#we just recently watched the gold medal with my friend

[colorful-pickle]

As you know there's two genders:

[hgfictionwriter]

Maybe This Time

Jessie Fleming x Reader

Summary: UCLA was a long time ago. Jessie couldn't bring herself to make a move back then and missed her chance. But now that you're back in her life, maybe things can be different.

Warning: None

A/N: A bit more fluff for y'all! And sorry for flooding the Jessie tags. I’ve got a bunch of fics just sitting around!

"Jessie?"

Jessie turned and couldn't believe her eyes. Y/N. Y/N L/N. The girl she'd pined over at UCLA; who her friends had relentlessly made fun of her for liking and never pursuing; the girl who still showed up in idle daydreams from time to time, even all these years later.

"I heard you were playing in town now. Oh my gosh - it's been so long. I was hoping I'd run into you at some point."

Here you were standing in front of her. Smiling at her. Instead of being the...relatively...confident person Jessie now was - she was national team captain, a gold medal athlete, for goodness sake - she wasn't a young girl anymore hiding behind textbooks and her friends, instead though, she felt her cheeks burn hot and her words got caught in her throat. She stood there staring speechless at you.

"Don't tell me you don't recognize me," you said, a hint of apprehension beginning to cast over you.

Finally, Jessie began to react. She closed her eyes briefly in hopes of resetting, shaking her head and allowing herself to smile.

"Of course I do," she finally managed, only stammering slightly. "I mean, I recognize you. Of course."

"Okay." You let out a small laugh of relief. "For a second I thought worldwide athletic stardom made you forget your favourite lab partner."

"Of course not," Jessie readily assured you. "I'd never forget you."

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. She clenched her jaw as she reprimanded herself internally for imploding so quickly and after so much time. She cut herself some slack when you smiled again at her.

"That's comforting to hear. Well, I mean, I know you're just leaving," you gestured to the door of the coffee shop, "but, um, I don't know." You laughed nervously before settling on what to say. You offered her a resolute nod. "It was nice to see you again."

Jessie's mind whirled with ideas and options. Anything coming out of her mouth now was mere instinct.

"Nice to see you too. Um, I don't know, maybe we could chat sometime? Are you in Portland too?"

"Yeah, I work at a logistics firm in town." You cracked a smirk. "Not nearly as glamorous as being a national icon, but you know, I do my part."

Jessie chuckled and ran her fingers through her hair.

"If you call 4 am wake-up calls, jet lag, and bruises to high heaven glamourous, then sure, I guess it is."

"Sounds not too unfamiliar from your UCLA days," you teased. "I still remember when you showed up to class with a black eye. And I see you've healed fine from your recent one."

Jessie blushed. So you watched her games? And you remembered moments from uni.

You'd been friends in university, but that's all it ever was. Her friends had goaded her again and again to ask you out, but Jessie could never work up the courage. She'd doubted herself too much. And then before she knew it she'd lost her chance. You dated other girls and that was the end of it. She stepped back and time ticked on.

You remained close friends throughout uni, sharing deep conversations, hopes and fears, silly moments, too. There were moments where Jessie felt hope starting to blossom in her chest - that maybe you had feelings for her, but she'd stamp it out. She’d just be setting herself up for disappointment.

After you both graduated, that was it. She'd gone off to London and you fell out of touch. It was for the best really. Well, maybe.

"Anyway," you started again, drawing Jessie back from her thoughts. "Sure, I'd love to catch up. I'd say I'll message you on Instagram, but I know your social media is a black hole. I can give you my number if you like."

Jessie gave you a tight-lipped smile as she scratched the back of her head and let her gaze fall to the bulletin of flyers instead.

"Yeah, I'm not much for social media."

"I know," you chuckled. "You never were."

Jessie cleared her throat and looked back to you. "And sure, what's your number?"

She almost missed you telling her because her mind drifted back to class when you reached over and scribbled your number on the top corner of her paper and told her to text you about the reading. Jessie’s words had died in her throat and she had to settle for merely offering you a delayed nod as you gathered up your books and left. She’d felt light on her feet, nearly dizzy even, all day. Her hands had shaken when she texted you and her palms were clammy as she awaited your response.

That was a lifetime ago. But now here you were, and number newly confirmed. Jessie tucked her phone away in her pocket.

"Okay, I'll let you go," you told her. "And truly, if you aren't up to a chat of any kind - no pressure. You probably have so many people vying for your time. I won't be offended." You said with true earnest. "In case I don't see you again, I just want to say I'm really proud of you for everything you've achieved. And I'd say I'm impressed, but A) that goes without saying, and B) I always knew you were going to do great things. I told you time and time again. Anyway, it was so good to see you. Take care."

Before Jessie could respond, you'd turned and disappeared to the other side of the shop and into the line. She forced herself to turn and leave.

The door had barely closed behind her when she opened her phone and pulled up her messages with Teagan.

"You will NEVER guess who I just ran into."

-----

"Hi Y/N. It's Jessie. UCLA."

"Lol the one and only. How are you?"

"Well forgive me for not assuming that you would know who a random 'Jessie' is lol. I'm doing well, thanks. How are you?"

"You were always very humble. It was always very endearing, so I'm glad to see you haven't lost that. I'm doing well. Working late. Some of my vendors are shitting the bed, so I'm scrambling to find alternatives."

"Seriously? That sounds brutal. I'm sorry to hear that. Well, if it makes you feel better, the team had to run extra drills today because of how bad our last game was."

"It's the start of the season - lots of new players. Chemistry takes time. You guys will find your groove soon. I'm positive. How is Portland treating you, by the way? I'd love to hear more about your time in London too at some point."

"Well, if you still want to grab coffee, I can tell you all about it. And I want to hear about you too. Did you ever make it to the Ghibli museum?"

"Oh my gosh lolol. You remember that. And yes! I did. And it was amazing. And coffee would be amazing, too :)"

Jessie belatedly realized that she was smiling as you texted back and forth. It was an odd feeling - it was strange to be talking with you again, yet entirely natural.

To her surprise, you ended up texting every day until you met up Sunday afternoon. She'd mentioned to Teagan that you two had this scheduled and soon Jessie was hit with an onslaught of messages from all her Bruins mates stepping right back into form and teasing her.

On a scale from 1-10, how red did you blush? And why was it 20.

Can I finally tell her you mumbled her name in your sleep? Several times?

Please tell me you immediately pulled out a vision board with her face all over it.

LOL the universe said, “Think you’ve suffered enough pining for this girl? Think you’re over her? Guess again!”

She still hot? Send pics.

Jessie sat in her car down the street from the coffee shop and essentially gave herself a stern, mental talking to about your get together. She was not who she was 5 years ago, and neither were you. She didn't need to be so nervous. There were no stakes at all, she could just relax, be in the moment, and reconnect with an old friend.

When she stepped into the coffee shop, her pulse picked up just so when she saw you seated at a table, but thankfully by the time she sat she'd composed herself again.

"The good news is, the rain is nothing new to me after being in London," she joked as she swept some rain off her baseball cap.

You looked up from your phone and a large smile crossed your face.

"Yeah, I hear you. And what's going on - how did we both go from sunny LA to rain central?"

Not entirely surprising, conversation flowed easily between you two. And it wasn't all reminiscing and nostalgia, it was easy to talk about current things as well. Pretty soon, you were both at the ends of your second cups of coffee and yet neither of you made a move to leave.

"So, um, you've been in Portland for a while now," the ease Jessie had felt faltered some as she broached a topic she'd been highly curious about, "did [y/gf] come with you?"

You screwed up your face and laughed.

"No," you answered easily. "We broke up like a couple of months after convocation. Let's be real - that was never going to last."

"Oh," Jessie replied, surprise showing on her face at how readily you dismissed the notion. "I had no idea. I thought you two were solid."

"Well," you drained the last bit of your drink, "I guess I wasn't entirely forthcoming then. Sure, things were okay. But, I was lying to myself if I thought that was going to be a 'forever' kind of relationship." Jessie's look of surprise lingered and you rolled your eyes, leaning in. "Jessie. She'd get distracted every time she walked by a mirror. I wish I was exaggerating, but I'm not. Come on, don't tell me you didn't notice. Her full on checking herself out anytime she caught her reflection?"

Jessie sat back and gave you a brief look of disbelief, shaking her head. "I tried not to notice."

"Smart," you retorted good naturedly. "She was nice, and we had fun, but beyond our values not exactly aligning, an equal partnership it was not."

"Well, okay, she's out of the picture. You must be with someone new, then," Jessie went on. She ignored the twinge in her chest when you shook your head 'no'. Just as quickly, she scolded herself. Why would it matter? She was getting way ahead of herself here. She supposed that old habits - and evidently dormant feelings - died hard.

"No. I mean, I dated a couple of girls since I've been here, but nothing's really stuck." You looked up from your drink to Jessie. "Now, superstar, you have to tell me your update."

Jessie mouth contracted into a tight smile and she felt her cheeks begin to burn under the scrutiny.

"That's confidential," she quipped.

You rolled your eyes dramatically and leaned forward. "That is so not fair." Jessie remained smugly silent and merely shrugged. You let out an exasperated sigh and slouched back in your chair. "Fine," you relented not wanting to push too much. "You were always tight-lipped in university, too. You could've had anyone and you - as far as I know," you said pointedly, "didn't date anyone."

"Oh come on." Jessie now rolled her eyes. "I was so shy and quiet. Even if I'd liked someone I would've never gotten up the courage to ask them out." She felt a buzzing in her head as she watched your reaction. You smiled sweetly.

"You were shy and quiet, yes. But you opened up once you were comfortable. I mean, look at us, look at you with your teammates. And you were so smart, incredibly sweet, and pretty, and you had that dry sense of humour. And, hello, captain of the football team!"

"Co-captain," Jessie interjected pointedly. You hung your head briefly with a laugh.

"I repeat - you could've had anyone."

Jessie subconsciously fidgeted with her hat and planted her feet further apart as she shifted down in her chair. "Well, didn't seem that way at the time."

"Wait - so who did you like?" You probed.

"No one," Jessie retorted, her features scrunching up as she played off the question dismissively. "I barely had time to breathe. There was no way I could date someone."

"You are so cagey sometimes," you said lightly, not being able to resist ribbing her once more. "Fine, so, what about now? Are you seeing someone?"

Jessie's composure was long gone and her face burned hot as your interrogation got her flustered. She took a subtle breath and worked to calm herself.

"No, no one's caught my eye just yet," she relayed.

You studied Jessie, discerning whether to drop the topic or not. You eventually relented as you crossed your arms and reclined in your chair.

"Well, I imagine that's not easy. There's a lot to live up to. And you're surrounded by impressive people every day, so the bar's gotta be high. Again, you can have your pick."

You grabbed your phone and looked it over quickly.

"I need to get going. I have a few errands to run still before the weekend's over," you said, a hint of regret in your voice before you offered a smile. "I had a great time though. It was so good to catch up with you."

Jessie removed her hat, running her fingers through her hair briefly before pulling the cap back down on her head.

"Yeah, I had a great time, too."

For the first time this conversation, a small lull formed and neither of you jumped to bridge it. Eventually, Jessie cleared her throat.

"Maybe we could get together again. Coffee. A drink. Whatever, really."

A mild look of surprise crossed your face, puzzling Jessie.

"Sure, I'd like that," you told her warmly as you shrugged on your jacket.

"Okay." Jessie gave you a small smile as she, too, rose from the table. "Will you be at the game next weekend?"

"I hadn't planned on it, but I could be." You smirked.

"No pressure," Jessie said as she felt that old nervousness begin to bubble up. "I could get you tickets if you ever want to go. That's all."

You smiled, looking at her in appreciation. "I'll have to take you up on that."

Jessie chuckled, but gave you a pointed look. "Honestly, you don't have to. I know you weren't a big soccer fan even in university."

"But," you started, drawing the word out and returning her pointed look, "I started going to games after becoming friends with a certain someone. I just haven't had a reason to go to a Thorns games yet."

Jessie resisted her impending blush and instead crossed her arms loosely in front of her, shifting her weight to one leg. "Okay, just let me know," Jessie said. She gave you a small nod. "And I promise these games are even better than Bruins ones."

You cocked your head, a hint of a smile on your face as you lifted a finger to your lips and narrowed your eyes in mock contemplation.

"What are they calling you these days? Midfield Maestro?"

Somehow, Jessie didn't even feel the urge to blush. Instead, she gave you a cocky smirk.

"So you really have been following my career."

She nearly grinned at how your cheeks flushed pink and you broke eye contact. You only took a moment to compose yourself and look back to Jessie with a half smirk.

"Hard not to," you simply said.

Jessie relented, feeling like she'd teased you enough. For now. She smiled and spoke earnestly.

"Offer stands - if you wants tickets, just let me know. Regardless, let's get together soon."

"Deal," you told her, your blush slowly fading.

There was a brief moment of stillness and uncertainty before you stepped forward and pulled Jessie into a hug. It only took her a moment to relax into it, her arms wrapping around you. Even though your body felt different now - so was hers - it felt natural to hold you close again.

You stayed like that for several moments, surprise and tampered excitement filling Jessie when you tightened your embrace before letting go. She noted the renewed colour on your cheeks when you stepped back.

"Text me?" You asked.

Jessie nodded. "Of course."

[channiesbedroom]

Surprise!

She's BACK! I wrote this ages ago but only just finished it - I promise I'm going to move on to something new soon (I've seriously been getting into seventeen recently so keep your eyes peeled.)

Genre: Fluff Pairing: Bangchan x reader

No warnings I think! Just fluffy fluffy fluff

You feel like you’re having a luxury spa day, reclined on an armchair with your feet in a basin of warm water, your eyes closed whilst the lady in the salon paints your fingernails. You hear Hannah whisper your name, trying to gauge if you’re asleep, so you reluctantly open your eyes and smile at her. She’s sitting in the same position as you, the next seat along. Her nails are painted a dark blue, with yellow smiley faces dotted over them; yours, in contrast, are a sheer sparkly pink, a colour she picked for you.

“Say yes, ok?” She states, suddenly.

“What?” You reply, perplexed.

“Nothing, just ignore me.” She pauses, then speaks again. “Just say yes. Don’t say anything to me now, but you’ll know when you know, ok?” You’re more confused than you were before at this point, totally lost as you try and work out what on earth she could mean.

“Yeah, ok.” You don’t bother to push it any further, leaning back and closing your eyes again.

“I wish you could stay in Seoul, Han, it’s so nice to actually have someone to talk to.” You swear you can hear her roll her eyes as she replies sarcastically.

“You talk to Chris every day!” You open your eyes again to look at her.

“And no one else” you sigh, pulling your face into the same expression you know Chris makes, like the :] emoticon. You’re happy with your boyfriend, 100%, and you love Seoul, but you miss your friends who live abroad, and you miss the community you had when you lived at home. You’d struggled to make friends since moving, and you longed for the day that your friends would visit.

“I miss you, y/n. I am thinking about moving here for a bit longer, you know.” Your eyes widen.

“Han, you know we always have a spare room for you. As long as you want.” She smiles as the salon staff member finally finishes off your nails and gives you a thumbs up before asking for her payment. You leave the shop grinning, freshly painted nails shining in the spring sun as you stroll along the streets.

Chris’s home-office door is closed and locked when you get home, which is unusual but not unheard of. You know even your presence can be a distraction, so when he desperately needs to work on something, he’ll lock the door in the hopes he’ll finally get it done. He emerges from ‘the cave’, as you like to call it, an hour later, when you and Hannah are curled up half asleep on the couch, watching a random show on Netflix.

“I don’t get how he could hang onto that bar for so long.” She sighs. You reply quietly.

“18 whole minutes. Wow. I still wish the gymnast had beat him though.” Chris wraps his arms around your shoulders from behind the sofa, making you jump.

“I bet I could do that.” He’s confident, but you don’t quite agree, frowning.

“Babe, an Olympic gold-medal winning gymnast, a national ice climber, and a military drill sergeant managed it, I don’t think ‘kpop idol’ is really the right person for the job.” He laughs, squeezing you tighter before letting you go, and joining you both on the soft cushions.

“Right, Hannah.” She tilts her head. “I love you, but it’s time for you to go so that me and my wifey can have our anniversary dinner.” Chris pats her on the head as if she was a puppy. “5 whole years!” You roll your eyes at him.

“We’re not married, Chris, you can’t call me your wife.”

“Yet.” He mutters under his breath, and Hannah laughs as she puts her jacket on, ready to make the short walk to her friend’s house, where she’s staying for the weekend. Before she leaves, she pulls you into a tight hug.

“Yes.” She whispers into your ear. “Please say yes.” The confusion continues as she walks out the door, and Chris takes you by the hands.

“Well Sunshine, you have one whole hour until I take you for our surprise dinner.” You hate surprises, but Chris has been insisting on this one for weeks.

“Can you at least pick my outfit? I don’t want to put something fancy on and then turn up to a barbecue place, yknow.” He nods in response, and motions for you to stay in the living room whilst he picks.

An hour later, you’re applying your last coat of mascara. The dress Chris picked is the same one you wore on your first anniversary – it’s a pale pink midi covered in floral embroidery with impressive puffy sleeves. You haven’t worn it for a while, it always seems too fancy for the places you go. He’s picked your favourite heels, the only pair you can actually walk in, and gold jewellery to match them. Chris opens the door slowly, peeking his head through the small gap. Spotting you by the mirror, he lets out a low whistle.

