for how many shots had been taken, and how many had been on target. A text message from Alexia lit up your screen as you texted back, telling her to rest up.

///

Alexia was game ready by the time that the match against Sporting Huelva came around three days later. You watched carefully from the bench at the 4-2-3-1 formation, sat with Ingrid as the two of you watched the midfield carefully. You high-fived Lieke and Jenni before they went onto the pitch, being subbed on for Asisat and Alexia at the 59th minute.

“How are you feeling?” You enquired as Alexia sat down, her eyes watching the pitch carefully until you flicked a little bit of water at her face, raising an eyebrow as she almost glared at you.

“How are you feeling?” you repeated your question, raising an eyebrow as Alexia took the water bottle from you for a sip, taking that as you answer, you resumed watching the game, cheering as Aitana got her first goal of the game.

///

Due to international duties, the next game for you wasn’t until Halloween, leaving your stomach flipping as your phone lit up with photos from a year ago of you and Jill in your ‘same franchise but not a couples costume costumes’. Your Spanish teammates had played Morocco and Ukraine, whilst Jill was busy scoring a hat trick against Cyprus then playing Belarus, as you texted both Jill and Lieke over the break. Ingrid and Caro ended up playing against Poland and then Belgium too.

The match on Halloween was against Sociedad, ending 8-1. You were subbed on for Aitana at the 78th minute, teasing her by speaking in Dutch before running onto the pitch with Lieke unable to translate as she was busy on the pitch, having scored one goal already, scoring a second one by the time the match was over.

“What did you say to me before?” Aitana enquired as she approached you in the locker room after the match.

“Goed gedaan? Well done? Although I do worry that what I’m saying is a grammatical mess, Daan, uh, DVD, van de Donk taught me swear words in Dutch though… luckily you guys don’t do that thing where you mic up the players!” you laughed, leaving Aitana to frown slightly as she wondered when she’d heard you swearing in Dutch, neither of you realising that Alexia had heard your confession about Dutch swear words and was going to have an ear out during practice now.

 ///

Each time Jill scored a goal playing for Wolfsburg or the Netherlands national team, you sent her a couple of emojis, or a photo/video of you reacting to her goal or goals plural, when you had a chance to. You didn’t see how much Jill would smile at your messages, or the way she bit her lip sometimes when you posted photos on your socials. The reaction photos/videos of you to her goals though were her favourite, but she wished your national team would call you up some day so you could get a taste of the rush.

///

The next game was a week later against Eibar. By half-time the score was already 3-0 to Barcelona, as you sat on the bench with Ingrid contemplating, and raising an eyebrow when you realised Ingrid’s gaze was solely on Mapi since the start. A hand on your shoulder caught your attention as Irene gestured that you and Ingrid were both being subbed on at the 59th minute.

Melanie and Clàudia were already at the side of the pitch as you and Ingrid were shepherded over by Irene, Lieke hugging you as she came off for Melanie, whilst Asisat came off for Clàudia, Torre came over for Irene whilst you waited for Mapi to hurry over. 

You raised an eyebrow as Mapi and Ingrid stood there for a moment before processing the switch, Patri glancing at you as you shrugged, patting Mapi’s shoulder before running to join the defenders, Ingrid catching up in midfield after. Leila smiled as you ran over, chuckling as she had seen the hold-up on the side of the pitch, but you shrugged, unsure what was going on. Although you had an inkling.

The match against Eibar ended 3-0, you were heading back to the tunnel when Ingrid called out to you.

“Can I ask you for some advice? Maybe over dinner… it’s about…” Ingrid hesitated, spotting Mapi and Leila heading towards the two of you as your eyes widened.

“Yeah, sure, I hope I can help with that.” You emphasised the ‘that’ with your eyes lingering on Mapi, giving Ingrid an indication that you knew what was going on before you turned to head into the tunnel, smiling as you caught up with Alexia who had not played the game this time.

///

The next group stage Champions League match was a home game against Hoffenheim. Watching the game intently, you once again sat next to Ingrid, with Leila on the other side of you. Biting your lip, you glanced at the staff as Patri received a yellow card seven minutes in, Jenni had scored two minutes ago but this match left you shuffling in your seat.

By half time, the score was 3-0 to Barcelona, two goals from Alexia that left you grinning into your hand. After half time, Leila patted you on the head with a grin before she was subbed on for Rolfö. Torre getting a goal at the 74th minute had you jumping out of your seat to celebrate, sitting down quickly as the game continued on, but you grinned for your fellow defender.

Aitana and Patri being subbed off meant you were whispering to Ingrid before she was subbed on to ‘kick some ass’. You and Ingrid had been working extra drills with the help of Alexia, Patri and Aitana after practice, although you’d sometimes have a video call going on where Jill could watch as it went on. Due to being away from your phone, you hadn’t seen the way Jill’s jaw clenched as you spent time with Ingrid, or the way that she had frowned after you told her about meeting Ingrid for dinner. She had ended up googling the place, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding when she found out it was a) nowhere fancy and b) not a date, you’d told her afterwards with a smirk that you were trying to help Ingrid with her crush on Mapi.

“Are you jealous, schatje?” you teased, raising an eyebrow of challenge at Jill’s clenched jaw, seeing her roll her eyes slightly.

“That expression on your face. Every time you make it, it makes me want to kiss you.” Jill confessed, your smirk falling to a soft smile as your heart ached with longing.

“I miss your kisses.” You confessed back, looking down slightly before looking up to Jill’s grin.

“Do you now?” her tone was teasing but you could see the longing in her eyes, sighing as you glanced over your calendar.

“I have your games on my calendar, our last game before the break is December 22nd, yours is the 16th December?” you double-checked, watching as Jill nodded, but not realising that you’d set off a metaphorical lightbulb for her as she bit her lip with a smirk that left your face feeling like it was on fire.

///

The next game was against Levante, you were subbed on for Rolfö at the 56th minute, heading onto the pitch with Jenni being subbed on for Clàudia. A couple of substitutions from Levante running up to the 59th minute, Jenni sent the ball over to you, getting in an assist as that shooting practice Alexia had you doing paid off, the ball finding the back of the net before the goalie could intervene at 66th minute.

“Dank je wel!” You slipped into Dutch, not really thinking about it until Jenni laughed, patting you on the head as you quickly thanked her in English then Spanish before heading back to your position for the game to restart. Your fingers had latched onto your wrist tattoo subconsciously, even as the game restarted, you were still longing for Jill to wrap you up in her arms after scoring a goal.

Your goal made it 3-0 as it went on, Jana coming on for Torre whilst Ingrid came on for Ana-Maria by the 81st minute. Heading into stoppage time, Jenni took a penalty shot, sending the score 4-0 up for Barcelona as the game finished two minutes later.

The grin on your face grew even larger when you got to your phone in the locker room after the game, Ingrid having a knowing smile on her face as Jenni smirked and asked who, or what had you grinning so much.

“Jill saw my goal.” That was all you needed to say as Jenni began to tease you, making kissing faces and noises until you threw a sock at her face, the team erupting into laughter as it landed on Jenni’s head.

