#now he could’ve been a champion and then left that position to be a gym leader? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

uwua3 · 5 years ago

Note

Hello, can I please suggest a childhood friends to lovers troupe with Banri? Thank you so much!

of course! i put this off at first because i wanted to understand banri’s character a bit more and what direction i wanted to go with this! it might be a little bit opposite of what you wanted but i hope you like it~ ♡ i hope you don’t mind childhood enemies to friends to lovers ;)

summary: all your life, you wanted to beat settsu banri, just once

warnings: arguing, breaking the law, bullying(?), injuries, physical fights,

author’s note: this is definitely much more different from anything i’ve written! please enjoy it~

being naturally good at everything = wanting to compete at everything once’s there’s someone worthy and i think it’s a complex we need to address. honors students who get burnt out often give up because it’s not easy at first. setting children up to be the best and putting them against one another instead of encouraging teamwork is evil and a flaw in the education system. so take risks, and take down any institution that disrespects you :)

word count: 4,298

music: hot girl bummer – blackbear, preacher man – the driver era

childhood champion.

🍁🥇 settsu banri

banri was the most insufferable, annoying kid to ever walk the face of this earth

everyone picked him first for their sports team in gym, he always knew the answer even when the teacher caught him sleeping in class, and he knew what a multitalented threat he was

it was so unfair! even as a child, you had to spend countless hours studying the next topic to stay ahead but banri did it without even trying

you were second in class, he never even wavered or was worried about his valedictorian position

banri was so, so annoying

you two were the first picked to advance to honors–level classes the next school year in middle school

you actively rose your hand in class to get the answer correct. you sat in the front and kissed up to your teachers so they would submit more than just “a pleasure to have in class” on your report card

banri would doze off in the back if he was forced to attend school. it would take multiple tries to get him to wake up and even then, he could’ve summarized the entire class lesson with no effort. he didn’t care about other people’s opinions

which must have been nice, considering how everyone either loved him or fully hated him

you two were never aware of each other’s existence throughout elementary; it wasn’t until your teachers constantly compared you to banri’s perfect grades and banri to your model student behavior that you began to despise each other

to you, banri was your #1 rival and competitor. everything you did, you wanted to beat him at. but to banri, you were just another tryhard that wouldn’t survive in the real world

it was when you were the only student getting every question right that you talked to him for the first time. you rose your hand again, a pleasant expression on your face as your teacher looked around, sighing as everyone averted their gaze

before the teacher could call your name, you felt a wadded–up paper ball hit the back of your head and a snicker. the class went dealthy quiet for once

you whipped your head to the back to see banri’s egotistical maniac of a smirk staring right back at you

“nerd.” banri dropped, his arms behind his head and feet propped up on his desk. his bag wasn’t even open and his pencil was stuck behind his ear. what a troublemaker

“mr. settsu! apologize this instant, we do not tolerate name–calling in this classroom.” your teacher reprimanded maturely, watching as banri shrugged and put his feet on the ground with a loud thud. leaning forward, banri put his hands together with an exaggerated sad face as he batted his eyelashes

“i’m so sorry~” banri laughed, his mocking tone making you narrow your eyes, plastering on a fake smile as you simply nodded and turned around. it wasn’t worth it to fight with someone who didn’t even care

anger boiled in your blood, all you wanted to do was turn around and give him a solid punch

yet, you straightened your posture, answering each question precisely with a tight grip on your pencil as you felt more spitballs land near you

no boy was going to get you to stop focusing, and especially take class time away

banri didn’t know why he bothered trying to piss you off anymore when you didn’t react. it was boring him, to say the least

when he “accidentally” stole your lunch, you just used your allowance to buy something from the lunch ladies (who absolutely hated that they had no evidence he stole from the fruit bar). when he knocked your books over off the desk with a bang, you just picked them back up and moved to a different table. hell, he even started a grade–wide game that pretended you weren’t there. you didn’t care, you kept doing your schoolwork

you were so, so boring

banri was on cleaning–duty for vandalism or whatever, something that didn’t follow the school guidelines. he was assigned to his homeroom classroom and had to wipe down the desks, sweep the room, and scrape off gum under any surface

“what the hell...” 13–year–old banri cursed, kicking at the dust pan as he didn’t want to start. he didn’t clean, he was good at it, he just didn’t like doing it

turning on his heel to ditch the classroom and deal with the consequences later, he was face to face with the fakest smile ever as you leaned against the doorframe (seemingly satisfied with his predicament)

“sorry, settsu. i’m here to supervise you to make sure you’re cleaning, today.” you dropped your sweet, quiet tone and revealed the truth: a tough, tired attitude that was ready to snap at any point. banri raised his eyebrow, crossing his arms as he scoffed, looking to the side

this should be fun

“oh yeah? what will you do to stop me? can you even handle me, i’ve seen how you don’t score shit in gym.” banri spat, your lip twitched at the swear as you had an incredulous look

two could play at this game, you weren’t backing down

“i’m not here to fight, settsu. i want you to hurry up so i can go home and do my homework.” you heard his sickening laugh throughout the empty hallway. it echoed, reminding you how he had no filter or manners whatsoever

“homework?! imagine needing that to pass. even i don’t do my work... and i’m at the top. how sad.” banri fueled the flame on purpose, eyes glinting with something of boredom and a wicked evil found in prepubescent boys

“you wouldn’t know what that’s like, though, right?”

you clenched your fist, all the pent–up rage you withheld in to have the higher ground was beginning to turn your vision red

“come on,” banri grinned, finding fun in driving you insane as he lazily moved into a fighting position, not expecting anything. “hit me—”

you didn’t remember what happened next, but you had to sit next to banri who had a black eye with an ice pack up to it in the principal’s office

both you and banri received a weeks worth of suspension for having a fight on school grounds

you hated settsu banri. and he found you interesting, so he didn’t say anything when he came back, letting the rumors die down

banri wanted to be your friend. your punch wasn’t even all that bad, maybe he could teach you how to hold your fist

but you avoided him at all costs now. he started going to school more frequently, and played impractical jokes on you in between classes just to get a reaction

you didn’t do anything. you just requested a schedule change and had classes on the opposite side of the building

classes became boring again, no one wanted to fight with him because they knew they’d lose, and he stopped attending classes out of spite

banri couldn’t believe he may have finally met someone who had some balls to do something to his shitty attitude and you just left

but throughout the years leading up to his first year in hanasaki, banri had immense respect for your 12–year–old self who landed a nasty hit (it totally would’ve k.o.–ed him if this was a video game)

banri had his eye out to see if you were in the front row with your hand up, or if you were hiding in the library behind towering shelves, or if you were even just moving past him in the crowds of people in the hallways

but it’s like you disappeared out of no where, how boring

you kept a secluded, mysterious reputation. no one had anything to say about you because you did nothing to get attention. so banri couldn’t even track you down through the grapevine of gossip

you disappeared and remained second (behind banri, of course)

as school went on and the summers cleared his mind, banri slowly forgot all about the young kid who gave him a black eye

as he passed the exams to qualify for entry in hanasaki, he didn’t even think twice if you were gonna be there

second year at hanasaki academy. 16–year–old banri nearly dropped out because of his own insatiable boredom. he got into more fights (he always won), ignored his classmates, and just kept being a huge jackass even unprovoked

school was so, so boring

class rankings were released after finals, banri remembered strolling up to expect his name at the top spot but watched as the crowd of students nervously parted to let him through

his eyes automatically landed at the #1 spot (he never checked anyone below him, they were dumb) but it wasn’t his name. instead, he saw yours. you were beating him

letting out a sarcastic laugh, banri backed up and left without another word, leaving the students to breathe a sigh of relief they weren’t the next victim of an infamous settsu roundhouse

how long had you been at this? how long did you study just to see your name printed over his? he must’ve been a big deal to you

banri ditched school early, about to hop the back fence before he noticed a flash of the academy’s school uniform above. halfway up the fence, banri looked behind him. no one. looked up, and you were sitting at the edge of the rooftop, swinging your legs casually

after all these years, and banri found you on accident

“hey.” banri drawled, waving up to you who seemed lost in your own world. you had a loose grip on some textbook, staring off into the slow clouds. you must’ve missed the lunch bell signaling the end of eating. you? skipping class? it was almost too funny to be true

banri bristled under the lack of attention. it’s been years and this was the response he got? he was ready to start shaking the fence to alert everyone within a one mile radius he was here. yet, banri noticed the hardcover textbook that must’ve cost hundreds begin slipping from your fingers. you didn’t care to notice

“hey! hey! what the fuck!” banri tried to make you snap out of it, but he swore as he leaped from the fence as soon as the book started falling. you shook your head rapidly like you just woke up, nearly falling over as you watched banri catch the heavy textbook with one hand as he rolled onto the rough pavement. it was a move out of a superhero film, like he was a professional stunt double

you gasped, scrambling to get off the edge and jumped. banri was about to yell a very inappropiate curse, but you grabbed onto the tree branch nearby and climbed down easily. it was like you did this countless times... what the hell happened to you and who was this that replaced you?

“oh my god! i am so sorry, i wasn’t paying attention at all.” you apologized sincerly, offering your hand to help pull him to his feet. banri ignored the pain in his shoulder and hip as he pushed himself up, the scrapes on his palms and rips in his uniforms making him wince for a moment. you noticed

“you idiot! what were you thinking? you could’ve died!” banri snapped, pushing the textbook to your chest as you stumbled back, eyes wide. you huffed, feeling aggressive as every instinct to fight with him came back as strong as ever despite banri’s heroic act

“don’t act like you know everything about me! i said i was sorry, what else do you want?” you fought back, pushing him back even harder with your book. banri felt something burn inside him for the time ever since you punched him: excitement

“let’s settle this. you. me. right here. right now.” banri got into a battle stance, pretending to be very serious when he didn’t even hit girls. but, he wanted to piss you off so bad. he was so bored of his life being on super ultra easy mode (it was like you were the final boss)

he didn’t even get another word out before you sighed, put your backpack and books down gently, rolled your eyes, spun around, and kicked him straight in the jaw

you had used the infamous settsu roundhouse kick against him

this time, he was much stronger than he was before at thirteen. he straightened himself up, stared at your clenched fists, and laughed

“after all this time, you never learned how to throw a real punch?” banri taunted, but the playful tone of his voice gave himself away. you slowly backed down, going back to your normal position as you revealed a tired smile. you ran your hand through your hair, seeming to contemplate on whether or not you should respond before shrugging

“never really had to fight losers like you before.” you retorted and banri gave an impressed look that you even made a comeback. rubbing his jaw and feeling the bruise about to form, banri watched as you stuffed your books into your bag

“by the way, that was for everything you put me through in middle school.” you stood up, flipped him both with hands confidently, and left. turning the corner, you winked and shot him a finger gun, showing you didn’t hold any grudges anymore for his stupid behavior

“wait—dammit.” banri rushed to catch up with you, but you were already gone the moment he went over. there was no trace of you and banri kicked the wall out of frustration, regretting it immediately when he forgot about his injured leg

“mr. settsu!” he heard from one of the classroom windows and looked up, seeing his maths teacher glare at him. uh oh

banri put his hands up, knowing security would have to come drag his ass to class

he could’ve swore he heard your laugh as he got yelled at for getting caught, making him subconsciously smile

(banri got into more trouble when the teacher thought he saw it as a joke)

gossip was exchanged as banri came into class sporting a bruised jaw and ripped clothes. they said the gangster was finally taken down by someone who he was no match for, it was almost laughable

i let them win, banri thought, barely paying attention to whatever his teacher was writing on the blackboard

but banri wanted more competition. he couldn’t just let you hit him even if he fully, 100% deserved it

banri closed his eyes, falling asleep with his hand in his cheek. you better not have any plans this afternoon

it was 5pm. you were heading out of school after finishing all your extracurricular duties. it was exhausting pretending to care, faking a smile just so your superiors thought you were the perfect leader. whatever gets you into university, right?

you needed a break. you stepped up to the rooftop after sneaking into the locked stairway. oddly enough, it was already open. you tip–toed in on guard, preparing to hit someone with your bag before you noticed a shadow against the pavement

but as soon as you stepped out, banri was waiting

it was nearly sunset, and banri was playing some game on his phone against one of the benches against the border

you paused, not sure what to say before he casually looked up and did a double take, rushing to pocket his phone and standing up

silence. like you two had nothing to say after all these years. you didn’t expect to see him again, you stopped caring about his laziness and focused on yourself even if you didn’t have the motivation anymore

banri awkwardly put his hands in his pockets, the blazer elbows almost torn to shreds. a strand of his hair fell in front of his face, you wanted to reach out and push it back

here you were, with a perfect appearance with nothing out of place, as expected of a model student. your uniform was ironed to perfection and had no creases despite your tree jump. you learned how to get rid of the evidence

when nothing seemed to be happening, you almost turned around before banri spoke way too loudly

“i’m sorry.” banri choked out, like he was saying it against his will. you froze, not wanting to turn around as you gripped the strap of your backpack. was he being serious?

