#meet me in the pouring rain

[sellasstories]

MEET ME IN THE POURING RAIN

word count: 2.0k

pairing: caitlin clark x reader

⚠️warnings⚠️

swearing, angst (somehow)

prompts:

the fame and pressure hitting caitlin a bit differently one day that she leaves practice early which she never does. her worried teammates all text you about it when you’re in the library and you quickly leave and you eventually find her shooting shots alone in an outside court off campus

best friends to lovers (i had to)

you and caitlin’s first kiss being outside in the rain

You woke up to your phone ringing, realizing with a start that you’d fallen asleep studying in the library. Seeing who it was, you immediately answered. “Hey Mon, what’s up?” you asked groggily.

“Did you not get any of my texts?” Monika practically screamed into the phone. “We’re really worried about Caitlin! Do you know where she is?”

“What happened?” you asked worriedly. Frantically, you opened your messages to see 16 different texts from Monika, Kate, and some more of Caitlin’s teammates that you barely knew.

Monika sighed. “I don’t know. She seemed fine most of practice, but near the end she missed a 3 and just ran out. That’s never happened before, and it was a really tough shot anyway. Please tell me you found her!” Monika’s voice broke and a pit settled in your stomach.

“I’m so sorry, Mon, I was studying and fell asleep. I’m just seeing all this now, but I promise I’ll go find her,” you attempted to reassure her.

“Thank you so much! I’ll let you know if she comes back, but I have to get back to practice,” Monika said regretfully.

“It’s alright, you’ve done what you can. I’m sure she’s fine,” you said brightly, hoping Monika couldn’t see through the fake positivity.

You packed up your books in record time and sprinted to the dorm you shared with Caitlin. You knocked before entering in case she needed privacy, but you knew that it didn’t matter the second you stepped inside. Everything was exactly how you’d left it. She hadn’t even come here and definitely wasn’t here now.

Dumping your books on the table, you tried to call Caitlin again and again, but everything went to voicemail. You started to panic. This wasn’t like her at all.

You rushed around campus looking everywhere that you’d ever gone with Caitlin, but had no luck. It was getting dark and the tears that you’d been fighting back were starting to spill down your cheeks. You realized that it had started raining at some point, but you were so focused on finding Caitlin that you hadn’t noticed.

Resolving to call the police if she wasn’t in your dorm when you got back, you turned to go home, crying openly now. Suddenly, you remembered the hidden basketball court in a park 5 minutes away from campus.

It didn’t make a lot of sense, but you decided that it was worth a shot. When you and Caitlin had passed it months ago, it hadn’t seemed like anything special to you, but Caitlin had been ecstatic. “It’s purple! Have you ever seen a purple basketball court? And the bushes on all the sides? It’s so awesome!” she’d gushed as you’d rolled your eyes. Nevertheless, you’d stayed with her for another half hour as she ran around and shot imaginary baskets before you’d both collapsed onto the ground and laughed hysterically.

You were so lost in the memory that you were surprised to already see the four tall hedges that surrounded the court looming in front of you. You took a deep breath and brushed the wet hair out of your face. You knew you needed to go in, but you hesitated at the gate. If she wasn’t there, what would you do with yourself?

Concern for Caitlin outweighed your worst-case scenario thoughts, and you opened the gate and stepped onto familiar purple court. The gate was close to the bleachers, so you couldn’t see if anyone was there in the fading light. You took a few tentative steps forward before hearing the clang of a ball bouncing off the rim followed by cursing in a voice that you immediately recognized as Caitlin’s.

You wanted to run over to her, but realized that she maybe still needed some space if she had gone to all this trouble not to let anyone know where she was. You were already drenched, so you sat down on the bleachers with a sigh. You watched Caitlin shoot over and over and over again, making perfect shot after perfect shot. She shot from everywhere, and when you thought to start counting, she made 37 shots in a row. Finally, the ball rolled around the rim and out, and Caitlin sank to the ground with her head in her hands.

You cautiously walked over to her. “Linnie, it’s me. Everyone is so worried about you. Mon, Kate, your whole team. What’s wrong?” you asked, keeping your voice calm. You hoped that using your childhood nickname for her would be comforting somehow.

Caitlin looked up at you in confusion and you could see the tear tracks on her face even in the rain. “How did you find me? And Linnie? Really? It’s been years. Please just leave me alone… I have to fix my shot and I can’t deal with other people watching. I’m fine.” Her words were firm but her voice caught on the last declaration.