///

“It sucks that Hoffenheim is so far from Wolfsburg, but it’s the closest we’ll be to each other physically since Arsenal.” You admitted, staring up at the ceiling in your dark bedroom, on the phone to Jill until one or both of you fell asleep.

“The train is five hours, and Wolfsburg play Juventus at the stadium the day after.” Jill grumbled, being able to feel you grimace through the phone at the idea of a five hour train journey.

“Yeah, no, that wouldn’t work, sorry liefje.” You apologised, falling silent as you heard Jill’s breathing even out, somehow she had fallen asleep rather quickly.

“Ik hou van jou, mijn liefde.” you confessed quietly before hanging up the phone and falling asleep yourself.

///

Travelling to Hoffenheim for the next group stages game, your inability to sit still was annoying Jenni, who had wrapped you in a headlock more than once, both teasing you but also trying to get you to still. Your eyes met Alexia’s as she glanced over, but you weren’t sure what was going on between Jenni and her, so you closed your eyes and went limp in Jenni’s arms for a moment.

The multiple times you’d checked your phone on the coach to the airport, then at the airport, before leaving it alone on the plane, to stare at it again on the way to the hotel, left you vulnerable to a lot of teasing. Jenni smirked multiple times, teasing you whenever she got a glimpse of the messages you and Jill were sending each other.

“You two are just friends? These messages are not so friendly-” Jenni wiggled her eyebrows, smirking as she took your phone from your hands.

“Geef terug!” you slipped into Dutch, Lieke turning around from where she had been sat further up the coach as you grumbled at Jenni loud enough that she’d heard.

“Alsjeblieft!” You glared slightly as Jenni held the phone out of reach, not realising it was basically in Ingrid’s face until it was taken by Mapi. 

Luckily, your phone had locked itself before Mapi could access your phone, passing it to Ingrid with a bored expression as your lock screen was all she could see, and it was a group photo with the Barcelona girls. She didn’t know your home screen was a photo of Jill you’d taken back whilst you were both at Arsenal.

Jenni pouted as you put your phone away, staring out of the window instead until the coach finally got to the hotel. You felt weird with Jenni asking if you and Jill were just friends, since technically the two of you had broken up, but remained in a flirty friendly situation across countries.

Arriving at the hotel, you felt relief as you found out you were rooming with Ingrid, and not Jenni, even as Alexia pulled you back whilst you were grabbing your suitcase to see if you were okay after the coach shenanigans.

“It’s fine, she didn’t see much, just a few texts… I’m fine… I just, Jill and I are… het is ingewikkeld,” you glanced to meet Alexia’s eyes as she looked slightly confused at your use of Dutch, “it is complicated,” translating quietly, your captain nodded, heading inside with her suitcase after making one final comment.

“I bet you wish we were closer to Wolfsburg right now…”

///

When you got to the hotel room, Ingrid had already headed inside, sitting on her bed as you made your way to the empty one, leaving your suitcase the end of it as you flopped down onto the bed with a sigh.

“Mapi didn’t see anything on your phone. You are safe.” Ingrid smiled, giggling slightly as you let out a sigh, the noise muffled by the bedsheets you were face down in.

“This is the closest I’ve been to Jill since Arsenal and she’s still over 5 hours away.” Your voice broke slightly as you sat up, trying to hold back tears or any sign that you were missing Jill as more than a friend would miss their friend. But Jill was always going to be more than a friend to you.

“Jenni asked if Jill and I were more than friends but how can I say that Jill is my soulmate even when we’re countries apart? I don’t even know if that’s how Jill feels, I haven’t asked.” You admitted, pulling your knees up to your chest as Ingrid moved over to sit on your bed, bringing her phone with her.

“What are you-”

“You forget, I was with Wolfsburg last season, and I am still friends with my old teammates, who play with Jill now.” Ingrid replied, sending a message before she pulled you in for a hug, trying her best to comfort you until she got a text back that would sort it out for you.

///

Hours later after dinner, Ingrid was stuck with you tossing and turning in bed. You’d both decided to go to bed early, but it wasn’t working as you were still up with your thoughts, and Ingrid was awake because of you.

“Call her.”

“What?” you rolled over, moving your pillow to look at Ingrid in the darkness, until she clicked on her bedside lamp.

“I spoke to my old teammates. You should call her.” Ingrid affirmed before her eyes widened, throwing one of her pillows at you.

“Go outside and call her. I don’t need to hear your phone sex with Jill.” Ingrid replied, not wanting to hear your argument about how nobody said anything about phone sex, instead she watched as you wrapped yourself in your blanket, heading out of the room with your key, phone and portable charger.

Sitting down in the corridor where you wouldn’t bother anyone but remained on the floor with your teammates, you chewed your lip as you tapped the call button, waiting with your knee bumping up and down.

“Hoi liefde,” letting out a breath at the pet name, you held back tears as the two of you began to converse.

///

“How did they not see me?” Mapi whispered, peeking out from where she had hidden under the covers when Ingrid put the bedside lamp on.

“All that matters to them right now is Jill and football. So they won’t sleep until they talk to Jill.” Ingrid explained, cuddling into Mapi as she turned the bedside lamp off again.

///

“You’re my soulmate, Jill… Jenni asked me today if we were just friends and I just knew, you’re always going to be more than my friend, because you’re my soulmate… it’s okay if you don’t-”

“There is no one else for me, liefje… I want to see you before I go see my family for Kerst.” Jill admitted, hearing your intake of breath at her admittance.

“I’d love that schatje, I’d love that I lot.” 

Jill let out a breath as you replied.

///

Falling asleep on the call in the middle of the hotel corridor wasn’t exactly great for your spine, or for whoever found you asleep in the corridor of all places. Alexia had just wanted to go down to breakfast at her usual time, (also known as early) so stumbling upon you on the corridor floor was enough to scare her.

“Dios mío, are you alive?” Alexia whispered, gently shaking you as you began to whine, her attention caught by the phone that was laying on the floor, showing a video call of a sleeping Jill.

“Wake up, why are you out here? Did you and Ingrid fight?” Alexia nudged you a little more violently, raising an eyebrow as you stirred.

“Goedemorgen, wait, buenos días… good morning… shit, did I fall asleep out here? Wait, Jill… fuck, she’s so cute…” you whispered, picking up your phone to spot how Jill’s phone was still on the videocall, you had both fallen asleep and forgotten to hang up.

Tapping the hang up button as Alexia stared at you, you swallowed nervously at her expression, her game face slightly more intimidating first thing on a morning.

“I was missing Jill so Ingrid told me to call her, but Ingrid also told me to call her outside because she didn’t want to hear any phone sex- we didn’t have phone sex though, not this time- shit- anyway, I fell asleep out here… I’m going to go see if Ingrid’s up… sorry capitana,” hurrying away after you apologised, you hit your shoulder on the doorframe as you barged into your room, waking up Ingrid and Mapi who had apparently snuck into the room at some point.

“I’m not even going to ask. Alexia just found me asleep in the corridor.” You sighed, going through your stuff to get ready for the day.