“i’m... sorry for basically picking on you in middle school. it was dumb of me, i was stupid.” banri explained, appearing cool but his fingers were clearly fidgeting in his pockets. oh, he was serious

a part of your child self felt like it was healed, knowing you had one over settsu banri. you nodded, turning slowly to face your childhood rival. your childhood competitor. the childhood champion of everything

this time, you were the winner, but it didn’t feel like it

“yeah? i’m sorry for beating your ass twice then.” you joked, seeing the tension leave his shoulders as he naturally laughed. it was almost therapeutic to finally not fight for something for once

“truce?” banri put his fist out, and you didn’t even have to think about it before moving forward and fist–bumping him

“truce.”

you and banri became close after your so–called peace treaty. you put all the rivalry behind you, you forgave him

banri surprisingly understood you had a “perfect reputation” to uphold despite all the secret trouble you got in. in public, he stayed away and pretended like you didn’t exist. in private, you two snuck onto the rooftop to have lunch and stay until night, talking about nothing and everything at once

you even tried getting him back on track, using the temptation of competition to trick him in doing his work (it at least worked half the time)

(“i definitely could finish this faster than you!” banri protested, scribbling his answers and he always finished first. he never realized what you were doing when he was in the heat of the moment)

banri had never stayed at school this long, his attendance was making a come back and he was even looking forward to times he could see you in between classes

(he never put this much effort in, he didn’t want to find out he wasn’t naturally good at being your friend)

everything was good. you two were compatiable friends who cursed every middle school teacher who set them up to be enemies. you swore at teachers who now abused their position of power and laughed about leading a revolution. you two were young, dumb teens who wanted change. you wanted anarchy, he knew enough about it to get behind it

banri texted you screenshots of his elite gaming status in the game he recommended to you, getting a response the next day proving you were almost at his level. damn. he could respect that

banri took you to his favorite local arcade, (believe it or not) after you claimed you could at least tie him at something. when he saw you get frustrated, he pretended to stumble on the arrow pad for DDR and feigned annoyance as you beat him for once. he even gave you his spare coins once he got bored and watched you, adding unnecessary commentary you’d kick him for

(“not again!” banri pretended to cower, protecting his jaw that was already healed)

you guys would even raid 24/7 stores after leaving school, stocking up on snacks and energy drinks so you could stay awake throughout the day after game night

but his favorite thing to do with you was sneaking out and returning you back before curfew. banri was naturally a homebody that didn’t find the outside fun, but when you confessed you never had a late night drive before, he arrived a block away and nearly gave you a heart attack when he knocked on your window

(you two agreed to have a special code and banri would knock to the beat of your favorite game’s theme song)

that night, you sat on the hood of his car and watched the stars, unaware of how banri couldn’t tear his eyes away from you

when banri dropped you off and helped you back in with his hand at your back, he nearly fell off the tree as you made your way onto your second–floor bedroom

you smiled, a strangeness to your windswept hair and messy clothes. you didn’t care what you looked like around him

banri gulped, forcing himself down the tree as he ran to his car, heart racing a mile a minute

what the hell was that? banri took a deep breath in the driver’s seat, rubbing his forehead as he groaned. why did he feel like this? did you do something to his soda or something?

as banri drove home, he flipped on the radio. teenage dirtbag by wheatus blasted on the inner roads

“how does she know who i am? why does she give a damn about me?”

banri braked, the car halting in the middle of the road. it was 3am, the street lights gave way to the empty, deserted road

oh my god. he liked you

he liked the person who gave him a black eye, got him a week suspension, kicked him in the jaw, and got him caught by his teacher

teenage dirtbag faded out on the street as banri sat there, listening to the lyrics

“fuck.” banri deadpanned, knowing things wouldn’t be good if he kept acting up like this

well, everything was good, until that night

banri arrived at midnight sharp like always. you rolled out of bed with full clothing ready for any night activity he planned

he took your hand to go down even though he knew damn well you didn’t need the help. sneaking out was like second nature at this point, it was a miracle you two hadn’t been busted yet

you two were stealthy, avoided all the cameras your parents put in place after noticing there were footsteps imprinted on the grass (it didn’t bother banri, he liked the challenge)

speeding off, banri slowed down to the speed limit once he saw you push the roof down and stick your upper body out into the wind. he shook his head, lowering the windows as well. he heard you scream along to whatever pop song was on at the top of your lungs

in that moment, you forget you were hanasaki academy’s perfect model student. you were just a person having the time of their life with their best friend

pulling into an abandoned parking lot, banri stopped in the middle as he tugged your shirt down. his wolfish grin seemed electric, like he was high on a predictable adrenaline rush already

“hey, do you trust me?” banri revved the engine, one hand on the wheel and the other out as a fist

it felt like that day back on the school rooftop where you made a truce with your middle school rival. like everything was about to change

without a second thought, you bumped your fist to his. “i do.”

banri shifted to level one as he turned the wheels to a full direction. you held onto the edge of the door as you realized what he was about to do

“you’re joking!” you yelled over the sound of the engine, banri flashing you a quick wink before the car started spinning. he was doing donuts because you said you wanted donuts the other day, this was not what you meant!

“you knew i didn’t mean it like this, you jerk!” you protested, but couldn’t help but laugh along with banri as smoke rose from the tire tracks on the concrete. you felt dizzy, but you never felt more alive laughing with your best friend in the middle of the night

banri suddenly stopped, his foot on the brake as a distant shout made you freeze

“hey, who’s trespassing?!”

“go, go, go!” you yelled, pushing banri’s arm as his foot triggered the gas and changed the speed. you guys zoomed out of the supposedly “abandoned” parking lot, hearing the random owner attempt to chase after you before tripping on his own feet

“holy shit!” you exclaimed, not feeling sorry you were laughing at the man who was now shaking his fist at you. you knew it was too dark to even see banri’s license plate, you were fine. you felt your energy peak as you couldn’t help but turn around with a wide smile

“did you see that guy’s face, he looked like he was ready to kill—” you started but banri braked again, both hands tightly gripping the wheel. you almost lurched forward but banri stuck his arm out against your chest, holding you to your seat as he glared at you

“how is this funny to you? we... you! you almost got caught! your future would’ve been ruined, do you understand how severe that situation was?!” banri ranted, sweating as he had to practice controlled breathing to prevent himself from saying something he’d regret. he was so worried, he never cared this much

“so what at this point? what’s there to even live for after college?” you scoffed, crossing your arms as you looked away. banri’s arm started retracting, but he randomly grabbed your face and pulled you over the divider, looking you deeply in the eyes like he never wanted to let you go. like he wanted to remember this forever

“me. live for me.” banri muttered, before he closed the distance between you two. your childhood rival, competitor, and enemy liked you

high on adrenaline, you kissed back. you were on top of the world

and suddenly, everything was good again

you both won

#settsu banri #banri settsu #a3! act! addict! actors!#a3!#act! addict! actors!#a3! actor training game #a3! headcanons #act! addict! actors! headcanons #mankai a3!#mankai company #a3! x reader #a3 x reader #banri x reader #a3! banri #a3 banri

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red-sterling · 4 years ago

Text

hello it is angst time (brief tw for mention of suicide)

The worst part is that he saw Red leave.

Green watched him go. It wasn't really a passive decision necessarily, no, he didn't stand his ground and watch him run, it was nothing like the time Red watched Green sprint away from the Indigo Plateau when he lost, it wasn't just a scene played out on the stage of the world. It was a chase, and because it was a chase, Green hesitates to say he saw Red leave. He didn't truly see him flying away but he felt it, he felt Red getting further away, one Charizard chasing another, and, and, and fucking -

Green has always trained his Charizard to attack and to endure. Red trained his Charizard to make quick hits and to dodge.

Red was faster.

"Hurricane, now."

"Pidgeot!!"

Red was faster.

Charizard sits beside Green, tail swishing lazily against the grass. Green is focused only on Pidgeot, though, watching the bird perform the same attack over and over and over, he can see how the bird's feathers quiver against the wind, hears how the wind whistles around him with each attack. He's been calling Hurricane for almost an hour, and he's sure, oh he's sure it's getting to be exhausting, Pidgeot's accuracy is failing him but the accuracy isn't really Green's focus now.

Red was faster.

"I see you're still training, hm?"

It's Lance, of course it's Lance. Green didn't even hear his Dragonite land out here, didn't hear the wings flapping over Pidgeot's own. Sometimes the world is just too far outside of him. It's funny, Red had told Green before that sometimes the world is too close to him, he hears footsteps approach a door before he hears the door latch shudder and turn before he hears someone entering a room, but Green can just envelop himself in his training and suddenly everything else is gone.

Red is gone.

"I'm busy," is Green's curt reply. "What do you need?"

Lance hesitates. "Well, I came to ask you the same."

"Nothing. I didn't call you." Pidgeot hesitates, looks back at Green. "Keep going."

"Geot..."

"Go on." No answer. Green sighs. "You're not feelin' it anymore?"

"You're pressing him harder than usual, Green."

"I know. We're changing out training regimen a bit." Pidgeot caws, flaps his wings, then just settles down where he sits, fluffing himself out comfortably. "Trying to, anyway."

"You may be shifting gears too fast for them. You haven't been training in quite some time."

He hasn't had anyone to train with, that's why it's been awhile. Red hasn't been around.

"It's fine. We picked right back up where we were and now we're moving forward." Pause. "My team's not that weak, Lance. I might not be a Champion anymore," ow, ow, ow, "but that doesn't mean you can look down on us. Stop worrying so much."

"I'm not worried about your Pokémon, Green."

Green finally turns to face Lance, glares at him. "If you're coming here to mock me, go away. I don't want any part of it."

"That's not it."

"Then don't insult me. Tell me what you want, or leave."

"I want to know if you're okay, Green."

Green turns back to look at Pidgeot. "If that's all you wanted to hear, you can go. I'm busy."

"I won't leave until hear an honest answer from you."

Green does not answer. Red wouldn't have answered either.

It kills him inside, parallels that he draws between himself and the missing Champion. He's torn, he's furious and he's miserable and he's lost lost lost without Red by his side. It feels like there's nothing worth training for, nothing worth chasing. He knows he could beat the Elite Four, he could beat Lance right now if he pushed himself, he already knows what he can do and now there's nothing else he even wants to do.

He wants to battle Red again.

"Green."

"Go away."

"I don't like that you're not answering me."

"Well I don't like that you're bothering me. Fuck off."

"Green."

"What do you want from me?! I don't wanna talk about it!"

It.

It could refer to literally anything in this series of events, this never-ending cycle of misfortune. It could refer to his loss, loss at the Indigo League or loss of his parents or loss of his Raticate or loss of sleep or loss of hope or loss of Red Red Red - and it's always going to be about Red, everything is about Red, Red who wanted to just be Red and not this prodigy of a child, Red who would hate that people are still talking about him now. He left for a reason and, and it kills Green that he's not even fully sure why. It must have been a mix of pressure from the media and other trainers and the Champion responsibilities and the why don't you talk, tell us, say something about that, but Green still - still - he never got a clear answer and he doesn't know what he could've done to have convinced Red to stay and, and...

Red was faster.

Now Red is gone.

"Green - "

"Just get out of my hair already. We're not doing this today."

"You say that every time I come to check up on you, Green." Pause. "You've been saying that for months."

"At least I'm talking this time. Isn't that enough?"

Red was faster and when Green lost track of him he'd screamed his name until his throat was raw and his voice was gone. It felt like Red was a phantom stuck in his throat for weeks, Green had never stopped yelling Red Red where are you get back here you're so stupid where did you go come back long enough for his voice to recover.

The search was officially called off two months after Red disappeared. Green hadn't spoken for two weeks after that.

There was never an official ruling, but there were rumors. Green heard all of them. He's Red's rival, of course he heard them all, of course everyone asked him what he thought, asked if he believed the rumors that he ran away to Kalos to he got mauled and eaten by a Pokémon to he went off training and died in an accident to he killed himself to, to -

Red could be dead. The worst part is that Green will never know.

"Fuck..." It's a breathed curse, shuddering, but Green keeps his composure for now. He takes a deep breath, steadies himself, cuts the world away from him, keeps his heart as far from the world as Red is from him. "I'm fine, Lance. I'm just bored."

"Bored." he hesitates. "I see."

"...you're holding back."

"I'm not sure if this is the best time to ask this of you, Green, but," and of course Lance is still going to ask him anyway, "we do need a new gym leader for Viridian City."

Green should be excited at the offer. His chest just hurts.

"I'll do it, if that's what you want me to do."

"No, I want to know if that's what you want. You've seemed restless, and you'd be plenty strong enough to hold the position, so..." He hesitates. "That, and you already turned down the Champion's position."

Green might be the first one in history who's ever done it, looked at the throne and the crown that were offered to him and said no, thanks, I don't want it, but it's because it's too close to Red and Red is too fast and any time Green walks into that room his heart feels like his heart is rotting.

"...I'll do it."

"Do you want to?"

"It's better than doing nothing, I guess."

"That doesn't answer my question, Green. Do you want to be Viridian City's gym leader?"

"It's better than running away and not telling anyone where you're going and leaving them to have wonder why you left and if you're still alive or not."

Red was faster. He would've even been faster to start crying here but he would be faster to get over his feelings, too, at the very least he'd be able to mask himself more readily, he's used to breaking down and catching his breath but Green doesn't quite have that ability, doesn't have any of the abilities that Red has, he has - he's - he can't - fuck -

"Green..."

Green sinks to the ground, sobs, doesn't care if Lance is watching him cry because he's seen him in a worse state of disarray than this. Pidgeot makes his way over to Green and rubs his feathers against Green's face, sponges the tears away, preens his hair in a feeble attempt to comfort his trainer. Lance kneels beside him and keeps a steady hand on his back and says nothing.

Charizard leaves his head low. Red's Charizard was trained to be faster and yet Green had trusted that his own would've kept up at the time.

Green hasn't flown on Charizard since that night.

Nothing more is said until Green finally catches his breath. His syntax sounds as if he hasn't just been sobbing but the quiver in his voice betrays him. So too does Lance's voice betray the formality to the words, matters of appointing him a gym leader said in the same tone as a parent comforting a child, because he knows Green won't accept that tenderness directly because Green feels he doesn't deserve it because he let Red get away because Red was faster -

When the conversation ends, Green doesn't bother getting up. He lets himself fall asleep on the ground, looking up at the stars, wondering if Red is looking at the same sky.