“Ok y/n we need to find more excuses for you to wear that dress.” He wraps you up tightly in his arm, head on your shoulder. He’s in a well-fitting navy-blue suit. You still have no clue where you’re going for this special dinner, as the both of you don’t tend to frequent restaurants where a suit is necessary.

“Let’s go.”

After a short drive, Chris takes you by the hand, walking into one of the most beautiful restaurants you’ve ever been in. Faux cherry blossom trees line the walls, silk petals draping from the ceiling, surrounding glimmering golden chandeliers. It’s completely empty, save for the few members of staff dotted around, and Chris leads you to the only table in the room that has been laid with cutlery. You feel a blush creeping up your cheeks.

“Chris, what is this?” He passes your coats to a waiter as you both sit down. He’s blushing too, much like he did on your first date.

“It’s a special day, sweetheart, I wanted to do something special.” He holds your hand across the table. There are no menus, and you haven’t even spoken to any staff yet, but the waiter from earlier soon appears with 2 glasses of some sort of sparkling wine, which you don’t have a chance to decline. “Ok, I can’t wait. Now’s the time.” With little warning, he pulls you back to your feet, gripping both of your hands tighter than he ever has before. Before you know it, he has one knee on the floor, and you finally realise what’s happening. You’d talked about getting married plenty of times over the last few months, but Chris had always said that it was too early, that you should both spend more time building your careers, so when Hannah had made cryptic comments earlier, this had never come to your mind.

“Oh my God I’m so stupid.” You giggle. Chris frowns at you, tilting his head. You take his face in your hands, bending down to place a kiss on his forehead. “Keep going.”

“y/n l/n, I have been completely obsessed with you since the day we met. I never want to spend another day apart from you, so now it’s time for me to beg again, just like I did the day I managed to convince you to love me back.” You’ve started tearing up by this point, thinking back to the day you met, when he accidentally poured a full iced americano down the front of your shirt. “Sunshine, will you marry me?” He looks up at you with shining, tear-filled eyes as you nod, pulling him to his feet with your hands cradling his face. You place a sweet kiss to his lips.

“Of course I will.” All of a sudden, the restaurant explodes in to rapturous applause, and you turn to find what feels like every single person you know gathered around. You lift your head closer to his so that your lips are by his ears.

“Some big changes in your life.” You whisper. “You’re finally going to be both a husband and a dad.” His eyes widen.

“What?!”

[kozumekenza]

on my mind :: eight

:: suna rintarou x f!reader :: playlist :: masterlist ::

:: taglist: open :: wc: 1.6k ::

After a drunken one-night stand with your ex, you thought you could get him out of your life for good. Unfortunately, the two of you can’t seem to keep away from each other. Why can’t you leave each other alone? And more importantly, why is he still on your mind?

tw: profanity, mentions of sex

author’s note: this is it, the final chapter. i have bonus scenes that i’m planning to write in the future, but this is it for the main story! thank you so much to everyone who has read this and supported it, i appreciate you all so much <3

Team Japan was performing the best they ever had. With Hinata and Kageyama’s freak quick attack, Sakusa’s angled spikes, MSBY’s teamwork, Aran’s powerful serves, and Suna’s intimidating blocks, Japan easily made it past the first few rounds and into the gold match game. 

You and the team were lucky; there were no substantial injuries, and even after countless games against some of the best in the world, everyone was still upbeat and energetic. Morale was high, and everyone was excited for the next game: the final gold medal match against Argentina. 

You had met Iwaizumi’s fiance, Oikawa Tooru, and immediately understood what Iwaizumi meant. There was, in fact, an “Iwa-chan, I can’t believe you! Rival against your own fiance!” All in all, you thought Oikawa was a good match for Iwaizumi’s impassive nature, and you were happy for both of them. You just hoped Iwaizumi would survive the final game.

Jerseys were put on, water bottles were filled, medical bags were prepared, and soon enough, you were standing next to the bench and watching the National Team practice for their most important match. You couldn’t keep your eyes off of Suna, who was donning the jersey you had stolen months ago. You had already expressed your love for Suna in a National Team uniform, jumping him almost immediately after they won their first game. 

Practice finished, and both teams were given a short break before the match would start. The arena had a few family members; you could see Osamu and Kita, along with Bokuto’s husband and Hinata’s sister and mom. Once again, you were thrilled that you were able to stand next to the court during the game and not in the bleachers. 

Suna approached you where you were next to the bench, and you stood up to give him a good luck kiss.

“I know you’ll do great, Rintarou. I’m so proud of you. Good luck, and make sure to beat Argentina and give Oikawa hell!”

Iwaizumi laughed next to you, earning a glare from Oikawa who was talking to him. You gave Suna a final hug and kiss, then turned away to redo a wrap on Aran’s knee. 

You missed Suna handing a tiny black box to Iwaizumi, and Iwaizumi subsequently hiding the box in one of his bags. 

---

Japan took the first set, a service ace from Kageyama ending it. Argentina took the next, thanks to a surprising setter dump from Oikawa. Sakusa’s final spike gave the third set to Japan, and Oikawa’s service ace gave the fourth to Argentina. With the tie, everyone was nervous approaching the final set. You redid a few wraps, gave encouraging words, and wordlessly threw an ice pack at Hinata, who was acting like he didn’t receive a ball with his face in the fourth set. Oikawa was happily taunting Iwaizumi, who was threatening Oikawa with a pair of tape scissors in hand. 

The whistle blew, and the players made their way back onto the court. You watched with bated breath as the set flew by, long rallies and quick movements making your head spin. You were exhausted just watching; the game had been long and hard, but this set was full of back and forth points with neither team getting a clear lead. 

Finally, Japan had a break and was in the lead at match point. You could barely breathe, and everything felt like it was in slow motion. You watched as Oikawa served, Komori received, Sakusa spiked, and Argentina’s libero sent the ball towards Oikawa, who set it towards a spiker. The spiker jumped, Suna jumping right in front of him. The ball was hit, and it felt like an eternity as you watched Suna send it back down to the other side, guaranteeing Japan’s victory as the ball hit the floor. A whistle blew, signaling the end of the match and solidifying the final score. 

You were shouting, Iwaizumi was shouting, the coach was shouting, everyone was rushing towards the court and Suna. You ran as fast as you could into his arms, laughing as you took his face between your hands and showered him with kisses as he spun you around. Both of you were crying, his teammates circling around you, hugging him (and by proxy, you) and patting him on the back. He finally set you down, grabbing something from Iwaizumi before he was pulled away by a jealous Oikawa. 

You watched in awe as Suna Rintarou got down on one knee right after scoring the winning point for Japan’s Olympic gold medal. 

“Y/n, I know we’ve been back together for only a few weeks, but in my heart, it’s been over eight years. I’ve loved you since then, and I’ll love you until the day I die. You’re the only one I can picture beside me in the future, and you’re the only one I want to spend the rest of my life with. I could go on and on for hours, but I also have a medal to get for you. Will you marry me?”

The tears streaming down your face prevented you from properly speaking, but your enthusiastic nod said it all. You threw your arms around Suna, letting him pick you up and spin you around again as everyone in the arena cheered and the cameras picked up the proposal on live television. 

“Of course, I’ll marry you, Rintarou.” Your voice was breaking, and you could see tears on Suna’s face as well. “I love you so much and I’m so proud of you. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

---

When Suna crept into your room that night, you welcomed him with open arms, grinning as he placed the gold medal over your naked chest, the cold of the metal seeping into your skin as the bed broke beneath you, again.

---

Los Angeles, August 2028

“We’re gonna be fucking late, Rintarou.”

“No we won’t, calm down.” He tossed you your team jacket, watching as you zipped it fully to cover the bruises blooming on your neck. 

You glanced down at your phone. “Fuck, Rin, it’s almost time. Get out.” You pushed him out of the empty training room, grimacing at the clock on the wall. “I’ll see you out there.”

You snatched your bag off of the floor just as your phone began to ring.

“Hey, Osamu, I’m kinda busy right now.”

“Busy banging Sunarin?”

“Shut the fuck up. Are you guys here?”

“Yeah, right behind the bench. She’s asking for you.”

“Be there in a sec.”

You hung up with a click, pushing open the door and walking down the hall to the court. The rest of the team was already there, and you glared at Atsumu as he shot you a smirk. Just like Osamu said, he was seated in the bleachers behind the bench. You dropped your bag down, walking over to him and Suna.

“Hi, baby. Are you being good for uncle ‘Samu?” You cooed at your daughter, who was currently latched onto Suna’s neck.

“Yes, momma.”

“Good girl.” You grabbed her from Suna, bouncing her on your hip as the whistle blew for practice to begin. “Tell your daddy good luck.”

“Good luck!” she giggled, hands reaching out for Suna as he leaned down to hug and kiss you both. 

“Make sure you watch me close, baby girl. Not uncle ‘Tsumu.”

Your daughter grinned at her dad, nodding her head and promising him all her attention (which was pretty minimal, for a three year old).

You handed her back up to Osamu, who bounced her on his knee as she waved at you and Suna. 

Practice came and went, and another gold medal match for Japan started. Japan had won again at Paris in 2024, and everyone was hoping for another one. You waved to Iwaizumi, who was arguing with Oikawa on the Argentinian side. The two of you stayed in contact after he moved, with him frequently telling you about the most recent stupid things Oikawa had done and you keeping him updated on your life with Suna and EJP. 

The game began, and it was close, just as the last two between Japan and Argentina had been. Before the fifth and final set, they were yet again tied, with the previous sets being close as well. The whistle blew, and the final set began. 

It was back and forth, as was usual for Japan and Argentina, but a break at the end put Japan at match point, just like the game in Tokyo. With bated breath, you watched Atsumu serve, Argentina receive and spike, and Komori receive. Atsumu set, and time slowed down as the ball flew in an arc, right into Suna’s waiting palm. The ball was slammed down, the echo carrying throughout the silent arena. The final whistle blew, and the gym went up in cheers. 

You ran towards Suna, just as you had done at the Tokyo Games, leaping into his arms and showering him with kisses. Osamu approached, handing your daughter off to Suna, as the three of you celebrated in your own little world. A third Olympic gold, an amazing daughter, an incredible husband; everything was perfect. 

The next day, you received what was quite possibly the best picture you had ever seen. You, Suna, and your daughter, tears on all of your faces, huddled close together in a tight hug, smiles bright and wide, taken by Osamu. 

You had everything you could ever ask for in your family, your friends, and even your job. Still, Suna Rintarou was always on your mind. 

taglist: @sunasexual @call-me-lulu @ntimacy @circleglasses @porcolie @keikotaro @rintarovibes @kenmaslov3r​ 

[twoflipstwotwists]

It’s a late afternoon in April, and Sunisa “Suni” Lee is where most people find themselves a year into the pandemic: Home, in a sweatshirt, talking into a webcam. The 18-year-old gymnast is poised to make history at the summer Olympics, but over Zoom, she’s just like any teenager, reflecting on everything she’s balancing behind the scenes.

While training for a wildly unpredictable Games, Lee has been caring for her recently paralyzed father, mourning the deaths of her aunt and uncle from COVID, and recovering from a broken foot that jeopardized her lifelong dream to win gold. Now Lee, whose parents emigrated from Laos, is also fighting to qualify as the first-ever Hmong American Olympic gymnast—all while her community contends with a national surge in anti-Asian violence. “People hate on us for no reason,” Lee says from her parents’ house in St. Paul, Minnesota. “It would be cool to show that we are more than what they say. I don’t know how to explain that...”

Lee’s father inches his wheelchair closer into the Zoom screen, and answers for her. “It would be the greatest accomplishment of any Hmong person in the U.S. ever,” he says. “It will go down in history.”

Before the Tokyo Olympics were postponed in March 2020, Lee’s family was preparing for the trip of a lifetime. Though she hadn’t actually made the team yet, her parents John Lee and Yeev Thoj had no doubts. They bought plane tickets to watch their daughter compete, and planned to celebrate afterward with a trip to Laos to show Lee and her siblings where they grew up. Both John and Yeev are Hmong, an ethnic group made of people primarily from Southeast Asia and areas in China who fought alongside the U.S. in the Vietnam War. After losing most of their land in the war, many Hmong fled to Thailand as refugees. By the late ‘70s and ‘80s, around 90 percent of the refugee population had resettled in the U.S., where there are now 18 Hmong clans, the largest residing in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Lee describes her community there as “really close.” More than 300 people come to her family’s annual camping trip, and she can’t go to a local Asian store without someone asking after her dad. She has become something of a local celebrity herself. At Hmong events, Lee gets stopped for photos by people who tell her how proud they are. “It’s nice knowing I have them to fall back on,” she says. “The support is amazing.”

But last May, just two months before the Olympic opening ceremony was originally scheduled to take place, Lee’s family and the rest of the Twin Cities Hmong community found themselves thrust into the national conversation over race and policing. Kellie Chauvin, the now ex-wife of Derek Chauvin, the officer who murdered George Floyd, is Hmong American. So is Tou Thao, another officer on the scene who is set to stand trial in August on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in connection to Floyd’s murder. As part of the ensuing protests, several nearby Hmong American businesses were vandalized. John says it got “scary” when several homes on their block were broken into.

“I was trying to make the Hmong community more known,” Lee says. “When that happened, I felt like it was a setback.”

Lee’s journey to the Olympics started with a lumpy mattress and a piece of plywood. Her parents were eager to preoccupy their energetic, gymnastics-obsessed seven-year-old, and a balance beam seemed like the perfect distraction. John built a four-foot-long structure from a spare mattress that, to his credit, still stands in their yard today. He also taught Lee, who’s one of six kids, how to do flips on the bed.

By then, Lee had captured the attention of Jess Graba, a coach at Midwest Gymnastics. “It was super raw and she was just a little kid, but she had some talent,” Graba says, remembering when they met. “Her flips were kind of crazy—she had been practicing in her yard—and she clearly had some ability to go upside down without fear.”

In 2016 when she was 14, Lee was named to the U.S. junior national team, and it became clear Graba could be coaching one of the next great American gymnasts. They traveled around the world together for competitions, and by 2018, Lee had won a gold medal on uneven bars at the National Championships. Five-time Olympic medalist Nastia Liukin, Lee’s longtime hero, took notice of the high-flying athlete. “Her abilities as a gymnast, especially her bar routine, are incredible,” Liukin tells ELLE. “But it’s the unparalleled mental strength that she has shown during the most difficult time of her life that make her the person she is.”

Just two days before the 2019 National Championships, John fell from a ladder while trimming a tree. He was paralyzed from the chest down. At the time, Graba thought Lee shouldn’t compete out of concern for her safety: A distracted athlete is a danger to themselves because they are much more likely to lose focus and get injured. It would have been a devastating end to a decade of training, as nationals are like an unofficial pre-qualifier for the Olympic Games. But John remained confident in his daughter’s ability to compete under pressure. Before Lee stepped onto the mat, they FaceTimed and he advised her to clear her mind—and remember to have fun. “She can stay focused when she puts her mind to it,” he says.

As John watched the competition from his hospital bed, beaming with pride, Lee won the silver in all-around competition, nailing one of the hardest bar routines in the world. One month later, at the U.S. World Championships selection camp, she came within four-tenths of a point of beating Simone Biles in the all-around—the closest anyone has come to Biles in years—and landed one step closer to fulfilling her Olympic dream.

In March 2020, Lee was scrolling through Twitter after practice when she saw the news: The Olympics were postponed, for the first time in modern history, due to COVID. Lee wiped tears away with chalky hands as years of carefully laid plans were thrown into limbo. “To have that taken away from us without having any control is very hard,” she says. “I went through a depressed phase, and it was hard to get out of.”

For weeks Lee could do little more than sleep and cry. Her gym was closed for three months— practically an eternity in the unforgiving timeline of an elite gymnast. When it did reopen in June, Lee broke her foot, meaning three more months of downtime. “If you were 100 percent ready for the 2020 Olympics, then you’re spending the year going, ‘Let’s just not get injured. Let’s just not make any mistakes,’” Graba says.

Lee found an unexpected source of comfort in Biles, who went from being her biggest competition to one of her closest friends after they competed in 2019. “She was there for me,” Lee says. During lockdown, they Snapchatted and texted—two of the only people in the world who truly understood the gut-punch of waiting another year for the Games to begin.

Then, as the country continued to face rising COVID rates in summer 2020, Lee’s own family was devastated by the virus. Her aunt and uncle—close family members who babysat her as a kid—both died of COVID less than two weeks apart. Lee’s uncle, a Hmong shaman, had helped heal her hurt foot with hot ginger and other herbal medicines. Like so many others did during the pandemic, Lee said goodbye over Zoom.

As the nation slowly starts to heal, so has Lee. She can now spot small silver linings from the past year, like spending more time with her siblings and driving her dad to doctor’s appointments, which she calls “good for me mentally, because typically I’m never with them.” It has taken months and months to get back to the peak shape she was in pre-pandemic, but now it’s full steam ahead. The U.S. Championships are the first week of June, and the Olympic trials are later that month. Lee says the extra year has strengthened her performance on the uneven bars and made her more consistent overall. “I just didn’t want to see myself fall back,” she says. “I don’t want to disappoint my coaches or my parents.”