///

“Wait, you snuck in while I was in the bathroom?”

You found out over breakfast that Mapi had been in Ingrid’s bed the entire night, stuck listening to you toss and turn until Ingrid told you to call Jill outside. They hadn’t meant to let you fall asleep outside, but the bed was warm and they were comfy.

///

The match against Hoffenheim had Ingrid starting alongside Aitana and Alexia, whilst Leila, Irene, Mapi and Jana were the starting line of defence. Alexia taking a penalty shot at the 41st minute took Barcelona into the lead, with Irene then Aitana adding to the score, taking it to 3-0. A minute after Aitana scored, she was running off to be subbed on, high-fiving you with a grin at your ‘goed gedaan’ before you jogged onto the pitch with Mariona close behind, subbing on for Jenni.

Irene, Mapi and Leila were all subbed off for Pere, Melanie and Torre. Torre ended up adding to the scoresheet with an assist from Clàudia, before Ana-Maria scored during the stoppage time with an assist from Rolfö. The scores on the board ended with a 5-0 win for Barcelona.

///

Texting Jill the next day as you all travelled back to Barcelona, you grinned as you were able to get an update on the Wolfsburg vs Juventus game, but that grin soon fell as you realised that Wolfsburg had lost 2-0 to Juventus.

///

Returning back to Barcelona, the first game back three days later was a game against Sevilla. A chaotic game that was 5-1 by half time, with you being subbed on for Mapi at the start of the second half, followed by Mariona on for Ana-Maria and Aitana coming on for Alexia. Another goal. 6-1. Another substitution, then another, as Rolfö, then Leila went off, with Melanie and Jana coming onto the pitch. Four more goals after the 82nd minute took the score to 10-1 by the end of the stoppage time for Barcelona.

Swearing under your breath in a mix of Dutch and English, you soon realised that another international break was here with the World Cup Qualifiers continuing.

///

Spain played against the Faroe Islands and then Scotland, winning both matches, whilst the Netherlands played against the Czech Republic and drew 2-2, Jill even getting a yellow card in that match. Chewing your lip, you debated looking up your national team and if they’d had any matches recently, but you decided against it. You hadn’t been called up and you tried not to think about it.

///

The first game back in December was against Athletic Club, ending 4-0, neither you or Ingrid being subbed on that match, but Lieke was subbed on for Ana-Maria, and Jenni had scored twice before being subbed off.

Your heart was racing as the squad travelled to play Arsenal at the Emirates stadium, you didn’t end up playing the match but your analysis of Arsenal as they played was helpful to the subs going on, so Jana, Ingrid and Leila all knew what was going on a little better. Playing against Arsenal, Barcelona won 4-0, the team hanging around a little longer allowing you to see Lotte, Viv and Katie chatting with them for a minute.

If anyone expected you to switch shirts with them, they were mistaken, you didn’t feel comfortable wearing a Arsenal shirt that wasn’t Jill’s, and seeing anyone but her ever wear your Barcelona jersey made your chest feel like it was being crushed by a boulder.

///

The El Clásico game between Barcelona and Real Madrid left you wondering if you’d get to play any time soon, but you’d noticed the staff watching you carefully during training sessions and talking to Alexia, so maybe something was happening there.

You were yet to start for a Barcelona game, something that hadn’t happened to you a lot at Arsenal either, but you weren’t letting it stop you anymore.

Starting against Real Madrid as part of the defence line wasn’t what you expected, but you went with it. The game ended at half time with Barcelona up three goals, and you had been put on your ass more times than you’d like to admit. At the 79th minute, you were subbed off for Jana, grateful as you high-fived the girl, you winced at how much your body ached as you sat on the bench. As soon as the game ended, 3-1, you headed directly for the showers, trying to ignore how bruised your body was.

///

You were playing in the second game against HB Køge, starting alongside Ingrid and Alexia, you didn’t even think about what you were doing as you went after the ball, sending the ball across before it went out of play, but your body argued with you, almost crashing into the advertising boards in the process.

“You okay?” You heard but you shook your head, leaning on the goal for balance as you waited for the medics to come over, holding your hamstring as you grumbled about how your head was spinning,  the medics finally coming over.

You’d won a corner, but at what cost, as you were subbed off for Rolfö to come on in your place.

///

A grade one hamstring strain, that had you resting it for three weeks at least.

You ended up missing the game against Rayo Vallecano, but it ended 4-0, sitting on the bench wrapped in a blanket as you watched carefully. 

The last game of the season was against Madrid CFF. Jill was already done with her games with Wolfsburg, but she knew you wouldn’t be playing after you’d called her from the medical room when you were subbed off after the game against Real Madrid.

Jill still watched the game from the stands though, her gaze shifting from the pitch to where you were sitting on the bench wrapped in a blanket that was originally her blanket. The game ended 7-0 to Barcelona, as Lieke spotted Jill, waving to her before getting the staff to allow Jill down onto the pitch.

Your teammates watched in intrigue, whispering to each other as they recognised Jill, spotting her walking towards where you were standing, chatting to Alexia and Ingrid.

“Hallo, kleine dief, ik zie dat je mijn deken hebt.” 

You froze at the voice, goosebumps running over your skin as Alexia and Ingrid exchanged knowing looks.

“You’re here.”

“I said I wanted to see you before Kerst,” Jill smirked before letting out a sigh, “but you had to strain your hamstring before I could watch you play from the stands.” 

“You can watch me play when Barcelona meet Wolfsburg in the Champions League.” You replied, stepping forwards to challenge Jill, forgetting everyone else was around as she bit her lip.

“Cute, liefde, cute, but we have some catching up to do before then.” Jill wrapped her arm around you, her free arm moving the blanket around you both before you headed off to the tunnel together. The blanket obscured how the hand on your waist was slipping under your jersey to draw patterns on your skin.

“They are more than friends.” Jenni affirmed, luckily out of earshot for what Jill said next.

“This jersey is mine when we get back to your place.” Her breath was warm against your ear as her nose brushed your cheek as she pulled away, smirking as you sped up slightly towards the locker room.

“Liefje, you’re supposed to be resting your hamstring!”

///

It was the morning of the 24th of December when Alexia decided to check on you in person, Alba tagging along with her under the excuse of it being family time, but Alexia wasn’t so sure. She was sure that you were staying in Barcelona for the break, but you hadn’t replied to her text, so she was going to your place to talk to you, and drop off some food.

Knocking on your door, she had debated leaving Alba in the car, and she honestly wished she had done so when the door opened to reveal Jill wearing one of your Barcelona jerseys.

“Oh, hi! Schatje, people are here!” 

“I found your charger! Oh… hi Alexia, Alba… het spijt me, excuse me!” You went to throw on a hoodie, or anything that would hide your neck after realising what Alba was smirking at, whilst Alexia pretended that the woodwork of the door was more interesting than you and Jill.

Jill barely hid her smirk at your captain’s reaction, choosing to allow the Putellas sisters into the place as she needed to go back to packing.

