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xxplastic-cubexx · 2 months ago

Note

Mr. Cube I have a question of utmost importance for you as literally the only Magneto main I know of. HOW... DO YOU PLAY HIM. Do you have any tips. I want to look at him.

So You Want To Be Pretty OK As Magneto In Marvel Rivals

(3 March, 2025) a beginner's guide written by your resident magneto main snapperoni because now i get an excuse to talk about marvel rivals magneto extensively and in gross detail

*this guide will be treating you as though you have never used magneto in your life and will go into extreme depths at explaining his abilities as well as what it means to be a tank player. if you feel confident in understanding his abilities, feel free to skip the abilities section and head straight to the bottom for talk on strategy and tips

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

TLDR ROLE INTRODUCTION ABILITIES Melee/Greatsword Primary Fire/Iron Volley Secondary Fire/Mag Cannon Metallic Curtain Metal + Iron Bulwark [TEAM-UP ABILITY] Metallic Fusion [ULTIMATE] Meteor M [PASSIVE] Magnetic Descent TIPS AND STRATEGIES Iron Volley + Mag Cannon Combo Bubble and Shield Usage Two Tanks Are Better Than One Metallic Fusion How to Use Meteor M CLOSING THOUGHTS

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Too Long, Didn't Read:

Magneto is a poke tank meant to be played at medium-to-close range whose priorities should lie in acting as a living wall for his teammates. preserving his abilities mostly for himself yet sharing them when the situation calls for it.

While his priorities should be defense-based, when it comes to going on the offensive you want him to target strategists and duelists and only engage in tanks if the rest of the team is with you. As far as aiming goes, he's very friendly and isn't hitscan reliant, and you should find yourself picking up his aim style easily with time.

He's not a super flashy character like the rest of the cast, but he's far from useless and, at this moment in time, stands as one of Rival's best tank options alongside Doctor Strange and Hulk, whether you're running two tanks or running solo.

Overall, the two-star difficulty he is awarded is very fitting: available to newcomers to pick up and start playing, however offers a little something extra to those with a better understanding of him; he's generally straight forward as far as tanks go, but picking up a few extra tips and tidbits never hurt anyone. Except your enemies, of course.

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Role Introduction: Vanguard/Tank

As a vanguard unit, Magneto's top priority should be taking the brunt of the team's damage on the front line and should give the team either opportunities to push forward, or shoot behind the cover you provide.

With 650HP (without shields), while he has average health for a vanguard, his defensive kit allows him to be a formidable wall when his abilities are used tactfully and you work in tandem with your support/s. Unlike dive tanks like Venom and Captain America, Magneto is much more stationary, and his kit rewards playing defensively and close to the team.

A common misconception with FPS games is that your top priority is to get the most eliminations as possible and to exclusively hunt for the next kill (unless that is the objective of the specific map you're playing on, then kill away). There are several errors with this philosophy: for starters, you begin to neglect the objective, which can lead to a game loss.

The amount of kills you have won't matter if you stay off point and the other team takes the objective. No matter what anyone says, don't stress about your eliminations so long as you know you're protecting your team, securing the point, and overall providing value to the game (though it is important to be able to land a shot....).

Moreover, playing under this philosophy is a sure-fire way to not only get you killed and remove your time away from the field (which should truly be your game philosophy: die as little as possible), but specifically as a tank you'll bring your teammates down with you as they lose what should be a reliable line of defense. As a tank, you should be opening up opportunities for your teammates to get the eliminations and protecting your strategist/support units.

All of that said, tank is not for the passive player: as tank, you need to be firm about the playing field being yours and making sure the enemy team knows they're going to have a hard time taking it from you. Fitting for Magneto, really.

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Ability Review

Before dissecting Magneto's abilities, I will preface and say I calculated his damage using Doctor Strange (600HP) and Scarlet Witch (250HP) as damage dummies. The numbers I have here may not be accurate, so to circumvent this potential error I'll describe how many shots it takes to use a specific skill in order to eliminate certain enemies.

Melee/Greatsword

Attack speed: ~1 second

Damage Output: 40 (About seven swings to KO a 250HP enemy)

Utilizing Doom Bot remains, Magneto swings with a grandiose blade. The problem with this sword is it's not only one of- if not the- slowest melees in the game as of right now, but it has very little to compensate for its poor speed. Should very rarely be used in place of a well-aimed primary fire.