You didn’t know exactly why, but you were suddenly angry. “No, you’re clearly not fine! And don’t lie to me, I don’t deserve that! We all called and texted, you should’ve answered someone. Do you know how scary that was for all of us? For me? You’re the most important person in my life and I couldn’t get to you! Caitlin, I was just about to call the police for fuck’s sake!”

Caitlin took a shaky breath before blurting out an explanation. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think anyone would mind. I just needed to get away and I couldn’t bring myself to go back. You’re making this so much harder, please just go,” she whispered, looking up at you with glistening eyes. “I’ll come back tonight, I promise.”

“Caitlin Elizabeth Clark, I’ve never left you before and I’m not leaving you now,” you declared. “If you want to stay here and shoot for some reason, I’ll stay with you. But I don’t think that’s going to fix whatever is up with you. You and I both know that your shot is perfect, so it has to be something else. Please, just talk to me.” Caitlin opened her mouth like she was going to speak, but closed it again. Shrinking under your determined gaze, she sat down and stared at the ground.

“No matter what I do, I know that it’s never going to be good enough. I’m never going to be good enough! How can I be what they say I should be if I can’t even hit 50 shots in a row? All those times my dad yelled at me to try harder, and it didn’t even matter!” Caitlin shook as sobs wracked her body and you swore that you felt your heart shatter. “I just- I just don’t want to let anyone down! There’s so many peoples’ hopes riding on me and I don’t want to disappoint them,” she sniffled, still refusing to look at you. You sat down beside her and tentatively placed your hand on her back.

“It’s okay… it’s not your fault if people care that much about what you do, and you’re amazing already. This is proof that you care so much, which will make you fantastic,” you praised her. “You’ve won so many awards already, and through it all you’re the same wonderful person that you’ve been since I met you.” You realized you were crying now, too. Caitlin buried her head in your shoulder, clearly crying again. You gently tilted her chin up so you could look at her.

“Listen to me, okay Linnie? If it’s too much, you can always stop or take a break and no one will fault you for it or if they do I’ll punch them. No one wants to see you work so hard that you stop having fun! 50 shots in a row is insane, and somehow you still almost made it on a non-regulation outdoor court that you’ve never played on, in the pouring rain, in a terrible mental state, while crying your eyes out! Do you understand how actually crazy that is?” You couldn’t help but be a bit in awe of her, even given the circumstances.

“I only made 44 in a row, that’s not even that close,” Caitlin pouted. “And I don’t want to take a break, I think today was just weird or something because I promise I’m not usually like this,” she rambled as you moved her hair away from her face. “And how is this crazy? I know it’s not the easiest solution, but it’s not my fault that it started raining, and-” You cut her off with a kiss, not knowing how else to express all of your emotions that had just surfaced.

“Shit Caitlin, I’m sorry! That was so wrong, I should’ve asked first, or just not done it… I’m so sorry please forget about that,” you apologized instantly. To your surprise, Caitlin was smiling for the first time since you’d found her.

“Don’t worry, it’s okay,” she said quietly, looking into your eyes. You watched her gaze shift briefly to your lips and were sure that you had to be imagining it. There was no way that your best friend could possibly feel the same way, was there?

Still smiling, Caitlin laid down on her back and pulled you on top of her. You barely had time to notice how beautiful she looked with her wet hair fanned out around her head before she was grabbing your face and pressing your lips together.

Caitlin pulled away just enough to speak, keeping your foreheads pressed together. “Do you know how many years I’ve been waiting for you to do that?” she said almost reverently.

“Years?” you exclaimed in shock. “I literally realized I was in love with you like a minute ago!”

“You’re in love with me?” Caitlin asked, a hopeful look in her eyes.

You thought back to all your years of friendship. You’d done everything for her. You weren’t sure if best friends followed each other to university, but you were sure that they didn’t look at each other the way you’d been looking at Caitlin since you were 15.

“I think I always have been,” you smiled. “I think there’s just always been so much going on that I didn’t notice until now somehow.”

“Oh. my. god. You love me!” Caitlin was grinning like a maniac. “I love you too, by the way,” she smirked, kissing your forehead. Her joy was contagious. Soon, you couldn’t stop smiling either.