(He's not. Red is looking at the calcified roof of a cave on Mt Silver. The snow clouds over the mountain would hide the stars from view anyway.)

When Green wakes up the next day, he rides Pidgeot home. He wonders if Red is still flying around on Charizard. He wonders if Red would still outrun him.

(He wouldn't. If Green came to him now Red wouldn't even move because he's too tired to face anything, too tired to face anyone.)

He wonders if Red is lonely.

(Red wonders the same about Green.)

#this isnt polished enough for ao3 but here you go #sterling content

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the-tendo-blog · 5 years ago

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ok but edgy pokemon au where after the villainous team gets defeated, arceus or something punishes them by mutating them into monstrous versions of themselves.

giovanni was the luckiest, due to his gym leader status he still remained mostly normal, but he can feel the pain of all the pokemon around him. he can feel his skin being singed off his body with no heat in sight, drowning in bone-dry land, his body ripped apart and look down to see himself perfectly intact. of course, the pokemon aren’t having nearly as painful experiences. the moves are as if they were used on giovanni himself. even seeing a battle on tv makes him sick to his stomach. but he has a gym to run, regardless of the status. no one must know that all he can feel is pain.

Maxie, however, wished arceus was as merciful with him. maxie can’t feel anything but scorching heat anymore. hot lava flows through his veins, slowly roasting him from the inside out, only kept alive due to his tendency to vomit excessive amounts of magma, the stuff drips out of his every orfice. he can’t get too close to any kind of liquid, as he could turn to stone until the lava inside of him heats up his skin, starting the process all over again. you can tell how many times he tried, the thin sheets of rock from previous attempts at finally ending his suffering remain on his skin; a monument to failure.

Archie’s body is barely held together, his body is more liquid than solid. any kind of heat is fatal to him, as he could evaporate easily. being too cold is just as bad, should he freeze. much like Maxie, liquid is much avoided since he could liquefy with it. the two leaders exchange glances from safe distances, silently asking each other how everything could’ve gone so horribly wrong.

Cyrus got what he wanted, he is the god of his own universe. he has burns on his skin from the heat of the stars illuminating the universe inside of him. supernovas within his universe have torn off limbs of his, another one growing in it’s place. he glows faintly, and you can see black holes in his eyes destroying everything in their path. every now and then Cyrus is ripped apart atom by atom and rebuilt again, just like he tried to do to the universe around him.

Ghetsis suddenly takes on the form of wild pokemon at random, enduring everything from starvation to accidentally becoming a punching bag for bigger, stronger pokemon. just when he may find some semblance of comfort or happiness in his pokemon form, he disappears and finds himself in that castle in his human form. alone and unloved.

Lysandre is barely recognizable. rubble is embedded in what’s left of his skin, his bones have cracks that sometimes make them break all over again. his voice has been reduced to an inhuman, hellish roar. he tried to seek out his old friends, and tried and tried to show them it was him, but was only met with screams and attacks. realizing he had become everything he hated, he went to the kalosian catacombs and wanders the halls, wailing to whatever deity is out there to put him out of his misery. local legend tells of a nightmarish screech below lumiose city said to bring bad luck to those who hear it.

Arceus knew guzma posed no threat and thus only gave him a small but persistent curse. whenever the mood struck, guzma would be hallucinate wildly. psychadelic delusions of becoming an island champion dissolved into bright neon colors that re-materialized into fun-filled beach days that dissolved into nothingness, leaving him with nothing but crushing guilt. when he decided to try and redeem himself, the hallucinations became positive messages of encouragement and persistence. now, the alienating highs are few and far between.

#pokemon #team rocket #team magma #team aqua #team galactic #team plasma #team flare #team skull #giovanni #magma leader maxie #aqua leader archie #cyrus pokemon #lysandre #guzma #team rainbow rocket #au #imagine rainbow rocket with these guys thatd be fucked up #body horror

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pikachu78109 · 5 years ago

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After Thoughts on Pokémon SwSh ((SPOILER HEAVY! TREAD CAREFULLY))

Okay, wow. So, I played and finished the main story in two days (I had so much free time after college classes) and I managed to power through the game in no time at all. Right now, I am doing post game, but I’ll save that for another time. For now, I want to address my overall thoughts on the main story and some of the pros and cons that this Gen has brought. Spoiler heavy content incoming!

Pros

1) The region is f*cking gorgeous!

When the Pokémon team really puts their mind to it, they create Galar to look really beautiful. From past generations, most of the town weren’t really towns, they looked like villages. And though the cities looked big like in Gen 5, 6, and 7, Gen 8 really pushed itself with its graphics and made the design of the towns and cities looks massive and eye catching. The colors pop and the things that stand out really stood out, such as MotoStoke, Wyndon, Hulbury, and Hammerlocke. These games are just so gorgeous to look at!

2) The Wild Area

Grinding as never been as fun when you’re in the Wild Area. Not only can you Dynamax your Pokémon when approaching as Power Spot, you can encounter rare Pokémon and Camp and do some serious training before the next Gym Match. I used this area a lot when playing through this game, and I have collected so many Berries and items and even battled some Pokémon to level up my team. This area has a functional use and something worth mentioning because I found this area to be extremely helpful whenever I need a bit of grinding. There are a few Trainers, heck there’s even a nursery if you want to drop off a couple of your Pokémon there, and they do sometimes give you items in exchange for Watt power. It depends on how much though, but you could get some rare items from them, if possible. Overall, a really great addition!

3) A Good Cast of Characters

Galar has so many characters and the majority of them are pretty good! While there are a few that I felt could’ve been stronger or competent even, most of the characters have different personalities and each one displays vast characteristics that make them stand out. Marnie, Bede, and Hop were great rivals and each one had a personal goal and under went character growth (Bede especially) as the story continued. Other characters like Sonia were present in the story and offered more to the plot, like telling about the legends in Galar or assisting you on your way. Leon was a character who was present most of the time and was a great Champion. Most of the Gym Leaders were unique in their own way (some more than others) and gave Gym Missions that could either frustrate you or not. It’s definitely not like Gen 7 where the cast gets involved one way or another, but in Gen 8, the cast never felt forgettable and had something to offer.

4) The Soundtrack Is Good

If I can pull a Trugreen 7 here, the music in this generation was pretty good. It brought a lot of life to the region and gave it atmospheric energy. My favorites include the Slumbering Weald, the Gym Leader theme, Chairman Rose’s theme, and Hop’s Battle theme to name a few. The Wild Area gets hit with a blast of bagpipes, giving it a distinct identity apart from the routes, cities, and towns. When the OST for this game comes out on iTunes, I’m definitely going to download some of these tracks!

5) Very Immersive

The attention to detail on the games bring out the immersion was pretty good. There’s definitely some humanity to the main character and there are a few things that accompany that. The Pokémon Camp mechanic was a great way to play with your Pokémon, make curry, and even invite other players to join your Camp. Not only that, but you could visit any nearby Pokémon Camps and interact with the Trainer’s Pokémon if you so wished. There’s a lot of upgrades to the character customization where you have a lot of options to choose from, from clothes to hair, so you could give your player character some identity that’s unique to you or look like you. The Power Up Spots found in the Wild Area invites players to join in a battle against a Dynamaxed Pokémon, so the use of teamwork and connecting with other players helps bring out more usage to the Dynamax mechanic. The region can get pretty easy to get sucked into and it shows.

Cons

So, now that I covered some of my personal favorite pros, I will now discuss some my personal cons that I have with this game. Keep in mind that these cons are of my personal opinion and maybe you might disagree, which is perfectly fine! Anyway, here they are!

1) The Story was Lackluster

As a new game on the Switch, the build to the story was something that I was looking forward to. I mean, there have been leaks about the story that were more like rumors, but they sounded really interesting and it got me hyped for the games. After playing through the story, it wasn’t much. The story, for the most part, was hardly a story. You’re just going around Galar, competing in the Gym Challenge and stopping whatever obstacles that come your way, such as Team Yell. Plot wise, there’s nothing. And when I mean ‘nothing’, I mean that the plot didn’t attribute to anything spectacular. The ending to the story felt very anti-climatic with the whole Eternatus situation and could’ve been handled better with the proper timing or with a better build up. Eternatus does not get mention much throughout the entire story and we are led to assume that Eternatus is the cause of The Darkest Day. That detail felt super unclear to me and I couldn’t tell what the f*ck was going on until the very last half of the game. I will get into more of that later, but for now all I can say is that I liked the leaked rumors more than the actual story we were given.

2) Chairman Rose Is A Weak Antagonist

Why? WHY?! As much as I like his battle theme, Chairman Rose is such a dumb antagonist! Listen, I know that villains in Pokémon can either be weak or great, but it all boils down to their motivation. Their motivations have to at least make some sort of sense, even if it is mediocre or half assed. Chairman Rose’s motive is all based around semi good intentions that can be similar to Lusamine’s from USUM. However, Chairman Rose doesn’t seem entirely aware of what he is doing and jumps into whatever scheme that he thinks might work and help all of Galar. Instead, his plans come off as lazy and last minute. We don’t get any occurrences to his antagonistic intentions because we are devoted to our Gym Challenge while Rose hides behind the shadows. To his credit, he would have to be the most sane antagonist in all of Pokémon and does turn himself in afterwards, so clearly he knew that he f-ed up. That being said, he would have to be the weakest Pokémon villain in my book and I would’ve preferred his secretary Oleana to be the villain instead.

2) Oleana Should Have Been the Main Antagonist

Like I said, Oleana should have been the main antagonist in these games. From the get go, she gave off so many red flags for being a character with less than good intentions but was actually a supposed Admin instead. I mean, she gives off so many bad vibes that I almost believed that she was the antagonist, not Rose. This was just a missed opportunity to me, because in the final stretch of the games, you get a bunch of Macro Officers who supposedly started a fan club surrounding Oleana. Like, wtf?! If you’re lackeys are going to making a fan club dedicated to you, then that has to say something. Oleana has always been a character that just had a cold expression on her face, but she’s left in a position that should’ve been rectified. Once again, this was a missed opportunity.

3) The Champion Battle Could’ve Been Better

As much as I adore Leon, the Champion battle against him didn’t feel as challenging as I hoped it would be. Instead, it almost felt like Gen 6 all over again with me almost knocking out his team completely with little to no effort involved. And he’s supposed to be the ‘undefeated’ Champ in Galar! Shouldn’t he be challenging? Shouldn’t he give me a hard time by providing moves that could put my team in a bind? There’s not much I can say about this other than the fact that this battle could’ve been better. I don’t know about other players, but from this experience, the Champion battle didn’t feel, well, Champion enough.

Final Thoughts

Okay, final thoughts. Obviously, I do have a lot more to say about Pokémon SWSH, but I didn’t want this post to become a lengthy essay. There were definitely some step ups and it’s clear to see where the steps were made to creating this game. Despite the controversy surrounding this Gen, I hope that this generation gets recognized beyond that. There are good things about this game that I pointed out, but there were also some things that felt rushed or didn’t make much sense.

I can’t say that I regret buying these games, because I am glad that I went to Galar and experienced many things from that region. Still, the things that stood out poorly really did show, which is a bummer because these were missed opportunities that could’ve made the games a lot stronger. I don’t think that Gen 8 is a bad game (heck I place that title onto USUM) but it’s definitely in a mixed bag with me.

If I were to rate this game on a scale of 1-10, I would give a 6/10, mainly because of weak story but accompanied with beautiful visuals and a decent cast of characters. The game does have some replay value but I believe that I might restart my game and play through everything all over again. That’s how I usually roll.

Recommending this game to other players would be difficult given the reputation this game has, but as a Switch game, it does an okay job. I just hope that the next games will have more effort and something to look forward to without any unnecessary drama to blacklist it. I can only dream.

#pokemon #pokemon sword and shield #nintendo #gen 8 #galar #spoilers

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thesportssoundoff · 6 years ago

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Everybody is winning except us

Joey

October 7th

Of all of the ways this could've gone, I'm really surprised I didn't figure this would be the EXACT way it would go.

You can't predict Khabib going feet first into a melee outnumbered like 5 to 1, you can't predict Conor McGregor having a "Greedo shot first" moment by actually throwing the first punch (although in his defense, as he scales the cage, someone else is scaling it and I would've assumed anybody from Khabib's corner is going to be after me or my team at that point), you can't predict riots or a full on culture/nationalistic war.

You can always predict chaos in MMA. You can always predict the WORST CASE SCENARIO in this sport.

If you think of all the positive aspects from just the fight alone, you could be here for a while. Conor McGregor took two years off of MMA, came back to fight the scariest dude and had an actually not half bad performance given the stylistic match up, the rust factor and his natural shortcomings as a fighter (quick twitch high reflex muscle memory guy with poor cardio). If anything he could have/should have been applauded for taking the risk and we'd all be asking how a run back goes with an additional six-ish months of training. For Khabib, he once again answered another litany of questions and for the most part aced the toughest test of his career. For the UFC, they put on a tremendous fight card without a hitch, made massive money and set themselves up for another run of successful fights for both guys including a rematch. Everything could've been positive.

But this is MMA. The Worst Case Scenario more often than not will rear its ugly head at the most inopportune time. There's no point in step by stepping anybody through the brawl. What's done is done, what happened happened and everybody and anybody has their opinions on it. We all gain nothing from replaying it over and over. It's more about how we leave this entire fiasco with perceived egg on the faces of everyone involved.

I feel like we have to begin with Khabib Nurmagomedov because at the end of the day, he's the guy here who took this entire joke to the next level. You can't go and fight dudes at the cageside area. That's basic common sense stuff. The problem is that this isn't the first time Khabib has been involved in utter tripe before and maybe this is just who he is. To me, nobody has had their public perception hurt the way he has over the past few weeks from the homeless guy push ups to the presser comments to the open work out fiasco. If "gotten to" is a deal then Khabib epitomized it this entire weekend. Even his brief press conference was a trainwreck as he went from contrition for his behavior to wondering why it was a big deal and dare I even say, attempting the tried and true Whataboutisms that ultimately lead down a road to nowhere. It takes great skill to talk for a minute and reveal you still don't quite get why you're going to be a in a world of trouble.