“I’m sorry I have to rush, my taxi is coming soon to head to the airport.” Jill explained, snorting slightly as you walked back in, clad in a hoodie and longer trousers compared to the shorts and tank top you’d been sporting earlier.

“You’re not staying?” Alexia asked, glaring at how Alba hadn’t said a word but kept smirking at everything.

“I am spending Kerst with my family, although I’d love to be with my liefde too.” Jill explained, kissing your forehead as you walked closer to the three of them.

“Plus, it’s a little awkward to explain, het is ingewikkeld.” You replied, reminding Alexia of what you had said before the Hoffenheim game as she nodded.

“In case you get hungry tomorrow.” Alba smiled knowingly, nudging Alexia in the side to pass you the food that they’d brought.

“Thank you… uh, I think that’s your taxi, Jill!” you pointed out as you heard a honk from outside.

///

Spending the rest of the winter break alone was a contrast compared to last year’s winter break at Arsenal. You’d skipped out on the New Years party in favour of watching the fireworks on tv, not expecting Jill to call you near midnight, having snuck away from the party she was at to wish you a happy new year and that she hoped the two of you would see each other in person again.

///

Barcelona’s first game back was January 12th, a game against Sporting Huelva, which ended 5-0. A week later, it was the semi-final of the Supercopa de España Femenina. You’d been working on strengthening your hamstrings since your hamstring strain last year, being cleared to play again but still not wanting to risk anything, so you sat out of the semi-final whilst working on training your body back up to fitness again. You were semi-grateful, since it was against Real Madrid, and the bruises you had from the last game against them were brutal, even Jill had agreed with that over video call.

The final of the Supercopa de España Femenina against Atlético de Madrid, you did play, being subbed on for Alexia at the 66th minute, heading onto the pitch after Leila was subbed on for Rolfö. More substitutions were made as Ingrid and Irene went off for Melanie and Mapi, before Jenni got a yellow card two minutes later. Lieke got the 6th goal of the match, assisted by Caro, as Atlético made another substitution.

It was the 90th minute where things changed for you, sending the ball into Lieke’s path, you grinned as she sent it flying into the net, gaining her second goal of the match as you ran over to hug her, chattering away in Dutch as your other teammates ran over.

You hadn’t expected Wolfsburg to lose a friendly to Eintracht Frankfurt that same day, but Jill had texted you, congratulating you on the game, and your assist. Another text had also been sent a minute later, asking how your hamstring was. You smiled, typing away as you sat in the sushi bar, Jill’s game had kicked off an hour after yours, but you were completely engrossed in your phone instead of your celebrating teammates. They wanted to party, but also wanted sushi first, especially after winning the first of what was hoped to be many trophies this season.

The Frauen-Bundesliga was resuming on the same day as the Primera División this time in late January, Wolfsburg against Potsdam, Barcelona against Real Betis. Jill was starting the game, whilst you were on the bench, texting Alexia who was sitting this game out. Baradad nudged you gently as you were both told to warm up, you were being subbed in for Mapi at the 74th minute, Ona coming on for Lieke. The match ended 4-0 to Barcelona. Checking your phone in the locker room, you almost choked on your spit when you saw Alexia had texted you the Wolfsburg score, Jill had even gotten an assist for the third goal before being subbed off at the 86th minute.

February for you was full of club games, whilst Jill’s February was different, having to withdraw from the Tournoi de France due to COVID-19 protocols and you couldn’t do anything to help her.

March for you started off with the Round of 16 for the Copa de La Reina, Barcelona continuing their winning streak through club games and the Quarter-final against Sociedad. Heading to Madrid for the next Champions League match, Barcelona came out with a win, and you came out with a lot of bruises, begin subbed off at the 65th minute for Irene. March ended with Barcelone through to the next stage of the Champions League, winning on aggregate 8-3 against Real Madrid, in addition to keeping that winning streak going.

Jill’s March ended with Wolfsburg playing against Arsenal for the next stage of the Champions League. The first leg match was a draw, but the second leg match had Jill scoring 9 minutes in, then Leah accidentally getting an own goal at 72 minutes in. Wolfsburg were through to the next match, against Barcelona next month.

You thought your next game after the second leg against Real Madrid would be against Wolfsburg, having gone from momentary dread of playing against Jill to rushing with excitement at getting to see the love of your life in the flesh again since December.

But you were wrong. The international break was coming up, Spain playing a friendly then a World Cup Qualifier, whilst the Netherlands were playing a World Cup Qualifier, then a friendly.

You didn’t expect to be called up to your national team for the upcoming friendly, you never expected it, having lost hope back when you were at Arsenal, but you were called up. Sitting in your living room alone, your first instinct was to call Jill, tears filling your eyes as the excitement turned into longing, wishing Jill was here to celebrate with you in person.

“Hoi, schatje?”

“I got called up, for the friendly, I got called up!”

“Ahh! Yes! gefeliciteerd, baby! Are you excited? I wish I could hug you right now!” Jill celebrated over the phone, the grin on her face as she turned the camera on to show you.

///

Getting to play some minutes in the friendly, you spent the run up to the 22nd of April full of energy, ready to see Jill, ready to keep playing football, and ready to be around your teammates at Barcelona again since everyone came back from international duty.

The first leg of the game against Wolfsburg was going to be played at Camp Nou, returning there since the game against Real Madrid for the Champions League nearly a month ago.

“What did you eat for breakfast? Did you have coffee? Are you on a sugar rush?”

Staring up at Alexia and her questions, your captain frowned, almost uncomfortable by the look in your eye and the amount of excited energy coming off of you.

“They’re excited, they get to see Jill today…” Ingrid smiled, answering Alexia’s question.

“And have a little rendezvous after!” Mapi teased, smirking and wiggling her eyebrows as you spluttered on air, remembering how awkward Alexia had been back in December after your last rendezvous with Jill.

“Mapi!” You whined, about to stand up to Mapi’s teasing when your phone buzzed, and you were entranced with it again.

“Message from Jill?” Ingrid assumed whilst Alexia rolled her eyes, about to take your phone from you when Mapi’s next teasing comment had her stopping, “maybe a nude?”

“It’s not. Also that teasing is too late, Jenni already used that topic when we were on the road to Hoffenheim.” You deadpanned, texting Jill back quickly as Alexia raised an eyebrow at you.

The team were almost ready to head out when Rendezvous by Little Mix began to play over the speakers, your eyes immediately finding Mapi smirking, having taken over DJ-ing the locker room as you rolled your eyes, sticking your tongue out at the defender.

“Hey. Turn that energy into beating Wolfsburg. Show Jill what you can do.” Alexia encouraged you, her hands on your shoulders as you nodded, a determined look in your eye that had begun to emerge when the line-up was discussed.

You would be starting in midfield, putting you into the path of the love of your life. This game was going to be fun.

///

Walking out onto the field, you immediately found Wolfsburg’s number 14, eyes lingering on the green jersey before the player turned around, your eyes meeting Jill’s, raising an eyebrow of challenge at her as she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, looking you up and down quickly before her teammate nudged her to focus.

