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jtl-fics · 1 year ago

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Fluent Freshman - Part 32

He had the first week back from Thanksgiving break off from both classes and practice.

The week off of classes leaves FF feeling like getting stabbed has been a net positive experience for him.

First he feels like it really cemented the apparent friendship he had with at least Andrew and Neil. Second, he technically had a job offer in his Freshman year. Third, and most important, his language professor who had wanted him to come and speak to his gen-ed Latin class of over 100 students told him not to worry about it and that he had gotten one of FF’s friends to agree to the presentation instead.

His relief was so immediate and all-consuming that he hadn’t even had the energy to pretend he was upset that he had been replaced. Thankfully his teacher just chalked it up to relief that he wouldn’t have to stand up and present when his stomach was healing from the surgery.

Coach Wymack and Abby wouldn’t even let him go to the Court. Kevin had tried to argue quite a few times on Sunday when that decision had been made. Argued that he could sit in and watch for strategy purposes if nothing else.

However, even Kevin couldn’t guarantee that FF wouldn’t get accidentally run into / knocked against considering his complete lack of presence.

Matt had rushed into Abby’s house having made a bee-line for it upon reaching the airport. “Smiths! You got stabbed!” Matt yelled as if informing him of his own predicament.

“Yeah.” FF agreed as if it were something that could have been debated.

“What happened?! Nicky just sent a pic of the flowers he got you and the card?” Matt had asked pulling his backpack off his shoulder and to his front as he unzipped it and rooted around for something before pulling out an orange envelope. “This is from me and Dan, you remember her right?” Matt had asked.

FF thought of quiet conversations he has overheard over the phone and not so quiet noises Matt makes when engaging in some phone sex with his girlfriend.

“Yes, I remember Dan.” FF had said diplomatically and accepted the card.

The card was sitting on the nightstand at Abby’s house next to the card the Monsters, his grandma, other teammates, and some cards from friends he had made outside of Exy. It feels nice to look at the multiple cards all wishing him well.

His Grandma was going to stay for two weeks and Abby was being incredibly kind to put them up

He spent most of that week sleeping, spending time with his grandma, getting yelled at by Abby for trying to do chores, and spending time with the Foxes that came to visit him.

Nicky had come over to hang out every day without fail. Most of the upperclassmen who were on the original ‘miracle’ team of the Foxes stopped in to see him regularly. Even Jack stopped in to complain about how Captain Neil presented a danger to the rest of them before giving him a Get Well Soon card and leaving.

It was a strangely thoughtful card that he’s near positive Jack’s girlfriend picked out for him. When the end of the week and the first game that FF would need to sit out from approached Coach Wymack asked if he wanted to come.

“You can’t play, but you’re still a Fox.” Wymack had said and his grandma had encouraged him to go and spend time with his friends. She’d hold down the fort for Abby, cook up a bunch of food for the the team to enjoy when they got back late.

So FF climbed onto the bus and sat next to Nicky who had declared himself FF’s bodyguard for the evening who’s safety he would only pass off to Coach Wymack during the game proper.

***

They’ve come so damn far from the worst team in the Division. His kids are thriving and because of that he’s gotten a larger budget. A larger budget to better help his kids with. David would be lying if he said he didn’t spend some nights wishing he could tell himself of a few years ago just how good it would get.

Still, the match is a lot closer than it should be.

He looks to his side and sees FF sitting there watching the game with rapt attention.

He looks as Sheena fumbles a pass that his newest problem child had mastered the timing of a month before. He sees Kevin’s shoulders go up in anger but Neil’s quick reflexes save it before the play is fully fumbled.

Neil makes a feint to pass to Kevin and the goal lights up putting them in the lead by 2 goals. David thinks of the numerous plays that would have gone smoother with the kid next to him playing instead of Sheena but there was no point in wishing for things that couldn’t be.

FF wouldn’t be playing until the Spring Championships started up and David would need to address FF’s medical hiatus and Lisa’s ‘family emergency’ that had her leaving the team.

It always stung when a Fox left but it hurt less when it was of their own volition instead of in a body bag.

He looks to the side again and thinks of the numerous decisions he had needed to make as Kevin slept in the car on the way to the hospital. Honestly, if he still was thinking about going after the hospital.

How the fuck did the hospital just leave the damn kid in a hallway for over an hour? He hates the thought of FF laying there in pain and bleeding watching as people went by.

He’s grateful that the kid didn’t seem to remember it.

He wasn’t going to mention it to any of the other Foxes, not even FF if he could swing it. He has no doubt that at the very least Andrew and Neil would go on a rampage and he’s near positive that Kevin would take special delight in it considering a week on he was still bitching about what he had seen in the Nutritionist office.

