Just A Fling: Equipment Room
My favourite genre of writing: 'Dany refuses to acknowledge that she is not fine'.
This is set in an AU with @wildfae-afterdark, mentioned Peyton (in his pure, unaltered form) belongs to Vic. Set a while after Dany and Peyton started their affair. And then, something else happened.
[Just A Fling Masterlist]
Content / warning: implied past assault (m/f), past drugging, memory gaps, trauma response, allusions of gas lighting, allusions of date rape (even though that's not what happened), implied consentual sex.
The thing that finally makes Dany cry is hearing the question out loud, the very plain, very simple question she's been asking herself every night since the party.
"What happened?" Dennis asks softly from behind her.
She's been gathering her clothes from the floor of the tennis club's small equipment room, while he's still lounging on the folding bed.
She wasn't ready for this.
Her muscles lock painfully and she freezes right there, back still turned to Dennis.
"Dany?"
Nothing, she wants to say. You're overstepping. None of your business. You're my coach, not my therapist. Fuck off. Shut up. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
But the words won't come out. The white tennis dress she's just picked up tumbles back to the floor.
Nothing.
Fun. Let's just have fun.
The bed creaks as Dennis gets up steps in behind her. "Shh," he murmurs. "Sit down, Dany."
Shh. It's alright, Dany.
It wasn't. It isn't.
Dennis steps around her, lets her see him, before he carefully puts a hand on her forearm. "Come on. Sit."
He guides her back to the stupid, creaky folding bed, and nudges her to sit down on the edge. She follows numbly.
She followed someone else numbly, too.
"You're hurt," Dennis says.
Dany shakes her head. She's not. She's had a medical check. Not even a scratch. She's been assured she's in perfect physical shape.
She's fine.
"You've been acting off all week. And right now, while we were - You're never like this. I... I know something is wrong. What happened?" Dennis repeats.
He puts a hand on her knee, and she flinches. "Nothing," she whispers and pushes his hand back. "Nothing, I'm good."
"Listen, I know we're not friends, I am in no position to intrude but -"
He's right. They're not friends. Dany doesn't fuck her friends, and she doesn't befriend her fucks.
She likes it like that. Never personal. She makes sure they agree on that.
Peyton had agreed on that, too.
"Please, Dany," Dennis urges. "Did someone -"
Stop, she thinks. Please, stop.
Tears well up in her eyes, and she can't do anything to hold back.
"I don't remember," she whispers. "Please. I... I don't know."
She remembers being with Peyton, flirting, kissing, laughing. She remembers being alone, cold, dissheveled, with a foul taste in her mouth and a horrible headache.
She remembers his texts from later that night, she's stared at them, countless times since.
you were really drunk. i think maybe you took something too, you were acting strange.
drink some water.
It's okay. He wasn't her friend. He doesn't owe her anything. She's a grown up woman, she's capable and strong, and she's responsible for her own actions.
Liquid ecstasy, her tox screen had said.
Let's just have fun, Peyton had said.
Dany sobs.
Dennis' arms wrap around her, and oddly grateful, she buries her face against his chest.
He smells like Dennis, a bit sweaty, a bit of his too strong sports deodorant, a bit like the softner. Not like Peyton.
Not like the other figures that have been haunting her nightmares.
Not like the one who -
No. This is just Dennis.
"I'm fine," she croaks. "I'm sorry, Dennis, I'm... I'm fine. I-"
Someone rattles at the door, followed by an angry knocking. "Dennis? Open up. I don't care about your private lessons. Forgot my bag in here."
"Fuck." Dennis hisses, as he jumps up and gathers their clothes from the floor, tosses her dress back at Dany.
"Coming, buddy, just a sec."
Dany slips into the dress, as Dennis stuffs the rest of his stuff into a bag.
It's okay. She's good. She wipes her eyes with her hands, runs a hand through her hair, and calls up a practised smile, when the door opens.
"Ah, afternoon, Dany," Brad says, without batting an eye. "Nice seeing you back. Can I put you two on the roster for next week, then? Mixed double?"
"Brad, Dany's not -" Dennis begins, but she silences him with a single glare.
"Never been better," she lies smoothly. "Put us on. Let's crush them."
"Cool," Brad says, as he opens a locker and pulls out his bag. "See you then. And make sure this room gets aired."
Dennis stares at the door closing behind him and back at Dany. "Dany, you really should -"
"We play tennis," she interrups. "And we fuck sometimes. That's it. None of that gives you the right to tell me how I'm feeling."
"I was just -"
"I'm good. I deal with my stuff, you deal with yours." She flings her bag over her shoulder and sniffs. "And Brad's right. We should really let some air into this room."
"Whatever," Dennis scoffs. "Yeah. Sure."
And, right as she leaves the room, "Just get help, Dany. Please."
She pretends she didn't hear him.
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people are saying that as time goes on or they move out of the south, there’s a societal pressure for them to move their accent.
i have the opposite happening to me. i’m from oklahoma but tulsa, so big city, most people i knew growing up didn’t have strong country accents unless they grew up on the outskirts or from a small town in OK and then moved to tulsa.
i’ve lived in sevierville tn since beginning of april and i’m surrounded by locals who DO have a lovely ‘twang’ in their voice, and i realized a little of that has transferred to me. i feel safe here and love the mountains and culture.
im 20 so feel like it’s bc im still developing and i kind of love it
i love that you're surrounded by that beautiful accent <3
tangentially, i've always thought it to be a little difficult or... idk, off, to compare oklahoma/texas/arkansas etc area with the appalachian south, even though there are obviously some common cultural threads
i think what i mean is... there are a few unique intersections/factors you'll find pressing in on appalachians who feel we have to get rid of our accents--which are going to be different from what might drive someone, like, in the middle of the country just not wanting to sound a certain way--which contributes to why many of us shed ours. so maybe it's easier to like... lean into the TN accent for you? bc you didn't get raised in it? if that makes sense
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