You could feel the atmosphere as you glanced around the stands at the fans, the contrast of red and blue jerseys with Wolfsburg’s green energising you even more as you watched Alexia with the referees and Wolfsburg’s captain, Janssen interacting.

Wolfsburg was the one team that Barcelona had not been able to score against, but you hoped things would be different this leg match.

///

You smirked as you met Jill’s eyes, seeing the recognition in them as she realised what was going to happen in this match. You were marking each other.

It only took three minutes for Aitana to send the ball into the goal, Rolfö getting the assist as you and Jill danced around each other, stealing glances and smirks but refusing to let your focusses waiver. During these two games, each of you were loyal to your clubs, but off the pitch? There was no way you weren’t going home with Jill tonight.

Ten minutes into the game, Caro sent the ball to the back of the net, assisted by Ana-Maria.

By the 33rd minute, Torre had sent the ball in to Jenni, who added to the scoresheet with Barcelona’s third goal of the game. 

You could feel Jill’s frustration as she swore under her breath in Dutch, the two of you marking each other more intensely when either of you got the ball, taking it from each other whenever there was a moment before you sent the ball towards Alexia when you had the chance.

So distracted with dodging Jill as you sent the ball to Alexia, you didn’t realise at first you’d gotten the assist until you were wrapped up in the group celebration. 38 minutes in, and Barcelona were four goals up from Wolfsburg.

Half-time came after that, the locker room full of energy as you went over the plan for the second half, taking in the speeches as you were practically vibrating with energy. You could still feel how Jill’s hands had brushed against your body during the set pieces.

A hand on your shoulder jolted you from your reminiscing as Jenni smirked, a knowing look in her eye as she opened her mouth to tease you, but you smirked back, about to open your mouth but Alexia groaned.

“I have heard and seen enough about yours and Jill’s sex life.”

Your mouth promptly shut, feeling your face burn as Jenni began to laugh at both at your embarrassment and how awkward Alexia looked in that moment.

“You two looked ready to jump each other on the field-” Mapi began but you were already hurrying off to bother Lieke instead of endure Mapi and Jenni’s teasing any longer.

///

The second half began, with Popp being subbed off for Pajor at the 61st minute, Pajor getting a yellow card 3 minutes later.

Your teammates were chasing after Waßmuth, leaving you to sprint after Jill when you spotted the gaps, swearing under your breath as you tried to speed up, but it was pointless as Sandra shuffled to try to intercept, leaving the angle open for Jill to shoot and score.

“Holy shit…” You let out a breath, hand on your ribs as you tried to catch your breath as the VAR check occurred. The goal stands.

4-1.

Jenni, then Ana-Maria were subbed off for Asisat and Clàudia, your eyes following Jill as she was subbed off for Blomqvist before keeping your focus on the game. Your heart was racing as the game continued, Mariona coming on for Aitana before Alexia was taken down in the box, Janssen, Wolfsburg’s captain receiving a yellow card whilst Alexia took the penalty shot.

5-1.

The full-time whistle went as the music began to play, crowd cheering as it was revealed that the match had broken a record with the attendance, 91,648 inside the stadium.

Walking around to shake hands with the players and congratulate your team, you found Jill easily as she walked over, her pinkie finger brushing yours as she smiled.

“So…” you whispered, raising an eyebrow as Jill hummed in thought.

“We are travelling back to Wolfsburg tomorrow, but tonight, the team wants to explore Barcelona more… I excused myself, saying I have my own private tour guide…” Jill smirked, raising an eyebrow of challenge while your eyes widened in realisation, and excitement.

“Meet me after?” You tilted your head to the side, hopeful as Jill nodded.

“Of course… by the way, I like your jersey, but it will look better on the floor when we get back to your place.” Jill smirked, forgetting to whisper before she walked away.

“Wow…” you whispered, turning around to freeze as Alexia stood behind you, with an unreadable look on her face.

“Please tell me you didn’t hear that.” You bargained, but Alexia promptly walked away instead of answering, leaving you standing on the pitch alone.

///

There was still the second leg match against Wolfsburg in a week, with Barcelona heading to play in Wolfsburg this time, but your focus was on getting a shower and changing out of your kit before finding Jill and sneaking away from everyone.

“What’s the rush? Oh, you’re meeting Jill-” Mapi was about to tease you again, but you raised an eyebrow at her, about to sass her about her relationship with Ingrid, but your look alone quietened the defender.

“You owe me. I never ratted you out for sleeping in Ingrid’s bed with her whilst I slept in the corridor in Hoffenheim.” You whispered to Mapi, who stared at you inquisitively before realising you were making a break for it before the team wanted to party together.

“Go. Have fun!” Mapi wiggled her eyebrows, pretending to gasp as you stuck your tongue out at her and slipped out of the locker room.

Hands on your waist caught your attention as you walked down the corridor, turning to grin as Jill nuzzled into your shoulder.

“Do you want a tour of Barcelona or another tour of my place?” You asked, the two of you sneaking out to where you had parked your car, driving away before any of your teammates could enter the car park and see you and Jill disappearing together. Luckily this wasn’t a Thelma and Louise inspired movie, as you spent a little time driving past some of your favourite spots in Barcelona, a few where you had video called Jill from in the past, before arriving back at your apartment.

You had barely managed to lock the door when it all started.

///

Hours later, it was dark, your room lit up by the bedside light as you and Jill laid in your bed, tangled together. Your fingers drawing patterns on her hip as she pressed a kiss against your shoulder.

“Ik hou van jou…” you murmured, your other hand moving to run your fingers through Jill’s hair, smiling as you felt Jill’s reply muffled by your shoulder as she pressed another kiss to it.

///

8 days later, you were in Wolfsburg with the rest of your Barcelona teammates, ready for the second leg of the semi-finals.

The energy was different this time, and not just with you since seeing Jill 8 days ago. Wolfsburg were doing better stopping your team’s attempts at goal, your stomach twisting as the first half was 0-0, sitting on the bench with Patri starting and staying on the whole game, whilst Aitana was subbed off for Ingrid at the 84th minute.

But way before that, at the 47th minute, Waßmuth scored, yellow cards and substitutions occurring before your eyes widened, resisting the urge to jump out of your seat to celebrate as Jill scored at the 59th minute, because the love of your life was still playing for Wolfsburg. 4 minutes later, Jill was subbed off for Popp to enter the field.

The second leg ended after 6 minutes of stoppage time, a weird feeling washing over you. Barcelona’s winning streak all season was broken, Barcelona had lost the game against Wolfsburg, but had won on aggregate and were through to the final of the Champions League.

///

Jill found you standing outside the locker room, your fingers playing with the strap of your bag before she tangled her fingers with yours, holding your hand.

“Hoi liefde.” Jill smiled softly, bringing your hand up to her mouth to kiss your wrist, her lips lingering over your tattoo as she managed to get you to smile.

“We're going back to Barcelona tomorrow, you’re lucky, they almost had our flight a few hours after the game.” You smiled, leaning in to kiss Jill as she smiled.

