college sports au where annabeth is a star soccer player for nyu who’s dream is to eventually make the women’s soccer team and percy is the assistant coach.
I cannot believe you are making me, a person who understands all of 0 sports and played soccer when I was 8, try to write like I know anything about how any of this works. How dare you. Here you go.
I’m so mad at you.
A crooked smile should not incite such fury as what Annabeth currently felt.
But for the record, it shouldn’t make her heart flutter the way it did, either.
Both at the same time was just confusing.
“What did you just say?!” She hissed under her breath, glancing anxiously out the dark tunnel where her team waited to sprint onto the horrifically wet field— it had been raining since the night before, and Annabeth was already dreading the mud and the cold.
Well, now she would happily take that over Percy Jackson’s stupid dumb annoying crooked smile.
“I asked,” he spoke slowly, his voice patient as if he were explaining a basic concept to a child, “if you would like a kiss for luck?”
Annabeth sputtered, glancing again to ensure the rest of the team wasn’t paying attention— they were not.
Though that may have been because their star striker getting royally pissed at the NYU Violet’s assistant coach was not a novel scene.
“This—you—hitting on players is creepy!” She snapped, face red and only growing brighter as Percy leaned in to speak low in her ear.
“But hitting on girlfriends, even secret ones, isn’t.” He paused. “…Unless I missed the memo.”
Annabeth huffed, tugging on the hem of her jersey as nerves about the upcoming game were replaced with nerves about the stupid man in front of her referring to her as his girlfriend.
It was a new development, and one that made her feel insane to think about for more than ten seconds at a time.
“So…?” Her boyfriend (boyfriend?!) pulled back just enough that she could see his stupid terrible grin, “What do you say?”
The poor hem of Annabeth’s jersey was now a bunched up mess in her hands, twisting in her fists without her even noticing. “If we win—“
“When.”
“If!” She heaved a breath, “Then maybe I will think about giving you a celebratory kiss. But we’re going to lose, so it doesn’t matter.”
Percy’s grin didn’t waver, “No, we’re not. We’ve been over their weaknesses, know their plays— and everyone is gonna be playing their best with the club scout out in the stands.”
Annabeth groaned, “Don’t remind me!”
“Not to mention, the best center forward on this side of the continental US.”
“The best center forward in the world.” She muttered, though there was doubt in her voice, her usual confidence shaken by the fact that the opposing team had won every game against the Violets for the past 3 years.
“‘Atta girl.” Percy knocked his forehead to hers, their eyes meeting, “Give them hell. Especially so I can get that kiss.”
He dodged out of the way of Annabeth’s fist, laughing as he jogged through the tunnel to the sidelines to join their coach. Annabeth forced a deep breath, and turned to the team to give a pep talk that would rival any pre-battle hype speech in the history of the universe.
And when they won, covered in mud, 2 to 1, Annabeth Chase, center forward, star player, flashed a grin at Percy Jackson, assistant coach, new boyfriend, the promise in her eyes meeting the excitement in his. Who knew when they’d tell people— but while Annabeth was happy to share this and any future wins with the rest of the world, Percy?
Well, for now, he was all hers.
And their kiss behind the shuttle to the team’s hotel was nearly as satisfying as the business card with the pro club scout’s number in her hand.
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Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".
Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"
And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".
Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.
At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.
So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!
Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!
Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!
Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.
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