Now if you believe in the receipt then Conor McGregor's been way overdue for one. This is an act that's spiraled out of control since his KO of Jose Aldo (and perhaps maybe even a bit before that happened) with an eventual "Oh Shit" coming at some point. You don't continually win in shit situations of your own making before something eventually backfires on you (unless you're Jon Jones) and Conor's last two years have exposed the very worst of the act. The Andre Fili/Artem Lobov situation, the Bellator incident, bar fights, speeding tickets of a dangerous sort, the ENTIRE Mayweather-McGregor fight lead up, the bus incident and the presser that was basically a collection of "Too far!" material in an already "Too far!" situation. Conor's gone for it on 4th down a lot recently and every situation he's either scored or gotten a penalty bail out from the bad decision. Eventually those do catch up with you and here we are now. Again, the erosion of SBG; it's image as a gym full of average dudes accomplishing great MMA shit evolving into the world's biggest collection of fake McGregor's has to be mentioned. What do you do when King Midas' left hand turns everything to gold but his right hand turns everything to shit?

Of course we can also bundle up everybody else into one neat and tidy paragraph here; the UFC for being a business first and not a common sense machine second. The bus attack was part of the story in my opinion and couldn't be neglected BUT somebody with a hint of common sense should've said "tone it down" to Conor and Khabib about religion, this that or the other thing. Instead they played it fast and loose, like they did/do with DC vs Jones, without realizing that Jones vs Cormier was a really personal rivalry about two people who for the most part kept it at two people. Hell taking it one step further, we can say that the UFC should've told Conor to tone it down in 2016 or 2017 or 2018. This is what happens when a fighter gains power and becomes TOO big to say to no to. You get this. Conor should've been told "No!" faaaar sooner than this. How about SBG and Khabib's cohorts who seemed to want to interject their asses into this as much as the two fighters themselves. We can also turn a sarcastic thumbs up to the majority of the MMA media; the ones who bloviated "Conor's back!" as he poured out his presser best but not once stopped to ask if maybe this whole religion/nationalism/family feud was going a bit too far. The same ones who refer to last night as a disgrace (which it was) without stopping once along the way to ask if we were heading into this situation by virtue of nobody wondering if this was spiraling. The ones who are SO reliant on MMA (and ergo the UFC and ergo Conor) to do well that they, like the UFC, allowed anything to go in the pursuit of the traffic. Lastly and perhaps most painfully? Us as fans. When the things that sell are always the worst, the bar is always raised. As consumers we have the ability to dictate what we receive and if what works is the dirt worst? Well that's on us, no? If we ascribe to the "We fight in a cage, nothing is bad for the sport" mantra then we wear this. We may not have asked for THIS specifically but that's neither here nor there because we've asked fore more of the bad shit. We ASKED for this.

And ya know the sick part? Everybody wins here really if you think about it. Assuming Khabib isn't suspended for life and incapable of getting back into the United States? He'll have a Conor McGregor rivalry for years to live off of. The same goes for Conor who has mastered the "losing the fights where you have an out" approach. Vs Nate? Well that was on two weeks notice at 170 lbs! Vs Floyd? First fight in boxing! This one? Two year layoff vs the world's greatest wrestler! Once Dana White gets over his personal shame and disappointment? The business man is going to make him realize that he'll have general wealth for every generation he's ever going to have with a Khabib vs Conor rematch. The folks decrying this as shameful will playfully bite their nails and play the "Who knows what's gonna happen!" gimmick at every presser, every face off and every single day leading up to the rematch. Those who shout about how "passionate" these fanbases are will continue to do so while also saying "they're not ALL like that!" when confronted with every social media clip of fans brawling and fighting outside the venue. Even Dillon Danis, a less self aware Robert Drysdale who fashions himself as a bootleg Conor McGregor, has basically made himself into a household name now. Everybody wins because so long as consumers want it? Business ALWAYS wins. That's the nature of the game. It's MMA at its dirt worst and there's perhaps no other place MMA shines then when it's at their dirt worst. Be it boxing or MMA, business booms at the dirt worst level. This is seemingly where the sport actually wakes up and decides to perform.

There are basically just two losers here really. The first is the lightweight division which sure looks like it's careening towards yet another stripped champion. And potentially yet another interim champion. And potentially yet another year of question or determining just what the hell is going with the most loaded weight class in sports with fighters stuck on a broken elevator that's going neither up nor down. We have the most blessed division in the history of this weird sport and right now we have a champion who's about to be suspended, a former champ who is probably going to chase "money fights" now and the real champion who seems one poorly timed stunt away from ripping everything on the lower half of his body. The world's most talented division is about to get its dick buried in the dirt again for no reason other than the guys at the top of the helm can't control themselves. The other loser? Those of us who cling to the hope that one day this sport won't be like this. At the end of the day, we need to stop assuming MMA's going to one day grow up and just resign ourselves to the knowledge that it is what it is. For those of us who believe this thing is going to clean itself up? Probably not happening. The idea that one day in the not too distant future fights will be able to sell on the basis of being great fights and we won't need to squeeze every bit of juice out of it by resorting to the dirt worst (be it DC referring to Jon Jones as a junkie, anything Colby Covington does or the latent ethnocentrism used to sell this feud) should be dead now. As much as we all want MMA to treat itself like a sport, what the people want---and seemingly what EVERYONE involved in this sport wants---is this. We built this sport on it and now we gotta own it. All sports have brawls/fracases but they're not the drawing point to drawing people in. We WANT this. We OWN this.

If you don't believe me, wait until Covington vs Woodley to confirm it all over again. Prepare yourself for the worst case scenario.

#MMA #UFC #UFC 229

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not-so-lonely-star · 7 years ago

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Not So Straight Golden Boy (1/2)

Word count: ~7,000 Rating: T+ Summary: Corbin Harvey has always had a small manageable crush on Kent Parson. Unfortunately for him, that crush remains neither small nor manageable once he stumbles upon Kent naked in the locker room. A/N: So I may have written 15,000 words of Kent and an OMC... oops. Anyway I have everything pretty much written and just need to edit the next chapter. I should have it posted on Monday. Thanks for reading/liking/commenting! A03

Harvey wanted to go home. He’d been at the rink since 6 am and he was literally five minutes away from murdering someone. He should’ve told Audrey no when she asked him to take over her shift. Of course he’d said yes because he’s a dumbass and she was having a kid, but still.

He was doing the final walkthrough before locking up when he noticed the lights on in the locker room. Harvey sighed and walked in, one of these days the cleaning crew would remember to turn out the lights. Harvey rounded the corner into the room and immediately froze.

“Naked Kent Parson!” he said, hands flying up to cover his eyes.

“You can just call me Kent.”

“Oh my god,” he said. “Oh my god Kent - Mr. P - Kent Parson,” he stumbled over his words. “I am so sorry, I was just coming in to shut off the lights. I had no idea someone was still in here.”

“It’s fine man,” Kent said, and he sounded weird - a little sad maybe.

Not that Harvey would really know what he normally sounded like in person since he was fairly certain Kent had never said more than hey to him as they passed in the hallways before - but still. Harvey wanted to look at him, see if he really was sad but the three second long glance he’d gotten of a toned, tanned, wet bare chest a moment ago had him squeezing his eyes shut behind his hand.

“You don’t have to keep covering your eyes you know.”

“But you’re naked!” Harvey said before he could stop himself. God he was making a fool of himself.

Kent huffed out a sound that was probably supposed to be related to a laugh. “Bro, I’ve got a towel on.”

Harvey slowly lowered his hand and yup that was definitely a towel draped low across Kent Parson’s hips. He was sitting down in front of his locker, legs spread looking for all the world like he belonged on the cover of a magazine instead of in a smelly gym locker room hours after the game ended. Harvey had never really been into hockey players per say. He didn’t have a crush on any of the Aces - seriously seeing the mess they always left for the cleaning crew nipped it right in the butt. But Kent Parson - well even Harvey could appreciate a body like that.

“Okay, well now that I’ve made a fool of myself,” Harvey said, backing towards the door. “Can you just turn the light out when you’re done?”

Kent Parson nodded and stood, grabbing his clothes from his locker. And Harvey figured he was being dismissed. Just before he made it out of the locker room he turned back towards Kent.

“Hey,” he said, tapping a hand against the locker room door frame. “Good game tonight, I really thought the Falconers had you there for a second.”

Parson’s shoulders stiffened and Harvey wanted to apologize but he wasn’t sure what he’d said wrong. Before he could say anything Kent mumbled thanks and began getting dressed, movements jerky and mechanical.

Harvey’s best friend, Tara, was under the impression that being a rink manager at the arena the Aces used was a glamorous position where he could talk to the Aces everyday. The reality of it was that he’d never so much as had a real non-work related conversation with any of the Aces until he walked in on Kent in the locker room. The following day when he’d been back at the arena for his own shift he’d expected things to go back to normal - him occasionally passing Kent Parson in the hallway receiving a nod or, if Kent was in a chatty mood, a hey in greeting.

So he was more than a little shocked when, instead of passing one another in the hallway like usual, Kent approached him fifteen minutes before Aces practice was set to start.

“Hey man,” Kent said, “Sorry I didn’t catch your name last night, I was pretty messed up after the game.” The way he smiled when he said it made Harvey think he was supposed to smile back, maybe make a joke, but the way Kent’s eyes didn’t catch the smile made him hesitate.

“Corbin Harvey, I go by Harvey,” he said, extending a hand. “Daytime Pepsi Arena manager.”

“So official,” Kent said, shaking his hand. “I’m Kent, but I’m fairly certain you already knew that.” Kent winked, but it seemed mechanical, more of an ‘I should wink here’ rather than an ‘I want to wink here’. “So Harvey, if you’re the daytime manager, what were you doing here last night?”

Harvey pulled his hand back from Kent’s grip before the other man could feel the clamminess of his palm. “I was covering Audrey’s shift, since she was having a baby.”

Kent quirked his head at Harvey. “Brunette, about this tall,” he said, with his hand outstretched a couple inches shorter than Kent. “Black hipster glasses?”

“Yeah,” Harvey said, unsure where Kent was going with this. He shifted out of the way as a gaggle of Aces came clomping down the hallway, several of whom thumped Kent on the back as they past.

“She didn’t look pregnant.”

“Oh,” Harvey said, “Her partner went into labor right before Audrey’s shift last night so she obviously left to be with her - which left me with a 16 hour shift.”

“Her partner?” Kent repeated as though he’d never heard the word before. And god Harvey hoped Kent Parson wasn’t going to be a dick about this because that would definitely ruin the fantasy he had going in his head after seeing him wet and half naked last night.

“Yup,” Harvey said firmly, daring Kent to be a dick.

“Cool. Tell her congrats from me,” Kent said.

The tightness leached from Harvey’s shoulders as he smiled. “Yeah, I’ll let her know Kent Parson sends his congratulations when she comes back to work.”

“You can call me Kent you know.” Kent smirked and patted Harvey on the shoulder. “Anyway I better get to practice, see you around.”

Over the following two weeks he saw Kent Parson a total of six times, and each time Kent at least smiled at him, and sometimes struck up a conversation. It was weird, but in a good way that Harvey was definitely not going to question - especially when it gave him something to look forward to while he was taking long shifts during home games to cover for Audrey.

When Harvey was walking by the locker room one afternoon he heard one of the showers running. Harvey walked into the locker room and towards the area with the showers. He rounded the corner into the shower area and was confronted with Kent Parson’s perky, bare naked ass.

Harvey yelped and turned around swiftly. “Oh my god - I’m so sorry,” he said, feeling a strong sense of deja vu.

The shower squeaked off and a moment later Kent was standing before him, towel wrapped around his waist. “We have to stop meeting like this,” he said with a bright carefree smile.

“I’m sorry,” Harvey repeated, using all his willpower to keep his eyes from roaming down Kent’s bare chest. “I thought someone left the shower on - you’d think by now I’d have learned to announce myself before just waltzing into the locker room.”

“It’s cool,” Kent said, snagging another towel from the rack and messing his hair with it. “I’m used to a being naked around a bunch of guys.”

Out of context the statement would definitely be odd, but Kent was obviously used to sharing the locker room with plenty of other people. Kent started walking from the shower area back towards his locker with Harvey trailing behind him.

“Well that’s good at least,” Harvey said, as Kent began rifling through his locker. “I’m pretty sure I’d be nowhere near as chill about it.”

“Spend a season in a hockey locker room and you get used to pretty much anything.” Kent said, slipping his boxers on underneath his towel, before dropping it to the floor. Harvey swallowed hard. “You ever play hockey?”

Harvey shook his head, snapping his eyes back up to meet Kent’s. “Nah,” he said, clearing his throat, “I can’t even skate.”

“What?” Kent froze, jeans only halfway up his thighs. “You’re joking right?”

Harvey smiled sheepishly and shook his head.

“OH MY GOD,” Kent said, yanking his pants on the rest of the way. “Grab a pair of skates from the rental booth and get your ass on the ice, I’m teaching you right now.”

Harvey rubbed his scruffy chin. “Well there’s a youth figure skating class that starts soon,” he said, which wasn’t true in the strictest sense of the word since there was a solid hour left before the kids would start showing up, but Kent didn’t need to know that.

“Ugh,” Kent sighed melodramatically, “Alright Harvard you nerd.” He pulled on a shirt and reached into his bag to pull out a phone that was even older than Harvey’s. “Here give me your number.”

