#i enjoyed the part about TJ being straight with him about what his reputation was as a prospect

[cementcornfield]

https://www.tumblr.com/cementcornfield/753116010411933696

Respectfully…. He can get it

he is Very Pretty 👀

i do encourage everyone to go watch/listen to the interview! TJ is always fun to hear from and it's a very honest and insightful look into jermaine as a person and player 👌

[13uswntimagines]

Badass to Mushball (Alpha!Ash x Alpha!Reader x Omega!Ali)

Request: Ash and Reader are alphas and Ali is their omega and they go out and Ali gets threatened by someone, so her mates come and save her

Author’s Note: So a couple of things my dudes. The TJ that is mentioned is TJ Dillashaw, who is an MMA fighter in the UFC’s bantamweight division. Most fighters participate in Weight cutting, where their every day (walk around) weight is much higher than the cutoffs for the division they fight in.  This means that they lose lots of weight (usually in water) days before the fight to weight-in, and then they gain it back overnight to go into the fight with a distinct advantage. I hope you enjoy this! hit me up with requests, questions or if you have questions!

Ali tucked herself closer to Ashlyn as the entered the crowded bar, nosing her pulse point in an attempt to drown out the assault of pheromones that met them the second they walked through the door. Ashly rubbed her back, trying to soothe her mate. They were always on edge when you weren’t with them. Between your anger leaking through your mating bond and the insane amount of pheromones in the club that Kelley has chosen, both women were a little jumpy. 

Ashlyn placed a kiss on her little one's forehead, before craning her neck to find the table she was sure her teammates had commandeered. She smiled and nodded when she met  Alex’s eyes, using the hand on Ali’s back to guide her towards the table. 

“Hey, Krashlyn is here!!!” Kelley cheered, leaning drunkenly into her alpha. Alex rolled her eyes at the woman, still wrapping her arm around her waist. Ali waved as Ash settled them down into the booth. 

“Where’s the big bad Alpha?” Alex asked the women and Megan snorted at the implication. Sure you were a big bad UFC fighter, but around Ali and Ash, you turned into a puppy. 

“She said that her fight press conference is running longer than she thought,” Ash murmured, running a hand up and down Ali’s back and pumping out her calming scent. Crowded bars had a habit of throwing off the omegas delicate systems. Ali wasn’t your typical omega, having dealt with some very dominant and assholey alphas on the pitch, but Ash’s alpha instincts wouldn’t let anything mess with her omega. 

“The champ still running his mouth?” Kelley smirked at the pair, remembering what happened the last time your opponent talked shit. 

“Yeah, he was saying some stuff about us before we left to meet you,” Ali shrugged. You had a bit of a reputation for being stoic before a fight, and making the people you faced pay in the cage. She did not doubt that you would make TJ eat his words when you finally got to beat his face in (as you so lovingly referred to it). He was trying (and failing) to get under your skin, and she was sure he would regret his efforts later. 

“Stuff? I wouldn’t call him talking about her taking it up the ass stuff,” Alex rolled her eyes. It was supposed to be the ultimate insult to an alpha. A way to question their dominance, and with one of your mates being an alpha it was an insult you heard rather often. You were secure in your mates and how powerful of an alpha you were. You loved Ashlyn and Ali, and that didn’t make you wear. It made you stronger. 

“And she didn’t blow up at him?” Kelley asked squinting at the pair. You had tried to explain how the mind games in the UFC worked, and she still didn’t understand. If someone called you a bitch, weren’t you supposed to defend yourself? That’s what you had used to justify almost starting a brawl with Connor Mcgregor at the weigh-ins before your last fight because of an off-handed comment. 

“She said something about saving it for the cage,” Ashlyn shrugged. You were very tactical and you knew how to best deal with each opponent you faced. Getting riled up would only egg TJ on further. At least that’s what you said when they asked you the same thing. 

“Isn’t she afraid of that making her look weak,” Megan questioned, leaning forward at the table, glad that she was a beta and that she didn’t have to deal with the pheromones and dominance battles that the two other bearings brought. 

“After what she did to the last guy who talked shit, I don’t think so,” Ali snorted, remembering your very impressive 5-second flying knee knockout. 

“But like just between us, is she as much of a badass outside the cage as she is inside?” Kelley asked, her smirk aiding when she saw the blush bloom across Ashlyn’s face. Your bedroom preference was no one else’s business but your own. 

“Kelley, you’ve met her. Several times,” Ali huffed, shoring uncomfortable in her seat. 

“Yeah, but like, I don’t follow you guys into the bedroom,” Kelley laughed, ignoring her Alpha’s warning glare. 