Primary Fire/Iron Volley

Reload time: ~1 Second

Damage Output:

Direct Damage: 80 (About four shots to KO a 250HP enemy)

Edge Damage: 40 (About seven shots to KO a 250HP enemy)

Fall-Off Damage: 40 (About seven shots to KO a 250HP enemy)

Magneto's Iron Volley asks that you lead/predict your shots. Moreover, his Iron Volley will explode automatically once reaching 25M(eters), whether it hits a target or not. At 25M, your shot will no longer do 80 damage, but will do half instead. As noted before, Magneto's primary fire will explode when it comes into contact with a wall, floor, or enemy. As such, the explosion has a small hitbox- doing just about half of a regular, direct shot. Because of this, you shouldn't be too stressed if you're not the greatest at aiming: Magneto's primary fire makes up for any minor imperfections and is rather generous so long as you're in the general area of your target.

Secondary Fire/Mag-Cannon

Reload Time (Without Bulwark Aid):

One Ring: ~4 Seconds

Two Rings: ~8 Seconds

Full Power: ~12 Seconds

Damage Output:

One Ring: 40 (About seven shots to KO a 250HP enemy)

Two Rings: 80 (About four shots to KO a 250HP enemy)

Three Rings/Full Power: 100 (About three shots to KO a 250HP enemy)

Edge Damage: N/A

Similar to Iron Volley, you will need to lead your shot when firing off a Mag-Cannon. Unlike his primary fire however, Magneto's secondary fire will keep going until it hits a wall or enemy. Moreover, it doesn't suffer any damage fall-off, nor does it offer any edge damage. How many rings you possess show both on Magneto physically, but they can also be tracked by the purple arrows below your crosshair. As a bonus, the Mag-Cannon momentarily stuns and pushes back any targets it hits which can either cancel an enemy's advancement, or open the floor for a follow-up attack.

Metallic Curtain

Recharge Time: 3 Seconds

Replenish-to-Full Time: 10 Seconds

Duration: 1.5 Seconds

Shield HP: N/A

Putting up an impenetrable wall just shy of two seconds allows Magneto and his allies to pull back safely from oncoming damage or provide just enough cover to make an adequate push forward. Not to mention, this indestructible wall scoffs in the face of any ult coming your way. Once the shield has been spent, a white bar will appear on the right side of your crosshair. This bar indicates how long you can hold your shield up the next time you use it before it's fully charged, where then the bar will fade. Finally, you can put your shield down early. While this means you'll have to wait the full three seconds for it to be available again, this means your shield will have more durability the next time you use it.

Metal Bulwark + Iron Bulwark

Recharge Time: 12 seconds

Duration: ~3 Seconds

Shield HP: To be calculated, but it does exist: be cautious of the damage you and your teammates take.

Magneto can spring a magnetic bubble over either himself or an ally. The bubble not only negates any incoming damage and protects allies from Scarlet Witch's Reality Erasure, but once the bubble has popped or faded Magneto will regain some Mag Cannon rings relative to the damage absorbed.

[TEAM-UP ABILITY] Metallic Fusion/Chaos

Recharge Time: 30 seconds

Duration: 10 seconds

Damage Output:

Direct Damage: 100 (About six shots to KO a 600HP enemy)

Edge Damage: N/A

Being his only team-up ability as of writing this post, this father-daughter duo ability allows Magneto to fire at an impressive 100 damage per second as he finally finds use in his otherwise-inadequate greatsword, adding a truly dangerous ability to his typically defensive kit. It's as though every shot taken was a Mag Cannon with a wider hitbox- however this hitbox varies from being vertical or horizontal and thus can be a little unpredictable if you aren't aiming carefully. Is used best at medium-close range, but don't neglect its potential to snipe enemies from across the map.