“I feel lucky… Come on, before my teammates find us and don’t let us go…” Jill held your hand as the two of you walked away from the guest locker room that your team had used today, not seeing how Mapi and Ingrid had paused in the doorway, watching the two of you walk away together with smiles on their faces.

///

Your head laid on Jill’s chest as her fingers ran over your scalp, smiling as you opened your eyes to look up at her, propping yourself up to steal another kiss. Jill’s free hand went to hold your waist as you reshuffled yourself, smiling into the kiss as Jill’s other hand held the back of your neck gently.

Pulling away slightly, you gazed into Jill’s eyes as she smiled softly, mirroring the smile, you let out a soft sigh.

“I hope we get to play at the same club again one day…”

“One day, liefde, one day, we will play at the same club again…” Jill kissed your forehead as you softly laid your head back down on her chest.

[barbielore]

I was always loosely under the impression that the first Olympic tie-in doll in the Barbie range was Olympic Gymnast Barbie for the 1996 Atlanta games, but as it turns out this is not the case.

The 1970s brought us "Gold Medal Barbie", including a range of different Olympic-themed outfits. To break down further, there were also a range of Barbies showing her and her friends competing in different events.

I believe, however, that Olympic Gymnast Barbie in 1996 was the first to be tied in to a specific Games, as well as the start of the trend of having Barbies representing the US in consecutive games going forward with specific tie-ins.

I have talked about Olympic Gymnast Barbie in many other posts before, because this is specifically a doll I remembered growing up with so she is always fresh in my mind.

If I talked about all the Summer and Winter Games tie-ins this would be such a long post that it would probably make people block on sight, so I'll save the Winter Games for a follow-up post.

Sydney 2000 had a wide range of dolls as tie-ins, including Swimming Champion Barbie, Paralympic Champion Becky, Olympic Fan Barbie and Olympic Pin Collector Barbie. There are probably several others as well that I have overlooked.

Barbie took a break again from the Games through 2004, 2008 and 2012 (though there are some non-Barbie fashion dolls produced by companies other than Mattel who are identified on reseller sites as a Barbie), making a kind of return in 2016 in a different way. Although there were no dolls that specifically tied into Barbie as a competitor, the 2016 Games inspired a few tie-in collectors Barbies in the likeness of specific Olympians.

Laurie Hernandez, a solo silver medalist and a team gold medalist gymnast at the Rio Games, and Ibtihaj Muhammad, bronze medalist fencer, were among the "Sheroes" honoured this way.

The 2020 (technically 2021) Games in Tokyo brought a new wave of Barbie competing as an athlete, in a variety of sports.

Most of her outfits heavily featured Barbie pink, alongside a Tokyo 2020 jersey.

No Barbies yet have dropped for Paris 2024, but I have to assume it is only a matter of time, as a range of athlete Barbies really fits with Mattel's branding of the doll right now.

[asexualbookbird]

were there any other anime that you enjoyed?

ANOTHER BIG ASK LMAO

I was big into Haruhi Suzumiya (God Knows... almost made it onto that list of fave songs not in english lol) and Toradora for the LONGEST time! One of my high school teachers actually gave me half the manga volumes I own because he knew I loved it so much. I wore my hair like Haruhi every day for. A year? Maybe?? At least???? TRULY I WAS IN DEEP. Someone ruined them for me though lol still trying to win them back in my heart.

Naruto was like. 60% of my personality in middle school and high school. I think I've cosplayed every iteration of Itachi and some Sasuke too. Met some of my favorite people through cosplaying loser Uchihas. The music kicks ass. Kishimoto doesn't know how to write women. Fanfic authors always came to his rescue.

Yakitate! Japan. I don't have much more to say about that. Except it's VERY good and VERY fun and I never got into Food Wars because YAKITATE! JAPAN IS RIGHT THERE!!!!!!! I should probably get into Food Wars though.

Tokyo Mew Mew was FORMATIVE!!!! It's the series I read my first fanfic from! I made my own mewmew sona a while back (like. a few years ago. not in middle school LOL) it will ALWAYS hold a place in my heart.

MADOKA! Listen. I respect why people don't like the series. Girls deserve more than suffering. BUT I LOVE IT SO MUCH LMAO HOMURA MY GIRL, and the visuals UGH THE VISUALS!!!! IT'S SO PRETTY!!!!

Also pretty was Made in Abyss, but again, I fully recognize why people stay away from it. But it's SO GOOD AND SO PRETTY AND OUCHIE. Perhaps there is a theme here,

I didn't get into Love Live! when it was still airing, and never really watched the anime until I got VERY into the rhythm game a couple year ago (I'd been playing way back in 2014, but stopped when I got a new phone and lost my old account but downloaded it around 2020 as something to do) and im kind of kicking myself because now all the merch of the OG girls is GONE! GIVE ME MY MAKI MERCH!!!!! I'm still very salty about the mobile game fiasco lmao but its okay because Project Sekai will save me :)

I feel like I could go on, but then it'd just turn into "what anime have you watched?" because im very bad at watching anime so I've only ever finished shows I truly like (or if a friend has sat me down and said 'we're watching this now :3' ) Full Metal Alchemist was also Formative, but I never actually sat down and watched Brotherhood all the way through lol I've seen Death Note a half dozen times I think which is weird because I would NOT consider it a fave yet it's probably the one I've seen most other than Haruhi (endless eight DNI)

I have not watched anything recently, but I love the Dungeon Meshi manga, and I think I might watch..fri....frieren? The little elf girl. That looks cute. It will probably destroy me.

[elvenking42]

100 New Things I Checked Out in 2023

It's the end of the year and I wanna make a list of media I checked out. Movies, shows, books, songs, etc. I like getting to talk about all this stuff! If you wanna know what something made the list, just ask! I'd love to talk more about it!

Tyrellosolo New Years art

Wingspan (2019) 

INU-OH (2021)

Two Earthlings - John Brosio 

Zip Gun Bop - Royal Crown Revue

Super Mario Brothers: Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach (1986)

Forest (2017) 

Fantastic Planet (1973)

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) 

Bei Mir Bist du schon - Ella Fitzgerald

Connordraws I Sing to my Cat

Contact (1978)

Donks (2023)

Dynasty AMV

Eddie burback- The Deceptive World of Ghost Kitchens

Ice Merchants (2022)

 Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021) 

Womanizer - Britney spears

The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023) 

MilleBourne (1954) 

The Birds (1963)

RRR (2022)

 Pigdemonart - Bowuigi Comics

Everydaylouie 's 3d blender work

Guide to Heraldry - Ottfried Neubecker (1980)

Buss Down Wig - Baddie Brooks

Genius Party Anthology (2007)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)

Pretty fly (for a white guy) - The Offspring

Millennium Actress (2001)

God's Alternative Medicine - Knowing Better

On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes - Alexandra Horowitz (2013)

Blackberry (2023)

The Flintstones (DC Comic) (2016)

Maintenance Phase Podcast

The Bus - Paul Kirchner (1987)

Nimona (2023)

Black book of hours

Nintendo World Universal

Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind (1984)

Daydream - Timeshare 94

Jerma House Flipper invitational

Pokemon Sleep (2023)

Atlantic Oscillations (disco dub) - Quantic

Barbie (2023)

Don't You Want My Love - Moodymann

Good Omens S2 (2023)

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (2007) 

Even Flow - Pearl Jam

Host Club 'Ai Honten' - Tokyo, Japan (1971-2020)

TMNT Mutant Mayhem (2023)

No Diggity - Black Street

Expansions 12" Mix - Scott Grooves

Planet of the Bass - DJ Crazy Times

I Love Hue (year)

Canisalbus: body heat

Horny '98 Radio Edit) - Mousse T

We Love Katamari + Royal Reverie (2023) 

Music theory and White Supremacy - Adam Neely

Rope (1948) 

 Sanctus-ingenium: who are you loyal to, who are you lying to? 