“Did you just call me Harvard?” Harvey asked, reaching for Kent Parson’s phone automatically.

“Yeah,” Kent smiled and bumped his shoulder, “If you’re going to learn how to skate you’re going to need a hockey nickname.”

Harvey bit down on the smile trying to break free as he plugged his phone number into Kent’s flip phone. Harvey handed him his phone back and tried not to die of embarrassment just thinking about a Stanley Cup champion watching him try to skate.

Harvey’s phone began buzzing in his pocket. Before he could move to pull it out Kent spoke.

“There, now you’ll have my number too,” he said with a smile so big Harvey wondered how he could’ve ever thought that the smirk he offered the media was the real thing. “See you around Harvard.”

Harvey forgot to program Kent’s number into his phone, and that evening he got a text from an unknown number that said Spice world channel 42.

6:17pm : What? Is this Kent Parson

6:17pm: Um dude you can just call me Kent 6:17pm: and yess obv

6:19pm: Oh, did you mean to send me that text?

6:19pm: yeah b/c spice worls is on channel 42 rn and you’re missing out 6:20pm: world*

Harvey smiled down at his phone and flicked on the T.V. He was thankful Tara wasn’t home yet because there was no doubt in his mind that she’d be teasing him ruthlessly.

6:23pm: Okay I turned it on. I’ve actually never seen this.

6:23pm: Oh my goddddd 6:23pm: First he says he doesn’t know how to skate 6:23pm: then hes never seen spice world 6:24pm: whats next you’ve never

The next text didn’t appear for three and a half minutes - not that Harvey was keeping track, but still that seemed like an inordinately long time for the short message that followed.

6:27pm: had cotton candy

6:28pm: Now that is something I have done 6:28pm: :)

He watched the rest of the movie with Kent - well not really with him, but close enough since they texted throughout the entire thing. Tara didn’t come home until the credits had long since rolled and he was still smiling like a dumbass at his phone.

“What’s got you so happy,” Tara said, plopping down onto the couch beside him.

“Nothing,” Harvey said, glancing at the goodnight text Kent had sent after the movie ended.

“That smile’s not nothing.” Tara leaned into Harvey and stole his phone, ignoring Harvey’s halfhearted attempts at getting it back. “Is this the real Kent Parson?” Tara asked, holding up his phone as evidence.

“Yes,” Harvey said, trying to reach the phone to pull it out of her hands unsuccessfully.

Tara put her hand on his head to keep him at a distance and scrolled through the texts with her other. “Oh my god,” she said, “You used emojis.”

“No I didn’t,” Harvey said even though the evidence was in her hands. He lunged towards his roommate who - for being so small - was way too skillful at wrestling out of his grip.

“Yes you did,” she laughed and stood before throwing him his phone back. She put a pale hand to her chest and sighed. “My little Corbin, growing up.”

Harvey threw a pillow at her.

He and Kent texted randomly following their shared movie night and every time his phone buzzed he had a dopey grin on his face that he couldn’t seem to help. They still talked when they saw each other in the hallways, but Harvey didn’t bring up the texting and neither did Kent. It wasn’t as though it was a secret, but it wasn’t not a secret either.

Almost two weeks after they started texting they still hadn’t gone ice skating yet due to a string of away games and excuses from Harvey when the Aces were home. Harvey was sitting in his office one afternoon when one of the custodians came in.

“One of the Aces is looking for you.”

Harvey stood, tamping down a stupid smile. “Okay, do you know where he is?”

“Conference room three.”

Harvey thanked him and bounded out of his office down the hall towards the conference rooms. Why Kent would want to meet him there he had no idea. When Harvey opened the door to the room he froze for a second, double checking that he hadn’t stepped into the wrong room accidentally.

Harvey felt a little dumb when he realized he was in the right room - just because he and Kent texted now didn’t mean that there weren’t still work related things some of the other Aces might want to talk to him about.

He smiled and stepped into the room, greeting the dark haired Ace waiting with his back to him.

“Hey, are you Harvard?”

Harvey rubbed a hand across his jaw before stepping forward. “I’m Harvey,” he said, offering a hand.

“Jeff Troy,” the guy said, shaking his hand.

“What can I do for you?” Harvey asked, using his customer service voice.

“So I may have stolen Kent’s phone after he was being a jerk and I may have seen how much he texts you,” Jeff said. “So I sort of wanted to meet you because I’m a nosy asshole and Kent’s my best friend.”

Harvey was confused, what was he supposed to say here? Don’t worry I’m not trying to take your best friend away, I just kind of really want to kiss him. Um no thanks.

“It’s good to meet you,” he said instead.

“I should’ve known you’d be a fucking giant. How tall are you? 6’3” 6’4”?”

“Uhh,” Harvey said, nearly getting whiplash from trying to follow Jeff’s train of thought. “Like 6’6” I think?”

“Wow so like substantially taller than Parser, that’s cute.” Jeff smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re listed in his phone with a heart after your name by the way.”

Hockey players chirped each other, Harvey knew, maybe that’s what Jeff was doing in a very weird way that was making Harvey’s heart beat double time. The door to the room banged behind them and Harvey turned towards it.

“What the fuck are you up to Swoops?” Kent said when his wild eyes landed on Jeff.

Jeff put his hands up in supplication. “Nothing, nothing. Just talking to your good friend here.” He winked at Harvey and slipped past Kent out into the hall.

Kent watched him go for a moment before turning towards Harvey. “Seriously though, what did he say to you?”

Harvey looked down at Kent. He hadn’t realized how much taller he was until that moment - he was always taller than people but Kent was so small. He’d probably fit perfectly under his arm. Harvey shook the thoughts from his head, these were definitely not things he should be thinking about ‘straight golden boy’ Kent Parson.

“Nothing really, he just introduced himself.”

“He didn’t try to tell you embarrassing shit about me?” Kent looked up at him, cheeks tinged pink.

He shook his head with a smile.

Once Kent was assured that Jeff didn’t embarrass him too much, he coerced Harvey into making plans with Kent to go skating on Friday. He couldn’t put off learning any longer. He’d already pushed it back as much as he could and he didn’t want Kent to think he didn’t want to hang out with him. He just prayed he wouldn’t make too much a fool of himself.

On Friday afternoon he stood by the front entrance to the building, awkwardly waiting for Kent to arrive so he could let him in. It was locked for maintenance all afternoon, even though the crew wouldn’t be arriving for at least an hour.

While the thought of spending an hour alone with his growing crush intimidated him, at least there wouldn’t be anyone else there to witness his humiliating attempts to learn how to skate - well anyone other than Kent freaking Parson - two time Stanley Cup winning champion.

Oh god. He was so screwed.

Harvey was contemplating turning out all the lights and pretending he forgot when he saw Kent’s Mercedez pull into the parking lot. Harvey watched as Kent leapt out of the car and shot him an enthusiastic grin before hopping up to the door.

“Hey,” Kent said as Harvey opened the door and locked it behind him. “Are you ready?”

Harvey groaned and snagged the pair of skates he’d left out of the rental box as he followed Kent to the rink. “If you mean do I feel like I’m about to vomit - then yes, I’m ready.”

Kent threw his head back and laughed. The sound made Harvey’s heart jump. There was a blast of manufactured icy air as they pulled open the door to the rink and made their way to a bench to slip on their skates.

Kent was already laced up and snapping a picture of his skates with his phone before Harvey even had his shoes off.

“Instagram,” Kent said conspiratorially. “Hashtag can’t get enough of this.”

“Is your phone even capable of instagram?” Harvey said, attempting to chirp him, though the way his hands were vibrating on the laces lost a bit of the effect.

Kent glanced up at him and shifted a little closer on the bench so their knees were touching. “Hey,” he said bumping Harvey’s shoulder gently, “It’s really not as scary as it seems Harvard. You’ll be fine. I’ve got you.”

Harvey finished lacing his skates and shot Kent a tremulous smile. He took a deep breath. He could do this, he worked at an ice rink for god's sake.

Kent stretched out a hand to help him up. Harvey clasped Kent’s hand and heaved himself up off the bench. He could feel his own erratic heartbeat through his palm and dropped Kent’s hand as soon as he was standing. He only hoped Kent had chalked up the rapid pulse to his fear of skating. He should’ve worn gloves.

Harvey took one wobbly step, almost falling and he wasn’t even on the ice yet. Harvey held onto the wall with a death grip as he stepped out onto the ice, afraid his feet would slide out from underneath him any second.

“Okay,” Kent said turning to smile at him. “You want to have a back and forth movement like this.” He skated away from Harvey slowly before stopping sharply and coming back towards him. “Now you try.”

It probably would’ve been smart to pay attention to what Kent’s legs were doing during the demonstration instead of ogling his ass, but it was a little too late for that now. Kent skated a little ways again and Harvey made a point of paying attention this time. Once Kent was back by his side Harvey pushed off the wall to try for himself.

He skated semi-successfully for two long strides before the edge of his blade got stuck in a divot and he went flying. He would’ve crashed down onto the ice had it not been for the strong sure hands catching him and righting him easily.

Harvey’s face flushed at the feel of Kent’s hands on him.

“You alright?”

Harvey nodded, “Yeah this is harder than it looks. And it already looks hard.”

Kent drew his hands back and Harvey felt the loss keenly. “I could grab one of the kiddy cones for you to use,” Kent said with a teasing smirk.

“Oh hell no,” Harvey said. “This is already humiliating enough.

“Well I guess my hand will have to suffice then,” Kent said, wiggling his fingers in an invitation.

Harvey’s heart thudded loudly and he wished he’d thought to turn on the stereo system throughout the rink. As soon as Harvey grabbed Kent’s hand the other man began leading him around the rink. Harvey stumbled on his skates and leaned heavily on their clasped hands to keep himself from falling.

After the fifth near fall he apologized to Kent, surely this wasn’t how he wanted to spend his day off.

Kent smiled up at him and either Harvey had fallen and was hallucinating or Kent just squeezed his hand. “I don’t mind,” Kent said shrugging. “You do kinda suck at this though.”

“Hey,” Harvey said indignantly, “Not all of us can be professional athletes. I would totally kick your ass doing something else.”

Kent raised an eyebrow. “Challenge accepted.”

Harvey lost his footing for a second and used both hands to cling to Kent, before righting himself. “Just tell me the time and place and you’re on.”

Kent guided them slowly around the curve, still keeping a tight grip on Harvey’s hand. “Have you ever roller bladed before?” Kent asked as Harvey tripped once more. “Because it’s kind of similar to skating.”

Harvey shook his head. Growing up he’d only been invited to an roller rink once, it was over an hour away from his house and his parents hadn’t been able to drive him. “I was more of a skateboarder than a roller blader.”

Kent smirked at him. “Oh my god I can totally see it now. Cool as fuck Harvard Harvey skating around-”

“You do know Harvard isn’t my name, right?”

Kent waved him off, “Skateboarding in the parking lot after school. I bet you had a bunch of people drooling after you.”

Harvey shook his head, “Nah,” he said. “I was kind of an outcast. People either ignored me or picked on me. There wasn’t much in between. My roommate Tara was pretty much the only person who spoke to me up until college.” Harvey felt like he’d dragged the teasing happy mood down. He smiled and flexed his bicep. “I wasn’t born with these muscles.”

Kent laughed and squeezed his arm with the hand Harvey wasn’t holding with a deathgrip. “Damn,” Kent whistled and Harvey was going to die. “You lift.”

Harvey winked at Kent in an attempt to appear unaffected by the hand still wrapped around his upper arm. At that moment Harvey must’ve skated too wide because suddenly Kent was tripping and using the hands on him to try to regain his balance. Unfortunately for Kent, Harvey wasn’t nearly steady enough on skates for their roles to be reversed and both of them went crashing down to the ice.

Their legs tangled up in a heap and the cool ice started to dampen Harvey’s jeans. Kent was shaking and for a moment Harvey worried that he’d gotten hurt. A second later he realized Kent was laughing. He was laughing so hard no sound escaped him and Harvey felt himself start to chuckle in response.

“What’s so funny?” Harvey asked, trying and failing to detangle himself.

“I don’t think I’ve fallen skating without being checked in ten fucking years,” Kent managed to get out between guffaws. Kent wiped at the tears escaping his eyes and stood with an easy grace that would never come to Harvey no matter how much time he spent on ice. Kent extended a hand and Harvey took it gratefully.

They began skating again and while Harvey wasn’t necessarily getting the hang of it, he wasn’t jolting them every two seconds with a near fall. A few minutes later Kent broke the comfortable silence that had stretched between them.

“That’s actually how I got into hockey,” he said.

“What?”

“Bullying,” Kent explained. “I was bullied pretty bad as a kid. After coming home with a split lip and black eye for the third time since school started one fall, my mom enrolled me in a youth hockey group. She thought it might at least make the other kids lay off me a bit.”

Harvey’s heart ached picturing a scrawny blonde kid getting beat up. The bullying he’d enduring as a kid had been more of the verbal kind, though he’d had his fair share of black eyes too.

“That plan totally backfired on her though,” Kent said with a small laugh. “Hockey taught me how to fight, so instead of only me coming home with a black eye there’d be two kids all bruised up…. It was better after that though.”

Harvey squeezed Kent’s hand and hoped he wasn’t crossing a line, but when Kent’s technicolor eyes met his, he smiled.

After skating, Kent cajoled a cold and sore Harvey out to eat. (Harvey would be embarrassed to admit it took very little persuasion on Kent’s part). They ended up at a food truck a couple blocks from the rink.

“The veggie slider is really good here,” Kent said, stepping up in line to order. “Hey Charlie my man, can I get two veggies and��” Kent turned to Harvey, “What’re you getting Harvard?”

“Oh um,” Harvey said. “You don’t have to order mine for -”

Kent waved a hand at him dismissively, “My treat dude.”