[ULTIMATE] Meteor M

Duration: 4 Seconds

Magnetic Range:

Lowest to the ground: 30M

Nearest to the skybox: 5M

Damage Output (No Charge):

Edge: 150 (About over half of a 250HP enemy's health bar)

Direct: 300 (About half of a 600HP enemy's health bar)

Damage Threshold Before Explosion: To be calculated, however can be tracked by the counter below the crosshair

Automatically floating into the air, Magneto stays true to his name and acts as a magnet for all incoming projectiles; extracting enemy projectiles to build the power of his metal meteor and granting Magneto the ability to float freely, Magneto's ultimate doubles both as an offensive and defensive ability. You're able to see your magnetic field + blast radius by observing the purple ring on the ground. Remember: you can rise and descend freely so long as your ultimate is up, use this wisely. I affectionately refer to the meteor as "rock", however this ultimate has garnered a reputation for not doing as much as some believe it should. Hopefully this guide helps you in ensuring your meteors make the impact they deserve.

[PASSIVE] Magnetic Descent

Manipulating the magnetic field around him, Magneto decreases his fall speed by 50% when holding the jump button. Nuff said. People have a hard time aiming up in FPS's so if you find yourself with the opportunity to float around a bit (especially using Rocket's jump pack) then by all means terrorize from above as you descend.

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Tips and Strategy

Iron Volley + Mag Cannon Combo

A basic tip, but a valuable one nonetheless. To eliminate an enemy with 250HP- assuming you land all your shots directly- it takes about 3 seconds, four shots. Again, this is assuming you hit all your shots and if the enemy doesn't regenerate any health. Alternatively, utilizing the PRIMARY-SECONDARY-PRIMARY combo allows you to not only stun an opponent with your secondary fire, but it should take nearly half of the time spent then if you only used primary fires, so make sure to use your secondary shots responsibly. Remember that your primary fire has, at max, 25M of utility: afterwards, it won't be able to do much. Fine for picking off low-health enemies while they're fleeing, but don't expect to hit any enemies close to the skybox or far away from you without moving in a little bit first- that's what your secondary fire's for. As Magneto, your targets should be squishy characters like support and DPS. Because of his relatively-slow DPS, Magneto doesn't fair well against other tanks and shouldn't engage in 1v1's if possible (they're not unwinnable, but they could be a great distraction and leave your team vulnerable).

While I'm here, I'm just going to stress to not use your melee. Like. At all. You're much better just using your primary fire. At most you can set it up as Hulk's turning into Bruce if you'd like but that should really be it: your primary fire is much more effective than your sword.

Bubble and Shield Usage

As a tank, you want to act as a wall for your teammates, and this can be done effectively by being more conservative and selfish with your shields: you are the wall. Remember. Draw the enemy's fire towards you by being an irritant. While Magneto is healthy in shields, remember you have natural cover from stage obstacles and structures as well. Magneto can be regarded as a 'poke' tank: a tank who is meant to attack sporadically and in short bursts. He is best played at a medium distance from the enemy front line and to not to be wholly damage focused when he is much more defense focused. 'Poking' the enemy from behind structures is not only a great way to conserve your abilities, but it utilizes Magneto's primary and secondary fires well due to their moderately-slow start up and overall DPS, letting him take cover when need be.

While attacking on the front line, once you notice your health start to dip below half or you feel as though the crowd is about to overwhelm you, raise your Metallic Curtain and step back to give yourself some air. Bubble yourself as a last resort if you still need to back up- be sure to fire your Mag Cannon beforehand so you'll immediately have it replenished if your bubble pops during your escape. It's important to remember Magneto has zero movement abilities and it takes 5 seconds for him to traverse 30M: it doesn't sound too bad, but when there's a large crowd in front of you, you'll wish he could move faster. Don't push too far ahead, and be aware of exits around you.

That being said, be conscious of your teammates. This is a TEAM game after all. We've covered Magneto and Scarlet Witch's team-up ability before and how valuable it is. As a result, you'll need to learn to play well with any Scarlet Witches on your team, and this means having your bubble ready to protect her when she decides to ult (this also means making sure to check the scoreboard occasionally for your teammate's ult charge as well as, again, being ability-conscious of those around you). Only when she's in immediate danger do you bubble her, not before: this ensures the bubble lasts long enough for her to get her ult off (or there's a better chance it'll be executed, anyhow). If you feel as though you won't be able to react fast enough, then you can try to bubble her beforehand; don't stress out about timing the bubble perfectly, just make sure she's protected. In general, bubble your duelists when they're deep in a crowd to give them a chance to escape (but don't stress out about protecting them. After all, there's only so much you can do before you put yourself in danger or use a bubble inappropriately when someone else could have better benefited from it). Besides Wanda, it's naturally best to look after your support units and to make sure they're not being overwhelmed. Don't helicopter them and neglect the rest of the team, but just make sure to check on them every now and then. Ultimately, your bubble priority should be Supports -> Yourself -> Others. After all, your support/s can't help you or the team if they're dead.