“I think that’s my cue to go get our drinks. Whiskey on the rocks?” Ali grumbled, standing and gesturing towards the crowded bar. 

“You know it, babe,” Ash winked, patting her omega’s butt as she left, casually scenting her so no alphas got any ideas. 

“What’s a little omega like you doing ordering a glass a wine and a whiskey straight?” The alpha’s smell met her before she saw him, and unlike her mate’s scents, there was nothing soothing or arousing about it. It didn’t hold a candle to their dominant pheromones. 

“Not interested,” She said dismissively, waving him off and turning back to the beta bartender. The oblivious alpha took a step closer to her, so his front was pressed against his back. 

“Oh come on baby omega,” He said in what she assumed was his most seductive voice, nosing her shoulder. Her inner omega growled in disapproval. The only people who had the right to call her that and touch her there were her mates. 

“Don’t call me that,” She hissed, jerking away from him. 

“Then don’t act like a whiny little bitch and I won’t. I’m trying to be sweet with ya,” The alpha growled, cupping the back of her neck. She tensed at the contact, his finger grazing your mating bite that adorned her neck. 

“I already told you, I’m not interested,” She spat, turning away from the man, and standing to face him. She tilted her head to the side slightly, making her two mating marks even more visible. Though she was sure he had already smelt her mates all over her. The alpha’s features darkened and he took a dangerous step towards her. 

“Listen here,” He growled low, and not nearly as dangerous and dominant as she knew a growl could be. 

“Whoa there, I think you need to take your hand off my mate,” Ali relaxed at Ash’s calming voice. Her scent wrapped around her like a blanket. She stepped backward into Ashlyn’s arms. The other alpha rolled his eyes. 

“You wanna try and play that card? I’m not fucking falling for it. Find your own hookup,” He glared at Ashlyn, stepping forward and grabbing Ali’s wrist and releasing a puff of dominant pheromones. Pheromones that were weakly demanding their submission. 

“I don’t need to find a hookup, take your hand off my mate,” Ashlyn rumbled, releasing her own very dominant scent. A sick smirk stretched across the alpha’s face, enjoying the reaction he could elicit. 

“Well if that’s the way you wanna play it, I could make you both very happy. Show you what a real alpha is like,” His voice turned cocky again, winking at the women, not noticing the presence making her way behind him. 

“Mm, no thanks,” Ashlyn scrunched her face up in disgust, pulling Ali behind her. 

“Now, with a little firm guidance I think you two will be perfect,” The other alpha smirked, looking Ali and Ashlyn over. He took a step forward placing a hand on Ashlyn’s shoulder and releasing a sickening puff of his weak scent. 

A loud growl sounded from behind the alpha, a dominant wave of angry pheromones wrapping around them. 

“I believe the ladies said no, and I suggest you remove your hand before you lose it,” You hissed, stepping up behind the man and clamping your hand on his shoulder. A low and dangerous rumble starting in your chest. You were not in the mood to play. You could fear the frustration leaking though your bond, and your alpha was pissed. Demanding that you show this asshole that he was way off base. 

You were already in a bad mood because you had to deal with a jackass champion. Walking up to this scene had just been the crap icing on top of the shit cake. Your fists clenched as you tried to control your inner alpha, who demanded you destroy this man. 

“Who the fuck are you?” He asked whipping around to face your towering form. 

“That real alpha you mentioned,” you snarled, your lip curling. You knew your mates could handle themselves, but your alpha couldn't and wouldn’t tolerate some asshat touching her mate. 

The alpha pressed out his own scent, calling for your submission, and you laughed at his attempt. 

“Get your pathetic ass out of here,” You growled, stepping toe to toe with the man, a vicious smirk making its way across your features. 

Your body reacted before your brain registered what was happening, the fighter in you taking over this interaction and shoving your very angry alpha back into its cage in your brain. You blocked his very sloppy punch, twisting his arm behind his back, and pulling him close to your chest. He yelped in pain as you made the arm lock as tight as you could without ripping his shoulder out of socket. 

“I’m gonna give you a chance here because you’re probably drunk out of your mind. Walk out of here or find out what happens,” You growled lowly into his ear, smirking when his head tilted to the side in submission. No sober person would think it was a good idea to fuck with a well-known fighter. 

“Get the fuck outta here,” You barked, shoving him towards the door, cockiness oozing off of you as the crowd parted for him to leave, your signature half-smile plastered squarely on your face as you watched him go. 

You jumped as a soft hand was placed on your shoulder, and two arms wrapped carefully around your waist. The soothing scent of your mates cut through the cloud of angry alpha pheromones that surrounded you, making your inner beast purr. You took a deep breath, shaking your head and pulling you out of the mentality you took on when you were in the cage. 