“Uh the dirty joe,” Harvey said, picking the first item he saw on the menu.

“Good choice,” the guy in the truck said, taking the cash from Kent as he went into the back to grab their food. “So Kent,” he said with his back to them as he slapped a couple patties on the grill. “How’s the cat doing?”

“She’s good,” Kent smiled. “You’ll never believe what she did yesterday morning,” he said, launching into a tale involving Kit somehow managing to open Kent’s fridge and knock nearly everything from the shelves. Harvey smiled as he listened to Kent talk and marveled at how easy it was for the man to make friends.

Harvey had never been particularly popular, even once he was out of high school he’d only had a small group of friends in college - sure they were close, but he’d always wondered what it’d be like to be someone who came into a party a stranger and left everyone’s friend. He suspected Kent was someone like that.

Once they got their food Kent led them over towards a bench and plopped down in the middle. Harvey sat beside him and eyed his burger, regretting his choice as soon as he saw how ridiculously messy the burger/sloppy joe combo would be.

“So Harvard,” Kent said in between bites. “How’d you end up in Sin City?”

Harvey balanced his plate on his lap and leaned forward to take a bite of his burger, grease and sauce slipping out the back and plop plopping down onto his plate. “Um,” he said, trying to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand, “I grew up just outside of Vegas in Henderson. I moved to California for school and lived there for a couple years after I graduated, but,” he shrugged, “my grandma wasn’t doing too well so I came back home almost three years ago now and have been here ever since.”

“How’s your grandma now?” Kent asked softly.

“She passed on a few months after I came home.”

Kent wrapped his fingers around Harvey’s wrist and squeezed. He opened his mouth, about to apologize Harvey knew, but he cut him off.

“Jeez bullying, dead relatives, I’m really doing a good job with the small talk today.”

Kent smiled at him and released Harvey’s wrist, taking a big bite out of his burger. “Well it could be worse,” Kent’s eyes lit up mischievously. “You could have ordered the messiest food in the world and be trying really hard not to be a slob but actually have food on your nose.”

Harvey swiped at his nose with the back of his hand, cheeks heating.

Kent laughed, “You definitely just made it ten times worse.”

Harvey groaned. “Well feel free to leave me to my shame. It was nice being friends with you while it lasted, I had hoped to make it to hanging out at least twice but…” Harvey smiled and shrugged in a what can you do sort of gesture.

Kent handed Harvey a napkin and smiled. “Nah bro, you can’t get rid of me that easily. This is the most fun I’ve had in a while.”

Harvey wiped the napkin across his nose and glanced at Kent surreptitiously. He wondered for the first time if having a ton of friends meant not having any close ones. He wanted to be there for Kent, if the man let him.

The following Friday Harvey went out clubbing with Tara. It had been far too long since either of them had been to a bar, according to her, and Harvey had learned a long time ago that it was best to agree with her, especially when it came to alcohol.

He and Kent had gotten the chance to hang out a couple more times since they went ice skating, with Harvey bribing Leo, the mechanical tech, to watch things for him so he could take his lunch when Kent did. Introducing the guy to his sister in exchange would definitely be worth it, especially since he’d been planning on doing so anyway. But tonight he wanted to let loose and release the sexual tension he’d been carrying around with him ever since he’d caught Kent naked in the locker room and maybe make out with a cute definitely not straight boy.

They were out at a not-not-gay bar that was at the edge of the strip and usually populated by a mixture of locals and tourists alike. He and Tara were scoping the bar for cute guys when she dragged him out onto the dance floor.

“Don’t look now but there’s a hottie at two o’clock,” she said, pointing in a direction that was most definitely not at two o’clock for either of them, but Harvey wasn’t about to call her out on it.

“For you or for me,” he asked, not turning to look at the guy.

Tara’s grin turned predatory as she slung her arms around his neck and ground her body into his. “Me, definitely.”

Tara’s method of getting guys to approach her often involved dancing seductively with Harvey while making bedroom eyes at the guy and/or completely ignoring him until he cut in. The first time she did it Harvey was certain his presence would scare the other guy away, but time and again it worked, so either Harvey gave off super gay vibes, or Tara dancing was hot enough that they were willing to risk being punched in the face for a chance with her. Harvey thought it was the latter.

For him, on the other hand, dancing with Tara - while sexy and fun - scared off more guys than it attracted, especially when they were at a place like this where it wasn’t guaranteed any guy there was gay. He didn’t mind though, he needed at least two more drinks before he was willing to find a guy for himself anyway. So for now he wrapped his hands low on Tara’s waist and ground their hips together in time with the music.

Tara shifted them both until he was standing where she had been, presumably facing the guy whose attention she was trying to attract. Tara leaned forward, and to anyone watching them it probably looked like she was nibbling on his ear.

“The guy on the far right of the group in the back by the bar. Tall, dark haired and fucking built.”

Tara spun quickly in his arms so her ass was pressed up against his crotch and dropped low before pulling back up in a slow sensual move that would likely have sent any straight man in the room’s heart racing. She tilted her head back and looked up at him as though she weren’t at all interested in anyone else. Harvey glanced away from her to search for the guy she was talking about, swaying with her to the music all the while.

His hips stuttered and he lost the rhythm for a moment as he caught the gaze of the guy she undoubtedly had her eye on.

“That’s Jeff Troy,” his voice sounded high pitched and weird. The music was suddenly too loud as his gaze shifted from Troy to the man standing beside him. Kent wasn’t looking at the dance floor, his face half hidden as he whispered furiously in Jeff’s ear, but even with the obstructed view Harvey was positive it was him.

“Like from the Aces?” Tara asked, whipping her gaze back toward the men. “Oh my god I didn’t even recognize him.” They both were horribly off beat by now and Harvey dropped his hands from her waist completely. No point in keeping up the pretense.

“Want me to introduce you?” he asked, stepping away from the sweaty pulsing bodies on the dance floor.

“Oh my god,” Tara said again, covering her face with her hands. “This is so embarrassing he probably thinks I’m some crazy fan and like stalking him or something oh my -”

Harvey put his hands on her shoulders to calm her and fought the urge to smile at the knowledge that the stoic woman wasn’t so unruffled after all. “Relax Tara,” Harvey said, “Jeff is a pretty chill guy and he definitely won’t think some random person dancing with another guy is stalking him.”

“Oh you’re totally right,” Tara said, face flushing, “This is so embarrassing. Leave me, save yourself and let me stew in my shame.”

“Oh my god Tara,” Harvey said laughing. “Just come meet the guy.”

Tara looked about ready to flee, but Harvey took her hand and began weaving his way through the crowd, leading her over towards the handful of Las Vegas Aces at the bar. By the time they reached the Aces, every one of the guys had their eyes on Tara, including Kent, which definitely didn’t make Harvey’s stomach sink a little or anything.

“Hey Harvard,” Mottler said, bumping his fist. Ever since he’d started talking to Kent, the other Aces had seemed to suddenly notice Harvey's existence. “How’s it going man?” Mottler’s voice was slightly slurred and he was rather openly ogling Tara, not that she even noticed. Her hand was wrapped around his in a vice like grip and her eyes were locked onto the floor before her.

“Good, good.” He glanced at Kent and the man looked pissed. Harvey had to fight the urge to duck away from his gaze. “How’re you guys doing, celebrating the night off?” He went to release Tara’s hand, but she just squeezed it harder. Kent’s gaze flicked down their hands before back up to meet his.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Kent asked low and venomous. Harvey shrunk back.

“Um,” he flicked a glance at the other Aces before looking back to Kent. “Dancing with Tara since this is a club?”

Kent’s face twisted into a scowl and Tara side stepped closer to Harvey. Without a word Kent turned on his heel and stormed off into the crowd. Jeff, finally shaken from his trance called after Kent before turning to them apologetically.

“Sorry,” he said, as the other Aces returned to scanning the club. “He already wasn’t having a good night since we’re headed to Providence tomorrow to play the Falconer’s Sunday, and well,” he shrugged gesturing to Tara and Harvey in a way that had Harvey’s buzzed brain struggling to catch up.

“We’re not together,” Tara said, releasing her death grip on Harvey’s hand. And Harvey was Confused with a capital C.

“Oh,” Jeff said, a slow smile spreading across his face. “I’m Jeffrey Troy.”

“Oh shit, sorry,” Harvey said, “This is my roommate Tara Marsden. Tara, Swoops.”

Tara reached out to shake his hand and let her fingers linger longer than Harvey thought necessary, though it didn’t seem Swoops minded. When it seemed like Tara and Troy were content to stand there staring at one another indefinitely Harvey cleared his throat.

“So what’s up with Kent?” he asked, hoping he sounded casual.

Jeff shook himself before elbowing Mottler. “Yo man, go find Parser and tell him to stop being an asshole and come meet Harvard’s roommate. ”

Mottler nodded before disappearing into the crowd. A few moments later he returned with a chagrined looking Parson in tow.

“Sorry,” Kent said to Harvey’s shoes. “I was in a pissy mood and I didn’t mean to take it out on you, or your friend,” he added, glancing at Tara and offering her a small smile. “Can we start over? I’m Kent Parson,” he said, reaching out a hand.

Tara took his hand graciously and shook it. “Tara Marsden.”

After introducing himself, Kent turned to Harvey and pulled him away from the group a bit. “I really am sorry Corbin.”

Harvey jolted at the use of his first name, but before Harvey could assure him it was fine, Kent continued on.

“I have impulse issues and I need to learn to reign in my temper and apologize when I screw up. I have to own up to my own issues and stop lashing out when other people act in ways I don’t expect,” he recited as though it were a script. He sent Harvey a tentative grin. “It only took half a decade of therapy to get to this point.”

Harvey clasped Kent on the shoulder and offered him a smile. “We’re good Kent.”

Tara and Jeff had been chatting almost non-stop since they’d been introduced, but after getting a couple more drinks, Harvey touched Tara’s elbow to interrupt, because he was really in the mood to kiss a cute boy and that was a dangerous thought to be having when standing less than two feet away from Kent Parson.

“Wanna dance?” he asked, trying to tell her with his eyes that he really really needed her to say yes.

Tara could read his look better than anyone. He could read hers just as easily and she desperately wanted to keep talking to Jeff but he knew she would say yes anyway.

That is, at least until Jeff interrupted. “You should dance with Parser,” he said, eyes lighting up with mischievousness. “Because he sucks at dancing and could definitely use some guidance.”

Harvey turned to glance at Kent, whose face was flushed a deep red, whether from alcohol or embarrassment Harvey couldn’t tell. He smiled at him, “I could teach you if you want, return the ice skating favor.” Harvey shrugged.

This was possibly the dumbest idea he’d ever had. He was just thinking that he needed to get further from Kent and now he was inviting the other man closer. Luckily the kind of dancing Kent would want to do was not the kind of dancing he’d been doing with Tara. Still, his only hope was that Kent would say no.

“Okay,” Kent said with a shrug before walking out onto the dance floor without waiting for Harvey to follow.

“You good here Tara?” Harvey asked.

Tara rolled her eyes at him good naturedly and gave him a firm shove towards the dance floor. Harvey’s heart thudded anxiously as he made his way through the pulsing shifting bodies through to the center of the dance floor where Kent was doing something that was probably considered dancing in some cultures.

Kent’s eyes lit up when he saw Harvey and grabbed his hand to pull him closer. Kent’s hand was warm and his smile happy and Harvey’s heart gave a traitorous ba-bump. He was in trouble.

“Okay big guy,” Kent said, releasing Harvey’s hand. “Show me your moves.”

Harvey let the music flow through him and began dancing how he would when he went out with the straight guys he’d been friends with in college - keeping a safe amount of space between himself and Kent.

Kent watched him for a moment before doing a weird shuffle-jig that looked a little too much like how the characters in Charlie Brown danced. Harvey smiled unabashedly at the ridiculousness of the moment. He was in a club with Kent Parson who - while perhaps the hottest human being to roam the planet - was the most unsexy dancer Harvey had ever seen. He almost wondered if Kent danced with exaggerated awkwardness on purpose.

“What are you doing?” he asked, half shouting to be heard over the music.

Kent stopped the weird up and down hand motion he’d been doing and stepped closer to Harvey. Harvey tried to backup, but he bumped into someone and was jostled from behind.

“Hey, if you don’t like my dancing then teach me.” Kent’s eyes were sharp, flashing gold in green.

“Well just do what I’m doing,” Harvey said, letting his hips swing to the beat, exaggerating the motion for Kent to copy.

Kent shook his head and stepped even closer, so he and Harvey were nearly touching. Kent tilted his head up to look at him and wrapped an arm loosely around his neck. Harvey couldn’t breathe. He was going to die of sexual frustration in the back of a Vegas nightclub with Kent freaking Parson as his witness.

Kent pulled slightly on the back of his neck and Harvey ducked down to oblige him. Kent leaned up on his tiptoes and he was going to kiss him - Harvey was sure of it. Kent was going to kiss him in the middle of a crowded club. He sucked in a shaky breath, eyes already half lidded in anticipation.

But instead of closing the gap between their mouths, Kent diverted his path and spoke directly into his ear. “I want you to teach me how to dance like you were before.”

Harvey wasn’t sure he’d heard Kent right, he was kind of drunk and his brain was slow to catch up. How would he be helpful in teaching Kent how to dance with girls? He started to ask how, before Kent dropped down off his tiptoes and swung his other arm up around Harvey’s neck and began moving his hips only slightly off beat.

Instinct took over and Harvey’s hands dropped down to Kent’s waist, guiding him so they moved together, delicious and slow. And maybe he had no idea what was going on but he didn’t care because Kent was in his arms.