He’s not sure what Nicky would do but he knows it’d give him a headache.

Nicky takes a hard hit that has him subbed out for one of the freshman backliners. Nicky’s a little woozy and Abby confirms a very slight concussion that she’ll keep an eye on during the trip back.

They win by slimmer margins than they should but it’s to be expected.

“Coach Wymack?” FF asks.

“What’s up?” David asks.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom. It...uh...well it takes a while now.” FF says and David can read the embarrassment.

“Meet us at the bus. Be careful.” he orders.

FF nods and heads off.

Neil and Matt are on press duty and David preps the press to let them know about FF and Lisa. There are some questions about what kind of medical hiatus but David declined to answer knowing that Neil and Matt wouldn’t let it slip either.

His last two players get showered and on the bus.

He does a count and gets the correct number and starts the bus.

They’re just about to get on the highway when there’s a shout, “Wait! Where’s Smithy?!” Nicky exclaims full volume over the general conversation that had been going on throughout the bus.

David frowns, he had counted-

Abby. He had counted Abby’s head next to Nicky.

“Oh god dammit.” he says.

***

FF looked at where the bus should have been waiting for him.

He closes his eyes and hopes that the bus will appear between blinks.

He opens his eyes again and finds...nope just fans milling about heading to their own cars and home. He gives a hopeful look across the parking lot wondering if the bus maybe just got moved back somewhere so that they could get out easier after he went and made them wait?

A lot of people. Some kids. Some disappointed Belmonte fans. Some excited Fox fans. Some general Exy fanatics who were discussing what the Belmonte team would need to do to stay in for the Spring Championships.

No Palmetto State Fox team bus.

He swallows a bit of disappointment and moves past it.

He pulled up his phone to plug in Abby’s house and saw that it would be a 4 day hike from Belmonte. He looked down at his shoes contemplating if they’d make the over 300 miles of walking. The doctors and Abby had been very clear not to do too much exercise but surely it wouldn’t count since he was just going to walk? They said walking was fine right?

FF sighed at the thought.

Yeah, it wasn’t going to work.

His stomach hurts at the thought of a 5 hour car ride. Maybe there was a bus station nearby and he could make his way back via greyhound.

He was looking at his phone again when it started to ring and Nicky’s face was on his screen to let him know who the caller was.

He hit the answer button, “Hello-“

There was an inhale and FF had been on the receiving end of this quite a few times at this point so he held his phone the entire length of his arm away from his ear, “SMITHY, ARE YOU ON THE BUS OR DID WE FORGET YOU?!” Nicky screeches and it hurts his ears even from an entire arms length away. He wonders how in the world Nicky can stand being that loud with his minor concussion.

He stares at his phone dubiously for a few moments, worried that Nicky may shout again.

“Smithy?! Smithy?” He hears Nicky’s not quite as loud but very concerned voice. FF decides to bite the bullet.

“Hello Nicky, I am not on the bus.” He says.

“We fucking LEFT SMITHY!” Nicky yells and FF can hear a collective groan from across the line.

He may even hear Coach Wymack yelling something about ‘again’ and feels shame burn in his stomach. He should have just held in his pee. He hadn’t really needed to go that badly and it’s not like Coach Wymack doesn’t take bathroom breaks.

“It’s okay.” He rushes to assure Nicky. “I can…grab a bus or something. You don’t need to come back, I’m-“

“Young man, if you say that you’re fine I can not be held responsible for what I will do when I see you in the next 20 minutes.” Nicky threatens. “I also can’t be held responsible for what I’ll do to Neil since I feel like he’s infected you somehow.” He says.

He hears a distant “Hey” followed by an even more distant “Man, I hate to say it but I think he’s right.”

“I don’t want to bother you.” He says.

“Smithy, you are so far from a bother it is insane. How about I stay on the line with you okay?” Nicky asks but something has caught his eye.

Two kids haven’t moved as the rest of the world continued to. He watched as they clung to one another and no one seemed to take notice of them. He doesn’t understand how anyone could miss them with the bright orange children’s jerseys they had on. One sporting 01 - Josten and the other 10 - Josten on the backs.

“That’s okay Nicky. Call me when you’re close.” He says and makes his way over.

He can see the little boy’s hand holding the little girl’s hand tightly and is careful to walk around them in a way so that he wouldn’t appear out of nowhere. “Hey,” he squatted down to their height and the little boy still jumped slightly, dropping a small book to the ground, and the little girl hid her face in his shoulder. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I just noticed you looked a little lost.” He says and his muscles won’t pull in a way to offer a reassuring smile but he hopes he can convey it through his tone.