“You alright my darlings?” You asked softly, turning in Ali’s arms and burying your face in her neck, Ash’s hands on your back further bringing you down from what you all dubbed the ‘fight high,’. 

“Real alpha?” Ali laughed into your ear, bringing a hand up to scratch your scalp, sharing a smirk with Ash when you began to literally purr. It always made them feel good when you melted in their arms. When you stopped being the big badass protector and allowed yourself to be protected. 

“I thought it sounded good,” You huffed into her neck, placing a sweet kiss on your mating mark on her neck and leaning back to look her in the eyes. You shot her a crooked smile before leaning down to place a sweet kiss on her lips, 

“Mm it did,” She moaned into your mouth, and your alpha perked up. 

“Hey, what about me! I protected Ali too!” Ash whined from beside you, and you grinned, placing a sweet kiss on the alphas lips, literally kissing away her pout. 

“How was the press conference?” Ashlyn asked, rubbing her nose on your neck, just over your mating mark. A shiver ran down your spine. 

“Horrible, TJ doesn’t know when to shut his mouth,” You grumbled, allowing Ali to lead you back to the table where Alex, Kelley, Megan, and Sue we’re sitting. 

“You’ll show him,” She said with confidence, nudging your shoulder.

“And I’m grumpy cause I’m cutting weight and this place had wings,” You whined, pulling Ali to a stop and pouting at her. The weigh-ins were in 3 days and that meant you really couldn’t cheat. It sucked. She rolled her eyes and placed a peck on your lips. 

“Come on big bad alpha, let’s get you some celery,” Ali laughed, and you smiled against her lips. 

“I’ll get the wings and let you smell them,” Ashlyn giggled, placing both hands on your shoulders and trying to rub the tension out of them. 

“Do that and you’re on the couch,” Ali mumbled seriously, shooting the other alpha a pointed look. Kelley’s cackle brought you all out of your thoughts. You glanced over at her and sent her a small wave, shrinking slightly behind Ali’s 

“It’s hilarious how you go from badass fighter to mushball I’m like 2 seconds,” Kelley said jubilantly, pointing and laughing. She winced when Alex slapped the back of her head. 

“Only for them,” you murmured, sliding into the booth. It was the truth and you weren’t ashamed of it. You were only soft for your mates, and if anyone deserved it, it was them. 

[myshipshipsitself]

Title: Worth It Character(s): Cyrus/TJ, Buffy, Jonah, Andi, Kira Word Count: 2,206 Summary: Buffy POV. Fix-it, post 3x13. Buffy bringing some tough-love style advice, and TJ’s apology. (This got really long, y’all. I meant for it to be a cute, short, fluffy thing. But then I was like, let’s address Cyrus’s insecurities. And if we’re doing that, let’s address TJ’s too, why not? So enjoy the novel.)

Credit where it is due: This was inspired by @whattamiwatching ‘s little sister, so this is for y’all. (Sorry, I did change the original prompt a little in the way of which costume TJ was wearing. Hope that’s ok).

“Doing Mount Rushmore with us wasn’t that bad, was it?” Buffy asked, trying to lighten the mood. She knew from the moment that Cyrus had answered Marty’s guess at his costume with ‘Thomas Jefferson,’ that their group costume wasn’t the reason that he looked like a drowned puppy for the rest of the day.

“No, of course not,” Cyrus said quickly, putting on a fake smile that Buffy saw right through. She tilted her head down to give him a stern look and his face dropped. He shrugged, colander under his arm as they walked down the hallway towards the lunchroom. “TJ decided to do a costume with Kira, that’s all. It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” Buffy snapped. “He just bailed on you without even a warning text? The costume was his idea.”

Cyrus just shrugged. He started to say something, then stopped and shut his mouth again. Buffy waited, watching his face contort into several odd expressions before he looked up at her, his face looking more broken than she’d ever seen. “It’s fine, really,” he said earnestly. She almost believed him. Or at least, he believed himself. “I’m the second choice. I’m always the second choice. I get that. It’s fine.”

Buffy froze in the middle of the hallway. She didn’t acknowledge the girl that muttered under her breath as she barely stopped herself from running into Buffy. She could only stare straight ahead at Cyrus. “You can’t believe that.”

“Of course I do.” The look of confusion on his face, confusion at her blatant dismissal of his declaration was more heartbreaking than the look when he’d accepted that TJ had bailed on him. “Look, it’s—“

“Do not say that it’s fine,” Buffy cut him off, her voice breaking on the last word. She took a step towards him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Cyrus, you’re amazing. You shouldn’t be anyone’s second choice. And if me or Andi or anyone, ever made you think that— I’m sorry.”