They danced together, Kent slowly getting better at staying on beat and Harvey slowly getting bolder. The rest of the room melted away as he thrust his hips forward, grinding them together with Kent’s. Kent’s fingers drifted up to scratch through his hair and Harvey was on fire. Kent’s face flushed with pleasure as they moved together, his lips parted almost in invitation and it took everything in him to remember that Kent was straight and no matter what the two of them were doing together tonight on the dance floor nothing would change that.

Kent dropped low and stood slowly, body brushing against Harvey’s enticingly. When their eyes met Harvey stepped back out of Kent’s embrace hastily. He was hard. He was dancing with a straight man and he was rock fucking hard. Harvey felt a wave of embarrassment wash up over him. He mumbled something about air and ran.

Part Two

#check please #Kent parson #omgcp fanfic #omgcp #myfics #not so straight golden boy

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toldnews-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/sports/im-alive-i-survived-says-the-queen-of-bare-knuckle-boxing/

'I'm alive, I survived,' says the 'Queen of bare-knuckle boxing'

Bec Rawlings, the self-styled “Queen of bare-knuckle boxing,” is remembering the terror of living with an abusive husband. Though the 29-year-old Australian doesn’t cry anymore when talking about her miserable marriage, some wounds will never heal.

Nearly six years on, she can sleep now without fear of being murdered and no longer flinches when touched. “It gets easier day by day,” she says candidly. “I’m alive, I survived.”

The former UFC fighter, a mother of two boys, a bare-knuckle world champion, is opening up because she wants to help those who may be suffering like she once did.

She wants to tell victims of abuse that they are not to blame, that they are not weak. “I’m the definition of a powerful woman,” she says. “That it can happen to me means it can happen to anyone.”

Rawlings did not press charges against her now ex-husband Dan Hyatt, the father of her youngest child. Since their relationship ended, former MMA fighter Hyatt has been found guilty of physically and emotionally abusing girlfriends in subsequent relationships and Rawlings regrets not taking her case through the courts.

“I could’ve saved them if I went ahead and pressed charges,” says the Tasmanian, ruefully.

“The only way I feel I can make up for that is to share my story and hope someone reads it and realizes that if it can happen to someone like me, who is so strong and looks fearless, it can happen to anyone. It doesn’t mean you’re weak, you’re not pathetic, because that’s how I felt.”

In the dead of night, with her two boys, Enson and Zake, and little else in tow, Rawlings mustered the courage to leave her husband and her home in 2013. Had it not been for her sons, she says, she would probably have stayed in a relationship which as emotionally abusive as it was physical.

“I left to save them,” she says. “Once he threatened to hurt them that was my switch to get out. If I never had them, I would never have made it out.”

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Rawlings met Hyatt in 2010 and within three months she says he began to belittle her, to play with her mind, the torment turning physical when Rawlings became pregnant with Enson. It was relentless. It was daily. It was hell. But crushed by his fists and by fear, she stayed.

“Looking back, I see the flags early on in our relationship,” the boxer admits with the help of hindsight.

“He was a pro fighter himself so even when I tried to fight back I couldn’t win. It was impossible for me to defend myself. He’d burn and tear my clothes. There were times that I had no clothes because he would destroy them.

“He always said he would hunt us down and hunt my family down if I ever left and that was always in the back of my head — that he would find us and would kill us.”

Hyatt was released from prison eight months ago and in an email to CNN the Australian described his relationship with Rawlings as “toxic” and “volatile” but refuted the allegations of violence made by her and described her claims that he threatened to kill the boys as “disgusting.”

“Bec is as much a victim of our relationship as I was myself,” he wrote. “That may not be a popular opinion, but its [sic] the truth and it’s been my story since day one. I was a poor partner and an even poorer father, but I am certainly not the picture Bec likes to paint of me when media comes calling.”

For Rawlings if any good has come from the bad it is that it was her ex-husband who introduced her to MMA, setting her on a path to UFC, bare-knuckle boxing and world domination. “I’m happy, strong and healthy,” she says. “I’ve got a good life and he hasn’t so that’s the ultimate revenge, success.

“It’s definitely a bitter-sweet story because I found fighting and MMA when I started seeing him, so he brought something cool into my world and, obviously, my young son Enson.

“It’s definitely made me the strong person I am today. I know going into training, going into fights, no-one can hurt me as much as he could. He’s definitely given me a strength I never knew I had. That’s one of the positives I can take. If he couldn’t break me, no-one can.

“It also taught me to love myself, to never let myself be in that position again. I put up with it and went through with it because I thought I deserved that and because I didn’t love myself and I believed what he was saying.”

The Australian has come a long way since her professional debut as an MMA fighter in October 2011. Knocked out in the first round by a head kick, it was a fight which, Rawlings jokes, “scared my mother for life.” Her mum has not attended a fight since. These days she will record a televised bout, watching her daughter only when secure in the knowledge that she is unharmed.

Standing at 1.68m (5ft 6in) and competing at a fighting weight of 57kg (125lbs), the athletic Rawlings, who once described herself as a “wild child” and has the moniker “Rowdy Bec” stitched onto her fighting shorts, isn’t big in stature, but she does nevertheless stand out.

Sometimes her hair is purple, other times white and dreadlocked. There are also the tattoos. Lots of them. She has, she thinks, about 60, all inked by the tattooist who was her first sponsor.

One tattoo is a big red heart at the front of her throat, another the word “Riot,” her ex-husband’s nickname as an MMA fighter, still visible under a red “VOID” stamp. Her left leg is adorned with a tattoo of a hand pistol tucked into a garter.

Like most who earn a living with their fists, Rawlings has swagger (“I definitely think I’m going to be dominating this sport for a long time”) but the bluster isn’t relentless.

She isn’t afraid to talk about her traumatic past and laughs when speaking about one particular weakness. A design on her right leg has yet to be completed because, she says giggling, she is a “cry baby” when it comes to getting inked.

But Rawlings can tolerate pain better than most, though the Australian stresses that the majority of her training sessions are spent mastering the art of avoiding crunching blows to the head by a clenched bare knuckle.

How does it feel to be bashed in the face by a fist flying at such a force that the eyes begin to weep and swell? Rawlings laughs.

“To be punched bare-knuckle, it doesn’t feel any different to the MMA gloves,” she explains.

“When you get punched by a big boxing glove it’s more like a thud that rings your head. With MMA gloves and bare-knuckle, it’s like a real sharp sting. If you’ve ever been hit on the nose with a basketball, it’s kind of that feeling. That stingy, eye-watering feeling.

“To hit someone bare-knuckle you feel it on your hands more. You can’t be throwing punches 100% and you definitely have to be careful with where you’re throwing the punches.

“You don’t want to be hitting people at the back of the head, or the side of the head, because you’re going to do damage to your hands, so you’re going to have to be precise and aim for the softer parts of the body and the face, look after your hands that way.

“You definitely throw a lot less punches and focus on speed, precision and power.”

Rawlings says her hands swell easily, but with the added composure that comes with experience the bumps, cuts and redness were not as significant after her second bout compared to her debut.

To strengthen her hands, she practices an ancient Kung Fu method called iron palm training, which includes punching sandbags and rubbing a special oil onto the hands to help them heal.

“Basically, you’re calcifying your knuckles, so they get hardened and less prone to injury,” she says.

Rawlings is currently training for her world title defence on February 2 in Cancun, Mexico, against Cecilia Ulloa Flores. Though only her third bare-knuckle fight, she is confident.

“I get called the bare-knuckle queen and I feel like the queen of this sport,” she says.

“I don’t think anyone’s got what I have. My skill is getting better and better every fight and I’m going to go out there in February and show that I’ve evolved as a fighter again.”

Typically, Rawlings trains for three to four hours a day, starting with a 2-3km early morning run before returning home to feed her boys and take them school.

With the children in the classroom, she embarks on a two-hour boxing session in the gym, comprising of either sparring, bag work or pattern drills, returning home for lunch and to collect the boys from school. Mid-afternoon and there is more to be done, either improving her cardio, endurance or explosiveness.

Sometimes she will have to drag her sons, now aged eight and 10, to the gym. They have known of no other life, but occasionally they will grumble. With the boys developing their own interests, the family dynamic is slowly changing Rawlings admits, but she is adapting.

“You’ve got to be able to give your kids attention and love and you also need to find the time to train. That’s my job. It’s how I put food on the table,” she says.

“It’s stressful and hard, but it’s also my motivation. They keep me hungry, they keep me motivated to do better. It’s definitely a blessing in disguise.”

After being released by UFC following four successive defeats, Rawlings was offered a contract by the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), the first promotion to be sanctioned to hold regulated bare-knuckle events in the US since 1889.

She is earning a decent living competing in a sport she describes as the “ultimate test on your body, heart and soul,” and wants to create a legacy. She has, she says, found her calling.

“I love the adrenaline of it. I love the rawness of the sport,” she says wholeheartedly.

“It’s not just the physicality, it’s not just the athleticism, it’s your mentality and your heart to fight and keep going.

“I’m forever tested no matter how my fight goes. I learn something new about myself and I think that’s what keeps me coming back for more and it’s the same with training.

“I think I lost the love of it [fighting] under UFC. I let the bright lights, the stress of making weight, get to me. I started questioning myself and forgot what I was doing it for. I forgot that I loved fighting, that it made me a better person, and I forgot that.

“My coach and anyone who has seen me fight say I’m a natural. I was made for this sport and I feel like that in training and when I fight.

“I feel like I’m meant to be in this sport and this was my calling.”

#Bec Rawlings: Australia&039;s bare-knuckle world champion - CNN #latest sports news #news sport #Sport #sportnews #sports articles #sports breaking news #sports latest news #sports news headlines #sports news in english #sports scores #today's sports news #today's sports news headlines

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breeeliss · 8 years ago

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[Femslash February]: Snow

im actually a piece of garbage i should not be trying to do this

if you take a peek at how the prompts are split up, there’s one box of color per week. so this is begging for one pairing per week. gonna have Chlonette be my blue box :) so for the next seven days i’ll fulfill the prompts with the two of them before switching to a new pairing!

oh. do not support this. i have homework to do. seriously. stop me. i’m actually 75% serious.

Day 1: Snow (Chlonette)

Words: 1473

Link to Archive of Our Own: [AO3]

[Next: Asleep]

“Oh, dammit!”

Marinette called out from the kitchen with her mouth full. “What?”

Chloe was standing in front of the apartment windows with her hands on her hips. “Are you seeing what’s outside right now?”

“The sky, hopefully.”

“No! I mean what’s in the sky! Come, this is an emergency!”

She rolled her eyes, left her empty breakfast plate on the kitchen table, and looped around the corner, jokingly mirroring Chloe’s position in front of the window. “What’s the emergency?”

Chloe scoffed and turned to Marinette. “Are you serious right now? You see this, don’t you?”

“Yes, I see it, what’s your point?”

“What the hell!? That’s my point!”

Marinette’s eyes widened and she laid a gentle hand on Chloe’s shoulder. “Oh my gosh, wait. I’m being so insensitive. Sometimes I forget that you’re so sheltered you’ve never seen snow before. This must be a shock for you.”

Chloe shrugged Marinette’s hand off with a glare while Marinette threw her head back and cackled. “Oh, shut up! That’s not what I meant!”

“Darling, it’s winter time. It’s cold out. It snows. These are all very normal things.”

“We were supposed to get our hair done today,” Chloe muttered. “I wanted to take you to that Indian restaurant I found the other day, too. We haven’t gone out in forever.”

Their apartment windows were completely whited out from all the snow that was falling. It was hard to see many of the buildings that were right next to theirs. It was more snow than they’d ever gotten in a while, and she was sure it wasn’t going to let up until later this evening. She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, I don’t think this is weather to be going anywhere in.”

“You’d think it’d have the decency to warn us in advance when this sort of thing is going to happen.”

Marinette smirked. “It being the weather?”

“Obviously.”

“They’ve been talking about this on the news for like three days,” Marinette teased. “You just never check it. But it does look like it’s coming down way worse than they said it would. Doesn’t seem to safe to travel until it calms down.”

The sight of all her plans being covered up by inches of snow must have started annoying her because Chloe purposefully turned one of the armchairs away from the window and towards the front door before she sat down so that she wouldn’t have to look at it. She even crossed her arms and slung one knee over the other to make her displeasure clear. “I had plans, and they’re ruined....” she grumbled.

Marinette smiled fondly and moved to settle herself in Chloe’s lap, wrapping an arm over her shoulders. Chloe immediately hugged Marinette around the middle and leaned her head against hers. “We can always try to go out next weekend. I know you’re busy tomorrow. At least it won’t be violently snowing and we’ll have the whole weekend to ourselves. I’ll clear my schedule.”

“Ugh, I’m tired of being cooped up in here though,” Chloe complained. “I wanted to go out with you.”

Marinette hummed. “We can have a date in here. I’ll cook you dinner.”

“Mmmmm, only if we dress up tonight. With like candles and nice music, the whole shebang.”

“You know, you are surprisingly very cheesy.“

“God forbid I want to wine and dine you! Lord...”

Marinette pressed a kiss to the top of Chloe’s head and was at least happy to see that Chloe was smiling, but she knew how much Chloe hated having plans cancelled, especially when she went through so much trouble to plan them in advance. Something about having dates cancelled annoyed her even more. Plus, Chloe had a point. It was the holidays and they were both spending most of their time in their apartment to keep out of the cold. It would’ve been nice to get some fresh air even just for a little bit.

And then Marinette had an idea.

She shook Chloe’s shoulder and waited for her to look up at her. “Let’s go play in the snow!”

Chloe squinted. “What?”

“Play! In the snow!” Marinette said excitedly. “We can go out in the front courtyard, we can spend time together, and we get to go outside and enjoy the weather!”

“Marinette, it’s shit outside!”