The little boy visibly swallows down nervous spit, “I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.” He says holding on tighter to the little girl.

“Smart, continue to do that.” He says immediately, “Can you just nod yes or no for me?” He asks instead.

The boy thinks for a long moment before nodding affirmatively.

“Great, good job.” He says, “Did you come to the stadium with your parents?” He asks

A nod in the affirmative.

“Do your parents know where you are?” He asks.

He shakes his head in a negative.

“Are you lost?” He asks.

Another negative.

“So you mean to be right here?” He wants to clarify.

A nod in the affirmative this time.

FF takes a moment to piece together what he knows and looks down at the book.

An autograph book. “Oh, you wanted to get an autograph from Captain Neil?” he asks.

The little boy looks up but it’s the little girl who answers. She finally takes her face out from his shoulder. FF’s eyes can’t help but see the large burn scar on her cheek but also see how her eyes sparkle with delight, “You know Captain Josten?!” she exclaims in delight.

“Millie!” The young boy says. “He’s a stranger!” he hisses.

“Nu-uh!” she shakes her head, “Number 13!” she points at his jersey he had worn in solidarity. “He passes to Captain Josten!” she says brightly. “See Brandon?” she smiles.

It could just be a fan jersey though FF highly doubts that anyone would buy fan merch for him. He is no Kevin Day, Captain Neil Josten, or Andrew Minyard.

Still the little boy, Brandon, looks at him with wide eyes, “You’re Smith?” he asks.

“Yeah.” FF nods, “Captain Neil is my Captain.” he says.

“I love Captain Josten! I wanna marry him!” Millie says and FF can’t help but wonder if Andrew would squash such adorable competition. “His face is like mine!” she giggles.

“Yeah, your face is as cool as Captain Neil’s is.” FF agrees with completely sincerity.

“We came out here to get Captain Josten’s signature” Brandon says with a pout, “All the adults were in the way and it was...kind of scary.” he admits with a flush.

A thought occurs to him. He doesn’t want to leave these kids and brave the crowds to find someone to announce the lost kids. It would only be about 12 more minutes before the bus comes. Coach Wymack would be able to help and...

“They’re coming to pick me up pretty soon. How about we stay right here and we can get Captain Neil’s autograph together?” he asks.

Both kids light up at the idea. “Really?” they both ask.

“Yeah, I also want Captain Neil’s autograph.” he says because he does. He’s wanted Captain Neil’s autograph for AGES but had been too awkward to ask. Then Greg had come and made it seem like FF would want it just to sell it or something.

Now he has the perfect excuse.

***

David pulled into the spot he had left almost half an hour ago and barely managed to put the bus into park before most of his more senior players were prying the door open to go look for FF.

Nicky had called but FF hadn’t picked up and it had set his more paranoid players’ teeth on edge.

The only one that stayed on the bus was Nicky since Abby had a firm grip on him.

David sighed and told everyone else to stay put before exiting the bus and began the herculean effort of trying to spot FF in a crowd.

It actually wasn’t too hard as he found his players standing and watching as FF crouched with his back to them as two little kids in orange Fox jerseys were re-enacting something for him.

He’d be tempted to let them keep going if he didn’t remember Abby’s list of specific things FF shouldn’t do with his still healing stomach and squatting like that was definitely on the list.

“Smith.” he says and watches as the Freshman jolts and tips over, thankfully onto his side, from his squatted position.

The kids get nervous when they see him but then their eyes both lock on Neil’s face. For a moment his heart aches for his player, plenty of kids have cried about Neil’s scars but then his eyes land on the little girl’s face more properly and...

Oh...

Those are stars in her eyes. David looks at the two different Josten kids jerseys that the Palmetto store had released.

FF recovers from his tumble admirably, “Coach Wymack,” he says getting up onto his feet. “These two are lost, can you see if there’s a way to contact their parents?” he asks.

David nods and pulls out his phone and steps away slightly.

He watches over the interaction that happens next.

As promised, FF had taken the awkward lead of asking for it and had them form a line. It had been weird but he watched as understanding dawned in Captain Neil’s eyes as he saw the two Josten jerseys. It had felt even less weird to get Captain Neil’s autograph when Matt had jokingly gotten in line behind Brandon because he too wanted Captain Neil’s autograph.

FF felt a little bad that Captain Neil had been so flustered by the requests but at least he finally had the Captain Neil autograph he’d wanted since last March. It also felt nice when Captain Neil had smiled the way he did at Millie when she babbled about how they matched.

Andrew had bumped into him in the way that FF was learning meant that he was pleased with whatever FF had just done. Kevin and Aaron had been the ones to ask if his stitches were okay after his startled tumble.