Two Tanks Are Better Than One

Magneto has the fortitude to be able to tank by himself comfortably, however the rare days you find yourself partnered up with a second tank, know these are the days you can be more generous with your bubbles and shields to your teammates. Your second tank will help cover with you and should make it easier for you to escape the crowd when need be, so bubble-hogging is less of a necessity. Make sure to help your tank too if they're in a bind and they're out of defenses/movement abilities (but again, not at the detriment of yourself or your supports: once more, Magneto can tank by himself if need be so long as you use your abilities carefully).

Metallic Fusion

It's tempting to want to use Magneto and Scarlet Witch's team-up ability the second you have it, however it's best to save it for crowd control. That being said, once it is active, make the absolute most of it: there's no consequence to holding down the primary fire, so just let loose and go crazy (with reason, of course: don't run in and get yourself killed and don't forget your teammates).

How to Use Meteor M

Someone asked me this midmatch once and I scrambled to come up with an answer. Both because the round was about to start in five seconds but also because I truly didn't know the answer at the time. The longer I've played though, I think I finally have the answer- or a better one besides "spray and pray" at least. As noted before, Meteor M is a fickle ultimate and how you use it is dependent on the situation (many such cases about anything, honestly). At times, you'll want to play higher to the skybox to ensure your meteor doesn't explode immediately. Alternatively, a quick throw of the meteor might do the trick in some situations where it's both safe to build meteor charge close to the ground, and the faster you remove a target/s, the better. This is also dependent on how many projectiles are being thrown out onto the field: if you're in a situation with predominantly melee opponents, it's best to use your meteors to single-out troublesome duelists and supports- there's little chance your meteor's going to exceed 30+ charge in those kinds of matches. Generally, you'll want to use it to counter support ults like Cloak + Dagger and Luna Snow (NOTE: a raw meteor will NOT KO an ulting Luna. You need at least 30+ charge before a direct hit can KO her. Cloak + Dagger can be KO'd from the get-go with a direct hit). Don't be afraid to throw out a meteor if you see a cluster of low health/squishy enemies without any defenses, however. Just remember it's ok to hold onto an ult if it means it gets greater value later on, and that you shouldn't hunt exclusively for team wipes. If you find yourself popping ult and the crowd's dispersed, support units should be your default priority (unless there's a duelist/DPS unit using their ultimate: take them out instead if you can). Initiating Meteor against Punisher's Final Judgement can be tricky if you aren't fast enough, as Frank's ammunition will quickly push your meteor to its limit. If you don't throw your meteor fast enough, you could potentially risk your teammates their lives and waste an ultimate in the process. Use your meteor against Punisher with caution. Similar notes to be said about Star-Lord's Galactic Legend, only now your problem is also throwing at a flying enemy. If he's close enough to your 25M range, I personally would shoot him down with a regular primary/secondary as his DPS isn't nearly as grand as Punisher's and a meteor could be superfluous. Otherwise, focus on getting to cover and protecting your vulnerable teammates. You'll especially want to be wary of enemy tanks and their shields as they'll without a doubt cancel out your ult with ease, more specifically enemy Magneto's and Doctor Stranges. Be cautious that Captain America can deflect your ultimate, though I personally have had minimal trouble with Captains. In general, you should track enemy ability usage, but especially the prior two if you hope to pop your rock soon.

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Closing Thoughts

Ultimately, improving at Marvel Rivals in general comes with time and willingness to acknowledge you're bad at the game sometimes but to not let that stop you from playing who you wanna play, whether you're playing as Magneto or not. While you can do your best to improve your aim in Rivals' practice area, things like game sense are something that can only really be accumulated through experience and playing the game.

Sometimes I watch back old games/moments of mine to figure out where I could've gone wrong to improve next time, but you don't HAVE to do that: just play the game, have fun, and love Magneto.

And throw a rock at every support you see for me okbyethankyouforreading

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Bonus: My Credentials so you can determine if i'm reliable or not. or something.