Cyrus smiled a little at that, and hugged her back tightly when she wrapped her arms around him. “Thanks,” he mumbled against her shoulder.

She smiled as she pulled back, keeping an arm around his shoulders as they continued towards the cafeteria. “And if he’d rather do a costume with Kira, then it’s his loss,” she said, earning something closer to genuine smile from Cyrus. It was still a little muted, and it didn’t quite reach his eyes, but it was a start.

Except that by the time lunch was over, Buffy still wasn’t sure that it was the case that TJ had just wanted to do a costume with Kira instead of Cyrus. She had a good view of where the pair were sitting with the rest of TJ’s teammates, and she had noticed TJ shake off Kira’s hand more than once when she reached out to touch him as she laughed or said something she apparently thought was funny. She couldn’t miss the way he didn’t smile or talk much, or how many times he glanced over at their table. When he caught Buffy’s eyes, he didn’t even hurry to look away. He just looked more upset. Ashamed, almost.

“Hey, earth to Buffy!” Buffy looked around to see Andi’s hand waving in front of her face.

“Sorry, what?”

“I said we’re going to get our picture taken for yearbook. Come on,” Andi said excitedly.

When she looked back at TJ’s table, his teammates were mostly gone, and only Kira was still there, but it looked like TJ was trying to make a quick retreat.

“I’ll meet you guys there. I have to take care of something first,”  Buffy said, offering a halfhearted smile as she got up before Andi or anyone else could stop her.

“TJ! Wait up,” Buffy called, jogging over to him as he made his way towards the door. Kira was right behind him, and Buffy stopped to offer a feigned smile to the girl. “Mind if I borrow your dumber half for a minute?” She could see TJ out of the corner of her eye roll his eyes at the quip, but Kira just bounced on her toes beside TJ.

“Of course. TJ, I’ll see you after class for our costume photo,” she said, never taking her eyes off of Buffy as she spoke, a smirk on her lips as she turned to leave.

“You’ve got to be joking,” Buffy sneered at him once Kira was out of earshot. “How much did she pay you to deal with that all day?”

“What do you want, Buffy?” TJ snapped at her.

“To know why you bailed on Cyrus for such an original costume as a t-shirt with ‘dribble’

written on it.”

TJ just shrugged. “What’s it matter? Last minute change. I told Cyrus,” he said, but even she could hear that he was losing confidence in his words the longer than he spoke.

“Yeah, this morning,” Buffy pointed out. “And this has nothing to do with the fact that half the school now thinks you and Kira are dating?” Maybe it was an exaggeration, but the rumor had been floating around, and Buffy knew exactly who had been spreading it.

TJ flinched back at her words, but just scoffed. “That’s stupid. No one thinks that.”

“I don’t think that, but a lot of people do,” Buffy said. “In no small part thanks to your new costume partner telling people exactly that.”

She half expected him to come back with some lame defense of, ‘so what if people think that?’ But instead, his face dropped and he shook his head. He looked towards the door where Kira had just disappeared, then around the nearly empty cafeteria, before looking back at Buffy, all pretense faded away. “So I guess Cyrus probably believes it too,” he muttered quietly. His voice was almost broken, something reminiscent of how Cyrus had spoken to her earlier. “So why don’t you?”

“Because I’ve seen the way you look at Cyrus,” Buffy said matter-of-factly. She didn’t hesitate in her answer, though she did keep her voice quiet, too low for the few students still killing time in the cafeteria to hear. She expected him to deny it, but he surprised her again.

“That obvious, huh?” He asked quietly, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

“A little, yeah,” she said, returning the small smile. “So why go through with this ridiculous costume with Kira?”

The faint smile faded and his gaze dropped to the floor. “I don’t know,” he muttered. She could’ve interrupted given him some kind of excuse, but she just waited in silicon for him to fill it in on his own. Eventually he looked up to meet her gaze again. “I didn’t—It’s one thing, if you notice. Andi, and Cyrus, even Jonah. But—I hadn’t really,” he paused, shrugging as he looked away again, clearly struggling for the words he needed. “I hadn’t thought much about what it looked like to other people. To the team, to the school, seeing me and Cyrus hanging out so much. Doing a matching costume with an inside joke that no one else understood.”

It started to dawn on Buffy, and she didn’t think she could’ve bene any more upset with Kira than she was when the girl was on the basketball team, but here it was. “And Kira made you think it wasn’t okay?” She asked, half pissed at Kira, and half shocked that TJ’s opinion of himself, or anything at all for that matter, was dependent on Kira of all people.