“I don’t really want to ask you this while I’m sitting on top of you, but would you, Caitlin Clark, the greatest basketball player ever, who is allowed to take breaks, like to be my girlfriend?” you asked, throwing a pointed look in her direction when you mentioned taking breaks.

“I would love to… as long as the breaks are time to hang out with you,” Caitlin agreed enthusiastically. You smiled down at her. Tangling your hands in her hair, you leaned in for a passionate kiss. You made out on the court until the crack of lightning made you both jump away from each other.

“I think we should get home,” you said, offering Caitlin your hand. She accepted it, pulling you into a bone-crushing hug once she was on her feet.

“Thank you for finding me,” she mumbled into your neck. You felt her say something else as she pulled away, but didn’t know what it was.

“You’re welcome, I’d do it every time,” you replied. “What did you say after that, though?”

Caitlin smiled evilly. “I suggested that we have a hot shower together when we get home,” she said casually as she went to pick up her basketball.

“What the fuck, Caitlin? We haven’t even been dating for an hour!” you yelled after her, trying to keep the smile out of your voice.

“I guess that’s something I have to look forward to, then,” she tossed over her shoulder. You ran to catch up with her, rolling your eyes.

You left the park hand in hand, warmed by the sun that had miraculously broken through the storm clouds.

[cloudxxiia]

"And what if this was never about me, because that was how I'd wanted it to be?"

starting Small with a meet me in the pouring rain chapter 5 visualizer, for UndyingFlame week Day 1 — with the prompt (new) beginnings!

meet me in the pouring rain is a 5-chapter, 22.6k-word pre-timeskip undyingflame fic by yours truly! it explores joshua and jote's relationship through joshua's eyes, inspired by taylor swift's sparks fly. 🥰✨

[itspileofgoodthings]

me facedown in the middle of my new apartment’s carpet: Taylor please release Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) soon

[lizzie-is-here]

ERAS TOUR

nashville- night three

“in a storm in my best dress, fearless”

holy shit

so anyone who follows the tour knows ab nashville night three by now

if not, we had a storm warning and had to shelter in place for four hours, and taylor went on at 10

it was cold, rainy, and miserable

but i wouldn’t trade it for anything, because the energy of everyone flooding into the seats was unmatched fr

taylor was as magical as usual, every song was amazing

“rain only chooses a crowd that can handle the rain show”

ALSO MY FAVORITE SONG EVER AS THE SURPRISE SONG?

WOULDVE COULDVE SHOULDVE MY HEART

ANYWAY HERE’S PICS

[jesseisdesperate]

Getting ready to meet speak now (Taylor’s version) at midnight 🕛💜🫶🏻🤭

[jeremysknoxes]

💖💫 Send this to your favourite blogs to let them know that you appreciate and love them! 💫💖

<333 I LOVE U TOOOO

[youdontneedhenry]

Oh god now I’m thinking of Sparks Fly too.

the playful conversation starts, counter all your quick remarks like passing notes in secrecy.

[bandaidsdont13fixbulletholes]

Sparks Fly Taylor Swift mood board

[beingsuneone]

DROP EVERYTHING NOW

[intomyveins]

yall say taylor swift bad until she drops new speak now

[gem-morey]

"Nah, no need to bother," Gem said, shrugging and looking back out into the rain, mostly to avoid prolonged eye contact. He already felt his heart doing somersaults in his chest. He'd been so close early, so close to stepping over his own boundaries that it unsettled him. Made him want to kick himself.

Hopefully the cold rain would clear his thoughts.

"I'll just go around the back." So he didn't trek mud through the house. He could jog and make it to the truck in just a few seconds. Besides, he was already soaked to the bone.

And Snow needed the towels more than him anyway. He could see her trying very hard not to shiver as they stood there.

"I'll see you later." He gave her a little nod and then, before she could protest anymore (if she protested, if she insisted he stayed for a towel, for a warm bowl of broth, he would--)

He turned and jogged back into the rain, disappearing around the side of the house.

@lady-snow-flower

Meet Me In The Pouring Rain 🔥 || Snow Quartz

[cloudxxiia]

In an instant, a hand was laid on his shoulder in an effort to steady him. And perhaps it was as though he’d been conditioned to rely on it all his life, but the effects were immediate—his breathing, which had quickened in a moment of frustration, suddenly slowed to a calm.

finally finding time to work on the last chapter of meet me in the pouring rain !! it's been a hot minute but i'm happy to see the 5-chapter fic coming to an end so don't mind an influx of wip dumps 😭🤲

[stephanie-strange]

“Too sensible?” She retorts. “The last time I had sex on a hard surface my back was fecked up for a week…”

She takes his hand and leads him through the compound to her room.