[PS: every hero Not Mags/Wanda/Adam is purely my brother i swear im loyal]

#marvel rivals #magneto #snap chats #idk how valuable my opinion is i'm just a plat player but like Hey Its Something focus on my hours and trust me vJLAERKEAKJ #hours mean nothing if you dont learn from being balls... whatever... moving on...#i'm not checking this over i'm just throwing it into the wind no one's going to read this anyway #i thought of having more gifs to show stuff but i thought thatd be overdoing it <- this whole post is overdoing it #maybe ill pin this to the top of my blog idk. took a long time to type...#NO ONE'S GONNA READ ALL THAT WHY DID I TYPE ALL THAT #i think ive gotten enough inquiries about My Magneto Playing to finally write a semi-professional guide about it vJELKJAEKL #wrote all of this to get my PhD in Magnetism thats right baby #WHATEVER if you read all of that i love you i'm giving you a box of mochi donuts #if you take anything away from this post uhhhh Please Dont Forget Your Teammates THIS IS A TEAM GAME #ok thank you.... i hope you enjoy my. nonsense #yk im so glad my school group hates me cause i got to spend all day doing this jvLKAKJ #NO TELL ME WHY i try contacting my group last week to ask when we can meet and no one says anythign #and now people getting cross with me for us not meeting sooner... i TRIED NONE OF YALL EVER ANSWER ME #WHATEVER. whatever...#for a mfer just talking about teamwork My Team is making me want to eat gravel #anyway!!!! again if you read All That hope you enjoyed my inisght and input #again this is just from my experience playing magneto and some tank experience from overwatch so #take it how you see fit #if you guys care one of my fave rivals/ow youtubers is flats and he's always got great input for tank players #check him out if you like :)

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softquietsteadylove · 3 months ago

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I need the goalie AU again. Please. I beg of you to please write thena being all shy and embarrassed when hanging out together and Gil thinking it’s adorable. I CANT BELIEVE I FORGIT ABT THIS AU LIKE THAT MAN 😭💀

Thena made her third - slow - loop around the rink, mixed in with everyone else attending the free skating time available to the community. It felt bizarre, skating freely. She was in a regular old sweater and skirt with fleece lined tights on. She wasn't here to practice her axle or turns.

She was here for a...to...with...Gil was meeting her.

It wasn't them crossing paths before or after practice, no matter how planned. Since Gil had shown up regardless of his own schedule, they had both come to do so more often. They even texted, now.

Thena had given up her aversion to phones just for the occasion. Ajak had questioned what made her want one all of a sudden, but Thena had offered the pathetic but perfectly believable excuse that it was just time for her. And she could text with Makkari and Druig, now.

To her mother's credit, she had accepted the excuse and taken her to the mall that very same day.

Hey, there's a free skate this saturday. We don't have practice that day. Wanna go just for funsies? :)

It was a completely charming and adorable invitation, from the wording to the little smile he added to it. Thena had already read it over so many times she was quite sure it qualified as obsession by this point. If anything, she was lucky the phone only noted when it was read for the first time, and not every subsequent time she had gazed at it just to hear Gil's voice in her head.

"Thena!"

Her heart leapt in her chest. Sometimes she felt so conscious of it she wondered if the rink speakers were blaring it for all to hear instead of a grainy old pop song. But she waved.

Gil skated right over to her. He had powerful strides, making it across the rink in no time, although he made sure to come to a stop in a way that didn't shower her skates with the debris of his gliding. "I'm glad you could make it."

She just smiled, tucking some hair behind her ear as they started skating lazily around with everyone else. "I've never come here just for 'funsies', as you put it."

He beamed at her. "Well, maybe this'll be the first of many."

It was somewhat of an open ended invitation; not so direct as to put pressure on her but certainly they both knew the implication. She looked down at the scratched up ice beneath their skates. "Maybe."

"Did your mom like the cupcakes?" Gil asked, a far better conversationalist than she (thank goodness).

"She did!" Thena jumped at the opportunity to talk about something that didn't make her quite so nervous. "She said she was quite impressed."

"Ah," Gil shrugged, blushing with modesty as he pushed his hands into his hoodie pockets. He was just wearing a t-shirt under it, but she supposed boys always seemed to dress too light in cold conditions. "It's just a simple recipe. But I'm glad you liked 'em."

They were the single most delicious thing she had ever eaten.