Rhythm Nation - Janet Jackson

Joseph Melhuish - "Some Dogs"

Jacob Geller- How Can We Bear To Throw Anything Away?

Novov - Interactive Art Museum

Thefaiao - Ganondorf practicing piano commission

Russian picture book illustrations by E.Bulatov and O.Vasilev

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time (1998) 

Bacardi Raising Spirits ad

Curse of Strahd (2016)

Black Magic Woman - Santana

OFMD S2 (2023)

Dynasty AMV

The Owl and the Pussycat - Scott Gustafson

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Soylent Green (1973)

Christian Riese Lassen's digital gallery

Oye Como Va - Santana

Guardian deity, Thunder God, Wind god - Mori Yoshitoshi

Phantom of the Paradise (1974) 

 Scavengers Reign (2023)

 WRTV Sonic Forum Simulator

A Little Night Music

Monkey Gone to Heaven - Pixies

Mike's Mic - Scooby Doo 2002

Wasteland Weekend - People Make Games

Lethal Company (2023)

Closer to Fine - Indigo Girls

Don't Speak - No Doubt

George Sherwood Hunter "Jubilee Procession in a Cornish Village"

Plagiarism and You(Tube) - Hbomberguy

Rainbow War (1985) 

Ezlo-x’s Lost Family LoZ Fancomic 

Ocarina of Time manga (2012)

Suolaxier's fursuits

Doctor who: Wild Blue Yonder (2023)

How Do You Smoke a Weed? - Owlin (year)

Mario Wonder (2023)

A Tiger in the Land of Dreams - Tiger Tateishi (1984)

[freifraufischer]

Let’s talk about German gymnastics...

The above picture is Pauline Schäfer-Betz (25--who has the amazing middle name of Sieglinde), Kim Bui (33), and Elisabeth Seitz (28).  Between them they have been on 8 Olympic teams and Bui was an alternate for the 2008 team.  Every so often someone in the gymternet (even the actual Gymter.net) will wring their hands and worry about the fact that Germany is leaning on these older athletes and be concerned that there aren’t people to replace them when they retire.

This is a cultural misreading of German gymnastics philosophy.

But to explain why let’s first start with these three amazing women.   Schäfer-Betz was the 2017 World Champion on balance beam, and took a silver medal on beam at the 2021 World Championships, and bronze at the 2015 World Championships making her one of the most decorated beamers currently competing not named Simone Biles.  She also is one of my favorite floor workers of all time.   Schäfer is known for having lower difficult but winning with extremely clean execution (though she has a criminally under valued beam skill named after her that will looks impossible when you see it).  @darthmelyanna calls it witchcraft which is rather fitting when you watch her beam choreography.

Eli Seitz has made 3 straight uneven bars finals (6th in London, 4th in Rio, 5th in Tokyo), having won a world medal on the bars in 2018 and came in 9th in the Tokyo Olympic all around.  Here are her Olympic bars routines:  2012, 2016, 2020(1).

Kim Bui’s gymnastics resume isn’t quite as storied though she is a regular AA and event finalist at Europeans, Worlds, and Olympics and provides solid team scores.  Here are her events from 2021 Europeans.  To me she lovely to watch because of how much joy she brings to every performance, but the remarkable thing to know about Bui besides that she’s a high level international gymnast at 33 years old is that she has a masters degree in biomedical engineering and spends half her day in a laboratory doing cancer research.  In case you were feeling accomplished about yourself today.  Except Bui would tell you that you are doing great because she’s that kind of person.

These are not women who are “holding on”, they are still highly competitive athletes at the top of their game who are also leaders beyond their sport.  In 2021 these three women began a movement in German gymnastics to show that gymnasts didn’t have to wear leotards but had other options if they didn’t feel comfortable.  In their statements to the press they talked about not liking the kinds of pictures they found of themselves after competitions and the way people talked about their bodies rather than their sport.

Because gymnastics fans are used to seeing a name for a quad or two the fact that they see these three women consistently from Germany makes a lot of people reflexively assume that there aren’t those younger gymnasts that would replace them.  The reality is that they are a core of a team that often includes younger gymnasts (who often also medal with non-Schäfer/Seitz/Bui Germans taking medals in 2016 and 2017.  A lot of the handwringing compares the Germans to the Romanians who kept sending older great athletes to competitions while burning through young ones.  I think this is a misunderstanding of the German program which emphasizes wanting longer sustainable careers rather than immediate medals.  Seitz went to 12 straight world or Olympic games before finally taking a break for the 2021 Worlds (which was only months after the Olympics).  Bui has had ACL injuries and come back better than she was before.  

Gymnastics as a modern sport was born in Germany as both military training and philosophy for a whole and healthy life.  The modern German program has jettisoned some of the... more problematic... elements of turner philosophy and embraced a modern one which I think they see Kim Bui and her scientist/world class athlete life as the example of.  They are proud of their young talents but they want their young talents to be around for a very long time.  

And I think a good example of this is going on this week at the European Youth Olympic Festival.  A large multisport competition for juniors.  Helen Kevric, who might be the single most exciting junior gymnast competing right now who will turn senior just in time for Paris, won the all around title and lead the German team to silver ahead of much more “traditional” gymnastics powers.  She has 3 days straight of finals this week and on the first rather than throwing all the difficulty she was capable of which likely could have given Germany a gold medal she instead was allowed to throw slightly less difficulty to save her body not just for the next few days but for the next few years.  The Germans took a silver today not because they lucked into it or because they weren’t good enough, but because sanity tells them that a single European Youth Olympic Festival gold is not worth unnecessary risk to a young athlete.  Something that would be unthinkable in almost any other country.

Do not mistake people prioritizing sustainable careers for decline.  I try not to get my heart set on juniors.  So many of them never make it to the senior ranks or burn out early.  I’m still holding by breath to see Kevric in Paris because she’s a stunning gymnast.  But I am more confident that I will see her there than a junior from any other country.  And I hope that in eight years I’ll still be writing about how amazing Helen Kevric is.