Still, a spot on the team isn’t guaranteed. For the first time in history, U.S. women’s gymnastics has only four open spots (down from five at the 2016 Games), one of which will almost definitely go to Biles. At this point, it might be harder for a U.S. gymnast to make the Olympic team than it is to actually win a medal once they’re there.

Unsurprisingly, none of this seems to phase Lee. She is no stranger to finding the best version of herself under intense circumstances—the version that wins medals, defies gravity, and advocates for her community. Before falling asleep at night, she visualizes herself sticking a perfect landing and coming home as the first Hmong American Olympic gymnastics champion. History made.

[gemmaswriting]

Anidala Fanfiction Recommendations!!

I’ve been asked for a long time for my fanfiction recommendations, so I’ve finally taken the time to compile them. If there are any you love that I missed out (this includes Vaderdala!) leave them as a reply so we can all have a good time reading together. 

Writer: Shelivesfree (fanfiction profile) This wonderful girl has some of the most amazing Anidala stories I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Unfortunately, a lot of them have been hiatus for a while but her Boy Next Door trilogy has two amazing parts completed. 

The stories I recommend: 

“The Boy Next Door”: “When Padme Naberrie returns to her home after 10 years, the last thing she expects to find is her childhood friend, Anakin Skywalker; the boy next door. But 10 years is a long time, and he has changed more than she is prepared for. How will she react when little Ani is now a grown man, impulsive, handsome and completely infatuated with her? Modern AU.”

“The Girl from Harvard”: “Sequel to ‘The Boy Next Door’ Absence makes the heart grow fonder. It also makes it grow more paranoid. Padme is in her last year of Harvard. Anakin has just started at the University of Chicago. Though they won't admit it, their long-distance relationship is taking it's heavy toll. Will their love prevail or will the distance prove too much for both of them? Sequel to The Boy Next Door. Modern AU.”

“look into my eyes, that's where my demons hide”:  ”Each time he comes back to her, a little piece of him is missing... left out there, in the field, with his brothers. She can see it in the way he smiles and it doesn't reach his eyes. In the way he cries to himself when he thinks she's not awake. And all she can do is hold him. Modern AU.”

“I Know Your Type”  “Am I dead?" It slips out, accidentally. She turns her head towards me, a confused look on her face and tips her head. "Excuse me?" Flashing her an impish grin, I lean casually against the wall. "I must have died and gone to heaven, because you look like an angel." The look she gives me is far from impressed. "Do you use that with all the girls, or am I just lucky?"

“we both know what we want, so why don't we fall in love?” “Rhythmic Gymnast Padme Naberrie has dreamed of being an Olympian since she was five years old. Now, after years and years of training and preparations, she's finally made it to Rio, and nothing is going to stand in the way between her and a gold medal. Except a certain Canadian beach volleyball player, perhaps.”

“Infinite” “ My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.”

“for a moment” “And, just for a moment, all the worries and concerns that troubled the young couple cease to exist. Fade away to just this. Husband and wife. Asleep. Dreaming of the sweet little life they will soon bring into the world and into their hearts. Set somewhere in ROTS.”

“Procrastination” “Padmé is busy with a new bill she must bring before the next Senate meeting. Her husband has other ideas, it would seem.”

“There’s a million reasons I should give you up”  “Padmé struggles to deal with Anakin's frequent departures for weeks, even months, at a time during the Clone Wars. It's in these moments she contemplates the practicality of their marriage. Grief-stricken with loneliness, she stumbles across something she wrote a long time ago... a list of sorts. The find brings about a whole host of emotions she'd rather not deal with.”

“all I need is you” “It was her fault. His pain, his jealousy, his insecurity. It was all her fault. Padme looked up at the beautiful man in front of her, her husband, her Ani, and decided she needed to make him remember. Remind him of how much she loved him. Because no one, no man in the entire galaxy, could take the place of Anakin Skywalker.” 

“Her” “A glimpse into the Cosmic Force after Darth Vader's redemption and return to the Light Side. Anakin Skywalker is consumed by guilt and Obi-wan and Yoda are there to appease him. But it's been twenty-four years and all he wants is to see her.” 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Writer: SphinxScribe (Fanfiction profile/ Tumblr account @sphinxscribe ) This fantastic writer has many, many alternate takes on the plot of Revenge of the Sith - often allowing our favourite couple to have a happy ending. Their writing captures the world of Star Wars perfectly. 

The stories I recommend: 

“Where Catalysts Stand Down” “Palpatine issues Order 66, and Anakin and Padmé flee Coruscant. ROTS AU. Anakin/Padmé, Anidala.”

“Viability’s Edge” “Anakin tells Obi-Wan the truth. ROTS AU. Anakin/Padmé, Anidala.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Writer: Disco Shop Girl (Fanfiction profile) This writer’s take on Anidala is so well written within every story of theirs I have read. They truly capture their dynamic and relationship perfectly. 

The stories I recommend:

“Your helmet cracked” “He'd been restrained, forced to watch while her helmet cracked and the Mon Calamari sea water threatened to drown her before his eyes. Now they're free. And alone. Set at the end of the Clone Wars season 4 Water War arc.” 

“Order 66-S” “The order was to exterminate all Jedi: Past, Present and Future. Captain Rex has a different plan. Order 66-S: to save General Skywalker.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Writer: Rogue Darth Skywalker (Fanfiction profile/ Tumblr - @roguedarthskywalker) This wonderful person has been one of the biggest supporters of my own writing for a long time and I value them immensely! They have many delicious Anidala/Vaderdala stories for you to obsess over for hours and hours. I highly recommend following both profiles linked above.

The stories I recommend:

“Pin up Problems” “He hated the nose art. He hated seeing others degrade her other exceptional qualities by depicting her as some pin up girl. He hated thinking about how many other beings across the stars fantasized about her in such a way. At the same time, he can't deny that the art makes her look… hot. He can't deny that the sight turns him on.”

“Letting Go” “It was their custom. Every year on that fateful day, Anakin would make his way to the cemetery with his children and seek out the mausoleum where she rested."

“Far from Perfect” “Darth Vader is dead. Anakin is redeemed and lives on Naboo with Padme and their children. But not all happy endings are perfect.”

“Far from Easy” “Sequel to Far From Perfect. Redeemed Anakin Skywalker tries to make things right with his wife and kids.

“Perfect” “Happy Family style AU post ROTS. Padme wakes up in the middle of the night and ponders the most recent events in her life.”

“A Dangerous Fantasy” “Pure Smut. Padme helps Anakin fulfil a fantasy he has had since they were married- one that involves the Jedi Council Chambers.”

“Untitled” “Anakin and Padme deal with having to tell their young twins they are having another baby.”

“Strictly Professional” “There are times she hates that she has to resort to this- that rather than being in a long term relationship with someone, she chose to instead pay someone for sex. Modern AU.”  

“Out of his Depth” “I fought in a war. I commanded legions of soldiers against battle droids. I think I can handle my own four-year-old twins."

“Love and Jealousy” “Anakin gave the binders an experimental tug, testing his chances of escaping. There was none. A light chuckle left his lips after a few moments, letting his head fall back to rest on the chair. What a compromising position for a Jedi Knight to be in. Handcuffed in a respected senator's bedchambers practically naked… oh, how the holonews would rave should the story get out!” 

“Against all Odds” “He shouldn't be here. The election was only a few weeks away and the final debate was due in the next few days. There were so many other things he should be doing. He shouldn't be here, in enemy territory wrapped in the arms of the woman his boss despised. Modern AU. Smut.” 

“What we Hope is Never Found” “The impending existence of a recording of them together held dangers that went a little deeper than if they were found naked and tangled together in her office or on his cruiser. The physical proof of their relationship would cause an uproar if it were discovered. But she trusted Anakin. Smut.”

“It was Found” “Sequel to What We Hope is Never Found.”

“Things that go bump in the night” “Luke and Leia think there is a ghost in their home. Their parents know better.”

“Preparations” “She couldn't wait to meet their little ones. It hadn't been too long since they learned she was having twins, and as stressful as that idea was at first, she was quickly growing accustomed to the idea of having two perfect little babies. Her husband, however, seemed to be taking it a little worse than her.” 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Writer: Skywalkersamidala (Archive of our Own profile/ Tumblr @markantonys) I absolutely adore the Anidala stories created by this author whether they’re aus or canon! They nail the couple’s dynamic throughout their many wonderful stories. 

The stories I recommend:

“Snow Place like Home” “For genre-typical convoluted reasons involving ill-timed blizzards, Padmé is forced to spend the holidays at Anakin's house. Anakin isn't as upset about his boss staying with him for Christmas as he probably should be.“

“Soulmates R Us” “Anakin works at a toy store, and single-mother-of-twins Padmé is becoming one of the store's best customers.”

“Heirs of Light and Darkness” “After escaping the Jedi purge two years ago made him the most wanted fugitive in the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker has at last been captured by the Empire. He expects to be killed, but Lady Padmé Amidala, the imperial heir, has other ideas.”

“Friendly Competition” “Playing Quidditch is awfully difficult when you’re in love with the rival Seeker. Snapshots of Anakin and Padmé’s 7 years at Hogwarts.“

“Perfect” “The war is over, Luke and Leia are five years old, and Anakin and Padmé finally have the peaceful life and big family they've always dreamed of. But their life is about to get a little less peaceful and their family a little bigger.“

“Nos Cedamus Amori“ “Anakin is a gladiator and a slave. Padmé is the wife of the Roman emperor's heir. Circumstances should never even allow them to meet, let alone fall in love.“

“I Do Take Two” “Thirty years after their clandestine wedding on Naboo, Anakin and Padmé decide to finally do the proper wedding ceremony they never got to have, with all their friends and family present.“

“Flat Tire” “Who knew something as simple as getting a flat tire could change the entire course of your life?“

“Strays” “Anakin had always had a penchant for taking in strays.”

“Five weddings and a funeral” “Padmé's feeling gloomy about her perpetual singleness, but everything changes when she meets an attractive stranger at her sister's wedding.“

“Pipe Dream” “Padmé's new plumber is the most attractive human being she's ever laid eyes on, so naturally, she keeps faking plumbing emergencies so she can keep seeing him.“

“Birthdays and Birth days” “Anakin gets a birthday surprise — two of them, in fact.“

“Spouses with Benefits” “Anakin and Padmé wake up after a wild night in Vegas and discover they accidentally got married—and that Ahsoka posted about it all over social media, so now every single person they know is texting and calling them to offer congratulations. They decide to save face by pretending the marriage was totally 100% intentional and not a drunk mistake at all, keeping up the charade for six months, and then quietly getting divorced. But a lot can change in six months…“

“Two Halves Make a Whole” “Anakin is the single dad of Luke. Padme is the single mom of Leia. Luke and Leia meet in kindergarten and become best friends. The rest is history.“

“Home” “In which "Darth Vader" is no more than Anakin's playtime alter ego (happy Skywalker family AU)“

“Someday” “At age fourteen, Padme receives a marriage proposal from the nine-year-old boy next door and tells him to ask her again when she's thirty. Surely he'll have forgotten all about it by then.“

“Across the Centuries” “They meet each other in every century, but something always goes wrong before they can make it to happily-ever-after.”

“Madam President” “Between late nights and headaches and mountains of paperwork and fierce opposition from her political opponents, President Padmé Amidala already had enough on her plate. And then she just had to go and fall for one of her bodyguards, a relationship which would ruin her reputation and his career if anyone were to find out about it. Also, someone's trying to kill her.“

“Scars” “How do Anakin and Padmé go from "I love you" to "I do"? Missing scene from Attack of the Clones.”

“The Bet” “Anakin's had a crush on Padmé since fourth grade, and after putting up with his pining for seven years, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka are finally stepping in and making a bet that he can't ask her to junior prom in the spring. Meanwhile, Padmé is realizing that Anakin isn't as annoying as she'd always thought. In fact, her feelings towards him are starting to go in quite the opposite direction...”

“Three” “His and Padmé’s first wedding anniversary isn’t going nearly as well as Anakin had hoped it would. Until, suddenly, it’s so much better than he could have ever imagined.“

“The Anakin Disaster” “Padmé is mortified upon waking up beside her strictly platonic childhood best friend Anakin Skywalker the morning after a drunken one-night stand. A couple weeks later, she discovers that's the least of their problems.“

“Will You Fake Marry Me?” “Anakin's boss may or may not have accidentally given her family the impression that she's engaged to him. Anakin may or may not be pleased about the situation”

“Aggressive Negotiations” “Empress Amidala invites Lord Vader to her private rooms to persuade him to form an alliance with the Empire. Her methods are very effective.”

“Troubling Implications” “Perhaps he hated himself for it—Padmé thought he probably did—but he came that night (several times, in fact). And the night after that, and the next one, and the next, until it became a habit that neither of them seemed especially inclined to break. (Sequel to "Aggressive Negotiations")

“Imperial Obligations” “Padmé's advisors suggest that she get rid of Vader and make a politically advantageous marriage. The Empress is less than pleased. (Sequel to "Aggressive Negotiations" and "Troubling Implications")”

“Welcome Home” “Anakin Skywalker closes his eyes on the face of his son. When he opens them again, he is in Naboo, and someone is waiting for him.“

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Writer: Shawn30 (Fanfiction profile) The one, the only, the deservedly famous! I think every Anidala fan is aware of this f a n t a s t i c writer’s work. Deliciously smutty. Unbelievably well written. Unfortunately, many of their works have been left uncompleted for years but the stories are still worth reading!

 “Whisper” “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but can also whither your soul and breed doubt in your heart. AP angsty erotica.”

“The Ties that Bind” “Given a brief period of time off during the Clone Wars, Padmé and Anakin visit her family at the Lake Country estate on Naboo. A family that still doesn't know they are married, although they are about to find out. Complete.” 

“The Light and the Dark” “Chapter 1 in the Hearts and Souls series. An unexpected Separatist attack 'accidentally' reunites two star-crossed lovers, giving them a brief moment of peace at a time of war. Complete.”

“Shadows of Winter” “Chapter 2 in the Hearts and Souls series. With six days to spend together celebrating their two year anniversary, Anakin and Padme travel separately to a remote planet in the Hoth system. Romance, passion, and danger await them. Complete.” 

 “Beloved” “Chapter 3 in the "Hearts and Souls" series. When faced with the most horrific news imaginable, Padme's utter desperation forces her to turn to Obi-Wan and even Chancellor Palpatine for help. Her greatest personal challenge awaits... Complete” 

 “Paradise” “The sequel to "Beloved." Following Padme's daring rescue of her husband, the Skywalker's return to Naboo for eight days to heal, unwind, spend time with family, and deal with their connection to the Dark Side of the Force.” 

 “Salvation” “After facing his moment of truth, Anakin and Padmé must finally deal with the consequences. Obi-Wan reveals a startling discovery. Complete” 

“Scandalous” “The sequel to Salvation. On the eve of Padmé Skywalker's official ascension to the role of Vice Chair of the Republic, Anakin steals her away for a wild vacation to Cloud City. Complete.”

“Sacred” “Chapter 2. Ahsoka and Jo'Seth grow closer. Padme's trip to the Jedi Temple on Republic business turns a bit more adventurous. Anakin and Obi-Wan have a heart to heart talk about moving forward.”

“Belonging” “A private afternoon lunch to catch up with an old friend during the Clone Wars reveals a great deal to ObiWan Kenobi. AP”

“Before the Seasons Change” “With the Darth Sidious finally defeated and the Clone Wars ended, Anakin and Padme consider what comes next in their lives. Anakin/Padme”

“Amor Vincit Omnia” “AU. After a three and a half year separation Vice Chair Amidala and Jedi Master Skywalker have some unfinished business as the Clone Wars have finally ended and Palpatine is dead.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If there’s any stories I missed, let me know!

[virtchandmoir]

Scott Moir caught the coaching bug after 22-year competitive skating career

February 5, 2021

Scott Moir, new head coach and managing director of Ice Academy of Montreal's campus in southwestern Ontario. (Jordan Cowan photo)

Shortly after Scott Moir wrapped up an extraordinary Olympic figure skating career at PyeongChang 2018, he was spotted at the women’s gold medal hockey game, where he showed himself to be as ordinary a Canadian as was ever born and raised.

A TV camera caught him standing among a throng of seated Team Canada athletes, beer in hand, arms spread wide, loudly protesting an obviously horrible call by the ref against the Canadian women.

A successful set of post-Olympics skating tours followed, then Moir was suddenly and unintentionally conspicuous again, this time by his absence from the Canadian consciousness and by contrast to the omnipresence of ice dancing partner Tessa Virtue. She executed endorsement deals with Nivea, Adidas, Hello Fresh, The Brick and Air Miles, and advocated for female athletes on social media platforms. Moir applauded Virtue’s efforts and success, but had no desire to follow suit.

Three years removed from PyeongChang, Moir emerged from the shadows after Groundhog Day to make some news of his own. He is the head coach and managing director of the Ice Academy of Montreal’s expansion into Ontario. The Komoka, Ont. skating club at which he was already coaching rebranded in a partnership with I.AM’s Patrice Lauzon, Marie-France Dubreuil and Roman Haguenauer, who guided Virtue and Moir through the final two years of their starry career in Montreal.

Moir, 33, had already been coaching in fits and starts during the tours, as he would drop into rinks across Canada to help out former Skate Canada teammates who have already made the transition.