“So?” She hopped out of Chloe’s lap and pulled her out of the chair, leading her to the back of the apartment where their bedroom was. Chloe still sounded too confused to put up much of a fight, and Marinette took advantage of her silence to start digging through her drawers for her thermals. “The snow’s already sticking and there’s at least five inches on the ground. Ah! We can have a snowball fight!”

Chloe was pressing fingers into her temples. “Darling, we are adults. Grown adults. With jobs. And salaries. And health insurance.”

Marinette sighed pitifully. “I understand what this is. You’re afraid you’re going to lose the snowball fight.”

“I’m not....what the hell, I’m not afraid I’m going to lose the snowball fight. It’s just that it’s a horror show outside, and I don’t want to ruin my new snow boots. Besides, I freaking rock at snowball fights!”

Marinette turned her back to her. “Debatable...”

Chloe gasped. “Excuse me!?”

“I dunno, babe,” Marinette sung, pulling out her snow boots and rifling through her closet for a warm sweater. “Kinda sounds like you’re overcompensating....”

“You little brat, move over!” Chloe bumped shoulders with Marinette and started throwing sweaters and scarves from her half of the closet behind her and onto the bed. “I’ll have you know, Adrien reigned me the ultimate snowball champion when we were six years old and I still have the medal he made me out of cardboard, so I’m legit.”

“Psh, like that means anything,” Marinette chuckled. “That was almost twenty years ago. I’m afraid you might have gotten a little rusty.”

Chloe was pulling off her sleeping pants and pulling on her thermals while Marinette layered on two sweaters. “You are so undeniably rude. I will not have you stand here calling my skills into question. You’re an absolute terror.”

Marinette stuck her tongue out. “You love it.”

“Alright. I’ll make you a deal.” It was really hard for Chloe to look imposing when she was wearing that bright yellow bumblebee sweater that Marinette had gotten her as a joke last year -- but always wore and never threw away despite how garish it looked -- but Marinette sobered up and nodded solemnly as she waited for the conditions. “If you, by some God given miracle, manage to beat me, I will.....go to the gym with you.”

Marinette burst out laughing. “Wait, no, that’s not good enough. You have to come into the weight rooms with me. You can’t just cheat, go on the elliptical for five minutes, and sneak into the Pilates class.”

“You enjoy my impeccable core strength, don’t lie and say you don’t.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Fine. Would’ve loved to have taken you camping so we could’ve gone outdoor rock climbing, but I guess I’ll take the gym.”

“I’m not doing that!” Chloe repeated for the tenth time. “Unlike some people I don’t enjoy dangling by rope from 500 meters up. Plus it’s outside! With bugs, and germs, and animals, and gross shit, and no, and ew, and kill me.”

“You have safety harnesses. And nature is good for you. We’d be in a cabin with freaking Wi-Fi. It’s healthy for you!”

“We do not share your death defying extreme sports hobby or your enthusiasm for the outdoors! Let it go!”

“Like I said,” Marinette grinned. “We’ll work up to it. Also, this coming from the woman who’s literally about to go outside and face the elements with me.”

“My honor is on the line. You have to put up yours too.”

“Fine, fine,” Marinette groaned. “If you win I will....dress up as Chat Noir for Adrien’s costume party next month.”

Chloe actually jumped in the air and screamed. “Holy shit, you are so getting your ass handed to you! Adrien bet me a hundred euros you wouldn’t do it, and he is going to look so stupid when he pays me.”

“You two are betting on this?”

Chloe paused. “....no sweetheart, never behind your back, I love you.”

Marinette gave her a flat look as she pulled her hat on. “Keep talking. You’re gonna be eating ice in a few minutes.”

Chloe yanked on her gloves. “You really underestimate how petty and ruthless I can be.”

“If I’ve handled it for five years, I can handle it now,” Marinette promised. They were both dressed, and Marinette gestured to the bedroom door. “First five hits to the face wins?”

Chloe finished pulling her hair into a bun and putting her hat on over it. Heaven forbid her hair get ruined because of a snow ball fight. “Child’s play, my dear. This will be over very quickly.”

#miraculous ladybug #chlonette #chloenette #femslash february 2017 #chloe bourgeois #marinette dupain-cheng #chlonette fanfiction #miraculous ladybug fanfiction #my writing #femslash february chlonette edition #snow

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othersportsnews-blog · 7 years ago

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UFC 213: Romero vs Whittaker final benefits | UFC &reg

New Post has been published on https://othersportsnews.com/ufc-213-romero-vs-whittaker-final-benefits-ufc-reg/

UFC 213: Romero vs Whittaker final benefits | UFC &reg

Who were being the winners at UFC 213: Romero vs Whittaker? Click on under to get the benefits for all the fights at T-Cell Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, Jul 8, 2017.

Major function: Robert Whittaker def. Yoel Romero Robert Whittaker went down two rounds proper at the start out, getting his knee busted up in the procedure by a kick to the leg from Yoel Romero. But Whittaker stored throwing his kicks and coming forward, landing a number of huge shots and demonstrating some of the ideal takedown protection ever within the Octagon. Whittaker took the final 3 rounds to safe the unanimous determination, 48-forty seven, 48-forty seven, 48-forty seven. Romero out-struck Whittaker 108-103, but it was Whittaker that received the substantial strike differential, landing ninety three to just 38 for Romero. Whittaker ended up stuffing 10 of 14 takedown tries by Romero on his way to the acquire. Whittaker now is the interim champion and his acquire sets up a title unification bout with champion Michael Bisping afterwards this calendar year.

THEY Claimed IT: Robert Whittaker: “ This is unbelievable. It’s a second I have generally dreamed of. My knee was certainly harm. I injured it in camp and Romero’s kick established it back months. I know that Romero will capitalize on any weakness he sees so I had to enjoy it off. That is just what champions are built of. I’m prepared to combat [Michael] Bisping future. I believe that it was destiny for us to fulfill and I am wanting forward to it!”

Alistair Overeem def. Fabricio Werdum Fabricio Werdum arrived on powerful in the 3rd round, rockin Alistair Overeem with a knee to the head. But he could not end “The Reem” and the judges scored a the vast majority determination for Overeem, 28-28, 29-28, 29-28. In a bizarre combat statistically, Werdum unofficially out-struck Overeem, 107-29, but the 1st two rounds were being really gradual and the the vast majority of his landed strikes arrived in the 3rd round.

THEY Claimed IT: Alistair Overeem: “I experience great with the acquire tonight. I felt I was evidently the dominant fighter in the 1st two rounds. Round 3 was a tiny challenging but I understood I had managed the combat just before then. Werdum is challenging but I was the far better guy tonight. With that acquire, my future shift is crystal clear. I am prepared for Stipe [Miocic] and I will get the championship.”

Curtis Blaydes def. Daniel Omielanczuk Daniel Omielanczuk stuffed all 14 takedown tries by Curtis Blaydes, but the young Blaydes out-struck the Polish heavyweight, ninety three-66 in a grueling battle to pick up the unanimous determination acquire, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27.

THEY Claimed IT: Curtis Blaydes: “I am generally delighted to get the acquire. I was a tiny unhappy by the combat. I felt I could’ve done a far better position of stringing my combos together – throwing more quantity. My opponent is a challenging person so I was more tentative than I ought to have been. That stated, I’m delighted with the acquire. In my future combat, I would enjoy to get an individual nearer to the Major 10 but my target is to stay lively and retain successful.”

Anthony Pettis def. Jim Miller Anthony Pettis seemed like the aged “Showtime,” landing huge kicks and pushing the rate towards Jim Miller on his way to a convincing unanimous determination acquire, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27. Pettis was landing his signature physique kicks towards Miller, who had welts lining the left side of his belly and back just after the 1st round. Pettis opened up a reduce on Miller in the 2nd round with a head kick and then the two had a entertaining exchange on the mat as both equally attacked with submissions. Pettis picked up his 1st acquire given that August of final calendar year.

THEY Claimed IT: Anthony Pettis: “It feels astounding to be back at light-weight. I imagine the followers savored that combat and we both equally gave it our all. I was wanting for the end the entire time. I even landed a couple of head kicks clear but Jim Miller is as challenging as it will get and he just stored coming. I seriously experience far better than ever and I tried to retain it appealing out there. I have been operating difficult on my wrestling protection and I obtained to display that off along with my putting tonight. It was a entertaining combat and now I’m just wanting forward to getting back out there. I’ll notify you what is future for me: 3-time globe champ.”

Rob Font def. Douglas Silva de Andrade Rob Font shined in his shift from the Battle Pass prelims to the most important card, placing on a putting clinic (72-24) and ending by submission (guillotine choke) at 4:36 of the 2nd round. Font had Silva de Andrade rocked and the Brazilian fought to stay in the combat and tried to slam Font, who sunk in the choke and capitalized on the chance to end the combat.

THEY Claimed IT: Rob Font: “ I am really thankful for this acquire. One more combat, a further end and I obtained to display off putting and wrestling in this a person. I wanted to display that I’m a effectively-rounded fighter. I experience like I’m up there with the best guys in the division. With a further couple wins, I want to be in the Major 5. I’m heading back to the gym to get prepared and I want an individual who is earlier mentioned me in the rankings future. I would enjoy to combat Pedro Munhoz but I’ll talk to the matchmakers and determine out who is future.”

Aleksei Oleinik def. Travis Browne Aleksei Oleinik lived up to his nickname “The Boa Constrictor,” sinking in a deep rear bare choke and ending the combat by submission at three:forty four of the 2nd round. Browne had Oleinik harm in the 1st round but his toughness was obvious as he pushed to survive and extend the combat. Immediately after submitting Browne, Oleinik seemed visibly fatigued, but fired up to pick up the significant acquire.

THEY Claimed IT: Aleksei Oleinik: “This is the most significant acquire of my career so I experience astounding. I am thankful to all the followers all-around the globe for supporting me. This is a great second. Travis did anything we had been making ready for. I want to say thank you to my instruction companions at American Major Group simply because this second wouldn’t be attainable with out them. This choke was a exclusive submission but a thing I use a large amount. I established it up like a rear bare choke but also use my bodyweight to twist my opponent. You could say it is basically a double submission from that angle. This is why I am ‘The Boa Constrictor’.”

Chad Laprise def. Brian Camozzi Chad Laprise landed a straight proper to the physique that pressured Brian Camozzi to retreat and the Canadian pounced, landing punches and knees just before ending Camozzi by TKO at one:27 of the 3rd round. Laprise obtained out to a speedy start out in the 1st round and then Camozzi arrived back and managed the 2nd body. But Laprise commenced to land persistently to the physique and was able to end the combat to acquire his 2nd in a row.

THEY Claimed IT: Chad Laprise: “There were being no surprises out there tonight. I understood he’d be challenging but I also expected to end him. I had a tiny problems gauging his distance in the starting but I was able to determine him out and get the position done. Now, I want a further combat. I’m prepared for Edmonton and I want Mickey Gall. I will smash him. He’s never fought anyone like me.”

Thiago Santos def. Gerald Meerschaert Thiago Santos had Gerald Meerschaert harm in the 1st round but was not able to end the position until the 2nd, when he landed some awful ground and pound to pressure the referee to halt the combat by TKO at two:04. Santos landed fifty four substantial strikes, battering Meerschaert for the the vast majority of the two rounds. The TKO end presents Santos 6 career knockouts, great for the 3rd-ideal mark in UFC middleweight heritage.

THEY Claimed IT: Thiago Santos: “ This combat was really significant to me. Gerald is a challenging fighter but I am more durable and I showed that tonight. I experience that I am getting back to in which I ought to be in the division. With a person or two more wins, I would like to rematch Gegard Mousasi. I believe that that combat will finish really in a different way as I have ongoing to mature as a fighter and I want to display that to the globe. I will go on to end whoever is put in front of me.”

Belal Muhammad def. Jordan Mein Belal Muhammad outstruck Jordan Mein 116-forty nine en route to a unanimous determination victory (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)

THEY Claimed IT: Belal Muhammad: “I felt really dominant during the combat and that’s many thanks to instruction with the ideal group in the globe. I was shocked by his longevity. I wanted to get the end but I was a bit hesitant at occasions. I experience like I am in a great spot now and want to retain climbing up the division. I imagine Yancy [Medeiros] and I would be a great combat. Also, Colby Covington has been expressing no a person will combat him… Properly, I will combat him whenever. I’ll be back in the gym on Monday. I’m generally prepared.”

Cody Stamann def. Terrion Ware Cody Stamann earned an amazing victory in his UFC debut just after defeating Terrion Ware via unanimous determination (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

THEY Claimed IT: Cody Stamann: “I experience great. I was chatting to Sean Shelby concerning rounds and I instructed him to get observe of what I was carrying out even even though I stepped in as a alternative 7 times ago. I understood that I would dominate and go away with the acquire but that’s absolutely nothing in comparison to what I will do with a entire camp. Ware is a strong person and a strong fighter but I could experience him breaking as the combat went on. I would have loved to get the end but felt like anything went according to prepare. I want a larger identify for my future combat and I want to combat yet again just before the finish of the calendar year.”

Trevin Giles def. James Bochnovic Trevin Giles dominated towards James Bochnovic for the entirety of the combat just before ending by knockout at two:fifty four of the 2nd round. Giles improved to 10- just after landing 5 takedowns which he made use of to land fifty four complete strikes in just under two rounds of action. Giles made use of a grueling attack to ground Bochnovic and fall huge bombs until he could not hold in any extended.

THEY Claimed IT: Trevin Giles: “ I had been hoping to get into the UFC for a even though now and it felt astounding to get the acquire. Every single combat I have, I hope the end so I felt like anything went according to prepare tonight. Staying able to end my 1st combat was significant but this was just the 1st move. I’m heading back to the gym to get prepared for whoever is future.”

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