Millie and Brandon’s parents were incredibly grateful and swore to continue to be lifelong fans of the Foxes. Millie and Brandon themselves had been more excited about their Captain Neil Josten autographs than being reunited with their parents. They had waved goodbye with Millie loudly proclaiming that her and Captain Neil would get married someday.

Climbing onto the bus he was subjected to a check over by Abby when both Kevin and Aaron dragged him to her. Then he was sat down next to Nicky who shoved him into the window seat and cuddled up. “I won’t lose track of you if I’m on you.” was his logic.

The bus ride resumed.

“I didn’t know you liked kids.” Nicky says head on FF’s shoulder. “I’ve watched you go to the other side of the street to avoid middle school kids.” he adds.

FF feels ice in his stomach.

“Middle school kids are mean.” FF says and doesn’t properly answer the question but Nicky is just concussed enough to not call him on it.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

Like I said in my last part I will be tagging people separate from the actual update going forward. Still any requests to be added to the tag list feel free to put in the replies here.

#Fluent Freshman AU #Nicky was getting ready to call any and all local dairy farmers #to start the 'have you seen me?' campaign #Nicky was also trying to figure out how to tell Aras that he lost her entire grandson #He may have been freaking out in the bus with Abby #'I'm gonna lose GRANDSON PRIVILEGES ALL OVER AGAIN #Thankfully FF wasn't far and now Nicky knows to just truly superglue himself to FF. Buddy system for life #Yeah so you may have caught it in the previous bit #part 27 #Andrew and Neil's concern about FF getting forgotten in a hallway did actually happen #and FF passed out there #Only Wymack's call for an update galvanized them to find him and start helping him #The Foxes get back and GS has a bunch of Tupperwear #full of delicious food for them since it's so late #Nicky and Matt are halfway through getting her a custom 'Foxy Grandma' Jersey #She's discovered quite a bit more knitting to be done for FF's friends #That sweet boy Matt deserves a knitted present too #Maybe even that brash young man Jack should get in on the GS knitted presents train #Well now it's out there in the world that FF is on a medical Hiatus #I'm sure nothing will happen #this is a lie I know the chain of events that are to follow #AFTG #AFTG AU #AFTG OC #Andreil #FF - Part 32

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gordon-freeman-phd · 2 months ago

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honestly, how do any (or all!!!) of your OCs feel about Gordon? You have a lot of interesting, multifaceted takes on how Gordon is perceived in the HL2 world, and I’d love to hear how your peeps fit into that

wishing for all is like a monkeys paw on your part, cuz i have quite a few, god speed with reading all this o7 ill be going in order as they appear on my master post of ocs, ill pu tthis under a read more since its soooooooo long

Brock Fuentes: previously knew of Gordon before the rescas, got piss scared of him during the res cas when he refused to help gordon open some doors becuz he was to scared to leave his hidey hole so gordon man handled him and slapped him around a bit. so by the time of half life2, hes had people around him who believed in the messianic nature of gordon which is quite the departure from his memory of both the up-tight asocial man he heard about and the violent forceful deranged man he met. if he were to see gordon acting much the same now or hear about people having that pure image they had be shattered hed feel a bit vindicated

Richard Montague: He roomed with gordon before the rescas and thought he was a pleasant roomate if not somewhat intimidating due to his serious and minimal socialization, but by the time the rescas happened, they were amicable sorta friends. At most during the rescas he might have heard that gordon was killing swathes of soliders which would be terrifying knowing how much he was struggling to survive in comparison. BY half life 2, gordon is mostly a memory and he had been mostly innundated from resistance culture, having spent most of his time working for the combine using his background in biology to help with xen infestations, so he heard more propoganda against gordon freeman if anything. he doesnt really believe it but it sticks around mentally and mixes with his knowledge of fondness for gordon. eventually when he teams up with the resistance after fleeing the city, he hears more about gordon from their point of view occasionally, which sits better with him, but ultimately, what the perspective of gordon is doesnt matter much to him since hes more focussed on not dying. then when gordon comes back and people start talking about how he acts its concerning and sounds unreal so he doesnt really believe its actually gordon unless he sees him for himself since it sounds so unlike the man he knew.