“I took some time, got out of the limelight a bit, and started going back into the rinks to just help out. Then I watched some of the kids in my area go to nationals. I kind of thought like many skaters, ‘aw, I’m not going to coach, I’ve already spent my 22 years in the rink.’ But being there and being able to support the athletes and watch them accomplish their goals, I totally caught the bug. It quickly became my passion.”

Knowing he was on the ground floor as a coach, he sought the advice of mentors including Dubreuil and Lauzon. That communication led to the partnership.

“It’s exciting but it means I’ve got a ton of work to do to make sure I’m there for these athletes. So I guess in a way the sleepless nights are back. I used to not sleep thinking I was going to let Tessa down, so I think I’m right back into the fire.”

He has always been driven by an all-in personality that contributed to five Olympic medals, three gold, as well as three world ice dancing titles with Virtue. He is equally committed to taking a solid grassroots program established in part by his mother Alma and aunt Carol — twin sisters who coached each other’s children back in the day — and enhancing it with additional coaches and the on-ice knowledge and off-ice training resources, mental and physical, he tapped into as an elite performer.

“Our goal is to be the main training centre for southwestern Ontario. It sounds cliché but we are trying to set up these kids to have successful lives, more than be successful figure skaters. I do hope it goes hand in hand.”

It most certainly turned did for Virtue and Moir. They remain close friends, and he would love to coax her onto the ice to help out, but she is immersed in an MBA at Queen’s University and in building her personal brand. She also lives in Toronto, Moir outside of London, Ont. The distance and divergence of their careers was a factor in their retirement from the show circuit.

“We had lost the passion for it because we had passion for other things in our lives,” said Moir. “This school is one, and I think people under-estimate the work she has done to be on those platforms and to represent that brand in every room she walks into. You see her in a lot of places because she really works hard to set good examples for young people in sport, to be a leader for girls and women who can realize their dreams, to be that fierce leader in the community like Tessa is. She takes that role very seriously.”

Moir never took much joy from the “marketing stuff” outside the sport, and he knows but does not care that it cost him financially.

“I gave up some money but at the same time I haven’t regretted it a day, a single minute. I believe in the morals that I do. I believe in the projects I take part in and I think that has been my north star. This coaching move is exciting and I get to help the kids and it’s really fulfillment that I’m after instead of the dollars and cents.”

While COVID restrictions delayed his 2020 wedding to fiancée Jaclyn Mascarin — who was his first skating partner at age seven and came back into his life in recent years — it’s on for July, and he wants to build a family soon afterward.

“After PyeongChang and after the tours, I was searching for different fulfilment. And then when my fiancée walked into my life, it became clear the direction I wanted to head,” said Moir. “I feel pretty comfortable.”

—Toronto Sun

[ghstandpucks]

Cutting Edge ~ Nathan MacKinnon

A.N.: Hi everyone! So I’ve decided to write a short story with Nathan MacKinnon. Y/N is a figure skater who becomes the Avs’ new skating coach. This chapter basically just sets it up. The title is an ode to my favorite figure skating movie (the only one I can actually watch without rolling my eyes). I myself was a competitive figure skater, so the terms are accurate. 

Also, shout out to @bqstqnbruin​ for allowing me to bounce this idea off of her! If you have not read her stories, I suggest you check them out! Anyways, enjoy and let me know what you all think! 

ch. 1

Prologue 

As your music came to it’s ending note, you popped out of your signature scratch spin and dug your toe pick into the ice, effectively stopping your momentum. With a backward bend and a hand reaching up toward the sky, you tried to catch your breath as you heard the crowd erupt around you. The whole rink was lifted with cheers as you held your pose five more seconds. Three, two, one, you counted to yourself as you straightened up, bringing your hand in the air to your beating heart. This had to be a dream. No way did you execute your routine as flawlessly as you felt. But as you smiled and waved to the crowd, picking up a few thrown bouquets of flowers off the ice as you skated toward your beaming coaches, it all became real.

You sat in the kiss and cry booth with your coaches Erica and Larry as you awaited your final scores. Sitting as properly and calmly as possible, you were freaking out on the inside. But you didn’t show it. You never showed it. As Erica had told you when you were 11 competing at your first junior nationals, the judges were always watching…and they were always judging. Off ice appearance was just as important as on ice performance.

           You held your breath and gripped your coach’s hands tightly as your scores appeared on the board. You were the last skater of the event, the favorite to win. Your placement would be final, and you were already second after the short program. One by one the judges scores showed, and you could not believe your eyes. They were what you needed, and the crowd erupted again as a first place was placed on the screen by your name. You jumped off the bench seat with your coaches and were immediately wrapped in hugs with happy tears streaming down your cheeks.

           Moments later, you were standing on top of the podium with a bouquet in your hands and the United States flag wrapped around your shoulders, a gold medal being placed around your neck. You were smiling so wide your cheeks were hurting. At 20 years old, you were heading toward the end of your single women’s figure skating career and there was no better way then to end it than this. For you, Y/N Y/L/N, were now an Olympic Gold Medalist.

~ ~ ~

           The following year, you skated your last performance at the World Championship, going out with the best routine you had ever skated. Your retirement year was full of gold medals as you went out gracefully on top. Single female figure skating careers were never long. By the time you reached 22 you were considered old and the announcers speculated when your last skate would be. Even at 21, you felt like a veteran senior at competitions. After winning the gold at the Olympics though, you had become America’s sweetheart. Your retirement at 21 was one that had stands filled with fans, family and friends. Everything you had worked for since you were 4, was coming to an end.

           Continuing with skating, you did shows and exhibitions like every recently retired successful skater does. You traveled with Smucker’s Stars on Ice tour, performed at Scott Hamilton’s Friends on Ice, attended galas, spoke at charity events, and even guest hosted competitions. So when the president of the United States Figure Skating association approached you to be a spokesperson and participant for a new program they were rolling out, you jumped at the opportunity to stay on the ice. Ice was comforting, being at a rink felt like home.

           For the skating season of 2020/2021, USFS was partnering with the NHL. Retired skaters who wanted to participate would be assigned to a cooperating NHL team as a new skating coach. The idea was to provide figure skaters with a way to stay on the ice if they did not want to go into coaching figure skating themselves; as well as provide NHL teams with a new skilled pair of eyes, and footwork that could benefit a team’s skating performance. Though figure skaters could be looked at as dainty and fragile, they could turn on a dime, jump on any edge, and take a fall (without pads).

           That was how presently, the Colorado Avalanche were watching a short video on who their new skating coach would be. As soon as the words “Olympic champion” came out of Coach Bednar’s mouth, the team was curious. And as soon as they saw this petite figure skater on the screen, some chuckled that you would be the one to yell at them about their skating. Most were impressed by your routines though. Clean, sharp, and precise your movements were. Not to mention a handful thought you were good looking. One player in particular could not take his eyes away from the screen though, watching you with an intensity he usually reserved for studying game films. Nathan MacKinnon could not deny that he found you attractive, and his heart gave a small flutter when you laughed during an interview in the clip.

           When the video ended and the lights were turned back on, Coach Bednar got the teams attention. “This is Y/N Y/L/N. She will be our new skating coach for the season. USFS and the NHL have struck a deal for the 20/21 season to see how it goes. If it goes well, it will continue. Not only is this girl an amazing figure skater, but when I had the pleasure to met her at the conference, she was intelligent, kind, and well spoken. She is the spokesperson for this new initiative. She was placed with us because as coaches, we chose her. With all her accolades, I do not need to tell you how many other participating teams also tried to acquire her. USFS thought her personality would work best with our staff, as well as all of you. You will treat her with the respect you have for any coach on this team. If I hear a negative word about Coach Y/L/N out of any of you, you will miss the home opener. She is to be taken seriously, and treated with respect. Do I make myself clear?” Bednar asked, and the team nodded their heads and agreed. “Good. She will be here on Monday for summer camp. Have a nice weekend,” he dismissed his team.

           Nate was gathering his things when Gabriel Landeskog clapped him on his shoulder. “This should be interesting,” he spoke with a smile. Nate chuckled and turned toward him.

           “You can say that again,” he said as Tyson Jost joined them as they walked out of the rink.

           “She’s hot,” Tyson said, matter of fact, to which his captain smacked him upside the head.

           “She’s your coach now so behave,” he huffed, though he was laughing. He had seen the way Nate watched the film, and had a feeling that the center was thinking the same thing as Tyson. The younger man rubbed the back of his head dramatically, and said his good byes to his teammates. When it was back to just the two of them, Gabe turned his attention to his alternate captain. “What are you thinking about this figure skater?” he asked in amusement. Nate tried to gather his thoughts. He hadn’t even met the girl and yet the thought of her being at practice tomorrow made his hands clam up. He tried to hid this from his friend as he busied himself finding his car keys.

           “I’m thinking that she’s more decorated than any of us. Five National championships, three World championships, and an Olympic gold medal. I feel very unaccomplished,” he spoke. Gabe chuckled and nodded.

           “I’m sure that’s exactly what your thinking. See you tomorrow Nate,” Gabe said. Leave it to Nate to remember the skater’s stats before he even met them. He was interested to see how this would play out.

[4stars-uswnt]

Our Nerd [USWNT x Reader]

requested by anon: Could you do one where the team teases the reader for breaking her glasses because she's known to be clumsy but the real reason they broke was because people were making fun of her for using glasses

warning: mention of bullying

Being a 17 year old high school junior on the US Women’s National Team meant that you were the designated baby of the team. Although you were a dominant and aggressive midfielder, off the field, you were more quiet and reserved. At national team camps, you spent a lot of your downtime holed up in your room studying and doing the school work you were missing.

Though your teammates obviously understood your academic obligations, they would often tease you about your nerdiness, especially when you went on a rant about that cool new fact you learned in your AP Biology class. It also didn’t help that you needed to wear glasses, only further adding to the stereotypical ‘nerd’ look. Despite wearing contacts majority of the time, you still wore your glasses whenever you needed to or whenever you were just feeling lazy.

—————

Having just arrived at the hotel from the airport, you walk into the team meeting.

“Hey! Look who finally showed up!” Pinoe yelled from the front of the room. The entire team turned to look at you, as you were the last one to get to camp. There were many coos from the vets, particularly your designated team moms, Alex and Kelly, and cheers from the youngsters. You hang your head, embarrassed by the overwhelming attention, and go take a seat next to Sonnett.

Once the meeting ended and roommates were announced, you head up to your room. This camp, you are rooming with Alex, which you sighed in relief, as finals were coming up, and you needed to study without distraction.

After unpacking and settling into the room, Alex pulls you into a hug, finally properly greeting you.

“Hey, bub.” She rubs your back, soothing your built up tension and stress.

You bury your face in her neck, breathing in her comforting scent, and mumble out a ‘hi.’

Pulling away, Alex brushes the hair out of your face. “You doing okay?” You furrow your eyebrows, mentally debating on whether to tell her about what’s really bothering you.

“Yeah, I’m good.” You plaster on a small smile. “I’m just a little stressed about my finals coming up.”

Alex nodded, knowing how seriously you took your classes and how important these upcoming tests were for you. She had also just recently discovered the difficulty of your schedule, as you were taking six AP classes and one honors class, in addition to the stress of college and soccer recruitment, Alex understood the pressure weighing on your shoulders.

“Just let me know if you need anything, okay? And I mean anything.” Alex hums, squeezing your cheek. You laugh at the forward’s overprotective antics.

“Of course, Al.”

—————

For what felt like the hundredth time, you stumbled over your own two feet, as you were sprinting down the field. Only three minutes prior, you had tripped over the ball, trying to pass Becky.

Julie comes up behind you, lifting you up from your armpits. Doting over you, the blonde brushes the grass off of your shirt and straightens out your hair. She places a wet kiss on your cheek, as Vlatko blows the whistle, signaling the end of practice.

“C’mon, kid. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“I’m not even that dirty.” You grumble, wiping your face.

As the team was getting ready to board the bus, Kelley wraps her arm around your shoulder, kissing the side of your head.

“Hey, bub.” Only Alex and Kelley were allowed to call you that, as it was a shortened version of your nickname the two women had come up with, ‘bubble,’ which poked fun at your age, innocence, and the fact that you were the baby of the team.

“Hey, Kel.” You lean your head into her chest.

“You feeling okay? Took a lot of falls today.” She smirks, trying not to over-tease you about your clumsiness, which she’s done in the past.

Emily, overhearing her fellow frat daddy, interjects in your conversation.

“You’d think that (Y/N) wouldn’t be as clumsy as she is, considering she’s a world-class midfielder.” The blonde defender laughs, as your cheeks flush, and you further hide yourself in Kelley’s chest. Your clumsiness had been at the end of the many of the team’s jokes, as you often fell over things, tripped on your own feet, and broken many of your belongings.

While on the bus, many of your other teammates had poked at you, playfully making fun of the many times you had fallen today in practice. Although you knew the women weren’t trying to insult you, you couldn’t help but feel hurt at their jokes, as you’d gotten enough teasing and bullying at your school back home. Not wanting to say anything at first, you laughed along with their teasing, but as they continued throughout the bus ride, you decided to drown yourself in music and stare out the window.

—————

That night, despite your many protests, the entire team packed into yours and Alex’s room for team bonding. While the other women were debating over what movie to watch, you were sitting at the desk, trying to concentrate on the set of calculus problems that sat in front of you.

“(Y/N/N)!” Tobin yells, grabbing attention. You push your glasses up the bridge of your nose, looking over at the forward. “What do you think, kiddo? Ocean’s 8, She’s the Man, or Bend it Like Beckham?” She holds up the three options, shaking the last one, her head nodding to it, signaling that that was her first choice. You smirk at Tobin’s childish actions. But before you could give your preference, Ashlyn, who is sitting the closest to you, interrupts.

“Hold up, kid.” She leans sits up, leaning closer to inspect your face. “What happened to your glasses?”

The conversation dies down in the room, as the rest of your teammates are curious as to what the goalie was asking about. Upon having all their eyes on you, you duck your head, attempting to hide your broken and crooked glasses. But unfortunately for you, Ali was on the other side of you and noticed the cracks in your glasses and the bend of your frames.

“They’re broken.” Ali reveals to the rest of the women.

“Did you sit on them or something?” Megan barks out, while Alex slaps her on the shoulder.

“Or like fall and drop them?” Emily adds on, causing the youngsters to laugh along with her.

Frustrated, annoyed, sad, and embarrassed, you grumble out a ‘no’ and turn back to your homework. Noticing your change in demeanor, Alex gets up to sit on the bed behind you, turning the chair so you’re now facing her.

“Bub, what happened to your glasses?” She takes your hands, rubbing comforting circles on your palms.

“Nothing.” You mutter. By now, Kelley had moved to kneel in front of you, along with the rest of the team crowding around you.

“Hey.” Alex lifts your chin to meet her eyes. “Remember when I said you come to me for anything?” You nod, feeling tears building up. “So tell us what’s bothering you.” She encourages.

Scanning around the room, you see your teammates, who have become like your second family, worriedly looking at you, wanting to help.

You take a deep breath, preparing yourself to reveal what’s been going on in your life for the past couple of months.

“These kids at school make fun of me for being a nerd.” You feel Alex pause in her actions, shocked at your words. You look down at your intertwined hands, wanting her to continue, before you keep going. “At first, it was just because of how I actually enjoyed going to class and doing my work, but then as I started wearing my glasses more often at school, they started to make fun of them. They call me names, and say that I’m too much of a nerd to be on the national team.” By now you had tears pooled in you eyes, as you remember your last encounter with the bullies at your school.

“Before I came to camp, I had to talk to my teachers about getting all the work I’d be missing. Some of the other kids confronted me, taunting me and saying I shouldn’t be getting an extension and that I didn’t deserve special treatment. They shoved my books out of my hands and grabbed my glasses off my face and stepped on them.” You finished.

After you finished your story, the entire USWNT was speechless, shocked that anybody could ever treat you like that. Feeling uncomfortable in the silence and with everybody still watching you, you speak up.

“Yeah, so that’s how I broke my glasses, no big deal.” You try to play it off, pulling your hands out of Alex’s and turning back to your school work. Kelley stops you, pushing your knees so that your back facing the team.

“(Y/N), that is a big deal. Those kids shouldn’t be treating you like that.” The rest of the woman nod in agreement. Alex reaches to grab your hands once again.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

You shrug. “I dunno. I didn’t wanna make a big deal out of it. And it’s not like they’re wrong.” You whisper the last part, your insecurity peeking through. The team’s hearts ache, as their youngest member confides in them.

“Kid, you’re one of the best midfielders in the world right now.” Ash soothes, many of the other women voicing their opinions as well.

“Yeah! They don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.” You hear Kelley add.

Emily laughs. “Ha! Those kids are probably just some airheads with no future, whereas you’re about to win an Olympic gold medal.” You laugh at the bluntness of your best friend. Alex pulls you into her lap, hugging you from behind, as she presses a kiss to your shoulder.

“We love you just the way you are, bub, and nothing’s gonna change that.”

“And we’re also sorry if our teasing earlier had hurt your feelings.” Tobin adds, as the team had gathered around, squishing you in a giant group hug. You snuggle into Alex’s warmth, reveling in the comfort of your teammates.

“I love you guys.”

“We love you, too.” Christen whispers.

“You’re our nerd!” Kelley beams, making you giggle.