It’s full of bookshelves and odd artifacts and really would seem more like an office if it weren’t for the massive four poster bed.

@stephanie-strange

The sounds of the battle going on on the ground couldn't be heard high up in the sky and Tony was glad for that. He couldn't stand the sound of people screaming and shouting, the sight of them attempting to flee from the line of fire only to end up being hurt or worse killed by those otherworldly beings which New York was full of. It brought back unpleasant memories and made his chest tighten, panic was gripping on his neck, making his breath stutter but he did his best to shake the feeling off and focus, think.

The key, Tony was sure, to stop the legions upon legions from coming, was destroying the wormhole which was tearing apart the sky. Now, of course that was easier said than done. His strongest guns hadn't been able to destroy the levathians and it didn't leave him with many choices.

Then salvation came in the form of Fury's voice in his ear, and yeah, if that was salvation, the world was surely ending.

He informed the team below him: There is a nuke coming in, it's gonna blow in less than a minute. And Tony knew exactly where to put it.

He spotted it with JARVIS's help and flew towards it, gripped it and lifted himself and the nuke higher up the sky, straight towards the wormhole.

The inside of it was beautiful as it was terrifying, full of foreign stars and alien ships, he couldn't stop looking at it. He slowly let go of the nuke and saw the wormhole beginning to close. At least if he died, he would have a beautiful view, minus the ships. Then the wormhole started flickering around him as it closed completely and the nuke exploded sending Tony hurling through the dark starry galaxy.

And he landed somewhere. Hard.

He gasped for breathed and opened his eyes, finding himself still encased inside the suit. His surroundings familiar but at the same time not exactly.

He startled as one of those damned Chitauri was on him, snarling at him and he fired his repulsor.

[flamedork]

dreaming of s3 actually having a berkeley square type scene and the edits that'll come after it with sparks fly playing over it

[lavenderfell]

karlach deserved a kiss in the rain scene with sparks flying

[slickshoesareyoucrazy]

Halfway

Whats up, A? It's halfway between our birthdays. Well actually tomorrow is, but I have that all day library meeting tomorrow, so I came today. Academic team is 2-0 winning big both times, after 2 seasons of mediocrity until the playoffs, and I can't help but feel you in that. Happy birthday a bit early, I guess. I'm gonna try to come back on November 1, which is Day of the Dead. I know we're not Mexican, or any kind of Latin American, but we're not Jewish either, and the rocks seem to be working out. Hurricane force winds last week knocked our idiot neighbor's dead tree over to bust a big hole in our back fence, but the storms didn't move your rocks off your stone at the cemetery. That's why I'm leaving rocks. L came home right before my birthday and she gave me a piece of sea glass her niece gave her off a Florida beach to give you, so I brought that. And we did a charity walk in the city this weekend along the river past the ballpark, so you got a rock from there too. I told a coworker about you late last week. She told me my locket had opened up on your hinge with the Boy, like it does all the time except for when I'm with J, and does nearly constantly when I'm at work and I snickered a little. She asked why I was laughing. I told her that it feels a lot like you're talking to me at the library, and that's the hinge popping (among other things). I was waiting for her to give me this face 🤨🤨🤨 and call me crazy, but she didnt. She agreed. 'Oh yeah. He's definitely messing with you.' She didn't even know you alive, but she said it with confidence. I told her about the rocks and she's in Maine with her family this week, so she said, 'Well I think A needs a rock from Maine.' There's my first person who barely knows ME now that cares about you. I'm getting better at it. Letting people know me, so that they consequentially have to know you.

I started writing again last week. Something new. Not so raw and alight with grief that it's not even fiction like the last piece I wrote (which was straight up about you). But still about you.

I'm gonna try and find you an all weather bell for next time. Not a rock. Because 'bells.' And I'll be back unless there's another freakish Kentucky hurricane on November 1. That's the day you're supposed to be able to meet me halfway. I hope you do. I miss the fuck outta you still every single day. Love you and still hate that you're here. 💔❤️😥