[beevean]

I figure your question why Prime has to be canon in a rhetorical one, but I see it as having two intertwined sides:

The people who clamour hardest that spin-offs like Prime and IDW are canon know very well that the games are the true, unshakeable canon that everything else is based off of, and that Sonic will first and foremost remain a game franchise;

We've seen with Archie that, once it was dead, it was dead-dead. The only people with power over the Sonic franchise who care still about it are those who worked on it, like Flynn and Evan. From SoJ, the "lmao we don't care at all" could not be greater. Same with Boom, except no-one in power cares about that anymore, and it is never ever brought up in anything ever again. Sticks got nuked from Tokyo 2020 after appearing in Rio 2016, and her mention in Frontiers is English-only (aka probably at the hands of Flynn).

Thus, once Prime and IDW die, they will most likely die-die as well. Forgotten, unmentioned, with zero interest from those (ultimately SoJ, I figure) who could bring them back, and maybe with some characters appearing in a mobile game and some more toys made of it until it fizzles out and they never show up anymore. I don't get the feeling SoJ is particularly interested by either. Thus, the people who like these spin-offs surely must know that there will be a day that the spin-offs in question are dead in the water.

But if it is canon, if it is a true part of the games, then they can never be forgotten. Then they will always exist, because Sonic as an active franchise will only cease to exist once there are no more games being made!!! (Of course, the franchise will remain, but no new content will be made for it anymore.) That is why I figure it's so important for the true hardcore "but it's CANON😤😤" fans that their spin-off is canon: because if they are not canon, they'll eventually disappear with zero new content for them, while the actual canon part of the franchise will continue. I can understand why that is saddening, but in the same vein, it's also a bit of a delusion considering the many canon-breaking differences between the actual games and the spin-offs that have been extensively doven into already. Not to mention the fact SoJ just might not care for either.

I understand what you said, and from that point of view, it makes sense.

But... that's simply not how it works? Again, Sonic X is arguably the most "canon" adaptation so far: SEGA was more directly involved, and it straight up adapted some of the games of the time. And yet, it's not relevant anymore. Flynn had to confirm, as if there was any need, that he can't bring back anything from that anime, because they don't own the rights.

Canon is not a badge of honor you can earn! It doesn't elevate a work above others. It simply is a collection of "official" material that a newcomer might need to catch up on to understand a franchise. Not even all games are canon - Knuckles' Chaotix, for example.

IDW was originally pitched as being an alternative timeline of sort, splitting from Forces, and it still is since Frontiers came out more than a year ago and IDW doesn't seem to have any intention of including its events. It's not canon. Whatever your opinion on the comic is, it's its own thing. Tangle being namedropped in Frontiers, in an easily missable optional line, is about as canon as the SatAM characters appearing in the bonus stages of Spinball.

Archie might be completely dead, but it's still kept alive in the hearts of many fans. That's the most a spinoff can get. That's just how it works.

[yeona-blackpink]

Stage Name: Yeona (연아)

Birth Name: Yang Yeona (양연아)

English Name: Yelena Yang

Nicknames: Yuyu, The 'Y' Girl, Human Versace

Position: Main Vocalist, Main Dancer, Sub Rapper, Songwriter, Producer, Maknae

Birthday: June 2, 1997

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan

Height: 1.67 m (5'6'')

Weight: 44 kg (96 lbs)

Blood Type: B

MBTI Type: ISFP (Her previous results were INFJ, ESFP & INTP)

Instagram: tell.me.yyy_.

Weibo: yyy.2697

Youtube: yeona.yelana.yang OFFICIAL

Spotify: YEONA'S FAVORITES

Representative Animal: CAT

Yeona Facts :

-She has an older sister (Ahn-jeong) a video game developer

-Her favorite color is black

-She is the first GLOBAL AMBASSADOR for VERSACE

-She debuted on 3rd February 2022 with the single 'Vengeance'

-She is known as 'THE LETHAL WEAPON OF YG' due to her being an extraordinary ace

-She has awesome fashion and is considered to be A fashion icon

-She has many colabs

-Her favorite fourth gen group Is STRAY KIDS since they worked together numerous times

-She was the last member to be revealed

-According to Rosé, Yeona is the most Fluent in English

-Lisa and Yeona are the most closest

-She is a polygot since she can speak Mandarin, Japanese, Thai, English, Spanish, Korean, Latin and Bengali mixed with Hindi.

-She was really weak in studies in Middle school

-If she was not a kpop idol, she would've become a Lawyer

-She debuted in acting with the drama 'Vincenzo' (2021)

-She has 2 dogs (Boots & Rocket), 4 cats (Mili, Bella, Minni & Bibi) and a snake (Levi)

-She is an MC with Stray Kid's Lee Know and Jung-woo of NCT

-She has a Black belt in Karate and A brown in Jujutsu

-She is currently learning boxing

-She is going to star in Squid Game (season 2)

-She loves to eat

-She likes surfing, even though she almost drowned once

-She cried when she got to know TITANIC wasn't based on a real story

-She can play the Drums, Guitar, Violin, Flute and Piano

-She loves anime

-She is known as the 'CF QUEEN'

-Ranked 31st on TC Candler’s “The 100 Most Beautiful Faces of 2020”.

-Ranked 21th on TC Candler’s “The 100 Most Beautiful Faces of 2021”.

-Ranked 12th TC Candler’s “The 100 Most Beautiful Faces of 2022”.

-She is the most followed person on Instagram with followers of 104 million

-YEONA'S IDEAL TYPE : "Someone who can cook, but loves to eat too. Overall prioritize the free time we have together, has to be someone passionate and keeps up with my Princess behavior"

Show more fun facts about YEONA...

[insertdisc5]

2022, can't show much of you

Once again, some months don't have anything to show because they're spoilers. SORRY!!!! I PROMISE I DREW SOME AMAZING STUFF BUT I CAN'T SHOW IT!!!

And wow I really only drew two things that weren't in black and white. What am I gonna do when it's time for me to go back to color

Alright. What did I do this year, art wise. um

I finished the beta of In Stars and Time! Gonna be honest, I didn't think I was gonna do it. In Stars and Time has been such a Project, and for the longest time I just couldn't see the finish line. But now I do! It's getting closer!!! I couldn't be prouder of what I've made and I can't wait for everyone to experience it. Don't forget to wishlist In Stars and Time on Steam, coming to PC and Nintendo Switch in 2023 wink wink nudge nudge ✨

Which means I did a lot of illustrations and pixel art. I've gotten so much better at pixel art??? Sometimes I look at the sprites I did for the prologue and I'm like, oof??? I could do this so much better and faster now. Pixel art is fun. And also, Clip Studio Paint still rules really hard.

In other big news this year, In Stars and Time got selected for the Tokyo Game Show?!?!? What the hell?!?!? I got to go to Japan and show off my game!!! That was such a validating (AND STRESSFUL) experience \o/

I also started doing clay figures more! I am not good at it!!! I like what I did but I am not good at it!!! I should take some classes so I can learn how to make them smoother and learn how to paint 3D objects!!! I like doing it though so I will learn!!! I think it's fine to make art things that you know you could be better at!!! I think it's fine to learn things!!!!!!!

2023, let's have some fun!

✨ 2014 and 2015 and 2016 and 2017 and 2018 and 2019 and 2020 and 2021✨