“Yeah! No one makes fun of our nerd! Only we can do that.” Pinoe adds, causing an uproar of laughter amongst the team.

As you sit in Alex’s lap, surrounded by your favorite people in the world, wearing your broken glasses, your heart swells, and you smile contently, grateful to have these women in your life as your second family.

[soranihimawari]

Leyenda Local

Beach volleyball was an avid part of yn's life. Even after they take a hiatus from the scene for a year to see what else life has to offer aside the invitation to join the national beach team in the past, meeting one popular indoor player was enough to make them consider going back to the sport they love.

Pairing: oikawa tooru x reader (can be considered gn!reader for use of they/them pronouns might edit it to use 'xi' pronounced like "chi" greek letter)

tagging: @oikawaandkuroostan, @smolbludandelions, @ats4mu, @m0nstergeneration20xx, @prettyy-kawa

word count: 1.3K

notes: translations are done below!

Bumping the old volleyball on your forearms as a form of exercise while walking seemed like a good idea at the time. You've been doing this for a little over an hour, practicing your overhead receiving techniques along with the passes you've come to be known for. The waves crash around your usual jogging route on the beaches by the sand court. You watch with envious eyes as the young men practiced together, yelling at each other in both Spanish and Portuguese at their teammates. Their racket was enough to cause you to pause your self-practice and wander up to the court. Four tall men stood out to you, and while their accents seemed foreign to you, you realized you were in the presence of the one the national and local sports fans called "Ninja Sho" and "Grand King," thus making you swallow nervously. You too had a name which was recognized in the local league albeit a bit earlier than their arrival to your home country.

Several hours later, you were still at the beach, wandering tiredly as you sat on the stone fence facing the street behind you. The nightlife of the clubs and bars cast a ring around your frame. You seemed a bit disappointed about not joining the volleyball men from that afternoon, although one member of the party stayed behind with someone else. Their conversation in a different language you haven't heard either:

"They've been staring at us since the last set," Hinata states. The red orange haired one shuddered as a response.

"I saw them when we met up shrimpy-chan," Oikawa states.

"Perhaps they'd like to play?" Hinata says nodding his head as he heard you bumping the ball on your arms.

Yet, that was hours ago. Currently, you breathe evenly while you stretch your calves out before you were joined by the one you observed being called, "Grand King." Nervous though you were not intimated much by his presence, his mahogany orbs glance at your welts on your arms.

"Quieres jugar conmigo?"

In his hands, he extends a volleyball to you. You blink in surprise, explaining the time is late, but you instinctively do not turn down a chance to play the sport you loved. As you two walk toward one of the courts, you speak to one another trying to get a feel for the other. He arches an eyebrow at you skeptically when you mentioned you were an all-around player and have been nominated on more than one occasion to participate in competitive leagues.

"Me llamaban leyenda cuando jugaba. mi amor por el juego nunca vaciló, no hasta hace poco. Mis médicos dijeron que había agravado mi lesión de rodilla en más de una ocasión, así que, como todos los buenos jugadores, tuve que parar. hoy mi rodilla estaba mejor, así que vine aquí para practicar algunos de mis pases, pero ver cómo juegan tú y tus amigos me dio ganas de intentarlo de nuevo,” you explain this as you walk with him to the courts. Your eyes may have been focused on the stars above, but your words have captured Oikawa Tooru’s undivided attention. You don’t notice how he glances at you in a curious perplexed fashion as you continue.

“El voleibol forma parte de mi vida hasta el punto en que es tan fundamental como comer o respirar ... jaja. lo siento, parecía divagar cuando me hiciste una pregunta tan simple,” you end your answer with an exasperated sigh. The bag on your shoulder drops to the border of the sand court. Thus this game of ‘king of of the court’ began between you and the foreigner with bouncy hair.

It wasn’t until you received and returned his monster serve, after you stretched your arms and cracked your neck. The act alone caused Oikawa to become a firm believer in not questioning the things you said. You just proved truth in the subtlest of ways with a shit-eating grin on your face. Your form when it was your turn to serve was exquisite even now despite your slight wince as you land on the soft mounds of sand. You might have made a service ace, but Oikawa knows and notices, but chooses to not say anything just yet. He realizes just how sharp your instincts are to chase the ball, following its trajectory all over the small court. Your digs are on par with some of his own team players in high school, hell even some of the ones he was travelling with at the moment.

The sand is kind to you as you land and give rise to your muscle memory gaining momentum in this sort of tug of war before you received one more brutal spike. You were breathing hard, yet so was your partner because for the first time in a long while you both felt evenly matched. There were no points to be playing for today. It was just an exhibition match as he had deemed it. Your heart beat rapidly as you sat down on the sand facing him and he did the same. Another bead of sweat trickles down the side of your face before you ask if perhaps both of you should call it a night. He hums and as he stands, he hands you a cell phone from his bag. You smirk behind the blue light, silently understanding why he passed you the phone; you press the numbers and the save button right after you take selfie.

“¿Te gustaría acompañarme a casa?”

At this, the grand king smiles when you hand his phone back to him.

The church bells ring in the surrounding neighborhood and seeing how late in the evening it actually is, your new friend escorts you to where you live.

“Aqui es donde vivo,” you say in your home dialect’s accent. Of all things for Oikawa’s brain to focus on after playing against you at the beach and having fun, he focuses on how your voice sounds like a smooth symphony to him. You reach into your pocket to fish out your keys and give the nice young man from Japan (as you’d out) a soft smile.

“Gracias por acompañarme a casa.”

“No problemo,” he says. Mind you, he doesn’t let you know how in the brief hours he had known you, you’ve managed to make him develop a playground crush on the mystery person named, “YN, venti-dos anos: leyenda local (del voleibol).”

“Buenas noches Oikawa Tooru,” you said with a nod.

“Buenas noches,” he says with a chuckle.

Inside the elevator of your building, he unlocks his phone, opening the contacts book. There he scrolls until he finds your photo, biting his bottom lip whilst a chortle escapes his throat.

“Leyenda,” he reads to himself. He shakes his head as he exits the building, grinning like he just played the best game in his life (up to that point).

FLASH FORWARD:

Tokyo, JPN, 2021 Olympics: GOLD MEDAL QUALIFIER

“And with this win, Team Argentina advances to the next round. Tomorrow night, they go up against Team Japan for the gold!” the announcers were excitedly talking about the game you had stood in the crowds to watch.

Indoor volleyball matches were the same, yet different to you, but you understood the appeal. Your boyfriend’s number had been painted on the right side of your cheek throughout the entirety of the games he was a part of. A few of the Olympic spectators noticed who you were since their favorite international star had made headlines in the local news channels reportedly he was seeing someone just by the way he makes a small cross over his heart after an interview. It was a sign he made recalling the first of many promises after your injury took you out of playing for good. Nevertheless, you persisted and eventually earned a spot (and title) of sports rehab specialist back home.

As blurred photos of you at his matches increased in the last two and a half years, bystanders would know (and recall) that you two were made for each other. Passerbys and the occasional fans of both you and him took note to how you kept each other performing at your personal best. Besides, if you think about it, a high-calliber player and his equally high-calliber significant other would eventually be caught stealing congratulatory kisses and warm embraces pre and post-match. This afternoon’s match was the first time the news and sports journalist columns finally got a clear photo of the person whom the captain of the Argentine team makes a silent reference to: your hair draped loosely over your shoulders and you wear the colors of your lover’s team in your outfit. You wave first then yell with the crowds jumping with your fist in the air as the players respectfully thank the attendees for coming.

The cameras were focused on both you and Oikawa when you watch Oikawa’s eyes finally find you in the stands and with a solid triumphant point with one hand to you and the other on his chest, you couldn’t stop the sensation of pride coursing through your veins. Afterall, Oikawa Tooru said this to you after making the national Olympic team:

“Si ya no puedes jugar, ganaré para los dos mi querido.”

Translations below!

Quieres jugar conmigo: would you like to play with me?

Me llamaban leyenda cuando jugaba. mi amor por el juego nunca vaciló, no hasta hace poco. Mis médicos dijeron que había agravado mi lesión de rodilla en más de una ocasión, así que, como todos los buenos jugadores, tuve que parar. hoy mi rodilla estaba mejor, así que vine aquí para practicar algunos de mis pases, pero ver cómo juegan tú y tus amigos me dio ganas de intentarlo de nuevo. El voleibol forma parte de mi vida hasta el punto en que es tan fundamental como comer o respirar ... jaja. lo siento, parecía divagar cuando me hiciste una pregunta tan simple.

they called me Legend when i played. my love for the game never wavered, not until recently. my doctors said i had aggravated my knee injury on more than one occasion, so like all good players, i had to stop. today my knee was feeling better, so i came here to pratice some of my passes, but watching how you and your friends play made me want to try again. volleyball is part of my life to the point where it is as essential as eating or breathing... haha. sorry, i seemed to ramble when you asked me such a simple question.

Te guestaria acompanare a casa?: would you like to escort/walk me home

YN, venti-dos anos, Leyenda Local: YN, 22 years old, local legend

Aqu dondes vivo: this is where i live.

Gracias por acompanarme a casa: thank you for walking me home

Buenas noches: good night

Sí ya no puedes jugar, ganaré para los dos mi querido: if you cannot play, then I will win for both of us.

[macgyvertape]

HZD liveblog

time to see how badly watching a friend play the first 10 hours and then the internet spoiling the whole GAIA/HADES and clone thing, actually ruined me for the emotional beats of the story

VERDICT: Not really ruined, the clone thing would have been fairly easy to guess early on and HADES’ origins didn’t have a lot of emotional weight

So much of what got me emotionally invested was the environmental storytelling of the old world and the audio/text logs. Like yeah Aloy’s arc and journey was good but the game would have been lesser without them

The “old world” being set in the not so distant future and dealing heavily with themes around nihilism vs hope with climate change and extinction, I found it really compelling with the robot plague being a fictional metaphor of real issues that are easy to get doomerist about

Gameplay wise

spent a fair amount of time adjusting the graphics, and yeah 2 min into controling Aloy i get what people were talking about with controls feeling jank. This is AFTER the patches, glad i waited. Also the agony of minute+ loading screens ocassionally which is why i finished this with so many notes

the notes were great when I took a break midway through playing this game so I could look back

dodging/evading felt really janky at times I don’t ever see myself doing the game on harder difficulties especially since the game is long enough without doing sections slow with stealth or having to take time to go gather resources

My playthrough is ending at around 60 hours, I don’t see myself doing a ng+ anytime soon, but I do hope the sequel eventually gets ported to the PC

Liveblog comments below the cut:

oh shit 3 audio logs in and it seems like the writing and sound design is gonna knock it out of the park. From happy birthday, to a new years party, to suicide by gun.

since i know the flashpoint personality choices don’t effect plot, yeah i chose throw a rock back at that kids head

Wow Erend is a smooth talker.

Its hard not to be really dismissive of all of Nora’s superstitious religiouness like “we will be forgiveness for the sins that brought such misery on the tribe”, due to my own experiences with Southern US religious conservatives

Especially after these past 2 years I just feel derisive of the Nora’s religious/cultural anti intellectualism but considering its very different circumstances when the game was made, I don’t think I really have the knowledge to deeply talk about how this game touches on stereotypes of native groups

I know this is a game, so there is a cost to rendering things, but how does the worldbuilding work? The Nora I don’t think can do a hunter-gather life style because they don’t leave the Mountain area, and it seems outside trade is extremely limited (if it exists) so do they farm and we don’t see it (except for berry picking in the beginning) Like the tumblr post where its like it takes 1 full feudal village to produce a knight, but I guess all the Braves double as food hunting too???? 

I know they went through a war recently but still no wonder having most of a hunting party + a large collection of the youth killed in a short amount of time would push the Nora near collapse.

The Forgotten quest, I did point out that Brom’s issues wouldn't disappear and he walked away. (the tribe continues to have members who are vocal about treating Aloy like shit, do you think 10 years of isolation would lead to them treating Brom any better?)  I'm really sideeying that the first side quest you get is a mentally ill poc man who is killed before and  the voices are driving him to kill again. Hmmmmmm, maybe i'm reading too much into things??? Idk…..

Easily did gold medal on the first hunter trials. Watching my friend play this on PS4 he really struggled here but i guess the difference is mouse+keyboard aiming

Nil’s pretty ripped, kinda hot… 

Playing on normal is pretty easy with combat so im fast tracking my skill points so i can summon a horse. I don’t have time to just run all over the map

Lol the “ring of metal” sports arena is a forbidden place, Varl’s nice 

Difficulty scaling in this game is bad. I’m at level the 20, and at lvl 18 i did cauldron Sigma that had a challenging boss fight (the dodge mechanics), and then I did Underequipped (just by running across it) that had some challenging enemy waves. Meanwhile I haven’t reached the Carja fort and I’m passing by a bandit camp that is lvl 9

Also i upgraded my outfit carrying capacity to 35. I currently have 6, SIX total outfits. This seems like overkill

Did the find the soldiers quest, fuck snapmaws

First thing i do on the other side of the carja fort is kill a lvl 27 stormbird as lvl 21

Wow the tallneck surrounded by the birds, actually difficult, reloaded several times. Adds just keep getting aggroed, until i waited to override a sawtooth and have it fight for me

My mount stopped and stood in the talknecks path and just got crushed, lmao

Whelp 12.5 hours in i finally reach meridian

Feel kinda sorry for Olin reading his journal

So the Carja have a whole religion too, that is easily interpreted to mean whatever they want. Namman seems to be the only reasonable religious official in this game so far

Did the rustwash tallneck right at level 23, just by riding past all the enemies and jumping on it

Did the last bandit camp pretty easy, now all base game map unlocked

Finally tracking Orin down, and i get the “Unknown Caller” and I immediately recognize Lance Reddick, I’ve listened to a lot of Zavala voicelines the voice is very recognizable

Didn’t want to play Aloy as someone who will kill for revenge in cold blood, not for someone like Olin. Chose the heart option to tell him to redeem himself. 

Time to fight another Stormbird since one attacked me when i fasttraveled to hunter quest, damn igniting the blaze cannisters does OP damage but also wow that bird wrecks my shit if i get close to it while grounded

I really like the robot strategic dismemberment. Shoot off their weapons, their plates, shoot the blaze cannisters to make them go boom. I’ll never play dead space but I enjoy this

Finally went to Rost’s grave, it was actually touching

Did another Cauldron, and in between just running around the map and wow i do a lot of combat -> gather -> upgrading loop. 

Im starting to consider the hunters lodge quests with their annoyingly precise quests, padding

Im fucking sure im not gonna do all the collectables edit: in the end i wound up doing the metal flowers without going too far out of the way and I wanted to get all the vantages. Didn’t finish the rest

Was wondering about farms with the Nora, here are farms right in Meridian’s walls!

Doing the Fatal Inheritance quest at lvl 30, I remember watching my friend play and him spending like an hour on this getting wrekt. Yeah I’m overleveled and my gear is purple

Looked up where to find the power cells: I don’t need that power cell shield weave armor, but i will grab the powercells as i go along i guess but not going back for any

Meeting up with Erend for main quest and i think its funny there recorded like 5 extra voicelines for if you take ur time looting and not talking to him

This feels very Witcher 3, use ur extra senses to play CSI, highlight some tracks then follow them to a fight. Like i know more games do it but 

Got the message “i advise you against visiting sunfal…” from not!zavala. But nothing seems to happen as i ride on by

Stealth through Maker’s End and killing the big machine was super easy. The enemies dont notice corpse and sniping with Shadow Sharpshot bow is EZ

Love how Aloy just yells “mysterious stranger did u see that” and is salty about no answer

Got the voice log where Ted Faro is like “use the back door” and the coder is like “you explicitly forbid any and all backdoors” and Faro is “well figure it out”

I don’t like Ted Faro already he’s every shitty management boss who has is the buisiness man on a tech dev project but  knows nothing of tech

Oh so they made the smart AI robots able to self replicate and able to eat biomass to better sell weapons. And the pivot to weapons after solving climate issues was Faro’s idea. Fuck Ted Faro, literally every hologram makes me dislike him more

Not!Zavala is Sylens, and actually a+ writing here with how Aloy’s priority questions are different and how hes salty her first question is his name

Chose the Heart response to Sylens dialogue and what a HOOT his “i don’t care” response was. Same VA as Zavala is somewhat influencing my enjoyment of the character but also this interpersonal conflict is fun

Rescued Olin’s family with him, i like this outcome vs rescuing his family and telling the wife I killed Olin out of revenge

Ok im doing the “A Daughter’s Vengence” quest and its too easy that combat is annoying instead of fun.