“I know it was stupid. I shouldn’t have done the costume with her,” TJ’s voice was desperate. His eyes pleading with her to understand something he apparently didn’t. “Does Cyrus hate me?”

Buffy just shrugged. “Go ask him,” she challenged. She was not about to play middleman with these two when they clearly needed to figure it out for themselves. “He’ll be in the auditorium for costume pictures, and you know where to find him after class.”

“It’s not that easy,” TJ said. She loved Cyrus, she wanted to be mad at TJ when he was, and wanted to hate TJ for hurting him. But seeing him like that, uncertain and half-broken, it was impossible.

“What’s not easy about it?” Buffy demanded.

“I’m the captain of the basketball team. People expect me to be—to be something,”  TJ said, his words growing steadily less certain as he spoke.

“To be what?” Buffy asked. “To be the team captain that dates Kira? To be what?” TJ didn’t answer, and she hadn’t expected him to, but she let the silence hang for a moment longer before she spoke again. “You have to decide if it’s worth it,” she added, her voice softer.

“If what’s worth it?” TJ asked. “If doing a costume with Cyrus is worth being laughed at by the rest of the team? Worth whatever stupid rumors they would start trying to spread about me? About Cyrus?”

“I wasn’t talking about Cyrus,” Buffy said, a small smile on her lips. “I meant you. You were miserable, talking with Kira and the team during lunch. You looked like you wanted to jump into a volcano this morning instead of wear that stupid shirt with her.” She shook her head as she considered him. “Is whatever rumors would go around, or whatever you think your team would say, is that worth you being happy? Laughing, and having fun like you’ve actually been doing lately, despite my not believing you were capable of it. Or is your reputation worth going back to the guy you were a year ago? The guy that everyone was afraid of.”

He didn’t say anything, just stared at the floor between them. She didn’t say another word, instead leaving him there to mull over what he needed to do. It wasn’t her place to fix his mistakes.

Still, it took a huge amount of will power to offer even a sarcastic smile to Kira as she passed the urchin in the hallway.

TJ didn’t come by the auditorium during the photos. He also didn’t meet Cyrus after school. And according to Cyrus when Buffy met up with him twice to drown his feelings in baby taters and milkshakes, he didn’t try to contact Cyrus at all over the weekend.

When Buffy met up with Cyrus, Andi and Jonah outside the school on Monday, she was convinced that TJ was too scared or too ashamed to face Cyrus, and would end up pity-dating, or fake-straight dating, Kira for the rest of middle school.

“Why is TJ wearing a colander on his head?” Jonah asked, looking past Buffy and Cyrus.

“You’ve got to be joking,” Buffy repeated to TJ as the boy approached them. This time though, her tone was laced with amusement rather than contempt. Sure enough, TJ was walking towards them with a silver colander on his head, and a white t-shirt with a large S on the front of it, hands held behind his back. Everyone else, including Cyrus, seemed to be in shock, seeing the shy smile on the basketball player’s face, so Buffy broke the silence. “Why are you dressed like a salt shaker?”

“Because Cyrus called summer,” TJ said with a hopeful smile, not even looking at her. His eyes were set on Cyrus.

“But costume day was Friday,” Cyrus said. Buffy could already see his eyes brighten, a smile start to stretch across his lips. It was the same look he had when he’d been genuinely surprised that TJ had come to the Shiva. Warm, hopeful, and for just a moment, not quite believing it.

“Yeah,” TJ said. His face dropped, and he looked appropriately remorseful for his screw-up, in Buffy’s opinion. “I kind of messed it up the first time around. So I was hoping for a do-over?” When he pulled his hands out for behind his back, he had a Hawaiian style floral shirt in one hand, and a pair of sunglasses in the other.

Buffy wished she had a camera at that exact moment. That she could capture that exact look of bright, surprised sunshine that illuminated Cyrus’s face. Something to remind Cyrus that he was worth it. To capture the bright, warm smile on TJ’s face that had been far more present as of late. To remind TJ that he was worth it. But from the look in TJ’s eyes when Cyrus reached out to take the shirt, he already knew.

She watched as Cyrus pulled on the shirt over his polo, before reaching out to take the sunglasses. He put them on, smiling bright as he spun back around to face Jonah and Andi.

“I don’t get it,” Jonah said, eyes shifting around between the rest of them for an answer.

“Somersault!” Cyrus said excitedly, before pushing the sunglasses up on top of his head and turning back to smile at TJ. “It’s our thing.”

Buffy just smiled eyes meeting Andi’s, and they just shook their heads at each other before turning back to look at the pair, still smiling brightly at each other, oblivious of anyone else around them.

Those two idiots.