"I'll return your container next practice," she promised more quietly. There was no easy way to admit that she hadn't actually told her mother she was coming today to meet Gil specifically.

All she had told her mother was that she was meeting 'some friends'. She didn't want Ajak getting any...ideas.

"No worries," he grinned at her. Gil had a real grace to him on the ice, moving easily, but matching her pace in a way that required some control over his full abilities. "Your dad seems to be less of a jerk, lately."

Thena pressed her lips together. Her father/coach had indeed been less abrasive for several of her practices. Specifically, after he had asked her if she knew why a certain young man was always lingering. "I believe I have you to thank for that, actually."

"Me?" Gil blinked, and so innocently at that.

Thena rolled her eyes. "Father may be a bit of a beast at times, but he has a reputation of decency to uphold. He can't have strangers thinking he's unprofessional."

Gil nodded, considering the words. But he looked at her with a softer expression than before, "I'll be at every one of them, then."

She felt an increasingly familiar tingle in her cheeks and rushed to correct him. "Th-That's okay, Gil! I don't mean--there's no need, really."

He gave her a doubtful little pout.

She smiled at him as they rounded the loop again. "Your presence, no matter how long it's there, is enough of a deterrent. And its protection is appreciated, believe me."

As soon as she said it, she wondered if she should have. Did she sound weird? Was she making too big a deal out of it?

But he seemed unaware of her worry. That soft expression he had remained, and he even let his arm brush hers a little, as much as their skates would allow the proximity, at least. "Well, uh, good. I'm glad I could protect you, then, I guess."

They both looked away. Thena swallowed, although even that sounded too loud in her ears at the moment. The rink was cold but her face felt warm.

Gil cleared his throat. "Uh, I..."

"Do you come to the free skate often?" Thena blurted out, before she could think better of it. She hoped she hadn't cut him off from anything important.

She just wanted to keep talking to him.

"Uh, I used to," Gil managed, even pulling one of his hands out of his pockets to fiddle with the zip of his hoodie. "Skating was always fun to me, I guess. That's how I got into hockey."

She looked at him. "Not as easy to find time for it now that you're on the team, I suppose."

He looked at her, too, knowing she knew just how true that was for the both of them. "I guess, yeah. To be honest, I liked skating, but it wasn't really my idea to join."

"Whose was it?" she tilted her head, although turning the corners again made her have to keep her hair out of her face.

"Ikaris has been on the team forever," Gil shrugged. "And he kind of convinced me to try it just 'cause I'm big. And everyone told me what a good goalie I was after, so I guess I kind of just-"

"Went with it?" she suggested, and he affirmed it for her.

"I mean, I like it," he shrugged. "But it's nice to come here just to skate. I kinda forgot what it felt like."

"Me too," she sighed, looking at the faded colours buried beneath the ice, seeing the fog of her breath and feeling the breeze through her hair. Her ankles weren't burning, her knees didn't ache. It was fun.

"I guess I should come here more often too, huh?" Gil suggested lightly, and then became sheepish again.

Thena looked down at her hands clasping together. Gil had taken the first leap, not only inviting her today but also suggesting further occasions for it in the future. It was time for her to take a leap. "We could make a habit of it."

He looked at her, his curiosity piqued.

"So we can keep in mind that we like skating," she added, rather lamely, in her opinion. But to suggest that they make a regular habit out of coming here together just for the joy of each other's company--it felt a little too much, at least for now. "Outside of practice, that is."

"Yeah," he smiled at her, his usual charm emerging again. "I like the sound of that."

Again, the invitation was a good enough idea, but open enough so as not to need a full commitment this very moment.

"Hm," Thena squeaked out. She was letting the conversation roll straight into the ditch again. But Gil really had a terrible ability to push all of her thinking power out of her head just by being near her.

"Uh, speaking of things we like just for fun...?"

Thena looked at Gil, who had the same nervous but also assured smile he'd had when he first admitted he wanted to spend time with her regardless of practice schedules.

"I was gonna try a new cupcake recipe next weekend," he admitted to her more quietly. He pulled his hands out of his pockets for it. He had no need for even the light gloves she was wearing. She could see a plain leather cuff around his wrist. He looked cool with it on. "Would you wanna...come over?"