 I think i will just stop doing stealth because on Hard I’m too much of a glass cannon, and i don’t have time to stealth takedown 5 machines when i need to clear a site for parts

Doing the Banuk side quest and whats with the cords/wires interwoven in their body. I’m surprised that wouldn’t result in infection/toxic shock

Lots of voice logs in the Grave-Hold actually well written great worldbuilding. You hear a lot from Ames, then you hear from his wife where she says that the letters she get are AI written and don’t refer to all the awful events as the military is obviously losing, and civilians  know “the lights will go out”

Then i realize all the audio logs from Ames in that room say “edited” and have a lot of “...” gaps, meaning stuff was scrubbed 

Love how Aloy is like yeah Sylens i know the Earth isn’t flat (also I can’t tell if the continents look different to deliberately show tectonic drift or how sealevels rose)

Oh wow that Kopesh can demolish the catwalk instakilling me

Got a plus 51% handling time to slap that on my Sniper Bow

Ok so I get it now, thx to internet spoilers. The robots WON. Dr Sobek just had the US military kidnap scientists to build a vault system (reseeding life was the part i was spoiled on), and had the Military arm all the civilians and lie to this that the war would be winnable with a “superweapon” Zero Dawn. But no, everyone died

Ran across a thunder jaw while trying to hunt foxes. It would have been a rough fight if not for the armor arrows knocking off 2 heavy weapons and destroying the tail doing crits

Where is Nil, im doing a side quest to clean out bandits from a scrap site and I just remembered I haven’t seen that dude despite his promise to fight bandits with me

Okay Heap of Trouble quest heavy weapon segment was fun, also the quest giver Petra is cool af

Level 36 and i finally FINALLY get a fox skin for carry capacity increase. Holy shit that took too much farming

I wiped out the last bandit camp and got a “farewell” quest from Nil, googling shows he was supposed to help out with 2 other bandit camps but i guess the game is bugged and those quests didnt’ trigger. Glad I can watch it on youtube

Nil seems so sad I didn’t kill him. Of course i wouldn’t, he’s a weirdo but a fun weirdo and i bet he’ll show up for the final battle as a cameo. Thats how these big AAA games with “rpg elements” go. 

Bet people online are thirsty af for him (who am i to judge)

Wish we got a hide helmet option, I like the look of a lot of the lower tier of armor but not enough to buy extra versions for cosmetics

Bow life and tripwires here

I just acquired 4 mugs on my travels, turned them in and i just got a collection of resources. Not worth it IMO

WHELP my game crashed fighting Ravagers, this is the 2nd time the game has crashed in combat

Chose the compromise option with the hunter quest, like didn’t seem the good choice to fight the large group and kill them

I really like Talanah, her helmet chinstrap though looks uncomfortable

Wow Brin is kinda accurate with the machine blood predictions, but also like suffering from severe heavy metal poisoning atleast

Avad the king seems very open with Aloy, wow

Blameless Marad seems to be what's keeping the sun king going

I have the Warbow and Tearblaster, and for fucks sake gotta go find fish bones again

Just hit lvl 40 rescuing Ersa

I kinda hoped Ersa would live but that would be too much happy ending for this game

So serene is pretty self deprecating, the way he talks about always being drunk makes me think its borderline alcoholism if not flat out. 

Kinda surprised there isn’t more substance abuse in this world, but I guess its hard to get substances to abuse

Well except for machine blood guy

Right about here is where I gave up farming for resources and just lived with small carry capacity for new weapons and bought resources from merchants

The Carja have prison, and like a reform system, wow that takes resources especially in a very fragile society. Sucks that like Carja don’t allow women to be soldiers unless they can literally maim the opposition until they shut up

Back on main quest line: I really like the “i serve my own interest” type antagonists especially when they are competent and especially when the team up to help to against another antagonistic force

Really Aloy spends so much of the game alone, its good variety to see her interact with a person who also understands machines but they don’t get along. Motivation to help others with Aloy vs motivated for himself Sylens

Wow maybe Helis wouldn’t have become a fanatic if his wife and child hadn’t died in childbirth. Stereotypical angst BUT its one of those preventable deaths if medical knowledge had been preserved  (can’t believe i wrote this before the big Ted Faro crimes against humanity reveal)

Chase segment was GOOD

I like Vanasha

GLAD THE GAME TELLS ME I’M AT A POINT OF NO RETURN

I really liked the Uthid questline, though at the end even as lvl 43 i was spamming heals

Doing the other quest, Vanasha has a six pack she’s shredded

I like finding text entries that talk about how fucked the world was even before the killer machines, talking about mosquitoes going extinct during a period of time people just call the “Die off” with whole new pandemics. Really feelz too real rn

Its definitely at the top of the list for good worldbuilding writing, shame just so much of it is hard to find over the entire open world

Fuck the Spurflint trials, too much random chance and bullshit. Its not worth my time to do them

I really like how the Zero Dawn facility is laid out. All the notes talking about just the human resource problems from snatching people around the globe and telling them how little time is left until extinction. The logs talking about the different options people had, and you can find one of those small solitary confinement rooms

The tragedy of Operation Enduring Victory, all the lies that were told and the people sacrificed just to hold off the robots for a little bit longer to try to build Zero Dawn to bring humanity back after total extinction; like its good writing the way they build up to it

Herres: “please note I am sorry and i wish you well” good shit

Sylens with the big heroic moment! Promptly undercut by him being so dismissive of the first message Aloy saw with her focus, then an apology for being needlessly cruel before.  On that note, damn Sylens really has got a lot of intel this whole time

A lot of feelings about how so many messages in the game are left by people uncertain if someone will survive to see them but hoping none the less. 

Also the children raised by AI with obvious limitations forbidden from accessing the rest of the space, the area only takes a few minutes to get through but its great environmental storytelling. So roughly 700 years later they are the present day Nora

Sylens really expressed that horror, they could look down into space they couldn’t access and raised by AI who obviously had gaps until they were sent outside since there was no more food

All the feels: Rost’s tragic backstory, Aloy hugging Teersa 

LMAO ran across sidequest “death from the skies” i think that previous point of no return wasn’t as NO RETURN as I thought but I did notice where dialogue would have differed

Listening to peoples final messages as they’re sealed in GAIA with no return, then Elisabet’s sacrifice, its genuinely moving. You meet them not to long ago in the Zero Dawn facility but the logs serve to really flesh out the characters and flesh out that time was up, especially since some of the people met before chose suicide

FUCK TED FARRO, WHAT AN ASSHOLE LIKE HOLY SHIT I HATE THIS GUY, LIKE HES THE REAL VILLAIN HERE DONT THINK IVE HATED A VIDEO GAME DUDE MORE

Without Elisabet there to “manage” him he fucked the world over a second time, classic entitled rich white dude talking about the fucking “innocence of man” after he ordered the Faro war machines that he refused to understand the risk of no shut off

I don’t think I’ve been angry at a fiction man, I had to get up and go get myself a drink to take a moment

Like the horror of seeing their preserved corpses and the holograms overlaying it for that <min it’s very good at building up suspense because you KNOW something is wrong 

Like the way he STUTTERS on talking about women there, the way that all the deaths from basic preventable things that he doesn’t even care about like CLASSIC SILICON VALLEY FUCKBOY

NOT to mention not just the MURDER OF THE ALPHAS, but like all the deaths becuase the work wasn’t fully completed aside from Hades going rampant. 

That Sylens founded the eclipse isn’t a super surprise, he obviously regrets what his ignorance served more so than just assisting them one time

Its very funny to do the Dervall quest and see Avad in his grief make a pass at Aloy then apologise for it immediately in the next quest dialogue

I do appreciate all the people showing up for Aloy (it’s cute how many of them flirt)

Chose the heart option with Helis, i kinda do pity him but not enough to not kill him

Crying at the ending where Aloy visits Elisabeth grave and there’s the pan out with the triangle shape of the flowers like all the other flowers GAIA had created

That post game Sylens scene, maybe I ignored how he literally said he would use Hades again if it gained him knowledge cause I just liked the character so much. Feels like I just got Solas’d and he’ll be the big bad of the next game 

Doing DLC Dam quest, Gildrun really made it enjoyable hes just so enthusiastic. Wish i could have found a mirror to give him. Just people finding joy in music over and over

The DLC old world narrative seems to be Blevins is peak stereotype  asshole middle manager

Really appreciate how i can safe spot snipe all these towers

Remembered those 3 hunters as what they were willing to fight for

I enjoyed the main DLC story, told Cyan to be honest with the Banuk. The sibling relationship arc was well written as were the tie ins to the larger Zero Dawn plot

OF FUCKING COURSE Sylens was snooping in and chimes in at the end

Theres that vibe where “only you get that warning” like Sylens definitely treats Aloy as better than everyone else who lives in ignorance

I upgraded to bluegleam bows, I’m not going to bother to do so for all my armor

[yikesharringrove]

hello! i know you’re on a break and you don’t have to write this but i just thought of this and i’m a little obsessed with the idea so i thought i’d share! Imagine Olympian Steve and Billy, like snowboarder Billy and ice skater Steve (who could also be non-binary or gender non conforming) ?? and they are both super dedicated and they meet at the olympics one year and just hit it off, start dating in secret beacuse they don’t want the press that comes with being a olympic couple (part 1)

(part 2) and the only people that know are close friends but then when they show up for the olympics a few years after they met something happens to one of them, my thought is Billy totally crashes and gets hurt and steve doesn’t even know until after he preformed and he’s sitting with his coach and a reporter is giving an update on billy’s condition and steve overhears it and just breaks down, and people are filming him just sobbing his eyes out... (part 3) Steve ends up getting in the top three but they can barley stand on the podium they are so freaked out nobody’s telling them anything and he can’t even pull the significant other card to go see him because then he’s outing them and it’s very awful meanwhile Billy, whose doing pretty good just like a broken arm or something, is sitting in a hospital bed watching steve preform and being very proud and hen promptly freaking out because steve is suddenly bawling... (part 4) finally steve is able to go see billy and they are literally so relived to see he’s doing ok but they are both big time emotional and the internet is already theorizing about why steve was so freaked out so they decide to come out about their relationship and steve just plans on like casually mentioning it during an interview but billy decides to be extra and proposed to steve on live tv, they end up crying a lot more but obviously say yes (sorry this was so long)

-

This request has awakened my deep seeded LOVE of Shaun White. He was one of my first famous people crushes back when he was mostly skateboarding and let me TELL YOU the most recent winter olympic games, when he made his come back, and he almost didn’t get gold, but then he DID and the announcer went “the flying tomato flew again tonight!” I LOST IT!!!1

Plus I like the winter games more than the summer ones 🤷‍♀️

The beginning is loosely based off the fact that the Olympic Village is apparently just like, one big orgy the whole time lmao

-

“Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing.”

Billy, of course, knew who Steve Harrington is. His eyes had been glued to the screen in the PT room as he watched Steve compete, sakting beautifully in the Men’s Individuals to earn silver and make it look easy, helping the U.S. team to earn overall gold.

Granted, Billy had walked away with golds in slopestyle and halfpipe, and he wanted to celebrate.

Steve turned to Billy, dark eyes flicking over him.

“No thank you.” They turned back around, finishing their drink and placing the empty cup on the bar top.

“I’m, sorry?”

“I said no thank you.”

“No thank you to what?”

“To having sex with you.”

“I never said anything about having sex?”

“You slid over here, called me pretty, and gave me hard bedroom eyes. You wanna plow me, and I’m just not in the mood.” They went to push past Billy, put he took their wrist, holding loosely.

“Look, I’m sorry. I really did just come over to talk. I respect the hell out of you. You’re incredibly talented and just came onto the scene. I mean, this is your first Olympics, right?” They glanced at him through their lashes, nodding slowly. “I took me, like two games before I even got bronze. You’re a fucking good athlete. Just wanted to say.” He let go of their wrist. They bit their lip.

“You wanna buy me a drink? Keep telling me what a good athlete I am?” Billy grinned as they slip back into their stool.

-

Billy threw himself onto the couch, head resting in Steve’s lap. He groaned loudly, tracking Steve’s face for some kind of response.

He groaned again, louder this time. Steve bit their lip, trying not to laugh as they watched the tv.

He groaned one more time.

“Oh, gosh, Billy. Didn’t even notice you down here.”

They had stayed up all night that first night they met in person, had talked for hours about how they found their respective sports, what growing up was like.

Steve came from a little town in the Midwest. A little town in the Midwest that bred hockey players like nowhere else. Steve’s father had put them in hockey when they were young enough to stand on skates, but then Steve started showing a rapidly growing interest in figure skating, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Billy was always a skateboarder at heart. He grew up in California, bumming around the Venice Beach skate park with his friends whenever they could, skipping school to grind rails. And then his dad got married, and uprooted the whole family, moving them a few states over to fucking Utah. Billy figured snowboarding was close enough to skating that he could figure it out. So he did. And he loved it.

He and Steve had moved in together three years ago, almost exactly a year into their relationship. Steve wanted to begin working with a new coach, so Billy packed up his boards, and moved his shit back to California, Billy training most days at Mammoth Mountain.

“My body hurts.” He had been training hard, they both had, as the games were fast approaching.

“I mean, do you want me to actually help, or do you want me to help?” Steve’s long fingers were trailing along Billy’s chest. Billy just groaned.

“I gotta go ice. You can help later.” He tugged Steve down to press a kiss to their lips, heading off to fill the bathtub with ice, sink down low into it.

The opening ceremony was in less than two weeks, and Billy was fucking excited. He was in peak shape, had been perfecting his backside triple 1440 nosegrab.

He stretched out his sore muscles in the ice, made a mental note to get in with his PT tomorrow.

-

It had been a grueling week.

Billy had Steve had barely seen one another in between training and PT appointments and competing.

And of course the Men’s Figure Skating Final took place a few hours after the Men’s Slopestyle Final. Billy had already secured gold in the halfpipe.

Steve was sitting in their skates, stretching out before heading out to the ice.

They cleared their mind, going over their program again and again.

They got ready to take the ice.

They flew through their program, hitting every jump, every spin beautifully, trying not to cry as they left the ice.They knew they had fucking nailed it.

They stood, waiting for their marks.

“Steve! Steve! Have you heard about Billy Hargrove’s fall!” Steve’s head whipped around, staring at the reporter. “Aren’t you two friends?”

“Stevie, don’t pay them attention.” Their coach was trying to steer them away from the gaggle of cameras.

“No, I gotta, what happened to Billy?” They were trying to push back to the reporters. “What happened to Billy?”

“He fell in the slopestyle final! Had to be taken off in a gurney!” One of the reporters shouted back. Steve crumbled, let their coach take some of their weight.

“Steve, focus on your run.” They were shaking as they were led back to the bench, had tears streaming down their face.

“But, is Billy okay?” They didn’t even listen as their score was announced, as the crowd went fucking crazy for their gold metal.

And all Steve wanted was to get to Billy, to see if he was okay.

They were dragged on shaking legs to the podium, their face went, their hands trembling.

They had to stand there, listen to the U.S. National Anthem without fucking collapsing. They didn’t even give a fuck that they were ugly crying on international television.

And they couldn’t just say get me the FUCK to my boyfriend.

-

Billy was sitting in a hospital bed, his arm in a plaster cast

He had fucked up his elbow, completely dislocating it as he fell onto the hard snow. He was livid with himself for fucking up his slope style, was guaranteed at least bronze, but had come in sixth due to his nasty spill.

But he watched from the medical center as Steve skated so fucking perfectly in the finals, had set a new record for themself, the highest score they had ever gotten with an absolutely gorgeous program.

But something was, something was wrong with the way they stood on the pedestal, their tears were not celebratory as they appeared to be working themself into a panic.

And all Billy wanted was to get to Steve, to see if they were okay.

-

“Bill, oh my fucking God.” Steve just about threw themself onto Billy’s bed. They were fucking sobbing into his lap.

“Stevie, I’m okay. I’m good.”

“All they, all they said was the you were hurt, had to be taken off the course in a stretcher.”

“Yeah, I smashed myself pretty hard. But I’m okay. They fixed it.” Steve’s eyes were still all watery, made them looker even bigger.

“I just, I wanted to fucking scream at everyone to let me get to my boyfriend.” Billy trailed one hand down Steve’s face, just delicate fingers touching soft skin.

“We could tell people, if you want.” Billy had been extremely private about his sexuality throughout his career. He still had trouble coming to terms with himself, still had trouble getting his thoughts and feelings out from under his father’s thumb.

“We don’t have to.” Steve, on the other hand, had been sick of getting misgendered in interviews, had come out publicly with an Instagram post, a cute mirror selfie in a full face of makeup, a little yellow sundress Billy loved, and caption that just read They/Them.

“I want to. Want to tell the whole world how much I love you.”

-

Steve’s idea was just to mention it casually in an interview.

They had a string of interviews after their gold medal win, after they broke a personal record today.

But Billy had another plan.

He’s had the ring for close to eight months at this point, was just biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment.

And as he sat there, watching Steve smile so pretty at the reporter, he realized.

Now’s the time.

“You were extremely emotional on the stand after accepting your gold medal. Walk me through what you were feeling.”

“To be honest, it didn’t even register that I had won, and broken a personal score record. Someone had just informed me that my boyfriend had gotten hurt during the slopestyle finals, and I didn’t know if he was okay.”

“Your boyfriend? Billy Hargrove, then.”

“Yeah. I just heard he was in the hospital as I was waiting for my scores and I just kinda, kinda lost it.” Steve’s eyes trailed over to meet Billy’s, standing in the studio behind the camera.

He was holding the ring tightly in his hand, the one that wasn’t in a bulky cast.

Now or never.

“So, you and Billy Hargrove are currently in a relationship. How long has that been going on?” Steve gestured at Billy to join them on the couch. One of the crew members gestured for him to join them on the couch.

So he walked over, settled right in next to Steve.

“Since the last winter games, actually. That’s when we first met.” Billy grinned at Steve, leaned over to kiss them on the cheek. His palms were sweaty.

“Congratulations to you both!” Billy took a deep breath.