Jill Pobst: she sadly doesnt make it out of the rescas, but she knew gordon during it, at that point he was still mostly mentally present, and was still learning the curve of combat so she helped him out before her death. he was just a lab coat who was less of a coward than most and didnt talk much

Isiah Poole: he worked at black mesa before the rescas, his sector of work was far removed from sector C, but he wouldve heard of gordon thru the newspaper. post rescas, gordon wouldnt have likely come up where isiah is existing in anyway that would have a permanant impact on his psyche

Knipex: as a borrower in black mesa, they arent super clued in to the personnel and any drama that arent posing a direct threat to the colony and post since theyre with isiah most of the time, they also arent going to hear much about gordon post rescas

Timmy Ridgewell: grew up under the combine so for most of his life, he wouldve heard only the propoganda about gordon and the resistance in general but as he gets older hell start running into the resistance and slowly hearing more about gordon as a messianic figure, but he is rather ressiitant to the concept since it just doesnt make sense, so hes more of a distant saint figure than some greater power who can actually help anyone, and hes almost sore about gordon coming back in hl2 and being real, but also disappointing his friends by being less than stellar personality wise

Bagels: Behind the guise of just a cat, Bagels is actually a controller, and harbors a great deal of resentment towards gordon for destroying everything the nihilanth had built to escape the oppression of the combine, and is smug over everything gordon did failed to protect his people in the long run, but still is willing to work alongside the resistance so that the combine is toppled, the enemy of my enemy is my friend and all

Angus and Ed: also only knew minimal second hand knowledge of gordon through the newspapers, and have been living in xen since the rescas (and one of them is just dead) so their knowledge of gordon never updates with time

Galvanizer: just a lil rollermine, isnt sapient, nor has audio receptors and never meets gordon to form an "opinion" of him

Fred Otten: didnt read the newspaper or socialize much with people who wouldve known gordon while he worked at black mesa so he didnt know gordon really existed, and post rescas, he is willing to whore himself out for the combine for a variety of reasons, so even if he doubts one man could do anything that big, hes willing to accept the propoganda idly however and when gordon does return hes very motivated to kill him for the reward and any rewards unofficially that he can et his hands on even if he is terrified of what gordon is capable of based on the years of propoganda hes internalized

Robert Briggs: he knew gordon through Richie, met him a couple times, he thinks hes somewhat rude sometimes but ultimately kinda harmless and nice in his own way. he doesnt survive the rescas so his opinions of gordon never changes

V-8751: during the rescas it knew that gordon exitisted and that he was a high priority target, but never ran into gordon and was isolated from people who would know of gordon for most of its life post rescas even during hl2 before it made friends with cicada who both has their own experiences with gordon and access to the rest of the knowledge and opinions of the rest of the vorts thrut he vortessence, so learning about what happened to the nihilanth whats happened to him the variety fo opinions about gordon, kinda confuses it and its just a lot fo conflicting information so since he isnt important to the life its living, V-8751 so it sorta lets all that information settle without much concern, at best is glad he killed the nihilanth, and regards the way fletcher treats him as kinda strange

Fletcher Lamb: spent time in a variety of places before leaving the purview of the combine, so heard a variety of rumors about gordon before he left the sphere of influence that gordon has reputationaly, so she holds him in regard as a sort of icon but only loosely treats him religiously, she treats his name the way that people treat a piece of candy that supposedly keeps a computer system running, it comes up when things get rough and is kept quietly in place to be effective but isnt a main focus of his life until something goes wrong

Cicada: was nearly killed by Gordon and had many friends killed by him as well so is rightfully afraid of and dislikes gordon, even if they knows in teh past present and future that gordon frees them, but because of thier hyper connection to the vortessence, much of their personal opions are muted and mixed with the wider consensus on gordon (and most things) in a way that can be confusing and more uncertain than most vorts are perceived as

Felix Kessler and Alexis: prior to hl2 as metrocops, they both didnt really care about gordon as a figure in propoganda since he wasnt anything that could further thier careers since eh wasnt real, at best Alexis was annoying enough about his job to learn as much as he could about gordon to better identify what he thought could be secret organizational code talk which did result in innocent people getting killed or punished, during hl2, they are both very annoyed that they werent put on the case to kill gordon, and felix in particular is vying to be deployed near gordons predicted path since of the two hes the less despised of the pair

Antoine-Valery Veilloux: travels around a lot so has seen a lot of different interpretations of gordon and has even met people who knew him, so he doesnt really buy into him as a god or saint like figure, but knows he did a lot of the things people claim he did, just not as bombastic, thinks he was a bad ass guy but uses his name as a expletive for fun (ie, freeman damnit, oh for freemans sake)

Damned Crows: didnt pay much attention to anything the human residents of white forest say outside something they find funny, but once gordon is on his way to white forest, they pick up on his arrival and mostly watches since things seem tense. from a distance they can tell that gordon is respected by most if not all the humans of white forest but also they think hes kinda scary and theyd rather not tangle with him

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