"And bake?" she blinked. She was extremely capable of consuming the results of baking. But that didn't mean she would be able to produce anything. "With you?"

"Yeah," he suggested lightly. "You could help me test it out."

Thena just stared at him, her mouth hanging open. She felt like an idiot, but she couldn't squeak out a single word. All she could think about was what it would be like to be with Gil, in his element, baking wit him, in his home.

And as much as skating for fun seemed like a hang out kind of activity, baking with him certainly seemed more in the 'date' realm.

"Thena!"

Her head was turned for too long and she hadn't realised she was drifting directly into the path of those trying to get on and off the ice. She tried to stop, but her picks were angled wrong, making her stumble.

"Whoa!"

Gil caught her before she could fall. And as much as she was happy not to tumble flat on her face - or behind - in front of him, she wasn't sure what to make of this, either.

Thena stared at him. His hand was on her back, having caught her waist in the bend of his elbow. She knew he was big, and she knew his arms were strong, but she could never have known how true those things were until now. And he was so warm. Even with his hoodie hanging open and just a t-shirt, she could feel his warmth radiating from him.

It went through his t-shirt like nothing. And her waist was now pulled right against his. Her light sweater felt like tissue paper. Her hands were grasping onto him through sheer reflex. One had a handful of his hoodie, then other had his shirt in its grips. She looked down. The bottom of it came up, revealing just a little of Gil's beautiful skin and the top of his jeans.

"Sorry!" Thena flailed to release him from her clutches. As if the near fall weren't mortifying enough, now she was pawing at him. If her face was warm before, it was positively on fire, now.

"That's okay," Gil said gently, not even a chuckle at her embarrassing display. "Are you? You're not hurt, are you?"

He was so sweet. It made her insides feel like she was in a perpetual axle spin, twirling and twirling and rushing with joy. And she could only hope she would stick the landing.

Gil let her smooth her own fluster. He stood stationary on the ice as she ran a hand over her hair, tugged at her skirt.

"Sorry," she repeated (needlessly).

"I don't mind," Gil said just as quietly. He was so sweet--so perfect.

She tapped her picks on the ice and looked up at the rink clock. She looked at him and forced a smile, "thanks."

"Do you wanna sit for a minute?" he asked, gesturing vaguely to the stands.

She looked at Gil. She could use the excuse not to look at him, collect her nerves. But she didn't want to only be nerves around him. She wanted to skate with him more, ask him more about hockey. And she wanted to learn how to make cupcakes from him.

"No."

Gil looked down at as she reached for his hand of her own volition. She had her gloves on and he didn't, but his touch was soft. Their eyes met and he blushed, "o-okay."

She started skating again, slowly, and he followed her naturally. Face aflame or not, she cleared her throat, determined to get their conversation out of the ditch. "Tell me about this new recipe we'll be making."

Gil's face lit up, and she had to look away again. But she kept his hand in hers as they resumed their looping. He pushed himself to be next to her, stride in stride, hand in hand. "Well, I found a recipe for a chocolate and vanilla swirl. I've never tried two flavours in one before, so I thought it might be cool."

They made the very best combination, Thena thought. She smiled at him, "so, what will we need for the recipe?"

#Thenamesh Goalie AU #oh my thank you so much for asking for this au!!!!#I really loved it and I've always hoped I could write more of it #I think it's so sweet #Thena has always been 100% focused on skating #it's never occurred to her to have a crush #and then along comes this PERFECT boy #he's sweet and funny and he brings her sweet treats???#also Arishem does NOT like that he has a witness to his temper #so he is less shout-y #and now that he knows it Gil never misses Thena's practices #he's not there for the whole time #but his protectiveness is in high gear #the guys from the team ask if he's really going early and staying late just for some girl #but Gil will be damned if Arishem thinks he has the right to berate Thena like that #so then he gets the idea for the skate just for fun #and he's so excited when she says yes #they've been texting and he thinks maybe she likes him too #but she's not really a wordy person and he respects that #but now they're holding hands #they're gonna have a cute baking date!!!#Thena does actually have to tell Ajak she's going to hang out with Gil now #and Ajak is like okay honey have fun with your boyfriend #Thena: HE'S NOT !!!!!!#meanwhile Ajak is like I can't wait to have a son-in-law #also #we all know he's going to call Thena Cupcake as a petname #let's just get that out of the way right now

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