“It’s been really great! We live together and everything. Have a chubby little cat. The whole nine.”

The reporter laughed along with them, Billy’s leg was shaking.

“It’s easier dating an athlete, I think. They understand the rigor you got through training, how you put your body through Hell because you’re passionate about it.” Steve was using their hands to explain. Billy took a deep breath.

“So, you two have been completely quiet about your romantic relationship for these four years you’ve been together. Why did you choose to keep private, and why are you going public now?”

“Well, it was really hard for me when I heard Billy got hurt. I couldn’t just pull the significant other card to find out more information.”

“And we chose to stay private for a multitude of reasons. We mainly just wanted our careers to be the focus of our media attention and not our relationship.” Billy and Steve had spoken extensively about what they were going to say in the interview. Billy was incredibly private, didn’t really want to get into the whole my father physically abused me for being gay and I still have trouble accepting myself thing on public television. So they glossed over it.

“But things are going well?”

Now or never.

Billy’s heart was pounding in his ears. He could barely hear Steve over the sound of his own blood rushing. Was just able to tell when he finished speaking.

“It’s been a wonderful few years. In fact, it’s been so good, that, uh, I want it to never stop.” He took a deep breath. And slid off the couch.

Steve gasped as Billy settled on one knee on the floor, they had tears in their eyes when Billy smiled up at them, presented the pretty gold ring.

“Sweet Thing, you are the best thing to ever happen. You are kind, and compassionate, and so dedicated. I love everything about you, from how graceful you are on the ice, to how silly you are when it’s just the two of us. You are so perfect to me. I want my life to be exactly like these past four years have been, full of love, and laughter, and those snicker doodles you make just because you know I love them.”

Steve was openly bawling, clutching hands with the reporter.

“So, Stevie. Will you marry me?”

Steve launched themself at Billy, kissing his face, breathing yes yes yes into his skin, just barely remembering to mind his sore arm.

Billy took shaky breaths as he slid the ring on Steve’s finger.

-

Steve was tucked under Billy’s arm as they headed back to his room.

“I thought we had decided to just like, casually come out. I can’t believe you fucking proposed on live t.v.” Steve was staring at their ring.

“Been thinkin’ of proposals that are good enough for you for months. Figured, you know, might as well.”

“You coulda given me a Ring Pop in an alley outside of a biker bar and I still woulda said yes.”

“Yeah, but that clip has probably already gone viral. Now you can watch it whenever you wanna feel soft.” Steve scrambled for their phone, nose practically pressed against it as they looked for the clip.

Billy just laughed, shaking his head as he unlocked the door.

[wqrfwasf]

A Family consists of your relatives

“I have sworn a vow,” he told Hildy wearily.. I continue to see expanding opportunities for Nike to reach new heights of product and performance innovation. This medicine should not be used during pregnancy unless considered essential by your doctor. A Family consists of your relatives, of course. His father sold him to Lord Varys for a jug of Arbor gold. No vehicles are to be using First Street through Fourth Street during the formation and parade time unless they are units of the parade. Richard Dillingham was the son of a respectable Quaker family in Morrow County, Ohio. She said: "I did a scene in the forest but it was in the sunshine so it is so cool to be here and see it how it is supposed to be dark and mysterious.". D. For what? I replied. How much remains? The one I slew was intent on killing Lord Commander Mormont. Northmen, free folk, queen’s men … “Form a line,” Jon Snow commanded them. In 1850 was passed the cruel fugitive slave

lugosis carhartt

law. That was until, after a fight with his dad, he was "tossed" out on the street. Putting the Node 605 together resulted in adidas fg a couple of hiccups but nothing serious. Older children shuffled along behind their mothers and looked up at Jon with eyes as dark and hard as the stones they clutched. And that's really important because it's the pre hospital bit of this that we're trying to figure out whether that makes a difference.. Must do this, and must do that are really pendientes bulgari precio excuses of the highest order. The latter requires no cables, dramatically cuts the power requirements of wireless mobile devices, and can make a cellphone battery last 10 times longer between charges.. Seabrook and Michal Rozsival then beat Miller 1:45 apart in the third period to give the Blackhawks the 3 2 lead, but Chicago was later done in by Seabrook game misconduct with 4:51 left in regulation.. The big white direwolf was gone more oft than not of late, ranging farther and farther in search of prey. "They bring everyone together, and, in the end, they're just a little sexier. She looked at me triumphantly. The latest hi tech football boots weigh just 200g about the same as sprinters' running spikes. The captain of the Meadowlark led his crew in a prayer for the souls of their slain shipmates. Experts project cizme din denimthat as many as half the families that qualified for government help paying their premiums will have to pay some of that subsidy back."You have to tell them what you think your income is going to be, and I took a broad guess," McIntyre said.McIntyre guessed her income would be about $13,000 a year. Mercedes claims 44mpg combined and CO2 emissions of 147g/km.For now, the flagship variant is the E400 4MATIC. (Photos by Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post). I was moping around, not feeling like I had much going on, and frustrated because if I tried

diadora focicipő

to get involved with Toms from there, I didn't feel I had the connection to the staff.". Grapes in the vineyard are covered with naturally occurring, yeasts; a grab bag of ambient strains that float in the air. The team is twin set cardigan outletalso filming an episode under a huge tent in California soon. For the office, pair them with black tights to camouflage the detail. A short time after the store's sinking, Ryan hadAtlas, with some of his followers, rounded upand sent to the prisonto stop the disruptions and mayhem they were creating. They are doing it all wrong. By and large, the Lumia line has looked fairly uniform to date, relying on polycarbonate frames, bold colors and stand out camera features to differentiate itself. Among other things I told her all about Nellie, about Masloboev, and Mme. As soon as the plane stopped, my first instinct was to grab for the handle and open up the door. Their women were clad in sealskins, some with infants at their

calça kickboxing

breasts. A little farther. Information from the manufacturer, Booth said the noise produced by the generators is expected to be 70 decibels at 200 meters away, which is equivalent to a vacuum cleaner.. It only cost one rouble twenty kopecks. Half the morning passed before Lord Janos reported as commanded. There are rubber bumpers that I had to attach to the fan which will help squeeze it in place. No freedman may dwell within the Black Wall, so she was compelled to sell Vogarro’s manse. The location complemented his business philosophy: should live, work and play within walking distance. If they determine its going to get bad Wed overnight and Thurs morning, they sometimes cancel the inbound flts after 9 pm which are scheduled to remain overnight. Nor is the master indictable under the second clause of that section; the process being against the slave, not against the master.—Ib.. A long hard winter will leave the Watch so deep in debt that we will never climb out, Jon reminded himself, but when the choice is debt or death, best borrow.. For women s foot surgeries. Paul says to the Ephesians, speaking of this former division, “He is our zapatillas guess mujer corte ingles peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us.”. “My rear guard,” Tormund said, with a gap-toothed smile. "Tierra Eterna" is a direct reflection of DeZorah and all the adventures the band has had as a band leading up to the recording of these songs. And because mini melissa picole vidro that unlikely monarch had himself followed his heart when he chose his queen, he allowed his sons to have their way, making bitter enemies where he might have had fast friends. Journalist Cathryn McLauchlan will be participating in the Northern Star/APN getting fit promotion along with the rest of the newsroom. The design of the roof will depend upon the climate of the area you live in. Whatever Satin may have done in Oldtown, he is our brother now, and he will be my squire.”. "It's not like we're going to be active or overly active in the trade market." The Lakers owe $29.85 million toward the luxury tax and Kupchak probably would want to bring back less money if he twin set cardigan outlet does make a trade.. (More on telescopes later.) With nothing but your bare eyes, you can see stars, constellations, planets, clusters, meteors, the Milky Way, nebulae, our moon, and yes even a galaxy!. "You bet it is. THAT AND OTHERS. Natasha met us, facing the door. Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge launched 10 new international routes and 11 new transborder routes in the quarter, marking the most intensive period of expansion in Air Canada's history.. Olympic gold medal skier Bode Miller recently bought an interest in the horse. Information for all who dare to attend the so called haunted house in Michalego. Their dad, information technology developer Norm Roulet, herded the boys into the car for an outing; 2 year old Clara was napping.. Nike de escalada al aire libre lanzado, air max 90 blancas baratas y pronto se convirti en populares populares productos al aire libre, sino tambin debido a la apariencia de vanguardia tanto funcional y cmodo.. Only a little strength remains in his flesh. Then he was just trying out the line. Chuck couldn't have known she was in Argentina unless he had a really high security clearance. I really liked [Horn] doing that..

[kareofbears]

number one fan

At the best of times, a large group of teenagers in one area is a mild inconvenience to traverse with. In between rows and rows of filled chairs in a packed gymnastics stadium, it’s a nightmare.

Especially when someone unexpected is sitting close by. 

—

read on ao3 or under the cut :) 

(lovingly beta read by @mad4turtles)

At the best of times, a large group of teenagers in one area is a mild inconvenience to traverse with. In between rows and rows of filled chairs in a packed gymnastics stadium, it’s a nightmare.

“Man, it’s so effin’ crowded here,” Ryuji grumbles, half-shoving people out of the way. They learned early on to make him spearhead the group in packed environments, given that he’s the only one with enough guts to openly ask crowds to move out of the way. He’s like a pissed-off shepherd towing his sheep.

“What do you expect?” Makoto sighs, one hand gripping Haru’s wrist and the other clutching Ann’s jacket, kindergarten style. “This is something like the semi-finals, right?”

Akira shrugs, his shoulder rubbing against Ryuji’s from the sheer proximity. “No clue.”

“Didn’t she give you the tickets?”

“Sure she did, but it’s not like it came with some kind of gymnastics handbook.”

“Does anyone even know what type of gymnastics she’s in?” Haru asks, grip tightening around Makoto’s hand when a group of enthusiasts threatens to break them apart.

Ann’s eyes light up. “Oh, the one with the string twirling, right? She posted it on her Insta the other day, she looked so good.”

“She did! I can only imagine how rigorous her regimen must be.”

“Do you think she’d give me her secret? I wonder if she even lets herself snack.”

"I think so? She posted some desserts on her story recently."

Ryuji scratches his head. "There's more than one type of gymnastics?"

Makoto lets her head drop forward. "We don't deserve these tickets."

Akira turns his head back to the rest of them. "We're getting close to our seats," he says with a raised voice to combat the noisy crowd ('raised' only in the sense that it's slightly louder than his usual soft tone. Akira is a man of many talents, but voice projection is not one of them).

Someone from a step above them knocks their elbow into Akira's head, enough to make him stumble back a few steps, surprised.

Ryuji sends a glare at the stranger, eyes dark. "Hey, watch it, you motherfu—"

"And here are our seats!" Makoto claps her hands. "Let's sit before we do something illegal!"

Akira cards through Ryuji's hair, a silent thank you, I love you, but please calm down.

Eventually, he relents. "Fine."

Ann collapses into one of the bright red, plastic seats. "Thank God, my feet were killing me."

Haru joins her, grimacing. "Why are these seats so sticky...?"

"Because whenever they do a real good flip, the fanatics piss themselves."

"Ryuji, what the hell?"

"Sorry."

"Okay everyone," Makoto peers down at her phone. "Competition starts in two minutes. Settle in, but don’t go to the bathroom."

"Don't go to the bathroom?" Akira raises an eyebrow. "Are you Ushimaru?"

"I'm just saying that, given our position, we're basically stuck to our seats until everyone else leaves."

"For real?" Ryuji groans. "I really wanted one of those hot dogs they have, where they're yelling out 'hot dogs!' and shit."

"This isn't some American baseball game, dumbass," Ann snorts.

"I know that!"

Haru points past Ryuji. "If you're really desperate to go, you might be able to ask that man to move his tripod aside to make room for you."

"You're totally right! What a good senpai," he casts a grin at Haru before calling out to the man a few seats down from them. He's dressed bulkily for such a packed stadium: a thick black hoodie with the hood up, and a thick pair of black shades. To top it all off, he has an annoyingly big tripod in front of him with an expensive-looking camera perched on top. "Yo! 'Scuse me!"

Ryuji blinks as the man almost seemed to shift away from him. "Uh, hello? I just got a quick question."

To everyone's surprise, the man seemed to turn even more, his torso twisted in the opposite direction.

Makoto squints. “Maybe he didn’t hear you?”

“Whatever, it’s about to start anyway,” Ryuji falls back into his chair. “I’ll just ask him again when I actually need to go. Oh, look it’s her!”

Sumire stands with her coach, dressed in a bright leotard and a determined expression on her face, nodding along intently.

Ann leans forward over the railing. “Go Yoshizawa! Woo! Come on guys, we’re here to cheer!”

“Well, she did give us the best seats… it only makes sense that we make the most of them.” Haru says, before cupping her hands over her mouth. “Let’s go, Yoshizawa!”

“Hell yeah, Yoshizawa!”

“You can do it!”

“Gymnastics.”

“Akira, you suck.”

Sumire looks up, eyes brightening as she waves back enthusiastically in their direction. To their surprise, she brings her hands together to make a heart.

“That’s sweet of her,” Haru comments. “I wonder who that was for.”

Ryuji rolls his eyes. “Probably Akira.”

“It’s for Akira.”

“Definitely.”

“I don’t think so,” Akira frowns. “She’s never done that before.”

“Man, don’t try to be all humble—everyone knows she had a thing for you.”

“In the first ten minutes, maybe. Now she’s just a little sister,” Akira waves at Sumire. “Go back to cheering.”

“Good idea,” Ryuji takes a deep breath. “Give me a Y!”

“Y!” Ann yells back.

“Give me an O!”

“O!”

Makoto rubs her temples. “We really don’t deserve these tickets.”

—

The competition goes off without a hitch, Sumire taking first place with ease. If the people around them were exasperated with their cheering before, it’s nothing compared to how they screamed their throats raw when she accepted her gold medal. The stranger in the black hoodie kept throwing them dirty looks, but they didn’t care.

“I’m so thirsty,” Ann rasps, once the award ceremony wraps up. “Anyone have water?”

“Nope,” Ryuji stands, stretching his arms above his head. “I need the bathroom pretty bad, though.”

To their misfortune, people are still slowly filing out of their seats, too slow for their liking. There’s a gap in the crowd, but the only way to get to it is through—

“The man is still there?” Haru asks.

“It seems so,” Makoto says. “He’s probably a huge fan of the whole gymnastics scene, given the way he’s so careful with his camera.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that I gotta go,” Ryuji says, before turning to the man once more. “Sorry dude, gotta move past you for real this time.”

And just like before, the man steadfastly ignores him. Akira narrows his eyes.

“Excuse me,” he says, his voice dropping an octave lower. Everyone stiffens. The words he spoke did not belong to Kurusu Akira and is now owned by someone donned in a long, black tail-coat, armed with a knife as sharp as a tack. “Please move. My partner here is trying to walk past you.”

And still, the man doesn’t shift.

Ryuji places a hand on Akira’s forearm. “Chill,” he says, running his hand up and down in what he hopes is a soothing manner. Ryuji might be the one on a hair-trigger temper, but no one has anything on Akira if someone so much as looks at his friends the wrong way.”It’s cool, ‘Kira. If the dude’s busy, then he’s busy. We’ll just wait for the other side to file out, yeah?”

Akira smiles, just a little. “I love you.”

“Love you too, dude.”

“—but you’re too nice.” He rips his arm from Ryuj’s lax grip and saunters over to the man.

“Respect,” Ann mutters, impressed.

“Stupid,” Makoto rectifies, face palming

“Hi there,” Akira greets, faux cheerful in a voice they recognize as his customer service voice. “Still ignoring us? That’s cool,” he shrugs a shoulder. “We’re used to it. Not a problem—we know how to be heard.”

In one, swift movement, Akira stands in front of the tripod.

Ryuji covers his eyes, peeking through his fingers. “I’m dating an actual bastard.”

The man visibly bristles and looks up to send Akira a black look from under his hood.

“Can you—” he hisses, before cutting himself off. “I mean,” clearing his throat, he drops his voice to a low grunt, not too different from a child impersonating an old man. “Move, dammit!”

Haru frowns. “That voice…”

The man shoots her a dirty look, before quickly turning his sight downward, but it was too late: they’ve all already caught a glimpse of his panicked brown eyes.

“Alright, I’ll move,” he says in the same gruff voice. “Just leave me alone—”

Akira bends down slightly, squinting at the man who’s avidly attempting to pull down his hood even more.

Squirming in his seat, “Young man, you are being extremely rude and hostile and I don’t appreciate—”

Akira reaches forward to grab his hood and forces it back, allowing Akechi Goro’s hair to flow down on his shoulders.

They all stilled, frozen in shock. Eyes widened, mouths openly gaping. Only Akira’s expression remained unchanged; cool and filled with disdain.

Ryuji is the first to speak. “I really hope I didn’t just piss myself.”

“What—” Ann splutters. “What are you—why the hell—I just—”

Makoto’s hand are alternating between making a numbered list with her fingers and gesticulating wildly. “So you’re in a gymnastics competition, and you’re actively hiding from us, and you have a camera which is weird at best, why are you—”

“I truly want to give you the benefit of the doubt here, Akechi-kun,” Haru cuts in. “But I’m kind of struggling to find—”

“Bro, like, a camera? You weren’t even trying to hide how weird this—”

“I know a thing or two about creeps and—”

“Oh, would you all give it a rest, you damn dolts!” Akechi snaps. “Your insistent cheering from earlier is already giving me a migraine.”

Akira narrows his eyes. “You don’t get to talk to them like that.”

“I just don’t understand, Akechi,” Makoto’s brows furrows. “You could have avoided being caught if you had just moved out of the way before sounding the alarm bells through Akira’s head.”

Leaning back into his chair, Akechi shoots her an incredulous look. “I wasn’t going to do that.”

“Why not?” Ann asks. “Do you really just love pissing us off?”

“No, I didn’t even know you clowns were beside me until it was too late,” he shoots a glare somewhere down towards the mats. “I couldn’t have moved this camera because…”

Everyone leans forward, awaiting his response as Akechi trails off. He blinks slowly.

“Hello?” Ryuji asks, incredulous. “What the hell was that? Why’d you stop talking?”

“You know what?” He stands abruptly, words flying out of his mouth. “I don’t need to answer any of your questions like some kind of interrogation,” shoving his arms through his jacket. “I know my rights,” he plucks the camera off of the tripod and closes its legs with a snap. “I’m a detective.”

With a dignified tilt of his head, he turns to leave only for Akira to cut him off by placing a foot on the stadium chair. “Nice try.”

“Move,” Akechi spits through gritted teeth.

“Nope.”

“Not before you tell us why you were recording Yoshizawa-chan,” Haru smiles.

Ann points at Akechi like she’s about to challenge him to a duel. “We care about her too much to let this go, so fess up!”

Rubbing his temples, “You don’t even know what you’re saying.”

“Then explain yourself!” Makoto says.

“No.”

“Hold on, guys.”

Everyone turns to Ryuji, who’s squinting at Akechi. “We got these dope tickets from Yoshizawa, right?”

“Yeah?”

“So how did this geezer get his hands on his?”

Akira’s eyes twinkle. “Now that’s a fantastic question.”

“I’m sure you all had an absolute grandiose time finding a brand new way to annoy me,” Akechi drawls. “But you aren’t going to get a single word out of—”

“Goro!”

They all turn to the sound of a familiar voice, only to blink when Yoshizawa Sumire comes running towards them, dressed out of her leotard and into her black tracksuit.

Akechi’s eyes widen, and he takes a step back. “No, go away Sumire. I’ll—I’ll meet you downstairs—”

“Yeah, right! That’s what we’ve been doing, but then you didn’t show up. You got me worried! Thought the crowd ate you up.” Sumire rolls her eyes, before smiling. “Hello, senpais!” Bowing deeply, “Thank you for coming. It means a lot to us.”

Slowly, they all turn to stare at Akechi, who’s expression is contorting in a strange way—his lips are pursed, and his arms are crossed in a defensive manner.

“Um…” Ann blunders. “Yup.”

“It was our pleasure,” Akira covers for her, shoving his hand in his pocket. “Congrats on the win.”

Sumire lights up. “Thank you! Speaking of—” she turns to Akechi, hands on her hips. “Tell me you didn’t forget to record me this time. And please tell me I’m in frame. Last time was a mess.”

Akechi gives her a dirty look but nods all the same. “Of course I did, who do you think I am?”

“Hurray!” she claps her hands together. “Funny story, actually. At my last competition, I asked Goro to film me—”

“Sumire,” he hisses at her, but she ignores him.

“But people kept moving the camera and messing it all up! It was a miracle that I had one more competition before the finals came up—I seriously need that footage for practice.”

She laughs, light and trill; a perfect juxtaposition to Akechi’s dark, defeated expression.

“Okay,” Ryuji shakes his head. “What the fuck is going on?”

“What Ryuji is actually means to ask,” Makoto averts. “Are you two…”

“Friends?” Akira finishes. His eyes flicker between the two of them like he’s working out an incredibly difficult equation. “Are you two friends?”

“I don’t have friends,” Akechi insists, the same time Sumire beams, “We’re best friends!”

A beat passes.

“Would you all stop staring at me?” Akechi snaps, and they all immediately look away, but it was too late. They’ve finally nailed his expression, one so strange to see on him that it took much longer than it needed to:

Akechi Goro is embarassed.

“Wow,” Haru whispers.

Sumire peers down at her watch and yelps. “Shoot, it’s that late? Sorry, everyone, we have to leave. Goro treats me whenever I get that first place.”

“Does he now?” Akira remarks innocently. Akechi’s glare can wither flowers.

He drops his foot, allowing Akechi to stride past him a little too quick to be nonchalant.

“Oh, don’t forget this.” Akira swoops down to pick up the forgotten, handing it to Akechi. When their hands touch, he whispers, “Besties, huh?”

“I’ll fucking end you.”

“Third time’s the charm.”

Yanking his hand away, Akechi stalks off. Sumire sighs dramatically.

“Such a drama queen! But I should leave, too.” She bows once more. “Thank you again.”

“No…problem…” Makoto trails off when Sumire runs to Akechi’s side, casually linking arms with him.

Silence encompasses the group.

“That’s weird, right?” Ryuji finally asks. “Like, I’m not wrong for thinking that was really fucking weird, right?”

“Yeah, that was weird,” Makoto confirms.

“Really?” Akira muses. “I can kind of see it.”

Ann rubs her temples. “Whatever. That whole thing plus my dehydration just gave me the world’s biggest headache.”

“Ryuji, don’t you need to go to the bathroom?” Haru reminds him kindly.

“Huh? Oh. I don’t know, I think I’ve might have just moved past it.”

“Gross.”

“Shut up, Takamaki. Let’s leave, I hate it here.”

“Because you peed yourself?”

“I did not.”

—

“I hate you.”

Sumire doesn’t look up from her slice of carrot cake. “No, you don’t.”

Their usual cafe was near empty in thanks to the fact that it’s a Tuesday evening and barely anyone knows this place exists—only a barista is inside with them, trying his best to text on his phone in secrecy and failing miserably. She can feel his glare at her from across the table, though there’s no heat behind it. (There hasn’t been heat behind it for a long time.)

“No,” Akechi agrees. “I don’t.”

She glances up at him. He hasn’t touched his tart yet. “But you’re upset with me.”

His brows scrunch slightly as he rolls his answer around his head. This was to be expected.

“No,” he decides. “I’m not upset, either. But I honestly cannot for the life of me figure out why you would do that. I hate them, Sumire, and you know that.” Picking up his fork, he prods at his fruit tart absentmindedly. “You’re a good person, even if you aren’t nice—”

“Only to you I’m not.”

“—so you won’t do anything that would disconcert me in a legitimate way on purpose.”

Her shoulders tense. “Did it disconcert you?”

“It unsettled me, sure. But only because I knew where their tickets came from, and it certainly didn’t come from Takamaki’s profound interest in gymnastics.”

“Unsettled you?”

Akechi gives her an exasperated look. “You’re going to make me say it?”

“How about a deal?” she offers, smiling ever so lightly. “You say it out loud and I’ll tell you why I did it.”

Sighing, he heavily leans back into his chair. “I despise the idea of them seeing me… like that.”

“Like a human being?”

“Like I’m weak,” he corrects.

“Seeing you in a normal setting,” she settles. “With a friend?”

“You’re pushing it.”

Her smile widens. An odd setting is more accurate. It’s only in a gymnastics setting that she can really get a reaction out of him—rarely does he act the way he did. It’s his own brand of sweet that’s really grown on her.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” she starts, setting down her fork. “But I don’t agree with what you said.”

“Shocker. Which part?”

“About you hating them.”

When she doesn’t continue, he kicks her shin lightly. “Don’t be cryptid.” Which is his way of saying talk to me.

Sumire kicks him back. “I’m not! I’m just thinking.”

She chooses her words with care. “You said something, a while ago,” she says slowly. “Like way, way back. It was kind of offhand, and you probably said it as a way to prove how much you hated them or something. But you mentioned that Akira—and the rest of his lovely friends—were the first people to really treat you like…a person.”

Akechi blinks, and she feels her eyes soften. Of course he thought (or hoped) that she’d forgotten a detail like that.

“And yes, lots of stuff happened in between,” she continues. “Lots and lots of stuff. Stuff I’ll probably never know about. But…I owe them, I think.” Sumire shrugs. “They took care of you before I could have. So I was worried that it bugged you when you lost touch with them.”

Akechi was quiet for a moment before he knits his brows together. “And that led you to try and cupid me with them during your semi-final?”

“When you say it like that—”

“‘Losing touch’ is very different from what actually happened,” he cuts off, leaning forward. “And just because they didn’t treat me like a famous asshole from television absolutely did not create some kind of fostered kinship.”

Akechi’s eyes never soften, never lose focus, but occasionally they can lose some of their steel. Warmth engulfs her as she watches it happen now. “For the record, no. It doesn’t bother me,” he hesitates. “Not…not anymore.”

Just as quick as it arrived, the moment passes. Straightening up, “And you? Does it bug you?”

She blinks. “What does?”

“That I make for a lackluster cheerleader.”

Sumire laughs, too loud for the near-empty cafe. Impossible. He may be a mess with words, would rather pull out his own teeth than confess vulnerability, but he’s shown up to every single one of her competition and sat through the entire thing. From warm-ups to the awards ceremony, it’s undoubtedly a grueling time to spend his day, and as much as he loves to complain about it, whenever she looks up from the mat, he’s always there in the exact same spot without fail.

She snags a strawberry off of his tart, making him click his tongue harmlessly at her.

“You’re more than enough.”

[yessoupy]

Were you a tiny giant baby gay for the 1996 women's gymnastics team like I was? #olympicsquestions

I don't think I was? I might need to investigate that though because I didn't figure out I was bi until I was 30 years old, lol.

I did watch that team closely though for 2 reasons: Amanda Borden was my cousins' neighbor, and Dominique Dawes was from my mom's hometown. I was only 10 so even though they were mostly very young, they all seemed so much older than me. I didn't have the baby gay (unidentified gay) feelings of wanting to be any of them, or wanting to be friends with them. I didn't even have a desire to be a gymnast, or even an Olympian! I just really really liked observing the best at their best and cheering for them. I'm a VERY good cheerer, lol.

Since we're talking about 1996, I want to bring up Kerri Strug and her legendary vault in the team final. From my old mainstay Chronicle of the Olympics, here's the caption for the picture of her in the book:

America's darling: Brave Kerri Strug is carried to the medal podium by her coach [Bela Karolyi]. Despite sustaining serious injury in her first vault in the team gymnastics event, Strug carried on in a bid to see America through to gold. The United States duly triumphed.

This is likely the only reference the average American viewer of the Olympics has when it comes to gymnastics and injury and how an individual is responsible to her team. You may know, but others reading this may have no idea: Kerri didn't even need to do her second vault for the USA to win the gold. At that Games, the lowest score on each apparatus was dropped from the team score, and Dominique Moceanu's score of 9.200 ended up being high enough to beat the Russian team. If Bela Karolyi had been a man who ever cared about the physical health of his athletes, he would have told Kerri not to put her body at further risk. They would have watched Roza Galieva perform on the floor exercise for Russia, and when Roza's score came in, the Magnificent Seven would have know they'd won the gold medal.

Here's something more about that performance that I saw today. Rachael Denhollander, one of the heroes who's worked so tirelessly to put Larry Nassar away and is still working to hold USA Gymnastics accountable, wrote that when Nassar was "treating" her, he said that Kerri's injury was just a "simple sprain" and that she had been "dramatic for attention." In fact, Kerri Strug had a third-degree lateral sprain and tendon damage. The culture then, and until very recently, was to downplay the injuries that these girls and women incurred and to give them no choice but to compete. When Kerri asked if she had to complete her second vault, Karolyi responded, "You can do it. You better do it."

We applaud Nadia Comaneci as the first gymnast to score a perfect 10. She was outstanding, but she was also a girl competing in what was then still a woman's sport. This is what USA Gymnastics wanted to bring to their program, and did so by bringing over her coach, Bela Karolyi, and his wife Marta. Until their Texas Ranch abuse hub got swept up in the Larry Nassar investigation, they controlled all of the women's gymnastics program in the United States. If Marta didn't like a girl, she wouldn't make a team. A reason for Marta to dislike a girl was if she ever stood up for herself or questioned what she was being asked to do.

Simone Biles said that one reason she felt she had to train for Tokyo was to ensure that one of the survivors of Larry Nassar's abuse was still on the national team to keep the pressure on USAG to do what needed to be done. It hurts my heart that she has put herself through an entire extra year of training for something that shouldn't be her responsibility. It's heartening to see all of the Olympians stand behind Simone and speak up to protect her choice from outside criticism. There are definitely a ton of idiots spouting off bullshit (I know because my mentions on my Olympics twitter are full of these assholes), but the people whose opinions would truly matter to her -- her peers -- are all on her side.

I hope that we are turning a corner here when it comes to the mental health of these elite athletes. They are in a position to do so much good in the world because of their amazing talents, and with support for their physical and mental well-being, they can do so much more. And "so much more" definitely includes being happy people post-Olympics.

[virtchandmoir]

Ice dance star Tessa Virtue happily out of her comfort zone in Queens EMBA program

November 30, 2020

Canadian Olympic athlete Tessa Virtue poses for a photo at the Olympic Summit in Calgary, Alta., Saturday, June 3, 2017.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

TORONTO -- Tessa Virtue doesn't feel the same sense of exhilaration or rush of adrenaline as she did standing at centre-ice after a gold-medal performance.

At least not on that scale or of that magnitude. And that's okay.

"There are so many things that are making me really content and joyful that were just impossible to experience as an athlete in training," Virtue said. "So, there's sort of something offsetting that where I might not be getting that adrenaline rush, there's so much that I feel passionate about and new goals that I'm striving for - which is both scary and exhilarating."

Virtue and Scott Moir were among the 114 athletes, artists, scholars and community leaders named to the Order of Canada on Friday. They're the most decorated ice dancers in history, capturing five Olympic medals, including a pair of ice dance gold in 2010 and 2018.

Virtue is swamped with school work these days as part of Queens University's Executive MBA program - one of the new pursuits that's pushed her out of her comfort zone.

She's typed out frantic text messages to retired Paralympic swimmer Ben Huot - who graduated from Queens' EMBA program - saying, "Have I made a mistake? What am I doing?" she laughed. "(Huot) been so wonderfully supportive.

"But I am so happy I did it. And it's an extraordinary cohort, everyone is so impressive and has accomplished such wonderful things and in such diverse spheres, and so the conversations are so exhilarating, and especially right now, I'm so grateful to have the chance to sort of expand my mind."

Virtue spent the first few months of the pandemic living in North Vancouver with boyfriend and Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly. The power couple joined Arkells frontman on an Instagram live stream back in March. They appeared virtually on the Great Kitchen Party: Home Edition a month later.

The couple is back living in Toronto now, and recently purchased a puppy they named Zoe.

Virtue and Moir's captivating free dance to music from "Moulin Rouge" in Pyeongchang will endure as one of the greatest Olympic figure skating performances ever. Just one of the numerous YouTube streams has over 1.3 million views.

But Virtue has barely watched it.

"I've seen parts of it here and there. And I love the feeling that it evokes in me," she said. "I'm still so proud of that moment of course. But I can't decide if it feels like it was yesterday or honestly if I feel just a few lifetimes away from it. So, it's like that disconnect, right, where I kind of hold onto the feeling that we had when the program ended.

"And when we reflect together, so much of our sporting life just seems so fresh that I'm sure there hasn't been enough time for perspective, right?"

Virtue and Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., competed for two decades. Earning Order of Canada honours, she said, was an honour that had her reflecting on their early days.

"This is not something we would have ever known to even dream for. We weren't seven and nine (years old) cruising around the ice together talking about this, it seemed unfathomable," she said. "And yet, we watched so many of our friends and peers along the way receive this incredible honour. I just feel humbled, and just so, so honoured."

Virtue talked by telephone Sunday before appearing virtually on Hayley Wickenheiser's "WickFest: Female Hockey Festival," calling a few minutes early to ensure she wouldn't have to duck out too soon.

Olympic athletes, both active and retired, have been front and centre in the battle against the global pandemic. Wickenheiser, of course, teamed up with actor Ryan Reynolds and others for "Conquer COVID-19," an initiative that delivered much-needed personal protective equipment to hospitals. Numerous other athletes have hosted virtual practices, information sessions, etc. for Canadian kids.

"It can be underestimated, I guess, what that kind of mentorship or connection with an athlete does," Virtue said. "I think about those kids watching the next Olympics and how invested they'll be and it's pretty neat to share that."

The international figure skating schedule has been a bust since last March when COVID-19 forced cancellation of the world championships in Montreal.

Keegan Messing is the only Canadian to have competed so far this season (Skate America). Skate Canada International was scrapped, and if Stockholm, Sweden does manage to host the world championships in March - organizers want to host it in a "bubble" - there's no guarantee Canada will even go because of lack of preparation, quarantine restrictions, etc.

"I think there's a caveat to everything in that it offers great perspective. You realize just how seemingly insignificant ice dance can be or skating," Virtue said. "But at the same time, in their relative spheres, and as far as their goals and pursuits go, it's huge to miss out on one competition, let alone a season.

"I think just changing that benchmark of knowing when to prepare for something, how a peak, how to maximize your time, the unknown, the uncertainty, like so many people are facing, must be really challenging. And my heart goes out to (the skaters)."

—The Canadian Press